THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



25 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATION. 



INTERESTING ntOCEEDlNGS OF THE LAN- 

 CASTER COTINTY AOUICULTURAL AND 

 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



This Society met statedly on Monday, Feb. 

 1, in the Orjihans' Court room, Lancaster, 

 the president, Jolinson Miller, in the chair. 



The followini; members were present : 

 Johnson Miller, Warwick ; .lacuh Musser, 

 East Donefial ; .)olm 15. Erl>, East Lamiieter ; 

 Dr. r. W. lliestand, Millersville ; Epliraim 

 Ihiber, Manlieimtwp. ; .](ihn l{nssler,Maiilieim 

 twp. ; Wm. M. Ihiihalver, and Henry S. Sonan, 

 East Ilempliekl; Jonas JUickwalter,"East Lam- 

 peter; Abraham Snyder, C'lav tw]). ; Levi IS. 

 ileist, Warwick ; Eeter S. Heist, Manlieim 

 twp.; Abraham Zollinger, Warwick; Thomas 

 Wood, Fulton; and Alex. Harris^ Geo. W. 

 Schroyer, Daniel Smeych, Wm. McComsey, S. 

 S. Ratlivon, D. G. Swartz, and J. M. W. Geist, 

 city. 



The reading of minutes of last meeting was 

 dispensed with and reports of standing com- 

 mittees called for. 



Dr. Hiestand, from the committee ap- 

 pointed to confer with tlie County Conunis- 

 sioners relative to the use of a room to meet 

 in during the current year, reported that they 

 had the consent of the Connnissioners to use 

 tlie Orphans' Court room, they having agreed 

 to compensate the janitor for keeping the 

 room in order. On motion, his compensation 

 was fixed at 50 cents a meeting, or $(5 a year. 



REPORTS ON THE CROPS 



■were necessarily brief, owing to tlie season of 

 the year. Mr. Erb reported the grass, grain, 

 etc,, in good condition, so far as was apparent. 

 He had not examined the fruit buds, but did 

 not suppose they had been injured. He re- 

 ported the springs and wells as being very 

 low, with no prospects of improvement in 

 their condition. 



The President called attention to the fact 

 that the secretary had served them faithfully 

 since the organization of the Society, with 

 the exception of the last year, when his place 

 was filled by another at his owii request, and 

 submitted whether some compensation ought 

 not to be allowed for his time and labor. The 

 proposition was favored by Mr. Erb and 

 others, and the compensation fixed at $12 a 

 year. 



UNDER THE HEAD OF NEW^ BUSINESS, 



Mr. Hoover called for information on this 

 point : Three weeks ago, when the thermome- 

 ter was six degrees below zero, his pump did 

 not freeze, but on the day following, with the 

 thennometer at four degrees above zero, it 

 was frozen. How was this to he accounted 

 for? Mr. Ililler said it might be explained 

 from diflerent causes. There might have been 

 more pumping when it was coldest. Then, 

 while the temperature remains below the 

 freezing point the freezing continues and pen- 

 etrates deei)er. It has this effect on streams. 

 Although the temperature may be several 

 degrees higher to-day than yesterday the ice 

 still thickens. Mr. Erb suggested that it 

 takes some time for the cold to penetrate 

 through the pump, and thought this was the 

 true explanation in this case. 



THE APPLE TREE BORER. 



Mr. Hoover proposed the question — How 

 can we best an-est the ravages of the ap])le 

 tree borer ? He said this was an important 

 question in some localities where the twier is 

 so bad that scarcely any trees can be raised, 

 ■while in other localities the pest is scarcely 

 known. 



Mr. Hiller said the trouble lay not so much 

 in what we don't know as in not practicing 

 what we do kuow. It requires vigilance and 

 ■work to conquer the borer ; but it can lie done. 

 Trees should not be i)lanted without taking 

 certain precautions. His plan was to wrap 

 the base of the tree witli paper or nmslin from 

 the ground upwards about one foot, and keep 

 it wrapped during the season when the borer 

 deposits its eggs, which it always docs right at 

 the ground, or rather under it. This must 

 be done at time of planting. Occiisionally a 



borer will deposit above the wrapping, but as 

 this operation must be d<ino in fidl view of the 

 eye, it can be frustrated by proper vigilance. 

 An old linen cloth is perhaps the best, but 

 paper answers the purpose. It had been sug- 

 gested to coat the wrapping with tar, but lie 

 thought that unnecessary and liable to injure 

 the tree. In answer to a <piery from a mem- 

 ber he said oil clolh would do. In the case of 

 the iieach borer he liad found a thin mixture 

 of cow manure applied about twice a year an 

 ellectual preventive. 



Mr. Hoover said his plan had been to ex- 

 amine his trees, spring and fall, and destroy 

 the liorers; but he thought Mr. Hiller's pre- 

 ventive the better plan, as prevention is always 

 better than cure. 



Some one suggested tliat the use of oil cloth 

 might be injurious, as likely to draw too much 

 heat to the ba.se of the trees, in which Mr. 

 Hiller concurred: and in answer to a sugges- 

 tion from Mr. Smeycli, that the borer might 

 work through cloth and still deposit its eggs, 

 Mr. H. said such had not been his ohservation. 



Prof. Rathvon said they had l)een seeking 

 information about the borer, but there were 

 half a dozen of them. The most injurious, 

 however, and the one best known, is that which 

 deposits its eggs in the tree near the earth. It 

 does this becau.se heat and moisture are two 

 necessary conditions for hatching the eggs. A 

 young brood of small white grubs is hatched 

 from these eggs in from six to ten days— ac- 

 cording to the temperature of the weather — 

 which immediately penetrate the tenderest 

 portion of the bark, and the aperture of ingress 

 is soon closed, on account of the small size, by 

 the subsequent vigorous growth of the tree. 

 It takes from thi-ee to five years for these Inn-a 

 to mature. During the first year their opera- 

 tions are mainly conducted immediately under 

 the bark; the second year they penetrate the 

 wood, and subsequently tliey go in still deeper. 

 Their galleries are usually perpendicular, or 

 with the grain of the wood, but when the larva 

 is matured it cuts a transverse gallery out- 

 ward to the bark where it changes to the pupa 

 form, from which it emerges a perfect beetle 

 and cuts a hole through the bark and conies 

 forth in June, or the early part of July. Itis, 

 then, from three-quarters to an inch in length, 

 of a white velvety color, with three broad 

 brown stripes reaching from the head to the 

 hinder end, and distinguished by a pair of long 

 antenna, or horns. Heuce, it is called the 

 "striped apple tree borer" {Sapenht candid(i') 

 but the same insect also attacks the quince 

 and the pear. The quince is particularly sub- 

 ject to its attacks, and from the usually small 

 size of that tree it suffers more from it than 

 larger trees. An allied species of the same 

 form and size, but of a fawn color, with a few 

 blackish spots on the wing-covers (Haperila 

 vestita) infests the Linden trees, and has ruined 

 nearly all the trees of that species in the city 

 of Lancaster. These borers can be sometimes 

 dislodged by the introduction of a barlied steel 

 wire, or if not dislodged at least killed. No 

 one has such good opportunity for oliserving 

 its habits as the farmer, who ought to closely 

 observe and make a record of it. In this county 

 they generally make their apjiearancein June. 

 Nearlyall insects belonging to tliisorder mature 

 in June. In rare instances he has noticed them 

 as late as the first of August. This is a point 

 which every one should closely ob.serve for him- 

 self. They don't live more than six weeks or two 

 months, as a beetle, and it is only during this 

 period that the eggs are de|)osited ; and. if the 

 trees are protected during that time, as sug- 

 gested, they arc safe from their depredations. 

 The borer next best known always works 

 higher U]), and never goes into the wood, but 

 keejjs under the bark, where the "sap-suckers" 

 readily get at thein. This grub is much the 

 .shape of a horse-shoe nail. Another variety 

 make longitudinal cells in the twigs. The Ijase- 

 borer works right into the wood, slowly but 

 surely. 



THE PEAR AND ROSE SLUG. 



Mr. Erb saw a slug on the leaves of his pear 

 and quince trees resembling the horse-shoe 

 nail in appearance. AVas it the same V 



I'rof. Uathvon said the pear slug was a 

 different species. Another infested tlie rose, 

 and a third the cherry. They belonged to 

 the same order as the wa-sj) — the Ilymenop- 

 tera. The first brood go down near the 

 ground and form a chrysalis, and then come 

 up and (U'liosit their eggs. The second brood 

 go down into the ground and sleep there 

 until Spring. The rose slug can be con(iuered 

 by vigilance. I^ast season he had efleclively 

 destroyed them in his garden. In May, when 

 they lir.st come, the fiy can be seen early in 

 the morning. They should be destroyed, and 

 lest you should not have found all, look for the 

 little caterpillar or slug on the under side of 

 the leaves and destroy it also. Early attentioa 

 and close vigilance will do the work. 



THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE. 



Mr. Erb desired Professor Katlivon'soi)inion 

 on the best method of iin'venting the ravages 

 of the i)otato bug in the coming st-ason. He 

 said last year he commenced fighting them, 

 but later in the season they came so fast ho 

 had to give it up. 



Piof. 11. said his opinion no^w is the same 

 as it always was since he first warned the 

 fai-mcrs to preiiare for its aiiproach. It is 

 increasing rapidly and the farmers will be 

 sorry they did not pay attention to it sooner, 

 as he had advised them to do. There was a 

 pamphlet of 14 pages, entitled the " Pest and 

 its Uemedy" published in New York, which 

 gave the most valuable i)ractical information 

 on this subject he had yet seen in so small a 

 comjiass and within the comiirehension of the 

 unscientific reader. It recommends I'aris 

 green as the remedy for extiri)ation, and tells 

 how to apply it without danger to the iilant 

 or the 0|>erator. He said he had i)reiiare<l a 

 notice of the pamphlet and the name and 

 address of its publishers, which would apjX'ar 

 in the next number of The Lancaster 

 Farmer. 



The President suggested that the ravages 

 of the pest might be prevented by planting 

 nothing but the Early Rose potato, as he had 

 noticed that in certain localities that variety 

 had not been attacked. 



Mr. Erb said that he had raised that variety 

 last year altogether, and although the early 

 crop had escaped pretty well, the later one 

 was eaten out. Another member said he ol>- 

 served that they were as bail on the Early 

 Rose as on other varieties. 



A CASE FOR INVESTIGATION. 



Mr. Hoover said that in his neighborhood 

 there were five acres wliicji had Ix'cn eaten up 

 by the bugs, while a half acre separated only 

 by an ordinary fence had escai>ed. There 

 seemed to be no difterence in the soil or cul- 

 ture. 



Mr. Erb suggested this might be owing to 

 the fact that the bug always goes for the ten- 

 derest stalk.s. 



Mr. McComsey thought Mr. Hoover's state- 

 ment was so remarkalile and important tliat a 

 committee ought tobeaiipoinled to investigate 

 the facts, .and learn what the varying condi- 

 tions were. This suggestion was acted u]ion, 

 and the Chair apjiointed Messj-s. AVm. Mc- 

 Comsey, Ephraini Hoover, and Prof. Rathvon 

 as the committee to report at next meeting. 



BEST MODE OF WINTERING CATTLE. 



The question, " AVhat is the best mode of 

 whitering cattle," proposed at a former meet- 

 ing by Mr. Eshleman, was laid over owing to 

 the aiisence of the propounder. 



REST JIODE OF EXTRACTING STUMPS. 



Mr. Huckwalter proposed for discussion the 

 l>est mode of extracting stumps, to which Mr. 

 Musser replied that a neighbor of his (Mr. 

 Dully) had cleared aluuit forty acres of from 

 600 to "(«> stumps, by a New \'ork extractm-, 

 working on the screw principle, which was 

 effective and exjieditious in taking out any 

 stumps not over Iwentv inches hi diameter. 



Mr. Brubaker said the easiest way was to 

 plow around them and wait until they rot. 



Mr. Miis.ser said that was a waste of time 

 and ground. Rather than do that one could 

 afford to pay a dollar a piece and make money 



