100 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



luted with water, will g:radually increase in 

 size till they take the form of perfect serpents. 

 This, "he subjoins with great simplicity. '• I 

 learned from having found the carcass of a 

 serpent covered with worms, some small, others 

 larger, and others again that had evidently 

 taken the form of serpents. It was still more 

 marvelous to remark, that among these little 

 snakes, and mixed with them, were certain 

 flies, which I should take to be engendered 

 from the substance which constituted the 

 aliment of the snakes." 



This is a "specimen brick" from a large 

 "kiln " of the same kind, which the book con- 

 tains, but it shows how exceedingly superfi- 

 cial the observations of "one of the most 

 learned men of the seventeenth century " 

 were ; and yet his theory may have been sup- 

 ported by some apparent facts. 



(Some years ago afarmej" in Martic town.ship 

 killed a large female snake, and from a hole 

 cut in her body by the killing there issued a 

 large nimiber of "suakelets" from three to 

 five inches in length, sixty-five of which he 

 bottled in alcohol, and these are now in the 

 museum of the Linnwan Society. Suppose 

 now, that eight or ten days after the killiug 

 some "learned Kircher" had discovered this 

 dead carcass, and found flies, maggots and 

 young snakes all mingled together, how easily 

 it would have been for such an one to mistake 

 this appearance for a confirmation of his 

 theory. 



The equally learned Redi, "moved by the 

 authentic testimony of this most learned writ- 

 er, " says, " I have frequently tried the exjieri- 

 ment, but I could never witness the generation 

 of these blessed snakelets made to hand. ' ' But 

 although he could not produce snakes, his ex- 

 periments furnished a goodly quantity of mag- 

 gots, which being confined in a covered box, 

 in due time developed a swarm of tlies of a 

 " vivid green and marvelously brilliant color, 

 probably the Mu.pm cffsar of Liniiieus. " 



Pliny, in explaining how eels are produced, 

 gives the following experiment : You dig up a 

 sod on the banks of a stream, having first 

 sjirinkled it with water, and turn it over with 

 tlie grass downward, in the evening, and on 

 visiting it next morning you will find beneath 

 it a number of young eels. This was the plan 

 we adopted, when we were a boy, in order to 

 tr.ap "fish wonns" {Lumbriais) in which we 

 seldom failed to get a number of the largest 

 kind. 



But here is another illustration of the facts 

 of natmal history — ironically speaking — pub- 

 lished in the same century, but which had its 

 origin at least a hundred years earlier, and it 

 may well astonish us now to learn tiiat such 

 views had been entertained and received a 

 learned endorsement, after a hundred years of 

 scientific and literary progress. In reference 

 to the "Barnacle Goose," which had been 

 originally figured aud described in Sebastian 

 Munstek's "Cosmographia Universalis," 

 lo72, Gekaud, the father of English botany, 

 a man of no ordinary character and one accus- 

 tomed to close observation and trained to note 

 mniute differences, thus very confidently 

 speaks, in his "Herbal," 163G": "What our 

 eyes have seen, and our hands have touched, 

 we shall declare. There is a small island in 

 Lancashire, called the Pile of Flounders, 

 wherein are founil liroken pieces of old bruised 

 shii)s, some whereof have been cast thither by 

 shipwreck, and also the trunks of old and rot- 

 ten trees, with their branches, cast up like- 

 wise ; whereon is found a certain spume or 

 froth, that in time breedeth into certain shells, 

 in shape like those of the mussel, but sharper 

 pointed, and of a whitish color, wherein is 

 contained a thing in form like a lace of silk, 

 finely woven, as it were, together ; one end 

 whereof is fastened unto tlie inside of the shell, 

 even as the fish of oysters and mussels are ; 

 the other end is made fast unto the belly of a 

 rude ma.ss or lump, which in time cometh to 

 the shape and form of a bird. AV^hen it is per- 

 fectly formed the shell gapoth wide open, and 

 the first thing that appeareth is the aforesaid 

 lace or string ; next comes the Wgs of the bird 

 hanging out, aud as it groweth greater it 



openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it 

 has all come forth, and hangeth only by the 

 bill. In a short space of time it cometh to full 

 maturity and falleth into the sea, where it 

 gatbereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl big- 

 ger than a mallard and lesser than a goose, 

 having black legs and bill or beak, and feath- 

 ers white aud black, spotted in such a manner 

 as our magpie, called in some places i>ie-annet, 

 which the peoi)le in Lancashire call by no other 

 name than tree-goose ; which place aforesaid, 

 and of all those adjoining, do so much abound 

 therewith, that one of the best is bought for 

 three pence. For the truth hereof, if any 

 doubt, may it please them to repair to me, 

 and I shall satisfy them by the testimony of 

 good witnesses."— /Sc(Vnce-Cro.s.5);(;, p. 109. 1873. 



Ko comment is necessary on this curiosity 

 in scientific literature, and we merely give it 

 as one of the assumed /f(c<.s in natural history 

 long since exploded. But we now come to 

 sorae/((i(s of more modern date — indeed of the 

 present period — which we think calm and thor- 

 ough investigation will ultimately place in the 

 same category. 



In the Ayrirultural Gazette (an English jour- 

 nal) on page 491), April, 1S75 — in an address 

 by the President of the " Society of Arts" on 

 field experiments, that officer — Mr. Clare 

 Sewell Bead, M. P. — in the discussion which 

 followed, said : "If they sowed oats one year, 

 and when they came up kept them cut close to 

 the ground, and allowed them to remain till 

 next year, they would get a crop of something 

 else." This doctrine was endorsed by Mr. 

 James Howard, who said they would get bar- 

 ley or wheat. " He had sowed a small plot of 

 oats in June, had kept them cut close with 

 shears, and covered them up with straw during 

 the winter, and next year they appeared as 

 wheat." 



This brings out in the May number, page 

 589, a correspondent in the following style : 

 "oats turned to e,\rley ok wheat. 



"I was somewhat surprised at reading in the 

 Agricultural Gazette of April 17, that oats sown 

 in June and kei)t constantly cut down the first 

 year would produce wheat the summer follow- 

 ing. This was stated as a fact by Mr. Clare 

 Sewell Bead, M. P., and as I understand, con- 

 firmed by Mr. Howard, the former recom- 

 mending Londoners to try such experiments as 

 c. ming within their reach. I have heard the 

 same thing as long as I can recollect, but from 

 my boyhood never believed it ; but seeing it 

 stated as a fact bj' such eminent agriculturists 

 that such a perversion of nature was possible, 

 I should like to hear something more upon tlie 

 subject, and take the liberty of suggesting some 

 further experiments of the kind, such as keep- 

 ing animals in an unnatural state ; my opinion 

 being that a cow kept in a stable upon oats 

 and hay regularly singed and exercised, would 

 as soon produce a foal, as oats under any treat- 

 ment, would yield barley or wheat. Mr. Read 

 may have liad a crop of wheat where oats were 

 Sown, owing to his having protected the oats 

 during winter with wheat straw. Grains must 

 have fallen out of the straw, and planting 

 themselves, taken the place of the oats ; had 

 he used barley straw, the result would have 

 been barley. That those ignorant of farming 

 who seek agricvdtnral information may not be 

 deceived, I hope that j'ou, Mr. Editor, or 

 some undeniable authority, will clear up this 

 long-talked alisurdity, by saying whetlier such 

 a perversion of nature is jjossible or not. — 

 H. S. H." 



In a snl)sequent munber, page C>2-2, a writer 

 signing himself " South Norfolk,^^ confirms the 

 theory of Mr. Head, and adds : " Xow for 

 another fact for yoiu' correspondent. During 

 the year 18(14, and the two following years, 

 we sowed with tares for a crop, rye which was 

 grown from barley, at East Wrentham, and 

 the only reason for our discontinuance of sow- 

 ing it, was the trouble we had in separatini; the 

 tares from the rye, ;is the latter was much 

 larger than the common rye. That the barley 

 dki i)rodaee rye, was vouched for by, a man 

 ' who.se word was truth,' and who, after living 

 ou one farm for more than half a century, died 

 respected and beloved by all who knew him." 



To this the editor replies, that "H. S. H. 

 never doubted the truthfulness of Mr. Bead, 

 but that it is quite iwssible to hold confidently 

 theimtruth of a statemerd,which has, neverthe- 

 less, been made liy one whom everybody knows 

 to be a man of scrupulous honor." He then, 

 very significantly, asks South Nm-folk, "xVre 

 there no such things as blundering and self- 

 deception V Did he ever investigate the 

 parentage of any of the examples which the 

 readers of our societies have often ofiered of 

 litters of pigs, condemned by the veterinarian 

 as being of various ages, which have never- 

 theless been exhibited by men of unquestioned 

 honor as being of one farrow ;" and winds up 

 with, "We assert, nevertheless, that it would 

 not be one bit more astounding to fuid a cow, 

 after special treatment, produce a foal, than 

 to find a grain of oat bring forth a plant of 

 wheat." 



Our readers will bear in mind, that the fore- 

 going opinions relating to the "facts of natural 

 history" have been entertained — and no doubt 

 honestly entertained — by the most intelligent 

 men of their day, in their special callings, and 

 not merely by clodhopping and illiterate boors. 

 It will be seen that "Johnny Bull " is as much 

 exercised over these questions in the present 

 as he has been in the past ; and that Just now 

 he is engaged in a discussion involving as 

 knotty a point as that entertained by " Brother 

 Jonathan" — and still entertained — in regard 

 to the transmutation of irlieut into cheat. We 

 l)elieve, however, that time will settle the ques- 

 tion of "oats producing wheat and barley," 

 as effectually as it finally has the questions of 

 the propagation of snakes and the barnacle 

 goose. 



In conclusion, however, we may add, that 

 these problems, as we said before, will l)e 

 sooner and more effectually solved by actual 

 experiment, however absurd they may appear, 

 than by ridicule and bold denial. Opinions, 

 no matter how fallacious they may be, are a 

 sort of property which men are loth to part 

 with without an ecpiivalent. Not every one is 

 capable of reasoning a priori, and many not 

 even aposteriori, and the.se can only be induced 

 to abandon old or erroneous views through 

 ocular demonstration. 



PRESERVE THE FARMER. 



The present volume of the The Lancaster 

 Farmer will contain a general history of the 

 economic entomology of Lancaster county, so 

 far as it relates to agriculture <and domestic 

 afiairs, and will be applicable not only to Kan- 

 caster county, but to all Southern Pennsylva- 

 nia, and Northern Virginia and Maryland. 

 And as the subject will be amply aud accu- 

 rately illustrated b.v*appropriate figures, it will 

 constitute a standard volume on that and 

 kindred subjects, that maj' be profitably con- 

 sidted for many yeais to come, even if the 

 future should develop better remedies for the 

 destruction of insects than those therein re- 

 commended. We would therefore admonish 

 our present subscribers to " itreserve The 

 Farmer" and have it bound for future refer- 

 ence ; and newsubscrlbers to avail themselves 

 of the present o])|)ortunity of securing it from 

 the beginning of the seventh volume. From 

 the testimonials in its behalf, from abroad, the 

 citizens of Lancaster county ought to be able 

 to reverse the disparaging maxim of that dark 

 age of the world, when it was literally true 

 that "A prophet hath honor, save in his own 

 country and among his own kindred." We 

 feel confident of future appreciation, and that 

 confidence will sustain us in our present eflorts 

 to build up The Farmer. 



Killing Potato Beetles. — The Country 

 Gentleman recommends feeding the potato 

 bugs as soon as they begin to come with old po- 

 tatoes sliced thin, dusted with Paris green, 

 mixed with plaster of fiour, one part green to 

 ten of the latter ; drop them about the fields 

 or truck patches where the bugs are found ; put 

 but a few, and often. The hugs will go for 

 the fresh cut potatoes, eat them, and it will 

 be their last meal. 



