118 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



to the geinis Helix, of wliicli our common land 

 snail is au example ; and we have seen many 

 a larsjie "fat fellow" in Lancaster county that 

 no (ioubt would have made a Frenchman's 

 "mouth water." The oyster and the clam 

 are hivahcs, and belong to the genera Ostrca 

 and Martra. Nearly everobody admits that 

 the bivalves named are most excellent shell- 

 fislies, esi)ecially the oyster ; but no reason can 

 be assigned why a bivalve moUusk should be 

 more "toothsome" than a MMM'a're,- and this 

 may also run along down or up the scale, until 

 we reach shrimps and grasshoppers. Aprapos 

 on this subject, on our visit a year ago to Del- 

 aware, Bay we captin-ed some prawns and 

 shrimp.s, which we preserved in alcohol. They 

 were originally nearly white, but turned red, 

 like a boiled crab or lol)Ster. We also captured 

 a number of white, or nearly white, grasshop- 

 pers, on the sandy fiats, wliigh we also pre- 

 served in alcohol, and these also turned as red 

 as the shrimps and prawns, showing that 

 chemically tlieir substance must have been 

 nearly the same. We merely give this as a 

 singular coincidence, for what it may be worth. 



QUERIES ANSWERED. 



S. r. E. The brown earthy, cocoons and 

 brown pellets, resembling "ryecoflee" — which 

 you took out of the deca.yed portion of an old 

 apple tree, in June last, are those of a Calcop- 

 icroiis insect, belonging to the section Lamel- 

 livornia, and the family Cclonkuhv. The beetles 

 — seven in number — issued from the cocoons 

 between the 12tli and 20th of July. They are 

 fine, large specimens of Osmoderma eremirola. 

 Like all of their family they are only found in 

 old wood that is very far gone into decay. The 

 pellets are the ferces of the larva'. The larva 

 which we took out of one of the cocoons is a 

 yellowish-white crescunt-shaped "grub," with 

 brownish head and feet, and the anal end of 

 the abdomen much enlarged. The ]mpa is daik 

 brown, but could not be well described with- 

 out an illustration. 



J. Z. The "curious" caterpillar, of a vel- 

 vety, olive-green color, and with two eyeliko, 

 and eye-brown-like spots on the front of the 

 body, which you jiicked up off the pavement, 

 and under tlie silver poplar tree, was the larva 

 of a butterfly, known among entomologists, 

 under the name of Papilio turnii.s, or one of its 

 varieties, of which there are many. 



The butterfly is four inches across the ex- 

 panded wings, of a pale orange-yellow color, 

 and marked with black — rather pretty, and 

 commonly called a " swallow-tail." 



H. C. The large moth which you captiu-ed 

 on the piazza, was the " Satellite moth" (Phi- 

 himpebts satcUitia) the larva of which infests 

 tlie grape vines, usually known as the " Grape 

 Sphynx," although there are several species 

 of them. 



I. B. A. Your "bug" is a beetle. (Gym- 

 netis nilida), known amf)ng hjysas the " Gold- 

 smith," or "tJold-bug." It belongs to the 

 Cetonians, and the larva is one of the white 

 grubs found both in the ground and in decayed 

 wood. Some cruel Ijoys arc in the habit of 

 tying a string to one of their legs, "just to see 

 them buzz." 



I. S. G. The larvec sent to us about the mid- 

 dle of July last, and which were on Mr. M. 's 

 grajx', vines, Marietta, from the head of one 

 which we preserved — all else being a putrid 

 mass — were evidently the "Abbot Si>liyux." 

 ( Thyreu.s abbolii). We obtained one a few days 

 afterwards from Dr. Alice's premises, the 

 heads of which corresponded. This onechanged 

 into a chrysalis, of a dark brown color, on the 

 ground, under a grape leaf, aliout the 20th, but 

 the moth will not apviear until next spring, 

 and will be of a beautful chocolate brown and 

 yellow color, and measure full two and a half 

 inches across the expanded wings. It never 

 occurs very numerous, is one brooded, and its 

 feeding season short. 



THE STATE FAIR. 



Only one more issue of Tnte Lancaster 

 Farmick, and the annual exhibition of the 

 State Agricultural Society will be upon us. In 

 oiu- next number we expect to give a synopsis 

 of its details. In the meantime we admonish 

 our friends, and all the friends of agricultural 

 enterprise, and especially those in Lancaster 

 county, to study the matter thoroughly as it is 

 rellucted through the columns of our daily and 

 weekly newspapers, as well as through the 

 published pamphlets and monthly journals. 

 Lancaster city and county have been peculi- 

 arly distinguished in having been selected as 

 the centre of the operations of the agricidtural 

 interests of the State on this occasion. They 

 cannot be passive, for there is something im- 

 portant to redeem. We commend tlie bi'oad 

 and liberal action of our local society, because 

 we lielicvc in sympathy and co-operative union 

 for the sake of union. Let I^ancaster make her 

 mark in any event ; it will pjay in the end. 



According to the Premium List, a copy of 

 which is before us, and the general scope of 

 which will be foinid in our literary record, the 

 following persons from Lancaster county 

 have been appointed among the Judges, at its 

 Twenty-third Exhibition, commencing Sep- 

 tember 27th, 1875 : 



Division 2. Part 2. S. S. Spencer, Trotting 

 Horses, &c. 



Division 4. B. J. McGrann, Eeapers, Mow- 

 ers, &c. 



Division 6. S. S. Haldeman, Minerals, Glass, 

 &c. 



Division 8. James L. Keynolds, Fruits, Vege- 

 tabli^, &c. 



Division 9. WiUiam L. Peiper, Cloths, Em- 

 broidery, &c. 



Division 10. J. G. Engle, Domestic Cook- 

 ery, &c. 



Division 11. R. A. Evans, Musical Instru- 

 ments, &c. 



Division 12. S. S. Rathvon, Miscellaneous 

 Entries. 



It will thus be seen that Lancaster county 

 is represented in eight out of the fourteen 

 divisions. 



Mr. S. S. Spencer is also one of the Vice 

 Presidents, representing the Oth Congressional 

 District. Prof. S. S. Haldeman is also Chemist 

 and Geologist. 



^ 



PRIMITIVE FARMING. 



BY FRANK E. DirFENDERFFER. 



In the April nimiber of The Lancaster 

 Farmer, the writer of the present article had 

 something to say about the present system of 

 " Irrigation in tiie Valley of the Rio Grande," 

 and he will now supplement that account by 

 a further statement of the farming operations 

 as they are to-day carried on in that non-pro- 

 gressive country. Unlike the United States, 

 it is not the land of the reaper and mower, of 

 the threshing machine, the cultivator, the 

 plow and the thousand other implements and 

 contrivances of improved modern agriculture. 

 We are not wide of the mark when we say, 

 that in many particulars, the usages still pre- 

 valent there differ little from those practiced 

 by the patriarchs in the earth's morning age, 

 after the Almighty fiat had made the lineage 

 of Adam toilers for their daily bread. Witli 

 all the inherited indifference of his Spanish 

 ancestry to enterprise, improvement and gen- 

 eral progress, the moilern Mexican Itas, through 

 his Indian blood, had this non-progressive 

 spirit confined and intensified ; and while here 

 and there an isolated case of unwonted effort 

 toward a higher and better state of things 

 manifests itself, it serves only, by contrast, to 

 call into fuller prduiineucc the indifterence 

 and stagnation by which it is eveiywhere sur- 

 rounded. 



Although the early spring and late fall 

 would allow sevcr.al crops to be raised on the 

 same ground during the year, such a plan is 

 never pursued or even thought of. After tjie 

 wheat crop is taken off, the fields are left to 

 lie fallow imtil in the natural course of time 

 the planting season again comes around. The 



succulent and rapidly growing grasses that 

 spring up in such fields towards fall, when the 

 rainy season comes on, are used for pasturage 

 at times, but the more general custom is to 

 send the cattle out to graze on the surround- 

 ing hills or wherever else sufficient pasturage 

 may be found. 



January and February, in ordinary seasons, 

 are the months when the farmer prepares his 

 fields for the wheat crop. Notwitlistanding 

 that they lay uncultivated so long, they are 

 not as weedy as one might suppose ; generally, 

 uidess the ground has been broken but a few 

 years, they are clean, and the few weeds that 

 are there, are cut down with a hoe. The field 

 is then well irrigated, to allow it to be easily 

 worked and afford sufficient moisture to insure 

 the germination of the seed. When thesui'plus 

 water has been evaporated and the ground in 

 the required condition, the wheat is sown 

 broadcast, much as is the custom here ; no 

 plowing, harrowing or other disturbance of 

 the soil is attempted prior to sowing the seed, 

 but as it was during the six previous months, 

 so even does it receive the newly sown grain. 

 Immediately after the sower, however, come 

 the plowmen, from one to half a dozen in 

 number, as the size of the field may require. 

 Tile plow is the rudest and most simple device 

 that can well be imagined for such a imrpose; 

 it consists of a horizontal beam or i)ole twelve 

 or fourteen feet long, to one end of which is 

 attached a single curved piece of wood, which 

 serves as a handle ; on the under side of the 

 pole is affixed another shorter piece of wood, 

 somewhat inclined from the peiijendieular, 

 after the style and serving the purposes of the 

 coulter, the point being sliod with a piece of 

 iron to prevent its rapid wearing away and 

 also to increase its strength. It will be seen 

 from this, that the uppersurface of. the ground 

 is not turned under or plowed down, but the 

 residt of dragging such a climi.sy contrivance 

 tlirough the ground is simply to throw up a 

 narrow ridge or furrow on each side while 

 part of the losened earth falls Ijack into the 

 slight depression made by the iron-shod coulter. 

 The grain may therefore be said to be plowed 

 under, nothing further being done in the way 

 of harrowing it ui. 



By this crude system of planting, the grain 

 is very irregularly covered, and as the oxen are 

 not under very good control, very often patches 

 of greater or less width remain uncovered. 

 Sometimes, too, the previous fall's growth o 

 grass is not fully torn up by the plows, and in 

 consequence, it is difficult to tell whether it is 

 a grass or a newly sown grain field that lies 

 before you. 



In plowing, as indeed nearly all other fann- 

 ing operations, oxen are almost exclusively 

 used, mules infrequently, and horses still more 

 rarely. Instead of the yoke in Togue here, a 

 heavy beam of timber, fastened in the middle 

 to the plow-beam and projecting on both sides, 

 is laid on the head of the ox immediately be- 

 hind the horns, to which latter it is fastened 

 with thongs of raw-hide ; the animal pushes 

 therefore with his head, instead of with his 

 shoulders. This method is a barbarous one 

 and often causes oxen much suffering. When 

 yoked up without suHicient care, the head is 

 often unequally strapped to the beam, tighter 

 on one side than the other, and must be held 

 awry ; a born is also often snapped' off in con- 

 sequence, and signs of pain and suffering are 

 constantly observable. The superiority of the 

 American yoke is admitted, and yet it is very 

 rarely substituted. 



There, as here, the wheat has its enemies. 

 Of these the principal one is the jack-rabbit or 

 American hare (Lcpus CaMalis.) The fields 

 lying on the outskirts of the villages and set- 

 tlements are often so devastated by these ro- 

 dents as to leave no crop worth harvesting. 

 The common wild goose (ylii.str Canadensis) at 

 times does considerable damage to the young 

 crop, not so much by eating the tender blades 

 as by treading it into the soft, irrigated ground. 

 Of late years, smut has been developed to such 

 an extent as to very seriously damage the crop, 

 although its ravages have been partially stop- 

 ped by steeping tlie seed-wheat into solution of 



