134 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[September, 



market of foreign fruit being in the iiantls of 

 "middlemen," and our local crop is still 

 higher. Hygienists urge us to eat plenty of 

 peaches, as a sanitary measure ; but in the 

 present scarcity of remunerative labor, and the 

 comparatively high pric'es of this fruit, the 

 poor cannot afford to partake of it except very 

 sparingly. Twenty-tive cents a qwtrter peck, 

 a half peck, or even a whuJe peck, is too 

 "steep" to allow the poor the luxury of 

 peaches. Here would be work for a philan- 

 thropic Grun(je. 



ABOUT "EGYPTIAN" WHEAT. 



A correspondent of the New York Observer 

 sends that paper an extract from a recent cor- 

 respondence of 27ie Lancaster Express, giving 

 an accoimt of a visit to the farm of Andrew 

 Holtzworth, at Petersbuj-g, and tlie writer's 

 observations of the "Egyptian" wlieat then 

 growing on that farm. The usual story was 

 detailed by Mr. Holtzworth to this correspon- 

 dent, about the seed from which this wlieat 

 has grown having been taken from an Egyptian 

 coffin, where it had lain " for thousands of 

 vears. " The 06.sfrwr correspondent wants to 

 know whether this story, wliich he had before 

 seen in another form, is true. To this the 

 editor makes the following reply : 



" Tliis story of Esyptian mummy wheat has been 

 current lor the past twenty-tive years — long enough 

 to have supplied the world with the wheat, if there 

 be auy truth in it. It is not uneommon to find grains 

 of wheat, as well as loaves of bread and roasted 

 fowls, in Egyi)tian tombs; but the grain has no more 

 life in it than the fowls. It will never germinate. 

 The Arabs in the Nile valley are accomplished swin- 

 dlers, and one of their most common tricks on trav- 

 elers is the sale of small pottery vases, made at 

 Esstout or at Gheneh, which they offer to travelers 

 ' in the original package " — that is, closed and sealed. 

 They shake it and something rattles. The traveler 

 buys it, opens it, finds some grains of wheat, which. 

 In his iimocence, he believes to be wheat of the time 

 of Joseph. He takes it to Europe, plants it, and 

 grows wheat from it, which he well may, for it is 

 last year's grain of the Nile valley. In this way men 

 honestly believe that they have wheat grown from 

 the wheat of the Pharaohs. Many careful experi- 

 ments have shown th«t no grain found in Egyptian 

 tombs retains life. It will not germinate." 



Many years ago an honest son of the Emer- 

 ald Isle met a waggisli friend, and inquired : 

 "What's the news, Jone?" Jolin replied: 

 "Daniel O'Connel is a candidate for Presi- 

 dent of Ireland, and all the Irish in America 

 will be allowed to vote for him." To which 

 the fornier very approvingly responded : 

 "Well now, Jone, tkot lukes rasonable. " 



We confess that the above argument against 

 the germination of Egyptian mummy wheat 

 looks " reasonable," and yet we have no doubt 

 those who are growing that kind of wheat are 

 honestly under the impression that it reaU_Q is 

 genuine. Why are old garden seeds generally 

 discarded, hut because they are supposed to 

 be too old to germinate ? Why are seedsmen 

 so particular to impress, through their adver- 

 tisements, tlie fact that they have just re- 

 ceived a lot of fresh (jarden-seeds f Why, be- 

 cause it is the general opinion of seedsmen 

 that old seeds will not germinate. Under any 

 circumstances, it is a question that needs some 

 confirmation Ijefore it will te implicitly be- 

 lieved, although we are far from believing 

 that any one engaged in cultivating it is par- 

 ticipating in willful fraud. Of course, if 

 there are exceptions to this rule, the exceptors 

 will be able to clear up the case. 



PLENTY OF POTATOES. 



The sources from which we generally derive our 

 statistical returns have not yet rejKirted on the pros- 

 pective potato-crop, but the papers of our large cities 

 are tolerably sure it is to be a scanty one. The 

 opinion is based chiefly on the fact that the '• bug" 

 is aljout us; but from all we can gather, in spite of 

 the liug the crop will be a large and abundant one. 

 Around our large cities, and up and down along 

 rivers and railroad lines, locations affording cheap 

 transportation to this miserable insect, there has been 

 undoubtedly much damage done ; but if they had 

 shortened the supply it would have enhanced prices. 

 But this has not been the case. The early potato 

 market has been as well supplied and priees as 

 reasonable as they ever were. 



And as to the late crops, the crops in which the 

 great bulk of jmtato capital is invested, those who 

 have had tlie 0]iix>rtunity to judge tell us in the more 

 out-of-the-way places where the insect has not had 

 time enough to reach, many more than usual have 

 been planted, and that the crop never looked better. 

 On the whole it is clear that though the crop will be 

 this year a renumerative one, it will not be near as 

 scarce and high-priced as our city folks apprehend. 



Indeed the day is gone by when any trouble of this 

 kind is to seriously interfere with crops or prices. 

 The agricultural newspaper kcejis the farmer well 

 posted as to what is coming and the people prepare 

 for it. It was the suddenness Avitli which , when there 

 were no telegraphs or newspapers, no general ditfu- 

 sion of knowledge, that made these occurrences such 

 scourges as they were. We have indeed cause to be 

 thankful that with so many things yet to be improved 

 we are still permitted to live in the age we are. — Ger- 

 maiitoirit- Tdiyrajih. 



Happily we can substantially corroborate 

 the above in this locality, without pretend- 

 ing to say what may be the final eti'ect, 

 sliould the autumn be a moist one. Up to the 

 liresent period, potatoes, in this market, have 

 beenal)undant,of good quality and moderate in 

 price. Early in the season there seemed to be 

 a disposition to "speculate " on tlie iirobable 

 presence of the "bug," but it soon "played 

 out." The spring opened cold and continued 

 so, which was as unfavorable to the insects as 

 it was to tlie jiotatoes. It then became dry, 

 and vegetation tardy, which aflbrded an op- 

 l>ortunity to fight the bug successfully. It 

 then changed to wet, which was another 

 unfavorable condition to the insect but favor- 

 able to the potato. It is true, tliat in some 

 localities the pest was bad, but the people are 

 better acquainted with it and know better how 

 to meet it. Still, we have apprehensions 

 about future years, because we fear these 

 things may throw people off their guard. 



DESTRUCTIVE WORMS. 



About a week ago a peculiar worm, about an inch 

 long, made its appearance by the millkiu in the vicin- 

 ity of Oakland, and threatens to be much more de- 

 structive than the potato-bug. So far their depreda- 

 tions have been confined principally to the oats and 

 timothy. Grass plats that they have passed overlook 

 as if they had been burned. Hundreds of acres of 

 oats have already been literally destroyed in the 

 vicinity of Oakland and Deer Park, from which points 

 they appear to be spreading in all directions. In 

 starting up the o;it stalk they first cut off the blades 

 and then the oats, leaving every straw trimmed as 

 clean as a whip, and the ground covered with grain. 

 Some call it tlie " army worm," and think it was 

 taken up in the south and brought here in a whirl- 

 wind. With every one it is as yet a mystery where 

 they came from and how they got here. — Oarrelt 

 County {Mil.) Gazette. 



The above extract we clip from a recent 

 number of the Baltimore Sun. Of coiavse it 

 is very inde'liiiite as to what the insect really 

 is, fuiilier than that it is a "peculiar worm," 

 of which there are legions in the world, all of 

 them, in some particular respect, being very 

 peculiar. Very probably,however, this is the 

 true "Army Worm" — Leucania, unipuncta — a 

 description and illustration of which we will 

 give in our October number. We are not pre- 

 pared to agree with those who " think it was 

 taken up in the south and brought there in a 

 whirlwind." Altliongh it is not an unusual 

 event for the winds to facilitate the migra- 

 tion of (t)())3f(?-insects — as, for instance, butler- 

 flies from tlie continent of Europe to the Eng- 

 lish Island, and our own " Rocky Mountam 

 Locusts" — we believe there is no instance 

 recorded where caterpillars, or the ova of in- 

 sects, have been so transported. Very likely 

 a few of these insects were in that locality last 

 year, and all the circumstances Ijeing fav<5ra- 

 ble, they have greatly increased the present 

 season. For the past two seasons the " White- 

 liued army worm " — Leucania alhilinea — has 

 been depredating, in moderate numbers, upon 

 the wheat and timothy crops of Lancaster 

 county, and in future years they may suddenly 

 appear in vast numbers. 



Write and Talk for The Farmer. 



If every farmer interested in the progi-tss of his 

 calling would write and talk for this journal, our 

 circulation would soon be doubled and its usefuluess 

 greatly enlarged. 



PRIMITIVE FARMING— No. 2. 

 BY FRANK E. DIFFENDERFER. 



Like the thriftless farmers in the far West, 

 the Mexican farmer often leaves the straw and 

 chaff lying in the field, either to rot or become 

 the sport of the winds ; the more prudent ones, 

 however, house a portion of it and feed it to 

 their horses in small quantities along with 

 corn. In no particular is the bad farming of 

 these people more apparent than in their utter 

 indifference to the impoverishment of their soil 

 and to any attempts at renovtiting it artifi- 

 cially. No case, on the part of a Mexican, to 

 utilize the manure made liy his cattle, ever 

 came to my notice. The wealth of many 

 fiirmers consists mainly in cattle ; during the 

 day these are sent out to graze, sometimes 

 alone and sometimes in charge of a herder ; 

 in the neighborhood of towns they are gener- 

 ally brought home for the night and housed 

 in corrals made for this purpose. These cor- 

 rals are adapted in size to the ranchero's herd, 

 be it large or small ; some few are adobe en- 

 closures, but more commonly of less elaborate 

 construction ; a circular space is marked out 

 in a convenient place, and cottonwood poles 

 are sunk into the ground all around ; some- 

 times the poles are placed so closely as to form 

 a stockade, but generally they are some dis- 

 tance ajiart and the space between them is 

 filled up by intertwining brushwood, willow or 

 toruilla, forming an inexpensive but very ser- 

 viceable cattle pen. No straw or other litter 

 is ever thrown into them and no attempt at 

 manure making is made ; in the course of a 

 few years the ordirre of the cattle accumulates 

 to such an extent, rising so high on the inside 

 of the ])en as to necessitate the removal of 

 the corral to some other point, virtually im- 

 posing trouble and expense on the farmer 

 because he refuses to avail himself of the best 

 and cheapest fertilizer, so imperatively needed 

 to stimulate his exhausted soil. After remov- 

 ing the surrounding fence, the manure is often 

 set on fire, smoldering and burning for days, be- 

 sides causing a most intolerable stench. Small 

 quantities are sometimes used as fuel to burn 

 the coarse crockery and earthenware used for 

 household purposes. When, however, the 

 corral wall is built of adobes, other means 

 must be adopted to get rid of the surplus 

 maimre ; often huge blocks of the dung, con- 

 solidated by time and the continual tread of the 

 cattle over it, adorn the top of the corral wall, 

 adding to its height and thereby prolonging 

 its usefulness. 



Every farmer knows full well the important 

 part manin-e plays when spread over his fields, 

 and he only too often realizes how several 

 hundred years of continuous cropping has left 

 them so impoverished that his labiir is very 

 inadequately rewarded, yet he willfully and 

 persistently ignores tlie means placed ready to 

 his hands to renovate his farm and restore his 

 naturally fertile acres to their old-time pro- 

 ductiveness. When remonstrated with he 

 will tell you, so his forefathers farmed and 

 toiled for centuries, always raising enough for 

 their supjjort, and that is enough for him. I 

 remember only too well how frequently I was 

 compelled to listen to this argument in 18(58. 

 In that year I had sent out half-a-dozen light 

 American plows, which I induced some of 

 the most intelligent and infiuential farmers to 

 Ijuy ; several of tliem bought plows with the 

 sole purpose, as I believe, of getting rid of my 

 importunities, but without ever giving them 

 more than a day's trial. Even the few Ameri- 

 can farmers that live among them, after a 

 brief trial threw them aside and again took up 

 the more primitive Mexican implements and 

 modes. Even the useful fanning mill, through 

 whose instrumentality they might be saved a 

 world of trouble and expense, even to the ex- 

 tent of their entire crops sometimes, failed to 

 make good its footing ; I took out one for my 

 own needs, and that its utility was plainly 

 demonstrated to them was evidenced by their 

 frequent applications to borrow it; yet never 

 a second one was taken into the district while 

 I lived there. 



Of the several cereals grown, corn is much 





