1875.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



i53 



all very well for some one in some favored nook to 

 gather anil send to the exhiliition a plate of lieanliful 

 hutler or White Doyenne pears, l)ul it woulil l)e a 

 matter of nnieh more pulilie interest to know exaelly 

 why ottier [leople tlo not ijet them, and some eei'tain 

 atul sure proeese l)y whieh they can. It is a pleiisure 

 of a eertain kiml to look on friend I'ome's lar^'e Bart- 

 lelt pears, "so fair and so wliite, withont spreekle or 

 sjieek;" hut the man who ean tell ns without i^uess- 

 work in elear faets whieh evey one ean understand, 

 the eause and the eiire of j)ear pli;rht, is to he a thou- 

 sand times more weleomeil than a wholi' State-fidl of 

 men lu*ini.^ini; fruits to tlu* fair. Of course we ean un- 

 derstand that a little eoneession to tin* tnere sii^ht- 

 seeini^ puhlie is neeessary in all undertaking's of this 

 kind. Our only ohjeetion is thatthis side issue should 

 eoine to he a leadinir feature The whole eouulry is 

 interested in the work of the National Soeiely ; tliose 

 wlio see the fruits exhihited are iuit a l)uekelful in 

 the ^reat puhlie oeean that expects a henelU. fn.im its 

 labors in otlicr ways. 



LETTERS, QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



A Si'Hsi'KiBKK. — Your gra]U's wcic ad- 

 jmlgi'd to be " Uoj;oi"S' Seedling, No. IV," witli 

 a sliadow of doubt. 



1... H. F. — Your peaches arc "VanBuren's 

 Golden Dwarf." 



1i. F. II. — The singular animal which you 

 caiitnred on a rose-bush near liaiidjridf^e is the 

 " Spectre-insect," or "AValking-twig " — Sjiect- 

 rum femurutum — and beloiig.s to the anibula- 

 torial .section of the order Ohtuoi'TEK.x, 

 which includes gra.sshoppers, crickets, cock- 

 roaches, etc. 



S. K. — The bird you shot in the Landisville 

 marsli is a yoiitig " Night-heron" — Ni/cli(trdi(( 

 yardcnii — of which tliere are two living speci- 

 men.s in the possession of the proprietor of tlic 

 saloon in the basement of tlie " Inipiirer 

 Building." This bird has nested and bred in 

 Lancaster county from a very remote period. 

 and some very peculiar sii])erstitious traditions 

 in regard to it have been entertained these 

 many years. It is also called tlie " Qua-bird, ' ' 

 from its peculiar note, qua, iiuii. 



P. T. R. — The insect you brought ns is the 

 "Wheel-Bug " — lietluriti.t )iocoi«caw — and be- 

 longs to a family of prcdaceous and seiui- 

 raptorial IIemii'tek-V, or half-wings. It is a 

 true bwj, and is a friend to the huinaii family, 

 in that it feeds entirely upon other insects, 

 noxious and innoxious. 



MINERAL RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN 

 LANCASTER COUNTY.* 



Beginning with the extreme south-eastern 

 portion of the county, and witli the oldest 

 rock formation, is found chromate of iron, 

 associated with the various magnesian miner- 

 als. It is mostly embedded in .serpentine, 

 which underlies a territory in the county "f 

 about thirty square miles, known as "the 

 Barrens," which at siillicient depth yields 

 "both minerals (piite abundantly. During tlu^ 

 war (ptite an extensive trade was carried on 

 with the magnesite, as well as the chromate, 

 but since epsom salts and calcined magnesia 

 have become so low in i)rice it has been dis- 

 continued. 



North of and above the serpentine lies a 

 bed of stratified gneiss, occupying ;i belt tu'ross 

 the county about lour miles wide, upon which 

 rests a soil excellent for agricultural pur- 

 poses. Along the northern side of this and 

 immediately adjoining a scam of trap which 

 separates the gneiss from the slate, is a stra- 

 tiun several hundreil feet thick, which in ap- 

 pearance nuich resembles sandstone, being 

 separated by parallel divisions into layers vary- 

 ing from three inches to two feet in ihickness. 

 It is extremely hard ai\d comi>act, and is a 

 most excellent building ntaterial. On account 

 of each piece having two parallel faces it 

 forms very close and solid masonry. For the 

 same rea.son it requires but little dressing, 

 and is readily worked in the quarry. When 

 it can be conveniently reached by railroad it 

 will undoubtedly be extensively used. A 

 number of the bridge walls and cullierts on 

 the Columbia and Port Deiwsit R. R., are 

 built of it. 



The ridge of .slate on the boundary lietween 



*Read t)cfore the August meetiug of the Linnfean Society 

 by W.T. Bolton. 



Fulton and Drumore townships is 1200 or 

 l.")tK) feet thick where it is exposed on the 

 river. It exleiids in a north-easterly direc- 

 tion through the county, and gradually dis- 

 appears from the sinface ; the most ea.steiiy 

 point at which it crops out being about live 

 miles from th<' river. A short distance utider 

 the surfiK'e. however, il extends almost the 

 enlire breadth of llie county, being found in 

 wells at .seviial dilTerent i)laces. The only 

 (piiirry which has been successfully worked is 

 on the river bank. Some slate h;is been 

 taken from a ipiarry near Fairtield, but of in- 

 ferior cpiality. That formerly taken from the 

 Peach Bottom tpiariy was considered inferior 

 to the York county slate, but since that 

 cpiarry has been worked by its iireseiit owners, 

 the Peach Bottom SlalcComiiany, with steam 

 power. ))inniis anil other facilities, for work- 

 ing deep into the rock, it is found cpiite ecpial 

 to that on the other side of the river. This 

 company is now doing ;i large business, not 

 oidy in niantdacturin^' rooling slate, but ;nan- 

 tels, stejis, watering troughs and various arti- 

 cles for ornament and utility. 



Tlie slate gradually passes through talco.se 

 slate to another form of stratified gneiss, con- 

 taining more magnesia and tdlumiiia than the 

 former. This gradually shows a hirger \ito- 

 portion of oxid of iron until the valley ex- 

 tending from McC'all's Ferry to Pennington- 

 ville, is reached, where iron ore is found in 

 abutidance. A mine of superior iron ore in 

 this valley, near Muddy creek, was worked 

 during the Revolutionary War, but was after- 

 wards abandoned until the late war, since 

 which time large (piantities of ore have been 

 taken from it. It is now owned and operated 

 in part by the District Attorney, J. W. .John- 

 son, of Lancaster. ' 



A few years ago a large piece of magnetic 

 iron ore was found in this valley, about two 

 and a-half miles from the river, on Thomas 

 Robin.son's farm, a part of which is in the 

 ]\Iuseumof the Linna'an Society. It is strong- 

 ly magnetic, and will pick up nails very readi- 

 ly. Since that time other pieces have been 

 found in the same neighborhood, giving evi- 

 dence of its being there in considerable quan- 

 tity. The mines in the ea.stern part of the 

 valley have been worked for many years, and 

 liave yielded the ore in abundance, and prom- 

 ise to continue to do .so. 



In the eastern i)art of this valley the oldest 

 limestone formation iir the county is fotind. 

 Tliis has long supplied the lower townshii)s 

 with lime, and (lone much toward bringing 

 their soil to its present state of cultivation. 



North of this is the copper mine, and the 

 Martic ridges, the former the most elevated 

 ridge in the county, south of the red sandstone 

 hills, is of almost pure hornblend and .seems 

 to have been heaved up through the rocks of 

 a later formation which surnuind it. It is in 

 this rock that the largest IkkIv of nickle ore in 

 this country is found, being mo.stly in the 

 form of a suli)hide. Copi)er is also a.ssociated 

 with it in greater or less (juantities, hence the 

 name of the ridge. What seems to he a con- 

 tinuation of the sam(^ ridge, through Provi- 

 dence and Martic townships, is of si very dif- 

 ferent rock, being nearly the same as that in 

 the territory south of ''the valley." 



North of this ridge and separated from it 

 by a stratum of sand.stone, is a series of de- 

 tached mound-like hills, formed principally of 

 (plait/, with more or less limestone. These 

 hills extend from the Susquehanna in Cones- 

 toga township, through the northern part of 

 >fartic. Providence and Eden townships, and 

 the .southern i)arts of Petpiea. West Lampcler 

 and Strasburg townships. Throuiihout their 

 whole extent the (piartz comjiosing them con- 

 tains more or less of the ores of silver, lead, 

 tin and zinc. Mines have l)een oi)ened in 

 several places, but for some reason have never 

 been worked to much extent. The most ex- 

 tensive one is in Peqnea township, nearPequea 

 creek. This is the one referred to in the 

 ,Iune numlKT of The L.\nc.\stek F.\hmek, 

 where mention is made of a tradition, that the 

 mine was worked previous to the Revolution- 

 ary War, and that its entrance wiis concealed 



at the time of the excitement resulting from 

 the invasion of the British, and its where- 

 abouts had never since Imtu discovered. From 

 information obtained in the neighborhood, I 

 have rea.son to believe that the part of the 

 account relating to the concealing of the en- 

 trance is corrccl ; but that it lia.s been work- 

 ed niore or less at ditTereiit limes ever since. 

 Siveial yeaix iigo the piopcity on which it is 

 situated was purclia.sed by a cotupany of 

 Philadelphia capitiilisis, who sunk several new 

 shafts and opened new galleries. After a few 

 yea i-s I he work was abandoned, although the 

 (piantity of galena found was larger than 

 ever before. Tlit^ reason for discontinuing 

 the work was probably on account of the 

 small per centiige of ore lor the (|uanllty 

 of rock to be moved. The silver is all found 

 in combination with sulphide of lead, the pro- 

 portion being variously state(l at from ."> to 10 

 percent. On the opposite side of the creek 

 another luiiu- has been opened, and another 

 on the farm oI'Martin Hoover, in Providenct! 

 township, but after working a short time thed 

 were abandoned. North of the last namt-h 

 hill extends the i:reat liniestoiie basin whicy 

 sejiaratcs the northern and the southern jiarts 

 of the county, the geology of which has already 

 been minutely described. 



♦ 



For The Lanparteh Fabu eb. 

 BLOOMING DUTCH BULBS. 

 By the time this gets through the press, it 

 will Ije time to pUuit hardy, blooming ImiIIw, 

 as Snowdrops, ('rociis. Hyacinths, Crown Im- 

 perials, Tulips, Narcissus Lilies, Ac. .Some 

 are the earliest harbingers of spring; others 

 the queens of beauty of the summer garden ; 

 all are beautiful of bloom, and manyare highly 

 fragrant. Asa whole, they Ibrin a grand coiu- 

 hinatiou for decorating and perfuming the gar- 

 den. It ajipears that before the advancement 

 of botanical .science, they wereall called Lilirs, 

 and they are fre(iucntly alluded to in the Old 

 and New Testaments as the emblems of love 

 and beauty. Solomon, the great kiiigof .leru- 

 .salem, grew them largely in his royal garden.s. 

 For centuries back, the commercial lloristsof 

 Holland, Belgium, and northern Germany, 

 have surpa.ssed till others in their culttne, and 

 in the production of new superior varieties by 

 hybridization and special culture, .so now they 

 siipply the whole world with them. Hence, 

 they are called '• Dutch Bidbs." Ilmrhm is 

 still the great mart for their siile. All coun- 

 tries make annual importations from there. 

 Our own ornamental gardening has ri.sen to 

 such eminence, our ,seedsmen and nurserymen 

 make large im)iortali(>ns every year. We have 

 seen those of Pliila(lelplii;i for this year, lately 

 arrived. Tliey are all sound, large and line 

 bulbs, with nianysui>crioruew varieties among 

 them. The demand for them has always iK-en 

 as ureat ius the sui'ply. Seedsmen transport 

 them all over the nalion to private familitfl 

 and dealers in country places. They are .sent 

 by dozens, or hundreds, and balesful as re- 

 (piired, so all may get them who want them. 

 They are all of simple culture; rich soil well- 

 ])iilveri7,e(l, and in sunny exposures, will grow 

 them to advantage. The sooner they are 

 planted now. the larger roots they will make 

 before hard frosts stop their growths, and by 

 that they will bloom stronger and earlier in 

 their times, .Snowdroiis comes first, next 

 Crocus, then Hyacinth and Crown ImiH-rial, 

 then Narcissus and Tidip. Lilies bloom at 

 different times, and keep up a show of IiUls- 

 som for many mouths. The bulbs are planted 

 of a depth according to their sizes; Snowdrojis 

 an inch under ground, and Ulies four inche^s 

 under ground. Hyacinths and \:u\ Tliol 

 Tulips are nuich grown in pots and Udl ghtsses 

 in gla.ss hous»'s and iii windows of dwelling 

 hou.ses, and bloom very early, just after frosts 

 seal up the ground. The biilb beds should get 

 a slight covering of straw manure, to lie all 

 winter, and taken off in spring after the frost 

 is out of the ground. Kverybody should grow 

 a few bulbs, as they appear to shorten the win- 

 ter and make spring look earlier. And they 

 are something to iulmire and love. — Walter 

 Eldek, Laudsatpc Gardciur, PhUaddphia. 



