187.5.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



179 



grows on poblily beaches, very rare and local. 

 It (lil'fers t'niui the otlu-rt'scnicnt pi-as in bciiii; 

 IH'rennial, the root striking; lU'i'iily into tlie 

 ground among stones and sand liy tlie sea- 

 shore. Tliis pea is hard and indigi'sliblc, but 

 it is said to have savi'd many persons from 

 perishing liy tUniine in (lie year l.V)."). 



1 will conelndo this paper with an extract 

 from an artiele on the " Historical Xotes of 

 Cultivated I'lants," in the Jlurticulturdl tSuri- 

 eti/"s JiiunuU, Vol. IX.: "The pea has been 

 stated by several authors to be a native of 

 Italy, and Prof. Tariiioni admits this to be the 

 Ciise with the Held pea, (I'i.-onn (irrmsc); but 

 most botanists nisiston tliej;arden pea (Plsum 

 S(ttiruin,) being a distinct species of unknown 

 origin." In this conclusion, we camiot join; 

 all our cultivated pisi are surely referable to 

 one species, which is most probal)ly ntally in- 

 digenuous in the more eastern districts, where 

 it is now fomul apjiarently wild. — Jf. 6. 

 Girt.v.sjjofc, in Srhnce (rDSxij), Landnn^ 1875. 



The pea (l'isii)ii sntinoa) now extensively 

 cultivated as a gardoi-esculent, was intro- 

 duced into America at tlic time of its lirst 

 settlement; ))robably lirst by the Spaniaids, 

 and subsequently by the Dutch and the Kng- 

 lish, and our botanists and ganlcners are 

 equally puzzled with those of Euiope, as to 

 where it originally came from. t'rom that 

 time to the present, many varieties, good, bad, 

 and indill'crent, have been added to our list, 

 many of which miglit b.' eliminated with some 

 advantage to the grower. 



Without presuming to volunteerany instruc- 

 tions in the culture of a vegetable so long, so 

 widely and so favorably known as the Garden 

 jiea, we deem it sutbcient to say that the early 

 dwarf varieties require rich ground, whilst 

 other varieties will thrive best in alight loamy 

 soil, and they should be sown in ilrills. Out 

 of a very long list, we give the following six- 

 teen varieties, which we do not hesitate to say 

 might be curtailed by one-half, without any 

 disadvantage to the grower, namely, 1. I>an- 

 dretb's Extra Early; 2. Early Frame; 3. Hish- 

 op"s Dwarf Long Pod; 4. Dwarf Blue Impe- 

 rial; 5. Koyal Dwarf Marrowfat; (j. Large 

 "White Marrowfat; 7. Peruvian Black Eye 

 Marrowfat; 8. Dwarf Sugar; it. Tall Sugar; 1(). 

 Tom Thumb; 11. C'hami)ion of England; 12. 

 Eugenie; 13. Advancer; l-l. McLeans' Little 

 Gem; 1."). McLean's Prolitic; and lt>. Aliiha. 



Nos. 8 and it have edible pods, which may 

 b? cooked like "string beans." "The first 

 planting (including the early, second early, 

 and late at the mine time, to secure an un- 

 lirokeu succession) should be mad(! as soon as 

 the ground will work; and for continuous sup- 

 plies, sow at short intervals during the spring 

 and early part of summer. The i)ea does not 

 succeed under extreme heat." This succes- 

 sive planting is something that has not been 

 heretofore practiced in Lancaster county as it 

 should. The peas are generally all ruslied on 

 the market at nearly one time, and then we 

 do not .See them again for a whole year. "Sow- 

 ings of Landreth's J2xtra Early, made at the 

 close of summer, come in autunui, with the 

 freshness of an earl}- summer crop." 



NATURAL HISTORY FOR THE YOUNG. 



The Sheep : The Young Called Lambs. 

 {OctH ttrii'ti.) 



There are many kinds of sheep, but the do- 

 mestic kinds are supposed to Ik- all referable 

 to the same s])ecies. This animal, in an e(;on- 

 omical computation, is certainly next in im- 

 portance to the cow, if it does not stand before 

 the cow ; for all of the line and cond'ortable 

 winter fabrics used by t\w human family, are 



INFORMATION WANTED. 



On page 172, lirst column, and line 11 of the 

 above-named article, are we to read "/idinv 

 o;?or" or "fonnieodor." and if thelatterj what 

 does it meanV 



Two Irishmen once met, and said one to the 

 other, "I thought it wasyon, and you thought 

 it w;is me, and faith, it's nather of us." In 

 like manner, neither of the above readings is 

 the correct one; it is simply a typographical 

 error. It .slicmld have been printed farmic 

 odor, the odor o{ J'orniir nrid, a sour liquid 

 which ants eject when irritated, and which 

 was formerly obtained by bruising the insects 

 and distilling them, mixed with water, a pecu- 

 liar volatile acid ])assing over. It is now, how- 

 ever, produced artiticially. According to the 

 analysis of Berzelius, fonnic oamI is a comi)ound 

 of two atoms of carbon, three of oxygen, and 

 one of hydrogen. By cracking an ant between 

 the teetli, the peculiar taste and odor, may be 

 obtained. 



manufactured out of its fleece, and it also fur- 

 nishes a wholesome food. For some reason, 

 America does not jirodnce as liiu- wool as Eng- 

 land or Spain. Texas, N(^w Mexico and many 

 other jiartsof onrcotmtry, are, however, large- 

 ly engaged in sheep raising, and pursue the 

 Spanish p\nn. That is, they employ shei>!ierds 

 Who tend th ' shei'p, permitting them to roam 

 out, from the tolding jilaee, over the grazing 

 lands until noon, and then after permitting 

 them t ) t:ik(^ an liour of mid-day rest, drive 

 t!ie:u back again, fedi.ig on the w ly, and 

 folding them again during the night. In Egypt 

 and Syria they have a shee]) with a very large 

 tail, which sometimes weighs as much as 17 

 pounds, the fat of which is (u)nsidered as deli- 

 cate as butter. This tail is often fastene<l i>n 

 a small iilalform with wheels, to prevent in- 

 jury. The finest ([uality of wool is produced 

 by the Merino variety of sheep. 



Birds of Paradise and Their Allies. 

 ( Hnrfulistn' tn''J'H\ r*'{/'o vtri/ils .f-*.) 



From the present "contributions" imposed 

 uiion the ornamental feathered tribes by en- 

 lightened Christian nations, to say nothing 

 about the civilized and uneivilizi'd heathen, 

 pagan, Jewish and Mohannnedan nations, they 

 nuist eventually absorb the supply, unless the 

 fashion changes, and gives th(! birds an oi)por- 

 tuuitv to recuperate. Genuine Birds of Para- 

 dise were worn as ornaments on ladies' head- 

 gear, to our knowledge, as much as forty years 



ago at least, but not so extensively as subse- 

 quently, but ru»/', in order lo meet the demand, 

 sjnd-iinis birds are ingeniously mamifai-tured. 

 And not only these, but also Ilumming-liiids 

 and other allied, both gi'uuine and spurious, 

 species, are extensively used for that iiuri)ose; 

 and therefore the trade, in this kind of mer- 

 chandise is becoming innuense. The birds of 

 Paradi.se are from New Guinea and other East 

 Indian countries, where they occur in flocks 

 of twenty -live or thirty, and from the fact that 

 they Were generally Ijionght to market without 

 feet, which are large, clumsy and disjiropor- 

 tioned, a notion prevailed that they were foot- 

 less, lived in the air, and fed solely on "the 

 dews of heaven;" but this fancy is now en- 

 tirely exidoded. 



Ths Cuckoo and the Hedge-Sparrow. 



t'liciitriti l^ftttiiriiM t't Arr-'tifiti- Si'ifitttariil, 



The real Cuckoo is a foreign bird, and is 

 very peculiar in its history. Its most eccen- 

 tric characteristic is its iiabit of laying its eggs 

 in the nests of other birds, leaving them to be 

 hatched, and the young provided for by said 

 birds. They do not always (choose the nest of 

 the same kind of l)ird, but the hedge-sparrow 

 of Kiigland is particularly subjetaed to their 

 sellish iiUrnsious; and the sparrows are some- 

 times very much di.stressed at the still more 



sellish conduct of the young eu<^koo ; for, one 

 after another, the poor little helpless S|)arrows 

 are heartless'y tos.sed out of th. ir own nest, 

 and left to peris!i, wdiilst the young cuckoo 

 moi\opoliz\s thi^ tool brought i)y the parent 

 sparrows, and tin illy hec )mes the sole occu- 

 pant of the nest. And the parent sparrows 

 .seem to stupidly permit this, even when it is 

 done before their eyes ; a'uleonti^me to feed 

 the young cn('koo until U is fully lledged, and 

 Hies away to i>ractic(i the same sellish game 

 upon some other victim. Our illustration 

 re|)resents the young cuckoo adroitly heaving 

 the young sparrows "overboanl," in the very 

 face of, and against the expostulations of the 

 parent binl. 



THE WATER QUESTION. 



We print in this issue a communication from 

 L. It. S., instituting certain en(juirie.s in regaid 

 to the decrease in water streams and wells. 

 We will not attempt to answer all our contri- 

 butor's queries, but shall connnend them to 

 .some one who is more of a " water-king " than 

 We profess to be. As a meteorological re<-ord 

 his paper is interesting, notwithstanding we 

 think he is discussing appearances more tlian 

 realities. The (piestion of forest iulluence ui>- 

 on the humidity of climate is one that has en- 

 listed the oUservation, and also the .solicitmle, 

 of many men of science, in many cinnitries, and 

 perhaps no definite conclusion lias been arrived 

 at yet on either si<le of it. The question itself 

 is so recent that it must take a longer time, 

 and a wider range, before any jioint can be 

 satisfactorily established ; under any circanu- 

 stances, the experiments upon a small district 

 — a field or two for instance — cannot l>e ex- 

 pected to produce a satisfactory result. It is 

 very much like testing a single bill of jiotatoe.s, 

 corn, or beans, and then drawing a general con- 

 clusion from such an isolated and limited test. 



Of course, water loeally i/^iywa/.s to increa.se 

 and decrease at certain times and se.a.sons, but 

 it must be remembered that water is not a 

 simple substance, but is a fluid compo.sed of 

 elements that are easily decomposed and ren- 

 dered invisible ; still these elements are some- 

 where in space, and need only the recombining 

 causes to bring them into view again. That 

 water is entirely destroyed, or annihilated, is 

 a presumption that would .also involve its ar- 

 bitrary re-creation, for according to our con- 

 tributor's own showing, there are alternate 

 periods of super-abundance and scarcity of it, 

 and these alleriiatious have been occurring, 

 l)eiliaiis, for thousands of yeare, and may con- 

 tiiuu' to do so as long as they are subjected to 

 the sime disturbing causes. As to water used 

 in ndxing lime, jilaster of Paris, or mortar, it 

 merely forms a new combination by which its 

 es'aporation is facilitated, and is by no means 

 destroyed or annihilated. As a general state- 

 ment, we may say that after " the waters un- 

 derthe firmament were dividcil from the waters 

 above the firmament," we do not think there 

 was a single drop more or less than there w;us 

 before. Xordo we think there is or has been a 

 drop more or less from that time to the pres- 

 ent, in its elementary iirinciples. 



