1S7G.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



51 



Meteorological Diary at Liberty Square, Lan- 

 caster County, Pa., for March, 1876. 



DAVa. THKUMnMKTEU. COITUMR OF WINDS, 



6A.M. :>1'..M. 8I>.M. OA..M. 2 1>. M. .S I'. M. 



1 -.i-Z :ili :il... N. S. N. W. 



2 23 a; :i2... N. N.W. N. 



3 20 32 (i2... N. N.W. N. 



4 3S 2H 44... W. N. 8. 



5 S5 ,5.'". ....:...4S... N. S. 8. 



6 88 69 .V,... S. 8. 8. 



7 4.5 (W (JO... S. S. W. 8. 



8 .50 47 38.. S.W. N. N. 



9 33 48 42... N. N. E. N. 



10 43 51 42.. N.E. S. 8. 



11 3.5 CO .50... S. E. S. E. S. 



12 35 48 .52... 8. E. S. K. 8. E. 



1:; 42 ....... 75 4(! .. N.W. N.W. N. 



14 30 25 35... N. W. N. 



15 20 42 3(i... N. E. N. N. 



Ifi 34 3(i 43... 8. E. E. 8. 



17 37 42 33... N. S.W. N. 



18 27 2(! 19... N.W. N. N.W. 



19 10 29 25... N. N. N. 



20 22 32 35... 8. E. E. E. 



21 30 39 28... 8. E. N. W. N. W. 



22 25 40 33... W. N. W. W. 



23 30, 40 3G... W. W. W. 



24 30 43 3B... W. 8. S. E. 



25 41 .54 4-1... 8. N.byW. N.W. 



26 3S .56 40... W. W. W. 



27 36 4.3 40... W. N. W. N. 



28 86 40 .56... E. E. 8. 



39 43 40 35... W. W. W. 



30 35 40 37... N. W. N. W. W. 



13 35 46 38... N.W. N.W. 8. 



Observations made by Rachel S. Smith. 



Average temperature for March, 1876 — 6 A. 

 M., aa 5-10 ; '2 P. M., 43 ; 8 P. M., mi ; the 

 general averaj^e beiiijj; about 38. Consideriuf,' 

 the dilTerent liours, when the temperature was 

 recorded, there seems to be very little ditfer- 

 ence, in the averajife dej;rees, between March, 

 1870, and the same month in 177(3. The mean 

 temperature of a day, nor yet the mean dhec- 

 tion of a wind, cannot be ascertained as cor- 

 rectly by a single oliscrvation made in the 

 early part of it, as at ditl'erent liours in it. 



Hygroraetrical Diary, at Philadelphia, for 

 March, 1776. 



I>.\Ta. HOUB8. HYOBOM. 



A.M. P.M. A.M. P.M. 

 1 9 3 30 36 



2 9 3 40 50 



3 No observatious made 



4 9 3 .50 60 



5 9 3 100 100 



6 9 3 80 85 



7 9 3 90 80 



8 9 3 50 61 



9 9 3 80 86 



10 -No observution ... 



11 9 3 40 .55 



12 9 3 .SO. 86 



13 9 3 90 86 



14 9 3 95 90 



15 9 3 70 80 



16 9 3 101 Ill 



17 No observation 



18 9 3 80 86 



19 9 3 70 SO 



20 9 3 70 80 



21 9 3 80 75 



22 9 3 30 41 



2i 9 3 44 47 



34 No observation 



35 9 3 86 i") 



2(i 9 3 100 110 



27 9 .... 3 75 85 



28 9 3 50 65 



29 9 3 SO 75 



30 9 3 70 80 



81 No observation... 



From Pennsylra?iia Magazine for April, 1876. 

 IIil<iromctri/ differs somewhat from Barome- 

 try, and relates more to the moisture in the 

 air than to its density or pre.ssure, although 

 both instruments may be used for a similar 

 purpose. There \vere live days — Sundays — on 

 which no ob.servations were made, and hence 

 we have omitted making average. Tlic ob- 

 servations were all made at i) A. M., before 

 the true character of the day is determined, 

 and do not give so fully the mean results. 



Barometrical Diary, at Liberty Square, Lan- 

 caster County, Pa., for March, 1876. 

 C ileuotcs cloudy; F, fair ; K, rain, 



6A.M. 2.P.M. 8P. M. IN. UAIN-. 



1 29.60 C 29.79 C 27.-10 K 



2 .50 F 62 K 62 F 17 



3 62 F 62 F 62 F 



4 SO F 74 F 74 F 



6 A. M. 2 P. .M. 8 P. M. in. ini.v. 



5 .74 F 72 F 79 F 



6 72 F 76 F .5S F 



7 4.S F 85 F 2! F 



8 27 .(IOC 30 F 30 F 72 



9 2.5C 31 F 36 F 



10 40 F 40 F 4(1 F 



11 70 C .50 C .51 C 



12 -WV 40 F 19 C Ot 



18 -.HF .50 F 60 F 37 



14 (il F (!0 F (i3 F 



15 70 F 6(!C 63 F 



16 .5011 lOlt 27.00 C 1.23 



17 28.86 C 38.87 F 2X.iM F 



18 37.07 K 39.06 C 29.25 F 



19 60 F mV 60 F 



20 78 F 70c 39 C 



31 aS.76C 28.n0C 2S.10 U 



32 29.30 F 29..50 F 2'.I.U F 



3i .50 C .500 .50 F 



34 .50 F .56 F 46 C 



25 40 8 29.000 3S.88 K 3.16 



36 39.00 F 06 29.10 F 



37 26 F 30 F 33 F 



28 (H I{ 28.75K 28..56 K 1.87 



29 38.68 90 F 39.00 F 



80 39.00 8 29.02 13 F 



31 80 F 33 70 F 



Ottservations madetnj liaehcl S. Smith, 

 There wen^ eight rains during the niontli, 

 in which 8.:i7 inches fell, averaging 1.04 5' inches 

 at each lain fall, or ."27 in. for each ilay in tlu; 

 month, lianiniilri/ has relation to lUeprcs.sioc 

 or (leusily of the atmospliere ; and from the 

 foregoing it will be seen that tlie/ii|//(r.vt lijrm-cs 

 were recorded at 2 o'clock, P. M., (2."J7'J,) on 

 the first day of the montli. 



SWALLOWS. 



" One swriUoir will nat )iiitl-c a siiriimrr,'''' 

 neither will a score of tliem sometimes, for 

 we have seen the latest arrivals among tliem — 

 the " House Martins," or "Purple Martins," 

 {Progne pnrpurcii) — .sadly mi.staken in their 

 meterological calcidations ; we have seen the 

 jioor little fellows looking out of their bo.xesat 

 the falling snow, only occasionally uttering a 

 feeble rhcr-rre-ce, or a faint ricli-cij-dirkei/, and 

 .seemingly wondering what it all meant; seeing 



that the weather had lieen so beautilid and 

 they had been so cheerful — even noisy — just 

 the ilay jirevious. Tins, however, does not 

 connn )idy occur; therefore, when the swal- 

 lows make their advent, and especially tlie 

 si)ecies above named, we may feel pretty cer- 

 tain that summer is near. And what inno- 

 cent, cheerful, industrious and, withal, plucky 

 little birds they are, too, and sometimes noi.sy 

 to boot. From "earlj' morn to dewy eve" 

 they are on the wing, and in pursuit of their 

 insect prey. The amount of this kind of food 

 they daily consume we have no means at 

 jiresent to clearly estimate, but when we con- 

 si<ler that, with the ex('e|)tion of one species, 

 perhaps, tliey feed on nothing else, we may 

 conclude that the quantity inu.st be enormous. 

 Their economical stitu.s is tlierefore uiuiue.s- 

 tionablc, although they niay destroy a few 

 bees occasionally, by way of a relish. 



Six species belonging to tlie family IIlUl'V- 

 l>IN'n).K, visit Lancaster county every spring, 

 make their summer altode, breed, and rear 

 their little families here, (some raising two 

 broods.) and leave us again in early antunm ; 

 namely, the "Barn Swallow," Jliriuab) hor- \ 

 reorum; the "Cliff Swallow," H. lunifrons; | 



the "Whit.'-bellied Swallow," //. hirnlor ; the 

 "Hank Swallow," Oitijh: ri/dOi'd; the "l{ough- 

 winged Swallow," C'. titrripeuiii.% and the 

 " I'uiple Martin," Proline jiuiimrca. The 

 "(.'hiinney Swallow," Clintiini ;icf<i,«/iVi, is 

 now placed in the family Cyi'siklid.e, or 

 SwiKi's, but for all i)ractical purpos<'s it is na 

 good a swallow as any among them. They 

 take a great deal of their prey, if not all of it, 

 "on the wing," but some of the species do 

 not conline themselves to the softer, more 

 delicate, and comparatively liarmle.Hs in.sccln, 

 but al.so " l)olt " May-k-t'lles, (ioldstnith.s, 

 .hine-biigs. and the larger and more rigid 

 kind. (Wilson found six of the.se in the 

 stomach of one Purple Martin.) Kaeh female 

 swallow jn'oduees from four to six young ones 

 at a brood, and where she produces two br<K)d.s 

 it rc'ipiires a vast nundK-r of insects to supply 

 them with their needed aliment. The White- 

 bellied swallow is, however, sjiid to devour 

 berries in the fall, just before it leaves us for 

 the sunny .South. 



We r(-niend«'r di.slinctly the time yet when 

 it was believed that swallows did not migrate 

 southward at the approach of winter, but that 

 they remained with lis and hid in hollow trees, 

 knot-holes, in the mud, or in some other simi- 

 lar pla(;e, but that idea, even among the il- 

 literate or ignorant, receives now but little 

 credit, if any are found simple enough to )x;- 

 lieve il at all. 



We once occupied a house for five years that 

 had been Iho resort of the Purple >fartins for 

 more than thirty years. They always ap- 

 peared suddenly and about the liflei'Utli of 

 May, and left just as suddenly about the 

 lirst of Seiitemlier, never varying more than 

 live or six days from Cliese dates. They 

 occupied bo.xes "under the eaves," and when 

 the colony became too large they would 

 build nests outside, or on to|i of the boxes. 

 They were very early ri.sers, often to the di.s- 

 turl)an<;e of our own morning repose, and al- 

 though they also retired early, yet they would 

 avail themselves of the very latest moment of 

 twilight. We think they were ab<iut the 

 busiest colony of living In-ings on the ejirtli, 

 that had cmiie under our oliservation. They 

 Were constantly "on the go," except when it 

 rained very hard. They appeared to be the 

 veriest slaves to their own and their chililien"s 

 stomaclis. Their coining in the spring was 

 never heralded, and their dejiarture in early 

 antunm was without any previous warning. 

 We retired on a spring evening KirallDuttus, 

 and we arose in the morning .■^indlownl, and 

 inversely this was the same in autumn. 



We always fell sad at llieir departure, foril 

 indicaled tiiat the summer had gone and that 

 winter was approaching. Ihit during their slay 

 they Were nio.st industrious •in.seetcii-s," sally- 

 ing forth and returning tothciryoungasinucli 

 as twenty times within an hour, and every 

 time freighted with an insect rep.i.'^t. for one 

 or more ot their oll'spring. On anotlier <H'ca- 

 sion we ociupied a house, an unused chimney 

 in whuh had been a nesting place for the 

 "chimney swallows" for many years. These 

 usually niade tlu'ir ajipearance a little earlier 

 than the Martins. On one occa-sion one of 

 their nests fell down on a hearth near the foot 

 of our bed. and wa.s only .sepanited from us bv 

 a jiaper screen. This nest was made of small 

 sticks and twigs cemented together by a kind 

 of gum, and lined inside witli a few feathers. 

 When it lell the young birds made a most dis- 

 tressing noise. We righleil the iie.st on the 

 hearth and put the nakeil young birds into it 

 again, and the parents appreciating our. services 

 at once established I'onlidenlial relations with 

 us. anil continuecl to feed them in that situa- 

 tion until they were fully Hedged, when they 

 left us without even s;iying "good-bye." Ihit 

 that little family of liv("' chimney swallows was 

 about the noisesl "institution" weever heard. 

 Tin y could "take down" the noisiest alarm 

 clock thatever was maile. Wealmo.st n-iwuted 

 that we had given them domicile in ourajiart- 

 meiits. That little family devoured at lea-st 

 twelve breakfasts every morning Ix'fore we got 

 one, and if talking during the meal facilitate* 

 digestion, they were first-class physiologists. 



