84 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[June, 



their limited oiJiiortunities, we are com])elled 

 to admit tliat our ancestors knew mucli more 

 alxjut these things tlian we are accustomed to 

 giving them credit for. 



The Ei-ergrecns^ or Conifern, are an inter- 

 esting group of the vegetaljle kingdom, and 

 Mr. Hoopes' book lias done much in illustrat- 

 ing, classifying and facilitating their study, 

 and has supplied a want that had been Ifing in 

 existence, although time may suggest additions 

 and improvements in some of its details. Of 

 course we cannot on this occasion add any- 

 thing on tlie subject of their cultivation, either 

 in Philip Miller's day or at the present time, 

 for this would involve a labor far greater than 

 we are now able to render, nor would any 

 general remarks l)e very satisfactory in a spe- 

 cific application. We have retained Miller's 

 peculiar ortliography and punctuation, Ijut we 

 have supitrossed most of his capitalization, in 

 order to adapt it more to the taste of the mod- 

 ern reader ; but seeing tliat he wrote one 

 hundred and forty-five years agf), his style is 

 not so faulty as many of the more modern 

 compositions on the same snliject. Our main 

 object in transferring these pajiers to the col- 

 umns of The Faumkk is to give character to 

 our centennial vohtme in its efforts to contrast 

 the present and the pastin arhoricidture. — Ed. 



PACKING EGGS. 



We again have the egg season upon us in 

 full swing, and once more we have a few words 

 to say upon the subject, but it is more to pack- 

 ing of the eggs that we would refer on this 

 occasion. Every one nearly lias their pet way 

 of sending their eggs, and doubtless there is 

 something to be stiid for each system, whether 

 boxes or baskets, chaff or hay, be in use. We 

 would not pretend to dictate, or to say that 

 any way is especially superior to another, for 

 we should be inundated with letters from in- 

 dignant egg-packers, each exemplifying their 

 assertion in praise of their own method by 

 some wonderful successes, and we should be- 

 lieve them, for we have known eggs to hatch, 

 and hatch well, which have been packed in 

 divers ways. Perhaps the most remarkable ot 

 all cases which have come under our own 

 knowledge is when twelve eggs were brought 

 from Malta in a j*»c dish, ancl eleven of them 

 hatched. We actually saw the chickens and 

 know it to be true. 



In just touching on the various ways of 

 packing iu use we would only i)ut our young 

 hands on guard against faults tliey may l)e led 

 to commit. Where boxes are used the labels 

 must l)e nailed on before the eggs are placed in 

 them, and tlielidbe screwed down, not nailed. 

 Although we have known eggs hatched in 

 boxes where nails have been used, still it is a 

 great cliance if the eggs do not get jarred by 

 hamfnering. Then the points of the nails 

 used for fastening down tlie label should be 

 clenched on tlie under side, or the points 

 might run into the eggs ; for only last week 

 we had a package of eggs fronj a gentleman 

 wheie the utmost care had been taken to 

 screw down the lid of the Ijox, but tlie label 

 had been afterwards fastened down with inch 

 nails and had penetrated the shells of several 

 * eggs. We cannot, consequently, recommend 

 amateur packers to be too careful over this. 

 Then every egg .should, in our opinion, lie 

 securely wrapped in a piece of paper ; it helps 

 so much towards guarding the eggs from being 

 jarred in transit. Hut even tiere we know of 

 one of our greatest Dorking breeders who has 

 marvelous success with the eggs he sells, and 

 who simply places the eggs in chafl" and ties 

 down the Ijox lid, using neither nails nor 

 screws ; and we saw a letter the other day 

 from a gentleman in Jersey, stating that he 

 had hatched nine chickens from twelve eggs so 

 packed ; but the secret here is the string^— we 

 are convinced of it. It makes something for 

 the many hands a parcel of this kind has to go 

 through to hold by, and this is the greatest 

 point of all. We would urge on every one, 

 never mind whetlier you pack in hay, or chaff, 

 or sawdust, or moss, let the box or basket, 

 whichever is used, liave a handle, either m.ade 

 ot string on the box, or of wicker on the 



basket, but let there Ije a handle. No one but 

 an eye witness has any conception how a 

 handleless package gets knocked about. One 

 porter passes it to another, and perhaps he to 

 the guard ; or it has, may be, to go by a car- 

 rier, or a servant is sent to the station for it, 

 and so the harm is done. It is not the dis- 

 tance does the injury, but the knocks and 

 tumbles the packages get. Now, if they all 

 had handles they would in most ca.ses certain- 

 ly be taken up liy them, and the chance of eggs 

 liatching would be greatly increased. 



As we said, we wish todLsparage no pet ways 

 of packing, but we would venture to warn our 

 friends against the use of bran, oats, or saw- 

 dust — that is, when they are used alone ; for 

 however full the packages may be filled with 

 such mixtures, a long journey will shake the 

 contents down much closer, and tlie eggs will 

 very probably come in contact, when tliey will 

 necessarily lie cracked, and the contents run- 

 ning out from one or two so cracked eggs might 

 ruin a whole sitting. We have, moreover, our- 

 selves seen eggs in a package jiierced by the 

 sharp ends of oats ; but this would n<it often be 

 the case except in very thinly-shelled eggs, and 

 such should not be sent out at all as a rule. 

 One or two of our friends use moss, and we be- 

 lieve with immense success, but even then we 

 should always reoommend the box being lined 

 with good and soft hay first. 



In the use of baskets we have noticed so many 

 which are with a small bottom, sloping up to a 

 larger top ; but these ba.skets arc so liable to 

 tilt over.* We should always have them made 

 sugar-loaf-shaped, when they are able to with- 

 stand a good shaking without fear of falling 

 over. We have used, ourselves, with great 

 success, baskets of the shape of the wicker 

 cases in which spirit jars are often encased. 

 But of all egg baskets a long way ahead are, 

 in our opinion, those u.sed at Early Wood. 

 They are oval, and are just as country women 

 go for the Saturday shopping with, having 

 huge, upright handles, which it is impossible 

 not to take hold by, for they, being tied to- 

 gether at tlie top, form a most perfect handle. 



All must allow it is but correct for a sitting 

 of eggs to lie properly and securely packed wlien 

 sold, that have to go any distance by rail or 

 carriage, and that the puichasernaturally looks 

 for it. We would, however, ask purchasers 

 not to be too (piick in writing sharply about 

 the non-succe.ss of a sitting, for often the blame 

 may be traced to their own doors ; and, if not, 

 one severe fall at a station or one heavy jarring 

 would often ruin the whole success of a sitting. 

 And we hear, too, repeatedly of failures among 

 the eggs of our most hone.st and upright ven- 

 ders, whose other eggs sent out have done well, 

 when the cause could only be traced to .some 

 such accident as mentioned above. But that 



*Altliouirli 110 reference is made to it in tlie fore- 

 ffoiiiff article, nor do we recollect havinc: seen it else- 

 wliere, yet it lias often occurred to us, tliat any ves- 

 sel used for the t ransixirtation of e.icic», peaches, jiears, 

 berries, or in fact any ripe and delicate kind of fruit, 

 should not be smaller at the liottom tlian at the top ; 

 not only because it is more easily overturned than a 

 vessel of wider base, but because the jarrin;[^ process 

 thniuirh lon<r transportation settles the upper wider 

 layers down into a narrower space, necessarily pro- 

 tluciiitr a compression that could not occur, if said ves- 

 sels were of equal size above and below, or of the u|)- 

 lijjht churn-shape. Strawberries, blackberries, and 

 sometimes even cherries,' hauled ibr a long distance 

 in such narrow-bottomed vessels, especially over rouj^li 

 roads, will be found compacted and indented at oj* 

 near the bottom, while at the top they may have a 

 fair appearance. 



Proximately this may also be the ease with efrgs, 

 especially when the vessels are larjre, and they have 

 to pass over a rougrh road, or to withstand the long 

 and continuous jarring of a railroad trip. 



It is true that the bowl-shaped nests of birds and 

 domestic fowls favors the pressing: of the egjrs against 

 each other, but then it must be remembered that the 

 number is usually very limited, and the nests them- 

 selves are quiet — perfectly motionless; with just suf- 

 tieient concentrating force to keep them huddled to- 

 gether, and to facilitate ineubatiou. From the fact that 

 all objects gravitate downward, and when they are of 

 a delicate or tender nature, and are circumscribed by 

 the walls of funnel-shaped vessels, it seems reasona- 

 ble to suppose that the longer they n'lnain in that 

 condition, and the nn»re jarred they are, the more 

 compressed they will bceonic. — Eu, 



a handle easy to lay hold of is of great value 

 to every cgg-iiacker we are quite sure, and 

 would always recommend purchasers to insist 

 upon it. — IF,, in Jour, of Ilort. 



HOW TO GET RID OF ROSE SLUGS. 



•Passing the residence of ex-Maj'or Atlee this 

 morning, and admiring tlie display of roses in his 

 open side-yard, we enquired, "How do you fight 

 the rose slugs." The laconic reply was, "With a 

 small boy at one cent for fifty !" This touched the 

 bottom fact of the slug business. After all the 

 theories and "infallible remedies" recommended, 

 experience has demonstrated that the only efieetive 

 remedy is hand-picking. " A small boy at a penny 

 for fifty "can make his expenses to the Centennial in 

 an ordinary collection of roses, if the season is 

 " favorable " — to the slugs. — Daily Fipress. 



Just SO ; we can indorse the above remedy, 

 for we have "tried it twice," and the last time 

 the most thoroughly and successfully. It is a 

 Franco-German remedy, and we believe the 

 liest remedy ever "invented." "Small boys," 

 at a lutlf 2jeiiny a hundred, are of some ac- 

 count in France or Germany, in the destruc- 

 tion of the various kinds of slwjs, although 

 they might not be able to make much head- 

 way against the Phylloxera, or our western 

 "Chinch-bugs." 



A few years ago our garden was seriously 

 infested with " Kose-slugs, " (Selandriarosu',) 

 and our spouse was iu a state of corroding 

 anxiety. She did not care about handling 

 poison, and we instructed her in the most 

 practical alternative, namely, "hand-picking," 

 in which we assisted her, and finally con- 

 quered them. 



In May a small black saw-fly makes its ap- 

 pearance on the rose-bushes, which is easily 

 captured in early cool mornings, but in warm 

 midday it becomes too active for easy capture. 

 These flies may often be seen in pairs — male 

 and female — and the latter deposits her eggs 

 on the under side of the leaf, immediately on 

 or near the margin. In June the young slugs 

 are hatched out, and they are then so small, 

 and so near the color of the leaves, that hun- 

 dreds of them may be present without attract- 

 ing attention. As they grow larger a skeleton- 

 izing, and finally a browning of the leaves will 

 be jierceptible. This it the work of the slugs, 

 ami in the protected parts of the bush they 

 will be found on either or both sides of the 

 leaves, but where expostnl to the hot sun they 

 usually prefer the lower sides, and for that 

 reason, too, the application of a poison may 

 not reach them all. 



When the slugs are fully matured they un- 

 dergo a change in color, becoming more of a 

 yellowi.sli green, and if you have done nothing 

 to destroy them, they leave the bushes then 

 and go into the ground, and are changed to a 

 small dark brown pupa, or chrysalis. If, after 

 the leaves of tlie bushes appear as if they had 

 been smitten with " fire-blight," and you find 

 no more of the slug-pests on them, you should 

 happen to indulge ahappy feeling that now the 

 hifestation has ended, don't be too sanguine, 

 because you may have a second brood more 

 numerous and destructive than the first brood. 

 If you don't have them the same season, you 

 surely will the following spring. But if you 

 have been active, vigilant, and persevering, in 

 hand-picking the first brood, the following ones 

 will be light work, and you will finally exterm- 

 inate them. We know no plant easier kept 

 clean than a rose-bush, from slugs and aphids. 

 Women and theirfriends visit them daily, half 

 daily or tri-daily, if not hourly ; tending tliem, 

 watering them, cultivating them, watching 

 their jirogress, and anticipating the expansion 

 of their beautiful and fragrant flowers. All 

 they have to do Is to institute an examination 

 every time they visit them, and to say to 

 their lady friends, " now Mrs, Pry, Mrs, Shy 

 or Mrs, Spry, look out for the slugs and 

 aphids," A small pairof wooden forceps with 

 flattened ends, and a simple spring between the 

 handles to keep them open, is a convenient in- 

 strument to crush the slugs, if they do not 

 choose to use their dainty fingers, but under 

 no circumstances, is this latter process half as 

 repugnant as disemboweling a chicken or a fish. 

 Where tlie whole leaf has been skeletonized, it 



