1876.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



117 



apiwarance to a serious extent lu tlie olil boroimli, 

 ami tlie "old stui^ers " who slill travel Ipy tlie eoaeli 

 ami know notliini; of tlie raili'oail, areaskinir what it 

 all means/ They have liatl in the past one liundml 

 and tifty yeursot'extensive (lerinantown pear-euUiire, 

 cold seasons ami warm seasons, liii^h temperature 

 and low temperature, loni; hot ami i-uld "spells," 

 and rai)id anil wide ehani^es, ilry seas<ins ami wet 

 seasons, hii;h eultiire, low eulture, and no eulture, 

 dwart" tree and slandaivl trees, while in vai'ieries they 

 have had Viears and t^eekels, and all the kinds known 

 in the books, but no tire-blii^ht ever t^mn' hen- before. 

 They are, therefore, ipiile sure that I he jiredisposiu',' 

 cause is one that never existed before, ami ean he 

 none of those sui^i^ested in the list at)ove and \\'hieh 

 are so (»ften referred to. What the cause is must l)e 

 left to the ])hilosopherB, and no doubt they will make 

 it clear in time. 



One tliimr seems elear^and that is one that con- 

 cerns us most — that is a preventive. Our old corres- 

 ix)i»lent, Mr. William Saunders, of Washin'.;ton, was 

 onee seriously troubled with the disease in t'.ie V.x- 

 perimental tiarden ; and he took to wiiishiuir the 

 stems of the trees with lime ami sulphur In the wiii- 

 ter season, and sima' then he has not been troubled. 



Now, there is a |>ossil)ilit.y that this is but a eoinei- 

 denee, for we have seen that in the outlying' districts 

 of I'hiladeliihia the disease has disappeared for some 

 years after bein^■ serious, and yet nothini,^ has been 

 done. Hut in Mr. Saunders' ease we hanlly think it 

 is of this eharaeler, for all of us who know of the 

 devotion of the famous old fruit-i^rowers to their pur- 

 suits know how they used to wash trees with lime 

 and other artieh's,aml bow healthy trees always w/re 

 under this treatment. There is no doubt but judiei- 

 ously washini; the bark is eondueive to health, and 

 tliis fact favors the pr.ieliee of Mr. Saunders. 



IJut this ean ordy be ilone when the trees are not in 

 leaf; at this season all that ean bi' done is to cut 

 away anil burn all the diseast^d branches as fast as 

 they seemeil injured, for whatever may be the cause 

 of the disease it seems (piite likidy that diseased mat- 

 ter will eomnuinicate the trouble to healthy trees. 



We Iiiivt' taken both of tlie lorogdiiiif iifticles 

 on " bliglit" tVom th(^ cditoriiil colmiitis iifllie 

 Gcrmantnani Tclajriipli, and Wi; liiid tliat the 

 vetefan editor of that ancient and alily<oti- 

 diieted slieet is about as mticli in the ilark on 

 tlie subjec't ofbliijld ;is we, and the I'est of tlie 

 world are. We opine, however, that tlie phe- 

 nonienon of lire-blijjht is not as recent a thing 

 as seems to be iini)lied in the aliove e.xtnicts, 

 for we a^e quite certain we have seen it, or 

 something antilogous to it, ;is mtich ;is live ;ind 

 forty years ago, and at many ililU'reiit jieriods 

 since that time. We allude to the subject now 

 bectinse ;it the July meeting of the Ltincaster 

 Tiiiinaun Society, one of the nieiiil>ersexhil)ite(l 

 a blighted pear liranch, and felt quite certain 

 that it was caused by an insect, the 'Joutifus 

 pyri; but a critictd examination demonstrated 

 tliatiteould nothavi^lieeti caused by said insect, 

 or any otiier. True, there /.sa species of blight 

 produced by the borings of the insect al)ove 

 named, but it does not take place so suddenly 

 as the lire-blight, and, morcovei-, it is coiilined 

 to that ptirt of the twig or liranchli't that is 

 above the point of iici-fortitioii, ami it follows 

 down the branch as fai' as the insect pene- 

 trates. 



There are various species of the.se little blight 

 beetles, all of which bore into dilfereiit siirts of 

 trees both living and dettd. Sotne years ago;i 

 piece of a peticli biatich, three inches long and 

 iibout half ail inch in ditinieter was sent to us 

 from Maryliiiid, whitdi was .sm'iously infested 

 by blight beetles, wliicli the sender alleged 

 were killing his trees. We inclosed the piece 

 in a close box, ami in due time bred <uit a 

 dozen or more of a small black species of Bos- 

 trichusor Tamiciui, \\liich we specially referred 

 to pcrsim. 



But these insects are liy no means the cause 

 of what is ])Oiiularly known under the name of 

 "lire-blight," or " petir-bliglit." Rixi), in his 

 "Vegetable Kingdom," says : '^JiUijhi is one 

 of the most common di.sea.ses which affect veg- 

 etaliles, and yet on the nature of which the 

 greatest difference of opinion prevails. The 

 disease seems to htive been observed bv, and 

 to have been familiar to the ancient Cireeks. 

 They regarded it ;is a scourge from lieaven, or 

 from their eiiragetl deities ; and therefore did 

 not trouble themselves in the invest igtition of 

 its nature and ctiiise. It was ;dso lamiliar to 

 the llomans, under the name i>f Itiihiijo or 

 rust. Dr. Kielh has endetivored to |ioiiit out 

 at lea.st three species ; 1st, blight arising from 

 cold and frosty winds ; 2d, from a iit^culiar va- 



pour, perhaps originating in certain electric 



conditions of the titmosphcre, anil :!cl, from the 



lu-esence of small parasitictil^ioiyi. " ;\nd, 



while these relate more piirticiilarly to plants, 



yet they produce tin' stiine elfects on trees tiiid 



shrubbery. Hut old and tiulhorilative tis these 



views ;ire, and iiijurintis as the elTccIs arising 



from these causes may be, llicy do not exphiin 



I tliei'anseof oin- modern lire-lilight, which often 



comes sudileiily — in one night -alfecting a sin- 



\ gle tree, or a single braiieli of a tree, whilst all 



1 else is healthful and untouched. In thespeci- 



I men exliibiteil at the meeting of the society 



' above allnileil to, tdthough the letives were <a 



dtirk brown— tilmost a black — the wood wa-s 



green tunl ii])pareiitly heallliful, tind another 



member statecl tlitit he had .seen early blighted 



brtmches drop their leavc'S, and push out fresh 



leaves in tho same season. — Ei). 



THE BIRDS AND THEIR USES. 



The subject of birds and their relation to a*;rieul- 

 tnre has an inipoi-tanee which Is not '.generally ajipre- 

 ciateii, tint which is bcini; enforced by havoc which is 

 beiie^ worked by insects where birds have licen de- 

 stroyed. A Itieiimond ( Va.) pa|H',r recently stated 

 that bad news came IVmn every t^>baeco i^rowim; dis- 

 trict of the State, the plants "bein.' eaten by the lly. 

 Thus, in the opinion of the paper, tiie chief sta[4le of 

 a large part of Viri^inia was in damper. This special 

 peril to th(^ Vin;inia tobacco crop has i;ro\vn within 

 the last twenty yi^irs. It is helievi'd that om^ of the 

 chief causes is the destruction wrou;,'ht of late years 

 upon the l)irds. With the end of the war an in lis- 

 eriniinate hunt for birds has bcijun and ever since 

 has been continued. The i;reatest enemy of insect 

 lil'e is the bird, and as the birds have been destroyed 

 in V'iri^inia, every ■jne has noticed the increase of in- 

 sects that attack the crops. The same lesson has 

 lom^ been learned in other countrii's, so that it has 

 bi'conu" an aceept.ed maxim in Kuropc to foster the 

 birds, and in Australia, and of late in this country, 

 Kuropean birds have been imported for the simple 

 puriiose of inscet destruction. 



In the report of the Commissioner of Aijriciilture 

 there is an article from the pen of Prof. (Jeorf;e II. 

 Perkins, of Vermont., in which he says that there arc 

 in the State of Vi^'inont probably not less than ei;;ht 

 hundred species of lepidopterous insects, (i. e., the 

 moth and butterllies), and in the; w'hole United .Stat.cs 

 there are not less, proiiahly, than four thousand, liut 

 leavin;; the rest of the States, Prof. Perkins conlincs 

 himself to the followiiii; calculation to Vermont, 

 anil works out the followini^ alartiiini;' results : 



" If we sui)|io.sc the number of species in this State 

 to he eight hundred, the increase will be somethinn; 

 like this ; Each female lays on an avera<re -JoO eiji^s 

 — but we will place the numbei- at ^Ull). Now suj>- 

 pii.se in tlie year ISTl there exists only one pair of 

 each species, there would be during' the year i; HI, 111)11 

 e^pfs produced, which would devcloii into "tO, 1)0(1 

 caterpillars. If half of them were females, next year 

 we should have l'30,()i)l) pair of insects, which would 

 ]>roiluci' :;Ci,()IIO,l)i)() caterpillars for isr.!, and so on, 

 so that in live years there would come from the iiii- 

 eheeked increase of only one pair of each species 

 l,31.5,(l(li),lM)ii,()i)(i,nOO of caterpillars, or ;.'0.),i)(ll),()()l) 

 for every siniilc acre in the State. It is true that as 

 the arraiii;'emciit of tbini^s now is, not one in a hun- 

 drcii, if indeed one in thousamls of these e-^i^s ever 

 reach maturity, but the iircat a^'cnts of destruction 

 arc the birds. .Vlakiii^' all |io.ssible deductions on iie- 

 countofall destructive inliuences, except the birds, 

 we have left a very larije tiirure, ami if this is niulli- 

 plied liy the number of jiairs actually livim;, and as 

 all know of some kinds I here are thousands, the pro- 

 duct is soinetliiiii; appallinLT-" 



If such are the facts in Vermont, where a cold cli- 

 mate tends to harass and diminish insei't life, what 

 must be the innumerable hordes of insect depredators 

 under warmer and more i^cnial skies ? if any of the 

 animal creation, by its relation to the ifcneral econo- 

 my of nature, deserves to be protected, it is the birds. 

 For every apparent evil in nature the Creator has 

 provided a remedy, and liirils arc the insect dcstroy- 

 I CIS. The rcniedy is one in which all can have a share 

 in rendering' ell'cetual. Kariners and planters should 

 exert themselves to protect the birds from the sense- 

 less, savage, and worse than useless slauijhter to 

 which they have been condemned. These little heinsfs 

 not only minister to the solace of man by tlieir beauty 

 and melody, hut they are even more useful than they 

 are beautiful. 



The foregoing we clip from the columns of 

 the Baltimore Sun; and to illustrate the iie- 

 cuniary loss sustained by certtiin districts of 

 our coimtiy, on account of the feaiful increase 

 of destructive insects, we (piotc the following 

 from the " Eighth -Vniuitil Keport of the Nox- 

 ious and Benelicial Insects of the State of 

 .Mis.souri," by Prof. C. V. Uilcy, the State 

 Entomologist : 



" To enumerate by counties, the following 

 figures apjuoximate the real lo.ss sustained 

 from the injury to grains alone : 



"Atchinsoii, S7iH),i)iii); .Vndrew, $.")0t),000 ; 

 Btites, S-'tHI,0()l); Hilton, .*.'.,OtlO; Huchanan, 

 ;f_>,IM»l).(IIKI; Cahlwell, .■jKl.OlH) ; Cass, *-i,(MHI,- 

 000; Clinton. jfliOO.OOO ; ClilV, .*;S()0.0OU ; l)e 

 Kail), *Jl)ll,00;i; (Jentry, SIOU.IMNI; Harrison, 

 SIO.OOO; llenrv, ?<SO(r,OtKI ; Holt, Sf.lOtl.OOO ; 

 .lackson, ^-J.-'ililMMMl ; .Jasper. $."),l)00 ; .lohii- 

 soii, 81,000,000; Lafayette, «-2,000,000 ; New- 

 ton, 8."'.,000 ; Pettis, jf5O,00U ; Platte, ?HIH),- 

 OOU; Kay, *7.'),(MH»; St. Clair, 8-.'")0,OO0 ; Ver- 

 non, lf7.">',0IK(, and Worth, «10,0(K). 



"TlH^foregoingestimtiti's exceed thealnonnt 

 of .S1">,000,(MIO. They are airived at, in Hie 

 majority of instance.s, by combining the fol- 

 lowing elements: The number of acres of 

 crops destroyed ; the average amount of the 

 crop, and the vahie of the cro[), allow- 

 ing forty cents a bushel for corn, one dol- 

 lar for whetit, one dollar and a half for 

 barley, and thirty cents a bushel for oats. 

 The timount of loss redeemed by crops that 

 sui'ceeded after the insects left, it is im- 

 possible to determine; and yet tliis timount 

 may agtiin be olT.set by the injury, both tempo- 

 rary tiiid permanent, to fruit, fruit trees, vine- 

 ytirds, ganlens, inciidowsand pastures; by the 

 iact tiiat such la-ops as llax, castor-beans, itc, 

 have not biH'ii eslimaled in the iralcidation ; 

 and lastly, by the injury to stock, the animals 

 nece.ssai-ilv ilrivcn out of Ihe (•ountry, and the 

 general depreciation of properly." 



The foregoing has relation to a single spe- 

 cies of inseiHs, namely : the " Hocky Moimtain 

 Locust," ((irasshoppe.r) tiiid there are hun- 

 dreds of others that mtilliply as rapidly and 

 are almost, if not qiiib'. as destructive. 



Now, tilthoMgh it might Im- dillieult to de- 

 monstrate satisfactorily in whtit m inner birds 

 could affect the iiicretise or decrease of tliP.se 

 and mtiny other insi^i-ts, yet it litis bi'di stated 

 as a, reiiiarkable coiniMdence, that sincc^ the 

 wholesale destruction of the wild animtils of 

 tliegrciitwest — esiiccially the leathered trilies, 

 there is, coinpartitively, a greater increase, and 

 a more fretiuent occurrence of destructive in- 

 .sects. Be this as it mtiy, taken tis a whole the 

 benelicMjd qutdities of birds— and especially in- 

 sectivorous birds— are altogether unqueslioiia- 

 ble. SuHicieiil tillowtince is never nitide for 

 tlw benelils derived from birds early in the 

 season, ;ind before there istiiiything iu the w;iy 

 of fruit and vegetables for them to destroy. 

 Moreover, nitiiiy species thai do not generally 

 apiiropriale insects as food lor themselves, vet 

 invtirinlily feed their young upon them. In- 

 deed, there is htirdly an nnh r or -.i fniiiilii of 

 birds thtit are not, either direi'tly or inilirectly 

 a lienefitto the vegetable world— not excepting 

 even the ctiriiivoroiis species. Onreyesare in 

 a niMstire shut to the constant o|)erations of 

 the feathered tribes, tind if they destroy a .sin- 

 gle female insect, or the kirva of the same, 

 which during the (;ourse of the sea-son would 

 htive been the i)areiit of thousands, they illus- 

 trate in ;i most forcible m:iiiner how much "an 

 ouiKH' of prevent ion is worth morethtin :i pound 

 of cure," and tilso illustrate that wilh oureyea 

 thus closed, it is impo.ssible to tell what tin 

 elephant is like, by only feeling its tusk or its 

 tail. 



It is true, where there is a redundancy of 

 bifils and ;i iiaucity of insects, the former must 

 hiive a Hvinij, and to obtain it, they will ;i])- 

 liropritite ii part of the crop which they htive 

 helped you to save. If the naked (lue.stions 

 were "Birds, "or "No Birds. "t lie lUiitler would 

 be easily decideil tiiid iiuickly, for wilh no birds 

 at all, this world would soon be ii bleak and 

 barren waste, altogether unlit for huintui be- 

 ings to dwell on. — Ed. 



FRENCH COOKING. 



" The French .acquire their art of providing 

 and cooking from example and haliit. The 

 skill is handed down from one genenition to 

 tiiiother, each genenition adding to its own 

 improvements. Among the professional cooks 

 there exists marvellous skill of combination 

 and change. They cook eggs in one hundred 

 and twelve ditl'erent ways ; they liave more 



