154 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ October, 



water consumed daily by a lot of cattle, and 

 as it had to be pumped for them, the quantity 

 used was easily ascertained. The result of 

 his observations was that thirty-six head of 

 cattle consumed daily about 900 gallons of 

 water. Now, bearing this fact in mind, what 

 must be state of cattle carried by railway and 

 steamboat, when they are confined for twenty- 

 four hours, and in some instances for periods 

 varying in length up to sixty hours, without 

 getting a drop of water all the time, not to 

 speak of the terrible shaking which cattle ex- 

 perience during a journey by rail, and the 

 fatigue caused by their being unable to lie 

 down ? Is it possible that animals treated in 

 this way can arrive at ihe end of their jour- 

 ney in a healthy state, or that their flesh can 

 be in a wholesome state for use as human food? 

 Eveiy medical man knows that impure 

 water is a fertile source of disease in human 

 beings, and innumerable outbreaks of disease 

 of a typhoid nature have been distinctly 

 traced to this cause. In India the use of im- 

 pure water is certain to be followed by chol- 

 eraic diseases. In the fatal march from Mhow, 

 the connection between Ihe outbreak of chol- 

 era in the troops and the quality of water 

 they drank was easily perceived. Nothing 

 but the raging thirst, which well nigh mad- 

 dened the men, would have tempted them to 

 drink the water procured on the line of march. 

 But they were forced to choose between an in- 

 tolerable craving for water, and running the 

 risk of catching choleraic diseases, and they 

 chose the latter. Within twenty-four hours 

 nearly all who had indulged freely in drinking 

 the impure water were prostrated with cholera, 

 and died in the proportion of eight to ten. 



There does not exist two sets of sanitary 

 principles, one affecting human beings and the 

 other the beasts of the field. Impure water, 

 imperfect ventilation, dirt, damp, and scarcity 

 of food exercise injurious influences on the 

 health of our domestic animals, just as those 

 agents do in the case of human beings ; and 

 every practical man should therefore seek to 

 remove those sources of evil as speedily as pos- 

 sible. A correspondent, who resides in a 

 western country, states that it is most dis- 

 tressing to see cattle driven daily for miles 

 along the dry, dusty roads in order to reach 

 water ; and if numbers of those cattle should 

 afterwards succumb to disease, it will not be 

 difficult to discover the cause. Splenic apo- 

 plexy is frequently caused by impure water, 

 and also by an insutficient supply of water, 

 even when it is pure. This is a blood disease, 

 runs its course with great rapidity, and is ex- 

 ceedingly fatal. Hyposulphite of soda, given 

 in the water which the animals drink, in doses 

 of from two to four ounces, according to the 

 size of the animal, will be useful as a preven- 

 tive ; but, of course, it can only be used when 

 the cattle drmk from troaghi.—Bural Mew 

 Yorker. 



SENSATIONAL AGRICULTURAL 

 WRITING. 

 Sensational literature is not confined to 

 mere "society life." Horticulture and agri- 

 culture is full of it. Turn where we mayj^we 

 find statements made, not so much because 

 they are true, but because they attract ; and 

 even those which are true are often so outra- 

 geously clothed that one who ought to know 

 the facts can scarcely recognize them. It is 

 not even a habit which, growing unconsciously 

 on a writer, may become pardonable— that is 

 in many cases— for we have heard writers de- 

 fend the style on the ground that without this 

 exaggeration it was impossible to obtain the 

 public ear. They will, therefore, tell you how 

 you may get five tons of hay, fifty bushels of 

 wheat, a hundred and fifty bushels of corn, or 

 two hundred bushels of potatoes to the acre. 

 They know it cannot be done, but excuse 

 themselves on the idea that the startling fig- 

 ures will stimulate some one to try, and in 

 the trial some good will come to him. Inde- 

 pendently of the immorality involved in this 

 way -of putting things, and which furnishes 

 the foundation stone for the inquiry, "Can a 

 bad tree produce good fruit?" we have the 



experience of our own day and generation to 

 show that this drawing of a long bow defeats 

 its own intention, even when with a sort of 

 honesty it is indulged in. We all remember 

 the efforts of fifteen or twenty years ago, to 

 push what was professedly to us the culture of 

 the grape in this country. Statements of the 

 most outrageous character were promulgated. 

 Thousands of people invested money on the 

 strength of these so-called facts and figures ; 

 but only in most cases to lose and sufler badly. 

 But how about the ultimate good from this 

 rotten foundation ? We all know there was 

 none. On the contrary there was a re.iction. 

 People became disgusted. Few persons plant- 

 ed grapes. Grape-culture was put back many 

 years, and none discovered this more clearly 

 than the grape-sellers themselves, many of 

 whom, with their large stock of plants and no 

 sales, were quite ruined. 



Not about the grapes, perhaps, but in other 

 ways, a similar exaggeration which then ex- 

 isted pervades agricultural writings. Here be- 

 fore us is a statement of one, that he has 

 handled thousands upon thousands of trees in 

 his time, when those who know the writer 

 personally know that it is not so. The state- 

 ment is made simply to convey the idea of vast 

 experience, and in this way to give a force to 

 the writing it is thought it would not other- 

 wise possess. Yet the writer is a person of 

 large experience in a certain way, and what 

 he has to say deserves and would doubtless re- 

 ceive consideration from all whose considera- 

 tion is at all likely to be of credit to the writer 

 of the paragraph, or of any profit to them- 

 selves, without any exaggerated statement like 

 that. 



Another tells us there is no way in the world 

 to make a profit on the fiirm to so great and 

 to so certain an extent as the way he recom- 

 mends. The writer is well known. He is 

 still a worker in the land. But he does not 

 grow that crop. It is known that he did 

 grow it for a year or two, and that he dropped 

 it for other things. Yet the statement he 

 made he repeats, and hundreds follow his ad- 

 vice and fail. 



There was once a father who had lazy sons, 

 and who, on his death-bed, told them that in 

 a certain ten-acre lot a fortune was buried. 

 After his decease they dug the whole field over 

 two feet. They found no treasure as they ex- 

 pected ; but that ground produced such enor- 

 mous crops that they were fully paid for their 

 industry. There may be some who would ex- 

 cuse a deception of this kind; but in the case 

 we refer to not even the "end justifies the 

 means," for the end of the advice has gener- 

 ally been lost without any compensation what- 

 ever. 



We might go on and continue our illustra- 

 tions of this sensation literature in agriculture 

 and horticulture in great variety, but will 

 close with a reference to the repeated direc- 

 tions about mulching fruit-trees. There is no 

 doubt that along the coast, where the sea- 

 weed is plenty, and perhaps in a few cases 

 where vegetable material is unusually cheap 

 and abundant, mulching has been done to 

 some profit. And here and there in various 

 parts of the country are people who, with one 

 or two trees "mulched " with some material 

 at hand, have found a benefit from the acci- 

 dent, for it cannot be called practice. A host 

 of writers build on these facts, and write 

 about "mulching orchards," as if they had 

 large orchards so treated, and as if it were the 

 best, if not the only good, course of orchard 

 treatment. 



We doubt very much if anyone, except in 

 the very few cases noted, ever mulched an or- 

 chard of any size ; or if they did, that they 

 continued long to do so. The advantages may 

 be often all that is claimed for the plan ; but 

 those who have the material and can do it, 

 soon find that they can have the same good 

 results at a far less cost in many other ways. 

 And one way is by frequent "stirring" or 

 "cultivating." — Ocrmantown Telegraph. 



Show this No. of The Farvier to your neigh- 

 bor, and duplicate the subscription for 1877. 



THE CARNIVEROUS PITCHER-PLANT. 



Early in March the new leaves of the pitcher- 

 plant (Sarracenia variolaris) begin to make 

 their appearance, and soon after, the large yel- 

 low flower, with its drooping petals, is very 

 conspicuous everywhere on the damp pine- 

 barrens of Florida. It is one of the most re- 

 markable of all our insectivorous plants, and 

 destroys by far a larger number of insects than 

 any carnivorous plant with wliich I am ac- 

 quainted. The leaves are from six to twelve 

 inches in length, hollow, and trumpet-shaped ; 

 they stand very erect, and the opening is cov- 

 ered with a rounded arching hood. .lust be- 

 low the hood the leaf is spotted with pure 

 white, and these .spots are surrounded by bright 

 scarlet veins. The inner surface of the hood 

 is lined with brilliant colors ; finely reticulated 

 veins of scarlet run over a yellowish ground. 

 A broad wing extends along one side of the 

 leaf from the base to the opening at the sum- 

 mit ; the wing is bound or edged by a pur- 

 plish cord, which also extends around the 

 opening. This cord or edge of the wing is one 

 of the most wonderful features of the plant. 



From observations taken on the ground 

 where the plants grew, I found innumerable 

 insects were attracted to them. The flaunt- 

 ing yellow flower may lure many moths and 

 butterflies to the plant, but the flower is not 

 the attraction after they reach it. The cord 

 that runs along the edge of the wing secretes 

 a sweet fluid, and as the wing reaches to the 

 base of the leaf, insects that crawl on the 

 ground as well as those that fly are attracted 

 to this sweet secretion. I noticed on some of 

 the plants a line of small ants extending from 

 the base of the leaf to the summit, feeding on 

 the secretion ; so numerous were they that 

 they crowded each other, but all steadily ad- 

 vancing to the opening, down which they dis- 

 appeared. 



A'l persons who have observed ants feeding 

 have probably noticed the regtflar order in 

 which they move to and from their food. The 

 aphides (plant-lice) produce a sweet secretion 

 of which the ants are very fond. Linnaeus, 

 with his fertile imagination, called the aphides 

 the ants' cows. The ants are very friendly to- 

 ward the aphides, for they supply them with 

 abundant food, on which they thrive. Now 

 if we observe the ants feeding on this secretion 

 from the aphides, we can also see that they 

 form two regular lines, the hungry ones mov- 

 ing up the stem to take their food, and the 

 satisfied ones returning down the stem ; and 

 very friendly and fraternal they seem, never 

 getting in each other's way, but often greeting 

 one another as they meet, putting their anten- 

 nfe together as if communicating something, 

 and then they pass on, each his own way. 

 Mark the difference when the ants are found 

 feeding on the sweet secretion of Sarracenia 

 rariuluris; now they crowd and jostle one an- 

 other, and seem wild in their movements, and 

 all are advancing in one line toward the sum- 

 mit of the leaf, on reaching which they disap- 

 pear down the wide throat of the msatiable 

 Sarracenia. No return line here. 



This I observed on the pine-barrens, where 

 the plants grew. I now took a large supply of 

 leaves to my study, and placed them in an up- 

 right position in vases of water to keep them 

 fresh, and opened the windows to admit the 

 various insects that are swarming in the air 

 at this season. Soon the room was well sup- 

 plied with the common house fly. I now re- 

 turned the screens to the windows, and sat 

 down to watch results. A number of flies were 

 soon attracted to the plants, and almost as 

 soon as they tasted the secretion they acted 

 strangely. It was astonishing to see how 

 quickly it affected them. They became stupid, 

 and did not notice my hand in close proximity, 

 and they paid no attention to gentle efforts to 

 shake them from the leaf. If I touched one 

 it would fly a short distance, but invariably it 

 returned to the leaf, and very soon it was buz- 

 zing inside of the tube, trying to walk up the 

 dry, smooth surface, and ever falling back, 

 until it was exhausted and still. It was no 

 use to liberate them ; I repeatedly took a leaf 

 and turned the opening downward and gently 



