108 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



THE LINNiEAN SOCIETY. 



A stated meeting of the Linnsean Society was held 

 on Saturday, June .30, 1877, the President, J. 8. 

 Stalir, in the chair and seven memliers present. 



The Donations 



to the Museum were then examined and found to 

 consist of a large jar containing interesting speci- 

 mens from the Ohio river, put on special deposit by 

 Mr. Martin Stanton. 



A line specimen of the Menobranchus or Western 

 Mud-Puppy, much like our "Hellbender," (Menopo- 

 >na Alleghenienisex) met with in the 'Susquehanna 

 river. 



A fine specimen of the shovel-nosed sturgeon, or 

 spade fish. The Hcaphirhinchus platirhinclms, is 

 generally separated from the true sturgeons, "Acci- 

 penser." 



Two fine specimens of the "spoon bill fish." 

 These are distinguished from the "shovel-nosed" ijy 

 being destitute of bony shields, and with an enor- 

 mous expansion of the snout into a long, flat, round- 

 ed form, like a spatula, and known generically as 

 Upatularia 3.ad Planiroslra. The P. fulium is the 

 paddle fish, or spoon billed sturgeon, to which these 

 no doubt belong. (See U. S. R. R., Vol. VI, p. 357.) 



Two large horns of the "Rocky Mountain Sheep," 

 (^Onis Montana of Cnvr .) One is from Mr. \Vm. 

 Rhoem, from a male weighing probably 3.50 pounds; 

 it is said the Indians consult or use the rings upon 

 these horns as a calendar. The other horn was do- 

 nated by Mr. Charles E. Wentz, who received it as a 

 present from the "Little Soldier," a Shoshone cliief, 

 at Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1S59. Tradition claims 

 this horn to be more than 2,200 years old. Each 

 hiindred years is represented by a black ring around 

 the horn. One hundred and twenty-five moons 

 mark ten years. We will accept the tradition rather 

 than attempt to prove the contrary. 



A relic of "Ye olden times," was found on remov- 

 ing an old tenement by Mr. Cogley, adjoining the 

 Keystone Hotel. This is a mold made of potter's 

 clay, dated 1735. 



A German device for embossing confections and 

 cakes, called "Springerleu;" some local Pennsylvania 

 Dutch, says Mr. H., called it "Matzabaum" — my 

 recollection is the " Christmas tree" was so called, 

 upon which these and other confections were suspend- 

 ed. Mr. Michael Fisher donated two boxes of the white 

 sand from the mines of Messrs. T. Baumgardnerand 

 Geo. M. Franklin, of this city, discovered in 1868, in 

 MifHin county. Pa., five miles from Lewistown. This 

 sand is used extensively in the manufacture of glass 

 at Pittsburg, Pa. 



A singular growth of a cherry branch, lodged in 

 the fork of another branch and completely imbedded 

 in the wood, from Mr. J. B. Bomberger,of Manheim. 



Mr. Umbel, of the Junction, sent some galls found 

 on the witch hazel {Hamamelis virffinlea) made by a 

 species of Phylloxera, of which there are many 

 species. 



WUlie Rathvon donated a mineral, brought up 

 from a depth of 65 feet in sinking a well at New Hol- 

 land, this county. It has all the characteristics of the 

 common rotten stone, or Tripoli, used for a polish on 

 silver and the finer class of goods. It consists of 

 silica in an extremely minute state of division, fully 

 equal to that inipprted from Wales and England. 

 That which is brought from the river Trent, consists 

 chiefly of infusorial animalcules. 



Master Harry A. Dubbs presented several fossil 

 imprints of spirifers and ganoid osseous plates. 



Prof. Dubbs donated a singular stone, shaped like 

 a mallet, with a hole on one side, as if a pebble had 

 been embedded or naturally formed. 



Rev. C. L. Houpt deposited some of the cubic 

 stones taken from a Mosaic pavement in Naples, fos- 

 sil encronoids. 



A number of the barnacles from a sea tortoise, by 

 Mr. Copeland, per Mr. WesthaeflTer, and the animals' 

 taken from them and put in alcohol, by Mr. Rathvon. 



Seven bottles of Insects, collected near MeCaUs' 

 Ferry, York county, .June 13, 1877. One containing 

 the elm tree beetle, getting quite too common. 



A specimen of felting used as a non-conductor of 

 heat and cold, used as a filling in, per S. S. Spencer. 



Mrs. Zell sent a specimen of an Ornithogalnm 

 found wild. Our common 0. Finbellatiim, which has 

 escaped from gardens. Louden describes 29 out of 

 47 species known in his time. This may be the O. 

 Narbonenses, also escaped from gardens. 



Mr. J. Stauffer deposited fine specimens in fruit, 

 showing the cups, barren and fertile, pedunculated 

 fuctification of the common " Brookliver wort." 

 Marchantia pohjinoplui. This is growing in the in- 

 terstices of the bricks in the payed alley, between his 

 dwelling and Solomon Sprecher's, East Orange street, 

 this city. It is frequently met with on rocks and 

 crevices along streams, but to become a citizen and 

 dweller on a brick pavement is a new freak. 

 Historical Collection. 



A copy of the Marietta Pilot of June 7, 1814, Sun- 

 dry scraps and clippings of interest. Three envelopes 

 per S. S. Rathvon. 



Library. 



Copy of 11th Volume of Pennsylvania Agricultural 



Society, 



The Ninth Annual Report on the Noxious and 

 Beneficial insects of Missouri, by C. V. Riley. 



Copy of the San Francisco Herald, per Peter 

 Baker. 



Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 part 1, January, February and March, 1877. 



Lancaster Farmer, June number. Index to 

 the Official Gazette Patent Office for 1870, and week- 

 ly numbers of Sundry Book Catalogues. 

 Papers Read. 



Descriptive catalogue on the donations to the mu- 

 seum, by S. S. Rathvon, No. 505. 



Illustrated description of the Marchantia, or Liver- 

 wort. J. Stauffer, No. .566. 



Report of an entomological excursion to McCall's 

 Ferry, June 13 and 14, 1877, per 8. S. Rathvon, No. 

 567; and notice of the barnacles in an appendix. 



The following reverend gentlemen, J. S. Stahr, 

 Dubbs, Geissinger and Houpt, took part in the scien- 

 tific miscellany suggested from specimens deposited 

 and commented upon, giving quite an interest to the 

 meeting. 



A bill for alcohol used in filling up some of the 

 jars, amounting to 50 cents, was reported and order- 

 ed to be paid. No further business offering, after a 

 short and pleasant session, adjourned to Saturday, 

 July 28, 1877. 



AGRICULTURAL. 



Report of the Department of Agriculture for 

 June. 



The June report of the department of agriculture 

 indicates a better prospect than usual for wheat. 

 The report of June, 1870, made the average for the 

 country thirteen per centum belowthe standard of nor- 

 mal condition, and subsequent returns of the condition 

 and yield were still lower, forecasting the scarcity 

 which has occurred. The average for winter and 

 spring wheat together is this year one hundred; win- 

 ter wheat being above that figure, and spring wheat 

 below it. 



There are 277 counties reporting winter wheat in full 

 normal condition; 494 above 100, and 183 below it. Of 

 the spring wheat counties 92 report 100; 117 above, 

 and 157 below. The State averages are as follows : 



Maine, 101; New Hampshire, 102; Vermont, 102; 

 Massachusetts, 100; Rhode Island, 100; Connecticut, 

 103; New York, 108; New Jersey, 100; Pennsylvania, 

 93; Delaware, 97; Maryland, 103; Virginia, 109; North 

 Carolina, 100; South Carolina, 97; Georgia, 108; Flo- 

 rida, 100; Alabama, 96; Mississippi, 107; Louisiana, 

 103; Texas, 110; Arkansas, 106; Tennessee, 91; West 

 Virginia, 107; Kentucky, 108; Ohio, 115; Michigan, 

 109; Indiana, 112; Illinois, 105; Wisconsin, 97; Min- 

 nesota, 95; Iowa, 102; Missouri, 110; Kansas, 99; Ne- 

 braska, 103; California, 50; Oregon, 109. Returns 

 from California indicate half of a fall crop from de- 

 ficiencyofwinterrainfall. Fewerinjuries from insects 

 and rust are reported than usual. In the Ohio Valley 

 every return is favorable. In Pennsylvania and in 

 Tennessee the slight depreciation is caused by the 

 Hessian fly. 



The only serious injury Is caused by the destructive 

 grasshopper of the plains. This pest has been most 

 injurious in Minnesota, hatching numerously in all 

 the settled portions of the state through four degrees 

 of latitude, from Becker county to Freeborn, on the 

 southern border, and including all west ofthe third tier 

 of counties on the Iowa line. Thecombined efforts of 

 farmers will prevent a large proportion of the loss. 



" Hopperdozers " destroy at the rate of five bushels 

 of graflshopers daily in sections of greatest abun- 

 dance. In the Western half of Missouri, and through- 

 out the wheat fields of Kansas and Alissouri, losses 

 are reduced to a minimum by the effect of wet and 

 cold weather after hatchiiig, and subsequently by the 

 successful warfare of wheat growers. Heavy de- 

 struction of wheat by grass-hoppers has occurred in 

 Texas in certain localities. 



A Farm Roller. 



Agricultural writers for nearly a century back 

 have extolled the field roller as one of the most es- 

 sential implements of the farm, and farm experience 

 has substantiated the many claims made for it. For 

 crushing clods and lumps, thus performing one of 

 the most important functions in preparing a good bed 

 for the reception of seeds, the roller has no efficient 

 substitute ; the harrow and brush are well in their 

 way, but in some conditions of soil are of compara- 

 tively little use. Rolling after seeding effects a pur- 

 pose equally important, as the roller brings finely 

 pulverized soil in contact with the seed, rendering 

 germination certain and rapid. By the use of the 

 roller, land seeded down to meadow is made level and 

 in admirable shape for the mower and horse-rake. 



Pasture land is left smooth, slightly, and better 

 fitted for an even and luxuriant growth of grass. In 

 a season of drouth, land that has been thoroughly 

 rolled will suffer far less than that of the same 

 quality unrolled, for it better resists evaporation. The 

 enlightened farmer of to-day would as soon think of 

 dispensing with his drills and cultivators as his field 

 roller. There is, however, a difference in rollers ; 

 some are clumsy, cumbersome, unwieldy affairs, and 



any improvement upon the old style is an important 

 item. The increase of crops in a single year, to say 

 nothing of the improved condition of the farm, will 

 amply repay the cost of the roller. 



^ 



Carting Out Manure. 

 In hauling out manure at this season of the year, 

 says T. B. Miner, in the Sun, upon fields to be plowed 

 in April or May, if the heaps be made of a size to 

 equalize its distribution, the same as would be made 

 if the laud were to be plowed without delay, there 

 will be a great loss in the manure by the escape of 

 its ammonia and drying of the surface of the heaps. 

 Suppose a two-horse load of first-rate stable dung be 

 placed in six heaps in a field in February, and this 

 manure remains in these heaps to the middle of April 

 or the fore part of May, and are then spread and the 

 land plowed, how much loss does the manure sus- 

 tain? Not less than ten per cent. There must be a 

 certain degree of loss— more than farmers can afford 

 to lose — and the question is, how is this loss to be 

 prevented? One way is, to wait till the ground is to 

 be plowed, and then haul out the manure and plow 

 it under as fast as it is spread. But farmers are too 

 busy to haul it out then, and are compelled often to 

 draw it out iu the winter. If one must do so, it would 

 be a good plan to make the heaps large, but not too 

 large to be spread properly with a little extra hard 

 labor ; pack them as solidly as possible, and if they 

 be well built up and trodden down, they may be so 

 Compact with a little labor that not over one or two 

 per cent, loss will take place. Another way is to put 

 only three or four very large heaps to the acre, mak- 

 ing them compact, as in the foregoing case; and when 

 the time comes to spread the manuretake, a team and 

 sled with movable sideboards and proceed to remove 

 some ofthe manure to other places, so that when it is 

 spread it will be evenly distributed. It would be but a 

 short operation to remove a part of the manure in that 

 way, and I think the labor can well be afforded by 

 farmers, rather than lose so large a portion of their 

 stable dung by evaporation, as the ordinary method 

 of hauling out manure in the winter is sure to cause. 



Liquid Manure. 



F.R.Elliot says, in the American Sural Hume: 

 It is generally believed that no system of enricliing 

 land for small gardens, with a view to perfection of 

 crops, is so truly economical and so easily available 

 as that of liquid manure. We occasionally "hear of a 

 gardener or an amateur fruit-grower who has prac- 

 ticed enriching the crop by use of liquid manure ; but 

 it is not a common practice so to enrich our gardens 

 and lawns, however oftimes the advocacy of the 

 practice has been written. The writer practiced the 

 sprinkling of a lawn in a dry season with weak licjuid 

 manure-water, and in the greatest of heat and 

 drought has kept it fresh and green. In the manage- 

 ment of pot plants no course of supplying food 

 equals that of a judicious use of liquid manure. 

 There are in almost every family waste liquids, 

 which usually go into a sewer or drains, or possibly 

 upon the road, where they are of no avail. But, if 

 saved, by being conducted to a tank, along with wash 

 waters of the house, would enrich an entire garden 

 for vegetables and fruits, flower borders, etc.; and 

 the whole, if the wash be applied regularly and at 

 night, after sunset, in moderate quantities, would 

 prevent the driest weather of mid-summer from 

 checking vegetation. If an unpleasant odor comes 

 from the tank, a little plaster (gypsum) sprinkled in 

 and around the tank would keep it sweet and clean. 

 -4gain, the use of liquid manure need never delay 

 planting because of manure not being on hand ; but 

 planting could proceed, and the application of ma- 

 nure be made at leisure. 



Cut the Weeds While SmalL 



No farm, or garden even, can bekeptclearof weeds 

 unless they are attacked early, when they are small, 

 tender and easily extirpated. Let them get a start on 

 us, and they will not only take a double share of soil 

 nourishment, but will resist the hoe or the plow stub- 

 bornly, and not always comes off' second best. If their 

 roots become once firmly established, not even the 

 plow or the hoe will always remove them root and 

 branch; but take them early and at them whenever 

 they show their heads, and they are easily kept down. 

 This fact is well-known to all who cultivate the soil; 

 but sometimes the hurry of work will force one to de- 

 fer the weeding process for a little while; meantime 

 a prolonged rain sets in, a godsend to the weeds, 

 which make great strides to run their course and ma- 

 ture their seeds; and then we all know the labor of 

 dislodging them . We may harrow and cross harrow 

 and still some are left, and nothing but a carefully 

 used hoe or the hand cau get at them. And after 

 all there will be found to be some of the roots tliat 

 have escaped and will require additional lador to ex- 

 tirpate thorougldy. 



When young the weeds can be dispatched easily. 

 They have but little hold of the soil, and once re- 

 moved they are disposed of, and it is only the new 

 young ones following that will require attention, 

 and can be managed as before. — Oermantown Tele- 

 graph. 



