1877. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



115 



posited on llie back and sides" of tlio woiiu. 

 Wliat he calls eggs, are lavKer than the eggs 

 of till' tobacco moth. The little iiarasites or 

 "Ichiieuraons" deposit their very iKuiiile 

 eggs ill or oil the body of the tobaeeo-worin, 

 and when lliey are hatched llie little grnlis 

 liiirv themselves under the skin, and feed on 

 tlic"sabslance of their liosi ; .and when tlicy 

 are mature tliey come out and spin the little 

 white cocoons, (not eggs) and in due time 

 the little Hies emerge from the same. 



The family IcilNErMONiD.K is an etceed- 

 Ing large one. It has numerous genera, aud 

 a mncl" larger number of spei'ies; but, few, 

 very few of ihera, liave received common 

 iian\es; and therefore, for the sake of con veni- 

 rncc, and for the purpose of avoiding those 

 technical names, for winch so many people 

 have such a horror, it may Vic allowable to 

 call them all "Ichneumon Flies," but, in do- 

 ing so, it is by no nii>ans allowable to say the 

 lelineumon llv, as ifthere was only one spe- 

 cies of tliat niimc; but (ot Ichneunioii tly, im- 

 plying that only one among the many is re- 

 ferred to, when treated of specially. 



The lesson we desire to inculcato by these 

 comments is, that the tobacco growers of 

 Tennessee are ou the right track when they 

 direct their attention to the Ichneumon flies, 

 and encourage their increase and protection. 

 We have frc(iuently called the attention of 

 our readers to these little insect friends, and 

 especially .so in our es.say published in the 

 March number of the Fanner for the present 

 yt'ar. And we would again admonish them, 

 that whenever they find a worm covered witli 

 the little white cocoons of these flies, that they 

 p.ass it by and let the flies develop, for there 

 is no danger to be apiirehended from a worm 

 so infested. They may overlook worms in their 

 hunt for them, but these little files will surely 

 find them out, and deposit their eggs upon 

 them, when the proper time arrives fen' that 

 work to be done. 



REMINDERS FOR AUGUST. 

 Celery may be planted up to the -JOth. Sow 

 liirnips^ fetticus, bush beans for [lickling, 

 onion seed to stand tho winter, lettuce for au- 

 tumn use, and spinach (^n- an early crop. 

 Onions will l)e ripe this month, and should be 

 jiulled and dried. 



Fetticus.— This vegetable is chiefiy grown 

 :; ■ a winter and early spring salad, although it 

 ometinics used boiled, as greens or spinach. 

 i; n(iuires a rich soil. The seed may be sown 

 towards the end of August or beg"inning of 

 September, in drills six or eight inches apart 

 and half an inch deep, rolling them after 

 sowing. When the plants are well up, thin 

 them out to three or four inches apart. Keep 

 it well hoed aud clear of weeds, and when 

 severe weather sets in, give it a slight cover- 

 ing of straw or salt hay, as is done with spin- 

 .iili. ritmoving it in March or Aiiril. It cau 

 iKii he sown early in spring, as soon as the 

 Mind is in working order, and will be ready 

 use in si.x or eight weeks afterwards. — 



;'/'t's Onrdcn. 



^ 



DOES IT RAIN TOADS. 



riiif, question, prompt"! Ijy the appc.inincc of 

 riails of these infaiir leptili'S iinmeilialely after a 

 rm, ib one wliicli hah been frequently asliecl. 

 iiy tlieories have been ailvaneeil to aeeonnt for tlie 



1 nine phenomenon, but none tlial we liave lieard, 



' vet, are enliicly satisfactory. Oiu-aln'ailyerowilert 



!' tic will not allow \is to ^ive anyhithert(> advaneed 



"ry in this issue, but we invite those who have 



.11 this matter their consiili'ration to give their 

 wsto the imhlie through our columns. — I/arrh- 



'/ /I'lfi/lCUi/tUt, 



■■ Water-Spouts" might jiossibly draw up, 

 I rain down, tadpalcs ; but, when tadpoles 

 ■cimc toads, they innuediately leave the 

 vTalcr. They might possibly be " caught up" 

 In a ''spout," at the moment of transition. 

 W r have seen inultitndes of toads on the bars 

 .Hill Hats, or beaches, of the Susquehanna after 

 I shower of rain, many a time. Wc always 

 l.'uiid them hopping away from the water, 

 :n;d we always su)>posed they had merely 

 arreted their tender skins from the sun, and 

 alter the rain, had ventured forth again, rein- 

 vigorated and refreshed. 



GRAMMAR IN A NUTSHELL. 



The following anonymous rhyme, brief as It is, con- 

 tains the siibslanee of Hfty pages of the best school 

 grammar extant : 



Three little words you often see 



Are articlCB, a, an and the. 



A noun's the name of anythintf, 

 As school or garden, hoop or swing. 



Adjectives show the kind of noun, 

 As great, small, pretty, or brown. 



Instead of nouns the pronouns stand— 

 Her head, hie face, your arm, my hand. 



Verbs tell us something to be done— 

 To read, count, laugh, sing or run. 



How things are done the adverbs tell, 

 As slowly, quickly, ill, or well. 



Conjunctions join the words toiretlier. 

 As men and women, wind and weather. 



The prepositions stands before 



A noun, .as in, or through, the door. 



The interjections show surprise, 

 As oh! how pretty ! ah ! how wise ! 



The whole are called nine parts of speech; 

 Which reading, writing, speaking, teach. 



Many of our (naturally)) intelligent farm- 

 ers, have most excellent and practical ideas 

 aud thoughts, but they lack in common gram- 

 matical construction, when they attempt to 

 reduce them to writing and place them on pa- 

 per. They probably have had little or no ed- 

 ucation, aiid what little they may have had, 

 did not inchide grammar ; or, the methods of 

 teaching it in their youth may have been so 

 defective and so discour.aging to them, that 

 they were deterred from making an attempt 

 to actpiire a knowledge of this useful branch 

 of education. And yet, it is scarcely po.ssiblo 

 for any one of ordinary intelligence to con- 

 struct a sentence without making use of some 

 of the rules of grammar, whether they are 

 conscious of it or not. But still, many viola- 

 tions of the most obvious rules of grammar 

 occur in their compositions, which a little care- 

 ful thought and common observation ought 

 to correct. The above " Grammar in a Nut- 

 shell," is in such a pleasant form, that the 

 younger members of the family may readily 

 commit it to memory; and once permanently 

 fixed in the memory, it may become forever 

 theirs. 



It is true, it can only teach them the names 

 of the "nine pars of .speech," but when 

 these are thoroughly recorded, it will lie a 

 great assistance in learning how to vsc those 

 ptxrts of speech, in conversation and compo- 

 sition—when and where a capital letter ought 

 to be used— how to begin a iieriod or sentence, 

 and when they are ended. Take, for in.stance 

 the artirlc, of which there are only three in 

 the whole language. They never should be- 

 gin with a capital, unless they begin a period 



or sentence. 



^ 



The State Board of Agriculture has prepared two 

 laws which at the very "next legislative session will 

 be offered for passage. One of them is "to prevent 

 deception inthcsaleof butter." All "oleomargariu" 

 and other substitutes for butter are to be stamped as 

 such, or the ofrender will be fined SilHO. The other 

 proposed act is to " regulate the manufacture and 

 sale of fertilizers." All such manufactures sold at 

 over j-20 per ton arc to be accompanied by a certifled 

 analysis of their composition. All persons dealing in 

 these goods are to tie licensed and the State Agri- 

 cultural Chemist is to analyze them. But why stop 

 with fertilizers ; A great many other bogus articles 

 are sold. Why not compel the jeweler to mark his 

 tjoods solid, pl'ateii or counterfeit; and let the milk- 

 man tell tis how many ([uarts of water he adds to 

 each one of milk ? 



Tho Board of Agriculture is a new institution 

 in our State. It has been but recently organ- 

 ized, and is therefore yet in its infancy. T jke 

 the children of Israel when they reached the 

 land of C'anaitn, and found it occupied by the 

 Jebnsites, the Ilittites, the Perrizites, the 

 Ilivites and the Amorites, whom they were 

 admonished could not all be driven out in one 

 day, but " little by little ;" even so this new 

 organization found many evils to correct on 



their plane of operation, and they felt that a 

 beginning mii.st be made somewhere, and we 

 reganl it as an uncharitable criticism, to open 

 upon them the batteries of cfnsorship because 

 they cannot accomiilish all that ought to be 

 accompliishcd in it single day, a week, a month, 

 or even a year. All true retormalion is ami 

 nmst be gradual. It is sometimes necessary 

 to let wheat and tares grow together for a 

 time, lest in pulling up the tares the wheat be 

 destroyetl; we therefore ought to wail aiul see 

 before we disai)prove or condemn. 

 ^ 



In an article in .S7. A'ic/to(rt.'i Prof. W. K. Brooks 

 denies the commonly taught theory that each spe- 

 cies of liinls goes on generation after ceneratlon bulld- 

 iug its nest in precisely the same manner as its an- 

 cestors. They do not follow instinct alone, and 

 marked improvenieiils are visible among successive 

 generations. They take advantage of new and more 

 eligible places and material as these present them- 

 selves, anil improve even in nest aretiiteclurc. Barn 

 and chimney swallows were found in America long 

 before then' wi're any barns or chimneys for them 

 to tie as comfortalily quartered as they now are. 

 The oriole, which builds its nest .according to the 

 dangers which threaten its young, now selects kite 

 strings, fish lines and carpet yarn instead of the 

 filringy fibres in a natural state, which It used to have 

 to |iut up with. .Martins have shown great pro- 

 giessivencss in their plan of nest building in a half 

 century. 



We never knew that any professional orni- 

 thologist claimed "that each species of birds 

 goes on generation after generation building 

 its nest in the same manner as its ancestors." 

 It may be the general rule, but there are too 

 many exceptions to it to constitute it a nni- 

 ver.sal rule. In addition to the exceptions 

 mentioned in the above extract from the 

 Dailn Intelli(jeuccr, wc may mention a very 

 m.arkcd instance which came tinder our own 

 observation. A pair of "American Barn- 

 owls" {Slrix praiinrola) for many years took 

 u)) their residence in the top of the steeple of 

 Trinity Lutlier.an chnrcb, in this city, and 

 reared many broods of their young there: and 

 we obtained s|iecimens of the eggs, the chicks, 

 the young and the adult birds, from that owl- 

 ery, while it continued; .all of which are in 

 the museum of the Liniid'an Society. Of 

 course, before there were church steeples in 

 Lancaster county— or barns either— they must 

 have been domiciliated elsewhere- pertiaps in 

 hollow trees, or rocky recesses. 



THE LOCUST. 



The devastation caused by grasshoppers and 

 potato bugs in various sections of the country has 

 been so great that there is little wonder th« whole 

 insect tribe should be looked upon with mspicion, 

 and ways and means devised for the extirpation of 

 almost every creeping thing. So far as the grass- 

 hopper is concerned, his exploits have been almost 

 cntirtly confined to the west, and in that part of the 

 country he has engaged the attention of Senates and 

 LegislaturcB, who have offered rewards for his cap- 

 ture, and have seliemeil to provide immnnity from 

 his ravages. When, therefore, it was learned that 

 the locust had made hie very numerous appearance 

 in New Jersey and along ttie Hudson, it was only 

 natural that farmers and others associating him with 

 the grasshopper, should become alarmed at his 

 aiqiroach and indulge in sad relectious as to the 

 danger which threatened their fields and orchards. 

 The locust pro|ier, undoulitedly, belongs to the tribe 

 of grasshoppers, and is of a most destructive nature, 

 but it would seem that the species which has put in 

 an appearance now is positively harmless, and that 

 no danger nerd be apprehended from its presence. 

 Naturalists are united in believing that those in New 

 .Jersey are the genuine gevcnteen-year locusts, 

 which appear only once in tliat time, and after a 

 very short but extremely noisy life disappear. At 

 present they cover the trees, shrubs and grass in 

 Eastern and Northern New Jersey for miles, and 

 their combined voices almost drown the song of tho 

 birds. Their eggs are laid iu the holes of trees, and 

 when the larva' begin to show signs of life I hey drop 

 to the ground and burrow themselves into the soil 

 about a foot beneath the surface. When warm 

 weather comes they work themselves to the surface, 

 climb up a tree or shrub, throw off their outer cover- 

 ing or shell and receive their sustenance from the 

 dew and honey in the leaves. Farmers in the o\tea 

 country are not troubled with them, as they almost 

 invarialily seek the grove and woodland. Wore 

 they to hollow out resting places for themselves in 

 the" valleys the plowshare would probatily leave 

 them open to the same fate which the early worm 

 receives from the early bird. Their sole end seems 

 to be to lay thoir eggs, sing their own funeral dirge, 



