1877.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



135 



Constantine and Licinius were now the 

 only emperors, and together they issued in 

 Marcli, A. I). ;ii:5, the celel)rated edict of Mi- 

 lan, which granted to the Christians ol' the 

 empire full civil and religious rights. I.icin- 

 ius, however, did not really care for the Chris- 

 tians, and when in JJlo war Ijrokeout between 

 the two emperors he rescinded his former 

 acts, and again deprived them of tlieir i)oliti- 

 cal privileges. Licinius was defeated after a 

 severe struggle, and was comitelled to pur- 

 chase peace by ceding to Constantino, Vireece, 

 Macedonia and Illyri(;um. Having married 

 the sister of Constantine, Licinius reigned 

 quietly as emperor of the east for nine years; 

 at the end of that time hostilities were renew- 

 ed. Having lost the great battles of Adrian- 

 ople and Chaleedon, Licinius was placed at 

 the n\ercy of Ctmstantine, who spared his life 

 and sentenced him to honorable imprison- 

 ment at The.ssalouica; but a few years after- 

 wards found a convenient pretext for putting 

 him to death. 



The coin which we have described appears 

 to have been struck about the beginning of 

 the first conflict with Constantine (A. 1). 

 31,i). Tlie device and inscription on the re- 

 verse would .seem to indicate a religious re- 

 action, or at least a protest 

 against the movement in the di- 

 recti<m of Christianity. It is 

 issued by Licinius in the char- 

 acter of Pontifex Maxbmis, or 

 iiigh priest of the religion of the 

 Roman state; and is dedicated 

 to Jm-c the Preserver, who holds 

 victory in the hollow of his 

 hands. This would seem to in- 

 dicate that Licinius believed 

 that Jove would preserve the 

 ancient religious order, and 

 grant victory to its faithful 

 champions. The tact that the 

 coin was struck at Narl)onne 

 also, proves the fact, that it can- 

 not have been coined at a later 

 (late than A. D. ;!!;"); because 

 after that date Licinius was 

 emperor of the east, and all 

 western Europe was under the 

 undisputable sway of Constan- 

 tine. 



This little coin may. therefore, 

 be regarded as one of the last 

 products of cla-ssical lioathenism. 

 With the single brief exception 

 of the reign of Julian the Apos- 

 tate, Roman coins, from this 

 time forth, hear Christian em- 

 1)1 ems, strangely intermingled 

 with ancient devices. 



When this coin was struck Ro- 

 mau heathenism was rapidly 

 jiassing away. Men had lost all faith in de- 

 ities, the creatures of the imagination of poets 

 and artists; and it was therefore little better 

 than a piece of impudence on the part of the 

 government to place a representation of Jupi- 

 ter Conserv((tor on the coin of the empire. 



There have l)een modern writers who, from 

 an ipsthetic point of view, have mourned over 

 the downfall ot ancient heathenism. Schiller 

 says : 



"Eiiien zu bericlicrn uiiter alien 

 Musstc dicse Ootterwelt vcrgclin." 

 In the heart of a sincere Christian the 

 sight of these relics of antiquity produces no 

 such emotions. It rather strengthens his 

 faith to be assured, that while there is noth- 

 ing to remind us of Jupitir Conservator but an 

 occasional relic of antiquity, the kingdom of 

 his Lord is an everlasting kingdom; that 

 while the name of Jupiter ''the king of gods 

 and men" is but '■'■vox et prueterca nihil,'' the 

 name of the Lord Jesus Christ remains in the 

 hearts of his peojilc in undying freshness for- 

 ever. — ./. If. D., Lancaster, August 2~lh, 1877. 



IjrpoRTANT. — In our October or Xovcmber 

 number, we propose to publish a list of prem- 

 iums for 1878. Our patrons and their friends 

 will therefore, in nuiking their selections, hold 

 in remembrance their own local journal in the 

 distribution of their favors for next year. 



THE FLEMISH BEAUTY PEAR. 



The subject of our engraving is a most ex- 

 cellent variety of tlie pear (Pijrus communis.) 

 A good pe.'ir is an exceedingly rich and luscious 

 fruit, and second to none but the apple in im- 

 portance. The fruit under consideration is 

 large, the skin a iittla rough, pale yellow, 

 with marblings and patches of light russet ; 

 the sunny .'sido reddish-brown at maturity ; 

 tlesh yellowish-white ; and very fine grain, but 

 jucy, melting, very sweet and rich. Ripens 

 the last of Septem>)er. The Flemish Reauty 

 is one of the most superb pears in this climate, 

 sometimes measuring twelve inches in cir- 

 cumference. The tree is very luxuriant, and 

 bears early and abundantly. The fruit should 

 be picked before it parts readily from the tree, 

 and allowed to ripen in the houise, when it be- 

 conses very line; but if allowed to remain on 

 the tree until dead ripe, it loses its flavor and 

 soon decays. Small trees can be obtained at 

 any first-class nur.scry. 



Pear culture is yet, comparatively speaking, 

 in its infancy in many portions of our country 

 — especially at the west and southwest. This 

 is mainly owing to the prevailing error that it 

 takes a very long time to procure fruit after 

 planting — many people are not willing to wait 



so long. But this is a very mistaken idea, for 

 good fruit, in moderate quantities, can ho ob- 

 tained from the planting of the pear, as .soon 

 as from the apple, or even the peach. Crops 

 have been secui od in two or three years. 



For Tub LANCASTEn Farubk, 

 HUMBUGS, SWINDLES AND FRAUDS, 

 AS PRACTICED ON THE FARMING 

 COMMUNITY. 



In looking over the humbug column of the 

 American Agriculturist, one is struck with the 

 variety of swindles, &c., perpetrated, and 

 more particularly the number that are espe- 

 cially prepared to catch farmers and others 

 living in the country. 



Although all the terms at the head of our 

 article might be included under the single 

 term of cheats, yet the cheating is pretty 

 easily classilied as above. 



To humbug is to impose on, and is in most 

 cases so simple and transparent as to be easily 

 avoided; and that so many persons are yet 

 the victims, in spite of daily, weekly and 

 other papers, is only to be accounted for on 

 Barnum's opinion that people want to be 

 humbugged. 



One of the most popular articles to humbug 

 farmers with are seeds of newly discovered 

 and wonderful grains, &c., or, new varieties 



of old-established species, which are guaran- 

 teed to produce twice or three times as much 

 per acre as any hitlicrto in cultivation. The 

 seed of surgham (iS. Vulgare) is the favorite 

 grain and has been advertised under perhaps 

 as many as a dozen different names, such as 

 ivory wheat, Japan wheat, sugar cane that 

 will stand the northern winters {laccharum 

 ojjhriarum, which is cultivated only in warm 

 countries). It is remarkable that all these 

 wonderful seeds are advertised Ijy persons not 

 in the seed business, whose usual address is at 

 some out-of-the-way post office. It should be 

 borne in mind that our wide-awake 8ee<lsmen 

 are very active and enterprising in trying to 

 get hold of any promising new varieties, and 

 that new species and novelties are always 

 given to the public through them. 



In some sections tree agents introduce 

 peaches grafted on poplar or willow, cherries 

 on wild cherry, curculio-proof plums, &c. If 

 "nature abhors close union," she also protests 

 most emphatically against anything but the 

 closest relationship, and grafting and budding 

 must be practiced in accordance with this. 

 We have a few instances in which this does 

 not seem to be the case, such as pears on 

 quince, apricot on plum; but these are in all 

 cases species of one genus, that 

 is to say, brothers. As long as 

 curculios are about, stone fruits 

 with smooth^ tender .skins will 

 be stung by them, and they will 

 not even now-a-days spare the 

 wooly peach. 



Many of the readers of the 

 Farmer have doubtless seen ad- 

 vertisements of some wonderful 

 chemical cornpound by which 

 butter could be made out of milk 

 at an expense of but a few cents 

 per pound. How the owner of 

 kine must have felt his heart 

 sink at the idea of the flood of 

 butter that would be thrown on 

 the market until prices would 

 sink so low that it would not 

 even pay for the taking to mar- 

 ket; or perhaps his heart was 

 elated and he would take by the 

 horn, not his cow, but the oppor- 

 tunity, invest some of llic hoard- 

 ed "dollar of the fathers" in the 

 "compoimd," and reap a harvest 

 of golden eagles by selling lots 

 of golden butter before his slower 

 brethren of tlic dairy knew on 

 which side of the bread the but- 

 ter was. 



Then there are ii lot of hum- 

 bugs that are practiced on town 

 as well as country folks, such as 

 powders to keep coal oil lamps 

 from exploding,powdersto put into white-wash 

 lime to keep tlie flies from alighting on the 

 ceiling and walls of rooms ; and scores of 

 others that we have not space to enumerate, 

 but any person that has only a moderate 

 amount of common sense, and uses it, will 

 rarely bo cauglit, though the vender have an 

 "oily tongue and a brazen face." 



There is one class of Innnbugs that should 

 not 1)6 omitted, but as long as people know so 

 much better what ails them, and what may 

 cure them, so much better than the regular 

 physician would, and besides is so much 

 cheaper, it is useless, and probably a waste of 

 time, paper and ink to mention patent medi- 

 cines. Persons who have spent time and 

 money to cure incurable diseases have our 

 pity and sympathy. 



Swindles, as a species of cheating, are usual- 

 ly on a larger scale than h)iml)ugs, and are 

 different from the latter in this, that there arc 

 no uncertainties as to being the right thing or 

 not, but are in all cases traps into which the 

 diipe steps unawares, and is awakened as by 

 a clap of thunder. 



Themost usual form of swindlcs,practiccd by 

 the shaii)ers, is to appoint the .subject on whom 

 tlie operation is to be peif ormed,as an agent for 

 selling something. The paper mentioned at the 

 beginning of this article has the following : 



