146 



THE LANCASTER: FARMER. 



[October, 



tion we may remark that bees, like other ani- 

 mals, not even excluding the hinnau species, 

 when they become hungry, in obedience to an 

 instinctive impulse which they cannot resist, 

 will make an effort to gratify their present 

 demands, or future wants, even if they have 

 to steal it. Any human being in health is 

 fully sensible of the goadings of lumger, and 

 regards the idea of starvation with feelings 

 of unmitigated hoiTor. Need we then be sur- 

 prised that animals, not endowed witli re- 

 flective reasoning, should purloin those ali- 

 mentary substances which are so essential to 

 their own healthy development, and the per- 

 petuation of their species ? "We have the tes- 

 timony of several intelligent observers, whose 

 reports are altogether reliable, notwithstand- 

 ing they are somewhat conflicting on a mere- 

 ly superficial examination. One gentleman 

 of veracity and of close observation informs 

 us that, notwithstanding he has kept a vigi- 

 lant watch over his fruit and the insects that 

 visit it, yet he has never in a single instance 

 detected a bee cutting or lacerating tlie skins 

 of his grapes, although his observations have 

 been conducted from morning to night, and 

 for several days in succession. He has seen 

 bees extracting the juices of the grapes wliere 

 the skin had been cut by wasps or hornets, 

 or where they had been broken from other 

 causes. Another testifies that he has fre- 

 quently seen the larger Italian bees cutting 

 the skins of the grape berries, and afterwards 

 our native species follow them up and continue 

 the work of destruction thus begun. This 

 fact, he states he has witnessed over and over 

 again, but he has never seen our local variety 

 making the original incision. Another one 

 testifies that both varieties of bees, in connec- 

 tion with wasps and hornets, cut the skins of 

 grapes, peaches, and also plums, and that 

 they have visited the fruit in his enclosure 

 apparently for that purpose alone. Now, 

 these things being so, does it not suggest that 

 no one in a large town or city, who has not 

 sufficient land to furnish food for his bees, 

 should be allowed to keep them, more than 

 he should be allowed to keep sheep, pigs, and 

 cows, and let them trespass upon the property 

 of his neighbors for their daily supply of the 

 necessary quantity of food to sustain them. 

 It might also suggest, whether, if bees appro- 

 priated the whole crop and converted it into 

 lioney and wax, it would not pay as well as to 

 sell the fruit, or convert it into wine, &c. 



In conclusion we may state that the ques- 

 tion is still an open one, and if it can be dis- 

 cussed with a strict regard to the truth of the 

 matter in issue, some use may grow out of the 

 discussion — at least no harm. 



DO SWALLOWS EMIGRATE.' 



From the Country Gentleman.] 



Seeing the remarks of Observer, on pasre .555, I 

 am led to ask tlie question whether swallows go, 

 like other birds, to a warmer climate to winter, and 

 where they go. Can the readers of the Country 

 Oenllcman tell us certainly ? 



When I was a boy we were cutting some coarse 

 grass in a swampy place, near some small trees and 

 bushes of stinted swamp growth, around a very 

 muddy place, sometimes covered over with water. 

 This was on the 2.5th of August. All the time we 

 were at work that day swallows sailed and hovered 

 around over the swamp in great numbers. I remcm- 

 her asking my father what made the swallows so 

 thick. He asked me if I knew what day of the 

 month it wap, and I replied I did not know. He 

 said he believed it was the 25th, and the swal- 

 lows were preparing for their departure for the 

 season. I asked him where they went so early in the 

 season. He said they were "going into the mud in 

 this swamp ; toward night you can see those bushes 

 and trees around that mud hole, covered with them, 

 and to-morrow you will see no swallows flying about." 

 This was astounding news to me, and I asked if they 

 really went into the mud for winter quarters. He 

 replied, "yes, I know some of them do, and believe 

 all do, for I once helped to excavate mud from an 

 old mill pond, and on one side the mud was quite 

 thin, and in that we dug hundreds of barn 

 swallows in a dormant state, which on being exposed 

 to the air and warmth showed signs of life." This 

 BO worked upon my mind that I thought I would see 

 if I could not dig out some, and When I had a leisure 

 time I intended to repair to the swamp hole for the 

 purpose, but rain set in, the mud hole was a bad 

 place to go into, and I did not attempt it. 



The next year, about the same time, I was sent to 

 the mill, about three miles, to get rye ground for 

 bread. While it was being ground I was fishing, and 

 in the middle of the mill pond was a peninsula covered 

 with water only when it was very high. On this were 

 dwarf and dead willows completely covered with 

 swallows. I called the old and much respected mil- 

 ler's attention to it, and asked hJm if they went in 

 the mud for winter quarters. He said that he sup- 

 posed they did, "for they come there in just such 

 numbers about this time every year, and are not seen 

 afterwards." I watched them while fishing, and 

 could see them fly down and up, but they wei'C so far 

 off, and so numerous, and in such commotion that I 

 could not watch each individual swallow, or see that 

 their ranks were growing thin while I remained. I 

 have many times since seen them gathering around 

 swamps, -and noticed their sudden disappearance, 

 .and did the present year. Now, am I alone in this 

 (theory) or are there others who think the same? 

 Can those living at the South tell where northern 

 swallows winter? — L. F. Scott, Litchfield co., C'oim. 



The theory of swallows hibernating in mud 

 holes is a very old one, and just as erroneous 

 as it is old ; and observations made, "when I 

 was a boy," are entitled to no credence what- 

 ever on that account. This tlieory obtained 

 when ice were a boy, more than half a century 

 ago, and we believed it, but neither then nor 

 ill the long period that has intervened, have 

 we ever seen anything in confirmation of it ; 

 and it is astonishing that in the present ad- 

 vanced state of ornithology any person of in- 

 telligence should entertain such a notion for 

 a single moment. Swallows and martins de- 

 part for the West Indies, Central America, 

 and Northern South America early in Sep- 

 tember, and there they have been seen many 

 a time during our northern winter seasons. 

 Always gregarious just before their departure, 

 they become more so during the day and 

 towards evening, but separate to their vari- 

 ous abodes during the night. They usually 

 take leave of us very early in the morning, 

 and hence if they should have been seen in 

 large or small numbers about a mud hole or a 

 pond of water the evening before their depar- 

 ture, the unwarrantable inference has been 

 drawn that they hibernate in the mud, because 

 nothing is seen of them the following morn- 

 ing. And why do they assemble about mud 

 holes, marshes, ponds and stagnant waters V 

 Simply because about the end of summer such 

 places aflbrd them the greatest amount of 

 food. Swallows are purely insectiverous birds, 

 and they take them mainly on the wing ; and 

 where insects most assemble they most assem- 

 ble. They confine themselves to the smaller 

 species of insects, and especiallj' -the Diptera 

 (two-winged flies) such as gnats, mosquitoes, 

 "gallinippers" and the like, and these breed 

 in stagnant waters, and as summer wanes 

 they are found in greatest numbers in such 

 places. During midsummer, or early in the 

 season, insects fly higher and farther away 

 from their breeding places, but as the weatlier 

 cools they are most abundantly found near 

 those places. Has it never occurred to the 

 reader that he has suffered more annoyance 

 from mosquitoes after the 1st of September 

 than he has prior to that date ; and has he ever 

 reflected that this may have been because the 

 swaUows had all left the vicinity of his abode, 

 and consequently the mosquitoes liad in- 

 creased ? Are we progressing or retrogTessing 

 in scientific knowlege ? 



A BEET HARD TO BEAT. 



We were fortunate enough to become the 

 recipient of the large re"d-beet which Mr. 

 Henry Kurtz, of Mount Joy, had on exhibi- 

 tion at the meeting of our local society, on 

 Monday, the 1st of the present month. Tliis 

 Chenopodiacean subject of the vegetable king- 

 dom, was of a deep crimson color and of the 

 turnip-rooted variety, measuring nine inches 

 in its vertical diameter, from the base of the 

 leaves to the beginning of the tap roots, and 

 about the same in its transverse diameter, 

 making it about twenty-seven inches in cir- 

 cumference, and weighing fully ten pounds. 

 True, we liave seen larger vegetables of tlie 

 beet kind, weighing from twenty to thirty 

 pounds, and we have read of some weighing 

 from iorty to fifty pounds, but they were not 

 of the red or turaip variety, and were too 



hard, coarse and insipid to be used as human 

 food — only fit for stock — but this specimen 

 possessed all the edible qualities we find in 

 tlie ordinary sized turnip variety of red-beets. 

 AVe were also the recipient of some fine Iler- 

 bamot, Lawrence, Dix, Chinese Sand, Beurres 

 Bosc, Anjou, Diel, Clargeau and other pears, 

 as well as apples and grapes, kindly donated 

 by Messrs. Casper Hiller, H. M. Engle, Dan- 

 iel Shmeycli, I. L. Landis, L. S. lleist and 

 others, whose names did not come to our 

 knowledge. 



We feel grateful for these tokens of person- 

 al consideration on the part of these gentle- 

 men, (both tlie known and the unknown) and 

 hope nothing may transpire in our relations, 

 to illustrate that they have discriminated 

 falsely in our behalf, either in the past, pres- 

 ent or future — and we do assure them that 

 these things, both in their moral and mater- 

 ial bearings, afford an agreeable and healthful 

 stimulant to oiu' editorial labors; and the 

 more so because of their unfeigned spontaniety 

 and disinterestedness, qualities whiclt enhance 

 the value of any gift. 



But, if "troubles never come single," so 

 neither do favors, for here comes, on this aus- 

 picious 8th of October, our genial friend, 

 Wm. Weidle, and lays us under a special ob- 

 ligation f(3ra luscious lot of Lawrence, Erben- 

 iste, Grey Doyenne, Buerre Clairgeau, Buerre 

 Diel, and Buerre Morea pears, and Israella 

 grapes. It is just as difficult to discriminate 

 where everything is good as where everything 

 is bad ; nevertheless we cannot refrain from 

 mentioning the superior, juicy, and buttery 

 qualities of the unpretending little "B. Morea" 

 pear. In its melting edibility we realize that 

 rustic description which declares a thing "as 

 slick as goose-grease, and goose-grease as slick 

 as butter, and butter the slickest kind of 

 grease," for so indeed it was. It seems to us 

 that we never before have had such a striking 

 exemplification of the keeping qualities of the 

 Israella grape. It ripens simultaneously with 

 the Hartford Prolific, and yet here on tlie 8th 

 of October, it was plucked from the vines as 

 plump, as solid, and as luscious as the first 

 clusters that ripened six weeks ago.* That 

 surely is a quality not to be disregarded. 



^. « 



FINE TOBACCO LEAVES. 



The following is a detailed description of 

 some specimens of tobacco exhibited by Mr. 

 Henry Kurtz, at the meeting of the "Tobacco 

 Growers' Society, " held in this city on the 17th 

 of September last, two days after the issue of 

 the September number of The Farmer'. 

 These leaves were eight in number, and al- 

 though they are not represented as the true 

 average of his whole crop, yet they were all 

 in a vigorous growing condition, and woidd 

 have increased much in size had they been 

 permitted to remain a week or ten days longer 

 in the field, and might have remained there 

 until the 1st of October, so far as the weather 

 was concerned. 



No. 1. Centennial seed, 30 inches wide by;|S 

 42 inches long ; grown in sixty days from the 

 "stock," or planting out. 



No. 2. The same seed, 47 inches long by 37 

 wide, in GO days. 



No. 3. The same seed, 40 inches long by 26 

 wide, cut September 17th; planted the stock 

 on .July 1.5tli. 



No. "4. The same seed, 42 inches long by 26 

 wide, raised from small plants and cut Sep- 

 tember 5th. 



No. 5. The same seed, 47 inches long by 28 

 wide, planted July 23d from seed stock. 



No. 6. The same seed, 45 inches long by 26 

 wide, planted July 23d, grew 60 days. 



No. 7. Hartford seed, 35 inches long liy 22 

 to 20 wide, plants small, and grew subse- 

 quently to 46 days. 



No. "8. Hartford, 36 inches long by 22 wide, 

 planted July 19th, and cut September 15th to 

 17th. 



Mr. Kurtz's tobacco fields are near Mt. Joy, 

 in Rapho twp., and his crop, on the whole, 

 has done well, which is more than a good 

 many others can say, although the crop in 

 Lancaster county has been, generally speak- 



