1877. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



163 



borhood, (he means not within a mile,) his 

 colonies arc the regular hive bees, near sev- 

 eral varieties of grapes. The Clintons, being 

 the most perfect, I'uli and large for the kind, 

 burst their skins, many half-way round, from 

 soine cause unkniivn to mr; the saccharine Juice 

 exuding was enough to tempt the bees to visit 

 the grapes and regale upon (hem, stating also 

 that they were very thin skinned this year. 

 Without noticing his appeal to I'rof. Kalhvon, 

 about the cutting app;iratus of the bee, and 

 much else that might be said, I will now come 

 to what I believe to be the cause of the skins 

 bursting, at least in some cases. 



This belongs to natin-al philoso])liy and 

 vegetable physiology. First, my personal ob- 

 servation, on which 1 groun<l my opinion ; 

 while residing on North Duke strei't, about 

 eight years ago, there was a trellis with a 

 grape vine on it, facing directly .south. When 

 tiie grapes were about two-thirds ripe a shower 

 of rain fell about noon. After the rain the 

 sun slKHie forth with intense brightness. On 

 passing the trellis I noticed a shining globule 

 of water on the upper surface ; the bloom 

 partially formcul on the grape caused the 

 globules to coalcse like the dew on the gra.ss. 

 The hot sun striking these globules, I infer, 

 acted like a burning lens, as next day I 

 noticed a callous or .scalded spot on those 

 grapes. AVhcther a fresh tlow of sap or the 

 cellular tissue of the fruit became more rapidly 

 developed in maturing, or from the ordinary 

 growth alone, 1 do not know ; as the skin of 

 the grape had become callous or indurated, it 

 would or could not yield to the expansion of 

 the pulp or fruit at these points, and conse- 

 quently the skin must burst. 



I subsecpiently observed that the juice was 

 exuding, and that accounted for the numerdus 

 insects, bees among them, as well as moths, 

 that were regaling them.selves on the juices. 

 Everybody has seen water in a show-bottic in 

 druggists' windows or in fish-globes. When 

 in the direct line of the sun these have Vieen 

 known to kindle paper in the focus, as thej- 

 form a burning lens by concentrating the 

 sun's rays. A cake of ice can be converted 

 into a burning lens, and such have been used 

 in Iceland to kindle fires with. 



Now, before we condemn the common hive 

 or Italian bees as the cause, let us withhold 

 our judgment and not ''jumpat conclusions," 

 and be sure that we are right before we expel 

 them with Paris green or strychnine. One of 

 t)ur most learned men showed me what he 

 thought the parent of the aphids so injurious 

 to a choice plant ; he said he kil'ed all he 

 could find. lie was suriiriscd when I told him 

 that he made a great mistake, as the supposed 

 parent actually fed upon the aphids and was 

 the best friend to his plant ; but ignorance on 

 this particular subject did it. While he is my 

 peer in many other branches of science, on 

 this specialty he had much to learn. So we 

 find many insects that might be taken for 

 Italian bees, which are the carpenter or tailor 

 bees — and of a different genus, and yet not 

 distinguished by a mere casual observer — who 

 may have sni)ii()scd his acquaintance on the 

 wing with the Italian bee suthcicut. Further 

 observation is needed, and more caution be- 

 fore we condemn a creature that after all may 

 be perfectly innocent — so I believe it to be, of 

 cutting the grape.— ./. S., Lancaster, October 

 25, 1877. 



Bees and Grapes. No. 6. 



One word on the subject of bees destroying 

 fruit. I have been keeping bees for seven- 

 teen years, and have watched them on my 

 graiie vines every season, but I have never 

 seen them bite or sting a grape. I have in- 

 variably found them on such as wx-re bursled 

 open, or that had l>een pecked by birds ; 

 wl-.ere this was the case, the bees, of course, 

 took to the balance. 



The gentleman in Lancaster told Mr. Gar- 

 ber that since the Italian or crosses of Ihnt 

 variety of bees have been introduced, they are 

 so destructive of the fruit that they can't 

 grow grapes as formerly. Mr. Garber says 

 such has also been his experience. The Italian 



bees are treated unjustly in this case, for the 

 black bees worked on the broken grains for a 

 few past years quite as fast as the Italians do 

 now. 



Sound grapes they never damage. Had 

 Mr. G.'s grapes all been sound, the bees woidd 

 never have visited his vines. I saw grape 

 vines during the past season covered with lus- 

 cious fruit, but not a bee did I .see on them. 

 1 examined the grapes and found them all 

 .sound a\id undamagcil, while very close to the 

 vine there were others on which the bees 

 were fairly swarming. Upon examination 1 

 found that there were nearly as many burst- 

 open grapes as sound ones, while the black 

 Vices were fully as numerous as the Italians. 

 As for Mr. G.'s threat to give the thieves a 

 taste of Paris green or strychnia, I would say, 

 bees do not die as easily as he thinks, but 

 could readily carry the poison to their hives. 



As for W., of Strasburg, I beg leave to in- 

 form him that th(^ past was not the first sca- 

 .son that Italian bees are in that neighborhood. 

 They have been there four years to my cer- 

 tain" knowledge. —J. F. llershey, Mt. Joy, Pa. 



HOW TO MAKE A WELL. 



Ml-. J. W. l'iiikli:im lius a paper on " Wells and 

 Cisterns'' in " .Serilincr" for Sci)tenil>er, with plans 

 sliowiiig' liiiw tljey arc containin.atcil, and tuiw they 

 slioulil tie eoustructed. He suys of wells; First, of 

 course, the well must lie so constructed that it can- 

 not act as a drain for the neighboring soil. This 

 can be done by makinfr the wall above low-water 

 nuirk (it some inateiial impervious to water, or by 

 omitting tills pari of tlie wall altogether. Tlie first 

 can be accomplisliej l>y having the wall from a point 

 two or three feet from the bottom made of brick, 

 with acoatinij of hydraulic cement on its exterior or 

 of hydraulic wcll-tubinc:, with the joinings well pro- 

 tected with cement ; in either ease the earth should 

 he thnrouirhly jiaeked around the wall, and a slight 

 embankment sliould lie made around the orifice to 

 prevent the iiiHow iif surface or storm water. In 

 sueli a well the draining; surface is so reduced, and 

 placed at such a distance below the surface of the 

 ground, that in the great majority of instances the 

 introduetion of foreign matter becomes impossible 

 except in so far as there is a chance tliat substances 

 will fall into the well from above. To prevent this 

 the well sliould be kept covered when not in use. 

 In most cases, however, it is better to omit the upper 

 part of the wall altogether. After the excavation is 

 completed, the wall can be built in the usual manner 

 for a distance of two or three feet, more or less, as 

 eircunistances may demand ; tlie service pipe can 

 then be placed in position, and the well arched over. 

 The rcmaiuder of the excavation can then be tilled 

 witli earth, well packed as it is thrown in, and the 

 pipe carried to any convenient point. It will lie 

 necessary to |ilaee above the arch several layers of 

 stones successively smaller, to prevent the falling of 

 earth into the space below. The workmen will pro- 

 bably suggest a layer of turf or straw to accomplish 

 this olijeet ; but the presence of either of these sub- 

 stances will cause the water to be unpleasant for a 

 considerabU' time, and will prove the cause of much 

 annoyanec. There is a prevalent notion that a well 

 should be ventilated for the purpose of allowing 

 noxious gases to escape, and that water is lietter for 

 being exposed to the air. I hardly need stale that 

 the only noxious gases in a well (i. e., gases which 

 render the water unwholcsiime) are the products 

 of the decomposition of organic matter which has 

 found its way into the well in ways which have been 

 ilescribed above ; and that water as it flows in its 

 subterranean passages is more perfectly arated than 

 it can be in any other way. 



We know not how it is now in regard to 

 wells in those localities where they are de- 

 pended on for the daily supply of water, but 

 we do know that in our boyhood, and even in 

 our manhood, in both town and country, 

 where there was no hydr.ant water, the well 

 water often became putrid and at least un- 

 drinkable, and when the cause was ascer- 

 tained, it was found that it was due to dead 

 toads, mice, rats, snakes, grasshoppers, 

 beetles, &c., that had fallen in and perished. 

 And in one instance we knew of a small cat 

 that had fallen in and drowned, and remained 

 there until its hair came off, before the people 

 became aware that they had for some weeks 

 been consuming "cat-soup." Now, conced- 

 ing the value of the suggestions in the fore- 

 giiiug article on well-making, so far as they 

 go, we are free to say, that if we bad occasion 

 to make a well, we would adopt the plan em- 

 braced in the following article at once ; for, 

 if such a well was properly constructed and 



secured, it wotdd never need any cleaning or 

 repairing any more than the clefts and fis- 

 sures in the rocks through which the water 

 pa,s.se8, needs such cleaning or repair, and es- 

 pecially so if the conducting tubes were en- 

 ameled, or made of ttrra rntta. The process 

 seems simple, philcsophical, and rational, 

 anyliow. 



Clean, Pure Water. 



In I.''.'>4 I dug my well nearly twenty-two feet 

 deep, and struck a strong stream of water. I walled 

 up three feet, and put two lead pipes in, arched It 

 over and stood the pipes up by the dug wall. I then 

 put the dirt which I had takeu out back Into the well. 

 I then attached a cast-lrnn pump to the large pipe, 

 and left the smaller one to give air in case the water 

 did not come into the well as fast as It was pumped 

 out. It Is over twenty-three years since, and I have 

 a pump in one corner of my kllehcu, which brings 

 up as clear, pure water as at first. I saved the stone 

 and walling of eighteen feet, and have none of the 

 soaking and filth off the surface of the earth. I have 

 no eats, rats, mice, snakes, frogs, or a thousand 

 other tilings which arc liable to get into wells wlilch 

 are walled up to the top, in mine. My son has a 

 pump fixed eimilarto mine, but his a common wooden 

 pump, and out of doors. The air pipe should go up 

 tiy the stock, and make a hole in it, so as to let the 

 water down in cold weather. The lower stock will 

 last almost without a limit, and it would be an easy 

 matter to put the upper one in. — Cor. Cin. Gazette. 

 — -^ — 



BUY YOUR TREES AT HOME. 



Of all the mistakes our farmers and property- 

 holders throughout the county annually commit, 

 none is so common as buying their fruit, shade and 

 other trees from the agents of nurseries in distant 

 States. With unfailing regularity these men come 

 around every season with their sample-books of 

 highly-colored fruits and trees, and persistently urge 

 them upon the attention of all w ho have room to set 

 out a tree or a bush. The people of this county have 

 patronized these men far beyond their deserts, or 

 than a consideration for their own pockets warrants. 

 Only too often has their confidence been abused. In 

 the first place, the prices are in almost every instance 

 twice or thrice what the same articles can be pur- 

 chased for here at home. But this is not the worst; 

 in innumerable instances the goods turned out very 

 differently from the representations made at the time 

 of purchase, and the buyers find that they havelieen 

 victimized not only in price but in kind. There is no 

 occasion for being taken in this way. The remedy is 

 easily applied, and may be stated in the situple 

 words, "buy at home." We have nurserymen in 

 Lancaster county, second to none in the United States. 

 Messrs. Calvin Cooper, Casper Hiller & Son, the 

 Englcs at Marietta, and Brinton at Chriistiana, and 

 others, are the owners of nurseries where everything 

 our citizens can want in this line is to be found. Not 

 only arc their prices much lower than those of the 

 foreign dealers, but their high character and reputa- 

 tion are a sure guarantee that their goods are as 

 represented, aud that a man will get the article he 

 ]4Hys for. As a rule, their trees are much finer and 

 stronger than those that come from abroad, and 

 being acclimated, are far more suitable for home 

 culture than the puny things that are sent here from 

 other States and places. Our readers should not for- 

 get this very important fact when they stand in need 

 of any article in this line. This is a ease where home 

 industry can be encouraged with profit. — -Vtw Era. 



We endorse the above, both in sentiment 

 and in principle ; although we do not mean 

 to say that there arc not as cheap, hone.st and 

 reliable nurserymen out of the county and the 

 State, as there are in them. Hut chea]), hon- 

 est and reliable as the proprietors of these 

 establishments may be in themselves, it is 

 possible they may be misrepresented through 

 knavish, designing or selfish agents. But 

 still, if such contingencies were not likely to 

 ensue, we would advise our patrons to buy 

 their trees at home, for many of the reasons 

 above slated. And we would say further, 

 buy a good many other things at home that 

 are often bought abroad ; for the constant 

 drain of money going out for foreign luxuries 

 and commodities, are sure to ultimately im- 

 poverish the community. It is not for us to 

 particularize what they should buy at home. 

 That we leave to their own connnon-seiwe 

 discretion', after mature ob.servation and re- 

 flection ; but the hankering after foreign 

 novelties is, and has always Ix-en, the bane of 

 our country. Those foreign countries that 

 sell most and buy lea.st abroad, are financially 

 and domesticall}' the most sound and prosper- 

 ous, and also recuperate the most rajiidly after 

 political and financial reverses, as was evinced 

 in the late disastrous condition of France, 



