The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., MARCH, d878. 



Vol. Z. No. 3. 



CLUBBING. 



AVc ofler The Fakmer, elubbod with other 

 first-class publications, at the followiiiji [irices : 

 I'hrmolofjical Jouniiil and Faumer - S^! Oil, $2..50 

 Harper's Monthly and Farmeu - - - .').(H), 

 Harper's. Weekly and Farmer - - - .^.00, 

 Harper's Bazar and Farmer - - - - .5.00, 

 i/ei-aido///e<i((A and Farmer - - - 2.00, 

 National Lire Stock Journal and Farmer :!.00, 

 Jfo«»« /oy //(faW and Farmer - - 2.50, 

 FrieneU Journal and Fakmek - - - S..50, 



The first column indicates the regular 

 prices of the two .journals respectively, and 

 the second column the club rates, if the two 

 are ordered together. 



4.00 

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 4.00 

 1.50 

 2. .50 

 1.75 

 3.00 



HARD TIMES. 



Our whole country, and perhaps the whole 



world, is now, and has beeu for many niontlis, 

 experiencing those social, flnaucial and econ- 

 omical reverses, which are popularly denomi- 

 nated "hard times," and perhaps there never 

 existed a greater diversity of opinion as to 

 what really constitutes hard times, the original 

 causes of them, and the means which ought 

 to be instituted in order to abate, or radically 

 cure them. The only class not .seriously 

 affected by hard times— or the class least 

 affected by them — is that which includes tlie 

 legitimately constituted farming class of the 

 count ry ; tliose who are farmers de facto as well 

 as clc jure ; the economical laboring farmers, 

 and not the merely speculative or profligate 

 among those who assume that honorable name 

 and function. It really furnishes one of the 

 most striking physiognomical illustrations 

 that could be desired, only to look into the 

 faces of those two extremes of the farming 

 class. The one enveloped in sober garments, 

 bland visage, satisfied smiles and solid con- 

 tenteduess ; the other in gay acjornments, 

 hungry look, careworn visage, and unsatisfied 

 expectations. The latter may experience 

 much that savors of hard times ; but the 

 former, if he is not also hankering after the 

 "forbidden fruit," is only very partially, or 

 is. not at all disturbed, or disconcerted by 

 them. But even admitting that the prevail- 

 ing times are hard — an assumption which we 

 by no means desire to gainsay— they might 

 unquestionably be nuich harder — and they 

 /tflce been almost infinitely harder in former 

 periods of our country's history. Although 

 we have followed a mechanical occupation for 

 more than half a century, and although dur- 

 ing all that long period we cannot recall a 

 more depressing period than the present — not 

 even in 1837 or 1857 or any other cycles of 

 the sevens, yet we still entertain a faint im- 

 pression of harder times, resulting from 

 the crash in 1817, and a few subsequent 

 years. Of course, we cannot recall any 

 of the details with sufficient vividness to 

 give a true idea of tlieir effects upon 

 the minds and domestic condition of the peo- 

 ple, but it seemed to us that the very air we 

 breathed had a depressing eflect, and boy as 

 we were, we felt that there was something 

 wrong ; and to illustrate tliis point, we will 

 conclude by (pinting the following extract 

 from Bcnton''s Thirtij Years' Recollections, and 

 those who passed through that ordeal with 

 sutlicient age, intelligence and experience to 

 comprehend its scope, will best know how 

 near Benton's description is a true relle.x of 

 that historical period. 



"The years of 1819 and 1820 were a period 

 of gloom and agony. Xo money, either gold 

 or silver, no paper convertible into specie ; 

 no measure or standard of v.alue were left 

 remaining. The local banks, all but those of 

 New England, after a brief resumption of 



specie payments, again sank into a state of 

 suspension. Tlie bank of tlie Unit»'d States, 

 created as a remedy ibr all these evils, now at 

 the head of tlie evil, prostrate and lielpless, 

 with no power left but tliat of suing their 

 debtors and .selling their property, and pur- 

 chasing for itself at its own nominal price. 

 No iirice for property or produce; no sales 

 but those of the sherilf and tlic marshal ; no 

 purchasers at the execution sales but the 

 creditor, or some hoarder of money ; no em- 

 ployment for industry ; no demand for labor ; 

 no sale lor the product of the farm ; no sound 

 of the hammer, but tliat of the auctioneer, 

 knocking down property. Stop laws, property 

 laws, replevin laws, stay laws, loan otlice 

 laws, the intervention of the Legislature be- 

 tween debtor and creditor— tliis was the busi- 

 ness of the Legislature in tbree-fourtlis of 

 the States of the Union— of all soutli and 

 west of New England. No medium of ex- 

 change but depreciated paper ; no change, 

 even, but little bits of foul paper, marked so 

 many cents, and signed by some tradesman, 

 barber or innkeeper ; exchanges deranged to 

 the extent of fifty or one hundred per cent. 

 Distress the universal cry of the people ; 

 relief the universal demand ; thundered at 

 the door of all Legislatures, State and Federal. 

 There is nothing, says the Cincinnati Ga- 

 zelle, in the existing condition of afi'airs, or in 

 the immediate prospect, that can rival what 

 the historian has pictured above. Everything 

 is not right ; many things may be very far 

 from right, but has there been any period 

 since the innocent days of Eden when they 

 were ? 



Dull times are hard enough, but a general 

 prostration of business is not so much to be 

 feared as prosperity with a prevailing epi- 

 demic, or with its more common accompani- 

 ment, reckless extravagance and decaying 

 morals. The men of 1820 groaned under 

 their trials, as they had reason enough to do. 

 .Some sank under the weiglit of their burden. 

 It was about that year that Horace (ireeley's 

 father lost his farm because he could not raise 

 1100 to lift an encumbrance on it. Tlie 

 majority of the people, however, got safely 

 tlirougli with their difiiculties, and lived to 

 enjoy happier days. If the croakers of our 

 own generation will devote half as much 

 time to contending with the emljarrassments 

 which oppose themselves, as they give to ex- 

 aggerating them, the commercial world is not 

 likely to encounter troubles which it cannot 

 overcome. Courage and common sense are 

 the qualities most needed just now." 



flowering iilanls, as bees, wasps, liornets, but- 

 terflies, mollis and a few beetles that feed on 

 nectar and iiollen. If he means to apiily it to 

 tlie wliole cla.ss, practical observation will 

 demonstrate tliat it is an enormous error; 

 and, so far as our experience goes, in reference 

 to tlie various kinds of bees, we are in sym- 

 pathy with tlie opinion of his "critics." We 

 believe that insects are largely influenced by 

 the odor of the flowers or other substances 

 they visit, if not entirely so. This rule applies 

 jiarticularly to carniveroiis insects, whatever 

 their natural (lUDEits may be. Stercorarious 

 and carionilerous flies and beetles are wholly 

 attracted to excretal and putrid substances by 

 their odors. Let an animal drop its firces in 

 the middle of a forest or a field, and many 

 minutes will not pass before it will be found 

 by the above families of flies and beetles. 

 This will atso be the case if a dead and putrid 

 carcass is deposited in the most isolated place, 

 and where an insect of any kind had not been 

 known to exist previous to such a deposit. 

 Of course, this relates to the active season of 

 insects. We have often noticed the coleop- 

 terous genera Canthon, Geotrupes, Phano'us, 

 ApliodiiL-f, and other allied species, in fields 

 overrun by weeds or high grass, imerringly 

 dropping d"own upon the ficces of cattle pas- 

 turing in said fields, and under circumstances 

 which left no room to conclude that they were 

 governed liy any other guide than odor. AVe 

 freely admft that there are often appearances 

 which seem to indicate that insects are influ- 

 enced by color as well as odor, but we think 

 that a closer and a more continued oliserva- 

 tion would demonstrate that there were other 

 causes for this appearaiTce. Enter a field in 

 which are growing both white and red clover, 

 and you may find the former visited by honey 

 bees (njHs) and others of about the same size, 

 whilst the latter may be visited by humble- 

 bees (boinhus) and butterflies. But it is not to 

 be supposed that color has had anything to do 

 in determining this choice, but that it is the 

 result of physical organization. Even among 

 butterflies, where a discrimination is made 

 between the flowers they visit, it is likely to 

 be due to the same cause. The honey bee 

 cannot get the nectar in the fiower-lubes of 

 the red clover— if it can reach it at all— as 

 conveniently as it can at that in the white 

 clover. Moreover, the nectar in one flower 

 may be more to its taste, or in greater abund- 

 ance than it is in the other. There are also 

 cases in which necessity, and not choice, 

 determines the actions of insects. There is, 

 however, much yet to learn on this subject. 



ODOR vs. COLOR. 



"Exception has been taken to the opinion 

 of Sir John Lubbock that it is not the odor 

 but the color of flowers that regulates the 

 visits of insects to them. His critic ciles the 

 fact from personal observation that a bee sit- 

 ting on a scarlet geranium, for instance, will 

 not go from it to a distinct variety, but con- 

 fine its attention to one species only, whatever 

 may be the color of the flowers of that species. 

 It does not go from the scarlet geranium to 

 another scarlet flower of another species. 

 He also points out that if Sir .lolin's view 

 were correct, the indiscriminate admixture of 

 pollens would be inevitable, thus frustrating 

 the designs of natui-e by leading to monstros- 

 ities or barrenness." 



Had any common observer broached such a 

 theory as that of Sir John Lubbock, it pro- 

 bably would not have received the currency 

 that his opinion seems to have. It is inijios- 

 sible to tell, from the above extract, whether 

 he applied that theoi-y to insects as a class, or 

 only to a few restricted species — those for 



WHEN IS THE PROPER TIME TO SOW 

 CLOVER-SEED. 



"As there seems to be so much diversity of 

 oiiinion among farmers in regard to the time 

 for sowing clover-seed, I take the liberty of 

 inquiring through your columns, what is the 

 right lime to consign that seed to the embraces 

 of mother earth, that we may be the most 

 sure of its germination and subsequent 

 growth ? Some recommend sowing it in the 

 fall of the year, when the timothy is sown ; 

 some in the winter, when the snow is on the 

 ground ; and some iirefcr leaving it till late 

 in the spring, lielieving that it should not be 

 I)ut in until all danger of severe frost is over, 

 as after germination a .slight frost is pretty 

 sure to injure it beyond recovery. 



"I have beeu in the practice of sowing 

 about the second week in April, and have 

 seldom missed a good take ; but I have been 

 under the impression that in a general way 

 we do not raise the crops of clover we used to 

 do, either from lack of some ingredient in the 

 soil necessary for the sustenance of the plant, 



instance that draw their nourishment from or owing to our hot and drj- summers ; and it 



