36 



THE ^LANCASTER :FARMER. 



[March, 



and a-half, especially those of the "Christine" 

 variety, but the " Concords " and "Clintons" were 

 also fine. 



N. B. — My bees are of three varieties, namely, the 

 common black, the Italian, and the hybrid, and they 

 do not and will not, and I sincerely believe, can not, 

 destroy fruit of any kind. Therefore, they should 

 not be charged with ofi'euses of which they are not 

 guilty. — Tours respectfully, ^YUlia»l J. Pyle, West 

 Chester, January 20, 1878. 



Remotely connected with the foregoing, we 

 select from a cotemporary journal, for what 

 it may be worth, the following : 



Curious Story of a Bee. 



" My aunt was once lame, so that she had to stay 

 in the room all day long, and her dinner was always 

 carried to her. One day a bee flew in at the open 

 window, and alighted on the pear which she was 

 eating. There he staid till he had eaten enough, and 

 every day after that, he came in at the same hour, 

 and found some fruit ready for him. Once he came 

 earlier thaa usual, and as the fruit was not yet cut, 

 he thought he would try some lobster. He seemed 

 to like it very well, and began to saw ofl" a little 

 piece. This he rolled over, and then, tucking it 

 under his wing, he flew out of the window and away 

 over the garden. In a few moments he came back 

 again, sawed off another piece, and again flew away 

 with it. Then Aunt called the children to come and 

 see her pet, and as soon as they were quiet the bee 

 came back. We all watched him as he busily tugged 

 away at the lobster, this time taking a piece half as 

 large as his body. He was gone Ubout five minutes 

 and then came back for more. When he found the 

 lobster had been taken away, and that some nice 

 peaches and pears were on the table, he was very 

 angry, and flew round and round the table, but 

 would not touch the fruit. My aunt laid a nice piece 

 of a juicy pear on the edge of the plate to tempt 

 him, but he became quite mad, and buzzed about 

 the room, bounced against the window, and then 

 went out of the window. He soon came back with 

 another bee, and they both seemed very angry be- 

 cause they could have no more lobster. They buzzed 

 around the head of each person in the room, and 

 then went out of the wmdow. After that the pet 

 bee never came again, although the window was left 

 open for him. He could never forgive my aunt for 

 sending away his favorite dish. I have often won- 

 dered what he did with the lobster he carried off. 



Of coui-se, this " story " would be more sat- 

 isfactory if it could have been known what 

 species this " curious " bee was. The simple 

 name of "bee," is very indefinite, for it 

 covers a large nimiber of Hymenopterous in- 

 sects. Perhaps forty-nine out of every fifty 

 who read the story, will understand it to 

 mean the "honey-bee" {A^ns Mellifica). If 

 it was this species, then two factors involved 

 in the late discussion on the grape eating pro- 

 pensities of this insect, seem very apparent. 

 First, it would not — or at least did not — cut 

 the skin of the fruit on the table, but partook 

 of it freely when it was cut and placed before 

 it by the lady. 



Second, if it had suflicient cutting power to 

 elimmate a piece of muscular labster, it seems 

 evident that it could have cut the skin of a 

 peach, a pear, or a grape, with less labor than 

 the former operation required, if it desired to 

 do so. 



It is a very common thing for bees, wasps 

 and hornets (apis, polistes, et vespa) to fly into 

 dining-rooms, in summer time, especially 

 when there is any thing sweet upon the table, 

 although the last named are generally in pur- 

 suit of flies. It is also a common thing for 

 certain species of fossorial wasps (sphex, ody- 

 nerits et stizus) to stock their cells with animal 

 food, (usually caterpillars, spiders and flies,) 

 upon which to rear their young. Others 

 again (as xylocopja, coeleoxys, &c.,) gather pol- 

 len and nectar, and compound that peculiar 

 jMbuhim known as "bee-bread," and rear 

 their young on that kind of food, although 

 we have never noticed this habit in the honey- 

 bee, so far as concerns animal food. 



LANCASTER PARK DIRECTORS. 



At a meeting of the Lancaster Park Asso- 

 ciation, held March 8, 1878, at the oflice of 

 Alderman McConomy, the following directors 

 were elected to serve for the ensuing year : 

 K. A. Evans, A. Iliestand, A. C. Kepler, R. 

 J. McGrann, George Youtz, J. H. Miller, 

 Joseph Royer, George Styer, T- B. Rowe, 

 James Stewart, H. Z. Ehoads, 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 

 A tabulated oflicial report from the Penn- 

 sylvania State Board of Agriculture, showing 

 the analysis of seventeen different commercial 

 fertilizers sold in the State of Pennsylvania, 

 and their comparative value, as analyzed by 

 Prof. F. A. Genth, of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, by order of said Board. 



|5£ 



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M m H c c £ 

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J*.CO*.*.*.tf^CSO' tf..-! 



Moisture. 



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Sol. & Peeoip. 

 Pegs. Acid. 



.■wcscocoow*.oiw 



oitc to Ol o 



Insoluble 

 Phos. Acid. 



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Potash. 



- W .-* CO tO»- 



Ammonia. 



Commeecial 

 Value. 



REPORT OF FRUIT COMMITTEE. 



The committee appomted at the last meet- 

 ing of the Lancaster Agricultural and Horti- 

 cultural Society to report on the best varieties 

 of fruit to plant in this section, would state 

 that owing to the great variety of soil and 

 climate, combined with the large numljer of 

 valuable kinds of fruit under cultivation, they 

 found the taskj'ather a difticuU one, especially 

 in regard to apples. Of this fruit they would 

 recommend planters to select such varieties as 

 are known to do well in their respective local- 

 ities, and not to plant too many kinds except 

 for experiment. To those who have com- 

 mitted the error of planting northern varie- 

 ties, which have turned out to be fall apples 

 in tills section, we would say, take them up 

 and replace them with such as are better 

 adapted to their locality and soil. The fol- 

 lowing list has proven of merit : 

 Summer Apples. 



All Summer, Early Harvest, and Duchess 

 of Oldenburg. 



Autumn Apples. 



Maiden's Blush, Fall Pippin, Mellinger, 

 Benoui, Smokehouse, Rambo, Pound, Penn- 

 sylvania Eedstreak, and Early Winter. 

 Winter Apples. 



Smith's Cider, York Imperial, Romanite, 

 Ewalt, Dommie, Rome Beauty, and Winesap. 

 Pears. 



Bartlett, Seckel, Lawrence, Howell, Man- 

 ning's Elizabeth, and Sheldon. 

 Peaches. 



Moimtain Rose, Early Crawford, Late Craw- 

 ford, Smock's Late, Sulway, Stump the 

 World, Mixon Free, and Reeves Favorite. 

 Grapes. 



Concord, Martha, and Telegraph. 



Strawberries. 



Charles Downing, Wilson's Albany, and 

 Boyden No. 30. 



Raspberries. 



Branchwine, Philadelphia, Drobittle, and 

 Black Cap. 



Blackberries. 



Kittatinny, Lawton, and Wilson. 

 There are other varieties of fruits that are 

 not generally known, some of which may be 

 equally as valuable as those above named, but 

 should be further tested before they are recom- 

 mended for general cultivation. 



M. D. Kendig, 

 H. M. Engle, 

 L. S. Reist. 

 Lancaster, March 4, 1878. 



QUERY AND ANSWER. 



Mr. D. S., Lancaster, Fa.' — The pear branch 

 you sent us, "scored and grooved in various 

 directions," was no doubt infested by the 

 larva of a small "Tyiiographer beetle," (Scol- 

 ytus piyri) although we were not able to find 

 any of the "worms" in it. There are a num- 

 ber of these little insects that injure various 

 kinds of trees, sometimes called "Blight bee- 

 tles." They are about an eighth of an inch 

 long and of a black or brown color. The 

 only way to destroy them is to cut off the 

 infested branches and burn them. The ex- 

 ternal appearance of the branch will generally 

 show where they are located. 



Mr. S. S. S., Lancaster, Pa. — The small- 

 winged insects so numerously issuing from 

 the window frames and other wood work 

 about No. 2 cotton mill, are "American Ter- 

 mites," [Termes frontalis) and represent the 

 Termites, or "White Ants" of Asia and 

 Africa. They are wood-boring insects, only 

 coming forth during their nuptial or swarm- 

 ing season, once a year. We have never 

 observed them heretofore so early in the sea- 

 son as the 8th day of March. We have 

 noticed them issuing from several old buildings 

 in North Queen street, between Lemon and 

 James streets, but, there they usually appear 

 in "swallow time," about the end of April 

 or first of May, and we have noticed these for 

 twenty-five years in succession. People some- 

 times confound them with small species of 

 "Pearl-flies," {Perla) otherwise called "Shad- 

 flies," but this is quite a mistake, for the 

 larvce. of the Pearl-flies live in the water, whilst 

 these excavate the wood-work of houses, and 

 especially old houses. The remedy is to cap- 

 ture them as they come forth in the spring, 

 and tlien to paint or whitewash the places 

 from which they came. See the history of 

 Termites, of Asia and Africa, where they de- 

 structively abound. 



^ 



VINEGAR FROM SUGAR BEETS. 



One bushel of sugar beets properly rasped 

 and pressed, will yield five gallons of juice, 

 which, treated the same as cider is, will make 

 a stronger vinegar, of as good but diflerent 

 flavor, and in making cider, nine bushels of 

 apples and one of sugar beets will make a 

 cider superior to apples alone. Eveiy farmer 

 can raise sugar beets, and with the juice ex- 

 pressed at the cider mill, make all the vinegar 

 he wants for his own use and have a surplus 

 for sale. Witli vinegar at a price it could be 

 made for from beets, its consumption would 

 be increased, as it would enter into many 

 articles of manufacture from which the price 

 now precludes it. When it is found how 

 cheap sugar beets can be raised, and their 

 value for vinegar as well as food for stock, 

 tliey will be grown more. The best juice can 

 also be worked into sugar as easily as maple 

 sugar now is, and requires no more skill. — 

 Andrew H. Ward, Bridgewater, 3Iass. 



A LARGE HORSE-RADDISH. 



Mr. Wilson Bard, of Oregon, Manheim 

 twp., Lancaster county, has cultivated on his 

 premises a horse-raddish, with three branch- 

 ing tap-roots, 3 feet 10 inches in length, 21 

 inches in diameter, and weighing about 10 

 pounds. If anybody in or out of the county 

 can beat that let them say so. 



