The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., AUGUST. 1878. 



Vol. S. No. 8. 



MONEY! MONEY!! MONEY!!! 

 Tho.so wlui kiKuv lluMiist'lvL'S imli'litcil to u.s, 

 for sub-sci-ipUons or ollicrwise, will plciisc; 

 kindly romeniber tlui iiiintcr — his iiced.s ;iic 

 always pri'.ssing. f>(« the little yellow labels 

 and that will reveal the state of the case, so 

 far as regards subscriptions. 



CROP FAILURES. 



It is very prohtMe that .some people — ''level- 

 headed " people too — may wiilely differ as to 

 what constitutes a successful crop of — well, 

 anything ; but it is (piitc certain that there 

 are many not well-deliued views as to what 

 constitutes "a failure." It has often been 

 announced, in ailvance of the season, in the 

 midst of the season, or after the season has 

 gone by, that " this, that or the other" crop 

 has been a failure, when in i)oint of /art, 

 rationally considered, there has been no such 

 thing — indeed, so far as it concerns a man's 

 own skill, industry and intelligent manipula- 

 tion, his ellbrts may have been an entire suc- 

 cess ; and not only this combination of abili- 

 ties in a ceitain direction, but also their re- 

 sults in the accomplishment of that which he 

 intended. A man imder skillful culture brings 

 an acre of watermelons to iierfection, and the 

 night before he disposes of them a herd of 

 hungry swine break into his enclosure and 

 ruin or destroy all that it contains ; it surely 

 cannot be said that his crop of watermelons 

 has been a, failure. lie may be a "failure" him- 

 self, but certainly his crop has been a success. 



Again, through his own horticultural .skill 

 and industry he may have produced a promis- 

 ing crop of fruit, of whatsoever kind it may 

 be, and just before he l)egins to gather anil 

 market it, it may fall a prey to birds, insects, 

 storms or some other iniforeseen casualty, 

 which may be more or less attributable to his 

 own want of precaution, his own negligence, 

 or a want of the necessary knowledge to se- 

 cure its preservation ; and here, again,, we 

 shall be admonished that he has experienced 

 a failure in his fruit crop. But this is clearly 

 not so, because his culture Ivas been good, the 

 season has been fiivorable, and the result has 

 been all that could have been expected under 

 such a combination of circumstances. If he 

 were asked whether his locality is climatically 

 and otherwise adapted to the growing of such 

 and such kinds of fruit, he surely could not 

 answer in tlie negative, because this would 

 not be true. Birds, insects and other casual- 

 ties may be contingencies that are entirely 

 separate and apart from successful culture, 

 and involves the ability to preserve and pro- 

 tect a good crop after he has succeeded in 

 producing it. It is analogous to the case of a 

 man who by mechanical or i)rofessional skill 

 has been able to build up a successful business 

 and realize handsome prolits from it, but who 

 has been careless or ])rolligate, or has lacked 

 in that financial economy which is essential 

 to the iiroper preservation and investment of 

 his profits. If he (inally fails, his failure can- 

 not be properly attributed to a want of skill in 

 his profession or a want of patronage from the 

 community, but frsm contingencies that are 

 separate and apart from these. Another 

 man, endowed with better economical and 

 financial (pialities, may purchase his establish- 

 ment, and with even less ability than he had, 

 may prove a financial success. There is an 

 old homely adage to the cflect that, "any 

 fool can make money, but it takes a wise man 

 to keep it." A story is told of a certain Mr. 

 Tompkins who leased a (piarry, built a kiln, 

 and went into the lime business. The terms 

 of his lease were liberal, the (luality of the 

 limestone was good, fuel was cheap, and the 

 labor of quarrying light and easy. Taking 

 advantage of a favorable state of the maikct, 

 he sent one of the finest boat loads of lime 



towards a neighboring city that had ever 

 ]ias.sed down the Swam])town canal, and every- 

 tliing seemed propitious of a remimerative 

 linaneial return, but a sudden storm arose 

 and the rain came down in torrents on his 

 uncovered cargo. The lime slaked, the boat 

 bursted, the cargo sunk, converting that part 

 of the canal into a boiling caldron, and his 

 employees barely escaped with their lives. (Jf 

 course he failed, but can any one truly say 

 that the lime laisiness was a failure V lie had 

 no jirudential right to ])resume that the 

 weather would remain fair luitil he got his 

 lime into market any more than a man has a 

 right to presume that he can gather a good 

 crop of healthy fruit in spite of web-worms, 

 canker-worms or pilfering birds, if he makes 

 no effort to forestall them. A lien may be a 

 prolific layer and a good setter, but if she has 

 no provident motherly (jualities her brood of 

 two dozen chicks may, in every instance, 

 dwindle down to one or two pullets in the 

 end. " Ah, Joncsby, there you mis.sed a 

 clause," .said an admiring auditor to a militia 

 fifer on a training 'day. "Well, mebby I did, 

 but you know that Money-Mioik takes a good 

 deal of clawinij to i)lay it right," was the 

 appreciative response of .lonesby. It is 

 approximately so in regard to fiuit raising, or 

 perhaps in raising any kind (jf crops, as well 

 as in financial and general business pursuits. 

 A tobacco-grower might succeed but jioorly, 

 no matter how rich the soil is, how favorable 

 the season, and how excellent the variety of 

 his plants, if he entirely disregarded the 

 presence of the "horn-worm," or any other 

 destructive insect. There is something to be 

 done separ.ate and apart from skillful manipu- 

 lation of the soil is order to secure a succes.s- 

 ful IJnal result ; and that something often 

 requires a good deal of "clawing," and it is 

 often also for the want of that clawing that 

 failures ensue. It therefore behooves tillers 

 of the soil to make themselves acquainted 

 with the aftermath as well as the foremath of 

 a croj), and to be as intelligent and vigilant in 

 the one as they have been in the other, if they 

 desire success in their avocations. They 

 possess the practical opportunities of making 

 oliservatious upon the presence and habits of 

 insects that are far superior to those of a 

 merely closet naturalist. Their experiences, 

 it is true, m;iy be of an empirical character, 

 but that is the very kind of knowledge they 

 most need to crown their efforts with success. 

 IJountit'ul nature may be doing for the hus- 

 bandman all she can, but she camiot always 

 maintain or restore an e(piilil)riinn that m.ay 

 have been disturbed by human intervention — 

 (/((({ rccjuires human counteracting means. 

 We'are not exactly i)i)sfed in the curricuhan oi 

 farmers' colleges, Init the study of economic 

 entomology, if it is not, ought to be a part, 

 and an essential part, of that curriculum. 

 And in order to obtain a practical knowledge 

 of the habits of destructive insects it might 

 be necessary to introduce them into enclosures 

 for that i)urpose, and on trees, shrubs and 

 plants. Many destructive insects have been in- 

 troduced into this country, without design, 

 from Europe, and therefore tliere might be 

 little trouble in introducing them into the ex- 

 perimental rumpus of a college. Suppose they 

 do destroy the plants, the fruit and the foliage 

 of the campus ; if so much i)ractical knowle<lgc 

 is obtained in regard to their haliifs, their 

 transformation, their specific identification, 

 and the means for their successful destruction, 

 the object of their introduction will lie at- 

 tained, and the success of the institution as a 

 practical agricultural educator will be so far 

 established. Of course they should l>e re- 

 stricted in their domain and not be allowed to 

 infest the State at large. We might then iiave 

 fewer/aiiures in crops than now. 



THE CARPET BEETLE. 

 ( Anthmt um Set ophlo rUv. ) 



This is comiiaratively a new insect in this 

 coimtry, and it .seems to have been intro- 

 duced h(!re frou) Europe. We have, lieen 

 admonished on one or two occasions that there 

 was an insec't (other than the moth) that was 

 infesting the carpets in the northern jiarls of 

 the State of I'ennsylvania and elst-wliere ; but 

 more particularly have notices of the .same 

 appeared in various newspapers during the 

 last two years, although we have failed to 

 obtain specimens of them. From the very 

 vague icpresentations made of its appearance, 

 we had supposed it might be the young larva 

 of a species of the "J..ard," or "Bacon 

 beetles," {I>cr»if.s-Jf,s or A><To(;ia,) but in tlio 

 July numlier of the Amtricnn Naturalttl (pp. 

 .'■).?0-.')44,) is an excellent i).aper on this sub- 

 ject, by Mr. .1. A. Eintner, of New York 

 .State, excellently illustrated by Prof. Riley, 

 exhiliiting the larva, i\w pupa and the imayo. 

 It is a cogener of the common |iest (ylnt/(rem/s 

 variiis,) which is so destructive to our cabinets 

 of in.sects, birds, reptiles, fishes, or almost 

 any animal substance that is not preserved in 

 alcohol ov .some other liqiiid ; in<leed we have 

 known it to eat the bristles off a tooth-brush, 

 and (HI one occasion it utterly destroyed a 

 number of camel's hair pi'ucils for us. 



Eating into the cork on the b()ttoms of our 

 in.sect boxes, after all the insects are de- 

 stroyed, and living there for months has been 

 its conuuon hal)it with us. The new carpet 

 pest, above named, is of about the same size 

 and form as the nni.seuin pest, being less than 

 a (luarter of an inch in length, and about half 

 that much in width. The colore are red, 

 black, white and grey, and the antenna; are 

 short aiul clubbed at the end.s. The larva 

 has tufts of divergent bristles projecting trom 

 each segment along the sides, on the la.st .seg- 

 ment terminating in a tail. It is s.aid to bo 

 very active on its feet, and hides itself, when 

 surprised, with the greatest f.acility. It 

 usually attacks the carpet beneath and .^long 

 the niargins, but also invades the interior, 

 and where a crack in the lloor afforded a place 

 of retirement, it has been known to cut the 

 carpet through crosswise at such iilace.s. Its 

 most active season is from spring to autumn, 

 or until the weather is cold. 



Of course, we mean by this that it is then 

 in the larva state, and in which it is alone 

 destructive to the carpet.s. As a matured 

 beetle it does not injure anything (further 

 than the deposition of its egg may ultimately 

 result in injury), but winders away and luxu- 

 riates on tlie pollen of llowering plants. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Einlner the beetles emerge in 

 the mouth of October, and continue to make 

 their appearance during the fall, winter and 

 spring, in that resjiect a.ssiinilaling the habits 

 of the cabinet pest, which we have, however, 

 found in the beetle form, on some occjusions, 

 during the entire year. It seems to possess 

 the possibilities of becoming a most fonnidable 

 household pest, and one that will be dillicult 

 to overcome ; for according to the same au- 

 thority, it has thus far resisted the ordinary 

 aiiplications of camphor, jiepper, tobacco, 

 turp<'ntine an<l carbolic acid with jicrfect ini- 

 pimity. We have never yet found an effectual 

 remedy against the cabinet ivst, and if thn 

 carpet jictt exceeds it in tenacity, there will 

 be a busy time in rescuing our carpets from 

 destruction. 



Nothing very definite has yet been dis- 

 covered as a remedy, but it is confidently sug- 

 gested that the api>lieation of kerosene or 

 l«nzine to its haunts during the winter and 

 spring, will either destroy or expel it from the 

 premises. Like nearly every other foreign in- 

 sect pest it may not lie long before we have it 

 iu Lancaster county, and when that time ar- 



