1878.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



il7 



independent bird, or an lioucst liird. (Jraiitinf; 

 that under tlie realm of nature the world owes 

 him a livinR, and that he lias a natural rij^lit 

 to ai>propriate as mueli as is necessary to sus- 

 tain him, yet instead of obtaininj; it immedi- 

 ately from tlie storehouse of nature, and by 

 his own ellbrts, he meanly waits until he sees 

 what he desires in the jiossession of the in- 

 dustrious and provident osprey, and then 

 through superior strength, and by theft or 

 fraud lie "i,'obbles it up." 



It has been intimated to us that the osprey 

 had been susjieeted, or detected, in depre- 

 datiiij; upon chickens in the southern part of 

 our county. Well, we suppose he is a j'^'J- 

 gressiir bird, and as ])ro£?ressive humanity 

 "geenis to have almost reached the climax of 

 depredation upon the property of others, it 

 would not l)e much of a W(mder if the f^eneral 

 demoralization had contaminated the subjects 

 of the feathered family. 



Phylloxera Vastatrix. 



Mr. Alex. Harberger recently hrouijht to our 

 office (the Laxcastcr InlcUiijcncer) a bunch ol'frrape 

 loaves, ou the lower surface of each one of which 

 there were {rrowing; large numbers of curious little 

 blossoms. The matter being submitted to Dr. S. S. 

 Kathvoii, that eminent aavant writes of it as follows : 



The grape branch is infested with the foliage 

 variety, or form, of the "Grape Phylloxera," 

 and the best thing that can be done for them 

 is to cut off all the infested brandies and 

 scald them thoroughly, or burn them. It is 

 the root variety, or form, of this insect which 

 has been so destructive to the vineyards of 

 France, and for an unfailing remedy for the 

 dcstniction of which a standing premium of 

 some 200,000 francs is offered by the French 

 (Jovernment and the Academy of Sciences of 

 Paris, which, we believe, has not yet been 

 awarded. Of course, there are conflicting 

 opinions among distinguished entomologists 

 as to whether the two varieties are not two 

 very distinct species, or whether they are not 

 only ditVerent forms of the same species. 

 Many practical observations have been made, 

 and much has been written in support of and 

 against these antagonistic opinions, without 

 having reached a conclusion that is satisfac- 

 tory to all. With the leaf varictj', however, 

 and as long as they confine themselves to the 

 leaves, there does not seem to be much difli- 

 culty in destroying them if they are taken in 

 time, and that time \?. judnow ; even if it cost 

 all the new growth of ihe present season. But 

 it will not require the removal of all the new 

 growth, as these insects generally operate on 

 tlie tender leaves, near or at the very ends of 

 tlie vines, these being tlie most succulent and 

 aitnrdiug them the most abundant repast. 

 At least twenty species of Pliylloxera have 

 been detected in the United States, and the 

 largest number of tlu'se have been named and 

 described. In addition to the grape, they are 

 found on tlie hickory, the oak, the beach, the 

 liazel, the sumtic and other trees ami shrubs. 

 They are very proliflc and possess the possi- 

 bilities of spreading rapidly ; but they are also 

 very fragile, and liable to adverse casualties ; 

 besides, they are preyed upon by jiarasites 

 and other animals. If any one will take the 

 trouble to cut open one of the tubercles, or 

 galls, of the grape leaf, he will lind a cavity 

 containing the dead body of a female ])hyl- 

 loxera (perhaps too mucli depleted to recog- 

 nize) and from fifty to one hundred light, 

 sulphur-colored eggs, and young, living and 

 moving phylloxeras, too minute to be satis- 

 factorily examined without the use of a pocket 

 microscope. 



Later in the season the larger palls will 

 crack open, and through the fissures the young 

 will escape and extend the area of their opera- 

 tions, keeping pace with the growth of the 

 vines. Indeed they have already done this, 

 and no doubt are doing it now. But they are 

 such exceedingly "small people "—such insect 

 lilliputians — that nobody suspects their pres- 

 ence, and the glowing excrescences upon their 

 grape leaves they attribute to chance — a mere 

 freak of nature. But, small as they are, they 

 possess a very peculiar and a very wonderful 

 power. The little animal, having escaped 



from the parent cell, locates itself on a tender 

 and juicy leaf and penetrates the integument 

 with its little proboscis, anil immediately pro- 

 ceeds t(j " make its living." Curious enough 

 the wound it makes, aiul perhaps also a liipiid 

 which it infuses into it, soon causes such a 

 diversion of the Siiji as to raise up a vegetable 

 wall all antiiuil it, which finally develops Ihe 

 rough gall which is so conspicuously present 

 uiion tlie leaves. Within this sii" another 

 family is procreated, and so on until the end 

 of the season. Of ('oiirse they do the vines no 

 good, and may do much harm. If they really 

 do attack tlu^ roots when there are no more 

 leaves, to kill them nmo will be wise. 



I'"">U THH iMNCASTEn Faumek. 



PRICKLY-ASH. 



This we llud growing on the banks of the 

 Oonestoga, near Lancaster, and rocky 

 woods in numerous localities. Mr. Colden 

 named it originally Xanlliwi/lum, signifying 

 ydlow ifood. The spelling. Dr. Bigclow re- 

 marks, has since been unaccountably changed 

 to Zrintlioxi/him in a majority of books which 

 mentions this shrub. I find Dr. Grav also 



changes the X of Golden to '/., and places the 

 shnib among the Uutai-ecr ov Tlue tamily. Our 

 species is known as the Zanthaxyium Amcri- 

 cnnum — a prickly shrub, with yellowish-green 

 flowers apiiearing willi the leaves ; bark, 

 leaves and pods very pungent and aromatic. 

 The cut gives an idea of the comiiound leaves 

 and prickles as well as the grouiis of berry- 

 like pods or fruit. The detached figures show 

 a stamen, an abortive germ of the barren 

 flower, anthers only, fertile with pistils only, 

 as also a jierfect flower. The flowers appear 

 in April and May before the leaves arc ex- 

 panded ; tlie.se grow in ses.silc umbels, near 

 the origin of the young branches. The three 

 kinds of llowers can be found on the same 

 shrub, and this makes them strictly polyga- 

 mous. Medicinally, it was known by the 

 older writers as the Xantlioxyhim fraxincum. 

 Fraximis being the botanical name for the 

 ash, hence called prickly-a.sh ; but science 

 fluctuates and changes names, though the 

 jilants remain the same. The truth is, the 

 powdered liark in doses of ten and twenty 

 grains has proved highly beneficial in rheu- 

 matic affections. It produces a sense of heat, 

 and facts arc upon record that it effectually 

 removed the comjilaint in a few days. Dr. 

 George Ilayward, of Boston, informs us that 

 he took a decoction in his own case, made by 

 boiling an ounce of the bark in about a quart 



of water, having an attack of chronic rhou- 

 matism, with eviilent relief ; iiboiit a pint of 

 the dec<iclien w!us taken in the coiirne of the 

 day, diluted with water siillieient to render it 

 palatable by lessening the pungeiif-y. It is 

 found to be warm and grateful to the stomach, 

 produces no nausea, noeHecl upon the bowels, 

 and excites little if any pers|pirati<m. It is 

 useful in some cases as a topical Bliinuhint. 

 It produces a jiowerful eflect when applietl to 

 secreting surfaces and ulcerated parts ; and 

 in i>oint of fact analogous to that of Mezoreon 

 and Guaia(!um, and quite a.s valuable. It is 

 singul.'ir that it ha.s a common name of 

 " Toothaclie-tnu? ;" a name also given to the 

 '^ Aralia spinostt," v/U\vh is also called ./I n- 

 <jrlira tree, and sometimes I'rickly-A»h, so 

 that the one must not be confounded with the 

 other. I, however, only met with one b|>eci- 

 nieu of the Aralia xpitiosa in Lancjister 

 county, and that was many years ago, grow- 

 ing in Mr. Cassel's yard, iu Marietta, where 

 I first learned to know it bv the name of 

 "Toothache-tree" and I'rickhi-Ash. They 

 belong to veiy distinct orders of plants, and 

 such errors should be corrected. — J. StauJJer. 



THE CROP OF THE STATE. 



The S<cretary of the l^tate Board of Agri- 

 eulture rejiorts as follows : 



From the averaged July returns of .100 

 otlicial rejiorts of this Board, it would seem 

 that our cro]is for 1S7S may be estimated as 

 follows, all average civpps being rated at 100 : 



Wheat, 1-22 ; rye, 10(1 ; barley, '.1:5 : oats, 

 144 ; hay, lOS ; siraw. 111 ; garden produce, 

 0*^ ; apples, 47 ; jieaches, 42; pears, .54 ; cher- 

 ries, .'(S ; ])lums, .51 ; grapes, 64 ; Ijerries, ill. 



The average of each cro)), as comjiared with 

 that of the same crop of 1877, the latter taken 

 as 100, is as follows : 



Wheat, 110; rve, 107; barley, 0.5 ; oata, 

 10.", ; hay, 08 ; corn. 111 ; potatoes, ItHI. 



The average of 1878, as compared with the 

 average of the past ten years, is as follows : 



AVheat, 117 ; rye, lOil ; barley, 104 : oata, 

 107; hay, 110; corn, 110; potatoes, lUO. 



The average wheat crop of the State Ihmiir 

 about 1.5,750,1)00 bushels, we may place that 

 of 1878 at 18,75(1.000, with chances in favor of 

 a decrease to 18,.5()O,O0O under the final test of 

 the half bushel. The increased acreage, when 

 compared with that of the past ten years, is 

 Inrg.dy due to the fact that in the oil and 

 lumber counties, the stagnation of business 

 has forced men into agricultural pursuits. 

 Thus, in comparison with the past ten years, 

 WaiTeii reports double the area in with wheat ; 

 Potter rejiorts two and one-half times the 

 average area of past ten years, and Cameron 

 one and threc-<iuiirter times. 



For The Lancabtek FAnuEn. 

 EXPERIMENTING ON BEES. 



Mr. U.\tiiv()N — Dear Sir: A few more 

 words on lH"e culture, or rather my experi- 

 menting on second swarms of Ijees : The first 

 hive of a second swarm contained two queens 

 and twenty-two drones. I killed all the 

 drones on putting the swarm in the hive, 

 and previous to their swarming I made the 

 door for entry large, and over this I placed a 

 piece of screen-wire, with meshes sufliciently 

 large to admit the passage of the workers, but 

 none others. On the next day I found three 

 combs as large as my hand, and all cells a 

 <iuarter of an inch in length contained an egg, 

 this proving to me that the queens were preg- 

 nant before swarming, On the tenth day I 

 found the hive half full of comb and honey 

 and young brood, and many <lrone cells with 

 young therein : and on the twentieth day 

 began to cut the cajiping and come out. The 

 hive now was almost full of comb, honey and 

 bee-ln-cad, but no young brood or eggs. I 

 removed the screen-wire, and all is right — a 

 full hive and working in boxes. 

 Second Experiment. 



Two queens as usual and nineteen drones ; 

 I kille<l one queen ; I covered the front with 

 screen-wire as the first ; on the next day had 

 four small combs, all of which contained eggs 



