132 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ Sepember 



principles of self-presexTation, but for objects 

 so small, so temporary and so apparently 

 harmless as these tiny pollen masses their 

 conduct seems incomprehensible. Are the 

 bees in error ? do they misapprehend the 

 nature of the infection ? We have every con- 

 fidence in your observations, but we suggest 

 that they should be well confirmed and cor- 

 roborated for the satisfaction of the more in- 

 credulous. We give you the credit for making 

 the discovery, and your long experience in 

 apiculture ought to add to the importance of 

 your observations. It is the establishment of 

 this fact that imposes the necessity of apply- 

 ing a remedy against its repetition or con- 

 tinuance. We should have supposed tlie ather 

 bees would have assisted their companions in 

 divesting themselves of this obnoxious dross ; 

 but if it is otherwise, then there is nothing 

 left but to destroy all the A&clejmts or milk- 

 weeds wherever they may exist. 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



W. L. H., Bapho, Lancaster county. Pa. — 

 The pale green (nearly white) insect, with 

 delicate antennae about twice the length of its 

 body ; long and thin legs, the hinder pair 

 twice as long as the front ones, and formed 

 for leaping ; the wings overlapping each other 

 horizontally on the back, and twice as wide at 

 the apex as they are at the base ; is a male 

 specimen of the "Tree-cricket," (CEcantlMs 

 niveus), and belongs to the order Ortuopte- 

 TERA, and family Aciietad^, which in- 

 cludes the various kinds of crickets. You 

 say it has been detected in eating hole.s in the 

 tender leaves of the tobacco plant, to their 

 great injury, &c., &c. Well, that charac- 

 teristic is not by any means new to the coun- 

 try, although it may be to the county. That 

 fact was recorded by Dr. Harris about thirty 

 years ago, as coming from a correspondent 

 who was interested in the tobacco culture in 

 the State of Connecticut, alleging that they 

 very much injured the quality, and hence tlie 

 market of the tobacco in that State, by eating 

 holes in the leaves. They are very quick in 

 their movements — and in their adult states 

 can either leap or fly, as the case may bo ; 

 and, therefore, in that state they would be 

 diflicult to capture, especially if the attempt 

 were made in the middle of the day, when 

 they are usually hidden under the leaves. 

 When young, if cautiously approached, they 

 might be captured in a hand-net swept over 

 the plants, but any attempt to poison them 

 might fail. 



a. S. iS., Esq., Lancaster, Pa. — The grey, 

 spotted and wave-lined lizard you captured in 

 the "old wreck" on the Atlantic beach, be- 

 low Ocean Grove, is the Tropedolqnis nndu- 

 latus of naturalists. The common names of 

 "Brown Lizard," or "Wave-lined Lizard," 

 are usually given them, and they vary so 

 much in color and markings that sometimes 

 neither of these names could be strictly ap- 

 plied to them. But, more remarkable still, in 

 our boyhood, and in oiu- district, they were 

 locally called "Man-keepers," and "Man- 

 eaters," and it was a subject of greater won- 

 der to us how such a little animal could keep 

 a man or eat a man than it was how a wolf 

 could eat up "Little Red Ridinghood" and 

 her grandmother, clothing and all, in such ii 

 short space of time. We once kept one in a 

 bottle over night, leaving an aperture for air, 

 and in the morning wc found it had deposited 

 two disproportionately large eggs. 



W. S. 31., EUzabethtoum, Lancaster county, 

 Pa. — We could not find any insects in the 

 peach branch you tent us. The small round 

 holes in it seems to have been made by a 

 species of Scolytus or Tomiciis, a small 1)lack 

 or brown cylindrical beetle ; at least the per- 

 forations are like those in a branch similarly 

 infested, which we received from Maryland, 

 some years ago, and from which we bred in- 

 sects belonging to the same family. The flat 

 cocoon, spun in an angle of the branch, had 

 nothing to do in producing the beetles. The 

 small round holes in it were made by the 

 beetles in making their escape from the branch 



through it. The branch does not seem to 

 have been very seriously infested, and it would 

 be difficult to devise a remedy for their de- 

 struction after they are once in the wood. Oc- 

 casionally they are numerous for a season and 

 then disappear for years. Generally they are 

 not partial to the peach. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 RANDOM THOUGHTS— No. 4. 



Lime and Magnesia. 



In the criticism in the weekly Examiner 

 and Express, of August 14th, ou Pi of. Heiges' 

 views of the effects of lime and magnesia, Mr. 

 A. A. Breueman omits to state that magnesian 

 limestone is the source from whence hydraulic 

 lime (cement) is obtained ; this fact explains 

 why the soil c:ikes when this kind of lime is 

 applied ; should a sufficiently large quantity 

 be applied the soil would become as firm and 

 hard as rock, and would probably remain so 

 for ages. 



Farmers will do well to be careful in apply- 

 ing lime which contains magnesia, and if 

 present in large quantities they should avoid 

 its use entirely, as it is better to let any soil 

 do the best it can than to try to make a water- 

 proof wall out of the surface by the use of 

 this deleterious substance. If any farmer 

 really supposes that his soil needs magnesia 

 he can supply it by applying sulphate of mag- 

 nesia, (epsom salts,) a very soluble .salt, and 

 which has sometimes been used in place of 

 gypsum, (sulphate of lime,) it being quicker 

 in its action and answering the same purpose 

 for which the latter is applied — for the sid- 

 phuric acid contained. 



Go West. 



Dull times, by some called "hard times," 

 have given the Western land companies the 

 opportunity to give Greeley's famous advice 

 of "go West, young man, go West," and 

 they are not slow to improve the opportunity, 

 as you can hardly take up a newspaper now- 

 a-days that is not got an advertisement of one 

 or more of these companies. To each is always 

 appended the clause — "maps and circulars 

 free." 



And the circulars ! Can it be possible that 

 anybody is left in the East except fools ! Such 

 soils, some four feet or more in depth of un- 

 surpassed fertility that require only the 

 scratching of a couple of dung-hill fowls to 

 produce from 40 to 60 bushels of wheat ; corn, 

 potatoes, oats, &c., in proportion ! Apples, 

 pears, &c., need to be planted only a few years 

 until you have fruit in abundance ! It must 

 also be a very remarkable country, as in my 

 school days I was taught to believe that hills 

 were a necessity where valleys existed. These 

 circulars speak only of " smiling " valleys and 

 " rolling prairies " — perhaps the rolling prai- 

 ries are where the hills would be. I have no 

 dictionary published in Kansas, Nebraska or 

 Minnesota, and may be, therefore, ignorant 

 of the meaning of words in the Western lingo. 



But why do not these circulars give more 

 information about the other great produc- 

 tions ; such as storms of wind and hail ; 

 grasshoppers that come in clouds as did the 

 locusts of Egypt ; armies of chinch bugs that 

 save the farmer putting away his wheat ; a 

 cold so intense that even the thermemeter is 

 ashamed or incapable of registering it ; water 

 in overwhelming quantities at one time, and 

 not to be obtained for miles at another time. 



Of course it is not to be supposed that all 

 these ills exist at one and the same place, but 

 I believe it would be to the interest of the 

 companies to tell of their existence, of their 

 extent, &c. As the descriptions now are some 

 of the over-sanguine settle at sucli i)lacps and 

 are badly disa])pointed ; they let their friends 

 from whence they came know of their di.sap- 

 pointmeut, andtiipy do not let the coloring l)e 

 wanting to give the darkest shade possil)lc. 

 Had the circulars stated truly, a different per- 

 son might have settled there, and taking good 

 and bad as it came, found the good to over- 

 balance the evil, and been the cause of more 

 like him to settle there, 



There are some things and qualities a settler 

 must possess in order to be benefited by mov- 

 ing West : 



1st. He must be possessed of some means 

 after he arrives at his destination, in order 

 that he can purchase land, farming imple- 

 ments, stock, &c. ; or in ease he is a mechanic 

 that he can purchase stock, tools, &c. It is 

 worse than folly for any one to try the west 

 without means. 



2nd. Perfect good health of himself, wife 

 and children are also necessary, when he de- 

 pends upon his ability to make a way in the 

 world ; physicians also are few and far apart, 

 as they nearly always locate in w-ell settled 

 districts in order that they may have enough 

 neighbors to give a living practice. 



3rd. He must have snap enough to take 

 advantage of every opportunity ; a weak, ir- 

 re.solute, wavering man is a failure as a .settler, 

 and will do better to stay where he and his 

 better qualities are known ; whore his neigh- 

 bors employ and trust him Ijecause they know 

 of his ability to do when properly directed by 

 others. 



4th. A determination to put up with many 

 inconveniences to which he has been accus- 

 tomed heretofore. It will be found that 

 schools, churches, stores and mills are often 

 miles away ; that every-day social intercourse, 

 and this perhaps will be most severely felt, is 

 not so frequent and easy as at his old home. 



While I would not cry down the west, for 

 it is a good place to live, and there may be 

 better and more chances to get along "than 

 with us, yet this much is certain, that set- 

 tlers in the new parts have to go through the 

 hardships and privations that our forefathers 

 did when they settled this part of the country. 



The letters from the west that are published 

 in eastern papers are in many cases on a par 

 with the " reliable correspondent " of the war 

 period, not that they are made up from 

 rumors; or "out of the whole cloth," but they 

 usually give the bright .side and individual 

 experience when such experience is pleasant 

 and good. You do not see many of these let- 

 ters that give the dark side of their less lucky 

 neighbor. 



If you value very highly your ease, your 

 comforts, your social intercourse, and con- 

 sider them necessities, do not "go west." If 

 you do go, go understandingly and with open 

 eyes. 



The Hessian Fly. 



A circular of Mape's "complete manure" 

 contiiins an extract from a lecture by Prof. 

 A. J. Cook, of the Michigan State Agricul- 

 tural College, the gist of which is as follows : 



There are generally two broods of the fly, 

 the first in April and May, and the second in 

 .July and August ; sometimes a third brood 

 appears in October. [These are bred, no doubt, 

 from wheat sown very early.] Sometimes 

 three eggs are laid on a leaf, in other cases 

 two, 1)Ut in most cases only one ; these hatch 

 out as a small maggot, in from four to ten 

 days, aisd work down int^ the sheath of the 

 leaf, where they change into the condition 

 they are generally known. The eggs of the 

 spring brood, if laid on winter wheat, are laid 

 on the leaves above the first or second joint. 



If some wheat is sown early and other sown 

 late, all the eggs will be laid ui)on the early 

 wheat ; but if none is sown early the flies will 

 wait. Onisequenthj it is icell to soiv a narrow 

 .itrip of wheat (d)out each field in August or early 

 September, and to put off, as long as the season 

 permits, the irheat that is to be raised. Most of 

 the eggs will tlien be laid ujion this early 

 wheat, which should be plowed under deeply 

 as soon as the later wheat is planted. This 

 outer strip may then be sowed again. If the 

 wheat has survived the winter safely, but 

 seems likely to be destroyed by the insects in 

 sjiriug, it should either be rolled and pastured 

 out to .sheep, or it should be mowed about 

 throe weeks after the first appearance of the 

 flies. A second mowing three weeks later 

 will be beneficial. 



From the above we would infer that the 

 rolling is, of course, done to crush the embryo 

 fly by the weight of the roller. The pasturing 



