164 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ November, 



ESSAY.* 



Mr. President : As material objects con- 

 stitute the plane and continent upon which 

 the various visible operations of the human 

 mind are based; and as there can be no prac- 

 tical manifestation of mind unless it is ulti- 

 mated in a visible and tangiljle form ; it oc- 

 curs to me, and it has often recurred to my 

 mind during the past history of this society, 

 that it might conduce to its welfare and cre- 

 ate a centre of interest if the members would 

 from time to time collect, carefully preserve, 

 and place on deposit in its meeting room, 

 creditable specimens of the vegetable and min- 

 eral productions of the farm. Of course I do 

 not mean such specimens as are perishable, 

 but the various species of garden and tield 

 seeds, the various kinds of nuts, seed pods and 

 capsules; the useless and noxious, as well as 

 the useful. And, where practicable, this 

 might be extended to the foliage and wood of 

 the different trees and shrubbery, to the grasses 

 and the various kinds of plants. These woulil 

 form a kind i if museum that might at all 

 tim es be consulted with interest and profit, 

 especially by the generations that are to fol- 

 low us on the theatre of life. There is no 

 more effective teaching than object teaching. 

 A fact fixed in the mind by having seen and 

 handled the object it includes is far superior 

 and a thousand times more impressive and 

 permanent tlian any merely theoretical or 

 speculative knowledge. But as the collection 

 and concentration of these objects would in- 

 volve labor — more time and labor than any 

 one man cotild devote to it without compen- 

 sation — I would suggest that each member, 

 who has an object that he desires to deposit 

 in the collection of the society, should properly 

 prepare it, in order to secure its permanent 

 preservation, and also attach his name and 

 locality thereto ; and if practicable, the name 

 of the object or any other record he desires to 

 make. AH seeds should be ripe, thoroughly 

 dried, and placed in glass bottles laermetically 

 sealed. Plants should be pressed and dried, 

 and placed in an Herbarium or Botanical 

 portfolio provided for their reception. Eacli 

 member performing tliese labors, as time and 

 opportunity aftbrds. would divide the labor 

 among many, and although only a little were 

 done at a time, these littles, in the aggregate, 

 would finally culminate in much. Any of the 

 members of the society who visited the Cen- 

 tennial Exposition must have noticed the 

 manner in which the various kinds of seeds 

 were prepared and preserved, and, although 

 he may not be able to imitate them, yet he 

 may be able to make an approximation thereto, 

 if he tries. 



There is another question relating to the 

 interests of this society, however, which is, or 

 ought to be, of more importance than a col- 

 lection of seeds and other farm products, and 

 that is its legnl existence. A district of such 

 vast agricultural and minei'al resources as 

 Lancaster county ought to sustain a perma- 

 nent organization that is incorporated, and "a 

 body politic in law." It is true, an act of 

 incorporation alone would exercise very little 

 sustaining influence if it was not aided by the 

 co-operation of its memliers ; Ijut these two 

 interests working together would give it more 

 sufHciency and pe'rmanency,and add greatly to 

 its importiance as an organization among the 

 people. The members will have a clearer 

 sense of the responsiljilities resting upon 

 them ; it would become more compact in its 

 organic structure, and its powers and limita- 

 tions would be more distinctly defined. 



Agriculture is too important a factor in the 

 constitution of human society, to be without 

 an organic body to represent its interests 

 among the people. The farmers of Lancaster 

 county now occupy a more advanced position 

 before tlie State and the nation than they did 

 ten or twelve years ago, or at the time this 

 society was first instituted. They have be- 

 come better known to their co-laborers in the 

 cause of agriculture elsewhere ; and their 

 social condition has made a very perceptible 



"Read before the Lancaster County Agriculturat and 

 Eorticaltnral Society, Not. 4, I3T8, by S. S, Rathvoh. 



progress. This society ought not now to re- 

 lapse into apathy, or to occupy a non-pro- 

 gressive status. Even with its loose and dis- 

 jointed structure, it has sustained itself man- 

 fully through a trying ordeal in the history of 

 our country that may not occur again for 

 many years, if we cultivate wisdom enough to 

 profit by our past experiences. The darkest 

 hour is said to be that which immediately 

 precedes the breaking forth of day, and I 

 think we have reason to hope, as we have so 

 far advanced through our past adversities, 

 "that a brighter day is dawning. What- 

 ever other interests may sufter, the farmer 

 has the consolation of knowing tliat he is the 

 feeder of the people, and that to "tlie last 

 stretch that fainting life may sustain," there 

 will still be a demand for the productions of 

 the soil ; and under the dispensations of 

 Providence, he must ever stand as tlie divinely- 

 appointed caterer to the physical necessities 

 of his fellow-man. The farmer is, therefore, 

 not only the founder of civilization, but his 

 occupation and the fruits thereof constitute 

 the very ground-work upon which the con- 

 tinuance of civilization is possible. Occupying 

 this position, theu, he can best co-operate 

 with other essential interests through a live 

 and efficient social organization. 



A CHAPTER ON PENNSYLVANIA 

 SNAKES. 



A terrible affair occurred at Williamsburg, 

 Blair county, on Wednesday, resulting in the 

 horrible death of an accomplished young lady. 

 Some days ago Dr. Paulhamus bought of a 

 couple of tramps two specimens of the rare 

 poisonous reptiles known as "blowing vipers," 

 intending to send them to the Zoological Gar- 

 den in Pliiladelphia. On entering the oflSce 

 witli his daughter the next evening he lighted 

 a lamp and soon after an owl flew in and 

 knocked over the lamp, breaking the jar. 

 Miss Paulhamus screamed and fainted, one of 

 the vipers having fastened his fangs on her 

 leg near the knee. A gentleman bravely 

 choked the reptile and killed it. But the 

 poison rapidly coursed through her system, 

 her body swelling rapidly to nearly twice its 

 natural size, and she soon died in spite of all 

 efforts. The snakes were about four feet long. 



The above statement, cut from a paper, was 

 sent me with request to give my opinion on 

 the subject. I will simply say that writers 

 who are not fiimiliar with proper names often 

 make use of names that in different localities 

 refer to different things. The not rare and not 

 poisonous reptiles known as "Blowing Viper," 

 is the Heterodon plateyrhinos. There are six 

 species of this genus described. Prof. S. P. 

 Baird and Girard, say : " The species exhibit 

 a very threatening appearance when alive, in 

 flattening the head, hissing violently, etc., 

 but are perfectly harmless." 



Dr. Robinson sent me a fine specimen, some 

 years ago, which became quite a pet among 

 the boys that visited the Athenaeum library, 

 of which I had charge. When api)roached it 

 would not only flatten the head but the entire 

 body, and blow loud enough to frighten any 

 one not aware of the cowardly dodge. The 

 moment it was picked up it was as docile as a 

 dove, and no iimount of teasing vv'ould induce 

 it even to open its mouth and expose its 

 minute teeth and inability to bite. It has no 

 fangs and can do no harm. There is evidently 

 a serious misnomer or a gotten-up story, with- 

 out foundation, by one who knew not what he 

 was writing about. 



The "copperhead," Agkistrodon coyitortrix, 

 is provided with poison fiings, as in Crotalus, 

 the rattlesnakes, which are also provided with 

 rattles on tlie caudal extremity. Tliere are 

 several species of the several genera of poison- 

 ous reptiles, but none of them is called "Blow- 

 ing Viper; this name applies to the. "hog- 

 nose " class. 



Some years ago I had a report of a poison- 

 ous reptile that made a loud hissing noise and 

 also flattened itself, also called the blowing 

 viper. I sent the matter to Prof. Baird, of 

 the Smithsonian Institute : he concluded it 

 must have been quite another genus if it had 



poisoned fangs. I suspect the snake in ques- 

 tion, if such an occurence took place, was a 

 copperhead or bastard rattlesnake. 



The " Water Moccasin " — Toxicophis phci- 

 vorus — a southern species, has fangs. I never 

 met with the species, nor heard of any 

 caught north of Carolina. The JElaps, also a 

 southern genus, have the upper jaw furnished 

 on each side with a small, permently erect 

 fang. In short, we have no snakes that have 

 poison flings in Pennsylvania, except the cop- 

 perhead and rattlesnake. Others may bite, 

 but no worse than the hiss and bite of a 

 goose — did we cowardly geese but know it. 



Prof. E. D. Cope, some years ago, when 

 with the Tucquan flshing party, caiitured a 

 black snake over three feet long. To iiroVe 

 the inability of the reptile to bite he put his 

 finger into the mouth of the snake. It 

 brought its jaws down, hut the delicate hooked 

 teeth could not break the skin ; the dents 

 made were distinctly seen. Those who know 

 this secret handle snakes of that class like 

 pets, to the wonder of the terrified. — J. 

 Stauffcr, in JVcw Era of October ith, 187S. 



•*■ 



ARE COUNTY FAIRS BENEFICIAL TO 



FARMERS AND FRUIT-GROWERS.* 



Mr. President and Members of tlie Societt/ : 

 At our last agricultural and horticultural 

 meeting I was sorry that I had to leave when 

 the question was opened, " Are County Fairs 

 Beneficial to Farmers and Fruit-Growers." 

 In looking over the proceedings of said meet- 

 ing it was very satisfactory to me to see that 

 so many members interest themselves in favor 

 of holding county fairs. Over twenty years 

 ago I was a member of what was then called 

 "Lancaster County Agricultural and Mechani- 

 cal Society." I was then and ever since in 

 favor of holding county fairs, and the very 

 point and cause of breaking down the Lan- 

 caster county society was the horse racing, 

 and my opinion has always been that the 

 county fairs can never be successfully estab- 

 lished without said horse show. 



It is and was always the case at all fairs 

 that I know, when the day was announced 

 when the most racing was to come off it was 

 astonishing to see the great gathering on that 

 day. My reference is not only to sports, but 

 also to those that would spend one day in a 

 year to go to the fair ; plain and neat outside 

 appearance would most in every instance hit 

 the day of racing. It was often amusing to 

 me when I met them, and I made the remark, 

 " do we meet here, or is it here we meet;" 

 nearly in every instance the answer was about 

 this, " I thought I might as well come to-day." 



I mentioned it several times to oin- Presi- 

 dent of said society, the late Jos. Konigmaeher, 

 that if there is no change made in our pre- 

 miums and regulations, our fairs can never 

 prosper. I encouraged the fairs every year 

 by taking all kinds of stock there excepting 

 horses. Only a few days ago I looked at a 

 diploma that I received at the fair of 1858 for 

 a calf that weighed 114 pounds before it sucked 

 milk, 396 pounds on the day it was three 

 months old. There was notliing on the fair 

 ground to compare witli it, and I was awarded 

 a diploma for having it there five days. 

 I am merely hinting on the above subject, 

 and am always ready to yield for a better 

 view. I would be in fiivor of dispensing with 

 all discussions at present concerning this sub- 

 ject, and have a committee of a few appointed 

 by our society to make speed with less work ; 

 to go personally to see the officers of successful 

 fairs of York, Berks and Chester county agri- 

 cultural societies, to get all their different 

 premiums, arrangements in every respect 

 concerning their fairs, and said committee to 

 report to a larger committee of this society ; 

 and this latter committee to meet and agree 

 on all premiums, and at what price the Park 

 Ground could be rented, and recommend all 

 necessary arrangements for a plan of starling 

 up a successful Lancaster county fair, and re- 

 port to our society, for its adoption, amend- 

 ment or refusal. 



*Read before the Lancaster Connty Agricultural an(J 

 Horticultural Society, Nov. 4th, WIS, by L. W. Groff. 



