1879. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



35 



hog abroad on the 2d of February, as a 

 groundhog would be to meet a swallow or see 

 his shadow on that day, especially such a day 

 as we had on the 2d ult. So true is the 

 groundhog to the hibernating instincts of its 

 nature, that it is on record tliat it has as- 

 sumed tliat torpid condition when it was 

 semi-domesticated and kept in a liouse— rolling 

 itself up in a corner of its Ivcnnel and refusing 

 to eat anything ; and wlien it was placed near 

 the lire it gradually revived, but immediately 

 crept back to its kennel and relapsed into a 

 state of torpidity. The termination "hog" 

 attached to tlie name of tliis animal is a pal- 

 palile misnomer ; tliere is nothini: of the in- 

 stincts or liabits of tlie liog about it. It is an 

 exceeding cleanly animal ; as particular about 

 its person as a cat. Its lair is a pattern of i 

 onler and cleanliness. 



It is a marmot, and has its repre- 

 sentative in Jtlie European marmot 

 (Arctomys marmotu). The term"arcto- 

 mys" means a bear-rat, having a body 

 resembling a bear. Linnanis originally 

 included it in the genus Mus, the 

 same to which our common rat be- 

 longs. Muvinot has nearly the same 

 significance— it means a mountain 

 rat, or a mountain mouse. This 

 animal has been dignilied by many 

 common names in various localities. 

 I'erliaps, outside of Eastern I'ennsy 

 Ivania, the most popular names is tlie 

 "wood-chuck." Tiie French Canadi- 

 ans call it "Sifflenr;" southward 

 "marmot " is generally used. Up in 

 the Korth it is the " thickwood- 

 badger." Up in Alaska the "tav- 

 bagan," etc., etc. It is more nea 

 allied to the .squirrel or the rat than ii 

 I is to tlie hog. It is veiy prolific, pro- 

 I ducing from six to eiglit at a litter, 

 and, being very partial to young 

 I clover, it is sometimes a very serious 

 I annoyance to farmers on whose lands 

 it is domiciliated. It cuts off, gathers 

 up and carries off to its den large 

 quantities of this grass, but if it can 

 not obtain this, it also appropriates 

 other species of vegetation, and w ' 

 not reject insects. As autumn ap- 

 proaches it constructs a special bur- 

 row, with an aperture that communi- 

 cates with the sleeping apartment, 

 and this it fills with food and then 

 closes up the aperture tliat commui- 

 cates witli the outer world. This food 

 is intended for a supply before it be- 

 comes torpid in the fall, and after it 

 comes out of that state in the spring ; 

 therefore, there is no necessity for 

 Its going abroad on Candlemas day. 

 Anything to the contrary is only ex- 

 ceptional, influenced by extraordinary 

 circumstances. So firmly do some 

 people believe in this groundlio 

 weather prophecy that we have hear 

 of a case where people were admon- 

 ished to turnout and exterminate the 

 whole race, rather tlian submit to a 

 cold and late spring a as probable con- 

 tingency of his presence. 



"We do not pretend to say that an 

 early spring has not followed a cloudy 

 t aii'dlemas, or that a late spring 

 lias not followed a clear one ; nor do we 

 by any means say that no groundhog 

 ever been seen abroad later than October, 

 or earlier than April, any more than we 

 ■would say that no tree, in this latitude, 

 has ever bloomed in February, nor that 

 vegetation has never been frozen in the montli 

 of June. But these are meteorological con- 

 tingencies that are entirely independent of 

 the habits of the groundhog, and, for the 

 most part, have their causes in climatic di- 

 versities beyond the knowledge or investiga- 

 tion of mortal man, and particularly beyond 

 the influence of his remedial agencies. 



Nor do we desire to wantonly dissipate the 

 faith of those who cherish such peculiar no- 

 tions, any more than we would the pleasant 

 fancies of children about "Good Santa Claus," 



"Mother Goose" or "Jack the Giant Killer." ! 

 It is .singular, liowever, that as their minds 

 cxpaiul rhildreii soon grow out of this philoso- 

 phy of the nui-sei'v ; but very often the elders 

 carry their grnuuilhog fancies to a protracted 

 age, or to llieir graves. Of course it is not i 

 very harmful ; the worst, perhaps, that can 

 grow out of it is a little disappointment, and 

 this will be proportioned to the subject's faith, 

 and the magnitude of the enterpri.se based 

 upon that faith. 



NEW $6o.( 



PRIZE GRAPES— MOORE'S 

 EARLY. 



Combining the following desirable qualities, 

 viz.: Hardiness, size, beauty, (piality, produc- 

 tiveness and earliness, maturing ten daj's 

 earlier than the Hartford Prolilie. and twenty 



days earlier than the Concord. This new 

 grape is one out of .a lot of 2,.500 seedlings, 

 and produced its first fruit in the j'ear 1872 ; 

 it was then exhibited, and has been shown at 

 the exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, by the fruit committee, every 

 year since, and prizes have been awarded to 

 it at eighteen different exhibitions, last of 

 which was 800.00 for the best seedling, after 

 a satisfactory trial. Tliese prizes were all 

 awarded for one or more of the above enume- 

 rated special points. 



Dfscription of fruit : Bunches large, lierry 

 round, large, (as large as tlie Wilder or Rogers, 

 No. 4,) color black, witli a heavy blue bloom ; 

 quality better than the Concord ; vine ex- 

 ceedingly hardy ; has never been covered in 

 ■winter, and has been exposed to a tempera- 



ture of more than twenty degrees below zero, 

 witliout injury, and it has been entirely ex- 

 empt IVoni iiiililew or disease. Its earliness 

 makes it dcsiiahle for an early crop, and more 

 parlieularly iulapt.s it to New England and 

 the iiortlieni portion of the United States. 



Price : One year old vines,' 81.00 ; two year's 

 old, S2.00 ; extra vines, delivered by express, 

 $.3.00. Liberal deductions made when ordered 

 by the dozen or in large i|uantitie.s. For par- 

 ticulars address Mr. John B. Moore, Concord, 

 Massachusetts. 



Our illustration is "an exact copy from a 

 photograph of a bunch." If the high en- 

 dorsements which this new grape has received 

 from competent committees in the Eastern 

 States are to be recognii'.ed as unqualified evi- 

 dences of (piality and eharacter, then our 

 readei-s will have no dillieulty in de- 

 termining what tliey ought to do in 

 the premises. Early fruit, and es- 

 pecially early grajies, are always de- 

 sirable, and that quality alone ought 

 to recommend this fruit to the citizens 

 of Lancaster county. 



ST. MATTHEW'S DAY. 



" Matlliiasbric-lit eis 

 Find er kelii, so maclit er ein." 

 This may be literally translated : 

 St. Miittliew breaks the Ice; 

 I'iuds lie none, he makes one. 

 ^liis means that if there is no ice 

 on St. Matthew's Day— 24tli of Feb- 

 ruary—it will become cold enough to 

 make ice after Lliat date, before the 

 spring is fairly opened ; but if there is 

 lee, then we sliall have no more cold 

 weather and an early spring. How 

 now V Through the obtrusiveness of 

 llie impatient groundhog on Candle- 

 mas, the cold weatlier has been con- 

 tinued, and winterslill fiercely broods 

 over the suowclad hills and icebound 

 streams ; and according to the ground- 

 hogological prognostications we are to 

 have yet three weeks of frigid winter ; 

 but, here comes the St. Matthew 

 prog, in direct conflict with that of 

 gouty old "Arctomys;" and it may 

 well be asked, "Wliat are we going 

 to do about it?" Will the disciples 

 of the Arctomian system please take 

 lold and try to harmonize this case ? 

 Verily the weather seems to be in 

 danger of being "governed too much," 

 and who can tell now whether we are 

 going to have any spring find summer 

 at all ? For our part, we sliall be 

 content with being an humble 

 »ker-on," and if out of the 

 "muss" anything consistent with 

 reason and common sense is devel- 

 oped, we hope we may be able to 

 apprehend it. 



There is one thing, however, that 

 these unautliorized weather prophe- 

 cies may demonstrate, and that is 

 the folly of associating "set days" 

 with meteorological phenomena, with 

 which they have no connection what- 

 ever, and over which they cannot 

 possibly exercise the remotest influ- 

 ence. Of course, very few people really 

 believe in these weather-signs now, 

 and even the few who profess to believe 

 them, hold them under the mental resen-a- 

 tion involved in— "mebbey it mout, and 

 mebbey it moutn't." Hoivever tnie it may 

 be that these weather phenomena are the 

 effects of some antecedent cause— meteoro- 

 logical or astronomical— yet, so far as human 

 ken extends, we are profoundly ignorant of 

 that cause ; and probaVily we shall remain so 

 for a long time to come. As mere myths, 

 however, we may permit people to entertain 

 them and talk about them. They are prolific 

 themes of conversation, and to deprive people 

 of them would l)e to annihilate an important 

 fltctor in social intercourse, for often, very 

 often, if there were no weather to stimulate 

 conversation, there would be little else to talk 

 about ; and no wonder, for the weather con- 



