52 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ April, 



iu the affirraative ; but the most competent 

 judges, supported by their own experiences, 

 would, without a doubt, answer negatively, 

 and from the experiences of considerably 

 more than half a centurj' we can truthfully 

 corroborate the sentiment. The question is 

 one that should always be considered from 

 general principles, and relating to general 

 principles. Merchandise sacrificed under the 

 sheriff's hammer, or sacrificed by the pro- 

 prietor himself, in order to save himself from 

 foreclosure, cannot be regarded as establish- 

 ing the market value of a commodity. These 

 are extraordinary cases — contingencies result- 

 ing from causes that are independent of com- 

 mercial rule. Under such circumstances the 

 lower price may often be the cheaper. Per- 

 sons who accustom themselves to buy only 

 under such circumstances, and then to buy 

 much more than they need, in order to be 

 supplied until the next financial failure in the 

 community, will doubtless be always looking 

 for and expecting such sales of distress ; and 

 if they de not occur frequent enough to gratify 

 their penurious desires, they may soon accus- 

 tom themselves to really wish for such adverse 

 contingencies to their fellow men. A man 

 may perhaps better himself pecuniarily, but 

 it is questionable if he is permanently im- 

 proving his morals. No, tlie question must 

 be considered in its permanent, legitimate 

 and "regular" form, on such principles of 

 equitable compensation as will redound to the 

 prosperity of the whole community, ' ' year in 

 and year out." In such a case we believe it 

 will be demonstrable that the lowest price is 

 not the cheapest to him who can atford a 

 higher one. Of course, we do not mean that 

 extortionate prices should rule the market ; 

 but there should be a fair and equitable com- 

 pensation to all laboring and trading occupa- 

 tions, and merchandise should not be sold 

 below the cost of original production — nor 

 can it be without inflicting serious injury upon 

 some one, and this generally falls upon the 

 poor laboring men. It is frequently alleged 

 that these low prices benefit the poor, but 

 this is only a superficial or transient benefit at 

 best, and even if true, it does not establish 

 the fact that the lowest price is always the 

 cheapest. In addition to the fact that things 

 very low in price are often entirely worthless 

 and soon present a shabby appearance, it 

 often transpires that when people flatter 

 themselves that they have saved twenty-five 

 cents, fifty cents or a dollar on a small pur- 

 chase, that they spend what they have thus 

 saved in the purchase of some luxury that is 

 absolutely hurtful to them. 



It is not long since a couple of rural ver- 

 dants went cheapening over a whole town, 

 and then entered a place of doubtful reputa- 

 tion to indulge their appetites with their 

 savings ; and indulged to such an excess that 

 they both became blindly "fuddled," in which 

 condition the one had his pocket picked, and 

 the other lost his package of goods. On an- 

 other occasion one thought he had saved 

 about five dollars on a larger purchase, and 

 then felt his need of a buggy ride and its 

 usual accompaniments. He became jubilant, 

 and drove like another "Jehu," was arrested 

 by a policeman, taken before an alderman, 

 and fined seven dollars for violating the law 

 regulating the driving speed of the town. 

 Things excessively low priced often tempt 

 people to buy what they do not need, or more 

 than they need, thus squandering their means 

 on iiseless trash, and perhaps that which they 

 really do need, they are subsequently com- 

 pelled to buy on credit. These remarks do 

 not include that class who have only a very 

 small amount of cash, and are compelled to 

 get the largest quantity for it— wthout regard 

 to quality — to keep them from starving or 

 freezing ; but even witli them, had they been 

 able to pay a few dollars more, they might 

 have secured cheaper goods. 



Wanted at this office, the following num- 

 bers of The Lancaster Farmer : .January 

 and November, 1869 ; March and July, 1873, 

 and February, 1874. 



Queries and Answers. 



Charleston, Ark., JIarch 4th, 1879. 



Dr. Rathvon— ZifiD- fiir: Being a subscriber to 

 your valuable paper, The Lancaster Farmer, 

 through a relative of ours in your State, I take the 

 liberty of asking some questions relative to an ani- 

 mal we recently shot near our hen house. Color a 

 dark brown, white under the neck ; neck rather thick, 

 countenance very sharp, eye lively, teeth sharp and 

 close together, legs short, long body, tail not so 

 bushy as a squirrel's, had a peculiar smell, reminding 

 you of a rauskrat. Owing to the night being dark 

 when shot could not say whether it moves slow or 

 quick. Would jou please tell me, through your 

 paper, if the above animal is amphibious in'habits ; 

 is it related to the mink, if not what family does it 

 belong to ? Wishing your excellent paper every suc- 

 cess I remain yours truly, Ocorge B. Pixton. 



From the dark brown color, white under a 

 thickish neck, musky odor, &c., and espe- 

 cially being found prowling about a poultry 

 house, I should judge that the animal you 

 shot is the "common mink," {.Mustela 

 lutreola. — L. ; Putoruis vison. — Rich.) which, 

 from its amphibious character, in times long 

 past, was called the "little otter," as Lin- 

 neeus' specific name implies. In describing 

 mammals— especially those belonging to the 

 family Mustelid.e— the length of the body 

 from the end of the nose to the root of the 

 tail, and from the root of the tail to its end 

 should be carefully measured, and its teeth 

 should be counted also. Minks usually con- 

 struct their burrows on the banks of or near 

 streams of water. They feed largely on flsh, 

 frogs and mollusks, but are nlso de.structive 

 to rabbits, rats and mice. But they also 

 wander a considerable distance from streams 

 and commit depredations upon poultry. They 

 are fully as much at home in the water as the 

 muskrat is, and they are in the habit of emit- 

 ting an odor as strong, and more disagreeable 

 than that of the animal last named. They 

 may be domesticated and become very fami- 

 liar, but it is suggested that their blood- 

 thu-stiness might render them dangerous to 

 children in case they were not regularly sup- 

 plied with their accustomed food. 



Salisbury, Pa., March 22, 1879. 

 Prof. S. S. Rathvon— Z>eaj- .Sir; Enclosed find 

 a small object which I would like to know some- 

 thing about. In appearance it resembles the egg of 

 some insect, or a pebble, but yet is not so hard as a 

 pebble. Please state what it may be. If you do not 

 decide what it is, I will inform you how and where I 

 obtained it, and then, perhaps, you can tell more 

 about it. Yours respectfully, 



David M. Geoff. 



Dear Sir : Your letter containing "object" 

 duly received, and in reply, first allow me to 

 say that you should at once have accompanied 

 it with the information you seem to have in 

 reserve ; because, such problems, entirely 

 isolated, are not always of easy solution, and, 

 therefore, I can only answeryou approximately. 



The object in question, is neither the "egg 

 of some insect " nor yet " a pebble," so far as 

 I am able to determine. Under the micro- 

 scope it presented the external form and 

 appearance of a white egg of a bird, in shape 

 approximating to that of a partridge. It was 

 very hard, and when broken, it was internally 

 pure white, and nearly opaque, solid all 

 through. With nitric acid it efliervesced very 

 freely, and left a translucent salt, perhaps a 

 nitrate of lime, which was soluble partially in 

 alcohol and water. It is therefore a pure cal- 

 careous concretion, and may have been gotten 

 out of the stomach of a fresh water ''cray- 

 fish," or a mollusk of some kind. In the 

 LinnDean collection are several specimens 

 taken from the stomach of a cray-fish {astatus 

 hartonii) which strongly resemble this speci- 

 men. They are commonly called "crabs' 

 eyes," and have been used to remove small 

 objects from the eyes of human beings and of 

 animals. Similar concretions have been found 

 in clams, river mussels, and other bivalve 

 shells, in which they are the neucli of a com- 

 mon variety of pearls. It is true, that such 

 an object may be found in the bed of some 

 rivulet, entirely disconnected from either a 

 cray-fish or a shell, but they may still have 



originated within the body of the one or the 

 other. 



This is the most intelligent answer I can 

 make from the meagre data furnished me, 

 and may be a correct one or not. I am at all 

 times willing to give such information on such 

 subjects as I possess ; but I am not supposed 

 to know everything. And here let me dis- 

 tinctly state that I should be put in possession 

 of the circumstances under which objects are 

 found that I am expected to investigate and 

 give information on — when, where,"in what 

 or on what, and also the time. 



As the writer has only requested me, how- 

 ever, to "state what it may be," this must be 

 regarded as my answer to his query. 



Salisburt, Pa., March 28, 1879. 



Prof. S. S. Rathvon— iJcar Sir: Tour reply 

 duly received . I beg pardon for not giving you the 

 necessary information as to how and where I ob- 

 tained the crab eye, as you say they are generally 

 termed. I was curious to know what you would 

 have to say about it without that information ; you 

 are perfectly correct, as I obtained it from the inside 

 of an oyster, not only inside of the shell but inside of 

 the oyster, and this is what caused my curiosity as 

 to how it got there and what it might be. Thanking 

 you for your valuable information, and having every 

 reason to believe you do know a good many things 

 pertaining to this science, 1 am yours respectfully, 

 David M. Groff. 



If taken from an oyster (Mollusk), of course 

 it must be considered a " pearl." 



Mr. J. K. F., Marietta, Pa.— The mineral 

 you dug up in your garden is a very fine speci- 

 men of Bed Oxide of Zinc, otherwise called 

 Ruby Blend. The specimen also contains an 

 ore of iron, called FrankUnite. Its being 

 found in your garden was purely accidental. 

 Very likely it is from the locality of Franklin, 

 New Jersey. 



The specimens from the Freed farm, York 

 county, contain 6ree7i Carbonate and Sulj^huret 

 of Copper. We recognize it as the same we 

 obtained at that locality forty years ago. It 

 seems strange that there has been no further 

 development of that mine during the inter- 

 vening series of years. Prospecting was done 

 on the farm more than forty years ago, but at 

 that time the proprietor, we believe, was un- 

 willing either to lease or sell. 



The specimens supposed to be Brazilian are 

 of the same varieties of copper as the fore- 

 going, but judging from their greater specific 

 gravity, we' think they contain more metallic 

 copper than the former. One of the latter and 

 two of the former appear to be of the variety 

 called Gray Copper. Possibly the specimens 

 have become mixed. Any of them seem rich 

 enough to be mined, and probably would pay. 



Contributions. 



For The Lancaster Fabmes. 

 MORE LIGHT. 

 In reply to an " Amateur Farmer," in the 

 March number of The Farmer, I beg leave 

 to say, that by the terms, " rising " and "set- 

 ting " of the moon I mean the moon's ascen- 

 sion and decension. If he looks at the 

 " explanation of astronomical characters," in 

 any csmmon almanac, he will at once become 

 acquainted with the various characters which 

 designate those changes in the phases of the 

 moon. Let him then turn to the month of 

 April, and he will find that the moon's ascen- 

 sion begins on C4ood Friday, the 11th of that 

 month, and continues to the 24th of the same. 

 After that date its descension begins, and 

 continues until the 8th of May. Now, I usu- 

 ally plow only part of the day, and can al- 

 ways see when to begin by consulting the 

 almanac. Therefore, my time to plow stiflF, 

 clayey soil in April, is from the 11th to the 

 24th, not only for potatoes, but for any kind 

 of crop, whether grain or vegetables. "Ama- 

 teur" says, farmers who regulate their plow- 

 ing by the moon, have been very backward in 

 giving their reasons to the public. This is 

 not .so very wonderful. Perhaps they had 

 never been reasoned with on the subject, and 

 only formed their conclusions from practical 



