THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



75 



It. II. Tshudy thought the question was of much 



" rtancc, and was anxious to know something 



;ii''Mit it. lie knew of no true means. 



.1. B.Lichty was able to tell after several days' 

 in( libation whether eggs would hatch.but not imme- 

 ihitily after being laid. He gave his method of 

 .1 lilting the bad egg. He said a bad-formed egg 

 w.iuki seldom hatch. 



W.J. Kafroth stated that some people seem to 

 liavr unusual luck in bringing out chicks. 



Anios Kingwalt knew of persons who placed the 

 111 ^'c end of the egg to their mouths and moistening 

 i! and if it drisd rapidly they were fertile. 



1 111' question was discussed by other members of 

 tin society, and a number of views were advanced. 



" How often should fresh blood be introduced into 

 ilir poultry yard?" This question having l)ecn re- 

 ii iiiii to S. N. Warfel, was answered by him as 



liic individual breeder of fowls will suspect that 

 he needs fresh blood for his stock, when the annual 

 number of eggs diminish, when a loss of size is 

 noticeable, and when the flock begins to show signs 

 of debility. But the frequency and method of intro- 

 ducing fresh blood is a matter that can only be de- 

 cided according to the object sought after." If size 

 and utility are desired, with no regard to permanent 

 type, crossing «very year with distinct, fresh blood, 

 will give progeny, as a rule, superior to either parent 

 stock ; but these hybrids cannot be depended upon 

 to produce others with the same merits. On the 

 other hand, if it is desired to establish a strain of 

 thoroughbreds, which may be relied on to breed true, 

 then the most judicious influx of fresh blood every 

 second year is necessary. But here, while near re- 

 lationship should be carefully avoided, it is equally 

 important to use birds of not too remote connection 

 with the dominant strain, in order to preserve the 

 preponderance of the breed sought after. Scientific 

 breeders u.sually prefer hens for this purpose, as it 

 has been ascertained that the male bird has the 

 most influence upon the color of the progeny and 

 what may be called the " fancy points, " while 

 the form, size and useful qualities are principally de- 

 rived from the hen. Hence, if the object is to pre- 

 serve a specific type, there is less risk in using a hen, 

 as the progeny, if not satisfactory, may be" killed, 

 while if the cross be with a male from'new blood, 

 and the young prove undesirable, the whole season's 

 work is lost. When a strain has been fully estab- 

 lished it is a good plan to put a promising cockrel 

 In an adjoining yard, and bring him back in a year 

 or two, when the relationship will be remote enough 

 to iaiuse vitality without deranging the type. 



As we have said, all depends upon the want of the 

 fancier ; and whether the object be for economic pur- 

 poses, or to improve a strain of thoroughbreds, fresh 

 blood, understandingly introduced, is the great im- 

 portant factor. 



Colin Cameron only bred from good strains, and he 

 would only breed from winning birds. 



J. C. Linville did not pretend to be a hen fancier, 

 but found it best to introduce new blood into his yard 

 every year. He introduced the Plymouth Rock into 

 his yard this year, and he had very good luck. He 

 did not think it the best plan for farmers to breed 

 from thoroughbreds. He thought it best to cross the 

 stock. 



H.H. Tshudy agreed with the views of Mr. Warfel. 



A. Ringwalt thought it best to introduce new 

 cocks in his yard. There should be fresh blood in- 

 troduced every year. 



The President, Rev. D. C. Tobias, agreed with the 

 views of Mr. Warfel and Mr. Cameron. He thought 

 farmers should not breed thoroughbred I'owls. He 

 should cross with some that are not so pure. That 

 makes very good stock. By doing this there are 

 better results found. He thought the best thing to 

 do is to put the cock into another yard for a year or 

 60, and then take him back again. By this means 

 you would efl'ectually have a change of blood. He 

 only bred chickens for show, and not for fighting 

 qualities. You should be careful in exchanging 

 cocks, or you may spoil a year's work . The greatest 

 breeders in this country keep their own cocks and do 

 not introduce new ones. 



W. M. Stober asked for information in reference to 

 removing the cock and bringing him back again. 

 He would like to know whether that would be as 

 good as introducing strange blood. 



The President thought it did not destroy the rela- 

 tionship, but there would be a strangeness between 

 them, which would be very beueflcial. The idea Is 

 to introduce strange blood of the same kind. Our 

 best breeders change their hens and cocks. When 

 they have an established breed, they do not care to 

 risk introducing new blood. He was going to intro- 

 duce some new blood to his black-breasted games, 

 and he wrote to a breeder for a fine cock. He bred 

 the cock to his hens. The cock was a fine one and 

 was a good fighter, but he bred anything but black- 

 breasted games. 



Mr. Lippold thought it could not be expected to 

 breed black-breasted red fowls from a pure game cock . 



Mr. Tshudy did not think it would do to remove 

 the cock and then put him back to the same hens. 

 He thought by putting it back to a younger genera- 

 tion would bring a much better result. 



Colin Cameron agreed with the remarks of Mr. 

 Tshudy. He wag also of the opinion that there was 

 no belter game chicken than the black-breasted red. 



Mr. Lippold agreed that they were black-breasted 

 red in color, but he fought some of them, and they 

 ran away. He found that to be his experience in 

 every case. 



Mr. Uingwalt had some experience with the chicken 

 cholera, and gave them white oak bark with good 

 results. He discovered the gapes on some of his 

 fowls, and was told to dip a feather into some spirits 

 of camphor and rub it on the windpipe, but it did no 

 good. 



Mr. Stober discovered gapes In some of his chickens, 

 and he procured a horse hair and drew outthe worms, 

 and the hens immediately got well. 



Messrs. Witmer and Tshudy believed the best way 

 to prevent gapes was to sprinkle sulphur in the yard. 

 He thinks the best cure Is to put in the coops as 

 much dust and lime as possible. 



Mr. Kafroth never found the gapes In small breeds 

 of chickens, but always in those of large breeds. 



Mr. Cameron did not find the gapes in chickens 

 hatched by the patent inculator. He believed In the 

 horse-hair remedy. He did not have a very high 

 opinion of the sulphur remedy. A chicken would 

 have to be very strong in order to sneeze the worm out. 



The President thought we ought to discriminate 

 between the gapes and pips. The pip never harmed 

 his chicks. The cause for gapes certainly comes 

 from the mother. It comes either from heat or 

 vermin. He thought the best plan to cure gapes was 

 to use a horse hair. By using a feather you are 

 likely to push the membrane into the throat and 

 cause the death of the fowl. The fowl should be 

 operated upon as soon as the gapes are discovered, 

 for if it is left go on the chicken would become very 

 weak and likely to die from the operation. 



Mr. Ringwalt advocated the use of a fine wire in- 

 stead of a horse hair. 



Mr. Tshudy used lard on the heads of his hens 

 when they had lice, and found it to be a very good 

 remedy. 



The President always found sulphur too violent 

 for a young chick, but it would do for an old one. 

 He had lice on his chickens and he used lard and sul- 

 phur ; they did well for several days, but they soon 

 began to mope and finally died. He also used Persian 

 insect powder, by forcing it on the head and under 

 the wings, and it always proved eflTectual. 



Air. Ringwalt used the insect powder mixed with 

 lard, and it cured his fowls of lice. 



The question, "How is the ng^ shell formed?" 

 was referred to Mr. Linville for discussion at next 

 meeting. Adjourned. 



LINNiEAN SOCIETY. 



A stated meeting of the Linnsan Society was 

 held on Saturday, April 26th, and in the absence of 

 the President and Vice Presidents, on motion, John 

 M. Grider, Esq., was called to preside. 



After the opening duties were attended to the con- 

 tributions to the museum were examined. First was 

 a large-sized crab taken out of an oyster and pre- 

 sented by Mr. Copland. Mr. Staufl^er, Chairman of 

 the Committee on the Crustaceoe, compared it with 

 some of his illustrations, and found it to be the 

 Panopeus limosun, or mud-crab, also called oyster- 

 crab. Dr. S. S. Rathvon presented some native 

 nitrate of soda, from Peru, South America, a bottle 

 of crude coal oil or petroleum from Canada, and a 

 fine green mineral known as "Amazon stone," the 

 Mici-ocliiie, a green variety of feldspar, containing 

 nearly equal quantities of potash and soda, from 

 Pike's Peak. Mr. A. Barnes presented the peculiar 

 jaw-bone of a porpoise, phocaena, a sub-genus of 

 dolphins from Greenland. 



To the historical collection were added two rare 

 coins from Mr. Bowers, from Hollidaysburg, one old 

 English coin from Dr. S. S. Rathvon, and one sup- 

 posed to have Japanese characters, by J. Staufl'er ; 

 S. S. Rathvon gave four envelopes containing 55 

 clippings, relating to historical and biograpliical 

 sketches, gleaned from sundry sources. 



To the library were added the Patmt Office Gazette 

 for April 1st and Sih, 1879 ; The Lancaster Farmer 

 for April ; a pamphlet from the Department of the 

 Interior, on the moulting of the "Horned Toad," 

 PUrynosoma JDouglatsii, of Gray, and sundry book 

 circulars. 



J. Stauffer read a paper on the so-called "Zoos- 

 pores," No. 517, so called from the Greek for animal 

 and seed or spore, a name given to the active spores 

 of Alga;. A slipheaded "Green Scum" was also 

 read. Mr. Staufl'er brought some with him, with his 

 microscope, and the members present were much 

 gratified by seeing the actual movements of these 

 singular bodies. That such active, twisting and 

 oscillating bodies, moving with more or less rapidity, 

 apparently controlled by voluntary action, should be 

 of vegetable origin is wonderful, and It is no wonder 

 that the statement of the occurrence of spores en- 

 dowed with such motions was either rejected as un- 

 worthy of credit, or the organisms which produced 

 them were considered as animals. It is now, how- 

 ever. It seems, admitted or generally allowed that 

 there is no essential difference between animal and 

 vegetable life. 



The chairman of the Committee on Book Shelves 

 reported progress. On motion, the committee was 

 continued. After some ( 

 adjourned. 



title gossip the meeting 



Entomological. 



Insects and Animal Diseases. 

 A few years ago It was the general impression that 

 slabbering In horses, staggers In sheep, and many 

 J. ,_ . .. ^^^ ^ 



disorders In 



attic, 



caused by various 

 forms of weeds or herbage In the food they ate. It 

 may be that In some cases It Is so ; but with the 

 progress of discovery It has been found that plants 

 have not near so much to be blamed for as we one 

 time supposed. It was, for Instance, once an almost 

 universal belief thai the Texan ealUe fever was 

 brought about by some small fungoid vegetation 

 which existed in the Texan prairies; but a commis- 

 sion, appointed by the Department of Agriculture, 

 went to Texas and reported that there was nothing 

 whatever to warrant the popular belief. 



So with the staggers In sheep, which so often 

 proves a fatal disease, and subjects sheep-raisers to 

 ■;rcat loss. Dr. Darllngtfin tells us. In his Flora of 

 Chester county, that It was common to attribute It 

 to a plant — andromeUa mariana — and which was 

 called by the sheep-breeders stagger-bush on this 

 account. Besides this, various other plants In other 

 sections have been supposed to produce the same 

 disease. But now It Is known very clearly that no 

 plant has anything to do with it, but that It resuIU 

 from a small wormy parasite, which after dcvelopin); 

 in its early stages In the stomach of the animal, 

 works its way to the head and leeds on the sheep's 

 bruins. 



All this Is well-known now, but It is not so well- 

 known how these parasites arc produced, and are 

 scattered about so as to be introduced Into places 

 which were once free from it. The clue was fur- 

 uished some few years ago In the case of the trichlne 

 in pork ; it was found that a parasite often found a 

 homo in the flesh of the hog, and fearful results 

 followed on the human frame in many cases. There 

 was no doubt but the very same insect could be 

 communicated from the animal eaten to the human 

 system. But subsequent experiments proved with- 

 out the slightest doubt that high heat totally de- 

 stroyed the enemy, and that therefore meat properly 

 cooked was entirely innocuous. Since then It has 

 been placed beyond question that some other fearful 

 parasites that once in a while infest the human 

 system, come from imperfectly cooked beef. Raw 

 beef cures have been popular with some empirical 

 mendicants, and the parasites which have followed 

 have been a matter of calculation with no doubt as 

 to the origin. 



The great question has been how these trouble- 

 some things flrst get inlo these animals. Recently 

 in some anatomical lectures Dr. Joseph Leidy, who 

 probably stands at the head of this branch of science 

 in this country, gave It as the result of his own per- 

 sonal researches, that the animals which eat raw 

 meat— cats, dogs, and-so-forth— take in the eggs 

 with the raw meat they cat, which pass through 

 their system unchanged, and that then the eggs be- 

 come scattered eventually among the herbage, and 

 again are taken into the system. 



How Insects Hear. 



It Is very common to say of a stupid but active 

 fellow that all the brains he has Is In his heels. No 

 one ever Imagines the organs of the senses to be any- 

 where but in the head ; certainly the ears, which 

 help us to hear, would hardly be expected to be near 

 one's stomach. But it seems that this is what hap- 

 pens to insects, as the following. In rather too learned 

 language, from the Imlepemlenl says: 



While the organs of sense are In vertebrate ani- 

 mals invariably attached to the head, in the lower 

 animals ears and antennae-like organs, and perhaps 

 smelling organs, may be found in the abdomen or 

 elsewhere. That all those insects which produce 

 sound must have the faculty of hearing it, seems a 

 truism ; still it is dilScult to discover the seat of the 

 organs of hearing. In locusts or grasshoppers the 

 )rgans of hearing arc situated at the base of the ab- 

 ilornen, in two large sacs, situated next to the stlr- 

 mata, in the basal segment. Mr. A. H. Swinlon has 

 now found that somewhat similar organs of hearing 

 likewise exist at the base of the abdomen of some 

 moths, as certain nocluidic of owlet moths. " If," 

 says Mr. Swintou, " after having killed an Individual 

 of a large Noctua and denuded the alxiomen of 

 scales and hair, we examine its junction with the 

 thorax, we observe a constriction of the segments 

 that has occurred In the metamorposis, whereby the 

 first and second alKiominal segments of the caterpil- 

 lar are represented by dorsal ares Indicating a pedl- 

 cal. In the Noctuniua the organ of hearing is found 

 between these contracted segments and the meta- 

 thorax. The external ear is recognized In a rather 

 large cavity, thai here penetrates the abdomen on 

 each side, and is oval In section, with a i)Osterior ex- 

 cavation or couch. Thercis, besides a tube which 

 is the counterpart of the Eusta- tube. In its 



