1879.] 



tHE LANCASTER FARMER. 



85 



of twenty bushels per acre, and that without 

 manure. The climate is of the healthiest 

 character. Railroad facilities more tlian 

 enouj;h. A direct railroad from Chicago to 

 Kansas City runs through Pike. Another 

 from Keokuk to St. Louis, now in jnocess of 

 com|)Iftion. Another from Hannibal, to 

 intersect the North Missouri, that runs 

 north and south, inland of the county. 

 Another, cm the Illinois side of the river, froln 

 BurUiiLrloii to SI. Louis. J5eside.s these, comes 

 the nine months' navifjatiou of the Missis- 

 sijjpi- up to St. Paul and down to New 

 Orleans. There is no place west of the^Oliio 

 that holds out better inducements for invest- 

 ment in farms than there is at present in Pike 

 county, Mo. From two to three thousand 

 dollais will buy a good sized, improved farm 

 now that could not have been bought ten or 

 twelvi' years ai;o for double that monej'. An 

 intelliL'eiit Luiieastei' emnity land agent could 

 do well to locate in this eoun!,y, to serve him- 

 self and those in the East in search of cheap 

 farms. — J. W., Louisiana, Pike county. Mo., 

 May V2th, 1879. 



For The Lancaster Farmer, 

 LETTER FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 



Editor L.\ni'astek Fakjieh : The wheat 

 and oats crop, so far as I have seen and 

 learned from inquiry, is promising a good 

 yield in this and adjoining counties. I speak 

 of spring sown oats ; that sown in the fall 

 will not be so good, having mostly frozen out. 

 In some localities there will be plenty of apples 

 but no peaches, while in other localities plenty 

 of peaches but no apples, and in some locali- 

 ties some of both. From what information I 

 can gather there will, m all probability, be 

 enough of each for home consumption. Pears 

 I have seen none or heard of any, but of 

 prunes, gages and damsons I have seen some ; 

 als(j yellow Siberian crab apples. Grapes, so 

 far as I have seen and heard, promise a fair 

 crop. I noticed in the garden at my eating 

 place two. peach trees, not more than twenty- 

 five feet apart; one was full and the other had 

 but few on it— both unprotected. 



All garden vegetables, such as potatoes, 

 peas, onions, radishes, Lima and other beans, 

 lettuce, cabbages, &c., look healthy, and at 

 this time promise a fair remuneration for 

 seeds, labor and time. So far as I can learn 

 the corn, cotton and tobacco crop is doing 

 well. Strawberries, both old field and culti- 

 vated, are plentiful at from 5 to 10 cents per 

 quart. 



I feel a great interest in the success of The 

 Lancaster Farmer, and would write more 

 and on different matters, but for want of time 

 decline at present. May write you again if 

 you desire it ; let me know through the 

 Farsikr.— Yours, &c., M. B. 



FOR The La 

 CYPRIPEDUM ACAULE. 

 The generic name is derived from the Greek 

 name of Veami and ISImc, or " Shoe of Venus, " 

 from which the common name, "Ladies' 

 Slipper" comes; it is also called "Moccasin 

 flower," and it resembles an Indian's mocca- 

 sin more than it does a .shoe or slipper ; an- 

 other name is that of "Noah's Ark." The 

 petals and sepals of the single flower on its 

 peduncle are not showy, but the two lower 

 petals, united into a drooping lip of a rose 

 sed color, beautifully veined with a fissure in 

 front, makes it an object of curiosity. This 

 genus is principally composed of plants native 

 to America. There are fourteen species, of 

 which Loudon describes eight ; of which five 

 are North American ; one of England ; two 

 of Nepal. They belong to a highly interest- 

 ing order of plants; the OrchidrMecf, well 

 known for the singular form of the flowers. 

 Some of them grow in the earth, while others 

 inhabit rocks and branches of trees, often 

 agreeably scented, and sometimes produce an 

 aromatic, fleshy fruit, as in the case of vanilla, 

 which contains a large quantity of ben7;oic 

 acid. The nutritious substance called salep, 

 is prepared from the amylaceous roots of 

 several plants of this order. The plant above 



figured is not very common, and yet I have 

 met with it on several occasions in woods 

 under (fvcrgreens, flowering in May and June, 

 growing from eight to twelve inches in height. 

 The root is composed of rather thickish, 

 ttexy fibres, and were much employed by the 

 Indians and Indian doctors, in domestic 

 practice, also ; in many parts of the country, 

 as sedative and antispiismodic, acting much 

 like valerian in alleviating the nervous symp- 

 toms attendant on many diseases. Good evi- 

 dence is had that it proved very useful in 

 hysteria and even rlmrm. Most personskuow 

 what is meant hy •■hysterics," but perhajjs 

 the word <7e.,M/ will be better understood by 

 the name of Hi. VUns'^ dance, a disease once 

 established very dillicult to manage. The 

 so-called "nerve root" is, however, referred 

 chiefly to the Cypripedium puhescc^is, a very 

 similar plant called the " Yellow Ladies' 

 Slipi)er," and grows in bogs and low, damp 

 woods, chiefly near the mountainous portions 

 of our county, attaining the height of two 

 feet, and is more pubescent ; the lip flattened 

 laterally, and pale yellow. Dose of the pow- 

 dered root, a teasjioonful occasionally in tea, 

 or a tablesiioonful of the tincture in water. 

 Those who have tested this root say that the 

 other native species, " C. acaule," above 



named, as also the 

 possess the same 

 states [Flm. Sihcr. 1 

 of Europe, isconside 



si.cclahile," &c., 

 ies ; and Ginelin 

 it the C. cfdcenlus, 

 iits in epilepsy 



Much more might be quoted were I writing 

 on medicine, but while I inclulge in my hobby, 

 botany, I would also give some useftfl in- 

 formation in the space I occupy, and venture 

 upon a little gossip, which those who under- 

 stand me will allow for. When on a visit, 

 some years ago, to the hilly portions of Leba- 

 non county, my curiosity was very much 

 excited on hearing the name and graphic de- 

 scription of a wonderful flower found growing 

 in a woody bog, about half a mile off, near 

 the foot of the mountain. From the vulgar 

 German name given me and the construction 

 of the flower, I concluded that this must be 

 something not known to botanical scientists, 

 as I had in all my reading heard of nothing 

 like it. Eager to get a specimen of this mar- 

 vel of the vegetal)le kingdom, I determined to 

 find this wonderful flower. I took the direc- 

 tions given me to find it, and I did not only 

 go half a mile, but five, at least, before I re- 

 turned. I met with several new and inter- 

 esting plants— the gold-thread, cucumter 

 root, a trillium and a beautiful habinaria ; 

 these I had only seen figured in Barton & 



Bigelow's botany and other works, together 

 with line specimens of cypripedium. I met 

 my in.structor on my return, regretting that I 

 failed to find the wonderful plant I set out 

 for, but rejoicing over the new things I had 

 foinid, which 1 displayed to him in my tin 

 bo.x. What was my surprise wlien he assured 

 me that me that the Cypripedium I had col- 

 lected was that very plant I Tlius I found it 

 necessary to listen with caution to the de- 

 scription of some ordinary things when extra- 

 ordinary fiirtility of the imagination was 

 mixed up witli it, and so highly. exaggerated 

 that it inodueed a nondescript to ray mind 

 not iiiiuul in earth, air or water, however 

 woudeiful we find the varied forms in nature. 

 Nevertheless, facts are often as diUicult to 

 comprehend as the wildest fictions could be, 

 and it is easy to say humbug and delusion ; 

 but sober men of sound Judgment may come 

 to conclusions, under proper conditions, that 

 others, however wise they may deem them- 

 selves, would come to under the same tuition 

 or experience. We must live and learn, and 

 well it is for us if our learning raises us above 

 ignorant superstition, and gives us that calm, 

 patient spirit to wait and trust, that however 

 truth may be sneered at, it is powerful and 

 will eventually prevail. If this is not botany 

 or science, call it gossip, and pardon me for 

 its infliction. — ./. Stauffer. 



For The Lanoabteb Fabmer. 

 MOONSHINE. 



Mr. Editor : The subject of the moon's 

 influence on terrestrial matters being remarked 

 on by two of your correspondents, in late 

 numbers of the Farjier, and as it appears to 

 be "a free fight " please count me in. 1 may 

 not throw much light on the subject, so my 

 cogitations may be taken for what they are 

 worth. J. G., of Warwick, tells us "that the 

 moon's influence is worth attending to," 

 while your " Amateur Farmer " is strongly 

 skeptical and demands comparative experi- 

 ments ; but as J. G. is a working farmer he 

 may not have leisure, and your "amateur," 

 having plenty of leisure, ought to be the 

 proper pereon to disprove or prove the truth 

 or falsity of such moonshiners. But he must 

 lay prejudice aside and honestly try experi- 

 ments. 



Some thirty-five years since I had occasion 

 to run a lane or passage-way through a part of 

 my farm ; I had post-fences set on each side, ■ 

 with a lane between of about twelve feet. 

 The man who did the work, when he had 

 set the fence on one side, had to leave for 

 about two weeks. He then came again and 

 set the fence on the other side of the road. In 

 a year, or perhaps less, I noticed that the 

 fence on one side settled down so that the 

 bottom rails touched the ground, vchile the 

 other fence remained up so high as to permit 

 small pigs to creep under the bottom rails. 

 I did not know the cause of this difference, 

 but as I had kept a record of the times the 

 fences were set, I then refered to the almanac 

 to find out if the ".sijins" had caused this 

 ditt'erence, and I found that the fence that 

 had thus settled down was actually set when 

 the sign was dorcn, and the other fence was set 

 when the sign teas up. 



Another case : Having a worm fence, sev- 

 eral corners being full of briars, on a particu- 

 lar day in August I took a grubbing-hoe and 

 dug up all the blackberry sprouts ; the next 

 spring a few sprouts came up, but they ap- 

 peared sickly and soon died down again. 

 Were these merely by chnnce, or was it brought 

 about by stellar influences ? Can "amateur" 

 tell us the reason why V 



A lady, -who is a great lover of flowers, hav- 

 ing several rooms filled in the winter with pot- 

 plants, it was remarked that her plants were 

 particularly healthy and free from insects, 

 lice (aphids) and other live stock— which all 

 know who keep plants in pots that it is a great 

 bother to have the plants made unsightly by 

 a host of insects— she was inquired of how 

 she managed to keep her plants so free from 

 insects ? She was fearful of being lawghed at, 

 and it took some persuasive talk to induce her 



