1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



165 



fortunB, etc., at the door of neglecting little thintrs; 

 but we are not certain that such perfection could be 

 reached, and if it were, whether it would be prodt- 

 able. One of the memberB suggeetod that the man 

 who wrote it was like the temperance lecturer who 

 waB listened to by two Scotchmen. After it was over 

 one said to the other, "What do think of that?" "1 

 think he must have been a bad lad, or he would nay 

 hae kenned so wcel ." 



One present thought the easiest way to bring about 

 a reform was to slop the large taxes, and the first 

 step in this direction was to vote for prohibition. 

 The man who does not vote for less taxes in the form 

 of prohibition votes for a large tax, and not for him- 

 self alone, but to Buppo-t others who arc made desti- 

 tute by the use of intoxicating liquor. 



Allie Gregg recited the "Yankee Girl," by John 

 G.Whittler; Carrie Blackburn, "How Maud Kept 

 Watch ;" Phebe King, "The Will of St. Keen ;" 

 Mabel A. Haines, "The Death of the Flowers." 



The regular question was now taken up, "Whether 

 it is profitable to feed stock on purchased food V 

 This was discussed by nearly all present, but we 

 think no one could get a definite idea from the dis- 

 cuBsion of tlie truth of the matter. Hogs were the 

 only stock that seemed to pay, and some thought 

 they would not. 



Question for next meeting— "All things considered, 

 what advantage has the AVeslcrn farmer over the 

 Eastern?" 



Essays for next time : Sadie Brown, Allie Gregg, 

 Renie Tollinger, Mary A. King and iUbel A. Haines. 



Adjourned to meet at G. A. King's, on the second 

 Saturday in November. 



THE LINN.ffi;AN SOCIETY. 



The Society held their stated monthly meeting on 

 Saturday, the liTth of September, President Kev. J. 

 S. Stahr in the chair. After attending to the opening 

 duties, the donations to the museum were examined, 

 found and to consist of a well feathered, full sized 

 flicker or Golden-winged Woodpecker, Colaptus aura- 

 tns. This,in its flight.came in contact with a telegraph 

 wire and was captured, and donated by Albert Clark, 

 city, and neatly mounted. A conglomerated mass of 

 caterpillars, adhering together, in alcohol, by S. S. 

 Rathvon. A small jar containing a House or Milk 

 snake, a small ring-necked snake, and several^red, 

 black-spotted salamandcrs,J,name not given. Dr. 

 IJaker found a caterpillar covered over with small 

 cotton-like pellets. These were the cocoons of a 

 small parasitic fly, of a family related to the Ichneu- 

 mons. A beautiful specimen of pipe ore, a variety 

 of brown hematite, from the Mourer mine, at New 

 Providence, Lancaster county, donated by A. H. Pea- 

 cock, esq. A fine specimen of Margarite, from 

 Pequca, no name given. A singular encrouite, picked 

 up iu the street at Erie, per S. W. Mifflin, esq. A 

 number of the winged fruit, a species of maple, 

 picked up at Saratoga, by Dr. Baker. These, instead 

 of being in pairs, were iu triplets, and each had only 

 one seed vessel which was riot eaten out by some 

 creature. This seemed curious that one should be 

 spared, but Dr. Davis discovered, on inspection, that 

 all those that were not eaten out or defaced were 

 abortive and had no kernel in them. A sagacious 

 creature — it would not waste time to open a barren 

 shell. Mr. Melton found a maple tree of considera- 

 ble Bize, grown wild, the leaf of which is like the 

 introduced species — the Norway maple — no fruitseen; 

 rather thick leaves, with long red petioles ; seems to 

 difl'er from the sugar maples, The five-legged frog 

 donated by Mr. Snyder, North Queen street, having 

 been put in strong vinegar instead of whisky, when 

 inspected was found all softened to the very bones, 

 so that nothing could be done with it. Dr. Davis 

 took it along to experiment whether it was possible 

 to harden it so as to retain its anatomy of the bones, 

 It is well that Mr. Staufl'er had an accurate copy of 

 it illustrated in the Scientific American for September 

 18, 1879. No. 11, vol. XLI, page 165, otherwise this 

 Interesting monstrosity would have speedily become 

 oblivious. To the 



Historical Section, 

 was added two fine plaster casts, taken from moulds 

 furnis'aedby the actual stones sculptured in England 

 from a kind of calcareous rock known as Oolite or 

 Koe-Btone, having the coat of arms of Thomas and 

 Richard Penn on the north side, and that of Lord 

 Baltimore on the south side. Every fifth mile had 

 one of those stones marking the boundary betweeu 

 Pennsylvania and Maryland, known as Mason and 

 Di.xon's line. The intermediate mile stones had 

 simply a P on the one, and an M on the other side. 

 William. M. Lee, esq., of Green postoffiee, Lancas- 

 ter county, at some trouble and expense, hunted two 

 of the most perfect of these stones to copy from, as 

 all were more or less defaced. We understand that 

 he has a few duplicates which he will dispose of at a 

 reasonable price. Those donated to the society are 

 truly beautiful and highly valuable mementoes of 

 our early history. Mr. Rathvon also deposited ten 

 envelopes containing 15.3 clippings of newspaper arti- 

 cles of historical interest. 



To the Library, 

 was added a general index of the Agricultural re- 



port of the Patent Office and Department of Agri- 

 culture; the Patent OIHce Gazette, up lo September, 

 1879; Tlie Lancaster Farmer for September, 2:i, 1879, 

 and book circulars. 



Papers Read. 



Rathv 





paper, 



' Observations 



Pteudo-coecuK aeeris," Infesting the leaves and lodg- 

 ing in the bark of the sugar maple. Acer Sacchar- 

 ium, in Lancaster Pa., Illustrated by drawings, per 

 J. Staufl'er, No. 527. The remarkable development 

 of a fungus illustrated, and a description given by 

 J. Stauffer, No. r>2S. This Is of a fungus found 

 growing In the same locality In Mr. Sprechcr's yard, 

 from which that was taken in the report at the last 

 meeting (August 27.) This was left in the ground 

 until morning of September 23, when it had attained 

 to the height of seven inches. The gelatinous bulb 

 was ruptured and a thick stipe of a while color, 

 composed of large open cells, and centrally hollow, 

 surmounted with a cap only attached to the upper 

 end of the attenuated stipe; this cap hung loose, like 

 a boll, smooth inside; on the outside it had thin, high 

 meshes or cell-walls, of-various forms, with its lower 

 edge bent np and terminated by curved points; from 

 the stipe under the cap, a loose pendant net work all 

 around like a veil of lace, having coarse open meshes. 

 This proved to be like a specimen found by Mr. H. 

 L. Zahm, in his garden, October 0, 1876, a drawing 

 of which was sent to Dr. Farlow,' Boston, who makes 

 this class of vegetation a specialty ; he called It the 

 Phallus indccsiatus. In its first stage it was like those 

 .sent from Quarryvillc, by I. 0. Raub, September 20, 

 1877; one sent to Mr. Farlow had partially devel- 

 oped, and he supposed it would be the P?iaUus 

 inpudieus, which, however, has no such pen- 

 dant lace-work like veil. That such a potato- 

 like, elastic bulb, which looks more like a large puff 

 ball, should turn into a Phallus is a very Interesting 

 fact in its development. Mr. Staulfer also read a 

 paper. No. 529, on the history of the facsimiles of 

 the line stones donated by Mr. Lee, and the date of 

 their erection, size and fiuting. 



On motion a vote of thanks was cordially given to 

 Mr. Lee for his liberality in bestowing so great a 

 favor on this society. 



Mr. George F. Rathvon, who has a share of stock, 

 and was supposed to be a member, was on motion 

 unanimously elected an active member of this society. 



On motion of J. Stauffer, Mr. Wm. M. Lee was 

 elected a corresponding member of this society. 



Scientific gossip was indulged in on various topics 

 suggested by articles deposited, and an interesting 

 meeting had. 



Society adjourned to the last Saturday in October 

 next. 



the old earthen pattern, so that the roots cannot ex- 

 tend dt)wn, but outwards. 



These and other European experiences all favor 

 the idea of surface-feeding. We are Inclined to think 

 also, that the average American experience has been 

 in favor of keeping the manure near the surface. 

 Some even go so far as to assert that It Is best ap- 

 plied wholly on the surface, and not buried in the 

 earth at all, and we may add that It is becoming 

 more and more the custom amonj; our best farmers 

 In Eastern Pennsylvania. Nevertheless we shAuld 

 like to see the matter tested more thoroughly than 

 we think it has been, and the results sent to us for 

 publication. As we have said, It seems that the best 

 testimony is in favor of surface dressing; but there 

 is much to be said on the other side, and our columns 

 arc open to hear from it. — r/ermnulumi Teleijraph. 



AGRICULTURE. 



Application of Manure. 



Manure is becoming to most American farmers 

 something more than a mere luxury— it is really to 

 plants in these old-established places one of the ne- 

 cessaries of life. We cannot afford to waste it, and 

 hence any information that leads us to use it with 

 economy, is welcome to us all. 



The subject comes up periodically as the fall comes 

 round, and seeing its importance, it is not to be won- 

 dered at. The proper application is the great 

 question. Singularly enough, though pages on 

 pages have been written about this, the most in- 

 telligent of our agriculturists seem to differ about 

 it. Some insist that they have the best success 

 when they bury the manure deep into the earth, 

 while others contend that the nearer the surface the 

 better. 



Judging by what we read, much of the arguments 

 used in this question are theoretical. One tells us 

 that he has found roots of grain and grass two or 

 three feet from the surface, and as they thus wan- 

 der so far, manure ought to be scattered all along 

 the road traversed by them. Others contend that 

 the mass of roots are generally near the surface, and 

 that the food ought to be chiefly placed where there 

 are the most mouths to require it. For our part we 

 have little faith in any rule of agricultural practice 

 that is derived from mere theoretical considerations, 

 knowing how often they fail when put to the test. 

 We know that in Europe, where the theories of in- 

 telligent men have been put to practical test, it Is 

 found that the nearer the roots can be kept to the 

 surface, the better are the crops. Not that they favor 

 shallow soil, or shallow culture, for they subsoil and 

 underdrain at an expense per acre that would frighten 

 us; but this is chiefly to keep the ground open that 

 water may pass rapidly away, or that moisture may 

 come up by capillary attraction at a dry time. But 

 after working the ground up thus deeply, they take 

 pains not to let the roots run deep. We noticed re- 

 cently in a chapter on grape growing In England, 

 that they even go to the trouble of raising roots oc- 

 casionally in the grape borders, so as to bring them 

 nearer the surface, and it Is well known in Germany, 

 that in order to have walnuts in perfection, the roots 

 must be compelled to keep near the surface; and this 

 they insure, by planting under the tree a milk pan of 



Plowing Down Green Crops. 



The more I sec of plowing down green crops the 

 more I become convinced of its utility. Even If there 

 is only a short growth so that It covers the ground 

 well, and though young and tender, exhibiting little 

 manurlal value according to analysis, yet the effect 

 is undoubted and considerable. It adds to the fer- 

 tility and Improves the mechanical condition beyond 

 what the means would seem to warrant, though It is 

 known that shading the ground mellows and cools it 

 and thus lessens what evaporation of its fertilizing 

 gases might take place. The vegetable growth 

 plowed under also furnishes humus rapidly, acting 

 at the same time chemically upon the soil, and In an 

 advantageous way from Its equal distribution through 

 the soil. Certain it Is that here is a benefit and a 

 profit on the outlay. This Is especially the ease 

 where plowing can be avoided, as with stubble land, 

 where only the harrow, or eultlvsitor followed by the 

 harrow, need be used to secure a seed bed. Where 

 the land is designed for a spring crop rye Is perhaps 

 the best to sow, as it grows a heavy mat by late fall, 

 and if Intended for corn quite a heavy growth can 

 be turned down before planting, if the soil is In good 

 condition and its fertility not too much reduced. 



Buckwheat may be substituted for rye. This is 

 especially good for earlier sowing where a crop of 

 rye, or wheat, or barley has been removed. The 

 ground in this case will be better shaded and hence 

 protected, will be mellower and weeds arc kept down. 

 The pea also is a great benefit. Any plant that 

 grows well and covers the ground will answer. 

 The matter Is dependent somewhat upon circum- 

 stances, such as the cheapness of the seed, the plant 

 best adapted to poor or rich land, sandy or clay soil, 

 etc.; also whether plaster has a good effect, which It 

 almost always has upou the pea, and being the 

 cheapest of manures in such case and readily aijplicd, 

 recommends itself. This little labor and expense the 

 after part of the season can, in most if not all cases, 

 be afforded, as the harvest Is then secured and the 

 work Is less crowding. Our stubble land, instead of 

 lying idle and exposed to the elements, should be 

 given something to do so as to protect and improve it. 



Putting in the Wheat Crop. 



A singular discussion arose in the papers lately as 

 to whether there was really any advantage In the 

 drill over broadcast sowing. It is strange to find 

 such subjects conling up. To experienced minds It 

 is like arguing whether we had not better abolish 

 reaping machines and return to the old cradle, if 

 not, indeed, to the sickle at once. To us a more 

 reasonable matter would be the width of the drills. 

 We do not know of any extended and satisfactory 

 experiments m the country so as to test the matter 

 beyond question. At any rate, what a foreigner 

 would call very close sowing is the rule here. In 

 England, however, where close calculation Is much 

 more the rule in farming among the more Intelligent 

 than with us, there Is a growing feeling in favor of 

 wide drills. Some set them as wide as ten Inches, 

 and the reports, especially this year, are generally 

 iu favor of the wide drills. 



The great trouble with most of the experiments of 

 this kind is, when made in experimental grounds, 

 that they extend but over a single season, when it is 

 only after trial through a series of years that a gen- 

 eral rule can be formed. It makes a great dilference, 

 for instance, whether the experiments are made 

 through adry season or a moist one. In a dry season, 

 when there is a deficiency of moisture in the ground, 

 a wide row will have the advantage over the nar- 

 row, as there would not be enough for all. In other 

 seasons when there is moisture, and enough for all, 

 the result might favor closer rows. So, also, the 

 nature of the soil might make much difference. A 

 soil which does not dry out easily will permit of 

 closer sowing. The one element of moisture for the 

 growing crop alone makes a considerable element to 

 be considered. Still an average of years would show 

 what would be best on the whole, and we should like 

 to see such figures^ 



Smut in Grain. 



The black powder observed In grains of wheat, 



oats, barley or rye, and ears of corn, is generally 



known as smut. Viewed under a microscope of high 



power this smut is seen to be a mass of black, round 



