162 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 



subordinate itself to tlie simple rules of order 

 that are necessary to its unity or its efficiency 

 as a body politic ? It is true, efforts towards 

 a closer and more compact organization of the 

 farming public have been made all over the 

 union, but still the masses stand aloof. The 

 masses refrain from taking hold of the various 

 enterprises, and assist in bearing the respon- 

 sibility. The masses seem to be restive under 

 rules of order. If it be true that "order is 

 heaven's first law," the inference would seem 

 to be a rational one, that men should subordi- 

 nate themselves to it, or bring themselves in 

 harmony with it, as a preparation for those 

 beatitudes in that world where order perpetu- 

 ally reigns— and selfish aspirations vanish 

 away. 



HERMAN STRECKER, 



Stonecutter and Lepidopterist. 



"There are a great many people in Reading 

 who do not know that the finest collection of 

 Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) in Ameri- 

 ca is in their own city. The gentleman who 

 has brought together and preserved this mag- 

 nificent array of lepidoterous insects is Mr. 

 Herman Strecker, who among his fellow- 

 citizens passes for a mechanic with artistic 

 taste, but among scientists is recognized as an 

 enthusiastic entomologist. He is a modest, 

 unassuming man, whose studies have been in 

 a field which a few patient, thoughtful, perse- 

 vering specialists have all to themselves. 

 Even the number of people who can take an 

 interest in their work is comparatively small. 

 Mr. Strecker earns his living by making 

 memorial monuments, and those who have 

 visited the Charles Evans Cemetery at Read- 

 ing need not be told that he is a sculptor as 

 well as a mechanic. He has devoted his 

 leisure hours to the study of entomology and 

 to the gathering of specimens of the different 

 varieties of butterflies and moths from all 

 parts of the earth, until he has a museum 

 such as cannot be duplicated on the "Western 

 Continent. In this issue of The Press will be 

 found an interesting sketch of Mr. Strecker 

 and his museum." 



"We clip the above from the Philadelphia 

 Press, and only regret that our limited space, 

 and our peculiar specialty prevents us from 

 inserting the long and interesting article 

 alluded to in the above extract. Mr. Strecker 

 is yet comparatively a young man (we were 

 married two years before he was born) and is 

 now presumably in the prime of life, although 

 so far as our experience goes, the collection, 

 care and keeping of a large cabinet of such 

 fragile objects as Lepidopterous insects are is 

 about as great an "elephant" as could possi- 

 bly be committed to human hands, and if 

 there were no compensations in the pursuit of 

 such a subject itself, it involves a patient and 

 persevering labor that the average of man- 

 kind will hardly ever appreciate or requite, 

 and unless a man is endowed with more than 

 ordinary powers of physical recuperation,! here 

 is suflicient "wear and tear" in it to make 

 him prematurely old. It is unfortunate forsuch 

 men, and also for science, that in so many 

 instances they belong to that class who are 

 compelled to follow incompatible secular oc- 

 cupations in order to sustain themselves and 

 their families— burning the midnight oil, and 

 laboring while others are resting or carousing 

 in the lap of luxury, and "half the world is in 

 solemn darkness hung." But "time makes 

 all things even," and Providence "ruleth over 

 all." 



THE COLD SNAP. 



Heavy Snow Storms Reported in the North. 

 The Cold Weather Uuprecedented: 

 "A despatch from White Hall, New York, 

 says a heavy snow storm prevailed all day on 

 Monday along the western shore of Lake 

 Champlain. At Plattsbnrg about ten inches 

 of snow has fallen; at Point Henry and Crown 

 Point twelve inches; also ten inches at Kere. 

 This is the most severe storm which has ever 

 prevailed there at this season of the year. 



There was also heavy snow in New Eng- 

 land and Nova Scotia. In New Hampshire 

 and "\^ermont the fall in places was from 15 to 

 20 inches, and railroad travel was delayed. 



A despatch from Buffalo says the wind and 

 snow storm on the lakes on Sunday nighl was 

 very severe. Some minor disasters are re- 

 ported. 



A severe snow storm prevailed throughout 

 Ontario on Sunday night and Monday morn- 

 ing, and in some sections there is one foot of 

 snow on a level. The trains on the various 

 routes are running on time. 



A despatch from "Winnipeg, Manitoba, says 

 an ice bridge has been formed on the river 

 there, and people are crossing on foot. The 

 weather is clear and cold." 



Tlie foregoing gleanings from various news- 

 paper and telegraphic sources, we clip from 

 the columns of tlie JVeto Era of the 4tli inst., 

 as indicative of the initiation of "bleak No- 

 vember." How very different from the char- 

 acter of "frosty October," which up to the 

 18ch was not only unprecedentedly mild, but 

 was absolutely warm, if not really hot. What 

 the character of the weather may be before 

 the month is out, we can tell better at its end- 

 ing than we can now, but this far it has some- 

 what shaken our faith in those prognostica- 

 tions which so confidently presaged a "very 

 mild November." Somehow both September 

 and October "slipped through" without 

 bringing the usual characteristic "equinoc- 

 tials." Can it be possible that they have 

 been transferred to November V At the 

 meeting of the society on Monday the 3rd 

 inst., one of the members reported that "the 

 cold snap" had arrested the progress of the 

 "Hessian-fly." This is then the good result- 

 sug from an autumnal cold snap, immediately 

 following an unusually warm one. Not only 

 the Hessian-fly, but also many other noxious 

 insects may come to grief through the inter- 

 vention of excessive cold, and if the farmer 

 could now contrive to turn over the soil with 

 the plough the benefit of the cold snap, in this 

 respect, would be greatly increased. "It is 

 an ill wind that blows nobody good," is an old 

 saying, but is also a true one. 



A GRAPE PHENOMENON. 

 Through our neighbor, Mr. David Hartman, 

 of North Queen street, we were presented 

 with two fine and luscious clusters of Concord 

 grapes, from Mrs. Nathaniel Ellmaker, of 

 Salisbury township, Gap, Lancaster county. 

 For the 22d of October the freshness and 

 flavor of these grapes were remarkably pre- 

 served. Although both of these clusters grew 

 on the same vine, yet there was a marked 

 difl'erenCB in their size and also in the inten- 

 sity of their taste and flavor. On the one 

 cluster the berries were pretty uniformly 

 three inches in circumference (a few were a 

 trifle more and a few a trifle less,) whilst on 

 the other cluster the berries did not average 

 more than one and three-quarter inches in 

 circumference. The smaller berries were the 

 sweetest and the most pronounced' in their 

 flavor. This distinction has often been ob- 

 served before, betwoen large and small fruit 

 of the same variety, in apples, peaches, pears 

 and strawberries, as well as in grapes, and 

 especially in the mammoth specimens cultiva- 

 ted in Kansas and California, when compared 

 with the same varieties cultivated in Penn- 

 sylvania, and it has also been noticed in large 

 and small specimens of the same variety in 

 the same locality. In unusually large fruit — 

 where it greatly exceeds the normal size- 

 quantity is gained at the expense of quality. 

 "Volume is gained, but the inherent sweetness 

 and flavor are in the same proportion diluted. 

 The extra gain is mainly water, and although 

 this may not always be the case, it is apt to 

 be the case when the transition is sudden. 

 But why the sudden difference in size ? So 

 far as we understand the representations 

 made to us, the case is simply this. Last 

 year, or last spring, Mr. Ellmaker laid down 

 a lateral and covered it with earth for a 

 distance of five or six feet from the base of the 

 main vine, leaving a few buds above the 



ground at the end. From these three vigor- 

 ous scions sprung, and he pruned the two 

 weakest, letting the strongest one stand. 

 This was practically a "survival of the fittest." 

 This vigorous shoot bore a few clusters of ab- 

 normally large grapes, whilst the main vine 

 bore its usual crops. The reasons for this 

 are obvious. The layer, in addition to draw- 

 ing upon the parent stem, at each joint made 

 roots of its own, and thereby increased its 

 supply of the sustaining and developmental 

 elements. Moreover, buried in the surface 

 mould, and more susceptible to the influence 

 of heat and moisture, it had feeding opportu- 

 nities not accarded to the parent vine, whose 

 roots may have penetrated the less nutritious 

 subsoil, or clay, or ground beneath. Separate 

 that layer from the parent vine, and plant it 

 elsewhere, with the usual volume of root, and 

 it is very probable that its fruit may relapse 

 to its normal size, although, with generous 

 and judicious cultivation, it is po.ssible that a 

 larger variety may be developed. Cultivation 

 has much to do in increasing the size and 

 quantity of any variety of fruit, even where 

 it does not enhance its quality. We are 

 thankful for the grapes, and relished them all 

 thd same, whether this be a true explanation 

 of the phenomenon or not. 



THE MEMORIES OF BEES. 



No doubt bees remember where they once, 

 or oftener, have been, and especially so when 

 they have been able to make a "good find" of 

 honey at such place, or places; but there is a 

 grave question whether they have any appre- 

 ciation of "probabilities" — whether they have 

 any instinctive perception of seasons — whether 

 beyond mere temperature, they can tell win- 

 ter from summer. Let an unusually warm 

 day occur, either in autumn, winter or spring, 

 and the bees will seek the places they visited 

 before the last "cold snap" in great numbers 

 — the wariner and the more continuous the 

 warmth, the greater the numbers — and free- 

 ly and eagerly appropriate the saccharine 

 matter such places aflbrd; and this is especi- 

 ally the case about grocery stores, cider mills 

 and presses, or warehouses where sugar and 

 molasses is stored. As the first and last of 

 these places furnish the mellifluous substance 

 they are in search of all the year round, per- 

 haps it requires very little sagacity on their 

 part to find the way back to them as often as 

 they are physically vivified by intervening 

 warm days during the winter season. But we 

 noticed them in considerable numbers in our 

 leafless- grape arbor on the 10th of this pres- 

 ent November, just as we noticed them there 

 during July, August and September, or as 

 long as a single grape remained on the vines. 

 It is not our purpose to discuss the question 

 here, "Do bees sting grapes?" (of course, by 

 this people mean, do bees cut the skins of 

 grapes ?) any farther then to say, that, not- 

 withstanding all the testimony 2yro and con 

 during the past two years, the question seems 

 to be still in an unsettled state. Our grape 

 arbor is forty-five in length and has a southern 

 exposure. It is covered with vines from one 

 end to the other, but on the 10th inst., it had 

 hardly a dozen leaves on it, and these were 

 crisp and ready to fall at the firs^; blast of 

 wind. • About noon of said day the sun shown 

 out warm and genial, and at 2 o'clock, when 

 we made the observation, the bees were then 

 exploring the naked vines from one of the 

 arbors to the other, just as they had explored 

 them when they were hanging full of ripe 

 fruit, and they continued to do so for at least 

 half an hour, or longer ; and they seemed to 

 be restive and chagrined, when they found 

 their search a barren one. Now, it perhaps 

 is not at all surprising that they should have 

 remembered that they had found grapes there 

 on former occasions, but that they should ex- 

 pect to find them there at this season, is little 

 short of a reflection upon that instinctive 

 quality which they in other respects so largely 

 possess — about equivalent to a man taking hia 

 eun and going out to shoot bull-frogs on a 

 mild day in December, January or February, 

 months in which sportsmen have no expecta- 



