1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



163 



tion of finding that kind of game. Of course 

 they also visited every belated flower, for in 

 our garden flowers are blooming all winter 

 (notably a Black Hellebore) but we have 

 grapes only a few weeks in the year. 



THE POULTRY SHOW. 



What we would like the readers of The 

 Farmer to know, is that they should do all 

 they can to encourage and assist the Poultry 

 Association in their first exliibition, which is 

 to be held in Locher's Building, Centre 

 Square, Lancaster, on January, 2d, 3d, .")th, 

 6th and 7th. 1880. The members of tlie 

 association are doing all they can to make the 

 exhibition a success, and if it receives the en- 

 couragement from tliose outside of the socie- 

 ty that it does by tlie members it will certain- 

 ly be a success. We think it will, and trust 

 our readers will help make it so. Don't think 

 the only encouragement you can give is to go 

 and see it; but if you have any poultry you 

 think is good, enter it tor a premium; make 

 the exhibition a big one. If your neiglilwr 

 has any fine poultry tell him to enter liis. The 

 Fmiitr;/ W'/rkl, says : 



"Poultry raieiug to advantage is no louger a prob- 

 lem, as to its paying results, where the operator at- 

 tends to his work sensibly, and j»ives to this under- 

 tajtintf the same care and judicious management , 

 that any business enterprise requires. Hundreds and ! 

 thousands of our people have proved this all over 

 the country, and at no time, within our Itnowlcdu-e, 



ous prosperity in this direction than all the Indica- 

 tions afford at the present time." 



This is true, no doubt. Improve your stock, 

 get better chickens and it will pay you better 

 in the end. The way to do this is to visit the 

 exhibition; see what is there; get eggs from 

 the owners of some of the fine chickens; raise 

 fine cliickens yourselves and yon will find that 

 it will pay. The Society ofters five hundred 

 dollars in premiums, and besides a number of 

 special premiums have been ofiered by various 

 parties. Talk the show up; come and see it 

 yourself; tell your neighbor to come, and see 

 if a visit to it does not end in your improving 

 your stock of poultry next year. 



A QUEER FISH. 



Golden Carp with a Double Caudal Append- 

 age. 

 Mr. Jno. C. Long, of this city, is the posses- 

 sor of not only a "queer fish," but also an ex- 

 traordinary fisli, and the extra consists in an 

 unusual caudal development. It is a fine 

 active specimen of the common Golden Carp, 

 or "Gold Fish" {Cj/j;n'iH(S(H/ratMs,) and is pro- 

 vided with both a vertical, and a horizontal 

 caudal fin, and from the adroit manner in 

 which it manipulates this compound append- 

 age, it seems to possess more than ordinary 

 balfincing and motive powers. The caudal 

 fin or tail consists of three lobes, two of which 

 are horizontal, and the third one is vertical, 

 and is of the same length, and immediately in 

 the middle between the other two. Of course 

 this is an abnormal development, for we know 

 of no species that normally possesses this rare 

 combination, but our knowledge of fishes is 

 too limited to say positively that there are 

 none. But generally the caudal fin is vertical. 

 It is rarely that we see an animal malforma- 

 tion so symmetrical. There must be some 

 cause for this departure from the ordinary 

 tail-type, but it would be u.seless to enter into 

 speculations upon tlie subject, and therefore, 

 like the five-legged frog and other animal 

 monstrosities, we must record it as a lusm 

 naturoc. Nor do we think that the fish itself 

 has any reason to regret it (always provided 

 that a fish has the attributes of reason or 

 regret,) but on the contrary, if a fish is en- 

 dowed with any degree of emotion, it must 

 certainly be as proud of this caudal appendage 

 as a "dog with two tails. " If that fish should 

 happen to die— which the Fates forefend— we 

 should like to possess it immediately there- 

 after, as a contribution to the museum of the 

 Linnoean Society. In any event, we trust 

 that no attempt will be made to preserve it 

 in vinegar, as was the case with the rare 



"five-legged frog" last summer; through 

 which the bones were softened and the flesh 

 reduced to a mass of incohesive pulp. 



A NATURAL FERTILIZER. 

 Those of our patrons and readers who may 

 be in want of a fertilizer to recuperate their 

 soils, will be instructed what to get and when 

 to get it, by consulting the advertisement of 

 Mr. D. P. Bitner, which will be found in the 

 third column on the second page of this num- 

 ber of our Journal. "The fossil Marl of 

 New .Jersey " is no "villainous compound," 

 but is a natural product of the marl beds of 

 New Jersey, and has an established and un- 

 questionable reputation, of long standing and 

 increased appreciation. The marls are ricli 

 in dissolved bone, phosphoric acid, potash, 

 silicic acid and other fertilizing elements, and 

 impart a permanent richness to the soils that 

 receive them. Mr. Bitner is the agent for 

 Lancaster county, and is too well known 

 among its people to engage in an enterprise 

 that would discredit the reputation which he 

 has estaV)lished as a fair business man. With 

 oar increasing population and enhanced pro- 

 duction, the demands we make upon our soil 

 cannot be honored without increased fertili- 

 zation ; therefore our farmers will be natural- 

 ly looking about for the "cheapest and the 

 best;" a rare combination which is more like- 

 ly to be realized in a native element than in 

 one that is artificial, under all circumstances. 

 Even if it should be no better than others, the 

 price at which it can be obtained, involves 

 less risk and loss to make a trial of it, than 

 any other fertilizer in the market. We com- 

 mend the subject to the favorable considera- 

 tion of our readers. 



THE "LANCASTER FARMER." 



This journal for October, 1879 (for reasons 

 perhaps unavoidable,) comes to hand this 

 month a little later than the usual time, but 

 as its literature is mainly of a standard char- 

 acter, its issue a little earlier or a little later 

 does not make any material difference. 

 Although this number does not contain as 

 much original matter as usual— which may 

 be due more to the delinquency of (^ntribu- 

 tors than to either editor or publisher— yet 

 from the solid character of its selections and 

 the interesting proceedings of our local socie- 

 ties, it is a number of more than usual 

 interest to the farmer and to the housekeeper. 



On the whole, it contains seventy-five 

 articles, editorial, contributional, commimi- 

 cational and selected, the monthly proceed- 

 ings of four local societies, twenty household 

 receipts, and twelve literary notices, an 

 amount of solid literary matter rarely found 

 in a journal of its size. The Farjier has 

 no huge block-letters, no widely leaded edi- 

 torials, and no unsightly advertisements dis- 

 tributed through its columns (in which self- 

 interest is often more manifest than any 

 consideration for the reader) on the contrary, 

 it is compact all through, and when bound 

 makes a respectable looking quarto volume, 

 both inside and outside, which may be profit- 

 ably perused at any time. It avoids as much 

 as possible merely ephemeral literature, and 

 desires to make a permanent record. It pre- 

 sents a rare opportunity for the intelligent 

 and progressive farmers of Lancaster county 

 to place themselves on record in a permanent 

 form — a form easily preserved and easily re- 

 ferred to on any future occasion. 



In publishing the proceedings of the dift'er- 

 ent societies and clubs in Lancaster county, 

 it is doing more to "uplift the liring estima- 

 tion" of the county, than any other journal 

 published within its boundaries, and this is 

 necessarily so from the fact that its contents 

 and enunciations are reflected from no merely 

 partisan plane; and through its medium noth- 

 ing is sent abroad in relation to the county 

 that reflects upon its moral, its political or its 

 religious integrity. The man who reads The 

 Farmer twenty, fifty or a hundred years 

 hence will not have to blush for the "crooked- 

 ness" of his ancestry, but under the influence 

 of those mysterious cycles which often char- 



acterize the progress of eventful time, he may 

 rediscover something that is beneficial for him 

 to know and which intervening generations 

 may have reglected or forgotten. 



"How is The Farmer sustained ?" is an 

 inquiry more often and more anxiously made 

 by people abroad than bv those at home. Out 

 of the one hundred and thirty thousand inhabi- 

 tants of Lancaster county, the half of whom 

 at least are farmers, the subscription list of 

 their local journal should number /iff thousand 

 at least; aiid it will attain to tliat number as 

 soon as the spirit of that query — "Is not this 

 the carpenter's son V"— made nearly nineteen 

 hundred years ago is dissipated, and men 

 begin to look at home and within. The atti- 

 tude of tlie agricultural interests of tlic county 

 and country is assuming sucira prominence 

 that they cannot well afford to dispense with 

 their local representative journals.— Ayricofa 

 in Examiner and Express. 



MONTHLY REMINDERS. 



In the Middle States, the season for garden- 

 ing is drawing to a close; indeed, it is limited 

 to the preservation of roots, and the hardier 

 vegetables for winter use, and such operations 

 as may be preparatory to another season. 

 Now is a good time to transplant fruit and 

 ornamental trees, shrubery, <!tc. On loamy 

 and light land, we prefer decidedly fall plant- 

 ing; on heavy soil, or where the subsoil isclay, 

 thus retaining the moisture near the surface, 

 Spring man be a more favorable season; and 

 it is also generally esteemed the best for ever- 

 greens. 



Asparagus beds, winter dress. Beets dig 

 and store. Cabbages place in safe quarters. 

 Carrots dig and store. Celery earth up 

 finally, drain vacant grounds if needful. 

 Ilorsc-radish dig and store for convenience. 

 Onions in store, examine. Parsnips di^ for 

 convenient access. Salisify ditto, &c. From 

 the Ist to the '20th of this month, according to 

 locality, the Winter supply of turnips should 

 be cared for.— Lamlreth^s Rural Register. 



We welcome to our columns again our es- 

 teemed contributor, A. B. K. of Safe-Harbor, 

 who, through physical indisposition, has been 

 absent from them for some months. We hope 

 that his health lias been permanently restored, 

 and that he may be able to scatter abroad the 

 seeds of agricultural knowledge for many 

 years to come. We know his contributions 

 have been much esteemed by our knowing 

 readers, who will be equally grateful for his 

 return. AVe sorrow, however, to think that 

 the physically and intellectually strong men 

 of our county are so remiss, and cast the bur- 

 dens of literary responsibility upon the shoul- 

 ders of the weak. 



Communications. 



For The Lancasteh Fabmeb. 



A VISIT TO HERMAN STRECKER. 



Being in the city of Heading, recently, I 

 recollected that it was the home of Herman 

 Strecker, whose name is known wherever 

 the study of Natural Science is prosecuted or 

 recognized. Yielding to the desire to see this 

 indefatigable student of nature, I consulted 

 a directory and found Herman Strecker, mar- 

 ble cutter, number and street of his residence 

 designated. Upon inquiring at his hou.se, we 

 were directed to the marble yard, where we 

 met him in working dress, much dusted with 

 marble dust. He is tall, good figure, eyes 

 blue-gray, heavy beard and moustache, two- 

 thirds gray, though but forty-one years of age. 

 He has made a speciality of the order Lepi- 

 doptera. 



The butterflies and moths of this order 

 must be ranked amongst the most elegant 

 objects found in insect life, the delicacy of 

 form of most of the species, the charming 

 contrast of colors in the wings of others, 

 while some seem studded with pearls, or gems, 

 or gold or silver. None who have had the 

 pleasure of seeing the almost unrivaled col- 

 lection of this gentleman will wonder that he 



