1880.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



35 



it cannot now allect the winter months of 

 1879-80. That meteorologic epoch has passed 

 away, and we are now on the thi-esholU of 

 spring. Whetlicr a late spring or an early 

 spring, a warm spring or a cold spring, time 

 alone can tell. 



GRAHAM BREAD AGAIN. 



We cheerfully welcome our esteemed cor- 

 respondent aijain to our columns. He had 

 been absent so long that we had begun to con- 

 clude he liad gone "where the woodbine 

 twineth," and hence we thought we might 

 trespass upon the domain of "(xraham 

 Bread" with prospective impunity, l)ut it 

 seems we have "waked u)) the wrong pas.sen- 

 ger." Of cour.se, there will always be "many 

 men of many minds." Our strictures were 

 based mainly on the sentiment — "Not that 

 we esteemed (rraham bread any less, but that 

 we esteemed bread made of good bolted 

 wheaten tlour more." 



A school-boy is said to have proven to his 

 grandmother, according the rules of logic, 

 that "our cat has three tails." Granny ad- 

 mitted the logic and the argument, but, 

 nevertheless, there stood the cat spasmodic- 

 ally nianipulatiug her solitary tail, logic or 

 no logic. Although we do not, and never 

 have, condemned Graham bread, we fear we 

 are as arbitrary in our likes as the stubborn 

 fact that Tommy's cat had but a single tail. 

 No doubt there are chronic cases of indiges- 

 tion, dyspepsia, constipation, flatulency, &c., 

 in which Graham bread may gradually initiate 

 a more healthy tone than luxurious bread 

 made out of good bolted Hour. If Grahamites 

 are as honest in their adhesion to and the 

 expression of their sentiments in favor of 

 their bread as we are in relation to ours, then 

 "Brutus and Cassius may both be honorable 

 men," and hence may "agree to disagree." 



THE CHINCH-BUG. 



(BlU^UH Cucopterus Saj/.) 



Thanks to our geographical situation we 

 have thus far been free from this insect pest, 

 and probably may remain so, but its ultimate 

 presence we think may be included among 

 the possibilities, for we have a host of its 

 cogeners, and sometimes they also become 

 very destructive. It is not so very long since 

 a nursery man in the State of Delaware lost 

 about 800 sniall apple trees (all he had) by the 

 punctures of a species of Pht/tocoris, which is 

 not very far removed from the "chinch-bug," 

 and similar destructions occurred in our 

 county from the infestations of JPhytoarris 

 lineolaris. 



It is estimated from sufficient data and 

 reliable authorities that the Slates of Illinois 

 and Missouri alone sustained a loss in 1874 of 

 $50,000,000 in corn, wheat, oats and barley, 

 and it would be safe to estimate the entire 

 country's loss, the same year, at $100,000,000. 

 It is very common for some editors and pub- 

 lishers to sneeringly regard these tigures as 

 exaggerations,alleging that as the chinch-bugs 

 multiply most rapidly, and are most destruc- 

 tive during seasons of drought, it is not likely 

 there would have been much of a crop at any 

 rate, and, therefore, they could not fairly be 

 charged with destroying what had never 

 really existed, or what was not likely to exist 

 under such circumstances. Whatever plausi- 

 bility there may be in such an argument we 

 have had sufficient experience to know that 

 objectors of that character have a very im- 

 perfect conception of insect multiplication 

 and gastronomy. The chinch-bug is not a 

 large insect, not nearly so large as a bed-bug, 

 (it belongs to the same order,) somewhat 

 larger than a chicken-louse, but it often hap- 

 pens that these small insects are more prolific 

 and more destructive than the larger species. 

 Take for instance the "grape phylloxera," 

 which in a few years has spread over 1,000,000 

 acres in France, and has utterly ruined the 

 vines in 700,000 of those acres, effecting a loss 

 of $830,000 in a single district in a couple of 

 years, and that insect is a mere pigmy in size 

 compared with the chinch-bug. 



We believe that the estimates made fall 



largely below the reality, and that any im- 

 pressions fostered to the contrary have a 

 tendency to mislead the people and throw 

 them off their guard. The infestations of 

 noxious insects are so formidable, and their 

 destructions so vast, that people cannot be 

 too vigilant in effecting their extermination. 



GROUND HOG PHILOSOPHY. 



"Yfyt-' wuddp-cliuclic BW-ii his shaddo in yc euoDe, 

 Six wokos of wyiiterre siioH li:ivu IjeguniK;; 

 Yf'ye wud<le-chufke his sluulildiloes nolt see, 

 Six wokes of epryiifje-lyke weatlier tliayr shall be." 

 The orthograi>hy of these lines would seem 

 to imply that they were written in "fair 

 sunny England" about four hundred and 

 fifty years ago — during Chaucer's time, if not 

 by that distinguished poet himself. What is 

 most fatal to an implicit faith in their genu- 

 ineness is the fact that "wudde-chuke," or 

 "wood-chuck," is purely an Americanism ; 

 that name not being applied to any animal 

 in England, or even on the continent of 

 Europe. It is even questionable whether that 

 animal or any other of the same genus has an 

 existence in England at all. On the conti- 

 nent of Europe they have the "Alpine Mar- 

 mot" {Arct'imys aljdnus), which is gcnerically 

 allied to the "ground-hog" of Lancaster 

 county, but, but it is not known by the name 

 wood-chuck. Nor are the habits of this ani- 

 mal used as a prognosticator of the weather, 

 either in England or on the continent of 

 Europe; therefore the entire prophecy is as 

 little known there as the term "wood-chuck" 

 or ground-hog either. Con,sequently we must 

 transfer the origin of the story to the conti- 

 nent of North America, and specifically to 

 Pennsylvania, where it is more popular than 

 anywhere else in the American Union. But 

 then the language of our quotation, and es- 

 pecially its orthography, is not in any sense 

 Pennsylvanian, it is too antique, and belongs 

 to the period we have above indicated — iii- 

 deed, it smacks very much of an overdrawn 

 very modern imitation — and very probably 

 was intended to clothe a modern local super- 

 stition in an ancient foreign literary garb. 

 Wherever the notion exists, and with what- 

 ever faith it may be believed in, we think we 

 ought to acknowledge its Pennsylvania pater- 

 nity — if we do not claim it even for Lancas- 

 ter county — and record it as one of the pecu- 

 liar notions of the "Pennsylvania Dutch." It 

 cannot be exactly ranked with superstitions, 

 for there may be many who believe it with 

 qualifications — in a sort of Pickwickian sense 

 — and therefore we "book it" as a notion. 

 Nor are we prepared to say it is entirely 

 "moonshine," when the prophecy is properly 

 understood, because it is fulfilled about as 

 often as it fails; but in the majority of in- 

 stances, the weather is of such a character for 

 six weeks after Candlemas, that it could not 

 be established before a courtand jury whether 

 it has been a fulfillment or a failure. This 

 depends somewhat upon how peoi)le under- 

 stand it. Some would say we shall have six 

 consecutive weeks of cold or mild weather 

 (based upon the character of the weather on 

 Candlemas or Groundhog day,) without ref- 

 erence to the kinds that might follow the six 

 weeks. Others may say that we shall have an 

 early or a late spring, with six weeks of cold 

 or warm weather interspersed between the 2d 

 of February and the 1st or middle of April, 

 as the case may be; indeed, we have heard it 

 said long years ago, that the sun must shine 

 sufficiently to cast a shadow, or be over- 

 clouded, all day on the 2d of February, or the 

 prognostication loses its potency and is en- 

 tirely void; others were content with one 

 hour, bv even less, in the morning. But, 

 "for the sake of the argument." suppose we 

 admit the genninness of the writing; we are 

 then forced to conclude that the author of 

 this old prophecy knew very little about the 

 history or habits of the American wood-chuck, 

 or ground-hog. And, if he had intended his 

 prophecy to be applicable to the "uttermost 

 parts of the earth" and for all coming time, 

 probably would have substituted some other 

 animal as a symbol of his prognostication — a 



hare, a rabbit or a cat, for instance — and not 

 have idenlitied it with a physical impossibil- 

 ity. As to whether a clear or cloudy Candle- 

 mas morning presages cold or mild weather 

 (luring the six weeks which immediately fol- 

 low it, we leave entirely to the discussion of 

 llie weather-wise; beiause, in discussing the 

 question from our standpoint, we are not dis- 

 puting its meteorological inlluence. There 

 may lie zodiacal or planetary afiinities that 

 we are unconscious of, although they may not 

 be so unerring or so conspicuous in their man- 

 ifestations as -some people claim for them, 

 running as they do far beyond the compre- 

 hensions of the most philosophical mind. 

 This is not the case in regard to weather 

 prognostications alone; but also in relation to 

 what may be deemed more tangible subjects. 

 How often are physicians of long practice and 

 the most extensive and varied experience 

 baffled in the treatment of an apparently sim- 

 ple disea.se, in which they have found that all 

 tlie .symptoms have misled them, all their 

 remedies have failed, and they have only 

 discovered the real cause alter it was too late 

 to benefit the patient, or perhaps only after 

 they had made a post mortem examination. 

 It may often be so also in regard to the usual 

 signs of the weather, and perhaps it always 

 will be so as long as human knowledge can- 

 not penetrate the vail that shrouds the hidden 

 secrets of nature's realm. Therefore, we 

 here neither deny norafirm the moteorological 

 significance of the day known as Candlemas 

 in the churches, and Ground-IIog day among 

 the "gentiles." Practically speaking, there 

 is not a farmer who would not rather have 

 six weeks of cold weather to follow the 2d day 

 of February than six weeks of mild or warm 

 weather, unless he could be assured that it 

 would not return to cold again after the mid- 

 dle of March, for it seems, according to the 

 prophecy, that neither Candlemas nor the 

 ground-hog exercises any influence over the 

 weather beyond the six weeks which immedi- 

 ately follow the second of February. Nor 

 would the prevalence of either a cold or a 

 warm temperature— unless they continued 

 considerable longer than six weeks — result ia 

 what is usually considerd a late or an early 

 spring. All this argumentation, however, 

 may seem like the two opposing attorneys, 

 who discussed, during a long summer day, 

 the application of a certain point of law in a 

 case then before the court and then in despair of 

 convincing each other, appealed to said court 

 for its opinion in the matter. At length the 

 judge, wearj' and worn with the long debate, 

 arose and with becoming dignity answered: 

 " Oaitkmcn, that law has been repealed'^" la 

 like manner we may enunciate, "Gentlemen, 

 the ground-hog never leaves his winter retreat 

 on a cold day? Indeed, it could not if it would. 

 It is a hibernating animal, and when it retires 

 for the winter, it remains in its lair until the 

 warm return of spring. It is only infiueuced 

 in its movements by a warm temperature,, no 

 matter in what month it occurs, just as vege- 

 tation, insects, or other subjects of the king- 

 dom of nature are. Neither sunshine nor 

 cloud could bring it out if the weather was 

 cold, nor keep in if the weather was warm. 

 It is entirely independent of festivals and set 

 days, if there is not sulUcient heat to revive 

 it. Its fixed habit "repeals" all such useless 

 speculations. 



It is said that in Scotland the prognostica- 

 tion is expressed in this wise : 



If camllemas is lair and clear, 

 There'll be two winters in the year, 



which does not Jeopardise the prognostication 

 by an improhahk — and in some instances an 

 i)ipoA-6i6?e— figure. The author of the.se lines 

 probably knew nothing about the ground-hog 

 or wood-chuck as it is called in America, nor 

 yet about its peculiar habits; but this did not 

 prevent him from concocting a prognostica- 

 tion. Candlemas is known whcreever Chris- 

 tianity is known, and hence its fitness as a 

 meteiological symbol ; but the ground-hog is 

 not co-extensive with Christianity, although 

 it has a tolerable, wide range, and there are 

 also several species of them. 



