I S80.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



67 



May-Beetle. 

 Mr. J. M. IF., Lancaater, Pa. — Your big 

 Irown beetle, is our coniinoii "May-Beetle," 

 or "Juno Bug," as some iiecipl.; arc wont to 

 ( all it, (Litchnestcina qmrciuu) ami i.s tlie 

 |.:nout of a "White Grub" tliat feeds on vege- 

 i:ition uudergrouuil, and sometimes becomes 

 \(ay destructive. 



Grape-leaf Flea-Beetle. 



Mr. Jl. O. B.. of Stra.-ihurij, and liev. J. H. 

 P., of Elizabethlincii, Pa. — Your greenish- 

 blue, and steel-blue insects, are the "grape- 

 lesif Flea-Beetle," [(xvaptodera rliali/hta), and 

 where they are numerous they are very de- 

 structive. I have seen them destroy the 

 foilage from the base of the vines to the ends 

 of the branches. There are two broods in a 

 season, the last brood hibernating imder 

 ground, or under the bark of trees, coming 

 forth in the spring and attacking the young 

 buds, or the young leaves. The females of 

 those received from Strasburg were already 

 gravid, and had commenced depositing their 

 eggs in the buds and on other parts of the 

 branches, sent with them. They are called 

 "flea-beetles," because they have leaping 

 power, and to distiugui.sh them from other 

 species that have not this power, but are 

 otherwise of the same size and color. After 

 these spring visitors have deposited all their 

 eggs, they will probably all die, but they will 

 leave behind an increased brood, in the form 

 of yoimg tuberculated six-footed larvai that 

 will prey upon the advanced foilage, and from 

 them a second brood will be pioduced before 

 the season closes. I have seen them as late as 

 August and September — indeed the fir.st time 

 I was able to identify the larvm and imnijo was 

 from specimens of the larvie obtained at West 

 Chester in 1800, and I al.so then learned they 

 underwent their transformation undergroinid 

 The larvie at first are very small and of a very 

 dark color, but as they increase in size they 

 become of a light-brownish or'*tawny color. 

 Drenching the vines mth a tobacco decoction, 

 or a solution of whale oil soap, would destroy 

 the larvje, if it is properly done, but it might 

 require several applications to be entirely 

 efl'ectual. 



There are many species of these leaping or 

 Flea-Beetles (Halticidm.) the turnip, cab- 

 bage, lettuce, potatoes, eggplants and other 

 species of domestic plants, and even the 

 "Nightshade," "Jimpsou Weed," and other 

 poisonous plants, have species that prey upon 

 them, from which we may infer they are 

 "tough customers." 



Horned Grebe. 

 Mr. S. L., Manhcim twp. — The singular 

 bird (water-fowl) you captured alive in the 

 road, about a mile from any stream, a week 

 ago, is a splendid specimen of the "Horned 

 Grebe" {Podicejjs cnrnuius,) and it probably 

 was beaten down in its flight by the storm 

 that prevailed a day or two previous, or 

 through some other contingency, for the bird 

 would not have traveled so far from water of 

 its own accord, even if it were able to do so. 

 The water is its normal element, and there 

 also it finds its food. 



Hammer Bug. 

 Mr. B. B. G., North Queen St., the two 

 gray, big-eyed beetles you dug out of rotten 

 wood are male and female specimens of our 

 largest Pennsylvania "Hammer bugs" or 

 "click beetle," in German "Schnell kaefler," 

 {alaus occulatits. ) They are wood borers, but 

 generally prefer wood that has already com- 

 menced to decay. 



Essays. 



REPORT OF THE PRESENT CROPS.* 

 A bountiful Providence has given us, so 

 far, a promising prospect of an aliundant bar- 

 vest, both of cereals and of fruit. Everything 

 appears to be ten days in advance of an ordi- 



*Read before the Agricnltiiral and Uorticnltaral Society, 

 Hays, 1330. 



nary season. Fully 09 per cent of the wheat- 

 lields look favorable. The gra|)es look well. 

 The tobacco jilants are well started. The ap- 

 ple trees that had not been blooming for sever- 

 al years are now luxuriantly covered with 

 (lowers ; it is the same with cherries, peaches, 

 pears, ai)ricots, nectarine, etc., all have Iwen, 

 now are, or soon will lie in abundant bloom — 

 all dressed in nature's most gaudy garb, and 

 giving promise to man. Tne prospect at pres- 

 ent for all kinds of fruit is promising whatever 

 the final result may be; within the blossoms of 

 the cherries and peaches, the little fruits are 

 already formed. It is too early to render an 

 opinion on "small fruits," but the others aji- 

 pear to be "all right," and little or nothing is 

 frozen. Ofcour.se, nolhwithstanding all this, 

 we cannot be xurc of a good crop of anything 

 so early in the season. But so far as rehites 

 to the wheat, we can at least rely with some 

 degree of certainty on a good crop of straw. 

 Wheat sometimes fails to fill when maturing, 

 but in an early season, there is less danger of 

 this contingency. Api)les and peaches cannot 

 be considered out of danger before the first of 

 June, at least. In 18:53 or 1884, the fruit 

 crops were destroyed, I think, on the 2d day 

 of June. The cold April we have had, has 

 been favorable to wheat, and the rains have 

 greatly benefited the grass. Notwithstanding 

 the talk of a late spring, every thiug is n^ally 

 in advance of an average spring, and a good 

 deal earlier than many others I can remember. 

 —L. S. Beist. 



EPHRATA PUBLICATIONS.* 



In Longfellow's Gaspar Becerra, the artist 

 who had failed to shape his ideal from the 

 precious material brought him from distant 

 Eastern islands, succeeded beyond his antici- 

 pations when he began to carve his image 

 from the oaken brand that was smouldering 

 on his hearth. In the final stanza the poet 

 has beautifully concentrated the moral of the 

 legend : 



"0, thou sculptor, painter, poet I 

 Take this lesson to thy heart ; 



That is best which lieth nearest ; 

 Shape from that thy work of art." 



May not the ancient legend have its lessons, 

 even for those who are not sculptors, painters, 

 or poets ? We often seek far and wide for the 

 materials of study when subjects of the pro- 

 foundest interest are lying neglected at our 

 doors. Thus, for instance, the early history 

 of our own county presents many themes for 

 investigation, which have not, as yet, received 

 the attention which they certainly deserve. 

 Lancaster has, indeed, been blessed with a 

 numlier of local historians, for whose labors we 

 are profoundly grateful; but some of these 

 have devoted their attention almost exclu- 

 sively to public records, without carefully 

 studying those obscure sources from which 

 alone we can derive an accurate knowledge of 

 popular life. It is, no doubt, an interesting 

 task to trace the history of the great colonial 

 families who sought, in their feeble way, to 

 transplant the English aristocracy to Ameri- 

 can soil; but it should not be forgotten that 

 between these magnates and the body of the 

 people there was "a great gulf fixed," so that 

 the history of the one party' can give us no 

 idea of the condition of the other. Many 

 writers seem to have taken it for gr.anted that 

 in early times all the intelligence of the com- 

 munity was to be found among the ruling 

 classes, but the facts of history prove such a 

 supposition to be utterly erroneous. The so- 

 called amenities of social life must, of course, 

 be principally sought among the aristocracy, 

 and not with a people who intentionally dis- 

 carded them', but for real learning and genu- 

 ine literary enthusiasm, the English rulers 

 were not to be compared with some of the 

 humble German pioneers. Thus, for instance, 

 it will hardly be denied that, at the middle of 

 the last century, there was more classical 

 learning in the monastery at JEphrata than in 

 all the rest of the community. 



Long before the American revolution, Eph- 



*R6ad before tbe LioDfean Society, by Professor J. U. 

 DnbbB, D,J>.,of Frankliu and UarehaU College. 



rata was an important literary center. As 

 early as 17.">0, according to the German author 

 Max Goebel, laws were passed in Germany 

 fcubidding the sale of books printed at Eph- 

 rala; and Hupp informs us, that after the 

 adoption of the Declaration of Independence 

 that inijiortant document was at Ephrata 

 translated into seven different language.s. It 

 may therefore be worth our while to consider 

 the books printed at Ephrata during the last 

 century, which are now considered among 

 the rarest i.ssues of the American press. ' We 

 must, however, first be allowed a few words 

 of introduction, by way of explaining the cir- 

 cumstances under which they were ])roduced. 



When the treaty of Westphalia, in 1048, 

 concluded the long struggle known as the 

 Thirty Years War, liberty of conscience was 

 allowed to the three great religious parties, 

 Catholics, Lutherans and Reformed. The 

 Anabaptists were, however, expressly ex- 

 cluded from the terms of the treaty, and it 

 was even made the duty of the various gov- 

 ernments to prevent them from holding relig- 

 ious assemblies. The riders of Europe had 

 evidently not forgotten the excesses of John 

 of Leyden and Thomas Muenzer,(but they did 

 not know — or, perhaps, did not care to know 

 —that the fire which gave ri.se to the "Peas- 

 ant War" had entirely gong out. They did 

 not recognize the fact, that the people who 

 had come to be called Anabaptists were in no 

 way connected with the fanatics of the six- 

 teenth century; and that those of their num- 

 ber who followed the mi d teachings of Menno 

 Simon were in reality the gentlest portion of 

 the German nation. It was only in Holland 

 that the Mennonites were kindly treated, and 

 there they gathered and prospered, until they 

 became, as they are to-day, a wealthy and 

 important body. 



Towards the end of the seventeenth and at 

 the beginning of the eighteenth century a 

 great religious revival occurred in the Lu- 

 theran and Reformed churches of Germany, 

 principally under the infiuence of Philip Jacob 

 Spener and Gerhard Ter Steegen. The influ- 

 ence of this movement was not only exten- 

 sively felt in the established churches, but it 

 indirectly served to bring to light the various 

 scattered Anabaptist communities. The old 

 penal laws were now relaxed, and the avowed 

 sympathy of a large party in the state 

 churches for all earnest searchers after relig- 

 ious truth, encouraged this persecuted people 

 once more to bring their peculiar doctrines to 

 the light of day. As they were, however, 

 without a general organization, it was perhaps 

 but natural that different sects should spring 

 up in dilVerent places ; and some of these, it 

 must be confessed, soon ran into unwarranta- 

 ble extremes, and, of course, have long since 

 ceased to exist. These various sects, it must 

 be remembered, drew into their communion 

 many scholars of mystical tendencies, to 

 whom the sacrifices involved appeared to be 

 possessed of peculiar fascinations. 



The most important of these new religious 

 organizations, as it afterwards turned out, 

 was that of the "Brethren," founded by Al- 

 exander Mack and others in 1708. This body 

 was niek-named Bompclars, or "dippers" — a 

 name which appears, in this country, to have 

 been corrupted into Dunkers or Dunkarda. 

 As it is well known, this whole society emi- 

 grated to America. It is, however, rather 

 amusing to find on the records of the Reform- 

 ed Synod of Solingen. in 1719, a resolution re- 

 turning thanks that the Dompelars of Crefeld 

 have run away and sailed to Pennsylvania. 

 These rejoicings were, however, premature, 

 as it was not until 1729 that the last of the 

 "Dompelars" set s;iil for America. 



Time will not allow us to give an account of 

 the first settlement at Germantown and "Con- 

 estoga," nor of the great schism which subse- 

 quently occurred among the "Brethren," 

 principally on the subject of the proper day 

 for the observance of the Sabbath. We need 

 only say that the hermitage of Conrad Beisel, 

 the leader of the schism, and the foundation, 

 in 1732, of the convent at Eiihrata, were by no 

 means unheard of things. We need but refer 



