The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



Editorial. 



LANCASTER, PA., SEPTEMBER, 1880. 



Vol. XII. No. 9. 



OUR COUNTY FAIR, 



Before unoUuT issue of the Farmer, our 

 county exhil)itiou will liavc come and gone, 

 and aitlioui»li many will naturally bo absorbed 

 in the larger pageantry at Fairniount Park, 

 yet it cannot release them from the obliira- 

 tions which are due to their'own local exhibi- 

 tion, lluiuheds, yea thousands, will never 

 see the Slate fair, and it is for these that the 

 county association must cater. In large 

 State exhibitions county and district lines be- 

 come obliterated, and all are absorbed in the 

 general mass. Individualism can only be 

 made manifest in a local exhibition. It will 

 not be wise to ignore individualisms, because 

 they are the integral parts of the whole, and 

 without which the whole could not exist. 

 No comnuuiity can ignore families, no family 

 can ignore individuals, without at the same 

 time disintegrating the social compact, and 

 engendering lonely and demoralized isola- 

 tions. We hope to see the pride of our county 

 • materially manifested on the 29th and .30th 

 Inst, and October 1st. An earlier day might 

 have been better, but this is no excuse for 

 non-participation as a whole. If we look 

 over the long list of fairs to be lioldea 

 throughout our land, we will flud a large 

 number of them occuring later than ours, in- 

 deed, the entire month of October will be oc- 

 cupied in State and county fairs. The time 

 is propitious in this, that it is beyond the 

 usual vicissitudes of the autumnal equinox. 



PERSONAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

 We acknowledge ourselves "brimful!" of 

 gratitude to our esteemed friend aud patron, 

 Mr. M. D. Kendig, of Creswell, for a basket 

 of lucious Susquehanna peaches. Any man 

 who can select, carefully pack, and unselfishly 

 donate a half bushel of such fruit, must real- 

 ize that it is -'mcjre blessed to gi^ve than to 

 receive," and that we should have been the 

 object of .so much consideration, only places 

 our sense of personal uuworthiness in contlict 

 with those emotions of greatfulne.ss which an 

 appreciating recipient ought to feel. Aside 

 from the excellence of the gift, and the gen- 

 erous motive that dictated it, we feel a par- 

 donable pride in being a native of a domain 

 in which nature so bountifully rewards the 

 sons of toil. It illustrates not only what 

 nature can do, but al.so what she u-ill do, 

 under intelligent human co-operation. An 

 enclosure of trees bearing such golden fruit, 

 far transcends in intrinsic value the tamed 

 orange groves of Floriua. May our friend 

 always be blest with such results in the field 

 of husbandry, ftfr well we know it cannot but 

 enhance a veneration for that unseen power 

 which is prior to nature, and in whom both 

 nature and men '"livo^and move, and have 

 their being." 



APOLOGETIC. 



We beg leave to assure our esteemed cor- 

 respondent, A. B. G., that in our literary 

 notice of the bulletins of the department of 

 agriculture, we had not the remotest inten- 

 tion of disparaging the predecessors of the 

 present incumbents of that department. We 

 alluded specifically to the olden time of that 

 office, when the reports were only published 

 once a year, and were circuhited six months 

 or more after they were due; forgetting for 

 the moment the beginning of the new epoch, 

 when they were sent out monthly or bi- 

 monthly, under Mr. Newton, of which we 

 were well aware. We have always been in 

 sympathy with the department, and have 

 often noticed with regret the severe criticisms 

 indulged in by the press upon its manage- 



ment, in which little regard was paid to the 

 peculiar circumstances by which it was sur- 

 rounded by congressional illibi^-alily. At the 

 same time, it must lie apparent to all, that its 

 presiuit bulletins are a great improvement 

 upon those which innnediately preceded them. 

 The sustaining encouragement of Oongre.ss in 

 our humble opinion, has never been commen- 

 surate with the vast importance of the de- 

 partment to the agricultuml interests of the 

 country, an interest upon which hinges every 

 other that relates to human civilization. 

 Doubtless mistakes have been made, and 

 errors have existed, but it seems to us that 

 many of these were due to the attemi)t to 

 haul on a wheelbarrow that wliicli needed a 

 six horse team and a (Jonestoga wagon. We 

 deem the agricultural department of more im- 

 portance to the country and the people than 

 any other belonging to the goveriniient, not 

 even excepting the department of State, the 

 interior, and department of treasury. But 

 the neglect of Congress is not nearly so dis- 

 couraging as the ingratitude of the people, 

 and especially those who do noi know enough 

 to exercise an intelligent judgment. 



A BEAUTIFUL FUNGUS RESEMBLING 

 WHITE CORAL. 



Mr. Benj. A. Spindler, some days ago, 

 brought/ me a beautiful large white fungus, 

 wliich was obtained in the vicinity of Lancas- 

 ter — if not witliin the city limits. 1 had 

 never before noticed anything like it that I 

 could call to my mind. When I first received 

 it it measured over thirty inches in circum- 

 ference, was trilobed, but the lobes were of 

 different sizes— indeed the one greatly devel- 

 oped, and another small, apparently almost 

 absorbed by the other two. It bore some re- 

 semblance to a cluster of pure white coral, 

 with this difference, that the ends of the 

 branches were divided into moderately long 

 bristling filaments, almost as closely massed 

 together as the hair on an animal. I had 

 jireviously succeeded in drying and preserving 

 "puff-balls" [Lyaiperddix) and I hoped I might 

 be able to succeed in drying this, but unfortu- 

 nately I failed. It was [lerhaps too imma- 

 ture, and contained too great a quantity of 

 water, and to make the matter worse, Mr. S. 

 had immersed it for a time in water to keep 

 it fresh. I sent a portion of it to Prof. W. G. 

 Farlow, of Harvard College, Cambridge, 

 Mass., the best authority on this subject in 

 our country, and he informs me it is Hi/ihiuiu 

 erinweus Fr. — nearly related to IL/dnuiii 

 mput-inedusu\ but still distinct. At this 

 writing it is becoming a dark brown in color, 

 contracting and decaying, indeed, becoming 

 offensive. It is growing a crop of parasitic 

 fungi, which, if any of our microscopists de- 

 sire to possess, they should avail themselves 

 of the first opportunity after they read this, 

 as it cannot be tolerated much longer in this 

 warm weatlier. 



A JUVENILE COLUMN. 



We quote the following from a private 

 communication, because we believe the es- 

 teemed writer would not liesitate a moment 

 to endorse any feasable plan to carry into ef- 

 fect the object he so kindly suggests, not- 

 withstanding what he has written may not 

 have been intended for the public : 



"Wife and self greatly admire the Farmer 

 — its appearance, plan, size and contents; but 

 think it lacks one tldnfj—n department for the 

 young; something to altmct their attention, 

 and win them to read the more serious and 

 solid articles; something addressed to them 

 directly— us urging them to gardening, flower 

 planting aud other light labors for anntsement, 

 which shall also profit and instruct." 



A. B. G. 



Wc entirely acquiesce [in the above senti- 

 ment — liave long since temporarily entertain- 

 ed a similar thought, but sonudiow, through 

 a multitude of other thoughts and their at- 

 tendant labors, this one has never been ulti- 

 mated in formal act. We feel thankful, 

 however, for this friendly suggestion, and 

 hope it may be a sullicient stimulant to the 

 readers of The Fakmkk to induce tliem to 

 contriliutc to such a department. AVe are 

 satisfied that not sutficlentj is done by adults 

 to encourage, through domestic precept and 

 example, the young generations who must 

 eventually take their places. Nothing would 

 have a greater tendency to inculcate content- 

 ment in their homes and occupations, stimu- 

 late them to u.sefulness, and foster self-depend- 

 ence. It is true, they might become selfish, 

 but youth is the time to wquire, and in its ac- 

 quisitions will be more or less stimulated by 

 self; moreover, if its acquisitions reach beyond 

 the sensuous plane into the mental and the 

 moral, it will ultimately learn to subordinate 

 the lower to the higher, especially if it should 

 thoroughly study a well conducted youtli's 

 department in the Farmer or any otlier 

 paper. But even in tlie Faiimer as it is, 

 there is much that miglit be utilized in do- 

 mestic life, if the adults of our land were 

 less under the "traditions of the elders," and 

 did not so effectually ignore its teachings, 

 merely because it is ^uritten. Still this cloud 

 is gradually passing away, and the genera- 

 tions that are coming will doubtless be more 

 inclined to mount the car of progress. 



TRIFLES. 



Blue-Bottle Flies. 



"Three blue-bottle flies, says Linnaeus, will 

 devour a horse as soon as a lion could do it. 

 The statement is, no doubt, stunewhat of an 

 exaggeration, but it is not so far over the 

 mark as it may be supposed to be. One fly, 

 it has been stated, will produce 20,000 eggs, 

 and no sooner are the maggots hatciied from 

 them than they set to work with such vigor 

 that in twenty-four hours they will increase 

 in weight some 200 times. In about three 

 weeks every one of them may become a per- 

 fect fiy, half of them, perhaps, females, each 

 capable of depositing another 20,000 eggs in 

 any dead rat or "high" leg of mutton lliat 

 threatens to breed pestilence in the air." 



Trilling as an isolated "blue-bottle" fly is, 

 still it is a power in the land, when under the 

 influence of its normal relations. Many peo- 

 ple have a contempt for these objects of 

 nature's realm, and yet if not at all points 

 thoroughly guarded or defended, a single blue- 

 bottle fly could reduce them into a mere 

 "grease spot," in far less than three weeks. 

 It might not be a plea.sant thing to have a 

 blue-bottle fly buzzing around our beefsteak, 

 our veal cutlets, our mutton-chops or our 

 speckled trout, nevertheless, if it were not for 

 that fly aud his cogeuers, this might Ije a very 

 unhealthy country to live in, unless we could 

 imraediaiely bury all decaying animal and 

 vegetable matter far under ground. Tlie 

 odor of a fly-infested carcass is by no means 

 an agreeable one, but it is almost "Araby the 

 blest" when compared with the stench arising 

 from a decaying carcass where no flies are 

 present. On the whole then the blue-bottle 

 fly is of some ttse in the world, however despi- 

 cable he may be, or whatever his ahnsrs may 

 amount to. " The following paragraph tells a 

 different tale. 



Insects. 

 "There are about thirty species of insects 

 which subsist on our garden vegetables. The 

 grape vine has about fifty insect enemies; the 



