172 



THEi LANCASTER FARMER. 



tNovember, 



The soil has not lost all the warmth that it has been 

 accumuhitiii^: throusfh the summer, and to plant iu 

 it is like frivinsr the trees a bottom beat. 



Carrie Bluekburn recited a poem entitled "Labor." 



Belle H. Mooney recited au article in prose by 

 Dickinson, entitled "The Benefits of A^rrieulture." 



Sadie Brown read a letter from " The Old Man." 

 He had seen by the club reports in the Oxford Press 

 that " The Old Woman " had been writing to the 

 club again, and that she took issue with the general 

 idea that women were mostly mad on wash days, 

 saying that it was not anger but earnestness. Well, 

 if the club could have seen her when she burned her 

 fingers on the hot apple sauce he would leave it to 

 them to jutlge whether she was mad or not. 



When he was reading the club report to her and 

 came to the recipe for making chow chow, she ex- 

 claimed, "Good gracious, that's something to cure 

 the hollow born, ain't it?" If it was for human 

 flesh it might be good for the toothache, or to make 

 a poultice. She would like the club in its next re- 

 port 10 tell what kind of medicine it was, and how 

 much was to be taken at a dose. 



He had heard that the club was going to discuss 

 the fitness of women for school directors. He would 

 tellustliat it would never do. They would never 

 get through with the business. Besides, they would 

 have to he driven to the place of meeting, and the 

 men who drove them would have to lounge about or 

 indulge iu neighboring gossip during the sessions of 

 the board. The women would soon begin to strive 

 for office and neglect the children and let them go 

 ragged to school, and we would soon relapse into 

 barbarism. 



Mabel Greist read an essay that had" been handed 

 to her advocating the prooriety of electing women to 

 the office of school director, from the standpoint of 

 the equal rights of thes exes. 



After some further discussion of the subject by 

 the members, which showed that some of the women 

 were opposed to it, the club adjourned to meet at the 

 residence of Grace A. King, Fulton tovvhship, on the 

 first Saturday in November. 



LINN.ffi;AN SOCIETY. 



The Society met on Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock, 

 October 30lh, in the ante-room of the museum, Prof. 

 J. C. Stalir in the chair. Prof, J. H. Dubbs was ap- 

 pointed Secretary pro tern. Present, five members 

 and four visitors. Alter the usual preliminares the 

 following donations were made to the Museum and 

 Library : 



1. Two large fragments of a Steatite Indian pot 

 or boiler, three Indian stone implements, found on 

 the premises of > r. Z. B. Williams, Sadsbury town- 

 ship, Lancaster county, and donated by Mr. C. E. 

 Brinton, of Lancaster. 



2. A rattlesnake skin, 4 feet 7 inches long and 8 

 inches in circumlerence. This snake is the Crotal- 

 lus dnrissHS, and was killed in Centre county. Pa., 

 last summer, by Messrs. Stehman and McNaughton, 

 and by them donated to the Society. 



3. Three jars of reptiles, two bottles of insects 

 and one bottle of spiders. Collected at Fort Keogh, 

 Custer county, Montana, and donated by Mrs. Emma 

 L. Martin, of that place. 



4. A pair of moccasins made by the wife of 

 "Flying Hawk," a noted Cheyenne chief, and also 

 donated by Mrs. Martin. These articles are elabo- 

 rately wrought, and almost entirely covered with 

 beads. 



5. A brown GordhiSj or "hair-worm," over 12 

 inches long, taken from the body of a "Ked-legged 

 Grasshopper" — t'alopteiius fatter riibrutn — donated 

 by Mr. H. H. Stauffer, of Petersburg, Lancaster 

 county. Mr. S. states that he found jnauy of the 

 "Hoppers," the past season, infested by hair-worms 

 and "scarlet mites." He also observed that the 

 insects infested by one were almost invariably in- 

 fested by the other of these parasites. This is a cor- 

 roboration of observations made by others on the 

 same subject. 



6. A fully-developed larva of the "Rabbit Gadfly," 

 donated by Mr. Kelly, of the North Queen street 

 grocery. .Mr. K. says he founri this worm located im- 

 mediately under the skin near the articulation of one of 

 the front legs. These worms are usually located in 

 the dorsal portion of the neck of the rabbit during 

 the summer and autumn months, and this subject 

 was evidently making its exit from the body of its 

 host, preparatory to its pupation in the earth. This 

 is doubtless Cutcrebra curicula, or "Kabbit Bot." 



Library. 



1. An alphabetical list of patents and inventions 

 from January to June, 1880. 



2. Nos.* IS, 14, 1.5, 16 and 17, volume 18 of the 

 official Patent OtHce Gazette. 



3. A list of communications, disclaimers, decisions, 

 &c., of the Patent Office from January to June, 1880. 



4. The Lancaster Farmer for October, 1880. 



5. Three catalogues and four circulars relating to 

 scientific and general literature. 



6. Two envelopes containing twenty-five miscel- 

 laneous selections, chiefly historical and biographical. 



The committee to whom was referred the tribute 

 of respect to the late Dr. Haldemhn made the fol- 

 lowing report, which was unanimously adopted, and 



ordered to be recorded in the archives of the society. 

 Tribute of Respect. 



The Linnasan society records with regret the death 

 of its distinguished correspondent, Dr. S. S. Halde- 

 man, late ol Chiques, Lancaster county, and that he 

 only sustained that relation to thjs society, and was 

 not in full active membership, was entirely due to pre- 

 occupation in another field, and not to a want of inter- 

 est in its progressive welfare. Dr. Haldeman was 

 the chairman of the committee on natural science in 

 the old Historical and Mechanical society, which 

 subsequently culminated in the Liuniean society : 

 but when that event occurred his engagements 

 abroad precluded the possibility of his assuming 

 active membership in it, and hence by mutual con- 

 sent his name was placed in the list of its distin- 

 guished correspondents. Few of us have had any 

 personal intercourse with him, hut as a scientist we 

 revere his name— a name that is dotted all over the 

 scientific literature of America and Europe — espe- 

 cially in philology, ethnology, geology, zoology and 

 archeology, and has made Locust Grove and 

 Chiques Rock classic as the places of his birth and 

 death. From his very boyhood he always was a 

 dilligent and persevering worker in the various 

 fields of practical science, and perhaps few men of 

 his profound attainments made less pretension than 

 he did; indeed, it was no part of his character to 

 profess to be anjjjhing which he clearly was not, 

 hence, during his whole life he never ceased to be an 

 ardent and unrelaxing student. He had no loves 

 outside of the domestic circle, save those which led 

 to scientific research, and hence his domestic 

 character was singularly unostentatious and pure. 

 His literary fame extended far beyond the bounda- 

 ries of his native county, within whose domain he 

 was, perhaps, less known and less appreciated than 

 he was abroad. No citizen of Lancaster county, 

 from its first organization down to the present time, 

 has heretofore receiveil a greater recognition than lie 

 did from the learned institutions of the civilized 

 world, and this fact reflects a compliment to the 

 county, however it may be understood or appreci- 

 ated. 



Dr. Haldeman was not unmindful of the Linnsean 

 society and on various occasions he has made aenr.ius 

 donations to it; and that we were not more benefited 

 by the influences of his intercourse, was perhaps 

 due to our own want of working activity rather than 

 to his want of working will. Still while he was 

 living we felt an encircling influence which might 

 bring us en rapport with him when occasion re- 

 quired; but now that he has passed from earth we 

 feel that that circle has been broken, and therefore 

 we cannot but regret the loss which we, in common 

 with his family, his friends and the cause of science, 

 have sustained by his unheralded departure. 



The example of Dr. Haldeman, as an industrious 

 student of the book of nature, was one certainly 

 worthy of the imitation of young men who are im- 

 bued with a love for scienlific investigation, for al- 

 though he was the graduate of a coilege, yet his 

 achievements were mainly due to his inflexible per- 

 severance, and his striking out into original and un 

 explored channels ; and it could be said of him with 

 especial emphasis, that he literally "died in har- 

 ness." 



We know, too, that his light was "never hidden 

 under a bushel," and that he was alwaj's ready and 

 willing to impart information upon such subjects as 

 were familiar to him to any one who made a sincere 

 application to him. 



Feeling that it may be a long time before the va- 

 cuum caused by his death will be filled in the county 

 which he adorned as a scientist and citizen, we place 

 these sentiments on record as the sense oftheLin- 

 nfean society in "its relations to a distinguished and 

 departed correspondent. 



Bills reported and ordered to be paid. 



After a prolonged "talk" under the rule of Sci- 

 entific Gossip," which was generally participated in, 

 the society adjourned to meet on the last Saturday 

 in November, CJTth) 18->0. 



Agriculture. 



Fall Ploughing. 

 When land is ploughed in the fall and left till 

 spring without harrowing, it may be sowed to any 

 iind of spring grain after being well harrowed, and 

 the crops in most cases will be as good as if the 

 land were plowed in the spring. Stable dung, when 

 plowed under iu the fall for a spring crop, will be as 

 beneficial as when ploughed under in the spring; but 

 all kinds of common fertilizers should be sown 

 broadcast in the spring and harrowed in, unless one 

 sows seed with a drill that deposits and covers the 

 fertilizers at the same time. If it were not for 

 t'le great hurry that farmers are subject to in our 

 short springs, it would not be of any advantage to 

 plough light, loamy soils in the fall; but in conse- 

 quence of not having time, in many cases, to plough 

 in the spring all the land one desires to cultivate, "it 

 is decidedly advisable, in some cases, to plough in 

 the fall, especially clayed soils, which are greatly 



benefitted by being thrown up by the action of the 

 frosts of winter. It often occurs that a field in the 

 spring is too wet to plough when the seed should go 

 in, and such land, if ploughed in the fall, would be 

 in good condition to harrow in the spring, and the 

 crop would be better for the fall ploughing. 



Uses of Manures. 



"Investigation," says the last report from the ag- 

 ricultural department at Washington, "demon- 

 strates the fact that farmers are learning the ne- 

 cessity of increasing the store of plantfood in the 

 soil, of having it in an immediately available form, 

 and of supplementing the deficiency with specific 

 fertilizers." We think so, too, and that farmers are 

 becoming better versed in the philosophy of fertiliza- 

 tion, and better able to adapt their practice to the 

 peculiarities of their soil and to their resources in 

 material for fertilization, both by an increase in the- 

 oretical or scientific knowledge and in the experience 

 gained in the application of such knowledge. Not 

 all are thus intelligent; a large portion yet follow 

 such methods only as have been handed down by 

 their fathers, and which they have generally found 

 to be successful, often without much regard to the 

 different circumstances of soil and situation. And 

 yet the average practice of these practical men is 

 essentially sound, and really" based on reason and 

 science. And although it is true that half the 

 counties in the United States are cultivated almost 

 literally without the aid of any fertilizers at all, and 

 a large portion with the casual aid of a green 

 crop turned over, or of a little lime or plaster or 

 cotton, or a "cowpeuned" lot or two, or some 

 trifling saving of barnyard manure, still we cannot 

 but think it equally true that the practice of sys- 

 tematic fertilization is not only on the increase, but 

 that it is accompanied with a better adaptation of 

 means to ends, as well as greater economy in the 

 choice of material. 



The manure of farm animals is the main reliance 

 for sustaining fertility. Indeed, show us the man in 

 whose barnyard is manufactured the greatest quan- 

 tity of manure and we .will show you the best 

 farmer. Cotnmeicial fertilizers are somewhat used 

 in the North, especially in .Maine and Massachu- 

 setts, and, together with lime and plaster, consider- 

 ably used in the Middle States. The largest por- 

 tions, however, are used in the South Atlantic 

 States, from Maryland to Georgia, inclusive, and at 

 a cost to each of many millions of dollars. But little 

 fertilizing matter is applied to the soil from Alabama 

 westward, with the single exception of such cotton 

 seed as is not wanted for manufacturing into oil. In 

 the eastern poitionof the Ohio valley" experiments 

 are being tried with commercial fertilizers by a few 

 progressive farmers, and the use of clover and 

 plaster considerably practiced by immigrants from 

 Maryland and Pennsylvania, and here we may stop. 

 The remainder has heretofore practiced the draining 

 of farm-yard manure into creeks and rivers, or in 

 the removal of barns to get rid of the accumula- 

 tions of the manure; or, if the latter has not been 

 literally adopted, the farmers have not indicated 

 much faith in the necessity of manuring. And yet 

 the facts show that even in the West lands have been 

 made to bear an increased production of from twenty 

 to thirty per cent, by a single case of green manur- 

 ing. Many examples are given of the renewal of 

 apparently worn-out land in those sections by simply 

 adopting a systematic course of manuring. Fields 

 that have been cultivated exhaustively for twenty 

 or thirty years have been restored to their origi- 

 nal fertility, not by the use of guanos and super- 

 phosphates, but by utilizing the local resources of 

 the farm, the cheapest and most reliable of which is 

 clover. In one case in Butler county, Pennsylvania, 

 a section of thin gravelly land, on which it was 

 thought that no one could make a decent living, 

 came into the possession of German immigrants at 

 nominal rates. They cleared off the brush, plowed, 

 cultivated, turned under green crops, saved every 

 fertilizing material available, never duplicated a 

 crop in five or six years' rotation, and that tract is 

 now like a garden, and from comparative worthless- 

 ness has advanced to the value of §100 per acre, and 

 is yearly becoming more productive. The owners in 

 some cases have raised and educated families, lived 

 comfortably, ride in carriages and have money at 

 interest. They have evidently learned the necessity 

 of increasing the store of plant food in the soil, and 

 aflbrd additional evidence that the practice of sys- 

 tematic fertilization is on the increase. 



Agriculture Advancing. 



It is somewhat consoling, amid all the degeneracy 

 of the times, to find the condition of agriculture 

 to be steadily advancing, and the productive power 

 of the soil, both in this and the mother country, to 

 be rapidly improving from what it was a few years 

 ago. In England, where increasing population and 

 high prices of land have forced high manuring and 

 extra cultivation upon the tillers of the soil, this 

 steady advance to us is something extraordinary. 

 For instance, less than from 35 to 40 bushels of 

 wheat per acre is not considered a good crop, and 50 

 and even 60 bushels are not at all remarkable. What 



