THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May, 



the earth around the bases of the leaf 

 stems. 



It is interesting and instructing to observe 

 tliis singular plant during au open winter, 

 and when there are no snows upon the ground, 

 lu a warm and genial day, its flowers expand, 

 and it seems to rejoice with you that even in 

 bleak winter and in the open air, it can recall 

 the semblance of blooming summer. It seems 

 to .say, "Now, enjoy yourself while you may, 

 and to the extent that you legitimatel}- can. 

 Dou't put it off until to-morrow and then run 

 into excess, but improve each day and hour 

 as it passes. Let your chief delight in life be 

 in your duty, and let your duty be your de- 

 light." "Don't be afraid of wasting jour 

 precious fragrance on the desert air, for its 

 outgoing will bo a boon to somebody or some- 

 thing. Why, I have been visited by the gen- 

 tle 'little busy bees' in the months of Decem- 

 ber, January, February and March, attracted 

 chiefly by the perfumed aura that exhales 

 from my winter bloom, when all the other 

 objects of the flowery realm are transiently 

 enveloped in the sleep of death." 



But when summer is fairly initiated, or 

 when "showery, bowery, flowery May " has 

 made her advent, it seems to speak a different 

 language. It seems to say, "You do not need 

 me now. There are fairer, loftier, sweeter 

 and more winsome forms than mine. Auon, 

 worship these, and leave me to my accustom- 

 ed summer rest. When 'the last rose of sum- 

 mer, left blooming alone,' sadly retires, I will 

 awake from my long sleep and cheer you again. 

 During all the precious summer you have been 

 banqueting on the 'balm of a thoiisaud flowers, ' 

 and you have quite forgotten me, but I will 

 not forget you. When the Chrysanthemums 

 fade and shiver under the chill November 

 winds, and the memories of God's incarna- 

 tion begin to loom up, I will peer forth with 

 becoming humility, and hail the auspicious 

 day." 



And it will redeem its pledge, if it is only 

 vouchsafed the "ghost of a chance." Heav- 

 ing on it or around it, all the blessed winter, 

 old boots, broken crockery ware, coal screen- 

 ings, coffee grounds, snows, ices and slushes 

 don't improve it much, although they may not 

 destroy it, and every intervening warm period 

 throughout the vrinter it will expand one or 

 more flowers, which will greet with a cheerful 

 " Here am I ; the tip of the morning to ye !" 



Perhaps one of the most singular character- 

 istics of the Black Hellebore is the successive 

 changes in the color of its flowers ; in that re- 

 spect, seemiijgly affecting the habit of the 

 common Hydrangea. When the flowers fu'st 

 begin to "blow," they are white, tinged with 

 green — at least this is the color of the outside, 

 for they force themselves up inverted and 

 with the flower stem abruptly bent. As they 

 expand they turn their faces upward, or 

 towards the outer margin of the group. The 

 corollse, then, on their inner surface, are mar- 

 gined with a delicate pink coloration, which 

 is intensified about the base. They continue 

 in this condition for some weeks, and then 

 they gradually change to a dull crimson, from 

 which, during the month of April, they 

 change to a light green, after which they be- 

 come brownish and shriveled, and by the first 

 of June they have all passed away. The seed 

 pods become enlarged, and look like six small 



peas united by their stems, resembling the 

 seed pods of the Aquileyias, or coliimbines, to 

 which it has a family alliance. The leaves 

 also become brown and shriveled, and in May 

 and June new leaves are developed. While it 

 reposes other flowers can be cultivated all 

 around it, completely hiding it from view — 

 provided, always, that they are not perennials. 

 As the plant is very lowly, perhaps a slightly 

 elevated mound in the centre of a circular 

 bed would be a proper situation for it. Also, 

 if some regard was paid to shelter it might 

 improve it some. We have not been noticing 

 specially the effects of culture upon it, but 

 rather its singular progress under neglect. 



The "Black Hellebore" belongs to the order 

 Ranuncidaceoe, "Crowfoot family," and, be- 

 cause of its winter blooming, it is also called 

 the "Christmas rose." There are three well- 

 known species of the genus Heleborous, name- 

 ly, the H niger, or "Black Hellebore ;" the 

 Hfetidm, or "Fetid Hellebore," also called 

 the " Bear's-foot ;" and H. viridis. or " Green 

 Hellebore." The fir.st named is a native of 

 Austria and Italy, but was introduced into 

 England by Gerard in 1596. Just when or 

 by whom it w.as iutroduced into the United 

 States we have not yet been able to learn. 

 The second species is a native of many parts of 

 England, especially in Yorkshire, where it 

 has long been used as a vermifuge for chil- 

 dren. Its substance is an acrid cathartic, 

 and it owes its virtues to these qualities. 

 The third named is found growing Wild on 

 Long Island, near Jamaica and Brooklyn, but 

 is supposed to have been originally iutroduced 

 from Europe. 



The Black Hellebore was extensively used- 

 by the ancients as a purgative, in cases where 

 there was obstinate costiveness. In modern 

 practice it seems to be less frequently used, 

 and then chiefly in small doses, as an altera- 

 tive in obstructions of the uterine discharges, 

 or in dropsy. 



There is also a plant called the " White 

 Hellebore" of a more poisonous quality than 

 any of the aforenamed species, but this be- 

 longs to a different genus and a different 

 family. This is the Veralrum album, or 

 "False Hellebore'" and is included in the 

 order MELANTHACEiE, or Colchicum family. 

 This plan is a native of Italy, Switzerland, 

 Austria and Russia, and Gerard is supposed 

 to be the person who introduced it into Great 

 Britain. There are three or four species of 

 Veratrum recorded as native to North 

 America, but the album is not among them. 



It is singular how difficult it is to correct a 

 wrong start in nomenclature. The true and 

 the false hellebores are already so much con- 

 founded by writers, that it is difficult to tell 

 exactly which the ancients attempted to de- 

 scribe. When the average individual wishes to 

 procure the poisonous "white veratrum," he 

 must ask for "white hellebore," or it is possible 

 he may not be able to obtain it. It lias long 

 since had a reputation, in specific cases, as an 

 efl'ective insecticide, and in all works, or in 

 cases where it is recommended, it is invariably 

 alluded to as white hellebore. So let it be, if it 

 can't be otherwise, until it shall be of suffi- 

 cient importance to change it. 



Get your Job Printing done at the Daily 

 ExAsiiNER office. 



TO AVOID INSECT RAVAGES. 



Several methods of treating the plant beds 

 to avoid the ravages of the flea-beetle have 

 come to our notice within the past few days. 

 A planter of large exiwrience writes from 

 Tennessee that he has found unleached wood 

 ashes an effectual remedy. The method of 

 using them is this: Early in the morning, 

 while the dew is still on the plants, the ashes 

 are sown broadcast over the bed, thinly, of 

 course, but carefully,, so tliat every plant may 

 receive its due share. Tlie dew aids the ashes 

 to cling more closely to the plants. A. rain, 

 however, will quickly wash them off'. The 

 ashes ought to be supplied every other morn- 

 ing, whether it has rained or not. They' 

 should be sown over the bed from the earliest 

 moment the flea-beetle discovers itself. Per- 

 haps it would be better not to wait for their 

 appearance, but to begin as soon as the seed 

 begins to develop leaves. The ashes ciin be 

 sown over the bristles, brush or whatever 

 covering may have been placed over the seed- 

 bed. We have been assured this remedy is ef- 

 flcacious. At any rate, no better fertilizer 

 can be put on the seed-bed. It is at once a 

 cheap- remedy, easy of application, and de- 

 serves to be tried by every tobacco grower in 

 Pennsylvania. 



Another grower assures us that he has al- 

 ways succeeded in getting ahead of the dread- 

 ed beetle by the Use of cow manure. This 

 is prepared by putting the solid manure into 

 a couple of old barrels during the previous 

 fall, and adding a few handfnls of unslacked 

 lime to every six inch layer of the manure. 

 The barrels should be kept in the dry, and in 

 the spring, when needed the manure will be 

 dry, may be easily pulverized, readily handled 

 and must be dusted over the beds. Like 

 most of those already given, this application 

 will enric.i the soil and hurrj along the 

 plants, while it is protecting the young ijlants 

 from insect ravages. Certainly, from tlie nu- 

 merous remedies we have offered, the tobacco 

 growers out to be measurably protected from 

 these pests. 



Let no tobacco grower be deterred from 

 using one or both of these agents because of 

 their apparent simplicity. Such common, 

 cheap and easily obtainable remedies are 

 oftentimes the most efficacious, although 

 many may reject them because they seem so 

 simple. 



The above we clip from the columns of a 

 local daily, and insert it here for what it may 

 be worth. Possibly it may be efficacious in 

 the seed beds in the spring, especially since it 

 is endorsed by a "planter of large experience. " 



Here in Lancaster County the "Cucumber 

 Flea-beetle " and the "Snow-flea" predomi- 

 nated in the spring, and either of these reme- 

 dies would probably be efficacious, especially 

 in the case of such a delicate creature as the 



last named insect. 



But the grtatest damage the tobacco sus- 

 tained last year was from the " Downy Flea- 

 Beetle" {Haltica pubescrns) in the month of 

 August, when the plants were fully developed, 

 and ready to harvest. The tobacco growers 

 of our county had fields of from one to 

 fifty acres under cultivation, and in the 

 application of any remedy the magnitude of 

 such a labor may be imagined, when we con- 

 sider the vast increase in area, and leaf sur- 

 face, in such enclosures, compared with the 

 area of a seed bed, and the diminutive plants. 

 Nearly eight acres in the vicinity of Lancas- 

 ter city were completely riddled by these in- 

 sects, one leaf of which, now in the rooms of 

 the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, 

 being penetrated by two thousand holes, from 

 the size of a common pin-hole, to that made 

 by a common duck-shot. Of course, such 

 leaves were rendered entirely useless as wrap- 



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