THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May, 



mainder of the company had no appetite for 

 supper that day. A highly diluted whiff of 

 the skunk musk is not more disagreeable to 

 some people than the musk of commerce ; but 

 on that day I think it would have compared 

 with the smell of a Mexican kitchen, in which 

 a traveler detected " niwe(!/-m)ie stinks and 

 fourteen well-defined stenches." 



The Linnsean Society is, therefore, to be 

 congratulated on the acquisition of this splen- 

 did subject, for notwithstanding its disagree- 

 able odor, it cannot be ignored in a collection 

 ©f our local mamals, and the circumstances 

 under which it was captured may illustrate to 

 others the manner in which it may be laken 

 without incurring the usual risks of suffoca- 

 tion, blindness or nausea, oo a too near ap- 

 proach to it. But, it may illustrate more 

 than this. It is well known that game ani- 

 mals are every year becoming less abundant in 

 Lancaster county, and, tliat animals now 

 reach the table of the epicure, which in the 

 early history of our local settlement were 

 either unknown or of little value as articles 

 of human food. I might instance the raccoon 

 the opossum, the groundhog and the frog. 

 These animals have a fearful gauntlet to run 

 now, and are likely to become extinct event- 

 ually, to the great distress of those who de- 

 light in such fare. Let it be generally known 

 that the skunk is a rich and delicately flavored 

 edible morsel, and that it can be captured 

 , without discharging its repulsive effluvia and 

 one more may be added to our limited list of 

 game animals. Neither is this all. As a 

 commercial article of peltry, the skin of the 

 skunk, when in good condition, -is worth from 

 one to three dollars. The great drawback to 

 the business has been t^^e difficulty of secur- 

 ing them untainted. What these unsophisti- 

 cated citizens of Martic have accomplished, 

 may be accomplished by sporting experts with 

 improvements thereon, reducing the business 

 to a safe and certain system. An able writer 

 on this subject, states that no animal on the 

 earth possesses the defensive and repelling 

 power of the skunk. By the simple ejectment 

 of a valuable and nauseous liquid, it can put 

 to flight the most ferocious bloodhound, the 

 kingly lion, the stealthy tiger, the ponderous 

 eleiphant and even the venonous rattlesnake. 

 No animal once encountering a skunk will 

 ever put itself in the way of anotlier. But, 

 nstwithstanding all this, it may be circum- 

 vented through the superior tact and intelli- 

 gence of man, and this too by so simple an 

 implement as a dead-fall trap. 



THE PEACH CROP. 



From all we can learn, the peach crop will 

 doubtless be nearly a totaf failure throughout 

 the entire country where peaches have been 

 heretofore cultivated as a special crop. There 

 may be a few here and there, where they have 

 had more than ordinary protection. This is 

 to be regretted, for there were millions invest- 

 ed in it, but it cannot now be helped. Per- 

 haps in the end, there may be some compen- 

 sation for the losses thus sustained. It 

 is very certain that there were many inferior 

 varieties under cultivation, and it is to be 

 hoped that where it will become necessary to 

 remove the old trees, better varieties will be 

 substituted in planting the new. The busi- 

 ness of raising peaches should be by no means 



relaxed or abandoned on account of the late 

 "slight discouragement," for such a winter 

 as we have just passed through may not occur 

 again for many years; moreover, past exper- 

 ience has abundantly demonstrated through- 

 out the entire world, that no croj) of any 

 kind is exempt from meterological contin- 

 gencies. To illustrate the loss which the 

 country (and especially the peach growers) 

 sustains the present season from the failure 

 of this single crop, we adduce the following, 

 clipped from the columns of a local cotera- 

 porary, and the newspapers all over the 

 country speak about the same language : 



"There is no longer hope entertained by the 

 fruit-growers of Delaware of any profit from 

 peaches in that State this season, Not in 

 twenty-five years has there been a worse show 

 ing, and not only have the growers giving up 

 all hope of having a crop this season, but the 

 belief is general among them that a great 

 majority of the peach trees have been killed, 

 while almost all the rest of them have been 

 so injured as to make them useless. Many of 

 the most enterprising growers are already 

 making arrangements for planting new or- 

 chards to take the place of trees which they 

 believe to be dead or -dying. Should the fear 

 of growers prove| correct that the peach or- 

 chards of the State have been practically de- 

 stroyed, it will result in serious loss, as not 

 less than $.5,000, 000 are invested in peach cul- 

 tivation on the peninsula, more than half of 

 which is invested in Delaware." 



It has been alleged that such paragraphs 

 have been heretofore put in circulation by 

 the peach-growers tliemselves, when there 

 was no foundation for them in fact," in order to 

 "eteate a corner" in the market, but we 

 think they can be exonerated from such a 

 suspicion the present season, for the wolf this 

 time seems to have really carried oft' the sheep. 



The plums and the cherries in many places 

 seem to have bloomed as freely as usual, and 

 in rare cases of protection this has also been 

 the case with apricots, but the peaches are 

 almost universally shabby looking. How the 

 case stands in this county, may be inferred by 

 glaucing over the proceedings of the May 

 meeting of our local Agricultural and Horti- 

 cultural Society, which is by no means encour- 

 aging, although as a whole, the crop may not 

 be a total failure. Solicitude about the condi- 

 tion of the peach crop, however, is not at all 

 a new thing ; foi' we can remember its peri- 

 odical manifestations there very many years. 

 We have seen the peach crop a mere drug 

 from our earliest boyhood, and we have also 

 seen its absence lamented as much, perhaps, as 

 it will be the present season. Peaches are so 

 universally and so intensely esteemed, that 

 every year as soon as the Christmas festivals 

 have subsided, the next thing was to indulge 

 in speculations about the "peach crop" — its 

 status always seemed precarious. 



Queries and Answers. 



FALSE FLAX. 



Mr. Wm. A. Jlf.— The plant which you 

 find so abundant in your tobacco field of last 

 year, is the noxious weed, known as "False 

 Flax," and belongs to the crucifbr^, or 

 Mustard family. It is generally known as 

 a noxious weed, and abounds in fields — espe- 

 cially flax-fields— and on the roadsides, and 

 seems to have been introduced into this coun- 

 try from Europe. It is said to have been 

 formerly cultivated in Germany for the sake 



of an oil which was expressed from the seeds; 

 from which you will observe that, noxious 

 and useless as it may seem, it is still of some 

 use ; and although it may never pay in this 

 country to develop that use, yet it may be 

 intrinsically of more value than tobacco. Its 

 abundance on your premises has no special 

 significance other than that it has found the 

 soil unoccupied and congenial, the seeds 

 having been scattered from contiguous proper- 

 ties last season, and were germinated and 

 protected by the snowy mantle of winter. 



It has been observed this spring that from 

 the same cause many plants have survived 

 the past winter unscathed^ which in milder 

 and more open winters have been entirely 

 out-frozen. It was also observed that as soon 

 as the snow had ;disappeared, the ground, so 

 far as concerned frost, was in a condition to 

 be spaded and plowed. The past long and 

 intensely cold winter will, therefore, afford no 

 immunity from noxious weeds and insects 

 during the coming season. Tlieir embryos 

 nestled too cozily in their " little beds," cov- 

 ered with a "tick" of feathered snow, until 

 the vernal suns bid them rise. From a paper 

 read before the Linuaean Society by Mrs. G. 

 on Saturday, the .30th ult., I quote the fol- 

 lowing : 



"Our late very severe winter has not 

 affected plants very much that were close to 

 the ground ; owing, doubtless, to the early 

 and long continued snow. Thus I have found 

 this spring calliopsis and pausies tliat have 

 survived the winter out of doors." The 

 plant under review seems to be unique, both 

 in genus and in species, and our young bo- 

 tanist, Mr. T. B. of North Queen street, 

 identified it as Camelina sativa. It grows 

 from six inches to two feet high — according 

 to the strength of the soil — and bears a small 

 yellowish flower. Its cogeners are the mus- 

 tards, the pepper grasses, the turnips, radishes, 

 cabbages, &c., &c. Indeed, its cruciferian 

 character is apparent from its odor when 

 bruised, being akin to that of decaying cab- 

 bages. Perhaps it might be utilized as 

 "greens," especially when other "sauce is 

 scarce." If you do not care about going into 

 "green grocerage " the best thing you can do 

 is to " root it out " of your premises before it 

 matures its seed. After your tobacco is once 

 fairly started, there will be little danger to be 

 apprehended from the "false flax," for 

 tobacco will not allow much else to flourish 

 where it becomes domiciliated. 



Hev. E. H., East James Street, Lancaster, 

 Pa. —The beautiful Uttle green Beetle you sent 

 us is a variety of Gastrophysa ccerulsipennis, 

 and as a variety, might properly be named 

 veridiphennis, ov "green-winged." They be- 

 long to the Chryomklans a Lady-bird fami- 

 ly. They strongly resemble the "Flea-Beetle," 

 but they have not the leaping powers of the 

 latter named. We have found them on sev- 

 eral occasions feeding on the loaves of various 

 species of "Dock," {Rumex) and also on 

 "Smart-Weed," (Fobiyonum) enth-ely de- 

 stroying the crop, which was no very serious 



Mr. J. H. S., Manheim, Pa.— Your sniall 

 box and postal, by mail, were duly received. 

 The box contained sundry fragments of a 



