116 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



plores it and finds no insects there. During 

 ■warm summer evenings insects are attracted 

 by lights burning in the rooms, and an occa- 

 sional bat will follow an insect there, but they 

 have no sinster designs upon the human occu- 

 pants of tlie room. Therefore, like "Uncle 

 Toby," I would open the window and say as 

 he did to the fly, "Go in peace, the world is 

 wide enough for thee and me." 



In reply to "Ignoramus" I wovild say that 

 I do not thinli the belief is ''general,'' that 

 bats alight upon people's heads, although 

 some may entertain such a notion; and I 

 doubt whether any one can tell why they be- 

 lieve it ; nevertheless such a thing might 

 accidentally occur. Bats are known to have 

 a remarkably strong affection for their young. 

 Titian Peale records that a young bat, half 

 grown, fell from a tree in a public square in 

 Philadelphia, which was given to him, and as 

 he was taking it to the museum in the even- 

 ing the motlier bat hovered around him for 

 two squares, and before he entered the build- 

 ing she alighted on his breast, from pure aifec- 

 tion for her ofispring, and allowed herself to 

 be captured without resistance, rather than 

 be separated from it. It seems to me that 

 if ever a mother animal would manifest a 

 disposition to attack any person or tiling, it 

 would be in defense of her ofispring. The 

 female bat has but two mammae, and these 

 are located on the breast just as they are in 

 the genus Homo. Very frequently she lias 

 twins, and when she fies abroad in quest of 

 food she carries her young with her, they ad- 

 hering to her body by the teats, and by affix- 

 ing the hoolied tliumbs on the wing hands and 

 the claws on the hinder feet to the fur that 

 covers her body. If one of these youn^ should 

 happen to fall on a human head, it would 

 be likely to cling as closely as it had clung to 

 its mother. The necessity of shaving tlie 

 head to loosen it is doubtless an exaggeration. 

 The notion that bats disseminate "bed 

 bugs" has no confirmation in fact. Bats, 

 like nearly all the subjects of the animal 

 kingdom— especially the hairy and feathered 

 oues— are infested by parasites, but they are 

 not bed-bugs. They are a sort of "tick," 

 and only resemble the bed-bug in color. 

 They are a branch of tlie Arachnid or spider 

 class. But of all the bats I have ever seen or 

 handled I liave only been able to capture 

 three specimens. They usually adhere very 

 closely, hide themselves among the hair and 

 are not likely to drop off. Finally, nearly all 

 these prevalent notions and impressions in 

 regard to the bat, are mainly b.ised upon that 

 indefinite authority popularly known_ under 

 the cognomen of ' ' They say . " 



Perhaps many of the prejudices against the 

 bat have come down to us from an ancient 

 period ; their singular structure has afforded 

 poets an emblem of darkness and terror, and 

 hence they have consecrated them to Proser- 

 pine, the Queen of Hades, ^sop records the 

 fabled war between the birds and beasts, in 

 ■which he represents the bat as unwilling to 

 declare for either host, but hovering between 

 both during tlie fight ; hence it was no longer 

 considered a beast or a bird, and was obliged 

 to avoid appearing abroad by day or until 

 other animals had gone to repose. But the 

 light of science is rapidly dissipating these 

 fabled notions. 



For further details of the common bat and 

 its cogeners I refer the above-named corre- 

 spondents to vol. 10, page 3 of The Lancas- 

 ter Farmer (Januai-y," 1878,) and to an 

 essay on the same suliject, read before the 

 Liunsean Society, June 26, 1880, and pub- 

 lished in The Lancaster Farmer of that 

 month (vol. 12, pp. 100 and 101.) 



That bats, when captured, open their 

 mouths, show their teeth, and "shut down" 

 on any object inserted between their jaws, is 

 not a normal test of character. They must 

 be judged by what they do from habit, and 

 not by the pressure of extraordinary circum- 

 stances. 



Contributions. 



APPLES. 



We all have seen lists— and what were pro- 

 fessedly revised lists— of apples and pears, 

 and, so far as they related to our own indi- 

 vidual localities, we have felt that said lists 

 needed a further revision. I have at least 

 fifty varieties of apples and pears growing on 

 my premises, and yet I would not be able to 

 make out a list for others to plant, but I can 

 give, approximately, the results of my own 

 e;cperience. 



Twenty years ago I obtained fifty young 

 apple trees from Casper Hiller, of Conestoga 

 township. I did not just then propose to 

 start an orchard. As the trees were small 

 and thrifty I planted them in rows in a rich 

 garden used as a truck garden, with a view of 

 letting a tew stand, and transplanting the 

 balance as they were needed to fill up old 

 orchards, as soon as thuy were strong enough 

 to withstand the attacks of cattle. I planted 

 some of them in hmestone, in strong, rich, 

 sandy gravel with a southern slope ; in brick 

 loam, rather wet, with a northern slope ; red 

 shale, southern slope ; " King of Tompkins," 

 I planted ih rich gravol, southern slope ; and 

 wet loam, northern slope, which have not 

 brought me two bushels a season. The Pitts- 

 burg Pippin, and Hamaker or cut-pippin, 

 about the same. The All-Summer and 

 Maidensblush did reasonably well at different 

 places. Hubbardson Nonsuch came to per- 

 fection on red shale— almost overbore ; on 

 rich gravel they did not do at all. The 

 Northern Spy commenced to bear somewhat 

 in fifteen years after they were planted. 



Fifteen years ago I planted seventy-Qve 

 trees, and the following year the same num- 

 ber, on a rich gravel, with a southern slope ; 

 only one on tough clay, rather wet, northern 

 slope. Of the first, Baldwin, Watermelon, 

 Jeffries, York Imperial, Russet, Rambo, and 

 Redstreak, bear alternate years. The Pound- 

 Apples also did well last year, and are rea- 

 sonably full the present year. The " Sheep- 

 Nose " bears every year. 



In the second orchard, planted fourteen 

 years ago, the Black Gilly-flower, Pearmain, 

 King of Tompkins, Northern Spy, Monmouth 

 Pippin and Grindstone are doing reasonably 

 well, but so far, the Smokehouse has had very 

 few. 



The Cambridge, Munson Sweet, and the 

 Wagner have borne creditably. The Early 

 Strawberry, Redstreak and Smith's Cider are 

 heavy bearers, in alternate years, and have 

 been for a long time. The strongest bearers 



this year, are the Penn Redstreak and Smith's 

 Cider : the limbs are fairly drooping with 

 their heavy weight of fruit. 



Two years ago the Redstreaks, on the 

 northern wet slope, were perfect in shape, 

 full in size, and free from insects of any kind, 

 whilst on the southern slope, on rich gravel 

 they were knotty and only fit for cider. There 

 is a difference again this year, but not so great 

 as it was formerly, I have not mentioned all 

 the varieties that have no apples this year, 

 because some of the trees are yet too young 

 to bear a crop. The Downing is coming into 

 bearing, and I think will do well with me. 



The Krauser and the Jewess Good are not 

 as successful with me as they are in Berks 

 county. I have the Fillbasket from Canada, 

 the Haas of Russia, and the Petusky Shaeffer 

 of Allentown, &e., &c. With me the Read- 

 streak, Rambo and Pound-apple are still re- 

 garded as worthy of retaining. 



Of the new varieties I would place Smith's 

 Cider at the head of the list ; York Imperial 

 and Domini; for summer, Red Astrachan and 

 Allsuramer, and also Benoni. From some 

 unknown cause some of these varieties I have 

 named will come to perfection on a certain 

 soil and in certain localities, whilst within a 

 quarter of a mile they will not bear, or if they 

 do the fruit will be knotty and worthless. 

 The same thing will occur in pears. The 

 Vicar of Wakefield wilts in sheltered places. 

 In towns it becomes so perfect as to bring ten 

 cents apiece, whilst in other places it does not 

 do at all.— I/. S.Eeist. 



COMMUNICATED. 



Jtoy 23, 1881. 



Dr. S. S. Rathvon— Dear Sir: In the 

 July number of The Farmer, page 110, is 

 iin article, "Fertilizers in Pennsylvania," 

 which is identical, word for word, with an 

 article in the June number, entitled "Analyz- 

 ing Fertilizers." 



Now do not think I am going to find fault 

 with its repeated appearance, but I do think 

 that fault can be found with the information 

 given and the deductions arrived at, that "if 

 a farmer is now deceived and cheated in the 

 purchase of artifical manures he has only 

 himself to blame." 



We are told that "only seventeen out of 

 fifty-eight were worth the money asked for 

 tliem," but of what benefit is this to me or 

 the ninety-eight other farmers out of the tra- 

 ditional hundred ? It is not general but spe- 

 cific information we want on such subjects, 

 and the articles under consideration are 

 therefore deficient in that they do not state 

 which fertilizers are good and which are not 

 worth the money asked. Harm may result, 

 however, as some individuals may be deterred 

 from using a needed artificial manure from 

 fear of getting something worth only $2.05 

 per ton. 



What is very remar"kable is, that this arti- 

 cle, or one similar to it, has been floating 

 around the newspapers for some time, but 

 none of them giving the farmer the informa- 

 tion as to what fertilizer has been found really 

 worth the money asked for it. Just here an 

 Irish whisper is thrown me to the effect that 

 a paper publishing such a list would be ad- 

 vertising articles "free gratis," as is the com- 

 mon expression. 



