1.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



147 



It is affirmed by medical psychologists that 

 indigo dyers become melancholy, and those 

 who dye scarlet choleric. Our phrase, " the 

 blue devils," may therefore derive its exist- 

 ence from a scientific fact. 



Keep your farm buildings and all your 

 premises absolutely clean. Use absorlx-nts, 

 such as dry earth and ashes, and all ofl'ensive 

 gasses will disappear, thereby promoting 

 health and prosperity. 



"While working with the bees, avoid all 

 sudden jars, quick, active motions, and never 

 fight tliem. Careful handling will cure nearly 

 all cross bees, while with careless, rough hand- 

 ling, the most quiet will become cross. It is 

 a part of the nature of bees to gorge them- 

 selves with honey when ala^rmed, and when in 

 this condition they rarely, if ever, sting unless 

 pinched. Use the smoker judiciously, and 

 avoid the disagreeableness of stings. 



It is said that one of the best remedies for 

 the cabbage worm is to sprinkle air-slacked 

 lime on the plant in the morning on the dew 

 till the plants are white with it. One who 

 has tried it for several years says that at most 

 two applications are sutlicient. 



Poultry need as much protection during 

 the summer from the fierce rays of the sun as 

 they do in winter from the severe cold, al- 

 though far too many breeders lose sight of 

 this very important fact, and suffer corres- 

 ponding losses in consequence. 



Kerosine oil poured on the nests of cater- 

 pillars until thoroughly saturated will destroy 

 them. 



Do not allow the soil about young fruit 

 rees to become hard and crusted, but keep it 

 clean and constantly mellow. 



The leaves of the Madeira vine are used in 

 France as spinach. 



Excessive drinking of water by farm ani- 

 mals is said to increase the consumption of 

 fat in the body. Too watery fodder and too 

 much drinking should be avoided, especially 

 in fattening, if we wish to obtain the. most 

 rapid and abundant forjpation of flesh and fat. 



Oregow produces four, five, six, and even 

 seven-leaved clover. 



Get ready a dust bath for the fowls in some 

 bright, sunny place. If it can be put under 

 a shed with a southern exposure, where the 

 .sun will fall on it a part of the day, and where 

 it will be shielded from the rain, so much the 

 better. Road dust and sifted coal ashes, with 

 a plentiful sprinkling of sulphur, is the best. 

 Never use wood ashes. Do not spread it 

 about, but mound it up. The hens will soon 

 scatter it. 



Nut-galls are excrescences on the leaves 

 and stalks of the oak, made by the gall wasp 

 to deposit her eggs. 



The petals of flowers still inclosed in the 

 bud are mostly green, and only acquire their 

 distinctive color by contact with the light. 



A MANUFACTURER of chemical instruments 

 in Paris has made ivory flexible for probes 

 and tubes by steeping it in oil. 



The cheapest meat for the farmer, says an 

 exchange, is mutton. It may safely be said 

 to cost nothing, as the fleece from a sheep of 

 good breed will pay for its keeping. Then, 

 for additional profit there is a lamb or two. 



the pelt of the animal, if killed at home, the 

 excellent manure from its droppings and tlie 

 riddance of tlie pasture from weeds, to which 

 sheep iire destructive foes. With the excep- 

 tion of poultry, mutton is also the moat con- 

 venient mjat for the farmer. A slieep is 

 easily killed and dressed by a single hand in 

 an hour, and in the warmest weather it can 

 be readily disposed of before it spoils. Science 

 and experience botii declare it the healthiest 

 kind of meat. 



There were sheared in Michigan over two 

 millions of sheep, according to tlie statement 

 of Mr. Jenny, the Secretary of State. He 

 says that tlie total average clip was 10,074,- 

 163 pounds of wool, which is an average of 

 nearly five and one-half pounds per head. 



In a recent work on the nests and eggs of 

 birds. Dr. W. Von Reichenan states that the 

 ornamental plumage, crests, etc., of the male 

 bird are due to an excess of energy, wliile the 

 vitality of the female is exhausted by the pro- 

 duction of eggs and the task of incubation. 



If tliose farmers whose farms are soils un- 

 derlaid with clay would sell one-quarter or 

 one-half of their land and put the proceeds 

 into the judicious thorough tile-drainage of 

 the rest, they would make more money from 

 the one-half of the original farm under im- 

 provement than they now do from the whole 

 area. 



It has been computed that the power of the 

 steam engines in England would suflSce to 

 raise from the quarries and place in position 

 all the Great Pyramid in eighteen hours. 



There is probably no feed so good for rais- 

 ing good dairy animals as warm skim-milk 

 with a mixture of moderate quantities of 

 ground oats, scalded. The milk and oats c-on- 

 tain a large amount of muscle and bone mate- 

 rial, and, as a consequence, we have a cow 

 with an excellent constitution and a good- 

 sized frame. Corn meal does not contain 

 enough of the requisite materials for giving a 

 good-sized and at the same time a well-formed 

 animal. The oats might be alternated with 

 linseed and cotton-seed meal. 



Intensity of color in flowers of the same 

 species increases with the altitude. 



Manure should be forked over occasionally 

 to make it fine. If it is heating, then muck 

 or loam should be 'mixed with it to absorb the 

 ammonia which is formed during the process 

 of decomposition. Sprinkling the manure pile 

 with ground plaster is advisable. The plaster 

 will absorb any ammonia which escapes from 

 the pile and save it for the use of growing 

 plants. Ammonia is too valuable an element 

 of plant food to allow it to be wasted. Again 

 upon some lands plaster is an excellent fertil- 

 izer. 



IIandkhrchiefs of Queen Elizabeth were 

 of parti-colored silk Or cambric edged with 

 gold lace. 



From the peats of Brittany have been ob- 

 tained, by means of re-agents, benzine, par- 

 affine, resinous matters, acetic acid and other 

 substances. 



Late advices from Labrador speak dis- 

 couragingly of the fishing operations on the 

 northern portion of the coast. At some 

 places the prospects are very gloomy. At 

 Esquimaux Bay the worst apprehensions pre- 



vail; starvation is feared there the coming 

 winter. The Government has been applied 

 to for assistance. The weather is so unfa- 

 vorable on tlie southern and western shores 

 of the island that it is thought large quanti- 

 ties of fish will be spoiled in curing. In 

 Placentia Bay rain and fog witliout sight of 

 the sun have prevailed for eighteen days, 

 paralyzing business and making navigation 

 extremely dangerous. Tiie bank fisheries 

 continue good. 



Queries and Answers. 



PEACOCK MOTH. 



Mr. Katbvon :— Here Is a large, fine looking fel- 

 low, but I do not understand him. What Is hof — 

 Yours Truly, A. JV. £., Jr. 



Your "fine lookmg fellow " is the larva of 

 the "Peacock Moth" {ISaturnin io.) ;About 

 three inches long, and light green all over, 

 except a reddish streak along each side, and 

 the sides and back covered with short, green 

 divergent bristles, situated in tufts on the 

 middle of the segments. This larva, (the 

 Uyperchiria io, of Fabricius) spins a roundish 

 compact cocoon, and the moth appears in the 

 month of June. 



Mr. John Martin, in his paper on Lepidop- 

 teorus larva, in the Tenth Report of the State 

 Entomologist of Illinois, states that it feeds 

 on False Indigo, Sassafras, Black Locust, 

 Indian corn, Willow, Wild-cherry, Oak, Birch, 

 Sweet-fern, Currant, Apple, Clover, Snow- 

 berry, Ash, Elm, ,IIop-vine, Balsam, Poplar; 

 Balm of Gilcad, Dogwood, Choke-cherry and 

 Cotton; surely enough to rank it with the 

 omnivora. We have never found it on all of 

 these, Ijut we have found it on one-fourth of 

 them at least. The sexes differ very much in 

 regard to size and color in the moth state. 

 The male is the smallest— expanding about 

 two and a half inches— is of a corn yellow 

 with purple wavy and zigzag lines on the 

 front wings, and the hind wings have a large 

 bluish spot on each, with a broad black mar- 

 gin, something like the spot on the ends of the 

 feathers of a Peacock's tail. The female'ex- 

 pands fully three inches, and her fore-wings 

 are a purple brown mingled viMy gray. She 

 has also the spots on the hind wings, but 

 much larger than those of the male, and her 

 body is more that twice as thick. 



CORN APHIS. 



Mr. Joseph Penrose, Drumore township, 

 Lancaster county. Pa. The Aphids sent to me 

 by the hands of Mr. W. II. Brosius, of Liberty 

 Square, without much doubt, are the "Corn 

 Aphis," {Aphis nmidis) of Doctor Fitch; and 

 they are said to infest the whole stalk, as well 

 as the roots, especially the young silk. We 

 have frequently found them on the corn, but 

 never thought of looking for the same species 

 on the roots. They are frequently found as 

 early as May, and we think the unusual dry 

 weather the past summer, and the consequent 

 loosness of the soil, caused them to confine 

 their operations to the roots throughout the 

 months of June, July and September. The 

 predominatingcolor of these insects is green, 

 some few were pale yellow, and others a pale 

 raddish color, which only shows advanced 

 stages of development. It would have been 



