150 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 



relation will ultimately enable entomologists 

 to do this. 



Perhaps the end contemplated in the above 

 will never be successfully accomplished until 

 the government establishes a regular bureau 

 of entomological observation with its stations 

 and its paid officers all over the country. The 

 signal service never amounted to much while 

 it was conducted on the volunteer system 

 (even now many people think it "costs more 

 than it comes to,") an(J its present elflciency 

 was only attained after a more thorough or- 

 ganization and a pay department. In these 

 practical days no-body cares to work unless 

 "it pays," and as things are now socially and 

 economicaly, no body expects they should. 

 The redundant existence of insects has bcome 

 such an important factor in agricultural and 

 horticultural success, that a permanent de- 

 partment wiU have to be established, in order 

 to counteract their .baneful influences, that 

 ultimately may become as important as that 

 of State, of War, the Treasury, the Navy, the 

 Interior, or the General Post Office, and ap- 

 propriations made for its suppo^-t. The " old 

 fools " are fast dying off, and the young ones 

 will not work without pay, and why should 

 they? seeing that without pay the earth pre- 

 sents no abiding place for them. The earth 

 is becoming too populous, fortunes too monop- 

 olous, and opportunities too precarious to ex- 

 pect the masses to throw the results of their 

 energies gratuitously into the lap of luxury. 

 The idea of such observations as those allu- 

 ded to above, is a good one, and it will also 

 be an effective one, as soon as th'ey are con- 

 ducted according to" system, and provisions 

 made to lay a permanent foundation upon 

 which to build such a useful superstructure. 



Contributions. 



BONE SPAVIN* 



Spavin is of great frequency in the horse, 

 and during the first stage, previous to the 

 deposit of bone, the lameness resulting from 

 the inflammatory action is attributed generally 

 to the hip or whirlbone by unskilled persons, 

 and as a consequence their treatment is un- 

 satisfactory. 



The ossiflc deposit or bunch is the result of 

 disease of the small bones forming the hock, 

 tarsal or ankle joint, (this articulation corres- 

 ponding to the tarses or ankle in man. ) It 

 is defined as a bony enlargement, situated on 

 the inferointernal part of the hock and origi- 

 nating from inflammation of the bones, in- 

 terosseous ligaments or other tissues of this 

 joint. The enlargement or bunch is the re- 

 sult, not the cause of the disease; a horse may 

 be very lame from spavin, without any visible 

 enlargement. The disease is defined as an in- 

 flammation of the cuniform bones, leading to 

 destruction by caries of their articulatory or 

 gliding surfaces; whilst this is going on between 

 the bones, a process of repair is going on on 

 the outside, lymph' is thrown out as an inflam- 

 matory product, which becomes converted into 

 bone, binding together the small bones and 

 sometimes including the large and small met- 

 atarsal bones. This process known as anchy- 

 losis being completed, ends the pain and lame- 

 ness, provided those articulatory surfaces. 



forming the true joint, are not implicated in 

 the inflammatory action. It will be seen from 

 his explanation, that quacks and so calledt 

 spavin or bunch curers, endeavor to remove 

 the effect (the bunch or enlargement,) but the 

 cause or primary inflammation still exists. 

 Those unscrupulous scoundrels, being of un- 

 certain location, so long as they get their fees, 

 are careless of the after results of their cruel 

 treatment; the poor dumb creatures, subjected 

 to them, often dying from open joints, irria- 

 tive fever, or are so badly blemished as to be 

 worthless. The causes of spavin are chiefly 

 hereditary taint, strains, starting heavy loads, 

 faulty shoeing, bad comformation of limbs, 

 concussion, overworking young animals, un- 

 evenly floored stables, &c., &e. In the ex- 

 amination of young animals, on purchase, 

 those with largely developed hocks are 

 often rejected, as being spavined, but ex- 

 perience has convinced me that such hocks 

 become finer as the animal matures, and as a 

 rule correspond with other joints in their de- 

 velopment. So long as the diseased surfaces 

 of the bones are unrepaired, so long will the 

 lameness remain, but when anchylosis takes 

 place the lameness disappears and the repara- 

 tive material or enlargement becomes part of 

 the animal economy. -The destruction of the 

 slight gliding motion of the small articulations 

 are of little consequence so long as the sur- 

 faces of the cuniform, astragalus or tibial 

 bones (those entering the formation of the 

 true gliding joint) are not involved, in which 

 case permanent and incurable lameness may 

 be expected. It will be seen from these few 

 observations that a spavin once formed, does 

 not interfere with the animal's usefulness, but 

 during the inflammatory process, the animal 

 is lame, feverish, loses condition and assumes 

 the recumbent position unwillingly. Some 

 young horses whose frames have outgrown 

 their strength, in fact, overgrown young ani- 

 mals too large for their age, seem predisposed 

 to spavin, ringbone, splints, &c. These should 

 have additional care, feeding and attention, 

 and should be excused from work until fully 

 matured. The produce ot spavined animals 

 are so predisposed to become similarly afiect- 

 ed that breeding from them frequently ends in 

 great disappointment, hereditary taint play- 

 ing such an important role in the production 

 of the disease. 

 Lancaster, Pa., Oct., 1881. 



Selections. 



REVISED- FRUIT-LIST. 



Since the last publication of our fruit-lLst, 

 we have for satisfactory reasons changed our 

 opinion with respect to a few of the fruits 

 which it contained. But in regard to the list 

 as a whole we can see no just grounds for dis- 

 turbing it. Indeed we do not see how it can 

 be improved for this section of country, or as 

 a general list for all the Middle States. Some 

 of each of the separate selections may not do 

 well upon one premises that will succeed ad- 

 mirably on another. Each grower must find 

 out for himself the particular apples, pears, 

 &c., especially adapted to his soil and loca- 

 tion. This can easily be done by inquiries of 

 those who are successful fruit-growers, whose 

 soil is somewhat similar to their own. 



According to our present preference, we 

 should select the following for our own plant- 

 ing, and all of which we are now growing 

 more or less successfully : 



Standard pears.— 1. Gifiard; 2. Doyenne 

 d'Ete; 3. Early Catharine; 4. Kirtland; 5. 

 Bloodgood; 6. Summer Julienne; 7. Tyson; 8. 

 Brandywine; 9. Bartlett; 10. Belle Lucrative; 

 11. Manning's Elizabeth ; 12. Seckel ; 13. 

 Howell; 14. Anjou ; 15. Shelden; 16. St. Ghis- 

 lan; 17. Lawrence; 18. Reading. For those 

 who may desire a smaller number, we should 

 select: 1. Giffard;2. Early Catharine; 3. Blood- 

 good; 4. Tyson; 5. Bartlett; 6. Belle Lucra- 

 tive; 7. Seckel; 8. Lawrence; 9. Eeading. They 

 ripen in about the order they are arranged. In 

 the above list, from No. 1 to 8 are summer 

 varieties; from 9 to 16 autumn (early and 

 late); and 17 and 18 winter, thus aflbrding a 

 sufilcient number for each of the periods of the : 

 best known sorts for this region. 

 Dwarf Pears. — 1. St. Michael d'Archangel ; 



2. Bartlett; 3. Cornice; 4. flostiezer; 5. Diel; 6. 

 Tyson; 7. Belle Lucrative; 8. Lawrence; 9. - 

 Ott; 10. Louise Bonne; 11. Bosc; 12. Bous- ^ 

 sock; 13. Glout Morceau. 



Apples.— 1. Maiden's Blush; 2. Baldwin; 



3. Smokehouse; 4. Northern Spy; 5. Smith's 

 Cider; 6. Fallawater; 7. Cornell's Fancy; 8. 

 Red Astrachan; 9. Wagner; 10. Porter; 11. 

 Gravenstein; 12. Tompkins' King; 13. Rox- 

 bury Russet. We add to the foregoing list 

 of Tompkins' King and Roxbury Rnsset, both • 

 most excellent varieties; indeed the King is 

 regarded by some as unsurpassed. Northern 

 Spy is also restored. 



Peaches.— 1. Crawford's Early; 2. Hale's 

 Early; 3. York's Early; 4. Old Mixon; 5. 

 Crawford's Late; 0. Ward's Late; 7. Smock's 

 Late; 8. Susquehanna. There is no solid 

 reason to change this list so far as it goes. 

 We suggested to peach-growers to favor us 

 with a list of their own, and a few did, but 

 where they differed from ours we did not 

 deem an improvement. 



Grapes.— 1. Telegraph; 2. Concord; 3. Hart- 

 ford; 4. Clinton; 5. Salem; 6. Rogers' No. 32; 

 7. Brighton. We baye added to the list No. 

 32, which, should it maintain its present 

 character, will be the very best out-door varie- 

 ty cultivated. It is a beautiful pink, or rather 

 maroon colored grape, and at times is trans- 

 parent. It bears regular crops yearly with us. 

 Clinton, in the foregoing list, is only for wine, 

 and is probably the very best for that pur- 

 pose. We also add the Brighton, a ma- 

 roon color, as p romising well. It is, however, 

 a small berry and rather straggling bunches, 

 but almost pulpless, and of excellent quality. 

 The Prentiss is another new grape, somewhat 

 larger than the Delaware, of good quality and 

 scarcely a perceptible pulp. It promises to 

 take the lead of all the white varieties. The 

 bunches are compact and of fair size. We 

 have not tried it. 



Cherries.- 1. May Bigarreau; 2. Belle de 

 Choisv; 3. Black Tartarian; 4. Black Eagle; 5. 

 Black Hawk; 6. Elton; 7. Downer's Late; 8. 

 Early Richmond; 9. Early Purple Guigne; 10. 

 Del. Bleeding Heart. The ripening of the 

 list will range from the earliest to the latest, 

 thus carrying one through the whole cherry 

 season. No one can go amiss in adopting this 

 list. 



