1881, 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



d57 



specimen Cinnamon Stone, East Indies; 4 specimens 

 Opal, from Mexico and Columbia river; 3 epeclraous 

 Silver and Galena, Nevada ; 2 specimens Amianthus 

 from Italy and Massactiusetts ; i specimens Striped 

 Agates, Natchez Blulfs, Mississippi ; ti specimens 

 Brown Lignite (or fossil wood), Scollaud ; 6 speci- 

 mens Black and Brown Cauuel coal, Scotland; 1 

 tpecimen Gold beariuR Quartz, South America ; 1 

 specimen SniokyTopas, South America; 1 specimeu 

 •ach Green Talc, Sul. Copper and Zircon; 1 speci- 

 men each Carb.of Lead, Alabaster and Kyanite ; 2 

 specimens Uubalite, 'J, Topas and 2 Keddel ; 4 speci- 

 mens Augite from " Giant's Causeway," Ireland ; 1 

 specimen Brittle Silver Glance, South America; 1 

 specimen Granite, 1 Moss Asjate, 1 Green Feldspar ; 

 1 specimen each Jade, Frankliuitc, and Sul. Barytcs ; 

 12 speclments Fyrope, and 2 common Garnets ; 1 

 Chlorite, 1 Oolite, 2 Crys. Carb. Lime; 2 specimens 

 Quartz Crystals, 1 Black Mica; 6 specimens lleme- 

 tlte In different varieties; 1 specimen Cal. incrusta- 

 tion of leaves, Tlvoll, Italy; 4 specimens Trllobltesi 

 1 Fossil Coral, 1 Eucrluite ; 37 specimens Silicious 

 Fossils from various localities ; 33 specimens Calca- 

 reous Fossils, from various localities ; 14 specimens 

 Argillaceous Fossils, from various localities; 50 

 specimens Fragments, Jasper, Agate, Quartz, etc. 



The fossils are mainly shells, with a few Trilobites 

 and plant impressions, with some corallines. 

 Library. 



Nos. 8, 9, 10 and 11, Vol. 20, of the Official Patent 

 Office Gazette. 



General Index to the Agrimliural Reports by 

 the Patent Office from 1S37 to 1861, and by the De- 

 partment of Agriculture from 1S62 to 1876 inclusive. 

 About 500 pages octavo, from the Department. 



Lancaster Farmer for September, 1881. 



Three envelopes containing fifty Biographical and 

 Historical sketches. 



Three catalogues of Scientific and Historical litera- 

 ture. 



New Business. 



John S. Smith, D. D. S., of No. 48 N. Duke street, 

 Lancaster, Pa., was proposed for membership. 

 Special. 



Here followed the reception of the subjoined papers 

 and the adoptionof the sentiments contained therein. 

 After which the society adjourned to the last Satur- 

 day In October, (29th), at 2 o'clock p. m. 



Mr. President : The Linn.-ean Society, in com- 

 mon with the entire country— and not only in common 

 with our own country, but the whole civilized world 

 — recognizes the sorrowful bereavement which the 

 nation sustains In the untimely death of James A. 

 Garfield, late President of the United States. It also 

 "herein and hereon," records with fimphasis, its ex- 

 ceeding horror at the dastardly act by which a whole 

 nation has been p unged into mourning, and a noble 

 life has been sacrificed to the morbid ambition of a 

 reckless, self-willed, and unscrupulous assassin. 



And, whilst we would fain yield a becoming resig- 

 nation to the overrulings of that AUwise Providence, 

 through which this sad calamity has been permitted, 

 we cannot suppress theemolions we feel, nor any the 

 less deplore the moral obliquity which impels such 

 an extreme chastisement as a necessary element in 

 the social and political purification of the people, the 

 state, or the nation. We sympathize with the family 

 of our late chief magistrate— we sympathize with the 

 friends of social order, and we sympathize with the 

 nation at large, in the great loss we all have sustain- 

 ed in his premature death. We recall his early and 

 unlettered boyhood ; his struggles through secular 

 and professional vicissitudes, until he had attained to 

 Dailoual distinction, and was deemed worthy of the 

 highest gift of the people; and we feel humiliated 

 when we reflect that under the auspices of Republi- 

 can institutions, and near the close of ilie nineteenth 

 century, such intellectual culture, moral integrity, 

 and individual energy, should have fallen a victim to 

 deliberate and concienceless nihilitm. 



In his death by violence we recognize a blow aimed 

 at official Independence, co-ordinate purity, and poli- 

 tical manhood ; and If, unier God, these virtues 

 should be upheld and sustained in the future pro- 

 gress of our government, James A. Garfield will not 



have died in vain, but will live embalmed in the 

 hearts of the uatlou. 



Mil. President: Although the sad event to which 

 this commlnicatlon relates, had been already pub- 

 lished in the newspapers of the county, I neverthe- 

 less fefll It Incumbent to olliclally announce to the 

 members of the Llnnaean Society the death of Dr. 

 Abram P. Garhor, on the 25th of August last, at 

 Kcnova, Pa., in the 44th year of his age. 



Dr. Garber was one of the early members of this 

 Society, having united himself with It whilst he was 

 a student at the Normal Institute; and at his death, 

 and for many years previous to that event, he was 

 one of Its most d^tliiguished and valued correspond- 

 ents. VVe can vividly recall the quiet zeal with 

 which he and his co-member, the late Juhn C. Seitz, 

 entered upon the domain of their specialty in natural 

 science, and how perseverlngly and efficiently they 

 delved In the vegetable kingdom, sparing neither 

 time, labor nor expense, both being botanical 

 students under Dr. T. C. Porter, then of Franklin 

 and .Marshall College. They both brought to the 

 altar of science their earliest and most unselfish af 

 fectlons, and both were stricken down In the midst 

 of their usefulness by the fell destroyer, consump- 

 tion; although the doctor survived his early com- 

 panion many years. Whilst they had health and 

 resided in proximity to the Society, none were more 

 punctual.iu attendance than they. Before the field 

 meetings of the Society had been diverted from 

 their original design, they accompanied it in its usual 

 summer rural excursions, and participated in Its 

 scientific explorations. But they seemed to present a 

 too "shining mark" for death to avoid, and with 

 Haldeman, and Reinhardt, and Diff'cnbaoh and other 

 active scientists among our correspondents, and 

 Stauffer and Bruckart among our active members, 

 they one by one have yielded to his unerring arrows. 

 But they have made recordsthat will live in the 

 annals of science, or the memories of friends. Dr. 

 Garber attended .the common country schools of 

 Lancaster county, and then entered as a student In 

 the Willersvllle Normal School, where he graduated. 

 Afterwards, for several winters, he taught public 

 schools in difi'erent parts of Lancaster county, and 

 then received an appointment as teacher in the Cat- 

 asauga Seminary, where he had four or five subordi- 

 nates, as teachers under him. His genial nature 

 and quiet, pleasant disposition made him many at- 

 taclied friends, and hence wherever he taught tlie 

 people desired him to remain; but he was yearning 

 for something beyond the curriadnm of the common 

 school, and hence he entered Layfayette College at 

 Easton, Pa. Here he was soon appointed assistant 

 chemist, and also at the same time he studied medi- 

 cine with Dr. Trail Green, of Easton. After gradu- 

 ating at the College, he attended medical lectures 

 for three winters at the University of Pennsylvania, 

 and after obtaining his diploma he was appointed 

 one of the physicians in tlie Pennsylvania Institution 

 for the Insane at Harrisburg. Here he had charge 

 of over two hundred patients, and remained In the 

 discharge of his onerous duties for three years. 

 Finding his health impaired, and being overworked, 

 he felt himself compelled tojeslgn his position; after 

 which he located in the practice of his profession at 

 Pittsburg, Pa., but he did not long remain there, on 

 account of the coal dust, carbon, and smoke Irritat- 

 ing his lungs, thus compelling him to leave that 

 locality. 



Dr. Trail Green advised him to locate in a warmer 

 climate than Pennsylvania. So he visited and re- 

 mained for some time .in Southern Florida, pursuing 

 his botanical studies, and collecting a large number 

 of plants, many of them exceedingly rare, and sev- 

 eral unknown to the botanical world. Here he 

 "roughed it" among the chapperals, the Islands, 

 and along the coast for two years. In pursuit of his 

 devoted specialty In natural science. It ivas during 

 these explorations, made In the years 1878 and 1879, 

 that he discovered the rare plant which was dedi- 

 cated to him by Dr. Asa Gray and will be hence; 

 forth recorded In botanic literature as Garberia fru- 

 ticom. The conservator of the Botanic Sections of 



the Academy of Natural Sciences, In his report for 

 1879, states that Dr. Garber, during his sojourn In 

 Florida, donated to the Ucrbariumnt the Academy, 

 623 species of rare and new plants from that State, 

 and all the result of his own untiring Industry. At 

 the request of Dr. Gray he went to the Island of 

 Saint Thomas In the West Indies, where he again 

 commenced an active exploration In his favorite pur- 

 suit. In 1880 he returned to Florida, and located io 

 Manltec, from whence on several occasions he sent 

 some rare species of Aracunids to the Llnoaean 

 Society. He also passed the winter of 1881 In South 

 Florida, and returned to Lancaster county In June 

 last. Struggling all the while against the encroach- 

 ments of the disease that was making sure Inroads 

 upon his vital system, he sought to evade the effects 

 of the intensely warm weather, by a removal to the 

 mountainous regions of Pennsylvania, locating above 

 Lock-Haven, In Clinton county. But all Io no pur- 

 pose—the climatic elfect was Increased Irritation of 

 the lungs | and he contemplated a return to his homo 

 at Mountvllle ; but only had strenirth enough to 

 reach Kenova, where in a few days, bis feeble lamp 

 of life was extinguished by the cold hand of death. 

 But such a pure, InoQcnslve and useful life cannot 

 end here, It Is merely transferred to a higher and a 

 nobler plane of being. *•«»*• 

 About the outbreak of the rebellion. Dr. Garber 

 enlisted in the service of his country — one campaign 

 with the Three Months' Men in .Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia, and one In Schuylkill county, to suppress a 

 contemplated riot or revolt among theeoal miners. 

 All his spare moments on these occasions were de- 

 voted to his scientific pursuits, and he collected 

 many specimens of plants and minerals, and also 

 improved his health. Dr. Garber was a member, or 

 a correspondent, of various societies, notably the 

 " Association for the Advance of Science," a national 

 organization. But his earthly labors are now ended. 

 May he rest ik pence. 



Agriculture. 



Blount's White Prolific Com. 



Prof. Blount recently gave the following hlstoryo 

 the above variety of corn through the columns of the 

 Rural New Yorker: 



" In 1871 I raised my second crop of corn— ten 

 acres — the seed of which I obtained from a very nice 

 and particular farmer on the Tennessee river. It 

 was a soft white dint and of long life, taking 175 days 

 to ripen. While this crop was tasseling I found 

 several stalks ripe enough to cut up. Acting on the 

 Idea that an earlier corn was desirable, I saved from 

 these a few ears and planted the grain alone the next 

 season. This ripened in just 150 days. I watched 

 and studied its habits, and trained It according to 

 theories of ray own, some of which I enumerate. 

 Just before silking I covered about 100 ears with thin 

 muslin to keep all foreign varieties from mixingwith 

 them. When in full tassel and full sllk,I pollenated 

 every ear with tassels of another stalk of the same 

 kinds. When these ears ripened I saved the earliest 

 ripe, best shaped ears, with the smallest cobs, 

 straightest rows, hardest and best formed grains. I 

 saved those that grew on the best proportioned stalks, 

 that bore the finest fodder, and last, but by no means 

 least important, I selected the top ear on those stalks 

 that had two or more of good size. In lH73 the re- 

 sult of my labor was so satisfactory that I gave my 

 corn the name It now bears. All my theories were 

 soon confirmed by actual facts. I found Improve- 

 ment in every direction. My corn ripened earlier by 

 10 to 15 days the third year; the ears were larger, 

 the col) smaller, the grain finer and harder, the stalks 

 finer and more perfect in every way. 



Secure Good Seed. 

 So far as possible, farmers should save their own 

 seeds and not only avoid the expense of buying, but 

 secure seed of good quality and true to name. The 

 seed which ripens earliest should be secured, and 

 vegetables and flowers when seeding should not be 

 neglected and allowed to be blown about upon the 



