162 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November 



interests of no State need be asbamed 

 of such au able and neatly gotten-up repre- 

 sentative. 



It may be safely said that nov) — if not be- 

 fore — the Exposition is in the full and suc- 

 cessful tide of its progress, and that now, at 

 least, would be the proper time for northern- 

 ers to " run down" and see what is to beseen. 

 Advice to Intending Visitors. 



And now a few words of final advice to 

 those wh(3 propose visiting Atlanta during the 

 progress of the Exposition. I presuppose, of 

 course, that there will be cheap excursions ar- 

 ranged, although up to this writing I have 

 nothing definite to say on that point, having 

 foiled in every effort made in that direction ; 

 but 1 believe that the managers will consult 

 the best interests of all concerned by straining 

 every nerve to effect that end.' Now, as re- 

 gards living here during a lengthened stay, it 

 would be advisable, if possible to do so, to ar- 

 range beforehand for boarding in some re- 

 spectable private family, among whom there 

 are a large number to choose from. Some, I 

 am sorry to say, are taking undue advantage 

 of the occasion by outrageous overcharging, 

 even charging as higli as S45 per month. 

 Others again, and a very large number, con- 

 sulting the. interests of the city and her repu- 

 tation abroad, are more reasonable. Good 

 board can be had for $25 a month. Booms 

 can be hired at from $4 to $12 per month, and 

 good meals obtained at first-class restaurants 

 at from 35 to 75 cents a meal. The Markham 

 House, one of the very best hotels in the 

 South, charges a uniform rate of 13 per day, 

 the Exposition Hotel the same, and the En- 

 campment Hotel $2.50, I believe, but the 

 latter are outside, the city, connected, how- 

 ever, by street cars and railroads. To such 

 as contemplate a stay of shorter duration the 

 Marliham House, in the city, would perhaps 

 be the most desirable. The Kimball House 

 rates are a little higher than the former, but 

 it is the largest hotel in tliis section and well 

 patronized. In coming South at this season, 

 I would advise all to bring overcoats or good 

 heavy shawls, for however odd it may sound, 

 I can assure you it gets "right down" cold 

 here sometimes. 



THIS WILL PAY YOU. 



We consult the best good of our readers in 

 recommending them to now secure the valua- 

 ble and important information and most in- 

 teresting reading matter, including a thou- 

 sand or more of pleasing and instructive En- 

 gravings and Sketches, that can be obtained 

 at trifling expense in the Amerimn Agricul- 

 turist. This is not merely a farm and garden 

 Journal, but is very useful to every House- 

 keeper and to every household in Village or 

 Country. It has an entertaiuing and useful 

 department for the little ones. It is a journal 

 that pays to take and nad. Try it, and, our 

 word for it, you will not be disappointed. Its 

 constant, persistent exposures of Humbugs 

 and swindling schemes are worth far more 

 than the cost of the paper. The 41sfe annual 

 volume begins January l,but those subscribing 

 now for 1882 get the rest of this year free. 

 Terms: 1.50 a year; four copies $5 (English 

 or German edition); single copy, 15c. 



N. B. — Those desiring can get an extra or 

 double specimen number post-free for 10 cts. 

 by addressing the Publishers, Orange Judd 

 Co., 751 Broadway, New York. 



SUGAR BEETS. 



Thirty tons of sugar beets are raised to an 

 acre, worth five dollars a ton; one ton of beets 

 makes 1560 pounds of sugar in France, a 

 yield of about seven per cent. The beet is 



said to be richer in saccharine matter in this 

 country, as ours is yet virgin soil. — York Dis- 

 patch. 



The above figures are slightly misleading. 

 The experience of two thousand farmers in 

 Maine, Massachusetts and Delaware was an 

 average of just ten tons of sugar beets to the 

 acre. Fifteen tons were obtained in some 

 cases, but the lower figure was the average. 

 Now, the results obtained at the Portland^ 

 Maine, factories were 420 tons of suaar from 

 7,000 tons of beets ; this gives us ~just 120 

 pounds per ton, as tlie Dispatcli can easily as- 

 certain by a very simple arithmetical calcula- 

 tion. Between 1.560 pounds and 120 pounds 

 there is a slight difference. Ten tons of beets 

 to the acre would yield 1,200 pounds of sugar 

 and this is what our contemporary evidently 

 meant, instead of 1,500 pounds for every ton. 

 Such a yield as is above stated would be 78 

 per cent, of sugar, instead of six per cent, as 

 ths Dispatch says. What the Dispatch meant 

 to say was that the beets contain six per cent, 

 of saccharine matter. The average cost of 

 growing beets in this countiy, as demonstrat- 

 ed by the Delaware Beet Sugar Company, 

 which grew 300 acres on its own account, was 

 $50 per acre. Here is the whole trouble so 

 far. We must grow more tons to the acre be- 

 fore we can m ike it pay. This can be done 

 when our farmers understand the business. 

 But meanwhile it is well enough that any 

 statements that are given to the'public shall 

 have the merit of accuracy. Let the Dispatch 

 be a little careful hereafter.— JV"cr« Era. 



That's right Master Era ; give them ' 'Jesse. ' ' 

 It is just such exaggerations that damn any 

 enterprise. The expectations that are stim- 

 ulated under them never being realizable, the 

 cultivator abandons them with disgust, when 

 a little perseverance, and contentment with a 

 fair and reasonable yield, would ultimately 

 build up a profitable business. There are a 

 few things standing in the way of profitable 

 beet culture in Pennsylvania, but these cannot 

 be displaced by theoretical misrepresentation. 

 Farmers want/oc«s, such facts as will serve as 

 a foundation upon which a safe superstructure 

 can be built with some degree of confidence, 

 by those who intend to go into the business of 

 beet culture for the manufacture of beet 

 sugar. No cause can be permanently helped 

 by promising such "great expectations." 

 Take counsel of "Old Morns 3Iidticaulus." 



THE COAL-BUG. 



"The Professor (Hcchelmyer) said that 

 some dealers had become aware of the exist- 

 ence of the bug, and intended to advance the 

 price of coal to large figures this winter." 



Somebody sent usja copy by mail of the Phila- 

 delphia Daily Becord containing two articles 

 with imposing headings (sensational and doubt- 

 less intended to ''draw") descriptive of certain 

 organisms that are invisible to the naked eye, 

 and therefore only interesting to microscopists, 

 but which are represented as "dangerous." 

 The one relates to the invisiljle "inhabitants of 

 the air," or. Living and Fossil animals and 

 vegetables floating in the atmosphere, and 

 which have been floating there perhaps 

 for countless ages, and may continue to float 

 there for ages to come, for all that human, 

 agency can accomplish to prevent them. In 

 the present condition of the material universe 

 it would be difficult to find any material sub- 

 stance from which animal or vegetable life 

 could not be evolved, and therefore these in 

 visible atomic existences may be regarded as 

 the substance from whie.h the visible is de- 

 veloped, and will continue to be developed, as 



long as organic life remains, if they are not 

 the media of all livint? manifestations in their ' 

 complex forms, and therefore matters of j 

 course, without being necessarily alarming^ 

 except so far as a redundancy of certain com- ' 

 binations may be the causes of animal and { 

 vegetable infectous diseases; contingencies j 

 that are beyond human ken to prevent. 



The other article relates to a certain insect 

 [Cimex tt?if/iraatiis) purporting to have been 

 the "remarkable discovery of Professor Hec 

 ehnyer,^^ illustrating "how anthracite 

 are being devastated, coal piles depleted, 

 human life^ threatened. ' ' Cimex anthracite 

 as its name indicates, must be a Hemipierom 

 insect, and allied to the common Bed-bug. 

 The Heniiptera, it is well known, to Entomol- 

 ogists at least, are all suctorial, or haustillat- 

 ed insects, and must therefore take their food 

 in a liquid form. This being the case, what 

 fluid sul)statice could they imbibe from coal? 

 or, how could they possibly perforate or bore 

 into such a substance as stone-coalV The story 

 savors of the fragrance of the celebrated 

 "moon-hoax " by Locke, of New York, about 

 five and forty years ago. If true, what arc 

 you going to do about it? What can be done 

 —what is necesnary to be done? May thes^ 

 animalculse (they can hardly be insects) not 

 the media through which vegetable matter i 

 transmuted into coal — in short, coal itself-j 

 living coal; and if so, all we can do, is wh 

 we are daily doing, namely, burn them. Ho 

 do we know that coal would contain any li 

 uitable or heating substance without them' 

 If they are down in the coal masses in count 

 less millions, accessible only to coal — begin 

 ning and ending in coal — may they not, lil 

 the "coral insect," be the very means throng] 

 which coal is developed? Finally, may i 

 the paragraph we have quitted above, be tb 

 bottom of the whole story? 



WHAT DOES DEW COME FROM! 



We are enlightened. The general belief ii 

 that the soil obtains water from the air 

 night by absorption and condensation to SU' 

 extent as to be of the "utmost agrieultura 

 value," and that in times of drought this mois 

 ture of the air invigorates and sustains plauti 

 which otherwise would perish. The observa 

 tions of Prof Stoekbridge show the soil, from 

 May to November, both at the surface and 

 five inches deep, to be warmer than the air; it 

 is. hardly possible that the moisture on the 

 surface in the morning was deposited from th« 

 air. A more reasonable conclusion is that th 

 vapor which rises from the surface is con- 

 densed as it comes in contact with the cold 

 air. The phenomenon of so-called "dew fall' 

 is usually attributed to the supposed fact that 

 soil and plants are colder than the air at nighl 

 aud so condense its moisture, in the form 

 "dew." The "dew" on the ice-pitcher is the 

 common illustration to prove the theory; but 

 as we have seen, the conditions in this case 

 are the reverse of those with soil and plant, 

 which are both warmer than the air at night, 

 while the ice-piteher is colder. Further in- 

 vestigations were made in the study of this 

 question. A tin-box, without top or bottom, 

 was filled with soil aiKl placed in growing 

 grass ; the next morning the grass was loaded 

 with dew, but not a trace appeared on the 

 box, and the temperature of the soil was six 

 ty-six degrees, and of the air sixty degrees 

 This experiment was repeated many times 

 with the same results. Then a loose tin cover 

 was placed on the box in the morning the top 

 of the cover was dry, but the under side was-^ 

 thickly studded with drops of water— dew. 



"i 



