THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



181 



his same booty again. lie does not ^^mcml)CI• 

 to liave ever seen it before ; he looks around 

 to see which is not the way home, grabs liis 

 bundle and .starts ; he goes through the same 

 adventures lie had before ; finally stops to 

 rest, and a friend comes along. Evidently 

 the friend remarks that a last year's grass- 

 hopper leg is a very noble acquisition, and 

 inquires where he got it. Evidently the pro- 

 prietor does not remember exactly where lie 

 did get it, but thinks he got it "around here 

 somewhere." Evidently the friend contracts 

 to help him freight it home. Then with a 

 judgment peculiarly antic, (pun not inten- 

 tional) they take hold of opposite ends of the 

 grasshopper leg and begin to tug with all 

 their might in opposite directions. Presently 

 they take a rest and confer together. They 

 decide that something is wrong, they can't 

 make out what. Then they go at it again, 

 just as before. Same result. Mutual re- 

 crimination follows. Evidently each accuses 

 the other of being an obstructionist. They 

 warm up, and the dispute ends in a fight. 

 They lock themselves together, and chew 

 each other's jaws for a while ; then they roll 

 and tumble on the ground till one loses a 

 horn or a leg and has to haul ofl' for repairs. 

 They make up and go to work again in tlie 

 same old insane way, but the cripple ant is a I 

 a disadvantage ; tug as he may, the other 

 one drags off the boOly and him at the end of it. 

 Instead of giving up, he hangs on, and gets 

 his shins bruised against every obstacle that 

 comes in the way. By and by, when that 

 grasshopper leg has been dragged all over 

 the same old ground once more, it is finally 

 dumped on about the same spot where it 

 originally lay, the two perspiring ants in- 

 spect it thoughtfully and decide that iiried 

 grasshopper legs are a poor sort of property 

 after all, aud then each starts off in a differ- 

 ent direction to see if he can't find an old 

 nail or something else that is heavy enough to 

 afford entertainment and at the same time 

 valueless enough to make an ant want to own 

 it." And more to the same effect, but this is 

 sufficient. 



Whether the foregoing is merely a fancy 

 sketch or not, there doubtless are many 

 country raised boys who have often seen ap- 

 proximations to it. We have seen the ant 

 trying to push or pull the dried wing of a 

 grasshopper through an aperture hardly large 

 enough for the ant's body to pass through, 

 when,:, if jt had just moved it within three 

 inches on either side it would have found 

 openings large enough to admit an object of 

 twice its bulk: but no, it must go through just 

 there or not all. As to the strategy of the ants 

 in their encounter with the " Sand-hornet," 

 Prof. Riley relates a case where one of these 

 huge wasps (we boys used to call them "Lo- 

 cust Killers ") finding a cicada (these we called 

 "Summer Locusts," or "Dog-day Locusts") 

 too heavy to bear ofl to its c(;ll, it dragged it 

 (the cicada) up the trunk of a tree until it 

 reached a limb, and then drag it out to 

 the end of said limb, and from thence make 

 an inclined B line, and land within a few 

 feet of the entrance of its subteranean 

 burrow. Seeing that it could do all this, it 

 seems a little singular that it could not carry 

 off the one, two, or three ants, as related in 

 our extract. The reason perhaps is that the 



ants were the intrepid aggressors and seized 

 the hornet, instead of the hornet seizing the 

 ants. It makes a mighty difference whether 

 you capture an Indian or an Indian captures 

 you. In regard to the providence of the ant 

 we found out that that was a sham already in 

 our boyhood, especially so far asjt related to 

 the storing of wheat as food. It is true, that 

 in rupturing an ant's ne.st, we could have 

 sworn that we saw the ants seize grains of 

 wheat and carry them to a place of safety. 

 But on one occasion we found the grains 

 white like rice, and yet the locality was so 

 remote that they could not possibly have been 

 rice ; so we tested them and found them soft 

 and yielding, and on oi)ening them we foimd 

 a little white worm within. On further in- 

 vestigation we found these apparent wheat 

 grains contained little tender white ants 

 seemingly dead ; but we still did not know 

 them as cocoons, and their inhabitants as the 

 larvcB and impm of the ants. But as before 

 stated, there are some species of ants that ex- 

 hibit a wonderfully intelligent instinct in 

 their structures, their social economies, their 

 governmental order, and their general habits. 

 Their industry, of course, is unquestionable, 

 but this relates mainly to the building of 

 their cells, and supplying theni.selves and their 

 young with food, a characteristic that belongs, 

 more or less, to all insects. 



EXCERPTS. 

 A New York farmer, who is also a practi- 

 cal sheep grower, gives the following as a sure 

 cure for grub in sheep : Turn into each nos- 

 tril of the animal affected half a teaspoouful 

 of kerosene oil. 



Young pigs just weaned are sometimes 

 over-fed in the desire to give them enough. 

 When their sides distend they have too much. 

 Hogs should not be over-fed just because they 

 are hogs. 



Sweet oil and kerosene mixed, well stirred, 

 will free a colt or horse of lice. Horses are 

 not often troubled in this way, but they will 

 be when the hen-roost is too close to their 

 stalls. 



A Southern gentleman, writing to an i x- 

 change, says that he has found by experience 

 that if a plank, not less than two feet acro.ss, 

 is whitewashed on both sides and fastened in 

 the ground, rabbits will not come within twenty 

 yards or more of it. 



Keep fighting and destroying insect ene- 

 mies. 



Don't use too much .seed if you drill in 

 wheat. 



To keep seed from'mice, mix some pieces of 

 camphor with the seeds. 



Mr. Aufred Smith, of Moimiouth, Me., 

 says he can graft in every month of the year 

 and have the trees do well. 



A GOOD mulch is a better preventive against 

 drought than watering 



The bulbs of the tuberose never bloom but 

 once. They require a sandy soil. 



An exchange says that wild peppermint 

 scattered around in corn cribs, etc., will keep 

 the rats away. 



With regard to the gait of farm horses the 

 Western AyricuUurist remarks that that the 

 walking gait is of all gaits the one to be en- 



couraged. A horse can walk five miles an 

 hour, and has done it. Such a horse is worth 

 more than Maud .S., St. Julien and Bonner's 

 team all put together ; he would )irobably 

 walk to San Francisco quicker than either of 

 them could trot there. 



The small Yorkshire hogs are said to be 

 serviceable for crossing with our common 

 coarse hogs, a very useful and easily-fattened 

 animal being the result. 



Ix applying manure sec that it is fine and 

 well composed if you want quick results from 

 it. Then, too, for grain or grass it can be 

 applied at the suface and harrowed in. 



If the cucumber which grows nearest the 

 root be saved for a numl)er of years the result 

 will be a smaller and earlier variety. If the 

 fruit on the extremity be saved it will make a 

 larger and later variety.— Farmers'' Uonie 

 Journal. 



Pluji trees planted in the poultry runs 

 will he kept free from the ravages of the cur- 

 cuUo, and will also afford the shade so neces- 

 sary to fowls. 



Save the se->ds of such things as sweet 

 corn, squa.sh, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, 

 onions, Ijeets, parsnips, cabbage; you can by 

 careful selection obtain better seed than you 

 can buy. This is said with due regard to the 

 seed dealers and seed raLsers, and to whom 

 gardeners are indebted largely for new and 

 oftentimes choice varieties of vegetables. 



It is thirty per cent, more profitable to 

 pre-mature and dispose of fattening cattle at 

 two years old, than to keep them up to thrc^ 

 years. 



In all cases a cow should be milked regu- 

 larly and stripped quite clean. No doubt 

 this has much to do in forming good milking 

 tribes of cattle, by encouraging the milk 

 giving organs as far as possible. 



Thyme will grow almost anywhere, but it 

 prefers a dry, jioor soil. If the ground is rich, 

 the plant will grow too luxuriant aiid lose its 

 aromatic qualities. 



Grain for eggs and soft foods for fiesh is 

 the conclusion in respect to profitable poultry 

 keeping reached by Mr. L. Wright, the well- 

 known English authority. " Every country," 

 he says, in the London Live Slock Journal, 

 " which gives great attention to poultry for 

 table adopts soft food." 



The wire-worm lives live yeare, and 

 changes its skin three times during this period. 

 It next appears jis a snap-lieetle to propagate 

 its species. 



Mulching grapevines with cornstalks, 

 straw or grass will help them to withstand 

 drought. If necessary they should be watered. 

 English farmers have l)een very successful 

 in growing wheat by the aid of i)eat charcoal 

 as a fertilizer, using at the rate of 600 pounds 

 to the acre. 



The stings of bees, wasps, yellow jackets, 

 hornets, etc., are not only painful, but with 

 some persons may be dangerous. If you can 

 see the stins, extract it with tweezers, or by 

 pressing a watch key over it. Apply soda, 

 hartshorn, sweet oil, whisky or cologne. If 

 there is depression, give stimulants. 



Swamp muck is of little value for pot 

 plants. Leaf-mold mixed with the loam taken 



