184 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[December, 



possibly not make as vigorous a plant as if no 

 weevil had previously infested it, but we have 

 planted scores of such seeds, and never knew 

 "which was which" by their growth. But 

 the Btan-weevil is somewhat different, and 

 perhaps net more than two beans out of ten In- 

 fested by it would grow. We have seen ten to 

 twelve issue from one seed, and when they 

 had vacated it the residue was as soft and as 

 porous as a sponge. This insect is said to 

 have been introduced into this country from 

 England or the continent of Europe. It was 

 first discovered in this county about seven 

 years'ago by Mrs. P. E. Gibbons, of Bird-in- 

 Hand, who had received some beans from a 

 friend in Massachusetts, and that friend had 

 received some beans infested by them, a year 

 previously, from the Agricultural Department 

 at "Washington, D. C. Por the manner of 

 propagation we refer the reader to an article 

 on the subject, published in The Farmer 

 for October, 1881, on page 148, relating to the 

 "Honey-Locust Seed Weevil," which belongs 

 to a different genus, but in the same family 

 (CuRCULiONiDiE). The only method to de- 

 stroy them now is to destroy the beans. 



PIPING MOSQUITOES. 



Mr. B. L. O., C , Pa.— The insects you 



refer to are doubtless genuine "Piping Mos- 

 quitoes" [Culex pipiens) "bad cess to them 

 anyhow." It is not remarkable to find lively 

 mosquitoes in November, for we have fre- 

 quently seen tliem in every month of the year. 

 After mosquitoes have pupated, they are 

 ready for their final evolution at any moment 

 when and where there is sufficient heat to vivi- 

 ify them. The larva or the pupa may be frozen 

 in a solid block of ice : and yet, after the ice 

 melts, it only requires a few degress above the 

 freezing point to enable them to evolve. Mos- 

 quitoes seem to be like seeds, or flower and 

 leaf buds, ever ready to develop, as soon as 

 favorable circumstances supervene. Hence, 

 we have buds foliating, flowers blooming and 

 mosquitoes evolving in mid-winter, if sur- 

 rounding circumstances are favorable. There 

 are many species of the order Diptera that 

 are equally hardy. We liave noticed hun- 

 dreds of " Pearl-flies "* (Perto) coming up 

 through the fissures of disintegrating ice 

 very early in the spring — February, Marcli 

 and April — when it must still liave been 

 pretty cold where they came from. If we 

 sliould have an open winter, you may find a 

 few mosquitoes in every month, if the tem- 

 perature is warm enougli to breed them. 



CONTRIBUTIONS. 



FOR The Lancaster Farmer. 

 THE PERSIMMON. 

 This fruit is known over the Middle and 

 Southern States ; but, perliaps, not known at 

 all in England or in the Northern States — at 

 least I have seen persons from Western New 

 York who never saw one in that part of the 

 State. It is known Soutli as far as Savannah, 

 Georgia, and perhaps farther South, so that it 

 might almost be considered a kind of semi- 

 tropical fruit. Varieties of it are common to 

 Japan, and have been brought here from 

 there. By some they are reported to stand 

 our winter climate almost as well as our 

 native species. Some of the Japan varieties 



*A Nsuropterous Insect. 



are claimed to be more delicious than our 

 native species. I tried the Japan persimmon 

 and did not succeed, so I have to report it a 

 failure with me. But it is not necessary to go 

 to Japan or to China, when we have some of 

 the best native varieties in the Southern 

 States, and such as will stand our climate, 

 and quite as prolific as the foreign fruit. I 

 have now growing/our different native varie- 

 ties. One came from Mr. Samuel Miller, of 

 Bluffton, Missouri. They commence to ripen 

 in the middle of September ; they are very 

 delicious, and fully one-half oi them are en- 

 tirely seedless. Some of them would fill a 

 hole two inches in diameter. I saw a lady 

 who lives in Kansas, on the Verdigris river, 

 about twenty-five miles from the Indian 

 Territory, who informed me that the persim- 

 mon grew native on that stream, and some of 

 them commence to ripen on the loth of August. 

 They are very large and much better than 

 our native Pennsylvania fruit. I received 

 grafts of a new kind, not before known, some 

 seven or eight years ago. I grafted on one of 

 our local trees that was barren. One graft 

 grew, and that limb bore two hundred per- 

 simmons, all of one size, nearly two inches in 

 diameter, and of superior quality. It is, there- 

 fore, unnecessary to be wasting time with the 

 Japanese fruit. We have them at home, in 

 the United States, if we only go to the trouble 

 to reproduce and improve what nature has 

 furnished us within our own country. I 

 really believe that our best persimmons in the 

 Southern States would be fully as good as 

 those of Japan, if we gave them proper atten- 

 tion and good cultivation— such as is usually 

 bestowed upon foreign fruit. — L. S. R. 



Selections. 



THE GREAT GRAIN SPECULATION, OR 

 -CRAZE," OF iSSi. 



Never before, in this country, or in any 

 other, has there been anything at all compara- 

 ble to present speculation, rather ' ' gamb- 

 ling," in Wheat, Corn, and Oats, and in Hog 

 Products. This gambling spirit has taken po- 

 session of large masses of people, and extends 

 from the great dealers who handle or bet on 

 tens of millions of bushels, down through all 

 ranks, to the hotel waiter who puts up his 

 week's wages as a " margin " on the pur- 

 chase of a single hundred bushels. 



So great is the present rage of this kind of 

 speculation, that on some days sales reach 

 tens of millions of bushels. On one day (Oct. 

 1) the " deliveries " of grain, on previous con- 

 tracts, were reported at 32,000,000 bushels in 

 Chicago alone ! 



This speculation has demoralized the whole 

 trade. The "bulls" have run up prices so 

 high as to nearly stop exports. On October 1 

 the "visible supply" of wheat, that is, 

 wheat in the elevator and storehouses and in 

 transit amounted 41,203,648 bushels. Last 

 year at the same time there were only 37,099,- 

 745 bushels, showing more available wheat 

 now than one year ago, though prices are 

 full 40 per cent, higher. Nearly the same of 

 corn, the " visible supply " being nearer 27,- 

 049,173 bushels; last year 28,289,298 bushels. 



The increased price, produced largely by 

 speculation, is beneficial to all those producers 

 able to get their grain to market while these 



high rates prevail. But it is deranging almost 

 all other business very greatly. Money is 

 drawn in immense sums, from the banks and 

 from all other legitimate business, to supply 

 the "margins," or to carry the stocks actually 

 purchased and held by speculators. 



Exporting being at a stand still, the inflow 

 of foreign money we should have, is nearly 

 stopped, and European buyers are seeking 

 supplies in all other parts of the world. 



The high speculative prices are greatly di- 

 minishing the consumption, and this alone 

 must, ere long bring about a' decline. The 

 laboring classes are compelled to pay much 

 higher rates for their daily food, the advances 

 mainly going into the hands of the specula- 

 tors. Labor must therefore advance, and 

 this in turn increases the cost of manufac- 

 ture and of all products of labor. 



Of course every speculator, large and small, 

 expects to sell out before any great decline 

 shall come, and the shrewder ones will do so, 

 leaving the great mass to bear the brunt of 

 the loss. 



Clear-headed businessmen now greatly fear 

 that in the future, perhaps the very near fu- 

 ture, a crash will come that will derange the 

 whole business of the country. 



To the oft-repeated question from our read- 

 ers : "Shall we sell now, or hold on?" we can 

 only, answer, that a good general rule is to 

 sell whenever ready; get the money: pay up 

 debts, and keep in as snug and safe a condi- 

 tion as possible. To sell, or hold on for change 

 of prices, is to speculate on great uncertainty. 

 One half of the speculators, who makes a 

 business of studying the prospects — viz., the 

 sellers for future delivery— believe prices will 

 fiill. The other half of them— the buyers- 

 believe grain, etc., will go higher, from natu- 

 ral causes, or that they can "corner" the 

 supplies, and put up the rates. The outlook 

 would seem to be that, while speculative in- 

 fluences may sustain or even advance prices 

 temporarily, there can hardly be a demand 

 for all the grain, etQ. Consumers both at 

 home and abroad will necesssarily curtail their 

 purchases very materially, and these high 

 rates will call out supplies from other sources 

 not usually drawn upon.— American Agricul- 

 turist. 



PROPER CULTURE OF POTATOES. 



The past season has been an excellent one 

 for testing potatoes, having been hot and dry, 

 just- the reverse of what is conceded to be 

 the demand of this crop. The usual shallow 

 planting— two or three inches deep, thus ex- 

 posing the tuber to heat of the sun and 

 drouth — has proved to be a failure. That 

 which always happens in shallow planting, 

 and especially in a hot season like the past, 

 is that a large proportion of tubers protrude 

 through the soil and are spoiled bj the sun. 

 These appear in market here in greater pro- 

 portion this year than usual. They are of 

 course worthless and unhealthy. The rest lack 

 in quality, and will deteriorate more and 

 more with age; rot and the eflect of the sun 

 co-operating. Few sorts if any are exempt. 

 It is in a moist season, which is also a cool 

 one, that the potato does best, increasing the 

 size and number of its specimens. Are we 

 then to depend upon such seasons alone for 

 success. It is for this reason more than any 



