1882 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



' AID AND COMFORT." 



A (lisiiiignished editorial contemporary, in 

 reviewing lli(^ present stutus and tlie past pro- 

 grehs of his journal, very sjijniliitantly remarks: 

 "Thai our labors have been duly appreciated 

 is shown by tlie assistance we have had from 

 the able and progressive men and women who 

 have contributeil their l)est thoui;lits to its 

 pa^'cs, and liy their kindly and zealous efforts 

 continuously put forth for the exteusion of its 

 circulation." 



Any publication that is fortunate enough 

 to realize the foregoing text, cnmes within tlie 

 possibility of ultimate success ; for, single 

 handed and alone, either a publisher or an 

 editor, "can do nothing. " ^'Vaiitty, i.s the 

 spice of life," which adds interest tea journal, 

 especially when that variety consists of the 

 "best tlioughts" of zealous and intelligent 

 men and women contributors. The Lancas- 

 ter Faiimeii has been long enough before the 

 public to entitle it to the inediumHhip of the 

 best thoughts of the agriculturists of Lancas- 

 ter county, and that it is, not so is one of the 

 things that is incomprehensible to those who 

 reside beyond its borders. With perhaps a 

 single exception, the Lan'casteu Faiimek 

 has lived longer than any other agricultural 

 paper ever published in Peuusylvania. There 

 is not a more convenient, a safer, or a more 

 permanent recorder of the best thoughts of the 

 people of the county and the State, than is to 

 be found betwetn the covers of the Fakmek ; 

 and the citizens of the county had "better be- 

 lieve it." There is as much agricultural, 

 mechanical, professional and scientific thought 

 — and as much of the substances upon which 

 thought exercises itself— iu Lancaster county, 

 as in any other county in the State, and our 

 local journal is the book in which they should 

 be recorded and transmitted to posterity. The 

 text we quote above, is the language of an 

 octogenerian, who has occupied the chair 

 editorial for more than half a century, and he 

 virtually acknowledges that his success is due 

 to the assistance which he has received from 

 contributors and canvassers of both sexes. It 

 is the same with every i)eriodical publication 

 in the land. The greatest flow of tliought 

 must come from other sources than the minds 

 of their editors only, or they will lack that 

 flavor which renders thcra agreeable to the 

 public. 



HOW DO EELS BREED.' 



In the Neil) Era of December 10, I saw a 

 communication, signed by Mr. William Neal, 

 of Port Deposit, in reference to the ef?-ft?Tf(ifm/ 

 question, and as we can develoji facts oft- 

 times by agitating such subjects on which we 

 are not thoroughly familiar, 1 would respect- 

 fully ask to be admitted to your columns on 

 this subject. His theory accords perfectly 

 with mine, that eels breed like other fish, but 

 I cannot believe the lamprey to be the female 

 eel — that is, the eel which is caught so exten- 

 sively in the Susquehanna. I have spent my 

 early boyhood on the banks of the Susque- 

 hanna, and have played at its water's edge 

 many a summer's day, gathering shells of 

 the fre.sh water mollusca and watching the 

 tiny fishes disport themselves in its limpid 

 waters. 



One morning some time in Jlay, I cannot, 

 xmfortunately, fix the date, I noticed a black 

 line along the shore, which proved to be a 

 host of small eels migrating up the river. A 

 few years after that I noticed them again, but 

 they did not continue so long a.« the first time, 



when they occupied a full day and night in 

 passing, some straggling along the next day 

 at eight o'clock. This, then, proves to me 

 that I hey migrate, and do not breed in the 

 upiKT waters of the river. 



Now, then, an experiment which was made 

 in my presence by my mother proved to me 

 that they have ('!/;/s / We took of that sub- 

 stance which an eel contains, and is usually 

 called fat by fishermen, and frietl it, and it 

 yielded no oil as the fat of other fishes does, 

 which proved to my mind that it is Ihcornriuin 

 and not fat, but the eggs are so small that 

 they are not recognized by the naked eye. 



From the above, I infer that the eels breed 

 in the deep waters of the b.ay in the mud, and 

 in the spring ascend the river to grow, and in 

 the fall they descend again to deposit their 

 eggs in the mud of the bay. It seems to me 

 that nature itself proves that the lamprey is 

 not tlie female, as but very few were caught, 

 possibly no more than three, during the six- 

 teen years I si>ent at the river, while as many 

 as 50U eels were caught by us in one night in 

 pots in the Turkey Hill falls, which, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Neal's theory, would have been all 

 males ! In all other forms of life the sexes are 

 nearly equal in the numbers of the males and 

 females, but in the eels the disparity would 

 be too great. I would refer Mr. Neal to an 

 able article , by Dr. Rathvon in the Deceml)er 

 number of the Lnncnslcr Fanner, in which 

 the eel question is thoroughly ventilated. — JS. 

 K. Hershei/, CresweU, Dec. li), 1881. 



In the New Era of December 21, 1881, I 

 noticed a very sensible article from E. K. 

 Hershey on the subject of eels, their migra- 

 tions and breeding habits, etc., in which he 

 alludes to a communication from Mr. Wil- 

 liam Neal, of Port Deposit, which, it appears, 

 was published in the New Era of December 

 10. Somehow that communication entirely 

 escaped my observation, nor could I And it in 

 that issue, although I looked for it after my 

 attention was called to it by Mr. Hershey 's 

 article. It a|)pears to me that nothing could 

 possibly be more absurd than that the lamprey 

 is the female of the common eel, and that 

 through her the race is perpetuated. The 

 lamprey is far removed from the common 

 eel. Between the AnguilUlcr., or eel family, 

 and the Petromyzonidce, or lamprey family, 

 there is a very wide difference both iu struc- 

 ture and haViit. The pipe fish, the sea horse, 

 the putTers, tne sun fishes, the trunk fishes, 

 tlie sturgeons, the dog fish, the sharks, the 

 threshers, the hammer-heads, the saw-lishes, 

 the I'ays and the torpedoes, are all families and 

 genera intermediate between the eels and the 

 lampreys. The common eel of the United 

 States is the Ant^idlla hostoniensis, and has the 

 dorsal and anal fins continuous around the end 

 of the tail, forming by their union a pointed 

 caudal extremity. They have also very con- 

 spicuously a paii; of pectoral fins, which are 

 entirely absent in the lamprey. Although the 

 latter has an irregular dorsal fin, it is desti- 

 tute of the anal fin, and the caudal termina- 

 tion is not iiointed but broad. The common 

 lamprey is the Pctromyzon Americanus. This 

 species has a maxillary ring armed with strong 

 teeth, and they attach them.selves to other 

 fishes. Many years ago I saw one nearly two 

 feet long attached to a large sucker that 

 had been caught in a shad seine in the Sus- 

 quehanna. I have also known hundreds of 

 the smaller ones to be dug out of the mud flats 

 of the Susquehanna, ojiposite Marietta, and 

 used as bait. The female lamprey is no more 

 the mother of the common eel than she is the 

 mother of the blacksnake, or the boa con- 



strictor, and it is a matter of surprise that any 

 one living near the bays and rivers of our 

 country should for a single moment entertain 

 such a fallacy. The (luestiou of eel breeding 

 must be decided without the aid of the 

 lamprey. 



EXCERPTS. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The gi'eat gray slug has a supply of 

 28,000 teeth. 



There are forty-six species of the English 

 cuckoo. 



DusTEiis were at first made of the tails of 

 oxen or foxes. 



The earliest mention of parks is among the 

 Persians. 



The leech has eight or ten eyes set in its 

 back near the head. 



Gauze is said to receive its name from Gaza, 

 in Palestine, where it was first made. 



The part of the hnman body which shows 

 the greatest variety of color is the iris of the 

 eye. 



The moon was pronounced by Anaxago- 

 ras, 500 B. C, to be an earth having moun- 

 tains and valleys. 



King Alfred used to measure time by a 

 device of twelve candles, graduated so as to 

 burn two hours each. 



The cochineal insect is very small, a pound 

 of cochineal being calculated to contain not 

 less than 70,000 in a dried state. 



A PECULIAR violet odor is emitted from 

 the males ot some species of Brazilian butter- 

 flies, the female being not at all fragrant. 



To neutralize the sting of gnats and mos- 

 quitos, English sportsmen rub the part affect- 

 ed with cerumen, or the wax of the ear. 



The fashion in men's hats changes far 

 more often in England, France, and America 

 than in other countries. The sombrero worn 

 in Don Quixote's time is in fashion in Spain 

 to-day. 



Within the past sixty years the value of 

 gold has fluctuated from 15i to 15| times 

 thatof silver, aver aging about loi time and 

 never falling so low as that of fifteen times 

 such value. 



Among the early Romans a kind of festi, 

 or annals, was kept by driving nails into the 

 wall of the Temple of Minerva; and in pub- 

 lic calamities, in time of pestilence, etc., a 

 nail was fastened in the Temple of Jupiter. 



Christian names are so called by having 

 been given to converts in baptism as substi- 

 tutes for their former pagan appellations, 

 many of which were borrowed from the 

 names of their gods, and were therefore re- 

 jected as profane. 



The institution of the "Order of the 

 Bath" originated in the custom of the Franks, 

 who, when they conferred knighthood, bathed 

 before they performed the ceremony, and 

 from this habit came the title Knight of the 

 Bath. 



A well-fed frog is more susceptible to poison 

 than one which has been fasted for weeks. 



Corals often permanently change color, 

 when subjected to different conditions of 

 living. 



