1882.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



We can't lie too nuidi on our giuml against 

 reactions, lest \vc rush from ono fault into 

 another contrary fault. 



Nothing so adorns the faco as chct^^'fiil- 

 ness. When the heart is in llower, its bloom 

 and beauty pass to the features. 



A wise man in the company of those who 

 are ignorant has beiui compared by the sages 

 to a beautiful girl m the company ofhlind 

 men. 



A person that would seciu'e to himself great 

 deference will, perhaps, gain his point by 

 silence as effectually as by anything he can 

 say. 



No school is more necessary to childr n 

 than patience, because either the will must 

 bo broken in childhood, or the heart in old 

 age. 



DOJIESTIC ECONOMY. 



Add all refuse matter to the compost 

 heap. 



English farmers use bone dust on pastures, 

 but prefer superphosphates for sown crops. 



The addition of charcoal in the soil dce]i- 

 ens the tint of dahlias, hyacinths and petunias. 



Scions, it is claimed, carry with them the 

 tearing year of the tree from which they were 

 taken. 



Shelter and warmth, with regularity in 

 feeding, are essential to success in the man- 

 agement of cattle. 



Clear the ground now on which you ex- 

 pect to put small fruit plants next year. Do 

 it thoroughly, too. 



All that you wish to know of any new 

 breeds of fowls will not be learned from those 

 who are anxious to sell them. 



Scrub sheep are dear even for no price at 

 all. On a good farm they are as bad as rusly 

 nails on a new house. 



Feed windbroken horses frequently and 

 little at a time. Grind the food. Give plenty 

 of salt and little water at a time. 



Teach your children not to aimoy or mal- 

 treat the toad. Try rather to coax him to 

 your garden. He will destroy many insects. 



A LITTLE grease or kerosene on the legs of 

 fowls will remove scabs in a short time. Two 

 applications are sometimes needed. 



As A partial antidote for drought, keep the 

 land rich, plow deeply, and cultivate as often 

 as possible. Cultivation always tells. 



On many farms there are some old cattle 

 and old sheep tiiat can only be kept at a loss. 

 It is economy to fatten them for the butcher. 



Those who have been feeding the surplus 

 fruit to hogs say that their stock are in excel- 

 lent and healthy condition. Fruit makes fine 

 sweet pork. 



Where the ground is infested with white 

 grubs it would be advisable to mix salt spar- 

 ingly with the soil before setting out straw- 

 berry plants. 



An offensive odor from decaying vegetables 

 will be absorbed by milk. A pair of old slvoes 

 or a pair of barnyard overalls in a cellar where 

 there is milk are likely to contaminate it. 



Put your stock in a good condition to stand 

 the winter by giving a little fodder of some 

 kind early in the morning. A slight breakfast 



of cornstalks or some other food will be great- 

 ly relished while (he air is cold and the grass 

 frozen. Colts, calves and lambs need particu- 

 lar attention at this season. 



A Connecticut farmer says that the butt 

 ends of potatoes and the kernels of corn fi'om 

 the butt ends of the ears, each produced 

 crops that were materially belter than where 

 the opposite course was pursued. In the case 

 of potatoes the stalks from the butt end were 

 much the larger and more forward at the first 

 hoeing. The increase in corn was .some twenty 

 per cent, in faTor of the butt end kernels. 



TiiE most profitable way to raise beef cattle 

 is to keep them constantly in a thrifty and im- 

 proving condition. It is not necessary to 

 keei) very young stock rolling in fat, but there 

 should always be an abundance of nutritious 

 food to help nature in its development. To 

 allow stock to run down in llesh and become 

 ill Conditioned, simply lieeanse it is not de- 

 signed for market for some time, is the height 

 of folly. 



OUR RESPONSIBILITY. 



We are not at all responsible for the non- 

 appearance of paiicrs read before the Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Society, in the 

 cDlumns of the liAxcASTEU Farmer, imless 

 immediately directed to us. Under present 

 circumstances, it is almost impossible for us 

 to attend a meeting, and very unfortunately 

 for us we cannot hear what is said and done 

 when we do attend, but we nevertheless feel, 

 and ever have felt, a deep interest in its wel- 

 fare ; hence, we never have said or done any- 

 thing, or intended to do anything prejudicial 

 to its standing and its usefulness in the com- 

 munity. The publisher of the Farmer sends 

 his reporter to the meethigs of thesociety, to 

 report its proceedings for his daily and weekly 

 papers, and when that part of the Farmer 

 (which we do not profess to control) is made 

 up, his foreman very naturally selects tlie pro- 

 ceedings found in the paper issued from the 

 same oflice. These are details that do not 

 belong to our specialty as editor. If any 

 member of the society discovers that the 

 papers he has read before it are omitted, 

 neglected, or suppressed, he must hold the 

 publisher, or rcjiortcr, or both, responsible, 

 and not the editor, for wo can under no cir- 

 cumstances be held accountable for that 

 which has never come into our po.ssession. 

 Any intelligent person who reads the pros- 

 pectus of the Farmer will find that all com- 

 munications, contributions and essays should 

 be sent to the editor, and all subscriptions, 

 advertisements and business matters to the 

 publisher, in order to insure attention. 



The charge against us in the i>roceedings of 

 the last meeting, under the caption of '"In- 

 sects," (which, by the way, is like the play 

 of Hamlet, with the part of Hamlet left out) 

 is a disingenuous one, and entirely foreign to 

 the character we thought we had been en- 

 deavoring to cultivate ; and the author of the 

 charge is consciously or unconsciously exer- 

 cising himself unnecessarily on our account. 

 So far as the matter relates to ourself indi- 

 vidually, we attach little or no importance to 

 it ; but the attribution to us of motives which 

 we never for a single moment entertained, 

 and the feeble attempt to create the impres- 



sion that we have been acting prejudicially to 

 the interests, the edification, and the dignity 

 of the society, imposes upon us the necessity 

 of making this exi>lanation — especially as the 

 association is one of those with which we have 

 been identified from its very origin, and which 

 we have always esteemed. 



EDIBLE FUNGI. 



Tlic Ijoiik on the Fuiuji of the United States 

 has not yet been written, it seems — at least, 

 it has not yet been published — and especially 

 the bonk on the edible funyi. Such a book is 

 needed, but po.ssibly the enterprise of publish- 

 ing it "would not pay." On the night of the 

 3d of November, 1881, a fungus sprung up in 

 our garden nearly twelve inches in height, 

 belonging to the order Agaraclm, which 

 diflered from any we had Ijefore noticed. The 

 pilnts, or hood, was tall bell-shaped — nearly a 

 cone — flaring a little at the bottom, which 

 was surrounded with a broad fringe, and was 

 nearly six inches in height. The gills, inside, 

 were of a puriilish rown in color, and rather 

 finer than the common species. The stock or 

 stem was over ten inches high and tapered to 

 the top, and the pileus was so delicately 

 poised on its upper point, that the least draft 

 of air caused an active oscillation. The color, 

 externally, was a tarnished white, and the 

 surface of the pileus was covered with fiae 

 fibers, gathered in tufts, giving it the appear- 

 ance of disordered plush. The diameter at 

 open mouth of the pileus was .3] inches. 

 After we first discovered it, it did not increase 

 any in size, and we let it remain three days 

 before we took it up, and then only to pre- 

 vent it from freezing, as the weatherhad sud- 

 denlv changed to cold. AVe referred a draw- 

 ing of it to Professor Farlow, of Cambridge, 

 Mass., and he kindly determined it for us as 

 Coprinus comatus, and further informed us 

 that it was excellent when cooked. And 

 there is just the "rub," for doubtless we have 

 many edible fungi in our country, if we only 

 could tell "tother from which." 



Many long years ago, when large districts 

 in our county (that are now cultivated 

 meadows and fields) were woodlands, we were 

 familiar with a white .species of fungus, which 

 was commonly called "pipe-stems," because 

 they grew in clusters, or bunches, from six 

 to a dozen grouped together, and bent at top 

 like a common white clay pipe. These were 

 gathered by a few knowing families, cooked, 

 and much relished. But the people generally 

 did not trust them, although the common 

 "Mushroom" {A(jaricm eanqjestris) and the 

 "Morell" or "Mauricle" {Morchella esculanti) 

 were in very common use. 



We have now before us a catalogue of the 

 "Pacific Coast Fungi," giving a list of the 

 si)ecies systematically arranged, their locali- 

 ties, their authorities, and the simple fact of 

 the edible species, together with their techni- 

 cal names, without any descriptions whatever. 

 This catalogue is published under the auspices 

 of the California Academy of Sciences, and 

 is, perhaps, the first attempt of the kind in 

 this country. 



The catalogue includes 759 species, only 61 

 of which are edible; but even this is an im- 

 mense number, compared with the popular 

 knowledge on the subject. It is not claimed 



