84 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[June, 



true an abundant harvest of hay, corn and 

 pignuts will follow them just as a shadow fol- 

 lows its substance. To Venuor himself, it 

 may be no prophecy nor intended as such, but 

 simply a mathematical conclusion, as tmoe 

 2 are 4. 



CADDICE FLIES. 



An Insect that Walls Itself Up. 



In answer to an inquiry ^made of him, our 

 leained scientiiic friend. Dr. Kathvou, writes 

 as follows : 



W. U. Hensel, 'Esq.— Dear Sir: Tlie curi- 

 ous little worms, enclosed in a gravel-covered 

 follicle, which you and your editorial com- 

 panions recently observed in a spring in 

 Franklin county, are commonly called ''cad- 

 dice worms" or -'case worms," and are the 

 larva of a Neuropterous (nerve-winged) in- 

 sect, commonly called "caddice Hies," of 

 which there are various species, the most 

 common of which, perhaps in this latitude is 

 the Phryganea Cinerea of Mr. Walker. They 

 are tolerably abundant in nearly all the 

 springs throughout Ijancaster county, especi- 

 ally the southern portion of it, as Gen. Stein- 

 man some years ago sent me a large number 

 from a spring on his farm in JMartic township. 

 Most likely, however, it may be the Pkryanea 

 Semifaciata of ]Mr. Say. Species cannot be 

 determined without having the specimens of 

 the mature insect. These are four-winged 

 flies, from 23 to 28 millimeters in length, and 

 from ii to o2 in alar-expansion, which means 

 from tip to tip of the expanded wings. Tlie 

 general characters are long antenna, com- 

 pressed body, wings longer than the body, 

 nerved longitudinally with a few transverse 

 veins, and generally of a grayish, brownish 

 and blackish color, but not very brilliant. 

 Their flight is sluggish and they are usually 

 found near ponds, streams and springs of 

 water, iu which the larvieor worms are found. 

 Their development is very interesting. The 

 female fly deposits her eggs either on the 

 water or on some plant or other object in the 

 water, and as soon as the young worm issues 

 from the egg it seeks the bottom of the pool 

 and begins to construct a sort of oblong cocoon 

 out of finely spun silk or webbing, and as the 

 tjody of the insect increases in size it in- 

 creases the length and diameter of its case, 

 incorporating with it, on its outer surface, 

 small particles of whatever it may find on 

 the bottom of the pool or spring ; if sandy it 

 will be covered with tlie larger grains of sand 

 or gravel. But if such material is not at 

 hand it will u.se small portions of leaves, leaf 

 stems. Wood, or anything it can conveniently 

 appropriate. 



The fly makes its appearance annually in 

 June, July and August, according to species or 

 other circum.stauces, but their lives are short ; 

 during the larger part of the year (ten mouths 

 or more) they are found in the water, in the 

 form of case or caddice worms. As a fly they 

 eat nothing, but the worm feeds on vegeta- 

 tion — Algea, etc. — Intelligencer. 



EGGS. 



"Hens in France produced $300,000,000 

 worth of eggs last year." 



This is, perhaps, the most e^ys-traordinary 

 eyj-saraple of ((/y-culture in fyys-istence, and 

 ought to be tyyjj-tended with literal cggs-act- 

 ness to all places cyr/s-posed to contingent eggs- 

 igencies, without cggs-ceptmn. 



Punning aside, the above-quoted paragraph 

 is only another practical illustration of "La 

 Belle France" in the role of oviculture, and is 

 intensely Freneh; manifesting economical re- 

 sources in a domestic production which wt, 

 and other nations, are only beginning to see, 

 iu a commercial sense. There is more profit 

 and tevver vicissitudes in the production of 

 small things than there is in greater things. 



An egg may be regarded as a condensed 

 cliicken, containing all the nutritive elements 

 that are to be found in a fully-developed fowl, 

 differing only in a quantity, the quality of the 

 former being decidedly superior. 



Estimating those $300 000,000 worth of eggs 

 at twenty cents per dozen (which is a pretty 

 high figure for France, where, 'tis said, a good 

 dinner can be obtained for ten cents) shows 

 the product to have been 1,500,000,000 dozens, 

 or 18,000,000,000 of eggs, in a country not 

 four times larger than Pennsylvania, without 

 special reference to domestic consumption, a 

 matter that is seldom taken an account of by 

 producers. 



'Tis also said that that prolific nationality 

 has one hundred and thirty-two ways of cook- 

 ing an egg, and perhaps the object in produc- 

 ing so many eggs is to further duplicate their 

 modes of. culinary preparation. In any event, 

 lot our oviculturists keep the foregoing before 

 them as a text in their efforts in that direction. 

 Perhaps it would be well to import French 

 chickens, for surely they must be of the "Old 

 Grimes" stock of "Buuties," that "every 

 day laid me an egg and Sunday she laid 

 three." Eggs-it. 



OUR CROPS. 



The readers of the Farmer are respectful- 

 ly referred to the proceedings of our local 

 society for an epitome of the crop reports 

 from the different parts of Lancaster county ; 

 from which it will be seen that there is a 

 tolerable, although not an entire uniformity. 

 We prefer to let our farmers speak for them- 

 selves upon a subject about which they ought 

 to know more than those who do not possess 

 their experimental knowledge. There seems, 

 however, to be a general opinion prevailing 

 that just now (June 12) there never was a bet- 

 ter prospect before of an " A, No. 1 " crop of 

 wheat — not a bad field of wheat in the county. 

 We hope their most sanguine anticipations 

 may be fully realized. 



EXCERPTS. 



In choosing a cow the crumply horn is a 

 good indication ; a full eye another. Her 

 head should be small and short. Avoid the 

 Roman nose; this indica'es thin milk, and 

 but little of it. See that she is dished in the 

 facft, sunk between the eyes. Notice that she 

 is what stockmen call a handler — soft skin 

 and loose like the skin of a bag. Deep from 

 the loin to the udder, and very small tail. A 

 cow with these marks never fails to be a good 

 milker. There is more difference in cows 

 than is usually supposed, and but few really 

 good cows are offered in our markets. 



Prof. Cook says : "After several years' ex- 

 perience I have only one point on which to 

 discount the Light Brahma ; there is not 

 quite enough while meat. Brahmas should 

 be hatched in March and April ; then we 

 shall have abundant eggs during the succeed- 

 ing winter. Let no one who keeps light 

 Brahmas forego the important suggestion to 

 devote all their fowls to table use before they 

 pass their second birthday. 



Dogs are at present the chief obstacle to 

 sheep raising in Georgia. There are some- 

 thing like 120,000 worthless curs in the State, 

 and their fondness for illicit mutton leads to 

 an annual slaughter of from 30,000 to 40,000 



sheep. Sometimes entire flocks are killed. A 

 sweeping dog law would no doubt interfere 

 with 'possum hunting, but it would be worth 

 many thousands of dollars a year to the State 

 and sheep-raisers. A Georgia newspaper 

 estimates the profits of sheep-raising at 53 per 

 cent., notwithstanding the loss by dogs ; hang 

 the dogs, and the profits would rise to 73 per 

 cent. 



D. G. Roberts says : "Now sowed corn is 

 like a good many other forage plants. There 

 is a right and wrong way to raise it. Planted 

 and grown as it should be it makes valuable 

 feed. In traveling about the country I no- 

 tice but few places properly planted. A 

 great deal is fed before it is matured suffi- 

 ciently. At certain stages of its growth it 

 is very valuable as a butter food. At just 

 the right stage of growth it is very valuable 

 for that purpose. I have experimented in 

 feeding this plant for butter many times and 

 it has always proved best just at the time 

 that the ears are in best condition for the 

 table. 



The agricultural editor of the New York 

 Times publishes an elaborate article on the 

 comparative value of manures, in which he 

 attempts to show that the manure obtained 

 by feeding a ton of cotton-seed meal con- 

 tains phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash 

 which it would cost t27.86 to buy in any of 

 the commercial fertilizers, as against $6.65 

 worth from a ton of corn meal, $6.48 worth 

 from a ton of good hay, and S14.59 worth 

 from a ton of bran. This is the result of 

 chemical analysis and good figuring. Experi- 

 ence probably would not show as much dif- 

 ference but it is certain that farmers as a rule 

 fail to take into account the comparative 

 value of manures which come from feeding 

 different foods. With them manure is ma- 

 nure, and they do not stop to ask what it was 

 made from or what it contains. 



Rye for Winter and Early Spring 

 Pasture. — Rye sown among standing corn 

 will do almost equally as well for winter and 

 early spring pasture as if it had been done at 

 the last working of the corn, as the first rain 

 will cause it to sprout and take root just as 

 well as if it had been put in with cultivators. 

 Sow not less than a bushel to the acre. Ewes 

 and lambs and yearlings may be then turned 

 on it after Christmas, and kept on until the 

 1st of April, when it may be set apart either 

 tor turning under as a manure or saved for a 

 crop. 



Increasing Farm Manure. — A very 

 good plan for increasing the supply of home- 

 made manure, may be adopted by farmers 

 generally with equal success. It is merely by 

 placing in alternate layers rich stable manure 

 and turf and tods until the heap is some six 

 feet high and as long as you please, and then, 

 after a time, beginning at one end of tho pile 

 to turn the whole over. As the turf and sods 

 rot they will absorb the rich ga.ses generated 

 by the manure, and which might otherwise 

 escape thus forming a most excellent compost 

 for all kinds of crops. 



An Illinois farmer who keeps twenty 

 horses, some of them worth fl,500 each, 

 writes that he pastures them at all times in 

 fields fenced with barbed wire, has done it for 

 years, and had no harm result from it. Before 



