1 SS3.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



89 



tlie plants subserve a useful purpose to the 

 insects, eitlier as food, or in attracting the 

 Iiarmless species iijiou which the rapacious 

 species feed. 



There is a mucilaginous exudation from the 

 flowers of some plants which captures or dis- 

 ables certain species of insects that visit tliem 

 for the purpose of extracting tlieir nectar or 

 gathering their pollen: whilst other species 

 habitually visit them, and ramble all over 

 thera, with perfect impunity. I might in- 

 stance the AsrJcinas cornnti, or common •'milk- 

 weed," if indeed, this habit is not shared by 

 all the members of the genus. It is not un- 

 usual to find bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, 

 and various species of flies, with their feet en- 

 tangled in this treacherous gum, where they 

 finally perish; but the scarlet ISftranpcs, the 

 Harlequinized Li/doeus, and the larva of the 

 beautiful Danais butterfly, are perfectly at 

 home upon it. What the significance of this 

 peculiar relation may be in all its details, is 

 not in every instance apparent, but it is quite 

 certain that the females of butterflies or 

 moths so captured, are entirely defeated in the 

 deposition of their eggs where the development 

 of their progeny would be assured — if they 

 had not performed that imi)ortant function 

 before they liad been so fatally captured. 

 There are also many sjiecies of subterranean 

 insects which are carnivoruus in their habits; 

 and these, both in their larva, and in their 

 adult states, feed upon the bodies of the nox- 

 ious larva, which feed upon the roots of vege- 

 tation; so that a very direct and intimate re- 

 lation between insects and i)lants may be 

 here recognized. The French gardeners have 

 for many years colonized and protected these 

 predaceous species. Not only because they 

 destroy subtei-ranean intruders, but also be- 

 cause they come forth at night and ascend 

 • plants, shrubbery, and even trees, in quest of 

 tliose which feed upon the foliage of vegeta- 

 tion. I might also mention the Carrionarr(>us 

 species — notably the Burying-beetles— which 

 bury the carcases of dead animals upon which 

 they feed, and which adds something to tlie 

 fertility of the soil. And tliis is also the case 

 with stercorarious insects, which bore holes 

 into the soil and deposit manurial pellets 

 therein, as food for their young after they 

 issue from the eggs, all of which benefit the 

 soil and the plants that grow therein. 



Finally — the Book of nature is a sealed 

 volume to those who have not taken the 

 trouble to learn its alphabet, and, after ac- 

 <puring this much, to patiently persevere in 

 "spelling out " and constructing its prolific 

 sentences, until the import of its language is 

 Dieasuraljly learned, and its \arious phenome- 

 na are fully understood. 



There is little danger that the subject will 

 become exhausted in a single human life-time: 

 It seems like a never-failing spring of pure 

 water ; and, after imbibing it until our locks 

 become .silvered with age, we shall still find 

 new aqueous globules bubbling up from its 

 eubteranean depths. Entomology and Bota- 

 ny have been subjects of systematic culture 

 from the days of Ahistotle ;ind Pliny 

 down to the present time, and m.ay continue 

 so for centuries to come, and still leave a 

 margin for the future novitiate to work upon. 

 Reasoning from those analogous, and often 

 anomalous, phenomena, which manifest 



themselves at every progressive step wu take, 

 in exploring natures vast and varied domain, 

 we cannot but be impressed with the reflec- 

 tion — if not with the ab.solute conviction — 

 that iw created object is isolated, or stands 

 entirely alone; but that all bear a near or 

 more remote relation to each other; and that 

 when we have contemplated the length, and 

 breadth, and depth of each, we may discover 

 the elements of a homogeneous and harmoni- 

 ous whole, culminating in mnteridl if not in 

 ini>ral use. We have no right, therefore to 

 conclude, that any object of the physical 

 world has been permitted to exist in vain. If 

 we cannot comprehend its use, or underetand 

 its relations to other things, the fault may be 

 in our own want of intelligent perception ; 

 or in oiM" failure to grasp the normal tenor of 

 natures operations; and rightly interpret the 

 significance of her symbolic language. 

 " Nature liatli nothing made so base, but can 

 Read some instruction to ttie wisest man." 



Selections. 



THE BENEVOLENT SUNFLOWER. 



(ffelianthus globsus flstnoxus.)* 



It is not the pesthetical nor sentimental 

 view of the sunflower that at ]>resent com- 

 mands our attention, but rather its sanitary 

 powers in warding off disease. 



Agriculture is always lavish of its gifts. It 

 feeds the hungry, clothes the naked and 

 shields mankind from disease, sickness and 

 death. Tlie grass, the tree, the flower, all 

 add to man's pleasure, comfort and health. 

 Trees drain the wet places, and slowly but 

 surely fill up disease-breeding swamps. But, 

 in proportion to size, no plant is so benefi- 

 cent in warding off malaria as the sunflower. 



Sections of the once malarious West have 

 became salubrious from the growth of sun- 

 flowers, accidentally dropped by some enter- 

 prising citizen seeking a new home on the 

 generous acres of the West. These uncared 

 for seeds took root, grew, and the plants 

 ripened their seeds. Tliese, the birds, or tlie 

 winds, or both, scattered broadcast until an 

 annual crop is furnished for whomsoever will 

 partake of it. These plants have furnished 

 for the emigrants' horses, oxen and other 

 stock on his road to a new home a grateful 

 shade in midday ; and the old stalks conve- 

 nient fuel to cook the breakfast dinner and 

 supper for the weary traveler. But the 

 greater blessing conferred by the sunflower is 

 the protection from malaria of the settlers on 

 the rich lands of the praries. 



Whether the leaves inhale or absorb the 

 malarial elements of disea.se ; or whether, 

 by exhaling a superabundance of oxygen, 

 simflowers protect man and beast from sick- 

 ness, i)hysiologists haven ot yet determined ; 

 but that they protect from malaria, experience 

 and experiment have abuudautly and cou- 

 vincingly proven. 



All plants absorb carbonic acid gas, aud 

 exhale oxygen; while living animals exhale 

 carbonic acid gas and iidiale oxygen. Plants 

 are largely compo.sed of the carbon obtained 

 from the air, while oxygen is the vitalizing 

 element in animal organisms. 



Homes, districts, army stations, hamlets, 



*Paper read at the retyular weekly nieeliiiff of the 

 American Institute Fanner's Club by Dr. A. S, Heath. 



villages and cities have been ))rotected from 

 malaria by trees and plants; but of all the 

 plants, none exert so benign an influence 

 against malaria as does the sunflower. 



Recent experiments have shown that per- 

 sons may be inoculated with the malaria con- 

 faiued in the water of swamps, aud in the 

 alga; growing aud decaying in them. Whether 

 the large exhalations of oxygen from great 

 numbers of sunflowers or the excessive trans- 

 pirations of water through the broad excret- 

 ing leaves of these plants exert the sanitary 

 influences attributed to them, or whether 

 some unknown agency operates or co-oper- 

 ates to produce this desirable result is not 

 material, so long as the result is obtained by 

 liberally planting sunflowers around, or on 

 the swampy side of habitable places; so that 

 there may be interspersed between the human 

 domiciles and the malaria-prodncing regions 

 this ellicient preventive agency. 



Efficient engineering doubtless is tiie most 

 cllectivc^ nu'ans of ov(Mcoming malaria— by 

 thorough drainage. Arboiicidture ranks next. 

 15ut for tlie quick and ctlicient iiids to both 

 of these, the planting of simflowers in a prop- 

 er manner is the most prompt and reliable 

 means. 



The necessary excavations of the engineer 

 at first intensifies evil, by liberating the pent- 

 up miasm. .So indeed does tree planting, but 

 in a less degree. The sunflower cultivation, 

 however, produces immediate good results 

 while these more i)ermanent mea.sures are 

 being perfected. , 



Another plant, tlie Jerusalem artichoke — 

 Helianlhus tuberosiis — near akin to the sun- 

 flower in its anti-malarial influence, and hav- 

 ing the advantage in not requiring to be 

 planted annually, and of also yielding a valu- 

 able preventive. 



Washington isaveritalile hot-bed of malaria. 

 That this state of things should liave been so 

 long permitted to have existed is not credita- 

 ble to Congress, the governing power. Many 

 of our most valuable representatives have 

 been sacrificed by exposure to Washington 

 malaria; aud vastly more have suffered in 

 health in consequence of the unsanitary con- 

 ditions surrounding the capital of a great, in- 

 telligent' and rich nation. 



While engineering and arboriculture are 

 laying great sanitary plans, let the simple, 

 etiicient aud immediate ollices of the i-unflower 

 be brought to bear to protect the President, 

 the Cabinet, Senators, Cofigressmen and the 

 citix,ens of Washington from a pestilence that 

 constantly hovers over the capital. 



This valuable protecting power of the sun- 

 flower may be utilized in any locality where 

 mia.sma is rife. 



To iirotect that part of the city near the 

 Potomac flats there should be planted a Itroad 

 bijlt of sunflowers between that part of the 

 flats upon which the engineers will operate 

 and the unoccupied laud; as broad and long a 

 a belt as practicable should be well plowed 

 aud planted with the Russian mammoth sun- 

 flower, four feet apart in rows at right angles, 

 so that a single horse-plow may cultivate both 

 W'ays. One jilant in the .square thus laid out 

 will be best, as the growth is rapid and vigor- 

 ous. 



Similar management will protect other lo- 

 calities. The occupants of farm houses and 



