1882.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



133 



The Mexicans call him polon, the Aiu(!n- 

 cans refer to him as no-hair doj;, while the 

 stranger from the North who sees him for the 

 first time calls him a cast-iron dog, for that is 

 what he looks like at first glance. Althongli 

 not particularly intelligent the no-hair tiog is 

 susceptible of a high polish, for iiis hairless 

 hide shines in the sun as if it had been recent- 

 ly touched up with stove-polish. His body is 

 about the size and somewhat the .shape of a 

 watermehm — that Is, of one of those small 

 watermelons that is about the size of a pelon 

 dog. He differs, however, from the melon in 

 that his tail is adorned with a tuft of blonde 

 hair, which is never the case with a water- 

 melon. He wears a tuft of hair — another 

 tuft of conrse, not the same one at all— on liis 

 head, which gives him a very striking appear- 

 ance. The pelon dog is found in Austin, in 

 San Antonio, and in tamales, the latter being 

 a Mexican dish, the ingredients of which are 

 as uncertain as those of hash. 



Why 1900 is not a Leap Yeah.— The 

 year 1000, althoush it is divisible by 4 with- 

 out a remainder, is not leap year, and it comes 

 about in this way: Under the "Julian 

 period " the solar year was considered to con- 

 sist of three hundred and sixty-live days and 

 a quarter of a day, but as the actual or civil 

 year could not be made to include a quarter 

 of a day, an additional day was inserted in 

 the calendar every fourth year to make up for 

 four lost quarters, and this is the 21)th of 

 February. But the Julian method of inter- 

 calation made the year too long by eleven 

 minutes, ten and one-third seconds. This put 

 the calendar ahead of solar time one day in 

 120 years ; so to balance this, in the adjust- 

 ment of the calendar known as the "Gre- 

 gorian " after Pope Gregory the XIII., now 

 universally adopted in Christian countries ex- 

 cept Russia, one of the leap years is dropped 

 at the close of every century, except when 

 the figures of thecenturial year, leaving out — 

 the two cyphers at the end, can be divided by 

 four without a remainder. Thus 1,(500 was a 

 leap year, and 2,000 will be, but 1,700, IROO 

 and 1000 are not. 



Queries and Answers. 



THE ROYAL HORNED CATERPIL- 

 LAR. 



CoNEWAGO, Lancaster CO. . Pa., 

 August 25th, 1882. 

 Editor Lancastek Fahmeii : 



Dear Sir : With this mail I send you a tin 

 box inclosing a large worm or caterpillar, 

 which I found on a walnut tree. Please de- 

 scribe it in the next number of the Farmeii. 



J. F. B. 



The box and caterpillar came safely to 

 hand, and is the larva of the "Regal Walnut 

 Moth," [Ceratocampa regalis) but it dees not 

 confine itself to the walinit, for we have found 

 it on the hickory, and Prof. Riley has received 

 it from correspondents who found it on the 

 persimmon. It is also found on the butter- 

 nut, on the cuttivated "Duich-nut," and oc- 

 casionally on the sumac. It is better known, 

 and is oftener found in the caterpillar state 

 than in the moth state. In Virginia it is 

 called the "Hickory Horned Devil," and by 

 many people is as much dreaded as a veno- 

 mous snake. There is something repulsive in 

 its looks, but it is entirely harmless, as far as 



our expericMice goes. Tliis specimen is over 

 five inches in lenglh, when it is crawling, and 

 fully two inches in circumference. The whole 

 body is green in color ; the head and feelers 

 arc orange, and eight largo spines on the first 

 three segments are of the same color, tipped 

 with black. There are five black spine.s on all 

 the segments, and the dorsal s])ine on the last 

 segment, but, one, is much larger than the 

 others. The larva goes into the ground in 

 September, forms a cell therein and changes 

 to a black inqta, and comes forth a large and 

 beautiful moth in the month of June of the 

 following year. The body of the moth is 

 fully two inches in length (female specimens) 

 and expands six inches from tip to tip of the 

 front wings. The front wings are fawn col- 

 ored, broadly lalitudinally lined with orange, 

 and two large lemon-colored spots near the 

 anterior margin and the tips. The 

 hind wings and abdomen are orange colored, 

 with a few inconspicuous ashen and other yel- 

 low markings. 



This insect is solitary in its habits, and 

 one brooded ; and, as it is usually found on 

 wild forest trees, it is not generally considered 

 noxious. 



CONTRIBUTIONS. 



For the Lancastku Farmer. 

 GAPES IN POULTRY. 

 Croup, would be a very appropriate name, 

 as it has much the same effect as croup with 

 children ; believing that young poultry is as 

 liable to take cold, as anything else, thei'efore 

 a phlegm, or a roapy substance accumulates 

 in the windpipe, with a slight discharge of 

 blood from the lungs, and the same enclosing 

 the downy plumes, stop up the air passage. 

 I have no doubt but there are many who will 

 doubt my theory of the gape worm. But as 

 I .said in my last, if you will examine the 

 down on the young chick, you will find them 

 all double, the connection being the 

 same, and at the same place as the 

 gape worm; you will also find the end 

 of the worm nearest the connection the 

 hardest, this being the quill of the feather. 

 If the worm is not full grown, it will be quite 

 hard, and with a strong glass you will see fine 

 threads in the worm, always in color the same 

 as the chick (not intestines), they are the fine 

 threads of down; on mashing it, they will 

 mingle with the blood and water, as they have 

 become soft by decomposition. Probably if 

 the chick did not take cold, there would be no 

 accumulation of worms; otherwise the down 

 would pass away without any hindrance of 

 breathing; although anything so fine, like 

 hair, in a warm and moist place, is liable to 

 become a living animal (the hair worm). If 

 the chick is well greased soon after hatching, 

 with lard and salt, and kei>t in a warm and 

 dry i)lace, and fed on dry food, there will be 

 little or no gapes. Yours truly — Wm. J. 

 Pule, Aim. 30, 1882. 



For TiiK Lancaster Farmer. 

 SHALLOW CULTIVATION. 

 The remarks in the August Lancaster 

 Farjiei!, on "Shallow Cultivation for Fruit," 

 reminded me of the case of farmer Wm. 

 Kliuger, at Weishampletown, Schuylkill co., 

 Pa., who a few years ago was gravely advised 



by a stranger to plow deep around the apple 

 trees in his fine young orchard, if he wanted 

 to see the trees pros[)er well. He did so, 

 ripping up the roots on both sides of the trees 

 eflectually, leaving very few untouched. The 

 result was that some of the trees died and all 

 the rest sullcred lor several years from want 

 of succors in the ground. It took about three 

 years before the orchard recovered from the 

 injury. The farmer was very much vexed at 

 his own folly lor following the advice of that 

 wiseacre. — /. F. W. 



NOT THE TARIFF QUESTION. 



For ThK l.AKCASTKR FARMBR. 



My respected opponent, P. S. R., writing 

 in the last number of The Farmer, while 

 prof'e.s.sing to answer my communication in 

 the July number, gets entirely away from the 

 (fueslion we were discussing and favors us 

 with an es.say on "The Tariff" — a subject that 

 has no necessary connection with the one at 

 i.ssue between us, and enters upon new ground 

 where I feel no call to follow him. The only 

 •luestion was respecting the so-called Balance 

 of Trade. My opponent assumed that if in 

 trading with other countries we import more 

 value than we export it was proof of a balance 

 against us and that we were doing a losing 

 business. This 1 denied, and gave my reasons 

 for my opinion — reasons which it is unneces- 

 sary to inform those who have read both arti- 

 cles, Mr. B. has not even attempted to con- 

 fute. — J, P., Lancaster Sept. 8, 1882. 



For TiiK Lancaster Farmer. 

 THK EEL— ITS HABITS AND GROWTH. 



The following sketch on the habits 

 and growth of the eel, has been prepared 

 from an article on "Eels and Eel-sets" 

 which appeared in the January num- 

 ber of m ark- wood'' s Ma<jazine. As the article 

 was much too lengthy for publication in the 

 New Era, it was very much cut down, 

 and only the part relating to their habits and 

 mode of reproduction are given : 



The eel has puzzled many naturalists, and 

 is destined to puzzle many more. As to the 

 natural history and habits of the eel, natural- 

 ists generally agree that there are three sorts 

 indigenous to this country (England) namely, 

 the sharp-nosed or silver-bellied eel, the grig 

 or surg, and the broad-nosed eel. 



The grig is a yellowish eel with a projecting 

 under-jiiw; the broad-nosed eel is stated to be 

 an uglier-looking eel, with a broader head, 

 and, according to Pennell, fierce and voracious 

 in its habits; while the silver-bellied eel is a 

 firm, fine-flavored eel, with a dark, almost 

 black back, a silvery belly, and a fine sharp 

 head. This is the eel which migrates seaward 

 in the autumn, and is the eel by which eel- 

 setters live. 



Mr. Pinkerton says the grand distinction 

 between the sharp-nosed and broad-nosed eel 

 is, that the sharp-nosed species is a migratory 

 fish while the other is not. He admits that 

 the latter has its summer and winter quarters, 

 for eels are very susceptible of the ef- 

 fects of cold and electricity, and it wan- 

 ders about a good deal at night, in search of 

 prey; but it does not migrate to the sea in 

 large shoals, as the sharp-nosed species usual- 

 ly does. It is about the middle of autumn 

 that the annual migration commences, the 

 eels moving in the night, and always choosing 



