The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LAKCASTER. PA., OCTOBER, 1882. 



Vol. XIV. No. 10. 



Editorial. 



THE STANWICH NECTARINE. 



Mr. Samuel W. Taylor, of North Mulberry 

 street, Lancaster, Pa., has placed us under 

 obligations for a small but handsome dona- 

 tion of lliis luscious fruit, and wliat increases 

 its value is tlie fact tliat it was of liis own 

 fullivatiou, an acliievement in wliicli he 

 stands alone in Lancaster connty, if not in 

 the State of Pennsylvania ; for it was not pro- 

 fessed, even by tlie nurseryman from whom 

 be obtained it, that it could be successfully 

 raised in the open air. Such a contingency 

 might occur, but it was by no means an as- 

 sured quality of the fruit. Mr. Taylor has, 

 however, successfully accomplished it for the 

 last two or three years. The present season 

 was the most successful one, the tree yit^kling 

 a fair crop, and some of the fruit measuring 

 7j inches in circumference, of a greenish 

 tinge, with a l)right vermilion cheek, and 

 fniely flavored. Tlie tree is very healtliy 

 looking, being deep green in the color of its 

 foliage ; stands near the middle of his lot ; 

 has a soutliern exposure, and a western and 

 nortliorn protection, btit not entirely shielded 

 from the wintry blasts. Of course, our fruit- 

 growing patrons will be aware that the nec- 

 tarine (Pcrska krvis of De Candolle) is nearly 

 allied to the peach ; indeed, in flavor and in 

 form, it is essentially a peach, witli the sraootli 

 skin of a plum. When fidly ripe the skin of 

 the fruit is thin and tender, find need not be 

 removed in eating it. It, however, lacks the 

 color and the peculiar tiavor of the best 

 varieties of tlie peacli ; but for canning there 

 is less waste, because the skin need not be 

 reijioved, and its presence does not impair the 

 quality of the fruit. 



Mr. Taylor tliinks in another season, he 

 can improve the size and quality of the fruit 

 by judicious thinning. Tlie present season 

 when this work sliould have been attended 

 to, be was ill, and confined to his room, and 

 did not recover until it became too late. It 

 is much more of a peach than the Apricot is, 

 and the seed differs very little from the a])- 

 pearance of a peach-stone. On the whole, 

 we think the result is very much in favor of 

 its general cultivation. 



LUSCIOUS GRAPES. 



We gratefully acknowlidge the receipt of 

 nine very fine clusters of grapes, from our 

 esteemed friend and clever fruit-grower, H. 

 M. Engle, of the Marietta nurseries. If these 

 fairly represent the quantity and quality of 

 his crop the present season tliey most certainly 

 indicate an unqualified success — at least as 

 far as quality is concerned. The clusters, ac- 

 cording to the respective varieties, were large, 

 full, and the berries remarkably perfect and 

 uniform in size. The Merrimau (Rogers 

 No. 19,) large berry and color black. Wilder 

 (Rogers, No. 4), of the same color, but less in 

 the berry. lioyers No. 33, nearly the same 

 size and color as the WUdcr. 



Tlie Israella and the Eumelan are medium 

 and small in size and dark in color, and the 

 clusters of a fair size. The Lindlcy (Rogers, 

 No. 9), a large red grape; ; and the Inna, simi- 

 lar in color, but small in berry and fair cluster. 

 The Martha and the Or«tou, both green in 

 color, but dillering much in size of berry. 

 This is by no means intended as a technical 

 description of the above-named fruit, hut 

 only an external glance at it. As to flavor, 

 or edible qualities, of course the respective 

 varieties more or less ditl'er, but we don't 

 know that we are able just now to make that 

 dill'erence plain in its details. Moreover, tastes 

 also differ. Let any novice take a dozen 

 varieties of grapes, in order to test their 

 (pialities, and by the time he gets to the Iiot- 

 tom of the list his taste will be so much de- 

 moralized that ho can hardly tell " 'tother 

 from which." It may be different with an 

 expert, but we confess we are like the unso- 

 phisticated Hibernian, who when asked which 

 (if his dozen children he liked the best, very 

 promptly replied, "Paith, then, I like them 

 all the best." Our gratitude, however, is not 

 based up on the quality or external appear- 

 ance of the fruit. In its donation is mani- 

 fested a recognition of our humble and long 

 continued labors as editor of the Fakmkr ; 

 and, although we have not in any sense de- 

 manded such recognition, yet On all occasions 

 when it has been vouchsafed, it has loomed 

 up as a green spot in the desert of our edi- 

 torial days, and we have felt duly grateful. 



SOMETHING ABOUT "HAIR-WORMS" 

 AND EELs. 



In the article of our esteemed contributor, 

 W. J. P., on the Origin of Gaiies and the 

 Generation of Eels, published in the August 

 number of the Farmer (p. 117), he makes use 

 of the following unqualified declarations on 

 the first-named topic. "Anything of this 

 kind " (that is, the down of young chickens), 

 "or hairs from anything, placed in a warm 

 wet place, and receiving air, will become 

 living animals. They are very common at 

 this time of the year, where stock go to drink, 

 in the foot-prints, containing water. They 

 differ in size and length, dejiending upon the 

 part of the body from which the hair has 

 fallen. I took the other day from the ditch, 

 below my pump, a knot of hairs that was all 

 alive ; it was just as it had been taken from 

 the comb and wrapped around the linger, and 

 a hair-pin stuck through it. I removed the 

 pin, shook them out In a basin of warm 

 water ; they appeared to enjoy their liberty 

 very mucli." 



Wo don't dispute the facts of our contri- 

 butor's observations in regard to his " knot 

 of hairs ;" for hair-worms are usually found 

 in such knots, and, from that very circum- 

 stance, the generic name — Oordius^v/hich has 

 been given to them is derived, in allusion to 

 the "Gordian knot" cut by Alexander the 

 Great. But we can't believe that that knot 

 of hairs ever belonged to a human head (even 



if it had a " hair-pin stuck through it "). And 

 we would suggest that before he comes to an 

 unepialified conclusion on the subject, he should 

 try the experiment of animating human hairs, 

 or the "hairs from anything." Forty years 

 ago we devoted six months to the experiment, 

 and signally failed ; but we experimented 

 with horse-hair, for we were assured that our 

 living Gordians were only animated liorsc- 

 hairs. We liave before us an old illustrated 

 work on natural history, piiblislied one hun- 

 dred and twenty-live years ago, in whicli the 

 author combats the idea that horse-hairs be- 

 come animated, very successfully. Although 

 the light of science seems to have exploded tlie 

 theory over and over again, it has still its fol- 

 lowers, and probably always will have, simply 

 because mankind is disposed to judge from 

 appearance only. Finding a saddle and bridle 

 under a patient's bed, is no evidence that he 

 has eaten a horse. 



We have found these Gordians or Hair- 

 worms in roadside pools ; in enclosures where 

 no domestic animals were allowed to intrude; 

 in the bodies of beetles and grasshoppers ; in 

 the seed cavities of apples ; in the centre of 

 cabbage-heads ; and they, or species allied to 

 them, iiave been found in the eyes of horses, 

 in the brain of birds, in the bodies of calves, 

 pigs and sheep, and in the trachea of fowls; 

 and they have generally been found knotted 

 or tangled, except when found very small. 

 Nor is that all. In the museum of the Liu- 

 na;an .Society we have a female Hair-worm 

 that has a string of eggs externally attached 

 to her,^aiid another specimen in which the 

 eggs can be seen within her body. Still, we 

 do not consider that our observations are 

 final, but we think that our contributor has 

 taken a too narrow and ha.sty view of the 

 subject. 



We are not now, and never have been, a 

 Galliniculturist, and pretend to no special 

 knowledge on the subject of the diseases that 

 are common to the feathered tribes. We are 

 always willing to accord all the merit we pos- 

 sibly can to the theories and opinions of those 

 who profess an experimental knowledge of 

 the life, habits, (jualities and diseases of the 

 "poultry world," but we confess we are not 

 prepared to receive the doctrine that heat and 

 moisture will transmute the down of little 

 chickens into strongulidce, or •' gape- worms." 

 We arc compelled to doubt it, even if such 

 doubt should consign us to the company of 

 those who in aforetime were wont to *sk, 

 " Have any of the doctors believed on him ?" 

 We mean no disrespect, but we think the doc- 

 trine needs revision and further confirmation. 

 No doubt our contributor is sincere, and the 

 appearances may be quite satisfactory to him, 

 for we observe in an explanatory paper on the 

 same subject, published in the September 

 number of the Fak.mki! {[>. 133), he reiterates 

 the same views with the qualification that, 

 " probably if the chick did not take cold there 

 would be no gape- worm." A view, which, 

 instead of simplifying only complicates the 



