148 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 



the winter only by normal temperatures, and 

 discontinued as soon as the temperature 

 begins to fall too low. 



3. The soil must be good and dry. 



4. If the vines are in a compact soil and 

 the phylloxera is old, the number of holes in 

 tlie soil should be increased and only small 

 doses of the bisulphide of carbon adminis- 

 tered. 



5. The manuring must be strong, and pot- 

 ash salts applied in conjunction with stdhle 

 manure. 



0. The condition of the vines, must be 

 ■watched closely, and if, after one or two 

 years, the insects have been entirely de- 

 stroyed, the treatment is to be discontinued ; 

 but if there are a few still remaining unkilled 

 the bisulphide of carbon should be resumed 

 only in very moderate doses. 



As a preventive against the plague, Avignon 

 recommends the use of common tar. Gayon 

 has carried on investigations with the view of 

 finding out such organisms that could live as 

 parasites on the phylloxeaa, but as yet his 

 e:;orts have not been very successf'il. Thur- 

 man writes concerning the proposed method 

 of Gouillontl Depret in the use of bromine 

 against the phylloxera that, besides its being 

 an expensive one, the injurious effects it pro- 

 duces on the health of the workmen renders 

 it quite dangerous. 



With reference to the treatment of phyl- 

 loxerated vines with potassium sulpho-carbo- 

 nate, P. Mouille, who has had eight years' ex- 

 perience with its use, makes the following 

 observations : 



1. The application of sulplio-carbonate be- 

 fore or in the beginning of the phylloxera in- 

 vasion will prevent its increase in the vine- 

 yards and allow to the vines the power of pro- 

 ducing their normal yield of grapes. 



2. From its use the destruction of the vines 

 will be lessened and the sickliest ones restored 

 under all climatic influence. 



3. Potassium snipho-carbonate is a manure 

 of the first quality. 



Mouillfert claims that by the judicious use 

 of sulpho-carbonate it is a complete means of 

 fighting against this terrible enemy to the 

 grape crop. 



In conclusion, I would siy that the pros- 

 pects of this year's grape crop in Germany 

 are most favorable, and an abundant crop is 

 predicted. Tlie season thus far has been ex- 

 traordinarily propitious for all other crops.— 

 Wm. 1>. Warner, Commercial Ayent of Dus- 

 seldorf. 



PROTECTING PLANTS DURING 

 WINTER. 



The utility of protecting plants during 

 winter is not sufficiently aiipreciated ; even 

 those of reputed hardiness in any given cli- 

 mate will well pay the expense of partial pro- 

 tection from the severity of low temperatures. 

 It is sometimes remarked that a plant to be 

 fitted for general cultivation must have, 

 among its good qualities, the faculty of taking 

 care of itself at all seasons ; but it must be 

 remembered that the majority of plants, 

 grown for the sake of their products, have 

 been removed from their natural conditions, 

 by change of climate, selection, crossing, hy- 

 bridizing, &c., to such conditions as are found 

 most conducive towards realizing the pur- 



poses for which thej' are grown ; protection 

 from extremes of temperature, therefore, be- 

 comes a part of cultui'e routine, and in many 

 instances it is one of much importance. 



The degree of cold that plants will resist 

 without being injured cannot be definitely as- 

 certained short of actual experiment ; their 

 powers of resistance depend upon many con- 

 tingencies. A plant will sometimes be de- 

 stroyed by exposure to a temperature not 

 lower than it had previously encountered 

 without sustaining any apparent injury. It 

 is not to be suppased that this seeming 

 anomaly is due to any change in the laws 

 of nature; but it is to be traced to causes 

 that influence the resisting power, and 

 upon the knowledge of these causes depends 

 our ability to aid, by culture processes and 

 appliances, this power of resistance in plants 

 which form tlie objects of special culture and 

 care. 



The exact process by which cold destroys 

 plants is a matter upon which there is yet 

 room tor conjecture. The mechanical ac- 

 tion of frost on vegetable tissue is undoubt- 

 edly a cause of injury; fluids expand while 

 freezing, and the expansion of the sap while 

 undergoing this process lacerates and disrupts 

 the tissue, interrupts the conijeclion of the 

 sap vessels and hastens destruction and de- 

 composition, especially in delicate and succu- 

 lent growths. When, therefore, a plant has 

 reached a degree of matur ity which has con- 

 verted the fluid matter into woody fibre, its 

 power of resisting cold is much greater than 

 when its tissue is highly charged with watery 

 matter, so that it is a well established axiom 

 that plants resist cold in the inverse ratio of 

 the quantity of water which they contain, or 

 in proportion to the viscidity of their fluids. 



But it is also well known that the mere 

 thermometric degree of cold does not indicate 

 the extent of the injury that plants sufl'er 

 during winter. The hygrometric condition 

 of the atmosphere is at least of equal impor- 

 tance. 



Plants that pass with safety through a zero 

 cold in December, will frequently be destroyed 

 by the cold dry winds of March, although the 

 thermometer may not indicate more than ten 

 degrees of frost. The intense acidity of these 

 cold winds act in a similar manner as the hot 

 dry winds of summer. 



Tlie moisture of the plant is extracted by 

 evaporation, and the resulting injury will de- 

 pend upon the auiourtt thus evaporated. 



It follows, therefore, that whatever tends 

 to render tissue moist and prevents its solidi- 

 fication, increases its susceptibility to injury 

 from cold ; and whatever tends to reduce its 

 humidity and hasten the conversion of fluid 

 matter into woody fiber, increa.ses its power 

 of resisting cold ; and upon the recognition of 

 these principles all protectmg appliances 

 should be hused.— William Saunchrs. 



SELF-DEPENDENCE. 



No alliance with others can ever diminisli 

 the necessity for personal endeavor. Friends 

 may counsel, but the ultimate decision in 

 every case is individual. As each tree though 

 growing in the same soil, watered by the same 

 rains, and warmed by the same sun as others, 

 obeys its own law of growth, preserves its 

 own physical structure and produces its own 



peculiar fruit ; so each person, though in 

 the closest communion and intercourse with 

 others, and surrounded by similar influences, 

 must be himself, and must do liis own duties, 

 contest his own struggles, resist his own 

 temptations, and suffer his own penalties. 



There is too much dependence placed upon, 

 co-operation for security from evil, and too 

 little reliance upon personal watchfulness and 

 exertion. There are some who seem to feel 

 in a great measure released from obligations 

 if they do not receive such aid, and some will 

 plead the shortcomings of others as an excuse 

 for their own. 



We would by no means disparage the elTect 

 of influence or discourage in the slightest the 

 generous assistance which we all owe to one 

 another, or undervalue the important effect 

 of a worthy example. These are vital ele- 

 ments of growth, and their results can never 

 be fully estimated. But they shonld not 

 usurp the the pla-je of a proper self-reliance, 

 nor diminish the exercise of individual powers. 

 Moral force must be a personal possession. It 

 can never be transferred; and while we gladly 

 welcome whatever is good from all sources, 

 it can only be food that must be digested be- 

 fore it can truly nourish us. Material benefits 

 may be conferred by simple gift, but mental 

 and moral activities can only be sustained by 

 their own exercise. Thoughts may be changed 

 but not thought powers ; moral help and en- 

 couragement may be given, but virtue cannot 

 be transferred; responsibility cannot be 

 shifted. 



Tlie most permanent good we can do to 

 others is to nourish their iudividual strength. 

 To aid the physically destitute most effectively, 

 food, fuel and clothing are not nearly so valu- 

 able as steady remunerative employment. To 

 educate a child is not half so important to in- 

 still large amounts of information as to set his 

 mind to work, to bring out his mental powers, 

 to stimulate his thought and quicken his fac- 

 ulties. And in moral life, especially in cities, 

 where massed together, and men inclined to 

 lean upon each other, the best lesson to en- 

 force is, that virtue, to exist at all, must be 

 strictly individual. That w'hich cannot stand 

 alone, but depends on props and supports, 

 which needs the constant spur of fear and the 

 bribe of reward, to insure its activity, is but 

 the semblance of virtue and will crumble be- 

 fore temptation. A well developed body ever 

 e.xcites admiration, but a well-developed and 

 .self-reliant spirit is a nobler thing. It is calm, 

 modest and unassumiug, yet firm in conscious 

 integrity of purpose and steadiness of aim. 

 Inflated by no vanity it is at once humble yet 

 coiu-ageous; helpful to the tempted, and yet ■ 

 resolute in assailing evil. 



THE PRESERVATION OF FORESTS 



FROM WANTON DESTRUCTION, 



AND TREE PLANTING. 



The greater part of the Norih American 

 continent was covered with forests when first 

 invaded by Europeans. These forests .had 

 stood for many years undisturbed, except by 

 the slow decay of one generation of trees, if 

 we may so speak, and the slow growth of an- 

 other. Those operations had been going on 

 simultaneously since the creation, or since 

 the last great convulsion of nature, and the 

 annual falling of leaves and the gradual de- 

 cay of branches and trunks had covered he 



