The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., APRIL, 1883. 



Vol. XV. No. 4. 



Editorial. 



THE GRANGE. 

 " Tlie Gniiige is a family when tlic father's 

 manhood, the motlier's devotion, the hrother's 

 affection, and the sister's love are so culti- 

 vated and developed that they reueh out be- 

 yond the i)urview of the family circle, and 

 embrace with fraternal kindness every member 

 of the order; practically obeying the injunc- 

 tion of our Saviour when he said : ' The 

 second comraan<lnient is like unto it : Thou 

 shalt love thy neij^hhor as thyself.' This is 

 the fellowship to be found in the (irangc, and 

 it is the fellowship of the noblest character. 

 Twenty-nine days in tlic month social difier- 

 euces, moral convictions ori)olitical prejudices 

 may estrange patrons of husbandry: but 

 when on the thirtieth day of the month they 

 meet on a common level in the Grange, all 

 these alienating features are dissii)ated." 



The foregoing is the concluding t>aragraph 

 of Hon. T>. W. Aiken's address before the 

 convention of Agriculture, held in Washing- 

 ton City on the 23d of January last, and no 

 doubt it is just as truthful, as any professions 

 poor humanity will permit to be. So far as 

 theory is concerned, there is no substantial 

 diflerence between the professed inculcations 

 of the Grange and any other of the avowedly 

 fraternal and benevolent orders that are now 

 thickly dotted over the wliole area of o.ur vast 

 country, and tlic civilized countries every 

 where on our globe. Any one, however, who 

 has been a member of any of these institutions 

 for a series of years, and is sufficiently obser- 

 vent to look behind the vail, must be pain- 

 fully impressed with the great lack there is in 

 the practice of these inculcated virtues. True, 

 this is not the fault of the fundamental 

 doctrines and i)rinciples of these various 

 brotherhoods. They are to be attributed to 

 the brother's themselves, who, in spite of 

 their fraternal vows, have not forgotten self- 

 have not loved their neighbor as themselves— 

 have not even tried to do unto others as they 

 would that others should do unto them. Why 

 is this so? Is it not because ".social differ- 

 ences, moral convictions, and political preju- 

 dices, indulged twenty-nine days in one 

 mouth, cannot be subordinated to godly af- 

 fections, in a few hours, on the thirtieth day? 

 " A long face on Sunday cannot atone for the 

 cruelties and the injustices of a whole week." 

 The true fraternal relations between men 

 cannot be cultivated so long as they are re- 

 garded merely as something to be occasionally 

 put on externally, and not as benevolent out 

 goings, or out flowings from the mind and 

 soul To be brotherly, we need to live broth- 

 erly. 



The Grange ought to be a medium of frater- 

 nal affiliation in a greater degree, and in a 

 more practical sense, than any other organi- 

 zation existing among men, except, perhaps, 

 the church itself; in that its operations are 

 conducted more immediately npon the do- 

 mestic plane— a plane of use which has a 



more universal recognition in the social and 

 material world, than any other of which \vc 

 can form an intelligent coneei)ti(in. Civiliza- 

 tion is unanimous in its recognition of agri- 

 culture and agricultural productions, as tlie 

 basis of human subsi.stance, and without 

 which there could be no such phenomenon as 

 human existence in a civilized state. Nearly 

 all the benevolent organizations among civili- 

 zed nations are comi)osed of indi vidualsof 

 dilierent occupations, and different social 

 positions, as well as different domestic in- 

 terests. This is not so, fundamentally, with 

 the organic structure of the Grange. Farm- 

 ers, farm owners, or those pecuniarily inter- 

 ested in farming,~composo its mombershii), 

 and the more single they are in their occupa- 

 tions, the more free is their sympathy with 

 the interests of the Grange. There is less 

 apparent ambiguity in its principles, its aims, 

 its objects, and its ends, than usu.ally obtains 

 among other benevolent organizations. It 

 ought, therefore, in its visible manifestations, 

 be able to realize what Mr. Aiken so eloquent- 

 ly and so feelingly claims for it, in the con- 

 cluding lines of his address, quoted above : or, 

 in view of human weakness, under circum- 

 stantial stress, at least a visible approxima- 

 tion to it. Does this harmony, this unadul- 

 terated brotherhood then exist in the Grange, 

 or is it in this respect akin to other similar 

 associations? Has it its "wheels within 

 wheels," the inner of which are selfseekcrs, 

 and foster interests and aspirations, with 

 which the ouJcrare not in fraternal sympathy ! 

 If it has, it is not the fault of the Grange as 

 a social and benevolent institution, but rather 

 that of its integral composition, who are but 

 erring human beings at best. Perhaps, the 

 agricultural population of any country pos- 

 sesses more sterling integrity than any other 

 class of citizens; but with all that, they may 

 be lovers of self more than corajjorts with the 

 inculcations of pure Christianity, and this 

 selfishness is the soci.il wall against which the 

 the battering ram of tlic Grange is intended 

 to be directed, in order to edect a fraternal 

 union. 



ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND BEE PAS- 

 TURE. 



We are not intending to couple Erin's patron 

 saint with hcca, but the day on which he is 



said to have been born— the 17th of March 



which has come to be a sort of weather point 

 in this latitude ; indeed, in our boyhood, we 

 at least had pr.actical knowledge of one man, 

 who invariably took down all the stoves in 

 the house on St. Patrick's day, and put them 

 up again on the second Tuesday in October 

 —general election day— no matter how cold 

 or warm it might happen to be, earlier or 

 later than those days. It isoidy necessary to 

 say that, like Vennor and Wiggins, lie was 

 often very faulty in his reckoning, if he reck- 

 oned on the subject at all. 



This year (18s3) the I7th of March was 

 bright, blustery, sunshiney, and withal brac- 



ingly cool, but the following day (isth) was 

 calm, clear and genial all day, and was suc- 

 ceeded by a brilliant moonlight evening and 

 night. We noticed a \straggling bee or two, 

 about noon on the 17th, but on the 18th they 

 came in hundreds, and continued coming and 

 going nearly all day. 



We have on our premises growing a "Black 

 Hellebore," which blooms from the 1st of 

 December until nearly the 1st of May. This 

 season it has about one hundred buds and 

 flowers. These flowers do not all " blow " at 

 the same time ; every genial day brings out a 

 few, but when they are out, they stay out, 

 from tlie beginning to the end of their season, 

 and, like the common Hydrangea, they 

 change color two or three times before their 

 final end. 



It was this plant ( Ilelehorus niycr) sometimes 

 called the "Christmas Rose," that attracted 

 the bees. In near proximity were many 

 modest "Snow-drops," with opening blooms, 

 but these were only daintily touched by a few 

 bees ; the mass rushed in among the Helle- 

 bore flowers, and could not be driven away ; 

 they seemed not only fearless but slightly irri- 

 table. We, of course, did not wish to drive 

 them away, but were facilitating their access 

 to the flowers, for some of them were covered 

 with the leaves. 



It impressed us that the bees must have 

 been very hungry, or that the nectar of the 

 plant must contain .some alluring or intoxi- 

 cating quality, which is specially agreeable to 

 apian taste. 



It might be worth while to make a chem- 

 ical analysis of the nectar of this Hellebore, 

 and have its quality determined ; for we know 

 that under the name of " White Helkhore,"' a 

 poison is sold. 



Supposing the nectar of the black helebore 

 to be harmless, what is there to prevent bee- 

 keepers from having an enclosure of it for 

 winter, late autumn and early spring pasture. 

 Once permanently rooted, it will take care of 

 itself, and any day, from the flrst of Decem- 

 ber until the first or middle of April, that is 

 warm enough for bees to fly abrowd, they will 

 find ample pastures in the opening bloom of 

 this plant on such days. There is not nearly 

 enough attention paid to l)oe-p,astures. Men 

 who keep bees should also provi<le pasture for 

 them. We are not sure that there should not 

 be some legislation on this subject. Much 

 complaint is made against bees for destroying 

 grapes, j)eaphes, and other fruits, by those 

 wlio keep no l)ees, which would not Ije the 

 case if s-ifficient i)astnre was provided for 

 them. Bees are very busyl)odies; even if 

 there is sufficient in their hives to feed upon, 

 they instinctively fly abro.id in searcli of 

 nectar, .is early and as often as the tempera- 

 ture will permit, and this being the case, 

 autumn, winter and early spring-blooming 

 flowers should he provided, and if tlie Helle- 

 bore is harmless, no better flower, for such a 

 purpose can Ije found during its bloomfng 

 season. It possesses a singular adaptation to 



