1883. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



51 



The essayist then alleges that orchard's 

 iiiiifonnly most exempt from "blight," that 

 liave cDiiu^ under liis observation, were those 

 well cultivated in grass, that is, in which the 

 grass was kept short by repeated cutting— 

 never allowing tlie grass to ripen or go to 

 seed— in short, treated like a lawn. Cold 

 does not kill the blight tmimakula. or fungi, 

 as the case may be, but activity ceases at 

 near the freezing point; indeed, Fkische 

 claims that 12:5'^ Fahr. below' zero will not 

 kill them. But in the adult state they may 

 be destroyed with water heated to IHIP 

 Fahrenheit : spores have been known to 

 survive a. short iminersi<in in V)oiling water. 

 Mr. Z. states that the poisoned parts may 

 be prevented by cutting ofl' the outer bark 

 with a sharp knife, and applying linseed 

 oil, but this must be done very soon after the 

 appearance of blight. Trees should be ex- 

 amined at least once a month during summer, 

 and especially after every warm rain, or warm 

 dewy night. Any parts sliowing disease 

 should be removed immediately ; if an ordinary- 

 sized limb it should be cut off, but if on the 

 trunk or larger branches, the outer bark should 

 be peeled off and the spot covered with oil, 

 and all the diseased parts removed should be 

 at once consigned to the fire. 



As it has been found that bacteria may be 

 cultivated, whereby it looses most of its poison- 

 ous qualities in diseases among animals, even 

 so it is hoped that some genius will contrive 

 a way to cultivate the l)acteria under consider- 

 ation, so that by inoculating pear trees with 

 it, they would become proof against "blight." 

 This, he suggests, "would open a field for a 

 new profession — a tree doqtor. " 



We know there are some experienced fruit 

 growers in Lancaster county who would ob- 

 ject to the application of linseed oil to trees 

 for any purpose, whatever, as exceedingly in- 

 jurious to the health of trees. This no doubt 

 is true when applied to the surface of the 

 whole tree, or to any of its branches, but to a 

 small portion where the bark has been peeled 

 off, it would perhaps make but little differ- 

 ence, so far as vegetable respiration is con- 

 cerned, for it is very likely that that function 

 could be exercised no better under a blighted 

 surface than it could under an oiled one. The 

 objection to linseed oil is that it leaves an im- 

 pervious coating on anything to which it is 

 applied, when it becomes dry, and this pre- 

 vents vegetable respiration, and, of course, is 

 very injurious. 



" Prof. IJ., is of the opinion that this kind 

 of bacteria — micrococus amyhvorus — is rarely 

 found floating in the air, being extremely 

 viscid, and usually mucilaginous when moist, 

 and that in this condition they would be 

 readily carried about by insects. " And also 

 that "the most likely to aid in their dissemi- 

 nation would be the true bugs — "IIemip- 

 TER.\." The theory is that by the introduc- 

 tion of their beaks to suck the sap, they come 

 in coutact with these sticky, poisonous bac- 

 teria, and thus carry them from one tree or 

 branch to another. 



It is more likely that these tree-sappers and 

 distributors would belong to the order Hoinop- 

 tera than to the one above named, as the 

 species of this order are more essentially 

 "tree sappers" than the others. The "tree- 

 hoppers," "spittle-hoppers," "frog-hoppers," 



cocci, aphids,and many others of the order are 

 usually found on the smooth and tender 

 branches of trees and shrubbery, whilst the 

 Iliinijilcm are more freipiently found on suc- 

 culent plants. ]5ut, under any circuniHtanccs, 

 perhaps suctorial insects of any order would 

 be as likely to distribute diseases, in the man- 

 ner referred to, as the common house-fly 

 (order Diplcra) which is known to distribute 

 a similar disease. Hut we admonish our 

 readers that if they d(!sire to make any ad- 

 vance in this line of discovery, they must 

 "look sharp," wait patiently, and manipulate 

 with skill if they wish to detect objects of 

 which four united only make about the In-clve 

 Uimisitudllis o{ a,n inch in length. 



THE PEACH-SCAB. 



In response to Mr. I). S.,of Lancaster City, 

 Mr. F. II. Z., and Dr. U^.. of Columbia, .and 

 (ithers, we would say that the peach twigs 

 and branches they sent us, are badly infested 

 by the " Peach-Scab," or the cocrm or "scale- 

 insect" of the peach — Lccanium jicrsicnm — 

 and, if they desire to know " what to do about 

 it," we would simply recomraenil the cutting 

 off all branches that are as badly infested as 

 those they sent us, even should it be necessary 

 to trim them as short as the Indian trimmed 

 his dog's tail, when he cut it oil" immediately 

 back of his ears : for, if evei'v individual .scab 

 only reproduces a single young one, the 

 present season, there would not be sufficient 

 surface on the trees and branches to allow 

 them " standing room. " This is by no means 

 a new enemy to the peach : they have ap- 

 peared at irregular periods in various parts of 

 Lancaster county during [the last ten years 

 or more ; and, two years ago, they were 

 "fatally epidemic" in the City of Reading,Pa. 

 They are very local in their habits and 

 travel very slowly, frequently being confined 

 to a single tree in an enclosure of -trees, for 

 several seasons, especially if the neighboring 

 trees are not to the leeward of them : or, one 

 enclosure may be infested throughout, whilst 

 another, only separated by an ordinary closed 

 fence, may be entirely free from them. Of 

 course, the little brown, intensely convexed 

 scales now upon the branches will not move 

 from their present locale; but, when the 

 youn^ are hatched from the egg.s, which these 

 dead, or dying, female bodies conceal, the 

 youngsters will travel to new quarters on the 

 same tree or branch ; and then too they may 

 be carried to other trees that are to the lee- 

 ward of them. 



Countless numbers of them must perish every 

 season through meteorological contingen- 

 cies alone ; for, if a drenching rain should 

 occur about the period they are excluded 

 from the eggs, millions of them would be car- 

 ried down to the earth, by such a deluge, 

 from which they never more would rise. 



Artificial drenchiiig— even with water — at 

 such a period would have a similar effect. 

 IJut after the young have located themselves, 

 introduced their beaks into the young wood, 

 and become degraded to a mere "scale," or 

 "scab," neither "winds nor weather" will 

 have any effect upon them. They however 

 succumb to applications of grease, or oily 

 substances. Coal oil, or even linseed oil, are 

 said to be injurious to the trees. But, when 

 a whole orchard is infested, such an applica- 

 tion seems impracticable. 



IN MEMORIUM. 



It is not the province of our limited journal 

 — exci'i)t in very extraordinary cases — to in- 

 sert the death notices of ihe many worthy citi- 

 zens who are almost daily passing over to that 

 "bourne from whence no traveler returns," 

 but we must claim the privilege of adverting 

 to tin departure of tlx? late .Joskimi Pueston, 

 who had been for the past eight years more 

 or less conne(^ted with the Faumek, as con- 

 tributor, prooficader, and general supervisor, 

 lie died March -JO, iss:5, in the 73d year of his 

 age. 



Mr. Preston was no stranger to us for many 

 years before we formed his personal ac<iuain- 

 tance. We first heard of him through our 

 departed frii-nd L. Zubliu (born in this 

 county) as early as the spring of ls:{7— six 

 and forty years ago. They had been " fellow 

 craftsmen" on the Picayune in New Orleans, 

 uuaer the employ of " .John Gibson, faithful 

 and bold." Now Orleans was full of northern 

 printers; who, far removed fioin their l)or(>an 

 domicils, burst through all social and family 

 restraint, and enjoyed a high "old time" in 

 that famous city of" Beauty and of Booty." 

 There was one man among them, however, 

 that had no " wild oils to sow," but was the 

 same mini in all the relations of life in the 

 city of New Orleans, that he was in Chester 

 and Lancaster counties, and more recently in 

 Lancaster City, and that man was .Joseph 

 Preston. That quaker integrity, and those 

 steady habits which he imbided with his 

 mothers milk, served him in the hour of dire 

 temptation, and- gave tone to his character as 

 a moral hero and a man. Like Nicodemus of 

 old, the knights of the "stick and rule" were 

 astonished, and asked—" How can these 

 things be V" 



Had .Joseph Preston a premonition 

 of his approaching physical dissolution? 

 If he had, we may be assured it was not a 

 superstitious one, but was rationally founded 

 on cause and ell'ect. lie knew that he was 

 failing, and during our last business trans- 

 action, he casually remarked with a serene 

 smile, that he thought — " this would be the 

 last time he would need the services of a 

 tailor." We tried to think otherwise, al- 

 though his appearance was by no means pro- 

 pitious. Ilenuisthave known himself better 

 than we did. He was not afraid to live the 

 life he did, and hence he had no occasion to 

 fear to die. " He is gathered to his fathers : 

 may he rest in peace." 



EXCERPTS. 



.Jefferson county (N. Y.) farmers now 

 oarry their milk to the limburger cheese 

 factories where they are paid 12 and 12k 

 cents per gallon for it. 



P.\n>iEN"riKr. .says that the best method of 

 storing thoroughly dry and clean wheat is in 

 .sacks i.solated from each other, care being 

 taken to keep a sufficiently low temperature 

 in the granary. 



That "Eastern methods of farmiiig are 

 cciually well adapted to the broad prairies of 

 the West is shown in the experience of Mr. A. 

 Reeser, who thirteen years ago moved from 

 the East to the high prairie land in Marshall 

 county, Kansas. Mr. Keeser farms but eighty 



