68 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May, 



it comes to the exterior, there is a chance for 

 decoratiou. As the builder uses tiaer woods 

 for the outside, so the worm has applied all 

 these delicate shells, so that the tube seems 

 made up of them. Here is another shell 

 called the Phorus, found iu Japanese waters. 

 It affects large bivalve shells, and iu some 

 way sticks them about its shell. Now, if the 

 animal had no taste, the first old shell or 

 stone that came along would be used ; but, 

 as you see, nothing but these shells are used. 

 Here's another and a fossil, showing that 

 shells did the same thing millions of years 

 ago. 



" Many birds have the decorative instmct. 

 Certain ones in Africa are said to fasten fire 

 flies to their nests that gleam at night like so 

 many diamonds. Another African bird biles 

 off all its tail feathers except the tip of the 

 longest plumes, and thus gives itself a jaunty 

 air. The horn bills color their feathers arti- 

 ficially from certain glands. A family of birds 

 found in Australia, and allied to the birds of 

 paradise, bring shells and other objects miles 

 from the sea and decorate their play houses 

 with them. Some fancy curious bones, others 

 shells, and others prefer fresh flowers. 



" Now, as to builders. The architectural 

 ability of birds almost equals that of man. 

 Some nests, like those of a West Indian black- 

 bird, are hotels, and are built by several birds, 

 who sit on any or all of the eggs, as it happeus. 

 Then there are flats built by the tailor birds, 

 where the residences are side by side and pro- 

 tected by a perfect roof. Among the other 

 workers is the carpenter bee, that bores a hole 

 as perfect as the finest instrument of human 

 make, and forms a partition of the sawdust. 

 Here is a worker in metal. It bored these 

 holes in this piece ot lead, but no one knows 

 now. Here is a piece of the hardest granite 

 known, yet it has been ruined by this shell, a 

 pkolas. Stranger yet, the miner has a lamp 

 to work by, a phosphorescent light. 



"Among the animals that are in the subma- 

 rine diving business is the spider. It has no 

 diving bell, or armor, yet it goes below the 

 surface and remains there by taking down air 

 beneath its body in the shape of balls, which 

 it leaves there beneath some twig, or leaf." 

 " How about reporters V " 

 "Animal reporters are scarce," was the re- 

 ply, "but if you have ever hunted the black 

 bear you must have noticed the curious mark- 

 ings and scratches it makes on trees at a dis- 

 tance seven or eight feet from the ground. 

 These signs rank as high as the tramp sign 

 language ; one bear knows that another has 

 been there before. The sailors are represent- 

 ed by this spider, that not only goes to sea, 

 but builds its own boat of leaves and pushes 

 off in search of prey. The dramatic profession 

 is represented by some South American birds, 

 who go through certain strange performances 

 for the benefit of other companions. As for 

 the undertakers, many species of beetles 

 bury their dead. The medical profession is 

 represented by the doctor fish, who has in his 

 side a lancet, which comes out without warn- 

 ing, and, like the Bob Sawyer, is always ready 

 for use. The wasps are the papere makers ; 

 some are masons. The ministers are repre- 

 sented by the praying mantes." 

 ^ 



EXCERPTS. 



Easteb on the 25th of March is a coinci- 

 dence that no man living has seen. It was 

 as far back as 1742 that Easter came on the 

 25th of March. 



The Stock Inspector of New South Wales 

 is authority for the statement that the pest 

 rabbits has already cost the colony of Victoria 

 between S20,000,00U and $25,000,000, and is 

 still spreading. 



The export trade in furniture is confined 

 chiefly to medium grades, which are sent to 

 Africa, China, the Sandwich Islands and to 

 South America. 



The little canary seed, which we feed to our 



birds only, is used by the natives of the Canary 

 Islands as an article of domestic food. It 

 contains a large proportion of nutritious 

 farina. 



In Florida the strong fibre of the leaves of 

 a species of cactus is turned into rope, its 

 juice into a pleasant beverage, and its trunk, 

 after the removal of the pith, into pails. 



French silk merchants are thinking about 

 acclimatizing a species of spider which has 

 been discovered on the African coast. This 

 spider makes a thread very like yellow silk 

 and almost as strong. 



One of the industries of Australia is the 

 cooking and canning rabbits, which are so 

 plentiful in some districts that whole crops 

 are sometimes destroyed by them. One firm 

 during the last season which lasted twenty- 

 five weeks, canned t375,000 of the animals. 



ACCOKDING to the London Court Journal 

 the institution of bronze earrings, with 

 " Merit" engraved on them, is said to be con- 

 templated by the authorities. These orna- 

 ments are to be given to female nurses who 

 have distinguished themselves in hospital ser- 

 vice during war. 



As an illustration of the profits of corn cul- 

 ture in Los Angelos county, California, the 

 Anaheim Gazette cites the case of a farmer 

 who last year sold 150 centals of corn from 30 

 acres. He sold it for .SI. 53 per cental — a 

 total of $1,874..50 — and his cash outlay was 

 hardly .$150. 



Layering consists simply in bending down 

 a branch and keeping it in contact with or 

 buried to a small depth in the soil, until roots 

 are formed. The connection with the parent 

 plant may then be severed. Many plants can 

 be far more easily propagated thus than by 

 cuttings. 



The milk of a cow in her third or fourth 

 calf is generally richer in quality than a 

 younger one, and will continue so for several 

 years. In dry seasons the quality is generally 

 richer, although cool weather favors the pro- 

 duction of cheese. Cold weather increases 

 the yield of butter. — Farm, Herd and Home. 

 It should be remembered that no matter 

 how good and rich a milker a cow may be it 

 is unreasonable to expect the quantity and 

 richness of the product to be kept up unless 

 both the quantity and adaptability of the food 

 are matters of attention. Do not expect im- 

 possibilities, even if you are the owner of 

 prize milking animals. 



The best time for shipping bees any con- 

 siderable distance is in April, or quite early 

 in May, before the combs are too heavy with 

 blood, though with proper care in preparing 

 them and ordinary usage in hatching them 

 they may be shipped at any time with com- 

 parative safety, except in (luite cold weather. 

 The Navajo Indians in Arizona have 900,- 

 500 sheep, and 200,000 goats, tlie result of the 

 investment of ,f30,000 for them by the Gov- 

 ernment two or three years ago. This here- 

 tofore expensive tribe required an appropria- 

 tion of only $.5000 a year and are now con- 

 sidered self-sustaining. They occupy an 

 immense tract of land, however, which is 

 held for settlers. 



I THINK the value of flax straw for feeding 

 stock generally depends on how much seed 



there is in it. I have stacked upon my place 

 seventy-five or one hundred tons of flax 

 straw; I have also a quantity of prarie hay, 

 which I do not value very highly for the win- 

 tering of stock, and I was obliged to fence it 

 in to keep it from being eaten up, while my 

 flax straw went untouched. I would not give 

 50 cents a ton for flax straw for feeding stock, 

 as there is not any substance in it. — A Kansas 

 Farmer. 



Gladiolus bulbs should be planted in suc- 

 cession at the intervals of two or three weeks, 

 through the months of April and May. They 

 should be planted about three inches deep, a 

 little pure soil or sand being laid over each 

 before the earth is closed in about them, an 

 arrangement which may be only advantage- 

 ously followed with bulbous plants generally. 

 In hot summer weather they should have a 

 good mulching or half rotten manure, and as 

 soon as the flower spikes are produced liquid 

 manure may occasionally be given them. 



A WRITER in the Fruit Becorder makes the 

 statement that one of the neighbors planted 

 some cabbage plants among his corn where 

 the corn missed, and the butterflies did not 

 find them. He has, therefore, come to the 

 conclusion that if the cabbage patch was in 

 the middle of the corn-fleld the butterflies 

 would not find them as they fly low and like 

 plain sailing. 



There are fewer cattle now in Colorado 

 than there were three or four years ago. The 

 profits of herding were great, and there was a 

 rapid increase until drought and subsequent 

 severe winter caused tlie loss of thousands of 

 head from starvation and exposure. It is 

 probable that Colorado will not in many years 

 have as many head of cattle as it had before 

 this disastrous experience. 



A FRUIT-GROWER lu Western New York 

 sold the past season $3000 worth of quinces 

 from an orchard of 10,000 trees which have 

 been bearing three years. Every year here- 

 after the sales will, or should, largely increase 

 So far the only manure used has been a mix- 

 ture of salt and ashes. The orchard is kept 

 cleanly cultivated, and the trees are too large 

 to grow other crops among them. 



The greater part of the water found in 

 plants, and the earthy or minerals ingredients, 

 including the nitrates, enter the plants by 

 means of the roots. Probably gaseous matter 

 may also be absorbed by the roots. Absorp- 

 tion of fluids by the roots is due to diffusion, 

 by virtue of which liquids of different densi- 

 ties have have a tendency to mix, the thinner 

 passing into the thicker liquid through the 

 cell-walls. 



Sandy soils are, in the average farmer's 

 sense of the word, the lightest of all soils, be- 

 cause they are the easiest to work, while in 

 actual weight they are the heaviest soils 

 known. Clay, also, which we call a heavy 

 soil, because stiff and unyielding to the plow, 

 is comparatively a light soil in actual weight. 

 Peat soils are light in both .senses of the word, 

 having little actual weight and being loose or 

 porous. 



The sheep is a close grazer, and even pre- 

 fers short pastures. It is scrupulously clean, 

 though not very select in the choice of the 

 herbage on which it feeds. Wool, being a 

 highly nitrogenous substance, requires a 



