1883.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



131 



the cabbage- patch — some times even adhering 

 to the undersides of tlie leaves — lience, if the 

 first brood of clirysalids are searched for, 

 gathered and destroyed, it would prevent the 

 second brood, which is always the worst. All, 

 or nearly all the insects aforenamed, have 

 liarisites wliich prey upon them, and in some 

 localities these jiarisites are said to have 

 nearly exterminated their hosts, lleturniug 

 to the first brood of the currant worm, they 

 spin their cocoons on the ground, under the 

 leaves and grass beneath the currant or goose- 

 berry bushes, and are not hard to find ; but 

 the second brood goes into the ground, spins 

 a cocoon, and there hibernates during the 

 winter, the files appearing during the follow- 

 ing spring when their food plant is in foliage. 

 Insects never will be exterminated until the 

 millenial, whenever that may be, nor will 

 they be held in wholesome check until their 

 histories and characters are better understood 

 by the masses than they are now, and an in- 

 telligent and systematic warfare is promptly 

 and perseveringly waged agairit them. No 

 sane man expects a crop of anything unless he 

 digs, plants, manures, cultivates and gathers 

 it. He must also regard insect contingencies 

 as important factors in his crop calculations, 

 and make the necessary provisions to cope 

 with them. 



Through a combination of meteorological, 

 climatic or incidental causes, certain species 

 of insects become almost or quite extinct in 

 certain localities, and nothing may be seen of 

 them for a long interval of years, and then 

 they suddenly reappear in nnmense and de- 

 structive numbers. We may instance that in 

 the years of lSo3, 4 and 5 the maple and Linden 

 trees in and about the city of Lancaster were 

 so badly Infested and disfigured by a certain 

 species of "scab" or "Barklouse," {Pulvi- 

 naria immineralidis) that many of them had 

 to be cut down (notably a row in East King 

 street) but in a few years thereafter they en- 

 tirely disappeared, and only reappeared the 

 present season, but not nearly so numerous as 

 they were on the former occasion. But this 

 suddenness in the appearance, or reappearance 

 of insects is only a seemiivj ; for if we have had 

 our eyes about us, it will be fouud that for 

 two or three previous seasons a few of them 

 had been observed. We noticed a few of these 

 insects in 1881 and 18S2, and as nothing was 

 done to destroy them the present season, they 

 possihli/ may occur in greatly increased num- 

 bers in 1884, and possibly also they may not ; 

 and it is these remote posssbilities resolving 

 themselves into mere probabilities, that lull 

 the people into insecurity. 



In conclusion, observations upon insect de- 

 velopment, their histories, and especially their 

 destructive characteristics should be initiated 

 and conducted by the young and sharp-sighted. 

 As we become advanced in years, in their 

 early stages they are out of the focus of vision, 

 and we only become sensible of their presence 

 when they have advanced very far in their 

 destructive development. On one occasion an 

 elderly lady called our attention to a favorite 

 rosebush, the leaves of which had been skele- 

 tonized by the "rose-slug." She had passed 

 it and repassed it daily, and wondered what 

 was the matter with it, and was perfectly 

 surprised when we raised up one of its 

 branches and exhibited some fifty of these 



slugs upon it. Again, when discoveries of 

 destructive insects are made, specimens of 

 them should at once be sent to an entomolo- 

 gist, with a portion of the i)lants or otlier sub- 

 stances upon which they are found feeding, 

 together with such explanatory observations 

 as they have been able to make on the subject, 

 and this should be done before it is too late to 

 apply a proper remedy. Otherwise, mere com- 

 plaints will effect nothing. 



EXCERPTS. 



Cabbage, if fed in two large quantities, is 

 certain to injure the quality of milk. 



A LAUOE and good "batch" of cookies can 

 be made from this receipt : One cup of butter, 

 two cups of sugar, four eggs, two tablespoon- 

 fuls of sour or butter milk, half a tcaspoonful 

 of soda, with flour enough to make a moder- 

 ately stiff dough. — N. Y. Post. 



Nice Corn Bread : One egg, one teacup of 

 sugar, two cups of corn meal, two cups of 

 flour and two large teaspoonfuls of baking 

 powder sifted together, two-thirds cup of lard, 

 two cups of sweet milk, and one teaspoonful 

 of salt. Should only the half be required, be 

 sure and use the one egg. — Tlic Household. 



Purslane, or "Pussley," as we were 

 taught to call it, is, like green clover, excell- 

 ent for pigs. Hens in confinement also eat it 

 readily. It is a great nuisance in the garden, 

 and the best way to get rid of it is to cut it 

 off with the hoe or pull it up and take it to 

 the pig-pen or poultry-yard. — Prairie Farmer. 



Home is not a name, nor a form, nor a 

 routine. It is a spirit, a presence, a principle. 

 Material and method will not and can not 

 make it. It must get its light and sweetness 

 from the sympathetic natures which, in their 

 exercise of sympathy, can lay aside the 

 tyranny of the broom, and the awful duty of 

 endless scrubbing. — Cincinnati Times. 



The following remedy, when applied within 

 six hours after a bite from a rabid animal, 

 has been successful in preventing hydropho- 

 bia : Make a strong wash, by dissolving two 

 tablesoonfuls of chloruet (chloride) of lime in 

 half a pint of water, and instantly and re- 

 peatedly bathe the part bitten. The poison 

 will in this way be decomposed. The fact 

 " that chlorine has the power to decompose 

 and destroy the deadly poison of the saliva of 

 the mad dog " was first published in this 

 country by Prof. Silliman. — N. Y. Tribune. 



A CELEBRATED military surgeon recom- 

 mends for quenching thirst and sustaining 

 strength oatmeal water as .superior to any 

 other drink. Boil a quarter pound of the 

 meal in two or three quarts of water, and one 

 and a half ounces of sugar, if sweetening is 

 desired ; use cold in summer and hot in 

 winter, shaking before taking. If a supper is 

 to be missed, or extra demand made on the 

 system, as some day in harvest time, the pro- 

 portion of meal may be advantageously in- 

 creased to half or three-quarters of a pound. 

 — Exchange. 



For mice-gnawed trees, a correspondent of 

 the German town Telegraph recommends cover- 

 ing the wounds with grafting-wax at once, 

 then pile earth and pack it around high above 

 the place to keep covered, as it will settle and 

 wash down some. This, if done early, will 

 save thousands of trees that have beeu in- 



jured by mice and rabbits. Make wax of one 

 pound beeswax to four pounds resin and a 

 half pint of linseed oil. If too soft, add more 

 resin ; if too hard, more oil. The wounds 

 must not be neglected until they are hard and 

 dry. 



An old sod will rot more quickly if plowed 

 shallow, provided the work is well done. In 

 the bottom of a deep furrow, especially in 

 early spring, the sod is too cold to decompose 

 rapidly. 



TiiK Hungarian wheat crop is estimated at 

 a full average and the Austrian crop at fifteen 

 per cent, below the average. The araoimt of 

 wheat available for export is estimated at 

 .5,.'J00,000 meter-centals, and the amount of 

 barley of .•3,000,000. It is expected that no 

 rye or oats will be available for export. The 

 International Corn and Seed Market has been 

 opened in Vienna. 



A FEW small boxes filled with charcoal, 

 ground bone and pounded oyster shells, and 

 placed within reach of poultry, will be of great 

 service during this season, when the fouls are 

 moulting. 



Tobacco smoke prevents the attack of all 

 insects that infest plants, and does no injury 

 to the plants unless they are confined in it for 

 too long a time. AVhile it often keeps off in- 

 sects it does not always destroy them, though 

 it is fatal to many. 



The Elmira Farmers' Club has been dis- 

 discussing the barbed wire fence question, 

 and arrived at the conclu.sion thiit the wire 

 furnished with flat pointed pieces of metal so 

 attached that they project above and below 

 the wire, was a dangerous material to employ, 

 whereas the wire barbs, pointed sharp, were 

 much liable to injure stock in case of accident 

 or entanglement. 



O. M. Tinkiiam, Secretary of the Ver- 

 mont Dairymen's Association, has devised 

 some improvements in packing butter. In- 

 stead of lining his packing-boxes with muslin 

 he uses a certain kind of brown paper, which 

 is odorless and tasteless, and costs very little. 

 He also lines his cases throughout with a 

 layer of felting half-an-inch thick. This, it is 

 alleged, keeps out the heat most effectually. 



Orchardists are more thoroughly con- 

 vinced than ever that orchards should be 

 spread broadcast with manure when the trees 

 are set out, that the extremities of the roots 

 may be benefitted. Manuring heavily a certain 

 section about the tree — and this applies also 

 to trees that are in bearing condition — tends 

 to aid only the immediate part afl'ected. It is 

 much better to stir up the entire orchard than 

 to cultivate a small circle at the foot of the 

 tree. 



South Carolina is going into truck farm- 

 ing somewhat for the Chicago markets. Ar- 

 rangements have been made with a railroad 

 running in that direction to take the truck to 

 Chicago and bring back dressed beef. At a 

 a recent meeting of farmers and railroad 

 ofiicials 4900 acres were reported to be planted 

 with watermelons, 120 in round potatoes, 1.5 

 in cabbage, 18 in cucumbers, and 3 in onions, 

 all within ten miles of the road, and, we be- 

 lieve, all in one county. 



One of the most satisfactory methods of 

 growing young vegetables or flower plants is 



