1883. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



173 



Josiah Brown ; Which is the better depth to 

 plow, in order to raise a big crop of corn — i or fi 

 inches ? 



This same question was before the club some time 

 ago, and the club still inlluTes to the opinion that 

 for this neighborhood shallow plowing is preferable 

 for corn . 



The Afternoon Session. 

 The Club now adjourned for dinner and to take a 

 look at the farming operations, after which they 

 again convened in the house, when, criticisms being 

 in order, the host was complimented for his fine 

 stock, and especially for the neat and comfortable 

 tenant houses which he lias lately put up. 



Literary Exercises. 



Day Wood read from the Piiiladelphia Times an 

 article on the Eastern Experimental Farm, giving a 

 very gloomy picture of its dilapidated condition. 



Montillion Brown read an article from The Lou 

 caster Farmer, urging farmers to write for it. 



Lizzie Wood read an article on Sugar, from The 

 Ifousehohl. 



M. Brown read an article on crowding out sorrel 

 by high manuring with bone dust and ashes 



R. D. King read " What I Saw." 



Miss Wilson read " Beginning Again." 



E. K. Haines read " One by One." 



The club adjourned to meet at E. H. Haines' on 

 the first Saturday in December. 



LINNiEAN SOCIETY. 

 The Linnaean Society met in their museum on Sat- 

 urday afternoon, October 27, 1883, at 2:30 P. M., the 

 president, J. P. Wickersham in the chair, and nine 

 members present. Dues were collected and the 

 minutes of the previous meeting were read in part 

 and approved. 



Donations to the Museum. 



A bottle of insects, centipedes, and arachnids, col- 

 lected» late in September last, on the rocky ridge 

 near Collins' Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 

 a few miles above Bainbridge, familiarly known in 

 the neighborhood as " Stony-Batter" — a ridge which 

 continues all along the northern portion of Lancaster 

 county, and extends into the counties that form the 

 eastern boundary of the State — a singular ridge, 

 consisting of different sized boulders of an exceed- 

 ingly hard sienitic or porphyritic rock, doubtless the 

 water worn relics of a glacial deposit. In many 

 places the ridge is very barren, the trees scrubby 

 and vegetation scant, yet no doubt a visit (0 it in the 

 early part of the summer would be interesting to the 

 naturalist. In September the most abundant insects 

 are grasshoppers and crickets, and under the stones 

 various species of ants, spiders and centipedes. Next 

 to these, on the juniper bushes, were the insects 

 known as " wheel bugs," from a lousitudiual ridge 

 on the thorax, which resembles a portion of a cog 

 wheel. This is the Reduvius (Priouotus) novenarius 

 of entomologists. 



For seven years (from 1841 to 1848) I had can- 

 vassed portions of Lancaster and York counties, and 

 extended my excursions as far west as Hollidays 

 burg, and as far nortliwest as Hunters' and Lewis' 

 lakes in Lycoming county, and yet I had never met 

 with a single specimen of this insect. I think the 

 first living specimen I ever met with was in the au 

 tumn of 1851 near the Schuylkill, in West Philadel- 

 phia. During the autumn of 1833 I took one or two 

 specimens in the eastern suburbs of Lancaster city. 

 From that period down to the present time they 

 have very perceptibly increased, and are frequently 

 found in Lancaster city, but there are few among 

 tho masses who know anything about their liistory 

 and habits, hence many of Ihcm are wantonly de- 

 stroyed. They are entirely carnivorous, feeding on 

 other insects — and sometimes on each other — from 

 their earliest infancy to their extremest age. They 

 should be cherished and protected by all who have 

 any interest in the production of the soil. In an 

 earlier number of the Lancaster Farmer a description 

 was glTCD, Illustrating how the young bridge over 



the period of youthfulncss, in relation to their feed- 

 ing habits, through which, although fifty may he ex 

 eluded I'rom a single cluster of eggs, yet not more 

 than half a dozen may finally reach maturity. 



Mr. John Peterman, af Paradise township, do. 

 natcd a beautiful specimen of the Hingnecki'd 

 snake, which he turned up with a plow In a field. It 

 Is said that the young common Black snake (Bas- 

 canion Constrictor) has a ringed neck, but that it 

 disappears before the snake reaches maturity, bnt 

 the descriptions accesslbl • to me are silent on the 

 subject. Authorities, however, state that there are 

 three or four species of KIngnecked snakes in the 

 United States, and the late Jacob Stauffer records 

 one species as Inhabiting Lancaster county, and that 

 It Is not rare : Namely, the Diadophls punctatus. 

 Both these snakes, and also the Scotophis allighanl- 

 ensis, found in Lancaster county, were formerly in- 

 cluded in the old genus Coluber, but the restless 

 spirit of scientific progress has ruled them out, and 

 placed them into dlH'erent genera. Long years ago, 

 when a mere boy, two Black snakes were known to 

 me, oneeall the " racer" and the other the "chaser." 

 The racer was the more slender of the two, and the 

 snakes were doubtless those now known generally, 

 to the scientific world, at Bascanion and Scotophis ; 

 and, of the latter, I helped to kill one that measured 

 over five feet in length. .Marvelous tales were told 

 of these snakes, as to their size, their habits, and 

 their dispositions ; but the information was generally 

 "hearsay" exaggerations, and it is doubtful whether 

 any of them mucii exceeded the length I have men 

 tioned. The specimen of Ringnecked snake donated 

 by Mr. Peterman, is evidently immature, but it seems 

 to be covered by De Kay's description in the natural 

 history of New York. 



Shecimens of sulphuret of nickel and copper, from 

 the " Gap mines," by Mr. Gill. In this connection 

 it may be appropriate to state that the Gap mines 

 are likely to be superseded by the discovery of more 

 abundant and easier worked nickel ore in Colorado 

 at diS'erent localities. 



Cocoons of Nematis ventricosus, or " currant saw - 

 fly," and also those of another Hymenopterous insect, 

 Tiphia inornats, perforated, and the pupa; totally 

 destroyed by Anthremes variens, or common " mu- 

 seum beetle." 



A small box containing the singular pendant co 

 coons of a small spider. It seems to be the Theri- 

 dion trigonum, of Hentz, or a species very nearly 

 allied to it, and was sent to one of the curators by 

 Mr. J. B. Erb, of Lime Valley, Lancaster county, 

 three or four years ago. Donated by S. S. H. 



A small bottle containing the larvae the pupa and 

 the imago of a small dipterous insect, bred from 

 diseased grapes. On comparison with the description 

 and illustrations in the U. S. Entomologist's report 

 for 1881 1882, published by the Department of Agri- 

 culture, I have no doubt it is what, by way of dis- 

 tinction, is known as " The Vineloving Pomace-fly" 

 — Drosophil'a ampelophila of Lowe. Of course, 

 some of the details of that description I did not re 

 cognize in my observations, from the fact that mine 

 were made under a much inferior magnifying power 

 and, perhaps, also an inferior light. 



Part of what was a larce and most magnificent 

 snow white fungus, which has become tarnished in 

 drying, belonging to the Boletus family. U would 

 perhaps be a legitimate question for discussion, as 

 to whether the grass grew through the fungus or the 

 fungus grew around the grass, as that of the two 

 wags, as to whether the abbreviated caudal append- 

 age of a canine had been cut off or driven in. 



A specimen of the granite of which the "new 

 Mormon temple is built, or being built, donated by 

 Mr. Irving Rawlins, a native of Lancaster county, 

 bnt now residing at Ogden City, Utah. 



A bottle containing a male and female specimen of 

 the " Sprectre Insect" or " Walking Slick"— 

 Spectrum femoratuus— donated by M. W. W. Bullar, 

 of .Mountville. Also two immature specimens of the 

 " Harlequin bug" — Strachia liistrionica— from Mr. 

 John B. Garber, of .Maytown. Also, a beautiful, 

 large orange-colored spider— Epelra glacllls ? sent by 



some nameless person by mail. The " Harlequin" 

 is fully as destructive to the cabbage crop as the 

 "green worm" is, when it becomes abundant. It 

 11.16 long been known south of us, and even in east- 

 ern Pennsylvania, and It would be a great misfortune 

 should it become numerous in Lancaster county. 



Three mounted specimens of exotic plants, and 16 

 specimens of unmounted plants, from the DlllerviUe 

 swamp, also a bottle containing peach stems Infest- 

 ed with Leeanlum I'ersica, a species of coccus or 

 scale insect ; and an old fushioned shutter fastener 

 from an old residence In Lancaster donated by S. M. 

 Sener. 



Donations to the Library. 



Lancaster Farmer fur October, 18H3 ; Sanitary Kh- 

 gme.e.r for October, 1883 ; four pamphlet catalogues; 

 preface to Dr. .VleCosh's Lectures on Evolution; 

 eiirht envelopes of 53 miscellaneous scraps ; Patent 

 Office Gazette, Nos. 1 to 4 of Vol. 'i5 ; copy pf 

 Science for September, 1883; six catalogues and two 

 letters. A paper was read by Dr. Kathvon on 

 " Grape Infestations," which was very intercBting 

 indeed. The adoption of amendments to conBtltu- 

 tlon and by laws again laid on the table till some 

 other meeting. 



Robert C. Bair, of York Furnace, York county, 

 was then elected a correspondent, and Walter P. 

 King, of Lancaster, was elected a reyular member. 



The treasurer then presented a bill of 8i7.95 for 

 binding, and one of $5 for subscription to proceed- 

 ings of Academy of Natural Sciences for 1883, and 

 00 cents for postal cards. On motion these bills 

 were ordered to be paid. 



After the transaction of some minor business the 

 society adjourned to meet on Saturday afternoon, 

 November 24, 1883, at 3:30 P. M., in museum. 



Hort:cl .ruRE. 



Overdoing Cultivation. 



A farmer tried the experiment last year, of raking 

 several plots, so that the soil was as fine as possible, 

 and then sowing wheat. The effects of this extra 

 care were not evident in better crop or larger beads. 

 There is such a thing as making a soil too powdery. 

 If it is at all heavy soil it will crust over and bake, 

 after the first hard rain, like cement. We know a 

 tanner who, after getting his corn ground in good 

 order, invariably goes over it two or three times 

 more with the expectation of making it In better 

 condition for the growing of corn. With all his cul- 

 tivation he never raises a very large crop, no more 

 and frequently not as good as do his neighbors with 

 good but not extra cultivation previous to planting. 

 Enough seems to be suflicieut for all practical pur- 

 poses in such cases, and that there can be too much 

 cultivation of the soil when either wet or dry is evi- 

 dent to most practical farmers. It Is, however, not 

 of frequent occurrence, and few err in this direction. 

 The general rule is too little rather than too much. — 

 Michigan Farmer. 



About Bulbs. 

 It is pleasant to notice that within the last decade 

 the cultivation of the family of bulbs has consider- 

 ably increased, though not nearly to the extent they 

 should be. These fiowers, with the single exception 

 of the rose, take precedence in point of beauty and 

 attractivr-ness over all others. The first half of No- 

 vember is perhaps the most suitable time to set out 

 nearly all varieties of the bulb. Including the Hya- 

 cinth, Tulip, Narcissus, Snowdrop, Crocus, Japan 

 Lilies, .\merican Turk's Cap, Grant Lily, etc. The 

 Gladiolus does best when potted late In October, or 

 not later than the middle of November. Take eight 

 or twelve good sized pots and fill them with the 

 largest mass of corms or bulbs the pot will admit, 

 and place the pots in the conservatory or wherever 

 there Is a sufficiently mild temperature and then 

 about the middle of April plant them out in rows 

 about one foot apart and three or four Inches deep. 

 The Crown Imperial ought to be taken up and re- 

 planted as soon as tbey are done blooming and the 



