176 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 1883 



uing, and any ewe in the flock tliat has been found 

 deficient in tliose points necessary for a dam should 

 be cast asiile for a better animal. The march of im- 

 provement has been mostly in the use of the blooded 

 sire, but the characteristics of the dam largely in- 

 fluence her offspring. It is true a blooded ram con- 

 fers rapid improvement in a flock ; but his influence 

 will be more powerful and lasting if he is allowed 

 in a flock where the ewes have been carefully select- 

 ed. Some ewes are entirely unfitted tor crossing 

 with rams of the Cotswold breed, for the lambs, 

 being heavy feeders and quick growers, cannot pro- 

 cure a sufiicient supply of nourishment from their 

 dams, and if the dams are old and inaetive the diffi- 

 culty is augmented by their inability to partially 

 assist themselves. Nor do we approve of breeding 

 a very young ewe with Cotswold or Lincoln rams, 

 but prefer to wait until the second lambing. In 

 crossing with Cotswolds everything depends on the 

 capacity of the ewe to feed her lamb, and in order to 

 do so she must be in full bodily vigor. Many mis- 

 takes have been made in breeding through failure to 

 select the best ewes from the fiock, for it is necessary 

 for success to be as careful regarding the dam as 

 with the sires. 



The Intelligence of a Horse. 

 An old blind horse belonging to a small tradesman 

 and farmer was turned out to graze on the common 

 near the owner's house. For some cause it wound 

 its way through lanes to the blacksmith's, where he 

 had often been before. The entrance to the forge is 

 difficult of access on account of the ditches on either 

 side, but the animal reached it safely, took its stand 

 by the forge, and then neighed. The blacksmith, 

 being at work in his garden, and hearing a horse 

 neigh, looked for it, and not seeing it, returned to 

 his gardening. operations. In a short time he heard 

 it again, but could not see a horse anywhere, until 

 he went into his shop, when he found it standing 

 very quietly by the forge as if waiting to be shod. 

 Thinking some one must have brought it there, the 

 blacksmith looked at its feet, and found one with 

 the shoes pressing into the frog, causing great pain. 

 He then put on another shoe and sent the horse back 

 to its owner. — Nature. 



Are Our Sheep Improving ? 



The Report of the Department of Agriculture 

 gives the number of sheep for 1861 as 31,500,000 and 

 the production of wool as 55,000,000 pounds. This 

 gives an average fleece of 2..55 pounds. In 1S70 

 there were 34,000,000 of sheep and 135,000,000 

 pounds of wool. This gives an average fleece of 

 3.97 pounds, and is a gain of 55 per cent, in ten 

 years This result does not look like a backward 

 movement in this industry. A gain of 55 per cent, 

 in ten years ought to be considered very good pro- 

 gress. There has been no report from the Depart- 

 ment as to the production of wool during the period 

 between 1870 and 1880, but there has, no doubt, been 

 a steady progress during this last decade. Sheep 

 are kept for wool and carcass, and this large in- 

 crease in the production of wool indicates a corre- 

 sponding increase in the weight of carcass. We must 

 therefore, conclude that our flocks are making satis- 

 factory progress. This progress is largely attributa- 

 ble to the use of purely-bred Merino rams upon the 

 rough, thin-wooled native ewes of Colorado, Califor- 

 nia and Texas, as well as of the Western States gen- 

 erally. And with this desire to improve the form of 

 the sheep has come a clearer perception of the rela- 

 tion of food to growth. The modern sheep farmer, 

 who has studied his business, is now well aware that 

 a large, flnely-lbrmed animal represents generous 

 and judicious feeding. — National Live Stock Journal. 



have very little exercise they get in the habit of 

 scratching the straw in their nests for want of some 

 other exercise. After an egg is once broken they, of 

 course, eat it, and in this way the habit is formed. 

 This, as well as all other habits are formed only when 

 the fowls are confined in small yards and have very 

 little exercise, and anything that offers they are 

 ready and willing to do. This is one of their worst 

 habits and a very hard one to break. Much has been 

 said on this subject; however, prevention is far bet- 

 ter and easier than cure. To avoid all this trouble 

 the fowls should have plenty of occupation outside 

 of the hen-house. Give them corn on the cob and let 

 them labor a little for their food — the more the bet- 

 ter. Another bad habit, and one that is extremely 

 vexatious to the fancier, is that of feather eating. 

 This habit, and one that is also formed purely from 

 want of something better to do and an appetite is 

 soon acquired. When fowls are allowed to run at 

 large they gather innumerable insects as well as veg- 

 etable food of all kinds, and if a good supply of ani- 

 mal and vegetable food is not given them when con 

 fined these habits are easily formed. Both these habits 

 are acquired by all breeds but the rapid layers and non- 

 setters are the worst, for they possess an almost ir- 

 resistible appetite for animal food, and it is the grat- 

 ifying of this appetite that gives us so many eggs. 

 Another habit is high-flying, which is formed by 

 placing the roosts high in the coop, and it is for this 

 reason principally that low roosts are recommended. 

 Remember when fowls are conflned they depend 

 entirely on their keeper for their feed, which should 

 be given them regularly and in such quantities that 

 none will be left to spoil on the ground. 



Fowls delight to scratch in loose ground, and if a 

 portion of their yard is dug up at intervals it will 

 afford them the exercise they so much need. -H.ti. 

 Walds, in South and West. 



Bad Habits in the Poultry Yard. 



Much of the trouble aad vexation created in the 

 management of poultry is caused by the fowls con- 

 tracting habits, which, when once formed, are very 

 hard to break. One of the principal and mo9t aggra- 

 vating habits is that of eating eggs. 



When the fowls ar^coDfloed in close quarters and 



Poultry Notes. 



Those who are handling the White Cochin will 

 flnd that they will do better if they are allowed to 

 run where there is white or light-colored sand. 



It should be borne in mind by those who have 

 fowls confined, that green food is essential. It mat- 

 ters not what kind, but it is absolutely necessary. 



The Fanciers' Gazette says that if a chick is dis- 

 covered watering at the eyes and running at the 

 nose, give it half a teaspoonful of castor oil and place 

 jt in warm quarters. So say we. 



There should be good judgment used in the selec- 

 tion of breeding fowls. Vigorous females, as well as 

 males, should be selected. We mean by this that 

 the color of plumage, symmetry, and the carriage 

 that denotes good health, should be considered. 



To the inexperienced we will remark, that it is 

 best not to try to keep too many kinds of fowls. One 

 breed, if well cared for, is better than a dozen that 

 will soon mix and be of no distinct kind. For all 

 purposes, we believe the Plymouth Rock to be the 

 best. 



It is a noted fact, established by experience, that 

 fowls produce eggs in an Inverse ratio to the number 

 kept, which militates against keeping fowls on a 

 large scale. Where there are so many together, 

 various causes lower the vitplity and cause a falling 

 ofl'of egg pioducts. — Dairy and Farm Journal. 



LITERARY AND PERSONAL. 



Entomological Literature. — Fifty years ago 

 the Entomologists and the Entomological literature 

 of the United States were very limited. The elder 

 and younger Melsheimers, Say, Peck, Hentz, Harris, 

 and a few other names were pretty much all that 

 could be mentioned, and their contributions were 

 scattered through the proceedings of various so- 

 cieties, or through the columns of various agrieul 

 tural and secular newspapers, and very few of these 

 treated the subject in a practical and popular man- 

 ner. Very few people — even those sufficiently intel- 

 ligent on other subjects — really knew what the term 

 JiMtomology me&nl ; hence, when we, on one occa- 

 sion, sent a collection of American insects to Europe 



through a gentleman then residing in Lancaster, it 

 was editorially announced, through one of the city 

 newspapers that a Lancaster county " Etymologist" 

 had sent a collection of insects to Heidelburg in 

 Germany. No systematic catalogue of American 

 Entomologists or Entomological literature is now 

 accessible to us, but we know they have greatly 

 multiplied since fifty years ago. Recently, however, 

 we received a copy of " Bibliotheque Entomologique" 

 for September, 1883, containing annual catalogue 

 No. 2, by Ed. Andbe, a dealer in Entomological 

 works in France, and the common reader would be 

 astonished at the richness of the literature upon 

 objects that only elecit the average indifference, if not 

 contempt, among the masses of mankind. Herein 

 we find recorded in an alphabetical list, the names of 

 340 authors, composing 1359 books, papers, essays, 

 and other works, on the Order Coleoptera alone ; 

 each author having contributed at least one, several 

 of them as high as fifty, and Edw. Reitter, of 

 Berlin, Prussia, 88 ; and these contributions to 

 Coleopterology are printed in the English, German, 

 Dutch, French, Spanish and Latin languages. The 

 same catalogue also contains the names of 94 

 authors on Hymenoptera, and their contributions 

 number 223. Besides these, 38 authors have pro- 

 duced 84 works on Orthoptera ; 23 have produced 

 54 on Nemoptera ; 62 ditto 198 papers on Hemip- 

 tera; 148 do. .386 on Lepidoptera ; '77 do. 214 

 papers on Diptera. In addition to the foregoing, 

 other authors are enumerated on Arachnida, 

 Crustacea, Myriapoda, Annulosa and Mis- 

 celania, but our analysis will only include the 

 In'secta, under their scientific restrictions. 



Here are seven orders of insects, (not including 

 the Thysunura, Parasita, and Aptera) upon which 

 seven hundred men of intellect, (we have deducted 

 eighty two from the whole number for duplications, 

 because some of them have studied and written upon 

 seveial orders) have devoted their physical and 

 mental energies, their time, and much of their 

 pecuniary means, to the collection, history, and des- 

 cription of objects for which many people can flnd no 

 more appropriate name than " bugs," and for those 

 who make them specialties, no other name than 

 " buggers ;" and these seven hundred have written 

 2,518 separate papers, books, pamphlets or essays 

 in elucidation thereof, to say nothing about figures, 

 drawings, and sketchings, by way of illustration. 



Of course, this does not include the entire bulk of 

 the scientiflc literature of these entomological au- 

 thors, for we may suppose that some of their works 

 are " out of print," and hence not catalogued, and 

 also that many others remain in manuscript. These 

 several contributions, in price, range from •■'.5 cent- 

 imes, all the way up to 100 frances. Edwards' 

 " Butterflies of North America" is catalogued at 

 $30 a volume, and Smiths and Abbot on the insects 

 of the Southern States, at ?.50.00, in American lists 

 of Entomological literature. 



Distinct and separate entomological organizations 

 now exist in the United States, in Canada, in Europe, 

 in Asia and in Australia, and many of these associa- 

 tions and clubs publish regular serials of their pro- 

 ceedings in pamphlet or book form, and Illustrate 

 them with beautiful colored engravings, and many 

 thousands of wood-cuts. 



Perhaps, no department in natural history has 

 now a more extensive literature than Entomology, 

 not even in the United States, where the subject, 

 compared with the older countries, may be regarded 

 as recent in its development. 



A glance at the " Naturalists Directory" will 

 illustrate that although the entomologists of the 

 United States fifty years ago could not be counted 

 by dozens, yet now they can be counted by hundreds, 

 and the literature upon the subject has increased 

 from a few scattered contributions to hundreds of 

 volumes. Thomas Say was, perhaps, the first man 

 whose contributions were gathered together and pub- 

 lished in book form. And all these labors, and this 

 literature relate to objects, which the majority of 

 mankind, think far beneath their notice, or even 

 contemplation. 



