1884.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



and. about the time they were running 

 through the press, Dr. Harris contributed a 

 paper on tlic subject to a journal published, 

 we tliink, at Kocliester, New York. He named 

 it Oihtinis coniferum, because tlie specimens 

 sent to liim were found on cone-bearing trees. 

 We had found it on the apricot, tlie linden, 

 tlie apple, the plum, the cherry, the locust 

 and a number of other trees, before we ob- 

 served it on the arbor ritrp, for which, how. 

 ever, it seems to have a partiality. Subse- 

 quently it was discovered that Dr. Walker 

 had previously described it under the long 

 "jaw-breaking" name it now bears. It seems 

 unfortunate that such a long and almost un- 

 pronoimcable name sliould be bestowed upon 

 such a very common insect, because the pub- 

 lic will never familiarize themselves with it 

 under that name. 



But this is only one case ; there are num- 

 bers of other worms, or the eggs that produce 

 them, that need attention between now and 

 spring. 



THE RABBIT BOT. 



"In the throat of a rabbit sold in Louis- 

 ville, the other day, was found a worm nearly 

 an inch long and tliicker than a tobacco worm. 

 This intruder was nearly black, wore ridges, 

 and was apparently dead. The rabbit seemed 

 perfectly healthy, and there were no signs 

 that the worm had injured it. Perhaps the 

 rabbit was an early rabbit." 



The foregoing paragraph may have been 

 copied into half a dozen newspapers before it 

 reached the columns of a local daily, never- 

 theless there is nothing at all wonderful in 

 it— indeed it is a very common occurrence in 

 resrard to rabbits during the summer season, 

 In our boyhood there was hardly a boy— who 

 knew anything about rabbits at all— who did 

 not know that rabbits were "wormy" in the 

 summer. For that reason a sensible boy 

 would not hunt or kill rabbits in summer— 

 they were "no good," they were wormy. 

 But the object found in the " throat" of the 

 rabbit at Louisville was not a worm, hence its 

 dark color, and the "wore ridges," whatever 

 those words may mean. It was the jmpa of a 

 certain large species of fiy, allied to the genus 

 CuUrebra, the larvu of which live beneatli the 

 skin of various animals. One species, the 

 Oiiterebra anasculator, passes its larvae period 

 in the scrotum of the gray squirrel. Some years 

 ago Mr. Geo. Hensel, of Lancaster city, had 

 a " ground squirrel " (Tamais striattis), which 

 was infested with these subcutaneous bots^ 

 and towards the end of the summer tliree 

 large wliitish worms issued forth from the 

 groin of the squirrel and burrowed into the 

 ground, and in due season the flies evolved^ 

 which were pronounced by Osten Sacken 

 (Russian Secretary of Legation) to be Calere- 

 hra buccxtta. 



A notion obtained among old squirrel liunt- 

 ers, from our earliest recollection, that the 

 red squirrel was guilty of emasculating the 

 gray scinirrel. Science ha", however, demon- 

 strated that the act of emasculation, 

 when it occurs at all, is performed by the 

 "squirrel bot." The horse hot is the Gastro- 

 philus equi. The "Gad Fly" (Hi/pnderma 

 bovis) infests cattle, and the (E.-itrus m-i^ tha 

 sheep. Even the reindeer is infested by a bot 

 {Hypoderma tarandis). Tlie species that in- 

 fests the rabbit belongs to the genns' (Estro- 



myia, and they all belong to the family 

 OisTKiD^E, commonly called "Bot-llies," 

 "Gad-flies," "Breeze-flies," &c. In rabbits 

 the worms are usually found back of the ears, 

 in the neck, or the batik, and they are so very 

 large that it is a wonder such small animals 

 as rabbits and squirrels can survive them. In 

 the above quoted case doubtless the worm 

 was obstructed in its egress Irom the body 

 of the rabbit, and jiupation took place there 

 instead of under ground. It may have been 

 (lead, but it does not really follow that it was 

 dead merely because it "appeared so." One 

 case came under our observation in wliich the 

 worm did not burrow into the ground at all, 

 but pupated above ground. But this was 

 abnormal ; they usually pupate under ground 

 and come forth a fly, ready to deposit its egg 

 or eggs on a new victim in the spring. 



THE ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE 



" Knoidcdge is power." This saying is trite 

 and popular, and withal, true ; but do people 

 generally reflect how very slowly, and through 

 what devious avenues real knowledge is ac- 

 quired, and the quality of the power it con- 

 fers y Abundant illustration is furnished 

 every day of the exceeding feebleness of those 

 who are entirely ignorant upon subjects that 

 are as familiar to others, as the A, B, C of 

 the expert schoolboy. We do not allude to 

 professional, mechanical, scientific or theo- 

 logical knowledge, in which one may be ail 

 expert within the line of his specialty, and yet 

 be as obtuse as an unlettered pagan outside of 

 that specialty— and reasonably so, because it 

 cannot be expected that " one small head" 

 could possibly hold all that is worth knowing 

 upon all subjects. In any event, therefore, 

 knowledge is power, so far as it goes in any 

 direction, and in any behalf, and especially so 

 when it is thorough knowledge. But do we 

 consider rationally, liberally and sympatheti- 

 cally the slow and gradual progress that is 

 made in the acquisition of knowledge ? 



See the "whining school-boy," with what 

 trial, trouble and vexation he acquires a 

 recognition of his A, B, C's — their sounds, 

 their forms, their import, and their relations 

 to syllables, to words, and to sentences. Of 

 course some become familiar with those sub- 

 jects in a much shorter time than others. 



It not infrequently requires a whole year 

 for an urchin to familiarize himself with the 

 names, the powers, and the import of the 

 alphabet alone. It seems to the parent a 

 very small amount of learning for tlie great 

 amount of money that has been expended to 

 effect such a small and dubious result. The 

 boy spends ten long years— from six to six- 

 teen — at school, and the outlay for tuition, 

 books, slates, boarding and clothing, besides 

 a score of etceteras, seems enormous, when 

 compared with -a mere High School card of 

 graduation. It is conceded that some piogrcss 

 has been made, be it. "more or less," but 

 then, after all, it is only " the beginning of 

 the end" of knowledge ; and the youth him- 

 self, in the very first practical step in life he 

 attempts to take may painfully realize that 

 he knows nothing. Not that he really is al- 

 together ignorant, but that he becomes sensi- 

 ble of a vast difference between theory and 

 practice. He feels that the goal of knowledge 

 is farther on in the race of life, and that to 



roach it, will cost more time, patience, labor, 

 vexation and money. 



The item of boarding alone at the low 

 average rate of one dollar per week, would 

 in ten years amount to over S500. Clothing 

 at, .say ten dollars a year, would add JlOO 

 more, to which add books, paper, slates, 

 pencils, pens, &c., not less than $50 or more, 

 and then the boy would be merely on the 

 threshold of knowledge. Five years more at 

 college, at an additional cost of SlOO a year, 

 making in all, including S50 for contingent 

 expenses, .SI, 200, which, doubtless, many 

 people, if they had so much in hand in ad- 

 vance, would rather let their cliildren grow up 

 in ignorance than to purchase a rudi- 

 mental education at such an enormous price. 

 But this pecuniary aspect of the (piestion is 

 the smallest factor in it. Without brains, 

 without industry, and without perseverance, 

 the boy may still be an uninstructed donkey, 

 a learned fool, or an impractical consumer ; 

 and, even if possessed of good common sense, 

 he may have made little progress in useful 

 knowledge. Now all this goes to show that 

 knowledge is not acquired through the means 

 by which a fortune is acquired, but that it is 

 acquired through laborious co-operation with 

 the means that are employed to disseminate it, 

 and that thorough knowledge, like the develop- 

 ment ot a plant or a physical body, is slow and 

 gradual, and not too dear at almost any price. 

 It is the same in the aeciuisition of any of the 

 natural sciences. They have their rudimental, 

 or A. B. C. state, their a-b-ab state, and a 

 thorough knowledge of these comes, "here 

 a little and there a little ; line upon line, and 

 precept upon precept," and at every step 

 seems to "cost more than it comes to ;" but 

 this is only an appearance, and a fallacious ap- 

 pearance too. When a seed is put into the 

 ground, does any one reflect upon the im- 

 mense labor, time and expense the develop- 

 ment of that seed will cost before it is pro- 

 duced again through the energy and develop- 

 ment of the plant. And yet nature is never 

 dicouraged, never shocked at the immense 

 expense, but goes on slowly and silently re- 

 producing, as if the energy, labor and ex- 

 pence were a matter of course, which it surely 

 is. What makes a pound of iron, which may 

 be procured for twenty cents, yield a product 

 the value of which may be eventually worth 

 two hundred and twenty dollars? What but 

 the labor and expense ; because every hour of 

 productive labor costs vitality, physical en- 

 ergy, time and patience, as well as pecuniary 

 outlay. 



Let any man, totally ignorant of the games 

 of billiards, backgammon or chess, stand 

 from morning till night, and be a mere 

 "looker on" of these games, and very likely 

 he will be as ignorant of them in the evening 

 as he was in the morning, and that may not 

 be all of it, he may also come to the conclu- 

 sion that those engaged in these games may 

 know as little about them as he does for all 

 that he can see to the contrary. But, let him 

 essay a hand along with others who under- 

 stand these games, and ho will soon learn 

 something, if he has any brains at all ; if noth- 

 ing else, he may be made conscious of his 

 blunders ; and everj' blunder apprehended and 

 corrected is a step forward in the acquisition 

 of knowledge. 



