THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



83 



often scrape anfl scarify the surface of said 

 leaves and fruit, tlirougli wliich it Ijecomcs 

 discolored and wilted. 



Again, there is an exudation of a saccharine 

 mucilaginous substance secreted by llowcrs 

 and very young fruit, about the time the for- 

 mer are expanding, and the latter are form- 

 ing, which attracts honey loving insects, and 

 these scrape up and lap this substance so 

 closely tiiat the tender skin becomes abraided 

 and discolored. Some years our White 

 Peonies liave been rendered unable to expand 

 their flowers through the presence of a multi- 

 tude of insects which feed upon this mucus, 

 which is most abundant just before the flower 

 bursts from the embraces of the calyx, or are 

 partially blown. 



The three "wasps" enclosed, are fossorial 

 in their characters— that is, diggers— and tlie 

 larvae are said to be parasitic on the bodies of 

 " grub- worms, " underground. Tliey belon^'g 

 to the genus Tiphia, or are allied to it. Ex- 

 actly when and how the females deposits their 

 eggs on the gruljs is not very clear, but suffi- 

 cient is known to base a pretty clear conjec- 

 ture. The adults feed on honey, or pollen, or 

 both, and are often seen on flowering plants, 

 during June, July and August. 



" CORREGIENDUM." 

 There are circumstances under which the 

 excessive praises of a friend may be more 

 compromising to our reputations than the 

 criticisms of an enemy. An error which in- 

 advertantly crept into the proceedings of the 

 April meeting of the Linnoean Society seems 

 to involve a case of this kind. The words 

 " obtained by myself," in parenthesis, in the 

 third line from the bottom, of Prof. Stahr's 

 short paper on the collection of Hierucium 

 caroUnicmum is an interpolation by the repor- 

 ter in order to enhance the credit due to the 

 discovery of this plant in Lancaster county. 

 When Prof Porter found a specimen of the 

 above plant twenty years ago, it was not re- 

 garded as a new species to the county, but 

 was thought to be H. foliosum, or if. gronovii, 

 or S. paniculatiim, or a variety of one of 

 these. Hence, when Prof. S. subsequently 

 found it and Prof. Gray identified it as H. 

 mrolineam, it therefore «;as new to the county, 

 or at least the knowledge of it was new. Wlien 

 Prof. Stahr says that Dr. Gray got Dr. Porter's 

 specimens recently to assist him in the study 

 of the COMPOSITJE, he did not refer to this 

 plant specifically, but to all of Dr. Porter's 

 specimens relatins; to the subject ; therefoie, 

 the interpolated words " obtained by myself, " 

 placed Prof. Stahr in a most aggravatingly 

 false position ; and yet there is nothing more 

 apparent than that the reporter did not in- 

 tend to place him in that position ; it was a 

 sort of scientific blunder. There is a vast 

 difference between findin(j or coUecling, and 

 the discovery of a plant ; and yet when (luali 

 fied by a reference to tlie locality it may be 

 quite proper to use the word discovery, al- 

 though the object may not be new to science. 

 Divest the article of the parenthesized words 

 altogetlier, and still a superficial reading of it 

 might lead one to the conclusion that Dr. P. 

 had sent Dr. G. only his specimens of JI. 

 carolinianum, when, in reality, Prof. S. meant 

 all his plants of that genus or family. 



EXCERPTS. 



ALL kinds of spice dust are good to mix 

 with the soft food tor poultry, such as pepper, 

 mace, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger. 

 Sujh refuse dust can easily be procured at any 

 spice factory. 



Ik baby is lioarse at night, take a small piece 

 (if oil silk, rub a little lard or animal oil of any 

 kind over it and fasten it next his skin, over 

 tlie chest. If may be pinned with small safe- 

 ty pins to his wrapper. 



When lemons are cheap it is prudent to 

 lay in a good store of tliem, as they will keep 

 well by running a fine string tlirougli tlie nib 

 at the end and hanging them up in a dry 

 place, taking care tliat they do not touch each 

 other. 



TuE mangers for cattle should always be 

 low. Nearly all of tlie mangers and racks of 

 our farmers are high. When a cow has to 

 reach up for food there is a tendency to abuse 

 the tliroat and neck muscles. There are sev- 

 eral diseases that arise from this very cause. 



A STEER that weighs 1,000 pounds is worth 

 twice as much as one tliat weighs 500 ; but a 

 milch cow that produces 200 pounds of butter 

 is worth much more than twice as much as 

 one tliat produces IOC, for the latter eats as 

 much as the former and gives little or no profit. 



Ik your windows are narrow, or even if they 

 are of the usual width, and you feel that you 

 can not afford double curtains, single ones 

 may be draped so gracefully that they will 

 answer admirably. They should not be loop- 

 ed back with ribbons, but be pinned or tacked 

 back in several places. Begin to tack or pin 

 back quite high, or you cannot prevent a 

 drawing or awkward appearance lower down. 



A CROP of corn is essential on all fiirms up- 

 on whicli stock is kept. Being extremely rich 

 in carbon, it not only provides nourishment 

 for growtli but produces heat and fat above 

 all other cereals. 



According to Dr. J. C. Peters, it is filth 

 that causes most of the diseases of domestic 

 animals. He mentions particularly the habit 

 of allowing bedding and manure to accumu- 

 late under the horses and other animals in the 

 stables. The impure air thus generated is 

 peculiarly well adapted to injure the health of 

 the animals compelled to breathe it. 



The Jersey cow Princess 2d, which gave 

 the largest yield of butter ever produced, was 

 induced to do so by careful management. Slie 

 was given walking exercise daily, and her ap- 

 petite was stimulated in every possible man- 

 ner. Her yield was remarkable, being twenty- 

 seven pounds and ten ounces of butter in one 

 week, or nearly four pounds per day. As her 

 yield of milk in twenty-four hours was 

 twenty-three quarts, it required only about 

 six quarts of milk to each pound of butter. 

 The milk was but little inferior to pure cream. 



As a sample of the profits they make in 

 Southern Illinois, Mr. Endicott owned up 

 that he made, clean profit, $4,200 this year 

 from twelve acres of strawberries and grapes. 

 This, he said, was, after the picking and 

 crates had been deducted, the net profit ; and 

 some of the berries, Sharpless, were so poor a 

 crop as to yield only about a dozen crates 

 marketable fruit per acre. His berry for 

 money is the Crescent, with the Captain Jack 



or Wilson. The grapes. Ives, pay an annual 

 profit of from $200 to $300 per acre, with 

 good culture. 



In ordci^ to produce nearly twenty-seven 

 pounds of butter in a week Princess 2d con- 

 sumed thirty-five pounds of clover hay, forty- 

 eight pounds of bran, thirty-five pounds of 

 carrots and beets, twelve jMiunds of oatmeal, 

 six pounds of corn meal and six pounds of oil 

 meal. Sucii was her daily allowance, which 

 demonstrates tliat cows which produce large- 

 ly are very heavy feeders. The food con- 

 sumed was nearly three times as much as that 

 required for a common cow, and the profits 

 are mainly due to the fact that the work per- 

 formed by lier dispensed with the labor and 

 care necessarp in order to provide for a large 

 number instead of a few. 



A writer in the IFome Farm says V "Most 

 soils need salt. Perhaps a word here in refer- 

 ence to salt will not be out place. I might 

 .say it is indispensable to plum and pear trees, 

 that needing from three pints to two quarts 

 to each tree, or about six bushels per acre 

 each year, sown broadcast and not put in 

 large (piantities against the tree ; it had bet- 

 ter be applied at different intervals. In a 

 neighborhood containing large orchards the 

 owners were quite discouraged about their 

 ajiples. As they were very wormy they were 

 all more or less infected. One of the owners 

 resolved to kill or cure, and, owning a meat 

 market, he had a large quantity of old salt and 

 brine. He applied it in the spring to the or- 

 chards in quantities seemingly large enough 

 to kill all the trees. Yet his trees did better 

 than usual, producing a large crop of sound 

 apples, while his neighbors were as bad as 

 ever." 



An asparagus bed may be made to last 

 twenty or thirty years, the plants are never 

 infested with insects, and the crop never fails. 



Clover hay is much better for milch cows 

 than timothy. It produces a larger quantity 

 of milk, and also of a better quality. All 

 butter makers know how yellow the butter is 

 which is made from the milk of cows fed on 

 clover hay. 



The American Agriculturist gives the wise 

 advice to farmers not to strike matches for 

 any purpose in the barn. If the lantern goes 

 out it is better to feel one's way out than to 

 run the risk of burning the barn down with 

 its valuable contents. 



Putting rings in pigs' noses to prevent 

 rooting is a needless precaution where the 

 animals are to run in an orchard of bearing 

 trees. What rooting is done under such an 

 orchard will not destroy any valuable grass, 

 and the trees and fruit will be all the better 

 for it. 



It will surprise old-fiishioned poultry grow- 

 ers to learn that the common hawk is regarded 

 !is a valuable bird. He destroys 100 field mice 

 for every chicken, and if tliere is a fair 

 amount of shrubbery around the henyard 

 very few chickens will be lost from his depre- 

 dations. 



The youngest cow in the world, to our 

 knowledge, belongs to Mr. G. M. Jones, of 

 Cottage Grove Farm, Berkeley Heights, N. J. 

 The Jersey Heifer, Galaxy's daughter (20,000), 

 born on the 15th of December, 18!?2, had her 



