THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[June, 



knowing, or ever suspecting that a sort of 

 mimicry exists among the different orders and 

 families of insects; after a more minute com- 

 parison, I noticed it conspicuously present 

 even in this first collection. What I mean is, 

 that certain species in one order or family 

 have their representatives in some other order 

 or family, and resemble them so closely in 

 color and form, that a novice may easily con- 

 found them. 



Pursuing these embryotic studies, I was 

 one day sauntering along the banks of the Chi- 

 quesalunga when I encountered two men en- 

 gaged in frog shooting. One of them had 

 just shot a large frog and he called my atten- 

 tion to it, from the fact that, although he had 

 shot the whole head oil', the reptile seemed to 

 toss its body about with unabated vigor. I 

 soon discovered that there was something 

 within it that produced its peculiar movements 

 and on opening it I found its stomach occu- 

 pied by a large black living beetle, also two 

 dead ones, and several fragments of similar 

 beetles. These beetles were entirely new to 

 me, and of no ordinary character. 1 secured 

 them and when I reached home I impaled 

 them amongst my other insects. Although I 

 had previously been interested in mineralogy, 

 and somewhat in ornithology, I did not know 

 of a collector nor a collection of insects in the 

 world. One day the late Professor Halde- 

 man, of "Chiques Kock," came into my shop, 

 as he always did when in town, when his keen 

 eyes immediately fell with delight upon my 

 small collection. He informed me that the 

 large black beetles were Xyloryctes satyrus ; 

 that they belonged to the order Oolenptera, 

 and the family Sc.\kabidce in the division 

 Lamellicornia. That definition was about 

 as "clear as mud" to me, and he recognized 

 it with a grim smile. He informed me that 

 he had just come into possession of the collec- 

 tion of, then, the late Professor Hentz, of 

 Alabama, and invited me to come and see it. 

 Of course I availed myself of the first oppor- 

 tunity to do so, and that visit inoculated me 

 with the virus of entomology. Subsequently 

 he consolidated the Hentz collection with one 

 that he made himself, the former being main- 

 ly southern species. Long years thereafter I 

 came into possession of that consolidated col- 

 lection and incorporated it with my own, con- 

 sisting of American and foreign species, so 

 that all that remains of the Hentz-Haldeman 

 collection is now in the museum of the Lin- 

 ntean Society, here, in Lancaster city, and the 

 specimen of Xyloryctes satyrus taken from the 

 stomach of a frog three and forty years ago, 

 remains intact, and constitutes the nuscleus 

 around which cluster ten thousand species of 

 cokoptera from Asia, Africa, Europe, North 

 and South America, Australia, and the West 

 India Islands. 



There was no hereditary predisposition in- 

 volved in it, as it is merely imitiative, and the 

 result of years of slow, patient, and persever- 

 ing labor. 1 unconsciously cultivated a love 

 for it, and old habits gave way to the "expul- 

 sive power of a new affection." 



Selections. 



COUNTRY ROADS. 



The American visitor finds nothing in 



Europe to call forth his admiration more un- 



reservedly than the general excellence of the 

 highways. To Mark Twain the roads of 

 France looked as if they had been "jack- 

 planed and sand-papered." There is nothing 

 in America which excites the surprise of 

 European visitors in a more marked degree 

 than the poor quality of our highways. Herr 

 Lasker declared that the worst thing he saw 

 in Amprica was the roads. Where the coun- 

 try is new and sparsely settled the best roads 

 are impossible. There are so many miles of 

 wheelway and so few people to make and 

 maintain them that smooth roads the season 

 through, can not be hoped for. But a few 

 years ago the whole country was new, and we 

 are still following frontier traditions. Each 

 year, however, as our civilization grows older 

 the demand for all possible conveniences 

 grows more importunate, and this spring we 

 observe a louder clamor for improvement in 

 ous public roads than was ever made before. 

 This demand does not come alone from those 

 who drive for pleasure. The farmers are be- 

 ginning to realize that the mud of spring, the 

 dust and ruts of summer, and the roughness 

 of all the year, bring constant expense. Bad 

 roads double the annual cost of repair upon 

 the farmer's rolling stock. They consume 

 his time. They compel him to go twice to 

 market for what he could carry at one load on 

 a smooth way. They wear out his teams^ 

 They often bring serious injury to promising 

 young animals. 



Of course, our roads are " worked "every 

 year. That is, the soft muck and wash is 

 scraped up on the track from the ditches, to 

 soak up like a sponge the water from the un- 

 drained bed, and this muck is worked into a 

 mortar after every rain. The only attempt 

 at engineering is the construction of water 

 breaks or "Thankee-ma'ams," which serve 

 no good purpose except, perhaps, to jolt the 

 dyspepsia out of any who may be doomed to 

 bump over them. There is no systematic ef- 

 fort to secure the first essential of a good 

 road, thorough drainage, to wit ; no intelli- 

 gent endeavor to make a smooth, hard sur- 

 face. 



Now, what is npeded to secure good roads ? 

 First and foremost an enlightened public sen- 

 timent in the matter. Not a mere assent to 

 the proposition that better roads are needed, 

 but a profound conviction that no community 

 can aftbrd to be without them. Local road 

 reform associations, if organized, could ac- 

 complish much by educating the people in 

 this direction. 



Good roads cost money, and yet the outlay 

 would prove a paying investment for any 

 community. Facts and reasons should be 

 given in public meetings to demonstrate this, 

 until public spirit is aroused and enthusiasm 

 kindled. If any town or county sets about it 

 with a will the reform will be carried, but 

 toad reform is too large an enterprise to be 

 carried through with a half-hearted support. 



The next step is not to give popular instruc- 

 tion in the art of road-making, but to have it 

 understood that the average laborer cannot 

 make a road any more than he can build a 

 house. Special training is needed for the 

 proper construction of a road as truly as it is 

 for the proper construction and maintenance 

 of a railway. The "jack -planed and the 

 sand-papered " roads of France were not made 



by farmers who devoted themselves with a 

 team and hand, a plow and a scraper to the 

 task for three or four days each year. Boad- 

 making should be recognized as a distinct 

 business — a profession, and a few skilled and 

 trained men should be employed constantly to 

 do what in many parts of the country is 

 everybody's business. 



After all, good example will accomplish the 

 most beneficent results. Every stretch of per- 

 fect wheelway is an incitement and challenge 

 to the adjoining district. Any community 

 which reforms its own road system will insure 

 easy traveling in every direction, for the ad- 

 vantages of good roads over bad are so appa- 

 rent when brought to the test of experience 

 that further argument is not needed. 



An esteemed correspondent writes; "A 

 move in the right direction has been made by 

 a puWic spirited gentleman in Chester county, 

 who is reported to have offered a sum suffi- 

 cient to purchase a steam stone crusher, the 

 amount to be returned in annual instalments 

 of $100 free of interest. And further, he 

 agrees to furnish the stone free until all the 

 highways in his township shall be placed in 

 first-class condition." 



This means more than good roads for a 

 single township. It means awakening interest 

 and instruction by actual experience for every 

 one who drives over the improved roads. The 

 unnamed gentlemen will encourage a wider 

 reform, and his benetlcent influence will be 

 felt radiating in every direction.— PAiZa. Press. 



THE MOVEMENTS OF LIQUIDS IN 

 LIVING PLANTS 



Water is the vehicleof transportation of all 

 substances in a living plant. This liquid com- 

 pound also furnishes much of the material 

 for building up the plant structure. All. the 

 movements of water in a tree, shrub or herb 

 are slow, and their general direction is deter- 

 mined by the relative positions of the parts 

 of the plant which absorb the water from 

 without those parts which make use of it 

 within. Most plants have a large expanse 

 of foliage, from which water is evaporated or 

 transpired, slowly or rapidly, according to the 

 texture of the leaves and the conditions under 

 which they are placed. If the leaves are ex- 

 posed to a hot, dry atmosphere and a bright 

 sunshine, the evaporation may be so rapid as 

 to exceed in amount the weight of the plant, 

 if it be a small one. 



The main source of absorption is the roots, 

 and it is evident that there must be a flow of 

 tnis water from the absorbing root surface to 

 the evaporating leaf surface. This surface 

 has very little immediate connection with th« 

 processes of plant growth. Its rapidity de- 

 pends upon the conditions above mentioned. 

 When evaporation ceases, as in very moist 

 weather, and the leaves are wet with dew or 

 rain, the flow of water is very slight. This 

 current of water, to meet the wants of evap- 

 oration, passes exclusively through the woody 

 portion of the plant. Sachs, in his work on 

 vegetable philosophy, says: "All the rest of 

 the tissue may be destroyed at any place 

 without the current of water ceasing, if only 

 the wood remains entire." 



The movements of liquids for purposes of 

 nutrition and growth may take place through 

 any form of plant substance, but they all have 



