THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



93 



jecturc6 have been founded on these facts, that the 

 natural life of this bird is probably one huudred 

 years, as it would require that length of time to ex- 

 haust all the eggs. Fifty and sixty years of a life 

 'tenure has been recorded in several instances, and 

 that it might be longer, would not be impossible. 



According to Mr. Fox's measurement of this bird. 

 Its aler expansion is nearly seveu feet, which is near- 

 ly the average of the species, therefore it is probably 

 nearly three years old. 



A species of bat, donated by Mr. Fisher, who 

 keeps a fruit stand in front of the post-offlce, who 

 captured it upon his premises. This is probably 

 Vespertilio mouticola, If It is not a variety, or an im- 

 mature " Hoary Bat." 



Mr. Hiram S. Kendig, of Bart township, donated 

 a number of fragmentary specimens of chrystalized 

 schorl, from that locality, where thoy occur In the 

 soil. Many varieties of this mineral exist, according 

 to their chemical corapisitions, under the names of 

 Tourmaline, Aphrite, Jlubetlite, Jitdicolile, AphrizUe 

 and Turmalin. The most abundant variety is black, 

 but it also occurs red, green, blue, brown, yellow, 

 pink and occasionally white. It has a very irregular 

 and complicated chrystalizatlon, but perfect ones are 

 rarely found except in certain localities. It is one of 

 the components of granite, gneiss, etc. 



Mr. Jonathan Moyer, of Couoy township, donated 

 a flower of the "Squaw Root," also called "Cancer 

 Root" (Conopholus Americana) which he found 

 growing in a large cluster beneath an oak tree in 

 that township. It is a thick, scaley spike, the scales 

 covering each other similar to those of flr-concs. 

 Gray says, specially, lu reference to them, " Oak 

 woods ; not rare, growing in clusters among falling 

 leaves, In May and June. A singular plant chestnut 

 colored or yellowish throughout, as thick as a man's 

 thumb, .3' to 6' long, covered with scales, which are 

 at first fleshy, then dry and hard. (Many long years 

 ago we kicked one of these clusters to pieces on an 

 oak ridge now included in Duffy's Park, near Mari- 

 etta, Pa., without knowing what it was, at least 

 neither the names " Squaw Root" nor " Cancer 

 Root" were associated with it, and we think we sub- 

 sequently found one or two clusters in a contiguous 

 woods, but these woods have long since passed away 

 and only cultivated fields occupy the locality. — R.) 

 This plant may prove something else, but it seems 

 to agree very well withi Prof. Gray's description of 

 Conopholus Americana. 



A friend donated a curious potato, having a 

 smaller one growing from a cleft in the side. Mr. 

 Lewis Haldy donated a collection of twenty-five 

 typical specimens of minerals trom mines in Color- 

 ado and Rocky Mountains. The specimens consist 

 of gold and silver bearing minerals and their accom- 

 pany gaugiie minerals. Each specimen is numbered 

 and a printed list accompanies the collection. The 

 " Hoary Bat" donated by Mr. S. McComsey at last 

 meeting, lived one week and then died. It is now 

 deposited in the museum properly labeled. Walter 

 P. King donated the four following specimens of 

 plants some new to the county list : Pcnatemon 

 lavigatns, Solander; ChonridiHa juncea, Lin.; Sagit- 

 taria ptisilla, Nutt; and Jlabenaria herbiola, Gray. 

 These were collected during the summer of 1881-2, 

 S. M. Sener donated specimen of a small orange 

 found enclosed within a larger one. The specimen 

 is conformed to the core of the larger one and is 

 quite unique ; also a bottle of insects {coleoptera of 

 various kinds) collected In the summer of ISsH. Dr. 

 8. S. Rathvon exhibited a fine cane made from a 

 cactus plant. This is a beautiful pieci o( w.>rkman- 

 ship, and was presented to the doctor by his son, 

 Harry Rathvon, who is here on a visit from Texas. 

 Donations to Library. 



S. H. Zahm i!c Co.'s third catalogue of new and 

 second-band books ; United States Patent Office 

 Onje«f, Vol. 37, Nos. 8 and 9; thirteenth price list 

 and English garner of publications, from E. Aber, 

 Birmingham, England, (with a request to distribute 

 the duplicates sent along); second annual report of 

 United States Geological Survey for 1880-81, a quartj 

 volume of 588 pages, illustrated with 61 colored 



plates : one folded map, and 32 plain and colored 

 diagrams, sent from J. VV. Powell, Director of the 

 Survey, in exchange for Fahmbrs sent to the De- 

 partment ; Farmek for .May. 1884; Linnaan BuUe- 

 tins for March and April, 1884. 



Two pamphlets from Onedia Historical Society, 

 Utica, New York. Copy of reprint of Marshc's 

 Junnial, Lancaster, 1744, with annotations by Dr- 

 Egle, of Harrisburg, (printed in the -Vtw Era recent- 

 ly), from editor of New Era; catalogue and price 

 list of stamps and seals manufactured by the Noith- 

 western Stamp Works ; list of brands for cattle used 

 by Wyoming Stock Raisers' Association ; envelope of 

 twelve scraps; six railroad maps in United States and 

 Canada; three bound manuscript volumes, containing 

 the constitution, bylaws, proceedings and rules of 

 officers and members of the Friendship Fire Company 

 of Lancaster city, from the 10th of December, 17(i:i, 

 to Its disbandment, on the 24th of April, 18S4, cov- 

 ering one huudred and twenty-one years of its active 

 life, donated by said company through Mr. Ualdy : 

 Vol. 1 contains proceedings from Dec. 10, 1765, to 

 Dec. I'i, ISIO; Vol. 2 contains proceedings from Jan. 

 IS, 1817, to Dec. 24, 1851 ; Vol. 3 contains proceed 

 Ings from Jan. 18, 1852, to April 24, 1884 ; James 

 Bickham, the first president ; Michael Hubly, the 

 first clerk ; Ludwick Lauman, the first treasurer In 

 the list of the first members Is the name of George 

 Ross, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence. 



On motion a vote of thanks was tendered the 

 donors to the museum and library for donations, and 

 especially to the Friendship Fire Company for its 

 valuable donation to the historical collection of the 

 Linnaean. (The Linnajan has quite a collection in 

 its historical department, and as a historical society 

 is often lamented in Lancaster, people seem to forget 

 that the Linnaean collects historical matter referring 

 to our city and county.) 



The following communication was received from 

 Prof. Stahr in reference to the proceedings of the 

 May meeting : 



Lancaster, Pa., May 28, 1884. 

 To THE LiNN^AN Society : 



I deeply regret my inability to attend your regular 

 meeting on the 31st Inst., and as I cannot be person- 

 ally present, I beg leave to present this communica- 

 tion for the purpose of making a personal explana- 

 tion and a correction. 



It win be remembered that at the last meeting of 

 the society I presented a specimen of Uieracium Caro- 

 iiniaimm, Freis, which I found last summer near 

 Willow Street, in this county. In the published pro- 

 ceedings of the society it is said that 1 "discovered '' 

 this plant, when, in fact, 1 made no such claim. On 

 the contrary, in the short paper which I read on the 

 subject, rdistinctly stated that my friend Dr. Porter 

 had found it more than twenty years ago, and that 

 he induced me to look for It last summer. He dis- 

 covered it, and I, after its character was determined, 

 merely established the fact that it grows there today 

 and is one of our genuine species, hitherto not sup- 

 posed to be found in this county or in this State. 



When Dr. Porter first collected the plant referred 

 to it was sujjposed to be a variety and not a distinct 

 spc-iet. lis specific character was only recently de- 

 termined by Dr. Gray, who is carefully working up 

 the compositaj and making a rigid examination of 

 the diU'erent genera and species. In my paper (hastily 

 written I must confess) 1 meant to say that Dr. Gray 

 got'Dr. Porter's specimens of the compositoe, and 

 among them the Uieracium collected by Dr. Porter 

 at Willow Street long ago, and, upon close examina- 

 tion, he (Dr. Gray) found that the plant in question 

 belongs to a distinct species not heretofore recognized 

 In this part of the United States, viz.: Hieracium 

 CaroUniannm, Fries. Dr. Porter Informed me of this 

 fact, and requested me to see whether I could find 

 the plant in question, and, if so, to collect a number 

 of specimens, which I did, and which I recently had 

 the pleasure of placing In his hands. One of them, 

 at Dr. Porter's suggestion, I presented to this society 

 at Its last meeting, with a few words of explanation. 



You may imagine, therefore, how vexed and morti- 

 fied I was to find In the published proceedings of the 

 society, and over my signature, what is Intended to 

 be a copy of the paper read before you, so changed 

 by the insei tion of three words that It makes me ap- 

 pear la an entirely false llffhl, and do grave injustice 

 to Dr. Porter. I said : " Prof. Gray, who is at pres- 

 ent studying the composite! » « » recently got 

 Dr. Porter's specimens, and he pronounces it IT. Caro- 

 linnnum, Fries." In the published proceedings the 

 words " obtained from myself " are inserted In paren- 

 thesis after " specimens," thus conveying the im- 

 pression that I furnished these specimens to Dr. 



Porter, when I might just as truthfully say that I 

 furnished the material of which the moon is made. 

 By " specimens " I meant speclmrns of composite, 

 and l)y " It " the plant in question found among 

 these bpecimens. The words "obtained from myself" 

 I did not write, as you will find by referring to the 

 original paper In your |M)6se6sion, and they were In- 

 serted without my knowledge or consent. The In- 

 sertion, I am willing to believe, was not made with 

 any wronir intention, but under a misapprehension of 

 the state of the case. But as the paper has gone 

 forth In this form I desire that the correction be made 

 on the minutes and circulated wherever this part of 

 the prneeedlngs has been published. 



Very respectfully, John 8. Stahr. 



Bills of $7 for purcliase and mounting of eaele and 

 red bird, §1 for printing certificates of membership, 

 ?1 for printing Linnaan Bulletin, and 25 cents for 

 postage were presented and ordered to be paid. 



Mr. John Burrows having moved to Memphis, 

 Tcnn., was changed from an associate to a cor- 

 resi)oiiding member, on request, and by motion the 

 secretary was authorized to have last year's volume 

 of Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences 

 bound. Committee on Constitution and By Laws 

 handed in a draft of a new Constitution. On motioii 

 the Constitution was read and adopted in due form. 

 Committee continued to next meeting, when a new 

 series of " Rules and Resolutions " will be presented 

 and acted on. On motion Dr. S. 8. Rathvou's Inter- 

 esting and instructive essay was ordered to be printed 

 in the Farmer. 



Society adjournod to meet on Saturday June 28th, 

 1884, at 2 P.M. 



FARMERS' INSTITUTE. 



The first series of meetings having for their object 

 the better instruction of farmers on suqjects of most 

 importance to them, was Inaugurated in the Court 

 House, on Wednesday morning, June 4th, 1884. 



When the meeting was called to order, shortly 

 after ten o'clock, there was a fair attendance of 

 farmers and others interested in the subject of agri- 

 culture, including several ladles. 



The Institute was called to order by Mr. J. C. Lin- 

 ville, who announced the following officers : 



President— Dr. James P. WIckersham. 



Vice Presidents— H. .\I. Engle, Joseph R. Black- 

 burn, James Wood, Calvin Cooper, H. G. Rush, 8. 8. 

 Spencer. 



Secretary— J. C. Linville. 



Committee on Reception — J. P. Wickcrsham, 8. P. 

 Eby, W. H. Brosius, K. R. Dillenderfi'er. 



Committee on .VIembcrship— M. D. Kendig, I. L. 

 Landis, Johnson Miller, Levi S. Reist and Joseph F. 

 Witnier. 



Upon taking the chair, Dr. WIckersham said he 

 appreciated the honor, but thought a wiser plan 

 would have been to have selected a practical farmer 

 to preside ; but they have seen proper to call upon 

 him to preside, and he never shrank from any duty 

 Imposed upon him. He then briefly recited the man- 

 ner In which the Institute came into life. These. In- 

 stitutes, he said, had never before been held in this 

 State, but in many of the other States and counties 

 they have been in existence lor many years. The 

 purpose of this Institute is to increase, if possible, 

 the knowledge the farmers have on the subject of 

 agriculture— to form a sort of agricultural school. 

 He introduced Dr. James Calder, of Harrisburg, who 

 made a short address on the subject of 

 " Grape Culture." 



Among the fruits given us by God, one of the finest 

 Is the grape. Of the twenty varieties of grapes that 

 have originated in the Keystone State, the Martha 

 has achieved a world-wide reputation. Of those 

 which originated in other States, the Concord is the 

 grape for the million. It will grow anywhere and 

 stand any kind of neglect. It is very easily managed 

 and generally bears fruit in abundance. The Cataw- 

 ba stands deservedly above the Concord as a wine- 

 making grape, bu! unfortunately It will not succeed 

 in every section of the State. In his experience in 

 the culture of tlie Catawba, he found that It would 

 not bear after becoming several years old. He was 

 now trying an experiment by which he will train his 

 Catawba vine so that the fruit-growing branches 



