The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA.. OCTOBER, 1884 



Vol. XVI. No. 10. 



Editorial. 



OCTOBER. 



Theu mingleil visions ill detiued 



Around me are displayed. 



And as they mortal forms assume 



A Being is portrayed. 



Upon a rampant goat he sat, 



And dangling from his side, 



An empty flagon careless hung 



That erst the wine supplied. 



Upon hie head a crown he wore, 



Of crimson Autumn leaves ; 



The jocund laughter and thejist 



His stalwart bosom heaves ; 



Anon he scattered golden grain, 



Anon loolied grave and sober ; 



Then drew his Russet mantle 'round. 



The form of "Old Ocluber." 

 This is the. tenth month of the Julian year, 

 and contains thirtii-one days. The name is, 

 however, derived from Octo, eight : because it 

 was the eighth month of the Old Roman year, 

 which began in March. The French and 

 Prussian i? Octobre ; the Spanish Octtibre ; the 

 Portuguese Outubro ; the Italian Ottobre. 



The old Dutch name was Wyn-maand: the 

 old Saxon, Wyn-monath; (that is, wine-mouth, 

 or the time of vintage ;) it was also called 

 Winter-fylleth, which means winter-summer ; 

 in the French Republican Calendar, it vvas 

 called Vendemiaire, the time of vintage ; 

 (from September 2-2d, to October 'Jlsl. 



In this month begins the busy liusliing sea- 

 son, but, perhaps, in no other species of labor, 

 has there been a greater change, since sixty 

 years ago, than there has been in the mode of 

 corn-gatliering. So far as it relates to the 

 husking itself, except an improvement in 

 husking implements, the operation is pretty 

 much the same as it has always been since 

 Indian corn has been cultivated. ' The corn 

 stalk is now usually cut oft' at the base, and 

 shocked, or hauled to one side of the field, 

 and the husking is eitlier done there, or it is 

 "hauled in", and the husking is done in the 

 barn. In the olden times, in the Eastern 

 States, the ears were pulled oft' and hauled to 

 the barn, and the " corn-shucking" or "Husk- 

 ing Bees" became galla occasions among the 

 young folks, at which the foundations of 

 many love-aS'airs were laid. 



But, sixty and seventy years ago, the corn 

 was almost universally husked from the stalk 

 as it stood in the field, in Lancaster county. 

 About as much as the farmer needed for the 

 consumption of his own cattle and slieep, was 

 topped and bladed ; but, two-thirds or three- 

 fourths of it was untouched, and stood tall 

 and gaunt, like a small pine forest, and 

 the buskers each took a row, and some- 

 times amidst colds, and frosts, and winds, 

 with the edges of the blades sawing across tlie 

 wrists and liands, or across the foreheads and 

 the noses of the buskers, made the operation 

 anything but a romantic one. And then too 

 the rivalry between the experts to excel eacli 

 other, often made it hard labor for the non- 

 experts to keep up with them. We have seen 

 the corn in this condition standing in the 



fields in Indiana and Kentucky, as late as the 

 month of February, whatever the practice 

 may be now. 



Tlie princiiial garden labors in this month 

 are the protection and preservation of crops 

 already matured, transplanting others, and 

 setting out trees and shrubbery. Asparagus 

 beds may be put in order, and towards the 

 end of the month beets and carrots may be 

 carefully stored away for winter use. Ijcttuce 

 may be planted in cold frames for next spring, 

 and also cabl)ages for early use next season. 



Potatoes should be all gathered within tlic 

 niontli, and spinach may yet be sown. Nuts 

 of various kinds may be gathered — walnuts, 

 cliestnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts, etc., etc. 

 Nuts of all kinds largely entering into the 

 manufacture of confections are now in greater 

 demand than at any former period m the his- 

 tory of the coimtry, and bring remunerating 

 prices. Of course the manuring, plowing and 

 sowing that was not done in September, will 

 be finished up in the forepart of the month. 

 The provident farmer will always find enough 

 to do, as long as the weather continues favor- 

 able, and when it is otherwise, he will have 

 plenty of indoor work to do. The farmer oc- 

 cupies the most enviable jiosition in the 

 world's economy, he stands upon the very 

 centre of the arch on which the social fabric 

 of our coimtry with all its varied interests 

 rests, and he feels more than others the inde- 

 pendence of an American citizen. 



JUGLANDACEiE. 



(.mdniil Famih/.l ^ 



Tliis a is small order of trees that stands 

 between the PLANTANACEJi— Button-wood 

 family— and the Cupulifer.e— Oak family. 

 Only two genera belong to this family, both 

 of which are represented largely in the county 

 of Lancaster. 



Of the typical genus there are but (wo 

 species; namely, Juglans nigra, or "Black 

 Walnut ;" and Jiujlanss cinerea, or " Butter- 

 nut," sometimes also called " Wliite Wal- 

 nut." Tlie nuts of tliese— especially the first 

 named— are growing greatly in demand, en- 

 tering largely into the manufacture of comfits 

 and confections, and on tlie whole, perhaps 

 no nuts are more popular among all classes 

 who are able to digest them. Both are natives 

 of liancaster county, and are about the first 

 nuts the rural population become sacquainted 

 witli ; and Ihe^ now liave a commercial value, 

 altogether unknown to the early memories of 

 those who have passed their "three score 

 years and ten." 



The "hulls " of both tlie black walnut and 

 the butternut were extensively used, in the 

 long ago, as coloring matter for home-made 

 cloth, and in some parts of the country are 

 still so used, especially in the Southern States, 

 where the Butternut-brown became famous. 

 In our boyhood the walnut-brown was a more 

 common color among farmers than it is at the 

 present day ; still it is not an uncommon 

 thiuij, even now, to see whole families clad 



in homespun cloth of this color, especially 

 among the Omisli sect. The very young, im- 

 mature, fruit of the Butternut was, at one 

 time, much used as a condiment, in the form 

 of a pickel ; and also in the form of a sauce — 

 "walnut catsup"— and it is still so used. 

 The object is to promote digestion, but per- 

 hajis the real intent is to enable people to eat 

 more and oftener than they possibly could 

 without such a gastronomical stimulent. 



The walnut trees are .sometimes subject to 

 defoliations by insects. The " Regal Walnut 

 Moth " (Ceratocampa regalis) and the "Hand- 

 Maid Moth," (Datanaviinistra). The former, 

 however, is a solitary species, but large 

 enough to do great damage if it became 

 numerous. The latter is much inferior in 

 size, but being gregarious, they often are 

 numerous enough to defoliate many entire 

 trees, and very large ones too. 



But, more important still, is the commer- 

 cial value of the wood of the black walnut— 

 practically and economically, the mahogany 

 of North America ; hence the destruction of 

 this tree, in the States where it abounds, is 

 becoming fearful, perhaps reckless. Yield- 

 ing to the dictates of fashion, it transcends 

 the use of mahogany itself in the manufac- 

 ture of all kinds of furniture, organs, melo- 

 dians, railings, pulpits, and for other pur- 

 poses. Agents for foreign manufactures and 

 lumber dealers, travel through the American 

 States and enter into large contracts for the 

 delivery of walnut lumber and timber, and 

 export it beyond the seas. Unless the States 

 enter into the protection, preservation and 

 cultivation of black walnut, the generations 

 now rising, may be made sensible of 

 its entire extinction in our country. It is 

 time now to " call a halt," or to enter vigor- 

 ously into its cultivation and preservation. 

 Our people are imbued too deeply with that 

 restless, progressive spirit which kills the 

 goose to secure the golden egg in the present, 

 to embark in any enterprise, the fruits of 

 which can only be realized in a remote and 

 dubious future. If no species of self-denial 

 can out-grow this profligate tendency, the 

 walnut must ultimately " go," as many other 

 things have gone. 



The other genus belonging to the restricted 

 family .Iu(iLANDACE.E is that of Carya, em- 

 bracing the various species of hickory ; which 

 includes eight reputed species, most of which 

 are native to Lancaster county. As a nut, 

 perhaps the most popularly known— on ac- 

 count of its commercial value— is the " shell- 

 bark hickory," (Tarya cdha) also known as 

 "shag-bark." Although this species occurs 

 spaiscly in our county, it is most abundant 

 along bottom lands of the .southern tiers of 

 the counties of Pennsylvania, westward ; 

 nevertheless, as a general product it is known 

 from Maine to Wisconsin. The wood is 

 straight grained, heavy, and elastic, and ex- 

 cellent as a timber or a fuel. The bark is 

 rough and shaggy, consisting of long, loosely 

 adhering plates : but, what boy does no 



