i4P 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 



you can sell tliem at home, is the answer. 

 There is a good home market for fat sheep, 

 and the winter markets at St. Louis and Chi- 

 cago are generally good also. 



SuEEi> from the facility and rapidity with 

 which they are matured, the rapidity of their 

 increase, their triple use for food, raiment and 

 manure, are the most available means of sup- 

 plying a deficiency of animal food. Nature 

 and the art of the breeder have made the 

 sheep the most perfect machine in existence 

 for converting grass and grain into flesh. 



Two men, according to a Georgia paper, 

 caught a wild goat in the densest part of the 

 Kinchafoonee creek swamp in that State. 

 This goat had made his deu in the forks of a 

 tree, and when disturbed made for the creek 

 pursued by a dog which he heroically fought. 

 The goat is covered with long black hair, and 

 his horns are as sharp and as pointed as a 

 sword. All who have seen it pronounce it a 

 species of goat never before seen in this 

 country. 



If the squash branches are vigorous and 

 long, stretch them over a level surface and 

 bury every fourth or fifth joint, as wherever 

 the plant is buried new roots are formed for 

 the better nutrition of the stem and fruit. 



To use white hellebore the Practical 

 Farmer says, take one heaping tablespoonful 

 of the powder and thoroughly wet it with 

 boiling water, using about a quart. This 

 turn into a pail of cold water, and stir till it 

 is thoroughly mixed. 



Don't employ foul-mouthed, bad-principled 

 men about your place. They taint every- 

 thing with which they come in contact, sully 

 the mind of innocent youth, and add loss in- 

 stead of profit to the farm account. 



See that the tomato vines are well staked, 

 and pinch off the shoots occasionally in order 

 to make them stocky. A vine is usually very 

 prolific, and if well managed only a few are 

 necessary for a full supply of the vegetable. 



It has been demonstrated by careful analysis 

 of the mixed voidings of cow, horse, sheep 

 and pig, that S3 per cent, of the nitrogen con- 

 tained in the food eaten is voided in the ma- 

 nure, and over 9.5 per cent, of the potash and 

 phosphoric acid. 



The only safe plan for killing weeds and 

 saving labor is to destroy them when they are 

 young. If allowed to grow too large the work 

 will not only be harder but cannot be done 

 effectually. 



A CORRESPONDENT of an exchange recom- 

 mends storing hay and straw in alternate 

 layers in the mow, a method especially, appli- 

 cable in the case of clover, cut, as it should be, 

 just as it comes into blossom and apparently 

 only partly cured. 



It is conceded to 1)8 unreasonable to expect 

 large ears of corn in a hill of eight or ten 

 stalks, but many will have that number of 

 stems in a hill of potatoes, and then complain 

 that their potatoes are small. If large pota- 

 toes are expected the number of stalks in 

 each hill should* be reduced to, at most, three 

 or four. 



S.\.\ONy wool has a fine short staple; the 

 Australian wool is longer but also fine. Com- 

 bing wool, such as that from the Lincolns, 

 Cotswolds and Leicesters, is usually about 



nine inches in length. The finest of all wool 

 is that from the families of Merinos. 



One pint of cats, with a like measure of 

 bran, is a day's ration in two feeds for a 

 breeding ewe. A week after lambing, the 

 ration should be increased by adding one- 

 fourth of a pound of oil meal. She should 

 also receive as much cut hay and straw as she 

 will eat. 



The value of an ordinary ton of manure is 

 estimated at 300 pounds solid, worth $1.40; 

 800 pounds of straw and litter, worth $1 and 

 and 900 pounds of water and useless matter ; 

 the value of the entire 2,000 pounds being 

 S2.40. Manures, however, vary in composi- 

 tion, and the figures are not reliable. 



In considering the right depths to run the 

 plow all the circumstances must be considered. 

 It will not do to turn up too much of the cold 

 subsoil at once. The plowing should be grad- 

 ually deeper every year, in order to allow of 

 sufficient time for the upturned soil to be re- 

 duced to a proper condition for plant food. 



Miller Purvis, writing in the Kansas 

 City Live Stock Journal, advocates crossing 

 Merino rams on Southdown ewes to get the 

 best breed of sheep. 



This has been the greatest year known in 

 the sheep and cattle export trade of Canada, 

 the sheep shipments alone being 30 per cent, 

 in excess of any other year. 



What is wanted in a sheep is a good con- 

 stitution, large size, and a heavy fleece of fine 

 wool. Plain farmers cannot afford to buy a 

 breeding stock of pure bred animals, but they 

 can use a full-blooded male with their best 

 ewes. 



Mr. Parish, the father of the Angora in- 

 dustry in Texas, according to the Texas Wool 

 Journal says that when a man succeeds in 

 grading up a flock of goats to shear three 

 pounds all 'round, he has a stock business 

 that for profit will discount any other kind of 

 stock. 



William Brown, of the Agricultural Col- 

 lege, at Guelph, Canada, says that in his view 

 " there is no line of the farmer's work at the 

 present moment, even with wool so low, that 

 pays so well, gives so little trouble, fewer 

 risks, earlier returns, and in most ways makes 

 things so comfortable as wool." 



All farmers should experiment, and espe- 

 cially so when it can be done at a mere nomi- 

 nal outlay of cash. An outlay of a single dol- 

 lar secures you a package of choice seed wheat 

 nearly 1,000 grains each, of fifteen difl'erent 

 varieties, and a newspaper for one yfear. You 

 can't afford to miss this. 



Selections. 



WEEVIL IN THE CIGARETTE. 

 The tobacco dealers in Philadelphia and 

 throughout the country have become greatly 

 alarmed over the appearance among their 

 stock of a little bug, which they call the to- 

 bilcco weevil, that is causing ruin iu their 

 business. The bug is about half tlie size of a 

 fly and has a sharp-pointed head, a hard shell 

 back, small wings and is a dark brown color. 

 It feeds and thrives on tobacco, especially on 

 cigarettes and fine-cut for chewing, while it 

 has also been recently discovered in natural 

 leaf plug. 



The tobacco weevil first made its appear- 

 ance about two years ago, but at that time it 

 did so little damage that nothing was thought 

 of it, but in the last two or three months it 

 has breeded so enormously that the tobacco 

 stores in this city are alive with the ruinous 

 insect and dealers are losing dollar after dol- 

 lar through its devastating work. 

 Laying Egg in Cigarettes. 



J. S. Semon, a tobacco dealer on Ninth 

 street, opposite the new Postoflice, sat at his 

 desk one afternoon with a little glass jar in 

 front of him. He was busily engaged shak- 

 ing the bugs out of cigarettes into the jar to 

 keep them prisoners for future inspection. He 

 had before him a box of Vanity Fair, Sweet 

 Caporal and Turkish cigarettes. Every 

 cigarette was alive with the little bugs and 

 hundreds of little white eggs, the size of a 

 pin's point, were mixed through the tobacco. 



" I found nearly two thousand of these bugs 

 one day," said Mr. Semon, as he pointed to a 

 bucket in the back yard. The bucket was 

 swarming with them. " They have ruined 

 hundreds of packs of cigarettes for me ; in 

 fact, my whole cigarette stock is spoiled, and 

 every one who smokes cigarettes inhales 

 the smoke from the burning bugs. It's the 

 most remarkable thing I ever heard of or saw. 

 A week ago my store was swarming with 

 these bugs ; every shelf was alive with them, 

 but I have managed to get rid of nearly all. I 

 bought a lot of insect powder which will kill 

 any insect known but this infernal little pest. 

 I poured an ounce of the poison on one of 

 these bugs, but it had no eflect on it and the 

 bug simply dug its way through the yellow 

 powder and took to its wings. .lust think of 

 smoking cigarettes full of bugs ! I can't tell 

 you why they breed in cigarettes more than 

 in tobacco in other forms." 



Causing Large Losses. 



"Our store is swarming with the tobacco 

 weevils," said Mr. Fox, of the firm of E. G. 

 Steane & Co., on Chestnut street, below 

 Tenth. "We've lost hundreds of dollars 

 through their ruining stock. They eat holes 

 in the cigarettes and lay eggs in them and we 

 have to throw box after box of cigarettes 

 away. If some one could devise something to 

 banish them that person can make a fortune 

 from the tobacco dealers. These bugs have 

 developed enormously within the last few 

 months and we are powerless." 



At this juncture a boy brought to Mr. Fox 

 a box of fine cut chewing tobacco. Every 

 one of the six dozen papers was utterly 

 ruined ; the paper was perforated with holes 

 and the tobacco was alive with the bugs, 

 which swarmed like bees. Mr. Fox told the 

 boy to throw the tobacco, box and all into 

 the ash-barrel. Then came a box containing 

 a gross of packages of cigarettes, which were 

 also ruined, and that they went into the ash- 

 barrel, too. "Our shelves are full of these 

 bugs," continued Mr. Fox, "and we don't 

 know how to get rid of them. Every day we 

 are obliged to throw away quantities of to- 

 bacco. The loss is simply appaling. I don't 

 know what we'll do if they keep on multiply- 

 ing." 



What Other Dealers bay. 



David L. Ketler, at the southeast corner of 

 Fifth and Market streets, one of the oldest 

 dealers in the city, said that the bugs were to 

 be found in bright leaf tobacco mostly. 



