The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. BATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., NOVEMBER, i88'i 



Vol. xyi. No. 11. 



Editorial. 



NOVEMBER. 



Then followed one who bore a staff, 



And from the forest trees, 

 He struck the brown nuts in their hull 



With every passing breeze. 

 Behind him, in a hamper, borne 



By two daft rugged swains. 

 He borught the choicest winter fruit. 



Just gathered from the plains. 

 Where're he trod the moistened earth 



Incrystal'd hoar-frost rose. 

 And lulled the vegitating world, 



In winter's grim repose. 

 Clad in a Leopard's spotted garb. 



He bid the earth surrender 

 The empire of the season to 

 The despot of yovember. 

 This month is numerically the eleventh, but 

 nomenclaturally the ninth of the year. This 

 month was remarkable in English history, as 

 the one in which was culminated and exposed 

 the famous "Gunpowder Plot," intended to de- 

 stroy James I., with the Lords and Commons 

 assembled in the House of Parliament, on the 

 5th of November, 1605. Robert Catesby 

 originated the plot, and Guy Fawkes under- 

 took to tire the gunpowder. 



The 17th of this month also commemorates 

 the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the 

 throne of England, which was first celebrated 

 in 1570, and is still kept as a holiday by a 

 select few, or by certain public institutions. 



The 25th of the month is remarkable in 

 American history as being the day on which 

 General Washington made his triumphal 

 entry into New York, after its evacuation by 

 the British troops, when our Independence 

 was achieved. 



In the political history of our country, 

 under the Constitution, it is the month in 

 which our Presidential election is held, 

 throughout its entire jurisdiction ; and in 

 which party spirit temporarily culminates and 

 subsides. 



It is the month, too, in which is outwardly 

 manifested the last vital kick of the destruc- 

 tive insect world. From hence onward until 

 their vernal rejuvenation, with few exceptions, 

 all are lulled into hibernal sleep. 



The festal occasion of Thanksgiving Bay is 

 now also rapidly becoming one of the social 

 landmarks of November, where it is not reli- 

 gU/ushJ celebrated. 



The Latin name of the month is November 

 or Novemhris; French, Prussian and Italian, 

 Novembre; Spanish, Noviembre; Portugese, 

 Jfovembro; Sancrit, Mensis. The name is de- 

 rived from Novem, nine, being the ninth 

 month of the old Roman year, which began 

 in March. Our Anglo .Saxon ancestors termed 

 it Wind-monath, that is Wind-month, in which 

 old blustering Boreas asserted his sway. It 

 hold* about the same relation to winter that 

 March does to spring, being a transition 

 month. It was the ancient custom of sea- 

 faring men in November to "clew up" and 

 remain at home until the month of March 

 had bidden the year " good-bye." The cooler 



temperature and the falling of tiie russet 

 leaves admonish us that grim winter is rapidly 

 approaching. Therefore, the careful farmer 

 will now set about doing these things wliich 

 are necessary to his own comfort, as well as 

 tlie comfort of his various kinds of live-stock, 

 by putting his dwelling, his barns, stables and 

 out-houses, in provident winter trim. Water- 

 courses should be examined and put in order. 

 The pasture now begins to fail and stock de- 

 mands increased attention. Root-crops, if any 

 are still out, should be gathered. Asparagus 

 beds should receive their winter dressing, and 

 cabbages, carrots, parsnips, turnips, raddishes 

 and salsify should be stored for convenient 

 winter access. Celery should be finally 

 earthed up and onions carefully examined. In 

 the long ago it was customary to admonish 

 farmers, and people generally, to pay special 

 regard to tlie " wood-pile," but the wood-pile 

 is not so prominent a winter provision as it 

 once was (being largely superceded by stone 

 coal), but still it cannot be entirely ignored. 



The long evenings and nights, and the short 

 mornings and days are now upon us, giving 

 the farmer an opportunity to store his mind 

 with that knowledge without which he cannot 

 expect to breast the march of human progress. 

 A wonderful change has been wrought in the 

 states of the human family, and farming, as 

 well as other industrial avocations, must 

 recognize the /act tliat "the world is moving. " 



INSECT PARASITES. 

 There are a vast number of animal Parasites 

 that are not, strictly speaking, insects ; but in 

 these remarks we shall refer only to a few of 

 those that are, in a restricted sense, insects, 

 or that prey upon insects. Of course, the 

 true state of the case can only be approxi- 

 mated, but if all of the truth were known, 

 there is not a doubt in our mind it would be 

 found that every denizen of the insect realm 

 is, at least at one period of its life, infested 

 by one or more parasites, and that these para- 

 sites are now doing, and have always been 

 doing, and will continue to be doing more to 

 diminish or "checkmate" the destructive or 

 noxious species, than the application of all the 

 artificial remedies that ever have been, or 

 ever will be discovered or invented. Thous- 

 ands of these parasites are never seen or recog- 

 nized by the ordinary observer, and many of 

 them are so minute that their presence can 

 not be recognized even by the most astute ob- 

 server without the aid of the microscope. 

 Whilst this is so in an eminent degree, there 

 are hundreds that are conspicuous, some of 

 which are nearly as large in size as the hosts 

 upon which they prey ; but these, and the 

 good offices they perform, are not noticed by 

 the common observer — not even by those 

 whose pecuniary interest it is to know tliem. 

 and to avail themselves of the advantages of 

 such knowledge. The very best nrlificlal 

 remedies can only be partially or impeiicctly 

 applied under the most favorable aus;>iccs. 

 They are often applied impulsively, spas- 

 modically, at irregular intervals, and without ' 



effective intelligence. One man in twenty 

 may apply them and the other nineteen refuse 

 or neglect to do so in cases where it is plainly 

 the duty of all to co-operate. Even if the in- 

 dividual knmcs that he possesses the proper 

 remedy and does not apply it in the proper 

 manner, at the proper time, and at the proper 

 place, his labor may be in vain. Moreover, he 

 may give his attention to it only for a few 

 minutes, or even a few hours, "now and 

 then," during the day, and then rest in a sort 

 of repose, under the impression that '• he did 

 it," whilst the insects may be " pursuing the 

 even tenor of their way," indulging in their 

 luxurious repast and smiling (it smile they 

 can) at his most egregious simplicity. 



Tliis is, however, not the modus operandi of 

 the insect parasite. Born with all the instincts 

 necessary to the development and perpetua- 

 tion of its species from the very moment it 

 is excluded from the egg, or evolved from the 

 pupa, it knows exactly what to do, how to do 

 it, and when and where it can most effectu- 

 ally be done. If not held in durance, or 

 thwarted by human intervention, it never 

 makes a mistake. It seeks a nidris for its 

 progeny in the body of a living insect and 

 never in a dead one. If there were five hun- 

 dred dead caterpillars — or other insect larv8&— 

 and only one living one, that living one would 

 De selected for its prey, and all the others re- 

 jected. Many insects have but a single para- 

 site, but some of them have as many as a 

 hundred. This may be owing to the size of 

 the host, or may dependent upon other causes, 

 but it rarely occurs that the provident mother 

 furnishes less food than is necessary for the 

 full development of her family, however 

 numerous it may be. Not only are very 

 minute insects infested by parasites, but their 

 eggs are also infested, and often the parasite 

 itself is infested by still smaller parasites be- 

 longing to a different Order ; thus practically 

 illustrating that— 



" The little fleas that do so tease, 

 Have smaller flease that bite 'em, 

 And these again have lesser fleas, 

 And so ad iiijlnitnin." 



Some of these parasites deposit their eggs 

 in the bodies of larvie that are not at all ex- 

 posed to the outer vision, but are secreted 

 within solid timbers, or inclosed in tough en- 

 velopes or sacks ; and for that purpose they 

 are provided with long ovipositors— in some 

 instances three or four inches in length, and 

 they can reach a l|j,rva that is just so many 

 inches from the surface of the timber, and 

 they also know where the host is located. We 

 verily believe that if it were not for parasites 

 the vegetable kingdom would ultimately dis- 

 appear from the earth : and doubtless when 

 destructive species disappear, and are not 

 seen again for a number of years, the cause 

 has been parasitic infestation. Of course, 

 when the host is extinguished in a locality the 

 parasite will also disappear in that locality. 

 The following cases will illustrate the potency 

 of these insects, so far as they go : 



