THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



i&y 



liberal supply of the good things produced by 

 the soil tlian other people. Fruit growers are 

 independent ; they have neither asked or re- 

 ceived any special privileges; no protective 

 tariff, no bounties, no remission of taxes, no 

 favors of any kind have been bestowed on 

 them, and no other industry have been taxed 

 to make theirs profitable. Notwithstanding 

 all this the business has hud a wonderful 

 growth, and it never was in a more healthy 

 condition than at the present time. Every- 

 one is interested in it, directly or indirectly, 

 and the number actually engaged in it is 

 amazing. It is easy to see that, large as the 

 business is, it will for several reasons go on in- 

 creasing. The demand is increasing, and the 

 supply so perishable that the market cannot 

 be overstocked for any length of time, how- 

 ever many engage in it. But little capital is 

 required to commence the business. It is not 

 necessary to buy the land, and if it were, a 

 little is suflicient. No expensive implements 

 are needed, and the returns come so speedily 

 that the capital invested does not be idle 

 long. This is very different from being in 

 debt half a life-time for a farm and the tools 

 and stock absolutely necessary to make it 

 profitable. 



"Fruitgrowing does not require a great 

 outlay of physical strength, as there is but 

 little hard work connected with it ; and for 

 this reason it is a suitable occupation for 

 those who are not able to engage In farming, 

 market gardening, or any employment which 

 involves much hard work. Old men, invalids 

 and children may spend their little strength 

 in fruit growing, and be successful. It is 

 pre-eminently a business for women. There 

 is scarcely any other work in which they can 

 engage with as good a prospect of making 

 money. It requires no great amount of time 

 and study to prepare for it, and after,"getting 

 established in it one is not liable to receive 

 from some captious employer an invitation to 

 step down and out. Ladies are our most suc- 

 cessful florists, and they can do equally j, well 

 raising small fruits. 



"Butthotfgh small fruit culture offers so 

 many inducements to those who meditate em- 

 barking in it, it would be unwise for anyone 

 to engage in it on a large scale without some 

 practical knowledge of the work, no matter 

 how fine and well digested his theories may be. 

 " Small fruit plants are set out for a special 

 work — that is to send their roots through 

 every inch of the soil in search of plant food, 

 and, having found it, to change it into fiuit. 

 Our part is to prepare the soil, set out tlie 

 plants and see that they have the best possible 

 opportunity to do their work. Last of all we 

 secure the crop. Plant food, to be available, 

 must be dissolved in water, and within reach 

 of roots. For this leasou we pulverize the 

 soil to a good depth and endeavor to keep it 

 moist, so that the roots may readily extend 

 in every direction. That the plant may work 

 to the best possible advantage, the soil should 

 contain an abundance of food for it. To pro- 

 vide this food we enrich the soil. Plants or 

 animals may live with vel-y little nourishmbnt 

 just enough to prevent their drying, but they 

 are kept at a loss to the owner. Who would 

 think of employing a man and keeping him 

 idle raost of the time for want of proper food 

 and materials? When you hire a bricklayer 



at $4 per day you employ a cheaper man to 

 carry the brick and mortar. Of course the 

 bricklayer could do it just as well, but you do 

 not want his valuable time spent in that way. 

 So when you employ a strawberry plant to 

 make fruit you should see that the raw ma- 

 terial is put within its reach. Spending valu- 

 able time and labor in cultivating poor land 

 is one of the most serious mistakes ever made 

 by tillers of the soil. After preparing the 

 soil and setting out the plants we must sec 

 that they are kept growing without hindrance 

 of any kind. All our small fruits, except the 

 grape, do best in a comparatively cool moist 

 soil, and in a situation that is somewhat shel- 

 tered and not exposed to the full glare of the 

 sun. Plants are hindered in their growth in 

 various ways as by weeds, drouth, and want 

 of air at the roots. Allowing weeds to grow 

 among our plants to rob them of food and 

 moisture, is almost as unwise as cultivating 

 poor soil. One would scarcely expect a manu- 

 facturer to erect a building, fill it with tools 

 and njaterial, hire his employes, and then in- 

 vite all the loafers in the community to come 

 and use his material for their own selfish 

 ends, and yet this would be just about as wise 

 as allowing weeds in growing crops. While 

 we cannot produce rain at will, we can to a 

 great extent, by frequent stirring of the sur- 

 face and by mulching, prevent the evapora- 

 tion of moisture from the soil ; this same stir- 

 ring keeps the surface loose and admits air to 

 the roots. After having grown the crops, final 

 success depends very much on the manner in 

 which it is picked and marketed. This is es- 

 pecially true of strawberries, which are often 

 sent to market with such an unattractive ap- 

 pearance that they yield no profits to the 

 grower, and very little pleasure to the con- 

 sumer. Small fruits should be carefully 

 picked, and all damaged or worthless berries 

 left out. They should be sent to market in 

 clean baskets or boxes, and each of these 

 should contain berries of a uniform size from 

 top to bottom. 



" No part of fruit culture is of more im- 

 portance than a knowledge of varieties, and 

 this must be learned, in part, by each one for 

 himself. A person with little or no experience 

 should commence in a small way, and confine 

 himself mainly to such varieties as are known 

 to do well in all soils and localities. If every 

 one would ' prove all things and hold fast that 

 which is good ' nurserymen would receive 

 fewer curses and fruit growers more money. 

 As a rule, every one should raise his own 

 plants, except new varieties which he wishes 

 to test. In this way he is sure to have plants 

 fresh, well grown and true to name, besides 

 saving heavy express charges. 



" When we consider the healthfulness of 

 the work, that it is carried on in the open air, 

 that it furnishes an agreeable exercise for 

 both mhul and body, and tliat success is m 

 exact proportion to brain work invested, it is 

 not strange that so many engage in it." 



Mathew Ckawford. 



A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 



(Concluded from pnge 153.) 



We now come to the Bot-flies {Estrida:), 

 which are among the most extraordinary, in 

 their habits, of all insects. The history of 

 the bot-flies is in brief thus : The adult two- 

 winged fly lays its eggs on the exterior of the 



animal to be infested. They are conveyed 

 into the interior of the host, where they 

 hatch, and the worm or maggot lives by suck- 

 ing in the purulent matter, caused by the ir- 

 ritation set up by its presence, in its host; or 

 else the worm itself, after hatching, bores 

 under the skin. When fully grown, it quits 

 the body and finishes its transformations to 

 the fly state under ground. Many quadrupeds, 

 from mice, squirrels and rabbits, up to the 

 ox, horse, and even the rhinoceros, suffer 

 from their attacks, while man himself is not 

 exempt. The body of the adult fly is stout 

 and hairy, and it is easily recognized by hav- 

 ing the opening of the mouth very small, the 

 mouth-parts being very rudimentary. The 

 larvaj are, in general, thick, fleshy, footless 

 grubs, consisting of eleven segments, exclu- 

 sive of the head, which arc covered with 

 rows of spines and tubercles, by which they 

 move about within the body, thus irritating 

 the animals in which they take up their 

 abode. The breathing pores (stigmata) open 

 in a scaly plate at the posterior end of the 

 body. The mouth-parts (mandibles, &c.) of 

 the subcutaneous larvio consist of fiesh tuber- 

 cles, while in those species wliich live in the 

 stomachs and frontal sinuses of their host, 

 they are armed with horny hooks. The larvaj 

 attain their full size after moulting twice. 

 Just before assuming the pupa state, the larva 

 leaves its pecuUar dwelling-place, descends 

 into the ground and there becomes a pupa, 

 though retaining its larval skin, which serves 

 as a protection to it, whence it is called a 

 "puparium." 



Several well-authenticated instances are on 

 record of a species of bot-fiy inhabiting the 

 body of man, in Central and Soulli America, 

 producing painful tumors under tlie skin of 

 the arm, legs and abdomen. It is still under 

 dispute whether this human bot-fly is a true 

 or accidental parasite, the more probable 

 opinion being that its proper host is the 

 monkey, or dog. 



The Apple-midge frequently does great mis- 

 chief to apples after they are gathered. F. tr. 

 Sanborn states that nine-tenths of the apple 

 crop in Wrentham, Mass., was destroyed by a 

 fly supposed to be the Molohrus mali, or 

 Apple-midge, described by Dr. Fitch. "The 

 eggs were supposed to have been laid in fresh 

 apples, in the holes made by the Coddling- 

 moth {('arpocapsa ix>monella), whence the 

 Uirvte penetrated into all parts of the apple, 

 working small cylindrical burrows about one- 

 sixteenth of an inch in diameter." W. C. 

 Fish has also sent me, from Sandwich, Mass., 

 specimens of another kind of apple worm, 

 which he writes me has been very common 

 this year in Barnstable county. " It attacks 

 mostly the earlier varieties, seeming to have 

 a particular fondness for the old fashioned 

 summer, or High-top Sweet. The larvfe enter 

 the apple usually where it has been bored by 

 the Apple- worm (Carpocapsa), not uncom- 

 monly through the crescent-like puncture of 

 the curculio, and sometimes through the 

 calyx, when it has not been troubled by other 

 insects. Many of them arrive at maturity in 

 August, and the fly soon appears, and succes- 

 sive generations of the maggots follow until 

 cold weather. I have frequently found the 

 pupse in the bottom of barrels in a collar in 

 the winter, and the flies appear in the spring. 



