163 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 



In the early apples, the larvse work about in 

 every direction. If there are several in an 

 apple, thej make it unfit for use. Apples 

 that appear perfectly sound when taken from 

 the tree, will sometimes, if kept, be all alive 

 with them in a few weeks." Baron Osten 

 Sacken informs me that it is a Dropsophila, 

 " the species of which live in putrescent vege- 

 table matter, especially fruits." 



The allied fly is the parent of the cheese 

 maggot. The fly itself, Piaphila casei, is black, 

 with metallic green reflection, and the legs 

 are dark and paler at the knee-joints, the 

 middle and hind pair of tarsi being dark 

 honey yellow. The Wine-fly is also a Piophila, 

 and lives the life of a perpetual toper in old 

 wine caks, and partially emptied beer, cider, 

 and wine bottles, where, with its puparium, 

 it may be found floating dead in its favorite 

 beverage. 



We now come to the more degraded forms 

 of i»iptera which live parasitically on various 

 animals. We figure, from a specimen in the 

 Museum of the Peabody Academy, the Bird- 

 tick, Ornithoniyia, which lives upon the Great 

 Horned Owl. Its body is much flattened, 

 adapted for its life under the feathers, where 

 it gorges itself with the blood of its host. 



In the wingless Sheep-tick Melophagus mi- 

 nus, the body is wingless and very hairy, and 

 the proboscis is very long. The young are 

 developed within the body of the parent, 

 until they attain the pupa state, when she de- 

 posits the puparium, which is nearly half as 

 large as her abdomen. Other genera are para- 

 sitic on bats, among them are the singular 

 spider-like Bat-tick, Nycterihia, which have 

 small bodies and enormous legs, and are 

 either blind, or provided with four simple 

 eyes. They are of small size, being only a line 

 or two in length. Such degraded forms of 

 Diptera are the connecting links between the 

 true six-footed insects and the order of Arach- 

 nids (spiders, mites, ticks, &c.) 



The Flea is also a wingless fly, and is pro- 

 bably, as has been suggested by an eminent 

 entomologist, as Baron Osten Sacken informs 

 us, a degraded genus of the family to which 

 Mycetobia belongs. Its transformations are 

 very unlike those of the fly-ticks, and agree 

 closely with the early stages of Mycetophila, 

 one of the Tipulid family. 



One of the most serious insect torments of 

 the tropics of America is the Sarcopsylla pene- 

 trans, called by the natives the Jigger, Chigoe, 

 Bicho, Chique, or Pique. Tlie female, during 

 the dry season, bores into the feet of the na- 

 tives, the operation requiring but a quarter 

 of an hour, usually penetrating under the 

 nails, and lives there until her body becomes 

 distended with eggs, the hind-body swelling 

 out to the size of a pea ; her presence often 

 causes distressing sores. The Chigoe lays 

 about sixty eggs, depositing them in a sort of 

 sac on each side of the external opening of 

 the oviduct. The young develop and feed 

 upon the swollen body of the parent flea until 

 they mature, when they leave the body of 

 their host and escape to the ground. The best 

 preventive is cleanliness and the constant 

 wearing of shoes or slippers when in the 

 house, and of boots when out of doors. — 

 American Naiamlul. 



RASPBERRY CULTURE. 



Raspberries are attracting more attention 

 at this particular time than ever before. 



Raspberries have always been appreciated 

 more or less on account of filling in the place 

 nicely between strawberries and blackberries. 

 It is a fruit much admired by many, though 

 never so popular as the strawberry. Up to 

 within a few years there were but few varie- 

 ties. The Red Antwerp, American, or com- 

 mon Black Cap, and Brinkle's Orange, were 

 popular as far back as I can recollect. As 

 much improvement has been made in late 

 years in the raspberry as in any other fruit. 

 We are now not confined to three or four va- 

 rieties, but varieties of distinguished merit 

 can be counted by the dozens. I have grown 

 the raspberry for market now twenty-six 

 years, but never to the same extent as at 

 present. I now plant largely of them because 

 I find their culture profitable. Any of you 

 can do as well if you have suitable soil, varie- 

 ties, and understand the proper mode of cul- 

 ture. 



To grow raspberries successfully, you must 

 select good soil, well underdrained ; let it be 

 clay loam or sandy soil, but prefer upland 

 clay loam. I have known them to do admir- 

 ably in almost any soil, provided it is rich and 

 not wet. Plow as j'ou would for any other 

 crop, the deeper the better if your soil admits 

 of it. Harrow well ; plow out furrows six or 

 seven feet apart, and plant in said rows three 

 feet apart— a partial shade I find to advan- 

 tage. My patches that do best are in an old 

 orchard. 



Black raspberries are usually planted shal- 

 low, an inch or two deep. If it is your inten- 

 tion to tie up your canes that is deep enough, 

 but if you wish them self-supporting you must 

 plant them so that by after culture they will 

 be at least three to four inches deep, other- 

 wise they will not be self-supporting. By so 

 planting and pinching back, as hereafter de- 

 scribed, I never have trouble about my canes 

 blowing, or falling down by the weight of 

 fruit. 



The first year's growth I pinched back 

 when eight to ten inches long. The second 

 year and every year thereafter, I pinched 

 back the tips of the growing shoots when 

 from twenty inches to two feet high. They 

 then cease to grow in height, but throw out 

 laterals in all directions, balancing and sup- 

 porting the main stem effectually. The fol- 

 lowing spring, early in the season, I cut back 

 all laterals with hand pruning shears, leaving 

 them from one foot to two feet long, accord- 

 ing to the number and strength of canes in 

 the hill. This operation is quickly done and 

 inexpensive. After pruning, I gather and 

 carry out and burn all the debristbetween the 

 rows. I then cultivate, first with a double 

 shovel or barshear plow, then in time with a 

 cultivator, as often as it is necessary to keep 

 them clean, free from grass and weeds, up to 

 August, after which I let them rest. It is not 

 a good plan to cultivate too late in the season; 

 you thereby cause them to grow too late to 

 mature the wood sutticiently to withstand the 

 cold of the winter. I plow and cultivate them 

 three or four inches deep. You need have 

 no fear of injuring the roots by so cultivating. 



I plant the same distance as black three by 

 six feet. This takes 2,420 plants to the acre. 

 I do not cut back the canes of red varieties 

 (as 1 do the black) until the following spring, 

 except strong growing varieties like the 



Turner, Shaffer's Colossal and others of like 

 character. These I cut back during the sea- 

 son of growth, when about three feet high ; 

 otherwise they may grow to seven or eight 

 feet, as I have seen them grow, necessitating 

 the cutting away of too much wood in the 

 spring. Treat suckers between the rows as 

 you would weeds, unless you want plants; cut 

 them out when young and tender. Sprouts, 

 or suckers, are a great annoyance in growing 

 red raspberries. If taken in time, they need 

 scarce no care. Red raspberries, to do their 

 best, must be kept in hills, same as black. 

 This can be done by cutting away with a 

 sharp hoe all sprouts, when young, between 

 the hills in the rows, allowing from four to 

 eight canes to the hill. Many growers allow 

 them to grow all along the rows, ^though not 

 too thick. 



There is a diflerence of opinion among 

 raspberry growers as to the best way to cut 

 away the old or bearing canes. I have tried 

 both methods, namely, leaving the old canes 

 all winter and cutting them in spring, or cut- 

 ting them as soon as I find time after fruiting, 

 carrying out and burning them. I am satis- 

 fled by adopting the latter method, I destroy 

 many noxious insects, worms in various 

 stages of life, that would live over winter 

 were I to practice the other system. It is 

 argued that the leaf of the old cane has much 

 to do in the growth of the canes that are to 

 bear fruit the following season. I take no 

 stock in that opinion. If your plants are in 

 good condition there will be leaf enough on 

 the young canes to mature them without the 

 assistance of the leaf of the old canes, that 

 have already performed their functions by 

 maturing the crop of berries jugt gathered. 

 Then, again, the old canes are certainly not 

 ornamental. Having ar eye for the beautiful 

 as well as the useful, I get rid of them as 

 soon as I can after the fruit has been gath- 

 ered. 



For a long time I advocated and prac- 

 ticed the tying up of canes, first to stakes, 

 then to an iron wire stretching along the 

 rows fastened to posts every 25 to 30 feet. 

 Either of the systems I found expensive, and 

 slow work. It did well enough when I had 

 but an acre or two, and did not know any 

 better. But when I had many acres I found 

 that it was not the thing to do, especially so 

 when I learned that stakes and wire were of 

 no use, I might say entirely unnecessary. I 

 cannot help but sympathize with those who 

 are so far behind the times as to follow that 

 system now. By adopting the pinching back 

 process, at the proper time, I save the ex- 

 pense of stakes, or posts and wire, and the 

 time necessary to tie the canes to them, and 

 raise as many bushels of as nice berries per 

 acre. 



EXPERIMENTAL PEAR ORCHARD. 



I herewith give the record of an experimen- 

 tal pear orchard in which over fifty of the most 

 popular and highly recommended varieties 

 were planted says : "My father started this 

 orchard about thirty years ago, and there 

 have been occasional additions made down to 

 the present time. The character of the soil 

 is a fine rich sandy loam. Most of these 

 varieties are still advertised and recommended 

 in nursery catalogues. I give tha result of 



