172 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 



Istic of these beetles is— like the DOtorious eurculio— 

 when they are disturbed, they immediately draw in 

 their antennae and feet close to the body and drop 

 down, lying as if they were dead, and you might 

 pick up and dispose of half a dozen or more before 

 any of them would attempt to move. When the 

 fungus arrived in Lancaster, on the 17th of July, I 

 found that a species of Lycom or Dolomedes (a 

 spider), had possession of it, and he remained there 

 until about the 15th of September, having moulted 

 at least twice and increased a hundred per cent, in 

 size. The semi-putrid odor of the fungus was a 

 special attraction to the flies, and the spider fairly 

 gorged himself with them. He spun no web, but 

 merely occupied a favorable spot on the disk of the 

 fungus and captured the (lies in rapid succession, 

 they eeeraiug to have no consciousness of his pres- 

 ence, but feplessly approached him, indeed running 

 over his feet while he was in the act of devouring his 

 victims." 



S. M. Sener read a few notes on the small red 

 seeds with the black eye, often seen in shell work, 

 etc., and stated that they are the seeds of a plant 

 called Orrnosia Coccinea, which is a native of New 

 Guinea. The seeds in question are very pretty, and 

 they are used by the natives of Guinea as beads and 

 are strung together in necklaces, bracelets, etc. The 

 name of the family of plants is derived from 

 " Orms," a necklace. 



Also on the hard, brown shelled fruit, of which 

 our Chinese residents in Lancaster are very fond, 

 and which they receive from China, which is the 

 fruit of the Nephelium Litchee, and they are called 

 Lychee nuts by the Chinese. The eatable portion of 

 the nut consists of a kernel somewhat like a raisin 

 In appearance and tastes like Muscatel grapes. 



Papers were read on the " f arasites of Insects ;" 

 "Sack Worm," and "Saddle Back Moth," which 

 were ordered to be printed in the Farmer and 

 SuUetin. 



J. K. Shirk, M. D., and J. M. Yeagley, M. D., 

 were elected associate members. A vote of thanks 

 was given to the donors to the Museum and Library. 

 The members of the Teachers' Institute were invited 

 to visit the Museum between the hours of 1 and 2 

 P. M., each day of the session, if they desire to. Mr. 

 Walter P. King will be in attendance and show them 

 around. Billsjof ?1.50 for BuHetin, and 50 cents for 

 postage were ordered to be paid. A number of let- 

 ters were received and the Secretary authorized to 

 acknowledge such ones as needed answering ; also to 

 have Bulletin of October meeting printed. 



The Society then adjourned to meet on Saturday, 

 November 29th, 1884, at 2).i o'clock P. M., in the 

 \ ante-room. 



AGRICULTURE. 



planted his corn, count, off in separated parcels as 

 many rows as he devotes to a row of shocks ; they 

 may be counted off In fives or sevens as may be pre- 

 ferred in harvesting the crop. Drive stakes or set 

 other marks so that each set of rows may be kept 

 separate in cultivating. One set of these strips is to 

 be kept constantly mellow by passing the horse cul- 

 tivator every five days; the others by cultivating or 

 hoeing just often enough to keep the crop tolerably 

 free of weeds. He may, if he chooses, devote one 

 or two spaces to trying the effect of " hilling " the 

 corn as compared with flat culture. A record should 

 be kept of each. 



When the time arrives for cutting up the corn and 

 placing it into shocks, all that is requisite is to ob- 

 serve from the record the stakes, the different strips 

 and portions so as to keep them distinctly and sepa- 

 rate. When these rows of shocks are separately 

 husked each rowjis carefully weighed or accurately 

 measured, and the amount noted on the record. 

 Here there will be a lesson, or a piece of practical 

 information, right before the eyes, telling him how 

 much he has gained by the continued mellow culti- 

 vation, and how much he has lost by omitting it, and 

 what is the comparative value of hilling. He may 

 also estimate the greater time required for the fre- 

 quent cultivation, as compared with the neglected 

 treatment, and see how much net profit he has gained 

 in the Increased crop. From the results which we 

 have occasionally witnessed in frequent tillage, we 

 have no doubt many farmers ".would be surprised at, 

 the rate of increase. An hour or two of extra time 

 given in keeping these accounts with a single field 

 would probably give the owner a knowledge of facts 

 worth hundreds of dollars to him in the long run. It 

 is Important that there be no half-way work in the 

 experiment, and that the cultivation of the corn be 

 continued from the time of the first harrowing before 

 the young plants have made their appearance, till 

 they have grown tall enough to overtop the back of 

 the horse employed in the cultivation. — Rural Era. 



Experiments in Corn Culture. 



Like many other subjects, there may be always 

 something said about experimental corn culture. 

 The following article clipped from an exchange con- 

 tains many valuable suggestions, and will no doubt 

 be read with interest and profit. 



Field experiments are often performed by active 

 farmers to determine the best modes for cultivating 

 crops, but unfortunately they nearly always omit 

 other modes side by side to,deterinineiby comparison 

 or contrast the compaiative advantages of the best. 

 A farmen thinks he has found an improved way, 

 for Instance, in the cultivation and management of 

 his corn crop, and he applies the new treatment to 

 the whole field, instead of trying both modes side by 

 side, and measuring the product of each. We often 

 meet with cultivators who are satisfied that repeated 

 horse-cultivation of their corn crops increases the 

 product, as compared with only one or two thorough 

 dressing; Out to what extent this increase has been 

 made, is mere conjecture. Some have placed it by 

 guess as high as twenty bushels or more to the acre, 

 and under the most favorable circumstances this 

 amount Is not probably an over estimate. But dis- 

 tinct and accurate facts are wanted, and fortunately 

 hey are easily obtained. Let any farmer who has 



Nuggets from New Jersey. 



The last report of the New Jersey Agricultural 

 Experiment Station says : "We are wasting great 

 quantities of cattle food, such as straw, corn-stalks, 

 etc., which could be profitably used, and we have in 

 our markets waste products, such as cotton-seed 

 meal, malt screenings, etc., sold at a low price, 

 which are really worth more than many of the farm 

 products which can be sold at a high price." Rations 

 can be made up from these coarse farm products, 

 and the rich waste products, which will be palatable 

 and nutritious, and which will cost far less than 

 those made from good hay and grain. 



As a forage crop, sorghum possesses some advan- 

 tages, lis weight is equal to that of Indian corn, 

 and when cut and crushed for green fodder it is 

 eaten with great avidity. It stands dry weather bet- 

 ter than most other crops. The seed is a valuable 

 part of the crop — in quality it is equal to Indian corn; 

 and the yield on our experiment plots this year was 

 thirty-two bushels per acre. 



Ensilage is a wholesome and nutritious food 

 Milk from the dairy, and produced from cows fed 

 daily upon ensilage, has been uniformly satisfactory 

 in quality to the numerous customers who have 

 taken it. 



Green fodder corn, dried in shocks, was preserved 

 quite as well as that which was packed in a silo. 



Dried fodder corn, properly cut and crushed, was 

 eaten by cows with as little waste as ensilage. 



In three cases out of four the yield of milk was 

 not increased when ensilage was substituted for 

 dried^fodder corn. 



Eighteen per cent, of dry matter was lost in the 

 process of preserving green fodder corn. 



The loss fell entirely upon the class of carb- 

 hydrates. 



The loss was the same, both when the corn was 

 packed in the silo and also when it was dried in 

 shocks. 



When the rations contain the same weights of di- 

 gestible food, ensilage, in the majority of cases, has 



no more influence on the milk yield than dried fod- 

 der corn. 



A good milk ration can be made by mixing young 

 rye with sufficient nitrogenous food. 



The claim that rye at a certain stage in its growth 

 becomes unfit for soiling is doubtless correct. 



Cut while tender and stored as ensilage, rye can 

 be preserved for more than a year and then be sub- 

 stituted for green rye, pound for pound, without 

 noticeably decreasing the yield of mxXk.— Weekly 

 Press. 



Pruchasing Commercial Fertilizers. 



There are four requirements involved in the eco- 

 nomical purchases of commercial fertilizers. Farm- 

 erg should, first, buy what is needed ; second, buy in 

 large quantities and'of responsible dealers ; in other 

 words, co-operate ; third, buy concentrated material 

 that Is really available to plants. 



I will suppose that in the county grange there are 

 fifty farmers who wish to use an average of two tons 

 of commercial fertilzer each year, or one hundred 

 tons in all. This being the case, let the business 

 agent of the grange contract with some responsible 

 large dealer in fertilizers for five carloads of fertil- 

 izer, to consist of the following materials : Eighty- 

 five (85) tons of dissolved South Carolina rock, 

 guaranteed to contain not less than 12 per cent, of 

 available phosphoric acid ; five (5) tons of muriate 

 of potash, containing 50 per cent, of potash ; and ten 

 (10) tons of nitrate of soda, containing 15 per cent. 

 of nitrogen. These materials will be shipped In bags, 

 each bag containing two hundred (200) pounds. 

 Each farmer would then take seventeen (17) bags of 

 dissolved South Carolina rock, one (1) bag of muri- 

 ate of potash and two (2) bags of nitrate of soda, 

 at a cost of $26 per ton. 



The materials I have mentioned are undoubtedly 

 the cheapest sources of nitrogen, phosphoric acid 

 and potash in efficient forms that this year's market 

 affords. When these materials are mixed together 

 in the proportions I have indicated, a fertilizer is 

 produced that contains 11 per cent, of available 

 phosphoric acid, 2.5 per cent, of potash and 1.5 per 

 cent. of nitrogen, and it is certainly very rarely the 

 case that a mixed fertilizer comes into the market 

 that offers for §36 an equal amount of equally valu- 

 able plant food. Bought in small lots mixed fertil- 

 izers containing no greater quantity of valuable in- 

 gredients cost about $35 per ton. It may be objected 

 by some that it is a great deal of trouble to mix a' 

 fertilizer. By turning the fertilizer out on a clean 

 barn floor two men with shovels will thoroughly mix 

 a large quantity in a ha.\t da.y .^Philadelphia Press. 



H0RT:CL -TLlRE. 



Hints on Berry Culture. 

 In cultivating berries we expose them to the sun, 

 thus depriving them of the protection with which 

 nature favors them. Nature associated the wild 

 strawberry with the grass and other low vegetation 

 or means of shade, the bush berries with large growth 

 sufficient straggling to form a partial shade the con- 

 dition of existence, both dense shade and full ex- 

 posure to the hot sun being avoided. I have known 

 of good success with raspberries in orchards where 

 the ground was kept well enriched, and also on steep 

 land facing the North, but never on a Southern ex- 

 posure lying bare to the sun all day. The heat and 

 drouth of our seasons shrink and dry the berries and 

 check growth and ultimately cause the disappear- 

 ance of the plant. This is true, not only of the 

 raspberry, but the strawberry, blackberry, and, as it 

 now seems the gooseberry also. All are affected by 

 mildew of some kind, as we see in the rust spots of 

 the strawberry and the red dust of the raspberry and 

 blackberry. There are doubtless other conditions 

 that favor mildew, such as wet, undrained clay soil 

 and ill-treatment. 



With partial shade relieving the plapt, especially 

 during the middle or after part of the day, -when the 

 heat is greatest, and with the proper soil and treat- 

 ment, thus securing a free growth and healthy con- 



