J 88 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[December, 1884. 



Montinion Brown did not think it would do harm. 

 He once had a pasture where part of it was eaten off 

 very close, while the remainder of it had a heavy 

 growth lelt on it. Both parts killed badly in the 

 winter. He did not see much difference. 



Rebecca D. King : What is the best way to fatten 

 poultry for market ? 



G. A. King : Feed plenty of whole corn. 



E. Cauffman : Put whole corn in a box with slats 

 across the top so that they can reach it, but cannot 

 get on it. 



Ed. Stubbs : Cannot fatten turkeys while they are 

 growing. After they have their growth they will 

 fatten on most any feed. They do as well wander- 

 ing about as confined . 



E. H. Hainee : Ed. is square on the turkey busi- 

 ness. Turkeys are a nuisance, and ought to be abol- 

 ished by law. They trespass on the neighbors and 

 make dissatisfaction. He would willingly do with- 

 out Thanksgiving to get rid of them. The only re- 

 deeming feature about them is that they eat grass- 

 hoppers. 



E. K. Haines : Milk will fatten both young tur- 

 keys and young chickens. 



Jos. K. Blackburn : Which is the better to mix 

 with corn to fatten cattle, oats or wheal bran ? 



Montilliou Brown thought there was very little 

 difference at present prices. 



Llndley King would prefer bran, but corn alone is 

 cheaper. 



Day Wood and M. Nesbit would prefer oats. 



M. Nesbit : What is the best feed to make cows 

 milk well ? 



M. Brown: Wheat bran and corn meal mixed with 

 chaff or cut straw wet, but its preparation requires 

 time. 



L. King : Corn meal and bran. 



E. M. Stubbs: Bran and ship stuff; same money's 

 worth. 



E. H. Haines : Corn meal and bran of equal bulk. 



Day Wood ; One third bran to two-thirds cob meal. 

 Afternoon Session. 



The stormy state of the weather prevented the 

 usual thorough inspection of the farm and outbuild- 

 ings, members satisfying themselves with viewing 

 the barn, cattle, hogs, etc. 



The following criticisms were made on the farm 

 and farm management ; 



E. H. Haines : Hogs nice ; fatter than profitable ; 

 commenced feeding too soon ; think it a waste to 

 make so fat, cattle look remarkably well, feeding on 

 corn meal only ; grass cattle hard to beat ; think the 

 host from appearance might calculate to stay another 

 year. 



M. Brown: The host was fortunate in selecting 

 his cattle. All cattle do not improve so fest. 



E. Stubbs remarked that the drovers considered 

 Mr. King the best judge in the neighborhood. 



tl. A. King ; It takes less corn to make stock fat 

 if you begin early in the fall. 



The host chose a selection entitled "Old Meadows," 

 which was read by Sadie A. Brown, advocating top 

 dressing; but breaking up is better if permanent 

 pasture is not desired. 



Carrie Blackburn recited a poem entitled "There's 

 Danger in the Town," in a very creditable manner. 



E. K. Haines' selection was, "The Farmer's Duty 

 to Youth and to American Agriculture." 



E. Stubbs extolled the manner in which his neigh- 

 bor, E. Lindley King, was raising his son. He knows 

 what his father Is doing and will be able to transact 

 business for himself if required. Some of the mem- 

 bers remarked that sons knew much less about the 

 working of the farm than the daughters did about 

 the house as a rule. 



It was agreed that more confidence between chil- 

 dren and parents would teud to the keeping of our 

 youth on the farm. 



Sadie A. Brown recited a poem, "Napoleon at 

 (iolba," and the club adjourned to meet at Montillion 

 Brown's on the Ist Saturday in January, 18H5. 



A bushel of apples will make from four to four 

 and a half pounds of evaporated fruit. 



LINN.(EAN SOCIETY. 



The Linnaean Society met on Saturday, November 

 39, 1884, in the Museum Rooms, at 2:30 o'clock in 

 the afternoon, the president, Hon. J. P. Wlcker- 

 sham, in the chair. 



Dues collected, minutes read and approved, and 

 donations to the Museum examined, and found to 

 consist of the following : 



Mr. David Evans, of North Queen street, donated 

 a specimen of a white worm which he found under 

 his carpet, which seemed to be cutting it, although 

 the worm was not present in very gi-eat numbers. 

 Some months ago two ladies called upon Dr. Rath- 

 von and stated that a worm was destroying their 

 carpet, but he could not give any opinion upon it nor 

 yet suggest a remedy until he knew what kind of 

 worm it was (and perhaps not them) as from their 

 representations, it seemed to be different from the 

 "Carpet Beetle" (Anthremts scrophularin) which is 

 now so destructive in various parts of the country. 



This worm is three-fourths of an inch in length, of 

 a white waxy color, with a reddish brown conical 

 head : the three thoracic segments are short, and 

 very faintly tinged with brown, especially along 

 their posterior margins. It appears to have twenty 

 segmental divisions in its long slender body, but Dr. 

 Rathvon says he is admonished, by microscopic illus- 

 tration, that this is only an appearance, and that 

 there are really only twelve, without the head. Four 

 white, short, anterior, and two posterior bristles 

 seem to supply the place of feet. 



This white worm is the laruce of a Dipterous insect 

 (Two winged flies) belonging to the family Cono- 

 piDce, of Leach ; and the genus Scenopiyius; and, 

 although I have not immediate success to the imngo, 

 I have little doubt it is Scenopinus pallipes ot Thomas 

 Say. The fly is scarcely a quarter of an inch in 

 length, black, with a inetalic luster, and with pale 

 feet ; and has an aler expansion of less than half an 

 inch. In form this genus differs so much from the 

 general form and habits of the Conopidce that Prof. 

 Loew considers it the type of a new family. It is 

 not well known that many of the species of the 

 family with which it is now allied, are parasisic 

 upon the bodies of various species of Sombus and 

 Vespa ; as well as other Hymenoptera. From its 

 slender pedicelled abdomen, the genus Conups 

 strongly resembles some of the wasps— especially 

 Eumenus, but Stenopinns has a thick, and almost 

 sessile, abdomen. 



Cloths saturated with coal oil, benzine, creosote, 

 turpentine, or camphor, placed under the infested 

 parts of carpets, will kill oi; expell both Scetiopiims 

 and Authrenus. 



On the 33d of August last Mr. H. L. Zahm brought 

 to the Curators the trunk of a common "sunflower" 

 {Helianthns anmts), the pith of which had been 

 seriously infested by the larvie of Dipterous insect 

 which seems to belong to the great family Muscid^, 

 of which our common Horse-fly is the type. These 

 lari'oi were from 10 to 12 millemetres in 'length and 

 about 2 m m in diameter ; two retractile caudel 

 tubercles, and a dark retractile head. Sulphur yel- 

 low in color, and a uniformly glossy surface through- 

 out. Thirteen segments, no feet, without any ap 

 parent power of progressive locomotion, when taken 

 from their burrows and laid on a plane surface- 

 merely a wrything, or tumbling contortions, simi- 

 lar to some of the footless larvie of Coteoptern, and 

 Hymenoptera. Body moderately firm, and -very 

 tenaceous of life, living longer than usual in alcohol. 

 They are located mainly between the outer woody 

 stalk and the inner fiber or pith, except in the lateral 

 branches, and these were entirely excavated from 

 base to apex, causing the leaves to wilt and prevent- 

 ing the expansion of the (lowers. Only three of those 

 retained for experiment pupated, on the 5th of Sep- 

 tember, the remainder perished. Dr. Kathvon has 

 been waiting since then for the evolution of the 

 imago, but as the vitality of the pup:e is probably 

 destroyed by drought, being kept in a warm room, 

 he will now run the risk of securing specimens in the 

 spring from those stalks that may remain out all 

 winter. It is difficult to maintain the proper condi- 



tions for the successful transformation of such in- 

 sects as survive the winter, if it is desired to have 

 them accessible to frequent observation. 



The pupa is one quarter of an inch long, one- 

 sixteenth in diameter ; light sulpur yellow in color ; 

 twelve distinctly marked segments, and terminates 

 somewhat abruptly at both ends. 



Judging from the large trunk and branches, and 

 the excavations made therein, there must have been 

 a large number of these larvae present, and but for 

 the fact that those under my observation pupated in 

 the cane, I should have concluded that they pupated 

 under ground, especially as many holes were cut 

 through the stalks ; but mine spun no semblance of 

 a coccoon. 



Sundry specimens of insects and insect larva, col- 

 lected in the hickory grove of Wheatland, near Lan- 

 caster; and among them the larva: and imago of 

 Clytus piictus, an insect, the larva; of which are present 

 in thousands, and are rapidly destroying the hickory 

 trees on those premises. Also a specimen of Tremex 

 Columbia, captured in the act of depositing its eggs 

 in the trunk of a hickory tree. 



Several small branches of hickory illustrating the 

 deadly work of a "Girdler," doubtless Onciderus 

 sincjulatus ; a "pruner" — probably Slaphiclcoti puta- 

 lor, and the ramified excavations of a species of 

 Scolytes—perha.ps caryoe, from the same locality. In 

 the same trees I also detected species of Naprinus 

 and HoloUpta — hard, black and glossy coleopterous 

 insects; but these are perhaps only present in the 

 word that is dead. A spider {Epeira glacillis) and 

 a black cricket {Adteta niger) from the same lo- 

 cality. 



A specimen of the " Wheel bug" {Bedurius no- 

 venariim) in the act of destroying a " Red legged 

 grass-hopper" ( Caloptinus femer-rubmm') . 



Specimens of the larvie, pupa and imago of Ano- 

 biiini tenustriatiiin, and also their fnecel granulations 

 — the insect that has recently been found infesting 

 the cigarettes and fine smoking tobacco, described in 

 the Fakmer and the BuUetiu for October, 1884. 



Specimens of the cocoons of Empretia stimula, or 

 "Saddleback moth." See Farmer and Bulletin 

 for October and November, 1884. 



S. M. Seuer donated a birds nest found on the 

 pavement after the recent wind storm. It is neatly 

 constructed of horse hair. Also exhibited specimens 

 of incinerated animal remains from the "Lancaster 

 Crematorium." 



Portfolio of garden plants, neatly mounted and 

 specimens of the ornamental grass known as 

 Enlalia Jeponica Zebrina, a native of Japan, 

 from Dr.S. S. Rathvon. 



The following donations were made to the Library: 

 iV^ewi Era of November 22, containing Reminiscences 

 of James Buchanan ; copies of the Daily Examiner, 

 Intelliijeiiccr and New Era, containing " Dedication 

 of Lancaster Crematorium;" U. S. Patent Office 

 Gazette, Vol. 29, Nos. 4 to 8; Book buyer for No- 

 vember ; Fowles & Wells Co., Election Prize ; Pros- 

 pectus of the Life and Letters of Joel Barlow ; two 

 European newspapers ; Farmer for November, 

 1884 ; two Envelopes of Historical Scraps ; Home 

 Journal, Utiea, N. Y.; Li>mceaii Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 

 5, October, 1884; Magrzine of Western History, Vol. 

 1, No. 1; prospectuses of scientific books, etc. 



Dr. Baker read an interesting and valuable paper 

 on " The Curious Effects of a May Storm." As the 

 paper contains his investigations of a curious effect 

 that occurred here in Laiicatter during a rain storm, 

 the paper was ordered to be printed in daily papers, 

 Farmer and i?«?;e(i)!. Dr Baker was requested to 

 make his observations by the members of the Lin- 

 na;au. 



Bills amounting to $2.25 for Bulletin, postage, &c., 

 were ordered to be paid. It was reported to the 

 Society that the greater number of all the teachers 

 present at the Teachers' Institute had availed them- 

 selves of the opportunity to visit the Museum, and 

 the members were pleased to hear of it and would 

 be still more gratified to see some of them become 

 active, working members of the Society. Several 

 letter on file and one answered. 



The Society, on motion, then adjourned to meet on 

 Saturday, January 31, 1885, at 2:30 o'clock in the 

 afternoon, the December meeting being passed on 

 account of being so near Christmas. 



