THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



find it invested with more than ordinary in- 

 terest. Mr. Ililev thus siinis up his eonclu- 

 sions, ba.sed upon his own and other corrolxi- 

 rative exporienee ; 1. There is every reason 

 to believe that Sarraeenia is a truly insectivo- 

 rous plant, and that hy its peculiar structure 

 and secretions, it is enabled to capture and 

 hold its prey. 2. That those insects most 

 easily digested and most uset'ul to the plant, 

 are principally ants and small tlies, which are 

 lured to their graves liy the honied secretions 

 about the mouth, and "that most of the larijer 

 insects are acci(h'ntally captin-ed. H. Tliat 

 the oidy benedt to the plant is from the licpiid 

 nianure which results from tlie imtrescence of 

 the captured insects. 4. The Sdmiphwid is a 

 mere intruder, the larva sharing; tlie food ob- 

 tained by the plant, and the i>arent lly is at- 

 tracted thither by the strong odor, just as it 

 would be to any otlier putrescent matter. 5. 

 That the moth (Xnnlhuptrni.) has no other 

 connection with tlie i)lant than as a destroyer, 

 though the i;reatest injury is done after the 

 leaf iias performed its most important func- 

 tions. (J. That neither the motli nor the lly 

 has any structure jieculiar to it that enables 

 it to brave the dangers of tlie ]dant, beyond 

 what many other allied siiecies jios.sess. Of 

 course the subject is not exliausted, and is 

 therefore open to further development. R. 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FRUITS. 



To those pereons who have only a limited, 

 or a comparatively small space, to devote to 

 the cultivation of fruit, the following list, re- 

 ported to the Pennsylvania Fruit-Growers Soci- 

 ety, at its meeting held in the city of Reading, 

 in .January, 1873, may be of some service in 

 the determinations of their choice. It is to be 

 regretted that detailed reports of this and 

 other similar associations, never reach the 

 public eye until long after the events occur. 

 It is the same with the National Department 

 of Agriculture at Washington. In the mean- 

 time, the people who are most interested in 

 the work of these associations are, for an in- 

 definite period, deprived of the knowledge they 

 are intended to diffuse. The list comprises 

 the following: 



APPLES. 



Crawford's Late, -21 

 Old Nixon, - - 13 

 Smock, - - - - 12 



10 



Concord, 



Susquehanna, - 

 Early York, - - <J 

 Crawford's Early,- 13 



GRAPES. 



- - 21 I Martha, - - - - 4 



STRAWnEItUIES. 



Wilson's Albany, - IS | TriomphedeGand, 7 



Tlie higlier the numl>er the greater the com- 

 parative value, (for instance. Smokehouse com- 

 pares with Baldwin as 1"> does to 8,) lint, of 

 course, this does not imply tliat the foregoing 

 only are worthy of cidtivation. But the list 

 contains those that have received a general 

 recognition in the latitude of southern and 

 middle Pennsylvania, and may be of value to 

 those who propo.se to plant fruit trees during 

 the coming siiring, especially those who may 

 only desire to set out a few of each kind. 



GtTAXo: Dr. Ilabel has arrived at the con- 

 clusion, after mature study, that guano beds 

 are not made of the excrements of sea birds, 

 as has been hitherto supposed. Chemical 

 treatment has disclosed an insoluble residue 

 composed of fos.sil sponge and marine plants 

 and animalcule. nebcl's opinion is that 

 guano is made of fossil remains, of which the 

 organic matter has been transformed into a 

 nitrogenized substance, while the mineral 

 constituents have jremained unaltered. 



WHEAT GLEANINGS. 

 BY .J. STAUFFEU. 



Of the plants cultivated for the sake of their 

 seed, wheat holds the chief place among farm- 

 ers. What is called winter wheat develops 

 Very much like wliat we call biennial plants. 

 Soon after it is sown the young plants put fortli 

 the first leaves, which, during winter and tlu' 

 early months of spring, increase to a tuft, 

 when, to all appearance, it seems to stand still 

 for Weeks. But wlien warm weather comes 

 the soft stems are put forth to tlu^ height of 

 several feet, furnished with leavesiind tlie ter- 

 minal ear. Afti'r flowering the seed is f(Mined, 

 iintl as th(\v ripen the bottom leaves turn yel- 

 low and gradually die upwards. 



During the time that the growth seems ar- 

 rested above ground, the underground organs 

 are in constant activity, incessantly absorbing 

 food and extending its root libers, storing up 

 and making preparation for the growth of the 

 stalk, &c. On the approac^h of tlie warmer 

 weather, this apparent rest is but collecting 

 the necessary energies to carry out the final 

 seeding. The lowtenii)erature in autumn and 

 winter reduces the action of the organs, with- 

 out altogether suppressing them, and is essen- 

 tial to the vigorous thriving in its future, 

 more favorable conditions. It is a most favor- 

 able condition for future development if 

 the temperature of the air is below that of the 

 soil, so as to retard for several months the de- 

 velopment of the outer plant — al)ove ground. 

 Hence, when covered with snow, the soil is 

 kept moist and warm, and the plants above 

 ground are protected from the severest cold. 

 It is found that a very mild autumn or winter 

 o])erates unfavorably upon the future crop — 

 warmth causes it to shoot up thin, and thereby 

 consumes the food which should have .served 

 to form the buds and new roots, or to increase 

 the store of matter in the roots ; conse(piently 

 the root supplies less food to the jilant in spring, 

 and its growtli is more feeble or stunted. Some 

 farmers endeavor to help the matter by graz- 

 ing down or cutting these feeble plants, in or- 

 der to start a new formation of buds and roots; 

 this, under favorable conditions of growth, 

 may have the desired effect, and if the plant 

 has time the normal conditions may, in a 

 great degree, be restored. Summer wheat, in 

 the several periods of its development is gov- 

 erned in like manner, only these periods are 

 of much shorter duration. 



The farmer in cultivating his plants can act 

 upon tlie direction of the vegetative force only 

 through the soil, that is, by supplying bis field 

 with nutritive sulistauces in tlie riyht jinqntr- 

 fioii.-t. This implies a greater knowledge than 

 siniiily ]>lowing and sowing ; for to produce 

 the largest crop of grain, not only the choice 

 of seed and time of sowing require due atten- 

 tion, but the soil must contain a iireponderating 

 quantity of the nutritive substances neces- 

 sary for the formation of seed. "For leafy 

 )ilants, turnips and tuberous plants, the 

 ])roportion is reversed,'' as Mr. Liebig says, 

 but he refers to the ash-constituents of 

 the wheat plant, and adds, "we cultivate 

 potatoes and clover, and take away from the 

 field the entire cro]) of tubei-s and clover ; we 

 remove from the ground, in these twoiiroducts 

 as much phosphoric acid and three times as 

 much potash as in three wheat crops. It is 

 certain that thealistraction of these important 

 mineral constituents from the ground liy the 

 cultivation of another plant must greatly all'eet 

 the fertility of the soil for wheat ; the crops of 

 wheat diminish in amount and in number." 

 The great point to understand istosupiily the 

 proper material in proper combination to meet 

 the demands of the plant. Supjiose 98 cwt.s. 

 of grain and straw from 21 acres of ground 

 averages, say .') cwts. of ash-constitnents. It 

 is believed that there is 100 times that (piau- 

 tity in an available state, yet it follows that the 

 first crop takes that amount from the soil. 

 Rye may still yield a good crop after the wheat, 

 and oats after the rye, as they do not require 

 the same amount of a.sh-constituents in the 

 soil as wheat does. 



Various plants demand various ingredients 

 or proixjrtions of them. Licbig says "a 



thousand grains of corn (wheat) require from 

 the .soil a tliousand times as much ]ihos)ihoric 

 acid as one grain; and a tlioiisaiid straws 

 demand a thousand times .as mucli silicic acid 

 as one straw. When, tlieretbre, the soil is 

 deficient in tlie thousandetli part of phosphoric 

 or silicic acid, the thousandetli grain or the 

 thou.sandeth straw will not be formed. If a 

 single stalk of corn is taken away from a field 

 the conse(iuence is that the field no longer 

 produces one straw in its room." It follows 

 that the alteration of good and bad crops does 

 not depend altogether upon the conditions of 

 the weather; too few pay attention to the 

 actually favorable chemical and jihysical con- 

 dition wliieli would enable them to cultivate 

 wheat, rye and oats for years in succes.sion, 

 without adding mineral conslitiH'iits. It must 

 be un<lersti)od, liowever, that tliejie constitu- 

 ents are not all distribuleil naturally in an 

 effective condition or accessible to the roots. 

 The phosphate of lime may be iiresent in more 

 than sullicient cpiantity. It depends upon 

 stirring the soil so that the inert food elements 

 become distributed and the iihosphoric-silicic 

 acid and potash become decomposed silicates, 

 thus ma<le soluble and availalile by means of 

 the plow and harrow to insure all parts of the 

 soil to be arable. It is claimed that if the 

 excess of these food constituents were every- 

 where accessible and available to the roots 

 of the plants our fields would be able to yield 

 thirty full average crops in thirty successive 

 ye.ars without the intervention of a season of 

 fallow. Thus it is argued, that even if all the 

 straw is returned to the field of the entire 

 wheat iilant, the field may retain its fertility 

 for straw, but the conditions required for the 

 production of grain are diminished. The 

 consequence is an unequal develoiiment of the 

 entire plant. This <iuestion has been discus.sed 

 by the Society* on several occasions with regard 

 to the propriety of stock feeding or selling the 

 grain, in relation to manures and manner of 

 application to the soil; that is, feeding the 

 crop to cattle in the farm-yard and bringing it 

 back to the field and plowing it in so as to restore 

 to the soil all the mineral constituents con- 

 tained in the crops. It is believed that by 

 this operation the fields would wear out in 

 thirty or sixty years. The conditions that are 

 required to "form the grain would not be 

 improved, and the cause of decrease in the 

 crops remain the same. This may suggest the 

 use of prepared phosphates, dtc, but I am not 

 engaged in farming nor in manufacturing 

 artilicial manures from natural jiroducts, 

 therefore have no motive for advertising those 

 who have. The Society h;is constituted me 

 their Botanist — I deem the foregoing in the 

 line of duty I owe them as a liotanist and not 

 as a farmer. 



RESULTS OF IMPROVED CULTURE. 



The able article on "Agriculture" in the 

 new edition of the American Cyclopedia, lays 

 just emphasis upon the fact that the actual 

 jiroduction of the meunsof supporting life has 

 largely increased, as the true principles of 

 cultivation have becoiiie lietter known and 

 understood. The average yield per acre of 

 some of the cultivated grains, as wheat, for 

 instance, h.as nearly (|uadruided in countries 

 where the principles developed by Liebig and 

 others in applying chemistry to agriculture 

 have gained the strongest hold, even within 

 the memory of men .still living; and this 

 increase is not merely proportionate to the 

 greater numlierof producers, or the additional 

 acres brought under tillage, but an absolute 

 increase per acre. It is Very dillicult to 

 ascertain the amount of crops, or the average 

 yield in times past, but the average yield per 

 acre of wlu'at in the 11th century was only 

 about six bushels. The actual productive 

 jiower of (Jreat Britain in the article of wheat 

 alone increa.sed, during the half century from 

 1801 to 18.")], to the extent of supporting an 

 additional population of 7,(K10,0fttl, an increase 

 which can be ascribed with confidence mainly 

 to improved cultivation. G. 



'Laucaster County Agricultural aud Hortictiltural Society. 



