THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



a 



ground, I'onuerlv ootupicil by the c;iii;il, liavi- 

 iK'in added 1<> Hic dciiai-tiiicnt Knmiids, ami 

 are now uiidernoiiiK iireparatioii to loriu a 

 part of tin- aboretuiii. Tlie colkctiou ot ex- 

 otic, utili/able and eeoiioiine plants is •;iadii- 

 ally inereasinjj l»>lli in niunber and vaUie. 

 The orange lainilv is partieularly valuahle, 

 and the best conmiereial varieties are iiropa- 

 gated and distributed to the greatest prac- 



tieable extent. . , . i, ' , • ^ p 



There has been no period ni the history ol 

 this eonnlry when larniers'erops have been so 

 extensively "depredated upon as in the past 

 year, and this has bmnght into active exercise 

 tlie knowledge and industry ot the entcmiologi- 

 cal divisions of the department. There is 

 an increasing demand lor inlbnnation with 

 regard to insects injurious to vegetion. and 

 much pains have been taken to investigate 

 the character ot insects sent here to point 

 out their modes of intiicting injury, and 

 the means by which their depredations may 

 be averted, and for those who seek to prose- 

 cute the study or acquire the knowledge 

 of these insects, specimens of their injuries and 

 nest-arehiteeture have lieen arraiigi'd and ex- 

 hibited in a rocni providtil for the purpose. 



During the past year the work of tlie botan- 

 ical division has been steadily prosecuted and 

 many contrilmlions added, it is bi'lieycd 

 that much valuable information of a (iractical 

 character is both received and cunununieated. 

 Many gratifying letters of acknowledginent 

 show high appreciation of the work of distribu- 

 tion. , , , 



The Commissioner shows the valuable ser- 

 vices rendered l)y the several divisions of his 

 department, and says : " In purchase of seeds 

 the department has patronized oidy seed- 

 growers and seed firms proven reliable by ex- 

 perience, whose guarantee of good (juality and 

 genuineness cannot be questioned, and by re- 

 ceiving them from llrst hands has been able to 

 prociue them at much lower rates, and, con- 

 se(iuentlv, in greater quantities, and is thus 

 enabled "to give more lilierally to the many 

 applicants who dailv apply for seeds from all 

 parts of the country, and to extend the benelits 

 of distribution. One million, two hundred 

 and eiirhtv-six thousand packages of .seed.s 

 were distribhtcd during the last liscal year." 



PROPER MODE OF FEEDING HORSES. 



Let me say a word or two in reference to 

 feeding the hor.se, as bearing upon the con- 

 dition of the foot. Every owner of a horse 

 must have obseived that the growth and 

 strength and appearance of the horse's fool is 

 inaleiially alfectcd by the condition of the 

 horse hiniself. A half-starved horse may have 

 a foot injured liy deficient nutrition ; an over- 

 fed horse may "have a foot heated into an 

 inllanimation ; and so dependent is the foot 

 upon a healthy .state of the animal economy, 

 that for the 'foot alone, if nothing else, the 

 diet of the hor.se should be reguhiled with the 

 utmost regard to his health. 



I am confident that we give our horses too 

 much grain and too little hay — especially 

 horses under seven years of age, who will 

 work with more endurance and courage on a 

 good supply of grain- of the latter say six 

 quarts of oats and a pint of corn daily. Older 

 hor.ses re(|uire and will bear more grain — but 

 even they want more hay than is usually given. 

 Every horse should pass a few weeks of each 

 year without grain- either the first half or the 

 last half of the winter, whichever is the mo.st 

 convenient. And this mode of feeding can 

 he adopted without suspending the animal's 

 work. 



I have one horse, fourteen years old, which 

 has had this regimen for fiuir months every 

 year of his life (and I bred himl, and he is as 

 ■smooth, vigorous and healthy as a colt — has a 

 sound, smooth foot, was never lame and has 

 always been in good order. He is a good 

 specimen of what box stalls, brick Hoor, tar 

 ointment, turniiisand hay will do for horses 

 towards preserving their iiealth, strength and 

 soundness, and promoting longevity. — Muni'. 



rioiKjhman. 



AGIUfULTUUE AND SPANISH CIVILIZATION. 



At one time in the world's history Spain 

 was the great power. Eivius and Slrabo 

 relate of Spain's fertility and of her abundant 

 harvests. I'ndcr the reign of Abd Errahman 

 111., Mohammedan, Spain snstaine<l a popu- 

 lation of ;5(l,(IOO,ltt)0. Tarragona, the second 

 city of the empire under th(^ Uomans, had 

 1,(10(1,00(1 inhabitants; under Abd Errahman 

 111. it contained :!.")0,000; now it contains but 

 I."),0()0. The fanatical Thilip II., and his suc- 

 cessor of the same name, struck the dealli 

 blow to agriculture by enacting inicpiitous 

 laws. By these measures 1^(10,000 Moors, men 

 and women, old men and children, were eoin- 

 (lelled to leave the land of their birth, their 

 blooming fields, and the houses their own hands 

 had built. The nourishing plains of the south 

 soon became a desert, agriculture decayed, and 

 then trade stagnated. As a result prosperous 

 villages were reduced to ruin, towns once 

 animated by commerce became depopulated, 

 lioverty an<l sloth seized tlu^ once rich and 

 happy countiy, the departed siileiidor of 

 which is still attested by magniliccnt ruins. 

 Thus does history show'thal where agricul- 

 ture holds the first plact^ in a peojile's affairs, 

 there wealth and progress advance; that 

 wherever agriculture is abandoned, there 

 national deciiy begins. The same grand trulli 

 runs through" all nations, that agriculture is 

 the source of wealth, the fountain bead of 

 civilization. As ancient nations grew rich, 

 and then i)ermitted agriculture to decline, So 

 they became demoralized, idle, vicious, and 

 poor; relapsing into barbarism, or vanishing 

 entirely from the face of the earth.— P/(ii)ii<- 

 loijical Journal. ( 

 ^ 



POTATO DIET. 



Not long ago I remarked in the course of 

 conversation with a lady that my children ate 

 a good deal of bread aiid milk. ''My Willie 

 seldom eats it," she said. "He seems to 

 need something more nourishing— cats a good 

 deal of potato." Here our conversathm was 

 interrupted. If Willie eats milk, or e^gs, or 

 lean meat with his potato, very well. JJut if 

 he is kept upon potato and butter, and fat 

 gravy, with white bread and butter, and cake 

 and jiastry at meals when potato is absent, he 

 is very poorly nourished in my opinion. He 

 may look fat, as children always do when 

 food is mainly of the fattening or heat-iiro- 

 ducing kind ; but he will be likely to la<-k in 

 bone and muscle. Potatoes also cannot suji- 

 ply the system with enough of the mineral 

 elements reiiuired for a healthy growth. So 

 says ])r. Edward Smith, the author of an ex- 

 ce'llent book on "Foods." This book agrees 

 in the main with one fo which I have before 

 referred, "I'hilosophy of l-'.ating," though 

 less giveii to theorising and more to the simple 

 description of various kinds of food. In the 

 Philosophv of Eating we are taught that 

 ])olatoes are finely adapted to be eaten with 

 lean meat— the starchy potatoes fiirnisbing 

 the fiitteiiing and heating elements which lean 

 meat lacks, while the lean meat supiilies the 

 bone and muscle-making eleineiifs not alford. d 

 by potato or tine Hour bread. Fat meat alVonls 

 h"eating and fattening elements, like potato, 

 but in a form less easily digested by most 

 jiersons. 



fresh lime. This was sjiread evenly in layers 

 between layers of muck a foot thiik. In 

 twenty-four hours the lieajis were smoking hot. 

 lie threw more iiuuk over the top and beat 

 the siirtace closely with the shovel to exclude 

 the air. and in a few days the heat went down. 

 AVheii In- came to draw the muck, it had be- 

 come a black, rich mass, that exhaled a very 

 pimgent order, nmcli like barnyard manure; 

 and although it was late in October when it 

 was spread upon the grass, the color of the 

 field became at once a deeper green, and a 

 rapid growth started. Wood ashes (half a 

 bushel or mine to a loail of muck) will pro- 

 duce eijually good results, but more time is re- 

 quired for decomposition. — liitral Carolinian. 



SOAKING SEEDS.— OSAGE ORANGE. 



Among the most radical reforms in growing 

 plants is that pertaining to soaking seeds. 

 Time was when but a few kinils were thus 

 treated, and such only as were furnished with 

 hard shells or woody coverings: but now many 

 of our most successful gardeners believe in the 

 practice of soaking almost everything before 

 planting. The siiace of time necessary fortius 

 operation is governed by -a knowledge of the 

 germinating i)ower inherent in each; some 

 species rei|uire only a lew hours, while others 

 should remain in the water for several days. 

 Experienced Osage orange growei-s now ad- 

 vise for it immersion for a month at li-ast. and 

 some even place the bag of seeds in a spring 

 of water in the autumn, and allow it to re- 

 main there until the ensuing siiring. Those 

 of my readers who are in iHissessionof a fruit- 

 bearing tree may prolit perhaps by my expe- 

 rience. Last autumn I etdlected in a heap all 

 of the oranges from my old specimen, and let 

 them remain exposed to the weather until a 

 few days ago, when I washed out the decayed 

 mass witlunit any ditlicnlty, and obtained aliont 

 a peck of nice seeds ; the latter were thrown 

 into a bag, wet as they were, and much to my 

 sunnise ihey at once began si>routing. This 

 is merely an exemplilication of the desire for 

 moisture Viv the Osage orange, as in this case 

 the seeds were kept peii)elually damp. 



now TO TREAT SWAMP Mt'C'K FOR MANUKE. 



Wlietber it will pay to apply swamp muck 

 to land depends upon several circumstancis, 

 such as the richness of the deposit in the ele- 

 ments of fertility, in which there are great dif- 

 ferences ; the character of the soil to which it 

 is to be aiiplied ; Ihe cost of digging; the dis- 

 tance to 1 e hauled, and the consecpient ex- 

 pense of hauling." A little cyphering and a 

 few exiieriments will enable the farmer to set- 

 tle the question of prolit or loss. When used, 

 it shovdd alwavs be treated with lime or a.shes 

 to correct itsacidily. A Pennsylvania farmer 

 tells, in the IVihune. how he comiiosts it, and 

 his way is a good one. As the muck was dug, 

 he mixed with every five loads one barrel of 



A nrUD'S EYE-VIEW OF AGRICULTURE. 



When we consider that less than one-third 

 of the area of the United States, and less than 

 a fifth of the entire domain of the United 

 States, is mapped into farms, and remember 

 that of this farm aria only one-fourth is tilk'd 

 or mowed ; and when we further rellect that 

 the average yield fn'r acre could be doubled 

 if the maiiy could be brought up to the plane 

 of the fewin the practice of intensive culture 

 ^then We begin to realize what nund)ers our 

 country is capabh^ of feeding, and what waste 

 of toil and ellort comes from the neglect of the 

 economic lessons taught by the statistics of 

 scientific agriculture. We "now know that our 

 wheat occupies an area less than the surface 

 of South Carolina, and if the yield should 

 eipial that of England, half of "that acreage 

 should easily sutlice. We know of our national 

 crop, maize, which grows from Oregon to 

 Floiida, anil veaily waves oyer a broader field 

 than all the cereals beside, that it might pro- 

 duce its amplest stores within fht) boundaries 

 of Virginia. The potato crop cmdd grow in 

 Delaware, though yielcling less than a hundred 

 bushels per acre; thc> barley for brewing needs 

 Uss than a half dozen counties, and tobacco, 

 suftieient to glut our own and European mar- 

 kets, grows on au area twenty miles square. 



An important step has been gained in the 

 natural history of the potato blight. It is 

 stated that Prof. De I'.ary. of Strashnrg, ha.s 

 detected the existence of " helcnecism." or an 

 "alternation of generations," in the life 

 history of the rcirmnKjyirn infotnn.i. the para- 

 sitic fimgus which causes the disease. It is 

 conjectured that the second form may possibly 

 be found on clover. 



