18 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



» 



pect for tlie potato, unless the govenimeuts, 

 State and National, should create Bureaus, 

 and require all seeds to pass an ordeal of micro- 

 scopic examination, and have a "stamp" 

 attached before they are iiemiitted to be plant- 

 ed, a thing more easily conceived than done. 

 From the foregoing, it seems very evident 

 that the seed of the Jackson Whites, in the 

 specific case alluded to, may not have been 

 previously infected, and that the product was 

 proof against the attacks of fungi, although 

 the spores were floating in the air by millions, 

 and they must have been surrounded by them. 

 It is well known that a superabundance of 

 moisture and heat produce rank vegetation, 

 and it is also quite as well known that when 

 this peculiar combination of climatic circum- 

 stances is prolonged when the tubers are ma- 

 tured, that rot is more likely to follow than 

 when the season is dry ; but when two varie- 

 ties of the potato are growing side and side, 

 and all the culture and climatic conditions are 

 the same, and yet one variety escapes and the 

 other becomes infected, we are almost bound 

 to conclude, either that the one is rot-proof, or 

 that insipient rot was in the seed-tuber of the 

 other when it was planted. 



It appears that European savans liave no 

 better remedy to suggest in such cases, than 

 to cut off the tops as soon as the brown fun- 

 goid blotches appear on them. This might 

 answer the purpose if done just at the right 

 time, and if the mere preservation of the tubers, 

 as an article of food, was the object; but Amer- 

 ican savans think that from the absence of 

 stalks, leaves, and the healthy action of air and 

 light, the tubers would not attain a healthy 

 and consolidated growth, and would therefore 

 be unfit for seed. 



It is conceded that the germs of a disease 

 may exist in an animal or a plant— either con- 

 stitutionally in their systems, or in the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere— without said disease 

 ever becoming developed, owing to antidotes, 

 tillage, and other favorable conditions ; and 

 hence, mir savans suggest that as potash has 

 the property of absorbing and retaining moist- 

 ure in a high degree, and keeping the soil wet 

 and moist, while carbonate of soda has the 

 property of giving oft' water in a dry atmos- 

 phere, these conditions should be duly con- 

 sidered in the cultivation of the potato. There- 

 fore they recommend that when tubers in any 

 locality have grown to a state of perfection 

 '■' during per loch of I pidernic," as in the case of 

 the Jackson Whites alluded to, a suflicient 

 quantity of such should be selected for seed 

 purposes, and planted in still more favorable 

 localities, and that this course should be con- 

 tinued, and by this means the disease might 

 be ultimately prevented or entirely abated. 



THE PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY. 



The Lancaster Fakmer is not the .special 

 adversary of secret societies — whether they be 

 Granges or Religious Inquisitions — nor is it 

 their special advocate. It does not an-ay itself 

 against these institutions, neither does it cham- 

 pion them any more than it does any jiarticular 

 reaper or corn sheller, either pro. or con. It 

 leaves that question entirely in the hands of 

 the farming jmblic to dispose of as individual 

 men endowed with common sense, and acting 

 under the privileges of social and civil liberty. 

 It believes that the moral and material w'orlds 

 are large enough for Grangers and anti-Gran- 

 gers to pass oh to their respective destinies, 

 without jostling each other, if they only prac- 

 tice a little self-denial, and subordinate tlie in- 

 dividual will to the greatest good of the great- 

 est nvmiber. 



In approving the seemingly good, and in con- 

 demning the seemingly evil, there is one very 

 essential pre-reqiusite necessary before we are 

 in a proper condition to perceive things as they 

 are in their inner essences; and that is, the re- 

 moval of the "fccowi " before we attempt to 

 remove the ' • nwte. ' ' We say seemingly, because 

 the experiences of years have clearly illustrated 

 to our mental perception that there are reed 

 goods and upparent goods, as well as real evils 

 and only apyarenl evils, and that these things 



take their colors and forms, more or less, from 

 the qualities of the mediums through which 

 they are reflected, or rather transmitted. There 

 is a common old saw, to the effect that "if a 

 rnrmkeij looks into a mirror, a prophet will not 

 look out," which is a trite illustration of how 

 the "line of incident" is influenced by the "line 

 of accident " in the domain of Imman per- 

 ception. 



While we are not prepared to believe that 

 either all good men, or all evil men, are to be 

 found within the folds of secret associations, 

 neither do we believe that they are to be found 

 outside of them. Good and evil are conditions 

 that have their foundations upon mental and 

 moral stratifications that lie down deeper than 

 merely social organizations. A self-evident, 

 or universally admitted good thing, in the 

 hands and under the control of. evil men, may 

 be diverted from its original purpose and be 

 converted into an evil thing, and the reverse 

 of this proposition may be equally true. Even 

 the Spanish Inquisition, in the hands of men 

 unbigoted and unbiased, and acting under the 

 spirit of the "Golden Rule," wovdd have been 

 a far better institution, and would have had a 

 better reputation than that which is reflected 

 from it in the pages of human history. 



In contemplating the diversified history of 

 Christianity from its first foundation down to 

 the present time, viewing its immense labors, 

 hardships, self-denia!s,patience, endurance and 

 sacrifices; takingaretrospectof the contumely, 

 contempt and persecutions it has endured, no 

 man endowed with the smallest spark of char- 

 ity will deny that its institution was intended 

 to redeem and regenerate the human family 

 from an impending state of evil and sinful 

 degradation; and yet its great symbol has, in 

 many instances, been converted into "a banner 

 under which madmen have assembled to glut 

 the earth with blood." But this does not, 

 legitimately, nor essentially, militate against 

 Christianity in any of its denominational forms, 

 so far as the fundamental spirit of the church 

 is concerned— it is a manifestation altogether 

 outside of its spirit. 



In noting the characters and qualities of the 

 men who compose the secret organizations of 

 our countn— their difterent social, religious 

 and i)olitical sentiments— their varied clerical, 

 professional and mechanicalcallings— it would 

 be as "far-fetched" or gratuitous, to denomi- 

 nate them combinations organized for the pur- 

 pose of advancing social, religious and politi- 

 cal ends, against the interest of those outside 

 of their organizations, as it would Ije to esteem 

 all outsiders arrayed in combinations against 

 them. There are interests, likes and dislikes, 

 laws of affinity and congeniality, which deter- 

 mine the social and fraternal relations existing 

 among men, that lie deeper and are anterior 

 to those which merely draw them together in 

 these external organizations, and these affini- 

 ties will determine the quality of their affilia- 

 tion in spite of others. 



Whether the social organization known as 

 "Patrons of Husbandry" or "Grange," 

 among the agricultural population of our 

 country, is a necessity or a superfluity, time 

 and circumstance will determine. The Miver- 

 ted— and we may also add, jjccverted- condi- 

 tion of human society imposes many things 

 which in a more periect state of order, would 

 be regarded as entirely useless ; and if these 

 things have the least shadow of right in other 

 industrial interests, who has the power to 

 limit themtotho.se interests alone? As we 

 said in the beginning of this paper, our pur- 

 pose is not to ai)prove or condemn, simply 

 because no man standing outside of a house in- 

 to which he has never been admitted, is com- 

 petent to judge of its contents, nor to deter- 

 mine the" character of its occupants or the 

 quality of its appointments, in an intelligent 

 manner. 



If the time should ever come when we could 

 speak as experimentally of the "Grange" as 

 we think we can of other secret organizations, 

 and we feel it our bounden duty to do so — 

 upon the basis of public and private use— we 

 should not hesitate to speak, if we felt we were 

 doing a correspodiug good thereby. In the 



meantime we would counsel all to meet the 

 issue amicably, and without i)rejudice or 

 partiality. There is no necessity of luidue 

 exasperation upon the subject. It is either a 

 necessity and a good, or it is not. If it is not 

 it will come of itself to naught ; if it is then 

 there is no power in human society that can 

 prevent it. One thing is certain : it is extra- 

 judicial and entirely outside of our civil, 

 organizations; therefore, every citizen has the 

 political right to act in freedom under the 

 dictates of conscience and of reason. 



Whilst we do not proffer an unqualified use 

 of oiu' columns to a heated discussion of the 

 questions involved in granges or other secret 

 organizations, still we shall from time to time 

 note the progress they are making, the good 

 they are accomplishing, or the evils they are 

 engendering, so far as we understand them. 



We will also cheerfully grant the use of our 

 columns in publishing statistics of them, in 

 correcting errors in respect to them, in dissi- 

 pating wrong impressions and other inadver- 

 tencies which may grow out of their discussion 

 when such communications are couched in 

 courteous language, are confined to facts, and 

 of a reasonable length. But we accord the 

 same facilities to those who are averse to 

 them from jirinciple, and under the same niles. 

 In conclusion, the Grange cannot be ignored ; 

 so far as its external organization is concerned 

 it is a /act, and must be met and treated as a 

 /ttcf. 



BLACKBERRIES. 



To the question, "What kind of blackber- 

 ries should we plant ?" the following, con- 

 densed from the United States Agricidtural 

 Report for 1B73, may be of some importance 

 to those engaged in growing "small-fruits." 



Mr. C. Gillingham, of Accotink, Fairfax 

 county, Va., describing the condition of his 

 blackberry canes during the spring of 1872, 

 says, that in lSCt> he planted ten rows of 

 " Kittatinny " and ten of " Wilson " in the 

 following manner: First four rows of Kitta- 

 tinny, then following, alternately with Wilson 

 and Kittatinny, six rows each, ending with 

 four rows of Wilson. All had been treated 

 alike from the time they had been received by 

 him, and all appeared healthy until the spring 

 of 1872, when the Tvittatinny became covered 

 with " rust. " At a short distance the Kitta- 

 tinny appeared as if painted with yellow ochre. | 

 Some were destroved from its eilects. None 

 of the Kittatinny canes bore fiuit. The Wil- 

 son were uninjured, although surrounded by 

 an atmosphereladen with fungus spores. Every 

 leaf of the Kittatinny was covered with thou- 

 sands of spores, yet not a single leaf of the Wil- 

 son was affected. The Wilson canes bore their 

 usual complement of fruit. Mr. GiUingham. 

 states that the canes have not been manured 

 for several years. Although this circumstance 

 may not illustrate that the Wikson blackberry, 

 under all conditions, is absolute proof against 

 rust, nor that the Kittatinny, under similar 

 conditions, is always subject to it, it still will 

 have some effect upon sn'iall fruit-growers, in 

 determining what varieties they ought to select. 

 These are but the effects of causes perhaps not 

 yet fullv understood, and therefore a full and 

 true solution of the question will have to be 

 developed by future investigations. In the 

 meantime it may not be amiss to state the 

 pbvsiological theory on the subject. 



The glossy covering on fruits and leaves con- 

 sists of wax; that of the grasses, of siliceous 

 matter. The wax may be removed by sulphu- 

 ric ether, the siliceous matter by caustic alka- 

 lies, or by hydrochloric acid. Should plants 

 fail to secrete and cover their surfaces with 

 wax or silica for their protection, their albu- 

 minous substances will then alford food for the 

 growth of fungi. Future investigations may 

 prove that in the case of the Kittatinny black- 

 berry alluded to, the absence of this outer pro- 

 tection was the cause of their destruction; but 

 it will not amount to much, practically, until 

 the atui^e of the disease can be given, and also 

 the remedy to cure or prevent it. The fact that 

 rust only appeared five or six years after the 



