24 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



Lancaster, to which I have access, had large 

 fruit, and all the specimens I ever got from it 

 were entirely seedless. I procured a sucker 

 from it which produced the third or fourth 

 year after planting about a dozen specimens, 

 which were likewise entirely seedless. For 

 several years past some of the fruit was seed- 

 less, while -.he majority of them had from two 

 to six seeds. Still it is a decided acquisition, 

 and by skillful management may bring forth 

 good results. 



The seeds, if kept moist and frozen during 

 the winter, will grow readily, though sometimes 

 some will not come up until the second year. 

 The seedlings can be budded or grafted, and 

 will bear as young as the apple. c. h. 



WHEAT GLEANINGS. No. 2. 



The farmer, who, after all, is the most inde- 

 pendent and useful member of the common- 

 wealth, has to contend with drawbacks and 

 occasional short crops, in spite of all his skill 

 and industry. The weather and the seasons 

 he can by no means control, but he can observe 

 and note the results. He finds that a continu- 

 ance of dry or wet weather alters the relative 

 proportions of corn and straw in a crop of cere- 

 als. A spell of wet and warm weather will 

 favor the growth of the leaves, stalk aud roots, 

 as also the formation of new shoots. This ex- 

 hausts the material that should go to make up 

 the seed, hence the yield of the crop is dimin- 

 ished. On the otlier hand, a spell of dry weather, 

 before or during sproutmg time, produces the 

 opposite effect ; that is, the store of formative 

 matter accumidated in the roots is used in far 

 greater proportion for the production of seed, 

 and the quantity of straw will be less. The pro- 

 ductiveness of the wheat plant by division may 

 not be familiar to all. The experiment was 

 published by Mr. Stowe, who, on the 13th of 

 July, 1850, planted a single grain of wheat in 

 his garden. It came up in ten days and grew 

 luxuriantly till the 13th of September. It was 

 then taken up and divided into slips and 

 replanted. The plants lived and flour- 

 ished until the 13th of November, when 

 they were again i-aised, divided and i-e- 

 planted, and sufiered to remain until the Kith 

 of April, 1851. The weather then becoming 

 unfavorably wet they were aU taken up again 

 and divided into no less than 114 plants; these, 

 being planted, were permitted to stand until 

 the month of August, when they were produc- 

 tive of the amazing number of 520 ears of wheat, 

 many of them of full size, containing more than 

 fifty grains each. This shows what may be done 

 with a single seed ; but what bearing it has on 

 thin or otherwise sowing in the open field, I am 

 Dot able to see. It is more curious to learn of 

 its amazing productiveness under such a course 

 of treatment. They say "straws show which 

 way the wind blows." I therefore give it in 

 substance as I find it. The experiment is easily 

 made by any one who doubts it. 



As the weather is mentioned as one of the 

 unavoidable hindrances, allow me to mention 

 that the learned W. H. Webster, a surgeon in 

 the Royal Navy, England, affirms (after the 

 most critical attention devoted to the subject 

 for a considerable period in all quarters ) that 

 "the weather is constantly marked by recur- 

 rences, separated by a solar month of thirty 

 and a half days. According to him tlie same 

 day of the montli, or nearly the same days, are 

 critical — either show the highest or lowest 

 barometer of the month, or else tlie highest or 

 lowest thennometer. " Tliis he affirms he has 

 verified in an enomious number of instances, 

 of which he gives a few. Of course, we neitlier 

 admit nor deny, but as he sets aside the suj)- 

 posed influence of the moon altogether, his 

 meterologieal pulses being "solar," he may be 

 astride of a hobby not yet recognized as of any 

 importance to the surgeon or the farmer. Our 

 "Prob.,"at Washington, seems to know some- 

 thing about the shifting winds, and hits it very 

 well on an average. 



In my gleaning, the experiment of Mr. Ilal- 

 lett, an Englisli agriculturist, came to my 

 notice, on what is called by him "Nursery 



Wheat." " A grain produces a stool, consist- 

 ing of many ears; each grain is planted in a hole 

 twelve inches apart every way, each head in a 

 row. From all these he selects the best grain. 

 This process he repeated. I copy his tabular 

 arrangement: 



Year. length in in. No grains. Ears on stalk. 



1857. Original ear, i% 45 



1S.58. Finest, 6>^ 79 10 



1859. Ditto, 7% 91 22 



1860. Ears imperfect from wet season, 39 



1861. Finest ear, 8% 128 .52 



Mr. Hallett also states that the improvement 

 in the sixth generation was even greater than 

 in any of the others. " Thus," he continues, 

 ' 'by means of repeated selection alone the length 

 of the ears has been doubled, their contents 

 nearly trebled, and the tillerir.g power of the 

 seed increased five-fold." By " tillering," he 

 means the horizontal growth, or root before the 

 vertical stems are thrown up. This certainly 

 shows what selection and proper attention can 

 lierform; besides, it would go to prove that 

 thin seeding is not necessarily attended by a 

 thin crop, but rather, that thin seeding and 

 early sowing are both beneficial, and that an 

 immense saving may be made in the quantity 

 of wheat used annually for seed. It is also 

 alleged that when thinly sown or planted it 

 grows stronger in the straw, and is better able 

 to resist a storm. 



Plants require not only a porous, arable soil, 

 with a goodly mixture of humus, but there 

 are certain salts, such as chlorate of sodium, 

 nitrate of soda, and salts of ammonia, which 

 experience has proved to exercise under cer- 

 tain conditions a favorable action upon the pro- 

 ductiveness of a field. The woudeiful property 

 in arable soil of attracting and retaining these 

 elementary food principles, so that when liquid 

 maniu-e, however deep in color or strong in 

 smell, is filtered through it, the soil retains 

 all the coloring matter and odor, as well as 

 the ammonia, potash and phosphoric acid 

 which it holds in solution. This absorbent 

 quality of soil is important. A soil abounding 

 in clay, with a small proportion of lime in it, 

 possesses the absorptive power in the same 

 degree as a lime soil with a small admixture 

 of clay, but the amount of humus substances 

 will alter the absorptive relation, as it is 

 founded on the greater or less porosity of the 

 arable soil. Hence, a dense, heavy clay soil 

 and a loose sandy soil possess the absorptive 

 power in the smallest degree. The disente- 

 gration of minerals and rocks by mechanical 

 agency, or combined action of water, oxygen 

 and carbonic acid, during a period of thou- 

 sands of years, have deposited the soil in the 

 plains and low lands, with their properties 

 suited for the nutrition of plants. The same 

 causes, in the course of a few years, will con- 

 vert wood or vegetable fibre to humus, result- 

 ing from its decay. Yet saw-dust, when fresh, 

 has no more the property of humus than 

 powdered rocks have the property of arable 

 soil. It requires time and chemical changes 

 to bring about these conditions, and it is 

 questionable whether the art of man can arti- 

 ficially produce like results, due to ages and 

 special action. Lime and magnesia may be 

 blended with it ; these aid in separating pot- 

 ash from nitric acid and help to decompose the 

 nitrate of potash. A sort of double action 

 takes place in tlie soil. Soils vary, even in the 

 same field and difl'er essentially in their com- 

 ponents, whether manured or not, yet one 

 soil may have conditions or nutritive substan- 

 ces, eitlier adapted to cereals, tuniips, clover, 

 potatoes or the like. The food elements for 

 cereals and clover, and the food elements of 

 oats and rye, are essentially the same ; and the 

 nearer these elements lie together in one field, 

 the larger will be the result in the yield. J. s. 



Prize Milk Cow: The Ohio Farmer says 

 that the first prize milk cow at the late Ohio 

 State Fair was a five-year old Short-Horn, 

 which gave 406 pounds of milk in severi days 

 on grass alone; the milk making 14 pounds 13 

 oxmces of butter. 



FARMER JOHN. 



Home from his journey farmer John 



Arrived this mornina: safe and sound. 

 His blacl< coat off, and his old clothes on, 

 " Now I'm myself!" says Farmer John ; 



And he thinks, "I'll look around." 

 Up leaps the dog : " Get down, you pup I 

 Are you so glad you would eat me up?" 

 The "old cow lows at the gate to greet him ; 

 The horses prick up their ears to meet him; 



"Well, well, old Bay! 



Ha, ha, old Gray ! 

 Do you get good feed when X am away? 



" You have not a rib !" says Farmer John ; 



The cattle are looking round and sleek ; 

 The colt is going to be a roan. 

 And a beauty too — how he has grown ! 



We'll wean the calf next week." 

 Says Farmer John, " When I've been off, 

 To call you a^ain about the trough. 

 And watch you, and pet you, while you drink, 

 Is a greater comfort than you can think I" 



And he pats old Bay, 



And he slaps old Gray ; 

 "Ah this is the comfort of going away I 



"For after all," says Farmer John, 



" The best of a journey is getting home. 

 I've seen great sights ; but would I give 

 This spot, and the peaceful life I live, 



For all their Paris and Rome? 

 These hills for the city's stifled air, 

 And big hotels all bustle and glar». 

 Land all houses, and roads all stones, 

 That deafen your ears and batter your bones ? 



Would you, old Bay ? 



Would you, old Gray? 

 That's what one gets by going away ! 



"There money is king," says Farmer John ; 



" And fashion is queen ; and it's mighty queer 

 To see how sometimes, while the man, 

 Kaking and scraping all he can, 



The wife spends every year. 

 Enough you would think for a score of wives, 

 To keep them in luxury all their lives ! 

 The town is a perfect Babylon 

 To a quiet chap," says Farmer John. 



"You see, old Bay, 



You see, old Gray, 

 I'm wiser than when I went away. 



"I've found out this," saj's Farmer John, 



"' That happiness is not bought and sold, 

 And clutched in a life of waste and hurry, 

 In nights of pleasure and days of worry ; 



And wealth is n't all in gold, 

 Mortgage and stocks and ten per cent., 

 But in simple ways, and sweet content, 

 Few wants, pure hopes, and noble ends. 

 Some Land to till, and a few good friends, 



Like you, old Bay, 



And you, old gray, 

 That's what I've learned by going away." 



And a happy man is Farmer John, 



O, a rich and happy man is he ; 

 He sees the peas and pumpkins growing. 

 The corn in tassel, the buckwheat blowing, 



And fruit on vine and tree ; 

 The large, kind oxen look their thanks 

 Ashe rubs their foreheads and st rokes their flanks ; 

 I'he doves light round him, and strut and coo. 

 Says Farmer John, " I'll take you too, 



And you, old Bay, 



And you, old Gray, 

 Next time I travel so far away I" 



J. T. TKOWBRIDGE. 



A CHEAP CONDUCTOR. . 



An extraordinary account has appeared in 

 a French agricultural journal, to the eflect 

 that straw forms an admirable lightning con- 

 ductor. It had been observed that straw had 

 the eflect of discharging Leyden jars without 

 spark or explosion, and some one in the neigh- 

 borhood of Tarbes had the idea of construct- 

 ing straw lightning conductors, which wers 

 formed by fastening a wisp or rope of straw to 

 a deal stick by means of brass wire, and cap- 

 ping the conductor with a copper point. It is 

 asserted that the experiment has been tried 

 on a large scale around Tarbes, eighteen com- 

 mtmes haying been provided with such straw 

 conductors, only one being erected for every 

 750 acres, and that the whole neighborhood 

 has thus been preserved from the effects, not 

 only of lightning, but of hail also. The state- 

 ment comes from a reliable source, and the 

 apparatus being extremely simple and inex- 

 pensive, it is at any rate worth a trial. Cop- 

 per conductors are expensive, but every cot- 

 tager almost could set up a straw one. 



