88 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



I 



MAKING LAND PRODUCE BOUNTI- 

 FULLY. 



" Hortus," inthe Northwestern Farmer, mentions a 

 market garden he saw, the past summer, near Bos- 

 ton, in whicli every foot of frroundwas forced to yield 

 several crops. Before one was taken off, another was 

 on the way between the rows Ground which was 

 growing green cf>ru for market, had already furnished 

 lettuce, onions, radishes or spinach, and was expected 

 to supply a crop of turnips after the corn was re- 

 moved, the seed being sown W'hile the latter was ma- 

 turing. Cabbage succeeded early potatoes, and late 

 cues followed on the pea ground. Cranberry beans 

 grew luxuriously between the rows of early salads. 

 A bed of strawberries, comprising ten square rods, 

 constituted a portion of the garden, the produce of 

 which sold in market for one hundred and sixty dol- 

 lars. The farmers and truck gardeners round about 

 New York in some instances get three bountiful crops 

 in one season, on the same land ; but they manure 

 heavily. In this way they make farming pay a large 

 profit. 



The above extract involves a question which, 

 we think, has not received as mucli attention 

 from farmers and gardeners as the subject is 

 entitled to ; at least, in the county of Lancas- 

 ter, and also tlie greatest part of the State of 

 Pennsylvania, this is conspicuously the case. 

 Being one autumn on a visit to the city of 

 New York, we were surprised to see such an 

 abundance of green corn, green peas and green 

 beans in the market antl on the tables of the 

 restaurants, about the end of October ; and 

 we were inff)rmed that between the mouths of 

 May and November these and other vegeta- 

 bles, in more or less quantity, may always be 

 found there. Of course, this does not relate 

 to tlie canned vegetables, of which there is al- 

 ways a .supply all the year round, but to that 

 which comes fresh from the garden or field, 

 and which is produced by a system of "crop- 

 ping" very little practiced — or perhaps known 

 — by the farmers of Penn-sylvania, except a 

 few around the cities of Pittsburg and Phila- 

 delphia. Of late years — even in Lancaster 

 county — a little attention has been paid to the 

 cropping of green corn ; but that about ends 

 the chapter. 



At certain seasons of the year we have 

 radishes, onions, lettuce and rhubarb — and the 

 earlier supply of these comes from "further 

 south ;" but, generally speaking, we see them 

 but once for a brief period, and then not again 

 for a whole year. By a reasonable stock of 

 chemical knowledge, and a generous manipu- 

 lation of the soil, the result might be very dif- 

 ferent. Surely the study of the questions of 

 exhaustion and sui)ply, through which recu- 

 peration and reproduction are effected, are not 

 so far beneath the dignity of the farmer and 

 gardener as not to be worthy of their profes- 

 sional attention. It is true, in their natural 

 seasons some of these productions may become 

 a drug in the market ; but this is rarely the 

 case with those that are produced out of sea- 

 sons which always command a fair price, and 

 are always in demand. But to produce them 

 in quantity and (piality requires that vigorous 

 culture to which we alluded on page 70 in the 

 May number of The Farmer, and which so 

 strikingly exhibits the dift'erence between 

 " garden and field culture;" and «/;«re is where 

 " the trouble comes in. " Many people whose 

 vocation is the ndimition of the soil, desire the 

 soil to cultivate itself. They are willing 

 enough to "plow and sow," or to "reap and 

 mow ;" but for tlie rest they desire it to come 

 without any effort of theirs, or while they are 

 sleeping or engaged in otlicr speculations. We 

 feel confident that whatever may be done 

 aroimd New York, Boston and Philadelphia, 

 may also be done around Lancaster. 



GREEN WOOD. 



In the Ploiiijhmnn of the 33d, I noticed an inrjuiry 

 as to the economy of burning green wood ; and your 

 decided «o, in answer. 



Now, sir, permit me to answer yex, as decidedly. 

 Tour argument that it is sinful, waste, and wrong to 

 do so, I contend belongs on the other side of the ques- 

 tion, and that no one but a rich man can aflbrd to 

 burn dry. 



To illustrate this, let us look at the system of steam 

 heating which has come in fashion within your 

 memory, for heating |)ublie buildings, offices, etc. 

 Are you prepared to say that the heat required to 

 evaporate water, (or in other words to generate 

 6team,) in the boiler in the cellar of a building, which 



will heat the whole superstructure, "is absolutely 

 lost and does nobody any good?" In tiuruing green 

 wood you are doing the self same thing; the process 

 is crude, perhaps, but the prtHCipif is there, neverthe- 

 less. 



I admit there is no economy of time or patience, in 

 trying to kindle a fire with green wood. We will 

 suppose our friend uses, as most farmers do, a cook- 

 ing stove. Let him use dry wood enough in the 

 morning for a g(x>d half hour's fire, when his stove 

 will be intensely hot ; as soon as there is room , put in 

 the green wood and keeji the stove full. 



In this case, the twenty-flve per cent of water you 

 are so much afraid of, will be converted to steam in 

 a few minutes ; and why should it not heat the walls, 

 flues, and funnel of a stove as much as though gen- 

 erated in a patent steam heater? 



Will Subscriber select a morning when the mer- 

 cury is at the bottom of the ladder ; measure a given 

 quantity of wood, Ijoth green and dried, including in 

 the green enough dry to heat his stove hot; burn it 

 and watch his thermometer. If he does not get 

 more heat, and for a longer time, with green than 

 dry, and be ready to say there is ecommiy and com- 

 fort in green wood in cold weather, I shall be sadly 

 mistaken. 



We "scissor" the above from the columns 

 of the Mcvimchitsetts PloiKjhman to whom it 

 was furnished by "an old subscriber," simply 

 bectiuse it revives an old argument in fiivor of 

 "green wood," that we have not heard ad- 

 vanced for many years ; not because of the 

 fallacy of the argument so much, as because 

 since that period coal has come more gener- 

 ally into use, even in the rural districts of a 

 large portion of the country. 



There are, however, yet some "wooden 

 countries " and also some "wooden people," 

 even in the county of Lancaster, and, as a 

 question of economy, the matter may be of 

 some interest to them. 



We spent the winter of 1836 and 1837 in 

 two villages in the States of Indiana and Ken- 

 tucky, in which no stone coal was used at all, 

 and we remember distinctly that there was 

 not a single wood pile (such as would be re- 

 cognized as a pile in Lancaster county) in 

 either of tliem. The villagers cut and hauled 

 the wood home green from the forest, just as 

 their daily or weekly necessities seemed to 

 require it ; and, as a reason for such a seem- 

 ingly improvident habit, they alleged that it 

 generated a more intense, economical and 

 pleasanter heat. 



There was not a stove in either of the 

 villages to our knowledge, but instead thereof 

 large fireplaces iind we confess we felt more 

 comfortable that winter — so far as heat was 

 concerned — than we did last winter. 



. ^ 



Zinc Preventing Boiler Incrustation. 



An engineer on board the St. Laurent, a 

 steamer plying between New Y'ork and France, 

 after making some repairs in the boilers, left 

 accidently therein an ingot of zinc. Some 

 time after, in searching ior the bar in the 

 generator, in which, meanwhile, steam had 

 been maintained, he found to his surprise that 

 the metal had disappeared, and also that the 

 incrustiition left by the water, instead of 

 being hard and firm, was a mere mud, easily 

 washed out. Repeating the experiment over 

 another voyage, the same result was reached. 

 M. Lesueur, of Angers, France, after exam- 

 ining into this circumstance, thinks that the 

 zinc forms a voltaic couple with the iron of 

 the boiler, zinc being the negative pole and 

 the iron the positive. It then hapjiens, as in 

 all batteries, that the zinc is consumed ; while 

 the iron is protected both from oxidation and 



dissolution. 



^ 



THE STATE FAIR. 



The next State Fair will doubtless be hold at Lan- 

 caster, that city having offered the Iiest inducement 

 to the committee appointed by the State Agi-icultural 

 Society to select a site. On June 7th a despatch was 

 received from Lancaster that the necessary additional 

 ground to the properly of the acricultural association 

 of that city had been obtained — five acres — for the 

 accommodation of stock and the display of farming 

 and other implements. The State Committee on Site 

 made this one of the conditions precedent to locifting 

 the fair at that point, and the requirements having 

 been fulfilled, the exhibition will in all probability go 

 there. Lancaster is situated in the midst of a rich 

 agricultural region, and is convenient of access. — 

 liarrisburg Patriot. 



From the foregoing it seems pretty clear 

 that Lancaster city will be the kmale of the 

 next annual State Fair, and may also be 

 that of several succeeding ones. We hope, 

 therefore, that both city and county will put 

 their shoulders to the wheel, and make the 

 occasion a grand success ; for, whatever is 

 creditable to the State in its general capacity, 

 must be a credit to the coimties in their indi- 

 vidual capacities, according to the degree of 

 their co-operation and symjiathetic reciproca- 

 tion. Our individual opinion is, that all our 

 local organizations that are in the habit of 

 holding annual exhibitions, should, on this 

 occasion, merge them in that of the State. 



GOOD PUBLIC ROADS.* 



This is a subject, brother Grangers, which 

 interests us perhaps more than any other class 

 of men, unless it is the country physician. In 

 coming here to-day many of us have driven 

 over four miles, and some five miles, of mud 

 road, which, being quite passable now, we 

 rumble over with scarce a thought of to whom 

 our thanks are due. But a moment's con- 

 sideration will satisfy each of you that it is to 

 the Divine Ruler and the unprecedented dry 

 weather, because there has not been any road- 

 making done this spring ; and if the season 

 was half as wet as it is dry, we would scarce 

 be able to assemble — at all events not in time, 

 and most likely with broken vehicles. Now, 

 I desire to draw your attention to this ques- 

 tion. What should we do about it ? We have 

 all the rights <ind all the responsibility of in- 

 dividual farmers, farm-owners and taxpayers ; 

 and, beside that, we, in an organized body, 

 have more power, and consequently more re- 

 sponsibility. I presume it is known to you 

 all that we have a very good road law, which 

 provides for the bridging of all streams, re- 

 moving of all loose stones from the road-bed, 

 macadamizing swampy places, and the making 

 and keeping in the best of order all our roads ; 

 it describes how the road-bed should be high 

 in the middle and sloping oft' to both sides, 

 which would at once do away with all mud- 

 puddles, chuck-holes, deep ruts, and render 

 unnecessary all spring-breakers, except on 

 the steep hillsides. Remember that we have 

 organized for the elevation of the farming 

 community, for the promotion of our personal 

 comfort, for the encouragement of economical 

 ways of husbanding our resources, and in- 

 creasing our might and influence year by year. 



The custom has been heretofore with farm- 

 ers to complain and scold when the road-tax 

 bill was presented, until the supervisors have 

 actually gotten to be afraid to mtike up the 

 roads, for fear that the tax will be increased. 

 Now, it is for us to break down this old-time 

 usage, to inaugurate a new regime, to realize 

 for ourselves and teach others that we pay 

 more every year in wear and tear of our roll- 

 ing stock and horses, than would pay the tax 

 to keep our roads in first-rate order. 



I therefore itropose that we (each one act- 

 ing as :i committee of the whole) make it our 

 interest to urge it on the attention of every 

 ftirmer we meet, and at the same time, as we 

 pass around, keep an eye on the roads, and 

 give notice to the supervisor of every neglected 

 place, and make him have it attended to. 

 There is no trouble about it, more than mak- 

 ing a return to court of any neglect on the 

 part of the supervisor, and the Judge will soon 

 tell him what he has to do. If we do this, in 

 less than a year we will have good roads, let 

 the weiither be wet or dry, and we will feel an 

 honest pride in paying the small increase in 

 the tax. 



There are many little jobs that we can do 

 for the gcncrtil comfort, such as kicking a 

 loose stone off the road ; opening a drain near 

 one's house, just before a rainfall ; throwing 

 a few shovelfuls of ground into a deep rut or 

 hole ; putting a patch over a hole in <i bridge, 

 and the like ; and if he is imbued with the 

 full spirit of a Patron of Husbandry, it will 

 not cost the township a cent. 



• a paper read before the Strasburg Orange, ratrons of 

 HuBbttudry, by M. B. Eshleman. 



