94 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



The Asparagus Trade of Long Island. 



The growing inipdrtauce of the aspaiagrus business 

 on the north side of the island may be juajji d from an 

 approximate statement of the amount of business 

 done last year. There were 166,.5r.5 bunches shipped 

 from the Locust Valley deijot. About 150 acres at 

 Bayvil?e produced 120,000 bunches ; ao aei'es at Mill 

 Neck, 20,000 buuches; 50 acres at Oyster Bay, 50,000 

 bunches; and 20 acres at (ilen Cove, 20,000 bunches, 

 making a total of nearly WOjlMO bunches, which is 

 considered rather under than over the product. 



To Destroy Bugs on Cucumbers. 

 The striped bug on cucumbers and melons may be 

 destroyed, as follows: 1. By a strong solution of hen- 

 house manure, say one peck of the manure to one 

 and a half gallons of water; let it stand twenty-four 

 hours and sprinkle the plants freely with it after sun- 

 Bet. 3. By sifting charcoal dust over the plants; if 

 repeated three or four times tbfi plants will be entirely 

 freed from the annoyance. 3. Plant a few kernels of 

 buckwheat in each hill of cucumbers or melons, and 

 striped bugs will not trouble the vines. 



A Little Garden. 



From fifty rods or five-sixteenths of an acre in the 

 town of Clayton, N. Y., planted as a garden with cab- 

 bages, there was gathered the following crop; 1,700 

 heads; sold 1,110 at 10 cents, $114; gave away about 

 200; saved CO for family use, and made V/, barrels 

 of sauerkraut. The cabbages were set 2),^ feet apart 

 each way. The results are equal to the return of 

 $G40 per acre. 



Market Gardening. 

 A market gardener near Boston, Mr. W. D. Phil- 

 brick, says that some of the best gardeners within 

 seven miles of this city employ a capital of $700 per 

 acre. The expenditure for manure and labor often 

 amounts to $-500 per acre, and they get their pay in 

 the immense crop of early cabbages, early corn for 

 the table, peas, potatoes, small fruits, and garden 

 truck. 



THE FARM AND THE DAIRY. 



Shade Trees in Pastures. 



An Illinois correspondent of the Germantown Tele- 

 graph suggests that while much has been said and 

 written of "late on the advisability of planting shade 

 trees in pastures as a meansof promoting the comfort 

 of stock, not one word recommending the same thing 

 to promote the comfort of the men who hoe our corn, 

 and spend ten long hours of each day, not only en- 

 during the fatigue of hard labor, but the same hot 

 sun on a more sensitive being. This shows that the 

 disciples of Mr. Bergh are in advance of our philan- 

 thropists; that the "brutarians" are ahead of the 

 humanitarians. But is it profitable to have shade in 

 pastures i The truth of the statement that " the treat- 

 ment that gives most comfort to the animal gives 

 most profit to the owner," is not disputed on general 

 terms; yet the question is a practical one of dollars 

 and cents, of pounds of beef, butter and cheese. He 

 thinks cattle sutfer less from sun and heat, if out the 

 whole time, tlian they do wheuout a part of the time; 

 and it is certain that cattle put on much more flesh 

 if in a clean pasture, free from everything like shade 

 or ponds and creeks, with only a variety of grasses 

 and pure water in a tank, that they cannot stand in 

 as they do in creeks and ponds. He adds; 



"While this cannot be controverted when put to 

 actual test, it is susceptible of proof without the trial. 

 I will speak of cattle grazed for bet< only, and give 

 some statements which I think no one will disjjute. 

 The more cattle cat the more they will thrive. The 

 more time they spend eating the more they will eat. 

 The more time they spend in the shade or the water, 

 the less time they spend eating. If these are facts, I 

 need say no more, but will venture on your patience 

 by mentioning horses. Let them be turned to pasture 

 during the hot months, where they have access to an 

 open stable. Tliey will spend scarcely an hour of 

 sunshine in the pasture, but nearly the whole day in 

 the stable, however hot the stable may be, and will 

 grow poorer every day ; wbereas, on the other hand, 

 if kept in a pasture free from shelter, they will at the 

 same time thrive. Shade trees and all trees are ex- 

 cellent in their place, but become a plague when out 

 of pliiee; and I insist that if we have shade for stock 

 we should provide it for the harder-worked men. And 

 what then?" 



How to Make Farm Life Attractive. 



Dr. Youman, in his Dictionary of Every Day Wants, 

 gives the Ibllowiug excellent instructions for making 

 farm life attractive ; 



1. By less hard work. Farmers often undertake 

 more than they can do well, and consequently work 

 too early and too late. 



2. By more system. Farmers should have a time 

 to begin and to stop labor. They should put more 

 mind and machinery into their work ; they should 



theorize as well as practice, and let both go together. 

 Farming is healthy, moral and respectable, and, in 

 the long run, may be made profitable. The farmers 

 should keep good stock, and out of debt. 



3. By taking care of health. Farmers have a 

 healthy variety of exercise, but too often neglect 

 cleanliness, eat irregularly and hurriedly, sleep in ill- 

 ventilated apartments, and expose themselves need- 

 lessly to cold. 



4. By adorning the home. Books, papers, pic- 

 tures, music and reading, should be brought to bear 

 upon the in-door family entertainments ; and neat- 

 ness and comfort, order, shrubbery, flowers and fruits 

 should harmonize all without. There would be fewer 

 desertions of old homesteads if pains were taken to 

 make them agreeable. Ease, order, health and 

 beauty are compatible with the farm, and were or- 

 dained to go with it. 



5. We have no doubt if Dr. Youman had been writ- 

 ing simply for the farmers of Lancaster county, he 

 would have closed his practical hints for making the 

 farm and home happy by urging them to subscribe 

 for The Lancaster Fahmer, for in it they are sure 

 to find just such things as every farmer who aims to 

 keep up with the times ought to know. We, there- 

 fore, supply the omission. 



How Scientific Farming Pays. 

 The Oxford (Maine) Democrat contains an inter- 

 esting description of the " White Mountain Stock 

 Farm," owned by Judge Burbank, of Boston, who 

 read law with Daniel Webster, and now occupies the 

 same office, although he spends much of his time at 

 the farm. He knows every one of his animals by 

 name, and is thoroughly acquainted with everything 

 done on the farm,- having a "daily farm report "sent 

 to him in Boston. He is the inventor of several farm- 

 ing implements, and takes a lively interest in every 

 thing which effects a farmer's welfare. The farm 

 proper contains 1,000 acres; but, including pas- 

 tures and woodland, he owns 2,250 acres in all. 

 Last year he cut 3.50 tons of hay, nearly 175 of which 

 was consumed by his stock during the winter. The 

 remaining were sold at the highest market price, on 

 account of the careful and excellent manner in which 

 it had been preserved. The meadows from which a 

 great portion of the hay is cut are smooth as a barn 

 floor, and teams can be driven over them with as lit- 

 tle jolt as upon a country road. They extend to the 

 Androscoggin, and are one and a quarter miles in 

 length. The whole farm is one and three-quarter 

 miles long. 



The Board Fence the Best. 



They have an agricultural society in Washington 

 county, Pa., which appoints a committee every year 

 to visit farms and report the novelties and improve- 

 ments thereon. The report is printed in pamphlet 

 form, and distributed among the members. Last year 

 this committee visited ten farms at home and in an 

 adjoining county in West Virginia, and their report 

 in relation to them fills thirty-five closely printed 

 pages, and contains much information of practical 

 value to farmers. Among others they visited and re- 

 ported on the farm of Lewis Applegate, of Brooke 

 county. West Virginia. Mr. Applegate stated that he 

 had a post and rail fence that stood forty-two years, 

 and a board fence thirty years, without repair. He 

 showed the committee a fence built in 1851, now good. 

 All things considered, he has found the board fence 

 the best, and states it will be stronger and last longer 

 if eajiped, in the manner illustrated in the April num- 

 ber of The Farmer, and that he can keep a farm in 

 better order and at less expense than by using worm 



fence. 



^ 



A Hint to Farmers. 



In some sections — and if would be a decided advance 

 in thoughtfulness and kindness in all sections — far- 

 mers give each of their boys, and girls, too, a strip of 

 land to raise whatever they choose upon it, and dis- 

 pose of the product for their own benefit. It is a 

 favor that they all .appreciate, and it is a pleasant and 

 serviceable employment for them in their leisure 

 hours. They will vie with each other in their skill at 

 raising their little crops, and the proceeds applied to 

 their own use are frequently of some value; and the 

 whole arrangement, while it instructs them in the 

 cultivation of the soil, early implants in the children 

 the idea of thrift and economy. Sometimes, where a 

 good many animals are raised, a pig, a lamb, a calf, 

 up to even a colt, accoi-ding to the age of the chil- 

 dren, is given to each to rear and to keep or sell. 

 Farmers, think of this ; it will more than repay you 

 in the happiness and confidence it will impart to your 

 sons and daughters. — Germantown Telegraph. 



The Farmer Feedeth All. 



Cure for Kicking Cows. 



A method which will break the most vicious cow 

 from kicking (and which should supersede the cruel 

 practice of beating and whipping, and is the \Vork of 

 but a lew minutes, is as follows : Take a strap the 

 size of a common bridle rein and buckle tightly 

 around the cow (while milking), just forward of the 

 bag. This, practiced a few days, will effect the de- 

 sired result, as we are aware from actual experience. 



BT CHABLES G. LELAND. 



My lord rides through his palace gate, 

 My lady sweeps along in state ; 

 The sage thinks long on many a thing, 

 And the maiden muses on marrying ; 

 The minstrel harpeth merrily. 

 The sailor plows the foaming sea, 

 The huntsman kills the good red deer, 

 And the soldier wars without e'en fear ; 

 But fall to each, whate'er befall. 

 The farmer he must feed them all. 



Smith hammereth cherry red the sword, 

 Priest preacheth pure the Holy Word ; 

 Dame Alice worketh broidery well. 

 Clerk Richard tales of love can tell ; 

 The tap-wife sells her foaming beer, 

 Dan Fisher fisheth in the mere ; 

 And courtiers ruffle, strut and shine, 

 While pages bring the gascon wine ; 

 But fall to each, whate'er befall. 

 The farmer he must feed them all. 



Man builds his castles fair and high, 



Wherever river runneth by ; 



Great cities rise in every land, 



Great churches show the builder's hand ; 



Great arches, monuments and towers, 



Fair palaces and pleasing bowers ; 



Great work is done, be if here or there, 



And well man worketh everywhere ; 

 But work or rest, whate'er befall, 

 The farmer he must feed them all. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



Skeletonizing Leaves. 



The solution for destroying the soft tissues is made 

 by first dissolving four ounces of common washing 

 soda in a quart of boiling water; then addtwoounees 

 of slaked quicklime, and boil for about fifteen min- 

 utes. Allow this solution to cool; aftewards pour off' 

 all the clear liquor into a clean saucepan. When the 

 solution is at the boiling point, place the leaves care- 

 fully in the pan, and boil the whole together for an 

 hour. Boiling water ought to be added occasionally, 

 but sufficient only to replace the loss by evapora- 

 tion. The epidermis and parenchyma of some leaves 

 will more readily separate than in others. A good 

 test is to try the leaves after they have been gently sim- 

 mering (boiling) for about an hour, and if the cellu- 

 lar matter does not easily rub off betwixt the finger 

 and thumb beneath cold water, boil them again for a j 

 short time. When the fleshy matter is found to be 1 

 sufficiently softened, rub them separately, but very 

 gently, beneath cold water until the perfect skeleton 

 is exposed. 



The skeletons at first are a dirty white color; to 

 make them pure white, and therefore more beautiful, 

 all that is necessary is to bleach them in a weak solu- 

 tion of chloride of lime. I have found the best solu- 

 tion is a large tablespoonful of chloride of lime to a 

 quart of water; if a few drops of vinegar are added 

 to the bleaching solution, it is all the better, for then 

 the free chloride is liberated. Do not allow them to 

 remain too long in the bleaching liquor, or they will 

 become very brittle, and cannot afterwards be han- 

 dled without injury. About fifteen minutes are suffi- 

 cient to make them white and elean-looking. 



After the specimens are bleached, dry them in 

 white blotting paper, beneath a gentle pressure. Of 

 course, in this, as in all other things, a little practice 

 Is needful to secure perfection. Simple leaves are the 

 best for young beginners to experiment upon; vine, 

 poplar, beech and" ivy leaves make excellent skele- 

 tons. Care must be exercised in the selection of 

 leaves, as well as the period of the year and the state 

 of the atmosphere when the specimens are collected, 

 otherwise failure will be the result. The best mouths 

 to gather the specimens are July to September. Never 

 collect specimens in damp weather, and none but per- 

 fectly matured leaves ought to be gathered. 



A soft tooth brush is a capital instrument for re- 

 moving the soft tissues — much better tlian the finger 

 and thumb. Indeed, it is always advisable not to 

 touch the leaves during the process, but to float them 

 on a piece of wood when the brushing process is to be 

 gone through. 



How to Dress Salad. 



We notice in a western paper an elaborate receipt 

 for dressing a salad. It says ; " Take the yelks of 

 three hard-boiled eggs, crumble them with a fork or 

 spoon, add about a teaspoonful of ground mustard, a 

 tcaspoonful each of sugar and salt, aud mix all well 

 together. Then add in three portions a dessert- 

 spoonful of olive oil, and rub the whole to uniform 

 smoothness. The addition of twice the quantity of 

 oil adds to the flavor with many. Next, give a dash 

 of Cayenne pepper or pepper sauce ; finally, add a 

 gill of vinegar." This is one way, but by no means 

 the best. We prefer our own decidedly. We use 

 head-lettuec invariably when it can be had. 



For a table of six persons take four eggs ; boil three 



