1904 



CLEAXIXGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



5i9 



after their close journey, packed up in a 

 box. 



Now in regard to the heading of this talk 

 — managing plants so they will not die. I 

 would recommend starting almost every 

 thing with plants from these little pots. 

 Get them to growing, either in the window, 

 the conservatory, or the little greenhouse; 

 transfer them to a larger pot when they 

 need it, then move them outdoors, say along 

 in May; and, if necessary, give them a lit- 

 tle shad or protection until they get used 

 to their surroundings. In this way, if you 

 take pains, a failure is almost impossible. 

 Your investment, instead of being a disap- 

 pointment and a loss, will result in " a 

 thing of beauty," and it ought to be "a 

 joy " to j'ou for many years if not " for 

 ever." 



HIGH-PRESSURE FARMING. 



'^ On page 308, March 15, I spoke of that 

 wonderful farm of 15 acres, and said that 

 so many articles and clippings had come in 

 in regard to it we should not have room for 

 them. I afterward learned that Mr. Detrich 

 had been speaking at fanners' institutes, 

 and wrote him, offering to pay for a report 

 of the institute addresses. Up to the present 

 time I have had no reply to that request, 

 probably because he has been flooded with 

 so many similar requests; therefore we pre- 

 sent the following abbreviated selections 

 from the amount of correspondence on the 

 subject: 



Friend Root: — On page 213 you have a clipping in 

 regard to the fifteen acre farm near Philadelphia. I 

 have not visited that place myself, but I am person- 

 ally acquainted with the proprietor, and have talked 

 with quite a number of farmers who have visited the 

 farm. He keeps the 29 head of thoroughbred Jer.sey 

 cattle and two and three head of horses, and grows 

 all the rough feed and straw that he needs for that 

 stock on the 15 acres, besides what hay he has to sell. 

 He buys his concentrated feed, such as bran, cotton- 

 seed meal, linseed meal, and gluten feed for his cows; 

 has his stables cemented, and saves all the manure, 

 both solid and liquid, and hauls it out every day in 

 the year except Sunday. He uses no commercial fer- 

 tilizers; but by saving all of the manure from these 

 cattle and horses he has so improved his little farm 

 that it yields enormous crops. You say it occurs to 

 you he must have a large family of boys and girls to 

 help, or employs a great deal of help. He has no 

 family, his wife having died some years ago. He em- 

 ploys one man and one boy, who, with himself, do all 

 the work except when filling the silos. Then he em- 

 ploys additional help. He sells his milk at some 

 large institution in Philadelphia, delivering it every 

 day. Aaron I. Weidner. 



Arendtsville, Pa., March 7. 



Friend ./?oc>i;— In a personal letter to me last No- 

 vember ;Mr. Detrich writes: " The scientific men have 

 been very much interested in the soil. The chemists 

 from agricultural colleges have been working on the 

 soil, ami have found that my soil has 20 millions of 

 bacteria to the one-thirtieth of a cubic inch, four times 

 more bacteria than in any soil previously examined." 



The milk is sold to a sanitarium near by at 6J4 cts. 

 per quart, and tests 5.8 the year round. But two men 

 are employed, except in rush season, and he attends 

 to his pastoral work besides. As Prof. Bailey writes, 

 he does some common things in an uncommon way. 



Stone Ridge, N. Y. Rev. Chas. I,. Clist. 



Friend Root: — The doctor is a widower, without a 

 family. A tenent lives upon the farm, with whom he 

 lives. Detrich is a German Reformed minister. He 

 farms 13 acres of the 15; milks 17 cows, and has 27 head 

 of live stock, horses, cows, and heifers; raises only fod- 

 ders, grasses, etc. Grain is all purchased. Milk is 



sold in Philadelphia. The cattle are all fed in the 

 barn. When a man goes to the field for clover rye 

 or fodder, he takes a load of manure out The' ma- 

 nure makes the fertility. The chemist of Delaware 

 Station (Prof. Chester) found more bacteria on this 

 soil than any other he ever examined. 



„ .,, Wm. H. Miller. 



Guy's Mills, Pa., Mar. 10. 



In addition to the above I give place to 

 the following, clipped by one of our sub- 

 scribers from the Norristown, Pa., Regis- 

 ter: 



The Department of Agriculture at Washington has 

 run against a practical larmer who, for the time be- 

 ing, seems to have called a halt on scientific agricultu- 

 ral exploitation. The farmer in question is Rev T D 

 Detrich, of Flourtown, this county. 



Dr. Delrich, 21 years ago, came into possession of a 

 worn out farm of 15 acres, which then had two cows 

 and a horse on it for which hay had to be bought 

 Now Mr. Detrich keeps two horses and :!0 to 3.5 head 

 of cows and young cattle, and is making a large in- 

 come from the place, feeding everything from the 

 produce of the 15 acres. 



The Department of Agriculture learned last year of 

 his success, and sent an expert to study into hismeth- 

 °^l i^^'r ^ <^ouRle of days the expert, who was a 

 splendid farmer in a practical as well as a scientific 

 sense, followed Mr. Detrich over every inch of the 15 

 acres, asking every possible question as to the meth- 

 ods and results. A stenographer came along in the 

 rear, taking down questions and answers 



It was found that Mr. Detrich had succeeded by in- 

 troducing what is known among those who are " read 

 up on farm matters ' as " soiling." He had stumbled 

 on an old book, little seen nowadays, by Josiah Ouin- 

 cy, on the practice of cutting green foliage and feed- 

 ing It to cows kept in a cool, clean, fly-proof stable 

 where they would have nothing to do but chew the 

 cud in contentment and profit, and make all the milk 

 possible to b= made from the tons of green stuff haul- 

 ed to their mangers. 



Mr Detrich, with only a man and a boy, had found 

 out how to plant and sow the succession of crops suit- 

 able for the process; and by hauling out the manure 

 every day and spreading it on his few acres had made 

 the soil extremely rich and productive. He had built 

 large silos after the modern way of preserving forage 

 in a succulent state for the winter, and he had cut off 

 all the losses and made every thing count for profit 



The department at once recognized that a model 

 farmer had been found, and proposed to issue a bulle- 

 tin telling of his methods, and their success It was 

 estimated that Mr. Detrich's practical example would 

 stimulate farmers all over the country to adopt better 

 methods and improve their farms, and increase their 

 crops, and thereby many millions would be added to 

 the yearly output of crops and the total value of farms 

 throughout the United States. Preparations were 

 made to publish the bulletin in large editions and the 

 government would in a short time have made Mr 

 Detrich one of the most famous agriculturists of the 

 age, and possibly a candidate for the position of Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture in some future cabinet. 



At this point, however, the plans of the department 

 met with an unexpected obstacle. Mr. Detrich hear- 

 ing of the matter, objected to having his farm and 

 home made the Mecca of inquiring brother-agricultu- 

 rists with all their dreary hours of questions and the 

 consequent manifold interruptions and hindrances to 

 his tarmwork. He told Secretary Wilson that life 

 would be a burden to him if the bulletin were printed 

 and said he should want to be paid 120,000 in a lump 

 sum, or a salary of $2,000 a year for allowing the de- 

 partment to write up himself and his place and his 

 way of farming, so that the thousands of farmers all 

 over the country who were anxious to make money 

 would be tumbling in on him from day to day the 

 year round. 



It was called to his attention that I^uther Burbank 

 the celebrated hybridist who has called into being so 

 many fine fruits, flowers, and vegetables, including 

 the good old Burbank potato and Burbank plum had 

 posted a notice at his beautiful place at Santa Rosa 

 Cal., to say that visitors who wished to take his time 

 to go over the place were to pay for it at the rate of 

 810 an hour; and it was suggested that he could adopt 

 some simihar rule. This did not satisfy Mr Detrich 

 and he continues to insist that he shall be paid the 

 bonus or the salary, and shows no sign of abating his 

 figures either. ^ 



Some of the department scientists have recommend- 



