30 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



are resiilarly enriched. In these eases, from whence 

 conies the supply of nitros^en? M. Dcherain explains 

 the matter thus : All the soils in question are rich in 

 humus, the accumulation of years, and this car- 

 bonaceous matter, in decomposing, absorbs the 

 oxygen of the air tliat has penetrated into the soil — 

 as is the ease in an ordinary manure heap — and the 

 nitrogen thus liberated unites with the hydrogen 

 disengaged from the decaying organic matter, and 

 forms ammonia. Perhaps the explanation is as good 

 as our present state of science can afford. 



Certain meadows in Sleswig-Holstein are remark- 

 able for producing singular results iu cattle, as com- 

 pared with other pasture lands in the vicinity. The 

 animals, though in excellent health, remain diminu- 

 tive, displaying at the same time a predisposition to 

 fatten rapidlj- ; the cereals cultivated have a ten- 

 dency to be laid, and the grain is not rich in flour. 

 An analysis was made of the soil, and of the grain 

 and hay produced, and showed a deficiency of lime, 

 magnesia, potash and phosphoric acid. The inade- 

 quacy, especially, of lime and magnesia in the soil, 

 and consequently in tlie pasturage, did not furnish 

 the necessary ingredients to build tlie skeleton, thus 

 arresting the growth of the animals, and provoking 

 their premature fattening. 



M. Georges Ville is well-known for his advocacy of 

 mineral manures, as being in themselves sufficient to 

 maintain the fertility of the soil. The crop draws 

 from the land certain salts, and to return these by a 

 mineral manure, is all, in M. Ville's opinion, that is 

 required. Thus farm yard manure, and consequent- 

 ly the rearingof cattle, are something like superfluous 

 ends. M. Ville has just published a w^ork wherein 

 he lays down, that the formation of animal and veg- 

 etable substances is subjected to the same laws. All 

 this is neither very new nor very accurate. More im- 

 portant still, the consequences "to be deduced, do not 

 seem to be of any practical importance. We may 

 ditier about the best and cheapest manner for " feed- 

 ing" crops, but the food for animals cannot be affect- 

 ed by any abstract law. 



At Lozere, in the mountainous district of the Ceven- 

 nes, straw is very scarce and the animals repose on 

 layers of earth, their feeding troughs being movable, 

 so as to be raised as the heap of earth increases. It 

 is suggested that this plan be given up iu favor of 

 the Swiss method, where the cattle also have no bed- 

 ding, the liquid and solid excrements being run into 

 tanks, from whence, after fermentation, it is distri- 

 buted by piping or barrels, over the meadows. In 

 the north of Holland, the urine of the cow-shed is 

 gathered in small boats, and when these are full, are 

 towed along the canals, to disi'harge their contents 

 on the adjoining pasturages. In the district of Lozere 

 sheep are reared for their milk; the Pyrenean breed 

 is excellent in this respect, the ewe yielding after 

 nourishing her lamb, from .50 to 11)1) quarts of milk, 

 which produces from 10 to 30 pounds of cheese, and 

 even excellent butter. The cheese is known as Kogue- 

 fort — the French Stilton, and is of world-wide noto- 

 riety — the total annual produce being estimated at 

 3,000 tons. The wliey is given to pigs, which reject 

 it at first, in consequence of its putridity ; afterwards 

 they take to it and hecome fat. The vexed question 

 of horse-breeding in that mountainous district is 

 much studied ; farmci'S prefer crossing native races 

 with Arab, instead of English blood ; the result pro- 

 ducing animals better able to withstand sevei-e work. 



Spalt, in Bavaria, is the classic home of hop cul- 

 ture on the continent; these hop plantations have the 

 appearance of veritable forests ; the trenches separat- 

 ing the rows of plants are very wide ; the soil is tilled 

 to the depth of three feet, and the plantations are 

 ever on inclined ground, the ridges being perpendicu- 

 lar to the slope ; the soil can thus be more easily 

 freshened; in the bottom of the trenches, at distances 

 of fifteen feet, are holes a spade's blade in depth, act- 

 ing as so many wells for the rain water. The hasty 

 kind of hop is preferred, being more productive than 

 the slow variety. Each knoll contains three plants, 

 and the poles are 3-1- feet in length, the stem being 

 tied to them at mid-height by reeds. Wire is not 

 employed as a substitute for poles. Hops thus rear- 

 ed are neither of good quality nor remarkable in 

 quantity. A kind of fork-knife combs the pole, the 

 cones being separated from the stems ulteriorly. 

 Kapidity is essential in the harvesting. Milch cows 

 relish the leaves, and the stems are either given 

 green or dried, and cut into lengths of one ot^ two 

 inches; they are never burned. 



Wool imijorted from Australia and South America 

 is largely mixed with vegetable debris, which is no 

 small drawback to its industrial employment. Vari- 

 ous processes have been tried to separate this vegeta- 

 ble from the animal matter by chemical means. 

 Messrs. Barral and Salevat, after a series of experi-, 

 ments with sixty different substances, find acid and 

 other solutions eflective in destroying the woody part 

 of the vegetable substance, provided the wool after 

 steeping be well dried, and tlien placed for a time in 

 a stove at a certain temperature. 



The discussion on the subject of the formation of 

 sugar in beet continues to be warm, but is very far 

 from having a satisfactory conclusion. The great 

 authority, Claude Bernard, is of opinion the sugar is 

 formed by the root. Messrs. Duchartre and Viollette 

 believe it takes place by the leaves, owing to the con- 



version of the starch In the leaves into saccharine 

 matter, the root being merely the depot for the sugar 

 thus formed to nourish the seed-stem the following 

 year, just as the tubercle of the potato has a store of 

 starcli to feed its shoots of the succeeding season. 



There is still nothing new to record respecting the 

 phylloxera; the vine bug has become a greater object 

 of interested study. Some experimenters state, one 

 dose of sulphuret of carbon is not sufficient, and all 

 seem to agree to prohibit the importation of vine 

 stocks from affected to healthy vineyards. 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



Our Farmers in Council — " Economy vs. Hard 

 Times "—Shall we Eat Pork ?— The 

 Question of Planting For- 

 est Trees, &c. 



The February meeting of the Lancaster County 

 Agricultural and Horticultural Society was held on 

 Monday afternoon, February 7, at two o'clock, iuthe 

 Athenaium room. Present : Messrs. Calvin Cooper, 

 Henry M. Engle, Alex. Harris, Casper Hiller, Mar- 

 tin Brubaker, Levi W. Groff, John B. Erb, Milton B. 

 Eshleman, Levi Pownall, Dr. P. W. Hiestand, Jacob 

 Bollinger, Israel L. Landis, Levi S. Reist, S. S. 

 Rathvon, Abraham Kaufman, Abraham Bollinger, 

 J. Stautfer, Martin S. Fry, Abraham Hostetter, Mr. 

 Landis, Mr. Cooper, Simon A. Hershey, Peter S. 

 Reist, Johnson Miller, D. G. Swartz, Henry Myers, 

 Henry Erb, John Miller, John M. Stehman, E. S. 

 Hoover, and John Gross. 



Cai,vin Cooper, the President, occupied the 

 chair, and after the reading and adoption of minutes, 

 Mr. McComsey arose and remarked that, although 

 he could not remain, as he was serving as a juror, he 

 had come here hurriedly to manifest by his presence 

 his continued interest in the society, and his willing- 

 ness to contribute what he was able to the interest of 

 its meetings, and expressed the belief that the So- 

 ciety, if properly maintained, would prove beneficial 

 to its members, socially, mentally and materially, 

 for by the discussion of appropriate questions of in- 

 terest to agriculturalists, we gain little by little, step 

 by step, in the progress of the science of agriculture 

 and horticulture, as iu other sciences, through dark- 

 ness to light. 



The President, after thanking Mr. McComsey for 

 the expression of his interest and good-will, excused 

 him. 



J. Fred. Landis, of East Lampeter, Peter C. Hiller, 

 of Conestoga, and Levi Pownall, of Christiana, were 

 elected members. 



THE REPORTS ON THE CROPS. 



were now read, as follows : 



WuE.VT : Israel Landis, Manheim, reported the 

 future wheat crop to be iu as promising a condition 

 as it generally is at this date, and it indicates that a 

 favorable season may produce a full average crop. 

 The rye is about the same as wheat. No summer 

 wheat is ever sown; winter barley none; grass at this 

 early date is pretty well set and not much damaged 

 in the young fields, of last summer's seeding ; many 

 second crop fields are thinly set, but a favorable 

 season may bring a fair crop. 



ToBA';co : A large portion of the crop (which was 

 a good one for this year) is sold, and at. a wide range 

 in the prices. There is perhaps no particular way to 

 give the average price. There may be some sold 

 above and below the prices of 12 and 3 and 6 and 27, 

 or from 3 to 13 for fillers, and 12 to 27 for wrappers. 



Corn: There is, perhaps, more corn damaged 

 this year in the crib than for many years past. The 

 crop was a full one, and the weather was uot favora- 

 ble for it after husking. 



Oats was a good crop, but was not well secured 

 on account of the wet season; the result is dark color. 



Stock of hay on hand is short; farmers are gene- 

 rally economical, and save it by using fodder. 



Fruit: We prefer not stating the condition, but 

 think the season so far was favorable, though we 

 have made no particular investigation. 



Messrs. Cooper, East Lampeter, and Erb, Stras- 

 burg, reported similar conditions of the crops in their 

 districts. 



Johnson Miller, Warwick, said we have been 

 favored with a snow of five or six inches in depth, 

 which is a good covering both for wheat and grass 

 fields, as both these crops have suffered somewhat 

 from the continued process of freezing and thawing 

 of the ground during the last two months. The 

 weather was very mild this winter until a few days 

 ago; so much so, that fruit trees have nearly, if not 

 quite, pushed buds; in case they have, I have no 

 doubt but that they miglit suffer from such cold snaps 

 as that of Saturday morning — two degrees below zero 

 The last year's corn crop is considerably damaged 

 from the warm and damj) weather we have had, and 

 many farmers qre compelled to remove to save what 

 is in good condition yet. Corn growing in a wet sea- 

 son like last fall was not matured when housed, and 

 then the damp weather has caused it to get very 

 mouldy; and I have reason to say that there will be 

 more damaged and mouldy corn when farmers shell 

 than was ever known. It is a matter of importance 

 that farmers should be very careful this spring about 



seed corn, or the next year's crop might be more se- 

 riously affected by not coming up after planting — the 

 result of poor seed corn. I throw out this hint in 

 season, so that I, and all other farmers, may take the 

 lesson in time, to prevent what might result in a ycry 

 thinly set and poor crop of corn during the Centen- 

 nial year. 



^Some one might say, we want to be sure of a good 

 crop of corn this coming summer; that is not the in- 

 tention of the above suggestion; if we do our part, 

 Providence will do the rest. At no point does the 

 success of a good crop of corn depend more than in 

 the seed we plant. If the first planting does not come 

 to perfection, and your stalks will be' regularly set, 

 your crop is spoiled with the best of weather that we 

 have ever enjoyed; there is more danger in this, this 

 year, than ever, and our farmers will do well to ex- 

 amine their seed corn carefully before planting. Now 

 is the time to make plans and get ready for sprin" 

 work. The farmer who always waits till he want!s 

 to go to work, to make up his mind as to how he is 

 going to manage this, and how he is going to do this 

 will find himself often iu confusion, and good man- 

 agement of farm operations will be entirely unknown 

 to him. Farmers will be required to economize with 

 fodder, on account of the short hay crop last sum- 

 mer; better commence in time to cut fodder, as there 

 is no telling of an early spring and early pasture; ac- 

 cording to ground hog signs, we will have a late 

 spring, and consequently will be required to feed lou" 

 in the stable. Let us all have our farms and stock in 

 such condition as to correspond with the Centennial 

 year of iinpi'ovements, and to do this, we all have 

 our hands full, and each member will best know his 

 own calling for the progress of agriculture. 



H. M. Engle was rather inclined in the main to 

 agree with the reports of the members, just read, but 

 he did not think the danger to the fruit crop was 

 past — particularly in the matter of peaches. 

 miscellaneous business. 



Milton B. Eshleman, from the committee ap- 

 pointed to prepare a petition to the Legislature in be- 

 half of inseetiverous birds, submitted a prepared 

 document, which was signed by those present. 



President Cooper stated that he had attended 

 the recent session of the Fruit Growers' Society at 

 Doylestown, and that a committee of ten members 

 had been appointed to confer with the managers of 

 the Centennial Exhibition, in order to have represen- 

 tatives in the Horticultural D^^partment of that great 

 show. He feared our Society could not secure 

 a representation at the Centennial. 



On motion, the Secretary was authorized to write 

 to the Superintendent of the Centennial Horticul- 

 tural Department, for printed instructions to ex- 

 hibitors. 



The retiring Treasurer, Dr. P. W. Hiestand, made 

 his report, showing a balance of ?99..53 in the 

 treasury. 



An auditing committee of three members — Casper 

 Hiller being chairman— was appointed, and their re- 

 port agreed with that of the treasurer. 



The unanimous thanks of the society were tendered 

 Dr. Hiestand for hi? faithful services as treasurer. 



The secretary, on motion of I. L. Landis, was in- 

 structed to look up the matter of a committee which 

 had been appointed some years ago to secure dona- 

 tions of liooks — any person giving 810 worth to be 

 considered a life member of the society. 



Milton B. Eshleman, esq., read the following 

 essay on 



ECONOMT vs. HARD TIMES. 



Mr. President and fellow-farmers : Economy is a 

 subject that is distasteful to most persons, and many 

 wUl shut their eyes square in its face ; but it forces 

 itself upon our attention at the present time, and well 

 it is for that man who heeds its demands before they 

 are forced too heavily upon him. These times of low 

 prices on all farm produce, of small profits on all 

 merchandise, of shrinkage in value of all manufac- 

 tured goois and machinery, of low wages, and to a 

 very distressing extent of want of employment — I say 

 these htird times necessitate almost every man — I be- 

 lieve it is safe to say four out of every five — to prac- 

 tice economy in the living expen.ses of his family. 

 Several years of prosperous times, assisted by the 

 pride of life and the whims of the fashion market, 

 have little by little drawn us into such an extravagant 

 and expensive mannerof living, that it will yet cause the 

 bankruptcy of many and the death of some men before 

 they will be able to get tUeir family expenses down 

 to the level of their incomes. All our necessary ex- 

 penses can be embraced in three classes, viz. : Houses 

 to live in, clothing to protect our bodies, and food to 

 sustain life. If we did not require houses, clothes 

 and food, we would have no need of money, and con- 

 sequently would not be necessitate 1 to work; so the 

 more nearly we can bring our requirements to that 

 state, the less funds we will need, and the less work 

 we will be required to do. You will be surprised, I 

 know, each of you, when you consider carefully this 

 matter, and note how the wants of each of the three 

 classes of expenses have been enlarged, increased and 

 added to, until it has liecome necessary for a society 

 man to spend all the money he can get by his labor 

 or business, often working day and night. In his 

 very dreams he is tempted to obtain money by de- 



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