1876.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



36 



sale, while our t roes are bearinsi regularly in 

 my locality, and we sold the crop last season, 

 very readily at from $1..")0 to ?-2.(i(i |)(>rliushel. 

 In conclusion I would say bt- not discourajjed, 

 we may soon come back again to the old-tinu- 

 apple years in Lancaster county. Indei'd, it 

 is the opinion of good authorities, that with 

 proper culture, our county may eventually be- 

 come tlie " Ap])le-(iarden" of Pennsylvania. 

 —L. S. Heist, Warwick, Fihrwinj, ls7(i. 



[God grant it may, even if Hcsliould not live 

 to see the day. If apples l)ecome al)undant, 

 and cheap enough for the poor to purchase and 

 consinne, it will be prrfectly agreealile to us. 

 It is not desirable that they should become too 

 cheap for farmers to cultivate them, but cliea]) 

 enough for the poor, by a proper system of 

 economy, to make a larger culinary use of them 

 than they can afford at the i)resi'nt prices. 

 ■When we connnenced housekeeping — forty- 

 two years ago — we had the fmest apples 

 delivered at our door for twenty cents a bushel. 

 There was no complaint ilun that it " did not 

 pay" to raise them. Although tlu'y, perhaps, 

 never will be sold at that price again, yet they 

 should be cheaper than now.— Ed.] 



For The Lancaster Farmkb 

 HOME THAT IS HOME. 



The sound of the word home is calculated 

 to fill the mind with iilea.sant thoughts and 

 the heart with a desire to soon enjoy its 

 sweet comforts — and doubtless it does to a 

 great majority of the people. But there 

 are some to whom it gives quite differ- 

 ent sensations and prompts them to remain 

 away as long as possible, and even allow 

 themselves to be burthensome to their friends, 

 rather than spend an evening under their 

 own roof. The love of home varies in differ- 

 ent individuals, from this degree of absolute 

 hatred to those who are just as well satisHed 

 at home as away, and from that to those who 

 cannot be persuaded to leave its sacred inllu- 

 ence unless business compels them. The rea- 

 son of this is obvious : because some homes 

 are so much more comft)rtable, more pleasant, 

 more cheerful, in short, more homelike ; and 

 if each one would investigate anddiscoverthe 

 reason that his home does not have that 

 great attraction for him; next, find out whose 

 taidt it is, and then take i)roper measures to 

 remove the evil, we as a community, a peo- 

 ple and a nation would be nmch farther ad- 

 vanced on the road towards a higher standard 

 of excellence in morality, intelligence and 

 manhood. The cause of these unattractive 

 homes may be from the neglect of the hus- 

 band and father to provide the home with 

 those things necessary to make it attractive ; 

 for instance, family newspapers, periodicals 

 appertaining to his business, interesting books 

 and innocent games ; or it may be from the 

 over-tidiness of the housekeeiier, who demands 

 such a degree of circumspection from the in- 

 mates that it becomes more like a prison than 

 a home ; and when that feeling overtakes a 

 man it don't take him long to tind some more 

 congenial quarters. There are some who are 

 such natural born ladies and gentlemen that 

 they feel no restraint in being on their best 

 behavior all the time, but it is not above one 

 in a hundred, while the ninety and nine long 

 for the jilace where they can throw off re- 

 straint, to be their natural selves, to do just 

 as they please, to be free and easy ; and home 

 is the natural and proi)er place to do it. That 

 man who spends his hours olf duty with his 

 family, who assists in entertaining his lioys, 

 and instilling into them a love for home above 

 every other place, does a good work, and one 

 that he will be paid for in feelings of comfort 

 and just pride when he .sees them grown to be 

 husbands and fathers, following the example 

 which he had given them. There is no doubt 

 that the lack of love of home so general in men 

 in the city, and even in the country, is to a 

 great degree the effect of the pattern set by 

 their fathers, and it will require a determined 

 effort dn the part of the present generation to 

 counteract this intluence, and raise \\\i our 

 boys to inherit different feelings ; but we will 



find our reward in their thanks, in after 

 years, for the pains we took to make home 

 pleasant to them. It is clearly a iluty that 

 every man owes to his children, and coidd it 

 but lie brought about that every man would 

 spend his evenings at home, anil keep and en- 

 tertain his boys there, we cannot reali/e the 

 dillt'rence there w<iuld be in the state of ihe 

 [lublic morals a generation lienci;.- The ho.s- 

 pitals, the almshouses and the prisons would 

 show the elfecls of it in a great degree. 



As every natural parent feels a desire that 

 his sons shall turn out to be good citizens, and 

 feeling so sensibly the great need of reform in 

 the matter of inihuuuie on the minds of the 

 youug, and in hopes llial some one may be 

 awakened to a sense of the lmi)ortance of the 

 subject, is the excuse for venturing to give a 

 few hints as to the way it might be done. 

 The writer was one of a fatnily of live boys 

 and a sister, whose parents made it a special 

 point not only to have us all at home in the 

 eviMiings, but to providi' entertainment fiU' 

 us ; and to our last days we will never cea.se 

 to bless them for it. 15ecause those lirinciples 

 being engrafted into our natures, renders it 

 comparatively easy for us to perform the 

 same duties now. The evenings were spent 

 in innocent games, interesting books, reading 

 by turn aloud, sijelling matches, working out 

 enigmas, and other puzzles, etc., but the best 

 of all the amusements was debating ; the 

 father would be judge, and the six of us would 

 pick sides, and taking up some simple subject 

 of every-day experience, each one would be 

 obliged to make some remarks on it, and we 

 would often get quite warmed up with the 

 importance of our points, which to our child- 

 ish intellects .seemed overpowering. It is 

 true, a large family has an advantage over a 

 small one in these lionie amusements, but if 

 two or three small families would join together 

 and meet alternately at their hou-ses, it would 

 answer the same purpose, and the parents 

 woulil at all times know where their children 

 were. We know that there are some very 

 stately mansions, most beautifully situated 

 and handsomely furnished, j'et those who call 

 them home respect them only for their looks 

 and money value, and the true feelings of 

 love for them and their associations are never 

 felt ; while in the most lowly and dilapidated 

 cabins we often find the occupants enjoying 

 that sweet comfort in each others' company, 

 and of being shut off from the troubles of the 

 outside world, that brings them nearer to 

 heaven than any oi;her place on earth. This 

 was the feeling that prompted the author of 

 that beautiful hymn, "Heaven is my Home." 

 — M. B. E. 



For Tub Lancaster Farmer. 

 DIFFERENT MODES OF PRUNING. 



It is high time now to get all pruning done 

 at once. Different species of plants reipiire 

 dill'erent modes of pruning. ( )f fruit trees, Ayi- 

 ple, pear, apricot, ]ilum and (piince, bear fruit 

 upon the old wood ; .so does cherry, gooseberry 

 and currants. Peach bears fruit upon the new 

 shoots of last year's growth — so does cherry 

 often ; and so do raspberry, blackberry, gra])e 

 vines, it*;. So they have to be differently 

 primed to produce plenty of fruit. Of ilecidn- 

 ous blooming shrubs, spineas. tartareau honey- 

 suckles, forsythia, wiegelia, mock orange and 

 many others, produce their flowers ujiou the 

 sides of the shoots. Lilacs, privet, snowball 

 trees, mountain ash trei-s, Rhus. i^c. bear their 

 blooms nicistly \\\»n\ the tops of the shoots. 

 Their tops shoidd be left until the blooming is 

 over, then shorten if needed ; but if too many 

 suckers are at their roots, cut them out. The 

 species that bloom from the sidesof the shoots 

 have the points of the shoots cut off an inch or 

 a foot, as needed, to keep the bushes in good 

 sliai)e. Althea blooms from the shoots of the 

 present year's growth. Honeysuckles bloom 

 from last year's shoots. Wisteria blooms from 

 the old branches. Evergreen trees and shrul)s 

 should not be pruned until all frosts are over 

 in spring or in the latter half of August. — llor- 

 ticola. 



Fur The Lancaster Farmer. 

 THE DAIRY. No. 2. 



In the January munber of Tiik, Eaiimer I 

 promised a contmualionof " The Dairy," but 

 the destruction of my barn, with all my cat- 

 tle, (.Ian. 'Jotli, IHTii, ) has, to some extent, 

 cooled my ardor for writing. Having emerged 

 from the smoke, an'd converted what was left 

 of my stock into a conqmst pile, (a rather ex- 

 pensive one, too,) has brought about a cliange 

 ofba.se from prospective animal to prospective 

 vegetable produelions. Being thus run oil' the 

 track, the leudeucy would seem to point toward 

 big beets and pumpkins, instead of line stock 

 aiul good butter. Xow, as certiiin vegetable, 

 crops are essential to the best results of the ' 

 dairy, our starling iM)int may be regained, 

 although it he liy a circuitous route. With a 

 little whistling to keep oil' despondency, the 

 (piestion again recurs on the different breeds 

 of cattle. But it may be asked, is there more 

 than one breed, and if so, what are they V A 

 breed is the result of selecting and mating 

 animals with the object of producing a certain 

 fixed and uniform cliaracti-r in the progeny. 

 This being judiciously followed for a succes- 

 sion of generations, tlu'iiroduct eventually lie- 

 comes a tixed type, with scarcely any Varia- 

 tions. Hence we see Devons, Sliorlhorns, 

 .Jerseys. Ayrshires, Dutch anil others, .someof 

 which show at least great uniformity of color, 

 form and other characteristics. 



A race is theolTspringof one common stock, 

 which, in the general acceptance of the term, 

 is distinguished from breed. In establishing 

 the various breeds, breeders had other objects 

 in view besides external appearances. The 

 Shorthorns are still the most popular breed, 

 (at least in this country,) aiul it is al.so evi- 

 dent that they have been bred with less 

 imity of imrpose than other breeds, from the 

 fact that tliey not only vary more in external 

 appearances, but also in their beef atui milk- 

 ing qualities. For beef, this breed stands un- 

 rivaled; but as milkers, the term will not ap- 

 ply. While there are individual cows, and 

 even some herds that will compare favorably 

 as milkers with any others, there are at the 

 same time not a few of the finest animals that 

 will not yield suflicient milk when fresh to 

 develop their own ollspring. This breed li.is 

 no doubt been nudtiplied with as much design 

 as any other, but evidently for different pur- 

 po.ses. While the intelligent dairyman made 

 his selection, and mated his animals with a 

 view to his business, the stockraiser had his 

 eye on beef only. At the same time, others 

 made efforts to combine both these qualities in 

 the same animal; hence the utility of thi.s 

 breed is already divided, although the jiedi- 

 grees indicate iniiformity. This division evi- 

 dently will become ti.xed and permanent by 

 and bv. 



The cattle of the Channel Islands, formerly 

 introduced as Alderneys. subsequently Iwcaine 

 classed .as Jerseys arul tiuernseys. named after 

 the islands of which they are natives. Although 

 similar in character, milk and butter quali- 

 ties, they may and should be noted a.s different 

 breeds. " They present a remarkable contrast 

 to the Shorthorns. While the latter would not 

 be considered genuine without large .size, 

 round, full and jilump, the same appendages 

 to the Jersey would rule her out as not being 

 thoroughbred. Small frame, light bones, sharp 

 points from head to tail, characleri/x- the true 

 Jer.sey cow. Pawn seems to be the prevailing 

 color, but not uniforndy so. 



Importations of stock uiwm this island have 

 long since been prohibited, consequently ft 

 purer breed can hardly l>e found. TIjese have 

 been bred, not so much for the production of 

 milk as for the quality of cream and excellence 

 of butler, their beef qualities having Ix'en 

 almost entirelv ignored. It is therefore claimed 

 that this breed will iirodiicea larger amount of 

 butler, aiul of better quality from a given 

 amount of feed than any other except the 

 (iuernsey, which is .somewhat larger, a little 

 more pimnp. and not .so uniform in general 

 contour as the Jersey, but is, at the same time, 

 preferred by some dairymen. One thing is 

 especially claimed for the Island cattle, i. e., 



