42 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[March, 



Most farmers make a great deal of unneces- 

 sary work in harvesting, especially when the 

 oats is "short," by attempting to tie it into 

 sheaves. Much grain is also lost in tieing. It 

 can be taken up more expeditLously and with 

 less waste with a barley fork, by " bunching " 

 it, if in swaths, or if cut wath a machine, 

 by taking up the Ininches as they lie. No in- 

 convenience results from this mode of gather- 

 ing, either in liandling in the barn or in thresh- 

 ing. Anotlier advantage in it is that it packs 

 so closely in the mow that rats and mice 

 cannot get through it and destroy the grain. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 RURAL IMPROVEMENTS. 

 Those who intend to make rural improve- 

 ments should mature their plans before begin- 

 ning the work. If they are undecided or at 

 a loss how they shall improve their grounds, 

 and what species of trees and shrubs they will 

 embellish tliem with, they should get a gar- 

 dener of skill to visit the grounds and give a 

 jilan and list of trees and shrubs to decorate it, 

 that will often save expenses and disappoint- 

 ments. The lists of trees and shrubs should be 

 sent to nurserymen a month before needed, and 

 they will the more likely be delivered when 

 needed to plant. A number of rapid growing 

 evergreen and deciduous trees should be set 

 out to make an early show, and all to be of 

 stately sizes. In purcliasing lands for lasting 

 homes, or for summer retreats, see that run- 

 ning waters are near or upon the lands, to in- 

 troduce water by plumbing for all purposes. 

 Small streams of water running through the 

 grounds can often be made highly ornamental 

 and attractive by making ponds, dams and 

 waterfalls ; fill some with hardy flsh and have 

 others for fancy ducks, geese and swans to sail 

 upon, and clothe the grounds around them 

 with trees and shrubs. Ornamental waterworks 

 were highly prized by the ancients. Isaiah 

 says to Judali " Ye shall be as a garden that 

 liath no water." — Walter Elder. 



OUR PARIS LETTER. 



Correspoudeuce of The Lancaster Farmer. 



Paris, March 7, 1876. 



FAILURE OP THE BEET CROP IN FRANCE. 



The beet crop has been almost a failure this year 

 in France, and from a variety of causes, some of 

 which are of general interest. The low price of beet 

 sugar and alcohol, coupled with a heavy taxation, 

 has led to many commercial disasters. Several dis- 

 tilleries have closed, and sugar factories have been 

 reduced to work only half time. The beet itself has 

 only been of a secondary quality, and of less than 

 average yield ; the warm and humid weather detei-i- 

 orated the tissues of the roots, diminishing the re- 

 turn of sugar. Large heaps of beet were abandoned 

 to rot, and very fair roots were declined by the manu- 

 facturers at the bankrupt price of/r. .5 per ton. This 

 is the more unfortunate as a great quantity of beet 

 had been cultivated last season, and the quality prov- 

 ing bad, the expense of extracting the sugar became, 

 as is ever the case, increased. The recent frosts 

 achieved what the opposite extreme of temperature 

 spared. Closed factories react on the rearing and 

 fattening of cattle by reducing the supply of pulp. 

 But other influences have been at work : the seed 

 germinated badly, the manures acted capriciously, 

 and the plant resumed a new vegetation at a period 

 when growth ought n.aturally to have stopped. Since 

 some time these matters have been the subject of 

 study and experiment, and M. Vilmorin makes known 

 the results of his investigations respecting the ger- 

 mination of beet seed. Struck by the irregularity in 

 its germination, he found that the closer the seed was 

 to the mineral fertilizers — nitrate of soda especially — 

 the more slowly it germinated, and in some instances 

 did not do so at all. There was as much as a month's 

 difference between the germination of seed sown on 

 the unmauured and the manured soil. It would 

 seem that these manures, intended to furnish nitro- 

 gen to beet in its after stages, are injurious pending 

 the period of germination. M. Vilmorin also found 

 that wheat was similarly affected as beet when the 

 seed was in contact with nitrate of soda and sulphate 

 of ammonia. Further, not only was germination re- 

 tarded at a period when its activity was most to be 

 desired, but the salts in question promoted an ener- 

 getic growth of the beef in early autumn, when such 

 development ought to be avoided. 



ABOUT FERTILIZERS AND CULTIVATION. 



In the north of France it has been found that the 

 earlier the beet is sown the more certain will be the 

 results — the 20th of April is better than the 20th of 



May — also, the greater the distance between the 

 plants the heavier will be the yield — an advantage, 

 however, only to be sought after when the roots are 

 intended for feeding purposes. The mineral manure 

 most in favor with farmers, and the least so with the 

 manufacturers, is nitrate of soda ; its price is rela- 

 tively moderate, its assimilation easy, and its effects 

 consequently immediate. But it ought to be ever 

 employed judiciously, and notably with the phos- 

 phates and the salts of potash and lime. Farm-yard 

 manure being nitrogenous, demands that nitrates be 

 associated with it sparingly. The phosphates have 

 been found excellent in promoting germination, but 

 phosphates cannot correct the bad effects of nitrate 

 of soda; were it thus, guano might be employed 

 without fear. The complaints against the use of 

 nitrate of soda for beet are the consequence of the 

 abuse of that fertilizer, which banefully aflfccfs the 

 extraction of sugar, and reduces the fertility of the 

 soil, owing to farmers relying on its stimulating prop- 

 erties exehisively ; it is an error to supply a plant 

 with one kind of aliment exclusively. It ought to be 

 remembered that fertilizers require to be rotated as 

 well as crops, and their action well studied, since 

 some act on the foliage, some on the bulb, and sci- 

 ence has not settled as to whether the sugar be 

 formed by the roots or by the leaves. 



PRACTICAL LECTURES ON FARM ANIMALS. 



In Belgium much success has attended the delivery 

 of public lectures on farm animals, how to breed, how 

 to rear, and how to care for them. The lecturers 

 are practical veterinary surgeons, and are well sup- 

 plied with models and diagrams to illustrate their 

 views. Hitherto all the lecturing has been limited to 

 soils, manures and plants — excellent in their place, 

 especially when practically treated. To ascertain 

 the number of head of cattle of an average of S cwts. 

 that a farm ought to support, French agriculturists 

 generally estimate that an animal consumes in a 

 year ll cwts. of hay for every 1 cwt. of its weight. 

 Thus 22 tons of hay ought to support during a year 

 2 tons of live stock, equal to five animals of 8 cwt. 

 each. Two hundred-weights of nutritive hay being 

 taken as the standard of nutrition, are found to be 

 equal to S}4 stone of oats and 16 of potatoes. It 

 should be borne in mind that the richness of food va- 

 ries with the soil, and its feeding value will vary 

 with the temperament and the digestive powers of the 

 animal. 



THE HORSES OF HUNGARY. 



Since centuries ago the great plains of Hungary 

 have been celebrated for their production of horses, 

 which comprise races at once sober and accustomed to 

 privations and climatic changes, but which not the less 

 produce animals with iron constitutions ; the pastur- 

 age is bad, green fodder is difficult to obtain, and ne- 

 cessity compels dependence on straw and the stems 

 of maize. It is not to be wondered that the Austrian 

 government is solicitous about the amelioration of 

 horses. It is not uncommon to find a pair of horses 

 getting over a distance of sixteen miles to meet a 

 train, and, without being baited, return by the same 

 road in two hours. There are two and a quarter mil- 

 lions of horses in Hungary, or 140 for each 1 ,000 inhabi- 

 tants ; and thei'c are several races of them also, in 

 addition, adapted to mountainous districts, sandy 

 plains or alluvial flats. The national breeding studs, 

 of which the chief is at Mezohegyes, recognize these 

 distinctions ; and as the State studs are only intended 

 to supply the absence of good stallions among pri- 

 vate individuals, their object is to make themselves 

 as soon as possible unnecessary. There are 1,800 

 stallions in the four studs, serving 6S,000 mares an- 

 nually in .52.5 different districts. The charge for 

 covering varies from/r. 2',4 to //•.■ST, but the services 

 of a stallion of pure English blood cost as much as 

 //•. 1,000. The stud at Mezohegyes is a half military 

 establishment, or rather colony, consisting of S6, 000 

 acres, and chiefly devoted to the culture of grain and 

 forage crops ; it possesses 2,400 horses, representing 

 nine different races. The foal at its birth is marked 

 by a red-hot iron on the sides, to recognize its race 

 and its sire. Its food is not excessive : one pound of 

 bruised oats, when three weeks old, and double that 

 at three months, when separated from the mother, 

 and as far as four years old, five pounds daily in 

 summer and double that ration during winter. But 

 then the pasturage is excellent. Mildness is the 

 basis of the breaking in of the colts, and by patience 

 and address man dominates them. They are never 

 beaten, and approach the grooms without mistrust 

 or hostility. For each act of submission they are 

 rewarded with a caress or a morsel of sugar or a 

 cake, and to conquer their timidity or efface their 

 fear they are surrounded with trained animals. Pos- 

 sessing thus no vices, they can transmit none. 



HOSPITALS FOR HORSES, CATTLE AND PIGS. 



The monster farm in question is provided with hos- 

 pitals for horses, cattle and pigs, and clinical lectures 

 take place twice a day, which are attended by the 

 veterinary pupils from Pesth, who acquire a practical 

 knowledge thus of their profession. Bulls are also 

 bred here to ameliorate the native races, for the cli- 

 mate is too trying — torrid days, succeeded by polar 

 nights — to think of crossing. Milk not entering into 

 the calculations of Magyar farming, milch cattle are 

 not In request ; besides, such an amelioration would 



affect, as experience has shown, the value of oxen for 

 lalior, and they are only secondary in point of im- 

 portance to horses. If the training of. horses be ef- 

 fected on the gentle system, that for oxen is the re- 

 verse. In winter cattle receive but straw, chaff and 

 maize stems ; those employed at work have hay. 

 The annual yield of milk is not more than 900 quarts ; 

 2 cwts. of hay are found to produce 23 quarts of 

 milk, representing 3'^ pounds of butter. The oxen 

 are never yoked until four years old, and after six 

 months' apprenticeship are capable of nine years' 

 work. When aged 13 or 14 years they are sent to 

 the large towns to be fattened at the distilleries ; 

 some of the latter fatten l,.5O0 head of oxen at a 

 time. A yoke of oxen will plow an acre 14 inches 

 deep in a day, and in addition to being as rapid as a 

 dray horse, have feet as sure as a Spanish mule. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Dr. de Martin draws attention to the success which 

 has attended his employment of chopped vine prun- 

 ings for the evening feed for his cattle. At first they 

 refused it, but afterwards took to it. In the Depart- 

 ment of the Aude these vine shoots are employed, 

 when bruised, as litter. 



An infusion of tomato leaves has been found excel- 

 lent to clear plants of bugs — the phylloxera always 

 excepted. The annual report of the official commis- 

 sion on the experiments conducted under its direction 

 during 1875, in the affected districts, on the various 

 plans for destroying the vine-bug, concludes that no 

 remedy has yet been found ; that the best powder is 

 too costly in application, and but partial in efficacy ; 

 that the old bark ought to be removed from the 

 stems ; the eggs destroyed in winter, and recourse 

 had to American stocks. 



Dr. Uloth's experiments go to show that grains of 

 wheat placed between two i)locks of ice and kept in a 

 cellar with a temperature at freezing point will ger- 

 minate and develope rootlets . He continued the same 

 experiment with mustard and grass seeds, as well as 

 wheat. He placed some in a hollow piece of ice, and 

 others in common earth ; both were deposited in an 

 ice house and covered with a thick block of ice. They 

 all equally germinated, no difference being percepti- 

 ble save that the mustard and grass seeds germinated 

 best. M. Tisserand states thatheobtains most butter 

 and of a superior quality, the more the cream is 

 churned at a temperature approaching the freezing 

 point. 



LANCASTER COUNTY FARMERS IN 

 COUNCIL. 



Proceedings of the Agricultural and Horti- 

 cultural Society — Discussion on Fruit 

 Trees, Hungarian Grass, Etc. 



The regular monthly meeting of the Lrvncaster 

 County Agricultural and Horticultural Society was 

 held in the rooms of the Athenaeum, on Monday, the 

 Cth inst. The meeting was called to order at two 

 o'clock by the President, Calvin Cooper. The follow- 

 ing members were present : Calvin Cooper, Milton 

 Eshleman, Levi W. Groff, Simon P. Eby, Abraham 

 Suminy, Casper Hiller, E. B.Engle, Henry M. Engle, 

 Peter Reist, Mr. Hershey, Levi Pownall, John Ruber, 

 Johnson .Miller, Martin D. Kendig, John Reist, Simon 

 Hershey, Reuben Weaver, Israel G. Erb, Martin S. 

 Fry, C. L. Hunsecker, J. Stauffer, S. S. Rathvon, 

 James Buckwalter, Wm. McComsey, John Miller, 

 John M. Stehman, Wm. P. Brinton, Henry Erb, Jacob 

 K. Witmer, Dr. E. A. Hertz, John Grossman, E. 8. 

 Hoover, John H. Brackbill. 



The regular secretary not being present, Milton B. 

 Eshleman w.as elected secretary pro tern., and on 

 motion, the reading of the minutes of the February 

 meeting was dispensed with. 



Lewis C. Lyte, of East Lampeter; Henry Kauff- 

 man, of Lancaster township; and Cyrus Neff and 

 F. G. Melliuger, of Manor, were elected members of 

 the society. 



Reports of Crops Being Next in Order, 



Mr. Kendig, of Manor, said that the prospects for 

 the coming wheat crop are very favorable, notwith- 

 standing the alternate freezing and thawing of the 

 ground during the past winter. Rye, about the same; 

 for the last two or three years this crop did remark- 

 ably well, which induced farmers to sow more largely 

 than usual. Grass fields of last season's sowing are 

 very thin, a large portion of the seed never coming 

 up on account of the drouth. Old fields promise bet- 

 ter. Corn in the crib is very much damaged. Sound 

 seed scarce. Tobacco crop very good ; better in 

 qualify than it has been for a number of years. A 

 good portion is sold at prices ranging from 12 to 25 

 cents per pound for wrappers, and 3 to 5 for fillers. 

 The Library and Finances. 



Mr. Eby, of the Library Committee, said that 

 several books were lately contributed to the society, 

 among them some from our fellow-member, Mr. 

 Landis. As he was instructed at the last meeting to 

 fix a price on all books received, he felt, after due 

 consideration, that he was unable to do this unless 

 two additional members were appointed on the com- 

 mittee, mainly for the purpose of consultation. 



A motion was made that two additional members 



