68 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May, 



seen the " Buttercups " bloomiug so plentiful- 

 ly in meadows, in the montli of June, that 

 any "bird wading througli them" must have 

 swept some of it off, leaving it upon their 

 nether feathers. 



Although our own personal experience, or 

 that of any of the authorities we have con- 

 sulted, are not in corroboration of Mr. B. 's 

 views, still he cannot be mistaken in what he 

 has actually seen, and therefore we hope that 

 during the present season he may be able to 

 make the facts manifest to others, so that 

 in the mouth of two or three witnesses every 

 word may be established." 



We append the following extract as perti- 

 nent to the subject, especiall}' in reference to 

 the condensation of scents : 



A Mystery op Perfume. — No one lias yet been 

 able to analyze or demonstrate the essential action 

 of perfume. Gas can be weighed but not scents. 

 The smallest known creatures — the very monads of 

 life — can be caught by a microscope lens and made 

 to deliver up the secrets of their organizations, but 

 what it is that emanates from the pouch of the musk 

 deer that fills a whole space for years and years WMth 

 its penetrating odor — an odor tliat au illimitable 

 number of CKtraneous substances cau carry on with- 

 out diminishing its size and weight — and what it is 

 that the warm summer air brings to us from the 

 flowers, no man has yet been able to determine. So 

 fine, so subtle, so imponderable, it has eluded both 

 our most delicate weights and measures and our 

 strongest senses. If we come to the essence of each 

 odor, we should have made an enormous stride for- 

 ward, both in hygiene and in chemistry, and none 

 would profit more than the medical profession if it 

 could be as conclusively demonstrated that such an 

 odor proceeded from such and such a cause, as we 

 already know of sulphur, sulphurate hydrogen, am- 

 monia, and the like. 



AMERICAN TOBACCO. 



It really is astonishing that a vegetable so 

 utterly useless as a life-sustaining product, 

 should have attained such immense proportions 

 in tiie agricultural, manufacturing, commercial 

 and financial interests of our country. As a 

 monetary resource, or a medium of exchange, 

 it is almost as important as gold or silver, and 

 would do about as much for humauity, in sus- 

 taining life and comfort in a case of famine, as 

 would the " precious metals." The Agricul- 

 tural Keport for the months of Marcli and 

 April, 1876, says — " Our annual census of to- 

 bacco, in counties producing not less than 100,- 

 000 pounds, makes a large increase of produc- 

 tion over the crop of 1874, which was a com- 

 parative failure ; and in some sections a heavy 

 increase in area of cultivation. The returns 

 have not all been received, and the aggregate 

 produced last year is, therefore, delayed until 

 the publication of the animal report." The 

 following table will show the aggregate pro- 

 duction in part of the several tobacco-growing 

 States, over the minimum limit above named. 

 Only York and Lancaster are included in the 

 report from Pennsylvania, and overfour-tifths 

 of the amount was produced by Lancaster. 

 The table will also show how almost incom- 

 parably small our crop is, when placed in juxta- 

 position with the great tobacco-growing States 

 of the Union. 



Tobacco Crop of 1875. 



Pennsylvania 1.5,1.50,000 pounds. 10,100 acres. 



Maryland U,.5:-;3,000 " 31,-300 " 



Virginia 38,700,410 " 63,500 " 



North Carolina.... 9,885,473 " 31,010 " 



Florida ;i.50,000 " 4.50 " 



Kentucky 64,691,600 " 103,063 " 



Tennessee 21,793,600 " 24,000 " 



West Virginia 706,350 " 1,675 " 



Ohio 8,373,518 " 13,134 " 



Indiana 8,500,000 " 19,.500 " 



Illinois, 5,.536,000 " 10,801 " 



Wisconsin 3,310,000 " 4,139 " 



Missouri 34,486,000 " 26,186 " 



Total 314,806,850 " 317,863 " 



Ohio was almost a total failure, her tobacco 

 crop of 1874 being 15,003,348 pounds. This 

 only partial return of the tobacco of the coun- 

 try for 1875, would amount — at an average of 

 10 cents per pound — to the enormous sum of 

 S21,480,685.00. Suppress this trade and with- 

 draw it entirely from the commerce of the 

 country — either by Royal or Republican edict, 

 or by popular acclaim— and we may well im- 



agine what the consequences — for the time be- 

 ing at least — might be. Is there any otlier 

 crop wherein 317,803 acres would yield such 

 a pecuniary return ? 



We do not choose to moralize upon the sidj- 

 ject, or we might ask ourselves in sober earn- 

 est, " What does tlie great bulk of this im- 

 mense product result in V" Even if itsiwe was 

 not abused, and there were no charges against 

 its healthfuluess, it only ends in "spit," and 

 slime, and ashes, and smoke. But, the philo- 

 sopher may ask — " What does any other ma- 

 terial substance end in ?" " What but dust !" 

 dust ! ! dust ! I ! 



Any one visiting Agricultural Hall in Fair- 

 mount Park, during the pending Exposition, 

 will be perfectly surprised at the immensit}-, 

 variety and magnificence of the Tobacco on 

 exhibition there, especially that of Edward 

 Holbrook, of Louisville, Ky. 



AMERICAN FRUITS. 



And now, for a moment, permit me to call 

 your attention to tlie consideration of the 

 question, "How shall we obtain varieties of 

 fruits which may be adapted to the various 

 latitudes of our immense territory ?" 



The great loss sustained in the importation 

 and trials of trees from foreign shores, and 

 even from different quarters of our own coun- 

 try, which are not adapted to our own location, 

 suggests the answer that new varieties must 

 be produced from seed, and to the manor Ijorn, 

 to remedy tins evil. The adaptation of plants 

 to various climates, and their distribution 

 over the earth, involves a study so profound 

 that few have any definite knowledge on the 

 subject. Why some are suited, by their con- 

 stitution, to a wide extent of territory, and 

 are able to adapt themselves to almost any al- 

 titude or latitude or temperature without 

 material change, while others are confined to 

 a narrow limit, and will not prosper else- 

 where ; or, why a fruit may succeed in one 

 location and a few miles distant fail entirely ; 

 why some are aquatic, and some thrive in arid 

 soils, while others are parasitic, are mysteries 

 which mankind has not yet been able to solve. 

 The human constitution will frequently en- 

 dure the change of country and climate, but 

 the extent to which plants can bear these 

 changes is fixed by an imnnitable law ; there- 

 fore, all attempts to acclimate such as are not 

 natiu-ally congenial will tail in the end, except 

 it be within very narrow liuiits — not, how- 

 ever, that a tree or plant may not sometimes 

 endure greater degrees of cold or heat than it 

 is subject to in its native climate ; but no one 

 should suppose that time will produce a physio- 

 logical or constitutional change in them. 



It is, however, suflicient for us to know that 

 we can produce some seed fruits which, by 

 their constitution and habits, are capable of 

 enduring the cold and heat, the drouglit and 

 moistm'e, and other vicissitudes of the region 

 we inhabit ; but the idea that we can accus- 

 tom a tree or plant to conditions not con- 

 sistent with its laws of being, is a chimera of 

 the imagination. The only acclimation that 

 we cau rely on for obtaining trees and plants 

 of stronger constitution is the production of 

 new varieties from seed hyljridized by the 

 hand of man, or naturally cross-fertilized by 

 insects or the air. Whatever opinions may 

 have been entertained to this we must come at 

 last, that for ihe acquisition of hardy, valu- 

 able fruits, adapted to the various locations of 

 our vast territory, we must dejiend mainly on 

 the production from seed. Thus have I dis- 

 coursed for many j'ears to you — thus have I 

 promised to do while I live. 



Much has already been accomplished hy the 

 production of new varieties of American fruits 

 from seed, Init how little compared with the 

 results obtained in other lands by the art of 

 hybridization in the vegetable kingdom. To 

 this art we are mainly indebted for the numer- 

 ous tine varieties of grains, flowers and vege- 

 tables introduced in our time, and the same 

 success will reward similar eflbrts to produce 

 new and valuable fruits suited to our climes. 



Says Prof. Grey, in his admirable essay at 

 our last session : "Most of oiu: esteemed and 



Important fruits have not so much been given to 

 man as made by him, and man's work iu this re- 

 spect is mainly to direct the course, or tendency 

 of nature." The success which has attended 

 the American florist in the production of new 

 and fine varieties of camellia, the rose, and 

 other plants, which rival the choicest varieties 

 of the old world, is indeed remarkaljle, and it 

 will be far greater when the same scientific 

 knowledge is applied to the production of 

 native fruits. 



The laws which govern the procreation of 

 species by cross-impregnation are now so well 

 understood by those who have scientific knowl- 

 edge as to leave no doubt of success. Thus the 

 fanner as well as the florist is producing re- 

 sult which, as to form, habit, color, propor- 

 tion and beauty, surprise the operator himself, 

 when he sees how kindly nature co-operates 

 with his efforts to bring forth the object of his 

 desires. 



There may be disappointments — these are 

 the lot of humanity — but the philosophical 

 principle is correct, and the results of practice 

 are now universally acknowledged ; and al- 

 though the improvement soughtfor may not 

 be realized in every instance, experience has 

 taught us that it will come at last. But my 

 object is to encourage our cultivators in the 

 belief that, by the sowing of the seeds of our 

 best varieties, and by cross-impregnation, there 

 is a wide field for improvement, and that all 

 otlier attempts at acclimation are fruitless. 

 And have you ever thought, my friends, of the 

 many fine fruits which you might have raised 

 ))y sowing of seeds which you have carelessly 

 thrown away ? 



Not that I would discourase the planting 

 and proving new varieties from other regions, 

 holding fast such as are suited ; and where 

 they do not succeed in one location, it is possi- 

 ble they, may be adapted to another. 



This is especially true with regard to the 

 varieties of the strawberry. While one culti- 

 vator cannot grow the variety bearing my name, 

 another declares he will grow no other ; and 

 thus with the Hovey's seedling, which, after 

 forty-two years of existence, has tins year 

 (1875) carried off the highest prize offered by 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for the 

 strawberry. — JIar shall P. Wilder, at Chicago, 

 Sept., 1875. 



[How very much the precepts inculcated in 

 the above accord with the practice fifty or sixty 

 years ago, when local or native varieties were 

 produced from seeds, and such things as budded 

 or grafted peaches were unknown, or nearly so. 

 It is true, there were more bad peaches then 

 than good ones ; but under any circumstances, 

 there were always plenty of peaches, apples 

 and cherries.] 



; — ♦^ 



QUERIES. 



What has become of " Leoline ?" We 

 long to liear from her agam, and hope nothing 

 of a disabling character has liefalleu her. If 

 consistency is "a jewel," how much more so 

 is constancy. Perhaps ' ' more pressing duties 

 compel her to take her leave," and if so, we 

 must encounter the vicissitudes of the centen- 

 nial year without her aid. If we have inad- 

 vertently given oftence, then " grant us leave 

 by circumstance to excuse ourself." 



We might also say, what has become of some 

 of our other correspondents, of whom we in- 

 dulged such "pleasing hopes V" Have they 

 " become weary of well-doing," or have they 

 permitted themselves to fall into those states 

 of apathy which are so detrimental to the 

 free exercise of mental and physical energy ¥ 

 AV^ake up, friends, wake up ! 



The Reduced Fare on the Pennsylvania 

 railroad, during the continuance of the Cen- 

 tennial exhibition, will offord om- readers an 

 apportunity of seeing tliis wonderful exhibit 

 of the industry of all nations at a moderate 

 cost. Round trip tickets from Lancaster, good 

 on any train, for one day, cost only $2.30; and 

 good for fifteen days $2.75. This company has 

 made the most liberal and complete arrange- 

 ments to accommodate the traveling public. 

 See time table on last page of this issue. 



