80 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May, 



Jefferson's Ten Practical Rules of Life. 



1. Never put off till to-morrow what cau be done 

 to-day. 



2. Never trouble others to do what you can do 

 yourself. 



3. Never spend vour money before you have it. 



4. Never buy what you do not want because it is 

 cheap. 



.5. Pride costs as much as hunger, cold and thirst. 

 fi. We never repent of eating too little. 



7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 



8. How much pain those evils cost us thiit never 

 happen. 



9. Take things by their smooth handle. 



10. When angry, always couut ten before you speak. 



Root Pruning and Blight. 

 K. A. Riehl, acultivator of much experience, states 

 in Caiman's Rural World that he has found root 

 pruning an efficient nreventive of Are blight, if prop- 

 erly performed . He says he has root-pruned trees in 

 summer that were blighting and immediately checked 

 the disease ; and he has known it to be equally suc- 

 cessful with otliers. He remarks that in all cases 

 where unsuccessful, it has not been efficiently per- 

 formed, the roots being either not cut at all, or cut too 

 far from the base of the truiilj. For medium sized 

 trees he cuts about two feet off, and goes deep enough 

 to sever the principal roots. He recommends early 

 spring as the best time . 



Hyacinths in Glasses. 



These may be put in water now. The bulb should 

 be placed, in the lirst instance, with its lower end not 

 quite in contact with the water, and should be pure 

 rain or pond water, and need not be changed unless 

 it becomes offensive. When the bulbs are in glasses, 

 they should be set in a dark place for about a mouth, 

 then gradually inured to the light, filling up the 

 glasses at the water subsides. The bulbs will (lower 

 in the greatest perfection if placed in a cool, airy situ- 

 ation, well exposed to sunlight ; but it is usually de- 

 sirable to place some at leas't in a warm iilaee, to ac- 

 celerate the flower's period . 



The Crops in Illinois, 



A Cairo, 111., despatch states that the peach crops 

 of Southern Illinois, if no more frosts occur, will be 

 a decided success. Only a small portion of the buds 

 have suffered thus far. The early red apples are all 

 destroyed, but other varieties are uninjured. On tlic 

 level prairies the wheat prospects are poor, but in the 

 rolling and timber lands the crops will be as good as 

 usual. The farmers express the opinion that there 

 will be no trouble from the chinch bug this year. 



Care of Fowls. 



In caring for your fowls provide them with a vessel 

 of lime water for an occasional drink. It is prepared 

 by pouring hot water over quick-lime, and alter the 

 lime is settled and the water covering it has become 

 clear, pour it off. It will keep fit for use for a con- 

 siderable time . 



Farmers' Fruit Cake. 



One pound of fat pork, cliopped fine; one pint of 

 boiling water ; one pound of raisins ; one pound of 

 currants ; five cups of sugar ; one pint of molasses ; 

 ten cupsful of flour ; cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; 

 two teaspoousful of soda ; fourteaspoonsful of cream 

 of tartar ; citron if you choose. 



^ 



Biting the Nails. 



Try rubbing the tips of the child's fingers with bit- 

 ter aloes. It is a sure cure for thumb sucking and 

 may be for nail biting. 



Punch defines " fashionable extremes" as " high 

 heels and low forheads." 



The Grangers of the United States have over ?18,- 

 000,000 invested in their various enterprises. 



The cattle drive from Texas this year will number 

 about ¥S50,000. 



The hens of France are said to earn their owners 

 $80,000,000 a year. 



Dhop a piece of alum thC size of a bean into a pail 

 of water, and the liquid will become as clear as 

 crystal . 



An old farmer said to his sons, " Boys, don't you 

 ever speckerlate, or wait for somethin' to turn up. 

 You might jest as well go and sit down on a stone in 

 the middle of a medder and wait for a cow to back up 

 to you to be milked." 



The North Carolina Journal reports that in con- 

 sequence of the scarcity of money cows liave become 

 almost the medium of exchange in that State, a thin 

 cow passing for $8, one in good winter order for $10, 

 and a fat one for $13. 



The late Reverdy Johnson's estate includes 1,000 

 acres of land in Anne Arundel county, 1,000 acres in 

 Alleghany couuty, and between 500 and BOO acres a 



short distance west of the city of Baltimore. The last 

 mcnfioned tract is worth about §1,000 an acre. Mr. 

 .Johnson had no insurance on his life. 



TuE Scientific Farmer admonishes farmers not to 

 rush heedlessly and enthusiastically into large expen- 

 ditures on the special " formula fertilizers," but to 

 feel their way by the trial of a few acres at a time, 

 looking forward to larger experiments and greater 

 profits another year, if the present year's experience 

 is satisfying. 



According to the Nem England Farmer, city sta- 

 ble manure has been sold during the past winter at 

 prices considerably below those of former years, pos- 

 sibly because chemical manures are now competing 

 so generally with animal manures. The manure is 

 pressed into one-third of its ordinary bulk by means 

 of powerful machinery, and the bales are transported 

 to all parts of the country. 



Hon. .Ioun Shattuck, a noted dairyman of New 

 York, claims that a reildish yellow color on the in- 

 side of a cow's ear is an infallible sign of a good rich 

 milker. Mr. .J. W. North considers the aoiount of 

 the secrctiOTis of the ear an indication that the butter 

 will be high-colored. Mr. Sturtevant, of Connecti- 

 cut, agrees with the theory of judging a good milker 

 in this way. 



Home-Made Crackers. — A good recipe : Half a 

 tea-cup sliortening, three tea-cups of cold water, one 

 teaspoonful of soda, two teaspoonfuls of cream of 

 tartar, and nearly five quarts of flour. Rub the 

 shortening, soda, cream of tartar and salt, well into 

 the flour, and wet up with the water — the dough will 

 be very stiff, needs no pounding nor extra kneading. 

 Cut out, prick, and bake in a quick oven. 



It is said that practical market gardeners have 

 found that it is not necessary to make the expensive 

 preparations for the culture of asparagus which are 

 laid down in the books. Some of the best asparagus 

 that reaches the Boston market is grown on ground 

 that was only in ordinary garden condition when the 

 plants were set, the ground being spaded quite deeply 

 enriched witli well rotted barn manure, but not 

 worked more than ten or twelve inches deep. 



Lime is one of the constituents, to a greater or less 

 extent, of all soils that are capable of cultivati(jn. 

 All plants remove some of the lime from the soil, es- 

 pecially wheat, clover, barley, oats and turnips. It 

 follows that unless the lime be restored, exhaustion 

 will ensue. Yet lime cannot strictly be said to be a 

 manure. It is rather a stimulant. Successive appli- 

 cations of lime without manure will only quicken the 

 exhaustive process. As a means of bringing back 

 run down laud, lime alone is useless. Its action is to 

 decompose vegetable matter, and to render more 

 quickly available the plant that already exists in the 

 soil. In this direction it acts like magic. It follows 

 that the best time to apply lime is immediately after 

 the application of a heavy dressing of stable manure, 

 or after turning under a green crop. — Canada Farmer. 

 At a recent horticultural meeting at Nashua one of 

 the speakers gave the results of his experience in 

 hedge planting. He advised a single row hedge, with 

 the plants set about six inches apart. A successful 

 hedge, in his opinion, cannot be grown compact and 

 as it should be, so filled with foliage and shoots that 

 a bird cannot get through, in less than eight years. 

 It needs care and watching and should not be allowed 

 to grow too scraggy limbs at first. The roots of the 

 various kinds of evergreen should be cut about every 

 spring and thus caused to send out fresh sprouts that 

 will rhake them valuable afterward. One difficulty 

 experienced in cultivating evergreens is that inexper- 

 ienced persons do not set them as deep in the earth as 

 they should be. They ought to he put deep in the 

 earth and the soil packed about them in such a way 

 tliat the air cannot get at their roots. If the earth is 

 dry it should be wet with one or two pails full of 

 water and mulched. 



Sea-sand is largely used as a fertilizing agent by 

 the farmers of the Frencli coasts of Normandy and 

 Brittany, who apply it at the rate of 3.53 cubic feet to 

 the acre, and obtain such wonderful results that they 

 are able to reap abundant wheat crops for several 

 years running. The sand is replete with nitrogeneous 

 matter. Tlie mixture of fresh and salt water, at tlie 

 mouths of rivers, appears to favor the growth of sub- 

 marine vegetation. Crustacea and moUusks of all 

 kinds get entangled in vast numbers in these bays, 

 and th'e most productive oyster beds are found there. 

 The beach is covered l)y the remains of shell-fish, 

 and the weed brought in by the sea is impreg- 

 nated by animal detritus. These deposits, added 

 to those derived from the luxuriant vegetation 

 which covers the bottom of the sea, and which when 

 torn from the rocks by a tempest sometimes covers 

 the surface so densely as to impede navigation, con- 

 tribute to the powerful fertilizing qualities of the sea- 

 sand, and explain the results which follow its use. 



A cokkespondent of the American. Agriculturist 

 writes to impress on farmers the importance of plant- 

 ing an apple orchard tliis spring. The old trees are 

 bearing less and dying every year, and on many farms 

 no successors are provided for. But apples are as 

 likely to be profitable as any fruit a farmer can in- 

 vest in at the present time, with a prospect of mak- 

 ing money out of them for the next thirty years. 



They keep better than almost any other fruit, and 

 can be had, in the fresh state, in the northern half of 

 the country every day in the year. Our soil and cli- 

 mate are particularly well adapted to this fruit, and 

 American apples bring high prices in the English 

 markets. Even in years of exceptional abundance 

 and low prices there is compensation to the fruit- 

 grower, because the cheapness of apples introduces 

 them into families where they are commoidy used as 

 a luxury, and the fruit is so wholesome and enjoy- 

 able that it becomes a necessity. The fruit-grower 

 wants steady paying prices for all that he can raise 

 every year, rather "than extravagant profits, whicli 

 induce everybody to rush into his specialty. Apples 

 grow in the older States in as great perfection as they 

 ever did, if the orchards are properly cared for. Nei- 

 ther are the old varieties running out. Let a few 

 standard varieties be planted, and nine-tenths of them 

 the long-keepers, and the profits will be sure and 

 steady. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Proceedings op the Fifteenth Session of 

 the American Pomological Society, held in 

 Chicago, Illinois, Sept. 8th,9tii and 10th, 1875. 

 This is an excellently well executed Royal quarto of 

 2015 pages, including 51 pages devoted to fruit cata- 

 logues, descriptions and copious indexes, in paper 

 covers. The quality of the paper and the typograjAi- 

 cal execution are unexceptionable, and the matter 

 of the highest pomological authority in the country. 

 The proceedings of this society ought to be in the 

 library of every horticultural and fruit-growers' so- 

 ciety in our vast country, as a reference in determin- 

 ing many questions that could not well be determined 

 without its aid, even by those tolerably expert in 

 such matters. 



We have only a very temporary access to a bor- 

 rowed copy, but should we be fortunate enough to 

 receive one of our own we shall avail ourself of the 

 opportunity it affords to make such extracts as will 

 be suitable to this locality. Twenty-six members are 

 citizens of Pennsylvania, but as far as we can dis- 

 cover only two belong to Lancaster county, namely : 

 Messrs. Henry M. and Hiram Engle, of Marietta; 

 the former of whom is a member of the " General 

 Fruit Committee," and the latter has deceased since 

 the last session of the society. 



Annual Report op the Secretary of Inter- 

 nal Affairs of the Commonwealth of Penn- 

 sylvania FOR 187-1-5. Part 3, vol. 3. Industrial 

 Statistics. This is a volume of .5.56 pages, of thesame 

 size as the Agricultural Report, and of equal quality 

 and mechanical execution, and contains four large, 

 folded, and remarkably well executed illustrations of 

 coke-ovens and oil-wells of the State of Pennsylvania. 

 Althougli perhaps not perfect in all of its dctiiils, it is 

 an improvement on former reports from that ollicc, and 

 contains an immense amount of statistical matter, 

 highly useful to the mercantile, mechanical, mining, 

 farming and domestic interests of the Commonwealth, 

 and should be accessible to all interested in such 

 .affairs. In its distribution we would repeat the sug- 

 gestions we have made in reference to the Agricul- 

 tural Report ; although in neither case do we mean 

 to say that copies should not be sent to other than 

 those we have designated, especially to the editors, or 

 at least the agricultural editors and" publishers of the 

 State. Copies of these works should also be placed 

 in the Congressional Library, and the Agricultural 

 Department, at the city of Washington, as represen- 

 tatives of the moral and material statux of the Com- 

 monwealth. 



Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Agricul- 

 tural Society. A royal octavo volume of B17 pp. 

 — including 61 pp. of the proceedings of the Penmyl- 

 vania Fruit Oroieers' Society — on fine white paper, a 

 clear impression, and with twenty-nine well executed 

 full-page plates, illustrating horses, cattle, sheep, 

 swine, insects, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, plums, 

 and dairy arrangements. This is Volume 10, and in- 

 cludes the proceedings of 1874 and 1875, the latter of 

 which embraces detailed reports of the State Ex- 

 hibition held at Lancaster in October last, and is by 

 far the best volume published by the Society. It 

 abounds in essays on agriculture, horticulture, bee 

 culture, stock culture, entomology, botany, and va- 

 rious other subjects relating to husbandry. It also 

 contains all of the transactions of the State Society 

 during the years above named, and ought to be acces- 

 sible to all the farmers of the Commonwealth. 

 Eight thousand three hundred copies have been 

 prfnted ; and here we would suggest that the State 

 Society, or those charged with the distribution of the 

 work, should send at least one copy : Fir.'it, to every 

 agricultural and horticultural society in the Com- 

 inonwealth ; Second, to every scientific and literary 

 association ; and Third, to every pulilic library in the 

 State, before any distribution of the work is made 

 among the members of the Legislature, as the best 

 plan through which the work cau be made accessible 

 to those most interested in it, and not merely a po- 

 litical distribution among those who may never look 

 into it. If they are not, these associations and insti- 

 tutions onr/ru to be on record in the Interior Depart- 

 ment, so that State documents may be intelligently 

 and judiciously distributed. 



