1876.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



ii9 



Trof. M. Hell, liaslicpii tabulated as follows, 

 showiiiij the lieiitiiii; values per cord of several 

 American woods — sliell-bark hickory l)eiiig 

 taken as the standard, and marked 1(10: 



Slicill harU liieUory,...UIO i Yell. i\v oak,.... 

 Pi!;uut liiikory, !I5 llani iiiapl 



T, 



Wliile oak, 



White asli, .... 



I)o};wooil, 



Si-nil) oak, 



AN'ifcli lia/.el, 



Apple tree, 



Kwl oak, 



Wliitc l>eccli, 



Black walnut, (>5 



Black liinli Oli 



.. fiO 



.. 00 



. . 5.S 



. . 5(1 



.. .5.') 



.. m 



70 

 (ill 



Wliile i-li 



Ueil ci'tlar, 

 Willi clieiry, . 

 Yellow pine, . 

 j'SoCt maple, . .. 



Cliesliiut, .53 



Yi'llow jioplar, .53 



Hiitteniiit, 51 



While liiri-h, 48 



White-pine, 42 



The hardness of wood di^pends ii|)on the 

 di'iisity of its libri^s, or rather of their paekini;. 

 Tiie same species of wood is not- always of eipial 

 density. Those trees which i;i()w in the forest, 

 or on low wet lands, are not nearly so consoli- 

 dated as their confrei'es in thi' njieii lieldsoron 

 barren soils, where growth is slow and re- 

 tarded. 



Duriiiff the process of combustion, heat is 

 evolved in two ways; tirst by Maine, second by 

 red-hot coals. Soft woods are iiinch more 

 uittivc in the lirst stage than hai'd, and liai'd 

 woods are more active in. the second than soft. 

 Tht^ soft wood burns rapidly, with a volumin- 

 ous Haine, Icavint; but little ('oal; wliile the 

 hard produces less llaine, but yields a larger 

 mass of coal. The cause of this is, jiarlly, the 

 frecadinissionofairthrongh the spongy texture 

 of the soft wood, but it is mainly due to chem- 

 ical comiiosition. Pur(( woody lihre (ligniii,) 

 fiom whatever source, has the same composi- 

 tion : oxygen, 10 jiarts; hydrogen, 10; and car- 

 bon 1-J; in other words, there is just enough 

 oxygen in it to unite in combustion with the 

 hydrogen and iiroduce water. But in most 

 woods the tibre is impure, especially in the 

 softer kinds. In hard woods, on tlie other 

 liand, the lignin approaches much nearer the 

 l>roper chemical combination. In soft woods 

 hydrogen is in excess, hence the vehi^mence of 

 their combnstiou at tirst ; more carbon is taken 

 up with the hydrogen, producing llaim^ and 

 smoke, and the coal residue is diminished. It 

 is an error how(^ver to suppose that soft wood 

 yields less heat than an equal weight of hard. 

 It burns more (luickly, to lie sure, lint the heat 

 evolved is intense, nuich more so than that of 

 hard wood in the same time, hence, for rapid 

 and concentrated heat it is better adapted than 

 the other. — Yauiuans. 



BITTER BUTTER. 



A lady correspondent of the Maine Fnrmir 

 gives her views as follows njion this subject: 

 .Simply ciivering pure, soiuid ci'eam in a clean 

 tin pail will not of itself cause hitteruess nor 

 fermentation in the cream it contains ; on the 

 contrary, keeping it from contact with the 

 oxygen of the air, would have a tendency to 

 retard changes rather than hasten them. 

 Cream is very seldom bitter in the summer, 

 nor would it often be in winter if the milk 

 were kept at a temperature as high as (35 -, day 

 and night. It is impossible to state just what 

 causes bitterness in each specimen of butter or 

 mess of cream. Sometimes it may be caused 

 by weeds or poor feed eaten by the cows, but 

 much oftener it is iitdincth/ caused by a low 

 tenyierature of the milk during the rising of 

 the cream. Perhaps it woidd lie more correct 

 to say that a low temperature is the exciting 

 or inuiiediate cause, just as cold may be the 

 exciting eause of a fit of sickness in the human 

 patient. 



It must be remembered that milk is a com- 

 liound substance, and that it is subject to (-on- 

 staut changes from the moment it leaves the 

 udder until it is digested in the stomach of 

 man or auimals, or until it is entirely decom- 

 Jiosed by the usual process of decay. Milk 

 contains not only fat, curd, sugar and water, 

 but also several essentuil oils which may add 

 to or take from its agreeable flavor, according 

 to the condition they may be in. It also often 

 contains germs of fungi which, under certain 

 conditions, may injure its llavor. Tliese little 

 vegetable growths are liable to increase with 

 great rapidity, when the conditions are favor- 



able, and thus to destroy or entirely change 

 the character of the milk growth, and in the 

 summer souring tends to counteract the germ. 

 As milk is olleii kept in warm rooms, the 

 .souring process begins so soon that llie milk 

 is protected from the ellects of germ growtli. 

 Heating or IVee/.ing milk will also prevent 

 germ growth tor the time being. That change 

 in milk which produces bitterness can go on 

 under a inni'h lower temperature than is re- 

 •inired for iiroducing sourness. So, without 

 attemptingtoexplain ill detail all the dilli'rent 

 (dianges to which milk is subject while the 

 cream is rising, we may perliajis make the sub- 

 ject a little clearer by comparing the two con- 

 ditions of sourness and bitterness with a rail- 

 road track and its turnouts. Temperature is to 

 milk as a swit(-h is to a railroail track. If the 

 temperature is low, but not low enough to 

 prevent all action, which would be at or 

 near the freezinir point, the milk will go oil' on 

 the track towards a condition of bitterness, 

 just as sure as there are any fungoid germs in 

 it, but if th(^ tcmiiei'atnre is high enough to 

 send it towards a state of acidity, bitterness 

 is escaped. We seldom hear any complaint 

 of bitter milk, c.n^am or butter in warm 

 Weather. It is when the days begin to lie cool 

 in the fall or early winter, and before the milk 

 is removcil to winter (ptarters, that the ipies- 

 tions begin to conn^ in, " Why don't the but- 

 ter come y" and "What makes the cream 

 bitter V" It is possible there may be milk so 

 pure that a low tiaiipei-ature would not cause 

 bitterness in forty-eight hours, but we believe 

 such milk is very scarce. The only perfectly 

 sure ]irev(^ntative we have practiced is to heat 

 the milk to 1:50- as soon as it comes in from 

 the staliUts. People who do that seldom have 

 any trouble of this kind. 



TRANSPLANTING TREES IN FALL OR 

 SPRING. 



Mr. W. II. Ragan, Secretary of the Indiana 

 Horticultural Society, gives his views on the 

 above subject thus, in the Indiana J'^irmcr ; 

 The iirincijile through which successful iirojia- 

 gation of plants by artilieial means is insured, 

 is the temperature of the soil in which the 

 cutting is inserted, ainl a lower degrees sur- 

 romiding the top. Such conditions stimulate 

 the root and retard leaf growth. A cutting 

 in.serted in soil heated from below, will striki^ 

 root, as the gardeners term it, longbefon' any 

 apparent growth manifests itselfabove ground. 

 This tendency is in accord with a natural law 

 that demands liist the perniancncy of the |)laiit 

 resoun'cs before a supply can lie demanded 

 therefrom. When these conditions are r<ver.s- 

 ed, we see leaf-growth developed, with Halter- 

 ing prospi-cts of success, when a few days of 

 dry weather intervening, causes the plant to 

 wither and die. On examination we lind no 

 root growth to supply the heavy drain by the 

 developed foliage upon the plant, rendering 

 death only a iiuestion of time. 



Xow, a tr('e transplanted early in the fall 

 has the advantage of having its roots in warm 

 soil, while its top is in the cool atmosphere, 

 conditions almost analogous to the artilieial 

 means adopted by the propagation. 



A tiansi>lanted tree, with a large portion of 

 its roots lost in digging, becomes very much 

 like a rootless laitting, reiiniring similar treat- 

 ment to insure its growth. A tree transplanted 

 early in the fall, while the ground isyetwarm, 

 will form nuinerons librous roots before cold 

 weather, which, if protectetl by the mounding 

 process, ri'ferred to in a i)revious article, will 

 be ready in the spring to contribute to the 

 wants of the tree, wiien drawn on by the de- 

 veloping foliage. Thus, the propriety of cov- 

 ering the roots warm and securely for the win- 

 ter, will become ap|)arent to the planter, as 

 this tender growth will be easily damaged by 

 the heavings of the frost and winds of winter, 

 when your tree becomes even woi'sc off than 

 if removed in the spring. This mound of earth 

 should be removed when spring opens up. 



Trees transplanted in the spring have the 

 reverse conditions of the fall planting to con- 

 tend with, viz. : <i high atmospheric tempera- 



ture, tending to develop foliage, and a low 

 temperature of the soil, retarding root growth, 

 often resnlliiig fatally, as in the case of the 

 cutting referred to, when overtaken by a 

 period of droulli. 



The results of fall and spring planting, in 

 favor of the former, are more apparent in ciwe 

 of trees of large growth, being due to the 

 greater proportional inntilalion of the root, 

 and the larger expanse of ev.iporating sinface 

 ill thelbliagc. Such being the ease, the reader 

 will readily perceive the inipurtanee of tians- 

 plautiiig large deeidiions trees early in the fall. 



CHINESE AGRICULTURE. 



I will show the teachei-s of agriculture iin- 

 other people, who, wilhunl the aid of science, 

 of whic'h they know nothing, have found the 

 philosopher's stone, which tliesi^ very leai:hers, 

 in their blindness, vaiiilv .seek. I will point 

 out to them a land, the' i'orlility of wJiicli hiw 

 liir three tlious.and years never dei-rea.si'd, but, 

 on tlu^ contrary, has been ever on the iiii'rease; 

 and where' more men are crowded together on 

 a sijiiare mile than are to be round on the same 

 space in Holland or Hnglaiid. 



According to the U'stimony of all reports of 

 our own and former times, made bv Davis, 

 llcdde, Koitune, and others, and which have 

 been fully borne out by the s|H!cial imiuiries 

 into the stale of Chinese hushandiy, instituted 

 on the siHit at my leifiiest, by tlu' direction of 

 the late Sir Uobi-rt Peel, it appears that in 

 China, nothing is known of turalom i-uUurc, or 

 of J'udilcr plants, which are grown for the sake 

 of cattle. Firiii-i/iiril mauure is eipially un- 

 known ; every field y'^Ula jjiynluct: twice a year, 

 and is never allowed to lie fulloio. 



Wheat ofKMi produces one hundred and 

 twenty-fold and uiiwards (KckellK^rg) ; and a 

 fifteen-fold crop is considered an average yield 

 (Davis). All those means which the (ierinan 

 teaclu^r of agriculture regarils as indisitfnMtUe 

 for increasing the |)roduce of our lields, and 

 instructs his followers to employ, are not only 

 («(;;•<■/// dispensed with by the (liinese farmer, 

 but he actually obtains, without their co- 

 operation, cro))S which exceed more than two- 

 fold those of the (ierman high farmers. 



I readily admit that the Cliinesr are ditfer- 

 ently circumstancpd from what we are in Kii- 

 rojie. Most of them are Buddhists, and eat no 

 beef; weeat morellesh. and iniisl cons^'ipiently 

 grow fodder for the production of that article 

 of our diet. Hut that is not theipiestion lielbre 

 us, but one which concerns those principles 

 that are to guide the pra<'ti<-e of husbandry. 

 Our teachers of luodi'rii agriculture do not tell 

 us to grow fodder that llcsh iii ly lie prodnctil, 

 but that we ought to do .so for the purpose of 

 forming manure ; which clearly sliows that 

 they have no just conception of the true nature 

 and aim of agriculturi', and that they are alto- 

 gether ignorant of .scientific princii>les in the 

 matter. 



In laying down a scientific principle, the 

 first point for consideration is not whether the 

 aiiplication of it will turn out prolilable or 

 not, but wln'ther it is Inn : for if it is a true 

 l>rinci])le it /)(U.<( prove advantageous. 



In scientific agriculture " manure " finds no 

 longer a place, for the notions that were for- 

 merly attached to the term are completely ob- 

 .solete ; just as is the c;ise with the word 

 I'lihiijiston, which, ui) to the end of the last 

 century, was used to explain chemical phe- 

 nomena. 



So loiig .a-s the nature of Phlogiston wa.s un- 

 known, that word served as a collective t<!rm 

 to connect together, in an intelligible form, a 

 number of unkiiinnn oiK'ratiug causes; but 

 when it had once bei^n settled what "Phlo- 

 giston " really meant and repre-seiiled, the 

 term had to giv() way to more correct ideas, 

 and interiiretations of i)heuoiueua Ijecame 

 what they had never been before, viz.: real 

 and trustworthy. Wood does not, on that ac- 

 count, burn dili'erently now-a-<lays from what 

 it formerly did ; the air played the same part 

 in its combustion then a.s now ; and water .still 

 IKLS-scsires tlie .same property of making bodies 

 Wet ; but what immense progress luis beea 

 made by mankind, as the result of substituting 



