i38 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ September, 



winter, and an impervious surrounding of 

 stones over the soil — obstructions to the na- 

 tural requirements of the tree. Any one, with 

 a good magnifying gla.ss, can discover, by cut- 

 ting the hud of a lilac or horse-chestnut, that 

 in the midst of the scales is a bunch of flow- 

 ers in miniature already formed. Of cour.se 

 he must select a flowering bud, as he readily 

 can, as I have done, in early spring. Any 

 thing that interferes, arrests or changes the 

 normal functions, must necessarily induce ab- 

 normal action in those functions, if any at all. 

 And so also with the withering of branchesin the 

 pear or other trees — functional disarrangement 

 by whatever cause induced, will manifest 

 itself. When a branch is deprived of its sup- 

 ply of .sap, and exhausted by evaporation, es- 

 pecially in young wood, the finer tubes will 

 collap.se, and thus the top or terminal portions 

 of branches will perish first, and of course the 

 leaves become dry, cri.sp and dead. How are 

 we to prevent this V Only by aiding nature 

 to that which it lacks. How shall we know 

 what is lacking ? General symptoms will in- 

 dicate whether it is of old age, uuripened 

 wood or tissues ; over exhaustion of the pre- 

 vious year; more head than the root can sup- 

 ply ; untoward situation or uncongenial soil ; 

 too much water or too little. It is well, how- 

 ever, that nature is prolific in resources, and 

 fights to maintain its status ; then learn its 

 wants, and aid, not retard, the proper action 

 of all its functions. But, alas! who is suffi- 

 cient for all this — superficial as all our knowl- 

 edge is at best ? And yet it is our duty to 

 learn by observation and study the experience 

 of others, and so profit by knowledge ; In all 

 humility use what means we may have, and 

 do the best we can. Pro bono publico. — By 

 J. Staiiffer, Lancaster, Pa. 



For The Lancaster Farmek. 

 WHEAT GROWING. 



Some weeks since I saw a statement in a 

 paper, published at Mechanicsburg, also, 

 nearly the same statement in the Monthly 

 Agricultural Report for May and .June, the 

 purport of which was, that Mr. J. M. Heiges, 

 of York county, had grown seventy-one bush- 

 els of wheat on an acre of ground. These 

 reports were so extraordinary tlmt I was rather 

 skeptical as to their truthfulness. To satisfy 

 my doul)ts I addressed a letter of inquiry to 

 Mr. Helices. He very kindly answered my 

 letter at length, saying the reports, as stated, 

 were perfectly true ; that he actually raised 

 at the rate of seventy-one bushels per acre. 

 Also, tliat he grew fifty-five bushels per acre 

 of the Foltz wheat in 1874 ; and, in 187.5, 

 another variety produced him 49| bushels per 

 acre ; and this season his choice variety pro- 

 duced him only .'il bu.shels and 21 lbs. per acre. 

 He gave a neighbor 2:{ bushels last fall, and 

 this neighbor now reports 102 bushels grown 

 on 2;i acres! This neighbor is a member of 

 the York ('ounty Agricultural Society, is 65 

 years of age, and says it is the best yield he 

 ever had. Now, when one or two farmers can 

 grow ."50 to 71 bushels of wheat to the acre, 

 why can not other farmers do likewise? At this 

 rate wheat-growing will pay as well, if not 

 better, than growing tobacco. My impression 

 is that Mr. Heiges' soil is not naturally very 

 strong or rich. 



But to give Mr. Heiges' mode of culture, 

 and which I ajiprehend is the main cause of 

 his success. He sows his wheat on oats and 

 wheat stidibles, but manures heavy and j^l^u's 

 deep, and plows the second time still deeper, 

 pulverizes his soil thoroughly, and sows his 

 wheat about the 25th of September, and has 

 not bad a failure since he commenced his pres- 

 ent mode of culture. One of his reasons for 

 adopting this plan was that he thousrht we were 

 not raising half enough wheat per acre, and as 

 he would not plant ten grains of corn in a hill, 

 or plant a field of corn and not cultivate it, he 

 asked himself why it would not jiay to cultivate 

 his wheat as well V He tried a sixth of an acre, 

 and his yield was a little over eight bu.shels. He 

 tried an acre next year, and fifty-five bushels 

 was the result. He has taken four crops of 



wheat from one plot of ground in succession, 

 and intends sowing the same field again this 

 fall. Had as good wheat on this plot as he 

 saw on any otlier ground. 



As before stated, his plan is to manure 

 heavy and plow deep, pulverize his soil thor- 

 oughly, and, about the 25th of September, 

 lilows again a little deeper still, and prepares 

 his fields into ridges and dejiressions — the de- 

 pressions about 12 inches wide and the ridges 

 about 10 inches — thus : 



sowing the wheat broadcast, and going over 

 with the harrow in the way of ridges and de- 

 jiressions ; then dragging, so as to make the 

 field perfectly level ; thus the seed nearly all 

 fall into the 12-inch depression, or spaces of 

 a regular depth. Then, in spring, so soon as 

 the ground liecomes moderately dry to work, 

 he goes through with some kind of a cultiva- 

 tor two or three times, until the wheat 

 becomes too high, thus giving regular cultiva- 

 tion, the same as a field of corn. This spring 

 cultivation, no doubt, is the cause of his great 

 success. 



He has two varieties of wheat — " Champion 

 Arnlier" and Heiges' Prolific" — that are very 

 stiff in the straw, stand up well, and are botli 

 bald wheats. Though Mr. Heiges considers 

 both these varieties as very superior, yet he 

 does not believe that by the ordinary culture, 

 they would produce such great crojjs as by 

 his mode of culture. — .7. B. Garber, Columbia, 

 Pa., Sept. 7th, 187H. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 



Notwithstanding the attention which has 

 been called by the press of every description 

 to the importance of taking agricultural 

 papirs, there are yet plenty of farmers and 

 otheis making a business of working the soil, 

 who think it is all a waste of money to take 

 such iiapers. They do not believe in and are 

 utterly prejudiced against what they are 

 pleased to term "book farming." They 

 generally have an idea that there is a chap of 

 some city or town who wants to make an easy 

 living, and so gets up these papers for his own 

 individual benefit, and who knows as little 

 about such matters as the judge of horses at a 

 fair, who could only tell a mule from a hor.se 

 because the former had " long ears and a thin 

 tail." 



We will admit that the man does get up 

 these papers for his own benefit, for there arc 

 very few per.sons who work without expecting 

 a comi>ensation for their labor. At the same 

 time, it is very easy to see that the editor, at 

 least, must be conversant with good practices 

 in farming, or there would soon appear such 

 a mass of rubbish as would drive away all 

 sub.scribers, and thus, of course, make the 

 "easy living" come out on the wrong side. 



Agricultural journals may be divided into 

 two clas.ses— general and local — depending on 

 the .scope of country for which they are in- 

 tended. The latter is usually intended for a 

 county or two, or ))erhai)s a State or section of 

 country, such as The Lancaster Farmer, 

 and should lie taken by every farmer or owner 

 of a lot, as they treat on such crops as are best 

 fitted for that locality. The articles that ap- 

 jtear in these local papers, with the excepti(m 

 of such as are written by the editor, are fur- 

 nished by voluntary contributors, who are 

 generally subscribers. 



The general class are usually more preten- 

 tious than the local, having, besides the chief 

 editor, a number of other editors who have 

 special departments of the paper. This class 

 is conqiosed of regular farmers' journals wh.ich 

 treat on all subjects connected more or less 

 with farming jiroper, such as horticidture, 

 stock, bee-keeping. &c., and special journals 

 which are devotinl to one special subject, such 

 as horticulture, or small fruits, or bee-keeping. 

 The former should be taken by every farmer, 

 not to the exclusion of the local paper but in 

 conjunction with it, aseach covers more or less 

 ground which the other does not touch; if the 



farmer also devotes attention to fruit raising, 

 &c., he should take a paper devoted to that 

 special subject and of course it needs no argu- 

 ment to show that a man in any of these special 

 pursuits should take a paper devoted to that. 



Now aiJtl then a person meets with one of 

 those sulyects who know everything about 

 farming, or fruit raising, or gardening. You 

 can't convince them there is anything about 

 their business they don't know. Whenever a 

 man thinks his education is finished out and 

 out, whether in trade, occupation, or profes- 

 sion, he is incorrigible and beyond improve- 

 ment. With such it is all folly to talk 

 about taking a paper on their special occu- 

 pation. 



It may now be asked. What are the advan- 

 tages to he derived from taking an agricultural 

 pai)er? We will try and see what the ad- 

 vantages are, as on this we must hinge our ad- 

 vocating such papers. 



Machinery is beginning to be used more and 

 more on the farm; where grass was done alto- 

 gether by hand, we now use machines to sow 

 the seed, to cut it, to spread it, to rake it, to 

 load it, to unload it, and finally to cut the 

 hay ; and so with all other crops. If a 

 farmer wants a machine he wants a good one, 

 and where can he better find out what ma- 

 chines are manufactured to do the work than 

 in the descriptions and advertisements of an 

 agricultural paper. 



Fertilizers are becoming a necessity, and 

 are so acknowledged by most farmers, but 

 when they come to buy tbem they are perfectly 

 at sea in the multitude of brands offered, each 

 claiming to be the best. To test them is at 

 the best expensive and troublesome. Where 

 can a farmer find out better how and what 

 kind to use than in the experience of others, 

 as given in an agricultural paper. 



Greatly improved varieties of wheat, corn, 

 itc, are often brought out. which it would 

 lake years perhaps before they could become 

 disseminated in the neighborhood of our far- 

 mer, but now the distance is annihilated by 

 the agricultural paper. 



Improved methods of culture, rotation, &c., 

 are often found out by accident, or by trial, 

 and the reports thereon are brought to the 

 farmer's own door by the post-office, in an 

 agricultural paper. 



F'lauds are practiced by bogus fertilizer 

 manufacturers, swindling patent right agents, 

 tree agents with peaches on pojilar and apides 

 on oak roots, and all others of the humbug 

 fraternity, have very little cuance to ply their 

 trade with the farmer who takes an agricul- 

 tural jiaper. 



The feeding value of grains, hay, straw, 

 &c., are beginning to be more studied, and 

 with some surprising results. Very few, fif- 

 teeti years ago, would have believed that a ton 

 of straw, with the addition of four or five dol- 

 lars' worth of oil cake, would be equal in feed- 

 ing value to a ton of good hay. Such facts as 

 these can be found out soonest and best in ag- 

 ricultural papers. 



Insect pests are becoming more numerous 

 and alarming each year, and it is very impor- 

 tant that the best methods of destroying them 

 and preventing their i-avages should be found 

 out in the least possible time, and that their 

 natural enemies, such as birds, soldier bugs, 

 &c., be described, lest they also fall victims to 

 the farmers' efforts at extermination. This 

 can always be best learned from agricultural 

 papers, and in this branch, at the head of all, 

 stands The Lanca-ster Farmer. 



To think intelligently is one of the greatest 

 keys to success, and this fiicidty is of as much 

 account to the farmer as to the professional 

 man. To start a new idea, and then think it 

 out logically to the end, is a great teacher; 

 and in this lies one of the great values of agri- 

 cultural papers. 



Therefore, take your local paper; also, take 

 one of wider scope ; and if in any special busi- 

 ness, you cannot afford to be without a paper 

 on that s])ecialty. If you take a paper, and 

 do not find some article in the course of a year's 

 subscrijition, each of which is worth to you 

 many times the cost of the paper for a whole 



