i92 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ December, 



Sparrows. 

 How much lonjrer will there be sparrow cluhs and 

 sparrow prizes ? They must be the want of observa- 

 tion. A new liiflit broke in upon my bailitf yester- 

 day as he saw flijrhts of sparrows busily engaged in 

 our field of ereeu peas appropriating the "louse" 

 which was injurinij the plants and stopping: its 

 growth. I am a ereat believer in birds and poultry 

 as farmers' friends, and this belief has been pro- 

 duced not only by reading- the opinions and facts of 

 others, but from :^0 years of close observation of 

 their habits. My gardener was an inveterate enemy 

 to birds, and destroyed their nests in my shrubbery, 

 and in consequence there was always a complaint of 

 grub and other destructive insects ; but when I put a 

 veto against the destruction, my garden was well 

 filled with uninjured produce. In fact, if you have 

 grub and insects in your garden, stock it with birds 

 or poultry, and you will no longer complain. In very 

 dry weather, when worms and insects are scarce, you 

 must protect your fruit. Just now I see lots of my 

 poultry among the young mangold or tares, " appro- 

 priating" my enemies. But I have so often said that 

 my best corn crops are within 50 feet of the fowl- 

 house, where the crops, from the day of their sowing 

 until harvest, undergo poultry examination, that I 

 will not again trouble you with details. One must 

 have confidence with only a bushel an acre of 

 seed-wheat at their mercy. Let me warn those who 

 do away with all their hedges that there should be 

 belts or shrubberies, not only as breeding places for 

 birds, but also as shelter from strong prevailing winds. 

 — -VortA British Agriculturist. 



Jonathan Dorwart's Fancy Poultry. 



The Reading Eaqle has this to say of a former 

 Lancasterian, father of Mr. Henry Donvart, of The 

 Examiner .vnd Express: "Jonathan Dorwart, 

 President of the Berks Country Poultry and Pet 

 Stock Association, has at present IS White Leghorn 

 and 15 Brahma chickens in two yards in this" city, 

 besides some 40 chickens in the country. Duringthe 

 past year he lost only three fowls by sickness. Some 

 years ago he was engaged in importing fancy stock 

 from Europe, and bought as high as $3,000 worth of 

 poultry in a year. 



The highest price he ever received for a trio of 

 imported, fowls was 875. He had a Brahma lien 

 that laid as many as 144 eggs without stopping. He 

 feeds his fowls principally corn, oats, wheat, bran, 

 ship-stuff, corn meal mixed with meat gravy. He 

 feeds them raw meat three times a week and raw- 

 cabbage once a day. 



He has a box in the yard in which he throws egg 

 shells for the fowls to cat. The standard food is 

 corn in the morning, oats at noon and wheat in the 

 evening. He says that hens will lay eggs sufficient 

 to pay for twice the cost of their food. As soon as 

 the young are hatched he sends them to the country 

 to be raised. 



Light in Stables. 

 Neither cattle nor horses should be stalled in a 

 dark stable, as all animals require light in the day 

 time. A horse kept for months in a stable would be 

 liiable to become bliud. In regard to light in swine 

 pens, a writer says that two sows having litters on 

 the 18th and 22d of January, respectively, were 

 kept in two rather dark, but warm, temporary sties, 

 and had to occupy them till about the middle of the 

 month of April, when, for each sow with litter, one 

 of the permanent sties was opened by selling the oc- 

 cupants. At that time thejiigs which had been kept 

 iu the dark, temporary sties, proved to be less lively 

 than, and much inferior in weight and size to those 

 of any of the litters raised in the less warm but well 

 lighted permauent'sties, notwithstanding that the 

 difference in age was very small, and that food and 

 care had been the same in every respect. One of the 

 litters born on the ISth of January, which had ac- 

 cidentally the best lighted sty tliough situated in 

 the northwest, and consequently coldest coruer of 

 the frame Ijuilding, exhibited the most rapid growth 

 and the litter born on the 18th of January, which 

 had the darkest sty, had made the poorest. 



A CORRESPONDENT Writing to the Practical Far- 

 mer, in relation to the use of salt and lime for bath 

 ing the feet of horses, says : " I have tried strong 

 brine on foundered or hoof bound horses, and with 

 good results. I made a solution of salt and applied 

 it three times a day by washing the legs and pouring 

 upon the bottom of the feet, and holding them a 

 few minutes to let it strike in. I saw the wonderful 

 effects in a few days. I account for it in this way : 

 Salt will extract moisture from the atmosphere, 

 which keeps the feet moist. Salt operates nearly 

 like grease upon the foot. The hoof becomes soft, yet 

 pliable. Like a chunk of wood saturated with salt 

 or brine, it is tough yet moist. Thus it is with 

 horses' feet. Here let me add that the practice of 

 rasping a cracked hoof to toughen it is folly. Apply 

 brine, and you will effect a cure. A horse that is 

 driven upon a hard road is liable to be stiffened. I 

 have seen valuable horses, driven \i\K>n our own 

 plank roads a few days, get quite lame. I reasoned 

 to myself as to the cause, and adopted the use of 

 brine as a remedy, which proved eflectual." 



How to Utilize a Dead Horse. 



In reply to a correspondent, the American Agricul- 

 turist says : " A dead horse or other animal should be 

 skinned, and roughly cut up into as many small 

 pieces as possible ; a plot of ground a few rods 

 square should then be plowed deeply, and the car- 

 cass thrown upon the soil in the centre of the plowed 

 ground. Some fresh dry-slacked lime should then be 

 scattered upon the heap, so as to cover it thinly but 

 wholly. The loose earth is then to be heaped over it, 

 a foot in depth, and the pile covered with boards, so 

 that the dogs cannot get to the heap and tear it up. 

 If the least smell is perceived, more earth should be 

 used." 



AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 



Scotch Farmers Ruined by Mice. 



The Scotch farmers, with all their shrewdness, are 

 apparently utterly beaten by the ridiculous mus. So 

 far, at least, they have been unable to devise any 

 means of riddings themselves of the armies of these 

 insignificant creatures which have quartered them- 

 selves on the border farms. About three months ao-o 

 the attention of the public In general, and the local 

 agricultural clubs in particular, was called to the 

 depredations caused by these tiny quadrupeds, which 

 it was suddenly discovered, had increased to such an 

 alarming extent as to have actually destroyed a large 

 expanse of pasturage and to threaten to overrun the 

 country. The land is represented as resembling the 

 ground in the neighborhood of targets for rifie prac- 

 tice, being literally ridded with holes. The whole 

 of the vegetation is destroyed in certain localities in 

 Teviotdale, not merely the blades of grass being 

 eaten by the mice, but the roots being consumed as 

 well. The consequence has been that the sheep 

 have been robbed of their natural food, and the 

 recent lambing season has been one of the most dis- 

 astrous ever known, both ewes and lambs being de- 

 prived of s_^ustenance and perishing in numbers. The 

 plague is 'almost identical with that which has so 

 seriously interfered with the progress of sheep farm- 

 ing In New Zealand, only there it Is the rabbits that 

 have caused the mischief; unless it can be stamped 

 out it threatens the ruin of many sheep-breeders and 

 wool-growers. One farmer in New Zealand actually 

 sacrificed 15,000 acres of land by inclosing that area 

 with a solid masonry wall in order to prevent the 

 spread of a colony of rabbits which had taken posses- 

 sion of a portion of his farm. But laud is too 

 scarce and valuable in Scotland to permit of such an 

 heroic method of cure. The question for the Scotch 

 farmers is whether they can reduce the number of 

 the mice by encouraging the increase of weasels, 

 hawks, owls, and other carnivorous birds and beasts, 

 or whether they must take the law into their own 

 hands and drive out the enemy. The unfortunate 

 part of the business is that the little rodents are of 

 no value, unlike rabbits, whose skins and flesh are 

 both of a Certain worth, and they are too small to 

 attract sportsmen with their guns. One thing is 

 certain, that the Scotch farmers will not in future 

 encourage the use of the gun at hawks and weasels, 

 but it will rather encourage the visits of the mouse 

 catchers. — London JJaily News. 



Horticultural Notes. 



A^ARiETiES OP Grapes.— The Concord has a wide 

 reputation for its uniformly good quality in all parts 

 of the Union. In the catalogue of the American 

 Pomological Society, it is recommended for no less 

 than thirty-four ditferent States and territories, and 

 in twenty of these it has double stars, indicating the 

 highest commendation. And yet a statement has 

 been lately made by Josiah Hoopes, ex-Presldent of 

 the Pennsylvania Fruit Growers' Society, that at 

 Lancaster, one of the finest grape-growing places in 

 the Union, it ripens imperfectly, with mildew on the 

 stems. At the same place such uncertain sorts as 

 lona, Catawba, Allen's Hybrid, Walter, and others, 

 constitute " the glory of the collections," and some 

 of these are " marvels of beauty." This and similar 

 facts iu connection with the ripening of different 

 fruits, show that experiments must he actually made 

 with them in every locality before absolute success 

 can be pronounced. 



Pe.vr ox Mountain Ash.— Some inquiries have 

 been made as to the value of the mountain ash as a 

 stock on which to work the pear. In experimenting 

 years ago, we never found it of much value, being 

 uncertain and unreliable. A corrcsjiondent of the 

 Prairie Farmer gives the result of some experiments, 

 in substance as follows : " Onondago and Osband's 

 Summer succeeded well, and did the best, the trees 

 being ' well branched and heavy stocked.' Of Doy- 

 enne Boussock, three lived out of five, and formed 

 good trees : one Belle Lucrative, and one of Kirtland 

 lived in five, while most of the other sorts all died ; 

 and others which grew are poor and sickly." On 

 the whole, this stock may be pronounced of little or 

 no vAlue, and there is no reason why it should be 

 employed, while the French quince is so easily and 

 cheaply obtained for dwarfs, and good pear stocks 

 may be had for standards. 



Early Peaches.— J. H. Watkins, of Georgia, 

 states in the Sotithern Cultivator that the Alexander 

 peach ripened at Palmetto, in that State, June 19. 

 The specimens varied from six and a half to seven 

 Inches and three-fourths in diameter, but were not so 

 large as Hales', which was two weeks and a half 

 later. Beatrice was seven days later than Alexander. 



The Worden Grape.— This grape, which has 

 been fruited in Northern Wisconsin, gives high prom- 

 ise there of value. At tlie NortheruWisconsin Fair 

 it took the first prize on grapes forquality, competing 

 with the Delaware and "several of Kogers' hybrids. 

 The members of the fruit committee were unanimous 

 in pronouncing it superior to the Delaware for that 

 northern region. 



The Wheat Supply in England. 



The wheat crop this year is the conclusion of a 

 history full of alarms and surprises. Mr. Caird tells 

 it very pleasantly, in all its bearing and consequences, 

 and reminds us, by the contrast, of the mysterious 

 and gloomy tone with which the staff of life was al- 

 ways discussed as late as thirty years ago. In some 

 respects the present state of things far surpass the 

 direct predictions of that day. We are dependent 

 upon foreigners to an extent never then imagined. 

 While the average consumption is about 2 ),000,000 

 quarters, or, as the customs returns state It, 100,000,- 

 000 hundred weights, during the last harvest year d 

 we have imported — happly. It seems, somewhat in fl 

 excess of our wants — 9:i, 000,000 hundred weights, 

 or not far from two-thirds of our whole consumption. 



Half of this came from the United States, and so 

 much of our wheat supply depends, therefore, not 

 only on the good will of that country, but still more 

 immediatly on her commercial state, which is very 

 variable. The profit itself has to be nicely calculated, 

 and in Mr. Caird's opinion the prices which have 

 lately prevailed yield little or no profit. Such a fact 

 is slowly appreciated, but when the American 

 farmers have once .acted upon it and stopped sup- 

 plies, it takes time to reverse that movement and 

 meet a rising demand. Five per cent, of our wheat 

 imports come from British India, where we have lately 

 had to feed a famished people. A good deal comes 

 from Turkey and Egypt, which, Mr. Caird observes, 

 will have to send us wheat because they both want 

 money and can no longer get it by simply borrowing. 

 He suggests, however, that in present circumstances 

 Turkey cannot not be depended on for any consider- 

 able supplies. France is too much in our own con- 

 dition to be sure of sparing us wheat when we 

 happen to want it ; in fact, if she has not to com- 

 pete with us in the open market, that is about as 

 much as can now be expected. She has had a poor 

 harvest of other grain and produce, and may want 

 all her own wheat and more. Tlie wheat crop of 

 Canada is much lower than usual. 



Here, then, is the very state of things which a 

 generation ago was prophesied as the last page of 

 our national decline and fall. When all the world, 

 including our jealous rivals, found us dependent on 

 them for more than half of our daily bread, they had 

 only to put their heads together and destroy the 

 proud nation that had so oppressed and insulted 

 them. The consummation has come. It finds us 

 year by year growing less wheat, and the foreigner 

 growing, if not absolutely more, at least more than 

 pays him. — London Times. 



Waste on the Farm. 



The greatest of wastes on the farm, is in the not 

 using of our brains; the greatest, because at the 

 bottom of all other wastes. A little thinking often 

 saves much labor. After accomplishing almost any 

 piece of work, the most of us can look back and see 

 how we could have improved on it, if we had hut 

 thought. As we view our crops of this vear, we see 

 how easily they might have been increased, had we 

 only thought. The ditch we dug through our 

 meadow was not done in the most economical way. 

 We dug too deeply at first, and did not allow for the 

 settling of the land. Hence a waste of labor. We 

 omitted buying an implement that would have 

 saved nearly its cost iu this one year's use, until we 

 had spent much in trying to accomplish our work 

 without it. Here was another waste. We carry a 

 water-pipe too near the surface to save the expense 

 of digging a trench of a safe depth, and the winter's 

 frosts necessitate a replacement of the pipe and an 

 additional digging. Certainly, a waste here. We 

 allow the weeds to grow on one piece of land, not 

 thinking to what proportions they would grow by 

 the time the crops were too far advanced to admit 

 the hoe. A waste here which might have been ob- 

 viated. And so on, wastes, little and big, every- 

 where, all arising from not thinking sufficiently — 

 waste, because not necessary, an deasily obviated. 

 We omit the ordinary wastes from neglect, from 

 laziness, from want of appeciatiou of cleanliness 

 and thoughtfulness — the waste from our stock, from 

 our manure heap, from our household. Verily, a 

 little thought will save io the farmer much, and the 

 saving through this means, even on a small farm, 

 will represent the interest on a considerable capital. 

 The wastes arising from iguorauce can very readily 



