1877.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



seedsman of Uockfm-d, Illinois, said that one 

 of tlie best crops of set'il (Mulon, I liclicvi') he 

 ever raised was a field of rye ho rented and 

 turned down in the hi jjinnins of June, this 

 U'iui; all tlie manure the lield received. 



If in the fall, work is too pressint;, .so that 

 rye cannot be got out, oats would probably do 

 very well for croi)s that are put out late, such 

 as tobacco, which is sometimes not planted 

 until the middle of June, or a cpiick growing 

 corn, like Kaily t^anada or One Hundred Day 

 Deut, which can also be delayed until the 

 Idlh or l."ilh of June. 



In place of letting a piece of ground intend- 

 ed for wheat, lie tallow, buekwiieat is some- 

 times sowed and [ilowed under twice before 

 seeding time, and is found to be very good 

 for the purpose, as it keeps the ground mellow 

 and free from weeds, the buckwheat being of 

 very rapid growth and smolheriug all weeds. 

 There is objection made against it, that in a 

 dry .season it makes the soil so dry that unless 

 a rain comet on at seeding time, the wheat 

 will not germinate very readily. 



I have never seen corn tried, or heard of 

 its being tried, but I think thatan oat-.slubble 

 ])lowed up and seeded very thick, broad-cast, 

 to coru, would make a suilicient growth and 

 prove very good for wheat. There are but 

 few crops "for which corn could be used, but I 

 have no doubt that in such ca.ses it would do 

 nearly as well as anything else, with the ex- 

 eeiition of clover. 



Any green vegetable substance j)lowed un- 

 der is good for this purpose, even if it be only- 

 weeds, but with these it is very important to 

 plow under by blos.soming time or before, as 

 if the seed is allowed to ripen, the harme done 

 will more than overbalance the good resulting 

 from the decaying vegetable matter. 



Green manuring, with the exception of 

 clover, does not really a^d any fcrtlizing mate- 

 rial to the soil, as with the exception men- 

 tioned, they draw none or so very little from 

 the air as to be inappreciable, and all the ma- 

 terials that the soil receives from the plants, 

 had been taken by the plants from the soil, and 

 so the soil is neither richer nor poorer tliau be- 

 fore, but the green vegetable mat ter plow-ed 

 under decays m a short time and leaves the 

 fertilizing materials contained therein in the 

 very best condition for them to be taken up by 

 the crop which is now put in. It also makes 

 the soil loose and mellow, the very condition 

 for the roots of most plants, which have thus 

 all opportunity for penetrating to every part 

 and appropriating the materials which have 

 been made ready for them beforehand. — A. 

 B. K., Safe Harbor. 



^ 



For The Lancaster Fakmer 

 THE CARE OF HOGS. 

 Hogs are animals that require more than 

 coru and slop to satisfy them. They have 

 cravings when they are penned up that can't 

 be .satisfied unless \Ye give them the material 

 to do it with. You will notice how they root 

 and work down throui^h dung and everything 

 else to get at the dirt, and they will have it if 

 it is in their power to get it. And again, we 

 sometiiues hear and see them scraping the 

 boards and pen to pieces. We should try to 

 give them something to satisfy this desire and 

 craving. But not like the man that took his 

 club, and every time the hogs scraped the pen 

 or boards he would pound the hogs for doing 

 so. I knew an old colored wonum who did 

 not be so cruel. Whenever her hogs tore at 

 the pen, she would throw in a rotten log to 

 satisfy them. Again, we often notice the 

 hogs chewing leaves, husks, fodder, and some 

 of their bedding, if they have any. This 

 shows us that they need something to mix 

 in with their corn and slsp for wadding, &c. 

 Now we claim that tlie domesticated hog de- 

 serves a more generous treatment than it 

 usually gets. The hogs should be treated with 

 some luxuries to mix with their food and quiet 

 those cravings and uneasiness which is caused 

 by their being shut awav from dirt and 

 various kinds of herbage 'that they would 

 otherwise get,if running at large, according to 

 nature, as of old. When the Prodigal was 



sent into the fields to feed sw'inc, lie '• would 

 fain have filled his belly with the husks that 

 the swine did eat," &c. Now I will mention 

 some things that will lu-li) to satisfy them (but 

 not without the cory and slop, also). Give 

 them ev(>ry few days S(Uiie wood or coal 

 ashes, with bits of coal in it ; sods when you 

 can get them ; husks, fodder, tree leaves, or 

 any other kind of lierbag<', green or dry ; weeds 

 and rubbish, chij) dirt, rotten wood, straw or 

 hay; a few raw or sweet )iotaloes, squashes 

 or other veiretables. A little soajisiids some- 

 times, is good for them, but sometimes the 

 slop has enough soap in the dish water 

 to answer the imrpose. I don't mean that 

 my plan is the best, but I think it is none of 

 the worst. It has given entire satisfaction .so 

 far, and I have not had a hog butchered for a 

 number of years, with a diseased liver. When 

 they are small I use the fine white shorts, or 

 middlings, scalded for slop. When they get 

 a little older I use some corn-choii along with 

 it. Next, bran and chop, and some whole 

 corn, but not much at first, but increase the 

 quantity as they grow up, but not as much in 

 hot weather as in cold winter. I use two 

 slop barrels in summer for shoats, always put- 

 ting the clio() and bran to soak and sour a lit- 

 tle while before filling up, using the slop in 

 the other barrel first. For shoats, or large 

 hogs, 1 use a little salt in a barrel of slop, and 

 all the milk and dish slojis I can get. When 

 the weather is set iu very cold I change to 

 scalding the chop, &c., for a warm slo]). 

 Keep them well sheltered from the cold winds 

 and rain or snow, &c. Have their pen clean 

 and a dry nest. Look if they have lice; you 

 can soon tell if they have any; take a little 

 lard and a bit of tar mixed with it, rub some 

 back of their ears. Fix a rail slanting across 

 the out pen, for them to scratch at. Card 

 them .sometimes and see how they like it, and 

 if they are very scruffy along their backs, 

 ■ swab them with buttermilk right well along 

 the back, and it will loosen and come off 

 without much trouble. If any look sickly 

 use some good cattle powder in their slop. 

 Now, I take it for granted that nearly every- 

 body knows something about feeding and fat- 

 tening hogs; yet for the benefit of those that 

 are anxious to learn, I have thrown out these 

 hints, and still hope others may give us more 

 information on the suliject. I would like to 

 know whether ground bone or ground hay 

 would be any benefit for feeding hogs, &c. — 

 John B. Erb, Lime Valley. 



ESSAY ON TOBACCO CULTURE.* 



It is an encouraging sight, aiKl it affords me 

 a peculiar pleasure, to see the husbandmen of 

 our great county assendiled together for the 

 purpose of elaborating and discussing jilans 

 for growing tobacco, which is becoming — if it 

 has not already become — one of the most pro- 

 fitable crops of Lancaster county. But in 

 order to "make it pay" in the entl, we must 

 manage to grow it without impoverishing the 

 soil — yea, even increasing the fertility of our 

 land. 



We should remember that tobacco leaves 

 nothing in the soil for manure, and therefore, 

 under ordinary circumstiuices, it is not profit- 

 able to the land, and should be grown with 

 considerations having reference to this fact. 

 Those farmers who are not making and using 

 more than an ordinary amount of maiuue, 

 noraiiplying any nioretlian an ordinaiy quan- 

 tity of lime, should limit themselves "accord- 

 ingly, or they may eventually lose in other 

 crops what they gain iu tobacco. Without an 

 effective forearming in obedience to this fore- 

 warning, a time will surely couic when far- 

 mers will realize that iu their anxiety to ob- 

 tain the "golden egg," they have destroyed 

 the prolific "goose." Nor should any farmer 

 put out more tobacco than he can well attend 

 to, as one good acre is worth more than two 

 bad ones, and one good leaf is worth as much 

 as five bad ones. 



Out of the 320,000,000 pounds gi'own on 



• Read before the Tob-icco Growera' Afisocjation of Lan- 

 caster Couuty, November 20, 1S76, by Peter 8. Keist. 



427,000 acres of land, and realizing S1(),IKI0,- 

 (K)0, which was the tobacco ))roduct of the 

 United States for one year, I'ennsylvania pro- 

 duced comparatively a small (piantity ; Vir- 

 ginia very largely taking the lead. "Locally 

 considered, Lancaster county takes tiie lead 

 of any other similar district in the United 

 .States iu its production of tobacco. The 

 Miami Valley, in t)hio, produced 12,000,000 

 pounds, worth more than S2, 000, 000. Coun- 

 ties in smaller tobacco-growing localities, as 

 In Connecticut, Virginia and A^irtli Carolina, 

 are increasing very rapidly. Brazil, South 

 America, exports over 100,000,000 pounds 

 annually. 



A iiamphlet written by a gentleman in Vir- 

 ginia, on the culture and curing of tobacco, 

 describes a steaming process to fix the color 

 of the plant, which increases its value nearly 

 one hundred jier cent. An article on the 

 subject from .lapan .states that in that country 

 they raise 4,000 pounds on an acre, which 

 sells at four cents a pound, realizing $100. 

 They use twenty dollars' worth of manure to 

 the acre, subsoiling their land, and picking it 

 three times. 



In the successful cultivation of tobacco, the 

 three leading essentials are,fr.flh/, good land ; 

 seronill;/, good tillage ; and thirdly, a good 

 season. The proper prei)aration of our tobacco 

 land retpiires good barnyard manure, or almost 

 any other good kind of fertilizer, and lime ; 

 barnyard manure being the cheapest, and is 

 one of the greatest advantages of our Lancas- 

 tes couuty farmers, who feed their grain into 

 their stock, and thus keep up the fertility of 

 their lands. Those who can burn their own 

 lime with coal at $2.50 per ton, have an ad- 

 ditional advantage. 



Hauling the manure on the land in the fall, 

 and jilowing it under, and about one hundred 

 bushels of lime to the acre in the spring, also 

 ploughed under, is now advocated veiy 

 strongly, as a ueces.sary preparation of the 

 soil. About two weeks before planting time, 

 the ground should be cultivated and rolled, as 

 the saying is, "like a garden." It should 

 then be ridged and marked off — as each one 

 may think best— about 3i feet by 30 inches to 

 be ready by the first of June. 



Plant at such times when the sun is not too 

 hot ; and should a "dry spell" take place, I 

 would recommend covers made ol small 

 boards. I would here mention that some of 

 my farmer neighbors have about 2,000, what 

 they call "little houses," made of thin boards, 

 with the use of which, they were very success- 

 ful. When the plants are jiroperly started, 

 keep the weeds down with hoe cultivation, or 

 any other implement. to make the ground loose 

 and mellow. Top your tobacci* from the tenth 

 to the twentieth leaf, according to the season 

 and growth, so that the top leaves may be the 

 largest. When ripe, cut it with a hatchet or 

 a cutter, as a knife will be very apt to make 

 your hand sore. The precise ripening period 

 1 will not attempt to instruct you in ; but I 

 judge, l)y the yellowish spots, and the yellow- 

 ish tinge of the whole leaf. 



After the plants are wilted, we string them 

 up on inch by half-inch laths, and hang 

 them on a scaffold in the fields for about two 

 days, when we haul them home on a scaffold 

 w'agon that will hold about one hundred laths. 

 I prefer to sort it into three qualitiesorkinds, 

 and pile it up in a proper place, when in my 

 estimation the yrower''s work terminates, ex- 

 cept to sell it to the packer, and to deliver it 

 as soon as it is sold. It is perhaps, unnecessaiy 

 to say that, as a general thing, tobacco should 

 not lie handled in very dry weather, or at 

 least, not when the idant becomes dry, crispy, 

 or brittle ; as much of it may become lost or 

 damaged. 



Much might be said yet in regard to seed- 

 beds ; the best kinds of fertilizers; preparing 

 the land ; jilanting and cultivating ; sncker- 

 ingand topping; cutting and curing; shipping, 

 selling, etc., which I will leave to the special 

 experience of the grower. I may suggest, 

 however, in conclusion, that Lancaster 

 county and Pennsylvania have advantages 

 not possessed by any other locality in the 



