The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., FEBRUARY, 1877. 



Vol. IX. No. 2. 



GENERAL READERS. 



It does not follow as a matter of course that 

 the general reader, or those i)ersoiis not in any- 

 way ensaKeil in agricultural jnirsuits, will lind 

 nothing to interest or benefit them in the col- 

 umns of au agricultural paper. Indeed, it 

 may be truly said that the entire community 

 has a direct "iuterest in the success of agricul- 

 ture. It is the basis of all the other interests 

 of any district, .State or nation ; and where 

 agriculture cannot be successfully pursued— 

 save in a very exceptioual case— no other iu- 

 terest will prosi>er. Therefore, all have a 

 moral or material interest in it, whether they 

 are mechanics, merchants, commercialists, 

 professionalists, or retired gentlemen. Daniel 

 Webster lias truly said, " Tlie farmer is the 

 founder <if civilization ,•" for if no tarming were 

 done in the world, it would truly be an incom- 

 parably poor and impoverished place for any 

 humaii being to sojourn in, under the present 

 constitution of human society, and would 

 carry us back to that primitive age when men 

 lived in huis and caves. Coeval with the 

 very creation of man, he was commanded to 

 " dress the garden of Eden and keep it," and 

 when he fell from his original integrity, the 

 injunction to " eat his bread by the sweat of 

 his brow" was wisely imposed upon him, all 

 of which involved the occuiiatiou of agricul- 

 tural labor. 



Had our forefathers, when they first settled 

 in this country, confined themselves to the 

 building of cities, towns and villages, and con- 

 ducting all their affairs therein, and had not 

 gone forth and scattered over the laud, felling 

 forests and tilling the soil, and had continued 

 thus to the present time, our country would 

 have made a meagre show at the "Great Cen- 

 tennial Exposition," if it would have been 

 able to survive the wreck of time at all. 



True, a few fishing towns on a barren coast, 

 or a Venice " built in the sea" may occasion- 

 ally tlourish for a time, but even these could 

 not long exist if it were not for the agricul- 

 tural productions which they receive from else- 

 where in exchange for their own local produc- 

 tions. All the material which supports com- 

 merce, manufactures, mechanics, and what- 

 ever other interest that is necessary for the 

 development and progress of the human fam- 

 ily, comes out of the soil, and is directly or 

 indirectly related to agriculture ; and- surely 

 an occupation wliich is so intimately connected 

 with the welfare of human soc'iety, must be of 

 sufficient interest to human beings to elicit 

 some recognition of its liter.ature that is more 

 than merely passive — a literature that is prac- 

 tical, useful, beautifying, ennobling and hap- 

 pifying. 



There are fruit, floral, vegetable, domestic 

 and economical questions discussed in agri- 

 cultural papers, which reach into every house- 

 hold, whether in town or country, and wheth- 

 er the occupant cultivates a farm, a garden, 

 or only a single flower-pot in the window; 

 and it may well be regarded as an indolent, 

 a selfish, or a shiftless family, where these 

 things are entirely ignored. There is no 

 "hub," or general centre where all the know- 

 ledge on any subject is monopolized. Knowl- 

 edge is ditVusive, and although in its ditl'usion 

 much may get abroad that is trivial, or even 

 worthless, yet, it all may contain more or less 

 grains thai are useful to some one; and, if 

 people will bestow a reasonable degree of 

 culture u])on their minds, they will soon be 

 able to sift the subjects brought before them 

 in reading — be al)le to gather and ai>propriate 

 the wheat and blow the chatf away. The 

 earth produces nothing that does not contain 

 more or less dross - nothing, a portion of 

 which is not rejected as useless. This seems 

 to be a condition of the things incidental to 

 fallen humanity, and therefore it is not sur- 



l)rising that many useless things should get 

 into print. But, oven under these circum- 

 stances, it often transpires that what is not 

 useful or interesting to one, may be not only 

 usefid, but of great importance to another. 



Many important enterprises, sublime ideas, 

 great events, and useful inventions have been 

 suggested and subsequently elaborated, 

 through some small hint received in reading 

 a newspaper, a magazine, or a book— .some 

 practical thought that was in harmony with 

 the experincc of the reader, but which he 

 felt too diffident to make known, and might 

 have abandoned, but for such sui)port. It is 

 even so in domestic economy; in the different 

 professional callings; in matters relating to 

 popular science; in agricultural affairs, and in 

 mechanics, manufactures and in commerce. 



Many long years ago we heard of a yovnig 

 man learning the first rudiments of a profes- 

 sion — which he subsequently applied himself 

 to and followed during his whole life — in an 

 occupation which, as a whole, had no relation 

 to it whatever. It is thus that the readers of 

 an agricultural journal may find something 

 in its columns that may be useful to them, no 

 matter what their secular occupation may be. 

 On the platform of domestic economy, at 

 least, the whole civilized portion of the hu- 

 man family is in sympathy, and fii;ds a com- 

 mon ground. This is so because of the ho- 

 mogeneity of their physical wants, and their 

 mutual dependence upon each other. Think 

 of this and subscribe for the Farmer. 



A SPECIAL APPEAL. 



From the very peculiar situation in which 

 we have been placed for the last month or 

 two, we are compelled to make an apology to 

 our readers for not only our late appearance, 

 but also for the absence of our usual 

 quantumo of original matter and contri- 

 butions from our friends. Being now 

 fairly on our feet again, we shall en- 

 deavor hereafter to be "up to time" with our 

 readers. And here we woidd respectfully ask 

 our contributors to lend us their generous aid 

 in making the Farmer the reflex of the senti- 

 ment of the practical men of the county — in- 

 cluding agriculturists, horticulturists, flori- 

 culturists, gardeners, tobacco growers, bee 

 keepers, millers, mechanics, machinists, cheese 

 manufacturers, dairymen, miners, lime- 

 burners and industrial pursuits in general. 

 We entertain a becoming pride of our name, 

 our locality, our resources, our wealth, and 

 our productions, and we desire to have them 

 properly represented abroad; and if we can 

 succeed in doiuir so, we feel that they will not 

 be to our discredit. That has heretofore been 

 our aim, and we will endeavor, with the aid 

 of our friends, to continue it so. Then, gen- 

 tle patrons, please "bear a hand," and help 

 us on. And we would respectfully desire to 

 impress the fact ujion the farmers of Lancas- 

 ter county, and our readers in particular, 

 that in order to sustain their local journal as 

 it ought to be sustained, as their rejiresenta- 

 tive in the agricultutal interests of the county 

 and the country, they ought to continue their 

 efforts to increase our suKscription list. 

 There is no reason why Lancaster county 

 should not be a leading county in agricultural 

 literature, as well as she is in her public and 

 private .schools; her iron, zinc and nickel 

 mines; her tobacco culture; her dairy produc- 

 tions; her fanning mills and other imple- 

 ments of husbandry; her flour mills, and in 

 her general domestic produce. She is an em- 

 pire in herself, and she ought to aspire to the 

 literary dignity of an empire. She need not 

 necessarily withhold her patronage from other 

 worthy journals; but, under any circumstan- 

 ces, she sliould extend a liberal patronage to 

 her own home jouiiial. We disclaim egotism, 



or we could satisfactorily illustrate that the 

 whole county, as an agricultural district, has 

 been enhanced in general esteem abroad by 

 the existence of the Farmer. 



TO SUBSCRIBERS. 



As the publisher of the Farmer has com- 

 menced the enterprise without any surplus of 

 pecuniary means, and as material and lalior 

 are tilings that demand ra.s/i, he respectfully 

 admoni.shes his ]iatrons that their subscrip- 

 tions will be thankfully received; therefore, 

 they will confer a sjiecial favor by calling 

 upon the editor, corner of North (^ueen and 

 Orange streets or at the Examiner and Ex- 

 press odice. No. 22 Soutli Ciueen street. Money 

 liy mail should only be sent hy a post-office 

 order, but where this medium is not accessi- 

 ble, they can avail themselves of the visits of 

 their resiionsible friends. 



Those outside of a jirinting office have a 

 very imi)erfect conception of the difficulties of 

 "making both ends meet'-' in conducting a 

 journal on a limited subscription list. Where 

 the issues are comited by tens, twenties, and 

 thirties of thousands, there is "plain sailing." 



TO OUR CANVASSING FRIENDS 



We feel a sperial thankfulness to our fiiends 

 Messrs. Henry M. Engle, Israel E. Eaudis, 

 Peter S. Reist, Levi S. Reist, Calvin 

 Cooper, Martin, D. Kendig, A. B. Kise 

 and D. Resh, for the zeal and the 

 persevering industry they have exhibited 

 in procuring subscriptions for the Farmer. 

 The efforts of twenty— in Lancaster county — 

 of such men, would put our journal on s\ich a 

 footing as would be a pleasure in conducting 

 and improvini: it, and place its pecuniary con- 

 dition beyond the reach of financial di.saster. 

 We hope those good friends and others who 

 take an interest in the moral and material 

 progress of our county, will continue their la- 

 bors, as opportunity may ofier. Everyone 

 can do a little; if it is only the obtaining of a 

 single subscriber, and these "little things" 

 will ultimately become the aggregate of an 

 efticient sustaining power. 



THE AYRAULT CATTLE. 

 Some of our readers may be able to recall 

 these fine animals, which were on exhibition 

 fora short jieriod at the Sorrel Horse hotel, 

 West King street, Lancaster, in the early 

 part of the jnesent year, and which were rep- 

 resented as "the two heaviest and Ijest cattle 

 ever exhibited in America." The " Queen" 

 was a heifer seven years old, and weighing 

 .■!,700 pounds, and the "Champion," an ox 

 four years old, and weighing 3,300 pounds. 

 These cattle were owned and raised and fat- 

 tened by Mr. Geo. Ayrault, well known as a 

 cattle grower and breeder, of New York 

 State, and had been on the return from the 

 Centennial Exhibition, where the proprietor 

 had offered $500 to any one who could excel 

 them, or either of them. To our view the ox 

 was a fine and symmetrically formed animal, 

 but the heifer seemed imwieldy, as all she 

 things are when they attain gigantic propor- 

 tions. If excessive larire size is an es.sential 

 qualification in the estimate of catte, these 

 certainly possessed tliat merit; and with all 

 our fine stock, we dont think anybody in Lan- 

 caster county, j!(st nnw, can take uptliat$.500; 

 and perhaps they don't care about doing so. 

 Large as they are, there is probably more 

 profit, as a general rule, in cattle of lighter 

 weight. 



Tf every subscriber of The Farmer would 

 just try and make an effort to add a new one 

 to our" list, it would soon put us on a sound 

 footing. 



