106 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



[July, 



been very limited in tlieir action. The bulk 

 of the superficial detritus has been formed 

 from the decomposition of the underlying 

 rock , and tliis detritus has been but little 

 disturbed or moved from its original position. 

 If erratic deposits exist, they are usually 

 deeply covered witli finer materials derived 

 from close at hand. A great area exists in 

 Wisconsin and Minnesoata over which not 

 a single drift pebble has ever been found, 

 either at the surface or at any depth beneath 

 it. The strata have become chemically disag- 

 gi-egated and dissolved by the percolation of 

 the rain through them, the calcareous matter 

 has been carried off in solution, and there is 

 left behind as a residuum the insoluble matter 

 which the rock originally contai'ned, and 

 which, consisting largely of silica and silicate 

 of alumma, forms by its aggregation a silicious 

 and clayey deposit of almost impalpable fine- 

 ness. It is this fine material which makes 

 up the bulk of the prairie soil ; and as the 

 writer conceives, it is this fineness which 

 is especially inimical to the growth of 

 trees. Exactly as we see the desiccated 

 lakes in the midst of forests gradually filling 

 up with finely comminuted materials and be- 

 coming covered with a growth of grasses or 

 sedges, which is not afterwards encroached on 

 by trees, no matter whether the ground be- 

 comes completely dry or whether it remains 

 more or less swampy, so we have the praries, 

 which have certainly never at any time been 

 overspread with forests, and which would al- 

 ways remain as they are, providing the cli- 

 mate underwent no radical change, and they 

 were not interferred with by man. It is for 

 the vegetable physiologist to say wliy this fine- 

 ness of the soil is so unfavorable to the growth 

 of trees ; it is for the geologist and the physi- 

 cal geographer to set forth the facts which 

 they may observe within the line of their own 

 professional work." 



HOW TO KEEP OUR BOYS AT HOME. 



And now let us talk a little about the boys, 

 whose future is so closely interwoven with 

 our own happiness and well-being. And the 

 first question we must ask is : "What course 

 shall we pursue to interest them in the work 

 of farming!"' That is the chief topic to dis- 

 cuss, because, unless we do make it for the 

 interest of the boys to remain with us and to 

 pursue the honorable calling of their fathers 

 and foreftithers, they will surely seek for 

 pleasanter places in the large cities. Often, 

 though, their search is unsuccessful, and, after 

 many years spent in unprofitable labor, they 

 may gladly return to the old farm, whose 

 rocky hills and green forests will then seem to 

 them like the garden of Eden. Therefore, we 

 should endeavor to make the home attractive ; 

 to give a cheery appearance to the sitting- 

 room and the kitchen, and even to the boys' 

 chamber, which so often is located in the attic 

 or upper chamber of the woodshed, and con- 

 tains nothing but the bare necessities of a bed 

 room — a bed, a table, one or two chairs, and 

 nails upon the door to hold the few garments 

 which are their only possessions. 



So let us commence with these chambers 

 first. Give up a few of the comforts of the 

 rarely-occupied guest-chamber, if need be, 

 and cover the bare boards of the floor with 

 some kind of a carpet ; or, if that is not ob- 

 tainable, braid or knit some bright colored 

 rugs to spread beside the bed and in front of 

 the bureau or washstand. Your sons are be- 

 coming men now — are 16, 18 or 20 years 

 old, as the case may be — and demand at your 

 hands a more comfortable apartment than 

 was needed in their childhood. Perhaps they 

 possess a desire for "pretty things," as well 

 as your daughters ; and it is a proper desire, 

 and should be gratified in every possible way. 

 Their bed should be made comfortable, and 

 the table should be covered with a spread. If 

 it is knitted by your own hands or embroidered 

 on linen by their sister's, so much the better, 

 for it shows them that their pleasure and com- 

 fort are akin to yours, and that you take de- 

 light in making them happy. Brightly colored 



chintz and cretonne can be procured at cheap 

 rates now, and, by their aid, out of the home- 

 liest materials, such as old boxes and barrels, 

 you can fashion comfortable chairs and couches. 

 A planed and neatly-fitted square top can also 

 be made and nailed over a barrel, and a strong 

 table will be the result, which, when covered 

 with a cloth, answers every purpose. An in- 

 genious boy, with the aid of his mother's and 

 sisters' fingers, can fashion all sorts of pretty 

 articles, at little expense, which will make 

 his chamber attractive and pleasant to him- 

 self and his friends. 



Then, boys should be encouraged to work 

 with a will by presents of a colt, or a calf, or 

 a lamb. Even if they possess these three va- 

 rieties of stock, it will not be an injury to 

 them, but a decided advantage, because the 

 love of possession is inherent in the human 

 breast, and, if it is gratified, often increases 

 one's desire to be of use in the family — to do 

 what is to be done with pleasure and as if it 

 were play-work, rather than labor. Give your 

 boy a cock and a half a dozen hens as his own 

 property, and see with how much more zeal 

 he will attend to the needs of the poultry. 

 Give him a share of the egg money and see 

 how many more dozens you will carry to mar- 

 ket. The chief trouble with oui' boys is the 

 affairs of the farm, and so they take little heed 

 to its prosperity. 



Again, it is well to encourage pleasant so- 

 ciety for them — to join the farmers' clubs and 

 the agricultural societies, and strive for the 

 prizes the latter offer. Cultivate good man- 

 ners, as well as good morals ; and do not ridi- 

 cule your sous it they like to look well dressed 

 when they go into society, but give them the 

 means to do so and tell them how nicely they 

 appear. If farmers would but pursue this 

 course, the boorishness and rusticity of their 

 class would be greatly diminished. To be sure, 

 there are farmers in our midst who are among 

 the best educated and the best bred men of 

 New England, and their sons are being trained 

 to grace a rural life ; but their number is very 

 small and it does not increase in due propor- 

 tions of the yfho\e.— Springfield Republican. 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



Proceedings of the Lancaster County Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Society. 



The Society met in the Athen«um, at 2 o'clock ou 

 Monday afternoon, July 2, President Calvin Cooper 

 in the chair. 



The following; members were present : W. J. 

 Kafroth, Secretary pro tern., West Earl; Levi W. 

 GrofT, Earl ; P. S. Reist, Manheim ; M. D. Kendie;, 

 Manor ; Henry Kurtz, Mount Joy ; Prof. S. S. Kath- 

 von, city ; II. M. Engle, Marietta ; David G. Swartz, 

 city; C. H. Hunsecker, Manheim; Levi S. Keist, 

 Manheim ; John Garber, Hempfield ; John Miller, 

 Manheim. 



Mr. M. D. KENniG, from acommitte appointed to 

 experiment and report which is the best variety of 

 wheat, and what is the proper quantity of seed to be 

 sown per acre, reported that he had sown side by 

 side in the same field a strip of Fultz and a strip of 

 Clausen wheat, and he brought for examination a 

 bunch of heads from each variety, plucked at the 

 same time, which showed that the Fultz variety ma- 

 tured much more rapidly than the other, that it con- 

 tained a greater number of grains to the head, but 

 that the grains were by no means so large as the 

 Clauson. He had sown from one bushel to one bushel 

 and a half of Fultz wheat to the acre, and his obser- 

 vation was that one bushel is quite enough where the 

 land is fertile. In thin soil more may be required, 

 but not in soil where the land contains a sufficient 

 quantity of vegetable mould. He preferred the 

 Clauson to the Fultz, though the first named is con- 

 siderably later. 



P. S. Reist agreed that one bushel of seed was 

 enough to sow, unlesss the sower calculates that 

 some of the seed is to fall by the|wayside,or among 

 thorns and brambles. He had known good farmers, 

 however, who sowed a bushel and a half or two 

 bushels with good result. 



Henry Kurtz was in favor of light seeding, as 

 the straw would then be stronger and the wheat less 

 likely to lodge. He had sowed last fall as much as 

 two bushels of amber wheat to the acre, but he was 

 satisfied this was too much unless the soil was very 

 thin. He had suffered considerably from smut and 

 would like to know what was the cause of it. 



Mr. Groff said he had made several experiments 

 in growing wheat this season, and he would be 

 pleased to have the president and a, committee of the 



society to call at his farmhouse, where he would 

 show them the growing wheat, and explain to them 

 his mode of cultivating it. He would show them the 

 ditference between cultivated and uncultivated 

 wheat, and the great advantage resulting from cul- 

 tivation. He had also a variety of rye he would like 

 to show the committee, the grain being of unusual 

 size. He had taken the advice of a seedsman and 

 sown only sixty pounds of seed to the acre. Had he 

 used his own judgment he would have sown two 

 bushels to the acre. He believed In a liberal use of 

 seed ; unless we sow liberally we cannot reap liberally. 



Henry Kurtz thought 60 pounds of seed to the 

 acre too little, and two bushels two much, unless the 

 seed was very large. We should endeavor to find out 

 just what is the right quantity between these ex- 

 tremes. 



W. J. Kafroth said that the farmers of West 

 Earl sowed two bushels of wheat to the acre, and 

 there was as good a crop in that section as anywhere 

 else In the county. He would not sow a less amount 

 of seed. 



P. 8. Reist said there was on an average 36,000 

 grains of wheat to the bushel, and that is enough 

 for an acre. If the grains are small there are, of 

 course, more of them in a bushel and a less bulk 

 should be sown. If the grains are large there are a 

 less number in a bushel and a greater bulk should be 

 sown. 



Mr. Kendig remarked that when he recommended 

 a bushel of seed to the acre he referred to the Fultz 

 wheat. A larger grained wheat would require a 

 greater weight of seed. 



H. M. ExoLE said the question of the proper 

 quantity of seed would never be settled among farm- 

 ers, each of whom had his own opinion in the matter, 

 and would be governed by his own experience. His 

 own opinion was that farmers used to much seed. 

 The English agriculturists are in advance of us In 

 grain growing, aud they raise as large crops as we do, 

 by sowing three pecks of seed to the acre. Mr. Engle 

 himself would never sow more than a bushel and a 

 half of any kind of grain to the acre ; but no rule 

 can be laid down. We must use our best judgment 

 and be guided by our own experience. His own ex- 

 perience was that where he sowed the seed heaviest 

 last fall his crop was the lightest this summer. 



Levi W. Gropf having been requested to state his 

 mode of cultivating wheat, said he drilled it In rows 

 several inches apart. This he did by changing his 

 wheat drill so that it had but four instead of the 

 usual eight seed spouts. He had shovels'Bo arranged 

 as to scatter the seed in each drill to the width of 

 about four inches, instead of allowing it to lie In a 

 straight line, as is usually done. After the wheat is 

 well up he cultivates it with the shovels attached to 

 the wheat drill, the shovels being passed between the 

 rows of wheat the same as the cultivator is passed 

 between the rows of corn. He had no difliculty in 

 getting the mules to walk between the rows.of wheat. 

 They seldom tramped it any, and If they did it would 

 do but little harm. He was certain by his mode of 

 cultivation that he could raise at least six bushels 

 more wheat per acre than by the old plan. 



D. G. Swartz said that if Mr. Groff could do as 

 he said he could do, his mode of cultivating wheat 

 was certainly a great discovery. If the man who 

 caused two blades of grass to grow where only one 

 grew before was a public benefactor, how much more 

 a benefactor was the man who could add six bushels 

 of wheat to each acre grown. 



Mr. Kuktz said that Mr. Heiges, of York, had for 

 some years cultivated his wheat, and had last year 

 grown twice as much per acre aa by the old method. 



Levi S. Reist said that though the cultivation of 

 wheat was a new thing in Lancaster county, it was 

 old in some other parts of the world. In Japan they 

 cultivate wheat just as we do corn or other vege- 

 tables. 



Mr. Engle said all plants are improved by culti- 

 vation, and wheat is no exception to this rule. It 

 will pay the farmer to cultivate it. He illustrated 

 the advantages of even rough cultivation by telling 

 of a farmer who had thoughtlessly left his harrow 

 in the wheat field after the seed had been harrowed 

 down in the fall, and not wanting the harrow, allow- 

 ed it to remain there all winter. Late in the spring 

 he sent a boy for the harrow, and the lad dragged it 

 from one end of the field to the other over the young 

 wheat. His master was almost tempted to flog him 

 for doing so, but the wheat that had been thus rudely 

 treated at once took a fresh growth, and was soon 

 ahead of that in any other part of the field, and It 

 continued in this condition to the time it was har- 

 vested — the part over which the harrow had passed 

 being distinctly marked by its superiority. 



Mr. Swartz favored cultivation, and said that 

 though he was generally regarded as merely a dealer 

 in lands, he had 800 acres of cultivated lands In 

 Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas— in each of which States 

 different varieties of wheat were grown and different 

 modes of farming adopted. It was his desire to learn 

 the best mode so that he might be benefited by adopt- 

 ing it. 



Crop reports being called for, P. 3. Reist, of 

 Oregon, Manheim township, reported the grass crop 

 at 75 per cent., and wheat 75 per cent., with harvest- 

 ing fairly commenced ; oats very promitiug ; will 



