424 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



[August 



of the ground. Josiah Hoopes, in Iiis Book 



of Evergreens, says : 



"Men of experience seldom desire large 

 trees, knowing full well the haneful eft'ects of 

 transplanting large evergreens. The lower 

 branches shed their foliage and are a]it to die, 

 and forever after they present a pitiable siglit. 

 i'oung and healthy plants, when carefully 

 taken up and propeily rejilanted, are never 

 subject to this disligurenient, and are almost 

 certain to form handsome specimens. — Culti- 

 vator. 



^ 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



Proceedings of the Lancaster County Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Society. 



The Society met in tlieii' rooniR. in the City Hall, 

 on Monday afternoon, August (5tli, at 2 o'clock. 

 President Calvin Cooper in the chair. 



The followintj members were present : Calvin 

 Cooper, president. Bird in-Hand ; Johnson Miller, 

 secretary, Warwick ; M. D. Kendig, Manor; Harry 

 Myers, East Ilempticld ; Israel L. Landis, Manheim ; 

 Henry Kurtz, Mount Joy ; Levi \V. GrolT, Earl ; 

 Alexander Harris, city ; Henry M. Engle, Marietta ; 

 W. J. Kafroth, West Earl ; Levi Pownall, S.adsbury ; 

 Casper Hiller, Conestoffa ; William McComsey, city ; 

 Prof. S. S. Rathvon, city ; Levi S. Heist, Manheim; 

 Peter S. Keist, Manheim ; Prof. J. Stautfer, city ; 

 Jacob S. tiarber. Manor ; C. L. Hunsecker, Manheim ; 

 Jacob Bolliutrer, Warwick ; J. H. Landis, Millersville ; 

 J. H. Brackbill, Strasburg ; Simon P. Eby, city; 

 Henry Reist, Manheim ; John Miller, W. Lampeter ; 

 A. W. Russel, city ; Frank Landis, East Lampeter ; 

 J. Witmer, E. Lampeter; E. Hershey, E. Lampeter; 

 John B. Erb, Strasbury' twp.; J. B. Garber, East 

 Hempfield. 



The minutes of last meeting were read, corrected 

 and approved. 



Ambrose Pownall, of Sadsbury, and J. H. Landis, 

 of Millensville, were proposed and elected members 

 of the society. 



Average Crops. 



Mr. ENfn.E, from the committee appointed at last 

 meeting to report the average of the several crops in 

 this county, read a report, stating that after investi- 

 gation the committee had come to the conclusion 

 the average crops in Lancaster county were as fol- 

 lows : Wheat, per acre, 21 bushels; corn, 52 bushels ; 

 rye, 30 bushels ; oats, 3.5 bushels ; potatoes, 7.5 

 bushels ; hay 1!< tons ; tobacco, 1,'!00 pounds. The 

 report goes on to state that many farmers produce 

 more tlian twice as much per acre of some of the 

 above staples, and others not half as much. The 

 committee thought the figures given above a very 

 fair average. 



Casper Hn.i.ER said he thought the committee 

 had placed the average of the rye crop too high . He 

 had raised twenty-flve bushels to the aei-e, and 

 all his neighbors said he had the best rye in his sec- 

 tion of the county. 



Mr. Engi.e and President Cooper said they had 

 frequently known of 40 bushels to the acre being 

 raised in the county. They believed 30 bushels a fair 

 average. 



Henry Kurtz thought the committee in making 

 their average should have included only such farmers 

 as knew how to farm. It is not fair that good 

 farmers should have a low average because poor 

 farmers raised poor crops. 



Mr. Engle defended the committee's report and 

 said the average must be made in accordance with 

 the whole acreage of each crop. 



Mr Kurtz thought the farmers should he classi- 

 fied into at least three grades — good, bad and in- 

 dift'erent — as mackerel is classified asNos. l,2and 

 3. Then the average of first-class farmers would not 

 suffer by being pulled down by those who did not 

 know how to farm and who ought to have an average 

 of their own. 



The report of the committee was accepted, and a 

 vote of thanks tendered by the society. 



Mk. Engi.e stated that the committee had not 

 been able to attend to all the duties assigned them — 

 the making out of premium lists, itc. He asked that 

 the comniiitec be continued. Agreed to. 



The Sowing of Wheat. 



Johnson Mii^ler, appointed to report on the 

 quantity of wheat to be sown to the acre, reported as 

 follows : 



As a member of the committee in regard to the 

 cidtivation of wheat last summer by this society, I 

 would report that I made a test as regards the quan- 

 tity of seed. I sowed from one bushel to two and a- 

 lialfonflve acres, varying a half bushel on every 

 acre. 1 found no marked difl'erence, but by close 

 observation it was noticeable that where I sowed one 

 and a-half bushels was the finest wheat, as one 

 bushel was the one extreme, and two and a-half the 

 other. In regard to the early or late plowing, I 

 plowed my wheat stubble for a number of years as 

 soon after harvest as possible, but last year I did not 

 plow it until the latter end of August, and had an 



excellent crop of whe.at, and that without manure. 

 This convinces me that early plowing, as well as 

 early sowing, is the cause, to some' extent, of our 

 short wheat crops. From my experience, I would 

 sow one and a half bushels of wheat to the acre, and 

 from the 20th to the last of September, for a good 

 crop of wheat. Another thing in connection with 

 this wheat cultivation in preparing the ground, I 

 would say prepare it very fine and sow shallow. 

 Half an inch of ground to cover the grain is amply 

 sufticient ; and I know that farmers spoil the crops 

 just by sowing too deep. 



This is my report ; whether my fellow-members of 

 the committee agree with me or not I cannot say, but 

 I do believe with these directions a good crop of 

 wheat can be raised on our good Lancaster county 

 farms. 



Henrt M. Engle said that he had come to the 

 same conclusion as Mr. Miller, that wheat was culti- 

 vated too deep. Drill shovels are run down so deep 

 that the grain cannot come up. Any crop ])lanted 

 deep will be very backward. He agreed with Mr. 

 Miller that one-half inch was plenty deep enough. 

 The Groff Farm. 



The report of the committee appointed to visit 

 Levi S. Groff's farm was called for, Imt H. M. Engle, 

 chairman, said they had reported all they had to say 

 in the daily papers, and he did not see that they had 

 anything else to say. 



Crop Reports. 



Johnson Miller reported for Warwick that corn 

 was growing finely and will be a very large crop. 

 The late rains have refreshed everything wonder- 

 fully, and the prospects from an agricultural point 

 of view were never more encouraging. Tobacco is 

 glowing finely, and some will be cut this present 

 week. Potatoes are large in size and the yield will 

 be large. Grass fields never looked better, and 

 pasture is splendid. Fruit is very scarce, particular- 

 ly apples. Of peaches and pears there will be a few, 

 but the grape crop will be pretty full. 



Henry Kurtz, reporting for Mount Joy, said Mr. 

 Miller must live in a Paradise, as nowhere else had 

 there been such favorable weather. He thought that 

 the crops should not be reported better than they 

 really are, for this report is not for the society alone 

 but is printed and read by consumers, who, think- 

 ing that the crop wap so good, would not otfcr a fair 

 price for things because, as they thought, they were 

 so plenty. For his section he would report that, 

 unless there was rain soon, the tobacco crop would 

 not be a half crop. There wouhl be a toleral^le crop 

 of corn, and the grass needs rain very much. 



I. L. Landis said that, notwithstanding Mr. Kurtz's 

 indignation at Mr. Miller's favorable report, he could 

 give one Just as good for Manheim township. The 

 hay crop would be a fair one ; the wheat full ; oats 

 unusually good, and tobacco just equal to any he 

 had ever seen. The indications are the crop will be 

 as good as ever, and it does not appear to have been 

 much cut up by the worm. There was some cut. 

 Fruit crop is short. Potatoes are flourishing. 



Levi S. Keist, from Warwick, reported that the 

 weather in that section was very favorable. Sunday, 

 July 30, they had a soaking rain, and ever since the 

 rain had come just as it was wanted. The tobacco 

 was neither too wet nor too dry. One patch on the 

 banks of the Cocalico was overflowed, and now is 

 dying off. Fruit is very poor ; no apples worth men- 

 tioning — what there are being very knotty. 



Casper Hiller, of Cone6toga,said he very rarely 

 reported, but now he wanted to say something about 

 the southern part of the county. If these men that 

 were talking about the favorable weather in the 

 northern part of the county wanted to see a dry 

 country, all they had to do was to go into the southern 

 part of the county. They have had no rain since 

 April that has gone deeper than deep plowing. To- 

 bacco is poor, and in order to have half a crop of 

 corn we must have a heavy rain within a week. 



Mr. Kurtz agreed with Mr. Hiller ; it is not best 

 to make the crop reports too rosy. If the tobacco 

 l)uyers hear that the crop is as large as some repre- 

 sent it they will not ofl'er two cents a pound for it. 



Johnson Miller replied that the crops in War- 

 wick were good, and he was not afraid to report 

 them so. He believed the object of the "crop 

 reports" was to arrive at a true condition of the 

 crops, and not to influence the market. 



Mr. Engle hoped there would be no controversy 

 in the matter; all the reports made were no doubt 

 equally true ; as is usual almost every year, the local 

 rains are apt to follow each other over the same sec- 

 tions of the county. Rain has fallen plentifully in 

 some sections while there has been a drought in 

 others. There are, therefore, some good and some 

 bad crops. From his own township he would have 

 to modify his former reports ; the apple crop is dwind- 

 ling down, and instead of there being an average crop 

 as was at first supposed, there would be very few 

 apples — the codling moth has punctured and almost 

 destroyed everything. Peaches, which in the early 

 summer were expected to yield a full crop, and later 

 at least half a crop, will not now yield a quarter 

 crop. He saw some excellent fields of tobacco, and 

 some that were poor. His observation was that those 

 who tilled their soil well were rewarded with good 



crops, and those who did not, had to put up with 

 poor ones. The rainfall during the month of July 

 was 2 13-16 inches. In June there were five dav» in 

 which the mercury rose to 90 degrees and upwards; 

 in July there were 1-i days in which the mercury 

 rose to 90 and upwards. Notwithstanding several 

 very hot days, the average heat during July, 1877, 

 was no greater than during July, 1S76. 



.\1. D. Kenuii!, of Manor, said the corn and tobac- 

 co need rain; with it there is a prospect of a very 

 heavy crop. Apples are all falling oft' and there are 

 few peaclies. The rainfall last month was 2.1 

 inches. The hottest day, last Friday week, the mer- 

 cury rose to 102 in the shade. 



Levi Pownall, of Sadsbury, said the season had 

 been unusually favorable ; the corn and potato crops 

 were very large ; the fruit crop was a failure ; grass 

 better than usual; wheat not so good; oats heavy 

 and pastures never before looked so well at this time 

 of year. 



President Cooper said that East Lampeter would 'j 

 yield a full average of everything ex«ept fruit. 



.Mr. McComsey, who had traveled through WestJ 

 Lampeter, had never seen a finer prospect for abuD'^ 

 dant crops. 



Mr. Kafrotii, of West Earl, reported corn, clover,! 

 grass and potatoes all good, and tobacco remarkably! 

 fine. 



Levi 'W. Groff's Experiments with Wheat. 

 Levi W. Groff, of Earl, presented the following 

 report of his experiment of cultivating wheat : 

 To the Laiirastci' Cou^d-y IforiicuUural Socifty: 



I have threshed the wheat grown on one acre, and 

 it made 61 bushels and one peck. It is of the "cham- 

 pion amber" variety. The seed was obtained from " 

 Mr. Heiges, of York, at f.5 per bushel. One and a 

 half bushels were sowed on the acre reported. 



Mr. Heiges succeeded in raising of this variety 71 

 bushels to the acre. I cultivated this wheat in the 

 spring of the year three times, between the drills. 



The cultivated " Clauson " variety sown by me 

 last fall and now threshed yielded 36'^ bushels per 

 acre. The same variety side by side, not cultivated, 

 yielded 2.5 bushels and two pounds per acre. 



It is my opinion that the "champion amber," If 

 raised under quite favorable conditions will yield 

 from 75 to 90 bushels per acre. Mine this year stood 

 on ground too low, and it was sowed a little too late. 

 I have no doulit but such yield is quite possible and 

 piobable ; ami if all the grains in my reported crop 

 were plump and full, ray yield would be .at least 75 

 bushels per acre this year. Levi W. Gkopf. 



The committee appointed at the July meeting of 

 the Lancaster county agricultural and horticultural 

 society to visit Mr. Groflf 's farm made the following 

 report : 



We, the undersigned, visited the farm of Mr. Levi 

 W. Groff about harvest-time and fully concur in his 

 report so far as we could judge at the time. 



H.M. Engle, 

 Calvin Cooper, 

 Levi S. Reist, 

 Peter S. Reist. 

 The thanks of the society were tendered to Mr. 

 Grofl'. 



Mr. Groff exhibited a bunch of wheat heads of 

 the "champion amber" variety, which were exam- i 

 ined and much admired, and at the request of Mr. I 

 McComsey, briefly explained his manner of cultiva- 

 ting wheat as it has been already printed in the daily 

 papers. His plan in brief is to drill the wheat in 

 rows twice as far apart as is usually done. This he 

 does by removing from the drill every alternate seed 

 distributer. Attached to the drill he has an equal 

 number of shovels, and these arc placed so as to run 

 between the rows of wheat, and cultivate it much the 

 same as the ordinary cultivator runs between the 

 rows of corn. There is room enough biitween the 

 rows to permit the horses to walk without injuring 

 the grain. After cultivating his whe.at in this manner 

 three different times, he sowed the ground with clover 

 and timothy, and although it is too soon yet to tell, 

 he believes he will have a very superior crop of hay. 

 Mr. Engle said he had examined Mr. Groff's 

 clover and timothy, and believed it would be very 

 superior. He trusted that not a few of our farmers 

 would adopt Mr. G's plan of cultivation. He would 

 do so himself on a small scale, and from his observa- 

 tion he was sure it would pay. 



Mr. Pownall said that on a former occasion he 

 had objected to cultiv.ating the wheat crop in the way 

 adopted by Mr. Groff, on the ground that it would 

 injure the grass that was to follow the wheat ; but 

 from an ex|)criment of his own he was now con- 

 vinced that it would not. ] 



Oleomargarine and Phosphates. 



The rules were now susjicnded in order to take up 

 the discussion of some matter proposed by Thomas 

 J. Edge, Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture 

 at Harrisburg. Mr. Edge calls attention to the 

 objects for di6cussiou,which were two acts, and writes 

 as follows : 



In regard to the proposed act to regulate the 

 manufacture and sale of fertilizers, it has been 

 claimed by some that it is not just to levy a direct tax 

 on the manufacturer, and that to a certain limited 



