1877.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



189 



those who understand it. As well might the farmers 

 go Into the manufacture of cigars or tobacco, or do 

 their own milling or tanning, or make their own 

 shoes or clothing, as to successfully pack tobacco 

 without learning how to do It. 



Henry 3iiiffnkr was decidedly opimsed to the 

 idea of organizing the growers of tobacco into a 

 packing oesociation. Ife urged farmers to make 

 themselves thoroughly acquainted with the best 

 methods of growing tobacco. If this were done they 

 could grow twice as much jier acre as they do now, 

 and gel more for their crop at much less expense to 

 themselves. 



Colin Cameiiom was in favor of the farmers 

 packing their own tobacco, and thus save the com- 

 mission that now went into the pockets of the packer. 



Wasu. L. Heksuey read a paper in which he took 

 the ground that Pennsylvania tobacco was no better 

 than it was fifteen years ago ; but the increased 

 price now received for it, was owing to the fact that 

 New York dealers came here, made selections of our 

 best leaf and sold It as Connecticut. When it be- 

 came known that this was done, the New York 

 dealers came among us ; tlie price of our tobacco 

 went up, and Pennsylvania leaf attained a reputation 

 second to none. Now dealers go to Ohio and Wis- 

 consin, purchase inferior tobacco, bring it to Penn- 

 sylvania, pack it and palm it off as Pennsylvania 

 leaf, to the great Injury of the reputation of our 

 crop. This should be put a stop to, and perhaps the 

 best way to do It would be to organize a movement 

 for the packing of our own tobacco. 



"Is fall plowing advisable for tobacco?'' was dis- 

 cussed. 



Colin Cameron said : " Yes, certainly ; even if 

 it does not, which it does, kill the worms that prey 

 upon the crop, it mellows the ground and enables it 

 to absorb the valuable qualities of the manure." He 

 believes that tobacco ground should be plowed and 

 manured in the fall ; the manure should be plowed 

 down in early spring, by which time it will have rot- 

 ted, and then the ground should be plowed again at 

 planting time. 



A. H. SuMMY would plow down the manure in the 

 fall, then lime the land and In the spring plow down 

 the lime. 



IIknry Kurtz thought spring plowing was best. 

 He manured with lime, the corn stubble in the 

 spring, turned it down together with the growing 

 weeds, and never had any trouble in getting a good 

 crop. He thought that if the ground was plowed In 

 the fall it might lose by evaporation some of Its fer- 

 tilizing qualities. 



Colin Cameron did not believe that plowing 

 could possibly have the effect of impoverishing land. 

 On the contrary he believed every successive plowing, 

 even without manure, tended to enrich the land. 



Sylvester Kennedy believed that the more the 

 land was shaded the better would be the succeeding 

 crop. He would leave the second crop tobacco leaves 

 on the ground during the winter as a protection to 

 the surface. 



Mr. 1. W. G. WiREMAN, of York, had cultivated 

 several varieties of tobacco lor experiment. After 

 he took off the crop he dug up the roots, and suc- 

 ceeded in pulling out some that measured sixteen 

 Inches from the surface. He argued that If a plant 

 struck its roots down sixteen inches the easier It was 

 for the roots to get down there the better for the 

 plant. The amount of tobacco per acre realized in 

 Japan Is as much as 4,000 pounds. The Japanese 

 plow or dig down to a depth of sixteen inches. He 

 favored deep plowing, and a frequent mellowing of 

 ■the soil. 



On motion of W. L. Hcrshey, the thanks of the 

 society were tendered to Mr. Wircman for his ad- 

 dress. 



"Should tobacco seed be sowed In the fall or in 

 the spring ?" was a question referred to Wash. L. 

 Hershey. He answered, that he favored sowing in 

 the spring, though some of his neighbors were very 

 successful in fall sowing. He would recommend 

 spring sowing as being preferable. 



Sylvester Kennedy said he bad sowed some 

 seed in the fall and covered it with manure ; early 

 in the spring he sowed some more just alongside the 

 other, and later in the 6i)ring he sowed another bed. 

 That which was sowed in the fall was the best, the 

 plants coming up stronger and thriftier. 



Henry Kltrtz and President Kendig favored 

 sowing late In the spring, say about the middle of 

 April. The plants will bo ready to set out in four or 

 live weeks thereafter. 



A. H. SuMMY had tried several modes of sowing. 

 The best plants he had raised were those sown In the 

 spring in a bed on which he had burned a pile of 

 brush, and buried the seeds iu the asfces. 



Henry Shiffner said he thought the committee 

 recently appointed to visit the several tobacco growers 

 of the county, Insjwct their crops and report ou their 

 condition, had better be abandoned. He feared the 

 committee's motives might be nilsundersliwd If they 

 reported a crop to be inferior. He declined serving 

 on the committee. 



Henry Kurtz agreed with Mr. Shiffner, and for 

 one would not serve on the committee. 



J. M. Frantz, a member of the committee, said 

 he would not serve as a member of the committee 

 if Mr, Shiffner declined, for he was certainly thp best 



qualified man In the society to Judge of the quality 

 of tobacco when It is ready for market. 



After some discussion Messrs. Kurtz and Shiffner 

 withdrew their declinations, and President Kendig 

 was added as a member of the committee. 



" What is the best method of utilizing tobacco 

 stems (" Kcfcrred to A. H. Summy. 



" Is lime beneficial to the culture of tobacco, and 

 how should it be applied to produce the b«>«t results ( " 

 was proiW)8ed for general discussion ut next meeting. 



Henry Kihtz exhibited some fine specimens of 

 tobacco of the Centennial and Connecticut seeil 

 varieties. 



Adjourned. 



THE LINNiEAN SOCIETY. 



The Llnnaran Society met on Saturday, November 

 L'lth, and had five members and three visitors pre- 

 sent, with the President, Prof. Htahr, In the chair. In 

 the absence of the Secretary, Mrs. Zcll was appoint- 

 ed Secretary, ;<)o. tern. Dues were collected, and 

 reading the proceedings of the last meeting was dis- 

 pensed with. 



Donations to the Museum. 



1. Three large (fossil !) molar teeth were douuteil 

 by Mr. A. C. Stauffer, of Dlllervllle, Lancaster 

 county. Pa. In digging a drain at the depth 

 of three or four feet, Mr. 8. came ujKjn a rock 

 of alx)ut a foot In thickness, and in removing it In 

 order to deepen the drain ho found these teeth be- 

 neath It. They are similai" to teeth found in the 

 marl deposits of New Jersey, not much unlike the 

 molars of a horse (Eipins cnWn/w/i), but also strong- 

 ly resembling the teeth of a species of Afegathfrium 

 found in Georgia. 



'2. The vertebral column of the common cat (Frlix 

 doiiifnticiiii) was donated by Mr. Uipple, of North 

 Queen street. In this city. These vertebraf — from 

 the cranijuii to tho pclvix — Mr. K. found between the 

 floor and the ceiling of his house, in making 6t>nie 

 repairs, where the animal had probably become im- 

 prisoned many years ago, and had perished . 



3. A box containing '2li cases of "caddlee" or 

 "case-worms," and 12 specimens of the exuded 

 larrce In a bottle ; donated by Mr. BuUar (teacher,) 

 of Spring Garden, in this county. 



Mr. B. found these cases iu "Trout run," York 

 county, in searching for crustaceans for bass-bait. 

 They are the cases and larvr of the ash-colored 

 "caddlce-fly," (I'hrygnnin cinerea) or an allied 

 species, and belong to the order Trieoptern. 



4. Two pseudo-amorphous specimens of red-hema- 

 tite (Iron) donated by Professor Dubbs, of Franklin 

 and Marshall College, and are from Ironton, Lehigh 

 county. One of these specimens is iu form similar 

 to the "foot," the "hammer," and part of the bar- 

 rel of a pistol ; and the other is an oblong sphere, or 

 egg-shaped. 



5. Two insects — one in a liquid and one dried — 

 donated by S. S. Rathvon. The bottled specimen is 

 "Harris' water beetle" {Dytiiois JIarrmi,) noticed 

 some weeks ago in the J)aiUj Tnlrltifjcnrcr. It lived 

 until the 1.5th of November. The other specimen 

 was a species of solitary Hemipteha (liednriitH 

 ?iMm(i«i(/i,) that occasionally infests hum.an habita- 

 tions, and disguises Itself by covering its body with 

 small particles of down, dirt, lint, or anything else 

 it can appropriate. 



(j. A small liottle containing a germinated squash 

 seed, found in a solid and healthy fruit when cut 

 open, on the 20th Inst. It had grown three inches, 

 and threw out rootlets ; by the same. 



Donations to the Library, 



1 . Telegraphic determinations of longitude in the 

 West Indies and Central America. Donated by Miles 

 Rock, Esq., of the Signal Bureau at Washington, 

 D. C. This is a fine quarto volume, full of scientific 

 matter. 



2. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences of Philadelphia for April, May, June, July and 

 August IbTT. , 



3. An octavo pamphlet, "on the method of the 

 creation of organic types," by K. D. Cope, A.M., 

 donated by the author. 



4. The Lancaster Farmer for November, the 

 Journal of Microscopy, and sundry circulars and 

 papers. 



Historical Section. 



Two envelopes, containing twenty-one scraps of 

 local and general biographical and historical contri- 

 butions. 



Papers Read. 



■"One paper by Mr. Rathvon relating to the objects 

 donated. 



During the session of the society a dark, gloomy and 

 most violent rain-storm prevailed without, which also 

 had a gloomy influence within, from the fact that those 

 present had an ocular demonstration of how the 

 labors of many years and also the whole building 

 may ultimately liecome ruined, or at least seriously 

 damaged, in consequence of the iuefl[iciency of the 

 roof in keeping out the water during a heavy rain, 

 and in this state of gloomy anxiety the society ad- 

 journed to the appusl meeting on Saturday, Decem- 

 ber 39, 1877, 



AGRICULTURAL. 



Liquid Manure. 



The subject of the value of liquid manure lii its 

 application to crops. In HiM, garden anil lawns, Is 

 again freely iliKcussed. .Meehl, the l.nndiiii million- 

 aire alderman, WHS among the tlrst to appiv it l4i 

 field crops, and fur this purpose prepared a great 

 deal of expi'iislve maehhiery ami employed a great 

 many men to do the work. Ills crops bore testi- 

 mony to Its great fertilizing (lualllles, anil these re- 

 turns Mr. M. was not slow in laying before the 

 British pulille. Ills Btatlstles were 'liberally quoted 

 In this country, and he has a great nuiny disciples- - 

 on paper — as those wlio adopted bis iiiethisl of 

 applying manure soon abiiniloned It on aeromit of lis 

 exiM-nsivencss. These ilisejples failed to sec that in 

 all .Mr. .Meehi's slutenienls he made no comparison 

 as to the relative exp<'nse of the two modes of appli- 

 cation and the relative products. This was carefully 

 oinltteil ; and if we are correctly iiiformeil — and It 

 looks as if the liifornuitlon is correct, as wi* have no 

 recent slatemeniK from that quarter — the jiracllie 

 has been abandoned by the rich InlriHlucer, and it 

 must have been from the fact that the ohl diimIc of 

 applying manure to land Has the quickest and most 

 profltalile. 



For small lawns and gardens — where the cx|>onse 

 is a matter of no consequi-nce — there is no moile of 

 enrichment so certain and clleetiveas liquid manure, 

 for in these cases it can be applied with water-|H)tK 

 commonly used l)y gardeners. For this pnr|H>sc a 

 basin should dug from ten to twelve feet in diamler 

 and three feet deep, whieli should be filled with 

 stable manure, and either a conductor from a ruof 

 turned njion it — rain water being the best — or sup- 

 plied from hydrant or puiup, the water being added 

 gradually, so as to admit of the daily turning over 

 of the mass. In a few days or a week it will be III 

 for use, and can be applicil as the necessity may o<'- 

 cur. In thisliniilcd way liquid manure can be used 

 with great ellect ; but uiH>n the larni it would take a 

 mint of money to so dispose it, w halcvcr the licnefi- 

 eial results may be uix)U the crops. — Oermantovn 

 Tcliffraph, 



Saving Sweet Potatoes. 



Commissioner Janes, of Georgia, gives the follow- 

 ing directions in his November report: It is very 

 inii)iirtant to save them projierly. They are now full 

 of sap, and will be more dis|)OSid to rot Iu the bills. 

 They sliould be dug when the ground Is as dry as 

 IKissilile, and be allowed to dry In the hill before 

 covering w ith earth. A very simple plan for hilling 

 potatoes is as follows : Select a dry situation, from 

 which the water will easily run ; drive down a rough 

 stake, to stand three and a half feet in height, In the 

 centre of a circle of about seven feet in diamter. 

 Raise the edge of this circle by drawing U|) the 

 earth from without. Cover the entire bed thickly 

 with dry flue straw, or other dry material. Heap 

 the potatoes of this bed around the .stake so that the 

 sides may be as steep as ['ossible. Then cover en- 

 tirely over with dry corn stalks or brimni sedge set 

 ujiright, or with boards, in such a manner as to pre- 

 vent the rain, which may soak through the earth 

 covering, from reaching the interior. Then cover the 

 whole with several inches of earth taken from im- 

 mediately around the hill, leaving the top of the hill 

 open for ventilation, but protected from rain. On the 

 ai>proach of severe weather, gradually increase the 

 (.overing of earth to a depth of one foot. 



Opposition to Potatoes. 

 Tiic Loudon Sprdaiur says: "Arihdcacon Deni- 

 fon, on the occasion of hislwenty-flrsl harvest-home, 

 made the other day a speech on the fiK>d and drink 

 question. There were some odd tlihurs at this festi- 

 val — a loaf of '.U pounds and a cheese weighing !MI, 

 for example — i)ut nothing quite so odd as what the 

 Archdeacon himself said to the Somer.set folk. He 

 fiercely fell feul of the imtato, and rated it as if it 

 were no Ix'tter than a Low Church Bishop. He had 

 made up his mind not to plant anollier iiolato as 

 long as he lived. ' To do so was sinipiy to waste the 

 seed and poison the ground, and the more they 

 planted that tuber the more would lliey |k>Isou the 

 ground, until it stank iu their nostrils.' People 

 ought to plant. Instead of [lolatocs, peas, beans and 

 beet-root, which were not subject to disease. He 

 did not go with Cobbelt in praising l-eer, which made 

 people's faces red, but be reiommiinleil as a substi- 

 tute for eider 'a delightful lieverage. eonsistlng of 

 oatmeal and water, flavored with a little acid.' We 

 do not mind his praising lliis ' deli'.'bl lul beverage,' 

 which Hill be sure to Ik- appreciated as it deserves; 

 lull it is a litttle tiM) bad in the Archdeacon, In rc- 

 s|>i>iiding to the clergy, to go over, horse and foot, to 

 the side of the Colorado beetle." 



How Long Will the Forests Last ? 

 I'nder sneh atremeudous yearly ilrainllic question 

 naturally couies up, how long will our forests hold 

 out at tlie present rale of manufacture? It Is really 

 au Important question, upon which follows the in- 

 quiry as to what we are lo do lor liulldiiig material 

 when this magnificent wood — pint — is exhausted. 

 One authority after snotbcr has cutcrcd formally 



