1»78.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



69 



as so many buds were killed by the frost, but the 

 prospects at present are very c:ooil. The apples have 

 not been injured at all, and t!ie fruit crop In e:cneral 

 Is good. The grain crop never promised better than 

 at present, as on a trip as far up as Franklin county 

 he did not see one poor field. The clover and grass 

 crop are good. 



Mr. Miller reported that the grain and grass 

 crops run well, and wheat is favorable. They will 

 also have a laree crop of hay. There are very few 

 poor grain fields, and what can be found result from 

 no other cause than poor farming. Some potatoes 

 have been planted. The fruit crop is good. Tem- 

 perature during the cold snap, two weeks ago, 17 

 above zero. 



Mr. Brosius reported that the grain was In ex- 

 cellent condition with the exception of that sowed 

 early. 



Mr. Groff said that in his section they were 

 frightened during the cold spell aliout their fruit, 

 but It all survived, and apricots and peaches are es- 

 pecially fine. In regard to wheat, the prospects are 

 good. A great many visitors had examined his 

 wheat fields, planted and cultivated under the new 

 plan, and he would like a committee of the society 

 to examine it. He extended a cordial invitation to 

 all to visit him. 



Mr. HosTETTER'g report was similar to those 

 preceding it. Some of the wheat is in good condi- 

 tion and some is not. Some that was sowed on the 

 29th of September is In good condition, as is also that 

 cowed on November 19. Grass is very promising. 



Mr. Engle wanted Mr.Hiller's reasons I'or saying 

 that the weather has been unfavorable for fruit. 



Mr. Hiller said he based his opinion on his pre- 

 vious observations. Last year when everybody was 

 predicting full crops, he said that there would not be 

 much fruit, and there was not. The weather is too 

 cool. Peach pollen will not ripen at the present 

 temperature, and if it keeps this cool for a week 

 longer we will have no peaches. 



Commercial Fertilizers. 



Mr. Casper Hiller, to whom had been referred 

 the question as to the profit derived from the use of 

 commercial fertilizers, read the following essay : 



At the March meeting of this society this question 

 was referred to me, "Have we any evidence that 

 Commercial Fertilizers pay In this county?" In the 

 northern and middle sections of Lancaster county the 

 thorough experiments with them have been too few 

 to determine their full value. The question should 

 have been referred to one section of our enterprising 

 farmers in the southern of the county, where they 

 have been and are extensively used. 



In my own experience, of twelve or more years 

 ago, I had some good successes and some bad fail- 

 ures. The b^st success I then had was with Peruvian 

 guano. Seven dollars' worth on an acre produced 

 over twenty bushels of wheat, on land so poor that 

 it would not have produced five bushels without the 

 guano, and besides I got a good stand of grass. The 

 greatest failure was with two tons of a Philadelphia 

 superphosphate, that cost about one hundred dollars 

 — applied five hundred weight to the acre, and never 

 saw any effects of it. 



Many of these so-called superphosphates weredug 

 out of a bank of earth of the right color, and the 

 proper "stink" was easily and cheaply mixed in. 

 These so-called commercial fertilizers brought the 

 whole list into disrepute, and our farmers ceased to 

 use them. But during the last lew years, in our to- 

 bacco growing mania (and having in mind the im- 

 poverished fields of Maryland and Virginia, made so 

 by growing tobacco) we were compelled to husband 

 our manure resources to the fullest extent, and to 

 experiment with various artificial fertilizers. From 

 my own experiments and from what I could gather 

 by corresponding with persons in different parts of 

 the county, I would say that commercial fertilizers, 

 as now made, are far more reliable than those for- 

 merly made. Chemical science tells us that ammo- 

 nia, bone phosphate, potash, phosphoric acid, etc., 

 must be present in certain proportions in our soil, or 

 we will fail in producing good crops. 



Prof. Ville, of Paris, Prof. Stockbridge, of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, and other emi- 

 nent chemists, have given lormulas for the manufac- 

 ture of fertilizers, adapted to ditt'ercnt soils and difl'er- 

 ent crops, and our enterprising manufacturers have 

 adopted those formulas and guarantee them to con- 

 tain so much percent, of phosphoric acid, etc. Legis- 

 latures have passed bills to see that the guarantee 

 means what it says. 



I give a few cases of the use of these fertilizers as 

 reported to me by our friend J. C. Linvllle. 



Isaac Eby, in 1876, applied nitro-phosphates on corn- 

 stalk ground for wheat. Yield, '-'8 bushels per acre, 

 a large and paying increase. C. Lapp applied a 

 special phosphate for tobacco. He says it paid. C. 

 Kauffman used nitro-phosphate on wheat ground 

 last fall. The difference in favor of the phosphate 

 ground can be seen at a distance of half a mile. He 

 also mentions some bad failures of his own, and also 

 of Charles Brintou. Whether these fertilizers were 

 of the "earth bank" kind I am not able to say ; one 

 of the kinds named is, however, the same as my own 

 great failure. 



James Collins, of Quarryrille, reports the "Star" 



fertilizer good for wheat and grass, and says It pays. 



I give a few of my own experiments of last season: 

 Poudrette, applied at rate of $15 per acre, producing 

 a crop of tobacco equal to a heavy dressing of stable 

 manure that would have cost at least $:!0. A dress- 

 ing of nilro-phosphate on potatoes, cost ?12 per acre, 

 was a failure, perhaps owing to other causes than 

 the manure. Ten dollars' worth per acre on iiotatoes 

 of acidulated South Carolina Hock (Bauirh's) was 

 quite satisfactory. The nitro-phosphate, which was 

 so signal a failure on potatoes, is fully as proniisini; 

 as the plot which received the heavy dressing of 

 stable manure. An adjoining plot, on which no ma- 

 nure was put, is quite poor looking. 



Mr. W. P. Bolton, writing from Little Britain, 

 says : 



There seems no longer to be any doubt of the 

 practabillty of applying chemical manures to fertil- 

 ize the soil In this part of the county, except It be on 

 the farms near the Sus(|uehanna, where it does not 

 seem to t)e established, that they make sufBelent in- 

 crease in crops to pay for their cost. On the heavier 

 soil, extending over the whole gneissie district In- 

 cluded in the county, the l)est farmers agree that 

 phosphates pay. Our farmers have been applying It 

 to wheat for a number of ;ears, more recently to 

 corn, and it is now used by many for oats, showing 

 more marked results on the last crop, than either of 

 the former. The usual rate per acre is 400 or 500 

 pounds for wheat and corn, and 100 or L'OO pounds 

 for oats. There are some now who are applying 700 

 or 800 pounds per aeic, and think it profitable to do 

 so. It is no unusual thine to hear farmers say that 

 an application of 400 or 500 pounds is equal to an 

 ordinary coating of barnyard manure. The kinds 

 mostly used in this vicinity are superphosphates, 

 ammoniated phosphates and dissolved South Caro- 

 lina rock. 



In this immediate neigbhorhood (Liberty Square) 

 most of the farmers make a compound phosphate 

 themselves by mixing dissolved bones, plaster, soda 

 and potash ; the whole to be dried with earth or 

 sand. The cost is about ?-.'0 per ton. This, it is 

 claimed by many, is equal to the best commercial 

 fertilizer, costing from $:J6 to 840 per ton. As to the 

 method of applying them, it seems to be generally 

 conceded that Carolina rock and ground bones should 

 be plowed down, while the compounded articles, 

 containing the alkaline salts, should be drilled and 

 dropped with the seed. 



From my own experience and observations I am 

 convinced that the best resultp may be obtained by 

 applying chemical fertilizers along with barnyard 

 manure. If a farmer has, for instance, 20 acres to 

 be planted, has barnyard manure enough to cover 10 

 acres, andjintends putting phosphate, at the rate of 

 400 pounds per acre, on the other 10 acres, it will 

 pay him well for the extra laborto spread the manure 

 over the whole 20 acres, and then apply 200 pounds 

 per acre of fertilizer with the seed or by working it 

 into plowed ground before the seed is planted. 



This manure question is an important one to all 

 tillers of the soil. We in this county of Lancaster, 

 should not rest satisfied if we raise less than :;o 

 bushels of wheat and 100 bushels of corn per acre. 

 Stable manure and lime judiciously and plentifully 

 a()plied would bring the answer. But when we take 

 into consideration the amount of capital, and interest, 

 and labor, and grass, and hay, and corn, and corn- 

 fodder that goes into the manure pile, we must admit 

 that it is a costly article. Cipher it out and see if you 

 can make it less than $'!0 per acre. But with all this 

 cost those that make the most manure appear to be 

 the most prosperous. However, there is a limit on 

 every farm beyond which it cannot be made, and 

 that limit is generally short of the required quantity. 



John I. Carter, in his paper read before this so- 

 ciety, gives us an experiment in which acid South 

 Carolina rock gave more corn, cornfodder, oats, 

 wheat, bay and straw, in a rotation, than a liberal 

 dressing of stable manure did, in a similar rotation, 

 on an adjoining plot. It is clearly our interest to find 

 out, by experiment, what kind of (if any) commer- 

 cial fertilizer Is equal or superior to stable manure. 

 If we can arrive at a satisfactory conclusion then we 

 can spread ourselves out in high farming. We need 

 no longer half feed our fields, for what the manure 

 pile lacks, can be supplied by the artilicial fertilizer. 



From my own experience and from information 

 given by others, I would answer, that commercial 

 fertilizers pay in this county. Incoming to this con- 

 elusion I do not base my opinion altogether on the 

 increase of the first crops, but also include a margin 

 for the jjcrmanent improvement of the soil. 



Mr. Kurtz had tried commercial fertilizers, but 

 he hiid not much confidence in them where the ma- 

 nure pile was good. If you take a tract of twenty 

 acres, cover ten of It with manure and ten with fer- 

 tilizer, the manure part will come out ahead . He had 

 tried guano, costing $00 per ton, and it was not as 

 good as hen manure. 



Mr. Brosits had a reason for the difference of 

 opinion in regard to fertilizers. If you apply 400 

 pounds of fertilizers to rich limestone land it will not 

 have the same effect that it would have on so much 

 poorer land. 



Mr. Enolb was fully alive to the Importance of 

 the question. If he expressed his views as the result 



of his former experience he would also declare fer- 

 tilizers a hunibuer, but his land was In such a high 

 .state of cultivation that it did not matter much what 

 was put on it. lUit we are now pushing our lands 

 more strongly, and there are very few fields In the 

 county that would not be afVeeted for the better by 

 some fertilizer. All fertilizers that have the neces- 

 sary ingredients will answer a good purjiose If prop- 

 erly applied. Of course, if we had plenty of manure, 

 we would want nothing better, but we are always a 

 little short and want something (o fill its place. 

 There is no question but that commercial ferllllzcrs, 

 not adulterated, will pay. 



.Mr. Miller thought that we ought to be able to 

 make enough manure without buying fertilizers. He 

 had a plan which. If successful, would be worth car- 

 rying out. He proposed to plant clover wherever 

 jiossible. He had planted it In his oatsfield, and 

 would plow it down, saving the manure for other 

 tlelds. By pulling out manure two or three times a 

 year he thought It could be made to last longer. 



A number of members advocated the clover plan, 

 which led .Mr. Hunseeker to say that no doubt clover 

 was good, but it don't follow that fertilizers are 

 useless. 



Mr. Groff hadn't missed a season for the past 

 twenty years in sowing clover in bis eornfleld, and 

 the wheat planted next year did admirably. 



Mr. Hiller thought this talk aliout raising clover 

 for manure was well enough for men who had rich 

 farms, but how can they do this on some of the 

 farms in the lower end of the county where if they 

 would sow a bushel of clover they would never see a 

 stalk of it. The best thing for an impoverished farm 

 is fertilizers. There are farms that can be bought 

 for 815 per acre that can be brought to yield from 30 

 to 40 bushels of corn per acre. In the face of such 

 evidence we must conclude that commercial fertili- 

 zers pay. We must make experiments if we wish to 

 know what particular kind to use, for we may be 

 using one whose predominant element is phosphoric 

 acid, when our soil needs potash. 



Mr. Gbofp said that when he talked about clover 

 he did not mean to denounce fertilizers, and Mr. 

 Hiller told of the success that attended some of bis 

 experiments with plaster. 



.SIr. Peter Keist thought experiments were of 

 great benefit, and this society could make some if It 

 bad the assistance of Uncle Sam as had the Experi- 

 mental Farm, and it should receive assistance. 



The discussion on the question was closed, and on 

 motion, a committee of live, Johnson Miller, Joseph 

 F. Witmer, Wm. Brosius, John C. Linvllle, Casper 

 Hiller, were appointed to make experiments with the 

 different fertilizers, and report to the society. 



Beautifying Rural Homes. 



Mr. Kendk;, the President pro. tern., read a most 

 interesting essay on " Beautifying Rural Homes." 



Little did I think when I promised to prepare a 

 short paper on this subject that the field is so broad 

 and the task so delicate. It is one in which the 

 greater portion, if not all, of us are more or less in- 

 terested, for we no doubt all aspire to become the 

 happy possessors of a beautiful home, to bask in the 

 sunshine of its genial inlluenee. 



Looking around us, over this comparatively old 

 and long-cultivated section of country, once heavily 

 covered with timber, we see abundant evidence of 

 improvement of every description. The lofty forest 

 trees have been swejit away, and the pioneer's rude 

 hut of logs is no more to be seen ; but fields of 

 bounteous crops, and comfortable dwellings, sur- 

 rounded by refinement and luxury cover the land. 

 Perhaps more especially within the last ten or fifteen 

 years, the evidence af the growing prosperity and 

 happiness of our rural citizens has been apparent in 

 the great improvement made in farm buildings, as 

 also to a certain degree in the taste displayed In the 

 ornamentation of the (grounds surrotmding the resi- 

 dence. Conceding, then, that there has been con- 

 siderable progress made in rural adornments, there 

 remains yet much to be done, especially in making 

 our door yards or lawns more attractive. There is, 

 perbajis, no employment or recreation which affords 

 the mind creater or more lasting pleasure than that 

 of beautifying our homes by a judicious planting of 

 the surrounding grounds, and the taste once 

 awakened or acquired, knows no bounds narrower 

 than the estate. 



In order to make our homes beautiful and attrac- 

 tive in the highest sense, it is not only necessary that 

 we have a fine mansion with a ganlen or yard filled 

 with eboiee trees and shrubs surrounding it, but 

 that the whole estate or farm be inanasred under the 

 best regulated system of husbandry, with fields regu- 

 larly divided by good and durable fences, tilled with 

 luxuriant crops of even and rich tjrowth, everywhere 

 free from weeds of every kinil, as a background or 

 setting for our picture of our beautiful home. The 

 borders, especially those along the roadside, should 

 be planted with native trees, while here and there a 

 small group scattered over the estate will have a 

 very pleasing elfeel. If the house is some distance 

 from the public road, the lane or approach should 

 also be planted on citlier side, thus forming a beauti- 

 ful avenue of egress and ingress to the place. 



We now come to the front yard. This should be of 



