JS78.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



9i 



All essay mi llio sulijcct, " IIciw tii Miiko tlip Most 

 Kc'iiiiiimioal Aiiplic-iiliciii of lianij'ard Jlaiuire to 

 1 lops," preparcil liy Col. James Youug, of Daupliiii, 

 \\ as nad by \V. (i. .Moore, of Berks. 



Several oilier reports ami essays were read diiriiii^ 

 the session, and on Friilay nioriiiiii; (iovenior Ilart- 

 taiift delivered a short, address. Tlie hoard ad- 

 jiiiiriiedon Friday, after deeidinj^ upon Titusville, 

 t'lawlord eouiity, as the plaec for lioldin;; the next 

 luectiiii;'. 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



Proceedings of the Lancaster County Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural' Society. 



The .Ttine meetiiifr of the Laneaster County AjLjri- 

 eultural and Horticultural Soeiety was held in the 

 third-story of City Hall Monday afternoon, June :^d, 

 1S7S. 



President Calvin Cooper being absent, Henry M. 

 Englc was called to tlie chair, and tbe Keeordinjr 

 Secretary, Jas. F. Witnier, being absent, Johnson 

 Miller was chosen Secretary pro tern. 



The readinif of tbe minutes of hist meeting was 

 dispensed with. 



The followinir members were present: H. M. 

 Engle, President })ro tfiit., Marietta ; Johnson Miller, 

 Secretary pyo tern., Warwick; Levi W. Groft, Trea- 

 surer, West Earl; Peter S. Heist, Litiz ; Levi S. 

 Keist, Manheim ; C'. .M. Hostctter, Eden; Henry 

 Kurtz, Mount Joy; John C. Linville, Salisbury; 

 Eph. U. Hoover, .Manhcini ; John H. Landis, .Manor; 

 Simon P. Eby, city ; Isaac Bushong, Upper Leaeock ; 

 J. Frank Landis, East Lampeter; Henry Erb, .Man- 

 beim twp. ; Abraham Hostctter, Manlieim ; E. C. 

 Ernst, Litiz; Prof. S. S. Ratlivon, city; Jacob B. 

 Garbcr, Columbia ; Elias Hersliey, Paradise ; Abra- 

 ham L. Lehman, East Lampeter; Wm. MeComsey, 

 city; C. L. Huusecker, Manheim ; Levi Scarlet, 

 Sadsliury. 



Johnson Miller, of Warwick, from the committee 

 on fertilization, reported that he had made arrange- 

 ments to experiment during the coming season with 

 a number of commercial fertilizers ; that he had 

 written to a number of manufacturers for samples of 

 their manufactures, and would in due time report 

 the result of his experiments to the society. 



Simou P. Eby, esq., of the city, as a member of 

 the committee to secure for the society a permanent 

 place of meeting, reported that he had conferred 

 with the Property Committee of Councils, and the 

 committee was unwilling to rent to the society for 

 more than a year tbe third-story room of City Hall, 

 though they believed there would be no difficulty in 

 the society securing the room for a number of years. 

 Mr. Eby thought the society had better remain in 

 the room now occupied than to rent the Hall of tbe 

 Young Men's Christian Association, which had been 

 kindly ofi'ered them at a rent of 82.5 per year. The 

 City Hall room could be had for a mere nominal 

 rent, and it would not cost more than §12 or $13 to 

 paper it and put it in decent repair. He thought the 

 question of renting a room should be acted on at the 

 present meeting. On motion, the question was post- 

 poned to be taken up again before adjournment. 

 Crop Reports. 



Reports of tbe condition of the crops being called 

 for, J. C. Linville, of Salisbury, reported the crops in 

 his ueighborliood as all looking well, though the 

 corn was somewhat backward, owing to the cold 

 weather, and the wheat was somewhat rusted in the 

 blades, but no serious daniaL'c was done ; the fly had 

 shown itself in some localities but not much damage 

 had been done. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, 

 etc., had been somewhat cut down by the late frosts 

 but were recovering and gaining strength. Clover 

 was in bloom and almost ready to cut ; timothy is 

 somewhat backward but healthy ; oats is doing well 

 and the fruit crop will be average. 



Henry Kurtz, of .Mount Joy, reported tbe wheat as 

 looking well, but has noticed in some fields a kind 

 of rust on the head. He exhibited a few heads thus 

 affected, and said he thouglit the mischief was done 

 by some small insect. If the season from this time 

 on remained dry he feared the wheat would shrivel, 

 but if the weather remained moist the crop would 

 be a very full one. He leiiorted tbe grass as being 

 very heavy and rank, and almost ready tocut. Early 

 planted corn looks yellow, on account of the cold, 

 wet weather. Oats looks very fine ; rye very large 

 and full, and tobacco reasonably well. 



Johnson Miller, of Warwick, reported a full crop 

 of wheat, but the Fultz not as good as tbe Mediterra- 

 nean ; a large crop of liay is assured ; young clover 

 looks first-rate ; corn somewhat backward; tobacco 

 mostly planted ; jiotatoes growing finely, and no 

 potato bugs to complain of. 



Levi W. (Iroff, of West Earl, said that the rusted 

 wheat beads shown by .Mr. Kurtz seemed to be well 

 tilled and would not be, probably, much hurt ; iate 

 rust does not generally do much damage to wheat. 

 Mr. Groff stated further that a committee of four 

 had visited bis farm lately to look at his cultivated 

 wheat and, after examining it closely, had expressed 

 themselves well pleased with his mode of cultivation. 

 Gentlemen from Berks county who had seen it, had 

 commended it in the Reading papers. 



John H. Eaiiilis, of Manor, reported the grass 

 crop as being remarkably line ; haymaking will com- 

 mence in a week or ten days ; clover is in blossom 

 and very luxuriant; wheat looks encouraging ; pota- 

 toes are growing lincly, and only a few bugs have 

 thus far appeared ; corn is yellow in some places, 

 caused probably by the cold, wet weather. The in- 

 dications arc that there will be a full crop of almost 

 everything. 



Ephraim Hoover ri>|iorted that in Manheim and 

 East lleniplielil lownships t be crop of hay would be 

 immense; the season is two weeks earlier than 

 usual, and in some places the grass is already almost 

 lit for cutting. Wheat in some fields looks brown, 

 having been no doubt disetilored by tlii^ late frost, 

 but he thougbl it was not much injured. Here and 

 there a cornfield looked irregular and backward, the 

 efl'cet no doubt of the late heavy frosts. t;herries 

 will yield a light crop ; (leaches will be abundant 

 according to present appearances; apples an average 

 crop, and small fruits the same. 



C. .M. Hostctter, of Eden, reported the wheat and 

 rye as very promising ; t lie grass the best he had 

 ever seen, especially the young clover and herd 

 grass ; apples a full crop ; peaches promising ; cher- 

 ries scarce, except the sour varieties, which would 

 yield a full crop ; potatoes thriving, though the bugs 

 were numerous alumt Quarryville and some other 

 scctitins. On the whole the prospect for good crops 

 was never more promising than now. 



P. 8. Heist, of Manheim, corroborated the reports 

 of general good crops of grain, grass and fruits ; 

 beard of a stalk of rye that measured 8 feet 9 in- 

 ches in height. 



Henry W . Engle, of Marietta, said the reports 

 from all sections were favorable ; his own report 

 would be a stereotype of the others ; there is a little 

 rust in the wheat, but it is not serious. If the 

 weather should contiue dry from this date till wheat 

 harvest, the grain will, no doubt, be shriTeled ; if 

 moist, the crop will be full and good ; the grass is 

 excellent ; the corn rather slow, as is always the 

 case with anything that is planted when the ground 

 is wet and followed by a cold rain. Apjiles arc thinly 

 set, peaches fair and cherries short. 



Mr. P. S. Reist then read a paper on " When is the 

 best time to harvest wheat?" [See page 8.5 of this 

 number of The Farmer. 



Henry Kurtz agreed with tbe essayist that wheat 

 should be pretty ripe before being cut, but not too 

 ripe . 



Johnson Miller thought the essay was to the point . 

 He would recommend the sowing of two varieties of 

 wheat that do not ripen at the same time — say the 

 Fultz and the red Mediterranean. He moved a vote 

 of thanks to the essayist. Carried. 



John C. Linville said it is the custom of Western 

 farmers to cut their wheat greener than we 

 cut it in the East. They generally cut their wheat 

 before haymaking. Their wheat is of a brighter 

 color than ours, but one objection to cutting it too 

 green is that it will sprout in the shock if it gets wet. 

 He thinks farmers might cut rather earlier than is 

 their present custom. 



Henry M. Engle said a majority of the farmers 

 hold with the essayist that if you want quantity and 

 weight you must cut late ; but if (luality is what is 

 wanted, then you must cut earlier. .Mr. Engle's 

 opinion is that wheat should be cut when the grain 

 has passed from a milky into a doughy state. If 

 left stand until entirely ripe, it docs not grind so 

 well ; the bran is rough and cannot be cleanly scjia- 

 rated from the flour; the result is that though the 

 wheat may have bad greater weight than it would 

 have had if cut greener, it will not make any more 

 flour nor of as good quality. The objection to early 

 cutting is that the grain is apt to sprout in the shock. 

 This is an objection and should be carefully guardeii 

 against. For forty years he had practiced early 

 cutting and had the grain to sprout only twice. 

 When cut early the straw packs closer, and more 

 can be got into the barn than when cut late. 



John C. Linville said that if the wheat was cut 

 green it should be shocked for at least two or three 

 days before hauling in. The shocks should be capped 

 to prevent the rain from sprouting the grain. He 

 did not believe in drying the straw in the swath or 

 too rapidly. 



S. S. Rathvon then read a paper on "Local Fruit 

 Nomenclature," which will be found on page 86 of 

 this numtier of The Farmer. 



Henry .M. Engle endorsed the essay. He thought 

 the society should have a committee on nomencla- 

 ture, to which should be referred for a name all new 

 and good varieties of fruits. By growing seedlings 

 an immense number of new varieties of fruits are 

 being obtained. .Many of these are worthless, and 

 should be rejected. The National Society has al- 

 ready thrown out many worthless names. This is 

 right ; but no good variety should sutler neglect for 

 want of a name. Already many Lancaster county 

 apples are recorded in the books. Among them be 

 named the All Summer, the Millport Sbeepnose and 

 the Mellingcr. He has already several of his own 

 seedling peaches in the catalogues. Prof. Hathvon's 

 idea was a very good one, but let us not run into 

 extremes and give names to v\-orthless varieties. 

 On motion the chair appointed the following com- 



mittee on nomenclature : J. B. Garber, Columbia; 



Levi S. Kclst, Manheim ; Martin D. Kendig, Manor. 



Place of Meeting. 



On motion of John C, Linville, the society, after 



conslderabli' discussion, resolved to continue to hold 



its meetings In the third story of elly hall, and tlio 



eommitliM-, of which Simon P. Eby Is elialrinan, was 



authorized to have the room papered and put In 



proper condition for the use of the society. The 



thanks of the society were tendered to the Young 



.Men's Christian Association for the generoUH oll'er 



of their room as a meeting place for the society. 



Wheat Cultivation. 



Wm. MeComsey, whose business called him away 

 from the meeling, left with the president the follow- 

 iiiL' paper, which was read : 



By invltalioii of Mr. Grolf, .Mr. .lolin K. Heed and 

 myself constituted ourselves a committee to visit his 

 farm to see and judge for ourselves as to the advan- 

 tages of the new method of cultivating wheat. We 

 spent a very pleasant day, not only in the enjoyment 

 of the beauty and loveliness of the country at this 

 season of thi^ year, but alsfi through the kindness 

 and generous hos|iitality of Mr. Grolf and his family. 

 And our observations seemi'd to justify all we had 

 heard in favor of the new iiicliiod. A look over Mr. 

 Grotl's wheat ficMs was not only a pleasure but a 

 rare sight. I have traveled through most of the 

 wheat growing States and have never seen anywhere 

 a finer crop ; and thought the advantages of the new 

 method of its cultivation so apimrent that no better 

 evidence could be rcquiretl than may there tie seen. 

 The wheat was then, .May liHh, about three feet In 

 height, perfectly uniform throughout, and, although 

 tlu^ drills or rows are nearly a foot apart, completely 

 covered the ground. While much of the wheat on 

 other farms was very heavy ami somewhat lodg«d, 

 Mr. Grotl's all stood perfectly straight, owing to its 

 being much thicker and stronger in the straw. Mr. 

 Grotf would no doubt have secured a good crop by the 

 old method, but careful conii»atison with other wheat 

 in the same neigliborhooil sceiiicu to warrant the ctm- 

 clusion that cultivation by the new method will in- 

 crease his average yield from^ve to ten bushels per 

 acre. And It is believed that with a less favorable 

 season the advantage would be still more apparent. 



When tliife subject was first di&cussed by this 

 society it was thought that cultivating wheat in the 

 spring would destroy the young grass. Experience 

 has |irovcn the cimtrary. The grass appears to be 

 eijually benefited. Mr. Grolf has a ten .icrc field of 

 grass, timothy ami clover mixed, which Mr. Reed, 

 himself an experienced farmer, pronounced the best 

 he had ever seen, and gave as his opinion that It 

 would make three tons of bay to the acre. The 

 tiiiiolby was sown broadcast in the fall aftei seeding, 

 ami the clover after cultivating the wheat in tln^ fol- 

 lowing spring. Young clover sown after finishing the 

 cultivation of the wheat — less than three weeks 

 previous to our visit — presented the most healthy 

 and promising a]ipearance of any I ever saw ; and I 

 feel confident that sowing the seed on soil thus pre- 

 pared will jirove to be an eflcctlve remedy against 

 failure in this respect. 



John C. Linville said that if the timothy was sown 

 broadcast in the fall, as above stated, "much of it 

 must have been tfirn out by the cultivation of the 

 wheat in the spring; so whatever timothy there is 

 left must be iirlneipally in the rows of wheat, while 

 the clover sown in the spring must be principally be- 

 tween the rows. 



Levi Scarlet, who had visited Mr. GrofTs farm, in 

 company with Or. (iibbons, and had been shown 

 through two fields of the eullivated wheat, said he 

 found it decidedly better than the uncullivaled wheat 

 in adjoining fields. The stalks were stouter and 

 stronger than the others, and averageil live and a 

 hall" feet In height and unusually well headed. There 

 were two varielies under cultivation, the Amber and 

 the Clawson. The young grass growing in the 

 wheat looked very fine. The cultivation had not • 

 destroyed the timothy, as Mr. Linville suggested it 

 would do. He believed .Mr. Groll's system of cultiva- 

 tion to be an excellent one. 



Levi W. {irolT extended a general invitation to the 

 members of the society to visit his farm and take .1 

 look at his wheat before it was cut. He hfiped the 

 chair would appoint a committee tit examine and re- 

 port. He could not tell just w lieii the wheat would 

 be ready to cut, but he thought it would be ready in 

 three weeks. He would name the tlay liiTeaflcr. He 

 would be obliged to members who iiilciideil to come 

 and see him if they would drop him a postal card 

 announcing the fact, so that he might know how 

 many to provide for. 



The chair apiHiinted the following committee: 

 ('alvin Cooper, .\1 . 1). Kcn.lig, .losipli F. Wltmer, II. 

 M. Engle, Johnson .Miller, C. M. Hostctter, Levi S. 

 Heist. 



Business for Next Meeting. 



The following arc the subjects to be considered at 

 next meeting : 



"Cultivating and marketing vegetables." For 

 general disctission. 



"Crop Fertilization" — Essay by Jacob Stauffer. 

 Testing Fruits. 



The only fruits on cxliibitiou were tbree varieties 



