156 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ October, 



ago comes up irregularly. The apple crop is not 

 very good ; apples ripen sooner than usual. Farmers 

 are well on with thrashing ; wheat has turned out 

 well. 



Henry Kurtz, Mount .Joy : A good deal of grain 

 must be sowed yet; he had not sown at all on ac- 

 count of the drought. What wheat he had 

 observed appeared to he growing worse daily ; it was 

 growing up irregularly and yellow. He heard a re- 

 port from the Susquehanna river that it is within 

 three inches of being the lowest ever known. He 

 knew a place in Cumberland county where it is a 

 common thing to bring water live miles. 



Casper Killer, Conestoga : There is not much use 

 in talking aHout rain. He had previously reported 

 corn oue-fourth crop, but felt like correcting that 

 report. We can't cultivate corn too much, and if we 

 cultivate properly we need not fear dry weather. 

 When he coramenecd to husk the other day, he found 

 that he had better corn than he had had for years, 

 and in his neighborhood there would be three-fourths 

 of a crop. 



Calvin Cooper, Bird-in-Hand : He was also a be- 

 liever in thorough cultivation. There are ten or 

 twelve aeres adjoining his farm, some of which was 

 cultivated and is as high as the hedge. A storm 

 stopped the cultivation of that lot, and the difference 

 between the cultivated and the uncultivated is very 

 noticeable. 



C. F. Hostetter, Eden : In his district and even as 

 far as Little Britain the corn is unusually good. 



H. M. Engle, Marietta: This season ought to 

 teach i'armers what he has believed for years — that 

 we should cultivate corn more thoroughly — until it is 

 in tassel at least. Some are afraid of tearing up the 

 roots, which might occur, but when you cultivate 

 late you should not cultivate too deep. If corn 

 grows wild and uncared for until earing time and 

 then meets a dry spell it will not turn out well ; but 

 if, as in the past season, it does uot grow much until 

 the dry season, it will feed further than corn grown 

 in a wet season because it will be more nutritious. 



Should Public Roads be Improved ? 



Henry Kurtz I'ead an essay on this question. They 

 should most unquestionably. We have many roads 

 ia this county that need improvement, and it might 

 be done without much expense to the county by 

 litilizing the tramps. Let each district erect a cheap 

 boarding house, the tramps be fed there and made to 

 work on the road. Where there is stone make a 

 pike. Have hills leveled and valleys filled up. Many 

 of our farmers would give the stone and haul it, if 

 by doing so they would get roads ; they would like- 

 wise give money and provisions to be rid of the 

 tramps. Districts that do this would not be troubled 

 by tramps, who would shun any place where there is 

 work. The essayist pointed out a number of roads 

 that might be improved, if the boroughs between 

 which they ran would share the expense. 



J. C. Linville : Our roads are notoriously bad and 

 we are all agreed that they should be better but, the 

 great point is how to have them repaired without 

 making the taxes too high. Some of our farmers 

 when they discover a mud-hole, dump into it large 

 stones, over which wagons jolt heavily and are con- 

 siderably injured. It is very important in mending a 

 road to break the stones into small pieces. Town- 

 ships could not com|)el tramps to work without some 

 legislafjon to that etfect ; utilizing them in the way 

 suggested would be a good idea. There are a great 

 many hills that should be graded, but he thought 

 farmers pay tax enough now to have roads kept in a 

 better condition. 



Levi W. Grotf : Oue half of the taxes paid could 

 be saved in making roads if they were made pro- 

 perly. They shonld he filled up in the middle, so as 

 to keep the water off. Water does more damage 

 than does travel. The expense would be heavy at 

 first, but the investment would pay in the end. 



Jos. F. Witmer : A great mistake is made in hav- 

 ing roads hollow in the middle and between the 

 middle and the ditch at the side a rise, instead of 

 having the road rise toward the middle. Water 

 runs in the middle of the road until it comes to a 

 break, where it turns off and certainly does con- 

 siderable damage. As for hauling stones into mud- 

 holes that is worse than useless, unless they are 

 macadamized. Mud-holes could be entirely avoided 

 by having the road high in the middle. 



J. C. Linville : A very common mistake is in hav- 

 ing the road too level. Breaks should rise gradually 

 and not go abruptly to a sharp ridge. 



Jacob IJollinger : Mr. Kurtz has suggested a plan 

 which if followed out would be a good one. That too 

 many roads are going through places where they are 

 not needed, and it is expensive to keep them up is 

 well known. Taxpayers should look after these 

 things. He knew that his township supervisor had 

 about one-third of all the taxes for his own use. He 

 was in favor of better roads, not caring how much 

 they cost, but the taxes should go to their proper 

 place. 



J. C. Linville : Collecting of taxes should be 

 abolished, and all county and State tax should be 

 paid directly to the treasurer. It would be paid more 

 promptly, and if there were any delinquents, then 

 appoint a collector, 



Are County Fairs beneficial to Farmers and 

 Fruit Growers ? 

 This question was opened by Henry Kurtz : He was 

 satisfied that if Lancaster county could get up a 

 good fair it would be beneficial to farmers and cer- 

 tainly to fruit growers. Peddlers swarm over the 

 county selling fruit trees, showing what kind of fruit 

 they bear by illustrations in a book. He had spent 

 hundreds of dollars on these men, and his fruit was 

 not now worth twenty-five cents. He had bought 

 wonderful pears, but the fruit was not worth a fig. 

 Here at the society he saw the fruit aud could buy 

 of those from which it came, running no risk of being 

 swindled. Our farmers spend thousands of dollars 

 annually on these worthless trees. At the fair they 

 could see every variety of fruit grown in the county, 

 and choose the kiud of tree they will buy by the 

 fruit they see there. These men came from New 

 York with splendid illustrations, but their fruit when 

 it comes is worthless. Not only is the fruit grower 

 thus victimized, but also the farmer by the farming 

 implement man, the cattle grower and all the rest 

 of the traveling frauds. 



Daniel Smeych : They are beneficial to the fruit 

 grower, the nursery man, the farmer and all classes 

 of people and he thought our county should hold a 

 fair every season. It seemed to him that the county 

 is afraid to show its products. Farmers profit by 

 what they see of city products, and vice versa. 



J. C. Linville : Farmers should be more sociable, 

 and the best way to promote sociability is by coming 

 together at fairs. But at these fairs, farmers gener- 

 ally make a poor display, while the mechanics of 

 the town make a good one. Let us have a fair, and 

 a good display from all quarters. Horse races and 

 side shows are not essential. None of our fairs have 

 been noted for their success, but there is more in- 

 terest iu such things now, and he thought the 

 society could hold a grand fair. Other counties hold 

 them every year, and it must certainly be profitable 

 or they would not do it. We should have a good fair 

 next year. 



S. Lem. Fry : He agreed with Mr. Linville. He 

 did not approve of trials of speed ; they should be 

 done away with and the premiums paid to farmers. 

 But some of our gentlemen farmers say we can't 

 have a fair without horse racing. And we can't 

 have racing with $S00 or $400 premiums. And can't 

 have the premiums without pool selling. There is 

 another class opposed to this and soon we can't get 

 up a fair. 



Calvin Cooper : He had always been loth to give 

 any encouragement to fairs, but it was probably be- 

 cause they have been badly managed. We see other 

 counties, not so rich as ours, have fairs, and why 

 should ^lot we? We have material enough to make 

 one of the most successful exhibitions yet known. 

 But we must have somebody to take the lead ; 

 whether it was for this society to take the lead he 

 did not know. He saw the fair at York, at which he 

 was one of the judges. They look forward to it as 

 a holiday for months before the time ; they have 

 sociability, no drunkenness, a little horse racing, and 

 the best of^ stock and produce. This made him think 

 that if it was started in time we could have a splendid 

 exhibition. 



H. M . Engle : York and Berks have successful ex- 

 hibitions, every year, and why should Lancaster, the 

 boasted garden county, stand in the shade? It is 

 time we should be up and doing. We can't get up a 

 successful one the first season, but we can in time. 

 Horse racing has been spoken of ; we have a queer 

 class of people ; some are bitterly opposed to it and 

 others are in favor of it. He believed every tub 

 should stand on its own bottom : if horse racing is 

 not profitable at any place but fairs it should be 

 stopped, and if fairs cannot be made successful with- 

 out horse racing they should go down. One objec- 

 tion to this society taking the lead in starting a fair 

 is that it has no charter, and if we get into litigation 

 we would all be at sea. Then we have no grounds, 

 and to procure them would be expensive unless we 

 could rent from the Park Association, and he did not 

 see why that society shold object to receive or others 

 to pay a fair remuneration. 



Wm. McComsey : He had been away for some 

 time and visted a immber of fairs. He found every- 

 where that each coimty had its fair grounds, some of 

 them very beautiful and complete with all the neces- 

 sary buildings, and all paid for. And fairs were held 

 there year after year with the most encouraging suc- 

 cess. Everybody looked forward to the county fair 

 with the greatest interest ; thousands of people 

 flocked thither and few if any who attended but re- 

 ceived some benefit directly or indirectly. Why Lan- 

 caster county, so far superior to the others in an 

 agricultural point of view as well as in wealth, should 

 be so far behind all others he was unable to say. 

 But he found iu all the inevitable rings for trials of 

 speed. Now whether those peojile are less ^noral 

 than we he was unable to say. "They certainly did 

 not show it; he saw universal good order, propriety 

 and temperance. But the success of these fairs is 

 achieved through long years of experience, and in 

 conversing with the manasrers of the fairs they ad- 

 mitted that it was an evil but seemed to think that 

 good came from it. What is wanted is the patronage 

 of the people. Kaces bring them to the fairs and 



make them a success. In order to have races, we 

 must have premiums, and to pay premiums it is nec- 

 essary to have a large crowd. He found a Jive spirit 

 existing among the farmers and stock growers. 

 Every one made it an object to excel in some particu- 

 lar thing. This competition leads to progress and 

 improvements here; county fairs must be and are 

 beneficial, not only to those directly interested but 

 to consumers. He knew many were onposed to 

 horse-racing ; he was not au advoi/ate of it, at the 

 same time he did not think we could get up a fair 

 without it. He did believe if by means of them we 

 could get up a successful fair the account would be 

 more than balanced. 



Casper Hiller : One difficulty in the way is the 

 Park Association who hold the grounds. They call 

 themselves the Agricultural Society, and so we have 

 two societies antagonistic to each other. If we could 

 become reconciled there would be nodifiiculty. 



Calvin Cooper : He was glad to see so much in- 

 terest excited; things look favorable now. True, 

 the Park Association holds the grounds, but doubt- 

 less they would be glad to lease them for a merely 

 nominal sum. He did not see why a successful fair 

 could not be held. 



.Jos. F. Witmer agreed with Mr. Cooper. There 

 would be no difliculty in renting the grounds, but 

 thought we should try to get grounds under our own 

 controll. If trials of speed for horses without are- 

 cord could he held, all right; but he objected to 

 regular racing as at other fairs. 



On motion, the further discussion of the question 

 was indefinitely postponed. 



New Business. 



Casper Hiller said he had thought that if members 

 could bring grasses and other specimens of farm pro- 

 duce to the rooms and form a sort of a museum it 

 would be a pleasant task for the member^ but he 

 had brought several fine specimens which had been 

 carried off, and this was not very encouraging; he 

 did not eare to bring anything, if it was not safe here. 



Several of the members had heard somebody in- 

 structing the janitress that everything left in the 

 room was her property, and thought this would ac- 

 count for the disappearance of his articles. They 

 thought if instructions were given that nothing of 

 that sort would be taken. 



John G. liesh thought that as we had such a 

 splendid wheat crop, each farmer should bring a 

 specimen and it could be kept in jars. 



■Jos. F. Witmer suggested that samples of all kinds 

 of farm produce be brought in, and Mr. Fry moved 

 that his suggestion be adopted with the amendment 

 that each farmer bring samples from the districts not 

 represented iu the society. Carried. 



Report of the Fruit Committee. 



The Committee on Fruit having examined all the 

 exhibits, made the following report : 



Daniel Smeych : Several varieties of exotic 

 grapes; White Syrian, weighing nearly four pounds 

 to the buncli; White Nice aud Black Hamburg, both 

 very fine. Native Grapes — lona, beautiful and very 

 good; Crevling, To Kalon, Diana, Rogers No. '2S. 

 Two seedling peaches — Both yellow fleshed; large, 

 very good — high flavored for the season, and worthy 

 of propagation — ripe flrst week in Octoljer. A large 

 pear without name, has been kept until Spring, said 

 to be excellent. Howell, Duchess, Beurre Clairgeau 

 pears (extra fine). 



Mr. Zimmerman scut in some of his seedling late 

 peaches — quality very good; a light peaeh worthy of ' 

 propagation. 



Isabella grapes from Mr. Fisher. 



John (4. Kesh: 4 varieties of apples — York Im- 

 perial, Dominie, Winesap, and Fallawater. Two 

 varieties of wheat — Foltz and Canada White. Fine i 

 chestnuts; a sample of very good corn. 



Hiller & Son: '2(5 varieties of apples — Griest's Win- 

 ter, Newton Pippin, Baldwin, Jonathan, Saylor or 

 Ned, Hubbardson Nonesuch, King of Tompkins Co., 

 Mother, Fancy Sweet, Belmont, Ben Davis, Lancas- 

 ter Greenintr, York Imperial, Couklin's Favorite, 

 Northern Spy, Norton's Melon, Krauscr, English 

 Husset, Rhode Island Greening, Dominie, Tewksbury 

 Blush, Lady, Willow Twig, Winesap, and several for 

 a name. Sample of corn grown in the driest season 

 known. 



S. Lem. Fry, of Ephrata: Twelve varieties of j 

 apples— Very tine, would compare favorably with 

 Michigan and Western New York apples — Pound, 

 Northern Spy, Smokehouse, Rambo, York Imperial, 

 and several varieties for name. Sweet Kamho, 

 twenty ounces. 



Samuel R. Hess & Son, Eph.ata, four varieties of 

 apple— Baldwin, York, Imperial, Cumberland 

 Seedling, one very flue, showy and promising for 

 name, possibly twenty ounces. 



Casper HtLLEit, 

 M. D. Kendig, 

 H. M. Engle, 

 Levi S. Reist, 



Committee. 



Several of the members made remarks compli- 

 mentary to Mr. Smeych, and on the fruit he has 

 introduced. 



Dr. S. S. Rathvon, of the committee appointed to 

 inquire the cost of putting up shelves and tables for 



