187S.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



167 



Nor ciin dairying in any of its forms take 

 the place of grain cultuie. 



Some of its forms must eventually exhaust 

 the soil. Any of its forms woulif soon result 

 in over-iiroihiction if engaged in by a majority 

 of farmers. Milk is a perishable commodity, 

 and could only lind a liome market up to a 

 certain quantity ; butter and cheese must be 

 ' disposed of witliin a certain time, either in a 

 lionie or foreign market, and would .soon be 

 over-produced if engaged in by farmers in 

 general. 



Grains can be held, if desired, by the farmer 

 more safely than almost any other general 

 farm product. .Shall we abandon tlieir eidti- 

 vation V No, we must compete witli our west- 

 ern brethren, by more tliorough cultivation, by 

 the production of greater crops per acre, by 

 the production of the best quality of beef and 

 mutton, which, if they do not meet with a 

 profitable market at home, will lind a ready 

 sale in the over-populated portions of Kurope. 



The improvement of our soil demands the 

 production of tlesh of some kind for market. 

 Whatever animal we may .select, the fact is 

 evident that he subsists largely upon the cruder 

 products of the farm until the period of fat- 

 tening, and that he is a valuable manure- 

 maker during the entire period. An ox of 

 fifteen hundred [lounds weight removes from 

 the farm no more mineral matter and nitrogen 

 than lifty bushels of eoi'u, worth on tlie aver- 

 age about one-third as much, and the ox has 

 been all the time imjiroving the soil, whilst 

 the corn has done nothing in that direction. 



These arc incontrovertible facts, which we 

 all should know, but if we camiot learn them 

 let us provide this rich legacy for our sons and 

 daughters by demanding that a portion of the 

 nine millions of dollars annually expended 

 upon our common schools be appropriated to 

 the establishment of a few .schools in our midst 

 in which a fair knowledge of physics, physi- 

 ology, botany, entomology, chemistry, agri- 

 culture and horticulture be taught. The in- 

 tricacies of car calling demand such knowl- 

 edge ; the welfare . of the nation depends 

 largely upon it — why delay its dissemination ? 



In conclusion, if I have said or done aught 

 to-day to enlarge your views of the dignity 

 and responsibility of your calling ; to engen- 

 der in j'our minds and hearts the resolve and 

 hope that your sons and daughters nuiy be 

 thoroughly lilted to take your places by a 

 liberal education for that purpose, I am re- 

 jiaid, amply repaid, thrice amply repaid for 

 my labors in your iwidst. 



^ 



For The Lanca^^ter Farmed. 

 CORNSTALK MOLASSES. 



The articles on sorghum and cornstalk sugar, 

 . in your October number, reminded me of an 

 incident in my early life, which, in justice to 

 early if not first discoverers of available sac- 

 charine matter in cornstalks, I beg leave 

 to recount. 



During the war of 1S12-1.5, when under 

 twelve years of age, I was sent on an errand 

 to a family residing (m the west bank of the 

 Chickies creek, about where it is now cro.ssed 

 by the Marietta and Columbia turnpike. IJoy- 

 like I loitered in the woods, which then 

 skirted the river from the present borough- 

 line of Marietta to and beyond tlie creek, so 

 that another mealtin\e arrived before I reached 

 the house, and the family urged me (1 nothing 

 loth 1) to eat with tlicm before retiuuing 

 home. At that time the war had made sugar 

 and molasses scarce and dear, and therefore 

 sparingly used by the poorer classes. 13ut 

 this family not only had molasses on the table, 

 but urged me to use it freely if I liked it ; 

 adding that it was their own manufacture, 

 out of cornstalks, by aid of a straw-cutter, 

 cider press and apple-butter kettle. As "we 

 children " frequently chewed cornstalks for 

 sweetmeats I had recognized the peculiar 

 flavor, but thought the syrup very good, not- 

 withstanding. It was about as thick as the 

 West India molasses in common use, of a 

 more reddish color, but very clear and beauti- 

 ful. 

 1 am inclined to believe, however, that 



cornstalks will hardly supersede sorghum and 

 imphec— especially if the amber .sorghum, now 

 cultivated in Minnesota, should prove as pro- 

 ductive of syrup elsewhere as it is in that 

 State. This, however, is not to be expected. 

 Soil and climate, each lias wonderful intluence 

 on the plant in its sugar product, as has been 

 demonstrated by a few trials, and was often 

 foiiiul to be the case in common sorghum 

 culture. And I presuuK^ that soil and climate 

 will also affect the sugai' product of cornstalks. 

 It is therefore to be regretted that the chemist 

 of the Dciiartmeiit of Agriculture did not 

 embrace in his report of experiments the loca- 

 tions and soils and the amount of i>ro(luct— 

 that is, the weight of stalks, o sorghum and 

 of corn to the acre. This, and a little more 

 care in stating the results, would have en- 

 abled common readers to understand more 

 clearly the comparative values of each ma- 

 terial experimented on. The following table 

 may aid in this desirable understanding, as 

 calculated from the statement on page 149 of 

 your October number : 



The syrup is said to contain 75 per cent, of 

 its weight in sugar, but the kind or kinds 

 (cane or grape sugar) are not stated. If even 

 the amber sorghum has 5.6 per cent, of glu- 

 cose, (October Farmer, page 147,) the corn- 

 stalk may be expected to contain a larger 

 amount. 



It is hoped that other experiments will be 

 made with stalks grown in other .soils and 

 sections, and with equal weights of stalks ; 

 and that experimenters will carefully give the 

 weight of stalks to the acre, and the various 

 processes for the production of sugar, as well 

 as of the amounts jiroduced. It is only by 

 repeated experiments, embracing all the vari- 

 ations of soil, climate and processes— perhaps 

 even embracing modes of cultivation — that 

 this problem can be .solved. And even then, 

 to render it practical, the cost of material and 

 of manufacture per pound, must be clearly 

 ascertained. "Will it pay V" — A. B. Grosh, 

 Washington, D. C. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 RANDOM THOUGHTS— No, 6. 



Tree Agents 

 Have been about again and we hear many 

 comiilaints. I do not know why it should be 

 so, but in most cases there is more or less dis- 

 satisfaction, among which the following are 

 most conspicuims : 



1. The agents generally act for parties in 

 New York or other distant places, whose 

 charges are much higher than at our local 

 nurseries. This the buyer does not know until 

 after he has subscribed, and then thinks he 

 has been overreached. I know of a neighbor 

 who paid $1.00 for a peach tree, new variety, 

 that he could have bought at a nur.sery not 

 more than three miles di.stant at li.'i cents ; 

 grajievines at 75 and 50 cents each that he 

 could have had at 25 cents ; he intends to buy 

 at home hereafter. Those at a distance can 

 not sell as cheap as the local nurserymen, as 

 they have to pay heavy freight on trees and 

 have to pay their agents a large percentage 

 for selling, besides other expenses to which 

 the local men are not subjected. 



2. Though many of the agents act for good 

 nurseries, yet there are many who profess to 

 sell for certain generally well-known firms but 

 do not. This latter cla.ss of agents, more 

 properly called "tree peddlers," sell trees and 

 then buy them here and there, wlierever they 

 can get them cheapest, without regard to 

 whether the raisers of the trees are responsible 

 parties or nf>t. A year or two ago .a favorably 

 known nursery firm published an article in 

 the American Agriculturist, stating that their 

 agents received lists of what trees to sell and 



that tiieir customers were sure to get what 

 was sold, but in clearing out part of the 

 nur.sery there would oftentimes be many trees 

 U'ft on it not up to tlio standard, or of wliich 

 the. names had been lost, or which had not 

 taken when budded, but tlirew up a stem from 

 the stock, and of course were seedlings — such 

 were sold to "iieddlers," who took them up 

 themselves and labeled them according to 

 what they had sold. The victims of the.se 

 pedlers of course did not find out how badly 

 they were cheated until aftca- years. 



;i. These agents have a large list of varie- 

 ties, and unless a man perfectly understands 

 what kind to buy, he may and possibly will, 

 select many varieties that are not at all suited 

 to his locality. The owner of a local nursery, 

 if he understan<l;i his business as he .should, 

 will have m(K"itl3' only such kinds as are suit- 

 able to the neighborhood, and will be able to 

 give the inuchascr advice about the varieties 

 most suitable for the customers' wants. Very 

 few agents would be able to do this, though 

 they might be con.scientious, .as most of them 

 are but little versed in horticulture. 



I believe that our nurserymen are making a 

 mistake by not advertising- more. Putting a 

 list of prices into such papers as TiieFaioiek 

 and the weeklies tor which our county is 

 noted, would no doubt be the means of largelyv 

 increasing their business. If would-be pur- 

 chasers do not know you have an article to 

 sell they will hardly ask you. It is for the 

 seller to make known the wares he has to sell. 



Change of Seed 



has often been recommended as being profit- 

 able by the increase in yield which is likely to 

 result. That this often has been the ca.se 

 cannot be denied, and yet the improvement 

 by it have been due to other causes, such as 

 bringing a variety more suited to the locality 

 than those that had been raised before ; in 

 some cases, perhaps many of them, the result 

 would be just as contrary, because the varie- 

 ties were not suited to the locality to which 

 they were brought. It is well known that 

 some varieties of wheat will not do very well 

 in a sandy soil, but give excellent results on 

 those of a heavier texture ; other varieties 

 will do well on sandy but not on heavy soils. 

 It is important, then, that the farmer should 

 consider the character of the soils in any con- 

 templated change of seed, as there may be as 

 many chances of the result being unfavorable 

 as there are of its being favorabl(\ It is for 

 this reason that many re.ally improved varie- 

 ties of wheat, &c., do not meet expectation 

 because they may be varieties whose improve- 

 ment is visible only when grown in suitable 

 soil. 



But there is another side of the subject 

 which is not often considered. 



If you get seed from the same parallel of 

 latitude, i. c, either directly east or west of 

 you, there is no difference in the time of ripen- 

 ing, with perhaps a few exceiitional cases. 



If, on the other hand, you get seed from some 

 place south of you it will take longer for your 

 crop to mature ; if you get from the north the 

 crop will mature earlier than those in yourown 

 locality. In Vick's ALdjazitu-, for November, 

 it is stated that at Vincennes, France, barley 

 needs lUtl days in riiieiiing. hut that seed im- 

 ported from Alten, N(uway, produced a crop 

 that ripened in thirty-seven days less. Wheat 

 in Norway ripens in 105 days, and the period 

 of ripening gradually lengthens as we move 

 southwani, until in Algiers, where it takes 

 about 142 days. 



As this law probably holds good it would 

 not be good policy for a lyancaster county 

 farmer to get his seed corn from Alabama or 

 Mississi]>pi, as there would be a likelihood 

 that it would not be matured by the time of 

 frost ; in New York and other States, where 

 frost comes oftentimes so early as to injure 

 their corn, the farmers should get their seed 

 corn from Canada or other point north of 

 them, and thus might get their crops to ma- 

 ture a week or ten days earlier. 



I do not know if we would derive any benefit 

 by seeds north of us, except in wheat and 



