1878.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



d85 



years old; neillier can he afforrt to hold crops 

 vi'iv loiiLj fcir :i risi' in prices. 



The Ih'st object ol' the siumII fiiriuer should 

 be lo pniihiec ;is nearly as possilile, all lliat bis 

 family needs. And then it possilile be should 

 liave'a small regular iue<uue from tlu^ farm to 

 enable him to meet current expenses, so as not 

 to he ('onlronted with a pile of bills at the end 

 of the year. In fact, I would urf;(^ that uotli- 

 iui,' l)ui thi> direct necessity should induce bim 

 to .l;o in <lebt a dollar. There is asalisfaclion 

 and iudei>i'udenee in the " iiay as yon so '' 

 ruU'. which will compen.sateforalari;e amount 

 of self denial. Jt will cost you more nuhajipy 

 hours, to find yourself at the end of the year 

 unable t<i |iay your liills, than (o wi'ar patched 

 clothes and deny yourself table luxuries. I do 

 not believe that many sniiiU farmers will llnd 

 close economy necessary, but I should be triad 

 to see them entertain such a horror of delit 

 that any degree of economy would seem ]ire- 

 ferahle. As the farm will furnish breadstulf, 

 meat, poultry, vegetables and fruit, a house 

 to live in, and generally fuid, the neces.sary 

 cash expenses of the family will be greatly re- 

 duced, and it will be easy to plan to meet 

 them. 



If you arc situated near a town which will 

 all'ord a market, you can combine gardening 

 with farming, but you must not try to com- 

 pete with the regular market gardencu's and 

 run liot-lieds, grow all varieties, and attend 

 market early and late. The farmer's time will 

 all be needed at honie during the spring, but 

 when his corn is laid by and his wheat har- 

 vested be will have leisure during the fall to 

 attend to some special crops. If you atterajit 

 market gardening it is l)est to miike a special- 

 ty of a few things which you find pay you, and 

 get a regular set of customers who will dcjiend 

 on yo\i for them, and keep their trade by giv- 

 ing them a superior article and the full worth 

 of their money. For many years I at(*euded 

 market for three months every fall, and re- 

 ceived from ten to thirty dollars a week in 

 ready cash. I made a specialty of sweet pota- 

 toes, tomatoes, pickles, l.ima beans, nutmeg 

 muskmelons and turnips, and I often sold from 

 one to two luuidred dollars' worth from an 

 acre. ^lany farmers are so situated that they 

 can make the growing of small fruits protita- 

 Vile, and an acre or two devoted to straw- 

 berries and raspberries will, if iirojierly cared 

 for, be found protitable. There is a lietter 

 market for these in small villages than in our 

 cities, f(n- most of the fruit is rushed into the 

 cities and the market glutted. The demand 

 for berries for festivals and for canning will 

 ahvays be good, and if well cared for they 

 ■ must prove protitable. 



But supposing a man has no experience in 

 gardening and no taste for it, he can make a 

 small farm protitable for dairying. Let him 

 begin with live or six good cows and make a 

 fnst-rale iiuality of butter, and he will have 

 no (litli<'uUy iu engaging it Viy the year at a 

 good price ; and as his experience increases 

 and bis land becomes enriched, he can increase 

 his dairy operations. Hy ftdlowing a system 

 of partial soiling, a dairy of ten cows can be 

 kept on a good forty acre farm, and by pur- 

 chasing a few tons of bran at the season of the 

 year when it can be bad for the least money, 

 to feed in cnnnection with his skim milk, two 

 hogs may be well kejit for each cow. If the 

 cows are kept iu a stable all winter and at 

 uight in summer, with a ditch water-tight to 

 save the dropjiings, his land can be rapidly 

 made fertile. In managing a small farm in 

 this way he would liave .so little under the 

 plow that he would be able to give his crops 

 the very best attention, and each year could 

 manure nearly or quite one-fourth of his farm. 

 In managing a small farm I would sell no- 

 thing that could be consumed on the farm, 

 for by enriching your laud you increase its 

 productiveness and add to your cajiital. The 

 farmer who has two or three himdreil acres of 

 land is not as deeply interested in keeping his 

 land rich as is the one whose entire capital is 

 represented by a few acres. I believe that 

 the maj.ority of farmers would have less care 

 and worry, and more net profit, if they would 



reduce the size of their farms, he more thor- 

 ough in the cultivation of their crops, and 

 mcM'e economical in all the details of their 

 management. I hope others will write on 

 the subject of small farms, and that some of 

 our readers who are living on farms of lifty 

 acres or less will give us an account of their 

 management and what their income is. — 

 " Jl'd/i^o," (71 the PrarliatI Fo.rriicr. 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



Proceedings of the Lancaster County Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural Society. 



Till' rcijiilar nioiillily mci-tiiifr "f t.'ic Lancaster 

 Cfniiity .\;;ricullural Scjciet.y, was held oil Monday 

 afU'riiMoii, l)(H-L-niIicr "J. 



Till' society was culled to order by tlie President, 

 Calvin Cooper, esq. 



On innlion, the reading of the minutes was dis- 

 pensed with. 



The fiillowiiiff meinlicrs and visitors were present : 

 IT. M. Kiiffle, .Marietta; S. P. El>y, city; Levi W. 

 (Iroir, West Earl ; Casper Ililler, Conestoija ; Jos. I'\ 

 Witnier, Paradise; W. H. Brosius, Dnimore; Daniel 

 Smeyeli, city; Calvin ,C()o[ier, Bird-in-IIaiid ; Frank 

 i;. Dill'eiiilcrfer, city; .lolm Hidicr, Warwick; .1. M. 

 Johnston, city; Clare Carpenter, city; William Jolui- 

 son. Paradise ; William McComsey, city; Dr. D. W. 

 Bollinsrer, city; Ephraim S. Hoover, Manheim ; Levi 

 S. Heist, Manhcim ; Isaac Bushong:, Upper Leaeock; 

 William Wcidle, city; C. L. Ilunsecker, Maulieim ; 

 Israel L. I.audis, city. 



Keports of special committees beiuc: called for, 

 F. hi. DilfenderfTer said tlie committee appointed to 

 examine the competitive essays scut in were ready to 

 report, liut as only one memtier was present, asked 

 that the matter be delayed a short time. 

 Crop Reports. 

 H. M. Engle said tlie grain crop has improved 

 vastly since the last nieetin;;. It is not (food yet, hut 

 still it looks as if it might make a lair croji. Tlie 

 rain fall for November was 2% inches. 



W. Jl Brosius reported the wheat crop as looking 

 very well, especially that sown prior to September 

 •JOiii. The corn crop is a two-thirds crop, which is 

 ninch better tlian was expected. 



Casper Hiller has seen grain look better than now, 

 but still there is no cause for alarm. It has improved 

 very much of late, and looks well. 



C. Cooper also reported the general improvement 

 in wheat. It now looks as if it would stand the win- 

 ter well. 



Levi W. firoff thought much of the wheat did not 

 come up when first sown, hut has come out since. 

 The grass looks well ; he lias some, both clover and 

 timothy, on a cullivaled lield, and he never had any 

 that looked so regular and even. 



Reading of Essays. 



A lengthy essay, on the cultivation of grain of all 

 kinds, written by F. Sutton, of this city, was read. 

 (See page 1(!S.) 



The report of the Committee on Competitive Es- 

 says was then read, and was as follows : 



Competitive Essays. 



Frank R. Dilfenderffer, Chairman of the Commit- 

 tee on Competitive Essays, read the following re- 

 port: 



The undersigned committee, appointed at the last 

 meeting of thi. Society to examine and report on such 

 essays on tlie cultivation of small fruils and the 

 cereals as might be handed in for exaininalion, re- 

 spectfully reports that two pajiers have been suli- 

 mitted, for tlieir inspection — lioth on the cultivation 

 of corn. They have carefully examined liotli, and 

 find them very carefully prepared, embodying the 

 liest results of the present state of corn growing. 

 They award the preference to the essay marked ".\," 

 because of its exhaustive character, whicli is indeed 

 such as to leave scarcely any point in the cultivation 

 of this grain iiulouehed. 

 Kespeetfully, 



F. R. DiFFENDKUFFER, 



Peter S. Rei8t, 

 Wm. McComsey. 



A motion was then made to pay the premium 

 offered to the succesiful essayists and agreed to. 



H. JI. Engle, one of the successful competitors, 

 then read his essay, for which, see page 17!). 



The second essa.v was then read by its autlior, 

 Casper Hiller, of Conestoga townsldp. 



In order to laise a tirst-elass crop of corn, it is im- 

 portant to have a good clover sod, in fact it is ques- 

 tionable whether it is good farming to plant in any 

 other way. Towards spring, when the snow and ice 

 are out of the way, spread five or six loads of good 

 stable manure on each acre, and if you have not 

 enough to cover the field, sow just liefore plowing !> 

 cwt. of Acidulated ."^outh Carolina rock on the bal- 

 ance of the field. Vou need be in no hurry to plow. 

 If you were sure that the ground would not become 

 too dry, the Ist of May would be timeenough. After 

 plowing, sow an additional .5 ewt. of the rock per 

 acre, on the plot where the rock was plowed down. 



Harrow and roll, and leave In that condition until 

 time to plant— say about the l.'itli or 20lh of May. 

 Draw jour furrows S'; feet apart, and make the hills 

 from two to tlirce feet apart ,a<'i'i>riiing to the strength 

 of the soil. Put in seed siiflieient lo have a set of two 

 plants to each liill, and in order to make »nre of that, 

 It may be necessary to follow quaint old Tuseer'» 

 saying: 



Two for the blacll-tiinl, two for tlio crow, 

 Two for Itie eut-woiin, two left to grow. 



Select seed that has an acknowledgml reputation, 

 not In New York and Virginia, but in yoiirown local- 

 ity. Let it lie a klml that makes cure somewhere in 

 the neighborhood of a foot long, willi from sixteen lo 

 twenty four rows of n-ed. Harrow as soon as the 

 plant pc eps out of the ground-, and repeal the process 

 oeeasionally. 



If the corn grows rank during June, root prune 

 with a light, sharp plow, by turning a furrow from 

 each side of the row, and return the earth the same 

 day. 



Cultivate during July, making each succeeding 

 cultivation shallower. Cut when pretty well ripened. 

 Green cut fbdiler is not so well relished by cattle. 



Build your erilis to hold one hnnilred bushels to 

 each acre planted. If the sea.'<ou was a good one 

 they Vvill be filled. 



Remarks. 



Casper Ililler did not agree with the deep plowing 

 advocated in Mr. Englc's essay. .Some soils yield 

 best when plowed shallow. Every man should un- 

 derstand the cliaracter of hie soil and plow accord- 

 ingly. 



H. M. Englc defended his essay by staling that he 

 did nol in all cases recommend deep plowing. 



W. H. Brosius had no doulit that in some eases 

 shallow plowing is best, especially where there is a 

 light gravelly soil, but as a rule he believes in deep 

 plowing. TJie more soil the plant has to draw on 

 the more likely it is to prosper. 



II. >I. Engle remarked that he was accustomed to 

 plant large gourd corn at one time, but he gave it up 

 for the small gourd, which he assiduou^ly cuitivateil 

 until it also became large. Vou can imrease or de- 

 crease the size of your corn by proper selection. 



W. II. Brosius tiioiight the long season required to 

 mature the large gourd seed was an objection to 

 that variety of corn. 



Joseph F. Winner said he once got seed fiom 

 Massachusetts, and the first crop was magnificent, 

 but it has deteriorated until the present season, when 

 it was a total failure. 



H. M. Engle said he has raised from eighty lo 

 ninety bushels per acre of the improved small gourd 

 variety. 



Questions for Debate. 



"Should the growing of toljacco be encouraged? 

 If so, to what extent ?'' 



Epliraini S. Hoover said it appeared to him there 

 was at the present time a mania for tobacco gi owing. 

 Tie did not liclieve a hundred acre farm sliould grow 

 more than five or six acres <if tobacco. You do not 

 do your farm justice liy growing more. We liave 

 not manure enough to plant more. .Manure your six 

 acres well ; but if the farmer docs not make large 

 amounts of manure even two acres are enough. To- 

 bacco growing seems to be the leading agricullural 

 interest in this county now. We are carrying this 

 matter too far. We cannot keep up our present 

 standard of fertility if we grow more tobacco than 

 indicated above. Our sfraw product will decrease, 

 and Willi it our capacity to keep up the fertility of 

 our acres. This has tieen found out in some of the 

 older toliacco growing Stales. 



We know lluit all Inlcresis have their days of 

 prosperily. He thinks the lime will come when to- 

 bacco growing must give way again and there be a 

 return to the other crops. 



C. L. Hunsecker diflercd willi the former speaker 

 about tlie wearing out of soils. In Kurope the culti- 

 vation of toliaceo is mostly in the hands of the gov- 

 ernments. Here it is iiraclically free and unlimited. 

 Farmers follow a natural law in jilanting what vields 

 them the best returns. When toliaeco growing be- 

 comes unprc.lilable they will give il up, Imt not uiilil 

 tiicn. Tlicy will ahvays be the judges. Our last 

 year's wheat was the best we had for years, and 

 most of it was grown on tobacco ground. There was 

 no de'erioralion of soil there. He does not think a 

 few years will see the close of the tobacco interest 

 among us. The consumption is greater now than 

 ever before. Wli;it then will prevent farmers from 

 growing it? As long as il makes them money they 

 will raise it. 



Ephraim S. Hoover has noticed fields that were 

 partly planted on tobacco ground ; on such ground 

 it was far better than on that where no tobacco had 

 been planted, showing tlic toliaeco ground was raa- 

 nui'ed at the expense of llic rest of the farm. We 

 ought lo keep all our acres in g<iod condition, so that 

 ail}' crop can be grown when our inlcresis point out 

 a change as des ralde, as is oft en the ease. 



S. P Eliy thought that as tobacco can be dispensed 

 with, we might as well nol grow the weed. If farm- 

 ers took half the care in growing their other crops 

 that they do in tobacco, they would do well. But 

 careful tobacco cultivation may result in a more care- 



