8 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ January, 



the welfare of all concerned in The Farmer, 

 though distant from you, and not directly con- 

 cerned in the welfare of your county and its 

 people. Hence I believe your county farmers, 

 and others living there, ought to put their 

 shoulders to the wheels of The Farmer and 

 push it onward and upward, and never say 

 go on, but say come on. With all good wishes 

 for TuE Farmer and all interested in its 

 welfare, we remain your friend, 3L li. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.* 



To the memhcrs of the Lancaster County Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Society : 

 Gentlemen : In addressing you for the 

 third time since my election as your chairman, 

 and the thirteenth since the organization of 

 the society, it is with feelings of gratitude to 

 a wise Creator, for the bountiful harvest of 

 the year passed ; for the general prosperity of 

 our country ; for the removal of the terrible 

 pestilence that visited a part of our land, and 

 for the peace, good-will and prosperity pre- 

 vailing over this glorious union of States. 

 May the bonds of friendship be drawn to- 

 gether so tightly that no sectional strife will 

 ever be able to tear them asunder. 



I wish to call your attention to the harvests 

 of the past year ; to impress upon you the 

 importance of applying the skill and best 

 judgment of every tiller to his soil, to endeavor 

 by all tiie means within his power— good cul- 

 ture and every other recourse at hand— to have 

 many recurrences of abundance as the crops of 

 the season of 1878. I am well aware that all 

 does not depend on man, but I am also equally 

 confident that he who cultivates best and 

 most carefully observes the changes of our 

 seasons, is generally amply repaid with remu- 

 nerative crops, fully rewarding him for the 

 extra toil and skill employed that his garners 

 may be well filled. A more thorough system 

 of cultivation— both before and after the crop 

 has been planted — will, in my opinion, do 

 more to insure a good reward than most of 

 us are aware. If a little cultivation will add 

 five per cent, to the production of every acre, 

 it is a plain problem that thorough tillage may 

 add ten, fifteen or twenty per cunt, above the 

 usual crop. The varied experiments (the suc- 

 cessful ones I mean) of our most progressive 

 farmers, should convince every skeptical mind 

 that it is necessary for us, with the liigli price 

 of land in this section, to adopt the means 

 that will accomplish the best results. If A 

 can increase the product of an acre of wheat 

 by ten or twelve bushels, with the exjjendi- 

 ture of two or three dollars in cultivation at 

 a time when the plant is weak and tender 

 (and particularly if the season seems unfavor- 

 able,) B surely will not remain in the old rut 

 while his more progressive neighbor reaps as 

 much from two acres as lie does from three. 



Crop fertilization is one of the most im- 

 portant subjects to the farmer, and perhaps 

 the least understood. All manures to act and 

 feed the crop for which it is applied must be 

 in a condition to be absorbed by the tender 

 rootlets, and through them supply the plant's 

 food during the early growth. From observa- 

 tion and experience I am fully convinced that 

 all our cereals would be much benefited by 

 the application of some good, well decom- 

 posed fertilizer put in witli the seed, to act at 

 once, as the plant begins to grow. As the germ 

 passes through the kernel it finds food to 

 strengthen and nourish it, and better enable 

 it to withstand the changes of the climate. 

 The better quality of the grain and the pro- 

 ductiveness of some of the less fertile dis- 

 tricts of the State, where they liave adopted 

 this system of sowing, abundantly attest that 

 we are not making as much progress in agri- 

 culture as some of our neighboring yeomen. 

 I do not wish to be understood that I advo- 

 cate the use of the many patent manures that 

 are flooded upon the market, though doubt- 

 less some of them would lie very valuable if 

 they could be bought with a little less sand. 

 A careful husbandry of the excrement and 

 urine of the farm animals, and, indeed, the 



sewerage of the house, and tlie use of the 

 many absorbants, always to be found on any 

 farm, as ashes, leaves, chaff, sawdust and chip 

 dirt, the sweepings and dust of the buildings, 

 and the dry mould itself, than which there is 

 nothing better. All may be used to take up 

 the excess of moisture, that it may be con- 

 veyed to some building made for the purpose, 

 where, in stormy weather, the hands may 

 work and sift it over until reduced to that 

 condition which is most desirable to apply. I 

 sincerely believe that if every fanner would 

 use the matter that usually wastes and leaches 

 through his manure heap, making obnoxious 

 streams across the public highway, and along 

 the gutters, thus causing malaria — oftentimes 

 taken by the human fiimily- all of which 

 might have been avoided, and he would have 

 had at hand a sufficient amount of fertiUzers, 

 of the very best, to apply with the sowing of 

 all his crops. 



Those interested in horticulture have made 

 many grave errors by planting and experi- 

 menting with varieties of fruit not adapted to 

 this soil and climate. Our ambition has been 

 too great to find something not in the posses- 

 sion of a neighbor. Something new. Never 

 stopping to inquire whether suited or accli- 

 mated to their section. We have been too 

 easily persuaded by the highly-colored plates, 

 made from the choicest specimens of fruit that 

 could be found (and some that only grew in 

 some fertile imagination) and plant sorts un- 

 suited to their locality. If the planter, before 

 setting his trees, would first inquire in his 

 immediate neighborhood, what kind of apple, 

 pear, peach or other fruit is best adapted to 

 his own section, and plant mostly of those of 

 known merits, our failures in fruit crops 

 would be less frequent, and the thousands of 

 dollars now taken to distant parts and ex- 

 pended to supply our market with the fruit 

 that should be grown at home, would largely 

 contribute towards supplying necessary com- 

 forts to many a needy home. I do not wish 

 to discourage the introduction of new fruit of 

 real merit, but I do earnestly caution those 

 planting such as do not originate in this 

 locality, to plant sparingly until thoroughly 

 tested. The many new varieties of fruit 

 originating in our county, that have graced 

 our tables at their pro[)er seasons, aflbrds us 

 sufficient proof that we have at home plenty 

 of experimenters who are ever ready to supply 

 our market with horticultural novelties. For 

 instance: Tlie " Saunders," the "Wilder" 

 and other peaches of Marietta, the "Sener" 

 and many others equally good of Lancaster, 

 the " Lancaster Cherry " of very recent intro- 

 duction, gives promise of a high rank in that 

 class of fruit; among the apples the "Mel- 

 linger" and the "Ritter seedlings," with 

 many others, might be more generally dis- 

 seminated. In small fruits we are being con- 

 stantly supplied with new novelties, some of 

 which will, doubtless, prove valuable acquisi- 

 tions to the lists now promising well. It is, 

 however, always advisable to plant the new 

 varieties with great caution, that have not 

 been tested in various locations and soils, not- 

 withstanding the sanguine assurance of the 

 originators or their agents. 



The subject of exhibitions for the coming 

 year, having recently been discussed by this 

 society, and not fully disposed of, should, 

 before being decided in the affirmative, re- 

 ceive your careful consideration. The sug- 

 gestion of Dr. Rathvon, in reference to a 

 charter, is, doubtless, of the greatest impor- 

 tance should you resolve upon a fall fair. By 

 it you become an incorporated body — "a 

 body politic in law." The act of incorporation 

 in itself would not have a sustaining influence 

 without the co-operation of its members, but 

 would give more permanency and add greatly 

 to its importance as an organization, and give 

 it legal existence. "Witli good management 

 and fair weather I fully believe this county 

 could have a creditable exhibition, which 

 would be a financial successj. It is a burning 

 disgrace upon Lancaster county, with its 

 boasted agricultural wealth, that it can have 

 only its semi-annual horse races, while Ches- 



ter, Berks, Lebanon, Dauphin, York and 

 other neighboring counties are having their 

 very creditable fall shows, which, for weeks 

 previous, are looked to by the residents as a 

 joyous and grand social holiday, where old 

 and young congregate, challenging each other 

 by their production of fine grain " big pump- 

 kins," or aught else they may have, and ex- 

 change views in a social way of the various 

 means adopted in achieving such good results. 



During the last year your officers have had 

 two very able lectures" delivered before this 

 society by men of large, practical and scien- 

 tific experience, men who have given the sub- 

 ject of agriculture their careful attention, 

 and devoted the prime of their lives in e.x- 

 perimenting, and who now generously give 

 their results to all who are willing to give 

 them an attentive car. I fully believe that if 

 you were to adopt a rule to have a lecture on 

 some subject pertaining to agricultural or hor- 

 ticultural once in every three months— say 

 February, May, August and November — and 

 have it announced through the press a few 

 days beforehand, this room would soon be too 

 small to hold the assemblage. 



The growing disposition in the rural dis- 

 tricts to have a modern style of architecture 

 and landscape adornment is indicative of a 

 higher standard of sociability and refinement. 

 While, on the other hand, the disposition of 

 some (who cannot afford it) for show and dis- 

 play to the fashionable world have harrassed 

 themselves and brought discredit and b.ank- 

 ruptcy, and oftimes much misery and suffer- 

 ing in consequence. The disposition to excel 

 is to be deprecated. Home comforts, conveni- 

 ences and pleasures are not to be found in 

 display and gorgeous equipments. The pru- 

 dent yeoniau will always put a check-rein on 

 his vicious horse ; so also it behooves us to 

 curb an ambition that points to ruin and 

 disgrace. 



In conclusion, I humbly extend to you my 

 most grateful thanks for the uniform courtesy 

 that has been extended while acting as your 

 presiding otticer. Doubtless my rulings have 

 seemed to some rather arbitrary, but my 

 greatest ambition has ever been the good of 

 the society, believing that much good may yet 

 come out of our organization. 



PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE.* 



So much has lieen written and spoken on 

 the improvement of agriculture and horticul- 

 ture that one may find it quite a task to add 

 anything that is new, either in theory or in 

 practice. But let us take a view of the present 

 and the past— of the useful in the arts and 

 sciences in their relations to agriculture, and 

 the march of improvement which we see and 

 daily experience. Let us go back twenty 

 years, and compare the discussions of our 

 societies then with the discussions of the 

 present— not the abilities of the members, but 

 the subject matter of their discussions. Doubt- 

 less some of those who participated in those 

 discussions then are present to-day. Our 

 wheat and corn crops were then comparatively 

 small. Instead of well-filled graneries and 

 grain bins, we talked of short crops, and al- 

 most gave way to despondency. Instead of 

 our export trade being over$200, 000,000 in our 

 favor, we had nothing but cotton, which we 

 regarded as king among our agricultural pro- 

 ductions. In addition to that we had but 

 few things to export, and the balance of trade 

 was against us to the amount of 850,000,000 a 

 year, while it took S50,000,000 in gold to pay 

 the interest on our bond to the money kings 

 of Europe. 



Instead of the balance of trade being against 

 us, and our agricultural products diminislud 

 in quantity and high in price, we have so far 

 improved our condition so that at the present 

 time we are able to export to the different 

 nations of Europe suflicient to change the 

 balance of trade in our favor at the rate of 

 from $250,000,000 to »300,000,000 a year, and 

 all lold, we may not owe more than $-20ti,- 



