20 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ February 



ways of haudling it as there are farmers who 

 cultivate it. Most of tlie tobacco housed is 

 strung on four foot laths, and conveyed on 

 wagons constructed for the special purpose 

 of hauling it to the tabcco house. But some 

 store it on scaffolds, from one to four 

 days, before they put it on poles. or in the 

 house or shed. The experiences of one year, 

 especially the first year, will indicate the 

 course to pursue the next year. 



Stripping and Sorting. 



This is the last operation and puts the 

 finishing touch to the manipulations of the 

 crop, (as Scripture says, "The crown is not in 

 the beginning, nor in the middle, but in the 

 end,") which ought to be done with the great- 

 est care, in order to secure a ready sale. Sort 

 it into four classes, marked AA, A, and B, 

 and "fillers." After which the price it will 

 command, separate from the market, will be 

 according to its quality. 



Conclusion. 



Let quality be the aim of your ambition, 

 rather than quantity. High quality always 

 commands a ready sale and fair prices ; is 

 easier handled, and involves less labor than 

 a large quantity of inferior garbage. A large 

 quantity of inferior tobacco, lik other inferior 

 things, may not produce as much marketable 

 bulk as a smaller quantity of superior stock ; 

 and, moreover, it is the poorest kind of ma- 

 terial out of which to build a solid reputation 

 as a reliable tobacco farmer.— P. !S. Beist, 

 Litiz, January, 1879. 



FENCE-MAKING ON THE FARM.* 

 Fence-making is very expensive in our 

 days. When I was a boy, perhaps half-grown, 

 my father told me that in Germany they have 

 no fences, and it will become so, eventually, 

 here in this country, too. I thought that 

 could hardly be so, for I could not see how we 

 could do without fences. But now I think 

 the time is fast approaching when we will be 

 almost compelled to do without fences, but 

 we cannot do without them at the present 

 time. We must have good fences around our 

 farms to keep our neighbors' hogs and cattle 

 out, and to keep our own stock in, but the 

 interior fences we can dispense with and save 

 so much, even at the present time. There 

 are only about half the fences on farms that 

 there were when I was a boy, and we can still 

 save some yet. We have our fences with 

 five rails, and near to the ground that no 

 hogs can creep under or get through. I 

 have come to the conclusion to make my 

 fences hereafter with four rails, or perhaps 

 three at some places, and make them just as 

 high as they^are now— posts seven feet long, 

 but leave the lower rail out, and make the 

 second, which is to be the lowest, three inches 

 lower than now. The upper one the same as 

 it is in a five-rail fence, and then divide evenly 

 the intermediate space. Such a fence will 

 answer just as well for cattle and sheep, and 

 will endure longer before the posts rot off, 

 because the lower hole is not so near the 

 ground. But then I will liave a tight fence 

 around my orchard, as before, so that I can 

 let my hogs in to cat the fruit which falls 

 from the trees, and which is not fit for use. 

 Tlie remainder of the time I will keep them 

 in the pen. Their feed will not cost as much 

 as an extra tight fence over the farm. Ordi- 

 narily, hog raising is not profitable in our part 

 of the country, especially while pork is as 

 cheap as it is at the present time. In the 

 west they can always raise hogs and ship them 

 here cheaper than we can raise them. We 

 can make more out of our corn if we feed it 

 to some other stock. But every farmer ought 

 to raise enough of pork for his own family. 

 That he can do without much cost with proper 

 management. 



Every farmer ought to see what he wants in 

 fencing material now, before the spring opens, 

 and have it ready by that time, so that he will 

 not have to go after it when the roads are 

 bad, or other work is pressing. 



ONE YEAR'S EXPERIMENT WITH 

 FOWLS.* 



I present an account whicli I held with my 

 fowls during the year 1878. The experiment 

 was made to test the value of fowls when 

 kept in an enclosure where they could destroy 

 little of value. They were kept in an en- 

 closed orchard (1:^ acres). True, they did 

 pick some of the fallen fruit, but this had very 

 little market value, and I estimate that, upon 

 the whole, the fowls were of more benefit 

 than hurt to the orchard. I have heard claims 

 of large profits where fowls had the range of 

 the farm ; but it is doubtful whether the proper 

 deduction was made for the acre, more or 

 less, of wheat destroyed ; or for the corn or 

 garden things pulled up ; or for the clover 

 trampled under foot. Others claim big profits 

 from breeding fancy stock and selling at fancy 

 prices. SIO.OO for a pair of fowls and S2.00 

 a dozen for eggs sounds profitable, but it is 

 doubtful if many realize it. You will perceive 

 by the figures that my profits were moderate. 



During July cholera made its appearance 

 and carried off eight or ten liens, and a num- 

 ber besides were used in the family at differ- 

 ent times. From this it is evident that the 

 average number of laying hens during the 

 year cannot positively be got at, but I should 

 estimate it from 40 to 4.5. This would make 

 the number of eggs for each fowl from 120 to 

 1.30. It has been said that a fowl under good 

 treatment should produce over 150 eggs. This 

 shortcoming in eggs cannot be attributed to 

 want of feed, as the fowls were plump and 

 fat at all times. The stock consists principally 

 of Light Brahmas, with a few White Cochins, 

 Dominiques and White Leghorns. 



DR. 

 Jan. 1st, 1878, 63 fowls on hand, at 30 cents, ?18 90 

 Corn used during year, 43 bus., at 60 cents, 2.5 80 

 Screenings " " 26 bus., at 50 cents, 13 00 

 Wheat bran, " " 26 bus., at 35 cents, 6 58 

 Bone during the year, - - - - - 3 25 



Total cost. 



$67 45 



January 1st, 1879, 71 fowls on hand, - - $2130 

 65 fowls used during year, - - - 19 .50 



4.50 dozen eggs, at 13 cents, - - - - 58 50 



Total, .... 

 Balance in favor of fowls, 



?31 85 



DISEASES OF THE PEAR.f 

 Mr. Edwin Satterthwaite, of Jenkintown, 

 Montgomery county, addressed the State 

 Fruit-Growers' Society on Thursday, January 

 16, upon the subject of the "Diseases of the 

 Fear. " He spoke extemporaneously and well, 

 and his remarks were received with every 

 mark of attention and elicited one of the most 

 interesting discussions of the session. Mr. 

 Satterthwaite said the pear is comparatively 

 exempt from vhe ravages of insets. Some 

 varieties are attacked by the curculio and 

 codlin moth, particularly the "Early Catha- 

 rine." "Cracking," one of the diseases, he 

 attributed to excessive moisture. The " White 

 Doyenne" is greatly subject to "cracking," 

 which some persons ascribe to ' ' running out. '^ 

 Of late the speaker's White Doyennes have 

 not been much affected by the disease. An- 

 other disease caused by atmospheric influence 

 is a kind of mildew, among which he in- 

 stanced the Beurre Clairgeau, Bucrre Capian- 

 mont and Napoleon. In a dry season these 

 varieties are exempt from the disease. Some 

 few varieties, for instance the Easter Buerre, 

 are affected by wrinkling of the skin. The 

 chief troubles of the pear are the diseases 

 which affect the tree. Pear trees are exempt 

 from the borer, except such as are grafted on 

 the quince. 



The pear slug is the most destructive insect 

 affecting the pear trees. They are worse in 

 dry seasons. It is a small slug, about half an 

 inch in length, and is generally found on the 



•Kcad before the Laucasler County Agricullural and 

 Horticultural Society by Casper Hiller. 



t An extemporaneous address by Mr. Edw. Satterthwaite 

 before the State Frnit-Growers' Society. 



trees in the month of June. The speaker has 

 no doubt that with proper care the .slug can 

 be destroyed. Almost anything thrown on 

 them appears to destroy t'liem. Dry slaked 

 lime, Paris green, and whale oil soap are all 

 efficacious. He a.sked why whale oil soap is 

 always recommended in the books for diseases 

 of this kind, and thought common soap should 

 be equally as good. The speaker next referred 

 to the leaf blight as the worst thing that the 

 pear tree has to contend with. The trees 

 change all at once, when the fruit is about 

 beginning to ripen, the leaves will all turn 

 yellow, and the next day the leaves drop off, 

 or the half of them, and the crop of fruit is 

 ruined. He thought dry weather was the 

 cause of the leaf and the fire blight, and 

 believed that our climate was too dry for the 

 pear. The Tyson is utterly wortliless on ac- 

 count of the leaf blight ; the Flemish Beauty, 

 Canandaigua and Washington are also much 

 allected by tlie same disease. The fire blight 

 is generally considered the most dangerous 

 disease of the pear, but he thought the leaf 

 blight is the worst. The trees that are most 

 subject to the leaf blight arc not affected by 

 the fire blight at all. Downing attributes the 

 fire blight to the freezing of the sap in the fall. 

 This theory has never appeared satisfactory 

 to the speaker. He had lost two or three 

 thousand pear trees by the fire blight out of 

 .5,000. A pear tree does not blight much until 

 after it gets to bearing, so that he lost one- 

 half of his best trees. He ascribed the cause 

 to dry weather. The only remedy for the fire 

 blight, whatever the cause may be, is in the 

 selection of varieties. After a great deal of 

 care and observation, the speaker has made a 

 selection after cultivating nearly COO varieties 

 of pears, all in fact that are generally known 

 in the books. The varieties that blight the 

 most, in his experience, are the following, 

 among others : Osborne's Summer, Madeleine, 

 Onoitdaga, Belle Lucrative, Vicar of Wink- 

 field, Ananas d'Ete, Maria Louise, Buftam, 

 Glout Marceau, Otts' Seedling, and Golden 

 Beurre of Bilboa. The kinds that have es- 

 caped the blight with the speaker are the 

 following: Bartlett, Seckel, Duchesse d'An- 

 gouleme, Beurre Gifford, Doyenne Bosc, 

 Meriam, Jefferson, Julienne, Early Catha- 

 rine, Bell, Bezide la Motte, Beurre Clair- 

 geau, Tyson, and Kingsessing. Among va- 

 rieties somewhat subject to blight, but 

 which the speaker would not be without 

 on account of their otherwise valuable quali- 

 ties, are : Lawrence, Beurre d'Anjou, and 

 Kutter. Auother list that blight some, but 

 are desirable to have in a large collection, are 

 the following : Doyenne d'Ete, Beurre de 

 Montgeron, Clapp's favorite, St. Michael j 

 Archangel, Howell, Manning's Elizabeth, ' 

 Doyenne Boussock, Des Nonnis, Kirtland, j 

 Beurre Bosc, Gushing. The Sheldon has not 1 

 blighted much. The speaker then answered 

 some questions as to the appearance of the 

 blight among the trees and the manner in 

 which the trees are affected. There are so 

 many subtle, invisible, intangible atmospheric 

 influences that we know so little about that 

 it would be presumption in any one to ascribe 

 definitely the cause of some of the diseases 

 which the speaker has mentioned. The science 

 is in its infancy, and we have almost every- 

 thing to learn as yet about fruit culture. 



MODERN FRUIT HOUSES.* 

 Many of the finest fruits, says Judge Stitzel, 

 naturally undergo speedy decay, and those! 

 most highly esteemed are often only to be enA 

 joyed by those who produce them, and cannoM 

 be put into market except for immediate con-j 

 sumption. This decay has been found to take 

 place most rapidly when the fruit is exposed 

 to considerable or frequent changes in temj 

 perature. We know that certain kinds ^t 

 grapes, packed in sawdust, were imported to! 

 this country from warmer climates; we found 

 that unripe berries could be preserved in 

 their natural state a long time in bottles or 

 jars, filled in with dry sand or sawdust, and 



