The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. BATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., MARCH, 1879. 



Vol. ZI. No. 3. 



Editorial. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER AS AN 

 ADVERTISING MEuIUM. 



FariiuTs iiiul housokeeiiers .are t-oiistantly 

 in Deed of luudwurc, dry goods, groceries, 

 implements, fertilizers, seeds, dru^s, <and 

 many other artieles of almost daily use upon 

 the fann and in the household ; and, there- 

 fore, there is no place where they would he 

 more likely to see where and hy whom these 

 things are kept for sale than in the columns 

 of an agricultural journal. They may have 

 been reading in their papers the essays or dis- 

 cussions, the experiments and results of gome 

 improved implement, some new seeds, or some 

 new compost or manure, and they would 

 naturally want to know where these things 

 can be had, and at what cost ; and to obtain 

 that information they, as naturally would, 

 turn to the advertising columns of their own 

 journals. Again, they may have some choice 

 farm stock, poultry, fruit or grain for sale 

 themselves, or they may want to purchase a 

 supply of these artieles, and here again they 

 will look for information in their agricultural 

 journals. Simply because, if thrir paprr is in 

 the form of a quarto or an oi-hivn. it will 

 always be kept at a convenient place, from the 

 beginning to the end of the year, and is always 

 easy to refer to. (This is not the case with a 

 daily or weekly journal, which, if saved at 

 all, requires to be folded up and laid away out 

 of the road, and soon becomes buried in the 

 accumulating mass ; but in many cases when 

 a day old it is considered as having done its 

 duty and is destroyed. ) Moreover, at the end 

 of the year, a title page, the number of the 

 voliune and a copious index is furni.shed, so 

 that any article published within that year 

 can be referred to again with very little 

 trouble. Now, all this evinces that all those 

 who have anything for sale within the sphere 

 of a farmer's wants can adopt no better 

 medium to make their business known to the 

 farming public than the columns of an agri- 

 cultural journal, because that reaches the 

 houses and hearths of the veiy people they 

 most desire as customers. The Taujieii does 

 not only circulate in Lancaster county, but 

 throughout the State, and from the Pacific to 

 the Atlantic ; and in many instances in locali- 

 ties that are not reached by any other paper 

 published in the State or county. The laiblic 

 in other States seem to be aware of these 

 facts, pnd hence our agricultural exchanges 

 come to us freighted with advertisements ; 

 and we have know^l instances wlicre pcrfsons 

 have absolutely sent out of the State for an 

 article which they could have obtained cheaper 

 nearer home, but it was not advertised in 

 their paper. Of course any adverlising 

 medium is good in its specialty, and in pro- 

 portion to tiie number and expanse of its cir- 

 culation, but an agricultural journal to an 

 agriculturist possesses special advatages, if 

 the advertising public can appreciate it as a 

 medium through wliich to make known their 

 wares for sale. The advantages to the two 

 classes are mutual, and that is the only ad- 

 vantage that should cliaracterize the inter- 

 course between man and man in a free country. 



SOCIETY PROCEEDINGS. 



About semi-occasionally some, doubtless 

 well-meaning patron, ventures to suggest that 

 inasmuch as the proceedings of .societies .are 

 published in all the daily and weekly papers, 

 they might be omitted in The Faioler. 

 Prthaps the.se friends do not duly consider the 

 fact that many of the readere of our journal 

 never see a Lancaster daily paner. and some 

 of them not even a weekly oue^ Those pro- 

 ceedings, together with the essays and dis- 



cussions, arc a rellex of what the Lancaster 

 county farmers are saying and doing on the 

 subject of agriculture and kindred topics, and 

 they are not only of infinite interest to readers 

 abroad, but they also contain an epitome of 

 the agricultural progress of the county, and 

 .are valuable for home and local reference. 

 On one occasion, at least, tlio very individual 

 who suggested this objection, in two days 

 thereafter, was compelled to look into the 

 columns of the proceedings, which, although 

 published in a "daily," yet that very daily 

 had been torn up or was lost, and, therefore, 

 inaccessible. The proceedings always con- 

 lain lists of the members in attendance at the 

 meetings, and also of the officers, as well as 

 the topics to be discussed at a future meeting. 

 When bound The Faujier is invaluable as a 

 medium of ready reference. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Tliere is no one who more willingly and 

 cheerfully than we reiilies to the various in- 

 (piiries of Correspondents, especially upon 

 such subjects as those of which we have some 

 knowledge— indeed we feel it our duty to do 

 so; and we can also assure tliein tli;it, it is a 

 l>lcasant ihity. But there are a Hw inii.liiicins 

 which tln'y ought reasonably to (■(. II i|il\ with, in 

 order to secure an answer to tlicir iiucriis. in 

 the first place, they shoidd give pUiiuly their 

 postofflce address, including the county and 

 State, and in view of so many new postotlices 

 and new townships being decreed every year, 

 in some cases even the township should be 

 given. Secondly, if they desire an immediate 

 written answer they should inclose a postal 

 card or a three-cent postage stamp ; but if 

 they only desire an answer through the col- 

 umns of The Farmeu this requisition can be 

 waived. Thlnlhi, tlicir impiirics .sliould be 

 written with ink, and only on oiu^ side of the 

 paper. We jirrfcr to answer eorrcspondi'iits 

 in the columns of our journal, liccaiisc such 

 questions and answi is ojiiai involve the inter- 

 ests of the>;tii.i il |M!lilic. and in answering 

 our corresponili-iit wr answer many who are 

 equally interested, but who may feel too diffi- 

 dent to make the inquiry ; and when so 

 answered it saves us the trouble of making 

 separate answers. We know that our corres- 

 pondents will see the reasonableness of these 

 requisitions. A single postal card or a single 

 three-cent stam^3 is a mere trifle, but put all 

 these little trillcsof a whole year together and 

 it will be found that they aggregate too large 

 a sum for our cdiiorial ]iocket, especially as 

 we get uolhing for our labor of answering and 

 expect notliing. 



COUNTY FAIRS. 



It will be perceived from the procei'din;:s of 

 the lY'bniary nieetintis of liotli tiic Iloiticul- 

 tural and the Uce-Kecpcr>' S,.ci(ii(s. that it 

 is proposed to liokl an cvhiljitiou in Lancaster 

 city next autumn. In the latter society the 

 matter has only been j^roposed, but in the 

 former it seems' to be a foregone conclusion. 

 This would be v.try drsirable, an.l if the proper 

 energy is excn-isrd there <annot In: a doii))t of 

 its success. Xotliing lias yet Ix'cn ilevcloped 

 as to when and where, or how the prospective 

 exhibition is to be conducted, and as the I5ee- 

 Keepcrs' Society does not meet until the month 

 of May next we shall probably hear nothing 

 from it officially milil then. In the mean- 

 lime we would respectfully suggest, that tlie 

 HiirtU-uUural Fair and the Ilonci/ F<tir be held 

 jointly, at the same time and place. This 

 would stimulate additional interest to both, 

 and concentrate those local energies which so 

 often fail by being too much scattered ; and 

 what might still be better would be a Poultry 

 Exhibition, by our local society, under the 



same auspices. If there is iiny "show"' at all 

 for fruit and flowers the coming seiLson these 

 three societies might get up a joint exhibition 

 that would be a credit to Lancaster county, if 

 not the whole State. Those who compose the 

 membership of these societies have only to 

 say— that (under Providence,) it shall be so 

 and it will be so. 



PRACTICAL ESSAYS ON ENTOMOLO- 

 GY ; OR, ESSAYS ON PRACTICAL 

 ENTOMOLOGY. 



Under one or the other of these titles we 

 propose to publish, in book form, amply illus- 

 trated, all our entomological writings, that 

 will be useful to the faiiner, the gardener, and 

 the fruit-grower ; emliraeing the history and 

 habits of our most connnon noxiol s a\i> in'- 

 N0X10U8 IXSECTS ; including remedies for 

 their expulsion or extermination ; and the 

 work will be put to press as soon as a suffi- 

 cient number of responsible subscribers shall 

 be obtained to cover the cost. Our writings 

 are scattered over the country in various pub- 

 lications, many of which have not been pre- 

 served ; others are inaccessible to the com- 

 munity at large, and they cover a series of 

 twenty-Bve years. We have recently had oc- 

 casion to "look them up," (for, fortunately, 

 we have preserved copies of all of them,) and 

 we find that they number aboiit two hundred 

 and fifty .separate papers, which include over 

 four liundred diflcrent species or varieties of 

 insects. AVhatever errors may have inad- 

 vertantly crei)t into our earlier writings will 

 be carefully eliminated, and recent discoveries 

 will be added. Although very perceptible 

 progress has been made in practical ento- 

 moigy within the last twenty-five years, yet 

 we hud thine is amiile occasion for more 

 knowledge on the subject and a wider dillusion 

 of it. Moreover, what was really true a quar- 

 ter of a centuiy ago is ccinally true now, and 

 in many things we liud that little advance hiis 

 been made, and therefore there is little to 

 undo. A period is approaching in our domes- 

 tic history when it will be absolutely necessary 

 for all men to give heed to the facts of natural 

 science in a greater measure than has been their 

 habit in the past. Scientific fanning cannot 

 much longer be " tabooed "—practically it 

 never has been and never can be— and the 

 rising generations will acknowledge its empire. 

 We have not yet determined the price of the 

 work, nor whether it will be most expedient to 

 comprise it in one or more volumes. We in- 

 didge in some expectations, which are too 

 vague yet to give a form of expression, through 

 which we may be able to offer it to the public 

 at a very low price. 



This introductory is mainly to admonish 

 onr friends and patrons of our ultimate inten- 

 tions, and that our work will be facilitated or 

 retarded, according to the interest they may 

 see fit to manifest in behalf of our enterprise — 

 an enterprise that has mainly been suggested 

 by a number of liberal and sympathizing 

 spirits among them. 



INCORPORATION. 



It will tie perceiveil liy the jiroceedingsof the 

 February meeting of the Agricultural and Hor- 

 ticultural Society, that steps have been taken 

 to procure a charter for the same. Although a 

 late move, it is none the less a good move ; for 

 this is something which, in our view, ought 

 to have been accomplished long ago, and why 

 it was not would be difficult to explain. If 

 men are sincere in sustaining an organization 

 of the kind, they cannot possibly be opposed 

 to becoming a "body politic in law," and in 

 having a legally recognized existence. By 

 such a course "the society becomes a fact; 

 otherwise it can at best only be a contingency. 



