1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



41 



vate particular kinds of soil in one pliase or 

 stu^e of the naoou's progress, rather than in 

 anothei:. 



Many persons that I meet with, some of 

 them intelUj;eiit and Icarnud men and suc- 

 cessful farmertf, maintain llial the cliauKinp; 

 phases of the moon have mi st-nsiljUi t-fH-ct 

 whatever on tlu' weallirr, tlic soil or the eroiis. 

 If they are mistaken in lliis opinion, J. (J. 

 may render valuable service to the cause of 

 agricultural progress by giving the public the 

 grounds upon which he rests the contnuy 

 belief. Fanners who regulate their iilowinj; 

 and sowing and oiluT operations of Uie farm 

 by the moon have hcr.'toforc almost invari- 

 ably been very backward about givin;,' their 

 experience and the grounds of llieir faith in 

 the uewsi)apers or agricultural Journals. It 

 is to be hoped that tliisculpable reticence will 

 no longer be the rule, or at least that tliere 

 will be some exceptions to it. — Amateur Far- 

 mer. 



N. B.— J. G. will confer a favor by answer- 

 ing in the April number of The Faumer, so 

 that the information will be available iu time 

 for potato planting. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 A WORD IN REPLY. 



In the February ninnber of The Faujieis 

 Mr. "J. p." publishes a paper on "The bal- 

 ance of Trade," in which he essays to refute 

 the arguments of P. S, Heist, in a previous 

 article, and the argument of IJalance of Trade 

 generally. It is to be lamented that in his 

 vain endeavor Mr. J. P. should make use of 

 such utterly weak arguments as he has em- 

 ployed in this article. Tie makes some very 

 bold statements in the beginning relative to 

 our country's iiiosperity, and concludes by 

 saying that the rule obtains "in Great Britain, 

 and doubtless all other nations having an ex- 

 tensive foreign commerce." Xovv, a paper 

 that claims to be conclusive should not in- 

 dulge in any statements of doubtful veracity, 

 and impose its author's whims upon the eiedi- 

 bility of unwary readers. Xo evidence is so 

 conclusive as the irresistible logic of fads. 

 But we look in vain for these in this paper. 



The author uses what he seems to consider 

 more important than facts, namely, illustra- 

 tions, wliich arc supposed to impress facts. 

 But these illustrations are so hopelessly il- 

 logical that they teach the opposite of what 

 they were intended for. 



We cannot help giving an extract of bis 

 "familiar illustration." 



" A Lancaster county miller makes a con- 

 signment of ten barrels of Hoin- to Liverpool. 

 Di Philadelphia it is worth S.").00 per barrel- 

 total S50. At Liverpool it is sold for *60, anil 

 the money laid out in tine salt at $2.00 per 

 sack. The Siilt is dispatched to America and 

 sold for *2.u0 per sack— total 875. In this 

 transaction, therefore, $.oO were exported and 

 S75 imported. The miller has gained |2.5, and 

 manifestly the country is that much richer." 



This is supposed to prove that it is no real 

 advantage to have the balance of trade in our 

 favt)r. 



But what does it prove ? . Why, it proves 

 nothing but that the one who uses it is using 

 unsound logic. 



He sneers at the idea that "the advocates 

 of the Balance of Trade theory seem to hold 

 that the more we send abroad, and the less we 

 get in return for it, the greater is our gain." 

 And yet, is not this the case ? The more we 

 send abroad, tlie more value we have pro- 

 duced, which we get in return, either in 

 money or^oods. And the less goods we im- 

 port, the more nearly we are able to ju-ovide 

 for our own necessities, anil therefore, the 

 better oft'. For all the merchandise we im- 

 port we must pay an equivalent. And it is 

 clear that it is the wealth we produce and not 

 the wealth we bui/ that conduces to our pros- 

 perity. Of two farmers dealing with each 

 other, the one who has the more money to 

 get at the end of the year has the advantage, 

 for he has produced more in excess of bis needs 

 than the other. So, if a country dealing with 

 another has the balance of trade in its favor 



at the end of the year, it means that it has 

 produced and exported more wealth than it 

 imported ; and remember it is wealth pro- 

 duced and not bought that is net gain. 



In the above we do not deny that the miller 

 has gained $2.'), but we do say that it is not a 

 fair argument. It is not a parallel case, and 

 is entirely misapplied.- ■/. iS. '!'. 



INDIAN TOBACCO. 

 (/.oh fin InJInUi.) 



This humble, weed-like ])lant belongs to a 

 genus that embraces upwards of eighty-four 

 described species and varieties. Many are 

 exotic, ureen-liouse herbs and evergreens. 



IJr. t;riiv deserili.s twelve s|ieeies, met with 

 in the Xorlhriii Initetl StuH's, auionj; which 

 the "t'ardinal llowei." •• /..,/„//,- r,,,i//,erf,„-," 

 is jiorhaps the most sliowy, with its bright, 

 crimson dowers ; the " L. s!jphylUka,y also, 

 has fine, large, Ufjht-bbie flowers, and is quite 

 common iu low grounds. 



The eonilla leis a straight tube, which is 

 split down oil the upiier side, leaving two 

 erect lolies, the low,.|- lips sineadiiig and three- 

 cleft, ealvx tulie short, tive-clcft, and the 

 ovoid pod" in the species figured and becomes 



inflated; it is (piile common in dry, open soil i" 

 July and September. This celei)rated quack 

 medicine, known as "Indian Tobacco," needs 

 some attention for several reasons. It evi- 

 dently has an acrid principle, emits a milky 

 juice, and when chewed produces a burning, 

 acrimonious sensation, not unlike the taste of 

 "green tobacco," hence called "Indian to- 

 bacco." The leaves and capsules, when 

 chewed, have this combined acrid and nar- 

 cotic iirojierty, producing giddiness and pain 

 in the head, and at length nau.sea and vomit- 

 ing, like lioys' e;;iierience when first attempt- 

 ing to chew or smok<' tobacco. A certain 

 Samuel Thomson, a (piack at Beverly, was 

 tried for the murder of Ezra Lovetl, some 

 years ago, to whom it was administered as a 

 physic, in powder, causing great distress, fol- 

 lowed up by another dose and another, until the 

 the patient expired. But as no malice could 

 be iiroved, and he had some reputation, the 

 arrest for murder could not be sustained, and, 

 as might be found in many other cases, the 

 homicide considei'ed legitimate. In the hands 

 of a few judicious physicians it has proved 

 beneficial in asthma, such cases termed " an 

 asthma from pulmonic irritatation of efl'usod 

 scrum, " whatever that means. I quote Dr. 

 Bree, iu his " Practical iuquiiies on disordered 



respiration." Dr. Randall gave it with suc- 

 cess, in small doses, in catarrh, as an expec- 

 torant. But I shall not encourage the use "of 

 it by (pioting from other sources in its favor, 

 in dyspeiisia and cases of rln-umalic nature, 

 in which benefit was felt. Two ounces of thti 

 dried plant iliuested in a pint of diluted alco- 

 hol, given in teaspoonfull doses to an adult, 

 will generally jiroduee nausea and sometimes 

 vomiting. 



As this i)lant is common in pasture fields, iu 

 the latter part of summer, it has been sus- 

 pected to l)c one of the sources which pro- 

 duces slobbering of hor.scB. Dr. Darlington 

 was inclined to doubt this, "because the horse 

 is a dainty animal iu the selection of food." 

 It is true that horses and cattle crop around 

 noxious Weeds, yet there is no question that 

 such an active jilant, mixed with the grass 

 eaten by the aiuuial, might produce the evil 

 suspected. 



The generic name, "Lobelia," was given 

 to some species, in honor of Matthias de 

 Lobel. a botanist of some note, born ir.'iS, and 

 died in IHK'). of whom ([uite an interesting 

 account is pulilislu'd. He was the author of 

 critical exanunations on older botanical 

 writere, and added many new plants to the 

 list known in his time. — J. Stanffer. 



For THF f.ANCAKTF.R FaKMRB. 



PRUNING -ITS USES AND ABUSES. 



When is the best time to prune trees and 

 vines y I would say in February and June, 

 when pruning has been neglected for some 

 time. When to commence, or at what age of 

 the trees the pruning should begin may be 

 approximately illustrated by the following 

 anecdote. On a certain occasion a mother 

 asked a celebrated instructor when she should 

 begin to. teach her children — or rather her 

 child. He inquired the age of the child, to 

 which she replied, three i/earn. Then, replied 

 the instructor, you have already lost two years. 

 So with pruning trees. I recommend the fol- 

 lowinir. ^^'hen I commence to plant them I 

 do mv llist pruning. It should then be con- 

 tinued every year, more or less, which would 

 require very little time. And that with a 

 pruning knife, unless you fancy the growth 

 of a tree like a tow-rack of an olden-tirae 

 spinning wheel, or unless you pjant apple trees 

 along a fence, froTU apple seeds, for a hedge. 

 You may train your ajijile to your own fancy. 

 Some prefer low heads, others prefer them 

 higli. From three to six stool is enough. For 

 brauehes in spreading trees the limbs should 

 b>' started from six to eight feet from the 

 ground. Upright growers from four to six 

 feet above the 'ground. 



t)f all trees the apple is most benefited by 

 pruning ; likewise the quince. The pear tree 

 can be improved and beautified bv pruning. 

 The peach tree when plant. mI sliould have the 

 shape of a walkinu'-stiek. Its head should be 

 kept h)W in the orchard and its branclu s nice- 

 ly thinned out, so that most of the peaches 

 can be hand-picked. The Richmond clierry 

 and sour cherrv can be much improved by 

 pruning. Of all fruit trees the sweet cherry 

 needs t'he least pruniny:. (ienerally the best 

 kind have just enoui;!) of branches to bear 

 well. All liind of trees should be and can be 

 improved bv judicious pruuin|^. It is becom- 

 ing evident'that our homes, if ever so humble 

 or small, as well as our larger farms, shoidd 

 he jilanted with a variety of fruit and orna- 

 mental trees, both for ornament or for profit, 

 and all these trees should be cared for and 

 properly pruned, so shaping them that they 

 may excite the admiration of the community. 

 It will add an additional charm to the beau- 

 ties of nature, as nursed and planted, under 

 Providence, by the skillful band of man. The 

 wood eliminated, when dried, will answer for 

 fuel for the summer months. Trees along a 

 middle or lino fence should be trimmed well 

 uj) for the improvement of the butts of the 

 trees, for mechanical i)urposes, or for posts, 

 scantling, boards, Ac Young forest trees can 

 be vastlv improved. If the side branches are 

 taken off, so that the butt of the tree wall 

 have the growth centering there, the tree aud 



