1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



67 



extensive use, especially among the poor and 

 the foreign population. But, perhaps, the 

 greatest use made of it is in Malta, Italy and 

 the Levant. The sassenage cheese, made from 

 a mixture of milks of the cow, the Roat and 

 the ewe, is in hitjli rcciucst in foreign countries. 

 The Arabians milk their camols, the Lapland- 

 ers their reiiuluers, ami the Central Asiatics 

 their mares ; but tlio principal use made of it 

 by them is in the preparation of an intoxicat- 

 ing beverage. 



Although in the animal kingdom it is only 

 the female Mammals that produce milk, yet 

 there are various sul)jects of the vegetable 

 kingdom that arc milk-producing, though, 

 perhaps, not so rich in nutritions elements as 

 animal milks, not even the "milk in the cocoa- 

 nut." 



Our preferences, however, by dint of habit, 

 education, social custom and locality, lean 

 strongly towards the " philosophical cow ;" 

 and we will conclude these remarks by con- 

 densing from the columns of the Scientific 

 Farmer a brief analysis of the milks of differ- 

 ent breeds of cows : 



To which we add the following table of 

 local analyses : 



From the same source we glean that five 

 Holsteins, owned by the Oneida community, 

 in 1878 yielded 43,771 pounds of milk ; highest 

 yield for one cow, 10,850. Also, that thirty- 

 seven Ayrshires yielded 207,445 pounds, an 

 average to each cow of 5,498 pounds in one 

 year, and that the highest yield was 8,316 

 pounds to one cow. For further particulars 

 we refer the reader to that rare and excellent 

 journal, the Scientific Farmer for April, 1879, 

 edited with more "ability than any other far- 

 mers' journal in the country. 



MONTHLY REMINDERS. 



In the Middle States, during the past montli, 

 some of the hardier vegetables have been 

 sown, and by the middle of the present one, 

 all will have been put in ; hence the labor 

 will now mainly consist of the various opera- 

 tions of transplanting, thinning, weeding, 

 hoeing, &e. The following alphabetical 

 directions will serve as a reminder to the un- 

 practiced gardener, who is also referred to the 

 directions for April. 



Beans, Bush, plant for succession ; Lima, 

 Carolina, and other Pole Beans may now be 

 planted. Beets, Long, sow. Cabbage, plant ; 

 sow seed if not done last month. Capsicum 

 (])epper) plant. Carrot, Long Orange, sow. 

 Cauhflower, in frames, remove glasses. 

 Celery, weed. Crops which have failed when 

 first sown, repeat sowings. Cucumber, Early 

 Frame, plant. Lettuce, Large Cabbage and 

 India and Dutch Butter, sow in drills, to 

 stand ; thin out if too thick. Melons plant ; 

 of the Water, Icing or Icc-rind is the best. 

 Parsnips thin out, if ready. Weeds destroy 

 as they appear, and hoe and otherwise culti- 

 vate the advancing crops ; it is needless to 

 particularize each duty. Where the interest 

 and taste lead to gardening, directions for 



every operation are necessary to but few. Is 

 it not, however, discreditable to the character 

 of many farmers who till their own land, and 

 should reap the reward of well-cultivated gar- 

 dens, that none but the simplest vegetables 

 mny be found upon their tables, and in too 

 many instances that scanty supply is the re- 

 sult of women's labor V 



We have in former issues of our Jlural 

 Register recommended a " Farmer's Kitchen- 

 Garden " where nearly all the preparation of 

 the land m.iy be done by horse-power, and 

 thus most ample supplies of vegetables be 

 obtained at all seasons without hand labor or 

 occupation of time which may not be readily 

 spared from farm duties, and the women of 

 the household be relieved from toiling to 

 sui)ply household wants. 



Wherever onions of fit size for taV)le use may 

 be raised from seed (the black) the first season 

 without the agency of "sets," we can confi- 

 dently recommend the Early Red. It ripens 

 ahead of all others, the "Queen " excepted ; 

 is solid, mild, a good keeper, and does not 

 produce bulbs with stiff necks as common 

 with the large red, otlierwise Wethersfield 

 Red. The onion is indispensable in every 

 family, and if the production can be facilitated 

 without the tedious and expensive interposi- 

 tion of sets, not always within reach, there is 

 economy and comfort ; therefore we advise 

 trial of the Early Red, and shairbe pleased to 

 have our customers report results. 



An experiment made with the Bloomsdale 

 strain of Early Red in Wisconsin, in latitude 

 44c (north of Jat. of Toronto, Canada), gave 

 the most surprising results ; another with the 

 same variety in Nebraska, latitude 45°, ex- 

 cited the highest admiration ; not a single 

 stiff neck was observed. 



These facts are at least highly suggestive, 

 and merit the examination of Northern and 

 Northwestern onion growers and dealers in 

 seed.^ — LandretlVs Bitral Register. 



TO MARKET-GARDENERS THROUGH- 

 OUT THE UNION. 



List of Approved Varieties of Cabbage. 



Bloomsdale Bullork-Heart.— This is the first 

 and best Early, ripening with the English 

 Large York, and a few days in advance of 

 Landreth's Large York. It is large for a first 

 early, uniform, and invariably produces mar- 

 ketable heads. Where the winter is severe 

 sow in hot beds February or March, according 

 to location, transplant under glass to secure 

 sturdy plants preparatory to setting out. 

 Seed by ounce or paper only this season — next 

 year in quantity. 



Bloomsdale Early Market. — This is offered 

 as a second early, succeeding the Bloomsdale 

 Bullock-Heart. It is of extraordinary size for 

 an early ripening variety, head reaching eight 

 to fifteen pounds under good culture, which 

 it must have to attain perfection. Were we 

 to write a page in its praise we could not say 

 too much. 



Bloomsdale Brunswick.— Th\s is a very dis- 

 tinct variety, and may be designated as a 

 summer cabbage, following as it does imme- 

 diately after the Bloomsdale Early Market 

 It would be difficult for us to speak too highly 

 of this sort. Short in the stem, flat in form, 

 firm, weighty, compact, and attractive in 

 every respect, it needs only to be seen by 

 market-gardeners to be approved. It is, 

 however, necessary to treat it as an early 

 variety, as it suffers under the sun, and should 

 make its growth prior to July in the Middle 

 States, and still earlier in the South. 



Bloo7nsdale Early Drumhead. — This is in 

 some respects similar to the Bloomsdale 

 Brunswick— more robust, and may be trans- 

 planted later to head in, September and Octo- 

 ber—of this we have the seed in papers only 

 the present season. 



Bloomsdale Late Flat Butch. — Everybody 

 knows this variety. For three-quarters of a 

 century we have been spreading it broadcast, 

 until now nearly every locality in the Union 

 has had an opportunity to judge of and appre- 

 ciate its merits. Whatever good there may 



be in "Premium Flat Dutch " (so called) has 

 been derived from this stock. 



It is not too much to predict the above five 

 varieties of cabbage are destined to be the 

 standard sorts of the market-gardens of the 

 Union. For family use they are equally re- 

 liable.— 7>a)uh-((/t's Rural Register. 



WHAT BECOMES OF THE BIRDS. 



" A German dealer recently received 32,000 

 dead humming bird.s, 80,000 dead aquatic 

 birds, and 800,000 pairs of wings of birds of all 

 kinds for ladies' bonnets." 



Thi« is a brief but significant paragraph. 

 All these birds are sacrificed on the altar of 

 Fashion. Sliould the fashion be much longer 

 continued our birds may all fall victims to it, 

 and then the insects will have their own lively 

 time of it. The only salvation from such a 

 threatening contingency is in making the 

 wearing of insects fashionable by the whole 

 people. Handsome bonnet ornaments might 

 be compounded out of grasshoppers, cock- 

 roaches, butterflies and moths ; and splendid 

 jewelry out of Colorado potato-beetles, curcu- 

 lios, apple tree borers and chinch bugs. We 

 mean exactly what we say. If things con- 

 tinue as they are going now, this will ulti- 

 mately be our only safeguard against noxious 

 insects. 



BOOK FARMING. 



" New England has now over 230 farmers' 

 clubs, with 72,000 active members, and library 

 books to the number of 21,000." 



That's the way it is done in New England. 

 Put all the New England States together and 

 their combined territory will hardly be larger 

 than the single State of New York, and not 

 much larger than Pennsylvania. Their land is, 

 and always has been, naturally, more sterile 

 than either Pennsylvania or New York, and 

 yet farmers, as a class, are more intelligent, as 

 good cultivators, and average as much off 

 their few acres as they do in the two great 

 States last named ; and, doubtless, they live 

 as bountifully. They seem to apprehend that 

 all traditional things are daily becoming more 

 precarious in their tenure, and, therefore, 

 they are not too conceited or i)rejudiced to 

 become book farmers. They join clubs, 

 take agricultural journals and thoroughly 

 read them. 



EGGS-TRAORDINARY. 



" Statistics show that the annual consump- 

 tion of eggs in the United States is about 

 10,600,000 barrels. The poultry marked or 

 consumed in 1877, is estimated at 680,000,000 

 pounds of the value of »68,000,000." 



Eggs-actly so. And yet many of our far- 

 mers consider the egg and chicken business 

 too small to recognize as a branch of com- 

 merce ; and in the face of the fact, too, that 

 the market is seldom or never overstocked 

 with this species of merchandise. Eggs, like 

 lucifer matches, would be used— and always 

 used— by the entire population, if they could 

 be uniformly furnished within the abilities of 

 the poor, or those in medium circumstances — 

 the working people, for instance. They go 

 farther in a family than many other things 

 consumed, which cost a great deal more. No 

 animal ^bstance contains so much meat with 

 so little quantity of bone — for eggs-ample. 



HENSLOW ON THE SELF-FERTILIZA- 

 TION OF PLANTS. 



The Rev. George Ileiislow concludes, from 

 his studies on the structure of plant^s, that the 

 prevailing views as to the necessity of cross- 

 fertilization are too extreme. He claims that 

 "Mr. Darwin's works have gone too far to 

 strengthen the belief that intercrossing is ab- 

 solutely necessary for plants ; and that if self- 

 fertilization be continued for lengthened 

 periods the plants tend to degenerate, and 

 thence to ultimate extinction. This I believe 

 to be absolutely false." Mr. Henslow arrives 

 at the following conclusions in his article in 

 the Popular Science Review: 



1st. The majority of flowering plants can, 

 do, fertilize themselves. 



