1879. 



THE Lancaster farme!^. 



77 



pinch any more. I have no tying up of young shoots, 

 us I let them rfow in their own natural way, and by 

 the time the fruit is full grown the vines loaded with 

 fruit are under cover where dew and heavy rains and 

 hail can not injure in the least, and the fruit — even 

 the Concord — can be kept on the vines for weeks 

 after being fully ripe. 1 have kept them sound ou 

 the vines until frost in autumn. This is not costly 

 here where plank is worth only $1 per hundred feet. 

 Forty of the leading varieties of grapes have been 

 grown here on this plan, and all pi-oved successful." 



How to Plant Peas. 

 It is a novelty to read in such a magazine as 

 Harper's such literature as " How to Plant Peas," 

 yet in the April number we have no less a personage 

 than E. P. Koe, author of "Barricks Burned Away," 

 thus discoursing on the subject ; Last spring I put 

 in my first peas and potatoes, on March 1.5th, and 

 had splendid crops of both, but usually we cannot 

 do much in the open soil before the first week in 

 April. As soon, however, as the frost is out and the 

 ground is dry enough, I shall plant in my driest and 

 warmest soil some Little Gem and Laxton's Alpha 

 peas. I shall open furrows three inches deep for 

 Gems, and one foot apart, and in these furrows scat- 

 ter compost about an inch deep, draw a pointed hoe 

 through the furrow to mingle the manure with the 

 soil, and then sow thickly — three peas to an inch. I 

 will treat the Laxton's Alpha in the same way, with 

 the exception that the rows will be two and a half 

 feet apart. The Little Gems grow only a foot high, 

 and require no support. The Alphas require 2}i feet 

 brush. Two weeks later I shall plant for second crop 

 Little Gem, M'Lean's Advancer, and Champion of 

 England. I have tried a great many kinds, and have 

 come to the conclusion that the four kinds I have 

 named are the richest flavored and sufficiently pro- 

 ductive — in brief, all things considered, the best. 



Grapevines in California. 

 California has, probably, twenty vines, each of 

 which produces more than 600 pounds of grapes as 

 an average crop. Among these are vines at Coloma 

 and Blakes, and near Montecito and Stockton — 

 representing the Sierra Nevada, the coast mountains 

 north of San Francisco, the San Joaquin Valley, the 

 southern coast, the level of the sea, and an elevation 

 of 2,000 feet above it. The Stockton vine, a mile 

 southeast of the town in the yard of Mr. Phelps' 

 house, is a foot in diameter, and last year produced 

 5,000 pounds ('ijjtons) Accortlmg to the Itidependent . 

 We have heard nothing lately ol the yield of the 

 Montecito and Coloma big vines. We saw the latter 

 in 1867 when young, and it then bore 1,.500 bunches 

 of grapes. The Montecito vine grew from a cutting 

 of the old vine at the same place, set out in 1795, and 

 cut down in 1875, when eighty years old. It had a 

 diameter of 15 inches, covered an arbor of 114 feet 

 long by 78 wide, and averaged three tons in its 

 annual yield. The big vine at Blakes separates at 

 the surface of the ground, into two stems, each six 

 inches in diameter. The vine at Coloma is an Isa- 



Sowing Garden Seeds. 



As seed-spwing time is approaching it will be in 

 order to say that a very great portion of seeds annu- 

 ally sown are lost through deep sowing. Of course, 

 large seeds, like beans and peas, may be covered 

 with an inch or more of earth, and yet be able to 

 work their way easily through the surface ; but with 

 smaller things the merest covering is suflicient, pro- 

 vided the earth is pressed firmly over the seed. Peas 

 and beans, as the season advances, can be planted 

 deeper and deeper. 



In flower seeds it is quite common to sow them on 

 the ground in a little patch, and then scatter a mere 

 dust of earth over, beating it a little with the back 

 of the trowel, and it is found that the seed germi- 

 nates better than if put beneath the surface. There 

 is not the tendency to rot. Again, we have known 

 some of the lighter kinds of garden vegetables to be 

 scattered along the garden line, and merely trod in 

 with the feet, to grow so well that every seed seemed 

 to sprout. This of course implies that the ground 

 should be dry enough to powder under the feet, and 

 So it always should be when seeds are sown. To sow 

 deep, or when the earth is wet, are great mistakes.— 

 OermantowH Telegraph. 



Where Tomatoes were First Eaten. 

 It is a Newport tradition that tomatoes were first 

 eaten in this country in about 182.S, in a house still 

 standing ou the corner of Come and Mill streets. 

 About that time there came here an eccentric Italian 

 painter, Michele Felice Come. He bought a stable 

 on the street now called for him, fashioned it into a 

 dwelling house, and there lived and died. Previous 

 to his coming, and long after, tomatoes, then called 

 "love-apples," were thought to be poisonous. A 

 gentleman told me to-day that in 1819 he brought 

 them from South Carolina and planted them in his 

 yard, where they were looked upon as curiosities and 

 prized for their beauty. They became later, however, 



a very unpleasant missile in the hands of the small 

 boy. A charming old lady also told me today that 

 in 1834 she was sitting with a sick person when some 

 one brought the invalid as a tempting delicacy some 

 tomatoes. " Would you |)oison her?" was the ex- 

 clamation of the astonished attendants; and yet 

 Come in this section of the town had been serving 

 them for a year previous. As late as 1835 they were 

 regarded as poisonous throughout Connecticut.— 

 Boston Transcript. 



How Many Tobacco Seed to an Acre? 



As we have been asked over and over again how 

 much seed is necessary to [>lant an acre of tobacco, 

 we have taken the trouble to find out how many 

 seed there are in a grain, an ounce and a pound. In 

 one grain we found by actual count 1,494 seed. This 

 would make by multiplying by 480, the number of 

 grains in an ounce, 717,120 seed to the ounce, and 

 8,605,440 seed to thepound. Estimating 5,000 plants 

 to the acre, and supjrasing every seed will make a 

 plant, every half ounce will plant nearly 72 acres, an 

 ounce, 144 acres, and one pound 1,721 acres ! As 

 many farmers arc contemplating planting largely 

 this season, we recommend a careful study of these 

 figures, and merely intimate that we have a few 

 pounds of seed still on hand. 



One little drawback to the immense number of 

 plants, and one which we devoutly wish, for the best 

 interests of the farmer, may be the result this year, 

 is that bad seasons, &c., destroy so many tender 

 plants that a careful farmer will sow his plant beds 

 for at least six times more than he intends to culti- 

 vate. — Cincinnati Tobacco Journal. 



Bananas. 

 Few people who see bananas hanging in fruit 

 dealers' shops think of them as more than a tropical 

 luxury. In fact, they are the staple article of food 

 in some parts of the world, and, according to Hum- 

 boldt, an acre of bananas will produce as much food 

 for a man as twenty-five acres of wheat. It is the 

 ease with which bananas are grown that is the great 

 obstacle to civilization in some tropical countries. It 

 is so easy to get a living without work that no eflTort 

 will be made, and the nien become lazy and intolera- 

 bly shiftless. All that is needed is to slick a cutting 

 into the ground. It will ripen its fruit in twelve or 

 thirteen months without further care, each plant 

 having from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty- 

 five bananas, and wlnii tliut dies dnwn, after fruit- 

 ing, new shoots sprini;- up lo i;ikc its place. In re- 

 gions where frosts ncvii i. ailj, imnaiuis are found in 

 all stages of growth, liijiiiiii;; tlnir fruit every day 

 and every mouth in the year. 



Pruning Peach Trees. 



Frequently old peach trees are made thrifty and 

 fruitful by severe cutting back — cutting the lartre 

 branches down to the very stubs. Not long ago we 

 were told by a very intelligent and experienced fruit- 

 grower that he was once very much surprised by 

 seeing some previously fruitless old peach trees hang- 

 ing full of superior, large fruit. Inquiry led to the 

 statement that they were apparently worthless trees, 

 which had been the year before closely trimmed to 

 get the outstreaching limbs out of the way of work- 

 ing around them with a team, so that the trees pre- 

 sented little more than a trunk with stubs sticking 

 out a foot or two, and now hung full of fine fruit. — 

 F. cfc F. Magazine. 



Domestic Economy. 



Whitewash. 



Following is the Germantown Telegraph's recipe 

 for preparing whitewash : 



Take the very best stone-lime, and slack it in a 

 close tub, covered with a cloth to preserve the steam. 

 Salt — as much as can be dissolved in the water used 

 for slacking and reducing the lime— should be ap- 

 plied, and the whole mass carefully strained and 

 thickened with a small quantity of sand, the purer 

 and finer the better. A few pounds of wheat flour 

 mixed as paste may be added, aud will give greater 

 durability to the mass, especially when applied to 

 the exterior of buildings. With pure lime, properly 

 slacked and mixed with twice its weight of fine sand 

 and sifted wood ashes, in equal proportions, almost 

 any color may be made by the addition of pigments. 

 Granite, slate, freestone and other shades may be 

 imitated, and without any detriment to the durability 

 of the wash. This covering is very often applied 

 and with good eflect, to underpinning, stone fences, 

 roofs and the walls of barns and other outbuildings. 

 Probably the pure whitewash is more healthy than 

 colored, as its alkalescent properties are superior, 

 and when used in cellars, kitchens and sleeping 

 apartments produces salutary results. No person 

 who regards the health of his family should neglect 

 to apply a coat of it every spring. Country places, 

 especially farm outhouses, fences, &c., arc greatly 

 improved in appearace by an annual coat of good 

 whitewash, and will add to their permanency much 



more than many would imagine. It is cheap and 

 easily applied, to that neither expense nor labor can 

 be pleaded against It. 



Signs of a Prosperous Farmer. 

 When you see a barn larger than his houses, it 

 shows that he will have large profits and small 

 affections. When you see him driving his work in- 

 stead of his work driving him. It shows that he will 

 never be driven from resolutions, aud that he will 

 certainly work his way to pro8[)erity. When you 

 always sec in his woodhousc a sulllcicncy for three 

 months or more, it shows that he will be more than 

 a ninety days' wonder in farming operations, and 

 that he is not sleeping In his house after a drunken 

 frolic. When his sled is housed in summer and bie 

 farming implements covered both winter and summer, 

 it plainly shows that he will have a good house over 

 his head In the summer of his early life and the 

 winter of old age. When his cattle are shielded and 

 fed In winter. It evinces that he is acting according to 

 scripture, which says that " a merciful man is merci- 

 ful to his beast." When he is seen subscribing for a 

 paper and paying in advance, it shows that he will 

 neverget nis walking papers to the land of poverty. — 

 Minnesota Farmer. 



Home-Made Cracked Wheat. 

 Cracked wheat, which has in the last few years 

 become a staple article of food, may be made at 

 home at a much less cost than when bought ready 

 prepared from the grocer. Use the best wheat, 

 which at Jl ..50 per bushel would cost two aud a half 

 cents per pound. Spread the wheat upon a white 

 cloth, and pick out of It all the oats, straw and the 

 like ; set it in some open dish in the stove oven to 

 dry, but not to scorch ; when very dry run It through 

 a coffee mill, set so as to crack every kernel. This 

 will be a kind of wheat-hominy, mixed with some 

 fine. To cook it let the water be boiling, then stir 

 in the wheat and keep it stirred till it has done set- 

 tling; then a very gentle fire will keep it boiling, 

 witii an occasional stirring. A big fire will surely 

 burn It. It is lietter to boil it an hour or more. This 

 may be eaten warm, with any kind of dressing, or, 

 when cold, may, like corn mush, be sliced and 

 warmed for use. If stirred when in a cooling state, 

 it becotnes sticky, like paste. It may be taken up 

 hot into dishes, and cut into slices, or otherwise, 

 when cold. 



Cream Instead of Butter. 

 A housewife, writing for the New York Tribune, 

 proposes virtually to abolish butter. She says : " It 

 would be well to train a family from the outset to 

 regard butter as an incidental or luxury, rather than 

 a necessity. The manufacture of it is one of the 

 hardest and most time-consuming tasks that a far- 

 mer has to perform. Moreover, with all the work it 

 involves, butter adds less to the health and sus- 

 tenance of the family than would the eating of the 

 cream that goes into the making of it. Where one 

 physician advises the eating of butter, a thousand 

 recommend the consumption of cream. I think not 

 one will dispute the statement that of cream and 

 butter-eaters the former enjoy the best digestion, the 

 best health and have the finest complexion. Then, 

 why work one's self to death for worse than naught ? 

 Why not eat milk and cream instead of turning it 

 into butter? Good bread is good enough without 

 the addition of a condiment to make it palatable : 

 and, eaten with sweet cream, what is more delicious.' 



Use Plenty of Paint. 

 The farmer who keeps his house, barn, and other 

 outhouses; his house-yard fences; his wagons; the 

 wood-work and unused iron-work of his machines 

 and implements, constantly covered with a coating 

 of good paint, saves a great deal of money in the 

 long run. In fact wc know of no small expenditure 

 that pays as well. The work of painting these things 

 needs no very skillful hand. Fancy colors on mowers 

 and reapers, plow beams, harrows, cultivators, etc., 

 are of no account. Good, durable paints, ready 

 mixed, can now be bought at reasonable prices, and 

 of any color, all over the country. But any farmer 

 can mix his own paint if he desires. Ground paint, 

 paint brushes, oil, and a little turpentine as a drier, 

 compose the whole outfit. OU and lamp-black make 

 a black paint. A simple red paint is made of red 

 lead and oil. Paint put on in cold weather Is more 

 durable than when put on in hot weather. The heat 

 dries out the oil too rapidly. 



A Good Night Lamp. 

 Alpheus has been having a long spell of fever, and 

 it was necessary to have a light burning all night In 

 his room. We live in the country, so no gas was 

 accessible. Caudles flickering disagrecal^ly, and a 

 kerosine lamp when turned low always has an an- 

 noying ismell for an Invalid, so I bethought of a light 

 my mother used to improvise when I was a child, 

 before kerosene, with its attending dangers, was 

 known. It was made by slaking a saucer of lard and 

 cutting a piece of newspaper In a circle about three 

 inches, then twisting the centre of this up to a point 



