88 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



t June, 



Nothing can be a matter of indifference to 

 women that furnislies their sex with remuner- 

 ative occupation. The ordinary fields of labor 

 are already overstocked. Many of these, 

 such as weaving, etc., can only give employ- 

 ment to women amid dangerous machinery 

 and undesirable associations. To such ob- 

 jections, cigar-making is not open. It is 

 hand-work, requiring skill, judgment and 

 delicacy of manipulation. Formerly this in- 

 dustry was confined almost exclusively to the 

 State of Connecticut, but, through the enter- 

 prise of the Brothers Teller, the tobacco cul- 

 ture of Pennsylvania has been fostered to 

 prosperity, and thus offers new avenues of 

 paid labor for women. Surely these gentlemen 

 may be regarded as the best sort of philan- 

 thropists, and benefactors to the sex. 



THE EVIDENCES OF SUCCESS. 



" What is a successful farmer ?" was one of 

 the questions which the club considered the 

 past winter. Our attention lias recently been 

 called to it, in contrasting the different farms 

 that have come under our observation, and 

 we find that the question cannot be properly 

 decided from outside appearances. Mankind 

 are prone to render judgment upon superficial 

 evidence, without knowing all the facts in the 

 case. Thus, if we pass a farm upon which we 

 see good buildings, neat surroundings, im- 

 proved stock and evidences of thorough culti- 

 vation, we pronounce the the owner a suc- 

 cessful farmer. On the other hand, if we see 

 a farm with shabby buildings, ordinary stock, 

 and but little in the way of ornament, our 

 feeling is that here is a man who is not a suc- 

 cessful farmer. But in order to pass intelli- 

 gent judgment in this case, we must under- 

 stand all the varied circumstances of the 

 individuals— the assistance they have had, dis- 

 couragements to contend witli, expenses in- 

 curred and met, with all others that would 

 naturally have any influence in the result. 



Not a hundred miles from here lives farmer 



A. He has a large farm, soil almost inex- 

 haustible in fertility, large and handsome 

 house and barns, with cribs and all necessary 

 outbuildings, all constructed of the best ma- 

 terial and best style ; liis farm is stocked with 

 short-horned cattle, thoroughbred hogs and 

 sheep, and all necessary imjjlements and ma- 

 chinery of the latest and most approved kinds. 

 His work never drags, but is always done at 

 the proper time, and he is sure of good crops 

 if anyone can grow them. The appearance 

 of everything about the place indicates thrift 

 and prosperity, and one passing by would pro- 

 nounce the owner a successful farmer. 



In his immediate neighborhood lives farmer 



B. His farm is on the hills and was selected 

 because it could be bought cheap. His build- 

 ings are comfortable, but they" are old, and 

 there is little show or ornament in them or 

 the surroundings. Straw-covered sheds and 

 temporary makeshifts detract from the beauty 

 of the farm. His stock, though well cared for 

 and in good condition, are not thoroughbred. 

 His work is not always driven, but often 

 drives hipi, and we have seen his crops suffer- 

 ing for want of attention. Is he, as the casual 

 observer would decide, a poor or unsuccessful 

 farmer ? Before rendering judgment let us 

 look at the influencing circumstances. 



Farmer A. inherited several thousand dol- 

 lars, and when he married, his wife brought 

 him an additional sum. He received a gijod 

 education and engaged in business in the°city 

 until, when he commenced farming, he had 

 plenty of money to buy a good farm with, to 

 furnish and stock it as he desired, erect such 

 buildings as his taste dictated,and a cash capi- 

 tal left to work with. He has no family, and 

 hires all the help needed to keep the work of 

 the farm in good shape. Nevertheless he is 

 always grumbling about hard times, and de- 

 clares—and we believe truly— that he expends 

 on the farm every cent he makes. 



Farmer B. began life single-handed and 

 without a dollar inherited. He worked by the 

 month until he had saved money enough to 

 buy a team, and then began to farm on shares. 

 It required years to save the first thousand 



dollars, and then, in his twenty-eighth year, 

 he married and purchased this farm, paying 

 one thousand dollars down and giving notes 

 and mortgages for more than that sum. His 

 wife brought him only strong, willing hands 

 and a loving heart. They have raised seven 

 children, and given them all a good educa- 

 tion ; he has furnished his family with good 

 books and papers, and his boys and girls have 

 grown up intelligent and promise to be useful 

 in the world. Although still in debt he has 

 property on the tax list valued at six or eight 

 thousand dollars, and is hopefully and labori- 

 ously struggling on. He has never owned a 

 dollar he did not honestly earn, and has never 

 earned one but what he has asked, "where 

 nmst this be spent ?" Now, after all these 

 years of toil and hardship and self-denials, he 

 begins to see his way out of financial embar- 

 I'assment, and in a few more years will have 

 placed himself where farmer A. began, twenty 

 years ago. In twenty years more, with youth- 

 ful vigor and manhood's strength on his side, 

 he wo'uld accomplish all that his more fortu- 

 nate neighbor has done. But age creeps on, 

 with dimmed eyes, palsied limbs and weak- 

 ened frame. The desire to accumulate may 

 still exist, but it has grown weaker as strengt'h 

 and will to execute have gradually slipped 

 away. He may not be able to pass liis declin- 

 ing years in ease and luxury, but he is sur- 

 roimded with plenty and can give his children 

 the help he so sorely needed in the beginning. 

 Knowing all these facts and circuinstances, 

 who will say that farmer B. has been less suc- 

 cessful than farmer A.? Who will not say 

 that he has been even more successful V — Prac- 

 tical Farmer. 



A CHAMPION WHEAT FIELD. 



The complaint this year is general that the 

 wheat crop will be short. The wheat stands 

 thin and irregular, and should the present 

 drought continue long, the crop will certainly 

 be a short one. There is an exception to this 

 where the system of wheat culture is followed, 

 as laid down by Mr. J. M. Heiges, on the 

 western suburbs of York. Mr. Heiges' wheat 

 crop never fails ; he has a full yield every 

 season. To be convinced one need but visit 

 his place and see his present wheat fields. His 

 wheat stands thick, strong and thrifty. We 

 would venture to say that there is not a field 

 cultivated on the old method in the State like 

 this, and no doubt it will yield from 60 to 70 

 bushels to the acre, as it did on previous 

 years, although the season is regarded as un- 

 favorable for a full yield. 



That the Heiges plan of wheat culture is a 

 success in this vicinity can no more be 

 doubted ; his remarkable crops year after 

 year, and his uniform success during all sea- 

 sons, and when the wheat crop fails as a rule, 

 is certainly good proof of its value. The ob- 

 jection is made that the labor required to 

 cultivate wheat on this plan would increase 

 the work of the farmer, and therefore it would 

 be imi)racticable on many of our large farms. 

 But, on the other hand, it is claimed if sixty 

 bushels can be raised to the acre instead of 

 twenty bushels, then there would be less land 

 required, less capital and less ground to work, 

 and in the end would make wheat culture 

 more profitable. It would, no doubt, be a 

 matter of interest to our practical farmers to 

 pay a visit at this season to Mr. Heiges to see 

 his extraordinary growth of wheat. There is 

 no reason why every farm in York county 

 should not have a few acres of wheat put out 

 on this plan. The question how he puts his 

 wheat fields into grass is solved ; on Mr. 

 Heiges' place he has certainly the best grass 

 we have seen this year, on a tract that yielded 

 last year 57 bushels of wheat to the acre. He 

 is experimentuig on a new wheat, where he is 

 planting each grain separately, 3 by 10 inches 

 apart ; this wheat is remarkable for stooling 

 and its size of heads. 



Mr. Heiges claims that one peck of seed is 

 enough for seeding of one acre. We counted 

 the wheat stalks that came from one grain of 

 wheat and found them to run from 16 to 25 

 stalks. By culture with the hoe or cultivator. 



it is claimed that an extraordinary crop of 

 this wheat can be grown. 



This "Mold" wheat is new, it being first 

 made known at the Paris Exposition, and 

 was spoken of by the agricultural papers. 

 The originator then refused 150 guineas for a 

 single stalk. Mr. Heiges secured one pound 

 of this wheat last fall for .«1.00, as the seed is 

 becoming disseminated, and will soon be 

 generally cultivated, especially where the 

 merit of large heads and prolific stooling is 

 sought by the growers.— ForA- Daily. 



Many rivers have totally disappeared or 

 have been reduced to mere streams by an ir- 

 rational and heinous felling of the forests. In 

 the northeast of Germany the Narp and Gold 

 rivers exist only in name. The classic lands 

 of antiquity are rich in sad lessons of deforesta- 

 tion. The springs and brooks of Palestine are 

 dry, and the fruitfulness of the land has dis- 

 appeared. The Jordan is four feet lower than 

 it was in the New Testament days. Greece 

 and Spain sufl'er severely to this day from the 

 effects of destroying their forests. Many parts 

 of the kingdom of Wurtemberg have been 

 rendered almost barren by thp felling of trees. 

 In Hungary the periodically returning drought 

 is universally attributed to the extermination 

 of the forests. 



We attribute the present unfruitfulness of 

 Asia Minor and Greece to the destruction of 

 the woods; steppes, ruins and tombs have 

 taken the place of what was the highest cul- 

 ture. Sardinia and Sicily were once the grana- 

 ries of Italy, but have long since lost the fruit- 

 fulness sung by the ancient poets. On the 

 other hand, man can improve the land in 

 which he lives, more slowly indeed, but as 

 certamly, by cultivating and preserving the 

 forests. In earlier years reliable authorities 

 have told us that in the Delta of Upper Egypt 

 there were only five or six days of rain in the 

 year, but that, since the time when Mehemet 

 All caused some 20,000 trees to be planted, the 

 number of days of rain in the year has in- 

 creased to forty-tive or forty-six. 



The Suez canal has produced remarkable 

 results. Ismalia is built on what was a sandy 

 desert, but since the ground has become satu- 

 rated with canal water, trees, bushes and other 

 plants have sprung up as if by magic, and, 

 with the reappearance of the vegetation the 

 climate has changed. Four or five years ago 

 rain was unknown in those regions, while 

 from May, 1868, to May, 1869, fourteen days 

 were recorded, and once such a rain storm 

 that the natives looked upon it as a super- 

 natural event. Austria herself has a very 

 striking instance of a change of climate being 

 produced by deforestation and replanting. 



We refer to that stretch of miles of country 

 over which the railroad passes, near Trieste, 

 as you go from Austria to Italy, bleak, barren, 

 stony, with hardly "earth sufticient for a weed 

 to take root in, a stretch of barrenness on 

 which some dread anathema seems to rest. It 

 is a curse that rests on it called down from 

 heaven by man. Five hundred years ago an 

 immense forest stood on the ground where 

 now is nothing but a sea of stone. Venetians 

 came and hewed down the forests in order to 

 procure wood for pilesand mercantile purposes. 



. HISTORY OF CELLULOID. 



Many persons do not know the value of 

 this article, the extent of its manufacture, 

 nor the varied uses to which it is applied. 

 The Newark Daily Advertiser gives the fol- 

 lowing interesting account of it : 



Celluloid was invented by Messrs. I. S. and 

 J. W. Hyatt, of this city. Mr. J. W. Hyatt 

 began the experiments which led to its dis- 

 covery in 1864, being prompted to do so by the 

 fact that Phelan & Collender, of New York, 

 had offered tl0,000 for a substitute for ivory 

 in the manufacture of billiard balls. He was 

 not successful until 1868, when he produced a 

 substance similar to celluloid, of which 

 billiard balls were made. Not satisfied with 

 this he continued his experiments, and his 



