1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



137 



the general rule has been given to bury them 

 from three to five times as deep as tlieir 

 Uiameler. This rule will vary somewhat witli 

 the nature and condition of the soil. If licavy 

 and moist, the depth should be less than in a 

 light, dry and porous soil. In a moist, well- 

 pulverized soil, most seeds, whether large or 

 small, will grow if merely covered and kept 

 moist ; but this coudition cainiot be coinnion- 

 ly continued, as a few dry and warm days 

 will dry the surface of the soil and pirvcnt 

 the germinatiou of the seed. Hence the 

 common practice to vary this rule with 

 circumstances. Corn, planted early in the 

 season when the ground is moist, will grow 

 freely if buried only an inch deep ; but under 

 ordinary circumstances two inches will be 

 better. It will find its way feebly to the sur- 

 face after many days when buried six inches 

 below. Early in autumn, when winter wheat 

 is sown or drilled in, the soil is usually much 

 drier than in corn-planting time, and for this 

 reason : although the seeds are smaller than 

 grains of corn, it should be placed at a depth 

 of two inches. In a dry spring, corn should 

 be planted deeper than in a wet one, and the 

 old practice of pressing each hill witli the hoe 

 when the work was done by hand, was 

 useful when the soil was dry. When planting 

 is done with a machine, a roller to follow the 

 tube would be useful in dry weather. 



in a dry season, as the present has been in 

 many places, much care is required to impart 

 suflicient moisture to seeds when planted. 

 If the particles of soil arc dry, the small 

 grains or lumps \^iich compose it will touch 

 the seed only at a few points, and the chances 

 for its germination will be small. Even itj 

 moistened by a shower, the water will touch 

 the seed only at a few points of contact. It 

 is better, therefore, to plant seed after a 

 shower than before it, as the soil is rendered 

 moist and yielding, and, pressing the whole 

 surface of the seed, causes germination at 

 once. On this principle, experiment has 

 shown that under common conditions seeds 

 grow much better if planted after than before 

 the rain. The exceptions are, when the soil 

 has been so liuely pulverized tliat it cases the 

 seed well on all sides while yet drv ; and when 

 the rain is so copious that it fills with water 

 for a suflicient time the interstices which sur- 

 round the seed. 



An interesting experiment was reported by 

 Peter Henderson at the late nurserymen's 

 convention at Cleveland, showing the im- 

 portance of compactly enclosing the .seed with 

 the soil. Early in July he sowed twelve rows 

 of sweet corn and twelve rows of beets, 

 treading in the seed after sowing in every 

 alternate row. In both cases, those which 

 were trodden in came up in four days, while 

 the others remained twelve days befors start- 

 ing, and would not then have germinated had 

 not rain fallen, for the soil was quite dry 

 when they were planted. The seeds that 

 were trodden grew freely from the start, and 

 matured their crops for market by fall. The 

 undertrodden rows did not mature, as they 

 were eight days later in starting, and the 

 plants were partly feebled besides. 



The same general rules apply in some 

 degree to the setting out of vegetables, and in 

 transplanting trees. If the soil is dry, it will 

 not come in contact with the whole surface of 

 the roots unless finely pulverized and firmly 

 pressed against them, and this process is 

 assisted by pouring in water to soften the soil, 

 taking care to cover she surface finally with 

 pulverized earth. Some writers prescribe the 

 use of water in transplanting in all cases, 

 whatever the condition may be ; others as 

 uniformly object to the practice. The truth 

 is, the rule should be adapted to circum- 

 stances, and every planter should have in- 

 telligence and experience enough to know 

 when each course would be advisable. Mr. 

 Henderson, in the article above quoted, says 

 he sent a dozen rose-bushes to a lady at 

 Savannah, and he subsequently r(^ceived a 

 woful story of the death of every one, with 

 the singular exception of one on which a fat 

 and heavy man had accidentally trodden. 



This awkwardnesss on his part pressed the 

 dry soil about the roots and saved it ; the 

 others, loosely buried in dry earth, perished. 



In conclusion wo may give the following 

 brief extniets from Mr. Henderson's remarks: 



Experienced professional horticulturists, 

 however, are less likely to neglect this witli 

 plants than in the case of seeds, for the 

 damage from such neglect is easier to be seen, 

 and hence bettor understood. But with the 

 iiiiexperienced amateur, the case is dill'ereut. 

 When he receives his package of trees or 

 plants from the nurseryman, he handles them 

 as if they were glass; every bniken twig or 

 root calls forth a complaint, and he iiroeeeds 

 to plant them gingerly, straightening out each 

 root, and silling the soil around them, but he 

 would no more stamp down that soil than he 

 would staini) on the soil of his mother's grave. 

 So the iilant, in nine cases out often, is left 

 lo se and \v;iggling, the dry air penetrates 

 through the soil to its roots, the winds shake 

 it, and it shrivels up and fails to grow. 



It has often been a wonder to many of us 

 who have been workers in the soil for a gen- 

 eration, how some of the simplest methods of 

 culture have not been practiced sooner. I 

 never pass through a year but I nm confound- 

 ed to find that some operation can not only be 

 quicker done, but better done, than we have 

 been in the habit of doing it. These im- 

 provements loom up from various causes, but 

 mainly from suggestions thrown out by our 

 employees in charge of special departments— 

 a system which we do all in our power to en- 

 courage. 



As a proof of the value of such improve- 

 ments which lead to simplifying our opera- 

 tions, I will state the fact that though my 

 area of greenhouse surface is now more than 

 double that which it was in 1870, and the land 

 used in our florist's business is one-third 

 more, yet the number of hands employed is 

 less now than in 1870, and at the same time 

 the quality of our stock is infinitely better 

 now than then. — Country Gentleman. 



THE OUTLOOK FOR HOGS. 



The new live-stock paper in St. Louis, in 

 its first issue reviewed the prospects and con- 

 dition of the hog crop of the country, saying : 



"In view of the anticipated yield of corn 

 throughout the corn producing states of the 

 west, which at the present promises to be more 

 than an ordinary one, it is well to consider 

 the probable prices of hogs during the coming 

 fall and winter months. During the last 

 packing seiison, the producers considered the 

 prices ruinously low, and many were the de- 

 clarations that they could not and would not 

 raise hogs again for such prices. Yet, not- 

 withstanding that, the small advance in prices 

 at the beginning of the summer packing 

 season was sufficient inducement to cause 

 heavy enough receipts to enable packers to cut 

 about 1.50,000 more hogs since March 1st this 

 year than during the corresponding time last 

 year. From but few sections of the country 

 have there come reports of sickness. And as 

 it is well known that the hog is a very prolific 

 animal the question arises, how can the pro- 

 ducer expect higher prices, when all things 

 tend to inilicate a greater supply of hogs at 

 all of the larger cities this year than last, and 

 no additional outlet for all products? It is 

 true that throughout Great Britain the 

 prospects are for very short crops, which of 

 course, means a corresponding decrease in the 

 number of cattle, hogs and sheep that will be 

 prepared for market, and this may cause the 

 export of meat to be larger than last year, and 

 if it is so, it may afford a temporary relief, 

 but the abundant corn crop, and the increase 

 in the supply of hogs will render it only 

 temporary, unless the t^dc with that country 

 should be greatly in excess of last year." 



The Kansas City Price C>trr»nt of last week 

 (piotes the above and makes comment as 

 follows : 



AVe think the Journal unncccessarily 

 alarmed as to the prices of hogs the coming 

 season. While the hog crop west of the Mis- 

 sissippi river promises to be a larger one than 



last year, the states ea.st of it will have fewer 

 hogs than in 1878. The state auditor of 

 Illinois reports a decrease in the number of 

 bogs taxed this year of 3.'?1,673. Ohio also 

 rei)orts a shortage of 209,702, total 6:51,436. 

 In Kentucky and Tennessee hog raising is 

 being gradually abandoned as uniirofitable and 

 the supply from those states must fall much 

 short of 1S78. Nor is this all. The corn crop 

 in soutliern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Ken- 

 tucky from all reports must be a short one, 

 hence everything in those states has tended 

 to discourage hog raising. In the country 

 west oftlie Mississippi hog brcedingissteadily 

 on the increase. The g;im, however, in this 

 has not jjceii sullicic iitly large to balance the 

 lo.ss in the states east of us. Iowa reports a 

 g;un this year 79,316 and Nebraska 6.5,8.31. 

 Ueports from Kansas and Missouri have not 

 yet been received, but estimating the increase 

 in these two states at 1.50,000 we have a total 

 of2'.)5,147 in the four leading states west of 

 the Mississippi against a loss in the two 

 leading hog states east of the Mississippi of 

 031, 43o. It would be well to bear in mind 

 that many of the hogs tliat appear in these 

 reports have already been marketed, thus 

 further curtailing the winter supply. While 

 we in the new west will probably have a 

 larger sujjply of hogs than last year, the crop 

 of the entire western .states shows indications 

 of a shortage, rather than an increase; hence 

 there is no just grounds for fears of over pro- 

 duction, and feeders will find it to their 

 interest to keep cool and fully mature their 

 hogs before marketing and not allow them- 

 .sclves to be frightened into disposing of their 

 stock in a green or half-ripe condition. 



The hog crop of 1877 was held back by 

 farmers wlio refused to believe that they 

 must accept the low prices current in the fall 

 and early winter of that year. AVhen the 

 year 1878 opened and it was found that prices 

 were still shrinking, the farmers began to 

 "cut loose," and there followed a rush of hogs 

 such as had never before been known. La.st 

 year, warned by the experience of 1877, 

 farmers let their hogs go early in the winter, 

 and a heavy part of the crop was marketed 

 before New Year's day. These facts served 

 to make the croj) of 1878 remarkably heavy, 

 but it should not be forgotten that the reports 

 of that year include stock which should have 

 been credited to 1877. It is our belief that 

 the general healtlifulness of the stock, the 

 extension of the business of hog raising in 

 the newer west, and the unequaled and 

 altogether wonderful corn crop will combine 

 to give us as many fat marketable hogs this 

 as we had last year. 



THE SUN. 

 Professor Rudolph, in a lengthy paixir on 

 the sun, says: "It is a molten or white hot 

 mass, equaling in bulk 1,200,000 worlds like 

 our own, having a surrounding ocean of gas 

 on flre 50,000 miles deep, flame darting up- 

 ward more than .50,000 miles, volcanic forces 

 that hurl into the solar atmosphere luminous 

 matter to the height of 1(50,000 miles, draw- 

 ing to itself all the worlds belonging to our 

 family of planets, and holding them all in 

 their proper places ; attracting with such su- 

 perior force the millions of solid stray masses 

 that are wandering in the fathomless abyss 

 that they rush helplessly toward him, and fall 

 into his fieiy embrace. And thus he continues 

 his sublime and resistless march through his 

 mighty orbit, having a period of more than 

 18,000,000 yea rs." 



CLOVES. 



Cloves are the dried flowers of a beautiful 

 tree that grows in the East Indies. Its cul- 

 ture is principally confined to the Island of 

 Zanzibar. After being gathered, the cloves 

 are prepared for shipment by smoking them 

 on hurdles covered with matting, near a slow 

 wood fire, to give them a brown color, and 

 they are further dried in the sun. They may 

 be cut ofl" from the flower-branches, and will 

 be found to be purple colored within, and fit 

 to be packed in bales for the market. 



