24 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ February,, 



attention has heretofore been given, but its 

 merits and the necessity of restoring it to soils 

 that have Iiad it voinoved by imiirudent farm- 

 ing will insure its being kept before the farm- 

 ing iniblic. The sources of supply are the 

 potash, salts and wood ashes. These will be 

 discussed further on, with remraks as to their 

 special uses. 



Stable manure contains all three of the ele- 

 ments of plant-food discussed, and is there- 

 fore a complete manure. A fertilizer to be 

 complete must also contain all of them to 

 make it a perfect fertilizer, and one contain- 

 ing only one, or at[most two of these elements, 

 is an incomplete fertilizer. 



There may be said to be two schools of the 

 advocates of fertilizers: the one uses fertilzers 

 in which all three of the prominent elements 

 of plant-food are present, the other aims only 

 at supplying that which the soil lacks. 



In a theoretical sense the latter school is 

 right, but they work under such a disadvan- 

 tage that in practice their theories are not 

 often carried out by the cimmion farmer. If 

 soils could 1)6 analyzed fairly so as to show 

 what is lacking the practical application 

 would be plain, but unfortunately this cannot 

 be done. So they have recourse to "soil 

 tests," as they are called. By this it is meant 

 that known incomiiiete fertilizers are applied 

 to small plots of ground. As it must be de- 

 termined which one or which two of the ele- 

 ments of plant-food are wanting, it takes no 

 less than seven tests, and an additional test 

 te see if they may not be all wanting. 



Below is given a scheme of these tests. 

 The X represents what ingredient the ferti- 

 lizer contains and what the soil is tested for; 

 the O would then represent what the soil 

 would contain in sufficient quantity, and also 

 represent the the ingredients that are not con- 

 tained in that fertilizer. 



The scheme looks very pretty, and doubt- 

 lessly will work on tracts of level or genly 

 rolling lands, but I think they will be worth- 

 less in all places that may be termed billy. 

 In the latter kinds of land you will often find 

 the soil in the same field to be of three kinds, 

 or of three degrees of fertility ; on the top of 

 the hill medium to good; at the brow poor to 

 medium; at the foot good to very good. To 

 tc^st such soils is well nigh impossible. — 

 A.B.K. 



( To be continued. ) 



LETTER FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 

 S.VLISBURY, X. C, January 20, ISSO. 

 Editor L.vnc aster Farjiek.— Your.Ian- 

 uary number forlSSO is to hand and contents 

 noticed. In it we find much useful and need- 

 ed information, always a welcome visitor in 

 our household. Long and pro.sperous may it 

 and its editor and publisher live, hoiiing that 

 the people, especially those of your great ag- 

 ricultural county, will sub.scrihe for it and 

 contribute to its valuable columns and make 

 it second to no paper in its line published on 

 this continent at least. Every native born 

 Lancaster countian, whether living there or 

 elsewhere, ought to feel proud of their birth- 

 place. Look at your fine stock of all kinds, 

 your grains, grasses, fruits and well cultivat- 

 ed lands, and say, who there cannot allbrd to 

 aid in building up The Farmer, both in 

 money and words. Hope all will put their 

 shoulders to the wheel and roll it on and 

 upward. If they will do so I have no doubt 

 but that they and their children and chil- 



dren's children will be benefited by it. The 

 farmers here, in 1879, made in quality and 

 quanity fair crops of wheat, corn, oats, Irish 

 and sweet potatoes, cotton and tobacco; less 

 rainfall here this winter than for years past, 

 and no snow so far; weather unusually fine; 

 wheat and oats looks well; ground in good 

 order for snow, and I would like to see snow 

 fall and lay for si.\ or eight weeks, believing 

 it would benefit both wheat and oats, and also 

 keep fruit trees, grape and other vines from 

 putting forth too early. Planting trees or 

 vines, at whatever time planted, fall or 

 spring, depends much upon climate, soil and 

 manner in which they are managed; such is 

 my experience, whether it is worth' any- 

 thing to others or not. I have seen soot from 

 chimneys and stovepipes applied to irrajie 

 vines and rose bushes, around (he bodies on 

 the ground, and prove beneficial. 



As regards fertilizers, I have seen none 

 prove better than liarnyard manure and 

 clover well put on and in. They will improve 

 land, and it will hold out longer in pnxlucing 

 tlian any other I have yet seen applied and 

 experimf nted with, and not so expensive to 

 make. This world, to me, means work, 

 management and perseverance. .1 know 

 farmers wlio baled and shipped hay, straw, 

 cornfodder and shucks, leaving in some 

 instances barely enough, if enough, on their 

 farms to supply the need of their horses, cat- 

 tle and sheep with roughage, made but little 

 homemade manure of course, but tried patent 

 manureB, believing them to be cheaper and 

 better, but time proved it otherwise. No 

 artificial manures of any kind, of whatever 

 name called, would I allow to be put on my 

 land gratuitously without any cash or expense 

 to me whatever, unless it was- on an old worn 

 out field, to raise a crop of grass or weeds to 

 turn under in a green state and then stop ap- 

 plying it, and go for barnyard manure and red 

 clover. — M. B. 



Selections. 



THE ECONOMY OF A GARDEN. 



It is a common opinion among farmers that 

 a garden for vegetables and small fruits is a 

 costly luxury. It is a luxury which they 

 would like to possess.bnt the cou.stant thought 

 that they can make money faster by working 

 in the field prevents them from giving more 

 than a secondary attention to the garden. It 

 is neglected as a matter of course, becomes 

 infested with largo weeds, wliich are diflicult 

 to clear out and the whole thing results as a 

 failure. The owner is discouraged; he has 

 found the garden a source of cost and diffi- 

 culty, and he concludes that it is neces.sarily a 

 very troublesome piece of ground to manage. 



There are two causes for this unfavorable 

 result. t)ne is that the garden is left unfilled 

 and unhoed in the press of other work until 

 the weeds become so large that a ten-fold 

 increase of labor is re(juired to work it. Had 

 it been promptly taken in hand, and the 

 weeds destroyed before they came up, quickly 

 passing the hoe or steel rake over the surface, 

 the labor would have been comparatively 

 trifling and the growing crops would have 

 been clean and vigorous in growth. The 

 twenty-acre field of corn and jiotatoes should 

 have given way to the half-acre of peas and 

 leftuce, parsnips and siiinacb, cauliflower and 

 asparagus, beets and onions, cabbages and 

 cucumbers, tomatoes and squashes, melons 

 and berries. The small half-acre would have 

 been readily attended to; the twenty-acre 

 field coidd liave taken the second chance. 



The other cause of failure is in haying out 

 the garden so as to require much hand labor 

 instead of doing nearly all with a hors(\ Tlie 

 ground selected should be long and naiTow, 

 so that when the long drills of vegetables are 

 planted they are worked by running length- 

 wise with the garden and thus obvigating fre- 

 quent turning. A strip of ground in grass, 

 ten or twelve feet wide at the ends, admits 

 the easy turning of the horse. Or the kitchen 

 garden may occupy a portion of an open field 



with limited room at the ends for that pur- 

 pose. 



Having arranged the ground in this man- 

 ner, plow deeply and repeatedly and manure 

 highly and in advance. This, with modern 

 annual apidications late in autumn or in 

 winter, will keep the ground always in good 

 condition. Sow seeds or set out plants in 

 lines extending lengthwise about two and a 

 half feet apart. Smaller kinds may be in 

 doul)!e drills. With narrow cultivators and 

 one-hor.se harrows a few inches less may 

 answi'r; but a distance of thirty inches will 

 not be a waste of ground for most vegetables, 

 fur the rich soil, frequent and clean horse 

 culture and greater room, will give the plants 

 such luxuriant growth as they never could 

 have in a more crowded sjiace and with occa- 

 sional and feeble liand hoeing. 



Now, examine the expense of such a gar- 

 den by a fair estimate. Begin with the small 

 fruits and take raspberries as an example.. 

 We may make the estimate for an acre, and 

 then reduce it to a family supply. The plants 

 may be secured by a little care in advance, 

 and tlie small rooted ones be set out in 

 autumn, each protected through winter with 

 a forkful of manure; or they may be taken up 

 if near at hand, when green and growing, 

 early the next season — and in either case will 

 attbrd crops of berries in a year or two. The 

 cost of planting will be scarcely more than 

 for an ecjual area of potatoes; and as this 

 plantiug will not be repeated for several j'ears, 

 it will be fair to offset any additional labor on 

 the raspberries until well in bearing, against 

 the annual work of plantiug the potatoes. 

 The yearly culture by a horse will be quite 

 as easy as to cultivate potatoes or corn. A 

 moderate estimate of the raspberry crop is 

 fifty bushels per acre — say one-third' tlie pota- 

 to crop, and equal to the corn crop. Let us 

 ask any farmer if a liushel of raspberries, 

 distributed at the rate of two or three quarts 

 a day on the table, would not be really worth, 

 in money value, in providing for his family, 

 more than a bushel of corii ? Again, take 

 the strawberry croji. By horse culture, a 

 bushel of straw Ijerries may be raised about as 

 cheaply as a bushel of 4)otatoes. Would not 

 the roots and the berries combined be worth 

 more as daily food than nothing but a dish of 

 potatoes to eat V The same reasoning will 

 apply to many of the vegetables. The full 

 supply of these, in connection with other 

 food, would save the cost of many grocers' 

 bills. 



But there is still another way in which 

 these supplies would prove of positive finan- 

 cial economy. A daily portion of fresh fruit, 

 witli other food, contributes to Jiealtb, and 

 often prevents formidable disease. We liave 

 known a number of instances where the dis- 

 eases of malarial regions have been entirely 

 excluded from families by a regular provision 

 of fresh fruit, while its absence in other 

 families had resulted in long-continued sick- 

 ness, lu one ca.se a family moving into a 

 newly-settl d region took witli them enough 

 dried fruit for daily use through the season. 

 All the members continued in health. The 

 next year, their supply being gone, several 

 were taken down with interuiittent fevers. 

 The loss of time in sickness is a serious mat- 

 ter; the fatigue of waiting on the sick is 

 undesirable; costly doctors' bills cut sharply 

 into the farmer's revenue. 



lu conclusion, tlien, for the sake of saving 

 expense, iireserving the health of the family, 

 and providing a full share of the comforts and 

 luxuries of the table, prepare aud plant a 

 ganleii that may be cultivated with a horse 

 as often as once a week the sea.son through, 

 and let the small needed care be first and not 

 the last thing on the list of farm operations. 



POPULAR BREEDS FOR PORK AND 

 LARD. 



The hog the fanner derives his profits from 

 is the one that converts his surplus corn into 

 meat and makes the largest number of pounds 

 for tlie bushel of corn consumed. It has been 

 demonstrated over and over again that some 



