26 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



fisheries, there is tliouf^ht to be no danger of 

 its decrease for many years to come. The 

 Menhaden has many parasites and enemies, 

 among tlie most prominent of which is tlie 

 bhiefish. Prof. TJaird estimates tliat the 

 annual destruction of Menhaden by its ene- 

 mies upon the entire Atlantic coast will not 

 fall below 6,000,000,000,000 of pounds. This 

 estimate is based, not upon guess-work, but 

 upon careful examination, and although the 

 figures are almost beyond comprehension they 

 are not published without care. In view of 

 this prodigious destruction of Menhaden by 

 its natural enemies, it must be allowed that 

 the few million pounds annually taken by 

 man are quite insignificant, and that there 

 need be little fear that, even with the destruc- 

 tive appliances at his command, he will be 

 able to exterminate these fish, or even to 

 make them scarce. — New York Mercantile 

 Journal. 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FOODS. 



In a recent lecture on the chemistry of food, 

 by Professor Church, some suggestive points 

 of dietetics were well brought out. Of all the 

 cereals, says Mr. Church, wheat yields the 

 best bread. This is believed to be due prin- 

 cipally to the character of the nitrogenous 

 matter of wheat. The main constituent is a 

 fibrine, and it can be readily obtained for ex- 

 amination by making a little flour into a 

 dough with water; and then washing the 

 starch out by means of a stream of water. 

 There is then left a grayish-yellow, tough, 

 elastic mass, which is gluten. Speaking of 

 peas, beans, and various kinds of pul.se, it 

 was pointed out how much more nearly the 

 different kinds agree in composition than the 

 cereals do. The great drawback to the use of 

 various kinds of pulse is that they are so 

 difficult to dige.st. They are an excellent 

 theoretical food, according to analysis, but 

 they arc a severe tax on digestion. Of all the 

 beans, none presents abetter typical food than 

 the Soy bean. Lentils have been much spoken 

 of lately as a good food, and they undoubtedly 

 ajjproach to a good typical food, but they are 

 bitter, astringent, and not easy of digestion. 

 It has now come to be pretty well recognized 

 that the food of a man doing hard work 

 should have flesh-formers to heat-givers in 

 proiiortion of 1 to 4^, and that the food of a 

 child should have 1 to 7. Bread gives 1 to 7^, 

 where the heat-givers are more than even a 

 child wants; so it is not a good food by itself. 

 Pulse gives (taking an average) 1 to 2|, which 

 is far too small. In these calculations heat- 

 givers are reckoned as starch. Potatoes give 

 1 to Ifi, according to the latest analyses, the 

 old 1 to 8 being evidently an error. Onion is 

 1 to 4, an excellent proportion, though onions 

 are not much in favor as food. In looking at 

 the relative values of flesh-formers and heat- 

 givers in foods the actual amount of water 

 must not be forgotten. 



State Organizations. 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FRUIT- 

 GROWERS. 



The annual convention of tbis society, iield this 

 year in the borough of Bethlehem, ojiened at 

 ■J:30 P. .M. on Wednesday, January '3!, under very 

 favorable auspices. Never in the history of this 

 society have more (if as many) prominent liorticul- 

 turisls asBcmblcd at its regular meetings as on this 

 occasion. The hall of the Young Men's Christian 

 Association, where the society met, was most ad- 

 mirably arranged with llowers and evergreens. The 

 very excellent mottoes and fine chromes on the walls 

 of the hall made it doubly attractive. 



President Iloopes having declined, on account of 

 ill health, the meeting was opened by H. M. Engle, 

 one of the Vice Presidents. 



The customary routine of reading of minutes, re- 

 ceiving Treasurer's report, as also that of several of 

 the minor committees, having been gone through, 

 the report of the general fruit committee, by its 

 chairman, E. Satterthwait, was read and was quite 

 interesting. 



A paper from Casper Hiller, of Lancaster county, 

 on the dark side of fruit culture, was read by the 

 Secretary. It was discussed by Mr. Meebau and 

 others. Mr. Meehan argued that although fruit 



culture has its dark side, it is not near 60 dark as 

 pictured by Mr. Hiller. 



A paper prepared by C. F. Fox, of Reading, en- 

 titled, "Can we plant too many fruit trees?" and 

 also one by Mr. Shearer, relating to the same sub- 

 ject, were read by the Secretary. Both gentlemen 

 tooh the position that too many fruit trees cannot 

 easily be planted duriug this generation, that in- 

 creased production will induce increased consump- 

 tion, in consequence of reduced prices, which, would 

 still pay the producer reasonably well. 



A paper from Levi S. Heist was also read by the 

 Secretary, relating to botany. The writer claims 

 that botany, as all other branches of interest to the 

 tiller of the soil, should be taught in the common 

 schools. 



The evening session opened with Judge Stitzel, 

 one of the Vice Presidents, in the chair. He having 

 been solicited to prepare the annual address, he de- 

 livered the same, and it abounded in many excellent 

 and instructive ideas. Remarks were made by sev- 

 eral gentlemen, but the address was geherally ap- 

 proved. The committee on nominations reported 

 the following, who were unanimously elected : 

 President, J. D. Stitzel; Vice Presidents, H. M. 

 Engle, Josiah Hoopes, Wm. Bissel; Recording 

 Secretary, E. B. Engle; Corresponding Secretary, 

 W. P. Brinton; Treasurer, G. B. Thomas. 



A paper on strawberry culture was read bj F. F, 

 Mereeron, of Catawissa, which elicited considerable 

 discussion. As to varieties, the Sliarpless, Cumber- 

 land, Chas. Downing and Wilson received general 

 commendation, but the former is strongly endorsed 

 by those who have fully tested it. The question, 

 " Are birds really the fruitgrower's friends?" was 

 warmly discussed, pro and eon, by a number of the 

 most prominent men in the society, and I must con- 

 fess that the result appeared to be a drawn game, 

 with the benefit of doubt in favor of the birds. With 

 the closing of this discussion the meeting adjourned 

 until Friday morning. 



The morning session opened at 8:30, President 

 Stitzel in the chair. The first subject taken up was 

 a discussion on a question of the best varieties of 

 grapes to plant for home use, market and wine, 

 which elicited- remarks from several members and 

 resulted in leaving the field to the Concord as the 

 fruit for the million, except the sentiment of Mr. 

 Farley, a prominent grape grower of New York, 

 who declared that he would plant no black grape 

 for market, as the white and amber-colored grapes 

 outsell the former in the market by 50 per cent. 



The question. Should the tree agent be encour- 

 aged? came in for consideration sharp shooting, 

 winch resulted in drawing a distinction between 

 honest and dishonest tree dealers, as well as of other 

 occupations. 



Extracts from a very interesting document were 

 read, prepared by John Rutter, of West Chester, on 

 peach culture. He is a veteran peach grower, he 

 liaving planted and fruited peach orchards in Penn- 

 sylvania, Delaware and Maryland by thousands. 



He has settled down to the honest conviction that 

 peaches can be grown as successfully in this State 

 as in either of those named, and that there is no oc- 

 casion whatever for our State to look to other States 

 for peaches, if she attends properly to her own 

 resources. ' This is indeed gratifying evidence, com- 

 ing from such authority. Let us hope it will be 

 improved. 



Mr. Rutter was one of the leading men who 

 organized this society twenty years ago. His papers 

 are to be published in book ibrni soon, and will no 

 doubt be an excellent guide to the peach grower, 

 the most important part of which will be the preven- 

 tion of yellows, so detrimental to peach culture 

 almost everywhere. It will also contain many prac- 

 tical and instructive matters of interest to tillers of 

 the soil generally. 



The afternoon session opened with numerous 

 questions put to Mr. Rutter in reference to his sub- 

 ject, which he answered freely. Next in order was 

 a lecture on window gardening, of which quite a 

 number of the ladies of Bethlehem availed them- 

 selves. The lecture was a rich treat, not only to 

 the ladies but to all gentlemen present. 



A very pleasant episode oecured at the close of the 

 lecture by the presentation of a beautiful bouquet 

 from the ladies, passed to the lecturer by Mr. Har- 

 rison, with a few very approjiriate remarks, who re- 

 ceived it with surprise, but soon recovered his equi- 

 librium and responded with much grace in equally 

 apjiroitriate words. 



A paper o;i entomology, prepared by Mr. High, of 

 Berks county, was read, which was quite good, but 

 was passed over without discussion. 



Mr. Stevenson, of Lackawanna county, read a 

 very interesting paper on mixed orcharding, giving 

 his method of preparing the ground, )ilanting, culti- 

 vating, etc., also both his successes and failures, 

 pointing out what he should have done to achieve 

 success, all of vvhieli was quite instructive. 



A paper from Mr. Barnett, of Reading, on the 

 subject of awakening a more general interest in the 

 work of horticulture in our State, was very pointed 

 and excellent. 



A very interesting paper was read on the follow- 

 ing subject : "Can we plant too many fruit trees," 



by C. F. Fox, of Reading. The writer recapitulated 

 the inducements which the Berks County Agricultu- 

 ral Society held out to planters a few years ago. and 

 summed up the resuUes, showing the additional 

 prospects that tlie county now has, to what it would 

 have, had there been no stimulus applied. It sums 

 up with the conclusion that we cannot plant too 

 many fruit trees. 



A paper of similar import from Christopher 

 Shearer, of Berks county, was read, which arrived at 

 similar conclusions to that of Mr. Fox. Mr. Shearer 

 is the gentlemen whose name went the rounds of 

 newspapers recently as having made ?S,000 profit 

 off his farm of 100 acres in 1879. 



Several other papers and questions were read and 

 discussed, all of which were instructive matter, but 

 time and space does not permit to describe them. 

 Among them were, non-productive fruit trees, what 

 are the causes? by H. M. Engle. Questions — Are 

 birds really the fruit grower's friend ? Can we in- 

 troduce too many new seedlings? Does the root 

 exert an inuflence upon the graft ? Should our so- 

 ciety offer prizes for essays ? It was agreed upon 

 the latter, that so long as the society can procure a 

 supply, as at present, there is no occasion. 



Some discussion was had upon what are the best 

 varieties of apples and pears. The former were not 

 extensively discussed, but York Imperial and Smith's 

 Cider were considered 'at the head, as good keeping 

 winter fruits. On pears there was a general agree- 

 ment on BartlettjSeckel, Lawrence, D'Anjou, Howell 

 and a few others. 



Quite an interest is felt in the prospect of a new 

 race of pears, in sonsequence of several new seed- 

 lings, supposed to have resulted from a cross between 

 the Chinese Sand pear and some common kind, the 

 most prominent of which is Kieffer's Hybrid, a very 

 showy, large pear of good quality. What is especi- 

 ally expected are varieties of vigorous growth and 

 free from blight, which is the character of the Sand 

 pear. 



There were samples of apples and peaches placed 

 on the table from B. L. Ryder, of Cbambersburg, 

 evaporated by the American Dryer, which were very 

 much admired. In color and flavor they came as 

 near the natural fruit as probably they can be made, 

 and if generally a success they must come fairly in 

 comi)etition with canned fruit, and possibly super- 

 sede it. 



The next annual convention will be held in Gettys- 

 burg, on the third Wednesday of January, 1881. 



SEMI-ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE 

 MILLERS' ASSOCIATION. 



The Harrisburg Telegraph gives the following ac- 

 count of the above convention, which met in Harris- 

 burg recently : 



The Pennsylvania Millers' State Association held 

 its semi-annual convention in the parlors of the 

 Loehiel hotel. The convention was called to order 

 by the President, Charles A. Miner, of Wilkesbarre, 

 who made a few opening remarks, as follows : 



Gctitlctnen of the Peniisylvania Millers' As.svciation : 

 I have no lengthy formal address to inflict upon you 

 at tbis hour of the day, and I do not intend to 

 occupy your time with any extended remarks, as 

 there are doubtless many among you better prepared 

 to instruct the convention and impart information 

 upon the various subjects connected with our busi- 

 ness. Sol will only use a moment of your time, 

 which, at the late hour of our meeting, must be 

 used economically, and can be employed to much 

 better advantage. When about a dozen of us met in 

 these rooms a little less than two years ago to 

 organize this associ.^tion it seemed iike a very small 

 beginning, and the outlook was not at all cheerful, 

 and if any one had told me that in less than two 

 ysars we should have such an organization as we 

 have now, with one hundred active members on the 

 roll, and our meetings often attended by that num- 

 ber, I should have thought him over-sanguine. But 

 such arc the facts, and such is our condition to-day; 

 and our membership is rapidly increasing at every 

 meeting, and I venture to say there is not a State 

 association in the Union with better prospects than 

 ours. That Pennsylvania should have a successful 

 Millers' Association is not strange, for I think I am 

 safe in saying that there arc more mills within her 

 borders and more money invested in the business 

 than in any other State. To be sure we have not 

 many very large mills, but we have some very good 

 ones, and when our friend and fellow member, John 

 Hofter, gets the elegant and immense establishment, 

 with its fourteen run of stones, completed, which he 

 is now building in this city, he will have one of the 

 best, if not the very best. New Process mills to be 

 found in all the States. 



I am very sorry I could not be with you at Altoona 

 in July last, but my private business required all 

 my attention at that time, and 1 know you will 

 kindly excuse my unavoidaljle absence, as it is the 

 only meeting I have missed since our organization. 



As this is probably the last time I shall preside 

 over your deliberations I desire to thank you for the 

 uniform courtesy and kindness with which I have 

 been treated as your President, and to ask at your 

 hands during the present session the same indul- 



