72 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May. 



regular farm crops— some people who have 

 written against the use of the "dirty thing," 

 are quietly growing it for others to use. Some 

 years ago a person in Bucks county, who de- 

 nounced it roundly, as he did mnny other 

 matters that did not square with his eccen- 

 tric ideas, was the first to apply to us for a 

 couple of papers of tlie "Havana" seed, and 

 which was said to produce large and very 

 profitable crops, for his own planting ! One 

 question in regard to tobacco-growing may 

 be taken for granted, to wit : that, like all 

 ol her products, whether of the shop or farm, 

 thTe will sooner or later be a supply equal to 

 the demand, and a little more, when any ex- 

 cess of profits over other results of labor will 

 become equalized. Just now, though tobacco- 

 growing may yield more profit than most 

 other crops of the farm, notwitlistanding that 

 it is a gi-eat exhauster of the soil, it will not 

 divert so much of the attention of the 

 thoughtful farmer as to interfere with his reg- 

 ular "routine crops, which he can produce 

 without having his conscience twitted with 

 his work, as some may with tobacco. 



Look to the Roads. 



Road graders are getting very much in use 

 in the West, where factories for their exclu- 

 sive construction are in operation. If they 

 are good machines they do the work well and 

 rapidly and at so much less cost than the old 

 slow-going method as quickly to run it out of 

 practice when once tried. Good roads are a 

 great blessings to man and beast. The trav- 

 eler in passing along over a fine road at once 

 sets down the population as far ahead in their 

 civilation and social science to those of other 

 sections where the roads are either neglected 

 or regarded as of secondary importance in 

 tlie routine duties of every day life. We 

 have noticed several instances where there 

 has been much eftbrt and contention to have 

 a new road opened, and a good deal of money 

 expended in getting the matter favorably 

 through the county court, wliich, when 

 opened, is allowed to remain, in view of the 

 petty cost of it, only half graded, the gutters 

 only half made, witli stumps and rooks lying 

 almost in the centre of tlie bed admitting of 

 barely room enough for a single vehicle to 

 pass. The gutters, too, instead of being 

 made straight and serviceable, are made to 

 run round these obstructions, which causes 

 them to dam up with weeds, dirt, &c., so as 

 to throw tlie water upon the road bed, wash- 

 ing it into h les, which prove dangerous to 

 horses and wagons. 



Transplanting. 



In transplanting trees the care should he- 

 gin in lifting them in the nursery. In the 

 hurry of tlie season — for the transplanting 

 season is short — sometimes the proper care 

 cannot be given in taking them up. Hence, 

 it is the best plan, where it is allowed, for the 

 purchaser to dig up his own trees. They 

 should then be protected against the sun in 

 hauling them home, and should be "heeled- 

 in" — that is, the roots to be covered 

 with earth, until the holes are dug and ready 

 to receive the trees, and then set as the holes 

 are prepared for them. The holes should be 

 dug wide enough to receive all the roots 

 spread out, except perliaps a few of the larger 

 ones, and deep enough — and a few inches to 

 spare, which .should be loo.sened well— so 

 that the tree may stand a little deeper than 

 it stood in tlie nursery. Where the tree has 

 grown rapidly in the nursery, and the 

 branches are long, we recommend pruning, 

 whatever may be said tiy some to tlie con- 

 trary. The soil with wliich the holes are 

 filled up should be rich, whether it be the soil 

 taken out or brouglit from el.sevvhere. Let 

 the ground around the tree be pretty firmly 

 pressed, and left rather bowled, and then 

 mulch with rich stable-manure, which should 

 be repeated once or twice through the season 

 if the weather should be rather dry. It is 

 not advisable to water much, if any, around 

 the tree when planted ; but where the soil is 

 rather dry it should be moistened before it is 

 returned to the hole. 



Land-Owning in Europe. 



Reading some of the editorials in agricul- 

 tural periodicals about farming and farmers 

 in Europe, we see that the idea is held up 

 tliat it is next to impossible for a poor man 

 ever to become able to own land. On the 

 contrary, they say that, even what he earns 

 by his daily labor is wrested from him by his 

 rapacious landlord. Now it is very true that 

 land is dearer in most countries of Europe 

 than it is here even in the Middle States ; yet 

 it is also true that in no nation in the world 

 are there more land-owners for the population 

 than iu Fr.ance, Germany, Austria, Italy. 

 Holland and Belgium come next. In Ireland 

 it is more difficult than elsewhere to own 

 land ; but it is principally for the reason that 

 the Irish are le.ss thrifty and ambitious, and 

 have been so long so as to allow what land 

 they did possess to slip out of their hands into 

 tlie hands of others who were able to purchase 

 it. AVhisky-drinking has had most to do 

 with this. The Iri.sh, it is true, are an in- 

 dustrious people, and barring this weakness 

 would do well enough if the land and the 

 tenant laws were all that they ought to be. 

 It is probable, however, now that the Liberals 

 are in power again, that sometliing will be 

 done of a solid, practical nature in their be- 

 lialf It is difficult to guard against famine. 

 A few years ago here in our own country — 

 Kansas, Nebraska, &c. — the farmers suffered 

 terribly from the attacks of the potato beetle, 

 grasshoppers, &c., and required help to be 

 sent to them. — Oermantown Telegraph. 



FARMERS WHO ARE NOT FARMERS. 



If we look around at those from whom 

 come the strongest complaints about no profit 

 in farming, we see that in a surprisingly large 

 number of cries the cry comes from those 

 who know nothing about it; that is to say, it 

 is not real genuine farmers who complain, but 

 s^me counting-house graduate who had an 

 idea that money grew in the ground, that 

 business was a hazarous operation, and that 

 to get rich and "live like a prince, with no- 

 thing to do," all that is'necessary is buy and 

 "run" a farm. Some few of these men suc- 

 ceed in the end. For a year or two they lose 

 money, but in time they pick up or luck helps 

 them. It is, however, but a drop in the bucket. 

 Hardly ten per cent, of those who go from 

 commercial pursuits to farming but sooner or 

 later break up. 



We suppose a great deal of this misdirec- 

 tion of genius comes from the influence of 

 old country literature. The "gentleman 

 farmer" is one of the happiest of English 

 pictures, but whether it is true to nature or 

 not is altogether another thing. The typical 

 John BulTof the caricaturists is an English 

 farmer, fat and jolly, with top boots and fine 

 sustanlial clothes, and generally having his 

 hands thrust deep down into his breeches 

 pockets as if in them he guarded not only his 

 own treasures but those of all the world. 

 But it appears the picture is a purely imagin- 

 ary one. The "gentlemen" are not the solid 

 substantiitl farmers. There are a few who 

 took to farming after they became rich and 

 had made their money first by some other 

 business; but most of the successful farmers 

 there as well as here are those who were 

 brought up to farming' from their boyhood 

 and who are familiar with all the details of 

 farm work and farm-markets. 



It is a pity perhaps to take down all these 

 lovely pictures of the gentleman fiirmer and 

 in their yilaces substitute mere charcoal 

 sketches of what things really are; but poetry 

 is all well enough in its place. Money-mak- 

 ing is another thing, and money-making by 

 farm-life especially so. It has its bare, prac- 

 tical side. One must begin at the bottom of 

 tlie ladder in order to reach to the top; but 

 when began in that, the natural way, it will 

 be found to be just as good as any other busi- 

 ness, and when the failures come it will be 

 found generally with a class who had no right 

 to be there.— Germantown Telegraph. 



POUDRETTE. 



The Reading Eagle says that Daniel D. 

 Hess & Son, of Quarryville, have their pou- 

 drette works near that city started and in 

 running order. Their product will be made 

 from night soil, sulphate of potash, vitriol and 

 land plaster mixed. The capacity of the 

 mill is four to five tons in 24 hours. The 

 main building is a frame structure 30 by 60 

 feet, drying house 10 by 4G feet, the engine- 

 house is 14 by 22 feet, and the store-houses 

 30 by 24 feet. The engiue-house is supplied 

 with a boiler and engine of 1.5-horse power to 

 drive the "refiner" and elevators. The refiner 

 has somewhat tlie appearance of a grain 

 threshing machine. In the main building 

 are half-a-dozen bins 13J feet long by 9 feet 

 wide, and 3J feet deep on an average, the 

 floors of the bins being inclined, aud in the 

 drying-house are four furnaces. 



In the manufacture of the poudrette the 

 night soil is first passed through wooden 

 screens into the bins with the aid of a small 

 quantity of water thrown upon it with a hose. 

 While in the bins .50 pounds of vitriol and 500 

 pounds of sulphate of potasli are added to 

 each ton of night soil. It is then allowed to 

 run from the bins into the drying-house, 

 where it is spread out evenly upon the floor 

 of the kiln and repeatedly worked over while 

 being heated and dried. 12 to 1.5 hours' time 

 are required to dry it. While in the kiln, 50 

 to 100 pounds of land plaster to ton are added. 

 After being thoroughly mixed and dried, the 

 poudrette is passed through the refiner, a 

 machine with strong iron teeth. A fine aud 

 a coarse sieve are attached to the refiner, and 

 the poudrette that is not sufficiently pulver- 

 ized to pass through the fine sieve falls 

 through the coarse one and is immediately 

 carried back by an elevator into the refiner. 

 That which fall through the fine sieve is car- 

 ried away by another elevator into the store- 

 room, ready to be placed in bags for shipment 

 to market. The manufactory is supplied 

 with coal and hot water. Steam pipes lead 

 to each bin, so that the exhaust steam from 

 the engine can be conducted into them and 

 keep tiie contents from freezing. The fertil- 

 izer has very much the a])pearance of fine 

 dark sand, and is free from any unpleasant 

 odor, having less smell than either guano or 

 the phosphates. Outside of the mill there is 

 no odor, and there is very little in it when 

 the bins are closed. In a stone quarry near 

 by are several hundred cart loads of night 

 soil disinfected with lime, which will be con- 

 verted into (loudrette in summer when the 

 moonlight mechanics are not at work. Dur- 

 ing the winter it is expected that from eight 

 to twelve loads will be received every night 

 from the night-soilers, who have a large field 

 of operations in Reading, where there is no 



sewerage. 



^ 



THE WAGES OF FARM LABOR. 



Tills is the time of the year when labor on 

 the farm is the question of the hour. It has 

 been said that among the drawbacks to intel- 

 ligent agriculture in our country is the un- 

 certain tenure of the soil. The farmer who 

 rents does nothing permanently because he 

 may leave the next year aud the farmer who 

 owns knows not at what moment he may sell. 

 There are many who make a permanent busi- 

 of the farm, but there are thousands who do 

 not; and these keep down the average of good 

 culture. 



But it seems to us if evanescent settling is 

 an injury to farming, the frequent change of 

 labor is at least as bad. The agricultural 

 laborer, as a general thing, is employed for 

 about nine months in the year. In tlie spring 

 he is to be looked after, and before he is se- 

 cured numlierlcss little matters, which result 

 iu great moment after awhile, are left undone 

 till the help comes, when it is too late to do 

 them properly for the best results for that 

 season. 



Where farms are large enough to afford it, 

 and tho.se who farm are engaged in a life pur- 

 suit, the best results have been found to fol- 

 low from so managing as to have the help em- 



