84 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[June, 



in former years, and if in our advanced ideas 

 we attempt to increase the quantity and 

 quality of our fruits, we need not be aston- 

 ished 'if these birds should improve also in 

 their tastes. 



ELIZABETH STOCK FARM JERSEYS. 



As this breed of cattle is now attractius 

 more than usual attention, it is in order to 

 refer to them, especially wlien we can note 

 the fact tliat one of the best bred and kept 

 herds in the coiuitry is owned and kept in our 

 own county. In tlie extreme northern end of 

 Lancaster county, near the little village of 

 Brickcrville, nestles on the southern slope of 

 the South Mountain the once famous " Eliza- 

 beth Furnace property," but now more widely 

 known "Elizabeth Stock Farms." 



Here the breeding of Jersey cattle is made 

 a specialty. The habits, the nature and the 

 capacity of the breed is studied as the breeders 

 of trotting horses are to-day studying the 

 trotting horse pedigree and inoblem. 



Cows only of the best individual quality, as 

 is shown by accurately kept records of per- 

 formance at the pail, are retained for breed- 

 ing ; and only such bulls used as are from the 



TO CONTRIBUTORS. 



Two or three very interesting contributions 

 came to hand after our quantum of matter 

 for the present number of The Farmer had 

 already been made, we are therefore com- 

 pelled to defer tlieir publication to our July 

 number. Aud hero we would respectfully 

 admonisli onr literary friends that any matter 

 intended for our current number, should be 

 in our hands by the first of the month, as a 

 general thing. Circumstances may some- 

 times so conspire as to lelieve the alisolute- 

 ness of this as a rule, but this does not waive 

 it as a general proposition. 



Contributions, 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 LAND WEARING OUT. 

 Will our Lancaster county farms wear out 

 by strong cultivation ? is a question that often 

 suggests' itself to the thoughtful mind. Much 

 has also been said and written on the subject. 

 Our county in itself is claimed to be one of 

 the richest in the State— with a rich limestone 

 soil, joining with a gravel aud sandy soil, and 



be on the decrease, only yielding one good 

 average crop in seven. But are we not at the 

 same time impoverishing the soil ? One-half 

 of the land we heretofore put in oats we now 

 put in tobacco. The accumulated manure 

 pile is hauled out on the tobacco land in 

 April. How wonderfully shrewd the tobacco 

 culture is making us. Manure will go twice 

 as far when applied in April as it will iu 

 August, and is much stronger, producing a 

 good crop of tobacco, and also two good crops 

 of wheat the following seasons. Most of our 

 corn is fed into our cattle, and a great deal 

 was brought from the West for the last three 

 or four years for the same purpose, at prices 

 ranging from fifty to sixty cents per bushel. 

 We may eventually decrease our corn cultiva- 

 tion anil depend on buying it, thereby keeping 

 our lauds more in clover, which is in itself a 

 capital fertilizer. There are now more 

 cattle fed in Lancaster county than ever 

 before. Several hundred were sent weekly 

 from Lititz to Pottsville and Philadelphia 

 the present season. Farmers generally re- 

 ceived from iJl.OO to $1 50 advance on a hun- 

 dred weight, wliich fully compensated them 

 for the .50 or 60 cents they i)aid per bushel for 

 corn, and in addition to this had aiso rich 



Sire, Imported IRON BANK, 1120. Dam, Imported VESPER, 1395. 

 Imported Vesper, loii.5, is a fourteen pound butter cow, and Imported Bikdie, 2B11, the Dam of Imported Iron Bank, 1120, will make tlie 



same amount wittiout injurious forcing. 



best known strains of l)lood, backed by imme- 

 diate ancestors of worth. No known poor 

 animal is kept or used — but sent to the sham- 

 bles — and from tlie rigorous enforcement of 

 such determination has come the very high 

 degree of individual excellence to which this 

 herd as a whole has attained. It takes con- 

 siderable nerve and backboiv; on the part of 

 a breeder to alivays do this, but that it pays 

 in the end there is no doubt; as an exami- 

 nation of the herd to-day will show that but 

 few cows are contained therein that could 

 not be sent to any man as the foundation 

 stock of a Jersey herd. 



Every animal sold is guaranteed to be 

 exactly as represented, and has very imi- 

 versally given satisfaction. Much has been 

 said and vrritten of these little Jersey beauties 

 of late years, and they are gaining for them- 

 selves an enviable reputation for their worth,, 

 making it against the prejudices of the peoi)le 

 by jjroving themselves the best farmers' cows 

 for milk, cream and butter. 



In some future number we may have more 

 to say of this herd. 



easily improved — geographically, favorably 

 located — with railroad facilities unsurpassed 

 by any other county in the State ; tlie south- 

 eastern portion having a line of railroad via 

 West Chester, Oxford and Peach Bottom, 

 from Philadelphia to Baltimore ; one along 

 the .shore of the Susquehanna from Columbia 

 to Port Deposit ; one through the centre of 

 the county from Quarryville to Reading ; one 

 from Columbia nortliward through Reading 

 to New York ; one from Pliiladelphia through 

 Lancaster to Pittsburg, and one along the 

 river from Columbia to Middletown and Har- 

 risburg ; also branch roads running eastward 

 from Straslnirg to near Leaman Place, and 

 from New Holland to Waynesburg. Its 

 claim to riches is based upon tlie fart that it 

 produces more wheat, corn and toljacco than 

 any other county in the State, its tobacco 

 crop of 1870 alone amounting in round num- 

 bers to $3,000,000, and the statistical numer- 

 ations, now in progress, will more than bear 

 us out in these estimates. Although we are 

 likely, hereafter, to increase our wheat, corn 

 and tobacco crops, yet our oat crop seems to 



heaps of manure in the spring. Besides we 

 have ample fiicilities to transport lime and the 

 difl'erent fertilizers to every railroad station 

 in the county, and manure can even be brought 

 to the southern, northern or middle parts of 

 the country from Baltimore and Philadelphia. 

 In the northern part it was actually shipped 

 from Reading and New York, over the Co- 

 lumbia and Reading Railroad. "Dairy ma- 

 nure," as it was called, was delivered at the 

 Rothsville andMiUway stations from Reading 

 for loss tlian .S2.00 per ton. A great deal was 

 delivered at Litiz direct from New York city 

 for .$.j. 00 per ton. It was liorso manure, and 

 was probably kept under shelter and was not 

 so heavy as the Reading manure. It is evi- 

 dent then tliat we can increase our most valu- 

 able crojis aud improve our lands all the time. 

 So, instead of impoverishing our lands by to- 

 bacco-iaising and depreciating them in value, 

 we are actually constantly improving them, 

 and the prospect is that our land will advance 

 from flO.OO to .¥30.00 per acre this coming 

 fall, as we are almost surrounded by cities 

 and towns with a market for our small fruit, 



