The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. EATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., AUGUST, 1880. 



Vol. XII. No. 8. 



Editorial. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER AND ITS 

 EDITOR. 



In tlie course of our ex'iierience as editor of 

 The Farjiek, during the p.i.st twelve years, 

 we liave reteivtd niaiiy complimentary no- 

 tices from the press and others, who, from 

 their literary status in society, would seem 

 to be competent to judge of its "merits. Some 

 of these we have made use of, not under the 

 impulse of personal vanity, but because, as 

 the world goes, it seemed due to our pub- 

 lishers; for no one will ever know what labor 

 and pecuniary saeritice it has cost to sustain 

 an agricultural journal in the county of l.au- 

 caster ; and, viewed from the standpoint of 

 self, no one will ever believe it. The follow- 

 ing quotation from a recent letter of an in- 

 telligent and esteemed correspondent, how- 

 evei, contains a suggestion which we have 

 frequently endeavored to impress upon the 

 minds of our patrons, on account of the value 

 it may be to them when the pre.sent editor of 

 The Faioier has "returned to dust," and 

 the journal itself may be numbered among 

 the things that were : 



Davenpokt Academt of Natbbal Sciences, ) 

 Davenport, Iowa, .July 20, 1S80. S 



Du. S. S. Ratuvon — Diar .iir': I have uuder- 

 lakeu to record for PsycUc* all entomological arti- 

 cles in a certain number of agricultural papors — 

 and among them The Lan-casteb Farmer — for 

 this purpose I would be pleased if j'ou would have it 

 sent to the Academy regularly in exchange for its 

 proceedings. We would also like to obtain as many 

 of the back numbers as possible — at least those 

 necessary to render the current volume complete, so 

 that €i'eiituaUt/ it iitay be bound. I may say here that 

 I regard TuE Laxcasteh Farmer as one of the 

 very best edited agricultural papers in the country." 

 — Yours very truly, J, Dnneun Putnam. 



Of course we have never made such claims 

 to excellence as have been so generously ac- 

 corded us, and for two suftioient reasons ; 

 firstly, because we di.sclaim self-aseripiion, 

 and secondly, our mental constitution may be 

 such as to disquallify us for rendering a true 

 verdict. Be all that as as it may, however, 

 our principle object in making use of the ex- 

 tract is to oiler a few remarks on the words 

 which we have underscored. 



Too little regard is paid almost everywhere 

 to local journals, and this is not much to be 

 be wondered at when they are publislied in 

 large folios, and would occupy much space 

 and be unwieldy to handle when bound to- 

 gether in volumes. But this is not the case 

 with The Farmer, the two outside leaves of 

 which can be removed, and one, two, tliree 

 or even four years (with title pages and in- 

 dices,) be bound together, making a compact 

 and easily consulted volume. 



The subscription price of The Farmer is 

 but one dollar a year ; the Proceedings of the 

 Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences is 

 an octavo of over .3.50 pages, with many f ull- 

 plate illusrations, and is /(/itr do/Za/'s a year. 

 This IS offered in exchange for The Farmer. 

 This is certainly complimentary to our jour- 

 nal, and illustrates a vast difference between 

 local and foreign appreciation. To illustrate 

 how time sometimes affects the value of local 

 publications, we may be allowed to quote a 

 case that came under our own observation. 

 In 1802 and 18013 a quarto was published here 

 in Lancaster, called 2Vic Hive, devoted to 

 miscellaneous literature. In 1870 Slo was 

 offered for the two volumes bound in one, but 

 the party owning it held it at $25. and rather 



*" Psyche" is the organ of tlie Camljridge Eiitomoloj^i- 

 col Olub. eulabllslied iu ls;4. A monthly bulletin of ento- 

 mological news, coiitftioiug among other things a biblio- 

 graphical record of all the eiitomologicul literature ijub- 

 lished throughout the world. Editei by George Dimmock, 

 B. Pinimnn Manu, A. J. Cook und C. C, Eatou, Cam- 

 bridge, Masa. 



than part with it took it back again to ludi- 

 aiiii, where tlio party resitles. In 1812, I. D. 

 Kupp publi.sluid a ''History of Lancaster 

 County,'- at #2. In 1872 we paid SO for it 

 for a friend in the City of Cincinnati, and 

 now the work is held at .$10. We iiiive an 

 imperfect volume of the "Pennsylvaniii Maga- 

 zine," (8 vo.) pul)lished in riiiladelpliia dur- 

 ing the Revolutionary War, a perfect copy of 

 which brought §200 at public sale in New 

 York within the present year. Of cour.se we 

 do nut presume to say tliat The Lancaster 

 Farmer will ever bring any such prices, but 

 we can .say this, that two years ago $20 was 

 offered for a complete set of them, ten vol- 

 umes, which is an advance of lUO per centum. 

 In conclusion, there is a vtist amount of 

 trashy literature thrown upon the market of 

 the country that does not inculcate a single 

 healthy moral principle, nor yet a practical 

 idea, and yet the sensuously inclinelined are 

 daily greedily devouring it with a morbid hun- 

 ger that is marvelous to behold. Take up 

 one of these papers (lull of pictures) and you 

 see nothing but the graceless illustrations of 

 sights and sounds (if such events ever oc- 

 curred at all) that must have had their sitirit- 

 ual origin in the lowest regions of the Plu- 

 tonian realm. Nothing but the evil, the sin- 

 ful, and the .sensuous are illustrated. If the 

 world is morally and intellectually progressing, 

 and we think it is, none of these publications 

 will be worth a "rush light" in live, ten or 

 twenty years hence, even if they survive so 

 long. Finally, patrons, save your Farmers 

 and have them bound, you never will be 

 ashamed to refer your children and your chil- 

 dren's children to their pages, with profit and 

 with pleasure, in the evening of life, when 

 your "head is blossoming for the grave." 

 ^ — ■ 



DURABILITY OF TIMBER. 

 If the reader will turn back to page 101 

 (.June number) of The Farmer, he will no- 

 tice an article commencing in the middle of 

 the second column on "Durable Fence Posts," 

 by A. B. G., relating to an experiment made 

 nearly sixty years ago, but the result of which 

 was never made manifest to him, he leaving 

 the district before the result of the experi- 

 ment was made known. The writer invites 

 a reply from some one in that district who 

 has or had a knowledge of the event. No 

 one has yet replied through the medium of 

 this journal, but as germain to the subject, 

 we offer the following extract.'^ which are 

 "going the rounds" of the agricultural press: 

 Making Timber Durable. 



" An easy and simple method of rendering 

 timber unusually durable, if not practictilly 

 indestructible, is of the greatest value to the 

 agricultural community. Fence posts, sills 

 of buildings, and other timber exposed to in- 

 fluences which cause rapid decay, last but a 

 few years luider ordinary circumstances. It 

 has long been known that lime is an effective 

 preservative, acting in this way by coagu- 

 lating the albumen in the cellular tissue of 

 the timber. An easy method of preparing the 

 timber has been applied practically by a 

 French mining engineer. A pit was made in 

 which the timber was placed ; quick lime was 

 scattered over it, and then slaked with water. 

 After being exposed a few days to the action 

 of the lime, the timber was removed and used 

 as supports for the roof of a mine. Where 

 unprepared timber lasted but two years, tliat 

 prepared in tliis way has been in use for sev- 

 eral years without the least appearance of 

 decay. This method of preservation com- 

 mends itself for its simplicity and cheapness 

 for farm use." 



The foregoing embraces substantially the 

 principles involved iu A. B. G. 's article ; and 



now it occurs to us that we have often no- 

 ticed similar statements on the same subject, 

 but they all lacked :i responsible verification. 

 It appetirs to us thtit tlie subject is of suffi- 

 cient importance to warrant an auttienticated 

 experiment for tlie benefit of the public. 

 Analogous to it here follows a voice "from 

 over the water :" 



Wood Posts. 



"The decay of wood embi!d(led|in the earth 

 is dillicult to guard against ; but, according 

 to the British Farmer''s Gazette, a simple pre- 

 caution, costing neither money nor labor, will 

 increa.se the durability of posts put in the 

 ground by fifty per cent. This is simply by 

 taking care that the wood is inverted — i. e., 

 placed in the opposite direction to that in 

 which it grew. E.xperiments have proved 

 that oak posts put in the ground in the same 

 position as that in which tliey grew, lop up- 

 wards. Were rotten in twelve years, while 

 their neighbors, cut from the same tree, and 

 placed top downwards in the soil, showed no 

 signs of decay for several years afterwards. 

 The theory is that the capillary tubes in the 

 t.ee are so adjusted as to oppose the rising 

 moisture when the wood is inverted." 



This plan seems to have more theory about 

 it th;in/a(<, and therefore we have a stronger 

 faith in the lime process ; simply because 

 everybody knows the preserving quality of 

 lime in whitewashing fences. On this subject 

 we may be ivllowed to remark that many peo- 

 ple defeat the eud of whitewashing by mak- 

 ing the mixture too thick, in which case it 

 soon falls off in large cakes, and does not 

 penetrate the tissues of the wood. Prelimi- 

 narily allied to the subject the following may 

 have a legitimate relation : 



Experience in Cutting Timber. 



It is asserted, and I have no doubt truly, 

 that the timber cut from the middle of June 

 to the middle of August lasts much longer, 

 especially when expo.sed to the weather, as 

 rails, or the end buried iu the ground like 

 posts. Still, if cut in the other mouths of the 

 year, the btirk peeled off and the timber laid 

 up on supports two feet or so from the ground, 

 and permitted to .season well before using it, 

 would the dilference of endurance be so 

 much ? Jilany years ago I liad white cedar 

 fence posts cut in the winter, and as soon as 

 the frost was out of the grouna in the spring, 

 set them. In from seven to eleven years the 

 ends which were in the ground had mostly 

 rotted, while the parts out of it kept sound. 

 I then took them out, and as the bark had 

 peeled off itself on the other end and the posts 

 were still long enough for the purpose, I re- 

 versed them and set these well-seasoned ends 

 in the ground. They have been thus used for 

 several years, and as yet I see no tendency to 

 rot, though I suppose they will not endure so 

 loiigas if the timber had lieen cut in the sum- 

 mer and then well seasoned before setting the 

 po.sts. Rails cut in the winter, though laid 

 up high and dry in a fence wiiere they can 

 season well, often rot rather rapidly.— Cor. of 

 N. y. Ti-ihune. 



The rot in timber is sometimes facilitated 

 by the depredations of wood-boring insects. 

 Their galleries are often penerated by moif- 

 ture, which is retained therein and consequent 

 decay communicated to the approximate 

 parts. If timber is cut before the wood-boring 

 insects deposit their eggs, and especially 

 such insects as are in the habit of ovipositing 

 on living trees, such timber will lie more 

 hkely to escape the ravages of insects thtin it 

 would be if cut after that period. There are 

 some people yet to be found who place more 

 confidence in certain zodiacal signs than they 

 do in precautions against insect incursions, 

 in short, some of the French chemists have 



