136 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[September, 



elusive of h3'drophobia in an individual suffer- 

 ing with convulsions. I saw an infant of six 

 weeks of age, some time ago. that for two 

 dajs before death uttered cries resembling the 

 bark of a dog. In the days of our grand- 

 fathers h3-drophobia was more believed in 

 than is the case to-day ; there is very good 

 reason to believe that many cases of profound 

 nervous disturljance were referred to hydro- 

 phobia wliich now would be better under- 

 stood. Upon this error in the diagnosis was, 

 possibly, founded the widespread fame of the 

 "Stoez's cure" specific for hydrophobia; 

 which the forepart of this century, and much 

 later, was believed in so contidentlj' that men 

 rode great distances on horseback to procure 

 it. Its use is^ by no means discontinued. A 

 party in Hanover, Pa., prepares the formula, 

 and at least three others in the United States, 

 one being in California. " Regulars " do not 

 recognize it as a valuable preparation. It is 

 used almost exclusively in domestic practice, 

 and may be by some doctors to allay anxiety 

 when a preventive is desired. Tlie Anagallis, 

 or " red chick-weed," is the plant in which 

 the virtues for the cure of madness are sup- 

 posed to reside. It is a pretty little plant, 

 sparingly found in dry tields, and sometimes 

 makes its appearauce in gardens, and in 

 Europe has the common name of " Shepherd's 

 Weather Glass," because the flowers open 

 quite uniformly at 8 o'clock in the morning 

 and close at 2 P. M. When the day opens 

 cloudy the buds drop off without opening. 



It has a reputation rather as an antidote 

 against bad consequences from the bitings of 

 mad dogs and wild beasts, of at least two 

 hundred years standing. 



Very good authority says it is inert, that it 

 has no active medical properties, by others it 

 is supposed to be a tonic and a nervine. — L. 

 D. Z., in Lancaster Intelligencer. 



THE CROPS— THE OUTLOOK OVER 

 THE COUNTRY. 



The following statement, showing the con- 

 dition of the cotton, corn, wheat and tobacco, 

 was issued by the Department of Agriculture : 



Department of Agriculture, August 

 16. — Cotton — The returns to this department 

 ment since August 1, shows an increase in 

 the condition of cotton since those returned 

 in July. The average condition for the whole 

 country is 102. The following are the reports 

 by States : 



Forty counties in North Carolina average 

 106. 



Twenty counties in South Carolina average 

 98. 



Eighty-four counties in Georgia average 98. 



Twelve counties in Florida average 96. 



Twenty-eight counties in Alabama average 

 99. 



Thirty-seven counties in Mississippi aver- 

 age 99. 



Fifteen counties in Louisiana average 99. 



Seventy counties in Texas average 110. 



Thirty-five counties in Tennessee average 

 107. 



Timely rains are reported in all sections, 

 rather too much in the States bordering on 

 the Mississippi river and Texas. 



The stand is good and some ten days eai'lier 

 than last year. Worms, rot and rust are men- 

 tion in every State, but no material damage 

 yet done. 



Corn — The general average of the corn crop 

 shows some decline since a month, and is for 

 Angust 1, 98 against 100 on July 1. As com- 

 pared with tlie condition reported on August 

 1, 1879, there is an increase of .5 percent. Of 

 1,243 counties reporting the crop of August 1, 

 355 report a full average, 488 report above, 

 and 400 report below. 



The New England, Middle and Atlantic 

 States as far south as North Carolina each 

 show a very high average. South Carolina, 

 Georgia and Alabama show the effect of 

 drouth. The whole Mississippi valley shows 

 an increase over last year, except Illinois and 

 Indiana, where there was too much rain early 

 in the season, followed by a severe drouth in 

 June and July, 



Spring wheat — The returns of August 1 

 show a condition of spring wheat of 88 against 

 81 last year. The weather during July was 

 favorable — more so than during the last two 

 years. In Minnesota the report is very high, 

 but in Iowa and Wisconsin it is not much 

 better than last year. The damage is at- 

 tributed to rust and chinch bugs. In Nebraska 

 and Kansas the early months were very dry, 

 and the rains which came were too late to re- 

 store the loss. California and Oregon report 

 the highest condition since several years. 



Tobacco — The general average of the whole 

 country is 86, and was in 1879, at the same 

 time, 77, and in 1878, 84. There has been no 

 change reported since a month, except a de- 

 cline in Maryland and Kentucky, owing to 

 drouth, and an increase in Virginia, owing to 

 favorable weather, of 7 per cent. 



THE PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING. 



The art of pruning is one of the simplest as 

 well as one of the most important operations 

 connected with horticulture. Yet it is one 

 that is frequently neglected, or ill-performed. 

 The principal objects of pruning are to induce 

 a vigorous and symmetrical growth, remove 

 superfluous wood, and promote fruitfulness. 



Whatever be the form of training adopted, 

 there are some general principles underlying all 

 pruning operations which should be observed 

 to some extent, though no precise rule can be 

 given for all cases. Briefly stated, these 

 principles are : When the growth of wood is 

 large and the tree or vine vigorous, more 

 wood .should generally be cut away than when 

 the tendency to the production of wood is 

 small. When there is a great tendency to 

 the production of both wood and fruit, prun- 

 ing of the wood and thinning of the fruit, or 

 both, may be necessary in order to produce 

 the best specimens. Shy bearing in trees is 

 sometimes treated with root pruning. When 

 an upright growth is desired, pruning of the 

 lateral growth is required, and when a 

 rounded," bushy growth is wanted, the main or 

 central stem and longest laterals should be 

 shortened in. 



To prune successfully requires taste and 

 good judgment, and much beauty and utility 

 can be given to the form of a tree by proper 

 pruning ; but too much or unskillful iiruning 

 may be done with scarcely less injurious re- 

 sults than those that follow the neglect of the 

 operation. Pruning at the wrong season, the 

 removal of very large branches, and the ne- 

 glect to prune, are responsible causes for the 

 irregular-headed and unshapely trees which 

 are found in far too many orchards. 



In order to have well-shaped heads on 

 trees, pruning and training should be com- 

 menced when the trees are quite young. 

 Many trees are trained with too low heads, 

 which much interfere with the work of culti- 

 vating an orchard. In garden culture, or for 

 ornamental specimen trees on the lawn, low- 

 headed, horizontally liranched trees are some- 

 times desirable ; but for orchard culture the 

 heads should be high enough to allow a con- 

 venient approach in cultivating. Removing 

 large limbs from trees is a practice much to 

 be deprecated ; but whenever necessary it 

 should be done very carefully, and at the 

 proper season, so that the wound will heal 

 rapidly and the tree suffer the least loss of 

 sap. The removal of large limbs also causes 

 ail unsightly trunk, making it rough, harder 

 to clean anil a more siicure harbor for insects, 

 moss, &c. 



When superfluous roots or branches are 

 removed in their incipient stages of growth, 

 no such effects are produced. Summer prun- 

 ing, or more properly nipping of the shoots as 

 they grow, can often be employed to advan- 

 tage, and whenever it can be it is far prefer- 

 able to pruning when the wood is dormant. 

 This method of pruning, if begun in season 

 while the tree is young, will cause an even 

 and symmetrical growth, which cannot be so 

 well attained when all the pruning is done 

 when the wood is dormant. Spring-set trees 

 are generally in need of thinning out of super- 

 fluous branches, shoots and buds of the same 



season's growth, which can be done better 

 early in the season than when the wood be- 

 comes dormant. Blackberry and raspberry 

 bushes can be rendered much more .shapely, 

 and of more substantial growth, by nipiiing 

 in the canes when about three feet high, than 

 by allowing them to spindle up ; in which 

 condition they are not as well fitted to carry a 

 crop of fruit, or withstand severe cold or 

 storms. — Examiner and Chronicle. 



LIME AS A FERTILIZER. 



For two or three generations, at least, the 

 land in Southeastern Pennsylvania has been 

 regarded as in need of lime to produce good 

 crops. On the best farms it has been used for 

 this period, and until lately it has been recog- 

 nized as an indispensable fertilizer for almost 

 every crop. It has been applied indiscrimi- 

 nately to all kinds of soil — clay, slate, .sandy 

 or limestone loams. For a considerable period 

 after its first application to the soil, its effects 

 were very marked. In western Chester county 

 and in the southern part of Lancaster county, 

 and the adjacent parts of Maryland, it has 

 been considered of so much importance as to 

 be worth hauling a long distance and at an 

 entire expense (including spreading) of About 

 forty cents per cents per bushel in" the latter 

 locality ; and it is easy to see that its eflects 

 were considered highly beneficial when an ap- 

 plication of 30 bushels per acre would cost 

 $12, and 50 bn.shels, which is a common ap- 

 plication, would cost $20 ; and this costly 

 manure was often used every time sod was 

 broken — that is at periods of 8 or 10 years. 



Like many other things in agriculture, the 

 best method of applying it has never been 

 settled, neither has it been demonstrated that 

 any soils require it at intervals, every 8 or 10 

 years indiscriminately. Practical experiment 

 is left to solve this, as it has most other prob- 

 lems concerning the soil and the needs of the 

 farmer. 



In regard to the theory of lime acting upon 

 the soil we are also left very much in the dark 

 by scientific men. By Leibig and many other 

 writers it is designated as a manure, while 

 many regard it simply as a stimulant to the 

 soil, merely decomposing the elements of plant 

 food and assisting in assimilating them. Per- 

 haps, in justice, it is both. That it is found 

 in most of the farinaceous grains, the deduc- 

 tions of chemistry abundantly prove, and 

 that it performs tlie oflBce of decomposition is 

 also sufficiently well attested. If it enter, 

 into the composition of grain, say wheat for 

 instance, the quantity of lime in a product of 

 25 bushels per acre is quite small ; a bushel 

 per acre would supply this small requirement 

 for a long series of years; but if we consider 

 lime as performing the office of decomposing 

 plant food, then certainly a larger quantity 

 would be necessary ; but the demands of 

 nature though pretty constant would not re- 

 quire that liberal and extravagant application 

 that many farmers apply. It is not by any 

 means a universal plant food ; it alone, un- 

 aided, will not make iwor soil rich, nor raise 

 heavy crops from sterile land. 



Within the last few years the effects of 

 lime have not been of so marked a character 

 upon lands that have been plentifully limed 

 for a series of years, as was tlie case at its 

 first introduction. On many farms in this 

 locality where 100 bushels of lime per acre 

 have been applied within the last 30 or 40 

 years, now no appreciable increase of produce 

 is found to result from its further application. 

 Strips limed across a field and spots here and 

 there over a field show no larger yield than 

 other parts of the field not so treated. In 

 fact it is now as common to experiment with 

 lime to see if it does any good as it was 

 formerly to find out how much it did. It is 

 true th.'it some soils have a certain quantity 

 of lime in them, while in others there seems 

 to be little if any ; it is therefore obvious that 

 to the last mentioned it is indispensable, a 

 small portion at least. A great many farmers 

 have discarded its use altogether, and they 

 find other fertilizers much more effective and 

 profitable. The lesson taught by these facts 



