1880 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



-153 



bedding it will serve well for liaiiUing build- 

 ings, and nnless manure is rcfiuiied, is 

 superior lor winter niuleliing, being porous 

 and thus resisting the I'rost.- In tlie spring it 

 may be worked into the siiil with advantage. 

 For a stable absorVient only the best time to 

 secure it in tlie best condition is before the 

 leaves drop, when it will be dry and powdery, 

 and mix a(lmirably witli the urine ami the 

 dung of the stable, making a "short" manure, 

 light and pleasant to handle, and all fertiliz- 

 ing properties of the stable arc secured, which 

 is saving one-half to three-fourths on the old, 

 careless practice. 



Where swampy land is to be reclaimed the 

 muck may be used with profit in the stables, 

 though it is not so dry, and consequently not 

 so good an absorbant as leaf mould ; neither 

 is it as rich in fertilizing material. Where 

 clover is raised for seed an excellent absorb- 

 ent is at hand in the chaff. It is dry, and, 

 therefore, of a superior value. So witli the 

 chalV of the grains. There is some feeding 

 value in tliis, and also some dust, which 

 makes it objectiouiible as a feed, both of 

 which add to the value of the manure. We 

 thus have one of the very best of stable ab- 

 sorbents at baud ready for use. Sawdust when 

 dry and cheaply obtained, is a good absorbent, 

 though of little manurial value. It serves 

 well to lighten up clay and give texture to 

 sand. 



These materials are all fine, making a short 

 manure, which can be applied as easily as so 

 much earth, is readily mixed with the surface 

 soil, and may be drawn and applied at any 

 time. Extensively and properly used, they 

 ■would revolutionize the manure department 

 of the farm, making the stables and the sur- 

 rounding of the barn clean and odorless— the 

 manure clean and light to handle — not the 

 objectionable, water-soaked article which has 

 so long been a dread and a nuisance, and 

 which is still to a great extent in use. The 

 absorbents themselves' contain some fertility ; 

 they are of more benefit as correctors of the 

 texture of the soil, but their chief value is in 

 what they save of the manure — never less 

 than one-half, and nearer three-fourths. The 

 principal leak of the ftirm is at the barn, and 

 the remedy is the use of fine, dry absorbents. 



LIGHT UPON LIGHT. 



Early in the century people found tlie day 

 almost long enough, the firelight sufficing 

 fairly for such employments as engaged the 

 evening, and the pine knot served as holpei' 

 to many a boy in picking his way througli 

 such simple education as tlie scanty volumes 

 then procurable attbrded. The candle, how- 

 ever, is almost as old as the rushlight, and 

 even the Romans (and yet earlier nations) 

 had oil lamps. The "tallow dip"— the mak- 

 ing of it by successive dippings, the process of 

 enlargement growing faster as it progressed, 

 on the principle familiar to every boy that 

 ever rolled a snow ball, and its spluttering 

 light — are among the recollections of most of 

 us. Then came the oil lanip (or what was 

 used with it), noisome, tedious and unsatis- 

 factory. Then the "tluid," as it was called, 

 which was neither greasy nor slow in action 

 (sometimes much too rapid), but was scarcely 

 less unsatisfactory. Then came the discovery 

 of kerosene — which might be called coal in a 

 fluid form — the first artificial well having 

 been sunk just twenty-one years ago. The 

 annual production of this is now some 15,- 

 000,000 barrels. In the ten years from 1S70 

 to 1S70 to 1879, 1,-'J08, 000,000 gallons of illu- 

 minating oil alone, valued at $.'578,000,000, 

 were exported. Reckoning liy value, cotton 

 stands at the head of.onr export commodities; 

 bread and breadstuffs stands second, for 1879 

 was the first year when the value of their 

 total exports outranked cotton; provisions — 

 covering hog products, cheese, butter, pre- 

 served meats, &c. — stand third, and petro- 

 leum is fourth, thus easily ranking as one of 

 the great staples. It is estimated that the 

 txport of petroleum is about two-thirds of the 

 total, a larger proportion of it than of any 

 other article except cotton thus being sent 



abroad. The average value per gallon of the 

 refined illuminating oil exported was ~>'i cents 

 in 1804, 7:5 in 18(15, 30 in 1870, 21 in 1873, 17 

 in 1874, 14 in 187(5, and 11 in 1879. The ex- 

 traordiiuiry cheajxiess of the article is thus 

 most forcibly shown, and this clieai)ne.ss is 

 the result of its unparallelled abiuidance an<l 

 the trivial cost of getting it; were all the gifts 

 of nature as nearly true gifts by the Iwunti- 

 fulness and spontaneity of their yield, wc 

 sho((ld have time to grow lazy and this coun- 

 try would be the promised land to all who 

 were not too lazy to come to it. The whale 

 fishery of the United States, which in 18,58 

 employed a tonnage of 198,500— the largest 

 in any year — has shrunk until it employs less 

 than 5(),()00 tons. This looks like giving the 

 whales a rest, all the world over, and .Jules 

 Verne might have written for us a veracious 

 account of the di.scovery of petroleum by a 

 whale of extraordinary age, wisdom, rellec- 

 tiveness and benevolence; yet the price of 

 crude whale oil has advanced only 5 cents per 

 gallon, comparing 1800 with 1880, and that 

 of crude s])erm lias declined from .$1.40 in 

 1800 to iSl.Oo in 1880. We may ascribe this 

 to the peaceful increase of the whale tribe in 

 consequence of the discovery just hinted, or 

 to the comparative ease of catching them, or 

 to the enormous decrease in demand. For 

 even for lubricating purposes the products of 

 petroleum have largely taken the place of 



animal oils. 



^ 



SEVERELY DRY TIMES. 

 An interesting record is that of severe 

 droughts, as far back as the landing of the 

 Pilgrims. How many thousand times are 

 observations m.ade like the following : "Such 

 a cold season !" "Such a hot season !" "Such 

 dry weather!" or "Such wet weather!" 

 "Such high winds or calms," etc. Read the 

 following list, showing number of days with- 

 out rain : 



In the summer of 1621, 24 Jays. 



In the summer of 1630, 41 days. 



In the summer of 1657, 7.5 days. 



In the summer of 166'-i, 80 days. 



In the summer of 1674, 45 days. 



In the summer of 1688, 81 days. 



In the summer of 1694, 6. days. 



In the summer of 1705. 40 days. 



In the summer of 1715, 4i! days. 



In the summer of 1728, 61 days. 



In the summer of 17.10, 92 d.ays. 



In the summer of 1741, 72 days. 



In the summer of 1749, 108 days. 



In the summer of l".^, 42 daj's. 



In the summer of 1762, 12" days. 



In the summer of 1773, SO days. 



In the summer of 1791, 82 days. 



In the summer of 1813, 28 days. 



In the summer of 18.56, 24 days. 



In the summer of 1871, 43 d,iys. 



In tlie summer of 1875, 2<i days. 



In the summer of 1876, 2S diiys. 



It will be seen tjiat the longest drough that 

 ever occurred in America was in the sumnier 

 of 1702. No raiu fell from the 1st of May to 

 the 1st of September. Many of the inhabi- 

 tants sent to England tor hay and grain. 



THE WILLOWS AT ST. HELENA. 

 The willow which overshadows the first 

 Bonaparte's grave is the second planted since 

 the interment of the Emperor, and is 2() years 

 old. Willows at St. Helena, it would appear, 

 rarely attain a greater longevity than .30 

 years, and shoots are carefully preserved for 

 planting. The ex-Empress Eugenie brought 

 away some young shoots and a few violet and 

 geranium plants from the tomb, some for 

 presentation to her Majesty the (Jueen, and 

 some call herself and her friends. This tloral 

 cidtus has been going on for nearly 00 years. 

 Writing to Lord Bathurst, immediately after 

 the interment of Napoleon, Sir Hudson Lowe 

 said: "I shall cause a railing to be put 

 around the whole of the ground, it being nec- 

 essary even for the preseiTatiou of the wil- 

 lows, many sprigs of which have already be- 

 gun to be taken by different individuids who 

 went down to visit the place after the fiuie- 

 ral." This is the incident which, as Mr. For- 

 syth has well pointed out, was afterward so 



lu<licrously yet so malevolently distorted by 

 Autominarchi, who de„scribed Sir Hudson 

 ]/0W(^ as turning pale and foaming at the 

 nioutli with rage, when he witnessed this 

 "sponlaneous manifestation of feeling." 

 "Hudson," as the Italian surgeon styled Sir 

 Hudson Low(\ endeavored to cheek the 

 "manifestation of feeling" by "anger and 

 threats," but the guilty were numerous, and 

 of all classes of people, and he co\dd not, 

 therefore, |)unisb. When a new History of 

 Political Lying comes to be written (and is 

 not the time almost ripe; for such a publica- 

 tionV) a special volume should be devoted to 

 the various narratives of the captivity of Na- 

 poleon I. — Pall Mall Gazelle. 



TOBACCO. 



''Nameloc" on the Pennsylvania Crop. 

 A correspondent ot the Philadelphia Ledger 

 Nameloc writes from this city under date of 

 September 15 : 



Twenty-live years ago tlie tobacco grown in 

 Pennsylvania did not perhaps amount to more 

 than 1009 ca.ses of 400 pounds each, and lu'arly 

 all of this was the products of farms in Lan- 

 caster county. This tobacco did not meet the 

 demand of the manufacturers of cheap cigars 

 in Lancaster, and the (luautity needed was 

 brought from Kentucky. There is now grown 

 in the State over 100,000 cases, of which 

 Lancaster county this year claims at least 

 45,000. 



The farmers during the past six weekshave 

 been gathering their crops, and so far the 

 weather has been (piite favorable. The to- 

 bacco, or that cut some four or six weeks ago, 

 has proved to be the best, as it escaped the 

 ravages of the minute fiea, or beetle, which 

 has greatly damaged the tobacco cut a week 

 ago and still standing in the field. This Ilea 

 cuts small holes in the leaf, which greatly de- 

 preciates its value for wrappers, and there- 

 fore depreciates the price. 



Whilst many more acres have been jilanted 

 in tobacco this year than in 1879, the value of 

 the crop will not be proportionately increased 

 in consequence of the ravages of fleas, worms 

 and other enemies of the "weed" but still 

 there will be in most cases a very fair profit to 

 the grower. The crop in the State last year 

 amounted to 80,090 cases, which, it is esti- 

 mated will yield about S5.000,(;00; the exact 

 amount is not yet known, as the tobacco has 

 just been inspecte(l and now on sale. The 

 crop for this'year has been estimated by those 

 who have given the subject close attention as 

 follows : Bucks county, .5000 cases; Delaware, 

 .500 do.; Montiromery, 1.509 do.; Chester, 7000 

 do.; Berks. 2.500 do.; Lancaster, 40,000 do.; 

 York, 18,0(10 do.; L(!banon, .5000 do.; Dau- 

 iiliin. 21100 do.; Uumberland, 30011 do.; Frank- 

 lin, 1000do.;.Iuniata, 1090 do.; Mifflin. 1000 

 do. ; Nortbunib.-rland, 3000 do. ; Chester, 10,- 

 00(1 do. ; Tioga, 3900 do. ; Westmoreland, 300 

 do. ; Philadelphia County, 1090 do.; miscel- 

 laneous, 1900 do.; making a total of 103,800 

 cases of 400 pounds each. This tobacco has 

 been grown in patches from a half acre in ex- 

 tent to fields of sixty acres, and in most ca.ses 

 yielding from 1300 to 2000, and in some in- 

 stances as high as 2400 pounds to the acre 

 and realizing, on an average, thirteen cents 

 per pound. 



As a matter of interest, as well as to .show 

 the importance of the great industry, we give 

 the following statement of the tobacco grown 

 in the State for the several years past : In 1871 

 there were gathered 33,392 pounds, in 1872, 

 the croi> increased to 14,7.50,009 do.; in 1873, 

 to 15,000,000, while in 1874 it fell of to 10,- 

 .509,009. In 1875 there was an increase, and 

 10,000,090 jioniids were gathered, while in 

 187(; only 13,200,000, but in 1877 there was a 

 more general planting, jiarticularly in this 

 comity, and the result was that 20,000,0()0 

 were harvested, which was again increased in 

 1878 to 22,800,090, and .again in 1879, to 31,- 

 000,000 pounds, the largest, as well as about 

 the best tobacco yet grown. 



The present crop while the largest, amount- 

 ing as we have said to 40,000,000 pounds, will 



