164 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 



tion. As the composition of the air as it 

 enters the chamber can be easily a?certainccl, 

 all the (lata for an exact experinuTit are ob- 

 tainable. In this respiiation chamber the 

 animal to be expfvimonteJ on is placed, re- 

 ceivini; at the same time a diet of known 

 composition. Thus everytliin<; that the ani- 

 mal takes into its system, either in the form 

 of food or from the air, as well as that which 

 leaves the animal as excrement, is known, 

 and the diOerences, therefore, between these 

 and the constituents retained in the body can 

 be readily ascertained. By this iiainstakinu; 

 and tlioroncfb method of investigation many 

 important facts have been broui^ht to lijiht. 

 Thus it has been shown that the fat of animals 

 is formed from the albumoids contained in the 

 food, and not, as has been heretofore sup- 

 posed, exclusively from sugar, starch ai d 

 other carbo-hydrates. Another fact estab- 

 lished is that oxygen is stored up in the system 

 during sleep and evolved as carbonic acid 

 during waking hours. Another thing we 

 noticed," says'the editor aforesaid, " was the 

 uniformity in their method ot analyzing 

 manures. In our own country (England) 

 different chemists employ different methods 

 of analysis, which are of various degrees of 

 accuracy. Discrepancies in analyses of ma- 

 nures are thus of frequent occurrence, to the 

 great annoyance of the public, while in Ger- 

 many the same method of analysis is used at 

 all the stations, so far as we made inquiry."— 

 Baltimore Sim. 



SAVING SEEDS. 



There is no general rule to be laid down in 

 the managemet of seeds ; but the details must 

 be learned by experience, as each variety re- 

 quires a special treatment. "When I first began 

 in the seed business I wasted a great deal of 

 precious time, from not knowing how to man- 

 age. For example, we saved our petunia and 

 portulacca seeds by picking a solid pod at a 

 time, with thumb and finger, and I paid fif- 

 teen dollars for ounces of choice petunia in 

 this way. Now I grow the same seed at a 

 profit at five dollars a pound. 



The pansy belongs to the class of plants 

 which scatter their own seeds ; and, to save 

 the seeds, they must be gathered quite green, 

 for as soon as the pods turn yellow they burst 

 open and throw the seeds quite a distance. A 

 single row will seed a strip nearly ten feet 

 wide, and, as they are hardy, they will come 

 up in autumn, live over winter, and blossom 

 early in the spring Phlox is another of the 

 plants that throws its seed by the bursting of 

 the ))ods ; and, after many experiments, I 

 have ado|)ted the rule of watching, and when 

 there is a fair amount of ripe seed I pull it 

 up by the roots and spread it on a large sheet 

 in a warm garret. In this way, with but lit- 

 tle trouble and expense, we save a part of the 

 crop, and find it much better to plant more 

 land than to try to save all the seed by re- 

 peated hand-picking. 



Petunia and portulacca we manage in the 

 same way. except tliat we cut the portulacca 

 and let it grow up for a second crop. Ver- 

 benas must be hand-i)icked, going over the 

 beds twice a week for several weeks. Its seeds 

 grow on long stems, something like wheat- 

 heads, and the seed at the base is ripe and 

 beginning to waste before those at the point 

 are fairly formed, so that we save only a part 

 of the seed. There are other varieties of seed 

 which belong to the "wind-dispersed" family, 

 which come out, like the dandelion, with a 

 feathery attachment, on which they will be 

 wafted away, if neglected, and these must be 

 gathered every day. The cacallio and some 

 of the everlastings are among flowers, and 

 the .salsify among vegetables. The size of a 

 plant is no index of the size or shape of the 

 seed, and it is a curious study to compare the 

 seeds of dift'erent plants. A large, coarse 

 plant will often have a seed as fine and deli- 

 cate as sifted taud ; and a small, delicate 

 plant, at its side, coarse, large seed. For ex- 

 ample, the foxglove, a plant often grovving 

 five feet high, 'with large leaves and great 

 spikes of flowers, has a sted so small that a 



single one can scarcely be discerned by the 

 naked eve : while the nasturtium, a delicate 

 vine, has a seed resembling a half-grown 

 nutmeg. 



Among the trees we find the same contrast, 

 tlie seed' of the catalpa being lighter than 

 parsnip seed, while all are familiar with the 

 large burr oak and black walnut. Again, 

 some seeds are almost as hard as pebbles — 

 for example, the honey locust and cofi"ee-nut. 

 In handling our ordinary vegetable seeds a 

 good deal of knowledge is required. The 

 cucumber, tomatoes, and some others must 

 stand in their juice and .sour before they can 

 be cleaned, so as to present a bright and 

 handsome appearance ; and each variety must 

 have its own peculiar treatment, which the 

 .seedsman learns by long experience. I have 

 had three hundred bushels of ripe cucumbers 

 in a pile ; and to cut them, if one did not 

 know how, would be both a serious and dan- 

 gerous matter, for the liquid contents of a 

 ripe cucumber are like the white of an egg 

 and as slippery as an eel. But with a slopping- 

 spout securely fixed to an open barrel and a 

 small, sharji knife-blade stuck an inch and a 

 half through from below, the operator has 

 the use of both hands and can quickly and 

 safely open his cucumbers. 



When it comes to saving pepper seed, we 

 put a half bushel or so in a barrel and chop 

 them with a spade, until with water we can 

 wash out all the pepper and leave the seed at 

 the bottom. Some varieties of seed— such as 

 beet, parsnip and carrot— are threshed by a 

 machine. I have seen 2,000 bushels of a 

 single variety of beet in a pile on the floor of 

 one'of the large curing-houses. Perhaps few 

 of our readers have ever thought what an im- 

 mense business the seed trade of the United 

 States is ; but when we remember that, out- 

 side of our large cities, every family uses 

 more or less seeds, it will be seen that the 

 aggregate of the business is enormous. If I 

 could have a monopoly of the trade of a single 

 State in one variety of seed alone— such as 

 radish, beet, or lettuce— at .5 cents per paper, 

 it would enable me to spend a summer in 

 Europe. Every seedman is ambitious to im- 

 prove old or to establish hew varieties of 

 vegetables ; and there is, perhaps, no business 

 carried on in which greater pains is taken to 

 improve. Some varieties of .seed retain their 

 vitality for many years, while others are 

 worthless the second year, and constant care 

 and watchtulnessare necessary to see that the 

 seeds sold are fresh and true to name. — Ohio 

 Farmer. 



FARM ANU GARDEN NOTES. 

 Mr. Peter Henderson, of New York State, 

 states in the Gardener'.'; MoiHhhj that he has 

 discovered that mulching roses in pots to 

 force flowers for the hiilidays, in January 

 last, with common moss mixed with a good 

 portion of bone dust, say one part bone dust 

 to thirty of moss, has a wonderful effect in 

 bringing forth early roses. In two weeks 

 after the mulch was first applied a change 

 was clearly to he seen, and by the end of May 

 the plants" had attained from four to six feet 

 in height, " and though they had bloomed 

 profusely during a period of nearly six months, 

 they were in the most perfect health and 

 vigor." All other plants on which the mulch 

 had been tried showed marked benefits. 



We should be thankful for some reliable 

 information about the pink water lily, which 

 it is claimed will grow nowhere else than in 

 the neighborhood of Cape Cod. Cannot some 

 of our Boston contemporaries t^ll us some- 

 thing about it V We have heard a great deal 

 about their exdusivcncss, but we don't believe 

 it. 



In England black walnut is in large de- 

 mand, and agents of English manufacturers 

 have lately been visiting Iowa, Indiana and 

 Missouri for the purpose of buying all they 

 could obtain. About twenty-tive years ago 

 this wood was so little appreciated in the 

 Western States that it was cut up with com- 

 mon woods into posts and rails for fencing 

 purposes, and much was thus used. There is 



but little danger, however, of the supply be- 

 coming exhausted, as there are vast forests of 

 it in some of the Southern States. 



Some horses possess an immense amount of 

 endurance. No doubt many of the ills that 

 horseflesh is heir to are more frequently pro- 

 duced by over-feeding than from an insuffi- 

 ciency of food. An evidence of long-continued 

 service are a pair of horses owned by Joseph 

 Fensterraacher, of Toi)t ai, Berks county. Pa., 

 which have been used in ore teams for eighteen 

 years, and are still serviceable. 



An immense quantity of tomatoes and other 

 vegetables has been canned in New Jersey 

 this season. At Campbell's canning estab- 

 lishment, Camden, as many as 300,000 cans 

 of tomatoes and peas were thus [lut up during 

 the past three months. Two hundred hands 

 Were employed to do the work. The demand 

 for these goods is largely from the South. 



The crops from Canada are reported this 

 vear to be satisfactory. While the yield of 

 wheat is not so heavy as last year ; other 

 crops, particularly barley, oats, hay, roots and 

 fruit were heavy. The potato crop of Prince 

 Edward Island gives a generous return, and 

 altogether the farmers of the Dominion are 

 better situated pecuniarily than they were a 

 year or two ago. 



The hop crop of New York St^te turns out 

 to be a very superior one, enough not only to 

 supply all over our consumption, but to have 

 several thousand bales to spare. This is 

 good news. Some years the crop is almost 

 an entire failure, entailing great loss on the 

 cultivators. Cooperstown seems to be about 

 the headquarters of the croi) of New York. 



The Pacific liural Life says that thorough- 

 bred stock in considerable numbers has been 

 sent to Asia, the Sandwich Islands and 

 Mexico, from California. Shorthorns and Jer- 

 seys are favorite breeds in that State. In 

 raising horses much progress is now being 

 made, and many superior animals have been 

 bred there within a few years. 



No family in China is said to be too poor to 

 keep poultry. About every shanty struts a 

 pert cock and a few hungry hens, which lead 

 a precarious existence and never become 

 diseased from over-feeding. During winter 

 they get barely enough food to sustain life. 



The late arrival of two American steamers 

 at Revel, Russia, created a decided sensation 

 in that country. Owing to the high road 

 charges grain is said to be imported from this 

 country cheaper than it can be sliippe<l from 

 some of the agricultural districts of Russia to 

 tlie seaboard. 



Owing to the heavy apple crop the ship- 

 ments of foreign ports this season promise to 

 far exceed those of any former year. The 

 other day a steamer took from Boston 10,(573 

 barrels, one of tlie largest cargoes of the kind 

 ever shipped from an American port. 



BARRELS MADE FROM PULP. 

 Barrels made of pulp are among the latest 

 inventions, and, as described by the Detroit 

 Trilmiir. they are likely to become an impor- 

 tant article of commerce. The advantages 

 claimed arc lightness, durability and cheap- 

 ness. The body of the barrel is all made in 

 one piece from coarse wood pulp. The pres- 

 sure to which it is subiected is 400 tons. The 

 heads are made of one piece in the same way, 

 and when i)nt together the barrels are exceed- 

 ing light, strong and satisfactory in every 

 way. There are two kinds, one for fruit, 

 flour and other dry substances, the other for 

 oil, lard and liquids of all kinds. A flour 

 barrel made in this way and filled can be 

 dropped from a wagon to the pavement with- 

 out injury. Fruit packed in these recepta-les 

 keeps longer than when put in the usual wa}', 

 being drier anil excluded from the air. The 

 barrels for liquid substances are made by sub- 

 jecting the first form to a simple process, and 

 oil can be kept in tliem without any leakage. 

 The saving in cost is about 50 per cent. Steps 

 are being taken for the formation of a com- 

 pany to manufacture barrels, tubs, etc., by 

 this new process. 



