The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. EATHVON, Editor. 



'LANCASTER, PA., DECEMBER, -1880. 



Vol. XII. No. 12. 



OUR HOLIDAY GREETINGS. 

 Tliis miiubor ctmcludes tlie twt'U'Ui voliune 

 of TiiK Lancasteu Fakmisu — coveriiif; a 

 period of nine yv(it» longer than anj' oilier 

 distinctly agricullural journal that h.as ever 

 existed in Lancaster county— and with such 

 a momentum, in regard to time, it ought to 

 have acquired a vigor that would bo sutlicient 

 to carry it forward to A. D. 11)00 at least ; 

 and that it may do so and gain a place at 

 every fanner's tire.side of the county and the 

 Stale, has been our cherished desire, simply 

 because we believe it oxiyht to be there. We 

 feel gratified that its existbiue has not been 

 merely ephenicral, and that for ten years or 

 more it has been recognized all over our land, 

 and also beyond the seas, as the agricullural 

 representative of one of the most noted agii- 

 cultural districts in the Union. It is true it 

 has not come up to t.ie standard we raised for 

 it six years ago — when it was changed from 

 an 8vo. to a 4to. — but this has been purely 

 owing to a want of pecuniary support. Some 

 of the most intelligent and practical literary 

 minds in the country are of opinion that it 

 ought to receive that support ; perhaps not so 

 much from its intrinsic value, as from the fact 

 that it is th« offspring of an agricultural 

 mother, who has children scattered over the 

 whole Union — and especially in the western 

 portion of it — in whose bosoms are still burn- 

 ing, and on whose memories are ineffaceably 

 impressed the loves and the scenes of the old 

 homesteads. In these greetings we do not 

 intend to descant on the future, leaving the 

 future — as we always have done — take care of 

 itself, but refer mainly to the present ; and a 

 liberal and honest realization of the present 

 involves no special anxieties about the future, 

 or regrets about the past. 



Under all the circumstances, fortu- 

 nate or adverse, the farmers of our 

 county and our State have been signal- 

 ly blessed during the year that is now rapidly 

 drawing to a close ; and, under God, no class 

 of men deserve such a blessing more ; and 

 that is not saying too much, when we reflect 

 that if it were not for earth's agricultural 

 products we might as well all be "in the deep 

 bosom of the ocean buried." But this con- 

 ceded worth, none the less enjoins the moral 

 maxim, "Freely ye have received, freely 

 give," the birth of the author of which you 

 will soon be commemorating as a specific 

 Christian holiday. In your givings also in- 

 clude /orgivings, and in your gettings, /or- 

 gettings, except such forgeltinys as might 

 compel the Farmer to forego its kindly 

 wishes for your 

 Merry CHRisxiiAS and Happy New Tear. 



OUR CONTRIBUTORS, 



Our venerable friend, J. B. G. (may heaven 

 long preserve him) whose article on "Tobacco 

 Stems vs. Fruit Trees," appears in another 

 column in this number of The Farmer, in a 

 private note to us is pleased to say : " I think 

 you ought to call, or request your subscribers 

 or readers, to more frequently contribute 

 original articles for The Farmer. It would 

 make it more interesting than selected arti- 

 cles—even controversies on any appropriate 

 subject, if not personal, interests the reader. 

 Even a discussion on "Bees and Grapes," or 

 a "Moon Hoax," would be better than so 

 much second-hand matter." 



To all of which, with very little qualifica- 

 tion, we say amen. If we have not heretofore 

 on various occasions, both publicly and pri- 

 vately, called, requested, and even importuned, 

 our subscribers and readers to write for The 

 Farmer, then let the words of our friend 

 above quoted, be and remain such a standing 

 call. Ever since our connection with this 



journal, we have been doing this same thing, 

 and have gone so far as to make the distinct 

 statement, that those who have thoughts, but 

 are unable to preparer them lor the public, we 

 would cheerfully put them in such a form as 

 would not be discreditable to either them or 

 our journal. Of course, in our i)rcsent finan- 

 cial condition, we can't afford any pecuniary 

 compensation for such contributions — if we 

 could we chem-fully would. It is not because 

 our people have not light — practical, experi- 

 mental light— that they do not write for TilK 

 Fakmek^ Xo conuuunity could have attained 

 to the dimensions, the agricultural skill, the 

 wealth, and the social position of Lancaster 

 county, without light ; but our tanners do not 

 seem to realize the Divine injunction : '■'■Freehj 

 ye have received, freely yu't. " They hide their 

 light under a bushel. This may be from a 

 want of confidence, from disabilitj', diffidence 

 or timidity ; but, on the other hand, it may 

 also be from indifference, apathy, indolence o"r 

 selfishness. We feel that they do not realize 

 as they ought, that the whole of life is a 

 school — even from the cradle to the grave — 

 and that while we are in the eflbrt to edify 

 and instruct others, we are edifying and in- 

 structing ourselves. No citizen of Lancaster 

 county need be ashamed to write for The 

 Farmer, or to have his thoughts reflected 

 through its columns. The Farmer is known 

 and read flir beyond the local sphere of its 

 home patrons, and in many places in our 

 broad land, Lancaster county is better known 

 through the medium of its literary publica- 

 tions than through any other soiu'ce. If The 

 Farmer is not what the citizens of Lancas- 

 ter county think it ought to be, it is because 

 they have not made it so. Its main object is 

 to be a reflex of the agricultural thought of 

 the county, but if its citizens withhold that 

 thought, it incidentally is a reflection upon 

 themselves. In mechanical execution and 

 general "makeup," the Lancaster Farmer 

 is the peer of any agricultural journal in the 

 land, and if it lacks in original local litera- 

 ture, the fault is neither in its editor nor its 

 publisher. We would cheerfully "crowd out" 

 all of our selected matter, if we could replace 

 it with original contributions, but the task 

 would be too herculean for us to write the 

 whole paper. There is, perhaps, not a single 

 county of the same prominence in the Union, 

 that does not contribute more to its local agri- 

 cultural literature than our county, whatever 

 importance may be attached to that fact. 



THANKS. 

 We return our sincere thanks to our corre- 

 spondents and contributors for their literary 

 favors during the year 1880. (We believe all 

 our former accounts of this kind have been 

 settled) and we are just as thankful for one, 

 as if there were a Inmdred, and don't feel any 

 more exhausted in doing so. Still, if there 

 are any who think this too much, we are quite 

 willing to take back the excess in "buck- 

 wheat cakes and sausages." Like the im- 

 portunate politician, we are thankful for any 

 favor, from a Foreign Mission down to a pair 

 of second-handed "briches ;" and we mention 

 this here, for the eucouragment of correspond- 

 ents and contributors per se. From the lit- 

 erary and intellectual status of Lancaster 

 county, we feel quite certain that there must 

 be legions of this class, who only need eu- 

 couragment to induce them to put in an ap- 

 pearance. 



^ 



COMPLIMENTARY. 



In a private business communication from 

 the veteran editor of the Germnntomn Tele- 

 graph — the oldest and best publication, within 

 the sphere of its specialties, on the continent 



of North America — he is pleased to sjieak 

 thus appreciatingly of tlie Lancaster Far- 

 mer : 



"Such a periodical, in such a grand agri- 

 cultural region, should recfive not merely a 

 paying su|i|iort, but it should be realizing a 

 solid income of such i)roi)ortions as would 

 redound, not only to your own handsome 

 emolument, but be creditable to the intelli- 

 gence and appreciation of your great county 

 and the commonwealth." — Very trulq your 

 friend, P. li. Freas, November 2.i, I88O! 



We are truly grateful for such a Thanks- 

 giving greeting from such a source, and sin- 

 cerely wish that about ten thousand within the 

 county, or the commonwealth, could be 

 brought to jiractically resjiond to such a senti- 

 ment. Although we have all along been 

 largely sustained by the philosophy involved 

 in the old negro's invocation : 



" Blessed am dcm what doesn't expect nuffen, 



Kase dey'Il iiehber be disappinted." 



Still, we must confess, now as we are grow- 

 ing old, that something more than the gratiB- 

 cation of seeing an agricultural journal sus- 

 tained in Lancaster county, would not have 

 come amiss. It is true, we are but a single 

 grain in the vast sandhill of humanity, yet the 

 smallest and most insignificant grain is com- 

 po.sed of parts — it has length, and breadth, 

 and depth — and those parts are functionally 

 sustained by the attraction of cohesion — they 

 are supported by chemical elements outside of 

 themselves— drawn from the great reservoir 

 of nature, or they disintegrate, or dissipate 

 into "airy nothing." 



AVe opine it may be a long time yet before 

 the people of Lancaster county apprehend, 

 appreciatingly, what they should have done 

 in their relations to the Farmer — not in our 

 time, perhaps — perhaps not in this generation. 

 We do not regret that we have devoted 

 twelve years of our life in attenqiting to build 

 up an agricultural journal in our county, be- 

 cause we believe from her position in the 

 commonwealth, and her claims to distinction, 

 she needs and ought to sustain such a journal. 

 We may not be the proper person to conduct 

 it, but our connection with it is not of our 

 own seeking. We passively permitted the 

 editorial mantle to be thrown upon our shoul- 

 ders, and being there, we could not disappoint 

 our friends by stepping from under it until it 

 could tie more ably sustained. AVhaterer may 

 transpire we have the consciousness of having, 

 at least, attempted to discharge a pleasant 

 dut}', and if (his and the good wishes of our 

 cotomporaries is all the compensation we 

 deserve, surely we ought to be content. 



POULTRY EXHIBITION. 



Of couree, our reiiders will not need us to 

 remind them of the approaching "Chicken 

 Show" of the Liucaster County Poultry 

 Association, in Roberts' Hall, Prince street, 

 opposite the Fulton Opera House ; and, that 

 everything indicates the handsomest display 

 of "chicken fixings," that, i)erhaps, ever took 

 place in the State — within the limit of its 

 material and means. The men engaged in it 

 are intelligent, energetic and practical, and if 

 the exhibition does not prove a success in 

 every lespect, the fault will not be with them. 

 After all that can possibly be done by the 

 most eflicient management, an enteri)rise may 

 signally fail, if it does not receive the social 

 and pecuiuary support <if Ihe jyeople. Depend 

 upon it, the society and cxliibitora will realize 

 the f.fp<'c(a(iV/7i,s of the public, let them also real- 

 ize their estimate of the public's appre'-iation. 



Since writing the foregoing we have re- 

 ceived a cojiy of the Frcmium list, containing 

 also the rules and regulations governing the 

 exhibition, and from which we are able to 



