The Lancaster Farmer. 



LANCASTER, PA., JANUARY, 1881. 



Vol. XIII. No. 1. 



Editorial. 



THE NEW YEAR. 



"AsWrbsti'i-says." as '-Mra. Barton says," 

 as the plav sav> : ■• Fahit heart never won fair 

 ladii " iuiil «■('• li. li.vc its ixfael. Wo have at 

 least this i-onsolatioii, if a tiling is a. faH 

 liraitically, it makes l)ut little dilTei-ence 

 wlh thcT we believe it or not, or wlutluT any- 

 ImmIv else believes it or not. Perhaps there 

 lire luit few who have missed their aim in 

 lili , who would not he williiifc to admit in 

 thrir cahiifr iiioiiients that that miss was 

 mainly due to a fninlneiis <if heart; or, as Dr. 

 j Collier puts il, "io a want of ";/n'(." (Pro- 

 I fessimial politicians (lerhaps would say, a want 

 of •■i;ali" ami ••^rah.") Be all thi«, however, 

 as it iiiuy, what we desire to say is, that cast- 

 ing away all faiutiiess of heart," the Farmer 

 vonehsafrs its cordial sreetiusfS, and i)roposes 

 to p\it in its appearance during the year 1881 

 whether it wins its fair lady or not. And 

 that. t(if), in the very face of the jiredictions 

 that 1881 is to witness the "consummation of 

 the ages," in other words, the end of the world. 

 If the end must needs be in 1881, then, to use 

 a sporting phrase, the Farmer wants to be 

 "in at the brush." It is in entire sympathy 

 with the sage Puritan legislator, wiio, on a 

 dark colonial occasion, remarked that the 

 judgment day was coming, or it was not com- 

 ing. If it was not coming there was no need 

 of anxiety or alarm, but if it ?«as coming, 

 then he wished to be found doing his duty. 

 Believing that men are ultimately saved, not 

 for what they hare been, or what they expect 

 or propose to be, but for what the;/ are, the 

 Farmer desires to answer to the great roll- 

 call, "/rod," not I was. or will be; and it 

 desires all its correspondents, its contributors, 

 its patrons, and all who ought to be its patrons, 

 to be in the same category — "in the same 

 boat." 



AYe believe it is as solemn a duty for some- 

 body to publish an agricultural journal in 

 Lancaster county as it is to publish a politi- 

 cal, a literary or a religious journal in it ; and 

 we believe there exists a self-imposed injunc- 

 tion of moral and material support that is 

 just as solemn ; and, if every head of a 

 family <;an practically s ly, "Bcji Adhem^s name 

 in there," it will be no bar to his elevation to 

 the beatitudes, when the world comes to an 

 end. We lielieve this, because we believe 

 that ^'■T he farmer is the founder of civiliza- 

 tion." If there is any i)lace on this earth 

 where the jiroducts of agriculture are not 

 needed, there can be no civilization there ; it 

 must be a land of bloodthirsty carnivora — 

 whether biped or quadruped — and under the 

 ban of the "abomination of desolation." 



"Agriculture, manufactures and commerce" 

 is a universal motto throughout the civilized 

 Vforld ; these three, but the greatest of these 

 is agriculture. The products of agriculture 

 are the substances which manufactures man- 

 ipulate, and commerce conveys. This is both 

 the theoretical and jiractical aspect of the 

 case, and it ai>pears to us that where this is 

 not appreciated, and in some measure reiilized, 

 it evinces that the schoolmaster is either 

 abroad, or that his system is defective ; for 

 the first human occupation on this earth in- 

 volved the subject of agriculture ; and 

 wherever it degenerates it argues a ])rior de- 

 generation of the agriculturist. There is no 

 prospect that agriculture will ever be fore- 

 stalled so long as this world endures, or man 

 has physical wants that need gratification. 

 This is the anchor of Hope when other occu- 

 pations wane, fluctuate, or become disturbed 

 thrnughout the civilized realm. 



The year 1880, through which we have just 

 passed, has been an eventful one to our entire 



country, and especially to the interests of 

 agriculture. It has demonstrated that tin- 

 population of our Union has risen to over 

 5(1,000,000 souls ; it has witnessed the pea(;e- 

 ful election of a new President \nider all ttu^ 

 forms of law ; and it has experienced a foreign 

 demand lor our agrii'ultural inddiietions be- 

 yond that of any otiier count ly under the sun. 

 It has also witnessed a return of prosperity 

 that presages a brighter future than it has 

 enjoyed for half a score of years. Whilst 

 under these brightening circumstancefi, we 

 would not counsel extravagance or reckless 

 enterprise ; still we would stimulate confi- 

 dence, and gently admonish the people against 

 that mawki.sh " faintness of heart" which 

 " never won fair lady." Men in this life, and 

 especially in the present organization of 

 society, must incur some risk— some venture ; 

 for even the sharpest can't see much beyond 

 the ends of their noses. Still we must exer- 

 cise a rational judgment ; ambition must take 

 counsel of discretion, and leave results to Him 

 "who shapes our ends, rough hew them as 

 we will." When the farmer places his seed 

 in the soil, he has no certainty that he is going 

 to realize a crop, not even when he gives it 

 all the cultivation his reason may sugce.st. 

 Still he ventures, nor abates his energies th<^ 

 present year, because the last one may liavi^ 

 been a failure. He has faith in the ultimate 

 omnipotence of agriculture, however it may 

 be temporarily thwarted through adverse 

 contingencies. In this respect the farmer is 

 the peer of any other occupation in the land. 

 Others, when they fail to realize their antici- 

 pations, "shut down," and drive out their 

 employees upon the cold charities of the 

 world, but the farmer continues on " in the 

 even tenor of his way," whether he "makes 

 a spoon or spoils a horn." The farmer is, 

 therefore, not only the fimnder of civilization, 

 but he is also the " bulwark of the nation," 

 and it is on account of this responsible status 

 that he needs a literary mouthpiece of that 

 civilization. Under the auspices of .his sym- 

 pathy and support, we, with this issue, begin 

 the thirteenth volume of our journal, and we 

 desire, and hope to deserve, as much of that 

 support, morally, intellectually, and pecuni- 

 arily as will convert it into a " silver-backed " 

 mirror, from which his reflection may be cast 

 over our progressive county, our State, and 

 our entire country. We congratulate him on 

 the advent of 1881 — we tender him our New 

 Year's compliments, with a hope for many 

 happy returns of it. We ask this all for the 

 present; for the present will become the past 

 rapid enough without troubling ourselves 

 about the/«fi(re. Our wants, our wishes, and 

 our aspirations relate to the pregnant now, for 

 this alone is ours. If the present is properly 

 cared for the future will take care of it.self. 



In closing these our fraternal greetings, we 

 again respectfully solicit the literary contri- 

 butions, and communications of facts con- 

 nected with the noble profession of farming, 

 from our friends and patrons. There are also 

 many historical incidents and events con- 

 nected with the progress of our county that 

 would be interesting to our readers, the pre- 

 paration of which would be a "double bless- 

 ing." In conclusion, finally, permit us to 

 invoke for one and all, a right prosperous and 

 Happy New Year. 



ABOUT OUR LATE FAIR. 

 In reading over President Witmer's ad- 

 dress, delivered at the January meeting of 

 the society, and especially his comments on 

 the last fair of the society at the Northern 

 Market House, and also in reading over 

 Warwick's "Brief History" of the old county 

 societies, we are reminded of the great lab()r 

 and anxiety experienced by those who origi- 



nated and conducted them ; in which they i 



stpiandered their time, their money, and their j 

 physical energies, and never experienced a ] 

 real success. People forget these things; new ' 

 generations spring up that know nothing | 

 about them. When wc comi)are our late 

 "failure" with the unrequited efforts of the 

 past, ours sinks into insignilicance. AVe well 

 remember the .small number of self-sacrificing 

 men who alone carried lliosi^ exhibitions 

 through. How they W(!i>t finm house lohou.se 

 in the city of fiamtaster and in the suironnd- 

 ing districts and importimed — yea begged 1 

 and implored the people to become exhibitors, j 



iind all to little or no jiurpose, except bv a 

 few of their siiecial friends, and also how they 

 sent their hired men and their vehicles to 

 haul their exhibits out to (he fair ground and 

 home again at the close, and all at their own I 



expense. Since then agricultural fairs had I 

 become common all over the country — many ] 

 of them successful, but of the labor and ex- 

 pense it cost to make (hem so we never could 

 know, for that |iart never was i)ublished. 

 But many ofthiin also failed, and their effects 

 were finally seized and sold by the sheriff. A 

 fair, doubtless, might succeed in Lancaster , 

 county, and ought to succeed, hut it never can, ! 



we feel now convinced, until there is more of 

 a unity than now exists, and until the people 

 themselves become more liberal patrons than 

 they have been heretofore. j 



HOW TO TREAT FROZEN? PEOPLE. i 



"Somebody who knows what he is talking 

 about writes as follows in the Ameriran Agri- 1 



ewZiurisS: 'If any jiart of the body gets frozen 

 the very worst thing to do is to apply heat | 

 dircctl.v. Keep away from the fire. Use 

 snow if you can get it; if not, u.se the coldest 

 ])ossible water. Last winter our little boy of 

 five years froze his feet while out coasting at 

 considerable distance from the house. He 

 cried all the way home, and the case seemed | 



pretty bad. I brought a bii: i>anful of stiow "i 

 and put his feet into it, rubbing them with 

 the snow. But mv hands could not stand i 



the pold. I was alarmed to see him keep his 

 feet in the snow so long, but he could not ' 



bear them out. of it. It was half an hour be- 

 fore he would take them out, and then the 

 pain was all goni\and when I had wiped 

 them di-y and rubheci them a little he was en- 

 tirely comfortable, put on his stockings 

 and shoes and went to play. He never after- ] 



ward had any trouble with his feet on account j 

 of this freezing. His sister got her feet ex- \ 

 tremelv cold, and put them at once to the 

 fire, iler case at first was not so bad as her 

 brother's, but the result was much worse. , 



Her feet were very tender all winter, and she J 



suffered from chilblains. Her toes had a 

 swollen, purple look, and she had to take a 

 larger size of shoes.' " 



The foregoing— which is now extensively | 



coined — is unquestionably good, but not un- i 

 qualifiedly so : nor is it iicio. either. It is as j 

 " old as the hills." i)nt happily none the worse | 

 for that, and "< knew of it fifty years ago at ] 



least. If this remedy is apiilied immediately | 



after the feet. hand. eaif). &c., are frozen, no j 



other application is nece.s.aary — except, per- | 

 haps, warm, soft flannel, when the frost is 

 out in cases of very severe freezing. People ; 

 often fortret these things, and it is well that 

 thev should be occasionally reminded of them. 

 AVhen a boy we had our feel twice frozen, but 

 not very severely, so far as we can remember. 

 The first time they were frozen, wc were not 

 aware of it until the approaching spring. We j 

 knew there was something wrong with our 

 feet, but we did not know what it was imtil 

 admonished by one who knew, or pretended i 

 to know. The parts affected became swollen 



