THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[January, 



refuses to wield, or what is much more likely 

 does not know how to wield these harvest in- 

 struments of a former age. Improved ma- 

 chinery has revolutionizetl almost every op- 

 eration of the harvest field, and now where 

 the swift sonuding flail was once heard as 

 thump after thump it went down upon the 

 full sheaves of grain, or the slow measured 

 tread of horses and oxen that once trod out 

 the crops of grain entire, and cost the farmer 

 a winter's work to prepare the grain for mar- 

 ket, there is now the threshing machine that 

 not only takes off the grain and chaff, but 

 makes the wheat entirely ready for the miller, 

 and all at one operation. Even the horse has 

 been superseded in this operation of taking 

 off grain by the potent agency of steam that 

 has been so harnessed as to be innoxious to 

 to combustibles usually stored in barns. 



The comparative ease with which the hus- 

 bandman now cuts the harvest and stores the 

 several crops of the year, the improved drills 

 that now seed whole fields with accuracy and 

 speed, superceding hand-sowing almost en- 

 tirely, leaves the farmer more leisure than he 

 has ever enjoyed before. But it is with the 

 farmer as with the printer or any other me- 

 chanic, more outlay of capital is now required 

 than ever before to carry on a business suc- 

 cessfully. Machinery costs in the first pur- 

 chase and in the subsequent repairs that are 

 needed, and last and not least in the care and 

 protection from the weather it requires. 

 More skilled labor is also necessaiy to manage 

 and run it, and hence higher wages are now 

 paid to operatives in all departments of human 

 industry than was formerly tlie rule. Con- 

 tradictory as it may seem that the invention 

 and introduction of so much labor-saving ma- 

 chinery has had the effect to enhance the 

 wages of labir, yet I believe it is a problem 

 in the political economy of this age that can 

 be demonstrated. 



There is probably as muih labor-saving ma- 

 chinery in the United States as in all the 

 rest of the civilized world together. The 

 American farmers are riclier in agricultural 

 implements of a labor-saving character than 

 are the most advanced natious of the old 

 world. Though more labor can be accom- 

 plished than by the unaided human hand, 

 yet this very fact is potential in stimulating 

 to greater effort. We strive after other fields 

 in which to employ this improved and im- 

 mensely more speedy direction of labor and 

 skill, hence more new ground is brought 

 under the plough, new forests are felled, more 

 and better habitations are needed and built, 

 other minerals are discovered, deeper mines 

 opened, and stimulation in every branch of 

 business is developed; so that as Franklin 

 says, "riches beget riches'" so does this greater 

 amount of labor performed enhance both the 

 income of the laborer and that of the capitalist 

 who has employed him. More capital means 

 again more ventures in business and more 

 new employment for labor, hence as demand 

 and supply are correllative terms wages must 

 advance as production increases. 



It is but just to say, however, as a sequence 

 to this problem that markets are much more 

 api to become stocked with superfluous goods 

 and hence stagnation in business is more 

 likely to occur tlian before the age that brought 

 so much machinery into use. But it is en- 

 tirely necessary in this age of machinery to 

 study economy with it. If a machine is once 

 selected from competing ones and the pur- 

 chase completed, it would seem false economy 

 some to discard it in a short time for one tliat 

 in respects was found to be a little superior to 

 it— though it is a great satisfaction to have 

 the best, yet business does not always aflbrd 

 this. If one kind of reaper excel in cutting 

 tangled grain, but will not pay it off the 

 platform as well as some other make, it would 

 take several bushels of wheat to make the ex- 

 change which would perhaps only be better 

 than the old machine in one particular and be 

 worse than it in others.— T. B. in Lancaster 

 Inquirer, Dec. ith, 1880. 



Send in your subscriptions for 1881. 



OUR GREAT STAPLE. 



Kecently we paid a visit to Col. Duffy's to- 

 bacco shed, where his men are busy assorting 

 his 1880 cro'3 of tobacco. During the damp 

 weather in October, when the tobacco was 

 thoroughly cured, Mr. S. M. Myers, who 

 superintends the Colonel's crop, with a large 

 force of workmen, took down and stripped 

 every stalk of tobacco on Col. Duffy's two 

 home farms, and also on the island near Fal- 

 mouth. It was carefully placed in bulks in 

 sheds, and then the work of assorting com- 

 menced. The taking down of the crop so 

 early was considered a very dangerous experi- 

 ment by many of the farmers in this section, 

 and .some of them predicted that the tobacco 

 would rot. But the result shows that the 

 Colonel was right. He has all his tobacco 

 down and about one-half of it assorted, while 

 those who were fearful of the rot have the 

 bulk of theirs hanging in the sheds yet, there 

 being no weather since then suitable to handle 

 the crop. Mr. Myers argues that the tobacco 

 should always be taken down the first oppor- 

 tunity after it is cured, as there is danger of 

 an early frost, which freezes the stalk when 

 it is full of sap, and a sudden thaw coming 

 the sap runs down to the leaf causing the 

 stems to rot. and when stripped one rotten 

 leaf will spoil a great deal In the bulk. Another 

 reason is that after tobacco is subjected to a 

 severe freeze the leaf becomes coarse and 

 loses the fine texture it would otherwise have. 

 The crop now being assorted is as perfectly 

 cured as it possibly can be. The texture is as 

 fine as a silk handkerchief, and the leaves 

 have the body which is essential to the proper 

 curing after it is packed. 



The manner of assorting is quite interesting 

 to those who have not seen it. Col. Dufl'y's 

 basement is arranged with bins tlie entire 

 length of the building, and at one end the to- 

 bacco is placed, after being brouglit from the 

 shed. Here it hes for three or four days, 

 when it is damp enougii to handle. It is then 

 earned to the foreman, who weighs it and 

 records the weight in a book kept for that 

 purpose. The bundle is then opened and put 

 upon a long table, at which sixteen men are 

 at work assorting the leaves into piles of uni- 

 form length. The leaves are then put into 

 "hands" of eight or ten leaves— no leaf in a 

 "hand" being half an inch longer than 

 another. After being put into hands the to- 

 bacco is carried to the foreman, who carefully 

 inspects each lot, to see that it is put up prop- 

 erly, and he then sizes them, being careful to 

 put each lot in the proper bin, so that when 

 the time for packing arrives it can be done 

 expeditiously. After the assorting is all done 

 the casing commences. 



Exercising the same care in packing as in 

 assorting, each case is filled with tobacco of 

 the same size and quality, so that when a 

 buyer comes to examine the crop one "hand" 

 will show the contents of the entire case. 

 The cellar in which the men work is heated 

 by a large stove and is as comfortable as any 

 dwelling house. 



Col. Duffy has done more to give the to- 

 bacco of Lancaster county the excellent repu- 

 tation it has than any other man in the 

 county. Not content with the tobacco as 

 raised twenty-five years ago, he has experi- 

 mented with different kinds of seed until he 

 has secured the best he has ever grown. The 

 leaves of this year's crop have not the coarse 

 ribs and harsh feeling that most of the tobacco 

 has hitherto had, but they are as fine and soft 

 to the touch as a piece of silk. 



One great saving which the Colonel has 

 made, both in labor and material, has been in 

 the matter of scaffolding. Heretofore he had 

 scaftblding erected in the field, on which the 

 tobacco was hung after being speared on the 

 lath. Now the fcolonel does not use scaffold- 

 ing at all. After being speared the laths are 

 immediately hung upon tl)e wagon and hauled 

 luto the shed, and thus a great deal of time 

 and labor is saved. 



The proper hanging of tobacco in the sheds 

 is one of the most important points in the 

 curing. This tobacco, which Col. Dufty is 



now assorting, was hung eight inches apart 

 from lath to lath, and not a single leaf shows 

 any sign of burning. It Is poor economy to 

 crowd your tobacco into a small house, as it 

 will always burn, as the air cannot properly 

 pass around and about it. 



The crop of Col. Duffy's "Haines" farm is 

 all assorted, and the average weight per acre 

 reaches eighteen hundred pounds. This indi- 

 cates a very heavy growth, and we believe ex- 

 ceeds any other large patch in the county. 

 There were twenty-two acres in the patch. 



We think if all our farmers were to follow 

 the lead of Colonel Duffy as to carefulness in 

 the growth of the weed, from the selection of 

 the seed to the curing and packing of the 

 plant, Lancaster county would receive more 

 tlian double the amount it does for its tobacco 

 crop. Whatever is worth doing at all is worth 

 doing right.— 3/ai-ieMa Register. 



FRESH SHAD ALL THE TIME. 



A new enterprise has recently been organ- 

 ized, with headquarters in Philadelphia, under 

 the title of the Delaware and Potomac Fish 

 Preserving Company, with a paid-up capital 

 of .S20O,060. The oflicers of the company are: 

 President, Jacob J. Hi.,schler; Treasurer and 

 Secretary. William G. Rupert ; Superinten- 

 dent, D. W. Davis ; Directors, J. J. Hitschler, 

 W. G. Rui)ert, D. W. Davis, W. J. Turner 

 and J. S. Worman. The oltject of the com- 

 pany is to freeze and keep in a perfect state 

 of preservation, sliad and other salt water 

 fish m the United States, and market them at 

 times when such fish are not in season. 



The enterprise will be operated under two 

 patents of D. W. Davis, of Detroit, who is 

 the superintendent of the company, which 

 are described as follows : Galvanized tubs, the 

 exact size and shape of a barrel sawed in half, 

 are filled with pulverized ice and fish thor- 

 oughly shaken down to a compact mass. A 

 wooden cover, secured by an iron rod, run 

 through ears on opposite sides of the tub, is 

 put on, and the package placed in coarse ice 

 and salt. There it remains for twenty-four 

 hours. It is then taken out, placed with the 

 cover downwards, the rod withdrawn, a 

 stream of cold water turned upon it to loosen 

 the frost from the metal, and the tub lifted 

 oft', leaving a solid block of ice in which the 

 fish are firmly imbedded. Two of the half- 

 tub blocks fill a barrel, which is headed up and 

 placed in a large room, known as the freezer. 

 Here the temperature is constantly kept at 

 from twelve to fifteen degrees below freezing 

 point, and in this condition the fish remain 

 absolutely unchanged until such time as they 

 are wanted for use. Another patent provides 

 for placing a single fisli in a galvanized iron 

 pan just large enough to hold it, and covered 

 with salt and ice, a'nd it is contended that in 

 three hours the fish is frozen sulfleiently to 

 warrant its preservation indefinitely if kept 

 in a temperature of eight degrees above zero. 



The large five-story warehouse at No. 402 

 South Delaware avenue has been leased for a 

 term of five years, and has been fitted up for 

 the purpose of the company. In the four 

 upper floors have been placed freezers or re- 

 frigerators, with a capacity of storing 200,000 

 shad, while the first floor will be appropriated 

 to the preliminary process with a capacity of 

 twenty tons a day. 



It is expected to procure enough shad dur- 

 ing the fishing season from the Delaware and 

 Potomac livers to enable the company to 

 carry on the business successfully. In sea- 

 sons of plenty the superintendent of the com- 

 pany states that sliad can be purchased in 

 quantities at Baltimore at less than ten cents 

 each, and the last report of the New Jersey 

 Fish Commissioners show that the average 

 price obtained for Delaware shad was about 

 18 cents each. Even at the latter price, for 

 all they can procure, the company conter d 

 that they can make a success of the enter- 

 prise. — Philadelphia Ledger. 



PREPARING POULTRY FOR MARKET. 



The simplest things are oftentimes the most 



difficult of accomplishment. For instance, 



