1881. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



19 



outlined— thau an agricultural show, and 

 hence possesses the elements of s'eatev oon- 

 centnilion than those of a greater diversity of 

 objects; Iviit the same methods and eiierpies 

 in any dir.clidu would be likely to meel with 

 success. We hope therefore it may ahwiys be 

 successful, for the chicken is a great item iu 

 the domestic economy of the people, and de- 

 serves the encouragement of the people. All 

 honor to the Poultry Society ; may it bo a 

 permanent lixtm-e amoi\g us. 



■ AULT BARRICKS." 

 " Taking time by the /ore/ocA-."— Here we 

 have a card, issued on the 17th of January 

 already, which inforuis us that the " Berks 

 County Agricultujal and Horticultural Soci- 

 ety," will hold its twentii-sfventh nmvial cxhi- 

 hition iu the City of Ileadinc;, on the :27lh, 

 28th, 2'Jth andSOth days of Septiinl.rr, 18S1, 

 and irom the proceedings of said Society, pub- 

 lished in the Reading papers, 5ve also learn 

 definitely, that its exhihilion of 1880 was an 

 entire success, and that the Society is, practi- 

 cally, now out of debt, and has a clever bal- 

 ance in its treasury. And not only that, but 

 that it also owns property, is a unit in its or- 

 ganization, has the material support of the 

 community, and is popular with the people. 

 Well, we don't envy •■ Old Berks ;" but we 

 often ask ourselves, what is Lancaster doing, 

 or what has she done, of such a peculiar na- 

 ture, that she should be deemed imworthy of 

 a similar success V Perliaps the proper ques- 

 tion is, what has she left undone, through 

 which all her agricultural exhibitions have 

 been such signal failiu-es. Who, which, 

 where, and what, is the >' Jonah " that needs 

 to be tlu'own overboard, in order that the 

 enterprise may be enabled to sail into port? 

 Does Lancaster county occupy a social, 

 moral, and material place that is higher than 

 that of Berks county, and therefore does not 

 need these public pageantries as stimulants to 

 success? Are these things so overruled as to 

 redound to the highest social and fmancial 

 good of the people ? Without for 

 a moment doubting the ultimate " blessings 

 of adversity," still we cannot refrain from 

 looking a little deeper into the questiou, and 

 contemplating the problem whether those who 

 can only become regenerated through adver- 

 sity may not occupy a lowerjplane of moral alti- 

 tude, than those who can become regenerated 

 through prosperity. Lancaster has been prone 

 to look (foicn on Berks, when she, perhaps, 

 should have looked up. 



Long, very long ago, a native of Old Berks 

 used to visit our father's domicile and glowing- 

 ly expatiate upon the qualities of his native 

 domain, and its superiority, in all that related 

 to domestic progress. Perhaps he may have 

 been a little vain of " Ault Barricks "—as he 

 expressed it— but we cannot help admiring his 

 fidelity to the memories of his youthful days. 

 It illustrated that local pride, and unity of senti- 

 ment, through which any community finds its 

 shortest and surest road to material success. 

 AVhen a man thinks his wife bakes the best 

 bread, and compounds the best apple dump- 

 lings on earth, it shows that they are a domes- 

 tic unit, apd in their domicile we are likely to 

 find ■ prosperity and contentment — the house 

 is not "divded against itself." Perhaps this 

 is the key to the lock of Berks county's suc- 

 cess in all her enterprises. She may not be 

 perfect — indeed she may be far in the rear 

 of Lancaster in many essential things, but we 

 cannot deny that she is in advance of us in 

 her Agricultural shows. We are glad that 

 Berks county is in Pennsylvania, and that 

 Pennsylvania is in the United Slates, because 

 we unconsciously partake of their " blushing 

 honors " notwithstanding we may do so little 

 in their achievement. We, perhaps, have not 

 yet attained to our true calling, and are still 

 in a state of progressive probation. If we 

 cannot turn a "summersault," we may, at 

 least, "dance among eggs" without breaking 

 them. All men do not possess the same gifts, 

 the same powers, and the same faculties -at 

 least not in the same degi-ce, and what is 

 true of men, is also true of communities, of 



counties, and of States. We think, that with- 

 'out a radical transforiuatlnn, LanCiister coun- 

 ty is not the place in which to hold a success- 

 ful Agricultuial Fair, and that Berks county 

 is. Agricultural shows should be conducted 

 by agriculturists, and iu the iutiaest of agri- 

 clture. That makes all the difference, and 

 that alone. 



-THE STONE AGE." 



Indian Relics Plowed Up in Lancaster County. 

 Mr. W. H. McFalls exhibited to us two of 

 the most perfect implements of tlie kind that 

 it has ever been our privilege to see. They 

 are what are usually culled "pestles," and are 

 supposed to have been used for crushing corn, 

 but is questionable whether these were ever 

 used for that purpose,, or even intended to be 

 so used. One of these implements is 17 inches 

 long and 7 inches in circumference, at the 

 thickest part — In the middle. It is made of 

 a yellowish argillicious rock, smoothly finished 

 and tapers beautifidly towards each end, the 

 ends being rounded. The other is in the same 

 form, 10 inches long, 61 in circumference, and 

 is of a harder rock. It has a brownish color, 

 perhaps hornblende, and being susceptible of a 

 finer finish, and not being so liable to external 

 disintegration, it is therefore iu a still more 

 perfect condition than the former; almost pol- 

 ished. Both the implements (or orukments) 

 are perfectly cylindrical (a transverse section 

 would exhibit a perfect circle) and symmetri- 

 cally tapered from their centres to their ends. 



Pestles 

 or "corn-crushers," in order to be eflfcctive, 

 would natm-ally be larger aud squarer at the 

 base, but the end of these are cone-shaped. 

 They resemble "rolling-pins," and if not used 

 for that purpose, may have been war imple- 

 ments or batons of authority. Mr. McFalls 

 l)lovved them up in one, of his fields, near 

 Clearfield, Providence township, Lancaster 

 CO., Pa. _ 



A DOUBLE APPLE PRESERVED IN 

 ALCOHOL. 



Mr J. William Roeting, of Elizabcthtown, 

 I^ancaster county. Pa. , sent us a few days ago, 

 a singular double apple, which we are endeav- 

 oring to preserve in alcohol. The color is uni- 

 formerly a light red, streaked with darker red, 

 but only faintly. Latitudinal circmference, 

 ten inches; longitudinally the circumference is 

 seven inches on one side of the basin and seven 

 and a half on the other side. The basin is 

 moderately deep, and oblong iu form; it had 

 no stem, but the appearance is, that it origi- 

 nally luui a branching stem, one branch at- 

 tached to each end of the basin, indicated by 

 two depressions, or indentations, Between 

 the two divisions of the apple there is an ob- 

 tuse suture on the one side, and a more dis- 

 tinct one on the other side; at the apex — or 

 rather apices — the suture is entirely obsolete, 

 and a slightly elevated ridge instead. There 

 are two very distinct and well defined calyxes, 

 two inches apart. The whole is ovoid in 

 form, as if about the two-thirds of two apples 

 had muted together in their growth. To us 

 the most probable theory is, that two apples 

 grew on one bifed stem ; and that as they in- 

 creased in size, either by friction or pressure, 

 the skin become ruptured, bringing the pulp 

 of each in contact, and that they thus assimi- 

 lated and formed a "silent partnership." Ex- 

 cept this abnormal freak the fruit is well 

 formed, has a smooth surface, and is without 

 a blemish save a slight contusion near the 

 calyx of the inferior side. We don't like to 

 cut it open to explore the inner side, but we 

 judge from the position of the calyxes, that 

 there are seeds and seed cavities in correspon- 

 dence with the external contour. From the 

 dimensions given it may be seen that the size 

 is hardly medium. Jlr. R. said nothing 

 about its variety, and, under the circumstan- 

 ces, we shall not venture to name it — especi- 

 ally since there are about two thousand de- 

 scribed varieties in the United States, and 

 that is, perhaps, one thousand too many. 



THE TIMBER QUESTION. 



Its Effect upon our Social Economies, and the 

 Integrity of our Seasons. 



"Scientists have been teaching us for a 

 number of yi-ars, that the immense amount 

 of timber being cut away was the prime cause 

 of lessening the rain and snow fall. This 

 winter completely explodes that theory aud it 

 these men of science are not submerged by 

 the snow they will please rise up and acknow- 

 ledge their utter ignorance iu matters meteor- 

 ological. 



"Thus far this has been what we call an 

 old fashioned winter, like they had in the 

 days of our fathers, when they would sit be- 

 hind the stoves all winter, playing "old 

 sledge" and drinking hard cider, spinning 

 yarns aii<l pitching pennies, and indulging in 

 various oilier modes of eutertaining them- 

 solvex. It rejuvenates the old men to see such 

 winters like we are now enjoying. They seem 

 now almost persuaded to plunge themselves 

 into such active scenes again. Meanwiiile, 

 wo will await the delivering of more theories 

 from .•scientific mindt about the timber view- 

 ers." — Kcchamje. 



Although the theory of the climatic influ- 

 ence of forest lands may be overestimated, 

 still, we hardly think that it is exploded. 

 These things are not governed by infiueuces 

 alone, but also by eouiiler influences. As "all 

 signs fail in dry weather," the winter season 

 may work an exception to the rule. It is 

 said that "one swallow won't make a sum- 

 mer," therefore one intervening winter like 

 tlie present, can no more demolish the theory, 

 than ii dry winter can establish it. Much 

 more may be claimed for this theory than We 

 are willing to grant, and the data upon which 

 it is founded may be insufficient, but they 

 cannot be so summarily ignored. The local 

 evidences are abundant, where the removal of 

 the forest trees had wrought a great change 

 in water courses, and general water supply, 

 but whether this is arbitrarily or universally 

 so, is still an open question. Fifty years ago, 

 or more, we were at service on a farm located 

 in the fork formed by the "Big" aud the 

 "Little Cliickies" (liaplio township).. At 

 that period, perhaps, more than half the farm 

 was woodland, aud especially those parts 

 which bordered on the creeks, were covered 

 with timber. Near the house, and at the base 

 of a hill was a large "never-failing" spring, 

 surrounded by trees. This spring had been 

 there from time immemoral, and had ever 

 been the sole source of water supply for culi- 

 nary and drinking purposes. The stock of 

 course were watered at the creek. After we 

 left the place, fifty years intervened before we 

 visited again. In the mean time the old barn, 

 the corn crib, the pig pens, the chicken coops, 

 aud the dwelling house had been demolished, ' 

 and new farm buildings erected about half a 

 mile north of the old location and on higher 

 ground ; -the entire forest growth had also 

 been removed : and when we visited the farm 

 on the 1-ith of December, 1878, every land- 

 mark was gone, and we could ' hardly recog- 

 nize it. The day was moist and raw, never- 

 theless we thought we would like to see that 

 old spring once more, and perchance drink of 

 its limpid waters. We were taken to the 

 place, but the spring was non est — it had dis- 

 appeared a quarter of a century ago. Not a 

 tree or a shrub was near it : all the hills on 

 both sides of the creek were denuded of their 

 timbers, and even the creek itself was not as 

 large and full as it was half a century aga : 

 and this drying up of the spring, and the di- 

 minition iu the' flow of the creek, was co- 

 temporary with the removal of the trees, and 

 was doubtless the effect of that cause. The 

 removal of the trees will materially expose 

 the surface of the earth to the heating rays of 

 the sun, and the drying influenceof the winds, 

 and facilitates the evaporation of moisture 

 from the soil. This is very perceptible along 

 the margins of fields bordered by woodland, 

 and especially in a dry season. Well, it may 

 be said, does not this ascending vapor con- 

 dense and return again in descending rain ? 



