24 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



planting instead of throwing cold water upon 

 such a laudable enterprise.— TfarwicA:, Febru- 

 ary, 1881. 



Doubtless, ''circumstances alter eases." 

 It is now more than half a century since we 

 retired from the farm and became a denizen 

 of the town, but we can vividly recall some of 

 our observations and experiences of that 

 period, and they seem to be somewhat in 

 harmony with the sentiments of "Warwick," 

 whether his theory is true or false: After 

 the cold winter of 1834 and 1835 it was found 

 that the peach trees, apricots, nectarines 

 were so badly frozen along the valley of the 

 Susquehanna, that the crop proved an entire 

 failure. This was also largely tlie case with 

 the cherries and apples. Some of the trees 

 were so badly frozen that their trunks and 

 branches bursted. But high up on the very 

 top of the hill that borders the Susquehanna, 

 on the York county shore, was an orchard of 

 peaches, pears, apples and cherries, entirely 

 surrounded by trees. A short distance north- 

 west of it was an elevation called "Round 

 Top, ' ' sparsely covered with evergreens. This 

 elevation, with the intervening trees, formed 

 a shelter to the enclosure. Never was such 

 an abundant crop of fruit seen anywhere as 

 that orchard bore that year— especially of 

 peaches. True, the quality was inferior, but 

 the quantity was simply marvelous. We do 

 not pretend to give the cause, but the facts 

 were substantially as we stated them. On 

 more than one occasion we have seen the 

 sides of trees, exposed to dashing rain and 

 hail at the fertilizmg period, entirely desti- 

 tute of fruit, whilst the protected side bore an 

 ample crop. ^ 



For The Lancasteb Farmeb. 

 BEES AND GRAPES. 



Editor Lancaster Farmer — Dear Sir: 

 By close investigation I have satisfied myself 

 that bees do not destroy sound grapes. We 

 had, during the past season, 22 colonies of 

 Italian and common black bees ; all the hives 

 were in close proximity to the grapes, while a 

 number had the vines trained over them for 

 shade during the heat of summer. 



The grapes are of the Concord variety, of 

 which we had an abundance of fine fruit, 

 some clusters of which grew within 18 inches 

 of the entrance to the hives. 



Bunches of the grapes remained on the 

 vines until the frosts had killed the foliage, 

 which fell off and left the grapes exposed, af- 

 fording every temptation to the bees ; and 

 this, too, through a season when the honey 

 yield from natural sources was so small that 

 the bees were consuming the stores they had 

 gathered earlier in the season. 



But the bees do work on grapes, and also on 

 other fruits under certain conditions. If the 

 skin of grapes, peaches, pears, &c., .is rup- 

 tured from any cause, the bees, wasps, ants, 

 &c., are very quick in discovering it, and soon 

 leave only the dried shells. During the hot 

 weather of August, especialy when there are 

 frequent showers, the skin of ripening fruit 

 cracks, for reasons which I will leave to some 

 philosophical friend to explain. 



My conclusions are not hasty; nor were ray 

 observations superficial ; but they were pro- 

 longed from the time the first grapes ripened 

 until the close of the season. 



I found some clusters of grapes literally 

 covered with bees scrambling and fighting for 

 the little sweets contained in the cracked 

 grapes, which are the only ones on which they 

 work, as I found out by driving the bees 

 away and removing from the clusters all the 

 bursted grapes ; when the bees, as soon as 

 they found on]'_ i ound fruit remained, went 

 away and left tht, grapes uninjured. 



We also laid some bunches of grapes on 

 top of the hives and others close to the en- 

 trances, also left clusters hanging on the vines 

 close to the hives, where they remained unin- 

 jured by the bees as long as the fruit was 

 sound. 



I know very well that bees can gnaw 

 through heavy muslin, or shave' off wood and 

 straw. To cover the bees we have quilts made 



of heavy muslin which they sometimes bite 

 through, and we have wood and straw hives 

 on which they have enlarged the entrances; 

 but, nevertheless, I am fully satisfied that 

 they do no injury whatever to sound fruit.— 

 Yours, &c., W. H. Stoiit, Pine Grove, Janu- 

 ary 22, 1881. 



Although it is not now the time to plant 

 potatoes, it is never out of season to lay 

 plans for next season's operations. In this 

 severe winter weather, when outdoor work 

 cannot be carried on to much extent, we have 

 good time to plot out our next _ summer's 

 work, so that when the season for each par- 

 ticular work comes around we may be ready 

 for it. How much ground are we going to 

 plant to potatoes ? Shall we plant in corn- 

 stalk ground or in sod ¥ If for an early crop 

 on stalk ground, we should have hauled our 

 manure on the ground last November and 

 plowed it down, but if that was not done, the 

 manure should behauled on the ground and 

 plowed down as early as possible, and the 

 potatoes should be planted as early in April 

 as the weather will permit. A good dressing 

 of stable manure appears to be essential on 

 stalk ground to raise a good crop of early 

 potatoes. A mixture of cow and horse 

 manure is good. Cow manure alone is not 

 considered of much value for potatoes. But 

 no good farmer will have his manure other- 

 wise than mixed. The value of a manure 

 pile on wliich the cleanings of the cow and 

 horse stables are regularly mixed weekly, is 

 worth fifty per cent, more than the fire- 

 fanged hor.^e' manure is when piled up by 

 itself. If the ground is poor it may be well 

 to scatter about two hundred weight of a 

 good superphosphate along the rows before 

 dropping the seed. If stable manure is 

 scarce, stalk ground can be put in good con- 

 dition for growing potatoes for late crop, 

 without stable manure, by sowing the ground 

 in early fall to rye, or if this was neglected it 

 will be of some benefit to sow to oats as early 

 as possible. But a clover sod is ijetter than 

 any of the foregoing, either for an early or 

 late crop. But as many of our farmers can- 

 npt, or think they cannot spare the clover 

 sod, they can adopt the green manuring with 

 profit. 



The best time for planting for a late crop is 

 from June 1st to 20th. Before planting sow 

 broadcast on anacrethe mixliirf' in tin- fol- 

 lowing formula, which Ikis Ihmi lii.d mid 

 found valuable: 200 It.s. (li.-^sulvpd animal 

 bones ; 200 ibs. Acid of South Carolina Rock ; 

 300 K>s. Sulp'jate of Potash ; 200 fts. ground 

 land plaster. These ingredients can be had 

 of responsible parties at a cost not exceeding 

 ten dollars. In this green m.anuring -it is 

 necessary to plow the potato seed in. By 

 using a chain the rye, oats or clover can be 

 completely turned under, where they will 

 gradually decay, giving both food and mois- 

 ture to the growing plant. The seed should 

 be dropped every third furrow, regulating the 

 furrow slice so that the rows will be from 32 

 to 36 inches apart. Experience has sliown 

 that that distance apart is-iiiont riglit for the 

 amount of cultivation that is necessary in dry 

 seasons. Seed cut to two eyes has proven 

 the most satisfactory. One of the i)rincipal 

 objections to single eyes is that many fail to 

 grow. 



Two eye cuttings should be planted 12 to 

 14 inches apart, while one eye cuttings may 

 be put down 9 or 10 inches apart. Lay tlie 

 seed Close to the inverted furrow ; this will 

 make it come up regularly between the fur- 

 row slices ; it will also be less liable to be 

 tramped by'the horse walking in the furrow. 

 The first culture necessary is to prevent the 

 formation of a hard crust and to destroy all 

 weeds as fast as they appear. A spike-harrow 

 is the proper implement to use before the 

 potatoes are up, and it can be used to advan- 

 tage even after they are an inch or two high. 

 For the rest of the cultivation the shovel- 

 harrow is ihe best. In the earlier part of the 



season run the shovel-harrow deep and as 

 close to the plant as possible ; later, not so 

 deep, and further from the plant. Theshovel- 

 harrow properly used will hill up the plants 

 about as much as the crop requires. 



The object of cultivation is to keep down 

 weeds, and the ground from baking ; and for 

 these purposes it is necessary to keep it up to 

 the end of the growing season. If this is 

 faithfully carried out you can laugh at dry 

 weather and be reasonably sure of a good 

 crop. 



An acre on clover sod, in 1879, treated as 

 above, yielded 200 bushels. Three-fourths of 

 an acre, also clover sod, in 1880 yielded 100 

 bushels. The 1879 crop liad only one rain 

 during the season sufficient to reach the root, 

 while the 1880 crop had no rain that moistened 

 more than the surface. 



The 1880 crop was planted with single eyes, 

 which made a bad failure in growing, proba- 

 bly about one-fourth. The mimber of pota- 

 toes to the plant was from one to tliree, sel- 

 dom four, many of them being undesirably 

 large. Two-eye cuttings would have made a 

 better set, and probably would have increased 

 the yield otherwise. The potato crop under 

 the ordinary treatment which it usually gets 

 is the most uncertain of our crops. By good 

 manuring and high cultivation it can be made 

 pretty reliable.— 0. 



Essays. 



- " EX-LIBRIS."* 



Literary collections are as old as civiliza- 

 tion. In Europe complete series of Roman 

 coins have been found, so exquisitely ar- 

 ranged that there can be no doubt that their 

 collection had been a labor of love on the 

 part of certain ancient patricians. It is re- 

 corded that the historian, Cremutius Cordus,. 

 had made a collection of autograph letters, 

 and that when they were in danger of being 

 destroyed by fire his daughter proved her 

 filial aftectio'n by saving them at the peril of 

 her life. Pliny says that in his days the auto- 

 graph letters of Julius and Augustus had 

 become exceedingly rare, and were highly 

 prized by amateurs, which proves that rare 

 documents were collected and treasured as at 

 present. 



At present there is hardly a class of objects 

 which has not received the attention of the 

 amateur. All work of this kind is fascinating, 

 and (J very culleftion thus formed is possessed 

 i.f inti'iist. Xcry leceutly there has been a 

 ras.- for "Bonk-1'lalcs," or "Ex-Libns," and 

 I deem it proper to mention to the Linnsean 

 Society the appearance of this new "hobby," 

 as well as to acknoyvledge my personal weak- 

 ness for these bits of torn and tarnished paper. 



Book-Plates are believed ito have appeared 

 during the Reformation at Nuremberg, which 

 was tlien the great centre of wealth and 

 literature. Willibaldus Pirckheimer, a 

 wealthy patron of letters, who was among 

 the first to declare himself in favor of the 

 Reformation, induced his friend, Albert 

 Durer, to engrave' a plate, which he mounted 

 in the volumes of his library. His example 

 was soon followed by other patricians of 

 Nuremberg, and spread to all the countries of 

 Euroiif, TliPse plati'S. as they successively 

 aiipcar it) vaiidus coiiiiti-ics. furnish jierfect 

 illustralions of llir hisloi'v of art, besides the 

 fact tliat tliey preserve a vast amount of curi- 

 ous information concerning the history of 

 families and individuals. 



German and French "ex-libris" have 

 always been rare, but in England, especially 

 during the last century, every family of note 

 had its separate book-plate. Sometimes half 

 a dozen of them are found placed over each 

 other in a single volume, thus giving the 

 history of a number of generations. Every 

 heraldic device has its story to tell, and thus 

 the work of collection is found to possess ex- 

 traordinary fascination. 



In America "ex-libris" were common dur- 



