THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



41 



for any action on other substances already in 

 the soil to make them available, but for their 

 direct ell'ect in manuring the crop. Tlie more 

 of these direct fertilizers are put on the soil 

 the richer it will be, while the more lime that 

 is put on the poorer it will be when the crop 

 islripe. Tliat is evidently the best farming 

 which leaves the soil better at harvesting 

 than it was at the end of the previous crop. 



The second and third requirements for a 

 good crop of corn, viz : good cullivatiou and 

 good weather, are so dependent on each <itlier 

 that they must be considered together. Tlie 

 usual understanding of corn cultivation is, 

 "destroy the weeds and hill up tlie plants." 

 The destruction of weeds is not corn culture. 

 They are destroyed because they rob the soil 

 of moisture, &c. If there were no weed.s, 

 there might be such a condition of weather 

 that corn would require no cultivation what- 

 ever. But as a such a condition of weather 

 seldom falls to our lot, we have to .adopt such a 

 system of cultivation as will as much as possi- 

 ble answer the requirements of the crop. 

 What tliese requirements in the different 

 stages of growth are we must know, if we 

 want to' treat them properly. It lias been ob- 

 served tliat dry weather in June and in early 

 July is favorable to a corn crop, tliat the ap- 

 pearance of the tassel at 7 or 8 feet is better 

 than at 10 or 12, and that of the ear at 4 feet 

 from the ground is better than at 8 feet, and 

 that favorable weather during the latter part 

 of July and through August makes the good 

 corn crop. Soil that has been highly manured 

 will, if the weather is favoratile in June, be 

 likely to make sucli a growth as will defeat 

 many of these desirable conditions. In such 

 a case cultivation should be withheld, and if 

 that is not a sufficient clieck, deep culture or 

 root pruning sliould be resorted to, to bring 

 about the desired growth. 



One foot of healthy growth in June is bet- 

 ter than two or more feet. • Slow growing at 

 this time makes the stalk short jointed, and 

 will have a tendency to make it more prolific. 

 After the appearance of tlie tassel and tlie 

 ear, comes the drain on the soil for moisture 

 and plant food. From tliis period, if the 

 weather is riglit, the crop will take care of 

 itself. 



But if the weatlier is dry, then is the time 

 for judicious cultivation. We now want no 

 more deep culture to tear up the roots, but a 

 loosening of tlie surface with a light shovel 

 harrow or a spike harrow, built of tlie same 

 shape, between the rows, and with the hoe 

 between the lUants, keeping tlie whole sur- 

 face level. The loose surface will act as a 

 mulch, under which the moisture will dry out 

 slowly. This may have to be repeated up to 

 the middle of August if the ground at any 

 time bakes. Some might say that this takes 

 too much work. But if by such a system of 

 cultivation we could increase our crops one- 

 third or one-half, this extra labor would be 

 well paid for. 



We do not pay sufficient attention to the 

 possibilities of a corn crop, and are satisfied 

 to keep on in the old rut in which our fatliers 

 moved. In any good field of. corn, we can 

 pick out numerous hills that will shell over a 

 quart of corn. If this could be made uni- 

 form the yield would be over one hundred 

 and fifty bushels to the acre. 



By selection of seed, mode of planting, by 

 an improved system of cultivation and ma- 

 nuring, the indications are that we can as 

 easily raise 100 bushels as by the old system 

 50 bushels. The report from the farm con- 

 nected with the liur'il li'ew Yorker gives a 

 yield of 150 bushels of shelled corn off an acre 

 of Chester county mammoth. An acre of 

 Blount's Prolific yielded nearly the same. 

 Larger yields have been reported, but these 

 were grown on plots less tlian an acre, and 

 are therefore not so valuable. "What lias 

 been done can be done again," is an old say- 

 ing, and in this case is a plausible one. Good 

 seed is one of the important factors in grow- 

 in^large crops of corn. 



Experiments have recently been made by 

 eminent agriculturists, which indicate that 



there was a difference of from 20 to 100 per 

 cent, in the yield, where in the one case poor- 

 ly developed ears were used for seed, while in 

 the otlier the best only were taken. IIdw im- 

 portant then that our seed corn be thorough 

 bred. To make and keep it so will require 

 care and judgment. The selection should 

 be made before the corn is cut, as then is the 

 only time the character of the stalk (an im- 

 portant one,) as well as the ear can be fully 

 seen. 



In conclusion, I will briefly .Siiy that a clover 

 sod should be plowed only four or five inches 

 deep, not that sliallow plowing.in itself is val- 

 ahle, but because by turning down the vege- 

 table mass eight or more inches it gets out of 

 reach of atmospheric influences, and also out 

 of reacluof the roots that are the best grain- 

 feeders. In some cases it might pay to run a 

 siib-soiler tlirie or four iuclies deeper, but 

 wliere tlie in-evicius plowings were right, sub- 

 soiling is not so im])ortiuit. If some ingeni- 

 ous mochaiiic would invent a .sod-plow, some- 

 what on the prineiiile of the double Michigan 

 plow, with this difference,that it should leave 

 the sod slice on the top instead of the bottom 

 of the furrow as the Michigan does, he would' 

 be doing the corn grower a favor. Where ar- 

 tificial fertilizers are used, two-thirds should 

 he put on the plowed ground and harowed in, 

 while the one-third would be used to the best 

 advajitage around the plants about ear-form- 

 ing time, as this is the time that plant-food is 

 specially wanted. 



Who among the members of the L.ancaster 

 County Agricultural Society will compete 

 nest season with the liural 2}eto Yorker. 



*' PEACH BUDS AND PEACHES." 



Jfr. President and Gentlemen of Pennsylvania Fruit 

 Growers' Society : 



At the request of your worl^ secretary and 

 others, I have prepared an essay upon a topic 

 pertaining to my vocation, which is partly 

 growing and fruiting the peach, and have 

 chosen" Peach Buds and Peaches." 



It is a well known fact to all peach growers, 

 that there are season when every peach tree 

 that has vitality enough to produce a. crop of 

 buas, will likewise produce a crop of peaches, 

 irrespective of size or quality ; other seasons 

 but a partial crop, or certain varieties will 

 bear well while other varieties will produce 

 no fruit at all. Some seasons they are an en- 

 tire failure, such as the present year promises 

 to be with us. The cause of the two extremes 

 we can readily understand, viz : heat and 

 cold. 



I desire especially to invite the attention of 

 this society to the cause of the great difference 

 of fruitfulness of some varieties, in different 

 seasons, on the same grounds, under the same 

 cultivation. The past season was one of those 

 years in which certain varieties produced 

 little or no fruit, while other varieties bore 

 abundantly. 



When quite a youth I first observed this 

 fact, and have never been able to find an es- 

 say written upon the subject. I also learned 

 by observation that u tree that produced a 

 heavy crop of fruit and was at the .same time 

 poorly fed or cultivated, was unable to form 

 fruit buds for a crop the succeeding year. 

 Tliis is one of the causes, but there are still 

 other causes for this diflerence. 



We also recognize the natural tendency of 

 some varieties in not forming fruit buds plen- 

 tifully under an.;/ cil•cum^tances, such as the 

 Susquehanna and Maiden- blush, but why 

 sliould the Crawford Late, Troth's Early or 

 Mountain Kose fail to fruit, when the Craw- 

 Ibrd Early, Mixon Free or Salway produce 

 heavy crops all under the same conditions in 

 every respect ? This has occurred the past 

 season with myself and other fruit growers in 

 this county. 



My orchard, granite soil, porous subsoil, 

 with somewhat of an eastern exposure and 

 but sliglitly protected on the west, bore a good 

 crop in 1871) and a heavy crop in 1880. with 

 the exception of Crawford's Late, which was 



almost an entire, failure ; Troth's Early and 

 Mountain Kose about half crop. In an orchard 

 in the same locality, with southeastern ax- 

 jKisMie, Will protec-tcd on the north and west, 

 soil blue gravel, with open porous subsoil and 

 conditions alike with all varieties, Crawford's 

 Late was a total failure, while other varieties 

 liroduced a partial crop. In another orchard 

 of an eastern exposure, with scarcely any pro- 

 tection on the West or north, soil red gravelly 

 loam, with porous subsoil, conditions of all 

 varieties aliki-, Crawford's Late liiiled entire- 

 ly, while other varieties boro a good crop. 



In still another orcliard on a similar soil, 

 with a northve.tteru exposure, conditions of 

 all varieties alike, Crawford's Late produced 

 a half crop, while other varieties produced a 

 full crop. The oirlnud horc n(» fruit the year 

 previous, when all tin- otlur oichards did. 



From observ:Uioiis gathered last spring and 

 years previous, I was not surprised at the 

 year's result. I attribute the failures men- 

 tioned to the peculiar formation and process 

 of development of the fruit blossoms. 



It is scarcely necessary for nie to mention 

 the fact that" there are two kinds of peach 

 blossoms, large and small, tiie difference in 

 size, being caused by the petals of one kind 

 lieing broader and longer than those f>f the 

 other ; Crawford's Late, Troth's Early, 

 Mountain Rose, Salway and a host of other 

 varieties producing blossoms of the smaller 

 kind, while Hale's Early, Bilyeu's Late Octo- 

 ber, and nearly all of the early sorts, produce 

 blossoms of the largt^r khul.'^ Bilyeu's Late 

 October is Ihi^ firM variety to bloom, while at 

 the same time Crawford's Late exposes the 

 organs of its buds to the elements by parlinlly 

 opening its petals and allowing the pistils and 

 stamens to slightly protrude, and remain in 

 that condition several tlays before their final 

 expansion. This is also true of all small 

 blossoming varieties, although somewliat la\e. 

 Next iu order of blooming are Troth's Early 

 and Mountain Rose, next Early York, Mixon 

 Free and Smock Free ; lastly Salway, Hale's 

 Early and many of the new open blooming 

 varieties, Salway being particularly noted for 

 its tardiness in opening its petals, and con- 

 tinuing in hloorn several days later than its 

 sister varieties. 



Last spring (1880) we had a sharp frost just 

 ■at the time Crawford's Late i^arWa/^.y opened 

 its petals, which damaged the organs of Us 

 blossoms, while at the same time most other 

 varieties except Troth's Early and Mountain 

 Rose weie well protected within the folds of 

 the blossoms. Several days later, when tlie 

 trees were in full bloom, the injured organs 

 were easily perceived: 



One peculiar habit of Crawford's Late is to 

 open quite all of its petals simultaneously, 

 while Troth's Early and Mountain Rose are 

 more gradual ; heix-e the reason why their 

 crop was iiartial. The only reason that I can 

 conceive why the orcliard with the northwest- 

 ern exposure bore as much fruit as it did, is 

 because it did not expand its petals by .several 

 days as early as in orchards of more favorable 

 location, and thereby escaped the early frost. 



Although Bilyeu's Late was the first to 

 bloom, it did not suffer as badly as the other 

 varieties named, owing, I belieVe, to the pro- 

 tection rendered by its large petals. 



How often do the newspapers when report- 

 ing the prospect of a peacli crop, say, "All 

 badly damaged but Hale's and Smocks.'' Why 

 are they less liable to be injured ? Because 

 they are late and gradual in opening their 

 blossoms. I have but once known the Salway 

 to be entirely killed by severe cold or spring 

 frosts. It bears a small nuttijhwX and is very 

 gradual iu blooming ; many buds are just 

 opening while the first opened are losing their 

 folds. This accounts for its great tendency 

 to over-beat, which I by no means consider a 

 fault. Nature's God here has placed in our 

 liands a matter for our control, and we, as 

 horticulturists, .should profit by it. I believe 

 ] that the large blooming varieties, as a class, 

 I are less liable to be at any time injured by 

 frost than tlie smaller blooming sorts, with 

 the exception of the variety last named. The 



