58 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[April, 



tory results. One of our largest and most 

 successful growers informs us that he has 

 always obtained relief by the following method: 

 lie extracts one gallon of lye from half a bushel 

 of hen manure; to one part of this fluid, four 

 parts rain water are added, and with this com- 

 ponnd the beds are sin-iiikled every evening. 

 This remedy deserves to be tried by all grow- 

 ers, as it is cheap and easy of application. 

 The fluid is besides highly beneficial to the 

 plants, and occasional applications of it are 

 highly desirable even though there are no fleas 

 to be killed. A partial preventive is to plant 

 the outer borders of the plant thickly into 

 black mustard. It comes u}) quickly and the 

 flea beetle is very partial to it, as it is to cab- 

 bages, turnips, radishes and many other plants 

 and vegetables. Lastly, we give the plan 

 mostly in vogue in Tennessee, which is to set 

 several hens with broods of chicks from six to 

 fourteen days old near or in the bed, of course 

 securing the mothers. The chicks are said to 

 make clean work with every species of insect 

 life to be found in the beds, and, at that age, 

 can of course do no harm to the plants. A 

 species of centipede ,or spider, that frequently 

 girdles and kills the plants, would of course 

 succumb to the various remedies given above 

 We do not give these remedies as infallible. 

 They have proved successful with some grow- 

 ers, and will no doubt do so wherever they are 

 fairly tried. If one is found not to answer, 

 the farmer sliould try another. The end in 

 view is worth all the trouble and expense he 

 may go to. 



Grow Enough Plants. 



Do not forget that you cannot well sow the 

 seed too thinly; the danger always is your 

 plants will come up too tliick. When they 

 stand close together they grow up thin and 

 spindling, neither the roots nor leaves having 

 room for development. When not crowded, 

 they grow a stronger and more vigorous stalk, 

 which will not only have better roots, but 

 bear transplanting better and stand a fairer 

 chance of resisting the insect enemies and the 

 season, to say nothing of maturing earlier. In 

 fact, too much stress can not be laid upon the 

 great importance of having a stand of strong, 

 healthy plants. They will stand drouth much 

 better and pass beyond danger from the cut 

 worm much sooner. Last year the early to- 

 bacco escaped the ravages of the flea beetle; 

 a period of ten days' time may make or mar 

 a crop. 



Another thing we especially commend to 

 the attention of tobacco growers: Always 

 sow twice as much seed as you are likely to 

 require. It is not enough to have just as 

 many plants as you need, but it is well to have 

 a good many more. In the first place, you 

 have a mvxch larger field for selection. By 

 this plan you are enabled to secure plants 

 more alike in size; this will not only make 

 your tobacco field present a much finer ap- 

 pearance, but it will ripen more evenly, and 

 as the buyers make their inspecting tours, they 

 will make notes of wliat they see, which may 

 put a good many dollars in your pocket. No 

 matter if you have more plants than you need. 

 There are nearly always some who have been 

 careless in this matter and must buy their 

 plants. If your first planting is badly eaten, 

 as it perhaps will be, you have a second sup- 

 ply of vigorous plants to replace them. Last 

 year the cut-worms were so numerous here- 

 abouts that a tliird replanting was required, 

 and the unlucky growers were often compelled 

 to ride weary miles at much expense to obtain 

 the required plants. Every consideration of 

 prudence therefore should induce the tobacco 

 grower to take the necessary steps to provide 

 himself with an ample supply of plants. 



THE USES OF LIME IN FARMING. 



From an Irish agricultural paper we take 

 the following summary of the uses of lime : 



The uses of lime are in part mechanical and 

 part chemical. 



1. Upon deep alluvial and clay soil it in- 

 creases the crop of potatoes, and renders 



them less waxy. Sprinkled over potatoes in 

 a store heap, when both the potatoes and the 

 lime are in a dry state, it preserves them, 

 and when riddled over the cut set at plant- 

 ing time it wonderfully increases their vitality. 



2. Lime eradicates the finger and toe 

 disease in turnips, and helps to give greater 

 firmness to the bulbs. 



3. It gives, when applied to meadow land, 

 a larger product by producing more nutritious 

 grasses, also helping to exterminate the seeds 

 of mosses and aquatic plants. 



4. Upon arable land it destroys weeds of 

 various kinds. 



5. It rapidly decomposes vegetable matter, 

 producing a large amount of food for plants in 

 tlie form of carbonized elements. 



6. It destroys and neutralizes the acids in 

 the soil, hence its adaptaliility to some lands. 



7. It acts powerfully upon some of the or- 

 ganic parts of the soil, especially upon sulphate 

 of magnesia and alumina. 



8. It proves fatal to worms and slugs, and 

 the larvae of insects, though favorable to the 

 growth of shell bearers. 



9 Slacked lime added to vegetable matter 

 causes it to give off its nitrogen in the form 

 of ammonia. Upon soils iri which ammonia 

 is combined with acids, it sets free the ammo- 

 nia which is seized upon by the growing 

 plants. 



10. Its solubility in water causes it to sink 

 into and ameliorate the subsoil. When the 

 soil contains fragments of granite or* trap 

 rock, lime hastens their decomposition and 

 liberates their constituents. 



11. Its combination with the acids in the 

 soil produces saline compounds suah as potash 

 and soda, which immediately enter into plant 

 growth. 



12. Strewed over plants it destroys or 

 renders uncomfortable the location of numer- 

 ous species of insects which prey on the sur- 

 face—notably the turnip fly. 



13. Worked in with grass seeds the benefi- 

 cial effect of lime, chalk, marl and shell sand 

 —into the composition of all of which lime 

 largely enters — it has been known to produce 

 visible effects for upwards of thirty years. 



Applied to manure, lime serves to destroy 

 the seeds of various weeds, the larvte of in- 

 sects, and otherwise exercises a very beautiful 

 effect in the liberation of organic constitu- 

 ents, and then assists in their combination 

 with other and more useful forms of plant 

 food. 



So much for the testimony of an intelligent 

 Irish Journal ; and now let us see what our 

 progressive friends nearer home have to say 

 as to the marked beneficial effects oi^ Lime 

 when applied to the soil : 



From some reports from the Department 

 of Agi-icultural at Washington, we clip the 

 following from its correspondence : 



J. R. Evans, of Hainsville, Pa., says : 



* * * * * u Considerable 

 interest is manifested by our farmers upon 

 the subject of manures. They devote their 

 attention as carefully and regularly to collect- 

 ing and saving all kinds of vegetable matter 

 to be procured as to the more indispensable 

 labors of the farm. Lime is applied to corn 

 ground, after it is ploughed, at the rate of 7-5 

 to 100 bushels to the acre. Tlie ground is 

 then thoroughly harrowed before planting. 

 For wheat on fallow land, 100 bushels are 

 sprfead to each acre in August previous to 

 sowing." 



" A. M. Higgins, of Delaware, writes : 



* * * * * "In about the 

 year 1830, lime began to be introduced, 

 against much skepticism as to its utility. It 

 is now universally used, and may be regarded 

 by our farmers as the principal element in the 

 success already attained. It is deposited by 

 lime boats, from the Schuylkill, along the 

 banks of the Delaware and other inlets, in 

 vast quantities, at a cost of from 12^ to 14 

 cents per bushel of stone or quick-lime. No 

 farmer has occasion to haul his lime further 

 than five or six miles from a landing." 



Authority on such matters writes as fol- 

 lows concerning Lime : 



* * * * * " Where the soil 

 is heavy, and contains so much water that it 

 is sticky and plastic, and fit to make brick, 

 green manuring would do no good. Such 

 lands would be radically improved by another 

 means— by the use of lime, which sometimes 

 produces the most wonderful effect on stiff 

 clay soils. With a top-dressing of lime, lightly 

 harrowed in, the lime will gradually dissolve 

 in water, and as the water penbtrates the soil 

 the lime goes down with it, is deposited in 

 the clay, and intervenes its own particles be- 

 tween the particles of clay ; and it will be 

 found, after a season or two, the plowing of 

 the land can be undertaken earlier in the 

 season. It dries off sooner, and acquires a 

 loamy texture, while at the same time it is 

 chemically improved." 



.Joshua S. Keller says : "As fertilizers, we 

 chiefly use barn-yard manure. The cheapest 

 way to improve land is by Lwie. 



"The quantity depends on the kind of soil 

 and after-treatment. Heavy clay can bear 

 one hundred or more bushels to the acre, 

 while on light soils, from fifty to eighty bushels 

 will answer very well." 



Wm. Bacon, Richmond, Mass., writes : 



"Lime is extremely valuable for lands 

 which have acquired too much acidity, 

 whether they rest on a limestone formation 

 or not. But the extreme high price it bears, 

 from 25 to 30 cents per bushel, forbids the 

 use of it to any considerable extent. The re- 

 fuse of the kilns is readily bought up at cheap 

 rates, and usually applied to land in compost 

 with swamp or pond muck, or turf from the 

 highway, which, when thoroughly worked, is 

 productive of great benefit as a top-dressing 

 on grass lands, and ploughed crops. The 

 ashes from these kilns, like house ashes, are 

 in high demand for the compost heap, or im- 

 mediate application to the land, where their 

 effects are strongly marked and long visible. 

 They are obtained at from 8 to 10 cents a 

 bushel." 



John Eichar, Greensburg, Penna.,says: 



" The only fertilizers in general use with us 

 are lime, plaster and barnyard manure. Air- 

 slacked lime and barnyard manure are ap- 

 plied to land intended for wheat, oats, or corn, 

 and are generally spread upon the ground 

 after it has been ploughed. Plaster is prin- 

 cipally used in the spring on our grass lauds, 

 at the rate of a bushel to an acre, which will 

 increase the yield of hay about one-third. 

 Fifty bushels of lime and twenty-four horse- 

 loads of barnyard manure to an acre, renewed 

 every three years, are generally applied for 

 corn, oats, and wheat, which usually in- 

 creases the yield 25 percent., and the soil 

 will be in good condition for the two follow- 

 ing crops." 



N. Linton, Chester Co., Penna., very for- 

 cibly writes : 



"Barnyard manure and lime are our main 

 dependence. Lime is mostly spread on the 

 sod at the rate of 30 to 60 bitshels to the acre, 

 once in each course of crops ; but it is often 

 scattered on corn ground just previous to corn 

 planting. Many farmers think it the best 

 way to apply it to wheat stubble shortly after 

 the grain is harvested ; but in whatever way 

 it is put on, it is the basis of successful hus- 

 bandry. Nearly all our lauds for miles 

 around were formerly worn out old fields, 

 which would produce nothing ; but the appli- 

 cation of lime unlocked the hidden treasures 

 of the soil, and redered available as food for 

 plants 'the inert organic matter which it con- 

 tained. This, accompanied by judicious cul- 

 tivation and a proper rotation of crops, has 

 entirely changed the appearance of our neigh- 

 borhood. Scarcely an . old field is to be 

 found." 



TREE TRIMMING. 



In trimming a tree several objects must be 

 held in view. Fu'st. A proper balance of 

 limbs and branches. A leaning tree or a one- 

 sided tree may produce good fruit, but a 

 straight, well balanced tree will produce more 

 fruit and better fruit. I go once or twice 



