108 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July 



length of the room, about 5 feet apart, and the 

 whole should be not less than two feet from 

 the wall. The uprights have sloping pins or 

 nails driven into them 4i or 5 inches apart. 

 On these are laid a series of five bars or sticks, 

 and across these, little rods or straiglit twigs, 

 the first of these platforms may be 5 or 6 

 inches from the floor, and the next say 2 or 3 

 feet above that, and so on as high as one 

 chooses to go ; but two are as many as can be 

 easily managed without steps. On these 

 platforms are placed the papers or frames con- 

 taining the young worms, up to the third (or 

 fourth) age, and after that, the twigs or 

 branches of mulberry leaves with the worms. 

 Note that all the timber of both room and 

 apparatus must be seasoned. 

 ' The papers containing tlie young worms may 

 A B be laid on these platforms 



.c p, du-ectly, but it is perhaps 



CL ^ =5^ better to use frames like that 



' b represented in Fig. 2. The 

 bars A A and B B are threo 

 quarters of an inch thick, 

 the cross slats or laths, a b, 

 ' are a half inch thick, an inch 

 (or less) wide, and an inch 

 apart. It is better to make 

 se frames two and a-half 



^""a B^ f^®*^ ^y ^^®' ^° ^^^^ ^^° °^ 



Fig. 2. them will occupy, cross-wise 



one platform of Figure 1. 



The only additional apparatus needed is 

 perforated paper, as seen in Fig. 3, and netting 

 (mosquito or other) about 

 size of the frames, for the 

 younger stages of the 

 worms. The paper should 

 have .some strength and 

 stiflnegs, so that it can be 

 lifted with the worms on 

 it without huddling them. 

 A good quality of mer- 

 chants' wrapping paper 

 will do. The perforations 

 of the size and distance 

 apart, shown in Figure 3, ^FigTS^ 



may be made rapidly by a common belt punch, 

 by folding the paper ten or a dozen thick- 

 nesses. 



5. THE MULBEERY. 



The white mulberry is easily propagated. 

 It rtourishes best in light sandy or gravelly 

 soils. One full grown tree will yield 200 to 

 300 pounds of leaves. Two hundred trees 

 may be planted on an acre of land. In three 

 years they will yield, under fair conditions of 

 soil and cultivation ten to twelve pounds of 

 leaves each, or more than two thousand 

 pounds of leaves to the acre. Eighteen hun- 

 dred pounds suffice for an ounce of eggs; that 

 is, will produce 100 to 200 pounds of cocoons. 

 At seven or eight years the yield wiU be ten 

 fold. Plants can be had at many of the nurse- 

 ries, and cuttings almost anywhere. 



Joseph Hakris says that an excellent ma- 

 nure for the gardner and fruit grower is made 

 by mixing two or three bushels of bone dust 

 through a load of stable manure and letting 

 the whole ferment together. The bone dust 

 increases the fermentation and the heating 

 manure softens the bone. The whole becomes 

 a strong fertilizer if the heap is properly at- 

 tended to. 



OUR Local Organizations. 



LANCASTER COUNTY AGRICULTURAL 

 AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The regular monthly meetlDg of the Agricultural 

 Society was held in their rooms on Monday after- 

 noon, July 11th. The following were present : 



M. D. Kendig, Creswell ; Henry M. Engle, Mari- 

 etta ; Henr^' Kurtz, Mount Joy ; Johnson Miller, 

 Warwick; Leyi S. Reist, Manheira ; Casper- Hiller, 

 COnestoga; Wm. Ellmaker, Earl; S. P. Eby, W. W. 

 Griest, C. H. Gast, F. R. Diffenderffer, city; John H. 

 Landis, Manor ; J. M. Johnston, C. A. Greene, city; 

 Peter S. Reist, Lilitz ; J. Frank Landis, West Lam- 

 peter; C. E. Montgomery, H. K. Myers, MillersvUle. 

 The President being absent, the society was called 

 to order by Vice President Engle. 



On motion, the reading of the minutes was dis- 

 pensed with. 



Crop Reports. 

 Johnson Miller said wheat, now nearly all harvest- 

 ed, is a tolerably good crop, but short of last year, 

 and not more than three-fourths of two years ago. 

 For the first time the Foltz wheat has come short of 

 other varieties; it is not well filled, and does not 

 make near as much to the acre as the old Mediter- 

 ranean, White Amber and Rocky Mountain. It also 

 has too many heads sticking up straight to make 

 anything like a full crop. The Black Centennial and 

 Rickenbrode from the Agricultural Department, be- 

 ing the first year's experiment, both prove half fail- 

 ures, the former not ripening at this time. Corn is 

 growing finely, but, we have also some fields that 

 look spotted and sickly. This applies to all wheat 

 stubble fields, of which there are a large number on 

 account of grass failures . The hay was a better crop 

 than expected a month ago ; and what it is short In 

 quantity is very nearly made up in quality. It is 

 most excellent feed, being over half timothy. The 

 oats crop will be the best harvested for a number of 

 years, well filled and heavy in the grain, and straw 

 as long on an average as the wheat. The young 

 clover sowed last fall, as well as this spring, is again 

 a partial failure. The grasshoppers, some army 

 worms and the hot sun threaten its total destruction. 

 What will we do for grass ? is the question. Pasture 

 may run a little short this fall, as there will be no 

 after growth in timothy. The potato prospect is 

 very encouraging for a good crop. The nasty weed 

 tobacco, which I, in common with almost everybody 

 else, grow, is very irregular at this time. Some is 

 ready to top, while others are just fairly started in 

 the same patch. These are the extreme cases, but 

 we find a good many patches that are not much finer 

 than four weeks ago, while extra fine is few and far 

 between. I have some growing in my lot in L(titz, 

 with leaves twenty-nine inches long and fifteen 

 inches wide. Apples generally are dropping very 

 fast, and there are feft- that are perfect and without 

 worms. The prospects are not for more than one- 

 half a usual crop. I noticed in my orchard that the 

 Watermelon and Roxbury russet, which were good 

 bearers for the last ten years, have none this year. 

 Peaches we have none to report. ' Pears hang full. 

 Nearly all varieties are bringing a good crop. Of 

 grapes there will be a pretty fair average crop, while 

 currants, raspberries and such small fruit is in abun- 

 dance. On the whole, we as farmers are again, so 

 far,abundantly blessed with all the necessaries of life 

 and a large surplus over to feed some of our tellow- 

 men. 



Henry Kurtz said wheat is not nearly a full crop. 

 The Foltz wheat falls short. There is much smut. 

 The heads did not fill. Tobacco fields look irregular. 

 Black root seems to be the trouble. Some is quite 

 large and much quite small. Clover has done very 

 well. Hay did better than expected. Corn is grow- 

 ing well. 



Johnson Miller said his own experience was that 

 the black root in tobacco was due to over-manuring 

 in the seed bed. 



Levi S. Reist has come to the conclusion that the 

 Lancaster county wheat crop is a failure. The Foltz 



wheat does not do so well here as formerly, In New 

 York he saw a few days ago this wheat, long and 

 heavy in the straw. The pears, he thinks, were in- 

 jured by the cold. Apples are doing well ; Smith's 

 cider especially, while Tompkins King does poorly. 



Casper Hiller saiJ the apple crop is medium, and 

 looks promising. The pear trees are full enough. 

 The wheat fields varied very much — some good and 

 some very bad. The young clover is coming along 

 finely. 



M. D. Kendig said the wheat crop in Manor is not 

 as good as expected. The young grass is well started. 

 The hay crop is about half a crop. Corn is irregular. 

 The fruit crop is tolerable; some apples and pears, 

 but no peaches. Ttie tobacco is very uneven — some 

 good and some very small. 



Henry M. Engle said in Donegal the wheat was 

 an average. He does not think the flour will be in- 

 ferior. The copious rains have brought out the spring 

 grass. The hay crop is better than was expected, 

 and perhaps there wiil be enough to go around. The 

 oats is much better than usual ; it is the best in years. 

 The corn crop is uneven, but fair. The potato is 

 above the average. As regards fruit, the apple crop 

 will not be more than half a one. A full crop one 

 ysar will result in a short crop the following one on 

 the same trees. , No peaches except on the York 

 county side. The pear crop is a full one this year. 



The season was very favorable for small fruits. 

 Grapes will be fairly abundant. Insects have been 

 numerous as usual. The rain fall for May was 3 3-11) 

 inches ; for June, 6 6-lti ; being the heaviest so far 

 during the year. 



On last Thursday there was a rain fall of one inch 

 in Couestoga, as reported by Mr. Hiller. For the 

 month of June the rainfall in Conestoga township 

 was five inches. 



Reading Essays. 



William Ellmaker, of Earl, related his experience 

 in destroying Canada Thistles. He had a fifteen 

 acre field to experiment on. The thistles were so 

 thick that the field was useless. The foot could not 

 be put down without striking thistles. He started 

 out with the theory that by depriving thistles of the 

 air they could be killed. Leaves are the lungs of 

 plants, and if these are removed they must die. It 

 was his design, therefore, to keep these lungs from 

 appearing above ground to draw in air to sustain the 

 thistles. 



He began by plowing it for corn. The corn came 

 up and when the corn was three inches the thistles 

 were six inches. He went to work with the shovel 

 harrow, and then went to work with a hoe to cut 

 them off just below the ground. He went over the 

 field six times and felt like giving it up, but he re- 

 membered the "try again" rule. The last time 

 they came up very thin and spindly. The auts also 

 began work on them, and gave valuable assistance. 

 Next spring they did not come up. The field was 

 planted in corn again and no thistles came up, but 

 the ground was full of their dead roots. They have 

 never made their appearance since. A few out of 

 the many thousands were, naturally enough, over- 

 looked, but these were killed afterwards without 

 much trouble. 



J. Frank Landis said his practice was different. 

 He practiced deep plowing; plowed last fall and 

 again this spring. The plants were efi'ectually de- 

 stroyed. Dr. Greene oflTered a resolution making the 

 editors of all the county papers honorary members 

 of this society, and asking their interest in it. The 

 resolution was adopted. 



The Free Pipe e 

 Hon. John H. Landis read the following essay on 

 the above subject. See page 102. 



Peter S. Reist thought the essayist did not quite 

 apply his remarks to the requirements of the ques- 

 tion, which called for the effects of the pipe lines 

 upon the farms through which the pipes run. 

 Fruits on Exhibition. 

 The President appointed John H. Landis and Levi 

 8. Reist a committee to report upon the fruits pre- 

 sented for inspection. The following is their report : 



