136 



.1, and 115 automatic binders and harvesters 

 are used. Of these 100 are Wood's patent 

 and fifteen McConuick's. The sheaves are 

 bound with wire. The threshing-machines 

 used are twenty-one in number. The crop Ls 

 cut in twelve days, and about one thousand 

 bushels per day is threshed on each thresher. 

 The threshers take a gang of twenty-five 

 men and twenty horses for each to haul 

 wheat to the machines and then to the cars. 

 No stacking is done on the farm. As many 

 as fifty cars per day are loaded with wheat at 

 this farm, the average per car- being 400 bush- 

 els. An expert on liorseback attends each 

 two harvesters when they are at work. 



The seed wheat is taken from the new land 

 and all the surplus grain is put into the mark- 

 et immediately aftes harvest. The first yield 

 of wheat fi-om the land is usually the best ; 

 the average weight of wheat raised on this 

 farm is fifty-nine pounds. The workers on 

 the farms are mostly Norwegians, Scandina- 

 vians and Germans. In the spring months 

 they are paid $18 per rJonth and board, dur- 

 ing the cutting season $2.25 per day and 

 board, during the threshing season 82 per day 

 and board, and in the fall $25 per month and 

 board. In winter only one man for each forty 

 head of horses is retained in service, and he 

 is paid $30 per mouth. 



In breaking, the first furrow is about four 

 inches deep ; the land is then backed over the 

 same ground, Tiie average plowed by each 

 men per day is about two and one-half acres, 

 and the distance traveled eighteen miles. 

 After the ground is backset it is harrowed 

 and left lay until the next spring. Every 

 four years timothy and clover is to be sowed 

 and plowed under to recuperate the land. 



The cost of raising wheat on this farm is 

 $11 per acre the first year and $9 thereafter. 

 At an average of twenty bushels per acre the 

 interest on the money invested is seventy-five 

 cents per acre on the basis that the land is 

 worth $12 per acre. At this rate we perceive 

 wheat can be grown and sold at fifty cents 

 per bushel and the farmer still make a good 

 living. To put up good buildings, bins and 

 machinery, plow and sow new land, costs $9 

 per acre, to which if we add ^3, tlie original 

 cost of the land, it brings the land up to $12 

 per acre, which is not excessive for a good 

 farm. Mr. Dahymple gives the following as 

 tbe basis of the operations of his farm : 



Cents. 



Cost of raising wlieal on tlie farm per bushel 35 



Freight lo New York per buahel 28 



Selling commission , l^^ 



Ocean (reight, 18 ccnls .' .Z............'....18 



Contingencies 12 



Total cost per bushel to Cork 96Vi 



Cash delivered at New York 66' 



THE PEACH CURL FUNGUS. 

 Soon after the peach leaves unfold from the 

 bud, and before they have reached one-half 

 their natural size, they are frequently seen to 

 be distorted into very strange shapes, and of 

 an unnatural color, often variegated with red, 

 and otherwise highly colored. This is the 

 " peach curl " and is an old prevalent injuri- 

 ous deformity, the cause of which has been 

 variously ascribed to aphids, or plant lice, 

 lack of some food element in the soil, &c. 

 The trouble is due to the parasitic plant Of 

 the low order of fungi, which grows within 

 the tissue of the young peach leaf, and brings 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[September, 



about the peculiar external appearance so 

 often met with in the peach orchard at this 

 season of the year. The fungus does not con- 

 fine itself to the leaves, but works in the 

 young stems, causing them to take on strange 

 shapes and unnatural colors, and finally with- 

 er, turn brown and at last die. 



Tliis pest, though somewhat different in its 

 manner of growth, is a close relative of the 

 fungus known as the black knot, which has 

 proved so destructive to the plum and cherry 

 trees. The black knot is a much more con- 

 spicuous parasite than the peach curl, as it 

 works almost entirely upon the stems, and 

 evon large branches, and becomes very notice- 

 able from the distortions and black color 

 which the branches assume. The only reme- 

 dy for the "curl " is the one of the knife. All 

 the branches with their leaves, which are af- 

 fected, should be cut off aud burned. The 

 disease (if the term disease may be used in 

 this sense) is propagated by^means of small 

 spores that are found in the leaves later in 

 the .season, and by burning they are destroyed. 

 The "curl" is easily seen when once the eye 

 is trained for it, and an orchard, unless it is 

 badly affected, can be gone over iu a short 

 time. There is no doubt that it is injurious, 

 and it is also evident that unless means are 

 taken to keep it in check the trouble may in- 

 crease, and in time become a serious matter 

 in tlie peach orchards. Those who have had 

 their plum orchards ruined by the black knot 

 know something of the way in which a fungus 

 can destroy valuable fruit trees. The peach 

 curl belongs to the same destructive class. 



THE DISCOVERY OF SILK. 



The discovery of silk is attributed to one of 

 the wives of the emperor of China, Hoang- 

 ti, who reigned about two thousand years 

 before the Christian era ; and since that time 

 a special spot has been allottedin the gardens 

 of the Chinese royal palace to the cultivation 

 of the mulberry tree — called in Chinese the 

 " golden tree " — and to the keeping of silk 

 worms. The first silk dress iu history was 

 made, not for a sovereign nor for a pretty 

 woman, but for the monster in human shape, 

 Heliogabalus. Persian monks, who came to 

 Constantinople, revealed to the Emperor Jus- 

 tinian the secret of the production of silk, and 

 gave him some silk worms. From Greece 

 the art passed into Italy at the end of the 

 thirteenth century. When the popes left 

 Rome to settle at Avignon, France, they 

 introduced into that country the secret 

 which had been kept by the Italians ; and 

 Louis XI. established at Tours a manufactory 

 of silk fabrics. 



Francis I. founded the Lyons silk works 

 which to this day have kept the first rank. 

 Henry II., of France, wore the first pair of 

 silk hose ever made, at the wedding of his 

 sister. The word "satin," which in the orig- 

 nal was applied to silk stuffs in general, has 

 since the last century been used to designate 

 tissues which present alustered surface. The 

 discovery of this particular brilliant stuff" was 

 accidental. Otavio Mai, a silk weaver, find- 

 ing business very dull, and not knowing what 

 to invent to give a new impulse to the trade, 

 was one day pacing to and fro before his 

 loom. Every time he passed the machine, 

 with no definite object in view, he pulled 



little threads from the warp and put them to 

 his mouth which soon after he spat out. Later 

 on he found a little ball of silk on the floor 

 of his workshop, aud was attracted by the 

 brilliant appearance of the threads. He re- 

 peated the experiment, and by using certain 

 mucilaginous preparations succeeded in giv- 

 ing satin to the world. — Hatters^ Gazette. 



TOBACCO CULTURE. 

 We come now to the final operation of the 

 tobacco grower on his crop while still in the 

 field— cutting and housing it— and here as 

 everywhere else along the line, the utmost 

 care, prudence and judgment must be exer- 

 cised. It is just as possible for the planter to 

 damage his crop through ignorance or neglect 

 at this final stage, after having safely brought 

 it through all its previous besetting dangers, 

 as at any previous period of the season's opera- 

 tions. What has been so carefully watched 

 and guarded, therefore, through the many 

 many weary days of early spring and summer, 

 deserves especial attention at the final moment 

 when the farmer can almost see that his sea- 

 son's work is about to be amply rewarded. 

 To cut and house his crop in the best possible 

 manner is all important, and to tell him how 

 to do this, will be our aim in the present 

 chapter. 



The Test of Ripeness. 



In from two to three weeks after it has been 

 topped the tobacco plant begins to ripen. The 

 change that then occurs in the plant is very 

 marked and not to be mistaken, even by an 

 observant novice. The uniform green color 

 of the leaves is no longer maintamed. They 

 assume a mottled or spotted appearance. 

 These spots are not always alike in color, but 

 are by turns yellowish, reddish and brownish. 

 They are discernible at a considerable distance 

 from the plant. The upper leaves, should 

 also have expanded until they approach the 

 lower ones in size, and the plant generally 

 presents something of a' uniform appearance. 

 If, however, these signs are not suflicient, an- 

 other is at hand to lend its confirmation. 

 When ripe, the leaves become more brittle 

 and when taken between the thumb and fing- 

 ers and doubled up they break easily. Either 

 of these indications is an infalible sign of ma- 

 turity, although the former is much the safest 

 guide to a new beginner. By watching it 

 closely he cannot de deceived or make a mis- 

 take. 



When to Cut Tobacco. 



In a plant that matures as slowly as tobacco, 

 there are as a matter of course various stages 

 of ripeness, which may perplex the grower 

 somewhat. At what particular stage shall he 

 cut it ? While under-ripe— fully ripe — or over 

 ripe ? And this we may say is a very impor- 

 tant matter for the grower of seedleaf tobacco, 

 as experience has demonstrated to the old 

 growers of this county. Several important con- 

 siderations come to the front which cannot be 

 ignored. If the heaviest possible yield is the 

 only object, then, undoubtedly, a fully ripe 

 plant will give the most weight. Then the 

 plants have attained their fullest possible de- 

 velopment, and are richest in gum, which 

 does not evaporate as the ordinary juices of 

 the plant do, but remains,addiug to the weight. 

 Cutting tobaccos, those grown in the South 

 and used for the manufacture of plug tobacco 



