i42 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[September, 



used on the Water Street Gates of the old Lancaster 

 Jail. 



Mr. Jacob Rotharmel donates a small looking 

 glass said to have belonged to Thos. Jefferson, the 

 sage of Mouticello. This was presented to his bro- 

 ther, the late Henry Rotharmel, by his friend Jno. 

 P. Halbach, of Charlottsville, Va., in 1851. 



Mr. D. Bitner donates a sample of Jersey marl, 

 and a bone found therein, supposed to be a vertebral 

 section of a Shark. _ 



Mr. J. M. Westhaeffer donates a number of hir- 

 sute concretions supposed to be disgorged pellets of 

 a screech-owl. 



Mr- Campbell and Master donate male and 



female eggs of the spectre insect (^Spectrum femor- 

 attnm). 



Two Bne specimens of the "Virginia Horned Owl" 

 (Bubo Virginiaiius) were sent by Mr. J. P. Hamble- 

 ton, but the Taxidermist thought their plumage too 

 imperfect to make good specimens for a museum, 

 being shot in the month of August. 



Dr. Rogers, U' S. N., donated a specimens of 

 Yellow Oxide Iron, one of Pumice Stone, one of Sul- 

 phate of Ammonia and Potash, one of Black Scorio, 

 and a cotton boll, all from Egypt. 



Professor Stahr donated a large specimen of Chlo- 

 rite. 



Mrs. Zell, donated a large specimen of Stizus 

 grandis, commonly called " Locust Killer" — order 

 Hymenoptera. 



Library. 



Nos. 4, 5 and 7. Vol. 30. Official. 



Gazette of United States Patent Office. 



Nos. 1, 2 and 4. Circulars qf information from the 

 Lancaster Bureau of Education. 



Lancaster Farmer for August, 1S81. 



August number Boston Book Bulletin. 



Four envelopes containing tifty historical and bio- 

 graphical scraus. ' 



New and Deferred Business. 

 Action on the two deferred propositions before Soci- 

 ety at the last stated meeting was for cause post- 

 poned until the next meeting : and that cause was 

 mainly the limited attendance. 



Dr. B. T. Rogers, U. S. Navy; and Rev. Geo. 

 Gaul, Glenmore, Chester co., were unanimously 

 elected correspondents of the Society. 



The Society then adjourned to the last Saturday 

 In September ('ilth). 



AGRICULTURE, 



Suggestions of and for the Season. 

 The leading farm work for September, in many 

 parts of the United States, is the sowing of the fall 

 crops. This involves putting the soil in thorough 

 readiness, and the selection, and sowing of the seed. 

 There are a number of essentials in the proper prep- 

 aration of the seed bed, all of which should obtain 

 in every field devoted to a grain crop. The soil should 

 be rich either by the accumulated fertility of long 

 years of undisturbed vegetation — the virgin soil, or 

 made so by the addition of a fertilizer in the form of 

 barn-yard dung or the so-called "chemical ma- 

 nures." Of these two, that made in the barn-yard 

 and stable is to be the first chosen, and the super- 

 phosphates and other "salts" only used as a supple- 

 ment to the barn-yard manure, or in cases where the 

 latter is not to be obtained. Next to richness should 

 comea fine tilth. This requires thatthesoil be plow- 

 ed in a thorough manner, and afterwards stirred 

 with the harrow or some other cultivator— in fact 

 with any implement, until the lumps are reduced, 

 and the whole soil is in a fine, mellow state. The 

 importance of the mellowness of the soil for all 

 seeds can not be too strongly insisted upon, as with- 

 out it the seeds do not come into intimate contact 

 with the particles of earth, and therefore cannot 

 make a good start, and many of them will not grow 

 at all. With a good supply of plant food, in a con- 

 lition to be readily taken up by the young plants, 

 the next thing is to select the seed, and sow it prop- 



erly. To put the matter of selection in a nut shell — 

 sow the'best seed to be found, even if it costs double 

 that of the ordinary sort. When the fact becomes 

 more thoroughly known that of two kinds of grain, 

 for example, under identical conditions, one will 

 yield twice as much as the other, more attention will 

 be given to a proper selection of seed. It is not for 

 us to say which variety of wheat or other grain is 

 the best; that depends upon local circumstances and 

 conditions, and each farmer must, after careful 

 study, decide such matters for himself. The "Claw- 

 son" wheat is at present taking a high rank for yield 

 and quality in many lo'-alities. It may not be the 

 best for all places. Were it not for the Hessian Fly, 

 early sowing of wheat should he recommended in all 

 cases. Late sowing is a disadvantage in itself, as 

 the plants make a smaller growth before winter sets 

 in. The richer the soil the later the sowing may be 

 done with safety.— ^)»erica« Agriculturist fo.i Sep- 

 tember. 



Plowing and Pulverizing. 



Our first plowing, some fifty years ago, was done 

 with a wooden mould-board. Then came in the 

 wrought iron mould-board, hammered out by the 

 blacksmith; About forty years ago the introduction 

 of the cast iron mould-board, with replaceable 

 points, caused no little excitement among farmers, 

 as these could be produced so much more cheaply 

 than wrought-iron, and being harder they wore long- 

 er. But on our stony farms the gain was partly 

 counterbalanced by the breaking of the "points," 

 and often of the "land-side" and even mould-board 

 itself. A few years later the steel mould-board and 

 points came into use, and subsequently the chilled 

 iron plows. But during all these fifty years of im- 

 provement, and from time immemovial before that, 

 the chief ends aimed at have been the perfecting of 

 the old instrument, in form, in material, in the 

 frame, in coulters, guiding wheels, etc. The princi- 

 ple has been the same, viz., the cutting oflf of a fur- 

 row slice and inverting it more or less perfectly. 



But there has all the while been the feeling that 

 Jethro Tull was right in claiming that thorough 

 pulveriiing the soil was the great requioite of cultiva- 

 tion. And to secure this we have had a succession 

 of implements devised, as cultivators, rotary diggers, 

 rotary harrows, etc. Most of them have been valu- 

 able so far as they have helped towards dividing the 

 soil, so as to provide a finer seed bed. But we are 

 inclined to believe that Charles E. Saekett has now 

 made such modifications and additions to the com- 

 mon plow, as to amount to a radical and most valu- 

 able change in its mode of operation and in the de- 

 sirable results produced. Here is a general idea of 

 it : First a surface plow which is readily and quick- 

 ly adjusted to cut oflT two, three, or four inches in 

 depth of the soil, and turn it well over into the bot- 

 tom of the previous furrow. Following this, upon 

 the same bearer or frame, is another plow, adjust- 

 able to take up a sub-furrow of any desired depth. 

 But this second, or subslice, is not merely turned 

 over in a mass upon the top of the first one with only 

 such breaking as the lifting and turning over will 

 secure. Quite different; upon the frame is an open- 

 work wrought iron wheel or cylinder, say 40 inches 

 in diameter, which follows upon and smooths down 

 in part the first turned slice of land, with its grass, 

 stubble, weeds, etc. The second furrow is thrown 

 into this revolving wheel, and carried round and 

 round on its inside, among its teeth, and against its 

 open-work bars on the rim' and outer side, and it is 

 so broken and pulverized that it drops out upon the 

 buried sod or surface furrow. The result is, that the 

 soil is pulverized quite as much as it could be done 

 with roller and harrow, and without any trampling 

 or packing by teams ; it is left light and fine and in 

 excellent condition for receiving seed. There is also 

 provision for attaching both seed drill and fertilizer 

 distributor. In brief, at one operation the soil is 

 plowed, finely divided, sod, stubble, etc., buried, and 

 seed sown. There are several simple, ingenious de- 

 vices for raising and lowering the plows and wheels, 

 lor various depths, for turning at the side of the 



field, for self-transporting, etc., etc., that would 

 need engravings and lengthy descriptions to explain 

 them fully. — American Agriculturist for Septembir . 



Horticulture. 



_ Preserving Grapes for Winter. 

 As autumn approaches, we receive a number of in. 

 quiries as to the method of preserving grapes foe 

 \finter use. It is not generally understood that there 

 is as much difference in grapes, with respect to thoir 

 kcepiug,.a6 there is with other fruits. No one would ex^ 

 pect to keep Early Harvest apples or Bartlett pears 

 for the holidays, and it is so with the most generally 

 cultivated grape, the Concord ; it cannot be made to 

 kcp in good condition long after it is fairly ripe, 

 With other varieties it is different. There are some 

 localities where that grand old grape, the Catawba, 

 can still be cultivated with success, and, where this 

 is the case, one need hardly to look for a better va- 

 riety. The Isabella still succeeds in some places, 

 and is "a fair keeper. Better than either, if not the 

 best of all grapes, the lona gives good crops in some 

 places, as does tlie Diana. Where either of these, 

 the Isabella, Catawba, lona or Diana, can be grown,-, 

 there is no difficulty in keeping them until the first of 

 the New Year, or later. The grapes are allowed to 

 ripen fully; they are picked, and placed in shallow- 

 trays, in which they remain in an. airy room 

 "cure." The operation of curing consists merely in s 

 sort of wilting, by which the skin becomes toughe 

 ed, and will not break when the fruit is packed. The j 

 clusters, when properly "cured," are packed in box- 1 

 es, usually of three or five pounds each. The bottomJ 

 ol the box is opened, the larger clusters laid in care-i 

 fully, and smaller bunches packed in upon the 

 such a manner that it will require a moderate pres- 

 sure to bring the cover (or, properly, the bottom) 

 of the box to its place, where it is nailed down. The 

 pressure used is such that when the top of the box is 

 opened, the grapes next to it are found to be some- 

 what flatened. The fruit must be pressed in such a 

 manner thatr it can not shake in travel, and this can 

 only be done with grapes the skin of which has been 

 tougtiened by being properly cured. If clusters were 

 placed in the box as they come from the vines, and 

 subjected to the needed pressure, the skin would 

 crack around the stems, liberating the juice, and the 

 whole would soon pass into decay. Towards Christ- 

 mas and New Year's many tons of the varieties we 

 have named come to the New York market in excel- 

 ent condition. New varieties of grape, of great ex- 

 cellence, have recently been introduced, but we have 

 yet to learn as to their keeping qualities. With the 

 Concord and related varieties, the skin is too tender 

 to allow of long keeping, and it does not seem to 

 toughen in the curing process. Still, with these, the 

 season for home use may be condsiderabiy prolonged. 

 The late Mr. Knox found that he could keep the 

 Concord for some time by placing the thoroughly 

 ripened clusters in baskets or boxes, with the leaves 

 of the vine below and between them. We do not 

 know how long this will keep these grapes, but we 

 saw some in excellent condition several weeks after 

 the harvest was over. Those who set grape-vines 

 should be aware that no one variety will meet every 

 requiremeut, and that the earlier the variety, the less 

 likely it will be to keep. — American Agriculturist for 

 September. 



Two Good Pears. 



The Giffard pear we regard as'the most desirable 

 variety among the early pears; and although we re- 

 gret that it is not much grown, it ought to be found 

 upon every farm and in eveiy garden. It is shapped 

 like the Tyson, but does not get as much of a red 

 cheek in ripening, and for that reason is not a very 

 attractive variety in the market. It is a rampant 

 grower, an early and constant bearer and of excel- 

 lent quality. We are sure that when once introduced 

 nobody will be without it. We have had it in our 

 fruit-list for a number of years, and we shall have 

 for gratuitous distribution next spring a large num- 



