THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



165 



perieuce narrated iu the second article is con- 

 clusive, because the writer has practically 

 "been there," and hence is fully qualified to 

 testify.— Ed.] 



■' The Coming Tree." 



A cotemporary contains an article under 

 this heading, in which the eucalyptus globu- 

 lus is referred to and which is spoken o£ as 

 just introduced into portions of the United 

 8tates, and that it is adapted to every pan of 

 the republic! Tlie article says further that it 

 is "hardier than, the chestnut, and like the 

 latter will grow in the rockiest soils." Also 

 that "for the Eastern and Middle States, where 

 the lack of forest protection is not unfreqiienl- 

 ly felt, no tree has been offered the culturisl 

 that can present so many primary points of 

 vantage as this Australian immigrant, and its 

 general introduction and culture should be a 

 matter of but little time." 



We have never seen an article of equal 

 length contain so much ignorance and so 

 many downright absurdities. In the tirst place, 

 this tree was introduced into the southern 

 parts of California about eight years ago, 

 where it flourishes very well, and is regarded 

 as a valuable tree in many respects. It will 

 do also in most of our Southern States; but to 

 say that it is adapted to tlie Eastern or Mid- 

 dle States proves that the writer of the article 

 in question was totally ignorant of what he 

 undertook to inform others. We might as 

 well expect the banana, the orange, the lemon, 

 the pineapple, the palm-tree, &c., to grow 

 here. During the Centennial celebration, a 

 ■ gentleman from California passing iu front of 

 our premises saw an eucalyptus growing in our 

 front yard and he was suri)rised at seeing it 

 so far North, that he stopped to examine it, 

 and said he had seen none so large since he 

 had left California. It grew during the sea- 

 sot about eight feet, but it fell a victim to the 

 first frost in th< latter part of October. The 

 plant was presented to us by Messrs. D. Lan- 

 drcth & Sons, and was groiun under glass. 

 When frost-bitten, the stem could be crushed 

 between the thumb and finger. 



We would, therefore, respectfully suggest 

 that this ought to dispose of. the eucalyptus 

 globulus, so far as it has anything to do with 

 the "Eastern and Middle States."— Gcrman- 

 town Telegraph. 



PENNSYLVANIA'S UNTILLED ACRES. 

 It is simply undeniable that for a quarter of 

 a century emigration from Europe has found 

 its way beyond the Alleghenies. The vast 

 area of unoccupied lands in the West has al- 

 ways had irresistible attractions for the 

 people from the Old World as well as those of 

 our older settled States. There is, of course, 

 some cause for this. Those lands could be 

 had from the government, without cost, in 

 tjieir natural state, and at very little more 

 from those who, having settled upon and 

 broken them up, were for some cause dissatis- 

 fied and longed for another change. Then, too 

 they were fresh and unworn, and gave maxi- 

 mum returns for a minimum amount of work. 

 This in itself was no small item. However men 

 may labor out of sheer love of work, they are 

 nevertheless not indifferent to the result. The 

 hardest worker looks for large returns. No- 

 where else does the soil yield such generous 



crops for so little labor. There were draw- 

 backs to he sure; the comforts of civilization 

 were, in a high degree, absent; the neighbors 

 were few and far awiiy; the roads were bad 

 and the markets distant; fuel and timber were 

 scarce; schools, churches and educational ad- 

 vantages generally were rarely attainablt?; the 

 prices for farm products were very low, and 

 there were besides scores of other drawbacks, 

 which the pioneers were compelled to undergo. 

 Still, the advantages seemed to be so largely 

 in favor of the unsettled West, that the sur- 

 plus population of the East, both of the city 

 and country, has swarmed westward until we 

 liave a mighty empire beyond the Mis.si.ssippi, 

 which is rapidly becoming the granary of the 

 world. This is not to be regretted. It has 

 developed our country with unexampled rapid- 

 ity. In a few years it has reclaimed millions 

 of acres from a state of nature and made them 

 subservient to the pressing needs of the human 

 family, thereby aiding the onward march of 

 progress. Then, too, this westward hegira 

 has received no little aid from extraneous sur- 

 roundings. As railroads were i)rojected 

 thi'ough these virgin lands, they flooded the 

 country with attractively-written pamphlets 

 and newspaper articles containing glowing 

 descriptions of the climate, soil and other at- 

 tractions of that country, and sounding the 

 praises of the advantages possessed by those 

 sections. Real estate speculators, land agents, 

 farm brokers, all entered the field, and be- 

 tween them such an enthusiastic spirit was 

 aroused and has not yet subsided, nor indeed 

 have the eftbrts of these m n at all abated in 

 their persistence and fervency. 



The result of all this has been to persuade 

 a great majority of people that there are no 

 lands worth having but those of the West; 

 that although there are thousands of acres of 

 timber aud othertinoccupied lands in Pennsyl- 

 vania, Virginia, New York and New Eng- 

 land, they were not worth looking up. Now, 

 it is vei'y certain, that the law of compensation 

 is about as universal as tliat of gravity itself. 

 No one section or country unites in itself all 

 the bounties of nature. The blessings and 

 good things of this life are very widely dis- 

 tributed. Some have their abiding places 

 here and others elsewhere, and there ai-e few 

 places where some may not be found. If 

 Kansas has a fruitful soil, rich and deep, she 

 has also ague, fevers, grasshoppers and low 

 prices. The good and the evil are blended 

 even there, as they are elsewhere, and her set- 

 tlers have often found that the skies grow 

 dark there just as they do elsewhere. 



The unsettled lauds of the Middle States 

 have been neglected during recent years, and it 

 seems strange that it should lie so. The ease 

 with which sixty or more bushels of corn can 

 be grown upon the unexhausted soil of Ne- 

 braska, has been too strong to be easily re- 

 sisted. 



Central and Northern Pennsylvania, as is 

 well known, was once heavily timbered and 

 much of the land iu certain counties is still 

 covered with pine forests. But the demands 

 of civilization have made heavy drafts upon 

 our timber resources, and there are to-day 

 many thousands of acres in Bradford, Tioga, 

 Centre and other counties from which the pine 

 woods have been cut and which are now 1} ing 

 uncultivated and idle. These lands are to be 



had at rates that compare favorably with 

 tho.se of the new states in the far West. They 

 are susceptible of a high state of cultivation, 

 and under judicious treatment can be made to 

 grow good crops. The soil, it is true, is thin, 

 but careful farming, such iis the wide awake 

 tillers of the soil in this aud neighboring coun- 

 ties are accustomed to, would soon render 

 them highly ^noductive. Experiments, care- 

 fully made, have demonstrated that any labor 

 bestowed onthiMn is amply rewarded, not only 

 iu the crops themselves, but iu a rapid appre- 

 ciation of the lands also, which almost invari- 

 ably return a large percentage on the money 

 invested. 



But there are other advantages tliat must 

 not be overlooked: Their nearness to market 

 goes far to counterbalance the heavier crops 

 of the West; they lie contiguous to the moBt 

 advanced civiliaition of the country; the lux- 

 uries of life are as accessible as its necessities; 

 the cultivation of special crops is rendered 

 profitable from the ready access to great city 

 markets; tlu; climate is at leaat equal, per- 

 haps we may l)e permitted to say better and 

 healthier, than the settlers on the Missouri 

 and the. Platte find it to be there ; the high 

 elevation isconducive to health and longevity; 

 the rain fall is more regular ; grasshoppers 

 are unknown, and so are the dreaded prairie 

 fires ; timber is still abundant and cheap ; 

 there are i)lenty of running streams ; aud al- 

 though some portions are' somewhat hilly and 

 mountainous, the wiud.sthat sweep over them 

 are not to be dreaded like those that at times 

 come upon the dwellers in the tiuiberless re- 

 gions of our western domain. 



These things are worth bringing Iwfore the 

 public. There is a large field open to emi- 

 grants of the right kind right here among the 

 pine land of Pennsylvania. Farmers of limited 

 means can do as well on them as they can in 

 localities that have been more highly lauded. 

 Life on a freshly turned quarter section in 

 Nebraska is not all sunshine, a.s Ihon.sanda 

 have long ago found out. A settler with 

 limited means can manage to make himself 

 more comfortable on i.ur Pennsylvania lauds 

 than he can by traveling fifteen hundred miles 

 westward. The money It costs to go there 

 would go far to make him comfortable here. 

 We are glad to learn that the State Board of 

 Agriculture is directing the attention of 

 Immigrants in this direction. We hope their 

 efforts will be successful, and that these idle 

 lands will in a few yeiirsbc made the pleasant 

 homes of thousands of thrifty farmers from 

 abroad, and that our native poi>uIation may 

 also turn their steps that way when the de- 

 sire to migrate seizes them.— JV. E. 



OUR Local Organizations. 



AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 



The Lancaster County A','rl('uUiiral and Horticul 

 lural Society met ataledly In their room over the 

 City Hall, at 2 o'clock in the afternooD, October 'i, 

 18S1. 



Tlic following members and visitors were present : 

 William 11. Broslus, Drumore; H. M. Englc, Mari- 

 etta ; Henry Kutz, Mount Joy ; C. L. Hunseckcr, 

 .Manheim; Joseph Armstrong, Marlic ; VV. J. Bick 

 nell, Fulton; Daniel Smeyth, city, F. K. Diffendcrffcr_ 

 city; W. W. Griest, city; C. A. Gaat, city; Calvin 

 Cooper, Bird-in-Hand ; M. D. Keudig, Creswell ; 

 Johnson Miller, Lititz; J. F. Landis, East Lampeter ; 



