1881.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



189 



then tied into bundles and set up Into shocks where 

 it will keep iu a tolerably green condition and make 

 excellent winter feed. 



Clinton Way read a selection, which had been 

 handed him, on the scarcity of farmers' wives in the 

 Nmv England States, stating that women competent 

 and willinfr to do the indoor work of the farm are 

 scarce or not to be had at all. The cooking is of a 

 kind to make an outdoor laborer a dyspeptic ; and a 

 hired man, if one is needed, must Und his food else- 

 where. None of the girls on a farm arc trained to 

 remain on it. 



Mabel A. Haines read a reply, statin;; that the 

 fact is and has been for a long time that the farmer's 

 wile is expected to do the work of throe or four 

 women with very imperfect facilities oflcn for doing 

 the work of one. She must be cook, laundry maid, 

 dairy maid, kitchen girl, mother, wife, nurse, seam- 

 stress, and attend to the raising of the pigs, calves 

 and poultry. Her husband, in his work, will have 

 mowers, reapers and all the modern machinery, 

 while she has only her two hands. In nine cases out 

 of ten her kitchen is ill-arranged, and she must 

 draw water, bring in wood and do everything at a 

 disadvantage. The farmer must not expect more 

 manual labor from his wife than from his hired man. 

 Who ever knew of a farmer's wife to sit down in the 

 middle of the day and rest for an hour ? Yet every 

 hired man claims this as his right. When the 

 " woman question " has gone so far that men have 

 to do the indoor farm work, and know how it is 

 themselves, they will effect such changes as will 

 make women willing to come back again and do 

 cheerfully and easily what will then be expected 

 an-3 desired of them. 



Emma King recited "Lucy's Lover." 



Should a farmer make a specialtyof one parlicular 

 kind of business, or follow what is known as a mixed 

 husbandry? was adopted as a question for discussion 

 at the next meeting, which will be held at Josiah 

 Brown's, n the first Saturday in next mouth. 



LINN.ffi:AN SOCIETY 



The Society met on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 26, 

 1881, in the Hall of the T. M. C. A., with President 

 J. S. Stahrin the Chair, and Dr. M. L. Davis, Sec'y. 

 The meeting was well attended, and with manifest 

 interest in behalf of the Society. 



After the usual preliminaries, the following dona- 

 tions were announced : 



Museum. 



A specimen of Oats from Huntingdonshire, Eng., 

 selected from a growing spot in a field. 



A specimen of Black Tartary Oats, from the sta- 

 bles oi the O'Donovans, Ireland ; grown with vetch- 

 es to support them, and cut and fed green. 



Specimens of Tares or Vetches, Huntingdonshire, 

 Eng., cut and fed green. 



Two specimens of Heather from the same locality, 

 all of which were collected and donated by Mrs. P. 

 E. Gibbons. 



Library. 



Contagious Diseases of Animals, one vol. -^91 pp. 

 octavo, illustrated, from Department of Agriculture. 



Circular of Information, Bureau of Education, 79 

 pp. octavo, from Department of the Interior. 



Two pamphlets on Discipline of Schools, and Edu- 

 cation of Crime, from the same. 



Nos. 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20, vol. 20, Official Patent 

 Office (iazette, from the same. 



Lancaster Farmer for Movember, 1881. 



The Sugar-Bect, for November, 18M. 



Four Book Catalogues, Foreign and Domestic. 

 Historical. 



A 820.00 bankbill on the Marietta and Susque- 

 hana Trading Company, date January flth, 1S18; a 

 $1.00 bill on the Egg Harbor Bank, dale Oct. 1, 18fii ; 

 a ?2.00 bill on the Marine Bank of Baltimore, date 

 April 25th, 1861; a $2.00 Dill on the Union Bank of 

 Reading, date Dec.lst,lS<;0; a $3.00 bill on the Bank of 

 New Jersey, May 1st, 1856; a 52.00 bill on the Farmers' 

 and Merchants' Bank, of Mlddletown Point, New 



Jersey, date May.lst,'1860. All of whlch'.wcrc^do- 

 nated by Mr. Wm. II. Bullas. 



Three envelopes confaiulng 51 scraps of Biography 

 and History, collected by the Curators. 

 Deferred Business. 



"Uic resolution offered by Dr. Davis at; the July 

 .Meeting, was considered and adopted, and Dr. 

 Davis, President Stahr and C. A. Helnltsh were ap 

 l>olnted the ^commlttce.'thercon, with,'power to ap 

 point 'sub-eommlttecmen, ''either from members or 

 friends.of the society. The object of this resolution 

 is to take cognl/.ancv of such moral and material 

 support as may come within the experience and ob- 

 servation of the committees for advancing the Inter- 

 est and efficiency of the society, and to report Us 

 progress from time to time at Its meetings. 



The committee ,to report upon the expediency of 

 changing' the time of mecllngj and diminishing the 

 number of meetings, referred the question back again 

 to the society, and was discharged. 



Dr. Davis offered the following resolution, which 

 was unamimouslyladopted: 



licsolvcd, That the society hold day and evening 

 meetings alternately; the evening meetings to be on 

 the last Friday cvenlngof eachjalternato month, at 

 7 o'clock, p. m., and that the Secretary shall notify 

 the members of the time and place of^meetlng. 



Mr. Rathvon called she>ttentlou of the society to 

 the fact, that the February meeting 1882, Would be 

 the twentieth anniversary of the society. 



-Mr. H. M. Herr, of .MillersvUle, was proposed, as 

 an active member of the society. 



Under Science Gossip, Mrs. Gibbons gave some In- 

 teresting details of the mode and manner of conduct- 

 ing society meetings in England. 



After the usual pleasant intercourse, the society 

 adjourned to meet in annual conclave, on Friday 

 evening, December .lOth, 1881. 



AGRICULTURE. 



The Great Grain States. 

 An extra census bulletin just issued, givinir the 

 cereal production of the United States by counties 

 for the year ending June 30, 18S0, shows the States 

 which lead in the enormous grain yield of the coun- 

 try, Illinois may be said to head the column. It pro- 

 duces the most wheat, corn and oats, and ranks 

 second in the production of rye. California leads in 

 barley and Pennsylvania in rye. New York is first in 

 buckwheat, second In barley and third in rye and 

 oats. The great wheat States are Illinois, which 

 raised flfty-oue million bushels ; Indiana, forty-seven ; 

 Ohio, forty-six ; Michigan, thirty-five ; Iowa, thirty- 

 one ; California, twenty-nine ; Missouri, twenty-five, 

 and Wisconsin, twenty-four. In these States were 

 produced nearly three-fourths of the "whole wheat 

 crop of the country. Nearly a third of the entire 

 corn yield of the United Slates was grown in Illinois, 

 whose product amounted to three hundred and 

 twenty-five million bushels. The other great corn 

 States are Iowa, which produced two hundred and 

 seventy-five million bushels; .Missouri, two hundred 

 and two; Indiana, one hundred and fifteen ;■ Ohio, 

 one hundred and eleven, and Kansas one hundred 

 and five. Of oats the product In Illinois was sixty- 

 three million bushels ; Iowa, fifty; New York, thirty- 

 seven ; Pennsylvania, thirty -three ; Wisconsin, thirty- 

 two; Ohio, tweuty-eight ; .Minnesota, twenty-three, 

 and Missouri, twenty. California and New York 

 contribute nearly half of the barley crop of the 

 United States, the former showing a production of 

 twelve and the latter seven million bushels, while 

 Iowa follows with four and Minnesota three million 

 bushels. Two-thirds of the buckwheat grown in the 

 United States are credited to New York and Pennsyl- 

 vania in the proportion of four and a half million 

 bushels to the former and three and a half lo the 

 latter. The leading rye States are Pennsylvania, 

 with a crop of three and a half million bushels, Illi- 

 nois three. New York two and a half, Wisconsin two 

 and Iowa one. We may add that the entire yield of 

 tbe United States was four hundred and Ifiy-nine 



million bushels of wheat, one billion seven hundred 

 and fifty-four million of corn, four hundred and seven 

 million of oats, twenty million of rye, forty-four mll- 

 lioD of barley and twelve million of buckwheat. — 

 Xcxo York Herald. 



Broom Corn Seed 

 The "Vnlli'y Farmer" makes the following state- 

 ment as to a new use of broom corn seed: Broom 

 c'irn Is likely, at no distant day, lo revolutionize the 

 bread-stuff supply of the world. A process has been 

 discovered by which the finest and most dcllcloui 

 flour can be made from the seed to the extent of ore- 

 half its own weight, and leave the other half a val- 

 uable food for beef and milk. The average yieldi 

 per acre is three hundred, and In a number of In- 

 stances, five hundred bushels, or thirty thousand 

 pounds, have been secured. Nor does It exhaust 

 the soil as Indian corn, from the fact that II feedi 

 on the dee|>er soil and assimilates its food from a 

 crude state. It belongs lothv same genus as sorghum, 

 which, as an article of food. Is growing In public 

 esteem, and from the seed of which, u most nutri- 

 tious flour can be obtained 



Lime in Agriculture. 



All writers on ai:ricullural subji<ctB seem to aj^ree 

 that the use of lime on clay soil Is of great benefit, 

 crops thus treated showing the advantage of Its mix- 

 ture withthe soil. A correspondent of the Farnurt' 

 /ieview wriles from France that the European farm- 

 ers coincide with our agriculturists In this respect, 

 and concludes as follows : 



"The extensive use of lime Is excellent for clay 

 soils. Argil augments In volume when moist — but 

 dindnlshes when dry. Carbonate of lime jxtsBessea 

 neither of these properties; applied then to cold clay 

 soils it enables the air and heal to penetrate more 

 readily, thus making the laud friable. On light soils 

 the action of lime is weak, and on those very light 

 the use of lime Is misplaced. But as the action of 

 lime rapidly transforms the nutritive capital of the 

 land. Its success cannot be pt^rmanent uulcs ration- 

 ally supplemented by direct fertilizers, as farm yard 

 manure, etc. Hence the adage, 'Lime enriches the 

 father, but ruins the children.' If the soil have an 

 excess of acids, lime 'sweetens' by neutralizing them: 

 all cultivated soils arc slightly add, such being ne- 

 cessary for vegetation. Too much, acts directly on 

 plants, and indirectly by the formation of soluble 

 and noxious salts of Iron." 



Nevy Seed Wheat Necessary. 

 Seed wheat Is not so long-lived as supposed, and 

 wheat growers will do well to pay some heed to the 

 facts, that of seed gathered one year and sown the 

 next about two grains In a hundred will fail to grow; 

 if two years, old, fifteen; if three years old, thirty to 

 forty; if four years old, about ninety-five In every 

 hundred. These figures are based on the supposllioD 

 that the wheal is sound and has not been Injured by 

 a damp harvest. The stories about Mummy wheat, 

 etc., arc all of one class and have no foundation, lo 

 fact, when viewed from a botanical standpoint to 

 this age of universal and perfect knowledge. The 

 fact is that seed dies after an existence of three or 

 four years. Fre9h and new seed is as essential as a 

 proper cultivation, lo say the least. Another fact 

 should be kepi in view, and that Is, that If the same 

 kind of wheat be grown on the same land year after 

 year, succc'sslvcly, the result will be a poor yield and 

 an Impoverished soil. A good rotation for this 

 country Is from wheal to barley and from barley to 

 oats, as near as may be each year. At all events 

 grow a different kind of wheal on a piece of ground 

 each year. Different kinds of wheat are supposed to 

 contain the various elements In somewhat dlflerent 

 proportions; for this reason a change of seed cannot 

 help but be a benefit. There are enough standard 

 names lo allow a farmer lo have various sorts to sow. 



Notes on Indian Com. 



To Improve corn, one should study the planU on 



which he Intends to experiment. Let htm Uke pat- 



