20 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ February 1 



provide them in due season; repair the old 

 ones, examine and realize, if need be, the 

 gashes of the forcing frames, long before they 

 are actually required; overhaul his stock of 

 seeds, and make out a list of those which may 

 be needed, so that they may be in hand before 

 the time of sowing: thus not only his inte- 

 rest, but his personal comtort will be advanc- 

 ed, and those little trifles which perplex the 

 careless and improvident, may be made sources 

 of enjoyment. With each duty discharged 

 at the proper time, with "a place for every 

 thing and everything in its place,'' many 

 rough spots m life's journey may be made 

 smoother. — Landreth^s Eur. Reg. 



Comment on the above is unnecessary. It 

 speaks for itself, and contains the essence of 

 the admonition— "He that is forewarned is 

 forearmed,"— or at least he may be, if he 



will. 



^ 



POULTRY EXHIBITION. 



This rare peageant, which finally closed on 

 Wednesday evening at 10 o'clock, January 18, 

 1882, was the distinguishing feature of the 

 month, in the domestic history of Lancaster 

 county; and, independent of its pecuniary 

 outcome, it may be "scored" as an unquali- 

 fied success, as it deserved to be. Whatever 

 indifference may be manifested in quarters 

 from which we would naturally look for active 

 sympathy, one thing seems certain; namely, 

 that there is considerable of a "chicken- 

 fever" in Lancaster city and county, and any 

 one who visited the exhibition must have been 

 impressed with the evidence that the chicken 

 was determined to be "seen and heard." 



The "birds" themselves, very graphically 

 represented the different nationalities of the 

 human family, and their vociferations, atti- 

 tudinizings, genuflections and gyrations may 

 fitly have represented the babel and the move- 

 ments upon some foreign quay, where diverse 

 nations are wont to meet in promiscuous in- 

 tercourse, although limited by a ruling power 

 apart from themselves. The awards of the 

 premiums will be found on another page in 

 this number of tlie Farmer, where it finds a 

 permanent record and may be referred to by 

 those who participated in the exhibition, when 

 other records have perished. xVnd that is not 

 all. It stands as a limng record, creditable to 

 the energy and perseverance of its originators 

 and conductors. 



RULES AND EXCEPTIONS. 



Hybrids Not Always Barren. 

 The general sterility of the mule has given 

 rise to an Impression that hybrids are gene- 

 rally sterile, and indeed the term mule and 

 hybrid have become almost synonymous. Sci- 

 entific agriculturists and other philosophers 

 have even built theories on this suppc^sed uni- 

 versal sterility, and we are not sure but some 

 theories in the popular general science of the 

 day are founded on those supposed facts. But 

 as "one swallow does not make a summer, so 

 does not this one great fact about the mule 

 make a general law. Facts opposing this gen- 

 eral application of the principle are numerous 

 and must be familiar to most observing per- 

 sons. One of the most interesting that we 

 have seen recently relates to the progeny of 

 the common buffalo and the domestic cow. 

 The progeny breed freely and are said to be 

 good milkers, and there is even some prospect 

 that the fact may be utilized in the pr. duction 

 of a very hardy and valuable race. 



It is to be regretted that the race of obser^" 

 ers is so limited, while students evryewhere 

 abound. Though the fact that hybrids are not 

 necessarily sterile is sustained by numerous 

 instances if people will only look about them, 

 few know of it who are studying up these 

 questions, not because they do not exist, but 

 because they are not in the books.'' — German- 

 town Telegraph. 



Time was, within our remembrance, when 

 the mule was booked and discussed without an 

 exception, as a perfectly sterile animal, but, 

 subsequently a voice came up from Alabama 

 that a female mule had foaled, just as any 

 other female animal of the horse kind would. 

 This then was an exception to the rule, in the 

 minds of those who credited the story. Then 

 came a similar report from Florida, from 

 Kentucky and elsewhere, but nothing authen- 

 ticated, save by newspaper paragraphs. Per- 

 haps none of these cases were sufficiently au- 

 thentic to break the theoretical rule in the 

 minds of many scientists. Now however, ac- 

 cording to our extract below, taken from the 

 National Live Stock Journal, the French sa- 

 vants at least, have been compelled to admit 

 the fact. This, of course totally destroys the 

 rule, because that can hardly be considered a 

 rule to which there are so many exceptions; 

 and yet there are admitted rules to which, it 

 is said, there are more exceptions than cases 

 that are covered by the rule. 



But, then, single isolated facts, however 

 well attested, do not entirely exhaust tlie 

 subject, for there are phases of the question 

 suggested by both of our quotations, that 

 would seem to need a more deffinite exem- 

 plification, especially in regard to the fer- 

 tilizing animal— whether an asinus or a ca- 

 ballus. Moreover, the fertile or non-fertile 

 character of the progeny involves a question 

 of some interest. If the cause of this depar- 

 ture from a general rule can be determined, 

 the matter might be turned to additional 

 profit in mule-culture. As the Telcgrajjhsug- 

 gests, it would be well for tliose "who are 

 studying up these questions," to investigate, 

 and if they can find nothing "in the books," 

 to see that it is duly placed on record there. 

 A Breeding Mare Mule. 



A breeding mare mule was recently exhib- 

 ited at theJardin d'Acclimatation in Paris, 

 which has produced three colts. As the 

 French savants have hitherto been very in- 

 credulous as to reports of mule breeding, it 

 is stated that they carefully inquired into this 

 case, and became satisfied that it was true. 

 We have heard of mare mules occasionally 

 breeding in America, but we do not recollect 

 the year and locality of this, or whether the 

 sire was a jack or a stallion, and shall be 

 obliged to any of our readers wlio can furnish 

 these particulars; also, what sort of an ani- 

 mal the produce turned out to be. In the 

 above instance of mule breeding in France, 

 the sire was a stud-horse. — Chicago Live- 

 StoVk Journal. 



WRITING FOR THE FARMER. 



Friend Rathvon: "Why is it that our peo- 

 ple of Lancaster county will not write more 

 for the Farmer? Surely there are many who 

 could give valuable information. More origi- 

 nal matter would make the paper more inte- 

 resting."— J. i3. G. 



" That's so " — eminently and absolutely so 

 — and yet tlie desirable thing is not done; 

 but we can conscientiously .say it is not 

 through any example, any unwillingness, or 



any refusal of ours. We have however erect- 

 ed no tribunal before which we arreign any 

 one for delinquencies of this kind. Contribu- 

 tions of this kind, like church contributions, 

 should be voluntary. There is no power ex- 

 cept self-compulsion that can be legitimately 

 exercised in such a matter. If those who are 

 able to write, choose to "pass over Jordan" 

 without having left a record for the benefit of 

 posterity, they are not accountable to us. It 

 would be a great relief to us, if we had more 

 intelligent contributors, and would greatly 

 add to the interest of the journal, the editor- 

 ial labors of which, have devolved upon us 

 these many years ; but we must reconcile our- 

 selves to the situation. It cannot continue 

 forever, and we do not believe that our con- 

 dition in the "forever" will be in the least 

 damaged through the labors we have endured 

 here ; because, when we go hence, we do not 

 expect, or even desire, to go to a land of 

 apathy and idleness, but to one of use and per- 

 petual progress; and our capacity of enjoy- 

 ment there will be proportioned to our eftbrts to 

 labor usefully here. . . . We wish some 

 one would answer our aged friend's query: we 

 confess we cannot. If the ship can be saved 

 by throwing us overboard, like Jonah of old, 

 we will cheerfully submit to the sacrifice. All 

 that we have borne in conducting the Farmer 

 thus far down the stream of time, may never 

 be known until our " book of life " is opened. 

 Perhaps, if a local journal were established to 

 advance the interests of our secular craft, we 

 might be as remiss in our contributions to its 

 columns as those are who ought to "write 

 for the Farmer ;" but we think we would 

 not. A lovetor writing however, must lieculti- 

 vated, founded on use, before men will be- 

 come habitual and voluntary writers; unless 

 they write for emolument, and then it be- 

 comes a task. 



In reply to our venerable friend's financial 

 inquiry, we would say, that liis remittance 

 was duly received and placed to the credit of 

 those for whom it was intended ; and the 

 acknowledgment will be found on the labels] 

 of the different papers. 



As pertinent to this subject, but without I 

 claiming that w fill the measure of the fol- 

 lowing from the columns of a coutemperary j 

 journal, we quote it as a morally wholesome ad- 

 monition to all. "Thousands of men breathe, j 

 move and live: pass off the stage of life, and < 

 are heard of no more. Why? They did not I 

 a particle of good in the world, and none 

 were blessed by them; none could point to] 

 them as the instruments of their redemption: 

 not a line they wrote, not a word they spoke, j 

 could be recalled, and they perished — their] 

 light went out in darkness and they were re- 

 memljered no more than the insects of yester- 

 day. Will you thus live and die? Live for] 

 some thing. Do good, and leave behind you a] 

 monument of virtue that the storms of time] 

 can never destroy. Good deeds will shine as | 

 bright on earth as the stars of heaven." 



EXCERPTS. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Georgia has fifty cotton mills in operation | 

 and others in course of erection. 



The last census return place the "defec- 

 tive " list of persons in the United States at J 



