38 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[March 



weeks if gathered as soon as laid and then 

 kept at a uniform temperature. 



In Lancaster county, Pa., last season, one 

 farmer sold his two acres yield of tobacco for 

 Sl,112; cost of labor, etc., S212; net profit, 

 $900. Another farmer realized $430 an acre 

 from three and a half acres, and another 

 $550 an acre from one and a half acres. They 

 think it pays. 



The exportation of potatoes, cabbages and 

 other vegetables from Germany to this coun- 

 try has constantly increased since it began last 

 fall. One steamer in October took out 8,100 

 heads of cabbage; four others have since left 

 with (3,000 bushels of potatoes, 11,000 head of 

 cabbage and 30 bags of turnips. It is said in 

 Germany, that additional shipments will be 

 made during the winter. 



A STRIP of land bordering on the Mediter- 

 ranean, about 100 miles long and five or six 

 wide, is the raisin-producing territory of 

 Spain. The Muscatel grapes are carefully 

 cut in August, laid on a sort of bed made of 

 fine pebbles, and dried, being turned often 

 until they are perfectly cured. Then they 

 are taken to the wine presses, where, after 

 being laid in trays, they are subjected to 

 heavy pressure, when they are ready for 

 market. 



Our readers must remember that only re- 

 cently has it been clearly demonstrated that a 

 dead branch on a tree makes almost as great 

 a strain on the main plant for moisture as 

 does a living one. It is one of the most im- 

 portant discoveries of modern botanical 

 science to the practical horticulturist, as by 

 this knowledge he can save many a valuable 

 tree. When one has been transplanted some 

 roots get injured, and the supply of moisture 

 in the best cases is more or less deficient. 

 Any dead branch or any weak one should, 

 therefore, be at once cut away. — Gardener's 

 Monthly. 



The Cincinnati Tobacco Journal, in order to 

 answer the question of how much seed is 

 necessary to plant an acre of tobacco, has 

 pursued an investigation and found this : In 

 one grain we found by actual count 1,494 

 seeds. This would make, by multiplying by 

 480, the number of grains in an ounce, 

 717,170 seeds to the ounce, and 8,605,440 seeds 

 to the pound. Estimating 5,000 pounds to 

 the acre, and supposing every seed vvfill make 

 a plant, every half ounce will plant nearly 72 

 acres, an ounce 144 acres, and one pound, 

 1,721 acres. As many farmers are contem- 

 plating planting largely this season, we re- 

 commend a careful study of these-figures. 



IIiKAM Warfl, of Conestoga townshii), had 

 eight hogs about a year old, which weighed 

 as follows, dressed: Killed two on November 

 2, weighing 434 and 416 pounds, respectively; 

 killed two on December 12, weighing 484 and 

 443 pounds, respectively; killed two on Janu- 

 ary 2, weighing 578 and 533 pounds, respec- 

 tively; and killed two on .January 31, weigh- 

 ing 529 and 628 pounds, respectively. 



Queen Elizabeth granted the fiist royal 

 patent conceded to players in 1.576. 



It takes 1920 silk worms to make a pound 

 of cocoons. 



Buffaloes are common in Ceylon, white 

 ones being sometimes found. 



Texas sells annually 400,000 head of cattle; 

 at $20 per head it foots up a grand aggregate 

 of $8,000,000. 



The amount of fruit shipped from Califor- 

 nia during the present season will bring about 

 $1,000,000 profit to the State. 



A Wisconsin farmer, twenty-three years 

 ago, planted a piece of waste land, unfit for 

 caltivation, with black walnut trees. The 

 trees are from sixteen to twenty inches in 

 diameter and have been sold for $27,000. 



It costs the people of Tennessee $1,000,000 

 annually to sneeze and u.se snuff". This is a 

 Nashville merchant's estimate of the annual 

 consumption of the article. 



France produced last year 750,000,000 gal- 

 lons of wine. Of these, 47,000,000 were made 

 from sugar, 51,000,000 from raisins, while 

 154,000,000 gallons were imported from Spain 

 and Italy, to " blend" with their home pro- 

 duct. No wonder everybody wants to drink 

 French wines; they are so pure. 



In a small grove which adjoins the Schcen- 

 berger residence near Cincinnati, an army of 

 crows take shelter every night. They assem- 

 ble by thousLinds an hour before dark, and an 

 old man living near the place says that to his 

 personal knowledge the same grove has been 

 their dormitory for sixty years. 



During leisure hours this month make a 

 simple hot-bid, even if it is no larger than a 

 dry-goods box from which the bottom and 

 top have been removed. This, if sawed in a 

 diagonal direction, will make two frames one 

 foot in height on the front side and twenty 

 to twenty-four inches on the rear side when 

 placed in position at the south side of a build- 

 ing or high plank fence. If no old sash are 

 at hand, cotton cloth, saturated with boiled 

 linseed oil, will answer a very good purpose. 

 No manure will be needed within the frames, 

 but fresh stable manure should extend one 

 foot beyond the frames on each side. 



Immense quantities of wheat straw are 

 being shipped to this city from New York 

 State — hundreds of car loads. It is used for 

 bedding purposes, and afterwards for manure, 

 and it is stated that much of it contains the 

 Canada thistle, which is, by this process being 

 spread broadcast over the country. Our 

 farmers should be on their guard. 



Adaji Beam, of Crernarvon township, this 

 county, was very successful in raising tobacco 

 last year upon one acre of ground, which was 

 carefully cultivated, and the crop has just 

 been sold for $300. The prices paid were 22 

 cents per pound for leaves measuring over 

 sixteen inches, and 7 cents for the remainder, 

 the average being 19i cents per pound. This 

 is considered the best sale made in the neigh- 

 borhood. 



The number of feet of merchantable pine 

 left standing in this country May 31st, 1880, 

 is given as follows : 



Staiuliug pine. Cut census vr.'SO. 



Feet. Feet. 



Texas, ----- Ii7, -508, .100,000 174,440,000 



Wisconsin, - - - 41,000,000,000 2,0!I7,-.!I9,()00 



Michigan.- - - - 3.5,000,000.000 4:,497,3!(0,000 



Mississippi, - - - 20,97.5,000,000 11.5,77.5,000 



Alabama, - - - - 21,192,000,000 245,t;98,000 



Florida, . - . - B,(;15,000,000 208,0.5(i,000 



iMinnesota, - - - 6,100,000,000 540,977,000 



This does not include some of the most im- 

 portant timber regions— Oregon and Wash- 

 ington Territory, which will be given here- 

 after by the Census Bureau. 



Contributions. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 FORESTRY. 



The timber question involves a subject that 

 will not soon be exhausted; hence allow me 

 to keep it afloat "all the time," for, from all 

 we know to the contrary at present, the con- 

 sumption of timber is likely to be perpetual.. 

 Therefore, its reproduction must necessarily 

 become continuous. We live in an age of ab- 

 solute necessity, and also in an age of great 

 indifference and negligence, in regard to the 

 reproduction of timber. Even the ancient 

 Greeks and warlike Goths, were more careful, 

 less profligate, and valued the forests more 

 than we do at the present day. The orientals 

 were like us Americans, they made no pro- 

 visions for the replenishment of tlieir exhaust- 

 ed forests. They became so impoverished in 

 timber that they were compelled to abandon 

 their country for the want, of it, and migrate 

 to Eiu'ope, where they learned to appreciate 

 its value. Timber was held in classic venera- 

 tion in Greece. The students of Athens ha- 

 bitually assembled under stately poplar trees 

 to recite their lessons, and declaim before 

 their fellows. Political gatherings, would as- 

 semble in timber groves, reserved for that 

 purpose. 



The ancient Druids recommended, and even 

 enacted laws requiring slates to make large 

 reservations fur all time to come, in order to 

 supply the people with timber, and to avert 

 it possible the timber panic of Asia. They 

 especially professed great veneration for the 

 oaks, under the wide expanding branches of 

 which, they delivered their lectures, worshiped 

 their Deity, and performed their mystic rites; 

 believing that majestic tree of the forest to 

 be the peculiar emblem of the residence of 

 the Almighty. They would leave it unmuti- 

 lated in some places in order to note its age, 

 which has been known to exceed three or four 

 hundred years. 



It was through the example of the early 

 settlers in Europe that these large forests were 

 reserved, and have been preserved to the pres- 

 ent day, and will continue to be kept up, for 

 all time to come. These forests are generally 

 owned by the difterent governments — whether 

 large or small — who appoint oflicers, exercis- 

 ing a supervisory control over them. The 

 "Wald-Herr," or "Forester" is quite an im- 

 portant personage, and exercises an indisput- 

 able authority within his domain. The mat- 

 ter of properly keeping a systematic forest is 

 not a merely hap-hazard attair, and does not 

 require all the trees to be left perpetually 

 standing. When the cutting is finished at 

 one end, then the 6ther end is in a fit condi- 

 tion to begin afresh, and in this way they al- 

 ways have flourishing forests, and also alwaj's 

 have timber. A judicious manipulation of a 

 forest requires some science, more observa- 

 tion, and a great deal of experience, acquired 

 through the exercise of common sense. 



It appears that our generation, and especial- 

 ly "Young America," is more bent on imita- 

 ting our Oriental than our European ancestry. 

 There are a great many farmers in the model 

 county of Lancaster without a single forest 

 tree upon their premises, and very few trees 

 of any other kind — even including fruit trees. 

 Occasionally it happens that a corner or a few 



