1882.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



67 



not, they most probably could procure the 

 whole volume. 



From the advanced condition of Gnllini- 

 cuUure, and the intelligent minds now engag- 

 ed in its development, the gapes is a subject 

 that is clearly within that specialty; and 

 from the wonderful progress made therein 

 durins; tlie last, lifteeu or twenty years, one 

 would naturally sii4ipose that something 

 slionld have been elicited in solution of tliis 

 knotty problem. There is where the light 

 must come from, and not from entomology, 

 necessarily, which, scientifically restricted, 

 operates entirely within a dillerent siihere. 



A NEW HISTORY OF LANCASTER 

 COUNTY. 



It has often been said — and with some show 

 of truth — that " Ihc history of Lancaster coun- 

 ty has not yet been written." It may not be 

 generally known to our readers that II. L. 

 Everts, an experiened publisher of Philadel- 

 phia, has engaged the services of several com- 

 petent citizens witliiu our county as assistants 

 in collecting and elaborating authenticated 

 material towards the production of a new 

 history; and, from the following synopsis of 

 the portion allotcd to Simon P. Eby, Esq., so 

 far as the matter relates to the farm, the 

 farmer, and farming, it has fallen into com- 

 petent hands, and the reading public may 

 reasonably expect to realize their most san- 

 guine anticipations. If any one is in posses- 

 sion of important facts bearing upon the sub- 

 jects embraced in the outline suggested by 

 Mr. Eby, they ought to submit them, whether 

 he may have occasion to use them or not. 



1. The condition of the county wlien the 

 first settlers arrived. — Its agricultural resour- 

 ces, soil, climate, timber, stone and water 

 supply. A brief notice of some of the princi- 

 pal native trees, plants and fruits. Extent of 

 Indian farming, Wm. Penn's opinion respect- 

 ing our native fruits. 



•2. The first settlers and their early farm- 

 ing. — Who and what they were and whence 

 they came, the different nationalities and 

 their characteristics, combatant and non- 

 combatant elements, a brief notice of .some of 

 the manners and customs, virtues and prejti- 

 dices they brought with them from their 

 mother country and fatherland. 



;i. How they began the work of establishing 

 new homes, in a new country. — .Some of the 

 trials and dithculties they encountered and 

 the encouragements and successes they met 

 with, brief notice of their primitive log 

 houses and thatched barns, how they had to 

 depend for hay on watered meadows, their 

 early implements of husbandry. 



4. Secondary stage of farming. — Introduc- 

 tion of new seeds, clover and timothy, new 

 fertilizers, rotation of crops and improve- 

 ments in farming implements. How log 

 dwellings gave place to more substantial stone 

 mansions, with massive chimneys and wide 

 open fireplaces, that welcomed newly arrived 

 kinsfolk from across the Atlantic to the 

 warmth of its hospitable blaze. How the 

 nevv'comers lent helping hands. Saw-mills at 

 work along the streams, converting the forest 

 trees into more convenient building materials. 

 Swisser barns (built after models brought over 

 by the Swiss palatinates) now receive liberal 

 additions ; or, new square-timbered structures 

 of increased capacity go up in more suitable 

 places ; and the flails of the threshers make 

 lively music upon the newly laid barn floors. 

 How the axe continued to extend the fields 

 each year further into the timber lands. How 

 flax and hemp were grown and dressed by the 

 farmer and his assistants, and the fleece of 

 the flocks prepared for the loom. How, dur- 

 ing the winter, spinning wheels held high 



carnival in concert with the blazing logs upon 

 the hearth within, and the roar of the tem- 

 pest without. IIow early and late the deft 

 fingers of matron and maidens plied the busy 

 spindles, and chests and jiresses were filled 

 with homemade linens and woolens. And 

 ho\V, some line morning in spring, a joyous 

 procession with a newly-married jiair riding 

 at its head, and loaded wagons and lowing 

 cattle following after, issued from the parent 

 farm and disappeared in the woods to settle 

 down beside some pleasant foinitain and begin 

 the carving out of a new home and fortune. 



5. Glimpses into the home life of the good 

 old people. — Their time-honored customs, 

 their thrift and industry. Their struggle 

 against pride, extravagance and ungodline.ss, 

 liow they raised and educated their children. 

 IIow they lived and labored and died, their 

 dress, courtshi|)s, marriages and amusements. 

 Old-time company of yenngmen and maidens 

 on horseback; apples and cider; markets and 

 marketing, Oonestoga teams. Concerning 

 the peculiar non-combatant doctrine many of 

 the people held and practiced. Their stead- 

 fastness of faith and reliance on the divine 

 commandment not to draw the sword. IIow 

 they were allowed to live in peace while three 

 wars swept over other parts of the land. Their 

 religious services, manner of preaching and 

 holding of funerals; their dialect. Is " Penn- 

 sylvania German" a distinct language? 



6. Tertiary stage of farms and farming. — 

 The advancing wave of modern improvement 

 and invention, introduction of new cereals 

 and vegetables, labor-saving implements and 

 farming machinery, sub-division of the old 

 farms and a more thorough system of tillage, 

 ai)plication of lime to the soil, waste land 

 brought under cidtivation, introduction of 

 coal for fuel, railroads built, different views, 

 and stable-ballads concerning them, the rapicl 

 cutting away of timber and disappearance of 

 many of our native birds, consequent increase 

 of destructive insects, partial failure of the 

 apple crop, praiseworthy efforts of fruit grow- 

 ers to sui)ply the deficiency liy experiments in 

 the propagation and introduction of native 

 v.arieties and improved small fruits, the theory 

 of the founder of Pennsylvania concerning the 

 cultivation of native fruits, adopted after a 

 lapse of nearly two centuries, change of cli- 

 mate and gradual diminution of the water 

 supply, how springs and streams have been 

 affected, public school system at work, should 

 the intellect be educated at the expense and 

 neglect of the moralsV What education 

 should do for the farmer. Concerning agri- 

 cultural exhiljitions — Improved live stock, to- 

 bacco farming, sewing machine taking the 

 place of the spinning wheel, present day mar- 

 keting, modern farm liouses modeled after 

 city houses with inadequate roofing and de- 

 ficient ventilation, pernicious effects upon the 

 health of their inmates. Effect of the ac- 

 cumulation of wealth, growing dislike of the 

 young for manual labor, farms passing into 

 the care of renters and the owners drifting to 

 towns and villages; luxury, refiaement and 

 extravagance, im-oads of fashion and expen- 

 sive habits. 



7. Are we getting better or worse? — Shall 

 we disregard the experience of the past, or 

 gather instructions from its lessons?" " The 

 coming farmer" — who and what shall he be? 



LIME IN SOIL. 



Every fariucr, in using lime on his fields, 

 should first ascertain whether the soil needs 

 lime. Until he knows this, his liming is 

 done at random, and may be a positiva injury 

 instead of benefit. Doctor San Grado, in his 

 "consultations" with his pupil (Gil Bias) 

 always prescribed " more blood-letting and 

 additional draufjhts of luarm water'''' — without 

 regard to previous treatment or condition — 

 through which the undertakers and marble 

 masons flourished, but the poor patients 

 died. Analogous are the results of liming 



where the soil already contains." a sufticient 

 quai»tity. Such applications may be bene- 

 ficial to the limeburner, but they are detri- 

 mental to the health of the plants. True, a 

 farmer may not have a chemical laboratory 

 of his own, nor access to one, but still, to a 

 limited extent, he may be able to test his soil 

 as to tlic presence of lime in it. although he 

 may not be always able to determine the 

 quantity or quality. A simple analysis can 

 be made by mixing a small quantity of soil in 

 a cup with water, and pouring over it some 

 muriatic acid, which he can obtain at any 

 drug store. If a free effervescence, like fer- 

 menting cider, or frothing beer takes place, it 

 indicates the presence of lime. But if it re- 

 mains perfectly still and dead, it contains no 

 lime, or at least not sufficient to produce any 

 beneficial effect on vegetation, and in such a 

 case lime should be applied in some form or 

 other. Take a piece of common limestone 

 and drop on it a little muriatic acid, and you 

 can immediately see the boiling or fermenting 

 effect of eflervescence. Ihe freer it effer- 

 vesces the purer the limestone is. If this 

 result does not follow, it would be useless to 

 Vi'aste fuel and lalior in attempting to "burn " 

 such limestone. 



Sulphate of lime or plaster-of-aris, exer- 

 cises additional beneficial action on soil, by its 

 sulphuric acid stimulating vegetation and 

 assisting in the decomposition of mineral and 

 organic substances in the soil. 



Plants require lime in the following propor- 

 tion to one thousand pounds : 



Barley 12 7-10 B>8. 



Barley, straw 3 8-10 " 



Spring wlioat, straw 'f 4-10 " 



Winter wheat 3 1 10 " 



Hye straw (winter) 3 1-10 " 



Cornstalk and fodder .5 " 



Peas 13-18 " 



Pea straw 18 IJ-IO " 



Beans 1 .5-10 " 



Bean, straw 13 5-10 " 



String bean, straw 14 1-10 " 



Potato vine .5 5-10 " 



Hemp 12 2-10 " 



Linseed 5 " 



Tobacco 73 1-10 " 



Clover Hay 19 4-10 " 



.Meadow hay 7 7-10 " 



(From " ii'hat of fertilizers/") 



Many farms contain more than a sufficiency 

 of lime, while in others it is wanting ; hence 

 an oceasional application of lime alone will 

 act as efficiently as if artificial or ordinary 

 manure had been aiiplied. But in the apph- 

 cation of this mineral to the soil, the more 

 intelligence is brought to its application the 

 more prolific and profitable will be the result. 

 The foregoing luay be of some assistance to 

 the farmer in making the proper discrimina- 

 tion in the use of lime. 



EXCERPTS. 



Hk.wy work or driving soon after eating is 

 bad treatment for a horse. Let him rest on 

 a full meal, or use very moderately when use 

 cannot be avoided. 



If a dull, backward, sleepy neighborhood 

 desires to improve its agricultural resources, 

 let the farmers start a creamery. More live 

 stock is what the country wants. 



A IIOKSE with no change of diet in a long 

 time is apt to tire of it, and indigestion will 

 soon result. ■ Horses, like men, like a change 

 now and then, and it does them good. 



The principal mule raising States are Illi- 

 nois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis- 



