The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., JUNE, 188L'. 



Vol. KIV. No. 6. 



Editorial. 



THE PROPOSED NEW DEPARTMENT 

 OK AGRICULTURE. 



Its Importance, Its Necessity and Its Rights 

 in the Category of Progressive Civili- 

 zation. 



"Tlie total money value of all the farms in 

 the United States foot up the immense sum of 

 fl0,190,800,(i45 ; the value of farm imi>le- 

 ments, .1f4UG,.510,902 ; the live stoi'k, $i..')00,- 

 482,187. The exports of agrieultural products 

 for 1881 amounted to 1S72'.J,6.'3U,U1C, being an 

 average of 78| percent, of all our exports." 



These figures may illustrate the magnitude, 

 the importance and the vaUie of our agricul- 

 tural interests, and are ."sutlicieut to atlord 

 light to indifferent C'ongre.ssraen in regard to 

 the claims of agriculture to a distinct depart- 

 mental recognition in the Presidential Cabi- 

 net, endowed with all the powers, influences 

 and means within its legitimate sphere that 

 distinguishes any other department of the 

 C4overnment. Indeed, in view of the preg- 

 nant fact that all we eat, all we wear, all that 

 shelters us is either an agricidtural product, 

 or in some way connected with it ; and that 

 even commerce and manufactures could not 

 exist indeiiendent of agriculture — we repeat, 

 m view of all this, it seems like an unaccount- 

 able omission that the founders of the gov- 

 ernment did not establish a co-equal depart- 

 ment of agriculture from the very beginning, 

 especially since agriculture, at that period, 

 embraced so large a part of the industrial in- 

 terests of the New Government. Nothing 

 but the inherent modesty of its representa- 

 tives and the remnants of a veneration for 

 the class rule introduced from the mother 

 country, could have withheld the farmers of 

 those days from ass, rting their right to a de- 

 partmental position in the constitution of the 

 Executive Cabinet. But, instead of such a 

 wise and generous recognition of an industry 

 involving the physical vitality of the govern- 

 ment itself, the subject of agriculture has 

 been practically regarded as a sort of tail- 

 piece {something like Nast's caricatures of 

 Gratz Brown on the Greeley Presidential 

 ticket) to the U. S. Patent Office, almost en- 

 tirely eclipsed by a department that under 

 any circumstances could only have been sec- 

 ondary to it. It is hoped now, however, that 

 Congress will see what it has failed to see for 

 many years and make amends in the near fu- 

 ture for its habitual delinquencies of the past. 



"INCREASE OF OUR CROPS." 

 Hon. William Fullerton, in a very excellent 

 paper on this subject, published in Southern 

 Iiulustrie^, says: The doctrine I would enforce 

 may be thus briefly stated: 



1st. Constant attention should be given to 

 the home manufacture of manure, and made 

 the farmer's chief dependence, not forgetting 

 to protect it from waste until applied to the 

 land. 

 2nd. Practice green manuring as a system, 



using commercial fertilizers, if necessary to 

 promote a vigorous growth for tiiat pupose. 



;hd. Keep the .surface of the land mulched 

 by letting something remain on it, to protect 

 the roots of the grasses and imprison the 

 fruits of decomposition. 



4th. Feed on the farm the most of its pro- 

 ducts, and make beef, pork, mutton, wool, 

 &c., &c., rather tlian depend upon raising 

 and selling grain for a livelihood. 



lie also states with emiihasis that the im- 

 portance of this last injunction cannot be 

 over estimated. Money coidd be profitably 

 expended to raise food to be fed on the farm, 

 whilst the same amount expended on the same 

 land for raising grain to sell, would result in 

 loss. 



Mr. Fullerton further alleges that he ad- 

 vances no theory, the value of which he has 

 not practically tested and proved. According 

 to his reasoning, the great want of the farmer 

 is manure. This, in some form, he must 

 h:ive, to cultivate profitably. Barn-jard 

 manure must be the chief reliance, and, when 

 made, it must be better cared for than is 

 usually the habit. 



A story is told of a farmer whose lands 

 failed to produce a crop, upon which he final- 

 ly applied to his minister, to pray over his 

 fields. The good man consented, on condition 

 that he would accompany him and point the 

 fields and crops he desired to be prayed for. 

 In going along, they arrived at a particularly 

 unpromising fiidd, and here the fiirmer thought 

 a very special prayer should be offered; but 

 the minister only shook his head, and very 

 sensibly replied in his own vernacular, " Es 

 ist gor net der vardt das mer do badet doot, do 

 kar\lt mishl.'''' The minister doubtless had 

 had sufficient experience to know that the 

 Lord does not work arbitrarily in man's be- 

 half, but through nwdia best adapted to ends, 

 and, that the media best adapted to poor 

 lands, is manure, manure, manure. 



POTASH IN PLANTS. 



Potash is one of the absolute necessities of 

 all plants, and the time was when in order to 

 obtain this substance for other purposes it was 

 extracted largely from plants by mechanical 

 means. While the phosphoric acid directs 

 itself mostly to the development of the seed, 

 jjotash applies in the greater part to the per- 

 fecting of roots, leaves and stems, as exhibit- 

 ed in the following table: 



Plants require potash in the following pro- 

 portion to one thousand pounds: 



Wheat, 



Wheat Straw, 



Spring Wheat, 



Barley, 



Barley Straw, 



Oats, 



Oat Straw, 



Rye, 



5^ Peas, 9,»j 



4,'o Pea Straw, 10,'j 



7 Beans, 12 



4,«o Bean Straw, 2.5,9, 



9i'„ Potatoes, 5,^^ 



4 (-(5 Green potato vines7T'(; 

 9,',, Beet-root (sugar) 4 

 5y«5 Beet-tops, 4 



Rye Straw, (winter)7,^j Hemp, whole plant,.5,'0 

 Rye Straw, (sum'r)lly'5 Linseed, \\^\ 



Corn, 3,3,, Clover-Hay, 19, 'a 



Corn fodder and White-clover hay, 10 ,"4 

 stalk, 16 1'^ From "What of Fer- 



Meadow Hay, 17Ti(,tilizers.") 



" The readiest and most acceptable method 

 of furnishing potash to the field is by the ap- 

 plication of wood-ashes, even those of bitiuni- 

 nousand anthracite coal are very useful, when 

 seperated Irnni the grosser particles. lu de- 

 faidt of these, recourse mu.st be had to the 

 various low priced potash salts, now so abun- 

 dantly supplied by the recently opened enor- 

 mous deposits in Germany." 



Pota.ss, potash, or pearlash. is an oxide of 

 potuHsiuiu, the two latter names being applied 

 to the article as found in commerce. At one 

 period it wa.s entirely produced or obtaineel 

 by burning various plants, hence its name 

 2>otnsh. But it is also obtained native in var- 

 ious parts of the world, notably in Germany, 

 but not of as pure a quality as that produced 

 through chemical manipulation. It is widely 

 difiused, and of course that which exists in 

 vegetation must have been absorbed from the 

 .soil, and also in a gaseous state from the 

 atmosphere. It readily combines with other 

 chemical substances, and forms various com- 

 pounds. The ordinary potash is a carbonate 

 in an impure form. 



KITCHEN GARDEN FOR JUNE. 



The labor of the gardener in this month, 

 will mainly consist in the tillage of the grow- 

 ing crops in this latitude. The rapid growth 

 ot weeds at this season will admonish him of 

 the necessity of timely exertion. 



The aid of aii])ropriate tools in the culture 

 of crops, and extermination of weeds will be 

 commended. Good implements are indispen- 

 sable to success, and he who has provided 

 them will not only have greater jjleasure in 

 his labors, but the profit which attends the 

 judicious application of them in both time 

 and labor. 



Aspuragus-bcds keep clean, lieans, bush or 

 bunch, plant for succession, and cultivate 

 those in gnjwth. Beets, thin the later plant- 

 ting. Broccoli, plant out those sown in Ai)ul. 

 Cahhagi, ditto, especially the sorts \vhich it is 

 desired shall come into use in September and 

 October, in advance of winter varieties. 

 Celeri/, plant out a portion for early use. Cu- 

 cumbers, sow successive crops. Corn, Swjar, 

 plant for succession. Endive sow. Leeks, 

 thin or transplant. Peas, a few may be plant- 

 ed for succession. — Landreth's Jiur. Beg. 



As the foreging directions- are intended to 

 be fcdeetive from the very begining of the 

 month, and as our Journal is never issued lie- 

 fore the middle of it, yet, as the season is 

 fully half a month later than the averitge, 

 they are not inappropriate to the period 

 at which our patrons will receive them. In- 

 deed, at any season, there are few so far be- 

 forehanded in their work, as not to be bene- 

 fitted by such advice if they heed it, and avail 

 themselves of its practical benefits. Especi- 

 ally are those items which relate to succession, 

 matters of interest, not only to the gardener, 

 but also to consumei-s of garden' croi>s. "Suc- 

 cession," or "cropping" of garden vegetation, 

 is vei7 little more of a specialty now than it 

 was a quarter of a century ago, except in the 

 vicinities of large cities. In Lancaster coun- 

 ty we are beginning to find green corn in mar- 

 ket late in October, but that is (n-etty much 

 all of the early summer vegetables we find at 



