92 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Junei 



straight lines across the field; then we open a 

 furrow right uu each of these lines, deep und 

 broad, and returning on it double it and make 

 a double open furrow. Then we should drop 

 the manure in this furrow and cover it with 

 the plow, returning the soil previously thrown 

 out, atid thus we form a sort of ridge. After 

 this has settled a few days, we must go with 

 seed planter — the handy little " monitor " 

 seed drill is the one we use — and drop the 

 seed immediately over the manure and cover 

 it and roll the surface at one operation. Then 

 the fertilizer is scattered along the ridges 

 and all between, and left for the rain to carry 

 it down to the roots, which will spread from 

 row to row and meet each other. When the 

 slender little twin leaves appear we must run 

 on each side of them with the Planet Junior 

 hand wheel-hoe, which scrapes the soil on 

 each side of the plants within an inch of them, 

 and kills the weeds and loosens up the ground- 

 By and by we run through the middle with 

 the Planet horse-hoe, a sort of universal tool, 

 which stirs and plows the middle, and either 

 scrapes the soil from the rows or throws it to 

 them, just as we may wish to do. But the 

 four pounds of seed we have sown to the acre 

 is four times too much, but necessary to se- 

 cure a close and even stand, and the excess of 

 plants is to be cut out with a hoe, leaving 

 spaces of 14 inches between the plants, or if 

 one wants a few extra roots to win a premium 

 with at the fair, let him leave them 30 inches 

 apart and add a little extra fertilizer, or give 

 them a little liquid manure once a week. Last 

 of all, let the cultivator be kept going, not to 

 keep the weeds down so much, but to stir the 

 soil and let in the warm rays of the sun and 

 the rain, which will carry the fertilizer 

 down to the feeding roots and fill the great 

 main top root of the plant, not one-tenth so 

 large and heavy as its root, with rich sap, and 

 force a rapid and healthful growth. By this 

 manner of growing roots, the crop will bring 

 no disappointment with it; but if three acres 

 are grown one may be sure of finding the bulk 

 of the feeding for a dozen or fifteen cows for 

 at least 200 days; that is from the first of 

 November to the end of May. — li. Stewart in 

 N. Y. Tribune. 



GREEN MANURES. 



Dr. Alfred' L. Kennedy, the chemist and 

 geologist of the Pennsylvania State Agricul- 

 tural Society, has issued an address " To the 

 Farmers of Pennsylvania " on the subject of 

 the use of green manuring. We think that 

 we may be doing a service to the agricultural 

 interests of the State by giving this circular a 

 place in this department, though it occupies 

 more room than we have just now to spare, 

 and at the same time to call the attention of 

 farmers to the propositions it embraces : 



" In many parts of the State the fertility of 

 the soil is economically increased, by sowing 

 it down with red clover and plowing under 

 the crops. The crop which follows next, fre- 

 quently finds in the decaying green manure 

 the fertilizing materials it needs, and finds 

 them, too, in the form most readily assimila- 

 ble. Large tracts of land, both in Penn.syl- 

 vania and Maryland, have, at a comparatively 

 small cost, thus had their fertility so far re- 

 stored, as to be made productive. In many 

 respects the red clover is admirably adapted 



to the purpose. Two seasons are, however, 

 often required before it is sufficiently well- 

 rooted and grown, to be plowed under with 

 the greatest advantage. 



"On the continentof Europe the yellow lupin 

 is preferred in green manuring. It Is a vigor- 

 ous grower, and it matures in one season. 

 Here, as well as there, it attains a height of 

 over two feet, sending down its strong tap- 

 root to an equal distance, penetrating the sub- 

 soil, and bring to the surface fertilizing agents 

 lying below the the reach of the plow. To 

 these qualities it adds the yet more valuable 

 one of producing a foliage more than eleven 

 and three-quarters per cent. (11.79) richer in 

 nitrngen than the red clover. 



"Nitrogen in the soil is indispensable to our 

 crops. Applied to them, as it is in the form 

 of nitrate of soda and Peruvian guano, it 

 is the most costly of chemical fertilizers. 

 The plants which, like the yellow lupin, gath- 

 er it and store it up, must, under certain condi 

 tions, be the most valuable of green manures. 



" To determine what these conditions are, 

 is so important to our agriculture, that to do 

 so would be one of the first duties of Ameri- 

 an agricultural experiment stations, were- 

 they. multiplied and organized. At present 

 they are too few and too isolated to render 

 the results of their 'soil tests,' etc., truly 

 valuable to the mass of our farmers, whose 

 locations, soils, subsoils, and atmospheric and 

 other conditions differ so widely. Fortu- 

 nately every county in the State contains 

 farmers who are perfectly competent to de- 

 termine by experiment the comparative value 

 of green manures, and they are cordially in- 

 vited to aid in settling the interesting ques- 

 tion of the relative advantages of the red 

 clover and the yellow lupin. 



"These advantages are to be ascertained 

 through the effects which the green manures 

 have upon the crop of graia which immedi- 

 ately follow them. A portion of a field which 

 was last year in corn, and which this year is 

 to be put in oats or potatoes, will be found 

 convenient,and that portion will not be thrown 

 out of the regular order of crop rotation. 



"Measure off for experimental purposes one- 

 fourth of an acre, uniform in quality and ex- 

 posure, and plow and work it as one ' land. ' 

 Forty-five by two hundred and forty-two feet 

 will be a good proportion, divided into two 

 plats twenty-two and a half by two hundred 

 and forty-two feet, being one-eighth of an 

 acre each. In April, sow or drill one of them 

 marked No. 1, with the quantity of red clover 

 usual in the neighborhood, noting the quan- 

 tity; the other plat, marked No. 2, with one- 

 eighth of a bushel Ajf yellow lupin. Promptly 

 after each crop comes into full flower, plow it 

 under to a uniform depth, and when the field 

 is being made ready for the fall grain, what- 

 ..ever harrowing and rolling other portions re- 

 ceive should be given also to the plats, and 

 the whole field be similarly seeded. If a po- 

 tassic or phosphatic fertilizer be used on the 

 plants, the fertihzer must be absolutely free 

 from nitrogenous matter and must be care- 

 fully applied in equal quantity to each, time 

 and quantity to be entered under 'Additional 

 Remarks. ' 



"Next siH'ing (1883) carefully stake off the 

 middle eighteen feet of each plat, making each 

 central plat eighteen by two hundred and 



forty-two feet, or exactly one-tenth of an acre. 

 At harvest, begin by cradling, binding and 

 cleaning up the space between the two central 

 plats, and also that outside of them, and then 

 reap the plats. Thresh and clean the product 

 of each separately, and note the weight and 

 measure of the grain, and the weight of the 

 straw in each. 



"A blank form accompanies the foregoing 

 to fill up as the experiment progresses, which 

 can be obtained by application to Dr. Ken- 

 nedy, at the Polytechnic College, Philadel- 

 phia. By noting the details accurately a vast 

 fund of information can be obtained, which 

 may prove of great value to this important 

 branch of industry. — Germantoitm Telegraph. 



Our Local Organizations. 



LANCASTER COUNTY AGRICULTU- 

 RAL AND HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



A stated meeting of the Lancaster County Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Society was lield in their 

 room in City Hall, on Monday afternooti, June 5th. 



The following named members and visitors were 

 present ; 



Messrs. Henry M. Engle, Marietta; .John 0. Lin- ' 

 ville, Gap ; Casper Killer, Conestoga ; James Wood, 

 Kirk's Mills ; Simon I'. Eby, city ; C. L. Hunsecker, 1 

 Manheim township ; P. S. Reist, Lititz ; John H. I 

 Landis, Manor; William H. Brosius, Drumore ; W. 

 W. Griest, city ; J. M. Johnston, city ; Levi S. Reist, 

 Manheim; Peter Hiller, Conestoga; Frank Griest, 

 city; Eph. Hoover, Manheim. 



The president and secretary heine absent, Vice 

 President Henry M. Engle took the chair, and John 

 U. Linville was appointed secretary pro tem. 

 New IWembers Elected. 



John H. Landis, of Manor, jjroposed for meraber- 

 sliip Washington B. Paxson and Francis N. Scott, of 

 Colerain township, and both were elected. 

 Crop Reports. 



Casper Hiller, of Conestoga, reported the cherry 

 crop almost a failure, the pear crop not much better, 

 the apples very thinly set, the peaches more promis- 

 ing, grass rather thinly set but healthy looking, giv- 

 ing promise of a good crop of hay. 



Peter S. Reist reported the wheat in Warwick and 

 Manheim as very promising, possibly a little too 

 rank in growth; grass in general looks well; new 

 clover not so well; cherries, except in low-lying 

 places, good; currants greatly damaged by worms, 

 both on the leaf and at the root; other fruits promise 

 a fair average. 



John H. Landis said that in Manor township, the 

 wheat never looked better than it did a week or ten 

 days ago, but now it is growing too rank and begin- 

 ning to lodge, and the straw, near the ground, is get- 

 ting black; the grass looks well; there are indica- 

 tisns of a full fruit crop; apples and peaches are 

 plentiful, though the cherries are not very full. 



John C. Linville, of Salisbury, reported wheat as 

 growing very rank, with straw full of sap, and there- 

 fore liable to rust if the weather should become hot; 

 oats looks better tlian he has seen it for twelve years 

 past ; the grass is good as far as it goes, but is short 

 and in some places thin ; peaches and cherries are 

 nearly all killed by unfavorable weather; potatoes 

 plenty and so are the potato bugs. 



James Wood, of Little Britain, said that in his 

 neighborhood the fruit trees did not blossom well 

 and there would not be much fruit ; wheat is strong 

 and healthy ; oats don't look so Well ; potatoes com- 

 ing np nicely ; corn healthy but backward in growth 

 for this time of the year ; clover well set. 



Wm. H. Brosius, of Drumore, said that Mr. Wood's 

 report will answer for Drumore — wheat fine ; grass 

 fair, but fruit unpromising. 



H. M. Engle, of Mariettta, said the wheat looked 

 remarkably well, but some of it is beginning to 



