102 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



Don't use your voice for loud speaking when 

 hoarse. 



Don't try to get along with less than eight 

 or nine hours' sleep. 



Don't sleep in the same undergarment you 

 wear during the day. 



Dou't toast your feet by the Are but try 

 sunlight friction instead. 



Don't try to keep awake upon coflee and al- 

 coholics when you ought to go to bed. 



Don't drink ice water by the glass ; take it 

 in sips, a .swallow at a time. 



Don't strain your eyes by reading or work- 

 ing with insufHcient or flickering light. 



Don't use the eyes for reading or fine work 

 in the twilight of evening or early morn. 



Don't try to lengthen your days by cutting 

 short your nights' rest ; it is poor economy. 



Don't wear close, heavy fur or rubber caps 

 or hats if your hair is thin or falls out easily. 



Don't eat anything between meals except- 

 ing fruits, or a glass of hot milk if you feel 

 faint. 



Don't take some other person's medicine 

 because you are troubled somewhat as they 

 were. 



Don't blow out a gaslight as you would a 

 lamp ; many lives are lost every year by this 

 mistake. 



What the Farmers Must Feed.— The 

 Census Bureau has issued a bulletin showing 

 that the live stock of the United States on 

 farms on Junel, 1880, was as follows: Horses, 

 10,357,981; mules and asses, 1,812,932; work- 

 ing oxen, 993,97C; milch cows, 12,443,593; 

 other cattle, 22,488,500 ; sheep, 35,191,656; 

 swine, 47,683,951. The rate of increase from 

 1870 to 1880 was, in horses, 45 per cent; 

 mules and asses, 61 per cent; working oxen, a 

 decrease of 25 per cent; milch cows, an in- 

 crease of 39 per cent; other cattle, 66 per 

 cent; sheep, 24 per cent, and swine, 90 per 

 cent. 



Selections. 



THE USES OF PRUNING. 



Pruning is to the tree what education is to 

 the mind, or the "polishment" of the marble 

 after it is taken from the quarry. Pruning is 

 absolutely beneficial to all kinds of fruit trees 

 at least. Of course we mean pruning as a 

 use, and not as an abuse. 



As to the best time for pruning, in my view, 

 it is to begin as soon as the trees are two feet 

 in height. You then can use your pocket- 

 knife, which ought to be used constantly 

 whenever "suckers" appear. This gives the 

 tree a good shape and takes all the surplus 

 wood away. This work can be done any 

 time during the year, with little exception. 

 There are only about two or three weeks 

 during which I generally avoid pruning — that 

 is, from the time the sap begins to flow until 

 the leaves are developed. Most fruit trees re- 

 quire continual pruning and shaping, to make 

 them bear better and larger fruit, and with-, 

 al, impart them to beauty. Yet, tliere is a 

 great difference, especially in apple trees. 

 Some trees need much more pruning than 

 others, nearly all the time, or they would be- 

 come like a hedge-fence. Tlie Pennsylvania 

 Ked-streak, Munson-sweet, and the Wagner 

 require very little pruning with me. Cherries 

 also require little shaping, but plums, prunes 



and pears, are much improved by early and 

 judicious pruning. The peach is also improv- 

 ed, and we all know that the grape needs a 

 yearly thinning-out to bring it to perfection, 

 unless it is mainly desired for shade, over an 

 arbor, pump, shed, or a south-side exposure to 

 the summer sun. 



Nearly all kinds of trees need training and 

 pruning, unle.'^s growing in a dense forest, and 

 no man possessing an " arboricultured " eye 

 and mind, can even pass through a forest, 

 without speculating on improvements, here 

 and there, that would have resulted from 

 pruning, or the removal of ob.struction. I 

 have now a limited, but dense, forest of 

 locusts, poplars, walnuts and chestnuts, in 

 which the trees are growing straight up from 

 forty to fifty feet in height, with the side 

 branches dying and dropping off ; but the 

 same trees elsewhere, want trimming, or they 

 would get too " forky', or spreading. Along 

 a road or in a yard, such trees require con- 

 stant shaping, in order to make good "butts," 

 and beautiful and symmetrical tops. This is 

 however controled very much by fashion, 

 fancy or individual ta.stes. 



When on a recent visit to the Central Park 

 in NewY^ork,! was astonished at the luxuriant 

 growth of the many varieties of trees in that 

 magnificent enclosure. They have all kinds 

 of ornamental and common forest trees, all 

 over the park. These trees are almost in- 

 variably trained to grow with low tops, and 

 long side or lateral branches, from two feet 

 from the ground upward, many of them look- 

 ing very strange, if not unslightly, for what 

 purpose I could not understand. If I had had 

 the control of the park, I would have trim- 

 med every tree up from eight to ten feet from 

 the ground, so that persons could easily pro- 

 menade under their branches But as it is 

 now, it could not be done any more, as the 

 trunks of s^me of them are a foot in diameter 

 near the ground. The Elm is a favorite tree 

 in the park, and in fact is also a leading tree 

 all over the west, as well as many parts of the 

 east. — L. 8. B., Oregon, July. 1882. 



[In relation to the Elm, we do not hazard 

 much in saying that it is and always has been 

 a favorite tree in Pennsylvania, and, the very 

 first event which signalized the origin of the 

 State, transpired under the spreading branches 

 of an Blm, on the banks of the Shackamaxoii, 

 in the old "Northern Liberties" of Philadel- 

 phia. Boston common had at one time, and 

 perhaps still has, some fine old elms. There 

 were many of them in Lancaster, and some 

 are still remaining. But the fact is, of late 

 years they have been so much subjected to 

 the ravages of the I'Elmleaf Beetle," that 

 many persons have been compelled to cut 

 them down. This beetle is so exclusively de- 

 destructive to the foliage of the Elm, and oc- 

 Ciirs in such immense numbers, producing two 

 or three broods during the season — that when 

 the trees are large, there seems to be no 

 practical remedy but to remove them entirely. 



In regard to the low branched trees to 

 which our contributor alludes, perhaps the 

 authorities don't want people to promenade 

 under them, lest they also trespass upon the 

 grass. They i)rovide special promonades, 

 seats, canopies, pavilions and trees, suBicient 

 forthe shelter and the exercise of pedestrians, 

 unless there should happen to be an unusual 



crowd in the park, and as to sightliness, or 

 unsightliness, that depends altogether on the 



peculiar taste of theviewing individual. —£d.] 



^ 



BALANCE OF TRADE. 

 Editor Farmer. — Your correspondent 

 P. S. R., in the last number of The Farmer, 

 referring to a discussion between him and 

 myself two or three years ago on the "Bal- 

 ance of Trade" question, credits me with hav- 

 ing denied that it was a better sign of pros- 

 perous times when the balance of trade was 

 in our favor than when the balance is against 

 ns, and asks what I have to say uojo, since the 

 balance is going strongly against us and see- 

 ing that we are importing about .$3,000,000 

 worth of goods per week, and our exports last 

 year were far less than in 1880. This state 

 of affairs, Mr. R. thinks, must result to our 

 disadvantage, and I do not dispute it. 



But according to my recollection I never 

 denied that it is better to have the balance of 

 trade " in our favor. " I simply denied that 

 the fact that we import more value than we 

 export proves there is a balance against us; 

 and the reasons I gave for that opinion have 

 not been answered, or scarcely attempted to 

 be, from that day to this, so far as I have seen. 

 See my several articles in The Farmer of Feb- 

 ruary, April and June, 1879. 



It is of course disadvantageous to us that 

 we had short crops last year, and that conse- 

 quently we had less of agricultural products 

 to export. And it is also disadvantageous to 

 the country if the .$3,000,000 of goods im- 

 ported per week are not paid for, but are 

 bought on credit, to be paid for out of our 

 future earnings, just as is the case with an 

 individual who runs in debt beyond his earn- 

 ings or his means to pay. The reason there 

 is so much confusion of ideas and wrong 

 notions on this subject, it seems to me, is that 

 people have been led to imagine that the ex- 

 change of productions between two nations is 

 governed by different principles, and its ad- 

 vantages or disadvantages are gauged by an 

 entirely different rule than the trade between 

 individuals. That this is an erroneous notion 

 is evident from the fact that the trade of one 

 nation with another is not between the two 

 nations as such, but merely between individuals 

 of those nations ; and the profits or losses, the 

 advantages or disadvantages of any trading 

 transaction in which a man engages, of course 

 are not in the least affected by the nationality 

 of the person with whom he deals. 



Everybody knows and will acknowledge 

 that if an individual sells property, the more 

 value he gets for it the better he is off, but 

 strange to say, there are thousands of people 

 in this country who will seriously contend 

 that in our trade with foreign countries the 

 less value we receive in return for what we 

 part with, the more prosperous we must be- 

 come! 



Now if a farmer in Lancaster county sends 

 abroad — exports— to Europe or elsewhere, 

 grain or tobacco worth at home 1100, his aim 

 and object of course is to get in return more 

 than $100, either m money, or money's worth 

 in some other property. If he did not expect 

 that, he would not send it away. Well, sup- 

 pose he gets for it, say $125 (after paying all 

 expenses) either in cash or clothing or any- 

 thing else that he may prefer, it is perfectly 



