1882.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



187 



fore, been suspended for the present, iind in 

 all prob;ibility the matter will be acted upon 

 at tile ensuing hession of Congress and favor- 

 alily. Wo do not ourselves entertain any 

 liigl\ expectations of valuable results being 

 likely to be reached by the stimulants of that 

 sort. Still, wc always regard with favor any 

 and all efforts made by the Department 

 of Agriculture to encom-agu tiie produc- 

 tion of saccharine crops in the United Stales. 

 ^Vs regards the sugar-beet, it is ratjer a 

 reproach upon the entei'prise of Xorthern agri- 

 culture that tile ]\[ormon colony in the territory 

 of Utah, under the rigorous despotism of Brig- 

 ham Young, succeeded in producing its own 

 supply of domestic sugar from the beet 20 

 years in advance of any successful eflbrt in 

 the same way in any of the Atlantic Stales. 

 This was done before the opening of the 

 Pacific railroad, and at a time when the 

 Mormon prophet was despotically bent uiion 

 making the Mormon community entirely in- 

 dependent and self-sustaining. The exam- 

 ple thus set has since been slowly imitated by 

 voluntary enterprise in the States of Dela- 

 ware, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinris and 

 Maine, with irregular and varying results. 

 Perhaps the case would have been ditfereut 

 but for the unfortunate attempt of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture to force a sudden 

 development of the sugar production on an 

 immense scale by means of a rapid and 

 widespread cultivation of the Chinese sor- 

 ghum, wliich proved a lamentable failure. 

 Since that date the Department has given 

 encouragement to efforts at sugar making 

 from Indian corn and other crops, the general 

 etiect of which has been to weaken the cul- 

 ture of the sugar beet and of the tropical 

 sugar cane, respecting tlie saccharine proper- 

 ties of which staples theie has never been any 

 doubt whatever. Our own judgment is that 

 if the attention of the country as regards 

 sugar making could be concentrated upon 

 those two crops — the one for tlie Gulf States 

 and the other for the north and West — the re- 

 sult would be far more gratifying than could 

 possibly be attained in any other way. Tlie 

 consumption of sugar in the United States is 

 enormous, and as a vast majority of it is im- 

 ported from foreign co ntries, which take but 

 little merchandise from us in return, this one 

 article has mostly to be paid for by shipments 

 in American gold and silver, a process entire- 

 ly too one-sided to be at all pleasant (jr profit- 

 able. — Oermantown Telegraph. 



Our Local Organizations. 



LANCASTERCOUNTY AGRICULTURAL 

 AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Tlie regular meeting erf the Lancaster County 

 AsricuHiiral and Horiiiultural Society was held in 

 their room on Monday afternoon, December 4th, 

 with the following members present : .Joseph F. 

 Witraer, Paradise ; J. C. Linville, Gap ; M. D. Ken 

 dig, Cieswell ; Casper Hiller, Conesloga ; PI. M. 

 Engle, Marietta ; J. M. Johnston, city ; John II. 

 Landis, Manor; F. R. Difrt-ndfrlTer, city ; C. A. Cast, 

 city ; Johnson Miller, Warwick ; C. L. Ilunsecker, 

 Manheim ; \V. B. Paxson, Colerain ; James Wood, 

 Little Britain; Ephraim S. Hoover, Warwick; 

 Henry Heir, West Hempfield ; Cyrus Neff, .Manor ; 

 Wm.T. Clark, Chestnut Level: S. P. Eby, Esq., 

 city. 



On motion the reading of the minutes of the previ- 

 ous meeting was dispensed with. 



Crop Reports. 



Casper HiUfr said the fruit crop had been a very 

 poor one, but the corn crop lias been very good — one 

 I'armcr reporting as much as 1(10 bushels to the acre. 

 Pstatoes were very scarce, uotwiihstandlng a good 

 crop had been reported. Grain looks remarkably 

 well. 



Mr. Eogle also reported a scarcity of apples. The 

 grain and clover jroes Into winter nuarters in good 

 conilitiou, notwithsti.nding the lly was found In some 

 localities. He thought the scarcity of potatoes svas 

 due to the fact that the usual amount was not 

 planted. The rainfall for November was three- 

 fourths of an Inch. 



.Mr. Paxson rejiorted the wheat and elov t in good 

 condition to stand the winter season. 



Mr. Landis concurred in the previous remarks In 

 regard to the wheat. lie said he did not know when 

 the totiacco market was so dull as at present — not a 

 single crop having been sold. 



Mr. Huusecker reported the wheat and clover to 

 be in good condition. No tobacco has yet been sold. 

 Potato crop was good, but the apple crop did not 

 amount to anything. 



Mr. Wood said the wheat looked well, although 

 in some parts the fly was to tie found, lie reported 

 a peculiar fact in regard to the grass — it looking as 

 irreen and fresh as it does at any season of the year. 



Mr. Miller was another former who did not know 

 of any tobacco being sold. He concurred in the re- 

 marks of the other gentlemen in regard to the wheat 

 and clover. 



Mr. Witmer had not heard of any sales of tobacco, 

 but he knew one man who was stripping. He had a 

 very good set of grass this fall. 



Experimenting with Fertilizers, 



Casper Hiller read a brief paper ou the subject of 

 some experiments with fertilizers on potatoes, which 

 is published below : 



April 21st. planted 3 rows, each 40 yards long, 

 with White p^lephant potatoes. 



Fertilizers used on row No. 1 : Equal parts of 

 uitrate of soda, dissolved bone, acid S. C. rock and 

 sulph.ate of potash. • 



Fertilizer used on row No. 2. Two parts of sul- 

 phate of potash. 1 part dissolved bone and 1 part 

 acid rock. 



Fertilizer used on row No. 3. A good dressing of 

 rich, well rotted stable manure. 



The applications of the special fertilizers was lilieral 

 —one half tun to the acre; cost on row No. 1, §'i5 );er 

 acre; ou row No. 2. §1.5 per acre; stable manure no 

 fixed valuation. The weather during July and the 

 early part of August was too dry tor a promising 

 crop, but by frequent and thoroujfh cultivation the 

 plants were kept healthy. By the time the rains 

 liceame freciueut the elephants were about done 

 growing. 



The yield of No. 1 was 400 bushels psr acre. 

 " No. e ;K0 " " " 



No. 3 2S0 " " " • 



This ditlercnce from 80 to 120 bushel per acre is 

 worthy of con ideratiou. The value of special fer- 

 tililers lor potatoes has usually been attributed to 

 the potash contained therein. In tliis experiment it 

 appears that the great increase was owning largely 

 to the use of the nitrates. The White Elephant is a 

 very prolific variety, and in quality it comes nearer 

 to the old Mercer than any of the newer varieties 

 lately introduced. 



Mr. Linville said he had been using commercial 

 fertilizers for the past few years on potatoes and 

 found them to produce better results than he was 

 able to obtain from from stable manure. 



On motiou, a vote of thanks was tendered Mr. 

 Hiller for his experiments. 



.Mr. Engle said it would be a very pood plan if 

 more of the members of the society would experi- 

 ment more than they do with fertilizers. The ques- 

 tion of fertilizers was then discussed at some length 

 by several of tlie members. 



Answering Questions, 



At what age should stock cattle be put up for 

 feeders? This question had been referred to Mr. E. 

 S. Hoover, who answered it by saying that you 

 should begin to feed at the age of 2' J years. His 

 reason lor so thinking was that at this age, you have 

 a good, hearty bullock, in good condition to grow 

 and increase in fat. He has had some experience in 

 that line, and had come to the conclusion that this 

 was the proper age at which to begin to feed cattle. 



Mr. Linville said the idea now prevailed to get 

 cattle that would mature early, and he thought 

 that the cattle nf the future would be of that kind. 

 He agreed with Mr. Hoover, provided we have good 

 cattle. In order to net a great weight we mu'^l pro- 

 cure cattle which will grow while we are feeding. 



This Impression was held by other members o( 

 the society— Mr. Engle staling that the cattle should 

 be fattened eelentlfically as toon as they will com- 

 mence to cat. 



Mr. F. U. Dlffenderll'er, to whom had been referred 

 the question, " Do I'arniers eat too uiueli I " reported 

 progress. 



.Mr. Paxson read a paper on the subject of the pro- 

 per treat nient of milch cows. It was Important, he 

 held, that warm and comfortable quarters iluring 

 the winter should be had. This is the great secret 

 of success, for cows thrive best the lees they are ex- 

 posed to the cold weather. The animals should uol 

 be allowed to gorge themselves with water almost at 

 the freezing point. Kegular hours of feeding and a 

 frequent change of nutritious food should be ob 

 served. Cotton seed meal was a very good food for 

 cows, and this might be fed in conjunction with 

 other articles. 



The article was discussed by H. M. Engle and 

 others, all of whom held substantially the same 

 views as those put forward by .Mr. Paxson. 



The president said he hoped that members would 

 not forget that at the next meeting of the society 

 oflicers would be elected for the ensuing year, and 

 he would like to see a large attendance 



The following questions were referred : Is it ad- 

 visable to use constantly the so-called cattle pow- 

 ders ? to H. M. Engle. Should creameries be es- 

 tablished in Lancaster county I to Joseph F. Wit- 

 mer. What crop would be most profitable as a sub- 

 stitute for oatsou corn stubbles? to Johnson Miller. 

 What is the most profitable fertilizer, clover, home- 

 made mauure or artificial fertilizers i to W. B. Pax- 

 son. 



On motion, the secretary was authorized to secure 

 the services of some person to deliver a lecture be- 

 fore the society. 



Adjourned to the second Monday in January, 1883. 



POULTRY ASSOCIATION. 



The Lancaster Couuty Poultry Society met statedly, 

 Monday morning, Dec. 4, 1S8:J, in their room over 

 the City Hall, with the following members present : 

 George A. Geyer, Florin ; J. B. Liehty, city ; John 

 E. Schuin, city; Charles Lippold, city; Joseph R. 

 Trissler, city ; F. K. DIHcnderlfer, city; C. A. Gast, 

 ciy; H. H. Tshudy, Lititz ; J. B. Sehultz, Eliza- 

 bethto.wn; H D. Shultz, Ellzabethtown ; Isaac 

 Brooks, West Willow; Dr. E. H. Witmer, Nelfg- 

 ville; J. M. Johnston, city; Peter Bruner, Mount 

 Joy; J. W. Bruckhart, Salnnga. 



The minutes of the preceding meeting were read 

 and approved. 



J. L. Bruner, of Mount Joy, August Lang, of 

 Pittsburg, and Simon Tshudy, of West Willow, were 

 nominated and elected to membership of the society. 



The following persons were placiid in nomination 

 for officers of, the society during the ensuing year : 

 President, H. H. Tshudy, Lititz ; J. B. Long, city ; 

 George A. Geyer, Florin. Vice Presidents, M. L. 

 Greidcr, Mount .Joy, and T. Frank Evans, Lititz. 

 Corresponding Secretary, Joseph H. Trissler, city. 

 Recording Secretary, J. B. Liehty, city. Treasurer, 

 John E. Schum, city. Executive Committee, Peter 

 Bruner, Mount Joy ; J. A. Stober, Schujneck ; Chas. 

 IJppold, city; Win. A. Schoenberger, city; Dr. E. H. 

 Witmer, Nefi'sville ; A. S. Flowers, Mount Joy; S. 

 (i. Engle, Marietta. The nominations closed, and the 

 candidates will be balloted for at the next meeting. 



The secretary stated that he had secured Excel- 

 sior Hall for the exhibition, with storage room for 

 the coops, for ■?i)0. 



Letters had been received from Messrs. BIckell 

 and Becker, the judges elected by the society, 

 stating that they would accept, and be in Lancaster 

 ou time. 



The secretary also stated that by had completed 



