The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S, S. KATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA.. JANUARY, 1883 



Vol. ZV. No. 1. 



Editorial. 



OUR GREETINGS FOR 1883, 

 We congratulate our iialroiis ;uid the pub- 

 lic on the advent of another New Year. 

 lliiic is no respecter of persons, places, or 

 things, and vvheii he " goes a mowluii;," human 

 intelligence alone cannot divine who or what 

 may be exempt frcmi the fell swoop of liis 

 relentless scythe. Looking abroad upon the 

 visible aspect of things, soci.ally, politically, 

 and materially, we fnid it dilUcult to realize 

 ihe philosophical dogma that only the "littest 

 survive." Abstractly considered, it may be 

 true that infinUe wisdom always permits the 

 "survival of the fittest," but to mortal vision 

 tlie appearance may be very different, simply 

 because mortal vision is circumscribed, very 

 often by lax perception by prejudices and par- 

 tialities, or by an overweening selfhood that 

 confesses no faith in anything that conflicts 

 with the dominancy of self. 



During the past year many individuals, botli 

 in humble and exalted positions, tiave passed 

 away. Many enterprises have failed of mate 

 rial realization — many journalistic experi- 

 ments have succumbed for lack of support. 

 Others of apparently less prominence, less 

 patronage, and less prestige, have drawn their 

 slow and feeble length along, and, under this 

 condict in current events, who is able toaliirm 

 that, in matcriol results, only the fittest have 

 survived V There is a moral ruling, however, 

 in the affairs of the world, which we are loth 

 to see, because it is not in harmony with that 

 self-ascription which constitutes such a prom- 

 inent standpoint in the category of human 

 reasoning. But, let no man, no institution, 

 and no enterprise boast that tlw/ have snr- 

 vived because they are the fittest ; for, under 

 any circumstances, they may only survive so 

 long as Infinite "Wisdom sees it is best they 

 should. We would inculcate no fatalistic 

 dogma, but rather that all things are aniena; 

 ble to law and rules of inflexible order ; nev- 

 ertheless, no man of observation can fail to 

 see that animals, trees, shrubs, and plants 

 frequently survive and flourish, under the 

 most studied acts of deprivation, violence, and 

 neglect, whilst others wilt and perish under 

 the most elaborate patron.age, sympathy and 

 culture. .Since these things are so, the fatal- 

 istic conclusion would be that effort is useless, 

 " what IS to be, icill be." This is a monstrous 

 fallacy. No farmer can expect to reap if he 

 does not sow ; or to gather fruit, if he plants 

 no trees. 



We are rather admonished by all this to 

 persevere, to do all that is in our power, inider 

 the direction of our highest intelligence ; to 

 deal justly, love mercy and walk humbly and 

 whatever our hands find for us to do, to do it 

 with our might, and leave the rest in the 

 keeping of Him who rules the universe. 

 Sooner or later it comes to that in any event, 

 notwithstanding in the pride of temporary — or 

 only apparent — success, one may claim that 

 human sagacity alone has accomplished the 



end. Allhough the gathered crops of 1SS2 in 

 all our land, seem to be the greatest ever 

 gathered before, evincing unprecedented (((/ri- 

 citUural success at least, yet betweeu result 

 and the monetary realization — which is the 

 great motor power of all human effort — there 

 is sometimes a vast area of contingencies never 

 contemplated by our most profound cogita- 

 tions. The delvers in the great staples of our 

 country are at this very moment unusually 

 exercised about a matter that never entered 

 their minds at the beginning of Ihe old year. 

 And yet, there is a way out of this, and per- 

 haps when we pass through it, we may realize 

 that it was not our own individual wisdom 

 that led us through. Whatever may occur 

 through intermediate agencies we cannot ig- 

 nore the fact that the past year has been agri- 

 culturally prosperous. The soil and human 

 industry have yielded an ample return. Our 

 abundance, if not rightly used, may be trans- 

 muted to ashes. But, inuler all the evolutions 

 of production and traffic, of finance and finesse, 

 the fittest things may survive in the end. A 

 new and a hopeful year has just opened tons, 

 that will wait for no man, but will rush on as 

 have all that preceded it. It behooves us 

 then to take a new "tack," if our previous 

 course has not been the right one. It be- 

 hooves us to regard, in all our efforts, the 

 public good, and not merely self-aggrandize- 

 ment alone. We need no special admonition 

 to take care of No. 1 ; all are doing that 

 vi'ithout admonition, although many may 

 blunder in their manner of doing it. The 

 year 1883 is now initiated ; it expects man- 

 kind to be healthier, happier, richer, and 

 wiser .at its ending, than they were at its 

 beginning. If this does not transpire it will 

 not be the fault of time. We commit the 

 interests and the destinies of our patrons to 

 the keeiiing of that Being who existed before 

 the birth of Time, and who. from the throne 

 of His " Eternal\N'otv," has power to proclaim 

 that " Time aiiaU be no longer." 



To that ordeal we also commit tlie destinies 

 of our Fifteenth Volume, and confidently lean 

 upon the sustaining influence of the public. 

 . ^^ 



AMENDE HONORABLE. 



The extracts headed -'The Coming Fence," 

 p. l.'ii, "Stable Cleaning," p. 1.5.'5, and "Wheat 

 Growing," p. l.")G, in the October number of 

 the Fakmer, it appears, should have been 

 credited to the Gcrmantoicn^Tdeijnipli, We 

 are unable to say now how this omission 

 occurred, but we suppose we will have to 

 shoulder the responsiliility. The fact is, we 

 v.alue the Teleejrapli so highly that we refrain 

 from mutilating it whenever we can, and 

 hence we cut out of other papers, which we 

 do not specially value, articles of merit, 

 which we subsequently discover liave been 

 taken from the Tcleijraph without crediting 

 that paper. Or, a slij) may be taken from 

 the Teleyrcqih containing two or three articles 

 belonging to different departments of our 

 journal, and these may be severed and dis- 



tributed to diflierent compositors, and hence, 

 through a neglect or otherwise, one (lortion 

 may be credited and the others not. But we 

 never willfully or premeditatedly perpetrate 

 such an omission, and we do not think our 

 compositors do. On one notable occasion at 

 least, we approached a reporter of a daily 

 paper and asked him if be knew that the whole 

 coUnnn which he (pioled from a city daily as 

 original, had been written by us and published 

 in a Lancaster county paper three years pre- 

 viously, and that we could show it to him 

 verlidlim et liieratum et puneluatum, in our 

 .Scrap-book of that date ¥ He merely replied, 

 "Is that so ! well, there is no use in making 

 any ado about it now, it is a common occur- 

 rence ; you have the consolation of knowing 

 that your article has sufficient merit to be 

 appropriated by a first-class city i)aper." 

 Editing the Farmer is not a special occupa- 

 tion with us, it is only an incidental. All the 

 broad we eat is earned in the exercise of a sec- 

 ular calling that is almost incompatible with 

 the editorial function, or scientific pursuits, 

 and the labor pertaining to these is performed 

 during those hours when the " world is in 

 solemn darkness hung," and the masses of 

 mankind are buried in sleep. 



No, we would not be a plagiarist, a literary 

 pilferer — .and if, inadvertently, we happen to 

 pick up a man's hoe, on other premises than 

 his own, we will not hesitate a moment in 

 restoring it. 



EXCERPTS. 

 •Several patent cabinet creameries from 

 Vermont have recently been shipped to Chili, 

 South America. 



Mex who change from farming to some 

 petty public position are often delighted to 

 change back again. 



The census shows that the average of wheat 

 production in Georgia is less than seven bush- 

 els per acre. The State produced .'?, 1.50,771 

 bushels on 475,GH4 acres. 



The Montreal Horticultural Society has 

 some 700 members at $2 a member. This 

 indicates an interest in horticulture in that 

 cold country which one in this region could 

 hardly expect. 



The "visible supply" of corn at Chicago 

 about October 27 was about thirty million 

 bushels, which is about twice iis much as the 

 average at this season. This is caused by the 

 high prices. 



Feed for stock in some parts of Ohio is re- 

 ported to be as good as in June. But if it 

 should be mostly pastured off before snow 

 comes the rains will not bj of much beaeflt 

 after all to next year's crop. 



A Maine railroad man "gathered" a ripe 

 strawberry in his garden on Friday, October 

 21. It was of the Sharpless variety, and the 

 plant which bore it h,ad green strawberries in 

 various stages of growth and one blo.ssom. 



Professor J. B. Lawes says that the 



