18S3.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



TiiK improved plows iit the West will plow 

 from two and ;i-half to three acres a day with 

 two 1,400-pouiul horses. The draft is li^ht 

 and the furrows wide. The driver rides. And 

 yet another writer thinks that plows may be 

 entirely snperseded in time by screw pulver- 

 izers, disc-harrows, curve-bladed scarifiers, 

 and some other contrivances for making soils 

 mellow. The next generation will know more 

 about it perhaps. 



Bauhkd wire fences arc becoming woiidm- 

 fuUy popular at the West, and promise soon 

 to supersede all other kinds. The howl made 

 against them in certain (juarters is evidently 

 the same sort of alarm wliich atlendss most 

 uew inventions. How many peoi>le have 

 cursed the steam engine because of its explo- 

 sions and faults, and friction matches because 

 they caused so many fires, and yet each are 

 more and more popular. The barbed wire 

 fence has probably come to stay until fences 

 are no longer wanted — and that time, except 

 for special pui'poses, cannot come too soon in 

 the interests of farmers. 



Henry Stewart, of Bergen county, N. J., 

 who is a regular contributor to the isew York 

 Weekly Tiines, and frequently to the Country 

 Gcntlcmnn, writes in the latter in favor of im- 

 proving run-down land by green crops of rye 

 and corn. Both are good, no dou)jt, but 

 those proposing to try tliem should not be im- 

 patient about immediate results. Corn plant- 

 ed on rye freshly turned under will not be 

 largely benefited in its seed yield. The rye 

 must have time to decay and become incor- 

 porated with the soil. And then again, if it 

 is proposed to feed green rye to cattle as i}art 

 of the improving process, the rye should not 

 be allowed to head out before being fed, as 

 Mr. Stewart recommends. To make milk 

 and be relished by stock, green rye should be 

 fed just before it heads. Experiments in 

 milk production with rye have shown this be- 

 yond question. 



Canada has become au important com- 

 petitor with the United States in supplying 

 England with cheese. 



Tjie Fairraount Creamery Association of 

 Upper Uwchlan, Chester County, paid 4^ 

 cents a quart for milk in September. 



Prof. Willard thinks American cheese- 

 makers are.studyiug the English market for 

 cheese to the neglect of the American, which 

 is vastly more important. 



Who will say that balky horses, like balky 

 children, are not oftener made so by bad 

 treatment than by inherent viciousness, which 

 is another name for original sin ? 



SoMKBOBY is stated to have lately hauled 

 9,600 pounds of maniu-e over a hilly road from 

 Doylestown to Plumstead with four horses. 

 This is not mentioned as a worthy achieve- 

 ment, but instead one to be condemned. It is 

 cruelty to animals. 



The condition of the corn stalks in the 

 Mississippi Valey is much as they are in the 

 spring after a winter's exposure, and much 

 stock abortion, it is believed, must result 

 from it. But blue grass there is reported to 

 be growing of late under the influence of re- 

 cent rules. 



Many of the farmers of the upper part of 

 Bucks county are obliged to haul all the 



water they use from some neighboring stream 

 or spring, and in some cases are obliged to 

 drive cattle from one to two miles for water. 

 Much work of this sort will soon equal the 

 cost of a windmill and its fixtures. 



The manufacturer of oleomargarine on an 

 extensive scale injures the soai) ami candle 

 business by making tallow prices high, at 

 least the soap men so claim. They .say that 

 the bogus butter people buy up pretty much 

 all kinds of fat— including hog fat, dog fat, 

 and 'possum fat, and they would buy " print- 

 ers' fat " if they could melt it. 



Mr. Clarkson Lii)pincott, of Mannington, 

 Salem county. New .Jersey, recently lost three 

 cows which were in apparent good health up 

 to the day of death. A post-mortem sliowed 

 that the ears were full of maggots, supposed 

 to be the larvro of the bott-fly, which usually 

 infest the legs of horses in August and Sep- 

 tember. But why the maggots were sup- 

 posed to have originated from that source is 

 not stated. 



Oxen nsed to be very common in Maine, 

 more especially as the poor man's team, but 

 now they are reported to be growing scarce, 

 caused by the supposed necessity of using 

 horses in connection with farm machinery. 

 But a writer in the Maine Farnter argues 

 against the change and tiiinks it not economi- 

 cal at all, as the ox costs less and grows in 

 value all the time, while the horse depreciates 

 and at last ends his career on the dunghill. 



There is a cattle disease in Salem county, 

 New Jersey, which the State agent is unable to 

 identify, though he says it is not pleuro-pneu- 

 monia. Michael Hogan, near Acton Station, 

 has lost eight head, and the V. S. who made 

 the post-mortem, pronounces the disease a 

 sort of typhus fever, and thinks it must 

 spread. The State authorities ought to look 

 into this matter at once. 



The value of corn-fodder depends, as is the 

 case with hay, in its manner of growth and 

 the manner and success in curing. Simply 

 to state that corn-fodder is very valuable as 

 stock feed is not enough ; if you think you 

 have proved it by trial it is worth more to 

 the public to know how it was grown and 

 cured than to know that any certain person 

 thinks well of it. 



A Tennessee shopkeeper reports in the 

 Conntrii Gentleman that on September 1, 

 1S82, he bought 10 ewes for S70,andfrom them 

 has since sold lambs and wool to the value of 

 §138,24, and has eight of his besi old ewes 

 left. His first year's experience must be very 

 satisfactory. 



The Wa.ssaic Milk Company, a niilk-pur- 

 chasing company near Amenia, N". Y., had a 

 contract with the neighboring farmers to 

 take their milk tor six months from October 

 1 at three and a-iialf cents a quart. But re- 

 cently, for some honorable cause, we pi'esume, 

 they have volunteered to break their contract 

 and to pay four cents instead of three and a- 

 half. Such extraordinary conduct merits — 

 well, a notice at any rate. It looks almost as 

 if the age of miracles was about to return. 



An Illinois farmer who keeps twenty 

 horses, some of them worth S1,50C each, \ 

 writes that he pastures them all at times in | 

 fields fenced with barbed wire, has done it 



for four years, and had no harm result from 

 it. Before turning them out he fn-st leads 

 them to the fence, and lets them rub their 

 noses against the barbs, and the hint is suffi- 

 cient. They know enough after that to keep 

 away from the fences. It is much the same 

 with his Jersey cattle. Instead of making 

 paths close to the fence, as they often do with 

 other fences, they keep five feet away. 



CONTRIBUTIONS. 



FOK THE I.ANCAKTEH KAHMER. 



Mr. Editor : I have uo desire to prolong 

 the discussion on "The Balance of Trade" 

 l)eyond reasonable limits, but there seems to 

 be some points in J. P.'s last article that 

 tempt criticism. I wish, however, to dis- 

 claim any intention to come at him with a 

 "meat-axe." I tried to be very careful not 

 to say any thing "unparliamentary," or use 

 any expression at which he could reasoniibly 

 take offense. I feel like the lawyer, who, 

 when being reprimanded by the judge for 

 contempt of court, said he had exjiressed no 

 contempt, but on the contrary, had been very 

 careful all through his speech, to conceal his 

 feelings. I think it is only J. P.'s over- 

 wrought and exceedingly sensitive imagina- 

 tion that could discover any attempt to 

 " meat-axe" him in my article. 



lie seems to have about yielded the point in 

 regard to the statistics, thinks he may have 

 "added up wrongly," or something else, and 

 at any rate, it makes no difference, though 

 when he thought the figures were 

 on his side, he tried to make a strong 

 point against "J. S. T," because the 

 exi)orts (as he then thought) were greater 

 than the Imports trom 1860 to 1S70, during 

 tliose years of civil war, extravagance, 

 and admitted loss, and says, " The balance is 

 decidedly on the other side of the book, as it 

 decidedly ought not to be, if the Balance of 

 Trade theorists are correct." Well, when we 

 came to investigate, the balance was not on 

 the side he thought it was, but about SI, 200,- 

 000,000 on the other side. Then, by infer- 

 ence, the "Balance of Trade Theorists" 

 must be correct, as the balance is just where 

 it ought to be, according to him, to support 

 their side. 



But J. P. has made the astounding discov- 

 ery, that consumption is gain and production 

 is loss, or would be were it not for consump- 

 tion coming in just the nick of time to save it. 



"To this complexion have we come at last." 

 All our manufacturers then, should try to use 

 up as much fuel and machinery supplies as 

 possible, for tlult is the road to wealth. Our 

 old book-keepers always put down, all mill 

 expenses and everything consumed, on the 

 Dr. side of "Profits and Loss," and all pro- 

 duction on the Cr. side. J. P. has reversed 

 all that, and all our Commercial Colleges and 

 business houses will have to teach their pu- 

 pils and clerks an entirely new style of book- 

 keeping. This discovery is certainly destined 

 to become immortal, and rank along side of 

 the "Philosopher's stone " and " The Elixir 

 of Life." As though every ofte didn't 

 know that grain or coal consumed for food 

 or fuel, is just as much lost as when sunk 

 in the sea, or burned up in a destruct- 

 ive conflagration. In one case we may 



