The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER. PA., FEBRUARY, 1883. 



Vol. XV. No. .2 



Editorial. 



STATE AND COUNTY FAIR. 

 Mow, Ihut tlie "Mam Ilall " in Fainiunmt 

 Park is chronicled with "tlie things that 

 were," there seeras to us to be no more favor- 

 alile locahty for a State or county fair — uitlier 

 separately or combined — than the grounds of 

 oar own Park Association. None nion^ con- 

 veniently arranged, none more accessible, and 

 none that could be obtained on more reasoiui- 

 ble terms. We are glad to see. by the 

 February proceedings of our local society, 

 that it has appointed a committee of inquiry 

 in that direction, and, taking time by the 

 forelock, that committee cannot inquire too 

 viailanlly nor too soon. Surely Lancaster 

 county abounds iu all the essential elements 

 that comi)ose a tirst-class Agricultural, Hor- 

 ticultiu'al, aud Industrial Exhibition ; and, 

 in intelligence, enterprise, and general pro- 

 gress, she is not behind her sister counties ; 

 and yet, she has not for many years been 

 able to manipulate a succe.ssful county exhibi- 

 tion of her rich and abundant products. 

 Every year the number of these gatherings 

 is multiplying all over the entire country, and 

 from present ajipearances it does not look as if 

 the general enthusiasm has in the least abated. 

 It is true that these laudable enterprises are 

 not always what are generally regarded as a 

 " financial success," because they do not re- 

 sult in an overflowing Treasury, uo matter 

 what may be otherwise developed by them. 

 We think a fair may be eminently successful, 

 without yielding any siu'plus to its treasury, 

 or profit to its conductors. For instance, the 

 e.xliibition of the " Lancaster County Poultry 

 Association," last month was unquahliedly 

 successful, and financially it involved the as- 

 sociation in a debt. Unforeseen contingen- 

 cies sometimes so combine as to i)roduce al- 

 most a failure, financially, but iu moral, domes- 

 tic, and industrial results, they may be all that 

 could have been reasonably expected from 

 them. Tlie late poultry show was a credit to 

 the county of Lancaster, and the projectors 

 and conductors of it, merit the commendations 

 of the public. These things must not be es- 

 timated by their pecuniary results alone, al- 

 though sound reason dictates that they 

 should so far compensate those who get them 

 up as to protect thenr from pecuniary loss. 

 The pidilii^ has also a duty to perform in en- 

 terprises of this kind, and yet the public is 

 often singularly indifferent, and through 

 this indifference the best laid plans of 

 "mice as vpell as men aft gang aglee." 

 No one would nresume to say that our late 

 " War for the Union" was a failure, and yet 

 financially it was, or would have been a di.s- 

 aster, had not the wisdom of the nation de- 

 vised, and compelled the means to sustain 

 the government. By reference to our literary 

 and personal columns, the financial and ma- 

 terial success of our old neighbor, Berks, will 

 become apparent to the reader; and what 

 Berks has been doing for the past ten years, 



ought surely be accomplished by Lancaster. 

 There are no better means of advertising a 

 district, a county, or a State, than through an 

 exhibition of their material and industrial re- 

 sources, and this also applies to all large 

 towns and cities. Our Centennial Exposition 

 in isTli placed our entire country in a position 

 before the world that she never had occupied be- 

 fore tliat event, and yet financially it was not 

 a success to those who ventured in the enter- 

 prise; else they would not be knocking at the 

 door of the American Congress for a reim- 

 bursement. Many things in this world "cost 

 more than they come to," and yet the world 

 would be a " three-wheeled wagon" without 

 them. Through these periodical gatherings 

 people come to know each other better than 

 they possibly could otliervvise. Tliey are not 

 only social assemblies in which every man, by 

 external blandishments, is endeavoring to put 

 the best foot foremost, but they are the con- 

 gregated ultimations of practical ideas, in 

 living and moving forms. They exhibit to 

 each other outwardly, what men and women 

 have been inwardly thinking about, aud they 

 lead all to consider whether there. may not be 

 better plans for doing things, than those 

 which have been transmitted to them through 

 an effete ancestry, thus affording them a prac- 

 tical opportunity to "prove all things, and 

 hold fast that which is good." 



At the annual meeting of the State Agri- 

 cultural Society, held in Ilarrisburg, without 

 definitely adopting any place to Ifold its next 

 exhibition, yet it seems that Fairmount Park 

 was informally mentioned. It is true, the 

 State Society held one or two exhibitions 

 there, which were eminently financial suc- 

 cesses ; but then, it must be remembered, that 

 it was backed by the attr.actions aud the 

 patronage of the " Main Hall," an influence 

 it could not possibly now commaud. 



Next to Fairmount Pairk, the most suc- 

 cessful State Fair ever held in Pennsylvania. 

 was the one held in the Park at Lancaster. This 

 ought not only to be an inducement, but also a 

 guarantee to the State Society, justifying a 

 repetition of their enterprise of IS"."), in which 

 they may count on a practical co-operation of 

 our local society. 



But that is not all all. Our dtizcns should 

 vouchsafe an earnest co-operation in the event, 

 a thing they have never yet fully and freely 

 done. The nearest ai)i)roximation, so far as 

 related to the mechanical, domestic and fancy 

 departments, was iu the demonstration of the 

 "Fulton Institute," iu November, IS.V.). But 

 notwithstanding the material success of that 

 display, financially it was a failure— perhaps 

 occasioned liy the rivalry of two lo<'al institu- 

 tions. AVe never ooidd, and probably never 

 can, hold two successful fairs of any kind in 

 Lancaster city and county in the same season, 

 perhaps not in the same year. It needs a 

 unity of purpose and energy to succeed in en- 

 terprises of this kind. When a local society 

 projects anything of this character its hands 

 ought to be held up by the entire community, 

 and iherf it must succeed. 



WIGGINSANIA. 

 " Blow "jeiitle muBiclan, blow ; 

 Lot tliy dulcet strain proceed ; 

 l^lay us Micliael Wlgnliis once again." 



Scientific nuthoritji has demonstrated by the 

 usual meteorological data, that no storm was 

 brewing in the United States, that could po.ssi- 

 bly develop itself on the itth of February, 

 notwithstanding Mr. Wiggins had predicted 

 months ago that such would certainly be the 

 case. Perhaps Mr. Wiggins may discover the 

 "loose screw" in his meteorological calcula- 

 tions, and blow his bla.st over again, even at 

 the hazard of demonstrating to the world 

 that his system is b.ased upon mere guess 

 work. Ihe world has been making such im- 

 mense progress in the i)hysical sciences, that 

 a time must ultimately come, when the 

 changes in the weather can bo foreshadowed, 

 with as much certainty and precision, as an 

 eclipse, a transit, or a change in the moon can 

 now be foretold, but neither Mr. Vennor nor 

 Mr. Wiggins have yet attained to that posi- 

 tion as weather prognosticators, and very 

 probably never will. 



We cannot exactly say that these pro\)het8 

 become enthused on the stibject of meteor- 

 ology ; but, after the manner of the present 

 period, they become sensolinnnl, and like the 

 crow listening to the flatteries of the fox, they 

 loose their beef, by opening their mouths and 

 cawing too loud. Not .satisfied that the grass 

 was shaken by the wind, it must be shaken 

 by fve hundred snal-es therein, or the tale 

 would be too tame to elicit attention. 



It is a great pity (on Mr. Wiggins' account) 

 tliat we did not have a devastating "bliz- 

 zard" on the 9th of February, 1SS3, just for the 

 sake of a new epoch in meteorological history, 

 and a world wonder to talk about. All ertects 

 are but the manifestations of prior causes, and 

 therefore there is nothing arbitrary, nothing 

 capricious in nature's laws : and, if we can 

 demonstrate that twice two make four, it, is 

 because we see the two twos as primitive 

 factors in our calculations. When weather 

 prognostications are based upon suppositions 

 only, they are sure to fail. 



THE FULTZ WHEAT. 

 We call the special attention of our wheat- 

 growing patrons to the communication of Dr. 

 T. C. Porter, of Lafayette College, which 

 puts an entire new face on the origin of the 

 "Fultz wheat," so far as relates to the article 

 of ifr. David Detwiler, published in the N. Y. 

 Tribune of the 10th ult., and so patronizingly 

 sandADiclicd by the editor of that journal. We 

 believe that Dr. Porter knows exactly what he 

 is talking about, aiul if he does, his exposition 

 is not very flattering either to ^Ir. Detwiler or 

 the editor, and as to Mr. Fonltz himself, possi- 

 bly he may be altogether oblivious of the 

 pretensions set'up in his behalf. It would be 

 singular indeed if the originator of such a 

 valuable cereal coidd content himself in culti- 

 vating a. sfoiifcjKarr;/ in the vicinity of "Jack's 

 mountain," a region where, it is said, corn 

 has to be shot into the ground with a musket. 



