22 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



The company that have the grape had many 

 tons of the fruit last season. The Niagara 

 grape may be a good one, though tliere may 

 be better. Yet, as I suppose, their vineyard 

 is exclusively of this variety, and as a conse- 

 quence no pollen of other varieties can have 

 been introduced, so that the probability is, 

 there is not likely to be much improvement in 

 the seedling. Had there been many varieties 

 growing in the same vineyard there would be 

 much greater promise of improvement. 



A very plain case of cross-fertilization I 

 noticed last season. A family in Columbia, 

 who are very fond of grovi^ing flowers, especi- 

 ally the Asler, a beautiful annual. They plant 

 them in beds close togetlier, of all colors. 

 Last summer a number of the seedling plants 

 not only produced beautiful double flowers as 

 usual, but among the lot were a number of 

 striped flowers of all colors. As I had never 

 before known of these plants having striped 

 flowers, it appeared to me a great novelty 

 The seeds had been crossed by bees, which is 

 Nature's method of producing new vaiie- 

 ties.— /. B. G., Feh. 6i7(, 1SS3. " 



For The Lancastek Fahmeh. 

 LIME vs. MODERN FERTILIZERS. 



My attention was called lately to an article 

 in the August (181^2) number of The Lan- 

 caster Fakjier under the heading of 

 " Ijime." I take no exception to the writer's 

 statements — but to the inference, that be- 

 cause lime in the past done so much for our 

 land, we may still depend upon it. 



Forty years ago the theory and practice of 

 the farmers in this part of Chester county — 

 was mainly embraced in liming — liming and 

 feeding stock was their main business, and by 

 it poor land became rich ; but the credit 

 should be given quite as much to the manure 

 as to the lime. After a long time it was 

 found out that some land had enough of lime, 

 for the present, at least from the fact that no 

 difference could be observed in the crops be- 

 tween that part of a field that had recently 

 been limed and that which had not. Experi- 

 ments became general, and to-day I believe 

 there is not one-tentli part as mucli land-lime 

 used within 15 miles of the great limestone 

 quarries in I^ondon Grove township, that 

 tliere was 30 years ago ; and that within that 

 time the produetiveuess of the land has in- 

 creased from 20 to 50 per cent. 



The growing crop requires a certain portion 

 of lime ; but according to our highest author- 

 ities only a small portion, say from 1 to 3 

 bushels yearly. If we apply as formerly tO to 

 HO bushels per acre every time we l)reak up a 

 sod, there must be a great de;il unused. 

 Broken oyster sliells are good for laying hens, 

 supplying a portion of the material neces.sary 

 for the perfect egg, and by their mechanical 

 action, making its other food digesitible, but 

 only a limited quantity of such rations is 

 profitable ; more than euough is waste. 



So it is with lime. Asraall portion is taken 

 up each year and the rest lies in the ground 

 useless. On some soils, however, lime has other 

 uses than supplying plaut food, acting upon 

 it mechanically and chemically, and it is for 

 each farmer for himself by experiment to find 

 out what his own land needs now. Wiiat it 

 required 50 years ago does not concern liim, 

 except as a matter of history. 



We think our land now needs bone — by the 

 use of which A^e are returning to the soil an 

 element as fully essential to plant growth as 

 lime. With the use of bone and acidulated 

 South Carolina rock a second revolution in 

 farming commenced, which on many farms is 

 doul:)ling the crops. 



The time appears to <iave gone by wlien 

 feeding cattle can be counted upon as a pay- 

 ing business ; nor is it reasonable that we can 

 compete with the West, where grain can be 

 raised and fed so much more cheaply than 

 here. But iu selling bay and straw we have 

 the advantage, for on such chea[.) and bulky 

 articles the freight is an important item of 

 expense. The raising and selling of these 

 looms up as an interest with which the West 

 caimot successfully compete. 



The time-honored theory, that a farm can 

 only be kept in a high state of fertility by 

 feeding the hay and grain upon it, is now 

 Ijeing rudely tested by our necessities, and a 

 new departure is inevitable. 



Many of our most successful farmers in this 

 county have given up cattle feeding and 

 adopted the practice of selling most of their 

 hay and straw and using bone and other 

 special fertilizers in place of barnyard manure. 

 My object in this wirting is not to advance 

 any new tlieory, but to encourage farmers to 

 think and experiment for themselves, and to 

 protest against our farmers following blindly 

 the practices of fifty years ago, and resting 

 satisfied therewith in regard to their manures, 

 any more than they would be with the thresh- 

 ers ard reapers of that time. 



I believe agriculture. should keep pace with 

 the arts and sciences, which have made such 

 tremendous strides since the time Mr. Garber 

 "rode in the stage coach from Baltimore to 

 York, sixty years ago." — Howard Preston, 

 Lower Oxford, Chester county. 



For The Lancastek Farmek. 

 DEEP OR SHALLOW PLANTING. 



Nature's plan in planting her seeds is alto- 

 gethor in dropping on the •surface soil of the 

 earth. Nuts, from their respective weights, 

 may sink half tlieir size into the ground, be- 

 fore they germinate, but very often they are 

 entirely on the ^urface when they begin to 

 sprout, and often their tap-roofs come forth 

 and penetrate the ground, and form the ger- 

 minating nucleus of the majestic oak. Other 

 seeds so very liglit that an ordinary wind will 

 carry them many miles, will eventually drop 

 on the ground and grow. Often whole crops 

 are injured by planting the seeds too deep in 

 the ground, and this is especially the case 

 with wheat. Some years ago, I, in connec- 

 tion with a neighbor of mine, worked a drill 

 together. I had sowed half a field in very 

 good loo.se ground, perhaps three, four or 

 five inches deep, with the drill. Heavy rains 

 prevailed fbr a few days— 1 was at the time 

 " pushed" for a drill, and would have sowed 

 had I possed a drill of my own. So I com- 

 menced to sow on the rather wet ground. 

 The seeds sown seemed too much on the top 

 of the wet soil. The result, however, was, 

 that the wheat came up almost twice as thick, 

 was better from the start, and continued bet- 

 ter until harvest time. Last fall I saw two 

 fields of wheat sowed too deep in the ground. 

 They looked discouraging all last fall, and the 



outlook was not half as promising as from 

 fields sown a few days earlier or later, an inch 

 or two under the surface. Corn should not 

 be planted too deep; in fact I believe alto- 

 gether in shallow plantiuir, no matter what 

 kinds of seeds you may plant — I believe we 

 should aiiproximate nature's plan. 



I am also opposed to planting fruit and 

 forest trees — as well as ornamental trees — too 

 deep. You can plant small trees very shallow, 

 and all kinds of trees will do better if they 

 are transplanted before they are too large. Of 

 course, the larger the tree the deeper the liole. 

 I have planted trees. I will plant trees with 

 any one in the neighborhood except nursery- 

 men. The question may arise, which is the 

 right or best way to plant trees ? when at the 

 same time there seems to be only one way. A 

 writer iu the last number of The Farmer 

 recommends holes from S to 10 feet in diame- 

 ter for trees 12 feet high, instead of 4 to 5 feet 

 in diameter for those of the same freight. 

 That may be an exception, but wlien we go 

 to a nursery, we don't want fruit trees 12 feet 

 in height ; but, we may want a few Maple 

 trees of that height, and they will require 

 holes two and a half feet in diameter, and 

 fifteen inches in depth. The advice may 

 come from a " Book-farmer," and he is wel- 

 come to his opinion. Well, how do I make 

 holes for apple trees?. Why, I make them 

 .30 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep. I 

 place a good stake in the hole, tlien fill it half 

 full, after whicli I place the tree in it and fill 

 over all the roots. Sliake a little when filled 

 up, and tramp the ground all around tlie tree: 

 fasten it to the stake with a straw wisp. I 

 planted five orchards and subsoiled two of 

 them. The trees grew very luxurious ; have 

 planted a great many trees in my time, and 

 have been reasonably successful. I seldom 

 lo.se more than one or two in one hundred.— 



Wancick. Oregon, Feb., 1883. 



^ 



For The Lancastek Farmek, 

 FOLTZ WHEAT. 

 Easton, Pa., Jan. 10, 1^83. 



My I)EAii Sir : Enclosed you will find a 

 clipping from the agricultural columns of the 

 N. Y. Tribune of the 17th inst. It will fur- 

 nish you a good exami)le, if you have never 

 seen the like of it before, of the manner in 

 wliicli history is sometimes w'trfc. The sapient 

 editor has evidently heen fooled by tlie '■^Fooltz 

 wheat." That poor, worthy. Christian 

 farmer living at the base of that mountain on 

 that wretched stony farm has had his wits 

 sharpened and fabricated a good j'arn. It 

 would be cruel to vote him a monument as a 

 public benefactor. Let some society or com- 

 bination of societies, b}' all meaus, send this 

 two-blade-of-grass man the $10,000. He 

 should tlien move west and extend the acre- 

 age of his wheat to some purpose, after having 

 given a suitable rewar'l to the obliging friend 

 who had trumpeted him into fame. How 

 can tfie generous tillers of tlie soil, who have 

 been so vastly benefited by this humble co- 

 worker, resist ttie appeal ? 



To speak soberly, sucli attempts to rob Dr. 

 Foltz of the credit justly due to him for the 

 introduction of the valuable variety of wheat 

 wliicli bears his name, ought to be exposed by 

 every respectable agricultural journal in tfie 

 land. Yours, respectfully, 



Thos. C. Porter. 



