1883.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



35 



the solution hot to all ciai'ks, closets, betl- 

 stcads aiul other places, wln-ie any insects are 

 found. Ants, bedbugs, coekroaehcs and 

 creeping things are killed by it ; while there 

 is no danger of poisoning the family or injur- 

 ing propel ty. 



Tu FIND THE NuMUKi; ok Bushkls in a 

 Moi'PKK. — A convenient rule to lind the 

 number of bushels of grain in a hoiiper, is 

 to multiply the length {in inches) at the top 

 by the breadth and that product by one-third 

 of the depth, measuring to the point ; divide 

 the last product by 2150. -t (the number of 

 cubic inches in a bushel), and the (juotient 

 will give the number of bushels contained in it. 



BiiONZiNG Iron. — Iron has sometimes to 

 be bronzed for domestic use. The following 

 is a very simple way of obtaining a very good 

 bron/.e : Mi.x an equal quantity of butter of 

 antimony and oil of olives ; put this mixture 

 on the iron which is required to be bronzed 

 with a brush, the iron having been previously 

 brightened with emery and cloth, and leave it 

 for several hours. Then rub with wax and 

 varnish with copal. 



Sure Citre for Corns.— A. C, who has 

 tried it, is authority for the following : Take 

 one-fourth cup of strong vinegar, crumb 

 tiuely into it some bread. Let stand half an 

 hour, or until it softens into a good poultice. 

 Then api)ly on retiring at night. In the 

 morning the soreness will be gone, and the 

 corn can be picked out. If the corn is a very 

 obstinate oue, it may require two or more 

 applications to effect a cure. 



Metallic: Protectors to Boot Heels. 

 — Metallic protectors arc now iugenio-isly 

 applied to light steel and fastened around the 

 outer edge of the heel with three screws ; 

 they are about one-half an inch in height, and 

 protect the bottom of the heel by a narrow 

 flange, which operates to prevent the edges 

 from wearing away, at the same time impart- 

 ing strength and stability. Its lightness is a 

 special advantage, and its ai>pearance is not at 

 all unsightly. 



CONTRIBUTIONS. 



Knr TlIK Lascastkk Fakmkk. 

 APPLE CULTURE. 



The cultivation of the api)!e is supposed 

 by some people to be of very little importance; 

 that in order to be successful in raising 

 apples all that is required is so plant trees and 

 large crops of fruit should be forthcoming ; 

 without paying any regard to what varieties 

 are planted, or what the nature of the soil 

 may be, or paying any attention to the subse- 

 quent cultivation of the orchard or to ihe 

 trees. Our intention, however, is to refer 

 briefly to varieties and soils, claiming that a 

 proper starting point is the most important to 

 insure success. My experience is that while 

 some varieties upon our soil may be complete 

 failures, the same varieties ujwn ditl'erent soils 

 may be a perfect success and vice vcrsit, so we 

 would infer that it was all-important to ascer- 

 tain the a<laptation of the diflerent varieties 

 to the various soils. 



I have taken an interest in apple raising for 

 years, having planted upwards of 200 trees in 

 18(5.">-0, planting in five different orchards in 

 as many diflerent soils, not two miles apart. 

 The different conditious of soil upon which I 



planted were, a red-shale southern slope, a 

 rich gravel southern slope, a lime stone plot, 

 inclining north, a little west; a sproiity lot 

 consisting of lime stone and gravel, and a 

 sandy lime stone, lied shale was the best soil 

 to bring the Newtown Pippin, Smoke-house, 

 and other varieties to perfection, when there 

 would, at the same time, be failures in my 

 other orchards. My trees blossomed very 

 profusely all over, and I expected the largest 

 apple crop that I ever raised, but only three 

 varieties bore a full crop— namely, the York 

 Imperial, the Russet, and the old Pennsyl- 

 vania Bed streak. Last year the lied streak 

 and the Smith's Cider were the apples above 

 all others. If I were to plant an orchard 

 now, of fiflij trees, I would plant fifteen Red- 

 streaks, fifteen Smith's Cider, fftitn York 

 Imperial, and fire summer aud fall varieties. 

 I have sold early in the fiiU the York Impe- 

 rial and the Red streak at from seventy-five 

 cents to one dollar per bushel, and the aver- 

 age from the trees in my orchard would have 

 been very valuable, had there been a greater 

 number of those kinds. The Pound Apple 

 and the Baldwin Pippin were about half a 

 crop, and so also were a few other varieties. 

 Among the failures were the Krauser, the 

 Northern Spy, the Hubertson Nonsuch, theR. 

 I. Greening, the Monmouth Pippin, the Mun- 

 son Sweet, the Gilly flower, the Black Cole, and 

 the King of Tomkins County— this last named 

 was a greater failure than any of the others, 

 many of which were only partial failures. 

 Smith's cider only bears in alternate years. 

 1H82 being its regular bearing year, of course 

 I expect nothing from it the present year. 

 [ have, however, observed that occasionally 

 thase alternating bearers change their years. 

 The York Imperial alternates, whilst the 

 Penna. Red streak bears every year, slightly 

 alternating between good and better. It 

 does best on the south side of running water, 

 where the soil is more or less moist in the 

 spring. Those on the north side, on higher 

 and richer ground, were much inferior in 

 18S0 and lfe>^l. In 18"^2 there was also a 

 difference, but not so great as in some other 

 years. 



My Smokehouse apples fail on low ground 

 almost invariably. My object is making these 

 homely remarks is merely to show — according 

 to my experience — that some soils will never 

 make a bearing orchard. L. S. R 



Oregon, March, 1SS3. 



[The tendency towards alternation is some- 

 what singular. Even in characteristic annual 

 bearers, the tendency is toward alternation, 

 even should it be between better and best. — 

 Ed.1 



For The Laxcastkr Farmek. 

 ■•AND FOUND WANTING." 



Mr. Editor : ^Notwithstanding your pretty 

 broad hint that you do not want any further 

 di.seussion on '' The Balance of Trade," I 

 have ventured to write again, for as J. P.s 

 last article leaves no doubt that I am entirely 

 right and he entirely wrong, in regard to the 

 disputed statistics, I think I have a right to 

 show it. Surely where plain figures are con- 

 cerned, there should be no two opinions. I 

 assure my opponent I did not know of the ex- 

 planation he gives or I certainly would have 

 i used it, for it tells conclusively in my favor. 



I had no intention nor desire whatever, as ho 

 intimates, to charge him with, or convict him 

 of intentidwd deception. Though if he had 

 only acknowledged in his last, as it seem to 

 me, to be entirely candid, he should have 

 done, that the statistics he used from Young's 

 report, were false and worthless, for any use 

 in our argument, and that Nimmo's were the 

 only true ones, it would have saved you and 

 your readers the infliction of this article. 



If, as he says, (and I have no doubt his ex- 

 planation is the true one) Mr. Young took his 

 estimate of our exports from a paper value 

 when gold was worth in greenbacks, some- 

 times 2.")0 per cent, and over, and our imports 

 being always estimated at their cost abroad, 

 and hence at their value in gold coin, then, 

 of course, his statistics were entirely false 

 and deceptive, while Nimmo's being esti- 

 mated on the gold value of both exports and 

 imports, must be the only true ones. We can 

 only compare things by reducing them to the 

 same unit of value. We might just as well 

 say one stick is longer than another because is 

 contains more feet than the other one does 

 yards. A paper dollar during the decade 

 spoken of, did not bear a much greater ratio 

 to a gold one, than a foot does to a yard. 

 What sense is there then, in statistics founded 

 on such different units of value ? Mr. Young 

 would have only exaggerated his error, if he 

 had estimated our exports in dollars and our 

 imports in pounds sterling, and then, because 

 every article of value is worth about five 

 times as many dollars as it is pounds sterling, 

 say our exports were two aud one-half times 

 our imports, when in fact, the excess was just 

 as much the other way. 



My friend in his last article, misquotes me 

 and misrepresents himself. lie says, refer- 

 iug to what I said in the .January number, 

 "He says 'J. P. has made the astounishing 

 discovery that consumption is gain and pro- 

 duction is loss." By referring to ray article 

 you will see just what I did say, which is 

 quite diflerent. He says, "I said nothing 

 about production being loss." Now see he for- 

 gets, for in December he writes, ''Is not the 

 very opposite of this alleged axiomolic pro- 

 position, "(that its, that production is gain aud 

 consumption loss) "nearer the truth, vis. All 

 productions of the earth are or will be lost if 

 they are not consumed." Is not that some- 

 thing about production being loss? Daniel 

 Webster does not say in the speech quoted 

 that the large importation and consumption 

 of extravagant luxuries will advance the ma- 

 terial wealth of our country as J. P. does. 

 If he did, his mind must have been under as 

 great a cloud as when he made his celebrated 

 "7tli of March" speech, of which his best 

 friends were so much ashamed, and from the 

 eternal disgrace of which, we all know, he 

 never recovered. It seems to me this whole 

 controversy might be settled by a single 

 hypothetical case. Suppose our exports last 

 year were 1500,000,000 and our imports .S600,- 

 000,000, we paying the balance in gold coin. 

 While this year, by some kind of good man- 

 agement, no mattei what, we have been able 

 to sot all our tramps and previously idle men 

 at work, aud thus have increased our produc- 

 tions, so that we have been able to export 

 1600,000,000 and by economy, have only de- 

 mand for 8.500,000,000 of imports, the balance 



