36 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[March, 



S100,000,000 coming to us in gold coin or bills 

 of exchange. Is it not plain, to the common 

 sense mind, that the second year is the more 

 profitable of the two ? 



My opponent continually wanders from the 

 subject. We are discussing what policy will 

 most advance the material wealtli of our 

 country and not what will most benefit mor- 

 ality, or religion or decorate our galleries of 

 fine arts. This being so, and I think he will 

 not deny it, what sense is there in saying that 

 it is right for the rich man to indulge in lux- 

 uries but very wrong, "little short of a crime," 

 for the poor man to do so. Will not the same 

 policy that is good to add to the poor man's 

 means, do the same for the rich one? Is it 

 not just as advantageous to a merchant to Cr. 

 "merchandise" by "Bills Receivable" as by 

 "Bills Payable." In other words, will not 

 the same policy tliat will make the poor man 

 rich, make the rich man richer, or that is 

 good to pay debts, good to accumulate wealth 

 after the debts are paid? J. P. thinks not. 

 It is very true that a thing is worth just what 

 it will bring in the open market to the seller, 

 but to the mnsumer, it is not always so. It 

 makes a great difference to the consumer, 

 whether in the loss of consumption, he get 

 reproductive value back in its place,or whether, 

 as in the consumption of intoxicating libuors, 

 and many other luxuries, he gets nothing, 

 or less than nothing back. 



All his talk about my proposition, that all 

 consumption is loss, is only the most idle kind 

 of hair splitting. Since we both agree that 

 by some kinds of consumption we suffer a 

 total loss, and by others we get back a repro- 

 duction that more than makes up for the loss. 

 If a boy loses his knife I call it lost, though in 

 looking for it he finds another of greater 

 value. It makes no kind of difference, to our 

 argument, whether it would, or would not 

 have been better, to say his knife was not 

 lost, since the boy i.i better off than before. " I 

 call the consumption, even of necessaries, 

 loss, because the more we consume of them 

 for a given amount of reproduction, the 

 greater our loss, and the less our profits. This 

 is just why extravagant consumption and 

 waste impoverish, because the consumption 

 or loss, overruns the production, or gain. It 

 seems tome, according to J. P., if Vanderbilt 

 were to buy Lancaster city, set fire to it, and, 

 like Nero, fiddle while it burned up, he and 

 the country would both be richer, because he 

 paid the market price for it, and had some fun 

 looking at the fire. 



My esteemed friend appears to stand in 

 continual and mortal terror from "meat 

 axes" and "epithets," dotes on "argument." 

 Your readers will therefore understand his 

 nice little fling at "Delaware," and such 

 sentences as " The Balance of Trade delusion," 

 and his scathing irony at me for presuming to 

 disagree with the " C4od-like Daniel," contain 

 nothing but pure "argument." 



I have noticed that your Lancaster corre- 

 spondent is always saying he is willing to leave 

 his readers to judge between him and bis op- 

 ponents, but never lets them do it, without 

 repeating over and over hi.s arginnents, for 

 fear they might decide against him. 



I have also noticed that with all his many 

 antagonists in thisdiscussion, runnnig througli 

 his six or seven long articles, he nas always 



managed to get the last word and I suppose 

 it will be so with me, for wind and words 

 never seem to fail him, while I confess (and I 

 think you will be glad to learn it) that I am 

 getting tired. — .S'. P., Lincoln, Del., Feb. 26, 

 1883. 



^ 



I'-or The ANCAsTEit Farmer. 



DEEP OK SHALLOW PLANTING. 

 Dk. S. S. Rathvon— (Sir .• Your corre- 

 spondent, Warwick or Oregon, is in favor of 

 shallow planting, but there are generally two 

 sides to a question. When the ground is 

 moist, and no prospect of a drouth, shallow 

 planting, at least of seeds, may answer, but 

 in dry ground, seed very frequently fail to 

 make their appearance above ground; when 

 planted deeper, there is usually more moisture 

 and they can stand a dry spell much longer. 



Many years ago, a man in Perry county, 

 Pa., had a corn planter, which he wished me 

 to try planting corn. He sent it to Columbia, 

 where I got it. In the fall it was placed on 

 exhibition at our local agricultural fair at 

 Lancaster, from where he I'emoved it. We 

 planted some twenty rows, the length of the 

 field, and then again resorted to our old plan 

 of furrowing out deep and dropping the corn 

 by hand and covering with a heavy two-horse 

 liarrow. That planted with the machine 

 came up before the rest of the field, and grew 

 much faster for a time, but v?hen the weather 

 became more dry, the other part of the held 

 soon caught up, and got ahead. The part 

 planted with the corn-planter, also got more 

 weedy, as the soil was not so much disturbed 

 as with large harrow. At husking I found 

 considerable difference in yield, in favor of 

 that that was planted deeper. 



I also well remember planting an orchard of 

 apple trees, sixty years ago — I dug large holes, 

 three feet in diameter, put the- top soil on 

 one side, and dug another spade deep, put 

 that on the other side— then returned the top 

 soil to the bottom, and on that planted the 

 trees, with the yellow clay on top, careful not 

 to [ilant deeper than the trees stood in the 

 nursery (according to directions in Cox on 

 fruit trees, a work long since out of print.) A 

 neighbor also planted a small orchard about 

 the same time. His plan was to dig post 

 holes; less than a foot square and nearly two 

 feet deep, if the hole was too small to spread 

 the roots, he would force them down with his 

 foot. He told me trees must be planted deep, 

 so that the wind could not sway them about 

 and they would grow much better. Result, my 

 trees grew vigorously lor a few years, while 

 my neighbor's trees made very slow growth 

 at first, but after a few, say si.x years, his 

 trees got even with mine, and I am confident 

 that my neighbor's trees bore twice if not 

 four times as much fruit as mine did. Both 

 orchards have long since been past their 

 prime. I might mention many other cases, 

 where deep planting had the advantage. An- 

 other subject in corn planting, which is being 

 strongly advocated, which is to keep the 

 ground level, and not to hill up the plants. I 

 differ with this plan, for the following reasons: 

 It requires more work to keep the weeds 

 down ; it is far more liable to be prostrated 

 by gales of wind; it cannot produce so large a 

 crop as the upper roots, or stolons, coming 

 from the stocks, two and three joints above 



ground fail to reach the earth in dry weather, 

 as these roots if hilled up will at once take 

 hold of the soil, give nourishment tc the 

 stock, and act as braces to stiffen the stem, 

 thus very much preventing the wind from 

 blowing it down. Thus I am in favor of 

 rather deep planting of either trees or seeds, 

 as we usually get "dry spells," sooner or 

 later every season, and when trees or seeds 

 are so near the surface they are very liable to 

 suffer.— J. B. G., Columbia, Feb. 3, 1SS3. 



Selections. 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 



How Some Successful Experiments at Ham- 

 monton, N. J., Were Conducted. 



In order to thoroughly test the matter of 

 artificial incubation several gentlemen resid- 

 ing at Hammonton, N. J., determined to con- 

 struct a number of incubators, fill them with 

 eggs, experiment with them at different places, 

 and otherwise manage them in such a 

 manner as to leave no doubt as to their value, 

 and settle conclusively whether they were re- 

 liable or inefticient. 



The first incubator was constructed by Mr 

 George W. Pressey, who made several im- 

 provements as he progressed, and the result 

 was 115 chicks from 200 fertile eggs, or .57i 

 per cent. Mr. Pressy, however, was not sat- 

 isfied with so small a percentage — arising 

 from obstacles not contemplated, but which 

 have been rectified — the second lot of eggs 

 showing indications of a larger number when 

 the period of hatching arrives. This incubi- 

 tor holds 300 eggs. 



The second incubator, made in the same 

 manner, was constructed by Mr. Ezra Pack- 

 ard, its capacity being SOO eggs. Owing to a 

 false registry of his thermometer Mr. Packard 

 kept the heat two degrees lower than he sup- 

 posed it was ; nevertheless, 17.5 chicks were 

 hatched from 244 eggs, or about 72 per cent. 



The third incubator made on the plan of 

 Mr. Pressey's, but constructed by Mr. .John 

 Crowell, holds only 150 eggs, and was filled 

 with that number. Of the eggs, 85 proved to 

 be unfertile and worthless. From the re- 

 maining (35 fertile eggs Mr. Crowell secured 

 GO chicks, or about 91i per cent. 



The fourth incubator was constructed by 

 Mr. Harry Little ; but owing to some un- 

 known cause, supposed to be an excess of 

 moisture, only 15 chicks were hatched from 

 300 eggs. Up to this period, however, the 

 actual figures had not been obtained, but the 

 result was a very small number. 



The fifth incubator, constructed by Mr. 

 Pressey for Mr. Frederick S. Robbins, and 

 operated by Mr. Robbins, hatched 160 chicks 

 from 250 eggs, without regard to their fertili- 

 ty. This is 64 per cent, of the gro.ss number, 

 but the percentage is much larger when com- 

 pared with the above incubators, as the num- 

 ber of fertile eggs was not observed. 



The sixth incubator, constructed by Mr. 

 Pressey for Mr. D. B. Berry, and operated by 

 Mr. Berry, is due to hatch the latter part of 

 this week,and the indications are in favor of a 

 good hatch. The seventh, constructed by Mr. 

 Pressy and Mr. P. H. Brown, is also almost 

 due to hatch. 



