1883.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



53 



ness of color and apiiearaiice of both little 

 pellets cai'fied by the bee. We do not assert 

 that all the bees gather and bring in the same 

 kind of pollen at the same time, but that each 

 bee gathers only one kind the same trip, and 

 may collect various kinds during the day. — 

 Cawijoliarie Bec-Kccpcr E.cvhanijc. 



Petek IvoiiY, who is an experienced cattle 

 raiser, says the following remedy will cure the 

 blackleg or diphtheria. We give it for the 

 benelit of our farmer readers. He says : 

 "When the animal is first taken it will ex- 

 hibit lameness in some one of its legs. With 

 a sharp knife open the lame member l)etween 

 the knee and the hoof, where will be found a 

 lump or a sack lilled with a white substanee; 

 squeeze all this out, then lill the opeuing with 

 salt and pepper, and bind the limb up with a 

 rag." This is all that is required, and Mr. 

 Ivory vouches for its good effects. The remedy 

 is certainly cheap and simple, and is worthy a 

 trial. 



The Richmond (Va.) Southern Planter, re- 

 lates thus of one-eighth of an acre of lucerne : 

 It has no superior for soiling purposes. On 

 the 11th and 12th of April it was killed down 

 to the ground by a severe frost, when it was 

 fully knee-high, and would have been ready to 

 cut in a few days. On the 'lid of May it wag 

 first mowed, and again on July 21st and 

 August 14lh. The three mowings yielded 

 i,560 pounds of green food for soiling, from 

 one-eighth of an acre, or at the rate of 36,4^^0 

 pounds per acre. Fed with a little meal and 

 salt sprinkled over it, it is a wholesome and 

 highly nutritious food for horses and cattle of 

 all kinds. 



Sib J. B. Lawyes thus reasons from ex- 

 periments, as stated in the Country Gentle- 

 man: "To obtain maximum crops of grain 

 the proper course to pursue is to precede them 

 with a crop of leguuinous plants — that is, 

 pea§, clover, vetches, etc., to which the 

 minerals should be applied, and this enables 

 these plants to make an unusual growth, 

 which renders them capable of storing up a 

 large amount of ammonia — more than is nec- 

 essary for the grain crop that follows — and the 

 latter, by this active stinuihint, is rendered 

 capable of obtaining all the minerals required 

 from the soil and the decaying vegetation for 

 maximum crops." 



The quantity of water which passes through 

 the roots of a plant is enormous. Dr. Lawes, 

 of England, found that an average of 2,000 

 pounds of watcris absorbed by a plant for every 

 pound of miiferal matter absorbed by it. At 

 the French Agricnllural Olwervatory, at 

 Moutsouris, it was found that 7,7UJ pounds 

 of water i)assed through the roots of the wheat 

 crop for lOi pounds of grain produced, or 727 

 pounds for each pound of grain, in a rich soil ; 

 while in a very i>oor soil 1,(510 pounds were 

 passed through the same quantity of wheat for 

 a product of about half a pound of grain, or 

 2,09:i pounds of water for each pound of grain. 

 ^Neio York Times. 



To soften water for household purpo.ses, 

 init in an ounce of quick line in a certain 

 (piantity of water. If it is not sutlicient use 

 less water or more quicklime. .Should the 

 immediate lime continue to remain deliberate, 

 lay the water down on a stone and pound it 

 with a base-ball club. 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.* 

 The imp(ulance of agriculture has been 

 recognized in all the ages of history. That it 

 is the foundation of civilization there is no 

 dispute, and it may safely be added that the 

 eivilizationof any people or luttion is measured 

 by their rank in agriculture. Manufacture 

 and commerce are but the outgrowth of suc- 

 cessful agriculture. It is first in the rank of 

 importance among all tlu^ industries, and well 

 de.serves to \k: first in the order of desiralile 

 employments. 



Among heathen nations the social rank of 

 the farmer was not in the least enviable. 

 Where caste was observed, the soldier, the 

 priest, and the artificer were held in esteem 

 high above the yeoman. A retrospective 

 glance convinces us that primitive agriculture 

 was conducted in the simplest manner. The 

 wooden plow, which was little more than a 

 sharp stick, (and that drawn by human 

 beings), together with wooden hoes, shovels, 

 knives, &c., constituted almost the entire out- 

 fit of the ancient oriental husbandman, and 

 the same is true of the savage tribes to-day. 

 In such cases, indeed, the labor of farming 

 (if such it might be called) was all muscle and 

 no brains. Compare with this our present 

 advanced system, with its sulky plow and 

 sulky cultivator, self-binding reapers and 

 steam thrashers, and it is hardly visionary to 

 say that in the near future the management 

 of the farm will be all brain aud no muscle. 



No wonder that years ago, when farming 

 required a vast amount of muscle, so many 

 young men quit the farm for the workshop or 

 some other congenial employment, Only the 

 most stupid were content with its drudgery. 

 Fathers then had reason to fear educating 

 their sons, lest they abandon the farm. 



It is not pretended that the farm of to- 

 day is free from hard work, nor is it probable 

 that it ever will be, yet improved machinery 

 and devices have aided so much that but few 

 of our industries are less tiresome than farm- 

 ing. The period in agriculture is about come 

 when the son is glad for the opportunity of 

 succeeding the father. Children'novv, instead 

 of (luarreling as to who should leave the 

 farm, are more likely to dispute as to who 

 shall run it. 



Different Classes of Farmers. 



Farmers may be divided into two great 

 classea — the imitative and the progressive. 

 The former embrace the bulk of the com- 

 munity and are highly important in their 

 place. They will execute successfully the 

 plans and systems ado]ited liy their fathers, 

 but carefully avoid [untrodded paths. They 

 make good use of what is tested and approved, 

 but they give us nothing new. It is easy to 

 conjecture where agriculture would stand to- 

 day if all were imitators for the last half 

 century. 15y progressive farmers I mean not 

 imly tillers of the soil, but also those who 

 Ui vote theii time to tlie invention and im- 

 provement of agricultural implements and 

 machinery, and lastly, but by no means 

 leastly, those who by careful analysis of 

 plants, soils and fertilizers promise to give us 

 much-needetl light. .Science has so far tri- 

 umphed as to determine the chemical cou- 



•Keuil hefore tlic AErkultmnl ami llurticiiltural 

 SiM-icty of Lancaster coiiiitv, .\pril 9th, 18S3, l>y II a 

 Resli. 



stituents of plants and of soils, and common 

 sense alone assures us that no soil can pro- 

 duce a i)lant which does not contain all the 

 elements of that plant. But then, as a body, 

 we are ignorant of the real deficiency, and 

 thus spend much [time, labor and money in 

 applying perhaps five elements where only 

 one is wanting, and then rao.st likely that one 

 not among the five. Of those who try the 

 same brand of phosphate, one re))orts favor- 

 ably, another indifferently, and a third dis- 

 couragingly— certainly, not the fault of the 

 fertilizer, but the wants of the different soils 

 vary. The reason that stable manure meets 

 with universal favor is that it' possesses all 

 the elements of i)lant life. It seems to be 

 the cure-all of vegetable ills, and should be 

 manufactured and applied as extensively as 

 possible; but even then nearly every farmer 

 imder our high pressure system of cropping 

 feels the need of a supplement, and just here 

 comes up the inqjortant question, is it better 

 to buy manure even at the present high 

 prices or commercial fertilizers V As a rule, 

 one application of manure must suffice for 

 foiu- or five years. At jiresent prices one ap- 

 plication, inclusive of labor, will cost SM. I 

 have tried, side by side with soil thus treated, 

 an application of Tygert's star bone phosphate, 

 350 pounds first year (•S'^), with 25 jier cent, 

 more wheat, and 3.50 pounds .second year 

 with 50 per cent, more wheat, and the pres- 

 ent indication.s of last application are no less 

 flattering. More definitely, I have had in 

 two years from one acre, once manured, at 

 expenses of S.50— 20 and 15—35 bushels of 

 wheat, from one acre ; two applications, 

 phosphate, i?>^— $10, 25 and 2.5—50 bushels. 

 Though these figures will not be repeated on 

 every farm, they serve to illustrate the fact 

 that it is not the quantity of applied manure, 

 but the supjily of an existing deficiency that 

 benefits the crop. 



What woidd you think of the physician who 

 pre.seribps for scarlet fever the remedies ap- 

 proved for consumption ? or what suppose you 

 to be the fate of the patient ? Just such 

 ridiculous blunders we farmers annually com- 

 mit in our eflbrts to restore depleted soils. 

 But, you may ask, is there a remedy ? Cer- 

 tainly; but it reipiires more skill and knowl- 

 edge than the farmer is supposed to possess. 

 The triumph is in chemical analysis, and it is 

 possible that the laboratory will do as much 

 for the farm in the near future iis inventive 

 genius is doing now. All that we need is 

 skilled agriciiltin-al chemistry, with stations 

 in sutlicient numbers to supply the wants of 

 the people. One station under State regula- 

 tion should be petitioned for at once. Fees 

 should be chargt^d for analysis of soil, and 

 there is no doubt the enterprise would soon 

 be self-sustaining. Every farmer would find 

 himself compensated in a short time for the 

 expense of a test, be it $10 or $.50. It would 

 ajipear to me highly proper that this society 

 should start a petition and .solicit support 

 wl'.erever accessible. 



Progressive aLrrieulture demands new ideas 

 and new methods, aiming always at some 

 definite end. Brain work has done more for 

 the farm in fifty years than the muscle of 

 many thousands. The exchange of the sickle 

 for the self-binder, the Hail for the steam 

 thresher, prove the assertion. Perfection is 



