54 



THE LANCASTER FARMER- 



[April, 



the aim of all improvement, which should be 

 contiuued until our machinery and methods 

 are such as to attain the best possible results 

 at the least possible expense. 



Value of Farm Lands. 



The value of farm lands depends, firstly, on 

 the demand for farm products; secondly, 

 on fertililty, and thirdly, on the cost 

 of cultivation. These propositions are hard- 

 ly disputed, and it is only to the last I 

 shall add a few observations, the object of 

 which is to show that the producing and the 

 consuming masses are both financially bene- 

 fitted by every important advancement in 

 agriculture. The six feet cut reaper will do 

 the work of not less than six cradles, costing 

 no less than five dollars per day, while the 

 cradles, inclusive of board, cost twelve dollars. 

 The self-binder, at a cost of about ten dollars, 

 will do work costing twenty-five dollars by 

 hand. In this way it is easily seen that tlie 

 aggregate of our improvements will save a 

 large percentage in the cost of production. 

 Should all this advantage be credited to the 

 account of the farmer the profits would stim- 

 ulate to over-production, which is sometimes 

 temporarily the case, but very soon the gain 

 is divided between the producer, in enhancing 

 the value of land, and the consumer, in cheap- 

 ening farm products. Property of less than 

 40 acres will be but little benefited by the 

 use of costly machinery, unless several farm- 

 ers unite in the purchase ; for the interest of 

 money spent for a new reaper etpials the cost 

 of cutting about ten acres of grain, which is 

 about all that 40 acres will admit. In small 

 fruits and marketing small farms may have 

 an advantage over large, but the cultivation 

 of cereals is certainly most profitable on large 

 farms. 



Admitting that invention benefits producer 

 and consumer about equally, some idea may 

 l)e formed of the enormous gain that results 

 to the nation by reason of advanced systems. 

 Say the reaper lias been worth ten per cent, 

 to all wheat producing farms (and I think the 

 estimate is not high,) so it is also worth ten 

 per cent, indirectly to the consumer, making 

 twenty per cent. ; the thresher about as 

 much, making forty per cent. Tlie wire-rake 

 and grain drills ten per cent., making fifty 

 per cent of the actual value of the grain pro- 

 ducing lands depending upon the successful 

 operation of half a dozen machines. Seeing 

 what benefits we derive, it is not enough that 

 the successful inventor enjoys the royalty of 

 his patent. It would well reward the masses 

 to ofier inducements in the way of prizes for 

 great inventions; our wants are not yet nearly 

 sui>plied. There is too much hand work in 

 the cultivating, or particularly in the harvest- 

 ing, of corn. Machinery that will do for us 

 in the corn field what the reaper does in the 

 wheat would meet with a warm reception, 

 especially on large farms. There «ias been 

 no material change in the way of harvesting 

 corn for fifty years or more. There are efibrts, 

 and it is to be wished they might succeed. 

 The Creamery System. 



From present indications, the creamery 

 system of butter making will completely sup- 

 ])iaiit the old. (^wing to expenses involved, 

 it would seem desirable that the enterprise 

 should be protected against unjust rivalry by 

 a license for five or ten years. It is quite 



evident that too much competition would so 

 cripple the business as to leave no profit for 

 any one, while a licensed establLshment 

 would pay both manufacturer and the supply- 

 ing community. 



We need better tactics in our warfare upon 

 1 ertain inse. t tribes. The potato beetle is 

 held in successful subjection by the judicious 

 use of Paris green, but the tobacco worms are 

 making us a great deal of trouble, and all, no 

 doubt, for want of an intelligent array of 

 oin- forces against them. So long as the great 

 majority of farmers content themselves by 

 hunting the worms, without paying any re- 

 gard to the destruction of the moth, so long 

 will the insect practice its annual devastations. 

 We must fight the moth. It is cheaper and 

 more efiectual, but we must all do it. The 

 slaughter of a single bird is equal to that of 

 hundreds of worms. This subject should be 

 thoroughly agitated and experimented upon. 

 Motives of self-interest will induce the masses 

 to adopt whatever system is proved most 

 effectual. Let the people be convinced that 

 at an expense of five dollars per acre thej 

 will have, practically, no worms, much less 

 trouble in stripping and a greatly superior 

 tobacco, and they will all take arms in the 

 common defense. Trapping, scorching and 

 poisoning, I believe, are the methods that 

 have been tested with good local success. 

 If it were done by all farraers,I think stramo- 

 nium, planted at distances of from ten to 

 twenty feet entirely around the i>atch, and 

 some poison introduced daily (every evening), 

 would be so effectual that but little damage 

 would be done by worms, and no doubt the 

 insect force would become very weak in a few 

 years. The ble'ssings of many little boys are 

 ready for this new departure. 



Things to be Guarded Against. 



On the other hand, the farmer, as well as 

 every other business man, must guard against 

 undue enthusiasm. Humbugs of any d ;- 

 scription are gorgeously paraded through the 

 the country every day, and the shrewdest of 

 us are often vietimized. Inventors who labor 

 to supi)ly an existing want generally furnish 

 machines that are worth testing, but then a 

 great number of mechanics are moved only 

 by an eagerness for gain, thus giving rise to 

 contrivances which are, at best, only in- 

 genious and not .useful, or effective, but not 

 durable. Profit is the great consideration in 

 all farm operations, as, indeed, it is in all 

 business. Ko machine is a-euccess, however 

 well it does its work, when it is not profitable 

 to use it. Thus a machine may be a success 

 on one farm and not on another, in one State 

 and not in another, at one time and not at 

 another, depeiiding on quite a variety of 

 causes. 



The same is true also of systems of feeding 

 and of cultivation ; we want not only the 

 best results, but the be.st for the price. For 

 this reason the steaming of feed has an un- 

 favorable report, at least, at present. The 

 preparation and use of ensilage has larger 

 items of expense against it than the present 

 prices of land and feed will warrant. Fodder 

 cutting, in my opinion, is also one of the 

 practices that people continue to follow with 

 a decided balance of expense against it. In 

 our section many have tried and but few con- 

 tinue. The value of lime as a fertilizer is 



giving rise to much discussion to-day, and 

 the ranks of its defenders are becoming thin- 

 ner every year. Liming has been practiced 

 so long that many are content to continue, 

 taking for granted that it pays without even 

 testing. There is no doubt lime tells with 

 good effect upon land never limed before and 

 on lands highly charged with crude vegeta- 

 ble matter. We have evidence, however, 

 that should satisfy the intelligent that only 

 a limited amount 'of lime is effective, all the 

 balance lying in the soil as a costly encum- 

 brance. Let any one who has not experi- 

 mented lime part of a field and skip part of it. 

 So long as a decided diflerence exists in favor 

 of lime, let him continue for it is evident that 

 his soil is not yet surcharged. I limed, in 

 this way, ten years in succession, at a cost of 

 about two thousand dollars in material and 

 labor. If I had any return for my labors, it 

 came in such a way as to escape my notice al- 

 together. Fifteen dollars per acre is rather a 

 costly application when there is nothing but 

 faith and practice to sustain it. It was but very 

 natural that our forefathers would mistake 

 the chemical action of lime for manurial 

 value, but now that science informs us that 

 lime is no plant food, and tliat its principal 

 service consists in hurrying nature, we should 

 at least ^encourage an intelligent canvass of 

 its claims. 



Intelligent Discussion Demanded. 



These allusions will, no doubt, excite dis- 

 cussion in the minds of meml^ers present, and 

 it is hoped that topics akin to these may be 

 brought before this society, and the farm com 

 munity in general, for intelligent judgment, 

 economy, profit or advantage is a safe measure 

 by which to approve or eonJemn both old and 

 new. 



Financial prosperity alone, however, will 

 not advance agriculture to its merited emi- 

 nence. There has, no doubt, been a marked 

 improvement in the intelligence of the masses 

 during the last century, and yet it is feared 

 there are too few among us to-day who reckon 

 education at its proper worth on the farm. 

 Farm society has not kept pace with field 

 operations. We are not so ready to abandon 

 false notions of family discipline as to displace 

 an unprofitable machine by a good one. The 

 advancement of society is greatly retarded by 

 false opinions entertained by the adult and 

 infused into the young. These opinions want 

 to be radically changeil. As the sickle bears 

 comparison with the complicated self-binder, 

 so does the notion that the farmer -'needs no 

 learning" with the plea that a:ll knowledge 

 will promote the welfare and efficiency of the 

 farmer. Teach the latter doctrine instead of 

 theformer just for one generation, and farm 

 life, farm society, farm homes will 

 be such as to excite the envy of the 

 most refined. Let it be manifest to the 

 rising generation that the largest share of 

 health, wealth and happiness is found on the 

 farm, and you need no bribe to induce them 

 to be farmers. 



Another great mistake is that in too many 

 homes the dignilij of labor is not properly 

 maintained. There are too many who allow 

 their children to think that the labor of the 

 farm and household belongs to subordinates 

 only. Their uselessuess is proverbial and 

 needs no comment. They think labor is de 



