1883. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



57 



jioiicli, but lias beeu a shy bearer witli liim. 

 Wlicrc oiu! tree is affected, however, witli the 

 "yellows," the Old Mixoii stands out in full 

 vifjor. 



John Moycr, of llobeson, said that Hale's 

 ICarly is one of the best varieties. You can 

 make more out of it than out of any olher 

 kind that can be planted. 



Dr. Gerhart, continuing, said that every- 

 body wants to have the earliest peaches. Of 

 the Waterloo, Amsden's June, Alexander 

 and other early kinds which he had grown, 

 he regards the Alexander as the best. Anus- 

 den's June is prone to overbear, and a branch 

 will contain 30 peaches, which should not bear 

 more than live. lie then made some sensible 

 suggestions in regard to the cultivation of 

 trees. lie said that several years ago he pre- 

 pared a statement which was read before the 

 society, showing that 50,0t)U peach trees had 

 lieen planted in a comparatively small dis- 

 tiict, in the three townships of Cumru, Robe- 

 son and Brecknock. Now go over this terri- 

 tory to-day, and tind how many trees are in 

 good condition. He did not believe that 

 there are over 10,000 liist-elass trees at present 

 in the district, four-fifths of the original num- 

 ber being worn out, and next to worthless. 

 This demonstrates the fact that cultivation 

 is necessary to success. Till the soil and you 

 will receive the blessing, is the law of nature, 

 otherwise you will have nothing but briars 

 and curses. 



John Moyer said that he would make the 

 following selection of trees for his soil and 

 locality: Crawford, Ilale's Early, Stump 

 the World, and Old Mixon. Ilale's Early, 

 he said, can't be marketed too early. He has 

 had trees in bearing condition for twelve 

 years, but of course it takes labor. During 

 the dry season he hauled water in barrels to 

 his trees on the hill, and gave each a generous 

 supply. This he continued to do regularly 

 during the season, and raised peaches as big 

 as a list, for which he obtained fL'..JO per 

 basket, lie believed in cutting his trees 

 back every three year. 



Dr. Gerhart said that Henry Wagner in his 

 time sold peaches from his orchards in IJreck- 

 noek township at S3. 00 per basket. lie then 

 had 2,000 trees, but after he had increased the 

 number to 4,000 or ."i,000, the "yellows " got 

 in and the orchards were ruined. He believed 

 in giving customers full measure, but woidd 

 never sell them such rotten stuff as Ilale's 

 Early, iis he would not be able to face them 

 after such a transaction. Last year neiiliy all 

 varieties of peaches dinged, owing to the 

 dry wuather, and growers had to be ashamed 

 of their fruit in sending it to market. 



Dr. Smith said that the Stump the World, 

 Early and Late Crawford and Old Mixon are 

 the varieties of pestches which will probably 

 give the most satisfaction, being better for 

 canning and better for the market than any 

 other kind that can be named, and they al.so 

 bring the best prices. The Susquehanna is a 

 fine peach, but it is a pooi bearer. He was 

 sorry to hear from the remarks of the previous 

 speaker that the |)eaeh crop is likely to |)rove 

 a failure in this comity. This is not in accord- 

 ance with the spirit which it was lioped that 

 this society would instil. The far West, he 

 said, will raise the wheat and let the farmers 

 of the East devote their attention to fruit, 



for they hav(^ advantages possessed by no 

 other section of the Union. He related his 

 own experience during a residence of twenty- 

 two years in Lower Heidelberg, where his 

 peach orchard had brought him better re- 

 turns, in a i>ecnniary sense, than the practice 

 of his profession. He then dejiarted from the 

 usual order and addres.sed the meeting in 

 (Jerrnan, inviting the farmers to participate 

 in the discussions of the society. It mattered 

 not whether the remarks were made in Eng- 

 lish or German ; it is the ideas which are 

 wanted and the Vienelit of the practical exper- 

 ience of the farmers of Berks county. 



Jeremiah Y. Bechtel inquired as to the 

 most profitable varieties of grapes. 



Joseph Shearer said that as to profit and 

 general desirableness for the market, no 

 variety in cultivation can compare. with the 

 Conc'ord. 



President McGowan asked for information 

 in regard to the new varieties of grapes— 

 Pocklington and Prentiss. 



John C'. Hepler said that he did not believe 

 that either had been given a fair test in this 

 section of the country. He had fruited each, 

 but tlie grapes in size and bunch did not com- 

 pare favorably with those shown him, when the 

 varieties were being introduced. He recom- 

 mended the Union Village' as a desirable 

 variety, and said that out of 1,000 vines he 

 would plant 999 of the large and jirolific Union 

 .Village. 



Dr. Gerhart said that in this county the 

 Concord is the fovorite market grape, while 

 the Clinton occupies the leading place as a 

 wine grape. The Martha, which is a seed- 

 ling of the Concord, is a good white grape. 

 Owing to the lateness of the hour the discus- 

 sion then closed. — Beading Times. 



FORESTS, FLOODS AND DROUGHTS. 



Under this title an article in the Springfield 

 liepubliam explains how it is that cutting 

 away the forests is largely the cause of the 

 fioods that have devastated our own and 

 other countries of late years. 



Wherever the ground is covered with trees, 

 as is well known, there is formed upon its sur- 

 face, by the fall and decay of the leaves from 

 year to year, a spongy soil or humus, of a 

 depth proportioned to the age of the forest. 

 When rain falls upon this soil, or the snow 

 resting upon it melts, it is held by it as the 

 ordinary sponge holds water which comes in 

 in contact with it. The water does not run 

 off at once from the wooded hills, as it does 

 from a bouse roof or down the .smooth city 

 street, but oozes out gradually, trickling 

 down the hill sides in numerous little threads 

 at first, which after awhile How together, 

 forming brooks and rivulets, and then lesser 

 and larger streams, till all the water at length 

 finds its level in the ocean. 



But some men suggest that these Hoods 

 have come in the winter, when the ground is 

 frozen so that it cannot lake up the water. 

 The suggestion is not an objection to our 

 theory. 7 he forests and the .spongy bed of 

 leaves at their base shield the earth from the 

 cold. Kvery wood-chojiper anil every trav- 

 eler knows that it is warmer in the woods in 

 winter than it is in the open fields. The 

 snow serves the purpose of a blanket, .so that 

 if the surface of the ground in the forest 



freezes to a slight depth in the early win- 

 ter before any considerable amount of 

 snow has fallen, yet when it has become well 

 covered with it the ground is not only pre- 

 vented from further freezing, but the warmth 

 of the earth below the frost line spreads to 

 the surface gradually, dissolving what frost 

 there may have been. 



The snow raelts more gradually in the 

 forests than in cleared ground. The trees 

 obstruct the sun's rays and the warm winds, 

 and even intercept the rains to a considerable 

 extent, or absorb them, so that the snow dis- 

 solves more slowly than would otherwise be 

 the ease. It is a well known fact that snow 

 remains in the woods in spring time long 

 after it has disajipeared from the open fields. 

 Where the forests abound, therefore, there is 

 not so great a volume of water, produced by 

 raiiid melting of snow, .seeking speedy de- 

 livery, as where they have been cut off. 



When a tract of woodland is cleared, the 

 first effect is that the spongy leaf-mold is 

 dried up by the sun and wind, and then is 

 carried off by the rain and the winds, leaving 

 the ground bare and .solid, ready, like a house 

 roof, to shed the subsequent rains or melting 

 snows. The necessary eflect is, that the 

 rains or dissolving snows How at once down 

 the hill-sides, converting the former brooks 

 into streamlets, and the streamlets into tor- 

 rents which speedily raise the lower streams 

 above their banks and fiood the adjacent 

 fields, covering them also with the debris 

 which has been brought down from the 

 higher regions. Of course the larger the 

 space that has been cleared of trees, the more 

 numerous will be the .streams starting down 

 the slopes after any considerable rain or melt- 

 ing of the snow, and the greater the amount 

 of water pressing onward for escape to the 

 lower levels. It is the simple and inevitable 

 result, therefore, of the increased cutting of 

 the forests, that fioods should correspondingly 

 increase, and the consequent damage to |)ro- 

 perty and destruction of life. 



The same cause that produces fioods also 

 occasions droughts, iiaradnxical as to .some it 

 may seem. Where the forests remain, the 

 water oozes from the s|)ongy soil, as from a 

 reservior, in gentle and hardly varying 

 streams throughout the year. But when the 

 forests are removed, there is no reserved store- 

 house of supply. The water, falliug from 

 the clouds or accumulating from the melting 

 snow, flows off at once in' floods, and then, 

 the supply being exhausted, the streams just 

 now swollen beyond their banks, shrink away 

 to mere rivulets, leaving the mill-wheels to ' 

 stop or to move lilfully f(u- lack of sufiicient 

 power, and the navigation of the great rivers 

 to be impeded. 



In a small way the benefit of retaining the 

 woods has been illustrated on our Hillside 

 during the jiast season. When the rain lie- 

 gan which caused the overllow of the Ohio 

 River and its tributaries, the ground in our 

 vicinity was covered with a coaling of ice, 

 over which the water flowed rajiidly into the 

 valley below. It did not occur to us, under 

 these circumstances, that even .so copious a 

 rain would have any effect on the S])rings of 

 our wooded Hillside. AVe were, therefore, 

 greatly surprised to find after the rain ceased 

 that the streams were everywhere flowing as 



