iss;^.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



6i 



till 



The Afternoon Session. 



i'lie club tlicii adjoUnii'il for dinni'i-, iil'loi' wliiuli 



le memliers inspected the host's farm ami stoeii. 

 Tliey .1I90 saw an Aetne harrow in operation, cx- 

 lihiled by Howaril Coates, wlio is a;;ent lor tlie sale 

 if tliCm. 



Tlie ehih then assemlileii for the afternoon session, 

 wlien the miniifeeof tlie last ineetinir were read and 

 critieisras called for. 



E.H. Haines had no fault to find with the stock. 

 He though the host liad some very line horses and 

 some not so good. 



Solomon Gregg did not see much change. The 

 wheat, however, did not look very well. 



The host in place of an essay, read a selection on 

 the social and political purposes of the farming class. 

 Carrie Blackborn recited very nicely a poem entitled 

 "Better than Gold." 



In looking over the reports of the club for a year 

 past, Thomas Stubbs said he had noticed good re- 

 suits from using orchilla guano in York county, and 

 that he would try it. 



E. H. Haines asked him how lie succeeded. He 

 could not make much of a report, but thought it had 

 |done some good. 



Mont. Brown read an article from the Lancastek 

 FAK.\iEKon"Lime against modern Fertilizers," by 

 Howard Preston, of Chester county. Some discus- 

 sion then followed, as to the beuelits to be derived 

 from each. 



The writer of the article claims that when lime 

 was giving such good results, thirty or forty years 

 ago, there was a large number of cattle fed, and that 

 lime was getting the credit due the manure. That 

 DDly a em.111 portion of the lime is taken up hy the 

 -;rowing crop, the balance remaining inactive, and 

 that since commercial fertilizers have come into use 

 .he crops have been increased from 30 to 40 per cent. 

 Bone is what is needed. 



Wm. King stated that part of his farm has had 

 10 lime on it for over twenty- five years, and he con- 

 siders it in as good condition as other farms that 

 have had lime on them. 



Joseph C. Stubbs, at a former meeting held here, 

 iaid the way to grow peaches suecessluUy was to 

 et the- cattle eat the tops ofl' the trees, while the 

 •Dots were making a larger growth. The club was 

 ■ather amused at this novel manner of pruning peach 

 '.rees. 



Mr. Stubbs now says he gathered this season two 

 arge tubs full of line peaches from a tree treated in 

 ;hi6 manner. 



Solomon Greirg read an editorial from the jVew 

 Em on the need of agricultural stations. 



E. H. Haines gave the following list of apples as 

 lis selection for an orchard . One Early Harveet 

 me Early Joe, one Early Knowles, one Jeffries, two 

 Powsend, three Maiden Blushes, two Gravenstuns, 

 Lwo Smokhouse, two Fallowater, four Nottingham 

 Jrown, four Wine, Sap, two Tewkesbury Winter 

 lush, two Sweet Pippin, two Russet. 



John Grossman selected the following : Two 

 Sarly Harvest, one Red Astrakan, two Spoon Horn, 

 Ix Smokehouse, two Rambo, two Grossman, two 

 ted Komanitp, six Tewkesbury Winter Blush, five 

 fork Imperial, two Smith Cider, live Russets, two 

 'ennock . 



The Club'then adjourned to meet at the residence 

 f Lindley King, May 5, l.s8:j. 



LINNiEAN SOCIETY. 



The Linnnen Society met on Saturday afternoon, 

 larch 34, t><83. President J. P. Wickersham in the 

 hair and six members present. The reading of the 

 ilnutes of the previous meeting was dispensed with 

 nd dues collected. 



Donations to the library consisted of sixteen sub - 

 antially bound quarto volumes of the CoiKjre.xsionai 

 ecord, contain the proceedings of the 46th and 47th 

 issions of Congress. These volumes average about 

 ,100 pages each aggregating ;i:),(;00 pages. Also 

 vo quarto volumes of .500 pages each of indices to 

 le foregoing (34,720pp). Also four volumes of mem- 

 lal addresses ou the lives and characters of General 



A. E. Burnside, Matthew H. Carpenter, Fernando 

 Wood and Evarts W. Farr, with fine portraits of 

 each. These volumes aggregate about 300 pages 

 royal octavo, and are printed on double calandered 

 paper. Report of the Commission of Education for 

 1!-S'i; 914 pages octavo; Annual Report of the 

 Smithsonian Institution for IS,SO, 772 pages octavo; 

 Statutes of United States of America, containing the 

 laws of the 4(lth and 47lh Congresses— two (piarto 

 volumes unbound, aggregating 1,000 pages, 

 donated through Hon. A. Herr Smith ; Report ol the 

 Coast and Goedelic survey for ISSO, 41!) pages 

 quarto, and Ho maps and chart. .Humbers !> and fi 

 C'ircular of Education and the Hiirh Schools of 

 Sweeden,84 pages octavo from the Department of 

 the Interior. Antericim JiookmUcr, 184 pages quarto; 

 LattcaMer Farmer (or March, 1883 ; one catalogue of 

 of rare books, and four circulars; Denver (Col.) 

 Trlbniie for March 4, 1883, Vol. 17, No. n;i, profusely 

 illustrated, five-columns, l(i pages, 1.5x^4, which ex- 

 hibits the wouderful progress of the great North 

 west, and Colorado in particular; one envelope con- 

 taining seventeen biographical and historical scraps; 

 Proceedings Academy Natural Scieuces, Part 3, 

 October to December, 1882; Vol.23, No 13, of I'ateiU 

 Office Gau'tle. Ou motion, the thanks of the society 

 were tendered to the donors of the above volumes . 



Donations to the museum consisted of a small 

 bottle containing frog spawn, collected by Master 

 Munson, in the spring of 1S82. These have been 

 preserved in water, hermetically sealed, and seem to 

 be in as good condition as when first collected nearly 

 a year ago. 



The report of the committee appointed to collate 

 the various amendments made from time to time to 

 theconstitutiouaud by-laws was then handed in and 

 on motion received and the committee continued 

 with instructious to prepare a new set of by-laws to 

 contain all the amendments which have been made 

 and any new ones they may deem advisable. Com- 

 mittee on keys said that keys have been procured 

 and could be obtained from the treasurer. Bill of 90 

 cents for the same was ordered to be paid. It was 

 then requested that the president preparea statement 

 setting forth the objects of the Linneara Society, to 

 be delivered before the members and citizens at a 

 meeting to be called for the purpose. The treasurer 

 was then authorized to have several serial volumes 

 in possession of the society bound. 



On motion, adjourned to meet on Saturday, April 

 28,1883, at 2 P. m. 



AGRICULTURE. 



An Early Crop of Peas. 

 There are two distinct classes of peas, those with 

 small round seeds, the others with much larger, 

 irregularly shaped peas, the surface of which is 

 wrinkled. The wrinkled, seeded, or marrow peas, 

 are as much better than the other as sweet corn is 

 superior to field corn. The round peas, while not 

 so good, are much healthier and earlier than the 

 others. Unless the soil is w^arm, and they germinate 

 quickly, wrinkled peas will decay before they can 

 come up. The round peas are vastly better than no 

 peas, and are very acceptable to the others. To 

 have early peas, they must be sown early — the 

 earlier the better. After the .soil has thawed for the 

 first four inches, even ifit is solid below, sow peas. 

 If the ground was manured and plowed last autumn, 

 all the better; if not, select the richest available spot, 

 and open a drill four inches deep. Peas should be 

 covered deeper than most other seeds. For varie- 

 ties, the Early Kent is one of the begt; it has almost 

 as many names as there aredealers. Daniel O'Rourke 

 is one of the names of a good strain of this pea. 

 Carter's First Crop is another good variety, and 

 every sprim.', new extra early sorts are sent from 

 England, which usually turns out to be old Early 

 Kent, with a new name. The peas should be sown 

 in the bottom of the drill rather thickly, at least one 

 every inch, and at first covered with about an inch 

 of soil. It is well to put about four inches of coarse 

 stable manure over the rows; this is to be left on in I 



cold days, but when it is sunny and warm, pull it off 

 with the rake, and let the sun strike the soil over the 

 peas, replacing it at night. When the peas sprought, 

 gradually cover them with fine warm soil, placing 

 the coarse manure over them as needed, until the 

 covering of soil reaches the level of the surface. If a 

 ridge of soil, a few Inches higher than the peas, be 

 drawn up on each side of the row, it will greatly pro- 

 tect them from the cold winds. When the plants are 

 a few inches high, draw some fine soil up to them, 

 and stick in the brush. When the soil becomes dry 

 and warm, the main crop of wrinkled peas may be 

 sow n . — American AgricitUuriHt. 



The Seed Test 



A vessel set in a warm room with some earth kept 

 properly moist, answers well for testing, but it 

 should he borne In mind that seeds differ very much 

 in -heir habit, and require a different temperature. 

 For instance, egg-plants and peppers need a strong 

 heat and plenty of water (90° Is not too much), 

 while lettuce, cabbage, onions, wheat, rye and many 

 others of that class start readily at from 0.50 tg 70°' 

 The heat necessary to start one class of seeds into 

 life will kill another, and I think our failures are as 

 often attributable to lack of knowledge on this point 

 as to bad seed. A sample of egg-plant seed was 

 sent to me for testing recently, of which the owner 

 said he could get only 25 per cent, to germinate. I 

 counted out twenty five seeds, and in just eight days 

 from the time of starting had twenty-three good, 

 strong plants. But it is no surety that seeds are 

 good because they germinate freely. I once had 

 twenty-five pounds of onion seed left over from the 

 previous year; I knew it tobeof the very bestquallty; 

 I tried a little of it before time for sowing the next 

 season, found it to germinate freely, and so prepared 

 a plot and sowed the twenty-five pounds. It came 

 up finely, and I thought I had beat myself for once 

 in my life, but to my sad disappointment thirty days 

 after there was not a plant to be seen ou the whole 

 plot. I think the best method of testing corn is to 

 place in earth, in a vessel, and subject it to about 

 summer heat; if the upper shoots come through 

 good and strong in about seven days. It cau be de- 

 pended upon for outdoor planting. I think the crop 

 of 1881 far preferable to that of last year, but let the 

 seed be selected from corn on the cob, for if planters 

 have to buy in bulk from others, it is hard to tell how 

 much it has been heated. Seeds will olten half ger- 

 minate; they will strike root, but send out no upper 

 shoot. If I plant uuder favorable circumstances ten 

 good kernels of corn, I expect ten good plants; if 

 there is a failure of '25 percent. I discard it altogether. 

 —J. P., Princeton. N.J. 



American Agriculture. 

 Dr. Gilbert, the well known English agricultural 

 chemist, visited this country last year, and traveled 

 over 10,000 miles through Canada and the States. 

 Some of his observations were recently published in 

 the London Gardeners' Chronicle. He was strongly 

 Impressed with the thousands of miles, almost con- 

 secutively, of level plains of natural vegetation. The 

 accumulation of fertility, and the capacity of such 

 districts to provide food for future population, 

 seemed to him to be almost boundless ; but under 

 pmseut management there appeared to be a wasteful 

 sacrifice of fertility. Anioncr other places he visited 

 Mr. Dalrymple's great farm in Dakota, who has a 

 two-third's interest in the 70,000 acres, from which 

 30,000 acres of wheat were harvested last season, 

 yielding over half a million bushels. The soil is very 

 rich prairie land, but does not yield over '20 bushels 

 per acre. The same soil, under the best culture, 

 afforded 40 to 45 bushels. Mr. Dalrymple does not 

 apply any manure, but merely burns the straw on the 

 land, and raises wheat year after year. He does not 

 sec any decrease In the crop. 



We cannot quite agree with Dr. Gilbert when he 

 says that is the only course which can be pursued 

 under present circumstances, where land is so much 

 cheaper than labor, admitting as he does, that 

 thorough culture and the absence of weeds would 



