98 



THE LANCASTER FARMER- 



[July, 



Philadelphia, President, Caleb Cope, S. W. 

 Noble, J. E. Mitchell and James Kitchie, 

 Vice Presidents, Thomas Meehan, Correspond- 

 ing Secretary, A. W. Harrison Recording 

 Secretary, and Treasnrer. 



Packages of fruit intended for the National 

 Association, should be addressed to Thomas 

 A. Andrews, Horticultural Hall, Broad 

 street, Philadelphia. Freight and Express 

 charges should be paid. Arrangments have 

 been made with hotels and some of the Rail- 

 roads terminating in Philadelphia for a re- 

 duction of fare, but in most cases it will be 

 best for delegations to arrange rates with the 

 roads in their localities. 



Hon. J. E. Mitchell 310 York Avenue 

 Philadelphia, is the Chairman of the local 

 committee on Reception. 



This event will present a rare opportunity 

 to those interested in Horticulture to gratify 

 their most ardent wishes, and the spectacle 

 will be one worthy of their most immediate 

 attention. 



In the absence of a County Fair our local 

 fruitists will be more than compensated by 

 visiting and participating in the above. 



EXCERPTS. 

 A LOAMY soil, with a loose gravely sub-soil 

 through which the surplus water easily drains 

 away, may be deeply plowed with good effect, 

 or at any r..te without the injurious results 

 which follow the practice of the deep plowing 

 on stiff clayey soil. 



Lakge numbers of fowls may be kept with 

 profit, if not over fifty be kept in one colony. 



The total number of herring shipped from 

 Eastport, Me., this season is 17,24U,UU0, a de- 

 crease of 13,420,000, from 1881-2 and of just 

 one-half from 1,880-1. 



A HASTY cup of chocolate: Scrape a small 

 cake of chocolate into a cup, 'mix with the 

 same as much sugar as may be agreeable, fill 

 with boiling water and stir the mixture.— T/ie 

 Advance. 



It costs a good deal to keep hens. They 

 take food by the peck.— Jiosfon Advertiser. 

 They thus prove profitable harvests though, 

 by insuring full cxo^a.—PiUsbunjh Coinmerdal 

 Gazette. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that a sure way 

 to kill burdocks is to cut the top to the 

 ground, and then with a sharp knife scoop 

 out a hole and put in a teaspoonf ul of kero- 

 sene. There will be no further trouble from 

 that plant.— JV. Y. Examiner. 



Gkahasi biscuits are very nice if eaten 

 while fresh and warm. To one pint of milk 

 allow half a cup of melted butter, half a cup 

 of sugar and two eggs, add enough flour to 

 make stiff batter ; do not attempt to knead 

 them, but drop from a spoon into hot muflin- 

 tins.— J\r. 1'. Post. 



Slugs, as the green, slimy caterpillars are 

 called, which appear upon the leaves of pear 

 and cherry trees, are best treated by dusting 

 of dry-slaked lime. This may be applied by 

 shakmg it from a bag of open fabric, fastened 

 to the end of a pole. — Chicago Journal. 



Amivionia water or a damp cloth dipped in 

 whiting, cleans paint nicely. Sapolio is also 

 good. Cold tea is the best thing to clean var- 

 nished wood with, the tea and tea leaves 

 saved from the table for several days and 



steeped will usually be sufficient. It removes 

 spots and gives a fresher, newer appearance 

 than when soap and water are used. — N. Y. 



Times. 



Contributions. 



BENEFITSAND EXPENSESOF PUBLIC 

 ROAUS. 



Comparatively few people realize the cost 

 and the inconveniences of many of our public 

 roads. In the first place, when these roads 

 have been located by juries or reviewers ap- 

 pointed by the court, (formerly six, but at 

 present only three constitute the lawful num- 

 ber of reviewers) they, nine times out of ten, 

 through courtesy to the petitioners, follow 

 lines between parties so as to do the least 

 damage, and also to please them, which run 

 the roads crooked and inconvenient for trav- 

 el, sometimes running east, west, north or 

 south between two farms until they become 

 perfect zigzags, merely to please or gratify 

 the selfish whims of their neighbors, often on 

 account of too who might be termed "troub- 

 lesome neighbors:" making many roads not 

 only expensive, but often hard to travel, and 

 also hard to haul heavy or even common 

 loads on. 



Does it ever occur to those who locate 

 roads, or to the people through whose prem- 

 ises roads are located, how expensive to the 

 farmer a small hill is made, to draft a reason 

 able load? For instance, two horses can easily 

 pull one hundred rails, or say two tons of any- 

 thing else, on good level roads, but on account 

 of one or two hills, either short or long, he 

 must either choose between half a load (one 

 ton) or attach two extra horses to draw his 

 loads up said hills. 



If a farmer desires to haul a full load of 

 rails, or 2 tons of grain or any other produce, 

 he is compelled to keep two extra horses 

 merely to overcome the gradg in these several 

 hills, involving an expense which might have 

 been avoided in a more judicious location of 

 the country road. But this is not all, the 

 subject also involves a waste of time, for, 

 perhaps he is compelled to make two trips to 

 do a work which otherwise might have been 

 accomplished in one. 



There are also other important matters 

 connected with the location of roads, of which 

 I shall have something to say hereafter ; such 

 for instance, as macadamizing, drainage, re- 

 pairs, dangers, etc. The hills on some of our 

 township roads are so steep that it not only 

 is almost impossible to ascend them with any- 

 thing like a reasonable load, but the descent 

 is absolutely dangerous, the animals attached 

 to them being barely able to keep out of the 

 way of the vehicle behind them. P. S. R. 



THE GENERAL OUTLOOK. 



The hay crop was a full one, and it was gen- 

 erally well cured and without injury from rains. 

 The wheat will he a three-quarter crop, and 

 the oats will be a better crop than we have 

 had for many years — it will come again to 

 perfection, like in the olden time. Corn is 

 promising well, so far, and so also is, general- 

 ly speaking, tobacco. We had rains just as 

 we needed them. "We had about two rains a 

 week for some time, which was more than 

 common in this locality ; and, notwithstand- 



ing the general good which may result from 

 it, it also done considerable damage to corn 

 and tobacco. It washed down hill-side fields, 

 making trenches that will require some labor 

 to level up again. Potatoes will come in as 

 an extra crop. Strawberries were a perfect 

 crop both in quantity and quality, and 

 raspberries and blackberries much the same. 

 Cherries did well. Pears are doing ordinarily 

 well. Grapes seem to be doing very well, and 

 are promising- a full crop, and also foreshad- 

 dow perfection. 



Plums, as usual, are nearly all destroyed by 

 the Curculio. Apples bloomed profusely, and 

 had there been a dry time at the period of 

 fertilization, there would have been a good 

 promise for a crop ; but the rains washed out 

 and drowned the blossoms at the most critical 

 period, and we, alas, are again disappointed. 

 Of course, there will be some apples in special 

 localities, but as a whole the apple crop is 

 nearly a failure. Some varieties will do pass- 

 ably well, whilst others are non est. There 

 will be a few pound-apples this season, but 

 Smith's cider will do better—" aber such nicht 

 wider." 



If my 130 trees had been all of the later 

 kind — the kind that bear every year, and only 

 alternate more or less heavy — my prospects 

 would have been better. Two years ago they 

 did well, but last year the limbs broke down 

 with fruit. This year they hang pretty 

 full, and seem to be perfect. If my trees 

 were all of that kind, I would have re- 

 alized 1200 or .$300 every year for the last 

 three years. They are just now in vigorous 

 bearing condition. True, many of the apples 

 are stung by insects, but some will be left me. 

 Harvesting goes somewhat slow, on account 

 of the heavy rains. This is one of the most 

 remarkable harvests we have had for many 

 years. Some fields will yield fortij bushels to 

 the acre, whilst at the same time adjoining 

 fields will not yield more than from five to ten 

 bushels to the acre. 



I never saw the Hessian fiy do so much 

 injury as it did during the last days of Sep- 

 tember, 1SS2. I know of two fields sowed on 

 the 27th of September. Both had been in wheat 

 the previous year ; the wheat came up very 

 beautifully ; the ground was in good order. It 

 came up in four or five days after sowing. 

 The flies commenced on it immediately, and 

 it con Id be seen last fall already that the crop 

 would be a failure. _ 



In 1876 the wheat sowed in our neighbor- ■ 

 hood before the Sth of September, was all 

 destroyed by the Hessian fly. It was rainy 

 from the sta to the 12th. That which was 

 sowed afterwards made a good crop. We have 

 eventually to come back again to the old time, 

 and not sow until about the first of October. 

 It was conclusively proven this year that that 

 which was sowed as late as the 10th of Oc- 

 tober made good crops. — L. S. R., Oregon, 

 July, 1883. 



"The proof of the pudding is in chewing 

 the bag." If late sowing demonstrates that 

 the Hessian fly can therefore be headed 

 off, it seems to be a simple thing to 

 head them oft". But, says another, late 

 sowing in the fall makes backward growth 

 in the following spring, and then the 

 grain is liable to fall a prey te the "wheat 

 midge," which is just as bad as the Ses- 



