1883.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



125 



which they walked to the calming eBtablishment of 

 the Messrs. McSparrau near by. The {jentleineu are 

 just starting in this business. They have put up a 

 building SH by 30 feet with scaleshouse attached and 

 fitted it inside with all the improved machinery per- 

 taining to this branch of business. If they succeed 

 in filling all the cans on hand they will certainly do 

 a large business. We wish them success. 



After reassembling the yeast question was again 

 brought up amongst the ladies and from what the 

 secretary could catch each one seemed to have a 

 dillerent way of making yeast, and as all make 

 good bread one would suppose the reccipes were all 

 equally good. 



The minutes of the last meeting held here, were 

 then read, and criticism called for. The host was 

 complimented on the fine appearance of his farm 

 and crops. 



Mr. Gregg has planted a quantity of sweet corn 

 and tomatoes whielf he expects to dispose of at the 

 cannery near by. The club would be pleased if he 

 would keep some accurate account and report if 

 these crops can be raised with profit at the prices 

 paid by the cannery. 



The host had read the address of the president of 

 the Agricultural Association of Lancaster county, 

 and then read an article giving his own ideas regard- 

 ing the value and cost of barnyard manure compared 

 with those of South Carolina rock, contending that 

 he can keep his land in good condition by the use of 

 commercial fertilizers and sell his hay, straw and 

 corn, and the cost will not be as great as the barn- 

 yard manure. 



This is a subject on which many farmers would 

 ditfer with Mr. Gregg. There seems to be a lack of 

 knowledge regarding the cost of barnyard manure. 

 It is certainly a subject of great importance to 

 farmers. 



Lizzie Woods read an article describing the way 

 in which tomatoes were introduced into this section 

 of country. Mont. Brown read a letter he had re- 

 ceived from Joseph Roman, a former member of the 

 club who settled in central Missouri last spring. 

 This letter was very interesting (as all Mr. Roman's 

 letters are). The club would be pleased to hear 

 from Mr. Roman again, and extend their sincere 

 good wishes for his success in his undertaking. 



Adjourned to meet at Wm. King's, September 1, 

 1883. 



POULTRY ASSOCIATION. 



The regular meeting of the Poultry Society was 

 held Monday, August 6th, ten members being pre- 

 sent. 



In the absence of the president, Mr. M. L. Grider, 

 of Mount Joy, presided . 



Mr. Long reported that the debt had all been paid 

 except $30, and that there was $5 in the treasury. 

 Several persons still owed for their stock, and when 

 they pay their subscriptions there will be enough 

 money in the treasury to pay all the indebtedness. 



It was reported that arrangements had been made 

 with the persons who purpose holding a fair here 

 next month by which the society would realize a 

 rental of 2.5 cents for each poultry coop belonging to 

 the society which is used at the fair. 



The following persons were elected to membership: 

 Drs. S. T. and M. L. Davis, D. McMullen, Esq., D. 

 M. Myer, C. F. Stoner, Dr. B. F. W. Urban and 

 Christian Musselman. 



Adjourned. 



AGRICULTURE. 



Tropical Farming. 



Mr. Alfred Trumble describes the farming of the 

 tropics in the American Agriculturist for August, 

 from which we clip the following : 



There is but little dignity about farming in the 

 tropics. It is true, there are great plantations of 

 sugar and coffee, but the owners of them are either 

 companies, formed abroad, and represented by over- 

 seers and officers, or proprietors who are far too 



aristocratic to touch a hoe-handle, or harness a team. 

 The white man does not work in the warm latitudes. 

 The farmer proper of the tropics is in the main little 

 better than the slaves, whose place he occupies. In 

 tlie West Indies he is invariably a negro ; on the 

 continent of South or Central America a half breed, 

 or rather a hybrid, the result of a couple of centuries 

 of Indian, Spaniard and negro cross-breeding. But 

 wherever he is he is always wretchedly ignorant and 

 poor. He always I'arms in a very small way, and by 

 the most primitive methods. An acre of ground 

 constitutes a large farm. He never plows, the hoe 

 and spade being his only tools. He raises yams and 

 kindred indigenous vegetables, and very good crops 

 of them, too, for he has a fertile soil to aid him. He 

 never plants on poor ground. If he lives near a run- 

 ning stream he generally has numerous trees of the 

 banana and plantain. Though these grow wild in 

 the tropics they are improved by cultivation. The 

 wild bananas root close to the water's edge, and a 

 freshet may carry the plants away. We have often 

 seen a rude canoe slip by on some South American 

 stream at early morning, carrying an old 8(iuaw, in 

 a scarlet cotton gown, and a cart-wheel hat, with a 

 roll of tobacco-leaf between her teeth, and two 

 bunches of bananas for a cargo. These bunches are 

 all she has to sell, and she will travel twenty miles 

 to dispose of them. The old woman is never without 

 a naked boy and a lean dog for company, and when 

 the tide is fair the party float along, carried by the 

 current, and propelled by the wind blowing on a big 

 plantain leaf, which the boy holds upright, for a sail. 



No more picturesque or wretched picture can be 

 conceived than one of the little farms of South or 

 Central America. A hut of palm boards, wiUi a 

 rotten roof palm branches, swarming with bats, 

 scorpions, and other vermine, constitutes the farm- 

 er's home. The floor is of earth, the beds are frame- 

 works of boards, on which the inmates stretch 

 without the effete formality of undressing. Ham- 

 mocks are not as often seen as one would fancy. All 

 travellers, however, carry them, and for a dime 

 obtain the privilege of slinging them from the beams. 

 Many farm houses are mere sheds, with the sides 

 open to the winds. The farms themselves present 

 none of the pleasing aspects of cultivated ground. 

 The different crops grow in patches, it is true, but 

 rank, unvveeded, and witliout care. Nature pro 

 vides a soil so rich that man needs to give but little 

 labor ; when, after years, the ground is worked out, 

 the I'armer opens another patch, lor all is free. 



Such a land as this would be a paradise for the in- 

 telligent and energetic Northern farmer, but for the 

 fact that in this enervating and malarial climate 

 hard labor is deadly. The white man, who settles 

 here and works as he is accustomed to labor in the 

 cooler climate at home soon dies, and only he who 

 adapts himself to the listless climate survives. 



Breaking up Land. 



A correspondent of the fowa Farmer has been 

 utilizing his sheep in breaking up land. He says : 

 "My flock consists of'Ubout .500 sheep. Two years 

 ago I fenced in about 1.50 acres of wild prairie and 

 used it for sheep pasture. The pasture was good 

 until last summer. I did not think for one moment, 

 but that the blue, joint grass was all right (it has 

 immense and numerous roots, which are sent down 

 deep in the soil), and I suppose was good for ten or 

 fifteen years' pasturage, but I incidently discovered, 

 last fall, that the close pasturage of the sheep had 

 killed it, the roots were rotted, and on putting in the 

 plow the mellowest soil a farmer could desire was 

 turned up. My sheep, in two years, had broken 

 over 100 acres. I had it plowed, and in hiring some 

 done, I found the party would prefer plowing in this 

 pasture to " back-setting" last summer's breaking. 

 I estimate the value to the 1.50 acres added by the 

 sheep at SiiOO — $i00 in killing the prairie grass, and 

 g-lOO in their manure. I suppose it is of greater 

 value than this, but it is certainly this. Of course, 

 breakmg prairie with sheep is another and new 

 source of profit in these most valuable animals on 

 the farm. I just pulled down and removed over 



two miles of six wire, three smoothed and three 

 barbed wire, fences, and just as soon as the frost is 

 out I shall fence a new pasture on the wild and un- 

 broken prairie for my sheep. On looking it over I 

 find my fencing cost me $2.50 per mile. In two 

 years I have got back 8300 per mile by pasturing my 

 sheep on the land fenced. Looking at it in this 

 light it seems to be quite a profitable thing to pasture 

 sheep, and it is a new idea to me. My farm is on the 

 "slope," in Western Iowa. 



Early Plowing for Fall Wheat. 



The first object gained by early plowing, is time 

 for the proper preparation of the seed bed. All pos- 

 sible fertility should be made readily available. To 

 be so, it should be soluble, and division aids 6ol.itiOD. 

 The ground becomes hard in July and August, and if 

 plowing is delayed too long, the soil breaks up in hard 

 lumps. If plowed early, it will turn up moist and 

 fine. Rain and air are nature's two great disintegrat- 

 ing forces. 



Seeds germinate quickly and plants grow rapidly 

 in a firm seed bed. The increase of insect enemies 

 of wheat makes late sowing, coupled with rapiil, vig- 

 orous growth, desirable. Hence the importance of 

 a firm seed-bed, which also prevents much freezing 

 out ol the plants. To make the seedbed firm, it 

 must first be fine. It is not a hard soil, but com- 

 pact, fine soil that is desired. It may be compacted 

 with the roller and harrow ; but if the farmer, by 

 early plowing, can gain the aid of a heavy rain, it 

 will save him much labor, and it will do the work of 

 preparing the soil far bitter than he can alone. 



Another object gained by early plowing is the de- 

 struction of weeds. Thev are robbers of the wheat, 

 and the sooner their growth is stopped by plowing, 

 the less plant-food they will take from the soil. 

 Early plowing will destroy them before they mature 

 their seeds, and thus prevent perpetuating their 

 kind. Late plowing admits of a large growth, and 

 when this is turned under by the plow, it is impossi- 

 ble to compact the seed-bed, and the green manure 

 affords a harbor lor enemies. 



Early plowing admits of a better application of 

 manure. Manure is most needed in autumn, and to 

 be at once available to the roots of the young plant, 

 it must be fine and near the surface ; not on top of 

 the ground, but thoroughly incorporated with the 

 upper layer of soil. Ifth ground is plowed early, 

 the manure can be applied to the surface, and the 

 work of preparing the seed bed will fine it and mix it 

 with the soil. Commercial manures should be sown 

 with the grain. 



Early plowing admits of atmospheric fertilization. 

 Whether it directly adds the elements of fertility to 

 the soil or only frees and unlocks that which it al- 

 ready possesses, is ininialerial. Plowing the land 

 exposes a greater surface and permits ol the easy 

 passage of the air into the interior of the soil. — 

 Atnericmi AffricuUnrixt for Aiifiuxt. 



Best Time to Cut Grass for Hay. 



Grass should be cut before the seed has matured, 

 except when grown for the seed. Grasses for hay, 

 as a rul?^ are at their best when in blossom. Clover 

 is usually cut while in full blossom, though there 

 are cultivators who wait until a few of the seeds t>e- 

 gin to dry up and the reproductive functions are be- 

 ing brought into play for the maturing of the seed. 



There are exceptions to this universal rule of cut- 

 ting grasses for hay while in bloom, in the cases of 

 some of the natural grasses. Crested dogtails for 

 instance, has been proven by analysis to be an ex- 

 ception ; so has orchard grass, which at the time the 

 seed is ripe and at the time of flowering is, in regard 

 to its nutritive qualities, as seven to five. 



It has also been proven that the stems of timothy 

 contain more nutritive matter when the plant is 

 nearly ripe than at the time of flowering. But it has 

 also been decided that the loss of aftermath, which 

 would have formed had the plant been cut in blos- 

 som, more than balances the gain in the ripening 

 seeds. 



