148 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 



say, that if our local society has been no bene- 

 fit to the community I hope it has not been 

 an infury. It has been the means of intro- 

 ducing the best varieties of fruit and fruit 

 trees. Also the best ornamental trees, and 

 the most valuable timber for durability and 

 mechanical purposes. In truck farming, 

 twenty years ago, we had only the mercer 

 and a few indifferent varieties of the potato ; 

 now we have the mealy Early Eose, and half 

 a dozen other varieties nearly as good. One 

 man, near the city of Lancaster, raised about 

 seven hundred bushels from two acres of land. 

 The Concord grape was nearly unknown, and 

 only a few vines were cultivated bearing only 

 a few quarts ; now we have them by bushels 

 on bushels. The strawberry was scarcely 

 known, except as a sort of fancy garden 

 plant, and hardly appreciated. Now we have 

 the "Agricultural," the "Monarch of the 

 West," and the "Vick," by the bushel. I 

 know men who have realized from $.50 to $200 

 from less than an eighth of an acre of ground. 

 The old' sour cherries became worthless ; the 

 " Early Richmond " was introduced and 

 planted all over the county with great suc- 

 cess. The pear was altogether neglected. 

 The Bartlett, Sickel, Burre Clairgan, Dutchess, 

 Lawrence and others were introduced from 

 twelve to fifteen years ago. 



A man wanted to plant a pear orchard, and 

 asked a member of our local society what 

 kinds he should plant. He was advised to 

 plant sixty out of a hundred Bartletts. He 

 took from one hundred and fifty to one hun- 

 dred and seventy-five bushels from his Bart- 

 lett trees alone, and got from $1.00 to $1.50 

 premium per bushel. 



But of peaches, it is true, we cannot say so 

 much, nor yet of apples, and yet both of these 

 fruits, in certain localities, and in certain 

 seasons, occasionally yield abundantly. If 

 my two hundred apple trees had all been 

 "Smith's Cider," "Seek-no-farthcr," "York 

 Imperial," and "Pound Apples," I 

 could have sold from $200 to $300 

 worth in each of the last three years. 

 Many other things of value have been intro- 

 duced into the county of Lancaster through 

 the influence of our society. -Tree-planting 

 was urged all the time, and the Catalpa speci- 

 asiis is now being introduced throughout the 

 county. It is said to be the most durable 

 among woods. Our roadsides are now lined 

 in many places with trees, on both sides, 

 mainly through the recommendation of our 

 local society. Shall the society be abandoned 

 because a pecuniarily successful fair cannot 

 be held ? Has its usefulness ceased V .Shall 

 the Lancaster Farmer, its local represen- 

 tative, which has battled through fifteen 

 years, be permitted to go down ? If we were 

 " slow " if we did not and do not come up to 

 the standard of what is claimed to be a pro- 

 gi-essive age we, peradventure, may still have 

 been "sure." 



Let the society and its literary representa- 

 tive not go down, but let them pass into 

 younger, more vigorous, and more "live" 

 hands. For my part I have done what little 1 

 could for the past sixteen years in holding up 

 the hands of the society, and I do not regret it. 

 I have been asked what we get for attending 

 here. I regarded it as a selfishly silly ques- 

 tion. It might almost as well be asked what 

 does a man get in sustaining a church, or in 

 living for heaven. — L. S. B. 



For The Lancaster Fabmer. 

 SWEET AND SOUR. 



I had heard years ago, that there were 

 apple trees which bore fruit that was sweet 

 on the one side and sour on the other side. It 

 was said that they existed in Canada, and 

 also near Quakertown, Bucks couuty,Pa. 



I obtained a young tree from Mr. Wm. 

 Lehman, of Emaus, Lehigh county. Pa., 

 which was to be of that kind. The tree has 

 now fruited, and in testing it before our local 

 society, I confess I was partly disappointed, 

 as the fruit was wholly either sweet or sour, 

 but in testing the apples at home, I found 

 that it was really so. You will find that in 

 testing the fruit one apple may be a sweet one 

 and the next a sour one, but you will also find 

 a few that are sweet on the one side and sour 

 on the other. How is it done. My apples 

 are yellow in color. The man who brought 

 this about took grafts of a yellow sweet apple 

 and a yellow sour one. The grafts were 

 split through the middle of the bud, or eye, 

 and the two different varieties spliced to- 

 gether ; and, if the operator is successful in 

 getting them to grow, the result will be sweet 

 and sour in the same fruit. The fact that 

 some apples are all sweet, and some all sour, 

 may be the effect of imperfect fertilization, 

 or imperfection in the original experimeut. I 

 am convinced that my tree bears some apples 

 that are sweet on one side and sour on the 

 other, whatever else it may do. — L. S. B. 



Selections. 



WEEDS. 

 In American farming losses from weeds are 

 beyond computation. There is hardly a single 

 farm crop that is not diminished by weeds. 

 The slightest observation must convince any 

 person acquainted with farming that weed 

 growth saps the whole industry, reduces its 

 profits and threatens farther damage as weeds 

 gain the ascendency, and to this they are 

 coming in many of the most fertile districts 

 of the country. The time is approaching 

 when organized warfare will be made against 

 the intruders, or, in the older portions of the 

 country, farming will cease to be a profitable 

 industry. It is time now to institute such 

 warfare. There comes a period after harvest 

 and fall seeding when well-directed efforts 

 toward weed destruction are reasonably sure 

 to be rewarded by a fair measure of success. 

 The custom of sowing grass seed with grain 

 crops interferes, it is true, with the destruc- 

 tion of weeds because the grass seeding is of 

 too much value to be wasted, and it is, there- 

 fore, suffered to take its chances with hardier 

 growth much to the detriment of the more 

 valuable crop. 



AVhat can be done with weeds in the au- 

 tumn months applies mainly to stubble fields 

 not seeded. It is true something may be ac- 

 complished in meadows where fall growth 

 permits the use of a scythe, but nothing like 

 thorough work can be done except in fields 

 where plowing is permitted. Efforts should 

 be directed principally toward the vegetation 

 of seeds and subsequent destruction. To 

 effect this, stubble fields should be plowed as 

 soon as possible after the crops are removed 

 and every encouragement given to the growth 

 of weeds ; then with the harrow, or any of 



the improved cultivators, complete destruc- 

 tion of all the weeds that appear above the 

 surface is jjossible. After this is effected 

 another plowing will make the work more 

 thorough, because seeds that in the first place 

 had not the requisite conditions of germina- 

 tion may have them provided, and the growth 

 destroyed by freezing, or spring growth by 

 the harrow. It is true this plan will not 

 cleanse the ground thoroughly, but it will re- 

 duce crops of weeds materially. 



The only means of thorough and complete 

 destruction is the summer-fallow, and this, 

 unfortunately, is not in favor with farmers, 

 because, as they allege, it withdraws the 

 ground too long from use. At this season it 

 is not worth while to enter into argument to 

 prove that summer-fallowing is the best 

 means of weed destruction, because this 

 means is not now available. The nearest ap- 

 proach to it, however, is the best method that 

 may be employed now. This plowing and 

 harrowing, the process repeated so long as it 

 brings results, that is to say, so long as the 

 the seeds of weeds germinate, is the best way 

 to direct operations in autumn. 



The main question for consideration is the 

 importance of destroying weeds in order that 

 their interference with more profitable crops 

 may be prevented. In some eases it will help 

 materially to drag the ground raw to induce 

 vegetation of seeds, then drag to destroy 

 growth. Any way, no matter what, any- 

 thing that effects the object is commendable, 

 but that which will do the most work at least 

 cost is best. 



When we reflect upon the abstracted fertili- 

 ty lost in production of weeds, the space oc- 

 cupied by pernicious growth, the reduction of 

 yield in all grain crops through interference 

 of weeds, the necessity of destruction appears 

 clearly. This is the first thing by which the 

 mind must be impressed before organized war- 

 f^tre begins. Perhaps it is within the truth to 

 say that in the older States, where weeds have 

 obtained ascendency, the profits of farming are 

 reduced one-half through their prevalence. If 

 tliis be true the importance of effecting their 

 destruction is very great. In any case weedy 

 ground ceases to be valuable in farming in 

 exactly the proportion that weeds take up 

 plant food and occupy space that should 

 be taken by more profitable crops. When 

 ^American farmers apply thought to this ques- 

 tion they will see the importance of beginning 

 efforts for weed destruction and continuing 

 them until their farms are practically clear 

 from weed growth . 



CONCERNING LEAVES. 



Leaves have a peculiar and special share in 

 the work of vegetation ; every leaf is con- 

 structed of an intricate network of "veins," 

 running through a soft, pulpy substance. 

 This framework is composed of woody fiber, 

 its purpose being to support and distend the 

 softer parts of the leaf. Accompanying these 

 fibers through all their branchings, and 

 usually running a little beyond their extremi- 

 ties into the green tissue, are minute tubes or 

 vessels. Follow these back to the midrib of 

 the leaf, and we find that they continue still 

 farther, connecting with the circulatory sys- 

 tem of the stem, which in turn extends down 

 to the roots. This line of vessels, therefore, 



