152 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 



presumed to understand how wide a range 

 there is in the qualities of the materials they 

 use. They are certainly far beliind if they do 

 not understand this. The advantage of using 

 the highest quality of beef for making beef 

 extract would be doubly ajiparent ; first, in 

 the quantity of extract secured from a given 

 amount; and, second, in its flavor, odor and 

 nutritiousness. Yet, when we read tliat 

 one pound only of pure extract is ob- 

 tained from thirty-four pounds of lean 

 muscle, we are forced to think that this 

 cannot be a fair test. In other words, that if 

 the flesh were well charged with osmazome 

 and rich meat juices, as it is in high-bred, 

 well-fatted animals only, the product would 

 be larger. 



There are, then, three tests which, taken 

 together, settle the question of quality in 

 beef. These tests are the odor, the amount 

 of pure extract obtainable, and the palate of 

 the epicure. It is not extravagant to say that 

 there is naturally as wide a difference dis- 

 coverable in the quality of canned meats as 

 in the fruits and vegetables put up by the 

 same process. A peach of the highest quality, 

 and ripe, will come out of the can showing 

 the same quality possessod when it went in. 

 The same is true of sweet corn. Like the 

 peach or the plum, if beef or inferior grade 

 and unripe be put into the can, it will come 

 out as it went in, the skinny, insipid stufl^that 

 no cultivated taste will tolerate. — National 

 Live Stock Journal. 



THE INFLUENCE OF FORESTS UPON 

 RAINFALL. 



There is a great deal of crude opinion 

 about the influence of forests on rain-fall. 

 The truth is, we have too little definite 

 knowledge, hence this crudity of opinion on a 

 subject that excites more and more attention. 

 Observations have not been made over such 

 extended periods of time as must necessarily 

 be required to establish the truth or falsity of 

 the various theories entertained concerning 

 the influence of trees upon rainfall. Tlie 

 common assumption is that large tracts of 

 forests promote rainfall, and there are many 

 evidences that, in a greater or less degree, go 

 to establish the truth of this theory. But 

 whatever effect forests may have upon pre- 

 cipitation of moisture, there is one known 

 fact hardly less in importance than their as- 

 sumed influence upon rainfall. It is a fact 

 that forests retard the flow of water, and so 

 extends it over longer periods of time ; thus 

 continuing sources from which ; through 

 evaporation, rain is produced. This tends, 

 indirectly, to establish the theory that trees 

 really do increase the rainfall. There can be 

 no doubt that they equalize it to some extent. 

 There are few neighborhoods in which some 

 old citizen can not report great changes in the 

 flow of water, since his first observations 

 were made. Streams that fifty years ago 

 furnished water a greater portion of the year, 

 in amount sufficient to turn water-wheels and 

 supply power for mechanical uses are now 

 dry, except during the melting of snows and 

 a short period after, or during times when 

 heavy rains occur in other portions of the 

 year, and this, too, in localities where consid- 

 erable areas of land were cleared a half cen- 

 tury or more ago. Taking away the rem- 



nants, or detached forests tracts, has wrought 

 the change partly. 



Another cause is the heavier character of 

 lands kept in cultivation, over which the 

 water has unretarded flow to natural chan- 

 nels. One result of this change is enlarged 

 area from which evaporation can go on with 

 rapidity, that is to say, supplies are seen ex- 

 hausted. Any acre of laud, long used in crop- 

 ping, holds but a small proportion of water as 

 compared with another acre in the same lo- 

 cality covered with forests, except during 

 storms, and for a short time afterwards. The 

 cultivated acre is dried out by the rays of the 

 sun forcing out moisture. But this cause 

 does not operate directly on the land covered 

 by forests, where there is not only retarda- 

 tion of flow, but also retarded evaporation 

 the area in forest, and to some extent, equali- 

 zation of moisture with reference to time as 

 compared with fields used for cultivation. 

 The whole question is one that deserves ex- 

 tended study. Observations should be made 

 by men employed for that purpose. The 

 Government is doing something in this direc- 

 tion, but much more remains to be done. 

 Forestry conventions exert wholesome influ- 

 ence. By every available means it is ex- 

 tremely desirable that we gather greater store 

 of facts bearing upon this very important 

 matter. — Husbandman, Elmira, New York. 



DAIRY SCHOOLS. 



American dairying will never be a fine art 

 or a successful business until we have a large 

 number of dairy schools, and we shall never 

 have these until dairymen have learned how 

 much they need to know. Everything learned 

 of foreign dairying and dairy schools may 

 tend to hasten this time. In an interesting 

 account of a Danish dairy in tlie Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society Journal, (England,) the follow- 

 ing, in regard to a dairy school, is given : 



" In consequence of Mrs. Neilson's ex- 

 tended reputation as a flrst-rate dairy woman, 

 .«he generally has about a dozen farmers' 

 daughters as working pupils, who are boarded 

 and lodged in the farm-house, remaining for 

 various periods, extending from six weeks to 

 two years. The pupils who remain only for a 

 short time pay for their instructions a con- 

 siderable amount relatively, but they will 

 work as hard as an ordinary dairymaid could 

 be expected to. Their usual length of stay is 

 six months, and vacancies in their ranks are 

 always immediately filled up. I inquired the 

 position of the parents of these girls, and 

 learned that most ot them were peasant 

 farmers, keeping from ten to fifteen cows ; 

 but some have large farms. One girl was in- 

 dicated to me whose father kept forty cows , 

 she was about to be married, and her parents 

 thought her fortunate in being able to learn 

 under Mrs. Neilson how the dairy of her 

 future home could be turned to the most 

 profitable account. 



' ' Each pupil has five cows allotted to her 

 in rotation, and the results of the several 

 milkings are carefully noted, the produce of 

 each cow being entered separately morning 

 and evening, togetlier with the name of the 

 milker. Mrs. Neilson thus has a practical 

 means of knowing whether her pupils can 

 perform satisfactorily one of the most im- 

 portant, as well as one of the most fundamen- 



tal and most neglected operations connected 

 with dairy fivrming. The knowledge that the 

 results of their milkings are ' booked ' also 

 produces a spirit of emulation among the 

 girls, which gives far better results than any 

 system of supervision." 



What a vast scope there is for such a spirit 

 of enterprise among the million of small dairies 

 in America I — The Dairy. 



SOME THINGS I HAVE LEARNED THIS 

 YEAR. 



That tomato plants in the same hill with 

 squashes, cucumbers, and pumpkins will not 

 keep oft' the bugs. 



That an application of air-slacked lime will 

 not keep bugs away from vines, cabbage 

 plants, radishes, turnips or egg plants. That 

 saltpetre water will not accomplish anything 

 in that line. That coal oil for that purpose 

 is also a failure. 



That good application, repeated three times, 

 of reasonably strong liquid manure does well, 

 and that an application of fine sulphur sprink- 

 led over the plants and vines will greatly help 

 in getting rid of these pests. 



That a reasonable application of wood ashes 

 is very beneficial in a garden. But that it is 

 comparatively an easy matter to make the ap- 

 plication too strong, especially if the ashes are 

 unleached. 



That it is useless to plant sweet corn before 

 the ground gets warm as well as the weather, 

 as corn planted three weeks later will come to 

 maturity just as quick with the same soil and 

 cultivation. 



That there is a very decided advantage in 

 good, sound, quick germinating seed corn, 

 and this will be evident from the time the corn 

 begins to sprout until it matures. 



That peas will not do as well on new, rich 

 ground as on old. 



That I can raise more and better Lima 

 beans by planting in a row, the plants six 

 inches, than in hills with three or four beans 

 in a hill. 



That it pays to soak sorghum seed twenty- 

 four hours in water before planting. 



That tomato vines will grow faster and 

 blossom quicker if a little manure is worked 

 into the hills than if set out without. — N. J. 

 Shepherd, in Farm and Garden. 



THE SEED TEST. 



Prof. W. Carruthers, consulting botanist 

 to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 

 gives this plan for determining the germinat- 

 ing power of a sample of seeds, together with 

 an illustrative example of the importance of 

 such tests. We quote from the summary of 

 The Mark Lane Express : 



"Let 200, or 100, or 50, as may be thought - 

 best, of the seeds be counted out and placed 

 one deep on the surface of a plate. This 

 plate should then be placed in a larger plate 

 or in a shallow pan, containing about a quar- 

 ter of an inch in depth of water, and over all 

 there should be inverted another pan, suffi- 

 ciently large to entirely inclose the vessel con- 

 taining the water. The depth of water should 

 not be sufficient to allow of its overflowing 

 into the plate containing tlie seeds. The whole 

 arrangement should then be set in a moder- 

 ately warm place, and thus the seeds will be 

 subjected to all the conditions favorable to 



