154 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 



the well-known peppermint, it flourishes well. 



Another wild plant is the tansy, with its 

 yellow blossoms and strong odor, so used by 

 our ancestors for pudding and tarts, and 

 which may now be found in some old-fashioned 

 gardens. But tastes change as well as fashions ; 

 and, perhaps, our ancestors might not like 

 many things tve approve of now, as we should 

 object to tansy puddings, saffron cakes, pickled 

 ash-reed, "locks and keys," as the children 

 used to call them. 



And as for trees, from the wild crab-apple, 

 with Its lovely blossoms and hard, acrid fruit, 

 have sprung, by grafting and cultivation, all 

 the many kinds of apples so much prized, and 

 so we might go on with trees innumerable. 

 If we cannt boast of some of the grand trees 

 and flowers of foreign lands, we can show a 

 very good list cf useful ones, all of very great 

 benefit to man, and all by him taken into the 

 garden from their homes in foreign soil. — N. 

 Y. Observer. 



GRASS OR CULTIVATED GROUND 

 FOR PEARS. 



Nothing seems more surprising than the 

 rapid movement which seems to have been 

 made the last fifteen to twenty years in favor 

 of growing pear trees in grass. We well re- 

 member, when the subject was first aiooted, 

 what a storm the suggestion made. It was 

 looked on as the height of absurdity, and 

 those who recommended it were thought to 

 be lunatics of the most confirmed descripdon. 

 We never took any sides on this question 

 until our own experience proved its value, 

 and when we had successful instances of pear 

 culture iu grass, as we often have. We do not 

 deny that there are many good cultivators 

 who have excellent success in what is called 

 clean culture of pear orchards. Their error 

 has been in regarding it as the only successful 

 plan. As we have said, it is rather remark- 

 able how great is the change the other way ; 

 and we should not be surprised one of these 

 days to find the public running to the opposite 

 extreme, and insisting that in grass only can 

 pears be grown. We are confident that the 

 crops are more regular, the fruit more per- 

 fect, and the trees are better protected against 

 blight. We do not, in fact, ever remember 

 having a pear tree to die of blight— not that 

 we believe that grass is a perfect protection, 

 only that such is the fact. The ground is uni- 

 formly cooler in grass than in cultivated land, 

 and generally is more moist, and then, too 

 the roots are never disturbed. We have lost 

 several standard and a number of dwarf 

 trees by blight ; in fact, latterly not a year 

 passes that there is not a diminution of our 

 trees in this way ; while in grass nothing but 

 old age seems to cause them to succumb. 

 When we say that we have three trees on our 

 premises said to be full 150 years old, in good 

 bearing condition, one of them apparently as 

 good as ever it was, we think there is good 

 ground for our opiaion. —Oermantotvn Tel. 



BRING OUT THE DEPOSITS. 

 All good housewives are now submitting 

 the "camphorated " chests and presses to the 

 annual autumn examination. It is necessary, 

 before the fall and winter purchases are 

 entered into, to know " what is in the house," 

 and to what use it may be put in the way of 



saving new outlays. The great majority of 

 the civiUzed world find economy a necessity 

 and a dut.v, and nobody, however large the 

 income he enjoys, should permit anything 

 useful to be lost or wasted. 



With the approach of winter, the needs of 

 the poor will be pressed upon the attention of 

 the public. Thought in time may not only 

 prevent spasmodic and lavish donations, but 

 may also double the value of what is given. 

 And not only so, but the deserving and the 

 industrious, who never appeal for charitiy, 

 may be remembered on the ground of friend- 

 ship ; and seasonable and grateful assistance 

 may enrol persons this winter among givers, 

 who would else be among sufferers. Every 

 head of a large household knows how one 

 article of clothing may be made to serve suc- 

 cessive children as they come forward, and to 

 look neat and feel comfortable upon each. 

 "In the course of human events" small 

 children go out of fashion iu the household, 

 and there is nobody with a "reversionary 

 right " to the articles which the grown folks 

 must lay aside. But children are always in 

 order somewhere ; and every manager knows 

 that an adult garment will sit " as good as 

 new, "if abridged for a j uvenile. In the over- 

 hauling of ward-robes many things capable of 

 such a "conversion " as this will turn up ; and 

 everybody knows somebody's children who 

 would be well-suited with the useless garments 

 of their elders. 



There is a wide field for choice and discre- 

 tion in the application of such superfluous 

 things to a useful purpose. The little nephew 

 who is ashamed to wear uncle's coat repro- 

 duced, or the little niece who rebels aunty's 

 turned frock, is not born to " good luck," un- 

 less, indeed there is such a competence of 

 fortune as to make such economy unneces- 

 sary. But if one has no connections to whom 

 such things would be acceptable, then think 

 of somebody not a relative, who would appre- 

 ciate AS friendship what could net be accepted 

 as charity. 



Even for articles which are too much de- 

 faced to be disposed of in this way there is 

 demand. If the householder , knows of no 

 family whose necessities would make such 

 donations acceptable, there are societies which 

 include in their charitable operations the 

 clothing of poor children. Such organiza- 

 tions can make good use of anything in the 

 shape of partially worn garments. There is 

 no discarded fabric in any comfortable home 

 which would not be of utility somewhere, and 

 while it is unquestionably a poor charity 

 which gives away only what it cannot use, it 

 is a wise economy to find a use among others 

 for what to the giver is useless. By so much 

 as is saved will the charitable be able to give 

 in addition. The utilization of waste pro- 

 ducts in arts and manufactures is considered 

 justly to be the creation of wealth. And so in 

 an economical view is the utilization of the 

 discarded or superfluous clothing, furniture, 

 fuel and food of ihe rich and the comfortable 

 a creation of wealth. Waste (wherever it can 

 be avoided) is a sin, and none of the appli- 

 ances for comfort should be permitted to re- 

 main useless while there are fellow creatures 

 who need. An outcome of the useless con- 

 tents of chests and ward-robes would be quite 

 as great an event to some people as the release 



of "greenbacks" from their hiding places 

 would be to general business. 



COIVUVION AND THOROUGHBRED 

 CATTLE. 

 No one with half an eye can fail to be fa- 

 vorably impressed wiih the ponderous weight 

 of some blooded cattle, the beautiful forms 

 and flue flesh of others, while others still are 

 valued and admired for the extraordinary 

 quantity or quality of their milk, or for use- 

 fulness as beasts of burden. All this is the 

 direct result of persistent application of a 

 course of treatment devised from a knowledge 

 af the laws of life, and intelligently and skil- 

 fully executed. Put iuto the hands of unskil- 

 ful men, these fine creatures will be sure to 

 run down, and in a few generations revert to 

 the level of indifferent treatment. This has 

 been the lamentable fate of a vast number of 

 the improved animals distributed through the 

 country, and if constitutes the most formid- 

 able obstacle to their successful introduction. 

 There has been thoroughbred stock enough, it 

 is believed, imported into and bred in the 

 State of New York to have stocked every 

 farm in the State by this time, had it been 

 kept up to its high standard with an average 

 fruitfulness ; whereas, it has so rapidly degen- 

 erated under mismanagement that it is now 

 supposed to constitute only about 1 per cent, 

 of the stock of the State. 



Until disposed to bestow upon it the 

 thought, observation and care indispensable to 

 success, the average farmer may as well let 

 thoroughbred stock alone. The common 

 stock fills a place in his farmiu'^ for which 

 there is no substitute. It is just on the level 

 where his rough, inconsiderable and indiffer- 

 ent management compels it to remain. With 

 better treatment it would immediately im- 

 prove ; with worse, it would sink lower. The 

 experience of thousands has proved this. The 

 cattle have the elements of progress within 

 them, and are not at fault for what they are, 

 and are not to be despised as bad or worthless 

 so long as they are only held down by their 

 breeders. The most efficient way to improve 

 the stock of the State, whether for milk or 

 beef, is to improve the men who grow it. 

 Until they can be educated to give more con- 

 sistent attention and treatment, there is no 

 use of selfishly seeking to thrust upon them 

 breeding animals whose progeny would be 

 sure to depreciate till it could not be distin- 

 guished from the native stock. Tiie most efH- 

 cient way to inspire the needed education is 

 not by despising the men or their animals, 

 but by arousing their attention by a fair 

 statement of facts.— Pco/'fsso}- L. B. Arnold. 



SHALL WE PRUNE IN AUTUMN? 

 To the above question, which comes from 

 several subscribers, we say decidedly, yes, 

 provided the question applies to newly planted 

 trees, those set last spring, or within a few 

 years. The sooner such trees have their final 

 shape given to them the better. This should 

 have been done when they were planted, but 

 between the hurry of spring work and the 

 timidity of the inexperienced, who are afraid 

 to cut trees, are quite too often set out just as 

 they come from the nursery. Such trees must 

 sooner or later be put into their final shape 

 for bearing, and the sooner this is done, the 



