THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



But suppose he has only been dreaming, like 

 the prophets of last summer, and his dreams 

 like theirs, "goes by contraries my dear," 

 what will become of his prophecies in future? 

 The fact is, meteorology is not an "exact 

 science." It hinges upon too rnany uncertain 

 contingencies. It is not susceptible ot a 

 mathematical demonstration just yet. Its 

 principles may be correct in isolated particu- 

 lars, but fails in their general combinations. 

 Its elements do not come yet within the scope 

 of human foresight and human will. The 

 " running-gears " of the system are still im- 

 perfect, and are not in harmony with the 

 changes which are taking place upon the face 

 of the earth. It is, perhaps, like the hunter's 

 dog that was sure to catch the fox, provided 

 said fox did not run too fast. We do not 

 mean to say that thermometrical, barometri- 

 cal and isothermal phenomena may not mani- 

 fest themselves within a given space, so as to 

 render a forecast of the weather something 

 more than probable, but it is somewhat differ- 

 ent when the area is measured by millions of 

 square miles, and is based upon ftiulty human 

 observation alone. And when such forecast 

 is rendered three or six months in advance of 

 the eventuation of the prophecy, the result 

 must be more or less unreliable. But, whether 

 it must OT not, it has been, and that has been 

 works an exception to the rule. Nowithstand- 

 ing the prognostications of the present winter 

 have gone " aglee," we don't have a "chirp" 

 from the prognosticators through the medium 

 of the public press. As to the ground hog's 

 prophecy we have from now until Saint 

 Patrick's day to make our observations upon 

 it. Under any circumstances there does not 

 seem to be much of a risk in predicting six 

 weeks of winter weather from and after the 

 2d day of February, for it is rarely that the 

 spring opens before that period. 



OURSELF, AND OUR RELATION TO 

 SPECIAL INQUIRERS. 



"With the most kindly feelings, and the pro- 

 foundest regard for all who are making sincere 

 efforts to advance in a knowledge of any of 

 the natural sciences ; we are, nevertheless, 

 compelled to say, that from a want of time, 

 and the presence of a disquallifying physicaj 

 infirmaty, it is impossible for us to accord a 

 verbal "interview" on natural science at our 

 place of business, and during business hours ; 

 except of the briefest and most common place 

 character. We wish, on account of the sociaj 

 ban which our condition imposes upon us^ 

 that it were otherwise. Our deafnecs is daily 

 and sadly increasing, compelling us to fight 

 the social battles of life at a great disadv an- 

 tage. At the same time, any question, with- 

 in the scope of our li.nited abilities, pro- 

 pounded through the medium of the pen or 

 the press, will receive our respectful attention^ 

 and a reply, through the postofflce or the col- 

 umns of the Lancaster Farmer— with the 

 preponderence in favor of the Farmer— be- 

 cause, through the latter channel, informa- 

 tion on any subject becomes more generally 

 diffused, than by a merely personal reply. 

 Surely, if anything in natural or physical 

 science— in agriculture and domestic economy 

 — is worth knowing at all, it is worth commit- 

 ting to paper, and placing on record for the 

 benefit of those " whom it may concern." 



It is a great mistake to suppose that a 

 naturalist— especially one who is under the 

 necessity of earning "his bread by the sweat 

 of his face" in an incompatible secular occu- 

 pation — can be tapped at any moment, as you 

 would tap a full wine cask, and yield an im- 

 mediate flow to any and every thirsty appli- 

 cant. The mind and memory have their 

 stratifications, and when the stress, the 

 anxieties, and the responsibilities of business 

 affairs become superincumbent, it requires 

 elTort, time and tranquility, to break and re- 

 move the upper stratum, in order to explore 

 those that lie below. It is different when the 

 day's work is done, and retirement to the 

 quiet closet supervenes, and all the surround- 

 ings suggest a different train of thoughts. 



Will our patrons, and inquirers in general, 

 think of these things ? and help us to build 

 up an effective department in our journal, 

 specially devoted to " Inquiries and Answers." 

 We have long been in the effort to accom- 

 plish this, and yet although many may desire 

 knowledge, they fail to ask, that it may be 

 given them. 



HIGH WATER— FORESTRY. 



The calamities of the present year are fast 

 "repeating" those of 188.3— especially so far 

 as they relate to high water in the western 

 streams — and no foresight can now determine 

 what may transpire before it ends. The 

 waters of the Ohio river at Cincinnati readied 

 over 70 feet higher than low water mark, 

 which was five feet higher than it was a year 

 ago, and the death destruction, deprivation 

 and distress, were greatly in excess of former 

 catastrophies. 



Without specially particularizing the dam- 

 ages at Pittsburg, Wheeling, Marietta, Cin- 

 cinnati, Madison, Louisville, Jeffersonville, 

 and all along the Ohio and its tributaries, as 

 well as along the Mississippi, they were almost 

 incalculable, and the details in many instances 

 heartrending. These are all effects of some 

 greater causes and permitted for some greater 

 ends, but how long and how intensely will the 

 people sufl'er before they are able to apprehend 

 that cause, or ackno fledge the end ? It 

 seems to be very widely conceded that the al- 

 most reckless " progress " of our country is 

 effecting such a change upon its surface, as to 

 exercise an adverse influence over its meteoro- 

 logical character. Of course this theory has 

 been, and still is ably eombatted, but not suc- 

 cessfully refuted. 



No man who has been brought up outside 

 of the compact limits of a great town or city, 

 and who has attained to the age of fiO or 70 

 years, but has noticed a very perceptible dif- 

 ference in the meteorology of his boyhood, 

 and that of the present period. We have 

 been convincingly cognizant of such changes 

 in special cases, and if this is true in particu- 

 lars, how can it otherwise be in generals, gen- 

 erals being made up of particulars— except 

 that in the former the changes are corre- 

 spondingly greater, and if adverse the evils 

 resulting from them proportionally greater. 

 It hardly admits of an argument that the re- 

 moval of the forests of a country, rings a 

 change in its winds, its waters, its temper- 

 atures, as well as in its droughts, and in its 

 general meteorological characteristics. We 

 do not pretend to say that special seasons 



may not intervene during which there may he 

 few or no storms or floods — little or no snow 

 or high water ; but if there are not, it will be 

 contingent upon causes, or combinations of 

 causes, which exercise a counteracting con- 

 trol, and of which we may be as altogether 

 unadvised, or unbelieving, as we are and have 

 been in the former case. 



A practical and living belief does not consist 

 in a mere lip confession, saying, " I believe ;" 

 nor yet in the invocation, "Help thou mine 

 unbelief." It consists in active co-operation ; 

 not in a passive attitude, but in an aggressive 

 one — a working faith in what is rationally 

 necessary to be done under an intelligent con- 

 viction of duty. 



The greed for present gain in our country is 

 becoming such that the forests are rapidly be- 

 coming injudiciously, or ruthlessly slaught- 

 ered. If railroads increase as rapidly for the 

 coming twenty years as they did during the 

 past twenty the demand for railroad ties will 

 be such that our forests cannot bear them in 

 connection with other demands, unless an 

 active renewal of the forests supervene. The 

 selfliood of man suggests, " Let posterity take 

 care of itself," my only care is to "eat, drink 

 and be merry." Such selfish logic, in the face 

 of the distress and physical suffering which 

 many localities of our country are experienc- 

 ing now, through the injudiciousness of our 

 immediate ancestry, is a very near approach 

 to moral crime, in the mildest form it cat) be 

 put. Ko one has a moral nor even a civil right 

 to do as he pleases with his own property, 

 unless his pleasure lies within the sanctions of 

 civil and moral law. Hence, the State and 

 National Legislatures should take cognizance 

 of the forestry of the country and compel that 

 which it seems will never occur voluntarily. 



Had our ancestors been totally selfish— had 

 they not planned, and toiled, and improved 

 and progressed in behalf of their posterity, we 

 might be now little farther advanced than 

 the uncivilized races. But, with our ad- 

 vanced experiences, we should improve on the 

 blunders which they inadvertantly made, and 

 especially those which relate to the forests of 

 the country. 



If it should ultimately be demonstrated that 

 destructive floods are contingent upon other 

 causes than the removal of the forests, good 

 will result from the agitation of the question, 

 for two such widespread calamities as the 

 floods of 18S3 and 1884 are contingencies that 

 the country cannot long endure. 



BIG JAW CURABLE. 



Leavenworth, Kan., Ded. 30, 1883. 

 There is considerable alarm among farmers 

 and stockmen about "big jaw," and for the 

 benefit of those who are interested in cattle, 

 I will give the fact of a cure on my Shorthorn 

 bull. Four years ago this fall I noticed a 

 large swelling on his jaw. My superintendent 

 had examined it several times and was at a 

 loss to know what it was. I took out our 

 veterinary surgeon and he pronounced it, as 

 soon as he examined it, "big jaw." I told 

 Gen. J. C. Stone, and he went and saw him, 

 and was of the same opinion. He saw a 

 prominent stockman in Missouri and told him 

 of ray bull. He said I will give you a cure 

 that I have never known to fail if applied 

 regularly : 



