1884. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



25 



Carolina pliosphate— rock which cost less 

 than lionc). It contains a large percentage of 

 phosphori.; acid and some amniouia, the lat- 

 ter varying according to the amount of grease 

 or other animal matter in the bone. If it is 

 desired to make such phosphate as is usually 

 sold by reliable manufacturers under that 

 name, and such as gets a good report from 

 our State chemists, take about 14(10 pounds of 

 the dissolved bone, and add about .'jUO pounds 

 of dried fish or dried blood and 1-JO pounds of 

 muriate of potash. The amount of fish or 

 blood will vary with its strength and the 

 moisture it. contains, but the above mixture 

 will result in a phosphate containing from 8 

 to 10 per cent, phosphoric acid, 3 to 4 am- 

 monia and 3 per cent, potash. Alkaline 

 bone, so-called, is simjily the bone (either raw 

 or dissolved,) mi.xed with German potash 

 salts. The cost can be computed from the 

 prices now given in the market for the various 

 materials, which are nearly as follows, includ- 

 ing freight to the farmers : Fine ground 

 bone, about f40 per ton ; sulphuric acid, IJ 

 cents per pound ; fish and blood, $35 to $40 

 per ton ; muriate of potash, 2i oents per 

 pound. The cost per ton may be cheapened 

 by extending with plaster or earth, but it will 

 also reduce the strength. — American Culti- 

 vator. 



HOW TO CLEAN STUMP LANDS. 

 A correspondent of the Ohio Cultivator teWa 

 how he gets rid of the stumps as follows : 

 "Last spring I sent to Indiana and hired a 

 man to come and blast out stumps. I paid 

 42i cents a pound for the powder, and 15 

 cents for each stump taken out, he to furnish 

 caps and fu.se. The stumps were mostly 

 white and burr oak, from 20 to 40 inches in 

 diameter, and had been cut from six to twelve 

 years. Sixty-seven of the worst were taken 

 out at an expense of OS cents per stump. 

 There were only tliree or four failures in the 

 whole lot. As they were blown into pieces, 

 it was much less work to pile and burn them 

 than when taken out in the ordinary way. 

 I bought material and took out nearly 200 

 smaller stumps at an expense of about 20 

 cents each. It took me ten or fifteen minutes 

 to prepare a blast. I used a 2 inch auger on 

 a 5 foot shaft for boring under the stump. A 

 crow-bar will do in soft ground; those who 

 follow the business use 2^ inch auger. The 

 charge should be put as nearly under the cen- 

 tre of the stump as possible. It is not very 

 dangerous to use, as fire will not explode it. 

 The cap is placed in the cartridge and is con- 

 nected by a fuse. You light the fuse which 

 in one or two minutes explodes the cap ; The 

 concussion of the cap, which is equal to 500 

 pounds, explodes the dynamite, or Hercules 

 powder. Eight or ten rods is a safe distance 

 if you are facing the stump, for you can easi- 

 ly dodge chunks, if any come toward you. It 

 will not i)ay to use it very extensively on 

 green stumps, as it will take from six to eight 

 pounds per stump, and will not give very good 

 satisfaction at that." 



IMPROVEMENT OF VEGETABLES. 



But for the continued efforts of enterpris- 

 ing seedsmen and horticulturists our vegeta- 

 bles would gradually deteriorate and revert 

 to the original varieties from which they were 



produced. Farmers and gardeners who do 

 not make a specialty of improvement can form 

 no estimate of the time, patience, care and 

 ■ labor required in the production of a new va- 

 riety, nor of the numerous failures that occur 

 before the variety is deemed worthy of a place 

 among others. 



The tomato, which nearly rivals llie apple 

 in smoothne.ss and firmness, who almost 

 despised half a centuiy ago; but the 

 Trophies, Acmes, Perfections and Paragons 

 of to-day are esteemed as the most valuable of 

 our garden vegetables. Mr. Livingston, who 

 gave us the Acme, Paragon and Perfection, 

 began his work of improvement thirty years 

 ago, and, after selecting seed from the choicest 

 for ten years, was but little nearer the accom- 

 plishment of his purpose than when he began; 

 but he did not despair and made new experi- 

 ments, finally Vletermining to select his seed 

 from the smallest but best formed and smooth- 

 est specimens. lie was led to adopt this plan 

 by observing that the small specimens were 

 uniformly of better quality than the larger. 

 Having gained quality he gradually increased 

 the size, and with one good variety as a foun- 

 dation he had less difficulty in originating 

 others. He was compelled to grow his toma- 

 toes at a distance from inferior kinds, for a 

 large number of failures arise from overlook- 

 ing this precaution in saving seeds. The ef- 

 forts of Mr. Livingston extended over a 

 period of thirty years, and yet the value of his 

 efforts to the farmers and gardeners cannot 

 be estimated. Had every farmer been as de- 

 termined as he in perfecting crops of vegeta- 

 bles and fruits the value of our agricultural 

 productions at present could not be computed. 



The value of the wheat crop of tliis country 

 has been increased millions of dollars by the 

 patient selection of a few choice heads of 

 wheat annually by Mr. Fultz, of Lancaster 

 county. Pa.— not that the Fultz wheat is at 

 present more extensively cullivated than any 

 other, but it opened a new era in wheat selec- 

 tion and improvement, and laid the founda- 

 tion upon which our varieties of wheat have 

 been elevated to the highest standard of ex- 

 cellence iind prolificness. In like manner the 

 careful selection of seed corn has made possi- 

 ble the heavy yield of 100 bushels or more per 

 acre. 



Gregory, with his close and constant atten- 

 tion to the work of vegetable improvement, 

 gave us the Hubbard squash and Marblehead 

 cabbage, while Rogers, with his annual new 

 varieties of grapes, and Goodrich, with his 

 experiments at potato improvement, have 

 been of invaluable service to the country. 

 Lawton, with so insignificant a fruit as was 

 the blackberry at the time he began his ex- 

 periments, opened a new field in fruit grow- 

 ing. Had it not been for patient and per- 

 sistent eflorts, after many discouragements, 

 we would not to-day possess the Bartlett pear, 

 Crawford peach, Concord grape, nor Sharp- 

 less strawberry. The Acme, Paragon, and 

 Trophy tomatoes would be unknown but for 

 careful selectisn, and we would nave no Early 

 Rose, Peachblow, Snowflake and Peerlesss po- 

 tatoes but for repeated and persistent experi- 

 ments. 



Every farmer is in duty bound to perform 

 his share of the work of improvement. If 

 each would strive to make his crops superior | 



by care and judgment in selection, the chances 

 of better varieties would be increased in pro- 

 portion, with the advantage in their favor of 

 what may be termed the "chance success" 

 of discovering a vegetal)le here and there far 

 superior to any others known. A wide field 

 is open to farmers in this direction.— /'/liia. 

 Record. 



RUST IN WHEAT. 

 Rust is one of the most formidable enemies 

 the grain farmer has to contend with in wet 

 and muggy seasons. Warmth and moisture 

 favor its developement. In seasons alike in 

 their heat, rainfall and humidity, the dust is 

 not equally damaging. It br^-aks out in what 

 appears a capricious manner. A drenching 

 rain is sometimes followed by less rust than 

 that which appears after a .slight shower or 

 even a heavy dew. There are antecedent 

 conditions which largely determine the degree 

 of liability to rust. The microscopic spores 

 of the fungus known as rust fioat about in 

 the air awaiting favorable opportunities for 

 development, and when they meet circum- 

 stances of the proper kind they multiply with 

 astonishing rapidity. During moist hot weath- 

 er, the sap vessels of tlie plant become rup- 

 tured and fungoid germs attach themselves 

 readily. If the plants, some scientists think, 

 are healthy and vigorous, they resist the at- 

 tempts of the parasite to establish itself, much 

 as healthy animals refuse to become the 

 abode of parasites which thrive on their weak- 

 er fellows. Anything, therefore, which weak- 

 ens the vitality of the wheat plant renders it 

 liable to become the prey of rust. Exhaustion 

 or food elements in the soil, the presence 

 about the roots of sour, stagnant water, sow- 

 too late in the fall for proper development to 

 resist the winter, are among common and 

 easily preventible causes that predispose to 

 rust. Of nonpreventible causes, hard winters 

 and cold, backward springs, which prevent 

 the healthy development of the wheat plant, 

 are among the mo.st prominent — next, of 

 course, to warmth and moisture. These con- 

 ditions have existed this ye^r, as they did in 

 1S7G, when the damage from rust was wide- 

 spread and very serious. Fortunately, midge 

 and weevil were not among the pests of last 

 summer, as they were in that unfortunate 

 season. "What cannot be cured must be en- 

 dured," but the causes which can be reached 

 should not be suffered to exist. Good farm- 

 ing in the broadest sense of the term, which 

 includes proper selection of lands for the dif- 

 ferent crops, proper preparation of the soil 

 and proper culture, is the best preventive of 

 serious damage from rust. — Mechanical World. 



TRUENESS OF BREEDING. 

 The property for which wool is perhaps 

 most valued is trueness of breeding. In a 

 true-bread sheep each staple of wool, that is, 

 each lock into which a group of fibres natur- 

 ally forms itself— will be of equal growth 

 throughout. The fibre will be the same thick- 

 ness as nearly as possible the whole length, 

 or will be finer at the point than at the root. 

 There will be no shaggy rough wool in it; but 

 if the sheep be cross-bred, or ill-kept and ex- 

 posed to storms, the fibres will be rough at the 

 points and coarser than at the roots, the 

 reason of this being that as the wool gets 



