THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[June, 



shal' !VTe be lower than ten feet above the ground. 

 The o'rape will grow in almost any soil, but the 

 soil we should turn from is clay soil. It is an old 

 saying that the grape does not like wet feet, and he 

 would advise planting on stony ground, if he desired 

 the best and sweetest fruit. In setting out a vine- 

 yard he would put the vines ten feet apart, for they 

 like plenty of room. He advised the use of trellises 

 instead of stakes. If he was setting out a vineyard 

 now, he would buy strong yearlings, and train them 

 up to a stake, cutting them back to two buds, with 

 the understanding that only one was to remain. As 

 soon as they commenced to grow he would pinch oft 

 the weakest of the two shoots. The next year he 

 would cut them back to three buds, and afterwards 

 remove the weakest of them. The third year he 

 would erect a trellis and train his vine in two direc- 

 tions. In pruning, which he usually does when the 

 leaves begin to fall, he allows every alternate arm 

 to grow for fruit, cutting the other arm back to 

 about one eye. 



Dr. George B. Loring, 

 United States Commissioner of Agriculture, was 

 next introduced and after apologizing for the short 

 time he would be able to be present at the Institute, 

 congratulated the members for the good attendance 

 exhibited. He said that in coming from Philadel- 

 phia to Lancaster this morning, he traveled over GO 

 or 70 miles of a Farmers' Institute. He then bore 

 testimony to the excellent farming he saw exhibited 

 In this State and county, and compared it with his 

 own farm in Mapsachuselts, where the grass is so 

 short that a Pennsylvania cow would despise it, and 

 where the wheat is so meagre that a Lancaster 

 county farmer would refuse to cut it. The State of 

 Pennsylvania presents a picture of enterprise and 

 prosperity, especially among the farmers, second to 

 none presented anywhere under the sun. The gentle- 

 man compared the farmers of America, with those 

 of European countries, and said that while we hear 

 a great deal about the farms in France, there is not 

 a single farmer present who would accept in a sintrle 

 instance the condition of things on a French farm. 

 The same may be said of the farms of Germany, 

 England, Italy, China and Japan, in the last two of 

 which he said a Lancaster county farmer would not 

 stay fifteen minutes. He said there was no such 

 thing outside of America as popular, practical, pros- 

 perous farming. 



The business of farming— on which the State is 

 living to-day— is the supply of a local market, and 

 covered with railroads, as Pennsylvania is, there is 

 no wonder that it is classed as one of the best farm- 

 ing districts for home consumption in the country. 

 Take all the crops that are sent into a market 

 rapidly, such as small fruits, and there is no question 

 of the profits that will he reaped. It is more profit- 

 able to raise articles for a home market than it is to 

 raise staples for a foreign market. The boom of 

 American farming is one that cannot possibly be en- 

 joyed anywhere outside of the bustle and whirl of 

 the American life. 



The condition of the farmer's life in this country 

 Is vastly dift'erent from that found elsewhere. The 

 State of Pennsylvania today can feed, clothe and 

 educate .50,000,000 of jieople better than she 

 could feed, clothe and educate .50,000 people years 

 ago. Is it any wonder that the people from all lands 

 want to emigrate to America and settle in Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



It Is a good thing to have a profitable farm, but it 

 is a better thing to own your own farm, so that at 

 your death you can say who shall have your farm 

 after you have passed away, and this is a privilege 

 the Ammerican farmer especially enjoys. The in- 

 dividual ownership of laud is really the solution of 

 important questions both at home and abroad. In 

 conclusion the speaker said that the best thought he 

 could put into the minds of farmers was to hold 

 their farms and transmit them to their children. 

 Take your children off the railroads and away from 

 the stores and place them on your farm, and in fifty 

 years, if you have died, they would give almost any- 

 thing to be able to take you by the hand t.Dd thank 



you for the blessing you conferred on them when 

 you compelled them to remain on and cultivate the 

 farm. 



On motion a vote of thanks was extended to Dr. 



Loring for his very valuable and interesting address. 



Afternoon Session. 



The Institute was opened at half past one o'clock, 

 and an opportunity was given to those who desired 

 to ask questions of Dr. Calder, in reference to grape 

 culture. 



Ephraim Hoover wanted to know the causes and 

 the remedy of some of the Isabella and Catawba 

 vines not coming to maturity ? Dr. Calder replied 

 that the Isabella was an old variety and played out, 

 and the Catawba did not have the right kind of 

 soil. 



Mr. Engle asked whether or not as a general thing 

 people were not too apt to let their grapes over-bear ? 

 The answer came that this was so. 



Another gentleman wanted to know the best 

 method of propagating grapes from cuttings. The 

 doctor said that the best way was to propagate 

 layers, but that if you desire to raise grapes from 

 cuttings, the easiest way was to cut off single eyes 

 and plant them in moist sand with the eye even with 

 the top of the sand. 



A gentleman asked wh^t preparation of the ground 

 should be made for the planting of grapes ? Dr. 

 Calder replied that the ground should be made ready 

 for corn, a condition that just suited the grape. Fall 

 or spring were both very good. 



Several persons having asked whether grape grow- 

 ing paid. Dr. Calder replied that some persons could 

 grow wheat and not have it pay, and so it was with 

 grapes. The fault, he said, lay with the person and 

 not with the grape. He lelated his experience, and 

 said he started out with planting 200 Concord vines. 

 A friend said they would never be eaten, but he soon 

 found that a taste could be cultivated. There is 

 money in grape culture if you plant the right variety 

 and bring the fruit in the market in a proper con- 

 dition. 



The doctor answered a question as to the best 

 method of pruning by saying the proper way was to 

 cut the vine back a short distance above the new 

 wood. The next year he would continue this process. 

 All pruning should be done with thumb and finger, 

 when the wood is tender, and should not be neglected 

 and finally done with a hatchet or saw. 

 " Soils and Fertilizers." 



Prof. W. H. Jordan, of the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege, was introduced and spoke briefly on the above 

 subject. There is no subject, he said, that is more 

 intimately connected with the business success of 

 farming than the subject of fertilizing. Successful 

 farming is a question of good crops, and all other 

 questions must take a side seat. The statistics of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, he said, show that the 

 average cost of crops is greater than the average 

 worth of crops. While some farmers are raising pay- 

 ing crops others are raising crops that pay them ab- 

 solutely nothing for the money invested. A farmer's 

 capital consists of two kinds, fixed and floating. His 

 flxed capital is his buildings and his lands ; his float- 

 ing capital is his stock and fixtures. One reason for 

 successful farming was that the farmer had too 

 much fixed capital invested in proportion to bis float- 

 ing capital. 



Fertility in soil depends on two conditions — the 

 mechanical condition and chemical condition. We 

 arc apt to speak of fertility as based entirely on 

 what is in the soil ; but it should be remembered 

 that the soil may have all the chemical requisites and 

 still be in an improper condition as regards moisture, 

 etc. If you want the best results, the soil must be 

 plowed when it is thoroughly pulverized, and if it is 

 not pulverized when plowed the roller must be used. 



A soil is said to be a fertile one that contains the 

 chemical properties necessary to grow a paying crop. 

 The speaker gave at length a history of the plants 

 and the various ingredients without which the plant 

 cannot live, and said that the farmer must learn 

 what things bis soil is in need of and at once provide 



it. Again, the necessary ingredients must not only 

 be in the soil, but they must be there in such condi- 

 tion that the plants can get at them. This can only 

 be accomplished by good tillage of the soil. 



" Agricultural Education." 



Dr. George W. Atherton, President of the State 

 Agricultural College, was introduced and spoke for 

 some time on the above subject. He said his theory 

 of education was that for some purposes all educa- 

 tion should be alike. Education in the proper sense 

 of the word, is the training of the mind and not the 

 training of the body. The training of the mind be- 

 ing the great object, all great thinkers have differed 

 on the proper methods. Shall the mind be trained 

 so that the work shall be done in a workmanlike or 

 in a poor manner. Trade schools have proven to be 

 of very little value, for the reason that you could not 

 give the scholar a thorough mental training and at 

 the same time give him complete practical instruc- 

 tion in a trade. 



In every person's mind there is an aptitude to do a 

 certain thing and to do it right. The great object 

 in teaching is to instruct the mind to start from a 

 right starting point and to go, by proper steps, to a 

 right conclusion. The elements of theory and prac- 

 tice should be taught side by side. All principles 

 should be taught in connection with their applica- 

 tion. The true system of education is, not to make 

 farmers, not to make lawyers, but to first make 

 men, and afterwards to educate them up to their in- 

 dividual callings. There are many things that can- 

 not be taught in the schools, but there is a way, he 

 believed, of combining theory and practice in educa- 

 tion to a great extent. In conclusion the speaker 

 said that any education that turned the boy or girl 

 away from honorable labor — that did not teach that 

 labor was honored by the person performing it— was 

 unsound education. 



Upon the conclusion of Dr. Atherton's remarks, 

 Dr. Wickersham called for a discussion of the sub- 

 ject, and Mr. H. M. Engle opened the discussion by 

 saying that while there were a great many farmers 

 who had been financially successful, and who had no 

 education, yet if the secret of their success was dis- 

 covered, it was pretty generally found that they 

 owed their success to their parsimonious habits. 

 Intelligent farmers, the speaker thought, were gen- 

 erally the most successful. J 



Mr. J. M. Frantz next spoke on the subject. He 

 thought there were men who had succeeded and had 

 succeeded well who had never had an agricultural 

 education. The object in farming is to have it " pan 

 out well" — to make two blades of grass grow where 

 one only grew before. He agreed with all that was 

 so ably said by Dr. Atherton, but still he knew of 

 some of the most successful farmers who had scarce- 

 ly had the advantages of even a common school edu- 

 cation. He had a few men in his mind who had a 

 peculiar faculty for making a success out of farming, 

 and who could scarcely read or write and whose 

 hands were scarcely properly washed more than once 

 in three hundred and sixty-five days. There was no 

 business which, if you want to practice it success- 

 fully, requires more mind— more thought— than does 

 the business of practical farming, and the person 

 who desires to be a successful farmer must cultivate 

 his mind. 



Dr. A. M. Dickey, of Bucks county, said it wag 

 the average farmer we wanted to reach. In his 

 mind the average farmer was a man of animal con- 

 tent. This average farmer must be reached through 

 the public school, where the true principles of agri- 

 culture should be taught. 



Dr. Atherton closed the discussion by saying that 

 he agreed with what had been said by those who 

 knew of farmers succeeding who had no education. 

 We all know of men who succeed in all pursuits who 

 were nnabje to read or write ; still, we hold that it is 

 well for the average boy to know how to read or 

 write. He held that whatever process of work fits 

 a man for doing his work well is education, and 

 this is what we want. 

 *Dr. Wickersham contended that the principles of 



