The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. BATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., JULY, 1884. 



Vol. zn. No. 7. 



Editorial. 



JULY. 



" And one rode out from all tlie rest 

 Upon a rampant lion, 

 He seemed to be of nature's lords 



A most Imposing scion ; 

 Around his sweaty brow was wreath 'd 



The ripening cars of corn, 

 His right arm bore the summer fruits, 



His left a green hawthorn ; 

 Stern was his look and sere bis breath 



As Africa's simoon. 

 Behind him hung in reeking gore 

 The head of vanquish'd June. 

 And then among the tlnied host 



There rose a feeble cry, 

 ' Te mortals of the thirsty earth 

 Make way for hot July.' " 

 July is the seventh month of the year, ac- 

 cording to our present calender. It so was 

 named by Mark Antliony, in honor of Julius 

 Csesar, who was born in it. The year, as regu- 

 lated by Julius Csesar, was continued to be ob- 

 served till it was corrected by Pope Gregory 

 XIII., in 158-2. After that period the months 

 were set back about fourteen days, creating 

 what was called "New Style," as contradistin- 

 guished from "Old Style," when all the 

 months commenced fourteen days later than 

 they do now. 



Before this month received its present name 

 it was called Quintilis, or the fifth mouth, ac- 

 cording to the old Roman calender, in which 

 March was the first month of the year. Dur- 

 ing the month of July the sun enters the sign 

 of Leo, or Lion. 



The Latin name is Julius; the German, 

 Juli, from the genitive Julii ; Prussian, Jul, 

 Juhl,Juli(jt; French, Juliet; Spanish, Julio; 

 Portugese, J«?/io,- Italian, ii(^!io. Although, 

 theoretically, the summer solstice, or 21st of 

 June, is regarded as midsummer, yet practi- 

 cally that annual epoch does not occur until 

 the 15th of July ; and from that period to 

 autumn, the great vegetable kingdom, in our 

 latitude, is mainly engaged in maturing and 

 ripening its fruit. 



July is the culminating point of a good deal 

 of hard labor to the farmer, yet not so much 

 so, as it necessarily was, Ions years ago, when 

 everything was done " by hand," and before 

 improved implements and machinery were in- 

 vented and introduced. It is the great har- 

 vest month, the demands of which urge him 

 forward at a speed almost beyond liis physical 

 energies ; for, when the time comes for his 

 crops to be harvested, without a peradven- 

 ture, they must be harvested, or he is in jeoi)ardy 

 of loosing the compensating results of his 

 long and weary toil. " When the scythe, the 

 sickle, the cradle, and the hand-rake, were 

 his only helpers," the harvest was saved only 

 through much sweaty manipulation. All this 

 is changed now, and the labor reduced at 

 least a hundred per cent. ; or, if it is not so, it 

 must be in some antiquated corner of the 

 world : 



" Where naught but savage monsters roar; 

 Where love ne'er deigns to dwell." 



Ill tkis month ought to be sown the various 

 root crops for cattle feed in the following au- 

 tumn and winter — such as Rula ISaijas, Man- 

 gel Woi-tzels, and other roots. A reliable au- 

 thority says : " It has been ascertained by 

 actual experiment frequently made, that these 

 root crops may be raised for only a few cents 

 per bushel." The same labors in sowing, 

 planting and cultivation that obtained in the 

 month of June, may be continued in this 

 month, with very few exceptions. It is still 

 time to plant potatoes, and citcumhers, for 

 pickels ; also towards the end of the month, 

 spinach may be sown ; also turnips, and eeleri/ 

 may be transplanted. But by all means what- 

 ever is sown or planted, get the best. There 

 is no economy in buying cheap seeds, plants, 

 shrubs, or trees. In most cases it is only 

 labor in vain. Should there be an early au- 

 tumn, some of these may be " nipped in the 

 bud," but if a late one, the labor of the 

 farmer will be amply compensated. There 

 always have been, there always ivill be, some 

 risks to run, in all the labors that man en- 

 gages in, therefore he must exercise some 

 faith. 



THE FARMERS' INSTITUTE. 



" The Farmers' Institute," which convened 

 in the Lancaster Court House, on the 3d and 

 4th of June, 1884, and a synopsis of the pro- 

 ceedings of which is published in the June and 

 July numbers of the Farmer, was, under all 

 the circumstances, an unqualified success, so 

 far, at least, as the matter related to the pro- 

 gramme, and the distinguished speakers from 

 abroad. We rejoice at this, on account of the 

 encouragement it affords to the leading and 

 working members of our local society, who 

 were instrumental in inaugurating it and 

 carrying it into effect ; for they deserved such 

 a public recognition. Although the result was 

 satisfactory to those who originated it,planued 

 it and conducted it from its iucipiency to its 

 final consummation, the men for whose in- 

 struction aud edification it was mainly in- 

 tended were not present en masse, as they cer- 

 tainly should have been. 



Still it was a good beginning, and it is fer- 

 vently hoped that it may prove a prolific 

 " nest-egg, " from which Time will batch a 

 numerous and vigorous "brood." 



The present generation may never have a 

 realizing conception of the benefits of such 

 gatherings of the farming world, but depend 

 upon it, generations will arise who will know 

 what estim'ate to put upon such assemblages 

 of the tillers of the soil. It is in vain to think 

 of a return of the "olden time." "The 

 seas have divided and formed walls of water 

 whilst a whole nation passed in safety over its 

 sandy bosom ; hungry lions have refused their 

 prey ; and men, unhurt, have walked amid 

 consuming fiames, but never yet did time once 

 passed return. " Through an inspired oracle 

 on the Isle of Patmos, nearly two thousand 

 years ago, the fiat went forth, " Behold I 

 make all things new," and it " will not return 

 void. ' ' Time may be slow, but nevertheles it 



is ouwiird; and, \( ql'dc humanity cannot 

 mount its tide, then il must swamp, " that's 

 all." 



When the Governor— the highest dignitary 

 of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

 —condescends to tiirow bis social and moral 

 weight in behalf of the interest of the farmers 

 of Lancaster county. When the distin- 

 guished chief of the National Department of 

 Agriculture turns aside from the routine of 

 his onerous duties to vouchsafe his special 

 and personal recognition of the tillers of our 

 prolific soil. When the professional function- 

 aries of our public State Institutions forego 

 their Iftrae duties and travel miles to impart 

 the benefits of their larger experience to their 

 co-laborers in the vast field of experimental 

 agriculture, their disinterested ministrations 

 should meet with a reciprocation commensu- 

 rate with the great interests involved in the 

 gatherings of the husbandmen of the " Key- 

 stone '' Commonwealth. Apathy, lethergy, 

 indifi'erence, and indolence, should, at least 

 for the time being, succumb to the dictates of 

 energy, enterprise, soidality and intelligence. 

 No matter how successful an ignorant or il- 

 literate farmer may be, his success is not a 

 sequence of his ignorance and illiteracy, but 

 in spite of it, and to argue otherwise, would 

 be an illustration of something worse than 

 either— namely, higotry. If he possesses in- 

 telligence along with his thrift as a farmer, 

 he will be the more able to enlighten his 

 neighbor; because he never can divest himself 

 of the injunction—" Freely ye have received, 

 freely give." 



If an intelligent and educated farmer fails, 

 or is thriftless, depend upon it, it is not be- 

 cause he is intelligent and learned, but 

 through a perverted u.se of the.se mental en- 

 dowments. Moreover, there is an inner, or 

 moral success that is of far more value to 

 himself and to society than merely physical, 

 or outward thrift, and this he may never ap- 

 preciate so long as he remains under a cloud 

 of ignorance and illiteracy. AVhon there was 

 no such thing as literature there was some ex 

 cuse for being illiterate ; but that day is past 

 and gone, never to retern. 



Having "laid his hand to the plow"— ac- 

 cording to the oracles of Divine truth— it is 

 criminal to "look back." 



THE COUNTY FAIR. 

 The fair advertised to be held in McGrann's 

 Park, in .September next, promises to be an 

 exhibition of no ordinary character, creditable 

 to ilsprojectors, its exhibitors and its patrons. 

 Its beautiful and artistically executed posters 

 carry a promise upon their very face that 

 give assurance of a charoxiteristic realization. 

 The pressure of amusement is becoming so 

 strong, that in order to mutually stimulate 

 both, it seems allowable to blend amusement 

 with utility. It seems utter folly to assume 

 that man ought not, at proper times and at 

 proper places, be entertained with some spec- 

 tacle that instructs and amu.ses him. Why 

 was such a word as amusement coined if it is to 



