104 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



tion ai(\ \\ i;ight of snow after the grain is 

 sown. The remedy is simple, but rarely used. 

 The grain slionld bu harrowed into tlie ground 

 after it has settled, and is dry enough to mel- 

 low under the harrow. Winter grain is im- 

 proved by harrowing, affording a lighter soil 

 for the spread and growth of the roots, cover- 

 ing the field with stronger growth, consequent- 

 ly increasing the yield. This process insures 

 the certainty of grass-seeding ; as seed is ex- 

 pensive farmers cannot afford its losi, or 

 " trust to luck." Two crops cannot grow in 

 the same place simultaneously. Filling the 

 ground with all it can support of spring grain 

 and sowing grass-seed at the same time, ex- 

 pecting to produce a fine meadow after the 

 grain, results in a feeble product, and after 

 harvesting the grain the weak plants shrivel 

 and die. Spring grain must be sown thinner 

 when sown with grass — then what is lost in 

 grain is gained in thickness of the clover or 

 grass crop. Thinly sown grain generally pro- 

 duces heavier, larger heads and more stems, 

 consequently the crop is not lessened. Grass 

 is as important to farmers as grain and should 

 not be sacrificed for the chances of the latter. 

 It should be made the primary crop, foi- the 

 soil is renewed by it while it is exhausted by 

 grain. 



Surface manuring and tliorough tillage are 

 absolutely necessary— the more mellow the 

 land the surer and better the crop. The seed 

 should be sown after the grain is harrowed in 

 and levelled by a roller, which smooths and 

 settles the surface, insuring quicker germina- 

 tion. When winter grain is harrowed the 

 teeth do not penetrate sutticiently to cover too 

 deeply the grass seed. More care in this pre- 

 liminary work will save the loss of seed and 

 secure better crops. Dragging brush over a 

 stumpy or rough field is a good method for 

 covering grass-seed. Four quarts of timothy 

 is sufficient to seed an acre of laud prepared 

 in this way ; five quarts of clover upon same 

 conditions. Double these quantities are sown 

 because farmers expect losses that occur by 

 careless preparation. Better expend in care- 

 ful tillage the cost of seed wasted, and reap 

 the benefit, than be burdened with a poor 

 crop and impoverished ground. 



MAKE THE KITCHEN PLEASANT 

 In most country homes, tlie kitchen is the 

 most important room of the house, where 

 more than anywhere else the family gathers, 

 and the most time is spent by the house- 

 keeper. First of all, let it be arranged as 

 convenient as possible for work done there, 

 and to save steps. Next let it be pleasant 

 and homelike. Even if the family do not 

 frequent it, it ought to be cheerful and bright 

 for the sake of those who pass their chief 

 time there. A picture on the wall will rest a 

 weary eye, and be educating to those busy at 

 work. Too often the kitchen is a cheerless 

 place, associated only with hard, tread-mill 

 work; no brightness on the walls, no easy 

 chair inviting rest iu its broad arms at spare 

 moments ; no paper to read in the little " be- 

 tween whiles." Keep its walls sweet and 

 clean with white-wash. I do not like paper 

 on kitchen walls. If white is objected to, get 

 alabastine for tinting them any color desired. 

 A buff tone makes the room bright and sun- 

 shiny. Have the lower part darker, if not 



finished in wood, which is always preferable 

 for many reasons. Beautify the windows in 

 summer by training vines about them outside, 

 and in winter with simple pretty lambrequins. 

 If you want the room to have a shut-in cosy 

 look at night, use Holland shades, to be 

 drawn up or down as required. The kitchen 

 cannot be too light. Hang pretty pictures on 

 the walls. They need not be expensive ; 

 really good ones can be cut from the illus- 

 trated papers of the day. The father or sons 

 can frame them cheaply. Have a lounge, 

 and a rocker with soft cushion, a broad back, 

 and wide, comfortable arms. A hanging 

 lamp, that can be lowered or raised at pleas- 

 ure, is a convenience for any room, the 

 kitchen included. With everything clean 

 and neat, as every housekeeper taking pride 

 in her work will be sure to desire it, she will 

 not be ashamed to receive unexpected visitors 

 there. 



RECUPERATING THE SOIL. 



Sir John Bennet Lawes has written a chap- 

 ter for the new edition of Harris' " Talks on 

 Manure, and Restoring Fertility to the soil," 

 a subject that interests all our farmers wlio 

 do not cultivate a virgin soil. It is a most 

 valuable contribution, shows how science 

 may be applied with a view to dollars and 

 cents. A relative of Mr. Lawes, having sev- 

 eral thousand acres of exceedingly poor and 

 worn out land, consulted him as to the best 

 method of treating it. The growth of crops 

 with the aid of artificial manure is discussed, 

 and it is clearly shown why this would not be 

 profitable on such poor land. The plan de- 

 cided upon was to make the production of 

 meat the basis of renovation ; to stop all til- 

 lage and endeavor to get the soil into pastur- 

 age by giving it the plant food to enable it to 

 grow good grasses. A flock of sheep was to 

 be allowed to run over the land during the 

 day and (o be folded there every night and 

 fed one pound each of cottonseed cake. The 

 use of sheep in renovating land is not new to 

 OU.T farmers, and has often been advocated in 

 these' pages, but the practice has rarely been 

 presented in so systematic a manner. Sheep 

 in fiocks of 100, inclosed by movable fences on 

 hurdles, upon a space 20 by 2.5 yards, and the 

 folds moved daily, would in 10 days cover an 

 acre each, and the manure of 1,000 pounds of 

 the cake would be well distributed upon this 

 amount of land. This quantity of manure 

 contains 77 pounds of nitrogen, 6S pounds of 

 phosphate of lime and 82 pounds of potash. 

 These fertilizers cannot be purchased in any 

 artificial manure at so cheap a rate, since the 

 increase in the weight of the sheep fed in this 

 manner goes far to offset their original cost in 

 the cottonseed cake. 



BACKHANDED PEOPLE. 

 We shake hands as a salutation ; a China- 

 man shakes liands with himself. He stands 

 at a distance, and clasping both hands to- 

 gether he shakes them up and down at you. 

 We uncover the bead as a mark of respect ; 

 they keep their heads covered, but take off 

 their shoes for politeness. We shave the face ; 

 they shave the head and eyebrows. We cut 

 our fingernails ; they consider it aristocratic 

 to have nails from three to five inches long, 

 which they are obliged to protect in silver 



cases. The Chinaman's waistcoat is outside 

 his coat, and his drawers outside his trousers. 

 We blacken our shoes ; he whitens them. We 

 have soup as a first course at dinner, and des- 

 sert at last. They have dessert at first and 

 soup at last. We want our wines ice cold ; 

 the Chinese drink theirs scalding hot. We 

 bury in the earth ; they on the surface. With 

 us black clothing is a badge of mourning, 

 with them white garments indicate the loss of 

 friends. In that land of opposites it is the 

 old men who fly kites, walk on stilts, and play 

 the shuttlecock, and to keep up their odd 

 ways of doing tilings, they play the latter 

 with their feet instead of their hands. In 

 China women do men's work, and men are 

 the milliners, dress-makers, and washer- 

 women. With us the right hand is the place 

 of honor ; with them it is left hand. In dating 

 letters we place the year last ; they write the 

 year first. They always speak of the mariner's 

 compass (their own invention) as pointing to 

 the south. We pay our physicians when we 

 are sick ; they while they are well, but as soon 

 as they get sick the pay stops. Here men kill 

 their enemies ; a Chinaman gets revenge by 

 killing himself. We use a soft pillow ; they a 

 block of wood. They launch ships sidewise, 

 ring bells from the outside, and actually turn 

 their screws in the opposite direction from 

 ouK.—Eev. Seiah Brown in the Christian 

 Advocate. 



A TREE PEST. 

 Michael G. Groff, of Ephrata, laid on our 

 table this morning a small branch of a silver 

 maple tree, which was literally covered with 

 bark-lice, a little pest in shape like a turtle, 

 and of a white and brown color. Scientists 

 give it the name of " Pulvinaria innumer- 

 abilis." It infests principally maple and lin- 

 den trees and grape vines. Dr. S. S. Eathvon 

 was shown the tree branch brought from 

 Ephrata, and has the following to say on the 

 subject: "These bugs were first described 

 by me in the Pennsylvania Farm Journal, in 

 1854. Present in moderate numbers last 

 season, they have largely increased this season. 

 If the rapid increase continues for a year or 

 two longer they will very much enervate the 

 trees, if, indeed, they do not kill them ulti- 

 mately. They were quite as numerous in 

 1854 as now, but in two or three years there- 

 after disappeared, and when, ten years ago, 

 I was requested to send specimens to an ento- 

 mologist who was studying them, I could find 

 none in Lancaster. Between now and the 

 first of July the young will be liatched, and 

 dispersed over the trees. A good drenching 

 of an alkalinous liquid, (a tobacco decoction) 

 or even a heavy shower of rain, at that time, 

 will destroy millions of them. The " scales" 

 on the branches are all gravid females im- 

 pervious to fluids, but after they secrete the 

 cotton masses in which the eggs, to the 

 number of from three to five hundred, are 

 deposited, they die. They ultimately fall 

 from the trees. Although they are then 

 powerless to further harm, they bequeath the 

 possibilities of an immense posterity. People 

 should have looked to their trees before the 

 leafing season, and rubbed them off with a 

 stiff hand-brush. The fact is, that people 

 must regard closely the existence of insects if 

 they desire freedom from their ravages. "-J?ro 



