362 
MAY 9 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
BEST COUNTY IN THE COUNTRY. 
Lancaster County, Pa., Again Leads. 
Elements of success; tobacco culture profitable; good 
stock and good farmers; fine location for marketing; 
an A No. 1 pedigree. 
According to the census of 1890, Lancaster County, Pa , 
stands first in the value of its agricultural products. It 
also led in 1880. There must be some good reason why this 
county stands at the head ; see if you can learn it from 
the following statements from Lancaster County farmers. 
Tobacco, Thanks to Major McKinley. 
Farmers here practice mixed farming in regular rota¬ 
tion. One of the principal items of value among agricul¬ 
tural products is our special crop of tobacco, which forms 
part of the rotation. A six-year rotation is the most com¬ 
mon-corn, tobacco and oats; two crops of wheat and two 
of grass. Some have only one crop of wheat and one of 
grass, making a four-year rotation. All the oats, corn 
and corn fodder, and nearly all the hay raised in the 
county, together with thousands of bushels of Western 
corn and hundreds of tons of bran and other feed are fed 
out on the farms, mostly to cattle and horses brought 
from the West. But since the bottom has dropped out of 
the fat cattle market, this is often done at a loss, which 
must be charged to the tobacco crop. The price of tobacco 
has also been low for several years, owing to large im¬ 
portations of Sumatra. Accordingly with the heavy in¬ 
terest on land, which sells at from $150 to $200 per acre, it 
will be readily seen that the value of the products is pro¬ 
portionately much larger than the profits; but since the 
passage of the McKinley Bill farmers are hopeful, as prices 
of wrappers have already advanced at least 25 per cent. 
II II LONG. 
Scrub Stock and Practices Disappearing. 
The rotation of crops in this part of Lancaster County 
is generally as follows, with some exceptions, of course : 
Sod to corn, then oats, tobacco and potatoes; wheat with 
housed in substantial buildings when not in actual use. 
Then again, some practice intensive tobacco farming and 
others plant large areas. It is not unusual to see 10 and 
even 20 acres in one patch’; others, too, practice intensive 
truck farming near our larger towns. Our country schools 
are not the best, our roads need more attention and 
closer and better supervision, and, last, but not least, we 
need purer legislation. D. c. ebersole. 
The Pedigree of Lancaster’s Proud Position. 
To explain what has contributed to the placing of Lan¬ 
caster County ahead of all other counties in the Union in the 
value of its agricultural products one must go back to a 
period anterior to the present generation. The founda¬ 
tion of success of course was the large area of rich soil and 
heavy timber. The early settlers, too, were largely a 
robust, industrious and economical class of people, con¬ 
sisting for the most part of Germans, Swiss, Irish and 
Scotch. The first were not land grabbers, and conse¬ 
quently did not, as a rule, purchase more land than they 
could pay for and mar age well. The Lst were, as a 
rule, the larger land holders, at least in some of the town¬ 
ships. From among these or their descendants the pub- - 
lie offices were largely filled, and their sons have aspired 
toother occuf at ions, consequently their farms have not 
received the same close supervision as those of the former 
class. These used their efforts to keep their boys on the 
farms with the prospect of securing a farm for each, no 
matter how large the family, and for quite a while they 
were partially if not wholly successful, for gradually they 
got possession of the greater portion of the best farming 
lands in the county. Since the war, however, things have 
materially changed. Many of the descendants of the Ger¬ 
man settlers are no longer hard-working farmers, but 
have been and still are drifting to the cities and towns, 
constituting some of the solid men in other occupations. 
Those holding the larger portion of the richest farming 
land in the county are largely Mennonites, Ornish and 
Dunkards, all of whom have religious proclivities which 
cattle has become less profitable, dairying is rapidly taking 
its place. There are no fruit growers or market gardens 
on a large scale, although in the aggregate these lines of 
industry produce no inconsiderable amount of its wealth. 
There has been some apprehension that the continuous 
cropping with tobacco will gradually impoverish the soil to 
such an extent as to reduce its value for general farm 
purposes, but the example of Virginia and other Southern 
States has no doubt caused the farmers of this county, as 
well as some other counties of the State, to raise tobacco 
with more caution. Consequently, instead of planting 
large areas and continually cropping the same land, they 
plant it as a rotation crop and only a small acreage com¬ 
pared with that under other crops. The stems, which are 
more than half the weight and which contain the larger 
proportion of potash, are generally tied into bundles and 
applied to the soil as carefully as stable manure. Com¬ 
mercial fertilizers are also more liberally applied. These 
seem to have kept up the fertility of the soil to its original 
standard or even beyond it. H. m. engle. 
PROGRESS OF THE TRACTION ENGINE. 
The R. N.-Y. has frequently referred to the fact that 
traction engines are now doing much of the work formerly 
done by horse power. Within the past few years these 
engines have teen wonderfully improved. Visitors to our 
large fairs have seen these ponderous "iron horses” 
trundling swiftly about, backing or turning at a light 
touch on the steering apparatus. For years in many 
parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio these engines have been 
regular occupants of the roads, hauling heavy machinery 
to and fro, or hauling loads of grain or other farm prod¬ 
uce up hill and down to market. Of course the roads and 
bridges have to be improved and strengthened before the 
engines can run safely over them. For a number of years, 
in various parts of the West, steam plows have been in 
use. These plowing outfits consist of heavy iron frames, 
to which 10 or more plows are attached. Each is hitched 
AN "IRON HORSE” FEELS HIS OATS ON THE ROAD. Fig. 124. 
grass, and then the land Is left in grass one year in the 
four-field and two years in the five field rotation. Our 
best farmers draw their manure on to corn and tobacco 
land and use a corn fertilizer in addition for tobacco, and 
a corn fertilizer alone with potatoes; but there are by lar 
too many who insist on drawing manure on to the land 
which Is to be seeded to wheat and grass. There are still 
many farmers who feed steers during winter in order to 
convert hay, straw and grain Into manure to be returned 
to the soil. The use of lime is fast becoming less. Seeding 
to wheat and grass is mostly treated with corn fertilizer— 
from two to four hundred-weight per acre. This brings 
rousing grain and heavy grass crops. 
That Lancaster County stands first in the value of its agri¬ 
cultural products is in part due to the fact that its in- 
nabitants are a practical, industrious and thrifty people. 
Its horses are not what they should be, yet there are many 
good ones. Among these for farmers’ purposes are some 
purebred Clydesdales and their grades, as well as pure¬ 
bred and grade Percherons and many mules, which are 
very valuable for their endurance, but the scrubs are yet 
by far too numerous. There are also a few who boast of 
their trotting stock. The scrub cows would outnumber 
all others, yet one can find a fair number of purebred and 
grade Holsteins and Jerseys, and also a few Guernseys. 
Our best farmers are gradually using thoroughbred sires 
of their favorite breeds on what stock they have on hand 
In the way of cattle and swine. In this immediate vicinity 
Chester Whites are the favorite hogs and in my judgment 
the most profitable. Not many sheep are to be seen. 
Poultry plays a prominent part in our county. The dung¬ 
hill fowls, of course, outnumber all others, yet here and 
there one can see Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Lang- 
shans, Houdans, etc. Our best farmers pay iar more at¬ 
tention to poultry now than they did 10 years ago, and it 
pays them well. 
The farming in Lancaster County owes its high position 
in great part, too, to the natural fertility of most of its 
soil. Moreover, it has been made still more fertile by the 
use of many thousands of tons of commercial fertilizers as 
well as by good and seasonable tillage with costly machin¬ 
ery moved or propelled by valuable horses or mules, all 
do not sanction mingling with what they term the 
“ world ” in politics, agricultural fairs or even farmers’ in¬ 
stitutes, and agricultural societies; still they are, as a 
rule, wide awake as regards the farmers’ interests, 
and consequently watch the markets closely, keep 
pace with new improvements in farm machinery, have 
some of the best horses, and cattle and hogs; and, in short, 
they are not far behind the “ world ” generally. 
The lands of the county which were not naturally fer¬ 
tile have for the most part been improved to a degree of 
productiveness nearly equal to the best. Methods of farm¬ 
ing have changed. Formerly a farm without a meadow 
was below par; but the introduction of clover caused a 
revolution in methods. Meadows have been plowed down, 
and not only has clover been substituted for pasture and 
hay, but it has been plowed down as a fertilizer, and this 
in connection with fattening cattle, has brought about a 
high condition of fertility of the soil. 
Some time ago the rotation of crops was : clover plowed 
in for corn; next, oats; then two successive crops of 
wheat, or one of wheat followed with one of rye; then 
grass sown on wheat or rye : then two crops of grass for 
either hay or pasture; then corn again, which made up a 
rotation of six years. The manure has generally been 
put on the oat stubble. There have of course been ex¬ 
ceptions to this general rule, which has been changing 
until now. 
Since the introduction of tobacco growing in this 
county, farm methods have been more varied. Some haul 
manure on sod for corn, which is invariably cut below the 
ear, a portion of it being hauled off and the ground sown 
to wheat; the rest is generally planted with tobacco the 
following season and sown to wheat after the tobacco has 
been removed. Some plant most of the corn stubble with 
tobacco, giving it additional fertility, and follow with 
two successive crops of wheat. There are comparatively 
few farmers in this county who do not grow tobacco, the 
money value of which exceeds that of any other crop 
grown in the county at present. I have not the actual 
statistics, but the tobacco crop of the county has been 
valued at over $2,000,000 per annum. There are a few 
extensive potato growers in the county. Since fattening 
to a traction engine, and hauled over the ground. On 
level ground, not too wet or soft, the engine works well 
and makes good speed. 
The English are ahead of us in this matter of steam 
cultivation of the soil. With them the steam digger is 
largely used. In this machine the frame with its plows is 
dispensed with, and a number of stout steel spades are so 
arranged at the back of the engine that they are driven 
into the ground, and thrown out with a good imitation of 
the motion given a spade in the hands of a good man. 
Their work is said to be superior to that done by plows, 
while it is just as rapid, and requires no more power. Of 
course neither machine can be used in rough, stony fields 
and they are both economical only where a large amount 
of work is to be done. They are designed to do the work 
of 15 or 20 horses, and unless they can have that amount of 
work to do, they will hardly pay. The Geiser Manufac¬ 
turing Company, of Waynesboro, Pa., who have kindly 
loaned us the cuts used on these pages, estimate the cost 
of a day’s work with a steam-plowing outfit as follows: 
Wages of two men. $3.50 
900 pounds of coal, at $6 per toD .. 2.70 
Hauling water. . . i 4 qq 
Team and man.) 
Oil for engine.50 
Interest on investment.50 
Total.111.20 
At this expense the machine plowed 15K acres during 
the day. The estimate given for the cost of this work, if 
done by horse power, is $23.75. 
The use of traction engines in grain harvesting seems to 
be rapidly extending in the great wheat fields of the Pa¬ 
cific coast. The two pictures on the next page show a 
striking contrast. At Fig. 125, 26 mules are hitched to the 
header, while at Fig. 126 we see a Peerless traction engine 
walking away with the same load. The mules are tough 
and hardy animals, but they must have grain and hay, 
and they must rest. The engine feeds on otherwise worth¬ 
less straw, and toils on day and night, creating an electric 
light to point out the path. What chance has the mule 
in such a contest ? The other picture, Fig. 124, shows a 
Peerless engine hauling a load of logs along a road. The 
