Title: Quarterly report of the Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture, no. 37-38 Place of Publication: Harrisburg, Pa. Copyright Date: 1888 Master Negative Storage Number: MNS# PSt SNPaAgOl 7.1 1 2'& i ) !^* I is-. Thirty-soyentli and Thirty-eiirlitU Quarterly Reports OF THE PRNNSfLVANlA BOARD OF AGIIICIIL FOR THE YEAR 1888. rr JL \J T 1 E Mfinbers Ex-Otiicio. Hon. Jaines A. Beaver, Governor. Hon. T. J. Stewart, /Secretary of Internal Affairs. Dr. E. E. liigbee, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tlios. MeCaniaiit, Auditor (reneral. Dr. G. W. Atlierton, President Pennsylvania State College. Appointed by the Governor. . Dr. John P. Edge, Downingtown, Pa., Will B. Powell, SpringboroS Pa., . . Col. James Young, Middletown, Pa., Term expires. 1889 1890 1891 Elected by County Agricultural Societies. Term expires. Adams, X- Garretson, Bigler, 1891 Armstrong, Jos. Painter, Kittanning, 1890 Beaver, A. L. McKibben, Green Garden, .... 1890 liedl'ord, S. S. Dielil, Bedford, 1891 Berks, G. D. Stitzel, Reading, 1889 Bucks, E. Reeder, New Hope, 1889 Blair, J. D. Hicks, Altoona, 1889 l^radford, H. L. Scott Towanda 1889 Butler, W. H. H. Riddle, Butler, 1891 Clarion, 1891 Chester Thos. J. Edge, Centre, E. W. Hale, Clinton, Joel A. Herr, Columl)ia, . Chandlee Eves, .... Crawford, M. W. Oliver, Cuml)erland, C. H. MuUin, Daui)hin, G. Hiester, Delaware, E. Harvey, Erie, J. C. Thornton, Indiana, * . . W. P. Gordon, Jett'erson, J. McCracken, Jr., . . . Juniata, David Wilson, ...... liackawanna, H. H. Colvin, Lancaster, H. M. Engle, Lawrence, Sam'l M(;Creary, . . . Lebanon, C. R. Lantz, Lehigh, J. P. Barnes, Luzerne, J. B. Smith, Ijycoming, Peter Reeder, Mercer, Robert McKee, .... Montgomery, H. W. Kratz, Montour, Thos. Ij. Clapp, .... NortJianipton, A. D. Shinier, Northumberland, John Holla, Perry, F. M. McKeehan, .... Schuylkill, J. T. Shoener, Sullivan, J. H. Lawrence, .... Susquehanna, R. S. Scarlo, Tioga, J. W. Matlier, .... Union, * J. A. Gundy, Venango, Wm. Gates, Warren, F. R. Miller, Washington, John McDowell, .... Wayne, N. F. Underwood, . . . Westmoreland, F. Y. Clopper, Wvoming, N. G. Bunnell, Y()rk, W. S. Roland, 1 QUAR. Harrisburg, 1890 Bellefonte, 1891 Cedar Springs, .... 1890 Millville, 1891 Conneautville, .... 1889 Mt. Holly Springs, . . 1891 Harrisburg, 1891 Chester, 1889 Avonia, 18S9 Black Lick, 1889 Frostburg, 18* 0 Port Royal, 1891 Dalton, 1891 Marietta, 1889 Neshannock Falls, . 1891 Lebanon, 1891 AUentown, 1890 Kingston, 1891 Hughesville, 1891 Mercer, 18^)0 Trai)pe, 1890 Limestone ville, . . . 1889 Bethlehem, 1891 Milton, 1890 Ferguson, 1891 Orwigsburg, 1889 Dushore, 1891 , Montrose, 1889 Well8l)oro', 1889 Lewisburg, 1890 South Oil City, .... 1889 , Sn;^-ar(in)ve, 1889 Washington, 1890 Lakn Conio, 1888 Greensburg, 1889 Voslnirg, 1889 York, 1889 Quarterly Report. OFFICIAL LIST. President. Hon. James A. Beaver, {ex-ojjicio.) Dr. J. P. Edge, Hon. James A. Beaver, Jolm McDowell, G. Hiester, Vice Presideiits. Joel A. Herr, Mxecutive Coinmittee. M. W. Oliver, E. Reeder, J. A. Gundy, Dr. W. S. Roland. T. Garretson, J. P. Barnes, Thos. J. Edge,(ea: officio.) G. Hiester. Advisory Committee. J. P. Barnes, J. A. Gundy, Thos. J. Edge, (ex-officio.) Secretary. Thos. J. Edge, Harrisburg. Botanist. • Thos. Meehan, Germantown. Pomologist. Cyrus T. Fox, Reading. Chemist. Dr. F. A. Genth, Philadelphia. Consulting Veterinary Surgeon. Dr. R. S. Huidekoper, Philadelphia. Veterinary Surgeon. Dr. F. Bridge, Philadelphia. Microscopists and Ilygienists. Dr. H. Leffmaun, Philadelphia, Prof. C. B. Cochran, West Chester. . Entomologist. Prof. W. A. Buckhout, State College. Ornithologist. Dr. B. H. Warren, West Chester. Meteorologists. Prof. I. T. Osmond, State College, J. L. Heacock, Quakertown. Apiarist. Prof. G. G. Groff, Lewisburg. Mineralogist. ' Joseph Willcox, Philadelphia. Oeologist. Prof. J. P. Lesley, Philadelphia. Stenographer. H. C Demining. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. i STANDING COMMITTEES— 1888. M. W. Oliver, Dr. J. P. Edge, John McDowell, , Joel A. Herr, G. Hiester, G. D. Stitzel, John Holla, F. li. .Miller, John McDowell, M. W. Oliver, 8. P. Eby, Peter Reeder, Cluindlee Eves, M. W. Oliver, W. B. Powell, Eastburn Reeder, M. W. Oliver, Prof. C. B. Cochran, John IToffa, E. B. Esh, H. M. Engle, N. F. Underwood, N. G. Bunnell, R. S. Searle, J. C. Thornton, J. A. Gundy, A. M. Fuller, S. F. Holla, Wni. Benedict, I. Garretson, N. ¥. Underwood, E. W. Hale, D. Wilson, IL W. Kratz. W. S. Roland, David Wilson, J. D. Hicks, J. A. Gundy. Dr. B. H. Warren, G. B. Sennet, G. W. Thomas, Win. Gates, N. F. Underwood, R. S. Searle, ^L W. Oliver, I. Garretson, W. Gates, Legislation. J. A. Gundy. W. S. Roland, J. P. Barnes, N. F. Underwood, E. Reeder, Thos. J. Edge. Fruit and Fruit Culture. Will B. Powell, Dr. J. P. Edge, H. M. Engle, N. F. Underwood, H. H. Colvin, F. M. McKeehau. R. S. Searle, Dr. J. Calder, C. T. Fox, H. A. Longsdorf, Wool and Textile Fibres. Dr. E. Harvey, A. O. Hiester, Farm Implements. E. Reeder, R. S. Searle, Win. Gates, / J. W. Axtel, R. S. Searle, N. F. Underwood, I. Garretson, E. W. Hale. Dairy and Dairy Products. R. S. Searle, I. Garretson, Chandlee Eves, H. I^. Scott (Analytical Chemist.) Poultry. John A. Follmer, Oliver D. Schock. Grasses and Fodder Crops. M. W. Oliver, John Hoffa, E. Reeder, I. Garretson. Water Supply for Farm Buildings. Dr. J. P. Edge, N. F. Underwood. Roads. J. P. I5arncs, John M. Miller, John A. Woodward, H. W. Kratz, Cereal Crops. M. W. Oliver, G. Hiester, H. M. Engle, J. P. Barnes, T. E. mapp, H. L. Scott, Silk and Silk Culture. J. A. Herr, N. F. Underwood. J. W. Hickman, Wm. Ti. Graul, John H. Wogan. Thos. J. Edge. R. S. Searle, J. A. Gundy, H. H. Colvin, E. Reeder, J. McDowell, W. Gates. H. W. Kratz, E. W. Hale, Ornithology. M. W. Oliver, C. J. Pen nock. N. F. Underwood, Thos. J. Edge. Forests and Forestry. J. A. Herr, I. Garretson, W. S. Roland, Chandlee Eves, Thomas Meelian, H. L. Scott. Apiary. J. Shallcross, H. H. Brown, Arthur Todd, Mrs. M. L. Thomas. D. Videts, W. A. McLean. Quarterly Eeport. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. PAPERS AXD PROCEEDmGS OF LOCAL FARMERS' I:NSTITUTES. Condensed and compiled by the Secretary. By the provisions of the act of June 2, 1887, the Board of A<>:riciil- ture IS empowered to organize local farniersMnstitutes in dilferent parts of the State, and to pay the expense thereof from a special a[)propriation made by the Legislature. Under the i)rovisious of this act, local meetings have been held at the following dates and places : Montrose, October 5 and 6. Milllintown, November 24 and 25. Newtown, November 30 and December 1. New Castle, December 20 and 2L Washington, December 27 and 28. Ma('k(^yville, December 28 and 29. Millville, January 11, 12 and 13. Atglen, January 19 and 20. Pottsgrove, January 31 and February 1. Lancaster, P'ebruary 1 and 2. Honesdale, February 1 and 2. C;}ettysburg, February 8 and 9. Oxford, r'ebruary 15 and 16. Hatboro', February 22 and 23. Milllinbnrg, February 23 and 24. Tuuk bannock, February 29 and March L F>erwi(k, March 8 and 9* York, March 15 and 10. In addition to tliese, regular meeetings of the Board, in connection with local institutes have b ^en held at the following places and dates : Montrose, June 8 and 9. Lewisburg, December 7 and 8. Harrlsl)urg, January 25 and 20. Warren, June 12, 13* and. Without exception the institutes were well attended, and in a num- ber of instances the hall in which they were held was not of a sulficient capacity to accommodate all who came. The arrangement of the programmes for these institutes was left to the resident member of the Board, or in case there was no resident member, to an authoiized committee appointed lor that purpose. Nothing but '' actual and necessary expenses" were paid, and the result fully justifies the expectation of the members of the Legisla- ture and of the Board, who advocated this mode of benefitin*'- the'^a<^ri- cultural interests of the State. ° "^ At thes(Mneetings numerous practical essavs were read, the char- acter ol which would fully warrant their publication in full, but the space under the control ot the Board being limited, it is necessary to present most of them in a condensed form, this being deemed more profitable than to attempt to publish some in full and entirely discard others. By this compulsory condensation there will often appear to be a want of proper continuiiy in the article. This should not be charc^ed to the niitlior, but is due to the condensation itself, and the omission of ceitniii p;jrls of the essay or address, interesting though they may have been, is chargeable to the want of space. All of the papers read at each insiitute are not given here; a por- tion of them have been reserved for the annual report, and will appear with tlie summary of the year's proceedings. ■ SINCE "WHEAT PRODUCTION IN PENNSYLVANIA IS UNPROFIT- ABLE, WHAT IS THE BEST COURSE FOR THE JUNIATA FARMER TO PURSUE? By D. B. McWii.LiAMS, Wahiutj Ta, Wheat lands which have been opened up and giving a bountiful return and yield to the husbandman, together with formerdiscrimina- tion in freights, and the exceedingly low rates obtained by western shippers, thereby unloading wheat in our seaboard markets at prices below the price at which the Pennsylvania farmer could y)roduce it. But we must not forget that much of our wheat land has been farmed and croped for so long a time that they have became exhaustedof that rich store of ])]ant food which nature endowed them with, hence we must supply it, and that, too, at considerable expense. Neglect of sufficient culture, unfavorable seasons, drought, TIessian fly, and last, but not least, farming too many acres, and withholding the plant food necessary to insure, under favorable circumstances, a paying return. Now to the subject : ^' What is the best course to pursue V I can- not say to you, abandon wheat raising, for were we to al)andon this branch of farming and all engage in some other we would have to grapple with that difficult problem — over-production. We cannot compete with the wheat growers in the West at present, but the time will come wdien these lands will lose their fertilitv and this industrv will become unprofitable and the sharp competition will cease. To this I say live in hope. I would suggest diversified farming; grow more spring crops, if wheat does not pay. sow barley, as many farmers in some section of our State do, and seed dow^n to grass. This I believe will do as well as if sown with wheat. Endeavor to raise good crops of grass, bare fields and empty hav mows make lean stock and lean farmers Keep good stock and keep them well. I mean good blood ; good blood requires no more feed than poor, and gives you three -fold greater return for feed and labor. In carrying out this method 3'ou will need rich pastures, good yields othay, corn, etc. In order to en- joy these you must enrich your soil My observations during the past season would lead me to suggest to you to sell hay. In the mining and lumber regions in this State and in the larger tow^ns and cities the sales and consumption of baled hay is immense. I believe it would pay much better to let your fields remain in grass longer and sell the hay, th.in to farm the same land in wheat. And I do not be- lieve it would imj)overish your soil to any greater degree. I would suggest an increase in the number of dairies. A reliable commission man in IJaltimore informed me that he could not get enough ol (/ooci dairy butter. Hut reuKMnber you must feed well. I would advise increasinir the poultry Hock; it is a pleasant and enjoyable employment, and one acre on which you raise your poultry will bring you in a far greater return than an acre of wheat, and what is more pleasant to the eyes of the good housewife than the well-filled baskets of eggs she stores away, and how palatable to the farmer is a nice broil. 6 Qu.UilERLY RkPOKT. Perhaps some of the failures in raising wheat have been cin^erl hv r .i*l\ot.it ireezmg onl and the surface water earrvinV ^vriv According to our system of rotation of crops, can it be nossilde thnt he soil does not become exhausted 'i Just thi d^c f t cora oats o nd downt gn.sT' f:itZ:T\'' "' ^^^-» !•«'•«- it is' oT 'orselS d uuwn in grass. Js it any vonder we are disappointed in our croDs -' Is It any wonder we are farming with small profits or a a lols « We a d ': e'^f o^ h^r; i"- ' "^r^^^r ^ ««"'^ -^ '--- '« i o" up It diia bieeiv on halt rations. 1 will sno-trpcf tn tt^.i fi.,-„ _i . ^^. onedudf the number of acres aSUelhliraS^^ and give It the amount of manure and fertilizer hat vo, I.? i i o'r'dtuble the ' " 'T" '". ""^ ''^^l^ '^« --'' -" «" -« '^ "" H-enHr: or double the number of acres treated under the present method Ru thus doing you can lessen your expenses, which i^a trea" cousideS^ present svstem hI i^ done from double the amount uu.ler the harfestin- do W. f ' '''V'^^ ''i' '^"'' '" ^<^"^'- condition for grass, and half the time to cut the V;^,. T """^ fo plough the ground guard.ns ., far as lays i„ your po.ver aS„,T;ver-,"r„i, fen ''iiS Pennsylvania Boakd of Agriculture. FRUIT CULTURE. By Edwin Davis, Tliotnpsontown^ Penna. There is a lamentable want of care and interest manifested on the part of a great majority of our land-owners in the production of good fruit. They seem to tliink that if they buy and plant the trees they have done all that is recjuired of them, and if the results are not satis- factory, they jump to the conclusion that fruit growing does not pay, while on tlie contrary there is no crop which pays so well for good care and attention as growing fruit. Owners of land, who are other- wise good farmers, seem to be lamentably ignorant in regard to grow- ing fruit, but of later years the growth of the cereal crops has become so unprofitable that farmers have awakened to the fact that they must lind something which will pay them better. My advice to all who have suitable land is to do less at regular farming and pay more attention to fruit growing. But says one, '' What kind shall I yjlant ; " that depends upon the kind of soil which you have ; apples will grow well on all soils which will grow good crops of wheat or corn, and with proper treatment, will soon produce l)aying results. The orchard is usually farmed much as the balance of the farm, thus robbing the trees and fruit of the substances producing fruit ; we should bear in mind that the roots extend in all directions in search of food and that they require all that the soil can furnish, and that unless the soil possesses all thc^t the tree and fruit require it must be made up by the application of barnyard manure or commercial ferti- lizer just as to any other crop. The most productive orchard that has fallen under my notice was used for a hog and sheep yard, and the soil was kept fertile by the droppings of these animals; they also ate the fallen fruit and thereby destroyed myriads of worms and other insect pests. The peach requires a warm, dry soil, and it is useless to plant peach trees upon any soil in which the water stands near the surface, lienco our dry gravelly ridges in Juniata county have proven to be the very best peach-producing soils that we can find anywhere. For peach trees, eariy spring planting is much the best, although they can and have been successfully planted in the autumn ; proper care must then be taken that the roots do not get frozen before tliey are covered by the soil. I usually plant fifteen feet apart each way or at the rate of 190 trees . to the acre. A noted fruit grower in this State, when asked for the secret of suc- cessful fruit growing, replied, ''thorough cultivation, a sharp knife and constant watchfulness; this 1 think applies more particularly to the peach than to any other fruit, except, possibly, the grape." Iloed crops may be jdanted between the trees for the first two or three years, but as the trees grow they will require all the strength of the soil and any gain in stolen crops is counterbalanced by loss to the trees. The peach is a heavy feeder of potash and this should be supplied from some source in greater amounts than can usually be obtained 8 Quarterly Report. mou tJiai Ironi illeen to twenty cents per bushel; muriate of Dot- : « . u.ay he employed with ^ood results, aud it is prHerabe to Lnlv It broadcast duriii- the spriii-, and either covp.- if v^uu\ll^ ^^^ bv a li<.hf ii,rr,>,., 'iM ' =',' V •-, "*^' covei It with the harrow or oy a ii<,i 1^ lu row. J he peach also demands a larce sunnlv of ohos- , propel- „pe,„„; „f ,|,e young «„,„1 ,„k1 i.„,,l„i.r'!„, , S k I, fi The chiefenemies ot the peach are the pub or borer and that terri .le scourjre, the yellows. The former is easily over« me a llh u ^ necessary is to exanunc the bodies of the trees in the f dl' ^n 1 s ,' ,,' and extract the grubs with the sharp pointed lu fe hide Tl cTw 11 be touMd just beneath the surface of the soil, and the r pre«e ce w be readi y detecl^ed by the «um fornted fn ni the ex u itsao As preventative of the borer pla.'e at the base of the Trees a% ho vein, ol slaked hme or coal ashes. Manv trees supposed to have the ve lows are not in reality affected with the dise ie. U eir S v aoo Jar phoH"adri"j;;r!'^"T'^"'':,'-^^'^'""'^^.'''''^ pnoi ( acid, in short, only another name for exhaustion of the soil Tn plantmjr lor market do not make the too common nii al e of phntin" oo many varieties ; from four to six varieties are e u u'rltK Iref .i|;i^r"ffi;r^.!;Si:reEr and after the hrst year should be tied to stakes'about five feet K two stakes to each vine. Short st. ips of weod five feet lonVshou d I ^ nailed to he stakes to su,>port the Vine. Thev must be nned each year and the sod kept clean and well cultivated As to vaHeiief I Innk the Concord the nmst productive for this se;iion o countT'^li CW;r ''"'^'"'^ ^ would plant at least eighty out of' a humlrJS ns'J.berrv "'w!I'/'' P'""^'^^^'« "^ tl'esmal] fruits are the red and bla.-k from 'f"*^'!'-;.'':"t to market care should betaken to separate the good bett^er YouT":r,-..rT;n' '/l '""'' '^'" ^"-^d^^' «»,. to mix good and bad together and injure yon. b,?si„ei Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 9 POULTRY FOR PROFIT. By D. B. EsH, ^Spruce Creekj Pa, Although we boast of being the granary of the world and export millions of bushels of grain annually, yet we do not produce eggs enough to supply the home demand and each year import millions of dozens from Europe and Canada. With a climate and soil which are naturally the home of the gallinaceous fowK with the l)est and cheapest of food grown by ourselves, we permit the foreigner to get away with a large portion of the profits of the egg market. I can see no good reason why every iarmer in our county could not keep from one to three hundred laying hens instead of the usual fortv or til'tv; and I ])elieve with the same care and forethouiiht be- stow-ed on them that is given the other stock on the farm, the prolits would surprise the owner. The first thing necessary for the poultryman is to have an object in view. If he desires to make eggs a specialty, he should breed from those strains which lay the best without regard to size or table (jualities. If he wishes chicks and poultry for market, he should select the breeds best adapted for such. One thing is certain, no one breed possesses all the characteristics as the best for market, eggs, chicks and hardiness combined, but by judicious crossing the good (pialities ot several breeds may be blended and better results obtained ; but even crossing does not make a perfect fowl for all purposes. Make yourself familiar with the different breeds. The points should be studied ; the characteristics well understood ; the little pecularities of each noticed. The difference betw^een profit and loss is often the dif- ference between tw^o breeds. If Leghorns are favored, it is important that the poultry keeper knows all the facts pertaining to the breed. He must make his fences high, understand that their large combs are liable to freeze in winter and that they are not heavily featjiered. Understanding these things, he prepares himself to use Leghorns; well knowing that although he may have a few obstacles to over- come, that these persistant little layers will fill the eggs basket as none other and give general satisfaction, if the lirahmas are to be kept, the fences may be low, the roosts must not be made high and the quarters must contain plenty of room. He may expect them to be slow of maturity, but as they are heavily feathered, and have low pea combs, they will endure the winter and lay in cold weather if well cared for, but do not lay as persistently as the Leghorns, as the Brahmas, usually want to hatch a V)rood or tw^o while the Leghorns are non-sitters. In crossing he should have his object plainly in view; as crossing without a 7)urpose is like travelling without going any- where. If the Brahmas are too dome, tic, let him cross with some more active breed. If the Leghorns are too light of wing cross with the Cochin or some other large breed. The Wyandottes, Plymouth Rocks and Langshans produce quick-growing chicks; the Leghorns the layers and the Cochins and Brahmas the heavy table birds. Human individuals liviuir in families often become very ]>rosper- ous, but wiien massed together under roof or at one table, could not exist without strict discipline and orgj'inized arrangements. This dilliculty is not confined to the human family. Animals, even when n'' 10 Ili| I QuARTEPj.Y Report. lierded together oitl.er pair or collect no small bodies, the family relation heiiifr maintained whenever possible. Fowls are no exceo- tion to this rnle. In fact the dillictdty is increased, for polyKamv is an ohsfacle and strife and disorder always resnlt when the limits of the lannly numl)er are exceeded. No matter how much room may be allowed, how good the qnarters, nor how food is provided, the stron- will overpower the weak, and in the stru-de for existence, disease steps in and sweep away the surplns to the smaller nnmber Larji-e numbers cannot be counted, the eggs all be gathered, the birds arul beasts of prey cannot be prevented from committing dei)redalions and the wants ot each individual of (he flock cannot be attended to, for it IS tost in tlie whole, and cannot be selected for r>roper care and atten- tion. Confusion reigns in the flock and among the attendants. Order and system being mdespensable, the fowls fail to be profitable Jt IS plain then that if large numbers are to be kept they must be divided info llocks or families. But let us make a few comparisons belore dec'iding f he exact course to pursue. It is plain f hat if one per- son has a flock and his neighbor has a flock, it is easy to keep two flocks or ten flocks on a farm ,:n the same plan as though they be- longed to different individuals. But bear in mind that each flock has an ow-ner, each has Its own territory to roam over, each is carefully attended to, each is confined to its own limits and any deviation there- from results in hard-fought battles until the true order of thin-s is restored In all these comparisons it will be noticed that each flock IS entirely distinct and separate from the others. As each flock has an owner, their nnmber is known, and if any are sick or missing, some one of he household is at once deputized to ascertain the cause and apply the remedy, the slightest sign of disorder is at once apparent and eA-ery fowl is provided for and carefully watched in order that it may be thrifty and profitable. To follow then these teachings of nature, the fowls must be divided into flocks and each flock must have its own homestead or roost To do this It is not necessary that they be separated by impassil)le fences or barriers, although those already existing may be taken advantage of, but the natural antagonism of neighboring flocks will keep them apart. Ihe houses should be built so as to be warm in winter, with provisions for abundant ventilation in summer; dry, well-li.dited and have a small yard attached to confine the fowls forV short time when it may he necessary, and to allow feeding without disturbance from other animals or the neigboring flocks. Having the fowls properly divided and hous. d the next thin" is proper feeding. It may seem a very simple matter to feed f()wls,'bnt no part of the management is, more diffKnilt. True, all one has to do is to give them their food; but it depends upon how this is done for thereon depends the matter of producing eggs and making growth. AS 1 said before everyone who keeps fowls should make himself familiar with the breeds ; for unless this is done no correct method of ceding can be adopted. Fowls should have a variety of food, should r)eed regularly, be within easy access to pure water, and be i.rovided witli lime, green food and animal food of some kind, and the breeder must remember thatJie has two things to guard against, whicii are, overfeeding and under-feeding. » ' •'*'*;, The large breeds, such as the Cochins. Brahnias, Plymouth Rocks and Langshans, grow for quite a long lime before reaching maturity *> lute in a growing condition they do not take on fat very readily PENNSYtVANIA BOAUD OF AGRICULTURE. 11 but as soon as they arrive at the stage which is the turning point be- tween the chick and the adult they will begin to fatten, and if they become too fat, will not nor cannot lay. If they begin to lay before they get very fat. the producliim of eggs calls for nutrition, and the food is directed in that direction ; conser()ceedijig so far as benefit is concerned. Do not be^in with more than the capital will allow ; be^in at tlie bottom and work upwards. Ue^^in with the hens you already have. Buy thoroughbred cocks and improve your stock, bear in mind that the male is half the tlock in breeding. Keep your houses, roosts and yards clean ; filth breeds veimin and disease. Prevent disease rather than cure it. Do not overcrowd, scatter the broods as well as the flocks. Hatch your chirks in April and July, these will lay in the fall and winter when eir^s are hi^h in price. Don't let hens with small chicks into the wet or dewy -hts m the music of birds and of brooks, will hardlv care to sit in a cTose room with the blinds down, lest the sun ma/ spoil her complexion, and gets false ideas of life from the latest novel. My brother farmer if your children fail to get the notion that farming is the most deli^>-ht- lul occupation in the world, l^irnishing the most healthful empToy- ment and the largest and most varied resources for mind and heart culture you are responsible. If your sons leave vou in loneliness in your old age, or what is still worse, bring down vour gray hairs in sor- row to the grave, and your daughters vow that 'they will never marry farmers, but try to get away from what should have been a home ac- cept the hand of the first snob that olfers, the probabilities are that you have laughed at flowers, called them weeds, and perhaps scolded the girls for wasting their time on them. In the family circle the weather and the crop prospects have been your constant topics of con- versation, and that greatly in a complaining mood, ft is either too wet or too dry, too hot or too cold. The fly has destroyed the wheat tiic dry weather has hurt the corn, the oats are a short crop and the potatoes are small. No other thought in growing crops has ever been suggested but the money value, and that is often discouragingly small Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 15 You have poisoned the sweet breath of morning with the fumes of to- bacco, and furrowed your face with frowns and thus, while living on the fat of the land and having within your reach luxuries that would tempt the gods, you fail to comment on your mercies and make your children glad to escape from a purgatory that should have been a par- adise. Of course, while going through the comparatively dry and uninter- esting routine of learning to spell, read, write and cipher, he should by way of object lesson, illustration and explanation, receive many choice bits from science, history and literature. If begets these and is surrounded by such home iutluences as we have been contemplating, he will be almost sure to look with bright anticipations to what lies be- yond and feel a strong desire to go forward. But the average ])upil may well ask, where am 1 to go'^ My i^arents are not able to send me away to school, and at home there is no one to advise me what to study nor to assist ine whtn I do not understand. I confess to great surprise that no provision has been made for the wants of this class, audit em- braces fully nine-tenths of our country, girls and boys. They are com- pelled to enter uj^on the active duties of life, with all its obligations and responsibilities, without even the foundation of an education well laid. Manifestly, here is great injustice. In addition to the history of his own country, he should study especially that of England, Rome and Greece, and in general all ancient history as well as modern. His object should be not to get the facts alone, but the causes of events. He should strive to discover the weakness of those that have fallen, and the source of strength in those that yet remains. Inasmuch as he is to play no unimportant part in piloting oilr ship of State through the shoals and breakers of the future, he may profit much by knowing what others have met in the i)ast. In the line of his peculiar calling, he should learn of course to keep accounts, and the elements at least of the natural sciences should receive attention. The daily tasks of the farmer lead him into the domain of chemistry, botany, physics, zoology and even geology and meteorology, and he cannot longer af- ford to have them sealed books to him. His life work, however, is to be practical agriculture, and to its i)ri!iciples, crude and unsettled, as many of them yet are. he must give special attention. Here are topics and opinions, too, for that matter, in perplexing variety, and if he has learned to use his brains as well as his hands he will not be conscious of that drndgi'rv and monotony comidained of by those who know nothing about it. On the contrary, his work may be made almost a constant round of pleasure. There was a ticne during the period of virgin soil in this country, when the plowman after his day's work w^a8 done might homeward plod his weary way with little more thought than the ox that he drove, but that time has gone. The farmer of the future, to be successful, must he able to think and reason. He must have brains as well as muscle, and such a course of study as I have tried briefly to describe will do much to develop his mental powers. If we, of this generation, provide it for him he will rise up and call us blessed. If we fail to do it, he will justly complain that he has been derived of his birth-right. !!i 16 Quarterly Report. . I 'U|| OTHER THINGS FOR FARMERS BESIDE SOWING AND REAPING liy Wellington Smith, Mifflinlown, Pa. One need not be a close observer to realize this fact, yet the rut or (/rove tanner does not appear to see it, if we are allowed to jiidj^e by his practice, unless he has calmly submitted to fate ; for he really con- tinues to sow and reap as of yore, and then with aching frame comes Irom his dmly toil, with produce ready for market and humldy asks • • what will yon ed He IS cautious but only by spasms; he is suspicious and superstitious, and caprices run about in the same way; he is so by spasms. He must needs take a new departure or his proverbial independence, his man- hood a-id certain inalienable rights will take their departure from him It IS intended to consider the subject in as nearly a logical order as possible under heads such as " what the farmer ^oe« And does not ;" what he don t know and yet ought to know and do." He seldom gives any attention even when the most important issues are before Congress, involving the most vital agrieult ural interests. He is of all classes the most didicult to organize in behalf of his own interest, for a reason that he can't explain himself. But withal these facts he sows, and reaps, and sells. Broad-<-ast sowing, however, has long since been abandoned by him and he now drills in all his seed and this is but natural, since he has been so well drilled himself by party syn- dicate monopoly and corporate bodies generally, that he would be a reak of nature if he didn't; inasmuch I hat "education is largely habit, and habit, according to an Italian proverb, is second nature It 18 HI selling his produce and paying taxes where his broadcasting is clone, ihekmdot sowing and the minimum cost of production are as yet the greatest mysteries to him. He never keeps an account of his yearly income and expenditures, but plods on for years when he suddenly hnds himself in possession of a comfortable home and paid Pennsylvania Board of Agriouliurk. ;^e^:l;o;rarH?U^'^?j:',-.1- -i;^- iiu^ -tter bankruptcy a^ '?^ ''""' '^"siness-like he average farmer can show from ?aTef^ 11^1- ''?/'' V"™''"-^' '^'^'^^^ the year the exact cost per bus eTo'non ' o i ^'""'''-"f ^^^ *^'"1 «*" also the exact <-ost of living for hi fW ^ "" T? ''''['''^'' ^'« '"'"sed, beer, wine, fuel, li-ht c\J^Z J-tmilv, including food, raiment kind. Not Only he CO t cf w, ';;r"f •^"'?J^/'"^ ^"-^""«« of ™ J^v to the frac-tional hah' Sn^is sl!ow/r '"'"' '"''''^ ''^' ^'-''- board even a.r lLov3^;i;^;£- ^^ cost of items, such '"lbs. All is darkness that can bfcljtr T ""^.^^' ^^^ cereals or IS not^a farmer within the lindtsot his com?tv w."'' '^'"'■'^«" ^''^--^ ton of hay costs him, a pound ..f Im tier or a I n7 ? ^^" ^^^^ ^^^^ ^ Wha would you think of the ma a .emit ^T^'^'^, P"""'^« "'' "»"- banking-house or a comme ll e te'^^S i?^>'' ''"l"?*^ ^^'""•''"■>'' ^ •Htely or approximately at the end o? tl?e v'l "•.'^°"'*' ""^ '^1' ^efi. goings, an.ltherebyshow whether he b.inl''' '"^^""^ ""'"^ ""t- one, and if a losing one nrenarpln rlt a l?^ '' ^ *?"'"'"? or a losin- does not in t his day coX i hfs IVrtT^^ ''^ ^''^' ' '^''« ''^■•mer w S only that he will cLe Sat l^o L/end a\?d'\T^^""^^^ ^^^'^ bu.mess habits, and fortifies himse f wilh fhl r^ '' "u"' "« ^^^ks muscle and not brains are the lever! fhlf '^^ ''«'ion that bone and unfortunately, to despise mu5::S„'^',™;^J^f,^''^•. "^ ^«^"'«' In farming, as in anv sphere if lu imJil i!l V""kiDg and reasoning. weakness. It is remarked '' wl ate^e th/ !.,; ' "^""T'^ ignorance h experiment stations may show!" fhrSst ftrHlf ™'°'' ^','''-^'^« «'' <'"'• Why should not a farmer become eno,ese '«""^' are filled with Z,; '"^'"' setter jN.lsmeiK to l,i- OTOrcom. h„ !? '*'"''"'• "'«". all»ivi„» ,^„ clioice iissonment of IiomT i "y tlic craze for eiDicr nZZ? . w. of „,,, «;,,,') ,,°";.ir"£; ?""■■* r»'''- "'"c o. "to .i 20 Quarterly Report. il II r^SYlVAKU Bo«„ 0, A«K,CWTOE,. home The farmer's wife has much to do to\vard8 rendering the in- side of her home beautiful, but the farmer can do Ins share in the out- side attraction. And, here, I hope the farmers who represent the three beautiCi-l valleys of our county, viz : iusearora, Juniata and Lost Creek, will bear with me while 1 offer a few suggestions and criticisms First, if you intend to build sele<-t the most iavorable posi- tion both in respect to convenience and beauty tor your house. Lo- cate'it in a dry and healthy spot, in near proximity to ?<'«< w". fl; Place it so it will command as pretty a view as possible, llie House . should not be built exactly after the size, shape and pattern ol every other house within range of your eye, nor all built of the same mate- rial and painted the same color. Avoid monotony. Vary the shapes ,)f your houses, an L here, a T there or a wing on either or both sides maV not add much extra expense and will artord the advantage ot verandas, where vour tasty wile loves to train her vines and where vou will love to seek this cool retreat to take your mid-day nap. " lndu!"«-iii the expense of some variety of shape in your roots, sur- round them bv pretty cornices, add a bay window or two, and as many more as you can afford. You will be an.ply repai.l in the extra ight and cheeriness of your rooms. The pot-house plants x.'ili do their share in paying you with their beauty and fragance, ^"^^f birds in vour cages will sing you sweeter songs than belore Allow room tor a urettv door-vard ; enclose it by a neat fence nicely painted II the vard is sloping, have it terraced; surround with neatly trimmed hed'^es- arrange with convenient walks and pretty green lawns; in- tersperse with ornamental trees and shrubbery. Let your boys con- struct some rustic seats beneath their inviting shade, flowerbeds, containing vour favorites, should fall in line whenever they vvill show to best advantage. Raised bird cottages will also offer an attraction, especially when these songsters fill the air with their music. Let vour vegetable and small fruit garden be to the sunny side, but not in front. If your house is along the public highway have the road well made, and wide, and vou will see what an improvement it would be to our valleys if all the public roads were made good and wide. If your house is built back from the road many rods let it be reache.l bv a nice, wide drive-way, which will entail no loss ot land for you can border it by small fruit or ornamental trees or by neat jjrrape trellises. , ,, -, . i • j Will home adornment pay? And what are the results to be gained from this expense of money, labor and time ? It promotes culture and lefinemenf, it causes your children to become attached to home and wards off the risk of their seeking enjoyment in dangerous resorts. A voun«' man remarked one day : '-Mother, home is becoming so beau- uful U) me I do not k!U)W how I shall ever leave it." Before the sea- son had pas.s>>d away, he was called home, and who knows but his love of home on earth prepared him to enjoy the more the home in Heaven. . .^.j ,. ,^„, Home adornment teaches home economy. Did you ever no. ice how nicely you can manipulate every little bit of material you have left •ifter'you have finished a piece of work, even though they seemed like waste pieces when you laid them away. Just so it is m this system iipiiliiii »"iile of «pproval, and I "K |,„" '"T, '^^ "-^eive llieir moth.,'. each oU,e,- „i,|, „ ,;, ,i",h,„t7o?e f!^"' \? '•'"'"'> »"""3 tlieir (i,ra are (ievelopin. their h„,,t.^ t . ™ ""tlwr and gislere i„ FT V^i -^ yiougnt/nj and Jovin**- apf« nP h;^i "^ ^ "^ ^^ ^<^Pf over- Healthy bodies, iritejjicrent mrndf l 7V''' "^'^ ^'' ''^'^ another POULTRY CULTUHK FOR PROFIT. By Harry F. CniTRfw a-^ . Witli the averao-e firm^.r. n ' " "ess seems to turn' n i™/ VVirthe'"' /"''•"•^ °^ "'« P'^""- '."si- """'rhe f!';"''^*^™^"^. ^^"''' ^''^ P'-o'essional it is a case of good spring, seTthem whirever'rh'i'i?''"''''' ''' ''«"« become broody i„ fl.« "Ot been selected o;r:;r;;K;Tp^^^^^ 1 > '''^'^^>^'io attenlionastohow ni\ 22 QUARTEKLY RePORT. I III) lon^ they stay on or oil the nest, wlietlier they "arci supplied with food and water, or whethf^r they are laid to by oilier hens ; no precaution ])ein:edon scien- tific principles. He knows by experience— whi(di, by the way is the best teacher— or studv, as the case may be, that setting hens do bet- ter by themselves, and he has a special place fitted up where nothing can inte.fere with their duties. Prich one is provided with a nest, where she can be fastened on, let olf once a day for food, water and exercise, put back again at the proper time, to stay there unmolested till the next day. lie sees that thev are provided with a dust-bath, puts powdered sulphur, insect powder, tansy, tobacco-stems or some other louse externnnator in the nest, looks over the eggs every day to see that none are broken, and it he linds any broken ones carefully washes the soiled eggs in tepid water, removes the chicks when hatched, with the mother hen, after treating them ])oth to an anti- louse preparation, sees that they are provided with clean, iresh water at all times, and the kind of food best adapted 'to their wants, which he knows bv his own experience or the experience of others who are successful. "^ If, as the season progressess, he can show a goodly per- centage of thrifty chickens, it is the result of science, not luck. For'^the past twentv years or more, since the first nxagazine devoted exclusively to poultrv was founded in the United States, and probably before, there have been discussi^ms as to whether poultry could be kept profitably in large numbers. The English poultry periodicals take the ground that although a small Hock can be kept with pioht, there is yet no practical demonstration that any one has ever yet ac- complished tiie successful rearini: ol' poultry on a large scale. A com- mittee was appointed l)y a certain society at one time in England to visit France and ascertain, if possible, whether there were really in existence certain poultry farms, glowing accounts of which had been ])ublished I'rom time to time. After careful investigation and research they reported, that although large cpiantiiies of poultry were kept and reared throughout the rural districts, as in England, no such ranches as they had heard and read of could be found. U])on the report of this committee the foregoing conclusion has no doubt been founded. To decide this matter with ns, it isn^t necessary to go to a foreign country. The ingenious Yankee has saved us that trouble and ex- pense.' Chicken factories are becoming as thick over the United States as creameries were a few years back with us in this county. I Pennsylvania Boaki. o. Agriculture. ^3 A description of t},e Orrocco Pn.. if t^ ninningthr()Ui.4i several nnn^., \n^''l ^'^™' Mount Blue Mas. ten by the foumler, W H d^l^^ .^^^ World, in l4i wrl' an emaciated clerk in a meiSi n j ^ ''' f.^.^^^^^'^sting manner how onging for Pastures new dlSd^e- h' ^^^^^^ nt aS telis 111 a logical manner how heJno}Ti\\ ''' ^^'^ entc^rprise. He ;vay, by raising clitckens by hen cnver 1 ' '/^™ ''' '^'^ old-iashioned PS and downs of the busiuLs' .S how Xo '^'''''^' ^''' ^''^^'^ ^^^^ ^^^ade on 500 hens, wliich, he «avs V.?A • "" ^^^^'' P^'^^^^^ can be agement. But he eventn^^lll .t^ ' i ^J^ ^"^'^^ased bv proper mon -P tiie artificiaVann llnefe Ti T'^'^l rneilllZl Took ^^as been in successful opSion /or ''f r""' ^^^''' establi^Iiment count as published has nS4rb^^ ^'^S^^^.'] ^^'''^'''^ and the ac- o^' Itself; and a conunisSrhm^^ ^^^^^^^f' M' '^^T^^' '^ «P^ in connection with it, at 48 a id 40 ru n ^^^'^^'^ ^^itliiuafew vears one wisliing to inves ijtt^; a^^^ ^^^'^et, Bostc,n, whePeany a ^tter of introductio^J: ll" r^^^Ln^l ".^^'f^^ ''' ^'^'^^^'-^ -^ nammonton N T i.^. ,^ ^ '^aucks. kind; Kn.,>p Bros., ribirsN^'"" ?.^ .'""'' V^^''^^'^''^^^ of this another; al] ia'sncc-essf /l ^i^L^Vhul^^'V'''^'^^ ^'"«' ^»'^^ ''!":-'«, Dron.ises the coniins sea on ^ o iV r ?"-^'" '^^^"f' ^t Lang-' visit, warrants us in savin< tjf«M? i '^^oniplish something. A recent f Mass., judging b v t le rnp ov-e^'- n!' '''' """' '"'"''''"^''^ ^ ^r. Hoime ' dec.ded change in tiie ri^htSect J"^''"'^*"^^ '' '^"^'^ ^^'^^^ ^hoTa 4ne estabJishment of p..ni p ^^^^'^^; Pably the largest i^u'^el^e^'Se'c^ov!:'-"'^^^ ^'^^-°' ^^'-'^^P-- Hbove-namedcity, with a run oHJOO er^s f.M-^';!^'^ ^" '^V^'''^ ^'^'''^ "^ ^''^ 'Spring Valiev. Mr Von CM, Vi ^' ^^-^^"^ and growingstock in iounded a large estabfii"; ' '/ ^.^l^^^^^^^ the P..,,.- (^^JS 1 ointment as manager of the i onltrt u ^'^'- P'^e^ious to his a p-' I'eretore an anioun^t oi ixperie'^ice i^f thTi;^. "' ^"" ^^^^-"' '"'^l ''as arge numbers for market pMrZsesnof.vT'f',"^*'"^ ^^ PO"Jtry in son wiio Jias ever lived As iTi?^ e.xceeded by tliat of anv per- "'f highest aulhoritv^on th s • rH ."^"'r' * '^ '•^P"tation of' bei?,. «"b„nt a few statis,ics;,n,erbvhn:' Ir';"'' "'/'"^ business we every particular-difTerini- i t is resZ^ '.''"" '*^ depended on in inanu acturers. The establ /„ e„M E^?'''VV'-'*^«'''»'»«tineubat^^ scale than most beginners wr ,1 1 '"^'^i" ^P'otedison rather a lar-er enable t.^H.se unaeci'^laiirte,;- rm tr'u^ T' ^''^ ^'-™ '« oi the capital, etc., invested Tp Lf I '''•'*^'''^ '^"«'"<-'«s an idea houses, barns, incnlwfn^ I estimate includes evervthin.r '';'sket; brooC etc n^'cess^"'' T'^T' "■^"^' ^^'"'1 ""•! s 'b 1^,7 placed at $24,895.75 ' "''^'^'^'>'' fos^t''er with «,000 hens, which is XT , Expenses. ^^lanao:er^s sahirv, Assistant, . . ; 'i'wo nien at $500 •1'I,000 00 600 00 1,000 00 1,050 00 500 00 I tlllj ' 24: QUARTEKLY REPORT. Feed for 0,000 ibvvls $5,880 00 Feed, etc., for 2,000 pullets to 7 months, 900 00 Feed, etc., for 3,000 broilers to 3 months GOO 00 Half feed for 1,6GG chicks lost, IGG GO Loss of hens (six per cent)., 270 00 Lime and other wash, '• ^^^^ ^^^ Drugs, 100 00 Total, $12,26(1 (iO Receipts. 3,000 broilers at GO cents, $1,800 00 2,000 hens at 75 cents, . 1,50000 49,101 dozen e^ijzs at 30 cents, 14,733 30 Manure, 20 cents each fowl, 1,200 00 Total,. m.^^^ ^0 Expenses, 12,2GG GO Net profit, Ph^^^^ ^Q After having read with interest everything obtainable on poultry for the last thirteen years, the greater part of which we have experimented more or less, w^e have arrived at the conclusion that 'poultry properly managed will pay a handsome return. But he who undertakes it must not expect things to run along smoothly, without the constant attention and labor peculiar to this kind of a business. THE CREAMERY SYSTEM OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. By A. S. Cadwalladkr, Yardley, Penna, The creamery system of eastern Pennsylvania— which receives the milk daily from a number of dairies at one common ])()int or plant — may be either cooperative in its character, or the enterprise of an in- dividual, it matters not which ; and though com])aratively new is re- garded with much favor by patrons generally. This system has grown almost entirely within the last ten years; but its growth has been^ rapid, and now assumes large proportions, greatly to the advantage of the dairyman, as well as to that of the consumer of its chief product — butter. By the introduction of the creamery the farmerhas been enabled to largely change his course of farming, and at the same time make it more economic and profitable. Previous to the introduction of associated dairying, (known as the creamery system) the farmer of eastern Pennsylvania depended largely uj)()n the raising of cereals, wdiich brought hini into competi- tion with the farmers of the great west; where grain, in conseciuence of the low price of fertile land and cheap transpoitation, was raised and placed upon our eastern markets below the cost of producing by our farmers. This required the husbandman of this section of Penn- sylvania to look tor some industry that would prove more remunera- tive, and in consequence we have the associated dairying, or creamery The on "/ ^^^""sylvania. " ' ''' Proclucou more profitable tJie implement o7/h^ f- '^'"'^^ress effected methods of .1.; • and the' ^^^:1 ^^Z:iS[^^' '^^ ^^'^ ofh^^^rSf trS tJ'a/ they are m>t behind thoS^7n o, I «'''/• °"'' ^'^^' P'-Weto tJ e t-ict cenciiiugal cream separator whir.l/i.o i -^" ^^^^^ country the fiisf other machine 'brdairyi„ri, r ,^'^'J«„fitv' in hi.^h , "i;^^ ,?,-''^ '''^^^ ^'^^ • ^' J'.is secure a to U,e «enor,.d wealth oflhl's's'JSo*;' ' ''''' P''*'^'-^^' -"' "'- added j^;W^^l;:ii;y?--^^^ • Ihe great benefit of associated \^V„fi ^ ''"■^'-" niarket. pocket of the farmer, not to ?le ex?e f/"f^^-^ '•*-'«"'fs "ot to the neasured in dollars ^nd cents but en i \'' ^^"'^ ''^^^""^ cannot be serves the health and comfort of his ^ / ''%'''^™^'^d' as it pre mother's care to his chiMie^^*"^'"' ""^'^ ^"'l ensures' more of a that^heKn-lnThed.llrv'loI^r *'«^'^'. ^o '"arm dairving can forget --"..-ng, With - i.;:n£SJSS-Kr:n:7S; 23 Quarterly Report.- mort-rt.'es on the farm, luul no time for personal enjoyment no time "rfe^children's edu.iuion.no tin.e for her hnsband s spcie^;;^^^^^^^^^ T^erlr.DS the luirried meal time. It is too true, iliat larmers wives ttm£ i^-irne broken down an.l --cked-phys cu ly ami meji^a^ —because their strength was not equal to Hie re.iuiiements,oi to tliou ambition, to properly perform their «1='"T;;!"''V- ,„, 1,-,^ ,u,w hanT)ilv Rv the aid of the creamery system this time has now nappiij BaSed Tie IWmer can now' hire his diary wcH^k done by others as FvPlf.^it can .ossiblvbe done on tlie farm. He can have it dm.e Che u'Jr forth" eason that creamery butter will com.nand a price s;S:;tlyhi,l.er than tluitot; tarn, dairie. to The will com ime l."' «':".?,?' ";™;,, 'l":S butter than any other two houses in this count ly . John S. Martin & Co., Merchants. ^^^^^ York, November 23, 1SS7. A. S. CADWAT.T.ADftR, ^^^^ v Y'^'^^'^''^'^'/ [lu',. ^„,i v'lluo of Feuii.^vl viiiiia Creamery Dear Sir: With respect to the ciualit> '^^^IV >;'\lV.r] Stite -^ the Elgin, UL, ])utterin comparison with same -rade tiom ^e^^ ^ < rk_^„tate /Uia u ^, , ^^^^^^'^^^- We are, very truly yours, John S. Martin & Co. Office of James H. Seymour & Co., CommUsion Merchants. ^^^^^ York, November 23, 1S87. •egr ''TtV:''io[-Vv.omrnent on ,.,e wholesulo dealers of NOW ^^^^^^ es ablisluMl a uiaikot for print l.utter equal to tl.at ol I hiladcli.lu.i. pst'ihlis KM a market lorpriuL uuLLt-i ^.y^^^cvv »- - - . , ^ r.ntorDrisin*'- tl^!.; it NvouM 1.0 to tlH. i. t.-rest of ti.e V^o^^^^iy^^^^^^^^;^^^-^^^'^- enonRl. to ''O'^poto f<.r tlu.t Wass ol -o ds v 1 la.lU^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ [;^i^ ;^^;;lr..r n*-o';;rn^;^.:;uer?:l\oMa;. r.rc:;..ip;r!,"v!-ry livo?a...v «■... ...e promct. of Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. Pelmsylvania will not (all into that ^'rror ^^^.^^... -.„ ^,, ^j^,. j.^^.^est eastern mar- u^ove^'tr';v!:;i^n:'sial:;;^ -::r?^:^:;z^'V^r ; v'^.^; ::;:. p.!;. tuoir proatu. l;;r TL.c .narUets, U,o nu.ro ^-X^^:;::^^^^'^'^^; ,^,^ „. Skvmouk. The advanta<:es we claim for the creamery system are superior on . iU- . nifornTitv, hi-hest prices, saving by btiyinp; at wholesale sudi m e al are needed, and, finally relievin;. the (armer and his famUv f'rom the drnd<:erv of mani.facturinf.'. It is not pretended that a f er q. alitv of butter can be made than is done by a lew individual dairvmen, but we do claim that it is quite as good as the best, in -lual- P™V.V..M Bo.«0 0. ACK.Cia.„KE. intemlent^'o see t nf "l.v lis interest, but the rem?t^io„^w .•'^"'^ Properly performed K '"F liHT, at all times to .lohs | k 1/ r " ^'[^""'".v is at stake pronm? ness i. , ^ole\rn^!Z^i:'ZS^- '' ''=""^' --' «« the bnsi manufacture of "j,i]ted.^Cvit ,e cinematic splendor of' .he rainbow ■ '''''^1^' ^^ "«>t surpassing e ration of man. wl,e,l,er i e I e orn I, .1 ''^y^^^'^^^^ they are the adn habits so curious, and To, -^l Z i ' -^'^^^ ^ \Vi ," ^^dulaledfortlieprolcM^n f vlet'? m""'" '^'''■''' «« ddica te v lieir other gifts, it is no won e .('?;"' '"»'''"«'»""s song, added to he„.e of the poet, as well ' ' f e im hSr^V""' ^''^ «'oei? lalist. Rut III trealino- (Jip th^m. „ *^."inusiastic subject of the nafn o omit ihese a-stJiet^^p ^se S sci^'.'.H '""'/ '"" '■'■'''ct^^Ul' /S", "/./•rosan.ally "ari'in aspe,-(. That bir s exerckpM " especially, „„lv „. ,),eir •">(1 indirectly upon agriei tureT« «n i ""r"'^ ^""tl'icnce directh ( nil 23 QUARTEllLV RkI'OKT. gratitude and protecting hand anK>ng the m^ that ireciuent wood "!'*V'^'^^k'? "" u^en 1? what binls are beneficient decide justly, }'"l>=^f ;^">: p;''l^ fl'S .ds it careful stndy and ob- and what are liarmlul. lo \o ;, "^'/r!;^^! n,av occasion results very servation. A.i erroneous .)>\'l^«"e' t to »ec>; ^^ > disastrous also to t he disastrou.-at least to tl'^l7\;;°';'^^'" ."^^s^; d^^^^^^^^^ farmer, when he receives into I'^^.^JL':'' he ha^been betrayed and feathered friend, but ^'Bcoyerer er hat he^^^^^ y^^ ^^^^ injured. When the so-caedKn^U^l^P;^^^^^^ vears ago, was brought to t'^s countiv , u ^ ^,^j,^,, ^,,,, as a benefactor, =i".^,f ["-"P^V ^"^'•LP;^'^;,^^ ^.reatl v changed. At larmer-s opinion o tl''« ?[« '^ ^,f\f '\^; 2^ him. The s.une least, the a-gis of our statutes no longer snie'o ^.,ien in sprint vicious errovs'of .iudgnient -Jl^^^;^^"^^^^^^^^^^^ of binls time could be seen in aniost ^. .^^-^ ™f '^^^^ suspended in the dangling on poles and stakes, 1 Ue ^e s /^^.^^^ slaughter, wigwam of the savages, the ''';",';' Snicker, the blackbird, the Who has not s. en the poor crovv, l' .^.^ X.huVsu.nn.arilv executed, blue jay and >"«"y «|''^^r.ubli^^"e as a supp^ terror to all and exposed l'K;;Jf;;"^,!^"P'i^^^^,ir';erntual?y nailed to the barns naughty birds. Hie ha« k^ ana owis >v marksman, who or sheds, to gratify a morbid t«f ^ «'i tjie Pa t o tne ^^ ,^,j^^ pnded hi.nself m his skill •;\;\^"^f.°*.^bie sport of bovs, and not destruction of crows' nests ^^^.Vi.^^Srthe dangerous ascent to unfrequently they e>' f,-^^^,^;V;t-ant on ness, thousands availing cries for mercy. \'^"^' ''^f,'''. ,u„ge victims did not possess were slain without an -q"-^. JJ^l^^^^^ ej i.^.^frUnUe something to man's some good qualities to their *^'®- ,,'.„„ f^ discourage ladies of light "f .'f®'* °'"^. f rid ni)on vegetation and thus aidnii: ''"'*"'''' u ?rrrMrmerTarrnow better educated on birds, and the agriculturist. 1. 1 mers are now ^^^^^^ ^^ Pi^NNSYtVANu Board of Aohici:i,t,;kk. 29 Tooi^i / "^^'-^'>iv mamfeste'l by (he ^f rino... . i * ^ ^^^s improved and as melodious ,,"/"» '"""^' '""^' «« harbiuse spring andZSe. •l;e'rci"eLrfv'^""Vl'^""^^'' "- ^-'S n'onuiro;. stcxna prominent. Thev qtp xrr..o • ^^\^Jist, the robinand thecni hi.vi ■" >he »aso„ when ZiZi'sZTZo't?"'' ""O ■"" ""fcque y strucdon of the most ini irin ,« . ""' compensated hv I heir d/ eessant ^var. Tlietvi" S ons"rM;''rri^'l' '"'^y ^'^^^ " t 1 eadwell. establish conchisi "e ' "Lir ^re^t ' •'^'"'>' ""*' i^ro/essir llie experiments of the Jatfer ,'L\\T ^ ?^ services m this direction he robin require a va t amou.f .^/'""^il!' fr\ "'^^ "'« ^es CsZf '■"' >f'en-own weight bei^s e" .""nTbi H°'^~''''*-^" ^'^^ ^^"t. mo.^ liours, and, what is more, demonstrated ^ K^ •'"'""- ^^'•'1 ^'i^hin 24 ence. Some years a-o wl.on r • • ^" '^^ necessary to its exist '"ily examined the crop boi/'rtl.'r^ specimens for study I c^re were killed, and I was amSed -^ ^ ''"'^ ''''^ '''">' «"«' thev erous and Jepidopterous n ec s tfrhe.'rT ^''^ '''.'J^ ^'■'"'^^>' ^^ 'oleop^^ I have watched them for horns ci''-^^^ for their constantly clamorous ymm- an I . f '"^'^''^^ «f f«od btrawbeny brought to the nest to denAl {.'"^'"e'y saw a cherry or open there to receive food men Xvn" ^'"^ ^'■■'''*"^' '""""'« ever fly, I have noticed the mo her 1 rd iveri ">^ ""T ^""'^e enough to fave the nest, and as an e tlcement to tin'' 'f^'' ^*' "^^"'^ f'^^m to "'ejr strength, I have seen er Eh ,' ^T^' ^''^'" f« "'S'-t and to tes" or insect to draw them awav /Vo, 1" "^ "!"""' « coveted crul were perched. ^^ '' "'" *'^« ^'^S® of the nest on which They ani^lli;:!;;::,7rev^aferih r' -tr,'"'^' ^-^ ^'^--«- ^-^< ^^-wer the name Riven ,o Uie rob"n yLXtLT^'!'"'''''"?''^^' ^"''^-/'v Galeoscopetea caroHnrnsi, Tl.l llff '^ '' ^''?"*' ''"'' ^o (he cat bird njocking I,ini and Samnusc t fn ""'Y- '^^'"."••''"'•^ ""' ^^i'l' t e 9lotus. The distribution ^U.rro'bi ?s ^^^^^J^^L u"'"^ Z'^" ^^^-'Z iHeii> general throughout the 30 Quarterly Repokt. United Stales ; but the cat bird is more restricted in its geographical ran-e, but is found in all the Atlantic States and as tar west as the central portions of the United States. The time ot its arrival hero is much later in the spring than tlie robin. .^, ■ Tlie common blue jav of North America, Cj/anura cristata, is s) familiar to persons residing in country districts, that the mention .)1 ii name is suflicient to recognize the bird I refer to without adescrip tion of it. It is one of the few species that remain with us throu-li the winter and its many curious and interesting characteristics anM loud notes make it attractive, la many localities serious charges ol mischief have been made against it, and, in consequence, its reputa- i^L>n as a peaceable and useful bird has suffered. It is alleged, tliat it destroys the eggs and young of smaller species of birds and even some- Ume^kills them full grown! It is also charged, that, hke he crow and bhick bird, it pulls up corn, wh.^n the plant is emerging l^rom the .-■round I doubt if these charges are true, or proof surticientto estai.- fish them. But if thev were all true, its services to man, in the de- struction of his enemies, is more than outnumbered, ten iold. It is omnivorous, eating either animal or Vc-etable food, tliough with an ap- narent preference for the ibrmer, feeding upon insects, their eggs and arv latter, Q,^;seaU,s pr^j,^:^. ^^^ui:^:^^:^^:^;^^^^^:^- from Unry -' wt-ut'n'f f H.h'T:^ ^^^^ credit lor their good deeds '\-\J^\J.fJ^ . ^\'"">"t getting any cornfield, when the India con is ?', ■"•',',"' "'^'^^ '^«'"»"t «" t^'e against tliem • but the r cont, , f f "'' '' ''''° '^'■^'" remembered underrated. T Le Id c•^ . " '' '' ^"^^' unknown or t-armerlbr.J,e.rb,l ito£ ornr- "7'-^/^^!» compensate the confer in the ^^^r^^^^ ^:'^l^^^'r ^""\ "'^>' of arva% the secret ind ,1^.^,11 "J •' caterpillars and vaiiousk nds "months of March Vm- Ma ^nnr'"', "/ ^'^^etation. During: the ^yl.ol]yi„sects; and Srou-lmuttl ?;?"'• f '.' f"' "'""" ^«"^^ '' ^'i'""st |-ood. all of itt e niLt'Sirl ; i^ StS^nSo^^^^^^ United States, St«Svr^,?l7,,r,:,-,^'^ '"u '/"?'" ^'*^'^°"' "' "'« birds are ever much more no p!i !n u ^"^ *''^ ^^'^ ^^^ds of acts and the bh,ckbT.rt'r;r.^::^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ i'»e Lnghsh sparrow now re.,ni,-es our notice A hon^rj, ♦i,; i- , ^hfw?}^ T^ <|uarrelsomeness with other birds by driving themlrom the r accustomed haunts, and then installing ilsel'f in their pSsnr^ quite in keeping with its other unfriendly behavior t1 ■ ■ % gis l>ird l,y the public generally tlie^-^/oliire^V^d^ig^ Dr. F. II. IToadlv has summarized with great industry numerous on n ions, in reference to it, of observers throughout thelSsf des S and the verdict they render is, the Englisl%parn,w isagreat nuisance It has multiplied and spread with such rapidity that it isfbim 1 eJerT rers;ry:nT.P;o^rnH,""'-''"'^f '■•' from Maine to G.orgi""„,rf 1" r^orl !.7 I -^ '' , Cahlornia. A very exhaustive and intereslin- re- port of lis bird, may be found in reports of Department of A"rk-u1 ture of the United States, lor 188(1. The name, Kn-dis ismrfow i', « nnsnotner, and misleading, for it is by no means co.Sd to England 32 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 33 but is a native of nearly tlie whole of Europe. In Germnny, where it is (juite destructive they call it spatz vogel. The name, however, applied to it in this country, is now so generally establL-^hed that no change is likely to occur soon. Its scientilic title is Passer domesticus^ beloiui;ing to the FTinqillidia\ or linches. There is an interesting family of birds called raptores or birds ot prev, and all the members of which are condemned by public opinion, and iience persecution and destruction have followed them whenever and wherever opportunit v oilers. It includes the owls, the hawks and the vultures. Nature ha's constituted them with such rapacious dispo- sitions and furnished them with such lierce physical organs with which to procure their supplies of food, that in many respects, they are the acknowledged enemies of man atid beast. Their food is ex- clusively animal, and (excepting the vultures that mainly feed on car- rion or the dead carcass of animals) this food mainly consists ot de- fenseless birds, quadrupeds and reptiles. The owl seeks itm the still- ness of nidit, when their victims are unguarded and asleep ; the hawks, in the bla"ze of dayliii;ht when their victims are awake, and in quest of their own food, and^ the vultures by day or night, whenever the efflu- via from some dead animal reach their sensitive olfactories. The hrst is aided by a feline arrangement of the eye by which to see with scant light; the second b> a won lerful keenness of vision by which to dis- cern objects remote, and the last by an exquisite sense of smell. Al- though very rapacious and destructive of what is useful to man, the owl and the hawk kill and devour also an immense amount of small mammals, such as field and meadow mice, moles and slugs and be- sides many of the larger coleopetera. They thus compensate, to some extent, for their other harmful acts. The vulture removes ollensive and deleterious matter prejudicial to the health and comfort of man, and so in this way may be regarded useful. The good contributed by all these birds therefore should be considered, along with their offenses. All the other numerous families of birds that spend either a brief or protracted season with us with scarcely an exception are admitted friends and benefactors to husbandry. They are all (excepting a few called game birds) insect devourers, and most of them very uselul to man. The limits of this essay will not permit of more than the men- tion of some of them. Many of our useful species are by no means as numerous as in former times. Among the causes accounting for this is doubtless the fact that their haunts have been disturbed by the ever- increasing destruction of our forests. The appliances of modern civilization, towns and cities, light houses, spires and furnace stacks, also are the means of limiting their range or the instruments of their destruction. A few years ago I prepared for Davis' History of Bucks county, a catalogue of about all the species of birds found wiilu!) the limits of this county. They reached 229 in number. Since then a lew additional species have been seen within its limits. The l)irds that are included in the catalogue are those that are generally found in other parts of this Commonwealth, to a greater or less extent. All with the exception of the predaceous birds, the shrike or butcherbird and the English sparrow, are useful in ditlerent degrees, and in man- ifold ways to agriculture. Many of them are eminently, and others comparatively so. Th(\v an^ the warblers (a numerous family), the fly catchers (also a numerous family), the swifts (embracing the swallows and chimney birds), the wrens, the martins, the thrushes, the goat suckers or night hawk, whip-poor-will, etc., the nut hatches,,the chickadees or black-capped titmice, the blue bird, the indigo bird, the dii)pers,the creepers, the vireos. the chatterers, the tanager, the larks, the orioles, the hnches, the grossbeaks, the woodpeckers, the spar- rows and the beautiful swift winged little humming bird, the tiniest of our feathered friends, and whose food is mainly the numerous small insects found in flagrant flowers. And besides these, our so-called game birds, terrestrial^in their habits, the partridge, the pheasant, the plover, the' woodcock, the Wilson snipe, the bobolink in spring time l)elbre it becomes the reed bird or rice bird in the South, with a host of water birds, feeding largely upon insects and their larvcV, may all be classed among the birds useful to agriculture and in no respect, in this latitude, injurious. Hence from the foregoing list maybe seen the great preponderance of the useful over the injurious species of birds. THE BENEFITS OF FARM ACCOUNTS. By Isaac Eyre, Ne^rtown^ Bucks county^ Pa. Having been requested by a member of the State Board of Agricul- ture to prepare a paper on the subject of farmers' accounts, etc., but not understanding exactly what was wanted, prepared the following. Having been in the practice of keeping an account for the past forty- .ol; the first lour loads averaged $10.71 per load. As everything he had to sell was low he had to be very careful of his expenses and not buy anything that could be done without, or get any unnecessary things done. It did not do in those time to give a man $4 or $5 to clip a pair of horses or mules, and $6 or $8 for blankets to cover them with after they were clipped. Hay and grain continued low during that year and the next— hay taken to Philadelphia w^as sold for $9 per ton; corn hauled to Bustle- ton brought 40 cents per bushel; oats sold for 27 cents and wheat 90 cents, f^ut in 1846 the Irish famine came on and grain went up, and part of that year's corn crop was sold for $1.25 per bushel, part of the oats crop at GO cents per bushel, wheat at $2, and other things in pro- portion. 1 .^1 i. ..1 This did not last very long, as his accounts show that the average price of the oats crop of 1848 was 33x'o ^*e»^ts per bushel, corn 58| cents and wheat $1.10. Prices continued in this way for several years. Many farmers com- plained of hard times, but those who kept careful accounts got along safely. Afterwards land went up in price, and some who had got their farms cheap sold out at an advance, and others bought at the advance. ^ . .i • About 1800 was a good time to commence farming, as everything w\as then low— oats 35 cents, corn 62^ cents, hay 70 to 80 cents per cwt , wheat aV)out $1 per bushel, and many things they liad to buy were also low— coal $3.50 to $3.75 per ton. When the war came on everything went up, and before the crops of 1864 were all sold hay was $1 85'^per cwt, oats 95 cents per bushel, corn $1 70, and wheat $3. But the things the farmer had to pay for also went up— harvest wages were $3 per dav, fresh meat was 25 cents per pound, and sugar 20 cerds, molasses was $1.50 a gallon; but about the greatest advance was in the taxes In 1865 the State and county tax on a farmer with 145 acres of land that cost, in 1862, $100 per acre, amounted, with the discount off, to $226.09; school tax, $87.90, and the income tax $106.92. Besides these, there were township assessments to clear the township of drafts, etc., so that the whole tax paid that year was $555.74. Therefore all the advance in grain, etc., was not clear profit. Then was the time to make money and save it. But many farmers got into extravagant habits and let their luxurf/ page get filled up too last, so that when farm produce went down they had work to make both ends meet They were especially extravagant in buying high-priced horses, and keeping too many of them; more than half the farmers in the lower end oT Bucks county now have more liorses and mules than are actually necessary for doing their farm work. Supernumerary horses are about the ])Oore8t stock kept on the farm, as they eat up all the profit that is earned by the useful ones; and the man who is careful to keep his accounts will be surprised to find how much it takes to keep a couple of extra horses. 36 Quarterly Report. For fear that some of the young people present may neglect to make the necessary calculation to ascertain whether I am correct in stating that the farmers who make a living clear of the interest on the capital invested in his farm will get rich in thirty years, I will state that the savings will amount to $26,51)9.71 in that time, $12,375 of which is interest on capital, and $14,224.71 is interest on the interest, which amounts, at live per cent., to the sum of $1,829.98 annually, or plenty for a family to live on who has been economical enough to save that much. There are tenants on a good many farms w^ho are paying more than $412.50 rent per year for farms that would not bring $8,250 if they were put in the market, and yet they live very comfortably and re- spectably, and many of them have large families who are to be clothed and educated. Therefore, I say farming is a good business. If it was expected that I had ke])t such an account of the cost of producing each crop that 1 would be able to state the exact protit there was in raising a crop of wheat, or oats, or corn, I must say I have not done that, but 1 can tell how much money I received for what was sold out of each crop, and how much I paid out for hired help, or for lime or manure, and for each one of the other items men- tioned in the fore part of this paper, and I wxmld advise all farmers who have not been in the habit of keeping accounts, to commence doing so without further delay. I will just mention that an alarm clock and a good lantern are two very important articles for any one to have wdio expects to make a living by farming THE FLORA OF BUCKS COUNTY. By Miss Belle Vansant, of Buckiufjham, Buckc county, Pa. Grant Allen says, "The botanist usually has a low oi)inion of the agricultural interest.^' In a county having as diversified a surface as Bucks the botanist has an extensive range for his research outside the cultivated fields, while the farmer has every opportunity of acquiring some botanical knowledge, which he may apply in exterminating from those fields all olfensive and hurtful weeds. Bucks county, situated as it is, with the Delaware running its entire length, with its rich soil, its ranges of high hills, its bogs and marshes, and its different geological formations, presents as rich and varied a tlora as any county in the State. Already over twelve hundred species have been classified, and there is no doubt but that there are si ill others hid aw^ay in some sheltered nook or crevice awaiting the eye of the fortunate naturalist. The banks and high bluffs along the Delaware are remarkable for the beauty and great abundance of their bloom. All the early spring llowers are found there in great profusion; but midsummer is the sea- son it reaches its height of glory, wlien for miles the bluffs are clothed with the delicate pink and wdiite tints of the rhododendron and laurel. These belong to the large family of heath, rricacew, which comprises Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 37 such well known plants - the huckle^3^ T^^^^^^S^l^^S arbutus and the ^-^^-^^'^^^^^ S relative, the like a ghost irom beneath the ^1^^^^^^^^^ occasionally found, lazily Monotropa hypopitys, or P^'^f J*^/^?. '^ .^^ j^^^,^ vigorous subject. living out its ^^.^f ^"^V^'^^\ ^raie species of clematis, ClJmatis ver- Coexistent with tlie au^^^^^^^^ .^^ ^^^,^^ ^zV.Z/ams may be found in the ^^^^^^^ Hower of the Clematis ■Pir'°''!;rS'Sf "bi"',.* 'or ihe ,l,„d„de„.lro„ fallen before the °''''';;l°Sed » f ai d be e with the sra»ful 'W'^"*, *>"""« ";?"■ ows are aoitea neie duu. y.iv^v r- rn, «pveral varieties crowded racemes of rose color ""J.^'^f "^^^'^V Xe^' * ^^* '^"^^^^^ „r the senus ruhus jirowinfi in Bucks county, wmcnii. j iarde.r will in time intrud^ The Ruhus <>'^<='{^''';^"^^^^^^^^^ careful attention lo covered by the soil. c,..,ttered more or less all over the Oir from the river, perhaps, but scatteieci "1"^^ " j^ j ,t soon followed by the o«»I«te, of « ''I ™ „Ste*8te" . R"'« '<■'"-•<«'■ 's s ?i;r;srSouVroli"lro:;'t: \.^^ m.^, ^..■^- foot, which makes, as Hawthorne says, " V gusli of violet along a wooded path." This with its h.ndsonte 'f e'J^'-^^.-f-'S^.f.^irsioro" FCt deep violet «"<1 ''''« ''^« »,,P,";'7h',, ^^ !' Vl „',™pedes.with sev ;!;:n;sr'of"'thS' u"'Lt. sriilrwhich i Avlnr-h it receives its name. " iJ.'uS^n 'SeT:,;nX: plant, ofsreat beauty if space pert^.tted 38 Quarterly Report. Tennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 39 to meniion them. The sabbatia, American centaury, is one of our loveliest llowers, and in llie same family, but ap])eann<^ later in Ihe season, the frin*;e(l gentian deii<;:hts us with its heavenly blue. A low- land covered with the scarlet painted cup presents an enchanting scene, and when we look upon the bright purple ilowers of the rhexia we are reminded that it, indeed, is the '' meadow beauty." Returning again to the Delaware river region we iind'by the middle of August the autumnal colors, yellow and puri)le, are beginning to prevail. In the lowlands the sunilower and iron weed have taken'^the place of the daisies and buttercups, while on the liillsides the Virginia anemone and harehall have been displaced by the golden rods and asters. These bring us to that large and perplexing family, tlie com- positas an order which comprises one tenth the Ilowers of the globe, and although furnishing us with a wealth of ecstatic beauty and astore' house of medicinal virtues, is the family which chietly strikes terror to the heart of the farmer. Others may have just as pernicious weeds, but none takes greater precaution against having them exterminated than the composita\ Just as instinct teaches animals to light for tlieir young, so nature teaches menaced ])lants to arm themselves against threatened depredations of their seeds and blossoms. So we see the composita^ has taken various means to have its seeds widely scattered and well preserved, either furnishing them with wings to be wafted about by the wind, as the dandelion and thistle, or as the burdock, having Ihe ripe Jlower heads equipped with prickly points, w^ith which it is unconsciously borne to its place of deslination, far re- mote from the parent. The importance of which is well known to the tlower. Long before scientific farming had learned the svstem of ro- tation, hundreds of plants had found it out for themselves^ as they can no more thrive on the same spot year alter year than can the cereals. Since we lind that troublesome i)lants have a variety of means ibr promoting their existence, it is well lor the farmer to know somethin'>- of the peculiar habits of the individual with which he wishes to coif- tend. A ])lant that spreads entirely from its seeds must be difierently treated from one that propagates from the roots, while annuals are much easier kept in subjection than perennials. As a large majority of our weeds are foreigners, two questions present themselves to the farmer: How did the plant get on his faring and how shall he get it off ^ In getting rid of a weed he has a double duty to perform, for while he is endeavoring to have certain plants attain their utmost, he IS trying to prevent the growth of certain others that naturally avail themselves of the same favorable conditions. As the nature^ the soil has much to do with the plant life, draining would certainly be a means of rendering subservient to the farmer's will those coarse weeds so common to meadows and wet places. Dr. Darlington gives this as a general rule for extermination • ''Do not let weeds flower, and do not let them breath, for the leaves are the lungs of the plant, and it cannot long maintain itself without them." '* Tl)o daisy or else the eye of day, The Kini)r(?8s and flower of Howerets all.'' may have been pleasing to the eye of Chaucer, but when the farmer sees It gradually creeping over his well-tilled fields he fails to appre- ciate such enthusiasm. Introduced from England to adorn our parks the ox-eye, or white daisy, has been harvested year after year with the farmers^ gram, until it is now spread far and wide over the country To scatter it requires no tact, to annihilate it is a problem for the reason become extinct ,li. .t ml a* pt » Pr"''Xwe 1 to stand in moleste.l """,■ '"'1Vli'e°rvo" alSt, lyTi . P ife Ih, root l»lire the seeds attention of the timer by its eno|,,«ct>n|te^ iiit.^ru'^^nllsrGiir!;;:.":;';:™^^^^^^^^ ■"!15i,'X:rrif™"£"\tfert-S:i"'beco„,i,..eKten,iveb- JrcL\°:,'™wee| T,,e,,u,,lein. TJ^^^^^^^^^^ tavm are very fannl a. ' ^J,;"" *!'',, 'Xost al localities. The latter ''■¥,r'ti'?orki;!T'ri;;erhe pinit f.™.y is ^ i;i2.f'ii,isS'if;i:e'i:Si,o;,rr:;n',^!iy^ manufactured flour. ^ ^^r.fnr of ihe farmers knowledge. farmer ought to be at constant war aie,ese^^ ^ ^^^^^^ dwelling places. Many Imve a ead-^ become a ^ with this contention, and have t'^l^en p Uiei aboae a^ on the roadsides and lence ^";y . .^^^''^^^^^f.^^^vWes for the wantsof SiJ rSfessly^overturned ^^V t^^P^- -d ; 1-^^^^^^^^^^ ,,, ,,,,,, Products whose natural I'-'^^^^imi^ Sanffuirmria tZZ:^^ tdSi;^..i' wirpet"; add a ci:?.rm .0 the med. I 40 Quarterly Rkport. icinal cmalifies of its rant , 't is pleasing o , e "' ^ «!'- '^ ^ l^e able to idenf^lV ''"''' ''^"'^ ^'^ A Jii-|,iv inerp..; , «i<-estiy, ig also /«„n,I in of itsoij" V, eh „Th '" ^''^^ ^t'-'te of New York 5f f'""^^" PWrita, dittany nenm r i^""' '"^'"'^^''-^ of the mint fi' m ^ ^'^^ '"■'"nfacfure ture, and wi K: h^ ?"'''"" ^''"^ ^''ees are tirii^T ^^^ ^«""er to' I'as forests ,ecuUa.tl'fi''r^' ^"""^^'^ «re 'netftaS '^T'"' 'j'" ™°^«- stand tJie traim f f . ' ^^'imate. Hence it i, In • ■'^^■*''*>' latitude troduction^c"n\? ttdiet ''T J'' "-«-«' "^Kll'S J? "•""- as tovverinc. pi,^ "' If" ."'l ^''^ ••"«* of t) e fre" 1^' ,|<^'»Pe.-ate climated n^"t feivtJ^^^ -r, ferns are limited, we S I^ ^''T7^ and a. time and snL '^ r'^^^^^^s do -n-ntthata;vStlTS;;;„!-^.;;i;r>a^^^^^ THE PRESENT DEPRESSION m AG^,, . REMtg?'^^LTUBE ITS CAUSE AND By Joseph Fi.ovvKn.,7^,,, „„^. It seemed proper to r • , — i- '' '''"'* '■-«'^. ^- . . Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 41 I i treat the subject under these separate heads. In our opinion no sub- ject is of more interest to the agriculturists of this country : no theme of more vital im])()rtance to the natioirs prosperity, and no question more worthy the careful consideration of a I'armers' institute than this. Prosperity among the agriculturists means national prosperity, while, on the other hand, depression, discouragement and poverty, long continued jn our great army of food producers, indicates the ap- proach of national decay and bankruptcy. This is the lesson derived fram the careful reading of the history of many of the great nations that flourished in by-gone years. Is it a fact that the present condition of agriculture is depressed ? Are farmers, as a mass, being poorly paid tor their toil ; or is the declaration only an assumption^ An individual experience as a farmer during the past twenty years, together with a somewdiat care- ful observation covering the last ten years, convinces us tliat the declaration is no myth, but a stubborn reality. So clear is this fact to the mind of every thoughtful observer that we will not dwell upon it, but simply ask you to consider the average low price of staple farm products for ten years past, coupled with the present failure to sell real estates, that is being so largely offered throughout the country, because of the extreme low price that can be realized. What better proof of the truth of the proposition than the last fact'i' Let us now pass to the second ])ortion of our subject. What is the cause of this depression'^ We fancy we can hear as many different reasons given as there are individuals in this audience. ''Buying too much machinery!" ''Spending too much for hire!" "Too light crops!" "Chea3 freight for western produce!" "Too little tariff on raw material !" " Too extravagant in the preparation of food," and a host of other similar reasons, all of which may have a local or indi- vidual significance, but no one, nor all combined in our opinion, reaches the underlying cause. That is found in the fact that a large part of the profit due the great armv of farmers is wrongly absorbed by otiiers ! We desire to have thisVeason understood. Discrimination by our carrying companies, unequal and unjust distribution of the burden of taxation, and the utter disregard of the rights of the producer and citizen by giant mo- nopolies, and the continual violation of all laws enacted by the people to protect themselves against their greed and avarice. We have thus, fellow-citizens and brother farmers, stated the cause of our depression in as short a sentence as possible, so that you can bear it in mind. Would that more time was at command for the con- sideration of this question, and that an abler pen than mine was being used at this time to discuss it. We can only touch upon each point for facts to sustain the reason above advanced. First. In regard to freight discrimination we will present a few points: A Philadelphia flour manufacturer recently received two car-loads of wheat; one from the city of Lancaster, Pa., the other from Chicago. The freight on the former was the most. Again, at th(^ same time, the farmor of Mercer, Crawford and adjoining coun- ti(>s— this State— paid seventy-five (75) dollars freight on a car-load of livestock to the seaboard, while the same quantity was carried from Chicago to the same destination for forty (40) dolhirs. Another illustration, a homelv one. The farmers residing along the line ot the Bound Brook railroad from Yardley to Langhorne, this county, a dis- tance from Philadelphia vary from twenty eight to twenty-one miles, in 42 Quarterly RjipoRx. rvi Poi a;^'^:&n rS;;,^;;-^:'^^^?«rtee„ cents pe.,....ared 1 es, we are bein^^ so we][ exDrSse^) V IV'-''' ^™'^-" being squeezed out of our b,slnfs?.uu] .Y.''"';"^^"« "'^t ti.e Jife is .,*'"r"" P''oviiiKtlie great r^iilmn,! ,;^ '^estiinony is entirely one '"seeoS %r ^'^'^ Co'-'iSif """^"^^^« «"''^>^ of a eonuS elain. „teVh:„":rSssiLf;.^oti^e^"tf ^^^ «^ ^-''^^ion .ust but he injustice extends e/sewbeVp A" ""o'^' 'P^^'^ of our own State emphatically that - The burdln JV ^?- ^^^^'^ Conslitulion rk. ll ' all classes of proper! V" Tl. •<- i taxation shall bear euu- Ik ,,. 'i'hirtvei.d.fV'is^ •^■•n- ^O'^sit? equally upon classes of governn/enr i'l''! '^*''^"''' ^''^ required annuallr in . I'n 1QCI ,,'-■", ''""'lent — State, couiitv nn/1 r,>. ^' """"an^ to run all 0) nSlf '■^•'^ f"j millions remaining three In. n,WT''i '^ real estate; of the siv dealers as mercantile tax tS /""^ ""« ^^it^ie Mill be djsoprsprl r-"-d,5[ ESS ' '^™ *M ;=' farmer would tind a ready m^ro7f. '^ '"'"^^ be booming and the this, but his county taVum,' i ?'' '''^ ^"''^■"8 products Mnf ^ , TheIntP«ff /. ""*' i« due to the liquor Pennsylvania Board of Aguiculture. 43 to solve are gigantic ''trusts," or syndicates, which devious corpora- tions "corner" the necessaries of lii'e and work injury alike to the farmer as a producer and the laboring man as a consumer. The following extract from literal New Yorker is appropriately ad- mitted here : '' The entire business of the country is being rapidly organized in the form of great ' trusts ' or syndicates. The system is very profita- ble to those who embark in it, hence nearly all interests are seeking to organize in that way, and every one of them appears to be combin- ing against the irreatest of all — agriculture. AVith syndicates to con- trol tiie prices of everything the farmer has to buy, while he is utterly unable to inlluence the prices of what he has to sell, what chance has he? His buying prices are determined by combinations of domestic manufacturers and merchants; his selling ])rices by those ruling in the markets of the world. Not only are the great trusts combined against him, but in every line of manuTactures there are combinations for keeping or putting up i)rices by which he is the principal sutferer. It is in times of low prices, like the present, that these burdens are felt most oppressively, yet it is just such times of low prices that anti- farmer trusts, syndicates and combinations appear busiest in devising means for still further depleting the farmers' pockets. The farmers' losses thiough drouth alone this year are estimated at $300,000,000, and they will probably exceed that enormous sum ; but anti-farmer syndicates are multiplying and the old ones are gouging the farmer as liard-heartedly as ever." Much more might be said upon the different points presented, and other minor causes might be dwelt upon with profit, l)ut perhaps enough has been advanced to awaken thought, and we wall now^ pass to the third and last division of our subject. AVhat is the remedy? We answer without hesitation — only by a thorough national organiza- tion, can we combat these great evils and relieve our calling frorn the heavy burdens under which it is groaning. Public sentiment is . crystalizing upon the idea. The Solebury Farmers' Club, an association of more than local celebrity, last summer decided that the time had come for farmers to organize, and urged the formation of clubs in every towmship. The agricultural journals and many level-headed editors are advising simi- lar action. Engaged as we are in an industry which numbers in the ranks of its workers 52 per cent, of the whole population ; which represents in the value 01 our land and buildings more wealth than the paid up capital of every other class of industry combined; which furnishes 75 per cent, of our revenue, and which pays 80 per cent, of the taxes of the country, why should we not have some say in the Nation ? Why sliall we not demand the fair enforcement of our laws? Why should w^e not throttle all these monster nionoi)olies, before they squeeze our • life entirelv out. and ruin this fair land ? So plain'is the spirit of unrest which is disturbing the serenity of the agriculturists, and so urgent is the necessity for us to organize that it is noticeable by attentive observers outside of our ranks. We f^el that no confidence will be betrayed bv the presentation of the following extracts from a letter received a few^ months ago from Judge Yerkes, of this county. We (piote :—'' I have not failed to note that the farmers of the land have shouldered the unusual and unecpial burdens which Ihev now bear with characteristic dignity and manly IS *i 44 Quarterly Report. II tt'S favored, are e,an.o..o„s to •' It seems to me that bis unequ , s ?a 'n^ T" '' ««"<^^^«i«"« event, the farmers of the co "."tr? s ouhl .^.. 'n '""" ^"^- I" any nnd power which their DosiZn n;,,V f ir "^ '''''' ''«^®'"t the iiillnence About the san.e time Senator Geol^pi''^^^ ^"^"^^ ^''e'" 'o lufll " ers may Jiave borne with bwitnde tllP ' '''''"' •'-" ^^'''^'^^ '""• farm- wonhl have lessened uS."l ad JevbeenT.' "I 'i'"'^^? "M^ey certainTy -;; .n protests and "^emoriais^rer^nsTlt T^t^s "^^ Z^^^ in F'liSp^SXe :/Si;;;{^^^ P™^-«ve Association," in New York; the "FanSllHf .,?^' "^wV'^ ^^"''^ Association " other associations for the uromo on .f °' t'f Northwest, and many excellent in their line of ST a^d I Jave'^'V/ •""^^'- ^^'''*^«« '^^^ ^^ Jorthem; bnt they ^re local in their ,Vfl„i'"^' ^-"^ " ««"»^ ^'^'"an- If, however, the Grange doesTiot melf ^ '"T '''"''^''-^^ ^'iti^ens. association which does, tbr o^o^ ^S^i^^^:;,^^ ^^^ -^ THK :.....,,, °S.-| ----^.A. PH.SS O. XH. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 45 By W. G. JiKRRv, irnastonville, Pa, res^ptU^JoS prj^^^^^^^^^^^ the news?" the our country?" The an wer wm hi cerH nl "l '^.« '^''tical aspect of while all agree that farmers sho hl^ »■■ ^V ^''« negative; and they may cast their balh^fs in f u-o of , ^"■'•^"t'y well informed that interests i..,e halls of legislUr,^ ;^/Jl--^o,^^^ ^;^^ n)i.htin,uire;Do you refer might remark, however, in D.,,sn" I. f f."* ''"s^'^nhl he ,„.. We to uphold trulh, and the r ig roTSl n .''' '"''"• «.'>""1^1 '>e concerned ''Ega^K !;^: Z^T ™^^ Stl" ''''-'- '« --^'it> the answer lould ' Jo'al ^ C " D^'d " '''''''^ ''^ ^^ ^ " The y oe uo J ou inquire in regard to the agri cultural development of our great nation?" I answer yes. This question is faiilv before us; indeed, have we not met lor the express purpose of healing the latest news in regard to questions ot interest to farmers? . ,, ,,, . ,^ „ ,, As the value of land steadily advances in the Ohio ^ alley, as the the cost of farm labor is the problem for the agriculturists to so ve vear after vear, we are, as from a force of circumstances, compelled to inquire as to new methods by which we may derive sufhcient rev- enue from our farms to be able to give those who are growing up around us the education necessary that they may be successlul as tillers of the soil in the future, and that we may provide comlortable homes for ourselves and our children, and be able to enjoy the pleasure of visiting those who are recognized as prominent and successtui farmers and stock breeders, and to entertain any who nnglit be dis- posed to return our visits. , xi 11 -f J- We insist that there are no classes of persons better able, it so dis- posed, to have pleasant homes, well furnished and surrounded by neat and well-kept lawns, and, as a rule iu the Ohio Valley, it care is ex- ercised in the selection of the farm home, there can be an abundant supplv of water, and often as convenient as in the city home; and where natural gas is accessible for light and fuel, why should the farmer not enjoy life as much as his city cousin ? But is this the rule ? Note if vou please, as you pass from point to point, either by rail or in convevance on the public road, the dillerence in the general ap- pearance of farm homes. To the close observer there is written on the surroundings of many farm homes, as plain as il there was a sign disnlaved. that there never was pleasure or real enjoyment in tliat home,*but at the next turn of the road, perhaps, with less natural ad- vantage, there meets the eye a scene so dilferent trom the one just passed, that but few will fail to note the dirterence Now why is this ■' There must be some reason to cause this marked contrast, which but few of you have failed to note as you journeyed from your homes to the sessions of this institute. As we have remarked, there must be some influence at work in the latter case that is not brought to bear in the former, and as we believe all will recall to mind such scenes as have been described, there must be but one conclusion. And now let us incpiire as to the reasons, and ask the question what inlluence is at work that makes one man a suc- cessful farmer, that makes everything about him seem to enjoy lite better than the man who, as far as comfortis concerned isallat failure. The latter labors just as hard as the former, with his hands at least; un early works late everv day in the week, and yet his farm will not •dve the return that his neighbor's will. And the question na urally arises, does the unsuccessful farmer study his ,l?"«'"f ^„f .,fi?f^„''.« his neighbor? does he read the experience ol others, both their suc- cesses and theii failures? or does he exchange money lor experience? Tr h slorrioes he read up his business? And, my tnends, this brings us fairly to our subject, "What is the influence of the agri- cultural press on the general farmer? " . , Allow me to sav that I have no axe to grind or no hobby to ride, nor do I claim that any one of the many agricultural journals has reached the top round of the ladder; but, on the other hand, tj.ere is ■ uom for imi.rovement in the best, and as the country grows older and becomes more densely populated, new fields will present themselves to be occupied by the journalists. t- 46 Quarterly Report. l»llyorplij-sically; who doe? ,"5 i , ' "" •'"= I'""" «tJlei- ,„,„ t'isiness, ,1,(1 are not ,I„,, ,„ . ,""«i«gemerit that tliev use in 1 ' aMo the best way'S ^^£ ,^-' -■-■.v.h,„e „,a, „,,, Z^,:" ,'hem iiMi.-li as l,is hand,. '' "'"' ■" ra-iii«ger must use his brai,,"™ .ha^r;;;t\^;,';^ii,'S-^ l^^yi;ps%7;.-/£r!L°';~p^^ ■ i=::;?ion?;;s,atJ'-o"^S -'^ '"..ler different departments and i^ "''^'''" *''« «=»'»« puEL^s to manage a farm without keJlT'' '^" '^^ ^^'hatfanner attemo « sectio,^ at least, tinsrul s pTivSnH';?. T ^'^^ "^« «'ock. In"t,us ?" ,^'^t <^.evote their at.entio o i±.,V:^!l '" ^"<;-' '-■"« of p„bli. Pknnsylvania Board of Agriculture, 47 an n ue„4^ ;f^'^!"^"«««*-oth and as h^Sv as possSr'A"!"^' ^^•"ph^Uicaliv ^o "'^^1';;;"^ '^='\i".^' .«» interest i„ the arliele, ,s the ! ™i'': "f "" '"" '"•"»""= *• e or we ,«^.here are ,„„„„„, l.«^.S ! tie from ben.l,,„ar(ers." " *" '^*''' '^^'"^^.y ^"'J get a car load of cat -And a ihon<'|] lio i.o.i i -j , "» <-dc- Not forgetHn- fh„ -i '^'^ent and prosper- as fri le agricnl.urai pre s fmn. n " «"^ 'oHowc-d (be >] "I"^'"" '"'•?« tan/ing the handsome sum of I Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 40 $142.00 per acre net gain after dediiclin*; tlie cost of ralsinji; tlie crop, including labor, manure, and rent of land, wliirh amounted to nineteen cents per bushel at first cost. The yield was at the rate of two Imndred and sixty bushels per acre, of the Mammoth Pearl variety. Without doubt 1 shall conduct the experiment furtlier and on a larger scale. , • ii Has the advertising department of the farm journal any intluence on our farmers' Yes, we believe that through this medium tliere lias been a marked improvement made on our ilocks and herds; also the manufacturers of improved farm machinery are lu t slow to avail themselves of the use of printers' ink, and we believe that the man- agers of agricultural journals secure their share of the patronage. Proprietors of agricultural papers should discriniinate closely as to what and who shall have a place as advertisers, as we claim the patrons have a right to demand that no one should have a place m the columns of tlie farm paper except the editor is satisfied that the party himself is reliable and will make good all contracts entered into in good faith. Second, that the stock, imi)lements, or anything else has merit and will be as represented, and should complaint be made in regard to anv advertiser by responsible parties it should be im- mediately investigated, and if necessary the advertisement thrown out. _ . , ,, , jBut let us stop for a moment and consider the changes that are o^radually taking place around us, and to those who are older ihese things are more striking than to young men. How gradually has the sickle, the cradle, the reaper given place to each other, and now the position is occupied by the binder; and what will take its place I leave lor some one else to predict. The same could be said ot the Hail ; next the thresher, lollowed by the thresher and cleaner; lirst operated by horses and now by the traction engine, and each ibllowed the other in rapid succession. \V e could note the improvement in plows, harrows, and the many imple- ments now in use at this time, and could we not attribute their suc-^ cessful introduction to the inlluenceof tlie advertising department ot the afl coniiniz under their observation. And if the influence of the agri- cultural press on the «^eneral farmer means commodious, comfortal)Ie and handsome farm-houses, large, attractive and convenient farm- buildings, not forgetting the tool house witJi a place for everything and everytliing in its pLace, the use of the latest imi)roved macliinery. keeping the best of live s'ock under good shelter, growing and curing fine clover hay and feeding tlie same so as to make all available manure, saving l)()th li(pii(l and solid voidirgs of all farm stock by providing abundant bedding so as to absorb the former, and by judiciously applying this manure with thorough tillage of tlie soil, thus increasing the yield per acre and reducing the first cost of products of the farm, we say, if it is doing this and nothing more, go on in the good work. Indulge us while we call your attention to one other point. No one will question but that the inlluence of the agricultural pres^ deserves a ])rominent place in the organization of farmers' institutes in the Ohio Valley, and can any candid man help acknowledging but that these institutes are having a mighty intluence for good on the general farmer in this section. And as w^e hear the discussions on many im- portant questions, there are but few iriends who w^ill not be the better of having heard them, except those who are too lazy to put into prac- tice any of the ideas advocated. And my advice to'those who believe there is more room at the top is to read the best agricultural journals that are published, and as many as can be afforded. Come to the in- stitute next year and hear the news. A FE\\r OBSERVATIONS AND A FEW CONCLUSIONS. By R. L. 'Mil Us CKjCaiioiisburgy Pa, My first impulse was to give you some instruction, but before I had gone far that impulse had forsaken me and 1 cling to the hope of entertaining you, but remembering that wuth that talent only a few are blessed w^e turn to the subject and ask yonr indulgence while we l)lace before you a few observations, and then I wilT call on you to draw with me a few conclusions. Old and experienced lecturers would soon have you basking in the same sunshine that warms their imagination, one will be all Short- horn, another black and white, another Jersey red, silage and potatoes, clover and clover sick, factories on the cooperative plan, some all hay and nothing more. I am almost wicked enough to say they would make you hear the dollars clanging as they fall one after the other into your pockets, lifting you to the plane of independence, ease and comfort, in many cases more imaginarv than real. Here I want to make the first observation, that although it is convenient to be always making a great deal more than you are spending, or in other words to have a good bank account, it 'is not always conducive of the most pleasure and h.ipiuness to yourself and t^amilv, many men will have more pleasure in good horses, tine sheep, fat hogs, sleek, well proportioned cattle, good buildings or a well-tilled farm. They will have more pleasure, I say, in these than a long line of figures representing their money at interest or probably locked up in some I bank, idle so far as they know, but in all probability loaned out to some needy, striving neighbor at exorbitant interest ])aid in advance, only loaned for thirty to sixty days at a time and then must be re- newed with iron-bound note and good security, or no go. Could not the one have helped himself by charging a moderate rate of interest, payable when the note is due, or annually '( would he not be helping himself to a place of honor and esteem by assisting the other to meet some demands that are necessary to the comibrt and happiness of himself and iamily ? or where is the woman who would not rather have a nice cari)et^ neat furniture, good walks, convenient sinks and sewerage, a good wire clothes line and a place tohang it out of harm's way, a good chicken house and yard, than to know where in some old din'ii:y piece of furniture the little bank book is hid with its long line of CTedits and only a few debits, lor school tax, road tax, county tax written in evident pain and misery? It never seemed to me that there was as much of real joy and com- fort shown by families who only had tlie money-making motto betbre them, as there was by those who used it with moderation and intelli- gence as they went along. I have been puzzled sometimes to know where the brute quit and the man began, lor like beasts of burden, they arise in the early hours of morn', toil till late at night, then he down and are soon oblivious to all surroundings. The next day is a repetition of the last, thus year in and year out they wear their lives away. They die ; that's one sure thing, and the only true eulogy that is pronounced over them is, he was a hard-working, industrious man. She was a hard-working, industrious woman. We might exclaim in the language of the poet, for this is only a mild form of suicide, '- Earthed up here is an imp of hell planted by Satan's dibble," etc. Did you ever observe in others or feel in yourself a sort of inspiration, a kind of lifting up, a forgeM'ulness of all but the present, a wild long- ing to be there if you are not, when you pass an imposing residence, one that seems to hide in the very heart of all the comforts this world affords, a smooth, green lawn, trimmed shrubbery, neat flower beds, an enticing shade, winding walks to allure us from a straight, swift en- trance "or departure, a^neat front door and the signs of life and ease within? Did you ever observe how everything there seemed to be in harmonv with nature's good order and only waited to sound the praises ol the hand that helped them up to nature's God? On the other hand did you ever observe in your goings to and Iro the common sight of an untidy, unkept looking abode, where the yard and fields are one and the same, or what is worse the yard fence peeping out from behind briars, burs and weeds of every descrip- tion * wdiere the hogs scratch their backs under the steps and clean their sides on the door jams; wdiere nobody ever thinks of going to the front of the house, for the sight there forbade them, they know from outward signs they wull communicate more quickly with the family by going back? Such people are never found in the front. You need no one to tell you that the index is plain. What are your feelin<>-8 now ? " They are something like Bill Nye's dog after he had eaten ""something that did not agree him; he regretted it the whole ni«dit " Some will say what have these things to do in general and particu- lar with fnrmiiii!: and fnrm life? ^ • • , Did you ever observe a father or mother anxiously enquiring how they might keep the boys at home! at home in lu^irt and spirit, at "m 52 QUARTERLi' RkPORT. 4 II 'I' least if they were called away to follow other callings at home. Do we not want our boys and girls, our brothers and sisters to look back with pride and love, and bless the places that knew them first; to look back with honor and respect to the place of their birth, to where they shared the blessings of parents, to where their parents entered with them into all their triumphs and successes, encouraging them to go yet up, to where they shared Avith them in their sorrows, and encour- aged them in their fjdiures; would you ask what these things have to do with farm life'^ if you do, 1 ask you, who are the farmers of to-mor- row, let us broaden our question and ask wdio shall be America's lutiire rulers i* who will enherit all our farms? capture all our store- houses, factories, and halls of legislation; all our wealth and all our honors? who will take possession of all authority from the presidency of the United States down to the merest dependency, of evervtliin<^ between the Atlantic and J^iciric ? They are on the wav now, thev wiU turn neither to the right nor to the left, they halt neither iii-ht nor day their coming is sure, and all the present active population must sur- render and give way. Need 1 say I refer to your children. Whether they shall take possession of everv thing for good or for evil, depends upon the preparation through wliich thev pass; parents are necessarily all teachers; in them to a certain extent is written the history of their child, they prepare the preface, and from it the ap- pendix, whether the life be a success or failure. Families, schools and legislatures, are to-day busily engaged in discussing what is the best mode ot educating and training the children. Before this question almost every other dwindles into signilicance. Upon the proper dis posal ol It depends good government, and the happiness of its people feo realizing that the boys and the girls of to-dav are to be the farmers oi to-morrow, we hold them up before vou, to arouse your inter- est and enthusiasm in their behalf, to wake vour every "^ener^^-v for their defense, their education and their future*; If you are a parent do not let yourself be negligent of your great responsibilities. After you have admired the tiny hands and observed the intellioent eyes yet resting in the cradle, remember that those hands are vet to^be raised to bless the world with their good deeds or smite it with a curse It 1 to-day would arouse in some one an interest in the destiny of their children my highest ambition would be attained MyobscTvations hasled me to believe that the welfare, comforts desires and social needs of the family should be the iirst things son-ht alter by every member, and around it will cluster in due time wlmt- ever is needful or wished for. Our observations have proven to us that where these ends have not been considered, farming and farm life, above all others vocations, is the most heartless and blue giving occupation human beings can en- gage in. ^ Some Avill wonder why their children take so little interest in their work and surroundings. Why they have to be driven to do everv chore, everything but eating and sleeping, or studying up some wav of leaving the larm, it may be for only a part of a dav, is their special aim to dodge Their jmrents only notice these cpialities, because thev are contrary to their wishes, not that they are so much more intelli- gent or enterprising than their children, but because these certain for doi''n^^hem ^^'^^ ^''''^' '''' their children as mere machines Why do the boys throw the ieed to the colts and then run awav rr* ■'1* 'fl' ''3' « Pennsylvania Board of Agkicultlre. 53 never wailing to see if they eat fast or slow, which one is boss and eats all. Whether that one carries a high head and straight tail, or this one is a good stepper, or fine haired, or well ribbed or Hat muscley arms, or good feet; whether he is of a desirable strain of a certain breed, or a fashional)le color. Why they should have a certain kind of feed at a certain ape, and whv it is lost time and lost horse to give any other. Whv do they do these things ? Why ? Why because they don-t know any better. ^ Their father doirt know any better, although he may be the proverbial '' boss doctor" of his section. Why do the girls throw the feed to the chickens without stoi)ping to think what kind they are. Shanghai or Dominique; for those two are the only kinds thev have ever heard of or seen. That is with the dis- tinctions pointed out to them. No poultry journal entcTs that house, or good agricultural paper with poultry department. \\ hy do they milk the cows, without being able to tell which one is the best lor butter, which best for beef, whether that heifer has the marks of a good cow, or whether she should go with the fattening cattle? Why do t^hey wash, bike, churn, scrub and cook, in the exact way their mothers and grandmothers did ? Toiling day in and day out without any change in the regular routine of business. - x . We have observed where such things as these happen there is but little readin^^- matter of anv kind enters the home. Parents after they have insisted on the child' learning to read and write, after they have stirred up in the young mind an insatiable desire forreading— for some- thing to read, they cut off the supply, or in many cases never iurnish anvt'iiiniz on which the young minds may feed. All children, or nearly so, after they have once learned to read are great readers, then is the time that parents should be on the look- out and keep a good supply of good literature before them. Educate them in a line you think best for them to pursue, then in their personal 8ncounters, hknd-to-hand struggles and indiscriminate skirmishes this preparation will become practically the law ot battle. Have a good, clean, wholesome county paper come once a week that thev may become' interested in the local happenings ot their community, have a good church paper, not necessarily denominational ; take one good magazine or paper of national reputation, and last, but by no means least, take one or more better agricultural papers. ' I insist on an agricultural press for agriculturists, lake any one ot the good agricultural i)apers that are now published and we hnd a variety of reading suited to every member of the household. The father will find the general information that is necessary lor him to have that he may be successful, and that he may be able to answer to himself and children the many queries that are daily and hourly being put to him. The mother will be better prepared to im part to her children that wholesome and useful inl^ormation and knowled-e that makes them good men and women Without a good and inteiligent mother families can never realize what a blessing they have misse^l, what a struggle they have to be something compared with those who had such an honored one in tluir household. From the agricultural paper the boys can pick out such parts as suit their tastes, if they fancy any particular kind of stock they soon learn to find their columns, if they are apiarists, or horticultuiihts they read those thin-s first. The girls who are bakers and cooks, Imd the recipe column, those who have a craze for fancy work of every kind, look out new patterns and designs, so through the whole course 54 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 55 i III (I we miVlit lead you i.robably witJi profit, but I f.ave given enough and P.perriwllf';r '"■■' 'V^^y^,"^^'- say they ca„„ofairord so^nauv papers, I ^Mi,ll the.n now to make themselves known and we will hold an inform il experience meeting. Do not sneer at book farming ; if you do be careful how you act e careful whom yo\i consult wilh the most confidence, be 2 rS fu ifir':' T '""^' ""'i<^« «r^ ^^'" '^'''^y '^y'^'S lo imitate, be" are! a m n hp w r" •''",'"■ '^'"^' ^"""'' ^''^^» y«" "««'! t«, what kind of bu ; . 1 /■"'," '"''"'" y*"' -''^ y«"'" i^^'^^xtive, be careful whose bui .lings and stock you most envy. Thev are all book farmers that the r '■'"'! "'"-^ f'-i-'k, M'ey cull, they pmctice, what seems gondii their case, they reject what is doubtful until it has been proven good by their own small trials or some known ones ^ others t'hen I'^nf inTo*^ '^'"l^ f ^''"' ^¥ experience and practice of ouiers then put into practical use what suits in their localitv are great benefactors to their fellowmen, and although their works m^[y not be lauded by the press and public, they are doin.^ more jrS^d tTos: whi'otrlh'f f""%r 'f ^"^"^ ^"' '''''' wirks tSLnlJom' people ^ places and oflices to legislate for the Because fanciful nnlaborious men with chemistry and veeefible physiology in their heads and little or n6 practical experience have undertaken to carry on farming by the book with gloved lands' s no reason men of actua works and success should notliccept what Tories iJlu r°A'^'' ^°°^' V}"^ P^I**^'-^ '■™"i "1^" of like standi,: just as top vJeT * ''^' ""'"'^ "^^'' ^^ ""^^''^ '^^ «^""« ^^'^ I'-oni their oin lull The American people are great people to worship success we mi-ht si v IreTo IT^"" ^ovslnvpevs and to acertain extent this ifr ght the de^ sire to be successful has kept many a poor soul from dvin-inTn despair, and made men of some who otherwise would have beei, toH\ exceptions '""'" '' ^"^ ""^'^'^^ ^°"^^' "^"^ ''-' -1:1:1. wi.'lH «f,-'fi-*'''' ^il-Tr' '''''•' ,'"^ ^''"'"- to be successful must be un and stirring. If they put their hand to the plow they must m.t it to ?aX It IS necessary for a man to lead if he expects to mal e 1, s ma 4 ft' rtf 'K. n % rr^ir^^ l^sr w 1/';^ motnthrr-etdy^ r«io-. wi,i,.i,, ,„ „^eris i gvi^t scrK;: "jsA^: r 'r','"'t I do not care what any one says, it is poor economy to let tons of good manure waste around the buildings and oyer the iurm and then expect to make up by the purchase of a few hundred pounds of some compound, the strength of which is only limited by the agent's puthng ^Twas making a little visit to a farmer friend last fall, just before seeding time, he was lamenting greatly having to buy from one o two tons of some fertilizer, to put in wilh us wheat, he said the held was hard to get into grass and was very subject, to tree/.ing out of the ^heat in winter. A glance across that field told me 'jat a couple o^ tons of tile of the proper size properiy applied would ^volk a mo e beneficial and lasting result than all the fertilizer he could possibly put on I observed many washes in the field which are always bad signs, be told me he dreaded very much sowiiig fertilizer, as he had no fertilizing drill, he bad to sow by hand, the last he sowed he said Ead almost killed 'him, he had inhaled so much. Well in be course of the day we worked toward the barn and stable, I always 1 ke to see around peoples barns and stables, there is often something worth seeing I did not stand back in holy horror, I was kind of prepared for what met my eyes; there was as fine a pile of manure as I ever saw, well rotted and well worked up. The horses in going in and out o Sie sSile had to wade in up to their knees almost, ^t was sea tered around over a (luarter of an acre, ranging in depth from an inch to Sve Set The Stable I knew had been built at least lour years he said they had built their stable too close to the ground, they had hauled tiiat manure all out once and now it was getti.ig pretty Imdiy in the way again. Is it any wonder the commercial iertibzer nearly Mled him? itwiU kill him yet, if not physically financially Ln looking around those V>uildings, and below them down ^u a 1 tt e holloxv" I saw enough manure of the very best quality to cover his "Itl'um'es'Ind vXat lie would inhale from that, fertilizer would not hurihim when spreading, neither would it require he cean cash to cet it I would warn those who are hauling much hay and s raw olt fheir faimlto be careful, they are .-orking f -'^^ -"V'^elVlSs? out of bank and never putting in will soon take out ^ '« .'f f^^f^f f l^"^//^ Just so wilh the fertility in your land, it is your stock in trade and you must deal that you can keep up stock. I am well acquainted with a farm that some 35 or 40 years ago was v^ry rich, the owner about that time began to haul neariy al lis haylmfs"a; to market, he kept ^^t little st.ck and that wa« kept verv Dooriv, they were starved almost in order to save all haj ana ItraVt' iS'rket."^ This starving of stock made tl-n. hunt the fields verv closely in winter cropping of the grass and pulling it up by.uie roots of course had not a healing effect. This farm began to go do^v^ t refused to raise good corn, it would '- j-^f^-- ,^^,%^^^^ThJ swaths it did of old, its owner began < Vr^ tS- hav to7eS and some ei"ht or ten vears ago changed from hauling hay to teeuin Uat hon^stead of hauling the straw ^-.r'tK^^l^tio^nll out over his fields, letting the stock gather it up or t'5>"P J^ «own as they choose. All manure, wash and accumulation of every Ivincl is c'lrefnllv saved and applied to his fields. .... , „i „,„ ' 'it esult has been wonderful, the old V^'^^ ^^^^^^^^^"^^ some of her ancient qualities, she is now giving fair crops ana eacli year seems to l.e doing better,' and if the owner keeps on m the course £G Quarterly R,<;roRT. rj H fl l..'n°.L7tepU S ,1^":;^'°™ Killing vo„ inlo the' J- jt L you (11 aw the conclusion up LultwnX;rn£'I;'r.x'rr '«^-<^^t'>-'.«'? -^ orsoramWe slable? ^ ' '^"^'"^ •'''^' y'^^'" 1'^ J-^etting to the barn or doorH:au:ere'rotut;^i:s;7;'' ^'-'^^"^^ ^^'^'^^'^^ ^■'-" "- ^'-^ front a ;rdea,7SVfrertl,7 V '"'"^"'V'V ";^•'^^^''^"•'^» '^"^ ^^^^-e n„ dozen nK.n\>e;;?o7otU!e';:'tv'';S:Vj;f ^^""^'^^ "'• P-l^'-'^'lv =^ hai'. .« c™5'4s?;^^fee;;^!;™"L"^^^ -, ^--^s nail.l on ::;oSti:^pa;rs^^?-sSH T^ if rirr) f ^V ! ' ' ^l^''^^'^^' <^^ the coui ort to yourself n.!rr/ vf'i^ -o;;i:n^TTo r^on^^^tr 'It t''r *'f -' o^ "- enough to bny boards'and maL tronXs' ' '^ ^=^'^" "^ >« ^^^^^^ ^^^d n.i; i::]n?Sr& 'Sfe ouIe^bTlT'"' ";!"" ^''^^'^ ^^''^ »"^ -' n.ore other kind of s ock 's ih as ho- 7«^'"''"'- ^^'<''f,te'"' It was very early in the history of the world when we first lind this one ot the leading industries, and no doubt will continue the same as long as man treads the earth in the likeness of God, with a body to be clothed and a stomach to be satisfied Our call here at this time is on account of the depressed condition ot the wool trade, under the revision of our latetaritf laws, which ac lowered our wool at once three cents per pound, and had a telli1,g oughbred'fioiks ' ''"' ^''""^ growers, as well as upon (he thor The sul)ject assigned us is neither wool nor protection, but is so closely conected with each that they are inseparable. .nbwr.', "^^•'''■''^'"'V'^"''T'^^' to our subject, and leave the ma ft... f ''"•;■'''*'';••/'' "'f.'>'-^"f's"f tl>esft Protectionists, who have Ime tt , fJ ,r^"f '"^•'■'^'"^^ '" ii''«-«tudy, and which we will soon iiave tiie pleasure of Iiearintr. Webster defines thoroughbred to mean from the best blood ; the JVahonai Live Stock Journal a few years ago defined it to mean a oX. bloor"' i r '"'/""^ ^'■"^ '" T' line^vilhout the ndx?m-rof ointr bloods. Ihewordis now used in a more general sense -ind means good blood which should be found in all anun ds s vXas n man. We may also define it to-day to mean good blood, better blood or as Webster defines it, the best blood. ' ' sheen\?fh.tnr' '\^'«".k'>o^v„ fact to you all, that the thoroughbred W fl J T\ ' P '''^^V.' "'^ "™''^'' ^"'1 ^i'J always be looked alter 'yld Iwf oVets"''^"'-^''"* '"^'^^-^ '' the only ^sure foundatio.i S" Colonel IJuniphrey little realized that the sheep he was imonrtincr should accomplish the grand results that have been b ou d t' a oit Srs" AtuZr f """• Yl- 'T ^'^^ '"'"••' ^"''«''^^*1' - wool gr owe s"?o Mrs Attwood Hammond, for her great abilitv in imnrovin- tiiis im porta ion and giving us the foundation of our presen lock which have the blood and merits to improve all other t^ne-wool sheen JThese locks and their crosses are found not onlv in Lawre, ce and tlV, ■ ^^^^^^' not only of our own land, but s also found benefioid to the improvement of foreign flocks. There has l.een n nerouscff her -nportations of fine-wool sheep, which have addeH • to t le wool industry of the country. We have also the impor?a i^ s of o r loii. Pennsylv.\nia Board op Agriculture. 59 The cost and care of a thoroughbred Hock is much greater than that of a grade. In the first place more capital is recpiired to commence with, and when some fresh blood is re.pnred in the Hock, the purchase of a suitable sire, one of more real merit than you have been iising, for this is all essential to the improvement of the llo<'k. His bh)0(l mav be the best; but if his combined excellence of points does not excel the real merits of the fiock he is to be used upon, the l)reetler will lind the advancement of his ilock but little and will many times find he has not kept up the merits of his ilock, but has gone back- ward. Number one stock rams are hard to find ; but valuable when "now some may say what does it take to constitute the best Merino sheei). I will give you my idea ; others will dilfer, as we do not all see nor thiidv alike. ' , , , ,. ,, ,i. In the first place he should have the best blood ; a perfectly authen- ticated line of ancestry; he should be well formed; good heavy bone, not leggy, but well set to the ground ; strait in back, strong and broad across tlie kidneys; a well sprung rib, heavy and square in his quar- ters; good short neck above, long underneath; short., broad, well covered head supporting a well turned pair of horns. His legs should be heavy, well set apart, strait paster joints, with good, short leet; a hoof that will need little or no trimming. He should stand square on his pegs and his general appearance bold and showy. His covering should be uniform throughout. Let that be de aiiie, or a shorter staple of wool. I would say not less than a two-mch lleece, nor over three. , , ,/• • i i i „„,i The heaviest shearers clip about two-and-a half incli staple and when we get over a three-inch staple, we find it hard to keep up the uniform covering which we should always keep constantly before us The fleece should have crimp and style, and a sufficient amount ot oil to stimulate the fiber to a healthy and rapid growth. The oil should llnw evenly through the fiber to the outer ends ot tlie fleece. Should the oil be white, or of a golden tinged Whit>^ oil looks the nicest and in the hands of an incompetent buyer is prelerred. But has not the most noted stock rams been those carrying a fleece with an oil of a golden tinge. , , , n^.^^^ We wish here to say emphatically, the ram should carry a ram-fleece and not a fleece that'belongs to a ewe. The ewe-f eeced ram does to show and talk about; but to improve one's flocks, he is ot but slight '^Twill'here ask.do we find the ram or ewe that has been bred in the white oil line, to be as vigorous a stock producer as those of the golden type ? Should he be plain and smooth, or should he be a ram of folds S^id wrinkles? I would say neither. Take neither extreme. I would have him a good, large, plain body, with all <»'« "««k you can get He should be a good han.Uer I meat, by this, ju t what cattle men mean bv saving : " Your animal is a fine handler." I hat his covering should be soft, rich and heavy. Poor,' thin ground grows a light grass, oats or corn; so does a thin, poor hided sheep grow a poor, loose fleece. Some would wish to know the dimensions of such a sheep, lie Bhould, at least, in length, be four fjeet from a line across the eyes to square with his (,uarters. He should girt h around the breast from two o four inches mire than his length ; his height not «ver two eet to two feet four inches. A sheep of these dimensions will weigh from one hun- ^:-i '^ 60 Quarterly Report. TeNNSYLVANIA JiOARO OF AGRICULTURE. 61 i.: dred ami tliiily to one hundred and seventv-five pounds and shear a two-and-a liairinch to three-inch lieece. welching t\ventv'i?ve to thirty Our exves should possess (he same caricatures in blood and coverin- wool H T ^'T."''f ■ ,?''f ^'"1"'^^ -'•^^^' ■'' ^°"S^'- «»^* «"«'• «5e of wool, ller lengtli shouhl be about Ihree feet five to eight inches Iler girth trom two to four inches more than her lencth. Her leiSit should not be over two feet four inches. Should weigh from one hu dred to one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and'prod "ce a Heece from lilieeu to tweiitv pounds. "<-*^ a ueece Now some one would ask if all should liandle (horonghl)reds to be pro .lable ^ We would answer no. As your situation, t^iste nd on portunilies might make you successful in handling a well-bred loA of grades, the same situation, tastes, and circumstances, mi-dit not be encouragn.g to you in the breeding of thorou^ibreds " Men have not all the same faculties; nor the same'callings bJt!'? if'.'r." t''e gam and advantages derived from our thorough- breds/ By tl.eir use we have improved the constitution and clr rac ter ol the mitive flocks and have brought up the little hmnpl - Sg ot seventy.hve to eighty pounds, and shearing about two and Thtu f^;;; t'h^;v tf js/'zi,^'"^^ "*■ '''-'■'' -i-^i>i.>.-n;huS:ired ani iweui,\ n\e pounds and shearing over a six-pound (leece Tlie im proyemf nts that have been made in the last forty yea is .are so m • r'- va^u"Me"17„r "T'fr''"' ^'^ '' '' '^^ — ^-^ ^- me'To talci^'^our vaiu. i.ie time in farther calling your attention to it * * What IS a register, and what benefit are they to the flock '^ All carHu Iv Hbbed%'"f '' '"/" V^^i^P-'-'^'e, as /hen each animaU caielullv tabbed and registered so that there can be no mistake as to w l-'rep 'IS-'fT;' r'f l' Pf'-^^'-« ^' *'- saJ naSrel^rtl A '''^I\V^ '"" " "1*^ merchant or l>usiness man. cou it'ot I fe' w '"■^%'*;r.'" r'^- t'"« to his customers, here is the ac- mnte-ia aV- I 1 '' "^^'"1 '''^'''?' ^""^ ''^^'"^ ^^ ""''^ '>e can see if the rd"si;*;:;^:;.!rc:;Lf,?:,;teri;:i "'^ ''^'^ -^ ^^•'^^'^'- ^'- '^--^- '- welbbaSnce'cf Srm-f ,°!;!''^ ^^'.'^'rt >'"" may discover his sire has a fitid t le SV.I de^^^ ^'°" look after his dam you S> we ti Hi ;i 11 -^l'^' or perhaj.s an entire link lost altogether. accnratelV ascertained "'"""'' '•^'^orded can be anfcSiJsx^if i^sii- :;;":iv?srSkln?rL^^ '^ ^t:'^' is;:r:>t^.;;.rof^l^r,''^'^F''^ .Jd iX,: Ut^l;. g a^vaHeiy what its nature re.iuires o 1 mJ . n T, ^^ ^"'^ ^^^'^^ "'^^ «'>eep sheep to tramnle the lv,v„n,i?..-*''i "» r^cks, and not allow ll,e when fed "n the^ro ; 1 an ] ,1 i'"^ i^ '' ^''"^ "^^ "" "" '''""^ *•''>■ drawn up until a ".fr dav comes " "'''"'^ '^'"'^""'^ '^'^ ^'''^'^ ^^''''^rs besJ7e'tur,:i'\Un ourZ-ks'^weT ,T"'^ -^'1 button, for to get the three hundred and-[J^"teX;S';\.eT^^^^^^^^ Sprained at least once a day. I would recommend the same feed twice, for the reason vou give less feed and the Hock stirs around to get it, and it gives action to the muscles of the body and starts the stomach to action, and they will return to their hay more eagerly to satisfy their appetites than if they had not got their small allowance of grain. The orain fed should be bran, oats and corn in equal parts. "" The amount fed should depend on the condition of the weather, the flock and the quality of hav or corntodder fed. To get the best results from our hay fed to sheep, tlu' hay should be cut the last of June or early in July; we would prefer a mixture of timothy and clover. Here I would like to say a word to our farmers about Alsike clover. We have grown it for the last ten years, and have found it verv desirable both as a pasture and for hay. It is a hvbrid between white and red clover, grows about twelve inches high, and much liner than our red clover. Sheep will eat it clean from the racks, not even leaving the largest stalks. We have found it to stand the winters better than our red clovers, and as the red clovers goes out it will become more abundant. We have our flock now through the winter, and spring has set m ; the lambs are to be carefully looked after, the flock to be shorn, the wool nicely tied and piled away for the inspection of our wool buyers. We are opposed to the washing of wool on the sheep's back, and esepecially the heavy shearing flocks. It opens the way for disease, checks the growth of wool and is a barbarous treatment of our flocks. Our wools would come more on its merits to shear earlier, and place them on the market unwashed than they now do under our present svstem of washing. There is the care of the lambing season 1 shou d like to notice, also the losses bv disease that our flocks are now sub- ject to and the ravages that are made by the free trade dogs upon our flocks but time will not permit as I now have occupied too much ot ana rne aay is nut lai uiotant »ii^ix ^..y.^i. ^.^^^^..^ .....^. V j ^ will be more encouraging and prosperous that we tind it to-aay. BEE CULTURE. By J. S. San FORD, New Castle, Pa. The honey bee has been a topic for ancient writers, and from ancient times to the present time has received much care, attention and thou oj i '-iy. two and tliree eggs with what vvatcld^crre the bees fn'r'^'i V' ^-on^'^^-^"! to see nKddngawayforherarsleiroceedsS^^^ f-""^'\ ^« ^«»>»^ an egg in every cell. P'o^eeds ^Mth her daily duties, depositing The age of the queen is from one to three vears nailSrifJr Ts hltiri^L^ii"^ ''^ '^f'- ^'^^^ -^ ■'^^^''tlv build the comb this wondeWnl L 'r"" '1 Performed by them, the> has failed to imitate Kev ^itl eX 'hon^f ''f '"r?"'"'"^ ^^ '"'^"^ it in the cells. In the worHnt 111 / "''^ '^""^ ^'*^^'«" «" ^he weeks after commencT. ' o Vorfof \ ,f .'^''"'"'''-''"^^ ^'^' « ^^^ is why we should be e.xtremely caref d oT'' '" ^^' '^J""^- ^''^^^ warm and comlortable thr3l, fl?f • 1 ^''^^T ""■■ ''olonies kept the early spring to induce o^frni! ?7 '^"""^'' ""^^ especially in ing a popufous^stock of ;:ung Sees'';; d^Vor^h'^fi^''/^''^^^^.^^^-"'-- the spring. There are from forty to sivtl H ^''\ ''""^^ ^°^ ^n queen and a few hundred d rone^in^a 'ood ilo, y o? hi ''°'"'^''"'' """ should be able to controTt'ht m^^^^^^^^^ the practical beekeeper lore the advent of the movablP f^.^^^^ '" ^'''^'^ ^«'«"-^- ^^- witi, the improved methods of h.ndWn J ''' *'"' "^^^ ""Possible, but entirely from our yard if we desire ° ' '''^ '^" ^^^^"^« 'I'-O"^^ erlltnruS:d'£-Ml'::?t"is imt>;t-}'} 'T ^"'^"^«= -^"-"^ prop- In passing over the co, nhy I e S fewl T"'",*^''" ^''^ ^^^^"''8. the large and expersive barns The tL-m 1-^^'' ^ ""T^^ "^^ ''"t notice their stock, to ke?p them « tml comt faTir wT. P^^'^'"' '^' the average bee keeper. He seems toTi ?. -.^^^^ ^ contrast to good enough for his bees • then se' L, r • "^''"''?^ "'' '"^ ^oap-box allows the weeds to grow\,n ov4 * m n f "l'"'"^^""^^-''«^"^"n« and nicely arranged^ ^i rjood yef n3; ^- T^^^ P'-^P^'-'^ ^ept prfb-te-te^^^^ have good, war£, ^^^I^Z^^^^ ^^^J^y^.^ Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 63 summer or winter, and they deserve as much care as otber stock but do not rec.uire one-fourth as much ; but what little they do re.iuire they richly deserve. Our hives should be made so we can readily examine every frame, and they should be so arranged that we can contract the brood. nest and enlarge it at pleasure. By giving swarms too much space in the brood nest, they soon build more comb than the queen can till with eggs, then they will build store-comb, or drone-comb, in- tending to provide stores for winter use ; but, when the queen has tilled all the worker cells with eggs, she will commence to lay in the store, or drone-cells, and then," instead of worker-bees, we will be raising a lot of drones to eat up the honey the workers l)nng m ihe bees seem to tolerate an over-production of drones in lie honey season, but when the harvest is over they are driven Irom heir homes and perisli by cold or hunger. For producing extracted honey, abundance of room may be given in the brood-nest as we can shave off the heads of the drone-brood when uncapping the cells tor the ex- tractor. But for comb-honey, four or live frames in the brood-nest is ^"wide frames filled with sections can be placed on the sides with a queen-excluding honey board between, by thus contracting the brood nest we force the bees to commence work in the sections sooner than they otherwise would do if they had all the room they wanted below Reversing the frames is of much importance m the cvdture oi bees for profit, it pays to have frames that will reverse it only tor one in- version, Ibr thereby we can secure our combs built solidly, lull on top to bottom, making the frames much stronger and giving a third more room in each Irame. We can also control swarming to a great extent, as bv inverting the frames we completely upset all their arrangements for swarming, and they at once commence to take the honey now at the bottom of the frames and carry it up into the sec- i^ns Thus we secure more surplus honey and have '"ce clean empty cells at the bottom of the Irames, that the queen will fi 1 with e^S The bees will now fill the empty space at the top of the Irames xWHi'comb, and having so much work to do, nine tunes out oi ten they will forget all about swarming for the lime being. %e queen excluding honey board is an important invention and ^liSl?7ur'brersSSuX'on their summer stands, requires ^Tsl^^IrJlrLli'^irrSisrer. I remove all the sect^ions and snfnhis cases and examine the brood nest; if they have not at least five'^fVames til?ed w^th honey and brood, 1 at once feed them syrup made of -ranulated sugar and water, two parts ot sugar to one ol water I would prefer live well filled frames for an average colony o winter on thJn a larger number. When I am sure they have a utlkent amount of stores for winter, I provide them -t^i a passage wav by making a small hole through the centre of each comb or by usimtl™rs device or inverting a wooden butter dish over he ftames so the bees can pass from one frame to anotheT over the top SrMhen I collr all w/th a piec-e of burlap -''^ P-^ c'^'*'^ ^'J-^ini the sides and over the top three or lour /'''■ ' \,^"^fP- ^..f 'Jf;.,''^ ^^^ thns T.renared they should not bedistuibe00,000 <»rains or three times as many as the common red. It is cheaper because a bushel will sow sixteen acres at a cost of not over fifty cents per acre ihere is more Alsike sown in the west than anv other kind of clover' A good colony of Italian bees, in a good movable frame, hive in the spring IS worth $10 ; in an average year they should produce at least lilty pounds of surplus honey and give off a swarm which would al- most, it not quite, be worth tiie first cost. I would like, also, to urge every bee-keeper to subscril)e for some one or more of the bee journals. U we imagine that we know it all and are not willing to learn from the experiences of others we will surely get left and get away behind the times in our chosen pursuit. I his IS not only true ofM)ee-keepers, but of farming, stock raisers, poultry keeping, etc. AVe should all take some periodical devoted especially to our business, for by reading the experiences of others we derive knowledge worth many times the subscription price. The America?i Bee Journal, published weekly at Chicago, 111., is the old- est and surely among the best. Gleaninosin Bee Cultur^. published semi-monthly at Medina, Ohio; The American AfjricuUur^sL published XJ^^^ at Wenhain, Mass., and ih^ Bee-keepers Magakie.vnh- ished monthly at Berry town. New York, are all good, the subscrip- tion price being only one dollar a year, except the last-named, which is only hfty cents a year. I think if our county papers would devote at least a column or two to rural i)ursuits it would be appreciated bv the reading i)ublic and be a means of doing much <^ood ' Prof. Cook says that -the study of rural pursuits helps to make home pleasant and binds together the familv, and finally it may be made a source of profit.'* ^ ^ Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 65 FRUIT GROW^ING IN LA-WRENCE COUNTY. By J. B. JoHNsoxN, :New Wilmington^ Pa. The importance of the fruit industry in Lawrence county is not fully appreciated. It may not be generally known that one firm in New Castle, 8. M. Young el^ Son, have shipped in the last two years 15.000 barrels of apples, (5,000 bushels of peaches, and 0,000 bushels of l)er- ries. The apples average for the two years one dollar per barrel ; the peaches one dollar per bushel and the berries two dollars per bushel. This makes $15,OtO this firm has paid for apples; $0,000 lor peaches and $12,000 for berries. A total of $83,000. There are in the county three other app^e shippers of importance, but thev do not handle other f ruir. Suppose, they together, have brought into the county as much money as S. M. Young c^- Son, we have $60,000 for fruit in the last two years, or $33,000 per year, and neither year was a fruit year. There are in round numl)ers 6,000 families in the cou!itv. Estimating that one halt tlie families use $10 worth of home grown fruit and the other half use $20 worth, it makes $90,000 used at home. Add to this $33,000 shipped and we have $123,000 for the fruit industry of the county. Quite an item to the farmers who must make every dollar count. I say farmers for orchardists in this county are not a separate class. I do not advocate the planting of whole farms'^in fruit, and by those who know nothing about the industry. But in connection with general farming, which is practiced here, what better use can we make of ten or twenty acres than to plant it in fruit '^ The first four years the trees will injure the crop of corn or potatoes but little, in fact they will help the crop, tor the extra culti- vation and manure needed for the trees will more than pay for the spaces the trees occupy. The second four years, the peaches planted between rows will pay a big interest on money and labor. The next four years the peaches and apples will pay all expenses including the ground they stand on. We now have an orchard twelve years old; the peaches must be removed for the apples need all the room. From this time on we can count on half the trees giving ten bushels of sound apples per year or two hundred and fifty V)ushels per acre. These at the low price of twenty-five cents per bushel gives sixty two dollars and fifty cents, and this comes in year after year, but not without manure. What is the best manure for the orchard i AVe all know what stable manure will do ; but when we have not enough of it what then '( As a pointer in answ^ering this question, I will relate this circumstance from my own experience. An old apple tree seventy or more years old had become entirely worthless, it bore little fruit and that not worth pickimi:. About fifteen years ago 4,000 lap shingles were made in the shade of it ; the shavings were left and rotted m the pile. I he second year after this the old tree appeared to r^new its youth and the third year bore thirty bushels of fine fruit, and ever since has been a profitable old tree. Did the shavings do this > If so, how^^ f,]^ so, why would not sawdust do as well 'i There are thousands of loads of sawdust rotting all over the county that can be had for hauling. Will it pav to mulch the orchard with it ^ , ^ r n It is not only the money that the fruit brings to the pocket ol the producer that makes the fruit industry an important one. rhysicians 5 QUAR. I -J a- ^G Quarterly Report. tell us that a fruit-eating conininnitv, other things being equal, is more healthy than one where fruit is not an important iteni of daily food, and that a fruit-eating family is less liable to disease than the next door family, who use little fruit. This being the universal testimony, why is it that any farmer in Law- rence county is without fruit for the family or for market, from the time the first strawberries ripen on May i^5th or 30th, until they are ripe next year. On a properly planted farm, there is no time in the year when the farmer may not have fresh fruit, not merely as a dainty for a stranger, but for his own daily food. Cherries, sweet and sour, follow strawberries, raspberries are in their prime before cherries are done ; these are followed by curnints, blaekberrries, gooseberries, peaches, plums, pears and grapes. These two last he can have with a little care until February. While from July 15, until July 15, comes again, our main standby, the apple in all its perfection, in all its use- fulness, in all its profitableness is his, or rather may be his, for not one- halt* the farmers of this county have all the fruit their families would like to use from November to April. Not one tenth have enough fresh fruit in April and not one twentieth have fresh fruit in May and the first half of June. AVliy is this thus ? Not for want of taste ? No, we all enjo}^ a plate of strawd)erries and cream. We all can say thank you for a Falla- w^ater or Russet apple about the first of June. Why can't we each have them of our own? Each one in its own season ? Some one an- swers I have but a small larm and can't spare room for an orchard. A few years ago I knew a farmer, Dana Hooper, who still liv^es and thrives on his hilly New Hampshire farm, who raised every year from live to eight hundred barrels of apples, and he hadn't an orchard on the farm. He raised them in the fence corners and along the road. In every alternate fence corner stood an api)le tree. Why can't you or I do likewise. What use do you make of vour fence corners ? Are they occupied with alder .bushes, or thorns, or wild cherries? Clean them up and plant apples and tame cherries, and soon that fence row will be a delight to the eye and profit to the purse instead of an eye- sore and the scorn of passers-by. I can think of no better way to make the road from New Castle to Enon, or from New Castle to New Wilmington, a pleasant one and a desirable pleasure drive, than for the farmers along the way to com- bine and after making a good road, make pleasant surroundings. Clean up the fence-rows and make good fences, plant fruit trees or or- namental trees, or timber trees, thirty two feet apart on both sides of the road and in a few years your road will be one of the most desira- ble avenues in the county. And further the State pays for these trees and almost for the work. It allows twenty-five cents olF the road tax for each tree planted and kept living for a year along the highway. You say '^ cattle will destroy them,''— true, but here the State helps us too. It allows us by vote at the general election, to repeal an old fence law that has outgrown its usefulness and to say to Jack, Jim, and Frank, ^'^ If you want to board your cattle on the road, come and herd them.'* Again you say, '^^eople would destroy the fruit and we would get no good of it." You may think this is true but it i^ not. If there were a double row of fruit trees from here to New Wilmington, nine miles, or from here to Enon, fifteen miles ; travelers would tjfke almost as much delight in them ao we do, and the few that the malicious 4- I ^ r:i^NNSYLVANIA BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 67 ones destroy are better off for apple trees are inclined to overbear. [ have traveled along roads in SoutluTu California, where for miles and miles the orange orchards and vineyards extend to the very road- way with no fence at all, and I never heard of people destroying the fruit and cattle don't destroy the trees, for there is no fence law and if a man don't fence in his cattle he must herd them. Others say they can't atford to lay out the money for an Oichard. This need not be a great objection with peach trees, from live to ten cents each, and apple trees from ten to twenty cents each. An acre of land will give room for fifty apple trees and one hundred and fifty peach trees planted between. These can be delivered in New Castle of good quality and in good condition for about $15.00. If the fruit tree peddler who visits you this winter says he can't get them at that, I can. When the tree peddler calls on you next, don't treat him as a boor or as a bore, treat him as a gentleman ; which he generally is, and he generally is a gentleman you can learn a great deal from. The tree peddler and his brother the book agent, are very useful members of society, except for the tree peddler hundreds of far- mers would not have a grape or a berry, and except for the book agent, hundreds of families, farmers and others would have even less books than they have, and in most families, the library or bookshelf is scantly enough furnished at best. An investment that makes our wives and our children more happy and more contented with farm life is a good one. What brings more joy and more lasting good to a family than good literature, unless it be useful and ornamental trees. One of the great problems in rural communities is, how to keep our boys on the farm. My answer would be ''Educate" — not merely in mathematics, not merely in grammar, not merely in Greek and Latin, if you wish, but in the secrets of the vegetable world ; teach him how to plant seeds and how to save seeds for next year's crop ; how to ydant trees and how to prune, graft and bud them; and teach him the beauties and advantages of coimtry life. Speaking of grafting reminds me to s.iy that you can make a boy very useful in starting an orchard on a small scale and at the same time give him a permanent interest in the farm. When I was a small boy, a plot of very rich ground was given me to use just as I pleased. I don't know now wdiat inlluenced me in framing my decision — prob- ably some '' word fitly spoken " — but I decided to have a nursery and raise apple and peach trees. Accordingly I planted seeds. But to hurry up my crop I gathered little apple trees from the fence corners and from the cow pastures, planted them in my nursery, and got my father to graft them ibr me. And some of the finest trees in his orchard to-day are the little seedlings I dug in the pastures, planted in my nursery and watered until they were ready to transplant. I learned a great deal in those boyhood days. I learned to plant, and to wait, to graft and to bud, and I learned to love those little trees that were some day to hang over me richly laden with fruit. Such training as that is easily given, but it bimls a boy by a strong chain— the chain of personal interest to the farm. One more word to the boys, young or old, who have learned to graft. Wild grape vines are common all over the country but their fruit is worthless. A very interesting experiment, as well as speedy way to get good grapes, is to graft these wild roots just at the surface of the ground with a good culiivated grape, then carefully cover up the grafted place with loose earth, and yau will have grapes the second season. Let the vines I ^s il il . f I'l 68 Quarterly Report. climb wliere the wild one did, over the fence or a tree, and it will be a continued source of delight. The strong, well establibhed root of the wild vine will give you a large vine years sooner than you could get the same vine irom a smaller root. \\\un\ we decide to ])lant an orchard we must do it with thoughtfulness, with care and with a well delined plan, for we don't plant this crop Ibr next year or the next ten years, Init for life. Select the varieties not for their number but for their adaptal)ility to your locality and to soil like yours. Long- keepini: apples are the ones to plant for prolit, lor if they are not needed'^in this county or this State or in the United States they can be sent to the countries beyond the seas. AVhen the orchard is planted the orchardist's work is only begun. In this, as in every other great work, '* enternal vigilance is the price of success." Fertilize, cultivate, prune, fertilize, cultivate, i)rune, over and over and over aii;ain, and all the time tight.— fight the orchard's enemies, tlie borer and the canker worm, the tent caterpillar and the walnut caterpillar, the scaly bark louse and the many bark enemies, and later when the orchard is fruiting if we want perfect fruit we must light the young of the coddling moth with Paris green or London purple. There is not enough of this fighting done here. Partly bcause the canker worm has made but feeble attacks in our midst and partly because it is not generally known how cheaply and how effectively the coddling moth can be fought with London purple. A pound of London i>iiri)le costs lilteen cents, or eight cents at wholesale, and will poison eight barrels of water. A force pump with spray nozzle costs from one dollar to five, owing to kind, and with team, wagon and some open ended barrels the outfit is complete. The poisoned water must be sprayed on the trees when the little apples are about the size of a hulled hickorynut, while the blossom end is still standing up. A drop of the water finds its way to the calyx cup where the coddling moth lays her egg, and it is sure death to the little enemy. Lawrence county orchardists must rouse up to the importance of this work and quit raising and shipping wormy apples. Eight barrels of water and one pound of purple will spray about twenty ordinary orchard trees, a man and ])oy can spray these twenty trees in two hours, or one hun- dred trees in a day. Why raise wormy, knotty, unwholesome fruit if we can spray one hundred trees in a day at the expense of seventy five cents and one day's work? Possibly the work may need to be dono twice if a wet day follows soon after the spraying, but what matter that? let us raise only sound fruit. The man who raises fifty or one hundred barrels of apples naturally sells them to a middleman, and to such the middleman is a bene- factor, but the man who raises live hundred or one thousand barrels, and there are lots of them in Lawrence county, should be his own agent and his own shipper. A glorious future awaits the honest, conscientious orchardist, let your name on a barrel of fruit be a synonym for '' Sound fruit, all alike clear through the barrel." The consumer cannot fail to be pleased with such fruit. He will look to the marking on the barrel, lind it is *• Grown and put up by We, Us & Co., Lawrence County, Pa.," he will order from his agent marked tlius. Agents will lind that is a ])opul;ir mark and wdll en deavor to always keep on hand fruit with that mark. Thename of a well known, honest grower on a barrel is sometimes worth a dollar per barrel over unknown names. The markets of llie world are open Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. to good fruit. Lawrence county helves to supply the markets, her^supply always be abundant and of the best. G9 May UNDER-DRAINING-. Bv John Henley, IlilJsviUe, Pa. We oommenced to nnderdrain in 1843 by putting in about ten rods of sioneTmin ; thev were from two to two and one half feet -ewit i. Wool - W in 1847 and 1848 at 27 or 28 cents per pound. Our V\ ashington countv fleeces at that time, averaged about three pounds ot clean Slfoo? and brought 70 or 80 cents P- ''Xd if "t' K fbr\l e .nven nwav • a natural resu t of free wool. Had it not neen lor me fmuulse to trade resulting from the Mexican war, which was in pro- ess at ths time and followed by the discovery of our great gold miuL n Call br Xwhich enhanced the price of every commodi y, Zc^ndiVin of the American farmer must have been deplorable. ThescT I i s in .■onnection with the convulsions which prevailed in 5ie old world which seriously disturbed the rroductionof crops there 72 Quarterly Report. i« for several ye:-irs. and resulted in the great Crimean war, gave such a loreign demand for the products of our farms, that we prospered even under the low rales of 184(). These are the times referred to bv Mr. Morrison, when he says "time demonstrates the fact that low duty m the past has given higher prices for wool (han higii duty" 1 he case is an e.Kceptional one. and stands alone in our history tlie only thing it does teach is, that it is possible for the markels of the world to advance for a time, under extraordinary circumstances, to a point at whicli we could maintain ourselves. Let us look for a moment at the workings of the tarilf of 1867 It is wiihiii (he memory of us all, and was' a favorite with the wool- growers. It came to us when wool was high, a result following our great war. Its jji-ovisions were moderate, but sufficient to encoura<'-e wool growing Under it the American grower had an assurance thtit He would not be crowded out by cheap importalions of wool or clolh and at I he same time woolen goods were sold at fair prices ; but after seventeen years of prosperity, and every department running smoothly and CA-erybody profitably employed, and the government raimlly paV- ing olT^ the war debt, a^n agitation sprang up in Congress which resulted in I he arilfot 88-3. It ^as passed for the avowed purpose of dimin- ishing the surplus which had accumulated in the treasury. But in- stead of a reduction in revenue, the increase of importations has siven an increase of revenue. If these reformers had studied the history of larift legislation as they should have done, they would have known in advance what the result would have been, to reduce revenue the rate shouM increasein order to diminish importations, or if you please make the rates prohibitory and revenue will cease ' .J,t r''"'f '"■'"!^''* ''''^'' l\ stagnation in business. It brought dis- satisfaction to producers and laborers, and h.sses of millions ot'dollars I In ve inoTle '/rT' •"'''"!'^ estimating losses in other branches. 1 liave made a brief review ot some of the leading changes in tariff rates, and think we are warranted in sayinir that iVee woolwi Ivovk St'tr Wh?t' ""r/;-;>--'-" -^' the wool-growing interest in he bta es. What would follow such an unfortunate result, I will not un- 't L thfs Th^I niti/s/r' T''"^^ '"^ '"^"^'^ « ^">^''« IKediction and with! surpb.s *"' ^""^^''""^ '"^"'^ ""' '^^ l«»g burdened m^>nZ nnM •'^' V''°"^^ ';'''^'*^"^ this thought : A Republican govern- w.th n A n ■">' \'' ^''''"' '^"* ""^'y ^'^''h to loose in conducting trade with a Monarchical government on a basis of free t ra.le A Monarch ica government IS conducted for the special benetrof a wSfhy class. Iheir object is to maintain cheap labor, and in a manufVt. r ing country such as England, to manufa.-tuebvmeaiH of cheap abo^ cheap goods to supply the markets of the world No wonder n"a fttril .J"]'; ''""i"'"/^^ ''■'' ^^^^^- '' ^'- can -annSaUy cal in a Jew million dollars of American god for o-oods th-it Rhn.iM h^ grown and manufactured on American^soil, le may w4 i be conte-^^^ But the American idea of government is in direct con radiction to ;^um a'cfobiTcroTo""'^ '"^ ^'^ ''^"l^'^ ^-' not1o??at"ot:rc ase° cl'asserof' HH • r^ We^Kr^V^lhlied our^^.h""'*' ""J t^'^'l ^" of living. We want our farmers, and mechanics, ou tradesmen and miners, and laborers of every kind to be men and not serfs We nrn v.de free schools for all the children. But un; e tre W va^^s p^aTd the laborer of England, his children are compelled to rnrthe rT Pennsylvania Board op Agriculture. 73 ^ ins; at the age they would be required to attend our schools. Free trade if universallV adopted wouhl tend to equalize wages the world over, and such compensation wouhl ))e inadecpiate to meet necessary expenses in clothing and niiintaining the children during their attend- ance at school. If you would maintain our system of government, vou must maintain the people at this elevated standard ot livmg;. There is no alternative, cheap labor means cheap living; the inability to buy the common necessaries of life. But we are told, protection will result in overproduction, it is an old fallacy long ago refuted by experience. The dark days referred to by Mr Clay, in the extract alreadv read, illustrates the case. It is a term of years when, without a tariff, the markets were so overstocked with farm products that produce of all kinds was far below the costot production. The Hon. Thomas Evving, sena'tor from Ohio, in a speech delivered in the U. S. Senate in 1882, refers to this period m this way : Every portion of the world was searched by our intelligent merchants, and all combined did not furnish a market adequate to our surplus productions. Every farmer long felt the pressure consequent npon this state of things. Year after year their stacks of wheat stood un- threshed, scarcely worth the manual labor of separating the grain from the straw. So low was it reduced in comparison with manutac- tured articles, that I have known forty bushels of wheat given tor a sinde pair of boots. Such was the condition of the farmer prior to and at the time of the revision of the tarilf in 1824. It is said history repeats itself; but shall we permit a repetition of the dark days winch clouded our fathers, bv our careless indiflerence, while our enemies are so active? Free trade is a monster, and must be met in earnest or we fall aprev to designing men. That the cause is growing in this coun- trv cannot be denied. The great Cobden Club formed m England lor the very purpose of fastening free trade upon us has been transplanted to American soil, and is doing active work in both hemispheres. Ihey are a wealthv class and are spending money freely for this purpose. Thev are ady to abandon sheei. husbandrv we are oonfrnnfl i ^ '' sage IronMhe Chief Executive of the .iltr^^'eerm^^^^^^ shal be placed upon the free list. What can we reasonablv tlnl If (his recommendation is carried out bv Con 'rpl? '®f *,"'''''f expect wool growi,>K in the States. W laTthen ^ tK , dsl voi'd^^^ '""^ ''? grown,, must be turned to other uses. An ove , 'd ti?> T o '-^Sn of catt e of pork and otherproducts would be a natu r res di " A i' the millions of dollars paid out to the producers of vvoo mnl i I abroad to supply our people with c!,,i,n!; I would t^en,.H f '/' draw a veil over what must follow as a re^sult o^ such a bo W "'l ^" 'rdnO.^'T'"'"-' '" "'.'^«'-^' ^^"titsrealmeanngi to lower tlfestid" ard of the American farmer and laborer to that^'of the s^i^of Europe" HOW .O.S .^PHO..C.^^^^^^^^^ By Hon. Nathaniel Uiut, Lcmcaster county, Pa. farmer. Can it be true thif fi.« <•„ arresc uie attention ol every all the other trades industries ^1" 7"^- '"^f"''^ ^•'"^'^'^ i" "'"n'>er all other ways the lean eduw'! '■■"'?''*'"''' '"""'^"i's put together? make their living' T W tC t!^h"' ^'""' ^^^epteA, by which men the rest ? " ^' ^''^''^ ' ''^"'° l^»«er "early equals that of all This is a great trust; a great resnonsiliJUf,, t* • i manholdingaportionofit sIvilwV. )• u •!'. ^' '« clear that every power combined, a d how easil v it n fi ^'^ *" ".'« ^^ ^'i^*^'^- Their to be exercised/co Id ^d iiHll r''l ''f <^^om?i"eJ, needing onlv interests, which might be respe ' JJ a h^Tei;?, J'"' '"'^"•^' 'f''^'^^ always govern tlie land ^ neutral or opposed to it, tuist,'and Jn" -ew of"u!;";.V"^^^ T*'"^' »'-' "- ngricul- Ihe foremost in the wlu.le uLn i , „ ^''"ft county of Lancaster is ducts, andis also seco to n Ze / hlinf 1"' ""^ ''' agricultural pro- ter of its people, I have Lu ht } f IV^^^^'^f "«,« and sterling charac- county should in its ri J, mf Lv of t!"^'"'"^ ""'='' '^^^'^ "'' <'"'8 Anming period of public oi^J.^^^S^ZS^::':}^:!^;:^ S Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. Vo that it should do so in no partisan, no theoretic spirit, but as a matter of dollars and cents. Impressed with the importance of some emphatic action in the premises, I wrote from my quiet study to your excellent president su^^estins that the association should speedily declare itself, when lo I 1 found that the spur was api)lied to a willing horse and I was off hand made a member of the society, and as 1 lirst learned from the public journal, appointed to address it to-day on the subject. What could I do ? I was publicly proji;rammed. I could only acquiesce. And so in the presence of many far better able to do so, I venture to present to you a few words on the subject of our national fin.inces and how thev affect farmers. The subject of an impost on imported goods, commonly called the 'UariflV' i^ one upon which whole libraries have been written. My late friend, Stephen Colwell,of Phihideli)hia, prepared a collection of works upon political economy, said to be the most complete in the world, and valued at many thousands of dollars. It was largely de- voted to this subject, and here suffer me to relate an incident, which I mav properly do, as the results of it, have peeped into history. He was an ardent, lifelong protectionist, and wishing to perpetuate his principles, and being verv friendly to Princeton college, he proposed, as he told me, to bequeath this library and some $30,000 to Princeton, but first he desired to have a full conversation with the then newly elected president, the now venerable Dr. McCosh, and desired me on an occasion of the latter's visit to bring him and the Doctor together. I did so and soon fmind that a very decided difference of opinion on the tariff arose between the sturdy Scotch freetrader and the equally sturdy American protectionist, so much so that the library and the handsome sum of money came into the possession of the Philadelphia University, where I trust the views of the donor may long be vigor- ously inculcated. . , , i • . t -n ^^ I have said libaries have been filled with the subject. I will add that since the davs of John C. Calhoun and the more masterful Andrew Jackson, the days of Webster and nayne,down to the recent address of John Sherman,the halls of Congress have continually sounded with it. There has been a steady fight kept up forever a halt century on the subject, and I am most happy to believe that in spite ot the recent fresh war cry, rallying for another '^ lost cause," the great body of Americans stand to day solidly for the American system. Look around you, gentlemen, upon the condition of the nation to- day, after some twenty years of practical working of moderate pro- tection. Protection needs no other comment The magnificent position of our country among the nations of the earth, and its last looming predominance are among the greatest facts in history. Oo, as I and many of you have recently done over some of our ^ estern States and Territories, you see land which within that time sold at L-overnment prices now worth forty, fifty, eighty dollars per acre ; land near the fast springing towns and cities worth as much as the fancy prices near eastern cities. Prices and rents in cities unheard of a few years ago, equal to those of New York or Philadelphia. No man needs to be told that among the causes of this marvellous progress, such as the energy of our race, our sound tmancial system one of the very first is the many years of protection to home-raised products. The farmer, the manufacturer, the miner f^eel that behind them is a government which will not play fast and loose ^^'lth their 76 M 'I * Quarterly Report. tin Sti IMirposes and their purses, that enterprises which are raoidlv snlul,. purposes of his master,) this sreat continent is backed bv -i stejuW pursuance of a policy that proc'laims protection to An e can .bor'^-"^ lou will see, then, that it is my wish to biing out lie ?a t ir'.t that a, judicious tarilf benefits tJie farmer by giving hm am irket not 3.000 nules away, bu( at home. Those of you who b^im" vo„r nrn in'int ^.1^" ^"-^ f •^' '/ l-^-^^^ter, are well aw<7re how l^d in eases ne.r > r/'f'T""'^";'^ ^'^'"^ '"^^ ^^" ^VT>roach the city. F a ~ near I hila.lelphia, of the so-called " neck" and other snl, tI.. .In rent per acre equal to the purchase yalue of TLu c^ te cou VS.f go^iS^^^^-rii^pl./^^^ u»i the otlier liand, travel over the vn^t n]ni,io ..p tt or^nfl»r^«^ t:> • I* > V I yf\xri lilt? \ dbl piaillS Ol lluno'arv nr S ro"nlv-wl'i'e-ar'' oSi^I^tlft"^' in the main, has" on7 in": prosperity- as Dakota. ' ' """^ "' far adyanced in material Political economists nowadavs dnre not rlicT^nf^ fi.of chines." "^ ^ mere, you buy none of our ma- •an?;eZSryt^^^weH^y';o''"•'^^ V' ^^Plements from England ; there. I trustTl!;;^:f .Ss^icXTi- ^1^ aZlr-aftf pein "alioiis '"^ttr.iralon'e ev' "^'l^'f^^ ^^^-n of other Euro- willbeaKaiii'spokfnof pyeiV^ ^^P^^^^ ^^^« *« l>ec»'iar and erland, Franc^tlhiHs^rtSS y^T.^^VcSrsV" fC'" '^7'^" li^ rSre^fpSs^^^Slfe ^l. ^^''^'^ f V" i'^^^ - tion is main,;a.SiSa7a'n;\^ ,^1:^ ^t Slirrod^"'"^^' "'^- Jlti^ irer::-tlt^:';n -r SraVd^r" -^-^^^^^ ^"- eVnteVr;;oL';ro?f.^ad ^=1^ F '^^"^ " Borfch^::-;-?^ trade, ind^ding t,e eor law ve^'n''" '"''' Great Britain, hayefree people of Ulster rise slerWfr.'' f^^'^'^ ''"'^ intelligence of the plunged the es o LZd ?, miset t'f H •^«"'^"i''»« ^-''i^'' ''ave of manufactures tells it In sto"y ^ And / 1' /'''^'T"^ eyerywhere the curious anomaly, a fir cla rirish I ,fir''.'f '^^ ^'^ '"^ ^'"'"^ «"^ who haye suffered most bv Fn.rH J, f ' ^'^""^ ^^'^^^ ^^''^ irishmen the foremost suppose o'Ent:^^:::;r^l^r "?"" ''^""•' ''""^"« trade. i^"oiana s game of juggling us into free Again, take the still smaller caseof the Sandwich Islands. A yery- P Pennsylvania Board of Agricultuke. 77 few years ago, largely by the exertions of one man, who still holds about half o the wlude interest in the growth, sugar raising was Jstablished there; about tiie same time and by means ? the same man, the much tulked-of recipro(-ity treaty with the islands ook effect. I say not liing as to the merits of the treaty, or as to he trifling amount of goo.ls exported on our side, though 1 was told when there, two years si^.ce, that the planters buy almost eyerything from bco - h^ud.yeU spite of all that, the elVect of the inclusionol the bandwich Island sugar grower in the benelit of our duty, ranging about two cen s a pound, has had the ellect in that short time of creating an ex- tr oi^in iry in lustry. It cannot last because not self supporting, i he morey made all goes out of the Islands with the strangers wi... haye adeit. It is but digging out a gold mine which will soon be ex- lusted. I mention it to point out to those farmers, few 1 hope among us who think a tariff concerns only a few manufacturers; thatoii the con rary a so.md national policy on the farilf is, if not in one thing in others, precisely their own and their greatest concern. And while aHu 1 ng o this case of sugar growing in the Sandwich Islands, take Sopporlunity of puttin|to farmers here the question, whether it would not be more consisfent with the general tan 1 policy, and cer- Tain ly more generous and just to Louisiana, to retain t^he Present yery small duty on sugar, and enforce the query, hrst, by the belief of sta- tist cians, that the effect of remoying the duty would only be to en- aSe other sugar-growins countries to put on an export duty and thus end asin tKecentcase of coffee, in higher-priced sugar ; and, second bv statim^ that I see no reason why the enormous demand for sugar should ot be met at home ; why the examples of France and ber- ma y w lich raise more than they consume, and actually export sugar should not in Qur more favorable conditions be supp led here so hat in tie -Vowth of beet-root and sorghum, our whole tier o Middle SateB may add to their resources another vast and profitable in- '^"Wdi to come back to our examples of co-existent diversity of in- dustrial pursuits, take a case which will perhaps come home to every- • ""Tonce visited a cotton planter "f/.Natchez, who wasself-niade as tv,o T^lirnse is and one of the most thrifty men of his btate. ±le naa trefniantatio s tAVO of them on the Mississippi Hals devoted to conon he waS called a 4,000-bale man), but he also had on the higher Slack Ithid which he called his factory farm ; here he grew his coin and bacon for the ne^^^^ here he had a foundry and ma- rbineshoDS and many mechanics, who manufactured all or very ilv? his farm ng implements, and here, too were manufactured nearly all ms larn ■ ^ i conversation of actual occurrence. '"w\Xn. ■togett'onel^ through the long village street, his ne r quartei-B. and seeing snug buil.lings in a long vista right and left rperhaps unwisely asked him how many negroes he had. Ihe Slt^o/d enflenYnch.u.U^^^^^^^^^^^ hardly tell you, there is one ^>«^" /^^f J^Jj^ -nHM-e was no outgo for perty ^'f . ^^*rY;^:'^,,J^,f ,^rai ^^ te sou. hern planter, yery few ini- T" 'nllneXd tobTpu dia el almost all the proceeds of his cot- i:l:;' w^re :^^Z hI of ms own wHl did ,hat which we are mam- '''^^^:^;;^tT^^S:^S:^Vro,os.U.n ...... you wm I i ..,' A 78 Quarterly Report. not by ar,.„nen7wTi . 'w i o,*^ 'l!/"::;^ '"'^ ^« f I'^tter market; i..g of the bnu„, to so i( e J 1 tl. ''""?, "''''^^''^ ''^'"^ « I"'^>^- ingui.hed and most acute nvver S pI, '•"''^ T",'^ >'«" *« ^ dis- knowledge alternately a (>ee tm^ e l ^I'tF -7^'^ '"'' "^^^^ ^^ "'/ ti.nes (in theory nlJ^Jrio^t!^anC^^^T'''r?'l three orCo,,^ cameos-photographic pic,, res -t we^^e .' 'h ' "l^'- ''^^ «-^""U'l.s, sider whether it is not strictly true I .?^^;. ^ '"'""^^ ^^''" t<' con- co.nuuuuty, nation, the world oyer is .tn7vnY ^TT?'" ''"'ividual, position. '^®'^' '* •'" exponent ol the trutii of our nation of 10,000 ^orl^rVufw^^T"- ^/'W^^^ ^'«" '"'•-^ « '"t-se ^yllI be farmers; if no^y su ch cl?.f. "'^'l'''^ ^^^ one-half of ^M... than the other hLlfcrbeniderfnt'''' ^? made that much result to the farmer is too obyious ,«" Jp^'T"*'-''^ but consumers, the ".'nnber of gro^yers could be reSe I to o^,e "'''/l^"?^ ^"PP««e "^e ion all the time increasing „' "^? V""^ ''^•""'. the total popula- i^specially where, .^hth^cls^^^l ^ZJ """'^ ^'^'^ ^"^''"er. c uct we could undersell other Vat onl '^ ,^'^?^^'■^ ?«'"^''"'f'"<'l pro- do tins last, if he could he won i be U.e rll? '^^'^''' ^"""^^ '^'""'ot Wheat growing,,.. „ow, of a\"e^S ^^H^S'l^r^f^^^l^^f ^^^''t^''^!^t:;tt£'''^ 1« f- -- <- a brief sum- new birth, of modern 'I'Zpe, t?.' t Ihi^niT' '''' --enaissance the then the Ilenish and Dutch wVrl fll ? '"' commonwealths and world. Whitweallh I hev g!,ined t .^? r'^''^* "'^' "lanufaCuri g paratiyely barbarous. W'Le a d IJf -'•' ^liei. England was com aml,atJastsawtlH.iropp rt'il'"^":^*/"^' '"^^" '""^ever in Eng- ished and more than niX/flTT ,• "'' "^ '"anufactures were estah nbited. TheEngli^hsCSbtwfh^^^ ^''^' ''•''' lar/ely'tro: centuries are full of n,.«i>;.'L_ ."^ , *^' ">« ^^^^'^'iteenth and erghteenlh Pennsylvania Board ov Agriculture. 79 u'-s. jn tne war of 1819 ..,i,„ •'-"i«"ii' tnao i must eive snmA cfof,-^ the mastery of the seas ''irea-ri'o.id"'"'^ -'"'este? wit^'jf,.;!,^'; vvas 05^. ba. Since f ipn if i...^ <* ^^^ unies reii below 55meS"uati and Chicago dealers tipped as rumor ^oes by M Macky ind Itoulanger lately thought, but were squeezed fhl^fir^S alon'" to ihe tune ^^TZe^ ^^ in Tur" wn ^tS St'ii; t^r^re-rnV P-c'tti'Sie^'^in a^^^ ^i:^:;: ^.z.:^^^^'!sl:^^^o:^ z^, and with I MHH «M SO Quarterly Report. »"», Hi i f ■1 I the percentage of home consumption rapidly increasing, we can soon be independent of the worhl and again secure for our wlient a fair price. I have thus endeavored to place before' you, in this, the first l)ran('h of our subject, how tlie farmer backed l)y wise legislation may be able to nuike more money. I will now as briefly as possible point out to you how he may save. You thrifty Germans know that to be more than half the l)attle of life. Well, the free traders tell you, throw open your ports to all the world, buy your goods wherever you lind the cheapest market. It sounds well. Ah! it is but the lulling murmur of the down hill ra])ids, gliding joyously along, just as British goods in British bottoms would glide, oh! so joyously into the port of New York; but soon comes the linancial rush and roar, the surging, the tossing to and tro, the up- heaval and then the tinancial crash. As this is the free trader's last ditch of the lost cause 1 would be wicked enough to bury, not him but his free trade notions in it. ' The argument is that if the tarilf were removed the citizen, farmer, or what not, could buy his supplies more cheaply. Remember it must be admitted by the most rabid free trader that there would be less money in hand, less purchasing power, but he claims that that little would go further. This is a question almost purely of statistics ; 1 will not weaiy you with the mention of them, but will cpiote to you'a sum- ^ mary made a few years since, and it still would be far stronger to-day, ' by the admitted leading statistician of the nation, Mr. Lorin Blodgett! He says : '' As to industries olten contested between us and Europe' I may say generally that at least iiften or twentv leading articles, in which the values made here now exceed half a million dollars each yearly, have been won in the last ten years, absolutelv as against for- eign competition, and that the markets of all the cities of this country take none other than our own supply of these articles. In woolen and worsted goods this is most conspicuously true, but in iron, steel, machinery and other products of the most diverse character there are frequent instances. The establishment of a new industry in this man- ner to take the place of important articles previously wholly imported, IS a teat of generalshii), courage and perseverance, worthy to crown Its author with knighthood. I know several such in which singly the saving to the country counts millions alreadv, and this saving"^ is' not only on the aggregate sum previously sent abroad, but on the price in detail to the consumer, hi almost everv case the present price is iar less, and m several known to me, it is only about half, that which the article bore when wholly imported. This important fact is too ittle observed by the public generally. Every established industry uis saved us largely in i)resent ])rices, exclusive of its thousand other benehts, and every new one founded and made successful cheapens to the consumer the article it produces. It is often supposed that the industrial production of the country is a passive and to a great degree helpless interest without the intrinsic vigor and enterprise which be- longs to ^commercial pursuits. There can be no greater error No ventures in loreign trade can exceed the courage, foresight and energy re(iui8itein founding new industries. I had very recently from the iiI)Sol one of the most successful of these, who now produces half a iNiMionol doHars in value yearly of goods which previously were wholly pro luced abroad, some explanation of the specific risks and losses necessarily incurred in transferring the seat of a great manu- I Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 81 facture from P>elgium to Philadelphici. Business prosecuted persist- ently for many months at a foreseen loss of :]0,()()0 or 40,000 dollars, and^investment to the extent of twice this sum in machinery, the cost of which would be wholly lost unless the victory is won, are but illus- trations of the risks and representative instances of enterprise. For myself I have a degree of respect and even admiration for these gen- erals of the army of wealth producers, which I hope may become uni- versal with thoughtful citizens. The bravest and the coolest of those who risk personal ease and accumulated wealth for the attainment ot new and greater public benefits, cannot go beyond these men in achievements. Let one not acquainted with those greater facts enter an iron mill, where the power of 800 horses and 1,200 men is directed to the production of a single description of wrought iron work, ex- ceeding 3,000,000 dollars in value in a year, or again where 1,800 men and 500 horse power finish a powerful locomotive every working day of the year. Instill another giant establishment nearly 800 power looms with 900 attendants manufacture worsted goods at the rate of 10 000,000 of yards per year, the aggregate value counting as many mil- lions nearly as the iron works first cited. More than twenty est ablish- ments exceeding one million of dollars in annual production exist within the city of Philadelphia alone, and at least ten exceed two and a halt millions each, the highest closely approaching five millions. In short and are in douDt, win loriiiwun ynn ii. lo « ^..^v. .v, „^>; - selves bv sucli researches as are within reach, and I am sure they will decide that these two economy points are clear. 1st. J hat by the en- courai?ementor.manufacture.s the farmer has more money to buy with, and, 2d. Tliut for it he can get a better money s worth Now just a word on what I had not intended alluding to but for the free trade raeetin- at the Academy ot Musicin IMnladelphia on Friday last. The speakers and letter writers one and all showed the weakness of their hand by passing gingerly over the true questions at ssue enlarging on two ideas. One that free trade would bmld up ^m^^ S^ ; how. they did not explain. I am sure that we all would brbuttioH^d to attain tins object. To many t appears best that some otUe" surplus complained of were nsed in bounties, as all other naHons do, to our shipping. The other idea w^"' the words otMr^ Ilurd of Ohio, " demand raw material tree, and here will be a luture jiuiu, oi v'liu., uc „„. ,, A.n His Ohio constituents wil probably far surpassing (he past, .-^ - Africa and Cuba. As to other raw mateuals ^^e ha.se no lime lo '^Tl!is whole question of free trade in the United Stales has been drWen alot b^ ffi, State by State from every strong od ; o^J-J-M excepting only the n>U-t- cd^ '^^:S^:^:^tfiJZ^^;:^ ^eTSSieigirit^irandtudi SaJk portions of the oKVslave States 6 QUAR. I 82 QUARTKRLY R^:r'ORT. I as have not yet awakened to the beanliful light of busy diversified industries. 1 am far from sayin3(),083,7 10- from spirits and beers, $87,684,288.52 ; of this there comes from Peimsvl- vania alone, on tobacco, $3,235,08(>.ll ; on spirits and beer, $4 797 950.29 ; a total on these items of $8,033,010.40. ' As to tobacco, it is so large an interest to you farmers of Lancaster county, and you so well understand it, that it is useless to dwell upon it. The money value of tobacco grown in this county is a very lar^^e part of that total which makes it the leading count vni the Union in agricultural values. This tobacco is taxed here and a very large part of it again taxed abroad. Clearly, if the home tax were\ibolished you would have the benefit oi all the tax and be just so much richer. An(i. again, certain foreign tobacco which now to some extent competes with yours would thereby be additionally taxed to an amount precisely equivalent to the tax taken off of you. The Legislature of Virginia, representing a State lar.relv tobacco growing, and other competent associations, have so recentlv^uul pub- licly expressed their wishes in favor of abolishing this tax that I will say no more, only to express my rejoicing, that here, at last, North and oouth can join hands. Now as to the national home tax on spirits, 1 \vant to say at the outset tlnit my view is radical. 1 hold it to be a dishonoring tax. AVe hoot at England because she encourages in India the growth of a druff, the; import of which should be taxed here almost to prohibi-ion, opiuni, and yet-well, let me tell you an anecdote. Once in Salt Lake City 1 was talking with a Mormon and thought to compliment him bv saying, I was glad to note so few saloons. - Yes," he replied, - an'd before it wasforced upon us there was not one in all Utah but " turn- ing keenly upon me, re])eated, ' Your government gets one-third of Its revenue Irom the vde traffic.- What could I sav ? It was sub- 1^^^^ J""^' t[ ''T "".^/^^^^^^^l^. ^^nd from such^ a source, Satan reproving Sin. Jhmk of it this great Republic so rich that we are told t ha its revenues must be reduced, and yet prostituting its power and thriftily banking to the extent of one-third of its swollen income, the revenues of shame. AVhether you or I are prohibilions or not, whether we think the use Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 83 I ■■^, ■»:• of it a pleasure or only a vice, is other matter. Every thiiikii)"U'se hey do nS strictly create, they only develop the resources which the AlmiStv has created in nature around us and }|'<''n- own bodies and d your herds, ana just so uie '"•'"'^\''^■^"'"^"";" ; "- T,, ^-rndncts develoD the goods, the ores, the endless variety of useful products, w' ich fi Ihdil V civ iized nation enjoys. There is no robbery o any^ bo V iionTore in the development of a great steam engine, thai in the development of your crops. You are brothers, partners in the iPct svas Tnd 1 .an only throw out suggestions which may induce •^ . Wnlr nd search for yourselves, endeavored to lay before V : s^e \lrs' whtdit lu^^e W with ^^^:^^^. youi brother fanners of the whole Union, a short series of resolutions, 8i Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 85 i ii t •I which 1 know eominf!; from this county will have a rin^in<2; effect, and I only regret that it could not have been done a month since at your X>revioiis meeting. Beibre offering the resolutions I will only detain you first to thank you for the patience with which you have listened to me, and then only to guard against misconstruction by saying that the (]uestion of the proper national legislation to add to the wealth and saving of our farmers is only an economic question and in no way involves the philosophic question, whetlier wealth is after all the supreme good. It may be there are many here who rather agree with the old sage who held that the supreme good was ''the possession of a sound mind in a sound body," and where in the great seething, struggling river of life is a position so well adapted to produce and preserve both as yours ? Farmers of Lancaster county, be true to your great inheritance, to yourselves and to your children. See to it yourselves, and teach your children, that even as your ancestors by a mighty struggle freed them- selves from the dogma of the Divine right of Kings, which may, in- deed, sometimes have come down from above, so you of these days must fight yourself clear of the silly delusion which is practically en- throned among us, of the Divine right of Politicians ; its origin is clearly not from above. Strive to enthrone among you those ]>rinci- ples of intelligence and manly virtue which shall make this, our garden count}^ a true pattern of a ''government by the people and for the peoi^le." HEALTHFUL HOMES FOR FARMERS. By Prof. S. R. Thompson, ISIcw Wilmington^ Pa. It is believed that the principles here set down will be accepted as true by most competent physicians, and that they are now acted upon by State and city boards of health, and endorsed by the highest sani- tary authorities. Most of us trust the skill of the physician who tells us how to cure disease; shall we not accept with equal confidence what he says when he tells us how to prevent it. Curing disease may well be left to the professional class specially trained for the work, but the ])revention of disease requires the intel- ligent cooperation of all persons in the community. An ounce of prevention is said to be worth a pound of cure. If you wish evidence as to how far this ounce may be made to extend ask your ])hysician, and ho will tell you that half the sickness in the community might be prevented if every one should obev the well-established laws of health. If the physician is right in this opinion, it needs no argument to prove the import aiice of the subject under consideration. 'Y\\v farmers home ought to l)e healthier,on the whole, than a home in a city or village, because he (the farmer) has more complete con- I trol of his surrouiuli.igs, ami can, ii' he will, remove such things as "iXte "mply iKl plainly what some of these injurious things ^■■^'h': ;t§fcondiiu>.^Srious to health in a iarmer's home may be classiiied under three topics : , w „.^ „,atpr First dampness; second, impure air ; three, unwholesome water Tlici ate ail ultimately 'related, but it will be convenient to speak '^'S!? AheaUhvhouse must have a dry foundation. ^Dampness eitSt the bottom and walls of the cellar, or n the earth ot.mex^ cavated parts of the house-foundation, is an element ol f a"Ser ^o heaUh am the more dark and confined this dampness is the g eater hpd nL^e It is not claimed that all persons who live in such a htse'"^iU be sfck, but only that the danger of ^^^^,^^_ tlr n in a house with drv foundation. An extensive study ot this sub JeS by the Massachusetts State Board of Health seems to alUrni this ' wteTi'a i^Tiou^is to be built no pains should be spared to make the'^-oumlatiralul cellar dry by efjicieiit '^_°^'f;'f */' .'^^^^^ removed to a per- occupants were freq-^ently sick but ^'^^^'/Jf^ j^^"^^^^^^^ ^^^^[^fe^mlS^t Mn^="trL:;i^^ i->«.-^ ->• These are ^Pecially fa-^e-u-vhe^^^^^^^^^ , damp places. Liglit ami iresn '"'',„•,, 'I Aq^.-.^ under, n, or about unwholesome gases, A»ything unde go ng decaj^un ^ ^^^^^ a house is to be ook^ed upon as a o t^^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ era season in Boston several taa ^^^^^ ^^^ a principal street where ^P^^cuil care had f^^^^, ^^ street was infected, cellars and surroundings. Ivo ot>ei house o" ,.ontaining More careful examination f'owed that^a m.MU l^^^^^^ some decaying vegetables hadhe^n meiU kcdm ^ I ^^^^^^^^^^^ ing up. When t^^^VdSsT' PpeTed i "^^^^^^ or its vicinity. ""wrevr:itecLt^t^^^^^^^^ s;\^r,rnc?w:irsTa^.^^^ -^ to be disregarded. \\\ I I 86 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 87 Another source of impure air in the home is tliat which results from the breathing' of its inmates, and from the l)iirning of lam])s, candles and the oil stove, or anything where the products of the combustion remain in the room. Air is composed, roughly speaking, of eighty i)arts nitrogen and twenty parts oxygen. The oxygen is the active agent ; the nitrogen serves only to dihde the oxygen. What may be called pure air con- tains some otlier things in small quantity, but these for the present mav be disregarded. Expired air has lost about live per cent, of its oxygen and gained about four per cent, of carbonic acid. Now this carbonic acid is so dangerous to health that one part of it in a hundred of air renders the air unlit to breathe. Now an average person will spoil about one cubic foot of air in a minute, sixty feet in an hour and 1,4-lrO in a day. This last amount will 1111 a room i2x 12 and ten foot high. It follows from these considerations that to keep the air of a room up to even this low standard of purity provision must be made to supply at least sixty cubic feet of fresh air each hour for each person. Time will not now allow us to consider the ways and means of intro- ducing fresh air into the house, but this general suggestion is made that it is much better that air should be admitted by many small openings, rather than by a few large ones. An open lire-place with a tire in it is an excellent means of taking impure air from a room; l)ut provision should be made for admitting fresh air to the room from outside, so that the pressure may not bring air up from the cellar or from under tlie house. Lamps, candles and oil stoves when the products of combustion are all poured into the room destroy a great amount of oxygen and thus vitiate a large amount of air. The other dangerous product of breathing is the solid animal waste that escapee from the lungs and is expelled in a vaporous form with the breath. Some of the same escapes from the pores of the skin. This substance is in such a state that it soon, unless it is mixed with a large quantity of fresh air and thus destroyed, begins to putiify, and ultimately becomes a dangerous foe to health. When first sent out, it is comparatively harmless, but when it begins to decav it becomes a breeding place for all tilth diseases. Air, impregnated *wirh this sub- stance, will kill a mouse in a short time. Air free from this substance may cotitain a much larger proportion of carbonic acid without dan- ger to health, than when it contains this organic poison. This sub- stance adheres to clothing, furniture, ])aper of walls, and such things, and this is what gives a tightly closed room the musty smell so com- monly ol)served. It is generally conceded that this is one of the worst foes to health in the home where good ventilation is not kept up. Sanitarians tell us that breathing air containing much of this poison, tends to the pro- duction of scrofulous diseases, and disposes the system to receive the contagion of infectious diseases. Plenty of fresh air and abundant sunlight in the rooms, are the means of avoiding danger from this source. Never mind if the sun- light does fade the carpets; you can ])etter spare the color from your carpets tlian the roses of health from your dauirhter's cheeks. The tliird great source of danger to^he health of the home is the use of impure water. By impurity here, is not meant the mineral substances which make '■'"P^^ ■R k water hard. It is a mooted question whether hard water is unwh(jle- some. But by impure water here is meant water containina: decaying or decayed aiiiinal or vegetable matter. _ _ All tiiat has been said of the danger from impure air is equal v true of impure water. The impurities wliich render water unwhole.ome mav be visible, or invisil)le. They may be manifest to smell or taste, or to neither. Water may be cool, clear, free from any suggestion ot bad smell or taste, and yet contain the germs of typhoid lever, lo be sure, any offensive smell or taste, any color, or any considerable (luantity of' suspended impurities, are always indications o danger, and must not be disregarded. Even chemical analysis is not able to determine beyond question the wholesomeness of a given water. Such analysis ^nay indicate that water is bad ; but, on the other hand ?he water "may be dangerous, and yet chemical analysis may not te the tale These well-settled facts point out and enii.hasize the need of care in seeing that wells and other sources of .Iriuking vvater are carefully kept from the possibility of contamination. 1 Ins is the saie.t course For even if a well is contaminated and unwholesome, it is ahnost impossible to convince some persons of the tact as long as the water tastes and smells well. Household water is contaniinated in vaiSus wayst by surface water running into the well from the ground IJound ; by sm Jl aninmls getting drowned in it ; by fcml water Irom the barn-vard, or cesspool, working its way downward into it. A eiiorof mine, once when his well by the house gave out began using water for culinary purposes from a well in or near his bani yard Very soon the entire family became sick As soon as the use of this water was discontinued, they all recovered. In an her case three members of a family living two miles away, were sdlcmly taken with typhoid fever and two died. Investigation Tho^'e^ ab t^a peck of worms in the well. These worms, _,t should be ex 1 lined, were a peculiar product of certain prairie regions, and were ometimes very'abundant on the surface ot the groii. id about midsummer, and had in this case crawled into the open well, the -t\ t^:Sl^:^!^t n;e street in .ont of a brew^ (r^^iiV^r; irumlrji^SfTiit^::^ ear A mit3.of typhoid fever caused the purely of this well o be inVpected. and careful enquiry developed the fact that in iorty fonmes^usim' wvter from this well there were twenty seven cases of tvuli.n^vei-- while in thirtv-live families living in the same ne gh- boihood, who'dkl not use the well, there were but two cases. Uus /.r^iilrl Irirdlv have been a coincidenc^e. , . , "ite . a cimmon ,„i«„„rel,e„rio„ a, to «1» J"""" ">""'£ '^iH^of fho T^rpQpnce oi loul air or me u&c m iiiipniv. number of diseases have been classed as filth diseases. S8 Quarterly Report. Ihe most (lan«:eroiis of thoso are diphlluTia, smallpox, scarlet, typhoid and typhus fevers. Hiese are also classed as contagious in- tections, or coniinuuicable diseases. How these diseases are communicated from one person to another; what is the contapum or medium of communication, and in what manner the products of decay acted to promote the spread of con- ta^non and increase the dano:er from the class of diseases, has been very carefully studied for many years. The result of this study and investi^^ation has been the production of what is called the r/erm theorji of disease. It was discovered that fermentation in yeast was due to the growth of a minute vegetable called the yeast"^pUint, that fermentation in cider, beer, and such substance w^as also produced by a similar <>;rowth. Putrefaction was Ibund to be dey)endent on the presence of a putrefactive ferment, and that when the ^erms of this ferment were excluded, meat or soup would remain indetinitely sweet. The germs of these ferments seemed to be everywhere in the air, like those of mould, and yet were invisible. Now the germ theory of disease holds that these diseases are caused by the multi[)lication of some microscopic vegetable fungus growth in the blood or in some membraneof the body. That in the progress of the disease other invisible germsare cast off from the diseased person, and that these germs carried through the air, or in food or drink, and taken into the hings or stomach may produce the same disease in another. That not all who are expo^'ed to infection in this way take the disease is supposed to be because for some unexplained reason the system is not susceptible to the influence of the germs at that time. In the case of most ot these diseases a person who has had a given disease is not susceptible, or will not take that particular disease again, or at least not lor some time. It is believed too that these germs are much more potent to communicate the disease at one time than another and that this potency is in some w^ay connected with the presence of impurity in the air, water or food of persons exposed to the disease. It w^ould seem that the germs reproduce themselves w^hen they grow^ on decay- ing animal or vegetable substances with increased malignancy, and are then able to lay hold on healthy tissues as thev could not do before such renewal or reproduction. 80 obvious is the bad eflect of the presence of any filth in places infected by these diseases that many believe that such filth has the power to orginate the germs whatever it is that constitutes the contagium. Of the common diseases of tliis class tvphoid fever seems to be communicated chiefly through the mediunrof food and drink, seldom if ever through the air. All the others may be communicated through the air, and most likely in various other ways. It is not pretended that this is a complete presentation of this sub- ject. One httle half hour is much too short a time in which to do more than outline some of the leading topics connected with it. In our public school physiology and hygiene are nowrecpiired to be tauglit If those wdio have this instruction in charge will take hold of the great work of enhghtening the pu})lic on the principles and means of preserving health. It' they will thoroughly indoctrinate the youth in our schools with an abiding faith in the value of sanitary principles and methods w^e may hope to see the next generation Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 89 largely freed from those deadly infectious, but preventible diseases, which now yearly send desolation into so many homes. THE RELATION OF LANDLORD TO TENANT. By C. S. McCormick, Esq., Lock Haven, Pa, When the maker of this goodly earth of ours had fashioned it, and furnished it with its manifold wonders, of earth, and air and sea fitted ibr man's uses and adopted to his condition and necessities, He -ave it into his possession It was no doubt then expected that each fndividual would be possessed of a sutlicient amount ot liberality to be sa isfied if he got one-half of all the earth and that he would a^lo^v the l>alance of the world's population to have the other hal In this there seems to have been a great mistake, and the question which for about 5,000 years has called forth the most intense zeal and has more than all others absorbed the thoughts and labors c^ the world's population, has been how the one more can manage to get he posses ion and control of the whole earth and gather all tlie rest d nSind as tenants into his broad flelds and P^^ -^^ .--^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ mav real) the harvest. The manner m which the lands of a counti> Sheld hS^^^^^ to do with the strength, intelligence and perpetuity of its iovornment. If thev are held in large bodies by a few persons and o^cS by them whose only interest in them is to try to dig out Tlivel S for a brief time. Of course their attachments to places ^re wis and aflection for home and all it implies ^as no opTX)^tu^^^^^^^ for development. I have no hesitency in saying that nation is the best and t lai people the happiest and most prosperous when the land is dSl into small lots or sub-divisions, and each man who tills the soil becom^^^^ owner of the land he cultivates, then the tree he S' nts is his 1 4, the fruit it bears is his fruit. Under its spreading t^l^X and his children froni ^---^-'V?bs''^7b"on:es'i -ather its healthful fruits or rest their weary limbs. It becomes a Tie bindino- the present to the past and the future. So /r when we look at the comforts that belong to him or the conven^e ices which liirhten the burthens of labor or the attachment Si bi <1 men to their country and give them pride m its growth andp^^^^^^^ All these have their gains in the o^nei^hip of the to] They le watered and nursed into life by the practical enioy- ment aiicKse of rest and independence which the ownership of the "wfcTn's'er^^^^ without homes or interest in land may be- come w^nd^^^^^^^^^ and reprobates and even red-handed n'n le e?s but tkl me, if you can, how the owner of a home and a Ul le firm in this beautiful valley could ever oecome either ihe onevou establish a permanent home you open a field tor the dev lopm^^^^^ of virtues, and erect a barrier ^^^^^-J, -™^^^ ,, How dear to the heart and how pleasant to the imagination is thit rinded s^em given by the Creator himself to his chosen people. 00 QUAKTERLY RePORT. PENISSYLVANIA BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 91 AVhen tlie promised land was possessed and tlie x>eople were ready to seek each one an abidin^i; [)lace, the whole land was allotted first to tribes, then to families. To each a place was provided. These lands, it is true, mitrht be sold, but it was only until the year of jubilee. Then when the trumpet of jubilee was sounded every man returned w^ith his inheritance. Tiiey Avho had gathered acre to acre and field to field must give way to the returning owner, landlords were stripped of their tenements, and tenants became holders of the fee. What a joy to those whom unsuccessful l)usiness or hard fortune had driven from their homes and dragged through years of trial and gloom and distress, while their inheritance like a rich treasure house poured out - — poured out to its holders a stream ol* wheat, and barley, and oil, and hone}^ to gladden and enrich them. And what a comfort to see old money bags with cautious longing gather together liis gettings, and bear them away to the narrow limits of his original inheritance. Before 18()1 the serfs of Russia were almost as fi rmlv attached to the soil as the great trees which send their roots far into the depths of the earth. In that year, the Czar, by an imperial manifesto, declared a separation of upwards of twenty two millions of these poor people from the lands to which they had been attached. They who before had been but little more than animals of burthen, become men; need- ing only the intluence of a brief time to educate them into citizens, and an interest in the soil to bind them to their fatherland with all the strength and tenacity of patriotic citizenshi]). France, for many years noted as the tenantry whose lands were diviled into the smallest sub- divisions of perhaps any of the great powers, which sub-divisions are held largelv bv individual owners, dazed the woild bv the stubborn patriotism of her citizens, and the vital energy with which she recov- ered from the terrible blow given her, when Germany's hordes were poured over her land, capturing her proud capital, and like a besom of destruction, sweeping out of existence, the monuments and the glories accumulated by the toils and the sacrifices of a noble and generous people during years of peaceful prosperity. The great mass of the fiower of her people destroyed, a heavy indemnity imposed upon her, a large national debt accumulated in the prosecution of the war, cities and towns, manufactures and improvements destroyed, yet in spitf of all this, in a few brief years, her people were again prosperous and apparently happy. When William, the Conqueror, in lOoG, overrun England, he claimed to have acquired the ownership of all the lands, with the unquestioned right to dispose of them as he might see fit. He allotted large tracts to his chief Ibllowers, and these again allotted smaller sub-divisions to their henchmen and supporters, but each holding was upon condition that the holder should render service or rents and otiier burthensome contributions, with homage and fealty. The nation became a great military encampment, and every holder of portions of the soil a sol- dier. Afterwards the ibrm of service was somewhat changed, but extortions increased in one form and another until the people arose against them, and froii time to time wrested from the ruling powers here and there liberties and privileges, which gradually and in large measure secured tluMu against the exactions of their oppressors. W you will take the time to study their uprisings you will learn that the men wlio were in the front of these struggles, were those who having become owners of an interest in the soil, small though it was, drew therefrom a taste of the sweets of civil liberty, and learned the K-Sf iniuslioe of the demands made by the minions of power upon the till- ers of the soil, and knowing these wronjis and their rights, dared to nutinlain tliem. And just as the tenant was enabled to burst the bonds one by one in which he was held by his landlord, and to ac- quire ownership in the land, he grew in manhood, patriotism and good citizenship. , . , ... , , Ireland, that jrem of the ocean, than which none richer in nature s dfts of soil aiuf climate, beautiful beyond c()mi)Mrison with the coun- tries of other nations ; for centuries has and still slands a monument of the blighting elfects of an unwise exercise of the power of the landlord More than three fourths of the island owned by less than a dozen absent landlords. The natives of the land, to the manor-born, tenants from age to age, oppressed and robbed by heartless bailills, whose i)lace in the eye and hold upon the allectionsof their employer, the landlord, are measured by their success in gathering dollars from the occupants of his lands. Regardless of right and the condition ol the tenant out of this condition of things have grown contentions and bitterness, and poverty and want. Until the name ot the green isle of the sea, which ought to be the home of a happy and prosper- ous people, has become a reproach and a by-word among the nations ol the earth, and the administration of its government a disgrace to the English nation. , ^ . ,. ,, To dav the hands of the masses of the people of the old world are strenuously upheld against the holding of large bodies ol lands by in- dividuals or corporations, because through them, by the exactions ot lar-e rents, the husbandmen is deprived of the just fruits of his labor, and bv the depression in the price of labor, holders of small bodies of land Vannot compete with the productions of the large holders While this struggle is going on in the old country, we sell tens ot thousands of acres of the best faiming lands in the great west, in one body alter another, swept into the maws of capitalists and corpora- tions, to be held and used against the interests of labor Is there not iust here, and now, a lime and a place for our people, who to-day are striving against monopoly and organized capital and power, to stoD and inquire n\ hit her we are tending. May we not from the ex- perience of other nations hear a note of warning '{ May not the seething fires of their dee]) distresses throw forth a light which will so guide us that we may avoid a like calamity upon ourselves and our <;liiWren It lies with' the 1 eople to strike down that power of org^nuzed cap tal athome and abroad, which is converting those fair and Iruitlul por- tions^f or land into instruments by which the life and prosperity o he whole people are even now being fast crushed out Ten thousand acres of choice land here and as many there, bought^by cheap oreign capUal and peopled by the cheap-lived Hungarians, Italian or Chinese fXraided^yall tlie appliances of labor-saving -ar''--y; -J^'^ the canitalist is able lojdace upon the farm, sends and ^vlll send to your Inarket, over discriminating lines of railways, the same products Vour farm yields at pric^es with which you cannot compete. ^ Lar-e amounts of capital invested in inexpensive lands arge nuni^ bers of cieap hands, large numbers of labor-saving -«;;.l;j»^,^;,f^; « bv such cheap rates of transportation as we all are familiar with, w H null 0 ro iTs for the aggregated capital, while the single a""er work^ „.r wi h his own hands will not only tail to realize profits but will account himself happy if he is able ^^/eep square with the^ grocer and maintain the souls and bodies of his little famiiv togetner. 92 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 03 But if the farmer, who with liis own IuukIb performs the labor on his farm necessary for its cultivation, can scarcely live, how can the hmd- lord and the tenant both receive from the same farm ])roduct suthcieat to maintain two families, or to yield afair compensation to the labor ol the tenant and a fair interest on the capital invested. It is simply impossible, and durin- the ten years last past this truth has impressed itself with ^reat force upon both the landlord and tenant in this sec- lion of the country. ... That there lies somewhere a radical defect is apparent to everyone. Has the landlord found it? or has he not, instead of seeing and goin|; to the real cause of the dilliculty, which lies in the Legislature which makes these inequalities possible, gone with words of anger and blame to the tenant, and when the tenant properly resents it they soon have each other by the ears. The effort has been made to govern tlie larm mana<*-emenfbv the s!ime rules which prevailed when the larm pro- ducts were of one-half more value than they now are. Of course they failed, and the result must be alike unsatisfactory to the landlord and the tenant. However skilfully and with wdiatever measure of good husbandry the tenant may manage and cultivate the soil, he cannot but feel that his labor is not compensated. The landlord may be human, and liberal, and just, yet when he comes to count the income ot his farm at the end of the vear, after deducting taxi.s, repairs, wear and tear, it is so distressingly small that he feels that his capital has not yielded him a fitting interest. In this condition of things the talk you set before me when you ask me to speak to you of the relation of landlord and tenant is not an easy one Accepting the situation as we lind it, and based upon the present unsatisfactorv condition of the farming interests in the coun- try, I will refer vou briefly to a few points relating lo the matter in hand. There are many plans by which land may be leased. It may be for cash, a certain specific sum may be paid for the use of a farm ior a year or a term of vears, the tenant takes the risk ot crops and prices, the price paid must take that risk into the account, and when fairlv made upon a proper basi^ I do not see why it is not just as gooc a plan as anv. But in order to arrive at a proper basis some general questions must be settled. First, as to the condition of the farm, the character of the soil, its degree of fertility, the condition of the build- intrs, fences and improvements generally, its convenience to market, schools, churches, eV:c., go to make up and determine the question as to the values of the farm. It is not true that a tenant can or should pay the same price for the use of a run dow^n farm with bad improve- ments that he should for a good farm with good improvements. Ihe labor required for the cultivation of rich productive soil, is less than that required for the cultivation of that which is poor. The time lost and the annoyance occasioned bv no buildings, fences and improve- ments generally, depends somewhat on the stage of ddapidation and the disposition of the neighbors to suffer their stock to roam at large and pasture at pleasure upon insecurely enclosed lands. All are fac- tors enterini: into the general question as to the value of the rental. The landlord may as well make up his nnnd at the outset that the tenant must live, w^hether he pay a money rent or divide the i)roduct of the land. He who by hand toil through long and scorching sum- mer days and winter's cold produces from the earth the Iruits she yields to the hand of the husbandman, must of their fruits live, not extravagantly, neither perniciously, but comfortably. '^Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the corn." The priest must live from off the altar, and so must the farmer live of the product of the land. The length of the lease is also an item to be considered. In times long since gone by it was thought about the only ^^^^^^^^ ^^^\^"^^/^ eauh) a farmer for his work was that he should be able to hold the plow and guide his team ; to-day the successful farmer requires about as much preparation as the professional man. He must study his soil. He must understand the effect on the soil of the production of certain kinds of grain ; when and how to apply fertilizers, especia ly manures; when to work the soil and when to let it alone when to plant and when to wait, wlien to reap and when to gather, borne ol these labors may be learned alike on all farms, but many may not. A liglit, sandy soil may be worked at almost any time, wet or dry, a lieavy clav Wl worked in the same condition would become hard and lifeless, pei'haps be destroyed for a whole season. A successtul response by the farmer to all these demands must depend somewhat on his expe- rience and observation, hence it is clear t^^at long leases are desirable alike in the interest of good husbandry and of the landlord and the tenant The method of leasing, which generally prevails and which seems most equitable is that which divides the crops. The seed must be found, the taxes paid and the repairs kept up. These must be drawn from the product, and the division of the balance must m fau- nesr depend on the productiveness of the land ; if the soil be thin and ?ertilS tlie yield will be less than if the soil is rS but the labor has been even more, the tenant, th^f^^^^^^^^^ may live, must receive the larger proportion Buf^, says the landlord, 1^ not mV capital invested m that farm. Why shall not my invest- ment r^t J mm e the interest as well as the labor of the tenant re urned him a living? Within the lines of unyielding justice he is right, it the affaifs of men, justice untempered with mercy of men to ob^ tain who can picture the sadness of the lot of most of mankind ihe onT; r^pH the hungry stomach must be killed and tlie naked body Shed In dividing the product the tenant knows that his prohts depen Ln lis^^^^ in producing crops. His best skill and energy wi r herefore, be industriously put forth to bring about the bes re- Tu Its Sn, too, the landlord becomes interested, and mam ests that ntrest hfwords'of commendation ^f^^^^^l^lf^^^^^ ao-ement and many times lends a helping hand, ilus b\ unitea STndun^^ interest, if success be possible, it will be achieved Of course there are times when the husbandman may prepare the 2)il wdl Ld pl mt [L seed carefully and still fail to rea ize an abund- ant ( ro f winter drags far into the place of spring, if cold, chilling ra/ns fSow clo e v upon the heels of planting, if rains cease to co^e [nXir sSi«on ^^ prevail, all this is not the fault of the ten- an Whe; Ui^^ work is well' up and pushed, so th.it he oppor^ tunenronSi is allowed to pass, it seldom occurs that the crop mav not e well planted. 1 f, however, the work is behind and push- ^^f/the tena^ and failure results from want of timely preparation the faiVt s he^enalit^s, and he should suffer, if any one. Ihis all b^sed upon t^l e idea the landlord and tenant are nght-minded peoide dfsT^sed to do right. If thev are not so, and are each disposed to cu and s ah and Regardless of^ husbandry, to dig a little something out n^ 1 rnrto-day, caring nothing lor what may come to- morrow. I know of no svs e^^^^^^ i^^ profits or leasing that will make U e iriii in m^ or >rofitably. The sooner such landlords go west i 94 Quarterly Keport. or become little angels, and such tenants discover that. they have mis- taken their vocations, the better. SOILS AND SOILING-. By Jos. H. Long, Flemington^ Penna, First. What do we mean by soiling and why prefix the word soil ? It is because we want the advantageous benetit not only to the animal but also to the farm, and consequently to ourselves financially. Soil geologically is that part of the globe, usually formed by the dis- integration of rocks which underlie it. The earth was probably at one Ume a molten mass, and when cooled, a solid rock without soil. But by chemical agencies put into action by the laws oi nature, the rocks were disintegrated and rendered soluble and fitted tor vegetable life The character of the soil may generally be determined by the underlying rocks. Thus it lime rock crops out the soil is calcareous. If quartz predominate it is silicious and so on. To this rule there are however exceptions especially are the deltas of large rivers, composed of difterent soils through which they How. The depth ot the soils ori the surface of the rocks varies from a few inches to several hundred feet Disintegration of rocks is usually effected by oxygen, carbonic acid and water. A specimen of rock brought by me a few years since from the rockies in Colorado, being then hard and bright with pyrites has since by the action of the oxygen and carbonic acid in the atmos- phere become entirely disintegrated. A short time since a statement appeared in the Philadolplua Press that \he carbonic acid generated bv the use of coal in the Girard College will make it necessary to re- place the roof. The roof is formed of marble tile, four and one-halt feet long and four teet wide and two and three (piarter inches thick in the middle. The sides beinjr elevated one and one halt luciies above the general surface to prevent the water from running into the joints at their junction. P]ach of these joints are covered w ith a marble sad- dle four and one half feet in length, ten inches in width, and six and one half inches in thickness and hollowed out on the underside so as to embrace the ridges on two adjoining tiles. My object (in giving you this detailed account of a building pronounced by the best known architects to be one of the most permanent in the world) is to show vou the deteriorating power of the atmospheric chemicals and ot those <»-enerated by the burning of coal. Not half a century has yet elapsed since the completion of this structure and already are these heavy marble tile crumbling to pieces. Thus it is, that the tooth ol time gnaws the mountains to moles, excavates the valleys out of the solid rock, leavine; the plain and valleys for the habitation ol future gen- erations. First however requiring tho action of the elements to make the soil sufficiently soluble and available as food for the plant, which in turn sustains tlie herbiverous and finally the carniverous animals, among which man mounts the stage. Man, the most logical and rational of the animal kingdom, utilizes to his advantage nearly all the remains of previous ages, but is slow to utilize the knowledge he li Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 95 has or could have of agricultural products and the producing the same. Not over half a century since the grain was nearly all sown broad- cast. The harvesting ^lone by sickel or cradle. The threshing by tranqung or Hailing, the winnowing by throwing the grain against the atmospheric current or perhaps on an old style fanning mill. Your marketing being done on arks by taking advantage of tlie spring tloods. It is not necessary to tell you further of the progiess that has been made in agricultural pursuits, labor and labor saving machines. But we ask you what improvement have you made in the soil and the utilizing the products of the same. Haifa century since you pastured your stock in the fields in the summer and usually fed hay, straw or if jdder in its natural state during the winter. What course do you pursue to-day ? Is there no opportunity for inq)rovement'^ The an- swer must be there is, and the necessity for this improvement is im- l)erative if you desire to be among the fittest, and eventually the fit- test only, can survive. The present advancing farmer realizes that he can make two blades of grass grow when one only would grow fifty years ago, and harvest cure and care for it with less than half the labor. What then is your course with your soil first, and your soiling next? AVe still believe in a rotation of crops and if your farms are large, then you may not be able to grow the best paying crops, but in all cases bring your ground to its highest condition of productiveness. If your soil is poor, you should cultivate both soil and atmosphere. Plough deep, give the atmosphere an opportunity to assist you. Use the best commercial fertilizer, calculate the value thereof by the mea- sure furnished you by the State Board of Agriculture, lind by experi- menting what your land requires. It is generally phosphoric acid, ammonia and potash, but the proportion of each can only be deter- mined by experimentingor by analyzing your soil. The former course is more desirable and less expensive. There have been cases in which there has been a surleit of acid in your soil, and the land has assumed the condition and become what some farmers, call clover sick. This condition can most readily be rectified by the application of freshly slaked lime, say fifty l)ushels to the acre. Barn yard manure has some advantages, also some disadvantages. First then the advantages are while you plough deep, ploughing the manure under, you will give the atmosphere an opportunity to circulate through the soil thereby giving the oxygen and carbonic acid an opportunity to disintegrate and make it soluble and available to the plant, thus farming the atmos- phere. Permit me here to say that here then is the place to use your commercial fertilizer to the best advantage, and it has been the most logical theory that the use of sulphate of lime (land plaster) along wUh these fertilizers (commercial and l)arn yard) fixes the ammonia therein and also attracting moisture and carbonic acid, thereby assist- in^ the plant in utilizing the ammonia brought down by the rain water from the atmosphere. Yard manure in its decaying state forms wiiat Liebig defines as humus, and always contains ammonia in a chemical combination, and it has been demonstrated that soils abound- in<'- in humus will increase their nitrogen by oxidation. The soil los- in^^ some of the carbon and increasing in nitrogen which must have resulted from the free nitrogen of the air. In no instance however, have soils destitute of organic matter been found to increase in the sli<'htest degree in nitrogen. The fertility of a soil depends not so much on the quantitv of organic matter in it, as the extent to which this matter is combined with the soluble inorganic constituents in A:. '5'; 96 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 97 the soil. Ilnmusis insoluble while uudecomposed, when decomposed, its carbon may be taken up by water when united with oxygen, as carl)onic acid. This, Liebig says, is a wise provision, for if it was wholly soluble in w^ater, the he^ivy rains of winter would greatly impoverish our soils. The importance of humus has been demonstrated by the French chemist, M. Ville, witli pure calcined sand with wheat without humus, O. without manure; C. with complete commercial manure, 24, and in- cluding humus, 82. But though humus or organic matter is a neces- sary concomitant of all fertile soils, they are not necessarily fertile though abounding in it. Especially is this true in bottom lands, and in colder climates, which become sour by an overplus of this very principle, or where from any cause, as in over saturation of water for a long period, the organic matter has remained in an insoluble con- dition and has not combined properly with the inorganic constituents of the soil or evolved carbonic acid gas in suflicient (luantities to dis- solve the important principles of plant food. Such have 1 found the case in an old barn yard, wdiich had been used only as a receptacle for stable manure and usually been covered with it for at least three- fourths of the time. When a new barn was erected the old yard was broken up with great difficulty in large clods or pieces, the corn and other crops which I tried to raise amounted to nothing. I was at a loss to know what to do with it, knowing there must have been an abundance of organic matter in said soil. I tinally tried beans, then oats and this proved to produce the desired effect as then the clover caught and now proves to be a very rich soil. Another case reported to me some years since by Mr. James Stevenson, a field on his farm which had always been quite fertile and evidently rich in organic matter had thereon a very heavy stand of red clover in full bloom, finding it de- sirable to plow it under, he concluded to do so, but in doing this he evidently soured the ground, to such an extent that it became clover sick, and lor some years, up to the time that he gave me the informa- tion, he failed to raise any satisfactory crop, and clover failed to again grow luxuriantly on the same field. These are however exceptional cases and with these in mind we have still come to the conclusion : 1st. That humus usually renders soils friable and open. 2d. It absorbs moisture from the atmosphere and thus supplies plants with it. 3d. It retains the moisture longer than any other ingredient of the soils. 4th. It furnishes a considerable portion of carbon to plants, either directly or indirectly. 5th. In its widest sense it supplies the mineral elements of decayed matter in soluble forms for plant food. Gth. It absorbs and holds free ammonia and its carbonates, and thus su])])lies plants. Tth. It absorbs lime and its carbonates, and renders it assimilable as plant food. 8lh. It furnishes a solvent to the soil (carbonic acid) for the silicate of potash and phosphate of lime, by which plants are supplied with the two important compounds, phosphoric acid and potash. 9th. In dry seasons it cools the soil, taking by capillary attraction, during the night tlie vapor and moisture from the atmosphere and transmitting it to the rootlets of the plants. 10th. It is, in fact, a prime agent in the laboratory of nature, for X carrying on chemical changes in soils, producing heat, evolving car- bon, oxygen and hydrogen, as well as nitrogen obtained by absorption. Perhaps of all of the benefits resulting from humus in the soij, this last is the most important. Each and every one of these effects have been again and again demonstrated by a number of scientific tests, and yet we find men assuming to be practical agriculturists, who consider organic nuitter of little value, and who claim tluit by the use of lime or some other mineral ingredient alone they can make agri- culture a success. The next question is how can we secure this organic humus to the best advantage? Without any hesitation I answer by '*• green soiling," and stable manure. By green soiling stock is meant the practice of keeping animals in stalls and yards and feeding them on green food raised and cut for the purpose during the ordinary pasturing season, and then allowing them to run in the yard only a short time daily, where they can take necessary exercise, instead of following the old- fashioned ordinary custom of permitting them to range the fields for the purpose of pasturing in the usual manner. To present some relia- ble information on this practice and results of this system derived by me from reading is the object of this paper. Observing persons who have had much experience in tilling the soil, know well that it will yield a much greater value of products, when wisely manured, worked and reaped several times during the season, than if cropped continually by animals running at large. The continual cropping of any plant has a very injurious effect upon its growth, even that most hardy of all plants the Canada thistle, may be exterminated by continual cropping of its respiratory organs (the leaves.) This alone should teach the husbandman that by continu- ally cropping, cutting, or pruning, you \\i\\ never realize half the bulk or weight of any grasses, neither are they as nutritious, although they may be sweeter and more palatable to the stock. Then again, by permitting the animal to roam at large over the fields, they will by treading on said grass destroy the life of many blades. Also, by being worried during the warm season by flies and other insects, a continual exercise is required which also requires much fuel in the way of food to keep up the life and activity of this animal machine. These are a few of the many reasons lor soiling, but the chief one is perhaps the economizing of the stable and barn- yard manure. An article on soiling selected by me says : ^'The most thorough and successful operator in the system of green soiling, and who may be regarded the father of its practice, in New England, was the Hon. Josiah (^)uincy, of Massachusetts. He has been followed with admira- ble success by his son, Josiah Quincy, Esq. And I cannot do a better service to those who may desire to give attention to the subject, in anv other way, than by copying a few paragraphs from an essay by him, showing the resufts for many years of their experiments in soil- ing, from which others can learn the general system, and make such changes in the order of operations as their individual cases and local- ities, and their respective peculiarities may seem to render necessary. Mr. (,)uincv says: '* My farm being compact, the annoyance of having fifteen or twenty head of cattle driven night and morning to and from the pasture, the loss of time in often turning the team and plow, owing to tlie number of interior fences, and the loss of surface of good land capable of being plowed; owing to them and the many 7 QUAR. ¥ 4 98 Quarterly Report. headlands, all drew my attention to the suhject of soiling and its eiiecls I found that European writers maintained that six distinct^ advantages were to be ol)tained by the practice of soiling, over that o pasturing cattle in the summer season : First, it saves land ; second, it saves fences; thinl, it economized food ; fourth, it kept cattle in bet- ter condition ; lifth, it produced more milk, and, sixth, it increased the (lualitv and quantity of manure. ' To the ibove advantages enumerated by Mr. Qumcy, and Irom my observations, it warrants the addition of three more distinct benelits hat ma v surely be derived from a faithful practice ol this system, which hfive been, in part, described in the foregoing pages namely: seventh, better discipline and docility of the animals; eighth ireedom from breechy depredations, and, nintli, increased order m all business about the larm. . i /. . i i .g • i Mr Uuincv proceeds: ''Satisfied in my own mind of the beneficial eflectol- the'practice, I adopted it and adhered to it keeping Irom fifteen to twenty head of niih^h cows, with some other stock, and with entire satLsfactoVy success/' He says that one acre soiled Irom will produce at least as much as three acres pastured in the usual way, and that -there is no proposition in nature more true than that any good farmer may maintain upon thirty acres of good, arable land, twenty head of cattle the year round, in better condition, and greater comfoVt to the animals, with more profit, less labor, less trouble and cash adyance for himself, tlian he at the present mode expends upon a hundred acres/' He further says : - My own experience has always been less than tliis; neyer haying exceeded seventeen acres lor twenty head. To produce a sufficient quantity and succession oi suc- culent food, about one and a half or two square rods ol ground to each cow to l)e soiled. Sow as follows : As early in April as the state ot the land will permit, which is usually between the first and tenth, on properly prepared land, oats at the rate of four bushels to the acre ; ibout th(' 20th of the same month sow either oats or barley, at the same rate per acre, in like quantity and proportions. Early m May BOW in like manner, either of the above grains. ^•Between the 10th and 20th of May sow Indian corn, (Southern Dent being the best,) in drills, three bushels to the acre, in like quan- tity and proportions. About the 25th of May sow cornm like manner and proportions. About the 5th of June repeat the sowing ol corn, as above After the last mentioned sowing, barley should be sown in the above mentioned (luantity and proportions, in iollowing suc- cessions, on the 15th and 2r)th of June and in the first week in Ji^^^^^ IVirlev being the best qualified to resist the early frosts, Ihese various provisions for a variety of crops will supply food some lung in the following order, viz : The oats, sown early m Apnb will be ready to cut for soiling between the 1st and oth o 'J^; Y -^^^^i ^^i^' usually remain succulent until the 10th of the month. ^ J ^^ose ^^^^^ nbout the 20th of. April will be ready to cut between the 10th and 15th of July. Those sown early in May will be ready to succeeed the preceding, and will last till near the middle of August Ihecorn sown (m the 10th and 25th of May and early in Juuev^^iU supply in succession excellent food till early in September j ^^^ J!^^^^^ f^;^^;, in July will continue a sufficient supply ot good leed until the 1st ol November, when, as sometimes before, the tops of roots, as carrots, beets and turnips, with cabbages, are a never failing resource^ Ke- duced to a single statement, my experience and system is tor the Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 00 support of my soiled stock during the months of July, August and September. To sow in the months of April, May. June and July equal to three-quarters of an acre for each head of cattle to be soiled, in such order as will give a regular succession of succulent food dur ing the three first mentioned months. For their support from the 20th of May and during the month of June I reserve early clover and other grass at the rate of one-ijuarter of an acre for each head of cattle soiled. For their support during the first half of October I depend upon the second growth of the half acre cut over in May and June and the second growth of oats and corn cut over in July. ^^It now remains to be shown that the cost of raising, cutting and distributing the food to the stock is compensated by these sayings above mentioned. Upon this point my own experience has satisfied me that the manure alone is ample compensation for all this expense, leaving the savings of land, of food, and fencing stufi* as clear gain from the system." HOME RULE. By II. T. Harvey, Esq., Lock Haven, Pa. The worthy president, Mr. Herr, informed me a few days ago that I would be expected to appear at this institute with an address, and that he had taken the liberty to so announce without consultation and without assigning to me a subject. The query in my mind was, why did he not go the whole figure and give me a subject '^ The conclusion I arrived at was, that from a long and intimate acquaintance with me, he was persuaded that it would be unwise to assign me a subject, as the topics upon which I could speak entertainingly, either of practi- cal or scientific age, were very few, if any. Doubtless my presence here is due entirely to the fact that I am a Lamar township farmer (by proxy), and as such am entitled to be heard at this institute. My assignment to speak on Friday, which is an unlucky day as well as hanirnum's day, was notice to me that while my audience would pro- bably object t'o being hung, they would expect to be tormented. I am by no means prepared to say that your expectation in that regard will not be fully realized, and that you will not be weary and heavy ladened before'l am through. Indeed there is just enough of human depravity in mv nature to have caused me to hesitate some time in selecting a subject and it was with some difficulty that I arrived at the conclusion that I had perhaps better have some compassion on you and not take Ruts for my topic. I think I would have taken a vast amount of solid comfort in i)ointing out to some of you the ruts you have been traveling in and driving over all your lives, just be- cause your grandfathers drove that way. Think of a farmer in this year of grace, 1887, persisting in renewing his fences around his ten or twelve patches of ten or lilteen acres each, into which he has his farm divided, thereby giving up nearly one-tenth of his farm to ience- rows and briars, to say nothing of the useless expense of about one hundred dollars a year in labor and material to keep up these relics ot by-gone days. 100 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 101 But you say we must liave them in order to pasture the cattle. This if possible, is worse tliau the fences. Nearly one-fourth of many farms is reserved for pasture, that the cattle may have a few days of luxuriant ^rass, while they are treading the life out of your soil and destroying the vegetation.^ All this, when two or at most three acres of land devoted to soiling in the raising of sweet corn, rye, &c., would be better for the cattle, economize manure and preserve your lands. In keeping with this, is the inexcusable prejudice which many farmers apparently have against l)looded or graled cattle. An old red cow, with a '' hollow horn " and '' wolf in her tail,'' is worth more to them than tiie very best thoroughbred Jersey because, forsooth, the Jersey will not dress as much as the old red cow when butchered, though the latter may cost more tha!i she is actually worth to put her in condi- tion for the shambles. But 1 find myself wandering and rambling around vour barn-yards and fences like a stray porker, nosing into every hole and corner, searching for a chink or a crevice to break through into vour corn field. 1 can imagine some one saying ''If you only would break through right soon and gorge yourself and go to sleep like a snake, we would be greatly obliged to you.'- But then you would not know the subject I have chosen for this oc- casion and I am sure that would be a great disappointment to some of you who think that a good farmer may have been spoiled to make a poor lawyer out of a scion of the Ilarveys, who tilled the soil of this vallev more than sixty years ago. If 1 were to announce that my subject is ''Home Rule," I know that you would at once inquire, what have we got to do with Ireland or the Irish? or what has that got to do with farming? Well, not very much, I must confess ; aiA yet while the Irish have been strug- gling for generations for home rule, and while thousands of dollars are l3eing sent from America to aid the Irish in their struggle, you must not forget that they are striving for what you already possess,^ what has cost but little and therefore you do not prize it. It is not of home rule wdiere the shamrock grows and where the shillalah tlourishes that 1 propose to speak, but as it is right here in Pennsylvania, and perhaps in Clinton county and in this valley. The best efforts of the most successful and intelligent agriculturists in the countrv are being directed to the solution of the question, how can farmini: he made most profitalde? Every possible avenue for ac- quiring knowledge is being opened and the hidden mysteries of the soil and atmosphere are being explored and examined for the purpose of educating and enlightening the farmer. Agricultural fairs are an- nually held, where the varied products of the soil and the most im- proved machinery and stock are exhibited that the farmers may see and learn. Farmers' clubs are formed and institutes are held, to which the most intelligent agriculturists are invited to lecture and join in the discussion of agricultural topics. All this is for a purpose and that i)urpose is well understood by all, viz : To secure a more intelli- gent, and thereby a more profitable system of farming. Knowledge acquired without some practical advantage to be derived trom it, is loves' labor lost ; and tlie time si)ent in ac(iniring it were better spent in feeding swine, or in some other menial employment. You engage in farming for the same reason that others engage in banking, mer- chandizing or employment; for the profit they hope and expect to derive from it. ^' By the sweat of thy face, thou shalt eat bread." It is bread that all are "^striving after. Something that will sustain the % body, make us more comfortable, add to our happiness and provide us with more and greater sources of enjoyment. This is the goal ibr which we all are striving. Take this incentive from us and we degen- erate into mere machines, animals who neither sow nor reap. With it we are ever striving for sometliing better, X)iii'^i% more ennobling. Hope ever present in the human heart urges us onward and upward in our chosen field of active labor. Each day brings its new demands, yet it ever finds a willing heart and ready hands to meet the present emergency. That we expect to profit thereby is the only possible solution to this condition of our being. Thus it must be apparent to every one that our energies are expended mainly in efforts to meet present demands, and to provide for future contin- gencies. To do this the average farmer is obliged to exercise the most rigid economy in his personal and family expenditures. This rigid adherence to the rules of strictest economy soon becomes with some a second nature and thev adhere to it when the reason for so doing no longer exists with them, and often to tl e positive discom- fort of themselves and their families. If any of you should ever reach that unhapi)y condition, I would advise you to go down on your knees at once, for the miser, no more than the drunkard, can enter heaven. But it is not alwavs those who are the most economical who are the most saving. In the long run the man who exercises judicious economy will derive larger revenues from his trade than the man who indulges in niggardly stinginess. It is not the amount you make and expend during a year that alone determines on which side of the balance sheet the figures are the largest at the end of it, but whether you have received full value lor what you have expended. The man who pays ten dollars for a bushel of " Bohemian Oats," and eats spareribs for his Christmas dinner, will have less to show^ when the year has rolled around than the man who paid ten dollars for a good Jersey calf and ate roasted turkey and cranberry sauce. It is right here that I want to anchor you for a few minutes and talk to you about home rule — wiiich is nothing more than rule at home — the rule by which you gauge your expenditures, the judgment and skill you display in guarding your outlays. Dollars are only units of value and you are no richer with a hundred dollars in gold than with a horse that will bring a hundred dollars any time you put him on the market. If you exchange your hundred dollars ibr such an animal you are no poorer than if you had your money in the bank, but if with a false idea of economy you pay fifty dollars for an animal that has little or no value in theHiarket, your investment, to say the least, is unwise. The chances are that in the end you will be the loser. A very important item of every farmer's annual outlay is in the form of taxes. Two things you are sure of— death and taxes, and you can no more escape the one than you can avoid the other. The tax- gatherer is sure to knock at your door for your annual contribution to- wards paying the expenses o' the State and munici])al government. This is tlie price you pay for the advantages you derive '^in the pro- tection of those absolute right;^ which were vested in you as individ- uals by the immmable laws of nature ; but which could not be pre- served in i)eace without mutual assistance and intercourse, which is gained by the institution of friendly and social communities." Taxation is an essential element of governmental authority. But taxation wit h- out representation of the American colonies led to revolution because »i i.: ^ 102 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 103 it was inijiist, so taxation without adequate benefits hreeds discord and contention because it is little better than le^alzed robbery. There will be I'onnd but verv few rei)ut able citizens who will coninbun of just and equa] taxation where the money is judiciously expended, but he is a coward who, in this free country, will not ])rotest against un- just taxation made necessary by the inelliciency or dishonesty of those who have entrusted to them the disbursing of the people's money. Upon each individual there rests a certain amount of responsibility in determining how and to whom this duty shall be entrusted, and he owes it to himself and to society to meet that responsibility promptly and well. But how shall that duty be discharged^ The incpiiry at once suggests the answer ; it can only be done by every man deposit- ing an intelligent ballot, free and untrammeled by party prejudice. To do this it is not necessary that any one should surrender his part}" allegiance or break with his [xditical associates. When men are to be elected to represent you in the halls of your State, or National Legislature, or to administer the laws which elfect equally tlie whole people, it is not only your privilege but your duty to cast your ballot with that party whose political priticiples are most nearly allied with ^^our own. The danger lies in carrying your politi- cal preferences beyond this safe and reasonable position to the x)oint where it sinks into blind ])artisan prejudice. Too much politics and not enough policy is what we are suffering from in our local and mu- nicipal elections. What great political principle is at stake in the election of a county commissioner, a supervisor of roads, or a school director? None, whatever, and yet, through their hands passes annually the great bulk of the taxes which are assessed and collected. The rule is, that the majority party controls tliese offices, and that without regard to the qualification or fitness of those who are elected. If one is able to secure the infiuence of the wire-puller at the county seat to aid him in securing the nomination, he is reasonably sure of an election to the ofl[ice of county commissioner or othercountv office, though his sole and only recommendation may be that he is '* solid " with the bosses. The hard-fisted farmers are expected to aid in his election and to contribute liberally in taxes toward meeting the un- reasonable demands upon the treasury, made necessary by his inelfi- cient or criminally negligent maladministration of ofliice. To a greater or less extent these thoughts will apply to the men who are elected to fill your township offices. They are often chosen without regard to their qualification and in many instances are elected because those who are better qualified have not the inclination or political infiuence to secure to themselves the ofifice. The nominations are made at the post office or in some convenient shoemaker's shop by a corporal's guard of the friends of the worthy citizen who aspires to political honors, or hopes to profit by your indilTerence. His nomination se- cures his election and his hopes are realized. But your indilTerence, which at times borders on criminal negligence, does not end here. The law provides a convenient process by means of which these officers, as well as all others, may be required to make a just and full account of their stewardship. But how often is tins neglected :■ The ofiicers elected to audit and pass upon their accounts are sometimes ignorant of the first ju'inciplesof V)ook-keeping, and the least com])li- cation soon loads them into iiH^xtricable difficulty. As a rule the accounting officer is asked only for vouchers and to i)resent his ac- count, which are passed upon without a word of in(piiry or a moment's A investigation. If thev can only succeed in making the accounts bal- ance, they feel that they have discharged their duty, though in doing so they may have made numberless errors. I could cite many in- stances which have come to my knowledge in which the funds of the county and of townships have been lost to the tax payers, in proof, if proof were necessary, of the truth and force of these remarks. But proof is not necessarv, you feel it, you know it, but you do not heed. My purpose is to iiivite your attention especially to those matters strictly local and which effect you directly and personally, in the hope that you may be ultimately led from the consideration of tliese selfish ideas of local government to give some thought to those things which concern you as a citizen of a great Commonwealth and nation. Once you have reached permanently a higher standard of local government and determined that vour municipal affairs shall be managed fairly and honestly, you wilfnot willingly or by negligence surrender what, you will not be long in discovering, is so greatly to your advantage. You have thus made one step in the right direction, but it is only a beginning. There is no class of people whose interests are more easily or seriouslv effected by bad laws, reckless partisanship in the administration of State and national affairs, and unrestrained exercise of delegated or assumed authority by great corporations than are those of the agriculturist. Under the most favorable circumstances lor growing, harvestinir and marketing his crops the margin of profit is small, but if it is subject to the caprice and avarice of soulless trans- portation companies and produce brokers who conspire to bull and bear the market at their pleasure, there is no class of people who suf- fer as much. A firm and staple government with laws that are uni- form, faithfully and fearlessly administered, is what we all want, what we are entitled to under our Constitution and what we should never cease to demand. STR A.\N^BERRY CULTURE. By J. Q. Adams, Island, Penna, The strawberry is preeminentlv a home fruit. Its early ripening, ease of cultivation, quick returns and large yield per acre, make it one of the most important fruits. It succeeds well in the south, and also in the north, and being easily shipped long distances, it may be found in our nvarket from February to August. In calling your atten- tion to the culture of this excelent fruit, we shall notice first the soil best calculated for its growth. There are certain strong, coarse feed- ing vegetables, like corn and potatoes, that can be grown on the halt subdued and comparatively poor soil of the field; but no gardener would think of planting the fine and more delicate sorts in such situa- tions. He is aware of the fact, that to grow caulillowers and eggplant he must plant them on rich and deep soil. There are some strawberries that will grow almost anywhere and there are others that demand the best ground and culture, and there is no occasion to plant these varieties that are inferior in quality, while we may with a little care in any good garden grow the best lOi Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 105 Iruit ill existence. For the home garden it certainly has no equal, and yet in the country we see so many down into the vellow sands of the Sacramento and on awakening enter the " Oolden Gates "of the Pacific. IMonday evening in Boston, Monday morning following in San Francisco — 3,000 miles in little more than seven days ■p 110 Quarterly Report, Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. Ill - — whirled across a continent, yet with all the ease and comfort of a retined home — reading;, resting, musing, eating and sleeping as you went. Now, over what did you pass? Over the Atlantic and Pacific plains and slopes and the best of all the great basin of tiie Mississippi, the abode of the most prosperous and progressive people on earth. But wdiat did you see? At Boston, no longer the quiet little Boston of 177t), but the re lined, modern Athens of America. There among other objects oi* national interest you saw Faneuil Hall, Cradle of American Lil)erty, and heard the hum of ten thousand spindles of busy New England. At New York, at anchor in the bay, the ocean steamers from all the enligiitened powers of tlie Old World, and fol- lowed thence the trail oi that little Continental army across the State of New Jersey in one of the dark hours of the Kevolution. At Phil- adelphia, instead of that solemn stillness, broken only when the old liberty beli joyously rang out the birth of a new^ republic, instead of this, 1 say, you saw^ a uiillion people rushing to and Irom their place of business, and heard the shriek of the steam wdiistle, the click of the electric telegraph, and the roar and ceaseless rumble of her countless mills and manufactures. And so all along the line. A whole conti- nent dotted with hamlets, towns and cities, busy centers of inland trade and industry. In the Atlantic plain, inexhaustible deposits of coal, iron and oil. In the Pacific, mountains lilled witli ores and min- erals more valuable than ever adorned the temple of Solomon, and in the tliird and best you saw the granary of the world. Cattle upon a thousand hills, millions of acres of golden grain, impenetrable forests of oak, cedar and pine wdiose vastness recalls some of Dr. Livingstone's travel in Central Africa, where silence was unl)roken even by the chirp of a bird. Majestic rivers running north, south, east and west, from the center to the seaboard, and bearing on their broad and placid bosoms the diversified produclsof internal trade and commerce. Magnificent mountain systems wdiose snow-capped peaks are kissed by the first rays of the advancing King of day long before the dark- ness has crept from the valleys, unlike the desert forming Himalayas of Aeia running north and south, but not so lofty for the i)ur])ose, as every school boy wdio has been properly instructed in geography knows, to let those best friends of man and vegetation — the trade winds — gently pass over them depositing upon their rock-ribbed sides, their mingled treasures of health and wealth for thirsty plains below. And all this covered with a line network of railroads like the great arterial system of the human body. But over all and best, as highest in evidence of a nation''s safety, wherever you went you saw the little red school house and the church, the college and the temple of justice. Edward P]verett in an oration said : '' And last but not least those beneficent gifts which it was left our Western republic to bequeath to the cause of human freedom, our village schools and village churches." The school house and the church I They are the guardians of our liberties and our rights. Geographically we are the wonder and envy of the world, an im- pregnable fortress between the oceans; the Atlantic between us and the armies and navies of Europe, and the broad Pacific standing guard between us and the migratory hordes of Asia, over all of which our X)roud bird of Liberty, wdien it descends from the sun, spreads its broad i)inions, the one resting on the Alleghenies, the other on the Rockies, holding in its talons the chart of our liberties and in its beak a scroll inscribed '' Liberty and Union, one and Indivisible. Yes, what a great country! and how stupendous its growth ! Four hundred years ago a howling wilderness, to-day a blooming garden. Then inhabited by the savage and the wild beast, now the abode of the greatest nation under the stm. Then clad in the garb of wild nature, now in the beauteous robes of a bride made for her from the loom of industry, worked by the united hand of toil, pluck, energy, and above all, faith in republican institutions " with malice toward none but charity for all,'' girdled wath the sheaves of plenty, crowned with a dialemof thirty-eight stars and holding her hands above the seas, the beacon light of hope inscribed in living letters of light, '^ I lead the nations, come ye oppressed of every nation, kindred, tongue and people." In 1776 there were 3,C00,000 inhabitants, in 1861,33,000,000 and now, in 1888, 62,000,0001 One hundred years of constitutional gov- ernment and lo! a population greater than any power in Europe, save Russia. A single State larger than England, Ireland and Wales. In intelligence the equal of Germany, in elasticity the superior of France, and in national loyalty and love of liberty incomparable to them all — one country, one constitution, one flag. Now what has the farmer done toward all this ? Where has he stood and where does he now stand among the great men and the great en- ergies that have built up this mighty fabric of government ^ I answer in the front rank. Statistics may be dry, but often contain the very pith of logic. By his indomitable pluck and energy he has leveled the forest from ocean to ocean, turned the wilderness into a garden, and to-day stands lord and master over — not the thirteen puny colonies of 1776, tlien skirting the bleak Atlantic from the rocky shores of New England to the Gulf— but now^ over thirty-eight great commonwealths and eight great territories capable of forming twenty more. Take a case or two in point. The four great wheat-growing countries of the world in the order ot their production are the United States, France, India and Russia. By taking the year of the largest yield in this .252,000,000 in advance of India and almost 300,000,000 bushels more than Russia. Again, the live stock statistics of our country according to the census of IbSO, show the following: Of horses w^e raised 11,206,800, valued at $612,21)6,611 ; milk cows 12,027,000, valued at $279,890,420; oxen and other cattle 21,231,000, valued at $341,761,154: sheep 40,763,900, valued at $90,230,537; hogs 34,034,300, valued at $145,751,515; total number of all kinds of stock 919,261,000, total value ^858,937,737; total value of tw^o products of the farm in one year, counting wheat at one dollar, $1,371,706,937, enough in two years to have extinguished our national debt at the close of our civil war. Think of a country raising cereals enough to support its own population of 62,00<),0()() human souls, and laying away in its great granaries 200,000,000 to feed the hungry mouths of Europe. These two points give you a crude idea of your share in the material development of our country, and of the part you are playing in the support of the human race* But this is not all that can be said in praise of the farmer. Such prosperity cannot long exist in anycoun- 112 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 113 • ! II f try, however highly favored by soil or climate, without the guarantees of good government. This point I must emphasize. Where in the history of all nations has the conservative element of government re- sided— in the country or in the city? I unhesitatingly answer in the country. Conspiracies and plots against tlie life of a nation have always been liatched in the centers of population — in the great cities. Rome had her Cat aline, London her Guy Fawkes and Chicago her Anarchists. True, these are higher forms of social danger, but there are others equally dangerous. It is only a few years ago — you remember it — w4ien we had to bring a regiment of regulars, with all the haste of steam, from Dakota to quell a labor riot in Pennsylvania. Capital and labor are in a death grapple. The issue lies dimly in the future. Capital is organized, labor is organizing. The mutteiings of discon- tent but faintly heard twenty years ago have deepened into a fixed determination for the recognition, at the hands of capital, of the higher rights of labor. Don't understand as planting my symi^athies on the side of capital. I don't. But happily for our country, and for any other, few of the elements of danger which I now fear threaten us, perhaps the very ligaments of government, few of these, I say, are found among our farmers. There they are the conservative forces, and whatever the result of the present bitter contest, the cause can- not be laid at their door. Now my friends, I have done, and all I have said has been with a single purpose — to l)roaden your conceptions and deepen your con- victions of the true dignity and excellence of your calling. '^ Magnify your office." But I know you are anxious for the '' good wine " and I close thanking you for your kind attention, leaving it to those who are to follow me to tell you how to improve that calling for your own profit and the further blessing of our common country. HAVE THE AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS OF THIS COUNTRY KEPT PACE WITH THE INDUSTRIES IN ADVANCEMENT AND IM- PROVEMENT ? By Samuel Wilkinson, XTnionvillc^ Pcnna, In giving an impromptu answer to a question of such magnitude in ten or fifteen minutes, the time allowed for each and all that can be aflbrded, only the outlines can be given, and for a fuller and more de- finite one 1 must refer you to the census of 1880 and the statistical reports. Socially, farmers, like every other class of people, are just what they make themselves. Intrinsically no class stands higher than the tillers of the soil. In all ages of the world his vocation has been an honor- able one, and his x^rosperity essential to the well being of every other industry. They are associated witli nature in her finest, grandest moods, with her wonderful laws of growth and production. Their labor is much a war with the elements and constant association with natural laws full of inspiring interest, and bringing to their nid an in- spiration far above that of the tailing artisan who works from a pat- tern or by some mechanical routine method to accomplish Jiis task. i ^1 3 A little more than one hundred years ago this young Republic, emerging from the dust and smoke of battle, from the bloody baptism of eight years of war which forever severed its allegiance to a foreign l)ower, and wiping its youthful brow started on a race of progress and prosperity unequalled in the annals of the world. A free Constitution and all the inherent riglits of the people fully guaranteed a free press and freedom of speech, we become emphati- cally a free people. East of the Allegheny range and along the Atlantic slope, mainly grew the young nation, but cautiously feeling its way westward, sur- mounting difficulties, brushing aside obstacles and discouragements, for full half a century steadily and surely gathering strength, adding States to the Federal Union, till the age of steam and railroads gave it fresh impulse and so marvellously accelerated the national growtli. Since then we have hewn down forests, leveled hill and mountain, filled up intervening valleys and laid them with railroad tracks, have thrice spanned the continent with iron, till to-day more than one hun- dred and fifty thousand (150,000) miles of railway are being operated over which with ceasless flow our ever-increasing commerce goes, aided by more than 150,000 miles of telegraph line, with more than three times that length of wire, as nerves to the system, vibrating from center to circumference, infusing life and energy to the whole building, adding to the national wealth and widening the domain till in about three-tburths of a century the young republic kisses the Pacific ocean and spreads northward over the snow-clad fields and mountains of Alaska. Starting with a population of three and a half to four millions, we now number fully 60,000,000 of human souls. With a comparatively small area at the' start we have added by treaty and purchase till now three and a half millions of square miles own the supremacy of the stars and stripes. Cities and towns have grown as if by magic, and in every department of industry there is exhibited enterprise and thrift — a growth without a paralled. A family quarrel unhappily for a time disturbed our progress. That stain on the national escutcheon, that anomaly in an otherwise free constitution, human slavery, went down in a sea of fire and blood, but left us free indeed. With that vexed question settled which more than any other cause retarded the national growth and disturbed its harmony, we have as with a bound advanced from a total valuation in 1860 of sixteen bil- lions of dollars to forty-four billions in 1880, or nearly 300 percent, in twenty years. We come now to the question— what part have the farmers played in this great race of empire, and have their interests kept pace with other industries? If w^e could accept as a token of the whole the evidences we have here in the increasing interests in this institute, with the crowded at- tendance day by day, we might rest satisfied with a simple ailimiative answer, certain that this agricultural community has kept pace with other industries and that they have a watchful eye on their true in- terests I wiil try briefly to give a few figures to demonstrate what you have done, and your share in common interest. The implements and ma- chinery you now employ attest your enterprise and growth, and mark you as the progressive representatives of this progressive age. 1 will 8 QUAR. tBr. ■MHMIMi lU Quarterly Eeport. ii' speak only in round ninnl)erslea\in^^ out fractional parts of large sums. Out of the national domain you liave carved more than four millions of farms with an area of nearly 550,000,000 acres, more than hall oi which you have improved. On them you have built homes, the abodes^of comfort and happiness, have stocked them with the choicest lierds till to-day you are far ahead of any other industry. Your farms represented in value more than ten billions of dollars in 1880, while ot the 250,000 manulacturing establishments their capi^il was less than three billions, and their whole product was only a little more than half the value of vour farms. Of the seventeen and a hall mil- lions employed in afl the industries in 1880, you numbered more than five and a half million, or U per cent. Your implements and machinery represent a value of $400,000,000, or nearly three times what it did in 1850. Y^our live stock in 1880, was worth one and a half billions of dollars, about three times that of 1850. In 1850 your shares of domestic exports was $124,000,000 out of a total of $137,000,- 000 Of a total ot domestic exports in 1880 of $800,000,000, your share in agricultural products was nearly $700,000,000. In 1879 you raised more than a billion and a half bushels of corn, worth nearly $000,000,- 000- about 450,000,000 bushels of wheat, worth nearly $500,000,000. So inconceivably vast are these figures the mind does not grasp them except in comparison with smaller sums. Let us suppose then we can go with this vast cargo of corn to the sun, the product of one cereal alone lor a single year, we can leave fifteen bushels at each mile post and on arrival there have more than one hundred millions ot bushels for tril)ute to the great king of day. And what did you do with your immense productions only two of which I have named. They nearly all entered into domestic consumption. Of your corn crop you exported less than six per cent., consumed nearly ninety-five per cent Of your wheat you exported about forty per cent. Taking vour total farm products, over eighty per cent, entered into consump- tion We might from these figures learn some lessons in domestic economy. Tluit our foreign markets are so small in comparison with the domestic, that we should more and more stiive to develop our home industries and resources, to feed the artisans in our own shops and factories, to supply our own wants and thus diminish the large importations that go on from year to year and so deplete and cripple our domestic resources. You are to-day leeding sixty millions ol people at honu' wiih a large surplus for the hungry ol P.urope, men and women working for you there, many of them to supply our luxu- rious wants, to minister to vanity and pride. You could better leed them here and save to yourselves the export charges on your produce. From the fi^uires presented and other statistics I conclude that the agriculturnfinterests have fully kept pace with the others in advance- ment and improvement. Even more ; you lead the van, that vye are peculiarly an agricultural people, that other industries follow in the wake as auxiliaries to the ever-increasing volume and importance of the ac;ricultural interests. ADORNMENT OF FARMERS' HOMES. By WiNTHROP Bryfoole, Bloomshurg, Pa. This work belongs to horticulture, and why should not horticulture and agriculture go hand in hand ^ Agriculture is to us as a foundation Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 115 11 I is to a house, while horticulture is to us as its decorations. Man was placed in the Oarden of Eden and to him was given the earth as his domain to keep and make it beautiful. The adornment of our liomes is a subject that is sadly neglected by the agricultural class. The majority of this class of people are very negligent in the adornment of tlieir homes and the beautifying of their properlies. Our homes should be ornaments to the beauiilul iiills and valleys which God has provided so abundantly with works of nature; but instead in most agricultural distiicts our homes are as a sore place in the face of na- ture, thus obstructing the progress of horticulture. We should reno- vate these homes and make them correspond with these beautilul works of nature. What would be mor^ pleasing to the eye, what scenery could be more grand than a ride through a beautilul valley in summer and see the farmers' homes adorned and beautitied '', It makes our homes pleasant and cheerful, and not only tliat, if you want to dispose oi your property it will bring a better price. It is a true saying that a farmer should be judged by his buildings and its surroundings, for instance imagine a beautiful dwelling with corresponding out buildings while the surroundings are grown up with tall grass and weeds, the farm implements lying in every direction, wagon sheds used for roosting places, piles' of lumber and rubbish scattered around making it difficult to reach the house; now take these same buildings, clean the yards, put farm implements in sheds to save unnecessary repairs, and have a place for everythiiig and in its place. Compare the two. Will you not say at once the latter is the farmer. Order is heaven's first law and let this be our law around the farm as well as in the house. Why should not horticulture be studied enough to decorate our yards as well as agriculture in order to make farming a success? It is easily understood. 'Tis true it is work with- out tinancial return, but there is enough beauty in it to pay you for the time spent. P]very farmer or some member of the family can spend from tour to five hours of each week for the trimming and cleaning of his yard, and I am sure the result will be highly appre- ciated. Since lawn mow^ers have come into existence the keeping of our yards and lawns is so simple that no farmer's home is complete wi.hout one any more than a farmer could do without a reaper. There is no excuse for allowing grass to grow tall in our yards any more than to have cobwebs taking possession of our rooms in our dwellings. We occasionally see some queer individuals even now who remembers that his grandfather allowed grass to grow tall for food for his cattle, and so he keeps on in the same old rut thinking it would almost be wicked to change the routine, while in the house he may have costly furniture where none but the family admire. Would it not be better to do without the hav cut from the vards, and make the outside correspond with the inside, thereby tempting the passer bv to admire our homes. It is gratifying to know that people are becoming more enliuhtened in that direction. There are many ways to make a i)erfect lawn, but I will attempt to describe the one that takes the least labor and most inexpensive. We will take a yard where everything is grown up with weeds, dock and plantian as farmers' yards generally are, also full of stones, tin cans and hollows. Give it a thorough cleaning, mow it with a common grass scythe, fill up the holes and make the surface level. After this it should be raked off so (hat the surface will be J, ',1 i Vi ' i 116 Quarterly Report. I'll ! ! smooth and all stones removed for tlie action of the mower. If it be a small yard and where sod can be obtained it would be best to sod it but before doinii; this the ground should be beaten down particu- larly where it has been filled in so that there may be no danger of settling to form hollow places. The sods should be cut the same thickness. When laving place edges neatly together and beat it down. If it is dry weather at the time of laying, the new lain sods should be drenched with water for a week or so. If the yard is too large to be sodded and too much expense to dig it up give it a good coat of well rotted manure, sow it with a mixture of lawn grass seed and white clover twice in the summer. Mow it every week to keep the weeds from growing and to protect the grass as it Vows. Manv people through ignorance or short-sighted economy use the hay seeds'taken from the hay mow. If from good hay the seed principallv will be timothy and red clover. All attempts to get a smooth lawn* from such a source would be vain. Inuring the winter a lawn should be covered with well-rotled manure. In the spring rake it oif, roll it with a roller so that the surface will be smooth for the mower. If the ground is rolling, terrace could be made which would add to the beauty of the lawn. Now this yard with with its beautiful carpet of green is an orna- ment to a home without anything else, but this yard can be laid out with flower beds of different designs according to the financial stand- ino- of the owner. All yards should have a direct walk from the gate to'^the house. This walk should be kept clean and free from grass. The edges should be trimmed once a month with an edging tool which will keep the sides of the path straight. Walks around the house may have curves and angles to suit the taste of the owner. 'Tis not convenient for us all to own conservatories nor is it possible at all times for us to buv flowers, and now the question, how can w^e get flowers to adorn oiir vards? Nearly every lady of a home has plenty of flowers in her windows. She can take cuttings from these plants and thereby grow^ enough to All a nice flower bed to put through the yard or along the walks. Take a common plate or saucer, put sand in it to the depth of an inch or so, place the cuttings in close enough to touch each other, then w^ater the sand till it is of the con- sistency of mud. Place on the window sill of the sitthig room where it will be fully exposed to the sun but never shaded. One thinj:; must be kept in mind, never allow them to become try; because, exposed to the sun as they are, they will wilt very easily and all would then be lost. By this method vou can grow nearly all plants that grow from cuttings and they will be more healthy than those that are forced in o-reenhouses. Be sure vour cuttings are taken from healthy plants. If you have no flowers from which to get cuttings, you can grow anauals, plants which grow from seeds, such as mignonette, sweet alyssum, asters, diimmonds, phlox, sweeiwilliams, ifcc. These may be sown separately or two or three kinds may be sown in rows as early in spring as the ground can be worked. Each lady should get a catalogue containing a list of annual's seeds, it costs nothing, siniply the trouble of sending for them. From these catalogues selections can be matle to form beautiful beds with little cost. Where there is a will there isaway,and I am sure if we economize in other directions a little, we will be able to purchase a few things for the decoration of our yards. Yards may be decorated with ever- Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 117 greens, such as Norway spruce, arbor vitae, Irish juniper, cedar, &c., planted through the lawn. If you cannot aflbrd to buy trees, go to the woods and select trees of good shape of cedar or hemlock. Plant them and trim them in mound shape, which will make them very thick and very pretty . Shrubbery of all kinds kept well trimmed will also add to the decoration of our yards. This is a simple way of beautifying our farm yards with little expense. As the farmer of to-day does not make ten per cent, we do not care about spending much for ornamental ])lants or shrubbery, but there is no excuse for not adorning in a simple way, and I sincerely hope that the day will come when the farmer will take as much pride in adorning his home as he tries to make farming a success. THE PAST AND THE PRESENT. By Edith H. Cutler, Millville, Pa, As the old year sinks out of view and is numbered with the past, returning to us only in a flood of memories, and standing on the thresh- old of a new^ one looking hopefully forward, much is found in retro- spection to inspire a faith that the civilization of our century is elevat- ing the moral standard and doing much to difl*use a more fraternal spirit in the world. While in the stern lessons of the past year there was much to dis- courage, there is a great deal to hope for. Rumors of wars and the threatening attitude of great powers shook empires, and involved their peace in doubt, but thus far the impending calamity has been averted. This admonishes us of the growing civilization, when dipiomacy triumphs over the terrible arbitrament of the sword; when nations, under the most threatening circumstances, can meet in friendly coun- sel and turn aside or appease the ambition that threatens to deluge half the world in blood. Causes conspiring within the last few years in the jealousy of polit- ical balances, less than a century ago, w^ould have involved a large part of Europe and much of x\sia in deadly strife. A more liberal and friendly spirit happily prevails ; and as the thirst for territorial acquisition or political aggrandizement is periodically manifested by the Russian Bear, the swords of contiguous nations flash from tlieir scabbards to return again, at the behest of diplomacy, unstained by human blood. How far our own Republic may have contributed to the growth of this more christian spirit by the influence her example, and the declar- ation of the great principles of political and religious liberty which are our corner stone and the anchor of hope to millions, we cannot know or measure. But a nuirked change has taken place since their enunciation, and as the world of mankind come to know and under- stand the natural and indefeasable rights incident to human existence, the old bigotry and intolerance melt away as darkness is dispelled by light: thrones rest more on the rights of subjects, and the claims of kings cease to be divine. f ill. if 118 Quarterly Keport. What are we, as a nation, doinfi; to hasten the millenial period? Have we maintained the high standard set up by the fathers? Have we tloated the banner of i)eace and «rood will ? Have we meted out justice to all, and liave we seasoned justice with mercy? Has the social barometer indicated a condiiion ot* liiirh toned i)ublic morals? What means it that every day and from every quarter comes the cry of embezzhmient, frau()int of view, we have failed to kee[) pace with our physical and political growth. A deep sense of sympathy and pity for the oppressed and poor is in- herent in our nature ; a hatred and disgust of wrong wells up from every christian heart; yet the demoralizing inlluences go on sowing their seed of evil, and the nation reajjs its harvest of social disease and death. When we hav^e grown morally strong, can grapple successfully with and eradicate the cause, the effect will cease. Not till then. One of the prime causes of moral depravity is that arising from the legalized sanction of the sale of strong drink. It is the parent of nearly all of our woes. No other thing so fruitful of mischief. It spreads its blight everywhere, upon every branch of society, and is the fabled Upas poisoning everything that comes within its inlluence — is even worse, for it assumes the offensive and carries its w^ar of desolation into the very heart and center of society. Nothing seems to escape its unhal- lowed touch. No place too sacred for its entrance. It invades the church, the family circle, the halls of legislation and of justice. Scarce a family in the land that does not, in some of its branches, mourn a lost one : it may be the pet and hope of the housel\old. We seek relief in legislation, but the monster basks in our legisla- tive halls and defies us there. Pauperism, insanity and crime multi- ply, while w^e stand paralyzed and helpless to arrest them. From this one source they come wii h ceaseless flow. Every channel is corrupted and i>oisoned, yet this thing of evil we unblushingly legalize, accord to it legal sanction and ])rotection, giving it thus a respectability — a status that multiplies its power for mischief to an extent truly appal- ling. What an error! What political suicide and death I We alone are not to blame; it is a moral blight we have inherited — a sin of our ancestors visited unto succeeding generations. With its fruits w^e are too sadly familiar, but do we sulliciently weigh their magnitude and consider our own responsibility therein? P'amiliarity with it begets indilference. What ought to concern us is the eradication of the cause and the effect will cease. Is there then no remedy? It is in vain temperance societies have been formed with a hope of relief: they serve as educational means to open the public eye and warm up the common heart to eflbrts of emancipation. Political par- ties, on this issue, are constant failures, for the simple reason the remedy is not so much a j)olitical as a moral one. The canker is in the popular heart and has been for generations. It is the great incu- Pennsylvania Board of AQRictTLiURE. 119 bus that more than all other causes combined, has obstructed the ad- vancing car of civilization. Legislate on a subject like this and expect to cure thq evil by such means, while the tastes, prejudices and appetites of sucli a large por- tion of the people are wdi^tted up to the extreme of its support? So well might we expect the broad river to return from the fertile valleys it enriches, to its home in the mountains, and re-enter there the thou- sand rills from which it sprang, as by any effort of legislation alone to make much if any advance against such an enemy — a stream can- not rise higher than its source. While tlie fountains of legislation are thus corrupted, we must ex- pect from them streams of bitterness. You inquire then — what shall we do, or how can we cleanse and purify the fountain ? We answ^er — Educate ! educate till the popular heart growls stronger and purer, till the moral pulse gives evidence of a more vigorous and better life. Some advancement has been made in the last half century, and is still making, slowly it is true, but to be enduring it will necessarily be slow. We would not rest a cure on some spasmodic movement, but in a sure and steady grow^th of morals and religion — the bulwarks of human society. Improve then, the system of public instruction : put it on a higher plane, infuse into it moral vigor with the mental food. Not sectarian dogmas, but a sense of right and hate of wrong — a recognition of i)ersonal responsibility and accountability. Put the schools in the hands of those who comprehend the magnitude and im- portance to the present and to future generations, of a proper and efficient system of public instruction, that it is expansive and progres- sive. Not the schools alone, but utilize every other means at hand to reach a higher popular tone. Even then the advance will be slow, and perceptible only as long i)eriods have elapsed — but gradually and surely a better light will dawn. Then the dram shrps, the gallows, the whipping-post, like other relics of barbarism will slowly disap- pear, as did the fagot, the rack, the thumb-screw and other instruments of human torture vanish in a former age. Then educate! constantly elevating the standard as you go, till the public eye and heart are competent to discern the moral deformities by which we have been so long surrounded. Already the women are moving. The wives, moth- ers, sisters and daughters have taken hold of the matter — and fiom the Women's Christian Temperance Union we may expect more per- haps than from any other one source. But husbands, fathers, sons and brothers must come to the rescue if they would save their homes from the invading foe. Put the ballot in the hands of the women, let them aid in the suppression and total extinction of the ills from which they have so long and so patiently suflered. Don't be frightened about it, they will not be dragged down to the present political level, but will elevate your politics — make them more subservient to good morals as well as good government, give you a higher conception of moral and political duties and responsibilities. 4 I 120 Quarterly Report. GRAPES AND HOV^ TO GROW THEM. I 1 By John R. Townsend, Bloomshurg^ Pa. Among one of tlie earliest iVuits mentioncnl in the Bible is the grape, it was well known to the ancients and if not to the antednluvian w^orld it was soon after, we are told in Biblical history that alter the deluge Noah soon after become a husbandman and planted avinej^ard and made wine. Vineyards became abundant and some of great magnitude in the days of the Patriarchs. The Land of Canaan was productive of grapes of an enormous size as we are told that Caleb and Joshua brought a bunch of grapes sux)ported on the shoulders of men, to testify of the fruit fulness of the land. Grapesin all countries and in all ages have been a favorite fruit with mankind, not only as a delicacy, but as an article of food, and to-day in most temperate climates grapes form a prominent article of food, oftentimes eaten with bread, or dried as raisins, and in these countries from the fer- mented juice wines are made, wdiich is supposed to be of all other liquors the most stimulating for the stomach and exhilarating for the spirits of man. The medical properties of the grape are numerous, but v^hether it has been productive of most good or most harm to man, will forever remain one of those problems which the reasoning of man can never solve. It is, however, admitted that where we lind evidence or remains of a high class of civilization you w^ill also lind the grape was cultivated and held in the highest esteem, even on our ancient works of art often to be seen as the emblem of faithfulness and prosperity. The longevity of the grape vine is wonderful, four and six hundred years being given by Pliny and Bosc, as its ordinary age. The cele- brated Burgundy vineyards are many ot them four hundred years old, and many of those in Italy are still flourishing, and celebrated for their grapes and wines. One of the most beautiful sights I beheld in the way of grapes, was to see the celebrated giant grape vine now growing at Hampton Court Palace, England, it is of the well known Black Hamburg variety, older than our Declaration of Independence and measuring nearly four feet in circumference, covering the space of over two hundred square yards, grown under glass, and supplying the Queen's table every year with nearly two thousand clusters of luscious grapes weighing on an average one and one-half pounds each. It takes the entire time of two men to care for this wonderful grape vine. As this pai)er was not intended for the experienced fruit grower but for amatuers und the young men, to whom we have to look for our future fruit growers and farmers, I have divided this subject, namely: ^'What varities to plant," ''How to i^lant," and "How to treat them after the}" are planted." What Varieties to Plant. I am a lover of good grapes and for many years have ])een delighted to grow them. 1 have experimented with numerous varieties. Some well known varieties can be grown with success in some localities, will fail in others, one of the secrets of success is to ])rocure varieties that are suitable to our section. The well-known Catawba I cannot ripen to perfection, have therefore discarded it, and several other well- known grapes simply because I have found that after several failures that they cannot be grown with success. And in order that those who i Pennsylvania Boakd of Agriculture. 121 may wish to plant grape vines after hearing this paper read I will tell them what varieties they should plant to be sure of success. At the head of mv list I place the '' Concord,'- it is one of the most popular grapes grown to-day in the country, owing to its great vigor and never- failing productiveiiess, in fact, it may be termed the grape for the millions. The '^ Worden," very similar in merits to the ''Concord" but seen fruiting together is entirely different in many respects but an excellent grape. •• Moore's Early" is a valuable variety. I lind it hardy, productive and early, three valuable qualifications. The ''Early Brighton" in color and form resemble "Catawba" but ripen- ing earlier. Of "Rogers' Hybrids" I have several of his best red grapes. I consider the '' Agawam " (or No. 15), the "Salem." the " Lindlev," the " Herbert" and " Wilder " should be in every garden. "Hartford Prolific,'' "Bacchus." "Martha," "Pocklington,'' '^Niagara," these I have iirowinii: and can be grown verv succes full v. There are many new varieties constantly being brought before the ])ublic. My advice is do not pay fancy prices for new varieties until they have been fully tested, great frauds are constantly perpetrated on the pub lie by exhibiting plates of new grapes that only look well and mature in the iruit tree agent's catalogue. Presuming that you liave procured some or any of the varieties mentioned the next question to be con- sidered is how to plant them. How to Plant. It seems but a simple matter with many, but I have observed great ignorance displayed in the planting of a tree or grape vine. I have known instances of vines being bought at a big price and then care- lessly planted, and should they fail to grow then the nurseryman is pronounced a fraud, when the cause is simply one of careless plant- ing. AVhen preparing young vines for planting I cut back to two eyes, cutting off about one-third of the roots. Th^ object is to get a mass ot short lateral roots instead of a few long ones. Proceed to dig your holes not more than ten inches deep, but be sure and have them wide enough. 1 then place a stake firmly in the center of the hole, and then place the vine in position, carefully spreading out its roots in a manner that will not crowd one another Do not place your vine any deeper than it grew in the nursery; do not put any manure or fertilizer in contact or near the roots. After phicing a few inches of fine soil about the roots tread it firmly, then more earth and tread again. This firming the soil about the roots of what you i)lant is of vital importance. We have 7)lanted our vine, we must now wait for the result. And here let me impress upon my hearers this fact, that a grape vine can be grown in a ver^^ small space of ground. Many an unsightly corner can be utilized, or building hidden by the grace- ful grape vine. Indeed, it seems almost certain that the grape vine will adapt itself to its location just as though it was endowed with 8ensil)ility and instinct, treat it kindly, and it will respond with lus- cious fruit ; neglect it, and the chances are it will die. The tendril of a grape vine will stretch (»ut in the direction of supj)ort as desperately as a drowning man will reach for an oar or rope. Its roots will aim as directly for a wall, manure heap, or buried bones, as will a hungry dog for a dinner. As an illustration showing the value of this feature, and how completely and easily it responds to the wants of man when intelligently directed, I will give you anexample. A city gentleman, some years ago, had a small lot or yard tilled with a few fruit trees t ■ i >fK. Vi^" f 122 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 123 fi I that appropriated every ray of sunshine that managed to penetrate it, and he wanted some grapes. Alter a careful survey of the situation he concluded, bv a little extra care, the vine may get a ioothold and suffi- cient nourishment from the same source as tlie trees did Ihe vine was phinted, and as it grew it was trained up by the side of the house in a single cane to the eaves of the second story, and given a trellis built from the -ard to the habits of the bees were vague and uncertain. x\lthough bul a little more than a third of a century has passed since their in- troduction the advancement in bee culture has been wonderlul. A more accurate knowledge has been gained from study and experi- ments from the fact that it possesses all the elements ot material wealth and pleasure. Yet there are many things concerning the habits of the curious and wonderful little insect, the honey bee, wdiich are still in mysterious darkness, although many diflicult prob- lems have been solved and certain mysteries of the hive have been unraveled. ^ ^ ,^ ,. i • . ^i • i ^f The honey bee w^as introduced by the English into this country at Boston in 1^)70 from which they have kept pace with the advance- ment of civilizat on. The honey bees that were first brought to this country and kept by our ibrefathers were the common black bees. The Italian or vellow bees are natives of the Alpine regions embrac- ing portions of Switzerland and Italy and remained unknown to the rest of the bee keeping world till the present century. I he Italian bee which has created such a revolution in apicultural science was accidently discovered by Captain Baldenstein during the wars ot Napoleon and he had the first colony brought across the Alps Ihey were introduced into Germany in 1853 ; and into this country through the A-ricultural Department in 1860. They have greatly assisted us in establishing scientific facts in the natural history of the honey bee and their superiority over the black bee in many respects has been conceded by the majority of progressive bee keepmg ^^ give full and complete instructions for the care and management of the apiary for each month during the year would require too much space and also the time of this institute, so I will give it as briefly as I can. January-This is a month which will require but little labor and attention as far as the bees are concerned-if they have been Pi'opeTly cared for in putting them in winter quarters. It is well to keep the entrance of the hive from becoming closed up with dead bees, ice or snow During the winter months the bee-keeper shoula prepare his hives', sections and surplus crates for the ensuing year, so he will be readv when ihe bees need his attention. ^ Februari/—Vs' iW onlv require the same attention as the former month, and if a warm* day should occur so that the bees can have a flight, you may remove what bees have died and he on the bottom ^""Sair/^-Through this month, generally, l)ut little work can be done with the bees in this latitude, as the weather is not warm enough fo unpack and examine them. But if there should be a few warm davs and vou find some colonies that do not fly, and if found dead or nearl^so close them up or remove them from their stand or the bees S^ iTnd \Ko 1^^^^^^ and it will start robbing and when TcVC it is cUfficuU get it stopped. If the bees have been Wered ihecelk many bee-keepers prefer to do, and they ThoStcom^ rr^ay be taken to ^hei^r sunn^^^^^^ on a day warm enough to fly and at nignt return them again to the ''^^^""l.V-Bees will this month carry in considerable pollen and raise m'u/v voun^bees, and consequently will consume large quantities of CeVand many colonies will starve for want of stores betore the bee- keeper is aware of it. If on examination colonies are found short of hi It 5 t 126 Quarterly Report. Peni^sylvania Board of Agriculture. 127 lioney, they sliould be fed each night a few spoonfuls of syrup made by takinii; 'two parts of granulated sugar and one part of water and bnni-itto aboil, and by thus feeding you will not only save your colony from perisliing but it induces the bees to feed the queen and she will lay eggs mucli more freely. It is very essential to the pros- perity of the colony as well as to the bee-keeper that large numbers of young bees are reared this montli, to rei)lace the old bees that Avere put'^into winter quarters and now diminishing in numbers very rapidly, and be ready to gather the first ilow of honey in May. After once beginning to feed it should be continued until you are certain they are gathtTring honey enough to supply their wants. j/^^w__This month is the most favorable time to transfer from box hives to movable liame hives. It should be done while the apple blossom is secreting honey, for the bees are engaged in gathering honey and will not be apt to try to rob the colony transferred. If your colonies are very strong and honey is beiug gathered very rapidly it will be advisable to put on sections for surplus or the bees will store the honey in the brood chamber and by so doing will not give tlie queen room in which to lay. Some season's swarming will begin this month. . . , . , j^^^^e—ls the busy season for the bee keeper as itis his harvest time both in surplus honey and swarms. He will have to keep a close watch on tliem. P^ach hive should be supplied with ample room in the surplus boxes or sections for the storing of honey, and when one • cell is nearly completed raise it up and put another under it filled with section and foundation starters. If you have colonies that cast a swarm and do not wish any further increase from it you can on the eighth day after the first swarm issued open up the parent hive and examine each comb and remove all the queen cells but one, and that will obviate having any second swarms. When a swarm issues have your hive in readiness'and as soon as they have clustered proceed to hive them, and when all the bees and queen are in the hive carry the colony and place it on the stand where itis to remain. Protect it from the heat of the sun by covering it with a few boards lor a day or two, for 1 believe more young swarms after being hived leave their hives and go to the woods, on account of the hive becoming too warm by standing in the hot sun. ^/^^y_In sections of country where bass wood is plenty the honey fiow will continue until the middle of this month. After that time there will be but little honey gathered till buckwheat and fall fiower appear. Care should be taken not to allow the befes to begin robbing after the honey fiow ceases, for idleness on the part of bees begets mischief. ^^^^^^^^_Before buckwheat honey is brought in by the bees tlie finished sections of white clover and bass-wood honey should be re- moved or the bees will soil it or fill some cells with dark honey. Also, see that they have surplus room enough to store the buckwheat honey in, as it will require but a few days to fill the surplus chambers. ^T^i^gr^/^^r— Throughout this month the bees will gather consider- able (pialities of honey from late buckwheat, smart- weed, aster and goldenrod. After which remove the surplus ;ind if you find any col- onies short of stores to winter them, they should be fed sugar syrup for that purpose. Octoher—See rhat all colonies have a queen and prepare them for winter bv uniting all weak colonies and cutting a hole through the combs for a winter passage, the entrance contracted so mice cannot get in. Some colonies may have more honey than they may need, if 80 remove a comb or two and rejjlace with partly tilled combs. You can give the removal combs to colonies not having enough honey. The essential to successful wintering are — plenty of young bees, a good prolific queen, plenty of good sealed honey and well packed in chalf on their summer stands or put in a good cellar. November — Should find the bee keeper with his bees all in winter quarters. Decemher — This month the bees begin their winter repose. Less brood is reared in November, December and January than in any other parts of the year. During the winter months, study the bee business by reading books and journals that are published for the advancement of apiculture, and thus make the business of beekeeping profitable as well as a pleasure. DAIRYING IN COLUMBIA COUNTY— ^WILL IT PAY ? By A. P. Young, Millville, Pa. Close by stands a creamery that by actual test is working for an answer to the question above. What that answer may be will depend upon several conditions. That it may be an afiirmative one, is im- ])ortant to all, especially to the proprietor and the farmer, who are taking initiatory lessons in dairying. With a soil most of which is naturally thin and not specially adapted to grass, the problem is more difficult than where natural advantages are more abundantly distribut- ed. If we look closely however we will find advantages and disad- vantages tolerably evenly scattered about in every section. If our soil is not as deeji and rich as the prairies of the west we must make up for that deficiency as far as possible by utilizing the superiorities here presented, chief of these and the greatest desideratum of all, is a good market, near by. Since grain products have fallen olf in value so much, owing to the shnrp competition of distant, fresh and fertile territory, and the unjust discrimination of transportation companies, enabling those distant fields to reach market almost or ({uite as cheaply as we can, we must turn our attention to something else. Something that cannot be held for months, or perhaps a year, and transported with little care as to its exposure to varying conditions of atmosphere, and stench of gas, and oil tanks, fertilizer materials, fertilizer works and warehouses and all the high smelling odors incident to railroad transportation through dense populatioiK Admit that under these conditions, they can beat us in producing wheat and corn, cannot we, under the disad- vantages with which they must contend, beat them in butter ? I think we can if we set to work in right good earnest and begin at the right place. With the stock to improve the quality. With food to increase the quantity. Cows will give as much milk in(\)lumbia county if properly fed and cared for as they will on soils naturally more fertile. Careful attention to the herd will insure cows of as high quality here as anywhere on earth, if the foundation stock be right. i^ li 128 Quarterly Report. The keeping of animals affords a ready means of adding lertiiity, and if the p-wth or product of ihe anin.al will pay or iee^ and care it is therefore an economical means ol increasing the ability ot the land Jo produce. To begin with, t lie pr..per slock for the purpose must be had. If we were expecting to produce cattle to marlxot tor W we should have the animal best adapted to that end. It we are to sell milk fresh from the cow we would look for an animal produc- ing a large quantity, and perhaps have little conceTii as to qu'ility- But if we want an animal to produce a large aniount of cream to sell to the creamery or to make gilt edge butter for home consuniption or special customers we must select accordingly. To manage stock snc- cessfuiiv requires the observance of several con.lilions. 1 hey must be made comfortable, must be contented witii t^heir surroundings must be kindlv treated on all occasions. A cow that expects to fee the wei-lit of a heavy boot or of a cudgel every time an at endant comes within reach will not get into a humor to do her best winle tins cSmlTtion of things last. If she involuntarily starts for the tarthes corner of the vard whenever she sees a man coming, the teeling between man 'and animal is far from satisfactory, and the cow will render a fair account in the milk pail. Cows must have abund- ance of food, and that of the right kind, supplied at the proper time. I wish to emphasize the proper time idea. A cow may have all the feed necessary but fail to make proper use of it Irom having it administered so irregularly that her system is nnable to properlv apin-op. iate it. Stulfed to repletion at one time, suilering from hunger lit another, never perfectly contented. Winter dairying I think oilers many points of advantage over summer dairying lor our section. As stated in the outset of this pa<)er, ours is not a soil naturally adapted to grazing, but will yield fair crops if properly fertilized and farmed. The old plan of seeing on how little cows may be taken through the winter, must be abandoned if we are to go into dairvins at that season and in its place we will do well to substitute tiie problem of trying to tind out how much iood they may be made to profitably consume. . Our work in that direction will yield large amounts of manure witli a comparatively small amount of valuable constituents carried avyay ; much less tliaii is taken off where grain is raised and sold or where stock raising is made the means of producing a livelihood. All profit in feeding animals either for growth or product, comes from an amount of food sui.plied in excess of that needed to maintain 1 he animal's life and supply the waste of the system. Or, to state the problem differently, it takes a certain percentage of food to main- tain the animal economically, now if only enough is supplied for th it purpose there can be no return. The animal can only live, can t L^row can't give milk. From a careful consideration ol these facts the startling maxim is well nigh proved '; That it costs halt as much to starve an animal to death as to fatten it." , Then it follows that the more an animal can be induced to eat ana digest i)ronerly, the greater the percentage of profit, not m 1 lie growth or product alone but in the residue left for manure as well. Another fact is holding up its face stubbornly to be recognized, only a lew however see it. It is this, the only dairy farmers who make a proht when times are dull, as now, are those who have the best dairy cows they can breed or buv, and who give the closest attention to the sup- ply'of food; that it be generous and of the best quality, early cut. Pennsylvania Board of Agricllture. 129 well-cured hay, corn meal, bran middlings, oil meal, roots, anything, everything necessary to keep up the flow and quality of the milk and the physical strength and power of the herd. The fact is therefore ai)parent that only those who bend their energies to the making of wide awake dairymen of themselves will succed in making any money out of the business. This fact so apparent on every hand and before us constantly in almost every oUier business as well, should cause a strong i)usirtoward the better way, but there is no perceptible push, those who graduate from tlu^ old un])roiitable, wasteful, shortsighted way of managing cows and dairy business are few and exceedingly slow about getting diplomas. The aspirants are few and many even of these are conditioned at every examination and turned back to go over the lessons again. The balance sheet has the balance on the wrong side almost constantly and the only reason so many keep out of bankruptcy is they make no balance sheet, hence don't k!iow how the matter really stands. *' Knowledge is power" everywhere. It is power in the making of profits out of dairv farming preeminently. Where everybody can see that this is so, it seems strange that men who handle cows are so slow to reach out after knowledge and the valuable experience of others. Scarcely one in ten pays any attention to making himself well in- formed on the subject, l)y reading works or taking papers devoted to the calling and a less percentage even than that attend conventions or institutes where dairy questions are discussed and dairy problems elucidated by experts at the business. ^ ^ ^. Drive ten or filteen miles from this place on any road leading away, when cattle are going to pasture in spring and you will see many cows hardly able to carry their hides. It seems to me our farmers tail more in this particular of properly caring for and feeding their cattle, in the winter than in almost any other. The interests of humanity, and of the owner's pocketbook, both cry out against such treatment. Another picture a familiar one to those who go about with eyes open. Think of a cow, perhaps several of them, standing hump-backed in fence corners along the road, to rest on the way to or from a brook or puddle a fourth, or perhaps half a mile away, where they must go whenever driven bv thirst to seek water, or think ol them huddled about the waterinix' place and if frozen up, while a brisk noith-\yester mikes it necessarv to button vour overcoat to your chin, and estimate if Vou can the animaFs loss. Loss on the product of the cow, the coM wind usino- up a large percentage of the food that otherwise would go to make n'lilk. Loss to the fertility of the farm, the manure drop- ped about the watering place and on the way, being most of it entirely lost. Loss again on the product in (piality, by having the water contaminated bv the manure washed into it. ^ Finallv the demand is for high class goods. There is scarcely ever enough of these. . , i ^ v xi To the position assigned concerning the product by the consuming world, then, we come at last for the answer to the question. ^ ^^ ill it pay ? " ======= THE HOME AND THE HOUSEHOLD. By GEonoE W. Henbie, Millvillc, Pa. This home question is a very practical one that you and I would do 9 QlIAR. % ^4 h M r I If yj>Q Quarterly Report. well to consider. It belongs to no particular section <)!' country— is not limited by land or sea, north, south, east or west. No goveninient nterleres wi{h its construction, no political party has au^Iit to do with its buildin-. Foverty is not denied its blessin^^ or weal h its beau y. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 131 It all t is an everv day universally vital question that can be shared by ... alike and which plays an important part in the formation ol char- acter iu the individual, and throu-h him in the nation. The word home has a lar-reachin- and everlastin- si-ni(ication. In that happy clime where man's wants grow at his very door, where wUha lew boughs he forms his habitation; the cozy cottages sit- u'ued in ilowers and shrubbery in the sunny vine-clad land oi 1 ranee; tiie white specks of houses perched thousands of leet on the craggy mountain sides of Italy; the strongly fortified mountain castles ; the stately mansions of England ; the Esquimaux hut built o ice and snow; the Indian wigwam ; the dug-out on the w^estern plains or the brown stone fronts and marble palaces on \ anderbi t. Avenue, New York; palace or hovel, cottage or tent, they are still Home, Sweet Home." , ^ ., i • i a You ask me what is home ? Ask the old man silver-haired and tottering on his stall'. He will look back along the years oi his pil- irrimaget through the trials and troubles, joys and pleasures, over the barren and wasted places of his life with their blasted hopes, over the Ilowers that bloomed when the goddess of fortune smiled upon him, back through it all to the years of his childhood. *'The orchard, the meadow, the deep tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot that his infancy knew." Thev have a hold upon the memory that only death can loosen They have gone with him through it all. Whatever he has made ot life or whatever he has failed to make of it can be traced back to his early training or the lack of it. . , , . w i i Ask beautiful womanhood as she stands with bright hopes and bri^diter eves looking out over the untried sea of life. Home to me is the -olden anchor by whi^h I hope to keep from driUmg and a sure haven if I should return with drooping hands and blasted hopes. Ask manhood as he stands strong and hopeful on the threshold ot home whether or not the touch of the mother's hand that holds his at parlin-'will not be dearer to him than all else, and it he could but realize'it, will go with him into the lowest dens of sin and vice, degra- dation and misery, lifting him up even unto seven times seven. Ask the children what is home to them. It is that sunny land ot flowers where the sun never sets, a fairy land of enchantment, a sure refuge where they can pour out all their troubles on a mother's sym- pathetic bosom. .... .1 -i-*^ 4- Fathers and mothers too little realize the learlul responsibility rest- iu^r upon them. They torget that the child is father of the man— that men are simply children older grown or that childhood reflects the man as morning does the day. ,. • i . Loril Brougham has observed that between the ages of eighteen and thirty months, a child learns more of the natural world, ot his own powers, of the nature of bodies, of his own mind and of other minds than he acquires in all the rest of his life. , ^ . . And again, live as long as you may, said Southcy, the first twenty years of your life will be the longest half. There IS no shitting this responsibility, neither is there a neutral "^ point. The child's mind is open for impressions, pure and clean, and those impressions must come from you. You imperceptably by re- peated act and example mould the chiUrs character ibr good or bad. You sow the seed that may germinate a demon or an angel. A little to-dav and a little to-morrow and vou mould a character for life. The snow flake is a very small thing, yet many snow flakes make the ter- rible avalanche. i3y slow additions yearly, the acorn makes the oak. Childhood impressions are like names carved on a tree, they wuden and expand but seldom disappear. They are like waves starting from a central point, ever expanding until they break upon the shore. Jenny Lind was one day singing betbre a large and intelligent audi- ence in New York city. She suddenly paused in the midst of a diffl- cult xjiece of music. A far away look came into her eyes, a soft smile stole over her features and she suddenly broke forth with that beau- tiful but simple ballad, ^^ Home, Sweet*^Iiome." The Swedish Night- ingale had been carried back on the wings on imagination to the home of her childhood. The efl*ect w^as like magic, where she had stirred hearts before she now carried them by storm. A spontaneous outburst of applause stopped the song. The singing was not human, it was angelic. Strong men bowed their heads and w^ept as the full tide of memory carried them back to their childhood. Alter all, it was not the music or the singer, but the word home and the associa- tions it awakened. A few years ago we elected to fill the highest and most exalted position in the United States, James A. Garfield. Standing on the pinnacle of his fame on the day of his inauguration, surrounded by the most powerful potentates in the land, and in full view of thou- sands of people, he turned from it all to that wrinkled but kindly faced mother beside him to receive first of all her congratulations. You may call this idle sentiment, I call it the most important thing in life— this training of the heart as well as the mind. You might think me dreaming were I to point to the murderer dangling from the scalfold and say early home training did it. Or were I to placard the drunkard thus: this soul in the hands of Satan because some mother failed in her home training. Y'et in nine cases out of ten there would be more truth than fiction in it. For every lie, for every vulgar jest, for every oath, for all deceit, some home is more or less responsible. Parents, would you live to be tenderly cared for and respected In old age, would you live to see your children rise up and call you blessed, would you see your children filling honorable posi- tions and a power for good in the land? — then for Ood's sake do not neglect to properly train them at home. Make their homes attractive, make it a place where they love to be, fill your homes w^itli attractive books and useful literature. Do not repel by harshness, but attract by kindness and love. Farmers, do not be in a hurry to send that boy of yours from the farm, do not be in a hurry to make a lawyer, merchant or gentleman of him, for it is ten times easier to be a gentleman in the country than in the city. Some one has said, '' The homes of a nation are its strongest forts." What a great idea is that, ''The homes of a nation are its strongest forts." , ^ ^ ^. They tell us of the United States that we have no coast defenses. They show us w4th what ease a foreign enemy might land upon our unprotected coast and invade the interior. Yet we can say to haughty ' I :ti, 132 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of AGRicaLTORE. 133 ■n I and unjust Kn<>;land, to France, and Anarchy-troubled Germany and Kussia'that we have ten million homes by which we intend to protect the '' Home of the brave and the land of the free." Ten million homes in which vounix warriors are being trained for the battle ol hie, are bein'*- lau<^ht principles that would cause them to legislate arbi- tration rather than bloodshed. Yes, we fully believe that the homes of this our beloved United States are its strongest (oris. I can hardly close these remarks without paying a tribute to what I believe to "be the grandest thing in God's universe— the mother. She is the grand nucleus around which the home and household center Take away your grand upholstered furniture, take away vour frescoed walls with their beautiful paintings, take away your Turkish rugs and soft and downy carpets, take away the hnely spread tables take away vour i)ianos and organs, take aw\ay your stately mansion, but leave^mother and you still have '' Home, Sweet Home Fill your marble palaces with all of these beautiful things, and add unto'them a hundred more, then take away mother, and what have you left ?— simply an empty household. True, they have made no wonderful northern discoveries, they have written no '' Paradise Lost or Regained," thev have carved no Appollo, they have painted no '^Last'^Judgment," but they have done and are doing far greater things things than these, for at their knees virtuous men and women have^been trained— the most excellent production of the world. God bless the mothers of this, our beautiful and freedom-blessed happy land of America. PURE-BRED POULTRY. Bv W. B. German, Millville, Pa, The ^ubiect of pure-bred poultrv has been before the public for some time and the general merits of the different breeds have been brought forward so frequenllv, that those interested in the poultry question need but very little education on the subject. Hut as we are never too old to learn, even the most intelligent and best educated can, by observation, learn something from those less educated and by turning it in the ri J ^ \ ^,^,t ,he stroy that heavenly attn bute a l-^,";™^,^'^;^;,"^^ stenographer. ^:;c\Ti:lrS^e:ler;l:^erplte te ^^onderfm world of science; Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 135 * .'. '/i and if slie shonld show no fitness for any other work, let her bravely enter new fields. But it is qnite evident that there are few things our girls may not ill id there will be no room for the cry of a ''mistaken calling." But it is qnite evident that there are few things our girls may no do. Let them carefully consider what they can do best, and in doini it aim at perfection. They may not quite hit the mark, but they wil approach it, and thus their lives will be ennobled and benutitied, am THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE EASTERN STATES. By James G. jNIcSparhan, Greene, Penii^a. There is a crisis, a turning point, in the history of every nation. There is a crisis in the history of every religion. There is just as certainly a crisis in the history, so to speak, of every legitimate call- ing. During the past centuries, when the fierce fires of persecution w^ere waged from time to time against the various sects or religions that did not embrace in their creed the particular doctrine or belief of the dominant and prevailing religion, the natural thought or con- clusion would be that the smaller bodies of Christians would thus be disbanded and forced, as far as outward indications at least would go, to surrender their convictions. Those conversant with the facts in his- tory know, however, that this was not the case; but instead of prov- ing disastrous it was rehlly the crisis in every instance in the history of these religions. And whilst the persecution was designed to des- troy it had tiie effect of increasing the devotion and religious zeal of the persecuted ; it dispersed them over the broader fields and enabled them in the end, as instruments in their Master's hand, to accpiire ffew territory and plant the standard of their religion there. What has been true in the Christian world has been repeated in the politi- cal world. It was \\\e excessive tyranny of those who ruled Switzer- land that at last compelled that brave people to take the heroic stand for freedom. It was when the climax seemed to have been reached by the infringing of the British Government upon the rights of our forefathers as subjects, in not allowing the worship of God according to the dictates of the individual conscience, that the resolve was made to enjoy freedom at whatever cost. AViiat is true of the religious and political world is just as true of vocations, and, indeed, of individuals. Had the reformers been content as individuals to await the time when the dominant church would allow them to organize as societies and churches and listen to the ex- position of (jod's word from the lips of those of like sentiment, un- molested, that time would have never come. The freemen of Switz- erland would have gone down to the grave as vassals had they not resisted the tvranny that was crushing them. Had they waited for the compunctions of the conscience within the breasts of those who oppressed their freedom would have never been assured. I asg^ert as a fixed prindple that not only is '^ eternal vigilance the price of liberty," but the fact is assured also that this vigilance on the port of the liberty-loving will be met and opposed every time by the natural, selfish, tyrannical influence which abounds in mankind. Taking this ( i III 13G Quarterly Report. PexNNSYlvania Board of Agricultltre. 137 principle then as true we may conclude that religious freedom will not prevail unless those who desire to exercise it insist uimn the right. Nor will civil li])ertv be accorded, unless established and maintained by the price of '^eternal vigihmce." Neither will justice and right be accorded, nor will prosperity attend the various vocations in our land, unless the principle of even and exact justice is adhered to. Has it been applied, has it been adhered to in relation to our calling, that of agriculture, in the United fetates? It seems to be a generally accepted fact, at least acted upon from this hypothesis, that agricul- ture can take care of itself. Not only so, but that it serves as a con- venient dumping ground, for all the surplus burdens and hnancia hindrances of other callings; that an interest so mighty, and withal so important to the well-being of all other interests, and indeed the Government itself, needs no fostering care, needs no helping hand. Proud are we to-day that our calling is one which can stand alone. We believe in the boasted greatness of our country trom every stand- point, am-icullure not excepted. We point with pride to the tact that, while other interests are strongly protected (some ot them almost to death), and while out of the entire product of our manulactures amounting to $5,369,519,191 in 1880 (and no doubt more in 1886) there was exported but $136,735,705 worth in 18SG, while agriculture comparatively unprotected, gave us the balance ot trade so much spoken of and desired, by exporting $523,073,798 ^yorth or 74.41 per cent, of the total exports. But whilst it is true that we can stand alone, that the boasted resources of our nation from an agricultural stand point are not only immense but almost limitless in variety. Whilst it is true that the price of our products is fixed to a great extent through the sale of our surplus products in the foreign mar- kets; and we are thus brought in direct competition with the cheaper labor of these lands (the serfs of Russia, the fellahs of Egypt, the rvotts of India, in a word the pauper labor, by whatever name known, of every clime), in spite of this we can still stand alone and live, aye more iiot onlv live but maintain the proud preeminence whu^ti American agriculture and the American agriculturists can justly claim But to do this we cannot afford to be handicapped, cannot afford to bear burdens which are not ours by right. This brings us face to face with the problem of the present day: Ihe future ot Agriculture in the Eastern States— I say in the Eastern States, lor while many of the burdens unfairly imposed upon agriculture bear alike upon the agriculturist wherever found in our land, yet there are special burdens upon the eastern farmer which make him more especially the subject of thought at the present time. This is the crisis, the turning point in this important industry in each of the older eastern States of the Nation. The time has come when it be- hooves every farmer of ordinary intelligence (and no farmer should fall below this standard) to look the issue squarely in the face, in the li-ht of calm reason, casting effectually into the background every vestige of bias and prejudice, taking the carefully prepared data which the statistics of our Government affords us, contrasting the present with the past, and then decide what we may reasonably expect in the future under the same systems and agencies. In the consideration of this subject, we should not lose sight of, nor should we allow others to lose sight of the important fact that our in- vestments are in the aggregate immense. It matters not that we have but few comparatively landed estates in which the investment .T:- tftl ■'m I is as large as the Bessemer steel w^orks, or the woolen mill, these works are and must necessarily be isolated, while our broad acres cover almost the entire land. While the entire capital invested in manufacturing in the United States is $2,790,000,000, and in the two States of New York and Pennsylvania is $988,757,568, the capital in- vested in farming in these two States alone is $2,312,000,000. With such an amount of capital at stake it must be considered financial sui- cide not to guard it carefully so as not only to make our investment secure, but to derive legitimate income from the same. We must first ascertain the condition of our calling as a whole in the Eastern States, and then if a remedy is needed we must find it, and apply it. The first inquiry is easily answered. We can take our own State as a criterion from which to judge the whole. From every locality comes the same cry, farming does not pay. It requires the most skill- ful and careful management to insure an income equal to the legal rate of interest on the investment, if indeed it can be done at all. It is a lamentable fact that mortgages are multiplying. Real estate in the rural districts is depreciating in value to an alarming extent. What makes the situation more alarming too, is the fact that as a direct effect of the unremunerative business farming has become, our young and valuable help is leaving us and seeking the more lucrative and, as they suppose, the more respectable business in our towns and cities. Figures prove this, whereas, in 1850 there w^as but one-eighth of our population in our cities, in 1880 there was two-ninths, but we will not content ourselves with mere assertions. There is no necessity for taking any man's w^ord. The figures are at hand to show beyond dispute or question that we are fast drifting to the level of our calling in other older civilized countries. Turn to pages 194 and 195 of Sta- tistical Abstracts of the United States for 1886. What is true of the United States is strikingly true of the Eastern States. From these pages we learn that in 1870 tlie total production of corn was 1,094,- 255,000 bushels, worth $601,839,030, value per bushel 54.9 cents, aver- age value per acre $15.57. In 1885 the corn crop was 1,036,176,000 bushels, value $635,674,630, value per bushel 33 cents, average per acre $8.69. Total production of wheat in 1870, 235,884,700 bushels, value $215,864,045, value per bushel $1,042, average per acre $12.94. In 1885 the total production was 357,112,000 bushels, value $275,320,- 390, value per bushel 77 cents, per acre $8.05. Oats, value per acre in 1870, $12.18; in 1885, $7.88. Potatoes, value per acre in 1870, $62.38; in 1885, $34.49. The most elaborate efforts are put forth to impress upon our minds the importance of our manufactories. The boasts are made loud and often that their products are increasing. The output of 1886 and 1887 beinir greater than was ever know^i in their history. Agriculture is incre'asing her productions, but who reaps the benefits? According to above fiirures we have increased our production of corn 850,000,000 bushels,^ increased the acreage 35,000,000 and received $34,000,000 more money, less than $1 per acre for the increase. In the same time we have increased our acreage of wheat 15,000,000, increased the pro- duction 122,000,000 bushels, and received $30,000,000 more money, or $2 per acre for the increase. For oats we have received $5 per acre for the increase. Potatoes, for an increase of 940,000 acres and 60,- 000,000 1)ushels, we received $4,500,000 less money. Go a little farther, the acreage of the cereal crop in 1867 was 65,636,444, total product, 1,329,729,400 bushels, total value $1,284,037,300. In 1885 the acreage f ■ -|^3g Quarterly Report. . , ^r>KQ7ao^O tot'il T)ro(liirtion 8,015,439,000 bushels, nflhe same was 135,S nn. (\(\(\ aoo ?\ 1 , oOii 1^'^ 14-8 759 For an increase in acrej.i2;e of ^0,000,001) 1880 It ^^ as ^WU.H, a m ,,e,, that we are all convinced as to such an exhibit 1 take i" .'"^ f '7, V\' • , | j,- .^e cannot see o'luse of this ciond that Overhangs us (loi 11 eie is ^^^'"i; ' . i .. rta.,ces and conditions to tlie new order ol tlnngs. Wo «,ll not only CI p U'r'is'ditSl'o, a„d\vl,ilo, if the I-'Jjf "-^-'i'^'S' „'i S°o?il,oprico"evSV it, but in ll'V"t''l1™e"oTi:o ' "ev j",d=t;,u°o^'s? r.t,^er„'t s="&|;. if f iSEHjr;u°a"feo L'"rM'St%T;.'!^'!ire;rji Tf , s S'i^^t^s:|t's"srj£H;SSfa labor and energy would give us. What^ then i» tl e m.ease • ressive burdeus? Why are they not removed < Is it 'because we o not Sow "e are bearing them ? No, t he fa<^- - ;^i;P--^ ^'-^.^ ^ S;o; Xtor ?et tJl-wSrl^st agallt^r f^h^Tno^^^^^^^^^ I Soi .^k:;:^s.;uo;^:.Si1s ?=e7;^s on | ave hucTrc Is of millions as taxpayears and consumers More in e^ Jested n the advantage our particular party may gain over the other [inn the millions over miUions involved in the controversy What Se some of the burdens and in what, way does this disease ronr devJtfon tTparty which seems to underlie it), prevent the remo- tn of then ' Uniust and unequal tax laws, freight discnmination, Ixceis ve t" riff d t es which enhance the prices of what ^ye buy w.th- oSa corispond g benefit in what we sell ; these are the pri«c,pa factors on tWs side of the account. The question of "f ^ual and uSt'x laws in this State has been agitated an^ slionld never be n wed to rest until this inequality no longer exists 1 he last and L !Lr.rt of Auditor General Niles throws much light upon this subiect'and sLuld be carefully read. The last address of Leonard iSone Master of Pennsylvania State Grange, who has given the ul- jerm;.ci; thought, presents figures which are ^--^^'^^V^^/^^^^ we learn there are 611 moneyed corporations in this ^^^te, lepreseni rngcTpita stock, surplus, non-taxable assets and persona propeHy, amou.fting to $G13,7;J2,66G.74, underthe present law pay but $4.»(.,1G7.- I 11 Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 139 42, whereas a 3-inill rate on all 1 heir property would yield $1,931,197.- 79 of revenue. Then, a^^ain, buildinii; associations and manufacturing corporations, with an a^rgre^ate capital of $19(1,000,000, are exempt from taxation. The capital invested in mercantile pursuits, amount- ing to $500,000,000, pay a revenue of $350,000, in licenses, where they should pay $1,500,000. On the other hand, real estate pays more than 17 mills on the dollar. A valuation of $1,077,202,153 pays $30,395,- 250.08 tax, while personal and corporate property, valued at $1,403,- 814,762.14, pays a total tax of $5,963,344.79. If it were taxed, as it certainly should be. at the same rate as real estate, it would pay $26,- 133,420.31, or $20,151,081.52 more than at present. It is plain, therefore, that re \l estate pays at least $12,000,000 more taxes that its le^'itimate share in this State! What effect has freight discrimination '^ I do not propose making extended remarks on this subject, as it is covered under head on the programme. It has had the eifect of placing Western grain and produce of every kind side by side with ours in the Eastern markets at almost the same cost for transportation. As a result, while in 1873 there was a difference of 21 cents per bushel between the markets of the Atlantic ports and the Lake ports, to-day there is ten cents; and between the Atlantic and Western ports a change from 19 to 11 cents. This unfair competition of Wc stern produce with our own, brought about by carrying the through tralTic at a lower rate than actual cost and making good the loss by taxing the local tralTic as shown by the railroad companies' own reports, cuts us both ways and has a decided effect in reducing the general price of our Eastern products. This breaking down the natural cost of transportation and thus discriminating in favor of the Western producer has had an effect in stimulating and increasing their production and thus adding to our already full market. Taking all these figures given in these pages as correct (and it would be a difhcult matter indeed to prove them other- wise) we must admit that it does not present the cause of agriculture in a rosy light. During these years when our financial condition, as a class, has been going from bad to worse, farmers have end-favored to check the tendency against 1 hem by diversilying their interests. Dairying, stock raising, sheep husbandry, and, indeed, almost everything has been tried with tiie same general result, proving to a great extent unprofit- able. The question forces itself upon our minds what may we reasonably expect at the end of another score of years if this tendency is not averted, but bankruptcy and financial ruin? But we are told by many that a high protective tariflMs the panacea. This system they claim will insure to the laborer employment and to the agri- culturist remunerative prices for what they produce. Orators, and w^ould be statesmen, have eulogized beyond limit this American or Pennsylvania idea, and even now are terribly agitated lest the poor laborer and farmer should be deprived of his only hope of a livelihood through the disastrous measures threatened by the tariff reform senti-^ ment sweeping over the country, and intent upon a reduction of accumulating revenues, bv reducing the import duties on raw ma- terials and necessaries of life. These statesmen and advocates of a high protective tariff, not interested of course directly, in having a duty on any raw material or on imported goods, all their money, no doubt, invested in farms, and not in manufacturing, or any of the combma- t ions or trusts, the natural offspring of such a system, have even sud- lenlv discovered that tobacco is one of the necessaries of life, and denly l^Q Quarterly Report. < insistthat the iiiteniiil revenue tax on this sweet morsel should be abolished rather tlian the poor family should liave a cheap l)hinket or cheap salt and coal. But unlorlunately lor tlieir ar-uments we have had a high protective tarifT. If it can possibly be such a blessin- in the future then the experience and figures of tlie past score ot years lie for the record is plainly and forcibly against it. Data is at hand to prove that it has been a hindrance, and that it cannot but retard the prosperitv of the American farmer. In the light ot the past is it not adding i.lsult to injury for those who do not toil upon the arm to urescribe'lbr us and still lell us that a iiigh protective tanfl is the penacea for our ills. If reason is supposed to inlluence the minds ot men I appeal to it, how can the American farmer allord to meet in open market the pauper labor of the world, have the price of his pro- ductions set and fixed through the competition with such labor which the protectionists seem to have such an horror ot, and not allowed to buv his domestic supplies witiiout paying an excessive premium on them. I cannot dismiss this subject witiiout two obser- vations The one in regard to the plea that this duty is necessary to protect labor, and the other in regard to this momentous wool ques- tion It is certainly remarkable that so much concern is mamlested toward the 830,000 emploves in the manufacturing establishments whose operations can be injured through tbreign competition, regard- less of the cost to the more than 4,000,000 agricultural laborers. Ot course there are more than 830,000 engaged in manufacturing, but only this number whom Ibreign products can effect. But to the ques- tion of wages. To produce the $5,309,191 wortii of manufactured goods referred to the wages paid amounted to $9,479,537.9o or 17.65 per cent of the value of the manufactured goods. Ihis much dreaded pauper labor in foreign countriescertainly cost something, but assum- ing that it cost absolutely nothing, is it not plain that a duty ot 17.05 per cent, would protect the labor liere? And is it not equally plain that if the percentage of the wiiole value of the imported goods, representing the cost of labor in procuding the same is deducted from the 17 65 per cent, it would show a percentage decidedly below tins fi CO ^^^,^^ ^^. ^^.^^^^^^ the long, and at'Sometinie. almost c i ^^^ ^^. ^^^^ to be be seen on the ^'tra.buig loaa ^t ceiui .^ cSlTn- ion a a ate each honr' covering a space greater than the "S^S:^^ i^--Kl^LpoSr ..ichl. cm .e sitiesof the rapidly growing larjvest. ^^ The prosperous larmer «' ^^, Jf 'V ^ \nd iSnds put his surplus revenue. a»'\/""\^^, *^f./^'V "^",3^^ spec a ion outside of his busi- funds into railroad stocks. It \^ ^^ « s^^; ;''' ! knowledge. But he ness, and one of which lie cou d . =\Y ,^\ '^..'^ ;\vere aTmost invariably farmer got left on both sides. . ^ . j , ^ Not only so, but in helping to 1X^^;^f,/""g^J,^;f;\„to competition assisted in bringing the cheap ""^|^, «* ^H 'iVeg "n^^^h^^^ with his own higher-priced «"Vhf denend upon Mm Tl.e eastern country, and ibreipi cai)i;r\li&ts. nvina^ement of the they were being pinched and ^ 1>'.^„*^",^\,™ nearest ?SSs, trmc'chants and speculators could ship it .0 tide-water at ""FilTn'farmers to reach their markets were required to pay Chicago ratet or' mo're although shipping their produce often less than one- ^'f' iVnnIS mess' called for some action in self-defense upon the part '"Thirbill was earnestly opposed by the managers of railroads gener- Pennsylvania Board of Agricultube. 143 t ally. They had heretofore enjoyed unlimited power; they could at pleasure make or break the customer compelled to use their roads, or I'avor one to the detriment of another. The officers of any road by granting special privileges to favored interests, sucli as express companies, iast freight lines, sleepers, lum- ber and coal companies, in which they were the principal but silent owners, were able to rake into their own pockets the cream of the business of their roads, leaving to their innocent stockholders only the skim milk. Men, who on a salary of three or four thousand dollars a year, who were spending two or three times that amount in their liv- ing, and were si ill able to save several thousands out of their income yearly, seemed to think that a commission of the kind intended might iiiquire too particularly into the methods by which such ends were attained. Hence we see one reason for the bitter opposition on the part of the management of the great railroads to the interstate commerce bill as since passed. The ai2:iicultural interesisof the country were not the onlv ones that were su tiering by reason of discrimination against them, but they were the largest, and more severely felt by the farmers because of the very snuill margin to his profits under the most favoring circum- stances. Hence the law has been looked upon as one especially in the interest of agriculture. Yet the bill was wiselv and carefully drawn to protect not only the interests of farmers but, also, those of all other customers, not forgetting to deal justly by the owners of rail- road property. The bill as passed is composed of twenty-four sections, is very ex- plicit and to the purpose, with full and plain explanations of its object and methods for carrying it into execution, with authority for the same. A full discussion of the several parts of this bill would occupy far more time than could be allowed me at present. 1 will, therefore, quote only tiie fourth section as being the one in wliich the farmers of this part of the country are most directly interested, which is as fol- lows : iSection 4. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act to cliarge or receive any greater compen- sation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers or of like kind of property, under substantially similar circumstances and con- ditions, tor a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line, in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer dis- tance; but this shall not be construed as authorizing any common carrier within the terms of this act to charge and receive as great com- pensation for a shorter as for a longer distance : Provideds however, That upon application to the commission ap- pointed under the provisions of this act, such common carrier may, in special cases, after investigation by the commission, be authorized to charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of passengers or property, and the commission m.ay from time to time prescribe the extent to which such designated common carrier may be relieved from the operation of this section of this act. This section puts into the hands of the commission a very great power for good or evil, leaving indeed too much to their discretion should dishonest or unworthy men be appointed to that position by the President. The law, however, provides that no one shall act as > 1! -^44 QUARTEKLY RkPORT. pnmn,issionerwho is interested as a common carrier or in the prolitsof h,f«?npss ami Mlso that theoiriceslK.il not be made a polHical '::::^^'^^Sn^'h^nJi more than three out of the five comm.- «^nnprs shall be appoint ed from the same political party. l\Tinnocent^ Lancaster and (Chester counties have for vears seen SS loads of produce carried by tiieir doors tha fS knew wo (1 be delivered in Philadelphia at less cost to shipper and reSers than it would cost if dropped oil at their own sid.n-s by ^l^^B wlv Thev knew that the tlonr and grain that had come Inmi hpf^i Wes in these trains paid but a small fraction ot Nvhat they In 'd l.e CO ni elled to pav for the same service in transporting their mice oTe he same ecUon of road. They saw and felt the injn^ fiPPleinrdone them, but on complaint the answer came, ' how vie yoS ioinl to help vourself r They felt themselves ho,>elessly in the ^^Srld XLTSfS^d to them that ^eigl^ -Id be c^^^^^^^^^^ ba^iel of liour iVom Chicago to Philadelphia for less cost than Irom ^'Nof werX? more convinced of it on reading the annual reports of the Pennsvlvania railroads, which showed a profit of over twelve per cent on Uiei road east of Pictsburgh, and ^lo^^^" ^ If^^^VTlS nf thaTcitv Now if there was a loss on carrying ireights over the westVpJriion oi their roads there must ha- been a snndar l;s^ tViP «ime freight over the eastern portion, and tliat loss "ectssaruy ue made up ouiot the more heavy charges upon local or Pennsylvania ^' TKbiect of this law is to do away with this discrimination against our people IIow far thk has been effected in the short time since ?ke law went into operation I am not prepared to say, or how the law Iv effect Ices la -ing off the main line connected with he sjme by ;J3ieKv r;£che1 o^iXS-f^liia t f , ^^^^^i 1 r suS -s:s? iirins::!; su^i^ .pf f ;^;^" a/ter lea v'ng the main line, be charged such rates as the railroad man- ^^jrsuThllrScUbir the-interstate commerce law does not reach th s it but leaves us to the mercy of the great -onopoly^ our on^^y remedy would be to secure the passage ot a btate law to protect simi larlv situated places from such injustice. The Interstate Commerce Commission created ^y this la^v, as we have sad is invested with verv extensive powers and privi eges Powers ^idfnikiences so extraordinary that only the purest and best mon rnn safelv be entrusted Avith them. ,> j The character of the present board so far has not been questioned and thef ippear to be dealing justly towards all parties m matters fw lave come before them. The law has too lately gone into opera i„ ^tillTott knowingly, as yet, as to what benefits may arise from it or what defects mav show themselves. No doubt it w ill ncui more or ks amendment before it will prove to be all that u d. sire . Tir^e will tell On the whole the law will eventually, no doubt, p Zebe leicial to the agriculturists of Pennsylvania, and they should i**^-, ^ Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 145 be on the watcli that it be not repealed by the parties who have been opposin-ht proved that the little farm girl knew better what was for her owifgood than did those who were older, and the habit tlien ibrmed has (dung through life. Mrs. B/s knitting w^as always within reach and why couhi not a woman liave a book at hand and enjoy a page while she waits for the dinner to boil, the vegetables to be brought in from the garden or the men to come to dinner. Then there are the long winter evenings allowing so much time for real enjoyment of home life. Some time when the wdnd roars around the house and snow is in the air take down ^Vhittier's Snow Bound and read it ''The Lover's Errand^' in Miles Standish, is redolent with the very sw^eetness of the woods in spring. These, with many others, we might suggest, cannot fail to give fresli, pure thoughts and aid us to see the beautiful things in our surroundings. There was a time when only those who were called rich, could have books and papers and bright attractice things which go so ^'^^ tx) make home what it should be, but that day has passed away. Not all books are cheap but many of the very best books can be ])urchas- ed for a very small sum of money. It is our own fault if we deprive ourselves and our loved ones of that culture w^hich cannot fail to make life worth living. From all over the country there comes a cry that the boys and girls will not stay on the farm ; they do not like farm work and they long for a diiferent life. Father and mother, what does it matter if they do not stay? If their home has been pleasant, if they have grown up to be good men and women and lind work elsewhere, why should you complain ? In no place under the sun have boys and girls a bet- ter opportunity to develop mentally, morally and physically than on a farm, if a farmer's home is what it should be. Years ago in a little country home lived a family of seven children. Like the peas m the pod, they looked out through the circumstances that surrounded them,^ and' everything was bright and gay. About all that could be said of them, was that they were full of mischief, did their share of work when they were under careful supervision and had enormous appe- tites, of course thev grew, and one tine day the oldest boy grown to man's estate, left the farm to take up work more pleasing to his taste. One by one the boys followed and then the girls followed the boys. Not one of those boys ever became a farmer, but they are all doing good work in their chosen fields, and the lessons learned then on the farm have not been forgotten. Hard times they all had for work was diiferent thirty years ago to what it is now, but the lessons then learn- ed were well learned, the physical strength developed in the free open air life they lived enabled each one of that seven to perform their part of the worlds work now. U your boy will not be a farmer do not try to make him stay with you, keep his conlidence, believe in him, advise him, train him for usel'ulness teach him, to be pure in heart and clean in his life and when he leaves you the remembrance of his childhood home will be a pleasure to him. When out in the busy bustling world the thought of the deep w^ell or bubbling spring, its shady trees and grassy fields will come to him like a precious benediction and the faces of his loved ones will seem to smile upon him as they used to in days of yore when he was '' a barefoot boy wilh cheek of tan" and drove the cows Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 151 f ..^ ^ M to pasture, carried water, turned the grindstone, picked apples or heaped in piles the new mown hay. Do not fail to give the girls also an opportunity to develop strength of character and loftiness of pur- pose, and, above all, teach them to take care of themselves and earn their own living, should it ever be necessary, for so long as we license men to ruin our boys and young men, so long will it be necessary for our women to be fitted to be breadwinners for themselves and perhaps for their loved ones. Then there is another era dawning upon women and it is no longer thought that woman can only gossip and dress and w^ait for an opportunity to get mar- ried. i[ (Jod has given you boys and girls in your home, remem- ber that it is your privilege to live in them ailer your life work is done. As your home is pure and sweet, a i)lace where the angel of peace delights to dwell and where each ministers to the others joy and comfort so will their homes be by and by. Out from such a home there goes a sacred inlluence that ever widens and deepens, and ye fathers and mothers rejoice that such grand oi)portunities have been given you. What i)leasant recollections come to me as, in imagination, I see the homely old house long since torn do vn, the row^s of locust trees white and sweet wdth the blossoms of June, the long iron handle of the pump at which we had many a frolic and the blooming orchards of the early spring. Again I hear the guineas sing to us as we swing beneath the old pippen tree in the moonlight, while the tongue of the wagon standing near invites us to take a stolen ride or for a change we take our places on the tread power of the threshing machine and think we are old Dobbin turning the machine that threshes out the grain. Ah, those were happy, happy days even though there was milking to do, butter to make, dishes to wash and a baby to attend. I see my brothers cob-houses rise in all their beauty and magnificence, and we spend many an evening over riddles, tricks, tit-tat-toe and fox and geese, and with a glad heart, I say '' thank God for a home on a farm and for all the joys of country life. CRITICISMS ON OUR DAIRY HUSBANDRY. By Thomas Bakeu, OctorarOy Penn'a. I shall not in the remarks that I propose to make in this paper upon the present occasion, attempt to explain how to make good butter, to take the best care of milk, or to make in the best manner any of the other i)roducts of the dairy. I will not assume the olTice of teacher before this assemblv of those who have had an extended experience in the great business of conducting a dairy. It will be sulFicient for me to advert to the great importance of this industry at the present, and to point out its possible extent in the future. The strictures that I shall make will be only those of a general character, and the sug- gestions for an improvement rather those of prevalent management than of skill and knowledge that pertain to this branch of agricultural indnstry. :^ ■ :i 152 Quarterly Report. i II In order to do this I have made a brief investigation to obtain the necessary statistics of this trade, and its comparison witli other brandies of farm industry, from the best sources of information within my reach. Butter as an article of food amonj>; the ancients is but rarely men- tioned. Though alhided to in the Old Testament, it is not believed by scholars tliat the sense of the original word in the Hebrew^ w^ould justify us in classifying it as an article of food, but rather as an oint- ment or salve. The Latin waiters, as well as the Germans, of an- tiquity, also considered it either as a medicine or used it as an oint- ment in the bal:li. The use of cheese in the earlier ages of history as an article of food is well attested, having come into use on the table long before butter. Of modern nations, perliai)s the Dutch were cer- tainly amongst the very earliest to use butter as a common article of food. The tine grazing districts of Holland were particularly well adapted to feed and develop a race of cattle that so far have never been surpassed for excellent milking qualities; and their yield of butter from a given amount of milk, or rather the percentage of but- ter, so far as I know, has reached its maximum. Tlie Channel Island bleed of stock, comprehending the Jersey and the Guernseys, are de- scended from ancestors that grazed the rich meadows of Holland and Holstein. This. I think, is a natural conclusion; those districts are not distant, not dissimilar in climate, soil, or grasses suitable for grazing, and from all the authorities I have at hand, this race of cows has yielded the greatest per cent, of butter from a given amount of milk. I have found some instances mentioned, particularly of Jersey cows, of a yield as high as three pounds of butter per day for some weeks together; but it is fair to mention that a yield of one i)ound per day for a period of three months after being fresh is a very good yield. That the per cent, of butter per cow irrespective of breed, climate or condition, must always vary with the pasturage or feed in direct proportion, is a conclusion reached without rigid demonstra- tion. It is always a consideration with grazers and dairymen whether it is better to have the small Jerseys, Alderney, or similar stock, or the larger Devon, with much more flesh but with more sparing milking (pialities. This is a question everyone must settle for him- self. Beef is an item, though I think a small one, in a dairy, for a cow will not profit her owmer and ought not to be kept till decayed teeth and old age forbid it longer. If the young heifer at three or four years of age does not promise well, another one that promises better should supersede the poor one. or else the dairy must retro- grade; if we dairy at all the production of milk for the making of butter must be, and should be, the chief, the great object, and not the fattening of beef. The choice of tlie best breed of cows for the dairy as the dairy husbandry of our county is now organized, is a matter, as I have said, that everyone will have to decide for liimself. J. C. Sibley, in a very able article read before the Tilusville Local Farmers' Institute, December 22, 1885, gives very strong arguments in favor of the Jersey as the cow, the all-purpose cow, and in his own language ''as the choicest morsel to the eye of all the bovine tribe." But I must say that notwithstanding all his arfrumonts, backed up as they are by numerous statistics, I cannot still think that the Chan- nel Island stock of cows is the most i)rofi table for dairy husbandry, as at x^resent conducted. If we had special creameries for the making Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. L53 I ^ri of butter from Jersey or Guernsey milk, then the price of the milk could be gauged according to its intrinsic value for butter, but when all milk is priced alike, not according to quality, but to weight, then I must certainly beg leave to dissent fiom the views advanced by Mr. 8ibley in iavor of his favorite Jersey. The time may come when a comb'ination of farmers having good grazing lands and living near together, may become convinced that this stock of cows, the Jersey, the Guernsey, or the Alderney is the most profitable cow, then a creamerv can be started upon a square basis and could be conducted to the satisfaction of all its patrons, but till that uniformity in pro- ducts is attained there must be gruml)ling and dissatisfaction. Till such uniformity can be effected, I would say that some of our best native breeds are best adapted to our wants. In many sections of the west such a degree of care, combined w^ith good pasture and judicious breeding have almost built up a race of cattle that can endure the various vicissitudes of our climate better than the imported stock. In very many districts these cows have yielded good results. In some of the reports made before the Octoraro Farmer's Club of Chester and Lancaster counties during the past few years, a yield of milk that netted the owners an average, varying from $40, $50 and $00. even up almost to a $100 per cow annually have been obtained from native grades It is true, these cows were well, though not extravagantly fed. They had the pastures indigenous to this section of country in the summer season, and it is not necessary for me to say that our farm- ers house and feed their stock w^ell at all times. It is enough to say thev were w^ell taken care of, and we all must acknowledge that the yield and profit must have been satisfactory, at the figures I have given you. Even the magnificent profits that the figures of Mr. Sibley gives, as what his favorite Jerseys will do, may not much exceed them under the most favorable circumstances. After all the discursive remarks that I have made in the composition of this paper and as a fitting introduction to the subject of the dairy as now carried on, I will say that there does not seem to be any reason that anv other industry will supersede it. The great cities of the sea board must be supplied with butter, cheese, and milk. These delicacies will ever be w^anted and with the beautiful pastures of the Allegheny slope, with the excellent water and abundant springs with which it is supplied, all nature points to this slope that in the far future must supply this demand tor products. That it is difllcult to say they will ever fail. The dairv has come to stay ; the cow will be an inhab- itant of our farms for a long time yet. Of course we will have other lesser industries. We must raise wheat, corn and oats; we must make abundant hay ; we will hold on to our orchards and our well- kept gardens ; the ladies will still have their pretty flowers, and the men their hot discussions about the best plans of farming. ' . Let us consider whether keeping cows will in the future, as it has in the past, have a tendency to impoverish our farms. Whether the tendency will not still be to overstocking. That grass will not be as plenty as cow^s. This very vital consideration seems to have strength when we see the diminishing fertility of the farms outlying the city of Philadelphia. A hundred years of grazing has not improved their production or increased their fertility, a century or two more may find the fine farms of Bucks, Chester, Lancaster and York m no better condition. r^ n - i j How shall we obviate this sad condition of our fine farming lands Ii 154 Quarterly Report. that seems to picture itself before us? Shall this enli*2:htened period, this golden aii;e of agricultural progress pass away to find another gen- eration succeeding us that will liave to grapple with the old problem of what is the best method of improving worn out land '^ Let us hope that the increase of general knowledge in this inquiring age will ef- fectually serve this great question that seems to be presenting dillicul- ties in the way that lies l)efore our future agriculturists. In regard to the statistics of extraordinary mentality as relative to hygiene, I will state that Sir Isaac Newton, is said to have abstained entirely from animal food during the composition of the greatest work that ever emanated from the human mind, viz : '' The Philosophy of the l^niverse," with this remarkable instance before us, we need not regret the more general introduction of the products oi' the dairy into the various articles of ibod with which we spread on tables. Though I have no doubt that animal food is most excellent for courage- ous soldiers upon long and toilsome marches, for the ])oor sailor that climbs the masts and spreads the sails of the ship in the liercest storms, and breathes the invigorating atmosphere to be found upon storm-swept seas, but I must still rejoice that dairy products, the varied diet of the vegetable and cereal kingdoms is coming into more general use as the food that conduces not only to old age but the finest [)hysical and mental development of man. The x^roduct of the cow, whether milk, butter and cheese have now become so extensively in use by all classes of people, by the poor as well as the rich, they are alike seen on the tables of all in every con- dition of life. Butter is no longer a luxury to be seen only on some rare or extra occasions, it has become as indispensable as bread itself, and 1 think it safe to say that the introduction of dairy products into the culinary arts of the present day, leading to their use in some form in all our meals, may be set down as a better and more wholesome food than a direct diet composed more largely of fat pork, beef and mutton, the use of llesh food instead of butter and cheese may confer great or ruggedness and brute strength to the human body but this kind of food mny conduce to a better digestive condition of the human system, and thus ensure even better physical and mental health and a more serene and healthy old age. SOME MISTAKES THAT FARMERS MAKE. By Isaac Seltzer, Gain Tree P. O., Perinea, Farming is also an important business. It is the foundation upon which all others depend It is the most vital part of the business world. Whatever effects it, effects society throughout. When this stops the clattering wheels of machinery cease to move. The sound of the locomotive is no longer Junird. Commerce between the nations is ended. Busy minds and busy hands give place to anxiety as iu the days when Jacob said to his sons : '' why do we look one upon anotlier ; behold I have heard that there is corn in Egy])t ; get you down thith- er, and l>uy for us from thence, that we may live and not die.'- What Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 155 - i t. M ^ ) " i Canaan was when the hand of famine struck it ; the business world would be to-dav, should blight strike the farmers' lields. His voca- tion is one that has never been recognized as it deserved. Brain power has been developing other industries, and farmers admired and wondered — little dreaming their own business was capable, throuj^h improved machinery, better management, and a knowledge of the soil of producing such crops as would tax the motive power of the nations to move them, and would move them equal in value all other business combined. Its healthfulness, honor and importance are no guarantee that it is not also one of toil. In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, is the law. Incessant action and care is the i)rice of reward. Solo- mon said long ago ^' that the soul of the sluggard desireth, but hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold, therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing." Impelling circumstances require the sacrifice of ease, in order to '' make hay while the sun shines." Opportunities neglected to enjoy pleasure are too costly indulgences. Not what indolence desires, but what duty demand. What thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might, then with a firm trust in God for wisdom, thou shalt find that "- as thy day so shall thy strength be." *' Go tiU the ground "—said Hod to man— ''Subdue the earth, it shall be thine ; " How grand, liow glorious was the plan ; How wise the law divine. And none of Adam's raee can draw A title save beneath this law, To hold the world in trust ; Earth is the l^ord's and He hath sworn That ere old Time has reached his bourne, It shall reward the just. Having thus briefly sketched the farmer and his employment, let me now notice some of his mistakes. And in doing this I do not wish to be understood, that I claim perfection, either as a man or as a farmer by any means. Mistakes are common things to us all, and we must expect them as long as these imperfect natures of ours control our actions. But there is a great difference in the character and re- sults of our mistakes. They are beneficial or injurious. Beneficial if we heed their lessons, injurious if we treat them with inditference. We can all refer to incidents in our lives, where if we would have given more thought to them, would have changed our lives. Farmers rearing families should be careful that no mistakes are made that shall have their effect on the future of their children. I know that no father or mother would intentionally do anything to injure his chihrs peace or usefulness in the future ; but it is those things that appear trilling that only show their strength and importance when woven into the warp of life. In my intercourse with farmers I find there is a dis- satisfaction with their business. They speak in a discouraging way about it as a business that don't pay. It is not a success; you can't anv more than make a living at it, and, too, you are subjected to so many inconveniences, and have to submit to so many unpleasant cir- cumstances. Well, this may all be true. Our duty is to profit by whatever cir- cumstances we cannot control, and as far as we are able to turn them to a good account for the benefit of those who follow us. If our busi- ness of farming is what we want to do in life, and we believe it will be a safe and profitable business for our children, then let us not 156 Quarterly Report. II make Die mistake of thwartinfi: our design. When I look over our own neighborhood to-day I find there are but few of our boys on the farm, and but few of the farms in the same name they were a score of years a2:o. In Highland, out of seventy -eight farms in 1805, fifty-six of them are known by dilTerent named owners to-day. Only twenty- two in possession of the same ow^ner or one of the boys. Out of one hundred and twenty-two boys in these seventy-eight families only thirty-eight are I'armers to-day. Is it any wonder farm help is so scarce when so many are leaving the farm '^. Other callings are more than full. Why did these boys leave the farm ? It is the hereditary law for the son to follow the same business in which his father was engaged, but here is an exception. Was farm life not congenial to themi* Did they long for more freedom? Was farm work drud- gery ? There must have been sufficient reason on the part of the boys for leaving the farm, but were those reasons provoked by some mis- take the parents made? Many of you farmers to-dav have boys that are not with you, they have left you to engage in other business. You know why they left. Allow me next to refer to the mistake farmers are making in the education of their bovs. You are all in favor of education, so am I. Edw^ard Everett was right when he said, in a government like ours we must educate or perish. I would like to see every child, no mat- ter what his parentage, have at least a good common school education. There is no tax I pay that I feel is doing as much good for the amount of money as the school tax, and I would like to see it do more good, for we make the provisions for it. But farmers are not satisfied to make our common school anything more than a mere starting school, and just as soon as a child is fairly started in the common branches they must hie away to a school of another name. It sounds better you know. If a child shows quick- ness in learning, he is soon made to understand, that he was cut out for something higher than a farmer. Teachers, too, often school committees and parents, all encourage him in this unwarranted idea. Pope says, ** 'Tis education frames the common mind, That as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." This is true, but be careful how^ you bend the twig. A tramp was asked why he didn't go to work, holding out a small delicate hand, said he, '' Do vou think that hand was made to work." (A few years ago.) The poet Hall expresses very clearly how farmers are educating their boys away from the farm when he says : ** The more politic sort Of parents wiU to handicrafts resort ; If they observe their children to produce Some flashing of a mountiiiu: nius, Then must they with all diligence invade Some rising college, or some gainful trade, But if by cJiance they have some leaden soul, Born to number eggs, he must to school ; EspeciaUy if somo pntmn will engage The advice of a luigh boring vicarage. Strar.ge hedley-medley, who would make his swine Turn grey-hounds, or liunt foxes with his kine." Educate your boys, fellow farmers. Educate them away from the saloon, educate them away from night haunts, educate them to Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 157 { ^ r €% ■ ( the church of God and to the farm. It needs their labors, their ener- gies, their talents. Hold not up before them possibilities of human greatness, and the attainments of high positions in life, li' they are worthy and litted to be great men for good in the nation, the nation will know it and honor tliem. But it is our duty to them to impress their minds and hearts with the truth, that fidelity to the humblest position in life is deserving of just as much credit, and will be deserving of just as much reward in the great day of well dorie^ as he who occupied the highest station. One mistake more and then 1 have done. This is the fast-horse mistake and its accompanying evils. Fast horses and farming are neither practical or congenial. They won't mix. They partake of different natures, travel different roads, and end at different places. Ahorse is a noble animal. The Scriptures honor him with connections with chariots in which angels ride. They speak of his strength, his swiftness and beauty. He would be void of taste that wouldn't admire a good horse, but let us not make a dunce of him, or he of us. He is very much like money to a man — a bless- ing or a curse. Paul, in his epistle to Timothy, says, the love of money is the root of all evil, 1 have sometimes thought the love of horse is the root of a good many evils. Fast-horse time in the trotting season is on the tongue of almost all the boys. T know one that hadn't money enough to buy a wooden rocking horse, that could tell you all the horses that won at different races, their time, and who drove them. Young men in driving ont will imitate all the motives of these expert drivers in trying to get speed out of an every-day farm horse. Agricultural fairs conducted by farmers offer large premiums as an inducement to owners of fast horses to exhibit their speed, and in their advertisements of the fair make the trotting the most prominent feature to attract the crowd. I believe the officers of these so-called farmers' fairs are honorable men, that desire the advancement of knowledge and interest in the community, yet it is questionable whether the evil influences incul- cated in the minds of many through tlie side shows, the Nellie Burke chariot races, and the trotting ring are not far greater than the good. It has a tendency to excite the passions for a fast lite. It prevents the tastes for a quiet-going life. It destroys parental influence and it thwarts the very design tlie society should teach. If 1 understand their object it is emulation, that desire to imitate the example of others in art, stock and farm i)roduce. But the emulation is in fact driving. Look at the wagons of some of our young men to-day, all besmattered with mud from top to bottom. It is a bad sign for a young man, he is getting along too fast for his own good. Ay ! r.fither your reins and cra^k your thong, And bid your steed go faster ; He does not know, as he scrambles along, That he lias a fool for a master. — Olive M, Holmes, The farmer knows it, and he knows he made a mistake when he encouraged it. 158 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 159 THE CITIZEN FARMER. By W. IT. Snvdkk, Oxford^ Pa. This essay is not written to tell you '^ what I know about farming," for if tliat were my mission here to-day it would be entirely unneces- sary to waste any paper on it. I appear before you on the invitation of your committee on programme, and will try to suggest a few thoughts on the subject I have chosen. These thoughts will in no way conflict with those you will receive from others, upon the x>i*2 Quarterly Report. One colony of bees will produce, located any where in Pennsylvania, an annual average of fiftv pounds extracted honey or of thirty comb ; the former will command nine cents and the latter fitteen cents per pound • there are 213,542 farms of improved land m this State, averag- in<'- more than sixty acres, each of which could give a field for the work of five colonies. Now from these ligures we find there is pastur- ac-e for enough bees in this State to produce 26,692 tons of honey w'liich at the low figure (pioted would be worth $4,804,695. Tins may seem, to many of you, like building without foundation, but I can as- sure you it is^iot so, for, with but a little trouble and a great deal of pleasure to every one who will eno:.age in apiculture it can be ex- ceeded; and our State may become truly a land flowing with honey as well as milk. . Think of it, $4,000,000 now worse than wasted. Why worse than wasted? Because the gathering of all the nectar secreted from fruit blossoms, clover and buckwheat blossoms, will largely increase the crops of fruit and grain gathered. Exchide bees from your clover fields and il will not be worth gathering for its seed. I have seen this proven by experiments and I take it to be a fact that grape blossoms, and all other blossoms' which secrete nectar, are made attractive to l>ees that your vineyards may be laden with fruit and a harvest may follow the^sowing. Oh! but^bees have destroyed my grapes; no, if you think honey bees destroy grapes you have been a careless ob- server; I know^honev bees will sometimes carry off the.puce ot grapes which 'have been made worthless by bursting, ratting or which have been broken by birds or other insects. For very convincing and abundant testinlony on this subject I would refer the skeptical to the report of Professo/Nelson McCTain of the United States Apicultural Station, Aurora, Illinois, found in the Agricultural Report for 1885. Think of it, $4,000,000 each year going to waste in this one State alone. How shall we secure it ? By every farmer keeping a few colonies of bees, allowing one colony for every fifteen acres, or to a farm of 100 acres about seven colonies ; cr if your neighbors do not keep bees and you have an area of 1,000 acres on which your bees may work you should have seventy colonies to gather honey for yourself, and make seed and fruit -for your improvident neighbors. Seventy col- onies of bees located over about one-fourth ot an acre of your ground, will yield you at the prices 1 have been getting for honey, over hve liundred dollars per year nett. As to the knowledge of bees recpnred to make a successful apiarian, I believe the demand is not greater than that required to make a successful dairyman or poultryman. What success would or should a dairyman have who would buy steers with which to supply the market with butter ; or what profit would a poultryman have from an investment in four year old hens to lay eggs for market ? About e(iual success with the apiarian who buys a hive full of drones, or drone comb, or who allows a queien to remain in a hive after three years' service; there is just about as much knowledge needed of the bee keeper, as of the poultryman or dairyman. The Best Hive. When you have determined to keep bees the first (juestion you will have to decide is what is the best hive? In giving my own opinion in answer to this question I believe more than three fourths of all the large beekeepers in the United States agree with me, and the other fomth are divided in their preferences, naming a dozen different hives. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 1G3 i The one I shall name is not patented, while many of the others are. My choice is the ^'Simplicity" hive; it is the old Langstrath hive slightly imi)roved, and in my opinion it leaves nothing i)etter to be desired; the hive was invented by the Key. L. L Langstrath in 1851 ; and by its adoption nearly all the improvements that have been made in apiculture have become possible. Any person may make this hive, but as great accuracy in every measurement is recjuired, I would advise that the first hives needed be purchased of a large manufac- turer of hives : each hive consists of about 200 pieces when com- pletely fitted out for the production of comb honey, and can be bought in the '^ flat," or nailed and painted, cheaper probably, than you can make them. The most important considerations in the selection of a hive are first, movable frames; all hives should be discarded unless so provided ; second, extensively used ; this is one evidence it is the best ; supplies of all kinds can be gotten more rapidly and are cheaper be- cause manufactured in large quantity; third, cheapness; fourth, ease in handling; the •'Simplicity" hive excels in all points; it can be obtained either as a single or doubled-walled hive ; the doubled- walledhive is preferable for colder climates, but the singled-walled hive is suitable for this. Location of the Hive. We will decide tliis before we c:o after the bees. Let it be near the " living room " of the house, so that in swarming time the bees will be constantly under observation; and also that depredations by thieves may be impossible. The ground should be nearly level, but drainage should be good enough to prevent damming up of water at any season of the year, and consequent drowning of the bees, for we shall place the hive upon the ground. Cut the grass off closely for a space of six feet square, drop a bushel of clean sawdust in the center of the space, and set the hive down on the sawdust being careful to make it level, and to pack the sawdust down nicely around the hive, especially in front around the entrance, on which the bees may alight and crawl directly into the hive. A quart of salt sprinkled under the sawdust will be of great advantage in preventing grass growing up through it. It does not matter whether the entrance to the hive faces towards the north, south, east or west, but if the apiary growls new hives should be placed in rows like the houses on each side of a street with a space of six feet between the hives. If the hive is ten feet from a frequented path there will be no need to fear the bees. Comb Foundation. Having the hive located you should next proceed to make it ready for the bees by purchasing '* foundation " with which the hive should be liberally furnished ; this is made of pure clean beeswax in tliin sheets impressed like the bases of natural comb ; every intelligent, progressive beekeeper should, and does use it, both in the broad cham- ber and surphis boxes ; some do not advocate so free use of it as others, but nearly all advocate filling the boxes at least. I would advise the beginner,' to not only fill the boxes, but also to use sheets of founda- tion" which will nearly fill the brood frames. Another hive can be prepared for the first '' swarm " in which '' starters," that is a narrow strip of foundation, one or two inches wide can be used in the broad frames, and with sections or boxes entirely filled. My rule is to always use full sheets in the broad frames when increase of bees is desired, or to use •' starters" only when comb honey is wanted. 1G4 V Quarterly Eeport. Selection of Bees. Now we come to an important consideration again. What race of bees will suit us best^ The qualities which will enable us to decide favorably are, g;ood honey g;atlierin^, good wintering, gentleness of bees, and ])r()li(icness of ([ueens. The chief races we now have in tliis country are, the native black or German bees, Cyprians, Syrians, Italians and Carniolan or Krainer bees. Our native bees have been tor twenty years gradually getting out of the way for imported races, and while a few yet prefer them, they cannot be considered as pos- sessing enough desirable traits to retain ; they possess two especially - undesirable ([ualities, viz : 1st, they are very restless when being handled; 2d, they will not protect their hives from the moths as well as others. Cyprians and Syrians are too vindictive and in my o])inion may be sent back to Syria and tlie island of Cyprus without regret, I have had all the experience with tliem I want, this leaves two races either of which I can recommend. Italian bees were first brought to America in 1859, by Messrs. Wagner and Colvin ; they are excellent workers and meet all the requirements when pure, but if hybridised with our native bees they often become very wicked. " Carniolans or Elrainer Bees. Carniolans were first brought to this country by a German whose name 1 have not yet ascertained, living in Iowa, in 1879; they were labeled Cyprian bees and I believe the consignee does not know to this day that a mistake was made, but it was not until after Mr. D. A. Jones and Mr. Frank Benton, visited the east in 1879, that the attention of the general public was especially called to the new race, Mr. Frank Benton remained in Germany, and annuallv visits Carnioa to prepare and select the best queens the country will produce to send by mail across the ocean to customers in this country. They dilfer from Italians, first, in appearance. Italians like Cyprians and Cyrians liave three yellow bands around the body, Carniolans do not; t'hev dilfer from our nation — the German bees, in having broad greyish bands upon each segment of the abdomen; as to disposition, Carniolans are undoubtedly the gentlest race we know of. After an experience of ten years handling Italian bees, then alike three years experience with fifty colonies Carniolan bees, I have come to decidedly prefer Carniolans for all purposes. I will quote from Mr. S. Simmons, of Jiottingdean, England, who as authority is second to none, he says of Carniolans : '^ They are without doubt the most easily handled of all, as almost any amount of rough treatment fails to make them bad tempered, and yet ihey are not surpassed by any in defending their homes against intruders of their own kind. As regards their working capabilities they are superior to either Italians or natives. They are extremely active when anything is to be obtained, while in dull weather and during winter they are particularly quiet. Here we have the secret ot their remarkable wintering qualities; and if this good i)()int alone is considered, where is the apiary in our northern iaiitude that can alTord to be without them." Where can you get them? Bees are now sold by the pound, from one to ten. i)ounds, with a queen constituting a colony. They can either be gotten of a reliable dealer in this country, or imi)orted direct Irom Carniola, Austria. If you get them a})out the first of June, the bees may be emi^tied gently down on the sawdust close to the en- Pennsyivania Board of Agriculture. 165 trance to the hive, and they will at once take possession and go to housekeei)ing. If it is a strong colony you i)ur(*hase, you may reason- ably expect to be able to take fifty-six pounds of beautiful comb- honey about the middle of July, and without having given them one minute's attention during this time. I advise beginning with a single colony, and that one having a young selected queen of the best grade, i)roducing gentle bees ; rai)id increase of colonies is easily obtained, and having begun with good stock, the probability of the increase having queens of the same kind is good if other races be not located very near. Examining- the Bees. We will now suppose it is June the 10th. Our colony has been at housekeeping ten days; we remove the cover and see the ''founda- tion '^ drawn out into combs and already filled with honey immedi- ately under the top bars. We slide over a few frames to one side, which gives room to lift out one frame without hurting any bees. The comb is full of bees attending to their duties as diligently as if they were not disturbed. The top of the comb is full of honey; just under the honey is a narrow area in the shape of an arch filled with pollen, on which young bees are to feed ; underneath that we see the work of the queen. Looking closely into the bottom of the cells, we see a tiny white egg in many; just above, in many more cells, we see very minute larva, where the eggs have just hatched, and the nurse-bees have deposited around the larva a small quantity of a jelly-like food. A little above we see older larva, which have grown on the food i)ro- vided to be so large as to nearly fill the cells ; and again, above we see hundreds of cells capped over, containing mature larva, which are to remain sealed for fourteen days, when the fully-developed honey-bee bites off the capping and takes her place among the army of thirty thousand honey gatherers constituting a colony. Having seen the egg and larva, we cast our eyes over the comb until we see the cpieen. The queen is about one-and-a-half times the length of her sisters, the workers ; her body is also much stronger, and is of a bronze color. While we watch her she deposits several eggs in cells which she first examines and finds ready. We see the worker bees moving aside on her approach and tenderly feeling her with their an- tenna\ By a little calculation we soon estimate that during the ten days our queen has been at work, she has laid about thirty thousand eggs. As it takes twenty-one days for the egg to develop into a per- fect worker bee, we will have to wait yet eleven days to see young bees. (Queens live from two to five years, but it is usually advisable to kill them after laying two seasons, and put in tlieir place young and more active queens. Queens are provided with stings, but they have never been known to use them excejjt on rival queens, when the result is speedily fatal. Leaving the queen we find a few other large l)ees ; thicker, but not BO long as the queen. They fly off the comb, and we observe their wings make a much louder buzz than worker-bees; these are drones, or male bees, which we have bought with our colony. Drones live from three to six months, if allowed, for their lives are usually termi- nated by violence when the workers find honey becoming scarce; their only known use in the hive is to help nudnt;un heat, they neither assist in nursing or in honey gathering. Worker bees are in greatest numbers; they are female bees, just / V ! IQC) QUA*KTERLY REPORT, liko tlio queen, only, as it were, stunted while in ibe larval state by a scanty supply of (ood, and the walls of a smaller cell. J he worker's life is short Tif be-un in the lioney season, it may be ouly thirty or forty days, but if begun after the honey season is past she may live nossiblf nine months. Their work is the gathering of honey pollen- propolis, the manufacturirig of bees-wax and building comb, caring for and feeding larva, defending the hive from intruders, rearing queens when needed, and, when they have nothing else to do, driving out the drones. ^ Swarming". Swarmino- is the natural method of colony increase, and if rapid increases is not desired, is satisfactory. Usually it occurs only when honey is abundant in the fields. A first swarm consists of old and youn<>' worker bees, the old queen and drones. They emerge from the hfve in a peculiarly precipitated manner, and as rapidly as possi- ble getting up into the air some distance, and all the time flying in circles around a common center. After flying around this way for from three to fifteen minutes they will be found '' settled" or ^ clus- tered" on a branch of some tree, a vine, or occasionally even in the ^'•rass near the hive from which they came. In an experience of ten years with several hundred warms I have not seen one settle at a Weater distance than one hundred yards. They should be at once attended to, for scouts are out on the hunt of a hollow tree, and the swarm will leave as soon as favorable report comes in. A swarming pole is a great convenience when bees settle above reach. It is made of two pieces of pine sixteen feet long each, with a puUy and rope, put together so as to make an extension apparatus by which a peach basket attached can be carried up to a height of thirty five feet, when with the basket just under the cluster, a little jar will accomplish the transition of bees from limb to basket, and they are readily brought down. An examination of the old hive may now show us queen cells in various stages of development. Some of them may hatch m a few hours, and some may still hatch as late as the fourteenth day. The first queen that hatches may incite the bees to destroy all the other cells, or if not, she alone, or with others hatching at the same, may lead 'forth a!i ''after-swarm;" other queens hatching withm the two weeks may lead forth other ''after-swarms." I have seen five after-swarms from the same colony several times. They always are led by virgin queens, and sometimes eight or ten queens are found in the saine swarm. Soon after being " hived " a series of queen duels reduces the number to one, and the dead will be found around the entrance of the hive. Buying Queens. The rearing of queen bees from imported stock, is now carried on by a large number of persons in all parts of the world, and in pro- visioned'(iueen cages are sent by mail to all countries on voyages re- quiring as long as twenty days. A very rapid increase of colonies is easily ol)tained by the purchase of (pieens and division of colonies. I do not doubt that the increase may be thus more than tenfold in a single season, and at the same time the best grades of bees can be ob- tained. Source of Honey. The most important honey-producing flowers of this State are those V 4 i Tknnsylvania Board of •Agricultuke. 1G7 of white and red clover, fruit blossoms, poplars, locusts, lindens, dan^ delion, mustard, grape and catnip. Alsike clover where cultivated vields verv lar-el y and is perhaps the most profitable crop to grow lor the sake of its honev, for it also makes an excellent hay afterward, surpassing in quantity as well as .luality when properly grown, the common red clover. I would recommend a trial ol a few pounds ot Alsike clover seed, mixed with timothy, by every farmer with the conviction that such trials will lead to its continued use. One bushel will cover as much ground as two of red clover seed. Die seed being about half the size. fl„„cf The obiect of bee keeping is the production of honey. Ihe hnest and most healthful sweet used on the table In these days of very general adulteration, honey can be resorted to wi h a most perfec-t secnritv Comb honev cannot be profitably adulterated with any hin-, ami not at all with anything unhealt hfnl. " Extracted " honev mav^be mixed with flucose, but is easily detected by the absence of the granulating process of pure honey; besides, the mixing ol glucose with honev will never become a profitable business, or there is oo much lostln qualitv. Tiie statement that comb can be made tilled witli " honev" and capped over without the agency ot bees at al ,now known as the " Wilev lie,'" is wholly a fabrication, and so contessed now by its originator," but the false statement is likeb; to be another demonstration of perpetual motion that no one is able to stop 1 he demand for honey is rapidly increasing. Since it can be handled as easily as other groceries, in pound sections as now produced, store- keepers are glad to take it, for it makes an attractive exhibit in any store The demand for honey is not yet nearly so great as it will be, when its constant purjty and healthfulness stand out m proper con- trast against svrupsand sauces, which you buy at the shops, iiie fu-mer should certainly not resort to the store for his supply ot honey, for with two or three colonies of bees, may have honey abundantly. Among a large number of journals now devoted to beekeeping ex- clusively, I would recommend for developing a greater interest and STn 'taction, Gleaninffs in Bee Culture, by A. J.. Root, of Medina, Ohio, issued every two weeks, and the subscription is only one dollar. WHAT EDUCATION SHOULD FARMERS GIVE THEIR SONS AND DAUGHTERS ? By Dr. E. T. Jefkkrs, Lincoln University, Penna. Fir^t Farmers should give their children the education that comes throm^h the discipline of suitable and habitual work. Just as soon as M aughter is old enough to do anything that will assist her mother the mother should bedn to train her to do housework. Everything she can Tshe should be taught to do well. As soon as a chi d can dress a do ' she can dress herself and should be taught to do it. Oneol hereailiest essons and one of her latest should be to save her mother s steps an stren'^h, and to lighten her mother's cares ; to be, m short, a thorough a d res onsible housekeeper. Asi.le from the profit and comiort such a trainin- brings to parents, and husband after aAvhile, all ol which my theme excludes, it will give a girl a thoughtfulness lor others, a t 1G8 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 169 self reliance and a strengtli of character whicli are some of the best results of tlie liiiest education. So the son should be taught to use himself in all heli)ful ways in liouse and barn. One learns to swim hy swimming, so one learns to farm by farming. Business men say if you wish your son to enter mercantile life, let him begin when he is young and j2;row into it. The farmer's son should begin to farm as soon as he is able to liand^e a hoe, pull a weed or pick a potito. He can be trained to work to good purposes in garden and stable, to feed stock, to curry and har- ness a horse before he is as tall as the horse ; and be taught to like if, if judgme-nt and love are combined with firmness and system in the j)arents, just as well as he naturally likes to ride and drive a horse. Here, again, 1 advocate this training, not for the advantage either of help or gain it brings to parents and future wife, which in it sell is sullicient reason for the training, but for the education it gives the boy. It gives him habits that are beyond pri(^. It draws out and develops manliness, suppresses selfishness, makes the boy quick, active, methodical and x)rovident, lays a broad, solid foundation in a well-rounded character, for success in anything he may undertake when he becomes a man. I repeat, to emphasize the opinion, as a matter of the first im- portance, that farmers should give their children the education, the culture, the symmetrical group of good habits that comes through the discipline of regular required work. If there was no other gain in it than the development of character, we should all teach our children, from their earliest years, habits of industry. Second. Every farmer should give to every son and daughter the benefit of every day's attendance at the public school, or an equiva- lent, from the sixth till the sixteenth year of his age. Industrious habits are good, nothing can take the place of them, but intelligence should be added. The lowest demand our children make of us is this. To steal this from a child is grand larceny. Men have been successful in farming and business without it. I knew one man who wrote his own name so poorly that he never at- tempted it in correspondence and never signed a check, and w ho could not read a newspaper intelligently, who managed a farm of three hundred acres, two pajjer factories, who was a leading man in his political party and in his church, and excellent in every one of the many offices he filled; but such cases are rare, rarer now than they were fifty years ago. We run a fearful risk in starting a child out without at least a fair common school education. The terms are so short that even the best teacher can give a child but little instruction in a year, even if he attends punctually and regularly. No farmer interested in his child's future can aiford to discount that little by even a single day. If the mother oi' older sister or brother can take the place of teacher, or if a private school supplies the place of the pub- lic, nothing can be said against the substitution. But too much can- not be said against the criminal negligence or parsimony that limits a child's education to anything less than what the State has made the minimum. 1 think there is no farmer in Chester county disposed to differ with me on this point. I heard of one in Ohio who objected to teaching his son to write lest he should torge. If any man is disposed to debate this (juestion I refuse to debate with him. I i)ropose, instead of argu- ing with him. to take up a collection, buy him out and pass him en to A-^v . y;j^vi some county or State wliere the school term is short enough to satisfy his stingy heart and then give his farm for half-price to some intelli- gent man, an 1 keep up the process till the whole county is cleared of such citizens. I think we may keep our money. The farmers of this county are not afraid of their sons becoming forgers, and are ready to give all tlieir children all the public school can ailbrd them. Third All farmers who can ailbrd it, and almost all can, if they think so, should not be satisfied with this, but should give both sons and daughters more than the country school can oiler. In order to encourage the children to continue in the line of tlieir parents' work, and remain on the farm, they should have a chance to improve on the methods of their parents. They should have a few years at a college or at least at an academy or a normal school where they can learn chemist rv, botany, phvsiologv and everv other science that bears on the use and management of soils, crops and stock. Ihe boy or girl has learned enough on the farm before he goes away to school to show him that broader knowledge and better methods are needed. He is prepared to acquire and anxious to learn. The elementary knowl- edge of even a few terms at school will give him a start which he can follow up for himself if he develops a taste and ability for improved farming. I do not forget that farming is not a science, but an art, and that it is learned by practice under a skillful farmer. The traditional farmer lias enjoyed his laugh at the expense of the '• scientific farmer." We all know that a few years of practical work with a first-class farmer is worth all the books ever printed on the science of farming. But I recall. (1.) That every farmer is not a first-class representative of his art. He has not learned the art himself perfectly, and cannot, there- fore, teach it as he would wish to teach it to his sons. (2.) The most successful is always the one who sees each year where improvements can be made, and will be glad to send his son off for a while where there is any hope of his getting new ideas. (3.) Farrning, theart rests on farming the science, and that science includes a fair share of sev- eral sciences. Whoever knows these sciences has the materials for perfecting the art of farming. The art has not yet reached perfection. The road to perfection leads through chemical laboratories, class- rooms, text books, along the still waters of scientific study and through the green pastures of original research. Give the boys a chance to know something of these physical sciences, also of trade, finance and political economy and they will make better farmers than the most skillful of their fathers ; and let the girls go. too, and their s'^ience will tell favorably on their bread making, cooking and especially in their domestic economy in the management of the resources brought in by the joint labors of hus- bands and wives. Fourth. I shall go further and recommend that every farmer make it the cherished i)uri)Ose of his lieart to give some of his children the strongest physically and mentally— the benefit of a lull college course. Yes, let every owner of Chester county soil make it his ambition to have at least one child, son or daughter, enter one of the so-called learned ])rofessions. If your daughter wishes to teach, in order to fulfil a mission, to help younger chilldren in their education or add luxuries to the home- life of beloved parents, give her a good normal course. The money thus spent, though it rei)rtsents great self-sacrifice, is well spent, well il' / 170 Quarterly Report. invested you may tliiuk, if nothiniz' but six per cent, will rewnnl you for your outlay. Let as many of the children as you can all'ord to educate be sent to college, whether or not they have made up their minds wliat their several callings are or will be. In most of the col- leges in this country heretofore farmer's sons have been, if not a ma- jority, at least a large per cent, of the students. It's the glorv of farmers that this is the fact, and that they and their families have always been intelligent A characteristic saying in theological semi- naries where the young preachers are sent out here and there to try their gifts, is " If you go to the country take your best sermon, if you go to the city take your best coat." There is a solid fact behind that maxim. No class of men has ranked higher in society, politics or business than have farmers. These two facts— the attention given to education among farmers and the leading place they hold among in- telligent people are cause and effect. The best books, magazines and papers are read in the farmers' homes on winter evenings.' The rural districts of this country contain a larger portion of refined and intelli- gent home circles than do the cities. This state of things has come about by no chance, but because the farmer has used his surplus in educating the cream of his family, and has made a surplus for this purpose by hard work and close economy that the city has never learned. If the future has a different story to tell this generation of farmers will be responsible for the degeneracy of their class. If the farmer of this generation becomes penurious, increases his bank stock and railroad stock and farm stock at the expense of education, scrimps his library, starves the mind of wife and children as well as of him- self, stops the mental culture of his sons and daughters as soon as it threatens to cost him some sacrifice, the farmer of the future will be poor and ignorant and obscure, and Ijear no resemblance to nature's nobleman who heretofore has owned and cultivated our soil. The objection to all this is ready and I have often heard it. If w^e educate our sons they w'll become lawyers and doctors and preachers and teachers, go into the city and be merchants and all leave the farm. The answer is ready, too. Of course some of them will, and we expect them to do so. P^ighty per cent, of the successful profes- sional and business men in some eastern cities that were canvassed to discover the antecedents of their leading citizens, were born and passed their early days on a farm. We hope the country districts will keep up the supply. I shall say of farmers what a German writer said of the clergy. He had been looking up the antecedents of the holding scientific men of his country and of England. He found that most of them were sons of clergymen. He said if ministers were of no other use they should be supported and educated as a source of supply to the ranks of scientific men. So I say of farmers if they w^ere of no other use they have a reason for existence as a source of sni)ply of the best material to the professions and to the cities. There is not room for all the farmer's children on the farm. So far as you are able to educate, educate. Then the surplus sons and daughters will fill honored places elsewhere. But suppose all the sons are educated thev will leave the farm If this should happen it would be an evil but not an unmitigated evil. I have heard of sons prosperous and honored in the city who have bought the home place when misfortune overtook parents, and have made the last days of those parents and all davs of devoted sisters, wdio have remained to care for the aged, happy bv their munificence .1, Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 171 Those who go from farms to the city generally become safe and relia- ble men, sometimes very successful, and not unfrequently the first in their calling. Before the son of the soil goes to college he learns some lessons of hard practical sense. '^ Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," lie found out every year to be infallibly true. This doesn't encourage the sowing of wild oats. He sows wisely and gathers his harvest. He steps into the best city pulpit while the son of the city pastor takes a mission station, or through somebody's in- fluence is made secretary of something. The farmer's son elbows the judges's son into the quietest corner in the court room, while he takes the judge's seat himself, or he is found in the counting room, and em- ploys the son of the head of the old firm as clerk or drummer. The favored sons of wealth and luxury learn later in life the lessons the farmer's son learned while yet a boy, every spring and autumn. Is it possible to keep well-educated sons and daughters on the farm ? Will not a good education certainly take them away and leave the farm work for the illiterate ? Is it possible and desirable to keep a col- lege graduate on the farm ? I think it both possible and desirable. If farmers wdll offer their sons the same bribe in the interest of farming that they do in the interest of the professions they can keep a few more well-educated men among the tillers of the soil than they do now. I have known a man say to his son, "if you are going to be a preacher or lawver I'll put you through college, but if not I cannot afford to educate you." Try that plan on the boy you think best adapted to be a farmer. If he likes farming naturally, if he succeeds at it, and has a good mind, he is the best material for the future ideal farmer. Offer him a thorough education on condition that he will re- main on the farm and keep the bargain. He will accept the offer and be true to his agreement. Then when you are ready to retire from active life, it will be a satisfaction to you to give the control of your precious acres into his skillful hands. If his wife is fairly well edu- cated too, his house will l)e the ideal home, the home of an intelligent, successful farmer. Until this plan has been tried and has failed, we cannot aflirm that it will not succeed. I believe it practicable to keep educated sons on a farm. A bachelor of arts between the plowhan- dles, or on the sulky plow, is one of the scenes of the coming age. When an A . B. in the past age became a farmer his classmates were accustomed to sav, with mingled regret and reproach, '' His Greek has gone to grass." They looked around to find an apology for him in ill-health or some other hindrance to professional life. It w^as hard to persuade the graduate himself that he w^as not guilty of wasting resources. His conscience held him responsible for failure to use his opportunities as he should have done. A few years ago I met an ingenious youth in this state of mind. He was farming near Morning Sun, O., and began to apologize for being at the same lime a farmer and an alumnus of a college. I soon convinced him that I thought he was in the line of duty, doing very much needed pioneer w^ork, when he w^as converting his superior mental culture into improved agriculture. Is it desirable to keep men and women with advanced education on the farm ^^ Will thev be contented, enthusiastic, practical men and women? I answer yes, to both questions. My reasons are stated in a few wTn-ds. Farming, as at present conducted on most farms, does not pay, I am told, three per cent, on the investment in land, houses, stock, fences, machinery, etc. In order to make it pay there must be more brains used in the management of this large capital. The tradi- I i I 1 ! 172 Quarterly Report. tional methods will not meet the demands of the next a<2:e. They are not meeting the demands of tliis. Who will do tliis improved think- ing for the farmer? I know one preaclier in York county whose thoughtful suggestions to his parishioners improved tlieir farms 40 per cent, in fifteen years. But the farmer must do his own tliinking. His tliinking capacity is increased a liundred fold by a tliorough edu- cation. Many la1)()r-saving machines have been invented, more to re- lieve men on the farms than to relieve their wives. The dilference reveals the cause. Men have been generally and fully educated. Familiarity with the great principles suggests applications to every day work. Women still work bread, and butter, wash, iron and wash dishes as their grandmothers did. AVhen women are as generally and as thoroughly educated as men are, w^omen will invent labor-saving and product-increasing machinery for their own work. Wlien the men and women w^ho manage our farms are broadly and generally educated the much-needed thinking will be a home product and Ivill be abundant. A more intelligent use of land has doubled the crop in this county. More brains, more care, more cultivation, more concen- tration on smaller areas will double the crop again. Because educa- tion give breadth and vigor to the mind, and because mental vigor turned to the improvement of agricultural methods will insure a larger yield from the earth, therefore, it is most desirable that the boys and girls of this age, tlie farmers and their wives of the next age, should receive the best possible education. A partial, technical, spe- cial course, such as I suggested under No. 3. is irood, but the longer and broader, including the shorter, is so much the better as it is greater. The best and final reason why farmers should give their sons and daughters the best education is that it increases the probability of an excellent moral and spiritual character in those who are educated. The better the man, other things being equal, the better the farmer. Mere economical and financial considerations lead us to prefer, on the farm, as everywhere else, the good, true, honest, self-restrained, w^ell- balanced lover of righteousness, to the fickle, double-dealing, profane, lawless, unreliable, purchasable, time-server. Of the two classes, the educated and the uneducated, the percentage of good men and women is greater among the educated. The risks and temptations of school and college life are not forgotten, but there are risks and temptations in home life. Intelligence growing and daily brought into exercise quickens the moral powers. The growth of the lower pushes up the higher, and the cultivation of the higher elevates all below in facul- ties as in society. Education tends to stability of character even though it lead through an earthquake of doubt that shakes all that is ill-founded in habit and belief. The upheaval is brief; the settling is for life. Known to some of you is a farm that illustrates what I am not ad- vocating. Tliere you will be shown the finest corn raised from the finest seed and with the greatest care, and this is but a type of all the crops raised on the farm. You will be shown the finest blooded colts in the country, w^atched and trained most skillfully. Nothing l)ut registered cows are tolerated on the place, and every Guernsey or Ilolstein calf is protected and fed with daily, almost hourly, oversight, 'till it reaches maturity. The chickens are known by a name and brought to their highest perfection by the most watchful attention. The sty even holds nothing common, if unclean, and the very dog has a pedigree and is so taught that he is an improvement on his pro- 1 u Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 173 genitor. You will not dare to say that the rats and mice that infest the best-regulated barn are without their marks. But look at the children! The son, who walks around with the father as he shows you over the place, is stoop-shouldefed and ill-shapen; His eye has no life in it; his lips are thick and liabby and tobacco-stained; no evi- dence of careful training about him. He never went to the country school except when there was nothing to do at home. '' No, 1 never sent him away to school," the father explained. ^^ My father wasted a great deal of money on my schooling. I can't see that it did me much good. John will get the money in the farm." The daughter is a companion-piece to the son. He thinks Greek is a kind of pig be- cause he has heard it associated with roots. She has heard of Milton and has an idea it's a kind of cloth. She has received no care, no culture, no opportunity of mental improvement whatever. The father was one of six children and the mother one of eight, and both were wey educated, as education w^ent when we w^ere boys. But they have twn>, one eighteen and the other twenty, and have educated neither. Neither child has had a chance to know what intelligence is. They are untutored and careless of knowledge they have never had a chance to appreciate. The greed of gain, like a rust, is dimming the glory of the coming age in that liouse. We are grateful to God and our par- ents that such houses are rare. The more common case is of parents but poorly able to send children away, making every sacrifice to give them a better chance and a higher place than they themselves have had. When we find such a disgraceful exception as I have described, if we should express our sentiments w^e should say, ^'Go to the sty thou niggard ! You improve the style of pig even, by care and train- ing, how much more the style of man." Chester county has a grand record. She is known not only for her first-class farm products, but also and more for her men and women, her farmers and their wives. Her men have been strong and true, unrivalled in war and in peace, illustrious in councils of church and of State. If the women had no other record they could well ailbrd to rest in that furnished in the history of their sons. Each citizen has filled well the sphere assigned him by the will of Providence. But if we are to maintain our record we must tolerate no farms such as I have described. Let us use these conven- tions to create a x)ui)lic sentiment that will make such criminal neg- lect of children odious and impossible. A\'hile no less attention is given to the stock in field, stable, sty and kennel, let there be more given to that raised by our firesides. Whatever else we do not raise in x>erfection, let us by all means, to the highest perfection, raise man. FARMERS AND FARMERS' HOMES. By Miss Anna M. liVNCii, Nottingham^ Pcnna. " A thing of beauty is a joy forever," and such a place should be the farmer's home, situate as they mostly are where nature is most prolilic in all her draperies — in forest groves, by running brooks, on sloping hillsides or on evergreen meadow banks. They might be, and ought to be, the most charming and beautiful X)lace8 on earth. They should be most pleasant places of abode and attractive in all their surroundings. How many places w^e see that are almost without shade or : I I 174 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 175 ornamentation of any kind whatever. We know of some good farms where the buildings are without paint, wliere lawns and lanes are without trees, and where flowers seldom blush to be seen, they are so rare. The garden, the orchard, are useful and are the source of many luxuries, but the green yard, the creeping vine, and the modest flower are in themselves sure indications of thrift and refinement. " Let me see where a man lives,'' says some one, ''and I will tell you how he lives.'' The surroundings are mostly sure signs of home life ; neat buildings, orderly arrangement in them and around them indi- cate coml'ort and prosperity. The list of newspapers, magazines and books found in the home are good things to measure the degree of refinement and intelligence possessed by the family. Too many farmers lack taste. The influence of association and intercourse among farmers cannot be over estimated and one of the best educators is the farmers' local club. Where the club once gains a foothold you find attractive homes, progressive farmers, with labor-saving ^na- chinery and all modern conveniences on the farm and in the house, and as a consequence of the latter, bright farmers' wives. The education of the youth, although more general and thorough than formerly, might be still more enlarged by introducing special studies adapted to or relating to agricultural pursuits, Geology, chemistry and botany might to a certain extent be substituted for the study of the dead languages, ancient x)rofane history and modern his- tory relating to wars and conquest, with good results. Tree planting along our yjublic highways, which is encouraged by State enactments, would to some extent counteract the balel'ul in- fluence caused by the destruction of our forests. Added to this, if farmers would observe Arbor day by having each member of the family plant a shade or fruit tree, or do it for them, we would soon have a svlvan countrv. We think the average young man, with a good education and fair abilities, has as good a chance for success on the farm as in most other callings. Industry and economy may have to be strictly and closely practiced, but if continued a certainty of competence surely awaits him. Ours is a favored country. The lands drained by the Delaware and Sus(iuehanna rivers and their tributaiies are not sur- passed by any in the New World for the purpose of agriculture. Besides the farmer's calling is the first and highest of all callings, the most necessary and should be the most honorable among mankind. And if special fitness or si)ecial training isnecessary for other callings, why does farming not rec^uire it? If a Secretary of War is a necessity and a government school for the education of young men that they may be enabled to destroy their kind in the most expedious manner, why not a secretary of agriculture and a national school where young men may be trained this art of all arts? How much better it would be to have a bright boy selected from every congressional district receiving an education at the expense of the government in the great art of peace than in that of cruel and relentless w^ar. There is a sturdy ruggedness, a naturally manly manliness about the men of the country that is not found among any other class, and a roomful of them anywhere will compare more than favorably with the same number of any other calling. And country women, too, are not the slaves they once were, but as things have improved they too have moved along, and to-day we find them as the physician, princi- ples of schools and presidents of large conventions. "f ^ Country women, such as Mary Washington, Nancy Hawks and Mother Garfield have shown the world how to raise boys. Make the home bright and attractive for the boys and girls. Become acquainted with your children, it is not enough to know that they are properly fed and warmly clad. Many parents are too indilferent to the i^leas- ures of their children. Provide innocent amusement for them, supi)ly the table with games and choice literature, not the trashey novels so attractive in their sight. ^^ As the twig is bent, the tree inclines," and if children ac(iuire the taste for light literature the craving for such reading increases and books containing useful information is to them as a dry crust after a delicious sweetness. Talk with jour children and encourage them to express their opinions on the subjects that interest you. Many of our best and most successful farmers never have a son fit to carry on the manage- ment ol the farm, l)ecause the boys were kej^t merely as workmen, not even as apprentices. Teach these boys and girls how to do the work, give them an interest in the work and let them know that you are interested in them as well as in your stock and crops. It is a question with farmers how to keep their ])riglit boys on the farm. Don't try to keep them if they have a special fitness or a longing to pursue some other calling, but see to it that they are equipped far the venture, educated, upright, honest and strong to battle for the right, then, with your blessing, bid them go. It would not have been wise to have kept Robert Fulton or Horace Greeley on the farm, or Abraham Lincoln splitting rails, or James A. Garfield on the tow path, why you would no more have done it than dam back the Niagara. The world is the better for their having gone out into it. Anil)ition is laudable and honest, pride commendable, and we like the kind that found a lodgement in the breast of old Jesse Grant when he said he would rather be the father of Ulysses than to be President. The reason so many fail in their going out in the world is because they are without training, they go from impulse, without judgment, without high resolves and fixed principles and failure follows their folly as punishment follows crime. It requires more than the training of the schools to insure success. Tlie mother's training has much to do with the future of the man. First lessons nearly always outline the teachers. Most all great men have highly honored their mothers. Nursery rhymes and nursery prayers are never forgotten. John Quincy Adams, the Old Man Eloquent, repeated daily during a long life the beautiful little prayer his pious mother had taught him while a little child, an example worthy of daily practice. We would say to the young man don't be in a haste to leave the farm, consider well before vou close forever the door of the old home. Develop yourself first and wait developments. Grant was at hard scrabble at forty years and upwards and the world had no use for him until sometime later. Cincinnatus was called from the plow to the defence of his country. Thousands of country boys to-dav are leaders in all the avocations of life. The advice of Horace Greeley — "" Go West, young man,'' does not apply to all, and to those who do go, we have little or no fear for. They take with th^m the traditions and faith of their fathers, the early instructions and prayers of their mothers. The Bible, the free school, the constitution and the flag of our common country accom- pany them, and the commonwealths which have arisen. Phoenix like. 176 Quarterly Ri<:port. Pennsylvania Board op Agriculture. 177 if- 1 I ) I by their labors prove tliem worthy sons and daiiii:hters of tlie pioneers oi* Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir^wer of different articles to each other. Eor if she be blessed with a wilful husband she should know the law of force and how to apply it properly, and knowing the attractive power of different things she may recover articles wdiich seemed lost to her forever. A chemist is next in order. True, a woman does not wish to ana- lyze phosphate or any other similar substance, but instead she may wish to analyze her bread. , * We have heard our mothers and grandmothers say, when baking, that their bread was sour; not light, or assign some other cause for its imperfection ; perhaps, that it has too much yeast. But do tliey give the effect of the yeast ? When their bread is light, that carbonic acid gas is found by fermentation of the yeast, and this penetrates the whole loaf, causing innumerable little holes or pores, that the diges- tive juices of the stomach permeates and renders more easily digested than a solid or doughy piece when fermentation has gone on too long, and rendered almost indissoluble. Physiology is another one of the most important subjects that the housewife should acquaint herself with, for in case of an emergency, when medical aid cannot be summoned immediately, if some little remedy be applied, life can be preserved, while if w^aiting until a physician arrive life is past restoration. We have many instances of this kind recorded. And last, but not least, is woman a teacher. 'Tis here she sways her scepter undisturbed, but hard was the battle fought until this vic- tory was gained. 'Tis here, and through this means ^he to-day rules the world. She need not go to the ballot-box and vote, or go in public places making speeches, for the little talks and speeches made to the little ones under her protection, are far more lasting than those made by any political speaker during a political campaign. 'Tis through her pen; her almost silent talks and her actions, that she is gaining this power, and her brother who is more powerful phy- sically, is seeing her influence, and it will be proven to him more and more everyday until at last he will find her upon the upper round of the ladder of fame. And now, after having proved to you how education is an incentive to labor, 1 will also state in conclusion, that whatever profession one may be called to fill, or whatever work called to do, it should be made a study, for in the words of another '^In all labor there is profit, wdiatsoever end or aim." And allow me one more word for woman. She should be educated that she may converse more readily and with greater pleasure to her- self. Also that she may become more independent, rather than be dependent upon others. One thing 1 think, all America's daughters, if I may say she has any, should aspire to is, independence. For as given in the words of the popular song -'Man's love is like the restless sea," ''ever at ebb and flow." II ■•1 180 Quarterly Keport. p\ II! CAN FARMERS' WIVES FIND TIME TO READ ? By Mrs. R. H. Simington, Mooresburffy Pa. Mrs. Blank's house was a marvel of cleanliness and good order from the lowest shelf in the cellar to the highest peg in the garret. Her closet shelves were bending beneath the weight of jellies, jams, marmalades, and every combination of fruit and sugar that is known to the mind ol' an enterprising woman. Her culinary arrangements were the most elaborate that could be found in any of the modern cook books. She would spend three hours in compounding a cake, her only reward being the comforting conviction that not one of her neighbors could excel it; and her pies were known in two counties. Her children were attired according to the latest and most ap- X>roved mode, and if fashion dictated that there should be seven tucks in the skirts of her little girls' every-day dresses, not a thread less than seven tucks would satisfy her. On a sultry summer afternoon when her less energetic neighbors would be found seeking a cool spot in which to get a little needlul rest, not so the bustling Mrs. Blank, she would go, towel in hand, into the dim precincts of her dining-room, and for a solid hour (if success did not sooner crown her efforts) would she pursue to the death a trio of poor misguided Hies that had unthinkingly ventured within the sacred limits. And so it was through the entire domestic routine, there was time for the most finished detail in every department. All this goes to prove that it was not laziness that prevented Mrs. Blank from having time to read. Nor was it for lack of good reading matter, for there was always a liberal supply of standard weeklies and several first-class monthlies in the house, but these were generally found, — when not in Mv. Blank's hand, — carefully put away on a shelf, for above all things Mrs. Blank did dislike to see books and papers scattered about a room. When matters of everyday interest, concerning which she was blindly ignorant, were discussed in her presence she would sigh dolefully and say, '' Well, 1 have no time to read." Her deficient literary attainments were sometimes a source of mortification, as was the case when their minister, the great Dr. Tliunderer came out from town to visit the Blank family. "On such occasions she depended upon Mr. Blank to support the conversational part of the entertainment, while she devoted her energies to serving the delectable supper. At this particular time Mr. Blank was called unexpectedly away, so the double duty of cook and entertainer de- volved ui)on her. In the quiet lull preceding the coming of the august D. 1)., she sat down, flushed and tired, and vaguely wondered what she should talk about. She knew that he would not inquire as to how much butter and how many eggs were put into the three delicious cakes that had taken the allied forces of herself and hired help a whole half day to prepare, nor would he care to know the exact proportions of fruit and sugar in the jellies and marmalades that graced the table. lu her peri)lexity she picked up a newspaper hoping in some way to be helped out of her dilemma. Almost the first thing that caught her eye was the name of J)r. Tiiunderer, who, by the way, had come to his present charge from a far away western Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 181 town. Here was an item that would surely interest him and furnish a topic for conversation, for it stated that the church iu wliich the ekxpient Dr. Thunderer had formerly preached had been almost totally destroyed by a cyclone, and that but shortly after, the con- gregation had suffered the loss of its most prominent member. The paper bore date of but three days ago, so it would be of fresh interest to the Reverend gentleman. When she spoke of the cyclone and its work she thought he looked slightly surprised, but after a pause he said, ^^ Yes, that happened a little more than a year ago." She knew he must be mistaken, lor hadn't she just seen it in the paper, so she proceeded to the next clause of her news item, referring to the death of the prominent member, this time he rei)lied, '' Ah, ye-e-s he died just a week after the cyclone." Her news a whole year old ! and wdiy did that Idiotic editor put that among Ids news items ? As soon as the minister left she hunted up that offending paper, and found, to her chagrin, that it was dated 1886 instead of 1887, and by some mistake had found a place among the late papers. The moral of this is too plain to need pointing out, fewer compli- cated dainties on the table and hence more time for feeding the mind. Her inward comment was, '' Well, I guess I'll try to read a little more." It was a matter of perpetual wonder to her how her next neighbor, Mrs. Easy go, could read so much, for their families were about the same number, and their means and help equal. Mrs. Easygo's family was bountifully supplied with wholesome and palata- ble food, but siie did not think it necessary that rich pastry and fine cake should be served with every meal. With her there was no slatternly smoothing over of outside of things to save time and trouble of thorough cleaning, and her house looked more like a place in which people could be comfortable and happy, than a temple to the goddess of rigid order and never-ceasing scrubbing. Her children w^ere carefully and comfortablv clothed, and there was but little time spent upon the mere decoration of their clothing. She argued that the time spent in ru filing, tucking and embroidering her children's dresses might be more profitably employed in laying up a store of useful knowledge to assist in their future education. Mrs. Blank was at times quite shocked at the plain attire of the juvenile Easygos, and was lieard to remark to another neighbor, '^ Well, that Maria Jane Easygo does beat all; the day she had all that stylish company from town out to dinner, there were herchildren with dark dresses and colored skirts, when everybody knows they ought to have been dressed in white and she did not even have white milled ai)rons to put on them. That woman will actually sit up and read when she ought to be making nice things for her children. 1 would just be ashamed of myself if anybody would come into my house and catch me reading." All this reading which was such torture to the soul of good Mrs. Blank, was really accomplished in little time. Mrs. Easygo's ])lan was, that wlien a paper or magazine came into the house, her iirst spare moments were spent in glancing over the contents and noting length of different articles, and deciding what was worth reading and what was w^orthless. She skipped all columns headed '' Base ball," '^The Great Yacht race," ^^ The last divorce trial," or the '^ Latest triunif.h of John L. Sullivan," leaving all that to the more highly cul- tured masculine portion of the household. So when she found herself with a half hour's leisure on her hands, i I lit ! ■ ! I ll 182 Quarterly Report. she knew just whore to find what she wanted, and in this way she would do as much inte]li<»:ent reading in a few minutes, as matiy an- other woman would do in hwW a day, who did not know what she wanted to read or where to find it. And think you would Mrs. Easy- go's feet and hands move slower in her round of morning duties be- cause of the fascinating article aw^aiting her earliest leisure ? I would not say to every farmer's wife that she ought not to be satisfied with anything less than a regular Chautau(iua course of study which re- quires forty minutes reading every day, but I would say to everyone, corisciefitionslf/ try to read at least one-half hour each day; and at that rate the case wouhl stand fifteen and one-half hours for work that pertains entirely to the body that will soon ijerish, and one-half hour to nourishing the soul that is immortal. Aiter a year's faithful trial, sum it all up and decide fairly whether you be the gainer or loser, if the latter be the result, then stop read- ing. There is no class of women who need so much to read, from the fact that they live more isolated lives, and they see and hear less of either an instructive or entertaining nature than many of their town sisters. And why should the farmer's wife who probably in her girl- hood gave rare promise for future brightness and usefulness, wdiy should she, more than the minister's, the lawyer's, or the merchant's wife, deteriorate into a mere machine for pertbrming just so much work, year in, year out. And yet that is what will be the inevitable result where a woman's whole soul is absorbed in her ceaseless round of family duties, to the entire exclusion of all mental recreation. Wlien there is such an enticing array of topics especially interesting to women, discussed in many of our leading periodicals, the great wonder is that a thinMnq woman can be kept from reading. What mother, whose daughters are growing up at her side, can be indifferent to the dress reform movement, a matter that is going to tell on both the physical and mental status of the next generation. Or, how can a mother whose handsome, manly sons will soon go beyond her watch- ful care, how can she ignore the prohibition and social purity (pies- tions? And yet I fear but few farmers' wives take time to inquire into these problems. It has been said ''what a woman ivants to do, for that will she find time to do." Honor and praise to the woman who '' looketh well to the w^ays of her household," her husband and children shall rise up and call her blessed, but shame and confusion of face surely await the woman who could and yet will not give her mind the food and culture that would strengthen and beautify it even up to old age. ROADS AND ROADMAKING-. By William Whitson, Fioradale^ Pa. In new settlements the roads are generally very imperfectly made. Where the settlement is sparse, this can hardly be helped. In this part of Pennsylvania, where well cultivated farms adjoin each other, with good improvements, and are occupied with an industrious peo- ple, good outlets, and plenty of them, become a subject worthy of our earnest attention and discussion. I Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 183 It should be the object of all parties interested in laying out new roadways, to make them as direct to the intended points as the nature of the ground and the liills will allow. High and steep bluffs should be avoided. It is often a shorter route to go around a steep hill and much easier travelling than to climb over it. The owners of farms through which the public highway ])asses are often too selfish and narrow minded to view the great public need of the road, and they see only the damage, or supposed damage, to their property, with such feelings, they often unduly inlluence the road juries. When constructing a new road, or re])airing an old one, the rocks, stumps or trees should be removed. They should be dug out, root and branch. Our country roads are from twenty-two to thirty-two feet wide. The latter may answer pretty well, and twenty two feet may do in some exceptional places. Ditches should be made on both sides and the earth thrown in the middle and rounded up. Where the ground is spongy, and piking be- comes necessary, the earth should be moved from the middle of the road to the sides twelve feet wide and twelve inches deep and tilled with stone, w^hen fine. The earth should be shoveled on top and al- wavs thoroughly dragged and rolled. Some of our*^ roads need ditching. During the spring thaw and rains, the water comes to the surface making it impassable for a horse and light carriage. Such roads need underdraining. Ditches should be dug two and a half or three feet deep anwers that tarm work with })ure air and water are so well calculated to produce, 'tis little wonder that when new recruits are needed on anv of earth's battle- fields— where stead v nerve, and resolute will, and well-balanced men- tal powers are needed — the ranks are tilled from the workshop and tlie farm. To us of Adams county, rather let me say to us Pennsylvanians, what a noble heritage has fallen. Fertile valleys and lofty mountains, springs, winding streams, and broad rivers, prosperous towns and pop- ulous cities, homes tor the aged and helpless, the lame, the halt and the blind, public schools, public charities, and noble colleges. In our mountains are garnered the sunlight of ages, they yield light and heat and good cheer for thousands upon thousands of homes. Our brothers and sisters of the west, accustomed as they are to the wide, uninterrupted sweep ot the prairie mai/ feel hampered and bound among the hills and mountains. Not so to us to this heritage born. I look upon the cold gray mountain sides, swept as they now are by wintry blasts, and knee- deep in snow, and my heart gives a great throb of joy. They give me such a sense of safety and protec- tion. The great world outside may do as it will, we hear but faint pulsations trom its heart-throbs. And such lessons as they teach! what an inspiration they are to us ! Upon mountain tops have trans- l)ired some of the most sacred and sul)lime scenes the world has ever witnessed. Think of the Transfiguration and the Sermon on the Mount I the sacred grandeur of the one and the sweet blessedness of the other will last through all lime. And there are constantly occurring opportunities for individual les- sons. One came to me in such an unexpectt d way a few months since. The perplexities of the day had been many; the petty little trials and vexations that come, one never knows where from, and go, one never knows where to, had been especially wearing. Sisters, you understand, for 1 rather think these troublous times come to all of us house-mothers now and then ; — when help is not eilicient and health and strength not quite sutficient for all demands. Well on the afternoon of such a day the little Autocrat of the house ])revailed upon me to leave other duties and go with him through the meadow and over the stream and up the hillside. 1 do not now recall the pretext of the expedition, — Ilowers, or fruit or the like maybe. But when, ti^ed and halt- breath- less from the climb, 1 sank down among the clover-blossoms and turned my eyes on the valley below, the mists dissolved and my vision be- came clear. The f?n'm. wilh its orchards and meadows was before me, and just where I left it was the dear, qunint old house. Yet so altogether changed was everything. 'J'akiiig home as the center of my universe, which in a way ia well enough, 1 had thought all lines angular that were not ])arallel wilh those of mv little world. J^ut Irom (he hilltop my horizon broadened, and ways and by-ways with p f Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 191 which I had all along been familiar, took on a strangely ?m-familiar outline. The road leading through the valley that 1 had traversed until 1 almost knew each stone that might jostle, seemed unreal in its crookedness. The fences which defined the farm lines seemed, quite absurd in their in and outs; and yet it was all really the same. It was as if I had been examining a large picture in small detached parts, and had not been able to jxrasp the idea as a whole. And this was my lesson, it all seemed so clear now. Belbre we can know of the intent of all that is given us daily to do and bear, we must by some process, possibly peculiar to each one of us, get away from and above the little worries and troubles. May not these homely, daily, sometimes wearying tasks, be to our lives what the undertone,^and ap- parently insignificant touches are to the painter's canvass ? We must patiently put them there, but only when, as does the artist, we stand afar, and contemplate as a whole the life-picture we have painted, can we know why lines are sometimes crooked and ways devious. The narrower our daily round the wider, may be, the outreach. Mrs. Whitney beautifully expresses it thus : '' Isolated upon a barren mountain ])eak you may take in river and lake, forest and lield and valley. A hundred harvests and gardens lift their bloom and full- ness to your single eye. There is a sunlight that contracts the vision, there is a starlight that enlarges it to take in iniinite space." And brothers and sisters, whatever it be that keeps the liner faculties of the mind awake, and our interest above mere eating and drinking and money-making and money-saving is simply a divine gift of holy inlluence, keeping a way open for the entrance of deeper, liolier, grander intluences. And while these lessons come to us from hill-top or valley there should be ever present wilh us the abiding faith that with '- Him whose Hocks feed upon a thousand hills" there can be '' neither variableness nor shadow of turning." And still another part of our heritance I would not overlook. The wonderful world of books is largely accessible to us of the country. The remarkable cheapness of valuable literature at this time over- comes, to a good degree the unfavorableness ol our situation in re- gard to inaccessibility to large libraries. Any of us may lind it pos- sible now to make a few additions to our store of books each year, and while we may not dignify this collection by the name of I'ibrary, if well selected we will find much profit and pleasure, too, therein. The blessing and permanence of these gifts we scarcely comprehend. For every mood we can lind a fitting paragraph or rhythm. With our com])Iete mail facilities periodicals reach us within a few hours of the time they leave the publisher's office, and many of them are in themselves well-springs of knowledge. So with these inanilbld hel[)s what possible excuse can there be anywhere for lack of intel- ligence? Maybe some of us would have chosen that our schooldays had extended through a greater number of years. Be that as it may we are where we are, some nearing middle*^ life, and with the helps we may have for the reaching out of a hand, we may yet add much to our store of useful knowledge. Would that we might take this lesson strongly to heart: — Whatever our aims or aspirations, whatever heights we wish to climb, or whatever eminence we hope to reach, there is but one undisputed course leading thereto — patient, continu- ous labor ! How forcibly Holland expresses this idea. '' Heaven " (and surely nothing below it). I I 192 I Quarterly Eeport. '*Is not gained at a single bound. We build the ladde^r by whieii we rise, From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And mount to its summit, round by round. " ' To the brothers who have left their pleasant firesides in this wintry time to give us of their rich storehouses of thought, we would wish to express our ^-ratitude. I call you ^'brothers." for 1 hold that the hand of true christian fellowship reaches from pulpit to farm house from the laborer's cottage to the statesman's chair. ' ^ If in your coming you have made us to feel more fully (and 1 be- lieve you have) the dignity of our calling, and the wide Vange of pos- sibihties It encompasses, your coming cannot have been in vain. You have counselled us, and may we all heed you, to recoirnize and study our friends the earth and the mountains, and heeding,' may we not "Touch the earth like the Titan of old And arise with strengtii renewed and bold, Draw a deep breath of pure mountain air, ' And our liearts shall ex[)and to do and dare. Yes, to do and dare, the highest and best, Till the calmer ocean gives perfect rest." OUR OPPORTUNITIES. By Sabilla E. Gkiest, Floradale, Pa, ''The unreasonableness of human expectations is only equaled by the neglect of human opportunities." The present only is ours, and unwise it would be, in our human finiteness, to ])uild on the hopes of to-morrow to compensate for the neglect of today's opportunities. It was the manna of to-day that led the multitude in tlie wilderness, and when some did not hearken to the prophetic commands of their leader, and deferred the gathering till the morrow, the manna perished. It is not by faith alone, nor on human expectancy that we can reap fruitful returns, but it is to work in the light of the present, as the pointing of duty direct, and show our laith by our works, not to be measured bv man's judgment alone but works that will bear the all-searching light of truth. ' Our opportunities are God-given, and should not be returned void to the giver, but freighted with a full measure of acceptable iruitage- and It we fail to thus return them, then we have failed in carryingout the true i)nrposes of life. In ev^ry age of the world history records the illustrious examples of selt-made men and women who have struggled through privations and adverse circumstances to add little by little to their well-digested treasury of thought. Even in early life every available opportunity was improved in acquiring knowledge from books or from thoughtful observations and study of nature's open volume, and in this school they won the laurels of success and triumphed over the pressure of ignorance and prejudiced surroundings, and without the credentials of a college curriculum they stand among the honored and distinguished 01 the world s heroes. Our being is three-fold, and time and opportunitv are ours for the proper exercise and development of each, and as we are likely to grow m the direction of our expended energies, let us see that they are wisely expended, and that growth stimulated by the kind of food that will advance our best interests. /■ Pennsylvania Board of Agkiculture. 193 With our diversity of gifts— our one, five or ten talents, and our pe- culiar individual circumstances — we cannot all work in the same way, nor all become great in the world's history; yet there is work for all,' and well for him who '' knows his own distaff and has found his own spindle." All have not the gift of unraveling the mysteries of science, or dis- covering and utilizing the hidden forces of nature as an Edi-'on or Newton, or with a poet's pen give eloquence to wood and stream, mountain and glen, but upon time God places no restrictions, and while we live it is as free to all as the air we breathe ; and the seasons in their appointed rounds bring to us fresh opportunities for fresh en- deavors. Thought is the motive power of action, and right thinking of right action, and even when our hands are performing the duties the hours bring to us; the mind, free and unfettered, may be enriching life by culling and sifting the pure and good from all t^hat is impure, and by thus making clean the inside of the platter, the outside will be clean . also. In early childhood, and all along the line of youthful development, the judicious mother will see the opportune time to wisely counsel or gently reprove her children, therel:)y encouraging and ' stimulating healthy thought and action and making impression that time cannol efface. So many little opportunities offer to sow seed which tend to form correct habits and unquestionable characters. It has been said that ^'character is the only wealth in the world, and loss of character the only poverty." In the home education healthy employment of mind and body are ever important. There is work always tor the girls and boys, and the mother, whose example is a pattern of true christian womanhood, and who holds the confidence of her children dear to her heart, fully appreciates the responsibilities of her trust and the im- portance of encouraging the movements to their best interests, never losing sight of their spiritual needs as their latent energies develop into action, teaching them their allegiance to their Maker and their increased accountabilities as they grow in knowledge and in years. Opportunities will offer for her to instil into the minds of her boys in early life the resulting evils of the first glass, or the first cigar, or the incipient effects of chewing and profanity, and those lessons may be the most important chapters in their lives, enabling them step by step to emerge from all that is evil into the strength of a noble man- hood, v\'ith principles that cannot be bought by bribery or bartered for worldly position in the great strife of might and right. Hours of golden opportunities are too often wasted in a kind of thoughtless indifference. No line of action presenting that looks in- viting and in this feeling of apathy, the lament is. ''nothing to do." But the world moves on bringing to us its rich and ripened fruitage ready for the gathering. And who are gatherers? Not those who sit supinely by watching for the morrows to unfold their work, but it is the now of to-day that is ever the acceptable time, and, as of old, it may be asked, '' Why stand ye all the day idle? Go into my vineyard and labor, and even at the eleventh hour if you labor to the honor and glory of God you will receive the promised reward." The monthly gatherings of our farmers' associations are mulually beneficial, socially and intellectually, and by thus coming together in the interests of the home and the farm, liberal opportunities are af- forded to intelligently compare, contrast and discuss each other's 13 QUAR. i w \ 19i Quarterly Report. views, and learn the different methods of operations for the promo- tion of general good. Better this than to become selfishly wrapped up in our own ideas, centering all our kiu)wledge in our own little world around us, forgetting there is a world outside ready to receive wise suggestions for practical ap])lication. How many in the afternoon of life count in the retrospect their lost opportunities, not only what they failed to do, or might have done, but wdiat was wrongly done. Recount hours spent in sensational or un- proiitable reading and in the dissolute gayeties of fashion's fascina- tions, perhaps almost a lifetime sacrificed at the shrine of Mammon. What then ? Can all these wasted opportunities be redeemed through an evolution of pninful regrets and self promises that the days allotted shall be consecrated to Him who weighs in tjie balance of justice, and knows the true condition and sincere desires of the heart '^ '' In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not they hand." And in that beautiful touching prayer, the last prayer of ''H. H.," whose pen is stilled in death, gives in its sad rhythmic measure the self-conscious evidence of neglectful opportunities. *' Father, I scarcely dare to pray, So clear I see, now it is done, That I have wasted lialt my days And left my work but just begun. So clear T see that things I thought Were right or harmless were a sin ; So clear I see that I have sought Unconscious, selfish aims to win. " So clear T see that I have hurt The souls I miglit have helped to save ; That I have slothlul been inert. Deaf to the calls thy leaders gave." FENCES AND FORESTRY. By Wm. H. 15 lack, Foresdale, Pa. When our fathers began to build for themselves new homes in the new world, the whole country from the Ohio to the sea was an un- broken forest, a wild tangle of trees and briars and vines. The men of to-day know only by tradition of the process and labor by which the land was cleared and l)rought under cultivation. The large trees were denuded of the bark in the spring, the undergrowth was cut and burned away, and a crop or two of corn was raised amon^^ the dead giants; then the trees were felled, cut into lengths, and by the united efforts of the settlers, rolled into heaps and burned. The last-named operation, besides being the frolic of the season, afforded business opportunities. In our day and generation, we have no prac- tical knowledge of any of this except of the ^Mog-roUing,'^ and that IS attended to by the men who want to be sheriff or commissioner. But in that day the clearing of a farm was not only a great object in life, but was the labor of a life time. Such was the condition of things in Pennsylvania, when, in 1700 our present fence laws were passed. The destruction of the forests was an object, and the laws, though unjust in princi[)le, were in har- mony with that object. Now, when the preservation of the little remaining woodland has become a perplexing subject to all thought- **M.- \ Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 195 ful men, these ancient laws remain a chief cause of the destruction to the forests. These laws compel a farmer to fence out his neighbor's stock, and if stock is injured by breaking into his field, the fence not being a ^' neighborly " one, the owner of the stock has a legal claim for damage. It has been well said that '4f this law is based on equity, a man who does not secure his house with bolts and bars should be liable to punishment for placing temptation in the way of his neighbor." But whatever question there may be of the propriety of tlie law, there is none whatever as to its origin or its effects. When the law was passed there was not a single cleared farm in what is now Adams county, and forty years later there was not enough cleared land to furnish its inhabitants with bread. This was only J 50 years ago, and already the cry goes forth that in the destruction of the forests we have reached the danger line. A lumber famine there surelv will be in the near future if there is not a more economic use of the material in sight. I think careful estimates will sustain the statement that of the land in wood twenty-five years ago, one-half is now cleared. The increase of population necessitating much building, and the introduction of portable sawmills are probably doing as much to hasten the final destruction of forests as the use of mineral fuel is doing to retard it. ^ The belief seems to be general that the clearing of the woodland is materially and dangerously changing the amount of rainfall. While it is not my purpose to discuss the climatic side of the forestry ques- tion, I will say that, so far as the Atlantic slope is concerned, I do not fully share this fear. But to the regions west of the mountains the climatic question is of much importance. I lived long enough in the prairie States to note the gradual increase of rainfall induced by the growth of hedges, orchards and shelter belts, and am well aware of the importance of wind-breaks. To i)revent the wind from carry- ing off the moisture is the office of forests. The trees themselves take up the moisture and return it to the air more rapidly than it is given off by a cultivated field. The mountains shut off from the prevailing westerly winds. While 1 have no figures to sustain my belief, and may be wrong in my estimate, I think we have still a sufficiency, and frequently an excess of moisture. But be that as it may, if tlie clearing of woodland does not soon cease tliere will be no woodland left to clear. One of the chief causes of the destruction of forests is the ever present necessity of keeping up fences. Let us pause a moment and see what it does amount to, a farm 80x160 rods contains 80 acres. It is divided into six fields, 40x53 rods, or about thirteen acres each. With small enclosures, lanes and road fences equaling lf)0 rods of outside fences, and building one-half the line fences, such a farm will require 640 rods, or two miles of fence. 640 rods of seven rail worm fence requires 9,000 rails, 9.000 rails at 60 to the cord equals 150 cords of wood. 9,000 rails at $5.00 per cord — $450 for material alone. The average ])rice for post fence rails in 36 Pennsyl- vania counties is $7.00 per cord. It will require 1,060 panels to en- close 80 acres as above, which, if five rails high, will cost, at 70 cents, $742, or nearly $10 per acre. If we consider the average life of rails and posts to be 33^ years, the farmer, to say nothing of the original investment, must pay three per cent, at least for repairs on any kind of fence, or at the rate of 30 cents per acre. This is a heavy tax on the farmer and on the forest. When these fences are constructed, they are a constant source of worry. The winds blow them down, II 1 19G Quarterly Report. and stock breaks or puslies them down. They harbor weeds and vermin. They are unsightly to all eyes not accustomed to their ugliness. or course, the most beautiful fence, if the word may be ?ipi)lied to any fence, is the live fence — the hedge. But there are many objec- tioTis to that. It, too, harbors weeds and vermin, and, while the first cost is small, it requires more labor than any other fence. Then, be- cause it cannot be moved, it is only suitable'for lines and road fences. And it is objectionable along roads, as, even when kept down to a proper height, it holds the drifting snow and blockades the roads. It also injures light soils adjacent to it. We cannot do as in China and in parts of Germany and France, where there are no fences. The herder boy, with his dog and pony, is too expensive on small farms, and is unreliable nnyhow. The soiling system may probably some day solve the problem*, but it wins its way slowly. The fence of the future in all probability is the wire fence. But there are two causes working together to prevent its general use. The first is that it is not a legal fence. It can be made a legal fence. The other is popular prejudice. This will not be so easily remedied, and having seen some so-called wire fences in this county, I do not wonder that they are not in favor. The weather being |dry and pasture failing, neighbor H concludes he must fence olf the lower meadow, but as it is a busy season, he will make it of wire and save time and labor. So he sets a few posts, 30 or 50 feet apart, and strings on two or three wires, without any stays, turns in his cattle, and goes on with the plowing. All goes well for a while, but the dry weather soon checks the green posts and some of the staples that were driven ''straight " fall out, the wires sag down, and a favorite colt or heifer gets fast or hurt. It is always the favorite that gets hurt. The neighbors see the damage but not the fence. The correspondent of the local press makes an item of the accident, calls the structure a fence — which it is not — and the people all along the line shake their heads and say: ''wire fences are dangerous things." Such fences are dangerous. I lived for years in a section in which at least 90 per cent, of the fences are of wire, and saw the evolution of the wire fence, from the single unbarbed wire of KS70 to the barbed cable and buckthorn of to-day, and in all that time I can recall but one accident which was not due to carelessness in construction or in keeping in repair, and even that case resulted from lack of judgment. A cow, answering the call of her calf, crossed the corral fences to the barn. Wire fence is not suitable for small enclosures about buildings, nor for division fences between pastures, as cattle may lock horns through the wire and be hurt. Accidents may result,' too, from having wire fences nnder shade trees where horses and cattle spend the heat of the day. But I have not known accidents to occur from either of the latter causes. A well-constructed wire fence has many advantages over any other fence. 1st. It is stock proof to any kind of stock that should be at large or in pasture. 2d. It is easily kept clear of weeds and does not harbor vermin. 3d. It does not cause the blockade of roads by snow-drifts. % \ 'r\ Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 197 4th. It is more durable. 5th. It is less costly. Gth. If a post breaks off it does not pull the fence down. The fence holds the post up, and the post is easily replaced. 7th. It requires but little lumber, and therefore does not do much toward the destruction of forests. At the risk of making this paper too lengthy for either your time or patience, I will give the ])lan and cost of 80 rods of what I regard as a well-constructed wire fence. Eighty rods of fence with posts 41| feet apart, will require two king posts of extra size and length, one large middle post and 30 small posts. The common posts need not be more than half as large as those used for rail fences. Large posts in wire fence are unsightly and are said to be less durable than small ones. The king i)ost should be set at least four feet in the ground, and there should be pins through the lower ends to prevent the posts from l)eing hoisted by the frost or by the contraction of the wire. The king posts and the middle posts should be well braced. The wires should run to the centre of the king posts. If fastened to the side the posts may turn and the fence will slack. There should be a few panels of rail fence where fences join. It may be necessary to go through with the binder or sl'^igh. Four wires are sufficient where there are no sheep. The wire should be of buckthorn or good cable barbed. Single wires are not good, they sag in warm weather and snap in cold. There is enough spring in cable, and I believe in buckthorn, to take up the slack. Stays, about l]xl| inches and Z\ feet long should be stapled to the wire at intervals of four feet. These should not reach the ground, as they would prevent the mower being run under the fence. The stays are indespensable. At least 90 i^er cent of wire fence accidents result from stock forcing through fence not stayed. To prevent horses from running against the fence, plaster lath should be wired below the upper wire, don't use anything heavier. The stays and top lath should be well lined before they are put on. Punch the lath with a shingle punch. To lime, soak a bundle or two in white wash, in a trough, and set up with tongs to dry. Stock will not run against such a fence day or night. Eighty rods of such fence will cost : For 3 large posts, $1 00 For 4 braces, . . 50 For 30 small posts @ 10 cents, 3 00 For 3C0 stays («f] 1 cent, 3 00 For 330 4 ft. plaster lath (^' 30 cents per hundred, 1 00 5280 ft. or 440 pounds of buckthorn @ 5^ cents per pound, . . 24 20 Staples, tie wire, lime, etc., 3 30 Labor, two men two days, 4 00 Total, . .• $40 00 Or an average of 50 cents per rod. The average cost of four rail fence in 30 counties, 03 cents per panel of 10^ feet, or just 90 cents per rod. Four rail post fence costs about twice as much per rod, as four- wire fence as described. I have seen it estimated that wire will last from 00 to 90 years, but it will take 70 or 80 years to prove that. But the posts in a wire fence not being mortised, and not being strained by the wind or carrying much 198 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 199 weitrht, will not rot off or break off so soon as the posts will in a post and rail fence. It seems clear to my mind that the general use of wire for fence will not only give more reliable and cheaper fence, but will do much toward the preservation of the forests. Hopiug that 1 have made some practical suggestions in this dis- cussion of the relation of fencing to forestry, and thanking you for your attention, I have done. THE GEOLOGY OF ADAMS COUNTY AS IT RELATES TO AGRI- CULTURE. By Prof. E. S. Bridknbaugh, Gettysburg, Pa, The time at my disposal being brief, I can consider only the prin- cipal facts in reference to the geological history and the resulting char- acter of the soils of the county. The geology of the southern tier of the counties of Pennsylvania has for many years been considered very interesting and important. This is especially true of our own county of Adams. Our limits contain representative formations of the earliest geological time in immediate contact with formations of much more recent origin. Whether the time since the earth first began to have dry land be long or short, the first appearance of permanent rock formation marks the beginning of geological time. The chronology of geology is not measured by years, but by eras, ages and periods. The order in time is known by the relative age of the rock. as is shown b}^ their order of superimposition. The separation into different divisions is due to dif- ferences in kind of rock, manner of superimposition and to the kinds of life remains found in the rocks. Correct information on these points is only obtained after careful study of the rocks of the various portions of many countries. The first great division of geological time is the Archaean (the be- ginning) era. This is also known as the Eozoic (early life) or Azoic (lifeless) era. More recent investigation has shown the evidences of the existence of life during the laying down of these rocks, hence the name Azoic is a misnomer. It is, however, still used; not, however, in the earlier sense, as, for example, in the reports of the second geo- logical survey of our State. The chief locality in North America oc- cupied by the rocks of this era is the region running north from the great lakes. Isolated outcroppings occur elsewhere, and it is of these earliest known series of rocks that our South Mountain ridge is com- posed. Along the lower i)ortion of the mountain, running the whole length, occurs a quart zite tbrmation varying in width from a few^ feet to one or two miles and over. This quartzite is made up of Hint (quartz) materials, sometimes of i)ure white compact quartz, sometimes of fiint particles aggregated in a sort of conglomerate, in other places we find it appearing as a jasper rock. This lormation is most probably of the earliest portion of the era (Pala^zoic) ini mediately ibllowing the Arch.ean. The towns of Idaville, Bendersville, Arendtsville and Cash- town are just off from the ])orders of these rock, and Fairfield is about a mile and a half distant. Pine Tlill is also of the Arclut^an and this quartzite. i > Following in immediate order of time was a limestone formation, which very probably covered this whole region but was subsequently nearly all removed by the wearing action of running water, leaving only the limestone formation found mainly in Conowago and adjacent tovvnships. While we are not envious of our neighboring county of York, we regret they have not left us more of the limestone belt of that and Lancaster counties. While this limestone was l)eing tbrmed the region was under the ocean, ibr limestone has in the main l)een formed from the coral secreted by the multitudes of industrious coral polyps. Evidence of this same occupation of this area by the sea is found in the character of the rock in the hills off from the w^est from Ileidlersburg. Between this limestone and the next formation found in our county — the red shale — there occur in othe.' localities a long series of rock formation. Nearly the whole of the formation of New York State, running from north southward, and the great coal measures of this State were laid down in this interval. Wliat was occurring during this interval in this region we cannot say with certainty. But we do know that at the close of the period of coal formation there began a great uplifting of a portion of the eastern part of our continent, giving rise to our Appalachian Mountain system. In this uplifting occurred the raising of the level of Archaean rocks with whatever formations overlaid them into the ridge we know as the South Mountain. In comiection with this uplifting and afterward the overlaying rock were removed by the wearing action of water, exposing the present surface rock, and then was washed out by this same agent a great trough, run- ring from the coast across New Jersey, entering Pennsylvania above Philadelphia, and thence through portions of Bucks, Montgomery, Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, Dauphin, York and Adams counties, enters Maryland and on much further south. Subsequently this great trough, parallel to this eastern ridge of the Appalachian system was filled in by a clayey material which was known as the mesozoic red shale. It is also called the new red sandstone to distinguish it from an earlier formation of a similar nature, which was studied by the great Scotch- man, Hugh Miller, under the name of the old red sandstone. This strip varies in width from two or three to eight or ten miles. At this same time were laid down the sandstone formations of the Connecticut Valley, the coal fields of Piedmont and Richmond in Virginia, and of the Dan river and elsewhere in North Carolina. In other portions of the countrv are rocks of the some geological period which we do not have time to mention. Again we are by the accident of our situation not enriched by the sandstone of the Connecticut Valley or the coal of the more southern localities, but must gather our strength from cultivating mother earth, and this may be regarded a blessing. There are many interesting questions in reference to this red shale. Whence came the material? What is its thickness? &c. Running water evaded older rocks and carried into the trough those materials which have since been more or less compacted. The direction of the compactini:^ force runs quite uniform, as is shown by the direction of the dip, which 20°— 40° W. by N., and at an angle of about 20° with the horizon. The thickness of the formation is unknown. Various attempts have been made to estimate it, some supposing 150 feet to represent the greatest thickness, others making it much greater. The shale of this section varies in color from a pale olive to a purple, but red is the prevailing color. The formation of the mesozoic as found 5!; i 200 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 201 in this section are almost entirely destitute of fossil remains. I Iiave had a few specimens, principally fern markings, found in the shale. The sandstone of the Connecticut show foot print and other evidence of bird and rey)tilian life, while in other beds various fossils of rep- tilian life have been found. After the deposition of the red shale there occurred some great movement in the crust of the earth, leading to the cracking open (fracturing) of the ui)per formations, specially of the shale, and the forcing uj) through these crevices of a semi-lluid — plastic — hot rock material, which is known as our trap or granite rock. That it was hot and plastic is shown by the manner in which the granite material is arranged in reference to the constituents of the rock and in the char- acter of the masses of the rock. That it was thrust up through crev- ices in earlier rock is shown by the manner in which these adjacent rock have been bent u]) by the granite and at the same time have been compacted by the higher temperature of the trap material. These facts are clearly exhibited in the railroad cut through Seminary ridge. A large portion of the area of this county shows the appearance of the trap rock or its effects in making well-defined ridges, for in many instances the trap material did not reach the surface, nor has it since been exposed by the washing away of the covering rock, but it has caused the hardening and compacting of the overlying rock. Exam- ples of these results are seen in the ridges west of Gettysburg for five or six miles. The trap ridges for the most part run in a north by easterly direction; other ridges, however, intersect these certain places at right angles. The trap rock are not peculiar to this region. At this same geolog- ical time were formed the trap dykes of the Connecticut Valley (Mt. Tom and Mt. Holyoke), the Palisades of the Hudson and elsewhere. If we have lost our limestone beds we have not had them replaced by the igneous Ibrmations ol Colorado and other portions of the western part of the continent. In those districts the igneous material did not simply fill up crev- ices in the rock but poured in great streams from monstrous volca- noes and spread solidly over many thousands of square miles to the depth often of thousands of feet. These western regions of igneous formations are immensely interesting by reason of their great natural sections where water has slowly waslied away the hard material form- ing narrow gorges two and more thousands of feet deep. From what has been said it appears that we have on the South Mountains rock formation of the earliest period of geological time, overlying the lower portions of the mountain are rock of the succeed- ing period, in the south-eastern portion of the county is a limestone formaticn of small area, which belongs to a later period followed by an absence of the formations of many succeeding periods till we come to the mesozoic shale through which was afterward thrust the igne- ous rock. T have not dwelt on the small patches of chlorite and mica schists found in the south-eastern portion of the county lying next the lime- i stone area and ])robably in part of an early period. Neither has there been time to refer to many interesting points in reference to isolated patches of sandstone, slate, iron, copper and limestone in this district. As all soil comes from previously existing rock it follows that we have in our county in the main four kinds of soil — shading into each » I i n other along the lines of juncture of the rocks. In the western and north western portions of the county on the mountnin soils— where valleys have received the washings of water from the primitive rock. In small sections we have limestone soil. In many patches we have the water- worn soil from the granite rock. Over a large area we have the soil from the disintegration of the underlying shale. Ver/ many circumstances must combine to make a productive soil. First of importance is the character of the jiian who directs and does the work on the farm. This is fully demonstrated by remembering that we have not naturally in our county, as a whole, a rich soil, and that as was stated in the address of welcome our county stands among the first in the Commonwealth for agricultural productiveness. It is possible to make but a brief statement of the manner in which the nature of the rocks affect the character of the soil formed from their disintegration. In cliemical constitution the granite and mountain soils are richer, than the others, in potash and phosphorus compounds. The lime- stone material facilitates the rendering available of various kinds of . plant foods. The red shale, rich in iron, may fix as unavailable the phosphorus— but it tends to render available nitrogenous matter. A proper mechanical condition of the soil is a matter of prime im- portance to the agriculturist. A friable, porous soil gives the roots a fair chance and, much more, enables the moisture and gases (nitroge- nous) to be condensed on the very large amount of surface due to this poracity, and also allows of a free circulation of the air through the soil. Granite and mountain soil possesses this mechanical advantage to a high degree; limestone comes next and shale soil is the least porous. Moreover the former mentioned soils have a looser textured subsoil which is a great advantage. In the relation of soils to water, the shale material being decided clayey, is less penetrable, becomes tough and hard in the process of drying and then is elfected adversely during excessive rains and drouths. Every farmer knows by ])roper tillage and under-drainage he can in a large measure correct these natural defects of the soil. The red shale soil becomes more highly heated than the other soils, when under the same conditions. This ifor some crops (2.9 corn) is an advantage. There are mainly other i)oints of interest in this connection. I have only touched on those of the greatest importance. FARMING IN GENERAL. By Israel Hollowell, Ilantinpdon Valley^ Penna. The great secret of success in farming is forethought and energy. You must think and work. 8ome people think and do not work; some work and do not think. Vou must do both. You should never be in a hurry. Exercise no waste motion. Simply do the work and do it well, and just at the right time. In regard to crops; we grow crops ; we cultivate them ; we harvest them ; but there are portions of the field from which the crop has been harvested that did not yield one-third as much as other parts, probably I 202 Quarterly Eoeprt. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 203 not one-half as much. Here is a loss and from some cause ; it maybe somewhat clayey, stony, or the frroiind had less care than the rest, there is a reason for it and no doubt a remedy. If clayey pulverize it well with some farm implement and feed and nurse it with extra care until it is nearer on a basis with the rest that raises its full share. If stony remove the stones, only a little exertion re(iuired, and have your field showing; a full crop in all parts ; strive to show an evenness in all parts of the field. This is one of the particular features in English agriculture; evenness of the crops. The unevenness of our crops is why our agriculture makes such poor showing in statistical tables. Fiity years ago English farming was considered aliead of ours ; but to-day we are in the lead, they have fallen behind, let us keep in the lead. "^ We are certainly farming better. We have better imple- ments and machines, better horses, and better men and boys to drive them. Some one says this is not so. I am of a different opinion, for the reason is evident. We have better schools as compared with former times. The boys now are sent to school and have a better chance for a good education. A boy that runs a reaper and binder, if he does not have too many chore's to do night and mornir g, will be brighter and more active than he who binds after a cradle and waits on his highness. I hail with pleasure every invention that lessens hard work on a farm, especially for the boys, the girls and the women. In many parts men and boys are made to walk while driving a team. I like to see a boy ride and drive. I want to see him ruh^ not only on the reaper and mower, but on the roller, the plow, the cultivator, and especially the harrow. It is no harder for the horses to draw a 120 pound boy than 120 pounds of useless timber and iron. If his weight presses the harrow too deep in the ground, put on three horses. If you wish to pulverize the ground extra deep you must use extra power as a case of necessity. The age that has given us the sewing machine, the tele- graph, the telephone, the reaper and binder, and trains that can run from Chicago to New York in less than a day, and steamers that cross the Atlantic in six days ten hours ten minutes, and horses that can trot their mile in two minutes nine and three-fourth seconds, can certainly give us a harrow on which a boy can ride over the clods. I think, friends, we are farming better than our forefathers, though there is abundant room for improvement. Everybody says farming is a poor business. Even city people now say say so. It is quite a com- mon remark. It has always been said that profits were quite moder- ate with farmers at the best of times, and notunfrequently was it hard to make both ends meet; and even then when you meet a friend in the city he would talk about ''you rich farmers." It is not so now. People with any senses know that farmers are not doing well. The fact has been brought home to them. All classes feel the hard times, and the more they study the subject, the clearer it appears that when we farmers have little to sell, or when prices are below the cost of production, we cannot buy, or if we buy, we cannot pay. What then? Shall we stop farming?- We cannot if we would and if we are wise we would not if we could. Our true plan unquestionably is to farm just as well as we know how. Farmers as a general thing are poor bookkeepers. Their accounts appear to be of the most primitive kind, or none at all. So careless are they often about making a straight-forward and clear record of business transactions that one might infer their feeling amounted to z*^ { almost a repugnance of such a task. This snows a lack of method, as well as business training and habit. The want of method explains the lack of success of manv farmers, for without method no business in the world can be successful. When the farmer sells his wheat to the miller, in eight cases out often he has but a very indefinite idea of what it cost him a bushel to grow it. But the miller must know what it cost him, and that clear through all the processes until it is X^acked into barrels and sold. Why is this? Is it more necessary for the miller to reason and calculate to be successful than the farmer? Not at all. Only it shows the miller tlie better business man, and manages his alfairs in a more business-like way. When the farmer settles with the doctor or the lawyer for their services he pays them wdiat they ask. When he works he takes what he can get. When he goes to town to buy he asks, what will you take ? When he goes there to sell he says, what will you give ? Somebody else always sets the price both ways. And this will always be the case unless farmers will Ibrm a system of prices and league together, and become more busi- ness-like in their methods. Let all farmers begin now to maintain a close system of accounts elaborate enough at least to give a clear and correct statement of all transactions during the coming year, for rest assured that good book- keeping and good management go hand*-in-hand. Years go and years come, and the farmer's work is never done. The past has its lessons, the present its duties, the future its promise. We have harvested the hopes of a year ago and thankful for the plenty with which we are surrounded, we plan for another seed time and harvest, hoping to avoid errors, to increase thrift and to have a better balance sheet for 1888 than we did for 1887. A word or two, friends, in regard to help on the farm. In these days when so much attention is given to civil service reform in our govern- mental offices I think it might be well enough to inquire whether the rules adopted in these are applicable at least to some extent in the en- gagement of emi)loyes in agricultural pursuits. Farmers would realize a great benefit and blessing, certainly, if they could secure trustworthy, sober, civil and industrious assistants. Could not some i)lan be adopted to assure employers in regard to their industrious and steady habits, competency and moral deport- ment of those they engage for the season or longer period, many would be saved much of the vexation and disappointment occasioned by the necessitated employment of men who prove idle, wasteful, intem- perate or otherwise incapable. This is not a local question but one of national j importanca. In many sections there is abundant occasion for the inauguration of a svstem which will enable the farmer to obtain better help wiUiout the trouble and expense to which they are fre- quentl}" subjected. How this can best be brought about is a question worthy the well considered action of all the employing and laboring classes, for both would be benefited by a thorough reform. While farmers would escape the hindrances and losses which result from the indolence and carelessness of those they sometimes employ, either unwittingly or from necessity, really capable farm hands known to be industrious would have little or no troublein findingsteady employment and good w^ages. No progressive farmer of reputable standing will knowingly or willingly emjdoy a man of idle and dissolute habits, one who is not only neglectful and careless in the discharge of his duties, but whose 204 Quarterly Report. example in t he use of profane language and disgraceful deportment must prove injurious to his associates and especially demoralizin<>* to young people. Farmers whose families include clnhlren and youth cannot be too careful in the selection of those they employ, both male and female, as their iniluence for good or evil is very likely to prove both powerful and ])ermanent. I cannot conceive any nobler puri)ose, any noljler achievement, any nob er (pmlity in man, than proudly pursuing Ihe high calling of ' J iller ol the ^>oil." i^o we not receive from the soil that which gives us power, that whicli gives us ability to rise higher and higher in this sphere ot hie; but that high pinnacle is not reached unless we have a hard struggle; so at this present time of strikes and demands of higher wages we must struggle hard to overcome these ditliculties'^ Why should we not struggled It was never intended for us to share a smooth road to travel. The difficulties are blessings to us, blessin-s m disguise, they teach us to be tliankful for the good gifts whidi ' ^>^i^ Father " has showered upon us. I have s lid that times are hard lor the farmers, if they are hard, and farmers work hard and receive small pay, I say persevere ; the day was never so dark but there might liave been a darker one, and if the profits are scant now, there IS a time coming we liope when the farmers will be benefited If we cannot get along in the path our father's beat for us when farmino- was not looked upon as so drudging a work, let us find new methods'" try something different, but be sure and not make too large a dash' felow but sure fills the purse." Competition in the different branches makes small profits a case of necessity; the railroads have brought this competition about, but what would we do without them. This age is improving too fast to have less miles of railroads than there are. The iron horse of to-day instead of the pack mule as of old is used in bringing the produce of distant farmers to our markets, reducing the cost of transportation and making the selling price such that farmers near the city can hardly compete with our distant brothers. Their expenses for production are not as great as is the case with farmers in this section, hence, as a matter of course, they can undersell us. AV^e as farmers in this com- munity should sell to the consumer in every instance, thereby savino- needless commissions, whicli would be a clear profit. Plant no crop unless under favorable circumstances you can realize some small profit Lite IS too short and too valuable to be on the double hill road Ihe reason to-day why so many detest farming and say there is nothing but hard work for farmers and farmers" wiVes, is because they work rom morning till night, day in and day out, without using the east bit of head work. The question, too much work for women on tlie tarm ( If properly managed I see no more work for the farmer's wite than the next door neighbor's wife, where probably the husb.uid is in business in the city. i- j Farmers be easy on your wives, they are the weaker of the two • build tenement houses for your hired men, leave their own wives wait on them cook for them and they won't have time to be walking the roads while your wife is working hard over the hot stove cooking a meal for them and rocking a cradle at the same time, but instead will be through her work ready to take an afternoon drive and call on a neighbor and spend two or three hours in a pleasant chat. One of the hopeful signs of the times is the increasing activity and sociability among farmers and farmers' families. The gran^re the Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 205 i farmers' alliance, farmers' clubs are all doing a good work. It is almost impossible to realize what changes are taking place in the social habits, thoughts and feeling of farmers. It is not many years ago since we only received our mail twice a week by the stage. Now we have two mails a day. Railroads run everywhere ; telegraph wires circle the earth, and I am delighted to see a decided increase in the number of telephones between farm houses and cities and villages. And then look at our newspapers, periodicals and books. AVhat a blessed thing it is that the days are short and night comes so early when we can gather around the cheerful tire with a duplex burner on the center table and spend a charming evening. The isolation and stagnation of farm life, if it exists at all, is no longer necessary. I believe in grand independence and no occupation below a gentle- man of retired means possesses more of it than the farmer. This oc- cupation, that of agriculture, is the best calculated to induce love of country and rivet it firmly on the heart. No profession is more honorable, none as conducive to health, peace and happiness. More independent than any other calling, having your freedom at your own desire. The farmer stands upon a lofty eminence and looks upon the bustle of the cities, the intricacies of mechanism, the din of commerce with feelings of personal freedom peculiar to his own. ^ Our own immortal Washington was ever more enamored of the sickle than the sword and unhesitatingly pronounced agriculture the most healthful, the most useful and the noblest employment of man. Ever remember, writes Goldthwait, that for health and substantial wealth, for rare opportunities, for self-improvement, for long life and real independence farming is the best business in the world. History tells of one who was called from the plow to the palace, from the farm to the forum, and when he had silenced the angry tu- mults of a State, resumed again the (^uiet duties of a husbandman; of whose resting place did Halleck write these beautiful lines : Such gravos as his are pilgrim slirines, Slirines to no code or creed contined, The Deli)hrtin Vales, the Palestines, The Mcccas of the mind. HOME INFLUENCE. By Elizabeth S. Parry, Warmiiister, Bucks county^ Pa. " Re it ever so hnmble, there's no place like Home.'' Howard Payne, when he wrote these words, little thouglit they would be caught up and repeated the world over, and live long after the singer had passed to his heavenly home. Was it not because they ai)peal(Ml to the best feelings of man, his purest passions, the one chord ill human nature which always beats responsive when touched ? Many a wanderer on the rugged path of life has sighed to return and begin again when he has heard this song of his childhood. Longfellow says : *' Each inaTi's chimney is his golden milestone, Ts the ('(Mitral point from which he measures every distance Through the gateways of the world arounci him." The home is truly the sun and center of all evil or excellence, the axle around which the world revolves. When a new home is estab- lished, foilnded upon the principles, not only of affection, but of in- ■\ 206 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 207 telligent choice, a desire is felt for the happiness one of another, and if this is kept paramount, there is no reason to fear for future results. The duties of life will be met cheerfully, the joys of life be received thankfully, the sorrows shared and Ii<2;htened. But if there has been no thought as to whether an equal partnership had been entered upon, and one party does the w^anting and the other the giving; one the complaining the other the soothing; one the resting, the other the working, that firm will end as disasterously as did the one in which the complainer says : " When we went into business, I had the money and my partner the experience. Now he has the money and I the ex- perience." It is an old maxim that when '• poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window." I would alter this by saying, when vanity comes in and is accepted as one of the family, hai)piness packs its trunk and departs. While pride, a proper amount of it, is a good thing with which to claim relationship; vanity, though, perhaps, a first cousin to it, should be regarded as the black sheep of the family. Though there is no need to appear w^orse than we are, our pretensions and glitter don't deceive. We are estimated, as a general tiling, at about what we are worth, though not always at as high a rate as we have put upon ourselves. This pinching at home that you may shine abroad, these elegant parlors and uninviting kitchens, from which that cheap- est of all luxuries, the beautiful sunlight, is often almost excluded, this giving of alms that they may be seen of men, and not having charity for the shortcomings of those nearest you, this curtailing of substantial, palatable food, that your tables may groan under the good things spread before visitors when they arrive; all these may gratify the vanity, but they are in the end poor economy, for without good food healthy bodies cannot be sustained. Without healthy bodies the best powers of mind and soul are not developed, one link so connecting another in an endless chain till the great circle is formed. It has been said, " Show me the songs of a Nation and I will read its history." For songs I would substitute " Homes," and the reading both backward and forward would not be dilTicuU. Do not the wig- w^ams of the Indian and the white tent of the Arab proclaim them a wandering tribe ? The bamboo, or mud hovels, of the African, the ice slab, skin thatched hut of the P]squimaux speak of the extremes of heat and cold with their climatic inlluences. As soon as man advanced up the social ladder, his first care w^as to procure better things for him- self and family, until, perhaps, the height of luxurious living was found in the account w^e have of the Sybarites, who could not rest comfortably because a rose leaf w^as crumpled in the bed on which they reclined. It is not hard to foretell the fate of a Nation that re- quired such luxuries as here typified. There is another Nation, and they call us young, the pioneers of which, deeing from the foes of their own household, from the christian savages of their native land, made for themselves homes among savages of another race. Religious liberty was the underlying principle that influenced their actions, and upon^this coral reef may now be seen the outgrowth of their life-w^ork — free conscience, free schools, free press, a free country ; though this is not the opinion regarding it as expressed by one foreigner: '^Call this a free country," said she; ''why, you can't get a piece of land as big as your hand without you pay for U." Not glory by conquest, nor fame by discovery, was the desire of these early settlers, but to find a refuge from persecution— a home; and this A s- unit has increased until we have the grand aggregate of six million lionies, allowing ten persons to a family. Think of the efiect that must be produced through the medium of these sources, either of good or evil. Let us hope for more enlightenment as regards our duties, not only as heads of families, but as members of this great Common- wealth. There is so much mention of the tall chimneys of a great city, of the factories in which the cloth is made that sui)i)lies the outer cover- ing, and so little account is given of the houses in which the warp and woof of the lives of its men and women are woven. When parents have become so burdened, either by complications in the domestic machinery, or in the getting of the wherewith to keep it oiled and run- ning, that they have not time to become acciuainted with the wants and habits of their children, or with one another, depend upon it some- thing is wrong. More wheels are being kept in motion than the life work re(juires, whether they are the busy farmer and his busy wife or those men and women who have their so-called missions in life. If a halt is not soon made, there will be a great wreck somewdiere along the line. That man or woman is to be pitied who does not flourish in the home atmosphere, who deeds the excitement of strange faces, the friction of minds outside the family circle to make them glow and sparkle wdth the epigram of wdt, or the genial flow of humor. Not because intelli- gent sympathy was not there, but because it was the only place they had not looked to find it. Like the fable we have of the traveler who searched the world over for a precious jewel and returned to see it shining under his own doorstep. The story is perhaps old to you, of the Senator who, when he mar- ried, was unlearned and poor, as was also the woman of his choice. You see in this instance the partnership was eqrnxl They were equal also in their ambition, he for an education, she that he might acquire it. Through her ellorts the family wants were supplied, and he w^as left untrammeled in his pursuit. After a time he represented his State in the halls of Congress. Honor and wealth were the rew^ards of their diligence. Of course, in the eyes of an unthinking world, she was now no companion for this man of culture, and some ventured to assert that he needed a woman of liner dress and address to grace his home. But the man w\as so much a man, for it is only the coarser portion of humanity that vaunts itself with its own excellence, forget- ting in its pride the steps on which it mounted, her unselfish, loving influence had been such that her homeliness was to him more comely than the fairest of Eve's daughters. The rough hands were beautiful. The many kindly actions they had done hid all their deformity, and the incense of his love was ollered upon the domestic altar. Our sympathies are with those whose homes are like last year's nests, and although, literally speaking, the parent birds also fly to the sunny South, so often we see the father and mother left when tlie winter of life comes on dependent upon the chilling and unpleasant service that money can buy. The hands that ])ecame bent with such willing ministry now hang'^idly dow^n. There is no need to use them. The eye that w^as so bright has lost its lustre, for the faces that beamed upon and made it so by their reflected radiance, are so far away the dimmed sight cannot follow. The ear that caught the first sound of coming footsteps, the boyish whistle or the girlish laughter, no longer hears them, for they are not. Manhood, with its cares, has hushed 208 Quarterly Report. fr mi^l.t enter slowly M-alk. wS u e , ,t tlir/o Iutv' """"''' ^''""^ leathers! mother.! let us all embrace t he uresen ^ Oh,-]^ r, ouise ves, icrow old so me an,?heart so en'^^^^^^^ V ? ^^-^a/'/oniorrow finds us with sedate men andwomen Si mo t? falerf T"^ ^''^ '''i ^'''^ master. Thou-l, he -illr.w, th^^ ? ' ^^?'® ^^ '^ ''''^'"d t^'sk- and iVolic. soon too soo^ w fT ^ • " ^'""'-"T''"' '"^ ^^^"^ ^^''''"'e I'or fun a.Kl the,, Hre7ou:wi?r.^;^'pS,/ ; 2^^ l^'S^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^'■^' i^ducate your children with Dractical trnth« !v >t existence, experience. Let them lear to se „o H,i J; ^ ^* ^'T '''"'": "^^^^ portance, but the stout hickorv of ll'l ^ the ^Mllowy reed ot self-im- your homes inere w , 1 iho?.? ff 1'; 'ependence. Do not make of Where they are s,fr'o,no\l.. * 1"" '^'' '■^''^'"' P^^^^^s, havens the Morld? wifer:' tl^dr if bT ^zfne^eT'bfowl'l' "" T'''' «*" pleasautplaces, tromlhetluesholdofwM J i ™™ ^'^^ ^'*^^' cultured, God-learinffn.ennnt,i ,' ^^'^'^ '^^"^ pure, healthy, pictures p,d,ZdX"LSh of Zr"' ^^11"- '^'^^'^ ^hem brjo-ht llie everAvi(lenino drcle of t le^r uZ'^F' '^^ ^''•''*' ^^" ^««^ <'"-«"^'i began with thefj'birth nnd wM I , those waves of inlluence whiSh Jost on the f;,SLS^^^^^^^^ ^'''^" follow them until both are l.om?:irrsel.t"atTh"w\nIwV"' '^f^'l ^™^^^' '"- "-- ^-e lumed that dot ;^atch for tZm ^ b^^^^'^ ''\ ^'^""^^ ^he face il- cross the wide expanse of wl er 'f S S ""^ welcome. 'Tho' they of health and plS re -tL' thV i^L r '"u""^'"'"' '^'"^^ i» ^e^'-ch Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 209 FARMER'S AND THEIR TEACHERS. By n. p. FoKNEv, Hanover, Pa. some'oj'rlthiJs an'^t^d" r'"'^' ^" "" ^'"'« '^^^'^^'^ -"icism of The Presumpt':; si^ms to'prev5r'"rorev"^'' ^ "'T ^" '■^™''-- above all other workmen nllV- } f"^ everywhere, that farmers, all other tradesmen ail be afelvlS^^^^^^^^^^ '^''''' ''•^""/- Whilst tive callin«-8 (he firmer if !r • '","*^ ^^ prosecute their respec- He must-have a stecTaTde^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^"^ P-hed alJng. a wellsalaried coUTi ioner 1 i eon s^f H^'f '"' ^'""'''^-"^ "^«^ ^^ all (hrou-h theStates there Io« t ^ ^ ^^V^^ ^"'^ assistants and r^oney in the bsSL ment of a/rLd hJ:^ "^. P"'^''*^ farms. 'i( 210 n Quarterly Report. on that track; if you forsake them and strike out when there is no mark you may loose yourself. The conservatism of our iarmers is their salvation. Every business naturally crystallizes nround a cer- tain routine in which is locken up ages of experience. The rotation of corps and other farm practices of a given neighborhood, are the concentrated experience of all past generations, and there are a hun- dred successes which come by adhering to them to one failure. The failures come usually from departing from them. A common wood axe is the product of hundreds of years, experience in wood chopping and he is the most successful wood cutter who has learned to use it most skilH'ully and not he who is constantly experimenting. Emer- son says : '' help comes in the custom of the country. The rule is not to dictate nor to insist in carrying out each of your schemes by ignor- ant wiltulness, but to learn practically the secret spoken from all nature, that things themselves refuse to be mismanaged and will show to the watchful their own law." Higher farming is another of the hobbies of the journals. Every- where the presumption is held that if it costs so much per bushel to raise an average crop of grain it will cost a certain amount less per bushel to raise a slill larger crop. The mechanical law of manutac- turing is supposed to hold. A cow, for instance, they tell us is a ma- chine for converting food into butter, the better youVeed the greater the profit, &c. All this is false. The law of mechanics is reversed. If you feed your cow so as to make seven pounds of butter per week, if that may be her natural capacity, she may do it at a prolit, if you force her to fourteen pounds per week your butter will cost you more than it is worth and you lose. If you employ a man to feed a nail machine for you, for example, the more he feeds the more pounds of nails will he make and the less is the cost per pound. When, how- ever, he feeds your cow, the more pounds of feed he puts into her, beyond her natural capacity for digestion, the less is the return per pound and the greater the cost, and you very soon reach a point where the cost exceeds the return. As with the cow, so with the soil. When you force the extra bushels irom it, it must be done at an increased cost per bushel, and the point is soon reached when the cost and selling price are equal and there is no profit. Hence economic waiters have laid down the general proposition '^That every increase in agricultural production is always accompnnied by a more than proportionate increase in the cost there- of." ^^ This general law of agricultural industry," Stuart Mill con- siders, " the most important proposition in political economy," and he thinks it will be some time yet before it '' can become advantageous to apply the high farming of Europe to any American lands except perhaps in the immediate vicinity of large towns. Thus it comes about that the common sense farmer of the east after he has brought the natural productiveness of his farm to a profitable stage of development, naturally hankers after his neigh- bors farm if it can be had, and the western ])i()no(^r will strike out for more land and better machinery instead of ^^ intensive farming " '• Higher farming" can only come with higher ])rices and the judirious saving of lal)()r, where it works to no profit, becomes the prime ques- tion for the farmer. The great facts of time, soil, season and circum- stances, are usually left almost entirely out of consideration in the journalistic teaching of the day, and yet these are the most powerful factors in the solution of our problems, and so great is their variation m f rmi Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 211 that the reduction of the whole matter to anything like scientific laws becomes an utter impossibility. Some things we know beforehand; a great many more we don't know and never will ; and yet *' scientilic farmifig"is a term much used now-a-days, as though the secrets of success were somewhere wrapt up in known and established laws. But so soon as the effort is made to apply the laws, '' tyrannical circumstances " everywhere op- pose its rigid enl'orcement, and the baffled scientist is beaten in liis eilbrt. The man who simply knows how it ought to be done is not half educated by the side of the one who knows how to do it. Let me illustrate by a single fact. Nowhere in the United States do we find such successful i'arming as in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the counties of York, Lancaster, &c., yet nowhere do w^e tind so little of what generally goes by the name of intelligence. Not one in ten, hardly one in twenty of the York county farmers ever take any agri- cultural paper, or indeed any other than the local paper. They never read any book, scientific or otherwise ; are possessed of little general information on any subject, and yet they do the best farming in the United States, simply because they stick to what they have learned by experience and only that. They do '*job work" which is said to ruin nations as well as individuals. Again, during the past fall, at our agricultural fairs we harvested the usual crop of addresses, etc., usually delivered by ••' distinguished strangers from abroad," many of them politicians with ^'axes to grind." These addresses a farmer would usually characterize as long in the straw, light in the head. Some of them were unusually em- phatic in advising farmers to keep out of politics. Beware of such teachers. They want public offices, and to hold public office now simply means to be supported in a state of semi-idleness. To get more from the State than the services are w^orth to the State, the burden of all of which rests ultimately on the farmer. The larger and more indolent this class of idlers becomes, the harder the lot of the land worker alwavs. Every form of civilization yet devised by men, has always rested in the end upon an under])aid workman somewhere in it, and that work- man has nearly always been the land worker. All history, from the days of the Pharaohs down to the time when Macaulay said England had to repeal her corn laws to save her agricultural laborers from starving, is one grand panorama of illustration of this truth. All Europe is now one great o])ject lesson on the same subject ; the land workers crushed to support the idlers over them, and the dawn of the same period is fast approaching to us. If the farmers of this country want to save themselves they must take an interest in politics. Combined in one grand political organi- zation for the protection of their own interests they would form an irresistible element in American politics, and an element which poli- ticians would rot be slow to respect. We have much to fear from the immense increase of idlers amongst us. Gibbon's estimate is that no nation can long survive when more than one-twentieth of its popu- lation has to be supported in idleness. When that point was reached in Rome, the Roman land worker became the absolute slave of his master, his life itself was at the disposal of his owner, and then, too, Roman civilization and the Roman p]mpire crumbled into ruin. Al- ready the reports of the penitentiaries of this State show that over 90 per cent, of our criminals come from the idle class. What a misfor- ■ ' i it! Il t ii 212 Quarterly Report. tune it is tliat idleness itself cannot be made a crime against the State, by statute, ^vhicll it certainly is, and tlie idlers be sent to the peni- tentiary l)erore they commit greater crimes. if the iarmers of this land, as a body, can develop the vim and vigor to grapple with this question, which to them is a vital one, with the energy which its urgency demands, which has never yet been the case with the land workers of any other country, they will have realized the most sanguine hopes of the founders of this Kejjublic, and will show to the world that it is no longer a poetic fiction to call this much-favored land '^ Time's Noblest Ollsijring." INFLUENCE OF RAILROADS UPON FARMING. By Howard M. Jenkins, Gwyncdd^ Pa. I propose to present, in the brief paper which I have prepared, some facts bearing upon the relation of the railroads to agriculture; and to suggest some conclusions which 1 think we may safely draw iVom these facts. I recognize, of course, how very extensive, how compli- cated, how obscure in many details the whole subject is, and J am far from pretending to have formed any mature or confident opinions on more than a few points. Entering upon the survey of the facts of the problem, we are con- fronted at the very threshold with the magnitude of the railroads, and the enormous extent of their operations. The suddenness of their creation is itself a marvel. Their whole history in tiiis country, indeed, in any country, lies easily within the observation of persons now living at a not advanced age. In 1830 there were but twenty -three miles in operation in the United States ; at the close of 1887 there were 150,000. Practically speaking, this new enormous structure has been created within my own lifetime, for in 18-12 there were but 4,000 miles built, and in 1850 only 9,000. Looking back even to a time which seems so recent as the close of the war, there were but 35,000 nnles, so that 115,000, or more than three-fourths of the whole, have been built since that time. So great is the railroad system that practically there is nothing in the history of the world's mechanical achievements to compare with it. Representing now (I speak only of our own country and quote the figures of 1885) a capital of 7,583 millions of dollars, a sum, say, three times as great as the National debt when it was at its highest point, at the close of the war, these roads have a gross income ap- proaching a thousand millions of dollars a year, and in 1885 carried 351 millions of passengers, and transported 437 million tons of freight. The second great fact is the tremendous power over the industrial and business operations of the country which the railroads exert. Familiar as we are with the subject, and accustomed to regaid this influence as a matter of course, we scarcely appreciate its extent, or realize how universally it operates. It may be said that since 1800, when the great trunk lines to the Mississippi Valley began to be worked, the railroads have unmade and remade the whole business I \ Pennsylvania Board of Agricitlture. 213 fabric of the country. No man, great or small, in city or country, near to the channels of traffic, or remote from them, has been undis- turbed. If one locality sprang into life, another stagnated; if the railroads brought activity and prosperity along their lines, tliey left tliose communities which were at a distance to stand still or fall be- hind. In fact the power of the one factor of transportation has been and is almost supreme. It is not merely a partner with industry and skill in the great coml)ination by which the earth is made to yield its fruits to man ; it is, in fact, the dictator to the others. It avails little how hard a man may work, or how ingeniously he may direct his labor, if he is at a disadvantage in securing the transportation of his products to their market. "Transportation,'' says Professor lladley, of Yale University, '' has not merely become important in itself, it has become a controlling factor which gives shape to each man's private business, and to the public policy of every civilized nation." The effect of this may be seen in one great fact. Railroad trans- portation has given life and value to all that immense region west of Ohio, which we commonly speak of as " The West," raising into a marketable use almost a thousand millions of acres of land, and leav- ing the earlier settled lands of the Atlantic coast to appreciate in value little or nothing in the course of along period of years. ^ Taking this county of Montgomery as an example, and not forgetting how well it is covered by railroads, how much increase has there been in the average value per acre of land used for strictly farming |)urpose8 since the trunk lines pushed through to Chicago thirty to thirty-five years ago ? The greatest development of agriculture has been in the west. '' The entire area of land," says Edward Atkinson, of Boston, "which is now under the plow in the United States, omitting that devoted to pasturage, is a little over 300,000 scjuare miles, or 1^'2 million of acres. The new lines of railway (built between 1865 and 1886, both years inclusive, twenty-two years,) covering 100,000 linear miles, have opened a strip of land live itiiles on each side, amounting to 1,000,000 square miles, or 610 million acres. It therefore follows that in twenty- two years an area of land three times as great as that which is under the plow has been brought within five miles of a railroad as to every acre. This is one-third of the territory of the United States, omitting Alaska." But consider at this point, an important, a vitall.y important, fea- ture in the case. That \vith this marvellous growth in the railroads their rates of charge have been greatly reduced. The continual de- mand of the interior and western States for lower freight charges has been met by the railroads. They have subsituted steel rails for iron at prices far lower than the price of the iron rails replaced, and with this more substantial track have greatly enlarged their cars and loco- motives, so that a crew of men now bring to market two or three times as much freight as they did fifteen years ago. In 1868 the average charge for moving a ton a mile on the principal railroads of the United States was very nearly 2^ cents, while in 1885 it was but a trille more than one cent. But on the great east and west trunk lines the decrease was muchgreater than is thus shown by this average of the whole country. There are six trunk lines which enter Chicago on the west, and their charge per ton per mile diniin- ished from three and one-half cents, in 1866, to one and one-half cents t 2U Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 215 in 1885. From Chicago easterly, taking the three «;reatest trunk lines, the Pennsylvania, Erie and New York Central, their average charge per ton per mile tell oil* from twenty-nine mills in 1805, to six and one- half mills in 1S85. In other words, they charged nearly three cents at the close of the war, against two thirds of a cent now. We may bear in mind these results beat the world. The American railroad freight rates are the lowest known in any country. With so great a system of railway transportations, and so low rates, the movement of freight is, of course, immense. Four of the eastern trunk lines— the New York Central, Erie, Pennsylvania and Balti- more and Ohio— carried in 1886, sixty-eight and one-cpiarter millions of tons, as against ten and one half millions in 1808. In 1886 the receipts of grain, by rail, at New York alone, reached eighty-four mil- lions of bushels, more than four times the total wheat crop of Penn- sylvania in the last census year. But, of course, I need not multiply words and figures concerning this very evident fact. The incoming of grain from the new lands of the Mississippi Valley and the north-west, the movement from Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and other States and Territories of cattle, sheep and dressed meats are details which are familiar. They are the nat- ural result of the opening of the new country to market by means of the 100,000 miles of new railroad built in the last twenty years. It has borne down hard on our eastern farmers, and especially on those w^hc bought at the prices wdiich were prevailing among us after the war, farms that now are not favorably situated for railway transpor- tation. Such owners have encountered three adverse currents : (1) the pressure of the general decline in prices; (2) the competition of western products, and (3) the disadvantage, under the new condi- tions of a comparatively unfavorable relation to market. The new conditions are hard. The producer now, whether he be a farmer or a manufacturer, must use the railroads. If they are close at hand, very w^ell ; if they are distant, not well. Tiie old conditions are gone. They cannot be used in competition with the new. It seems especially hard on the farmers of the east, in States like this, that where among the thirteen which formed the Union, that the back bone of the western railway system was itself their own gift. The beginning of the railroads in the Mississippi Valley and across the continent was made by gifts of public lands, anapers quotations of Tahiti oranges, Mexican limes, Sicily lemons, Smyrna tigs and African dates. It seems like bringing coals to Scranton. A large portion of the tillable land of California is treeless. The Eucalyptus and pepper tree are principally used for street and way- side jdanting. The sycamore is the only large tree I saw growing there that is indigenous here. The live oak grows on the foot hills and scattered over the wheat fields and looks for all the world like a gnarled old apple tree. In the Russian river country and in Humboldt county are immense forests of lumber trees. Tlie red wood abounds here and is split into rnilroad ties and is sawed into building lumber and is shipped even to Chicago lor finishing houses. This redwood must not be confounded with the Se(iuoia Gigantea or " big trees'' of Mariposa and Calaveras. 228 Quarterly Keport. In Oregon and Washington are some of the finest farming hinds in tlie world. The WiHamette Vally m Oregon and the Walhi AValla region in Washington are noted wheat growing sections. It is said that sixty bushels of wheat per acre are sometime raised in Wjdhi Walla. Fruits, especially plums and cherries, do remarkably well here. Hops are the staple crop in the Puget Sound region of Washington Territory. They are of superior quality and are much sought after by brewers. The hop ranches are provided with buildings somewdiat similar to the tobacco houses of this country. They are divided into stories and the hops spread on the lloors and dried by the heat of stoves. They are then baled and shipped to various ])arts of the WT)rld. Alaska does not present many attractions for the farmer. In the valley of the Stickeen river and other narrow valleys are some nice meadow land that may in time be brought under cultivation. The climate near the sea shore is mild and very moist. The rainfall at Juneau in 1886 is recorded at 156 inches — thirteen feet. And yet Alaska is an interesting country to visit. There are but few ocean beaches. The rocky shores of the mainland and of the thousand islands rise precipitous irom the water and are covered with a dense grow^th of hemlock, spruce and cedar. Every rock and dead tree is covered with damp green moss. The distant ranges of mount- ains present a jagged and splintered skyline and are covered with eternal snows. Mounts Crillon, Fairweather and St. Elias send down enormous glaciers to the sea. Here you see the noble red man on his native heath, and trade with him in his wigw^am. The totem poles before his cabin carved in hideous counterfeit presentment of man and beast are triumphs of savage art. In midsummer you may sit and read all night on a steamer's deck and not consume any ''midnight oil ". If there be any farmers there and they work from ''gray at dawn to dusky eve" they have not much time to sleej). FARMERS AND FARMING— FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW. By Caspek Hurler, Conestoga^ Pa. In these days, when we hear much complaint that farming '"don't pay," it may be interesting to compare the condition of the farmer and farming of the past with the present time. We will take for past, forty to sixty years back, a period not so remote but that some of you have some recollection of it. In my first knowledge of farm work there were no seed drills, no mowing and harvesting machines, no threshers. I have seen the sickle used in harvesting, but the grass scythe (the Dutch hook that was sharpened with a hammer) and the grain cradle were the lead- ing implements. Tlireshing grain was a winter's jot) — it was tramp, tramx), around tlie barn floor by horses from morning till night, and the sound of the flail could l)e heard for weeks. The wages of the laborer tlu^n was forty cents a day for ordinary work, and for harvesting a bushel of wheat. I give you a brief description of a farm where, over sixty years ago, I rode tiie horse for \ 1^[ j Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 229 shovel-harrowing corn, and during haying and harvest time carried the water buckets and whisky bottle after the workmen. This farm contains about seventy acres of cleared land. The rotation was corn, oats, wheat and rye, a field for hay and one for pasture. On these limited areas, and by this rotation, with general good management, the fertility could be fairly maintained. But when badly managed the land soon become unprofitable, and thousands of acres in one county were thrown out as commons, where they lay unproductive until of late years. The income of this farm was some- thing as follows : 12 acres corn, GOO bushels, af40c., $240 00 12 acres oats, 3(>0 bushels, at 25c., 90 00 6 acres wheat, 120 l)ushels, at 75c., 90 00 6 acres rye, 120 bushels, at 50c., 60 00 Total $480 00 This farm, like the majority of farms, had an orchard of from five to ten acres. But, although the apples were usually tine and abund- ant, they practically added little to the funds of the farm. Wagon loads were hauled to the distillery, where they were manufactured into that most abominable of all drinks — Apple Jack. A barrel or two of this stuff usually found its way back into the cellar, the market value of which would perhaps have paid for the handling of the fruit, but was here more than useless. The corn and rye then were used in the distillery, of wdiich there were many in the country. There was very little income on the farm from any other source. Market produce was very cheap. I carried eggs to Safe Harbor for the use of the raftmen. at three cents a dozen, and butter was often as low as six cents. If we allow the cash value of the farm produce already given (less than $500). the sale of a few horses at $75 each, a few cows at $20 each, with a few steers and hogs, I cannot from my recollection figure out a total of $1,000. It must be borne in mind that out of this produce the family had to liave its bread, the horses and other stock iiad to have a share of the corn, rye and oats, the wear and tear of implements had to be made up, the laborer had to be paid, and this was, low as the wages were, a considerable amount. Can yon figure out a balance in favor of the farmer? And vet it was the usual thing that the farmer lived within his income. If we want to see how it was done, we will have to look at the expenses of living, &c., &c. You see here and there scattered over the country large two-story stone dwelling houses that were built somewhere about 1760. I have been in the kitchen of one of these seventy years after it was built. The floor was made of brick and the onlv tire therein was on the huge hearth on which the cooking was done. In later built houses the kitchens were floored with white oak, and usually were Inrnished with ten plate stoves, but the old hearth was reiained. 'fhe principal u tensile?' were a round pot to hang over the fire to do the cooking and a llat, three-legged pan to set over the coals to do the frying. Let us look at the tables of some of the older farmers and we will find the bill of fare very simple and inexpensive. I say older, because improvements were creeping in fast. 230 Quarterly Keport. I have seen supper tables, whereon there was nothing but a hug:e dish of mush on the center, and a tin with milk and a spoon in it at the phice of each eater. Tln> was repeated sometimes as much as four times a week. Another meal was made with pork, and jjotatoes ])oiled in their jackets, of which the ring it to produce a paying crop. Now, briefly, for the present time: Three years ago a piece of land as much like the one described as two peas, was dressed with a commercial fertilizer and the result of the first crop was sufficient to pay labor, fertilizer and a good x)rofit besides, and the two subsequent crops, without any additional fertilizer, w^ere everything that could reasonably be desired. To make a contrast, we might ask the farmer's daughter how many yards of stuff it takes to make her dress? What the staying quality is when it is made? How many pairs of shoes are required a year? What about spring hats, summer hats, &c.? Take a peep into her dressing room. If the staying quality of the dresses were as they use to be, there would be enough of them to Iftive lasted the maiden of sixty years ago her lifetime. The contrast in the clothing of the boys IS just as great — for here we see broadcloth, silk hats, seal skin mu tiers, kid gloves, fancy leather boots, &c. Sli.ill we point you to the comibrtable carpeted kitcluMi with its com^jlete cooking range and cooking utensils, its bright stone and Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 231 glassware, its well supplied table — shall we look into the parlor, at its fine carpet, the center table strewed with magazines and choice books, the sofa, the piano or organ, the splendid heater, &c. The farmer now has a splendid carriage — each of the boys ha» a two or three hundred dollar horse and his own buggy, and the girl looks for her '^feller" to take her to church or such other places as she mav fancy Shalf we take a look at the improved condition of the farms, especially at the thousands of acres that were considered worthless forever, at the steam thresher, the sulky plow and harrow, the mower and especially the self-binder harvester, at the magnificent barns, the beautiful dwelling houses. One thing more, and I am done. I gave you a brief, imperfect account of the productions of a farm C)0 years ago. I give you an account of the average productions of the same farm for several vears past : Corn— 20 acres, 60 bushels $700 00 Wheat— 20 acres, 25 bushels, 400 00 Oats— 3 acres, 40 bushels, 50 00 Potatoes — 1 acre, 80 00 Tobacco— 7 acres, 1,400 00 Cattle sold, 100 00 Hogs sold 100 00 Horses sold, 270 00 Marketing sold, 300 00 Total, ' *'^,400 00 It no doubt would be interesting to know the working cost of this farm then and now, but not being the owner I cannot give it. THE SOCIAL. SIDE OF FARM LIFE. By Sara W^ Goentner, WellsviUe, Penna. One of our leading educators has voiced this sentiment, " Society is a living miracle. Man, isolated, would ever remain in a state of savagery.'' Bring him into contact with other men, and there is no limit to'his possibilities. Boundless powers are inherent in his being, yet needing the stimulus of personal contact with his fellows for the development of all that is highest and best in his nature. The in- stances are rare in which great attainment has been reached by the recluse. He who shuns his fellows, or is excluded from them, is in-. finitely the loser, in the majority of cases. The wise phanner of the universe recognized this when he set the solitary in families. In what condition of life do we find the influences tending most directly towards that happy culmination of circumstances which con- stantly elevates the individual and raises the world to higher level? I answer unhesitatingly, in the country. Glance over the pages of history whereon are recorded the glorious achievements of the- great and noble, from the earliest times down to our own day. A Inrge majority of the great generals, statesmen, writers, thinkers, men and women wdiose pen and voice and deeds and lives have fashioned the past and are moulding the life of to-day, were ( 232 Quarterly Report. country boys and girls. Nestled in amongst the sheltering mountains, those everlasting arms of strength which shut out the great world, but cannot shut in the light of genius, we tind more than one sequestered hamlet that has been the birth place of a giant intellect. A lonely farm house, remote from the great world's busy hum, has provided the youtliful home of many a master mind. Our beloved Whittier spent his early days on a farm, and now that age and infirmity have overtaken him, his greatest pleasure is found in his llower garden. Washington, that prince among generals and statesmen, was a farmer, and gladly hastened from the White House to the more con- genial pursuits afforded by his broad acres. He and Jeflerson, from conferences on perplexing affairs of state, turned for their pleasure and relaxation to their farms, and took delight in exchanging ideas as to the ways and means of attaining perfection in the culture of the soil. Martha Jefferson, that most queenl v of women, whose presence was courted by the highest circles in France, England, and our own country, counted as by no means least among her accomplishments, her ability to set a hen. What stronger proof need we have that liousehold skill and the highest social culture are not incompatible, but go hand in hand ? Our thoughts revert to the lad w^ho led by nature, '^ the kind old nurse," followed on through field and forest and stream reading the story book written by the master hand of the All Father, and we pro- nounce to-day with loving reverence the nanieof Agassiz, the country lad wdiose name and fame, if it were the solitary instance, would make the blood in the veins of each country boy glow with pride and ambi- tion. We might go on all day, citing from history one and another who have climbed to fame's highest watchtowers taking the initial step from some farm house. They have filled the presidential chair, sat on the bench to administer justice; we find them in the pulpit, in our colleges, in the halls of Congress, everywhere that '^ men of action, men of might'- are needed. Our '' sweet singer of the west " Alice Cary, spent her childhood in a wayside country farm house, as she herself described it : '* Little and low and brown and old." Francis Willard, the great reformer of this nineteenth century (which Victor Hugo calls women's century), passed her girlhood days indulging in the free active sports and pursuits of a western farm. We find her to day a greater than Archimedes— for she is moving the world— moving it on to the observance of '' sweeter manners, purer laws." Need I say more to prove the point that country life, farm life, which brings us in daily contact with nature and her boundless resources, is the life best adapted for the promotion of happiness, for stimulating mental growth, and developing the latest powers of genius in man"^ kind ? If so, notice the fact that our business men, toiling in cities for the accumulntion of wealth, seek the more congenial country for their home life. Under the delightl'iil skies, among -the green fields and sylvan shades they search successfully for that philosopher's stone whose magic touch shall convert all into ha])piness. Man's i)hysical nature finds its most perfect development in the country. None will deny that it is the ideal life for a child. The © m] Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 233 pure air, abundant sunshine and boundless freedom go to build up those sturdy farms and develops those brain tissues which sway the world. Our boys and girls who rise with the lark brushing the dew from upland and meadow, catching the first beams of the rising sun, im- bibe a strength, a ])ow^er which tells all through life in^ healthful bodies enduring capable minds. Whether farmers' from choice, or made so by the force of circum- stances, let us assume it to be the condition most desirable, and in which we are confident there is the widest outlook for the growth of bodily and spiritual nature. Think of the wonderful possibilities in a human life! How much that is good, and bright, and noble, is imprisoned behind tlie adaman- tine bars of ignorance, old customs, public opinion, lack of oppor- tunity. Many there are who become great in spite of their environ- ment. For them we have no word, they need none, God and Nature have done all for them. They have the equation, there remains but to work out the problem to the grand result. It is for the thousands of every-day people whose every-day life might be so widened, so infinitely more to them than it is for them we plead, yet a broader scope, more of real living in our rural districts. We want more than enough to eat and wear, the mind craves food and will have its demands supplied — if not with suitable nourishment, then otherwise, but our souls must be fed. Since '-' it is the mind that makes the body rich,'' then by all means let us be earnest in seeking and securing from day to day that mental aliment wdiich shall broaden our intellectual vision and make us better, nobler, more perfect men and women. How shall we do this? In countless ways. We are surrounded by lavish abundance and have but to '* drink and live." What is more delightful to man's aesthetic nature, more glorious, than the early morning in summer, in the country. The hour when "The morn is up again, the dewy morn, With breath all incense and with cheek all bloom. Think of a man, for I trust such a one is not to be found in York county, who lives within reach of such a feast of enjoyment, daily, and either from ignorance or a sordid indifference 6})rings from his couch and Iiastens to his daily toil, all unheeding the myriad beauties of the awakening continent, the melodious notes of the happv birds carolling to the sun as he ^' peeps through the dim leaf-latticed wind- dows of the grove." Is he the gainer whose thoughts are centred solelt/ow his own selfish cares, who views the rising sun but as an opportune drver for his hay ; Nature will do for us her utmost best, whether we will or not. Then let us make the most of our lives. The world is sweeping on, and '' We must upward still, and onward, Who would keep abreast of trutli." If we can afford luxurious homes, large libraries, musical instru- ments, by all means let us have them. They will wonderfully facili- tate our growth. If a piano is beyond our reach, we have the glorious concerts of the birds, the running streams. "There's music in all things, if men have ears." Music is a grand elevator, let us have all we can. We need more of it in our homes, our social gatherings, our churches, our schools. 234 Quarterly Report. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture 235 We need to read more, to read better Looks, to o;et our minds filled, saturated with the noble thoughts of our great thinkers. If all can not have large libraries, every one can have a few books. Let us make that few as comprehensive as possible. Secure at whatever cost the coveted books, then read them— above all things, read them. What shall we read? The Bible. Nowhere else will we find such stories of information, such sublimity, pathos, music. It is the one book we cannot outgrow. Read Sliakespeare, the prince of dramatists. Read and re-read till we have his masterpieces at our tongue's end; then, whether our hands are busy binding the sheaves, guiding the plow, sweeping the room or fashioning the garment, whatever comes of work or weari- ness, we have something to think of. The mind, like the millstone, keeps turning round and round. Let us enlarge our orl)ils. Why re- volve in a peck measure when we may encircle the universe. Let us read Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, any and all of our jrreat poets Are we too weary? There is notliing more restful. Their pages teem with praise of all about which our daily interests center. We have no taste for poetry. Let us cultivate one. We will find it no more difficult than to reclaim that stony hillside, and it will re- pay us. How much we can do with our minds, if we be but disposed. Let us read stories. AVe find therein the counterpart of our own 1: loch. I hear a busy mother, whose heart and brain are full of the daily needs of her family, a thousand things claiming attention at once, ask '^ When shall I find time to read?-' May I suggest. ^ There are the Chautauqua course, the Spare Minute course, a multitude of reading courses, prepared for just such cases. The busy housewife, while she rocks the little sleeper, swings the churn, or busies her hands in va- rious ways, may have her book w itliin reach and snatch from its pages at least one imperishable idea. Poverty of mind is worse than pov- erty of body. The mother owes it to her children more than meat and drink to keep to herself ready to ever lead them on and up. An intelligent woman can make a child's life a thousand-fold richer by her suggestions, her interest in nature, her wise direction of his mental activity. We are and should be a peculiarly happy people. We have all the wisdom of past ages to guide us. These are the days and America is the paradise of doing all things. Remembering that each link and not the impersonal chain holds the anchor, that the most efficient organization makes best use of the individual force, we shall return to one original assertion : that the genus homo is a gregarious animal. The social element is the melody pervading the whole scheme of rural existence, which is rendered a grand onitorio, or a soulless ditty, as the theme be lofty or common- place. What are some of our social needs? What is there lacking to round out tlie lives of our farmers to an ideal i)erfection ? We need more schools, better schools. The fart that in our own State the voters who can neither read nor write number hundreds of thousands is suffi- cient i)roof. Let us do something, each in his own neighborhood, to remedy this terrible blot on our civilization. Nor can we make men by simply educating boys in arithmetic and the languages. We must (ffe \ ']] train the moral nature, make citizens whose character and honor shall shine whatever station tliey be called to fill. We need to think more that we may work better, more efficiently, less laboriously. Skilled, intel'igent labor will tell. If it be in our own fields or kitchens, it will bring us money and save us strength and time for rest and relaxation. If it be that we are serving others, our elTorts will be more highly appreciated, our remuneration greater, if we put our minds into our work and put them there to a purpose. One of our greatest needs to-day, one of the questions has become: How shall we provide ourselves with skilled, intelligent helpers on the farm and in the home? Our boys and girls should be trained to answer this by actual demonstration. Some one has said, '^ A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind." Thus our intercourse with one another arouses the better part of our natures. We need a larger measure of sympathy with our neigh])()rs, a greater harmony of sentiment, more of that brotherly kindness and charity that will enable us to join heart and hand. What herculean achievements shall be the resultant of our united efl'orts. We shall see our country made better in every way. We need more earnest men and women who feel an interest in their fellowmen, and are willing to give of their time, their strength and their money for the advancement of mankind. We need to cultivate a more progressive spirit. We may most appropriately adopt, from one of our philan- tliropic societies, this motto: ^'Let us look up, not down; out, not in; forward, not backward; and lend a hand." We need more recrea- tion, less unremitting toil. It will pay. A da}^ now and then will not materially lessen the credit side of the cash account at the end of the year; but how much of good it may bring to us, our families, our friends. Holidays are possibilities that the farmer can more easily make realities than any one else. The business man fears to absent himself from his desk, even for one day, lest an unforeseen something occur that shall mar his i)lans. But, ''when the air is sweet with blossoms falling," or "when the sound of dropping nuts is heard," the farmer, most truly independent of beings, can leave all care behind and away to the woods, the hills, the meadow streams, confident that, though his vigilant eye be wan- inreliminary to the culture of these fish, we must first have a suitable pond, well supplied with water from a stream, and located at least half a mile from the source of the stream. This distance from the source of supply is necessary for the reason that the water may receive acretions from the air, the soil and the roots of trees and plants that make it rich in fish food, and also to bring it to the proper temperature prior to entering the pond. Next, we must have a place suitable for the location of our pond. It will not do to have the course of the stream pass directly through the pond as fioods might endanger all our fish. It is best to first di- 16 QUAR. i 242 Quarterly Report. t II vert the course of the stream around the proposed site of the i)ond and allow it to receive the water supply through inlet sluices, fitted with ii;ates to regulate the How, and thus prevent Hooding. Having the stream and pro])er location, the next step will })e the construction of the pond. If we have a stream that will at all seasons fill a two to ibur inch pipe, passing tlirough a low swampy meadow, we are fortunate, as we will iIhmi liave a suitable bottom for the pond. Next, the construction of the dyke or end)ankn]eMt. Where we have sufficient fall with elevated banks on the sides of the meadow, it is best not to excavate the bottom of the pond, but procure the earth from elsewhere, for two reasons — first, the humus or components of swamp soil produces a profusion of infusoria rich in fish food, and forms at once the j)roper bottom for a carp pond. Second, tlie muck or bog humus will not make a suitable embankment, as musk-rats may cut it and drain the pond, and the dyke will not be solid. The best embardvuients are made of clay mixed with gravel. Never use wood in the construction of the dyke, and if stone are used break them, and cover them thoroughly with clay and gravel, as stone piles and walls are excellent places for the lodgment of snakes. If you wish to have four feet of water in the deepest part of the pond, which is about the proper depth, the embaidvment should be at least eighteen inches higher than the proposed w^ater level, sixteen feet wide at the bottom and five feet wide at the to^). The inside, or water-face of the em- bankment, should be well covered with finely-broken stone mixed with gravel, to ward off musk-rats, as well as to keep the large carp from working down the dyke. A carp w^eighing from ten to twelve X)ounds will do as much mischief to a clay embankment as a pig will to a potato patch. I have found holes in the dyke of my stock pond, at the surface of the water, a foot or more in depth, the work of the large fish. That part of the embankment not under w^ater should be well sodded or sown with grass seed. The water must never be allowed to escape from the pond by ordi- nary overflow^ but should pass out through properly constructed screens of fine brass wire, not larger in the mesh than one-third of an inch. In summer the outflow should be drawn from the bottom of the pond and the vent should be as high as the water level. By drawing the water from the bottom in summer we raise the temperature of the water in the pond, as the coldest water is at the bottom. Carp grow and thrive best in water that is of a temperature in summer of seventy degrees F. In winter it is best to draw the outllowing water from the surface as we thus prevent currents in the bottom that tend to draw the young fish into the sluice. Those intending to cultivate carp should first visit some well regulated ponds, and carefully note the manner of regulat- ing the outflowing water. The pond should be constructed at least six months before intro- ducing carp or even filling it with water, to allow the dyke ample lime to become solid. It is very annoying to have a soft clay dyke yield to the inlluence of froot, and allow a lot of choice fish pass down the stream. It is customary to stock new ponds about the first of November, but if we can get the fish, it is much better to place them in the pond about the middle of April or first of May, as we thus avoid risk of losses, so common when young fish pass their first winter in a new pond. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 243 V Now, having our pond ready, wdiere and at what cost can we pro- cure German carp to stock it? Small fish can be procured in limited numbers, free of all cost, other than transportation, from the United States Fish Commission, through a member of Congress, or from the State Fish Commission through a member of the Legislature; but the better way is to buy a few adult fish from some established pond near home. Adult fish can be purchased at a cost of twenty cents per pound, and what are classed as fry, at from two to four dollars per hundred fish. By procuring adult fish we are just four years ahead of the man who stocks his pond with fry, as most carp first spawn in their fourth ye.ir. There are three varieties of German carp, and different culturists have their preferences. They are the leather carp, the mirror carp and the scale cart). Here I will try to keep on neutral ground, though I have my own preferences. The difference between the leather and mirror carp is very slight, indeed, about the only difference is that the mirror variety has a few more scales than the leather; 'in growth, size, shape and edible qualities, these two varieties are similar, they grow more rapidly and to much greater size than the scale carp. A leather or mirror carp of twenty years should weigh forty pounds, though they are said to continue their grow^th to fifty years. Some years ago a leather carp was caught in a lake in Switzerland, that weighed ninty pounds. The scale carp are completely covered with silvery scales, are smaller than the other varieties, grow less rapidly. They spawn one year earliar, and are much more prolific. Their edible qualities are the same. It is rather difficult to decide wdiich of these species are best for domestic culture. It is said that in Bohemia none but scale carp are valued, while in Saxony and Bavaria only the leather or mirror variety are cared for. It does no harm to place both leather and mirror carp in the same pond, but by all means keep the scale carp separate^ as their hyhrids are poor horiy fish^ not Hi for the tahle. As to the edible qualities of each variety, I find no difference, they are all good in season, and out of season are 7iasty, The only time that carp are good is in winter; during summer months the flesh is soft, with a muddy, musty, disagreeable taste. Now, having decided as to the variety of carp, we place them in the pond, in November if w^e must take them then, or in April if we can get them. The difficulty is, all ponds are drawn off about November 1st, while very few handle their fish in early spring, and do not like to take fish from the ponds at that season. During winter and spring, as late as the first of May, the carp require no attention, but we must keep a careful watch on the embankments and outlet sluices, to see that all is secure. From about November 1st to May 1st German carp take no food, or nourishment, except what they receive from the water, and yet they suffer no appreciable loss of flesh. This characteristic is certainly a remarkable one. Feeding Carp. About the first of May we find the fish beginning to search food, and now we must l)egin to regularly feed them. They should be fed daily, but not more than they will consume in one day. If they are small fish, yearlings, it is best to feed them meal, and 244 Quarterly R^:port. imsalted kitchen slops, if of larger growth give them whole grain, such as wheat, rye or corn, give also boiled potatoes, cabbage or carrots. A pint of grain daily will feed 100 large iish, if the water contains a reasonable amount of Iish food. In a one acre pond, plentifully sup- plied with water, 10,000 marketable fish weighing from two to four pounds each can be raised by artilicial feedin; 'to- Spawning'. Scale carp spawn when three years old. while the leather or mirror variety spawn a year later. The number of eggs in one carp is very great, and this, of course, accounts for their wonderful increase. A carp just previous to spawning contains about 400,000 eggs. Not one tenth of these are fertilized, and not more than one-fourth of the young fish survive, yet this would give us eight to ten thousand fry from one spawner ; if one-half of these matured the pond would l)e stocked. The spawning season, in this latitude, begins, in early seasons, about the middle of May, and ends in September. The same fish spawning every few weeks until the stock of eggs is exhausted. The eggs of the carp are adhesive, and are attached to the leaves of water plants and grasses ; it is therefore important that the shores or shallow water of the pond be well supplied with these. The eggs quickly develop in warm weather and tlie little fishes break their'enveloping membrane from about the tenth to the fifteenth day after spawning. The eggs, or spawn, will not hatch (if I may use the word) in a run- ning stream, unless the water moves very slowly, as the carp is strictly a pond fish. They never eat or destroy their own eggs or young, do not attack other fish, and therefore can be hatched and reared in the same pond with the large fish; though it is much better to have them in a sepa- rate hatching pond. This hatching pond should be connected, on the same level with the stock pond, a wire screen allowing the water to circulate, and not have a greater depth in any part than eighteen inches with sloping shallow sides supplied with plants and grasses, and be fully exposed to the rays of the sun. The young fish should be fed, and allowed to remain in the hatching pond, uiitil October, when the screen can be removed allowing them to pass out into the large pond, where they can safely pass the winter, and be in condition for taking on a rapid growth the following summer. Growth. Some of the early spawning, will, under favorable circumstances, weigh from one to two-and-one-half pounds at the end of their second year, but they as a rule do not reach marketable size before their third year. For the reason that they are edible only at a season when other fish can scarcely be had they sell readily at iiigli prices, mostly ratinsr at from eighteen to twenty cents per pound. I am informed that in Ger- many, where the carp industry has been carefully carried on during the past seven hundred years^ they are more highly prized than any other fish, and cannot be had in the market for less than the equiva- lent of our twenty-five cents per pound. Do German Carb Hibernate ? In this latitude they do, and they do not. They do in this way :— About the first of November in companies of from [\h}f to one liiin- ))') \j} ' Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 245 dred,they form a basin or kettle in the mud in the deepest part of the pond, in which they quietly lie during winter, with their heads together. Thus, like the farmers, we find that even German carp at times get their heads together for mutual benefit. They do not hibernate as do snakes, frogs, and toads, as they are at no time, even in the coldest weather, in a torpid state. I have cut holes in the clear ice, above their kettles and found that when I touched them they were as active as in summer, and they even swam more rapidly, appearing to be more timid. The fry, or fish hatched the previoifs summer, can be seen on any clear calm day, in winter, actively swimming and playing in the sun- shine, where there are springs about the borders of the i)(>nd where ice does not form. In my pond I find tliey will take food on warm days as late as the first of November, and as early as the middle of April. Some culturists say they will not eat worms, insects and meat, but I have never yet been able to tempt one of my fish to eat anything but vegetable matter; and I do not think they will eat anything else, un- less driven to it by the pangs of hunger. They can be made quite interesting pets, by feeding them regularly at a certain place and hour, and calling them or ringing a bell before casting their food into the water. They soon get to understand it, and will come through the water witharush in great shoals as though they understood the trite old saw ''the best fellow foremost and the devil take the hindmost."" Mine are not trained to do this, I will begin their education when they first take food this spring. This is not a game fish in the sense professional angler use the word, and if well fed cannot be tempted to take a bait; but if allowed to do without food for several days, they may be caught in that way, by using a piece of dough or boiled potato as bait, and yet I am inclined to think even under these circumstances angling for them would not be a success, as in taking their food they do not seem to open their mouth and bite, but appear to suck it in. To those contemplating carp culture, my advice is, do not be to sanguine, do not think that when you have successfully cared for your fish through the first year, and find ihey have made a renuii'kable growth, that you have nothing to do but move on to success '' on flowery beds of ease." A few more years may teach you some lessons you had not dreamed of in your fish philosophy. After your first year, in this business, you may chance to learn that "the path of glory leads but to the grave'' of all your hopes. A paper on carp culture, would not tell all the'truth if we did not show up the dark side of the business. First, we call attention to the enemies of German carp and there are a number of these, such as poachers^ turtles^ snakes^ frogs^ eels, fish hawks, kingfishers, musk- rats, minks, trout and other carnivoro if s fish. All these need constant watching, but I find that the worst and most troublesome one of the lot is our common snapping turtle. One large healthy snapper, when his appetite is good, may in a few days, and before his presence is known, destroy dozens of marketable fish. The carp have a habit in cool nights in summer of lying quite still at the bottom of the pond, and they thus become easy prey for the voracious snapper that maybe lying in wait for them, down in the mud. We are told that a large hook baited with a piece of chicken or fresh meat will entrap him; but my experience tell me that a 246 Quarterly Report. I shrewd old snapper well supplied with a fish diet is not to be caught by a baited hook. "^The only radical cure for the inroads of the turtle, is to draw all the water from the pond and go gunning for him with a shovel. I have never found that a muskrat will eat lish, but its habit of building its winter quarters in the embankment causes trouble, that may result in the loss of every fish in the pond, by the water escap- ing through the burrow. During the winter of 1885, after I had stocked my pond with sixty young carp, one of these rodents cut a hole througli the dyke and I lost all except five fish. The prudent lish culturist will guard against these marauders by properly building his dyke. Are they Subject to Disease ? Yes, but with proper care disease may be prevented. I will refer to but two diseases that are likely to cause loss; they are fungus and intestinal irritation. When in handling the fish, a scale is torn oif, the fish not properly fed, or the pond overstocked, a fish may assume a mouldy appearance, the skin appear a deep red and the fish seem stupid, this is fungus. The cure is kill tJie aifected -fish. When a scale is torn loose, in warm weather, and blood can be seen ilowing from the hurt, a safe rule is to kill the fish, as the disease once, started becomes infectious. When a pond freezes shut, without any air holes it is advisable to keep one or more open, as the confined mud gas, impregnates the water, and brings about intestinal irritation, for which there is no cure after the fish are affected. How do we catch Carp ? The only proper way is to have a sluice, made from a two-inch plank, to pass through the embankment at the deepest part of the pond. Have this sluice nicely fitted with a gate, and have the pond so ar- ranged that all except six inches of water may be drawn olf and the fish be thus drawn to the lowest part, which we call the collector, lluve the water to pass through screens after opening the gate, to prevent the escape of smab fish When the Avater is thus drawn down, we can take such fish as we wish, handling them carefully that they may not be injured. When we have marketable fish that we wish to dispose of during the winter, they .should be removed from the stock pond in November, and placed in a small pond of pure springwater having a gravel bottom, which is called the market pond. After the fish h^ve been in this pond but a few days, their flesh will have lost all its musty, muddy taste and we then have a fish fit for the tables of the gods. The fish in the market pond, are easily caught at any time during winter, with a small dip-net, thus enabling us to dispose of them wluMi we wish. The water should never be drawn from the stock pond in winter or during the heat of summer. April and November are the times for draining ponds. In conclusion allow me to give a few axioms on fish culture, based on my own hard-earned experience. Make haste slowly by building firm and heavy dykes at least six months before getting your fish. See to it that all your sluices are Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 247 .M ») securely made and packed, and well secured with screens. See that the screens are kept clear of drift. Spare a few minutes every day, in winter and summer, to walk around your pond to see that all is right. A little neglect may cause the loss of your whole stock. Carp culture when once started is ten- fold more profitable than poultry arising and does not require one- half the attention. The cultivation of these fish seems to have a sort of witcherv about it, as when once interested in it, it appears that we cannot resist the temptation to linger about tlie pond, to note the easy swinging, glid- ing movements of the carp, as we observe them just below the sur- face of the water during the clear calm days of summer. I some- times, when watching the fish in my ponds, am so carried away that I cannot but remain there by the hour, cultivating the acquaintance of my finny pets. It is said that carp culturists all become fish cranks; we cannot avoid it, and maybe some of us do get a little off. W^hen you come to visit any of our ponds you may be inclined to the opinion that: — *' All day long we fishermen will sit, Upon an ancient log ; * And gaze into the water, like Some sedentary frog." ROADS AND ROAD MAKING. By James Fulton, Stewartstoivn, Pa, Perhaps there is no other subject of public interest in regard to which the people of this section of the State have fallen so far behind in the march of improvement as in that of our public roads. The character and condition of the roads in a commuidty have so much to do with the ])rosperity and comfort of the people, and so largely affect the material interests and social advantages of society, that the importance of this subject cannot be ignored, and demands our careful and thoughtful consideration. In a newly-settled sparsely-populated country where the wants of the people are few and the surplus production of the farms are limited, the matter of roads ma}^ be regarded as a secondary consideration, but as the population and production of the soil are increased and the demand for building material, implements, fertilizers and merchan- dise is enlarged, the necessity for better roads is realized, and the de- mand for improvements in the construction and maintenance of our public highways become inoperative. In referring to the character and material of some of our roads, in the past and present, we miiiihl mention the corduroy road, the plank road, the macad.nnizcil road and the common earth or mud road as it may i)roi)erly be named at certain seasons of the year. Corduroy roads were formerly used, where timber was abundant, in bridging over marshy grounds and quagmires, but may now be classed with the things that are obsolete. Plank roads, when properly constructed, are excellent, but on account of their immense cost and perishable material used, have proven too expensive to be maintained. * ■ >i n 248 Quarterly Report. Macadamized or pike roads are undoubtedly the most desirable, when the proper material can be obtained cheaply and conveniently and ample means to meet cost of construction are available, but as durable material, such as limestone, ilint and other suitable mineral matter are obtainable in but lew localities, and even were it practic- able to secure the material conveniently, the cost of construction is beyond the resources available in most sections of the community. Now if, as it appears to be, it is not feasible to construct plank roads and turnpikes as public hi^j^hways, then the practical ([uestion to be considered is what is the best and cheapest way to make and maintain our common roads ? It is evident that bad roads result in great meas- ure from an excess of water in the earth composing the road bed, and that any method that will measurably prevent the saturation of the soil in the road bed by the falling rains or melting snows will propor- tionately improve the condition of the roads. Water is removed from the surface of the ground by the slow pro- cess of evaporation by the sun or by drainage through or from the surface of the soil. Now we know that water is a most restless ele- ment. That the moment it reaches the earth Irom the clouds, urged by the laws of gravitation, it immediately seeks the low^est attainable place, and if unobstructed on an inclined plane will pass off speedily, otherwise it will slowly percolate through the soil, which is soon changed by the passing teams on roads to the consistency of a mortar bed. NoAV it seems to be a rational conclusion that the principle we apply in protecting our buildings from the rainfall is the true one to guide us in the construction of our roads. We elevate the roof of our houses in the centre and the water flows down the inclined surface to the eaves of the roof, and is carried olf by the gutters. Hence, we are justified in drawing the conclusion that the true prin- ciple of construction requires the highest elevation of the centre of the road bed to facilitate a rapid How of water into the gutters at the sides of the road. Now then if we have found the true principle of construction it is all important^to adopt a plan, fix upon theproper width of foundation, and seek out the best methods to build the road so as to attain the best results at the lowest cost to assist us in solving the important question of how to get the best roads at the lowest cost. I propose to consider first, the plan or method of construction, and secondly, the implements used and the character of labor employed in doing the work, and will endeavor to illustrate these suggestions by contrasting the old methods with modern common sense ideas. In constructing a building you first fix upon the proper dimensions and then build according to your plan. If you want a wagon shed in which to stand two wagons abreast, and you find sixteen feet is suf- ficient width for that purpose, would it not be extravagant folly to make your shed thirty feet wide. ;;: Now then in adopting the width of road bed to build a road with a convex surface, on the principle Inid dow n, it is important to fix on the narrowest practicable width. To secure lowest cost and best drain- age, a width of sixteen or eighteen feet is doubtless ample room on which tw^o teams may pass, and is all the space ordinarily required on country roads. The practice has been, at least on many of the public roads with which I am familiar, to make side drains at the extreme limits of road- Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 249 way, allowing a width in many places of thirtv or forty feet. The earth taken from the drains, which is often trilling and shallow, afIV)rd- ing material for but a slight elevation of the road bed. Consequently for the want of proper inclination from the center towards the side drains, the surface is saturated by the rainfalls, and the road, if much used m rainy weather, is soon converted into a series of mud holes. Now I will try and demonstrate the advantages of a narrow^ road- way over the old wide style of roads. The advantaires are two fold. Assuming the necessity of the greatest lateral declination practica- ble to facilitate drainage, we will take for example fifteen deirrees as the proper inclination from the center of the sides. This in a roadbed eighteen feet wide will require an elevation of two feet i\\e inclies in the center and will require three hundred and sixty-four cubic feet of earth for the construction of one perch of road. To construct a roadway tliirty feet wide with the same degrees of inclination we will have a depth of three feet eleven inches in the center and require nine hundred and seventy feet for one perch or rod of roadway, almost three times the amount of material needed to build a road eighteen feet wide and a proportionate increase in the cost of construction. Again, another advantage in a narrow roadway is the very impor- tant one of quicker and better drainage. From the porous character of the material and the uneveness of the surface, arising from con- stant use in rainy weather more or less water penetrates the ground and must work its way into the side drains. In an eighteen foot roadway it will only have a distance of nine feet to p tss from the center to the side drains, and in a thirty foot road will have to pass through the soil a distance of fifteen feet thus retarding the process of drainage very materially to the detriment of the road. A few words in reference to the implements used and the labor employed in roadmaking. Under the provisions of a law, that may have been well enough in tlie days of our grandfathers, the supervisor is expected to give every tax-payer a chance to work out his taxes, and accordinglv spends a day or two in notifying them of his intention to work a certain road on a certain day. Perhaps one-half of the able-bodied farmers noti- fied have farm work to be done which they should not neglect. And the result is a gathering of probably a score of hands mostlv old men and boys armed with shovels in every stage of decav, and a plowman who seldom risks his best plow on the public roads.^ With this force, often most unsatisfactory to the conscientious supervisor, the roads are gone over, and although the roads are but slightly improved by the working, a score of men have each put in a dav towards the all important end of working out their taxes. Tliis plan of operation is repeated from day to day, the supervisor althougli making good wages one or two days in the week in notifying the hands is often disgusted with the results owing to the character of the force emploved, the traveling public are disgusted with the poor condition of the roads and the tax-payer is disgusted with his high taxes. Now if you have a twenty-acre field of wheat to cut, do you go around and employ a dozen or two of your uncles and auiits and neighbors to come, as in ye olden time, with their sickles and spend a week or two to harvest your field of wheat ? Not much, but you hitch your team to a harvester or self-lunder and in forty-eight hours have your field of wheat in shock. If you have a barn wall to put up, you 250 Quarterly Report. ^ don't ^o after the shoemaker, the tailor, or school teacher to do the worL, but you employ a stone mason, whose mind and muscle have been trained to do that kind of work, and the work is done speedily and economically. In our individual enterprises we are careful to adapt the means we use to the ends to be accomplished. It is claimed, and I believe truth- fully, that road workers can be had at reasonable prices, that with a team of four horses will do the work of a hundred men. In regard to the emj)loyment of labor on our roads, I have interviewed a number of our supervisors in the past few years, and all have acknowledged that if he could employ men adapted to the work it could be done for less than half the outlay under the present system. I have endeavored to show, that by adopting a better system or method of constructing our roads, and by using better implements and machinery, and the emi)loyment of labor especially adapted to do the work, that the character and condition of our roads can be greatly improved and the burden of our taxes for road purposes materially re- duced. Now, if this is all true, is not the subject worthy the careful consideration of our citizens and tax-payers, and should it not stimu- late them to strive to obtain better laws and better methods for the management of our public roads ? THE FARMER'S "WIFE. By Mrs. Amanda Crider, York^ Pa. Away back in the misty past, when man first became lord of the soil and set himself to the arduous task of cultivating it, he must have experienced a strange sensation which at that time he could not clearlv understand nor accuratelv describe. He longed for companionship, for among all created beings there was none worthv to be his fellow. The flowers of Eden IdoonuMl around him, the birds sang in the branches, the sunshine goldened his patliway, the zephyrs fanned him, the starlit heavens curtained his nightly couch, the luscious fruits of Paradise appeased his hunger. All nature, animate and inanimate, combined to do him homage. He had become heir to all the glorious workmanship which his Creator had declared to be good. But in this otherwise universal category he notes a single exception. " It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make an help- meet for him." And out of the deep sleep into which God had put him, man awakes to find a new creation and to welcome his appointed companion and helpmeet ibr the journey and business oi' lil'e. Ever since that time woman has been the sharer of that heritage. Good and evil,. joy and sorrow, labor and rest, responsibility and privi- lege, life and death, have come alike to both, and each has prospered or declined as the other has been wise and virtuous or weak and un- worthy. Couple together soundness of mind, soundness of body, moral health. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 251 and intellectual energy, and the future glows with promise; but let any of these be wanting, the prospect of darkness and hajipiness is imperilled. And if this is true of men in the ordinarv affairs of life, It IS eminently true of those who engage in the cultivation of the soil! To good sense, sound judgment and a thorough knowledge of the work to be done must be superadded a capacity lor labor and endur- ance of hardships which fall to the lot of few iii this life. True it is that, although machinery has lightened labor and hastened the task, man still eats bread in the sweat of his face, and although his wife is now seldom called to be a helper in the field, she must bear the bur- den and heat of the day in the performance of those necessary duties which pertains to her sphere of labor. And how much tlie welfare and success of every other interest depends upon her skillful and capa- ble management of affairs every iiirmer well knows. If the early chores chase the sun, and the farmer's wife sends out her workers well fed, well clothed and heartsome for their day's work, while her own diligent hands ply her household tasks, it is easy to predicate a prosperous day and a happy return at evening. A cheerful, energetic woman communicates her spirit to those about her and prompts to action and to enterprise. You can almost read the history of a family, or of a farm, in the very surroundings of the door- way. The greenness and bloom there is simplv the frontispiece to a whole volume of sweetness and thrift within." A good, cai)al)le far- mer's wife is a being to make the wilderness rejoice and blossom as the rose. Her well-kept garden and trim borders are models upon which to fashion the fields and meadows, and the kindness and de- votion which she lavishes upon her household mav well suggest simi- lar tendance for the dumb but gentle creatures that claim her hus- band's care in the barn. The Pennsylvania farmer's wife has made for herself a reputation as wide as the continent, and dwellers on the Paciiic coast think them- selves happy when they can lure one of her fair daughters to that dis- tant clime. It has been remarked in the way of criticism that Pennsvlvanians build large barns and small houses. As to the large barns, and the plentiful crops they imply, we allow the impeachment ; but a larcie house, \yith more rooms than are required for the occupancy of the family, is simply an incubus to be carried from year to year— -only so many rooms to be carpeted and furnished, and thereafter visited, aired, 8wej)t and dusted ; for dust will find entrance and the spider will take hold with her hands. Every good housewife will cheerfully under- take those duties which are essential to the comfort of her family, but it would l)e criminal to add to them simply that a pile of brick and mortar may adorn the landscape. There are farmers' wives who exhibit such skill, celerity, neatness and dispatch in the disposal of their work that they seem as if pos- sessed of an enchanter's wand, that, with a few magic strokes, dis- posed of that which would cost others hours of toil. Those who hold this secret— which is simply a habit of forecasting the day's work and fitting each task into its proper place, and concentrating everv energy upon its accomplishment — have very great advantages over those who are less fortunate, or, rather, less systematic. There are families where the weekly wash greets the rising sun ; baking, churning, all the stirr- ing work of the day is speedily disposed of, and the neat housewife chooses lor herself how she will em])lov her leisure. 252 QUARTEKLY REPORT. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 253 il I These were the sort of women who, in other days spun and wove stores of fine linen, and stitched and einhroidered s url-b()soms that are the pride and admiration of their posterity But the spinning jenny and the sewin- machine liave superseded these industries, and now the parlor organ, the piano, the ma-azme books o travel, his- torv, etc., etc., offer stimulus and reward to well earned leisure.^ It is fair, however, to acknowledge that not every farmer's wi^e can enioy these advantages. There are cases where impaired health, strai-htened means, or a rapidly increasinii: family make such demands ity Mixiij^. pensation. . . ^ , ii i lie wko '' adjusts the balance " knows how to adapt the means, and in such homes 'he rears and educates the Lincolns, the Garhelds and the ]\Ioodvs, who are to lead the conquering hosts of freedom and re- demptiom Some one has beautifully said, '^ When God ^^^lnt s to grow a fine tree he sets it solitary," and so when he would build a line char- acter he isolates it in some country home and surrounds it with those elements of earth and heaven which conduce to its growth, symmetry and fitness for service. . , . -, ^ - i There is something in farm woik, and in the freedom andindepen- dence of country life, that stirs the blood and sends it coursing richer and redder through the heart and to the brain. It inspires courage. It prompts to action. Find me the^iien that are reaching lor the high prizes of life, the successful lawyer, the doctor, the minister, the busi- ness man, and in a majority of cases you will find he has been moth- ered by some modest, sensible, industrious farmer's wife, lie has breathed the air of a country home, and learned from the soil the les- son that thorns and thistles grow for the idler, while the pleasant fruits of the earth are the reward of faithful labor. He needs not to be told by Ga^the that '' Nothing comes to a man in his sleep. lie lias learned that lesson well, and with the health, hope and courage of a pure life and praiseworthy example he buckels on the armor of toil in whatever field of effort he may choose. ,,.,., -, . Not less in the character of her sons than in the fruitful an(l pleas- ant homes of this favored land of Penn, has the farmer's wife— the patient, faithful helpmeet of her husband— left her unfading impress. It is but just to allow her the recomi)ense accorded her by the wise king: ^^Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. SANITARY SCIENCE PERTAINING TO AGRICULTURE AND STOCK RAISING. By Geo. E. IIoltzapple, M. I)., Loganville, Penna, It is necessary for a farmer, in order to be truly intelligent, and equally successful, to possess a knowledge of the laws of nature. In sanitary science we study those laws of nature which pertain to health This brings before us (5ne of the most important subjects, tliat should interest the farmer. n To follow the dictates of a thorougli knowledge on this subject, aids in gaining and retaining health and wealth. To obey the laws of nature means success, and reverse is but too true. Alf living organ- isms are liable to disease; animals as well as vegetables. In health all the fluids of the })ody are in no respect abnormal ; the tissues and organs have their normal structure and properties ; and all the func- tions of the organism are completely and harmoniously performed. If any change occurs from the preceding, certain phenomenta result which may be called disease. Perfect, health is purely ideal; it never exists. I shall devote my time to the consideration of some of the principal causes of disease in the lower animals. Animals may appear to be in good health, yet they may at the same time possess a hereditarv predisposition to cer- tain affections which greatly increase their liability to disease. Thus we speak of animals having dillerent temperaments, these being inter- nal predisposing causes of disease, and are of importance, because they modity the inlluences of the external causes which may be predispos- ing or exciting. The horse is generally of a sanguine temperament, but may be of a nervous or lymphatic temperament. The mule is generally of a sanguine-nervous temperament. Considering the amount of exposure, cruelty and hardship that both must endure, they possess considerable power of resisting the influences causing enzootic and epizootic diseases. The lympliatic temperament generally predominates in t-lie l)ovine species. They are especially liable to disease of the digestive ap- paratus, blood and nutrition. The course and severity of a disease are very much affected by the temperament of the individual. The temperament of an individual may be greatly modified by vari- ous causes, such as climate, nature of food and nianner of rearing. Hence we find different temperaments in different individuals l)elong- ing to the same species. The constitution, age and sex of different in- dividuals of different species also greatly modities the inlluences which tend to produce disease. Various domesticated animals having a different organization, pos- sess a different predisposition to contract, particular diseases. Thus we find glanders and farcy in the horse, pleuropneumonia in cattle and rabies primarily in the dog. It has been observed that cross-bred and high-bred cattle are very susceptible ^to disease from their pre- cious development, and that animals in a certain climate possess a pre- disposition to certain maladies, and that individuals oftlie same species in a different climate are predisposed primarily to different diseases. Hence the effect of climate upon the predispositions of dillerent in- dividuals belonging to the same species. What, then, is the effect of importing animals from a different climate, upon the indigenous in- dividnals belonging to the same species? Imported animals with a different predisposition, under suitable in- fluences, may develop diseases, which were until then unknown in the new locality, and some of these diseases may in this way become fixed, and occur among the native animals thereafter. Again, we read of the fact that imported animals may in some way cause disease among the native animals, they themselves remaining unaffected, of an epizootic nature that would in time exterminate the native animals and leave the imported to inhabit the new locality. Il is thought by some that animals of one 8f)ecies possess a morbicl influence on those of another. '^ It is stated, for instance, that the hog is possessed of an 254 Quarterly Report. unhealthy iiinuence over alltl.e domesticated animals near it; that crabs die when pifrs pass under the wagon on which they are carried ; that silk worms die when attended by negroes; that silk-worm es ab- lishments are unhealtiiv to n)an and he-^sl.— Fie mining. According to some authors, the sheep is the most delicate and hence he most susceptible to disease, of all our domestic animals We o ten ear the expression that hogs do not endure much sickness, but 1 think thev possess a remarkable inherent power of resisting the intluenc^js causing disease, when we examine the salubrity ol the pigstyes in the country and observe to what predisposing and exciting agencies they are continually exposed. The temperament and constitution of a I animals may be greatly modilied by locality. The altitude ot a local- itv also moJities the iniluences which cause disease. Atmospheric pressure, if diminished or increased, causes disturbance oi tlie lunc- tions of the various organs, especially of those of respiration and cir- culation. Miasmatic iniluences exist only to a certain altitude. High plains, wlien dry, are healthy ; when wet, are apt to be mal- arious and unhealthy. Damp valleys surrounded by high hills and mountains, covered with thick undergrowth, are also fertile places ior the develoi)ment of n)iasms and dillerent organic impurities. It they are exposed to the free circulation of air and the inlluence of sunlight, they are more healthy. When a permeable soil lies over an imper- meable subsoil, a locality is apt to be unhealthy to man and animals. Durin"- a rainy season, such a soil becomes wet and saturated witli organic matter. This makes a region unhealthy for numerous reasons. The principal agency in drying such a soil is evaporation, making the atmosphere damp and, sometimes, cold, especially at nigtit. ilie plants in sucli a locality are apt to be large, coarse and watery, and without much nutriment . , ^ * ,^= Such regions are sometimes deficient in certain mineral substances, and if not supplied bv rain, as during a dry season, or otherwise, the plants not possessing "them become much less adapted to completely nourish the grazing animals. After the water is evaporated the earth dries and cracks, injuring the phuits and organic matter decomposes, saturating the atmosphere with poisonous products, which cause en- zootic and epizootic diseases. Marshy districts are even worse yet The nature of the prevailing diseases of a locality is greatly allected by the seasons. , , , , , , 'Here also tiie soil is full of animal and vegetable matter caused by a wet season, or the overflowing of streams or both. This organic matter is alwavs undergoing putrefaction, but less when the soil is very wet Putrefaction is most marked during the hot summer and autumn months, charging the air with the most dangerous poisonous ellluvia which may excite destructive enzootic and epizootic diseases, resulting not only in an individual financial loss, but in a national misfortune. . , , > i- i We ol)serve that man and beast are most prone to take disease dui- in- these seasons, being then physically worn down, vitality reduced, from overwork, heat, poor food, impure water, loul air. etc. Animals grazing late in the evening, during the night or early in the morning in these regions, are more liable to become diseased than others graz- ing amrdevel- ?fvdr^blv "7 ' "'^''''"^ '' "^T "«^ ""^'"■^">' "^'^ ^^'«» surrounded tavoiably. Animas so reared are apt to be coarse, lax, with large ab.lomen skin thick and shaggy. The predisposition and tempera^ inent that an animal acquires while reared in such a locaMtv Tre not easily eradicated when in a healthy district afterward It is ot m In «^ffi? .f^^'^ lor investment. Animals in marshy districts are apt to sufler the same diseases in winter, but in such milder form Rain dmunishes the tendency to the infectious diseases by wa in.^ a 3 cleansing the atmosphere from this putrid matter. It is then ciTriied into the earth, but the hot sun soon causes it to complete its cre^Jt making the region even moro dangerous than before the rain by has-' V^iSZSZ. ""^ P"^'-*^''^^"""' ^'"'^ «g^"' ««t"nxting thL aLos- The impurities may enter the system through the di-estive oro-ans with he lood and drink ; through the lungs by^inhalinl them 8ome localities are damp, and therefore unhealthy, because some soils have greater power o retaining water than others. This mav be a very ex cimg cause o disease. It is important and interesting to study the diHerence of the qualities of dillerent soils, with reference to heat ad water. These qualities greatly affect the 'atmosphere ol a region ad geSr^?iSr "hr;ts":rfi's' ^^'^'y:^sk-i abundant and nu( ritious. You will at once obserle that he^'/reW sition ol annua s, reared in such a locality, must diller from thoseTn animals reared in a damp locality. In these dry, healthy regions, vJe do not meet with t he enzootic diseases of the damp, malarious .listricJs l^^nzootic and epizootic diseases are often caused by the insalubritv of the atmosphere Sudden atmospherical changes, as in the temper- ature humidity, the presence of poisonous gases and organic impuri- ties, frequently generate disease. The atmosphere must continia llv change or it will become stagnant and insalubrious, but the necess rv ch,.nges shoul.l be gradual and continuous. An abrupt change from a high to a low temperature retards the exhalations of the skin The blood becomes charged with products that must be eliminated by the inlernal organs. Ihe cutaneous blood vessels contract, causing inter- nal congestions, by vvhich the functions of the various internalor.'ans become deranged. It may result in inllammation alfecting espechdlv hnt 11T{ ""■ I'^^'^^^f «' intestines and kidneys. Anin.als reared in a hot and dry atmosphere are remarkable for their vigor. The various unctions are generally completely and actively performed The functions of the skiu are especially active. Perspiration is rare evao- oration being as rapid as exhalation. Such an atmosphere is, there- -i I I 256 Quarterly Report. fore, unfavorable to the development and spreadin<> of epizootic dis- eases. Animals reared in a hot and damp atmosphere are not as strong, and do not possess the dense tissues of those in a hot and dry atmosphere. Tiie various functions are not as actively performed ; evaporation being very limited, tlie exhalations of the skin and lungs are diminished, resulting in a languid circulation. Here the days may be hot but the nights are apt to be cold. In such localities animals are very liable to various organic derangements and certain specific or endemic diseases from the deleterious gases, organic impurities which they eat, drink and inhale. Harmful insects often exist in such lo- calities, which are a x>est to the animals if they do not create and con- vey diseases. The atrial currents may carry such a pernicious atmos- phere to healthy regions with similar results. Germs developed in such localities are thought to be somewhat like the yeast fungus, hav- ing the power to multiply rapidly while in the air. A cold atmos- phere, when dry, is generally healthy. It acts favorably in su])press- ing certain epizootic diseases. When cold and damp it is decidedly unhealthy, aliecting, directly or indirectly, all the functions of the body. It also diminishes the exhalations of the lungs and skin; the blood is imperfectly depurated and, as a result, modiiies tlie functions of the various structures of the organism. I wish to impress upon you that the functions of the skin are very important. Fogs and mists are claimed to be injurious when they carry poison- ous etlluvia. The atmosphere may be the medium by wdiich animals are brought in contact wiih all kinds of germs, bacteria, micrococci, spores of cryptogamic plants, etc. Some of 1 hese, wdien in contact with nitrogenous matter, cause decomposition and putrilication. By fogs and mists these organisms are brought in contact with animals in an especially concentrated form. I do not mean to say that these cryptogamic plates are alw^ays in- jurious to the body. They may have some important office to perform. Food poisoning, insufficient nutriment, predisposes animals to diseases, chielly characterized by debility. If the salts be insufficient, it causes imperfect development of the skeleton in the young and disease of the bones in the adult. Plants grown upon elevated regions, exposed to the sun, may be so liard and indigestible as to be very unhealthy. Pastures covered with hoar frost, are liable to pro- duce chills and gastric disturbance ; when covered with dew, in marshy districts, they may cause disease from the organic impurities of the dew. The dew is probably not injurious in itself. Some plants are noxious to one species of animals and not to another. Animals accustomed to certain plants, can eat them with impunity while new arrivals can not. The water that animals drink should be clear and pure, without taste or smell and capable of dissolving soap. Water heated by the sun is not very healthy. Animals drinking freely of cold water right after fatigue, or after being heated, are liable to suffer Iihk tional disturbance and various inllammations. Animals should never suffer from thirst. Contagious diseases and various other allections are greatly favored in a dry season when animals can not regularly and completely satisfy their thirst. The nature of the food also influences the amount of water necessary for an animal. In a dry season the food is apt to be more dry than during a wet season, necessitating a still larger amount of water. Too large an amount, or too sudden ()- 1 Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 257 change in the quality, may cause functional disturbance. When water contains a large amount of earthy salts,it may cause functional disturbance of the alimentary canal, the formation of exostoses or bony tumors, and urinary calculi. The substance generally found in excess is some form of lime. Water may l)e unhealthy to beast as well as man from the presence of organic impurities. This condition depends much on the surroundings and soil. In marshy districts, ac- cording to some authors, it varies from ten to one hundred grains to the gallon. Heavy rains, inundations of low lands may saturate the earth with these substances, which are afterward drained in the water- ing places. The water of 'shallow ponds, ditches, pools in the fields and along the ])ublic highw^ays, are unhealthy. It is of no little importance to consider the influence that dwellings may have in predisposing, or directly causing disease. The domesti- cated animals should be comfortably housed, they should have plenty of breathing space, plenty of pure fresh air, and freely of the light of of day. Animals should be kept clean and dry. The stable should smell no more of the horse than the house should of the man, but I fear they both smell sometimes decidedly too strong of their occupants. These sanitary points are especially important during the prevalence of contagious and infectious diseases. The majority of barns have too little breathing space. The emanations from the excreta of the animals, with the exhalations of the cutaneous surface and lungs, rap- idly impregnate the atmosphere they ])reathe, with impurities which are pernicious to health. One of the most fruitful causes of disease among animals consists in overcrowding them in lilthy stables, that are damp, poorly drained, with a limited amount of "^pure air and sunlight. Such unhealthy surroundings knver the vitality of the individuals, and may lead to the developmentof miasm, or impurities, resulting in destructive enzootic and epizootic diseases. One barn of this nature may not only lead to the infection of its own aninuils, but it may become the center from w^hich a wdiole community may be made to suffer. Animals so kept are more prone to an attack of l)revailing contagious and infectious diseases than others properly kept. Oold and damp dwellings are unhealthy, interfering especially with the functions of the skin and lungs. Hot and damp air also interferes with the exhalations of the skin and lungs, by which impur- i ies are constantly thrown from the body. This labor is then thrown upon the internal organs. In fact all the secretions and excretions become impregnated by them, so that even the milk becomes very l)erceptibly tainted from cows so housed. The flesh from animals so kept is pale, soft, and posses a peculiar odor. It will not keep as long ;.s that from healthy animals. If these impurities are not constantly eliminated by some of the emunctories, the animal soon dies, ^\'hen the breathing space is insufficient, decomposition and putritication of animal matter is liable to occur, poisoning the air still more. Pure air is as necessary to the health of our aninuils as good food and drink. There are many instances on record where animals i)erish from over- crowding. The principle cause of disease from overcrowding consists of the organic impurities thrown off by the animals. Sunlight is as important to our domesticated animals as it is to man. It is an active siimulous to someof the chemical and vital processes of the organism. Especially is its stimulating inlluence benelicial in all amemic con- ditions. All our domesticated aninuils enjov it; thev become dull when closely confined for a long time. The majority of our barns are 17 QUAR. K. 258 Quarterly Report. r Iniilt entirely too low. The hot expired air can scarcely ascend above the heads of the animals. Tlie air the animals l)reathe is thus, necessarily, more contaminated than it would he if the hot expired air could ascend. This foul air should be carried away continually by some good system of ventilation, wliich is an important point to consider in erecting barns, and I fear too much neglected. It is not only imi)ortant to ventilate a barn below, l)ut also above. We often see many barns full of ventilators at the sides, but on tlie inside we find hay, straw and fodder closely packed, forbidding the least circu- lation of air. A good system of ventilation should exist above and below, that could be easily regulated as circumstances might recpiire. I have thus briefly called your attention to many important i)()ints in sanitary science, which, I think, should be studied by all farmers and taught to farmer's sons. According to Flemming, to whom I am greatly indebted, ^'science cannot trace throughout the animal organ- ism the various reactions to which certain causes give rise, because of their comi)lexity and extreme subtlety, yet it may, nevertheless, be received as an establislied fact, that agents to which the development of the various maladies are due, are as invariable in their effects or results they produce, as those which occasion the most simple phe- nomena." Laplace says, that "a thing cannot exist without a v^ause sutlicient to produce it." According to Watson, •' To know the cause of a disease is sometimes to be able to cure it." "- A knowledge of this subject is of paramount importance, when we remember that to multiply, improve, and preserve the domesticated animals, is to ren- der the soil more fertile, to facilitate traffic and intercourse, to aug- ment the food resources of the country, to increase the national prosperity, and promote civilization." ROADMAKING. By RoBT. J. Belt, Wellsville, Pa, Roads are a i)rime necessity, and it has been well said, thai the roads of a nation are a fair index of the intelligence, the enterprise and the civilization of a community or a state. The savage is content with a pathless wilderness, while the necessities of the more advanced man impel him to stake a plain or blaze a pathway through the for- est. As communities increase in population and their wants increase, the public road is laid out, and in ])i()p()rtion to the intelligence and enterprise of the people do their roads improve from a streak of mud and almost impassible hills, to a firm, smooth thoroughly drained and grade()ard was inadecpiate and the many urgent calls from citizens of the State for Board meetings led to the passage of an act providing for the holding of Farmers' Institutes and 262 Quarterly Report. General Farmers' Convention under the direction of the Board of Ag- riculture. A rule of the board requires all i.apers read at these insti- tutes to be handed over to the member in charjie or to the secretary or the use of the Board which will entitle the author to pay for his or her expense. Agriculture is a broad field and a Avide range of subjects in thepro- graninie m both the Board and institute meetings is admissible Lawretice county is without a member in the Slate Board I have often wondered with its once tine agricultural society and the pro- gressive spirit of its citizens that it has so long remained witliout representation. AVe have fanners, meclianics, doctors, lawyers, min- isters and professors in the Board. If there is any advantage in an institute or Board meeting, your resident member,' wlien elected can asic and get a meeting while you could not e.\i)ect a Board ineetin<>- once a year, yet it is possible to have a General Farmers' Institute each year If by the name Lawrence, you are crowned with laurels, why isolate yourselves, ycu are a part of this great Commonwealth While we do not profess to teach the citizens of Lawrence county in ao-ricul- ture or in the mechanic arts or stock raising, we would be highly hon- ored It your wreath of laurels would surround, or rather crown, the Board of Agriculture. ' The aim of the Board in its meetings and also of the institutes under the auspices of the Board is to promote friendship, to make acquaint- ances, to extend the benehts of enlightened in<|uiry among the farm- ers and laboring class of our State, to induce the habit of thought among the agriculturists in its varied features, to bring out the aid of 01 the brain, to use brain work in the system of farming. Brain and muscle must work together so that you can make two blades of grass grow wliere only one grew before. Lawrence county is a border county far away from experiment stations, such as we find at the State College near Bellefonte, the bulletins o Avhich are scattered over the State giving a statement of experiments in grain and grass growing also of dairy products, &c Such experiments where made by the farmers in each and every county IS highly commended. Along with this the necessity of plant- ing or sowing the best seed and the use of the best improved farm machinery, also the rearing or breeding the best blooded stock. This IS a science 111 which great progress has been made, but not fully un- derstood lalatioii. I assert that, other things being equal, the greater the population the greater the comfort which an equitable (listributioa of wealth would -ive to each individual. I assert, that in a state of equality, the natirral in- crease of population would constantly tend to make every individual richer instead of ]>oorer." Thus he would dispose of these theories . that seem practically to have failed to bring about the social con- ditions that should he desired and may be expected. Thus far his work IS chielly distinctive and now follows the constructive part of it which It not the most plausible, is still the most interesting, because it touches matters that are of personal interest to all. IVuvin- and overthrowing as he does, many of the ideas that he claims ^are'" held erroneously, he attributes all the evils which he notices, and there are many ol them, to wrong theories of economists and statesmen in regard to natural provisions and the products of labor. And chief among these wrong ideas is this, that land is allowed to be held as nri- vate property, or that there may be individual ownership in land. And of course the remedy for all evils, growing out of this error, is the correction isMf, which he would do by making all land common property 1 overty deepens as wealth increases, and wages are forced down, while productive power goes up. this is because land, which is the source of all wealth and the Held of all labor, is monopolized. lo remove these evils there must l)e substituted, for the individual ownership, a common ownership of land. And he claims to prove that this panacea will substitute equality for inequality, plenty for want, justice for injustice, social strength for social weakness, and often the way to grander and nobler advances in civilization. He asserts the injustice of private property in land, and proves the assertion by saying that the right of ownership must rest alternately in a man's ownership of himself and then afterwards in what ^he produces. Mature has de t impartially with men. and all she gives them riHitto now IS what they produce. She knows no such distinction a smaster' and slave, king and subject, saint and sinner. All men, to her, stand ;;P^" .'1" t'l"''^'.<««fMI«;.Vjd l'=ive equal rights. If the pirate spreads his sails the wind will hll them as readily as those of the peaceful merchantman or missionary bark. If a king and a common man be thrown overboard neither can keep his head up without swim- n i'^Kprn!'" t,'' '-u """""^ ^l H '''*'* ^y o^n^'-s «(■ t''e soil any nr w;n . f K-. 'T ^u^ 7"^^ ^ ^^ ''^°* ^y ** poacher. Fish will bite th.m w A '\K% ^r"" '" .""^'" disregard as to whether it is offered them by a good little boy, who goes to Sunday school, or by a bad fZ Tn^ fir^' 1?'"' \T''*- '^^^^, «"" «'»"^«- '-^'"1 the rain tails, and the ar blows, alike upon the just and the unjust. The natural laws are butthe decrees of the Creator. And in I hem is written fpn'^t^rTn "/ 'r^ ,"^^u' '^''^ V''»^ "'■ ^'^I'or. And in them is writ- ten, broadly and clearly, the equal right of all men to the use and enjoyment of nature, to apply to her their exertions, and receive and possess from her her reward. If we are all here by the equal ,„.rmis"ion of the Creator, a hypothesis no one will care to negative. TImm we are all nVlftTn H '" "'^"f^ ';.''" \" ^^" enjoymentof his bounty, withanequ nght to the u.e of all nature so impartially offered. And he leads by fn?n Jfy T^^r *'T^'^ "'' "•■«'"^ent up to this assertion, showini: the injustic^ of individual ownership in land. That if any one in.livid- "al could concentrate in himself all the individual rights to the land ^■'\ • / rENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 267 ffnti'^' "T"*?''^'' I'f f "*"!'/ ''''P^^ therefrom all the rest of the inhabi- tants. And could he thus concentrate the in.lividual ri-dits to the who e surface of the globe, he alone of all the population otJie earth Sod's^ unL'e'toT;'' '" 'r^ "ot-ithstanding ill' that appear^ tTbe ijod h pill pose to the contrary. fact^I./M'll!:'nl^''^"'•'"'H?^"P'■^'''■ '*"' greater, he brings out the fact that the ullunate result of private ownership of land fs the en savement of laborers. Place one hundred men on an sland. f,' m • w Inch there is no escape, and whether you make one of these m;,, 1 e absolu eow-nerof themnety-ninemenor the absolute owner of he soil of he island makes no difference to him or them. In the one case as in the other, the one will be the absolute master of the ninety nine' his powerex ending even to life and death for sinqdv to refuse them permission to live upon the island would be to' force thJm in o he sea. Haying shown what he claims is evil and injustice of land ownership, he says: "expediency, therefore, ioins iustice in demanding that we abolish it." And when the^ question of compensation to present owners is raised, he would not entertain nnt nn.i '''^'' r '.''' /",^" deseiwes compensation for what does not and never did belong to him, and which he may for a n?fh,- Tx '^'^ \'"Justly used to his own advantage. He is notlung like so anxious to compensate the lawful owners of lawful and beneficial ])roperty for the loss of it, as some of our legislators are to compensate the lawful vendors of poverty and death-dealings spirits ffnnl^lo ' ^^'^^ '"'^"''^ '"'^'"'^ ^y the enactment of a prohillition r.S'V'^?!'T•"':? T''-''^ '"^-^ ^^ ^''•"^'^ the insuperable difficulty in h!^^rn.'.ruV'^''M '"•?,""""'''"' ''^"d '»"^^^"S befoVe the difficulty he proposes wha will either result in its accomplishment or be in effect the same thing. His remedy comes up under the head Of taxa- t on. And here the question increases in interest, especially with sZ17l i""''''-"'**r™^"-.,^'' '■^'''"'- taxes for public revenues it should be done in the way that will least effect production. All the modern modes of taxation have a tendency to check production and at^iould on that account not be resorted to, if it is possible to raise money by taxes which do not check production. Now,the greatclass ol taxes from which such revenue may be derived, are taxes upon mo.mpolies, for the prolit of monopoly is in itself a tax levied upon produc ion, and o lax it is simply to turn into the public coffers what pioduction would have to pay at any rate. And among monopolies, the greatest one is the monopoly of land, compared with it all others are trivial. Upon land then, he would lay the taxes, not upon the im- provements, but upon the land, parts and simple. He would abolish all other taxes, and all other sources of revei.ue. All tariffs duties &c and tax all lAnd, almost to the amount of its rent value ' laxes may be imposed on the value of land until rent is consumed wi M.ut reducing the wages of labor <,r the reward of capital one iota; Mil H.ut increasing the price of a single commodity, or making pro- du.lKu, HI any way more difficult. And he concludes and argues to his conclusion : that to thus lay all taxes upon land would. 1st. in- crease the production of wealth. The needle of the seamstress and the great manufactory, the carthorse and the locomotive, the fishing boat and the steamship the farmer's plow and the merchant's stock^ would be alike untaxed ; all woul.l be free to make or save, to buy or sell, unhned by taxes, uuannoyed by tax-gatherers. Instead of say- 'I 238 Quarterly Report. ing to the producer as it does now : " The more yoii add to the ^en- eral wealth the more you shall be taxed;'' the State would say to him: *' Be as industrious, as tluifty, as enterprising as you choose, you shall have your full reward. You shall not be lined for inakiiii]:: two blades of grass grow where one grew before; you shall not be taxed for adding to the general wealth." 2d. It would equalize the distribution of wealth, and in that way become a general benefit. And 3d. It would benefit every class. The loudest objections to his theory he foresees, will be made by the farmers, and to them he makes this special address, with which I conclude. So will it benelit the farmer. I speak not of farmers who never touch the handles of the plow, who cultivate thousands of acres, and enjoy incomes like those of the rich Southern planters belbre the war; 'but of the working farmers who constitute such a large class in the United States. Men who own small farms which they cultivate with the aid of their boys, and perhaps some hired help. Strange as it may seem they have most to gain by placing all taxes upon the value of land. That they do not now get as good a living as their hard work ought to get them, they will themselves generally admit. The fact is, that taxes as now levied fall on them with a peculiar severity. They are taxed on all their improvements— houses, barns, fences, crops, stock. The personal property which they have cannot be as readily concealed or under- valued as can the more valuable kinds which are concentrated in the cities. They are not only taxed on personal property and improve- ments, which the owners of unused land escape, but their land is generally tax^d at a higher rate than land held on speculation simply because it is improved. But farther than this, all taxes imposed on commodities, and especially the taxes wdiich, like our protective du- ties, are imposed wath a view^ to raising the prices of commodities, fall on the farmer without mitigation, for in a country like the United States, which exports agricultural products, the farmer cannot be pro- tected.^ Whoever gains lie must lose. And to him more than to the man of any other class will accrue the advantages of this new philoso- phy. He would then be taxed upon the land alone, whereas he is now taxed upon land and everything else. He can now rellect upon himself only in the light of a cutting caricature that w^as published years ago by the free trade leagues of New York. He rises in the morning and draws on his pantaloons taxed forty per cent., and his boots taxed thirty per cent., striking a light with a match taxed two hundred per cent., and so on following him through the day and through life, till he is killed by taxation ; he is lowered into the irrave with a rope taxed forty-five per cent. From this death, at ieasti he is to be delivered, and instead of dying from the very beginning of li^'e, he is to begin then to live, and live progressivelv, live more intelli- gently, more comfortably, more happily and more usefully until he real- izes the ideal.social and commercial sit uation,wherein poverty and want, and hard and prolitless toil, shall have given place to riches and plenty and ease. ^ It; Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 269 SMALL FRUIT FOR ALL PURPOSES. By Edward W. Reid, Bridgeport, Ohio. I suppose the people of this institute expected to see a much older person step to the lloor than myself, when my name was called nut as It falls to my lot to tell you how to grow small fruit and that successlully, I will endeavor to do so. And before I begin I wish to say to the farmers of WashintHon county, that I do not stand before them as an advertisement of plants troin the Sunny Hill fruit farm. But to tell you how to grow fruit for ditierent purposes. ^ It can be cultivated in Washington countv, Pennsylvania, just as in Helmont county, Ohio, your soil is very much the same as that of ouis. It is true that a small portion of West Virginia lies between us (but It ought to belong to this State) and then w^e would be more closely connected. Before I begiu to describe the fruit interest it might be beneiicial for me to give you a little of my historv so that you could bear with me better through mv remarks. Although it is very embarrassing to me to stand before so many that are much older than myself, and tell them how to do, and what to do, to be successful in this enterprise. I was boru in 1868, on what is now known as the Sunny Hill fruit farm, and since I was old enough to know what berries and other small fruits were, I have been engaged in them. In 1878 I lost my father, and after his death I was left to manaf>-e the farm, as there were no other boys at home. "^ Only a little over fourteen years old at that time, it was a great undertaking for me. I had my choice, farming or fruit growiug, I took the latter, as I had spent most of my time at this, while father managed the other products. But you could not expect much of one not yet fifteen vears old. I took quite a liking to fruit growing and \lelighted in line fruit and was crowned with success, but I had a hard road to travel to find it. 1 tried every way until I found what / thought was the best. I had no person to advise me, or to go to in time of want, but had to rely on my knowledge. But to-da/ I feel proud that I can stand before this people and tell you that I am the youngest horticulturist in the Ohio State Horticul- tural Society, and one of the largest fruit growers in the State. This has all been done in the course of less than ten years and now am known as an authority on small fruit. ' My dear friends I do not say this boastingly before you, but to let you know how it is I stand before you to-day. There is one that is above all others that has the honor for mv success. Although I have worked hard to achieve mv point, I owe it all to my Maker, ''IIo that doeth all things well." Ill l>fc ■■•i iiinTii'if»Trii« ^ 270 Quarterly Ri^port. But to come back to the point of my address ''Small Fruit." How many are there of you who do not delight in one ot the luxuries of lite, I often think that I could not live were it not ibr fruit, but that is not true, for there is nothing in this world which we cannot do without if we have to. I will divide my subject into three parts, small fruit for the family, small iruit for prolit and small fruit without prolit. 1 will take lirst small truit for the family, as it is the most beneficial to you of Washington county, and will say first, that there should not be one family in this county that should not grow your own fruit, and when I say that I do not believe there are two out of twelve that do it I believe 1 would be in bounds. I think it was only a year ago that one of your leading grocers that I shipped to, told me that most all the farmers bought tlieir berries. Now, gentlemen, this is not right, for I know it you had to buy, you did not have enough, and that they were not first-class jruit. 'For first-class fruit, can only be produced just when it comes from the vine. This IS not a cheaper way but the most profitable way to have your fruit on your farm, make home happy, try and encourage the boys to stay on the farm, don't feed him the same you old men had when you were boys. Rememl)er this is the age of progression and if vou don't make home happy, the boys and girls will want to leave the farm. This is one way, plant out some small fruit so they can have access to it whenever they feel so inclined. You will find that this is not only ])eneficial as a comfort, but to the healtli also, lor there is nothing more healthful than plenty of small Iruit or fruit of any kind. I would recommend every farmer to plant about two hundred straw- berries, this will supply an ordinary family for all purposes These will only cost you about $1.00 to $1.50 for that number, you should prepare the ground very early in the spring, and send to your nurseryman, or whoever you get your trees or plants from tc^lling him what you want them for and more than likely he will know more about it than you as to variety. As for me to recommend varieties to you, I do not like to do it. As It might be that varieties I should recommend would be a failure with you, where they would prove a success with me. I will tell you what are successful with me and if you were to tell me the nature of your soil I could tell you what would succeed with vou. I grow the Wilson, Crescent, Sharpless, Cumberland, May King and Jucunda, for profit, but there is no use for vou for home use with more than two varieties. I would prefer Wilson and Cumberland. lou will see I have omitted all new varieties from this list. Not that 1 do not Ihink that they are worthy, but do not want any body to think that I come to advertise plants. I think the Jessies, Bur- back No. 15, will make two of as fine berries as grown, but have not yet been thoroughly tested and the plants are expensive, too much so tor growing fruit. As to the culture of strawberries, plant on good soil where the ground is not too loose, it needs to be where it will pack, cover well with burn-yatd manure and plow deep, harrow it well but not too much, 60 as to tramp the ground as solid as it was before it was plowed. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 271 I vvish to speak on that a moment,' we harrow our soil too much plmved. '" *=' ''""^ " "^"'"'^ '^^ '^^'"^ -"' '' ^-^^ before iT was For early crops we should do more fall plowin- so that all that would-be necessary would be to drag the harrow over the ground l^o I have heard men recommend to harrow and harrow, and then bar- and':lrteTf ?7m"e^'^ ''•■""'^'' ^" ''''''''' '''^^"^ ' ^^^ ^« '^^' '"»'^«'-ess Give the soil a good harrowing and then put the roller on it to Td loose. '''• ^ "'' " '''' ^'^''' '■^"^^■' '"' ™'^ ^^'•^""d is very rich When your ground has been rolled, take and stretch a line as Ion- as you want your rows, then take a spade and turn the front of it tS you and push it in along side of the line. Then take your plant in h^nd' ^'\t """T TT"^ ^"*i' ""'' *^T '" ^'^« «P«»i»g' '^'^ top in the hand Do not plan too deep, as this is ruinous to the plant; take your foot and press the dirt firmly about the plants, so that theV w U not pull out by the leaf. This is the way I test them when my nTen are planting. As this is a very particular part of the business, if you t1mrof''wor\ing. ^''" '^^ ""' only lose t lie ground and crop, but 'the Two men and a boy this way can plant over one acre per dav. and do It be er than any other I have yet seen. I say better, dTS better; the plant is not down in a hole to be covered with cultivator or roots all in a ball to dry out the first hot sun that comes, foir^/ ■*"" '^ be worked once a week, or twice in three weeks at the farthest, lor nice frut. I prefer a Planet Junior horse hoe, but if not at hand use a common cultivator. Keep all runners off' up to the middle of August, this gives the plants a good start, but if you leave the first runners on that start vou may expect to have treble plants all summer It IS best not to use the cultivator after September 15, for you want theground to settle to be ready for the winter. In December, when the ground is frozen, cover, but not too heavv dd one?"^ '*'' '"''""'■^- ^ "'® manure for young vines and straw for It is best for farmers to plant every other year, as the vines do not do well longer. You can take your plants from your own bed after you once get a start. "^ ^^^ In the spring do not cultivate, but go through and take all weeds and grass out before fruiting time. This in all will not cost you more J,rll\ T u' ''",*^ '' '* '^'"''^ P™^^t you more than twic4 that the first year, 1 will make you a present of your fruit the next After the iruit is gathered, take and work them down like a young bed. cut out between hill and in the rows, work the rest of the season as you wou d a young bed. They should be plantcl lor matted rows three feet by eighteen inches, and for hill, two and a half by one I will take the raspberry next, as it comes after the strawberrv in truiting. One hundred j.lanis will supply a good-sized family, but if you should desire the red, make it one hundred and twentv-five The black I would plant fifty early, fifty late and twenty-five red for family use. I would recommend Doolittle or Souhegan, Ohio and Cuthbert re- ^mnnpwtnm 272 Quarterly Report. spectively, you will notice 1 have omitted the Gregg. I do not like this variety for home use, as it is too seedy. The soil should be prepared the same as for strawberries, but instead of tlie line take a single shovel plow and mark straight rows, seven feet apart, and ])lant three leet in the row. The plant should be well firmed to the ground with your feet, as this is very essential in all kind of planting, Do not plant too deep and be careful of the bud, as sometimes it is broken in planting, as it is very tender. The culture of these is not so confining as the strawberry, you can plant a row of potatoes or tomatoes between them, anything so as not to shade. I prefer potatoes, as they can be taken out and the vines worked in the fall. These should also be worked with the horse hoe or cultivator, so as not to get a ridge about the plants, as most people get around their potatoes, so it w^ould split a rain drop. When the vines get one foot higli. pinch the top out, this will make it throw out laterals which produce the fruit. In pruning them, do it in the spring, about the time the leaves commence to grow; and after the fruit is gathered, go through them and cut all of the old wood out and burn it, as this is what produces rust and insects which injure both vine and plant. The second year, w^hen the sprouts are one and a half feet high, i)inch out the top with thumb and finger, b}^ so doing you can get along without staking and grow many more berries. Never let more than three good canes stand in the hill, for they will produce more fruit than six sj^indley canes. You cannot work them too much, any time you have the time and you see weeds or grass starting, work tliem. It is also a good plan if you have manure, to give the ground a coat the spring after planting, just before plowing. The red should be worked the same as the black. The blackberry follows the raspberry in planting and will use it the same way. This variety of fruit grows wild, I suppose, with you, but not in as fine (piality as the cultivated and it is a much better way to cultivate it near the house than have it all over the iarm and have'^the ])oys tearing down fences to steal it from you. I consider this one of the tinest fruits that grows for family i)urposes. Seventy-five plants of these will be sufficient, wliich will cost about seventy-five cents. Will recommend the 8nyder. These are worked just the same as the raspberries in every respect, so there is no use of going over it. After the berries comes the currant. These could be continued in the same rows as the raspberry and worked just the same, only in re- gard to trimming. This fruit is very highly esteemed ])y most^dl, but in late years the crop has decreased on account of the green worm. This can be remedied by using hellebore. Distribute it on in the morning when the dew^ is on so it will stick. One dozen of these I would judge sufficient, which would cost fifty cents. Cherry I would recommend. Last, but not least, comes the grape. Show me tlie man, woman or child tliat cannot sit down and relish a feast of this delicious fruit. Even if it is as old as the universe and was made before man, it still holds its position. I think nothing is more inviting tiian to look at the vine ladened with black, red or green fVuit. No wonder the boy would steal it if not have them at home; would almost do it myself. And to think that so many farmers just for lack of setting a few Vines will go on in this old-fashioned wav without his fruit. Now, in our (p>$ m ■^^ H \ ; Pennsylvania Board of Aortculture. 273 State you might as well be out of the world as out of Yhe fashion, and presume it is the same here. So, farmers, let this old way of doincr drop. Invest four or five dollars in these dillerent varieties of fruir and in a year or so you will wonder how vou have lived so long with- out it. One dollar will buy you twenty-five grape vines of the Con- cord and there are no better yet I do not think for all purposes. iJant eight feet each way and cultivate as the raspberry Take a spade and dig a hole about One foot scpiare to set roots. Put some good soil in the bottom or wet corncobs. When two years old should be tied to a wire trowler. First wire two feet from ground; second four feet. The vine should be tied to first wire and when the shoots come out tie to the top wire. You should leave from sixteen to thirty l)uds to bear just what vou think the vine can stand. It would take me an hour to discuss the subject thorouiihlv so will luive to drop it at i)resent. ' Secondly, fruit for prolit. The culture of each of the varieties are just about the same as for the lanuly, only you should look more to variety and location and richness of the soil. Now with me it is the same as it was with the man that harrowed so much But, to make a long story short, 1 use manure everv time I plow. I plow under manure, and of course plow it up also. ^ This is one of the secrets of my success with strawberries. My wagon <>-oes the year around hauling from town. I remember when 1 started this my neighbors said, '^ This is another of his foolish ideas ; he donH know that he is killing his horses," My dear iriends, they are all at it now. It was the boy^s head that fur- nished brains for them that time. Afterwards 1 commenced to cover my berries with manure and now they try to do the same, but 1 have a corner on it about the towns, as I was the first to start in the enter- prise. This puts me in mind of a story I once heard. It goes somethin*^ like this: A pig was lying on the side of the road. On the other side was a man. The pig was sober; the man was drunk. The pig had a nng in his nose ; the man a ring on his finger. Some one passing- ex- claimed so the pig could hear it, '' One is judged by the company he keeps." Instantly the pig arose and went away, there is a thought m this little story that goes deep in the mind, and how manv are do- ing the same thing just because his neighbor does. I often think of the way we raised berries when I was but a boy. My lather used the spade or fork and I gathered the stones. After* a square of about four rods was worked in this manner the garden rake acted as a harrow ; it was as fine as any onion bed. We used a line as we do now, but for a dillerent i)urpose. It was to make a shallow furrow for plants, a horse and plow was never used on the ground, they were worked by hand all season and every runner got to grow. Contrast the diiference also in the price, we received thou twenty to twenty-five cents per quart, now from five to ten. Your first step now for profit is to understand what vou are going into and this should be carefully studied as it takes a live energetic man tu make a success. It is not only hard work, but you have alwm^s to be at homo in the berry harvest, you can^t take time to go and see your friends or to at- 18 Quar. iHHHPiiiilWllii r c 274 Quarterly Eeport. tend to some otlier croi) when you liave them on liands You also loose Bleep, and the worry on your mind of pickers. P'hictuation in market which is no small (hinp;. '•He who hylheplow ivonki thrive, must either have a hold or drive " Don't think that you can jirow small fruit successfully by readin"- some work on horticulture, for you cannot. * It is one (hiuK that has to be^^sludied, yon have, like all others, "ot to besnn at the bottom of the ladder and work up j^radually. and after you are in the business one or two years then read and wluitvou think will benefit you do it, but don't try to do all you see in books, for that 18 some other idea not your own, and when you get it in your head that you are doing it on your own plan then is when success will com- mence, just as soon as you are confident of a thing and that vou un- derstand It you cannot help but win. I would not advise any body to go into anv enterprise verv heavv at first, especially fruit growing, as it has a "good deal of capital in- vested, and It you would not like it would be at a heavy loss I cannot grow one acre of strawberries for less than' |100, and vou can t do it wifh the same cultivation for less than $150 You may think it strange but it is a fact, I have every thing that is necessary to do labor cheap and just know when to strike to make it count and that is what a beginner has to learn. You have your trade to make your crates and baskets to buv, so at the present prices there is very little in fruit growing to the beginner 1 can make a reasonable profit, l)ut it is only bv being in the busi- ness that makes it so, for at present prices there is not miu-h to he made but think there will be a turn soon. Some might think I would boom the business but I did not come lor that purpose. Kow If there is any one that thinks he can make money in this busi- ness he should start. One acre of strawberries would be sufficient for the first year, this would take ten thousand plants, these should be divided into hree classes, early, medium and late. You should set the early on the very earliest ground you have and your late on the latest, so as to extend your season as long as possible this should be done with all other fruit, I only me berry as it is the first to fruit. Raspberries I would plant one acre, this would require about two thousand. Would jilant about half earlv and half late ^« iTf^ I"? ?"®^-^ plant any thing that produce the most berries, it 18 not the kind you want, it is the amount In speaking for family use I left Crescent strawberries and Gre« fir«t I would add to tits list as they are the most productive. The growing of fruil is a science as well as any other occupation yourpohu'' ^'^'^■•^"'•^•"'^y^-1 '^'-^rd work before you can adS M.-.ny times have T lain awake and tliought of some way that 1 could lower the cost of production. Why wiTs this » w^.if'lT"'^^ ",'""'.'•'''"" my business and bv thought and head work, I have rchu^d it considerable, but am not safislic.l I do not mean by tins that I was frying to see how few times I s hou d wS fs fie' t'otll'^h^aJ matVureVu?^" ^'' ^'^^ ^'"^ '■^^'''■' ■'--^^ ^ *^ I have some questions here arranged and if you are inclined toward ily mention the straw- Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture 275 fruit and can answer these with yes, you will make a success of 1. Have you a small farm ? 2. Is your farm well iinderdrained ? 3. Are you close to market? 4. Have you a good shipping point? 5. Does your ground lay to the south and north? b. Do you like to work with little tedious things? ' 7. (Jan you get all the manure you wanfi* 8. Do you like specialties? 9. Are you close to town ? 10. Do you know you would like the business ? llie last question I suppose will be the most difficult to answer but you should study it over before going to fruit growing. ' ,vo 7 I 1'-'''® ^"^ """"^ '"^"-^ important questions on the suliject for wanr oi time. Fruit without Profit. ' I am sorry to sav there are more fruit of this kind grown now-a-day than any other. The man that has a farm and thinks he can grmV enough Iruit to pay his harvest hands, so he will not have to draw on his bank accounts, IS mistaken. He is the man that loses the money He cannot get the highest price, for he has no time to waste witl,' such little things. Perhaps he has a field of wheat that ought to be cut, so to get the wheat attended to the berries are lett on the vines unti over ripe The t;ruit is gathered and taken to town. Nobody wants It, but it has to be sold at some price and this is just what kills our market. So many farmers that have large farms think thev can make a for- tune in a year or two if they had some fruit. They stay in the busi- ness from two to three years and I have heard some ot them -ive f heir experience afterwards, so I know just how it is. Men often come lor p ants and say I only want three thousand, just for home use I heard this too often to not know what this means. If a man wo'uld just come out and say he was going into this business for money I would tell him some of the ways I have been successful. Hut liiev seem to know all about it from exj.erience. Thev have seen the work .performed while going along ihe road, but they have got the W/uy to learn and until you get this, you cannot be successful My berries are shipped all oyer the country, as far west as Kansas Oity, lopeka, St. 1 aul and Chicago, and a goodly number is sold in your own town. One man sold about one hundred and liflv bushels of my fruit and nearly one hundred bushels were scattered throu-h the town making two hundred and fiftv l)ushels or eight Ihoiisand quarts. Now this is a good many for this town for one to ship into it Hut the man that would undertake the business, should be situated close to town on a small farm. ,, ^"" ^'^i'* •'«* ^ successful fruit grower and a successful farmer for lliey (inter as day difb'rs from night. Clover is the farmer's fri(>nd, but the fruit grower's enemy So dif fers the wlude system. You cannot expect a profit unless .you culti- vate and manure, for it is the big yield that makes the j)r.)lit If vou can grow one hundred bushels peracre and your neigiibor but sevenfy five. It makes a vast difference where the proceeds are counted for it cost him as much as it did you, although vou are .$50 per acre ahead .tiii»*iiii'r tii*iTii'nT-r--^' 1 276 Quarterly Report. I will say in conclusion, that if any one wants to make a business of berry-growing, that he can learn*^ more in one dav, if he would make a visit to some fruit-grower and have it explained to him, than in all the books that are published. IS THE EARLY MATURITY OF STOCK PROFITABLE AND DOES IT TEND TO IMPROVEMENT. By W. W. Hunter, Buffalo, Pa. In all nature her productions are the result of gnidual development. Philosophers tell us that nothing has been addecl to, or lost from, the elements of which this world is made, or that which is upon it since the creation. Those many dilTerent strata of rock, coal and minerals, and de- posits of oil, gas and precious metals are but the result of this great law. In all these things the Almighty Ruler has reserved to himself the power to accomplish His will and pleasure, without using man as an instrument to accomplish llis designs. Not so in His works in the animal and vegetable departments of His kingdom. When (jod had created man He placed him in the garden, and com- manded him *^ to dress it." He also brought to him the animals that he might name them, and commanded him to subdue them. U 1 understand the teaching of nature and Revelation, J learn from this that man is to be the master in the development of these productions. If my position is scriptural and natural, then we not only have a right but it is our duty to develop and change the character of these pro- ductions in whatever manner we find to best promote the happiness and prosperity of man. Having, as we believe, established our moral right to control these things, we proceed to answer the questions assigned us, or rather the question, for no course in agriculture, or indeed anv place ehe, can be really protitable which does not tend to permanent improve- ment. All farmers and stock breeders learn as their lirst lesson that our farm products are whal we make them. As a rule we grow^ corn, wheat or grass as w^e will to do. The stockman does"^ not * need to have his farm stocked with slieep if he prefers cattle. He does not have to keep lean stock if he wills to have fat stock. He does not need to feed a steer forty-eight months to fit him for mnrket if he chooses to accomplish the same result in one-half the time. Less than a generation ago this statement would not have passed un- challenged in an audience of farmers. But in view of the charp'-e which has been made in size, fnrm and general characteristics of do- mestic animals in that time, all will recognize the fact that what has been done, can be done. Some one has said, ^' be sur^ you are right thcMi go ahead.'' . ' Our subject to day is very important, when we are trying to Ibllow that advice. If early maturity is not protitable and does not tend to permanent improvement, it is high lime to call a halt all along the line of breeders and feeders throughout the agricultural wx)rld. '^The disposition to annihilate time is perha[)s manifestinl as i)lainry in this as any other respect. Off the same farms, which a few years a<^o sent f-"l ■-'^ Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 277 steers to market at four years old, weighing 1200 to 1400 pounds, there are many more steers going to market at from two to three years old, weighing more pounds and yielding a much higher per- centage of better meat. Our fathers sold their hogs at from two to three years old. We sell them at from nine to fifteen months old, weighing as many pounds of meat and much less otfal. The colt was allowed to run wild until four years old, and then some months were spent before he was sutficiently broken to more than i)ay for his feed. Now he will pay his way on the farm from the time he is thirtv months old and be ready for market two or three years younger than his great grand sire was. Now it is a very important matter to know if this is profitable, or tends to permanent improvement. If so, our breeders are right and should go ahead. If not, then they are all wrong and should about face. I^erhaps all is too strong a term to use in this connection, but really I do not know of a single stock breeder who is not endeavoring to have his stock mature at as early an age as possible, consistent with the health and sizes of the animal. And as a rule, he values those animals the highest which give most evidence of that characteristic. ^ Our domestic animals are as much the result of man's skill as our field crops and fruits. Just as the wheat has been developed from a sort of wild grass little better than a weed, so the massive, well- rounded form of the stately Short-horn and Hereford has been devel- oped from the long-horned, long legged, light-bodied wild animal, good for little or nothing but his hide. It is not necessarv to trace all the steps in this course, which has resulted in a perfect transformation in size, form and instinct. Suffice it to say that selection, feed and protection have been the factors in this change. As the necessity for traveling long distances to procure food decreased, bone, sinew and hard wiry muscle was not needed. Abundant and regular supply of feed increases the powers of digestion and assimilation. In a state of nature a plentiful suj)ply of food at one time of the year was followed by a scarcity at another. Nature, who makes no mistakes, stored the fat in the summer where it could be most drawn upon to sustain life and maintain the temperature of the body when feed was scarce. Those of us who lived before the days of gas and oil have seen this illustrated freciuently. When w^e wanted plenty of tallow for candles, we were always sure of finding it in an old cow which had been poor in winter and fat in summer for years, in such beeves we always found plenty of tallow but not . ^^ich marbled meat. As this system of abundant and regular feed was Cv,*.Jnued from generation to^ genera- tion, and careful selections made of those animals for breeding which showed most improvement over their ancestors, the wlK)le animal was changed. Nature stored the fat among the muscles throughout the body rather than in large layers about the internal organs All this may seem foreign to the subject before us ; but we wish in this to show the process by which the excellence of our meat-producing animals has been attained, and show that in all this process the tendency and effect has been to promote continual growth and conseciuent earlv maturity. The very fact that the system is not required to draw upon the sub- stance already deposited within it, has probably had more to do with producing a race of early-maturing farm stock than any cause I know we will be met with the objection that stock bred to this point is not 80 hardy and will not stand rough usage so well. Our answer is, he ■ / ♦ ! I 278 Quarterly Report. (loes not need to be. If we are breedin- for hardiness onlv bettor >.p cure a herd of buffaloes now before the race becomes exUncrTh.; SrH.Ttimll^i;'-'";^''';? ^'^ '"^ ^« healthy as^heh'aice'stors we will not admit. It is true there are new diseases among stock aooear ing as well as among men ; but, as men improve with thdr st Jk we" ctTin Ws"' "'" '"■" '"' ""''' "^ *^« '^"^ ^" -^''1«' --n-oks! Again, we hear a great deal is said about overfeeding, pamnerin- 8 ufiing and producing a blubber of fat without vitality of Skf' Ihere IS no one will recognize the animal described as a mature on^' but rather as a premature development. "i■■>"''> ""1 l'"m „or mole; r era The rel?cs S' HtrS^if-'- • ands. budi was wool -rowin- and mannnu'tuiin- in e'ul davs Z. coa„e wool l.ree^ may l,.ve i„ ,i,„e £lr,c,,fered o -eMK;,," many dillerei.llS Is wl,M ,1m ",'''' '^"""> " '">'''<'<1 ""» are diin.rent t? n es 's a matter oA"",'*'"^"'' " ^^'^"""- ^'''^t there We so back tir undred veor, f/ f •"'"^ '.• '''^ ' ''' "'' "''nervation. tlK>re^ind them in fSs bred s™ '" '^'''^"- ^^" ing in form and lleeceTcordin^rn H ' "''-^ di.simct, and develop- together with I e result of .nn ?,•'''' " '"!" "^ r"'"'"'^"'' th^ir owner, Kandal says of^l^ f-H .'t : er"Vmilv!: ^tI"'' 'i'"^ "•^'"^ *'"-"""' thratiness, enlariring Indund f 1 e P.r« T ' V V'^^ ^'Y^ ^" «^i'^'^"< coarse hairy anDeara, . l , '!f I''"''*' ^^^ '"^""^.Y hnvin- a Escnriel. with t irt , e" ,eece of LlT'lhe c' hT^''^'^^ ""^''- '^ ''« file largest an.l n.ost perfect fo?m with h„"*^f'T''''' '"'"''>' '""■">*? These all being of oni surpUroV;;!:.'; t^l^ir^S^r^.S^p^Lrtt fL. ■ '->^ 4 ^ \ ; Pennsylvaka Board oe Aomcoltiire. asi . »,,,,te.parl of wha, i, eoi„„ „„ „„„„, „, ^,.„^ ,^^ . _ ^^^ ;^^^ Ihe„ asain tl,e Spanish Merino at an early (lay were imoorte,! i„,„ 1812, when an embargo was placed on foreign wool. Andl mi^lft he well and timely to note just here that after the war w;^ over ^r>,tt opened and no tariff to protect these wool -growers that orei, wool was imported ,n such quantities as to destrov thrfndSrv S t ese same sheep were afterwards killed by the th,,usan •or^'h'"r nets Ihis occurred more part cularlv in lleFasfern '^t.,tJiJV-^,i nW, des,,„ye.i ,l,e ink,,, i, ,V i., lls^l y'*iS';,,,,SL-' h7,?' ieW,;i™,r;K'-caii!:ra.'-:d':,^r^vS-^,^'l!i^^^ fsToaid Sn'^M^n^i^ a« twenty tiiousand sheep in the years 1800, ibiU and 181 Many of these by Colonel Mead and other Tennsvl vanians, and those soon began to find their wav across e mou a?ns to the rich hillside skirting the Ohio river. The introducti^.n ot the Merino was gradual. The farmers discusse.l llu^ pr e y o buv ^ and bree.ling (he Merino as men do to-day the Ho stein (he . ersev "? the Clyde Many clung (o the old common, long-le.-'ed fellou ih ? had (urnishcd .he clothing they wore and their (hhePs lei 'hen Others, more con.servat.ve perhaps, kept both, at least as manv cotrse sheep as would make the stockings an.l blankets for the fan 11 v AH our older persons perhaps who have been raised on the farm •an re member well the tannly scene alter a hearty s, <.• of nu.sh an 1 i k The wool basket was bronght in, when vonng and old, except one an Lointed torea.l aloud for general instruction, went at pLkb.g wooT 282 ! R Quarterly Report. wluch meant to pick out all burrs, motes, hay seed and separate all knotted parts; in other words, pick it clean and ai)art. Then it was earned in a sheet knotted at the lour corners to the car(lin^ P"^^*'^'*^ <«•• the larmer, ..r he n ay o be diligent, he may not have economy, or here and thereonemay not have good common sense. Now all i hese are required in t e Tuc cessfu larmer an 4 Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture 053 wool as .0-day would «e Int fl ' ^ .1 / ^ f " ^ P*''' PO""'l-«uch / ^y ^ ^^'^^^^ niany to become careless in fhic r-^rro..^ rn Then, for a few years, the breeding'- of tlu^ Kno..i>i. at • i very profitable and gave a great impetus ^the';rod c^^o" of a heav: fleeceproducing siieep and with marvellous success produc n^^evln I>rodi-ies m that direction, it bein- claimed hv HnA.. . Vr" " •!.a. l,e shore fifty-eight pounds'four Zi^s'f'.-om 0 e ;." r's C^^^ growth from a Spanish ram, and lately we notice the re/or of P?n Kansas shearing sixty-two pounds two ounces in he di^rt ami lei," cleansed bearing twelve poun.ls six ounces of clean wool This k f remarkable result, and shows a vvon.l.Mlul ^uscepiXlTtrof in id ove ment in our domestic animals by careful, system' tic breelnr And" ^:^e S;S ^".le" l"/;' •'■"i';"^^'^" "'" "'eSpanis'l'/MeWim^ts an n-' bv II.! n nf'i'l.J o'le half in the average production of wool per head rec Iv / H ^"* ''!■ T"^'^'- ^ ^"^'^^^ P'^'-t "'• this increase ii due d rect y to he fa.-t of the great superiority of the Spanish Merino a «!. wool-producing sheep, leaving a part due to the bl ter feedi,r^,H er care and shearing that our flocks are receiving. This me'r were u !fir"f'^.«7^' "f""' '''" protection the wool industry received i,' the tanfl of '67, and a great change in this direction was manifesral lover the conntry_ Stately sheep barns were built, sla'ep , n .£ 3 made, goo'm^ Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 289 all the past ages. lie has given us his autograph, too, in beautiful prismatic colors, also informing us by certain deciphered hiero^-lyphics or hitherto secret lines, of what materials he is made and that he is principally made of iron. Astronomy has made wonderful advances ot late years. A transit of Venus across the disk of the sun took place four years ago, photographed every half minute, and in the hundredth part of a second, by a thousand astronomers. By this transit they were enabled to determine more accurately than before the distance between the earth and the sun. To do this they had to use newly invented and improved instru- ments, such as enlarged and photographic telescopes, astronomical clocks, transit instruments and micrometers. A few years ago an astronomer in France asserted that there was a world belonging to our solar system, never seen nor heard of by him- self, nor imagined by any other, billions of miles distant from us. He directed those having telescopes where to find it. No sooner did one of them point his instrument of great power to the spot indicated than Neptune, a new world, burst upon his view with all its glory! How could Le Verrier know of this world, 3,200,000,000 miles away ? Another planet had gone a little way out of its track, and Le Verrier knew that it must be attracted by some unseen and unknown world. It was one of the great achievements of science in this wonderful cen- tury, to make such a discovery. Up there, in that sublime distance, as well as where Mercury.nestles near the sun, the law of gravitation is obeyed. Surely the universe is oracular with the doctrine that there is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and throu<^h all and in all. "^ HOW TO MAKE FARM LIFE ATTRACTIVE. By L. M. Crothers, Taylorstown, Pa, It is a well established fact that in order to succeed in any business or pursuit in life, we should be fully convinced that we are peculiarly adapted to it, and that our taste, preference and inclinations, all lead in that direction. Presuming that we have adopted farming as our chosen occupation, on this basis one of the very first essentials to suc- cess is that we make it attractive and pleasantly and if we succeed in doing this we are on the sure road to success and prosperity. That farming is a respectable and highly honorable business, we have only to call your attention to the fact that George Washington was a farmer, and history hands down to us the fact that he was an excellent and a very enthusiastic farmer, making his farm and farm life particularly attractive, and by his life as well as by his voice, he has said that agriculture is the most heathful and most noble employment of man. Henry Clay, the brainiest man of his day, took the greatest delight in farming, and while serving his country in the United States Sen- ate, he longed for the time to come when he could lay aside his offi- cial duties and return to his beautiful and attractive farm and home, near Lexington, Ky. Down in Kentucky, I am glad to sav, thefarm- 19 QUAR. a£ p'-ggy )»a!Wi;pjM»i!UiHBHf I t ' 290 Quarterly Rp:port. ers are looked up to as bein^ the very best, most intelligent and most inlluential men of the State. The only reason farmers do not occupy the same position here, is because they have not sufhcient confidence in the hi-li and noble character of their calling. Let us see herealter if we cannot make our lives on the farm so attractive and pleasant that men of other profession will envy us. Let neatness characterize every operation on the farm; study the beautiful as well as the pnic- tical • let us lay out our fields in more convenient shape, so that they will not only please the eye, but will enable us to work Hjem to bet- ter advantage ; replace dilapidated fences with neat, well-built ones, the very best of its kind. Do not let briars and weeds get a loothold alono- your fence ro\/s; allow no weeds to ripen seed in growing crops or iiAhe pasture; keep up a continual warfare against them, until you exterminate them, and you will be delighted with the neat, well- kept, smooth, clean appearance of your farm. When you prepare the crround for a crop put it in the best possible condition, thus insuring The largest return in dollars and satisfaction. Make your yard and warden the envy of the neighborhood. Whatever kind ot stock you keep let it be the very best of its kind, giving it that kindly and care- ful treatment and attention that is so essential to its best possible con- dition Aim to save labor at every point, have the farm buildings so conveniently arranged and located that it will be a positive pleasure to care for stock and crops. Buy the best machinery, and belore you buy have a well-digested idea of what you want. l\\ all this care tor the practical all'airs on the farm, do not forget the duty you owe to yourself and familv, to cultivate the higher man, provide the best books, magazines and papers, read them and encourage your children to do the same. Keep abreast of the times in this wonderlul nine- teenth century. If there is any musical talent in your family culti- vate it, and inake home on the farm so delightful and attractive that no other place will stand a chance in comparison with it. If I have dropped a single suggestion or thought which wuU tend to increase the contidence and respect for the noble calling of farming and thus make the farm and farm life more attractive, I will have fully accomplished my object. Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. 291 SPECIALTIES IN FARMING. By H. W. NoRTHRUP, Glenhurn., Pa, The object for which a man farms, or cultivates the soil, is not to just live, or lengthen out an existence by keeping soul and body together. It is to obtain an honest livelihood, add to his happiness, and better his condition physically, intellectually and linancially. It is frequently said that farmers accept of their occupation, simply be- cause they cannot do anything else. If a father has a briglit and ac- tive son, he educates lii in for a profession. If ho has others which are dull and satisfied with less intellectual attainments, he advises them to give their attention to the farm. Thus we see that the householder, f;/' ih; r'- ♦ has special subjects, for a special object, so that all shall become suc- cessful. We must here confess, in the introduction of this topic, that as representatives of a noble occupation, w^e are not fully satisfied w^ith this discrimination. We think the farm at least ought to have a fair proportion of the intelligence of the family. To deprive it of less, is not placing it on an equality; and de])reciating its worth. Such specialties as those mentioned we seriously object to. We have a class of farmers who make books a specialty. Every thing is managed according to the letter of the law. Every field upon the farm must liave a chemical analysis made of its soil. Every animal upon the premises must have a pedigree or else it will be considered of little value. All the sick and disabled ones must be attended by a veterinary surgeon and without regard to expense. While we would never de- preciate the worth of agricultural literature, and the improvements it suggests in the management of the farm, and the selection of its stock, ^et we consider such specialties not always practical and profitable to the av^erage farmer. I know it is said that ^^ a little learning is a dan- gerous thing, " but I believe that a iarmer with good common sense and a practical understanding of farm literature is i)eiiorming his work quite as prolitably, as the one who makes his farm library a specialty. Many of our best farmers are acting wisely by making a specialty of the daily newspaper. Wlien the pressure of farm w^ork demands the personal oversight of the proprietor, and he is necessarily kept at home, he can thus have a full knowlege ol* what transpires in his surroundings. The daily weather reports to the farmer, are of in- estimable value. They come to him in the midstof his harvest, and he has sufficient warning to be in readiness for the approaching storm. Timely notice of the approach of a cold wave, places his stock in warm quarters, and the feed in abundance is in its proper place for their welfare and comfort. The fuel at his door is stored in a secure place, and when the bliz- zard rages he usually appreciates his home. By these warnings he avoids the storm and the sleet that overtakes the farmer upon the road, and is so uni)leasant to himself and his valuable team in the mar- keting of his products. Farmers, to a great extent, are making special- ties of their stock, and it is certainly a grand achievement. Domestic animals are thus presented in their purity, and, so far as human skill can go to make them such, in their perfection. Each man has his own pet herd. With cattle, one man ])refers the Short-horns; his neighbor, the Devons; another, the Ilolstein or Friesians ; another, the Channel Island cattle, and so on throughout the entire list. More satisfactorv results have been accom])lished through these various specialties than by any combination within our knowledge. With these various l)reeds, the farmer knows which are best adapted to his special need and the object he has in view, whether it be milk, butter or beef. He can now enter into his business intelligently, and these specialties will enable l)im to decide on something that will lead to success. The same is true wii h the poultry. If the farmer desires a large production of eggs, he secures tiie Leghorn. II' he desires to furnish broilers and meat for the table, he will take the Wyandottes or Plymouth Rocks. His i)lans thus pursued are not usually defeated. If the farmer chooses to furnish horses for the city market it can be more successfully accomplished by making them a specialty. The Morgan, or his equivalent as a fine roadster, will be purchased for driving purposes. The Percheron or the (ylydesdale I 292 Quarterly Report. V Tf mflipr of these is substituted will be in demand for toa"\^vork If ei hei o tu ^^^^^ ^^^^^ . for (he other it will "«^*^';,^'^';!'^ f ^f. re^rth,^ im.de any mis- gave man dominion over t , e bea ts oi the ea,ui i ^^^^ ^^^_ takes. The animal is «^«Ji?"\'^ 1'^:'^,"^ l^^ice a'"^ ^l^^'-'t '»« ™*'^«- pendent upon man to Inrnish f. ^"^^ N^^Vcial object. It is not uMits. He is to be bred and trai ed /"' ^f g^'e^iaUy of fast horses, usually considered wise lor a larme, , ,y,-;»^\;^X .Vccessfully man- with aviewot entering '^^ Jf e. j e> a ^^^ ^^ compete aged by a faster class j^ , "^.^^^-J^ ^^^^ ,iVS es ashort tinie,by some with sportsmen in winnius "'^?,t.,v? Farmers make specialties m sharp practice to trot a ^^^^^\, j Ti nie, witli another it is the selection of fertilizers. _ ^^\/'^'^ ""•^J.!, ^f^^^ and so through all ashes, with the third it ^f, ^" \7e ^'^^^^^^^^^^^ ;ho remains un- the entire list. ^^ i'^.""^^;'^^ J^ With a clear biased and sc^^'«'T8 th'^^ '\'"Vo 't.: h hese in-redients contain, and understanding of the ^^""f^'^J^^ii^Yf/to decide t the requirements ot the ^oi'v''?;'!^^ jf ?ruit. A few farmers, coin- out much controversy. Sj^^f/'^'J;^' ' d o,' a fruit garden are only paratively, seem to think that a' f ^^.^ .^^'ji-Jj.-i' They own a farm, fuxuries which the ^xtreij wealH ^ n ,ht a Im ^^y ^^^. and, with the exception ot a ew '< "[-'7 ^,^ i.^j-eHor quality, they trees, which may produce a ^^w b shels ol -^^^ ^\ neighbor. have'no fruit, unless it is a ^^^^^ ^.^^"^^^^/e^^ceptions. The thrifty Tliese cases, we are P.^o^^ to «a^, are oiiy e I ^j^ ^^ farmer makes the fruit .«"%,^' ^'^n^'^,' .^ dear to him by the ties of ^:^t:::V::^^^^!^^^-^ that it is also one of return in proportion to the «^""""\«VoX J mLke t a specialty.' He these delicious fruits He can well a o,a o ma ^ ^,,i^„ to the is well compensated for giving ^^ ^^li^^J^^-Z.^n-uh. and trees, care growth, and development of tep an s, vine ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ which produce these fruits, ^^f can we 1 alt om ^ .^^^ ^ 5,,^ math and the canker worm, " . ' f " ;!^r¥ce all of his first wife's Artemus Ward, he can better affoid to S'Vcrmce au o ^^^ ^j. relations, rather ,l,an <« f '^f ".;;^^'^^^^i ;'^,^:;::/rspecialty in vegeta- such wholesome and pala able e farmer desirable, if not profitable, as the one 'ast memio 1^ ^^^.^^^ whose gardens are already so wel^pepaied can not a,^^^^^ 'i^.^Hon out these valuable podm^sotlH. sm^^^^^ ^^^ thoroughly un- ^der'slLl^tt-'natmd'aml Ss! and applies timely cultivation to a ^''^'''f:MtX^^^ ground in Lackawanna county, in fair .XalpStilla^ square rods devoted to a hW'^'ic „ ^ ^^ ^^^^^ of one hundred and f"' > ^^'^ '/■ ' g^edaltv is not only increasing \/f- r t^vip ^W ^ Pennsylva>^ia Board of Agriculture. 293 an inndequate supply of these vegetables, is to be (It'prived of the second staif of life. We will now brielly consider specialties in dairy- ing. Witli all the modern improvements tliat have come to the farmer, and the great demand for these products, in their purity, at remunerative prices, the husbandman is inclined to place this specialtv at the head of his list. The farmer's wife, in this brancli of his business, is no longer made a drudge and a slave. The patent creamer successfully performing its work, the swing cluirn and the butter worker all under her inspection removes a very great burden froiii her willing hands. The sale of pure, cool milk that goes daily to the railroad station, amounting to a still larger return, removes from her another responsibility and adds to her personal h;n)])iness. This specialty also increases the fertility ot the farmer's lields, by the sustenanceW the dairv cow, and adds materially to the prosperity of his entire business. The farmer might just as well thiidv of running business without a wife as without a dairy. Perhaps, by the variety mentioned, we may conclude that the farmer's business is an embodiment of specialties. The successful farmer takes into consideration his location, the distance from market, the condition of his soil and nil the surrounding circumstances, and then decides on the specialties he will select to accomplish his pur- pose. A miserable inebriate once stated that there were three specialties that he very much wanted. He said the first was rum, the second was tobacco. He then hesitated. A bystander, whose curiositv was excited, inquired, what was the third? He replied that he couldn't just now remember, but he believed that it was a little more rum. Notwithstanding the depths of his misery, he showed his persistence in the accomplishment of his own destruction. Tlie farmer with a like persistence in the accomplishment of his noble work will be suc- cesslul and contribute to his own happiness and the happiness ot all those around him. CO OPERATIVE DAIRYING. By M. B. TiYM.\N, Li/n7ij Pa, Dairying with some has been a success for many years where excep- tional privileges of water, grazing and market has cons])ired with skill to make it such, but these are comparatively few, and the demand for a better grade of butter has come as comes a better taste in all our surroundings, and with that taste the old setting of milk in shallow open pans for the flys toswimor drown in, with its i)roduct of streaks, specks and white caps are no longer to the taste of the tidy housewife or her town customers. The dairymaid who arose at four o'clock in the morning to churn and prej)are the roll of butter for market in tlie cool of the day and continued the wriggling motion until the cream was completely worn out and her patience exhaifsted without accomplish- ing the task, must give way to more enlightened methods, where machinery guided by science, takes the i)lace of human muscle and guess work. ( \\ n II M* r^' 294 Quarterly Report. Those liaving the requisite surroundings with appliances and skill, by seeking their customers among the more wealthy towns people may by keeping the supply uniform througli the year, iind markets at re- munerative prices, but the demand is so limited and recpubites for supplying that demand so few, that the great majority ot dairymen must be content with the old methods and prices such butter will bring in the open market, unless he cooperate in the factory system or sell his cream to some manufacturer. The many mounds and carved stones in the country church-yard at- test the cruel burdens theexactions modern liousekeeping brings upon the farm. No wonder the boys and girls are leaving the farm for the town or city. In many instances the light of that home is gone out and strangers are taking' the place of mother. ^ . ., Until the centrifugal separator shall be so constructed as to visit each farm and do its work where the milk can be retained for use at home, the cream must be gathered by agents daily, or sufliciently often to prevent souring, and taken to the factory, where a skilliul work- man makes the butter of a uniform character. The practice of gath- ering the milk to make both cheese and butter is becoming unsatisfac- tory, as the market for cheese requiring a charge of dynamite to open, is yearly becoming less, and the expense of gathering the cream alone is very materially lessened, while the product can be placed upon the market at the lowest possible price to the great 'mass of consumers who want a really fine flavored butter. The owner of one or two cows, who wishes"^to sell their cream where he can receive cash for it, may do so with proportionate advantage with the owner of one or two hundred. ^ i • i Those wishing to keep dairies at the greatest profit, hnd their herds brought in close comparison with others where the profits or loss will soon be ascertained, and in most cases the results show need of im- provement. Instance : E. G. Ball, Esq., of Montrose, who, by close selection and infusion of Jersey blood on native cows, raised in about eight years the product from one hundred and twenty-five pounds per cow to two hundred and thirty-eight and seven-sixteenths pounds, thus nearly doubling the product and adding nearly one hundred per cent, to their usefulness. As this is mostly theory I will give some of the results of coopera- tive dairying at Lemon. ^ At its inception all farmers were invited to take stock, but as some failed to do so the patrons have been paid the last season within five cents of the highest monthly average quo- tations for creamery butter in the New York market, and by a sys- tem of test-work they received nearly four hundred dollars above the amount the gauge would call for upon a total product 42,516 pounds of butter, thus making it truly cooperative, paying an average of 18y\ cents per pound to those patronizing the six and three-fourth months it was in operation. Patrons were asked to send cream when they could make it to their advantage and retain it when their interests seemed to warrant it. They were also allowed to take butter for family use by paying three cents for manufacture or if prices were not satisfactory at any time to retain their butter in the cool storage by paying sufficient to cover expense of ice and care until they ordered it sold. I 7 y - t fr--> Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture. ROADS AND ROADMAKING. 295 [A discussion at the Montrose Meeting.] R. S. Searle, of Susquehanna. The essay was truly instructive and I only regret that every farmer in Susquehanna county was not present to hear it ; our supervisors and farmers do not fully understand what their rights and duties are withreference to mending and maintaining the public roads; it is clearly within the power of the supervisor to purchase the necessary implements to keep the roads in good repair at the lowest economical cost to the township. I tliink that there is a misun- derstanding among the taxpayersand the people generally in regard to their rights as to the condition of the public roads, and this essay will reveal to some of our doubting Thomases that the supervisors have full power to buy scrapers and plows with which to mend and maintain the ])ublic roads, even if the power and freedom of action does not even go beyond that. The supervisors of Bridgewater township have purchased a road machine, and I should be glad to hear from Mr. Cur- tis as to its working. Mr. Curtis. I may state that we have purchased three road machines of the most approved pattern, and that we find them to be very satis- factory indeed. Our chief obstacle in working them to their best capacity is in the people themselves, but I hope that they will soon be educated up to the proper use of the machines ; the use of these machines gives us a uniform system of repairing the public roads, and they have improved our roads very much and at the same time lessened our tax rate. The difficulty is that we have a large number of path masters (supervisors) who have dilFerent ideas as to how roads should be re- paired; the use of the road machines reduced the tax rate to twelve mills ; after the next season we think that five mills on the dollar will be sufficient for the seventy miles of road in the township. J. A. Herr, of Clinton. The is one branch of road-mending which many deem of little importance, but which if properly attended to is of great benefit to both drivers and horses; that is the picking off of loose stones after the roads have been repaired in the spring ; many a broken spring and lamed horse might be avoided if this was properly and regularlv attended to each year or even two or three times a year. I. Garretson, of Adams. In by far too many cases we smother the water down in wet places instead of carrying it off by a drain ; instead of digging a ditch along the road and filling it with stone and thus making a drain which would keep the road dry, we haul the stone on to the road and after partially covering them up with dirt, leave them to be packed down by the teams and wheels as they pass over them; a very little work expended in burying the stone in ditches along side of the road, and raising it up by the earth from the ditch would insure a good dry road at all seasons of the year. Machines make the plan uniform and we consider this a great step in advance, to mend all of the roads upon one general plan ; all our roads are better than they were and at a less cost to the townships. J E. Carmalt, of Susquehanna. At our last meeting one year ago Mr Curtis gave a careful statement of the work done by the road machines in Bridgewater township, and I think that it would be very interesting to all of us if he would repeat what he stated then. Mr Curtis. Our tax rate for road purposes was from fifteen to seven- teen mills on tiie dollar of valuation; the work tax was not less than ten mills : we bought one machine to begin with and the next year bought two more making three in all. > \ Pi m i |j INDEX BY AUTHORS. Page. 103-107 Adams, J. Q.,StrawberiT culture .V^ ^:.'^'^V.'^y■'■'' „,.f-l2 Aih.i 111 I |{ What larmers should !-tii(l>, •••••••••. 2hi-2b^ A V- (U'r T S . Adclvss of, at W asiuuj,nou Institute, i5l-l54 bUL'i- I )r.w.u., carp and can. culture y::.::':'..::. 1^1- ^« Black, W. II., Fences and lorestry ^^'''iA\ Brvti)!^^^^^^^^^ Adi>rnn.cnt ot tarniers' homes •;;•;;• 104.127 liri.wn, II. n., Hees and bee culture, ..... •• ./;■••{• "oVrriciiltural interests of Lancaster Burr, Hon. N., How does a ])rotective tiu ul allcct the afeiicuu ^.^ g^ r^Uv"!^id;:iV X ; ^; The creamery ^Vstem 'of Ea^ern Tennsy 1 vania, ••;;;;:;;;;;;:;;;•;;::;: iT8*i79 Cawh- ' Fl. )i-ence J., Education prompts labor .:::::::;.:: ?l-2f Cn;the":7:M.,Mowt(>nmUef^^^^^^ ! l! ! ! i! i! i! i::: ! i!! ^^0-?^^ Crlder, Mrs. A., The farmer s wile ..• ; lh-119 (Hitler. Edith H.. The past and the present ••• 7-8 Davis, Edwin, Fruit culture •••■••; 9-12 i^\^\^:':^^I:Z^':ii'iii^^^^^ ::.:•::::::::::::::::::: ''is| Pj.!^c^^T;s[^phr'^HM ^-cnt ^ i 'i a^ricumlre; lis cause and remedy, •••■y'-,,^ Forne vV 1 >• F-, Farmers and their teachers :::::::::::.:::: 2*7-250 Fulton, James, Hoads and roadniakuifer, • • • m^m German, W. H., Pure bred poultry, •■■■ 231-237 Goentner, Sara NV., The social sale ollarmhte ;;:::. 19~'iXJ Griest,SabillaE., Our opportunities •;.•.•.:;.;■. !««- ?.? Griest. Eliza, Our l.entafie W- 0^ Henderson, Miss sue, What our girls may do •;; j>.2i-224 llilKT:,V.t!m[^^^^^^^ Hotlmau: Mar^^aivt. J lc)uie,lite on the tarm, • . . • • -^ •; • -^^^ • -^ ; ; • • ; ^37-240 raising, '^To^Im improvement ? 27G-279 f;" ^-i lersV ^"*:^\^ , Ho-b9 Johnson, J. B.. Fruit growing in Ltiwrence county, ' 187-189 Koscr, Elizabeth L., .\ word for country hie,. ' • • ' ' ; ' ' 22(5-227 LinvilUJ.L, What 1 saw on the Pacihc coast 94.99 {:;^;;?iA/^5;;il:;;^M^,^^^^^^ :::::: ^iil:^ y^^l^^rii^. \irB^;^i;Iirv;^SV:S:di;ci;on in Pennsylvania \s unp^otiii^bic; what is the ^^ best coui>e for the farmers of Juniata county.".. ; 89-94 Mc'ormick, C.S., Kelation of landh.rd and tenant 103_i24 IMi'Ewcn Wm., Wintering bee.*;— the best way, • • • . . • • • • • • • • 1:15-141 Mc^.^rnni, G., The future of agriculture, in the Eastern States • • • ; ^^^i^ Mel), well John, Address of, at Lawrence County Institute, . - • • • • .^79-285 McNarv, J. I '.. Sheep in the Ohio valley-as they were and as they are • • • ; ^;;_5?^ Minch.Eli, The peach and peach culture ! '.'.'.!.... It)l-1H7 Morri«^on, Dr. S. \V , Hee keeping .;*"v*' ,,' " ':"ao . 176-177 M ore. Miss Lizzie. How shall the farmer's family be educated / ; '\^q_^^ Mnne(« \i L., A few observations and a few conclusions 29(V293 Northrup. 11. W., Specialties in farming • ' / / 2ao-208 I'arrv Elizabeth S., Home intluence 1U8-112 Fainter. E H , Address of, at Millville Institute " 2«9-276 Ibed. H. W.. Small fruits for all purposes, ., " (jl_e>4 Banford. J. S., Hee culture • . . . • ['.'.'.'..... 154-157 Seltzer, Isaac. Some mistakes that larmers make, 141-145 Sharnless, Alfred, The inter-State commerce bill, • • 180-182 H g^^^^ Mrs. U. H..(;an farmers' wives find time to read ?....... ....^ ^^ 1°^ Sribt h vVHii„^t(>n. Ot her things for farmers beside sowing and reaping ^^^^^^g Sn\ der, W\ H.. The citizen farmer • • • • 27-33 Thoma^ 1 )r Joseph. Birds- nsefnl and injurious to agriculture ^J_j^^ Thomi.son, Prof. S.U., Healthful homes lor farmers, ; ^.^yyr^ Towii'^end. J . K., Gnipes and how to grow them 3^_4q Vaii'^ant, Miss Itelle, I'lora of Ihicks comity 182-184 vancement of other industries V 184-18(i Wible, William, Fish cult ure. . .... '..'.'. '.'.'.'.'.'... 58-61 Work. S.(;.,Shi'ep and sheep breeding :■• V ■;-.;• -^ :. 127-129 Y(ning, A. P., I)airvu)g in ( olumbia county-does it pa> f 285-289 Young, Loyal, Truth stranger than tiction, r f T y 'k I INDEX BY SCBJKCTS. • ••••• !•••• ••••• • • - • • • ««••• ••••< !••••# Page. Adornment of country homes, l^^^;} Administration of government. Address at Millville Institute, . . . Address at New Castle Institute, Address at Washington Institute Agriculture, depression in, Agriculture in Eastern States, Agriculture— its advantages, . . . Agricultural papers, Agricultural press, influence of Agricultural interests, . . Agricultural productions Agricultural implements, Agricultural education, Age of queen bees, Alsike clover, American farmer, Annual taxation, Annual wheat crop, Annual production per cow. Annual cost of fences, Animals, health of, Apples, soil for, Apple crop, Apiary committer Apiary, arrangement of, Associated dairying, August flowers, Barley for a grass catch, . . Bad roads, Benefits of farm accounts, Bee culture, Bee hives Bees, wintering, Bees and bee culture. Better roads, Berries, cultivatihed stone for roads, 18 107-108 ... 261 ... 264 ... 40 ... 13.T ... 160 ... 46 ... 44 112 137 149 167 62 61 17 42 195 257 7 65 3 62 25 . • * • • • • « •••••• ••• • • • • * • ' • •• ••••• • • • • • • ' 5 259 83 61 62 123 124 259 271 27 30 39 120 Page. ... 60 .... 94 .... 246 .... 253 .... 265 . • • • O a • • • 1^0 • • • • m4 .... 39 .... 41 .... 64 .... 257 A ■ • • • ^ 9 17 17 42 S*' ,19-84-114 50 95 248 . .. 293 , 6 24 25 25 26 270 260 .•*••• • • • • • ' . • • • • • • Black Hamburg grapes ^^^ Blackberries, 8 • ••••• Borers in peach trees, ^^ Boys, education of Boys, tools for, Books, single entry, Boys, how to keep at home. Boys, papers for, B )ok farming, Boys remaining on the farm, Brahma chickens, Brown Leghorn chickens, ••••■ Brains in farming, Bucks county flowers, Butter from single dairies, Butter, amount of, Cause of agricultural depression. • ••••• • ••••• > • • • • • ' 21 34 52 53 , 54 . 150 . 9 . 132 15-17 86 25 25 Dairy, committee on. Dairy butter, Dairy cattle, Dairying, associated Dairy husbandry, criticisms on, . . Dairies , production of, Dairy interests in California, Danger of wire fences, . . Daughters of farmers, . Depression in agriculture, Deep plowing Delaware grape, • Development of agricultural papers. Depth of carp ponds, Discrimination in freights, Diseases of carp, Diseases of animals, Domestic animals, care of, Do carp hibernate ? Drink for poultry, Drone bees, Draining, Drains, depth of, Duties of parents, Duties of agricultural papers, • ••••• 40 8 25 152 ...25-293 151 J Jo 227 196 .... 2:S0 40 95 122 209 242 215 246 256 254 244 11 63 69 69 52 47 • ••••• Early maturity of an mals, . . ... 276 \ 298 Quarterly Report. 1 I ^\ J n Page. Eduoation of farme- 's children, 167 Education of farmer's families 176 Education prompts labor 178 Effect of home influence, '-^05 Effect of the railr.«ad system, '^12 Effect of home training, 193 Effect of farm clubs, 193 Effect of forests