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Title:  Quarterly  report  of  the  Pennsylvania  Board  of 

Agriculture,  no.  31 

Place  of  Publication:  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

Copyright  Date:  1886 

Master  Negative  Storage  Number:  MNS#  PSt  SNPaAgOl  7.6 


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THIRTY-FIRST 


QUARTERLY  REPORT 


OF    THE 


PENNSYT.VANTA 


Board  of  AGRicui;ruRE, 


1886. 


HA  R  ]i  1  S  B  U  I!  0   : 

EDWIN  K.  MEYKBS,  STATE  PRINTER 

1886 


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£^30.873 


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THIRTY-FIRST  QUARTARLY  REPORT 


OF   THE 


PENNSYLVANIA  BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


PENNSYLVANIA  BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE,  1886. 


Members  Ex-Officio. 

Hon.  R.  E.  Pattison,  Governor, 

Hon.  J.  S.  Africa,  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs. 

Hon.  J.  B.  Niles,  Auditor  General. 

Dr.  E.  E.  Higbee,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 

Dr.  G.  W.  Atherton,  President  oj  the  Pennsylvania  State  Lollege. 

Appointed  by  the  Governor.  ^^^^  ^^^.^^^ 

Col.  V.  E.  PioUet, ]^^ 

Col.  James  Young, .oqq 

Dr.  John  P.  Edge, "^^^^ 

Elected  by  County  Agricultural  Societies.    ^^^^  expires. 

Adams, I.  Garrettson,  .......  Bigler, 1888 

BeTer?""^.'  '.  *.  *.  '.  '.  *.  '.  '.  *.  A.  L.  McKibben,  \  \   \   \   '.   .'  Green  Garden,   WW  1887 

Ti^.if^rH  J  E  Noble  Watertown, lo8y 

^^^w„     *  1   G  Zerr Geiger's  Mills,   .       .      l»by 

Blair, J.  D.  Hicks, ^^''''''^A. '  1889 

Bradford, H.  L.  Scott, Z'^'^^l^^' ^ 

Bucks, E.  Reeder, New  Hope, 1887 

Butler H.  M.  Wise,     ........  Harmony 1888 

Centre K.  W.  Hale Bellefonto 1888 

Chester, Thomas  J.  Edge Harrisburg, 1887 

J   F.  Brown,     Clarion,  ....      looo 

****.!*.   *.   *.  j'.  A.  Herr Cedar  Springs,  ...      1887 

; Chandlee  Eves, Millville,  .         ....  1888 

^,„„,xv.-H  M  W  Oliver Conneautville looy 

gZbe Hand,   !  !   !  !  i  !  .      a-J^Miufn:  : Mt.  Holly  Springs.  .   .  1^8 

Bauphin,  . G.  Hiester, S.^L'^^^'^ 889 

Delaware E.  Harvey ^'^^'fj' l^g 

T?rie  J.  U.  Thornton Avonia 18»» 

Fndlina,-    \.    ......   .   .  W.  O.  Gordon,'      Bl^^lf '''«'' ' |^? 

Jett-erson J-  McCracken,  Jr.,    ....     Frostburg,      18^ 

Juniata, P.  Wilson, Port  Royal,  !««« 

Lackawanna, H.  H.  Colvm, 

Lancaster H.  M.  Engle, 

Lebanon, C.  H.  Lantz, 

Lehi^^h, J.  P-  Barnes, 


Clarion,  . 
Clinton,  . 
Columbia, 


1888 

Dalton/    .' 1888 

.  Marietta, 1889 

.  Lebanon, 1888 

.  Allentown, 1887 

Kingston 1888 


Luzerne, J.  »•  »miui 4;^,^    ""'*    f ift«8 

Lycoming. D.  H.  Foresman Wilhamsport 888 

Mercer  R.  McKee, Mercer,.  ....  1887 

Montour, Thos.  L.  Clapp. ^"1","^^"^'^^'*     '    *   *  1888 

Northampton A.  D.  Shimer, ^''^^u?}'^ 1888 

Northumberland,      .   .   .   .      W.  C,  Packer g'"''^"?,' l^o 

Somerset C.  C.  Musselman, Somerset 1889 

Schuylkill, J.  S.  Keller, S'TJl^  n  ""'^^ Isss 

Sullivan,.' L.B.Speaker,. ^A^i^..^"^"^^ J-n 

Susquehanna, R.  S.  Searle MonJ;rose, 

Tioga, J.  W.  Mather, 


1889 

.  Wellsboro', 1889 

1887 


ilnfim, P.  Frederick, J^TrlJ"^"^'  1889 

Venango W.  Gates, Oil  City 1889 

wTrre^?'  .   1   !   !   ! F.  R.  Miller Sugar  Grove, 889 

Washington J.  McDowell Washington 1887 

Westmoreland, F.  Y.  Clopper, .      P'tt^^.^^lir^'   '   '   '   *      lllo 

Wayne,. N.  F.  Underwood, LakeComo, 1889 

York  W.  S.  Roland York, 1889 


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Quarterly  Report 


OFFICIAL    LIST. 


M.  W.  Oliver, 


IToTi.  R.  E.  Patlison, 
H.  M.  EngJe, 
R.  McKee, 


H.  M.  Engle, 


Dr.  J.  P.  Edge. 


J.  P.  Barnes, 

E.  Reeder, 

T.  J.  Edge,  Secretary. 


J.  P.  Parnes, 


T*resident. 
Hon.  R.  E.  Pattison. 

Vice  Presidents, 
D.  Wilson, 

Executive  Com^nittee, 
J.  A.  Herr, 
G.  Hiester, 
J.  McDowell, 

Advisory    Corninittee. 
G.  Hiester, 
T.  J.  Edge,  Secretary, 

Secretary, 
Thos.  J.  Edge,  llarrisburg. 

Botanist, 
Thos.  Meehan,  Oerinantown. 

Pomologist. 
E.  Satterthwalte,  Jenkintown. 

Chemist, 
Dr.  F.  A.  Genth,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Consulting  Veterinary  Surgeon, 
Prof.  R.  S.  Huidekoper,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Veterinary  Surgeon, 
Dr.  F.  Bridge,  West  Philadelphia. 

Microscopists,  Ilygienists,  aiid  Food  Inspectors, 
Dr.  11.  Leffman,  Philadelphia,  Prof.  C.  B.  Cochran,  West  Chester. 

Entomologist, 
Prof.  W.  A.  Bnckhout,  State  College. 

Ornithologist. 
Dr.  B.  Harry  Warren,  West  Cheater. 

Meteorologists, 
Prof.  I,  T.  Osmond,  State  College,  J.  T..  Heacock,  Quakertown. 

Mineralogist, 
Col.  Jos.  Wilcox,  Philadelphia. 

Geologist, 
Prof.  J.  P.  Lesley,  I'hiladelphia. 

Stenographer. 
Col.  H.  C.  Demniing,  Harrisburg. 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  AGKicuLTrui:. 


LOCAL  OR  COUXTY  FAIJMEKS^  INSTITUTES. 

From  the  Annual  Re])ort  of  the  Secretary. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Board  in  1877,  it  became  evident 
that  the  desire  of  tlie  farmers  of  the  State  to  have  a  meeting  of  the 
Board  hehl  in  their  resi)ective  counties,  could  not  be  met  by  any  ap- 
propriation wliich  we  had  the  riglit  to  expect  the  LegisLature  to  make 
to  a  comparatively  untried  division  of  the  State  government.  Invita- 
tions and  re(iuests  for  meetings  far  exceeded  our  ability  to  pay  the 
necessary  expenses  of  our  members  in  attending  thcMu,  and  much  dis- 
appointment and  misunderstanding  ensued,  whicli,  in  some  instances, 
has  resulted  in  an  injury  to  the  Board  in  certain  localities;  those  who 
were  not  granted  meetiiigs  i*elt  that  they  had  been  neglected,  and  that 
others  were  unfairlv  favored. 

As  early  as  in  1879,  various  attempts  were  made  by  the  Secretary  to 
obviate  this  difficulty,  and  to  increase  the  number  of  1  lie  meetings  with- 
out an  increase  in  their  aggregate  expense.  xVfter  carefully  considering 
all  of  the  proposed  plans,  the  Executive  Committee  adopted,  as  the 
most  feasible,  one  which  provided  for  the  division  of  the  State  into 
four  districts,  in  each  of  which  a  meeting  should  beheld  each  year,  in 
addition  to  tlie  annmd  meeting  at  Harrisburg.  The  district  meetings 
were  to  be  attended  only  bv  the  members  of  the  Board  residing  m  tlie 
district,  and  thus  the  exi)ense  oi'  a  full  meeting  of  the  Board  wa^i 
avoided.  This  plan  was  adoi)ted  by  the  committee  as  the  one  most 
likely  to  solve  the  problem,  but,  not  meeting  with  the  Cull  <ipi)roval  of 
the  Board,  it  was  not  pressed  to  a  completion,  and  until  1885,  the 
Board  met  as  during  preceding  years;  but  witli  each  year  the  evil  in- 
creased, until  in  1885  the  Legislature  was  asked  for  a  special  a])])ropria- 
tion  for  'Hhe  expenses  of  holding  local  or  county  farmers'  institutes." 
Tiie  request  received  the  approval  of  both  brandies  of  tlie  Legislature 
without  a  single  negative  vote,  and  the  Secretary  was  directed  to  ar- 
range the  proper  rules  and  regulations  for  carrying  the  plan  into 
effect.  Applications  came  in  faster  thnn  the  limited  amount  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Board  would  warrant  them  in  granting,  but  institutes 
were  assigned  as  nearlv  in  the  order  of*  the  application  as  circum- 
stances would  permit.  *^At  the  close  of  the  first  six  months  of  thea]>- 
propriation  year,  more  applications  were  on  hie  than  the  Board  could 
possibly  grant  during  the  two  years  for  which  the  appropriation  was 
made,  and  this  has  been  the  two  years'  history  of  the  county  institute 
fund,  the  demands  alwavs  in  excess  of  the  alnlity  to  grant,  and  they 
have  been  constantly  gaining  in  popularity.  So  great  has  been  the 
a])])roval  of  the  farmers  of  the  State  of  this  move  in  their  beliall 
that  the  Secretarv  would  advise  that  the  Legislature  be  asked,  at  its 
next  session,  to  double  the  amount  of  the  previous  appropriation  and 
assign  two  thousand  dollars  for  this  i)urp()se.  ,-,,,.      . 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Western  States  have  adopted  this  class 
of  nieetiip'-s,'  and  thev  are  meeting  with  great  success.  Secretary 
Chamberhrin,  of  the  ()liio  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  writes:  '' \\  e 
hohlforty  of  these  institutes  dnring  the  ihree  winter  months,  inve 
years  ago,  when  I  came  into  the  iioard  of  Agriculture,  1  su})niitted  a 


, 


4  QUAKTEKLY    RePORT. 

plan  for  winter  institutes.  They  asked  how  much  money  would  Le 
needed  and  1  said  to  tliem,  If  you  clioose  to  put  one  thousand  dol- 
lars m  l)ank,  I  would  draw  out  wliat  was  necessary."  The  iirst  year  I 
used  about  six  hundred  dollars;  we  did  not  have*^  any  appropriation, 
special;  the  next  year  the  Legishiture  increased  the  fund  to  six  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  Ave  nearly  trebled  our  exi)enses."  For  the  purposes 
of  iarmers'  institutes,  Wisconsin  appropriates  ei^hl  thousand  dollars, 
Ohio  SIX  thousand,  and  Vermont  enough  to  hold  one  institute  in  every 
county  in  the  State  each  year;  several  other  States  also  ni)propriate 
similar  amounts  tor  tlie  same  purpose. 

By  the  plan  arranged  by  the  Secretary,  the  resident  member  of  the 
Board  in  each  district  lias  the  first  right  to  a  portion  of  the  limd  His 
request  having  been  granted  l)y  the  Advisory  Committee,  it  becomes 
his  duty  to  arrange  the  programme  of  the  meeting,  lie  being  limited 
m  his  arrangements  and  exi)enses  to  an  amount  agreed  u]K)n  by  the 
committee.  This  disbursement  is  governed  by  certain  rules,  and  all 
bills  must  be  approved  by  the  resident  member  and  by  the  Secretary 
betore  they  are  paid. 

^  Since  the  appropriation  was  granted  by  the  Legislature,  the  following 
institutes  liave  been  held :  Titusville,  December  22d  and  23d ;  Lock 
Haven  January  21st  and  22d;  Honesdale,  February  2d  and  3d ; 
Oxlord,  l^ebruary  25th  and  2;jth;  Montrose,  May  5th  and  6th;  Atglen, 
May  2()th  and  21st;  Mililintown,  June  1st  and  2d';  Dovlestown,  Novem- 
ber 10th  and  11th ;  Washington,  December  28tli  and  29th  ;  Lewisburg, 
January  5th  and  (Jth.  ' 

Similar  institutes  liave  been  granted  for  Bloomsl)urg,  Lock  Haven, 
and  Montrose,  and  several  others  will  probably  be  held  if  the  funds 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Board  will  permit. 

Without  exception,  the  attendance  at  these  meetings  has  been  such 
as  will  warrant  an  increase  in  the  amount  of  the  appropriation  for  the 
purpose,  and  the  success  of  tlie  plan  seems  to  be  established  upon  a 
sound  basis,  with  the  hearty  indorsement  of  the  farmers  of  the  State. 
In  all  cases  the  holding  of  one  institute  in  any  locality,  if  not  followed 
by  a  permanent  organization,  has  been  tlie  ca\ise  of  a  second  recpiest, 
and  the  general  attendance  and  i)articipation  of  tlie  farmers  of  the  dis- 
ti-ict  may  be  taken  as  indicative  of  the  attemi)t  of  the  Legislature  and 
Board  to  benelit  them  by  atfording  an  opportunity  for  an  interchange 
ot  sentiment  and  theory  in  relation  to  their  calling.  In  several  cases 
special  sessions  were  set  apart  for  lady  essayists,  and  the  interest 
maniiested  l)y  farmers'  wives  and  daughters  is  an  indorsement  of  the 
innovation  in  the  general  rule  of  managing  this  class  of  meetings. 


PAPERS  A:N^D  discussions   of   FARMERS'  IN- 


STITUTES. 


Titusville  Institute. 
Opening  Address,  ht/  lion.  A.  iY  Perrin, 


I  have  looked  forward  to  this  day  with  feelings  of  pleasure.  I  liave 
been  very  anxious  that  this  farmers'  institute  should  be  a  success, 
and  that  our  meeting  together  might  result  in  profit  to  us  all. 

1  esteem  it  an  honor  to  address  a  few  words  of  welcome  to  our 


) 


i 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Agiucultlke.  6 

friends,  whose  presence  with  us  to-day  is  an  assurance  that  all  that  we 
had  anticipated  of  good  is  a})out  to  be  realized.  This  is  the  Iirst 
farmers'  institute  held  under  a  provision  of  the  Legislature  of  this 
Commonwealth,  made  at  its  last  session,  placing  a  fund  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  for  ''  the  actual  and  necessary 
expenses  of  conducting  local  farmers'  institutes." 

In  assemldies  of  this  nature,  where  men  come  together  for  mntual 
benelit,  it  is  most  important  that  the  greatest  freedom  be  enjoyed  by 
all.  That  all  may  feel  at  ]>erfect  lil)erty,  I  wish  Iirst  to  say  to  our 
friends  in  the  city,  and  to  those  from  near  and  I'rom  far,  that  a  general 
and  a  universal  invitation  is  extended  to  them,  not  only  to  listen,  but 
to  participate  in  the  proceedings  and  discussion  of  this  institute — all 

are  welcome. 

Again,  representing  the  Oil  Creek  Yalley  Agricultural  Association, 
I  desire  especially  to  extend  an  earnest  welcome  to  our  frieiids  from 
abroad,  who  have  come  here  in  our  interest,  to  speak  words  of  wisdoni 
and  counsel,  in  order  to  educate  and  advance  us  in  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences of  rural  and  agricultural  life. 

For  the  time  allotted  us  in  this  world  this  is  our  chosen  walk  and 
calling,  both  for  usefulness  and  supiK)rt,  and  desiring  as  we  do  to 
make  the  most  and  best  of  life,  we  gladly  receive  and  welcome  you 
to  aid  us  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose. 

I  trust  it  will  not  be  considered  out  of  place  for  me  to  make  brief 
mention  of  the  early,  continued,  and  indispensable  aid  rendered  us  in 
bringing  al)out  this  meeting  by  the  most  energetic  and  efficient  Sec- 
retary of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Edge.  He 
first  called  my  attention  to  the  act  of  the  Legislature  making  the  ai;- 
propriation,  and  advised  us  to  put  in  an  early  application  for  an  insti- 
tute to  be  held  in  Titusville.  From  that  time  until  now,  nothing  has 
been  withheld  or  left  undone  on  his  part  to  secure  the  grand  oppor- 
tunity we  enjoy  to-day.  You  will  be  greatly  disappointed  to  learn 
that  he  cannot,^  on  account  of  serious  illness,  be  present  with  us  at 
this  meeting.  It  was  his  purpose  to  have  been  here,  and  it  was  not 
until  yesterday  that  lie  informed  us,  finally,  by  telegraph  that  he  must 
give  up,  and  remain  in  (piiet  at  home. 

AVhile  w^e  are  deprived  of  both  the  pleasure  and  benefit  of  his  per- 
sonal presence,  the  essays  are  here  prepared  l)y  him,  and  will  be  pre- 
sented in  their  reirulai-  order. 

My  friends,  I  hardly  know  what  further  to  say  in  the  few  moments 
of  your  time  1  shall  occupy.  As  often  in  the  past,  so  now  again,  1 
assure  you  that  I  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  cause  we  have  met  to  pro- 
mote. '  Tn  the  country,  on  a  farm,  was  tlie  place  of  my  birth.  It  was 
the  calling  of  mv  father  to  be  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  and  that  calling  I 
followed  until  ['passed  my  majority.  1  have  never  lost  that  interest, 
nor  ceased  to  love  the  fields  and  the  herds,  and  what  I  enjoy  and  love 
affords  me  pleasure  to  see  perfected  and  possessed  by  my  fellows. 
While  it  is  twenty  years  since  I  left  the  old  home  and  took  up  my 
abode  with  you,  I  can  say  that  1  experience  no  hours  of  greater  com- 
fort than  when  roaming  over  the  fields  still  retained  by  us,  and  niade 
sacred  by  the  remembrance  of  the  toil  and  saving  of  a  lather  for  his 

4/ 

children. 

Quite  a  number  of  farmers'  sons— young  men— have  been  in  regular 
attendance  at  the  monthly  meetings  of  the  Oil  Creek  Valley  Agricul- 
tural Association,  during  the  year  just  closing,  and  some  of  them  are 
present  here  to-dav.     They  are  thrice  welcome.     They   have  some 


\ 


6 


Ql  AKTKltl.V    "RkporT. 


evi.lence  of  my  interest  in  yoniis  men.  I  l.Mve  experienced  and 
passed  throu-l.  all  (lie  stru-les  of  whicli  thev  are  now  in  the  midst 
1  k.ioxy  almost  every  hope  and  tlin.h  of  their  Jiearts.  Desiring  as  I 
do  tiu'ir  prosi.enly  and  haj.piness.  1  have  been  incdined  to  speak  as  I 
have,  hoping  to  strengthen  and  insjdre  them  to  an  increasinff  love 
and  respect  tor  the  phice  of  their  childhood,  and  the  avocation  ot  their 
lal tiers  1  wdl  not  take  your  time  by  arraying  facts  and  (i-ures  to 
prove  the  wondertul  magnitude  and  importance  of  tlie  ancient  and 
iionorable  calling  of  agriculture,  and  its  hearing  a n.l  inlluence  ni.on 
all  the  employments  and  ongagenients  of  man.  This  has  been  d'.ne 
irom  time  immemorial,  and  the  evidence  of  it  is  recorded  everywhere' 
1  he  best,  the  purest,  and  often  the  wisest,  men  of  all  ages  have  found 
comlor    and  hapi.iness  in  the  <piiet  pursuits  of  agriculture.     As  it  was 

.',«   !'w  ',-r   n'""*',   n  *'"^  la«<  i";l»^<ry  to  engage  the  human  race.    It 
has  had  Its  ebb  and   How  i,,  all  the  centuries  past,  keeping  measure 
with  Ihe.Klvances  and  declines  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth     Some- 
what in  this  regard,  ^ye  have  a  peculiar  history  of  our  own   in   this 
part  of  the  State,  and  I  want  to  speak  a  word  in  reference  tliereto 
U  Inie  we,  as  a  community,  have  to  acknowledge  our  happv  and  pros- 
perous condition  as  having  been  produced  by  various  causes,  we  owe 
much  o   our  present  security,  and  our  hope  in  its  continuance  for  the 
luture   to  development  of  the  agricultural  interests  about  us      Our 
foretathers  were  not  planted  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.     Naturallv  our 
soi    was  not  over-generous  in  yiel.ling  its  fruits  in  response  to  the  til- 
er s  hand,  and  limited  m  means,  as  early  settlers  usually  are,  it  took 
.  long  years  oi  patient,  self-sacriliclng  toil  to  show  much  imin-ovement 
Somelliing    ess  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  this  country,  then  an 
almost   nnbn.ken  wilderness,  \vas   penetrated  by  sturdy  men      The 
Kerr's,  Curry's,  Ih.lgeway's,  Titus',  Gilson's.  Stewart's,' Irwin's,  and 
llancox  s,  together  witli  many  other  honorable  names,  were  the  first 
representatives  occupying  the  hills  and  the  valleys  about  us  for  oer 
iiianent  homes     Originally,  there  was  a  great  wealth  of  timber  here 
but  when  made  ready  for  use  and  for  market  it  brought  but  littlJ 
money,  while  the  lack  of  near  consumers,  and  the  want  of  transporta- 
tion  postpone.l  the  day  of  ,.rosperity.     But  that   <lay  has  come,  and 
while  the  talher  heroes  sleep,  I  see  before  me  their  chihlren  and  their 
children  s  children  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  prizes  they  fou-ht  to 
win.     But  this  is  not  all  of  our  story.     As  you  have  come  here  to  hel» 
us  we  want  you  to  know  a  little  more  of  what  we  have  done  for  our- 
selves and  the  time  we  have  had  to  do  it  in.     It  was  not  until  within 
about  twenty-live  years  tliat  the  tirst  material  change  appeared  in  the 
condition  of  the  country,  and  that  change  was  as  disastrous  to  agri- 
culture as  tlie  ires  and  the  Hoods.    Its  cause  and  history  are  so  famifiar 
to  you  all  that  I  will  not  speak  of  it,  excepting  in  briei;  as  it  had  an 
influence  and  I)earing  on  the  subject  we  have  met  to  consider     The 
breaking  out  of  the  oil  excitement  in  this  country,  in  the  vears  of  1859 
to  1861,  opened  new  channels,  and  altered  the  course  of  all  our  affairs 
J<or  hye  to  seven  years,  over  a  large  area,  (here  was  almost  a  perfert 
cessation  of  all  efforts  to  cultivate  or  produce  anvlhiiiii  IVom  tlie  soil 
Hence,  tliere  was  not  only  no  progress  made,  but' much  that  had  been" 
accomi.lished  in  the  years  that  were  passed,  was  swept  away  and  lost, 
the  ear  h  a h.ne  being  left.     Lvery  farmer  was  looking  for  a  customer 
lor  his  lands,  and,  sooner  or  later,  he  found  him.     Thus  there  was  a 
change  of  possession  an.    ownership,  either  by  lease  or  sale,  of  nearly 
all  the  ianns  lor  miles  about  us.     Then  a  second  change  came  and  as 


} 


■ 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  A(!iMrrLTURE.  7 

the  lands  proved  either  uii]>r()diictive  for  oil,  or  became  exhausted  of 
the  rich  treasure,  our  thought  turned  back  to  the  old  ways,  and  many 
came  into  possession  of  their  old  homes  again,  and  the  i^rocess  of  re- 
building commenced. 

This  has  been  going  on  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  Tlie  results  for 
the  time  given  have  been  marvelous.  Meanwhile,  railroads  were 
built,  this  beautitul  city  sprang  up,  and  our  agricultural  society  was 
organized,  all  of  which  afforded  ways  and  means  for  tlie  advantngeous 
and  iM'oiitable  (levelo])ment  of  the  country  about  us.  'J'nking  all  t  hings 
into  consideration,  I  do  not  know  of  a  more  ])rogressive  agricultural 
community  tlian  the  one  assembled  to-day  to  receive  your  counsels. 

In  contemplation  of  our  imi)r()ved  condition,  and  the  blessings  we 
enjoy  to-day,  we  must  not  forget  the  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  to  one 
who  has  passed  from  our  midst.  A  useful  nuui  in  all  tlie  atfairs  of 
lite,  our  constant  friend  and  helper,  the  Hon.  M.  C.  Beebe  did  more 
than  all  of  us  to  establish  the  society  that  has  done  so  much  to  stiniu- 
hxte  our  tiiought,  and  put  forces  in  motion  to  develop  the  agricultural 
interests  of  this  section.  He  w^as  known  all  over  the  State,  through 
his  connection  with  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  the  many 
valuable  contributions  he  made  at  the  meeting  of  that  body.  Besides 
all  else,  he  was  to  me,  as  to  many  others  x^resent,  a  warm,  true,  per- 
sonal friend.  Blessed  be  his  memory,  and  honor  be  to  his  name,  w^hile 
we  will  all  join  in  respect  and  sympathy  for  his  family.  But  we  must 
go  on  and  occupy,  giving  heed  to  the  living  questions  of  the  day. 

Because  we  are  farmers,  we  should  not  be  limited  in  our  researches 
or  accomplishments.  AVhile  it  is  necessary  to  be  especially  informed 
in  the  line  of  individual  pursuits,  we  also  realize  the  importance  and 
advantage  oi*  a  broad  and  general  education.  We  want  to  know 
equally  as  much  to  be  a  good  farmer  as  we  do  to  be  successful  in  any 
other  calling  or  profession.  It  is  not  what  a  man  needs  to  know  sim- 
ply to  be  a  farmer,  a  i^hysician,  or  even  a  teacher  of  other  men,  but 
rather  his  needs  to  become  a  man.,  broad,  intelligent,  wise,  useful,  and 
helpful  in  the  world,  and  then  whatever  he  may  clioose  to  engage  his 
faculties,  he  will,  by  his  force  and  poAver,  bend  events  to  his  own  im- 
provement, and  command  success. 

As  we  have  already  made  our  choice,  the  theme  of  greatest  interest 
to  us  is  agricultur(\  and  how  to  produce  and  enjoy  its  full  and  legiti- 
mate proiits  and  beneiits.  Knowledge  is  power;  hence,  w^e  need  not 
only  to  know  how  to  produce  the  most  and  best,  but,  after  having 
done  that,  we  need  to  know  how  to  retain  and  protect  the  fruits  of 
our  labor.  It  is  a  fact,  as  it  has  been  stated,  (hat  all  the  great  for- 
tunes owned  by  so  many  American  citizens,  not  one  has  been  made 
directly  by  agriculture.  All  of  them  have  been  made  in  one  way  or 
another  by  the  handling  of  the  products  of  the  earth  after  deducting 
a  scanty  su])port  foi  existence  by  the  patient,  toiling  millions  who 
sow  the  seed  and  gather  the  harvest,  who  blast  the  rocks  and  smelt 

the  ores. 

Our  labors  and  anxieties  cease  not  with  the  ])roducing.  We  must 
find  a  UKirket,  and  here  enters  in  the  great  problem  of  commerce  and 
exchange,  the  legitimate  fruits  of  wiiich  have  rarely,  if  ever,  come  in 
full  to  the  rightful  owners.  I  will  not  attempt  to  discuss  the  quest  ion 
at  this  time,  but,  by  sinii)Ie  reference,  direct  your  attcMition  to  what 
seems  to  me  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  and  (lillicult  problems 
for  American  statesmanship  to  solve:  ''What  shall  the  tolls  be  over 
the  bridge  spanning  between  the  producer  and  the  consumer,  and  how 


8 


QUARTEllLY    ReI'ORT. 


shall  they  be  regulated  in  eqiiify  and  jnsli,-,.  to  all  concerned?"  It 
seems  to  me  certainly  not  "all  the  trallic  will  bear,"  purticuhulv  and 
especial  y  where  t  he  privil(>ges  are  secured  by  the  development  (diiohts 
obtained  by  concessions  and  grants  by  the  many  to  the  lew,  called  the 
imperial  n-ht  of  eminent  domain."     There  seems  to  be  a  limit  be- 


dence,  are  all  mdeieiisible,  and  I  earnestly  hope  to  see  the  evil    in  a 
great  measure,  corrected.  ' 

I  have  taken  the  liberty  which,  I  believe,  is  usuallv  conceded  on 
such  occasions,  to  reter,  in  a  very  general  way,  to  the  "subject  under 
the  call.  We  have  gentlemen  present  with  us  who,  by'essav  and 
speech,  will  ably  instruct  in  the  way  we  should  go,  and  in  the  fhin<^s 
we  should  do  to  make  our  calling  and  election  sure.  Again,  and 
finally  1  .say  we  come  tor  our  free  latch-string  was  never  drawn  in 
against  any  child  oi  Adam's  kin. 

Please  accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  attention. 


THE  MOJ3EL  DAIRY  COW. 

By  William  Fairweatiikr,  McLane,  Erie  county,  Pa. 

Within  the  last  few  years,  the  dairy  interests  of  this  count  rv  have 
been  assuming  v^ast  proi.orl ions.     In  this  State,  the  counties  of' Craw- 
ford and  Lrie  stand  loremost  in  cheese  dairving.      The   low  prices 
which  have  ruled  for  cheese  through  two  seasons  have     ?i^u lated 
the   fanner    to    look   to  the  improved   breeds  of  dairy  cattle   as  a 
means  ot  increasing  his  profits  at  the  factory.     The  question  which 
agitates  his  mind  is.  What  breed  shall  I  invest  in  ''  What  breed  is  the 
most  profitable  ?     What  he  wants  is  the  cow  th.nt  wdl  vieMl   m      e 
grea  est  possible  profit  for  the  smallest  possible  outlav.     If  he  does 
not  feel    able    to    buy  a  herd   of   thoroughbreds,  his   thoughts   U in 
toward  improving  his  herd,  and  now  (hat  (he  pressure  of  woWv  is  over 
for  a  season,  he  has  leisure  to  decide  what  kind  of  stock  he  will  raise 
next  year ;  whether  he  will  go  on  in  the  old  ruts  and  breed  his  cows  to 
a  scrub    or  invest  in  a  thoroughbred.      The  former  may  seem  the 
cheapest  and  simp  es(  plan  to  begin  with,  but  it  is  not  so  in  the  end 
Ihe  advantage  to  be  gained  by  using  a  thoroughbred  bull  is  no  longer 
an  experiment    but  an  actual  fact,  an<l  it  cannot  be  put  too  strongfy 
before  those  who  should  benefit  thereby.    It  is  now  agreed  bv  the  W 
authorities  that  "  the  bull  is  half  the  bird,"  which  ;,7i,iLn  Lds  con 
nmation  to  the  well-founded  belief  that  the  best  is  none  too  good  "o 
breed  from.     I  know  of  herds  that  have  double.l  in  value  l,v  Sg  a 
thoroughbred   bull.     Yes,  I  may  say  they  have   doublv  doubled  in 
value,  tor  the  animals  themselves  are  word,  about  (wiceasmuci  to 
sell  as  their  maternal  ancestors,  and  they  will  yield  nearlv  do.il.le  the 
quantity  of   m.lk   in   a   season,  which   latter  is  also  produced  at  ? 
ower  cost  and  the  outlay  expended  for  getting  iulo  (his  imi.roved 
herd  18  not  worth  mendomng.     When  a  thoroughbred  bull  of   i  first 
class  milking  family,  fit  tor  use,  can  be  bougl7t  for  fif(v  do  lars    no 
farmer  with  a  dairy  of  ten  cows  can  ullord  to  do  without  one      If  he 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Agriculture. 


does,  lie  is  losin<i:  money  by  it.     The  next  point  to  be  considered  is  the 
question  of  breed,  and  that  depends  a  good  deal  on  your  location  and 
what  yon  propose  to  do  with  the  milk.     If  you  want  butter  alone, 
proba])ly  a  Jersey  will  best  suit  your  purpose.     If  you  want  quantity 
of  milk,  regardless  of  quality  or  cost  of  production,  a  Holstein  will  till 
the  bill ;  but  if  you  want  l)oth  quantity  and  (piality  of  milk,  an  article 
either  lit  for  the  table  or  that  will  produce  a  (lelicious  quality  ol*  butter 
at  a  small  cost,  there  is  but  one  breed   that  can  do  it,  and  that  is  the 
Avrsliire.     I  would  here  sav  a  word  to  a  numerous  (dass  of  larmers 
who  labor  under  the  mistaken  idea  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  large 
carcass  for  a  dairy  cow.    Experience  has  proved  this  to  })e  a  great  and 
expensive  mistake.     Justthiidv  of  a  sane  man  advocating  the  feeding 
of  an  extra  five  hundred  pounds  of  beef  on  a  dairy  cow  for  ten  or  a 
dozen  years,  so  that  there  will  be  that  much  more  carcass  to  dispose  of 
when  she  comes  to  the  block !    The  idea  is  x)reposterous.     I  believe 
that  the  most  profitable  animal  in  my  herd  to-day  is  a  cow  that  does 
not  weigh  over  six  huiuh'ed  ])ounds.     11ie  trite  saying,  **  Economy  is 
wealth,'' is  very  ai)plicable  to  Ayrshires,  I'or  their  great  i)()int  is  economy 
of  production.   I  have  found  no  prolit  in  large  carcasses  ibr  the  dairy  ; 
they  are  not  economical.     What  the  American  dairy  farmer  wants  is 
a  cow  that  will  yield  the  greatest  quantity  of  nulk,  rich  in  butter  and 
cheese-producing  qualities,  on  the  smallest  quantity  of  feed.    It  is  not 
enough  that  she  will  give  a  small  (juantity  of  extra  ric'h  milk,  or,  in 
other  words,  be  a  good  butter  cow;  neither  will  it  till  his  requiremejits 
that  she  is  a  large  milker,  if  that  milk  is  of  poor  quality,  deticient  in 
fat  or  in  solids,  or,  perhaps,  in  both.     She  wants  to  be  a  cow  that  will 
give  a  good  How  of  milk,  ifit  either  for  the  profital)le  production  of 
butter  or  cheese,  so  that  when  one  of  these  conmiodities  is  low  in  j)rice, 
her  milk  may  be  utilized  for  the  other.      She  wants  to  be  of  strong 
constitution    and  active  habits,  not  a    big,  raw-boned,  lazy  animal, 
idling  away  her  master's  time  loafing  under  a  sliade-tree,  but  plucky 
and  industrious,  determined  to  have  the  })est  bite  in  the  pasture  if 
energy  and  perseverance  will  accom])lish  it.     She  wants  to  be  a  cow  of 
medium  size,  of  economical  build,  of  kind  disposition,  an  easy  keeper, 
a  large  and  rich  milker.     In  short,  she  wants  to  be  an  Ayrshire,  for  no 
other  breed  combiues  in  one  animal  so  many  good  (jualities  as  this 
hardy  Scottish  breed.     The  best  authorities  in  dairy  matters  in  lliis 
country  and  in  Great  Britain  have  accorded  to  the  Ayrshire  the  proud 
position  of  being  the  largest  yielder  of  milk  for  the  amount  of  food 
consumed  of  all  the  dairy  breeds.     I  will  here  give  some  facts  to  show 
the  superiority  of  the  Ayrshire  in  the  cheese  dairy. 

Last  summer,  Mr.  R.  J.  Drummond,  a  noted  cheese-maker  from 
Canada,  visited  the  Island  of  Coll,  Scotland,  for  the  purpose  of  show- 
ing some  imx)rovements  he  had  made  in  the  manufacture  of  cheese, 
and  with  Ayrsliire  milk  he  averaged  one  pound  of  cheese  to  eight  and 
one  tentli  pounds  of  milk.  He  was  most  favorably  impressed  with 
the  Ayrshire,  and  said  :  ''  They  are  by  far  the  best  class  for  cheese,  in- 
finitcly  beyond  the  ordinary  American  grade."'  Well  might  he  say  so, 
for  we  lind  that  the  average  yield  of  the  factories  in  New  York  State 
is  one  pound  of  cheese  to  ten  pounds  of  milk  and  three  hundred  pounds 
of  clieese  per  cow,  per  annum,  wliile  in  the  Ayrshire  district  in  Scot- 
land, five  hundred  to  six  huuflnMl  i)ounds  of  cheese  per  cow  is  the  av- 
erage annual  yield. 

I  will  now  give  the  experience  of  a  dairyman  with  his  cows.  He 
started  by  stocking  his  farm  to  its  utmost  capacity,  or  rather,  I  might 


10 


Quarterly  Report. 


say  overstocking  il.    His  liord  at  tliat  timeninnbered  sixty  cows  wliich 
yielded  him  about  lour  Inuidred  pounds  of  cheese  a  year  to  the  cow 
but  the  expenses  of  runnin-  such  a  large  herd  were  so  great,  that  it 
was  only  by  liurd  personal  lalmr  that  he  was  enabled  to  make  both  ends 
meet,     lirmg  oi  so  much  worry  and  drudgery,  lie  resolved  to  reduce 
the  size  of  his  herd  and  improve  its  (piality.  Acting  upon  the  simplest 
and  most  speedy  method  of  obtaining  this  end,  he  sold  olf  the  entire  * 
lot  of  cows   and  supplied  their  places  with  lialf  their  number  of  good 
ones,  for  which  lie  paid  from  t  wc^nty-fi  ve  to  one  hundred  per  cent.  more, 
liienewlotot  thirty  was  put  on  the  same  feeding-ground   that  for- 
merly kei)t  the  sixty,  and  they  yielded  more  than  double  the  amount 
ot  cheese,  besides  l)eing  managed  at  far  less  expense.     His  ambition 
was  to  make  one  tliousand  i)()un(ls  of  cheese  per  cow  per  annum,  and 
sowelldK     hisnew  venture  turn  out,  that  he  succeeded  in  reachincv 
over  nine  liundred  pounds  of  clieese  per  year  to  the  cow.     They  were 
a  fine  lierd  of  cows,  and  rolled  out  the  milk  both  deep  and  long  and 
.      in  a  few  years  so  changed  the  fortunes  of  their  owner  that  he  was  en- 
abled to  let  out  his  dairy  and  live  on  his  income.     I  will  now  tell  vou 
sometiung  of  the  breeding  of  these  money-making  cows.     Thev  Were 
a  cross  of   Ayrshire  on   Shorthorn,  the  former  supplied  the  milkin<r 
qua  ities,  and  tlie  latter  the  size.     Any  farmer  can  work  into  such  a 
herd  of  milkers  m  a  few  years  at  trilling  expense,  and  the  dairyman 
who  keeps  two  cows  to  do  the  work  of  one  is  not  onlv  badly  (Hit  ot 
pocket,  but  IS  indeed  sadly  behind  the  times.     I  have  had  considerable 
experience  with  Ayrshire  crossed  on  Shorthorn  and  native,  and  be- 
lieve that  for  the  farmer  of  moderate  means,  there  is  no  more  ])rofit- 
able  investment  in  tlie  shape  of  a  cow  than  such  a  cross.     Good  milk- 
ing natives  crossed  with  Ayrshire  give  a  very  economical  cow— a  good 
milker    and   easy  keeper.     I    have   seen   such   herds— medium-sized 
cows— whose  milk  at  the  cheese  factory  would,  for  the  season,  out- 
weigh tliat  of  any  herd  of  equal  numbers  carried  there.     Not  only  so 
but  another  great  source  of  profit  with  such  cows  at  the  factory  is  this  • 
lowards  the  end  of  the  season,  when  pastures  are  drv  and  bare   and 
cheese  genernlly  increases  in  price,  they  will  hold  well  to  their  milk. 
thereby  yielding  to  their  owner  a  gain  in  revenue,  when  cows  of  the 
larger  breeds  will  barely  pay  for  their  keeping. 

arr?*'^V'^^^^i^^.^^"'^^^^  ^^^'^^  British  authority  on  dairy  farming,  says  • 
Ihe  Ayrshires  are  wonderful  milkers,  doing  well  in  milk  where  niost 
other  breeds  could  hardly  live.  More  completely  than  most  other  breeds 
tliey  possess  the  property  of  converting  into  milk  the  elements  of 
A       1  •    ^^V.'^l^^^^ilving  tlie  diiferent  breeds  for  the  dairv,  he  places  the 
Ayrshires  hrst  lor  ]x)th  milk  and  cheese,  tlius  according  to  them  the 
highest  position  for  general  exceltence,  for  no  other  breed  stands  first 
in  two  classes.     What  is  wanted  by  the  general  farmer  is  not  an  an- 
imal that  requires  heavy  feeding  to  produce  milk,  but  it  is  the  cow 
that  will  yield  the  greatest  quantity  ((piality  always  considered)  on 
grass  alone   or,  in  otluM-  wonls,  the  largest  yield  of^nilk,  butter,  and 
cheese  t.o  the  acre.     Tlie  sensational  milk  and  butter  records  which 
we  so  often  see  reported  now-a-days  are  of  no  practical  value  to  the 
farmer  as  far  as  the  merits  of  a  breed  are  concerned.     They  teach  him 
nothing  except  at  how  great  a  cost  dairy  products  can  be  produced  by 
overfeeding  cows.    The  question  is,  not  how  much  it  will  take  to  make 
a  pound  ot   butter,  but  at  how  .wiaU  a  cost  it  can  be  produced,  and 
the  only  true  test  tliat  will  benefit  the  farmer,  and  prove  to  him  what 
they  can  accomplish,  and  what  he  may  expect  with  the  same  treatment 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Agricultire. 


11 


\ 


\ 


which  lie  gives  his  native  cows,  is  to  put  the  thoroughbreds  into  the 
pasture  along  with  the  natives,  and  prove  what  they  can  do  with  the 
same  fare  and  care  as  their  much  despised  sisters.  Such  a  test 
WT)uld  show  the  thoroughbreds  at  their  true  worth,  and  atlbrd  those  in 
doubt  an  oppori unity  to  make  a  wise  selection.  During  the  past  year, 
the  manager  of  the  Ontario  Experimental  Farm,  Canada,  has  made 
several  thousand  tests  of  the  different  breeds  of  cattle,  with  a  view  of 
ascertaining  which  was  the  most  suitable  for  that  province,  and  when 
the  cows  were  tested  on  pasture  without  other  food,  the  Ayrshire 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  list  for  both  butter  and  cheese,  and  in  sum- 
ming up  the  estimate  of  average  money-yield  of  the  diiferent  breeds 
for  the  season,  the  Ayrshire  again  stood  at  the  head  for  value  of  milk, 
butter,  and  cheese.  In  conclusion,  1  would  say,  do  not  be  misled  by 
extraordinary  reported  yields  oi*  milk  and  butter,  for  it  is  not  the  cow 
that  can,  by  extra  heavy  feeding  and  stufling,  be  made  to  yield  large 
quant  it  tes  of  milk  that  is  the  most  profitable,  but  it  is  the  cow  that  on 
grass  alone  will  yield  the  l)est  returns  to  the  acre  that  is  the  x)rofitable 
cow  for  the  dairy  farmer. 

DISriJSSlON. 

Mr.  Carholt..  I  was  much  pleased  with  the  geiitleniairs  essay.  It  strikes  me  he 
was  a  iitiie  partial  when  he  said  iiottiing  will  show  on  the  Ayrshire  as  njucii  as  the 
feeding  of  ti»e  cow  will.  Now,  it  is  not  simply  the  cow  we  waut  to  feed  for,  but  her 
olfspring.  We  must  lose  on  ihe  cow  if  we  liave  liitle  calves  and  two-year-olds.  An- 
other ihing  he  compared  was  the  Ayri^hire  of  Scotland  to  the  Ay/ shire  of  America  ;  a 
mcoparison  that  is  laher  ditlicut,  on  account  of  the  dtVerence  in  pasture  and  climate. 

Mr.  JoNKS.  I  never  have  owned  an  Ayrshire,  but  I  have  heard  it  said  that  they  have 
such  extremely  short  teats  that  it  is  diflicult  to  get  the  milk  from  them. 

Mr.  Fairwkathek.  What  thegentleman  has  said  is(iuJte  true,  or  rather  it  was  true. 
We  have  been  breeding  Ayrshires  for  several  years  m  this  country  with  a  view  to 
making  their  teats  longer.  The  best  breeders  of  this  country  have  a  good  breed  of 
Ayrshires  with  better  teats.  In  speaking  of  the  Ayrshire  not  being  large  enough  for 
beef,  I  think  a  man  who  raises  cattle  lor  the  dairy  has  notliing  to  do  as  t«>  raising  stock 
for  the  butcher.  We  can  raise  Ayrshires  as  easy  as  Shorthorns.  The  way  Ayrslnres 
came  to  have  short  teats  was  this:  It  was  the  fashion  to  have  short  teats  on  the  cows, 
and  everybod}'  went  to  raising  short-teated  cows.  Now  it  is  the  fashion  to  have  large- 
teated  animals. 

Mr.  Lyons.  I  claim  that  we  can  raise  an  Ayrsliire  up  to  two  years  old  without  grain 
as  easy  as  you  can  Shorthorns.     Give  grasH  in  summer,  mash  in  winter. 

Mr.  Si.AYToN.  The  farmers  all  over  tliis  country  don't  feed  a  cow  as  they  should 
after  she  has  done  giving  milk  and  li)efore  calving. 

Mr.  Faiiiweathku.  My  plan  wouhi  bo  to  feed  the  cow  after  slie  lias  done  giving 
milk  thus:  I  would  give  the  best  hay,  and  a  little  grain  toward  spring.  She  would 
do  better  and  bear  easier.  I  would  say  something  about  feeding  gram.  Cheese  fa c- 
torymenand  dairymen  say  best  cheese  and  buttercomesfromacow  that  has  been  grain- 
fed  in  small  quantities.  1  think  the  cow  that  cati  give  a  large  yield  of  milk,  that  is,  of 
good  milk,  from  pasture,  and  isnot  very  wasteful,  is  the  (!o\v  for  the  farmer.  1  am  not 
against  feeding  grain  ;  1  would  rather  feed  grain  to  my  cows  winter  and  sununer,  but 
it  does  not  pay. 

Mr.  KussELL.  I  don't  know  that  I  liave  thought  of  this  subject.  We  don't  live  in  a 
dairy  countiy.  Mr.  Fairweather  had  a  very  nice  essay.  I  could  not  take  niuch  ex- 
ception to  wliat  he  said.  1  notice  that  there  are  not  many  cowsthat  give  one  thousand 
pounds  of  butter  a  year.  I  n(<tice  that  they  have  touched  this  point.  The  cattle  that 
prosper  best  in  this  country'  are  the  all-purpose  cattle.  In  respect  to  beef,  there  is  a 
kind  of  cattle  that  will  bringgood  beef  results.  They  are  the  cattle  that  make  the  best 
working  cattle.  I  like  to  combine  all  in  a  cow  that!  can.  I  suppose  I  am  allowed  my 
choice.  1  will  take  the  Devon  cattle.  I  haven't  ligures  about  me,  as  I  did  not  expect 
to  be  called  upon.  I  have  reports  sent  me  of  cows  that  will  yield  twenty-two  pounds 
of  butter  in  a  week.  I  have  no  word  to  make  vvith  tliis,  but  [  have  no  other  cattle 
about  ine.  What  kind  can  we  produ(!e  that  will  equal  them  in  comparison  to  the 
amount  of  fetnl  consumed  ?  Also,  the  (tattle  that  will  makegood  working  ('atth;  are  the 
kind  I  think  should  betaken.  The  Devon  is  that  kitid  ;  they  are  the  largest  in  the 
world.  Perhaps  the  gentleman  wlio  favors  the  Ayrshires  is  prepared  to  dispute  me, 
but  this  is  my  opinion.  I  notice  in  my  farming  there  are  those  who  are  always  hun- 
g(ning  aftc^r  something  new.  if  a  new  breed  comes  u[),  they  invest  in  that;  if  a  new 
kind  oC  fertilizer  is  ollered,  they  buy  that.  They  never  advance,  butare  always  falling 
behind.  J  Just  want  to  content  myself  with  what  I  have.  I  think  it  is  a  fact  that 
other  animals  will  produce,  vvith  the  same  amount  of  feed  consumed,  more  profit  than 


12 


Ql  AKTEKLY    RePORT. 


the  Ayrs  iiroR  We  do  not  want  new  breeds;  more  investigation  is  needed  into  the 
wants  of  the  ohl  breeds.  Man  never  can  do  any  j.o<..l  bv  niaknu-  new  »  rree  s  we 
wanttonnprovetheold.  Ifanuin  does  n<,t  lik^  t-ar,nir,K,  lie  had  bXr^o  a  s^^^^ 
nn<,else.  wc,u  d  like  to  have  a  cow  nke  the  Irishnmn's,  wi  o  ^nd  ^h 'd  a  c  w 
hat  gave  nnlk  ail  tlie  year  round.  When  asked  how  that  was  ho  said  :  -She  can  I 
trom  a  cow  tiiat  never  liad  a  calf."  As  I  understand  this  rneeiing,  we  can.c  here  tbr 
nunual    beneht.     We  ail    need  this,  aud  we  need  to  benefit  ourselves  regarciing  our 

effi  V  nn;noip  ZV  "*""'''  ^^^^^*''\**  ^''  "^ ^  ^'^^  ''^''^^^  ""^«-  ^  advocate  an  animal  for 
eAery  purpose.  We  can  use  ijer  with  most  of  the  dhtHrent  i)reeds.  We  must  iiave 
them,  lor  they  are  all  good  breeds.  TJie  American  bieedsareallgood  breeds  I  claim 
jey  all  have  excellencies  These  are  breeds  for  the  farn.er~if  t^i.^  a  n?er^  West  i^' 
he  farmer  is  South,  or  i  he  farmer  is  East.  Tama  friend  of  the  Jersev.  T  am  a  friend 
ol  the  Ayrshire.     I  would  like  vou  to   properly  cross  these  breeds.     I  have  studied  it 

We  don  t    know;  we  must  mvestigate  this  matter.     Witli   pmper  investigation   we 
would  be  authority  on  this  matter.  ^      ^        invt^sLigauuii    wo 

Mr.  Faiuwkather    I  think  the  gentleman  who  last  spokeis  riyrhtabout  the  irener- 

di/rvl'/.T  ''"''"^^-    ^  ^^''"^  '^'"^  ''''''  ^^''''  ^''  ^  ^'^^  '''''''^  ^^'^^'^  P^>i»t«  i«  the  cow  ^)r  the 
uai  ry  inan. 

Question  BY  A  Member.  I  would  like  to  know  which  kind  is  best  able  to  get  its 
food  and  make  the  most  milk  from  its  pasturage.  ^ 

Mr.  Fairweathek.  In  answer  to  this(iuestion,  T  mean  tostick  to  my  Avrshires  I 
suppose  most  ol  you  have  heard  of  Scotland.  The  people  there  don't  luive  verV  nmnv 
fhi  sf.  H  »^>[thern  part,  the  breed  is  rather  small.     Tn  thesouther-n  part,  ther-e  is 

n  1      T.  i'''"*    ,^'^'>'>^^^^^^»»  ^'^"l^i  tire  in  the  hilly  districts  and  would  not  be  profit- 
able.      Ihe  people  there  need  a  cow  that  can  clinb  the  hills;  they  need  one  that  is   ri 
dustrmus.     The  Ayr^shire  is  that  cow.     She  will  climb  over  under    rush  and  stum    ^ 
leap  lences,  and  hnd  lood  where  another  cow  would  starve.  ^luiupa, 

Mr.  Jesse  Smith.  I  had  an  industrious  cow  oncn.  She  was  so  industrious  that  she 
was  on  every  other  man's  land.  These  industrious  cws  that  leap  fences  and  climb 
over  underbrush  are  not  always  the  most  easily  found  cows.  i^^it^es  ana  ciimo 

Mr.  Klissei.l    One  advocates  an  Ayrshire  and  another  a  Devon    while  no  one  advo- 
cates a  cross  breed      I  don't  think  there  is  any  l)re*  d  of  cattle  that  equal  the  Devon 
I  once  hid  a  cow  of  that  breed  crossed  with  an  Ayrshire;  she  was  the  blackest  cow  1 
ever  saw.     She  was  a  good  feeder  and  al waj  s  in  oVder.     I  think  this  cross  makes  good 

Mr.  SCHRIENER.  I  would  like  to  ask  if  the  crossed  breeds  are  gr >od  feeders 

•  1 7*  \';**v^.*  c<>^^'  that  is  three  fourths  Durham,  and  one  of  tliese  industrious 

^nd'ln  want'of  ioo([;"  '"  ''"^^  ^^  ''''''^'^-     ^^'''  i'^^^^^^trio'us  animal  was  always  uneasy 
Mr.  ScHRiENER.  Take  a  man  that  is  sittit  g  around  and  lazy  all  his  life      Take  one 
ike  myself,  that  is  always  a  little  nervous  and  cra/y.  and  look  at  the  dhlereuce.     It  is 
the  sanie  with  the  cow.     A  lazy  animal  does  no  j^ood  ;  a  nervous  one  does. 

Mr.  Hairweather.  I  think  the  gentleman  wh  »  h;is  just  spoken  is  quite  different 
[i7"u'''LomethinT  '''''^'     ^"  industrious  cow  when  running  around  is  always  pic^ 


EXPElilMEXTS  IX  FARMIJN^G. 


By  M.  W.  Oliver,  Sj)r{nghoro\  Pa. 

The  ^rand  distinction  of  scientific  iarmino;  is  tliat  it  rests  upon  ex- 
periment. Our  idea  of  wliat  would  happen,  and  al^stract  theory  of 
what  must  liai)pen,  are  each  dismissed,  and  .that  which  does  Iiappen 
is  learned  from  hundreds  of  experiments,  each  step  of  which  has  been 
carefully  measured  and  recorded. 

^  Science  has  made  pro^n-ess— r^reat  pro^n-ess— and  we  have  confidence 
in  It,  l)ecause  ol  the  tens  of  thousands  of  experiments  which  have  been 
made,  each  element  of  wliich  has  been  faithfully  noted 


be 
bra 


It  should  no  lon«,^er  be  said  of  a^rriculture  that  it  ou^dit  to  be,  it  is 
comin<^,  a  science.  Practical  farmin<;  is  })ecominj>:,  and  ought  to  be.  a 
anch  of  applied  science.  For  a^n-iculture  has  to  do,  not  only  with 
the  ^rowtli  of  desirable  plants  nnd  the  use  of  the  products  of  the  soil 
to  the  greatest  advantage,  not  only  for  the  help  they  can  give  in  cul- 
tivating the  crops,  but  the  breeding  and  rearing  of  animals,  which  is 


^E^'^SYLVANIA  Board  of  Agriculture. 


13 


coupled  with  the  growing  of  i)hnits.  Agriculture,  therefore,  is  the 
propagation  and  develo])ment  of  life,  and  the  collecting,  storing,  and 
using  of  the  products  of  life.  But  life  is  the  most  complete  mniiilesta- 
tion  of  tlie  ])owers  of  nature;  its  mysteries  are  the  most  intricate,  the 
most  ditlicult  to  unravel  and  read,  of  all  those  which  ])liysical  science 
has  undertaken  to  master.  The  farmcM*,  tlu^'elbre,  is  a  new  man, 
whose  business  it  is  to  apply  this  most  didicult  of  sciences — the  science 
of  life. 

From  ])r()fessedly  scientific  men,  who,  in  their  laboratories,  detect 
and  tabulate  the  elements  of  life,  the  facts  and  laws  of  its  action,  much 
information  can  be  gathered.  J^ut  he  need  not  depend  wholly  u])on 
others.  There  are  a  great  many  facts  of  the  utmost  importance,  which 
farmers  can  settle  for  themselves,  as  soon  as  they  have  learned  to 
handle  that  one  instrument  of  research,  from  which  modern  science 
has  learned  almost  everything  which  it  knows — exx)eriment. 

It  need  not  seem  strange  that  farmers,  as  a  rule,  know  not  how  to 
make  useful  experimcMits.  Even  among  scientific  men  who  have  had 
considerable  training  in  experiments,  only  a  few  have  become  masters 
of  the  art. 

To  make  a  really  satisfactory  experiment,  knowledge  should  be  had 
of  what  will  be  the  result,  when  things  are  left  to  themselves,  or  as 
nearly  so  as  possible.  To  illustrate  :  If  experimenting  upon  the  value 
of  different  foods  to  i)roduce  milk  and  butter,  we  must  knoAY  what 
those  same  cows  w^ould  give  if  fed  only  grass  in  summer  and  hay  in 
winter.  If  experimenting  upon  the  value  of  different  fertilizers,^  we 
should  know  what  the  same  soil  would  yield  with  no  dressing  at  all. 
And  now  that  it  is  claimed  by  some  that  cultivation  is  fertility,  if  we 
would  know  how  much  cultivation  pays  best,  we  should  know  wlhat  the 
soil  operated  u])on  yields,  Avhen  worked  only  as  much  as  the  average 
farmer  works  his  soil.  And  though  possessed  of  all  this  knoinledfje,  we 
shall  find  it  more  ditlicult  to  make  a  satisfactory  experiment  than  one 
might  suppose.  The  soil  may  retain  some  elements  from  last  year's 
fertilizers,  or  be  thrown  into  a  state  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  the 
particular  crop  under  trial  />//  the  cro])  of  the  previous  year. 

The  history  of  the  soil  must  be  known.  Heavy  rains  may  wash  out 
your  lertili/ers,  spread  and  mix  them  with  each  other. 

The  cow^  fed  on  bran  may  do  better  or  worse  than  the  one  fed  on 
meal,  and  yet  the  difference  may  be  wholly  in  the  cow  herself.  If 
testing  the  dairy  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  kept  at  a  profit  or  at  a  loss, 
we  should  not  only  test  the  dairy  as  a  whole,  but  should  test  each  in- 
dividu.al  cow  in  the  dairy.  You  will  be  surprised  at  the  amount  of 
knowledge  these  experiments  will  develop.  You  will  i)erhai)s  learn 
why  it  is,  when  like  care  has  been  given  the  milk  and  cream,  some- 
times you  make  butter  of  like  (juality,  and  again  it  is  very  much  off 
flavor.  Sometimes  tlie  good  housewife  is  surprised  to  learn,  that 
though  one  of  the  five  cows  of  the  dairy  has  been  sold,  she  is  still 
making  (piite  as  much  butter  as  before  and  now  of  a  uniform  (piality; 
and  she  is  no  longer  found  fault  with,  for  now  her  butter  is  ahvays 
good. 

It  is  a  fact  that  some  cows  furnish  a  milk  that  always  makes  a 
high  (piality  of  butter;  others  furnisii  a  milk,  which,  though  it  contains 
the  necessary  amount  of  fat,  and  is,  to  all  a])pearance,uOf  excellent 
quality,  yet  never  furnishes  butter  of  good  (luality.  Sliould  you  make 
a  test  of  the  merits  of  each  individual  cow  in  your  dairy,  and  find  the 
foregoing,  as  outlined,  true,  would  you  not  find  it  a  source  of  profit  to 


^^ 


14 


Qr.AKTKRi.Y  Report. 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Aortci  ltitre. 


15 


I! 


eliminate  tlie  inforior  animals  from  the  dairy?  Four  cows  as  o-cjod  as 
five— think  of  it  a  moment— and  the  weedin-  out  of  the  fifth  means 
the  saving  of  the  first  cost  of  the  cow,  and  the  annual  cost  of  her  food 
and  care.  If  farmers  would  take  the  time  to  ascertain  the  amount  of 
milk  each  cow  gives  daily,  and  to  churn  now  and  then  the  milk  of  each 
cow  separately,  they  wdll  learu  which  brings  them  a  profit  and  which 
brings  them  a  loss. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  comparative  results  which  may  ])e 
obtained  by  experiments— by  sim])ly  interchanging  or  reversing  the 
elements.  But,  in  all  cases,  to  determine  the  original  and  inherent 
power  of  the  land,  or  animal  exi)erimented  upon,  will  make  the  exper- 
iment more  satisfactory,  and,  in  many  instances,  it  gives  to  it  its  whole 
value. 

Another  condition  of  decisive  experiments  is  that  w^e  try  only  one 
thing  at  a  time.     All  scientific  experiments  are  made  bv  measuring 
differences  in  the  results  caused  l)y  differences  in  the  conditions,  and 
the  secret  of  success  is  to  know  liow  to  change  just  one  condition, 
leaving  all  the  rest  unchanged.    Even  in  their  la])oratories,  with  every- 
thing comparatively  under  their  control,  phvsicians  have  often  been 
sorely  puzzled  to  do  this ;  how^  much  more  difficult  must  it  be  for  the 
farmer,  under  the  changeable  sky,  and  liable  to  various  interferences. 
Yet  he  must  do  it  if  he  WT)uld  obtain  any  decisive  results  from  his 
experiment.     To  illustrate,  if  an  experiment  on  a  field  of  potatoes  is 
made  with    commercial    fertilizers,  the  experimenter  will  find  that 
cultivation  and  fertilization    go   hand -in -hand  together.      It  is  not 
enough  that  a  man  pray  "  lead  us  not  into  temptation, '^ind  then  rush 
from  the  closet  into  temptation,  when  duty  calls  him  not  there;  he 
should  watch  as  w^ell  as  pray.     Nor  is  it  enough  that  the  fertilizer  be 
applied,  but  every  opportunity  offered  should  be  taken  advantage  of 
to  aid  the  fertilizer  to  do  its  work.    In  a  moist,  cool  season,  the  ground 
will  not  need  to  be  stirred  as  often,  nor  will  the  tubers  need  to  be 
covered  as  deep  as  in  a  dryer  or  warmer  season  ;  and  again,  during  a 
continued  drought  the  soil  needs  stirring  oftener  still,  and  at  a  different 
hour  of  the  day,  than  if  more  favorable  weather  prevailed. 

The  whole  plat  of  ground  should  be  previously  made  as  nearly 
uniform  as  possible,  and,  if  different  fertilizers  are  used,  these  strips 
siiould  be  separated  l)y  a  dead  furrow  to  make  sure  that  thev  cannot 
alfect  each  other.  The  seed  shoidd  be  the  same,  and  prepareVl  in  the 
same  way  for  all  the  strips,  unless  the  experiment  is  upon  the  value 
of  dill'erent  strains  of  seed,  or  the  ditlerent  way  of  preparing  it;  and 
the  seed  should  all  be  sown  or  planted  upon  the  same  day,  unless  the 
object  is  to  learn  the  best  date  for  sowing;  otherwise,  change  in  the 
weather  may  complicate  results,  and  the  cultivation  should  be  iden- 
tical in  each  strip,  unless  the  object  is  to  learn  what  amount  or  method 
pays  best.  An  illustration  of  wdiat  difference  a  few  days  in  time,  as 
well  as  depth  in  planting,  makes,  and  how  the  results  of  such  difference 
sometimes  gives  credence  to  old  whims  or  theories,  if  you  please,  was 
told  t  he  writer  by  an  ex-official  in  the  western  i)art  of  the  county.  A  piece 
of  ground  of  uniform  fertility  w^as planted  in  i)otat()es  bv  himself  and  a 
neiglibor.  The  seed  was  alike  and  prepared  in  t  he  same  manner.  The 
ground  being  in  condition,  the  first  planted  his  imrtion  at  his  usual 
depth  of  i)Luiting;  the  other  waited  a  few  days  till  the  moon  w^as  on 
the  wane,  when  he  i)lanted,  and,  as  the  ground  was  getting  rather  dry, 
planted  at  a  greater  depth.  Each  piece  was  cultivated  alike.  The 
season  continuing  rather  dry,  the  deeper  planted,  or,  as  the  moon  the- 


orist would  say,  "  i)lanted  in  the  moon, ''yielded  the  better  crop.  Each 
jailing  to  recognize  the  cause  of  this  difference,  each  one's  faith  in 
the  moon  theory  was  strengthened. 

There  are  different  theories  and  svstems  of  cultivation.  AVould  vou 
test  any  one  of  these  systems,  and  be  i^roiited  thereby,  you  must  adopt 
it  as  a  whole.  In  making  experiment,  that  yourself  as  well  as  your 
brother  farmers  may  be  x)rofited  thereby,  an  account  of  the  whole 
should  be  kept  in  detail,  for  memory  sometimes  proves  worthless  when 
unchecked  by  paper  and  ink.  The  exi)erience  of  scientific  observers 
and  exi)erimentors  has  i)roved  tliat  the  whole  process  of  an  experiment 
must  be  kei)t  account  of  in  ordcM-  to  secure  such  knowledge  of  what  was 
done,  and  what  the  result  was.  Men  whose  honesty  is  as  bright  as  a 
new^  dollar  will  unconsciously  mix  up  their  theories,  or  expectations,  or 
disapi)ointments  with  their  memories  of  facts,  and  others  who  do  not 
intend  to  deceive  themselves  or  cheat  others,  are  unconscious  cooks  of 
their  rei)orts,  each  according  to  his  temi)er  of  mind.  How  often  do  we 
hear  the  man  who  is  given  to  boasting  telling  what  great  things  he  has 
got  from  small  things,  and  again  we  hear  another  lamenting  over  the 
little  he  gets  from  much,  and  yet  we  know  the  difference  is  really  in  the 
men — in  their  temj)ers,  not  in  their  crops.  You  know  that  if  each  had 
ke])t  an  account  of  the  precise  acreage  cultivated,  the  dei)th  towhichit 
was  plowed,  thecpuintity  of  fertilizer  used,  the  time  of  labor,  the  cost  of 
seed  sown,  the  history  of  cultivation,  the  (piantity  of  crop  harvested, 
there  w^ouhl  have  been  no  variance  in  the  two  records.  Some  valuable 
exi)erience  can  be  gatiiered  without  such  a  record,  but  to  obtain  full 
and  decisive  results  from  our  exx)eriments,  it  is  absolutely  essential. 

Success  in  life  is  a  (piestion  of  ratios.  It  is  not  the  absolute 
quantity  of  a  crop  that  makes  us  rich  or  poor,  but  the  ratio  of  the 
crop  to  the  whole  expense  for  land,  tools,  fertilizers,  labor,  etc.,  which 
settles  our  fate.  This  ratio  is  known  only  to  him  who  has  kept  an  ac- 
count of  his  labor,  and  every  other  item  of  expense,  in  such  a  w^ay 
that  he  can  tell  at  the  end  of  the  year  just  what  he  has  done, 
so  the  account  shall  read  the  same  whether  he  is  looking  for 
a  debtor  or  dodging  a  creditor.  It  may  be  that,  in  recalling  the 
year's  work,  he  may  correctly  sum  uj)  the  results  and  rightly  judge 
the  interi)retation  of  the  experiments,  but  if  he  has  no  record  to 
refer  to,  his  experiment  has  mainly  lost  its  value  as  evidence,  the  one 
thing  for  which  it  was  made.  An  experiment  must  be  carried  out  to 
the  end  faithfullv  and  industriouslv.  There  is  a  class  of  men  who  are 
always  experimenting,  and  whose  farms  show  plainly  enough  that  t hey 
are  not  farming.  They  plan  enough  experip.ients  and  commence  to 
carry  them  through,  but  alas!  every  one  of  their  experiments  is  at  last 
turned  into  the  same  one  question,  ''  Can  this  thing  survive  neglect, 
weeds,  and  starvation  V  It  is  not  worth  while  to  try  new  plants,  new 
fertilizers,  new  tools,  if  at  the  least  your  crop  is  not  to  have  the  soil  to 
itself.  It  is  waste  of  time  and  care  to  i)rovide  that  your  plants  may 
compete  with  each  other,  if  at  last  the  only  competition  is  to  be  with 
the  weeds. 

Something  may  be  said  of  the  opposite  error  made  by  those  who 
think  that  to  try  some  new  thing  is  to  fondle  an<l  pet  it  to  the  neglect 
of  the  familiar  and  common.  The  highly  pedigreed  and  high  i)riced 
cow  is  treated  royally,  but  the  otliers  are  (piite  neglected.  The  new 
rose  with  a  jaw-breaking  name  has  ])lenty  of  manure,  hellebore, 
washing  and  pruning,  but  the  old  standards  are  left  to  slugs  and  lice. 
The  famous  new  strawberry,  bought  on  the  strength  of  a  picture  large 


16 


Quarterly  Report. 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  xVoriculture. 


17 


and  bri-ht  as  the  rism-  sun,  gets  all  tl.e  fancy  care  the  possessor 
knows  lioNv  to  bestow.  They  see,  or  think  thoy  see,  a  wonderl'ul  diiler- 
ence  between  the  new  and  the  old;  and  if' they  get  results  pro])ro. 
tionate  to  their  oiithiy,  they  do  prove  by  tlieir  tests  that  tlie  new  has 
worth  but  they  have  not  shown  it  to  be  in  any  respect  better  tJian 
the  oM,  or  that  they  can  all'ord  the  expense  involved  in  chan^nn^'- 
Ignorance,  it  there  happens  to  be  wealth  behind  it, can  do  all  this  ^)ar 
largest  crops  upon  our  richest  acres  sometimes  yield  us  little  or  no 
prolit,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  wasted  in  the  using.  Tntclli'^-ence 
must  direct  all— from  the  breaking  of  the  sod  to  the  use  of  the  en)])  in 
producing  other  forms  of  growth— before  any  claims  to  thorouohness 
can  be  allowed.  ^ 

There  are  in  fact  two  different  ([uestions  to  be  asked  bv  experi- 
menters upon  new  crops,  new  breeds  of  stock,  new  implements  The 
one  IS,  wliat  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  got  out  of  them'^  The  other 
what  may  I  expect  them  to  yield  under  such  care  as  I  can  give  on  my 
larm  ^  1  he  practical  experimenter  seeks  to  answer  this  second  ques- 
tion. Another  sort  ot  men  who  cannot  succeed  as  experimenters  are 
the  impatient,  those  who  jump  at  conclusions,  and  reject  or  i)raise  an 
artude  before  it  has  come  to  maturity,  who  cannot  Avait  to  see  the  re- 
sults direct  and  indirect,  of  their  operations,  and  seem  always  to  ex- 
pect that  everything  which  Nature  makes  must  be  utterly  worthless  or 
exclusively  good. 

In  conclusion,  we  would  add  tliat  a  (nil  and  wiselv  planned  svstem 
ot  book  keeinng  would  confer  ui)()n  each  year's  rout'ine  of  labor  much 
ot  the  peculiar  value  of  a  course  of  experiments.  I  think  1  can  truly 
say  that  larmers  m  general  do  less  book-keeping  than  any  other  class  of 
men.  How  many  farmers  are  tliere  who  can  give  the'items  of  their 
expenses'^  The  creameryman  books  his  milk,  the  thresher  measures 
his  grain,  l)ut  who  measures  the  labor^of  producing  milk  and  wlieat 
m  such  away  as  to  make  it  possible  to  know  how  tlie  net  profit  of  the 
two  compare  '^  How  many  of  us  are  every  year  carrying  on  operations 
ot  which  our  experience  and  observation  have  taught  us  that  they 
can  be  done  more  easily  in  one  way  than  in  another  ?  And  yet  are  we 
sure  that  it  pays  to  do  them  at  all,  in  any  way,  or  wlictlier  it  mi<dit 
not  pay  to  engage  in  them  more  extensively^  Any  farmer  who  will 
take  time  to  keep  a  full  account,  not  only  of  money  and  goods,  l)ut  of 
time,  and  who  would  study  that  record  till  he  knew  the  net  profit  to 
him  of  his  corn,  wheat,  cattle,  etc.,  and  also  the  net  profit  of  his  fields 
one  by  one,  will  find  the  time  so  spent  the  best  paving  hours  of  the 
year.  He  might  learn  that  some  branches  of  his  work  do  not  pay  and 
thatother  branches  might  be  pushed  with  profit.  Thus  Avouldeach 
year  s  work  become  an  experiment,  answering  the  question,  does  the 
work  done  in  this  way  pay  me  'i 


now  TO  RRIXG  UP  A  WORX-OUT  FARM. 

By  William  Gates,  Oil  City,  Pa, 

It  has  been  a  serious  prol)lem  with  many  farmers  to  know  how  to 
restore  land  that  has  been  exhausted  by  a  ])ad  system  of  tilhu^-e  The 
pioneers  of  this  section  of  the  country  were  poor  peo])le,  audio  luake 
homes  m   the  wilderness  was  no  easy  task.     Scientific  investigation 


and  book  farming  were  not  known.  Suitable  implements  to  cultivate 
the  soil  were  not  to  be  had,  and  a  system  of  double  cropping  and 
pasturing  continued  until  nothing  more  could  grow,  and  then  tiie  land 
was  abandoned  to  l)riars  and  weeds  until  it  could  recuperate  by  rest 
and  natural  cases.  To  restore  worn-out  land,  the  first  step  should  be 
to  remove  all  obstructions,  to  take  down  the  old  worn  rail  fences, and 
replace  with  straight  fences,  made  of  post  and  rails,  or  boards,  or  wire. 
By  so  doing  sixty  perches  of  land  will  l)e  added  to  tillage  on  a  ten-acre 
field,  and  save  the  labor  to  clean  out  the  old  fence  corners  of  noxious 
weeds  and  useless  ])rush  and  briars.  The  next  step:  all  wet  land 
should  be  u nderd rained  ;  this  can  l)e  done  cheaply,  thus — dig  a  dihdi 
two  and  a  half  to  three  feet  deep  and  eighteen  inches  wide  from  the 
spring,  or  source  of  sui)ply,  and  place  a  stone  about  one  foot  high 
against  one  side,  and  another  stone  eighteen  inches  on  the  other  side  to 
lean  over  against  the  first  stone,  to  serve  as  a  brace  to  hold  tlie  first 
stone  in  position ;  this  will  leave  a  cavity  to  convey  the  spring  water; 
then  fill  in  small  stones  to  level  up,  and  you  will  have  a  drain  that  will 
not  only  convey  the  water  from  the  spring,  but  also  the  surface  water. 
By  using  the  stone  in  this  way, you  make  two  points  at  the  same  time: 
first,  by  removing  an  incumbrance  from  your  land,  and,  second,  by 
placing  tliem  out  of  the  way  and  making  a  good  and  etficient  drain. 
But  if  you  do  not  have  the  stone  on  your  premises,  buy  tile,  or  use 
any  other  material  that  will  bridge  a  cavity  to  conduct  the  water  from 
the  land  you  intend  to  c^iltivate.  It  will  not  ])ay  to  cultivate  land  that 
is  constantly  saturated  with  spring  water.  After  drainage  has  been 
made,  plow  nearly  the  depth  of  the  soil  (and,  if  available,  at  reasonable 
cost,  apply  one  hundred  bushels  of  slacked  lime  per  acre,  to  neutralize 
the  acid  in  the  ground  and  prepare  the  soil  to  feed  a  growing  crop); 
plant  to  corn  or  sow  to  oats  or  barley  ;  if  to  oats  or  barley,  sow 
mammoth  clover.  Let  clover  stand  till  ripe ;  cut  the  to])  for  seed, 
with  reaper;  plow  under  the  clover  stubble,  pulverize  thoroughly,  top 
dress  with  manure,  and  sow  with  wheat  or  rye;  follow  with  corn,  jdow 
late,  pulverize  thoroughly,  check-row  three  and  a  half  feet  each  way, 
drop  three  grains  in  a  hill,  cover  with  a  hoe,  (if  early,  four  inches  deep, 
if  late,  two  inches  deep,)  work  the  corn  early  and  thoroughly,  follow 
with  oats  or  barley,  plowing  tw^o  inches  deeper  in  the  fall  to  deepen  the 
soil,  and  l)ring  to  the  surface  a  clay  sub-soil  that  will  prevent  too  rank 
growth  of  oats  or  barley.  The  clover  seed  that  was  plowed  under  with 
the  stubble  will  probably  seed  the  ground  sufficiently,  and  if  so,  let  it 
stand  until  next  season,  and  cut  the  seed  as  before,  and  to])  dress  with 
manure  or  commercial  fertilizer,  and  sow  to  wheat  or  rye.  By  follow- 
ing tiiis  course^  of  rotation  of  croY)s,  you  can  secure  a  crop  every  year, 
and  your  land  increases  in  fertility,  i)rovided  always,  that  you  do  not 
let  any  stock  run  over  it  and  trarnp  the  life  out  of  the  soil.  It  is 
useless  to  spend  time  and  seed  in  cultivating  land  in  a  careless  manner 
and  expect  remunerative  crops.  Thorough  cultivation  is  required,  on 
the  best  of  farms,  to  insure  large  results.  No  hay.  straw,  or  feed-grain 
shotdd  be  sold  from  the  farm,  but  should  be  fed  to  the  stock  that  will 
pay  to  keep  and  feed,  and  th(^  products  of  the  farm  converted  into  live 
stock,  dairy  products,  poultry,  wheat,  and  meat.  Horace  Gretdey,  in 
his  lifetime,  told  a  great  deal  of  what  he  knew  about  farming,  and 
among  other  things,  said  that  the  best  farmer  was  the  one  that  made 
the  most  manure.  A  great  loss  is  sustained  by  many  farmers  by 
letting  their  manure  lie  in  the  barn-yard  for  months,  and  sometimes 
for  years,  and  wiien  it  is  carted  to  the  field  there  is  nothing  left  but  the 
2 


LI 


I 


18 


ll 


Quarterly  Keport. 


ri1)or.     Manure  should  l)e  carefully  collected  and  ke])<   under  cover; 
care   should  be  tak(Mi   to  luM^p   it   IVoni  burning-  \vhihMle('orn])osino:  ; 
water  should  ])e  apidied  with  a  hose  or  otherwise  to  wet  it,  but   not 
enou^i^h  to  leach  it.     By  close  attention   to  it  in   this  way,  the  li(iuid 
will  be  absorbed  and  the  ammonia  retained.     The  man  who  sells  hay, 
straw,  and  coarse   «:rain  oil'  his  jarm  may  accumulate  money  while 
times  are  easy,  and  while  his  farm  has  so  much  of  the  ricliness  of  the 
virpn   soil  left,  that  it  can  endure  a  few  years  of  absolute  starvation 
without  immediately  giving  evidence  of  tlie  extraordinarv  strain  that 
is  being  put  upon  its  resources;  but  sooner  or  later  the  day  of  reckon- 
ing must  come  to  the  farm  that  is  systematically  starved  "in  this  way. 
Ck)vers  of  all  varieties  are  the  best  green  croi)s  to  ])low  under  for 
fertilizing  the  land,  but  too  many  farmers  deceive  themselves  and 
cheat  their  larms  by  sowing  clover  to  fertilize  their  land,  and   when 
haying  time  comes  cut  the  clover,  make  it  into  hay,  and  sell  it  oil'  the 
farm;  and  still  worse,  turn  in  their  stock  to  eat  tile  blade,  and  tramp 
the  ground  as  hard  as  a  board,  and  wonder  why  their  land  will  not  pro- 
duce good  crops.     It  seems  to  be  the  prevailing  opinion  that  timothy 
is  an  impoverisher  of  land,  but  your  writer  is  not  of  that  opinion  ;  it  is 
a  tender  plant,  more  easily  killed  than  wheat  by  late  frost.     1  seeded 
four  acres  with  timothy  and  mammoth  clover,  as  they  mature  at  the 
same  time,  excepting  that  in  two  or  three  years  the  clover  w^ould  be 
killed  out  and  disai)pear;  but  close  observation  taught  me  a  lesson. 
In  a  warm-growing  season  and  no  late  frost,  Xhe  grass  was  nearly  all 
timothy;  when  the  season  was  dry  and  late  frosts,  the  grass  was  nearly 
all  clover.     This  lot  was  not  pastured  by  any  stock  except  shee])  in 
early  winter.     After  cutting  a  good  crop  of  grass  for  eleven  years,  I 
plowed  down  the  sod,  top-dressed  with  manure,  sowed  to  wlieat,  had  a 
good  crop,  followed  with  corn  ;  sowed  with  clover  the  last  time  the 
corn  was  cultivated;  catch  was  good;  the  next  season  the  clover  and 
other  green  stuff  was  so  heavy  that  it  was  difficult  to  plow  under; 
sowed  to  wheat,  had  heavy  crop,  followed  with  corn,  etc.,  etc.     You 
must  feed  your  land  if  you  want  it  to  feed  you,  and  tlie  cheapest  way 
to  do  this  is  with  manure  and  green  crops.*^   It  will  not  do  to  depend 
on  ground  lime,  or  even  slacked  lime,  for  neither  possesses  plant-food. 
Nor  will  it  do  to  dei)en(l  upon  commercial  fertilizers.     It  is  true   that 
they  will  stimulate  and  help  the  plant  to  start  and  increase  the  crop, 
but  they  cost  too  much,  and  can  l)e  supplied  by  other  material  more 
lasting  on  the  farm.     Recai)itulation  :    Takeoff  all  obstructions,  un- 
de  -drain  all  wet  land,  apply  lime  to  neutralize  acidity  in  the  land,  plow 
well,  harrow  well,  top-dress  with  manure  or  commercial  fertilizer ;  sow 
wheat,  rye,  oats,  or  biirley,  and  seed  to  clover  to  plow  under  when 
ripe;  follow  wheat  and  rye  with  corn;   follow  corn  with  oats  or  bar- 
ley ;  after  oats  and  barley,  wheat.     By  following  the  above  rotation, 
you  can  get  a  crop  every  year,  provided  you  do  not  pasture  any  stock 
on  tlie  land  you  cultivate  in  field  crops,  and  your  land  will  increase 
in  fertilitv. 

Discrssioy. 

AMembfr.  I  merely  ri>e  to  indorse  what  the  Kentlein-^n  has  said.  I  think  he 
pre  dies  solid  truth.     We  imd  better  take  in  what  he  lias  said. 

A  MK.vfFtKH.  I  would  like  it  if  he  ha  I  commenced  with  land  tint  was  wo-n-out  and 
to!d  us  liow  to  get  clover  to  g'-ow  on  it.  * 

Mr.  CARHor>[..  I  would  like  to  know  what  the  gentlonian  onsiders  worn  out  land  • 
wdietherit  is  land  that  remains  after  all  elements  of  plant-food  are  taken  out  or  not' 
There  are  eight  tiiousan<l  f>ounds  of  potash  on  an  acre  of  jand.  It  will  take  a  great 
-^'hileto  take  this  out.     I  would  like  to  know  what  worn-  >ut  land  is. 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Ai^.RicuLTrRE. 


10 


Mr.  Gates.  I  will  only  say  in  reply  thVt  land  which  is  not  producing  anything  is 
worn-oui  land.     That  is  llin  r<  ason  1  advoc^ale  Imying  lime. 

Mr.  KrssKLL.  i  think  Mr.  (ia  es  sj.id  that  land  that  will  not  produc^ft  anything  is 
worn-out  land.  We  have  no  larni  hut  wliat  will  produtni  a  little  s  )methin'^.  but  wl  at 
I  mean  is  land  that  will  not  produce  a  crop.  I  think  Mr.  (iates  has  done  Justice  to  the 
Huhject.  I  would  also  p^isiure  sheep  on  barren  land.  N\'hy,  I  s(^e  land  in  this  country 
thai  is  worn-out.  Sheep  will  i)asture  on  that  land  in  preference  to  any  other  land. 
To  my  own  pers-nal  knowledgn  I  liave  seen  sheep  }>aKtured  on  [ni\{\  that  could  pro- 
duce but  litil<%  and  in  a  lew  years  the  land  was  fertile.  I  think  Mr.  dates'  plan  Ibr 
enriching  barren  land  is  a  very  good  one.  For  land  that  will  not  produce  a  paying 
crop,  there  is  nothing  that  is  any  cheaper  than  lime  or  clover  seed.  Sow  about  lifteen 
pounds  of  clover  set^l  to  the  ace.  Mr.  (iatc^s  ha-  told  us  how  to  start  clover  by  a  liglit 
top-dre-sing.  When  1  was  \oung  and  began  farn  ing  I  took  less  )ns  from  adrerman. 
lie  said  he  took  a  worn-out  farm  and  moved  on  it  at  once.  The  large  farm  wouldn't 
produce  enough  of  anything  to  f)ay  him  for  farming  He  apj)lied  clover  and  u  anure 
the  next  yearand  fell  behind.  The  third  year  he  tilled  all  the  barns  on  the  place  with 
timothy  and  cover.  1  lun  e  never  brougfit  up  any  worn-out  laud,  but  1  have  seen  a 
great  deal  of  it  done.     I  think  Mr.  (iates'  plan  is  a  very  go(jd  one. 

Mr.  ScHUiENER.  It  seems  that  every  man  has  his  hobby.  1  think  what  we  need  in 
this  f)art  of  the  country  is  a  chemical  laboratory  where  we  could  take  some  of  our  soil 
and  have  it  analyzed."  'J'hen  we  would  know  its  (constituents  and  know  what  would 
best  grow  upon  it.  It  w«'uld  be  a  gn^at  saving  to  the  la-mers  of  tliis  sec^tion.  Wo 
would  know  what  to  put  on  the  land  o  make  the  proper  plant-food.  'I'here  are  spots 
on  my  farm  that  will  not  pro  luce  anything,  and  right  alongside  of  it  corn  will  grow 
six  feet  high.  Now,  why  is  it?  We  (lo  not  know,  but  if  we  had  a  laboratory  w^e  soon 
would  know.  I  believe  M  r.  (iates  said  something  al)out  raising  l»ai  ley  to  brin.r  up 
worn-out  land.  My  plan  of  manuring  is  to  draw  it  on  the  dry  land,  where  it  will  stay. 
If  it  is  drawn  on  every  diy  it  is  better.  Tliat  is  a  cheap  way  ;  it  is  alw-tys  out  when 
spring  comes.  One  cheaf)  way  to  manure  is  by  clearing  up  all  the  maimre  about  our 
houses.  I  have  known  a  good  tnany  men  who  have  started  out  to  buy  fertilixers,  c  >me 
down  to  barn-yard  fertilizing.  About  the  suggestion  of  raising  barley— can  we  make 
it  prolitabie  in  this  country  ?  Barley  is  a  very  nice  crop  if  we  don't  have  to  go  too  far 
after  a  market.  The  Lake  Shore  district  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  raising  of  barley, 
and  the  ma'-ket  for  it  is  right  there.  We  have  no  market  here  for  barley.  If  we  taKe 
it  to  l^>ie  we  may  stride  a  poor  market  and  we  will  have  to  sell  it  at  a  loss. 

A  Member.  T  would  like  to  ask  if  timothy  grass  impoverishes  land.  I  believe  Mr. 
Gates  referred  to  it. 

Mr  Carroll.  I  don't  like  to  take  up  much  time.  We  have  heard  a  good  deal  said 
in  regard  to  worn-out  farms  Oar  wise  men  tell  us  that  land  ontains  twelve  hundred 
pounds  of  nourishing  ekMiients  Two  hundred  bushels  of  potatoes  will  take  up  about 
forty  j>oundsof  ihe  good  that  is  in  these  elements  which  are  in  the  S'mI.  Some  of  these 
eleinents  cannot  be  used,  so  we  wantsom  thing  thit  can  convert  them  int  >  plant-'bod. 
This  can  be  done  by  fertilizers 

Mr.  Kerr.  In  the  gentleman's  es^y.  the  first  thing  he  speaks  of  is  his  own  farm. 
I  wouhl  like  to  ask  the  opinions  of  the  farmers  on  this.  I  think  it  is  evident  that  the 
most  unproductive  farms  in  this  part  of  the  country  are  those  that  need  underdraining. 
I  think  1  have  gotten  my  draining  done  cheaper'by  contract  than  by  paying  by  the 
day.  I  have  underdrained  from  a  swamp  and  other  places  on  my  farm.  That  which 
was  of  no  use  lietore  now  produces  the  best  crops  on  the  farm. 

A  MK.MJiER.  I  think  underdraining  c  )Sts  too  much  to  make  it  prolitabie. 


now  TO  KEEP  BOYS  OX  THE  FAKM. 


By   Thomas    J.    P^dge,    Secretary    Board    of    Agriculture, 

Diirin*:;  the  nine  years  in  wliich  the  correspondence  of  the  Board  of 
Agriculture  has  passed  through  the  hands  of*  the  writer,  the  above 
problem,  in  some  of  its  iiuniy  forms,  lias  been  ])resented  ])y  parents 
who  are  anxious  for  the  best  welfareof  their  children,  nnd  our  answers 
have  always  been  directed  somewhat  in  the  following  line  of  thought  : 

It  is  neither  practica])le  nor  desinible  that  all  farmers'  sons  should 
remain  on  the  farm  and  become  farnuM's,  nor  do  we  wisii  to  devise 
means  for  keeping  ihciii  there.  The  successful  farmer  is  not  made 
such  by  anything  which  \ve  can  enforce  into  Ids  nature  any  more  than 
is  the  civil  engineer,  the  scientist,  or  the  specialist  in  any  other  branch. 


20 


QUARTKRI.Y    KkI'ORT. 


If  aboy  Juis  M«;t  wiUu.i  l.im  a  likii.s  for  tl.e  callinR,  it  mavl,el,e.(  ih.t 
e  should  select  some  other  railing-,  an,!  that  he  w  11  he  me  sices 
u    therein      It  has  been  asserted  l)y  an  eminent  writer  tha    all     ,in.  « 
being  equal,  l)oys  would    choose    some   other  <wvxuJnuu\,i^, 
ollowedbytheirt;a(h.ers,because,.lnri,,,,heirVhil2 

Wl.Tfl       ?     ^'''^  ''"'"'^*^'  ^^  ^•^   '''^^'«    »»e««>n«   tired  of    ts  m  nuth 
Whether  the  reason   given  is  correct  or  not.  we  are  not  premred  to 
state,  b,it  thatthfere  is  some  truth  in  the  assertion  cannot  be  doub  el 
Nevertheless  the  parent  who  is  a  larmer,  and  recSes  that  hi^ 
callu,g  IS  one  ot  the  safest  and  best  that  can   be  engaged  iu    i  H  1  as 

Inrstof  all,  let  l.im  implant  in  the  boy's  nature  a  just  conception  of 
the  business  as  compared  with  that  of  other  u.eu  ;  tiach  h    n  .  li 

ajust  and  fair  comparison  oft  he  profits  of  the  shop  with  lose  of  1  e 
arm;  do  not^  ding  (long  into  his  ears  the  idea  tha.  larmi  "'is  ,,  ? 
slow  and  hard  way  of  m.kiug  a  living;  do  not  alwavs  hoi  "up  to  ,is 
view  the  tact  that  the  son  of  neighbor  Jones  went  to  the  citv  twei  tv 
years  ago.  and  is  now  r  ch.  There  is  no  harm  in  letting  him  EiovtS 
iact ;  but,  with  it.  have  him  renuMuber  that  at  about  the  same  t  me  nin  J 
otiier  coun  ry  boys  went  to  the  same  city  with  as  fair  prospects  as      e 

"an   S  '  In  v  m""'  "  V  ''%''^  ^?^^'?"^'  ''  t^'^"-  d^^k  for  a 'mall 
salaij,  xMtii  l.fty  more  waiting  tor  their  situations  should  they  be  sick 

or,  trom  any  cause,  give  them  up.     Let  him  see  both  s  des  ol  tl  e 
question,  and  Math  one  follow  the  other  '"iuesoi  me 

If  you  point  out  to  your  boy  the  fact  that  Smith  makes  ten  per  cent 
upon  his  capital  as  a  stock-broker,  do  not  ne-lect  to  show  hZ  n    I 
nineteen  others  fail  to  make  even'a  good  livi  rgTand  d  Tot    e        n 
los^  sight  of  the  fa,.t  that  the  total  c.tpital  inves  ed  in  I    d  erage  doe 
not  pay  two  per  cent,  upon  the  investment  ;  let  him  see  tl  at  tbr  each 
\  anderbi  t  we  have  a  dozen  Enos  and  Wards.     It  will  a  Isx^iiorbe 
amiss  to  show  h.m  t^hat  after  femilh  pays  his  family  expenses  Id^  ten 
er  cent,  is  all  absorbed,  while  t  he  three  per  cent,  m.ule  by  Farmei  Rob 
inson  is^so  much  clear  gam,  the  expenses  of  living  having  tiS  been 

Let  him  note  the  fact  that  out  of  every  ten  business  men  in  our 
great  cities,  but  one  gets  rich,  while  the  other  nine  barely  ach  eve  a 
comtortable  living,  and  many  of  them  .lo  not  know  where    he  next 

n    nth  sexpensesaretocouR- from;  and  furtlu.r  let  him  see  tha^^ 

who  gets  rich  is  working  hard  to  amass  capital  enough  to  purchase  a 

farm  „,  the  country  upon  which  he  may  live  with  hisMamifv 

Let  him  see  that  if  two  hundred  tl.ousand  dollars  is  equal  y  divided 
among  ten  average  tarmers  and  ten  business  men,  that,  at  the  end  of 
twenty  years,  the  farmers  will  have  accumulated  the  most  surplu 
capital  or  prolit    and  will  have  this  surplus  most  equX  divided 
that  of  the  ten  business  men  in  the  city,  one  will  prolnhlv  have  bofh 

bu'lliess  mei;"'"'  '"'  ""  ''^''  '""'  "^'^  '''''''  ^^^^^^  out^'of  view  as     ' 

Many  boys^  have  been  literally  driven  from  the  farm  by  the  treat- 
ment received  during  boyhood.    The  writer  has  a  vivid  rec^ollect  on  of 

he  time  vvhen  the  dullest  scythe,  the  poorest  hoe,  an.l  t  h<.  Lst  mo  oto 
nous  work  were  good  enough  for  a  boy,  simply  because  he  w.a"a  boy 
Constant  labor,  from  daylight  to  dark,  with   Jillle  or  no  inlermlssron 

or  amusement,  has  driven  many  a  farmer's  boy  to  seek  a  preS'  S 
I.v.ng  m  our  large  cities.    Do  not  work  the  boys  too  hard,    l^u  farm"? 


Pennsylvani.\  "Board  of  Agriculture. 


21 


who  will  hesitate  to  put  liis  two-year-old  colt  to  steady  work  does  not 
always  make  the  same  exception  in  favor  of  his  son  onH'teen,  and  yet 
the  colt  is  better  able  to  endnre  the  work  of  the  lull  horse  than  is  the 
boy  to  do  a  man's  work.  In  the  words  of  an  old,  snccessfnl  farmer, 
''  If  you  want  the  ])oy  to  stay  on  the  farm,  do  not  bear  too  hard  on  the 
grindstone  when  he  turns  the  handle." 

Teach  the  boys  that  profitable  farming  will  give  as  much  scope  lor 
brain  exercise  as  any  other  calling,  and  that  the  lield  for  the  use  of 
brains  on  the  farm,  and  in  connection  with  farm  w^ork,  is  widening 
every  year,  and  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  successful 
Pennsylvania  farmer  will  use  more  })rainsan<l  less  muscle  than  he  now 
does,  and  that,  on  an  average,  the  demand  and  need  of  brains  in  agri- 
culture^ will  ])roduce  as  good  results  as  in  other  callings.  Show  the 
boys  the  agricultural  improvement  of  the  past  twenty-live  years,  and 
lead  them  to  expect  that  the  inii)rovement  of  the  coming  twenty-live 
years  will  be  as  marked  and  as  important. 

Another  very  important  item  iu  keeping  1)oys  on  the  farm,  and  also 
in  driving  ihem  away  from  it,  is  the  nature  of  the  reading  with  Avhich 
they  are  supplied.  The  boy's  mind  reaches  out  for  information  as  a 
root  after  food,  and  the  one  is  as  sure  to  obtain  it  as  the  other.  If  the 
boy  is  supplied  with  good  agricultural  journals,  he  will  take  an  interest 
in  them,  and  once  interested,  the  chances  of  his  leaving  the  farm  are 
very  much  decreased ;  on  the  other  hand,  compel  him  to  obtain  his 
knowledge  and  information  from  the  average  periodicals  of  the  day 
and  the  chances  of  his  leaving  the  farm  are  at  a  maximum. 

If  asked  to  name  the  two  causes  which  driv^e  most  of  the  bovs  from 
the  farm,  we  Avould  suggest  poor  tools  and  iinpr()i)er  reading  matter. 
Both  of  these  are  within  and  under  the  control  of  the  parent,  and  if 
properly  attended  to  will  do  much  to  solve  the  problem. 


LAMP-LIGHT. 


By  R.  M.  Streeter,  Sapeiintendent  of  Schools^   Tltusmlle^  Pa. 

There  are  farmers,  and  farmers.  The  difference  between  them  is 
wide,  and  due  mostly  to  the  use  each  makes  of  his  lamp-light.  By 
the  lamp  light  every  farmer  reads.  From  the  harvest  field  of  fact, 
gathered  into  t3^pe  by  skilled  hands,  he  gleans  here  a  hint  and  there  a 
thought;  and  these,  tested  upon  his  own  acres,  fill  his  barns  and  add 
comforts  to  his  home.  By  that  same  lamp-light  his  world  widens. 
The  comlbrts  tiiat  crown  his  work  have  taught  him,  if  he  cares  to  learn, 
that  it  is  not  all  of  life  to  live ;  that  fat  farms  and  all  they  stand  for 
can  be  only  the  basis  of  something  better  than  food  and  shelter  and 
clothes ;  that  these  are  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  and  that  the  life  worth 
living  is  high  above  them  all.  From  that  same  lamp  as  he  reads  and 
thiidvs,  a  moral  light  will  fall ;  and  the  good  things  his  hands  have 
earned  and  the  better  themes  his  thoughts  have  Ibund,  will,  under  this 
last  light,  bi'oadcn  and  strengthen  his  manhood  and  round  it  into  that 
pe^ffection  it  is  this  life's  aim  to  reach. 

in  this  day  and  generation,  when  the  printing-press  rules  men's 
minds,  there  is  no  need  of  saying  that  a  farmer  ought  to  i-ead.  To  him, 
as  to  men  in  other  life-callings,  his  reading  is  his  capital ;  and  he,  like 


22 


Qt  ARTEKj.v  Rr:r>oRT. 


PeNSSVLVANIA    BoAHU    of    AciRlClLTlKE. 


23 


other  men,  can  be  pal  down  as  a  success,  as  lie  reads  and  profits  bv  it 
His  own  iarm  tells  him  this,  if  he  would  listen  to  i(  :  (br  nothing'  in' 
the  whole  range  of  lact  is  truer  thnu  this  :    a  field  will  -ivoback  what 

wifff.i"  "°/""T-  ,^T-  ^^"'  '=^'"'  '•='^'«=  pulverize  its  soil;  mix 
uith  It  thoroughly  the  food  it  craves;  add  to  it  year  bv  vear  whatever 
IS  suggested  by  watchrulness  and  thought;  and  lhat'field\s  croi.s  in 
trnnipetingl  hat  man's  success  will  also  fell  of  the  wisdom  that  aims  at 
file  highest  larm-culture  and  will  use  the  fat  field  as  a  proof  of  the 
axiom  :  ground  gives  l)ack  what  it  takes  and  no  more 

No\y  roots  and  thoughts  are  much    alike.     Both  work  in  the  dark 
J^.lh  to     hnve  must  be  well  ied.  If  the  soil  be   poor,  no  ricli  yield 
ripens;  If  it  be  good,  nothing  so   impoverishes  it  as  crop  after  crop 
wit  hout  iKHirishmenf.     The  likeness  can  be  carried  further,  but  this  is 
far   enough;  for  it  enables   me  to   say  without   fear   ol'  denial,  that 
farmers  must  read  and  think  ;  and  that  their  farms  tell  in  no  uncertain 
way  what  use  they  are  making  of  t  heir  lamp-liiiht 
The  theory  seams  to  be  well  enough;  but  is  ft  practical « 
A  member  of  the  John  Smith  family  some  years  ago  bought  some 
land  which  his  friends,  to  humor  him,  called  a  farm.     When  he  took 
possession  it  was  a  sorry  one.     Once  it  might  have  been  described  as 
so  much  woodland  and  tilth  ;  but  now,  woods  and  neglected  cow  pas- 
ture would  give  the  best  idea;  for  that,  naturally,  includes  tumble- 
down iences  and  rampant  bushes,  smothering  here  a  garden— or  what 
was  one— and  there  an  orchard  with  its  scraggy  limbs  lifted  lieayen- 
warcb  as  il  pleading  for  deliyeraiice  from  the  invaders  of  its  soil      The 
arm  s  one  good  point  was  its  position— a  gentle  southern  slope  with 
(he  woodland,  foryears  untouched,  shiehlingif  from  the  mu-thern  cold 
Ihe  house,  in  spite  of  long  misuse,  was  still  staunch,  while  its  windo\vs 
were  choked  with  hats  and  rags.     The  door-yard  i  Oh,  its  olfense  was 
rank .  It  .smelt  to  heaven!     Here,  by  heai)S  of  mouldering  chips  was  a 
])ile  of  rot  luir  logs.     There  old  iron  had  pitched  its  rusty  tent.     Carts 
and  sleds  housed  in  the  open  air.  huddled  together  near  by.     Plows 
an.    harrows,  save  those  a-lield  where  they  had  last  been  lised,  were 
realizing  111  a  ience  corner  the  decree  of  ashes  to  ashes  and  dust  to 
clust,  w  hill,  weed  and  decay  were  alike  urged  on  bv  the  ])arnvard, 
liounng  down  upon  them  its  golden  streams.     The  barn— the  buildin.'s 
generally— were  worthy  of  the  man  who  believes  in  practical  farming' 
whose  creed  forces  him  to  make  the  most  of  day-light  winter  and  sum- 
mer and  to  give  up  his  hours  of  lamp-light  to  rest  and  sleep. 

O     this  farm,  John   Smith,  strong  in  brain   and    muscle,  and    his 

worthy  wile  took  possession  one  day  in  early  spring.     They  bought 

his  Iarm  because  they  both  like.l  farm  life  an<l  because  thev  wanted 

o  make  it  their  home.     As  the  farm  was  rlieap,  they  were  able  to  pay 

or  1  ;  and  they  had  money  enough  left  to  buy  a  horse,  a  cow,  and  a 

lew  laruiing  tools.     One  more  purchase  he  made,  a  number  of  the  best 

bwks  on  farming  whu-h  he  could  find,  for  which  he  paid— so  itseemed 

to  him   then— "a  good  round   sum!"     With  this  small   outfit,  they 

crowded  their  way  into  that  forlorn  farm-house  and   went  to  work 

You  who  began  farming  with  a  limited  pocket  book  know  what  John 
Smitfi  went  through  with,  and  only  you  who  have  sacrificed,  as  he  <lid 
or  those  precious  books,  can  ever  dream  of  the  joy  that  was  his.  as 
with  their  help  he  solved  the  problems  that  met  him  in  his  daily  life 
lo  say  tluit  he  was  successful  from  the  start  wouM  not  be  true  '  First 
yearsin  any  business  are  years  of  trial;  and  when  Ihe  spring  came 
round.  Farmer  John  was  behind  hand.     The  second  year  was  a  trifle 


better;  but  when  after  the  third  harvest  his  accounts  gave  a  balance 
in  his  favor,  small  though  it  was,  it  was  large  enough  to  convince  him 
that  his  hoi)es  of  a  home  were  beginning  lo  be  realized.     Years  later, 
when  prosperity  had  taken  up  her  abode  with  him,  he  says— and  you 
Avho  know  the  early  condition  of  that  farm  will  catch  his  meaning— 
"As  I  look  out  of  my  library  window  to-day'' — It/mtri/  window — ''I 
see  lields  reddened  with  the  lusty  bloom  of  clover,  which  stands  trem- 
blinginils  ranks. and  which  I  greatly  fear  will  be  doubled  on  its  knees 
with  (he  lirst  rain-storm;  another  shows  the  yellowish  waving  green 
of  full-iii-own  rye,  swavingand  dimpling, and  ilriftiiigas  the  idle  winds 
will;    another 'is  half  in   barley  half  in  oats— a  bristling  green  beard 
upon   the   first,  the   oats    Hinging   out   their    lleecy,  feathery  tufts  of 
blossom;  upon  another  field  are  deep  dark  lines,  beneath   wIikIi  m - 
September   there   are    hopes   of  harvesting   a    thousand   bushels    ol 
])f>tatoes;  yet  another  shows  fine  lines  of  growing  corn,  and  a  brown 
area,  where  a  closer  look  would  reveal  the  delicate  growth  of  fresh 
start iuir  carrots  and  mangel.     All  the  rest  in  waving  grass;    not  so 
clean  as  could  be  wished,  for  I  see  lawny  stains  of  blossoming  sorrel, 
and  fields  whitened  like  a  sheet  with  daisies;  but  still  well  enough  lor 
you  to  say  to  your  hearers  that  this  great  change  upon  my  farm  is  due 
to  that  book  investment  made  long  ago." 

This  is  one  instance.  There  are  others  like  it;  and  it  and  they,  it 
they  prove  anything,  show  that  there  are  farmers  and  iarmers;  and 
that  the  dillere'iice  between  them  is  due,  mostly,  to  the  use  each  makes 

of  his  lamp-light. 

The  lamp  that  lightens  the  way  to  such  a  harvest-home  does  not  go 
out  as  soon  as  the  journey  is  done.  Burning  still,  it  shows  the  fanner 
that  there  are  other  roads  than  that  to  market;  and  he,  sure  now  of 
his  dinner,  takes  time  to  ask  whither  they  lead.     The  answer  is  not 


loniii;  in  cominc;; 


,,,„^ ^,  nor  lio  backward  in  enterin^i;  these  strange  liighways. 

Byliis  evening  lamp,  the  novel  leads  him  into  the  delighti'ul  paths  ol 
fiction.  Here  travel  charms  him,  and  without  discomfort  he  wanders 
''  the  wide  world  o'er."  Now  history  turns  for  him  her  record  of  great 
deeds;  and  by  and  bv  the  poetii  begin  to  sing.  To-night  he  cuts  the 
leavesof  the  last 'Mlarper;"  to-morrow  nightthe '' Cent  ury"  chains  him 

to  his  chair;  while  the  newspaper,  in  daily  and  weekly  round,  keeps 
him  familiar  with  the  doings  of  the  day. 

These  silent  speakers  are  not  unheeded.  No  ear  can  hear  them  and 
be  unmoved;  and  under  their  healthy  inlluence  the  farm  and  larm- 
house  bud  and  blossom  in  beauty.  Nor  does  the  good  work  stop  here. 
Home,  especiallv  in  the  country,  means  the  neighborhood.  It  takes 
in  the  school-house  and  the  church;  and  the  lamp-light  that  brings 
these   within  the   circle  of  the   farmers   vision  widens,  indeed,  his 

world.  .  1  .    1    •.     1    i. 

It  has  been  easy  to  write  this,  it  w\as  easier  to  think  it;  but  as  yonr 
thought  and  mine  grasp  all  that  it  means,  is  it  (luite  so  easy  to  inake 
it  real^  Men  in  town,  plagued  in  summer  and  winter  alike  by  busi- 
ness, throw  a  halo  of  glory  over  the  life  of  the  farmer  and  sigh  lor  Ins 
chance  to  read  and  study  in  the  calm  and  peace  of  a  country  home. 
The  only  fact  to  check  the  sigh  and  to  mar  the  picture  is  that  tlnar 
chance  is  as  good  as  his.  Every  man  who  amounts  to  anything,  an( 
who  is  bound  to  be  ^'fit  for  more  than  the  thing  he  is  now  doing,  will 
be  sure  to  lind  a  chance,  or  make  it,  for  reading  and  study— a  st^ate- 
ment  applying  no  more  to  the  farmer  than  to  the  oil-dealer  or  the  shoe- 
maker,   there  is  the  winter,  of  course,  when  field  work  cannot  go  on ; 


n 


21 


Quarterly  Report. 


Pennsylvania  Boaud  of  AcRTruLTURE. 


25 


I)iit  IS  It  easy  or  is  it  natural  for  the  busy,  active  farmer  to  turn  to  books 
while  there  are  a  thousand  thin-s  that  lie  likes  to  do  callin-  for  his 
careJf  lo  men  shut  up  in  the  city,  sweet  pictures  come  of  ^'<>'reen 
grass  ^rowin-"  and  of  limpid  brooks;  ])ut  are  these  pictures  Jess^dear 
to  tlie  poor  lellow,  stowin-  away  hay  in  the  stillino;  air  under  the  hot 
.  harn  root  ^  Ihey  lou-  for  that  })lissful  time,  when  free  from  care 
they  are  tx)  read  themselves  to  sleep  in  the  hnmmock  undfn-  the  elms' 
Why  not  instead  lono-  for  that  blissful  time,  when  free  from  care  thev 
can  turn  the  grindstone  ''  under  the  shadv  chestnut  tree  "  for  the  ^erry 
hay-makers  to  give  a  keen  edge  to  their  long,  new  scythes  i^  They 
can  hud  no  tmie  to  study,  busy  as  they  are  from  morning  until  nio^ht- 
but^  would  they  iind  more  time  or  feel  more  like  study  at  ni-ht  it  Uiev 
had  l)een  picking  stones  all  day,  or  plowing  amoug  rocks  all  dav  or 
digging  potatoes  all  day?  "  '   , 

Tiiere^  is  but  one  answer  to  this  :  Farmers  are  like  the  rest  of  the 
bread-winning  world.  They  have  a  chance  to  take  things  easy,  and 
they  take  it.  I  he  alertness,  the  vim  that  catches  a  progressive  idea 
and  holds  on  to  it,  is  as  rare  on  the  farm  as  it  is  anywhere  else.  Hear 
this : 

''A  few  years  ago  the  superintendent  of  the  largest  most  progressive 
machine-shops  in  New  Englaiub  nn  ho  had  never  harnessed  a  horse  in 
his  hie,  who  al)solutely  knew  nothing  of  farming,  lost  his  position.  The 
result  IS,  that  he  is  to-day  a  successful  farmer  and  raiser  of  fancy  stock 
on  a  twodiundred-acre  farm  in  the  West.  And  he  is  successful,  too. 
liie  past  season  he  gathered  over  one  hundred  and  eighty  loads  of  hay 
nearly  five  hundred  bushels  of  oats,  fourteen  hundred  b'ushels  of  corn 
and  increased  the  value  of  his  stock  materially.  He  and  his  l)oys  this 
winter  are  caring  for  their  sixty  head  of  stock,  besides  horses,  hogs, 
lowis,  etc.,  without  extra  help,  and  the  boys  are  all  at  school.  This 
man  is  a  great  reader,  and  has  a  fine  librarv,  especially  in  the  best 
departments  of  English  literature." 

I  know  other  cases,  and  so  do  you  ;  and  all  of  them  strengthen  the 
theory  that  a  farmer  can  read  and  think  if  he  will. 

Grant  that  he  does;  what  then?     This:  The  bars  that  fence  him  in 
are  taken  down  and  he  becomes  at  once  a  citizen  of  the  world      The 
telegraph  brings  bad  farm  news  from  Australia,  and  he  shows  his 
brotherhood  by  his  keen  regret.     The  great  West   is    jubilant  over 
abundant  harvests,  and  the  joy  he  feels  discovers  that  ^'one  touch  of 
nature  that  makes  the  whole  world  kin."    Has  science  wrung  from  the 
unknown  another  secret?     Who  understands  it  better,  and  who,  if  it 
tails  Avithin  his  province,  will  give  it  a  fairer  lest  than  the  farmer  who 
reads ^     Has  the  astronomer,  raking  the  sky  with  his  telescope,  iound 
another  star?     A^  ho  is  surer  than  the  farmer  to  see  it,  when  it  comes  • 
within  the  naked  eye's  held  of  vision?     Has  the  chemist,  at  home  or 
abroad,  compounded  a  new  fertilizer?     Be  not  surprised  when  my 
tarnier  shows  how  it  works  with  him.     Will  you  venture  to  pity  the 
isolation  ol  the  farm-house  and  suggest  your  favorite  authors  for  the 
long  winter  evenings?     Then  when  your  task  is  done,  receive  with  as 
good  a  grace  the  list  he  gives  for  your  long  winter  evenings  to  vou 
Have  you  read  Bacon?     So  has  he.     Does  he  like  Addison?     that 
IS  a  truism,  and  his  ans^ver  is  a  smile.     Does  he  enjoy  Thackerav^ 
Dickons  IS  better.     Does  he  care  for  poetry?     Into  his  life  is  twistied 
t \w  honest,  homespun  verse  of  Whill ior,  and  he  tells  you  so.     Shakes- 
peare ?  you  ask;  and  he  lor  answer,  Bible? 

Thus  with  science;  thus  with  literature;  and  so  we  shall  ilnd  him 


no  stranger  to  the  language  that  art  makes  use  of  to  express  her 
graceful  thoughts;  no  more  so  at  all  events  than  you  or  I,  a  fact  that 
will  make  us  cautious  of  aiming  in  his  direction  our  shafts  of  criticism. 

It  would  be  ])leasant  to  go  on  with  this  and  watch  its  effect  upon 
the  common  lite  of  the  farm;  ])ut  the  only  fact  it  would  make  more 
apparent  is  what  was  claimed  at  the  outset:  the  farmer's  lamp  light, 
well  used,  widens  his  world. 

I  have  said  that  the  same  lamp  which  tills  a  farmer's  barns  and 
makes  him  a  citizen  of  the  world  sheds  upon  his  life  a  moral  light,  if 
he  reads  and  thinks.  I  say  so  now.  It  is  a  conclusion  that  follows  with 
the  certainty  of  logic.  It  is  logic.  Thysical  lite  and  its  needs  first — 
they  are  the  blade ;  tlien  mind  and  its  fostering  food— they  are  the 
ear';  and  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear,  whether  we  speak  of  matter 
or  mind.  The  full  corn,  however,  while  it  depends  upon  the  })lade 
and  the  ear  for  its  support,  must  have  the  sunshine — the  something 
higher  to  ripen  it  into  corn,  and  the  mind  as  it  nears  perfection  will 
show,  as  it  matures,  the  golden  touch  of  heaven.  Now  literature 
understands  this  and  makes  use  of  it;  and  so  far  as  I  can  judge  ot  her 
work,  she  has  been  successful  only  when  she  brings  out  clearly  some 

attribute  of  God. 

Suppose  she  speaks  of  plowshares;  does  this  attribute  show  itselt  ? 
It  does.  She  is  writing  ot  the  useful.  Its  end  and  aim  is  the  good,— 
an  attri])ute  which  in  its  purity  belongs  alone  to  God.  She  goes  into 
th(^  workshop  of  science,  and  jots  in  crisp,  sharp  Saxon  what  she 
sees;  yes,  and  that  crisp,  sharp  Saxon  in  that  search  for  truth 
pushes  iier  from  ellect  to  cause  until,  by  the  help  of  Hugh  Miller's 
hammer,  she  gazes  reverently  upon  ^' 77ie  Foot-prints  of  the  Creator.'^'' 
She  puts  her  pen  between  the  infidel  fingers  of  Gibbon,  and  in  spite 
of  liim  it  traces  link  1)V  link  in  the  chain  of  events  the  Thou  shall 
and  Thou  shall  not  ^K  Him  whose  ^' years  shall  have  no  end."  The 
novelist  writes,  but  he  must  preach  to  be  successful ;  and  even  the 
genius  by  whose  grave  the  gentle  Avon  ripples  was  forced  to  the  Bible 
for  his  themes.  I  do  not  believe  that  that  Te  Deum  which  ])lind  old 
Homer  sung  would  hardlv  command  the  interest  of  the  modern  scholar, 
if  the  poet  had  been  less"^  pious  or  if  the  deities  liad  taken  minor  parts 
in  that  sacred  Grecian  song.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  eclioes  of  time 
would  have  repeated  quite  so  lovingly  along  the  corridor  of  years  the 
poem  which  crowned  the  Golden  Age  of  Augustus,  if  Virgil  had  failed 
to  baptize  his  verse  in  the  religious  theory  of  his  time;  and  while  all 
that  Milton  has  left  l)ears  the  seal  of  immortality,  the  suldimc  in  lit- 
erature, in  my  opinion,  would  never  have  reachiMl  its  culmination  from 
the  inspiration  of  his  pen  had  he  not  sung: 

«' Of  man's  first  disobedience,        *        »        * 
Witli  loss  of  Kden,  till  one  greater  Man 
Restore  us,  and  regain  the  blissful  seat." 

Now  these  divine  attributes  permeate  all  literature,  and  they  who 
read  thoughtfully  are  like  the  meal  in  which  the  leaven  was  hid  till 
the  whole  was  leavened. 

Exi)erience  proves  this  every  day,  and  nowhere  more  plainly  or 
more  pleasantlv  than  on  the  farm,  where  individual  thought  in  its 
ami)lcst  expression  has  less  to  encounter.  Compare  the  farm  and 
farmhouse  now  with  what  it  was  that  day  John  Smith  and  his  wile 
moved  in.  They  read  and  thought,  and  worked  to  realize  the  ideas 
80  gained;  and  the  fertile  acres  repeated  those  ideas  to  every  passer- 
by.    They  read  and  thought,  and  the  home  blossomed  into  beauty  as 


26 


Quarterly  Report. 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  AoR^cri/rrRE. 


27 


II 


I 


a  result.  Sometimes  a  vine  c]am1)ere(l  up  the  pillars  of  the  porch, 
and  with  its  delicate  tracery  of  leaves  expressed  the  beautiful  thought.' 
Sometimes  a  hard-earned  piece  of  J'urniture  added  <irace  to  the  unat- 
tractive rooms  until,  as  time  went  by,  all  that  ,i:i-ac(/  in  form,  or  color, 
or  sound  can  oiler  transformed  the  ugly  liouseof  long  ago  into  the  real 
home  of  to-day. 

^  What  such  a  home  does  for  humanity  I  need  not  undertake  to  tell. 
Tliis  much  1  claim  :  he  who  lives  surrounded  by  these  wholesome  in- 
Huences— by  books,  and  i)ictures,  and  music,  and  by  friends  who  love 
them  and  him — will  lind  his  manhood  broadening,  and  strengthening, 
and  rounding  into  that  perfection  it  is  this  life's  aim  to  reach. 

I  guess— -it  is  my  Yaidvee  birthright— that  more  than  one  of  you 
before  me  were  born  and  bred  !ipon  a  farm.  1  guess  your  eyes  as  well 
as  mine  have  seen  at  the  ohl  home  how  lamp-light,  rightly  used,  has 
added  acres  to  the  homestead  and  made  tluMu  fertile.  As  crops  grew 
large  and  comforts  came,  you  thought  with  all  of  us  that  thiuiisto  eat 
and  wear  were  good,  but  that  better  were  beyond;  and  so  when 
thought  ibund  voice,  and  great  men  came  in  l)ooks  to  tell  us  stories, 
talk  to  us,  read  us  poems,  sing  us  songs,  and  we,  catching  bright 
glimpses  from  tiiem  of  the  far-off  world,  made  up  our  minds  to  see 
wliat  we  had  heard  of,  the  morning  came  for  us  to  go  away.  Like  a 
dream  that  morning  comes  to  us  to-night.  There  is  the  early  break- 
fast, the  bustle  of  departure,  the  glad  and  the  sad  good-bye,  the  rattle 
of  wheels,  and  home  is  left  behind.  Do  von  remember  \he  rising  in 
your  throat,  when,  at  the  bend  in  the  road  which  hid  the  house  from 
view,  you  turned  for  one  last  look;  and  how  through  the  gray  of  the 
morning  t  he  lamp-ligjit  sent  streaming  across  the  tield  its  blessing  and 
farewell  (  That  lamp-light  has  never  gone  out.  We  can  see  it  burning 
still ;  and  when  we  remember  that  all  we  are  and  all  we  can  ever  hope 
to  be  iiere  or  hereafter  is  due  to  that  tlickering  llame,  with  a  feeling 
akin  to  awe  we  exclaim:  '' Ilow  far  that  little  candle  throws  its 
beams !  " 


UNDEKDKAINIXG. 


By  David  Emery,  of  TitusviUe. 


There  never  was  an  era  in  the  history  of  agriculture,  especially  in 
this  countiy,  that  is  calling  forth  tiie  scientiiic  and  experimental  ideas 
of  the  i)(M)pI(^  in  devising  the  best  methods  of  tilling  and  improving 
the  soil,  the  cheapening  and  lessening  of  the  labor  of  the  farmer,  as 
the  present. 

Experimental  work  is  being  carried  on  by  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  of  both  the  National  and  State  Governments,  and  with 
marked  success.  The  results,  as  far  as  possible,  are  being  heralded 
throughout  the  country. 

While  these  investigations  have  been  carried  forward,  the  agricul- 
tural interests  have  been  correspondingly  benelited,  and  the  i'armer 
wlio  was  skeptical  regarding  the  philosophy  of  the  science  as  applied 
to  the  soil,  is  becoming  converted  to  its  ])rincii)les. 

Every  year  bi-ings  forward  new  dilliculties  for  the  farmer  to  contend 
against,  and  ihe  older  our  farms  become  will  they  increase. 

These  questions  must  be  met  by  each  one,and'the  solution  becomes 
valuable  in  the  light  of  the  results  obtained. 


The  person  who  chooses  agriculture  as  a  calling  and  occupation, 
must,  as  far  as  possible,  strive  to  make  it  iinancially  successlub  and 
as  much  as  in  him  lies,  do  his  share  toward  opening  up  the  great 
secrets  which  are  eml)odied  in  tlu-  works  of  nature. 

Otlier  generations  have  stood  in  the  same  furrows  which  we  to-Uay 
turn  back  and  forth  uiK)n  our  lands. 

In  many  cases,  thev  fail  to  produce  as  profitably  as  they  did  m  ye 
olden  time.  The  present  resources  of  the  soil  wliich  nature  has  pro- 
vided have  been  so  crippled  or  put  in  such  a  condition  that  they  iaii  to 
respond  uenerously  to  the  tiller's  lal)or.  .,   ^     -^    v 

We  call  the  halt  to  devise  means  to  restore  the  soil  to  its  tormer 
fertilitv  and  i)rolital)leness. 

Fir^i  the  study  of  the  soil  commences,  and  we  hnd  sand>  anr 
gravelly  soils  need  only  good  tillage  and  plenty  of  good  tertilizers  and 
They  will  produce  abundantly,  nature  having  produced  pc^-lect  liltra- 

tion  or  sub-soil  drainage.  i    ^    ,  +^ 

Clay  loams  re(iuire  drainage  and  an  abundance  of  phospliates  to 

cleanse  and  enrich  the  soil.  .      i     •  i     ,-      i-        ir 

All  these  devices  are  questions  for  each  one  to  decide  lor  hlm^elt. 
One  of  the  great  questions  which  has  occupied  my  attention  lor  a  lew 
vears  past,  in  a  limited  wav,  is  that  of  underdrainmg,  yet  I  leel  my 
inabilitv  to  discuss  the  subject  with  that  skill  it  deserves,  my  knowl- 
edge co'ming  onlv  from  such  practical  tests  as  I  have  ap])lied  to  my 
fanns,  and  a  hastv  study  of  the  subject  from  prominent  authors. 

Underdraining'seems  to  be  of  great  anti(piity,  being  noted  m  the 
earlv  history  of  agriculture,  and  for  several  centuries  it  has  been  a 
prominent  question  with  the  Hritish  and  American  husbandry. 

The  tirst  essav  on  tiiis  subject  was  written  in  England  two  hundred 
years  ago,  recommending  deep  ditches  as  ^^a  preventive  to  the  acvu- 
mulatimi  of  superlluous  and  venomous  water,'Mhis  being  iollo^^ed  by 
others  making  a  more  thorough  investigation  of  the  subject,  the  result 

of  which  is  our  modern  system.  .  .     xx  t  i.      i     •  i^ 

Tlie  lirst  (luestion  which  arises  in  my  mind  is.  How  am  I  to  decide 

that  mv  land,  or  anv  part  of  it,  needs  underdrainmg? 

If  vou  lind  clav-loamtields,  where  vegetation  is  more  backward  than 

upon  other  lands,  the  soil  tough,  hard,  indurated,  '\^^^Vi"  r"  ..l"^ 
crack  on  the  surface  in  dry  weather,  water  settling  in  the  turioAVS 
while  plowing,  or  in  depressions,  or  if  clover  shows  signs  ol  hrowing 
out  its  roots  in  the  early  spring  months,  or  your  i^\>;J^^^^;;;^^^^ 
mounds,  or  a  soil  that  is  not  ready  lor  tillage  very  soon  aitei  the  iiost 
leaves  the  ground,  the  above  conditions  indicate  that  your  lan.l  needs 

und(M'draining.  .  .    ^  ,        in  „wia 

A  Drominent  author  on  underdrainmg  says  that,  as  a  rule,  all  lands, 
of  whatever  kind  or  character,  in  which  the  spaces  l)etween  the 
particdes  of  soil  are  tilled  with  stagnant  water  to  that  depth  where  the 
roots  of  ordinarv  crops  reach,  in  whi(di  there  is  not  a  ree  outlet  for  all 
the  water  it  receives  from  the  heavens,  or  trom  any  adjoining  lands,  oi 
from  anv  sprin-s,  are  not  conducive  to  fertility  and  i>r()titable  iarming; 
Unit  the  particdes  of  the  soil  should  be  moist,  and  surrounded  by  air, 
and  not  water;  and  further  says  that  a  drain  dug  to  a  1>!;<>P7  /  f|;  / 
r  through  a  lield  draws  away  the  surplus  water,  leaving  m  its  place  an, 
while  tiie  particles  of  soil  hold  the  moisture  ))y  attraction,  leaving  the 
surface  porous  and  healthy.  . 

Brietlv  let  us  look  at  the  requisites  for  plant-germina  ion  :     ^ 

Air.  warmth,  and  moisture;  these  three  must  be  in  the  soil  in  their 


28 


QlIARTKKIA'    Ri^PORT. 


proper  propoi-fions,  and,  wlienever  tliore  is  excess  of  either  crermi 
nation  is  retanled,  and  especially  if  the  excess  be  in  the  rroi'sture  • 
and  where  such  is  the  case,  air  is  excluded  and  the  temperature 
lowered  1  he  soil  hem-  wet,  tlie  spaces  are  tilled  with  water  instead 
ol  air;  the  moisture  being  too  near  the  surface,  eva])oratioi]  takes  place 
causing  a  lowering  of  the  temperature,  while,  if  the  soil  were  in  a  proper 
condition  by  natural  or  artiticial  drainage,  the  germ  elements  could 
assert  their  power  and  produce  a  heallhv  iirowth. 

The  most  productive  results  are  brought  about  bv  the  soil  l)ein<''  in 
such  a  i)roper  condition  that  all  the  benefits  intended  by  Providence 
m  the  rainfall  may  be  obtained. 

There  jire  in  the  rain  that  descends  upon  the  earth  chemical  prop- 
erties of  inestimable  value  to  plant-growth  and  productive  vegetation 
Ihese  elements  must  be  appropriated  by  a  perfect  filtration,  and 
that  can  only  take  place  when,  by  natural  or  artiticial  drainage,  the 
watei--iine,  or  the  level  at  wdiich  the  water  stands  in  the  soil,  has  been 
brought  below  that  point  necessary  to  be  drained  to  secure  a  healthy 
growth.^  When  such  is  the  case,  and  these  conditions  are  fullv  coni- 
piie^l  with,  the  elements  are  taken  up  by  the  feeders  and  transmitted 
to  the  plant,  producing  a  normal  growth,  otherwise  the  pr()i)erties 
which  the  land  contains  are  lost  by  evaporation,  besides  leaving-  the 
surtace  of  the  soil  in  a  worthless  and  indurated  condition 
^  It  IS  a  conceded  fact  that  the  sandy  and  gravellv  soils  are  the  first 
in  bringing  torward  spring  or  early  crops,  while  the  clay  loams,  which 
are  classed  among  wet  soils,  are  cold  and  late. 

Our  best  authorities  give  this  explanation  :  An  excess  of  water  in 
soils  reduces  the  temperature  by  evaporation.  Stagnant  water  con- 
veys no  heat  downward,  although  the  surface  is  warm,  these  portions 
thus  heated,  ])eing  lighter,  remain  on  the  surface,  giving  back  their 
heat  to  the  atmosphere,  and  not  downward  in  the  soil.  Upon  the 
foregoing  principle,  we  can  readily  see  why  the  fibrous  roots  of  plants 
tail  to  push  downward  in  undrained  soils,  these  being  imperfectlv 
nourished,  and  producing  only  a  sickly  growth,  followed  bv  an  almost 
worthless  crop. 

Prot  F.  A  Allen,  of  Tioga  county,  in  a  verv  able  paper  on  this 
subject,  read  before  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  in  1879,  presented 
the  following  obvious  results  arising  from  draining  : 

First  It  carries  oft^  stagnant  water,  and  furnishes*  an  escape  for  ex- 
cessive rain-tall. 

Second.  It  prevents  the  ascent  of  water  from  below  by  capillary  at- 
traction. 

Third.  Water  passing  downward  through  the  soil  opens  the  way  for 
fresh  air,  laden  with  oxygen,  which  is  so  essential  to  hasten  the  de- 
com])osing  of  niinerals  in  the  soil. 

Fourth.  Soils,  after  draining,  become  more  open  and  pliable,  and 
thus  more  easily  tilled. 

Fifth.  Soils  become  warmer  by  taking  off  the  water,  and  tlius  ad- 
vance or  hasten  their  growing  crops,  bringing  about  an  earlier  harvest, 
and, m  eftect,  i)r()dncing  a  change  in  climate. 

Si.rfh  It  enal)les  the  farmer,  in  wet  seasons,  to  hasten  the  sprin^* 
and  tall  seeding.  "^ 

Seventh.  It  increases  the  depth  of  cultivated  soils. 
Eighth.  In  wet  soils,  wood-ashes,  bones,  and  many  otlier  ingredients 
that  might  act  as  fertilizers,  lie  dormant  and  are  lost.    Taking  oif  their 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Agriculti  re. 


29 


excessive  moisture  by  draining,  these  elements  are  changed  and  ren- 
dered effective. 

The  several  propositions  of  the  learned  gentleman  have  been  dem- 
onstrated by  actual  experience  to  be  correct,  and  contain  obvious 
reasons  to  prove  that  underdraining  should  become  more  general. 

There  are  still  other  important  points  in  connection  with  this  sub- 
ject which  have  not  been  treated  l)y  many  writers.  One  of  the  most 
vital  is  the  health  of  live  stock.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the 
percentage  of  loss  is  greater  upon  the  heavy,  undrained  soils,  than 
upon  draTned  lands.  Phvsiological  investigations  reveal  the  fact  that 
many  diseases  of  farm  animals  are  attril)utable  to  a  vegetable  parasite 
nurtured  and  matured  upon  the  stinted  vegetation  of  undrained  and 

worn-out  soils.  . 

It  is  a  common  occurrence  among  farmers  to  put  m  pasturage  the 
worn-out  and  soggy  lands,  a  practice  both  dangerous  to  the  health  and 
unpr()lital)le  to  the  growth  of  such  live  stock  as  may  be  forced  to  ob- 
tain a  subsistence  therein.  Such  lields  are  inlested  by  poisonous  weeds 
which  breed  and  nourish  parasites  known  to  l)e  both  injurious  and 
fatal  to  animal  life.  The  grasses  indigenous  to  this  description  of  land 
are  tough,  wirv,  and  contain,  in  a  small  degree,  the  elements  neces- 
sary to  animal  life  and  growth.  Underdraining  will  eliminate  them, 
and  good  succulent  grasses,  free  from  parasites,  will  take  their  phice. 

It  is  a  conceded  fact  that  a  sandy  or  gravelly  soil  or  a  well  under- 
drained  clav  loam  will  carry  a  crop  through  a  long  drought  with  far 
better  results  than  a  tenacious  subsoil  will.  Why  ^  The  pressure  o 
the  air  is  fifteen  pounds  to  each  scpiare  inch,  and  if  the  soil  is  open  and 
porous,  as  it  is  upon  the  soils  alluded  to,  the  air  m  the  night,  when 
dew-laden,  will  permeate  every  tiny  crevice  and  pore,  and  deposit  its 
moisture  by  condensation.  A  compact  soil  in  a  period  of  drought  gains 
no  moisture  bv  condensation,  and  plant-growth  is  at  a  standstill. 
Above  all  things,  underdraining  should  be  secured  all  about  the  house 
as  a  means  of  preventing  sickness.  At  all  times  there  is  more  or  less 
decaving  vegetable  matter.  It  the  rainfall  or  the  dew  deposit  cannot 
permeate  the  soil,  but  must  be  dried  up  by  the  sun,  a  malarial  exhala- 
tion is  the  result,  vitiating  the  air  we  breathe,  ofttimes  being  the 
cause  of  many  of  the  ills  that  llesh  is  heir  to.  It  has  been  demonstrat- 
ed by  experiment  that  by  giving  iVee  drainage  to  water  in  co  d  soils, 
it  raises  the  temperature  ten  degrees  above  that  of  adjoining  lands  of 
the  same  (pndity,  thus  enabling  tillage  two  weeks  earlier  and  retaining 
its  increased  heat  two  weeks  later  in  the  autumn  months  consequent- 
ly the  si)ring  crops  come  to  full  maturity.  ( )ne  of  tiie  dithculties  we 
e*xperience  in  this  climate  is  the  uncertainty  of  spring  crops,  which 
ditiiculty  could  be  obviated  by  a  thorough  system  of  drainage. 

It  i^  perhaps,  diflicult  to  make  mathematical  calculations  ol  the 
work  that  the  atmosphere  must  accomplish  by  evaporation  in  soils 
where  there  is  no  natural  drainage.  We  will  suppose^  the  annual  rain- 
fall is  twenty-eight  inches  ;  then  there  must  be  evaporated  two  inches 
and  one  third  per  month  during  the  year;  and  if  this  be  true,  it  is  ob- 
vious why  we  are  not  successful  in  the  production  of  many  crops  winch 
have  been  nearly,  if  not  (piile,  abandoned  on  account  of  the  unmatured 
and  meaner  vicld.  11ie  reasons  are,  as  we  have  already  shown,  that 
evaporation  diminishes  temperature,  and  pcM'fect  lilt  ration  or  drainage 
increases  it-  The  (piestion  naturally  presents  itsell,  how  shall  we  lay 
out  a  system  of  drainage?  My  experience  has  been  limited,  and  I  can 
only  say,  that  every  farmer  must  be  his  own  judge  from  his  accpiaint- 


>U) 


QUARTEHLV    Kkcort. 


''"''1  w<"  nu:.e  all  ki.ul    o f    ,-  ,,     vh,"  l'""^"  ^".ecesslnl,  a,„!   upon       e 

My  manner  of  .h-aini.^l  is  t    'd     '  .  Vi'/T",'  '"  "'"  '■"•"'»^'-  ^^»««n- 
a.Hl  a8  narrow  ascan  Ikm",/ ve   i<    Th  ,,^''''  V'^'^'^'-^i^-''^  '"^-''es  deep 
alH.u,  fourteen  incl.es  lii^hml  til'"'' •^/'"? '''*^'-^'"  ^^^t  .tones 
gelJieras  possible,  to  ),revent  ,  f    ""''^ /'>' '^»<1«  edjrewise  as  close  to- 
^^tones  and  /n.s.raUn  Jl  r,/.  I  ''7';'';;''%*-^^«-'/^t'i"g  'between  the 
(•lined  to  i.elic.ve  that  in  th     me  "l, '.i  ',    '?  ^''' "^^■«^^'-'  <"'^1  I  an,  in 
berunnino-all  HnMinuMl       .  ^s         '■  ' ''f  '^'^''^f^  •^^'veral  streams    o 
o  become  hlled  up  uitJ,  se    7, t  ?'''V  1^'',  ''''^  """'"'"  ^'  '<^^«  ^'ahle 
<   name  manner  upo„  ,he  o  her    L  !     '•*^"  '"'^  ""<'"'^''-  'ier  of  stones 
"  <'•<.   lop  slones  iu,o  Ihe  o  enim  'o  '   V''-/'''!''"  '"  ''"-^'''^  "'^'  'i'-e   'r 

^;-::r  ^  <"-  -^-  thSs  t  :':ih/ns  •:;.£  j^nji:;:- 

ew£^toi^^^^  stones  packed  so 

;;■  V'''^'"^^P««e'''''im,'"he   treamt?    *''^ 'l?^"'  ^''^l  niter  a  ra       ,H 
Imtahe  water  is  no.inJZ:::^::^';;^^:,'^^'^-^-^  l^eyon,l  doi'l 
Une  this  as  the  metho.l  I  hnve     J^^^ 

Im'e  l:"^;^^'"  '•">'  '^f-el  S'ten,    '  ""'  ''"  "°^  P'-^f^"^l  to  claim 

|he  i.iii  o/;;''Vu';::,  .:f^:•;^aT.;f^f  ^^^'''r-  "^>-  '^'-•-  •"•-■'-m-  across 

■n,oirolanyspnn.and.reve   Hm"^ 
way  IS  to  ],ut  one  lar-e  m,ln7r^      "''\'''''^'''^^^^ 
laterals  or  side  .Irain^dia.'.      .']'''/'.;''';'  '',"""  "k>  hill,  runni  "    he 
f"<l  "j.  lo  .he  present  time  seem  t .','/"'"'  "''  "'''i^''  are  sncce.^    ] 
"•     i^^very  man  must  I.e"^^5^    ,  r\';*  "'^  ^'!«-essfully  as  when'  m  t 
;;.;\;;' <i--lin.  npon  a  P^.nT.r    1    ;;::;■;;''•  ^'7»  and  contonrKs 
I><»ii<int,  i  advise  that  areat  care  «,.r     '  ^"*'  as  this  is  verv  im 
yo"  may  be  able  to  th-mrulidy    ,    "".I     ."  ^^'''"  ^«  "^«  BnbjecPth^t 
'1  Sd-S:;'',ln^„,  ""'""''^^^^'-^'-^  amount  oflind  S; 

;|;e  post  into  .lK.i;;:im'::',;i;:;\-  -;;'-;;!'  ->-  '.'--d  fences,  p„tti„. 

-e  of  stone  unie.4"^  t  e?    ^  „T;".;'nd ■■"'"^V    '  ""  ""'^  -Jo" m  S,:,"-^: 
hein^dose  together,  npon'wh''"   1     S  he""  .'"  ^'■"^'^"  ^"  l"'-    I 

clrai;:srSe"tlS '!',?e?r^,?  "f  "r-"^^''  work  in  the  constructi        . 
-de  any  mone,^  ;:.:!!•',  t^i^te'd  Si'iin'^^  ^'^^ 'h"  t'h^^J;'^^ 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  AoRicrr/rrRE. 


31 


V 


Agricultural  pursuits  are  heing  eliaujrcHl  from  mere  drudirery  to 
profit  and  pleasure,  and  it  only  needs  larger  scientilic  researches  to 
accomplish  the  desired  results,  to  place  the  soil-tillers  on  an  eqiux] 
footinii:  with  any  other  business  men. 


THE    KIND   OF   rARMi:srG    ADAPTED   TO   OUR 

YICINITY. 


By  Hon.  W.  B.  Benedict,  Enterprise,  Pa. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  agriculturists  that  they  care- 
fully study  tlieir  soil  and  climate,  tliat  they  may  be  (pialiiied  to  judge 
intelligently  of  what  is  to  them  an  essential  element  to  their  success. 
Have  we,  members  of  the  Oil  Creek  Valley  Agricultural  Association, 
made  the  question  of  adaptability  of  soil  and  climate  for  certain  kinds 
of  farming  a  thoughtful  one?  Have  we  carefully  studied  to  what  pro- 
ducts our  soil  is  best  adapted  to  insure  us  a  profit  for  our  capital  and 

labor^ 

Have  not  some  of  us  been  fighting  old  Dame^Nature  for  many  years 
by   attempting  to  raise  crops  for  which  neither  soil   or  climate  are 
adapted,  and  have  not  some  of  us  been  badly  worsted  in  the  combat? 
And  after  defeat,  has  there  not  been   much  growling  and  grumbling 
and  fault  linding,  attril)uting  all  failures  and  misliaps  and  (lisa])point- 
ments  to  the  dear  old  dame?     Tiiis  class  of  farmers  continues  in  t  he  same 
way,  year  after  year,  afid  accpiire  no  wisdom  by  experience.     Experi- 
ence is  said  to  be  a  good  but  expensive  teacher,  but  some  farmers  will 
not  profit  by  the  teacher,  even  if  the  tuition  is  free.     That  class  of  men 
remind  me  of  the  log-chopper's  dog,  with  wliose  exploit  and  sad  end- 
ing no  doubt  manv  of  you  are  familiar.     They  won't  see  anything  until 
thev  are  smashed  by  their  own  heedlessness.     It  does  seem  that  this 
class  of  farmers  would  learn  what  crops  or  stock  succeeded  best  m  their 
vicinity,  and  ])e  governed  in  selections  and  cultivation  by  the  experi- 
ence of  their  neidibors,  if*  their  own  has  availed  them  nothing.     To 
those  wlio  have  thouddfullv  and  wisely  observed,  it  is  indisputably 
the  fact  that  this  vicinity  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  growth  of  grasses. 
Our  native  grasses  are  white  clover,  red-top,  and  June  grass;  all  of 
which  ii;row  spontaneously  wherever  the   rays  of  the  sun  penetrate 
Each  of  these  natural  grasses  is  very  nutritious,  and  lurnishes  the  best 
of  pasturage.     How  frecpient  ly  we  hear  it  remarked  that  young  cattle 
runnin<'-  in  the  woods  and  highways  become  fat  much  earlier  in  the 
season  Uian  those  inclosed  in  pastures.     This  is  a  fact,  and  the  reason 
for  it  i^  that  they  have  access  to  these  succulent  and  nourishing  grasses 
in  all  their  freshness  and  sweetness,  as  tliey  grow  by  the  side  ol  the 
cool,  shaded  brooks,  and  in  tfie  wooded  openings  where  once  waved 
the  towering  plumes  of  the  original  monarchs  of  the  forest,  \y inch  had 
been  removed  by  the  axeman,  wlio  did  not  spare.     Our  s^ection  ot  the 
country  is  naturally  adapted  to  the  growth  of  grasses.     1  here  are  no 
better  grass  lands,  outside  of  the  blue-grass  regions  of  Kentucky  than 
those  of  this  locality.    Tiniothy  and  clover  can  be,aii(lin(leed  are,  grown 
here  ecnial  to  thatof  any  locality  in  the  conlinent      J  hen,  with  a  coun- 
try ordained  bv  nature  for  a  particular  kind  of  agriculture,  with  a 
natural  soil  and  climate  adapted  to  the  growth  of  all  tiie  superior 


30 


QUAKTKltLi    l{i:i'OKT. 


I 


I 


i 


'''-';1  we  raise  all  ki,..|    o       ,-  i       vh,"  /""'''  ^-.^'^'^^f  i-'l,  a. „on    ,1  e 

an<l  MS  narrow  as.-au  l.e[^nvenfe    M     /    "'''  '"''"^>'-^'^-''f  i"<-''e«  «leep 

geO.er  as  ,.ossible,  to  ..rev,!,       ,  ,!  '■'  '"'''  «]j;evvise  as  dose  to- 

s  ones  an<l  irnstratino  |  r/ie  ,/  '^'/''if^'/^f^-'  .^'^^'ing  between  the 
dined  to  l,elieve  tl.at  in  H  nn  M.;.!  'J  ,'f  "'' "'  ''"'^'''^  '^^"^  ^  ^">  i"" 
ben.„nin^.an  HuMinuMluv.u'Vn  '.'''?  causes  several  streams  to 
to  Lecome  /ill,.|  „„  will,  se,   T^n       V    ^•''■^^ '''^  li''l'le 

in  same  „,anner  upon  ll,..  o,     !     L  !•  £V'"^ 'l'"'  '^'''  "'''•  of  stones 
litti.e  top  stones  into  ti.e  o,»enim  'n      I    ^  ''.';^  ^"  '"■"'''^"  "'^'  1*"^  or 

bestprool  I  can  present  is  tJ.e  h*  t  1,7  "'*''''<''"«  ='t  all,  l,„t  the 
can  be  seen  .-onnng  from  the  o,  t  let  o  he 'J,-  ™'  '''f'"'''''  °^'  ^^'^^er 
"  'I  ^'lort  space  of  time  thestm,  >.;    ■  ''''""'  '"'^^  a<>er  a  rainfall 

l-t  M.e  water  is  tlowin^nu^^^ir-nriind^^ 
lii.  t  It  IS  snpenor  to  any  other  systen,  ''"  '"'^  P'"^^*^'"'  "^  ^''^'im 

|."*'  '-i'' o.'e  i/n'lul  e<f  r:::r:::.'7;!'^^^^^^^      "^  drains  dia.onallv  across 
tingo/roCany  spri,,.,,,  ,   p.-'ve   f'in    V"'"""?'''^^^  -"'"«'  ''ein^- '  he   •? 


-y  is  to  pnt  on;i;;;i  'E;:r^^,:;;^-nnin,o;:;;Vhe..  .vno,ner 
laterals  or  si.I,.  <lrains  .Ha  .  ,  K  '  '  P-f"/'  iV'"'"  ^''^  '''"•  niunin-Mhe 
?"<1  up  lo  (he  present   li  n"e  seen  ^',''"^''  "'' ^vhich  are  sncce?stn] 

}"•  ,  Every  „,a„  „H,st  be  «o4n"ed  I.vh''''  "'  ^"^.'-^^'^'''Hy  as  X  pS 
land  m  deddin-  upon  a  idan  fV  ,  ■^-  '^^  «'ndii,„n  an.lVontouron, L 
Portant,  Ia.lvi,:etL,t^^^S  'i  '    ;n;;!^  ««  "'is  is  v^ry  im 

"le  least  possible  cost.  "  ''"^est  amount  ofland  with 

«*.i^^r«  SS=  Tr"^fe-«  ^™' 


\ 


Pennsylvanfa  Board  of  Acikiculture. 


31 


Agricultural  pursuits  are  i)eing  cliauged  from  mere  drudgery  to 
profit  and  pleasure,  and  it  only  needs  larger  scientific  researches  to 
accomplish  the  desired  results,  to  place  the  soil-tillers  on   an  equal 


footing  with  any  other  busii\ess  men. 


THE    KIND   OP   FARMING    ADAPTED   TO   OUR 

VICINITY. 


By  Hon.  W.  B.  Benedict,  J^nterprise,  Pa, 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  im])ortance  to  agriculturists  that  they  care- 
fully study  their  soil  and  climate,  tliat  they  may  he  qualified  to  judge 
intelligently  of  what  is  to  them  an  essential  element  to  their  success. 
Have  we,  members  of  the  Oil  Creek  Valley  Agricultural  Association, 
made  the  question  of  adaptability  of  soil  and  climate  for  certain  kinds 
of  farming  a  thoughtful  one  ^  Have  we  carefully  studied  to  what  pro- 
ducts our  soil  is  best  adapted  to  insure  us  a  profit  for  our  capital  and 
labor? 

Have  not  some  of  us  been  fighting  old  Dame  Nature  for  many  years 
by  attempting  to  raise  crops  for  which  neither  soil  or  climate  are 
adapted,  and  have  not  some  of  us  been  badly  worsted  in  the  combat? 
And  after  defeat,  has  there  not  been  much  growling  and  grumbling 
and  fault-finding,  attributing  all  failures  and  mishaps  and  disappoint- 
ments to  the  dear  old  dame?  This  class  of  i'armers  continues  in  the  same 
way,  year  after  year,  afid  a(*(iuire  no  wisdom  by  experience.  Experi- 
ence is  said  to  be  a  good  but  expensive  teacher,  but  some  farmers  will 
not  i)rolit  by  the  teacher,  even  if  the  tuition  is  free.  That  class  of  men 
remind  me  of  the  log  chopper's  dog,  with  whose  exploit  and  sad  end- 
ing no  doubt  many  of  you  are  familiar.  They  won't  see  anything  until 
they  are  smashed  by  their  own  heedlessness.  It  does  seem  that  this 
class  of  farmers  would  learn  what  crops  or  stock  succeeded  l)est  in  their 
vicinity,  and  be  governed  in  selections  and  cultivation  by  the  experi- 
ence of  their  neighbors,  if  their  own  lias  availed  them  nothing.  To 
those  who  have  thouglit fully  and  wisely  observed,  it  is  indisputably 
the  fact  that  this  vicinity  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  growth  of  grasses.^ 
Our  native  grasses  are  white  clover,  red-top,  and  June  grass;  all  of 
which  grow  spontaneously  wlierever  the  rays  of  the  sun  penetrate. 
Each  of  these  natural  grasses  is  very  nutritious,  and  furnishes  the  best 
of  pasturage.  How  frecpiently  we  hear  it  remarked  that  young  cattle 
running  in  the  woods  and  highways  become  fat  much  earlier  in  the 
season  than  those  inclosed  in  pastures.  This  is  a  fact,  and  the  reason 
for  it  is,  that  they  have  access  to  these  succulent  and  nourishing  grasses 
in  all  tlieir  freshness  and  sweetness,  as  they  grow  by  the  side  of  the 
cool,  shaded  brooks,  and  in  tlie  wooded  o])enings  where  once  waved 
the  towering  ])lumes  of  the  original  nionarchs  of*  the  forest,  whi<'h  had 
been  removed  by  the  axeman,  who  did  not  spare.  Our  section  ot  the 
country  is  naturally  adapted  to  tlu^  growth  ol*  grasses.  There  are  no 
better  grass  lands,  outside  of  the  blue-grass  regions  of  Kentucky  than 
those  oft  his  local  it  V.  Timothvand  (dovercanbe,an(l  indeed  \\vi\  grown 
here  e^iual  to  thatof  anv  locality  in  the  continent.  Then,  with  a  conn- 
try  ordained  by  nature  for  a  particular  kind  of  agriculture,  with  a 
natural  soil  and  climate  adapted  to  the  growth  of  all  tlie  superior 


'^0 


(Quarterly  Rei>ort. 


M 


'r^' 


J"'-|,  a.Kl   fo  the  m.  foV;     "  "^^"''''  '  '''■"'<'  ^"  "'"•  ]"-"J''  "iid  com- 

Pl<)w  isLi  i,,  orH,'  ;'  ''"'V",'-"''"?"^  *^^'  ^"'-  '"^'«1  rountrv?  The 
cohl,  cJay  s  Tt  ;  ,:  „l'f '^\''''''f"'^''^  "''  ='-™-"l""-e,  but  in  our 
mu>\y  (.f  discretio,,  ^Uh  j.ulg.acnt,  tempered  witli  a  goodly 

long  as  ,nan  lives  to  Itte        U  en^'  ZV''  ^T  !"  '^'"'""^  '"^-'"^^-^  ^'' 
proper  niamires.  "'"''  ^'^  ^'-eqiieut  top-dressing  ^^Hh  the 

beLg;;;!;y,i';';:;,^;t:r  hfTrvin"'?  ^"-^T^  --^••''-'•as  hee„   and  is 
the  soil  or  climate  of t  ,',■«{„•  ••".^    "  produce  certain  grains  lor  which 

instance,  wherand  CO  How  mn.f'"^  '^^I ''T  '"'"^^  «'l=i]>ted  ft^ 
fains  in  Uns  secdo^^    To  be  s  "e  n, '^ 

fertilized  liberally  and'heui       i     .?.\  '1'"  ^  "'^'  «  ™«»  ^^''^  has 

will  get  a  lair  cro/ol  one^i  lotl  of  L  '''''^''"r"^  favorable  season, 
irequently  hefai/s  to  Becm^^SJi^y^  of  St^V  '"^  ""  ™"''''  --- 
of  lertd.,,,  and  labor  will  bJin^  £^ei:!r:S^^,.J^:n;T;:^:Z 

^^^i^^oi'.S^^i::!:;^^^  ^-ing.     If  I  ,«„  read 

an<]  labor  to  the  Broi>er  nH  'J;.-  r  '"*^®  "'^  ^levote  our  ener-des 
cover  our  Id!     i    rvalue         iT  n  r/""  ''•■^^T•  .'^''«  ^'""''1  ''«'■«" 

partially  compensate  he  ltH,:;;J^  5  /"^V"'""*^''  ""•^•'^^^-  «"  <^"i"« 
best  watered  ones  of  the  world  "s  eeTs.wV  „  'T'^'^' ''  ''^'"«"^^  the 
every  crevice  in  the  rocks  as  mire/s  thf  •  ^^'"e,'- "o«ingfrom  almost 
Arctic  fountain,  added  to  the  -'b  --i  ."V-""'  ''  ^old  as  if  from  an 
Bta-ong  and  lirn.'  imprLsS,,  Th     t       ..v'l  "''''1''  ^'T""'^  S'^«^«  ■"«  a 

advantages  lor  a  lirstlclas     airy  L^Jrf    wr''"*?  ^ 

other  locality  better  .irL.i.f^j  r      ,    "".'J^-      *''hy  not  so  i*     Is  there  -inv 

Onondaga,oi  ^^:i;^^^Zt'^&f  T""     ^^  ''^^^'^^ 
water  than  ours  ?     Have  C  es  e   o;  Mnn?  ' '"""^  ''^"*''"  «'-'^^«««  o^ 

State  any  superior  adva'dagS  for  dai H  "  ^^  "T'''''  «^'  ""'•  "^V"     - 

of  rnarkcl  fa<-ilifies?     Dairy  farmin<rm^^     /*?''•'''  T*"''  ^^^ept  that 
"■1<I  '",p.,vcrish  our  soil    slesT  b/   ,kS     '"''"^'  ^^"^'  ""^  deplete 

^;:n^:ttr^^  -' '-  '^'™  ^'^' -i^^'-=^orKi"s 

iarmers  enough  to  an.ply  sun,  Iv    ,hem  t    f       ''  ""'  T'''^'  ^^^  <iairy 
milk. nade from  the  swUt  a,"d    ii,-    ,fr"   es /^^^  '""-^  '-"adulterated 

Sheei)-ra  s  njr  can  I)e  nvi.ll  o  ?,    Vr  ?f     tbatgrow  m  (heir  vicinitv 

fhould   be  an  i-n  lllrt  fu      tt  ,ff" n  ^'^ '^^^     '■''  ""'•  ^^ncubuJe      fd 

S'muii^Z'  -^^"  ^  -^  Va^-s:  an!r:^=';^;S;tS  '-fiz^ 

an?.S:j;il^  ,:rs:-^cinle^^  ttm"SeT'^r  '^^  ""  '^'--^--ted 
J.eir»ir™„n.ldam°  "K'L   IZlin?!"'!''  '"f""""  i"  »«!«/,» 

our  .ecU„,„a„.„  .„,  ,„„„.  Zw^tlVSLltE'jKLilt.fSll' 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Aoriculture. 


33 


g:ent  part  of  our  farmers  will  aj2:ree  with  me  when  I  say  that  our  sec- 
tion is  well  adapted  to  stock-raising  and  dairying,  and  those  that  have 
been,  and  are,  engaged  in  either  of  the  two  occupations  will  bear  me 
witness  that  their  farms  have  improved  under  these  two  departments, 
and  that  those  farmers  who  have  grow^n  grain  exclusively  have  im- 
poverished their  land,  vvitli  only  a  few  exceptions  of  a  nundjer — not 
many,  however — who  have  been  so  highly  favored  as  to  have  easy 
access  to  the  barnyards  of  the  citizens  of  Titusville.  I  would  not 
be  understood  as  recommending  the  abandonment  of  all  grain-growing 
in  this  vicinity,  but  I  would  have  all  farmers  study  what  they  can,  and 
do,  groAv  to  a  profit.  Oats  do  well  upon  our  soil,  it  i)n)])erly  sown  and 
cared  for.  So  do  buckwheat  and  potatoes.  All  of  the  vegeta])les  that 
are  incident  to  this  latitude  do  well  here,  and  many  of  them  are  culti- 
vated and  grown  to  a  profit.  What  I  would  have  the  farmers  of  this 
vicinity  do,  is  to  study  the  component  parts  of  their  soil,  and,  by  so 
doing,  learn  what  part  or  branch  of  agriculture  their  own  farms  are 
best  adapted  to,  and  I  would  also  have  them  analyze  themselves  as  well 
as  the  soils,  for  unless  they  adapt  themselves  to  their  avocation,  they 
have  failed  to  obey  that  oft-repeated  proverb,  ''  Man,  know  thyself." 


ROAD-MAKI^G. 


By  A.  M.  Fuller,  of  Meadville^  Pa. 


There  are  few  questions,  at  the  ])resent  time,  of  greater  importance, 
or  which  claim  more  earnest  attention  from  all  progressive  citizens, 
than  that  of  road-making. 

The  farmer  no  longer  conducts  his  labor  without  the  aid  of  improved 
machinery  and  farm  implements.  In  the  construction  and  mainte- 
nance-of  our  highways,  however,  tliere  has  been  little  improvement; 
the  old  methods  still  ])revail,  and  the  fact  that  there  is  machinery  as 
much  superior  to  the  ordinary  plow  and  scraper  lor  road-making  as 
the  mowing  machine  is  superior  to  the  scythe  in  farming  operations, 
is  a  fact  not  as  well  known  as  it  should  be.  Road-making  may  prop- 
erly be  divided  into  three  stages  of  development. 

First.  The  location  of  a  highway  wherever  the  needs  of  tlio  ])ublic 
may  seem  to  demand  it,  to  be  followed  by  the  opening  of  rude- ditches 
along  its  sides,  and  the  construction  of  the  necessary  bridges  and 
culverts. 

Second.  The  construction  of  a  road-bed  of  the  requisite  width,  wliich 
shall  i)resent  a  convex  surface  extending  to  the  lowest  point  of  the 
ditches  on  both  sides,  thereby  affording  good  drainage,  and  which  may 
be  considered  a  linished  dirt  road. 

Third.  The  covering  of  a  i)roperly  constructed  dirt  road  to  a  suita- 
ble depth  with  material  that  will  hold  the  road  in  shax)e  and  i^resent, 
at  all  times,  a  smooth,  durable  surface. 

In  this  country,  w^e  have  made  but  little  advance  beyond  the  first 
stage  olMevelopment,  viz  :  the  opening  of  highways,  but  imperfectly 
drained  by  rude  ditches,  and  the  construction  of  the  necessary  culverts 
and  bridges.  Before  discussing  the  advantages  of  what  may  be  called 
the  second  stage  of  development  in  road-making,  it  might  Ije  well  to 
consider  the  common  defects  of  our  present  system. 
3 


34 


QUAKTEKI.V    KePORT. 


in  t  w.rV  system)  of  road-i.K.Ia.iK  is  m  roundin-  up  tl,e  load-hed 

dv  o    <L  V    T 1       1    ^'■''''^' -''"  "Pon  t'le  driveway.     The 

neve,   'nnV         •     H'e  Bides,  and  except  in  (iie  bestof  weather  There  is 
Th      ..^  "r,bli;'|'a;.':  it  --l-'^-l^.-e  .eneraHy  too  ;,!:;.,"" 

The  dHv^w  ;t'hoa,otr;U    trn^ t^^Jn^^^^^^^^ 

all  the  labor  expended  i.^itrconstruction'       ^  "'  '^''  ''"^  ^""  ^^^^^^  ^'°'- 

ini^^l  the  roadH?.';/ ' '"  "l"  ^•""'^"^  ^'^'^^e™  ^^  ^'^^  ^"^^n,  of  expend- 

t^evL'ToolrllL'LlWhe'^a^^^ 

the  work;  the  prSS  '  .     m--  ^^      ^^  ''  not  competent  to  direct 

advan<.e,^ent^f;^:n;l'\■i^etl;'      re^","^^  '^^'^^  -^'«-  - 

rc^^fs!  ;.oS;.S';,t  is::f  si  ^"  ^f 9^-thods  of  hnih^n, 

Coi-  the  fu.nre^    Jm    n  ,  fy  p  Hs  off^^  e^^^^^^^^^^  '""T^V^  ^"S"'-«  ^^^'^ 

road  machinery,  rap      m-o'^res.  i.  Wf         '^^^'^^  ^''^  adoption  of 

the  result.     The  s2o  d  sta'rnf  .I'f       ""^'^t'  •'"*'  '^^^^^'^  ^'''''s  are 

The  construction    o7f  roaf-hed    ^rttTe'u  it"  Sfh^l^'f'  T^^.i 
present  a  convex  surface  e\tendin./fr!fLT'!  ""  ^^''"''i  ^^hall 

on  both  sides  will  ne^^^^^^il^'^^^^'^''''  P-»t  of  the  ditches 

griletfm  iit^rirdUcJ^S^r^:,!!^]:'}!-^  ^^^^  '".-^^^'^  "^  -"table 
roads  the  remc.val  of  a^.  e\at  m,o,  /o  r  h""  ^'^f''"^  condition  of  our 
fined  mainly  to  one  track  wdHr-.n'''-  f^'""  '■°''^*^'  '^'•^  "«w  con- 
the  road,  fu  nishi   <^     .  ,-,        -.i    T'"''''.'')-'?  ^^^r^^' t'lan  the  sides  of 

It  is  necessary,  in  order  tHiwh^  '''"'''  '"  ^''"  ™^«1- 

earth  or  sod  which  1  ne  "1.^^  d  on  iS  ^"  '-r"'!:  "'<^  «'>oulders  of 

<]..ently  from  two  to  four  'eet  w  de  "hh  ^noM  '  /"'  '^'''  ^''^  ^■••^- 
wilh  (he  ordinary  plow  and  scrnner     T    Ji     •    "^ '}?''''  econoTni<-ally 

machi.u.todoitproWlyandeccrniic.l  V  'on^^  ''","'"  '^^•'^'oad 
men  with  one  machine  drawn  I  v,:.'  /^" ''""'''"""■>' ''oad  two 
from  one  half  to  one  die  pr  day  lew?''  ^T'T-  ]""  <'""«*'-"^t 
fectly  smooth,  and  the  wiclt    of  See  rto^tv^^^  '^^'  P^>- 

way  can  it  be  done  so  well  or  so  cheaply  ^     ''*'  ^"'^ '"  ""  ^*"'er 

Koad  machines  are  a  recent  inv<MifL;'    ti  /-    .. 

chines  and  their  adaptabimy  toXorkiP^'^r*'''"  "'"'''« '"•'i- 
mattersnothow  liillyor stc-nvTheVomJ^C^.n  L'  K^'  ^".■•""•^i"-  It 
in  any  place  where  a  plow  can  be  usS^ad  anf^^^^^ 
are  very  durable,  and  of  sreat  power  in  f).!.*'^-  ','"'  'Machines 
earth,  and  are  no't  more  tryiW  f.  iS  earn  t  """"'V?"*'  ''''y'"^  "'' 
dmary  plow  and  scraper  ^  *'"'"  ^^'O'-'^i-'fe^  with  an  or- 

in^^SiSreTt'rKzt'i:^ 

the  Improved  rha.pion  Keyerstbh"ma<'re";yS  W  '^1^^'  H 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Agriculture. 


35 


required  on  the  road  tlie  reversible  macliine  is  prefera1)le,  especially  in 
a  hilly  roimtry.  The  cost  of  the  reversible  machine  is  from  $ini)  to 
$250,  and  the  straight  })ar  machine  from  $85  to  $150  for  two  and  four- 
wheeled  machines.  Under  the  ])resent  tax  levy  for  road  i)urposes, 
townshi])s  should  collect  cash  all  the  hnv  will  permit,  and  secure  road 
machines  to  take  the  place  of  the  ])low  and  scraper  in  working  the 
roads.  There  should  be  at  least  four  machines  in  every  township. 
The  effort  to  introduce  machines  in  this  section  last  season  was  quite 
successful,  and  all  who  witnessed  the  w^orking  of  the  machines  admit 
that  it  is  the  best  and  most  economical  way  of  im])roving  the  roads. 
It  is  in  no  sense  an  experiment.  Eoad  machinery  will  nccomplish  at 
least  four  times  as  much  work,  and  infinitely  better  w  ork  for  the  same 
expenditure  of  lahor,  than  by  the  old  method,  and  will  certainly  super- 
sede the  old  way,  and  prove  as  necessary  in  the  road-makin<^  of  the 
future  as  the  mowing  maciiine  at  present  is  considered  superior  to  the 
scythe  and  deemed  a  necessity  in  farming:  operations. 

The  third  and  final  stage  of  progressive  road  improvement,  viz;  the 
covering  of  a  properly  constructed  dirt-road  with  material  that  will 
liold  the  road  in  shape,  and  present  at  all  times  a  smooth,  durable  sur- 
face, alfords  an  interesting  study,  and  demands  more  time  than  I  can 
claim  in  a  short  address  on  road-making.  By  the  pro])er  use  of  road 
machinery,  a  solid  and  perfect  road-bed  is  formed.  We  have  not  yet, 
however,  a  substantial  road.  Sand  and  gravel  alone  will  not  make  a 
good  road,  even  if  placed  in  the  best  ibrm  and  supplied  with  good 
drainage.  Gravel  or  })roken  stone  must  be  used  to  form  an  impervi- 
ous and  durable  surface. 

A  mistake  is  frecpiently  made  in  supposing  that  gravel  of  arif/  litid 
will  answer  to  make  a  good  road.  Such  is  not  the  case.  Gravel  ob- 
tained from  the  beds  of  streams  is  sedimentary  in  its  nature,  and  after 
being  in  use  for  a  short  time,  crumbles  and  becomes  mud.  Where 
good  sharp  gravel  can  be  obtained  for  roads,  crushed  stone  is  not  ne- 
cessary. One  load  of  crushed  stone,  however,  is  estimated  to  be  equiv- 
alent to  four  loads  of  best  gravel  for  road  construction.  It  is  also  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  a  great  dei)th  of  gravel  or  crushed  stone  is  ne- 
cessary in  onler  to  make  a  good  road.  If  the  road-bed  is  in  proper 
shai)e  to  receive  the  material,  three  inches  of  gravel  placed  upon  the 
road,  and  when  well  compacted,  followed  by  tiiree  inches  more,  is  bet- 
ter than  six  inches  at  one  time.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  inter- 
esting to  refer  to  the  ''Macadam  system,"  which  is  generally  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  most  perfect  system  of  road-making.  Macadam's  plan 
of  road-making  dilfered  veiy  much  from  the  old  way. 

Instead  of  going  deep  for  a  ''bottoming,"  he  worked  solely  on  the 
top.  Instead  of  producing  a  peaked,  root-like  mass  of  rough  soft  rub- 
bish, he  got  a  ilat,  smooth,  and  solid  surface.  In  lieu  of  a  road  four 
feet  and  a  half  through,  he  made  one  of  at  most  ten  inches  in  thick- 
ness, and  for  rocks  and  boulders  he  substituted  stone  broken  small. 
The  principle  upon  which  his  system  was  founded  was  that  a  road  ought 
to  be  considered  as  an  arlificial  flooring,  so  strong  and  even  as  to  let 
the  heaviest  vehicle  pass  over  it  wil  liout  impediment.  He  built  roads 
thirty  and  forty  feet  wide,  rising  only  three  inches  in  the  center,  and 
C()nt(Mided  that  a  more  lasting  road  could  be  made  over  the  naked  sur- 
face of  a  morass  than  over  solid  rock. 

Another  of  his  easy  first  principles  was  that  the  native  soil  was 
more  resistant  when  dry  than  when  wet,  and  that,  as  in  reality  it  had 
to  carry  not  only  the  tralfic  but  the  road   also,  it  ought  to  be  kept  in 


36 


QUAKTKin.V    ReI'ORT. 


the  condition  oi  (lie  greatest  resistance;  tliat  I  lie  best  way  of  keepin-' 
It  dry  was  to  put  over  it  a  covering  impervious  to  rain,  and  I  hat  the 
thickness  of  this  covering  was  to  be  regulated  solely  in  relation  to  its 
imperviousness,  and  not  at  all  as  to  its  bearing  of"weiglits  to  which 
the  native  soil  was  <p„l,>  e<,nal.     Instead  of  digging  a  trench,  there- 
f  le   to  do  away  with  I  he  surface  of  the  native  soil,  he  carefully  re- 
r  r,  ff    't  ^"'^  ™i«".l  .I'ls  road  suffi.-iently  above  it  to  let  the  water 
ltlf{,-  I^VennenUlityhe  obiain..d  by  the  practical  discovery  that 
stone  biouM.  small  and  sh.-iken  an<l  pressed  together  as  by  the  traffic 
on  a  road   rapidly  settled  down  face  to  face  ami  angle  to  angle   and 
made  as  close  a  mass  as  a  wall.     Roads  which  were  mere  layers  o 
broken  stone,  SIX   four,  and  even  as  light  as  tliree  inches  i  ft  Idmess 
passed    hrough  the  worst  winters  without  breaking  np      The  size  to 
which  the  stone  should  be  broken  he  determined  in  a  pi4  tical  wa? 
by  the  area  of  a  ordinary  wheel  with  smooth  roa<l.     Thi^  e   bund  to 
be  abont  an  inch  lengthwise,  and.  therefore,  he  laid  it  down  that  "a 

liatls^'trs  'v'h^' H  "•"'  r\' '''  -'''''  "'■  *'"  '1"»^'"-«"«  is  misch/evous,'' 
that  IS  to  say,  that  the  wheel  in  passing  on  one  end  of  it  tends  to  lift 

the  other  end  out  of  the  road.     He  woTild  allow  no  larger  s  one  eve 
or  t  he  f<,undalion  of  his  road,  for  he  found  that  they  conStany  worked 
::'"'.;,  T.'',!„!!^^f^"'-«  -'^^  ^'""-'-^  «'•  <he  trartil..     The   lie  rota 


was  small  liroken  stone,  even  over  swampy  ground 

lie  foregoing  sketch  of  the  Macadam  svsfem  of 'rot 
while  It  mav  seen.  t,>  ,.,>,>!,.  .„ „,    .•..•,__  .        ...  '"' 


!id  construction, 
owns,  con- 


ivhile  it  may  seem  to  apply  more  especial'ly  to  cities  and  t 
tains  much  that  is  of  value  in  ordinary  highway  repairs 

roIm'Xngr'""  '''"'^  ^'^"'"^^"^  "" '"'^^^  ^'^^  of  development  in 

It  will  be  readily  admitted,  I  think,  that  in  many  parts  of  the  count  rv 

we  liave  scarcely  more  than  entered  upon  the  secJ.id  stage  of  deveh'p- 

It  is  possil)!e,  with  road  machinery  under  our  nresent  «vsf«rr,   f^ 
complish  mu<.h,  but   (he  full  measuie  of  success    nro.d^^nH;,!      ""' 
never  be  attained  until  a  cask  ,vy,./..,  of  roadTaV  s  adopS      fd  ".'l.'; 
work  IS  done  systematically,  intdligentlv,  andlhorotS^y   '^'  '"^  "'" 


THE     PENNSYLVANIA     STATE     BOARD     OF 

AGRIOULTUKE. 

nmr  ir  is,  am>  what  it  ii.is  done. 

By  ThomaS  J.  KiHiE,  Secretary. 

The  Pennsylvania  State  Board  of  AKricultnre  i«   to  nil  ;   f     . 
purposes,  a  full  and  independent  denirfm^   ili-fi '"'J/'/'lV'^-fents  and 

it  is  subject  to  no  other  (k^     Unen^'^.m^^^^^^  „  i^-^'^V"  ^"T'"" "-'^'"^  = 

action,  beins  onlv  limited    wfl?i' ff      i  ■  t    ""''  ""'''Pendent  in  its 

made  a  ful^^le  m.tme™  t.r  h,    hni  f     ^^"^f"  "'^**^'^  '^^-^  ^^  ^^'^  "<'^ 

h^ne  been  subj  c? IrplliitlcV-p  JS,/r/ ir^^^^^^^^^^ 

machinery  ol  the  Board  would  have  been  siill  wn  '  ^"^^^  '"'^ 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Agriculture. 


37 


first,  or  ex-oMcio  members,  are  fixed  by  the  law  creating  the  Board,  and 
are  the  Governor,  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs,  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction,  Auditor  General,  and  President  of  the  State  Col- 
lege. 

The  second  class  consists  of  tliree  members,  one  of  whom  is  annually 
appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Senate,  and  wlio  holds  office  for  a  term 
of  three  years. 

The  tliird  class  consists  of  members  elected  by  sucli  county  agri- 
cultural societies  as  are  by  law  entitled  to  an  annual  bounty  from  the 
county.  Of  this  class  there  are  forty-four,  and  it  is  believed  that  every 
county  society  in  the  State  entitled  to  elect  a  member  is  thus  pre- 
sented in  the  Board,  tliereby  demonstrating  their  appreciation  of  its 
vahie  and  usefuhiess.  In  many  counties  the  election  of  tlie  represent- 
ative in  the  Board  of  Agriculture  causes  as  much  interest  and  com- 
petition as  that  of  any  officer  of  the  Society. 

Tlie  executive  officer  of  the  Board  is  its  Secretary,  who  is  elected 
each  year  by  a  vote  of  tlie  members  at  their  annual  meeting  at  tlie 
State  Capitol. 

The  amount  at  present  appro])riated  by  the  Legislature  for  the  use 
of  the  Board  is  five  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  which  is  specifically 
appropriated  as  follows  :  For  the  actual  necessary  traveling  expenses 
of  the  members,  fifteen  hundred  dollars ;  for  the  actual  expenses  of 
holding  county  and  local  institutes,  fifteen  hundred  dollars;  for  the 
salary  of  the  Secretary,  fifteen  hundred  dollars  ;  for  postage,  janitor's 
salary,  ex])ress  charges,  and  other  office  expenses,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  and  for  the  investigation  of  diseases  among  domestic  an- 
imals, two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

Some  of  these  items  it  is  not  proper  for  me  here  to  comment  on,  but 
it  WTKild  seem  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  is  but  a  limited 
amount  with  which  to  look  after  the  health  of  eighty-five  million  dol- 
lars' w^ortli  of  live  stock,  and  that  the  investment  would  warrant  a 
larger  appropriation.  As  it  is,  we  venture  the  assertion  that  there  is  not 
an  ecpial  sum  of  money  expended  in  any  way  in  connection  with  the 
State  Government  whicli  is  as  productive  of  good  to  the  general  tax- 

])aver. 

This,  then,  in  men  and  money,  is  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture. 
Its  meml)ers  receive  nothing  for  their  services  beyond  necessary  trav- 
eling expenses,  and  more  than  once,  when  the  approi)riation  has  been 
exhausted,  have  had  to  pay  a  i)ortion  of  this  from  their  own  funds. 
The  total  expense  of  the  Board  to  the  taxpayers  is  about  two  and  one 
third  cents  to  each  farm  in  the  State. 

In  passing  to  the  second  branch  of  my  topic,  I,  for  reasons  which 
must  be  ai)])arent  to  all,  find  some  difficulty  in  reaching  a  proper  ex- 
pression of  the  meaning  which  I  wish  to  convey,  for  the  work  of  the 
Board,  commencing  at  first  in  a  very  limited  way,  has  extended  into 
every  department  of  agriculture,  and  to  every  portion  of  the  State  ; 
lience,  I  will  only  direct  your  attention  to  what  I  conceive  to  be  the 
leading  results  of  its  work,  premising  that  the  aggregate  of  smaller 
matters  which  I  leave  untouched  far  exceed  in  value  the  main  points 

touched. 

11ie  first  great  need  wdiich  the  Board  sui)i)]i(Ml  was  a  rallying  point 
around  which  the  other  agricultural  interests  of  the  State  might 
gather.  It  is  true  that  we  then  had,  as  now,  the  State  Agricultural 
Society,  the  State  Horticultural  Association,  the  State  Dairymen's 
Association,  and  other  similar  and  kindred  organizations,  all  doing 


38 


QUAKTERI-y    ReI'ORT. 


«oocl  in  their  respective  departments,  ]>nt  none  under  (he  control  of, 
and  responsible  to,  the  State  Government  for  its  work  and  expen- 
dilnres.  "■ 

The  tirst  practical  henefil  w  hi.l,  h  apparent  to  the  farmer  who 
examines  mto  llie  workings  of  the  Board,  is  that  it  furnishes  him  with 
a  central  organization  to  which  he  may  direct  all  inquiries,  and  from 
wliich  he  may  receive  information  relating  to  his  calling.  Tlie  Secre- 
tary does  not  profess  to  he  ahle  to  answer  all  questions  which  may  be 
presen  ed,  but  lie  has  in  the  honorary  officers  of  the  Board  a  corps  of 
men  who  are  noted  specialists  in  the  callings  wliicli  are  subsidiary  to 
agriciiHure,  and  some  one  of  them  is  usually  able  to  return  an  intel- 

«h}U[\^T'':u  }^'  •'  '^'^!'  '"'"''  '^''^'■■^^  «1'  i"""l^  tliat  the  Secretary  is 
able  to  state  that,  since  tJie  organization  of  the  Board,  no  one  has  been 
turned  away  without  as  full  and  complete  an  answer  as  the  circum 
stances  of  the  case  would  jyermit.  t-ucum 

As^a  bureau  of  information  alone,  the  Board  iswortli  many  times  its 
cost  to  the  armers  of  the  State,  and  those  who  have  given  the  mattei 
but  a  casual  thought  would  be  surprised,  not  (,nly  at  the  iiunZi  o f 
inquiries  which    are   annually  received    but   also   at   the  wSe   ai3 

v'l'e  of  .  n'ri^H  '''"';■  *''i^'  '';'>"•     "'  ^  *'«™^'-  i«  i"  ^«"l^t  as  to  the 

theXrd  wi     n'^n^'T^^ 

fnlV  <iM  ally  bring  him  a  printed  list  showing  its  value,  as 

taken  trom  a  sample  selected  by  a  disinterested  and  swon,  a-en       ,  1 

1  he  list  will  show  him,  in  dollars  and  cents,  what  the  ferlili/e  fs 
worUi  to  lum,  and  from  this  data  he  can  decide  whether  to  puSise 

If  a  disease  among  his  live  stock  troubles  the  local  nractitioner  !.<. 
has  but  to  send  notice  to  the  office  of  the  Board,  an  lie  appr om-f 

ntion  IS  not  exhausted,  one  of .  he  best  veterinary  surgeons  fn  the  State 
18  at  once  sent  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  give  suSy  ce  as  mnv 
assist  in  saving  i  .rther  h>ss.  If  he  is  in  doubt  a"s  to  S  name  and 
nature  o    a  weed,  he  has  but  to  furnish  a  sample   and    as  soon    .^ 

S  f'  'if  ?f/"--'"f -^  -i'"  «.  *•","  •-«»•>■  of  its  imt'u':::  a'n;  l\ab  s  o  ' 
giowth.  II  he  wants  any  particular  kind  (,f -rain  or  live  stock  -i  note 
ad<lressed   to  the   office   of   tiie  Jioanl   will'  inforn    In,        e;e       is 

nost  likely  to  be  found.     Nor  is  this  .len.and  for  ge   er  I  i^  L.a 
t  on  c<.nhned  to  our  own  State  ;  in.p.iries  in   relatio,7 1    ge  u    •     a"ri" 

ultural  interests  ,n  our  State  are  received  Iron,  nearly  every  St  , to  in 
the  Union,and  theannual  rej.ortsof  the  Board  are  indliC.Sin  elerv 
State,  and  are  considered  standards  of  their  class        ^'^'"'""^  i»  ^very 

and  vdueT/r'''M  ^'^'^''7  ^""'  "''  ^■''•'  '^  ^  "lonument  of  the  work 

i  i;:;s;;£,td';i^^i;:;r:-itS 

lars  per  ton  means  a  saving  of  not  less  Ih  ,    T,,li  '    ,      '"''  •^'''" 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Ar.Ricui/rrRE. 


39 


t 


Tlie  Board  has  also  drafted,  and  maiidy  by  its  iiilluence  had  passed, 
the  law  for  the  sii])i)ression  of  contapous  pleuro  pneuiiionia  amon^- 
cattle,  which,  by  theCordial  and  active  cooperation  of  the  Governor, 
has  eradicated  t:he  disease,  and  driven  it  from  its  footliold  in  our  State. 
During  tlie  seven  years  which  this  act  has  been  in  force,  its  annual  cost 
has  not  exceeded  one  and  a  half  cents  to  each  farm  in  the  State,  and 
the  total  cost  for  the  seven  years  is  less  than  was  expended  by  an- 
other State  in  a  single  year,  without  producing  any  l)eneiicial  effect. 
The  annual  saving  to  the  live-stock  interests  of  our  State  by  the  en- 
forcement of  this  law  can  scarcely  be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents  ; 
but,  at  a  low  estimate,  exceeds  ten  times  the  total  cost  of  the  Board. 

At  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature,  the  Board  Avas  granted  an  ap- 
propriation from  which  it  could  assist  in  defraying  and  encouraging 
just  such  meetings  as  this;  what  the  result  may  be  is  yet  too  early  to 
determine,  but  enough  has  been  shown  to  demonstrate  that  by  this 
mode  of  increasing  the  interest  of  farmers  in  their  calling  the  Board 
may,  in  the  future,  accomplish  much  which  will  benefit  the  cause  for 
which  it  Avorks  and  for  which  it  was  created. 


OBNOXIOUS  WEEDS. 


By  H.  M.  CuTSUALL,  Randolph^  Crawford  countjj^  Pa. 

h\  accordance  with  the  expressed  wishes  for  me  to  read  a  short 
paper  at  this  meeting  by  the  enterprising  president  of  our  agricul- 
tural association,  I  am  here  to  add  my  mite  toward  the  success  of  this 
farmers'  institute,  held  in  Titusville  under  authority  of  the  late  act 
of  Assembly. 

The  subject  upon  which  I  have  based  my  few  remarks  is  "  Obnox- 
ious Weeds. ""  I  did  not  choose  this  subject  on  account  of  its  high- 
sounding  title  ;  I  chose  it  because  I  believe  that  the  failure  to  realize 
a  protit  in  agriculture  can  be  traced  to  this  evil  to  a  greater  extent  than 
to  any  one  thing  in  the  general  management  of  the  farm  and  garden. 
Interesting  suljjects  are  on  the  programme  for  discussion  at  this  meet 
ing  in  fact,  good  papers  are  read  at  all  meetings  of  our  ''  State  Board 
of  Agriculture,  *'  "-  Dairymen's  Association,  "  ^'  Farmers'  Clubs,  "  etc., 
all  looking  to  a  higher  plane  in  the  management  of  the  farm. 

The  subjects  of  ''  How  to  apply  barnyard  manure  ibr  best  results, 
"The  use  of  commercial  fertilizers,"  ''  Underdraining,  "  vfec,  occupy 
the  attention  of  the  int(dligent  farmers  who  assemble  at  these  meetings 
from  time  to  time.  The  farmer  who  is  awakened  to  the  importance 
of  underdraining  sees  idle  marshes,  and  low  places  where  surface  water 
can  be  found  the  year  round,  tries  the  work  of  underdraining.  After 
this  is  successfuly  done  the  plot  is  fitted  lor  the  crop. 

These  places  are  rich  iVom  natural  deposits  of  decayed  matter  which 
have  accumulated  there  ibr  years  and  are  hot-beds,  in  a  sense,  where 
grain  and  vegetables  will  make  prodigious  grow^th ;  l)ut  in  order  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  your  labor,  the  watchful  eye  of  the  husbandman  must 
see  that  weeds  do  not  spring  up  and  cut  short  the  crop  even  in  its  last 
stage  of  development. 

The  use  of  commercial  fertilizers  is  fast  gaining  headway  in  this  sec- 
tion. Farmers  must  not  forget  that  these  fertilizers  will  grow  ''  weeds  " 
as  well  as  grain  and  vegetables,  and  where  the  strength  of  these  fer- 


ff 


40 


QuAiiTi:iiLY  Repokt. 


tilizers  is  taken  up  by  weeds,  the  owner  is  the  loser  in  more  ways  tlian 
one.  He  not  only  loses  in  the  present  crop,  but  he  has  by  his  outlay 
produced  a  crop  of  '^  obnoxious  weeds,  "  whose  seeds  have  ripened 
and  fallen  to  the  earth,  to  come  up  in  after-years  to  harass  him,  caus- 
m^i;  him  unnecessary  labor  and  diminishing  the  fertility  of  his  soil.  No 
farmer  who  does  not  give  special  care  that  no  weeds  come  to  maturity 
in  his  fields  should  expendmoney  for  fertilizers— it  will  be  anunprolit- 
able  investment,  and  dissatisfaction  will  l)e  the  result. 

Thus  far  we  have  spoken  about  weeds  in  fields  under  cultivation. 
But  the  care  of  the  farmer  does  not  end   here.     Meadow  lands    are 
many  times  infested  with  weeds,  which  add  not  hinii;  to  t  he  value  of  the 
crop,  and  yet  they  are  a  constant  drain  upon   the  ferlility  of  the  soil. 
Tiiose  farmers  who  have  meadows  infested  with  daisies  ii/their  various 
forms,  Canada  thistles,  and  other  weeds  less  obnoxious,  and  yet  of 
great  damage  to  lands  as  well. as  to  the  owners,  seek  to  capture  these 
weeds  })efore  maturity  and  hayingis  commenced  early  in  June.    This  is 
intelligent,  and  seeks  in  a  measure  to  curtail  the  spread  of  the  same, 
and  they  can  by  perseverance  totally  annihilate  such,  in  time.     This 
early  cutting  of  grass   leaves  weeds  which  start  later  in  the  season  to 
grow  and  mature  their  seeds,  which  fall  upon  the  earth   awaiting  the 
time  when  they  can  germinate  and  bring  forth  a  hundred-fold.    Amon"* 
the  most  to  be  dreaded  of  late  weeds  is  the  ''plantain,"   commonly 
known  as  the  white  and  black.    They  are  (juick  growers,  and  in  a  single 
season  will  deposit  seeds  to  pester  the  husbandman  for  years.     The 
common  plantain,  found  in  close  proximity  to  every  farmbuildin^-,  is 
not  entirely  worthless,  as  stock  will  eat  the  same  with  evident  relish 
either  in  agreen  or  cured  condition.     It  is,  nevertheless,  to  be  dreaded 
and  il  no  eflort  is  made  to  check  its  growth,  will,  in  a  short  time,  be 
master  of  the  situation. 

We  have  found  that  fields  polluted  with  this  weed  can  be  success- 
lully  and  cheaply  cleaned  from  the  same  by  pasturing,  as  all  stock  is 
ton(l  oithe  plant.  Fields  long  under  cultivation  need  rest,  and  seldom 
get  it,  because  the  average  farmer  has  not  yet  seen  the  Avisdom  of  such 
a  course.  But  God  intended  that  the  hoof* of  the  animal  should  come 
in  contact  with  the  soil,  and  we  doubt  if  the  productiveness  of  the  land 
can  be  increased  in  any  way  so  cheaply  as  bv  a  wise  course  of  rotation 
where  pasture  comes  in  for  one  fourth  the  time. 

A  weed  known  in  this  iocality  as  'M)lack  plantain"  is  spreadino- 
rapidly.  It  seems  to  be  obnoxious  to  stock  of  all  kinds ;  it  is  a  prolilic 
grower,  and  yields  an  immense  amount  of  seeds.  Our  farmers  view 
It  \Yith  alarm.  It  seems  to  crowd  out  with  ease  everything  else  and 
It  not  closely  watched,  will,  ere  long,  be  a  source  of  great  annoyance 
and  loss  to  the  farmer.  I  should  much  like  to  hear  from  those  present 
concerning  this  weed,  and  what  can  l)e  done  to  prevent  its  spread 
^  We  might  go  on  indefinitely  and  describe  many  obnoxious  weeds  but 
in  a  short  article  like  this  it  is  not  possible  or  wise  so  to  do.  It  is  enou-h 
to  say  that  a  constant  warfare  must  be  kept  up  against  weeds  if  we 
are  to  reap  the  benefit  of  our  labor  as  farmers.  It  has  })een  tru'ly  said 
that  "eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty."  Eternal  vi^alalice  is 
the  watchword  if  we  would  keep  down  the  growth  of  weeds,'Vhich  if 
left  to  grow,  will  sap  the  life  out  of  our  farms,  and  leave  us  the  owners 
of  the  land,  minus  the  soil.  An  article  on  ''obnoxious  weeds"  that 
did  not  speak  of  the  everlasting  "  Canada  thistle"  would  be  shorn  of 
halt  Its  splendor.  In  fact,  any  agricultural  association  or  asseml)l v  of 
farmers  that  did   not  discuss  this  question,  and  resolute  against  it 


^ 


rp^NNSYI.VANIA    Bo ART)    OF    AoRICULTURE. 


41 


woiiia  be  considered  a  lame  afrair.     Tt  would  be  like  the  play  of  Ham- 
let with  Hamlet  left  out.     It  is  well  that  it  is  so.     The  prevention  ot 
the  spread  of  this  plant  or  weed  has  been  discussed  for  years.     Legisla- 
tures have  enacted  laws  whereby  township  officers  have  been  given 
power  to  enter  upon  the  lands  of  others  and  destroy  the  thistle,  and 
receive  compensation  for  so  doing.     An  act  ol'  the  last  Legislature  pro- 
vides that  a  fine  of  fifteen  dollars  shall  be  imposed  upon  the  owner  ot 
lands  who  allows  the  Canada  thistle  to  seed ;  of  this  sum  one  half  goes 
to  the  in  former.     Of  course  these  laws  are  intended  lor  those  who  will- 
fullv  or  carelessly  allow  these  pests  to  mature.  All  enterprising  iarm- 
ers  ^will  see  that'the  spread  of  this  plant  is  curtailed  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, and  these  same  farmers  should  see  that  the  law  named  is  en- 
forcexl,  if  it  is  necessary,  against  the  careless  owner  of  lands  wliere 
this  duty  is  neglected,   'in  some  of  our  Eastern  States,  held  crops  are 
almost  a  failure,  so  far  has  this  plant  got  possession  ot  the  land,  and 
what  is  true  there,  will  be  the  fate  of  the  Pennsylvania  fanners  in    lie 
near  future,  unless  we  are  alive  to  the  suppression  of  this  terrible 
I)est. 


FERTILIZERS  AND  THEIR  USES. 


Bv  S.  W.  Stewart,  FleamntviUe,  Venango  County,  Pa. 

t.' 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  :  Before  I  got  up  T  was  proud  of 
Venango  county.  Frond  of  her  sons  and  the  mental  ability  they  have 
displayed  on  this  occasion.  But  before  I  get  through  I  i^ear  my  pride 
will  have  fallen.  I  only  regret  that  tiiis  vexed  question  had  not  been 
consigned  to  some  one  capable  of  treating  it  as  its  merits  demand. 
This  nuestion  is  one  of  interest  to  the  agriculturist.  Interesting  be- 
cause it  is  mysterious,  and  mysterious  because  we  may  not  understand 
it  It  lVe<|uentlv  occurs  that  those  things  that  are  the  most  common 
and  the  most  important  are  the  least  studied  an.  f  he  least  understood 
The  importance  of  this  question  can  be  summed  m  one  sentence:  all 
vegetable  substance  is  the  result  of  fertilizers;  no  animal  life  could 
long  exist,  either  on  land  or  in  the  sea,  without  the  immediate  presence 

of  vec:etal)le  suV)stance.  .       i       i  4.      r 

The  soil,  in  its  natural  or  normal  condition,  contains  the  elements  of 
fertility  to  a  lireater  or  less  extent,  drawn  from  bountiful  nature  s 
great  storeho.W  of  plant  food.  Were  it  not  tor  this  the  earth 
would  be  a  desert,  a  barren  waste.  What  the  agriculturist  desires  is 
to  add  something  to  these,  in  order  that  he  may  produce  a  better  and 
a  more  remunerative  crop.  Nature,  when  untrammeled  by  the  inno- 
vations of  man,  performs  her  work  upon  strictly  uniform  and  scientific 

^'"AlWegetable  as  well  as  animal  life  is  the  legitimate  result  of  a 
harmonious  assimilation  of  certain  elements.  We  may,  bycerta  n 
mechanical  processes  orapplian.^es,  aid  nature  in  l'.^'''  •''•'';''':j'f,';:';";J' 
and  by  certain  mechanical  appliances  we  may  entirely  defeat  the  ends 
of  nature  in  performing  her  work.  _  ,.,..•,•  A»t„ 

These  are  the  cardinal  points  in  this  question  of  fertilizers  As  to 
fertilizinix.  there  are  many  ways  and  means  of  fertilizing,  Ix.tli  by 
material  appliances  and  mechanical  processes.  Thorough  and  judicious 


42 


QUAKTEItr.V   Rkport. 


cultivation  is  a  means  of  feit  ili/.ing.  So  is  underdraining  and  irrigation. 
Ine  material  appliances  are  mainlv  harnyard  manure,  green  manure, 
or  vegetable  substance,  and  the  commercial  fertilizers.  Gypsum,  or 
])iaster,  is  a  ferlilizer  to  some  extent.  Barnvard  manure',  from  its 
iialure  and  origin,  we  assume  is  the  best  fertilizer  known,  for  two  rea- 
sons :  hrst,  It  contains  all  the  elements  of  plant-food;  second,  to  what- 
ever extent  it  contains  these  they  are  there  in  their  proper  mechanical 
proportions.  Such  an  application  is  ahvavs  in  harmonv  witii  the  ele- 
meiits  that  are  already  placed  l)y  nature  in  I  lie  soil  as  i>Iant-food. 

Ihe  commercial  fertilizer  may  contain  many  of  the  elements  of 
pJant-lood,  and  many  oftheml)e  entirely  absent.  '  Such  an  a|)plication 
creates  a  contusion  in  the  elements  and  results  in  a  failure  Or  the 
commercial  tertilizer  may  contain  all  (he  elements  of  plant-food,  but 
not  in  the  proper  proportion.  Such  an  ap]>licatiou  must  be  attended 
with  a  like  disastrous  result.  In  all  our  efforts  to  aid  nature  in  per- 
lorming  her  work,  a  harmonious  e(|uilibiiuni  or  porportion  must  be 
observed.  It  must  exist;  if  not,  our  efforts  will  result  in  a  confusion 
of  tlie  elements  and  a  failure. 

There  is  no  confusion  in  nature.  From  the  most  distant  planet 
through  the  entire  solar  system,  all  is  controlled  and  held  in  place  bv 
a  liarmonious  equilibrium.  Were  it  not  for  this  great  principle  in  na- 
ture mstantly  our  entire  system  would  become  a  confused  mass.  The 
same  great  principle  of  harmonious  e(|uilibrium  that  hold  sour  svstem 
of  -rS  '"''"^'■°'^  *^"'  «'■'"'''''  ''"^^  production  of  the  most  minute^spear 

Gypsum  or  plaster,  as  a  means  of  fertility,  is  valuable  on  light  and 
rare  soils  that  have  not  the  ability  to  attract 'and  retain  the  nJcesi  y 
elements  of  p  ant-food  It  should  be  used  at  all  times  in  our  barn? 
it^s  density  makes  it  valuable  as  a  deodorizer  and  retainer,  and  it  use' 
adds  largely  to  the  health  of  our  domestic  animals.  It  hol.ls  or  al. 
sorbs  those  fou  odors  that  would  escape  high  into  the  air  to  bebrouHt 
back  to  the  earth's  surface  as  a  fertilizer,  with  the  falling  mi  sud 
snows  at  some  other  time  and  in  some  other  place  Ph  oso  v 
teaches  that  there  is  nothing  lost ;  but  in  many  case    we  are  fbrced  to 

!he  waster'"  '''''  '^'''''  ^'  '^''''  ''''''■  ''^'^'^  '"'^  """i""'  ^^^^^ 
There  is  no  class  of  the  human  familv  ui)()n  whom  so  much  resnon 
sibUity  rests  as  upon  the  agriculturist.  He  stands  res  Sl/lel^s  a 
tenant  under  the  greater  lea.se  that  was  given  to  the  huma  fnmilt  in 
the  early  hours  of  creation,  with  all  its^onsi.le  ation"  Td  r^c  iV^^^ 
mentis  Responsible,  indeed,  for  the  existence  of  the  human  f  n  1  v 
and  the  destiny  of  nations  hangs  upon  his  efforts  U^louut 
fami bar  with  t  ,e  n.any  elements  and  their  blendings  with  tl  e    Ji  as 

should  be  able  to  control  these  gases  and  vapors,  and  consign  them  to 
1  heir  proper  places  and  in  t  heir  proper  proportion  " 

llien,  and  only  then,  will  the  agriculluri.sts,  as  a  class  be  1nv.„,ri,f 


place  111  rro?it,  their  natural  and  God-^iven  place. 


their 


</ 


pENNSYLVANr.\    BOAKD    OF    AcRlcrLTrRE. 


4^ 


THE  SELECTIO]^  OF  COMMERCIAL  FER  ITLTZERS. 


By  TiioMx\s  J.  Edge,  Secretary  State  Board  of  Agriculture, 

In  the  selection  of  a  commercial  fertilizer  for  application  to  a  crop, 
there  are  several  items  which  sliould  be  carel'uUy  attended  to.  The 
time  during  which  a  fertilizer  may  act  upon  a  crop  is  an  important 
consideration  in  its  selection.  AfertilizcM-  which  hns  proven  economical 
when  applied  to  wheat  may  not  be  the  proper  one  i'or  corn  ;  one  has 
ten  months  in  which  it  may  produce  its  action  and  ellect,  while  the 
other  is  limited  to  four  ;  one  is  certain,  at  some  period  of  its  growt h,  to 
have  sufficient  moisture  to  release  and  utilize  its  solui)le  portions, 
while  the  other  may  not  obtain  sufficient  moisture  to  render  it  of  any 
service  ;  one  crop  can  economically  utilize  a  slow-acting  fertilizer,  while 
the  other  can  only  be  increased  by  one  which  acts  rapidly  and  is 
readily  soluble.  Thus  the  same  amount  of  money  expended  in  fertil- 
izers for  these  two  crops  may  elfect  them  very  dillerently  and  this  dif 
ference  may  cover  all  of  the  margin  between  loss  and  gain 

A  fertilizer  which  exhausts  itself  in  the  formation  of  straw,  wlule  it 
may  add  to  the  bulk  of  the  manure  pile,  assists  very  little  in  the  for- 
mation and  increase  of  the  grain.  From  t  his  w^e  may  infer  that  guano, 
alkaline  salts,  and  such  fertilizers  as  are  rich  in  soluble  and  reverted 
phosphoric  acid,  will  best  suit  the  needs  of  our  si)ring  crops,  and  that 
the  slow^er-acting  fertilizer  will  produce  the  best  results  with  wheat, 
and  that  ground  bone  will  give  the  best  results  upon  crops  which  have 
the  longest  period  of  grow^th.  ^    ^-t 

Having  decided  upon  the  special  ingredient  needed  in  a  fertilizer, 
the  purchaser  may  lay  down,  as  a  rule,  that  the  greater  the  percentage 
of  this  desired  ingredient  in  the  fertilizer,  the  more  economical  it  will 
prove;  by  concentration  both  freight  and  handling  are  saved.  If 
potash  is  the  one  ingredient  desired,  and  no  other  is  wanted,  the  pur- 
chaser who  is  guided  by  the  analysis  list  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture 
will  find  that  he  may  choose  between  muriate  of  potash  (No.  49),  and 
marl  from  Maryland.  The  former  will  furnish  him  with  ten  hundred 
and  seventy-foiir  pounds  of  potash  to  the  ton,  and  the  latter  wdth  but 
six  and  a  half;  the  former  furnishes  it  at  a  cost  of  four  and  one  halt 
cents  per  pound  and  the  latter  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  and  a  half  per 
pound;  a  dilference  well  w^orthy  of  attention. 

He  will  lind  the  extremes  of  ay(^v7-^/7>>/6^  ])hosph()ric  acid  to  vary  m 
price  from  nine  cents  per  pound  in  leading  grades  of  dissolved  South 
Carolina  rock  to  forty  cents  per  pound  in  No.  60;  the  variation  in 
the  cost  of  i)otash  (ammonia)  will  be  even  greater.  A  careful  exami- 
nation of  our  table  will  prove  our  rule,  that,  as  a  general  thing,  the 
higher  grades  of  each  class  are  the  most  economical,  and  that  by  far 
the  greatest  percentage  of  fraud  is  in  the  lower  grades  of  goods.  In 
selecting  fertilizers,  always  bear  in  mind  that  you  are  buying  a  certain 
number  of  pounds  of  certain  ingredients,  and  that  the  less  oi  other 
m.itter  (which  is  practically  adulteration)  that  you  get,  the  better. 

Having  decided  that  acidulated  South  Carolina  rock  is  his  most 
economical  fertilizer,  the  farmer  will  still  bear  in  mind  our  rule.  He 
has  practically  decided  that  available  phosphoric  acid  is  the  ingredient 


u 


Ql'AHTEKl.V    KeI'ORT. 


r    \,\  'f,f«il  nee(ls,an(lll,atis  mIk.I  lie  should  1,„v.  lie  will  as  i  rnip 
1   j'fn  "''  '^'/r^'  ^^''"''  ^^"''''  <''^'  '•■"•^'««t  amount  of  tShSiXnt 
Mm  b,  f  on'/?  *''1  ™?''  «^«'r""i^«l-     I'^ive  per  cent,  goods  wfl  ly  ek 
.?.     .    /    '',""•'!•    l'<'»"«'s  per  ton,  while  those  vk-hlins  thiritt 

H      dn.  "/n't''''"''  ?"  '^^  ''''''^'^y  Purchased)  will  give  1  im  two 
II   iHlicd  and  iiity  pounds  per  ton  of  the  needed  article-  i  con,n,r,-ll; 

other  iSi^XcpSh  /,:;r  .drs^tT  s  ttci^^'^^^  '^  ^^« 

In  comparing  the  fertilizers  as  presented  by  tke  a      iTses  recorded 
our  lists  care  must  be  taken  to  compare  articles  of  the  same  class 

b:Tomp'S  witrsr<T^'  '^'l'  ^'^r  '^^'y  <l"llars  Pe/Z^mu 
iiut  ue  compaiea  with  boutli  Carolmn  rock  at  twentv  dollqiN  •  mi^  fn^^ 

P  t:  ac  l""i;'or  wiyrlft  T'  ^'"  o^'---  n<.tldnrb'ntS;b,r;,  ^  : 
twentv  iniio  •  '^ ''"  *^?  compare  South  Carolina  rock  costin-^ 
tAventy  dollars  with  a  com|.lete  fertilizer   (containing  all  three  ele^ 

In  very  many  cases,  when  we  add  the  cost  of  the  frei-dit  n„.l  I,..n,i 

"If prni^ri-firioTent''  '^"^  ^'^"  ^^  ^^^^^  ?» ^i^x^p  rs"^'  "«^ 

manv  o  •  U  ose    vh^'pur5?ase'  I'n'"""  "''  '''^'f^ ''  ^^""^^^  ^^^"^  "«  if 

largest /../pLw"  Kr^dven'iT,nnt  r  ^"''T^  ^'^  "'^^'''"'  "'« 
'lollars  per  ton,  marl  at  tweYve  olh^ crude"  ^n'Tl'  ^,'"^^lt«"^'  =^t  ^^n 
ten  dollars,  and  sinnlar  ferHlLer=  tem  to  i  f  '  */"'*'''"f  '""^'^  *»♦■ 
keeptheiroodsonthemarke  nnfuinT  r  "'  *"!"•"-''  purchasers  to 
prove  that  thev   are  worH,  hn    V^^^  ^'^^^  practiceand  theory 

'"anded  for  then       j!.w     ,-    e.  of     IT  "","'•'  ,P"^"i«'"  "^  ^^^  P"<-'e  de 

chased,  often  he"  i„,e  Ln  cos  le  s  n^Ton  'Ih^  ''^''^'''r  '''  I^"'"" 
of  the  fact   (let  in  th^rn    ,    ;  -^  "°"'  "'®  Purchaser  losing  sight 

valuable nmeiaLand^ add  tio^^^^  ^f-'"^'^l  P"'"  ''"'"  I*^'""''  ^■"'• 

less  matter  '  '^^•Jitwn  is  handling  a  large  amount  oi'  worth- 

le.|s\^s^T;h::^SSrtl'a^r^^^^^^  -^  ff^tiH-rs      . 

will  find  tl.at ,  ?,  e  te,    £'  f  n  ;'',^^^^^^^^^^  t'le  competition,  we 

.  whi..h  sell  for  less  than  ,     r      d   i     Vpe   tf  7^^^^^^       "  "r  ''''^''''' 
rare  that  the  rule  is  almost  absolute  '  ^'^^eptions  are  so 

key-note  of  the  care^uffSnnerl         P"'^"''^'^'  «"^1  ^''""l^l  be  made  the 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Agriculture. 


45 


DISCUSSION. 


Mr.  RussELT..  I  am  not  much  of  a  speaker.  I  pretend  to  be  only  a  workinjjj  farmer. 
I  have  spent  all  my  lifeupDn  the  farm.  I  have  used  many  dil!erent  kinds  of  manures. 
1  have  also  used  fertilizers.  I  have  also  used  gypsum,  or  land  plaster.  I  have  almost  quit 
using  an^''  fertilizers  not  made  on  the  farm.  Tliink  I  tiave  made  up  my  mind.  Fertil- 
izers cost  too  much.  I  don't  tlnnk  they  are  worth  the  price  they  cost  in  comparison  to 
the  good  they  do.  1  think  manure  is  as  good  as  plaster.  It  is  just  as  good,  and  a  good 
deal  cheaper.  The  fertilizers  that  I  use  I  manufacture  at  home.  I  prepare  it  on  tlie 
ground,  and  make  my  own  fertilizers.  Mr.  Stewart  has  said  manure  from  stock  con- 
tains all  the  fertilizing  elements.  I  don't  just  agree  with  him  on  all  his  points.  If  you 
havea  poor  place  in  your  held,  as  was  said  yesterday,  if  you  apply  the  good  manure,  it 
will  be  better,  but  not  as  good  as  the  rest.  While,  however,  your  stocsk  is  good,  you 
are  making  fertilizers  to  keep  up  your  soil.  Tiiis  is  my  plan.  One  man  said  to  rue, 
if  It  contains  all  the  ingredients  necessary,  we  should  use  that  alone.  Then  i  want  to 
speak  about  pig-pens.  It  is  one  of  my  hobbies.  Farmers  waste  too  nuich  manure 
about  home.  No  farmer  ought  to  bu3''  any  fertilizers  as  long  as  he  allows  the  waste  to 
go  on  about  the  farm.  I  believe  farmers  don't  get  the  benefit  from  fertilizers  they 
should.  They  let  more  than  one  half  go  to  wasted  They  should  put  the  tloors  of  their 
barns  on  the  ground.  I  put  my  floors  on  the  ground  when  T  built  my  barns.  It  was 
the  tirst  of  that  kind  in  our  country.  They  thought  they  would  not  do,  but  it  was  nine- 
teen years  last. summer  since  I  built  the  iloor  on  the  ground,  and  they  are  there  yet, 
except  one  tloor  raised  up  fromthe ground;  but  some  floors  have  rotted  out  three  times, 
while  the  lloor  on  the  ground  has  not  rotted  out.  Last  sumuier  I  took  uj)  my  one  floor, 
and  put  in  one  of  gravel  together  with  clay.  I  could  find  a  use  for  that  to  save  manure 
in  urine.  I  take  this  out  and  use  it.  You  see  a  great  many  farmers  in  the  country 
who  let  the  best  elements  of  the  manure  be  wasted  in  the  rains  and  carried  away  in  the 
river.  I  am  also  an  advocate  of  taking  the  manure  to  the  held  as  soon  as  it  is  made  at 
the  barn,  and  scatter  it  in  the  fields  as  soon  as  possible.  Some  advoc^ate  mixing  lime 
with  manure.  I  don't  do  it.  We  may  not  be  able  to  get  it  in  the  right  j)r()portions, 
and  thus  do  more  harm  than  good  Then  weshould  save  the  manure  from  the  chicken- 
house  It  is  a  good  manure,  I  think  the  farmers  would  do  well  to  consider  this  point. 
Then  construct  your  stables  so  that  you  can  Sive  all  the  manure.  Every  farm  should 
have  a  compost  he^ip  to  save  the  waste  of  the  farm,  house,  and  pen.  Uo  not  build  the 
hog-pen  across  a  creek  so  that  the  manure  will  wash  away  in  it,  aa  some  farmers  do.  I 
used  to  build  my  pen  acrojrs  a  creek,  but  I  make  now  by  saving  the  manure.  There 
has  been  a  good  deal  said  about  bringing  up  worn-out  land.  •  The  best  way  is  not  to 
wear  out  the  land.  A  good  many  farmers  wear  out  land  ;  then  they  have  to  go  back 
and  work  hard  to  bring  up  their  worn-out  land.  When  1  was  young  I  took  lefc>sons  in 
farming  from  a  German.  He  said,  "If  n^ou  want  tP  get  rich,  keep  your  farm  waste." 
I  took  a  lesson  of  him  and  followed  it.  I  must  keep  mine  for  the  sake  of  my  bo3^^.  My 
friend  Cochran  said  something  about  experimental  farming.  In  New  York  State  is 
said  to  be  in  a  fine  experiniental  farm.  It  is  owing  to  the  saving  of  everything 
about  the  place.  If  farmers  should  do  the  same,  I  believe  we  would  have  better  farms. 
I  believe  farmers  lose  a  good  deal  by  leaving  their  bob-sled,  tools,  plows,  reapers,  etc., 
where  they  were  last  used,  not  to  be  used  again  till  wanted,  and  by  that  time  there  is 
(juite  a  rust  formed.  I  don't  want  to  tell  nuich  about  my  ownsleds.  They  are  almost 
as  good  as  new,  and  are  over  forty  years  old. 

Mr.  Pjcrrin.  Will  you  listen  to  me  a  moment  while  I  tell  you  how  to  construct  a 
barn3''ard?  Reference  was  made  by  the  last  speaker  of  the  use  a  man  made  of  his  hog- 
pen, to  get  rid  of  his  manure.  It  reminds  me  of  the  experience  of  a  young  man  in 
Tennessee,  who  wrote  home  that  he  was  d(>lighted  with  the  country,  and  among  other 
things  he  told  how  he  hatl  fixed  his  barnyard.  He  had  constructed  his  pig-pen  over  a 
stream  of  water  so  it  was  all  carried  away  in  the  stream.  A  very  poor  way.  This  is 
the  way  to  construct  your  barnyard.  You  very  rarely  cart  oft'  the  manure  as  made. 
You  want  to  construct  it  in  the  form  of  a  hollow  saucer,  so  it  will  retain  the  urine,  and 
so  the  rain-water  will  flow  oft'.  Then  you  should  protect  it  by  eave  troughs.  Now  if 
you  construct  it  in  that  way,  I  venture  you  would  have  one  of  the  best  barnyards  in 
the  country.  This  question  tills  people  with  economical  views.  If  it  was  preserved 
carefully,  it  would  be  worth  thousands  of  dollars  every  year  to  the  farmers  at  this 
meeting.  It  is  calculated  that  the  urine  of  one  cow  is  worth  twenty  dollars  a  year  on  the 
farm.  There  is  another  thing  I  wish  to  speak  of  in  this  connection.  I  object  to  the  hay 
going  from  the  farm.  I  instructed  the  man  on  my  farm  not  to  sell  a  dollar's  worth  of 
hay  without  my  permission. 3  You  may  have  to  scrimp  for  one  year,  you  will  be  better 
for  it  next  year.     If  you  will  wait  one  year  the  result  will  be  a  richer  farm. 

Mr.  Olivp:k.  I  believe  in  connnorcial  fertilizers.  I  think  the  use  ot  fertilizers  is  a 
benefit.  The  trouble  of  it  is,  we  generally  plant  the  ferrtilizer  at  tl»e  same  depth  for 
every  kind  of  grain  we  raise.  This  results  in  poor  crops.  Corn,  whose  roots  an)  near 
the  top  of  the  ground,  should  have  the  fertilizer  near  the  top,  while  {)()tatoes,  whose 
roots  are  deep  in  the  earth,  should  have  tlie  fertilizer  deep  in  the  earth.  If  we  follow 
this  out,  we  will  have  better  crops.  There  was  something  said  of  an  experimenting 
station.  E.xperimenting  stations  are  not  good  for  this  reason:  they  can  not  tell  U3 
what  our  soil  needs  to  produce  a  crop,  from  the  soil  of  their  farm. 


4Cy 


QUARTEKLY    IvEI'OHT 


THE  POTATO  EOT. 


By  tlie  Secretary. 


l>'^>'^t^:^;i£^^^'^^;^^'^^  "-  «-%at  which  the 
a  number  of  8eriol^s  cases  J'  I  «-  .''"■'^  '"'■''"'™*^l^""^^"ts  reporled 
these  localities  we  ^circrmir    el  ^!Zu^uT  'TK     ■^^«'-f"-'afely, 

not  nearly  so  great  as  w^re  /e'^  L  ^  ^s  ml'sed  ''t/"^''  '"^"^^ 
coM/iiied  to  the  southern  'irKt  s.'Jr  ,  'P'^"®*^"-  "'  was  main  v 
was  also  reported  toriessextein'fl'"'"  ^*T,"""'  "''  <'"^  ^''^^^te,  but 
Considered  in  (he  asgre-^lVe^  L  wl!  "'V"'«'-'V  *>«?•  «<"  ^onnties. 
infected  localities  de'troved  t  .^In  '^*  ^'''■^^'  ^"^  "^  ^"mf"  <'f  the 

Some  of  our  o/liciafcj'^^on'e  KS£nf'\^?;''^^^^  I*">'''-«- 
cent,  of  the  cron  of  thp  St'  /^  i    !    ®*"""^ted  (|u>  total  loss  at  ten  per 

the  infected  Sle  ami  ft;efrom'"''''''?-'^''°"'  '"="'«  outside'^of 
such  causes,  convinces  ^  s  hJt  fiveZ  cint"  of;"''.'  ."f '"'''''"y  ^^"^  ^o 
cover  the  loss  from  this  cause  *"""  ^''^'''^  ''^I^  ^"'I'  <'"lly 

s^n'^K^^^^^^^^^^^ 

the  followinjr  <'onclusio„s        "''"'"«  ^^  *''''  topic,  enables  us  to  draw 

every  pat,-h,  and  wS  "on  7,,^!    /"I,:'  '''  ^  f  '"'""^  ^'^^''^  ■^-••^'-  " 
not  extend,  even  in  the  b  n  Vom  t h.f  f/^   ^  ^  *'!"''"'  ''"'^  '^■'''■'•''  <l«es 

in  no  case  develops  into  ;h"e'  Ibrme  '       more'  ^e?,  ^.^tve?"'  *'"  ^'"^^ 
Second.   That  the  flp^frnr»H-x^r.  ^-         •     \^^^^  uesn  ik  uve  lorni. 

of  a  minute  parasJdc  Am^  wl  Icl.  m"'f  ™^'^^  multiplication 

ahve,  either  in  the  tuber  or  in     he  so,"     f^        "''"!  ''''"®  ^^^  '^^  kept 

crelSd  or  -etardS   b^^   ,' ^uir'"'"^  «^"  ^'^  ^""^'"W  .^-wth  is  in- 
'lition  of  the  weat^W  •,,  ;    .   i on^  "l:r'"'"f  •''"•^"^^'  <''"''   '''-'f  "'«  ^-on- 

toggy  and  warm  weather,  tiie  dS  ru  ctivi;!    ^''^'f  <l'"'nK  moist  or 

great  rapidity,  and  that  its  growth    s  Je^anS         T^'''\f^^  with 
weather.  ^^^^'^y^n  is  retarded  or  stopped  hy  cold 

deSeli  j;'';:;:  :,';^ii;^lIi-  growth  can  be 

in  a  <i.y.  days,  affect  vervTma-h  as  ,V«-l'''.''  ''''"'''  ^'  '^■'"  •"■^^"' 
At  Its  first  appearance  tins  growlh  Ins  tl  c  ','  "'"  "'■^''  *''«  l^"t'''': 
iiglx  s,,ots  upon  (lu.  most  vHwo  s  st'^n's  .  "f  rr-'^'-a"ce  of  mouhl  or 
extends  to  other  portions  of  II  e  hn  i  T^l  ^  ^  t'"'"'^'^  f""*^"^  "'ese  it 
a  rapKlity  which  laries   vi  h    le   em  ^A     r^'^^i^'  '"  ^''<^  ^"'^^'•^  «''" 

f^/-M.    That  in  a  large  maio ritvTf  , 'ts  V 
ately  removed  with  the  tons   onL?,   ''^•■®*^'i^  tins  growth  is  immedi- 

saved.    After  starting  on,     :,:J;fitPS;^^f?'?^  '^^^  -='/'- 
IS  soon  carne,ldownnhe  stalks  and  in  to"  .^i,'';''^«Vn'^  ^ 
"Uiny  IS  done  bevond  repair  "'''  '"''ers-  and  the 


Pennsylvania  Board  of  Acjricultire. 


47 


these  two  is  made  the  vehicle  of  carryiiiij^  tlie  disease  over  to  tlie  eii- 
siiiii«:  season  scientists  diller.  A  majority,  however,  hold  the  theory 
that  it  exists  at  all  times  and  in  all  soils,  and,  like  other  parasitic 
growth,  multiplies  with  great  rapidity  under  favorable  circumstances 
and  surroundings.  The  initial  ])lant  may,  and  probably  does,  exist  in 
the  soil  every  year,  but  we  only  note  its  etiects  when' its  inultiplica- 
tion  is  so  great  as  to  attract  attention  by  the  loss  which  follows  it. 

Seventh.  That  this  being  the  genernlly  ndmittcd  tlKM)jT,  it  is  almost 
useless  to  expect  thntwe  can  adopt  nuy  preventive  measure  for  the 
destruction  of  the  dangerous  growth,  at'least  before  it  shows  itself  on 
the  plant.  That  all  attempts  to  prevent  it  by  certain  advertised  nos- 
trums, introduced  into  the  soil  with  the  cut  tubers,  will  be  futile,  and 
result  in  a  waste  of  money. 

EUjhth.  That  after  the  disease  has  manifested  itself,  the  following 
precautions,  if  carried  out,  may  save  much  loss:  At  once  dig  the 
tubers,  and  store  them  in  shallow  piles  on  an  open  and  niry  bnrn  floor 
out  of  the  sun  and  moisture.  Sort  them  over  repeatedly,  carefully  re- 
moving all  diseased  tubers  each  time;  dust  them  occasionally  with 
dry  air-slacked  lime;  handle  carefully,  and  see  that  the  piles  are 
neither  large  nor  high. 

Ninth,  After  a  season  of  this  kind  of  decay,  carefully,  but  lightly, 
(lust  all  seed  iK)tatoes  with  air-slacked  lime,  so  that,  if  possible,  all  the 
spores  of  the  plant  may  be  destroyed,  and  not  ])lanted  with  the  cut- 
tings to  produce  or  start  the  crop  for  the  next  season's  destruction. 

Tenth,  To  dig  the  crop  and  store  it  in  a  cool,  airy  place,  as  soon  as 
the  fall  showers  come  on,  during  w^arm  w^eather.  ^  Get  them  out  of 
the  ground  and  out  of  the  patch  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  disease 
is  manifested. 

Prof.  V.  M.  Spalding,  of  the  State  University  of  Michigan,  thus  de- 
sci'ibes  the  growth  of  this  foe  to  the  imtato-grower : 

Tlie  destructive  effects  of  the  fungus  are  g^enerally  first  observed  upon  the  tubers 
late  in  the  fall;  but  the  disease  is  present  much  earlier  in  the  season,  and  niav  be 
recogjnized  on  the  tops  by  a  certain  characteristic  l)lotched,  black  or  brown  spotted, 
dead  a[>pearance.  A  criti  ;al  examination  would  show  on  the  diseased  tops  numerous 
small  white  Kpots  which,  when  highly  magnified,  are  found  to  be  ininiiture  forests  of 
slender  stems  growing  out  of  the  surf  ice  of  the  leaves  and  stems  of  tiio  vine.  Tliese 
tiny  stems  f)roduce  spores  (^aUed  ^'summer  spores")  by  millions,  so  small  that  a 
million  could  easily  lie  side  by  side  on  a  square  inch  witho'ut  crowding.  Wiien  ripe, 
they  spparato  from  the  stem  and  fall,  and  under  the  influence  of  water  become  exceed- 
ingly active^  and  push  out  a  slender  tube  Cipable  of  becoming  a  mature  plant  inside 
the  potato  plant. 

The  mature  fungus  lives  in  the  tops  or  tul)ers  of  the  potato,  and  is  als  >  microsc  )pic. 
It  consists  of  very  numerous  colorless  irregular  branching,  tube-like  threads,  which 
grow  througrh  the  tissues  of  the  potato,  appropriating  its  juices,  and  so  impoverishing 
the  tissues  that  they  either  break  down  directly  or  are  invacied  bv  bacteria  and  other 
low  forms  which  itiduce  putrefactive  decomx  sition.  The  mycelium  or  internal  tul)e- 
like  tliread  of  this  fungus  is  perennial  and  hardy,  but  the  disease  depends,  primarilv. 
for  its  spread  the  following  season  upon  the  preservation  of  this  mycelium  in  the 
diseased  tubers  and  tops. 

Several  of  our  eorrespondetits  allude  to  a  prevailing  belief  that  a 
small  portion  of  lime  or  wood-ashes  deposited  on  and  with  the  cutting 
will  prevent  the  outbreak  of  the  disease.  If  the  initial  growth  of  the 
fungoid  plant  is  introduced  with  the  cutting,  we  can  readily  see  how 
this  should  produce  the  effect  claimed  for  it,  but  if  tlu^  s])ores  of  the 
disease  are  in  the  soil  before  the  croj)  is  planted,  we  fail  to  see  how 
so  local  an  ai)i>lication  can  have  tliis  elfect.  Rev.  ]\Iarsena  Stone,  of 
the  Leiand  TnivtM-sity,  at  New  Orleans,  however,  strongly  advocates 
this  i)Ian,  and  writes  in  relation  to  it  as  follows: 


48 


QuARTEKj.v   Report. 


ow 


went  to  a  lime-kiln  in  the  nei^Mlnrl',,.,,  "*  "•''"^'  ^''y-  "«'"K  ""  l>revouitive      I 

i.ue  WHS  l,urned,  and      hi"li  w  s  n,  v^  ' '',"1'  P™""'''"*."'^  wood-asl,es  witl.  u     cl^tl.e 

ha  f  and  dropped  a  h^udM  ^U^'u^  :^^]^^^'J^"^''^'y  "«ariy  or  quite  l.aii'Lnd- 

potatoes  were  fairly  up,  I  droDoed       m,  oL,.i  T    f      "'   "-^  '*  "'"'^  ''"^d,  and  when  the 

on   two  or  three  tlnie*^'  whUeTheyToreT  UC"  Thi^^  ^"""« '"«  >1«'^^^' 

ew  sound  potatoes.    Thcv  lost  near!  v  all   an  n    .,',.  I        ,""" '""''  l""<"'e«  I'ad  very 

ban  IS  usual  i„  a  healthv'rteld.     It  is  a  verv  ell  il   **<"?''««ly  ?  rotten  potato,  no  more 

had  oocas  on  to  trv  it  in  Ohi,.  »,.,)  I.   *  ^"ry  easy  experiment  to  try.     I  have  not  sinoo 

this  single  fact.    H^uiVince' burl    le'Lrrrn's^a'^;"^^^^^^ 

between  the  patohos  and  mine,  I  ca^n.^o^^tuVt-'^ilfZ test  is''ar,iS"iI;r  '"' "  '"""^ 

were  t,.sed  with  the  nlui^"    but  wJier^f b i";'^'  "^'''''  ^''"'•'^  "«  ^'^^^^ 
the  diseased  patch  iVon.  o,i;  „„t  itXia't  Ih  "  """''^  *"  ^'^P^^^^^e 

totrL:vr:;sr,fiS?rteSeJ^u^^^^ 

superpj.osphate  alone  have  been  tre^^^^^  r   -^  ''^'  P,''''"*^^  ^^'t'' 

with  yard-manure  were  almolTenUr^lyZ^^^^^^  P^=^'>/^'1 

needs  a  series  of  careful  tA«fa      ''^'t^'y  <iestioyed.     1  his  theory,  a  so, 

after  a  large  „ u  nber  if  exneHn^l tf  'T-  f "  ^'^"?P^  '^  ««  '^«'-'-e«t.     If 
are  even,  to  a  cer  ai„  exteSr™  ^  ,V'  -nT^  *''"'  P^osphated  plot 

Holongas'sornanvcaLswhichSZiVan^^^^^ 

out  in  everv  section  of  thliiL,  "  ^"'^'^  theories  can  be  pointed 

assertions  with^^^al  Z^'^T  ^l^^::^'''''''  ^°  ''^^^^^^  '"  ^^^ 


END  OF  NUMB 


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