Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-01-04
AGRICULTURE.
MEETING OF THE AGRICULTURAL So
ClETY
Crop Rcports-Protection 20 Forests-Elec-
ton Of OMcers-Elnanciai Affairs,
&c

The January meeting Of the Lancaster
County Agricultural and Horticultural
society was held in their room in city hall
yesterday afternoon.
The following named members and visi-
tors were present
Joseph r: Wilmer, president, Paradise :;
NJ. D. kendlg, secretary, Cresswell Hem
ry Kurtz, Mount joy S. p. Eby, esq,
city Casper Hitler, Conestosa johnson
Miller, Warwick W. W. Griest, city !:
F. II. Diffenderffer, city E.B. Brubaker,
Brickerville DR.. c. A. Greene, city Mr..
- Hoover, Lititz DR.. VIM. Compton,
city c. L. Hunsecker, Mannheim Cal
win Cooper, Bird-in-Han Frank
Griest, city J. NJ. Johnston, city VIM.
McComsey, city !; Washington L. Hershey,
Chickies John G.. Resh, West Willow
Henry G. kesh, West Willow DR.. S. S.
Rathvon, city.
Cyrus Neh, of Mountvillc, was proposed
for membership aud elected.
Crop reports being called for, Johnson
Miller said there was but little to report at
this time of year. He had noticed that
some of the cherry trees had been burst
open by the extreme cold.
Casper Hitler said that cherry tree, Or
other fruit trees might be burst open and
yet bear good fruit. The buds of some
fruit trees are killed when the mercury
falls below Is or IS degrees Fahrenheit.
In 1880 and in 1885 the apple trees were so
badly frozen that some of them never re-
covered.
NJ. ID. kendig suggested that members
from the several sections Of the county
report ut next stated meeting Of the socie-
ty the average yield of the cereals in their
respective districts.
President Wilmer read his annual ad-
dress. It is of considerable length and the
crowded condition of our columns prevents
us from publishing it in full. The president
reviews the past years work of the society
the first year since its incorporation.
The fair held last fall was not success
and this was caused partly by politics,
partly because of the place ut which it
was held being unsuitable, and partly be-
cause the farmers of the county did not
extend to it proper support. He was
opposed to holding another fair, although
he regarded the society as one Of the best
iii the state. AS VIC Of the East cannot
compete with the great West in the pro.
ductiOn Of cereals We must look to the
production Of something else 10 make
farming profitable. We have almost a
monopoly of the growth Of tobacco, but
care must be taken lest We exhaust the
soil. He recommended the improvement
of our stock by the introduction of thor
OughbredS, and advised careful expert
ments in soiling cattle and preserving green
feed by ensilege. He recommended that
the dairy business and the culture of small
fruits be more largely entered into, and
that farmers give more Of their time to
innocent and healthful recreatiOns.
Casper Hitler read a brief paper Oh
wind-brakes. He doubted whether they
were Of much practical value in our
county. Our farms suffer less from
heavy winds OIL the exposed highlands
than from the severe cold in more shell
tered places. It is welLknOwn that cod
weather is severcst in sheltered locations,
and fruit trees Are more frequently injured
i'll sheltered valleys than in exposed lOca-
tions. The reason Of this is that in shei-
tered places the dew settles on the young
buds and becomes frost and ice, while in
more open places the wind and SUN keeps
the buds dry and saves them from freez-
ing. 1t is admitted that shelter belts
have the effect of ripeninins fruit percep-
tibly earlier.
s. p. Eby, ESQ.,, read al essay on Tree
Culture He assumed as facts that the
climate of Eastern Pennsylvania had un-
dergone great changes within the
period of forty years. That the variations
i'm heat and cold have become more sud-
den and intense. That the summers are
more dry and the winters more changeable,
with less SNOW. That the flow of our
larger springs have decreased in vOlums
and that many smaller ones have entirely
disappeared. That wells have to be deep
ened, and in summer water-pOwer supple
mented by steam. That our rivers and
streams are not SO regular in their
flow as formerly, but that they rise
higher after heavy rains and become
lower in dry weather. That winds sweep
with greater force, and we have fewer local
rains and more hard storms during the
seasons, and that We have not the fine
fruit our ancestors had forty years age.
All these ills the essayist believed could
be traced to the cutting away of our for
ests, and the remedy he proposed was to
plant new ones. Full grown trees should
never be cut down until young ones had
been planted to take their places. In Lam
caster county mOie than one half the tim
bcr that was growing forty years ago, has
been cut down. A part of this, say 10 or
Is per cent, should be restored. lie re-
the formation and incorporation
Of companies for that purpose, and he
read the draft Of a proposed act Of Assem-
bly, creating them and defining their objects
and privileges.
DR.. Greene read from Hrper's Mqu-
zine for April, 1856, an article proving be-
yond cavil that the cutting away Of for
csts lessons or dries up the streams and
causes dcarths and produces deserts, and
the replanting of them restores the streams
and make the land fruitful
The essay was discussed at considerable
length by Messrs. Casper Hitler, c. L.
Henry Kurtz, johnson Miller
and others, all of whom regretted the
rapid disappearance Of the forests, but
most of whom doubted the wisdom of
having them restored by the Incorporation
Of timber companies having power to
enter at will on private lands and take |
Of them in the same way that !
railway companies take possession
In Difference to the objections offered |
Slr. Eby struck out from the proposed act |
If Assembly, the clause granting companies |
oOwer to enter upon lands without the |
consent of the owner, and then on motion |
he society endorsed the proposed law.
The society then went into an election |
If officers which resulted as follows:
Prcsident-Joseph S. Wilmer.
Vice President. Il. CARRIER and Henry |
Y. Engle.
Secretary and Trcasurcr-M. ID. Ken
lig.
Corresponding Secretary-John II. Lam
lis.
Managers-Calvin Cooper, John G.. Lin
lille, johnson Miller, Eph. $. Hoover,
Vm. II. Brosius.
NJ. D. Kendig, secretary and treasurer,
presented his annual report which was
by an auditing committee and
Ound correct-the balance on the treasury