Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-07-20
FARM AND GARDEN.

FARM AND fAkDEN.
sometniDg About Blsshts and lnsects. !,
Telegraph. ....,..E,,-
Many a popular impression proved in
time to be wrong had yet grain Of truth
in it. Foc instance, it was once believed
BY some of oar advsneed agFicalturises
that fungi and insects only attacked dis
eased vegetation that they were in some
respects scavengers whose duty it was to
weep away things already doomed more
rapidly from tho surface Of tho earth.
But we hsd all to abandon this position.
Though sometimes there were fungi and
insects lust suited to diseased conditions
and no others, As tiis II was rot 30. Tho
would be aktacked and suffer
with the rest. InsectA u especially vefe
bound to get . living, and il made but
little difference to them what were the
conditions Of health in which they found
tho plants they prepared to feed on. II
there were any lett who doubted this, the
era Uf tin C0loIad0 p0tst0 beetle must
have fully converted them. To . potato
beetle, ali in the shape of potato stalk
is fish that comes to net" '' =
Still the grain Of truth in this case was
vulSs uCoBeusOA - RAOeeV oSAu VIZ s~sSA'
it grew, tho moro likely vas it to escape
insect ravaees; and 60 It oiten did oeem
that heADshy plant escaped serious dam
age, while the unhealthy one would sue
cumb TO the enemy. Its conditions OF
life already weak. plant OF course the
moro easily gives way before On additional
injury, that moro healthy one would live
through. This fact has Oeen, turned to
a. :c:s 81 fnr
crops. The turnip rs sown on - rich a
piece Of land as We can get primarily be
cause the richer the land the better the
whole crop; bat in no small degree because
We want the plants to keep ahead OF the
turnip-hy. We know well that the SLOW
growing plants on poor soil soon give way
to tn, enemy and are eaten entirely up
soon after the plants appear; but on rich
ground, no matter how abundant may he
the insects, We are bound TO have good
crop for all. ,,s,~,r - .,f,
But this fact % we'll known as to tur-
nips and some other things, has not been
as thoroughly recoS nized through all farm
ing and gardening operations rs it might
be. We spend a great deal of thought
on remedies against blights and bugs, and
it is right that We should give some atten
tion to this subject but 1t the Same time
an excellent aid is in the superior health
and the luxuriance Of the farln crops. W.
SOW thick, manure light, are Indifferent to
drainage, and have no care for hosts o.
little things that 20 to make up the char
acter Of the best cultivatOr, and now ant
then nature comes in with an extra favor
able season and we.get good returns for al
our indifference. 70 But nature will no
always work for US ut this liberal rate
The time comes when even she strikes fo
higher wages, and then unless We turn L
and do some of it ourselves, we have bai
crops We blame the mildews and tn,
insects, when if we had been more careful
to apply the rules of good practice v.
should lave got through tO'erably we'll
1t was primal condition that man shoull
not have anything at all to eat unless h'
worked for it. He was to water thing
with the sweat of his brow. 1t Is not o.
the record. but it was no doubt q cOndi
tiOn also, that all these little pests ant
annOyaDces were sent to make him en-
p'"y his best efforts, instead of his pcores
Ones.
Some of the leading London journal
appear to labor under the impression tina
American agriculture has gone to a ruin
GUS extent into the production of foo
crops for expOrtatien, chiefly to Europe
under the stimulus of the handsome Pre-
fits realized three or four CONSECUTIVE
years of good harvests here at home (al
ways excepting last year,, and short crop
in the Old World and that if the Euro
pean crops of the present year shall prov
be abundant, as now appears to be like
ly, the results may be disastrous to tn
American farmers. And yet these yer,
same English journals manifest the great
est anxiety to insure such a condition O
things in Egypt and British India as ma
enable England to obtain from those cOuu
tries supplies of wheat large enough +
counteract the ordinary British depend
ence on the surplus wheat crops of Russi
aud America. Fortunately, however, fO
the people of this republic, the home con
sumption of food products is, after all, tn
main reliance of our farmers for a proita
ble market. The greatest of all our graf
crops is not wheat, but Indian corn, an
this enormous crop is Only to be q yer
limited extent shipped tu Europe. So fal
therefore, as the American farmer is con
cerned, he may be said to depend chief
upon the home consumption of his foo
products and when the time shall com
that England may cease to want our SUI
plus crops, the chances are that by th
increased population and by the growt
of internal industry, We shall be able t
find profitable market here at home fo
our entire food production, and thus avOi
the disastrous conditions of things prt
dicted for our farmers by the Englis
journals referred to.
Southern Agriculture.
We are pleased to learn from the censu
bureau at Washington that according {
the returns of 1880 the Southern state
show tho effects of a division of plantation
and small farms by growth in the mum
Der of the latter far in excess of the rat
of increase of population. This chang
may be said TO have been produced b
several distinct and very important causes
The first Of these was of course the abol
tion of slavery, which deprived the planter
of any possible advantage they might PR
viously have enjoyed in the use Of uupai
labor for agriculture. Emancipation ha,
ing eftectually destroyed all the persona
wealth that had been invested iu slave,
the planters found their only wealth {
consist in their landed estates, and
order to raise money to begin bushes
afresh, they had to dispose of . portion G
their lands. This change was also stimu
lated by the extraordinary increase {
railroad building in the South and by th
Introduction of Northern capital and or