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Centre Farmer.
“PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE.”
VOL. 2.
BELLEFONTE, CENTRE CO., PA., SEPTEMBER, 1876.
NO. 4.
CENTRE FARMER.
PUBLISHED BY THE CENTRE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY.
JOHN A. WOODWARD, Howard,
Prof. JNO. HAMILTON, State College,
B. F. SHAFFER, Walker, ]
Publishing Committee.
EE
Qfficers of the Society for 1876 :
President—Joux A. Woopwarp, Howard.
Vice Presidents—GEN. Geo. BUCHANAN, of Gregg,
Geo. L. PeTERs, of Union,
A. 8. Tiprron, of Curtin,
SamuEr GiLLinAND, of College.
Seeretary & Treasurer—J. WESLEY GEPHAR?, of
ellefonte.
Librarian—Jonx T, JounsroN, of Bellefonte.
Euecutive Com.—JAs. A. BEAVER, of Bellefonte,
Joun Riser, of Benner,
Joun A. HuNTER, of Halfmoon,
LxoNarp RHONE, of Potter,
Joun HamirroN, of College,
B. F. Suarrer, of Walker.
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THE CENTRE FARMER will be issued
monthly, and is devoted exclusively to such
subjects as have a direct bearing upon the
interests of the farming community in gen-
eral and the CENTRE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL
Sociery in particular.
Terms Free, and Postage Prepaid.
To Advertisers.
The Centre Farmer will be published for
six months, with a total of twenty six thousand
copies, and distributed, through the mails,
postage prepaid, to every farmer in the
county, whose address can be obtained. The
object of its publication is to advertise, and
ereate a renewed interest in the County A«g
eultural Society, and its annual fair, and bo
pains will be spared to have it thoroughly
circulated. This makes it a very desirable
medium for that class of advertisers who
desire specially to reach the farming commu-
nity. We have still room for a limited num-
ber of advertisements which will be inserted
at the following rates :
One eighth column. ...ccceeeeeiaininsnsnninnnenns $6 00
One fourth do eccrine. 10 00
One half AO | yeeirinisesitrnnisesnsnrrionsine 20 00
Whole QO Gvedicrssesssricirssninini its
Address
CENTRE FARMER,
Howard, Centre Co., Pa.
A — -
——Our next Annual Fair will be held
on the Society’s grounds, at Bellefonte,
on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
being the 3d, 4th and 5th days of Oce
tober, 1876.
DR. E. GREENE'S
Isiver Pills.
BEWARE OF COUNTERFEITS.
Dr. E. Greene's Liver Pills are always and
only put up in OVAL boxes, not round—and
have on the bottom of each and every box—
the name of the Sole Agents and Manufactu-
YOIS.
J. ZELLER & SON,
No. 6 Brockerhoff Row.
AFSee other advertisement in this paper<@8
WwW. 8. WOLF & SON,
BELLEFONTE, PA.
MANUFACTURERS
and Dealers in all kinds of
STOVES, TINWARE,
Roofing & Spouting a Specialty.
ALL WORK GUARANTEED.
| cordingly.
BALLOON ASCENSION.
We understand from the chairman
of the Executive Committee, that
propositions have been received from
five different balloonists, (one of them
a lady,) to make one or more ascen-
sions from our grounds during the fair
week, and that it is altogether probable
that some one of them will be accept-
ed. The committee are holding them
under advisement, and their determi-
nation will be duly announced in our
next issue.
Since the above was put in type we
learn that arrangements for the ascen-
gions have been concluded with Miss
InLING, a niece of the celebrated Prof.
n Philadelphia on the 12th, 13th and
jl4th days of September, to which
the Agricultural Societies throughout
the country were invited to send dele-
gates, and suggested the election of a
person to represent our Society. On
motion, President Woodward, who ex-
pects to be in Philadelphia at that time,
was elected, and, in consideration of
the distinguished honor conferred upon
him, was authorized to pay his own ex-
penses. The Chairman of Executive
Committee made a verbal report of the
proceedings of that body, and of the
steps taken to put the grounds in order
for our annual exhibition. After the
discussion of one or two questions in
reference to rotation of crops, which
JouNy Wise. Particulars in next issue.
THE AGRICULTURAL HORSE
TROT ABANDONED.
The Executive Committee of the
Michigan State Agricultural Society
| are reported to have declared that the
trials of speed at their annual fairs
could not be attempted without bring-
ing in all the objectionable features of
gambling incident to regular horse
trots, and have decided to abolish it ac-
Illinois has followed suit.
—~Semi- Tropical.
And so has Centre county, as will be
seen by the minutes of our last meet-
| ing held in the Court House, at Belle-
| fonte, on the 28th ultimo.
'¢ In view of all the circumstances we
‘think this action eminently wise and
proper, and have no doubt that it will
be fully vindicated by the experience
of the approaching fair. Complaints
both loud and deep have been made
by the farmers that the Society neglec-
ted the more useful classes of farm
‘and road horses for the trotter, and
' now that the cause for this complaint
has been removed, and the premiums
offered for the useful classes material
ly increased, we shall expect to see the
entry books for these classes filled, and
such an exhibition of horses for gen-
eral purposes, draft horses, and road-
sters, on the grounds, as will full jus-
tify the Society in the radical step they
have taken.
No more useless animal, for all
the practical purposes of life, exists,
than the mere trotter, and the time is
not far distant when he will be exclud-
ed from all agricultural fairs.
SOCIETY MEETING.
A meeting of the County Agricul-
tural Society was held in the Court
House on Monday evening August 28,
President Woodward in the chair. The
minutes of the April meeting were read
and approved. The Committee ap-
pointed to consider the subject of horse-
racing at our County Fairs submitted
their report, which was embodied in the
following resolutions :
Resolved, That the Centre County Agricul.
tural Society shall not offer greater premiums
for trotting horses than for horses for an
other purposes, and that the Jremiame 80 of-
fered shall not be awarded for speed alone,
but also for perfect form, well trained action
and freedom from blemishes.
Resolved, That the Society shall offer no
purses for racing.
The report was adopted, and directed
to be entered at large on the minutes of
the Society. General Beaver stated
that the Annual Meeting of the Nation-
"al Agricultural Congress would be held
was participated in by several members,
|the Society adjourned to meet on the
fourth Monday of November.
J. W. GEPHART,
Secretary.
THE FARMER PAYS ALL.
Agriculture is the grand motive pow-
er of the world. If tillers of the soil
were to discontinue their operations,
commercial affairs would come to a
speedy termination ; and manufactu-
rers would soon become insolvent.
Where do the manufacturers of woolen
and worsted procure their supplies ?
From the sheep reared on the farm.
Who feeds the untold numbers of op-
eratives in the numerous manufacto-
ries of the country, villages and cities?
Wleean do it if the farmer does not ?
By whose industry are all the markets
supplied with poultry, with butter,
cheese, eggs, bread, vegetables aud
fruit? This question scarcely requires
a reply. Yet our ears and eyes are in-
cessantly saluted with the whining and
murmuring complaint: “Farming
don’t pay.” Illustrious stupidity ! One
might affirm with equal propriety, that
it does not pay to live. If it will pay
to maintain our existence in comforta-
ble and respectable circumstances, it
will pay to till the soil. The grave
trouble in the premises is that great
wealth over and above the annual pro-
ducts of the land, is not accumulated
in the brief space of four or eight
years. A farmer's wealth lies in his
land, his live stock, his agricultural
appliances and his home comforts to
which the citizens of populous cities,
and the operatives of extensive manu-
factories are forlorn strangers.
The human race is usually estima-
ted at 1,000,000,000 of individuals.
If the sustenance of a portion of these
multitudinous millions is derived from
other sources than agriculture, this
circnmstance is balanced by the fact
that there is a great deal of agricultu-
ral produce raised in excess of the to-
tal demand for food. Let the thought-
ful husbandman who desires to form a
just idea of the importance of his pur-
suit reflect when he gathers his little
flock around him to partake of the
morning's meal that 1,000,000,000 of
fellow-men have awaked from sleep
that morning, craving their daily bread
with the same appetite which reigns at
his family a and that if by a
superior power they could be gathered
together at the same meal, they would
fill both sides of five tables reaching
all round the globe where it is broad-
est, seated side by side, and allowing
eighteen inches to each individual, and
that these tables are to be renewed
twice or thrice every day. When til
lers of the soil are really masters of
their employment, farming will prove
quite a8 remunerative as almost any
other livelihood.— Practical Farmer.
READ THE “Rules and Regulations,”
as published in another column.
KEEP THE MACHINE INV
ORDER.
In a certain sense, judicious and in-
telligent husbandry regards the farm
simply as a machine for turning out
crops. The machine is the matter of
first importance. This is always to be
kept in good running order, and its
efficiency is to be increased by all
economical methods. The man who
farms upon this system will never
sacrifice soil for a great crop. His aim
is to have every succeeding crop fully
equal to, if not a little more bountiful,
than the preceding one. The improve-
ment of the productiveness of the land
is a matter of greater importance than
the complete development of a crop.
The progressive farmer aims in every
working of the soil to manage it in
such a manner as to add to it more
elements of fertility than he removes in
the crops, and to make the crops not
only pay for themselves but to pay for
the improvemente of the acres upon
which they are grown. In carving out
this aim, so as to realize these results, a
man shows his skill as a cultivator. 1t
is a comparatively easy thing for any
one who has money to improve the soil
so that it shall produce crops paying for
the labor of growing them and the in-
terest on $200 or $300 an acre. Stable
manure enough, well ploughed in, will
do this. But it is altogether another
matter to make this improvement pay
for itself. Yet it is a possible thing to
do this, and there are farmers skillful
enough to accomplish this result, and
this we hold to be the true aim in the
cultivation of the soil. The most.
judicious improvements—those which
finally pay the largest profits—require
several yedls wo bring in “their full re-
turns. It is a matter of great impor-
tance that our farming population
should not only be settled, but that they
should feel settled, and plan all their
operations upon the farm as if they ex-
ected to spend their days upon it.
othing has resulted in so much real
injury to the agriculture of our country
as the prevailing practice of ploughing
and working the land to accumulate
light crops, without making adequate
efforts to maintain and improve the
fertility of the fields cultivated. —Prec-
tical Farmer.
THE FAIR SEASON.
Under this heading we find some
very truthful and seasonable remarks
in the current number of the Practical
Farmer, and take the liberty of trans-
ferring a portion of them to our col-
umuns :
In addition to usual considerations it
should be remembered that this is the
Centennial year of our history as a na-
tion, and in no better or more appro-
priate way can it be celebrated than by
an exhibition of what the brain and the
muscle of the country can now produce.
Headed by the grand Exhibition at
Philadelphia, the list of State, District,
County and Local Fairs should be a
succession of successes from first to last,
and without a single exception each
should be ths best ever held on the
grounds. Such a result can be easily
secured by a little extra effort, which
we earnestly hope will be made with-
out delay. The season has been unus-
ually favorable to farmers. Thank
Eeaven, stagnation in business does not
prevent rain and sunshine. Amid uni-
versal financial depression, Providence
has smiled upon the labors of the hus-
bandman, and from ocean to ocean the
land rejoices in plenty. Under these
favorable circumstances, and in view of
the year we celebrate, let far mers every-
where turn out en masse in support of
the fairs, and thus make them what
they should be, the true ex ponents of
agricultural progress.
Ir you want an errand
: done, go
yourself.
If not, send some one.