VOL. XXIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, OCT, "13,1888.
NO. 41
Interesting: Letter From Texas.
Idltors Indiana Farmer:
I left Indianapolis on the, night of the
25th for the '.'Pan Handle ot Texas." I
■pent the 26th inst. with Mr. Kirk of Spice-
luid, looking through the stock yards of
East St. Louis. These yards are quite extensive, and formerly a large business
was done here in selling stock. Latterly
this business has been largely diverted to
Kansas City and Chicago. There was com-
pirstively little stock on hand at the time
ot our call, only a few car loads of cattle,
■beep, and Texas ponies. Great preparations were being made in St Louis for the
great Exposition to begin there the week
following our visit.       ; •       -' :."
On the night of the 26th,we took the
triin for Ft. Worth, Texas, via Sedalia, arriving at the latter place at daylight. Here
we had our first opportunity to see the
condition of farm crops. The corn
is quite poor;. The ■ fore part of the season was very wet, so that' crops could
not be well cultivated, and a severe drouth
later oat the corn "■' short. " Corn stalks are
quite dry, though no, frost had yet occurred. Apples are an'abundant crop,
tad very fine in quality." I saw no other
farm crop that looked encouraging. In
some places considerable] prairie hay was
being made, and it looked greener and better than I expected . so late in the season,
Alter we crossed the State line into Kansas',
tte crops -ee_uWT)-t^arViri-att_« -tstvaa m
wtter shape. Near Ft. Scott we saw great
Mds of sorghum growing, or being har
vested, and near the city the immense
•orghum factory where ;the Jeffort has
i made for a few years past to establish the practicability of manufacturing
•agar from sorghum. These works are
manufacturing the product of thousands
ol acres, and the hope is that this effort
^sy be a complete success.'
Passing on we soon crossed the southern
border 0f Kansas, into the Indian Territory. On the State line is a large sign
"Southern line of Kansas." The transition from the farm', houses, and well cultivated fields of Kansas, to the wild track-
'« waste of the uninhabited Indian Territory is sudden and startling. Not a ves-
".8 of occupation is seen for many miles.
«on night closes in on the desolate scene.
Repass Vinita, and other small stations,
"little more interest to our company on
">« train, or the B. R. men than the ring-
_"_ of the church bells on a Sabbath morn-
$ is to the cattle in the pasture.   When
• reach Muscogee near midnight, our
^nls boarded by a great • crowd ol Injuns of all grades, ages and colors, who
J*ve been attending the "Nation fair" at
^ascogee, and now are bound for their
""es at the stations below. The Musco-
»fair is intended to represent the prod-
(«j» and the progress of the Indians of the
Ration," as the Indian Territory is usu-
J"y called. I am told the show Is .largely
*•»' horses,  gambling concerns, with
•Jsoa
lets.
considerable .exhibit of farm prod-
■ We reared the Texas line we were In-
"jaed that Texas had quarantined
Wast all outside barbarians, and before
run "08S6a her enchanted borders, we
b»v ^Ve ^tlsfactory evidence that we
*ithin0t been within yellow fever districts
Mn 20 days.   This matter was soon set-
Wn_1<1 W6 re*cned and P8886* Dennison
li_v.    ore daylight.   As soon as it was
dry
we could see the corn stalks were as
Md * With ns in  Mar0Di wIth no great
Via.ence ot good ears or abundant yield.
•"*nts 6 fields ot °°tton were seon<tne
">eto M ^reen M possible, bloom near
kela Po,tnB Plants, and ripe bolls were
<»tto P ked from below. Many bales of
ty6 °are already piled up at the stations.
J reached Ft. Worth at 9 a. m., Mr.
lookn g riShton to San Antonia, to
Daa p 8t°ck, and I changing off to the
« and Ft. Worth R. B. for the "Pan
Handle." I stopped off at Wichita Falls,
the county seat of Wichita county, 114
miles northwest of Ft. Worth, and have
been looking around here two days. The
land hereabouts is all prairie except a trifling growth, along the streams, of elm,
hackberry, Cottonwood, pecan, mesquite
and willow. The soil is black, gray and
red, about as rich as in Kansas or southwest Missouri, with a little stone and
gravel in the few bluffs out from the
streams. Wichita river, a small mill
stream near the city, Is bordered by perpendicular banks of red earth 25 feet high.
The river overflows these banks about
once a year. The water, nearly equal in
volume to that of Fall Creek near Indianapolis, is about as red as red paint.
This county was organized in 1882. It
contains 396,960 acres, 90 per cent of which
is said to be fine agricultural lands, varying in price from $2.60 to $25 per acre.
About 12,000 acres are in cultivation this
year; 3,500 acres in wheat that averaged
18\i bushels per acre; 2,750 acres in oats,
that averaged 45K bushels per acre; 3,364
acres in corn that averages ' 28 >_ bushels.
Sorghum, millet, potatoes, melons, and
vegetables of most kinds do well. Wild
plums, grapes, pecans, etc, abound along
the streams, and, where tried, peaches,
plums, pears, apricots, figs and the better
varieties of grapes do well. Apples are
also grown in some places. Good water is
obtained'at a depth cf-13 to S&feet, bcthia
the river bottoms and table lands. The
present yearha3 been a very favorable one
to the farmer and stock raiser. The years
'86 and '87 were the driest known since
the country was settled, and even in these
the best farmers raised paying crops of
grain. There was much suffering among
the shiftless class. There are many herds
of sheep In the county containing 1,000 to
5,000 each, while the great majority of the
inhabitants of this part of Texas are interested entirely in the care of herds of horses and cattle. Many thousands of Angora
goats are raised in the State, valued at $3
to ?10 per head. A sheep raiser from
Young county, 50 miles south of this, who
was here selling his fall clip of wool at 1514
cents per pound told me he selected 500 of
his poorest sheep last week and sold them
at $1 per head. The best flocks of Merinos,
(and they are good ones,) sell at about ?3.
Wheat sold on tracks here last week at 90
to 94s, oats 30s, corn 35o. This produced
on land that you can now buy within one
to two miles of station, on the Denver
and Ft. Worth R. R. at f 4 to ?6 per acre, 34
cash, balance in two to twenty years time.
This prairie now well set in Mesquite
grass, pronounced muskeet, the b3st grazing in the world, winter and summer, is
easier broken than ordinary clover sod
In Indiana, and is at once seeded to wheat
or oats, or planted to corn or sorghum,
giving paying crops the first year. Sorghum is either sown broadcast and harrowed in, or drilled in like wheat. It
gives three cuttings each season of 1*4
tons each, per acre. It is cut like wheat
with a self binder, set in small stacks until it cures, and is then the best feed in
America for fattening cattle, or for horses
and sheep. Barbed wire fencing for stock
excepting hog« costs fS5 per mile complete. Land owners here offer to furnish
land free for two years, material for fencing, for a cheap house, and stable, giving
the tenant all the crop of two years, for
the labor of breaking the prairie, and putting up the buildings. Plowing is done
all through the winter, a day too cold for
out door work being the exception. In
riding over the country yesterday I saw a
flock of about 30 antelope. The men killed
five of them. The chase afforded fine
spsrt. The flesh Is excellent. Wild turkeys, geese, ducks, prairie chickens, quail,
etc., abound. Prairie dogs, animals resembling gophers, but the size of musk
rats are abundant on the prairie.
This country seems very healthy. The
bulk of the inhabitants are native Texa'ns,
with quite a sprinkling of. people from
Ohio, Indiana and Iowa. All classes seem
genial and kind, and ready to pull together for the prosperity of the community. Every train from Ft. Worth brings
prospectors, and lands are selling almost
everyday. The country for 500 miles south
to the Mexican line, and 200 miles west to
the line of New Mexico, is'much like this
only less settled and improved. All of it
is more or less occupied by stock men with
their herds.
I am under many obligations to Mr. W.
E. Brothers, of Wichita Falls, for kindness shown. Mr. B. is a native of Tennessee, but has been in Texas 20 years, and
is acquainted in all parts of the State. He
has been county clerk, and knows all
about lands and people. I leave for home
In a few days, favorably Impressed with
this country for the production of farm
crops, or for stock raising.
Wichita Falls, Texas.        E. Y. Teas.
 ■    »    a	
W.-ltten {or tbe Indiana Farmer
About Nitrates.
BY JOHN M. STAHL.
From the manner in which we often
handle or apply manures, It would appear
that we were ignorant of the nitrates,—
the groups of elements so important as
plant food.. First,, tbe nitrates are rapidly
leached out of the soil in the winter, late
antumn and early spring, and very slowly
during the summer. During the first
named seasons there is a considerable pre
cipitation, most of which finds its way
into the soil, and some of it out again. It
is this latter portion which cariies off the
nitrates really. That water which sinks
into the soil and through it, forming the
ground water, washes the nitrates from
the soil and carries them with it; but they
are brought back partly during the growing season, by the capillary rise of the
ground water. During the growing sea
son comparatively little nitrates are lost
from the soil, because there are plants to
take them up; and because very little of
the rain passes through the soil, it being
largely evaporated and the balance being
readily taken up by the plants. Clearly
the water that flows off the surface of the
land carries away only the nitrates in the
soil which it removes.
From the above it Is evident that it is
too risky to be wise to apply manures
containing nitrates during the fall and
winter. Such manures should be applied
later than early in the spring and during
the first half of summer. Of course this
is a general rule, to which there may be
exceptions.
A consideration of the nitrates would
often also vary our handling of manure,
The chemists now tell us that when manure rots rapidly; that is, when it "ferments," the result of the destruction of
the organic nitrogen compounds is ammonia or free nitrogen, and therefore the
value of the manure is rapidly dissipated.
According to them, many of the most
common methods of handling manures,
having in view their speedy rotting, are
very wasteful of the valuable constituents
of the manure. Whether nitrates are
formed directly from the reduction of organic nitrogen compounds, or whether
the first product of suoh reduction is am
monia, from which the nitrates are then
formed, is yet a disputed point; but the
latter is the more probable, and it is believed that nitrification is the result of the
work of microscoplo organisms, termed
"microdemes." This is the most satisfactory explanation of the fact that there
are no nitrates in the final results of rapid
fermentation; and that the formation of
nitrates from organio matters occurs only
during the slow decay of the organio matters, under circumstances which admit
the presence of a large excess of oxygen
Hence we should never so handle manure
as to cause  It to rot rapidly; and  we at
once see that there Is a question, to be decided by circumstances, whether we shall
apply the  manure  fresh, and  allow it to
decompose in the soil, or first so handle it
as to  favor  the production of nitrates.
Simply the  preservation of  the  manure
being considered, it would  be better to
incorporate  it with the soil while  fresh,
since It Is impossible so to rot it that none
of its value will be lost.   But often its decay in the soil would occasion a delay yet
more expensive.   Some crops stand in especial  need  of  extra  food  In  the first
stages of growth.   A certain  amount of
food then will bo  worth  thrice  what it
would be some weeks later.   Manifestly
for such crops it would be better slowly to
rot the manure.   Also, where the growing
season is short, it might ill answer to apply the manure fresh, since on account of
the cool climate  its decomposition in tho
soil would  be slow,  whereas  the plants
would need the stimulus of readily available maBure to  make a good  growth in
season.    Bat,  other   circumstances   not
considered,  manure that is to be  applied
in the fall, should not be so handled as to
form nitrates, since these may be largely
lost during the winter; although there is
a crop on the land, its growth during the
cold weather will  be so little  that it will
appropriate.- little o t the nitrates before
they are leached out by the rain.   On the
other hand,   manures so  handled  as to
favor nitrification  might  be  applied to
spring crops,  since the nitrates would
hardly be lost, and the manure would at
once furnish nutriment to the plants that
had but a few months for growth.
Qulncy, IU.
Illinois State  Fair.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The State fair held at Olney, Richland
county, commencing the 24 and ending
the 28th, had beautiful weather, quite different from that of last year, which was a
rainy week.
The steel- exhibit was very, good, also
the display of machinery of all kinds,from
a lawn-mower to a steam plow. We failed
to see any poultry. The plants were few
but rare; the corn and varieties of grasses
were good; bees and honey but scantily
represented. The j illies and canned fruit
were the nicest we have ever seen; the
ripe fruits were ordinary both in quality
and variety. The work of a number of
country schools from different parts of the
State was excellent, and a prominent feature of the exhibition. The Carbondale
Normal University had a fine display, especially of the different kinds of wood production of the State. The paintings were
n-1 more numerous or bett3r than we see
at our county fairs. The needle work was
good and a large display, but the arrangement bad the appearance of dry goods or
notion counters, just after the clerk had
spared no pains to suit his most fastidious
customers. Richland countybad its halls
well filled with cereals, fruits and homemade manufactures. Racing we suppose
was as good as usual, but the most prominent display of all was the shows,contaln-
ing the fat woman, the wild Australian,
the strong woman, the giant, the educated
pig, and numerous other montrositles, interspersed with gambling devices of many
kinds. The swiogs, carrying their live
freight,and the Indians selling their work
at every turn almost made one forget he
was attending a fair. The last grand feat
was a balloon ascension, which we hardly
think can be called  agricultural product.
Olney, situated in a not very fertile
country, with her four or five-thousand
people, has had quite a boom the past two
years, which we trust, will awaken enthusiasm among her citiz.ns to have a good
annual county fair every year on her
beautiful grounds.    Mas. J, O. O'Haib.
Paris, Hi.