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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.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1888, v. 23, no. 41 (Oct. 13) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA2341 |
Date of Original | 1888 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-01-19 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript |
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 |
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