VOL. XXVI.      V%
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., AUG.-15, 1891.
NO. 33
WEATHER CHOP BU__ETlt
Cf the Indiana Weather Service in co-operation with the United States Signal Service,
for the week ending Saturday, Aug. 8,
1891.
Cool nights, warm days and much sunshine prevailed; much needed excessive
rains fell on the 2d and 3d in the greater
portion of the State; they were local in
character; while "in some portions of a
county enormous masses of rain fell in
other parts of the same county none fell
at __, or but little only; wherever good
rains fell on a field, corn, pasturage, potatoes, etc., were wonderfully improved, but
where none fell meadows are* burned and
oorn on high ground, or late planted corn,
is injured very much indeed; in bottom
lands corn looks very well yet; potatoes
and vegetables are suffering also much for
wantof rain; plowing for wheat continues
with the soil in good condition where rain
fell. The melon crop is immense in some
counties and of best quality.
SOUTHERN  PORTION.
Seymour, Jackson Co.—The weather
during the past week has been generally
favorable to the growing crops, all of
whieh are in fine condition; the corn crop
now promises a yield above the average
in quality and quantity; the melon crop,
the Jackson county staple, is immense;
all harvest work is completed and plowing for wheat has commenced; the usual
area or more will be sown to wheat; fruit
is abundant and excellent in quality; no
noxious insects here.   Kainfall, 1.88.
Worthington, Greene Co.—The plentiful
raies on the second and third inst. have
wonderfully improved the prospects of
tha corn crop and benefited pastures; the
ground is in splendid condition for breaking 6_.d farmers are improving the opportunity.   Rainfall 3.3S.
BaUerville, Jennings Co.—The wheat is
about all threshed and has yielded from 15
to 34 bushels per acre, plowing for wheat
is the order of the day and a large crop
will be sown; summer apples are abundant, selling for 40 to 50 cents per bushel.
Kainfall, 1.79.
Princeton, GibsoifCo.—Wheat threshing
is nearly finished; the yield satisfactory;
corn is suffering badly in this neighborhood, but in the southern portion of the
county plenty of rain has fallen. Rainfall, 0.30.
DeGonia Springs, Warrick Co.—Cool
nights and moderately warm days continued, so far we had no excessively
warm days. Early potatoes are abundant
and good; late potatoes are beset with
bugs. The clover seed crops appear to be
good; apples and peaches are very plentiful. There is a disease hereaffectingmilch
cows; they flrst get lame and then stiff;
their mouth gets sore and the tongue
swells; no remedy for it has been found
yet; none have died but farmers are much
alarmed about it.   Kainfall, 0.68.
Marengo, Crawford Co.—On the 2nd a
tolerably severe storm passed over the
country, it did no material damage, ex-
ceptwhere swollen streams overflowed their
banks and washed down fences and growing com. Four inches of rain fell at this
place in about an hour, more even at some
and less at other places. Corn is promising well: some farmers are plowing for
wheat, others think there is time enough
to do it.   Rainfall, 4.00.
Mount Vernon, Posey Co.—The nights
were cool and hot, sunshine during the
day. Corn and late potatoes need more
rain; early potatoes are very good and sell
at 50 cents per bushel; the wheat market is
brisk it sells at 80 cents per bushel. Kainfall, 0.21.
CENTRAL PORTION.
Indianapolis, Marion Co.—Heavy rains
on the 3rd was of incalculable benefit to
all vegetation, but especially to corn and
pasturage, which needed it much. Kainfall, 1 60.
Mauzy, Rush Co.—Most of the wheat is
threshed and of good quality; corn and
grass need rain much; the roads are
getting dusty and pastures short. Kainfall 0.20.
Sheibyville, Shelby Co.—The drouth
continues and is seriously affecting the
corn and pasture lands of the central and
northern parts of the county; in the
southern portion a good rain fell on the
3rd, saving and making the corn. Kainfall 0.06.
NORTHERN POHTTON.
Columbia City, Whitley Co.—The
weather has been too cold and dry during
the past month for the corn, it is now a
month since there was sufficient rain to
wet the ground; the corn on the uplands
is small and drying up; this is the fourth
year in succession that the corn has been
damaged here by drouths occurring in
July and August.   No rain.
Point Isabel, Grant Co.—The drouth
still continues; corn is being injured very
much, that on clay ground and the late
planted is drying up; potatoes and gardens are perishiDg for the want of rain ;
wheat is all threshed; a few farmers have
commenced plowing for wheat, but the
ground is so dry that but little headway
is made; pasturage and wells are giving
out.   Kainfall, 0 04.
Angola, Steuben Co.—Th- harvest is
ended; it is too dry to plow; corn and potatoes need rain very much and pasturage
is drying up.   No rain.
Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co.—The rain on
the 3d was timely and helped the growing
crops but more rain is needed to insure a
f ull yield of corn.   RainfaU, 0.95.
H. A. Huston,
Director Indiana Weather Service.
Per C. P. R. Wappbnhans,
U. S. Weather Bureau Assistant.
trees will make four sixteen foot cuts. A
friend, Mr. J. T. Clark, from Illinois, took
a homestead on Stillwater, last week, that
he estimates has five million feet of this
pine, besides large quantities of spruce,
larch and red fir. The larch only grows
here and is not found elsewhere in the
United States. It is a fine timber tree—
straight as an arrow, from two to ten feet
through at the butt and from 100 to 150 feet
high. It has no large limbs and the wood
is straight grained and like black cherry
in color. It will make an excellent finishing stuff. It is found everywhere on the
mountain sides and in the valleys. Ked
fir is plentiful and its wood is valuable for
lumber. It is not so tall as the yellow
pine and larch, but grows to a large girth.
This tree is not found east of the Rockies,
but is abundant west of the range. A
number of lumbering enterprises—large
and small—are already under way in anticipation of the coming of the railroad, this
season, and timber claims are being rapidly taken by. new comers. A great many
consider the timber land much more valuable than the prairie, as the trees on a
good quarter section should be worth from
$1,500 to $5,000, and the land is very rich
and well suited for farming purposes after
the timber is taken oft for lumber. Pine
is not the only timber growth here. Along
the river bottoms are thousands of acres of
balsam, aspen, cottonwood and birch, and
like the pine, it is "tall timber, too."
D. W. Johnson.
Flathead Valley, Mont.
varnish for those in which food articles
are to be placod. The standaid size made
is 16}*. inches in diameter by 28 inches
long, and, whereas a barrel made of wood
is found to cost 34 cents, the paper barrel
is produced for about six cents leas. The
process provides that all waste be beaten
up into pulp again.
Big Trees and  Great Timber Country.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
In a former letter I tried to describe the
size of the Flathead valley of Montana,
its rich agricultural lands, large grain
yields, fine fruit country and the surrounding rich mining deposits.
In this I shall tell about the timber resources of this section. East of the
Rockies in Montana the timber is limited
to the mountains and is in general small
in size. West of the great continental divide the climate is not only remarkably
milder, but there is a much larger rainfall.
This is especially so in the Flathead valley, and as a consequence not only all the
mountains but most of the valleys are
covered with a growth of noble pine that
would make a Michigan lumberman's
heart beat with delight. As I said in my
first letter, the southern end of this valley is mostly prairie, but nevertheless
there is not a spot in it that is over a mile
from big pine. The northern end is all
timber except a few small prairies, and
the gently sloping mountains are black
with tier on tier of tall pines. In fact all
kinds ot evergreens grow luxuriantly in
this moist, mild climate. As a Michigan
timber hunter said to me the other day,
coming up the Flathead river, "Every tree
seems ambitious to grow taller and
straighter than its neighbor, and I see no
sickly trees." At the place where I live
the logs which are split into fire-wood
would class as the finest quality for lumber in a Michigan lumber mill. There is
no scrub timber. The trees on the outside of the forest are as large and tall as
in the center. One of the most valuable
varieties is the yellow pine, a timber
which will class between the eastern Norway and white pine. It grows as large as
six feet in diameter, and thousands of
Substitute for Beef.
Those conversant with the volume of
cattle marked as compared with a year
ago will have observed that the fall-off is
quite marketed, while at the same time
the export trade shows a light aggregate
increase. At the same time there does
not seem to be any particular lack of meats
for home consumption. There is plenty
of beef in every market in the country,
and no prospect, even should cattle become more scarce than they have been at
any time for years, of anything like a beef
famine. This is to be accounted for by the
fact of a less per capita consumption of
beef than heretofore. At this season of
the year fresh fruits and vegetables are
being, to a very great extent, substituted
for beef amongjpeople with whom beef was
a staple article even in hot weather a year
ago. It may as well be recognized as a
fact that a less volume of beef will supply
the home market from this time on than
we have been accustomed to estimate as
necessary for that purpose. Cattle are
considerably higher than a year ago, and
beef correspondingly more costly, but if
consumption of beef were as great according as in the few years following the
war, prices would necessarily be much
higher than they are now—[National
Stockman.
Paper Barrels.
English manufacturers of paper barrels
have brought that Industry to such a degree of perfection as to rival, in quality
and economy of cost, the ordinary wooden
article in a great variety of uses, the materials employed in making these barrels
being, for the most part, waste paper,
cardboard, and, for the better quality, old
sacks. In the use of cardboard, the material is soaked or boiled for six hours,
and after careful sorting, is put into a rag
engine or beater, where it is beaten and
torn to pieces by a series of knives for
about^ah hour and a half, being afterward
mixed with water until a pulp of uniform
conststencyls gained; this is rolled, joined,
shaped and dried, and the barrel is finally
covered with hoops. Previous to the putting in of the tops and bottoms, the barrels are painted with a waterproof composition made of linseul oil and resin for or-
dinaiy purpose barrels, and with a special.
Wheat Sowing.
As another wheat sowing season is approaching it would bo a pretty good plan
for farmers to exchange ideas as to their
plan and way of sowing.that cereal. As this
county is par excellence for wheat, I'll
give the modus operandi of the best wheat
raisers here. They break their ground
shallow, as the plow will turn in this light
soil, and harrow and drag until the
ground becomes solid, when they use
what is known as a press drill. These
drills have runners i_stetul of hoes or
plows and there is a wheel that runs behind each runner which presses the soil
covers the wheat, and by the wheel running in the runner track it compacts
the soil on the seed so it comes up quick,
besides it leaves the soil loose between the
drill rows, so that the soil runs in when
freezing and thawing out.
As to the variety of wheat, there is a variety of opinion, but for level land it is
conceded that the swamp is the most preferable. For hilly or slightly undulating
land, the Fultz does the best. There is a recently introduced wheat known as the
rock wheat which has made enormous
yield this harvest. It is a smooth, red
wheat with an amber seed. It has a very
stifl coarse straw, and^rows very tall. I
measured one straw that was over five
feet long.
One of our best wheat raisers informed
me that he has the same variety of wheat
he had 20 years ago, that it was improving each year. When h<j fans his seed
wheat he does not spare wind nor^mus-
cle, but blows out all small grain and sows
none but the largest and plumpest grain.
Wheat brought from the northern part
of the State or from Michigm does the
best, ripening earlier than native wheats.
Wheat brought from the Southern States
will not ripen, but wiU be struck with
rust. It will grow most vigorously, however.
We are not bothered with smutty wheat
as yet, but for the benefit of those that are,
I will state thatthe Bordeaux mixture will
destroy all the spores of the fungus. This
is no new discovery, as I know of its application for smutty wheat some 40 years
ago. The method was to dissolve the blue
vitriol in very hot water and when cool
enough put the seed wheat in and let remain a few minutes, when it should be
thrown^on a floor and dried with lime being mixed with it. This is a little different
from the Bordeax mixture, but all the ingredients are the same. Every farmer
should have a quanity of this mixture on
hand and whenever he sees any indication
of a fnnguous growth use it. I've tried
it this spring on my grapes, and have
saved them, (I've tried it on scratches on
horses and it cured when all home made
cures failed.)
Chess and cockle can be cleaned out by
our improved screening mills. Of all the
commercial compost, bone-dust give the
best satisfaction as a wheat fertilizer.
Newton, 111. x>. M.
 » *> .	
The best way of providing lime is to put
a lump of lime in the drinking vessel.
Some of the lime;will be dissolved in the
water and thus drank by the hens. Lime
will also assist in preventing the spread of
roup through the agency of the water,
and it sometimes aids in correcting bowel
disorders. It is at least cheap, and will
do no harm whether beneficial or not;
but we can safely assert that by keeping a
small lump of Ume in the water it wUl
prove of great advantage.