VOL. XXV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SEPT. 20, 1890.
NO. 38
CONTINUOUS   CROPPING   VS.   ROTATION OK CROPS.
As Applied to the Raising of Wheat-
Tabulated Results of Testa Made at
the Ohio Experiment Station.
In the comparative test of varieties _
wheat made this season by Mr. J. Fremont
Hickman, agriculturist of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, the principal
test was made upon a piece of very uniform rivor botttom land, on which a
clover sod was turned under to form a
seed bed for the crop. In order to ascertain the behavior of certain varieties under different conditions, a number of duplicate plots were sown, some of them on
another strip of river bottom on which
had grown a crop of beets in 1888, dressed
partly with barnyard and partly with
mineral manures, followed by oats in 1889,
unmanured, and some on the field of the
second bottom where most of the wheat
experiments of the station have hitherto
been conducted, and which has now borne
nine successive crops of wheat, with two
or three dressings of barnyard manure
during this time, the last one having been
applied to the crop of 1887. The following
table shows the yield of grain per acre
under these different conditions:
ltiver Bottom
Variety.
J--°
_ «
> _
 31.93
... .'w.ie
 30.41
_.ic>
 .14.0.
.....•■S5.:*7
.....32.75
_ -
n
u „
- a
<
30.2)
31.12
•M.7..
S1.00
30.K!
_..«>
32.93
a
So.
S_
■«   _
•=_■
is-
_«
to
•_00
_3.
lil.n
24.50
25.86
■_oo
18.33
19.91
19.16
23.33
27.16
10.00
21.16
18.50
r>eitz	
Kellable...-	
J.emo.rat	
Valley	
Kyyptian	
Velvet Chaff	
Golden Troll fie	
Nigger _.7i
German Emperor  .30.wi
Red Russian 19.41
Ked Brazilian .-. 32.3:1
Theis. - 35.41
Mediterranean :. 29.XI
Martin's Amber 29.12
New Monarch 21.66
(.olden Cross 30.CO
Mo. Blue Stem 32.16
The beet ground was less uniform than
the clover sod, as a strip of low, dark soil
runs through it, across the plots, on which
the wheat of all varieties lodged more or
less, whereas there was little or no lodging
on the clover sod. It appears, therefore,
that the large quantity of mineral matter
removed by the beets has not seriously im
poverished the soil for the wheat crop.
The effect of continuous cropping, however, is very marked. This is especially
brought out by anothe- comparison, in
which Velvet Chaff has been grown two
successive seasons without manure, following clover, on a soil similar to the second bottom described, and in which the
yield this season was 31.3 bushels.
So far as may be judged from a single
experiment the above varieties endure
poverty in the following order: Martin's
Amber, Nigger, Velvet Chaff, Reliable
Mediterrnean, German Emperor, (synonym for Michigan Amber).
In prosperity Reliable and Velvet Chaff
head the list of those named,
Our Washington Letter.
From Our Regular Correspondent:
The financial news from New York is
somewhat panicky. A delegation of bankers in that city have sent a strong protest
to congress against having the new tariff
bill, as now proposed in that measnro, go
into effect on the first of October; they say
that the demand for money by the importers to take out the imported goods, before
that date with which the bonded Warehouses are all filled, will bring on a financial panic. The Treasury department officials pooh, pooh the idea of a panic, but
the importers will use the scare for all it is
worth in trying to induce the Conference
Committee to which the Tariff bill has now
gone to extend the time for it to go into
effect.
The Raum investigation is still going on
but it seems to be more of a squabble between the lawyers and Representative
Cooper than an investigation. The committee has, by a party vote, refused to investigate the Refrigerator company of
which (Jen. Raum is the head.
Politics cuts some queer capers. Every
since Mr. Blaine sprung his reciprocity
idea on the public the democrats have
been claiming that it was their thunder
which the Secretary of State had stolen,
and yet, when"the vote was taken on the
reciprocity amendment to the tariff bill
every Democratic Senator voted against it,
while every Republican Senator with the
exception of Senators Edmunds and
Evarts, who opposed it on Constitutional
grounds, voted for it. I confess I caiinot
understand this. The Democrats say that
they are not opposed to' the principle of
reciprocity, but that they are opposed to
the autocratic power which the amendment places in the hands of the President.
After all, the amendment, according to
Senator Hoar, is "rather a declaration of
purpose than a definition of legislative
policy." And he adds that is because it is
such that he gave it his support.
"' _ ""*■**"
-4[__  h
FLAX FOR SEED AND FIBER.
Simple   Directions  for   Growing   it   in
America From a Practical
Flax Expert.
Nothing is simpler or easier in the farmers' pursuit than growing flax, and nothing is easier than to produce a good yield
of both the seed and the best straw for fibre.
Of course any farm crop needs good fertile
soil, deeply tilled and leasonably free from
weeds, and this is all that llax needs.
A farmer can produce at will the kind of
crop he pleases. If the soil is poor or too
dry, or too wet, the farmer knows the result. A rich, deep mellow soil will produce llax three and one-half to four feet
tall, and if sown at the rate of two bushels
of seed to the acre, the straw will be fine
and of the best character for both seed and
fiber.
All farm crops are under the farmer's
perfect control. -He knows that he will
get a crop of such character and in such
proportion as he prepares for. This is
true whether the crop be cabbages, or oats
or llax.
' The simple directions for growing llax
for the best results, for both seed and
fiber, are as follows:
,    c—       __-_      I"
^ .^;.<.«44.,5? j -   . -„_
_-_-*_-■"_   -_,fl   *e*e-   _V_-     --
I 'f. ** . - ^ki*_^__?&^^^
_. *_>__****_.___*___-_*■="_■—*—    —'   **_t* —.
It is confidently expected by the Republicans of both House and Senate that the
conference committee will complete its
consideration of the tariff bill in time to
have the report adopted by the House and
Senate and the bill sent to the President
not later than the 20th inst. This expectation is based on the idea that the conference committee will accept the Senate
amendments, reciprocity and all—the Republican leaders in the House have promised as much.
One of the most important amendments
added by the Senate before passing the
tariff bill was that of Senator Plumb providing for a permanent tariff commission
whose whole time shall be given to gathering facts as to prices and tariffs in this
and other countries. Such a commission
should have been in existence long ago; it
will furnish reliable data for future legislation.
Membebs of the Farmers' Alliance, F.
M. B. A., and Grange, who attend the
State fair next week, are specially invited
to call at our stand, northwest corner of
the open square, |north of Exposition
building. W. W. Prigg, secretary of the
State Alliance will be there with documents for distribution, and copies of the
Advocate, a weekly paper devoted to the
Farmers' movement.
TABLE ROCK, NIAGARA FALLS.
1. The soil must be rich and the manure thoroughly assimilated in the soil.
2. The soil must be of a mellow, loamy
nature, deeply tilled and free from large
weeds.
3. The seed must be sown evenly,
either broadcast or by drill, and at the rate
of one and one-half to two bushels to an
acre, and should  be but slightly covered.
4. The llax must be pulled when beginning to turn yellow, stood up in beats,
and cured with the same care as for fine
hay, and put under shelter.
A poorer soil, less well manured, less
deeply tilled, and either rather dry,
rather wet] or rather^ weedy, and
sown with one bushel of seed to
an acre, may yield a medium crop of
flax, but poor to middling crops are unprofitable. The farmer had best put flax
upon good land and sow oats on the other.
Plow deep in the fall, and have a good
supply of well rotted manure applied, and
perhaps a top dressing of phosphate in the
spring; plough or harrow thoroughly in
the spring, sow early and pull the flax
when turning yellow, abont the second
week in August. The more care the more
profitable the crop. The yield should
be a full crop of seed, while the straw,
bound and kept staight in threshing, will
be worth is much as the seed.
There are three ways of treating the
straw to obtain the fiber. The straw may
be rippled or threshed as soon as dry, and
the straw put into a "steep pool" of water
to ret, or it may be spread upon the
ground to ret. As the factory system of
retting is coming into operation, thestraw
may be threshed at the most convenient
time and seed and straw sold at such time
as the farmer chooses. Fiber factories are
prepared to buy all the good straw offered.
It will not pay to grow poor crops of flax.
If the soil is very rich and the straw threo
feotj tall, it may answer to cut it with a
harvester and selfbinder, but the straw
will probably be worth enough more when
pulled by hand to pay the difference in
cost, for the reason that flax straw, to be
valuable for fiber, must have its stalks unbroken and parallel.
There are several methods of threshing:
By hand with flail; by beating bundles
over a stone, log or barrel; by holding the
bundles and letting the seed end pass between revolving rollers sot end to the
operator. There are several new inventions for threshing, one holding the bundle in revolving teeth, which remove tho
seed; another pressing the bundles between rollers, and another by puttiDg the
seed end of bundle into a buffer until the
seed is removed, which is but a few seconds.
Old land is preferable for flax, and the
manure should bo applied as early as the
autumn previous, so as to become thoroughly dissolved into the soil. Extra rich
soil, deeply plowed and thoroughly pulverized, will always reward the farmer
best. Flax should not be grown oftener
than once in five years upon the same
land.
In pulling llax it will pay to pull firsts
and seconds, that is, separate the tall from
the short, and the fino flax is worth one-
third more than the coarse for fibre purposes.
The question of kind of seed has yet to
be fully tested. In selecting seed for farm
crops it is best to select the largest plumpest and earliest wherever practicable, and
it may be that flax seed from Russia or a
colder climate, or from a warmer, may be
preferable. Flax men in Europe find a
dill'erence in the seed from Russia, Germany and America, and imported seed is
usually better the second year.
There are white, yellow and blue blossoming plants, and experiments have been
commenced upon the New York Agricultural Experiment Station to prove which
is the most desirable for this country.
There are reasons to suppose that the
best American climate for flax is at least
as far south as Virginia, Kentucky,^ Kansas and California, from the fact that
Egypt was the earliest seat of the industry,
as well as the fact that llax must have
originated in a climate where the frosts
did not kill the land. The best specimens
of flax I ever saw grew near Constantinople, which is as warm as Virginia.
Egypt is in latitude 30° north. Still good
flax has been, is, and will be grown in all
our northern latitudes and in Canada,
which already produces some '.',000 tons of
flax annually.—Textile Operator, in Dry
Goods Economist.
Tns farmer vote is in demand this year.
Both the leading parties have put well-
known farmers at tho head of their tickets.
This is in the hope that the farmers will
be pleased with the entiro ticket. This,
however, may not follow. It is very likely that there will be an unusual amount
of healthy political scratching done at our
next election, and whilo the head of the
ticket may stand the tail may be changed.
 • .	
Look on a map of the United States,
and see how favorbly Indianapolis is located for holding the largest and best fair
in the country. We ought to have the
leading fair in the_country. Lot all Hoosiers work for it.