VOL LIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., OOT. 14. 1899.
NO. 41
%%pzxizntz Qzpitxtmzut.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEAR
FUTURE OF BEEF CATTLE,
HOGS AND SHEEP?
Can a Man Afford to Buy Yearling Steers
at 4 I 2 Cents to Feed Out?
Is There Any Difference Between Holding
a Steer at a High Price and Buying
One at the Same Price.
lat Premium —The prospects for raielng and
feeding beef, cattle, hoge and sheep, was never
better than the near future. Beef lg high at
preeent and is likely to continue to be high
for a few yeara from the fact that there is (according to statistics) quite a decrease ln the
number of beef cattle ln tbe United States
compared with a few years ago. Another fact
tbat has helped to raise the price of beef
was the starting of idle factories that employ
thousands of workingmen at good wages who
consume beef when at work.
The hog crop also will be short this winter.
Reports from a number of the leading hog
producing states show the shortage to be due
to the extreme cold weather ln the early epring.
A shortage ln the supply, and a big corn crop
to send them to market well fatted, and a good
demand for meat all tend to make good prices.
The near future for eheep is none the leee
flattering than that of hogs and cattle, with
lambs at from 5 cents per lb. to 7 cents and
wool at 22 cents per lb.
I think a man can pay 1}4 cents for good
yearling eteers and feed them out and make
money on them. A man can buy a yearling
ateer now and keep him a year in good stock
order and he will go into the feeding lot neit
fall still standing his owner at about 1% cents
then he will have a margin of 60 centa on the
hundred pounds to feed on and possibly one
dollar. If there ls any difference between-
buying a steer at a high price and holding one
ata hig price, I fall to see lt that way.
O. L M.
Shannondale.   	
2nd Premium.—The indications are that
this year calvea will not be worth as much
money. And as the cattle stock of the country
Increases to the normal, they will further decrease in value, If a man has not enough
etock to consume hie grain lt ls well to keep
eome yearling* as they will pay well for tbeir
keeping if the flesh le firm and smooth; coaree
harsh and gaunt animals will no longer be
tolerated, much lees thoee that are bony and
bars of flesh on the back and ribs. I am perfectly persuaded that if any person will be
persuaded to try a few sheep, they will be glad
and I will not be sorry that I played the role
of persuader. Beeides the ebeep that may be
sold for mutton at a high price, there is the
wool and as Europe talks of a wool famine it
will make wool much higher ln this country.
Some may ask, "doee feeding hogs pay better
than selling the grain from the farm?" It is
*oo well recognized at the present time to ad'
mlt of question that corn fed to hogs, ae the
market* generally are .brings about double the
market price of grain itself and on account
of the scarcity of the etock caused by dleeaee,
hoge are steadily moving upward in price,
and the advantage does not all He In large
returns, either for the feeder retains on the
Place, the manure and returns to the soil all
•hat the crop has taken from lt, a consideration of great value ln a region where lands
are so worn and require fertilizing,
DeKalb Oo. S. M N.
Third Premium.—A man can afford to buy
yearling eteers at 4}£ cents if any of the beef
breeds are of fair quality, and If fed until
next July or August ought to weigh 1,200
pounds, anyhow; they will then be called baby
beef, which always brings top prices Such
beef will now bring $5 50 or $G 00 per hundred
in the Indianapolis market, which will certainly leave a fair margin of profit. As to
hogs, they "are what pay the rent." At the
present price of corn, the feeder can make
some money at a good deal lower price than
now prevails with everybody. Something
to do and earning fair wages, there will
be a good demand for meats of all klnda; consequently prices for the feeder will be good as
long as labor ls well employed. As regards
sheep, a few good sheep on the farm always
pays well at any prico, as they can bo shifted
around on the farm and do well where hogs,
cattle and horees can't be kept. S. S.
Hawkins. 	
BJsvnw.
Is the price of meat producing animals
really high or simply higher? Tbe 7 cent beef
at Ohicago last week waa the higheet lt had
been for 15 yeare. Yet it eeeme true that moet
feeders think of the present price of beef cattle as compared with the same in panic times
and say that beef Is high?
Is beef dear when compared with the price
of other things? It ls quite likely that tbey
will settle down some after the first flash ls
over of the return of paying prices. So may
butcher animals find a somewhat lower permanent level.
There seems to be a rather email shortage
at present in range cattle. A fiend who has
been through the West a number of times has
lately returned and expresses surprise that the
plains are so nude of grass. That this graes
ls never thick like our blue grass grows, and
that constant pasturing has killed lt out on
immense scopes of territory, this lack of
range pasture together with a shortage and a
larger demand are likely to make a good
market for eome years to come.
Yet In my own experience I am too timid to
buy calves at present figures, say $20 to $23 at
weaning time.
The weaning time ls too far off.
I notice one feature of the market that ls
unusual just now. That is, that when good
cattle are ln most excellent demand, poor cattle are hard to sell at a*profit. You know that
ln flush times everything goes. As a rule, lt
ls in low markets that lt is so hard to sell poor
stuff. Just at preeent there are heavy Montana
shipments that glut the market for common.
Mr. S. M. H., hits the nail plump when he
says not to expect to handle with a profit,
cattle that are "coarse, harsh and gaut, or
are bony and bare of fl:sh on the back and
ribs "
At Purdue last winter, they emphasized very
much tbo development of the Hon. A wide,
flat, deep, mellow loin. The rump alao adds
much to an animal. A steer that has a beer
belly and a peeked rump, and is cut up between the thighs is an oddity to begin with,
and will give an enormous waste ln killing.
Another trouble with him is thst his loin cuts
are ao light. The porter-houeo stake comes
from tbe loin and sella at 30 to 50 cents, while
the ribs and shoulder cell as 7 to 10 cents.
I would anawer thie question by Insisting
that it looks safe to buy cattlo that are really
good yearlings at i)4 rants. But I would be
afraid to buy common cattlo at 4 cents. Many
may say that lt makes lt practically Impossible \i Btock up. True it is hard to find, and
requires moro time than usual, but If one Is a
little careless he will find at the end of the
year tbat some neighbors have got good ones
and he has the eecond or worse. The cure is
to refuse to buy unless the quality ls there.
A friend just eaid to me to-day that he found
the beet way to stock up this year, ls to find
young calves, often not a week old, and get
them at five to seven dollars, and have milk
for them.   He has picked up eeveral that way,
one in a place. By getting them of a neighbor he can tell their parentage.
Our exports of meat products aro so encouraging that one does not wonder at the
advanced prices of bogs and beef. Our hog
products are away below the usual eupply.
But hogs breed up so quickly and so do theep
that one can't figure much ahead. It certainly promises at present that hogs will not
be beaten down ae low this fall as usual And
this is very encouraging eince there is a good
profit in growing and feeding hogs at preeent
pricee of hogs and corn.
In conclusion allow me to quote from the
Breeders' Qazetto, some official figures that
throw a fl jod of light on tho rite in the prico
of beef.
Per 1.000 of
Total cattle. population.
1890 36 000,000        589
1891 36,000 000        575
1892 37,000 000 573
1893 35,000,000        631
1891 36,000 000        531
1895 31,000 000        488
1896 32 000,000 446
1897 30,000,000        414
1898 29,000,000 389
1899 (estimated) 27,000 000 365
Laet week in my review I might have added,
in the talk on shredders, that one thing tbat
farmers are demanding ls that the shelled
corn ehould be separated from the shredded
fodder. The McOormlc is the only one that
I have eeen that does this efficiently. It fans
and sacks the shelled corn. This prevents
moulding of the silage.
Farmers eeem busy sowing wheat and wo
have but little copy ahead.
No. 189, Oct. 21—Give the cause of the general failure of early potatoes. What varieties
of do you prefer for table use and why? Do
you kill the old parent buge?
No. 190, Oct. 28—Where should one keep
shoe blacking, shoes, clothes for tho laundry,
the slop bucket for the kitchen, and ln a word
keep these family necessities from being a
nuisance?
No: 191, Nov. 4—How and where can a
young married man who starts from the stump
acquire a farm home?
No. 192, Nov. 11—What ls the beet farm
fence you raw at the fair, and coet? Are you
uelng red cedar posts? What do they coet and
where do you get them?
No. 193, Nov. 18—Name eome of the faults
and ideals of girls you know. Suggest improvement. (A future topic will be tbe same
for boys )
No. 194, Nov. 25—Comment on Thanksgiving Day as a Harvest Home Festival.
Premiums of $1, 75 centa and 60 rants will
be given to 1st, 2d and 3d beet articles each
week. Let copy be as practical es possible
and forwarded 10 days  before publication to
Oarmel, Ind. E. H Collins.
A FARMERS' TRUST.
The editor of the Elkhart Review has
turned his attention to tbo disabilities of the
farmer and bas evolved a plea for his relief.
It 1* in the nature of a trust but not of general application, as other trusts are planned.
We have often urged that the farmers could
not organize a trust because they are too numerous, Isolated and widely separated, but
this plan contemplates only townships or
neighborhoods.   Let us hear the plan.
"Let the farmers of any township put their
farms into a combination which shall take
each one In truet, for careful and scientific
management,to be conducted bya skilled
and successful farmer and under careful financial administration.
The basis of such organization would be
the productive value ofthe land as determined
upon by proper method based on acreage,
soil, past record, and kindred qualities.   The
object of euch trust formation would be to
conservo all the energies and natural advantages to their fullest value by putting skilled
management ln charge of all affairs, with full
executive and adminletratlva authority, as is
done ln manufacturing establishments. Science would then bo applied to the cultivation
of all land so consolidated, buelneee sagacity
would be brought to bear upon tbe administration of the financial features, men who
farm their own land at a disadvantage would
have tho benefit of wiser direction to their ef.
forts, and dally wagee for their labor, and as
in the factory waste of energy and material
and of natural forces would be reduced to the
minimum. Of course every precaution
would be used to prevent Buch co-operation
from being made the tool of designing men
and all labor and machinery put in trust into
the organization would be carefully guarded
from all Intrigue. But with a carefully
wrought out plan of organization such union
of effort would in the majority of cases enhance the productive value of land and of the
farmers' toil, and would put Into farming the
eame systematic methods that hare been
found necessary in all lines of manufacture.
Among some other direct and specific benefits to be derived from this method of farming
would be what might be denominated division of production, answering to division of
labor. The poor farm could be used for grazing purpoees, the woodlands would supply
fuel with less waste by culling out the dying
timber, rather than destroying that which ls
alive and vigorous. The division of production would more wide'y diversify tbe energies, and would often result in changing the
relations of supply and demand.
Again such a co-operation, or euch a corporation, if tbat le a better name, could better
hold cereals and animal products for a rising
market. Wheat, wool, beef and mutton could
be hoarded each farmer being supplied from
the aggregate product Inetead of from the little supply produced on his own land, and the
opportunities for taking advantage of varying
trade conditions would be greatly facilitated.
Of couree this is a mere outline, but in view
of the tendency of all lines of production to
centralize why should not agriculture participate in the good, if good there be ln it, and
escape some of the evils which will follow Its
Isolation ln this new trend of industry?"
—It ls a novel scheme and .has many meritorious features, but like many beautiful theories we doubt very much whether it
could bo made to work well ln practice. It is
a Eutjpian scheme, and like all such ls likely
to fall on account of the different make up of
our different mental, moral and physical natures. We were not all cast in the same
mould, and cannot, or will not, all eee alike.
A principal objeeSion to this plan would be
that each farmer would want his own way ln
managing his own part of the trust, and this
would produce conflicts of opinion and authority, and misunderstandings that would
ln a ehort while break up the enterprise, and
each member of the trust would return to his
own chosen way. Such would be our fear, but
let others be heard on the subject, if any
reader wishes to discuss it.
Thousands of persons in Germany live literally "on straw," making lt up into blankets,
panniers, boxes, knick-knacks, hate, bonnets,
etc. Professional echools have even been
founded where the trade is taught In all Its
varieties,
Lyman Barnes, of Ottawa, Kansas tried to
enlist in the army one day last week, but found
himself four pounds short In weight. He went
away and for twenty-four-hours stuffed himself with food, with the result of gaining the
four pounda and admission into the service
The local papers say he ate no less than ten
meals ln one night and a day.