VOL. LIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., NOV. 4, 1899.
NO. 44
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How and Where Can  a  Young  Married
Man Who Starts   From the Stump
Acquire a Farm Heme?
lsjtPemlum—If I were a yoang married
man to begin from the stump (again) I would
hire to, or crop on shares for the moet guo-
ceeeful farmer ln the community, and make
myself to useful that he would be willing to
pay me the highest customary wages, oi give
me the beet possible terms. Would work to
his Interest and make a etudy of hie work and
methods. Would watch to see by what turn
he converts his etock and crop into cash.
Would gain hie confidence and try to help
him form hie plana. Would read his agricultural papers or take eome myeelf. While I
wae doing thie I would be gaining tbe information that Is Indispensable to eu;cessful
farming. Of course thla preparation would
depend largely on what earlier knowledge I
had had of farm work. I would live as economically as poeelble and try to give my
good wife an opportunity to aeslet in earning
an Income if poeelble. Would lay by every
red cent I could (pare from our earnlnge, and
as soon ae I had a few hundred doUars I
would invest ln a home. If I expected to do
general farming I would not try to purchase
where land was expensive, but would seek
more remote regions, and try to get a farm
that wae naturally fertile, but had been neglected and run down. Such farms are far
more easily reclaimed than poor ones are to
be made productive. I would try to pay
down enough, so that eome friend would take
a mortgage for the balance, and eave a few
dollars to buy Btock and farm implements
with. Would buy no more of them than I
could pay cash for, and aek no man to go my
security or allow my credit to ba questioned.
With a mortgaged, rundown farm and a few
Implements paid for, a cool head and willing
hande, I would begin ae a farmer. Would
make wife ae comfortable as possible and etill
give her a chance to help ln the way of making butter, raising poultry or whatever ehe
could do. Would start with the best stock
within my reach, from chickens to cattle and
horeee, and take euch cara of them that they
would surely pay a profit on their keep.
Would put out no moro cropa than I could
take the best rare of. Work early and late,
Pay debts firet, buy Iuxurlee later. The American people are fast falling into the way of
living beyond their means. I would keep a
strict account with each crop and kind of
'tock, so that I could know what paid me
beat. Then with reasonable health and
strength, euccese would surely come, and ln a
few short, busy years I would have my home
Paid for and would then improve itto the best
Possible condition. We could then enjoy
eome of the luxuries and leisure the faithful
Knd industrious eo well deserve. G. 0.
Olark Oo.
2d Premium.—The bett place for a young
man to go to obtain a home depends on circumstances, disposition of the person and
many other thinge. Where one would make a
euccese others would fall. What one would
like and enjoy himself, others would dislike.
Some like prairie country, others timber.
Oae may like stock raising,another the growing of grain and another fruitgrowing. It will
depend more on the man than on the locality.
Oae advantage a comparatively new country
Is better for a poor man ls because hie neigh-
bora are aa a rule poor like himself, and there
Is less temptations to epend money for the
Iuxurlee of life, because our neighbors do not
<-o eo. In an old settled country a poor man
tees hie wealthier neighbors have the luxuries
of life and he of course desires the tame.
And not being ln a position to afford them
he comes as near lt ae he can and thus alwaya remains poor. I have traveled a little,
and from what I have eeen I could mention
eeveral localities where a poor man could do
well. Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas and
northern Wieconsln have good cheap lands
where if a person adapts himself to the locality and don't get discouraged the first two
years he will come out all right Most people
expect too much, are led to do eo a great deal
by the glowing accounts of tbe Immigrant
agent, who picks out some exceptional cases
and makes you believe you will all do as
well. Persons going "on a new prairie farm
must expect, but very little of a crop the firet
and even the second year, as raw sod turned
over ls a viry uncertain eeed bed. He should
have enough meana to pay his way at least
one year. To go to a timber country does not
require eo much money becauee the timber ie
available at eomeprlcj to afford a living. Bat
lt takes much longer to have a farm ready
to cultivate, and lt means lots of hard work.
I believe taking all thinge Into cocelderatlon;
we have the beet opportunity for a poor man
right here ln northern Indiana. What a few
yeare ago waa supposed to be worthleee swamp
lande. eand rldgei and sloughs has been
drained out and the beet of farme are being
made of them. The unimproved lande are
cheap yet, ranging ln price from fifteen to
twenty-five dollars per acre, on long time,and
right now at very low interest. Aside from
the land being unimproved you can have all
the advantages of churches, echools and markete, things you do not have ln tbe cheap
western lands. Another advantage is the coet
to move, which Is very little compared with
moving west Another thing le new land in
thie wet district is as eure to raise a crop on
first plowing as on any other. Any crop can
be grown that will grow in any other part of
the State; and fruit, melons, potatoes or onions grown here, can not be beat anywhere ln
the State. Men are making lots of money on
them alone. In my ebservatlons of the cheap
lands of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska
and Wisconeln, I belle va northern Indiana le
the best place for a poor man to go to, and if
he makes up his mind to work and work hard
and be economical he ls sure to own a good
home ln a very ehort time. Oae thing more,
don't buy too much. Buy only what you can
handle, then buy more as you get able, even
if you do have to pay more for it. Buying too
much because it is cheap may cause you to
lose all. I epeak from experience.
Carroll Oo. Wm. PinxmY.
a new, strange placo. There was a time when
lt would have been advisable for euch a ono
to go Weet. But to-day, the deeirable placee
are all taken and muet be purchased by tolj
and eelf-denlal wherever the man may go, and
can be had right here at homo ae well ae elsewhere, better it may be, If the man le eo determined. Under normal conditione there le
beyond a doubt, much more ln the man than
ln the locality. An Ouhebyek
3d Premium.—The young man ought to
have made eome little etart before marrying,
and he doubtless hae, if he be the kind that le
to make a success ln life. He can have acquired a name for honeety and Industry
which is capital In itself, and of a kind that
never loses Its facj value. Given good health,
industrious habits, and a good character,
and blessed with a wife similarly endowed, a
young man may win a home for himself in
any good farming community that he bap-
pens to call home. Here in Tippecanoe
county where land sells from $50 to $80 dollars per acre young men who have started
with very small capital are paying out, slowly,
perhaps, but surely, on good farm property,
and while doing eo are able to enjoy many of
the privileges of advanced civilization, in the
line of good echoole, churches, markets, etc.
While it may be an easier thing to acquire a
farm home in tome of the newer States, eelf-
denlal la needed there as here, and property
once acquired in our own State, must long be
of greater value, and the advantages of life
greater than the newer countries afford.
Moreover, a young man of sterling character
will have made friende In hie own neighborhood that will often be able to give him euch
financial help as he could not hope to get ln
It may be from the rock Instead of the
stump, but I will tell you what a young man
may do In Georgia without a dollar of capital.
He may rent a farm and complete farming
outfit, including mules and all wagons and
implements, on terms by which with cloee
economy he may come out ln two yeare' time
with money enough to buy a complete outfit
and a email home. Ae to the where—anywhere in the etate above the plney woode belt,
and lt may be done there, though I would advise all northerners to etop ln the highlands.
Farming above the sandy, plney woods may
be carried on practically ln the eame manner
ae ln your etate, cotton being tbe only new
crop necessary to take up. And ln most localities the water ls plentiful, pure and coot. I
fear I am too far out of your range to go into
further detail, but any quetslons accompanied
by stamp will be cheerfully anewered.
Warm Springs, Ga. Ohas. Stout.
kkviiw.
Of couree eome men have natural tact for
money making. Thoee that have not had
better be careful about going ln debt. Again
no one will hereafter buy a farm and make it
pay for Itself on the clodhopper plan. A man
used to buy a yearling eteer for $18 and
eell lt at three yeare old for $115.
Wheat wae over a dollar, and earn 10 to 60
cents. Potatoes were the eame ae corn. But
competition hae pulled down prices, so there
is no margin to a careless,   wasteful   farmer.
I stood on the street a while yesterday and
aeked a number of farmers if a young man
can etart with nothing nowadays and own a
farm. Everyone eaid promptly that he knew
eeveral cases where lt had beon done, and
several were cited that are now gettlngon well
paying out. It le truo that most of the cases
I have in mind are where the man Inherited a
little start say $1000 and then went in debt
and payed out. But that ls only a quicker
process. Mr. Pcflley tells one way to get that
$1000. One of the quickest pay outs that I
have known wae where he had a team and
toole and began renting at once. A man
close to Os rmel bought an 80 acre farm of black
land just before the panic, paying $1000 on It
and payed steadily through and out. But
ln all cases where I have seen good successes they bought good land. And lt is conspicuous tbat lt ls nearly alwaye wet black
land. At Mr Cjvert saye, sometimes a rundown, rich farm. I know one caee where a
etout young man tried hard to make money
on a rundown, poor rolling farm, and after a
hard pull with lots of eacrifice he had to give
It up. It was not in lt. Ba sure and not try
impossibilities. Make the effort where natural
conditions are etrong backing. It ls also
generally better to buy a cleared farm with
fences and buildings. Some, yeara ago I
bought 80 acres near Oarmel ln the big woods.
Think of the miles of fencing, the heavy coet
of clearing, on the stumpy land, I paid $100
for ditching, and a thousand for buildings.
And for a few years I had no cropa on most of
lt to help even pay Interest, or taxes, to eay
nothing of a living. I paid a hundred dollars
for dynamite, and clearing etumpe off. Of
couree one can't start that way. I epeak of lt
to emphaelze the thought the farm ehould be
at once productive and naturally rich. One
caee near here had a good houee and barn and
fences and ditching, and all he bad to do was
to move ln and etick hie plow in  rich  black
land and grow 70 buehels of corn per acre, the
firet eix monthe. He turned three good eowe
on tho epring pasture and had an Income Inside of a week. Thie man put all hie land but
a little pasture ln corn year after year and
crowded hoge. He told me that the eowe and
chickene kept down all expeneee, and that
when he eold a bunch of hogs the money
all went to pay debts. As soon as out of debt
he Is going to rotate crops. Some farms will
bear that, llko straining a race horee a step
or two, but hilly clay land won't. Let's note
this man ,'a little farther. He grew no other
crops but corn. It required no expensive
tools. A breaking plow and cultivator. In
wheat harvest he worked for wages, aleo
threshing.
Allow me to emphaelze the practice of some
to conetantly have a "penelon" to draw from.
My firet experience of this kind was ln cutting 60 cents of four foot wood out of old tops
ln a clearing, and burning 200.000 brick.
These sold out at about $200 a year. "Penelon" No. 2 wae keeping an old man for city
people, at $15 a month. He wae little trouble,
and a very light eater. After two years he got
feeble and required lots of attention, and we
got $40 a month for caring for him. No. 3
was writing for the prew, which after years of
practice now became profittble. Our fourth
"pension" wbb the gravel pit which more than
paid my taxes every year. The fifth was the
institutes which helped in lessons learned and
made a little pin money. I know some men
who put in spare time hauling logs; some taking stock to market for others or any handy
jub; some get contracts for hauling gravel;
one buys stock and sells; ono hucksters during
idle weather. When one'e farm ie rather
email he can find time for these, but when he
has plenty of stock and feeding he may better
find business at home. The thought ie to be
ehifty. Will Olark, near Westfield, bought a
thlckety, woodsy farm and cut lota of wood ln
clearing and would not buy anything without
trading wood for lt. The groceryman knew
he could not have hie trade without taking
wood.   He now hae a fine home.
I remember one time we had one slop
bucket that would not keep the one hog. We
had occasion to hire a girl, and ehe did not
prove economical ln using up scraps. So we
had to use two buckets and bring on two
more hogs. If cither party is waeteful lt ls no
uee to try to come up in life. I once knew a
man who refused an inheritance from hie
father for ten yeare becauee he wanted to
prove that he could make a home living without any help. Surely euch a victory le worth
tbe eacrlfica.
Motto: "No church hae any etrong bold on
the lojalty of the people, eo long as it ls on
the defensive."
No. 192, Nov. 11—What ls the best farm
fence you eaw at the fair, and coet? Are you
using rod oedar 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 the same
for boys.)
No 194, Nov, 25—Comment on Thanksgiving Day as a Harvest Home Festival.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents will
be given to let, 2d and 3d beet articles each
week. Let copy be ae practical as possible
and forwarded 10 daye before publication to
Oarmel, Ind. E. H. Ooixms.
Editors Indian.. Faemie.
Will you give the names and address of all
the eteam elder mllla in America, through the
PaPer. W. H. McO.
—We can not give all, but here are a few:
P. P. MaBt A Oo , Springfield, O., Keystone
M'f'g. Co., Sterling, 111., Superior Drill Oo.,
Springfield, O., Hocking Valley M'f'g. Co.,
Lancaster, O., Boomer & Boschert, Syracuse,
N.Y.