VOL. LIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., DEC. 16 1899.
NO. 50
%xpzxizutz Qw&xtmzut
With  What  and   How   Do You   Bed   Live
Stock.
1st Premium.—Whenever ycu see a farmer
plowing corn wltb an old fathtoned walkiog
cultivator, with two hig blunt shovels on each
side, don't think for a momen, that he is doing so because he likes to, but rest assured
that he does it because he thinks it Is economy for him to save the $25 that an up to-date
machine would ccst him. It Is a mistake of
the head and not of the heart—f alee economy.
With a modern tool he cou d easily add five
buthels per acre to hia yield, and more than
pay for his new plow the first year, ln a crop
of 25 or 30 acres.
In the machinery line there are the two extremes. Some farmers throw away binders
and mowers and bny new ones, when with a
little bushing, a few new parts and a general
overhauling and tightening up, the machine
could have been made to do good work for
a number of j e ti. There are people ln this
world—successful farmers—who make lt a
practice to never buy a new binder, but buy a
second-hand one from some agent, who has
taken it for a song in ex change for a new one.
Such men are usually Ingenious, and get good
service out of these old machines. The other
extreme is the farmer who, rather than buy a
new machine, kills time and hogs his crop
with a machine that has been worn out for
years. The golden mean ls to use a machine
as long as lt can be made to do good work
without too much expense or bother, and
when it ceaeea to do that consign it to the
junk man and buy an up-to-date new one.
It is false ideas of economy that lead men
to harrow their ground and then plant their
corn It ls false ideas of economy tbat lead
men to plow their corn three times and then
"lay it by." It ls false ideas of economy that
cause men to over-crop their land and reduce
the average of the State to only about half of
wbat lt should be. It ls false Ideas of economy and "tbat tired feeling" that cause so
many farmers to let their work crowd them
Inetead of puehing'their work strictly in season.
There are others, but I will stop.
Up-to-Datb,
2d Premium.—S >me men—good farmers
toe—who to thla day contend that it ls a waste
of feed to push the hog from a little pig to
maturity. They say keep him ln growing
order till he ls 12 or 15 months old, then put
him up and crowd him. In this way it will
require 15 or 18 months to make a 300 pound
hog, while if we push him from the etart we
can make a 300 pound hog in about nine
months Now suppose it took the same
amount of feed, we would save half our tracks
carrying slop and feed to them and we would
also have the Interest on our money for six or
nine months. Besides all this we do not have
to risk hog cholera and other things that
might play havoc with our herds during tbe
remainder of the time. Again one of our
farmers sells hay for $6 and $8 per ton and
lets his cows starve. While another man eays
It does not pay to work wheat ground much
and sell wheat at 60 centa ner buehel. Now I
believe thatthe laet working does as much. If
not more good, than the first one. Hauling
manure to the field and piling lt ln large
heaps to heat and rot Is not the best thing to
do. * Besides losing Its best properties we have
to handle lt twice. Another wrong Idea ie ln
trying to winter more etock than can be properly fed and sheltered. Buying second hand
'arm machinery at public ealee, because lt is
cheap, or because they have nine months
time to pay for it in. As a rule I consider this
a very expensive practice. If a man is not
able to buy new up-to-date machinery he ls
not able to farm.   Some men eeem to think
that the more they can get off of their farm
the more they can save, but sooner or later
they find that tbey have exhausted all the fertility ln their land. While if they had plowed
under a crop of clover every three or four
years tbey would have rals:d more grain from
their ground and would not have run down
their land. B. W.
3d Premium.—When aeked why not get
thorough bred stock, eome will say, "the thoroughbred coet so much. I cannot afford
them." I do not think it will be overdrawn
to say that two-thirds of the farmers are using thiB kind of economy.
Buying scrub stock to fatten ls another
false idea. Farmers will pick up any kind of
steers to feed, for the reason that they can be
bought at a low price, when, if the buyer
would US9 a little thought, he will find lt takes
more feed and time to produce a given number of pounds on a scrub eteer tban on a good
one. Then there ls always a higher price
paid and a stronger demand for a well-bred
and well-fatted steer. Feeding etock in bad
weather, without proper shelter, Is a poor road
to success.
In driving through the country one will frequently see tbe horsee, cattle, eheep and hogs-
all ln one lot, feeding on the whole fodder
which has been dumped over the fencs. They
are there on the south side of a straw ttack all
tramping over their feed. Tbeir owner, is ln
the houso toasting his ehlns and thinking
"why don't my stock look better? I give
them enough feed to keep a fourth mors than
I have." The selling of the raw products of
the farm is another fault of some farmers.
Corn ls now selling at 25 cents for 70 pounds.
A little time spent ln figuring, will cause
any thinking man to see the gain ln feeding
grain. If one buehel of corn will make 12%
pounde of pork at 3_4 cente per pound, lt is
worth 43%, leaving a gain of 18J£ cents
ln favor of feeding. The manure will pay any
one for his work. There are farmers In this,
and I dare say all neighborhoods, who grain
their farms year after year, and can not
eee why their corn, wheat and oats do not
yield as much per acre as do their neighbors.
Clover is the farmer's richest friend. Ro-
tation of crops, corn, wheat or oats and
clover, I think is the better plan. There are
other, good grasses for tbe farm, but clover ls
ever king. Tilling cold, wet soil to save the
expeneeof tllelng is a false Idea. Twenty acres
welldralned ls equal to 30 acres without adraln.
Land that ls drained will last longer, yield
more and cultivate easier, in all enough to
pay for the drain aud money left for profit
each year. Letting work go undone to save
the hire is not economy. The manure le left
to leach, when a few dollars would convert
the unsightly, unhealthy pile into the farmer's
saving's bank. Plowing around the willow,
or button wood pond ls another fault that ls
current in this locality. A little time and
money would rquare tbe field and Increase its
value. When I see farm Implements standing
where they were u<ed laet, or piled up ln a
fence corner, for the want of a better shelter
I think of the waste ot money, and also of
the complaint against the manufacturer for
not putting ln better material. Ten or fifteen
dollar* expended judiciously will build a ehed
which will accommodate the farm tools of
the average farmer, and save the cost price of
the shed each year. Q. W. J.
Clinton Oo.
Economy ehould be the first consideration
in every undertaking, for "a penny saved ls a
penny earned." But the cheapest way does
not always prove the most economical. There
ie economy ln buying high grade machinery,
although one has to pay three times as much
for lt, for one good machine will
wear out four cheap onei; for it
etandi to  reason   that a  low priced  ma
chine muet nececearlly be made of poor material and be poorly put together, so that one
haB to be constantly paying for repairs. Some
farmers will starve their horses In order that
they may sell the grain and ae a result the
horsee are weak and cannot do so good, nor
eo much work, and the crops are poorly put
ln and poorly tended, and only half as much
grain ls yielded. It le correctly remarked
that fortunes are watted on fertilizer?; that ls,
money ls paid out for what the crop does not
need. Fertilizers coet too much for us to buy
blindly: The farmer can be etock poor as
well as land poor, for where he has more stock
than just what he can keep well he must work
himself down during the growing season, in
order to rais-e stuff to feed bis profitless stock
through tbe winter. Every work horse that
la fully utilized ls worthy of its keep and so
ls every good cow that furnishes milk and
butter for the family and to al'; as ie also the
pig that consumes the watte ekp and the surplus corn. To this extent any farmer may go
into stock raising with safety. What ls worth
doing at all is worth doing well, and If the
farmer will plan to do only .that he can do
satisfactorily he will make more money than
if he undertakes so much and then does not
do his work well. S- M N.
BIVtKW,
The word economy ls very much abused. It
Is often associated with "not spending " A
good definition of economy Is good investment. It ls true the miser hoards wealth by
savlDg. B it this ie not economy Let us for
a moment look over our farms and farm life
and Bee wherein we practice true or false
economy.
A neighbor has 20 acres of rich new land
that is a wilderness of logs and undergrowth
and produces a Bhower of poke, thistles and
other weede. Oae thousand dollars are lying
Idle and taxes are paid from other Income.
That land could be cleared for $10 an acre and
the firet crop would pay the entire expense.
Again, as one rides on the cars he notices
lots of woodland that hae been culled of all
good timber, and le not even fumlehlng
grass. If one had varieties of timber on it
tbat will some day be valuable, I would not
criticise him at all. But ae lt is he might
better not own that land.
Juet we»t of me is a farm on which the
owner broke up and moved away. He was a
respectable min and good neighbor. And in
falling he loet more than simply the land
There are a number of valleys through the
farm tbat might be easily dlt.hed, that he has
allowed to make his fields Irregular ln shape
all these years. He has seldom rested the
high land or rotated the crops Hig fences
did not stop etock and everything on the
place was breachy. The crops were always
planted late. Manure was waeted to avoid
the expense of building a ehed.
By the way, I fear sometimes that so much
talk about covered barnyards may result ln
no shed at all. This is entirely unnecessary,
since one can make a roof of inch plank with
little cost. Many of us have old beech that
we can have sawed and euch a roof Ib thoroughly practical for manure. I havo'one of
them and also uee tvo large box stalls for dehorned cattle, and do not clean out till
spring. This spring we had one such with
manure three feet deep lu lt. This wae dry
on top and the cattle were clean. All liquids
were absorbed and on hauling it out lt was
found to be fairly well rotted and was not fire-
tanged at all.
At Elgin, 111, a friend wanted me to go
into dairying. I said, "It costs too much to
build a barn." He said, "make a straw shed
for a year or two. It will do practically as
well, only ls not so handy,"
I mention this to ineist that lt ls false economy to allow so much idle property and careless wasteful management.when by a little in
genuity cne cin practically dodge the big outlay and get the lncreaeed income till he can
do lt ln a more modern style. Tbe principle
ls all that ls at stake.
It is also truo that tbe expense of tiling ls
more of a bujgaboo than neceeeary. I once
threw out a deep deadfurrow with a Oas»ady
plow and took out one jpade in the bottom
and laid the tile. If lt seems costly try a
short ditch each year.
There ls a false economy however that I
muet not pa>8 by. Su many farmers, and
othere too, for that matter, feel lt too great
an expense to buy literature for their children. May I aek you one earnest, pointed
queetion? You, my friend, I mean. Has
your little daughter or niece or younger
brother just one paper or book that belongs
"all to my own sell?" One tbat baB child
literature? Is it economy to starve themlnd?
Remember, the child is in that age at which
it ls the moet eailly Impressed with good literature. Your child or relative and mine
mutt not just "grow up."
Oa this entire subj jet Itt me say that anything is false economy that is not business,
that violates sound principles of life and conduct
Motto: "It makes little difference what
you have with which to do a thing, if lt le ln
you to do It.'      	
No. 198, Dec. 23—Will a number of grown
persons help ua out with the Christmas issue
by sending in several cute, sweet things said
and done by children under six years old?
will be brief and we want to print a large
number of them. Give name, nick-name and
age of each child.
No. 199, Dec. 30—What things have added
happiness, sweetness and success to the past
year of your life?
No. 200, Jan. 6ih,1900—The educated farmer,
or the good and bad effects of education on
the farm.
No. 201, Jan. 13—H jw do you break a colt?
How Bhould a harneps fit a hirse? Size of
collar; how low ehould the hame hook be?
No. £02, Jan. 20tri-Uader what circumstances should cottonseed meal and linseed
meal be usei as a food. Give Its bad and good
effects.
No. 203. Jan. 27-Boyf; their faults and
Ideals.
No. 201, Fob 31—Hjw may consumption
and typhoid fever be prevented?
No. 205. Feb. 10;h—What shredders are moet
dangerou-? What can ba done to make them
eafr?
No. 206, Feb 17ih-Dj you break land in
the fall or spring? How deep? Name a good
plow. What about the j winter. How do you
know when too wet to plow?
No. 207, Feb21.li—Th a farmer'a bird friends.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents will
be given to let, 2d and 3d best articles each
week, Let copy be as practical as possible
and forwarded  10 days before publication to
Oarmel, Ind. e H. Collins.
POSTAL CARD CORRESPONDENCE.
LaPokik Co, Dec. 8—We had lovely
weather nearly all the fall, and on Sunday
afternoon and night and Monday, Dacembar
3d and 4th, we had 1% feet of snow, but not
cold. Morning of Sth we had 10 degrees above
zero, and now warm again. Sleds have run
some, but roads not good, neither for sleds or
wagons. "Merry Christmas" to all, especially
the editor. Mbs  b. a  d
Thk Spiceland mineral springs have patients
from many counties, and are making wonder
ful cures of rheumatism, kidney, stomach and
nervous troubles, and chronic dis jases. The
table ls excellent, the accommodation splen-
did, and prices reasonable. People cannot do
better than go take their mineral water and
mineralized mud baths.