VOL. LX.
INDIANAPOLIS, JANUARY 7,   1905.
NO. 1
A Word   To The    Large Land   Owners.
Idltora Indiana Fanner:
You own a large area of valuable land.
You let out tbis land to renters. The
land was once fertile and yielded profitable returns under the tenant system. The
continual removal of soil fertility under
the prevailing system of grain rent nnd
sale of the crops is slowly but surely reducing the productiveness of your land.
If you are an observing man you have already noticed this fact, with apprehension. Being well-to-do you can stau-d
this process of soil impoverishment for
a time. But is it wise? Is it patriotic?
-Is it Tight to those who must farm the
land after you are through with it? On
your farms are growing up bright boys
and girls, the children of your tenant
farmers. Would it not be wise in you
' to encourage these young people to seek
Tne Indiana Farmer aa an  Educator.—_.
Timely Suggestion.
iTsdltora Indiana' Farmer:
Of the thirty to forty thousand families reached by the Farmer, many are intelligent and.itudious; and I have thought
of an opportunity we seem to be missing.
If we had a pag-e devoted to instruction,
it would be valuable as a medium of communication for those sufficiently educated
to write articles, and also a source of
information  for the studious.
There are many branches of learning
of "especial value to farmers and farmers' wives and children.
Physical geography, geology, botany,
chemistry, philosophy, land measure, book
keeping, imposition, etc., what not? It
seems to me that these matters might be
presented in such popular language as to
be studied with profit, even by those who
kitchen, cakes, bread, pies, coffee, butter,
starch, gravy, soup aud flavors are all
highly scientific subjects.
How fine it would be for the farmer
(and his wife to write their own deed and
mortgage and will! And who noeds a surveyor to measure a farm? Why not get
ho'd of the inlormation and do it our-
i-elvcs?
Now tin- suggestion is to conduct a department in ihe Indiana Farmer, in which
the elements of scholarship may all be
discussed. What do tlie readers think
of the idea? Write the editor a card, if
you approve. Walter S. Smith.
Smelting Copper Ore ln Arizona.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Copper mining and smelting forms the
chief, in fact, the only resource of this
country, as everything else here is brought
a track at the bottom of this pit, aad they
come slowly along, taking a huge shovel- .
ful first from one side ami then the other
and dumping it behind them. Thus
they work the length of the pit, putting
the mixed ore behind them as they go.
Small ore cars are run. along side and another shovel halt loads them. They are
then shoved under the coko hoppers and
filled the rest of the way with coke, after
which they are rolled to the furnaces and
the contents dumped in. The furnace is
fanned by compressed air and the stuff
burns "to beat the band." After the
mixture becomes molten the big travelling
crane places a giant cup shaped affair
with n spout on it, under the outlet of
the furuace and the liquid is run out into
this cup, and carried by the crane over
to ti-- other side where it is poured into
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Ilarvest in the Canadian Wheat Belt.
a training which would enable them to
take care of your soil and utilize your
crops by feeding them to good live stock?
Nearly every agricultural college in the
country now has a short winter course
adapted to the needs of these young people, because they can spend a few weeks
at school during the comparative leisure
months of winter and return home in
time for the busy season.
The short winter courses are proving
wonderfully helpful to young men and
women who seek further preparation for
the management of the home farm.
They can accomplish as much for the
sons and daughters of your tenant farmers. Would it not be wise on your part
to encourage these young folks to spend
a few months at Purdue or elsewhere?
Purdue's next winter School of Agriculture will begin January 10th, and continue
ten weeks. Courses in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, and dairying
will be offered. By encouraging the
boys nnd girls of your tenant farmerg to
seek just the preparation which Purdue
affords, you will not only start them on a
career of usefulness that will mean success to them, but it will repay you many
times in better care of your land when
these-young folks come iyturn to be your
tenants. Will you.Jfot heed this kindly
admonition and dcyyourself and the children of your tenants a good turn by sending them to Purdue or elsewhere, a few
'months during the present winter.
W. C. Isatta, Prof, ot Agriculture-
Purdue  University,   Lafayette,   Ind.
have not enjoyed an opportunity for looking into their mysteries in the high
schools.
Noticing them in the order in which I
have enumerated them above, let us try
a lesson.
Physical geography treats of the earth
in ita scientific aspects. It notes, locates, describes and dicusses the lands,
waters, atmosphere and electric forces, as
well as race problems and forces that promote civilization. It goes far enough
into every natural science to give each a
faithful, introduction. And any one who
begins science through this introductory
branch will feel inclined to pursue it
further.
Geology is another study for merely a
deeper study of the earth. In its bearings upon limestone, clays, sands, and alluvium it opens the way to the study of
fertility, which will bo profitable to any
farmer who really desires to improve the
soil.
Botany teaches the facts and laws of
vegetable growth. The seed, the root,
the stem, the branch, the leaves, the
bloom and tho fruit are all botanical studies. And there is wonderful interest in
vegetable investigation. Nor is it only
interesting, it is profitable.
Chemistry and philosophy are combined
in every process on the farm and in the
kitchen. Mixing composte, feeding soil,
fronting th*> ground, thining grain, destroying weeds and other pests, and in all
subsoiling and underdraining these two
sciences are objects of appeal.      In    the
by the mining and smelting industries.
The mines are located in tlie mountains,
28 miles to the west of this place, and fo
advantages offered by water supply,
ground space, and other reasons, the
smelters are located here; hence Douglas,
Arizona. The town is named for the
president of the company. The Copper
Queen Consolidated Mining Company,
owned by Phelps, Dodge Co., of New
York, who also own tlie railroad, whicli
they built themselves, from El Paso to
Benson, with branch lines running north
ami south. This they did without issuing a dollar's worth of stock or floating
a bond.
Tlife road bed is fine and they run the
finest trains and have the best equipment
in the country.
I have heard that there is more ore
there than they can remove in a lifetime
and one can judge more fully what that
means after you have seen one day's dg-
ging come into the smelters. Having
never been to Bisben I can say nothing of
the mines, but I have visited the smelters, and they are a wonderful sight The
company has its own electric plant, and
they run day and night, nnd operate most
of their machinery by electricity, switch
ore cars, run traveling cranes, immense
shovels, etc.
The whole thing is 'on a very grand
scale. The ore is of two grades, and
is mix-'d by being run into the yards
on separate tracks, nneon each side of a
deep, stone-lined pit, one-fourth of a mile
in length.       The big shovels are run on
what they call the converters. This is
a large vessel shaped like an egg with a
hole in the top about "2 feet in diameter.
It is run, or tipped back and forth by compressed air, so that it may receive its fiery
feed, and also to discharge first the slag
which comes to the top, and then the copper. This s-gg-shaped tiring is tilted down
and (Ire crane raises the pot of metal with
on-1 chain and dumps the contents, by tipping it, with another much as you would
pour water out of a cup, into the converter where a powerful draught is created with compressed air. (This draught
is made after the converter assumes its
original upright position.) When it has
"cooked" enough the "chef" orders the
slag cars run up, and he lets the thing
tip until the slag runs off and then the
copper is run into square moulds; eacli
block of copper weighs 200 pounds. There
is a row of furnaces on one side and a
row of converters on the other, and it is
all done like clockwork. One can have
no idea of the size of this plant, or the
scale on which things are done here, or
of the detail of the business, unless he
sees it.# The value of the output of
tiiis smelter is .$17,000 per day. There is
some gold anil silver in tire ore, bnt the
people here smelt the copper only. It
is sent to Now York whore the gold and
silver is removed.
r>8t-. Farm Faper.
Edrtors Indiana Farmer:
I got ynnr paper all o. k., and think it
is the best farm paper I ever took.
Holton. J.  R. c.