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VOL. XXII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, APRIL 9,1887.
NO. 15
CROPS AND STOOK.
Aoreage and Condition in the Central West.
Oar reporters in the three Central Western States agree that March was much
harder on the wheat plant than February,
as usual. In the first 10 days of March
wheat began growing nicely under favorable weather,but the last half of the month
brought freezing and thawing that proved
bad on the plant, on undraincd day lands
throwing it out. In the black loam and
bottom soils little or no damage was done,
and most reporters think no serious damage anywhere to the crop, but that under
favorable April suns and showers the
browned fields will show a better condition than now supposed. Even in clay
lands that were well tile d rained,the harm
to the plant has not been oonsiderable,and
this is but another proof of the value of
tile drainage.
WHEAT 8DMMABT.
Indiana—Average per cent of area 93,
condition 83, Last year same date, area 94,
and ooi.dit.oiT 80. Nineteen counties in
the Northern Division report 100 or over
on area, 12 in the Central Division lOO.and
11 in the Southern 100 and over, being 42
out of the 92 counties reporting a full average area in wheat,
Illinois—Average per cent of area 93,
condition 84
Ohio—Area 93, and condition 85. The
two latter States report the plant in the
heavier undrained soils about as in Indiana for condition, and attribute the damage to the same causes, the bad weather
the last half of Maroh.
THE  GRASSES.
Indiana—Condition of clover 87, timothy 94. This is a little better than last
year.
Illinois—Condition of clover 86 and timothy 95.
Ohio—Clover 84 and timothy 97 per
oent.
APPLE AND PEACH BUDS.
The questions on fruit were per cent of
buds alive. The reports show on apples
for Indiana 91, Illinois 90, and Ohio 92.
On peaches but few counties in the three
States report at all, and the average on
these are Indiana 70, Illinois 60 and Ohio
72 per oent. Indeed there are but few
counties in these States that make any
pretension of growing peaches, and hence
meager reports.
BTE AND B \RLEY.
Th6se minor crops are reported pretty
high in all the States, as will be seen in
small table of averages by States.
AVERAGE BT STATES.
Wheat, per centof acreage.... 93
Wheat, per cent of condition- 81
Clover, percent of condition..! 87
Timothy .percent of condition; 91
Appies, percent of bnds alive 91
Peaches per cent ot buds alive 70
Rye, per cent of condition.. 91
Barley, per cent of condition.. 83
Horses, per cent of condition. 90
Cattle, per cent of condition.. 98
Higs, per cent of condition... , 99
Bheep. per cent of condition...1 98
ludiana Illinois
un to
es
&5
84
97
92
72
96
90
97
97
93
96
LIVE STOCK.
The present condition of live stock is reported high In all three States, as will be
noted in averages by States. Reporters
agree that swine disease last fall and early
winter greatly reduced the stock of hogs
in all three States and that there is now
quite a shortage of stock hogs. This is in
agreement with facts as gleaned from all
other souroes,and is the meaning of higher
prioes for fat hogs that have prevailed for
some weeks.
INDIANA—AVERAGES BY COUNTIES AND DIVISIONS.
The following table gives the averages
in per cents compared with a full average
area and condition at same date in other
average years, and not of any particular
year:
Indiana Cottnties.
Northern Division
Adams	
Allen	
Benton	
Carroll	
Cass ,
DeKalb	
Elkhart	
Fnlton	
Huntington _	
Jasner	
Kosciusko	
Lagrange	
Lake	
Laporte	
Marshall	
Mlnml	
Newton..	
Noble	
Porter	
Pulaski	
Starke	
St. Joseph	
Steuben	
Wabash	
Wells	
White	
Whitley	
Average	
Central Division
Blackford ,
Boone ,
Clay	
Clinton ,
Delaware.	
Fountain ,
Grant	
Hamilton	
Hancock	
Hendricks.	
Henry	
Howard..	
Jay	
Johnson _	
Madison	
Marion....	
Montgomery	
Morgan	
Owen...	
Parke	
Putnam..	
Randolph ,
Rush	
Shelby	
Tippecanoe	
Tipton	
Union	
Vermillion	
Vigo	
Warren	
Wayne	
Average	
Sontbern Dlrlisttr
Bartholomew	
Brown	
Clarke	
Crawford	
Daviess	
Dearborn	
Decatur	
Dubois	
Fayette	
Floyd	
Franklin	
Gibson	
Greene	
Harrison	
Jackson	
Jefferson	
Jennings	
Knox	
Lawrence	
Martin	
Monroe	
Ohio	
Orange „	
Perry—	
Pike,	
Posey __„	
Ripley.	
Scott	
Spencer	
Sullivan	
Switzerland	
Vanderuurg 	
Warrick	
Washington...	
U
s8
liM
100
100
106
100
100
inn
ion
100
ioo
100
160
100
100
80
n
BO
DO
80
n
TO
100
100
100
100
8)
80
86
M
80
80
86
85
86
80
88
inn
9J
100
100
100
100
inn
UK)
8>
86
115
im
MO
100
80
ion
86
M
ur,
89
80
18
it
75
80
on
86
m
so
88
80
85
80
B0
100
fin
7.3
70
To
80
80
80
no
80
80
85
9y
75
75
80
80
75
75
80
9
ioo
100
93
75
95
50
65
■
90
80
86
70
80
9.
95
86
85
80
108
no
90
ino
100
100
51
|8
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£5
Average	
State average.
100
SI
95
8S
95
95
76
90
100
100
80
100
95
86
100
95
85
100
91
90
100
96
96
100
100
100
95
100
90
96
106
100
96
80
60
100
85
85
100
76
90
100
90
74
80
100
86
100
100
60
80
95
70
90
90
80
100
1C0
66
26
90
95
90
10
ion
100
100
100
100
86
80
100
90
90
105
90
60
no
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
60
lft^
95
60
90
90
80
80
80
60
70
8.
70
70
90
80
70
90
81
9-i
98
83
8?
100
100
100
100
100
ion
100
95
96
95
100
80
90
100
90
9">
100
95
80
90
95
100
» 100
100
100
96
100
96
100
90
95
IOO
100
95
96
90
95
100
90
100
100
100
93
96
96
76
70
90
100
90
85;
so)
1001
90
100
100 i
100
ioo!
95
M
100
80
8E
86
100
90
9lj
90
89
100
10*
190
80
100
100
1ft'
100
78
9
100
11)1
100
100
wo
100
"ioo
80
80
71)
80
90
9)
96
NO
100
85
95
90
80
85
90
IS
J 00
REMARKS OF REPORTERS—INDIANA.
Carroll Co.—Late freez'ng would have
hurt wheat greatly but for the dry
weather.
Harrison Co.—Wheat sown with bone
dust stood winter best.
LaUrange Co.—Zero weather here morning of Maroh .30.
Montgomery Co.—Farm work well advanced.
Kosciusko Co.—Much snow last of
March.
Howard Co.—Oats mostly sown and
much corn ground broken.
Hendricks Co.—Large acreage of oats
sown.
Franklin Co.—Digs enough to kill all
the sheep in the county in a night.
Clarke Co.—Oats sown in goodc ondltion.
Gibson Co.—On account of dry fall,wheat
is looking bad.
ILLINOIS.
Pope Co.—Fair outlook here for season
only.
Madison Co.- Cholera left us but few
hogs here.
Bond Co.—Oils orops will be large area,
also corn.
Saline Co.—Cold and dry.
Gallatin Co.—Early sown wheat best.
Montgomery Co.—Oata all sown in
March.
Wayne Co.—Clover badly damaged.
Shelby Co.—Cholera took off half the
hoga here.
Cumberland Co.—Hogs very scarce.
Effingham Co.—Large area to oats.
Washington Co.—Oats all sown in
March.
Clay Co.—Fourteen inches snow fell last
of March.
Douglass Co.—Everything promising
hero.
Sangamon Co.—Oats acreage will be
above an average.
OHIO.
Henry Co.—Season late.
Butler Co.—Barley little grown.
Preble Co.—Clover badly frozen out.
Hocking Cj.—Hogs still dying of oholera in this section.
Van Wert Co.—Hogs scarce here.
Defiance Co.—Fly damaged wheat.
Lucas Co.—Dry and cold weather.
Logan Co.—There wa, a large amount
of maple simp made here.
Auglaize Co —Wheat muoh damaged by
late oold weather.
Rcbland Co.—Full acreage of wheat.
Putnam Co.—Few peach trees here.
Warren Co.—Late oold weather injured
the wheat much.
Lioking Co.—February weather wet and
warm, and March cooler.
Fairfield Co.—Spring backward.
GENERAL NOTES.
The visible supply of wheat on Maroh
19,h was in round numbers 53 000,000
bnshels, against 50,000,000 same date last
year. Corn abont the same as laat year
16,000,000 bushels.
The grain exports are larger than at the
same dato last year.
Very little seeding in the Northwest yet
on account of wet weather and heavy
■nows.
In California the orop last year was 1,-
100,000 tons, and the outlook so far is
about the   same as last  season.   The area
to wheat is about the same  also   as last
year.
The export of the hog product from November to March was a little more this
season than same months last.
The stook of wheat in tbe spring wheat
regions of the Northwest are reported to
the Department of Agriculture at 19,610,-
880 bushels.
The Department of Agriculture estimates the present supply of hogs 7 per
cent less than last year in the Western
States. This is about in accordance with
other reports.
Wrl ten lor the Indiana Farmer.
Raising Millet.
nY  N. ,T.  SHEPHERD.
EL P. B., of Greenfield,  wants to  know '
how to raise millet and Hungarian, in the
"Farmer" of January 8th.
It is rather early to discuss this crop, as
it Is usual not to sow until May, after all
the oorn has been planted. Many farmers
follow the plan of sowing all the land they
are unable to get planted to corn in good
season, to millet. The preparation and
seeding of millet and Hungarian are about
the same; Hungarianin fact, being only a
variety of millet- It is necessary that the
ground should be well plowed and harrowed until it is in a fine condition.
Some wait and try, as nearly as possible, to sow the seed just before a rain.
Bat my plan ia to get everything ready
and sow as soon as the condition of the
soil will admit, after a rain, sowing the
seed as evenly as possible, and then covering with a light harrow or brush.
My reason for sowing after a rain in
preference to before, is that the seed when
germinating sends up a very tender root.
Very often after we have had a hard rain,
and in the spring we very often have
suoh rains, running the freshly plowed
land all together, the sun comes out hot
and a crust is formed over the surface, so
hard that it is impossible for the tender
shoots to force their way through. And
in consequence they die—really smother
to death. The seed germinate well enough
but do not have strength sufficient to
force their way through, and in consequence die.
By waiting until after a rain, and only
sowing when the soil is in a nice condition, this trouble is avoided.
There is nothing gained in sowing the
seed until the soil is warm and dry.
Under favorable condition the seed germinate In a short time, while if the soil is
wet and cold the seed will rot in a short
time.
While often a very fair crop oan be secured on what might be considered thin
land, yet I always considered it best to
sow in fairly rloh land, as on such land,
in a good season, with good seed carefully sown, a very large yield can be secured.
On good rich land use one and a half
bushels of seed, and on thinner land a less
quantity. Sow the seed as evenly as possible, covering lightly.
It should be cut, if possible, to make the
best hay when the largest number of
heads are in bloom. Ordinarily it will
have to be handled about the same as
olover. It should be thoroughly cured
before storing away, if you are raising
for seed it should not be eut until the
seed begins to harden. It makes a quick
growth, and in a favorable season yields a
large crop of good hay.
E'don, Mo.