SEPS1lOOfr^
VOL. LXI PUBLIC LIBRARY] NDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 22, 1006.
— - *m****m*m*++m0*a*mm*Mm*mMmw*m*ms3*mrw
NO. 38
THE BIQ   STATE FAIR.
New   Ideas   in   Farm M_thlnery.--Some
Greatly Improved   Farm Machinery.
A visitor at the recent State fair, if of
a mechanical turn of mind, could not help
but be impressed  with  the  sight of the
many labor saving devices and inventions
intended for nse upon the farm.     All this
goes to prove the common     =========
saying that the Americans are an Ingenious,
original people when it
comes to devising and
constructing machines aud
engines. The field of agricultural labor saving machines is a large one and
the great number of various kinds of farm machinery showed clearly
that the farmer is as
busy in the materializing
of new and practical ideas
as those working in the
manufacturing and commercial realms.
Some of the latest original and practical devices seen at the State fan-
in the line of farm machinery are here worthy of
notice. An interesting affair, on exhibition, was a
tree transplanting contrivance, by means of
wnich, a good sized tree
can be successfully removed from its original
place, carried to another
location and replanted. A
series, of inward curving
wedge-shaped cutters, attached by their upper ends
to bars, radiating from a
center ring, are driven
downward into the soil
around the tree. As the
wedges are driven down,
they cut the small roots
and pass underneath the =====
tree, so that when all are driven home a
huge basket is formed enclosing the roots.
Before this operation is begun the contrivance is placed around the tree and by
opening a large iron circle, then closing and locking it again when in positon.
After the iron stakes or wedges are all
driven into position, by a system of levers,
rulleys and cables the tree and roots with
all the ground clinging to them, are raised bodily and tilted into position on the
frame of the machine. This frame is on
wheels for the purpose of transportation.
A novel machine was that known as the
potato bug annihilator, which consists of
two reels, with brooms attached, and geared to a sort of cultivator. The reels are
arranged parallel with the length of the
machine and actuated by a chain belt
from the driving wheel in front. When
the contrivance is drawn by a horse between two potato rows infested by bugs,
the revolving reels in striking the plants
knock the insects in towards the machine
and causes tbem to fall upon an endless
rubber apron on either side. These
apron sheets pass over steel rollers at the
center of the device, and carry the beetles
towards this point where they are crushed
between the rollers. It is claimed that a
field of potatoes can thus be easily cleaned
of bugs while cultivating it.
An Innovation in corn husking machinery is an Invention called the safety shred
der. This does not differ very widely
from the ordinary shredder, except that instead of feeding tlie corn and fodder direct into the business part of the machine,
an endless apron or carrier similar to that
of the self feeder ou threshers, carries the
raw material into the shredding mechanism. The distance of the feed frotn the
dangerous parts of the machine precludes
any accident to the operator; a point
greatly in favor of the new shredder.
A lately patented device, of special Interact to farmers, in sections where it is
ditllcult to secure unadulterated grain and
grass seeds, was one which will successfully remove buckhorn aud plantain seed
from cloVer and kindred seeds. This invention consists of three pairs of rollers
mounted on a frame work, in such a way
that each pair was slightly inclined from
the front end to the rear.      Each roller in
German  Coach  Stallion,  Imported  by .1.   II.   Weaver,     Winainac,     Imliana.
A rotary threshing machine, a great
departure from the conventional kind was
oue new feature among the exhibits of
threshing machinery. The grain and
straw, after leaving the cylinder of the
machine and passing over a short series
of riddles enters the interior of a great
revolving perforated sheet iron cylinder at
the rear of the structure. The cylinder,
as it turns, shakes up the straw and causes the loose grain to pass through the
perforations in the face of the cylinder.
The straw is then drawn out by means of
the ordinary wind stacking device. The
machine is a freak of its kind, but its inventor and manufacturers have the usual
confidence in its ultimate success.
A recent improvement on grain and fertilizer drills is the substitution of the disc
hoes for the ones formerly used. That
they are proving satisfactory to the agricultural world is shown by the increased
demand for drills with these attachments.
Indications show that the disc plow is
slowly gaining in favor with farmers in
seme sections of our State.
A light two-horse self-binding grain har-
\ester was one of the attractions among
the harvesting machinery which evoked
favorable comment.
The display of wind mills and gasoline
engines was such as indicate many useful
improvements thereon, and that the de-
mantf for them on the farm is greater than
pair touched the other aud when one turned the other rotated in the opposite direction through friction of the surfaces.
Each roller is covered with a rather
coarse rough cloth. The adulterated
seed is allowed to run from a hopper at
the front end of the machine into the
groove formed by each pair of rollers. As
the rollers, revolved by suitable mechanism, proceed in their journey the buckhorn
seed, by means of its physical difference
from the clover seed adheres to the cloth
covering on the rollers. AVhen the rollers
pass around all the weed seeds clinging to
the cloth are scraped off automatically
and fall into a canvass receiving blanket.
The clover seed being smooth does not adhere to the cloth, hence it passes down the
inclined groove between the rollers and
out at the rear of the machine quite free
from all foreign seeds.
it seems that this machine will become
a boon to farmers troubled with the buckhorn and plantain pest.
The many practical uses of cement
work economy was clearly set forth by
the various firms interested in the manufacture of cement specialities.
Recently George Wood, a wealthy
bachelor of Pulaski county, while driving
along the road near Winamac, was struck
and killed by a bolt of lightning. The
horses were unuurt.
A MINIATURE FARM ON THE STATE FAIR
GROUNDS.
The Indianapolis News has this kind
notice of our experiment work on the
State fair grounds:
"A miniature farm of one and one-half
aCrea, in the southeast part of the State
Hair grounds, near the horse barns, is attracting the attention of many farmers
who attend the exposition. The farm is an
  experiment station, conducted by the Indiana
Farmer Company, and the
Winona Agricultural Institute, a training school for
young farmers at Winona
Lake. The soil and crop experts who are instructors
at the institute have also
aided iu the1 work, and the
purpose is to experiment
with aud test varieties ot
grains and plants, raising
them ou tlie tract under
the various methods of soil
fertilization and cultivation.
The ground has been
laid off into four sections,
and each section is divided into small plats, each
twenty feet wide. Be-
t ween sections is a ten-
foot walk, over which hundreds of farmers have
passed this week, eagerly
seeking information as to
the progress of the experiments. Section A is
demonstrating the effect of
varying quantities of barnyard fertilizer and of the
different kinds of commercial fertilizers on potatoes,
corn and beans. In this
section are also growing a
variety of pumpkins and
squashes. Tests are being made of the effect of
different fertilizers on
corn, fifteen rows, each
= different from the other,
1 ring planted. The tests are of much interest to the corn growers who have been
to the little farm.
Section B is devoted to grasses. One
plat shows alfalfa growing in the second
season after having been cut three times
during the last summer. Another plat
shows timothy sown in early June; alsike
clover in its second year, medium red
clover planted early this season, sand
i etch, blue grass, mixed grass seeds,
mammoth, white and crimson clover, a
variety of flowers, and the like are also
thriving in this section. Corn cultivation
tests in different depths of soil, garden
vegetables of many kinds are iu this part
of the farm.
Forage plants occupy Section D, including cowpeas, millet, rape, sugar beets,
mangel wurtzel, carrots, velvet beans, in
all forty-five different plants being tested.
The State Board or Agriculture has
given the use of the ground and the tests
will be made on the plot year after year.
Many of the farmers who have seen the
experiment station say that they have
from one visit to it obtained a score of
fresh ideas that they can apply to their
land at home." '
Andrew Burkhart of Morgan county informed us at the State fair that he had
about 1000 bushels of apples of three varieties in his orchard this fall.