VOL. XX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JUNE 27,1885.
NO. 26
'Quevg & guxsium
Give your name aud postofflce when asking questions.  Many queries go unanswered for failure to
'of Russell's Cham-
,14th, 1882? and
D. O.
ins? who
j '.s endure
i. J. E.
"Srer the
JdrtttfJ.
D. W.
in v.-
i'/hat
Pleaso inform  me where '»-. ,
cost I can secure a copy of Michigan State
Horticultural   Society    report  for    1884,
noticed in your last number.        A Sub. •
Vincennes.
Send 15  cents  for postage  to Chas. W.
Garfield, Sec'y, Grand Rapids, Mich., andjj»"-
he will send you a copy, we think
When is the right time to sow buckwheat, and how much per acre? When
is best time to plant late potatoes? "Hail
destroyed all my wheat and I must try to
raise something else. J. H. S. .
New Augusta.
Buckwheat should be sowed about the
first of July—from two to three pecks per
acre. The ground should be mellow and
free from weeds. Late potatoes may be
planted from the first to the tenth of July.
We had a heavy frost on morning of the
9th. The ground was frozen and corn on
low land was killed to the gronnd. What
effect will the freeze have on wheat?
Kosciusko Co. E. M. I.
The effect ofthe freeze on the wheat
that has headed out will be very disastrous.
The wheat will probably grow as before,
but the heads will be empty at harvest.
So far north as you are we hop© the crop
was not so far advanced as to be materially injured. The corn will soon come out
again, and be as thrifty as ever.
You will find enclosed a hair snake
that turned to a snake from a horse hair.
Please examine it through a microscope
and report through the Farmer what it
looks like. I also send a twig of a peach
tree to show you what the locusts are doing for our small fruit trees.
Wheat through these parts is at least
ten per cent better than last year.
Jasper Co. J. R. H.
The hair snake is a parasite which is
hatched ont in Insects like beetles or grasshoppers, like the tape worm in man, and
developes in the warm water of ponds.
This one is so small and dried up that it
does not show up under our pocket lens.
We will take it home and look at it under
the microscope. The eggs of the locusts
are very plainly to be seen under the glass.
Their punctures will be very injurious to
your fruit trees, but there seems to be no
help for it. 	
1. Can anyone, alter taking a homestead on Government land, change to a
preemption claim after six months residence on the land, and secure a deed for
the land, by paying the Government price
per acre for the land?
2. What portion of the land is required
to be fenced or cultivated?
3. If timber land, how much must be
cleared and fenced? A. subscriber.
Shelbyvllle.
1. Yes. He may commute aa it is called;
prove up and purchase, any time after six
months.
2. No amount is designated.
3. Five acres the first year and same
amount the second year. The second year
the first five acres must be cultivated and
the third year planted in trees, and so of
the second five acres on the following
years. At the time of final proof there
must be not less than 675 thrifty, growing
trees on the ten acres. At end of eight
years final proof may be made.
,.l.^Vhat is  the law on building  school
. 2.' n a trustee be compelled to build a
stthool house? If so how many scholars
would it take to establish a school house?
3. If the scholars were to live in three
different townships would eaoh township
have to help bear the expenses?
A Reader,
: 1. It Is one of the duties of the township
trustee to build, or otherwise provide
sultabls houses for schools.,
2. If he fails to do this or any other duty
~At..~t.j^o»r.,HJxy person  may maln-
         ..^,*us. una ior suoh offense,
in the name of the State. Th&re is no
definite number. The trustee uses his
discretion in the matter. Generally 20
children are deemed a sufficient number
to justify the building of a school house.
3. Yes, each must pay according to the
number of children of school age.
i send you an insect that has taken a
great deal of my corn and also some of my
neighbors' corn. What is it and is it likely to be more numerous next season?
Please give the address of the Ohio Agricultural College. A reader.
Andrews, Huntington Co.
We forwarded the bugs to Prof. Webster,
at Purdue, and here is his reply:
Yours enclosing letter and samples of
corn supposed to have been injured by insects also included, is at hand. The insect
is a beetle, known as Agonoderun pallipes
They are abundant every season, and are
not considered injurious; their food, so
far as known, consists largely of small
insects including young clinch bugs, Aphides and others of this sort. It is not
probable that they had anything to do
with the injuries to the kernels of seed
corn. From the appearance of these kernels, I should say that the seed was poor,
and had failed to germinate, or at best
sent out weak and insufficient roots. I
have often observed, in precisely . similar
cases, that after the kernel had been
softened by moisture in the soil, the substance was excavated out and carried off
by a very small yellow ant, Solonopsis
fugax, Latr., and I presume the same is
true in this case, and your correspondent
has mistaken the author of the mischief.
This sums all the more probable as the
Agonoderus are quite common about
cracks and crevices in cultivated fields.
Lafayette. F. M. Webster.
The address you want is Prof. W. R.
Lazenby, director Experimental Station,
Columbus, O.
As many are in doubt as to the future
market for small fruits, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, etc., please give your
opinion through the Farmer. Will shipments from the south break down*4ne
northern  growers of  fruit?   Ib  there a.
prospect  that  the  business  will  pay in
future as it has in the past.
Where can I get the Finley wheat for
seod this fall. Is it a good variety for this
State?
Is raw ground limestone a good fertilizer
for wheat and how is the best way to apply it, and where is it manufactured?
A Subscriber.
From inquiry atone of our best fruit
commission houses we learn that the
strawberry crop has not been much if any
in excess of that of former years, but the
season has been shorter than usual, and
occasionally there has been a glut in the
market for a short time. ■ Growers who
have tended their berries well and had
good crops have done better, even at the
low prices, than they could in anything
else perhaps. It will be so with raspberries and other small fruits. Those who
raise the most to the acre and the finest
will do well. The prices will not be so
high as in former years probably, but fair
prices for good fruit may always be expected. When prices run quite low the
masses of the people begin to buy, and
soon clean up the stock in the hands of
dealers, and at once the price advances.
In the meantime the common people have
got a taste for fruit, and find that it saves
in other food, and they are willing to pay
a little more for it. So gradually the demand increases. Dealers do not think
there is any danger of overproduction of
good varieties of fruit, large er small.
Probably the Sugar Valley Seed Company, of Thorntown, will advertise the
Finley wheat in due time.
Raw ground limestone is not very reliable on most of our Indiana soils. Your
soil in Putnam county ought to have lime
enough already.
A bad his house insured last November
in a reliable company, but not having the
money at the time, the agent of tbe company advanced the money for him. In
April A's house caught fire and burned
down and on the same day A refunded the
money to the agent that he had advanced
for him in November. The agent took the
money and told A that the policy was at
his dwelling, and he would leave it in
possession of a gentleman, a banker, who
was present and heard the conversation.
In a few hours afterward the agent heard
that the house was burned, and refused to
surrender the policy according to agreement. Can A recover anything for loss of
property, the agent being worth several
times the amount of A's insurance?
C. W. H.
A can recover his loss from the insurance
company.
T
nxo gcpax'twtixi
BY VINSON CARTER, ESQ., THIS ClTT.
A marries a widow's daughter. The
wife dies leaving a child; the child dies
soon after. At the widow's death can A
inherit any of the widow's property?
A Subscriber.
No. 	
In putting in tile ditch can I make an
outlet on my own land within a short distance from the line between me and my
neighbor and not be liable to him for damage, that being the natural course for the
water to flow? A. S. I.
Yes. 	
A owns a quarter section of land through
which a creek flows. His father entered
and received a patent from the United
States Government, paying ?1 25 per acre
for land and creek. Can the State make a
law by which he will be debarred from
fishing with net or seine in any part of
creek that passes through said land?
Parke Co, C. P.
Yes.
A man owns a machine on which the
manufacturers have infringed on a patent,
and he receives notice from the party
owning the* patent to pay royalty for tho
use of their patent, but say that he can
continue to use the machine.
Will he be released from paying royalty
if he discontinues the use of machine, or
will it make any difference in the law in
the case, if he continues to use the machine, or on receipt of notice of royalty he
sets the machine aside and gets a different
machine. J. E. D.
Any person using a patented article is
liable fer royalty for the time he used the
same; ceasing to use it does not release
him from liability for past use.
Letter from California.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Spring has come and gone and now tho
summer solstice  is near  at hand, but the
weather is  no warmer  than that of  last
month, and indeed, as the season progresses onward.no progress is made in degrees
of heat,  it being cooler than some of the
winter months.   The latter rains came just
in time  to save  our crops  of barley and
wheat and to add millions as it were to the
wealth of Southern California.   Had they
not come till a week or two later, the crops
would have been a failure and if tho rains
had come abou t two  weeks sooner, crops
would  have been  better.   However, we
are  content as it is and may be thankful,
too.   At  San Gorgonis and Banning, east
of this some twenty miles, there was moro
rain and  consequently better crops.   AVe
have been favored with  good weather for
curing hay and it is in excellent conditio
so far.   In some places towards  the coast,
it  was  damaged  considerably  by  rain,
which  fell   in   greater   quantity   there.
There have been cut  two crops of alfalfa
and some farmers have probably cut three.
Every time  after the  hay is gathered In,
the ground is irrigated afresh, preparatory
to another crop,  and so  on through   the
season.   Barley hay is quoted at ?7 50 to ?8
and No. 1 at ?9 50, alfalfa at ?10, and wheat
hay at ?10, at Los Angeles.   Butter is 20 to
25 cents per pound here.   Honey is not in
such quantities  as last year and sells for
about i%   cents  per   pound.   The  sage
bloom is scarcely so well developed as last
year,  on account  of less rain.   The early
fruits, apricots, etc., are ripening, but they
are scarce and the birds get  the first and
best choice, leaving the inferior kinds for
us to use.   Linnets and wild canaries are
so destructive and numerous, the shotgun
is put in requisition to save the fruit, and
even  the birds  in their season.   It looks
cruel but  it is necessary if you wish any
apricots, of which the birds are excessively fond.  Strawberries and raspberries have
come and gone and now blackberries are
coming on  and will soon be  ripe.   Corn
and durra,or dhoora, are getting up pretty
well and perhaps we may have green corn
by the 4th  of July.   As to vegetables, we
are in the bad habit of being supplied by
Chinamen, who dispose of them cheaper
than we can afford to raise them ourselves,
so people say, but It is merely an excuse
for indolence, I think. I do assert that
Americans can raise them as well, for I
have seen the experiment tried with success. In washing, |however, a Chinaman
is necessary. They have a persistent, patient, "get down to it" kind of way that
no American can attain to. There's the
rub.   Excuse pun. J. M. T.
Lugonia, Cal., Jnne 10.