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^ WEEKLY JOURNAL OF THE FARM, HOME, AND GARDEN.
iVoi. VIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1873.
No. 12.
FORMERLY NORTH-WESTERN FARMKR.
OSW AgBICtTLTOBAL PAPEB TO INDIANA.
Devotes a Department to the Interests of the
Order of tbe Patron* of Husbandry.
ORGAN OF INDIANA STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
Endorsed by Indiana Horticultural Society, Indiana'
Short Horn Breeders' Convention, and many
County and District Societies.
J. 0. KINGSBUBY tc BBO., PuMishers-
OFFICE: NO. 4 JOURNAL BUILDING,
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
SuMcmimoN Tkrms.-^S per year; to clubs of four
or more, $1.75 each.
AttTBartstNa Tkbms.—Ordinary p-,ges; 15 cents per
line, oooparetl meaeure, firat insertion ; extra charge
lor special location; Special Notices, 20 centa.   .
[For the Indiana Farmer.
CK0P3 AND PRICES.
We recently had a discussion in our grange
on the subject of selling hogs at three cents a
pound There was a strong feeling developed
■gainst selling at snch figures. One of our
members bas been in the habit of buying the
hogs of the neighborhood. He stated that
three cents was all the market at that time
would justify him in paying. He is feeding
» large number of bogs, and said it was his
intention to salt his hogs at home before he
would sell at snch ruinous figures; he believed there would be money in the operation.
There will no doubt be a demand for all the
pork in the country, at fair prices, and whoever has possession of it whep the time comes
for it to go into the hands of consumers, will
teap the profit! ' Why may not the farmers
realize this as well as the large packers and
bankers? True, somo of tbe farmers may
have to defer the payment of somo debts a
little longer, bot why should not this be done
rather than sacrifice nil the profits of the farm
for a year? National banks that are realizing from twenty-five to forty per cent on all
their stocks, can and do suspend payment just
then tbey can matte or save a large amount
hy so doing. There will doubtless be much
lost by feeding too long this winter, in the
hope that prices will get better. It does not
f*J to feed hogs in very cold weather. An
etperiment was tried at Duncan Falls, Ohio,
to test this matter.   The hogs and corn weie
both carefully weighed. Counting p„rk at
four cents, the experiment gave the following
results:
Firat week in October, corn brought 80 cts per bushel
Weather warm.
First week In Nor. corn bronght.... Ci eta per bnsliel
Third week io Not. corn bronght.... 40 cts per busbel
Fonrth week in Nor. corn brought. 25 cts per l.ushel
All throngh Pec.corn brought  2.*> cts per bushel
First half of Jan. corn brought    A cts per bushel
Hecoud half of Jan. corn brought....   0 cti per bnshel
The weather was fine and warm during the
first wftk of feeding, but gradually got colder during the month of November, and continued much the samo through December, and
then ran down to zero, and below during the
last part of the experiment. These bogs were
in a good, covered pen with plank floor. This
experiment shows tbat unless a man bas twenty-five cent corn to feed, and does not value
bis labor at anything, he should not feed beyond the setting in of cold weather. But
may not the farmer get enough better prices
by waiting a month or six weeks to make up
all this loss in feeding? I think not. True,
the present are "panic prices," and this panio
ought not to continue another day; but it will,
for it has been largely made and is almost entirely upheld in the interests of speculators,
and will continue, if it be possible, till tbe
wheat and hog crops are secured to these
speculators. Then, no doubt, '"confidence"
will be restored, and business will flow on in
its wonted channels. Of all schemes for robbing farmers of their crops, that of creating
a "corner," or locking up thc currency of the
country just at the time when the crops are
thrown onto the market, is the most diabolical. "One of. the best ways of making the times
better, and thwarting the designs of those who
are trying to secure the crops at less than cos-t,
ia for farmers to hold oh to every pound of
pork and bushel of wheat po-sible, till the currency is let loose upon the country. There
teems to be no just cause for a depression of
prices of prodnce. There is a larger quantity
of money in the country in the hands of tbe
people than for several years, and gold is coming to us in large quantities from Europe
every week. There is a larger demand for
wheat from tbis country to supply the European markets than for many years past. There
will be, perhaps, the usual demand for pork,
with a falling off in the supply. The corn
crop for the whole country is estimated at
twenty-two per cent less tban last year, making an actual reduction of more than 250,-
000,000 bushels. This can not but result in a
reduc.ion of the bog crop. So tbat instead of
a reduction  in the price of either hogs or
wheat, the factors of demand "and supply
which control price eoem to indicate an ad- .
vance. When the farmer keeps out of debt,
and holds for a fair price, ho is master of the
situation, and can bring the world to his
terms. L. J. TiiurLi.v.
The Pin Machine.—This machine is one
of the closest approaches tbat mechanics have
made to the dexterity of the human hand. It
is about tbe height and size of a lady's sewing machine, only much stronger. On the .
side at the back a light belt descends from a
long shaft in tho ceiling that drives all machines, ranged in rows on tho floor. On the '■
leftside of tbe machine hangs on a peg a *
reel of wire that has been straightened bj','
running through a compound system of small -
rollers. The wire descends, and the end
enters the machine. This is the food consumed by this voracious little dwarf. He
puts it in and bites it off by inches incessantly
—one hundred and forty bites to tbe minute.
Just as he seizes each bite, a little hammer,
with a concave face hits the end of the wire
three times, "upsets'' it to a head, while he
grips it to a counter sunk hole between his
teeth. With an outward thrust with bis
tongue he then lays the pin sideways in a
little grove acrosB the rim of a small wheel
that slowly revolves. By the external pressure of a stationary hoop these pins roll in
their places as thcy are carried under two
series of small files three in each. These files
grow finer toward the end of tbe series.
They lie at a alight inclination on the pins,
and a series of cams, levers and springs are
made to play like lightening. Thus tbe pins
are dropped in a little shower in a box.
Twenty-eight pounds are a day's work for
one of these jerking little automatons. The
machines reject crooked pins, the slightest
irregularity in any one  of them being de»
tected.—Ex.
Vi.
Tbe annual cossumption of coffee, per
head, in various parts of the world, is as follows: England, 1} pounds to each person ;
France, 2|; Germany, 4; Denmark, 5J;
Switzerland, C; Belgium, 8._; Holland, 10J;
United States, 7. But in California, which
appears to '■ beat ajl creation " in this, at in
so many other things, it amounts to 16 3-5
pounds, or excluding Chinese and Indians,
who do not drink coffee, to 20} pounda.