VOL. XXX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., DEC.   7,    1895.
NO. 49
Editors Indiana Farmer :
Your big 50th year Farmer is received;
splendid, and magnifioent: long may the
Farmer live. B. Hole.
Maryville, Tenn.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Your anniversary number of your 50th
year is very attractive and a credit to
you. D. B. Johnson.
Morgan Co.   "*
Our 50th Anniversary Number.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Your special issue is worthy of your efforts. I congratulate you upon reaching
your 50th milestone. J. B. Burris.
Cloverdale.
Best of Seven Papers.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I get more information and points on
farming and caring for stock from the Indiana Farmer than from all the other
papers I take, and I subscribe for seven
papers. R. B. Hutchcraft.
Paris, Ky.
 ♦—	
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Allow us to compliment you on the appearance of the 50th anniversary of the
Indiama Farmer.   I don't know of any
agricultural  paper that compares with
yours in Jhe ability as represented in the
pictureefpublished in this issue.   Wish ing
you success and prosperity, I am
Yours very truly,
W. B. Holton Mfg Co,
W. H. Holton, Pres.
 —♦	
What Do You Say?
Editors Indiana Farmer:
If taking the horns off of cattle is called
dehorning, would cutting the tails off of
pigs be called detailing, and if the pig's
tail is put back on would that be called
etailing, taking Webster for it?
Kokomo. A Reader.
Corn Cobs and Ashes.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Will some brother farmer tell the value
of corn cobs as a fertilizer, also of wood
ashes on clay land? We have had plenty
of good rains. Wheat and rye look well;
plants small but vigorous. B. F. S.
Tipton Co.
—Both corn cobs and fertilizers are excellent fertilizers on clay soils, well worth
the cost of hauling and spreading on the
field. Ashes command a good price in
New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and
are imported by the car load from Canada. Have any of our readers used them
extensively?
more independent than the farmer? He
raises his garden truck, his potatoes, cabbage and corn. He is not like the merchant. He is independent and does not
wait on anybody. He fattens his own
pork.
Take 160 acres of land and farm it right,
and say the farmer makes six cents on
the dollar above expenses, and see where
it runs to. Say the farm of KiO acres cost
$10,000. At six per cent this would be $600.
Now, say he has 50 acres of corn at 40
bushels por acre, this would be 2,000bushels at 20 cents is $400; 60 acres of wheat at
20 bushels per acre, 1,200 bushels at 50
cents is $600. Set off three acres for truck
patch, houses and barns. Twenty acres
of clover at $3 per acre is $60; seed from
same, 20 bushels at $4 per bushel, $80; 10
acres timothy meadow at $5 per acre, $50;
18 acres of wood and pasture. The produce is fairly worth $1,190.
They say farming don't pay. I claim
you can make a good living and fair
wages, live like a king and be happy. I
have, before now counted my store bill
for a year, and doctor bill, and everything
paid out and everything paid in and find
I have made good money. But they say
farming don't pay. Guess I will move to
town and rent out my farm. In one or
two years I would be glad to go back to
the farm. I think there is nothing that
pays better than farming. To be on the
safe side farm life is the best business.
I read the Farmer and pay one year
ahead of time, so as not to miss a copy.
Let her prosper and have a long life.
Shelby Co. S. A. Havens.
Cause of the Large Yield of Corn.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
You repeat the query you made as to
the large wheat crop last year as to what
has produced this large yield of corn.
We repeat the reply we made in the case
of the wheat, and say "it was the ascending moisture, bringing with it plant
food from below, that made the large
corn crop. The animal eats; the plant
drinks. The animal assimilates, or appropriates its food through little tubes
we call lacteals. The plant takes up its
food through similar tubes which we
call capillaries. The growth of an animal or a plant is indirect proportion to
the amount of food given them that they
can appropriate. And so, a crop is always in proportion to the amount of
available plant food in the soil. The capacity of a soil to contain plant food depends upon its depth. The capacity of
soil to hold plant food and furnish a
medium for bringing up plant food,
through the operation of capillary attraction, depends upon the fineness of its particles.
The lesson of the year is plow deep and
pulverize as deep aa you plow.
Dearborn Co. Quip.
Does Farming Pay?
Editors Indiana Fabmeb:
I  say   yes, to   this question.
Who is
Threshed Corn Fodder.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
L.W of Noblesville asks about shredded
corn fodder. I don't know anything
about that by experience, but have had a
few weeks' experience with threshed
corn fodder, which for all practical purposes amounts to the same thing. I am
well pleased with this way of handling
the fodder crop. The stock eat it readily
and they eat a great deal more of it than
they do when it is fed whole. The horses
especially, eat it even better than I expected. I thought that they would leave
some of it for bedding, but they leave so
little that it is not of much account for
this purpose. Everything that it is being fed to is doing well. Besides so much
more of it can be stored in a given
amount of space than when it is put in
long—I think fully three times as much>
and this in itself is quite an advantage.
My fodder was threshed when it was
very dry, too dry to handle well. As
might be expected when put into the
mow in that condition, it is keeping very
nicely. I should hate to risk it, though,
when threshed as damp as some farmers
have threshed it.especially when it is done
early. On a neighboring farm there is a
stack of fodder which has been quite wet,
but is now partially dried out and frozen
that is to be threshed in a few days and
stored in a rather tight mow. I shall observe how that way of handling works
and shall be able to report results later in
the season. H. S. K. B.
Elkhart Co.
Upon the list of institute workers for
this winter we notice the name of Mrs.
Clara S. Everts, of Griffith, Lake county,
a popular and practical contributor to our
columns, as well as to those of several
other well-known publications. Mrs. Everts is recommended as an institute worker, being a forceful and practical speaker.
We are having numerous requests for
our circular descriptive "of the south,
showing a very deep interest in the colony movement we have several times referred to. But we must have many more
requests before we issue the circular.
Send in the names.
Electric Railroads—Their Possibilities for
the Farmer.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The farmer needs, transportation, power, heat and light. These are absolute essentials to his success and happiness.
How can they be most readily obtained?
The day of the gravel road, horse-powers,
wood from the forest have gone by.
Coal oil comes in to take the place of the
candle, but it too, is not up to the times,
its dangers, dirt, vexations, are well-
known.
Long before Franklin drew electricity
from the clouds, God had stored away for
man's use, this wonderful power to be
utilized when man required its potency.
Now is the day of electricity. Our roads
must be traversed by the electric powers.
Every county seat in Indiana will soon
be connected by electric roads, to be supplemented by other neighborhood roads,
of importance to the people. What will
be the effect on the farmer.
QUICK TRANSPORTATION.
Rapid transit is in the air. Horses are
valueless. Every farmer's home stores>
or soon will, the bicycle. Bicycles are
costly to buy and to keep in repair. And
then it is a kind of selfish way, you can
not take the wife and family to town with
you. It costs the farmer, now, too much
too keep in good order the ordinary roads;
and it seems under the system adopted in
Indiana, that is his doom. Besides the
cost of the road, there is the cost of
'.,-agons, carriages, harness, etc.
The electric road supplies means of
rapid travel, as well as transportation of
the crops at a less cost than now. The
cost of travel should be reduced to two
cents per mile, and even lower, as numbers of goers increase. The produce of
the farm should be placed in the nearest
county seat at a cost not exceeding one
dollar a ton, for the carrying. Every
Farmer should have bis own car, load it,
put it on the track, and then pay trackage
from his farm to the town or city.
Or, if what is the near future, let the
State and county join hands, build the
road on our present graded roads, supply
power, and charge toll, for every car that
uses the road. This can be done for five
to six thousand dollars per mile, and the
toll would soon be a means of revenue to
State and county, diminishing by so
much, the taxes. The canals of New
York from 1836 to 1882 earned nearly $70,-
000,000. We are fretting ourselves over
steam railroads, with watered stock,
heavy bonded loads to carry; why not let
the people as represented by State and
county, furnish the road bed and power,
and give every man the privilege of
travel, and carrying his produce to market, without watered stock or bonded
debt to carry a burden of interest?
Would it not reduce the cost of transportation to the lowest possible sum consistent with good business management.
Would there not be a glorious opportunity to assuage the growing spirit of unrest, that now takes ugly shape, when
men think of the vast fortunes made by
railway magnates, compared with the
modest earnings of the farmer or mechanic? Would this not also solve the
problem of congested population of cities,
by affording country homes, may be only
one acre, enough, if the economy of the
denser parts of Europe, tells us, to support a family of eight persons with food
and clothing?
POWER FOR FARM USE.
The farmer has churn, washing-machine, grind-stone, cutting-box, water to
lift to the tank, corn-sheller, food-grinder
in fact as he lightens his physical labor
by machinery, there is no telling what
may be done by one man on the farm.
Tap the line of the electric road, and at
less cost than steam or horse power, you
have all the force required.
And this power can be stretched out for
miles.   Not only the residents on the line
of the road, but far off this wizard of
electricity can wave its wand, and more
delights, happiness goes forth than from
the wand of Cinderella. Think of tired
backs, washday, in fact of the many
things that make farm life a life of drudgery, and bear in mind, we have a willing
slave, ready to do our work, only wants
the opportunity to enter our service.
UEAT FOR THE HOUSE.
The forests are becoming denuded of
their magnificent growth of trees. "God's
first temples, where man knelt him down
to worship." True we have gone down
into mother earth for coal, but that is a
dirty, smoky substitute. A clean sheet of
iron, without dust, grime or ashes to take
out; suitable to adorn parlor,dining room
or kitchen, asks but the touch of the wonder-worker and the room is filled with
warmth. The heart goes out in adoration
to our Father who so kindly has provided
this great need for the benefit of humanity.
A PERFECT LIGHT.
Do you remember tbe tallow dips that
mother made? How after starting the
first few rounds she called John or Elizabeth to continue the dipping process till
the full formed candle was completed?
Do you remember the tin dish filled with
grease, that hung on the chimney with its
flickering light? Do you recall the advent of coal oil, kerosene, and the death
dealing lights brought in their train.
Here comes, like an angel of light this excellent servant, and dazzels the brightness of the sun itself, by its brilliancy, or
tempers the blaze to the ordinary uses of
home.
Thus crudely have the possibilities of
the electric road been suggested. It may
be objected the cost is too great. That
will take care of itself, in the multitudinous inventions of the world, especially
this Yankee Nation, while competition
that great leveler of cost, will do for you
today and in the future, just the same
good work, that was done for the past
generations who knew nothing of what
is in store for the weary, tired, despondent farmer and his wife.
Let us have the electric road in every
county in Indiana. Let it bring city and
town to our farms, in speed and cost. Let
drudgery give place to enlightened
thoughtful use of God's gifts.
Let the forest remain to bless the land
with beauty and showers. Letour homes
glow with the brightness of noonday
when darkness comes over the earth.
In fact let the electrical age take, pos-
ession of the land, with all its manifold
blessings, adding joy to the hearts, life to
the home, bringing men away from the
congestion of city into the only real independent life designed by the Creator for
His children. Jno. W. Ray.
The Official Classification Committee
having in charge the matter of freight
rates on many leading railroads has recently acceded to a request that the companies put seed wheat, rye, oats, corn,and
barley in the regular grain classifications
and rates, thus saving to purchasers of
improved varieties of seed grain one-half
the old transportation charges. The recommendation of this committee to the
different railroads practically settles the
question. Mr. Everitt, the well-known
Indianapolis seedsman, has been largely
instrumental in bringing about this important modification in rates.
In the report of our City police court
last Monday, out of 31 cases 14 were for
drunkenness, and all the rest were for assault and battery, disturbing the peace,
vagrancy and such other crimes and misdemeanors as usually attend drinking
habits. So it may be set down as very
near, if not the exact, truth that all the
cases were the result of drink in some
way.   So it is always.