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VOL. XXII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1887.
NO. 27
WHEAT GAMBLING.
The late gambling ill wheat at Chicago,
which resulted In the failure of the Fidelity hank of Cincinnati, will have a useful
lesson for commercial men of loose morals. It is well for all that such disaster
follows such gambling, for it seems that
since the .lays when the "gold went into
the lire and came out a calf" down to the
present, that disaster and death alone are
tbe agents to help along to better morals
and better life. The live to six million
dollars loss in the "Fidelity" bank is a
cheap'investment, far cheaper than the
disasters in money and morals in a wider
field would have been, stimulated by a
successful deal in this instance.
But it is also interesting to note how the
evil forces of the world are manipulated in
bringing about their own overthrow, for it
must be said that the wheat gamblers of
the Chicago board of trade areas bad as
the Fidelity bank gang, who made the
"corner" on wheat. The board of trade
has always had a rule that "regular"
wheat was that only in the elevators. The
fidelity gamblers bought every bushel of
that, and thus had a "corner" ou "regular" wheat. There were millions of bushels under margin "contract" to be delivered in .lunc, and if no more wheat could
be made "regular" on account of the full
elevators, then these millions under contract had to be bought of the Fidelity
gang, and that meant a high price for it,
that would break thc Chicago gamblers.
and put several millions of dollars into the
pockets of the Cincinnati gamblers. That
game had been worked before, and the
Cincinnati gang said they could work it
again. Bnt the Chicago crowd had grown
wise by experience and disaster. Their
hoard of trade seeing the peril of their
own men, met and amended their "rule"
by providing that wheat in can and stored anywhere was regular, and then wheat
began to pour into Chicago, from elevators
and warehouses all over thc West, by the
train load, and the June margins were
thus made good, wheat tumbled and the
Cincinnati gamblers were dumbfounded,
lt \. as the story of Mordecai and Hainan
over again, only in this case one deserved
hanging as much as the other. The particularly important matter in this instance was, that the one evil force needed
to be spared and utilized to crush the other. It was a good illustration ofthe fact
that man's wrath is over-ruled an.l made
to serve a v ise purpose.
It is by such experience and disaster
that the world moves to a higher sphere
of morals, and if such wickedness must
prevail, the loss of a few millions and the
Imprisonment of a number of prominent
people now and then is a splendid public
investment. The sad thing is that gamblers ever do succeed; but observation
shows that such success is only temporary,
and waits on greater disaster.
was about six miles an hour. Our railroad trains beat tbe wind's best speed
every day, except when a tornado joins in
the race.
HINTS TO SWIMMERS.
The following advice given liy the Boston Journal of Commerce is timely and
we copy it in the hope that it may be the
means of saving lives:
The chief reason why good swimmers
are so often drowned when they are accidentally thrown into the water is ^because
the shock causes them to lose their presence of mind. The loss of presence of
mind leads to paralysis of body, or to such
wild exortions as accelerate drowning instead of contributing to preservation.
The ability to behave wisely in case of
sudden accidents ean only lie acquired by
experience, just as everything else has to
tM acquired. The theory of the matter can
be taught in swimming schools, but the
practice must be acquired by experience,
Hence, in some of the European swimming schools, says the Hebrew Journal,
the pupils are taken out boat riding and
purposely upset, as though the upsetting
were accidental. They are also suddenly-
pushed overboard, an.l subjected to all
manner of prepared accidents, so as to accustom them to acting in emergencies. In
this way they learn how to behave in case
of real accidents, and arc protected against
the loss of their presence of mind on occasions of danger on the water. Thev are
also taught to have faith in the sustaining
power of the water itself. They get to
know that the water will sustain them if
they will only render it the least help.
A finger laid upon an oar, or the gunwale of an overturned boat, or a board, or
almost any floating substance, will sustain the human body in calm water. Kelsons who have been properly taught, and
have acquired the habit of acting with
self-possession in the water when thev are
upset, do not attempt to climb upon the
overturned boat, but simply take hold of
it and quietly support themselves. A boat
half tilled with water, or completely ever-
turned, Will support as many persons as
can get their hands upon the gunwale, if
they behave quietly. In a case of accident
a person who understands and acts in accordance with these facts would stand a
better chance of being saved, even if he
were a poor swimmer, than an expert
would stand who should lose his presence
of mind.
SPEED OF THE WIND.
A moderate breeze is not as rapid as
many suppose. According to the report
of the Indiana signal service for May the
mean hourly velocity of the wind at this
place during the month was only a little
over four miles an hour, and the highest
velocity was but 19miles an hour. At Lafayette it reached a velocity of 24 miles on
the 25th  and the  average   for the month
thus paid was money well expended. We
think it Important to continue the cultivation of corn by stirring an inch or'so
of the surface until the corn begins to silk
and USte the surface with a mulch of
finely pulverised soil.
DATES OF THE WORLDS HARVESTS.
January—Harvest ended in most districts of Australia, and shipments have
been made of the newr crop; Chili, New
Zealand, Argentine Republic.
February—Upper Egypt, India.
March—Egypt, India.
April—Coast of Egypt, Syria, Cyprus,
India, Persia, Asia Minor, Mexico, Cuba.
May—Persia, Asia Minor, Algeria, Syria,
Texas, Florida, Morocco, Mid. China,
Japan, Central Asia.
June—California, Oregon,Southernl'nit-
ed States, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary,
Turkey, Roumelia, Danube,South Russia,
South of France, llanubian Principalities,
Greece, Sicily, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky,
Kansas, Arkansas, I'tah, Colorado, Missouri.
July—Southern, Eastern and Midland
English counties, Oregon, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, Ohio, New England, New York,
Virginia, Upper Canada, France, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Poland.
August United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Manitoba, British Columbia, Lower Canada, Hudson's
Bay Territory, Denmark, Poland.
September—Scotland, England, hops
and roots; America, maize; Athabasca,
wheat, barley and corn; Sweden, North
Russia, France, beet root, buckwheat.
October—Scotland, America, maize crop,
France, Germany, vintage.
November—Australia (North,) Peru
South Africa.
December—Australia (South,) Chili,
Agentine Republic.
for publication. The writer referred to
further says that cheat never germinates.
If this be true it gives strong support to
his theory.
BENEFIT OF LATE CULTIVATION.
Not all farmers  will agree with a writer
in the Agricultural   Club in the following,
but we  believe his   plan a right one*   lie
says: We haw   gone over   th. in   alter
heavy rainfalls with one-horse harrows
made especially for the purpose, when the
corn was beginning to silk, to stir the surface and save the needed moisture for the
corn in its supreme effort of maturing
seed. In some Instances, we think we
have added several bushels to the acre in
the yield, by so doing. We think it important to stir the surface soil often, and
especially soon after a rainfall, keeping
the surface as level as possible. We think
it important to keep up the cultivation of
the corn through the harvesting of small
grain and have paid harvest wages to men
to plow corn and we are sure that the wages
A NEW THEORY FOR CHEAT.
A writer in thc lies Moines, Iowa. Register explains thc so-called turning of wheat
to cheat by saying that the center or main
stalk which bears the male flower has been
damaged by frost or other means, and
hence does not fertilize the flowers on the
sucker stalks. The cheat according to his
theory consists of unfertilized heads,
growing on the sucker or side shoots, and
tbe reason there is no cheat in spring
wheat is that the head is not formed in
thc prime stalk until after all danger from
frost has passed, lie mentions the follow ing fact in proof of the truth of his
theory:   I saw a very line stand of winter
wheat of ten acres in Eastern Ohio, in
onverted into a Held of cheat in one
night by the town cows breaking into it
an.l grazing it down, all in one night.
When it grew up to harvest it was all
cheat -no wheat inthe field, though the
stand and stalks were first .lass.
Thc American Miller says of this explanation: It may be the correct one;
anyhow , it has the merit of compromising
conflicting statements and reconciling
science with experience.
Farmers have an opportunity just now
to satisfy themselves as to the truth or
falsity of the theory. Will not some of
our readers investigate and   report   to us
WEATHER—CROP BULLETIN.
For the Week Ending Saturday, June 25.
SIGNAL SERVICE, )
WAK l.KI'AKT.M KNT. V
Washington City, .bine, "J.:, 1887.)
Temperature—During the week ending
June 2",1887, the weather has been slightly
cooler than the average for the week in all
agricultural districts east ofthe Rocky
mountains, while it has been warmer
than usual on the Pacific coast. In thc
States of the upper Mississippi an.l Missouri valleysandthe upper Lake region,the
daily average temperature ranged from 3°
to 7° below thenormal/w'hileon the Atlantic coast south of New England and in the
cotton and tobacco regions the temperature
differed but slightly from the normal. In
northern California,Oregon and Washington Territory the average daily excess of
temperature for the week ranged from 4° to
10°.
The ex.essof temperature for theseason,
from January 1 to June 25, 1887, amounting to a daily average from 1° to 2°, continues over the cotton region, the central
Mississippi valley, and thence westward
to the Rocky mountains, while in all
other agricultural districts, except at
isolated  stations,   the daily  temperature
for theseason differs less than 1    from the
normal.
Rainfall—During the week the rainfall
has been in excess in all States on the
Atlantic coast, along tbe immediate east
Gulf coast, and in western Missouri and
eastern Kansas, the heaviest rainfalls occurring along the middle Atlantic coast.
In the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri valleys there was less rain than usual, the
deficiency amounting to about an inch in
the states of the Mississippi valley.
The large seasonal deficiency of rainfall,
exceeding 10 inches, continues over the
cotton region, and a seasonal deficiency
exceeding live inches, exists in Illinois,
Wisconsin and Iowa; in all other sections
the rainfall for the season differs slightly
from the normal.
i toner*] Remarks—The weather during
the week has lieen generally favorable for
the principal crops. Rains iu the south
Atlantic States doubtless improved the
condition of the staple crops in that region. More rain is needed in the cotton
region and the indications this morning
are that rains will occur in the lower
Mississippi antl Ohio valleys by Monday
afternoon.
The weather has been favorable for harvesting in the wheat regions, there having
been an excess of sunshine and very little
rain. In the corn region the weather has
been generally favorable although in some
localities more rain is needed, an.l the cool
weather of the past week must haveslight-
1 v retarded the growth of the corn crop.
In New England, where haying is now
in progress, the conditions have been especially favorable to the hay crop. All
crops in this section and the middle Atlantic States have been improved by the
rains, although in the northern portions
of New England and New York there has
been less than the usual amount of sur
shine, attended with cool weather.
A. W. Greely,
Chief Signal Off