VOL. XXXI.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JAN. 25, 1896.
NO. 4
\,
Old Buncomb County, N. C.
Editors Indiana Fabme»:
You have doubtless heard of "Old Bun-
comb." Your scribe hails from that
sacred place. Candler Is a small way-
station, 10 miles northwest of Ashvillo on
riilroad. Ashville is county seat of Bun-
comb, and is a city of some l.S.OOO inhabitants; situated among the hills, valleys
and mountain tops; makes a very picturesque appearance with its large hotels,
especially Battery Park Hotel, which is
a very large and imposing structure, 200
feet above the rest of the city and containing some 500 rooms. There are also
many boarding houses. Some one has
observed that Ashville was practically a
boarding house. Ashville is considered
the gateway for these beautiful mountains. Thousands of health and pleasure
seekers come to these mountains every
year especially in summer. The gushing
springs of pure soft water and the crisp
balmy air are very exhilerating.
Since Dec. 20, '95, tlie sun has shown
every day except a part of three days.
Two days, the 4th and 5th of January, the
mercury stood four degrees above zero
and only about three other mornings was
there any ice. One morning there was
about three inches of snow which was
nearly all melted by evening. The people here seem to dread snow in winter
very much.
The wind blows here very little. People are out on the roads every day with
'fieir's.-; l.-,»»s»-.-. agons; »wiih-au o_v or
male attached in shafts frequently; occasionally a two-horse team is seen.
Horses and mules sell for more.than
double here what they do in Indiana. A
thirty dollar horse in Indianais an eighty
dollar horse here.
The natives of the Blue Ridge are
mostly intelligent and devotional except
tlie lower strata of society, and even
many of these seem to aspire to something better. It is no uncommon thing
to see from one to three young girls, from
six to 15 years of age, ono perhaps with a
half bushel of shelled corn on her shoulder; another with four or five eggs in
paper sack, etc., going to the store. These
come from five to seven miles out of the
little coves among the higher mountain
peaks. Their purchases are generally a
few sticks of chewing gum,abox of snuff,
a 5-cent plug of tobacco for "daddy," box
of matches, half pound of coffee and half
gallon coal oil, and if they can possibly
reach it they will get two pounds of
bacon and about five pounds of flour.
Candler is at the junction fo South and
North Hominy creeks, both good sized
mill streams. The currents of these
creeks are very rapid, and each raises on
each side of Mount Pisgah, plainly visible from here, and seven miles away
Pisgah is 5,000 feet above the sea. This
mountain with about 80,000 acres of land
around it has lately been purchased by
George Vanderbilt, a New York millionaire. He also owns, in connection with
his great mansion near Ashville, about
30,000 acres.
Mountain on top of mountain salutes
the eye in every direction, and then occasionally a high peak shoots up, as if to
outdo all the rest, enclosed in » hazy blue.
The sublimity of these views are better
seen than told by an average Hoosier.
The natives here generally obey the
command, "Let every day provide for itself." If a farmer has green oak wood
enough hauled to make three fires he is
perfectly satisfied. If he has a mountain
milk cow tied with a long chain, and a
slop pig in a little pen to kill, he feels that
he is "healed in" for another year.
The old ladies and gentlemen from 70 to
95 years of age are very spry. One gentleman 70 years of age arrives at this village at nine o'clock, said he could easily
walk 40 miles before night that day; and
could cut a cord of wood in half day. A
number of ladies 90years and older can
cook and wash right along.   A short time I
go a gentleman of 90 years, with his
blushing bride, came down in his one-
horse vehicle from the mountains above
on his wedding tour, to this village. I
have had the pleasure of meeting the
bride.
The curse resting on this beautiful
mountain country is the cultivation and
use of tobacco, and the manufacture and
use of liquor. The poverty, destruction,
misery and death caused by the manufacture and uso of these articles it would
be useless to try to speak of. But I am
glad to say that numbers of the best class
of citizens are waking up on these matters. A. Hadi.kv.
A Little More on Clover.
Editors Indiaha Farmer:
Many of our neighbors and friends have
been so unfortunate as to miss a catch of
clover with tlieir winter and spring sown
small grain, but as we have never had
such a difficulty to meet we thought to
take a plot of an acre that had not been
getting its share of clover and try what
to us was something new, and perhaps is
to some of the readers.
In the early days of our agricultural
life we thought that clover must have a
nurse crop or something to protect it
from the severe heat and drouth of midsummer, but later we began to think differently and last spring tried planting a
piece of clover, same as oats or llax; the
land was broken about six inches deep
•>n-i *h-"A pnlvericai fairly .well .i5tt.cc'
so fino and firm as we should like to have
had it but a threatening shower told us,
that to sow before it would be more beneficial and do more to insure a good crop
than several harrowings and rollings of
the ground. Twelve pounds of seed was
sown by hand, and at two times, going
crossrwise of the first sowing the second
time. But as sometimes happens when
we predict rainfall none came, nor was
there any for four weeks and the seed,
although harrowed lightly, did not come
up till after the rain of May 12, which
started it. Meantime the weeds had not
forgotten to sprout and grow, and as this
was to be clover without a nurse crop the
weeds were mowed with a hand scythe
before seed was formed, and after the
weeds settled down close to the soil the
young clover made a fairly good showing
by July l,and three weeks later had to be
clipped to keep seed from forming, which
would have weakened the plant and perhaps caused it to heave badly the coming
winter; at least we thought it time well
spent to run over it with the mower set
pretty high, and as the season through
was very dry scarcely any bloom showed
on the piece, but it spread out well in
both root and top growth.
Now we had hoped to see a favorable
season in the early spring and see if it
would not make hay the first season, but
instead have shown conclusively that
clover needs no protection from heat or
drouth if it gets a fair start in the spring
and we believe from the test we made it
will some years that are very favorable
make hay the first season and stand the
winter fairly well besides. Perhaps we
are claiming rather too much for our
friend, but if our friends would only quit
chasing butterfly seedsmen's grasses and
going wild over their praises the first
season, and vowing vengeance forever
thereafter, and tie riglit down to our old
tried and true friends, the clovers, they
would be dollars in fertility of soil and
patience ahead,and vexatious disappointments would be banished in a measure.
Dewitt.
W. P.Wright, of Hamilton county, thinks
we can get a stand of clover these drouthy
seasons if sown alone.   So do I, At least I
shall sow six acres this spring.
Fayette Co. Sam-i. Siiorthiixik.
Getting- a Stand of Clover.
Editors Indiana Fabmeh:
I have 10 acres ot rye which I want to
pasture with sheep till about the first of
May, then take off and let grow up for
grain. Now I wish to ask those who have
had experience, when will be the best
time to sow in clover. Shall I sow early
or when stock are taken off?   I see that
Purdue Short Course, 1896.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
For a long time it has been my desire to
take the Short Course in Agriculture at
Purdue University, and now, at last, that
desire is being realized. Judging by the
character of the work up to this time, I
believe that I shall be pleased with the
entire course, and tbat I shall find the 11
weeks which I expect to spend here to be
more profitable than any other period of
that length which I ever spent in school.
The class, this winter, consists of 40
young men, coming from every section of
the State. There are more from ihe south
half of the State than the north half, although the north half is fairly well represented. There are two students here
from Steuben county, which is in extreme
northeastern part of the State, and several from the counties down in the
"pocket," so that the most distant parts
of the State are brought together. There
are several young men here from the
city, preparing themselves to be farmers,
something that don't usually occur. One
of them comes from the capital. So,
while we are talking of the farmers' sons
who are <irifting to the city, something at
least oan b" sail" about the£itv^bo*-*> who
nro attraot-d toyard fhe farm. Besides,
there is one young man who has come
clear from Iowa to take the course in
dairying.
The work in all of the departments is
giving excellent satisfaction. The dairy
students are well satisfied with the instruction given them by Professors Plumb
and Beckman. Professor Latta has charge
of the purely agricultural work, and to
those who have come in contact with
him at tbe institutes, nothing need be
said, for they have learned to know and
appreciate him. Professor Troop makes
the subject of horticulture exceedingly
interesting. Professor Huston, chemist;
Professor Arthur, botanist, and Dr. Bitting, veterinary, are all perfectly at home
with the subjects they handle. Twice a
week we have lectures on "Kural law,"
by Capt. A. A. Rice, an attorney of long
experience. This is not only an important, but also a very interesting subject.
The students are all in their places early
on Monday and Thursday mornings,
when these lectures are given, eager to
hear every word. By the lime the lecture
closes, each student turns himself into an
"interrogation point," and the venerable
Captain finds himself almost overwhelmed with questions. It would be
worth the expense of the whole short
course to hear these lectures, to say nothing of all the other good things that are
given us.
We have, each day, a lecture on some
practical farm topic by some one who has
been eminently successful in liis special
lino. Last week we had "the grand old
man," Mr. James Riley, who lectured on
Swine. This week, we are having Sid
Conger, who talks to us on Poultry, and
he is a regular cyclopediaon that subject
I shall probably have something more to
say about these practical talks at another
time.
There are at present, two clubs, supported by the students. The Purdue
Farm Club is under the management,
chiefly, of the long course students, but
all the agricultural students here are
members of it. The Short Course Drill
Club is made up only of short course
students, and was organized for the purpose of reviewing the work in this course,
as we go along. The former meets every
Thursday night and the latter on Tuesday night
Many other points will be touched npon
in future installments of these "Notes."
H. S. K. B.
Random Notes.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
From the Car Window.—Last fall, just
after making a trip to Butler, DeKalb
county, I commended in these columns,
the farmers along the railroad for cutting
up their corn. Scarcely a field could be
seen that was not out up. On Deo. 18th 1
made the same trip again, and, naturally,
the same fields again attracted my attention. And I observed this time that those
farmers bave not learned tlie whole
lesson of taking care of their corn fodder.
In more than half of these fields the fodder was still standing out exposed to the
weather. In a few, tho corn was not yet
husked. It hail been raining for two
days and kept on raining for two days
after that. With this amount of rain, in
addition lo the exposure it had previous
to that time, the fodder oould not help
being well-nigh ruined. It certainly cannot be very profitable to handle corn fodder in this way. The feed that is obtained
from this bleached and weather-beaten
fodder can hardly pay for outting and
hauling. I have always thought that in
growing corn the proper way to do is to
raise no more than can be properly cared
for, which includes cutting up at the
proper time, husking early and housing
every bit of the fodder.
The Butler Institute.—Notwithstanding the fact that it rained thegreater portion of both days during this institute,
theattendance was quite large at evi*rv
o-;osion. x. would u._'•■ irioro rain t.
all that fell last week to dampen the enthusiasm of tho DeKalb county farmers.
There were men present who had driven
10 or 12 miles through the rain and
through the black, sticky, clay mud to
get to that institute. Others had gone
before daylight to their nearest railroad
station to take the train for Butler. Besides the Buller people tookagreat interest in the meeting and contributed all
they could toward making it a success.
It seems to me that tbe farmers'institutes are doing as muoh as any one thing
to break down the artificial barrier between town and country.
Management of mutton sheep.—Tliis
subject was ably handled by Benson It.
Lewis, a bright young man from Steuben
county, and who two years ago, took the
short course at Purdue. Mr. Lewis believes that mutton sheep should have
good care and good feed at all limes of tlie
year, and he believes that this kind of
sheep raising will pay. He is not one of
that kind of farmers who would expect
any profit from sheep pastured on hazel
brush or rag-weed and wintered on swale
hay. He has been experimenting the
past season with rape as a forage crop for
sheep, and thus far is highly pleased with
it. He says it can be sown any time from
May to August, with good results. It can
be pastured, or cut and fed as a soiling
crop. It is claimed that there is twice as
much nutritive value in a pound of * rape
as there is in a pound of green clover.
It Is gratifying to note that those
farmers who have given their flocks
proper attention, have made some money
from them, even during tlie great depression in prices. They seem hopeful of the
future and advise farmers to stand by the
sheep.                 II. S. K. B.
The fair directors in the various counties, who are revising their premium
lists, should seek to encourage all legitimate home industries, by giving them as
liberal premiums as they can afford. The
fast horses get enough encouragement at
the State and district fairs. The money
that is paid to them seldom remains in
the county, but is sent hundreds of miles
away in most cases, while that paid to
home industries remains to benefit the
community.
 •-	
A tract of 8,000 acres near Augusta, (ia.,
has been bought to be run as a big bonanza farm under one management The
owner will run 200 plows.