VOL. LVII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., FEBRUARY 8, 1902.
NO. 6
Qucvg and |.nsvucr.
Please   state   in   the   next   Issue   of   your   paper
where old coins are bought and oblige.
J.  C.   F.
P.   M.   Noe,   W.   Market  St.,   this  city
deals in old coins.
When 1» the proper time ot the.year to trim
manle ih.de  trees. W.  B.  D.
Any time from this time till April when
it suits your convenience; but don't cut
largelimbsoffsquarely,for they are almost
sure to split and injure the tree, and trim
the smaller limbs close to the main ones,
so the cut with heal over and leave no
stub.
Please publish the average price paid per bushel
for corn and oata for each year, the paat five
years and oblige a subscriber of the best farm
paper ln the  world. W.   It.
Covington.
The average prices of the two crops
you name, at Chicago, for the years from
1897 to 1901, are as follows, according to
the Cincinnati Price Current: Corn, 1897,
26c; '98, 31c; '99, 33c; 1900, 38c; 1901, 50c.
Oats, for same years, 18c, 25e, 24c, 23c,
32c.
Please answer the following questions ln your
valuable paper: (a) Can alfalfa be grown profitably on a clay hill? (b) If ao please give full
Instructions as to preparing the seed bed, amount
of seed to acre, time to sow, also when to cut.
(c) Can lt be pastured the flret year?
a. It is not likely to do well in such a
location.
b. See directions elsewhere in this num-
ler.
c. No. to pasture it the first year would
ruin it.
Please tell us through your valuable paper what
U the cause of gooseberries molding while on tbe
bushes. Most of our gooseberries were affected
with mold last summer. Is there any remedy *•
If so, please tell us what to do. A Reader.
Mildew is a fungus disease, very common on the gooseberry in rainy, damp
seasons. Spraying with the blue vitrol
mixture is the best remedy. If you
haven't the formula you will find it in the
"Farmer" in the course of four or six
weeks.    We publish it every spring.
When would be a good time to sow clover and
timothy, mixed on wheat ground? The timothy
last fall did not do well, and we thought we would
sow in February.
2. Is there no law against the ferret? In our
part of the country the people track the rabbits
to their holes and then put the ferret in and get
every one of them, and don't give the creatures
a  chance.      I  don't see any  sport  in  that.
We had a few inches of snow; it was a very
dry season;  the wheat ls looking very poorly.
Lawrenceburg. H.   M.
1. If the ground is in the right condition, the middle of February is not too
early.
2. There is no such law, but we think
there ought to be. Even the rabbit onght
to have a chance for his life.
Will you be so good as to give in your
paper the law of tax exemption on timber land
in   Indiana ?
Cootirraa,   O. C.   N.
The laws you refer to, passed March 8,
1899, provides that the owner may reserve
a portion of his farm, not exceeding one-
eighth, for permanent forest reservation,
which shall be appraised for taxation at
$1 an aero, and if he has not so much tim-
lier that he may plant not less than 170
trees on each acre so reserved. Cattle,
horses, etc., shall not be permitted on such
reservation until the trees are four inches
or more in diameter. Section 8, enumerates varieties, such as ash, oak. elm,
etc., that may be planted. Section 10
direets the assessor in his duties as to in.
spei-tini:   The   reservations.
For the laat few years we have not made a success curing our pork: can you give me any reliable   recelpe   for   the   same? A.   L.   K.
Tippecanoe Co.
We pack the pork in salt in the proportion of 15 pounds salt to 100 pounds meat,
cover with strong brine. Some add a quart
subscriber were handed State Supt. F. L.
Jones, who kindly replies as follows: "The
law does not require a teacher to give
pupils two intermissions of 15 minutes
each during the school day. It is also
silent on the question as to what a teacher
On the Indian River   near Cocoa, Florida.
of sirup and four ounces of saltpetre to the
brine, for 100 pounds of meat. Whon
ready to smoke, put the meat in cold water
tee souk for six to eight hours to take away
the surplus salt; then wash in rain water
rubbing well with brush or cloth; hang up
to dry a day or so; then make for ten days
or two weeks. Wrap in two thicknesses
of heavy brown paper and put away in
cool, dry room. Some sew canvass over
all.
W. D. W., Saluda, Jefferson county,
wants to correspond with L. W. C. about
locust seed.     Write him in our care.
J. G. K., Dubois Co.: For information
regarding rural free delivery routes in this
State, we refer you to F. B. Rathbone,
Majestic Bldg., this city, who has that
business in charge.
F. M. W., Shelby Co., asks regarding
nut culture, especially pecans. Some varieties of the pecans are native in the
Wntath bottoms south of Vincennes, and
even farther north. Better get a copy of
Fullers Nut Cultuiist, $1.50.
Queries regarding certain conduct of a
school teacher and duties of teachers under  certain circumstances,   sent  us  by   a
shall do during the noon recess. Of course
it would be wrong for a teacher to lock
his school house and compel pupils to stay
out of doors, or in a cold disagreeable
basement for a considerable length of
time during the noon hour, and a teacher
doing so would subject himself to just
criticism, and might be charged and found
guilty of cruelty. In a general way however a teacher has the right to make reasonable rules and regulations for the proper conduct of his school.
A Good Example to Follow.
Editors  Indiana  Farmer:
You will see by the blank enclosed that
I send you another new subscriber for the
year 1902. I do not think that I could
farm successfully without the "Farmer,"
have taken it for a number of years. Every
subs, riber should obtain one new subscriber and they could do that with but
little effort, and by so doing would double
the subscription list, and no doubt all
would be benefited by it. Long may the
"Fniiie i" !i\e as it stands at the head,
in my estimation, as an agricultural paper.
Montgomery Co. J. C. H
—Thanks to our friend for his kind
words, and for the suggestion that all
preaent subscribers send another. It would
make   the   "Farmer"   family   that   much
linger, and more helpful. In every thousand new subscribers we get several new
pcistnl eiiril correspondents, or writers for
the Experience Department, all of whom
help to make the "Farmer" more interesting and useful.
Thanks for Information.
Editors  Indiana  Fanner:
We desire to express our thanks through
the columns of the "Farmer" to those who
have answered our inquiries concerning
sorgum cane in the "Farmer," of Dec. 28,
especially S. J. B., of Morgan county,
whose letter appeared in the "Farmer"
Jan. 18. J. A. G.
Worthington.
Red Top. or Herd's Urass. *C?i ~
Keillors Indiana Farmer:
Wc hnve 18 or 20 acres of prairie land,
some of it is muck and some black sandy
loam. We ditch it, the outlet being a
ercelc. and it does not furnish fall enough;
during wet season the water stands on it
for a good while. We want to get it into
pasture land. We have sown timothy
seed on it, but with no success. Can
you or any of the readers tell us how we
can get it into pasture? C. M. W.
Deedsville.
—Red top is the only pasture grass that
will be likely to succeed in your soil, but
unless you ca- ' x the water from standing on the Ian C hesitate to recommend
•?. ear it is drowned out
^. Cant you extend
•£ 'wn along the creek
s nd thus get a better
fall? Red top s**^ be sown in September, but if you 'i % it the ground dry
enough in spring ?:?. hen, but early as
possible and ahout three pecks, eight
pounds seed, to the acre. It is of rather
slow growth, but when once well established makes good pasture. It should be
fed close, however, as it becomes tough
or wiry if left to grow too long and go to
seed. We would be glad to hear from
some one who has had experience with red
top on different kinds of soil.
even this grasi
before it gets
your drain furt
before turning ir.
Greene County Telephone System.
Editors Indiana Fanner:
We started free telephone service here
nine months ago with a few phones here
in town, and now we are connected with
ten towns under the same plan and we
have connected with another company that
rents their phones, but they give all of us
free use over all their lines and we do the
same for tbem, so we are connected with
21 towns in all, which have about 1.100
phones in all, that we have free use of,
except 25 cents per month that is paid to
the Central girls.
The plan that we built under was that
all of the people taking phones in town
paid $25 to have the phones put in their
houses, with a separate wire to the switch
board, and the country lines were built by
each man that put in a phone
building one- half mile of line and
keeping it tip, and there are only
ten phones allowed on one wire in the
country. We have five country wires
umning in out town now, and several more
are talked of that will be built soon. I
don't see how we could get along without
them, it makes it so nice to be in close
communication with nearly all your neighbors and it only costs so little. Our lines
are nearly all put up on cedar poles and
most of our towns have metallic lines
connecting them with each other, so we
have fine service. I hope all neighborhoods will put in n system. F. L. H.
Greene Co.
Wheat is reported badly damaged.