VOL. XXIX
INDIANAPOLIS. IND.  APRIL 28. 1894'
NO. 17.
WEATHER CROP BULLETIN.
United States Department of Agriculture,
Weather Bureau, drop Bulletin of the Indiana Weather Service in Oo-operation
With the Agricultural Experiment Station
at Purdue University, Tuesday, April 24,
1894.
Excessive temperature the first part of
the week, with much rain in most
counties, were very beneficial to vegetation
in general, but most so to crops which had
suffered by the cold weather. The latter
part of the week cold temperature prevailed. Wheat, having recovered from the
bad effect of the cold weather, rye, grass,
late-sown oats, potatoes, in fact everything, is now reported nearly everywhere
to be in most promising condition. The
frozen oats and clover have been replaced.
From nearly all counties It is reported
that fruit, except peaches, has been injured far less than first anticipated. The
bloom is coming out on some plum,
cherry, pear and apple trees. Plowing
and planting corn was interrupted by rain
a few days; in some counties it has fairly
begun; in others it is about finished.
Farmers are more hopeful and confident
of good crops this week than they have
been since the middle of March.
SOUTHERN PORTION.
Sullivan, Knox, Greene and Daviess
counties.—The rains delayed plowing for
corn; some corn will replace the frozen
oats in Daviess county; wheat, grass and
oats are looking well, late fruit buds are
coming out; a large crop of melons will be
raised in Knox county.
Jackson, Lawrence and Bartholomew
counties.—With warmer weather this
week crops improved, but the rains
stopped plowing; apple trees are in full
bloom; pear and May cherry trees are
blooming moderately, most corn and
melon lands have been broken and much
will be planted in Jackson county; young
lambs are in good condition in Lawrence
county.
Jennings, Ripley and Dearborn counties.—Warm weather the fore part of the
week caused wheat, pasturage timothy
and clover to grow rapidly; oats have a
fair start, and early potatoes are coming
up; fruit trees blooming show that fruit
was less injured than feared; some plowing was done.
Jefferson, Scott, Washington and Clark
counties.—Corn planting began this week,
but rain stopped it; the wheat looks line
and oats is mostly all up; fruit, except
peaches, promises better than anticipated;
stock is in good condition.
Harrison, Floyd, Perry and Orange
counties —The wet weather was beneficial
to wheat, oats and grass, except in Perry
and Floyd counties, where the rains were
too heavy; the ground was too wet for
plowing and planting.
Crawford, Warrick and Spencer counties
—Heavy rains in tho two first counties
stopped plowing but the weather in general was favorable to crops; wheat and
grass are growing rapidly; late apples are
safe.
Dubois, Posey and Gibson counties.—It
was too wet for plowing but wheat, oats
Bnd grass are thriving and farmers are
more hopeful; there is a prospect of some
fruit of "arious sorts except peaches.
CENTRAL PORTION.
Clay, Vigo, Morgan and Owen counties.
—The warm weather followed by rains
was beneficial to wheat and grass, but the
rains stopped plowing; hail fell on Friday
in Owen and Clay counties; oats is all up
and gardens are doing finely; cherry, plum
and apple trees are blooming; they seem
not to be hurt; potatoes are all planted.
8helby, Decatur, Rush and Fayette
counties.—The warm weather caused vegetation to advance rapidly but the cool
rains checked the growth; wheat, oats and
grass are growing nicely; clover is recovering from the freeze; the stock is in pasture and doing well; there are plenty of
horses but no market for them; potatoes
are coming up slowly only, because of the
cool weather; plowing was stopped by rain;
cherries, pears and apples are but little
damaged; the trees are in bloom.
Randolph, Wayne, Henry and Delaware
counties.—Warm weather and showers
benefited crops very much; wheat, clover
and fruit are not so much damaged as at
first appeared; wheat has its natural color
and looks well; re-sown oats are coming
up; much corn has already been planted.
Marion, Hamilton, Madison and Hancock counties.—Much plowing was done
the first half of the week with favorable
weather; it is nearly finished and planting
has begun; the warm weather and rain
were very beneficial to crops but the cool
temperature the last part of the week retarded the growth; wheat, oats and grass
look well; the resown oats is coming up;
fruit was not so badly damaged; pear,
cherry and in Madison county peach trees
are in bloom, and currants and gooseberries are not aU killed in Marion county.
Boone,Hendricks, Putnam, Montgomery
and Vermillion counties.—Warmer, fair
weather, with occasional rains have been
favorable to wheat, oats and grass and all
vegetation is much improved, but plowing and planting corn has been retarded;
much young clover which it was thought
was injured is recovering; the fruit crop
has not been so seriously injured as it was
believed, cherries and pears are in bloom,
also a few peach trees In Vermillion county,
plum blossoms which fell off are replaced
by other blossoms in Boone county; farmers are greatly encouraged.
NORTHERN PORTION.
Lake, Porter, Starke and La Porte
counties.—Warm weather the first part of
the week revived vegetation; wheat, rye
and grass are growing fast; oats is all
sown and coming up; potatoes are being
planted; the ground was too wet for plowing; fruit trees are beginning to bloom;
some pears and apples which seemed to
have been hurt by the cold prove to be all
sound; there is first-rate prospect for
[learhps in La Porte county.
with favorable weather; wheat Is beyond
all expectation; oats and grass look line;
clover is sprouting nicely and timothy is
doing well; there will be some fruit of all
kinds; Bartlet pears are all right; pears,
cherry and plum trees are in full bloom in
Jay county.
Carroll, Cass, Miami, Grant and Huntington counties.—Warm sunny weather
in the earlier part of the week followed by
showers, were very beneficial to crops;
wheat and grass are much improved; oats
is coming up nicely but some farmers are
still sowing clover and oats; potatoes are
nearly all planted; peaches, cherries and
pears are In full bloom in Grant county;
plowing for corn was pushed but the rains
stopped it in some localities.
Clinton, Tipton and Howard counties.—
Warm sunny weather followed by rains
were favorable to young crops; the wheat
prospect is flattering but in some localities
too much rain preventing plowing which
had been pushed very rapidly, it is nearly
done in Tipton county; oats is coming up
nicely; pasturage is in good condition;
many potatoes were planted; the fruit
prospect is better than anticipated; thunder storms with hail passed on Wednesday over Clinton county and strong wind
did much damage to farms and houses.
Tippecanoe, White, Benton and Warren
counties —At the beginning of the week
fine warm weather prevailed, rain the latter part; wheat is coming on all right; a
large acreage of potatoes was planted and
oats sown; much of the oats has been resown; fruit has not been hurt much; White
county is looking for an average crop of
apples, cherries and pears and some
peaches; plowing for corn is progressing;
cattle demands better prices and many
stockers are being shipped in by feeders;
grass is looking well but it is not as far
advanced as usual.
H. A. Huston,
Director Indiana Weather Service.
Per C. F. R. Wappenhans,
Weather Bureau, Assistant Director.
St. Joseph, Marshall, Elkhart and Kosciusko counties.—Warm weather followed
by showers was favorable to crops; wheat,
rye and grass are growing fast; oats are
coming up; pasturage is line; all early potatoes are not planted yet; asparagus and
pie-plant are coming in the market; sugar
trees are in bloom; fruit apparently is not
seriously hurt; spring work is well advanced; plowing for corn was stopped by
rain.
Noble, Whitley and Lagrange counties.
—The weather has been all that could be
desired, warm and showers; wheat is improving and doing well; grass grows rapidly; oats and clover are all sown and
coming up; potatoes are being planted;
fruit is less damaged than first believed;
cherries, peaches and pears will all bloom
in Noble county, but some of the early apple buds are frozen; stock is in good condition; plowing for corn was being
pushed, but rains stopped it.
Steuben and Allen counties.—Wheat,
oats, meadows and pasturage have greatly
improved with warm weather and rains;
wheat never looked better at this time;
oats are aU sown; fruit is in bloom; cher-
rifs begin to show it; plowing for corn is
being pushed.
Jay, Wells and Adams counties.—All
growing crops made wounderful progress
maple trees, and made our own maple
sugar on pans of snow. The two scenes
will illustrate the variety of California
scenery.
The almond blossoms were given from a
model train of cars made of pepper berries,
every branch of which had been carefully
fastened on to the wire frame work by
wire thread. There was the engine with
its smoke stack, its light, and its tender
loaded with oranges instead of coal, and
its open cars loaded with blossoms. Tbe
track was made of eucalyptus buds, and
was placed upon a trestle made of ivy
loaded with berries. It is said that these
berries do not appear on the vine, until it
is 40 years old.
Indiana is set down on the calendar of
days for April 5 as its State day at the exposition. Ex-president Harrison took part
in the festivities of Stanford University
day by making a short address in Festival
Hall to an audience which filled every
seat and inch of standing room and extended to the outer halls and doorways.
C. S. Colry.
California Mid-winter Fair.
Editors Indiana Fakuf.k:
The people of California are boantiful in
their gifts and display of fruits and flowers. On Children's Day when all the public school children and their teachers were
given free passes into the fair and its concessions, and over the street car railways
to and from, by The Examiner of this
city, tons of oranges, apples, nuts, rasins
and some candies were distributed to them
by the various counties and towns represented at the fair. On almost all the special days souvenirs of fruit and flowers are
given each visitor. Sonoma county gave
out a ton of tine prunes and button-hole
bouquets of violets and other blooms.
Miles county used a car load of Almond
blossoms in souvenirs, each branch having
a souvenir card tied to it with white ribbon. The Almeda county building, where
the Silas almond-blossom day fete was
held, was like a fairy scene of colors, fragrance and beauty. For its decoration
Mrs. 'A. M. Overacker, who conceived the
the plan of the fete, used 3,000 feet of festooning, all carefully made of cypress
vine; three tons of potted plants, two car
loads of almond blossoms, 100 large
wreaths, and boquets and banks of flowers at all artistic points. Imagine, if you
can. all this variety of color, mingled with
all the draperies of all the sunset colors,
with towers of oranges, pagodas of lemons
and other citrus fruits, mingling with the
darker colors of prunes, dates and raisins,
and the sunlight of a clear day gilding the
scene. It was the more striking to one
passing, as I did, directly from the "sugaring off" party given by Vermont, whose
State celebration came the same day, and
where we were surrounded by snow from
the Sierras and a forest scene of snow and
Fertilizers, Bones and Phosphates.
Editors In-diana Farmer:
In applying fertilizers to the soil,
soluble phosphates are most generally
used, but cannot be utilized in that condition by plants, for, if they were, they
would act corrosively upon their tender
tissues. They revert to their orignal condition when applied to the soil, and they
now are in the finest possible state of division.
When mineral phosphates are used
there is no difficulty in grinding them to
an impalpable powder, and this form applied to the soil they are more advantageous than when converted into a super- '
phosphate with the aid of sulphuric acid,
which is both expensive and inconvenient
to use.
By using the mineral phosphates finely
ground there can be applied more than
double the quantity of phosphoric acid to
the soil at the same cost than there can be
in using superphosphates.
The plant will take up as much phosphoric acid the first year as it would from
the superphosphate, and as much more
will be left in the soil, available for further drafts upon it in after seasons, as it
does not leach from the soil.
Bones an mineral phosphates can be decomposed and rendered soluble by alkalies as well as by acids, and are in this
form better food for plants, as they need
alkalies as well as phosphoric acid, and the
alkalies are not only food, but neutralize the
acids of the soil and liberate other food for
plants, nutting the soil in its most favor-
ble condition, with proper cultivation, to
produce abundant crops.
Hones or fine ground mineral phosphates
when composted with wood ashes in a
in >ist state for a few weeks are decomposed, and are preferable for crops to the
acid superphosphates.
Most farmers have the wood ashes to
use. If not, the same object Is attained by
the use of soda ash, an article of common
use and easily obtained in any market,
and now generally used by soap boilers in
making soap.
To decompose bones or mineral phosphates with soda ash, make a layer of
bones or mineral phosphates, then a layer
of the same number of pounds of fresh
burned lime (water to be put on till it begins to slack), then a layer of the same
number of pounds of soda ash, and so repeat until the quantity desired Is obtained.
Then wet it down with water, which will
slack the lime and unite with the soda
ash, making It caustic to act upon the
phosphate and make phosphate of soda,
which exists In the ashes of nearly all
plants, and ever present in urine and other
animal manures. A. H. Ward.
Boston.