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70L. LX1V
INDIANAPOLIS  JAN.   2, 19C9.
NO. 1
Why Boys  Leave the Farm.
Editors Indiana  Farmer:
This subject has been written to death,
and doubtless some readers will glance
at the heading, and pass this article by
■with a frown.
In the first place, it is not true that
farmers' boys generally leave the farm,
or quit farming when there is a reasonable prospect that they can ever own a
farm. As this is contrary to the opinion expressed by some writers I will endeavor to prove it. The writer was
personally acquainted with the following
farmers and their sons, and knows their
history well.
James Gamble, a resident of Wilmot
township, Bradford Co., Pa., had six
sons ; one died young, the others all became farmers. The next farm, to the
north, was Cornelius Quick's, the owner
of which raised five sons. One went
away, the other four followed farming.
The adjoining farm was Paul Quick's.
Mr. Quick had five sons; one was a
preacher,     four    were    farmers. The
next farmer on the same road, was John
Shorts, St., with only ont son, who inherited the farm and was a good farmer.
John, Jr., had four sons; one went to
Pitts-ton -in'' kept a groeerj stor,;, three
followed  farming.
On the adjoining farm Ed. Winslow
had two sons who bought a farm in the
neighborhood, farmed in partnership for
a few years, then one sold out his interest to the other and went to Illinois,
where he again engaged in farming on a
larger scale.
Reuben Dietrick, the next farmer had
two sons and two farms. At his death,
each of his boys had a farm and were
practical farmers.
Less than a mile from Dietrick's was
John Morrow with six sons. One was
a shoemaker, one kept a country store, one
was a lawyer, and eventually was elected
judge of his district ,and filled the office
for more than ten years. Three of the
six were farmers.
In the Sugar Hill district (same township) Reuben Barnes had three sons, all
farmers.
Harry Birney had three; one stayed on
the farm, two enlisted in the TJ. S. army
and  served  in  the  civil  war One  of
these returned at its close, and engaged
in farming,    the other died in service.
Take the township on the opposite side
of the river from Wilmot: Charles
Hornet, a wealthy farmer had seven sons,
to each of whom on their arrival at 21
years  of  age,   he  gave  a   farm. The
youngest, who had studied medicine, was
a snrgeou in the U. S. army during the
civil war and afterwards practiced his profession. All the other six were successful  farmers.
Elias Vaughn was the father of five
sons; one died young, the others were
farmers and settled on farms near the
homestead.
Maj. John Taylor raised seven sons;
one died at the age of eighteen, one became a minister, and five followed farming all their lives.
John Stalford had five sons; two encaged in the lumber business, and three
were farmers.
Of Reiijamin Stalford's six sons, four
wPre farmers.
Allen Brown's five sons were all farm-
ers- Six of Daniel Brown's suns were
farmers anl one a carpenter.
I am well aware that this is no more
interesting than reading a tax list, or
city directory, but it is strictly true, and
proves beyond a doubt that in former
times in Bradford Co., when uncleared
land could be bought for from three to
six dollars per acre, on long time, and the
first crop of wheat raised would usually
pay for the land, the boys stayed in the
country, bought land, cleared it, and
lived on it all their lives.
Conditions have changed since then but
net the inclinations of the boys. They
leave the farms now because they have
to, and not for the reasons that some
writers give,—namely,    that their fathers
obtain permanent situations by the year
in harvest that the cry conies of the
if they tried to ever so hard. It is only
scarcity  of  farm  hands.
An extensive farmer in this neighborhood did all his haying and harvesting
with the labor of himself and one man
hired by the month, and had his crops
secured in good season.
Different individuals are born into the
world with an aptitude for different pursuits in life, and they can do the best
work when following the bent of their
inclinations, and nature is allowed to have
it:> way. Some men have a natural
talent, for doing one thing, and men a tal-
work them too hard, give them too few
play days, too little spending money, and
never a colt, or a calf to be their own,
to sell when they please and keep the
money. Land row commands from 40
to 80    dollars  per    acre. Suppose    a
young married man buys a 100 acre farm
a- $00 per acre on credit, the amount
will be $6,000; add to this, a span of
good horses, harness, wagon, some cows,
sheep, hogs and the necessary farm implement and labor saving machines (without
vhich a farmer could not get along) the
cost of which would be $1,000, or mole,
making an interest bearing debt of $",-
000, the interest of which at 0 per cent
would be $420 per annum. After paying taxes, insurance, wear and tear of
tools and machinery, and the necessary
household expenses, how large a yearly
payment could this young couple make on
the land? From my observations I
should say that they would do very well
if they paid $100 yearly on the debt, and
in 70 years (if they lived that long) would
have it paid in full. Suppose by strict
economy they were able to pay $200
yearly, then in 'Ao years, when they were
about 60 years of age, they would be free
from  debt.
Suppose that instead of buying, they
rented a farm, where would they get the
thousand dollars to buy the indispensable
outfit? I know a worthy industrious
\onng man whose taste, and inclination
are for farming, and who would gladly
bf a fanner if he had the money to buy
the things necessary to run a rented farm
successfully.
Owing to the general and imperative
use of labor-saving machinery, all the
boys born on farms are not needed all the
time for their cultivation,    and could not
cut for doing other things, and the
things which it is natural for them to do
they can do the best, and be the happiest
in doing. J. W. Ingham.
<o**sn5
Bees Aid the Grower.
Editors  Indiana   Farmer:
"Give the bee a chance and it will literally break the boughs of your trees with
the weight of fruit."
Frank G. Odell of Lincoln, Neb., bee-
master, who gave a series of demonstrations with 50,000 bees at the National
Apple Show in Spokane, December 7 to
12, made the foregoing observation in the
course of an interview, discussing beekeeping, scientific agriculture and fruit
growing. He said:
"The bee is the expert assistant of the
horticulturist and the farmer. So indis-
I.disable are its functions in the pollination of fruits, vegetables, cereals and
grasses that its activities may be said to
lie at the foundation of all successful agriculture. Nature had ordained one supreme law, that of creation, the perpetuation of the race type. This law, universal in its application and absolutely identical in its form, obtains in the plant world
as  in   the animal  world. The  luscious
pulp of the fruit is the envelope, the
package, the strong box. devised by
nature to protect the seed within from
injury and render it susceptible of germination so that the type may be reproduced  in  all  is  perfection.
"The bee, like other insects, effects
incidental pollination of flowers in the
search fi>r nectar; but its great value to
the fruit grower lies in this, that it goes
to the flowers specifically to gather pollen,
literally by the carload, in the hairy baskets on its legs,    hastening from bloom to
bloom, rolling and packing and literally
noting in the golden dust, pregnant with
the microscopic germs of plant life, until
the golden pellets are packed away in its
hair baskets, to be carried to the hive for
storage as an indispensable portion of the
food of its young during the winter
months to come.
"It requires no expert knowledge to
comprehend how perfectly the bee thus
performs the office of pollination. Indeed,
it is nature's chief agent in this indispensable work. No seed, no fruit, is the
universal law. Here is the only insect
useful in all its habits, having a fixed
habitation accessible to man, dependent
upon the pollen of every variety of flower
as an indispensable portion of the food
of its young, and going to the bloom
specifically to gather that pollen, thus
making possible the marvelous fruit crops
in Washington and the Pacific North
west. That is why I say, give the bee
a chance and it will literally break the
boughs pf your trees with the weight of
fruit.
"Delve into the realm of applied mechanics or structural engineering and
jour research is incomplete until a lesson
is conned from the structure of the honey-
tomb with its marvelous strength as com
pared with the fragile nature of its fabric.
No more marvelous structure exists
among the myriad marvelous works of
nature. This waxen fabric, derived
primarily from liquid honey converted into wax in that marvelous laboratory of
the bee, formed by some mysterious instinct or intelligence into the very form of
all others designed for economy of materials, space and extremity of strength,
passes beyond the measure of human skill
in its perfection."
Some Beneficial   Birds.
Editors  Indiana  Farmer:
While there are some three hundred
species of birds in Indiana, there are
very few that are not of some benefit to
the fanner.
Occasionally we find a farmer who
still argues that "a hawk is a hawk and
can be made nothing else;" but as a rule,
most farmers are beginning to learn the
wide difference between the Marsh hawk,
whose food consists chiefly of meadow
mice, insects of various kinds, and
the Cooper's hawk, whose food consists
almost wholly of wild birds, game and
poultry.
A. K. Fisher in his "Hawks and Owls
of the United States," says of the Marsh
hawk: "It is unquestionably one of the
most beneficial, as it is one of our most
abundant hawks, and its presence and
increase should be encouraged in every
way possible, not only by protecting it
bj law, but by disseminating a knowledge
of the benefits it confers." He also savs:
"All hawks, with possibly one or two exceptions, are to some extent beneficial to
the farmer."
Of course we must acknowledge that
most all hawks will occasionally carry off
poultry, yet when we take their economic
value as a destroyer of mammal pesls,
insects, et"., into consideration we find
that this far out-weighs their bad qualities, j.^t^
The cuckoo, or rain crow, as it is commonly called, is * great insect destroyer,
and should not only be protected from the
small boy and his rifle, but should he
encouraged to build about the orchard
and garden, where be will render good
service to the farmer by the daily destruc-