VOL. XXIX.
INDIANAPOLIS* IND.  JULY 14, 1894.
NO. 28
WEATHER CROP BULLETIN.
United States Department of Agriculture,
Weather Bureau, Orop Bulletin of the Indiana Weather Service in Oo-operation
With the Agricultural Experiment Station
at Purdue University, Monday, July 9,
1894.
No rain fell and the temperature and
sunshine were exceedingly favorable to
harvesting and growing crops, except that
perhaps rain is needed in some localities
and that the nights of the latter part ot the
week were quite cool. The wheat harvest
is now nearly finished everywhere and
threshing has commenced. The yield is
reported everywhere to be very good, the
heads are filled with plump berries and
the straw is heavy in most fields. The
rye, hay and timothy harvest is still progressing with fair results. Clover yielded
a moderate crop only. Oats are in good
condition, maturing rapidly. The harvest
will begin soon. Corn continues to grow
vigorously in the southern portion. It
has begun to tassel in some fields. Pasturage is in fair condition but soon will need
rain. All other vegetation promises well,
especially potatoes.
SOUTHKKN PORTION.
Gibson, Posey, Spencer and Warrick
counties.—Corn is layed by; wheat is being
threshed from the shock; the yield is fair
and the quality good; timothy grass and in
Gibson county the oats harvest has commenced promising a fair yield.
Floyd, Harrison, Orange and Dubois
counties.—Very favorable sunny weather
continued; no rain fell and it is needed for
corn which continues to grow fast and
looks well; wheat is being threshed and is
a big average crop; potatoes are tieing
gathered, and the hay and oats harvest has
begun.
Clarke, Washington, Jefterson and
Switzerland counties.—The weather was
all that could be expected for the harvest
and growing crops; potatoes, corn, tobac
co and other crops are in most promising
condition; wheat is being threshed and
timothy and hay cut; there are too many
weeds in the timothy meadows; the oats
crop is good, but none has been harvested
yet.
Ohio, Dearborn and Jennings counties.—
It has been warm and dry daring the past
week, but corn has grown very well; all
growing crops need rain soon; a great crop
of wheat has been cut, but in Dearborn
county the sack yield will be one-third
less than last year; berries are fine and ln
plenty; stock hogs are scarce and prices
high.
Jackson, Bartholomew and Lawrence
counties.—Very fine weather for harvesting and haying; wheat is being threshed,
yielding about 22 bushels to the acre of
good quality; red clover about 12 bushels;
oats is late in maturing in Bartholomew
oounty; corn is growing fast most is laid
by; grapes and melons are maturing rapidly; potatoes are a good crop, large tubers and plenty of them.
Greene, Daviess and Knox counties.—
Nice growing weather, but rather too dry;
wheat and rye are stacked and threshing
has begun; a fair crop of oats is being harvested; corn begins to tassel; potatoes are
excellent and gardens are in fine condition; pasturage is fine but short; stock in
fine condition; timothy meadows are
ready for the harvest; grapes and blackberries are abundant and doing well.
CENTRAL PORTION.
Vigo, Clay and Fountain counties.—The
weather was fine for farm work and crops;
the wheat is all cut and threshing has begun; the yield in Vermillion county is
about 30 bushels  per acre; haying has
commenced and oats are nearly ready for
harvesting; oorn is growing rapidly in
clean fields; bugs doing some damage in
Clay oounty.
Johnson, Shelby and Decatur counties.—
Cool and dry weather prevailed; corn, potatoes, young clover and pastures need
rain; wheat is ln shock and threshing has
begun; the yield is good and quality excellent; timothy is being cut and oats are
nearly ready for harvesting; corn continues to grow rapidly and has a good
oolor.
Rush, Franklin and Union counties.—
Splendid weather for harvesting; wheat in
shock and threshing has begun; haying
continues; corn grows finely; it is laid by
in clean fields; the timothy harvest still
continues; stock is in fine condition.
Wayne, Randolph and Madison counties.
—Fine weather for harvesting prevailed;
the wheat harvest is ended; the most
abundant crop for years; about from 20 to
25 bushels per acre, plump grains, tested
Gl pounds per bushel; hay and timothy
cutting continues; the latter is turning
out better than expected; oats are ripening;
Hancock, Marion and Hamilton counties.—No rain fell and cool, fair weather
prevailed; wheat, clover and timothy
nearly all cut; in Marion county wheat is
in shock and threshing has begun; oats
are ripening and corn stands well in clean
fields.
Montgomery, Boone and Hendricks
counties.—The corn and vegetables are
growing very fast; the wheat harvest has
nearly ended; the yield is large and good;
oorn looks splendid and most promising;
the hay and timothy harvest was heavy;
potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage and pumpkins
promise well but cucumbers are damaged
by bugs; stock in fine condition.
NORTHERN PORTION.
Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke counties.—Cool weather; wheat and rye nearly
all in shock; the yield is good except some
fields of rye which had been injured by
frost; haying is progressing; clover hay is
all out and put in barn; timothy is being
cut; oats are heading out well.
St. Joseph, Elkhart and Kosciusko
counties.—Splendid weather prevailed for
harvesting and haying; wheat is nearly all
in shock; rye and oats which is ripening
now promise a good crop; the straw is
short but the heads well filled; timothy is
a good crop; potatoes promise a fair orop;
there are plenty of apples in Elkhart
county and a full crop of pears in Kosciusko county.
Noble, Allen and Steuben counties.—
The weather has been excellent for crops
and harvesting; wheat and rye are nearly
cut; the wheat crop la good in quality and
quantity; the heads are well filled; frost
injured it a little; haying and the cutting
of timothy continues; both good yields;
potatoes promise a big yield; oats are
ripening; corn is clean and much advanced.
Wells, Jay, Huntington and Grant
counties.—The weather was very favorable
but corn, potatoes, pasture and vegetables
need rain; wheat and rye are nearly all
cut; both yield a good crop; oats is ripening; haying progresses; corn in clean fields
and splendid condition is laid by; wheat
threshing will begin on Monday.
Tipton, Cass and Miami coonties.—Very
favorable weather prevailed for harvesting; wheat cutting progresses uninterruptedly, the yield ia heavy both in straw
and grain, except in some fields of Miami
county where rust did some damage;
clover is all cut and housed; oats look
splendid; corn is only advancing slowly
because of cool weather.
i; rant, Howard, Clinton and Carroll
oounties.—Fair weather all week; wheat is
nearly all in shock and threshing will begin soon, the berry is plump and well
filled; haying continues; oats is turning
from green to yellow and looks well; corn
looks splendid<and Is well tended; timothy
haying has commenced; potatoes promise
well.
Tipton, White and Benton oounties —
Heavy rains and strong winds the earlier
part of the week did some damage; the
latter part the weather was favorable;
wheat and rye are nearly all in shock;
Haying has begun; oats are growing; cattle are in tine condition; late potatoes will
be abundfnt.
H. A. Huston,
Director Indiana Weather Service.
Per C. F. R, Wappbnhans,
Weather Bureau, Assistant Director.
Another View of the Tariff Question.
Editor* India*a Fahmkb:
In your issue of June 9th is an article
"A Farmer's View of the Tariff." It begins by saying that the tariff has been
made a political question, which in this
country moans a partisan one. For this
reason it is useless to hope for any unanimity of agreement among a people, etc
I thought all public questions that related
to the science of Government were political ones. I also thought that these questions were decided by majorities and not
by the unanimous voice of all the people.
How many great questions have come
before this country and been sattled by
the unanimous voice of the entire populace? Even in the great struggle for Independence we find the people divided into Whigs and Tories, yet that question was
settled more than a hundred years ago.
We also had the slavery question upon
which the people were divided. It too
was settled by majorities. These are two
of the many great questions that have been
settled in a partisian way, but by no
means with a unanimity of agreement
among the whole people.
He seems to think that the tariff is a tax
upon the people of this Government, and
the only question to settle is how best to
distribute the burdens of taxation. Were
this tax raised in the same way our State
and county is he would be right, but as
the tax is paid directly by the importer he
is wrong. It will be said that they will
sell them for as much more and the consumer pays it in the end, but let us see if
this is true. A few years since there was
no duty on wire nails in this country and
they were worth about eight cents a pound.
Then a duty of four cents per pound was
levied, but did they sell for 12 cents?
They can be bought to-day for three cents
retail, or two cents by the keg. Whence
then the cause? The tariff duty made it
possible for nails to be manufactured in
this country, and compete with the man
that had his machinery paid for and paid
less than one-half for hislabor. Thusspmng
up a great industry in this oountry, thus
stimulated by prices the manufactories
began to increase and prices began to
tumble as the supply outrun Its mate "demand," yet no one will say that the demand has not Increased many fold in these
few years. Today we have the present
low price of nails only made possibly by
the "Robber Tariff."
It will require no official figures to prove
to a farmer that the price of agricultural
products have been tending downward.
If tthe volume of agricultural products
has been increasing and the prices shrinking, wherein has protection made good
its promises to the farmer. I did not
know that protection or the protectionist
ever made such a promise.
Protection is not intended to countermand the great laws of supply and demand,  thereby  increasing  prices, while
the supply is increasing  in a greater ratio
than the demand.
Again the prosperity of the farmer is not
measured entirely by the prioes he receives for his produce, but is counted on
the price he receives, less the cost of production, the oost of machinery, of hired
help, living expenses, etc.
At one time since the war wheat sold
for $3 per bushel in a depreciated currency .
or about |1 30 cents In valuation of our present money. Hands were $2 50 per day;
I'- was paid for a machine to cut the wheat.
Several extra boarders, the trouble of finding help, were no small items on the
wrong side of the ledger. He paid six
cents per bushel for a horse power thrasher
which often stayed several days at the
same crop; the acreage was less per farmer
and less bushels per acre; and all this at a
time when wheat reached an extreme in
price or the supply was short the demand.
To day with wheat 50 cents a bushel in
gold, he pays f 1 20 for his machine and
eight or ten cents for twine, which will
do an amount of work, equal to about six
hands or a saving of about f 15 per day, also amount of grain left on the ground.
Thrashing is three to four cents per bushel, and an average of about 1000 bushel per
day. This is counted at a time when
wheat has reached the other extreme, or
the supply has outrun the demand. The
average prioe for the last ten years has
been much higher than 50 centa per bushels, and the average price for ten years
during war prioes was much less than |3;
also the expense has lessened in a ratio
equal to the price.
I cannot agree that the net profits of agricultural products have been going downward all these years. The hog product of
1893 sold for more than it ever did in the
history of this industry. Poultry, eggs
butter were also paying well at that time.
Corn and hay are ready sale at paying
prices. Oats at 40 cents will certainly
leave a net profit to the producer. Most
of the potato men that have engaged In
this business in the proper way have been
rewarded for their industry, not much is
heard about the glut in the market either.
1 am not old enough to remember but a
few years oflour country's history,but with
my ears I have heard some of the pioneers
talk of "ye olden time," and from what
they say I, at least, have no desire to go
back to them, but prefer to continue the
onward and upward march with the progressive farmer of to day.
Hancock Co. W. H. Harris.
Fish for Ponds.
Editobs Indiana Farmer:
I saw in the Indiana Farmer last fall
that the fish commissioner would have
fish for free distribution the first of July.
Please state how to proceed to obtain fish
for a pond, and oblige a subscriber.
Decatur Co. t. C. D.
—We do not think our State fish commissioner has any fish for distribution.
We do not keep the same commissioner in
service long enough to fairly get started
in the business or be of much service to
the State. It seems the policy to give this
important office, which should be a permanent position, as a reward for party
service, and hence a change must be made
every four years. The United States fish
commissioner distributes fish to the States,
in lakes and rivers, and in some cases to
individuals. Why does not some one
raise fish to sell for stocking ponds?
Silas Imler, of Buffalo, White county, is
singularly affected. He is weak-minded
and fond of playing with snakes. Recently he became ill, and whenever approached he hisses and darts out his
tongue like a snake, and he tries to imitate a snake in the movements of his
body. The physicians think perhaps he
has been bitten by one of his strange pets.