VOL. XXIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND , AUG. 4, 1894.
NO. 31.
WEATHER OBOP BULLETIN.
United Stales Department of Agriculture,
Weather Bureau. Orop Bulietin of the Indiana Weather Service in Oxrperation
With the Agricultural Experiment Station
at Purdue University, Tursday, July  31,
1894.
High temperature prevailed and the
drouth continued, only Interrupted by
light and moderate local rains in few localities, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. All growing crops, but especially corn in some fields, need rain
very much indeed, to insure a good crop
On fields where good rains fell the preced -
ing week, and the latter part of this week,
on gool, black heavy soil, the crop is al
most assured, but in light soil, gravel or
olay the crop suffers much and if no rains
should fall there within from five to 10
days the crop would be ruined. Most oorn
shows a good color, it is tasseling and
early planted is in "roasting ear;" that on
clay ground is burned somewhat; in general it is backward but good; rains in the
near future would make an excellent crop
everywhere still. The wheat threshing
■till continues, and reports on the yield
continue very flattering. Oats threshing
has begun; the yield is heavier than last
year. The hay is all secured in best condition while the quantity is less than last
years' the quality is better. Hot dry
weather injured the potato and the pros
pect is less favorable than earlier in tLe
season. Pasturage has been much injured
and water is scarce; in some localities the
stock has to be fed. But Uttle plowing for
wheat has been done yet, the ground is too
dry and hard.
SOUTHERN PORTION.
Gibson, Posey, Warrick, Spencer and
Vanderburg counties.—Hot, dry weather
continues, and rain is much needed; in
Spencer county, because of good rains
last week, corn looks splendid, but in
Warrick county, even if rain would come
soon, it will not make more than half a
orop; wheat threshing still continues; the
oats yield is small, but of good quality;
potatoes look well, but bugs are doing in
jury; pasturage needs rain.
Dubois, Orange, Perry and Crawford
counties—Warm and dry; the oorn is in a
critical condition at present; it is tassel
ing and of good color yet, and should no
rain fall soon the crop will be short; In
Crawford county good rains last week
benefited corn; wheat and oats threshing
continues; potatoes are a good stand in
Perry county; pasture is dry and farmers
are hauling water.
Harrison, Floyd and Clarke counties.—
No rain and warm weather oontinued and
crops need rain; corn is tasseling and be
gins to show ears; good local showers hut
week did much good; in Floyd county the
condition of corn has not been better for
years at this time; more rain soon will
help it much; the early potato crop was
large and late planting has begun; hay
made about two thirds of a crop; a full
crop of wheat and oats is being threshed.
Scott, Washington and Jennings county.
—The drouth continued and corn, late potatoes, pasture, buckwheat, tomatoes,
melons, beans, etc., need rain much; early
potatoes have matured and the yield is
good; but little threshing has been done
in Washington county and water for the
stock is very scarce; pasturage is getting
brown; corn in Jennings county is still in
fine condition, but from now on it will
suffer for rain.
Jefferson, Switzerland, Ripley and Dearborn counties.—Numerous light local
showers helped crops; corn is in excellent
oonditlon, clean and of good color, promising a full crop; it is tasseling and ears
are showing;  heavier rains needed soon;
wheat threshing continues, turning out a
good crop; clover looks well; stock begins
to suffer for grass and water.
Bartholomew, Lawrence and Jaokson
counties.—No rain fell except ln some
parts of Barthomew oounty; most corn Is
still in good oonditlon, especially that in
low, black lands; that on gravel or olay on
high lands needs rain much; pastures are
falling rapidly; wheat is about all threshed;
oats in shock and hay secured: late potatoes are suffering for rain; oats yield 40
bushels per acre In Jackson coun    .
Knox, Green and Daviess counties.—
Good local rains fell in Green and Daviess
counties; corn is better than in former
years; it is of good color, stands olean in
the fields and the ear forms well, promising a full crop in Green county; wheat
threshing is well advanced with an average greater than ever; millet is doing well;
potatoes promise a fair crop; a good crop
of blackberries has been gathered; hay is
all secured in good condition; fall plowing
bas commenced; hog colera prevails in
Knox county.
CENTRAL PORTIOH.
Vigo, Clay, Vermillion and Fountain
counties —Wheat, rye and oats about all
threshed; gardens look well; early nutmeg
melons ripening; corn in muck gronnd
doing fine and in most localities all right
and will continue so predicated on rain in
the next five or seven days and will be
above an average orop: in Clay county corn
is reported damaged one-fourth in a few
localities.
Parke, Putnam, Boone and Montgomery
counties —Prospect for good crop of corn
never better if it rains; the acreage is large,
cultivation tirst class and up to the present time has made a healthy and vigorous
growth; conditions more favorable in some
spots than others owing to recent rains;
corn on high ground is reported burnt in
Parke and Boone counties; although it has
stood the drouth remarkably well rain Is
needed; early potatoes full crop; hay put
up in splendid order; grass getting short;
as threshing progresses uniformly big
yields of wheat and oats are reported;
scarcity of stock hogs in Parke county.
Shelby, Decatur, Fayette and Hendricks
oounties.—Wheat threshing about completed and the yield exceptionally good;
pastures drying up; corn on clay ground
is beyond redemption although a good rain
might help; corn on the low black ground
is in good oonditlon but needing nib; potatoes about one-half crop; gardens dried
up In some localities.
Owen, Rush and Johnson.—The drouth
still continues; corn on upland Is suffering greatly on account of dry weather; on
bottomlands corn is looking very well;
hay harvest about completed; crop excellent; wheat threshing about done and
yielded well; pastures are getting short;
potatoes are cut short on account of dry
weather; rain greatly needed and would
be of Incalculable benefit.
Madison, Marion, Hancock Hamilton.—
Corn on black sc il is doing fairly well but
on clay or high ground a gocd crop is not
assured; it needs rain; the bulk of the
wheat has been thrashed, a big yield; haying fiei.hed ln excellent condition; oats
will make a very good yield; pastures drying up and ln consequence stock not doing well.
Wayne, Randolph, Union and Franklin.—The condition of the oorn thus fax
has been generally good, the exception is
on tbln soils, with giod rains within a
week or ten days a good crop is assured;
with rain gravelly soils will yield yt crop;
potatoes a light crop; wheat mostly
threshed and has yielded large; grass all
cared for; oats will be an extra yield; stock
in fine condition.
NORTHERN PORTION.
Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke ooun
ties.—Warm and no rain this week, and
crops are suffering; corn is a good stand;
it Is tasseling and looks well; the rains of
the preceding week sustains it; if more
rain oomes Boon there will be a good crop,
especially in the southern portion of the
countiei-; wheat and oats threshing continue in LaPorte county; the yield Is up
to 40 bushels per acre of wheat; the oats
and hay crops are above the average; pas
turage is dry and in Starke oounty stock
has to be watered.
St. Joseph, Pulaski, Marshall and Kos-
culsko counties.—Warm, with a few local
showers on Wednesday, and the rains of
last week, insured a good crop of corn, especially If more rain should come; corn is
in silk and tassels, has a good color and
stands clean In the fields; wheat threshing
progresses, yielding from 22 to 34 bushels
per acre; In Pulaski county it is beyond
expectation; the oats crop is excellent, and
the potato crop is good; early apples are
in the market in St. Joseph county/
Elkhart, Noble, Whitley and 1.1 grange
oounties.—Very warm and dry; corn in
Elkhart county, because of rain last week,
Is in gocd condtion; tasseling and prom
ising a good crop in the other counties; it
Is suffering much and should no rain
come soon it will make less than half a
crop; oats are cut and in shook and drying
fast; a heavy crop of wheat of good
quality, yielding from 20 to 40 bushels and
testing as high as crili pounds, is being
threshed in Whitley county; pasturage and
garden vegetables are dying; late fruit
promises well in Elkhart county.
Steuben, Allen, Adams and Wells oounties.—The drouth continues; in Allen
oounty fell a few light showers; the pros
ent condition of corn promises a fair average, and with rains within 10 days there
would be an excellent crop; most is out in
tassel, much is silking and has a good
color; corn in clay land needs rain much;
good crops of hay and oats were harvested
In best condition; the clover seed crop will
be short in Steuben county, and no plowing for wheat has been done; a heavy
wheat crop is being threshed; pasturage is
dry.
Blackford, Grant, Huntington and Jay
counties.—Warm dry weather oontinued;
oorn shows no serious damage yet it only
steadily is retrograding; that on black-soil
Is doing well but in light soil it suffers and
Is almost beyond hope In Huntington
county; wheat averages from 30 to 40 bushels; oats are extra good.
Miami, Carroll and Cass counties.—The
drouth continues; no rain fell for three
weeks except In Carroll county where a
few local rains fell this week; corn in black
muck land is still promising; It has good
oolor, is tasseling and earing and with
rains soon will make a; good crop; that in
high and clay lands is suffering for rain;
it is almost past recovery In Miami county;
wheat threshing continues; the yield is
from 20 to 40 bushels of good quality; oats
a heavy yield of good quality; from 45 to
60 bushels In Miami county; and a good
hay crop has been secured; pasturage is
nearly all dry and there are fires nearly
every day along the railroad.
Tipton, Howard and Clinton counties.—
Warm, dry weather continues but the
rains last week were very beneficial; corn
is In excellent condition in most fields,
the best promise for several years, it needs
more rain except ln Tipton county where
lt will mature well without it; oata is
harvested; it is very heavy; it is in shock
but no threshing done yet; clover seed
will soon be ready to cut and will be a
good crop; cabbages are growing, but
there are many worms; wheat threshing
goes on, yielding from 22 to 38 bushels,
testiDg from 5tj to (il pounds; pastures, potatoes and vegetables need rain.
Tippecanoe, Whito, Benton and Warren
counties.—The continuous  warm and dry
weather injures corn  especially ln soft
clay and naturally drained fields, but good
rains soon will make a good crop; the deep
soil retains some moisture and in Benton
oounty, corn is a beautiful green but tired
near the earth; in White county it is tasseling and   ears   are showing; oats is (being
threshed, yielding   from 35 to 50 bushels
of good grain; wheat threshing continues,
yielding   from 30   to 40 bushels;   gardens
and pastures are dry; a good  crop of hay
has been secured; potatoes need rain.
H. A. Huston,
Director Indiana Weather Service.
Per C. F. R. Wappenh»ns,
Weather Bureau, Assistant Director.
Moderate Sized Farms.
One of tbe Improvements in our farming that we are gradually tending to is to
divide the large farms up into small ones,
and as cities grow up and the rural districts become more thickly populated the
size of the farms decrease and the number
increase. In every new oountry the first
phase of agriculture is for the farmers to
own enormous lands, which they attempt
to cultivate more or less thoroughly.
Land Is cheap, and the cost of a hundred
acres is lees than a 10 acre farm near the
cities. This system of large farm holdings seems essential to the first stages of
farming in any country, but gradually It
disappears.
In the Eist the majority of our farms
are small compared with those in the
West, and they are constantly decreasing
in size. This, instead of being an unfavorable change in agriculture, is really beneficial. One of the curses of our farming
system has been the spreading out so that
no part of the farm has been thoroughly
cultivated. It costs more to cultivate indifferently a large acreage than it does a
small one very thoroughly, and the returns are larger in the second than in the
first instance. In the first case the land
also steadily deteriorates in fertility,
while in [the latter it improves. Many
farmers, however, cannot be induced to
accept this, or at least they do not give
up half their farm and devote more time
to the other half. The gradual settlement
of the country alone makes them adopt
small farms In preference to large ones.
The high price of land and consequent
high taxes soon show the wisdom of selling as much of the farm as possible and
redoubling their efforts in making the
small farm produce more than ever before.
The present hard times show that the
farmers who have small holdings get
along better than those with large farms.
It Is an easier matter for the farmers on
limited acres to change the method of
their work, and to grow crops that will
suit the home market. On the large
farms there are only a few staple crops
that they can raise, and if these decline in
prioe they have to suffer severely, and
then vety likely be forced to continue the
cultivation of the same kinds of products.
The most profit comes from the small
farm In many ways. Taxes are smaller,
less hired labor Is required, and less expensive machinery. The farmer has the
whole machinery of his farm under his
control, and he can watch tbe leaks in the
business, and reduce expenses ln many
ways. In times of commercial depression large business firms that are compelled to be under heavy expenses to conduct their business at all, suffer more than
the small firms where a small paying business can be carried on successfully. The
same »p piles to the large and small farms.
In the future the number of small farms
must rapidly Increase, and the large ones
will correspondingly decrease—A. B.
Barrett, in American Cultivator.