VOL. LVII.
INDIANAPOLIS, OCT. 18, 1902.
NO. 42
Hedge Fence.
Editor* Indian* Parmer:
Can ymi Inform me if there is inch a
company as the Indiana Hedge Pence Oo.
at Indianapolis?    They put out a   fence "i"
mi rods "tr my place, and the contract has
run out. according to their terms. Can I
,1*. anything witli the hedge? It lias grown
up an.l looks bail. I.. II. N.
Bockt-ille.
—We do not tin.l tin* name of the company
in our city directory. It has probably gone
Ollt of liusiness. We a.lvise you to grub
up an.l born your hedge, an.l replace it
with a win* fence of souk* kind. It is
cheaper, better, given no trouble, an.l takes
np no apace.
"Most Important Occupation of Man"
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I like your paper very much. 'While 1
am not a farmer I enjoy reading the articles written by practical farmers. It is
a relief to turn our attention to the most
important occupation of man. The farmer
needs no special legislation in his behalf.
Anil he shonl.l be the first to protest
against special privileges being granted to
others, because in the end he foots the
bills. R. 0. H.
Effingham, Hlinoia.
—We are glad to hear our correspondents
speak of farming as the most important
occupation of man, and commend his last
remarks to all readers: there is much wisdom in it, and food for thought.
enongh to attract many dealers from the
large cities of the United States, most of
the sales being made to local firms.    In
COOaeqnence prices vary very much. Some
orchards have sold at from tl.BO t" SI.To
per barrel fm* cold storage fruit. Ina small
way to dealers they run from 50 cents to
SI per bushel, while to consumers tle'.v sell
at 25 to 50 cents per peck.
Tears show  in  the southern  part of the
Stat* 20 per cent with 4,"> per cent marketable; the central part: 66 per cent, with
00 per eent marketable: northern part. 90
per cent. TB per cent marketable. They, as
a rule, are smooth and of good size. Kei-
fers are scarce and small. Prices range
from 75 cents to ?1 to dealers in a small
way.
The grape erop. averaging 65 per cent
for the State, is not so fine in butch or berry as usual. Prices, 2 cents to _i cents per
pound to dealers in a small way.
W. B. Flick.
Why not Succeed?
Editor* Indiana Farmer:
What reasons can farmers give for failures? Why do they not more generally
succeed'.- Many lack business qualifications, such as would bring success in any
calling, and as a very natural consequence,
they fail. Many lack staying qualities.
That is. tiny do not fix upon tin* beat line
for them to follow, considering their surroundings, an.l then stick to it. If they do
not  succeed at first, as they think  they
should, in place of looking for leaks and
causes of failures, and rectifying their mistakes, they thro* up the sponge, and try
some other line of farming, not working
at. and studying one line of agricultural
work long enough to really learn much
•boot it. I think, however, that one of
the most general causes of failure is trying
to .1" more than can be well d**n>*. spread*
tng over too mnch territory. The s,,il is
not thoroughly worked before the crop is
planted, hence the crop cannot grow well,
in*r can it be well tended.
What sue* ess would men who are engage.1 in other callings have, if they looked
after their business in the same earelsss
way that is common among fanners?
Lay out what you can do well, an.l stick
to it. P. &  Ewan.
JeDnings County.
Indiana Fruit Conditions.
Editors  Indiana  Farmer:
Reports to the State Board **f Horticulture, September 10. show bnt little change
in the fruit conditions. The southern part
of the State reports 40 per cent of a crop
..f apples with 60 per cent marketable; th.*
central part. :'.<! per cent of a crop; 80 per
cent marketable*, the northern part, 88 per
cent and 1."". per cent marketable. The
Stat.* as a whole reports •"*•"* per cent of a
crop ami 15 per eent marketable.
Th" dry weather seems to be ripening
apples early. They are coloring up well
and are not dropping -,> badly. Sprayed
orchards nearly invariably are bearing an
average erop of smooth. g,„„l sized fruit, a
large per cent of which  will grade  No.  1.
Commercial   orchards   are   not   plentiful
Prospects in Wyoming.
By David C. Fattorson, Omaha, Nebraska.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The Trans-continental Traveler on the U.
P. R. lt. in crossing the State of Wyoming
from Cheyenne to Aspen Tunnel is unable
to see a green field or a farm house, during a ride of four hundred miles, and naturally sets the country down—in his mind-
as absolutely worthless—a barren waste,
lie doea not realize that he is riding from
daylight until sunset at a speed of 40 miles
per hour ami all this time is riding over
beds of coal that are from 4 to 70 feet in
thickness and 100 miles broad. Coal of
sueh excellent quality that it usually sells
in Omaha for abont as much per ton as
anthracite coal that is shipped twice as
far. Nearly all of this coal land belongs
to tl:.* government, with the exception of
alternate sections for twenty miles on each
si*l>* *.f the railway, and can be secured by
any one wanting to purchase coal land. In
Iron ore Wyoming has mountains of it. in
addition, gold, silver and copper an* found
in evey county of the State, not to mention
the oil ami other minerals'that are very
abundant. I am strongly Impressed with
the fact that Wyoming is a greater State
from a mineral standpoint than Pennsylvania, and that her mineral development
will mark an era in our national history
during the next decade.
This Stat** occupies a unique situation in
regard to governmental irrigation. The
head waters of the Snake river that flows
into the Columbia, the Yellow Stone river
that  flows north into    the    Missouri,    the
North Platte that flows east through Nebraska, anil the Qreen river flowing south
in tin* Gulf of California, all have their
source in the mountains of Wyoming.
where most of the money must be spent ill
building reservoirs in which to store water.
not only for Wyoming but for her neighboring States.
The largest natural reservoir site may be
soon at a distance from the city of Laramie. It has an area of over l.'l.OOO a* res.
with a storage capacity of needy a million
acre feet: enough water to cause a change
in the appearance of the plains of Laramie,
and with water to spare.
Being in quest of trout I was directed
to Fort Bridge on the Blacks Fork river
in southwestern Wyoming. After leaving
the railway at Carter station wo had driven but a few miles until we came in sight
of a beautiful valley nestled at the base
of the snow*-capped Unite Mountains, in
whieh there are ,'..000 people engaged in
farming under Irrigation,  from the Smith
ami Black Fork rivers. The whole valley
was covered with alfalfa and grain fields,
I'he soil is very fertile, yielding 40 bushels
of wheat an.l To bushels of oats per acre.
I had supposed if there was one State in
the 1'nion where one would surely starve
fanning, it certainly was Wyoming, ami
when I suggested this view to one of the
settlers, he directed me to the farm of Mr.
S.  11. Bough, who had come to this valley
some nine years ago ami worked as a common farm hand, and who was now the
owner of 560 acres of irrigated land, free
of incumbrance. This was the kind of a
man I wanted to look at. and a drive of a
few miles out of our course brought us to
his farm. I was amply remunerated for
the trouble. His horses were large, hogs
lat. cattle -leek and well bred, nnd everything about the man and place indicated the
successful farmer. His success was largely contributed to by the unusual situation
of this valley, enabling the farmers here
t** secure large prices for their products
This is best explain.*.! by reading what
I'rof. Elwood Mead sa.vs of this valley in
his report as state engineer of Wyoming
"The opportunity for making homes in
Blacks Fork Valley ought to have peopled
it long ago. This valley borders a Transcontinental railway and can be easily and
cheaply  watered.
Facts About Clover.
Editors Indiana  Farmer:
The farming world hears so much of legume nitrogen that the impression has
grown that the legumes are valuable for
almost ever, thing on the farm, from growing a crop of corn to mending a grindstone.
The facts in the case are very simple, A
certain class ,,f plants, legumiuosae. to
which all kinds of clovers, peas and beans
belong, have the property of assimilating
atmospheric nitrogen for their own growth.
and when the manure from snch crops is
returned to the soil, or the stubble of such
crops turned under for manure this nitrogen becomes available for growing other
crops.- at least a portion of it. The plants
themselves do not assimilate this atmospheric nitrogen, but they harbor certain
bacteria which perform this valuable function. There is nothing exceptionally woti-
defnl nor mysterious in the matter. The
roots of a clover plant for example are infested with a certain form of bacteria
wbich take the inert nitrogen of the air
and fit it for plant food. As soon as this
transformation is made the nitrogen is
quit.* the same as any other plant food nit-
i*>*-■*< :i. whether in barnyard manure or in
fertilizer.
It must be kept in mind that these bacteria do not take potash and phosphoric
acid from the air, and probably not for the
reason that there is no potash or phosphoric acid in tin* aii*. At the same time, in
order that the nitrogen assimilated by these
bacteria may reach the form of vegetable
matter, that is. make plants grow, it must
In* accompanied by approximately an equal
weight of potash and at least half as
much phosphoric acid.    Xow these mineral
plant food elements must .-..me from somewhere or the bacteria must quit work, and
as a matter of fa. t. they are taken from
the soil, and if they are Dot present in the
soil. th<* clover becomes "sick" just as soon
as  it   has  nsed  all   the  mineral  plant   food
! it ean find.   There is just this difference
between fertilising for a clover and other
plants,—in the .lover ease most of the nitrogen plant f 1 may Ik* omitted.    That is
about all there is to that.
Th.* quantity of printers' ink used to explain the many uses of legume nitrogen
would cover a great part of the farms of
the country, but there is very little said
abont lirst catching the legume. A good
crop of clover will supply per aore 150
pounds Of plant food nitrogen. 125 pounds
of potash, and 45 to 50 pounds of phosphoric acid. This nitrogen may all have
Come from tbe air. bnt the potash and
phosphate came from the soil. It is true
that this potash ami phosphate is available
equally with the nitrogen for growing succeeding crops, but where .Mil it come from
in Ihe Brat case? It came from the soil,
of course. Now. so long as clover can be
grown Successfully without the use of manures or fertilizers, the soil must have plenty of potash and phosphates as a natural
condition, but when the nop begins to fail,
tin* conditions are different. It is sure that
nitrogen is not lacking, it is equally sure
that either potash or phosphate, or both,
are lacking, and tin* crop fails.
Some SX pet Is claim that clover plants
draw the mineral plant f 1 from the subsoil, but the plant is no more able to do
this [ban any other crop. There is mighty
little available plant food in the subsoil of
well farmed land. However, the unfailing
sign of a lack of minerals is the gradual
failure of the crop. Perhaps no other crop
requires such careful manuring, because
other crops are less used as manure, having
no atmospheric nitrogen to donate pactie-
ally   free  of  cost. R.   Garwood.
Libraries for Rural Neighborhoods.
Every neighborhood ill the country
should have a library. Farmers anal their
families have as much or more time to
read than any other class of people. The
library should be th.* social center of Uie
neighborhood. We enjoy society because
we crave and need recreation and mental
association with other minds. Nothing
will place a community more itr sympathy ami touch with one another than a
careful reading and discussion of the
same books. 'I'he fanners of every neighborhood should co-operate and buy a
small library. If the farmers would contribute only two or three dollars each,
they could buy n very good library.
Twenty-five dollars will buy a very instructive  library  foi* a dozen  families.
The books should consist of the best
works of their class and should include
history, science, biography, poetry, essays,   fiction,   fanning   and   stock   raising.
The common school gives a good practical education. It prepares the scholar
to educate himself. The common school
education is intended to enable every one
to Inform himself by careful reading or
attending   high   school.
As the majority  of | pie -are not able
lo attend high schools and colleges, the
neighborhood library is the best adapted
means   for   Informing   themselves.
No on.* shouhl remain ignorant who has
a.css to a good Mbrary. Nothing contributes so much to our happiness and
success as education. A well informed
man or woman is much better qualified
to manage any business thair on ignorant
one. Many farmers appreciate this fact.
are sending their sons and daughters to
agricultural   colleges.
Let ns help to elevate our neighborliiK.il
by CO-operating with other farmers ami
getting a library in our neighborhood,
that every one. old and yonng. may have
an opportunity of developing their latent
talent   and   cultivating   higher   ideals.
Colleges are for the fortunate few;
while neighborhood libraries are for every
-*'■■•'• C. W.
Riverside Farm, Salem.
There is a foe. shortage in this city.