VOL. LVIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, FEB. 7, 1903.—TWENTY PAGES.
NO. 6
Qucvtj and gtustrjc*.
Please state In the Indiana Farmer where I
can  get an   agricultural  report of  Arkansas.
Hancock  Co. Wm.   B.   D.
Address Frank Hill, Commissioner of
Agriculture, Little Bock, Arkansas, for a
copy.
Where can I get a book of plans for dwelling
houses? J.   F.   E.
We can furnish you a copy of "House
plans for everybody," or "How to build
a borne, or homes, for home builders;"
each $1, postage prepaid.
Where can I get a plan for a round barn?
Is lt as substantial as a solid frame?   Portland.
Bound barus are proving very satisfactory an-d convenient. The book "Barn
plans, etc., price $1 gives all necessary
information as to plan and cost.
Can you send me the address of "Sbawver,"
the originator of the plank barn plan?   W. M. S.
Royerton.
Don't believe we can, unless you can
give us some clew to his whereabouts.
Did we publish anything about him? If
so, when? Give date, or number, and
page and we'll look him up.
In building a partition fence how mnst one
go at lt to get the one who does not want to
build his part of a line fence between farms
to do his part? He says he doesn't need any
fenee.
Sections 4848 to 4834 Bevised Statutes
give directions how to proceed in- such
cases. Ask your justice of peace to show
you his copy of the Statutes.
C. E. R., Johnson Co., is troubled with rats in
his barn, and is afraid to use "Rough on rats,"
and wants to know what to do.
A good cat is the best trapper. She will
catch the young rats, and the old ones will
leave. The round top wire trap is a good
one; bait it with cheese. Sprinkle chloride
of lime in their runs. They will keep
away.
I hare a drilled well, 46 feet deep, 6 Inch
casing, drilled six feet In stone. It afforded
the best of water for three years. Since last
April It has pumped up very oily water and sand
every day or two. I would like to ask if any
one has had a like experience, or If anyone can
tell   me   the   cause,   and   what   ls   the   remedy.
Decatur Co. A. C.  W.
As you are in or near the oil field it
may pay you to go deeper. Take the advice of men who are in the business of
boring for oil.     They will know.
Please tell me, through the Farmer, lf Johnson grass will do well in Illinois, and where I
can obtain seed, and what kind of pasture lt
makes. w*. C- p
Vincennes.
It would no doubt do well in most sections of Illinois. Seed can be had in
Atlanta or Macon, Ga. It yields heavily
an.l makes fine pasture at the South, but
has not been tried in northern States, so
far as we know.
Some corn out in field yet. Weather has been
unfavorable to husking. Wheat looking wel], but
small acreage sown. Snow has covered the
ground most of the time since winter set ln.
More or less hog cholera In this and Fountain
counties. The disease Is still raging. Is there
any law concerning burying or burning hogs dying
with hog cholera? Many people In our neighbor-
hood are putting them on top of the grouno.
What can we do if they do not dispose of tl.im
In some way? C. O. Ltndburg
Warren  Co.
Yes. indeed; the law of 1807 has not
been repealed. Itimposesa penalty of from
S10 to $50 for failing to "burn or securel-
bury" hogs that have died of the cholera.
We will publish the law if your neighbors
doubt us.       Notify them of their liability,
end no doubt bnt they will speedily comply with the law.
I should like to know through yonr valued paper all about seeding clover lu wheat, the time,
manner,  etc.    Please answer in au early  issue.
Warrick   Co. Subscriber.
Bow red clover seed, at the rate of
from 8 to 12 poumls to the aere, when the
ground is slightly frozen, in the morning
of a sunshiny day, when the thaw is likely
to be sufficient to soften the earth and
U-t the seeds settle into it. Most any time
l>etween Ihe middle of March und the middle of April will do. Some farmers run
ever the wheat with a light harrow, to
loosen the surface, and make a good bed
for the clover seed. This does not harm
the wheat usually, but is often a help to
it.
Will W. J. T., who gave his experience
with Alsike clover in last number, please
give us his post office address?
E. L. B., Fountain Co., asks W. J. T.,
of Howard Co., to tell in this column, how
he sows Alsike clover. If he has seed
to sell it would pay him to* state the fact
in our For Sale column.
In No. 4, January 24th, a subscriber
of St. Joseph county, inquires where to
get carp (fish). I think the editor is right
in the answer he gives. I have two
! onda partly stocked with carp, I wish
they were all out. I got some rock bass
and put them in one pond, after a lot of
carp were taken out. There are many
other kinds o£ fish superior to the carp.
Elkhart Co. J. P. Smucker.
In answer to query of a Subscriber as
to a movable wire fence, published in No.
4, page 1, will say I have used the 26-inch
American field fence with two barb wires
above for that purpose for some years,
moving its from clover to clover field each
year, in my rotation, and find it efficient
iu turning hogs and all other stock; very
quickly-put up, taken down and moved
away; have handled 50 rod roll of it easily; any kind of timber answers for posts;
with good sized log for ends well set and
braced any kind of stake or post set 13 in.
deep, one rod apart answers for inter-
mediate. It is the easiest ami quickest
movable fence I ever tried. Other woven
fences may be as handy,  I  don't know.
Union Co. W. T. Hill.
The Farm School.
Edltora Indiana Farmer:
We farmers are all children in Nature's
chart class; we learn a lesson and '.ike all
other human children are puffed up with
the belief that we are near the top, and
haven't much to do but practice what
we already know, and this spirit is sometimes fostered by having the same lesson
presented for two or three seasons.
Wo learned to conserve moisture by
breaking early and keeping a surface
mulch, which is the artificial bell glass,
we can spread over an entire field, holding down the stored supply, we learned
.hat shallow working tools were best for
this purpose, and had supplied ourselves
with them, but another combination was
presented; heavy rains made our fine
mnlch into mortar, which a few days sunshine polished off and hardened until mir
favorite weeder was of no value, and the
spring tooth cultivator was brought into
nse f,.r first cultivation. This was so
slow that before a field could be gone over!
it ha.l grown so hard that the work was '
very unsatisfactory; we were compelled'
to   buy   plows   that   would   tear   up   the
ground, an.l we also learned that these
tame plows could be made to go shallow,
as  well  as  deep.       And  when   another
season comes we will prepare for a dry
one, and use the weeder, and if the rains
come too hard, will tear the crust up deep.
It is not always good farming to wait until the ground is dry enough to plow before starting in; if the rains should be
frequent, plowing Wet is much better than
not to plow at all, and if plowed wet and
fair weather prevails almost all the evil
effects ean be removed by surface working
with weeder, when it has dried a little
on* top. The drought of 1901 was a
great educator and many valuable lessons
were learned, gome of them already forgotten.
Hog  cholera  has  appeared     in    many
places,    and  n-o  doubt  will  contribute  its
share to  a  light crop of pigs this year,
superinduced   by   a   big  pile   of   corn,   a
scoop shovel  ami an able-bodied  farmer;
but it is so much easier than to prepare
warm slops, and the idea of keeping hogs
on hay and warm water is so ridiculous.
that it is not considered,  when corn can
be raised or bought.       The new road the
corn failure made us travel plainly led to
better  and  more  economical  results.  The
lesson was forcibly put to us, and a repetition of it woulil bave fixed it. deeply in
our  minds,   and   we   would   have   become
used to the new way before a chance was
offered   to  drop  back  into  the  old.   Onr
great   mother   teacher   seldom   forces   us
to learn, but self interest and professional
pride should make us close students.
It is estimated tbat the increase of
population in the United States each year
is two million six hundred thousand, and
the area over which corn can be grown- has
already been measured; corn land will soon
bo worth $100 an acre. Can the man
with the scoop shovel hold on to it, think
you? A.  A.  Parsons.
Hendricks Co.
fences are a blessing as well as many nther
i I'Tii Inventions, with the help of agricultural papers such as the In.liana
Fanner. Pen**.*   Crockett.
My the Co., Va.
Prefers Fence Already Woven,
Edltora Indiana Farmer:
Some one has asked, "Which is a good
fence machine? To take my experience
there is none; that is, none that the farmer can use. Of course there are some
that are used in the factories where they
make the woven fence, such as the American fence, Page and some others. But
as for a farmer using a fence machine
it is not practical. We have had one for
18 nionths or more, aad have put up two
lines of fence, ami we have not woven one
rod with the machine; and this is the
case with two of my neighbors.. I can
buy good woven fence for 35c per rod,
ami would rather pay 50 cents for it than
try to make a fence with a machine, if
I got the machine free.
I take for granted that any man will
luderstand how to work this machine.
First, stretch the wire; then for the machine sit].pose you cross a little rise, then
.Toss a hollow on the rise, all the wires
are on the ground and across the hollow
they are so high yon can't reach them
without a bidder and making a bend in
the fence or a corner, you can't get the
machine past the post, therefore there is
only one place you can make a fence with
the machine, and that is in a straight
line, au.l perfect level ground. Brother
fanners, unless you protest and expose
such things as are detrimental to our
cause we will ucver succeed as we should.
I wish every man who has fence machines for sale would stop selling machines and weave the fence in his fac-
r.iiy, where he is equipped for such business, then sell  the  feuce.      Woven  wire'
Let-tr From Alabama.
Editors Indlsna Farmer:
Doubtless many of your readers an- inquiring as to matters South, and will be
interested in learning something of the
Chattahoochee river country.
The Chnttahoochce is the line between
Georgia, and Alabama, from West Point
na southward to ihe point where these
two States corner on the north line of
West Florida. The river is navigal.li* as
far up as Columbus, Ga., on th** east
bank; Fhoenix City and Girard being cities in Alabama across the river from Columbus. To bring the situation- of those
three cities down to a comparison of something more familiar to your readers, the
Alabama "twin cities" aro to oCiumboa
what New Albany and Jeffersonville are
to Louisville. The total population of
the Southern trio, however, is but about
35,000. But three to five steamers come
to their wharf each week, yet as a railroad center a comparison with the Ohio
river cities  would  be  more  favoraV* .
But to return* to the river itself: From
West Point to oCIumbus, (tbe first 40
miles above the navigation) the stream
is full of falls and shoals. Long before
electrical power, as used to-day, was ever
dreamed of some of these points were
utilized as locations for cotton mills. Recently syndicates of northern capitalists
have bought up the lands on either side
*>t the river for several miles, and your
readers are already familiar with what
generally follows such in vestments, making it unnecessary for me to rehearse the
expectations of the citizens here for the
future of this favored section of natural
'■.'sources.
II*iii. J. J. Stranahan. of Chagrin Falls,
Ohio, who for some years has been superintendent or a government fish hatchery
nt Bullookville, On., has formed a partnership with a railroad conductor—an
lowan   who  has  spent  over  20  years     in
Georgia—and bought up an 800-acre tract
of fruit lands on Pine mountain, near
Bullockvillo, (Warm Springs, on railroad
maps), an.l are putting out an immense
fruit farm. Lands on these—the most
southern range of mountains east of the
Fathers of Waters-range in price from
$3 to $10 per acre. This section—as I
hav,* written before—is near the southern
belt  for tin*   apple  and  the northern   edge
of the fig belt.      The ribbon (sugar) eafte
syrup of this section is the Choicest of
11 the sugar cane belt. This is almost
on northern edge of the sugar cane belt too
nnd yet not down itr the "pincy woods"
belt of warm water, nor too far for a
northerner to locate an.l farm pretty mnch
as he does  at  home. ('has.  Stout.
Phoenix City, Ala.
Complimentary.
I owe a groat deal to the Farmer.
Elizabcthtown, Jan 10. ,\. n.
I want to say that your valuable paper
bas been a great help to us during tin-
past  year,  could  not   well  do  without  it.
Salem, Jan. 12 J.  W.  Thomas. '
No other farm paper sn nearly fills all
the needs of Indiana farmers as the Indiana Farmer. We saved Si;, which was
more than half the value of the purchase
in one transaction, by being readers ot
the Indiana Farmer,   Mrs. C. E. Byrkit.
Shirley, Henry Co.