APOLIS, FEBRUARY 29, 1908.
NO. 9
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Melou-'.
Fron
me From
Where See
Eilitora Indiana Farmer:
When you see the vast collections of
ss oil in the shops, or read the numberless
catalogues that are sent out everp year
from nurseries all over the land did it ever
occur to you to ask "Where do all these
seed come from, and who gathers and prepares them for market?"
The busiuess of seed-growing and selling
is a most wonderful and interesting affair, yearly increasing in importance.
There are at present more than six hundred seed-farms in the United States
devoted to the production of vegeta-
isle, field and flower seeds to be sold to
farmers and gardsjuers. These farms or
plantations vary in size, some being quite
extensive, comprising more than a thousand acres. At first the methods were
simple and crude, but they are yearly im-
1 roving, and now the most scientific ideas
are carried out, both in raising the seed,
and putting them on the market. In most
European countries there are Seed Testing,
s.r Seed Control Stations, where the seeds
are tested by simple methods, the work of
sprouting being done by young girls. There
are forty of them in Germany alone, and
they have created such a sentiment in fav-
s>r of pure seed, as opposed to the adulterated stuff usually sold, that farmers all
ssver the world are glad to submit samples
of their merchandise for proofs of quality
—guarantees of which are returned by the
station after examination and trial.
It is in California that most of our
flower seeds are produced, including the
bulk of petunias, verbenas, nasturtiums
and sweet peas. Cabbage are produced
mainly in New York state, cucumber seed
come from Missouri, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Corn and onions for seed are
raised all over the country. The same is
true of melon seeds, but carrot and lettuce
seed come from the far west, from California, in particular. Most of the red
clover seed comes from near Toledo, Ohio,
and that city is the principal market for
its sale.
Clover seed is quoted as regularly as
wheat and corn on the produce exchanges,
and the same may be said of timothy seed.
Iowa alone raised more than two million
bushels of timothy seed last year.
During the last twelve months we ex
ported   more   than   three   mi
cucumbers and tomatoes are
crushed in a press, and permitted to decay
to some extent, the crude mass finally
thrown into water. The pulp rises to the
top—the seeds sink to the bottom and are
thus separated.
Seedi-bearing stalks of cabbage, and
other vegetables are carried to the barn
in sheets, and there sifted out.
The whole business of seed-growing is as
wonderful as the fairy tales of our childhood. Mnny wise experimenters are now
working, day and night, to change, improve, select, or perpetuate the results of
each year's crops.        Some  of them are
applied to the fields during the winter sea-
son gsiusl ivsults are always obtained. I
siis nsit believe there is any great amount
ssf Issss when it is thus handled. I nm
confident that I git the benefit of the manure. The evidence is the growing crops
where I apply tho mannre.
A great many farmers, think that
manure should always be used as a top
liri'ssing in order to get its greatest value.
My opinion is that if it is plowed down
its full value will be obtained just as well
:;< when used in top dressing, although I
know that a mulch of any kind on certain
kinds of crops is valuable,       I also know
i!  when there is snow on the ground.
Taking all things into consideration, I
have found that the most satisfactory way
to handle manure in order to get the most
value out of it is to haul it directly to the
field just ns soon as it is made. None is
lying around  my  barns. If it was,   its
most valuable fertilizing elements would be
going to waste. Wm. II. Underwood.
Farm Home   of George A.   Galloway, Fountain County.
creating near varieties of fruits and vegetables, and  revolutionizing the entire domain of plant life. E. A. M.
Illinois.
Handling tbe Manure Crop
Editors Indiana  Farmer:
I make a practice of hauling the manure
crop directly to the field just as soon as it
1"       doll        !s ma('e'       * nnd tBis t0 be tbe most prac-
worth of grass and clover seed. We send
immense quantities of farm and garden
seeds to Europe, and Yankee clover, in
particular, is in great demand there.
Peas for seed are obtained from the
neighborhood of Traverse, Mich., and
Manitov.ac, Wis., the output of that region being free from the little worms so
liable  to  infest  them.
The harvesting of seeds is a business requiring no little wisdom and expertness—
most kinds being gathered when not quite
ripe, because they would otherwise be
lost. Onion seeds are gathered by going
through the fields and cutting off the pods
at the top of the stalks—tying them in bundles and thrashing them out on canvas.
Beans are allowed to stand in the fields
c-ntil they are yellow, after which they
are stacked until dry, and then thrashed
Peas are allowed to get dry and
I use a manure spreader, and from the
standpoint of labor, there is no other way
that will compare with this in handling
the manure economically. The manure
spreader not only saves time and labor, but
ic does two other very important things:
it distributes the manure evenly and thinly
over the field.
The larger part of the manure on my
place is handled during the winter wheu
there is not much other farm work to be
done, consequently the men and teams are
,.t liberty to do the work. As every
farmer knows, there is always more manure to handle during the winter than at
any other time of the year, on account
of the stock being more confined to the
stables and lots. If the manure is left
in a shed or covered barnyard the work of
hauling it comes at a season of the year
hard in the rows and then are taken to the   whpn nl1 ,,,e labor is needed on the farm
ham for threshing. To get cabbage seeds,
the stalks grown one year must be planted the next, when they run to seed, and
can be saved. The same is true of carrots—the roots which have developed in
one season are put into the ground the
next,   and go to seed.
anil extra labor must be hired to handle it.
Some may think that to haul manure out
during the winter and spread it on frozen
ground will subject the manure to heavy
loss when the ground thaws- out in the
spring, but experience does not seem to
warrant this opinion.      When manure is
that vegetable matter in the soil is valuable.
My practice has always been to put man-
Lre on clover sod that was intended to be
plowed down for corn or potatoes the following spring . I am satisfied that manure can be put on a clover sod whether it
is frozen or not and that there will be no
less, for when the snow melts and the
ground thaws the fertilizing valne of the
manure is absorbed by the sod ground
without loss. I know where it is placed
crosswise on a side hill it is easy lo tell by
the growing crop the next spring where the
mannre was put. It hasn't even washed
down the side hill, but goes directly into
the land. It is a good plan to top-dress
winter wheat during the winter with stable manure, especially where the land is
ts> be seeded to clover. It practically assures a good catch of clover and a heavy
growth of the same.
Sometimes, however, when the land
thaws up in the winter time or during a
very wet spell it is impossible to haul the
manure directly to the field. I then draw
it out to the edge of the field where I am
to use it and dump it in a large pile and
just as soon as the ground freezes or dries
up so thnt I cnn spread it. I do so. There
were only a few days last winter tbat I
bad to pile up the manure in this way. So
far this winter I have not been obliged to
resort to this method at all. Some farmers argue that a manure spreader cannot
be used during the winter time when there
is snow on the ground, but this makes
seven years now that I have used a spreader, and I have had no difficulty yet in using
New Experiment  Station.
Although it has not been announs s si,
there is at present in the process of eres-
tion the largest, if not the finest building
in the Imposing group of splendid structures now composing the visible and material parts of Purdue University at LaFayette. This new building upon completion is to serve as the experiment station
iu the place of the old structure now nsed
as a place of experimental work in agriculture.
The architects plans call for an edifice
two hundred feet long and seventy foot
wide, constructed of dark colonial bricks,
with trimmings of Bedford limestone. It
will be two stories high, covered with a
tile rs>of and is to be well provided wilh
plenty of windows to insure the admissiiu
of light throughout the entire interior.
The style of architecture has something of
the • classic in it, a feature placing the
building in harmony with the others forming the group on the campus.
The interior will be especially adapted
to meet the peculiar needs and requirements of the Purdue experts in agriculture. Experimental and research laboratories are to be fitted up for further scientific work. Offices will also be provided
for the use of the professors and instructors in charge of the work. A distinctive
feature of the building will be the specially designed stairways, having slate treads.
Aiother unique point about this structure
is that in its finished state it will be entirely fire-proof thruout, being the first of
all the university buildings to be thus
safeguarded against possible loss from the
fire fiend.
This new addition to the institution was
made possible by an act of the last Insliana Legislature, in which an appropriation of $100,000 was provided for this
commendable purpose. The foundations
are completed, and the basement walls are
all in place, so that from now on the work
upon the struture will go forward with
considerable dispatch. When the new
building is all finished, the old building,
which stands just in front of the new
one and which has been condemned as unsafe, will be razed, and its present site
will become a part of the lawn surrounding its successor.
KIND OF CORN TO PLANT.
I see mueh in the agricultural papers
about soft corn, all giving warning to
plnnt earlier corn. Let them stop and
n.editate a little. Such seasons as last
year are far between; 1875 was a fair sample, only more wet. The native timber
is a good guide as to the seasons. Walnuts did not mature; over one-half were
green and the kernels dried as thin as a
wafer.
We have a hickory tree in the field, a
sure bearer, and the nuts this year test
.'15 per cent immature. My advice would
be to save and plant the kind of corn that
has given the best results in the past. We
moved on the place three years ago and
gathered ninety bushels of corn per acre,
on what was the poorest field on the farm.
We carefully sorted the corn we will feed
after first of April. M. L. T.