VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBEE 23, 1909.
NO. 42
Letter   From   Orange   County.
Bdltora Indiana Farmer:
In a two years' stay in Orange county  this  state   I  notice  many  excellent
farms and good farmers.    This county
has some  naturally poor land as well
as  other counties.    But  almost  everywhere one sees a good farmer he sees a
good  farm.    This  is  not  because  that
class always buys good land—not at all.
A good farmer here picked up a forty
touching his land that had been worn
till its owner had to leave it.    He put it
all in wheat with a good fertilizer and
the  wheat  paid   the   bill.    On  this  he
secured a stand of clover.    This clover
he clipped.    He    took    hay from    the
richer spots to pay expenses.    Then he
clipped the seed crop and left it on the
land.    The  next year  he  repeated  the
same treatment, leaving the bulk of the
growth to rot on the land and shade it.
The  next year he got fifty bushels  of
corn   per  acre.    Then  a   good   crop   of
wheat followed with      clover, and the
land   was  redeemed.    No  manure  was
used   because   it  was  a  distance  from
the barn.    This man  has  100  head  of
Jersey  cows,  and  covers  all  his  ,grass
tend with manure before breaking for
oorn every year.     One of his fields will
make  100  bushels  per acre  this  year,
and another will make 80 bushels.
I know another "forty that was redeemed the same way. I have in mind
a farm in Brown County that is surrounded by farms that are mostly
thickets, while this farm has been
chopped out and pastured till it was all
under the plow or else in fine blue-
grass. What a contrast it was to
see on the other side of the
fence, both north and south of it, the
same kind of land but a thicket. The
old proverb—"Like farm, like farmer"
is emphasized in such cases, as well as
In the two forties mentioned.
The fault of farming here is not so
much the land as the management. I
see land here 'that has not smelt clover
for many years, but has been left after
cropping to grow up in wild grass and
to be pastured a little. This land rested
two years with no crop, this year it
brought thirty bushels of corn with
very imperfect  cultivation.
Orange County land needs to be
worked more. It should be broke for
wheat early and harrowed often before
sowing. Corn should be cultivated before it comes up, and at three blades
high, and if it does not blow down
should be stirred to break the crust and
aif the soil a time or two after it is
laid by.
The general rule is that the less humus the soil contains the more it must
be worked, also the more humus it contains the less work it takes to raise
a crop.
A Dutchman came to southern Indiana from thin land in Southern Ohio.
In the spring he started two teams and
sowed oats. He kept the teams sowing
•ats. The neighbors laughted at him,
but he said nothing but sowed oats.
He dropped in a field of corn and then
went on sowing oats. When the flrst
oats were grown he plowed them under
and sowed oats. The neighbors said he
was crazy but he said nothing but kept
* on plowing under oats and sowing oats
°r buckwheat. . /jF.nVlly he broke
again turning art ^dfl^and sowed to
wheat. This he fo.:ow*d with clover
and got \ good crop of wheat and a
Kood stand    of clover.    After    that he
beat his neighbors cropping right along j came    soon after    it flowed  full    and
and they quit laughing at him. j the  water  went  down  as  nice  as  one
Some guyed him for coming here to could ask. I walked thru a wheat field
buy "pore" land. He said it was much ■ on that land and the wheat was up to
better than the land he left;  that the; your   neck.    He   said   that   the   people
THE  BIG OLD   GRAPE  VINE.
threadbare expression "there's enough
corn on the ground" has cost farmers of
Indiana millions of bushels. They will
overlook without the least concern
skips a rod long and a stand of not
more than 65 percent and cultivate one
hundred acres to get sixty-five of corn.
The way to have corn thin enough
on the ground to suit the land is to
plant it thin; then save every stalk as
near as possible.
Farming ln Orange county has greatly improved in twenty years, but it is in
a large part very crude and unscientific today. The people here are
thrifty however. This is a good trading center and banking point, but it
could double its crops with better farm
methods, the principal of which ls a
three year rotation with a legume and
better working of the soil.
Orleans. E.  H.  Collins.
This vine is erowlng on the farm of E. R. Quick, Franklin Co. For over
100 years it has been known as the "Big Grape Vine." It is 50 inches in
diameter near the ground. It is wild of course and the grapes are of little
value.
land is cleared of trees and stumps and
most of the rocks and fenced with
fair buildings on it. Just see he said
the work that has been done here on
this farm that I get the benefit of.
During three years it makes me a home
and a living, and after that it is in a
condition  to make money.
The more one looks over the state
the more plain it is that you can't fool
a farm. You can fool and rob your
self but the farm reponds to treatment
good or bad.
Orange County has not yet learned
to tile land. A northern man bought
a quarter section that was wet. Some
of his neighbors told him that water
would not enter tile thru that land. He
bought a car and a half of tile and laid
it, and       when a       big.       rain
formerly threw the plow down and
dragged lt thru this muddy valley and
plowed on both sides. This land has a
fine paying crop of corn on it this year.
There are several superstitions held
by farmers here as elsewhere. One is
that it damages corn to plow it after
three feet high. One man says "I have
tried it every way and I can grow as
good corn to cultivate it three times as
more." The same is said of potatoes;
that to cultivate them after they begin
to "set" will ruin the crop. Another
Is that one can grow as big crops to
plow four inches deep as deeper. This
is not true the first year and will
eventually wear the land out. Another
unnrtse practice is to be careless of the
stand of corn. Some do not stop to uncover   corn    when    plowing    it.      The
Medicinal Qualities of Hot Water.
Editors Indiana  Firmer:
Hot water has great therapeutic
value; it has great virtue ln allaying
inflammation and pain. Stomach
troubles are relieved and in many instances cured by the use of it, a cupful
taken before meals being the most
simple and efficacious method of cleaning and easing the stomach and regulating indigestion. A little salt dissolved in the water is cleansing and agrees
with many by counteracting the insipid taste of hot water. Many drink
insufficient water to aid in assimilating the food and washing out the system.
For external application a soft
towel or large piece of woolen cloth
should be folded, then wrung from
water as hot as can be borne and applied to the seat of pain, covering well
with several thicknesses of flannel to
retain the heat. To protect the hands
the hot cloth may be run thru a
clothes wringer, or several hot flat-
irons may be kept in readiness, the
cloths wrung from warm water, then
placed on ironing board and ironed
until steaming hot.
Headache is sometimes relieved by
immersing the feet in hot water, as
it relieves the congestion and abnormal fulness of the blood vessels..
Soaking the feet in hot water also is
an efficacious remedy for insomnia, as
it has the virtue of drawing the rush
of blood from the head, thus quieting
the nerves. It is a panacea for tired
feet.
As a bath for weak and inflamed
eyes hot water is of great value,
quickly allaying inflammation and
strengthening the eyes; with a soft
cloth wash and bathe the eyes very
thoroly, using the water generously.
Tired eyes will also be benefited by
this treatment. To cleanse a cut or
bruise there is nothing better than hot
water. Sprains and swellings are reduced and soothed by it, if bathed
thoroly and frequently. It Is an all
round remedy and one that is easily
accessible. C. B. W.
Ohio.
According to the IT. S. Bureau of Statistics, Indiana produced 137,835,000
bushels of corn  last year. She was
fifth in the list, Illinois being first, with
298,020,000 bushels, then Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas. In wheat
she was fourth, with 45,769,000 bushels. Kansas was flrst, 79,282,000 bushels.