VOL. LXV
INDIANAPOLIS, MARCH 26, 1910.
NO. 13
Written for the Indiana Farmer:
FEDERAL     INSPECTION     OF     THE
GRADING OF OUR GRAINS.
By J.  H.  Haynes.
Senator McComlier of North Dakota,
realizing that the farmers of fhe Northwest were defrauded in the testing and
grading of their grain crops, introduced
a bill in Congress at its last session
having in view federal supervision in
the grading and inspecting of grain
crops. It w s called up in the house
and allowed to die there. It never
reached the Senate. Now that there is
some need of the farmer soon, a sympathetic chord has been touched and
the committee again have the bill before them. The chances for any action are too meager to give any hopes.
We are told the plutocratic farmer is
aisking too much just now. That he
ailready has enough. Of course there
is a power back of the move to crush
it.      We'll see.
For years the farmer had nothing
to say as to the grading and weighing
a>f his products. He sells his grain to
the elevator company, which arbitrarily fixes the prices and the weights.
When the company buys it under-
srades. When it is shipping out, it
a ither gives right grades or overgrades.
By these manipulations the farmer
loses the difference between the deal-
a rs low grade in buying and high grade
in selling. The senator said his people in North Dakota lost a million dollars each year by these processes.
Investigations of the books of one of
the large elevators in the Northwest
made the following showing of receipts
and shipments for  the year,   1909:
Received—
Grade   1 300,000  bu.
Grade  2 400,000  bu.
tirade  3    800,000  bu.
Shipped:—-
Grade  1    800,000  bu.
Grade 2 400,000  bu.
Grade  3 300,000  bu.
What lesson can be learned from
these statements?
How this juggling of grades can be
alone is Illustrated by an incident that
occurred with ua Inst fall. Our wheat
was threshed and hauled direct to the
elevator. It was good, plump grained
wheat. It was nearly all graded No.
2. None was graded No. 1. One load
(one of the best sort) was graded No.
3 and was docked 10 cents on the
bushel. Ono load was sent to the
(louring mill for exchange and was re-
ceived as A Nu. l wheat. We have no
doubt that every bushel of that wheat
was shipped out No.  1.
Some years ago the graft on the
farmer was in weights; the legislature
got to work to head that off; then see
tho dodge the elevators took. They
befjan buying grain (eorn especially)
by the 100 pounds, instead of the bush-
el, and by this scheme and the grading
test combined they created a greater
graft.
Will the present actions In Congress
amount to anything? We say "No."
The farmers of the United tSates lack
"rganlzation. For some reason, not to
be explained they refuse co-optration.
What injury does this re-grading do to
our markets?
A ship load of American wheat grad-
p,l No. 1 is sent to the European markets,       it   comes   in   competition   with
Russian No. 1, South American No. 1
and the wheats of the world. It proves
inferior to these and we feel the effects ■ at once in our market prices.
The men that do the exporting do not
care. They are on the safe side, they
have already made their big per cent.
Once more we plead for co-operation
in securing legislation and in harmonizing our various interests for mutual
benefit to all and for co-operative elevators, where the proper grading and
weighing    would save    enough    in one
work it will do depend largely on the
number of plows operated.
In a recent bulletin of the TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, much general
information is given in regard to traction plowing, and its economy and
practicability are  discussed.
This gang plowing work with traction power is also coming into large
use here in the central states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and
other States, and is proving a great
success.
year to pay flrst cost.
If the investigations now being made
as to responsibilities of high cost of living are true, the farmer receives 33
per cent of the products he puts on the
markets and some body else the 66 per
cent. Why not co-operate and save a
part  of that  66  per cent?
TRACTION PliOWING.
On the large farms of the Greav
Plains and the ranches of California
traction engines—both steam and gasoline—are used to an increasing extent
in farming operations, especially in
plowing land. The makeshift outfits
formerly used for this purpose have
been largely replaced by heavier and
stronger engines and gang plows especially designed for this use.
The advantages of traction plowing
are (1) that the work can be rushed
when conditions are favorable; (2) that
thu work can be done with a smaller
force of hands, and fewer horses have
to be kept; (3) in hot dry weather engines can be used when horses could
not stand the work; (4) with an engine
it is possible to plow very difficult
soils, and also to plow deeper than
with horses; and (5) under favorable
conditions, the cost of traction plowing has been brought lower than that
of plowing with horses.
The steam engines weigh from 7 to
20 tons, range from 20 to 50 horse
power, cost from $1,300 to $6,000, and
will plow from 15 to 50 acres a day.
A traction plowing outfit consists of
(1) an engine; (2) the plows or disks
arranged in gangs; and (3) miscellaneous conveniences for carrying supplies, making repairs, etc. The size
nnd cost of the outfit and the amount of
QUALITY OF WHEAT.
One of the state experiment stations
gives the quality of the wheat in general use, laying much stress on the protein content of them, which is a very
important one for human food. Prof.
Stewart of the Utah station on this subject says:
The crude protein analysis is of interest inasmuch as it gives the total
proteids in the grain and in the various milled products. Further than this,
it shows the distribution of the nitrogen
in the milled products. This data when
studied in connection with other analytic data, is of considerable importance
in judging the value of a wheat for milling purposes.
The protein content of domestic
wheat is given by Wiley as maximum
17.15 per cent, minimum 7.11 per cent,
menu, 12.23 per cent. Shepard gives
15.60 per cent, as the average protein
content of Durum wheats grown in
South Dakota. Leach gives the pro-
ta-in content of wheat as 12.35 per cent.
Williams gives 12.94 as the average per
cent protein of Ohio wheat for four
years. The analysis of 22 samples of
Blue Stem wheat grown in Washington,
gave an average protein content of
11.79 per cent, while the analysis of 7
samples of Turkey Red gave 11.46 per
cent.
Shaw reports the protein content of
6 samples of the Turkey wheat grown
in California, the average of which is
12.97 per cent. Harper and Peters
give 12.23 per cent and 11.85 per cent
as the protein contents of Gold Coin
and Turkey wheats, respectively, grown
in Kentucky. Judged by these standards, all of our wheats are excellent,
the protein eor'.ent bring very high.
INCREASING    CORN   AND    WHEAT
PRODUCTION.
The Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station at Columbia, Missouri,
has been carrying on some experiments in some ten counties of that
state, showing what the soil needs in
the matter of increasing its production.
In these counties the yield of corn had
been a little over 19 bushels per acre
before this fertilizing experiment was
undertaken, and under the new method
of fertilization the production of corn
has been increased to 45 bushels per
acre. A like fertilization has also increased the production of wheat from
12 bushels per acre to 26 bushels, with
an increased proflt in both corn and
wheat of over $7 per acre. The treatment of the soil by this new method of
production includes the growth of cow
peas, with the addition of phosphoros,
potassium and lime, both for corn and
wheat. The examination of the soil in
these ten counties showed that it was
deficient in nitrogen, phosphates, lime
and  humus.
This new method of cultivation has
restored the soils in these ten counties
to its original fertility, as by the old
process of farming it had been badly
run down.
This new method of restoring soil in
so simple a way, will attract the attention of farmers everywhere who have
run down soils. The director of the
Experiment Station is F. B. Mumford,
and a bulletin has been issued by the
station showing this new method of
cultivation, which is attracting a great
deal of attention. This is as applicable here to like run down soils as in
Missouri, and farmers with such soils
should consider this method of doubling corn and wheat production.
THE FOOD QUESTION.
The people complaining about the
high prices of food products in their
want of consideration of the cause of it
are much like the ancients who maintained that the earth rested on the
back of a turtle, which, by its nervous
nature accounted for the earth's movements,—i. e. they don't seem to have
moved up a peg since corn and other
foodstuffs advanced in prices during
the past few years. The farmer could
hardly make ends meet when corn was
only 20 to 25 cents a bushel and hogs
$2.50 to $3.00 per hundred. I.et them
wake up and consider how farmers
could make anything in feeding 65 and
70 cents corn to hogs at $2.50 and $3,
and cattle at the old prico of two to
three dollars per hundred. It would
look more sensible to intelligently consider the facts for cause, than to go to
kicking against the pricks in a blind
boycott. As Col. Coburn, of Kansas
says, consumers want meat bad enough
to pay the price of it under natural
conditions of advances all along the
line, and the farmers are not so stupid
as to refuse the price they offer, especially so as the price of hogs and cattle
are only adequate to the advances on
feed stuffs.
If the packers have been cornering
meat in cold storage, or otherwise, the
courts are after them, and will straiten
them out soon. In the meantime live
stock growers will go on receiving fairer prices than formerly, and people will
continue to eat meat.