VOL. LXVII
INDIANAPOLIS, JAN. 27, 1912.
NO. 4
Industrial Indiana at Purdue
Great Short Course.
LIVE   STOCK,   DAIRY   AND   OTHER
ASSOCIATIONS   HOLD   ANNUAL
MEETINGS.
PROFITABLE    WEEK AT    PtJRDTTE
UNIVERSITY.
All of the 2000 Indiana farmers who
attended the Purdue Short Course during the week beginning January 8th
were kept busy all the time no matter
what department of agriculture they
were most interested in. There were
good things taught from a practical
standpoint in every department. The
..iily objection to the course, as expressed by some who attended, was
that there were too many things going
on at the same time for any one person to attend. This is shown by a
'..'lance at the program. The six
branches of agriculture; Dairying.
Horticulture, Household Economics.
Poultry, Livestock, and Soils and Crops
were covered by a complete, separate
program occupying nearly every hour
of each  day  of  the week.
An Sections of Indiana Represented.
The interested farmers with their
wives began to register on Monday and
before the day was over nearly every
county of the state was representee!.
The increased attendance of women
who attended the household economic
and poultry courses, was especially no-
ticable. The meetings of several of
the state associations that met in connection with the short course kept up
the attendance until the last of the
week.
Perhaps the most beneficial part of
the course, if any one thing could be
picked out as being more benefical
than another, were the demonstration
lectures. There were three rooms for
those who wanted to learn more about
corn judging and they were tilled at
lesson. Those interested in the
ification of weed seeds had an opportunity to pick out the various kinds
of weed seeds and foreign mutter in a
de of alfalfa seed. It was surprising to see what a large- per cent of
foreign   seed   a   sample   contained.
STOCK  AND   I'OI'I.THV  JUDGING.
T'i  the stock  judging  pavilion  things
on  nearly all  hours  of  the
With   score     card     in   hand     the
men    were    kept      busy    judging
a,   cattle,   sheep   anel   hogs   under
direction of an expert.    In the pa-
demonstrations    were also given
ring    poultry    tor    market, a
1  that    attracted    unusual atten-
Further     demonstrations     were
In the handling    of farm Imple-
"ents,  mixing and  applying spray  ma-
";|ls. in the vaccination    of hee^s tor
"atment of cholera,  home  mixing  of
^ertllizers   use ot rorma]tril an(1  in  vls.
to  the  orchard  and poultry  plants
,i women,   demonstrations  were
n   'n  cooking     various     kinds     of
and desserts, paper bag cooking
the preparation of school  lunches.
The Large Short Course Attendance.
The largest attended sessions of any
of the associations that met in connection with the short course were those
of the Indiana Corn Growers' Association, which has a membership of nearly a thousand farmers. Hon L. B.
Clore, who has been president fe>r the
past year, reviewed the work of the
association and declared that the advancement in corn growing in this
state was a result of its work. Xot only is this association  interested  in  bet-
The professor said: "When corn is
planted In hills 3 Vi feet apart each
way 3500 hills per acre will result. If
corn is planted two stalks to the hill,
and each stalk bears an ear of one
pound weight, we can raise 100 bushels
per acre. The majority of Indiana
farmers are trying to produce 2 '4 to 3
stalks per hill, and the state is securing an average yield of 40 bushels.
There is a loss of 60 bushels, due to
poor stand, barren stalks and small
ears, which is the result of poor seed,
lack of care in the planting and poor
soil."
Testing Seed Corn.
Prof.     Christie     recommended     the
use of the    germination  box    and  that
Demonstration  Lecture  in Live Stock Pavilion.
ter and more corn per acre but it Is
working with smaii grains and wee-'
seeds, and at its last session it was the
favor of all its members to include alfalfa in its study.
It was thought that more effective
work could be done in carrying on this
work in connection with the corn-
growers' association than by forming
a separate alfalfa club. Plans were
talked of for the running of an "Alfalfa Special" over Indiana. It was
brought out that there were only two
counties in the State where alfalfa is
not being grown.
Alfalfa Growing.
In this connection, Hon. A. P. Grout,
the "Alfalfa King" of Illinois, gave a
splendiil address on alfalfa growing on
his farm. 'He told what a leaving crop
alfalfa was, how much more digestible
food it produces compared to other
farm creeps. In giving points on its
culture the speaker said: "Alfalfa
shoulel   be  cut  when  little  shoots  start
fl'Om    tile'       CrOWn       elf    tile-    leeeel-;.       Al'tel'
the second cutting the Held shoulel be
disked   until  the'   plants  se-em   tee   lee-  cut
up and then harrowed. Such treatment would seem injurious but it is
not. I have a good alfalfa t'u-lel e>n my
farm that r have been treating by this
method that I have not reseeded for
eight  years."
How to Grow More Corn.
Prof. G. I. Christie.secretary of the
association, spoke on "How to Grow
More Corn." He spoke of how improved methods had increased Indiana's
corn  yield  in  spite  of  the  dry season.
every individual ear be tested." Only
14 ears are required to plant an aire'
with a good average yield of TO bushels. Each ear is capable of producing
five bushels. A bad ear not only causes
a loss of five bushels but the pollen of
bad stalks fertilizers other ears, and in
tiiis; way reduces the value of the seed
from future crops."
Mr. P. E. Goodrich, of "Winchester,
111., aelvis.- ; planting an early maturing variety of corn, develop it and under nee conditions mix the varieties, or
yellow and white    corn.
Save the Corn Stover.
Mr. D. F. Maish, for three years president of the association, spoke on the
importance of conserving the corn
stover and illustrated its value' by
experiments that have- been conducted,
such as wintering burses in geeoel condition een shredded fodder. One of the
points in favor of this feed, that the
speaker brought out, was the cheapness with which it can be harvested.
Silos and Silage.
Silos and silage was the topic of the
address of J. B. Munis. e,i Cloverdale,
who said of the silo building, that no
general movement in recent years for
the betterment of agriculture has had
such significance. He laid special
stress on the construction of silos, saying that the majority of failures in the
mangement of silos was due to improper construction.
Manures and Fertilizers.
Mr. J. B. Abbott, of the state station, gave an    interesting talk    on the
use of manures anel fertilizers and
showed ley figures obtained from the
results of experiments that the proper
use of fertilizers would more than pay
for themselves. He showed how live
stock farming aided in keeping up soil
fertility anel said that the effect of
fertility and said that the effect of manure on land can be seen the second
ami   third   years.
Prof. Christie and the New Officers.
At the close of the meeting Prof.
Christie was surprised by a gift of $50
from the members of the association
as a token of their appreciation for his
efficient work. The election of officers
resulted as follows: President, Oliver
''!:•'■■: Vice President, Fred Palin;
secretary anel Treasurer Prof. G. I.
i in istie.
STATE   CORN*   SHOW.
The annual state corn show held under the auspices of the association although not as large as in some previous years was one of high quality.
Again it was Johnson county corn that
won, the winner this year being J. A.
Stainbrook, of Franklin. The ten ears
that won the grand championship of
the state scored nearly perfect, anel
will be exhibited at the National Corn
Show next year. The grand championship single ear was also white
corn, won by J. D. Whitesides, of
Franklin, and like the champion ten
ears will be exhibited at the National
Show. Best ten ears yellow corn won
by John W. Kerlin, Bockfield. Best
ten ears mixed won by L. A. Vogler,
Hope. Best oats by Wm. Fitch, Sy-
rmma. Best wheat by Geo. Sauerman,
frown  Point.
INDIANA   LIVE   STOCK   BREEDERS.
The meetings of the Indiana Livestock Breeders' Association were well
attended. President W. T. McCray of
Kentland, reviewed the work of the organisation and spoke of the successful
feeding experiment that Purdue has
conducted.
Prof.  Skinner on Live    Stock Growing.
Dean J. 11. Skinner was the first
speaker on the> program. He spoke
on Livestock and Permanent Agriculture." His remarks began by showing
the need of as comfortable and pleasant homes in the country as in the
city. When such is the case farmers
will not want to go to the cities and
allow tenants, who are drawbacks to
permanent agriculture, to occupy the
country places. It was the opinion of
the speaker that live stock farming
would have more to do with bringing
about these favorable conditions than
anything else. "A livestock farmer,"
said the Dean," must have better
training, be a better saleman, and lie a
better manager than a general farmer."
Prof. J. L. Edmonds, of the University of Illinois, spoke on "Horse Power." He compared the value of a
cheap and well bred horse in such a
practical way as to show everyone why
they should breed from good stock.
He went on in his talk to describe the
good points of breeding stock.
Cattle Feeding.
Feeding cattle was the topic of F. G.
King's talk. In his work at the Purdue station  he has had a chance to col-