VOL. XXIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAROH 23,1889.
NO. 12
WEATHEB CHOP BULLETIN
Of the Indiana Weather Service in co-operation with
the United States Signal Service for the week ending
Satnrday March 18, IS.9.
The temperature during the past week
waa uninterruptedly warm and mnch
above the normal, except in the extreme
northern portion of the State where a
slightly lower temperature prevailed.
Much sunshine prevailed and with the
high temperature during the day and absence of cold during the night advanced
the growth of cereals, pasturage and vegetation in general; every thing begins to
look green, trees are blossoming and
earlier flowers are in bloom.
Although no rain fell at all, during the
week, wheat remains in good oondition,
but rain is needed soon.
The weather during the week was favorable to farming operations and farmers in
the southern portions are sowing oats and
in localities preparing tobacco beds, eto.
Lafayette—The weather has been very
warm both day and night, vegetation is
beginning to look green.   No rain.
DeGonia Springs—Very fine weather for
preparing tobacco bads and sowing oats.
Garden operations have commenced.
Wheat needs rain.
Cannelton—The average wheat crop is
good, it was damaged slightly by deficiency in rainfall and sunshine during the
winter but favored by a uniform higher
' temperature. -Eastern flowers are in
bloom, maples in blossom and switch cane
is luxuriant. '< No rain.
Bluffton—The past seven days has given
us no enow or rain, and an almost constant sunshine. The grass in the past two
or three days has begun to show itself
The thermometer during the day registered between 50 and 60 degrees; no rain.
Butlerville—The weather during the
past week has been favorable to the wheat
crop, which is in good condition; stock of
all kinds has wintered well; fruit buds are
abundant; no rain.
Troy—The weather during the week has
been changeable; the temperature ranged
between 23 and 68 degrees the latter part
of the week was pleasant and warm;
spring birds are v. ith us and a few early
flowers are in bloom, violets, easter lillies,
ete.; farmers are sowing oats and they
are planting potatoes; no rain.
Richmond—Weather warm and dry,
generally clear with haze; the temperature ranged from 56 to 66 degress, during
the middle of the day; no rain of great
amount since the middle of January; the
cisterns are dry nearly everywhere; the
weather is certainly favorable to wheat,
which is still in a fair condition; buds are
swelling; no rain.
Mauzy—Farmers are plowing for corn;
some oats is sown; the frost is out of the
ground; no rain.
; Worthington—Wheat is needing rain
badly and on some lands it is becoming
brown, the roots apparently remain unimpaired and rain in dne season will
bring it out all right; fruit buds of all
kinds remain uninjured and the prospect
for a good crop ia good; no rain.
LaPorte—There has been no rain during the past week, sunshine every day
and very little freezing; wheat is in fine
condition; no rain. ■__.
Seymour—Altogether the conditidtt.__of
the weather during the past week has been
favorable to the growth of wheat and grass,
the crop is in fine condition and the prom-
toe for a good crop is excellent. Oatssow-
, ing is in progress and will be finished in
five days; the area sown Is considerably
above the average; the ground ia broken
for some corn and melons; the fruit prospect is very promising; maple trees are
In bloom and fruit buds are swelling rapidly.   Rain is needed.   No rain.
Vevay—The weather during the past
week has been mild and delightful;   the
nocturnal temperature has been quite low
and frost occurred every morning except
on the 15th and 16th; farmers are unusually busy plowing and are preparing the
ground and setting out onions; wheat
continues in a thrifty condition; water
maple is in blossom and Pyrus japonic*
ready to open.   No rain.
Franklin—Wheat in this neighborhood
looks well, as well as last year; clover also
looks well and better than this time last
year; pasture seems to be in a fair condi
tion for this time of the year; stock of all
kinds is doing well.   No rain.
Sunman—The last few warm days, with
the dry weather of the past week have improved the roads materially and in a few
more days without rain plowing will be
commenced; wheat Is looking very promising.
Farmland—The splendid weather for
the past few days has started the wheat
and grass. Farmers say wheat looks very
well bnt clover is somewhat damaged on
account of the late freezing.
New Providence—Tho temperature has
ranged from 30 to 75 degrees withont a
cold wave. Peach trees are nearly blooming. Wheat looks very fine. Much oats
have been sown during the week.
Hnntingbnrg—Farmers are busy sowing oats during this warm weather. Some
are planting potatoes. Wheat looks fine
in this section, and the .ground is in good
oondition. '
Delphi—The wheat prospects are much
more favorable than one week ago, (when
we reported 63 per cent of an average) and
with seasonable rains and moderate tern
perature, we may hope for an encouraging
yield.
Angola—The last seven days has been
rather severe on wheat and corn, bnt as
yet it is looking well, this is the hardest
time on wheat because of the small
amount of moisture, which it should have
received to insure a good crop. The roads
are drying up very fast, stook looks well
and will come ont all right, it looks aa
though spring was here.
Princeton—Wheat is looking remark
ably well taking into account that wehave
had so little snow. Grass begins to look a
little green. Robins and blue birds are
numerous.
Spiceland—No rainfall last week. Wheat
is in a favorable condition.
Marengo—No rain has fallen during the
past seven days. The weather has been
most beautiful for farm work. Most of
the oats will be sowed this week. Considerable gardening, planting Irish potatoes,
etc., has been done the last week.
H. A. Huston,
Director Indiana Weather Service..
IHSTITDTES. .i ;
FABEE COUNTY..' J.' '
Hon. Thomas Nelson, of the State .Board
of Agriculture, managed an interesting
Farmers' Institute at Rockville,' .Parke
county, last week. Most excellent interest was sustained during two days and an
evening, large audiences being present
and many farmers participating.- Much
interest was manifested in the discussion
of the various topics.   Theso were:
Wastefulness and negligence the primary cause of a farmer's failure, by Mortimer Levering, Lafayette.
Dairy farming, by John B Conner, of
Indiana Fabmbb.
Clover as a fertilizer, by Prof. Latta, of
Pardue University.
Irrigation and drainage, by John T.
Campbell, Rockville.
Value and work of experiment stations,
Dr. Stockbridge, Director Experiment Station, Purdue University.
Horticulture, by William Carmiohael
Bellmore.
The silo, by E. S. Folsom, of Indianapolis. .    .... I
Shorthorns, by Mrs. H. C. Meredith,
Cambridge City.
Roadsters, by S. D. Puett, Rockville.
Who pays the taxes and what becomes
of them, by Dr. J. S. Dare, Bloomingdale.
Fluctuations and depressions in the cattle market, causes and remedies, by Hon.
D. L. Thomas, Rash ville.
The farmer's home, by Mrs. Lulu Davidson, Whitesville.
Transportation,Hon. Aaron Jones,South
Bend.
Tests for soundness, Prof. Hlnelaugh,
Professor Veterinary, Purdue University.
The general expression was strongly in
favor of continuing these institutes next
season.
DEI-AWAKE COUNTY.
F. J. Claypool, of Muncie, president of
the Delaware County Horticultural Society, sends ns the printed program of
their summer meetings, which will be
held at the houses of different members.
He writes us:
The Farmers' Institute held in Muncie,
the 5th and 6th of February, has put a
new life into Agricultural, Horticultural
and Stook breeding societies in this county,
and the attendance and interest now being
taken in these societies is greater than
ever before.
We wonld be very glad to have the Indiana Fabmeb represented at one of our
meetings.
V '  '■   ''    JOHNSON   COUNTY.    .»      •
The Johnson Connty Instituto went off
according to the program as published in
our last number. S. W. Dungan, who
had the meetings in charge exerted himself energetically to make them successful, and had the pleasure of seeing the
fine court room well filled at two of the
sessions at least. The anxiety of the
farmers to improve the fiae weather in
sowing their oats, accounted for the absence of a large number who would have
been present otherwise. Very fine weath
er is even more detrimental to institutes
than very unpleasant weather and bad
roads.
We were present during the morning
and afternoon sessions of Saturday, and
heard the discussions on Corn culture,
The fence problem, How to keep the boys
and girls on the farm, eto.
On the first topic Mr. Clore, the essayist,
said that white corn sells for two cents
more in the market, but yellow corn feeds
two cents better. He showed a variety
that he has been cultivating for many
years. It is early. He plants about the
flrst of May and has roasting ears by the
15 th of July. He selects seed early in the
fall, keeps it dry, then re selects the very
best and plants in the best ground he has,
and goes there for seed the next year. He
breaks his ground in tbe fall and in
the spring pulverizes it with the harrow.
He plants when the apple trees begin to
turn green. Begins cultivating before the
corn is np, using a spring tooth harrow.
He uses three small plows between the
rows, and plows shallow from first to last,
More corn is injured by plowing after
harvest than Is benefited. Plants with a
check row oorn planter.
Prof. Stockbridge said he preferred a
drill. Plants four to six Inches in the
row, and thins ont one-third or more during the summer and feeds to cows. Thia
plan is adapted to small fields. He spoke
very highly in praise of corn fodder as a
valuable food for all kinds of stock. Said
it was worth two-thirds as mnch as timothy. .
Messrs. Pendleton, Tilson, Polk and
Detmars continued the discussion.
A question being asked at the close of
the discussion what is the average yield of
corn per acre for the last 10.years, Mr.
Clore said be thought his was 60 bn.; Mr.
Pendleton, 45; Mr. Detmares, 40 to 45.
Mr. Polk grows only sweet oorn for canning purposes.
On the fence question, Mr. W. H. Dungan said the cost of making new fences
and keeping up repairs on old ones in this
State is not less than $6,000,000 each year.
The material for fences hereafter must be
iron or steel, possibly alluminum. Plain,
smooth,steel wire No. 7, properly annealed
and with proper tension, he regards as the
best material. "
Mr. Datmares would prefer oak rails at
$10 a hundred if they could  be had.   He
had such a fence  30 years old and most of
the rails are good yet, but as such  rails .
cannot be had the wire and picket or the  -
large smooth wire must be used.
Mr. Clore said he had fence posts set top
end down which had staid 20 yeara and
were good yet.
Mr. Vennuys gave similar experience,
many years ago he had set some sawed
posts for a fence, one-half the posts were '
set top end down and the others the reverse. The latter were all rotten but the
former were still sound.
Mr. Brown said we have too many
fences. The stock law should be made so
as to require stcck to be kept in, rather
than kept out. Then much less fence
would be required.
Mr. Pendleton made some interesting
remarks on the mode of cultivating more
fruit on the farm, and expressed the hope
that the day of hog and hominy was
nearly past, and the time was near when
more fiuiji, and vegetable iood would be
found on the farmer's table.
At the afternoon session talks on keeping the boys and girls on the farm, were
made by J. G. Kingsbury, of this paper;
by Prof. Hougham, formerly of Franklin
but at present residing in Kansas; Prof.
Hall of the college. Mr. Dangan's essay
on the Rural home, and an interesting account of early days in Iodiana by Judge
D. D. Banta of Franklin followed.
In the evening Mrs. Ewing of Pardue
University lectured on our kitchen interests. Dr. Soott of Franklin College spoke
on the esthetics of the farm.
SCOTT COUNTY.
We thought the Institute season was
over for the present, bnt here just before
going to press comes the program ofthe
Soott County Institute to b9 held at Scotte-
burg on Thursday and Friday the 21st
and 22d on which we find tbe names of
Prof. Latta, J. J. W. Billingsley, Mrs. W.
W. Stevens, Prof. W. M. Whitson, W. W.
Stevens, Pres. J. H. Smart, Prof. Wayne
Cook, Mrs. Emma P. Ewing and J. G.
Kingsbury, are expected to be present and
read papers.
This we presume will be the last of these
gatherings until November. Daring next
year it is expected, with the aid of the
$5,000 appropriated for the purpose by the
Legislature, to hold an Institute in each
county in the State. ,
OIKLS' SAT AT PERU.
The officers of the Miami County Farmers' Institute, have decided to hold an Institute at Peru, Ind., on the 6.h of April
for the farmers'girls exclusively. As this is
the last meeting to be held there until
next October, they expect to make this a
grand gala day. The session will begin at
10:30 a. m., and will be addressed by our
Mr. J. B. Conner, on the Dairy pursuits'of
our farmers' girls, and the afternoon session will be devoted to an address by Mrs.
Ewing, of Pardue University on Bread
making. The Singer Sawing Machine Co.
will present one of their superior sewing
machines to the township sanding the
largest delegation of girls, they will also
exhibit fancy work as done on the Singer
machines. The managers expect an atten-
anoe of fully 1,500 young ladies.
A. much* needed rain fell in this vicinity
on Monday and Monday night. Cisterns
had begun to go dry and some wells to
fail.