VOL. XXIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAY 11,1889.
NO. 19
OEOP EFFORTS.
The Three Central Western States.
Unusually dry weather prevailed all
'through the Central West during April,
and though this has retarded growth, yet
the early season has rapidly advanced
growth of all vegetation. Our flrstof May
reports do not include the acreage going
to corn, yet most of the reporters refer to
the fine planting weather, and conditions
of soil, and that corn planting will be
earlier than usual this season. On April
lst reports gave a pretty high condition of
the wheat crop in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and it will be seen that this con
dition has been maintained in the past
month.
CROPS IN INDIANA.
The area of the wheat in April was put
at 91 per cent, of a full crop. Twenty-
seven counties report the present condition at or above 100 per cent; 20 report
It at or above 80 per cent, and only 6 report the condition at or below 75 per cent.
Fourteen counties reporting the highest
oondition are in the southern division of
the State, 8 in the northern and the re-
maipder in the central division. The
lowest report is Putnam, at only 50 per
cent of condition. The State average is 91
per cent.
The oats crop in area is 98 percent, bnt
on account of the dry weather the con-
•'-ition is only 7s,'thOnjgh~in the northern
division it is 95 for condition.
Clover it will be noted is reported high,
87 per cent for condition throughout the
State.
Timothy meadow is also reported high,
98 per cent for the S tate. This is the highest for three years past.
Fruit crops are also very promising, the
condition of apples being 96 per cent, and
on peaches 93 for the whole State, and
small fruits 92 per cent.
Eye and barley, though minor crops,
wherever grown are reported in high condition.
Of the live stock condition there is nothing to complain either, as all kinds are reported ap In the nineties.
The general averages in the three States
are given in the following table:
AVERAQES BY STATES.
Indiana. Ohio. Illinois
Wheat, percent of condition
91
0J
Irt
Oats, per ct. of acreage sown
93
95
m
Oats, per cent of condition...
78
80
85
Flax, per ct. of crop sown	
eo
87
7S
Clover, per cent of condition
87
82
96
Timothy, per ct. of condition
98
89
».
Apple, per ct. of condition....
96
90
94
Peaches, per ct. of condition.
93
88
ion
Rye, per cent of condition-...
89
84
92
Barley, per cent of condition
100
93
93
Horses, per ct. of condition..
97
96
97
Cattle, per ct. of condition....
96
OS
98
97
96
9R
Bheep, per ct. of condition....
9.
W
97
Bmall frnit, per ct.conditlon.
92
97
99
BEMABK8 OF RBI-OBTEBS-
-INDIANA.
Stark Co.—Dry, cold and frosty; farmers well up with their work,
Miami Co.—Very dry and cool nights;
farmers work in good condition.
Kosciusko Co.—Weather cold and dry;
some frost and ice; pasture short; oats
slow growing,
Allen Co.—Very cold and dry; wheat,
oats and grass not growing; cold weather
will hurt fruit of all kinds; plowing for
corn, but none planted.
Cass Co.—Some oorn planted; very dry
and cool.
Fulton Co.—Needing rain; rather celd
for planting.
Jasper Co.—Everything lovely, if we
could have rain.
Huntington Co.—Quite dry; corn half
planted; ground In flne oondition.
LaGrange Co.—_rost May 1st; peaches
probably Injured.
Clinton Co.—Wheat on low ground badly injured by frost on night of April 22d;
Very dry.
Randolph Co.—Cold and dry; grass
needs rain bad; corn planting partly done;
heavy freeze May lst.
Hamilton Co.—Very dry and cool;
heavy frost night of April 3oth, did considerable damage to the frnit.
Orant Co.—Too dry and cool for things
to grow; freezing cold morning May lst;
oorn mostly planted.
Union Co.—Clover seed sown this spring
has perished.
Madison Co.—Think peaches and small
frnit nearly all killed.
Tippecanoe Co,—Not much rain for six
weeks; everything needing rain.
Jay Co.—Apples are not so fall; wheat
looks discouraging; pastures backward;
cool nights; some corn planted; cannot
sell potatoes at any price; farmers getting
along well with spring planting.
Putnam Co.—If we do not have rain soon
there will be no oats.
Monroe Co.—Very dry and cool.
Ohio Co.—Too dry for vegetation.
Fayette Co.—Driest April known for
years.
Vanderburg Co.—Still dry; some oorn
planted.
Jackson Co.—Had a light shower, but
still remains cool.
Decatur Co.—Oats and young clover seriously damaged by extremely dry weather of last week; stock of all kinds in good
condition.
Clark Co—Very dry with exception of
shower or two.	
Harrison Co.—Been dry for over two
months; clover almost taken by ox-eyed
daisy; black knot killing plum trees.
Daviess Co —Had a nice rain last night,
but not enough to wet ground very deep.
Jefferson Co.—Oats backward for want
of rain and warmth, but think not damaged.
Scott Co.—Very dry; rye and flax not
sown.
Washington Co.—Rain needed, prospect
of abundant fruit of all kinds.
Montgomery Co.—Everything suffering
for rain.
Switzerland Co.—Too dry for anything
to grow; oats and clover a failure^
Carroll Co.—Dry and cool; oats and
wheat suffering for rain.
Howard Co.—Weather cold and dry with
frost; corn mostly planted.
Crawford Co.—Weather remains unusually fine for time of year; wheat looking well; oats not doing so well on account of drouth.
Vermillion Co.—Frost on 2d and 3d
killed most of the peaches, plums, small
friutsand garden vegetables; wheat Injured by dry weather.
Posey Co.—Drouth Injuring wheat, clover, oats and grass; bottom lands very
hard and cloddy.
Perry Co.—Weather dry and cool.
Greene Co.—Drouth causing injury to
vegetation of all kinds.
Henry Co—Wheat still doing well; corn
planting mostly done; some frost, but
fruit still uninjured.
Rush Co—The weather the last month
has been rather cool and dry for wheat,
not stooling as it wonld have done if it had
had more rain: weather some warmer;
oat orop looking bad, entirely too dry and
cool; we had Saturday night and Sunday
morning the best shower we have had in
the month; the rain did not stop plowing
or planting; corn doing well here as the
ground has not been wet enough to hurt
the corn; quite a number of farmers here
are throngh planting; grass seems to be
doing tolerably well; clover is looking
very good.
LaPorte Co.—Wheat doing well unless
some of our frosts should hurt it, which
ia not now likely; white frosts all through
April.
Montgomery Co.—Heavy frost on night
of 2d, killed grapes and injured other
fruits; wheat injured to some extent.
dry;
ILLINOIS.
Macoupin Co.—Weather cool and
three-fourths corn planted.
Montgomery Co.—Corn mostly planted;
oats not doing much, owing to cold, dry
weather.
Piatt Co.—Very dry; fruit all right yet.
Greenup Co.—Dry and cool; pastures
and oats Buffering; ground nearly aU
broken for corn, but little planted.
Effingham Co.—Cold and dry; oats and
grass damaged some; but little rain Bince
March.
Clay Co.—Very dry for a month.
Lawrence Co.—Prospect never better.
Crawford Co.—Weather cool and dry;
some corn planted.
Shelby Co.—Crops all right yet, but too
dry; insects appearing.
Jasper Co.—Very dry.
Adams Co.—Prospect blooming,
DeWitt Co.—Mild winter was favorable
to small fruit.
Pope Co.—Dry weather; rained a little
on 30th.
OHIO.
Brown Co.—Rain last Monday will be
very beneficial, but more is needed.
Van Wert Co.—Fruit damaged by frost.
Henry Co.—Apples will be short, but
small fruits abundant.
Morrow Co.—Quite dry and cool; wheat
doing well; alarge acreage of corn and
potatoes will be planted: hard frost. May
lst.
Butler Co.—Flax, rye, barley and sheep
not indigenous.
Logan Co.—Dry and cool, spring about
as forward as usual.
Defiance Co.—Weather cold, with heavy
frosts; some corn planted; stock doing
well.
Miami Co.—Three-fourths of corn planted, never so before; very dry, no signs of
rain.
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
Some Polnta in Fence Makinff.
BT JOHN M, STAHL.
We have just finished 80 rods of fence,
wire and boards combined. We could
have made a presentable fence at materially less cost, but, while we paid nothing
for good looks, we did not spare expenses
when greater cost would increase durability and efficiency of fence. The posts
were set seven feet, eight Inches apart, so
that we could saw ofl the "wind shakes"
in the ends of the boards and have solid
lumber to nail through. We might have
set the posts 16 feet apart, with short posts
or stakes to alternate with them. This
would have made the cost less and the
fenoe would have been satisfactory; but it
would not have been so strong and safe as
the fence we built, with wires stayed
every eight feet.
The posts were well seasoned, some having been under shelter for eight years.
We did not hew them—when split surface
was uneven or crooked, the bumps were
cut down with the ax. The posts were
large. Patting in small posts is gross extravagance—you save five cents and lose
fifty. Our posts were so large we had to
use an auger 11 inches In diameter for
making the holes. We dug the holes two
feet deep with the spade and then bored
them one foot deeper. The dirt was well
tramped about the posts.
We used three boards and three wires
Used flrst class lumber and heavy, galvanized "hog wire"—barbs four Inches
apart. Three boards and two wires will
make an excellent fence, but the wires
must be so far apart that horses, especially colts, will put their heads throngh between the wires; and, lf frightened while
in this position, will cut themselves seriously, if not fatally. As we expect to
keep young things in the field partly
bounded by this fence, we thought best
to use an extra wire. It cost less than f3.
.  We did not plow a furrow along each
side of the fence, making a ridge for the
fence to stand on, as our fence ran down
hillsides where the furrows would have
led to gullies. On level grounds the furrows may be drawn, and then three boards
and two wires will make a safe fence and
one high enough. The ridge makes the
fence j ast so muoh higher, but the furrows
make a greater gain. They compel the
animal about to jump to stand in an unnatural or a disadvantageous position—
with its fore feet in the ditch, or else too
far from the fence. Thia alone will deter
most animals from jnmping the fence.
Tho total cost of our fence—posts,
boards, wire, nails, staples and labor was
87 cents per rod. The fence will last 20
years with very little repairing. It is a'
cheaper fence, as 10 years will prove, than
one of the same style costing 70 or 75 cents
per rod.
A neighbor at the same time built an all
wire fence. After he was done he declared that he would never again build an
all wire fence; that in the future he would
take our fence for his model. We thought
he had reached a very wise conclusion.
He used eight strands of wire, yet his
fence will not be strictly pig tight by
July. Of course his fence cost less than
oura—70 cents per rod. But for the 11
cents per rod extra cost of our fence we
got far more than he got for any 11 cents
per rod he put into his fence. A fanny
thing happened to him—some of his posts
wero round; both tho ond ones wa
When he had put on four wires ho found
that they had turned the posts in the
the holes, twisted them around, slacking
the wires and allowing the braces to slip'
ofl_, This was vexatious, though partly
corrected by putting the remaining wires
on the opposite side of the posts. But my
readers should be careful not to uss many
round posts when making wire fences.
Quincy, HI.
Sorghum Sugar Making.
Editors Indiana Farmer.
Sometime since I suggested through the
Indiana fabmer the plan of steaming
sorghum cane before runnug it through
the mill, to see if there could not be a
larger per cent of sugar obtained. I have
not seen any report as to whether any one
tried it or not
In a late number of the Kansas Farmer,
a plan is described of roasting the cane
which is said to work well and give good
results. Making sugar from sorghum
bids fair to become a large industry in
this State. The greatest drawbaok is the
great cost of machinery forthe diffusion
process. A complete factory on the diffusion plan costs $100,000 or more. The
factory in this county will enlarge their
works this summer and there will probably be other new factories erected.
Rome, Kan, D. M. A.
An Interesting Program.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The Carmel Farmers' Club will meet at
Carmel, Hamilton county, May 18, at two
o'clock p. m., with the following program;
The new Gravel U.ad Law—its provisions and application, and ita merits compared with the old.   Milton Hanson.
The comparative advantages and disadvantages ot farming, now and 40 years
ogo.   E. B. Murphy.
Give a suitable list of plants and flowers
for window and yard culture; effact and
influence of floriculture upon the household.
Is it just for the nurseryman to insuro
the growth of his trees? Should we buy
direct at our own risk?   Levi Klnzer.
Agricultural Literature.   E, H. Collina..
E. H. Collins, Pres.
Carmel, May 4.
—Such a program as the above ought to
call out a large number of farmers, with
wives, bobs and daughters.—Era, )