VOL. XXIV.
INDIANAPOLIS,TOD., JUNE 1,1889.
NO. 22
OURTOBEIGN MABKETS.
Exports of Onr Farm Productions.
The May report of tbe Statistician of tbe
Agricultural Department contains the result of tbe investigation of the deficiency
of surplus of each European nation,
especially in the production of American
agricultural products that seek foreign
markets. As a single year's data would
be misleading, tbe average imports and
exports of ten years are taken to obtain
the net deficiency of surplus. The net
European deficiency is thus show as to the
cereals, fibers, butter, obeese, eto., in connection With European production. The
question of possible enlargement of exportation in quantity and variety is canvassed, and tbe opportunity for displacing any importation by enlarged produc
tion are pointed ont. The investigation
was made pursuant to the following resolution, passed at the meeting of the National Orange, held in Topeka, Kan., last fall':
Resolved, That the Commissioner of
Agriculture be requested to ic quire
t hrough the consular system of goverment,
or otherwise, what foreign nations are
now importing agricultural products, and
ascertain what possibilities there would be
to establish trade relations for the disposal
of our surplus agricultural products; also,
to inquire what agricultural' products are
now imported that our country and climate is capable of producing, and lay the
same before Congress, and publish for the
information of farmers.
. Borne of the figures given - in the statement prepared by Mr.-Dodge are startling.
As to wheat, he says that Europe is practically the only market that America can
have for this cereal, and she imports only
144,000,000 bnshels a year, raising 1,200,000,-
000 bushels herself—more than half of the
world's crop, and twice that of all America.
Of the European defioienoy, the United
States supples 95,000,000 bushels. In oats
and barley there is very small interna
tional trade, Europe importing only 19,-
000,000 bushels of oats.and theUnited S tates
exporting 2,500,000 bushels, Ot barley,
this county imports 7,500,000 bushels.
Bye is the great bread grain ot eastern and
central Europe, and Russia alone produces
more than does the United States. Europe
Imports not less than 1,900,000 bnshels,
and the United States exports less than
3,000,000 bushels. The receipts of European
countries requiring maiza do not make a
sum half as largess the produotof Illinois,
or of Iowa, or Missouri. Great Britlan
takes nearly three-fourths of tbe total, or
62,000,000 bashels, and this country exports
68,000,000 bnshels. The defioienoy of
France oould be supplied by McLean county ,HllnoIs, and Germany requires still less.
Bussia and Boamanla have a surplus, and
southern Europe grows enough for home
consumption.
Europe imports over 1,000,000,000 pounds
of rice, bnt none ef it comes from the United States. Of potatoes, Europe grows
more than she needs, while the United
States supplies her deficiency from Canada
and Germany. Great Britain.Belgium and
Portugal, of all European nations, do not
produce enough butter and to spare. To
make up the deficiency—25,000,000 pounds
—the United States exports 24.000,000. It
requires 140,000,000 pounds of cheese to
supply tbe European deficiency, of which
118,000,000 are furnished by tbe United
States.
Of course, Europe has to import all her
cotton, the average annual imports being
2,636,000,000 pounds. The United States
sends her 1,850,000,000 ponnds. Mr. Dodge
says: "This oountry is only exceeded by
Great Britain in cotton manufacture, and
should, ere many decades pass, attain the
flrst rank. There has been a greater relative advance ln consumption of cotton in
continental countries during the past ten
years than in Great Britain."
Europe gets from South America, Asia,
Africa and Australia, two or three times as
mnch wool as she imports from the United
States. The net deficiency of Europe is
780,000,000 pounds, slightly more than ia
produced there. The United States produces four- fifths of the wool manufactured
here. The aim of wool growers of this
country is to supply the home manufacturer if possible; never to export raw wool.
If there ever shall be a surplus it will
bring more money to the wool grower if
sent abroad in the manufactured form.
The United States imports, net, 69,000,000
pounds of wool every year.
The statement shows that Europe produces about as much tobacco as the United States—500,000,000 pounds annually—
and conld easily produce all she needs,
bnt the American tobacco is desired for two
reasons—it is cheap and very desirable for
fortifying the European product; ao the
United States furnishes 242,000,000 pounds
of the annnal defioienoy of 324,000,000
pounds.
In conclusion, the Statistician says:
"Abont one-tenth of oar agricultural
products is exported. No other nation
exports so large a proportion; yet the
articles shipped abroad are few. They are
cotton, tobacco, meats, breadstuffs and
cheese. All other articles together are bnt
3 per oent of the exports. E nlargement of
the surplus must inevitably reduce the
price both at home and abroad. What
other product can be exported? It is folly
to look to foreign nations for a market for
any of the bnlky products of agriculture
which are common to the agriculture of
every nation. The more concentrated
product may be profitably exported. More
obeese could be sold if its reputation for
quality should be kept up and there were
more disposition to cater to fastidious or
peculiar foreign tastes. Butter exports
could be enlarged if they were of better
qnality. Evaporated or preserved fruits,
oranges of the Southern or Pacific coasts,
and wines from California, may seek a
profitable market as surplus—as a safety-
valve to the nome market.
"What agricultural products are now
imported that our country and climate are
capable of produlng? In response to this
inquiry, sugar ls the first to be suggested.
Oar wheat and fl jur sold will scarcely pay
tor the sugar bought in the present and
immediate future, and the home demand
wonld not be uncertain, but peremptoiy
and insatiate. Flax and hemp shonld be
more extensively grown, displacing
foreign fiber costing millions of money,
and furnishing material for bagging of
cotton, wool and hops. Other fibers of
sub-tropical regions shonld be produced
along the Gulf coast. The imported fibers,
with their manufacture, altogether amount
in value to more than two-thirds as much
as the munificent and boasted cotton exportation of the United States. There is
an importation of fruits of the value $20,-
000,000, half of which, at least, should be
produced in this country. The subject ls
too large for treatment in a few paragraphs
or page3, bnt these suggestions mark the
lines on which production in this conntry
should be extended, witb reference first tc
tbe wants of a population growing beyond
all foreign precedent, and next to incidental exportation, mainly of extended or
manufactured products, as a source of
additional revenue, and as a regulator and
upholder of home prices."
J. D. Brat & Bbo., Demlng, Ind., sheared their flock of Cotswold sheep a few
days ago and they averaged 12K pounds
of wool per head. The flock consists of
20 ewes and eight bucks, and most of the
ewes mere lambs yet. The heaviest fleeoe
weighed 18 pounds. They would like to
know if this average can be beaten.
Written for tbe IndlanaFarmer
Cutting ahd Oaring Clover Hay.
BT N. 3. SHEPHERD.
As G. H. M. asks abont this, and aa this
was the topic for discussion at our last
farmers' club meeting I will give the opinions and plans given.
One of the best plans, and given by one
who believes strongly in clover as a crop
to build np the farm, was to ont early, as
soon as the earlier heads begin to turn
brown. This gives the second growth a
better opportunity, as a shower or two
will in many instances give it sufficient
start to enable lt to withstand considerable
dry weather without injury. From several years experience I am satisfied that
many cure and handle clover too mnch.
If the weather is good for hay making,
clover can be cut in tbe morning and can
be stacked or mowed away late In the
afternoon. Three or four hours of hot
sun will cure an ordinary growth of clover
sufficiently. It will generally heat some
bat it will dry ont and cure In a good oondition. Putting np in cocks to cure and
letting it stand a day or two increases the
risk of its getting wet and also increases
the cost and the waste. If allowed to get
thoroughly dry, the stems and leaves
break off very easily ln handling, causing
considerable loss. I handle a large quantity of clover, and have ever since I was a
boy, and always hanl direotfrom the win-
row to the mow.
-Another believed it was better to cut
after dew was off in the morning and then
inthe afternoon pnt up in small cocks
and let stand over one day and then hanl
in the next. This is the plan we always
followed ln the Eaat and I have followed
here. I was taught to believe that clover
must be well cured before mowing away
or it wonld heat and mould, and wherever
we found any clover hay mould we
ascribed it to the fact that it was put ln the
mow before it had cared sufficiently and
consequently we never tried any other
plan.
One who raises large crops of clover
nearly every year and puts the large proportion of it in the barn said there was a
good deal less danger of clover spoiling in
the mow than many suppose. Clover
spoils more from being wet, either by dew
or rain, than from  insula .lent  caring.
When it ls good haying weather clover
cat in the morning will do to haul ln by
the middle of the afternoon commencing
with what was out first in the morning
getting it all in lf possible before the dew
falls at night. I .do not believe in handling hay any more than is strictly necessary and to nse machinery to do the greater part of that, and ft ad clover one ofthe
best crops I can raise, cutting the first
crop reasonably early and cutting sufficient quantity of the second to furnish
the seed necessary for needing the next
year.
Another said that from his experience
olover would heat considerably and yet
not be damaged to any extent. Found it
a good plan to commence cutting as soon
as the heads begin to turn brown. One
day's curing wiU generally be suffiiient.
Clover put up in the evening that has
been cut in the morning will nearly always heat to a more or less extent; but
the heating does not always Imply that it
la spoiling; when a large quantity is mowed
away some on the top may spoil but less
generally than would be damaged in the
field.
These are the experiences of farmer*
who handle more or less clover every
Eldon, Mo.
A general reduction of 10 per oent ln
wages has been made by the Shenago Valley furnace operators. The ont aflects
2,000 men.
Written Ior tbe Indiana Farmer.
The Exchange System
BY W. W. BUXMVAjN.
If J. W. J. of Wabash, had given the
subj act close thought, he would certainly
not have written the article headed in No.
16, of the present volume of the Farmer.
He believes we should have legislation
to compel millers to grind grain—wheat—
for tbe one-eighth. S appose we had such
a law for an eighth, or even allowing more
toll, does it follow that millers would do
grist grinding? No law could compel
them. And besides when are there
enough such men living as J. W. J. who
want grist grinding, to make a business
for a mill?
When he says, "Let every man have his
own wheat ground, then he will have
what belongs to him,"—his words are not
the words of wisdom. Does'nt he know
that even in small mills no man, even
when he gets bis wheat ground in grists
as he needs it—gets what belongs to him?
All through the different parts of the
mill, in tbe chest, bolting department etc.
remains after each grist, a part of the
one preceding it, and goes to make np
a part of the next man's flour. It can not
be other wise. Then here is one reason why
the man who bas good wheat should sell
it and buy his flsur, and not have It spoiled by following somebody's bad wheat,
and getting whatever the mill has a mind
to give him.
Then, as imtimated above, no miller in
these days of prices, could affjrd to grind
for one-eighth.
Again, there is no imposition—as J. W. J.
asserts—npon the people in the exohange
system. The millers are in the market
and offer so many pounds of fl >ur for 60
ponnds of wheat—generally 36 ponnds and
if a man is fool enough to take it, who
Is to blame?   There is no imposition.
I.3t every farmer sell his wheat and bny
his flour and do his business in a business
like way. The days of grist grinding
have long since passed away. I have sold
my wheat and bought my flour ever since
I took a load ef wheat to mill—weighed
it before going and weighed the flonr after
getting it, and found I had 27X lbs. of
flour for each 60 pounds ot good wheat—
and that was when the one-eighth law was
supposed to be in full force and virtue,
35 years ago!
There isn't a bit more sense now—?inoe
mills and allgrocerakeepfloor to sell In any
quantity desired—in keeping wheat to
either get it ground by the grist or exchange it for flour, than to salt away
your pork and keep it to swap for a little
fresh beef as one may need it!
How hard it is for some of us farmers to
get out of the old ruts! Wonder if J. W.
J. borrows his flax seed, for seed, and sells
ont to the firm he borrows from ?
Unbuslness like as that is, it is far less
objectionable than either getting wheat
gronnd by thegristor exchanging wheatfor
fl jur! And then asking the lesisl ature to
piss a law to compel millers to do grist
work and limit their toll, is not the result
of muoh correct thought. Wonld J. W. J»
invest his money in a mill and then
grind grain at a loss? Certainly not. He
wjuld not do grist grinding, or do exchange bnsiness either, if it did not pay
him. While a score of good strong reasons can be given in support of "selling
your wheat and baying your flour"—not
one can be given for grist grinding or
ex.haDga.
. At Erie, Pa., May 26, car thieves robbed
twenty-one cars of the Pennsylvania Company. A large amount of valuable property was stolen, bnt no exact figures can
be given. Bailroad officials say that this
is the largest steal of the kind on record,