Purdue University;
*,**  U BR ARY.
LAFAYETTE, IKD)
VOL. LIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, FEB. 6, 1904.
NO 6.
Rush County Institute.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
One of the best institutes that it has
been our pleasure of attending is that of
Rush county, held the past week at the
Court House, Bushville. A number of
features were introduced that were out of
the ordinary and which attracted unusual
interest. One of these was the exhibit
of the Corn Grower's Association, which
is the second and a great improvement on
that of last year. For this they have
certain rules covering the exhibit,—a score
card and premium list. A large number of entries were made and the exhi-
tion was visited by thousands of people
from all over the country and city.
As an additional attraction an exhibit
was made for the benefit of the ladies-
auxiliary, and in fact by the ladies' auxiliary ofi the Institute, consisting of bread,
cakes, butter and other products in which
the ladies were especially interested.
The ladies auxiliary was held in the assembly room of the court house while tho
gentlemens* meetings were held in the
court room. Both were well attended,
and at each meeting of both sessions, so
far as We were able to attend, there was
never  a   seating  capacity. "We  think
we have seldom attended an institute appreciated as much as - the* one in- Rush
county. It was held under the auspices
ef Purdue University and the state speakers consisted of C. B. Benjamin, Leroy,
Prof. II. I_. Fisher, Purdue University,
Ijafayette, Ind., Dr. Walter J. Quick, Indianapolis, E. H. Collins, Carmel and Mrs.
C. N. Lindley, Salem.
One of the features of the Institute,
which attracted a great deal of attention,
especially to those interested in live stock,
breeding and feeding, was the address of
Dr. Walter J. Quick on the subject of
"The score card in relation to scientific
breeding and feeding." The evident interest was manifested in the fact tiiat the
large court room did not have seating capacity, even with all the chairs procurable
carried in. After tue address adjournment was held to one of the nearby livery
stables and a practical demonstration in
live stock judging was given.
Model Farm Contest.
Rush county has a permanent institute
organization and this organization while
not different from others in the State has
a very interesting arrangement for improving the condition of tne farms of the
county. A contest is provided, largely
arranged for by Mr. Will Brown the president of the institute association. Any one
in the county may enter his farm for comin the county ma yenter his farm for competition, provided it has not less than 80
acres and provided his entrance is accompanied by a fee of $5 to be paid at the
time of the entrance, the balance Aug.
10. All entries must be made before that
time. After deducting the expenses, the
entrance fees are considered as a purse
to be divided into three premiums, 50
per eent to the first prize farm, 30 per
cent to the second and 20 per eent to the
third. A thoroughly competent and disinterested man is employed, for a reasonable compensation, to pass upon all farms
entered. _iis duties shall begin Aug.
10 and continue as rapidly as possible until all the farms have been examined. Each
man shall, after his farm has been inspected, convey the judge to the next nearest farm to him, and so on until the farms
have been examined and figures made
on a score card for the purpose. No ex-
hiDitor is to be permitted to know what
his or any other farm has scored on any
point or on the whole until the first day of
the next annual Rush County Farmers' Institute, when all the awards shall ue made
known and each man given his score card.
After all farms have been passed upon,
the scores completed and awards designated, the cards shall all be enclosed in a
sealed package and deposited with one of
the city banks until delivered to the secretary of the institute on the day of reading
the awiards. ■ As a wonderful interest
was attached to this contest and the score
card we append the latter (below.
Model Farm Score Card.
1 Soil—Condition  for  producing    plant
growth C
2 Soil—Freeness    from weeds,    stones,
stumps, etc 4
3 Drainage-Amount, quality   and   distribution 4
the institute just held were: lst to A. B.
J_tch, his farm scoring 91 5-G; 2d to A. G.
Daubenspeck, 80 3-5; 3d to Fielding
Hodges, SG14. In conversing with farmers living in the vicinity of Rushville wc
learned that this competition has been instrumental in causing a great many farmers to tidy up their places, cut out the
briers and weeds and put their fencing in
nice condition. Doors and gates have
been put in repair, barns and out-buildings painted or whitewashed and improvements made about the home that
have heretofore gone neglected. We do
not know of anything that has been introduced into institute work mat has caused a greater interest and one that is kept
in mind throughout the year, causing many
to attend the institute at the following session. This and other features of the
Rush County Institute could be followed to
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seven years and have paid all legitimate
losses, promptly. We now have in force
$1,G95,7G2.75. Our insurance for tlie
seven years has cost us an average of 21
cents annually on the one hundred dollars.
Fully two-thirds of our losses have been
from lightning." About one-third was on
live stock, most of which was in contact
with or near wire fences, and would have
been prevented if the owners had put
ground wires, 10 or 15 rods apart, on their
wire fences. Also during the 7 years
we have never paid a dollar on a building
that was rodded.
Our total loss for the last year amounted to 2,904.40.    Of this amount $2,501.45
was caused by lightning, and could have
been largely prevented if all our members
had   rodded   their   buildings   and   ground
wired their wire fences.   Take our losses
by lightning away from the total amount
of losses and we have $403.01, due to accidental causes; too small to make arr jas-
sessment for.      Yet,  through  the neglect
of our members to protect their property
against lightning    we are  compelled    to
make an assessment of 25 cents en the
hundred.   The experience of our company
along this line is  similar to that of all
mutual companies in our and other States.
I  hope the farmers of Indiana will  lay
aside prejudice,    investigate this   subject
closely, use proper precaution and prevent
the destruction of much valuable property,
as well as human life, and thereby curtail
very much the cost of their insurance.
Jasper Co. J. H. B.
Horticultural  Building,  World's Fair, St. Louis.
4 Fencing—Amount, condition, quality and arrangement 6
5 Water—Amount, distribution and
arrangement 4
(ir Buildings—Barns, proportionate to
size of farm aud stock handled, convenience >.f construction, condition
and location 7
7 Residence— Proportionate size, condition, convenience    and location 0
S Fruit—Variety, amount and quality 2
9 Sp< cials—Location of farm as to
inarkel, school, church, telephone,
public highways 7
10 Equipments—Gas, silos, scales, garden, ornamental shrubs, lawns, walks,
etc 5
11 Crops—Proper distribution as compared to adaptibility 6
_2 Crops—Condition and quality as
pertains to variety and proper cultivation 5
13 Woodland — Timber and grass —
amount, quality and condition 4
14 Live stock—Horses, adaptable
breed, quality, condition, propor
tionate number and profitableness	
15 Live stock—Cattle, points as
above	
10   Live    Stock—Hogs,    points    a
above y._^	
17    Live stock—S?-Sdf,    , points    aa
18'U.
above        v*"1" ■"• •
20
si"
18 Poultry 2
19 Equipments—Variety and quality
of implements, machinery, harness,
etc 4
20 Summary—General management and
appearance 8
Total 100
The awards for the past year reported at
advantage by many other counties and wo
trust that these features may be introduced
iu many  places. Subscriber.
Organization of a Mutual Insurance Co.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Having written an article on how to organize a farmers' mutual insurance company under the laws of tlie State, I now
write another giving the experience of our
company, Benton, Jasper and White Counties Farmers' Mutual. A few of our farmers met in January, 1897 and elected officers, and a committee was appointed to
draft articles of association, constitution
and by laws, have the articles of association
recorded in the three counties, and have
a number of policies printed with our articles of association, constitution and by-law
So each member could get a copy when he
insured. Also have some surveys printed
and placed in the hands of the officers and
let them put the company in operation. As
our laws provide that we will take no property insured in another company we withdrew from the old line companies in which
we were insured by paying short rates to
the end of our policies.
When we had done this and gathered up
what property wo could find that was not
insured in any company we had about
$■< 0,000 worth of risks with which to start
our company. We issued our first policies in March, 1897. The Lord blessed
our efforts by protecting our property and
adding to us new members with their
property, until we were quite strong, as
we charge 10 cents on each one hundred
dollar premium, which each member pays
when he is insured. This amount paid
our losses until January, 1899, when our
first assessment of 15 cents on the one
hundred dollars was made. Since 1899
have made annual assessments, ranging
from 15 to 25 cents on the one hnndred
dollars.        We have been doing business
The Farmer's Interests.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Whenever a farmer puts in a crop, or
tries to raise some good stock, it is with
the hope that he will make it pay. When
selling time comes, he is often disappointed,
for after deducting expenses, there is no
profit left. How can we prevent this
disappointment, and have our hopes realized ? This may be a knotty question, ami
hard to answer correctly, but to me it
stems simple enougii, if we could get all
farmers to believe it, and act accordingly.
Whenever a commodity raised on the farm,
whether it be animal, cereal, vegetable or
fruit, gets so low in price that there would
not be a living profit in disposing of
it, don't sell; tell the buyer "you don't
have to, and have tne pluck to hold on to
what yon have raised, until you can get a
better price. If this remedy were tried,
throughout the length and breadth of the
land, it would work wonders for the farmer's ibcnefit, for when they stopped selling any one thing for a day or two, or for
a week at the farthest, this would create
a demand, and as people have to eat to
live, they would soon be willing to pay
a reasonable price for what they consume.
I wish every agricultural paper in the
United States, would advise and urge every
farmer to adopt the rule, and stick to it:
Never to sell any of his products without
realizing a fair living profit, unless by
adverse circumstances he is compelled to,
and the majority of farmers are surely
not in that bad a fix. A. II. P.
Monroe Co.
The world's production of rubber was
two ye-'.rs ago almost equally divided between Africa nnd South America. ' Now
the Amazon region produces three-fifths
of it.
During the last six months Ireland sent
to Great Britain 148,101 more cattle, 10S,-
100 more sheep and only 742 fewer horses
than were received from all the rest of
the world.