VOL. LIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 18, 1904.
-/-.^•.Y
> .-. Y.
NO 25.
GROWING AND   HARVESTING   BUCKWHEAT.
Buckwheat Makes the Soil Mellow-
lst Premium.—One of the best crops to
improve aad mellow up soil is a crop of
'buckwheat, ami it has an advantage over
sonie crops in that it is planted in th(_
middle of the summer, making it possible to plant and harvest a crop of early
stuff before it is sowed. Buckwheat
has a greater effect mpon the soil with a
single crop than any other plant we ever
raised; that is, in making the soil mellow
_nd easy to work. It is a near relative
to the clovers and it increases the fertility of the soil as they do.
Before the buckwheat is planted the
seed bed should lie made in as good condition as possible. We sow it broadcast,
nndplowit in with a light plow or harrow*,
making it about the same depth as oats
or wheat. We sow about the 20th of
June. In harvesting buckwheat wo use
a mowing machine, cutting it when it is
a little damp, so it will not shatter off
too badly. It is left until most of tho seed
are ripe, or until frost. If the weather
is not right, then the buckwheat will not
set good, but as a rule it produces ,a fail-
crop. The easiest -way to thresh it
would be to use a threshing machine, but
we never had enough at one time to do
that, So we beat it out by hand.
Buckwheat yields on an average about
15 bushels per acre. One of the side
issues is the honey obtained from tlie
bloom. It is a crop that should be grown
for that purpose alone, where there are a
great number of bees. At that time of
year, flowers for the bees are scarce.
As a genera] thing the weeds are nearly
all cut dow-n in the country, making it
hard on the bees uuless some crop is sown
for that purpose. And the bees are necessary for crops of fruits. I think it will
pay any man to sow buckwheat.
Howard Co. C. B.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents, 50 cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should be
Bent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach us ono week beforo date of publication.
No. 433, June 25.—Tell how to can and
preserve fruits of nil kinds.
No. 434, July 2.—Describe the best
swinging gates, etc., for small streams.
No. 435, July 9.—Tell how to put out
shade trees, for town or country. Name
best varieties.
No. 430, July 10.—Show how our country schools can be improved.
I care less for the provisions of lan arbitration treaty than for the treaty itself,
limited though it may be at first. I am
perfectly willing to begin with limitations, having such faith in this that we
can trust to long years of peace, to kins-
ship, common language .literature, religion, law to create a public sentiment which
will expand the scope of any treaty no
matter how narrow it lie at the beginning.
And thus it is I soe that however small
ihe acorn may be that springs, and we
plant from this effort of to-day, it will
grow into the mighty oak under whose
branches shelter will be found for the
seed to germinate which will bring penc-
to all nations, and purge the earth of its
foulest stain—men killing each other in
(battle like wild beasts.—Andrew Carnegie.
fXcUiciwxvvL QeptixfauxtfL
Edited by L. A.  Grelner, M.  P.  V. 8.,  18-24 a
East St.,  Indianapolis.        Advice by  mall,  $1.
What is good for a horse that pants very bard
when driven fast? She Is fat, but that does
not  hurt  her. O.   B.   S.
Uancock Co.
Pod. nux vomica, 1 ounce; pod. gentiana, 2 ounces; hyposulphite soda„ 1
pound. Mix one heaping tablespoonful
at nights in bran mash.
Can   you  tell  me  In  your  paper what   Is  good
for sweeny on horses?      Cau it  be cured?
J.  W. K.
It is due to lameness,
competent veterinarian.
Call in some
What alls my hogs? They have been sick for
two weeks. I first noticed a slight cough; then
the teats and udders of sows began to get sore;
seemed to bn rotten; the teats were elastic like
rublM_\ Then the pigs liegan to look lmd; seemed
to sivell up in th. head and run at tho nose; eyes
became mattery aud lids stuck together. Some
of the hogs are very loose in the bowels; tho
dung of others is like marbles, hard and looks
like clay dirt. They get off feed far two or thr.e
days and then began to get bettor, but fed a
do«e of arsenic ami one of healthiest died in 21
hours, anil others worse again. They have the
run of clover, rape anil oats pasture.; tho small
pigs about all die. but shoats weighing 120 pouuds
seemed  to get  all right until given arsenie.
B. O.  P.
Pod. mix vomica, 1 ounce; sodium salicylate, 3 ounces; hyposulphite soda, 1
pound. Mix one teaspoonful two times
a  day in *4 pint of water.
Can you tell me what is the trouble with my
h,)gs and what to do for them? The skin gets
tremble as though chilling. Finally they seem
to be a dark red or brown eoIi>r. Then they
to get weak iu back just behind the shoulders and
frequently give down. Some of them wheu eating stand on th*. knee joints, and one staggers
and walks in a circle at times. All eat heartily. O.   N.   O.
Give to older ones 20 drops of tincture
mix vomica and to younger 10 drops of
same two times a day in a little water.
My young ducks have all died with a disease
in the head. Their eyes gum up and w-Ueu fed
they eat heartily, hut seems to hurt them to
.wallow, and then after eating they tumble
aiMund as if crazy and finally their body dries up
and get very light in weight and die. I have
lost. 30 or more this way. O.   M.   B.
Feed of powdered eapcicum about what
you can get on the end of a pocket 'knife
blade in water soaked bread each day.
I have a horse j1 years old tbat got Its shoulder
brulshed by collar, being too large; skin did not
blister, just swelled up; have not been working
him, bnt there is still a lump large as a goose
egg which ls rather bard.     What can I do for it?
F.   O.   Davis.
Nothing but an operation will do any
good.
Give me through your veterinary department
the cause aud cure for my bog. It at first would
not gi>t on its bind feet and wben we try to glvj'lt
anything lt will manage to get on its feet some.
times but will drop directly; we have been rubbing it with turpentine for kidney worm; have
given It salts for it seonis to be constipated and
given lt condition powder in milk; we bave to
raiso It on Its hind legs ta give It the milk; when
on .ill fjjurs it seems to be all in a tremble.
Header.
Give 20 drops of tincture nux vomica 2
times a day in a little water.
I am a subserbor to your paper, antl I will
thank you to tell me through your paper what
is thji matter with my horse. From bis hip to
the stifl-j joiut It is hard and Rwollen, and he
stands most all the time ou thiVe legs and
seems to suffer a great deal but drives fairly
well. . Jonathan   Hoffman.
Call in some competent vetrinariai. as
I can not give treatment from your description.
A Moscow journal prints a letter from
a Russian soldier at Port Arthur in which
the following sentence occurs: "We have
given all our guns names. One of them
we call Togo, because it makes so much
noise,  but hasn't  hit anything  yet."
The following advertisement occupies a
prominent place in the Gazette (Vo Zurich;
"An Austrian officer of the balloon section wishes to marry a lady who will
have the courage to make her honey-moon
voyagq with him in a balloon."
MtixU %Xzxvs.
A curious sight on the coast of Java
is a long stretch of shore, about twenty-
nine miles in length, where the sand is
filled with particles of magnetic iron. In
some places it is said that the surface
sand contains SO per cent of iron. It
can bo smelted, and a company has been
formed to exploit the deposits.
A pendent containing a lock of George
Washington's hair and a curl from the
head of Martha Washington is exhibited
in a collection of relics in the Massachusetts building at the world's fair. These
precious mementoes were presented to
John Quincy Adams by Nellie Custis,
stepdaughter of Washington.
"The day will, I believe, come when
the sweet potato will furnish tho starch
of the world." So said Dr. Harvey W.
Wiley, chief of the* Bureau of Chemistry
in the Agricultural Department, in reply
to the appeal of Congressman Brantley,
of Georgia, that the Government, having
developed the possibilities of the sugar
cane syrup industry, should make a somewhat similar study of the  sweet potato.
Farm laborers in I_ibcria receive from
$2.50 to $4.50 a month and rations of rice
and fish. Men do all the work done
elsewhere by horses, because horses would
cost more.
The first railway in Iceland probably
will be begun soon by an English company recently formed for the purpose of
working the sulphur mines at Theisstarey-
kir, in the north of .Iceland. The mines
are about seventeen miles from Huavik,
the nearest harlior, to which the proposed
railway will run.
CSctieval %txo&.
The principal products of the Trebizond
province, Turkey, are tobacco, filberts,
gum, linseed ,eggs, walnut wood, hazelnuts and wool.
While I,. W. Gates, John Gii-ibins,
Charles Gass and Joseph Stephans, Muncie, were inspecting oil property at Shide-
lcr, and were standing on top of a tank,
one of them thoughtlessly struck a match
with which to light his cigar. Instantly
there was an explosion of gas which deposited them in a heap some distance
away, tearing their clothing and covering
them with oil. The oil in the tank caught
fire,' but was smothered by closing the
apertures.
While the street commissioner was making his rounds at Fairmount summoning
the male residents of the town to work
on the streets, at the home of Benjamin
Grindle he was attacked by a White
Brahma rooster, and it required the com-
biii-'d efforts of the two women of the
house-hold to "shoo" the fowl away. Tho
rooster is very targe, and it displays the
savagery of a bulldog, and will not allow
any stranger on the premises without a
fight. Being armed with extra large
spurs, the fowl is dangerous.
Thomas B. Reeder, Elwood, member of
the famous "Iron Brigade," was wounded
in the breast at the battle of Antietam,
September 17, 1802, and for 42 years carried tho load in his body, causing lu'm
much suffering. I.ast week doctors removed the (bullet. Major Reeder is now
feeling much better. The Reeder family
liave had 15 years of army service, from
Mrs. Reeder's great-grandfather, who was
killed by the Indians in Pennsylvania,
down to his two sons, who were in- tho
Spanish-American war, one of whom was
killed near Manila;.
Notes from Purdue University.
Kditors Indiana Farmer:
Commencement week at Purdue University has beei_ of peculiar interest to the
agricultural students and it is hoped that
its influence will reach out to every
farmer in Indiana.
On Tuesday evening the Agricultural
Society gave a banquet in honor of the
liilumni and the friends of the school. Covers were laid for 58 persons, including
members of the faculty and tlieir wives,
alumni, former short course students, students of the school of agriculturo and
friends. At the close of the banquet
a number of toasts were given, Prof. J.
II. Skinner acting as toastmaster. Responding to one of these toasts, Mr. Will
Simons, of the class of 1901, proposed an
association of the agricultural alumni and
former students, this organization to have
for its puj-pose thfc increaso of attendance in the school of agriculture, as well
ias building up the interest of the farmera
in the work of the experiment station and
agriculture in geuieral. The banquet
was greatly enjoyed and reflected much
credit upon   tho Agricultural Society.
On Wednesday morning the. alumni of
the school of agriculture met and organized an association according to Mr. Simons' suggestion, U. M. Stewart of Madison, was elected president; Will Simons,
of Kentland, vice-president and Jl. Ii.
Fisher, of (Lafayette, secretary-treasurer.
A committee on detail consisting of the
officers and Prof. Skinner and A. G. Mace
was   appointed. This   committee   will
prepare a constitution and by-laws and
will report in October, at tho time of the
meeting of institute workers. An invitation will be sent out to all former students
requesting them to be present at that
gathering.
Tho graduating class in agriculture
this year consisted of nine members. This
class and that of 1901 are the two largest
classes that have ever graduated in agriculture from Purduo University. The
class of 1901 also had nine members.
Another gratifying feature of the commencement exercises was the conferring
of the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering upon Elwood Mead. Mr. Mead
graduated from Purdue in 1S82 and was
one of the first graduates in agriculture.
At the present time he is irrigation expert for the United States Department of
Agriculture as well ias Irrigation Engineer
at the California experiment station and
lecturer on irrigation in Harvard University. The degree was granted on account of his distinguished services as an
irrigation engineer.
In consideration: of these events, all
lovers of agriculture and the work that
Purdue is doing for this cause have reason to congratulate themselves.
Purdue University. M. L. Fisher.
The census returns for Cape Colony
show that the population of the Cape
pi-opi-r totals 1.4S5.034 persons, of whom
5-18,920 are white. At the census of
1S91 the total was 1,039,S00, the whites
then  numbering  3G0,G08.
-** ■»■—■♦ ■——	
Everett Sutton shot and killed a hawk
on the farm of J. W. Sutton, near Greenwood, recently, which measured 70 inches
from tip to tip. The hawk had carried
away several chickens at different times
before it was finally killed.
Two boys from Dubois county pleaded
guilty to violating the game laws beforo
Justice Johnson  and  were  fined   a  total
of $80.20.      They  killed  a  squirrel  and *
said it was for a sick neighbor.