. ruraue university,
\ LIBRARY.     '\
jLAFAYETTE.IND;
VOL. LEX.
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 17, 1904.
NO 38.
Weekly Crop Bulletin.
For the week ending Monday, September 12. Light showers fell at a few
widely separated places on Wednesday,
but generally the weather "was fair, with
normal day temperatures and cool nights,
until Sunday night when, as indicated by
telegraphic reports from corn and whieat
region stations, showers were general in
all sections.
Practically everything, except corn, 'n
all parts of the State need-
ed the rain as the drouth
was very severe in some localities. In some of the
southern counties particularly, not only were the unmatured crops suffering,
but pastures and stock
water had failed, aud
water for household purposes wlas getting low.
Corn is ripening very
nicely, but'not so rapidly
as was hoped for last
week. It is probable that
a considerable acreage
will not be out of danger
before the first of October.
Cutting of corn for the silo
is under way and in a few
places it is being shocked.
Late potatoes are being
dug; the yield is fair and
the quality good.
Clover seed is being hulled;, the yield varies from
light-to unusually heavy.
Tomatoes are late land are
reported to be rotting m
some localities; but generally they are yielding
enough good fruit to keep
the canneries in operation
and, barring an early killing frost, promise a good
crop.
Winter apples continue
to fall; the pear crop is below average; the bulk of
unusually heavy crop of
plums has been gathered,
nnd grapes are plentiful.
I'lowing for wheat progressed slowly and
in some localities was suspended on account of the drouth; but rains Sunday
night probably relieved the situation.
W. T. Blythe, Section Director.
only more comfortable, but more pleasant
and     attractive  as   well. There     are
many ways in whicli the desired result may
be brought about. The agricultural
journals in which the rural reading public
are becoming more and more interested,
are full from cover to cover with live
practical timely suggestions and advice.
The many household journals and scores
of weeklies are running home, garden and
fruit departments, and in other ways cat-
countries show some strong arguments for
the wide tires. In France every heavy
wagon and cart used lias wide tired
wheels. Many of the vehicles have wheels
with tires 10 inches wide. Tlie rear
axles are made 14 inches longer than the
fore, and as a result the tires level down
the road instead of cutting it into
trenches. A national law in Germany
prescribes that heavy loaded wagons must
hnve   wide  tires  not  less  than
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First  Prize Belgian  Stallions, at St. Louis World's Fair, Imported by J. Crouch & Son, Lafayette, Ind
The Indiana  Farmer   House at  World's
Fair,
editors Indlaaa Farmer:
I am just back from the World's Fair;
had no mishap from start to finish. The
Indiana Farmer House was beyond expectation. I recommend it to all, as it is
so near the entrance and so deviated.
The lady manager is a very pleasant entertainer. I regretted to leave the comfortable place. John Bennett.
Sunman, Sept. 7.
—AVe expect to publsh some of friend
Bennett's notes and observations at the
Fiair, in a future number. They will be
entertaining.
Stay on tbe Farm.
Kditors Indiana Farmer:
Many changes for the better are taking
place in farm life which go far towards
encouraging the boys and girls to stick to
the old homestead. Thanks to the papers
in general, and the farm journals in particular, residents in the rural districts are
beginning to take more interest in everything pertaining to the farm and home.
The heads of families are learning that if
they would keep the young people on the
Harm, they must make the farm home not
ering to the demands of the rural population.
Since the advent of the rural free delivery system there seems to be little, if
any, good and sufficient reason or excuse
for the farm home not being well supplied
with good reading matter, especially when
we take into consideration the small cost
and the amount of benefit to be derived.
Boys and girls, young people, and older
heads as well, listen to good advice and
stick to the old homiestead. You may
roam the wide world over inl search, of
pleasure, only to find that like the "will
'o the wisp" it will ever elude your grasp,
and, iu the end you will be only too glad
to return to the old farm home, the only
place on earth where solid comfort, lasting enjoyment, true happiness and contentment reign! E. V. B.
Michigan.
Advantages of Wide Tires.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Wider tire make better roads. Whether
they require power or not to pull them, is
a question with many farmers. In
one test, noted by tlie Seattle Post-
Intelligencer 40 per cent more power was
needed to draw a load on a wagon with
one and one-half inch tires than one with
throe-inch tires. In addition the ground
was cut into ruts by the narrow tire and
rolled down  solid by the wide tire.
A study of road conditions in different
wide. Similar laws prevail in Austria
and Switzerland, except that the width
of tires is made G inches or more.
The campaign for wide tires continues
to expand throughout the United States.
On some of the toll roads of Kentucky
the teamsters using wide tires are charged less for driving over the roads. A rebate in taxes is given in some States to
the men who will use the wide tires.
Some interesting tests of narrow and
wide tires have been made in fields of
blue grass sward. A wide tired wagon
loaded with 3,248 pounds could be drawn
with the same force that was required
to move 2,000 pounds with narrow tires.
In addition the wide wheels acted as rollers and firmed the soil, while the narrow tired wheels cut into the turf and
damaged the grass. The same resuts
must be expected on roads in the winter
months when tho soil is wet. The old-
time wagons make holes and trenches,
while the new wide tires firm the earth
and become road improvers.
Washington, D. C. G. E. M.
Big Irrigation Enterprises.
Noar the to\rn of Blackfoot, Idaho, is a
big Canal  System now in course of construction.        It is already  completed  for
a distance of   twenty-six miles, but when
finished    will be    over seventy miles    in
length.      It is sixty feet wide at the bottom and eighty-five feet wide at the top,
and carries seven feet of water.        More
than 200,000 _tcres of hitherto, worthless
4  inches   sage brush land will be put under cultivation and make homes for
thousands of people.
Farther down the great
Snake ltiver, we come into
the Twin Falls country,
where they (are putting in
one of the largest private
irrigation projects on the
continued. They have already spent moro thavi
$500,000 in this enterprise,
and will spend as much
more within the next year.
Their main Canal is 120
feet wide at the top and
80 feet across the bottom,
and will convey a volume
of water ten feet in depth,
including tlie laterals their
system wul extend over
1,000 miles in length; — —
Tue Payette Valley in
Idaho is northwest of tlie
Twin Falls country- It
contains at'this time hun-
dreus of prosperous home'!,
very one of which depend
for the continuation of this
app.v state of affairs on
irrigation, for without can-
would be what it once was,
als and water this country
a desolate waste of sand
dunes aud sage brush.
This Canal Company  to
whose enterprise this district owes its vast system
of canals, has succeeded in
settling up the country so
thickly,    that  all  of    tho
available  lands  are taken
up, and    like    Alexander,
they are now setting out to conquer new
Worlds,  and  a  new  Company  has  been
formed  and  work  is    now in    progress,
whereby   more   than   . 50,000     additional
acres of desert lands  will  be put under
cultivation within thi next year.
One of the most studious qneens in Europe i.s the German Empress, who cares
very little indeed for pomp aud ceremony.
Her majesty's favorite study is medicine
and she lias instructed herself so well in
the art of healing that she is regarded as
quite an efficient adviser in oases of ordinary illness.
Often the snake man is unable to supply his cobra's demand for large black-
suakes. Tne cobra, sometimes representing in money value tho equivalent of a
good roau horse, refuses to eat a black-
snake not of an alluring size. Birds,
frogs, fish, rats, chicKens and the tid-bits
that attract other snakes in captivity, the
great serpent declines. The naturalist
consults his blacksnake cage. The man
selects the largest and inch by inch the
victim is pulled out of the heap, until he
is held squirming and dangling by the
tail. Then, like the lash of a whip, the
snake is whirled through the air. At the
end of the sweeep there is a snap and
the reptile hangs lifeless, its neck broken.
Then comes a stuffing process. Down the
throat of the dead reptile a frog is forced.
On top of this a second frog, and then a
third, and so on until the shiny black
body, at first no larger round than a policeman's club, has attained the diameter
of a man's wrist. Distorted to these enticing dimensions he is greedily devoured
by the cobra, and there has been smrj:-
gled into him sustenance enough for two
weeks.—A.  W.   Itolker,   in   McClure's.