VOL. LVIL
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., OCT. 4, 1902.
NO. 40
I BALANCE|
t  of  THIS   YEAR   t
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Note the following points:
1. Single Subscribers, one rear, 60 cents.
2. One old and one new   subscriber, one
year, $1.
3. Anyone sending   $1   gets   tbe  Farmer
for two years.
4. All new subscribers  for oue year  get
balance of this year free.
Wbat an Old Reader Says.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I have been a constant reader of the
Farmer for about 30 years, and among the
several agricultural papers I constantly read, I think the Farmer is by far
the best of them all. It covers the whole
field of practical agriculture, general farming, live stock farming, and all other kinds
of farming, in the most practical and helpful way of all the papers published in this
and five other States. What I like so
well in the Indiana Farmer is, that it gives
us neat and practical things about all
kinds of agriculture and live stock farming, along with the best things from the
Experiment Stations of the various States,
and is always up-to-date in all these
things. I would not be without the
Indiana Farmer for the cost of it five
times over. Send it to me for another
year. An   Old   Reader.
Coles Co.. 111.
The above is a sample of thousands of
letters received from old readers of the
Indiana Farmer, and they speak for themselves.
30,000  New Readers.
We expect to add 30.000 new subscribers to our lists between October 1,
190-J. and April I, 1903. To this end we
ask every one of our present subscribers
to see a neighbor not taking the Farmer,
and send in Jfl for both.
Please do this between now and Christmas,  and  we  will  semi  all  the  greatest
Holiday   number  ever   issued.      Address
INDIANA FARMER CO.
Indianapolis, Ind.
The Use of Lime and Gypsum.
Editors Indians Farmer:
Notwithstanding all that has been said
and written about lime nnd gypsum (or
land plaster), there is still much conjecturing in the agricultural world as to tbeir
real function in crop growth and soil improvement.
They are continually being confounded
with commercial fertilizers and are *"ii-
sidered such by many. Fertilizers nre
simply readily available plant food and
not properly stimulants at all. Such
things as lime and plaster mny well be denominated stimulants, since they have the
effect of bringing into use matters already
in the soil, and enable the cultivator to
exhaust more rapidly the plant food that
in the ordinary course of events would
come into use more slowly.
It can therefore be readily seen that
the continuous and intelligent use of these
ingredients, while they may appear profitable for a time, will have only the ulti
mate result of impoverishing the soil.
This being done by ignorant parties in
some localities has given rise to the belief
that concentrated fertilizers are only stimulants, and like all other stimulants, the
after effect is exhaustion. This
however is an error. Fertilizers are simply commercial plant food, supplying to
the soil and plant the needed potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen, tbe same ingredients that are supplied in the barn* yard
manure, only in a more concentrated form.
But lime and plaster have their respective
places on the farm, and when kept in their
places are found to be of value. There is
a well-known adage that the only way to
know if land wants lime is to try it.
Theoretically, a soil should contain three
per cent of lime in connection with the
percentage of vegetable matter and mineral plant food.
The mechanical action of lime is to render heavy soils more porousandlightsoils
more tenacious. It is valuable where applied to soils abounding in inert organic
matter, like peaty, because it not only
furnishes a supply of lime for the plants
which tenant such soils, but caustic lime
tends to bring any dead vegetable matter
which they may contain into a state of
decomposition, so as to render them soluble in water and so more available as
food for growing plants. It also assists
in pulverizing impervious clays by acting
chemically upon the silicates therein, dissolving out a portion of the silica and liberating some mineral plant food. When
used for this purpose it should be applied
quite liberally but not repeated oftener
than every  three  years.
It also hastens the decay of table manures and putrecent substances, and may
be sprinkled over them when plowed into
the soil, but not allowed to be added for
any length of time to heaps of manure,
for it drives off any ammonia already
formed and ultimately reduces the action
of same. The use of gypsum or land plaster
is advocated by some who say that it attracts ammonia from the air. This, however is not true, except in a sense. Gypsum is soluble in rain water and rain water contains carbonate of ammonia. Thus
it enters into a combination with the sulphuric acid of gypsum and sulphate at
ammonia is formed, and carbonate of lime
is also formed; that is, the ammonia gives
up its carbonic acid and takes sulphuric
acid and the gypsum vice versa, according
to well known laws of chemical affinity.
Uypsum is not a manure itself. It is
only beneficial in connection with manures,
soils containing humus, or is otherwise
fertile in organic matter, though the fertility may be locked up from insolubility.
In* the same way it fixes the ammonia of
stable mnniirc, while the action of lime
would render the ammonia still more volatile. But even as a retainer of ammonia
it is not so good ns kainit (a crude potash). By sprinkling a couple of handsful
of kainit for each horseorcowovertheheap
daily, not only retnins the ammonia but
enriches  the  manure in  vnlunble  potash.
From the foregoing it will be seen thnt
lime and land plaster are merely indirect
fertilizers. If a fertilizer is needed, instead
of investing in these cheap stimulants,
purchase a complete fertilizer,;—one rich
in nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash.
This is especially adapted for heavy clays
nnd soils depleted by the use of land plaster. For marsh and peaty lands use only
the mineral plant food, a composition containing a liberal amount of phosphoric
acid and at least eight per cent potash.
D. I. Duncan.
Importance of the Corn Crop.
Editor* Indian* Fanner:
The great national crop will probably
receive more attention this year than
ever. The short crop of last year and
resulting high prices will have the effect*
of increasing the acreage devoted to this
grain, and if it should also have a tendency toward a better cultivation there
may be with favorable conditions a record breaker at harvest time, in yield
equal to that of wheat last year.
We shall expect it will be planted all
over the United States wherever it is
adapted, and that is nearly every State
in the Union, In the West and Southwest it will be grown for home use and
as a special money crop; in the more central States for both grain and fodder,
largely for use on the farm; while at the
East the principal object will be the production on a large scale of the cheapest
and most productive crop for fodder.
While at the East there is much more
land devoted to corn than there was a
dozen years ago, yet there is not nearly
as much grown for the grain as there
was. It is either put in the silo or cured
to feed dry in winter.
An Ohio farmer and lecturer who attended the agricultural institute in Vermont for five weeks during the past winter, and so had opportunity for learning
much concerning the corn crop and its
disposition here, says there is four times
as much corn grown in this State as five
j ears ago. That appears to be a large
increase certainly, and as not more than
one-fourth is husked it clearly indicates
the favor in which this crop is held by
the farmers as a fodder product for stock
and especially cows. No doubt this is
the case to a greater or less extent at
least in the eastern part of the United
States, so we can see at once the great
value placed on the crop for this particular purpose. So while there will be a
vast area devoted to the production of
corn, as will be seen, there will be a liberal production that will be for fodder
alone and so will not count in the item of
grain.
But aside from this in the large corn
growing States, the grain will be the particular object sought although the rest
of the crop should be made the most of,
—and on this will be based largely the extent of the crop in this country.
What an advantage there is in the fact
that there are varieties of corn adapted
to all parts of the country, whether the
season is long or short. Although the
planting is done so early in the west and
south, it is quite probable that the crop
does not ripen much, if any' earlier than
here in northern Vermont, but the growth
of both grain and fodder is greater.
Here is where farmers should be careful in adapting varieties of corn to the
localities in which it is to be grown, easiness being a first requisite, that is sufficiently early to mature before there is a
liability of frost.
A good preparation of the soil for this
crop with sufficient fertilization are large
factors for a good outcome at harvest
time; nnd a thorough cultivation during
the period of growth will have much to
do with the final result There shonld be
no more corn planted than can be cared
for in the best manner, as the number of
acres will not count as much in the end
as a timely and painstaking care of the
crop.
Franklin* County, Vermont.
About 400,000 larks a year are sent from
the continent to the London markets.
A College ln Every Home.
Editors Indians Farmer:
During these days when the doors of a
hundred thousand schools are opening to
receive the youth of the land, the mother
and fathers and ambitious young people
who must stay at home are hungering for
educational opportunities. They realize
that, other things being equal, position,
usefulness and happiness are in proportion
to culture, and they long for some plans
that will help them to turn their spare
moments iuto school and college terms.
Complex modern life and the battle for
material existence leave the world no more
of the old spare time leisure for mental
and spiritual culture. And so everywhere people are hungering for intellectual
food and craving mental stimulus and
would be grateful for some plan that
would offer guidance and help. These
reflections come to me forcibly during
a delightful outing this year at Bay View,
the great summer educational centre, in
Northern Michigan. I found there and
studied a new educational movement
which I feel sure many readers of the
Indiana Farmer will be glad to know
about.
A few years ago, Mr. J. M.Hall.ayoung
lawyer was at the head of a large young
people's Bible class and in his desire to
give the members a better prospect in
life he established a reading club which
soon became widely known. Others
from fnr and wide began calling for his
plans, and to meet the growing demand
for self-culture plans, the Bay View Reading Club was established.
Mr. Hall still remains at the head of the
work, which he directs from the headquarters on Boston Boulevard, Detroit,
Michigan nnd without courting publicity
the organization has not only spread over
this country but has entered Canada,
Mexico, Germany, China and the Hawaii
Islands. Sir. Hall's genius in conducting club studies is everywhere recognized
by women's cubs, of which more than
three hundred and fifty have in the past
15 months adopted the Bay View course.
The plans are simple, but there is intelligent system; and history, and literature
and travel are deftly joined in a reading
journey of a most delightful character. I
learned that last year the members were
on a study tour of Italy, Greece and
Switzerland but this year onr own country, the best of all lands, will be studied,
in its history, literature, art and institutions. A month will also be spent in
Mexico.
During the summer I often met at
the annual gatherings at Bay View, the
members from many states and always
heard from them the most enthusiastic
reports. The members were mostly like
myself, bread winners, and the course has
been carried on in the brief pauses in
the day's occupation. But daily I heard
in the elegant conversation and saw in
the intelligent faces the marked transforation wrought when people read for a
purpose. This is not the place to enter
into a description of the plans of the Bay
View reading course,—a card addressed
to Mr. Hall will always secure them. I
concerned more in reviving the hope of the
busy women and aspiring young people
to again take up the pleasures of books
and study, for which this reading course
seems to me to offer the best practical
plans. I am sure a great many who are
looking for feasible suggestions for winter reading will thank the editor for publishing this article. Dorothy Stiles.
Bluffton.