VOL. XXX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAROH 16, 1895.
NO. lh
Agricultural and Other Resources
-OF-
JOHNSON  COUNTY,   INDIANA.
The readers of the Indiana Fabmeb are
in general familiar with the resources of
the various counties and sections of the
State, but in these reviews by counties we
hope to be able to surprise them in many
particulars and points about resources and
productions. For a long time the Fabmeb
has been collecting faots bearing upon the
State's resources in agriculture, manufao
tnring, etc , by counties. In presenting
these to our readers, it could not be done
well except by an illustration of many of
th(s9 things. And so in each issue containing these facts a map of each county
will be given.
Johnson county was organized in 1822
and contains 312J4 square miles, including
all areas, streams, etc., making 200,000
acres in all. Most of this is arable land
and very fertile and wooded originally.
The county, as will be noted by the map,
is well watered by streams whose sources
chiefly are springs. It is level to undulating, except at the southwestern corner,
where it joins Brown oounty, the map
shows a range of hills lying along the
south side of Indian creek. The map in
general gives a bird's eye view of the surface of the county, with its several civil
townships, numerous streams, railways,
gravel roads, range of hills, towns, etc.
The explanations under the map will give
the reader a good idea of both, what is
upon and beneath the surface of this
county. The mineral areas and resources
are obtained from the geological surveys
of the State.
As it ia the purpose to show the resources
of the county in its highest levels of pro
duction ln agriculture we give below a
table showing these in a recent year.
ANNUA!,    AGBICU1-TI.RAI,   PBODUCTION   OP
STAPLE CBOPS.
Acres   Bushels     Total Valne.
perac:e.   buihe.s.
Wheat  39,761        21            63',931 1417,491 at ECc.
Oorn...... 43,240        39         1,8.1,360 6.6C64at40c.
OaU ....6,075        37            187,775 75,110 at 400.
The minor grain crops, such as barley,
rye, flaxseed, buckwheat, etc, show
equally productive yields per acre, but are
grown in much less areas.
A good level yield of timothy is two
tons per aore, which was reached several
times, the crop in 1892 being nearly 30,000
tons and valued at f 261,000. That of clover
hay one and three fourths ton per acre
and worth nearly f200,000.
The county abounds in the finest pasture
lands, blue grass growing most luxuriantly. It is therefore rich ln its live stock
productions and dairy industry. The following figures show a fair level of the
LIVE STOCK INDUSTRY.
Horses of all breeds and mules 7,838
Cattle ot all breeds „ „....17.2_S
Fheep of all breeds  7,445
Hosts ol all breeds —___. 60.6C9
The value of all these are readily estimated by those desiring to know some
thing of the importance of the county productions ln agriculture when summarized
in dollars.
This county has the largest silo in the
world at Greenwood owned by Mr. J. T.
Polk. He also has a very Urge hferd of
Jersey cattle in his dairy establishment,
to which the silage Is mainly fed. The
product of this herd is all shipped and
marketed dally ln this city. There are
several other dairy herds and silos In the
county, all of which are giving the highest
satisfaction.
HIGHEST LEVELS OF PRODUCTION.
In the figures given for yield per acre of
the leading grain crops the averages are
always named. Of course there are higher
levels but they are  reached  only by the
the high level of 3 000.000 bushels per year.
This Is true of the other leading crops, indeed of all production and largely so of
live stock as well.
WATEB LEVELS AND DRAINAGE,
There are large areas of the oounty which
were once so level and wet as to be deemed
•lmost worthless. These areas embrace
mainly what are now known as the black
soils. They have been thoroughly drained
and are now the most productive.
The illustration shows the progress of
this drainage by periods, the lowering of
the water level in the soil in average seasons in one of these sections. When partially drained the excessive moisture level
BROWW
EXPLANATION OF THB MAP.
The map explains Itself aa to Towns, Ballroada. Hlreanit, *«<•
The dotted line passing from the northwestern to the southeastern part of the coanty, divides the llme-
stine area from that ot the sandstone. Kast of the dotted line are Devonian, Hamilton and Lower Helder-
berg limestone and shale.  West of dotted line are Knobstone and Waverly sandstone.
Figures at Franklin and Kdinbnrg show elevations In feet above tea level.   Dash lines show
gravel roads.  The range of hills Is shown at the southwest corner of the county.
two chief things, viz: In wet seasons it
quickly removed the water and excessive
moisture from the roots of the growing
crops and in very dry seasons made the
soil so porous as to admit the large per
cent of moisture in the atmosphere which
is so essential to growing crops in such
seasons. This fully illustrates the value
of drainage in both wet and dry seasons
and has added immensely to the agricultural productions.
SUMMARY OF ANNUAL PRODUCTION.
The figures given in this summary are
for a year of f allcrops and at prices prevailing in a normal year of industry, say January, 1892:
834,981 bushels Of who»t value 1892 % 7C8.182
1,881360 bushe:s of corn value 1892  752,514
187,775 bushels Of oats value 1892  75,110
Rye, barley, buckwheat and flaxseed  5,900
Timothy and clover hay and seeds „  579,500
Irish and sweet potatoes and tobacco  29.6C0
Hor.es mules and cattle  ™... 1,115,710
Hogs and sheep    209,837
MUk, butter and cheese     282,150
Wool    10,110
AU kinds of green and cannel fruits  80,160
Poultry and eggs  72,1.0
Bees, honey and other items __„.. 15,200
best and most careful tillage. There are
only here and there farmers who understand or pursue methods of Intensive
farming. Their high yields are leveled
down and the lower ones are leveled up to
what we give as averages. There area
few farmers who grow 35 to 38 and as high
as 42 bushels of wheat per acre. Then
there are others who grow 12 and 15 to 20
bushels. Very frequently this is done by
farmers on the same natural quality of
land the same year. The difference between the 12 bushel and the 40 bushel per
acre farmer lies in the thoughtful and intelligent methods of tillage and culture.
The one reads and searches out the best
thoughts of the successful farmer, while
the other prides himself on his own
knowledge and neglects mental culture in
his own calling, Johnson county, like
the others in the State and everywhere
else, produces vastly less than lt is capable
of producing because all of its farmers
have not prepared themselves for the
highest levels of production. When population and consumption and markets demand lt the county can produce about 2,-
000,000 bushels of wheat on the same acreage now annually devoted to that production, and the intelligent farmers will be
there to do it. These facts are given to
show the contrasts as well as the capablli
ties of the already splendid showing in the
agriculture of this county.
The same facts are true as to corn production. There are farms which produce
80 and even 95 bushels per acre and when
the time comes for it the county can make
stood at 12 inches as shown in the illustration. The work went on and three years
later it stood at 15 inches, four years later
at 20 inchei and when^the surface or open
drains were all completed the excessive
•■» — \f—   - _*/- ~  * —_
/A
IaJ^
■•-■-X
_.*•
OPEN DITCH DRAIN.
moisture was lowered to 24 Inches. Then
this open ditch system was followed by
tile drainage which, when perfected in
that section of the county, accomplished
Total  .1,(46.213
Of course there are many items not included in this summary, such as seeds,
fruit and vegetable products of the field
and garden and others that will readily
occur to farm readers, including the values of line bred live stock of all kinds
which are not included in the summary.
LANDS NOT CULTIVATED.
The county was once heavily timbered
with poplar, walnut, white and bur oak,
hard maple, ash and other valuablo woods.
This valuable timber bas mainly been cut
off and removed, but there are a few tracts
y6t of fairly good timber. The wood lands
entire embrace abont 35,000 acres including /
wood pastures and all. There is pasturage/
of about 18,500 acres and it is chiefly blue-'
grass. /
MANUFACTCBING INDUSTRY. \
While this industry is not represented
by any great wood, iron or glass establish-
ments,the smaller ones in the various lines
of manufacturing make a good volume in
the aggregate, which shows the county
with a fair diversity of industry. The
Polk canning establishment at Greenwood
is one of the largest in the West of the
kind The other factories are made up of
flour and other mills, implement factories,
wagon, furniture, tile, planing mills and
many other smaller kinds of manufacturing. These are all summarized, showing
the extent of this industry ln its various
phases as follows:
Number of establishments.  210
Capital invested.. „ $ 836 379
Va*ueof the annual p*oduct.  l,_28,79l
Annnal wages paid..    180,419
Number persons employed and dependent
on them       3,500
As already shown, the county's productions are chiefly agriculture, yet the manufacturing furnishes 3 500 persons to be
fed by agriculture in its midst and the
manufacturing annually distributes to all
classes nearly £200,000 iu wages in the several communities and the profits on nearly
a million acd a half dollars' worth of products. These are all Important items in
the diversified industry of the county, as
those employed iu one industry consume
the products of the others, thus aiding all
in sustaining the best forms of civil institutions.
SOME  OF   THE   LEADINa   BUSINESS MEN OF
FRANKLIN.
J. M. Storey, hardware, gasoline stoves,
S. B. Eccles, druggist, pineapple syrup.
Anderson  &  Co,,  implements   of   all
kinds
W. W. Long, groceries, etc.
W. 8. Draper, boots and shoes.
S. C. Yager, books, wall paper, etc.
W. B, McCollough, drngs and medicines.
Strickler & Son, groceries.
Payne the Clothier, clothing, etc.
Franklin National Bank, bankers.
A. C. McNaDghton, dry goods, etc.
Voris it Co , dry goods and notions.
I N. Lagrange, groceries.
D Peck, furniture.
Wm. Luckow, flouring mill.
J. H. Magill, implements.
SOME OF THE BUSINESS MEN  IN EDINBURG.
A. W. Winterberg, boots and shoes.
™ F. Winterberg, bakery.
a W. H. Thompson, dry goods.
■ Mulz & Lynch, drngs.
D. R. Weeb, hardware.
I [G. A. Mutz & Co., groceries.
M. G. Deming, dry goods,
Moffett Brcs., drugs.
, G. E. Wilber, harness.
Valantlne Malley ct Co., groceries.