VOL. XXX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., AUG. 17, 1895.
NO. 33.
WEATHER CROP BULLETIN.
United State* Weather Bureau, Department of Agriculture. Crop Bulletin of
the Indiana Weather Service in Co-operr
ation With the Agricultural Experiment station at Purdue XTnivertity for
the Week Ending Monday, Aug. 1
Central Station at Indianajiol is, fad.
The dry weather of thc past week hindered the growth of all crops, especially
corn, potatoes, tomatoes, pastures and tobacco; general rains would add greatly to
their value; occasional rains have fallen
hut havc been badly distributed; eorn
generally in very good condition and the
prospect was fine for an unusually large
and excellent crop until thc dry weather
of the past week whioh was not beneficial
to its best development; it has suffered
somewhat on good land and is beyond
hope of recovery on "thin" land where
the dry weather has been continuous; tobacco is a medium orop and for which the
weather has not been very favorable; the
acreage is not large; some damage has
been occasioned by the "chinch" !mg,and
too much rain on low ground; potatoes,
late   planted,   doing   very   well   in most
countics.but the early planted not so well;
a medium crop expected; bugs doing
damage in F'loyd county ; tomatoes late
but doing well; would be considerably
improved hy rain : pastures are short aud
drying up in many localities; clover cutting for seed in progress; thc heads seem
to be well tilled and the prospect is fair;
some tinioihy threshed wilh moderate result; millet doing well; apples, peaches
and pears promise a good yield; melons
ripening and crop medium; rye sowing
commenced In several counties; fall plowing continues 'ground in fair condition.
SOUTHERN    PORTIOX.
Corn suffering severely from the dry
weather—a prospective large and line
crop lessened on account of absence
of rain. Tomatoes doing very well
except in some counties; a scarcity is
noticeable in others. Pastures are drying
up again. Potatoes are not doing so well
and bugs are damaging the crop in Floyd
(_'o. Clover cutting for seed, in progress
and thc prospect is fair. Some timothy
threshed with moderate result. Apples
are fine and abundant. Melons ripening
and crop medium. Fall plowing continues.
CENTR.VI, PORTION.
Hains have been badly distributed in
this portion, and the effect of dry weather
has been felt in strips.
The condition of corn is not as satisfactory as two or three weeks ago, and the
crop is not as promising, while not "fired"
it begins to curl; on hill and clay land it
is suffering. Tomatoes not doing much
good on account of the dry weather. Potatoes not a very good crop, dry weather
will make them scarce. Bye being sown.
Clover nearly ready to cut for seed, seems
to be well headed. Pastures needing
rain badly. Apples and pears good and
promise a fair yield.
NORTHERS PORTION.
Corn crop excellent, earing fast, maturing in a healthy condition and has a good
color, a little rain is needed; on "thin"
land it is backward and small. Clover
seed not a very good crop. Late potatoes
doing well; medium size and crop. Tomatoes doing well, but are late, poor in a
few counties; rain needed. Fall ploughing continues; the ground is in good condition, but little dry in some places. Pastures not doing well, short in many localities. (Some buckwheat killed by frost in
Earshall Co. Millet doing well. Apples
and peaches reported a very good crop;
apples hurt by dry weather in La I'orte
county.
11. A. Huston,
Director Indiana Weather Service.
Per W. W. Di.nt,
Weather Bureau, Assistant Director.
Sixty thousand acres of land are devoted to celery growing in the United
States.
The Big Woods of Carroll County.
Editors Indiana Farmer.
I have just returned from s trip to the
big woods west of Flora in Carroll county.
Our friend, Mr. James Haslet, had been
apprised of my coming and his conveyance carried me from the station to his
residence, "The Sycamores," some three
miles w est of Flora.
After a little botanizing in the neighborhood and after a good country dinner,
we—Mr. Haslet and myself—started for
the woods. It was a pleasure to drive
through the well managed farm. Although I am not a farmer and hence not
accustomed to looking at things with a
farmer's eyes, yet the neat appearance of
Mr. Haslet's broad acres arrested my attention at once. The absence of all weeds
is very noticeable. 'I'he cornfield was a
cornfield, and not a wcedlicld, as is so
often lhc case; and the red clover Held resembled a huge carpet, with not a sin_.le
weed to raise its head above the surface.
'I'he   fences   arc  all of wire, with slcn,ler
iron or cedar posts, and  with 'no waste
places for weeds to grow and ripen seed.
Not a single stalk of the Prickly lettuce
was seen, although the plant is very common along the railroad, the roadsides and
too often also in surrounding lielcls. It
seems, however, that this plant is held in
check fairly well in tbat locality. Some
Ileitis near Logansport are literally
o\ errun by it. It seems to me it would
certainly pay to make a combined effort
to keep this pest In subjugation.
When near the big forest a   light    blue
smoke arising above the tree tops and the
sound of the woodman's ax antl saw told
a mournful talc of destruction. .Mas, the
forest is doomed! It seems I got there
just in time to fret a glimpse of what was
once a common sight,namely, a primitive
forest. Near the road the large trees have
all been cut down, and in the bottom portion adjoining I'ecr creek, a large clearing is being made, but farther back in thc
hilly and more inaccessible portion a fail-
idea of a primitive forest can still be obtained. The tree-grow th is very dense
and some magnificent .specimens of the
poplar—the pride of the American forest
—are to be seen, as well as of two or three
species of elm and of maple, cherry,beech
and others. The massive trunks are very
straight, with a few large limbs near the
top. I am told the present area of the forest is, or rather, was 150 acres. What a pity
it could not have been preserved as a
park. I venture to say- very few citizens
of this State, horn since the civil war,
have ever seen such a forest, and the
chances of doing so arc daily diminishing
I have been over a large portion of this
State and know of no similar aggregation
of big trees.
It is something novel to sec large trees
all about with no stumps in sight. However even in the most isolated part of this
fore-t one must not look too far or stumps
will appear. The large walnut trees had
been cut down several years ago and the
Stamps give a person an idea of their immense size.
A streak of decaying tree trunks running through the woods,with the trees all
lying in one direction, shows the effects
of a tornado which passed through here
some 20 years ago. Large poplar and walnut trunks arc. quite plentiful. A new
growth of trees, mainly beech, has appeared in this devastated area.
Low underbrush is rather scanty aliout
the largest trees, and the absence of herbaceous plants is ,|iiite marked; hut this
may he, and probably is, due to the unusually dry season; the trees taking thc
moisture from thc soil. This effect of
trees on herbaceous plants is especially
noticeable in corn-tields. I have noticed
circular areas often measuring ."Jior even
7", feet in diameter surrounding trees, in
which the corn was very ranch stunted,
and often had disappeared entirely. With
several large trees in a field  thc loss in
grain is certainly very considerable.
This county is abundantly supplied with
How ing springs; their number, ina dry
season like the present, seemed remarka-
able to me.
Along ISachelor's creek, about one mile
from where it enters Deer creek, there
are numerous wet places—due to the
springs,and abounding in variously sized
shrubs or even small trees, of the poison
elder, ,.r poison sumac, (rhus venenata), a
j,hint seldom seen in Indiana. It Ls quite
handsome In appearance, with its thick,
glossy, pinnate leaves, on a large, purple
Stalk,crowding the summits of the few
large   branches;   they   haves   somewhat
palm-like appsarai    1 did not handle
anyof these shrubs—"a burnt child dreads
the fire,"—although 1 often walked near
them. About two weeks ago I saw a
small tree of this kind in a wet place near
the hospital, and not being sure of ils
character, handled it quite freely. I
went on the assumption that I was proof
against its noxious influence, as I ran. or
rather, could, handle thc common poison
ivy with impunity.    Two  days   later my
bands and face began to swell and Itch—I
was poisoned, and now after two weeks, I
am still shedding   some epithelium   from
my .hands. Mr. Haslet told me of his experience in ignorantlv cutting down a
small poison tree, and, assisted by his
son, peeling it; he was*promptly affected
in the manner peculiar to this plant.
The trip down along I leer creek, through
a tine forming region, was very enjoyable.   At Delphi we parted and 1 returned
over the Wabash railroad.
Robert llessler, .M. D.
Logansport, Aug. 8, '.'■*>.
Notes of Trip Through Kansas   and Colorado—Corn—A Beautiful City-
Pike's Peak.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Kansas is one vast corn tield, and the
stalks are very large and rank. If nothing happens to it now, it will be a very
large corn crop. "Corn Is king." When
the farmers, meet it is, "how is your
corn?" Corn is all thcy talk about. They
have not commenced to talk about wheat,
they will do with it yet. They had to
sell all their hogs last year and they are
scarce now. One great draw* back to the
Kansas farmer, especially in this county
is that they keep too many horses. Some
keep as high as XI or .Viand it keeps them
busy running after them. If they would
pay more attention to their cattle and
hogs and raising good gardens, I think
they would not grumble so much.
Wheat and oats are also good at Iteloit
and Solomon and along thc railroad asfar
as we can sec They also raise a greal
deal of alfalfa ; great stacks of it everywhere, and if it is seasonable they can
cut it three times. The millet is also flne
but is not ready to harvest yet. The potatoes are a good crop. They have one
advantage over us Iloosiers, in a certain
weed. lis leaves look like those ofthe
watermelon, and they, (the bugs, wc presume! feed on it. I saw many of them
eating it and not one on the potatoes.
In this county most all is corn, but then-
is plenty fruit. Aj,pies are$1 per bushel, potatoes I*.", cents, butter 8 cents per
pound, eggs 7 cents per dozen. They
make good butter. Hest of all they have
had plenty of good rains, had a good rain
last night, about an inch fell. The ponds
are full.
We went to Denver. Col., to attend the
National Teachers' Convention, where
the teachers and friends received a hearty
welcome. everything was done that
could be to make them have a pleasant
time. Excursions everywhere and in
every direction. Thc F-lectric Street Car
Company gave the teachers a free ride
around the city. Tt took from two o'clock
until seven to make the trip about90
miles, antl the stops, so we could visit the
• •in park. It covers about 300acres, with
•beautiful   flowers   and lakes  and drives.
It is not all improved yet. We went to
Manhattan Beach and Flick's (iarden,
where they keep different kinds of animals, bears, lions and monkeys, kange-
roos, etc., and birds. All were admitted
free. They have three kinds of stscct
cars here, the electric, cable and horse
cars. We went all through the smelting
works and saw them melting gold in
pots. They said there was $7.*>.tln,l in the
pots we saw. There were large bricks of
silver too heavy to lift. The buildings
are most all stone and brick. The State
House looks a good deal like ours, only
they have nol got it near finished yet.
The buildings are from seven to nine
stories high; streets are mostly asphalt
and .-ire kept clean. It is a beautiful city,
so nice and cool and no dust. We ate
strawberries every day while we were
there and such large ones, three quarts for
a quarter. Also red raspberries. They
raise everything by irrigation. line
\ egeteble gardens ar*' in every direction.
We went from Denver to Colorado
Springs and drank some of the water; it
tasted like soda water.    It is a large place
with street cars and plenty bicyclesand
is Surrounded by high mountains. From
thore to Manitou is the most famous
[■leisure resort in the west.
Then   we took   the  Colorado  Springs
and ManitoU eleelric line to the Iron
Springs, and then took the Cog-wheel
Railway to the top of Pike's Peake,
which is 11,117 feet above thc sea level.
The scenes and points of Interest are
many. It is a grand sight; itis covered
with snow and large stones. It was verv
'■old and I had to put my shawl around
my cars and neck lo keep warm. There
is a bouse on lhe top where you can
warm, when you lirst come in it makes
you very sick.* Vou can telegraph and
they have postal cards for ten cents a
piece, on which to write to friends. The
signal service is there and a great many
relics forsale. The thermometers stood
38 degrees. A great many walk up and
some go upon burroughs, but they are
very slow and take a good deal of urging
to get them to go. The locomotive pushes
the car in ascending and preceded it
w hen descending, giving perfect control
of it, and the road is made of solid rock.
Everybody ought to see it. It is hard to
describe it. Mus. W. li. Flick.
Downs, Kas.
A Timely Su_r g-estion.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Why not commence at once to agitate
incessantly some plan of ridding the
State and country ofthe prickly lettuce'
ami all noxious weeds. I propose the
plan of levying suflicient tax on real
estate to rebate the owners, if they destroy all weetls, and in case they do not
do so to hire it done with a penalty of
double the cost. The township trustees
could with advantage take charge of the
matter. At any rate make the penalty
so severe antl the regulations as stringent
and peremptory as if the leprosy were invading our country. D. H. Lane.
Clinton Co.
—We second Mr. Lane's motion to agitate the question of ridding the country
of noxious weeds. We are not prepared
to say that his plan is the best that can
be offered, hut it is at least suggestive. If
any reader thinks he has a better one let
him state it, Mid thus keep the subject
before our readers.—Kns.
The State press associations are going
to attend the Cotton States and International imposition in force. Kvery press
association in the I'nion has been invited
by the management to visit the Exposition in October, and many of them have
already accepted. The latest to accept is
the Indiana Press Association. There
are four press associations in Indiana,
and they have united to form a grand excursion to Atlanta about the middle of
October.