VOL. LXVI
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 6, 1011.
NO. 18
DON'T SPECfliATE.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
A few years ago at an old settler's
picnic In this county, a hard working
farmer stood and watched a shell game
for a half hour. He saw a confederate
lncate the pea under the shell and win
ten dollars. He was sure he could have
rlnne the same thing. Soon another
roper in. won five dollars. All this time
the shell man had been watching from
nne corner of his eye, my farmer friend.
rarelessly he placed the pea under a
shell and bet twenty dollars no one
muld tell which shell it was under. Our
farmer having seen with his own eyes
mst exactly where It was, laid down his
twenty hard earned dollars, at the same
time putting his finger on the right
shell. "It's right under that shell and
I'll take the money.' He turned over
the shell only to find it empty. Just
then the gambler raked in the forty-
dollars.
The poor farmer stood as one dazed
for he could ill afford to lose the money.
"Never buck another man's game."
"I knew he would lose."
Catch me in a game like that!"
Many similar expressions were heard
nr the farmers who saw the transaction Now the Strang* thing about it
was. that three of those same farmers
afterward "bucked" a man at his own
game" and lost; two of them heavily.
One bought mining stock at Joplin, another stock in an oil well in Indian Territory (It was then), the other without
seeing it, a sand hill in Florida. The
three suffered a loss of $1,700, not a
dollar they got in return. Yet these
same men ridiculed the poor fellow who
lost on the shell game. How, and
why, did these farmers lose this money
that they so much needed to use on
their farms? They lost it by listening
to the alluring stories told in cunningly worded letters and circulars sent
•hem by sharks who by some means
had gotten their post office address.
And why? Because of a desire seemingly in us all to get rich quick. It
is well within the bounds of truth to
say that within the last thirty years,
'his desire has cost the farmers of Putnam county $500,000. Wheat, corn,
lard, hams on the board of trade in
'"nicago and St. _ouis, mines, oil wells,
fruit, truck, grain and timber lands
elsewhere, have been the instrumentali-
'ies through which our hard working,
and often needy farmers have been
separated from their money.
These letters and circulars all tell the
same story with a few variations. They
•mote Cecil Rhodes on mines, and point
'° the riches piled up by the buyers of
shares in the Adams Express Company,
Standard Oil, etc., and woe to the one
"ho answers their advertisements.
rhrough some means unknown to me
""p of these generous fellows got hold
"r my name, and only yesterday I re-
1 his tenth letter urging me to invest before his unparalleled offer was
""hdrawn. "You can't lose, you are
»und to win.    The stock will double in
Sear.      Don't  be  a  worker  all  your
' p-      Invest now and  live on  the In-
cr>me from your investment, etc., etc."
il if our speculating friends would
^ <• little thinking they would see the
nfr"urditv of 'hese apparently tempting
,e.rs There are millions of capital
T K,ng safe investment in this country.
whj8 ls Proven by the rapidity with
cn- our Government Bonds are sub
scribed for, whenever they are offered;
though bearing only two per cent interest. Now if these schemes were legitimate, and what their promoters say of
them true, these capitalists would buy
them, and the ruralist would never so
much as hear of their existence. I
have said that $500,000 has gone out of
this county for the enrichment of these
never, never try to beat another man at
his own game. It. A. Stockwell.
Putnam Co.
TEXAS   AI.RICL'LTURE.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I am running onto some interesting
facts in an agricultural way. Cotton,
corn, alfalfa and sorgum are extensive-
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At  thf   Cattle  Feeders Convention,   Pur
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aiming to  plant nine acres.
Many of them sow sorgum for stock
feed. It is well known in Indiana as
a rich feed, asd those who have tried
it, there and here, have been well satisfied with the results. Here they sow
it broadcast and let it grow until it
begins to ripen. Then they cut it and
cure it like hay. It forms stalks as
large as a lead pencil; and bears baling. There is nourishment in tha sugar of the stalk and also in the seed.
This is a great country for oats;
many crops having averaged a hundred
bushels to the acre. But the price is
too low to make the crop a profitable
one.
Melons, almost as large as those reported from Asia, are frown here. My
present host, Mr. Alexander Newberry,*
sa.vs he has raised them to weigh 80
pounds; and some have raised them
twenty  pounds  heavier.
They are  up and  growing nicely.
The soil is very sandy. In fact, it
is sand; and the wonder is that it produces good crops, at all.
The sand storm is a very common affair; and instances are many in which
young plants are effectually buried.
Again, a severe wind sometimes blows
the sand off the young plants befnrt*
they develop roots to hold them. This
is especially true of cotton, when planted on the level; so they throw up high
ridges, strike a deep furrow, with a
bull-tongue plow along the crest and
plant the seed at the bottom of the
furrow. Thus they compel the wind to
spare the delicate root.
Fruits succeed well, except cherries
and apples. Peaches, pears, plums and
apricots do w-ell here. Grapes are the
finest. The mustang grape grows wild.
It is as large as our cultured grapes;
very black, round and healthy. It is
sour until  perfectly ripe.
Pecans, the best I ever tasted, grow
wild. They hang in great numbers on
the trees all winter and blow off ln the
spring. Some fall all along through the
winter. Walter  S.  Smith.
Mineral Wells, Texas,  April 4.
Cattle   Feeders   Inspecting   Cattle at Purdue Experiment Station.
swindlers. Other men here in a position to know, say a million would not
cover it. Think of the undrained fields,
unbuilt barns and sheds, and the unfixed fences. Think of the unpedigreed
stock of this county, and the unpedigreed seed corn planted, ; nd the losses
caused thereby. Think of the self denial practiced in some of the families, ln
order to get the money to send to these
monsters in human form, who prey on
the unsuspecting and ignorant. Think
of the hopes engendered only to be
dashed to the ground. Think of the
loss of confidence in their fellows, caused by such methods, and the pitifulness
of it all will be seen. Then is Putnam
county alone in this craze to get rich?
Xo, more's the pity. All the other
counties of not only this state, but of
all the other states are victims.
Paradoxical as it may seem, the losers of this money are better off than if
they had won. Had they won, In four
out of five, the gambling instinct would
have received such an impetus as would
have ended in their ruin both financially and morally. As lt is, the most of
them have learned a lesson the value of
which, is incalculable. It Is this: Never,
ly grown here. I have seen no wheat,
clover or timothy growing. Potatoes
look more forward than anything else
now, unless it might be corn and alfalfa. These both have a rich, healthy
color; and I have not seen a sign of
the Colorado beetle among the potatoes. Their greatest pest is the ant
whirh* destroys whole garden crops. It
even strips some trees of their leaves.
It does not attack potatoes but it ls
very damaging to orchard trees.
I stayed over night with Brother
Bleven _otspiech, a Baptist minister,
who is a successful farmer. He grows
alfalfa and guber peas (pea nuts) for
forage. He says they yield 2 tons (of
dried vines and fruit) per acre. He runs
a baling machine and bales both alfalfa
and peas. Cattle, hogs, sheep and
mules are so fond of this pea nut fodder that they will leave corn to eat it.
I asked him if it did not affect the taste
of milk and butter when fed to the
cows. He answered, "No, it makes
good milk and all the animals fatten on
it. He tried it originally on three acres,
as an experiment. It was so successful that the neighbors are arranging
to go into it on a larger scale.     One is
FARM    NOTES.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Every summer we hear of accidental
poisoning from Paris green or other
deadly mixtures because they ware left
lying carelessly around In old cans
where children or stock could easily get
at the stuff. Often the poisons are
kept in the house in unlabeled containers, and we frequently hear of a case
where some person mistakes a poisonous preparation for some harmless
powder. People are too careless about
these things. Poisonous preparations
are a necessity on every farm, but that
is no reason why some people should
handle them so carelessly. The only
safe plan to follow is to have a place
especially for these mixtures where
children can't get at them. Keep them
under lock and key. And when through
with a box that has contained some
poison put it into the stove Instead of
tossing it into the yard. The stove is
the only safe  place for it.
Drive in some nails or put up hooks
around the barn at convenient places
on which to hang the lantern, when It
is necessary to do some of the chores
by lantern light. By doing this a disastrous fire at some time may be avoided.
The lantern may be responsible for
many barn fires.     If there are no hooks