The patron of husbandry., 1880-04-17
FROM INDIANA 4

y
cling over the State of Indiana BIT and
have mingled with the people considera-
bly,. There is evidently somewhat more
hopeful feeling among the farmers gen
orally, though when the cause for such
feeling is sought, it is seldom that an in
telligent reason is given for opinions ad-
vanced. The truth is, farmers are not
very much in the habit of looking into
the cause of things, and it is only in those
ne ghborhoods where Oranges have been
not only organized, but maintained as a
place for social gathering and the ex-
change and interchange of opinions and
observations and experiences. that you will
often find farmers holding any really in
telligent views upon any matters outside
of their daily round of labor upon the
farms which they till. Nor is it surpris-
ing that it should be SO. 1t is the COM
parison OF experiences and observations
that enables us to arrive at correct iudg-
ment. 1t is the friction of mind upon
mind that incites to thought. A child, no
matter how great his natural abilities, if
shut in darkened room and with dull
companions from infancy to manhood,
would present the spectacle of a mind so
dwarfed by inactivity as to appear idiotic.
What then can we expect Of farmers
who never meet with their fellows for the
discussion of any subject, but who spend
their lives in the darkened loom of their
own uncultivated intellects?
Times are getting BETTER" says A.
1--WE are just entering upon an era of
prosperity"
s'What leads you to think sof" we ask,
and the reply is:
"Oh, | don't know, only we generally
have pretty good times once in while,
and | guess they'll be coming along now
pretty soon. We've had bad times long
enough sure. IF We could get fair prices
for our farm products for a few years we'd
be all right again"
sDo you know, Mr.. A, that the railroad
that transported your surplus wheat to the
seaboard, calculated how much of your
crop it would take to pay the interest
upon the mortgage upon your farm, and
then raised the rate of freight upon wheat
SO as to leave you just enough of the pro-
ducts of your years labor to pay that in
terest and no more?"
"Well, it does look little like it, own,
but it can't be helped as / know on. The
only thing to do, is to keep out of debt in
tl,n future. / gness: do business .scash. !" as
you Grangers talk about. and then you
won't have no interest to pay"
'sBut the banks are allowed to issue the
money, and they won't loan it out with
out they get interest on it, and we can't do
business without money, and can't get
money without paying interest, how are
we to do business cash?"
ssWell, now 1 don't know. I amt no
Granger, nor no financier, nor nothin. |
Just raises my wheat and sells it for the
best price Kin get, and | can't take time
to study out all these questions of finance
and railroad monopoles, and such things.
Just as you say, ] can't more'n keep up
the interest on my farm now, and work
night and day most, and ha'n't got no
| time for studyin' these questions
And so the great mass Of farmers live
on, drained from year to year of their earn
| ings by usury and monopoly in a hundred
forms, working day and night most, and
| allowed to retain only such portions of the
fruits of their labors as will keep them in
good working condition just as they will
| keep their horses and oxen, and for the
same purpose-that they may work for
| their masters.
Wheat throughout Indiana looks well,
as a general thing. Some pieces, and
some localities, were badly damaged by
',e drouth last fall and few have been in-
t.. sv the winter, but I think the pros
jured :. average crop good.
poets tor an ~ looks well, the large
Stock generai4 wears growth, to
stacks of straw of last -. have given
be seen on almost every fal. to many
both shelter and change OF too. ~~ise
little punches of cattle that other..
would have been forced to lay in open
fields and muddy yards.
Whether there is a great amount of
nutriment in straw or not, l have frequent
ly noticed that cattle fed hay night and
morning and having the run to a straw
stack, would come through in better flesh
than cattle fed hay three times daily, but
without the straw stack. The opportunity
of picking about a straw stack, and of
summing themselves about it during the
occasional sunny days of winter keep cat
tie contented and quiet and consequently
conduces to the laying on or retaining of
! flesh perhaps nearly as much as the actual
nutriment contained in the straw eaten
| Then, again, the open winter has preven-
| ted cattle from suffering as much as usual
from lack of water.
Taken all in all, Judge there will not
! be many hides for sale by farmers in In
diana this spring, except where occasion.
| ally some one gets careless and lets straw
stack be eaten into until it falls onto and
smothers few yearfings or calves. .
BY the way, had you noticed that Mr.
Vanderbilt has lately purchased anothet
five and a half millions of Government
Ebonds That makes $3I, 100000 in Gov
/ eruinent Tegistered bonds which Mr.Van
lderbilt has. He robbed the people of ev
sIery dollar Of those bonds, and is using tn
Interest which they pay him upon them t.
buy uD their Representatives IN Congress
t-r. C. Posg ia Grange Bulletin. -.
4 P. S-$s, 100000 would-b buy one mil
l1ion calves 1t z$5..5o per head. II . ma
] sfeais one calf he goestoja !. aIf he steal
4 Zone million calves the peoI leare too cow
ardly to punish him. az -