The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-07-05
Different Things.


To the Editor 81 the indianapolis Journal.
a very important and pertinent problem
is suggested by ]. NJ. c. in the Journal of
June g. in communication on "Agricultu-
raj Science" viz: How to bring our acres
up from a capacity of forty to fifty bushels
to one of seventy to eighty" l have hoped
to see a solution of this problem by some of
our scientists but so far in vain. believe
it is an uneaestioned fact that with all our
improvements in agricultural implements
we have not increased the yield per acre Of
generation ago, when we used the ruder i'm
plements of culture We read and hear now
and then, and have for fifty years. of some
one who has raised one hundred bushels of
corn on a single acre or small patch, but it
is sight that very few persons ever get to
see.
AS J. NJ. c. says, manuring beyond GER
tain degree tends to diminish rather than in
crease the crops, both OF corn and wheat 1t
does not take very heavy manuring with our
farm manures, to I'M ure the wheat crop es-
pecially In the fallsof 1910 | came to Indi-
ana. On the farm which bought piece
of oats had been sown, cut with cradle, and
lay on the ground till in October. We gath
cred it up and threshed it, getting about
hundred bushels of oats The straw, of
course, was about roteen. 1t lay there I'M
disturbed TILL the next spring. When 1
wanted to pillow | burned it ont OF the way.
The corn grew large and cared well where
the little bunch of rotten straw was burned,
but for years it was too rich for wheat, throw
| ing it down and making it too late to fill
| we'll All farmers have had similar expe-
riences. We stack our straw often in the
field where it grows. Sometimes We
feed it down, and sometimes it stands
N lG
burned / stacked the straw one year. that
grew on thirty-acre field. plowed around
| it six years. waiting for it to rot, and then
burned it. For some time the ground would
| not raise any crops Now farmers need to
know If there is phosphate that can be APP
| piled to such places and cause them to pro-
| duce corn and wheat, as we'll as stalks and
| straw, and that can be applied to all our land
so as TO materially increase the crops. /
would, with ]. M c., press this problem
upon our scientific farmers and writer's for
solution. ]. NJ. C.'s statement that there is
no trouble in raising 400 bushels of potatoes
to the acre, needs Q, E d. By the way,
how is it about the theory that clearing up
| the timber all over the country is causing
drouth? Doesn't it need revising?
| Have we not had as much or more rainfall
| in the last five years, all over the country,
| than any other five years in the last thirty?
| When have there been two such wet seasons
in succession as last year and this, or when
| four so wet as the last four2 The truth of
| the theory that destroying the forests causes
dTouth is not being demonstrated. There
have been dry times all along the history of the
world. One in Egypt that lasted seven years,
| which presume destroying the timber had
| little to do with. Another in Palestine, in
the days of Elijah, the prophet, of three
years and six months. And all along, from
that day to this, drouths and floods have sue
| ceeded each other in this and every other
country whose history is known, and seldom
| have the floods been more frequent and de-
| structive than in recent years,
Horace Greeley once said that "drouth is the
| farmers worst enemy" He said some very
| wise things, and some very otherwise. /
| think, from n half century's experience and
| observation, that the poorest crops have been
| raised the wettest seasons--corn especially
| The seasons of 1874 1858 and 1882 we're the
wettest since 1S40 The present season is not
| far behind. In the first two, less corn was
raised than anv other two during that period.
| Corn cannot be raised unless it is tended. In
| dry seasons it can be plowed all sthe time
kept clean and the around loose, afid in that
condition a little rain will make the CROP In
very wet seasons the corn browns, the weeds
| grow, blowing is done in the mud and the
| crop is failure. Too much rain, or too lit
| tie, shortens the crop, but in this region and
| this climate, excessive rains damage the crops
more than excessive drouth. /. NJ G.
NEwTowN, Ind.