The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1899-10-13


tainly takes the lead. Instead of
depending on corn, wheat, rye and
the manifold stand bys, a great
many farmers III Indiana are de-
voting their time and energy to
raising other products, such as
skunks, weasles, rabbits, frogs, GIN
seng, tom-cats and noxious weeds.
Indiana has six large skunk farms,
and the industry is becoming SO ex-
tensive that recently trust has
been formed The pelts are very
valuable, bringing from 81. % to W
apiece, according TO the quality.
The skunk farmers are now raising
the brutes by the thousand. The
young are pretty and do not de-
mand much care and are cheaply
maintained, and easily placed on
the market, and are profitable.
4 At New Harmony, Posey county,
there is a large family Of Angora
cats. Herman Eular of that city is
genuine farmer ard tom cat job
Der who has made fortune in the
handling of this breed of cats. He
has sold over three thousand cats
in the past year, and they ali find
their way to the stores OF John
Wanamaker. He has sold some as
high as $50 and none for less than
S25. 1t will readily be seen that
cats at SO apiece will make a
man more money than any OF the
many cereals raised on the farm.
There is only one leech farm in
Indiana and that is probably the
only one in the whole country. The
industry is carried on in moss-filled
vats. The breeding leeches were
shipped from Germany some years
ago and all of the product is thor
oughbred. The lcech market Is
nothing compared with what it for
merly was, when physicians pre-
sciibed an application of leeches for
everything, f.om cold feet to a rag
ing fever. Still there is a good DC
mand for them and they bring a
fancy price. They get plenty OF
food and will keep for an indefinite
time.
There are four large rabbit farms
in Indiana. The largest one is To-
Gated at Wabash and covers sixty
acres. The company is headed by
Nathan Meyer, and is known as the
Wabash Belgian hare breeding and
importing company. The company
expects to raise 1000, 900 hares this
year. The bunnies are fed on hay
and they consume about $50 pounds
of green prass day. Their pelts
are in great demand and the meat
is edible. Moreover, they sell as
pets. From their hair the finest
crush hats are made. Hares are
easily handled and are much more
preferable tnan skunks, and there is
no danger of an "off" year.
Eor many years the farmers
thought peppermint weeds obnox-
ious and grubbed them out. To-
day there are three big peppermint
farms in Indiana. The largest is
located in St. JOSE ph county, and is
owned by Mark Beeger. Another
is on the Michigan Indiana line and
is owned by some Poles, and the
other is in Lake county. Its uses
are numerous, but the greatest de-
mand comes from the manufacturers
of print fabrics, who use it to make
the coors more solid. The success
ful peppermint farmer can make
from $75 to $50 an acre from his
land.
The most freakish line Of freak
farming is the new wrinkle in fat
tening the watermelon. Here where
they are raised by the thousands
the farmers steal march on Dame
Nature and fatten their pork. They
do it by performing surgical oper-
alton on the stem, inserting a cotton
fuse, which is passed through the
cork Of bottle Of sugar. sweetened
water.-Ex.
&~a1,nt cnr,a