The Indianapolis journal., 1902-09-21
TALKS ON LIVE TOPICS
MANY OLD HOMESTEADS OF THIS
CITY DISAPPEARING.
Conaict Between Scientific and Prac-
tical Men-The Training of q
Clever Dog.

1--WE no doubt that it Is but a question
of a short time when all of the old home
steads of Indianapolis will have disap-
peared entirely" said former resident
of Indianapolis who was in the city last
week. Many of the first homes, that
stood the wear and tear of time for so
many years, have either vanished alto
gether of late. in order to make way for
modern structures, or else have undergone
complete transformations so as to be fitted
for other than domestic uses. Just con-
slider the changes that many of the old
homesteads themselves, or the sites of the
old homesteads, have experienced of recent
years. The handsome public library now
stands where one Of the first homes Of
Indianapolis once was situated-the Hous-
ton Talbot home a historic old place which
will go down to posterity the birth
place Of Charles Major, the Indiana novel;
list. The old John Talbot homestead once
stood where the Imperial Hotel has been
erected. The once well-known Browning
home has disappeared entirely, being wiped
out of existence when the viaduct on Vir-
ginia avenue was built. 1t seems strange
to think of that section of town in the
vicinity of the viaduct as a fashionable
residence part of the city, doesn't it?-but
that's what 1t was in the early days.
Here are three transformations that
would startle some of the old pioneers If
they were alive to-day: The old Aquilla
Jones mansion on North Pennsylvania
street. opposite University Park. which
was for so many years the home of the
late postmaster and politician, is now the
headquarters of the Young Women's Chris
tian Association; the Dunlop home on Vir-
ginia avenue, few steps off Washing
ton street, was made over long ago into a
business building, the ground floor being
now converted into restaurant, and the
Drake homestead on South Meridian street,
with i.s extensive grounds, has become a
beer garden. The Manual Training High
School buildings now occupy the ground
where the Nicholas McCarty homestead
stood for many years. and the Shortridge
High School Is situated on the site of the
old Underwood homestead. The Wood
homestead, at the intersection of PennsyI-
vania street and Massachusetts, avenue,
has recently vanished and the K. of p
building has been erected in it's stead.
The Gen. w. ]. Elliott mansion on North
Capitol avenue has become the Katherine
old pioneer homesteads have been trans
formed into fats. sanitariums and doctors
offices that 1 cannot even begin to enumer-
ate them"
Xxx x
Between the scientific man and the So
called practical man there has always
been a great deal of mutual contempt, and
in no department more than In farming
Whatever the average farmer knows, or
thinks he knows, has been learned by hard
and costly experience. and he always has
crushing rejoinder for anybody who may
presume to make suggestions to his infalli-
biity. This conditions of things was illus
trated more than once during the last week
in the agricultural department at the state
fair.
1.-The trouble is" said one countryman
after a heated argument in which he had
come out victorious. that farming, like
teaching. has suffered from the prevalent
notion that anybody who has been a failure
at everything else could at least do that
But the idea is gradually gaining ground
that both of these branches of industry are
not only specialties. but specalties of high
order in which the brightest intelligence
and broadest information may find ample
has been due in the past to lack of brains
But nowadays the same amount OF science
and system is being put into agriculture
that goes into manufactures and commerce
and enterprising young men will soon find
IL unnecessary TO flock from the country to
the city. The Department of Agriculture is
doing splendid work. With the nearly sixty
agricultural experiment stations now or
ganized IL really amounts to a grand uni
versity extension course for the farmers
of the United States. These experiment
stations. mostly departments of universities
and colleges. are so distributed that there
is at least one in every State and Terri
tory. Experiments are going on all of the
time. under the supervision of competent.
scientific men, In the growing of different
crops, the peculiarities of soils and seeds.
the adaptation of fertilizers and every
thing pertaining to agriculture as an exact
science. So far possible the neighboring
farmers are induced TO take part In these
experiments. they furnishing the land and