The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-01-02
FARMERS INSTITUTE.
A LszA Attendance and Profitable
fzyfussions by Experienced
Farmers.

ldIiltIS OF the County, Dul liiOlC thdh
a thousand farmers who very much
need the instruction given at these
Institutes, were not present; they
never attend Institutes.
After the invocation by Rev. ]. G.
Smith. the regular work of the insfi-
tute was taken UP and E. c. Martin
dale of Hancock county, gave his
opinion of "Good Pasture and how
to produce pasture that will pay the
farmer. The subject was ably dis
cussed by farmers present.
The first subject in the afternoon
was Wheat Raising by K. l..
Thompson OF Lagrange county. He
advocated early sowing, thorough
preparation of the soil, thought that
wheat should be narrowed in the
spring and believed that barn yard
fertilizers should be applied before
sowing and plowed under. Frank
Sundown" otherwise known as Jim
Miller" of Walnut township opened
the discussion in reply to Mr..
Thompson and in his inimItable way
presented many excellent ideas Mr..
Miller has been a school teacher, edi-
tor, newspaper reporter, roller drill
salesman and is now practical farm
er. and generally knows whaI he is
talking about.
He says wheat raising does not
pay but it has to be raised for a
ro:at:on of crops and should be given
proper care and attention. He agreed
with most of the statements made by
Mr. Thompson and showed that by
using good seed, good manures and
proper culture wheat crops can be
made reasonably profitable, but not
SO profitable as corn and some other
crops.
AT the close of this discussion Mr..
Martindale presented the subject OF
Agricultural Education He held
that education in farming was just
as necessary as any other business
and gave many reasons for his opin-
ION.
E. c. Berg of Bremen, opered the
discussion on this subject
Ii was followed by the discussion
of Weeds on the Farm, subject il,
which every farmer is interested
C. w. Newman president of the
farmers institute raped for order
at $40 Friday forenoon and r. L.
Thompson, of LAGRANGE county, be-
gan his talk on Success and Fail
ure in Hog Raising"
M Thompson is not an extensive
but tries to be practical and to pre-
sent practical ideas in his institute
talks, and he had as fine an audience
of practical farmers Friday morning
as any man ever talked to.
He said the farmer should choose
taaf breed of hogs that he liked bes
and give them the very best of care
He preferred Chester Whites crossed
with the Essex, but he would never
60 further than one cross He sale
he could get more pigs from Ches
ter White sows than any others anC
at seven months old they woulC
weigh from 225 TO $50 pounds each
He said they were not as pretty a:
Poland China or Berkhsire hogs anC
that an admirer of those hogs nigh
get as good results by crossing Ches
ter Whites with Poland -Chinas o.
BerkshireS
He thought sows should not b.
led much corn for a few days pre-
viods and a few days after narrowing
and the pigs must have good care
they made good heavy hogs in six o
seven months Pigs that come il
March or April do not need SO mucl
care as autumn pigs which must b
properly housed and fed during TIL
frst cold days OF winter If they ar
to h. fed and sold at a profit in TIL
spring
He said pigs should not be fed to,
much until they we're three or fou
months old. because they would ge
too fat and not have bone enough +
make good hogs He explained til
balanced ration of corn, milk, grass
sorghum and other things, but sai
every farmer should watch tn
growth and condition of mis- hog
and feed them accordingly. He spok
of hog cholera and believed that
was easier to prevent it than to cur
it, Coal and wood ashes, sulphu
and some other articles were recon-
mended to mix with the feed occa
sionally to keep off disease, but with
out cleanliness none OF these. woul
prevent the swine plague.
In the discussion that followed, A
w Dolph, Jacob Myers, VIM. o
Keefe, Myron Chase, Warren Nc
Farlin, J. A. Miller and many other
made valuable suggestions.
c. s. Southwick of Noble count,
presented the subject of Commerce;
Fertilizers 1t was an excellent tall
lie contended that nitrogen, pho:
phoric acid and potash were take
from almost all soils by successiv
crops faster than they coul be SUP
Piled by the manures and fertilizer
produced on the farm, consequent
Il was best TO use some commercis
fertilizers on almost all farms i
northern Indiana to prevent their ds
terioraion and condition like tina
found in some sections of souther
Indiana and rhe eastern states.
He explained the percentage of N
trogen, phosphorus and potash foun
I'm f1e various fertilizers the ruethO