1SG7.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
:i~ 
3fotes on Fai-ming* lei Eflstliuita,. — 
We have heard much of the dairies of the "Western Re- 
serve of Ohio, of the blue grass pastures of Kentucky, of 
the boundless prairies of Illinois, and its seas of 
Indian corn, but whoever heard of anything remark- 
able in the agricultural line in the State of 
Indiana? That there were farms there, tilled by 
thinking people, our large list of subscribers testified; 
but beyond this we looked upon the State as a sort of 
terra incognita, that needed exploring. Approaching In- 
dianapolis, the capital of the State, by rail, from Colum- 
bus, Ohio, our first impressions were of a new level coun- 
try, half subdued and imperfectly tilled, yet everywhere 
giving evidence of the overflowing riches of its soil. 
Along the line of the road, one is rarely out of si^ht of 
broken forests, dead trees and stumps, luxuriant meadows 
burdened with grass, oats, and corn. The breadth of wheat 
sown is less than in former years, but is everywhere good, 
and the yield is considered satisfactory, though but about 
one half what better husbandry would give. The weather 
has been everything that the farmers could desire during 
the wheat harvest, clear and sunny, and there will pro- 
bably be very little sprouted or unsound wheat in the 
market this year. 
Indianapolis. — We rubbed our eyes as we stepped out 
of the depot amid a bustling population of 40,000, into 
wide streets, with great warehouses and imposing public 
buildings. This is the railroad center of the State, and 
here seven lines daily discharge their passengers and 
freight. The city has grown quite rapidly in population 
and wealth during the war, and the thousands that the 
necessities of the war brought hither seem still to 
linger: It Is a large market town for agricultural produce, 
and grain is shipped in large quantities, in favorable sea- 
sons, to various poiuts East and South. A railway con- 
nects it with Michigan City, upon the lake, and with 
Jeffersonuille, upon the Ohio river, nearly opposite 
Louisville. We found old corn selling at 63 cents a bushel 
upon the cob, reckoning 68 pounds to the bushel ; and 
new wheat at $2 a bushel. A farmer's wagon, loaded 
with wheat, is said to be quite a novel sight in the streets, 
the last two years having given very poor crops of this 
grain. The farmers are thrashing the wheat as fast as 
possible, eager to realize good prices while they can. 
The expectation is general that wheat will be lower as 
soon as the harvest is gathered. 
The State Agricultural Societt has its headquar- 
ters here in the State House, and is much ahead of the 
State authorities in its enterprise. It issued several in- 
teresting volumes of transactions previous to the war, re- 
ceiving appropriations from the State to foot the bills. 
These were widely distributed through the State, and did 
much to quicken the zeal of the people in agricultural 
improvement. When the war broke out, this appropria- 
tion was withheld in a spasm of very short-sighted econ- 
omy, and no volume has been published since that of 
1S50 and 1S60. One has been authorized for the present 
year. The State Society owns thirty-six acres of land in 
the suburbs of the city, which has been fitted up as a fair 
ground. Buildings were put up, and about $1)000 were 
expended upon them last year. They have a like sum on 
hand, and are making preparations for a State Fair at 
Tcrre ITaute, in September. There are ninety-two conn- 
ties in the State, of which fifty-three have organized soci- 
eties. Twenty-two were discontinued during the war. 
Farm op F. M. Churchman.— This gentleman is a 
hanker in the city, and resorts to farming in the suburbs, 
for recreation and health. He has about 200 acres, 
threaded by a brook, which is a pleasant feature in any 
farm, and much more so here, where clear streams are 
not abundant. The home is a neat white cottage, about 
twenty feet above the water. The bank furnishes a liv- 
ing spring, which has been utilized for a milk-house, and 
to supply in part a fish pond in the valley below. This 
valley is shaded with magnificent trees, which have been 
left from the primitive forest. We found here under the 
Sugar Maples and Burr Oaks, well bred Devons from the 
herd of E. Failc, of Westchester Co., X. Y. Cotswold 
sheep from the flock of Mr. Loomis. of Hartford, Conn. 
Chester White pigs and Brahma fowls. 
This Improved Stock flourishes at the West, and is not 
likely to lose any of its good points under the supervision 
of the present owner. The only danger is that the Devons 
may become too fat for breeding in the very abundant food 
which the Indiana lauds furnish. The Shorthorns usu- 
ally attain their best development in the adjoining State 
of Kentucky, and the beef families of this breed are prob- 
ably the most profitable for Indiana farmers. The Cots- 
wold and Chester Whites are at home here, and the soil 
nud climate, with good breeding, will unquestionably per- 
petuate their best points. Improved stock of all kinds 
is very much needed in the State. The want is generally 
felt among intelligent farmers, and there is a disposition 
to invest in this line of improvement. Mr. Churchman 
has made a good beginning. We noticed with great in- 
terest the commencement of UU draining upon this farm 
—an improvement more needed in this State than almost 
anything else. The drains were put down about three 
feet, and were working well. Though there is very little 
swamp land in this State, there are millions of acres of 
heavy clay loams, that can never be made to yield more 
than half a crop until they are drained. They have a com- 
pact soil, and cannot be worked in the spring on account 
of water. Fortunately the material for making tile is 
very widely distributed, and the coal and wood for burn- 
ing them is abundant. One of the best enterprises that 
could be started in the suburbs of this city would be a 
manufactory of tile. The transforming power of good 
drainage is so wonderful, and the remuneration is so 
large, that a few examples would set the whole region in 
a blaze of excitement upon this subject. We expect to 
hear of forty bushels of winter wheat to the acre, and one 
hundred bushels of corn upon clay loams, when this im- 
provement is generally introduced. 
Steam Thrashers are a prominent feature in Western 
husbandry. The horse thrashers are still in use, but are 
as certainly doomed as the scythe or the hand rake. They 
are altogether too slow for this age. The steam thrasher 
is mounted npon wheels, and is drawn by horses from 
place to place, as it is wanted. It costs about $1700, with 
all the apparatus necessary for running. The power may 
also be used for chaffing straw, hay, and corn stalks, for 
sawing wood, and other purposes. It takes fourteen hands 
to work it, where the wheat is brought in from the 
shocks, and it will clean, ready for market, 500 bushels of 
wheat in a day. The price of thrashing is eight cents a 
bushel. Wheat straw is sold in town for §10 a ton for paper 
making and for bedding, and forms an important item in 
the farmer's profits. The great advantage of the steam 
thrasher is that it puts the wheat harvest so much into the 
power of the farmer. As a rule, wheat stands in the shock 
until it is thrashed, and the first good weather is availed 
of to clean the crop, and send it to market. As yet, 
there is no adequate provision made for storing wheat 
in first bauds, and this is one great disadvantage that the 
producer must labor under until he secures better barns. 
He cannot hold on to his wheat for a rise, unless he keeps 
it in stack, and there it is exposed somewhat to the 
weather, and still more to the depredations of rats and 
mice. Tens of thousands of bushels of this precious grain 
are lost almost every year by sprouting and moulding. 
The White River Bottoms are a splendid corn re- 
gion, and the sun shines upon no richer land. We saw a 
single field of three hundred acres, where we were in- 
formed corn had been planted from the first settlement of 
the country, and the yield was still from sixty to one hun- 
dred bushels per acre, in good years. The land is an- 
nually overflowed, and needs no other fertilizer than the 
deposit of the river. This is the general experience 
upon all the bottom lands of the White and Wabash 
rivers and their tributaries that are subject to overflow. 
When the great length of these rivers and the breadth 
of their bottoms is recalled, we have some conception 
of the vast extent of the corn lands of the State, which 
must be inexhaustible while water rims. 
Wotes on JFsai'BfiiaBa;™" 5gh tEae (nrain 
Districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 
—Traveling toward Eastou, through Morris and Warren 
Counties, New Jersey, one of the first things that strikes 
the eastern farmer, is the greatly increased size of .the Jidda. 
The one and two acre lots so common in his observation, 
have expanded to ten and twenty acres, and thirty and 
forty acres arc not uncommon. Farming is manifestly 
pursued upon a much larger scale. There is a clean sweep 
for the sulky cultivators and harrows among the corn, 
and for the reapers and mowers among the grain and 
grass. In some cases the fields have always been upon 
this generous scale, iu others, the stone walls and hedges 
have been removed, in order to enlarge them. We 
found one farmer who had just cleaned out the old 
fences, and made several smaller fields into one of 
GO acres. Very little time will be lost in turning round 
at the ends of the rows, and little corn trampled in 
cultivation. Another noticeable feature of the forming 
here is the much larger proportion of plowed latul. From a 
fourth to one-half of the land is kept in grain. On one farm 
we saw 80 acres in corn, 23 in wheat, and as much more 
in oats. On another 300-acrc farm, we found SO in wheat, 
50 in corn, and 30 in oats. Grain fields of from 20 to 50 
acres arc common. Probably not less than a fourth part 
of all the cleared lands in the valley of the Susquehanna 
is in these three grains, the present season. 
The Valley of tub Lehigh, which wo enteral Easton, 
is one of the richest in the State. The soil is fertile, and 
is well cultivated at the lower part, with the usual -rain 
crop. Eye stands side by side with the winter wheat, 
and is nearly as extensively cultivated. The soil 
is full of limestone and irou ore, and the coal 
is near at hand. The loading business in the 
villages below Maunch Chunk is the smelling of 
iron ore, and the manufacturing of the metal. The 
foundries and rolling mills support a large population, 
and one is hardly over out of sight of the smoke stacks of 
these institutions. TVe were surprised to see the extent 
and thrift of these iron cities and villages. By giving 
variety to the industry of the region, they are a great ad- 
vantage to its agriculture. Almost everything that can 
be raised upon the adjacent farms finds a ready market 
at good prices in these villages. At Maunch. Chunk, the 
coal mines first begin to disgorge their contents, and a 
new industry absorbs the whole attention. The mines are 
several miles back from the river, and the coal is brought 
by rail to the top of the bluff at a very moderate grade, 
whence it is either discharged into a shoot that conducts 
it into canal boats, or sent down in cars by a wire rope 
attached to a windlass, the loaded cars drawing up the 
empty ones. All the Lehigh coal mines in this basin 
send their freights to market down this valley, either 
by rail or by canal. Above the coal district there 
is an extensive lumber region, and vast quantities of 
peeled hemlock logs are seen in the ponds, made by 
damming the river. There are vast tracts of forest above 
White Haven, with very few clearings, poor, rough land, 
that will probably pay better to grow timber for genera- 
tions to come than for any other purpose. Two rival rail- 
roads have found their way through this wild region to the 
Wyoming Valley, for the traffic of which both are 
straggling. Much has been said and sung of this charm- 
ing valley, but, with all this in mind, we were not pre- 
pared for the vision of beauty that burst upon us as we 
emerged from the wilderness on the crest of the moun- 
tain, some twelve hundred feet above. One gets glimpses 
of it through the rifts in the forest all the way down until 
the depot at Wilkesbarre, on the banks of the Susque- 
hanna, is reached. Coal of an excellent quality underlies 
the whole region for a distance of forty-four miles long, 
by about three in width, and by its superior value has 
spoiled one of the finest farming districts in the State. 
Unimproved coal lands are worth from $300 to $500 an 
acre for mining purposes, and have been bought up ex- 
tensively by companies, who care very little for the sur- 
face of the soil. It is estimated that not one-fourth of the 
laud is tilled by people who own it. It is very geuerally 
leased, and the tenant looks for present profit without 
much regard to the future of the soil. In some parts of 
the valley, where the land has been bought up on specu- 
lation, the farmhouses are abandoned and the fences are 
broken down. Mining also works to the disadvantage of 
the farmer in enhancing the price of labor. During the 
war, skillful miners were making from $3 to $10 a day, 
aud even now they make $3, working about nine hours. 
Those who work with them to break up the coal, and load 
it into the cars, make about $1.75 per day, which is too 
high for fanning. Of course, it is somewhat difficult to 
get labor, and agriculture has to give place to mining. 
But notwithstanding these drawbacks, there is some 
good husbandry in the valley. The bottom lands of the 
river are very productive, and though overflowed in the 
freshets almost every year, arc frequently sown with 
winter graiu. There is a County Agricultural Society 
organized in the valley, which has its exhibition 
grounds, and holds an annual fair at Wyoming. 
Our Exhibitions of Poultry. 
The only poultry shows that we have, so far 
as we are aware, in this country, are held in 
connection with, and as part of our Stale and 
County Agricultural Fairs, with the single ex- 
ception of those of the Woicesler Co. (Mass.,) 
Poultry Club. At these fairs, fowls, geese, tur- 
keys, ducks, and fancy poultry, pigeons, etc., arc 
arranged in the utmost disregard of order, 
except so far as to group the coops and cages 
of each exhibitor by themselves. One would 
suppose that for his own convenience, and to 
show off his birds to the best advantage, an ex- 
hibitor would have his coops made nearly alike, 
and of one or two definite sizes, but we often 
find every imaginable form of box, coop, and 
cage, some neat and convenient, others dirty and 
inconvenient ; though some exhibitors do better. 
The judges are, no doubt, selected conscien- 
tiously by the managing officers, bul as they fre- 
quently know little or nothing of Ibe points of 
excellence in fancy poultry, they * n- in judg- 
ment, make poor awards, ami help to establish 
false notions about fchedifferenl breeds, to poor 
specimens of which they give value by award- 
in- high .and entirely unmerited premiums. 
The American Poultry Society begins its ca- 
reer by announcing it- intention to do what it 
