Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1886 — INDIANA MATTERS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA MATTERS.

The Outlook tdr Crops in Indiana and Ohio Purdue Agricultural and Mechanical; School—Telephone aud Minor lfe*r« Notes. —The Indiana Farmer last week published its first monthly crop report tor the season of 1886, embracing the most relia- • Die information to be obtained, gathered from correspondents in every county in Indiana and Ohio. While March weather is usually the most unfavorable to the wheat plant, the month this season was not specially severe. However, the season ttp to the present date has been backward. While the plant, nnder a few favorable days of sun and showers, began to look green and grow, the last days of March of April have been cold, and growth has been checked, though, no damage is reported. In Indiana the per cent, of average in area is 94, and the condition 91, while last year at the same, date the area was 83 and the condition 68. The per cent, of average in Ohio is 96, and condition 92, against 92 per cent, in area and 78 in condition lost year. Last year there were but fourteen counties in Indiana which reported a full average area, and bnt ten counties which reported the condition of the plant -at 100 per cent. This year forty-nine counties of the State report 100 for area, and twenty-eight counties 100 on condition. The reports from Ohio stand about relatively the some in these respects as Indiana, which show the condition of the wheat plant much better than at the same date last year in these States. The following is a summary of the averages on the different crops in these two States; _ - - g. er Chops. g ? ? Wheat, percent, of crop town 94 9fi Wheat-,c0nditi0n................ 91 92 Clover, condition.. 85 84 Timothy, condition 93 91 Apple buds, alive... 88 85 Peach buds, per cent, a1ive.............. 70 67 Bye, condition, .ri.................... 90 88 Barley, condition 93 95 Horses, condition 98 96 Cattle, condition 97 98 Hogs, condition 93 90 Sheep, .condition 93 89 In both States the condition of live stock is reported , high, showing generally freedom from disease, and good winter management. —A writer in an article upon Pordoe University, at Lafayette, in the Indianapolis Journal says: It is nearly a quarter of a century now since the experiment of an Experimental Agricultural and Mechanical College was projected by liberal donation from Congress. All the States were treated alike, and all started out in the dark, experimenting on the untried. It need not seem strange that, in most cases, tllere were blunders. In every case there were It is enough to say that, after years of discussions in the Legislature, our experiment has worked as well as any, if not better, but it is yet in the experimental stage. It has already lopped off Greek and Latin from the curriculum, and greatly enlarged the field of its investigations in agriculture. It is not now experimenting in fancy cattle and scientific butter, but is giving more attention to testing the value of new varieties of grains and fruits than ever. And in doing this it has wisely extended its field of observation beyond its own acres. Some dozen or more stations in different parts of the State are now in successful operation, and they will be increased as the men to conduct them are found. This promises to be a most advantageous and profitable feature of the gricultural department m the future. At no distant day the co-operation of the State Board 4)f Agriculture will be secured in this work, and systematic experiment in tb« methods of cultivation and the varieties of grains and vegetables will be made in every couuty, and their results will . constitnte - a fund of knowledge that wiil be valuable. Let us not be impatient. The whole thing is an experiment, and it is moving along under the versatile and energetic management of Dr. Smart to a grand consummation. —A correspondent writes from Pern: “Developments in the Concher assignment show that he failed for at least $150,000. Concher ran elevators at Denver, Miami, Bennett s, Bunker Hill, and Pern, and a general store at Miami. He enjoyed the unlimited confidence of farmers and business men, and borrowed, it is said, many thousand dollars without security. It is alleged that he transferred a lot of property and borrowetfmoneyTh amounts f: om S3OO to $4,000. besides selling over 200,000. bushels of grain, before he left, as is now known, for Canada.” —George W. Ranck, who was shot by bis brother, Jefferson Ranck, over the disputed right to the crop on a field belonging to the estate of their father, a very rich man of Wayne. Cointv, whoso heirs have fceen in yery expensive litigation since his death, has brought a'civil action to recover damage* in the sum of $3,009, a criminal action having already been disposed of. —The Citizens’ Telephone Company, of Terre Haute, has been incorporated under the laws of the fciiate. The capital stock is S2fSjOOO, and-M divided Between Andrew J. Crawford, Andrew Grimes, and Joseph H. Briggs, who propose to furnish telephone service to the citizens of Terre Haute, now that the Central Union is about to close its exchange there, —Samuel Pense, a prominent grain dealer of Anderson, has sued Hon. W. C. Fleming, editor of tho Review-Democrat, of that place, for libel, in charging that Pense attempted to blackmail B. B. Campbell, his partner. The - case will come up at the June term of the Circuit Court. —The M. E. congregation of Rushvillo has sold its old property and will build a larger and more commodious bouse. It bus been peculiarly fortunate of (ftte years in being provided with good pastors, and consequently is in a flourishing condition. —lt is again asserted that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroid Company will commence double tracking their roa.l from Auburn Junction to Chicago this summer. —John Gregg, 12 years el 1, in Irving to jump on a freight train at Knightsville, w g ran over, and both legs were cut off. He will also lose his right hand. .