Bountiful Crops In Indiana

THs year will be memorable for its great harvests. The yield of wheat in Indiana will probaby exceed that of any former year. Just at this time it is especially inviting for ene to drive into the country and visit some of the threshers at work. We had the pleasure, one day this week, of witnessing five machines in operation. The first was John Baker's outfit on the farm of Cornelias Ditmars, whose erop of fifty-five acres averaged 37 bushels per acre, this being no exceptional yield in the county this year. Itnproveuieiits in tarm machinery have bee-.i varied and rapid but none more for'cibly itnpresses one than the scène here witnessed. There were no men on the straw stack and yet there had arisen a high, well rounded stack ot straw, more perfect in outline than could be made by hand. Ten teams were kept busy bringing the wheat to the machine and the "Farmer's Friend Stacker" was stacking the straw. We were told by Mr. Baker that the stacker was doing its work perfectly and enabled him not only to do more work ia one day than by the old method, but gave better satisfaction to farmers. This statement was corroborated by every one with whom we converssd. Passing on one mile further we came across George Banta's outfit. This is his fourth season. and with each recurring year he finds the stacker more popular. Here it has been fully tested and the points of superiority demonstrated may be briefly summarized as follows: More work can be accomplished in one day; fewer settings of the machine are required; straw is stacked more evenly than by hand and turns water better; fewer hands are required and the labor diminished not only for the farmer but his wife as well; chaff and dust are entirely removed by the blower; the expense of threshing has been greatly diminished. Une man had been oftered two cents per bushel less for threshing by the oíd raethod, but refused, sayíng he preferred a Farmers' Friend even at two cents a bushel more for threshing. The stacker, we are glad to know, is the product of a Hoosier brain, the patentee being James Buchanan, of Indianapolis, where it is manufactured by the Indiana Manufacturing Company. All the leading separator manufacturers now use it. The stacker is aptly named "The Farmer's Friend." It is without question a wonderful invention, and we speak of it because of its