Bountiful Crops In Indiana

Franklin (Iud.) Democrat, July 27, 1894. This year will be memorable for its great harvests. The yield of wheat in Indiana will probably exceed that of any former year. Just at this time it is especially inviting for one 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 Cornelius Ditmars, whose erop of fifty-five acres averaged 37 bushels per acre, this being no exceptional yield in the county this year. Improvements in farm machinery have been varied and rapid but none more forcibly impresses one than scène here witnessed. There were no men on the straw stack and yet there had arisen a high, well rounded stack of straw, more perfect in outline than could be made by hand. Ten tearrs 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 in one day than by the old method, but gave better satisfaction to farmers. This statement was corroborated by every one with whom we conversed. 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 brieft1 y 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. One man had been offered two. cents per bushei less for threshing by the old method but refused, saying he preferred a Farmers' Friend even at two cents a bushei 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 Manufaturing Company. All the leading separator manufacturers now use it. The stacker is aptly named "The Farmers' Friend." It is without question a wonderful invention and we speak of it because of its practical value and worth.