USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume I > Part 23
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SCHOOL WORK.
The work in agriculture being new to the teachers, as well as the pupils of the public schools of this county, much time has been devoted to assisting them.
Two talks were given by myself at the Teachers' County Institute in August. All the township institutes were visited at least once during the winter and some of them twice.
At these meetings the work for the month was taken up and discussed, and the teachers given an opportunity to ask questions pertaining to the work in agriculture.
In addition to this, nearly all the rural schools of the county were visited and a short talk given on the agricultural work immediately before the pupils, or on any subject that the teacher was not able to make clear to the class.
Milk testing demonstrations and weed seed identification work was done before the school.
Each month a bulletin was issued to the rural teachers. This bulletin contained an outline of topics for the month.
Teachers and pupils were encouraged to attend orchard demonstra- tions, seed corn meetings and the farmers' short course.
The schools assisted in seed corn germination week, March 2-7, 1914, whenever conditions permitted them to do so.
FARMERS' CLUBS.
There are four active farmers' clubs in the county that hold regular meetings at periods from two to four weeks. Each club has its officers, and programs are arranged, usually, several weeks in advance. The meet- ings are held at rural school buildings, and the teachers were of very material
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aid in assisting in the organization of the clubs. The membership ranged from 50 to 200. The locations of the clubs are as follows :
Walnut Grove-Sugar Creek township.
District No. 10 -- Jefferson township.
District No. 5-Eagle township.
District No. 6-Marion township.
Twice each, during the winter months, R. W. Imel was on the program at these places, either for a talk on some practical farm topic or for an illu- strated lecture.
FARMERS' SHORT COURSE.
The Purdne Traveling Short Course was with us for three days, December 15, 16 and 17. At this course, practical lectures and demonstra- ' tions were given on nearly every phase of farm life. The work was given by eight members of the Extension Department of Purdue. They had with them a carload of live stock and equipment for demonstration purposes. The attendance for the course was approximately 500 and interest very good.
SUMMARY.
Office work has constituted no small portion of the year's work. Each morning until nine o'clock and all day Saturday have been devoted to office work. In addition to this, other time has been used as needed.
The calls that have come to the office have been along almost every line of farm work. The following are some representative topics: Setting of orchard trees, pruning and spraying of trees for various insect and plant diseases; fertilizers for wheat, corn and alfalfa; all the different steps in securing a stand of alfalfa and caring for same after getting it; testing soil for acidity, adaptability of soil for certain crops; culture of soy beans and cow peas; where to obtain innoculating bacteria for different legumes; feed- ing of all classes of live stock, balanced rations, comparative value of feeds ; use of concentrates, value of milk testing; breeds and breeding; vaccination of hogs, diseases of different kinds of live stock; analysis and value of fer- tilizers, home mixing of fertilizers; farm management problems, markets.
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Farm visits were to take up such of the problems as could not readily be taken up at the office.
Meetings have been held throughout the year to discuss seasonable topics. Some of these are as follows: "Seed Corn Selection and Storage," "Prun- ing and Spraying of Orchards," "Cholera Prevention." "Alfalfa Growing," "Milk Testing," "Care and Management of Brood Sow," "Care and Man- agement of Brood Mare," "Feeding of Dairy Cow," "Illustrated Lecture on Live Stock," "Corn Cultivation," "Use of Phosphate," "Co-operation Buy- ing of Fertilizers," "Organizing a Cow Testing Unit," "Catch Crops," "Ag- riculture in the Schools," "Culture in Agriculture."
These meetings have had fair attendance throughout the year and in- terest always good. Just how much good results from these meetings it is difficult to estimate, but some evidence is seen, that ideas gained at all of them is being practiced.
The following is a tabulation of that part of the work that can be re- duced to figures :
Number of meetings held 165
Number in attendance 8997
Number of farm visits 294
Number of office calls 691
Number of miles traveled 4998
Respectfully submitted,
County Agent, Boone County, Indiana.
July 23, 1914.
DRAINAGE OF INDIANA.
Almost every one that is able to tell the right hand from the left knows that water runs down hill. There is no need of asking some one to tell you where the high points in Indiana are, and where the lowest are, for if you know the location of the streams you know that the source of the stream is the high point; and that its mouth or where the water empties is the lowest point along its course. The principal river of the state is the Wabash, which drains, with its tributaries, fully two-thirds of the area of the state. It rises in Mercer county, Ohio, flows west to the state line, passing between Ran-
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dolph and Adams counties, thence north and northwest through Wells and Noble to Wabash counties; thence west bearing south through Wabash, Miami, Cass, Carroll and Tippecanoe counties ; between Fountain and War- ren to the northeast of Vermilion counties ; thence south between Vermilion and Parke, through Vigo towards the southwest to the meridian of Vincennes ; thence forming the boundary line between Illinois and Sullivan, Knox, Gibson and Posey counties to the Ohio river a distance of 400 miles. It is a sluggish river, falling about 18 inches per mile from its source in Mercer county, Ohio, to its mouth. Tippecanoe and Eel rivers are its principal tribu- taries from the north. Tippecanoe rises in Tippecanoe lake in Kosciusko county, Eel rises in Noble and Allen counties. The tributaries of the Wabash from the east side as you ascend are, first. Patoka, then White river, which constitutes a considerable system within itself, formed by the East Fork and West Fork, which with their tributaries, drain a large portion of the south- ern and central regions of the state. It flows westward, bearing south be- tween the boundaries of Knox, Pike and Gibson, entering the Wabash at the southwest corner of Knox county; Big Raccoon creek, then Rock river, known as Sugar creek in Boone county which enters the Wabash at the northwest corner of Parke county, draining Parke. Montgomery, Boone and Clinton counties; Coal creek drains Fountain county ; Wild Cat drains a large portion of Tippecanoe, Clinton, Tipton, Carroll and Howard counties. Deer and Pike creeks drain the southeastern portions of Carroll, Cass and Miami counties. The Mississinewa river rises in the northwest corner of Darke county, Ohio, flows due west across the northern boundary of Ran- dolph, draining Delaware and Blackford; thence it traverses the center of Grant county, crosses the south boundary of Wabash county: thence north- west, ,entering the Wabash above Peru. The Salamonie river rises in the southeast corner of Jay county, flows northwest through the northeast cor- ner of Blackford, across Wells, Huntington and Wabash counties, where it enters the Wabash river as its last tributary from the south. As you ascend the Wabash, the Embarrass river, wholly in Illinois, enters the Wabash about the middle of the western boundary of Knox county. The little and big Vermilion rivers, which drain the eastern boundary of Illinois, enter the Wabash river in Vermillion county. The White river rises in Randolph county, flows south and southeast through Wayne, Fayette, Franklin and Dearborn counties, and forms a junction with the Great Miami near Harri-
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son, Ohio. Drop seven feet per mile. It is the swiftest stream of the state. St. Joseph of the Lake has its origin in Michigan, makes a long, graceful sweep through portions of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, Indiana, and flows back north and westward and empties into Lake Michigan. The Kankakee drains the lake region of the state, rising in the southern part of St. Joseph, northern part of Marshall, thence through Starke, Laporte, Por- ter, Jasper and between Lake and Newton counties, where it enters the Illi- nois river, thence on to the Mississippi. Jasper, Newton and Benton coun- ties are drained by the Iroquois, a tributary of the Kankakee. This is the sluggish river of the state. St. Marys and St. Joseph rivers, the former rises in Ohio, flows northwest until it meets the St. Joseph at Fort Wayne, which rises in Michigan and flows to the southwest through the corner of Ohio and thence into Indiana. After thus uniting their waters and forming the Maumee, these two rivers double back upon their courses and flow to the east and north and empty into Lake Erie. This system drains Allen, part of Adams and Dekalb counties. The St. Marys and St. Joseph are striking examples of Moraine guided streams. Scattered over the northern third of the state there are a thousand shimmering lakes, many of them covering areas of several square miles. The Ohio river forms the southern boundary of the state and drains all the border counties. The highest point in the state is Carlos, in Randolph county, which is the source of tributaries of the Wa- bash, White river, East and West Fork, and also of the White Water. It is 1,285 feet above sea level. The lowest point in the state is the mouth of the Wabash river at the southwest corner of Posey county, 3.13 feet above the level of the sea. This southwest corner must always have been the lowest part of the state, for there are no evidences of any upheavals. So the gen- eral face of the state must have been from the beginning as it is today; except the hills must have been higher and the valleys deeper than they now are. It is evident that the hills are being carried by the flood tides down into the valleys. The drainage basin of the Wabash river embraces an area of 33,000 square miles. Of the total number, 24,350 square miles are within the border of Indiana. This is slightly more than two-thirds the area of the state, the total area being 35,910 square miles. Of this portion in Indiana, about one-half is embraced in the drainage areas of the East and West White rivers.
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CENTRAL DRIFT PLAN.
The central part of Indiana, the basin of the Wabash river and head- waters of all our principal streams constitute a Great Drift Plan. The sand, gravel, clays and buried trees all point to the period when there must have been a great force passed over this section more than wind and heavier than water. The trend of this force was from the northeast towards the south- west. The great boulders on the surface of our soil all through this section are the tracks of a monster giant of strength that at some former period passed over this country. This vast undulating plain of glacial drift and accumulations possesses a deep, mellow soil unexcelled anywhere on the con- tinent for fertility and productiveness. The principal crops grown are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes and hay.
OUR NATIVE FOREST.
A little story about the trees of Boone county may be interesting to the children of this age. Very few of our boys and girls know about it. The parents and grandparents that lived in the woods have passed away. The story grew old and passed away with the trees. Less than one hundred years ago the entire county was a dense forest except a few bogs and morasses where it was so wet that a tree could not grow; also a tract in the southern part of the county that had dignity and scope enough to be called a prairie. Can you imagine how it would look if instead of the beautiful farms and homes we have now with good roads, bridges, schools, churches, towns and cities, there was nothing but continuous dense forest with denser under- growth so that you could see but a little distance in front of you, and you would have to push the bushes aside to pass through. It will take a big stretch of our imagination to see the picture. If you had been dropped down anywhere in the county one century ago you would not know which way to go, unless you found an Indian trail or path leading to his wigwam, spring or favorite hunting ground. At that time he was the only living human being that lived here "In the Woods;" no path; no idea of direction; no sight of sun by day or of moon or stars by night. Nothing but woods and woods impenetrable all around you, one continuous army of great trees with
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crowds of little ones at their feet. We have a few representatives of each family with us to this day as living monuments of the vast army that has fallen before the woodman's ax.
THE OAK (QUERCUS.)
Chief among all is the oak, the giant and king of the forest. He is the oldest, strongest and largest except the tulip tree. His family name is Quercus and there are about three hundred species ranging in size and strength from the smallest to the greatest. They do not all live in Boone county. Like people they are of all colors and so named, red, black, white, yellow, green, gray, etc., from the color of their bark and wood. They are also distinguished from each other by the kind of fruit they bear. The fruit or seed is called acorn. There are various kinds, ranging in size from the Bur-oak down to the Pin-oak called Chinkapin. If you stand by a great oak and look at its grandeur and then at the tiny fruit it bears, you will wonder how so great a tree can be wrapped up and packed away in so small a space as the little hard nut called-rock barnacle. A story is told of a man who lay dreaming under a pin-oak one sleepy day in October, and in his dream he thought God did not know how to make this world, when he put the little acorn on the great oak, and the big pumpkin on the sprawling vine unable to lift up its head. He was awakened by a nut coming down, and striking him on the head. He concluded that God had arranged things best after all, for where, oh, where, would he have been if the pumpkin had been placed on the oak. Both the nose and the pumpkin would have been ruined by the fall. We can only mention here some of the names of this most important and magnificent family of the forest. They are, viz .: black-jack, (Q. Nigra) ; basket, (Q. Michauxii) ; blue, (Q. Douglasii) ; bur, (Q. Marocarpa) ; chestnut, (Q. Castanea) ; chinkapin, (Q. Prinoides) ; gray, (Q. Coccinea) ; Indian oak, (the Teak tree) ; cow-oak, basket-oak, black-oak bitter, (Q. Tinctoria). Next in order is the maple, Queen of the forest. Our story would not run right if we did not place her by the side of the King. There are about eighty in this family, most of them foreigners, only a few of them native to Boone and to this country. This is the beauty of the forest, and the hard maple or sugar is the very Queen, not only of the family but also of our forest, and oh! oh! how sweet. Even the Indian loved her for her beauty and sweetness most of all, and
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called her Sa-na-min-dji. We would love to stop here and tell you all about this tree and the pleasure she gave to pioneer life, but have only time for a few of her names, viz., hard or rock-maple (Acersaccharinum) ; silver, (A. dasycarpum) ; swamp-red, scarlet, (A. rubrum) ; the black or sugar tree, (A. nigrum) ; striped, whistle wood, or moosewood, (A. Pennsylvanicum) ; large leaved or California, (A. macrophyllum) ; mountain, (A. spicatum) ; Eng- lish field, (A. campestra) ; Sycamore, (A. pseudo-platanus) ; Norway, (A. platanoides) ; Tartarian, (A. Tartaricum) : Japan, (A. Japanicum) : ash- leaved. or box elder, (negundoaceroides ).
THE TULIP TREE.
The maple may be Queen, and the oak King of the forest, but the largest and most graceful of all the trees is the tulip, incorrectly known as the Poplar. The family name is (Liriodendrom Tulipiferae), closely allied to the magnolias, found in American forests from Canada to Louisiana. It has a straight, cylindrical trunk of ten, eight or nine feet in diameter and 100 feet high. Its bark is ash colored, large saddle-shaped leaves that distin- guish this tree from all others, and large greenish-yellow tulip like flowers, marked with orange inside. Its wood, which is light, soft, straight-grained, easily worked, with the heart yellow and the sap cream color, is used exten- sively in carpentry and cabinet work, and is perhaps the best timber that is native to Boone county. There are three varieties, the yellow, which is the best, with very light sap, the white, which has thick sap, and it has blue streaks in it, so it is called blue-poplar and is very heavy and tough to work. Some of these trees reached their maximum height and size in this county, notably in Jackson township. We must not confuse the tulip tree with the poplar, for it does not belong to the same family. There are about twenty varieties of the poplars, (genus populus) the white or silver, (P. alba), the Lombardy (P. dilatata), Cottonwood (P. monilifera), Balsam (P. balsam- ifera), Downy poplar (P. heterophylla), American aspen or quaking asp (P. tremuloides. )
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THE WALNUT (JUGLANS NIGRA.)
This is the most valuable timber that grows in this county, especially the black variety. It was abundant all over the county, its fruit is called Jupiter- nut. If it was all standing that was here when our fathers came, it would be indeed a gold mine to each farm. The butter-nut is called the white-walnut (Juglans alba). The hickory tree (genus carya) belongs to the walnut fam- ily. There are several varieties and the family name is Juglandaceae. The shell bark is tall, graceful, white wood, hard and very useful. It is indigen- ous to America and is found in no other country in the world. (Carya alba) the white, is the best nut. Pignuts, butternuts and mockernuts are its in- ferior.
THE ELM.
There are several varieties of this family called Ulmus Americana. It is noted for its spreading top, and is the way-side tree of the New England states, but also forms the most remarkable feature of our domestic land- scape. The white or water elm, (U. Americana) ; the red or slippery or moose-elm (U. fulva) ; the bread elm, cork or rock elm, (U. racemosa), are the varieties found here.
THE LINDEN.
The Linden, usually called basswood or bee tree family (Tiliacea), is a soft white wood, with heart-shaped leaves and small clusters of cream-colored flowers full of nectar for the bees, and with flowers joined to the vein of a large leaf-like bracket, is a most beautiful tree.
THE BEECH.
This is a very important tree of the genus fagus, of the oak family (cupuliferae) the American beech ( Fagus Feruginea) is large, with close, ash gray bark, with extending horizontal branches of spray. Its nut is peculiar in shape, triangular and edible-often called beech mast. It, with
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the fruit of other members of the oak family, fattened the swine of the pio- neers before they could raise corn.
FLOWERY TREES.
In this group, in addition to those we have named, are the Locust, bean family (Leguminosae), yellow and black, wood very durable and very val- uable for fence posts. The catalpa of the bean family ( Bignoniaceae) soft wood and lasting, with beautiful panicles of bell-shaped flowers. The Dog- wood, tree of the genus Cornus Florida familiar for its white bloom that marks corn-planting time is a favorite with everybody. Judas-tree (Cercis) of the bean family flaming in its purple flowers before the leaves come, is greatly admired. The Buckeye or horse-chestnut (Aesculus) of Boone is symmetrical, and valued as an ornamental shade tree. The sycamore ( Platanus occidentalis) marks the course of our streams with its white, outstretched arms and is called buttonwood for common with us. The wild cherry, genus ( Prunus cerasus) and (carvium) are the ancestors of the cul- tivated cherries-was valued by pioneers for medicine.
Hackberry (celtis occidentalis) resembling the elm and belonging with it to the nettle family, with sweet edible fruit as large as bird cherries, called also sugar berry, nettle tree, false elm, Mulberry genus Morus family (morus uigra ) and Indian mulberry (morinda citrifolia) are valued for fruit and shade. The Birch, genus Betula, is the most shy and lady-like of trees and belongs to the beech family (cupulifera. The wood is close-grain and sus- ceptible of high polish. Although our last it is by no means least of the trees of the forest, for it furnished the long, pliant slender rods for the pioneer pedagogue so far famed in story and song with which he taught the young idea how to shoot.
THE PASSING OF PISA.
Some time after Columbus discovered the new world there was an acorn dropped from some parent oak into the mold that is now enclosed in L. M. Crist's grove. The warm sun came up from the southland and sent new life into the vegetable world. The moisture and warmth softened the hard
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shell of the acorn, set its heart to throbbing and there came forth the tender blade. The shell was burst, the delicate drapery that wrapped the germ of life was unfolded and the baby tree was born. A manifestation of God's third day miracle, recorded in Genesis 1 :9-13. The little tender plant lifted its tiny hands toward heaven and unfolded its leafy banners as wave offerings to God who gave it life and began at once to rear its First temple. It ran the gauntlet through babyhood of treading feet and devouring beast. Year after year it lifted its head higher and higher until it was able to stand above feet and rapacious maws. It became a tree. There came the buffetings of the storms. It murmured not nor gave way, but stood its ground in the breast of the forest, sending its roots deeper and deeper in every battle so as to be ready for the next. By its steadfastness it slowly grew into strength until it became a bulwark to the forest. It was a wind break to shield others from the blasts of the hurricane. At one time in his early life Pisa had more than he could bear.
He was forced to bend before the fury of the gale. Many of his com- panions were swept away. He held to his anchorage yet bent before the blast. He bears in his formn to this day the marks of that battle. As the twig is bent so the tree is inclined. He was christened in 1884 Pisa by Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Crist because he looked like the Tower of Pisa, leaning 13 feet from his base. The latter is twice as high. For centuries he has stood in this position needing all the more anchorage to hold him against the storms from Kee-way-din, the northwest wind. He is the patriarch of this grove. Only one companion, King Oak, is left standing in this Sylvan retreat. Surely he was the monarch and wore his crown most regally. If he could only speak he would unfold volumes of history. He has outlived generations of creatures. "The century living crow" grew old and died in his branches. The red man lived and passed away. His contemporaries in the forest have inolded into dust at his feet. At the last he must go the way of all living. Old age crept upon him. The heat of the summer of 1911 and the rigor of the following winter was too much for him. He had no strength to robe him- self in the spring of 1912. His long crooked arms stood bare against the sky. The woodman was called in to lay his axe at his root. He dealt blow on blow with his shining blade that sent shivers through the dying form of this old giant of the forest. Friends stood around in sober reflection. God by sunbeams had lifted him up and held him in his place for centuries.
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Through all these years he had served faithfully, giving shelter and food to beast and man and was a retreat in his spreading branches for the birds and nimble creatures. It comes the duty of man, the delegated master of all things on earth, to lay him away. With a few strokes of his strength this monarch of the forest is brought low. We prostrate his form upon the earth. His body will be made into lumber and then into furniture to bless and serve man for centuries to come. The grand old oak will still serve and bless mankind and at the last perchance furnish him his last sleeping casket.
A bullet was found by the workmen in the body of this oak, so the tree was estimated to be three hundred and fifty years old, by count of its con- centric rings.
PRIZE ESSAY.
One of the prize essays written by the school children of Indiana on the subject, "To what extent should Indiana be reforested? Give reasons." Prizes of $10 each were offered by the board of forestry.
The forests of Indiana are being cut down so rapidly that if some re- straint is not put on this work of destruction the forests will, in a short time, be only a remembrance among the "Hoosiers." The people in early days can be pardoned for cutting down trees, for they had to do it to clear places for their homes and to prevent beasts and enemies from hiding around. Besides they were not taught the economical importance of the forests. There were many trees then, but wood for fuel and lumber is becoming so scarce now that the preservation and restoration of our forests is a very important problem, hence the question "To what extent should Indiana be reforested?" confronts us.
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