ll this property has been accumulated by their own efforts on their vn farms. Practically all who own farms have enlarged their original oldings. Some have bought adjoining farms from Americans, with od houses and other improvements, and others have built within cent years. They have excellent houses and barns, in most instances inted and in good repair. The condition of their farms and buildgs is as good as those of Americans of the same means.

There have been very few additions to this settlement in recent ears, and the majority of those who have come since 1890 are tenant rmers. There is no cheap land in the community. The greater art of the land is under cultivation and the farms are all improved nd are held at rather high prices. The average farm in the comunity sells for $50 to $60 per acre and some of the more fertile and etter improved land sells for $75 to $100 per acre.

Soil.

The soils of this area have been derived from a mass of glaial till, which has been extensively modified by the action of the tmosphere and the growth and decay of vegetation. Small lakes nd swamps are scattered throughout the area. There are three istinct types of soils-the Miami, Marshall, and Clyde." The Miami 3 the most extensive, and at least two varieties were noted. The Marshall is the type of next importance, while the Clyde type appears nly occasionally throughout the area, where there have been small akes or swamps.

The most extensive area of the Miami type is to be found in the north and northwest sections of the settlement. The most prevalent varieties are the Miami loam and Miami sandy loam. The foams are of medium texture, generally of light-brown color, and extend to a lepth of from 8 to 10 inches, often mixed with a small quantity of gravel.

The Miami sandy loam is usually a brown sandy loam to a depth of about 10 to 12 inches. The soil is ordinarily very loose and mellow. The subsoil is usually a sticky sand to a depth of about 3 feet. It is an easy soil to cultivate, as a rule, and good crop yields are obtained from it. The surface of the Miami loam and of the sandy loam varies from gently rolling to hilly. The Miami clay loam is yellowish white to a depth of about 8 or 10 inches. There is a considerable area of this soil in the north and north central part of the settlement. This type under favorable conditions produces fairly good crops of corn, hay, and wheat.

The Marshall loam and Marshall sand are found principally in the southern part of the colony, in the prairie districts, occurring in areas from 1 to 5 square miles. It varies in color from gray to almost black and is usually underlaid by sand. It is an easy soil to cultivate and good crops of corn, wheat, and hay are raised on it. The surface is generally level or gently undulating, and because of the underlying sand and gravel it has a very good natural drainage.

a United States Department of Agriculture, Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, Survey of Marshall Co., Ind.

CLIMATE.

The following table taken from the records of the United States Weather Bureau station at South Bend, shows the mean monthly and annual temperature and rainfall. South Bend is about 12 miles east of the New Carlisle colony and 15 and 30 miles, respectively, east of the Rolling Prairie and Otis settlements.

Normal monthly and annual temperature and precipitation.

[United States Department of Agriculture, Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1904, p. 001.)

The figures above show that the greatest rainfall occurs during the growing season. The temperature between October and April is subject to sudden changes and alternate freezes and thaws which sometimes seriously damage wheat.

The average date of the last killing frost in spring is April 20, and of the first in fall, October 10. Killing frosts often occur as early as September 1 to 10 on the low muck lands of the New Carlisle communities. These frosts are confined to the very low and poorly drained soils, and often do great damage, especially to corn.

THE SETTLEMENTS AS SHOWN BY FAMILY SCHEDULES.

In the three settlements 30 representative families were selected for investigation by the Commission. They were farm families that had settled in the localities at various times since 1862, when the first settlement was established.

The heads of all the families under consideration were born in the Province of Posen, in Germany, and 7 of them came to the settlement direct from abroad, while the remaining 23 had lived in other localities in the United States before settling on the farms they now occupy.

Twenty of the 30 settlers were either farm laborers or worked on their fathers' farms in their native land, and the majority of the others were unskilled laborers recorded simply as living. Only 1.was reported as being a skilled laborer abroad. Only 4 of the 23 farmers who lived elsewhere in the United States before settling in this locality were engaged in agricultural pursuits; and of these 1 was a lumberman and 1 a woodcutter. The others were engaged in various kinds of skilled and unskilled labor.

After settling in the colony 8 of the heads of families worked as farm laborers to provide means of support until a living could be made from the land, while the remainder engaged in no supplementary occupations. However, 12 of those who did not work outside for

wages sold wood cut from their land to provide a living until they had sufficient ground in cultivation to win support from the fruits of their fields.

Of the 30 farms first purchased 3 were between 20 and 40 acres, 19 between 40 and 80 acres, and 8 between 80 and 120 acres.

The average number of acres per farm and the average price paid per acre and per farm are shown in the table which follows:

TABLE 30.-First purchase of land, condition, size of farms, and price paid, 30 typical Polish farms, northern Indiana.

• Not including 2 farms inherited, purchase price, and cash payments not reported.

AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS.

General farming is the only form of agriculture followed in the communities under consideration. Because of this fact and because improved and labor-saving farming implements are used, a comparatively small labor force can operate a rather large acreage. There are no farms of less than 40 acres, and the largest single Polish landholding covers about 400 acres. There is very little difference in the size of farms, methods of agriculture, and crops raised in the three settlements. There is more non-tillable land in the colony near New Carlisle than in the others, due to the existence of areas of marsh land which are too low and too poorly drained for cultivation. On the other hand, in favorable years the soils in the community yield more per acre because they are fresher and naturally more fertile. The higher lands of the Rolling Prairie and Otis settlements are not so likely to be "drowned out" in wet years and yield a very good crop every year, while the crops on the lowlands are often almost complete failures.

In the New Carlisle colony the average Polish farm is about 120 acres; in the Rolling Prairie and Otis settlements, about 100 acres in size.

Winter wheat is the principal money crop and a greater acreage is planted to that crop than to any other except corn. All the corn except enough for seed is sold. The yield varies widely on different farms and somewhat in the different localities. In ordinary crop years, in the New Carlisle settlement, a yield of 18 to 45 bushels per acre is realized, with an average of about 25 bushels. In the other settlements, from 10 to 30 bushels per acre are harvested. Probably 18 to 20 bushels is the approximate yearly average yield per acre in these communities.

Corn is grown more extensively than any other crop. The yield varies from about 20 bushels per acre, on the poor hill soils of the

Otis community, to 75 and sometimes 100 per acre on the rich lama of New Carlisle. For the three communities, about 30 to 40 bushel per acre is perhaps a fair average. The greater part of this crop is fet to live stock kept on the farm. Within recent years Polish farmen have decreased the number of live stock kept, especially cattle and hogs, due to the high prices paid for grain, and consequently a larger proportion of the corn crop has been sold. Most of the crop is cut abi shocked until winter, when the corn is husked and cribbed and the stalks used for fodder for cattle.

Oats, third in importance of the grain crops, are grown by almost every farmer. Practically all of these are fed to live stock kept en the farm. The yield varies from 30 to 60 bushels per acre, with probably 40 bushels as an average yield. Oats are sowed in the spring and timothy or clover, sometimes both, are sowed with them. After the oats have been cut and threshed the young clover grows up quickly and is often utilized for pasturage for the rest of the season. The nex year a crop of hay-mostly clover-is cut from the field. The straw, or a part of it at least, is often baled and sold, the remainder being used mostly for bedding for stock. Some of it is stacked E the fields and the stock turned to it in the winter.

Hay is grown by every farmer. The greater part of the crop is fed to live stock, but some is sold. Timothy occupies a greater acreage than any other grass, though some clover and grasses like red top are cut for hay. A great deal of marsh grass is cut from the low, poorly drained lands in the New Carlisle settlement. This, however, makes a very poor quality of hay. Clover and timothy seed are always sowed with wheat or oats. They are sowed at the same time as the oats; when with wheat, they are sowed in March, the wheat having been sowed the previous fall. From 1 to 3 tons of hay per acre are

usual.

Irish potatoes are universally raised, but the greater part of the crop is consumed at home, and probably no other crop grown forms as important a part of the family food supply. At Otis a great number of the Polish farmers grow potatoes for market. In the other settlements the surplus only is marketed, and rarely does any farmer sell more than 100 bushels. Some of the soils in Northern Indiana are especially adapted to this crop, and potatoes are grown extensively both north and south of Otis. Yields of 75 to 200 bushels per acre are usual. About 100 bushels per acre is the average.

Dairy products are sold by almost every family. There are creameries at Rolling Prairie and at New Carlisle and most of the farmers in the vicinity of these towns deliver milk to the creameries every day. Those not living convenient to a creamery make butter for sale. The New Carlisle creamery runs a wagon through one section of the colony near that place which collects milk each day. There is no creamery in the immediate vicinity of the settlement near Otis, but a great number of the farmers make butter and market it once or twice a week. along with other farm products, in Michigan City.

Poultry and poultry products marketed by the Polish farmers in the three localities are important items. Nearly every family sells a cer tain amount of poultry, and some farmers market as high as $300 worth or more each year. Chickens and geese are the principal fow raised, though some turkeys are marketed.

FERTILIZERS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

Fertilizers used consist of barnyard manure and clover. No comercial fertilizers are applied by any of the Polish farmers. The setrs exercise commendable care in handling all forms of waste hay and anure about the barn, and all that is produced is applied to the n-down places on the farm. Clover is grown throughout the region a soil-enriching crop. When a stand of clover is secured it is cut r one or two years as hay and pastured a year or two. The sod is en turned under in the fall and the next year the field is planted to me cultivated crop. Some system of crop rotation is followed by ost of the Poles. Some are very systematic, and usually these are the tter farmers. Others only change crops when the decrease in yield noticeable. The buildings on farms owned by the Poles as a whole e very substantial structures. The barns are of sufficient size to elter all live stock kept on the farms and to store the farm products. hey are usually in good condition and in many instances painted; e grounds and surrounding yards are kept fairly clean. Wagons, iggies, and farming implements are usually sheltered.

The farms, especially those portions under cultivation, are well nced with the best quality of woven-wire fencing. In most stances the farms are subdivided into fields 10 to 40 acres in size y cross fences, an arrangement which makes it convenient to carry it systems of crop rotation-to pasture stubbles or clover fields or le cornstalks after the corn has been harvested-without injury to rowing crops.

PROPERTY OWNED.

At the present time there are no farms with less than one-fourth f the land tillable and only 2 with less than one-half, while 10 report 1ore than one-half and less than three-fourths tillable, and 18 report ree-fourths or over tillable. Only five of the farmers under conderation now own farms of less than 80, but none less than 40, cres; 9 of the farms are 80 and under 120 acres; 7 are 120 and nder 160 acres; 6 are 160 and under 240 acres; and 3 are over 240 cres in extent.

The next table shows the gross value placed upon land and imrovements by the owners, irrespective of indebtedness. It will be oted that 28 of the 30 farmers value their land at more than $5,000 er farm, and that more than one-half of the land is tillable and that 8 report three-fourths or more of their land as tillable and value heir farms at more than $9,000 per farm.

'ABLE 31.-Land and improvements now owned; condition of land, size of farms, and average value, 30 typical Polish farms, northern Indiana.