Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 143, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1910 — Page 2

$2,000,000,000AYEARTOFEED OUR PESTS

Pests of various kinds cost the American citizen the staggering sum of 12,000,000,000 annually, according to the Washington Post. “If,”, said Henry Wethersbee Henshaw, “we could get Congress to appropriate 51,000,000 for the extermination of the English sparrow—which we couldn’t; arid having the million could thereby exterminate the aforesaid English sparrow—which again we wouldn’t—it would be a million mighty well invested!” That sounds rather startling, but Dr. Henshaw is assistant chief of the biological survey, and speaks as one having authority. And that is not half so startling as some of the other figures they can give you at the Agricultural Department on the cost of little things—things some of them almost microscopically small. According to experts in the biological survey, the smaller mammals, for the most part rodents, cost the farmers of the country something like 1130,000,000 a year. And that’s a pretty big board bill! But it pales into insignificance beside the tribute exacted from the same farmer by the insect pests. According to C. L. Marlatt, assistant chief of the Bureau of Entomology, injurious insects cost the farmer about 10 per cent of his produce. According to the last Agricultural

WOMEN AND LOVE.

Only the Isolated Girl Able to Kee> Illusions as Time Passes. In Harper’s Bazar Gertrude Atherton, the novelist, has an interesting article on love. She knows her subject well. Among other things she says this: “We all know that the older girls giow, the more difficult are they to please in the matter of man; that is to say. when they have the opportunity to meet a reasonable number of men. It is only the sidetracked girl (generally in small towns deserted by the young men) or the too sheltered girl, who keeps her illusions. Women that see too much of men soon lose these. In mixed colleges the process of disenchantment begins just that much earlier— in the most plastic years of the human mind. The girls who, almost shamefacedly, announce their engagements immediately upon the close of their collegiate career, are the undeviatingly maternal, those in whom love of children is so deeply Implanted that no amount of contact (save matrimonial) can rub off the masculine halo. Others may have quite as much good looks and even charm, may even have a certain youthful element after romance, but the maternal element in them does not predominate, and that leaves them free to pause and think, consider; to see the male animal, with which they have rubbed elbows,for several years, exactly as he is. Therefore; they conclude to wait a few years and seek the opportunities to meet men that can companion them, give them something more than a brief romance, a family, or an establishment. Sometimes these girls, particularly if they discover ability enough to make an interesting career, do not marry at all. No man fulfills their ideals of what a life companion should be; they conclude that happiness is to be found alone, not in the surrender of liberty to some one man who may develop all sorts of detestable traits.

"GRAND OLD WOMAN” IS DEAD

Miss Spence of Australia Was a Friend of Children of Her Country. M hen Miss Catherine Helen Spence, the “grand old woman of Australia,” died not long ago the children of her country lost one of their best friends. It was Miss Spence who, in conjunction with Miss Emily Clark, initiated the Australian system for the care of dependent and delinquent children, a system which is the envy of social workers in more than one other country. Old as she was, according to the New York Tribune, she filled up to the time of her death a, seat on the state children’s council and also or| the destitute board of South Australia. But Miss Spence was never really old, though she had lived 85 years when she died. She took the warmest interest in all that her friends werfe doing. She mothered and brought, up one after another three families of children. Her public work was many sided. The English colony in South Australia, to which, as a young girl, Miss Spence went from Scotland, was not at all like the colonies founded later by gold seekers. It was a colony established by idealists, with dreams of just laws and pure electoral coa-

Department report, the value of farm products for 1908-09 was estimated at $8,760,000,000, as against $7,881,000,000 for the previous year. And if the insects laid upon the farmer the minimum of their yearly tax they would cost him $876,000,000. This does not include “two very legitimate items, namely, the loss occasioned by insect pests to farm products, chiefly cereals and" forage crops, in storage, and to natural forests and forest products.” To each of these at least $100,000,000 more must be assigned,” making the total tax chargeable to insects last year $1,076,000,000. The “critter” known to the cotton planter as the boll worm and to the farmer as the head or ear worm is the costliest of the pests, taking one year with another. He is credited with destroying 2 per cent of the corn crop, in point of value and quantity the most important of Uncle Sam's crops, and 4 per cent of the cotton crop, which comes next in value. The corn crop has been steadily climbing up toward the billion and a half mark for the last few years. At that rate this particular worm has cost the country $70,000,000. And there’s the price of several Dreadnoughts gone into the maw of one measly little worm! Equally costly is the Hessian fly,

ditions. Spence took all this in at the impressionable age and all her life she preached and worked for the voice of the people in government. In 1893 Miss Spence traveled in America, speaking at the World’s Fair in Chicago and in many other cities.

HERE IS A FREAK PATENT.

1 his Refrigerator Cow, When Milked Gives Ice-Cold Fluid. A curious idea for milk carts is contained in this patent, applied for in 1898. Just what it is intended for is told by the inventor himself: “My invention is a new and useful improvement in milk refrigerators and delivery apparatus, and has for its object the provision of a device that resembles a life-sized cow, in which milk may be stored and kept at a proper temperature, and from which it may be drawn as occasion requires after the manner of milking a cow. Within the body are receptacles or compart mpnts, each of which is provided with a cover and adapted to contain the desired quantity of milk. By the use of two receptacles two qualities of milk may be stored at the same time, such as sweet milk and buttermilk. In the bottom of each of the receptacles is located a valve having a spring for normally holding it jn place, so as to prevent the downflowing of the milk. Each of the teats has a toggle-lever connected to a lift-rod, and when the latter is raised the valve is lifted and the milk flows out of the teats. By proper manipulation of this device a

COW GIVES ICE-COLD MILK.

realistic representation may be had of the milking of a cow. “The portion of the bodj- of the imitation cow not occupied by the milk receptacles is utilized for the storing of ice to maintain the milk at a proper temperature. The imitation cow stands riveted to a wagon platform, and is drawn through the streets in the same manner , as an ordinary milk cart.”— Scientific American.

Pretty Legend About Corn.

There is a beautiful Seneca story of the origin of corn in Canfield’s “Legends of the Iroquois," as follows: “Long and earnestly a young brave wooed a beautiful maiden and at lastgained her consent to live in his wigwam. Fearing that she might be stolen by one of her many admirers he slept by night in the forest that he might be near to protect her. One night he was awakened by a light footstep and, 1 starting up, saw his loved one stealing out of her lodge as a sleep walker. He pursued her, but as if fleeing in her dreams from a danger that threatened her life, she ran from him like a fleet-footed hare. On and on he pursued and finally

which is specifically a wheat pest, though it also does considerable damage to rye and barley. The aforementioned Hessian fly inflicts more damage on wheat than any other one insect does on any one other crop. It is credited with a minimum destruction of 10 per cent of the wheat crop say of $60,000,000, as crops are running now—and with easily $10,000,000 damage each year to rye and barley. And there’s another $70,000,000 and a few more Dreadnoughts accounted for! Next comes the chinch bug, which attacks both corn and wheat, and to a certain extent the other cereals. It is estimated as accountable for 2 per cent of the corn crop and 5 per cent of the wheat crop—about $30,000,000 on each, and some slight damage—a few millions a year perhaps—to other crops. Chalk up $60,000,000, anyhow, to the chinches, and let it go at that. While the great farm staples pay toll to destructive insects to the tune of about 10 per cent of their value, the fruit and truck farmers lose double that. The coddling moth, for instance, costs the apple growers somewhere between $25,000,000 and $30,000,000 a year. There are the various scale insects, including the San Jose scale, whose depredations were at one time regarded so seriously that it was

EXTINCT AS THE DODO. —Minneapolis Journal.

drew so near that he could hear her quick breath and the rapid beating of her heart. With all his remaining strength the lover sprang forward and clasped the maiden’s form to his breast. What was not his grief and astonishment when he found that his arms elapsed not the maiden he loved, but a strange plant the like of which he had never seen before. The maiden had awakened just as her lover overtook her, and, frightened at her surroundings, she was transformed. She had raised her arms just as her lover caught her and her uplifted hands were changed to ears of corn and where her fingers caught her hair the maize bears beautiful silken threads.”

BE FAT AND SO BE HAPPY.

Stout People May Read This and Get Encouragement from It. Fat is often unappreciated or misunderstood and unduly blamed for sins of delinquencies of other body foods, the Medical Record says. From 15 to 20 per cent of each healthy body is composed of fat and its chief sources are the starches and sugars, though certain fats are directly utilized. The weight of present opinion is in favor of the view that fats are completely decomposed in the intestine and that the fatty acids formed are absorbed, either as soaps or in a solution brought about by the bile. As a soufee of energy for the development of heat, fat may be described as quickly available, but not so lasting as some other substances. By its concentrated fuel power it saves other tissues, especially the 1 albuminous ones from over-oxidation and is valuable as a reserve force. Moreover, by its presence the protein is better enabled to do its work in tissue building and as a storage of energy for emergencies it is of great importance. The last material use of fat is to serve as a protection of the body from injury and cold. It forms an outer cushion for the frame. From an aesthetic standpoint the physiological and orderly distribution of fat in the connective tissue makes

considered necessarily fatal to any orchard in which it made its appearance, and many thousands of trees were destroyed hope of exterminating it. In the truck garden every vegetable has its own particular enemies. There are rootworms as well as fruitworms, and leafworms to boot. There are more varieties of plant lice than are dreamed of in the average mortal’s philosophy. There are several special weevils for beans and peas. And there are beetles and borers, home-grown and imported. . It is estimated that every rat in the United States costs the citizens at least 2 cents a day for his keep. Unfortunately it has been impossible to get anything like an official census of the number of the pestiferous rodents supported, but considering that they breed three or four times a year; that the female begins breeding at three months, and produces from seven or eight to a dozen or more at each brood, it is easy to see that even Uncle Sam cannot afford to pay $7.30 a year apiece for the pleasure of maintaining them. It is the farmer who pays the greater part of this board bill. Mice also lay a very heavy tax upon both town and country. Ground squirrels cause a loss of many millions of dollars a year in the States west of the Mississippi, where grain is grown in large quantities. It is estimated that in California alone they eat up $2,000,000 worth of wheat each year, and in Washington they do equal damage. Entire townships have been made barren by their ravages, and Kansas, Colorado and other Western States besides Texas have been working for years to get rid of them. Kansas is succeeding, but she has been for some years appropriating a year to the work. The birds, the natural enemies of the insects, have been hunted mercilessly. It is only lately that any effort has been made to stop their absolutely useless slaughter. In many States their real value to the farmer was not understood.

YESTERDAYS.

all the difference between beauty and ugliness. In considering the psychic role of fat we should specially bear in mind, G. M. Miles says, its reserve function in relation to active vital processes. A liberal deposition of fat is one of nature’s wise precautions to enable us to bear some of the trials of life. It has been known from earliest antiquity that fat people are more contented and optimistic than lean ones and the supply of fat may be compared to the ample bank account of a busy and provident man. Niles says that he believes he is correct in asserting that a physiological reserve of fat by its very presence exerts a quieting and reassuring influence on the vital forces most coifcerned in constructive metabolism, while its lack leads to a physical discontent and unrest, which sooner or later reacts on the disposition, developing into the pessimism and temperamental discontent so often seen in lean people.

1 “What shall we do, John,” said the farmer’s wife, who had retained much of her sentiment through twenty-five years of married life—“what shall ye do to celebrate our silver wedding?” “Reckon up, where all the silver’s gone to in bringing up our family,” grumbled he. “Oh, no, John; it must be something real good and out of the ordinary. I tell you what. Let us kill the fattest pig and give a banquet.” “Maria,” said the husband solemnly, “I don’t see how the unfortunate animal is to blame for what happened twenty-five years ago.”

Manifested the Makings.

Aiderman Smith’s baby was being christened, and everybody present was complimenting the happy parents. “I believe,” said the proud mother, “that he is goinjg to be a great politician soriae day.” “Why?” asked the ruddy faced father. ‘•Well, because he crawls «>ut of everything so easily,” said ths wIM, smiling tip into her husband’s £ace,— Lippincott’s.

Considerate.

ILLINOIS BIRD KING.

Merchant Who la Friend of Feathered Tribes Owns Fine Collection. Illinois’ bird king is a dry goods merchant, Isaac E. Hess of Philo. He is one of the greatest authorities on ornithology and his collection of stuffed birds, their nests and eggs, is one of the finest in existence. l4>r thirty years he has made a study of the feathered songsters of the air and is their staunch defender. Mr. Hess has for years agitated a closed season on quail shooting lasting for several years. He believes that these birds are the best friends of the farmers and that the “Bob Whites” should be protected from the annual slaughter. He has written a number ’ of articles defending his position and has sought *to arouse the Legislature to the importance of this protection. Two broods are raised annually by this species, and if undisturbed woll breed rapidly. A single pair, if not interfered with, will produce 600 young birds in three

HESS AND SOME OF HIS EXHIBITS.

years. He computes each pair of quail as worth $5 annually to the farmer in destroying insects. The persecuted hawk family is also being championed by the Philo enthusiast. He has discovered that for every hawk that destroys poultry there are 100 that subsist upon field mice, insects and other small enemies of the farmer. Thousands of hawks are killed every year because of ignorance and prejudice. While studying the beautiful rosebreasted grosbeak, one of the handsomest birds known to the United States, Mr. Hess discovered a strange mystery of nature. He learned to his intense surprise that the grosbeak is the only bird that will eat the potato bug. Students of nature and bird lovers in particular who have inspected the collection of birds, nests and eggs, gathered and classified by Mr. Hess, agree that it is one of the finest in America. One case contains eighty birds with the nests and eggs of each species, every one of which were collected within a few miles of his home. A second case contains 120 specimens secured in other sections of the country. The eggs range from the large mottled type of the vulture to the minute humming bird. Every hour that he can spafh from business Mr. Hess devotes to bird lore. He is constantly photographing his feathered friends, never kills one wantonly, but is constantly trying to save them from destruction. He has learned that Illinois alone contains more than 100 specimens of birds that annually nest in this State, and it has been an enormous task to procure a specimen of each with Its nest and eggs.

Seemed Like the Real Thing.

“Oh, Jimmy, let’s put de lamp out — de smell is someth’n fierce.” “Not on yer life! Dat’s wot makes it seem like a genuine automobile.” Every ma n has an idea that others think him Important.

fEASHES OF FUN

“What’s alimony, ma?” “It is a man's cash surrender value.”— Town Topics. Black —I buy all of my wife’s dresses. Brown —So do I, but I never pick them out. —St. Louis Star. Stella —I wouldn’t marry the 'best man on earth. Knicker—Have I asked you to? —Harper’s Bazar. ’ “How did you enjoy your vacation?” “Fine! It made a new man of me!” “I congratulate your wife.”—<Jleve land Leader. “Do you know, Imogen, your halt reminds me of Syracuse?” “Pray why?” “Because it’s so near Auburn.”—Cornell Widow. Music Teacher - Why don’t you pause there? Don’t you see that it’s marked “rest”? Pupil—Yes, teacher, but I aren’t tired.—Life. Knicker—How large is their suburban place? Bocker—Large! WJhy, they have to have folding beds for the flowers. —New York Sun. “What was you askin’ for the widder’s bonnet, mum?” “Well—er— l thought nine-pence.” “ ‘E’s very ill, mum. I think I’ll risk it.”—The Tattler. Traveler—But, waiter, I only order ed two eggs. You have brought three Waiter —I know, sah, but I thought possibly one might fail.—Leslie’s Weekly. Little Willie—Say, pa, what is worldly wisdom? Pa —Worldly wisdom, my son, is a perfect knowledge of the failings of our neighbors.—Chicago News. Salesman—Shirt, sir. Will you have a negligee or a stiff bosom? Customer —Negligee, I guess. The doctor said I must avoid starchy things.—Boston Transcript. She—There goes Mrs. Strongmind. She says her husband never spoke a cross word to her but once. He—Yes; you should have seen him the next day.—Home Life. “This talk of enormous canals on Mars seems to fascinate you,” said one statesman. “Yes,” replied the other, “think of the appropriation bills.” —Washington Star. “Does your wife cry when she gets angry?” “Yes,” answered Mr. Meekton. “It isn’t the heat of her temper that distresses me so much as the humidity.”— Washington Star. Physiology Teacher—Clarence, you may explain how we hear things. Clarence —Pa tells ’em to me as a secret and ma gives ’em away at the bridge club.—Cleveland Leader. “Scribbles writes some very pleasing verse.” “Indeed? I’ve never heard of it pleasing anybody.” “Evidently you’ve never observed its effect on Scribbles.” —Birmingham Age-Herald. “Got"bn automobile to sell for $40?” “Not yet,” answered the good-natured dealer, “but you can get into the game for that money. Why not buy a tire to carry around?”—Pittsburg Post. Slum Worker—What a well behaved Hine boy he is! Burglar’s Wise —And he comes by it natural, ma’am. His poor father always got his sentence reduced owin’ to good behavior.— Stray Stories. “I dont like to go to a play and be >- kept in suspense all the time.” Neither do I. Last night 1 thought the woman in front of me wasn’t going to take off her hat, but she finally did.” —Louisville Courier-Journal. “This popular fiction is all bosh. In real life the girl’s father seldom objects to the man of her choice.” “You’re wrong there. He often objects, but he’s usually too wise to say anything.”—Washington Herald. “Do you know that there are millions of germs on a dollar bill?” “So I’ve heard, but if they expect to transfer themselves from the bill to me while it is in my possession, they’ll have to step lively.”—Birmingham Age-Herald. The Rev. Dr. Putemtosleep—Deacon Goodlelgh walked right out of church in the middle of my sermon. I wonder if I offended him. Mrs. Goodlelgh—Don’t let that worry you, doctor. He has been a somnahibulist for years.—Philadelphia Record. “She’s the meanest woman I know of.” . “What makes you say that when you don’t even know her to speak to?” “I know, but she’s the woman on the other half of our party telepuone line.”—Detroit Free Press. “I have a little volume here,'’ began the agent. “Git out an’ shet tho door, durn you!” shouted the victim. “I hain’t got no use for no sech tresh!” “yes you have,” countered the caller. “This is a treatise on •Good Mariners and Good Grammar.’ ” —Cleveland Leader. Nervous and Inexperienced Host (rising hurriedly at the conclusion of a song)—Ladies and—er —gentlemen, before h-a started to—er —sing, Mr. Bawnall asked me to apologize for his —er —voice, but I —er —omitted to do so—er—so I —er apologize now!—London Opinion. Lady (prospecting—for a cook) Now, I want a girl who will be able to think for herself; one that I won’t have to watch and correct every minute of the day I want one in whom I can repose perfect confidence, sure that she will get the meals at the time and in the way I like them- I a book Superintendent of Intelligence Office—Excuse me, ma’am, but you don’t want a cook. What you want is a Fairy Godmother!—Puck.