Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 180, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1911 — Page 3

UP-TO-DATE METHODS OF HANDLING THE CORN CROP

w's i> f*- '-J-- V JMn HERE Is no branch of agricultural activity in the United States * ■ where* the past' few yekrs has |f¥ witnessed greater Improvement in methods of cultivation and harvesting than In the sphere of corn [ | growing. This is as it should be k J for corn- is easily one of oar \j/ most important crops. Indeed, although the fact Is not generally ilffMT ju recognized, it is a greater wealth , producer—considered in the broad ? sense —than is the wheat crop. The advance which has been made concerns not only the methods employed in nurturing and handling the corn crop but also the means employed, that is the machinery which is doing so much to aid human brawn in caring for the golden kernels. Whereas progressive farmers have in many Instances worked out their own salvation as regards the improved methods of corn cultivation, it is perhaps only fair to give the major portion of the credit to the United States department of agriculture, which has worked In co-operation with the State Agricultural colleges and experiment Stations to bring about a better understanding of the requirements of the corn crop. Many an old-fashioned farmer has been wont to assume that every tiller of the jsoil knew from his boyhood apprenticeship on the farm all that there is to know about growing cflrn and yet the experts of the agriculture department found that in reality there

was more widespread misconception regarding the needs of corn than about any other leading farm commodity. For the purpose of putting our farmers on the right track in their corn growing Uncle Sam during the past few years had field agents or demonstrators traveling about the country all the while to give advice and assistance to the corn growers who do not appear to fie doing the thing the best way. At first there was a disposition to regard with distrust if not with suspicion the advice ,of these "book farmers; 1 but gradually as they proved that they could double and triple corn yields with scarcely a cent of extra expense, they won over to their side a considerable portion of the farming community and this “missionary work" is now being extended until in time it will embrace the “corn belt" where strange aB it may seem the farmers are not getting nearly all that they should out of the land—that is if you let these government sharps telly it The first boost that was given to the American corn crop came through Improvement by seed selection. The experts have Induced the farmers to select their sedti corn with great care in the field Instead of merely making use of what happens to remain in the crib at planting time and the improvement from this cause alone has. approximate at least twenty per cent. Most of the progressive corn growers have «also awakened to the wisdom of properly preserving seed corn by keeping it dry during tye winter in a special seed house instead of merely entrusting it to the corn crib in the old haphazard way. It has now come to the pass where the beet quality of corn is worth $25 per bushel more for seed - purposes than unselected corn.

A second effective method of Improving our corn crop has as its purpose the improvement of the condition of the soil in accordance with the studied requirements of corn cultivation. Modern science is teaching the farmer that it •imply will not pay to attempt corn growing on - poor land until it is brought into a fertile condition by the growing and plowing uqder of

Nervousness—A Lack of Control

How often we meet women who complain of being nervous. What they really mean is that they have not control of their nerves, but let them run away. A woman may be of a nervous temperament and yet have such good control of her nerves that she never complains of being nervous.' This lack of nerve control manifests itself iu various ways. Sometimes It is only a tendency to cry at trivial things or an inclination to deapondeney —to have “the blues," or to. worry ever real or fancied slights. Many women waste so much time thinking <r?er things that are past and gone. . A visit with a friend loses its Joy iu the afterthought, for this victim of the nerves lives over again every moment •of the visit She recalls everything that has been said and wonders if a different meaning was meant Things that were said as a Joke ants originally taken that way are now brought up for criticism and pondered over until the woman convinces herself of the presence of a hidden meaning. She Is mot satisfied util she has bant and

leguminous crops, the application of manure, etc. In not a few instances corn farms have been rendered more profitable by rearranging the fields in order to make them more uniform as regards moisture and soil fertility. Soil washing, that Is, the washing away of the surface soil—one of the bugbears of corn growing—is being prevented by systematic means such as were almost unheard of a few years ago. The big problem of fertilisers is one which touches the very heart of the corn-growing Industry and the experts in and out of the' government service have prepared very explicit directions for enabling the corn grower to add to his soil nitrogen or whatever other ingredients are most needed to produce the locged-for prise ears of corn. It has been found upon investigation that many farmers have had very different ideas as to how corn should be planted and cultivated but at the same time it has been discovered that no hard and fast rules can be laid down as applicable to the whole country. The corn grower who is cultivating a deep soil in a section where there Is prolonged dry weather will obviously have to proceed on a different theory from the man whose land is low and wet. The point that is being driven home is that each farmer must study his own particular needs.

shaped the original thoughtless sentence into an ugly sting. These nervous women are the ones who are continually tormented with the demon of Jealousy. If one of them should suddenly meet her husband on the street walking with another woman, what a curtain lecture he receives that evening; or if not that, he finds his wife wearing the air of one who considers herself much abused. The real facts of the case may be that her husband met the other woman quite accidently and, as they were going in the same direction, he could not avoid walking with her without being positively rude. In this age men must of necessity have business transactions with women. It is a common occurrence for two men to lunch together In order to have a chance to talk over some important business matter without fear of interruption. There is no reason why s man and woman might not do the same, and yst how impossible It would be to convince the Jealous woman that this was the cast. To be Jealous Is

to acknowledge the superior charms of the other woman. “If I cannot hold you against all women, then I do not want you," la the right thought. If you think some other woman Is attracting your husband, wake up and t)gat her at her own game. Do not sit idly In the corner and complain. A woman who Is nervous does not usually realise what is the cause of her condition. When excitable and irritable and suffering from a nervous headache, she takes various remedies to deaden the symptoms Instead of looking the matter squarely in the face and going after the cause. Many women need a hobby to taka up their spare time. If their minds were occupied and their bodies kept In a good condition by proper cars, they would soon gain control of their nerves. (Copyright. IMO. by WJi O. Chapman.)

Accepted at Last.

Poet—My epic on the coming coronation has been taken. Wise —Oh, darling. I'm so glad! Who's taken ft? Poet—Mary took It this morning to light the study firs with!—London Opinion *~ !rr T “• ** "T 7"' 77'"

An odd circumstance in connection with this phase of the crusade for better methods of handling the corn crop was the discovery by Uncle Sam’s investigators that corn growers as a class are very conservative, altogether too conservative, indeed, for their own good. The Implements and methods employed in lowa are entirely different from those of Connecticut and the latter, in turn, are dissimilar to those In use In Georgia. No section has a monopoly of all the good things In methods and machinery and In many Instances a practice in vogue In one locality could be profitably used In another district which had remained in ignorance -of It. All this bids fair to be changed, however, under the present awakening. Wide-awake corn growers are paying visits to other corn-producing states than their own and the result is likely to be a general discarding of poor and adopting of Improved methods.

, The depth of planting, the distances between rows and hills and the depth and frequency of cultivation are all corn problems that are being solved along dependable scientific lines after a century or more of discussion and dispute. Meanwhile the improvement of com cultivating and harvesting machinery has worked wonders in bringing about the new era in the corn fields. Mechanical com harvesters have developed more slowly than the machines for wheat and other cereals, attempts to solve the problem of mechanically handling the corn crop dating from* 1820, whereas it was not until 1831 that Cyrus MoCormlck made the first reaping machine.

Despite the fact that there was almost continuous experiment in the sphere of com harvesting machinery from the date_above mentioned it was not until 1892 that success crowned the efforts of the Inventors. The principle in com harvesters and binders which was destined to prevail appeared in the year mentioned, the Invention of an Illinois man. In Its elementary form It consisted of a com harvester with the two dividers passing, one on each side of a row of com, which was cat and carried back

To Raize Old Paris Fortress

Fortifications Now Useless—Undesirable Persone Rent B pace From Government and Attack Pedestrians.

There is talk, as there has been talk for years, of leveling the fortifications of Paris, which are perfectly useless now In the Improved conditions of modem warfare, and of building houses on the large tract of ground which would be set free right round Paris. At present the fortifications are not only useless as a protection to the city In time of war, but they* are absolutely dangerous to the cJtisens in time of peace. According to the law a large space around the fortifications is kept free of all stone buildings. This military .zone, as it is called, has no houses upon it, but little one-story huts are allows# to be built there and are rented at tiny rentals by the military authorities. Their cheapness and discomfort attract undesirable tenants, and the Paris apache has for years made a hunting ground of the fortifications. Only a few days ago a rich Hus-

in a vertical position to the binder attachment bv means of chains hnd gathering arms. Latterly various improvements and modifications of the design have been made and new inventions along the same line have been introduced. In some of the machines the binder is in almost horizontal position instead of vertical.

Naturally, badly tangled fields make the progress of a corn harvester somewhat slow, but it is remarkable with what precision the machine will right the stalks. Owing to the great variation in the height of thfc corn, even in the same field, the binding attachments are given great range of operation and in some machines they are placed as high as 32 Inches. The machines weigh from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds each and cost, on an average, $125. The average number of acres cut per day by such a com binder is upward of eight and the total cost per acre of harvesting the com by this method (allowing for cost erf machine, wages of driver, outlay for twine, etc.) averages about $1.50. Corn shockers cost about ap much as com binders and weigh approximately the same. These are the ideal machines for owners of small farms who do most of their own work. A man with three horses and a com shocker can cut about five acres of com per day at a total expense of $1.06 per acre as’ against $1.50 per acre with the machine previously described. The fundamental features of the corn shocker?are the circular rotating cutters which cut the com as the machine advances and the circular rotating table upon which the com is collected vertically to form a shock. A loading device for handling the shocks adds greatly to the efficiency of the modem approved type of machines. Com pickers, machines which remove the ears from the stalks (which latter are left In the field) cost $250 each and are operated at an expense of sl.Bl per acre. Combined buskers and shredders are the latest additions to corn handling m». chlnery and on up-to-date farms these are in many instances operated by gasoline engines.

sian, M. Ivanoff, had gone for a drive tn a taxicab. Hie motor broke down near the fortifications, and while it was being put right M. Ivanoff went for a stroll. He wss not more (hm a couple of hundred yards away from his cab when two men and two women attacked him, stabbed hips in seven places, robbed him of all his money and his watch and chain and a valuable scarfpln, and left him for dead. The two women have been arrested, but tbelr companions are still at large. The Incident is being used as another argument for the leveling of the fortifications. Another argument still is, of course, the great value of the land for building purposes. > f

“If the sea had a milky way aa well as the sky wouldn’t it be convenient for the sailors T” ' “In what way?” “They could have floating * dairies when their boats skimmed the waves."

A Suggestion.

NOVELISTS ALL WRONG

f jV- ■ PEOPLE DO NOT PROPOSE AT ALL IN ACTUAL LIP* V'-* ”•*> v •:%£!![riaffljffjl in •„ ,j, 9o Asserts Man Who Has Made a Careful Investigation of Wihat H * c *"‘ •It's about time the novelists were getting this proposal thing right,” said the man with, the meerschaum pipe, using his thumb for a bookmark. “They ought to give us this love-mak-ing game the way it's carried out in real life. ‘They get it all wrong In novels. I claim that people don't propose at all! There's none of that heart-palpitating business outside of the Bob Chan||m and other brands of Option. I’m not married mykelf, but I got interested la the proposal thing some time ago and. I made some investigations. “First of all I spoke to my old friend, Phil Harper. Phil’s been married for only about two years and a half —not so long that he wouldn't remember the full particulars. “‘Phil,’ says I, Tell me now—and this la no kid, understand—tell me what yoy said when you proposed to your wife. Where were you and how did you get around to the subject, and were you scared, and what did your wife —or, rather, your girl—say to you and all thatr “Phil looked at me and gave a laugh. ‘Sorry I can't accommodate you,’ ho says, ‘but to tell you the truth, I never made a proposal. Oh, no, don't get the idea that iny- wife proposed. I did whatever proposing was done, ft you call it a proposal. After I’d been calling on Maixle two or three times a week and twice on Sundays for a couple of years I found that the Malsie habit had as much of a hold on me da any drug habit could have, and X didn't know of any quiet little sanitarium where I could be cured of the habit. ‘“One evenings/ couple of ‘ girl friends of Maleic's strolled by the front porch and began to guy us. One of them said that she'd be willing to bet we were engaged even at that moment. “ ‘ “Why, of course we are,” I says, acting* on impulse. “Aren't we, Maizier* “ ‘Malzle gurgled a little “yes.” That’s the wajr I proposed.’ “Then,’’ went on the man with the meerschaum pipe, T asked George Crothers about his courtship and proposal. ‘“Why,’ George told me, ‘it was a queer thing about oqr engagement It Just sort of got to be understood between us that we would be married, sooner or later. OnS day we were taking a walk and I stopped to look at a new apartment house that was being built ‘Are we going to live In a fiat or In a house r I asked suddenly, and Carrie—she’s m? wife now —said she thought we could save money by living in a flat, at least at fliht No, there were no Hushes of confusion or long drawn sighs or clenches such as you read about* in novels. It was pretty commonplace.' V f C ' “Oh, I must have asked a dozen frtenda how they proposed, and I didn’t get a single case with any more •Hearts and Flowers' music to It than these I have cited to you. “Still, I don't suppose there’s any use getting excited over the situation. It won't do any good. Thee novelist* will go on dreaming their wild, moving picture dream*. And a lot of 'em call themselves realists!"

Baby Likes Being Automatic.

To tejl you the whole bitter truth, the baby does not mind being made automatic, says Ellis Parker Butler in an article in Success Magaadne. Hie baby that is unrocked and uneradled and uncuddled, and fed patent readymade foods, and sterilised, and scientifically reared, really thrives! Be is put out of doors when the weather Is two notches below zero, and hla hands get warm! He is plumped into bed without a pat or a lullaby, and he drops off to sleep like a little pink log! He awakens at uncanny hours of the night, and instead of howling, he winks a couple of times and goes to sle«p again! He begins to teethe, and when he wails, Instead erf being fed and filfed with soothing sirups, he has his food supply cut down to a minimum. and he teethes without fevers or stomach riots! He is bathed as a oocodiie would be bathed, and he loves his bath! tflSB

The Unwelcome Pollock.

Never In the history of man have pollock been so plenty along the Maine coast aa they ere this summit. Pollock fishing Is furnishing s good sport ror scores of fishermen about the month of the Kouieboc river, end even the oldest inhabitant does not remember when they were to in such quantities. How to get rid of the pollock Is beooming a serious question, for they are devouring the little herring like hungry wolves. Then they bother the codfish, a slower-acting fish than the pollock, end force them off to the eastward. Again, the pollock attracts the dorfish, and the latter wi ages war upon the cod and other fish.—Kennebec Journal.

And Moonshine.

“You want to marfy my daughter?” asked the father. “I do,” replied the young man. “Have you anything saved up for a rainy day?" “There wont be any rainy days if I marry your a»upw. n win man sunshine."—Yonkers Statesman.