Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1914 — Page 2

METHODS USED IN THE PROTECTION OF FORESTS OF U. S. FROM FIRES

Great Progress Has Been Made in the Work—Organized Plans \ Obtain in the National Reserves, While the States of the ■ Union Have Systematized Method of Preserving Their Forests From This Scourge.

Washington.—The first measure necessary for the successful practice of i forestry is protection from forest fires. As long as there is any considerable risk from fire, forest owners have little incentive to make provision for natural reproduction, to plant trees, to make improvement cuttings, or to do their work looking to continued forest production. ZE3 ~7~ In many localities great progress has lately been made in forest pro-

Location of Fire Lines in the Angeles National Forest, California.

tection. Organized fire protection has been established in the national forests and in most of the state forest reservations. A number of states have begun to develop systematic fire protection on private lands through the organization of estate fire wardeas. In some Instances private owners formed co-operative associations for fire protection and employ a regular force of rangers for patrol during the fire season. The most conspicuous and successful associations are those formed by certain lumber companies in Idaho and Washington. Throughout the country there are here and there instances of serious effort toward thorough fire protection by individual private owners. In spite of all that has been done, however, the fact remains that most of the forests of the country, particularly those privately owned, are Inadequately protected from fire. It is probable that in fully 75 per cent, of the private

Hollow Tree, the Result of Fires.

forests there is no attempt whatever at systematic protection. , Reproduction in the forests of this country has been more influenced by fire than by any other one factor. The present composition, form, density, and yield of a great many stands are due to the influence of fires on reproduction. Repeated fires prevent reproduction by destroying the seed and killing the seedlings. This Is well illustrated in certain areas of the south, where longleaf pine is not reproducing Itself —not because there is a lack of seed or because the conditions for germination are unfavorable, but because the annual fires kill the young trees. Fires may influence reproduction through their effect on the soil and

Range-Finder Signal Tower No. 2, on the Arkansas National Forest.

the soil corer. Frequently after fires the ground le occupied by heavy brush or by grass, which impedes or in some cases prevents the reproduction of "valuable trees. Many of the grass parks in the western mountains are the result of fire. A grass vegetation has replaced the forest The running wild of burned areas to a heavy growth of brush to a common occurrence after fires in many of our east-

era forests, as, for example, in Pennsylvania. In some sections of the country forest fires have always been of. such common occurrence that there is a popular notion that they can not be prevented. The risk from fires can never be entirely, eliminated, for in the forest there is always inflammablematerial which la very easily ignited. They may, however, be largely prevented, and under efficient organization their damage may be kept down to a very small amount. Broadly speaking, a fire line is a cleared strip in the forest used as an aid in the protection from fire. It may be a road, a trail, a river or stream, a line cleared especially for a fire break, or a plowed furrow. - The purpose of fire lines is to check or stop fires and to facilitate fighting them. A small surface fire may be stopped entirely by a road or even a path. Some surface fires are easily checked in their progress by narrow fire lines; others can be stopped only by very wide lines. Crown fires and

Fungus Attacking Tree Through Fire Scears.

surface fires of unusual severity will readily leap across even very wide fire lines. Fire lines, therefore, should not be built with the idea that they will always stop fires. They are intended to serve primarily as an aid, and often are an indispensable aid, in controlling fires and preventing their spread. Even when they do not actually stop or check a fire they serve as vantage points from which the fighting crew may work. Their establishment usually makes the woods accessible, so that a crew can get to a fire or near it quickly with appliances for fighting it. An ordinary dirt road ranks as one of the best of all fire lines. The wider the road the more effective it is. A forest well cut up with roads is, therefore, much more easily protected than one with few or no roads. In Europe every well-organized forest has a thoroughly planned network of roads. These are located primarily with reference to the problem of logging, but they serve also as a network of fire lines, and special lines are cleared to supplement them where necessary.

Fire Line Cleared Near Railway.

Every part of the forest is readily accessible not only for patroling for fire during the danger season, but for the quick transportation of fire-fight-ing appliances. In case a fire should start in this forest and be discovered within a reasonable time it would be easy to confine it to a small area. We can not expect to have such a well-organized system of rttads and fire lines in our forests for a long

SPEEDIEST WATER CRAFT IN WORLD

This watermobile, the creation of Cotint de Lambert of Paris, is hers seen breaking all world’s records, going at a rate of 8114 miles an hour.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

time, but much can be done In the way of utilizing the more or less temporary roads that are used in logging and afterwards abandoned. One of the great difficulties in extensive forest districts is to secure the necessary help in fighting fires. The telephone is the greatest aid in fire patrol. It enables the man who discovers a fire to call for help and to give directions as to the number of men and the equipment needed. By’ the use of the telephone on the national forests millions of dollars have doubtless already been saved. The forest service has since 1906 built 4,850 miles of telephone line, and it is extending the lines as rapidly as congress furnishes the funds for ' the work.

MAN DIGS FOR $85,000 CACHE

Hid the Gold in Dutch Oven in 1833, but Fire Destroyed the Landmarks. Kellogg, Idaho. —Edward Cornelius, an old resident of Murray, has been working on the Kellogg sewer, apparently for $3 a day, but in reality, he says, he has been working to locate $85,000 which he buried in a Dutch oven, and which he has never been able to find. In 1883 he and his partner left Montana for the new gold country around Murray. They loaded their packhorses, he says, with $85,000 in gold, all in S2O gold pieces, planning to use this money to buy up all available placer country, which was reported to be unusually rich. They came down the Prospect Creek, trail and over the Mullan road, down to what is now Kellogg. They there heard that the country for which they were headed was not as rich as first reported, and as the country was full of gold hunters and was wild and rough, they decided to cache their gold, Cornelius says, and go into the Murray country to investigate before making any bargains to buy the placer ground. The gold was hidden in the flat which extends from the Kellogg depot to the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mills, it is assented, and the gold hunters marked the spot by blazing a fir tree and two pine trees, burying the gold in a Dutch oven in the center of this triahgle.

Cornelius and his partner remainedin the Murray country for a year, and on their return to dig up their money and quit the country they found a fire had swept the district and eliminated every landmark. The pair searched for days and finally gave It up.

On several occasions Cornelius has returned and made a hunt without result. It was when he learned that the sewer excavation would extend through the ground in which he buried his money 30 years ago that he came to Kellogg, took up his pick and and kept his eyes open. The work along this section is completed, and Cornelius is ready to return to Murray without having found the treasure.

ETHEL SMITH IS MARRIED

Tells Parents Sacrifice of Billy Rugh and Former Romance Are Forgotten.

Chicago.—Miss Ethel Smith of Gary, Ind., for whom Billy Rugh, a crippled newsboy, who was not acquainted with her, gave up his life, is the principal figure in a new romance. She eloped to Chicago with Leon M. Cline, a clerk in a cigar store in Gary. They obtained a license and were married by a justice of the peace. This romance marked the close of another — one which was in full bloom when the explosion of a gasoline tank on a motorcycle owned by Ray Robert burned her body so severely that her life was despaired of for some time. She was saved only by extensive grafting of skin taken from the amputated crippled leg of Billy Rugh, who died soon afterward of pneumonia and the shock of the operation. Her marriage did not please her parents when she told them. She came'out of a hospital only Christmas day after a second operation. Her explanation is that the accident, the tragedy of Billy and Robert are to be of the past and forgotten.

Fined for Crying “Fire" In Church. River Falls, Wis.—Two young men, whp pleaded guilty to trying to start a panic by crying “fire” in a wellfilled church, got away with a >3O fine.

HIS OWN MEDICINE

By J. A. TIFFANY.

“Say, Joe, do you happen to have a hundred in your clothes?” “Got it in the safe, father —which is just as handy. More, too, if you want it.”

“No; L thank you, boy. A hundred will do me.”

As the father pocketed the five S2O bills and left the office, Joe Kershaw looked after him with a proud and affectionate glance, then sighed, as be reflected how much older Mr. Kershaw was looking this morning.

This little money transaction reminded him of many similar ones years ago, when the positions of the two men had been reversed. “Funny!” Kershaw soliloquized. “Father used to object very strongly to that term ‘in your clothes,’ whenever I had occasion to touch him myself. But it’s the first time, I guess, that lie ever asked anybody for money, and I suppose he found the phrase expressive.” • Though stjll quite a young man, and a highly proper sort of person, there had been a time when Joe Kershaw was as wild as the best—or the worst—of the boys. Many were the hundreds —the thousands, for that matter—that the old gentleman had been called upon to pay out on account of Joe’s vagaries; and they had always been paid without a murmur.

Of the most staid and exemplary habits himself, Mr. Kershaw had always treated his son’s follies leniently; borne them with philosophy. Of old Puritan stock, he had prided himself upon the absence of any hereditary tendency io dissipation in his own family, and accounted for all the boy’s vagaries on the theory bf some ancestral taint on the side of Joe’s mother. . '

Joe was not particularly ashamed of those days; though he was not in the habit of talking about them, either. He regarded it as ‘‘all in a lifetime” —part of a man’s experience. If a fellow z was born to make a fool of himself for a certain number of years, while he was young, he would do it—so Kershaw reasoned. The only thing he ever regretted about it was the anxiety and pain he had caused his excellent old father. Sometimes, Mr. Kershaw had remonstrated with his son, in a mild sort of wav, over some piece of folly more flagrant than usual; but he had never refused to “cough up” and come to the rescue. In money matters he had always been liberal. This morning Joe remembered the last occasion on which he had gone to his father for help out of his difficulties. It was a big sum that he wanted, and as the —old gentleman signed his name to the check, he had said, in a kind, quiet way: “Don’t you think, Joe, it would pay you to get married and settle down?”

“I believe you are right, father,” he had replied, “but where’s the decent girl who would marry a fellow like me?”

“There are lots of them, my boy. You don’t want to get into the way of thinking of yourself like that. You’re not a bad fellow. All you have to do is to pull yourself together and settle down to hard work. It’s really astonishing how quickly people will forget a young man’s peccadilloes, when they see he’s trying to go right. You have brains and energy. You can make your mark in the law, if you like. I believe in letting a boy have his fling, but you don’t want to let the follies of youth become the vices of your manhood, Joe. I don’t want to see you go to the dogs.” “You are perfectly right, dad,” Joe had replied as he folded the check and put it in his pocket. “I guess I’ll put the peg in and quit.” This morning Joe rehearsed that scene. Almost word for word. He was glad to have the opportunity now, of accommodating his father with a hundred dollars. He was sorry the old gentleman had not wanted a thousand.

By the irony of fate, Joe Kershaw, the reformed rake, had been impressed into the service of a vigilance committee, which had been formed in Swifton, for the purpose of purifying the city of some of its gambling hells, all-night saloons, and other “sinks of iniquity,” which, according to the pulpit agitators, were being run in defiance of law and disregard of decency.

About 12 o’clock that night, in pursuance of this committee work, Joe Kershaw happened into one of the more pretentious of the down town saloons, to see what was going on.

“Looking for your father?” was the first greeting he received. It came from a tipsy young gentleman in evening dress, whom Kershaw knew by sight and reputation. “No, sir; I am not/’ Kershaw replied, distantly.

“Well, of course, I didn’t know,” the young fellow returned with a grin and a hiccough. “But if you do want him. he’s in the Bide room there, entertaining Nellie Nimbell, the star at the Grand this week, with a bird and a bottle. Wouldn’t like to see you go in and spoil love’s young dream, but, of course, If you want him —well, that’s where he is, you see.”

The sound of a woman’s voice rallying her companion on some too youthful gallantry, came from the room Indicated, and was followed by a familiar laugh. Then Joe heard the topes of his father’s voice, in gentle

deprecation, and, turning on his heel, he left the place, without pursuing his investigations further. The next day Kershaw did not see his father, at all, but Jen the morning following the old gentleman was around at his office bright and early. “Say,' Joe,” said he, slapping the young man on the shoulder, “can you help me out? I’ve got to have a thou? sand dollars right off." * “Certainly, father,” Kershaw replied in the tone and with the air of a man seeking rather than conferring a favor —the air of a man fearing a lecture on extravagance. Carefully folding the check that Joe handed him, Mr. Kershaw gave his son a pleasant nod and said: “You’re not looking very well, my boy. Working too hard, I guess. It won t do, Joe. You must- take care of yourself.” “Yes, father,” Joe answered sheepishly. With the check in his pocket and whistling an air from the new opera, Mr. Kershaw walked jauntily Out of his Son’s office.

That night Joe’s duties as member of the Swifton vigilance committee took him into a gambling room. He found a faro bank and a keno game in full operation, besides several small tables surrounded by men playing poker. At first, the smoke from., many cigars affected Kershaw’s sight and respiration, and before he had become accustomed to it, he heard his father’s voice. The old gentleman was just saying in the most cheery tones: “Give me SSO worth, and I’ll have another flutter.”

That was enough for Joe. The subsequent procedings interested him no more. He walked sorrowfully away.

Though people were, naturally, diffident of saying anything to the younger Kershaw concerning the old gentleman’s eccentricities, some things inevitably came to Joe’s ears. Hardly a day passed on which he did not hear something of his father’s continued evil courses to make him anxious and miserable.

But things reached a climax when, late one night, on his way home from the club, Kershaw met his father with a gang of young roysterers, marching arm in arm down the middle of the street, wearing their coats turned inside out, and singing “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.” Catching sight of his son, Mr. Kershaw broke away from his companions and darted up a side street. Following, at a leisurely, dignified pace, young Kershaw ran his quarry to earth, near his own door. —_

“Won’t, you come in and take a night-cap, father?” he asked. The old gentleman accepted the invitation, and over a cigar and a glass of toddy he was the first to broach the painful subject that occupied the son’s mind these days to the exclusion of everything else. “Tell you what it is, Joe,” he said, "I’m going to reform.” “Reform?” the young man echoed, as if he considered his father the most exemplary old gentleman in the world. _____

“Oh, you know, Joe. No need of pretense between you and me. Fact is, Joe, I’m going to the bow-wows, and you know it.” “I wouldn’t say that, father.” “Why shouldn’t I say it, when it’s true. I’m a disgrace to you, and there’s no use of your denying it. But I’m going to alter my hand. Trouble is that I didn’t sow my wild oats when I was a young fellow. That was dead wrong. It’s always best to get it over and done with. A man may go along to forty or fifty and think he’s a deuce of a swell on the water wagon, but if he’s got a bias for playing the giddy ox, it’s bound to come out. Still, that doesn’t alter the fact that I’ve been trying to do so for a long time, Joe, but it’s uphill work. Now, you know the ropes, Joe; you’ve been through the mill yourself. Tell me —what’s the best thing for a fellow to do in order to break away from it all. Give the old man a straight tip, Joe.” “Well, father,” Kershaw replied, after a moment’s reflection, “you’re not an old man. You’re good 25 or 30 years yet; why don’t you marry and settle down?" “You’re right, boy. That’s what I told you to do, a few years ago—to get married and settle down. Give me your hand! What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Yes, I’ll take my own medicine, too.” (Copyright, by Daily Story Pub. Co.)

Giant Coffer-Dam.

A vast reinforced concrete monolithic foundation is being built entirely around the area upon which will be erected the new Equitable building in this city, a structure which will contain 6ne million square feet of rentable floor space, and will tower aloft to a height of thirty-six stories.. The coffer-dam will be a solid concrete wall, six feet broad and eighty feet deep, extending eighty feet to solid rock. This will be the largest ofllce building yet constructed. It will weigh over 200,000 tons as against the weight of 103,000 tons of the Woolworth building, 188,500 tons of the Municipal building, and 82,500 tons of the Singer building. The steel framework alone will weight 45,000 tons, as against 25,000 tons required for the Woolworth building.—Scientific American.

March of Progress.

“Mother, here is a scientific discovery which will be of interest to you. You needn’t make a dungeon of the parlor now to keep the sun frbm fading the carpet.” “How’s that?" demanded mother with some asperity. “By using a prepared glass you can have plenty of light, and yet exclude the ultra-violet rays."

VEGETABLES IN WINTER

MANY VARIETIES AT COMMANB OF HOUSEWIFESalsify Might With the Entire Approval of the Family Be More Commonly Used —Creamed Or as Croquettes They Are FineThe housewife who “hates” winter because there is “so little to eat,” or because She feels that she is giving her family the same thing over and over, should not despair. Apart front that dear old-timer —Hubbard squash •—there are three members of the cabbage family—cabbage itself, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts; five root vegetables, exclusive of onions, and white and sweet potatoes--turnips, salsify, beets, carrots and parsnips, and two kinds of greens—spiwach and: kale, available. Who could legitimately complain of lack of variety with such a choice at hand?

The possibilities of salsify or oysster plant are not as well known as they might be. It usually sells for ten cents a bunch or two bunches for 15 cents and affords an inexpensive change in the diet Pains should ba taken to select straight roots rather than the crooked, knotted ones which abound.

The preliminary step to any dish made of salsify is to cut off the green tops, scrape and cut the roots into small pieces and boil them until tender (about half an hour). The simple addition of a white sauce win make creamed salsify, but for croquettes rub the tender boiled pieces through a colander or strainer an<l to each bunch add a beaten egg, tbfee tablespoonfuls of cream and enough flour to make a stiff batter. Make Into croquettes, dip in beaten egg, then in cracker crumbs or flour and again in the egg. Fry in hot fat and dry on brown or other absorbent paper. The oyster flavor which gives the plant its name, comes out strongestwhenthe vegetable is .cooked in this mannefr. For escalloped salsify, fill a buttered baking dish with alternate layers of boiled salsify and cracker crumbs. Pour white sauce over the filled dish, cover the top w’ith buttered crumbs and bake until brown. Half a lemon squeezed over the top of a medium-sized dish will improve the flavor.

Re-Making Window Shades.

Ordinarily the only part of a shade that becomes soiled and worn is the portion exposed to the light—that is, the part, drawn down half the length of the window; the other half of the shade is practically new. A simple method of doubling the life of a shade, half of which has become soiled, is to remove the shade from the top of the roller and hem the end thus removed. Then remove the stick from the hem at the bottom of the soiled portion of the shade and slip it into the new hem, Next cut ofi! the old hem at the bottom of the soiled portion of the shade and attach the rawedge to the roller. The bottom or soiled portion of the shade now becomes the top, and when the shade 1* drawn down half the length of the window a clean, new portion is exposed.

Running Furnaces.

A furnace authority says: “In mild weather it is not necessary to ‘shake down’ the furnace fire. You can economize on fuel and still have a Are ready to start full blast should the north wind begin to blow. With the furnace poker rake down only part of the ashes, forming a sort of crater by poking out ‘the ashes thoroughly from the bottom and the fop. Into this ‘crater’ put the fresh c»<al. This is really a sort of furnace within the larger one and holds the fir? without using coal to heat the whole, furnace. When the cold snap comes ehake the grate thoroughly, shovel on fresh coal and open the drafts.”

To Wash Sweaters.

The popularity of the sweater is easily accounted for in its usefulness and comfort, but it often loses its attractiveness in becoming shapeless after washing. If properly washed a sweater should keep its shape until it wears out, and therefore wash it carefully with some good white soap; rinse well and add some bluing to the last water if the garment is white. Then place it in a clean pillowcase and pin the case to the clothesline. When the sweater is nearly dry put It on a coat hanger In the sunshine.

Dried Apple Pie.

Stew dried apples soft, in as little water as possible; sweeten to taqta and add a few strips of orange peel or a slice of lemon; flavor with a very little spice. Put all through a coarse sieve, sweeten and season before putting in the pies. Stir In a beaten egg. Bake with- two crusts, and heat before usings

Instead of Whipped Cream.

A good substitute for whipped cream is the whits of one egg beatsn stiff, one apple grated fine, and sugar to taste. This may be used with gelatine desserts and cake, and also makes an excellent filling for charlotte rousse. 1

Mock Sausage.

Soak dry bread in water. Take as much cold meat, chopped fine, as there Is bread. Mix, and season tilth salt, pepper, and sage. Make into small cakes and fry.