Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1899 — Page 3

TOPICS FOR FARMERS.

A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR OUR RURAL FRIEND& Sone Facta About the Cow Pea-How to Girdle Grape* Transplanting Lettuce-Care of the Strawberry Eed —To Check the Heeaian Fly. The cow pea is not a pea In habit, but a bean. There is a number of varieties. Some varieties grow like a bush; others have trailing runners that grow 15. to 20 feet in length. The whippoorwill is a cow pea. Sow broadcast or in drills, 18 to 30 inches apart* The average quantity of seed to the acre is a bushel to a bushel and a half. They must be planted when the ground is warm and dry. In soil in that condition the peas may be covered three Inches deep. In the North there have been many failures in growing them, ft is said, because they were planted before the ground was warm enough. However that may be, as they were originally a tropical plant, it is better not to plant as early as we would the ordinary garden pea. If the vines have plenty of room the yield of peas will be better. The yield from late planting in tbe South is better than from early planting. The varieties that make the heaviest yield of vines will also produce the largest crop of peas. When the peas are well forced and the pods begin to turn yellow, cut for hay. In the South they permit the vines to lay on the ground, in windrows, for twenty-four hours, or even longer, after cutting; then place them in small thin cocks, where they cure for several days, when the hay Is put under cover. They are somewhat difficult to cure. In the green state they equal, if they do not surpass, any succulent food, for swine. Hogs will fatten upon them as they will upon alfalfa, and will need only a little topping off with corn. Fifteen to twenty hogs cab be kept for a number of weeks on an acre of cow peas. Cattle and horses also do well upon them, but It is safer to soil such stock, and never to turn it into the field. It is true that some of our Northern experiment stations report that cattle will not eat cow peas unless they are starved to it. In the South no such complaint is made, at least not generally. The varieties that are best adapted to the North are—unknown, clay, whippoorwill, red ripper, goard und "black. It is not necessary to sow oats with them. It is necessary to procure seed that has been acclimated in the North.—Martin Hewes in Epitomist.

Transplanting Lettuce.

Even a small head of letutce may be made to produce a good supply for the family, if, after it is pulled and the leaves are trimmed off for use, the root Is carefully set out in a rich place and shaded until it has established itself. It is a surprise how readily transplanted lettuce will grow. When it starts from the seed the lettuce grows slowly. But in transplanting a great number of new roots put forth, and these make tender and succulent lettuce leaves, 'which are much better than Those growing slowly. Often heads of letutce that have been transplanted once or twice will on a single plant produce enough for a small family, and most of this growth is made within two or three weeks from the previous •cutting and transplanting. In fact, so successful is this method that some housewives take up lettuce plants in the fall and try to grow them in tubs filled with rich soil in the house. But the conditions cannot be kept in most farm houses like those of summer out •of doors. In a greenhouse with bottom heat lettuce can be grown in winter as well as in summer. It needs less heat than most other hot bouse plants, and can be grown farthest from the fire, but must always be well supplied with water.

Hog Bristle*.

The Siberian bristle Industry has buen seriously affected, because the majority of those firms engaged in manufacturing the product are badly crippled on account of the scarcity of labor. To such an extent has this Industry been Interfered with that it is said this year’s output will be less than twothlrds of the normal. This opens up to the American hog a destiny beyond lard, bacon and ham. For years Russia, or rather Siberia, has been the home of the hog that produces the great “okatka,” the bristle from which brushes are made. Next year’s collection of the raw bristles will be less than one-half of the usual quantity, and as the tendency of late years tn the brush trade has been toward the use of higher grades of goods, and as almost 80 per cent of this class of goods come to the American market, the price cannot fail to be affected.—New York Tribune. Girdling Grapes. Among the many artificial expedients for making plants do as one wishes, that of girdling or ringing the grape, which Is now and then practiced by horticulturists, la not the least curious and interesting, says the Homestead. It consists of the entire removal of the bark just below the fruit cluster about a month before the time of ripening. Its effect is to hasten the ripening by a week or two and to increase the size of the fruit The sap ascends through the pores of the wood and sustains growth, but on descending the elaborated sap, which passes down between the wood and the bark, can go no lower than the point where the vine has been gMM. It stope there and goes to feeding the bunch of grapes growing at that point Of course ringbranches It is evident that all that

part of the vine below the cut will suffer the following year, and thatth* entire vine itself would be permanent-' ly Injured and perhaps destroyed if the practice were made at all general. As an interesting experiment, however, to be made on branches that one thinks of removing anyhow, a trial of ringing -will furnish an interesting study to those curious in such matters. The Strawberry Bed. If the strawberry bed, set last spring, has got the start of you, cultivate between the rows until the ground is as mellow as an ash heap and every weed dead. File your hoe and go at the weeds in the row between plants. Limit the runners to four or five to the hill, or if you want big berries, cut off and keep off every runner. Let no weeds grow, and manure with wood ashes, hen manure (in moderation), pig ure or sheep manure, as close to the hill as you dare. Remember that strawberry plants do not root deep or wide. The plant food you supply must be close and near the top. If you cut off all runners and depend on the main plant to bear fruit, you will get fine, big fruit, easily picked,- and there will be nothing to prevent clean culture. In fact, the laziest way to grow strawberries is to plant three feet apart each way, cut off all runners, keep bed clean by horse power, make it rich and let it bear as long as plants are thrifty, four or five years, probably. Too many runners and too much grass makes small berries and weak plants.—The Farmer.

Insanity in the Lower Animal*.

Darwin declared that Insanity was not peculiar to human beings, and asserted'that other animals often become insane. According to Dr. Snellson, the lower animals, without exception, at times labor under delusions like those of insane beings. They work themselves Into a frenzy of Insanity, and this is applicable to birds, cats, dogs, monkeys, cattle and horses. Mr. Richard Kearton gives instances of birds developing forms of insanity. Razor-bills, he says, are somewhat shy birds, and yet on one occasion when 250 Dutch fishing boats landed at the capital of the Shetlands, in order to hold their annual feast before starting summer herring-catching, and the place was literally crowded, a razorbill came in from sea, and began to cut such odd capers within a dozen yards of tbe crowded esplanade as made everybody who saw it wonder. He also instances a form of mental aberration in a young eider duck.

Acid Fruit May Be Sweet.

There is a distinction often forgotten between the words sour and acid as applied to fruit. Sour fruit, of course, must be acid, though it may be more than offset by saccharine material, which neutralizes the acid taste. On the other hand, the poorest of all fruit may be that which is only slightly sour to the taste, but contains very little sweetness. Some of the best grapes ace soar, but when their juice is made into wine it shows that they have a high degree of sweetness also. Wellripened grapes of so-called sour varieties are much better than the comparatively tasteless kinds like Adirondack and Creveling, though the latter when not contrasted with the best grapes are commonly pronounced “good” by inexperienced Judges of fruit. The taste for good fruit can be cultivated. In the beginning of their experience with fruits most people are well satisfied with kinds that, after they have grown and eaten those which are better, they would consider scarcely eatable.

Bachelor Corn Stalk*.

Wherever corn is planted on poor soil or too thickly on good soil some of the stalks will not silk or form ears. These are called bachelor corn stalks, having only the male blossom, which Is found in the tassel. The female blossom is the silk, which has as many threads as there will be grains of corn on the. ear. The pollen from the tassels is blown about by winds so that only a few grains of the corn ts fertilized from the tassel on the stalk where it grew. Some farmers believe it an advantage to go through their corn fields and cut off the tassels of all stalks that do not show any signs of forming ears. By preventing these from fertilizing any of the corn the barren stalks are suppressed, thus securing a strain that will produce no stalks that do not bear at least one ear. There are some kinds of sweet corn and pop corn that bear two, three or more ears on a stalk. In most cases such ears are small, but the corn ripens early, and is generally more productive of sound grain than the larger ears that grow one to a stalk.

Checks to the Hessian Fly.

Since the habits of the Hessian fly are better understood farmers have'learned how to make it much less destructive than it was when first Introduced. The paras Hes that kept it in check in Europe were not brought over with the first importations, and it seemed when it first began its ravages that it must make an end of wheat-growing. It Is noticed, wherever this pest appears, that it Is worse for one or two years than it is afterwards. Seeding so late that the frost comes before the fly can lay her eggs is an effective preventive. The fly will not lay her eggs after frost has touched the leaves, though there may De much warm growing weather thereafter. In most cases the fly finds scattering wheat from grain wasted at harvest. Al such wheat sholuld be plowed under. We have known small pieces of wheat to be sown for the pm> .pose of attracting the fly. By plowing these under after frost came, a crop of wheat could be grown free from this peat. Naturally the Hessian fly la wore* for Southern wheat growers, aa the frost in such localities often bold* off until November, leaving not enough time for the wheat* to get a tuft growth that will stand the winter.

MON BITES NOT FELT.

ATTACK SEEMS TO DULL SENSE OF FEELING. Attack* of Lesser Carnivora More Painful than Those of Kina of Beasts —Experiences Belated by African Hunter* Corroborate This View. The attacks of the lesser carnivora, •mailer in proportion to man, are frequently very painful; but matters are so ordered that the bite of a dog or a ferret is usually more painful than the Injuries Inflicted by the jaws of a Hon. The Instances quoted are very numerous and striking, and properly grouped according to locality or the species of the attacl|gpg beast. In Somaliland the experiences of the bitten are supplemented by Capt. Abud, the resident at Berbera, who has had a long experience of cases, English and native, as most of the former, unless killed outright, which very seldom happens, are brought to Berbera. •> He states that “the view that no actual pain is suffered at the time seems almost universal. In most cases it would seem that there was no knowledge of the actual contact, even in the first rush of a Hon, much less of any pain experienced from tooth wounds.” This was tbe view not only of the English, but of natives. In one or- two cases where consciousness was entirely lost the person "came to” whUe the Hon was still standing over him, a period of complete anesthesia and unconsciousness having intervened. But more commonly those who have been attacked and have recovered are conscious all the time, and if they suffer at all do not feel acute pain. This may be accounted for partly by the shock given by the charge, which forms the usual preliminary to being wounded. A Hon comes at bis enemy at fuU speed, galloping low, and dashes a man standing upright to tbe ground by the full Impact of its body. Major Inverarlty states that “the claws and teeth entering the flesh do not hurt as much as you would think,” but that the squeeze given by the jaws on the bone is really painful. When knocked over, he was still keenly conscious, and felt none of the dreamy sensation experienced by Livingstone. Major Swaine, struck down by a lioness going full gallop, was unconscious

for some minutes and did not know what bad happened until he found himself standing up after the accident. “I felt no pain," he writes, “not, I believe, owing to any special interposition of Providence, but simply that the shock and loss of blood made me Incapable of feeling it. There was no pain for a few days, till it was brought on by the swelling of my arm <Jn the twelve days’ ride to the coast.” Capt. Noyes, attacked in the same district by a lion in 1895, was charged down and bitten, until the creature left him, probably when attacked by his servants. His hand was badly bitten, but he “was not conscious of any feeling of fear, or any pain whatever, probably because there was no time, but he felt exactly as if be had been bowled over in a football match, and nothing more.” A far worse accident was that which befell Lieut. Vandezee In the same year, near Beira. The Hon charged him down in the usual way and mangled bis thighs and fractured one of his arms. "During the time the attack on me by the lion was in progress,” be writes, “I felt no pain whatever, although there was a distinct feeling of being bitten—that is, I was perfectly conscious, independently of seeing the performance, that the lion was gnawing at me, but there was no pain. “I may mention that while my thighs were being gnawed I took two cartridges out of the breast pocket of my shirt and threw them to the Kaffir, tellng him to load my rifle, and immediately the lion died and rolled off on me. 1 scrambled up and-took a loaded rifle and fired at the carcass.”—London Spectator.

Costly Admiration.

A characteristic story of Gen. Lafayette was told in a Paris journal some years ago. At Lamarque’s funeral the crowd took out Gen. Lafayette’s horses, as thtafamous soldier wti returning home ftob the service, and drew his carriage

THE KISS—BY MAX LUBIEDZKI.

to his hotel with many evidences of enthusiastic love and admiration. The scene was a stirring one, and a friend, in referring to It some weeks afterward, said, "You must have been very much pleased." Lafayette looked at him for a moment In silence, and then, said, with a whimsical smile: “Yes, I was very much pleased, very much pleased, indeed. But I never saw anything more of my horses, my dear friend!”

THE KISS.

k

is interesting. A mandarin who traveled in the West for the purpose of learning the European customs was greatly perplexed in trying to explain a kiss—a thing unknown in his country. “The kiss,” he writes, “is an act of courtesy, consisting in bringing the lips of one person into contact with the chin of another, whereby a sound is produced.” Kissing, however, is not a privilege reserved exclusively to love; there are occasions when it is prescribed by court etiquette. On the occasion of the crown prince of Greece’s wedding the bride, Princess Sophia of Prussia, the Kaiser’s sister, was obliged to bestow no less than 150 kisses. The King of Greece received three kisses; so did his Queen; so did the Empress Frederick and the King and Queen of Denmark and Kaiser Wilhelm and the Empress, while all the princes and princesses present received one kiss apiece. The poor crown princess on leaving the church must have had aU the kissing she wanted and probably had but few left for the wedding Journey.

A recent experiment made at Berlin, where a young German undertook to press his lips to those of his sweetheart 1,000 times an hour, for ten consecutive hours, with short intervals for rest, is evidence that there is a limit to osculatory achievements and that kissing carfnot be carried on as a continuous performance. Havifig kissed his sweetheart 3,750 times in two hours forty-eight minutek and ten seconds, this young German’s lips were paralyzed and be swooned.

A Fortune in Strawberries.

J. P. Bryant, the Bandwell (Ky). millionaire, owns the largest strawberry patch in the world. It covens 1,700 acres and has made his fortune. When moat men tell a funny story they Have to laugh themselves to show the point '

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. * Temperance People Outwitted at Dale-ville-Farmer Dig* Up Hi* Wife** Corp** Air-Ship Inventor Ha* a Close Call—Tragedy at a Charivari. Daleville temperance people are about to be outwitted in their fight of long standing to prevent saloons from entering their town as a result of a trick. Richard Reynolds made the regulation application for a license and the publication, as was expected by him, brought the customary majority remonstrances signed by 234 taxpayers. In the meantime James Brubaker applied for a license to serve drinks in the Reynolds room, making the advertisement required by law in a Muncie trade journal. The publication was overlooked by Daleville people until it is now too late to remonstrate before the meeting of the commissioners* court. Insane Farmer’s Weird Act. George Hendrixon, a prominent farmer of Osgood, created a grewsome scene on a recent night by going to the grave of his wife, who died a few months ago, disinterring her remains, and embracing the corpse. After getting the body out of the casket Hendrixon went into a maniacal state. The man was almost unmanageable, when several friends attempted to take him away. The body was again buried and Hendrixon was turned over to the sheriff of the county a raving lunatic. Flying Machine 1* Wrecked. Aridas Farmer of EvansviUe had a close call for his life at the Spencer County fair at Chrisney. He gave an exhibition of his flying machine, which was successful. In making his descent the machine struck a church steeple and was demolished. The inventor clung to the steeple and was saved. Charivari End* in a Tragedy. While a party of young men were giving a charivari serenade for John W. Cannady and his bride, Miss Lettie Boyd, at Odon, Floyd Kinman was fatally shot. The noise of drums and tin pans was not enough for some one in the party, who fired a revolver. The bullet entered Kinman’s abdomen. Brazil Coal Miner* Strike. At Brazil, 300,miners employed by the Keeler Coal Company went out on a strike because the boss at the mine refused to allow them to use powder purchased at a store that did not belong to the coal company. The miners say they bought the powder 50 cents cheaper on the keg than sold by the company.

Within Our Border*. Ex-Chief of Police George W. Newitt, Evansville, is dead. Terre Haute car works, in the trust, is decreasing its force. Sixty acres of timber burned near Union City. Origin unknown. Knightstown officials are visiting other towns, studying municipal ownership. Seventeen persons have gone crazy in Cass County since the first of the year. Frank Blue, Delphi, accidentally shot his son, 18, through the forehead. Fatah William Casidy, Lodi, found ground to pieces on the Big Four track, near Brazil.

Fairmount academy, friends’ institution, will be placed under a new management.

Mrs. Alonzo Miller, Kokomo, in drawing a shotgun from under the bed, fatally shot herself.

Joseph R. Padgett, 68, fell asleep on the B. & O. S. W. tracks near Mitchell and was killed.

William McKenzie, Terre Haute, lineman, who fell twenty-five feet and was given up for dead, may recover. The plant of the sand mill at Rosedale was destroyed by fire. Loss $22,000, slight insurance. The mill ground sand rock for a Muucie glass manufactory. The large stock and storage barn owned by Lou Evers, one mile south of Franklin, was fired by some unknown person. Loss estimated at $5,000, partially insured.

John Cragnor and Wayman Adams, a boy artist, who ran away from Muncie a short time ago, were seriously hurt at Decatur, 111. Pipes in a box car in which they were riding rolled on them. Albert Piety, Terre Haute, fired a blank cartridge in the face of Benjamin Adams during the Red Men’s pow-wow, putting his eye out. Adams has now brought suit against Piety for mayhem. Ex-Street Commissioner John Knauff, aged 60 years and married, committed suicide at Vincennes, shooting himself through the heart with a revolver. The cause is believed to be protracted ill health.

Graham Earle, manager of a theatrical troupe playing in Decatur, met his sister, the wife of Rev. J. Q. Cline, whom he had not seen for twehty years, and a banquet followed, where pulpit and stage talent mingled.

The experts who have recently completed an examination into the affairs of the clerk, recorder and sheriff of Marion County find that the ex-recorders and sheriff owe the county nearly SIO,OOO, the amount being made up of fees illegally withheld. The fourth attempt of Miss Lizzie Harris, a pretty 16-year-old girl, to wed Harry Moore, resulted in her apprehension and arrest by the authorities at Elwood. The girl achieved considerable notoriety some time ago by being disappointed at the altar three times by Moore, who would always fail to materialize. The parents of Miss Harris then resolved that their daughter should not marry the man of whom she was enamored. She ran away with Moore, but was arrested on her arrival at Elwood.

Populists of district 6 met in Knightstown. No fusion will be allowed in the district. Jacob Dunkle and bis wife, Logansport, who have lived together fifty-five years, quarreled, and the old lady left her husband, driving the only cow before her. Harvey Banks, a young attorney, was’ found dead in bed at Fort Wayne. It was thought death was due to heart failure, but post-mortem examination revealed poison in the stomach. The young man was in the Twenty-eighth Indiana battery during the late war. The cause Cor suicide ia not known.

THE PEOPLE'S MONEY

Not Settled Until Settled BlffEßj A Republican paper says that should be passed making all our • gations and all our money redeemat In gold, thereby making gold the standard of value. It says this be done by the Republican partyjMw winter, and then the currency will forever be taken out of Congresgsa Oh, dear, but this is the essence of wisdom. Of course the’l«| lowing Congress can’t repeal this and re-establish course the people can never issue? azS more greenbacks, not even In war, for the money question Is iorew l □ settled by the Republican party! writer saw the slavery question twice. Once it was settled wronffjHH the next time it was settled right, i 11 1850 the Congress of the United StatjE| passed the compromise measures, eluding the fugitive slave law..|.M! 1852 both great parties endorsed settlement and declared that the Slfl very question was taken out of CmH gress forever, but alas! they forgot kill Joshua R. Giddings, Salmonl Efl Chase, John P. Hale, Horace Greel«|| Owen Lovejoy, Wendell Phillips anufl John Brown. In thd spring of IBrl Senator Douglas introduced the Ka*|J sas-Nebraska bill, which was foriafll lated in exact accordance with the tlfll national platforms. Immediately tlifl slavery question was reopened anfl every Northern village, farm and haflM let was just teeming with antl-slavrafl men. The excitement raised hlgwß than ever before, and from that tinug forward the anti-slavery sentimeafl rose constantly higher and higher untiM two million freemen under Abrahaflfl Lincoln as commander-ln-chief inarctJ ed down South and settled the slavery® question right, by stamping out the stitution forever. I The money question is not settled; it] will not be settled by the establishment! of the single gold standard next witiM ter; it will never be settled until it Rg settled according to the principle* ©fl eternal justice and to the true interetjjfl of all the people. As long as a single! Populist or his son or grandson lives I in these United States the money ques«i tlon wall never be settled until It Is set-1 tied right. The Republican party In worshiping the golden calf. Many ofl the Democratic leaders are trying t<g force their party in the same direcM tlon. but no Populist has ever the knee to Baal, and he never wild Let the two old parties settle thd money question on a gold basis If then want to, but they will settle nothind except their own baseness and cow-1 ardice, for the Populists of 1900, like! the Free-sollers of 1854, will unsettle! all the settlement, and will continue tel fire the public heart and appeal to the| public conscience until the common! people of this country are redeemesa regenerated and disenthralled.—Non-3 conformist.

Carlisle in 1878. I I shall not enter Into an tlon of the causes which have comSSI bined to depreciate the relative valimß of silver, and to appreciate the of gold since 1873, but I am one of ‘|| those who believe that they are trau-il sient and temporary in their nntiiwjjM and that when they have passed nwaS||| or have been removed by the separ-3| ate or united action of the national most deeply interested in the subjecv|| the old ratio of actual and relative J| value will be re-established on a firmer 1 foundation than ever. I know that the -ji world’s stock of precious metals 1B ?1 none too large, and I see no reason to Ji apprehend that it will ever become so. || Mankind will be fortunate, Indeed, iff j| the annual production of gold and siL ver coin shall keep pace with the an- | nual increase of population, and industry. According to my view of the subject, 1 the conspiracy which seems to have ' been formed here and in Europe to de- S destroy by legislation and from three-sevenths to one-half the-l metallic money of the world is the /I most gigantic crime of this or any other| age. The consummation of such a 1 scheme would ultimately entail more; misery upon the human race than nil 3 the wars, pestilence and famine that 1 ever occurred in the history of the J world. The absolute and instantaneous destruction of half the movable • property of the world, Including | horses, ships, railroads and all other affiM pliances for carrying on commerce, a while it would be felt more sensibly' at the moment, would not produce any- S thing like the prolonged distress and ’ disorganization of society that must Inevitably result from the permanent annihilation of one-half of the metal- ’ tic money of the world.—John G. Car-4 lisle. ,

Andrew White and Mark Twain.

A new story of Andrew J. White, \ ambassador to Berlin, and Mark Twain has just reached this side. The humorIst’s aversion to the German language Is well known. His diatribe against it is a classic. Now Mr. White, while an excellent German scholar, speaks th© | language with a noticeable accent. Th®-i story hinges on these points. It wat'ji at a reception, and Mr. White, partly'-'! in sport, confined his conversation with 3 the author wholly to German. * : '.'lffi “I am glad to see,” interrupted the novelist, “that you appreciate Get*® man.” “I did until I read your abusive ar-,-3 tide upon the subject,” remarked the . ' ambassador. “I am now thinking of returning to English.” ', “How grateful the German must be,*