Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1917 — A CALL TO FARMERS [ARTICLE]

A CALL TO FARMERS

The appeal of Secretary of Agriculture Houston to the farmers of the country to join in agricultural preparedness measures so that the country may not be handicapped by food shortage in an international crisis is one that should be heeded. „ No doubt as a simple matter of business and l self-interest farmers everywhere are preparing for increased erbp acreage, the high prices of all agricultural products and the prospect of a continued extraordinary demand suggesting this; but Secretary Houston means something more. He can not, for want of labor, expect intensive cultivation of land as practiced in France and Germany, but he does ask for the utilization of all land possible an<j for a crop diversification in regions where attention to a single crop, as cotton, does not make the section fully self-support-ing. The secretary urges special care in testing and safeguarding seeds and the use of disinfecting dips, all seeds-.subject to disease that can be prevented, such as smut dipwheat, oats and rye—a plague tftht causes enormous loss. He urges that potatoes fie treated for scab .before planting and that equipment for plant and orchard spraying be provided. As a preventive of waste, which often happens on a farm when ' crops are larger than the producers can 'market profitably, he suggests that the ’surplus be preserved by. drying, canning and other preservative methods. This last system has been ip. operation. for several years in the South, experimental farming stations having roused young people to take ah interest in such undertakings by means of competitive contests—the boys In raising corn or other crops and the girls in canning fruits and vegetables, Where 1 a market was not available forfresh products they found one easily for home-canned goods, and made their labor profitable. As everyone dtnows, homo-dried and canned fruits and canned .vegetables are as a' rule of much better flavor than the factory products; and in view of prospectiveconditions it is aptlikely that the market will be overstocked this year ! or next with both domestic and factory industries in opejaffont, •■Several agencies, one of 'which at least, the Emergency Food Garden commission, seeks a national following. are promoting the general cultivation of vacant lots and all other available space, and the de-| .parfraent of agriculture approves of i this* movement also. If advice will do any good, this is surely to be a gardening year. 1 / -

Word was received at Lafayette Wednesday afternoon that Congressman. Will R. Wood would not vote for the resolution -declaring a state of " war existing with Germany, it Fas So published in the Lafayette Courier. The Lafayette Journal, the Republican organ of Tippecanoe county, which has sharply criticised Mr. . Wood for unpatriotic remarks made by him recently, immediately wired him at Washington and asked if this were -true. At midnight Wednesday night a reply was received, and Wood had evidently decided to climb onto the band wagon,, as he asserted the Courier telegram wa§ unauthorized and that he would vote for the resolution.

A submarine net is made of wire rope, about as thick as a lead pencil, and. the meshes are of great size-—about ten or fifteen feet square. The net has floats on top that keep bobbing up and down hike the float on a fishline, and op the- bottom are weights that keep I the whole thing in a perpendicular position. The submarine can not submerge to very great depths on account of the pressure—-200 feet being about the limiting depth. It sails innocently along, therefore, I until it pushes its nose into these ‘ meshes. The net now trails along on both sides of the submarine — its progress revealing the fact that something belmv is the motive power. Perhaps the net suddenly stops; that means that the hidden submarine has stopped, its navigators having made the . horrible' discovery that they are trapped—or perhaps the net has become twisted in the propeller. Vnder these, conditions the wise Submarine rises to the surface. It surrenders, beconies the property of the enemy, and its crew are made prisoners. If it does not take such action one of two things will happen- The enemy will wait upon the Surface until the submarine comes up, or, if it. starts moving the enemy will follow until the inevitable uprising. But perhaps the surface commander gets impatient; in such a case he can let a bomb down into the water, yVhich will | explode when it touches the roof, of the submarine. Of course, the submerged Germans know that this bomb is likely to drop at any minute; the “psychology” of such a situation tends to persuade the imprisoned crew to surrender. ;

It is sometimes a bit puzzling to know just how to hang a flag—just what is the correct position of

the union. A letter .to the New York Tribune tells exactly how it should be hung. “All rules for hanging against a wall a flag which is not attached to its staff are in reference to the right or left-hand of the observer. The union wiil be in the upper right-hand corner if the stripes are perpendicular. Thus on a street running north and south the flags on the east side will have all their unions toward the north, and those on the west side will all have their unions toward the south, unless some of them are hung with stripes perpendicular, when the position of the unio’n will be reversed. As one drives down the street, this may give at first the impression that there is no uniformity, though all the flags may be correctly hung, but. every flag’ will be right side out, despite the diversity.” Th|, writer adds that a street banner' should be hung across the street at an equal distance from both curbs;, that a flag, not attached to a staff hung upon a wall, should have the union at the top; that the union should be at-the left of the observer if the stripes are horizontal;. that the union should be at the right of the observer if the stripes are perpendicular.

Three thousand Valparaiso students, the men" attired in khaki and the women in Red Cross uniforms, 1 staged a patriotic parade Wednes- ‘ day afternoon. Addresses were delivered by Mayor Sisson, former Representative Crumpacker and others and the chorus~ of 3,000 voices sang • patriotic numbers. Business was suspended during the exerbises. President Wilson was sent , this telegram: “We pledge you our loyal support.”