Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1893 — Page 6

FARMS AND FARMERS.

The Next Wheat Crop. Present conditions do not offer much encouragement for the production of large quantities of wheat, says the American Farmer. While it is probable that prices will advance considerably before another crop is ready for market, it does not seem reasonable to suppose that a very high rate will be attained Until prices advance there will be comparatively little money made by farmers in growing wheat, but the man who is willing to give care and skill to the work and be satisfied with only moderate returns may safely give part of his land to the production of wheat. There will be certain indirect benefits that will help to make the crop profitable. In order to meet low prices a large yield is needed. This can only be secured by means of good management in everything pertaining to the crop. Improved culture increases the yield per acre and reduces the cost per bushel. If the quantity of wheat produced in this country in a year were produced on two-thirds of the land that is now used for the purpose (and it might easily be done), about 13,000,000 acres could be given to other crops and there would be a saving of seed grain amounting to not less than 15,000,000 bushels. Besides, land that is properly fitted and fertilized for the production of a large crop of wheat will be in a much better condition for growing Me succeeding crop than land on which the work of preparation was slighted. So, while at first glance the low price of wheat, both present and prospective, may seem too small to warrant very careful preparation of the soil and the liberal use of fertilizers. it is the one thing that makes it essential that they should not be slighted. If land for whejt is poor, Or is poorly prepared, it will not be well stocked, and what plants there are will make only a slow growth and give but an indifferent yield. Such results are never pleasant, but they can be endured better when there is a larger margin between the cost and the market price of the grain than there is at the present time. It is certain that the farmer who is to grow wheat under the conditions which now prevail should take every known precaution to avoid even a partial failure of the crop. The choice of seed should also receive careful attention. Upon this the success or failure of the crop will largely depend. The choice should have respect not only to the quality of the seed, which should be the best obtainable, but should also include the variety. The best sort for one locality may not be the best for another section. Therefore, while it is well to experiment on a small scale with new kinds, it will be best to make the main sowing with a variety that is known to be pretty well adapted to the soil and climate in which it is to be grown, and for which there is a ready market It is also important to choose the best land that is available for the crop and make it ready in time to admit of reasonably early sowing. Late sowing would endanger the crop and involve a risk which under the conditions that now exist ought not to be incurred.

Small Potatoes for Pigs. Pigs should be taught to eat well from the trough before they are weaned. If this is done, and a proper course of feeding pursued, a good degree of health will be maintained and there will be a steady and rapid growth. Like all other animals, pigs need a variety of food. They like milk, and if they could have only one kind ol food this would be much the best kind that could be given. But it is not desirable to restrict them to milk, and on the great majority of farms the pigs could not be kept on milk alone, or, chiefly, because, whatever might be thought of the quality, the quantity of this kind of food would be insufficient It is well to give them all the milk that can be spared, but this must be supplemented by other kinds of food. An excellent addition to the milk given to young pigs—and the mixture is also valuable for pigs of a larger growth—will be found in the potatoes that are too small for the market. Even where the largest varieties are grown, and good cultivation is given, there will be some potatoes which are not large enough to sell and which are not desirable for seed. The great majority of kinds, especially when not highly cultivated, have quite a proportion of unmarketable tubers. It pays well to save these small potatoes and feed them to the pigs. Before being offered to the pigs the potatoes should be washed and boiled. The washing can be quickly done in an old basket, or in a goodsized tub. All decayed specimens should be thrown out. Some people claim that such potatoes will not injure pigs, but it is hardly possible that they can be wholesome. It is certain that they are not very prom ising material from which to make good pork. After the sound potatoes have been washed they should be boiled until they are cooked through. Before they become cold they should bo put into a barrel and mashed. When fed to small pigs they ought to be mixed with milk. For large pigs, swill, or even cold water , will do to feed with them, though milk is a great deal better. The quantity of potatoes ought to be small at first, and be gradually increased. A little bJan can soon be given in connection with the potatoes and milk, and other and more

fattening materials can be added or substituted as the pigs increase in size and age. World's Fair Dairy Teats. Philadelphia Record. '• The tests of dairy cows at Chicago show that there is no temperature as “fixed.” At the beginning the temperature of the cream from the milk of the Jersey cows varied from 44 to 52 degrees, that from the Guernseys varied from 42 to 46 degrees, and that from the shorthorns from 40 to 44 degrees. At the ending of the week the cream from the Jersey herd varied from 51 to 58 degrees, that from the Guernseys from 47 to 54 degrees, and that from the shorthorns from 45 to 52 degrees. The average rise of temperature during churning of the Jersey cream was 7.5 degrees, with an average of 6 degrees from the Guernseys and 4.5 degrees from the shorthorns. The shortest time of churning Jersey cream was 70. minutes and the longest 120 minutes. The shortest time in churning the Guernsey cream was 49 minutes and the longest 130 minutes, while the shortest time for the shorthorns was 4Q' minutes and the longest 95 minutes. It will be noticed that the temperature of the cream varied during churning, and that the time required for “making the butter come” varied widely also. The three breeds varied greatly in the amount of cream contained in the milk, and the individual cows of the breeds differed also in quantity arid quality of product. As no two cows are alike in any respect, and as the milk and butter differ not only in quality, but also in the time required for churning, no fixed rule can be sett led upon in the matter of churning. All depends on the cow herself, and the requirements in her case will riot fit her companions in the herd. It is incumbent upon farmers, in the face of these tests,to give the ’greater attention to the cows they use, for not only is the 'care and attention, as well as the feed, potent factors with the breed, but the labor of churning is also dependent on the cows more than on the kind of churn. Dairying is a science, and the more it is investigated the greater it is made apparent that the heaviest loss on the farm comes from the use of scrub cows.

Co-Operative Dairying. Correspondence Ohio Farmer. I believe the solution of the dairy question lies in co-operation. The advantages of uniformity of product, of excellence unvarying, of a sure and profitable market for creamery butter, have been set forth time and again, but there is one thing that has not been properly emphasized. That is the saving in apparatus, machinery and labor. If forty farmers can have their butter made with one or two churns, why go to the expense of forty churns? If one set of apparatus will do better than forty, why buy the thirty-nine? The dairymen who co-operate, in creamery or factory, can make a handsome profit in this saving alone. The extra labor in a private dairy of twenty cows is worth at least 1300 a year, and this is saved by co-operation. What we want is to have our creameries built at a fair price, and then educate ourselves up to the plane of profitable working. The farmers don’t know enough to run it. They won’t keep cows enough, won’t keep them right, won’t take care of their milk, and are obstreperous generally, Another thing: We want to teach our young men to run these co-operative creameries, and put them there at a fair salary. It is not necessary to pay strangers a thousand dollars a year, when we can put one of our own men in at SSOO, who is capable, honest and trustworthy. The right man, with the right kind of patrons, will make money for all concerned. Dairy writers and authorities should encourage this kind of dairying, instead of devoting so much time to teaching farmers how to make butter, etc. Making butter is an art as well as a science. It should be no part of a farmer’s business. His part is to supply the milk. Let him be educated to do this, and send it to a factory or creamery.

S«U the Sarplun. The farmer or breeder who keeps culls through the winter is feeding off his profits, for frequently a lot of fowls will bring more in the fall than they will after being kept all winter. The farmer should dispose of all his surplus cockerels early and save feeding them at a loss, besides by doing this he will find that his pullets do better. The breeder should pick out all cockerels that show defects that will interfere with their value as breeders and sell them for what they will bring, as fast as such defects show themselves. Any more fowls than can be kept to the best advantage are a damage and should be disposed of. If you have room for fifty do not try to crowd one hundred through the winter, for the fifty with enough room will pay better than twice that many that have not room enough.

How Floor Oil Cloth Is Made.

The common oilcloth used for flooring has a basis of very thick canvas woven wide so as to be without seams. This is first dressed •wjith oil, which is carefully rubbed in; then several coats of paint are applied and allowed to dry. The colors are the last put on, being painted with wooden blocks, and that is why, with a little wear, the colordisappears even while the cloth is still good.

JUMPING A CLAIM.

Chicago Times. It was New Year’s eve in the camp and the Gold Nugget saloon was doing a heavy business all along tht line. Drinks were being rapidly dispensed over the counter, and in thf rear faro, roulette, and draw pokei were flourishing. —- “Pete” was in high humor. Hf had “bucked the tiger” successfully to-night and had quite enough ahead to work his claim in Corkscrew gulch. True, he had not done his assessment work this year, and by law anybody could “jump” the “Lone Star” that very day at midnight. But Pete was not the man to be footed with, as he already had two graves to his credit in Doc Turner’s ranch (the name applied to the cemetery in honor of a local doctor), which contained the bodies of two “tenderfeet” who had “differed” with him and were accidentally shot. The old year had but a few minutes to live when Hank Smith tied up his horse among the tall, snowladen pine trees near the “Lone Star,” and, loosening the thongs which fastened a pick to his horse’s saddle, and transfering a couple of sticks of dynamite and some candles from his saddle-bag to his pockets, shouldered the pick and slowly mounted the tortuous trail. He had long awaited this moment. Four years ago he had owned the Lone Star himself, but sickness came and he could not work his asssessment, and when he returned to the prospect and found Pete, armed to the teeth, in possession, he had accepted his hard luck with a good grace, but had “laid” for Pete ever since. But now at last his opportunity had come, and he determined to regain his property, and defend it at the risk of his life if necessary. “The tunnel was soon reached, and the moonlight, streaming aslant its black mouth, easily disclosed to his eyes Pete’s location stake. He looked at his watch. It marked exactly midnight. He then lit a candle and, finding a board, quickly sharpened one end of it, and smoothing off the board end, wrote his location notice on it —rechristening the claim the “Bright Hopes,” and planted the stake firmly in the ground. Thinking he would go into the tunnel and “see how she looked,” he took up his candle and pick and started in.

Just as he did so he thought he heard a whistle. He paused and listened; some one was coming up the trail below, whistling softly. Quickly dousing the light he crouched behind a big bowlder just at the mouth of the tunnel and drew his revolver. A few minutes later Pete stepped in view with a week’s supplies. Before he could put his burden down Hank suddenly rose up before him with the muzzle of his pistol almost touching the other’s face. “Hands up!” he cried; “I’ve got the drop on yer now.” Pete, seeing the other man had a full hand, promptly threw up his while Hank deftly relieved him of his firearms. “ ’Tain’t worth fightin’ about, anyhow,” Said Pete, carelessly. “There ain’t a pound of ore in the whole claim.” “Oh, come off,” said Hank. “How about all that ore you shipped last summer?” “That was out of a pocket I struck which petered out mighty quick; but if you don’t believe me, I’ll go in the hole and show you,” and taking a candle, Pete started in the tunnel, Hank following, but keeping his hand within easy reach of his gun. The breast of the tunnel was soon reached, and Pete, holding his candle up before it, said: “There, now, whatdid I tell yer? It’s nothin’ but dead rock.”

Hank took his candle and carefully examined the breast, roof and sides, but not a trace of mineral could be seen. “You’re welcome to her,” said Pete; “I’ve blown in all the money I want to; you can have a blast at her now if you want to.” Hank did not reply but appeared to be lost in thought. Finally he said, “Hold my candle a minute, Pete,” and taking his pick in both hands he struck the breast a heavy blow, and the rock and mud with which Pete had plastered it to fool curious and unwelcome visitors fell away, exposing a vein of glittering white metal. Almost at the same instant there was a deafening report and Hank fell to the ground with a bullet through his heart. Pete, with a smoking revolver in his hand, which he had snatched from Hank’s belt as 'he struck the blow, stood over him with a grim smile as he muttered “Another accident!” But retribution was close at hand. The reverberation of the shot had hardly died away among the neighborning peaks when a rock, which had long been loose, started by the sudden shock, fell from the roof, bringing tons of earth with it, and Pete and his third victim were crushed into a shapeless mass.

“Similla Similibus Curantur.”

The quantity of pepper, particularly red pepper, that is consumed by natives of tropical countries will be deemed incredible to people who live in more temperate but there is a physiological reason for the use of these sharp condiments. The use of red pepper in the tropics braces up the digestive organs when impaired and relaxed by the great heat. In other words, pepper is nature’stonic against hot weather, and the more liberal use of it in summer time might be beneficial even to the natives of the temperate zones.

THE FAIR SEX.

Here we have a Very pretty shape In Tuscan straw, with a wreath of pink roses underneath the brim, a large bow of pale yellow ribbon, and graceful plumes of yellow ostrich feathers. Did you ever look at a piece of pretty silk and wonder what you iould make of it? I had a quantity 3f China silk samples given me the ather day, and I kept getting out the box they are in, and turning them over and wondering what to do with this one and that. I wish the sisters would give me some ideas. They are quite large pieces, some of

them half a yard square. I made a letter case of red surah, last week, ind think it is pretty enough for our “Corner.” I gathered the silk at the top, leavings a heading, and turned up the bottom for a pocket. Then I sewed rope across the top and across the pocket, and left tassels at the corners, tied with red ribbon. I fastened the case to the cover of a ligar box, using tiny tacks, and concealing the heads in the folds of the silk. Some day I intend to cover the back of the board. I unraveled the rope, as it was too thick, and used but a few strands. An orange case would be pretty. The rope only looks well on a plain color, but a case of figured silk could be trimmed with cord to match. I think I will make several cases out of my silk pieces. They can be used for letters, a brush and comb, or scraps. Now, sisters, please give me lots of ideas for my pretty bits. Harriet.

The Empress of Germany had a narrow escape from serious injury in Coblentz a few days ago. She was standing in the park of one of the orphan asylums in that city talking to the children, when a large pane of glass from an upper story fell to the ground almost on the spot where her Majesty stood. Pieces of the glass, in fact, fell on her shoulder, but she was not cut. The teachers and officials of the institution were naturally greatly worried, but the Empress assured them that she had not been even badly frightened. She expressed her satisfaction that none of the children had been injured. • One of the inmates of the institution had broken the glass in leaning against it to see the Empress in the garden below.

A TUSCAN STRAW.

The Queen of Italy has climbed to Grifetti Peak of Monte Rosa, taking with her two priests, who said the highest of high masses so far as altitude counts, albeit it was low mass canonically. An altar stone was placed on a wooden table which was planted on the peak as a memorial of the Queen’s mountaineering piety. On the table her Majesty has written an Italian inscription which may be translated thus: “All that is great moves us to believe, for faith is itself greatest. Before these high summits, these solemn glaciers, all miserable doubt is silent and faith rises strong and living up to God.”

Mrs Alice Shaw, the whistler, has been interviewed on her art. “First,” she says, “one must have his whistle. Next he must possess an absolutely correct ear. The least fluctuation or deviation from harmony creates h worse discord in whistling than in almost any other form of melody. ” But. starting with the lung power, the correct ear and the whistling ability, patience and ceaseless practice will make a good whistler. ’ _______

Miss Jenny Mighell, of Brighton, England, is suing the Sultan of Johore for breach of promise. The Sultan’s attorney objected that his client being a ruling monarch could not be sued in England, but Miss Mighell’s lawyer replied that, inaS' much as the defendant had lived in England privately as Mr. Allen Baker, he had disentitled himself sufficiently to be sued in England, and that, moreover, he was subject to the authority of the Empress of India. The question will be argued next month.

THE WORLD’S FAIR.

Profits in the Plaisance—Attendance Up to October 30—A Financial Success. It is calculated that the visitors to the World’s Fair have spent more than $15,000,000 in the Midway Plaisance. The total receipts of the Fair from concessions are about $5,000,000. The Fair’s percentages from the sales of its concessionaries vary, but 20 per cent, is a fair average. This indicates that the visitors have spe.it about $25,000,000 on the I’a.r grounds, exclusive of the price of admission.-- Of this amount at least three-fourths, more probably-two-thirds, has gone to the Plaisance. The chief concessions on the main grounds are for the restaurants, the Intramural railroad, the electric launches, the gondolas and the catalogues. But on the Plaisance the concessions are almost innumerable. The Ferris Wheel easily heads the list in earnings. It has been a greater success financially than was the Eiffel Tower at Paris. It cost $392,000, and it did not begin to revolve until the latter part of June. For a while it carried only 5,000 or 6,000 people a day, but in August the number began to increase rapidly until 25,000 was only an ordinary day’s business. On Chicago Day it carried 40,000. It is said that the total number of its passengers at the end of the Fair will be about 2,200,000. It gets 50 cents apiece from these, the gross receipts Jhus being sl,100,000. By its contract with the Fair the wheel was to retain all its receipts until $300,000 was reached. The Fair was to have half of all over that sum. Hagenbach’s animal show probably ranks next to the Ferris Wheel. Its profits are said to have been $225,000. The gross recipts of the street in Cairo have been about SBOO,OOO, and its profits are estimated at $200,000. The receipts of the Fair from the German Village and Old Vienna have been $175,000 each, its share being 20 per cent, in each case. It is said that these villages wid have a profit of about $200,000 apiece. The beauty show, as the people call it, has for many weeks been crowded uncomfortably. Its profits are anywhere from SIOO,000 to $150,000. All the other concesssions in the Plaisance have made great profits. The paid admissions to the World’s Fair up to October 30 have been as follow: Openinpday 128,165'0ct. 5 180,454 Decoration day 115.578. Oct. 6 143.579 Infanta day 135,281 Oot. 7 222.882 German day.... 165,069|0ct. 8 88 050 Fourth of July. 283.2730 ct. 9.... 710,181 Swedish Day.. 12J.873 oct. 10 3J9.294 Bohemian day. 168.1-61Oct.il 309,277 British day.... 168.851 Oct. 12 275,217 Illinois day... 241.951 Oct. 13 215,313 New York day 160,382 Oct. 11 207,732 Wisconsin day 175.409 ( 0ct 15 81.769 Fenns’lv'a day 203,460 Oct. 16 235,287 Wales day. ... 180.7160 ct. 17 237.483 California day 231,522 Oct. 18... 298,458 Michigan day.. 160,128 Oct. 19 305.961 Ohio day 196.70 J Oct. 20 248,743 Texas day.,,.™ 202,376 Oct. 21. 290,317 Fish'm’n’s day 174,509 Oct. 23.152,206 lowa day... .. 199.174 Oct. 23..... 233,053 Odd Fellow day 195,210 Oct 24.. 244,127 Indiana day... 196,4240 ct. 25.. 2i9,3-'9 Irish day 107,853 Oct. 26 194,497 Total for May.. 1,050.0 17 Oct. 27 254,464 Total for June..2.6.5,1130ct. 28 ... 240,732 Total for Ju1y..2.76U.2630ct. 29 146,821 Total for Aug. 3,515<,493 Total for 5ept..4.658,902 T’tal to date 21,251,392 Oct. 1. 48,73 > Greatest day ih Oct. 2 128,5'6 Paris, 1889.... 397,150 Oct. 3 145, 31 Greatest day in Oct. 4............. 175,175 Phila, 18 6..., 217,526

The total free admissions up to date were 5,898,423. Financially the Fair has been a remarkable success, all its bonded indebtedness having been paid off on Chicago day, and a fund remaining for the partial liquidation of other indebtedness, subscribed as a guarantee fund. All the concessionaires are said to have made tremendous profits, even after giving the Fair 20 per cent, of the gross receipts. The attendance has surpassed that of the Paris Exposition by many millions. Chicago Day alone surpassed the maximum daily attendance at Paris by over 300,000. The total receipts and attendance will be announced soon.

Willie and Gertrude.

Washington Star. _ It was night. The weather was bitter cold. “Oh, Willie!” said little Gertrude, “what shall we do? We are so poor that we have, no fuel with which to cook a porter house steak for our dear mamma.” “And it* is no use for us to try to borrow from the neighbors.” “No. There is nothing left to borrow.” “Where is the cat?” asked little Gertrude. “Here,” replied Willie, “Put her on the woodshed and twist her tail.” Willie did so. In a short time the windows of the neighborhood opened and bootjacks showered down. Gertrude gathered them up and said: “There, Willie, put the kittie carefully away; we may need her again when these boot jacks are burned." Was not Gertrude a wise little girl to profit so well by what she read in the comic papers?

Robert Louis Stevenson is in quarantine at Honolulu nursing his sick Samoan servant, Talola. He sailed on the steamer Mariposa from Apia to Honolulu for a short visit but after his arrival in port the servant was stricken with a malignant attack of measles. On the voyage Stevenson twice coutributed his services to entertainments given by the passengers, telling a weird tale of the sea and reading his graphic description of the great hurricane of 1889 at Samoa. The fortune of Mrs. W. H. Vanderbilt is estimated at 130500,000.

OUR PLEASURE CLUB.

Two of the strangest as welLas the shortest epitaphs are “Asleep (as usual)” on the tombstone of a large individual by one who knew him well and “Left Till Called For” is carved on a gravestone in Cane Hill cemetery, Belfast, A photographer has this inscripton over his grave: “Here I lie, taken from life." “Oh, mammal” exclaimed Percy, the other day, when he saw a huge bluefish which had just been caught, “look at the poor fish trying to breathe through his ears.”—Harper’s Young People. Hobbs and Dobbs were discussing men who stammer. “The hardest job I ever had,” said Hobbs, “was to understand a deaf and dunjb man who stammered.” “How can a deaf and dumb man stammer?” asked Dobbs. “Easily enough,” replied Hobbs; “he had rheumatism in his fingers.”

Life. A SOFT THING.

Mrs. F. —Your former servant girl wants me to hire her. Is she honest and reliable? Dressmaker —I can’t say. I have sent her to you with your bill five or six times, but she has never brought me back my money. There was a dog fight in City Hall Square yesterday and the Legislalature of Idaho adjourned to see it. There is nothing mean about us.— Boise City Record. “Idleness,” said uncle Eben, “makes er man talkative. Seems laik its onpossible fur er man ter do Buffin' an’say nuffin’ simultaneously.” Teacher (hearing arithmetic class recite)—-Mike, if you should see seven birds on a tree and should shoot three of them, how many birds would remain? Mike —Nary one, mum; the rest o’ them would be afther flyin’ away.

WORTH KNOWINC Brooklyn Life.

Van Pelt —When my wife gets hysterical and begins to cry how can I stop her? Miss Wise —Tell her it is making her nose red. “Hallo, Jack, I understand you’re engaged.” “I am, old man, th the—" “Ah, yes, I know, to the dearest, sweetest little woman on earth. The one woman calculated to make you a happy home, the embodiment of your ideal, the dream of your youth." “Say, old man, how did you ever find that out? You —you don’t know her, do you?”—Harper’s Bazar.

RETALIATION. Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday.

She—Good gracious, Charlie! whal is the meaning of this? He —Why, if you are going sos those beast|y crinolines I shall adopt peg tops and side whiskers. “Grinder is about to realize all the dreams of his life.” Snubly—Rich uncle dead? “No; his wife has graduated from a cooking school that teaches the making of thirteen different kinds of pie." Josiah —Mandy, put on your specs and see if you can find his exhibit in the guide book. Mandy—What exhibit? __ Josiah—This man Exit that has his name up at every gate an' in most of the buildin's.