Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1895 — Page 7

SHAMGAR’S OXGOAD.

ITS USE AS A WEAPON AGAINST THE PHILISTINES. Rev. Dr. Talmage Enforces the Neceso! txr IToin nr TXTAa nAn TUa I-X ana Ijt UI U Bill tile *1 Caj/UU »» C tl arcUt Hand for All Great Emergencies Bat We Mnit-Have God with U». Sermon in New York. In his sermon Sunday Rev. Dr. Taimage discussed one of the most heroie and picturesque characters in ancient Jewish history, a man who, like many Others who achieved a high distinction, came from the sturdy rural classes—the agriculturists. The subject of the sermon was “Shamgar’s Oxgoad,” the text being, "After him was Shamgar, which slow of the Philistines 600 men with an oxgoad” (Judges iii., 31). One day while Shamgar, the farmer, was plowing with a yoke of oxen his command of whoa-haw-gee was changed to the shout of battle. Philistines, always ready to make trouble, march up with sword and spear. Shamgar, the plowman, had no sword and would not probably have known how to wield it if he had possessed one. But fight he must or go down under the stroke of the Philistines. He had an oxgoad—a weapon used to urge on the lazy team; a weapon about eight feet long, with a sharp iron at one end to puncture the beast, and a wide iron chisel or shovel at the other end with which to scrape the clumps of soil from the plowshare. Yet, with the iron prong at one end of the oxgoad and the iron scraper at the other, it was not such a weapon as one would desire to use in battle with armed Philistines. But God helped the farmer, and leaving the oxen to look after themselves he- charged upon the invaders of his homestead. Some of the commentaries to make it easier for Shamgar suggest that perhaps he led a regiment of farmers into the combat, his oxgoad only one of many oxgoads. But the Lord does not need any of you to help in making the Scriptures, and Shamgar, with the Lord on his side, was mightier than GOO Philistines, with the Lord against them. The battle opened. Shamgar, with muscle strengthened by open air and plowman’s and reaper's and tljhisher’s toil, jises the only weapon at hand, and he swings the oxgoad up and down, and this way and that, now stabbing with the iron prong at one end of it, and now thrusting with the iron scraper at the other, and now bringing down the whole weight of the instrument upon the heads of the enemy. The Philistines are In a panic, and the supernatural forces come in, and a blow that would not under other circumstances have prostrated or slain left its victim lifeless, until when Shamgar walked over the field he counted 100 dead, 200 dead, 300 dead, 400 dead 600 dead, GOO dead —all the work done by an oxgoad with iron prong at one end and an iron shovel at the other. The fame of this achievement by this farmer with an awkward weapon of war spread abroad and lionized him until he was hoisted into the highest place of power and became the third of the mighty judges of Israel. So you see that Gineinnatim was not the only. man lifted from plow to throne. A Mighty Weapon. For what reason was this unprecedented and unparallelled victory of a fanner’s oxgoad put into this Bible, where there was no spare room for the unimportant and the trivial? It was, first of all, to teach you, and to teach me, and to teach all past ages since then, and to teach all ages to come that in the war for God and against sin we ought to put to the best use the weapon we happen to have on hand. Why did not Shamgar wait until he could get a war charger, with neck arched, and back caparisoned, and nostrils sniffing the battle afar off, or until he could get war equipment, or could drill a and wheeling them into line command them forward to the eharge? To wait for that would have been defeat and annihilation. So he takes the best weapon he could lay hold of, and that is an oxgoad. We are called into the battle for the right, and against wrong, and many of us have not just the kind of weapon we would prefer. It may not be a sword of argument. It may not be the spear of sharp, thrusting wit. It may not be the battering ram of denunciation. But tfiere is something we can do and some forces wo can wield. Do not wait for what you have not, but use what you have. Perhaps you have not eloquence, but you have a smile. Well, a smile of encouragement has changed the behavior of tens of thousands of wanderers, and brought them back to God, and enthroned them in heaven. You cannot make a persuasive appeal, but you can set an example, and a good example has saved more souls than you could count in a year if you counted all the time. You cannot give SIO,OOO, but you can give as much as the widow of the gospel, whose two mites, the smallest coins of the Hebrews, were bestowed in such a spirit as to make her more famous than all the contributions that ever endowed all the hospitals and universities of all Christendom of all time. You have very limited vocabulary, but you can say “yes” or "no,” and a firm "yes” or an emphatic "no” has traversed the centuries and will traverse ull eternity with good influence. You may not have the courage to confront a large assemblage, but you can tell a Sunday school class of two—a boy and a girl—how to find Christ, and one of them may become a William Carey to start influences that will redeem India, and the ■other a Florence Nightingale, who will illumine the battlefields covered with the dying and the dead. That wns a tough case in a town of England where a young lady, applying for a Sabbath school class, was told by the superintendent she would have to pick up ■one out of the street The worst of the class brought from the street was one Bob. He was fitted out with respectable clothing by the superintendent. But after two or three Sabbaths he disappeared. He was found with his clothes in tatters, for he had been fighting. The second time Bob ,was well clad for school. After coming once or twice be again disappeared and was found in rags, consequent upon fighting. The teacher was disposed to give him up, but the superintendent said, "Let us try him again,” and the third suit of clothes was provided him. Thereafter he came until he was converted, and joined the chnrch, and started for the gospel min- - Istry, and became a foreign missionary, preaching and translating the Scriptures. Who wks the boy called Bob? The illustrious Dr. Robert Morrison, great on earth .and greater in heaven. Who his teacher was I know not, but she used the opportunity opened, and great has been her re-

ward. Yon may not be able to load an Armstrong grin. You may not be able to hnrl a Hotchkiss shell. Yon may not be able to shoulder a glittering musket, but use anything you can lay your hands on. Try a blacksmith’s hammer, or a merchant’s yardstick, or a mason’s trowel, or a carpenter’s plane, or a housewife’s broom, or a farmer’s oxgoad. One of the surprises of heaven will be what grand results came from how simple means. Matthias Joyce, the vile man, became a great apostle of righteousness not from John Wesley preach, but from seeing him kiss a little child on the pulpit stairs. If God Be in tlie Work, *j Again, my subject springs upon us the thought that in calculating the prospects of religidits attempt we must take omnipresence, and all the other attributes of God into the calculation. Whom do you see on that plowed field of my text? One hearer says, “I see Shamgar.” Another hearer says, “I see GOO Philistines.” My hearer, you have missed the chief personage on that battlefield of plowed ground. I also see Shamgar and GOO Philistines, but more than all, and mightier than all, and more overwhelming than all, I see God. Shamgar, with his unaided arm, however jnuscular, and with that humble instrument made for agricultural purposes and never constructed for combat could not have wrought such victory. It was omnipqtence above, and beneath, and back of and at the point of the oxgoad. Before that battle was over the plowman realized this, and all the GOO Philistines realized it, and all who visited the battlefield afterward appreciated it. want in heaven to hear the story, for it can never be fully told on earth —perhaps some day may be set apart for the rehearsal, while all heaven listens—the story of how God blessed awkward and humble instrumentalities,—Many as-evange 1 ist has come into a town given up to worldliuess. The pastors say to the evangelist: “We are glad you have come, but it is a hard field, and we feel sorry for you. The members of our churches play progressive euchre, and go to the theater, and bet at the horse races, and gayety and fashion have taken possession of the town. We have advertised your meetings, but are not very hopeful. God bless you.” This evangelist takes his place on platform or pulpit. He never graduated at college, and there are before him twenty graduates of the best universities. He never took one lesson in trained orators. Many of the Indies present are graduates of the highest female seminaries, and one slip in grammar or one mispronunciation will result in suppressed giggle. Amid the general chill that pervades the house the unpretending evangelist opens his Bible, and takes for his text, “Lord, that my eyes may be opened.” Opera glasses in the gallery curiously scrutinize the speaker. He tells in a plain way the story of the blind man, tells two or three touching anecdotes, and the general chill gives way before a strange warmth.

A classical hearer who took the first honor at Yale and who is a prince of proprieties finds his spectacles becoming dim with a moisture suggestive of tears. A worldly mother who has been bringing up her sons and daughters in utter godlessness puts her handkerchief to her eyes and begins to weep. Highly educated men -who came to criticise and pick to pieces and find fault bow on their gold-headed canes. What is that sound from under the gallery? It is a sob, and sobs are catching, and all along the wall and all up and down the audience, there is deep emotion, so that when at the close of the service anxious souls are invited to especial seats, or the inquiry room, they come up by scores and kneel and repent and rise up pardoned; the whole town is shaken, and places of evil amusement are sparsely attended and rum holes lose their patrons, and the churches are thronged, and the whole community is cleansed and elevated and rejoiced. What power did the eviugelist bring to bear to capture that town for righteousness? Not one brilliant epigram did he utter. Not one graceful gesture did he make. Not one rhetorical climax did he pile up. But there was something about him that people had not taken in the estimate when they prophesied the failure of that work. They had not taken into the calculation the omnipotence of the Holy Ghost. It was not the flash of a Damascus blade. It was God, before and behind, and all around the oxgoad. When people say that crime, will triumph, and the world will never be converted because of 1 the seeming insufficiency of the means employed, they count the 000 armed Philistines on one side, and Shamgar, the farmer, awkwardly equipped, on the other side; not realizing that the chariots of God are 20,000, and that all heaven, cherubic, seraphic, archangelic, deific, is on what otherwise would be the weak side. Napoleon, the author of the saying, “God is on the side of the heaviest artillery,” lived to find out his mistake; for at Waterloo, the 100 guns of the English overcame the 250 guns of the French. God is on the side of the right, and one man in the right will eventually be found stronger than 000 iu the wrong. In all estimates of any kind of Christian work, do not make the mistake every day made of leaving out the head of the universe. The Choice of Weapons. Again, my subject springs upon us .the thought that in God’s service it is best to use weapons that are particularly suited to ns. Shamgar hnd, like many’ of us, been brought up on a farm. He knew nothing about javelins and bucklers and helmefs and breastplates and greaves of brass and catapults and ballistae and iron sc'ythes fastened to tub axles of chariots. But he was familiar with the flail of the thrashing floor and knew how to pound with that, and the ax of the woods and knew how to hew with that, and the oxgoad of the plowman and knew how to thrust with that, and you and I will do best to use those means that we can best handle, those weapons with which we can make the most execution. Some in God's service will do best with the pen, some with the voice, some by extemporaneous speech, for they have the whole vocabulary qf the English language half way between their brain and tongue, and others will do best with manuscript spread out before them. Some will serve God by the plow, raising wheat and corn and giving liberally of what they sell to churches and missions; some as merchants, and out of their profits will dedicate a tenth to the Lord; some as physicians, prescribing for the world’s ailments, and some as attorneys, defending innocence and obtaining rights that otherwise would not be recognized, and some as sailors, helping bridge the seas, and some as teachers nnd pastors. The kingdom of God is dreadfully retarded by so many of us attempting to do that which we cannot do—reaching up for broadsword or falchion or bayonet or sdmiter or enfield rifle or paixhan’s

gun—while we ought to be ronteut with an oxgoad. I thank God that there are tens of thousands of Christians whom yon never heard of and never will hear of until you see them in the high plaees of heaven, who are now in a quiet way in homes and sehoolhonses, and in praying circles, and by sick beds, aod up dark alleys, saying the saving word and doing the saving deed, the aggregation of their jvork overpowering the most ambitious statistics. In the grand review of heaven, when the regiments pass the Lord of Hosts, there will be whole regiments of nurses and Sabbath sehookteacbe-FS and traet distributers and unpretending workers, before whom, us they pass, the kings and queens of God and the Lamb will lift flashing coronet and bow down in recognition and reverence: The most of the Christian work for the world’s reclamation and salvation will be done by people of one talent and two talents, while the ten talent people are up in the astronomical observato-j ries studying other worlds, though they do little or nothing for the redemption of this world, or are up in the rarefied realms of “higher criticism” trying to find out that Moses did not write the Pentateuch, or to prove that the throat of the whale was not large enough to swallow the minister who declined the call to Nineveh and apologizing for the Almighty for certain inexplicable things they have found in the Scriptures,

Simple Tools Are Best. Years ago I was to summer in the Adirondacks and my-wealthy friend, who was a great hunter and fisherman, said, “I am not going to the Adirondaeks this season, and you can take my equipment and I will send it up to Paul Smith's.” Well, it was there when I arrived in the Adirondaeks, a splendid outfit, that cost many hundreds of dollars, a gorgeous tent and such elaborate fishing apparatus; such guns Of all styles and exquisite make and reels and pouches and boat and torches and lunch baskets and many more things that I could not even guess the use of. And my friend of the big soul had even written on and engaged men who should accompany me into the forest and carry home the deer and the trout. If the mountains could have seen and understood it at the time, there would have been panic among the antlers and the fins through all the “John Brown's Tract.” Well, I am no hunter, and not a roebuck or a game fish did -1 injure. But- there were hunters there that season who had nothing but a plain gun and a rug to sleep on and a coil of fishing line and a box of ammunition and bait, who came in ever and anon with as many of the captives of forest and stream as they and two or three attendants could carry. Now, I fear that many Christian workers who have most elaborate educational and theological and professional equipment and most wonderful weaponry, sufficient, you would think, to capture a whole community or a whole nation for God, will in the last day have but little except their fine tackling to show, rihile some who had no advantages except that which they got in prayer and consecration will, by the souls they have brought to the shore of eternal safety, prove that they have been gloriously successful as fishers of men and in taking many who, like the hart, were panting after the water brooks. What made the Amalekites run before Gideon’s army? Each one of the army knew how much racket the breaking of one pitcher would make. So 300 men that night took 300 pitchers, and a lamp inside the pitcher, and at a given signal the lamps were lifted, and the pitchers were violently dashed down. The flash of the light and the racket of the 300 demolished pitchers sent the enemy into wild flight. Not much of a weapon, you would say, is a broken pitcher, but the Lord made that awful crash of crockery the means of triumph for his people, and there is yet to be a battle with the pitchers The night of the world’s dissipation may get darker and darker, but after awhile, in what watch of the night I know not, all the ale pitchers, and the wine pitchers, and the beer pitchers, and the whisky pitchers of the earth will be hurled into demolition by converted inebriates and Christian reformers, and at that awful crash of infernal crockery the Amalekitish host of pauperism and loaferism and domestic quarrel and cruelty and assassination will fly the earth.

Ask God for Help. Take the first weapon you can lay your hands on. Why did David choose the sling when he went at Goliath and Goliath went at him? Brought up in the country, like every other boy, he knew how to manage a sling. Saul’s armor was first put on him, but the giants armor was too heavy. The helmet was clapped on him as an extinguisher, and David said, “I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them.” And the first wise thing David did after putting on Saul’s armor was to put it off. Then the brook Elah, the bed of which was dry when I saw it and one vast reach of pebbles, furnished the five smooth stones of the brook with which Goliath was prostrated. Whether it be a boy's sling, or a broken pitcher, or an oxgoad, take that which you can manage and ask God for help, and no power on earth or in hell can stand before you. Go out, then, I charge you, against the Philistines. We must admit the odds are against us —000 to 1. In the matter of dollars, those devoted to worldlincss and sin and dissipation, when compared with the dollars devoted to holiness nnd virtue —GOO to 1. The houses set apart for vice and despoliation and ruin, as compared with those dedicated to good, GOO to 1. Of printed newspaper sheets scattered abroad from day to day, those depraving as compared with those elevnting, are GOO to 1. The agencies for making the world worse compared with the agencies for making the world better, GOO to 1? But Moses in his song chants, “How should one chase a thousnnd and two put ten thousand to flight?” and in my text one oxgoad conquers GOO uplifted battleaxes, and the day of universal victory is coming, unless the Bible be a fabrication and eternity a myth, and the Chariots of God are unwheeled on the golden streets, and the last regiment of the celestial hosts lies dead on the plains of heaven. With ns, or without us, the work will be done. Oh, get into the ranks somewhere, armed somehow; you with an needle, you with a pen, you with a good book, you with a loaf of bread for the hungry, you with a vial of medicine for the sick, you with a pair of shoes for the barefooted, you with word of encouragement for the young man trying to get back from evil ways, you with some story of the Christ who came to heftl the worst woundß and pardon the blackest guilt and call the farthest wanderer home. I say to you as the watchman of London used to say at night to the householders, before the time of street lamps catne: "Hang out yonr light I” ’’Hang out you# light'”

TOPICS FOR FARMERS

A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Surface Cultivation for Corn Will Give More and Earlier Grain—No Profit in Home Mixing of Fertilizers—How to Prune Fruit Trees. Corn Culture. Surface cultivation for com is in the air, and the manfnacturers of cornworking tools are working along that line, and the company that will give us the best is the one we want to patronize. lam so fully satisfied that surface cultivation will give ns more and earlier corn, says S. Favill In the Prairie Farmer, that I believe the time will soon be here when the intelligent farmer will no more allow the corn roots to be broken if he can help it, than he would allow the leg of his calf or pig to be broken. My plan for planting the corn is this: First lit the ground nicely, have it firm and free from lumps, the rows only one way. This will save all checking and marking. Would prefer it put in drills, kernels ten inches apart. In this way one can be plowing, fitting and planting at the same time (if he has teams enough); if it is a small farmer, with only one team, he can fit any part of the piece and plant it, and then fit the rest In that way part of the corn will be growing and ready for the cultivator as soon as one can get to it lam in favor of a free use of tlie common harrow on the field .corn. Commence in a day or two after the planting is done and harrow till the corn is four to six inches high, but do not commence in the morning after the corn is up, till the dew is off, for the corn will break easily when it is wet But, after the sun Is on it awhile, It gets tougher and will stand a good deal of knocking around without breaking. Be sure and go over the whole field before the corn is up and level it down, and then the after harrowing will be less likely to cover any of the corn. Do not be scared if it does look a little bad when you first go over it—l mean when the corn is up; unless there is a lump or a sod on it, it will straighten up and take care of Itself, and the harrow will break any crust that may be formed on the ground that you cannot break with any kind of cultivator, and, besides, you can kill weeds much faster than with any other tool, and kill them, too, before they start much. So keep the fine tooth harrow going as long as you can, and it will do you good.

Home Mixing of Fertilizers. Nothing can be gained by the purchase of mineral fertilizers and mixing them by hand. All the large establishments where fertilizers are made have facilities and machinei*y for grinding and mixing the fertilisers, so that the work can be done much more cheaply than it is possible to do it by hand. The competition among dealers insures a low price for all commercial fertilizers. Thirty years ago, when phosphate began to be used in the Northern States, the price by the ton was SGS, and in small amounts It sold at 5 cents per pound, or at the rate of SIOO per ton. We think that at this time Southern farmers got their phosphate somewhat cheaper than this. They bought by the carload for growing cotton, and paid as high as S4O per ton. Competition has reduced the price. Owing to strict State Inspection of fertilizers there is less cheating than there was then. All fertilizers have their guaranteed analysis marked in each package, and they are almost invariably what they are represented to be. Pruning Fruit Trees. In pruning fruit trees attention has to be given to the manner In which the particular kind bears Its fruit The cherry and the pear both bear their fruit on short spurs, and In trimming, therefore, the effort should be to produce a large quantity of healthy fruit spurs. Summer pruning does this admirably. The branches that we want to remain as leading shoots should uot be touched; but the weaker ones may be pinched back, about midsummer, about one foot or two-tliirds of their growth. This will Induce the swelling of a number of buds that will produce flowers instead of branches, and in this way, fruit spurs can be obtained on comparatively young trees; but with such kinds as the grape vine, the fruit Is borne on the branches of last year's growth, so the effort should be to throw all the vigor possible Into those growing branches that we want to bear fruit the next season. To do this we pinch back the -shoots that we do not want to extend, or even pull these weak shoots out altogether. A little pruning is then necessary, in the winter, to shorten back these strong, bearing canes, or to prune out altogether the weaker ones that we check by pinching back during the growing season.

Cultivating the Small Grains. English farmers have learned that there Is great advantage in spring cultivation of winter whea’t But the English method of hoeing the grain by hand labor is much too expensive to be afforded at present wheat prices. What is quite as good as hand hoeing, and much less expensive, is thoroughly harrowing the surface in spring before sowing grass and clover seeds. Rolling should follow the harrowing. With spring grain the rolling ought to come first, and compact the soil around the young plant It is a mistake to roll as soon as the seed is sown, as Is often done. If rains follow after this compacting of the surface the young plants do not easily break through it, and are .weakened. Rolling the surface after tho grain is np operates differently. It breaks any crust that may have formed, and presses the soil closely about the roots. Then In a day or two run the smoothing barrow over the rolled surface, and It will be as good as running the cultivator through young corn to

Increase It* growth. After the grain, is up heavy rains urill not compact the surface soil, for the force of the rain drops Is broken by the leave*, and no crust over the surface will be formed. If clover or grass seed Is sown with spring grain it should be aftdr the rolling and cultivating, else the small seeds will be covered too deeply. Irrigating the Garden. j The subject of Irrigation of the garden Is one of present Interest The garden Is the most productive part of the farm, but quite often the product is greatly reduced by a few dry days! during which young plants are destroyed for the want of water, or the older ones are so weakened at the blossoming time that they fail to set fruit. That most important crop, the strawberry,' especially suffers from the want of wa» ter, and It has been found that simple method of irrigation has tripled, the average yield, with an equivalent) improvement in the quality of the fruit It has been shown by scientific experiments that the yield of any crop Is* in proportion to the quantity of water* passing through the plants. This is not only reasonable, but easily demonstrable, as the only food available to plants is that dissolved in water, and if the* water is deficient in supply the plant is starved to the extent of the deficiency, while tha contrary applies equally. So that a short supply of water In the soil is equivalent to a shortening of the supply of the most fertile soil cannot yield more than a meager crop. It is the same as if tho soil were deficient In fertility. It Is usually proper to irrigate most garden truck at the blossoming period, especially If the soli is dry and the weather warm, and it is again essential to water when the fruit Is set—Denver Field and Farm. Black Minorca®. This breed of poultry is rapidly growing In favor In this progressive age of poultry culture, as their good qualities are better known. They are of Spanish origin, and have been bred for many years In England. They are the largest nonsitting breed In-existence, and ex-, cel as egg producers, both in number, and size of the eggs, says Ohio Farmer. They combine two points that render them especially desirable, xiz.: utility, and beauty. They have large single combs, red face with pure white ear lobes, lustrous black plumage, and are proud and majestic. > The American standard weight for Black Minorca cocks is eight pounds, and for hens six and a-half pounds. They are very hardy, mature early, pullets begin to lay when five months old, and continue through the winter. Their ability to fill the egg basket is recognized not only by the fancier, but by the practical farmer.

Butternuts for Profit. It does not take long to bring a seedling butternut to bearing. About sixteen years ago, says the Vermont Farm Advocate, we planted a few butternuts lA the rows with apple seed planted to grow stock for grafting, and these trees have been bearing very fine nuts for several years. There is a great deal of difference in the size of nuts on different trees, and the larger ones can readily be grafted upon trees bearing inferior ones. The whole business is very simple, and we believe that growing butterunts will pay, at least, as well as growing apples. At any rate, we do not find any difficulty In getting $1.50 per bushel at the stores for what nuts we can spare. The whole subject Is worthy of more attention than it has yet received. Bruises and Wonnds of Trees. Nothing Is better for covering the bruises on trees than oil shellac with, perhaps, a little flower of sulphur and a few drops of carbolic acid, which last ingredient should be used very sparingly. The mixture can be applied with a paint brush. For the exclusion of the air from wounds, it is suggested that a grafting wax, made of four parts of rosin, two parts of beeswax and one of tallow, melted together, poured into water and immediately worked and made up Into half-pound rolls, Is convenient to have ready for use. Held in the hands so that It is softened, a small lump of It may be spread over a wound, and it will remain for some time and keep out air and germs of disease. If the wound is large the application may need to be repeated.— Rural New-Yorker. Feeding Whole Grain to Horses. As horses grow older and their teeth are poorer they bolt their grain more greedily and do not attempt to chest It as they should. Whole grain fed thus does little good. Grain for horses whoso teeth are poor ought always to be gronnd and given with cut hay. Even when younger horses are fed whole grain some finely-chopped hay should be cut and wet to mix with it This will make them cat more slowly and they will chew their food better. But for horses of any ago feeding whole grain Is wasteful however It may bo given. A great deal will pass through them and give them very little nutriment - T

Rose Growing- ' A rose grower says: “I would never mix stable manure with soli for roses. It may be used when thoroughly decomposed as a top dressing, but In the soil it is bad. I have seen beds in which It was nsed so full of white fungus they were fairly matted together. Sheep mannre 1 consider one of the very best fertilizers we have, either in liquid form or mixed with soil at the time of planting. It should not be added to the compost heap, for too much of It in ono place Is sure death to all vegetable life.** Keen Cows on Dry Feed. In a majority of cases, the better plan Is to keep the cows on dry feed until the pastures bare made a sufficient growth to furnish a full feed, and then make the change from dry to green feed gradually.

NEWS OF OUR STATE.

A WEEK AMONG THE HUSTLING HOOSIERS. What Oar Neighbors Are Doing—Matter* of General and local Interest—Marriage* and Death* Accidents and Crimes— Pointers About Our Own People. Mrs.. Chase In Need. Just after Rev. Z. T. Sweeney, of the Tabernacle Christian Church, Columbus, had concluded his sermon last Sunday he read the following statement concerning the life of the late Governor Ira J. Chase: “Notwithstanding his long and valuable service to his State, the country at large and the church, ex-Govemor Chase left bis family in actual need. This information will be most distressing to thousands of friends and admirers of the late Governor. For more than twenty-five years his wife has been a confirmed invalid, confined neatly all of the time to her bed, and for fifteen years has been totally blind. Governor Chase was a man of large and warm heart, and in his time gave away thousands in charity. In bis young manhood, when the Nation called for defenders, he offered himself and bore his full share of the great conflict. Although he was a party man, he had many friends in both parties. There arc hundreds of largeheated men in' Indiana who doubtless would be happy to give to help create a fund to make the last days of his window comfortable. To let her remain destitute would be a shame on the good name of the State he served so long and well. On next Sunday night, June 2,1 will preach a memorial sermon on Governor Chase, hQw he lived and how he died, and start a fund for the support of his widow.” ~

Minor State Now*. " The New Richmond bank Jhas decided to discontinue its deposit department and has paid its depositors. Watchman Dun of the Lake Erie road, at Frankfort, at the risk of his own life, saved little Cecil Jones from being crushed by an engine. Young men of Cowan, near Mancie, have threatened to tar and feather Dep-uty-prosecutor Kiger unless he ceases prosecuting them. Andekson, has a. policeman who is so conscientious that he will not attend the ball games for fear that he will become infatuated with the sport and negieethis duty. Mrs. Isaac llumes, Ingalls, confessed that she had cut her own throat and then given out the report that she was assaulted A suspected tramp was nearly lynched for the supposed crime. Mbs. Geokgk Freshoub, of Marion, died in great agony at the home of her mother in Goshen, as a direct result of a large dose of patent headache cure bought in Marion a week ago. There was a desperate running battle between officers and burglars, at the Pittsburg yards, in the eastern portion of Fort Wayne. One tramp and a Deputy Sheriff are probably fatally wounded. Ex-Representative Dr. L. S. Null and James Bilderback was thrown from a baggy at New Haven, Allen county. Dr. Null was injured internally, and it is feared his injuries will prove fatal. Bilderback’s skull is fractured and face badly lacerated. While digging a well on the place of D. H. Remly, in Montgomery county, the diggers found a block of wood, weighing several pounds, at the depth of sixty-five feet. The wood resembles walnut, but-it Is not, and no person has been found to tell what kind it is. Mbs. James Stbanghn and daughter, Cora, of Alto, were fatally hurt in a runaway at Kokomo. They were going into town when an advertising man tried to throw a circus poster into the buggy. The paper fell under the horse’s feet, causing the runaway. Both will die. Farmers from various portions of Clinton county report that there is absolutely little left of the wheat crop and many of them will plow it up and put the ground in corn. In addition to the Ilessian sty they claim that there is a new pest in the form of a peculiar looking white worm embedded in the roots and working disastrous results. A number of farmers who are considered good authority on the fruit subject were discussing the fruit problem at Hagerstown, and were unanimous in the conclusion that though there lias been tlie most unfavorable fruit weather this spring, and especially in May, that they have ever experienced, apples promise the largest yield in many years. The trees are loaded. Fraud orders have been issued against tlie following persons and corporations in Indiana debarring them from the use of the mails: Charles Adams and Ella Sloore, of Mishawaka, Ind., for alleged fraudulent patent medicine circulars; the Central American Fur and Wool Company, Benjamin Bernard, manager, Indianapolis, for obtaining money under false pretenses. The firm advertises for hides, skins, Ac., and then, it is alleged, does not pay for them. Granville Cowino of Muncie, who is a recognized authority, says: “There will be no raspberries or blackberries, and the crop of strawberries will not be 10 per cent. Apples and pears are badly injured, but not as many kiiled as some people believe. There will be some late cherries, but very few grapes. The drought is killing the meadows, and some wheat is being plowed Up, while much com is being replanted. Rye was badly injured during the late cold snap.” TnE Grand Lodge of Masons of Indiana met at Indianapolis, in annual session, with about five hundred delegates in attendance. The annual report of Grand Secretary Smythe shows the order to be in a prosperous and growing condition. The following officers were elected: Grand Master, Edward O’Rourke, of Fort Wayne; Deputy Grand Master, Simeon P. Gillette, of Evansville; Senior Grand Warder., Mason J. Niblack. of Yinoennes; Junior Grand!Warden, George A. M acorn her, of South Bend; Grand Treasurer, Martin H. Rice, of Indianapolis; Grand Secretary, William 11. Smythe, of Indianapolis. One week ago the house of Mrs. Hewitt at Parker City was blown to pieces with dynamite. Since then, it IS claimed, that 11,029 people have visited tho scene. Tho injured women will recover. Gov. Matthews has pardoned Harry M. Hodson of Evansville, who shat and killed his father, William T. Hodson, in August, 1892. The pardon was asked by the Judge that tried the ease, the twelve Jurors who returned the verdict, and numerous citizens of Evansville. The showing was made that the lather had assaulted the boy first with a steel rod and then with a pitcher, and that the latter had shot In