Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1895 — Page 2

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARML AND HOME. —Famrerg Gain New Ideas and Invigorate Both Mind and Body by Taking an Annual Vacation —To Drive Horses Judiciously. A Vacation for Farmers. If anyone needs a rest, and a change of scene for a few days. It Is the industrious farmer. The early spring sowing and planting; then the cultivation and weeding of the land under the plow, and the midsummer harvesting, of the hay and grain crops, along with many other little matters, have kept him busy from early in the morning until late in the evening. The harvest to over; the hay is in the barrack or stack; the grain in the barn going through the sweating-out process, and the corn is laid by. A few days can be spared now. Give the farm over to the charge of your son or your foreman, and go to the seashore, or upon a fishing trip. Your wife should go, too. If the farmer has been busy in the fields, the wife has had her hands full in the house. Ho wljo.kuGws nothing of the. trials of the farmer’s wife in harvest time in gathering the vegetables, in preparing and cooking them three meals a day, along with much other work, has much to learn. Take a rest; if you live in the mountains, go to the seashore; if you live near the ocean, go to the mountains. A change of locality—seeing new people, new things and new methods of working—will quicken one’s thoughts and produce lasting impressions for good. One returns knowing that other people have as many trials and discouragements as we have, and that farm life is not so hard and disagreeable, after all. Fifty or seven-ty-five dollars spent on a ten-days’ trip will do more good to both than twice —that amount invested at 0 per cent. Make a trial of it—Baltimore American. Judicious Drivijig of Horses. Some drivers will take more out of a horse in going five miles over a country road than many others will in going twenty miles. If a hard drive of twenty or thirty miles is before a horse, says the Breeder and Sportsman, start out moderately. Do not whip or worry or fret him. Leave all his strength, nerve and energy to be expended in going forward. After going along quietly and not too rapidly for a few miles, and the horse becomes warmed up, his muscles distended, and he is relieved of the hay ,eaten the night before, then push along briskly, and do the heaviest work of the day. Don’t hurry up the long hills. Stop frequently, cramp the buggy so as to take the load off the horse, and give him time to catch his breath. You will make better time In the end by pursuing this course, your horse will fiuish his day’s wprk iaJhetter condition, and you will avoid wind-galls. Make time on roads which are level or slightly down hill. Then the weight does not drag heavily, and he is not jarred |when going fast, as he would be if going fast down a 6teep hill.

Incendiary Lanterns. “That was a costly lantern,” sighed neighbor D., as he looked dolefully at the smoking ruins of his new barn. The kerosene lantern had been set on the floor “just for a minute,” but long enough to get knocked over. The blazing oil made quick work with the Inflammable material on every hand. In ten minutes the roof was falling in; it was impossible to save even the animals. A few precautions would certainly lessen the frequency of such disasters, says an exchange. Having a . place for the light, secure from long handles, irresponsible heels and switching tails, would be our safeguard, provided the rule was always adhered to of putting it in its place when not in hand. Great care must be used in making a place for the light, so that it will be s ife from d •tigers above as well as below. The heat arising from a continuous flame is considerable, and if too near the woodwork might gradually heat it to the burning point, or a dusty cobweb might serve as a fuse to carry the blaze. A candle fixed in a lam tern makes a much safer light than kerosene, but is not bright enough for all purposes. One farmer who had suffered from fire planned so as to have all of his barnwork possible done before dark. When a light was necessary it was never carried into the barn, but put from the outside through a window into a box made for It, with a „ glass front Subduing the Weeds. Any species of weeds can be subdued and controlled within the limits of an ordinary farm, and, unless the value of the land is low from other causes, may be profitably undertaken. If the weed is an annual, says the Philadelphia Ledger, reproducing itself from seeds only, it may be subjected by preventing seed production. For permanent pastures, law r ns and roadsides, this Is quite sufficient if persistently followed. In cultivated fields the land thus seeded should first be burned over to destroy as many as possible of the rf#eds on the surface. It may then bo plowed shallow, so as not to bring the remaining seeds too deeply in the soil The succeeding cultivation, not deeper than the plowing, wW induce the germination of the seedlings ns they appear. The land may then be plowed deeper and the cultivation repeated until the weed seeds are pretty thoroughly cleared oat'to as great a depth as the plow ever reaches. Below that depth, eight to ten Inches, very few weed seeds can germinate and push a shoot to the surface. A thousand seedlings may be destroyed by the cultivator with less effort than a

single mature plant can be destroyed, and every seedling killed means one less weed seed in the soiL Storing Potatoes. One of the most essential points about potato culture is to know bow to preserve the crop when you have raised it This is the more Important with regard to the seed potatoes, which have to be kept from sprouting for a long period. If buried, potatoes must be covered lightly at first, s 6 as to permit of ventilation, and the covering added from, time to time, but only enough jo protect tbe tubers from the frost. This, in my experience, ife the most unsatisfactory way of storing potatoes. The next worse way is a cellar under a building. Tbe trouble with a cellar is to give it air enough and keep it cool enough. The most satisfactory and cheapest wayrtbat I know of is to store in a dugout, making the roof of earth over poles nnii lmish In rPrv wet weather BUCh a roof will leak, unless covered with boards, corn stalks, straw or other covering. The besf loeation is a slope or bank facing south. By leaving an alley through the center of a 3 u g-° ut > with plenty of large ventilation shafts through the roof, a brisk circulation will be kept the end door Is opened—particularly where the door opens on the level, as it will do If the building is dug in the side of a bank. . The dug-out should be built with a bin on each side of a central alley. The bottoms of the bins should be raised six inches from the ground and the sides of the bins should be clear of contact with the walls, whether stpne or dirt. Both bottoms and sides are best made of fence boards, with inch spaces between. Such a building, carefully managed as to ventilation, opened up on frosty nights and kept closed during the warm days of fall and early winter, will take early Ohio potatoes through to spring without a sprout. Early rose, beauty of Ilebron and other such varieties may require turning, over ouee. —Kansas Farmer. For Granary • Last fall in cutting up my corn I placed two open bottles, containing bisulphate of carbon, four feet apart on tbe floor of the bin. The mouths of these bottles were covered with a layer of cheesecloth, and each bottle covered -with an -ora broken .box. The com, according to the New York Tribune, was thrown on these boxes, and the bin filled to fts utmost capacity. The result was highly successful; what weevils were -admitted from the field were destroyed, and none further appeared. Thus, at a cost of fifty cents, with very little trouble, I protected about five hundred bushels of ; torn agalhsF the weetilsT Moreover, I have noticed neither mouse nor rat in the bln, nor traces of them, which was not the case before, for in “previous years they, too, did great damage to the com. I have advised for years such use of bisulphide of, carbon. I am gratified to hear of Its extensive use all over the country. Many millers use it most satisfactorily. It kills, is easily used, is not expensive, and, if cautiously used, so as to cause no danger from lire or explosion, is most excellent.

Make the Calf Drink Slowly. We often see articles in agricultural papers, giving directions how to break tkg calf to drink; how often, bow much, and what to feed, all of which are most Important, but what I consider one essential phase of calf-feeding I never see touched upon, says Rural Life. Rapidly or slowly shall the young bovine drink his milk? Calves generally, when fed milk from the pail, drink as rapidly as they can. The greedy and very hungry ones gulp It down till they choke, and it seems the delight of others to thrust their noses to the bottom of the dish, and drink as long as they have breath, then “come up and blow.” The sudden filling of the calf’s stomach with milk is well known to be deleterious, and to obviate this too rapidly filling up I had a tinuer, several years ago, make me a vessel, bolding about a gallon, the diameter of a six-quart pail, with au oval bottom, with a hole punched iu the center about large enough to thrust a lead pencil through. With this “drink-slow dish” set on the milk in the pail, the .calf drinks slowly from the fountain that comes through the hole in the bottom.

One Way to Spray. When* paris greening potato vines it oiururred to me how many ways It is doue. A neighbor used to plaster the paris green dry at the same time I used it wet, says A. P. Sampson in the Now England Farmer. I put the same barrel I use on apple trees on the stoue drag, close to the tub I use to cool milk, and have a man pump into the tub. I fill the barrels, then draw to the potato field and leave one barrel at each end of the field, so as not to walk so far back and forth. Now I put a pound of paris green in each barrel and apply it to the vines with a pail and whisk broom. I used to do two rows at once, now I do one, as the pall reaches the other barrel better and saves a walk. Two barrels will do an acre. Some use a spoonful of green to a pail of water, aud, of course, with a barrel of water there needs be a stick to stir the water every time a pailful is taken out. A gun to put on raw paris green costs $7.50; the tools I use cost 50 cents. Root Crops Not Fat Producers. Root crops cannot be considered directly as fat or flesh producing, but they make an agreeable change of dlei, and are valuable to use in connection with more concentrated foods, such as corn, bran, oil meal, etc. Consisting mostly of water, they have a loosening tendency that must be counteracted with heavier food. --mUEvergreen Corn. Stowell’s evergreen corn is all right for main crop and for succession.

KNIGHTS IN BOSTON.

TWENTY-SIXTH —GREAT TRIENNIAL CONCLAVE. -: Thirty-Thonsand Templars and Their Friends from All Parts of the Country—The Great Parade—AWecle of Much Gayety. " \ Owned the Town. : ' * Boston has had rather fiiore tlia.il its share of great gatherings this summer. Scarcely had the Christian Endeavor cohorts departed with their banners than the Knights Templar veterans were seen rallying to the city of brains and beans to the number of 30,000, with half ns many more ladies in their illustrious train. This twenty-sixth triennial conclave of the Knights of the Temple was remark-

MOST EMINENT SIR HUGH MCCURDY.

able in more ways than one. It was the largest gathering of the kind in the history of the order. This not only means that there is financial hopefulness and prosperity in the circles to which the Sir Knights belong, lust it calls attention to the fact that the great and beneficent

MASONIC TEMPLE, WHERE THE CONCLAVE WAS HELD.

Masonic brotherhood which has been inwoven with the most important features of our national history is experiencing a healthy and continuous growth. The fact that there are now in this country upward of 100,000 members of the order of Knights Templar alone is full of encouraging significance. It is maintained that the Masonic fraternity, not to speak of others scarcely less influential, has done an incalcunble amount of good in conserving respect for the basic principles of true religion among a class of men most likely to be prolific in scoffers. And not less important is the part played by this order in the perpetuation of patriotic sentiment throughout the Union. From the laying' of the corner-stone of the national capital at Washington, a century ago. to the laying of the corner-stone of the Masonic Temple in Chicago, this society has played an important part in the public and semipublic events that have made up our history as a nation. It is forty-five years since Boston has been the' scene of Knights Templar grand conclave, and the members of the order in the city exerted themselves to the utmost to outdo all that have taken place since. Boston boasts of the largest eommundery iu the United States, and this one body appropriated $115,000 to be spent in making the guests appreciate their welcoriie. Even with such an example the visiting commandcries were determined not to be excelled, and though none of them expended any such sum of money, nil planned to more than do their part in the festivities. Special trains were chartered from all parts of the country to carry the members of the visiting eommnmleries to the East, and in many instances the trips were arranged -nd added to so that the route included not only Boston but many other Eastern cities and points of national interest.

The Grand Parade. The conchtre was opened with a parade, which was she greatest of its kind ever held. More than 40,000 Knights Templar were in line, and fully 1,000 of these were mounted. In addition to' these wns the members of the Grand Encampment of the United States, as well as other high officials of the order, in carriages. The parade was commanded by Grand Master McCurdy, of the Grand Encampment, who is the head of the order. The decorations of the city were superb, and all along the route of the parade mammoth grand stands had been erected, each artistically decorated, and It Is estimated that the seating accommodations for the reviewing of the parade exceeded 150,000. The stands seated anywhere from twenty-fire to 5,000 per* sons and were erected by the different • iVr?." -“*l ' •! < t

comanderlea of the city and also by private individuals for speculation. In addition to these every available window in every house along the line of march was bought up by speculators, and even the front dotiis- wetA utilized anq

FLORAL CROSS AND SHIELD ON BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN.

sold to the highest bidder. Every available window on Dartmouth street was sold for prices varying from sls to S3O for every front room above the first floor. Columbus avenue for its whole length was one reviewing stand, and the seats were disposed of at an average price of $3, While window space was taken by visiting knights for their friends at prices ranging from $25 to SSO for front rooms' above the first floor. - So great was the demand for window space and points of vantage for seeing the parade that enormously high prices have been been paid. A barber in Washington street offered his window space for $25 for the day and a shrewd customer Lin. one. of his chairs took it up and later sold the privilege for $75. Not less than $1,000,000 changed hands for the pleasure of witnessing the greatest parade in point of splendor ever held in this country. ' Expense of the Conclave. The estimate of the expense of the grand conclave to the members of Massachusetts and Rhode Island commanderies, who are the hosts, was $350,000. In addition to this each member procured special regalia, and several thousand dollars represent the expense of badges for exchange. Every frater was supposed to i carry an 'exchange badge; in fact, a nocket full of them, and when another frater met him on the street without the ceremony of an introduction badges were

to be exchanged. In this way vast collections of badges were procured as souvenirs of the triennial meeting, and a complete collection of those worn during the week will be worth fully SI,OOO. A series of receptions and social festivities were held during the convention and visiting knights were taken to view all interesting points about Boston. Many public, as well as private, buildings were elaborately decorated during the convention, and old Boston assumed an air of brightness and gayety such as she has rarely known before. Bishop Foley, of Detroit, the traveling companion of Cardinal Gibbons during the trip through Europe, says of Ireland

KNIGHTS TEMPLAR CAPTURE BOSTON.

that it was the impression among conservative men in that country that the factionalism iti the ranks of the Irish parliamentary party had thrown bnck Ireland fully twenty-five years. J. R. Brandon and his son Alonzo are in jail at St, Louis charged with counterfeiting. They were arrested in Duncan County, and in a corn crib near their house was found a complete outfit for making money, together with $175 in spurious dollars .of 1801. The Rev. Samnel Bissell died at Twlnsburg, N. Y„ aged 98 years. He was the oldest tiring graduate of Yale College, and for yean had an academy at Twinaburg.

POTATO NOW IS KING.

Farmers Beginning to Realize that _ There Is. Money in Tubers. The potato has at last taken rank as king among the tillers of the soil. For years Secretary of Agriculture Morton has been appealing to the farmers of the United States to grow potatoes, as he be- : lieved that they would be-their salvation. They have finally taken his advice, and now lhey are beginniug io realize, that they will profit by pianting more ground to the tubers instead of wheat and corn. There is at all Ernes a steady demand for them, and they arc quite as staple as wheat and not subject to the fluctuations of the latter. With the low price of wheat and corn the farthers have looked about i for some more profitable crop and investigation shows that the United States has never produced enough potatoes for home consumption. Thousands of bushels are bought in foreign markets every year and if there is a profit for powers abroad, with .small areas to devote to the crop and the additional expense of ocean freight rates, there ought to be money in the business for the farmers in this country, who hare larger tracts of land and cheaper freight rates. The imports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, were 3,022,578 . bushels, of the value of nearly $1,250,000. Last year 2,737,973 acres were devoted to this crop, and that was an increase over the year before of 83,000 acres. The product of 1894, on account of an unfavorable season, was 2,24(5,000 bushels short of the year before, notwithstanding the increased acreage. But in measuring the popularity of the potato as an article of farm product, the product is scarcely worthy of consideration, for the increase in the ayea of land devoted to the crop is plainly the index of its popularity. All the evidence available indicates that there are now 3,000,000 acres of potatoes growing in the United States. The fact that there has been a steadily decreasing acreage of wheat, rye, barley, oats and corn, which continues this year, is considered by the Secretary of Agriculture to indicate an increased acreage of potatoes and other substantial small products. New York has steadily led all the other States as a potato producer. Last year 378,728 acres of land were devoted to the crop in New Yosk, and the product, aggregating over 29,000,000 bushels, was sold for half as many million dollars. Michigan whs second, With 215,270 acres' and a

product of over 13,000,000 which brought the growers nearly $G,000,60<3. Pennsylvania was third, 206,879 acres, which produced almost the exact number of bushels produced by Michigan, though the acreage was vastly less than Michigan’s. The acreage in Ohio was in round numbers the same as that In Penusylvania, and the aggregate of the crop was the same within a few thousand bushels, showing that both Pennsylvania and Ohio raised a larger crop than Michigan with less acreage. The other big potatogrowing States are lowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas, in the order named. lowa had 176,605 acres last year; Kansas, 108,213. The aggregate of acreage gradually decreases from lowa to Kansas, excepting that Illinois and Wisconsin had almost the same acreage—that is, about 166,500. While Missouri, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Kentucky, South Dakota, Colorado, and a half-dozen other States are good potato growers and have a large acreage,.none.ot4hfjiiapjiro^ehedloo,(X)o acres last year, and in nearly all of them less than 50,000 acres of land was devoted to potatoes.

WHEAT CROPS OF THE WORLD.

Russia and the United States Have Nearly a Billion Bushels. Details of the Government estimate of the wheat crops of the various countries, the total for which was stated in a recent dispatch, shows the following in bushels: Great Britain, 40,811,000; France, 301,573,000; Germany, 103,550,000; Austria, 45,392,000; Italy, 114,898,000; Belgium, 21,277,000; Spain, 86,528,000; Russia, 415,053,000; Hungary, 150,301,000; India, 237,456,000; United States, 400,017,000; Canada, 51,006,666; Roumania 62,« 414,000; Bulgaria, 52,482,000; Turkey, 42,555,6(30; Argentine, 60,995,6(30; Am* tyajia, 35,746,000. The Netherlands Switzerland, Denmark, Scandinavia, Portugal and Greece, together, 29,502,000; Seswia, 8,511,000; Chili, 18,440,069; Africa, 47,094,000; all Asia except India, 70,950,000; total, 2,402,671,000.

Notes of Current Events.

“Gen.” Coxey is touring Nebraska in the interest of free silver. S. A. Abbey, supposed to be a victim of the Denver hotel disaster, is alive at Pueblo, Col. Alfred Paxton has been appointed receiver for the Davis Carriage Company at Cincinnati. The Prince of Wales’ cutter Britannia has finished her racing season and has

gone to Cowes to dismantle, previous to lying up for the winter. She is flying forty winning flags. Newton B. Efistis, second secretary and Mr. Alexander, counsel of the American embassy at Paris, have returned from Clairraux, where they took down a full statement from ex-Consul Waller of hie trial and conviction by the French military court at Tamntave. The schedules in the assignment of Jesse G. Jones, the veteran lumberman, of Indianapolis, show assets of $150,823.87; Habllitiea, $187,021.87. Tha heaviest creditors are the Security Bank of Boston, $61,500; Quincy A. Shaw, of Boston, $5(\000; and Bliss A. Tolman of Minneapolis.

PRESIDENT OF TWO BANKS

Thonght at Tltpes He- Won Id H™ Give Up the Fight, bnt Perseverance and Science Conquer Hi* Troubles. From the Republican, Cooperstown, If. Y. The people of the present are traveling a pace that would surprise the good old wives and knickerbockered grandfathers of ahundred years ago. Things are not dohs~ by degrees or stages in these days, but wit ha rush and hurry. * This constant hurry and ever present business pressure has not been without its effect upon the nerves of the race, and every year witnesses the increase of nervous disease. Medical science, however, has been keeping abreast'Vith the times, and from the very demands made upon it there have sprung new departures and discoveries. A reporter recently met Mr. Philip G. Weiting, who is president of the Bank of Worcester, and of the Toledo City Bs^gk,

of Toledo, la., at Worcester, t, sego County, N. Y., and conversation drifted to the present topic. Mr. Weit--ing had been a sufferer from locomotor ataxia for twenty-five years. Knowing that he had traveled far and wide in search of some beneficial treatment for his affliction, the reporter asked the president to give some facts in his own case. He responded willingly. “Yes, I suffered twenty-five years from joco;.. motor ataxia,’ 1 ! Mr. Weiting sal?, “and during aJJ that time I was seeking some relief. Weil, I found it in Dr. Williams* Pink Pills. Of course I have it yet, to some extent, but I’m feeling better and my legs are stronger than ever before. Why, I could scarcely walk any distanee at all, and could not stand long without my knees yielding beneath my own weight. A person cannot conceive of the suffering such a state brings upon the sufferer. “I would go to Florida every year, and visited almost every health resort in the country. I went to the Sanitarium at lowa Falls, lowa, and also the very best in Michigan, but they didn’t do me any good. I took the' full course of their baths and massnge and rubbing, without receiving the least benefit. I thought I would have to give up all hope of ever curing myself. Finally I heard a good deal about Pink Pills through common report; and although, as I said, I had no faith in medicines of any kind, I was induced to try them. Well, I took several boxes without deriving any apparent benefit, but was advised to keep it up. So, „AY.hen,l,jwent to .Florida that year— ihr.ee years ago this summer—l took a large quantity with me. After some months I stopped taking them; but my-legs had become so much stronger and my ataxia had been so moderated that I could stand and walk better than I had done for years. I’ink Pills did it, aud you can weU imagine how I feel toward them. They did what nothing else could do.” During the entire interview Mr. Weiting remained standing and evidently did not experience the slightest discomfort, in spite of the pfotrncted period of his affliction. Although well along in years, he is still actively engaged in financial enterprises that necessitate a vast amount of mental and neryqus energy. Suffice it to say he lacks neither, but makes his influence felt wherever he is known. Besides being president of the Worcester Bank, Mr. Weiting is also president of the Toledo City Bank, of Toledo, lowa, where his advice and sound business policies are a controlling element. His commendation of I’ink Pills came unsolicited, and with the sincerity of one who feels what he says. Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills contain, in a condensed form, nil the elements necessary to give new life and richness to the blood and restore shattered nerves. They are also a specific for troubles peculiar to females, such as suppressions, irregularities and all forms of weakness. They build up the blood, and restore the glow of health to pale and sallow cheeks. In men they effect a radical cure in all cases arising from mental worry, overwork or excesses of whatever nature. Pink Pills are sold in boxes (never in loose bulk) at 50 eepts a box or six boxes for $2.50, and may be had of all druggists, or direct by mail from Dr. Wiliams’ Medicine Company, Schenectady, N. Y.

How Floridians Live in Summer.

The qestlon is often asked, “How do people manage to live In Florida during the summer?” That they do live, anil live comfortably, is evident. Few Floridians work very hard during the hot summer months, for food costs very little. The lakes and rivers are alive with fish, the ground Is full of sweet potatoes, corn that will yield forty bushels to the acre is ripening in the fields, watermelons can be bought for five cents each, tomatoes are given away in many places, fruits are plentiful, Florida beef Is cheap and nourishing, and many other things can be had for almost nothing.—Jacksonville (Fla.) Citizen.

The Kaiser as an Actor.

The German Emperor Is ambitious to win success also In amateur theatricals. This Is the most difficult undertaking he has yet ventured on, and If he could be assured of absolutely unprejudiced criticism he might learn that there are motes and bounds beyoud which even emperors cannot pass. Bucharest Is known to-day as the greatest den of swindlers In the world. Even the great Ahierlcan crime centers cannot hold a candle to Bucharest It is the eklt, so to speak, the Initiative station for the criminals of the Balkan States, whence they travel westward to Vienna, Berlin, Paris, London, Rome and New York. —.i— a,.— . —'.'r*y Vainglorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the slaves o l their own vaunts.