Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1899 — Page 3

FARM AND GARDEN

How to Feed Sugar Beets. When sugar beets are fully grown, which will be as soon as the first frost occurs, harvest them in this way: Take a hoe, ground as sharp as a knife, and go through the rows chopping off the tops smoothly, and doing so, so that the tops will fall from two rows into one space between these rows. Go up and down so that the right hand can do the work, throwing the tops to the left. Then, when the beets are topped, take a blunt hoe, or a prong hoe, and lift the roots out of the ground, throwing them into the empty rows, so that when the work is done there will be one row of roots and one of tops alternately through the field. Then gather the roots and put them, after one day’s sunning to dry them, in pits made in this way, dug eighteen Inches deep, iri dry soil, and three br four feet wide, and of any desired length for convenience.

A POT OF ROOTS (END VIEW).

Cover them with straw laid up and down the shed water, and then cover this with earth—a foot deep finally, as the winter’s cold may make it necessary to avoid freezing. But ventilation must be secured by putting wisps of straw every four or five feet to let the heated air due to the fermentation of the beets escape, otherwise the roots will rot. The leaves may be saved In the same way and will keep long enough to feed them before the roots are touched. Any kind of roots, potatoes or apples will keep in the best manner in this way, until the spring. There Is no other root grown that is so good for cows kept for milk as the sugar beet. And no other crop gives more actual food to the acre than this when it is well grown. Calf Weaners. The days of the old-fashioned weaners—made of an old boot leg or a strap full of nails—are numbered. While these were comparatively satisfactory as far as weaning the calf was concerned, the nails proved a cruelty to the cows and in many cases resulted in Injury. The “muzzle” weaner has for some time been familiar to those interested, but the “safety” weaner Is comparatively new. It consists of a piece of galvanized iron swung from a wire frame, which Is so constructed as to fit into the nostrils of the animal. The ends are made so they will not wear the nose or make it sore. The device

SAFETY WEANER. MUZZLE WEANER.

does not interfere in the least with feeding, but it is said to wean the most obstinate case, as it prevents sucking sidewise as well. Vnlne of Huy as Feed. The hay crop of this country is more important to farmers than wheat, as hay may be baled and sent to market or be used on the farm; but one reason why hay should not be sold is because it contains more of the mineral elements than does grain. More profit is made from hay than from any other staple crop, as it is the main reliance for winter feeding, and the manure from hay contains plant food that is more evenly balanced thgin that from any other source. To derive the most benefit from hay, however, is to feed it tn connection with less valuable bulky food, using bran or linseed meal to make the ration better and more acceptable, and espec ally should this course be pursued whe n there has been a short hay crop. nrulium ee'l a* Food. It is not generally known that a great part of the human race in partly civilized countries depends on the seeds of Kaffir corn and the various varieties of Sorghum for their grain food. The seed is easily beaten out, and when ground into meal and raised with yeast. It makes as good pancakes as buckwheat. Some like a mixture of this with Indian meal better than either alone. Where the seed Is taken from sorghum grown for making sugar, both the seed and the sweetness of the stalk are at their best just before the grain hardens. Fall Plowintr. There may be disadvantages in fall plowing, as It Is believed by some that the plowing of the land in the fall permits of the loss of soluble plant food In winter by leaching, but when the land J® y®** then

cross-plowed early in the spring there is brought to the surface the larvae of insects, which perish on exposure to cold at the surfaoe. To prevent leaching of the soil after plowing the work should be done early in the fall and the land seeded to rye. Cheap and Handy Wheat Bin. Build a house as large as you may wish for your wheat, oats and rye. Seal up tight by tonguing and grooving the ceiling; draw ceiling down tight and nail fast. Separate your bins from each other, then have a hole in the floor with small slip door and fix with a common sack nearly reaching the lower floor; when you are ready to sack up Just open the slide and let the wheat come down through the funnel of sack which has both ends open. When the sack is full shut off the grain, using a lever for the purpose. It is easy and cheaply made; or you can have a wooden spout to use Instead of a sack, which would be best, and about as cheap; 4%-lnch wide planks make a spout and have shut-off plank to fit in spout. It is a cheap and easy way to fill sacks.—H. A. Cooley. Grooming Farm Horses. Farm horses in summer usually show the effects of neglected grooming more than the lack of grain feeding. It is true, if the "horse has his run in the fields, as we think every horse should do some time every summer, he will partly groom himself by rolling either on wet grass or on plowed ground. Though this does not improve the horse’s looks, it cleanses the skin, and if the brush and curry comb are used after, the animal will clearly show his appreciation of the service that is being done to him. Wintering; Stock. The farmer who simply “winters” his stock until spring loses valuable time, unless his object is to gain in weight of product. Many farmers are satisfied to have the stock come out in the spring in as good condition as the animals were in the fall, but something more should be expected than for the stock to “keep” over winter. Every animal that does not make a gain causes a loss, as labor is required, and the most profitable plan is to feed liberally and endeavor to gain as mnch as possible. Turnips Among Potatoes. We have always found that turnips sown broadcast among potatoes succeeded better than among corn. The leaves of the potato die down earlier than those of corn, and the roots cease to draw from the soil the moisture that the turnip needs. Of course, the potatoes must be dug by hand, but this helps the turnips by the stirring of the soil about them and by the destruction of the weeds that hinder their growth. Handling; Apnles and Potatoes. One must often handle barrels of apples or potatoes alone. In such a case

A BARREL WHEELBARROW.

a device like that shown In the cut will be of service. An old buggy wheel Is fastened between the ends of two handles, which have a cross-piece and a “sling” of boards, as shown In the cut. The frame Is pulled up to the barrel, which Is tipped up to one side, and the “sling” slipped under It It can then be wheeled away with each.—Orange Judd Farmer. Pigs as Scavengers. Every family can keep one or two pigs, using as food refuse from the table and the parings of potatoes and other vegetables cooked for food. This will, perhaps, need to be supplemented by a little grain, but the expense of this will be more than made up by the thriftier growth of the pigs. If one breeding sow is kept its pigs will supply the family with meat for the year, at much less expense than buying It In the city markets. Weeds Rich in Nitrogen. The common chickweed and pigweed, that start up In gardens in midsummer and make remarkable growth within a short time, are both weeds that rank very high in nitrogenous compounds., Not even second-growth clover will furnish as much nutrition for their bulk. Hogs and cows are extremely fond of both and will eat them greedily. They are excellent not only for breeding sows, but for hogs that are being fed grain and need more succulency in their ration. How to Load Stock. To load hogs or sheep easily, quickly and without Injury, we use a chute 2 feet wide, 10 feet long, 3 feet high on sides; fasten an old horse shoe under each corner at upper end so the heel calks will rest on rear end of hog rack. Have sliding gate to open at corner of yard. Place slats crosswise in bottom of the chute to prevent slipping.—Leslie Ashcraft. Hints for Fruit Grower* Watch a sod orchard. It win begin to faU before you know It. Good drainage, natural or artificial, Is essential to success. Tree® are impatient of wet feet. Good tillage increases the avertable food supply of the soli and also conserves Its moisture. Potash Is the chief fertilizer to be applied to fruit trees, particularly after they come into bearing. Probably nine-tenths of, the apple or chards are to sod, and many of them are meadows. Of course they are failing. The remedy for these apple failures Is to cut down many of the orchards. For the remainder, the treatment is cultivation, fertilization, spraying-the

A FAMOUS BEAUTY.

DAUGHTER OF A GOVERNOR AND WIFE OF ONE* Mrs, Kate Chase Sprague, Once the t-octal and Political Queen in Washington, Died in Obscurity—lncidents of Her Interesting Career. The death of Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague, wife of a former Governor of Rhode Island and daughter of the late Salmon P. Chase, at one time Governor of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury and chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, which occurred at Edgewood, near Washington, not long ago, closed a highly dramatic career. She was born in 1840, the only daughter of Salmon P. Chase, and owing to the death of her mother she early became mistress of her father’s household. Her father, the most famous member of a family whose scions had already gained fame at the bar, on the bench and In the Protestant episcopate, was already one of the leading lawyers in Cincinnati, when, in 1849, a coalition of Free Sellers and Democrats sent him to the United States Senate. At the expiration of his term, in 1855, a somewhat similar coalition elected him Governor of Ohio. In 1857 the Republican party returned him to the gubernatorial seat. How much of his advancement he owed to the personal popularity of his daughter Kate cannot be estimated. It is certain that before she had passed out of her teens she was spoken of not only as the leading' belle of Cincinnati, but as one of the most astute politicians in Ohio. Between her and her father there existed a love that was little short of mutual adoration. All the little girl’s ambitions seemed to center in him. t Just as she was reaching the maturity of her charms her father became a great figure in national politics as candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, in 1860, and Secretary of the Treasury in Lincoln’s cabinet a year later. In the latter position he won a reputation second only to that of Alexander Hamilton. At the height of his power he established his home at Edgewood, where his daughter has just died. Here the most illustrious men of the nation, the most distinguished visitors from abroad, were always welcomed. And here Kate Chase ruled supreme over a crowd of admirers. A little prior to this time she had met William Sprague, the man who was to become her husband. Sprague was

KATE CHASE SPRAGUE.

born in Rhode Island, in 1830. In 1856 he had succeeded to the management of the print works, established by his grandfather, and continued by * his father and uncle. In 1860 he had been elected Governor of his State. In September of that year he had headed a deputation from Rhode Island to the dedication of the statue of Commodore Perry in Cleveland. It was then that he first met Miss of love at first sight, and on Nov. 12, 1863, they were married, all fashionable and official Washington being represented at the wedding. Mr. Sprague had just been elected United States Senator from Rhode Island. The honeymoon was spent in Providence. Mrs. Sprague cast her eyes over her hueband’s broad ancestral acres in that town, renamed the spot Canonchet, and proceeded to replace the old mansion with a splendid new palace. It still remains an unfinished Aladdin’s palace. Possibly it was the headlong extravagance of the wife in this and other matters which made the first rift in the matrimonial lute, but, in fact, the two were utterly dissimilar in taste, in character, in ambitions. Mrs. Sprague took far more interest in her father’s political future than in her husband’s. She devoted herself to the former with even more assiduity than before her marriage. With the wealth at her command, with her brilliancy, her tact, her

HOW THE WORLD’S IMPORTS AND EXPORTS COMPARE.

Of the four greatest commercial nations the imports and exports of France are the nearest equal. Each year France sells abroad goods to the amount of $700,000,000 and imports goods to the amount of $800,000,000. Germany imports $250,000,000 worth mure than it exports, while Great Britain actually buys twice as much each year as it sells. The. United States, on the other hand, is the greatest merchant among the nations. What with wheat and other foodstuffs and manufactured articles it sells abroad nearly three times as much as is brought in from foreign countries.

unfailing charm of manner, she easily remained the center of attraction ' In Washington society. All these gifts of fortune were utilized in the effort to make Salmon P. Chase President of the United States. Chase, who had left the Democratic party on the slavery issue, was willing to become a candidate of a reconstructed Democracy, and in 1868, when the national convention was held In New York Mrs. Sprague opened up quarters there In the Interests of her father. Every effort was made to bring the man and the platform into harmonious relations, but failed. The convention would not go far enough to suit Mr. Chase and the latter was unbending. He did not long survive his disappointment In 1870 he suffered a paralytic stroke and In 1873 he died. His death precipitated a rupture between Mrs. Sprague and her husband. After that event she became lees circumspect in her conduct, less reticent

MISS KATE CHASE AT THE TIME OF HER MARRIAGE.

about her domestic troubles, more extravagant in her expenses. Finally the husband’s remonstrances culminated in a request that she should name some friend in whom she had confidence and whom he might take into his. She suggested Roscoe Conkling. The husband was staggered. Conkling was his enemy, politically as well as personally. Moreover, it was Conkling’s name that was linked with Mrs. Sprague’s in the gossip of the capital. Nevertheless, so desperate were his straits—for even then the shadow of financial ruin was impending—that he consented to unbosom himself and lay bare all his private affairs to his foe. On Aug. 10, 1879, occurred the sensational episode which was the first blow to the political prestige of the New York Senator. Mr. Sprague, returning home to Canonchet unexpectedly from an interrupted journey, surprised Conkling breakfasting with his wife. He gave him half an hour to leave the house under pain of death. Mrs. Sprague, with her accustomed audacity, .laughed at “Willie’s threats” and heartened the Senator to remain, but the return of Mr. Sprague with a shotgun made the Sepator-beat a precipitate and Inglorious retreat, the shotgun in his rear. The flight of the wife from Canonchet followed on Aug. 31. Then came divorce suits, brought by the wife against the husband and by the husband against the wife. Finally an amicable arrangement was reached, and on May 27,1882, a decree of divorce was granted. Mr. Sprague retained the son, William Sprague Jr., and Mrs. Sprague the three daughters. Sprague afterward married the daughter of a Virginia farmer. While the Governor spent his time in litigation, trying to save something out of the wreck, Kate Chase retired to Edgewood, the small property left by her father in the suburbs of Washington. There she lived during the last fifteen years, with steadily dwindling fortunes, until a few months ago she was offered by Secretary Gage a clerk’s position in the Treasury Department, over which her father had once presided. She declined the place, and only a few weeks ago, Edgewood, covered with mortgages, was ordered to be sold. Of her children the son committed suicide in Seattle in 1890, but her three daughters survive her. The eldest, Ethel, went on the stage, but a short time ago she married and retired from ‘public view.

Easy Bicycling.

The Sultan of Morocco has a somewhat imperial method of amusing himself with cycling. A couch Is rigged UP between the wheels, and on this the monarch reclines, studying the cyclometer and the compass, while his attendants pedal for him. Dull children are more agreeable than those who are impudently smart, and do better in life.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

ONE OF THE DRAWBACKS OF EXCEPTIONAL PROSPERITY. Famine in Structural Steel and Iron an Illustration of the Phenomenal Conditions Attend ins the Restoration of a Protective Tariff. The famine in structural steel and iron Is perhaps the most striking among the phenomena attendant upon McKinley prosperity. Nothing like it was ever before known In this country, and certainly not in any other country. Here we have every iron and steel producing plant in the United States working to its utmost capacity, and yet there is a big shortage in the supply, so great is the demand in the many lines of construction. Because of the Inability of the mills to fill orders, or even to meet the time requirements of contracts already entered Into, we are told by the New York Herald that in New York the structural work upon many big office buildings is at a standstill, and public schools that were to have been opened for the fall term will remain uncompleted; in Philadelphia work upon warships for foreign powers is at a halt; in the West the agricultural implement makers are at their wits’ ends for material and are renewing their demands for steel for next year’s delivery, and from every section contractors and builders are calling for impossible thirty and sixty day deliveries of mill products. The shortage In structural material, lays the Herald, Is so serious that contractors are vainly offering bonuses to the manufacturers to push their work. It is but a short time since structural Iron and steel were advanced $5 a ton, and it Is predicted that there will be another increase within a few days. According to the experts, the railroads are the most seriously affected by this remarkable state of the iron and steel market, and already American agents are at work in the English market obtaining options upon Scotch steel. The demand for mill products Is increasing dally, and those who are responsible for the supply frankly admit that they are unable to cope with the abnormal situation. Contractors and builders are growing desperate and are dally begging those who hold them in bond to release them from obligations the fulfilment of which has been made Impossible by conditions for which they are not responsible. From Chicago it Is reported that railroad tonnage Is on a scale never before equaled, and is still mounting higher. As for the Iron and steel trade, the exports for June actually fell off owing to the great home demand. The domestic requirement was so enormous that material could not be spared for foreign shipment. The demand has caused the resurrection of mills believed to be dead. Old plants that have been idle for years, chiefly from competitive causes, have been reopened and put In operation. If a manufacturer wants material three months hence he must buy now and pay the prices that are current The clamor for materials is In no way relieved. There have been large sales of pig Iron for delivery In 1900. Iron bars cannot be bought under four months* delivery from the mill. Vessel owners of Chicago hiving suitable bottoms for the transportation of iron and steel cannot fill orders. Two years ago prices were 45 to 50 cents a ton for the haul from Lake Superior to Lake Erie. Now the rate for ore from Duluth to Lake Erie is $1.30 a ton, and will go higher. In Philadelphia the big shipyards, notwithstanding the boom In their industry, have been compelled to lay off | hundreds of men because of delay in the arrival of material. Extensive building operations have been halted and others abandoned. Charles McCaul said: “To my knowledge certain big building concerns within the last few days have tried to contract with local companies for structural steel, to be delivered a year from now at prevailing prices. The proposals were refused.” The Phoenix Bridge Company is liable to a penalty of SSO per day for failure to complete the big bridge over the Schuylkill River at Gray’s Ferry. The delay is due to the steel famine. The director of public works has decided not to enforce the penalty. Pittsburg manufacturers of iron and steel say they see no relief for New York contractors. The demand is so far ahead of the output that it will take many months for the trade to catch up. The Carnegie Steel Company, it is said, will not take orders for structural steel ‘for delivery under twelve months. Last week S3B a ton was paid for billets. Two years ago the price was sl4. The plg lron manufacturers will not quote prices for delivery this year. The iron and steel industry, it will be remembered, is protection’s biggest and healthiest child. It is an Industry which free traders twenty-five or thirty years ago declared could not be built up by a protective tariff. Yet to-day the United States leads the world in the production of iron and steel. Big as the industry bas become, it is not able to supply the requirements of the great home market in these times of McKinley prosperity. As an index of the general conditions that have grown out of the restoration of the American policy the iron and steel situation is interesting and instructive. Dlnglsx Law Receipts. The Democrats have been forced to cease asserting that the Dingley law is a failure as a revenue producer. After its enactment .there was a continual Democratic bowl for some months that It was wholly inadequate ito supply revenue suffl cient for the government’s needs. The friends of the

taw replied that ft would more than, meet the exoectations thev entertained of it after business had adjusted itself to the new tariff regulations. How their prediction has been borne out is best shown by the statistics of the receipts from easterns during the last few years, which are as follows: 1892 $177,452,964 Iff 1893 206355,016 73 1894 131318,530 62 1895 152,158,617 45 1896.. 160,921,75167 1897.. 176,564,126 65 1898 149,819,594 25 1899 206,141,224 63 It will be observed that the figures for the fiscal year 1899 are the largest in the list, surpassing even the total for the phenomenal year of 1893, which was the highest previous record. This, too, though we were at war with Spain during the earlier part of the fiscal year of 1899. But, large as were the customs receipts during the past year, there Is an almost certain prospect that they will be exceeded in the coming year. The receipts for the month of July were nearly $2,000,000 more than a year ago and the indications are that August will show an increase of $3,000,000 or $4,000,000, the receipts for the first nineteen days being about $3,000,000 in excess of the same period last year.—Milwaukee Sentinel. Democracy and Trusts. Protection is a Republican policy, the Democrats have formed the habit of denouncing It, and they think they must keep It up, with or wi.tho it reason and sense. And so, with the splendid record of protection staring them in the face, and being unable to point to a single fact that is not to its credit, they wildly re-echo Havemeyer’s flippant utterance with some such scheme as this in their heads: The people like the protective tariff; let us try to make them hate it by circulating the absurd He that it is the mother of trusts. The hypocrisy of all this is quite as comical as it is revolting. It shows what a poverty stricken old concern the Democratic party is. Free silver is dead. Flag hauling as an issue is worse than no issue at all Fantastic yarns about trusts and the tariff are the only remaining, resort The Democracy grabs at this grotesque banner and flourishes it frantically, hoping to rattle voters and muddle their thinking apparatus. But the dodge will not work. It Is a confession of weakness and a proclamation of stupidity. The people see through the game and will coldly keep out of it preferring to retain their prosperity, their open workshops, their 100-cent dollars, their sterling Americanism and their respect for the flag-of their country—Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.

“Why do you suspect he meditates! treason to the free sliver cause?” I “He is growing conservative—speaksi of it as the ‘misdemeanor of ’73.”’— l St Louis Globe-Democrat • j A Transient Commercial Craze. ■ If we believed that the creation ofl trusts would be a permanent feature ofl our economic system, we might sharfl in the alarm expressed by some tlmifl persons. We do not; we regard the J as a merely transient commercial craze, which will die of exhaustion The commerce of this country is altß gether too great to be kept under con trol by any one set (>f men acting upcfl a single Industry. The trade of tlB United States has passed that stafl just as it has passed the stage the wheat product of this country cafl be cornered.—Seattle (Wash.) Post-I® telllgencer. * 9 Benefits the Work inarm au. It would be as foolish to blame ents who have reared a child In tfl| best possible manner for his turning ■I evil ways after he has grown to hood as to blame th'e tariff for buildißl up a splendid American Industry, gß| Ing employment to 30,000 A:uerl<®| workingmen, because avaricious nfl secure control of It and enter Int<fl| wicked combination. not, the tin plate trust can makeßS money without employing the workjß| men and paying them for their —Tacoma (Wash.) Ledger. 9B The Peer* Full Breath. The year 1899 may be the time of our “second wind." lß|| year we took a deep breath of pro®H tion prosperity and eclipsed all ous records. This year there was □®|| Ing to do but to eclipse 1898. andSS proceeded to do it. We have takeißE| the full, deep breath which ai -vays SB rles the runner In a race to Our commercial rivals may as drop out, for the close of 1899 wil® the United States the winner tß||| good margin In the industrial Two of a Kind The devil rebuking sin and Mr. ®||| emeyer, the president'of trust, rebuking trusts, are two ■ kind. When the devil is recogniz® authority in ethics Mr. Ilwvei® may be recognized as authortO trusts. Not until them will intel® American votes be influenced sSy a protective tariff by the railing a® trusts by the president ot one <■ greatest trusts on the