Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1900 — Page 3

FARM AND GARDEN

Some Cow Stall Devices. New ideas, says a correspondent of (the New York Tribune, have done away (with some of the old-fashioned notions about cattle fastening, and have brought much relief to stock. But all dairymen have not yet reached the most humane and most convenient results. (A. recent visit to the progressive owner of a dairy farm was productive in securing several points that were new to [the writer, and to many others doubtless. They arc shown in various cuts

FIG. 1—FOR KEEPING FLANKS CLEAN.

given herewith. Fig. 1 shows the dairyjinan’s plan for keeping the cow from soiling her flanks when she lies down. A strip of joist 2 by 3 inches Is nailed across the floor of the stall just behind the hind feet of the cow, when she is standing as far up in the stall as she possible can. This crosspiece is shown at A. The cow cannot lie down upon this piece of wood, so she stops ahead and lies down, all of the droppings thereafter falling behind A. Only a shallow trench is found at D. Fig. 2 shows an excellent plan for a crib. The hay comes down from the second floor’ into a slotted receptacle, under which is a place where corn fodder or other material can be placed

FIG- 2—PLAN FOR CRIB.

from the walk in front, the front edge projecting In front of the hay crib to make it more accessible. Here the grain ration can be placed, or a grain bag can he set Into this space. Fig. 3 show's how the cows are fastened at this dairy farm; They are ngt fastened at the neck at all. The stalls are 3% feet wide, with a chain or rope stretched across the stall behind the cow. The sides of the stall must be high euough and extend baclf\far enough so that the cow cannot turn around in the stall. She can only back out, and this the chain prevents. This seems the most humane cattle fastening imaginable, and it works very satisfactory in the barn referred to. Of

FIG. 3—HOW COWS ARE FASTENED.

course, the manure is scraped from the rear end of the platform several times a day, though while eating her hay the cow stands well back, where the manure will fall into the gutter. The shallow trench saves the cows from many u slip and jar. • Value of Wheat Bran. That a ton of good wheat bran contains more protein than a ton of cornmeal, and is therefore more valuable as a milk-producing food, or for building up the bone and muscle on growing stock, is well known to many farmers. But there Is a considerable difference in the quality of bran. Some samples have been found which analyzed over 18 per cent of protein, and others not much over 12 per cent, or about twothirds the amount of this most valuable element. Spring wheat bran averages better than the winter wheat bran, or nearly 1(5 per cent protein with 4.34 per cent fat aud 52.8 G per cent of starchy matter. Tills bran should always be sold on a guaranteed analysis, and at a value very nearly represented by the protein found in it. If that having the least protein is sold at sl2, it may be more profitable to pay sll for the best that ran be found. ToD-Hre»»lnn Kali Grain. W e think a fertilizer of 300 pounds of acid phosphate and 100 pounds of mnriate of potash to the acre is better for fall grain tliau a dressing of stable or barnyard manure, first because it costs less than the manure is worth for other crops, and because v/hlle It may not Stow as much straw It will grow a . , f '%£■ -

■tlffer straw that will not lodge, and it will make ajieavier and plumper grain. When'the seed la drilled in It may be drilled in with it without extra labor, but when seed is sown broadcast we would harrow In the seed 1 first and then sow the above it to be carried down by the fkll rains. In many sections the amount we advise for one acre would be thought enough for two acres, but we think the larger amount would prove most profitable on land which had been long used for growing hay or for pasturage. If the land was very light we would top dress with from 75 to JIOO pounds per acre of nitrate of soda after wheat came up, in preference to sowing it jvheu wheat was sown, and in any case unless wheat was very rank in the spring, as it may be where clover or other manurial crop Was plowed in, we would sow about the above amount of nitrate of soda early in the spring to stimulate a good growth and early maturity.—American Cultivator. Sandy Soils. The Department of Agriculture has not been able to find a soil so sandy and poor,that no vegetation will grow upon it. The sandy beaches upon the seashore, and those places where the sand drifts almost like light snow have been planted with what are known as sand binding grasses and sedges which have been found not only to grow there, but to so fill the sand with their roots as to ptevent it from blowing by the wind or even being washed away by ordinary w'aves or tides. Once made to grow, these plants will contribute vegetable matter to the soil, which in time may make them fertile for other plants. The department is introducing sand binding plants from foreign countries which they propose to have tested in climates here like those from which they are Brought, to see if any of them are superior to our native sand-growing species. Even if they fail to make the sand fertile, it will be of advantage in preventing its drifting and covering other land. For some years the Government has been setting some of the beaches with sedge or grass to prevent the shifting of the coast line, and the formation of sand bars in streams by the blowing or washing of sand from the shore, and they may find some plant which will be more valuable for this purpose than any we now have.

Breaking Ont Roada in Winter. At a Farmers’ Institute in Kennebec County, Maine, Mr. E. C. Buzzel gave his experience for the past five winters in breaking out the 100 miles of road in his town. The average depth of snowfall during a winter for the last twenty years has been ninety-six Inches, or eight feet of snow a year. For the past twelve years they have used rollers, and now b&ve six of them to cover the 110 miles. They have roads from eleven to thirteen feet wide without high ridges at the side, so that heavily loaded teams can pass each other safely, even aifter the heaviest snowfalls, which usually come In February and March. The average cost for the past five years has been S6OO per year, Including all expenses of shoveling when necessary to get the first roller’s through. This is in the town of Fryeburg, but many towns near there are now' using the same system. But there are still many towns in the State that have less than 100 miles of road that spend from $1,700 to $2,000 a year to break out their snowdrifts, using road scalpers, snow plows and gangs of shovelers, and yet do not get as good a road as those tow'ns that use the rollers, so says an Eastern exchange.

Method of Slack ins Fodder. An excellent method of stacking fodder, says the Ohio Farmer, is to construct a long and narrow platform of rails or anything that will serve to keep the bundles off the ground. This platform can be as wide as the length of two bundles or it can be two or three times that width, if there is a largte amount of fodder to be stacked, and as long as necessary. The stack should be quite long in' proportion to its width, as the fodder is to be used from the ends. Begin by laying bundles closely lengthwise until the center is from four to eight feet, depending on the width of the stack, higher than the outside. Then begin laying the bundles crosswise, close together, butts out. Keep the center higher as the stack advances, that the top bundles may be quite slanting to shed water well. Tie a number of bundles near the top, divide into two equal parts, set half on either side of the top the Whole length of the stock, and it will not take water. In using the fodder, begin at the ends; pull out the bottom bundles first, and none need be damaged by rain, the end only being exposed. Form Machinery. The increased use of farm inaeiilnery was at one time thought to be taking so much work away from the laboring class that in some places mobs burned the harvesting machinery when taken into the terming districts because it was going to tatfe away the poor man’s means of support. To-day it seems to be realized that only by the use of such machinery is the cultivation of large areas made profitable and possible, and these large tracts annually employ more labor than did the small ones which were grown In the days of han<| labo£ They have also helped the poor man in another way. They have Increased the amount of food production, and cheapened tta cost, so that we are not only obtaining our own food at lees cost than thirty years ago, but are selling large amounts of It to the people of other countries, not only to the profit of the termers, but ’’o the advantage of those who grow it, and those who find wellpaid employment In transporting It

SPIRIT OF THE FLAG.

Bauer of Republicanism and Why Democrats Blake Little Uee of It. Many times during the last campaign Democratic mobs made assaults on men carrying the flag, and missiles were thrown at our banner in many States. In New York City it was desecrated by the filth of the Tammany searchlight. Wfe do not believe every Democrat would haul down the flag or insult it, but we know that not a single Republican in this wide land would do injury to the Stars and Stripes in any act or any spirit. It is not difficult, then, to understand why the flag is the banner of Republicans and why Democrats use it so sparingly. When our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, called for volunteer and our boys marched away under their country’s flag, they did not blot ont the stars representing the seceding States. Those fighting under the Stars and Stripes were fighting for the whole country, to preserve the South as well as the North, while those fighting under the stars and bars were battling for themselves alone. And so it is to-day. Republicans at the polls fight with their ballots for the whole country, for the best interests of every race, every color, every class, every person. The Democrats fight for self and spoils. In New York it Is for Tammany Hall and corruption and blood money. In other States it is for local advantage and patronage. In other words, Democrats vote for Democrats, while Republicans vote for the best interests of every—man, no matter to what party he may belong. That is the spirit of the flag. That is what the Stars and Stripes mean wherever they wave. Prosperity and progress, liberty and law, honor and peace. —American Economist.

How Disfranchisement Works. Mississippi adopted the policy of negro disfranchisement in 1890, or five years before South Carolina, eight years before Louisiana and ten years before North Carolina. In the presidential election of 1876 the whole number of cast in Mississippi was 164,000. In 1884, under a method of local disfranchisement of colored electors, the total vote of that State fell to 110,000, although the population had been increasing steadily. Four years later the vote was 115,000. Two years afterward a new Constitution, adopted by a majority of the convention which framed it, but without submission to a vote of the people, provided for a registration of all voters, and required every elector to convince the registering officers that he was “able to read any section of the Constitution of the State, or able to understand the same when read to him, or gave a reasonable interpretation thereof.” In the presidential election succeeding, that is, in 1892, the total vote of Mississippi was 52,000; in 1896 it was 59,994, -and at the recent November election it was 59,103, of which number Bryan had more than 50,C00 and McKinley less than 6,000. . During the past ten years the population of Mississippi has increased from 1,289,000 to 1,551,000, or about 20 per cent; from 1880 to 1890 the increase in population was 150;000. This is how the figures compare: Population 1880 1,131,000 Population 1900 1,551,000 Increase in 20 years 420,000 Vote in 1876 164,778 Vote in 1900 59,103 Decrease in 24 years... 105,675 Mississippi, the first of the States to adopt constitutional disfranchisement, offers this year, in the official returns just canvassed, the very best iliustratioh of this method of vote reduction in practical operation.—New York Sun.

What the Klection Settled. Mr. Bryan, in his new role as writer for the magazines, informs us in the December North American Review that the election was “not necessarily conclusive upon any question.’’ Granting this, if we must, we may yet insist that it was conclusive upon one personality. It demonstrated beyond a peradventure that W. J. Bryan is a" very poor vote getter. East and West he ran behind his own ticket. Democratic candidates for Governor beat him by thousands of votes in New York and Connecticut, in Illinois and Minnesota. Democratic Congressmen left him far in the rear. Now this may be wholly deplorable. Mr. Bryan may be a weak candidate through a cruel misupderstanding of bis personality. - He may be suffering like Aristides from being too just. But the fact is that he did suffer personal repudiation at the polls; that he was a weak candidate, weaker than his party. And no party can be expected to go into presidential election after presidential election simply for the sake of making a flourish. The time will come when party managers will cast about seriously to command party success; and then they will drop Mr. Bryan, for they will perceive that, with him, success cannot be had. This was settled in the last election, whether anything else was or not.—New York Post. A Political 1 aradox. The one amazing, if not inexplicable, thing which appears on the face of the returns is the vote of the Southern States. No part of the country has profited more, few sections have profited so much; from the wonderful prosperity under McKinley and Protection as has the Squth. Yet every one of the Southern States, with the exception of West Virginia, which can hardly be called Southern, lias rolled up a big majority for prynn and for the policies which he represents, policies which would shut up every Southern factory and bring to a sudden end the rapidly growing prosperity of the Southern States. The South doesn’t want free trad*. Yet the South votes for a man

who declares that protection Is vicious in principle. The bouth languished with the rest ot the country under the Wilson law, yet it gives its electoral votes to a man who voted to enact that law and who has no regrets for his vote. The day must cftme some time when the South will votes from reason, not from prejudice, and when it will not depend on the rest of the country to save it from itself. A Thankaeivin« with MehninK* Thanksgiving day this year waa observed with sincerity by all who are capable of appreciating the great blessings that have been enjoyed by the American people. At no time In its history has this country stood where it does now. Never before has its international position been so powerful. Instead of going to the Rothschilds for loans, foreign borrowers bring their bonds to New York. The latest report of foreign commerce was overwhelmingly in favor of the Ignited States. Domestic business exceeds all records in volume of transactiona, and, aside from - the textile Industry, all branches of manufacture are thriving. Even in this exceptional case conditions are far from distressing, but there is good reason to believe that activity will be increased in clothing and dry goods when the temperature assumes a more normal level. Limited sales are not caused by the Inability of the people tjO purchase what they need. On the contrary, every measure of prosperity shows that the inhabitants of this country as a whole were never before so well able to satisfy their wants. —New York Tribune. Where Teller Will La/td. Senator Teller says the silver question will remain in American politics for years to come, and that he is going to stick to the bimetallic side. The chances are that the Democratic party will drop silver, and that the Senator will be very lonesome in 1904 if he takes the stump in favor of it. By the way, the Colorado statesman had very little to say about silver in the recent campaign. Inquiries were made often in the campaign of “Where is Teller?” but nobody seemed to be, able to answer them. Bryan dodged silver In the latter part of the canvass, and Teller kept quiet about that issue until now, three weeks after the election Is over. The plurality which Teller’s State has given to Bryan this year Is only a small fraction of that which it gave him four years ago. Both Colorado and Senator Teller, it is safe to predict, will be back in the Republican party before the next presidential conventions meet.—St. Louis Globe-Demo-crat.

Dead Beyond Resurrection. The Democratic party is dead beyond resurrection. It has lost everything it had except its gall, and but for lack of demand it would have been gone along with the rest of Its rotten carcass. Since 1892 it has lost 1,100,000 in popular pluralities; also 17 Senators, 75 Representatives and 10 Governors. Since 1896 it has lost six States and gained only one—a net loss of 42 electors. It has been defeated in every Eastern, Middle and Western State, In three of the Southern States, and in all of the Northwestern and Pacific slope States except the mining camps in Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.

Democracy’s Chief Need. After all this post-mortem talk as to what is the matter with the Democratic party and what happened to it on Nov. G, It remained for the sapient J. R. Bennett, ,Tr., of St. Cloud, to put his finger on the real source of the trouble. “The Democratic party,” lie said, “doesn’t need reorganization. It needs more votes.” How simple! Yet It is the simplest things which are often discovered last.—Minneapolis Journal. What They Prefer. The question lias been decided. workingmen of the United States nave declared that they prefer a full dinner pall to an empty one and the protection of American Industries to free trade.— Indianapolis Journal. A 'Chancre of Catloueea. Four years ago the wage-workers had callouses on their feet from tramping around in search of employment. Now the callouses are on their hands.—Grand Rapids (Mich) Herald.

Stealing of South African Diamonds.

Over £200,000 worth of diamonds are annually stolen from the South African mines. hi Clerk (to employer)—What shall I .mark that new lot of black silk? Em-ployer-Mark the selling price $3 a yard. Clerk—But it cost only $1 a yard. Employer—l don't care what It cost lam selling off regardless of cost A philosopher Is a person who can tell others bow to profit by his mistakes.

FINE WINTER SPORTS.

CANADIAN PEOPLE ENJOY VIGOROUS OUTDOOR FUN. Skating and Tobogganing Are Popular Diversions in Season—Advantages of a Straight- Away Skate—American's Nervy Exploit in Montreal. Ellsworth Hague, of Montreal, waa speaking at the Hotel Imperial recently of Winter sports In Canada. "Yon have little idea here in New York,” said Mr. Hague, “of what winter really means—that is, the ‘sporty’ side of it You never know here what a love of virile life it is that fires the blood in your veins and spurs you on to increased effort when you feet the smooth ice under the sharp blade of your skate and know that that ice stretches aw'ay for miles and miles. A straightaway skate like that kills rink or pond skating for you. With the wind in your face or at your back, as the case may be, the Are in your blood and the glory of It all fiflve you on and on, and you feel no fatigue. No! Give me skating in the open and over a long stretch to get at the true Inwardness of the sport. v "of snowslioeing, tobogganing, and skeeing you know nothing and all these are sports to make the bipod leap and to cause one to cry aloud for the pure love of being alive. In Montreal tobogganing has been carried to its ultlmra thuie. Nowhere else can slides in such perfection be found. Take that lightning slide—l had almost said drop —for a long distance! The first time it is experienced it is something to make the heart stand still. Our perfectly constructed slides are high, banked at the sides with snow to prevent the toboggan from jumping or accidentally going off. .The carefully watered center is a sheet of glare ice and In running over toboggans get up a speed that is simply terrific. “Some of the slides have Jumps in them and when the toboggans go off one of these jumps they cover with their human freight an incredible distance before alighting. The Jump slides, though, are only for the stoutest hearted.

“One of the nerviest things ever done m Montreal,” continued the speaker, "occurred there in a winter season some fifteen years ago. it was perpetrated by a countryman of yours, and was the result of an after-dinner wager made in one of our clubs. The American laid a heavy amount that he would go down one of the straight toboggan slides on skates. It was a thing that had never been attempted in Montreal and one I do not think is likely to grow popular, for a fall would result in almost certain death or In Injury so frightful as to make death seem preferable by comparison. “The American took all bets, and when the time arrived for the trial he appeared with a pair of old-fashioned skates, generally called ‘rockers.’ You probably know the kind—where the steel is In the form of a half moon from toe to heel, the blade is all circle and affords no semblance of an angle to offer resistance. They were very popular In the ’oos and ’7os, but no on© but an expert could use them. It was an exceedingly wise choice, for a skate with a straight runner would have deflected or Jumped at a small obstacle, which the rocker, on the other hand, would pass safely over. “When the appointed hour arrived and the man appeared, far away at the head of the slide, all present held their breath. It did not seem possible that he could make that fearful descent in safety, and a majority of those present looked for him to pitch over the low sides and to be killed in the falL With hardly a moment’s delay-he started. At first he seemed to move slowly, and then his speed rapidly increased. Everybody waited for the fall that did not come. Stiffly erect, that black figure descended quickly. Half way down his speed was so great t' at it seemed to the onlookers beyond human endurance for him to retain his balance longer.

“Yet, flying ever faster and ever standing erect, he held on until he struek the level at the foot. Shooting out on this like a cannon ball he crossed to the soft snow like a streak of light. Then his speed materially decreased, and when his snow-clogged skates finally pitched him headlong he received no injury. lie was up in a trice without assistance, and Ids first words were a request for a drink. About twenty were handed him. Beyond a slight pallor he showed no sign of the great strain he had undergone, qgd I never beard that he afterward it “Without exception It was the most wonderful feat of balance and simonpure nerve I ever read of or saw. When the dinner came off, that was part of the bet, it was what is politely termed an event It began with oysters and ended with the next morning’s breakfast Anything that chap wanted in Montreal he had but to ask for. He could have lived there all the rest of his days free of charge. But after two weeks of it he packed up and went away. He gave as his reason that, while it was pleasant to have the freedom of a city and everything supplied to you gratis, he thought that if he stayed his demise would occur In about three months; he, therefore, preferred to go off somewhere else and by supporting himself be able to live to a hoary old age."—New York Tribune.

SIX CENTURIES TO BUILD.

Cologne Cathedral Wm in Process of Krection Six Hundred Years. While the first stone of Coldgne Cathedral was laid on Aug. 15, 1248, and the body of the edifloo was not >poned until Auk. 15, 1845, 505 jmx%

later -o m, very day. n was ever, until Aug. 15, 1880, .ip|jjj| did structure was finally reporter . pleied, having thus occupied Itti WBMj log the record time of exaetlM 11111 l years. .1 The castle of Kingsgobe*®! W ffj|§f stands at the southern extreailfl |j|j||| Jutland, took 204 years from tbjß'fgfpj iug of the foundation stone to tbSfjl||| King of its master’s banner on its ft. /:Jjj est flagstaff. Its foundation stotMX .ij the skuil of its builder’s bitterest® '■‘o. iny. Three months after its Count Jliorsing, the builder castle, was killed. His son was JS „‘j|| iT : i lug ‘‘i< lies ill- did not*! jjMM rinue iiis father’s work until aged® mmjim On his twenty fifth birthday bfc \ tin-ow n into prison by the son of|lSJJ|| man whose skull lay in the Ivingsg-.iH-rg’s foundation stone. Injt .'I ;;a i .. . master of Ivlj) golx-rg was stopped putting ao fflf§§§| stone toward the completion of j| l|||| founder’s work till civilization ifmjjSßi Between Perth and KingnsM^pnH s.-or land, on the direct John o’ Gsl to Land’s End road, stands Murflßgij| Castle, a magnificent struct tire, designed in the early palaaMj the present century. It is not Ilf | to !»■ finished, ho vever, building i. |§jjj| s another < Only a few miles distant, on the at I fill main road, is the vast, unfinishedll f ||f| ace of the dukes of Athol. It wa*ji wHj gun by the fourth duke, who dieSpflH 1 and who planned it on the n: fj||| sumptuous style. When it will !>e one of the finest private deuces in the kingdom. * |B| For over twenty years Lord ButeljSSj been busily building a great mans., I.TOg on the island of that name. It is not .•"lupimi-d nor ilk.-iy to t*e for anotfcl ten years. At the end of that permßm Mount Stewart, as the place is to9«B called, will be one of the most gorgeotßil establishments in the world. - |||| Itestormel Castle, in Cornwall, toHH ninety years to build, of which perflHHj exactly one-third was occupied in/T-y l|H rating the foundations. The so®*mjjMg upon which it stands is almost . 4*9i1l as iron. Indeed, “Restormel” in Cornish, “the palace of the rock.” Milan Cathedral was begun in IiHH and finished under Napoleon in lSoqß||| 419 years. f The Duorao at Florence was ctflS meneed by Amulfo in the year the last block of marble being placed ljß| position in the facade in presence the King on May 12, 1887, a period 593 years.—Stray Stories. Rubber Heels Are Worn. Everyone knows that when cross a bridge they are ordered to step, so that the regular so many feet shall not «ndjtngeSLjjM9 safety of the structure. Now an armMl surgeon of France has discovered tbfflj the brain jar due to long regular step is as trying on the frame as such marching is on the s*niijfl[ ture of a bridge. To the regular tition of a shock to bone* and caused by this uniform and ued marching are due the aches, pains and illness of the < >n a one-day march, be says, this shocljH Is repeated 40,000 times, and often tihXl strongest men who can walk the santfl| distance without trouble when noLjflj line succumb to the strain in two three days. Therefore this surgeon poses as a remedy the use of heels. This device has been tried in tj(H[ French infantry with great succeamllll But our army has a better plan that. We simply break the step the command “route step.” At thdflß gait the men march In columns of foasflg at the rate of three to three and a miles an hour. They carry their pleceKj at will, keeping the muzrle They are not required to preserve affl ence, nor to keep the step. And tbadHi why the American doesn’t wear rulfl[ bers. fl|

Old Teacher.

Among the many epitaphs to be on Burial Hill, In the historic towAraS| Plymouth, Mass., Is one breathcS} such defiance to the wo\j at is seldom found, even on a graves The stone marks the Tabiiha Flasket, a Plymouth who died in 1807. After her busbandraE death it is said that the Widow ket taught a private school of tender years, and thriftily to do her spinning at the same time, When her small charges became ruly aud overstepped the bound* discipline, Tabltha's favorite mode ofl| bringing them to a sense of their wrongSl doing was to pass skeins of yarn undeXg their arms, and suspend them froiEji nails on the wall. A row of little cuflS prits hanging in this way must havK| t>een an amusing spectacle, but It ajH| pears froii Mrs. Flasket’s epitaph th«H| her methods did not always meet wltfll approval ftom parents and friends. Ajlieu, vain world, I’ve seen' eObtigb thee; •AS And r am careless wri*t thou say's4v|tfl| me; jfiS Thy smiles I wish not, rag Nor thy frowns I fear, SH I am now at rest, my head Wes quiet her^Bj

No More Botany Bay.

As there is an inevitable throughout the Kngllsh-speaking worlißß to associate the name of Botany with convictism, a movement"has irEB cently IK-en started in Australia has for its object, the abolition of thafl| name and the substitution of Bay Instead, The Sydney Sunday Timefll suggests that the change be before the new century, that the commonwealth may start th-der ttfl| best and brightest condition withowl the taint on its fair name now *UfcE|H| ed by the name of Botany Bay. SB 1 'Che midnight ghost la probably; trail [dead of night. , ijj M