Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1901 — Page 3

FARM AND GARDEN

The Old Rail Fence. In the merry days of boyhood when we never knew a care Greater than the mumps or measles or a mother’s cut of hair, When a sore toe was a treasure and a stone bruise on the heel Filled the other boys with envy which they tried not to conceal, There were many treasured Objects on the farm we held most dear, Orchard, fields, the creek we swam in, and the old spring cold and clear; Over there the woods of hick’ry and of oak so deep and dense, Looming up behind the outlines of the old _— 4 rail fence. On its rails the quail would whistle in the early summer morn, ..Calling to their hiding fellows in the field of waving corn, And the meadow larks and robins on the stakes would sit and sing Till the forest shades behind them with their melody would ring. There tite catbird and tfie jaybird sat and called each other names, And the squirrels and the chipmunks played the chase-and-catch-me. games, And the garter snake was often in unpleasant evidence In the grasses in the corners of the old rail . > fence. As we.,grew to early manhood when we thought the country girls In the diadem of beauty were the very fairest pearls Oft from spellin’ school or meetin' or the jolly shuckin’ bee Down the old lane* we would wander with a merry little “she.” On the plea of being tired (just the country lover lie). On a grassy seat we’d linger in the moonlight, she and I, And we’d plant a future picture touched • with colors most intense As we sat there in the corner of the old rail fence. —Denver Pest. Golden Cashaw Pumpkin. The Golden Cashaw pumpkin is one of the best of the newer sorts, both for pie-making and for stock-feeding. When the pumpkin is matured the sklu Is golden orange in color. The flesh Is fine grained, rich yellow in color, sweet and rich in flavor. This variety is one of the sorts it would pay to grow alone, that Is, not in the corn field, by anyone w’ho had a large herd of cat-

GOLDEN CASHAW PUMPKIN.

tie to feed. Grown alone the yield is materially increased. News. Quality of Potatoes. The demand for quality is by no means confined to fruit, as many farmers think. One might say the consumer has no means of knowing if a certain variety of potato is likely to cook up mealy or be soggy, and that is true so far as the appearance of the tuber goes, but here is the way the consumer treats *the matter: He gets a small supply of potatoes from the grocer and finds them soggy and tasteless. The next time he goes to the grocer he tells him in unmistakable terms that no more potatoes like the last are wanted. The grocer in turn lays down the law to the commission man from whom he buys, who in turn looks up the source of supply, and either writes the grower that no more of the variety should be sent or says nothing and sells them to whom he can at any price he can. Thus the producer pays the penalty for not taking quality into consideration In'potatogrowing. Test varieties in the soil you Intend to use, and know what you are doing. If the soli is sandy or gravelly loam and the plot has the proper care, there is no trouble in producing quality. . Paatnrinv in Rprayed Orchards. The statement was recently made in an agricultural paper that several cases of swine-killing by pasturing in sprayed orchards were on record. There is certainly some mistake about this, for the matter has been repeatedly tested, has been found that it would require the consumption of nearly half a ton of pasture by an animal for It to obtain sufficient poison from under sprayed trees to injure it. Moreover, swine of all animals are the least affected by poisons of any pasturing animals In orchards that have been sprayed, provided only spraying has been done, and there has l>een no large quantity spilled over a small area. In the latter case animals would be likely to be made quite sick.— Exchange. Question of Too Much Lout. There are lots of land owners tn evgry section of the country who are

land poor. They own and control mor® land than they can work to advantage. They hang on to it like grim death until the sheriff comes to their relief or they are fortunate enough to find

some man who baa a sum of, money large enough to pay one-third down and a bank account good enough to take the risk of getting the balance together in one and two years. There are plenty of large farms throughout the country which could be made to pay for themselves within a few years if dividend up properly and placed in the hands of ambitious men who would appreciate an opportunity to secure and pay for a home of their own. Another benefit would aerrue from a change of this kind. The condition of society would be much benefited. As a rule, either In city or country, the best communities are those in which the people own their own homes. It prevents that floating element from predominating—people who have but little interest in their surroundings, as they are here one year and somewhere else another. It is a fact that values are higher, the moral tone better and the people more happy and prosperous in communities where there are small farms which are owned by their occupants.—Stockman and Farmer. For Unloading" a Hayrack. An easy way to unload a hayrack without lifting it oft is to set four posts in such a manner as to be far enough apart one way to miss the running gears of the wagon and far enough

FRAME POR THE HAYRACK.

apart the other to hold a 16-foot rack. Top boards are nailed to the posts. These are pointed at one end and by driving through between the two panels the rack is lifted from the wagon, being gradually raised as the wagon passes along.—Exchange. Fruit Note*. Handle fruit as if you were handling eggs. It is the duty of every farmer to plant fruit trees. Cut out from the pear tree all limbs which show' blight. Most fruit growers say that clay soil is the best for the pear. Blackberries are a profitable berry to raise for the market. The best soil for the raspberry is a rich, well-drained, deep soil. The number of known species of plums runs up into the hundreds. Land that w’ill produce grain and vegetables will grow blackberries. Plums should be {binned to about six inches apart after the June drop. Plant different kinds of fruit trees, so as to be sure of a crop of some kiiyi. Pears and plums are jugt as hardy as apples and just as valuable to raise. Strawberries will grow in every State in the Union. Have you a bed of them? Fruit trees require to be cultivated and pruned, but they will repay all care and attention. Training raspberries and blackberries on trellises is recommended by some growers. When fruit has been thoroughly thinned it attains the largest size, greatest beauty and deliciousness of flavor. Sorghum aa Forage Crop. If sorghum is wanted for fodder, says Orange Judd Farmer, sow June 10 or after and let it remain in the field until the lower blades have dried up and the seed has just passed the dough stage. Cut with a mower when the dew is not on and put into shocks at once. Build shocks eight feet high and eight feet in diameter and leave in the field until wanted. Sorghum put up in this way will make excellent feed until w’arm weather next spring. After that the juice begins to sour and it must not be used. Some feeders consider one acre of sorghum worth two acres of ordinary field corn. If an ordinary wheat drill is used for sowing sorghum seed, stop three’ of the boles and leave three open. The crop can be cultivated once. When cutting t'ime comefe go into the field with a selfbinder and cut as oats or millet. The objection to this method is that in most of the humid States there is danger of sorghum spoiling under the band. In Nebraska and Kansas and further west, where the air is dry, this objection does not hold. The crop is easier handled in bundles. Green Pea Lome. The Department of Agriculture has issued a report on the ravages of the green pea louse, giving warning that this Insect, one of the most Important of those which have ravaged the crops of the country during the last two seasons, will widen its range geographically and increase the amount of destruction. Since its first appearance in May, 1899, at Bridges, Va., its devastation has steadily Increased and it has now become the cause of great loss in the principal pea growing regions of the United States. The estimated loss it caused along the Atlantic coast State® in 1899 is estimated at $3,000,000 and in 1900 this had reached $4,000,000 by the middle of June. In some farms in Maryland 80 per cent or more of the crop was destroyed. Vigorous efforts are making to control its spread and the official bulletin gives a detailed description and means of fighting it

-Mushroom Growing. Although any one with a good, dry cellar or outhouse who la within reach of a horse stable can grow mushrooms, yet those who would find most pleasure and profit in raising them are suburban and rural people tanners, truckers, florists—ln fact, any one llrirj at or near a place where horses are kept.

THE SUMMER GOWNS.

SEEN AT THEIR BEST IN-PRAC-TICAL USE. They Made a Fine Display Earlier in the Season in the Shop Windaw®, but Are Only Seen at Best Advantage When Shown on Their Wearers.

New York correspondence:

In large numbers the dressmakers may stick safely to a few distinct types, but when accepted novelties are so few as they ate just now it is small wonder

that the gowns of a score of fashionably dressed women have very little-in common. Since new fabrics, too, are not numerous, resort is had to a host of familiar ones, though the weavers keep the latter from seeming old by an increase of delicacy or beauty in the goods. A new feature of linen dresses is the very-Stylish use of sage green and greenish gray, both shades that make up handsomely wljen trimmed with lace or stitched bands of the goods. These dresses usually are made with a Spanish flounce banded with a stitched fold of the goods. The waist, on the shirt waist order, has a front plastron of white mull or tucked lawn outlined with lace or embroidery run with black velvet. Suits of the mercerized linen in those new green shades are made for dress-up wear in skirt and bolero trimmed iace, a fancy white shirt waist coming beneath the jacket. One of these suits appears in

SUMMER FEATURES THAT ARE OFTEN REPEATED.

the accompanying initial picture. Ivory white lace trimmed it, and the white silk revera of its bolero were embroidered in black silk. Gowns of this material commonly are made so elaborately that this example is to be counted aa. a simple one.

UMMER gowns are now at their best, since they are to be seen on women, and surely the stylish dress parades bear out well the early promise of the show windows and rooms. The elaborateness of sleeves and skirts, together with the license for complexity that usually pre-, vails in summery fabrics aids much in effecting a most attractive variety. In the fine array is not. after all, a great deal that is brand new, the impression to the contrary that is given being due to the display’s unending variety. In a season when do wnri gh t new styles are Advanced

A PAIR OF LAWN GOWNS.

There’s no end to the lace-trtmmed gowns of mnslin. lawn, mull and organdie.. Handsome gowns of flowered organdie are beautifully trimmed with black lace and ecru Idee insertion. Black lac® is a feature of many such dresses, .giving a look of stylishness that white or ecru shades do not provide. Flowered organdies usually are large and sprawling, and when made with a tucked Spanish flounce banded with black lace insertion, flounce edge finished with black lace, look very handsome. White dotted net is worn on the street and usually is made over a lawn drop skirt. These dresses usually are finished with several tiny ruffles edged with narrow black satin ribbon: White mull gowns are edged with naprow Persian ribbon and gain newness thereby. Embroidered and lace beading is another trimming that is used extensively on wash dresses. This is usually run through with black velvet or delicate ribbons. Gowns with three or four handsome lace flounces are coming in. The lace must be of the very finest and usually is of a delicate cream shade. The left hand dress of the next picture was one of these. It was white linen lawn and cream duchess lace. Many delicately colored mulls are made , ? up in this way, the waist finished off with a handsome lace collar or fichu of lace to match that on the skirt. More often the lace put on lawns, and a deal of it is employed, appears in some scheme of deep banding. The other gown of this picture illustrates this trick, its tucked white lawn being finished with Valenciennes insertion and appliquedwith black lace.. The bertha was white lace, the V of plain lawn set off with cretonne flowers. Though little jackets of taffeta, usually ’ much-tucked, have been overdone, handsome coats of black taffeta and louisine silk cut away in front and with postilion backs will be a feature of many summer

gowns. They are made with collar and revers of white 'satin or contrasting color covered with lace or embroidered in silver and gold silk threads. The one seen in this picture was made with a vest of satin 4 embroidered in gold. These coats are worn over any of the fluffy muslin or soft silk gowns. The new fancies of the gowns in the concluding picture will be understoodfrom brief descriptions. First is a pale pint mull appliqued with cluny lace flowers and trimmed with cluny lace. The gown. shown in half length was linen colored batiste embroidered with black silk. Yoke and collar were tucked white mull, and ihe deep collar was white lace. The third gown pale blue, organdy, the ruffles of its skirt edged with black velvet. Often such ruffles are put on horizorftafly and at equal distances apart, and again the spaces between them are graduated. A white organdy figured in

rose pink was the last of these dresses, its design coming the nearest of all the currently fashionable figured goods to the “microbe" silks of three years ago. Banda of beading run with green velvet trimmed it, and yoke and V were embroidered white batiste.

RECORD OF THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDTNTB TERSELY TOLD. Death Term iaa tea a Visit—Someone In Flora Has Queer Idea of Fnn—Two Farmers Killed by Limited TrainLightning Strikes Fonr Men. Mrs. James Conn the other day stepped from the train in London, where she contemplated making a visit to her sister, Mrs. John Vernon. The sisters twenty-five years ago were separated and have not seen each other since. Recently Mrs. Conn, who lives in Missouri, learned the whereabouts of her long lost sister and at once started for Indiana to meet her. Mrs. Conn was much exeted over the glad tidings, and, filled with the joy of meeting her sister, she rushed into her home and surprised her. In ten minutes after she reached her sister’s home she died. Explodes Dynamite for a Joke. Unknown miscreants exploded a large amount of dynamite in front of the residence of Augustus Doty, a Flora farmer, at midnight the other night. The residence was badly damaged and Mrs. Doty is dangerously ill as a result of the shock. It is explained that the dynamite was exploded for a joke, but there is great indignation over the affair and a reward has been offered for the perpetrators. Killed by Lake Shore Train. Lee Hines and Isaac Tryon were struck by the west-bound train while driving across the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern track®, four miles west of Waterloo, and instantly killed. The carriage was splintered, but the horse escaped unhurt. Both men were prominent farmers. ___

■ —... . Severe Dosage by Storm. A severe storm passed over Duboise and Pike Counties. St. Mary’s Catholic Church at Huntingburg was struck by lightninghand destroyed. It was valued at SSO,OCX). At Velpin ten buildings were unroofed and one store. The storm did great damage to crops and fences. t Fonr Killed by Lightning. Frank Bridgewater, Anderson Webster, John Wiggle and Samuel Stewart, all farmers, were killed by a bolt of lightning while assisting in the work on the farm of J. C. Albert, near .Lodi. Within Our Borders. Martinsville wants a hot water heating plant. Crothersville is agitating the formation of a commercial club. A party of Albion fishermen landed 817 fish last week, in Long Lake. A new electric line ,is projected between Richmond and Celina, Ohio. Morristown citizens are trying to organize an independent gas company* Ex-County Treasurer Breeding’s house, at Edinburg, was robbed of S2O. Bartholomew County is now busy taking care of the biggest cherry crop in her history. Milk sickness has made its appearance at Wallace, and one man, named McElwee, has died.

Ex-Postmaster W. L, Boyce, Mount Vernon, who was short $592.70, has paid the shortage to his bondsmen. Charles Simon, Churubusco, raised strawberries so large that' it only took eight or nine to make a quart. Orlando Flory, Pinchon, bar an eyeless calf. The freak cannot learn to suck, but takes milk from a pail. J. F. Parker, L. & N. bridge carpenter, fell 200 feet from a bridge, near Evansville, and was fatally injured. Frank Summers, Ligonier, was bitten on the arm by a spider. The member became so swollen it had to be lanced. Rosa Mandler, South Bend, saved S2OO with which to buy a home. She hid it in a stove. A fire was lighted and her money destroyed. Walter Kelly, 20 years old, a farmhand on the farm of H. M. Metsker, near Burlington, wsa kicked by a horse and instantly killed. Harry C. Wilson, who struck Richard Sherwin a fatal blow on the head, May 20, at Bristol, has been found guilty of manslaughter at Goshen. Frank Adylotte, 20, Sullivan, Ind., has been appointed assistant instructor in English at the State University. He is the youngest professor in the State. John S. McKinney and Roscoe Burnett, Arcadia, business men, fought 6b an L. E. & W. train, and Burnett stabbed McKinney five times in the neck. James Whitcomb Riley, fishing at Morristown, landed a five-pound bass. The poet’s brvther and a party from Greenfield, who were along, caught only small fish. 1

Shelbyville has gone completely daffy over the discovery of the mineral water and several stock companies to drill for It are being talked. One has already formed. Several Lagrange County farmers have been swindled out of amounts ranging from $250 upward by a man from Peoria, who sells them a method for making butter with county agency rights attached. Alexander S. Bryan, Greencastle, father of Pearl Bryan, for whose murder Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling were hanged, is dead. He brooded over his daughter’s tragedy, though he spoke seldom about it. Cancer was the immediate cause of his death. Mrs. W. J. Morrison, of Elkhart, aged 42, who recently became insane on hypnotism after attending several public demonstrations, died at Logansport l>efore she reached the insane hospital. Her hallucination was that her busband desired to hynotize her, and she would not let him her. Harry Howell, 9, Lafayette, while trying to dislodge a bird's nest from the eaves of a house fell and died In five minutes. The Wabash and Kochester Kailway Company, to build a trolley line between Wabash and Rochester, has organized, and will ask stibwi lies, from the townships through which the road passes. Brown County farmers still continue to search for gold «*irh determined spirit, and In some sections they are so confident that their ground contains the yellow treasure that they will not part with U for anything like a reasonable price.

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

It Many Example® of the. Importance of Small Thing®. “I have been very much impressed with the importance of small things in late years,” said an old steamboat man, “and the Mississippi river baa furnished me some rather good examples. I can understand now why Caesar looked oqt upon the Nile in such curious amazement, and offered all that he stood for to the Egyptian priest if he would show him the source of that wonderful river. But the antics of the Nile look like Insignificant nothings to me when compared with th® strange conduct of the stream that oozes out of the earth at Itasca and hurries on its murky and devious way toward the Gulf of Mexico. Towns along the Mississippi that once stood right on the brink of the river have been Isolated even in my day, and there are, too, all along the course of the stream little empires in view wherw the tiver has encroached upon small centers of population, finally eating the earth away and forcing the inhabitants to seek other quarters. There are hundreds of these places that are ah most forgotten now even by the men who hre constantly on the river. What brings about these violent changes along the banks of the river? Not floods. It Is just the ordinary doings of the stream. In the first place the current of the Mississippi is wonderfully swift, and the sediment deposited at any point where resistance to the flow is offered is very great. Tie a string to the neck of a bottle and sink it with the mouth of the bo{tle up and open. “If held in one place where the flow Is normal in an extremely short period of time the bottle will fill with sediment. Stretch a net across the river, a net so finely woven that nothing but the pure water of the river can pass through, and, on account of the rapidity of the flow and the greatness of the deposit of sediment, almost in a twinkling the river would be dammed at that point Experts have admitted this. This brings me to the point of. my narrative. . “The flow of currents is frequently interfered with by sunken boats, perhaps by a jackstaff sticking up above the surface. The current is diverted by degrees, generally touching the far side of the stream a mile from the point where it again meets resistance, and immediately begins the building of a sandbar. I have seen a thousand examples of this sort during my career on the river, and I have known of instances where the root of a tree or the mere twig of a willow have brought about similar conditions. These things have tended to make a riddle out of the river; yet the stream after a while will be handled so as to undo all that It has accomplished In this way.”— New Orleans Times-Democrat.

KITCHENER CAN UNBEND.

The British Commander Not Always the Stern Soldier. Most stories represent Lord Kitchener in a somewhat stern light. Here is one which shows that even the modern “man of blood and iron" can unbend. During the last Soudan campaign Kitchener was accompanied bya telegraphist, to whom he took the nearest approach to a fancy his, stem nature would allow. After Khartoum the telegraphist heard that his mother was ill and in want at home. He applied for his discharge, to which he was entitled. Kitchener sent for him, and demanded to know why he wished to leave. The man explained. “Don’t you think you could help your mother without going home, sir?” asked Kitchener. “I’d rather go home, sir,” replied the operator. “Oh, very well,” said Kitchener, closing the Interview abruptly. “You know your own-business best. That’ll do.”

The day came for the telegraphist to leave; and he went to bid his chief good-by. “Ah,” said Kitchener, “you’re a fool to go. I would have given you a good post had you stayed. I’m very busy-good-by.” The man saluted and was retiring, when Kitchener called out: “Here, just take this note to the paymaster for me.” The note w'as delivered, and the bearer was walking away when he whom the irreverent subalterns call “Shovelpenny” called him back. “I’m to give you this, by the General’s orders,” he said. “This” was equivalent in Egyptian money to a £lO note. It was characteristic of Kitchener that he would not lift a finger to urge the man to stay, and that he did not want to be thanked.

Optimism.

When the optimist was dispossessed and thrown, along with his household impedimenta, into the cold street, he chuckled furiously. “Why do you laugh, my friend?” Inquired a passerby. “Because I have just now been emancipated from toil” replied the optimist “For years my life has been one long struggle to keep the wolf from the door. But now that I have been deprived of the door I no longer am compelled to toll. Sweet, indeed, are the uses of adversity.” Then the optimist walked off, whistling gayly, into the sunshine.—New York Evening Sun.

New Social Level.

She—Oh: We don’t associate with her family. He—Why not? ghe They recently moved here from • city that has not been offered a free library by Mr. Carnegie.—Norristown Herald. , . —-.