Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1903 — Page 7

FARMERS CORNER

Agriculture In Country School*. Enough spasmodic theorization on teaching practical agriculture and esthetic nature study in country districts has been expended to pay off the national debt, says the Rural World. Let us pass into the next stage of the argument and get dawn to ways and means. If our children are to receive elementary Instruction In chemistry, soil physics, vegetable biology, botany and all the rest of the list, it follows that some one must teach them. How many are really capable of teaching anything beyond the “a, b, abs,” with their hands tied behind them? It is not enough that a teacher may call up the class in geography and perfunctorily conduct a recitation with her eyes glued to the book. A teacher .should inspire pnplls with the love of study. He should make the recitation interesting. All this applies not only to the teachings of agriculture but to all branches taught In the country school, and serves to emphasize the need of adopting the central or township school system. It is very difficult for any teacher to develop the proper interest and enthusiasm in the work of any branch of study with only an attendance of two or three pupils. On the other hand, It is a great waste to employ good teachers for only two or three students when

they can better instruct several times that number. Under the present system there is a large number of schools where the number of pupils is no larger than the above. When the centralized plan is adopted it will be possible with the same outlay to supply a much better class of instruction in all branches and with 94 per cent of the schools eliminated we believe it would be possible to obtain an instructor for each of the remainder that would be competent to give instruction in the elementary principles of agriculture. We believe our agricultural colleges have the capacity to turn out* such instructors as fast as they would be wanted for such positions; and, as in all other tilings, whenever a demand is created the supply will be forthcoming. The instruction may be crude at the start, as are most new enterprises; but everything must have a beginning and strength is gained by growth and experience. Some of the European countries have been going ahead of us in putting these things into practice. * For example, in the rural districts of Sweden a garden Is attached to every school, and the children receive practical instruction in the cultivation of flowers, fruits and vegetables, and in the management of hot beds, greenhouses and so forth. Handy Gates. The following sketch shows a farmer’s handy gate made of lx3-iuch slats throughout that need no braces and does not sag. The posts at the center and on hinge end rest on slats fastened

HANDY FARMER’S GATE.

to the posts, ns sllowu In the diagram. The front has two slats extending five Inches farther out than the gate; these drop In a slot or notch cut in a lx3-!nch piece nailed on the front post at right angle. This gate can be constructed and hung In an hour. —E. F. Isley. in Epitomist. How to Grind Kaffir Corn. I thought it might be of interest to many of your readers to know how to grind Kaffir corn, as most sweep mills will not grind it fine, and the millers waut too much for grinding it. If the burr is quite worn, so much the better. Have the Kaffir corn dry, put a basketful into a good, solid barrel, chop with a long-handled, sharp spade; add some more heads and chop, and so on. Fill your mill and continue to chopand grind. You can have it fine as floqr if you like, and It makes fine swill to feed thick or thin. The Kaffir corn stem keeps the seed from feeding too fast and It grinds nicely, but not so fast as corn, probably about five bushels per hour. This depends on how fine you grind It.—O. J. Huggins. in Kansas Farmer. Pasture for Hors. The value of a good pasture for hogs cannot he overestimated. It furnishes henlili giving, succulent forage, to secure which the hog takes early morning constitutionals and is made healthy thereby. He eats much of the grass and less of corn, and thereby is expense saved his owner, and he lays on fat faster than if on a full grain ration. Disease does not bother the pasture fed hog. A healthy hog, well fed. means profit in Its owner’s pocket. A good pasture insures this.—Farm Journal. St or ins Ice. When tilling an Ice house, place a layer of sawdust fully a foot deep upon jthe bottom, then put In the Ice, pack-’ dng it closely to wltlm a foot of the ~lide walls, cutting the blocks carefully «iul evenly to make the mass solid and 'compact. A twelve-inch space should lie allowed, and the sides should be jUlled with sawdust Do not fill nearer than three or four feet of the roof, and put about six Inches of the sawdust on top of the ice. If sawdust cannot be had. chopped straw, wheat chaff, or

marsh bar can be used, but sawdust is the best material.—New England Farmer. ' Beilina Produce by. Mull. It Is not hard for a farmer to work up an interest by advertising a desirable Article in the right way and through the right means. But half the battle is in properly answering the inquiries received. By lack of promptness, clearness, definiteness and test some letter writers will drive away possible customers about as fast as good advertising brings them in. Use a typewriter, which can be bought second hand for a few dollars; answer letters the same day received; by next mail if possible. The first satisfactory reply that reaches the buyer is likely to get his order, and in making the reply satisfactory everything counts. Inclose a sample or picture of what is being sold, If expedient, and try to fix his choice on a definite article or specimen at an attractive stated price, judging what he wants from his letter. It is this tact in adapting the reply to the prospective customer which counts as much as anything In securing orders. His confidence is to be secured, his questions and scruples clearly and tactfully met, and his imagination aroused over some Special and definite offer.—American Cultivator. Ap Automatic Milker. Here is a machine for milking cows. It is a can-shaped reservoir of special construction, made airtight so that a vacuum may be produced by the airpump on the cover. Rubber tubes con*

HOW THE MACHINE WORKS.

neet with the cow’s teats, and the pressure, it is claimed, causes the milk to flow readily. We know nothing of the merits of the machine. The Illustration is given to indicate the continued efforts that are being made along the line of dairy inventions. —Farm and Ranch. How Fruit Men Co-operate. Co-operation in fruit selling has reached an advanced stage in the Michigan apple belt. For instance, In the case of the Fruit Growers’ Association of Ludlngton, the stock amounts to five hundred shares, and ea*ch subscriber must take_at least one share for five acres of orchard. The company owns a large packing house, with a side track on one side and a wagon drive on the other. There Is a wide veranda on both sides, enclosed with slats. Six roller grades, which separate the fruit into three sizes, are used. Baskets are stored in the second story, and drop down through chutes to the packing tables, which are covered with canvas. When the fruit Is delivered, each man receives credit for the proper number of bushels of the given varieties. The fruit is then graded and packed, and each person receives his share of the proceeds when the fruit is sold. The secretary of the company looks after the buying and selling, and has charge of the packing bouse. In this way a uniform product Is secured which largo buyers can depend upon, and the middleman and his exactions are excluded. —Massachusetts Ploughman.

Revelations of the Seed Tester. In a test of five hundred varieties of lettuce by the United States Department of Agriculture, it was found that 132 of them were Black-Seeded TennisBall under other names. A sample of crimson clover seed, costing $5.75 per bushel, contained so little live seed that $704 worth would contain only a bushel of good seed. Some Kentucky Bluegrass was so poor that a pound of live seed would have cost $2.18, and a sample of timothy tested at the rate of $47 per bushel for the live seed. Some of the seeds sprouted well enough, but the plants were of the wrong kind. Thus a sample of alleged clover seed contained 338,000 weed seeds In a pound, or at the rate of twenty million per bushel. Such results “explain the cause of some mysterious crop failures and equally strange invasions of new weeds.

To Produce Good Wool. Wool is affected by breed, climate and food. Sheep will thrive In some sections much better than in others, and wool from some flocks will bring higher prices than other wools. To produce good wool a sheep must be well fed, but not too much so. If the food is not sufficiently nutritious the wool will lack In strength, be dry, barsh, flabby and rough to the touch. Wool from sheep that are kept on, pastures which provide an abundant herbage is long In fiber, soft, white and strong. It Is claimed that all nutritious foods produce fine wool, but it Is not necessary to make a selection of foods If the sheep have a variety. Food for Fattening Fowls. Always fatten a fowl as qnlckly as possible. Ten days Is long enough to get a fowl fat, and It should be confined either In a coop or a number In a small yard. Give plenty of fresh water, and feed four times a day, beginning early and giving the last meal late. A mixture of com meal, three parts, ground oats, one part, shorta, one part, crude tallow, one part, scalded, is the best for the first three meals, with all the com and wheat that can be eaten up clean at night Weigh the articles given, and do not feed by measure.

TO RAISE BLOCKADE.

ALLIES TO END AGGRESSIVE ACTION IN VENEZUELA. Germany Make* Friendly Avowal to This Country, Disclaiming Any la* tent lon of Oppressing the South American Country. ~ - Written declarations regarding raising the blockade of the -Venezuelan ports have been exchanged between Minister Bowen and the representatives of VGreat Britain. Germany and Italy. In their declarations the representatives of the European powers promised to consent to the immediate raising of the blockade as soon as an agreement is concluded between them and Mr. Bowen embodying the conditions laid down by the powers. These conditions chiefly relate to the guarantees to be furnished by Venezuela, which has offered a portion of the customs revenue of La Guayra and Porto Cabello. .. Germany Offer Explanation. The German government lias voluntarily offered the United States an explanation of tire bombardment of San Garlos fort, and has disavowed any intention to pursne or oppress Vetiiz u-la or to do anything not warranted by goad faith or by the laws of nations. This welcome explanation and disavowal came Sunday, when Count Quadt, the German charge d'affaires, called upon Secretary liny and presented a cablegram from his government containing

FORT SAN CARL OS FROM THE RIVER FRONT, MA[?].

a detailed narrative of the bombardment and a justification of it from the German point of view. The United States had not asked for this explanation. It had entered no protest against tile bombardment, either at Berlin or London. Though greatly displeased the American government concluded to await developments. Its patience is now rewarded by a voluntary explanation on the part of the German government, and the fact that Germany thought it wise to offer an explanation unasked is deemed of great and pacific significance.

Incidentally the United States government has learned beyond doubt that Germany has no intention and has had no Intention of taking any action in South America that would bring on a test of the Monroe doctrine. It is not denied that for several , days there has been much anxiety in official circles in Washington, and this anxiety has been shared by the highest and best-informed members of the government. But assurances have been conveyed which put at rest all such fears, in so far as words can quiet them. It is claimed by the German government that Fort San Carlos fired the first shot, while the Venezuelan officials aver that the German gunboat Panther was the aggressor. The United States legation has been conducting an investigation in Maracaibo for six days, but the point has not yet been elucidated. A reliable person says: “The foreign element, who are in close touch with the civil authorities, know that Fort San Carlos had received orders from Caracas that in case the Panther attempted to cross the bar and pass before the fortress the latter was to fire on the German vessel, first with powder to call attention. “When on Jan. 15 the Panther entered the narrow channel inside the bar, four miles from the fortress, heading for the interior of the lnke, the fortress fire-J a round of blank shot. Then seeing, after the third blank shot, that the intention of the Panther was to pass up the channel mid force a passage past the fortress to gain Lake Maracaibo and capture the Venezuelan gunboat Miranda, the fort-

SCENE OF GERMAN NAVAL OPERATIONS ON VENEZUELAN COAST.

ress fired with shell, nnd instantly the Panther, at 1,300 yards range, answered with twelve guns, followed by hundreds of siiots. “It is reported also that the Pantllbr carried a red flag as the signal, but as the fortress possessed no signal code and could not interpret the red ling as a pence symbol, white being the color of a parliamentary flag, it regarded the action of the Panther as a premeditated aggression.” A foreign office representative in Berlin said: “The Panther’s action, the official report shows, was strictly within the limits of international law. Bhe was proceeding past the fort to enter the lagoon of Marneaibo in order to preveut the importation of contraband articles from Colombia, nnd in doing so was fired upon. The Panther, of course, answered the fire, aa she was entitled to do. The attack was not made by ns, but by the Venesueian fort. Wo are quite unable to see whyanyneatral should express disapproval because our vessels leveled the fort to enforce the blockade.

TELLER ELECTED IN COLORADO.

Wolcott Withdraws from the Contest and laanes a Statement. Alter a series of turbulent incidents, at times approaching riot and personal violence, Senator Henry M. Teller was re-elected United States Senator by the Democratic members of the Senate and House. President Adana, who presided, declared Mr. Teller duly elected.-Ex-Senator Wolcott gave out a statement later declaring his withdrawal from the contest. He urged the people to ac-

SENATOR HENRY M. TELLER.

cept the situation as it stands and recognize Teller as Senator. The announcement was made in a signed statement in which Mr. Wolcott charges certain Republican leaders associated with the anti-Wolcott forces in

the. Republican ranks with treachery, deliberate and continuous, although he disposes of others of the anti-Wolcott crowd by characterizing them as “dupes” of the main conspirators.

DAY FOR SUPREME BENCH.

Position Tendered by President Roosevelt Has Been Accepted. Judge W. R. Day, of Canton, Ohio, has accepted a tender of appointment as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Judge Day said in answer to a query as to his appointment: “I received the tender from President Roosevelt Saturday. I mailed my acceptance at once.” Judge Day was born" at Ravenna, Ohio, near the old iiome qf Garfield. He was educated at the University of Michigan, being graduateertherefrom in 1872 and entering the practice of law during the same year. Fourteen years later he was elected Judge of the Common Pleas Goutt; The next honor which came to him was the appointment to the bench of the United States District Court for the northern district of Ohio. In view of the impending physical collapse of John Sherman, President McKinley selected Judge Day at First Assistant Secretary of State after his election to the presidency. After Mr. Sherman’s resignation Judge Day was made Secretary of State, which office he resigned to take a seat upon the commission which was sent to Paris to negotiate a treaty of peace with Spain. After the cohclusion of this duty he accepted an appointment to the United States District Court. It is from this position that he is elevated to the bench of the Supreme-Court of the United States.

All Around the Globe.

Union plumbers, St. Louis, get $5 a day. Boat capsized near Viscaya, Spain, and ten persons drowned. Packet Columbia burned near Pittsburg, Pa. Loss $50,000. Little child of Peter Eckelson, Deadwood, S. D., burned to death. Children

placed a lighted candle in the cradle and forgot it. Spain will appropriate 500,000 pesetas for an exhibit at the St. Diuis world’s fair. Nine main buildings of the St. Ixmis world’s fair are in process of construction. James Kline, Boston, swallowed poison and died. A girl had refused to marry him. People of> Port Morris, N. Y., tori down a vacant house and used the tim> for fuel. The 2-year-old baby of William Cason, Covington, Ivy., fell in the fire and burned to death. Independent tinplate manufacturers will cut prices $5 a ton on sheets and $4 to $3.50 a box on tin. Gunners on the warship Kentucky, at Manila, out of 21 shots, bit the target 19 times. The best ever. Clarence Bchimelpfennig was probably fatally burned at Plano, Texas, by his clothing catching fire.

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST ... WEEK. Missing Student Located at At!antic. Persona—Man Commit* Suicide on a Railroad—Woman Jumps Into a Well. Norman Hohrer, son of ex-Trustee Itohrer of Clinton township, who mysteriously disappeared Feb. 2, 1992, while attending the Detroit Medical College, has been located at Atlantic, lowa. His brother received a letter front him. He says he has written home often, but no letters were ever received. His mother had been nearly prostrated, as he tv as supposed to bo dead. An exhaustive search had been made for him. Rohrer says ill health caused him to leave Detroit and that lie contracted to go on the road for a ranch, and has visited ten Western States. He says his health la now improved and he expects to return to Detroit and to complete his medical course. Cnts His Throat on a Train. On a Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern train Jacob Rapp of Louisville rushed into a closet as the train was nearing Vincennes and cut his throat with a razor. The train crew found him weltering in his blood. Doctors were called, but they say Rapp had only a small chance for his life.

~ Jumps Into Well with Babe. Mrs. Rolla Gibson, wife of Alexander near Jasonville, threw herself and her baby, a few months old, into a stock well on the farm of her father, Henry Letsinger, and both were drowned. A few weeks ago she made an attempt at suicide by hanging. She left a husband and two children. Three Killed by a Train. Emma and John Cliska, aged 10 and 1? years, while going to school on a recent morning at Otis, were struck by a last Lake Shore train and killed instantly. Michael Michaels, a merchant of Porter, was struck and instantly killed by the same train a few moments later. Attempts Suicide from Grief. Frank Allen attempted suicide by taking strychnine in an oyster stew at Newcastle. Despondency over the death of his mother is the supposed cause.

Brief State Happenings, Wallace Lake, aged (55 years, a farmer near Hillsdale, committed suicide by shooting. Judge Louis Rascli, who was requested to resign by the Bar Association of Evansville, has declined to do so. Neff & Nixon, proprietors of a Newcastle business college, have closed its doors and left for parts unknown. Henry T. Kirk of Middle township has succeeded Henry I. Eaton ns superintendent of the Hendricks county farm. Miss Myrtle East, aged 25 years, and Charles Harris, aged 30, were killed by a Panhandle train at a crossing at Fraukton. Joseph Bozask, a smallpox patient, and fourteen others who were exposed by him, have been quarantined at Michigan City. The shortage of coal and the lack of ears to carry fuel that has been ordered threaten to cause a shutdown of Muncie factories; ——

v The general store of C. J. Kerua at Valparaiso was nearly destroyed by fire. Loss on stock and bifilding SIB,OOO, insured for $12,500. Alonzo Riggs, aged 40 years, was shot and killed by his stepson, John Pratt, at Marion. Pratt claims he found Riggs, beating his mother. Prof. Norton E. Kemp of Yerkes Observatory, Chicago, lias been chosen professor of physics of Wabash College, to succeed Prof. John L. Campbell. W. G. Lynch, 22 years old, a Big Four brakeman, living in Lafayette, was killed at Lebanon. He was riding on tjie engine pilot and in jumping off fell beneatli the wheels.

Because of the severe illness of Helen Orantiey, the star, “The Girl and the Judge” company disbanded at Anderson. Miss Grantley will go to Florida as soon as she is able to travel. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Taylor lias selected as a site for the federal building at Anderson the property a,t the northeast corner of Eleventh and Jackson streets, at a price of $20,000. Miss I.eora Anderson, aged 1!) years, of Poland, and a student at the Normal school in Terre Haute, dropped dead in the school gymnasium, while engaged in her exercises. It is supposed she injured herself internally. The joint Republican caucus of the House and Senate met. the other night for the purpose of nominating a United States Senator. The only name presented was that of Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, and lie was nominated by acclamation.

Charles Wantland was shot and fatally wounded by Fred Harden at a mining camp south of Clinton. Wantland accused Harden of making remarks about Mrs. Wantland, and during the fight which ensued Harden drew a revolver and fired two shots, which took effect in Wantland’s abdomen.

Edward Irish, a Wabash engiuenian. in charge of the Continental limited, made his ran the other day with frozen hands and feet. His train ups seven hours late. At Lafayette he was compelled to crawl under the locomotive to make temporary repairs. When he had finished his hands and feet were frozen, but he completed his run to Danville, lit., making up thirty minutes of the lost time. His hands and feet were swollen to twice their normal size. He is now in the hospital at Peru and amputation of all the frozen members may be necessary. Mrs. Samuel Overshiner, 77, near Windfall, is suing her childreu to have a deed set aside, on the ground of fraud. Her husband, Martin Overshiner, on his death, left 300 seres of land and some

cash to Mrs. Overshiner and eight children. It was decided that the mother should have the homestead, including forty acres of land. Bhe claims that the children defrauded her by giving her a deed to (and that did not belong to the estate. She says that she signed another deed and found that she had tara-. ed back her land to the children and that she had nothing.

INDIANA LAWMAKERS

The Ssnate on Monday adopted a resolution inviting President John Mitchell of the United Mine Workers to addreM the body. Bill protecting quail recommitted to committee. Bilkrestrieting use of automobiles on county roads recommitted. Bill introduced grading the offense of embezzlement. Committee report favoring bill making it unlawful to have lottery tickets in Indiana. Coneurred lhr in tire-Honsr-resolutloir was adopted inviting John Mitchell to address the Honse. The House and Senate met Tuesday,: in separate session and re-elected United States Senator Charles W. Fairbanks. There was no opposition. The nominating speech in the Senate for the Republicans was made by Senator William A. Killinger, of Anderson, joint caucus chairman. In the Honse Newton Booth Tarkington, the novelist, made the nominating speech. He said in part: “If the continuance by the people of the party in power is a witness to anything in the world, and it surely is, it is an attestation to the fact that until the present political faitha and conditions and the leopard’s spots shall change you may not look to find political greatness in that fine sense of utility elsewhere than in the Republican party. Mr. Speaker, we of Indiana have looked and have found. For the Republicans of this State I have the honor to nominate for United Statea Senator from Indiana for the term beginning March 4, 1003, Charles Warren Fairbanks, of Indianapolis.’’ The Democrats voted for B. F. Shively, of South Bend. They were outnumbered two to one. United States Senator Charles W. Fairbanks was re-elected Wednesday in joint session of the Legislature. The hill for the reorganization of the Jeffersonville reformatory was passed by the Senate after a sharp fight. In which Democratic support was gained by providing for a board of four trustees, two of whom shall be Democrats. The bill now goes to the House, where Booth Tarkington is making a lively campaign against its passage, on the ground tiiaj it represents machine politics. The attempt of the brewers and liquor interests to repenl the section of the temperance law providing for “blanket” remonstrances found expression In "a bill introduced in the Honse for that purpose. This is the first attack made upon tho law since its passage in 1893, and it has aroused the temperance people, who have begun lobbying against it. Among the bills introduced was one providing for a State fire marshal at a salary of $2,000 a year. Another prohibits the employment of women in all branches of industry that are injurious to their health.

In the Senate Thursday a bill passed increasing the salaries of the Supreme and Appellate judges and. the reporter of the Supreme Court. Bill passed providing for a pure food laboratory. Report was concurred in favoring the bill to exempt fraternal insurance companies fiom taxation. In the House the reformatory “ripper” bill was received from Senate and referred to committee. Bill introduced reducing mileage allowance t» Representatives from 20 cents to 5 cents a mile. Bill introduced prohibiting live pigeon shoots. Wright’s voting machine bill made special order for Tuesday. Representative Muir’s bill grading the offense of embezzlement passed the House Friday with but one dissenting vote. The bill provides that men who are guilty of embezzling shall be punished according to the nature of the offense. The aim of the new bill is to moke It possible to convict men who are guilty of embezzling small suras. Representative Kline introduced a bill which makes it unlawful to take fish from inland lakes between May 1 and July 1. It also prohibits at any time the sale of pike, pickerel, perch, bluegills or black, green or rock bass, if caught in Indiana. It fixes the period for fishing with hook and line between July 1 and May 1. Violators of the law will be fined at the rate of $5 per fish caught. Representative Van Fleet offered a bill which prohibits the employment in factories of females under 16 years of ace.

Bills Introduced—Senate.

8. B. 107—Providing for the appointment of a commission to determine the position of Indiana troops at the siege of .Vicksburg, and for an appropriation of SI,OOO to pay expenses of such commisFortune. Military affairs. S. B. 108—Providing for the abolishment of the board of managers of the Indiana Reformatory, and the establishment of a board of control in its place. Good wine. Reformatories. S. B. 110—Concerning the establishment of drains and water courses. Powell. Swamp lands and drains. 8. B. Ill—Concerning drainage. Pow-i ell. Swamp lands and drains. 8. B. 116—Prescribing duties of county surveyors in counties of between 60,000 and 05,000. Emergency. Barciis. Fees and salaries. 8. B. 1)7- —Giving attorneys liens on demands, including claims for unliqnidated damages, put in their hands for suit, compromise or collection, whether suit be brought thereon or not. and also upon any verdict in favor of clients. Crumbaker. Judiciary No. 2. 8. B. 118—Defining duties and compensation of State House custodian, and providing for the employment of janitors, etc., and their compensation. De Haven. Finance. 8, B. 119—Providing a new senatorial and representative apportionment. Gray. Legislative apportionment. 8. B. 146—Amending the present fish law so that fish may be taken with hook and line when waters are covered with ice. Conlogue. ltights and privileges. 8. B. 147 —Repealing sections 2, 3,4, 5 and 6 of “An act concerning town officers,” approved Feb. 28, 1901. Dausman. Cities and towns. Bills Introduced—House. H. B. 76 —Repealing the Barlow bill „ ■o oust sheriffs who allow prisoners lynched. Poor. Judiciary. H. B 7H—Providing for prosecutions in forgery cases within two years after the date ou the forged instrument instead of two years after the commission of the crime. Staosbury. Judiciary. H. B. 79—Aothorlzlng the Governor to condemn property in esse the people am in sore need of coal or other necessities. Black. JndWary. H. B. 82 —Concerning the repair of free gravel roads. Sheridan. Roads.