Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1905 — Page 3

FARM AND GARDEN

Proper bedding Is essential In making rich manure as well as increasing the bulk. Foot-rot is one of the worst enemies of the sheep breeder, especially where they are run on low, .marshy land. When a horse has frequent fits of colic it Indicates chronic indigestion jand should have careful treatment With the majority of fruits the aim should be for a few fine, large, smooth and plump specimens rather than for many small ones. One advantage in feeding wheat middlings made Into a slop with skimmilk to hogs is that it will give a better proportion of lean meat. Much of the poultry we see in the market Is poor and scrawny. The breed, of course, has much to do with this point, but the quality of any breed can be improved by a judicious mode of fattening. Keep winter beets growing rapidly, as they must come out of the ground before being touched by the frost If the roots are not large enough, growth may be prolonged by protection with newspapers on cold nights. Ever think of the work one hen will do? A hen will raise at least one lot of chickens every year, but suppose she raises ten. If half of these ten are pullets they will reproduce at least one lot of chicken the next year. In addition, the young roosters may be sold.

It is reported that a discovery has recently been made whereby vegetables may be preserved indefinitely by sterilizing them with hot air. Corn, peas, string beans, Lima beans, etc., thus treated “take on a withered form much like cured hay, but when put in cold water will resume their shape and regain their former brittleness and garden flavor. The making of butter on farms leads to great variation in the quality, owing to the difference in methods used on the farms. While a choice article of dairy manufacture will bring a higher price than creamery butter, yet the creamery butter is more uniform, as the milk from a large number of farms is handled at the same factory. There are n few dairies which sell butter at two or three times the regular price, but they are exceptions. Do not make the earth in the boxes and flower pots too rich. All plants protected during the winter, by setting them on a stand in a warm room, such as geraniums, should not make heavy growth, but be kept in good condition for slipping, as the spring and summer are the proper seasons for having them to perfection. The mealy 'bug must be guarded against when the plants are kept in a warm atmosphere. The profits are sometimes absorbed in a manner that may not easily be noticed, and frequently the loss is in the manner of shipping an article to market. It costs no more to market $lO worth of butter than it does to send two or three bushels of wheat to market, while wheat is more profitable to the farmer considering the receipts from each. The best produce should bo marketed as such. Inferior grades should never be shipped with that which Is good ns the inferior article will regulate the price.

A great scheme of Irrigation for the wheat lands of India has in view the vast possibilities it will open up for the growing of wheat. The works will take ten years to complete, and will cost something like $30,0(}0,000. During the last forty years much has been done in this matter, but what is yet easy of accomplishment may be judged by the fact that five years ago •, just about six million acres received tUp benefit of the Punjaub rivers, while the present scheme will irrigate nn additional two million acres, command six thousand square miles of country, while behind these are many millions of acres of the most fertilo kind imaginable—given the necessary added moisture. Fertilizers and Manure. Farmers who have used fertilizers and manure together clnlm that tlio combination is superior to either alone, and that acid phosphate is excellent ns an addition to the manure heap. The mixture of fertilizers and manure gives , the crop soluble plant food in the early stages of growth and the manure provides a supply later. Every farmer values bis manure, ahd will apply it somewhere, hence the beat mode of deriving the greatest benefit from It is to Increase its efficiency by adding fertilizers in some form to the heap. Loeins the Cud. When a cow “loses the cut,” or, more correctly, fails to “chew the cud,” it is not becnuse she hns lost any definite object or mnterial, which, If she still retained, would be used ns a “cud,” for ail such necessary material lies useless in her paunch. Her failure to chew the cud la due to ill health, Just as a lack of any desire for

food characterizes a sick man. A cow that falls to chew the cud is a sick cow, and as soon as she recovers from that sickness she will recover her desire and ability to chew the cud. Rations for Colts. The young colt should be kept growing all the time. There is nothing better for promoting growth than cow’s milk that has been skimmed. Most colts can be taught to drink milk without much trouble, especially if they have learned to eat bran mash while running with their dams. A spoonful of ground flax-seed added to each grain ration tends to keep the bowels In excellent condition and gives a rich gloss to the coat It is also a good idea to teach the foal to eat apples, potatoes and carrots. Destroying; Insects by Electricity. An apparatus is mentioned, invented by a Russian, for killing injurious insects by electricity. A dynamo is so placed upon a hand car that no electricity is engendered while the car is standing still. When in motion the current passes into the ground through the Iron wheels of the car upon one side, and upon the other through the points of brushes of copper wire, which are fastened In the rear of the car so as to be a few inches above the ground. The result is said to that all insects in the vicinity of the copper brushes are killed as if by lightning.

Beeta aa Cow FXed. At the lowa station is was found that turnips Injure the flavor of both milk and butter. This injury is duo 'to volatile acids which can be driven off by heating the milk to 160 degrees for a short time. Beets increased the milk and butter product and caused all the cows, even Jerseys, to lay on fat quite rapidly. When the roots were discontinued butter fat decreased and the cows ceased to gain weight, and it took more pounds of feed (calculated to dry matter) to produce a pound of butter. When turned on pasture there was immediate increase of milk, butter and live weight. Feeding bran during part of the grazing period produced sufficient gain to yield a small profit. Care of Horses’ Feet. If your blacksmith knows his business your horses will be properly shod, but do not lay foot troubles of the horse at the door of the blacksmith, for the chances are you are at the bottom of the trouble because you will not keep the floor of the stables clean and thus avoid thrush. There is no reason why there should not be a gutter behind the horses such as are behind the cows, and thqs avoid to some extent the possibility of the horse standing in his excrement. Then, keep close watch of the hoofs and see that they are cleaned dally. With sticks dig out any substances and then cleanse with a stlfiF brush and finally wash with a sponge, using tepid water, In which a dozen drops, or a teaspoonful, of carbolic acid has been mixed. Try it, keep It up and avoid thrush.

Give Plenty of Water. It is astonishing how many people think animals do not particularly need water. They give the horses and dogs all they want and frequently, the cows not so frequently, and the rest of the stock on the farm when they think of it. Frequently people say that cats do not require water, and yet those who have had experience know that cats crave water—not much at a time, but several times a day. The lack of water has thrown them into convulsions. If man needs considerable water in order to be healthy, there is no reason why animals should not need It. Water poultry and other stock as regularly and as carefully as they are fed. Take swine as another exumple. Make it a business to see that they have clean, fresh water dully in a clean vessel, and you will see how readily they drink it, and drinking it they mutt need it and it must do them good. Summer Work on Potatoes. Many potato growers make the mistake of stopping the sprnyer us soon as the plants have gotten a good start. From the middle of July on is the time when the sprayer gets In its most effective work, nlthough it is not necessury to do the work as frequently as earlier in the season. If it is thoroughly done once a week is sufficient. The formula of o—6 of the Bordeaux mixture is quite strong enough for potatoes, using at the same time the parls green for the bugs and thus overcoming the blight and the bugs at the same time. It has been demonstrated that the blight can be overcome by the use of Bordeaux mixture, and it should be freely used all through the summer by potato growers. The cost can be reduced »o a minimum if one has large areas in potatoes by using a horse sprayer. „n some sections men make a nice living operating the horse sprayer for their neighbors and by frequent practice become experts in the work, doing it cheaper than the grower could himself. —Exchange.

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTB OF THE PAST WEEK. Towerman Saves Express Train by- Derailing; Freisht— Prohibition Always to Reign in New Town Cosmetics Must Be Marked “Poison." By the prompt action of Charles Williams, operator in the north tower of Jeffersonville, what might have beCn a frightful wreck, entailing great loss of life, was averted. The Chicago express on the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway and a thirty car “Big Four” freight were approaching the crossing at the same iustant. The freight was unmanageable. Williams grasped the situation and promptly ditched the freight only a few yards from the crossing. The express* dashed by unharmed. The engineer and fireman of the freight were slightly injured in jumping from the cab. Blown 60 Fee‘j Injuries Few. Val Stinger passed through Knecht with a traction engine the other_ day. A few minutes later a report was heard. It was found the machine had exploded, but Stinger could not be located. For half an hour the villagers searched, when he was seen crawling out of a nearby ravine, where he had lain unconscious. The explosion had thrown him sixty feet over the hank into a dpnsc thicket. The trees and bushes had broken the fall and saved his life. After re 3 covering from the shock he was able to walk away. Town to Be Perpetually Dry. A new town has been laid out in Dubois County, and it bids fair to occupy a unique position, as one of the conditions to property ownership is that no fermented liquors or intoxicants shall ever be sold within its confines. This means an eternally “dry” community. The place is called Cuzco, and is fifteen miles from French Lick Springs. Every deed issued contains a clause that, if whisky is sold directly or indirectly on the premises, the land shall revert to the original owners, W. H. Nicholson, or his heirs. Owns Indian Chief’s Rifle. David B. Helm of Bass Lake Station, has in his possession a rifle, made in 1829, which was made for Francis La Fontaine, the last war chief of the Miami Indians. The historic gun cost S2OO and is a fine piece of mechanical skill in design and workmanship. It is decorated with silver eagles, deer and national emblems. Chief La Fontaine was a noted marksman and in his day won many prizes in shooting matches with the white settlers.

Skull to Grin on Powder Box. A decree has gone out from the State Board of Health that all cosmetics shall be indicated as poison by the presence of a skull and cross bones upon the wrappers, and that any one selling them without their being so designated will be arrested. State Chemist Barbard has been making an investigation, and says that all cosmetics contain corrosive sublimate, and though not poisonous to the skin are dangerous to have about the house without a label. Miner State Matter*. John Seger, a teamster living near Boonville, committed suicide by jumping into a well. lan Cameron, a high school football player in Evansville, broke his hip in a practice game. Jdhn Gassaway, a farmer near Boonville, was fatally scalded by the explosion of a teapot. Walter Jones, a negro, and Tony Shover are taken to Jeffersonville reformatory to serve sentences for grand larceny. Mrs. Elias Hedrick, aged 30 years, committed suicide fourteen miles south of Wabash. She had been despondent for a week.

August Moritz, a fruit dealer and restaurateur, despondent over ill health, shot himself in the head in Swiney park, Fort Wayne. Samuel Langaeher, aged 18, son of a Fort Wajne farmer, died suddenly from ptomaine poisoning after eating sauerkraut and pork. Triplets were born to Mrs. Frank Wilhelm, wife of an Evansville laboring man in poor circumstances. They are two boys and a girl and will be named Teddy, Roosevelt aud Theodosia respectively. Because she refused to dismiss her suit for divorce and live with him again, James D. Gregg, 35 years old, shot his wife, Maude Gregg, 23, in Marion. Then he fired a shot into his own breast. Gregg died and his wife’s condition is critical.

The Circuit Court of Warrick County hns decided that the refusal of a husband to buy a Bible for his wife or to attend church with her is not n ground for divorce. Mrs. Henry Neater complained that her husband did not believe in a future life, and that as she is a religious woman she came to the conclusion she ought not to live with nn unbeliever. Judge Kiper advised her to live with her husband and work for his conversion rather than to übandon him to his unbelief. The third explosion within a year attended by loss of life at the Aetua powder and glycerin works, near Miller Station, resisted in the death of Frank Grimmer, nged 115, of Miller Station and L. V. Nicholson, nged 35. Both men were blown to fragments. Identification was impossible, and there was not enough of their bodies left to conduct a funeral over. The accident, which took place in nn individual packing house whero only two men are allowed to work, shattered windows for miles around. The Fort Wuyne flyer, running between Fort Wayne and New Haven, struck a wagon containing Michael Koehler and Sam Tillburry f Koehler, a. weil-known Fort Wayne politician, was instantly killed. Tillburry, smashed and lacerated, is in n dying condition. Charles Denliy, Jr., son of the late* Charles Denby, who was minister to China, is being urged by Senator Hetnenway iu Washington for an appointment iu the State Department been use of liia knowledge of Chinese affairs, which, it is claimed, would be particularly valuable to the government at this time.

MOVING THE CROPS.

A Problem of Astounding Magnitada to the Railroads. This is the season of the ysar when American railroads are taxed to their ntmost, for the autumn days are tha time When the crops are moved. Few realize the extent of the railroad man’s problem, yet some idea of lta magnitude may be gained from a statement of the value of the country’s agricultural products. This year the grain crops will approximate $4,000,000,000 in value, a sum four times that of the national debt, and sufficient to give every man, woman and child in the country SSO. Two-thirds of this crop will be fed to live stock or moved to mills by wagons in the districts in which it is grown, but the remaining third will travel to every part of the world, and it is in the moving of this part that the railroad man finds his great task. This year will see crops of such size that that part which comes to the railroad will aggregate 1,500,000 carloads of freight, for the moving of which at one time nearly 38,000 locomotives would be required. These cars and locomotives, if placed in a single train, would reach half way around the world, and since the supply of freight cars in the country is only a trifle in excess of 1,500,000, with something like 43,00 locomotives, one may imagine the worries’of the railroad man in moving a single item of freight amounting in volume to nearly the total capacity of the rolling stock of all the country’s railroads. To the railroad man it is a game of chess played on a board 8,000 miles square, with freight trains for pieces to be moved hither and thither in hundred-mile jumps. The movement of grain each year is to the railroad what the conduct of the campaign is to the general. Each depends during the early stages upon the reports of his scouts. Those of the railroad company form a large corpk of experts, who travel throughout the country, estimating as closely as possible the probable grain tonnage of each district and the number of. cars necessary for its transportation. Basing its plans upon these figures, the railroad makes ready to concentrate cars at points of need just as the general concentrates his men. The idea of the railroad man’s mind is to get the cars to the region of the central west at any cost. Expense is almost a forgotten item. Every one, from the general traffic manager down to even the station agent, receives general orders as -to the disposition of all cars. They are begged, borrowed and bought—in fact, procured in every possible way. Agents in their efforts to serve the farmers have been known to steal trains of “empties” in order that the grain movement of their particular districts might be facilitated.

WAGES ON THE JUMP.

Advance of 41 Per Cent in 1904 Over 4 the Average. Weekly earnings of all persons employed in the United States advanced 41 per cent in 1004 over the average of the years between 1890 and 1899, according to bulletin No. 59 of the bureau of labor, just issued by the federal government. The same report shows that the price of food has increased 11.7 per cent. Elaborating the figures gathered from many industries, the document indicates that the average hourly wage would purchase 4.7 per cent more food in 1904, and the earnings of a week would purchase 0.4 per cent more edibles. Figures gathered and compiled by the bureau show that prosperity has not been confined to the owners of capital in land and machinery, but has been distributed somewhat in higher wages. Compared with 1903, however, 1904 does not make a good showing. The figures for the two years mentioned show that the total number of employes decreased 0.6 per cent, the hours of labor shortened 0.7 per cent, wages an hour increased 0.6 per cent, weekly earnings for each employe decreased 0.1 per cent, the total weekly earnings decreased 0.8 per cent, retail prices of food advanced 1.3 per cent, the wages of one hour would purchase 0.7 per cent less food, and the earnings for each employe in a week would purchase 1.4 per cent less food.

Retail prices secured from merchants are compared with facts gathered by agents of the bureau from 2,567 families representing a total of 13,643 persons. The average income a family in 1904 was $827.19, average number in each family 5.31, annual expenditure a family for all purposes $768.54, and the average expenditure a family for food alone is given $326.90. Family expenditures for clothing shows that the average wife spends annually $26.03 and the average husband spends $33.73. The children use $48.79 in clothing a year. The amount expended by the average family for life insurance is interesting in view of the recent expose of the uses to which lifo insurance funds are put by managers of insurance companies. The annual outlay is $19.44, 2.53 per cent of the entire income. Rent takes $99.49, fuel $32.23 and lighting $8.15. Following is the remainder of the table: Taxes $ 5.79 Insurance —Property 1.53 Organizations— I.nlmr 3.87 Other 5.18 Religious purposes 7.02 Charity 2.39 Furniture and utensils 20.31 Hooks and newspapers 8.35 Amusements nnd vacation 12.28 Intoxicating liquors 12.44 Tobacco 10.93 Sickness and death 20.54 Other purposes 45.13 It is the purpose of the bureau to issue an annual report on wages and cost of living. These will be more valuable as the years pass and figures become more nccurate.

All Around the Globe.

A monument to commemorate the battle of Hanover, erected by the State of Pennsylvania, was unveiled. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was fined heavily for driving his automobile over Tete Noir, a forbidden paaa in the Alps. Paris officials aay that it is practically assured that France will accept an invitation to the second peace conference at The Hague owing to the united efforts of Emperor Nicholas and President Roosevelt, but official action awaits Russia’s communication.

POLITICAL COMMENT

McKinley’s Idea. ' If the business interests of the country want reciprocity along protection lines they can have it if they will only agree on some feasible plan—something they never have been able to agree on before. If they want tariff revision, they can have it also on the same united demand for it, but It can be put down as certain that whatever is done in the way of tariff revision or reciprocity will not be done along free-trade lines. The reciprocity of Blaine, McKinley and Roosevelt is all right. It is based upon the Republican protective policy. As President McKinley said at Buffalo; “To take from our neighbors such of their products as wo can use without harm to our Industries or labor; in other words, such of their products as are not produced by our own labor, and obtain in exchange markets for the class of merchandise which we desire to sell, and which the countries In question require for their own use, differs materially from the reciprocity of 1855-1850, which was merely freetrade in articles of mutual production, articles which, when imported, compete with jhe home producer.” This was President McKinley’s idea of reciprocity, and it is the kind that every Republican can indorse. It was Blaine’s policy, and if the Chicago convention will adopt it as a basis for its reciprocity platform nobody can object. It is Republican doctrine, pure and simple. In the language of President Roosevelt at Minneapolis: “As a nation, we stand in the very forefront of the giant international industrial competition of the day. We cannot afford by any freak of policy to forfeit the position to which we have thus triumphantly attained by the present protective policy.”—Kewanee (Ill.) “Star-Courier.”

The World’s Workshop. At a time when an effort may be made to create the Impression that we are in danger of losing our foreign markets for manufactured products this week’s bulletin of the Census Bureau contains some startling statistics. The value of manufactured goods exported from the United States during the fiscal year ended June 30th was $543,620,297, against $452,415,921 in 1901, the next largest year. In 1895 the value of manufactured exports was $183,595,743. The increase in ten years has thus been practically threefold. As far back as 1878 the figures were $123,807,196, and in the seventeen years to 1895 they increased but $60,000,000. In 1896 commenced the great rise, and, although there have been temporary recessions, the total has risen until now the percentage of manufactured exports is 40 per cent of the total exports, against the former rate of less than 20 per cent.

While statesmanship demands a look to the future and an insistence upon the wisdom of the Blalne-Mc-Kinley policy of reciprocity In noncompetitive products, the condition of American manufactures is not so seriously threatened by any loss of our foreign markets as to form any basi3 for tariff revision under the guise of a dual tariff. With manufactured exports $90,000,000 greater than in any previous year, the export trade cannot be said to be sick and languishing, though steps to guard its future are meritorious and worthy.—Cincinnati “Star.” Democratic “Harmony.” Democrats are the same everywhere in this country, as was illustrated recently at the Tammany convention in New York. Mayor George B. McClellan, the standard bearer of the party, made a speech in which he said: “As a Democrat I believe that the community is best governed w'lilch Is least governed and that where Individual effort and private enterprise can accomplish the same results as government the government has ,no right to Interfere.” As soon as the applause that followed this speech has died away the convention got down to business and passed a ringing municipal ownership resolution. “Public ownership," It said, “is no longer a campaign catchword; but a principle applied and in operation in this the greatest of American cities.” The convention and the candidate are to be congratulated on this entirely successful Illustration of Democratic harmony. For this little episode shows the party Just as harmonious as the rest of Its history does. The reason it has never accomplished anything is that it has never been able to agree on anything except to disagree. Mayor McClellan had uttered a magnificent Democratic sentiment and the convention bad an opportunity to adopt it and share the credit for it, but it was a Demociatlc convention and necessarily took the opposite view. Chronicle.

Lack* Luciditjr.

The Philadelphia “Inquirer” in commenting on the resolution adopted by the fake reciprocity convention, says it lacks lucidity, but that it probably meana “that the actual tariff Is to tie the maximum, and coneestiona are to be made in favor of satlons who make concessions to us.”

In that case, what would we do witlk Germany? Should we regard her conventional tariff as a concession? If we did we should be nicely buncoed, for It is higher in every case than the present tariff. The only recourse left to us in dealing with such nations is to give them a dose of their own medicine. Let us make a maximum tariff if we are forced to, from which we can recede in dickering, but let no nation bulldoze us into an abandonment of our policy of protection.—* San Francisco “Chronicle.” Free Raw Materials. The one definite and aggressive note sounded at the Chicago reciprocity convention was the demand for free raw materials. How that carries us back to the Cleveland campaigns. The men who voice the demand are just about twenty years behind Grover Cleveland. They are trying to reverse Garfield’s declaration and have the Republicans build their camp fires on the ground which the Democrats had abandoned. If these men were old enough when Cleveland was a candidate they either voted for him or should have done so. It is our opinion that if there is a fraud In the category of tariff discussion it is this demand for free raw materials. The manufacturer grasps all the protection he can get, which our thorough belief in protection does not prevent us from recognizing as being sometimes too still holding on to it demands the further advantage of free raw materials. His cry is free hides, free wool, free iron ore, free coal, free everything, except that which he produces. There is no such thing as raw material. Wool is the farmer’s finished product as truly as cloth is the manufacturer’s or a coat the tailor’s. For the sake of the general good the American people have been willing to place duties on manufactured products in full recognition of the fact that selfish men often take advantage of them and make unjust profits by reason of the tariff. When the selfishness of the direct beneficiaries of our tariff laws reaches that state of sublimity which causes them to demand that other interests be sacrificed for their benefit they are getting on dangerous ground. When w r e have free raw materials the products manufactured from them will be free.—Creston (la.) “Advertiser.”

A Dangerous Power. The recent reciprocity treaties have failed in the Senate because they appeared to affect injuriously the local industries of one or more States, whose Senators stood out against them, intrenched behind the Senate rules. To pass a maximum and minimum tariff bill will require only a majority instead of a two-thirds vote. But the power it would put into the hands of the executive might be used to affect Injuriously the industries of many States. The result uhdoubtedly would be a combination of all the Senators the local industries of whose States could possibly be affected by the minimum tariff proposed. Even without raising the constitutional question of the right of Congress to delegate any part of its taxing power to the President, it is hard to see how such a bill would have any better chance In tb§* Senate than a specific reciprocity treaty. It would probably not have as good a chance. —Chicago “InterOcean.” Reciprocal Trade Kean Its. A free-trade paper published In New York, which supported the Cuban reciprocity treaty, now advocates what It calls the only really reciprocal trade —namely, the exchange of competing products. It derides “such a reciprocity arrangement as that secured by the Hawaiian sugar growers, because It Inured to the exclusive benefit of that Island.” When foolish Republicans were pushing for Cuban reciprocity, which has produced the same results, this same Journal “sicked” them on. Those who followed its advice have now the pleasure of considering the results which follow accepting suggestions from opponents.—San Francisco “Chronicle.”

Quite Likely. It may be that the consumers of meats would not be sure of sharing in any benefit that might come from removal of restrictions on American meats In other markets. Would not such removal increase the foreign consumption of our meats and thus afford a reason for again and again putting up tho prices here at home? Has the history of the lire stock trade of America given stock growers any cause for belief that any Improvement in markets abroad would add a cent to the price of live stock here at home. Have stock growers any assurance that they would ever receive benefit from lending their influence to reciprocity?—New York "Commercial." Has an Oainoui Hound. “In the last analysis this whole movement means tariff reform,” says the Chicago Chronicle, with reference to the reciprocity gathering in Hint city. “Tariff reform” has an emlnous sound to citizens whose memories hark back to the days of Grover Cleveland's administration. Maybe it is because of its sound that the phrase is not used by those advocates less frank than the Chronicle. —Burlington “llawkeye."