Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1905 — Page 3

FARM AND GARDEN

Sheep return more fertility to the jsoil than any other farm animal. Try to count the sheep and lambs every day. Keep an eye out for dogs. Burn all dQad stalks and other matter not used for mulching, in order to kill weed seeds and disease germs. The number of sheep has decreased **soo per cent In ten years in some sections of the Central and Southern States. If you are afraid that your blackberries are hot hardy, lay the plants down and cover the tips lightly with soil. Go among the calves every day and handle them, using gentle, pet words; and just notice how they will watch for you, and grow! Turu that old hog yard upside down. Get • the filthy-disease-impregnated-germ-infested dirt under, and fresh irlirt on top. A hog delights in clean dirt. f Cut off asparagus tops and bum those with berries on them, as the seeds may sprout where they are not wanted. Mulch with two or three inches of rough manure. Small and lately planted trees must be staked and tied with a broad band. Cut out all dead limbs of fruit trees, “suckers” and limbs that rub together. You will have no time next sprih^^ A thermometer should be used to enable every dairyman to know the difference between the temperature of the atmosphere and available water, 'also temperature of his dairy, milk and cream. It Hs a very- common practice for Some (to. wish for certain results without making much effort to help produce the-desired result. Many a man has failed because his wishbone has been where his backbone ought to have been. Hog breeders who have strong reasons to keep up growth and vigor in their young stock should not fail to keep young boars penned well away by themselves. If allowed to be near the sows they are sure to fret and worry enough to prevent the greatest thrift and growth. If the cows suddenly drop off in the quantity of milk given, do you look into the matter and see what is the reason? Short water supply may .do it. So may the flies. Or dry, hot weather. Some of these things we may control. It is our own fault if we do not. Let’s not blame the cows. Experiments show that ground cultivated to the depth of an inch and a half evaporated 2,000 pounds less water per acre dally than ground having no cultivation. On heavy clay soli the difference In some cases was as much as 4,000 pounds per day on an aci;e. Cultivation, therefore, means saving the moisture In the soil. Do you milk the cows in the same bucket, and pay no attention as to which gives much milk or little, and as to which one’s milk makes the most cream and the best butter? That is neither progressive nor methodical. A cow is a cow when it comes to feeding, but there is a great difference when it comes to milking nnd making butter. You are entitled to the best and you ought to have it. In the greenhouse at the Maine experiment station it has been found that one good man with occnslohal help could do all the work in houses covering four thousand square feet of ground surface, which would equal a house two hundred feet long by twenty feet wide. Solid beds were preferred for plants requiring not bottom heat like cauliflower, lettuce, while for plants requiring much hent, like melons, beans and tomatoes, benches were preferred. Steam heat is recommended for large houses and hot water for small ones. Some contend that steam can be used for small houses nlso If a suitable regulating apparatus is used on the boilers. Pedlureed Plants. Nurserymen are at odds over the value of so-called pedigreed plants, some of the most outspoken claiming that it is only a scheme to sell the plants for higher prices. On the other hand, growers of pedigreed plants state that common sense is at the bottom of their claim and should receive recognition. The main Idea in the selection of pedigreed plants is that only the first or at most the second plant which forms on the runner from the parent plant, in the case of strawberries, is used. Naturally these plants may form further down the runner, particularly if the runner Is kept cut back so that all of the strength goes Into the one plant. Here is just where the* trouble is likely to be, for unscrupulous growers will claim their plants are the first from the runner, when they may not be at all. In our own setting we find that the first plant from the runner, the one next

the parent plant, is by far the best, and we never set any others. As a result our first crop, the second season after planting, is generally all we can ask. The pedigree plant question Is worth looking into and testing on rine’a own grounds. ■/ Pasturing Meadows. The question of pasturing meadows was sent to one of our contributors, who has raised the finest hay in his State for years. He replies, “don’t,” but afterward modifies this by saying that while his first advice is not to pasture the meadows at all, he realizes that in some locations and under some conditions It may be done, The new -meadow, and especially the old one on rffther light soil, ought never to be pastured, nor should any meadow be pastured when it is so green and wet that the hoofs of the animals sink deeply. Where the meadow is on rather gravelly soil, and Is good and strong, the second growth in the fall may be pastured for a time, provided it is not done too long nor the cows permitted to eat the grass too short. If this is done, especially in the colder sections, there is apt to be considerable grass winter-killed. Our contributor makes a practice of cutting the second growth in the late fall-and leaving it as a mulch, then In the late winter, before the thaws begin, he top-dresses, on the snow, the meadow, and reaps a correspondingly large crop the following season. This plan may not suit you, but at any rate be careful about pasturing too long in the fall. Building Winter Roosts. All poultrymen do not realize the Importance of care in constructing roosts in the winter poultry house. It is worth spending considerable time to do this work properly in the beginning, for less fighting of vermin will be necessary in consequence and there will be little danger of injured birds. In the first place, construct all the roosts so that they are movable- This is easily done by arranging the end pieces, the portions which sustain the roosts, with deep cuts shaped like the letter V, into which the roosts may be set. They are easily removed if constructed in this manner. Then the roosts must be placed low, from fifteen to eighteen inches being about right, the lesser distance for the heavier breeds. If it Is necessary to place the roosts higher then a board with cleats across should be provided so that the fowls may walk up to the first roost, but do not place them high if it can be avoided, for the birds are likely to reach the ground by flying, in the morning, no matter how much care they may take in walking up the board at night. Once a week remove the roosts and pour kerosene oil In the notches in which the ends rested and thus destroy hatching place of vermin. Danger in Bermuda Grass. Bermuda grass often carries a deadly germ at the end of rainy seasons like that just past. Cattle are especially subject to this germ, and their symptoms are most confusing to the local veterinarians. Milk cows are the cattle first to suffer. The cow first appears stiff in the legs and drags her hind-quarters. This is often followed with Inability to get up for mnny hours when the cow lies down. Appetite may remain good for several days, but in severe cases paroxysms set in (“fits” and “madness”), and the cow dies in evident torture. Careful examination of the back and loins, in severe cases, will show signs of blood on the surface usually black and dry, ns though horse-flies had bitten the cow. This symptom somewhat resembles blackleg. There Is no known specific for this trouble, which has been but little studied by scientists. The best system of treatment we have seen consists of removing the cow from the rank, coarse Bermuda pastures to short, sweet grass. Give pound doses of Epsom salts to purge nnd free the digestive tract from poisonous l contents. Repeat on the third day. Keep cows in cool barns or sheds and feed grain very lightly. This seems to be a new disease nnd did not come to the writer's attention until some blx yenrs ago. We have never known any other stock besides cnttle to suffer from this cause.—Farm and Ranch.

In the Presence of Mystery.

Kitty had* never seen a gas meter before. "How does it go, papa?” she asked. “By compressed air?” “I think not, dear,” he said. “Probably expanded air.”—Chicago Tribune.

Polite by Comparison.

Junior Partner—That fresh client addressed me by my first name. Senior Tartner —You ought not to mind that. You should hear the names he calls you behind your back.—Detroit Free Press. “Chugger says he had a fine time on his automobile trip.” “Yes. He was arrested and fined in nearly every town for fast driving.”—• Detroit Tribune.

SET WORLD’S RECORD.

AMERICAN FARMS SHOW PARALLELED PROSPERITY. Secretary Wilaon Declare* Cron Yield or 1005 la $0,415,000,000 —Corn Alone Worth Billion—lncrease In Land Value*. The products of the farms of the United States in 1905 reached a value of $G,415,000,000, the highest amount ever reached, according to the annua) report of Secretady Wilson. Besides the enormous yield the Secretary estimates the farms of the country have increased in value during the last five years to a present aggregate of $0,133,000,000. “Every sunset during the last five years,” he says, “has registered an increase of $3,400,000 in the value of the ferms of this country.” In dealing with the crop report “leak,” Secretary Wilson, after referring to the “gross breach of trust on the part of onqof the employes of the bureau of statistics,” says: “This department acted with vigor and dis patch when it got evidence of wrongdoing on the part of its own officials, but we have no evidence of disciplinary or preventive action at the traders’ end of the line, where gamblers, interested neither in the production nor the consumption, disturb values to the injury of both and make loud outcry when creatures of their own kind corrupt officials to betray confidence for the love of money. “The responsibility for this ‘leak’ is shared by every one, who, to get money without work, gamble in farm products. When this form of industry ceases these parasites who tempt department officials will have to work for their bread.” Analyzing the principal crops for the year, the Secretary says that corn reached its highest production with 2,708,000,000 bushels, a gain of 42,000,000 bushels over the next lowest year, 1899. The hay crop is valued at $605,000,000. Cotton, $575,000,000; wheat $525,000,000; oats, $282,000,000; potatoes, $138,000,000; barley, $58,000,000; tobacco, $52,000,000; sugar cane and sugar beets, $50,000,000; rice, $23,892,000; dairy products, $005,000,000, an increase of $54,000,000 over last year. “The farmer’s hen,” the Secretary says, “is becoming a worthy companion to his cow. The annual production of eggs is now a score of billions.” There are more horses and with a larger aggregate value than ever before, notwithstanding, as the Secretary says, they were first threatened by the bicycle and later by the suburban trolley and the automobile. He estimates their value at $1,200,000,000, or nearly as much as the corn crop, and the Value of mules at $252,000,000.

Under the recent amendment to the national banking act allowing the establishment of banks with a capitalization of less than $50,000, there have been 1,754 such banks established in the last year, nearly every one of which is located in a rural community and the capital furnished by farmers, “In the north central States farmers have been depositing money in the banks until the rate of interest on deposits has fallen so low that they have diverted a large portion of their savings to permanent investments,” says the report. “In spite of the fact that the banks do not receive and keep aJI or most of the farmers’ savings, the increase of bank deposits in agricultural States and larger regions is most extraordinary. “The remarkable increases in bank deposits in agricultural States, as well as the increase in the number of small country banks, are directly and indirectly because of the profits that have come to the farmers from the operation of their farms. The man with the hoe has become the man with the harvester and the depositor and shareholder of the bank. “Should there be no relapse from his present position as a wealth producer, three years hence the farmer will find that the farming element, about 35 per cent of the population, has produced an amount of wealth within ten yenrs equnl to one-half of the entire national wealth produced in three centuries.”

OLD WORLD NOTABLES

The late Sig. Tnmagno, In spite of his lavish generosity, managed to amass a larger fortune than any singer of his time, with perhaps the exception of Jean de Iteszke. His only daughter inherited more than 91,000,000. When Sir Michael Hieks-Beach was chancellor of the exchequer ft was an Interesting study to watch him walking up Downing street to attend an important council. He would inflict heavy blows and swift passes at imaginary enemies upon the pavement with the end of his faithful umbrella. The Bight lion. Sir Francis Bertie, British ambassadoi in Paris, recently passed his sixty-first birthday, having been forty-one years in service. The Duke of Argyll was 00 yenrs ot age recently. During the last twentyone years he has produced upwards of a dozen books, including the opera of “Diarmid” In the great jubilee year. Ibsen works in a room In which therg are doors opening into five other apartments. As lie composes he wanders from room to room. He eats little whils writing his dramas and declares that good meals prevent keen brain work.

Indiana State News

TRAMPS ARRIVE IN DROVES. Indiana Jnilx Filling, Dp with Vosranta from Chicago, Indiana jails are filling up wnhytramps from Chicago and other cities. The tramps are willing. In no other States are jails so luxuriously furnished, so warmly heated; nor in any other are Such palatable dishes set before prisoners. County Sheriffs vie with one another in furnishing good board. In no other State is it so easy to break into jail. By smoking a cigarette one can get arrested in Indiana, for the Legislature has made it a misdemeanor. From all parts of the north the tramps are migrating, spurred on by the first chill blasts of the season. They seek out a town and inquire cautiously as to the bill of fare and other accommodations provided at the county jail. If they are up to the standard, the tramp takes a position on the court house Square and rolls a cigarette.

ERROR IN JAIL RECORD.

Responsible for Release of Charlea Johnson Before Sentence Expired. Prosecutor Jessup of Richmond issued an order for Sheriff Smith to bring Charles Johnson into court. Johnson was arrested during the Hagerstown fair for running a swindling game, and he was committed to jail for 100 days. His term rightfully expired with this d|iy, and another charge was to be placed against- him. The prosecutor was much chagrined to find, after the order had been issued, that Johnson was released a month ago. Investigation showed that there was an error in the record at the jail, by which the prisoner was set at liberty. It was also learned that Johnson, who sails under several aliases, is wanted in one or more other cities for alleged swindling. STOPS HUNTING ON SUNDAY. Indiana Game Commissioner Pats Did on Sportsmen. With Gov. Hanly fighting for a puritan observance of Sunday and making the placing of the lid effective in all cities and towns under threat of criminal prosecution, Game . Commissioner Sweeney of Laporte, who is an ordained minister, has issued orders to all of his deputies to arrest and prosecute, beginning Sunday, all hunters who hunt on Sunday, and if violations continue to bring the offenders hefore the grand jury. DIES JUST AS HE WISHED. Former Alderman Stricken While Praying in Sunday Sehool. “I want to die in the service of my Master.” This was the remark often made by ex-Alderman George W. Wliorwell of Laporte, whose body was brought there for burial. Particulars received show that his prayer was dramatically answered. Mr. Whorwell had directed the Sunday school of the Methodist Episcopal church at Hooker, O. T., and had risen to offer the closing prayer, when he sank unconscious, death resulting in a few hours. * TIRES OF HIS SIDENT WIFE. Man Seek* Divorce from Helpmeet Who Never Talked. Not because his wife talked too much, but because she talked too little, does Charles Hulbert of Jeffersonville seek a divorce. He alleges in his complaint that she would go for days at a time refusing to speak a word or have anything to do with him. Even for the commonest courtesies he was often compelled to write a note. Finally, in July last, Hulbert says, he insisted on talking, whereupon his wife left him. Blk Estate Deft to Them. Henry Conrad of Logansport left the other day for Salt Lake City, Utah, to establish the claim of himself and Louis Conrad of Niles, Mich., to an estate valued at SIOO,OOO, to which there are but three heirs. The estate was left by Barney Conrad, an uncle, of whose wealth the three heirs were in ignorance. The estate will at once be divided. Boy Pcriahea in Fire. The home of Luther Jones, a colored farmer near Marion, was destroyed by fire nnd his son, Luther, 3 years old, perished in the flames. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are the parents of thirteen children and all were sleeping in the house. All escaped but Luther. It is thought the fire started from a lamp. IMunve DownMtalrM Kill* Woman. Mrs. Mary Kelley of Joliet, ill., 74 years of age, was fatally injured at the home of her daughter in Laporte by taking a headlong plunge down a flight of stairs. She was found unconscious and death resulted within fifteen minutes after the accident. Saves Girls and Is Killed. After pushing two little girls from the track and saving their lives, Wallace Phillips, a wealthy lumber dealer, was instantly killed by a Vandalia express train at Brazil. Phillips’ body was hurled 100 feet. He was 38 years old and married. Catches Woman Burglar, Charles Sherwood, keeper of a country inn near Evansville, grappled with a woman burglar in his room, overpowered her and held her until officers arrived. The woman gave her name as Laura Wesley. Within Our Borders, Harry Cunningham, 3 years old, was fatally burned at Evansville, while playing around n stove. Levi Glaffls, a farmer, was arrested at Peru, charged with burning seventy-five tons of hay insured for S3OO. John Wells, a foreman on the Southern railroad, was shot and killed near Jasper by John Scott, a negro. Lewis Patrito, a miner, was killed and John Beno, also a miner, fatally injured by the explosion of a keg of powder at Brazil.

RUSS REBELS LOSE.

LOYAL FLEET DEFEATS REDS IN SEVASTOPOL FIGHT. Ten Battleships, Cruisers and Torpedo Bonts Under Red Flag Pat Out of Action—Forts Carried by Storm nnd Slutineers Slnafiltered. A terrific naval and land battle occurred at Sevastopol between the mutineers and the military and sea forces that remained loyal to the Czar. Tho mutineers were defeated anti two or more of their vessels were sunk and the remainder surrendered. The sailors and soldiers intrenched in the north fort, after a sanguinary battle lasting three hours, were driven out by a bayonet charge, every man being killed, wounded, or captured. The town sustained enormous injury, one report saying half of it is In ruins. Fire, produced by the rebel bombardment. did a vast’amount of damage. Before the battle started the town practically was deserted except for the troops. The scared population had fled in all directions, and Balaklava and neighboring towns were filled with refugees. During the battle the town and the forts were bombarded by the guns of the cruiser Otchakoff, which is now a wreck off Admirality point, its hull riddled with shells and Its flaunting red ensign of revolution hauled down. With mutiny at Sebastopol, where from 700 to 5,000 rebels and loyal soldiers' have been killed in battle, with disaffection in the army growing until it has reached the bodyguard of the emperor himself and imperils his life, with more than 100,000 workmen locked out in St. Petersburg and the industrial situation hourly becoming more acute there and in Moscow, Russia has been all but cut off from communication with the outside world. The general strike of telegraphers Is on arid practically all wires between the capital and the interior of the empire are idle. Poland is on the verge of an uprising, agrarian disorders continue and doubt as to the' ability of Count Witte to check the demoralization and restore some sort of political balance in the empire increases.

ILLITERACY DYING OUT.

Comparisons with Foreign Nations Show Favorably. According to a bulletin issued by the census bureau about 100 persons out of 1,000 iu the United States over 10 years old are unable to write, which is equivalent to about one in ten. Of the native white population only 40 out of every 1,000 or fewer than one in twenty, of the foreign born whites, 128 out of every 1,000, and of the negroes 445 out of every 1,000 are illiterate. International comparisons, restricted as far as possible to corresponding classes of the population, are on the whole, favorable to this country, indicating that iu most European countries illiteracy is much more prevalent than it is here, although the United States is still far behind Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland. There also is ground for satisfaction in the statistical evidence that illiteracy is being reduced steadily. In 1890 the number of illiterates in every NOOO was 133 for the total population, 62 for the native white population, 130 for the foreign-born white and 508 for negroes, Indians and Mongolians. The women are shown to be more Illiterate than the men, tho illiteracy for women being 112 in each 1,000 and for men 101. But the contrast is less marked than it was in 1890, when the illiteracy for the two sexes was 144 and 123, respectively. In explanation of the fact that the girls have caught up with the boys, it is suggested that boys are less subject to parental control than girls and more prone to play truant; and that they also are more frequently required to contribute to the family income by becoming wage earners when they should be in school. In the country the Illiteracy among children Is 89 in each 1,000; In the city, using this term to designate collectively cities of over 25,000 inli/ibitants, It is only 10 In each 1,000. The contrast is least in the North Atlantic States. In this section child illiteracy in the city is 8 to a 1,000; and In the country 5 to a 1,000. In the South tho difference Is very marked; in the South Atlantic division, 32 nnd 193 for city and country respectively, and in the South Central 45 nnd 181 a 1,000. Illiteracy Is in general greater in the, South than the North for all classes of the population. Perhaps the fairest basis of comparison between the Iwo sections is that for native white children living in cities of over 25,000 inhabitants. In the North Atlantic division the illiteracy for this class of children Is 2.1, nnd in the North Central, 1.9; In the South Atlantic division It is 8.3, and in the South Central, 13.7. There are fewer Illiterates among 'the children of foreign-bom parents than among those of natives, owing, it Is said, to the fact that a greater portion of them live in cities. J. W. Belcher, the missing government printing office employe and treasurer of one of the money lending concerns in the office at Washington, D. C., is supposed to haTe committed suicids by drowning in the Potomac river. Ha was. a brother of the misting Mayor of Paterson, N. J.

LABOR NOTE

O’Connell Re-Elected. James O’Connell, president of the International Machinists’ Association, has announced that the referendum..

JAMES O’CONNELL.

First Vice President; A. 11. Champion, Second Vice President; J. J. Buekalew, Third Vice President, and Walter Aimes, Seventh Vice President; George Preston, General Secretary-Treasurer, and D. D. Wilson, editor of the official magazine. President O’Connell has labored hard for years to bring his organization up to its present high standard in the organized labor world. He is an able and conservative leader and his efforts have been appreciated. Mr. O’Connell is also one of the vice presidents of the American Federation of Labor. Make a Strong: Body. There are now affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 33 State branches, 004 central labor unions, 1,040 local trade and federal labor unions, and 118 international unions, the latter having approximately 25,000 10,cal unions attached to them. During the past year international charters were issued to the National Brtherhood of Woodsmen and Sawmill Workers, Pavers and Hammermen’s Union, and the Pocket Knife Grinders and Finishers’ Union. A new State branch was formed in Kentucky, 07 more central labor unions were chartered, making a total of 004 throughout the country, and 210 locals of trades without internationals were organized and chartered. Fifty directly affiliated unions were transferred to internationals. The Allied Metal Mechanics International consolidated with the machinists. It is estimated that the 118 international unions organized and chartered more than 2,000 new locals during the year. A Successful Ual»or Deader. George Hodge, general secretary of the Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Workers’ Alliance, is now serving his sev-

enth term in that office. He was born in Si 11 i n gborne, Eng., Sept. 6, 1868, and came to the United States whea he was 4 years old. He has been a resident of Chicago for the last fourteen years and allied himself with trade union-

ism In 1892, when he joined the Illinois Brickmakers’ AlJiance as a charter member. This organization wris merged into the International Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Workers’ Alliance in 1890. For the last three years Secretary Hodge has had no opposition for re-election. He is a delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Building Material Trades Council and has earned a reputation as an advocate of conservatism and clean methods in trade union affairs.

NEW INAUGURAL DAY.

Last Thursday In April Selected for Installation of Presidents. President Roosevelt’s successor will be inaugurated on the last Thursday in April. iiK)9, instead of on the 4th of March that year, provided Congress and the different States act promptly upon a report which will be made to it by a committee consisting of the Governors of forty-four States and territories and fifteen citizens of Washington. There was a unanimity of sentiment th*it the date upon which the President is inaugurated should be changed. The 4th of March generally is inclement. The weather during the latter part of February and the first of March is the most trying of all the winter in Washington, nnd numerous deaths are traceable directly to exposure, either forced or voluntary, on inaugurnth.n day The date upon which the President Is inaugurated can be changed only by an amendment to the Constitution. Twice the Senate has passed a resolution introduced by the late Senator Hoar to submit an amendment to the Constitution designating the last Thursday in April as inauguration day. The choice between the members of the committee narrowed down to this date or the 30th of April, several of thi Governors favoring the latter because on that date George Washington was first inaugurated. A large majority of the committee preferred the last Thursday, to prevent the day for inaugurating the IVesident from falling on Sunday. R. J. Popping and A. H. Ward, broth-ers-in-law. were shot and killed by unknown persons on a lonely road near Mndill. I. T. Last February Ward shot and killed H. Harkey, a farmer who lived near Madill, and it is thought the assassinations grew out of the former tragedy. ' Six persons bitten by a mad dog at Newport News, Vo., will be given tha Pasteur treatment at Bahimore and Richmond. Charles Adams, a penniless orphan, ous of the victims, will be treated free.

vote cast by the machinists’ locals recently in the Faited States and Canada had been counted. The result showed that Mr. O'Connell had received a majority over his competitors of 1,200. The officers elected were: P. J. Conlon,

GEORGE HODGE.