Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1907 — Page 3

FARM AND GARDEN

He who feeds his land well will be ted. ~ — l — plenty of wood ashes and «alt for your pigs. If by bad management yon now get •behind with your work, It will crowd you all summer. Much apd thorough cultlmatlon will ■often make tip to some extent lack oif "fertility In the soil. To find the number of cords there are in a pile of "wood, multiply the length *>y the width and height and'divide by 128. The character of the feed determines file character of the meat and the meat is only - made T>y wholesome food. When you bear the farmer s#, “Just ■my luck," In nine cases out of ten If he were truthful he would exclaim, “Just my laziness,” or “just my Inattention." Sheep can not he kept on damp locations without being liable to foot rot. Their quarters should be dry, and they will thrive In an open shed that faces the south. Healthy animals require no medicine ; conditions In them may be established and maintained by Intelligently •applied alternations In the quantity «nd quality of their food and labor. Training will develop many good •qualities in the horse which would ■otherwise be dormant and subdues many vicious habits and faults which would render the horse worthless if sallowed to go unchecked.

The claim that salt should be applied ’to asparagus beds Is not supported by -experiments. It destroys a number of ■■weeds and performs mechanical service In the soil, but it Is not a necessary fertilizer. The first year of the colt’s life Is important, Keep him growing the first year, keep him growing the second year, keep him growing the third year and If he is to be marketed have him fat, for fat will often cover up a multitude •of defects. ■Every farmer should have a few ■grapevines. / They serve as arbors or shade and can be grown where they •will not take up much space. All poultry yards will be improved If wines are grown along the fences* jind fowls will find shade under the'overhanging branches In summer. How many windows has your barn? There should be a window for every two stalls at least and one for each «tall Is not too many. Sunlight Is the •cheapest purifier we have and In many ways the most effective. No part of your stable snould be so dork that one could not read a newspaper■readlly at any time during the day. Nebraska farmets complain that a great trust controls the creameries In that State. It Is asserted that the trust fixes the price of cream, dictates the territory for each creamery, and when an Independent butter factory up the trust raises the price of cream and drives It out of business. In addition to this It is claimed that the railroads have given the trust special rates and that the small creamery man stands no show. The trust Is reported as making an annual profit of from 100 to 200 per cent The attorney general has been commissioned to «quelch the trust Ground Corn for Hoars. The Wisconsin experiment station has for many years been testing feedtig hogs on whole corn and meal with middlings. The average of all these tests with 117 head of hogs fed dryshelled corn and wheat middlings, made an-average gain of 90.8 pounds such, while an equal number fed cornmeal and wheat middlings gained 110.9 pound of gain In the two cases being pounr of gain In the two cases being 3.19 pounds and 4.88 pounds. The saving from grinding, therefore, has amounted to 0.7 per cent, acoerdlng to the price of corn per bushel, showing that when one owns his own corn feed mill and power, be can afford to grind tils corn for feeding hogs, etc.

Food tor Yoons Stock. For young and growing stock, the foods that contain the mineral elements gbould be preferred, bat where linseed meal and clover are need there will be no necessity for feeding bran. A large number of farmers purchase bran, and It will be to their Interest to endeavor to know something of the various kinds on the market, as a falling off In the nutritions elements of the bran used may really cause It to be expensive. Thera are also excellent proprietary foods that art wall balanced. |lan/ fanaers feed the ground material

Independently of the coarse food. It la considered more laborious to mix all the feeding materials together, for the reason that if the ground grain Is to be mixed with the hay and fodder the latter must be passed through the cutter and reduced to a fine condition. Of course, there are objections to so doing, yet the cutting of the food into short lengths will effect a saving that would more than ofTset the cost of labor, as the stock would eat more and cost less. But there is a gain In feeding ground grain with cut bay or ftxKler ip another manner. When the grain Is mixed with the coarse material It ft more easily digested, as It Is divided dnd carried into the stomach in a condition which permits of the gradual action of the digestive organs. The long provender, also being In a fine state, a great proportion of nutrition Is thereby extracted, and the system of treating the whole together will prove economical. Digestion of Foods In Feedings A series of tests is reported by Storrs Station, Connecticut, In which corn meal and mixed hay In turn were fed as a maintenance ration to two dry, farrow cows. The results of . tests with milch cows, pigs and calves are also quoted and discussed fbr purposes of comparison. On an average 6.25 pounds of corn meal containing 4.5 pounds digestible nutrients was required for maintenance by the farrow cows as compared with 13.15 pounds of hay containing 7.1 pounds of digestible nutrients; that is, on an average 57 per cent more digestible nutrients was required for maintenance when derived from -hay than from-corm meal—“ Less di-

gcstible nutrients from corn meal, therefore, were required for maintenance than from hay, because less energy of the feed was used in the work of digestion and assimilation.” “An increase In the proportion of grain to roughage in a ration for milch cows (In tests which were quoted) tends to facilitate digestion, and Is followed by Increased production.” A similar explanation will account for the more rapid gain in the case of pigs and calves fed the more easily dl gestible rations in the tests summarized. In general, according to the author, “the value of a feed depends upon its composition, digestibility and ease or facility of digestion. The first first two factors are considered in the formulation of rations. The third factor has only recently been recognized, and little definite knowledge in regard It Is at band. In a general way It ft recognized that milk Is more easily digested than meal, concentrates than roughage, early than late cut hay, silage than corn stover, oat than rye straw. A pound of digestible matter, therefore, should be more valuable In the former than In the latter.” 'Y) Value of Sunflower. The sunflower, though it originated in this country In the region of the great not used so extensively here as'Tn some other countries, notably Russia. It Is a long time since the plant first delighted the eyes of Europeans, being then cultivated In the garden* of Madrid. The early Spanish explorers had found It In this country and taken It home with them.

The plant was'utilized by the American Indians long before the days of Columbus. When Champlain visited the Georgian Bay In 1015 he found the natives growing it and using the oil for their hair. It was raised chiefly, however, for the food afforded by the seeds. In Russia at the present day the seeds are eaten in Immense quantities, raw or roasted, as peanuts are In America, and the oil obtained by pressing the seeds Is an Important article of diet. The frequent religious fast days in that country restrict the use of meat and lead to a large consumption of vegetable oil. The manufacture es sunflower oil has consequently grown to considerable dimensions. The be3t seeds yield an oil that compares favorably with olive oil for table purposes. Even the upper classes In Russia eat the seeds, the larger and finer ones being quite equal to most nuts In respect of palatablllty and wholesomeness. The stalks and dried leaves are highly prized for fuel, being In some parts of the empire almost the only available substitute for wood. An acre of sunflowers will yield many cords of good fuel. The oil appears to have more of the general properties of olive oil than has any other known vegetable oil. It takes about a bushel of seeds to make a gallon of oil, and fifty bushels of seeds can be grown on one acre of land. As the oil sella at $1 a gallon, the profit la large. Of late years purified sunflower oil has been used extensively tp adulterate olive oil. It la of a-pale yellowish color and decidedly palatable. In « crude state It la used by painters to some extent, but It la inferior to linseed oil tor use In paint. In addtlon to the oil from the seeds, the stalks, when green, and the oil cake make excellent fodder. The fiber of the stalks, which la fine, silky and very strong; also has a value. In China It la woven Into beautiful fabrics, and It Is believed that, by nes of proper machinery, It might be utilised most profitably In this country.

WOBiD’S FASTEST WiP. Hew Giant Liner Which WIU Croia the Atlantic In Five Dnjra. The giant turbine Lusitania of the Cunard line will be the first five-day boat crossing the Atlantic. Twentyfive and a half knots an hour was her test trial record under full steam, and in weather not entirely suited to racing. With Ideal wind and water, her quadruple screws will be able to push her along at a twenty-six knot pace. This doesn’t mean so much until the Lusitania's huge bulk has been realized. She Is as long as the Auditorium hotel .and Annex at Chicago, and she would line up with three blocks In the business section of New York. In her engines 1s the power of 8,000 horses. There are three promenade decks, the top one covering one and one-half acres, and three and one-half times around Is a mile. There are twentynlne miles of framing and beams and 4,000,000 rivets In the ship. But even this gives no adequate Idea of the size of the vessel. It Is in the huge drawing room or the dining room that the proportions of the Lusitania are adequately realized. There are no long tables In The dining-room. —The whole space 1s filled with small tables that can accommodate 620 persona That number of diners would crowd the largest restaurant In America. A ball room the size of the Lusitania

This photograph of the bow of the Lusitania, taken a moment before she was launched, gives an idea of her enormous proportions. Her beam, or width, is 88 feet.

drawing room would be a feature of a king’s palace. The cabins on the boat are almost as large as hotel bedrooms Brass bedsteads, silk tapestrylined walls and silk curtains are common. Two regal suites are the Lusitania’s pride. They could not be bettered by a spendthrift millionaire on land. Each contains two bedrooms, a dining room, a drawing room and bath. The dining room is paneled with fine Italian walnut, enriched with carved ornaments and moldings of burnished gold. The buffet writing table, dining table and revolving chairs are also In Italian walnut and gold. The chimney piece Is a particularly fine specimen of Fleur-de-Pecher marble, with marble hearth to match, and a log fire. The paneled celling In white and gold, the green silk curtains, portiere and carpet complete a very artistic portion of the suite. A sliding glass screen separates this room from the drawing room, which Is paneled In white with carved gilt moldings, enriched with beautifully painted panels of flowers. On the promenade deck there Is a series of en suite rooms, furnished by different firms who were given carte blanche, each decorator trying to outrival the others. The result Is a set of room* of such magnificence that probably no hotel In the world could afford to support Electric lights are scattered everywhere, and there are fifty clocks, all electrically regulated from the bridge chronometer. The second class accommodation Is better than the first class on the Canard liners Etruria and Umbria. There la the same generous space as In first class, and three large public rooms, larger than on a private yacht of a millionaire. The steerage passengers have a deck running almost the length of the ship for themselves, and of the 802 third class rooms, forty are two-berth and 237 four-berth, the others accommodating six and eight people each.

ABOUT TOBACCO.

Ther Sorvo Oat CKsrara to tko lok dlora ta Italy. Physicians, chemists snd physiologists (many of them smokers thepselves) agre9 that imoklng before maturity Is reached always leads to s waste of nerve power and brain force and thus squanders life by weakening the very center of strength. lb all Lord Wolseley's campaigns he made It a rule where possible to nllow each soldier one pound of tobacco per month, which be considered a fair al-

lowance. In It|ly the military author!* ties recognize the weed as one of the comforts essential to the troops and cigars are served out to them with their daffy raitofig. ~ In France there are 6.000,000 smokers, and of every fifteen there are eight who smoke a pipe, five who smoke cigars and only two who are cigaret smokers. Still the French consume more than 800,000,000 cigareft a year, or enough to go around the world 500 times If they were placed end to end in a line. In the total quantity of tobacco grown the United States rivals Cuba and the Philippine Islands combined; British India 1s not very far behind the States. It takes 6,500,000 acres to grow the world’s tonacco, Louisville Is the largest tobacco market in the world. The best cigars manufactured come from Cuba, the tobacco for which Is cultivated In the famous Vuelta de Abajo district, west of Havana. This favored spot ft located on the banks of aTrlvcr, the nature of the soil being such that in no other part of the world can leaves of such excellence be produced. The most expensive cigars cost about $7.50 each. The largest cigars of them being eighteen inches In length. Italy has the reputation of manufacturing some of the strangest smokes In the world. A good cigar will burn slowly and

equally; the weed that smolders up one side Is of Inferior quality.

The South Triumphs.

“I like to sit in the lobbies of some of these big, brass buttoned hotels hud see my friends the Southerners come swarming In and selecting their suites of rooms,” said the Southern woman! “Do I know them personally? Certainly not; but that’s no reason why I shouldn’t delight In their affluence. It wasn’t so long ago, you know, that the South was poor as Job's turkey, and now I wish you could see them come in these big hotels—whole families of them—talking their Southern dialects that Is so pretty; father, mother, the grown girls with their little negro maid, the grown son with his negro valet, the father standing at the desk making arrangements for a suite of rooms for the party that I know will cost a small fortune and that he couldn’t begin to order unless he had a whole lot of money back of it to spend. “It does me a lot of good, I tell you,” she finished with a smile.

The Disappointed Huckster.

Miss Msy Sutton, the tennis player, was talking one daynbout an early defeat “I bad been so sure of winning,” she said, “and that made my disappointment all the greater whoa I failed. I was as disappointed as a huckster who usod to Jive in Los Angeles. “This huckster, coming out of a imfron’s house one any, saw a little boy feeding apples to Its horse. Pleased to see the animal getting an excellent meal at no cost to himself, the man patted the boy on the bead and said: ‘“That’s right; always be good to animals. And where did you buy those apples?* *‘l didn’t bay them,’ the boy answered. ‘I took them out of your wagon.’ ”

Noncommittal.

“Guilty or not guilty?" “Yea" responded toe man at the bar. “What's that?” queried the court sharply. “You asked whether I was guilty or not guilty and of course I am. Of the two conditions I oould not well escape both.” “But which ere you?” “Aw go on Judge! What’s the jury for?”—Philadelphia Ledger.

Corrected.

"That man who Uvea in your hones is ■ nonentity, isn’t bet” “No, he’s a method!st an’ the meekest critter you ever saw when his wife’s around.” —Houston Post

GIANT BRIDGE FALLS

ST. LAWRENCE RIVER ENGULFB EIGHTY.FOUR WORKERS. American Mechanics Hurled to Death by Collapse of RecordBreaking Span Near Quebec —Only Elsht Men Escape with Lives. A section of the new bridge across the St. Lawrence .River, five miles below Quebec, collapsed late Thursday, carrying scores of bridge workers and mechanics to death in the water. Of the ninety-two men at work on the structure only eight are known to have escaped. —t The bridge was about a mile and a half In length, and half of it, from the south shore to midstream, crumpled up and dropped into the water. The whistle had just blown at 5:30 for the men to quit work for the day, when there came a grinding sound from midstream. The men turned to see what had happened, and an instant later the cry went up: “The bridge is falling!” Workers Flee in Vain. The men made a rush shoreward, but the distance was too great for them to escape. The fallen section of the bridge dragged others after It, the snapping girders and cables booming like artillery. Terror lent fleetness to thp feet of the frightened workmen as they sped shoreward, but only a few of them reached safety before the last piece of Iron work on the south shore was dragged into the river. Near the shore the wreckage of the bridge did not go below the surface of the water, and eight workmen who remained above water were rescued and taken to the hospital at Levis. The steamer Glentnont had Just cleared the bridge when the first sec-, tlon fell. The water thrown up by the debris came clear over the bridge of the steamer. The captain at once lowered boats. The small boats plied backward forward over the sunken for half an hour, but there was no sign of life. The twisted iron and steel had its victims in a death grip. A few floating timbers and the broken strands of the bridge-toward the north shore were the only signs that anything unusual had happened. Sixteen Bodies Are Found. All the men drowned were employes of the Phoenix Bridge Company of Pennsylvania, and subcontractors of Quebec and Montreal. At 10 osclock at night sixteen bodies had been picked up. Of the eight men in the Levis hospital two were not expected to live through the night. The southern extension of the bridge which collapsed was rapidly nearing the zenith of the Immense steel arch which was to span the river. For 800 feet from the shore tlie massive steel structure reared an arch with no supports save the piers from the shore and one pier in the river about 100 feet from the shore, while the outward extremity was 18 feet above the water. The end of the half arch bent down a trifle and a moment later the whole enormous fabric began to give way, slowly at first, then with a terrific crash which was plainly heard in Quebec and which shook the whole countryside so that the residents rushed out of their houses, thinking that an earthquake had 1 ' occurred. 'V Wounded Pinned in Debris. The horror of the situation is Increased by the fact that there were a number of wounded men pinned in the wreckage near the shore. Their groans and shrieks for a time could be plainly heard by the crowds gathered at the water’s edge, but nothing could be done to rescue them or relieve their sufferings.

There Is scarcely a family In the village of St. Romuald and New Liverpool, which has not been bereaved, while In some cases five and six men of a single family have been killed. The bridge was remarkable In that It was to have been the longest single span cantilever bridge in the world the length of the span in the center be lng 1,800 feet, or 200 feet longer than that of the Firth bridge at Edinburgh, at present the world’s longest single bridge span. Built at Great Coat. The contract was let for the erectiox of the stone work to M. P. Davis & Co., and for the iron work to the Phoenix Iron Company of Phoenlxville Work was begun in 1900. The original estimate of the cost was In the neighborhood of $5,500,000, but this was found to be too small. The company finding Itself In difficulties and the government needing the bridge for the National Transcontinental Railway, an agreement was reached by which the government agreed to guarntee the bonds of the company up to $7,000,00ft Under this agreement construction hat been proceeding. When completed the bridge was to have accommodation for a double track railway, two lines of electric tramways and two roadway* tor foot and vehicle traffic. There lias been no bridge across the Bt. Lawrence below Montreal. At Quebec traffic was ferried across the river. This expense being held reqionslble for the failure of Quebec to grow, a number of citizens secured a charter from the Dotniulon government to bridge the St: Lawrence. A subsidy of $1,000,000 was secured from the dominion and another $650,000 from the government of the Province of Quebec while the City of Quebec gave a gt;gnt of $300,000. The promoters put up $850,000.

SAYE GOOD TIMES WILL STAY.

Secretary Wilson Dccjnres Condition* Favor Continued ProsperityThe great West ft prosperous and the country as a whole, therefore, ft In no danger of hard times. That ft the word that Secretary of' Agriculture Wilson has brought back to Washington with him on his return from a long tour on the other side of the Mississippi river and in the intermountain States. He fc aglow with enthusiasm over the crop outlook*, general trade conditions and the political temper of the people. “The people of the West," said 1 Secretary Wilson, “are not fearful of a panic or of hard times. The West ous. There is plenty of money. In fact, I have reason to believe the West is loaning money to the East Instead of the East to the West, and this ft being done at good rates of interest The people of the West are not worrying over Wall street and its troubles. They scarcely know that such troubles exist save as they read of them In the newspapers. The rest of the country li no longer dependent on Wall street “The crop outlook Is good. Grain crops generally will be good, with the exception of the oat crop. There will be a good corn crop, not a bumper crop, but a good one, if frosts do not come too early. Prices for farm products and for stock are high, and the farmers are making money.” The special mission of the Secretary of Agriculture on the trip just finished was to study forest reserve problems, the reserves having been placed under the direction .of bis department two yearn ago. — —l r ■ “With regard to the forest reserves I found two chief problems,” said the Secretary, “first, to Insure protection from fire, and, second, to reforest the land where continual fires have destroyed the young trees. There are millions of acres growing nothing except a little grass. The question of reforestation is ■pressing. “The price of lumber indicates that we are up against a wood famine. Lumber Is being shipped from the Northwest all over the world. In the forest region the homesteader, or the man who gets patent pnder the timber and stone act, often sells to private corporations, some of which have as many as 3GX>QO.OOO _acres _aml are still buying. Considerable pressure comes from persons who want to get title merely to sell to such companies and put" the money in their pockets. I failed to find much sentiment against the reserves, except from the small element that would like to get possession to sell. What seems to be the best offer of the government is that of land in the reclaimed districts for the cost of the water used in irrigation." “The only apprehension I observed among the people in the West t,rows out of the fear of a fuel famine next winter. I aui glad the people appreciate the situation, because mueh can be done to prevent a famine by those who can put in their coal supply In advance of cold weather.”

U. S. CASH TO AID CROP MOVING.

Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou Will Relieve Money Market. ■Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou, according to the New York Times, has decided again to come to the relief of the money market and distribute government funds to aid the movement of crops this year. The plan pursued last year is to be followed, with some modifications, but in general it will be that adopted by Secretary Shaw in his regime. One of the ideas in the minds of the officers of the Treasury Department is that the government should place its funds in the banks subject to withdrawal by check. It is not expected that anything like the amount needed last year will be called for this season. If it is the treasury will be in better shape to meet the call, as under an act of the last Congress customs receipts may be deposited in the banks. Under the new method the customs receipts will be used for the relief of the smaller institutions, while the larger fund will be sent to the centers of distribution. New York will, as in the past, get a large share of the amount to be released.

RICHARD MANSFIELD DEAD.

Eminent Actor Expire* at Hl* Summer Home In Coanectlent. Richard Mansfield, the beat knownT actor on the American stage, died fcriday at his summer residence, Seven Oaks, near New London, Conn. Death was directly due to disease of the liver, aggravated by complications. Richard Mansfield, the most daring, able, and successful player of his time, was born in Heligoland, Germany, in 1857, and during the course of his career has been artist, singer, poet, playwright and player. His mother was a singer of unusual ability. He was not always successful at everything he did, but on the stage he was remarkably successful, in an extensive and wide range of parts extending from Koko in the comic opera of “The Mikado” to Richard, Carlos, Shylock, Alceste, and Peer Gynt. He brought more glory to the Englishspeaking stage than any ten of his contemporaries and his history is a record of a succession of remarkable and courageous attempts to achieve great things. Artistically and materially he succeeded beyond all others of his time. Mr. Mansfield several years ago married Beatrice Cameron, who was then his leading woman. He leaves one child, a boy not yet in his teeas. His home was on Riverside drive in New York, and there he passed much of his time when not playing.

Two portraits purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York, as the work of Gilbert Stuart have been attacked aa unauthentic bjr Cbarlea Henry Hart of Philadelphia, who la an acknowledged authority on American historical portraiture.