Demorral Ratan Bellefonte, Pa., July 31, 1914. SR TWO SINNERS. There was a man, it is said, one time, ‘Who went astray in his youthful prime. Can the brain keep cool and the heart keep quiet When the blood is a river that’s running riot? And boys will be boys, the old folks say, And the man is better who’shad his day. The sinner reformed, and the preacher told Of the prodigal son who came back to the fold, And Christian people threw open the door ‘With a warmer welcome than ever before. Wealth and honor were his to command. And a spotless woman gave him her hand. And the world strewed their pathway with flowers abloom, Crying, “God bless lady and God bless groom!” There was a maiden who went astray In the golden dawn of her life’s young day, She had more passion and heart than head, And she followed blindly where fond love led, And love unchecked is a dangerous guide To wander at will by a fair girl's side. The woman repented and turned from sin; But no door opened to let her in. The preacher prayed that she might be for- given. But told her to look for mercy—in heaven; For this is the law of earth we know, ‘That the woman is stoned while the man may g0. A brave man wedded her after all; But the world said, frowning, *‘We shall not call.” —Ella Wheller Wilcox. FROM INDIA. By One on Medical Duty in that Far Eastern Country. Superintends Horse Shoeing and Re- pairs to Home. A Dusty Country Where Asth- ma and Catarrh Reign Supreme. Sudden Weather Changes, Etc. JHANSI, JUNE 11th, 1913. Dear Home Folk: An almost perfect morning and a most delightful breeze blowing and as itis but six o'clock I thought I might have a few ideas to put on paper. You remark- ed that I am always promising to do bet- ter next time, and I guess it’s true; but you see I didn’t write very lengthy let- ters before coming out here and it’s a hard matter to lay aside your old habits and take up new ones and make brilliant successes in such a short time. Perhaps it’s just as odd for me to have to see about the phazton being re-tired and re-washered, the horse re-shod, and | the ceiling fixed; and yet all of these | have fallen to my lot during the past | week. I know you would be amused to see the poor little lame pony with the blacksmith’s tools in a bag across his back, coming slowly up the drive, while his master, lamer still, comes behind with a great white umbrella, to add a lit- tle more glare to the landscape, and then the shoes are produced and, as I have told you, I bluff, and tap and look wise, and then go out to watch the process. It is done once a month and even then must sometimes be done hetween as well. But the ceiling is another thing; it is of muslin and is held in place by cross strips of wood about three feet apart, so that when one little portion gets loose it must be fixed at once, and the terrific winds we have been having flaps it so violently it’s a wonder it all hasn’t part- ed from the side and sailed away. Only a little corner was loose, but a basket had to be gotten to take out the dirt that was on top before it could be put back in place. This bungalow has a tiled roof and all the tile is laid on top -of green grass, so that the grass drying makes a nice powder, and with the dust from the dust storms, and the odds and ends the squirrels carry up, all make a mess that I, at least, cease to wonder where the dust comes from. Away from every one as we are, no trains within two miles, never a sight: of smoke, and yet it is so dusty that the servants seem to be dusting all the time, and still you can write your name readi- ly on every bare space nearly any time of the day, and both asthma and catarrh are common diseases here; all respirato. 11 a. m.—Here I am back again and the above sentence stares at me like a lie for now itis not cool, only drippy. I have had my breakfast, but just before that had to go out on my bycicle (a bor- rowed one) for a two mile ride, so you see I know how truly warm it is. I told you before, except for dripping, I don’t seem to mind the heat very much, and I know I have not gotten any thin-’ ner. This morning a patient sent me some fruit—white grapes, as sour as those from the “Fox grape” vine at home; a water-melon, that a good black man! would turn up his nose at, and various Monkey’s Sobs Mean Death. If you should ever happen to be wan- dering about the Choco section of Colom- bia it would be well to have an eye out for the sobbing monkey. If this animal gets on your trail you might as well ring down the certain and put a period after yourself. - When he gets after the Colombian In- dians, according to H. G. Spurrell, a nat- uralist and member of the London school of Tropical Medicine, the Indian listens to the beast’s soul-withering sobs for three days and three nights and then commits suicide—usually by drawing a , very sharp knife across his throat. i i Spurrell, who arrived in New York on the United Fruit Company’s steamer Pas- tores, says that the sobbing monkey is other things of the same sort; and yet | pink and is one of the rarest animals in they are the best to be gotten here. guess America has spoiled my taste for half-hearted fruit, and I haven’t learned 1 ' South America. | | i i For reasons that have never been made clear, the sobbing mon- key will, at certain times in the year, leave his home in the most impenetrable to like the insipid things the native | wilderness and hie himself to the nearest smacks his lips over. can really get good fruits and some kinds of berries; but we can’t all live in the hills, so in the mean time one longs for the fruits one has known. Speaking of silks: I have not found i i | | In the hills one | Indian encampment, where he will se- lect his victim and follow him day and night, keeping up a continual weeping and wailing. According to tribal traditions, this isa sure sign that the victim will shortly be taken with the sleeping sickness or some other fatal disease. It has been cus- a cheap place for silk. Some of it iS tomary for them to listen to the mon- very beautiful, but it is two dollars a key’s sobbing for three days and three yard; true, it is forty-two inches wide, | nights and then commit suicide, thus and some runs as high as four dollars a | avoiding death by the dreaded sickness. yard, heavy like damask and as wide as |, Spurrell declared that the Colombian dians are more moral than New York- forty-four inches, made for women’s ers, and that no grafters, thieves, gun- “sauris” as the width makes the length | men or liars are to be found among of their skirts. I have found but little really cheap anything in India. Labor | i | them. He says that the men make ideal husbands and treat their wives with the greatest consideration. The greatest of- is cheap here but prices are in many cases ' fense that a wife can be guilty of, ac- just what are asked for the same things in Atlantic City, or any of our other places at home. (Continued next week.) How Uncle Sam Spends Your Income Tax Dollar. The Stannard Baker to Washington to trace your income tax dollar and report penny for it. The result of his investigation ap- pears in the August number. Under the indirect method of taxation, by which we still continue to raise most of our rev- enues, few people felt any concern as to | what the Government spent, but with a | direct tax like the income tax several hundred thousand Americans will feel this year, for the first time, just what it means to help buy warships and pay for unnecessary postoffices. Following is part of Mr. Baker's report: “The first thing that struck me, and struck hard, was the fact that, although we have had no great war in fifty years (and only a little one sixteen years ago,) over sixty cents of every dollar that Un- cle Sam collects from you and me (di- rectly or indirectly) goes for ‘military | purposes,’ including continuing expenses of past wars—pensions. “I think that few people realize what this means—in a nation which considers itself peculiarly devoted to peace. “Sixty-three per cent. to the Army, Na- vy and pensions, and only thirty-seven per cent. to pay all the other vast and useful purposes of the Government, ex- cluding postal service and the preposter- ous sinking fund—required by law, but never provided in fact. This thirty-sev- en per cent. only is available for build- ing the Panama Canal, improving our rivers and harbors, supporting the In- dians, encouraging agriculture, public health and education, to say nothing of taking care of the entire machinery of civil government—Congress, Executive, Courts, and the diplomatic and consular service. “In the estimates for the new year the expenditure of the Government for all purposes (with the exceptions above stated) reaches the vast sum of $740,- 000,000. Of this, $466,000,000 go for war | purposes and forty-five per cent. of this goes for pensions, retirements, and interest on war debts.” The Secretary Bird. One of the most interesting birds, in both appearance and habits, is the secre- tary-bird from the dry and open parts of central and southern Africa. | American Magazine sent Ray penny exactly how Uncle Sam spends | | { { | { i | | | cording to the naturalist, is to be seen talking to a white man. Spurrell has brought with him 2500 specimens of vegetable and animal life from the wilds of Colombia, and says that during his wanderings in the tropics he was bitten more than 400 times by snakes. Thomas Edison, Electrical Wizard. The electrical genius of Menlo Park told a party of electrical experts recently that electric airships would be built that would navigate the air successfully. He also asserted that electrical currents would be made from coal without steam or dynamo. He says an electric automo- bile can be manufactured to sell for $500, and that he is now working on such a machine. Edison is the man who,since Franklin's day, has done more than any other man to put humanity on speaking terms with the wonders of the infinite. When he speaks, men receive a new impetus to- ward conquest. New visions are stirred by his prophesies. In a speech before | the electrical meeting recently Mr. Edi- son said, in part: “Do you know, as I watch the bee I realize that a real aeroplane, heavier- than-air machines of great weight, can be built so soon as we obtain something that beats the air at the rate of 200 times a second. “The bumble bee is an inch long, three- eighths of an inch in diameter, with a wing one-quarter inch wide by five- eights of an inch long. The wings weigh a milligram—the bee weighs 7000 times more than his wings. If we can get to that—it is the thing. The bee’s wings beat the air 300 times a second. “A bee works on sound --waves. Re- member, the air is rigid as steel if the pressure is only sudden enough. Give us something thatbeats the air 200 times per second and we will have a ‘real plane.’ ” When asked his opinion of the wireless telephone, he asked: “What is the good of it? When wireless telegraphy is so cheap and so easy. Itis, of course, feasi- ble, but why want it? As for Marconi, ' he surely is a great fellow, because he made it possible to talk around the world without wires,” concluded the great in- ventor. | The Shade Tree Commission. The State law providing for the ap- i pointment of a Shade Tree Commission in cities of the third class confers large powers: Not only can the commission regulate the planting of trees, but it can The male | say whether or not any tree is to come is fully four feet high, the greater part down. If it is able to obtain the funds of that length “being contributed by his | it is empowered to plant trees along en- neck and legs.” The general color is | tire streets—to turn a thoroughfare from ashy-gray, the breast white, the wings, |a vista of hot red bricks and barren thighs, and abdomen black. The middle | walks into a street bordered by growing tail- feathers nearly reach the ground, | trees that provide grateful shade as well { and on each side of the head are two as become a delight to the esthetic and long black tufts which give the bird its the lover of the beautiful. The Commis- popular name of secretary, because, in ! sion could regulate the laying of steam the days when quill pens were used, writ- ers were in the habit of carrying them | pipes interfered . i stuck over their ears. I ry trouble easily gets a hold on these "py. igs. food consists of snakes, rats, | Pipes so baked the earth that shade trees anzemic folk. Just to show how easily one could catch cold; last night, after a fairly cloudy day, and that always means no wind, the evening came down hot, close and wind- less and our beds were put out upon as open a spot as could be found. As I was busy I did not pay much attention to the outside, but along about nine o’clock the “chokadar” came along and told me that a little rain was falling and that my bed and the nurses’ was out, so I told them to bring the beds onto the front veranda. Sitting under the “punkah” I scarcely re- alized how close it was until finally, de- ciding it was time to go to bed, out I went and just that little moving around 1 was dripping, and when I got under the net not a whiffof air came to cool me down. I fanned a bit but shortly dropped off to sleep, to waken up in about two hours so wet and hot I was peevish. I then heard the wind blowing outside, so slipping on my slippers got up, and too warm to put on a kimona, went out onto the drive to find from which direction the wind came and to see if the stars were out. It did not look very promising, but I could not stand the veranda any longer. As always it is much cooler in the open garden, I called the men and out came the beds, into a strong south wind and then I found I would have to pull up a blanket or I sure would have a cold; and off to sleep I went. It didn’t rain, but somewhere else in this vicinity it has rained and that is the reason for this nice cool morning; and I didn't take cold, but others did. lizzards, and other living animals, which it kills with its feet, and swallows whole, unless too big, when the beak tears them to pieces. When ready to kill, the bird lifts either leg as may be convenient, | and brings down the foot in a terrific blow like that of a great hammer, usual- ly striking the victim on the head. If the first blow fails to kill, the bird fol- lows it with others in rapid succession. When the dead animal is too big to be swallowed whole, the bird, seizing the head in his beak, holds the body down under his foot and stretches and pulls it | until its flexibility pleases him, when he swallows it, generally head first. . Secretary-birds are usually found in | pairs, each pair “having a certain hunt- ing-ground which they defend fiercely against intrusion by their neighbors.” The nests are very large. They are built of sticks, and are generally placed in a dense thicket or in a small tree. The two eggs are bluish white.—St. Nicholas. A Great Canadian Dam. What is claimed to be the greatest dam in the world has been completed in the Canadian west at Calgary, Alberta, where the Bassano dam, after three years spent in its construction, has been officially opened and the final step thus taken in the reclamation of 440,000 acres of fertile land which needs only an as- sured water supply to make it one of the greatest producing areas in the Dominion. The great dam at Assouan is a mile and a quarter in length, and as regards the difficulties of construction is one of the world’s greatest engineering feats, but the Bassano dam, while not so high, ex- ceeds the Nile dam in length, being 7,000 feet, or 400 feet longer than the Assouan dam. The Bassano dam contains more than a million cubic feet of earth and concrete and provides water for 2,500 miles of canals. | | | i i ! the WATCHMAN Office. or gas or water or sewer pipes if these in any way with the growth of trees. If underground steam could not live in the vicinity the Com- mission would cause the removal of the pipes and their laying elsewhere. In short, so far as the care and preservation , of shade trees was concerned, the Com- | mission would have unlimited power. Quaker Quips. Many a man rises in his own estima- tion who is far from being an aviator. Some people never take anything that doesn’t belong to them except advice. . | It doesn’t make any difference how | hot it is, the painter is always willing to ! put on a coat. The lover used to say to a girl: “Will you be mine?” Now he says: “Can I, be vpurs?” | When some people are run down by | their neighbors they square matters by talking themselves up. Perhaps a pretty girl is seldom clever ' for the same reason that a rich man! doesn’t have to work.—Philadelphia | Record. Almost every woman suffers from “fe- male weakness” in some form. There is | no need to exhort the sufferers from the more serious forms of such disease that active steps should be taken to effect a cure. Pain and suffering deliver that ex- hortation every day. It is the fortunate woman whose disorder is seemingly slight who needs to be warned. Just a brief use of Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Pre- scription in her case will establish her in sound health. Neglect always means complications and slower cure. Women who suffer from chronic forms of diseas- es of the womanly organs are invited to consult Dr. Pierce, by letter, free. All correspondence confidential. Address Dr. V. M. Pierce, Buffalo, N. Y. —For high class Job Work come to LIQUOR LIKED BY ESKIMOS, Fierce Beverage That Is Distilled in the Land of Perpetual Ice and Snow. It may surprise those who associate “moonshine” whisky only with the southern states’ mountains, says a writer in’ the Wide World, to learn that since the suppression of the con- traband liquor traffic between whites and natives in the North the Eskimo has himself turned ‘“moonshiner.” No touch of romance clings to the busi- ness up there. There are no hidden stills sending up telltale columns of smoke from lonely coves or purple glens; no solitary lookout on some crag against the sky with rifle and gourd neck horn to sound an alarm when the revenue raiders come gallop- ing over the rim of the hills. Those who prefer their moonshining in this style would do better to stick to the Cumberlands and Big Smokies. The Eskimo does his moonshining in his igloo, or just outside in his own front yard, as it were, under the eyes of his neighbors. His distilling plant is a small and primitive affair. He can hide it in a sleeping bag, or carry it off in his arms to the hills if a revenue cutter shows .n the offing. The still itself is usually an old oil can; the flake stand, a powder keg; the worm, a twisted gun barrel; the receptacle to catch the liquor that drips from the worm, a tomato can. He knows nothing of the southern mountaineer’s “mash,” made from the meal of sprouted corn. His mash is a fermented mixture of flour and mo- lasses. He boils it by placing under the still a pan of blubber oil in which burns a wick of twisted moss. The vapor from the boiling mash passes from the still into the worm, where it is condensed by cold sea water, with which the powder keg is kept filled by hand, and trickles out into the to- mato can an alcoholic liquor which tastes like none of the liquors of civili- zation, but equals the fiercest of them in intoxicating potency. One deep swig of this moonshine of the North will make the usually timid Eskimo brave enough to face his mother-in-law cr a polar bear with equally reckless disre- gard of consequences. SIMPLE RULES TO FOLLOW Woman Who Has Preserved Youth Wonderfully Tells How It Has Been Done. I met a woman who is younger looking than her own daughter, said Dr. L. K. Hirshberg, and who says she feels younger than her grand- daughter. She has’a complexion free from wrinkles, and a freshness of laughter and voice that is a joy to all who hear her speak. “My beauty rules?’ she repeated, with a trilling laugh of real merri- ment. “Keep busy. Be kind. Don’t worry. Eat simply. There, 1 guess if I have any rules, those will cover the ground. I don't say exercise, for 1 am always so busy that I never need any more exercise than I have to take. I walk wherever I can, for I love the fresh air. “I never shirk stairs, and some- times I climb them instead of taking the elevator. I eat just what I feel I need. I eat only when I am hungry. But, above all, I do not, cannot and will not worry. Nor have I an unkind thought about a single person in the world. What's the use? It would only hurt me. And as for wasting time talking about persons I am not fond of, if there are any such, it would be a wicked waste of time.”—Phila- idelphia Telegraph. What an Inch of Rain Means. Did you ever realize the thousands of tons of rain fall even in the small- est showers? When you read in the ‘paper that the precipitation was one inch you probably fail to comprehend just what that means, but if you were ‘told that during the rain 110 tons of water, or 600 huge barrels had fallen on each acre of ground, then probably you would be able to visualize just what had happened when the little drops came pattering on the roof. When you reflect that rainstorms often cover great areas and extend for many hours, or until four or five inches have fallen, you can imagine | the enormous oceans of water that are precipitated during a storm. You can also get a fair idea of the rea- ‘son why so-called cloud-bursts fre- ! .quently do such fearful damage. Realized Responsibility. As marriage is a serious business | some indication that the parties most immediately concerned are fully alive to this fact would be generally wel come. At every Roman wedding the bridegroom, on emerging from the temple with the bride, threw a handful of nuts among the bystanders. This was to show that he considered him- self a boy no longer; that the sports and fancies of youth were now entire- ly abandoned; that he was standing on the threshold of a new existence, ready to assume all the responsibili- ties of a citizen. Stubborn Husband. “My husband is one of the most stubborn men in the world.” “He can’t be any more stubborn than mine.” “Oh, yes, I'm sure he must be. Yes- terday I had an engagement to meet him at 3 o'clock.” “Yes.” “Well, it was nearly 4:30 when I got there, and he won’t admit yet that the rest he got while he was waiting did him good.” IRAE | FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN DAILY THOUGHT. I'd laugh today, today is brief, 1 would not wait for anything; I'd use today that cannot last. Be glad today and sing. —Christina G. Rossetti. In winter the curling steam from floury potatoes, the fragrant odor from the uncovered joint, the rich brown gravy, are all attractive, but in hot weath- er—ugh! Here are some practical hints which | may help. None is expensive: First, the table! It is the setting to a meal, and should be made to look as cool and as attractive as possible. Make it look “inviting” in every sense, with flow- ers, fish and ferns. Little ferns are cheap enough. Regularly watered, occasional- ly repotted, and given wo or three drops of castor oil four times a year, they are a permanent possession. ° Now, for the food. Have you tried cold soup? It must be well strained, free from fat, of medium thickness. This makes a most satisfying summer dish. Cold meat is not attractive, and stews and hashes are worse—in summer! After a joint has appeared once it is best to cut the meat into very thick slices, and trim into cutlet shapes, and fry as you would fish, after dipping into egg and bread- ' crumbs. Potatoes, too, are much better mashed, cut into squares, and baked till the outsides are a nice brown. Fish should always be served with a ! frill of parsley or lettuce leaves. A sliced tomato, some watercress, some pieces of léemon—this at once tempts a tired man to eat. Salads and salad dressings are most important adjuncts to food in summer. With a well-made salad the man forgives the cold mutton! Here is a simple, yet quite nice, salad. It dispenses with other vegetables. Slice up a small cooked caulifiower, two or three potatoes, two lettuces, one large tomato, a beetroot, : and a cucumber. Add a little finely scraped horseradish. So, with the table nicely laid, attrac- ' tive with ferns and flowers, a spotless tablecloth, and the food daintily put be- fore him, the breadwinner is certain to be more than satisfied. The flowers of the field and the fruits of the earth shall - make you beautiful. Lemons, oranges, strawberries, pine- apples, apricots, figs, watermelons, spin- ach, cucumbers, lettuce, roses, pond lilies —all hold potent beauty charms A.diet of oranges will clear muddy complexions and reduce superabundant curves. Eat half a dozen a day, or more if you like them. Lemons taken inter- nally quench thirst and prevent the bad habit of over-indulgence of ice water, clear the skin, assist digestion and have a tendency to rid one of obesity. Ap- plied externally they are a bleach which removes stains from fingers or neck, freckles from arms or cheeks and other . sallow blemishes. Pineapples will sweeten the voice, re- | store its quality if it has grown husky and aid digestion, which means they will beautify the complexion. Apricots are used for the same purpose and are favor- | ed by the Orientals. Watermelon water has a whitening ef- fect if used on the hands and face and : will fade freckles if applied persistently. Figs act on the liver. Spinach is the most valuable of all the green vegetables. It has a large propor- tion of Iron and is a cleanser and blood purifier. To work a durable button-hole in heavy material such as linen, duck, or | madras, mark with a thread the place and size with a row of machine stitching on both sides as close as possible, then cut with a pair of sharp scissors and work in the usual way. Not only does this help in wearing but is very much easier to work and does not need fine stitches. In sewing on buttons in goods that have a great deal of wear, try sewing in the usual way, being care- ful to fasten the ends firmly. If you want the button loose as you may in a blouse, try taking a double thread, very coarse, twisting it and sew- ing once through the button. We shall see very full skirts this fall; crinoline effects are likely to continue. There will be simplicity of line in the long-waisted corsages which will remain as a base for ideas in the new models for the Fall and Winter. This indicates a return to the severity of corsage noticed in the Moyen Age, which with the full skirts will make a very graceful style. The high neck ruffle of tulle with mili- tary braided effects and epaulette notions are among some of the hints coming from Paris. Gold and silver will be lavishly used. The new tissues will display woven de- signs of gold and silver in silks and vel- our chiffon. Extreme souplesse of tissue and shot metal effects will lead in silks and vel- vets. Various tones of Capucine, reds, browns, greens and blues, in sapphire and hussar colorings, will figure among the shades seen on the fall and winter models. Now that short summer frocks are be- ing worn, and coats and skirts, whether of serge or linen are cut with the skirt a full two or three inches off the ground, it is very necessary that footwear should be carefully considered, as with the feet so much in evidence, a badly shaped or wrong-colored shoe will entirely mar the effect of the whole turnout, however smart it may be in itself, as far as style and materials go. One notes that carelessness with re- gard to footwear where, from the style of the gowns and hats worn, one wculd expect quite the reverse. In many cases, certainly, people are unable to afford the very smart foot- wear, carried out in expensive leathers, but, however inexpensive a shoe may be, there is no need for it to be dirty or worn till it is all out of shape. Again, too, there is the point of suitability, a wrong “style” in footwear being quite as bad as a wrong style of dress or millinery. Who would wear a gorgeous befeathered pic- ture hat with a plain morning coat and skirt, for instance? And yet, often enough, one sees elaborately buckled and trimmed shoes, only suited for very smart occasions, being worn with plain cotton frocks, and the effect is just as incongruous. Russian Sandwiches. — Chop some olives fine, and moisten with mayonnaise. Slice tender bread in thin, narrow strips, and spread one-half with the chopped olives and the other half with caviar. Press together and put in pairs. 1 FARM NOTES. { . ——. —Watering the garden in dry weather ! is apt to do more harm than good. | —The best way to keep vegetables in health and free from insects is by rota- tion. . —Never allow the ground to become baked. When in this condition consid- erable ‘moisture is unnecessarily lost. Cultivation conserves moisture, but when the ground is dry the cultivator teeth must not run tco deep. Keep the top : soil stirred only. —Sixty-two railroad instruction trains operated during last year by the office of experiment stations of the United States | department of agriculture covered more i than 35,000 miles, and the meetings held | in them were attended by nearly 1,000,- 000 people. Moveable schools to the | number of 149 were'held, with an attend- ance of 40,000. Farmers’ institutes, of | which more than 15,000 sessions were held, brought together more than 2,000,- ! 000 persons to discuss agricultural af- { fairs. Counting special institutes, the i attendance was more than 3,000,000—an increase of over 400,000 over the pre- vious year. Vacant Lot Gardens Prove a Boon to Many.—It was rather a cavalier manner he had as he approached the two wom- en and said: “Good afternoon, sir,” in very plain English. The women were gazing earnestly at a plot of ground which was struggling to develop into a garden, and the foreigner who spoke was the gardener. He displayed more of his English accomplishments in a few mo- , ments’ conversation on the weather and the state of the crops, and then the true : reason for his affability was displayed. He nodded off in the direction of a group of men, the directors of the Philadelphia Vacant Lots Cultivation Association and their guests, who, with the superinten- dent, James H. Dix, and his assistant, Charles Horn, were out making their annual spring inspection, and anxiously queried: “What them men looking for? : They hunt for something, hah?” There was more than one reason for his anxiety. He, in common with all the other 600 gardeners of the society, had not been informed of the inspection, be- cause it is abona-fide thing and the crops and the gardeners are caught just as they appear to the everyday person. Be- sides, each of the people who take these little gardens trom the hands of the so- ‘ ciety knows that at any time there may be a sale of the property, or reason for building on it, and that it is loaned to the gardeners on the understanding that in such a case they are to vacate and stand all the loss. It is fortunate that such cases are few. In the 17 years since the first gardens were started in the city there have been very few in- stances, not half a dozen in all, where such a loss has been occasioned any of . the gardeners. But the bug-a-boo re- mains in front of the eyes of the borrow- ers of land. It has never scared many away from their tiny farms, however, for ! even those few unfortunates who suffer- | ed the loss came back the next year for : other gardens. | It has been a bad season, one of the | worst in years for these small garden . farmers, principally because of the scarcity of rain. There is hardly a plot of ground now worked by the society | where water is near enough so that it i can be easily carried to the gardens. In | some former seasons when drought has { threatened gardens there have been patches where water could be easily ob- tained, and several of the farmers, band- ing together, have even worked up by means of several barrels and iron pipe lengths a system that did pretty good irrigation over several patches of land. There are 20 patches of vacant land in several sections of the city which are now in the hands of the society and under cultivation by the families that apply to the society. Fertilizer is hauled out to the land from all over the city all the year round, and piled up on the various tracts. In the spring the gardeners to whom the land has been alotted spread the manure and then the teams of the society plow and otherwise prepare the soil. After that the gardener does the rest. He or she, for there are many women who have title to gardens, plant the seeds or plants and keep up the cultivation. The society helps anyone who has not money enough to help himself. That is, the so- ciety will sell to the gardeners the nec- essary seeds and plants for the land he has taken and will wait for the money. The superintendent and his assistant spend certain days on each plot of land and then meet the gardeners who have need of assistance and give them what- over gardening instructions they may need. That there is a charge attached to each plot of land helps to remove the taint of charity from the assistance given, and encourages independence. Furthermore, the money that is paid back on the land the greater area can the society prepare and give out among the people. The cost to the gardener is calculated accord- ing to his experience. Those who are new to the society pay $1 for their first year. The charge is increased $1 each: year, so that those who have farmed with the society five years are paying $5. As this covers the whole cost to the asso- ciation for the labor and teamwork put on it, there is no further increase. The value of the work this system does ° for the people to be judged from the re- ports they return on their crops every year, as weli as by the fact that the ma- jority of the gardeners have been with the association at least three years, and there are gardeners who have been on the books for the whole period of its ex- istence. The 603 gardens allotted this season show an increase of only 50 over last year, although more than that num- ber are new-comers. The number is, however, less than a hundred. Some of those who leave the society go because they have secured land for themselves somewhere, either renting vacant land in the city or moving out into the suburbs. A few get work on farms or undertake farming for themselves, leaving their other employment. Only a small per cent. give up gardening altogether. The total value of the crops raised last year on the vacant lots land was $28,000. One gardener, who managed by the most intensive methods to keep his garden growing something all season, had vegetables to the value of $160 on his sixth of an acre, which is the average size of the gardens. The average gar- den produces nothing like this, however, $60 worth being a fair crop, and keeping one family well supplied with a good suc- cession of vegetables. This year, on ac- count of the late spring and the lack of rain, the gardeners will have to be satis- fied with poorer results.—Philadelphia Record.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers