emer Yat
Bellefonte, Pa., August 7, 1914.
A TT,
To A LITTLE GREEN BUG.
O little green bug on my paper
That breaks the faint chord of my theme,
So careless you frolic and caper,
Disturbing the vision I dream;
For only you come when I utter
A song, when the evening is damp,
To scatter my thoughts as you flutter
And circle the light of my lamp.
O little inquisitive stranger,
You come to me out of thesky,
And here on my desk you're in danger;
So haste thee, upward and fly.
You linger, oh, there, . have hushed you!
Now all that is left is a blot,
Although now I grieve that I crushed you
Your message is never forgot;
For often the humblest of creatures
That we scoff, we scorn and we kill,
Are sometimes the noblest of teachers
With lessons of love to instil.
The bug that I thought came to pest me
And over my song seemed to cling,
Was a messenger sent down to test me
And find if I'm worthy to sing.
Fred. K. Dix.
FROM INDIA.
By One on Medical Duty in that Far Eastern
Country. A Tennis Party. Charity Patient
Wears a Fortune in Gold and Silver. Natives
Proud buf Somewhat Unclean in Habits.
JHANsI, JUNE 28th, 1913.
Dear Home Folk:
I am tired, tired, but not because I am
worked to death, or sick, but merely be-
cause I tried to give a little tennis party
and had to do all the getting ready my-
self; and let me warn you it’s hard work
when you can’t teli these servants what
you want, but just have to get up and go
and show them each thing you want
done. It went off all right and so I am
glad. I have invited a few more for
Friday and although they are much more
to be feared, being people of prominence,
yet I don’t intend giving them a thing
except something to drink, since it’s just
that kind of weather. All one cares for
is, to drink, so that you may perspire
and so stay a wee bit cooler.
I must tell you of a queer thing that
happened today: A girl. very plainly
dressed, was brought into the hospital;
she said she couid not afford to pay for
anything so that we put her in the open
ward, and of course gave her food.
When she went to the operating room
the nurses had to take off silver anklets
by the pound—at least four pounds on
the two ankles; a gold band around her
head held a perfectly beautiful pearl or-
nament just at the top of her forehead, !
and she wore gold armlets above the el-
bow as well as below, and gold chains
about her neck. Can you wonder that I
resent spending money on people like
that, when I know how many times some
poor soul at home has to pinch and save
to give mission money.
I wish I could take you with me to
make a call, such as I made a few days
ago. I was called to see a sick woman
and, being in the neighborhood of some
People whom I knew—Mahomedans—
I went to see them; they think it quite
an honor if I go. With my little nurse
(who speaks Hindustani and English in a
sort of a way) I went down a narrow
street with dust inches deep, native peo-
ple all around me greatly interested in
watching what I was about, then up a
tiny, narrow street to a wooden door,
and here I was greeted with much joy
by two women, the wife and daughter of
an old teacher. It was a little open court-
yard, a native bed, devoid of any dress-
ings, and a native stool, was the only
furniture and we were invited to sit down,
while the man sent for ice and wished to
serve us with some kind of native drink.
Cholera, spelled with capitals, stared me
in the face, so I made some excuse and
was not forced.
After a very short call a man came,
saying that another wealthy woman,
whose nieces are very great friends of
mine, wished me to come and see them.
Just going a few doors further I was tak-
en into a big house, but not before I had
traversed the usual two or three small
rooms that always form the entrance to
any Indian house. These houses are all
built with the centre a court-yard and so
in this case, to my left, as I stood at the
inner door facing this court, was an open
veranda with beds and stools standing
about, while behind I saw the small
doorways that opened into the airless,
sunless, earth-floored rooms that are
used for winter sleeping and living apart-
ments; and to my right another raised
(one step) sort of platform with a roof
over it. On this raised space were seat-
ed three servants, cooking over the ce-
ment-made niches which serve as stoves.
But it was not to tell you of this that I
started out, but of these people. They
are unusually clean and supposed to be
quite advanced, so I was again asked to
drink and take food and thinking it was
nice and clean and I, being hot and thirs-
ty, consented. Well, I watched the prep-
arations, for I was an honor guest. My
hostess, “Umra-Begum,” by name, much
more intelligent than most others that I
know here, bright, with lots of common
sense and a keen sense of humor, first
brought me a glass of pomegranite juice
with ice in it; the glass from which I
drank, I had seen her wash under the
spigot of a water can, with her hands,
no soap, no hot water, but I took a drink.
I was then offered some “gelabis,” a na-
tive sweet, but after taking down the
plate from amongst a lot of dusty things,
she politely turned her back toward me
and dusted it off with the tail of her
shirt, needless to say “I don’t like native
sweets;” but I talked and fussed about
everything so as to give no offense when
refusing. Then came cardimon seeds
and pumpkin seeds, with cloves and two
“rupees” on a tiny tray, and again I ac-
cepted for nature had made it quite safe
for me to take shells off and eat the ker-
nels. But what was I todo with the
money? “Oh, that was for me to buy
fruit, or in fact anything I would want
in the bazaar, on my way home.” :
The two nieces are nice young girls;
one is tubercular and will perhaps never
recover. Later—She has died since.
She was a tall, slender, poorly nour-
ished girl, dressed in pajamas (tight-
ones) of bright scarlet, a lavender shirt
of some very thin material and a bright
yellow “chuda” or drapery over her head,
and she never left me. Being convinc-
ed(?) that I am nice, I must see their
pet birds, pet dog, and everything else
about the house. The other, a beautiful
girl with just enough fat to be well built,
dressed just like her sister, became the
one to do her sister’s bidding, and I felt
as though I was in a child’s nursery at
home, although in this case the children
were both over sixteen years of age. I
stayed for perhaps a half hour and I
wondered whether it would always be
the same; no books, no music, no out-
door life, as I know it. A little romance
for this younger girl I heard of after
coming home. A marriage is to be ar-
ranged for her with a native doctor of
one of the native regiments. He is very
English, having spent sixteen years in
school in England. But there is a slight
hitch; he wishing his wife to adopt Eng-
lish clothes and go about with him, and
her people are not so progressive and
rather wish her to remain in “purdah.”
It seems to me these Indian women truly
could wish to die, life is so monotonous.
Still we have no rain; the sky is full of
clouds, with a few drops as a teasing,
and that is all.
(Continued next week.)
Canal Facts Put Into Brief Form.
The total cost of the Panama canal
will be about $375,000,000. The length
from deep water in the Atlantic to deep
water in the Pacific is 50 miles. The
minimum depth will be 40 feet, the maxi-
mum depth 45 feet.
Over 5,000,000 cubic yards of concrete
were used in the construction and a force
of men averaging 39,000 was employed.
There are 12 locks, each with a cham-
ber 110 feet wide and 1000 feetlong. The
gates are opened and closed by electrici-
ty. Tke boats are hauled through the
canal by the same power.
Gatun lake, the highest part of the ca-
nal, is 85 feet above the sea level. The
level of both oceans is the same, but
there is a 20-foot tide on the Pacific side,
while on the Atlantic side there is only a
two-foot tide.
Time required to pass through the ca-
nal is about 12 hours. In a voyage from
New York to San Francisco the canal
will save 8000 miles, says the Boys’ Mag-
azine.
The cost of operating the canal will be
about $4,000,000 each year and over 2500
employees will be required. The busi-
ness of supplying coal and provisions
and the repair facilities will be wholly in
the hands of the government. The traf-
fic will be under the jurisdiction ot the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
Freight rates will be $1.20 a ton, pas-
sengers free; the rates charged vessels
are the same as those at Suez. At the
$1.20 rate the canal is not expected to be
self-supporting for a number of years.
The average annual tonnage as estimated
will be about 10,000,000 tons for the first
few years and the income necessary to
pay interest on the money invested and
meet expenses will be about $15,000,000.
Warships of all nations may pass
through the canal, but they cannot linger
at either entrance for a longer period
than 24 hours.
Italian Railroaders.
On a smoothly running express train
between Washington and New York we
found an illustrated circular called “In-
formation,” issued by the Pennsylvania
railroad system, says Colliers Weekly.
This issue tells what Italians are doing
for the railroad, and says that of 140,000
employees on the lines east of Pittsburgh
and Erie, 11,000 are of that nation.
Twenty years ago there were very few,
all of them “laborers; today Italy is
represented in practically every depart-
ment of the railroad, and each day these
men are making their impression. :
Many of them hold positions of trust and
responsibility, due possibly to a great ex-
tent to their learning the English lan-
guage. Promotion is always
open to the man who works hard and
improves himself.
Nervousness is a common feminine
disease. Women try all kinds of nerve
quieting potions which are offered as a
‘cure for nervousness, in the form of
“compounds” or “nervines.” And yet no
cure is effected. The relief is only ' tem-
porary. The reason is that these potions
are opiates and narcotics. They put the
nerves to sleep for a time, but when they
wake again their condition is worse than
before. Modern medicine recognizes the
relation of this nervous condition in
women to the forms of disease which af-
fect the sensitive womanly organs. To
cure the nervousness the cause must be
removed. The use of Dr. Pierce’s Favor-
ite Prescription will result in removing
weakening drains, inflammation, ulcera-
tion and bearing-down pains, the com-
mon causes of nervousness in women.
Nothing is just as good as “Favorite Pre-
scription,” because nothing else is as
harmless or as sure. It contains no al-
cohol, and is absolutely free from opium,
cocaine and other narcotics.
Once and for All.
A red flannel undershirt will not
prevent rheumatism, declares a promi-
nent physician, thereby putting this
venerable garment in the same cate-
gory with the sock that won’t cure
a sore throat and the leather wristlet
that won't keep the arm from tiring
while digging a ditch.—Louisville
Times.
DARWIN ON MAN'S ORIGIN SHOW STRENGTH OF INSTINCT |
Misconception Which Has Been Wide- Two Incidents Which Would Seem to
ly Prevalent Set Right by Eng-
lish Curator.
“It is popularly supposed, even
day, that, according to Darwin, man
is a descendant of the monkeys,”
writes W. P. Pycraft, curator of the
British museum, in the Illustrated Lon-
‘don News. “But let those who feel
hurt at the idea console themselves
with the fact that he said nothing of
the kind. What he did say was that
man and the apes were descendants
of a common stock, which is a very
different thing.
“Huxley, years ago, endeavored to
set this misconception right in his de-
ilightful ‘Man’s Place in Nature;’ yet so
deeply rooted was the original idea
ithat he failed to reassure the nonsci-
entific readers of his time. His son
relates how his father, near the end
of his life, saw Carlyle walking slowly
1and alone down the opposite side of
‘the street and, touched by his solitary
appearance, crossed over and spcke
to him. The old man looked at him,
and merely remarking, ‘You're Huxley,
aren’t you, the man that says we are
all descended from monkeys?’ went on
his way, givitg Huxley nc chance of
explaining matters or of protesting
against the imaginary sin of his old
friend being thrust upon his shoulders.
A more careful, less prejudiced, per-
usal of what Huxley said would have
set the old man’s mind at rest and
spared him this unmannerly response
ito a kindly greeting.
“Huxley was the first, in that won-
iderful bcok, to marshal the facts of
man’s descent in detail. He pointed
out the striking resemblances between
man and the higher apes, and espe-
cially the chimpanzee and the gorilla.
‘And the mass of facts which has ac-
cumulated since he wrote has con-
firmed that comparison in every de-
itail.”
GAVE HIM THE RIGHT IDEA
{Important Part Played by Woman's
Thimble in Showing Inventor
Where He Could Improve.
Some of the greatest inventions in
ithe world have been the result of ac-
cident, other inventions might have
proved worthless had not some simple
device, perhaps of an unimportant bit
.of machinery, made the whole failure
‘a success after all.
! Not many people know that a wo-
man’s wornout thimble played an im-
portant part in our modern illuminat-
ing gas jet.
‘When Murdock, the inventor, first
used his gas on trial he let it escape
from the end cf a small pipe, sticking
on a clay plug when he wanted to shut
it off. One day when he wanted to
shut off his flow in a hurry he could
{not find his plug and being fearful of
an explosion hastily searched for
{some substitute, finally grabbing his
(wife's thimble. This he closed over
i
bo
to- |
i
. old as civilization.
Prove That in Man It
Stronger Than Reason.
That even in man instinct is some-
times stronger than reason is illus-
trated by these two cases:
There had been shipped on a Missis-
sippi river steamboat a box with a
glass cover containing a very active
rattlesnake. Whenever anyone ap-
preached the box the serpent would
strike the cover. The owner of the
reptile challenged anyone to hold his
finger on the glass and let the rattler
strike at it. There was no danger and
it seemed an easy thing to do. First
one and then another tried it, but
when the snake gave its vicious spring
the finger was invariably drawn back
with a jerk. Instinct was stronger
than reason and will combined.
A young man in Paris had lost his
last sou at the gambling table. Not
only was he without means, but he
had lost a large sum belonging to his
employer. He started for the Seine
with the intention of drowing himself.
On the way there was a great commo-
tion caused by the escape of a lion
from a (trolling menagerie. The ani-
mal came galloping down the street,
and people fled in every directicn. In-
stantly the man who was seeking
death climbed a lamp post and clung
to the top of it, trembling in every
limb. When the animal was captured
and the danger over he proceeded to
the river and plunged in.
SEE THINGS TOO CLEARLY
Practical Fault of the Followers of
Erasmus Is Pointed Out by
Writer.
Erasmus is an inexhaustibly inter
esting historical personage, becauss
he is more than that; he is a type as
He is not to h2
~ confounded with the Hamlets and
{the pipe, but the thimble being per- |
|[forated by constant use the gas per
caped from the small needle holes and
| '—Charles H. A. Wager, in the Atlan.
to his amazement the inventor says :
that the spread flame due to the nu- |
{merous openings gave a better light
than the solid flame from the pipe.
So the thimble was the ancestor of the
modern burner, according to a narra-
Jor of the episode in Gas Logic.
All “Mr. Browns.”
Some twenty to thirty fishermen
were engaged in an angling contest on !
the Severn, when one of them, who
‘had brought with him a stone gallon
bottle of beer, suddenly bethought him-
(self of a friend who was sitting some
distance along the bank out of sight.
'In a moment of genercsity he called a
boy and handed him the jar, with in-
structions to take it to his friend, Mr.
Brown, and to tell him “to have a
pull.” The boy departed and some
time elapsed before his return. The
angler seized his bottle and eagerly
raised it to his lips—to find it empty.
He had not realized that his friend
had such a cubic capacity, and asked
the lad if he had found Mr. Brown,
and why the jar was empty. “Please,
sir,” came the reply, “they was all Mr.
Browns when I asked, so I went along
the bank till the beer was finished.”—
London Mail.
His Alphabetical Family.
Assistant City Prosecutor Souhrada
of Chicago, in explaining his late at-
tendance in court told the judge that
“the stork supplied the letter ‘D’ to
‘my alphabetical family this morning.”
“How’s that? asked the court.
“Well, we've got all the letters up
to ‘H’ now. ‘D’ was missing, so we
named the new arrival Daniel. He's
as fine a boy as you ever saw.”
He named his children over for the
judge. They are: Albert, Bernadetta,
Charles, Daniel, Elsie, Frank, George
and Helen.
“When will Z be represented?”
asked the court.
“I give it up,” laughed the prosecu-
tor.
Morning.
Something happened about him and
behind him; something he had writ-
ten about a hundred times and read
about a thousand; something he had
never seen in his life. It flung faintly
across the broad foliage a wan and
pearly light far more mysterious than
the lost moonshine. It seemed to en-
ter through all the doors and windows
of the woodland, pale and silent but
confident; like men that keep a tryst;
soon its white robes had threads of
gold and saarlet; and the name of it
was morning. — From “The Flying
Inn,” by Gilbert K. Chesterton,
Amiels, whom he superficially resem-
bles. Their disease is impecience of
will; their weakness, the lack of ‘the
courage of imperfection,” the courags
to do their best, however inadequate
the means, however uncertain the is-
sue. The difficulty of Erasmus and
the Erasmians is an intellectual one.
They are blinded by excess of light.
They see too clearly both sides of ev-
ery question to commit themselves to
either. They lack the sublime “abau-
don” with which simpler and usually
less enlightened spirits throw theni-
selves into causes which they only
half comprehend. Naturally the prac.
tical world cannot do away with such
hair-splitting. The Erasmians are ad:
jured to act, without too much regard
for past causes or future resuits. They
are said te lack faith, and, in truth,
they are essentially skeptics. To
them, only an adumbration of truth is
within the reach cof finite minds, and
they are unable to become ‘violently
‘energetic for an adumbration. They
have the penetration of Disraeli, with:
out drawing his practical inference
tie.
Work Cure for Nervousness.
“Little Miss” was waiting for John
to come and spade her flower bed
early one beautiful spring morning.
After waiting until her patience was
gone, she began her own spading, in a
most determined and provoked man-
ner.
It was not long until old John ap-
peared, with an amused smile on his
old black face, and his tattered hat in
hand, bowing and apologizing most
humbly. In reply to Little Miss’ in-
quiries as to what had made him so
late, he said:
“Well, Little Miss, it’s jes’ this way:
Ez I wuz comin’ by Miss Harney’s, she
said, ‘John, can’t you come in and fix
this flower bed fur me? And I jes
went in and resisted her a minute,
and come right on. And, Little ©
as I gits in sight, and sees you
spadin’ and a-raking’, I says to myself,
“John, ef mo’ high-bawned ladies struck
a hones’ sweat, they wouldn't be so
much of this heah nervous perspira-
tion. They sholy wouldn’t.”—Youth’s
Companion.
The Rain of Law.
The day of universal law has ar-
rived. It seems to be a lap or two
ahead of time. It is not just the kind
jof law that is writfen upon the hearts
jof men or upon the doorposts of their
houses, and it is very difficult to teach
it to our children, or to meditate upon
it day or night. There isn’t time. It
is printed on a rapid-fire printing press
and bound in unabridged skeep or blue
‘sky boards. The kindly earth does not
slumber in its lap; it fairly wallows
in the litter of it. . The law-abiding and
ithe law-evading citizen lie down to-
gether in the confusion of it. He who
reads must run if he would escape the
deluge of it, and he who runs must
read if he would keep up with the
changing phases of it—William D.
Parkinson, in the Atlantic.
Uses of Silver.
It will astonish many persons to
learn that, outside the manufacture
of silver-plated ware, more silver is
used in making photographic plates,
films and paper than in any other
single industry. Making films for
the motion pictures has become an
enormous business. The Brass World
believes that more silver will soon be
used for films than for any other
—purpose whatever. In photography,
silver is used principally in the form
of bromide of silver for preparing the
coating of the surface of the sensi-
tized films aud printing papers.—
Youth's Companion.
1
| ‘fruit you take is ripe.
{
1
VALUABLE BEAST OF BURDEN
Elephant’s Tremendous Strength En-
abies Him to Do More Work Than
Team of Horses.
This is the year of the “elephant
battle” in the great forests of Mysore,
India. The hunting of these gigantic
animals is permitted in India only
every fifth year. On the average from
200 to 250 wild elephants are cap-
tured during the battle season, and
these are trained for the various pur-
poses for which the Asiatic elephant
is used. Everybody knows how con-
spicucus a part tamed elephants play
in the great public spectacles in India.
Indian princes and cfficials sometimes
pay thousands of dollars for excep-
tionally fine and intelligenl elephants.
After they have been properly trained
they are furnished with trappings
gleaming with gold and splendid color.
The howdah that an elephant trained
for hunting carries on its back, and
in which its master rides, while its
driver places himself just back of its
head, frequently weighs more than
200 pounds, but the huge animal re-
gards it no mcre than a horse does
a riding saddle.
On a goed level road an elephant
will march at the rate of five miles
per hour, and he is capable of run-
ning, for short distances, with a speed
of 20 miles an hour. He can carry,
in regular service, from 1,200 to 1,500
pounds, and he would not greatly
mind a ton or more.
With his enormous muscles and his
dead weight of five or six tons it is
evident that his pulling and lifting
power must be immense. He can pull
down cr root up small trees, can pick
up huge logs with his trunk and carry
or throw them around like sticks and
since he is a very tractable beast
when well tamed, he often does farm
work of which a team of horses weculd
be utterly incapable. He can make
a fence or place huge blocks of stone
in a wall. He is often employed to
drag artillery wagons.
ALWAYS GAVE OF HIS BEST
Writer's Testimony to the Sincerity
With Which Charles Dickens
Did His Work.
There is another feature of Dickens’
character which cannot be too often or
too seriously insisted upon—and that
is his intense earnestness and thor-
cughness in everything he did. He
said to me more than once: “My dear
boy, do everything at your best. If
you do that neither I nor any one else
can find fault with you, even if you
fail; for myself I can honestly say
that I have taken as great pains with
the smallest thing I ever did as with
the biggest.”
In giving advice to a young author,
he said on one occasion:
“If you want your public to believe
in what you write you 1nust believe in
it yourself. When I am describing a
scene I can as distinctly see what I
am describing as I can see you now.
So real are my characters to me that
on one occasicn I had fixed upon the
course which one of them was to pur-
sue. The character, however, got hold
of me and made me do exactly the op-
posite te what I had intended; but I
‘was so -sure that he was right and I
was wrong that I let him have his own
way.”
Whatever he did, either in work or
at play, he always gave of his very
best. He hated slackness or half-
heartedness in any shape or form.—H.
iF. Dickens, A. C., in Harper's Maga-
zine. :
The Week-End Danger.
It is easy to get one’s system out of
order; it is often hard to get it straight
again. Therefore take no liberties
with it when you go off for the week-
end. This means that one should try
to live then as nearly as possible ac-
cording to his regular routine. If he
is used to a light breakfast, it is
easy, without attracting special at-
tention, to take it at a friend’s house
no matter how much more is served.
‘If a noon dinner is provided instead
of your usual light lunch, eat sparing-
ly of it, and partake freely of the
light supper. It is almost always safe
to eat less than you are used to, rath-
‘er than more. Be careful that the
Don’t eat
heartily, just before or after swim-
ming, mountain-climbing or violent
tennis or ball. Be moderate about
everything. If you fall ill, you will
not only spoil all your own pleas-
‘ure, but also that of others as well.
Never Like the Real Thing.
Artificial silks of which there are
many varieties, resemble the real in
appearance, but differ completely in
their properties. They are glossy and
attractive, but frequently inflammable
and become gummy in water. They
are brittle and inelastic. Their weight
is greater; their price, when dishonest
dealers do not attempt to substitute
them for the real article, is lower.
For some purposes certain grades
of artificial silks are gocd value and
give fairly satisfactory service. They
are much used in hosiery, neckties
and dress trimmings.
Give Bota a Chance.
Urbus—They ought to get up a show
consisting of the last acts of the va-
rious plays in town, for the benefit of
you suburbanites who have to leave
early to catch the last train home.
Suburbus—I don’t think it’s any
more needed than a show consisting
of the first acts of the same plays, for
the benefit of yeu ‘city people who
have to come in late because you won’t
dine early.—Judge.
CEE,
FARM NOTES.
—The man who continually yells at his
horse so that one can hear him all over
the farm, gets less work out of them
than the man who speaks to them in a
quiet tone.
—Contrary to popular belief, forest
fires seldom travel more than two or
three miles an hour. Even in extreme
cases it is questionable whether they
burn ata rate of more than six to 10
miles an hour.
—A ton of wheat straw contains 220
pounds of nitrogen, 80 pounds of phos-
phoric acid and 360 pounds of potash.
Why throw this plant food away for the
sake of illuminating the farms? Scatter
it over the field and plow it under.
—The land should slope so that water
will not stand and freeze over the sur-
face. If there are pockets or depressions,
grass seed should be sown in these places.
The surface of the soil should be worked
until it is fine and in splendid condition
to receive the seed.
—In a test of eucalyptus fence posts,
conducted on the farm of the College of
Hawaii during the past two or three
years, an examination of the posts show-
ed that creosoted posts were in the best
state of preservation. Tarred posts were
giving the next best results. Charred
posts showed about the same amount of
decay as the untreated posts. Posts
set in concrete showed somewhat more
decay than the untreated posts.
—The Kansas Experiment Station con-
ducted an experiment comparing the
manufacture of milk from grain and
from a silage ration. It was found that
the grain ration cost $1.05 to produce 100
pounds of milk, and when silage was
substituted in that same ration for one-
half of the grain it reduced the cost to
68 cents per 100 pounds, a difference of
37 cents. It cost 22 cents to produce one
pound of butterfat where grain compos-
ed the entire ration, and only 13 cents
where silage was substituted for one-half
of the grain, a difference of 9 cents.
_—Clay soils are unfavorable to vegeta-
tion, because the soil is too close and ad-
hesive to allow the free passage of air or
water to the roots of the plants. It also
obstructs the expansion of the fibers of
the root. Sandy soils are unfavorable,
because they consist of particles that
have too little adhesion. to each other.
They do not retain sufficient moisture
for the nourishment of the plants. They
allow too much solar heat to pass to the
roots. Chalk soils are unfavorable, be-
cause they do not absorb the solar heat
and are therefore cold to the roots of the
plants.
. —The late Henry Ward Beecher, who
in his time dabbled in agricultural mat-
ters, once said that he believed that soil
loves to eat, as well as its owner, and
ought, therefore, to be liberally fed. He
believed in large crops, which leave the
land better than they found it—making
the farmer and the farm both glad at
once. He believed in going to the hot-
tom of things, and, therefore, in deep
plowing and enough of it. All the better
with a sub-soil plow. He believed that
the best fertilizer for any soil is a spirit
of industry, enterprise and intelligence.
Without this, lime and gypsum, bones
and green manure, marl and guano will
be of little use. He believed in good
fences, good barns, good farm-houses,
good stock, good orchards and children
enough to gather the fruit. He believed
ina clean kitchen, a neat wife in it, a
spinning wheel, a clean cupboard, a clean
dairy and a clean conscience. He firmly
disbelieved in farmers that will not im-
prove, in farms that grow poorer every
year, in starving cattle, in farmers’ boys
turning into clerks and merchants, in
farmers’ daughters unwilling to work and
7 all farmers ashamed of their voca-
ion.
—A bumper grape crop is promised
this year, especially in the southern and
western parts of the State of New Jersey.
The bulk of the crop in Atlantic county
will be made into wine. Egg Harbor
City has become famous for her choice
white and red wines, of which there are
at least a dozen different kinds. The big-
gest trade is in claret and champagne,
and for the latter it is claimed to have
an article equal to the world-renowned
Mumm’s.
The produce of the vineyard is looked
upon as a thing of great importance in
New Jersey, and it is being better appre-
ciated every year in neighboring States.
Grapes are also extensively grown at
Vineland and other sections of Cumber-
land county, the crop being largely turn-
34 into grape juice of an excellent qual-
ity.
THE SOIL FOR AN EXCELLENT CROP.
While the grapes seem to thrive in al-
most any situation and condition, it is a
tact that for fine fruit and healthy vines
a soil should be selected in which the
roots can ramble freely, find sufficient
nutriment, and be safe from stagnant
water and its accompanying cold, sour
subsoil.
It can be safely said that any soil that
will grow a good crop of corn will grow
a good crop of grapes. Authorities vary
a little in their opinions regarding the
character of the soil, one claiming that it
should be a “strong loamy or gravelly soil
—Ilimestone soils being usually the best;”
another says “all that can be said of a
soil for grape culture is that it be light,
rich and dry;’’ another, “A light, sandy
loam is best,” and so on.
The purpose for which grapes are
grown, whether for wine or for the table,
ought to have a material influence in di-
recting the choice of a soil.
SOILS FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.
In the case of growing grapes for the
manufacture of wine, it is important that
the vines he kept within moderate
bounds, that all rankness of vegetation
be carefully avoided, and consequently
the soil must be light, rich, porous and
dry, and this fits the soil of the wine dis-
trict of New Jersey:
On the other hand, when an abundance
of grapes of agreeable flavor are desired,
regardless of high saccharine qualities,
the vines will do better and give more
certain crops if permitted a greater ex-
tent of growth, and in this case will need
a heavier and richer soil.
The vine i; a gross feeder, and will ex-
tract nourishment from almost any sub-
stance that is decomposable, and the
more of a made soil the better the vine
will flourish. Consequently, if the plants
grow very luxuriantly the branches and
fruit will be larger, the vine more pro-
lific and at the same time the quality
greatly improved. The plants, however,
in a well-made soil ought not to be plant-
ed too close, as our native grapes require
much more space than the foreign.
Neither ought they to be trimmed near
so bare, and plenty of wood should be
t.
* lef
”