Republican news item. (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, July 28, 1898, Image 3

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    1 OUR ARMY PUTS ON 1
I ITS HEW uinroßM. 1
—— !•>
IDEAL SUITS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED FOR A |!
g TROPICAL CAMPAIGN. §|
$ i>
Despatches from Cuba tell bow tbe
soldiers of our army, burdened with
hot flannel uniforms and heavy out
fits, are throwing away everything
they can on the march, even their
coats. Iu the terrible heat every
ounce of weight adds to discomfort
while marcliiug, and, regardless of the
future, men are casting aside blankets,
extra clothing, tin plates and other
articles in their Merriam kits, caring
only to lighten their burdens.
Meu in regular marching order who
have been sent to Cuba, volunteers as
well as regulars, carry in all nearly
sixty pounds, including their rifles,
enough to stagger a man in a cool
climate. This casting away of every
superfluous article is not a new prac
tice, for it was done by tens of thous
ands of men in the Civil War and
has been done by soldiers in al
most all other wars.
Recognizing the unfitness of the
regulation uniforms for the tropics,
the Government is having 40,000 cot
ton drilling and duck uniforms made,
i^V/vv™v £ ' ~ 'cwtfht CORPORAL ''J^jJ-"" I ' ''"V
MAKE A STUDY OF THESE INSIGNIA AND YOU CAN RECOGNIZE THE RANK OF A MILITARY MAN AT A GLANCE.
which will greatly add to the comfort
aud general appoaraueeof the soldiers.
Already 4000 of these suits have been
completed aud shipped to Tampa to
be forwarded to Cuba for General
Shaffer's command.
The new campaign uniform for in
fantry is maite of canvas duck or drill.
Its distinguishing feature is a Norfolk
jacket, or blouse efl'ect with a box
plait down the back. There are four
pockets in the front aud five buttons.
The two upper pockets are faced with
blue cloth, the epaulet straps, cuffs
aud collars being of the same material
and color.
The uniform is made with felled
seams. Brown canvas leggings some
what darker than the uniform are
used. A web cartridge belt, blue
woolen blanket, haversack to contain
tin plate, knife, fork and spoon and
rations, a water bottle and tin cup
complete the equipment. No knap
sack is used.
The trimmings of the cavalry uni
form are yellow and of the artillery
red.
Regulation army uniforms now in
use are lined and weigh about eight
pounds, being better suited for use in
the Arctic regions than in a climate
where the sun's rays are as hot as the
blasts from a furnace. The lining
carefully sewed inside the coats makes
thein doubly warm, aud officers do not
wonder that the men under them cast
the garments aside in disgust.
Different from any uniform ever be
fore worn by any United States troops
are the new styles adopted, and they
are as attractive looking as they are
durable. The cloths used in the suits
for the Cnbau campaign are what are
known to the trade as drill weave aud
duck. Housewives would call the first
named material cotton drilling.
'CAVT\ I? RY ' '/VFA/VTOY 'LT6T¥T
HCAVR T/*4/RE#/WR< COMOBAL F*™XRE ASSSSISS^
AFIMITEV P#/VAR£
THE NEW CAMPAIGN UNIFORM FOR U. 8. REGULARS.
Baits of these materials weigh less
than half aR much as the uniforms now
in use, and because of their looser
weave are much cooler. The cotton
drill uniforms, which are of a light
buff color, weigh just two pounds and
fourteen ounces, while the duck, which
ire light reddish tan, weigh four ounces
more.
No colors could be found bet
ter adapted for service in a country
ivhere the men are exposed to dust and
lirt in all kinds of weather, and even
tfter a hard, long campaign it is ex
seoted the uniforms will still present
6 fairly respectable appearance.
In style the coats for all depart
ments of the service, infantry, artillery
and cavalry, are like the once popular
Norfolk jacket, with a belt of the same
material. The trimmings are of tbe
same style, but of different colors, blue
for the infantry, red for the artillery
and yellow for the cavalry.
This trimming, which lends an at
tractive bit of color to the uniforms,
cousists of a deep facing at the ends of
the sleeves, over the lapels of the two
upper pockets, shoulder straps and
around the low cut military collar.
The trousers are perfectly plain.
The uniforms of privates and non
commissioned officers are worth about
$3 each. Four big pockets are made
in the coats.
Dressed in these suits, with the
light under-wear being provided by
the Government, the soldiers will feel
lik„ new men. No attempt probably
will be made to carry the kit on forced
marches, except when absolutely nec
cessary.
Officers will wear uniforms of finer,
but no more comfortable, material.
The cloth is known as kahke iti India,
where it comes from, and is like
brown linen. Uuiforms of this cloth
cost about 825.
In addition to the canvas and drill
uniforms, which will be sent to the
camps in the South as well as to
Cuba, the Government is providing a
blue flannel suit, unlined, which
NEW v. S. ARMY UNIFORM—LIGHT AND;
HEAVY MARCHING ORDER.
weighs only a few ounces more than
three pounds.
Clothing the army and navy is one
of the most important problems pre
sented to the War and Navy Depart
ments for solution. The quartermas
ter-general performs the task for the
army and the paymaster-general for
the navy. In time of peace the duty
involves considerable labor. In time
of war, and especially at the begin
ning of hostilities, when the public
are crying for a million men to be
enlisted, clothed and put at the front
in a minute, the task assumes the
proportions of a mountain in a fog.
Take the quartermaster-general, for
instance. It is his duty to see that
the big army which the President
has called to give battle to the Span
ish is clothed at the very earliest pos
sible moment. His usual sources of
supply are quickly exhausted. Oth
ers must be found. The clothing
must be made. The first thing the
ofuartermaste:-general does is to as
certain. as nearly as possible, the ex-
act uumber of suits required, the kind
of suits, the number of shoes and
underclothing, also hats. The exaot
kind is then specified in detail, and
ASTOR BATTERY IS AN IDEAL TROPICAL
UNIFORM FOR SERVICE IN THE PHIL
IPPINES.
bids for the whole or part of the
clothing needed. Accompanying every
bid is a check to guarantee that the
terms of the contract will be carried
out to the letter.
These bids are submitted, together
with samples of the goods required.
The bids are carefully examined aud
compared and the lowest bidder (the
quality of goods being satisfactory)
gets the contract. The goods con-
manufacturers and jobbers in thai
line of business are invited to submit
tracted for must be ready on time and
delivered to the Government. When
they are delivered they are inspected
by Government officials and, if all
right, accepted. Then they are for
warded to the store house of the army
at Philadelphia to await orders.
When a regiment is recruited and
sworn into the United States service,
the captain of each company makes
out a requisition for the number of
uniforms needed and forwards the
requisition to the quartermaster of the
regiment. The colonel approves of
the requisition, and then it is for
warded to the brigade quartermaster,
who, if he has not the clothes required
on hand, makes a requisition on the
corps quartermaster. The latter, wheu
uniforms are needed, makes a requisi
tion on the quartermaster-general, who
draws the supplies needed from the
depot at Philadelphia.
Upon the delivery of the clothing to
the regimental quartermaster, the
captains of the several companies are
notified. The captains march their
men to headquarters and there they
receive the clothing apportioned to
them aud for which the captain gives
a receipt to the regimental quarter
master, who keeps it for his voucher.
The same formula for the issuing of
clothing is followed in the navy.
The army and navy uniforms are
made in nearly every large city of the
Union, and the cost of those for the
privates is about $5, r.nd those for
men before the mast is about $8 per
man. The officers' uniforms range in
price from SSO to $75. A bullet will,
however, pierce the one as quickly as
the other. The uniform of the gen
eral officers of the army is a double
breasted blouse of dark blue cloth or
serge, with four outside patch pockets
with flaps, a rolling collar, with two
rows of buttons, grouped according to
rauk, of the same kind as those worn
on the dress coat. For all other of
ficers a single-breasted blouse is worn,
of dark blue cloth or serge, with four
outside pockets with flaps, falling col
lar. with five buttons in front of the
same kind as those worn on the dress
coat. The skirt of the dress coat ex
tends from one-third to one-half the
distance from the hip joint to the
knee.
Quite as important as the elothes
are the shoes. For Cuban service the
men will wear dark brown canvas
clothes, but the shoes will be the
same as worn at home. They are com
mon brogans, these shoes, stout of
upper and mighty of sole and heel.
In fact, the army shoe is not a thing
of beauty, but on the march it is a joy
forever, as every veteran knows. They
are made of cowhide, and, if possible,
of the hide of a very tough cow at
that. They are exceedingly broad of
sole and heel, and are made with the
double view of securing durability and
comfort.
Record In Clotlies Making.
Thomas Gitson, employed in one of
the cloth mills of Pennsylvania, had
six sheep sheared at 6.30 o'clock one
morning recently. The wool was then
sorted, ncoured, dried, carded, spun,
woven into cloth and the cloth was
given to the tailors and made up into
a suit of olothes which were given to
Mr. Kitßon at 12.34 o'olock, or six
hours and four minutes from the time
of shearing. The best previous rec
ord was about eicht hours.
IFOR FARM AND GARDEN.]
A Cure for Chicken Tapeworm.
It may surprise the general reader
to know that four different speoies of
tapeworm attack chickens, four other
kinds attack geese, seven attack ducks
and five attack pigeons. The remedy
for tapeworms is one spoonful of ab
sinthe to fifty fowls, mixed in warm
bran mash once a day for three or
four days. Clean up and sprinkle
premises with four fluid ounces of
sulphurio acid mixed in one gallon of
water. For other intestinal worms
give one teaspoonful of turpentine to
twenty-five birds, mixed in bran
mush.
To Grow Lima Beans.
There are two methods of growing
Limas. One is to grow them on poles
and the other on wires. Where the
largest crop is desired and poles are
easily obtained it is the best plan.
When poles are not at haud, and one
jares for the ornamental appearance
»112 the garden, a very good crop can be
;rown by using wires to support the
fines. When grown in this way one
row forty or fifty feet long will supply
a family. Limas, like all the good
things from the garden, require a rich
toil. My experience is that I cau
grow the best crop with stable man
ure. —American Gardening.
Keep the Chickens Growing.
Now that the hatching season has
snded more time cau be devoted to
keeping the chicks constnntly grow
'ng. The first few months of a chick's
jxisteuce determines its value at mi
rarity. If allowed to get stunted no
amount of care ever after will remove
the trouble. See to it that they are
regularly fed and watered, at least
:hree times daily, aud do not allow
the coops and yards to become foul.
After a few weeks old give them
plenty of good sound grain, such as
wheat and cracked corn and be sure
not to overlook a pleutiful supply of
§ood sharp grit.
Examine the mother heus at least
once a week to see that no lice are on
Shem. Should there be any, an ap
pli< atiou of grease under the wings
and on top of the head will suffice to
tid both her and the chicks of them.
After the chicks are weaned watch
them carefully at night aud see that
they return to their coops. If allowed
to roost on perches their breastbones
.vill become crooked aud they will not
do so well as they would if roosting
in the coop.
Burdock as a Vegetable.
What is even regarded as a vile weed
ran, with a little stretch of imagina
tion, be turned into an ornamental
plant or delicious vegetable. This is
especially the case with the common
burdock, Lappa major. Schoolboys
all know it from gathering the burs
and compressing them into a ball,they
being held together by the curved
points of the floral involucre. This is
all they know about it. It is difficult
to see anything more to be despised
in the burdock leaf than in the leaf of
the rhubarb. It appears that it is
largely used in China for food. But
It is stated that, if the stalks be cut
Jown before the flowers expand and
then be boiled, the taste is relishe I
equally with asparagus. Tho leaves,
when young, are boiled and eateu as
we eat spinach. In Japau it is in
iniversal use. Thousands of acres
are devoted to its culture. But in
this case the root is the object. It
requires deep soil to get the roots to
the best advantage. The common
name in China is gobbo—a name,
however, which need not replace our
common oue of burdock.—Meehau's
Monthly.
Marketing the Cherry Crop.
In almost every neighborhood many
farmers have a greater supply of cher
ries thau are needed for home use, aud
as the fruit is regarded as too small to
pay for the trouble of picking and
marketing it, much of it is left to be
rotted or eateu by birds. The fact is
that small as the cherry is, it is one of
the most profitable fruit crops that
can be grown. Cherries need to be
picked with their pterns, must not be
bruised, and must be placed in clean
baskets holding fifteen to tweuty
pounds each. They are usually sold
by the pound and are marketed iu all
the cities where this fruit is to be
found in its season on fruit stands.
The sour cherries of the Morello stock
are mostly used for canuing and for
making pies. The Montmoreucy is a
comparatively new sour cherry, aud
we know it to be a valuable variety
where found. It is not best to have
many varieties when cherries are
grown for market. Tlie black Tar
tarian is a large, dark red sort', that is
nearly black when at its best. It is
the standard sort and is more largely
sold aud better liked by the fruit
dealers thau any other.—American
Cultivator.
A Practical Milking Stool.
The observing farm student is sure
to come iu contaot with new ways and
new implements when traveling
through the country, no matter whether
he is on busiuess or pleasure. Some
of the best methods aud most simple
homemade implements are lying siae
by side in our farm homes waitiug tor
some one to "happen along" to make
known to the world these hidden
treasurer).
One of these simple devices is found
in the milking stool. It is made with
three or four short legs, just as the
milker thiuks most convenient. Di
rectly ou top of this short-legged stool
is a small box, the top of which forms
the seat of the stool. The lower part
or under board of the box extends out
under the eow to support the milk
pail when milking. This not only
keeps the bottom of the pail free irom
particles of manure, which are sure to
adhere to a pail when set directly on
the floor, but raises the pail, so if the
cow occasionally kicks she is not so
liable to place her foot in the pail,up
setting it, and one's temper, too.
But what is the little box for?
Every dairyman knows the necessity
of brushing the udder before milking,
esfieclally in the morning when cows
are kept in the stable or in yards. A
small' woolen cloth can be kept in
this box, and when the milker sits
down to his work all he has to do is to
place the pail on his knee,reach under
the seat of the stool and get the cloth,
clean the udder, put back the cloth
aud goto work. The cloth is always
at hand and there is not hall the dust
set in motion as when the cloth is
used separately on the cows and
thrown from one to the other.—Agri
cultural Epitomist.
Tarred Paper for Cabbage Maggot.
We have often suffered a good deal
of loss.-on account of maggots destroy
ing a large proportion of 'our early
cabbages. If we believe what some
of the experiment stations tell us,
then the collars of tarred felt (roofing
felt) put around the stems of plants
near the surface of the ground are a
very effective meaus of protecting cab
bage and similar plants from the mag
gots' ravages. The reports show that
the loss in treated fields has been
very small. The labor adjusting the
collars also is considerable. The only
trouble seems to be to get the collars.
They are not kept on sale so far as I
know. So the only thing that I could
see was left for me to do was to make
them myself. A certain professor
long since devised a tool to cut the
collars out of sheets of roofing-felt
with neatness and dispatch. I gave
my blacksmith orders with full in
structions to make one of the cutters
after his pattern and expected to set a
man at it to make the collars in rather
large quantities, so as to be able not
only to have my own supply in readi
ness, but a'so to fnruish them at a
slight advance 011 cost to any of my
neighbors and friends that might de
sire to try them. But it has taken my
blacksmith much longer to get the
tool made than I expected, and, finally
the time for usiug the collars has ar
rived and I have just received this
"collar cutter." This sets the matter
right so far as my own plantiug is
concerned but I cannot help out my
friends as promptly as I would have
liked. Neither have I as yet been able
to figure out the price at which the
collars can be put on the market. I
believe that they should ;be kept by
seedsmen and plant dealers, and that
many could be sold at a good profit.
Local plautsmen might proeure a cut
ter aud furnish the collars to their
customers. —T. Greiuer iu Farm and
Fireside.
Summering Cattle on Graft*.
I don't know of any subject more
timely thau how cattle of all kinds
should be treated while living on
grass. The common method with
most farmers is to let them all run
together—calves that are fed by hand
excepted—many or few,large or small,
just one pasture and generally too
small fcr the number that must get a
good Inin? or be half starved. Then
close grazing aud often long dry spells
and a good number of cattle following
each other day after day, reaching
through fences aud in the hot weather
the field looking so bare that the
grass loots are ofteu killed out en
tirely.
This is no overdrawn picture. How
can a cow give a good yield of milk,or
young cattle take 011 much growth or
flesh under such conditions'? Unless
they get a satisfactory feed and in
reasonable time they cauuot spare the
time needed for rest aud to chew their
cud.
Every farmer should have two or
more pastures. Milk cows do better
alone, but if that cannot be had there
should be at least two pastures, so
that one of them could be rested a
while, aud if favorable weiither pre
vails two or three weeks will start the
grass, so that when you turu on it
again you Just watch the difference in
the growth and yield and see the grass
start up in the one vacated. This is
a better way than if the number of
acres were all in one lot. I hojie those
interested will try it.
Where cattle are compelled to eat
off the blades of grass scarcely an inch
high, and probably destroy others just
peeping out, ten days, if left grow,
would furnish twenty times as much
feed aud no injury occur to the roots.
People tell of leaks and losses ou
the farm, but too close grazing is the
biggest one I know of. Then there
is a big talk about calves dying from
scours, etc., but it is generally those
that feed their cows such a big lot of
stimulating nostrums of different
kinds that makes the milk rank poison
to their offspring. Calves from such
pampered matrons are as good as sick
at birth. Cows should be fed almost
entirely on what you can raise on
your own farm, and then,like common
farmers, losses would disappear. It
is risky to buy cows of some men.
If calves get the scours we stir flour
in their warm milk, and au egg, too,
until we get it checked. We teach
them to eat oats aud ground feed and
keep hay before them all the time un
til turned onto grass. When cows
scour badiy on tame hay aud mill feed
make a real hard boiled dumpling of
flour and water ouly.boil it until hard
and when cool cut into pieces and feed
it to them; it will quickly stop the
scours. This recipe is worth dollars
if it works for others like it has for us.
I may tell you what pastures are like
in England, and how they keep them
good all the time. They have u more
moist climate than we have, bnt we
could greatly improve ours by follow
ing their methods. —William Oxley in
Farm, Field and Fireside.
HE WROTE "PIXIE."
Dan Emmett Lives to See the North and
Houtli Sins: His Famous Song Together.
Perhaps very few people know that
Dan Eminett, who wrote "Dixie," is
still living.
His home is in Mount Vernon, Ohio,
where he was born and where he
hopes to end his days. The old man
is a picturesque figure on the streets
of the town. In his prime he was one
of the mid-century dandies of New
York City, but now, with calm indif
ference to the conventional, he usu
ally carries a long staff and wears his
coat fastened in at the waist by a bit
of rope.
His home is a little cottage on the
edge of the town, where he lives en
tirely alone. On almost any warm af
ternoon he can be found seated before
his door reading, but he is ready
enough to talk with the chance visit
or, whose curiosity to meet the com
poser of one of the national songs of
America has brought him out from
town.
It was this curiosity that took me
to the cottage. The old composer was
seated in the shade by his house with
a book open before him. As I went
up the path I said, for I had some
doubt in my own mind:
"Are you Dan Emmett, who wrote
'Dixie'?"
"Well, I have heard of the fellow;
sit down," and he motioned to the
steps.
"Won't you tell me how the song
was written?"
"Like most everything else I ever
did, because it had to be done. One
Saturday night, in 1859, as I was
leaving Bryant's Theatre, where I was
playing, Bryant called after me, 'I
want a walk-round for Monday, Dan."
The uext day it rained and I stayed
indoors. At first when I went at ths
song I couldn't get anything. But a
line, 'I wish I was in Dixie,' kept re
peating itself in my mind, and I finally
took it for my start. The rest wasn't
long in coining. And that's the story
of how 'Dixie' was written.
"It made a hit at once, and before
the end of the week everybody in New
York was whistling it. Then the
South took it up and claimed it for its
own. I sold the copyright for S3OO,
which was all I ever made from it.
I'll show you my first copy." He
went into the house and returned in
a moment with a yellow, worn-looking
manuscript in his hand.
"That's' Dixie,'" he said. "lam
going to give it to some historical so
ciety in the South one of these days,
for, though I was born here in Ohio,
I count myself a Southerner, as my
father was a Virginian."
Half a century ago Emmett was a
famous minstrel. Those were the
balmy days of burnt cork art, when
Bryant's Theatre on lower Broadway
was one of the most popular resorts in
New York City. Emmett was boru in
1815, at Mount Vernon. He began
life as a printer, but soon abandoned
his trade to join the band of a circus
DAN EMMETT.
company. He was not long in discov
ering that he could compose songs of
the kind in use by clowns. One of
the finest of these was "Old Dan
Uaoker," of pleasant if inebriate
memory. Its success was so great
that Emmett followed it with many
others.
Finally he took to impersonations,
singing his own songs in the ring,
while he accompanied himself on the
banjo. He made a specialty of old
men, and blackened his face and
donned a wig of kinky white Lair. He
became such a favorite with the pat
rons of the oircns in the South and
West that at last, partly by chance
and partly through intention, he in
vaded the stage himself.
This was some time in 1842, at the
old Chatham Theatre in New York
city, when, with two companions, he
gave a mixed performance, made up
largely of songs and dances typical of
slave life aud character. The little
troupe was billed as the "Virginia
Minstrels," and their popularity with
the public was instantaneous.
Healthy Hungary.
In Hungary there are thousands of
villages and hundreds of small towns
without a doctor within ten miles.
Hard Luck.
Terrible Heupeok
enlisted to get away from his wife and
found her at the front as a Bed Cross
nans.