LIBERIA, OUR FIRST KOLONY.
Life m the African Republic Which Was Founded by
American Aid Societies,
HARDSHIPS THAT BESET NEWCOMERS.
With the inception of a colonial
policy by the United States the con
ation of our first foreign colony has
taken on new interest. The Republic
of Liberia was founded and governed
by the colonization societies, an ar
rangement which might have contin
ued indefinitely had not Great Britain
raised the question of sovereignty in
connection with a dispute over bound
aries. The Government of the United
Statos having refused protection, the
Liberiaus were advised to declare
their independence, which they did
in 1847. Liberia has thus completed
A CLEARING IN THE LIBBBIAN POBBBT. "
a half century of self-government,
and as the orderly course of events
has been broken by but a single brief
civic disturbance, the record in this
respect is admitedly good. It is not,
however, because of the efficiency of
the Government, but rather on account
of the peaceful aud law-abiding ten
dencies of the citizens, that life and
projievty aro unexpectedly secure.
Liberia is an agricultural commun
ity of about 20,000 colonists from
America and descendants of such.
This meager civilized population is
not, however, centered at any one
point, but is scattered in'numerous
settlements along 300 miles of coast
line. Thero are no cities in any
proper sense of the word, and nearly
the entire population is engaged in
EXECUTIVE MANSION AT MONROVIA.
farming. The capital is Monrovia, a
small settlement. All the farmers
own the land they cultivate, and
many have valuable estates.
The coffee plantations of the St.
Paulis Rivor region of Liberia would,
indeed, be a revelation to many. The
planter's house is usually of brick,
two stories high and with wide veran
das, at least in front. Inside it is
comfortably and sometimes luxurious
ly furnished, aud the owner prides
himself, perhaps, that he has achieved
in Africa property and social status
«qual to that in America. There are
not, however, any really rich men in
Liberia. It is doubtful whether a
fortune of more than $40,000 has ever
been accumulated there. Each col
onist has had to begin with little or,
usually, with nothing, and his pres
ent prosperity is in nearly every case
tho result of his own industry. There
MONROVIA, THE CAPITAL, FBOJI THE HARBOR.
are no opportunities for men to grow
rich from speculation or by rise of
land values. Very little land is sold,
the new arrivals being too poor to
buy, while improved property is sel
dom alienated from the family. The
Government provides emigrants with
land free of charge.
But it will not do to continue this
recital of facts favorable to Liberia
without admitting and explaining the
popular adverse opinion on the sub
ject. The well-informed reader has
noticed before this an entire discrep
ancy with the frequently published
reports of returning emigrauts. Their
narratives are usually exaggerated,
and often incoherent, but in the main
true. Liberia resembles the house
planned by a famous French novelist.
It was a success in all particular save
one—there was no doorway, no stair
case. Between the penniless emigrant
and prosperous farmer there is, in
deed, a gulf fixed, in the shape of four
or five years of semi-starvation, sick
ness and difficulties of all sorte. The
climate, the soil, the crops, the food,
and even the cookery, are new. The
emigrant starves by refusing or makes
himself ill by attempting to eat im
properly prepared native foods which
in the right coudition are both nour
ishing and palatable. He tries rancid
palm oil and goes back to imported,
butter at seventy-five cents a pound,
until his money is exhausted. He
wastes his time planting his crops at
the wrong season or in the wrong way.
He pays extortionate prices and is
perhaps completely fleeced by those
who are willing to "take the stranger
in."
To send the colonist to Liberia is
manifestly but the first step in the
process of colonization. Those who
managed the work in the earlier days
understood this and acted accord
ingly, but after an independent Gov
ernment had been set up and prosper
ity seemed assured, the careful man
agement so necessary to such an
enterprise was withdrawn. The
paradox has again come true, for
colonization was abandoned on
account of its success. Recent efforts
should be called emigration or de
portation merely, the essential idea
of colonization being absent. De
portation has failed. It is worse than
foolish to expect the inexperienced
emigrant to take up single-handed the
conquest of the tropical forest in the
face of the difficulties of pioneer life
in Africa. Unusual endurance or
some exceptional fortune may bring
him through, but the chances are
mostly against him. The battle with
the fever and the forest is too long.
Five years of suffering, starvation and
homesickness meau a deterioration
which subsequent prosperity can
scarcely atone for, even if the colon
ist's family is spared by death.
Colonization means the partial re
moval of these difficulties, aud the
success which attended early efforts
of the kind is an indication of what
might be expected if the resources of
modern civilization were brought to
bear upon the problem. It is at least
certain that Liberia could offer oppor
tunities considerably superior to those
being eagerly sought by Europeans in
the African colonies of the various
powers. Indeed, Liberia is already
in advance of any of these colonies, if
we interpret the sighs aright. There
is more coffee under cultivation, and
there are more good farms owned and
managed by negroes than in any other
part of tropical Africa. There are
more good houses, more intelligent
people, more churches and more
schools, and, while the aggregate is
yet infinitesimal compared with Eu
rope or America, it constitutes the
most favorable nucleus of civilization
to be found in tropical Africa. To
attempt to arouse excitement and stir
up an exodus of American negroes
would be to invite disaster on a large
scale. The negro can honestly be ad
vised only to stuy where he is until he
has far better assurance of safety tban
can now be given him. The impor
tant point is that the supposed failure
of colonization during the last hal/
century failure is not a demonstration
of the existence of any insurmountable
obstacles in the way of furnishing a
home in Africa for those who find
themselves uncomfortable here.
An argument offered for the employ
ment of prisoners in building roads is
that the fear of such public degrada
tion will deter from the commission of
petty crimes, and will lessen the in
cursion of tramps into a community.
Latest Crate In London.
The monogram glove is the latest
craze in London and has just reached
America. It cannot be called a pretty
fashion, bat as it is decreed to be the
A MONOGRAM GLOVE.
thing, the thing it will certainly
prove to be. Gloves made to order
with monograms are devoid of stitch
ing, and the monogram is embroidered
in the centre of the back of the hand.
Those which are purchased from
stock and then embroidered have the
monogram set between the thumb
seam and first row of stitching, and
others have it placed on the wrist
below the stitching. This latter po
sition is not altogether a very advan
tageous one, as a glove usually wrin
kles so much at the wrist that the
monogram is apt to lose its promi
nence and the smnll amount of beauty
it might otherwise possess. The
most popular—if the new fad may be
said to be popular so soon—are the
self-colored embroidered monograms.
These decorations aro so striking,
even in self-coloring, that few will be
brave enough to hazard so striking a
contrast as white or black, or vice
versa.
French ISeporter Got Hl* Story.
This is how a reporter in France
gained admission to the palace there
while the late President Faure was
awaiting burial.
Ail the reporters who came to the
palace were denied admission, and a
stony-hearted doorkeeper was there
to see that they didn't get in.
They advanced all sorts of argu
ments, as reporters generally do, but
the doorkeeper was immovable. He
said he had his instructions, and these
were that none but Ambassadors
should be admitted.
Now there is in Paris a music hall
called "Les Ambassadeurs," and one
of the reporters who wanted to gain
admission remembered when he heard
the doorkeeper repeat these instruc
tions that he happened to have a pass
for this music hall in his pocket.
He pulled it out and found it read:
"Les Ambassadeurs, Entree Libre."
This he passed to the doorkeeper,
who, after officially bowing and
scraping, opened the door and allowed
him to pass in.
Which shows that the French news
paper man is not very many miles
behind his American brother. —New
York World.
An Kxperlinent For the lloys.
You can bore a hole through a pin
without any lathe or other machine.
All you need is a needle, two corks, a
bottle and two pocket knives. Fit one
of the corks firmly into the neck of
the bottle and cut a V-shaped notch
in the top. Stick a pin in the cork
near the top, so that it passes through
BOEING A HOLE THROUGH A PIN.
the notch. In the bottom of the other
cork force the eye end of the needle,
so that it is held firmly in place. Open
the two pocket knives and stick the
blades into the cork so that they bal
ance each other. Then place the
point of the needle on the pic, and as
soon as it is well balanced a breath of
air on one of the knives will make it
revolve. Continue blowing whenever
it goes too slowly. At first the needle's
hard point will make a slight impres
sion on the pin, gradually working its
way through until a clean hole is
bored as perfectly as any lathe could
have done it. This interesting ex
periment requires patience and care
ful handling, nothing more. When
you show the other boys the pin, bored
like a needle, they will wonder how
you managed to do it.—New York Sun.
Going Eighty Miles Before Breakfast.
The Boston Herald publishes this
extract from a private letter describ
ing the Paris automobiles: "We went
to Fontainebleau, five ia the party, for
breakfast, forty miles in three hours,
and such a ride. We came back by a
longer route, forty-eight miles, in the
same time, through the forest at suu
set and along the Seine in the moon
light. Fancy gcing eighty miles for
breakfast and enjoying it—that is
• eighty miles by road. I have always
detested automobiles, but for quick
traveling they beat everything I have
ever tried. Of course, you know they
have the automobile coupes and vic
torias in the streets here. I mean the
public ones, at the same tariff as the
other carriages."
A HEROINE OF SANTIAGO.
Sarah J. Ennis ii a Colored Trained Xnne
With a Fine Itecord.
Sarah J. Ennis is one of the heroines
of the war. She went to Sant'ago as
a contract nurse on the 12th of July,
1898, and is still employed in the gen
eral hospital in that city, under Bur
geon Carr. She has never been ill a
minute, has never been off duty a day
since she arrived there, and at one
time at El Caney had 110 sick and
wounded soldiers under her charge.
Only one of them died. All of hei
superior officers and associates, as well
as her patients, speak in the highest
terms of her skill, her energy and de
votion.
Mrs. Ennis is a colored woman, o
nativo''of Santa Cruz, West Indies,
and is now twenty-nino years old. She
came to this country with her hus
band, who was a steward on the ill
fated steamship Elbe of the North
German Lloyd Company, which went
to wreck several years ago on the coast
of Ireland. After his death she en
tered the school for trained nurses
'l||l
MRS. ENNIS, THE SANTIAGO NURSE.
connected with the Freedman's Hos
pital for colored people in Washington,
and graduated from that institution in
April, 1898. From that time until she
went to Santiago in July she was em
ployed as a nurse in some of the best
families of Washington.
Date Palm* For Arizona.
The most expert pathologist of the
Agricultural Department, Dr. Zwin
gle, is now iu Morooco on a mission
which the department hopes will
launch a new and profitable industry
in the most arid sections of or South
west. It has been found that date
palms, with some irrigation, will grow
as well in Arizona as in Arabia. Early
Mormon settlers iu the Territory
proved this many years ago, but the
trees were not of the best variety, and
date growing never developed as an
industry.
The Agricultural Department has
prepared to push the experiment ou
an extensive scale. Dr. Zwingle is
making a close study of the Africau
date palm, selecting the finest varie
ties and those best adapted toourarid
region. These young trees will be
carefully shipped to Arizona, where
they will be plauted aud cared for un
der lae close supervision of the de
partment's exports. The plants will
cost the department about 85 each laid
down in Arizona.—New York Press.
Haseball Public Take* Its Own Risk*.
It has been receutly decided by the
District Court at Minneapolis, Minn.,
that a person attending a baseball
game assumes the risk of getting
hurt, and cannot recover from the
manager for injuries sustained. The
point arose in a suit against Manager
Comiskey for an injury to Don Camp
bell at Lexington Park iu July, 1887.
Campbell was accidentally struck in
the eye by a batted ball and made ill
thereby. The jury was out less than
au hour and found for the defendant.
—Law Notes.
A Sign For the Faasengers.
Nailed to the side of a suburban
railway station not fifteen miles from
the City Hall is the following ludi
crous notice: "Passengers desireing
to take train will please show yourself
so that the engineer can see them in
ample time to stop the train."—New
York Mail and Express.
The Turkish Vasmak.
This is the yasmak worn by ladies
of the Turkish harem, a veil designed
to hide all save the daugerous ' dark
eyes of Oriental women. European
influence has so worked upon the fern
inine mind in the East that by slow de
grees the yasmak has grown more and
more gauzy as the years passed until
THE HAREM VEIL.
to-day it is transparent enough to re
veal the smoothness of a woman's
brow, the red of her lips and the white
of her perfect teeth. It is an extreme
ly coquettish face covering and is said
to be in great favor among Constanti
nople belles.
AAA A
\M FARM AND GARDEN!
liar ley and Oats the Rest.
Eleven different combinations of
barley, peas, oats and wheat were
tested for the production of grain and
straw. Barley, peas and wheat gave
the best yield of straw for this season,
but the best average yield in straw
and grain for five years was produced
by a mixture of barlev and cats.
Grass Kuna.
Some readers who have not suffi
cient space lor a grass run, but have
to keep their birds in small, confined
pens, will benefit them if they adopt
the following plan: Obtain from a
grocer one or two empty egg boxes,
which are usually nine inches deep.
Place these iu the peu and fill up with
the soil, well pressed down to within
four inches of the top. Then sow
wheat, oats, grass or mustard seed,
aud cover with another inch of soil,
and complete by stretching over top
of the box as tight as possible, half
inch wire netting, fastening with
staples to the edgjs to prevent the
fowls from scratching the seed up.
As it grows the green stuff will appear
through the netting, and the birds
will eagerly pick it off. I have tried
this plan in gravel pens and find it
answers well.—Poultry (England).
Preparing Land for the Orchard,
The North Carolina station claims
that the preparation of the land before
planting an apple orchard is of the
greatest importance, for any lack of
preparation before planting can hardly
be remedied after the trees are set.
If one does not intend to prepare the
land well, manure well aud cultivate
well, he had better let the planting ot'
an orchard alone.
The chief point iu the preparation of
the land is deep plowing of the soil.
This is especially needed ou our red
clay uplands, where trees set in shal
low plowing are apt to be stunted
by droughts. The land for the or
chard should be prepared early in the
fall, by plowing as deeply as a pair
of horses can pull a plow, aud be
hind this team another team in same
furrow, with a subsoil plow to break
the clay still deeper, till the whole
land is broken to a depth of fifteen
inches. This deep preparation will be
the best investment the planter can
make in setting the orchard.
Care of Milk and lt» Products.
My milking is done morning and
evening. I have never tried a milk
ing machine. As soon as possible
after the milk is drawn it is strained
into cans of a creamer and cooled to
•15 degrees with ice. The creamer is
kept iu a room uuder the elevated
water tank, connected by aud
faucets so that water may be kept
running through the creamer or shut
off at pleasure. Butter is my only
product, and it is only for private
trade. Milk is handled in winter by
being set iu cans 18 inches high by
8 inches iu diameter, holding about
three gallons, and are kept iu a room
which in winter never freezes. I
much prefer deep setting of milk.
These cans ar- allowed to stand 36
hours, when the cream is removed and
placed iu tin caus holding five gal
lons, which after being warmed to a
proper temperature with an occasional
Stirl ing will soou be found properly
ripened for churning.
I use a barrel churn, holding ten
gallons. After churning five to fifteen
minutes, if the temperature is just
right the butter globules will appear
like so many small grains. Do not
churu more, but draw off the butter
milk. Add a little salt and plenty of
cleau, fresh water, give the churu a
few turns; this removes all the re
maining milk and leaves the butter in
grains. Never use the hands to work
the butter, only the ladle to pack
with. I use ash kits of the cleanest
and nicest make.
Concerning the cost of milk. My
cows have tested two pounds of butter
per day, but I have placed it at oue
pound. I have charged market rate
for ration and milking, which gives us
cost of producing oue pound of butter
at 9 1-2 ceuts. I consider the milk
and manure ample remuneration for
all other labor. Here are the figures:
Three pounds oats .019 ceuts, three
pounds corn .013 cents, two pounds
oil cake .023 cents, three pounds bran
.013 cents, twenty-five pounds hay
.012 ceuts, milking .01 cent, total
.09 1-2 cents. The milk from the
above ration has made by actual ex
periments seven pounds of butter to
each 100 pounds of milk. I have used
a separator, but never found its use of
any advantage, as I hava never been
able to produce any more butter than
by the ordinary method.—E. A. Mil
ler iu Orange Judd Farmer.
Hogs anil Corn.
From present indications the price
of corn is going to be higher. After
several years of excessively depressed
markets the great Americau crop
promises to reach a point where its
culture will prove vary profitable to
the farmer. It will be more profitable
then to sell corn than to feed it to
hogs. Under such circumstauces the
breeder of swine must prepare for the
future. Ultimately the price of hogs
would go up if corn became scarce aud
too high price. I, provided some sub
stitute for coru could not be found.
It is iu anticipation that the farmer
or breeder reaj s success. The man
who is loaded down with a drove of
swine might suddenly find coin ad
vanced so high that it would i ay him
to dispose of his hogs at ouce, aud to
sell his corn i:i the open market. But
there would be thousands of other
breeders lookiug at the question in
the same way, aud the sudden mar
keting of so mauj hogs would un
donbtedly break market prices fat
them. This would be disastrous io
the man compelled to sell, and mauy
would be in that position. But later
the prices for hogs would come around
to their normal condition, and even
advance beyond the former quotations.
Consequently the man who could keep
his hogs at not too great expense
would reap the benefit of his foresight
aud preparedness.
The moral of all this is that too many
breeders trust too much to one crop
for their swine food. Com is in many
respects the ideal hog food,aud in the
coin belt it is the cheapest. But it is
not always safe to trust altogether to
it. £».ppose the corn crop should
prove a failure, or for one reason or
another it should advance rapidly in
price? If no other food is at hand
you must sell your hogs at a loss or
maintain them a little while ut a great
outlay of mouey.
The varied diet is always best for
hogs and all other animals. The
varied ration is also the safest to de
pend upnu in ever.v way. Clover, al
falfa aud other grass crops for sum
mer feeding are indispensable for the
swine. Cow peas, Canadian field
peas, dwarf Essex,rape aud soja beans
all have their particular virtues, and
they should be planted move on every
farm where hogs are raised on a large
scale. The root crops cannot be neg
lected. Store enough of them ahead
for an emergency. Then with an
abundant crop of such varied articles
of food it will not matter materially if
prices do fluctuate for corn or any
other food crop. You can then reap
the benefit of another man's short
comings.
Hints on Rooting Slip*.
In the saucer system of rooting cut
tings, the vessels are tilled with sand
simply. The cuttings should be small
and several can be putin one saucer.
The sand must be kept so that it is
like mud, and the saucer must be
placed where it will get plenty of sun.
Never shade from the sun, but pro
tect from the wind. This is all that
is necessary to insure successful root
ing with good slips. When pouring
water on, care must be taken to do it
very gently, so as not to throw down
or even unsettle the slips.
The professional makes great use of
tiny pots, two inches in diameter at
the toj) and two inches deep. Rooted
slips do far better in small than in
large pots, where they are apt to be
come waterlogged. They should be
potted ill Hue sandy soil and kept
shaded for two or three days until the
roots have time to strike into the soil.
In from lour to eight weeks, accord
ing to t'ua nature of the cutting and
the heat it has had, the little pot will
be tilled with a nest of roots and needs
repotting, but do not use too large a
pot.
Swamp moss is so useful that any
commercial greenhouse would not
think of getting along without it. In
small pots half an inch at the bottom
is tilled with this moss lor drainage.
In six-inch pots aud larger a layer of
an inch or more oi charcoil is used in
the bottom and this covered with
uioss. I have useJ dried grass in
place of moss with good results. It
surely pays to use mops or grass. An
other item of drainago much more
important than the above, and not
universally known, is to keep the pots
011 rough material, such as cinders, so
that air can get under them and water
pass oil' more freely. I'ots placed on
little blocks of wood do nicely. This
drainage question is especially im
portant with roses, as they especially
dislike excess of water at the roots.
There is one simple rule for getting
cuttings at the proper stage. If on
bending the slip it breaks off short it
is good. If it bends without break
ing it is too old. One of the most
certain methods, and one which does
least injury to the parent plant where
many slips are wanted, and especially
good for foliage plants that are liable
to rust under common treatment, is
called "layering in the air." The
shoot is cut, but left hanging to tho
plant by a bit of bark, and is allowed
to hang there for 10 or 12 days. The
wound heals over, and if the plant has
been kept in a moist atmosphere, the
slip will already have begun to root in
the air, but eveu if no roots have been
sent out, the healed surface is the first
step toward rooting, so all that is nec
essary is to detach it and plant it in a
tiny pot. I have also rooted begonias,
geraniums, wax plant aud oleanders in
a bottle of water. Fill the bottle up
to the neck with warm water and in
sert the cutting a half inch in the
water, letting the top extend out from
the bottle neck. Flace iu the sun nud
keep the bottle filled with water.
After the first roots start, leave it
aloue several days before potting.
Begonias an l geraniums will root in
a week in either sand or water if kept
warm enough. Some plants require
longer. Verbenas and petunias also
root quickly. Water with warm
water, use small pots, protect from
wiuds, supply good drainage, furnish
rich, porous soil, then with good cut
tings, onlookers will say you have
magic in your fingers as regards your
success in rooting growing slips.—E.
Clearwaters in New England Home
stead.
A Description of a Meter.
The Breckinridge (Ky.) News thus
describes the meteor that recently fell
iu that locality: "It is composed of
nickel, iron and cobalt, and was at a
white heat when it struck the earth.
It was very much like a bubble, and
the air inside made it hollow. It is
about eighteen inches long aud ten
iuches wide and weighed twelve
p.u ids. It was found iu the gravel
pit at Skillmau, fifty feet below the
surface of the earth, showing the
fearful velocirv it had attained in its
travels. Iu cooling off the meteorite
cvacked, and the crevices in it are
clearly defined. The eutside is oxi
dized by exposure to ho element*."