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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1912)
.QFVTD FAIRC/TIED IN CHARGE OF" mr , FOREIGN SEED fff // and plant mmo- V / DUCTION, DSMRT- / MEfU5C4QRiaiLTURE - - ' : : \ . , * ■ : . - \ . . r v ,:o a .:>• n o' many •r ibe w>’rld. :..i [ often i "< if *. at us • -t-?E.-? plant* , t: i- land' •■<■■■ pc' res' 1* a:.!r Mo an : .; -r.ple. ..lid pleats, ba it *re y-,u. . t ad r... Imre in at . . t..re rf a i ■ '.tag :bt a j red with a : : * • * d *n < • usrant »I_ *!' i ,n .. -t»e * - - - . •« * r* * < - distribution of t; • r be world is what * » - •> - i,. ■ .-*i n-» ) ttttd i 'ant intmditr * -i .• l* t i '.g 'Hore is try df 'li*- *: *4* - •’<!♦1"» .■ this work i:*'i-d !"<* an : >':• 1 • make ’ll* ip- » « ia‘ V I I*re t« Ir.iiif*® J to i- ■*-*: rt . - h regar*- :.* » food supply < a:-it: i. . s im'v to t ilk to any on* i- ** in .» tit. 1' ftontti- of \sri . - :■* a . • ,r if ui** . di ning vista .i* ir •; , t III*ill- - '• ■ a would make * . r* te t* • t »■ Imd ; r. bit of t!s<* race so* : i.f :• ■*> . :k-*» ii* o *r 5r* a* pining . rd -hat tfaf food-; roduc'itg pom r of 1 • j !d !• s':f. fir. '.raly unknown, because » . n to study in a modern way etforu i>- t of d’ffi-rent plants - tt -.*>-*■ a.»- >s grow the plants w* do - : a**' expensive food pro * -it:,:.- j i. t . - that are difficult me* !e.v*e behind ns » - learn to like o'1 t»rs better. ■% 1 a* t- crow .• as net so serious a ques * to * • *-»r'r !*}oen'iiiitt (etifsti'. who * *• • * •: s;.» s <■* --ti -rop> .- t ■- becoming •.i» *tn ■ n grric’.'t-..ri*t who i an 'ink :** tie crop* of >11 :>** wc*-lj the one best » to b * !-.iw .fi*i dim: t* « han^i •••••re . * <iit nowadays t: at 'f .. *B»n tod. 'iiiks* - m- ri* may mean what are < rdinarijv t*,. ,ebt o' -ears or 1 • n iv refei 'o aili r-' ir s» rs e * .< ’• he is growing in Florid? * ■ 1!» ear. hit h he - cnltivg'ing In T -• 'b the a **gr »< r r* tr *nd the prickly 1 urge ceme it. as or ; t to !** re. k< eel w t r :* in the f a flf'eet; year* and already • •■tY -w(*» rs gf the South are wondering i! they shou'd ylan* sp ay or spineless for:r.s of : - pcii-klr pear e*rtus. and the fruit gr* * -it* <■** Florida are »n«jciting as to which * • - i*-*al wsrie ! - of alligator ■ car tree • . e most product;;e and proflt * •- e To • • find -be piapt wrbicb will t rod ic* the bru r«HiU of my that cart be grown, on * cti re of land n the ’ n;:*>d States, is. in I - i-r: • • * r- ad ; y otfre cf sped and t f-id'ii "*i of the b*-**a-i ot plant laolour) :i- - a :- a hi a ip'inc.r way and as a itiftri M - i* . a- barely touched the fringe of i's possi r. 'tea The 3t pa* dtff* 'ent plant irani grants w rb rate ccn*e :n and hare e'ther died or ■pt ?'»:-• - •• 1 * r* .i.* ry »-j i»ef a small beg nn.ng otiiy and have ■* *} e5 eg tii show the greatness of the j* •*) . • *» whk-h j r-gress .n agiii aliural re wcarr.b is crea'-tg Ton wtf! soon hare all the crops in.” is * e ca.arV at those who have given the mut ter ' i.ac tioagbt. Our own i'Ves chat:go with * < - uourf of time, and s** do the lives of pdMrs The stnhi of pc.--. h our grm-T'-.'t''» grew are. with few exceptions. d:?cr r.t 'ne the s'rmlns in vogue today: and. it .t.: ’fccir live* iato the various condition* «»f m il and cl male, the original wild flouth Ituer.can *pe. lew of po'a'o. Solanum tube cunnt assumes b. the bands of men a then la whatever parts of lb- world new 'orms »a, spring into existence It matters not: cur ► gate-grower* * boa Id be able to try every e«t <J :»poctagce and every mild tardy spe Him, aeefber It cozes frt tn the manse of a Aeott »*> tares is discovered as a mild spe » ea along tie Paraguay rtre* by an American railway bridge b.. ider. is found am ng the amaatataa of Colombia by Jesuit priest, is gat ns red by a forest ranger in the dry regions •! an Indian reservation in New Mexico, or ;* secured by a trained collector from the Cbilae (stands of tbe coast of chile It makes :•!* d ?• -en-e they ®\sr all come in ils IKse* immigrants to show what the* can do <a tie garden- of American experts There is always tbe chance that thev may be thrown •a* as t-Bprcfl'-ble hut If they have desirable ctsrirtcta they can be blinded with ethers, or ex- «'e. « 'b other#. if ihey are sjf*»rior lev any of tie pota'o regions of this country. It may u<- at w to many that every day plant -"ft s c ' 'ruta different part# of the world nrr'vr « Washington end every day. through the - stis hundred# of tieoe disinfected ar g. ■ _t to ted a new home :n seme part at tbe country it ’» a di£.< alt matter t«» give ar. adequate impree. m at the megui'iide and importance to tb# . *«ue:rv at this stream of new plant im ta .-■rag's sksi for 14 years las been pouring &i&jpr&i&v?'s£' Wisiisillll^iiilIP^ into the country, and has been directed by a great and growing body of research men and •omen into those regions where it was thought they m'rht make their homes. In tiie brief space of a short article, and to avoid what would he almost a bare enumera i ■ n of plant names, 1 prefer to treat only of a few of the many important problems with which the office is working, passing by. also, •lie introduction of the Durum wheat, the Japan* se rice, and giving the Siberian alfalfas, which are earning for the fanners of the coun try many millions of dollars a year, a bare mention, for the reason that they have been so often described in the newspapers of the country. The mango is one of the really great fruits of the world. India, with Its hundreds of mil lions of people, has for centuries held it sacred, and celebrates annual ceremonies in its honor The great Mogul Akbar, who reigned In the 16th century, planted the fa mous Ij»k Dag. an orchard of a hundred thou -and mangoes, and some of these still remain alive. It Is a fruit the importance of which Vmericans are at last beginn’ng to recognize, notwithstanding the unfortunate discredit which the worthless seedling mangos of the West Indies have given it in the minds of Americans generally. There are probably more varieties of man goe than there are of peaches. I have heard of one collection of 500 different sorts in In dia. There are exquisitely flavored varieties no larger than a p-!um. and there are delicious sorts the fruits of which are six pounds In weight. In India, where the wage of a coolie is not over 10 cents a day, there are varieties which sell for a hundred, and the com monest sorts bring over a cent apiece. The great mango trees of India are said to reach a height of 70 feet, and are so loaded down with fruit tha# over $130 worth has been sold from a single tree. These nne varieties, practically as free from fiber as a freestone peach, can be eaten with a 6poon as easily as a cantaloupe. Train loads of these are shipped from the mango growing centers of India and distributed in the densely peopled cities of that great semi-trop ical empire; and yet. notwithstanding the great importance of this fruit, the agricultural study of it from the new standpoint has scarcely been begun. I believe that it has never, for example, been tested on any but its own roots. We have gathered together in Florida and Forto Rico and Hawaii more than a hundred varieties, and some which we have fruited have already attracted the attention of the fancy fruit-dealers, who agree that the demand for these will increase as fast as the supply can be created, and maintain that extravagant prices, such as 50 or even 75 cents apiece, will be paid for the large, showy, delicious fruits. Ijvst year 300 dozen Mulgoba mangos were sold in Florida for $3 a dozen. The Gov ernor of Porto Rico has committed himself to a poll, y which, if carried out. will cover the island with hundreds of thousands of mango trees of the better varieties. One of the oldest cultivated plants in the world is the date palm. At least 4.000 years ago it was growing on the banks of the Eu phrates, and it is this plant and the camel that together made it possible for the Arab' to populate the great deserts of northern Africa and Asia. The date palms would grow where the water was alkaline, and the camels were able to make long journeys across the desert to take the dates to the coast to market and sell them for wheat and olives. In these deserts of the old world, millions of Arabs live on dates, for the date palm can be cultivated on land so salty as to prevent the culture of any other paying crop, and It will live In the hottest regions on the face of the globe; not even a temperature of 125 degrees F. will affect It. This obliging plant does not. however. Insist on such temperatures, but will stand some frost, and has been known to live where the mercury falls to II degrees F. It Is also the only wood obtainable in the oases of the Sahara, and cn the shores of Arabia boats are made of It. The date palm has both male and female flowers and they occur on separate plants, and the Arabs have to plant one male for every plantation of a hundred females, making a harem as It were. The artificial pollination or fertilisation of the female palms is one of the most Interesting processes practiced with plants, a spray of flowers from a male palm being bound with a bit of palm-leaf fiber in each inflorescence of the female tree. Propa gation of the date palm can be accomplished by means of seeds, or suckers, which are thrown up at the base of the palm. Suckers will start, however, on land so salty that the seeds refuse to grow on it. Four years from seed, trees of some varie ties begin to bear and in six years will have paying crops of dates. They live to a much greater age than almost any other of the fruit trees, and specimens a century old are said to be still a good investment The date is not a dry-land crop, but requires irrigation to grow and produce fruit. A planta tion once established requires to be kept free of weeds, to be pollinated when the palms come into bloom, and to have the fruit har ■0iVMT?y£‘cS&4fr' s/tjzx x&ysyyra S<Y~ ZZiZ&ZZ'L' vested when ripe. Of insect pests we know too little as yet, though the prospective planter should count this in his estimate of ex pense: remembering, however, that modern scientific methods have overcome the greatest fruit pests, and that these on the palm are not different in general char acter from those which are now under complete control. Very little pruning of the palms is necessary, and the harvesting is , very simple, since the dates grow in great bunches, which often weigh from 20 to 40 pounds apiece There are over a hundred varie ties of dates now growing in the government gardens in California and Arizona, from which are being j ClSirinuiea 10 pros]:eciive pumiurs suckers as they grow. This accomplish ment of the Department of Agriculture is not the re sult of any one man's cfTort, but the product i of at least a dozen minds working over a pe- j riod of 20 years and in seven different conn- ’ tries. There are among these hundred vaneties 1 those which candy cn the tree, others which are used mainly for cooking, and some which ! are hard and not sticky. There are eariy j varieties and late-ripening ones, varieties short and long, and every sort can be told by tl:e grooves on its seeds. The date as a delicacy is known to every American child, but. as a food, remains to be discovered by the American public. When the date plantations of Arizona and California j come into full bearing, as they should in j about ten years, the hard, dry dates, for ex ample. now quite unknown on our markets, are sure to come into prominence and find their way to the tables of the prior as well as of the rich. The heat of our American sum mers is forcing us to study the hot-weather j diets of other countries, and dates are sure to become important items of food. The persimmon of the South, on which the opossum fattens, is a very different fruit from its relative the kaki, or persimmon of the Orient, the growing of which is so great a:: industry in Japan as to nearly equal the Jap anese orange-growing industry in imi»ortance Our persimmon is a wild fruit, which will some day be domesricated. while the kaki has been cultivated so long that it is represented by different forms and colors. It is true that the Oriental rersimmon has been grown in this country; in fact, the census records a produc tion of 68 tons; but this is scarcely a begin ning as compared with the 194,000 tons which is the output of Japan. We have misunderstood the persimmon Our own wild ones we can eat only after they have been touched by the frost, and the imported Japanese ones we have left until they become soft and mushy and almost on the verge of decay. We never thought until quite recently of wondering whether in a land where the persimmon had been cultivated for centuries they would not have worked out some artifi cial method for removing the objectionable pucker. In Japan we find this is done by packing the fruit in barrels saturated with sake, and Mr. H. C. Gore, of the Department of Agriculture, is now working out new meth ods of processing the Oriental persimmon. s> that it can be eaten when hard as an apple and there will no longer be any reason why it should not take its place among the grea' fruits of the country. ice wnoie question or tne improvement o the persimmon has been opened tip. and we are getting for this work the small-fruited spe cies called •lotus,” from Algeria; a tropical species with white, cheese-like pulp, from Man ila, Mexico. Krithea. and Rhodesia: specie? from Bangalore, from Sydney, from Madra? from the Nankau Pass, in China, and from thf Caucasus. If the Oriental timber bamboo had produced seeds oftener than once in 40 years it would long ago have been introduced and be now growing in the South. The fact that It had to be brought over In the form of livine plants, and that these plants required special treatment, has stood In the way of the quick distribution of this most important plan* throughout those portions of America where it will grow. After several unsuccessful at tempts, a beginning has at last been made, and the department has a grove of Oriental bam boos in northern Florida, and a search is be ing made In different parts of the world for all those species which are adapted to our climate. In this country I predict It will be used earliest for barrel hoops, for cheap irrigating pipes, for vine-stakes and trellises, for light ladders and stays for overloaded fruit trees for baskets and light fruit shipping crates, and for food. As wind-breaks and to hold canal banks and prevent the erosion of steep hill sides. there are species which excel all other plants, while for light furniture and jalousies '"t is sure to find a market whenever the green timber is available. Took the New Crackers - - Pe~ arfcat<e Bg«<n«M Man ls Uncle Itaah. Who Keep* a Grocery in a Massachusetts Town. Op the depot road" In a little sea •Mr tatrr la Massachusetts fade laatah Sattaders keeps a >mat? grocery shop It ased to stand near the dock tat supply the small schooners along | the aoaad. hat *• yean ago it was mosad up a mile lato its village. ' How much are milk crackers a pound, t’ncle Isaiah?" the young daughter of one of his regular custom ers asked him one morning. "Wa-al." I'ncle Isaiah replied, after fome deliberation, "that depends on which lot you want them out of. If you want them over there,” he pointed to a box on one of the nearest shelves, which showed through Its glass face that It was somewhat less than a quarter full of not very fresh looking biscuits, "they’ll cost you 12 cents a pound. I have to charge you 12 be cause they cost me 10% cents a month ago.” He paused persuasively. “But if you want them.” and he indi cated with some reluctance a new tin, “you can have them for 10 cents a pound. Crackers went down last week, and they only cost me eight.” “I’ll take the fresh ones,” the girl said; then, seeing a shadow fall on the face of the old man. who had been waiting her decision with some anxiety, she cried: “You couldn't think I would pay more for stale crackers than you are offering fresh ones for, now could you, tJncle Isaiah? Hut I’ll take the broken ones if you’ll let me have them for 10 cents. It really doesn’t make much difference to us, and I suppose you want to sell the stale ones.” The pennies count in little old gro cery stores In New England, where the profit of a year is often not more than three or four hundred dollars. "I can’t let’ you have them crackers For 10 cents, Nellie. I'd like to do it, but I can't,’’ Uncle Isaiah replied firm ly. “They cost me 10% cents,” he sighed. "You’d better take the new ones.” And Nellie did.—Youth’s Compan ion. The Species. ."Is that party to be a stag affair?” ‘T don’t know about the stag part, but it's going to be a dear affair, all right” The Fifth Stenographer * * * 3y EDMUND MOBERLY (Copyright, Uli, oy Associated Literary press.) Mr. Benjamin Holbrook, of the firm of B. Holbrook K- Company, jobbers, had been absent from his business for three weeks, and therefore entered his office resolved to get back into : harness as speedily as possible. After j wading through a mass of accurnu- , latcd correspondence, he rapg for his 1 confidential stenographer. She failed ! to appear. A second and a third ring j were equally barren of results. Mr. Holbrook grew indignant. With a sav- , age jab. he touched another button on his desk, and in a moment Wat son. his chief clerk, stood at his el- j bow. • "Watson.” he demanded, “why doesn't Miss Gaylev respond to her call?” “Miss Gayley was married while you were away.” “An office romance?" "Yes," responded Watson with a smile. "Smithers, one of the bock-1 keepers, is the other guilty party." “Well, he got a sensible wife, con- ! found him. Give him a ten per cent, i raise. At the same time he robbed ' me of a good stenographer just when she had become efficient and valuable. It strikes me these cases are becom- i ing pretty frequent in this office, ! aren’t they, Watson.” "This is the fourth in three years.” | “Exactly,” agreed Mr. Holbrook. ! “Four in three years, of which your own case was the first. Matrimony is I a noble institution. Watson, but it can- J not be allowed to play hob with this I business the way it has been doing, j I propose now- to get a stenographer who will regard this office as some- | thing more than a stepping-stone to \ marriage. Miss Gayiey's successor must be at least thirty-five years old. You will advertise at once for a lady ■■ ' 7 I 11! U I He Allowed His Mind to Wander. confessing to that many summers. If you cannot find her. I'll have to get a man—but I prefer the woman, if she exists." Benjamin Holbrook had never been married. At the age when other men take unto themselves wives, he had been too busy smoothing the path of the newly established firm of B. Hol brook & Co. over the thorny ways which infant industries must travel. Matrimony, he had reasoned, must wait upon success. Success he had finally achieved, and now it waited upon matrimony. If questioned, he would not have been able to say whether he had eluded matrimony or matrimony had eluded him. but now, at the age of forty, he was forced to confess to his friends that while it was still possible in bis case, it did not seem very probable. Being a bachelor, he had never been able to fathom the mental processes which led a girl to abandon a comfortable salary in his office for the purpose of sharing the salary of a male worker In the same office, and in much less degree had he been able to understand the line of reasoning which led the aforesaid male worker to persuade her to do so. In employing office help, the head of the firm was abler to discern merit at a glance. All bis male subordi nates had good qualities. The four women who had reigned in brief suc cession in the office were all well en dowed In this respect—so well en dowed, indeed, that four of the male subordinates had discerned their merit even better than the boss, with the result that for the fifth time in three years that gentleman, with all a bachelor's dislike for change in the existing order of things, faced the dis agreeable prospect of becoming ac customed to .a new stenographer. It was this fact, coupled with the knowl edge that there were yet several un married men in the office, all with good qualities, that led him to issue his edict concerning the age of the next woman who should grace his es tablishment. Watson's advertisement brought but one applicant to Mr. Holbrook— a handsome, somewhat sad-faced worn an, whose gown of black well became the slender plumpness of her figure. “1 am Miss Holmes," she stated simply. “I have come in answer to your advertisement for a stenogra pher." "Thirty-five years of age, or old er?" added Mr. Holbrook. "I am able to meet that condition," was the calm reply. The head of the firm was forced to confess to himself that she did not look it. "Have you had any experience in this capacity?" he asked. “None, whatever,” she answered. “But 1 have a good education and have fitted myself carefully for such a position, and I feel 1 can meet all the requirements set forth in your somewhat unusual advertisement.” “It was a little out ot the ordinary, wasn't it?” "Yes.” “But there was a reason for ft. During the last three years 1 have lost no less than four stenographers through matrimony. It was a desire to secure some one who would view business as other than a stepping stone to marriage that prompted that ad.” “I can safely say that there is no prospect of my making such use of it,” replied Miss Holmes. A trial showed that she was well equipped for the position. Mr. Hol brook reflected, alr.o, that he had never recognized so many good quali ties in an applicant before. He there fore engaged her. and in a few weeks found reason to congratulate bimself; for she developed an efficiency even above that of her very efficient pre decessors. In a few months he began to regard her as indispensable, and found himself regretting that she was near him in office hours only. And then it came, die was dictat ing to her one day, he on the one side of the big. fiat office table, and she on the other, facing him. While grasping for some solution to a knotty business problem, he allowed his mind to wander. The plainly furnished office faded from his vision. The table became a dining table, cov ered with snowy linen upon which silver gleamed and crystal sparkled— such a dining table as one sees in a home; but Miss Holmes faded from the picture not at all. In his reverie he saw her sitting opposite him at the dream table—and then Benjamin Hol brook. bachelor, aged forty, came back to earth with a rush. He was in love. He was certain of it, despite the novelty of the sensation. Mr. Holbrook was accustomed to di rect methods. * “Miss Holmes, can you still safely say that there is no prospect of your making business a stepping stone to marriage?" he asked suddenly. Miss Holmes was also in a reverie. She came out of it in confusion. “I—I think so,” she managed to gasp. “Then there is a doubt?” "Yes; there is a doubt,” she ad mitted. "1 ask you to give me the benefit of it.” "Oh, I am not thinking of resign ing,” she protested. "I am not asking you to give the business the benefit of the doubt. Miss Holmes; I am asking you to give it to me. I desire You to resign. Can't you see what 1 am getting at? I love you. 1 want you to be my wife.” "Wouldn't that be playing hob with the business?" she asked after a pause, smiling through her blushes. Mr. Holbrook rose from his chair and started toward her. She fled to the door in a panic and paused with her hand on the knob. “The business is inured to such ex periences by this time,” he laughed, still going toward her. “You must re member that my own romance has a quartet of precedents right here in the office. However, it'shall be the last; for my next confidential stenographer shall be a man.” Miss Holmes covered her face with her bands as he reached for her. "If that is the case, B—Benjamin." she murmured, “you might begin to look around for the man." The English as Klaw Sees Them. Mr. Marc Klaw, the American theat rical manager, who was quoted as saying that the English “are just about as emotional as a Limburger cheese," writes that what he really said was; “The English are a warm hearted people, but are usually about as demonstrative as fromage de Brie" (a large flat cheese). FIRST CLEAN THE SYSTEM Thing to Do In the Instant That the Presence of Tuberculosis Is Suspected. The fever of consumption Is not pri marily due to the presence of the tu bercle bacilli in the system, indeed, unless there are other conditions which cause the bodily temperature to rise it is inclined to be sub-normal. One of the interesting revelations of modern medicine is the fact that these germs may exist a long time in the human body without there being any rise of temperature whatever. This is plainest seen in a tubercular abscess, but it Is also seen in the many cases in which for long periods there is no fever. What does cause the fever in the earlier stages is a dis ordered state of the alimentary canal. The stomach and bowels become de ranged and full of toxins which, be coming absorbed, poison the systep and cause the temperature to rise. Fdr >ears it has b»en the practice of the writer to reduce any temperature to normal, especially during the first stages of the disease, simply by wash ing out the stomach and effecting a complete cleansing of the intestinal tract Later on the fever is due to the absorption of broken-down lung tissue and to ptomaines, and 'so is quite another story. When, therefore, tuberculosis is sus pected the temperature should be taken and If fever is present the per son should invariably go to his phy sician and have his digestive tract thoroughly cleansed, when by proper diet and outdoor life he will be able almost certainly to overcome the pres ence of the tuberculous germs. Reassuring. Marks—I know your wife didn’t like It because you took me home unex pectedly to dinner last night Parks—Nonsense! Why, you hadn’t been gone two minutes before she re marked that she was glad 't was no one else but you.—Tit-Bits.