h
I
H i
a distinguished gather
ing of representative citizens of
Hie State bearing its name the
battleship Iowa the best fighter in this or
any other navy was launched at Cramps
shipyard in Philadelphia Saturday A
fair daughter of the llawkeye State Miss
Mary Lord Drake christened the vessel
while the rest of the honors were borne
by her father Gov F M Drake Miss
Drake is a typical Iowa girl and a young
lady of grace and dignity Since the
GOV F M DRAKE
tion of her father to me office of Gov
ernor she has occupied the position of
first lady of the State in a manner that
has gained for her the esteem of all who
have met her
Nearly 300 persons- attended from
Washington The party included Vice
MISS MARY LORD DRAKE
-
the fireboxes lifting and lowering
the ships boats heating and drying every
nook and cranny of the hull illuminating
thousands of electric lamps and the
great searchlights as well freezing tons
of ice for daily use of the crew pump
ing cold air into the firerooms where
the stokers stand almost naked at their
work these are only a few of the well
nigh limitless purposes to which steam
is put on a modern man-of-war and 1he
energy of coal is used to facilitate the
daily work
Cost 4000000
The Iowa has been built in an almost
incredibly short time indicative of the
facilities which this country is acquiring
for turning out great battleships in short
order The contract for the Iowa was
awarded only a little more than three
years ago and her keel was not laid till
August 1893 This ship cost the Govern
ment for hull and engines alone a little
more than 3000000 and her guns
and appurtenances will cost more than a
million in addition
The Iowa has a thousand tons greater
displacement than her prototypes the
Indiana Massachusetts and Oregon
which are already recognized as among
tlie greatest naval vessels afloat Her
length on the water line will be 300 feet
beam 72 feet 2 inches draft 2G feet 9
inches displacement 11410 tons Her
guaranteed speed is to be 1G knots an
hour The main battery consists of four
12 inch and eight S inch breech loading
rifles and six 4 inch rapid fire guns and
the secondary battery of 24 rapid fire
guns four Gatling guns and five torpedo
tubes Her sides will be protected by
14 inch armor
The Iowa is fitted with a ram and in a
close engagement her commander will bo
able to drive her at a speed of about
twenty statute miles per hour with all
LAUNCH OF THE BATTLESHIP IOWA
m - ml
President and Mrs Stevenson Secretary
and Miss Herbert and Mrs Micou Secre
tary and Miss Morton Attorney General
and Mrs Harmon the naval committees
from both houses of Congress the Iowa
and Alabama Congressional delegations
Maj Gen Miles and staff the chiefs of
the naval bureaus and other army and
naval officers Most of the excursionists
were accompanied by the ladies of their
families
The Iowa is intended solelv for fitrhtine
v- purposes and is the fourth battleship
built for the new United States navy
It has been constructed with the idea of
sea purposes and is to be far superior to
the brag ships of the English and French
navies It is not easy to comprehend
the potential power of this mighty fight
ing machine Imagine if you can a
monster of white aspect 3G0 feet long
72 feet broad sitting 27 feet in the water
and weighing 11410 tons Down in the
ihold of this great craft an army of coal
heavers and firemen will shovel fuel into
thirty yawning glaring mouths The
steam thus generated is used in almost
innumerable ways There will be no few
er than a hundred engines in the Iowa
when she is finished electrical and hy
draulic used for the purposes of raising
anchors taking on and discharging stores
bringing ammunition from the magazines
to the great guns turning the turrets
swinging the rudder discharging ashes
the mighty rush of 11410 tons of steel
pushed by engines having 11000 horse
power at the foe It is almost impossi
ble to estimate what would be the effect
of such a blow Nothing that floats could
stand against it The Iowa as the latest
and finest example of American naval
architecture and engineering has at
tracted the attention of all the foreign
experts and is already one of the most
notable vessels in the world
HE WAS HOLMES LAWYER
For Uuprofessional Conduct Shoe
maker Temporarily Disbarred
William A Shoemaker a brilliant
young Philadelphia lawyer who was
LAWYER SHOEMAKER
senior counsel for the notorious Holmes
on his trial last fall has been suspended
from the privileges of the Pennsylvania
courts for one year He was found guil
ty of subornation of perjury iu that case
and was sentenced Saturday Shoemak
er got a woman to sign a false affidavit
to the effect that Pitezel the man mur
dered by Holmes had in her presence ex
pressed an intention to commit suicide
The principal evidence furnished in the
attempt of the prosecution at London
to prove that the Transvaal prisoners had
violated tlie foreign enlistment act related
to the cutting of the telegraph wires
The examination was adjourned until
April 28 to give time for the arrival in
England of witnesses from South Africa
400 SHOTS A MINUTE
RECORD OF THE COLT AUTO
MATIC GUN
All You Have to Do Is to Tie the
Triyjjer Back and It Keeps Right
on Firing Its Weight la Only Forty
Pounds
To Be First Tried in the Navy
An automatic machine gun has re
cently been adopted by the government
which after being set in motion will
fire 400 shots or more a minute so long
as the cartridges hold out All a sol
dier or sailor has to do is to lire one
shot Then he can tie back the trig
ger and go to dinner if he wants to and
the gun will keep firing away
The gun in its recent tests at Indian
Head near Annapolis was fired for a
trial of its accuracy at a 200 yard
range It made 100 consecutive hits
in 10 seconds In the test for durabil
ity the gun was fired 8000 times and
THE NEW GUN MOUNTED
j
showed no signs of weakness or wear
afterward Such rapid strides have
been made in ordnance and gunnery in
the last fifteen years that it has been
difficult for those whose election and
calling was not the development of en
gines of destruction to keep up with
the procession A gun that will shoot
automatically is an interesting feature
in the equipment of modern armies
The Maxim gun was the first self-firing
gun Now comes the Colt automat
ic gun
The new Colt gun weighs about forty
pounds and can be carried by a cavalry
trooper in a boot The ease with which
it can be transported and the fact that
in action only one man is necessary to
handle it are its great points of value
The fact that a squadron of cavalry
can gallop off and by simply dismount
ing and setting up its Colt guns on
tripods transform itself in a couple of
minutes into an effective battery each
gun of which is sending forth 400 shots
a minute may put a new phase upon
the battles of the future In fighting
in hilly or mountainous country where
the transportation of field artillery is
always a matter of difficulty the light
weight of this gun makes it of especial
value The government will first try
the gun in the navy It will be mount
ed in the military tops and other places
of vautage on the new cruisers and bat
tleships with the idea of sweeping
the gunners on hostile ships from their
positions Four or five hundred shots
a minute poured on a gun port or a
barbette turret would make things un-
CARRIED BY A TROOPER
comfortable for the men serving the
hostile guns
In the Maxim gun of which much
has been said lately the force of the
recoil is made to do the work of ex
tracting the shell reloading and firing
In the Colt gun the automatic action is
effected by the expansion of the powder
gases in the ban el On pulling the
trigger the shot is fired and after the
bullet has passed a vent just back of
the muzzle and before its exit from the
muzzle the gases expand through this
vent upon the piston and gas lever
which in turn works the breech
mechanism opening the breech eject
ing the shell and feeding to the gun
another cartridge The gas lever re
turning forces home the cartridge
closes and locks the breech and fires
the gun If the trigger be held back
the same operation will be repeated as
long as cartridges are supplied The
ammunition for the gun is carried in
small boxes and fed to the gun by a
belt The belts of cartridges are coiled
in the the boxes and all that one has
to do is to introduce the end of the
belt into the breech of the gun set it
going and it fires away and feeds itself
A Short Prayer
The fact that short prayers are likely
to be well received by members of a
political assembly was graphically il
lustrated at the Republican convention
of Illinois in 1S7S The Rev Robert
Nourse then pastor of the Congrega
tional Church at Springfield had been
invited to make the opening prayer
and the temporary chairman Colonel
Babcock as he announced that the
clergyman would invoke the Divine
blessing whispered to him to cut it
short We condense the subsequent
proceedings from the Chicago Tribune
The injunction was obeyed to the
very letter for the prayer was sub
stantially if not literally as follows
OLord God of nations we are met to
nominate officers for our State Give
us wisdom that we may nominate the
best men when we have done that
grant that they may be elected and
when elected make them true to their
trust Amen
The delegates who had been compos
ing themselves for a prayer of the usual
proportions were taken by surprise
The pith and logical point of the prayer
was recognized as the last word was
uttered the convention broke out in a
whirlwind of applause which con
tinued for some minutes
When the time for nominating the
first State officer that of State Treas
urer arrived some enthusiastic dele
gate nominated Mr Nourse This
colled forth a new outbreak which that
gentleman assisted in checking by posi
tively refusing to be a candidate
A similar scene was enacted when
the office of Superintendent of Public
Instruction was reached with a like
result And so the reverend gentleman
was kept busy to the end declining the
honors which the convention seemed
desirous of thrusting upon him
THE LATEST FAD
Jeweled Censers Which Emit a Tiny
Cloud of Incense
The modern woman has taken to
burning incense at her own shrine
The latest thing in jeweled smelling
bottles is a veritable censer that swings
from milactys chatelaine and when
lighted diffuses a delicate perfume and
a tiny cloud of incense The little
chatelaine censer comes in cut glass
and silver in very dainty designs Its
inner mechanism has a nice little de
vice for automatic lighting extinguish
ing is accomplished by merely exclud
ing the air by putting on the silver top
The perfume burner is in reality a
tiny lamp burning in lieu of a wick a
prepared stick of incense as fragrant
as the frankincense and myrrh of Bib
lical days Eastern perfumes such as
the pungent aromatic sweet grasses
of India and Ceylon are favorites for
this use In a short time the woman
THE PERFUME BURNER
who formerly affected musk and attar
of roses will float into drawing rooms
theater boxes and church pews in a
cloud of Oriental incense and she of
the violet sachets in silken interlinings
of every frock will burn violet essence
in clouds of spring odorousness
SOMETHING FOR SPORTSMEN
The Photographic Rifle Shows Jusl
Where the Shot Goes
The American nimrod will soon ba
able to decide to a nicety whether his
gun has failed him or not He will be
able to tell at a glance when he has shot
a strolling cow instead of the expected
bear or perchance riddled one of hi
hunting friends or a passer by witi
buckshot
This he will do by simply removing
from the gun barrel a small photo
graphic apparatus affixed to it Tin
German Emperor recently introduced
the photographic rifle among his roy
al guests at Romington prairie It
proved to be an immense success ii
deer stalking In this form of huntini
the sportsman matches the keenest
power of human patience enduranc
and skill against the marvelous defens
ive instincts of the game
The swift antlered beauties are mor
frequently wounded than killed out
right by a ball In that condition they
run many miles with the hounds and
huntsmen often following and even
then may escape The new apparatus
adopted by the Kaiser shows exactly
where the shot took effect and thus en
ables the hunter to determine whethei
or not it will pay to follow up the game
The naked eye may deceive the hunt
er who is usually trembling with ex
citement But as the axis of the guc
SHOWING CAMERA ATTACHMENT
camera always corresponds with the
sight it must necessarily reflect the
exact spot where the bullet is aimed
The camera opens the moment when
the sight is taken and closes with the
picture fixed in it a fraction of a second
before the firing of the shot The de
vice is light and easily detachable The
hunters breast pocket serves as a dark
room for the records of his skill
Exploding an Old Myth Are you
superstitious No I got out of that
at a very early age How did it
happen I was born on Friday
April 13 and the Friday that I became
13 years old a rich uncle died leaving
me 3000 by will Chicago Record
Now Im ready to treat you said
the doctor emerging from his private
office A little whisky with seltzer
on the side please returned the pa
tient absent mindedly Chicago Even-
Ing Post-
ALL ABOUT THE FARM
SUBJECTS INTERESTING TO
RURAL READERS
Potato Planting with Modern Ma
chinery Good Fences Are Import
antMany Pleasures in Farm Work
How to Guurd Against Hog Cholera
Plantinc Potatoes
In planting potatoes either for home
or for market the first essential says
the American Agriculturist is a well
drained rich plat of land A field
which has been two years in clover Is
usually the best To this apply a heavy
dressing of well rotted barnyard ma-
I nure Break the sod iu the fall or the
winter three or four inches deep then
In spring turn it over to a depth of eight
or nine inches and cut up thoroughly
with a disk harrow continuing the
operation until the seed bed Is well
fined and in the best condition Use a
smoothing harrow to compact it suffi
ciently so that it will not be dried out
unduly The ground is now ready for
planting The old method of hand
planting will probably continue for the
FIG 1 HAND COTTER
general farmer who cultivates but a
small patch for his own use The pota
toes are cut by hand to two eyes drop
ped in rows three feet apart with the
hills eighteen inches apart in the row
If they are to be plowed one way and
two and one half to three feet apart if
they are to be cultivated crosswise
Checking however is hardly ever nec
essary except where the land Is very
foul For commercial planting hand
processes are entirely too slow conse
quently inventors have constructed ma
chines both for cutting the potatoes into
suitable sized pieces and for planting
them There is also on the market a
machine which cuts the seed and at the
same time does the planting Figs 1
and 2 represents a hand potato cutter
which will do the work of eight or ten
persons The potato is dropped into the
hopper the handle brought over and
pressed down and the potato is cut Into
pieces of a uniform size Fig 1 repre
sents the bottom of the hopper crossed
by six knives with one running length
wise The number of knives can be
decreased so as to make larger pieces
of it or can be increased and smaller
pieces obtained This machine can
also be used for cutting beets turnips
carrots and other roots for stock feed
FIG 2 KNIFE OF HAND CUTTER
i i
Machines for planting potatoes at the
rate of four to eight acres per day are
no longer en experiment One man
only is needed to operate the machine
that plants cut seed while the auto
matic cutter and planter requires a
man and boy These implements open
the furrow drop the seed and any
desired amount and kind of fertilizer
and cover evenly with soil to a uniform
depth bringing an even stand A mark
er indicates the next row and keeps the
rows straight One of these machines
soon saves its cost on a farm where
potatoes are grown to any extent
Pleasures of Farm Work
Many people despise their work
when they ought to be thankful that
they have something to do A man or
woman who goes through life loathing
his daily work is a miserable mortal
who makes this world full of hell and
prepares the way for plenty of it in
the next says Rural Life A child
that has not been taught to work has
not been half raised An education
that does not develop habits of in
dustry is a curse to its recipient and
the recipient is a curse to the State
In this new country of ours there is
abundant opportunity for everybody
who loves to work to get rich In
dustrious people are the happiest most
virtuous and companionable of all so
ciety Industry begets all the cardinal
virtues while indolence begets mis
ery want vice and crime and these
things follow the rich as well as the
poor I met a farmer not long ago
who had learned to hate his lot upon
the farm He had determined to sell
out and go to a certain little village
and open a restaurant The village
has already twice as many restaurants
as the customer heeds The farmer
has never had any experience in run
ning a restaurant or walking in town
life It is therefore safe to predict
that he will utterly fail and learn to
hate the restaurant tenfold worse than
the farm
Seeding to Grass
A Connecticut farmer who gives no
clew as tto the character of the soil nor
I
asks advice about seeding clover to
grass field that has been in hoed crops
for two years but for which he has no
manure or fertilizer unless he buys on
credit says Storrs Agricultural Stand
ard If he has use for the fodder a
crop of oats and peas and clover grotvr
therewith for plowing under in the
fall would be a good order to follow
before seeding down If this plan li
adopted 1 would advise the use of 500
pounds of bone and 200 pounds of muri
ate of potash per acre when the oati
and peas are sown Sow one and one
half bushel each of oats and of peas as
early as the ground can be worked
plow the peas under and sow the oata
and fifteen pounds of common red
eloverseed after plowing and harrow
lightly Unless the ground is quite dry
the eloverseed should only be bushed in
Different Kinds of Bone Meal
Bone meal is not confined to one
name but is known also as ground
bone bone flour bonedust etc Wo
find in the market raw bone meal and
steamed bone meal Raw bone meal
contains the fat naturally present in
bones The presence of the fat is ob
jectionable because it makes the
grinding more difficult and retards the
decomposition of the bone in the soil
vuile fat itself has no value as plant
food When bones are steamed tho
fat is removed and the bone is more
easily ground Moreover the chemical
nature of the nitrogen compounds ap
pears to be changed in such a manner
that the meal undergoes decomposition
in the soil more rapidly than in case of
raw bone The presence of easily de
caying nitrogen compounds In bonea
hastens in the process of decomposi
tion to dissolve more or less of the
Insoluble phosphate Bone meal should
contain from 3 to 5 per cent of nitro
gen and from 20 to 25 per cent of phos
phoric acid About one third to one
fourth of the latter appears to be In
readily available condition Raw bono
meal generally contains somewhat mora
nitrogen 1 or 2 per cent and rather
less phosphoric acid than steamed bono
meal The fineness of the meal affects
its value the finer the meal the more
readily available is it as plant food
Bulletin New York Station
Draining in Place of Grading
It is often said by farmers that low
wet places need to be filled in so that
the water that now settles in them can
run off over the surface says the Amer
ican Cultivator But anyone who tries
to grade up even a small hollow knows
how ineffective this method proves A
tile drain dug through the center of tha
wet place If a small one and with two
or three branches if larger will do tha
work much more cheaply and effect a
permanent improvement Where a
large quantity of water runs Into tha
low place from adjoining uplands the
drain may not at once be able to re
move it But water standing over a
field even for two or three days while
an under drain beneath it is carrying
off the surplus water does no harm to
any crop There are in fact no cropa
on the land in spring excepting winter
grain We have had winter wheat cov
ered on a flat piece of land several inch
es deep with water which froze over
the surface but without any injury to
the wheat The water sank away un
der the ice By the time a thaw caino
the surface was dry and the crop had
simply been saved by the ice from ex
posure to the freezing and thawing of
surface soil it would otherwise have re
ceived
Sxnall Letters Are Best
I believe that a sow that produces
six or eight pigs at a litter will bring
a better Income generally than one
that produces twelve or fifteen pigs
says a writer in an exchange The rea
son why I think so is this A sow In
farrowing twelve or fifteen is almost
sure to have a lot of them small
very runty and no account whatever
Almost sure to be all sizes and what
is more disgusting than to have a large
litter of pigs of all sizes A litter of
this kind seldom grows and does as
much good according to the food con
sumed as a smaller litter The un
evenness of the litter seems to be the
worst feature of the situation for
the reason that the larger ones fight
off the smaller ones and thereby after
a while the smaller ones begin to
dwindle and die and after all you
have nothing left of your large litter
but a few of the larger ones where If
you had eight goods pigs to start with
you would not be bothered with tho
trouble I have spoken of
Drinkinir Water
Speaking of drinking water for the
hens is a subject too often left out
of consideration says Home and Farm
They dont want or need a great deal
but they want it with a vehemence
that makes up for any lack in quanti
ty And in cold weather they ought
to have it with the chill taken off
Cold water may not hurt the hens
teeth but it does the rest of their
organism and its Isnt good for them
A good plan is to give the flock watei
three times a day and to empty tho
vessel from which they have drunk
afterward so as to prevent the wate
freezing in it
Guard Against Hog Cholera
On farms where cholera appearea
last summer and fall new hog lots
ought to be provided this spring and
the animals should not be allowed to
run in pastures which were frequented
by diseased stock If necessary sow
a patch of clover which will take the
place of a regular pasture field Lop
can usually be moved at comparative
ly small expense Unless precautions
of this kind are taken another out-
break may occur at any time Propef
sanitation food and good care may
ward it off
Good Fences on the Farm
Good fences are an Important thing
on every farm and they need to be
Kept in good repair