University of South Carolina Libraries
TIIE WILT DISEASE. Some Interesting'Facts About the New Cotton 8bght. OF INTEREST TO FARMERS Invstigation of the Blight In South Carolina Fields by the United States Government. The United States Department of Agriculture has just publihed, as bul letin No. 27 of the Division of Vegeta ble Physiology and Pathogy. the re port of W. A. O:ton as=ociate rathoh, gist of the division, oa the s1 et of the wilt disease of co::?n, a hiet:t that has wrought grea: ha.::- in the sea island cotton fi'ds and has attacked some upland cotton districts in South Carolina. Mr. O:ton and ):. E:win F. Smith, whose report on the same subjot is referred to in this latest bul letin, visited this section last year and spent considerable time in studying the disease and searching for a remedy. The report is accompanied by several plates showing the eff.ot of the disease oa fields of cotton it has attacked. Mr. Orton says the wilt disease is now known to occur on the coast of South Carolina, where it attacks the fine sea island cotton, and at Dillion, Salters, and other places in the same State, where it attacks upland cotton. Prof. F. S. Earle, of the State ex periment station, reports it to be wide ly distributed in Alabama, particularly in the southern part, and states that it is undoubtedly growitg worse from year to year. It has been reported from many localities in Geor.ia, and is known to occur in Florida and Arkan sas. It is certain that this dis ase is widely distributed through the S ,uth era States, and it is probable that it occurs in many places where it has not yet been distinguished from oth-r trou bles, such as "rust" and the effects of lightning. The annual loss from the wilt disease is vy considerable. It is more keen ly feit by the individual planters than most cotton troubles, because the dis ease remains in the soil and gross worse, wth eaca succeeding crop O2 the sea islands of South Carolina alone a careful estimate indicates that nearly, if not quite, one-third of the land planted to high-grade cotton is affected by this disease, the larger portion of it so badly that it is no longer profitable to plant it in cotton. The loss to the planters of upland cotton in areas af feoted and the disease is spreading rap tionally great. On one farm in Dillon, 8. C., wnere the department has been conducting some experinents, fifteen acres of fine land are already affected and the disease is spreading rapidly on this and acjoining plantations. The importance of the disease, how ever, does not lie so much in the .amount of the present loss as in the danger of its fture ineres-e. for it must ultimately spread so muern as to entai far greater losses and poriz'ly threaten the life of the industry unles.s the methods for its co:.trol are perfecte-d. The wilt is very distinct from any other disease of cotton, so that there need be no difficulty in its identiica. tion. It usumty makes it first appear ance in the spring about the last of Mlay, when the pants are six to eight inches high. lIt appears in well ddined areas, which enlarge if cotton is planted on tne same land again. The fir~t outwardi indication of its presence is a dwarfe~d growth and ushesitby appearance ot the plants. The leaves turn yellow be tween the veins, their margins shrivcl up, and some plants wilt and die at once. In other plants the progress of the disease is often slow, and many of them live the entire summr.er andi die late in the season. On cutting across the stem of a diseased plant, the woody part will be found to be stained brown wherever the disease is present. In the absence of micro scopic examinations. this brown discoloration of the internal * tissue is the best ocular evidence of the presence of the wilt disease. Piants may partially recover from a severe at tack of the wiit disease by the develay -ment of strong lateral branches near the ground. Such plaa.ts may be dis tinguished by theix dwarfed and bushy appearance and by the tendency of their branches to lie prostrate on the ground. The cause of the wilt disease of cot ton is a fungus, neocosmospara vasin fecta (Atk ) Erw. Sm , which attacks the plants fromn the soil. I first enters the smaller roots and subs. quently grows from these into the laprovt and stem, fillung the water ducts with itb myedtum. The resuit is that the sup ply of food and moi-ture carried up from the roots is greatly decrea~ea ane the symptoms deteribed above are tra duced. The nature of tn~e fungus ntas been fully ducaussed in bulietin No. 17 of this aivision, and it witi not ce ne cessary to enter into detals here, but only to outline the subjci and to re cord some aeditions to v..r k~lowledge. The progress of the diaease is alwais slow as compared with that of other plant diseases. The pertod of incubha tion, or the time elasig after the young seedling is txposee. to the at tacks of the fungus aid before the dis ease becomes manilent, is usually at least fory das s and efsen muen longer Much depends on the it asidual plant itaelf. *lie coAditicas which f..vor the * progress of L e iuotus througr tne plant are not iuas undertood, out from some observattous tuat have been umade it is belheved tnat lhighly fertilized plants, growiny vigoruuly, succumb more poorer than those which have grown on readlily soil. In the early history of the wilt dis ease the cause wa, supposed by the planters to be the txcessive appslica tions or injudicious uce of con.?ercial * fertihiers, ania many of the leading planters in th~e sea islands made care ful experiments with v..rious meddi cations of their ferui.zes, such as the use of marl, sal. mud, kaznit, and lime, and the increase or ceceess of the proportions ef Lro:.phtorie acia and pot ash. Mr. W. 1W kliaon of James 121 and, South Carolina, a very success - ft planter, has informend the writ- r that the result of all these trials has been to cotnviznce th~ose who maae themi that the disease can not be controlleai by any chan-ges in their sy stem of fer tikzing. '1 he wit dicease occurs in so many widely sepacie lities and * under such varica cauurai cond:tions that it is not probtable that any errors in the agricultural praetice are the primary cause of the troujme, although the pianting of coun ><ar after y ear on the samte iand a:. the eoaai.on prac tice of Non- u-eeir tne :ast b ear s stems in ireparirag tneo gruid in the spring butL tendl to hastesth pra of the wilt fungus after i:.LaS onice been introducca. The effect of repea:cd i e-tim)s of the small roots or the c n . if s very a e somewhat resistant to the disease. Small u'ts of roots grow from each point of infection, doubtless on account of some stimulus exerted by the fun g.Several short roots will thus start from a place which would normal ly have produced one longer branch. Many of th',;:e little roots are killed by the fungus and others grow in their places, so that the tufted appearance of the rootlets is more pronounced late i2 the season. The same result has been produced in the laboratory by in oculating seedling cotton plants with pure cultures of the c~tt~n-wilt fun gus. Similar root tufts are found as sociated with the wilt diseases of okra, oowpea, watermelon and cabbage, and they are believed to be characteristic of this class of root diseases. In the case of cotton their presence :n the roots demonstrates the presence of the wilt fungus in the soil, even when the amount is so small that no harm is visible aside from the reduced growth of the plants. This dwarfing of the plants is due to the kiling of the small roots and is often visible over a considerable area surrounding a badly infected spot. For this reason the loss in vield on such a field is much greater than would appear simply from a con sideration .f the badly diseased areas, as the dwarfing due to the injaring of the small roots considerably curtails the yield. Since the publication of bulletin No 17, the wilt disease has been produced in healthy cotton plants by inoculating the soil in which they grew with pure cultures of conidial stages of ueocos mosporavas infecta. This removes any acaotas to the casualrelation of thefun gus to the diseasewhich might arise from the failure of the previous inoculation experiments. Tne plants were grown for a few weeks in pots, and then a smali quantity of fungus from a pare cultuture was placed in the bottom of each one. Eight days later they were transplanted to open ground. The first case appeared after about thirty-five days. Fourteen out of twenty-four p:ants contracted the disease. The fun gus was asundant in the vascular bun ales of seven plants and they showed all the other symptoms of the disease. 'he other seven infected plants were only slightly diseased, although the fun gus was found in the vessels of the stem. T he check plants, twenty-five in number, all remainei healthy. It will be noted that the length of time between the inosujation of the soil and the appearance of the disease in this ex peritnent (thirty-five to fifty days) was prac.ically the same as elapses in the iAd between the germination of the seed and the first appearance of the disease. That a larger proportion of the inoculations did not succeed is believed to be due to the small amount of fungus used and to the natural resis tance of the plants. The cotton plant inoculation described in bulletin No. 17 were all made in the greenhouse, and it is now believed that the negative results were due either to the slow growth of the plants or to the fact that they were naturally resistant. Careful experiments have been made with a large number of substances appli ed to the soil in the hope of killing the fungus, but all the results obtained up to the present time indicate that there is no hope of success in the use of any fangicides sprayed on the plants or applied to the soil. Fields uniformly infected with wilt disease were selected, and over twenty different substances were applied in amounts as large as it was thought safe to use. In many cases the expense of their application in such quantities was so great as to make their use impracrible had they proved efficacious. In other eases, as in the use of materials sontain ing cpper, continued applications in ,u h large q-iatities would be likely to in j ire the soil. TR&OIC SCENES. Three Men Killed, One Being the Sheriff, in Abbeville. Saturday December 30, as a result of drunken man's spleen and malice, three men were killed, one of whom was the sheriff of the county. Nine o'clock that night in the office of the Mil er hotel, several gentlemen were hav ing a social game of cards. 02e of the players was William Kyle, a northerner who has been superintending the build ing of the addition to the Abbeville cotton mille. While the game was in progress John Dansby, a somewhat no orious character, entered the room. He was drinking and in quarrelsome mood It is said that he had a difficulty with Kyle in the afternoon. In a few mo ments Dansby managed to have some' words with Kyle and applied a vile e~pitet to him. Aesording to the story of witnesses K.Ie gatup fromn his chair and rins rateI witu Dan-by, but without miak ing any demxonstration of violence Dansoy drew his pistol, a 45-calibr< oits, and when a bystander grabbec his arm he quickly changed the gun too the other hand and fired, the ball strik ing K,le in the abdomen. The shooting occ~red s) q iickly taat those present hardly realized wbat had happened. Dansby then backed out of the room, deciaring he would shoot any man who attempted to stop him, and started to the home of his father-in-law, Tom Creswell, who lhves nianr the cotton The news of the Ehooting quickly pread, and Policemen Johnson and Baen started in pursuit of the murder er. They overtook him near Cresswell's house, but Dans by stopped them witb his pistol and said he weuld shoot if they advanced. The police then went to a nea:o5y house and telephoned up town for assistance. In a short time Sheriff R. L. Ken nedy with several citizens responded to the summons. They surrounded the house, the policemen being stationed at the windows an.i Kennedy going to the front door. Kennedy called to Das by to come out and surrender. Dansby came ont, clocing the door behind him, and with the remarks " Wel, we'il go to hell together," com mnced firirig. Dansby was shot twice, one in the leg and once full in the hst. Kennedy was struck once in the left breast near the heart. Both men emped their pistols Kennedy fell as soon as he was hit, but Dansby walked soe 5U steps and was reloading his pstol when one of the policemen ran up and grabbed him and took the gun ot.t of his band. Several others of the prty were firing at Dansby at the time a.d tnere is some uncertainty as to who fired the shots that struck him, but it is thought that they were fired by Ken nedy. Handcuffs were placed on Dansby ard he was carried to the jail, but died soon after reaching there, about an our after the shooting He did not o-sak after being shot. Kennedy was earra to the jail and expired within a e- 4 :nnutes at ter Dansby. Kyle, who was first shot, lived until 2 o'clock T UBOARD OFHE < Will Insist on Some Change in the Health Lawa. The State board of health held its annual meeting here Thursday in the odice of the secretary of state, all the memibcrs being present save Attorney General Bellinger, who is confined to his bed by sickness. The session-was quite a long one and many matters of vital concern to the people of the State were fully and thoroughly discussed preliminary to the approval of the annual report. The report was finally cempleted in all de tails and in the afternoon was sent to the State printer. rho board will make several recommendations to the legis lature and will insist upon certain changes in the health laws that are deemed absolutely necessary to the effilient working of the State board of health. The smallpox situation was very fully discussed, Dr. Evans the secre tary giving very much the same in formation that he had furnished, the governor. Since then, however, the disease has spread and is now in sev eral additional counties. The town of Union, Dr. Evans says, has been the greatest and almost sole source of in fection dating the year. Tae S:ate board cannot take charge in an incor porated town without a - proclamation from the governor. The board holds that if it is to ba expected to stamp out contagious and infectious diseases it is absolutely necessary for the legislature to give it absolute jurisdiction over tae State. This is earnestly urged upon the body. The board feels also that a registra tion law enabling it to obtain otrth, marriage and death statistics from the towns and cities, indeed the entire State, is very essential t. its work. The present law is not working satisfacto rily. Fir instance no birta statistics are obtainable frcm Columbia as things stand. The board wili present a r.emo ,ial to the general assemoly to pass an act requiring such statistics, providing a heavy penalty for paysicians fairing to fife reports with proper officials, mat tag the county supervisor county health uffioer and the road commission ers townsnip health officers. The meeting Wednesday also devel oped the fact that .he new act relating to the transportation of dead bodies, which is the same in other States, is not oeing enforced as it snousd be. Tne matter wish instances cited has been referred to the attorney general for alt consideration and such steps as he may deem necessary. The report prepared, though incom plete insofar as statistics are concerned, wilt be full of interesting matter. Columbia State. TALK WITH MARS Nicola Teala Thinks Ke Has Found a Twentieth Century Secret. Not quite two years ago Mr. Nicola Tesla, went out to Colorado to conduct experiments in relation to the wirless transmission of energy which has en gaged nis attenti'on for several years. Mr. Tesla found it necessary in order to carry on his inventions and his ex periments to the extent he desired to work at an altitude of several thousand feet. He found c -nditions suitable for his purposes in Coloraso and went out there in the spring of 1899, built a la oratory about ten miles Irom Pike Peak and went to work. What he accomplished in the eight or nine months while he was working there he has kept pretty much to hiur self ever since, but when the National Bed Cross which was arranging for ine end of the century meetings of its various branches enroughout the coun try abked Mr. Tesla to indicate what in his opinion, would be one of the greatest achievements of the coming century, he gave just a hint of one oz the wonders he discovered in Colorado. In a more elaborate way Mr. Tesla dwelt on his work to a reporter. He re gards his latest results as far and away the most important he has ever attain ed. Briefly, Tesia has beo able to note a novel manifestation of energy which he knows is not of solar of terrestrial urigin and, being neither, he concludes that it must emanate from one of the planets. Wnile' he was conduc ing hib inventions in his Colorado laorat-.ry one day, the instrument he was using to observe the electrical candition of tne earth was affected in an unaccoun able manner. Is recorded .hree distinct crhougti very faint movrements one after the oth r. These movements were observed not cnce, but many times, the numoer of impulses varying, and Mr. Tesla now trmly believes that, with improved apparatus, it will be quite possible for she peopie of tue eanin to com.nunicate with the innabitants of other planets. Damages For Lynching. Among the ren.e lies for lynching .hat hate been proposed us one teat to.d. the county in which the ly nihing occs liable for dam &ges to the neirs of the person iyoched. 8.uth Carolina and Onio has embodied this plan in a 1tatute, bus it has proved a dead letter. ['wo suits have been broughut under it. and in neither was there a recovery. Bat in one ins acace damages have been paid for a lynching. 'Tho case was that of a man who was lynched at V'ersille., Ind., for horse steasing. His widw en tered suit for $5,000 in the Unitcd States cirsut court at Unicago against the bondsmen of the sheriff of the eounty where the l1 sching occured. The bondsmen effered $4.000 as a coaapro mise and it was accepted. This is the frst instance of the kind on recori. 1'he question as ti the ja~risdiction of federal courts in cases of lynching is not affected by this case, as it never came to trial. It is safe to say that had it been called it would have been thrown out of court as no theory of federal jurisdiction that we are aware of wouid sustain much an action. Philippine Foreign Trade. The value of merchandise imported into the Philippine Islands for the 11 months ended May 31, 1900, is placed a' $18 290,698; of gold and silver. $1 86310, making a total of $20 196 933 Tee imports from the United States were valued at $1,450 807. Tne value of exports for the period named amount ed to $19.459,003-$17.634,391 in mer chandise and $1 824.612 in gold and silver. The value of sne export s to the United States is set down at $3,594 577. A total of 69 644 tons of Manila he mp, valued at $10,582,173, was exported during the period stated, $3,4zj5 808 worth being shipped to the United States. A Bold Attack. Sadie Hudson, aged nineteen years, of Washington, Pa., was attacked in her father's yard by an unknown white man Friday evening The girl struggled desperately, but her assailant slipped a gag into her mouth and bound her hands behind her back. Hecr father heard the struggle and hurried out, The COUGH UP Said a Bold Highwaym in to a Drum m it The mail stage bound for the health resort at Harrison Hot Springs was held up at noon Wednesday, -six miles out of Agassiz, by three robbers. This place is about sixty miles from Van couver, B. C. There were nine passen gers in the coach one of whom was a woman. All the robbers wore black masks. 0 2e of them grasped the horses bridles, while the others covered the occupants of the coach with riff-s. There were a dozen mail sacks in the ecaich and the driver was told to put these out on the ground. "Now, if you will please step down and line up, we won't keep you wait ing long " politely remarked the tall est bandit, and the frightened passen gers obeyed. They held up their hands and two of the robbers quickly and sy stematically emptied their pockets. The woman was poor. Her clothes were shabby ani her purse-contained only 65 cents. This the dashing leader of the highwaymen returned to her with an added $5 gold piece taken from the pocket of a commercial trav eler. "Madame," he said, "We do not rob hen roosts. If you will kindly accept this with our compliments we shall be really indebted to you. Allow us to wish you a very happy New Year." The passengers in all contributed $2 720 in cash, besides watches, rings, a diamond stud, and gold sleeve hut tons. The commercial traveler at first yielded only about $18, but the stage robbers were dissatitfied with this sum and accused him of bad faith. "You're holding out on us, partner" said the leader. "Now, if you do ntt cough up in just thirty second, we will pump you so full of lead that you will never know what struck you." The salesman tremblingly told about a belt with money. The leader of the robbers, after apologising to the wo man for his necessary action, removed the commercial travelers coast and vest and triumphantly produced a belt con taming $2,5900 in gol i coin. Whitewash for farm Buildings. Nothing adds so much to the ap pearance of farm buildings as brigat and unchanging colors. It costs a great deal to keep houses and barns painted, but it is well worth the money, not merely because of the increased durability, but because of the improved appearance. Nothing spells prosperity in such fair letters, written large, as well painted farm buildings. Paint, however, is dear, and for a long time farmers who desire to keep things in first-class shape have been looking for a cheap paint or a whitewash that will stand the weather and not become in stead of a clear white a dirty drab in a few weeks or months. The United States government has been looking af ter this, as it does after almost every thing touching farm life, and has hit upon a whitewash for its lighthouses which should stand rough conditions. We give the receipt as follows: "Take a half bushel of unslacred lime, slack it with boiling water, cover during the process to keep in steam, strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer, and add to it a peck of salt, previously dissolved in warm water; three pounds of groundrice boiled to a thin paste and stirred in while hot; half a pound Spanish whiting and one pound of glue previously dissolved by soaking in cohd water, and then hanging over the fire in a small pot hung in a larger one filled with water, add five gallons of hot water to the mixture, stir well and let it stand a few days covered from dirt. It should be applied hot, fer wbich pur pose it can De kept in a portable furn ace." There is nothing in the above that is not within the reach of every reader. He can buy the material, ex cept possibly the ground rice, and he can buy that and have it ground in the coffee mill or with his o wn farm mill. can do all the mixing, and apply it, and naing applied it to one building he can soon determine whether he wants to go around oe farm and make his farm the envy of all observers. The ast end of the President's house in Washing on is emoellished with this whtewash, and if it is good enough for te Woite House it is g~od enough fur any body else's house or barn. A pint of this mixture will cover a square yarn and is said to be almost as serviceable as paint for wood, brick or stone, and there is no paint known that will egual it in cheapness. Why not try it? alace's Farmer. S.-me Good Aavice. Before the tater.tate Cotton Growers' Aws c.ation at Macon, Ga , rtcently, vir P,,pe IBcown, President of the Geor gia Agicutural Society, discussing the cottun prornem said: "f wo y ears ago we started a wheat movement. Thie result was that huudreds of thousanes of busbels of wheat has stnce been rais ed in this State It has put hucjdreds - thiousands of dollars into the packets )f the farmers. How can we ceapen the coat of the pr~.duction of cotton or raise the price of it? We have got to do one or the other. Tbe man who does the plowing is entitled to a good living. Land is cheap. The farme~r can raise his mule cheaper than he can oy him, h. can raise hi5 flour cheaper, his meat e aeaper. The Southern f arm er has nut done his duty until he feeds his fauail, by his own labjr, nor until he has produceoi the fot d for city people and s;op'ped the importation of every necesity of life into this section." Were c tton growers' c.,nventions irng forth such praet cal atvice as this they do god. It is aay es whic1i has been given for sev..ral year-, and which has been aiopted htre and there with ben ccfietal results to the adopters, what ever the efif css may have been upon those persnas who failed to follow it te question of the profitable prise of OAton retts, afterall upon the indivi dual grower. Lynched by Negroes. A special from Q iitmzan, Ga., says: A Negro, who~e nawe cannot be learned was l.ynched by a mob of his own color Weneesday night nine miles north of Q tman, for assausting a small Negro girl. Bail.ff Pace, of thia county, had the Negro in charge and was making his way here. When about to board a train near Kennedy, a mob of Negroes who were on the train, prevented him from doing so, and taking the prisoner, shot him, with no attempt at conceal ment of their crime. VHERE? OiH, V HEE?-The prin ters auliars-where are they? asks the Palmetto Post. A dollar here and a dollar there, scattered over numerouse s~all towns, miles and mi es apart. How shall they be gathered in? Come home! You are wanted! Come in sin gle file that we may send you out sp.in to battle for us and vindicate our credit. Reader, are you sure you have not one of the printer's dollars sticking to the bottom of your trousers? Feel down and see if we are right. If you find it ndn ithome. SPLENDID HEGINING. Autombile Company and Knitting Mill Among Concerns. The new century starts off with a large number of new enterprises desir ing incorporation. Commissionis and charters were being rapidly made out in the office of the secretary of state Tues day despite the fact the day was supposed to be a holiday. First came the commission to the South Carolina Automobile company of Columbia, capitalized at $10,000, proposing to operate a number of elee trio carriages and vehicles for hire ect. The corportors are Wm. H. Rose, J. Sumter Moore, E B Clark, W. H. Lyles and W. B. Smith Whaley. Another important new concern commissioned was the Pee Dee Knit ting mills of Dillon, Marion county, with J. ?. E vino, C. S. Herring and A. B. Jordan as corporators. The capital stock is to be $10,000. The Pee Dee Naval Stores company of Dillon with $50 000 capital was char. tered. The officers are R P. Hamer, Jr., president, and A. F. Woods, secre tary and treasurer. The Wando Lumber company of Charleston has increased its capital stock from $7,900 to $10,583,33. A commission was issued to the Mer chants' and Planters' Bank of Gaffney, with A. N. Wood, Chas. M. Smith, C E. Wikins, R. k. Jones and W. C. Carpenter as corporators. The capi ta. is to be $50 000. The Woodstock Hardwood and Spool Manufacturing company of Woodstock. Berkeley county, was chartered with W. H. Welch as president and Julius D. Koster as secretary and treasurer. The capital is $15,000. The Cowpens Cotton Oil company of Conrens was chartered. The capital is $4,000. C. B. Martin is president ana W. B. Potter secretary and trea surer. A commission was issued to the Latta Supply oompany of Latta. with E. B. Berry, L H. Smith and D. M. Dew as crporators. Tne company la to sell groceries and general mercan dies, doing business on a capital of $10,000 Ilie Crutchfield Tolleson company of Spartanburg has increased its capital stock from $20,000 to $50,000. The A. M. Alexander company of Spartanburg was granted a charter The capital is to be $5,000 and the pur pose of the corporation is to deal in pianos, organs and sewing machines. A. M. Alexander is president and tress urer. The J. T. Snelson Contracting com pany of Charleston was commissioned with Jno. T. Snelson, Norman L. Snelson and T. Snelson of Charleston as corporators. The capital is to be $3, 000 and the company will do a general contracting business in the city of Charleston. The State. The Warlike Boers Whatever may be said of the relative merits of the Boer and British causes, it must be agreed that the world has seldom seen such a stubborn struggle against overwhelming odds as the Boers are making. It was supposed that the capture of Cronje and his army, the flight of Kruger and the capture of J ohannesberg and Pretoria would speed ily end the war. But many months have passed since these events, and the Boers arc not only still in arms but have achieved, in rapid succession, a series of most remarkable victories over a foe immensely their superior in numbers and all sorts of military equip ment and supplies. According to an official report, there were in South Africa on December 1 a British force available for duty which numbered no less than 210,203 men, of whom 142, 893 are regutars. The nighest estimate of the Boer force is 15,000. This great disparity of numbers represents by no means the disadvantages under which the Boers are fighting. They have no base of cperanuns aud oniy precarious supplies of food and ammunition. Their weapons are inferior to those of the British. Ana yet the Boers, thus ill provided and scattered in small groups, have recently struck some severe biows and contine their wonaierful and au daoious activity without the slightest indication of relaxing their resistence, hopeless as it seems. Since the begin niag of the war the fbers have infici ed terrible damage upon the British. The Briuish killed to Dec. 1 numbered 3,0l8, wounded 13.886, dead from dis ease or wounds 7,786, nict in ho-pitals in Sou:h Africa 11,927, sick and wounciea Isni back to Elngland 35,548. The war has not made or added to tue fame of a single British commander, but it has produced two Boer generalh wno will take bistoric rank among the great soldiers of this generation- Gronjer and Dewet so the Atlanta Jlournal saye there is no teiling how long the little Boer army wali be able to keep up its light, for it does not yet show the slight Lst dispsition to yield, and the Bnutsh even with their immense army, seem to be able to do very jittle witn it. Making Restitution. The wile of a Ne w York defaulter, whose name is much in the puosi prints, has aided in restitation to the piuerea bank by surrendering $151), 000 worth of diamonas asd j~welry. M1uch is being maae of her devotion in consenting to this step, and perhap, j istly, because she might have imitat ed many prou~ieent examples by frecs ing on to all that there was in eight. While recognizing fudly the sacrifice made by the laidy, there is a side to the ransaction too likeiy to be overleeked, and frem whiccn we should extract the real lt-sonz of the case. Wnen the wife of a $3,001) a year bank teller becomes the recipient of $150,000 in presents, is it not about tinme for her to inquire into the source of all this weaJh? Much may be granted to the want of acquaintance with b-isiness methods by whica a woman may be embar rassed, but the dudlest wife in the world knows that she can buy no grea ter value in jewelry with a thousand dollars than she can in potatoes and parsnips. 'The lesson is a very simple one, known to women as well as to men, that livitg above one's means must be at the expec~se tof some one else. When a $2 a cay man invests $10 a day in a carriage ride or when a $3,000 a year man is able to "hold his oen'' with his $100. 000 neighbor, it requires no spe cial skill to came to a conclusion. Much of human misery springs from a man s paupering of his own appetites; it is largely acce:erated when he has a wife whose anxiety for first place blinds her to the cost. It is not necessary to true happiness to be either in the swim or on the visiting list of those who, for the season, lead society. The pleasure of home and the enjoyment of the fuifil ment of natural auties will bring less pyrotechnicism, but a longer lease of real happiness. A dispatch from Pekin says Suh Hai, the man who killed Baron von Ketteler, the German minister to China in June last, was beheaded Wednesday in the presence of a large number of specta TO CHECK TEXAS PEVER Circular Being Sent Oat by Dr. Nesom of Clem ion College. The following circular of icqiiry re garding Texas fever in cattle has just been issued from the offiaoe of the vete rinarian at the South Carolina experi ment station at Clemson college: Dear Sir: This letter is sent you in the hope that you will assist the vete rinarian of the experiment station in securing some information regarding the cattle disease known as Texas fever. During the past few years, this dis ease has been prevalent in many sec tions of this State, but since the pas sage of the present stock law it has become very common, especially in the up country and in the pastures and feeding pens of stock buyers. Texas fever is known by a number of names in different parts of the coun try, but the more important of these are splenic fever, acclimation fever, tick fever, red water, bloody mu.rain, bloody urine, distemper, mountain dis temper, etc. The symptoms are readily recognised by anyone who has seen cattle suffer ing from this disease At first, the animal becomes stupid and leaves the herd for some seculded and shady part of the pasture. If they come up at all at night, they usually lag behind the herd, appear listless and droop as though all energy had forsaken them. The ears are dropped down, the nose more or less dry, and rumintion (phew ing cul) suspended. The urine is red colored, the degree of redness var3ir g with the in ensity of the disease. In milk cows the flw of milk -lmost ceases. Constipation is usually marked, only small quantities of very dark color ed cung being voided. The temperature runs from 103 to 107 F. Some idea of the fevered condition may be gotten by inserting a finger in the corner of the animal's mouth. All of the symptoms increase in intensity until the animal becomes almost or quite unconscious, walks round in a circle, groans and seem to suffer great pain. Then con vulsions set in, the animal falls,struggles violently, and in the intervals between convulsions, lies on the side snoring until death follows. Calves do not developed the severe symptoms and few of them die from the disease, but in cattle over three years old, the death rate is probably 80 per cent. to 90 per cent. The disease may appear at any time during the summer but more of ten from July to October. Post mortem examination of the ear cas shows the flesh to be almost blood. less and pale in color, the spleen (melt) black and easily torn, the bladder filled with bloody urine the liver and intes tines yellowish, and the gall bladder filled with bile In all cases, an examination of the skin about the thighs, flanks, neck and other portions of the body reveals the presence of ticks, which always go with Texas fever. The cause of the disease is a very small animal organism (pro tosoan) which seems at all times t< exist in the body of the common cattle tle tick (boophilus bovis ) When the tick inserts his bill through the hide -oi the cow, these little ''germs" gain ac cess to the blood of the animal and there develop, producing a case ol Texas fever in ten or twenty days, it inost cuses. Death results from the destruction of the red blood cells, thE bodies of which go to the spleen and the colcring matter to the bladder. Cattle that have bad ticks on then: when calves are immune to the disease and will not have it again. Cat tle thai have not had ticks on them until a yeal old'will develop the fever as soon ai they get them. -The experiment station officials de sire to assist the stockmen of the 8tat4 in getting this disease under control and preventing severe losses from it is the future. To this end we are send ing you this circular, and re quest that y ou will read it and answer the ques tions on the enclosed addressed postas card. We thank you in advance foi your cooperation and trust you -wilt soon return the card to' D~r. G. E. Nesom, Clemson College, S. C. December 31. 19J0. Our National Crime. T b. Chicago rribune says:'-The statis tissoflhomooide in the United States fol 1900I are not encouraging. From 1895 u 1899 there Was a steady decase yea: oy sEar, the totalsfalling from 10,500 t< 6,225 bat this year the report shoas i tot of 8,275 an increase Over last yea, of 2 050. If next year the figures in crease proportionately the first year c: tne new century vii De as largely umark ed by crime as was 1895. From th< p'resent outlook the izadications ar< that the iecord of the coming year wilt De even arker, for human hfe was nevel held cheaper than at the present time, and hanging and lynoching make little impression. Rudyard K p ing was not far out of the wvay when he said that murder was the natioual crime of the Unite~d States. A Novel Marriage. A novel marriage took place at An derson on Decemoer 31. The contract ing parties were JuoL J. Norris, son of Capt. P. K. Norris, one of our most promineat citizens, and Miss Elelen r-jill, of Nort Carolina. "Watch Night" services were being held at St. John's Methodist ehurch, and many poisons were present. At 11:57 the riridal party walked down the central aisle and took their places in front of Rev. J. B. Uampbed, wno performed the ceremony. During tae ceremony the town clock was distinctly heard to strike she hour. All present were im jr '.'ed with the solemnity of the oc casion. A Fatal Accident. A dispatch from Winnsboro to The State says the little daughter of Dis penser Stevenson was killed by a fall ing granite post. Several of the chil dren were playing in the back yard, and had built a fire at the foot of the stone column. The little girl was stand ing near. A Negro boy, unaware of the fact that granite cannot resist heat, climbed to the-top, the crumbling base gave way and the post fell striking the child on the head. She was picked up unconscious and carried into the house where she died about d in the after nocn. Right Mr. Bryan. Acting upon the advice of Mr. Bryan, the W J. Bryan Association of (Cleve land, Ohio, has changed its name to the Cuyahoga Association of Democratic Clubs. Writing with respeet to clubs which bear his name, Mr. Bryan says: "1 think it is better that they should drop my name in order that no mistakes that I may make may embarrass the cause in which we are all enlisted," Incidentally he again remarks that "circumstances will determine who iho=1d lea the nex dAht." Quit Kissing Talk. -Pindar. what is osculation?" 'Oscalation, Nettie dear, 1s a learned expression queer For a nice sensation. 1 put my arms thus 'ro-nd your waist Tnis is approxinmation! You need not fear, There's no one near, I then,-oh. dear! Nettie, that's osculation." The New York World says pro miscuous osculation is under the ban. The kissing habit must cease. The Demorest branch of the W. 0. T. U. has declared against it and hereafter the stolen swcets, txtolled in s'ong and story, will have the added spice of a self constituted detective agency of argus es ed white ribboners successfully bsffid. The organisation admits of no compromise. It does not urge temper ance. It preaches prohibition accord ing to its principles. The kiss is an intoxicant, therefore the kiss, like the saloon, must go._ This decision was ar rived at recently at the regular meeting of the Demorest Unionites at the home of Mrs. Stanley, 448 West Twenty third street. The matter came up in connection with the vice crusade when Dr. Anna Hatfield interruped a torrent of ekquence apropos of the saloon as the source of all evil to prove that the nectar quaffed from red lips was more fruirfai of consequence-than any aloo holic beverage ever distilled. "I =think kisseing is the very worst thing a young woman can do," said the doctor, "and the amount -of hugging giog and kissing that some girls-of our very bebt families, too-submit to is literally a mensee~to our morality. 1 know a young man very wellwho declares that he rarely leaves a girl without kiss ing her goodnight. He says that the) not only eagerly accede to his request, out that several have insisted upon be ng ii ted." -1 aslutld have shown him the door, said Dr. Ewen Miles WellI, he explained that of course 1e had no respeos fur the girls he k.esed, 'went on Dr. Hatfield. "But I tnink women are-very careless about kissing Mothers should teach their daughters the evils of is. A girl doesn t know the danger of kissing. She should understand how to guard against it. I have carefully inquired into the. matter and I find many young women imagine this is the way to get i usbands. It is reprehensible. These are the supposed ly well-brought-up daughters of rich pareate. Tne girls must be taught that it is wrong, not only to kiss a stranger. but to kiss the men they are engaged to. Too great care cannot be taken." "I should suggeat that an excellent and efficient way to stop the impro priety," said Miss Thomas, "would be to instruct the young met in the evils of kissing." "But they like it," said one woman impetuously. Another cited the case of. a modest youth, who, fearing to yield to the so licitatioos of an-.osculatory temptress, had applied to a policeman. But the law was felt to be a tacit encourage meat-of all kinds of. stimulants, from liquor to kissing, and all idea of an anti kissing bill was promptly aban doned. The kiss, rela--ively speaking, was not dissected. No fine lines of de marcation have been drawn about the cousinly salute, nor has it been an nounced whether a male conneotion by marriage may with propriety embrace ne wly acquired .feminine family ad juncts. But the Demorest Union has pledged itself to eternal vigilance in the matter of the promiscuous kiss and the unsanc-ioned application of a moustitebc-to the-lips that are nearest will hencefor ward run the gauntlet of fearless and <xoerienced crusades. Why the Oyster Crop Fails. It is pointed out that partial fail iare of the oyster crop in certain years, the diminution in size of oysters on the market and the extinction of many oyster beds that formerly were famous-the Saddle Rocks, for in stance-have been due to want of ma terial for the production of the oyster shell. The beds throughout the oyster belt have steadily deteriorated in late yerars, and in many cases become ab solutely worthless, in spite of the fact Ithat food has been supplied artini eilly at great expense and trouble, and wire fences have been used to protect the oysters from the star fish. For this trouble the defilement of the water by sewage and waste of various manufacturing establishments have usually been blamed, sometimes justly, sometimes without cause. What the oyster plant must have, or It will perish, Is a full supply of car bonate of lime with which to build its shell. Near the mouths of rivers, where carbonate of lime in mechan ical solution, as it is expressed, comes down from the hills and plr~ins of the interior In drainage, the oyster has all the material it needs for building its house, and at the same time the innowing tide brings It ample food. -Boston Transcript. Germany Crowds England on the Sea. The naval weakness of Britain is no toriously the subject of earnest pro test by some of our most effcient ad mirals afloat, says a London corre spondent. German efficiency has al ready secured a formidable and homo geneous fleet. Already Germany holds the Atlantic record for speed. Her system of mail subsidies has secured a large portion of Asiatic and Australian trade. Her rate of increase in ship building, for the first time in history, has exceeded that of Great Britain. Germany has already stretched out her hands for t-he trident. Neither France nor Russia is impatient to assist us to recover the supremacy which we have listlessly allowed to slip from our hands-Detroit Free Press. British Like Our Ceneus Methods. Inquiries have been received from the British government concerning the methods of taking the American cen sus, because it has never been able to secure such comprehensive data, or even as complete a count of population, in ten years of continuous work as the American system has secured in 12 months. With 24 potential facts con cerning each individual accessible, the sociological and psychological prob lems of the present time, growing out of the assimitation of large masses of foreigners with the American people, become a fascinating study.--National Magazine. Hew France Got Into lndo-China. The connection of France ith Indo China dates back to 1748, when a ware house and a trading station were es tablished in Anam. The old customs of China still prevailed, the whole coun try having been under China for many centuries, until a native vice king led a successful revolt about the year 1430. During one of the internecine conflicts which broke out with due regularity among claimants and pretenders the aid of Louis XVI. of France was so licited, and a treaty of alliance was en tered into in 1787. Thus originated the first claim of France upon Indo-China. Smallest of the Small. While we are accustomed to think of atoms as the smallest possible particles into which matter can be divided, recent experiments, particu larly those of Dr. Gustave Le Bon, have indicated that, through elec trical dissociation, atoms themselves are capable of subdivision into parti cles of amazing minuteness. Many years ago Lord Kelvin calculated the probable size of a molecule of air, and according to him about 25,000.000 such molecules laid in a row would meas ure an inch. There would be 600 air molecules in a wave-length of ordi nary light. Every molecule is com posed of atoms smaller than itself. Now, Dr. Le Bon calculates that the particles dissociated by the electric energy which produces such phenom ena as the Becquerel rays are so small that even atoms would appear to be "infinitely large" in comparison with them.-Youth's Companion. Strange Snow on Mars. Prof. Johnstone Stoney, in develop. ing his theory of the escape of gases from planetary atmospheres depend ing upon the force of gravity of the particular planets concerned, has con cluded that helium at present is slow ly escaping from the earth, and in a distant past time it probably escaped much more rapidly.' From Mars, he says, water vapor must have escaped with about the same readiness as helium fled from the earth, and ac cordingly the variable white patches about the poles of Mars are not snow, but probably are frozen carbon diox ide. Other appearances frequently observed on Mars are due, he thinks, to low-lying fogs of carbon dioxide vapor shifting alternately between the poles and the equatorial regions. -Youth's Companion. signals at sea. The code of signals used by vessels at sea is prepared by a committee ap pointed at the international marine conferences that are held every few years. We had one at Washington in 1890, another one held at Copenhagen two years ago, at which revisions were adopted, which extended and simpli fled the code considerably. Each ship is required to have a set of fags and a supply of rockets which represent 200 or 300 combinations. These can be in terprted by the codebook into sen tences covering almost every possible situation or communication which any ship might want to send to another. Ships that pass in the night make sig nals by fire; in the day by flags.-N. Y. Times. Motor Posts in Australia. A frequent difficulty encou.dsewby postal authorities in Australia is the cheap and expeditious delivery of mails to outlying localities. Many of thesa places are hundreds of miles from the nearest railway line, and the route is apt to be through drought-stricken country, where the dry roads are at times impassable even by camels. This is conspicuously the case in tropical Queensland. But the government of that colony has risen to the emergency and has decided to try the experiment of dispatching mails to "out back" by motor car. The result is likely to be awaited with interest in other place. than Queensland.-London Daily Mail. Our Bad Manners. .A If we could get a consensus of hem et opinions from foreigners we should no doubt be told that our dominant national trait is-bad maners. We probably never shall live down the ef-. feet produced by the swaggering, rich "trippers" and shrieking girls who first represented us in Europe. They still are believed to be the true American types. "The American vulgarizes all . that he touches" has everywherepassed Into an adage.-"An American Moth-. er," in Ladies' Home Journal. A Disturbing Element. Lawyer-Are you acquainted with the defendant in this case? Witness-Yes; I've known him for years. "Have you ever known him to be a disturber of the public peace?" "Well-er-he personally conducted a number of trolley parties last sum mer."-Chicago Daily 19ews. Very Rich. District Visitor-Well, Mrs. O7l. herty, I hope your daughter has a good place. Mrs. O'Flaherty-Ohi, it's a mighty fone place, enturely! Sure, Bridget says that her mistress Is so rich that all her flannel petticoats is made of slkl-N. Y. World. Where It Would Not Work. "Johnny, dear, did you try to mind the golden rule in your dealings with your playmates at school to-day?" "Yes'm; till we had recess. You can't use It in football, you know. It'd kill the game deader'n a door naiL" Chicago Tribune. No Need of Bait. Crabshaw-I don't see where woman acquired her extravagance in dress. Eve wasn't that way. Mrs. Crabshaw-Of course not. There was only one man in the world then and she had him.-Puck. The Fashionable Front. "Madge Mizze Is awfully conven tional." "She Is?" "Yes; she will have a gold monogram on her note-paper even If she hasn't got shoes."-Indianapolis Journal. Sport for Real Fishermes. At Eyak, Alaska, are great fishing grounds. Halibut are caught there weighing 350 pounds, cod 42 pounds - and salmon 58 pounds.-N. Y. Sun. Guards on European Roya~lty. Eery royal palace in Europe has its specil private police, who, in one guise or another, are always on the lookout for suspicious persons.-N. Y. Sun. Two Suicides in one Firm The disappearance of E. Churchill 1offman several months ago from Atlan ta was a local sensatios and the news of his suicide in New York caused little surprise. He had beeri connected with the Southern Agricultural works as gen eral manager and was president of the Georgia Handle Compary. When the agricultural works failed he was called on to account for eerrain funds atd ma terial which he failed to do. The corn pany failed and Coffmsn disappeared. Prior to the failure of the two concerns Coffman had lived handsomely. He left the city when he saw demands made on him for cash and property of the two companies would be pressed. LHe left his wife and ohild hcro in apan~ments. Mrs. Cofiman was much disturbed over the troubles and the disappearaboe of her husband and soon after he left she uiekly departed. This is the second Jesth that has ocourrrd as a result of the failure of the Southern Agrioultural Works, as Mr. 8. Landauer, its former reidnt, committed suicide.