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! Tl MM By Mra. CLARA D. > I i | Written for the Yorkville Enquln m in m hi r m ? - in 111 PART I. A line of grey horizon, broken by a worm-fence which crawled across acres of red clay; some straggling dogberry bushes, shivering in the March wind; a mere apology for a house, set in a bare field, and some starveling chickens the only sign of life?:these objects came severally into view as Milton Weir climbed the hill, at the foot of which roared and tumbled a mountain stream. "Horrible! Horrible!" he ejaculated: "How can human creatures live so: He hallooed. There was no reply; but as his voice broke the cold stillness, a woman appeared on the threshold of the cabin, and stood there without speaking;. "Good evening!" Weir cried out, loud and cheery, "I want to see Jim Ross. Is he at home?" A shake of the tousled head was the only answer. "Can you tell me when he will be? I'm bound to see him today." The woman looked vacantly towards , the dogberry bushes, and shook her head again. "He mout and he moutn't," she muttered in the tone of a somnambulist. The vfsitor was impatient. He made a sound between a grunt and a snort, and turned to go. "Can't you give me any idea where I may find him?" Again the vacant stare fixed itself on the spot where the scraggy chickens cowered, but she uttered no word. Just then a child's figure appeared as by magic. Weir never could tell whence. She stood before him like a smokewreath. slender, fragile, tall and almost as unsubstantial. Pale strawcolored hair fell over her narrow shoulders, and the wan face scarce showed a brighter hue. Her bare feet and legs were blue with cold; a faded homespun frock revealed the outline of an undeveloped form. The engineer regarded her with interest. "Well child, maybe you can tell me where your ratner is. The girl replied by turning as abruptly as she had appeared, and walked down the path. Looking back after she had advanced a few steps, and perceiving that Weir had not followed, she said, "Come on. I'll show you." Down the hill she led the way, as swiftly over rough stones and 'wide clay gullies as a gazelle on its native heights. Her companion kept up, his stalwart stride in ludicrous contrast to the gliding step beside him. To his questions she returned only monosyllables from which he could gather little, and not till they reached the broad country road which ran parallel to the rapid river, where his prospecting tour for a factory site had ended, did Weir surmise their destination. He had passed "the store"' only a short time before, and thro* the broken window heard high-pitched voices in excited argument. Jim Ross was considered the best pioneer in the county, and it was to engage his services in further investigation of water courses that the en gineer sought him. Now with the intuition of a man of the world, he saw where the difficulty would lie. As the tiny figure flitted before him, thro' the rapidly falling dusk, her thin patched skirt fluttering in the wind coming keen as a knife-edge from the distant ridge of blue to the northwest, Weir felt an unaccustomed thrill of pity. "Ain't you cold?" he asked. The child turned about suddenly and looked him full in the face. The pupils of her eyes were distended till only a rim of dark violet was visible, and an expression of intense feeling lightened the thin, drawn features. "No," she replied, her lips folding tightly over the small teeth. "I'm hot." A scarlet spot burnt on her cheek, and Weir could scarcely follow fast enough as she bounded forward and fairly fled up the dilapidated steps of the store. Its sign creaked in the gate, whereon was the faded legend: "Groceries and Dry Goods." A door opening upon the narrow porch, stood ajar, and an abominable odor of cheap tobacco and the vilest whisky poisoned the air. The high pitched voices were arguing still. A listener might hear war in their words before he entered the dark, foul room. A fire in the rusty stove was almost out, but it was kept warm by propinquity and profanity. A short, coarse looking man, evidently the proprietor, leant upon the counter, and threw in a soothing word occasionally. The unusual sight of a stranger roused his business instincts. "Move round, boys, and make room for the gentleman," he called out, coming forward with a broken chair. "Have a seat, sir. Cold evening, ain't it? Take something to drink." The engineer replied in a sharp negative, and turned to the group, "Where's Jim Ross? I want to speak to him." A long, lean body, dropping nearly double upon an empty goods box, shook itself, and rose with that innate couru'hUK cnnmo pharuptpHyp n true southerner. He held out an unsteady l and and smiled in a maudlin way. "Do me proud, sir," he hiccoughed: "Jeems Ross, esquire, at your service, sir. Take some'n to drink!" Weir moved his hand in a gesture of impatience, mingled with disgust. "I'm n<?t a drinking man," he said, shortly, for the benefit of the crowd. "I'm here <>n business. Come outside, 'Mr. Ross, and let's talk." His abrupt, masterly manner had its effect. The man made a great effort, and slouched toward the door, the others making way for him respectfully. Suddenly this atmosphere had grown peaceful as a May dawn. Each brown-bearded face looked solemn as befitted a juncture of importance. Onlv an occasional discharge of surplus tobacco juice broke the depressing calm. As Ross approached, the girl, who had lingered on the porch, came up and took her father's hand. "Pap," she whispered, "when you get through with the man. won't you go home?" The watery but kind eyes rested a moment on her anxious face. "Tita," he murmured, "my pore little gal. how come you here so late in the cold?" "I come with the man. He wants to see you. It's 'bout work, pappy. Oh. TA ARGAN MACLEAN i 1 1 ?r. *" "? do try to do what he wants an' inebbe he *11 pay you moiey an'?" She glanced wistfully at the big, awe ins-piring figure watting near. 'Yes, yes," straightening himself with the pitiful vanity of a besotted creatui , "Jeems Ross, esquire, kin do anything that any gentleman kin do." "Well," the engineer said with decision. "I don't want you in the capacity of a gentleman. I wish you to shew me round the headwaters of this river. Come, brace up, and tell me if you can start in the morning at 5 o'clock sharp. I've got no time to fool away." The fresh air had cleared some of th*? fnmos frnm his hrain. and Jim Ross caught eagerly at the offer. Thriftlessness, almlessness and idleness were the demons dragging him down with many companions, to an earthly hell of despair lighted only by the lurid glare of alcohol. Each soul in some hour of clear judgment saw the end, but no* friendly hand was stretched out to rescue. Barren fields, blighted or[chards. burnt homes?to these they had returned after four years of fighting, and with one voice they seemed to say, "AH these things are against us. We will lie down and die!" Jim Ross had been a good son, a good soldier, and a good citizen, but he proved a woful failure as a husband and house-holder. "Circumstances," he said, "were too powerful agin him." The weak will succumb in the day of adversity, and little TIta, named in an outburst of romanticism left over from a few seasons at an old-field school, knew but the pale shadow of the strong, brave, honest mountaineer who had marched off when the bugles blew in '61. Some memory of that pristine ner'od stirred the torpid energies now He straightened himself till he looked like a tall pine of his own breezy land, and slapped his shrunken chest, "I'm your man, sir!" he exclaimed. "Five o'clock It is. Where'll I meet you?" Weir gave the details of the excursion precisely, and then turning o go, added. "I advise you to take your daughter home at onc?. This is no place for her." The frown on his brow softened as he took the child-face in his two warm hands. "See that your father does not forget his appointment," he said kindly as one friend speaks to another, and went out into the darkness, leaving a strange sense of happiness in the heart that had never known its meaning. Ross did not linger at the store. He announced his "engagement with the gentleman" in a pompous voice to the admiring, but not envious group, received the congratulations of the proprietor who saw in this arrangement a probable settlement of old scores anj a brisker trade subsequently; and having found his tattered hat, started off, holding Tita's hand in a truly fatherly clasp. The night was very dark and the old man was very drunk. He staggered and stumbled along in a dazed way over the first few hundred 3*ards or so of the broken road, and then stopped short. "I'm all tired out," he said. "I must set down and rest." "Oh. pappy," the child cried in a fright, "do don't! If you set down, you can't get up again. You know you was a soldier once. Come on! I'll hold you up. Lean on me." She lifted the shaking hand and laid it upon her shoulder. Thus supported, he managed to get on till they reached the foot of the hill, not, however, without protesting from time to time against the unnecessary exertion. "I can't go no furder," he groaned. "I'm bound to lay down and rest." In vain the plaintive voice pleaded and urged. She tried to push him forward. and tugged at his limp arms. At length he sank down in a heap and deliberately went to sleep. The night wind howled and shrieked across hilltop and yawning canyon, but he heeded it not. The long limbs were lax: the.features seen in the ghastly moonlight flickering through the flying scud, were pallid and damp with death dew. The shrill, frantic calls of the child re-echoed over the bleak heights, but no answering cry replied. In her hunger haunted sleep the wife of the dying man was conscious of nothing but want and cold. There was neither past nor future for her. And so the tragedy of a human life drew to its close. Badly acted as the part had been. Jim Ross had at last reached Its conclusion, and has to die as he had lived, a superb hero to one appalled and shuddering spectator. PART II. Upon a spur of the range which dominates the western districts of the state, rose a home crowded with the accumnloto.l lnvnrioo on/1 nr\rr\ f r\ft nnnrp. ciated only by refined tastes. Broad balconies Hank the massive masonry of its wall of native stone: from the terraces. bright with the bloom of many climes, a landscape is beheld, rivalling in majesty, in sweetness and in light, the far-famed scenes of the Old World. Primeval forest, verdant valley, cascades leaping from dizzy heights, streams winding through glens of romantic beauty?these details are wrought out as upon the canvas of a mighty artist: while circling tlie whole are the cloud-kissing peaks of the magnificent Appalachians, foundation stones of the continent. Standing upon the terrace steps, her fair hair tinted by the evening sun into pale gold, was a young woman, whose slight figure would have indicated a mere girl, but for the serious, almost melancholy expression of her countenance. She looked evidently upon the turnpike, which ran along the base of the mountain, and was finally lost in distance. The approach of an elderly and very handsome lady, broke in upon her revery. "They are not yet in sight." she said, going forward to meet the advancing slip, and plucking a rose, placed it against the burnished satin of her companion's bodice. A caress rewarded her. "My love." the lady said, touching her cheek with a tender hand, "you look pale. Are you quite well?" "Entirely so. dear mother, but I confess some anxiety for my guardian. You know the steamer was due Wed iHiscrllanrous grading. DEEP FALL PLOWING. Discussion About Important Matter By High Authority. The following bulletin issued by the bureau of plant industry of the United States department of agriculture, deals in a comprehensive and authoritative way with a subject that is of tremendous interest and importance to those who seek to be informed on correct agricultural methods: nesday, and as he would take the train at once, he should be here by the five o'clock express. It Is now after six." As she spoke, however, a light vehicle came round a bend of the road, "and drove rapidly toward the mansion. A wave of faint pink passed over the girl's face, transforming it as sunlight a field of ripened grain. She spoke not, but clasped her hands and watched the approaching carriage. Mrs. Manning was herself flushed and excited. Her only brother was coming home after an absence of many years abroad, engaged in perfecting the great scheme of his life?to induce emigration and bring in capital with which to build up the waste places of the desolated south. Before leaving, he had seen the fulfillment of one dream, the establishment of a factory at Glen Burnie, as the hamlet was called. The I water-power located ten years before by him was employed in running the largest cotton factory in that part of the country. Hundreds of families had found food, shelter and better still, employment, In the busy whirl of innumerable spindles. There was a new zest in life. Fields long lying fallow, yielded rich harvest; orchards were weighted with the fruits of a pruned and cultivated growth. Everywhere were peace and smiling plenty, and In the hearts of a patient people, a sense of great thankfulness. As Milton Weir stepped now upon his native heath, he had the air of a genuine Macgregor?self-contained and self-reliant as of old. and with the same straightforward simplicity of manner. Time had not aged him. On the contrary, as is often the case in physiques dominated by an ever youthful spirit, he had a clearer eye and a more buoyant aspect. The shadow of nn anxious, almost overbearing ambition, had passed away, leaving his broad brow as placid as a morning in ripe October and as full of promise. The two waiting women clasped each, an outstretched hand and received a kiss upon glowing cheeks, "Thank God! It is good to be here once more," his voice resonant and hearty as of yore. Then looking from one to the other, he exclaimed, "To see you both so well and happy is doubly good." His eyes rested upon Tita, the child of his adoption, the smoke-wreath had materialized upon the rugged mountain side yonder that fateful March day. Her hair a shade darker maybe; the slender form almost ethereal in its robe of fleecy white, was taller but scarcely less lithe than when she bounded before him on the path to the store; while in the large eyes Milton Weir again saw the pupils, deep purple as the heart of a Parma violet, expanding with intense feeling. The germ of the woman had been in the neglected child, circumstances?nay a loving providence?had provided the conditions for its perfect development. As on that memorable night, again a thrill, strange and unaccustomed, passed through the being of this man, who has been the instrument of her deliverance. But it was not now an emotion of painful pity; and when, a few days later, the two?self-constituted guardian and beloved protege? stood together at the foot of the granite boulder, where a seemingly useless ovlsipnrp hurt nasspil Into eternltv. Mil ton Weir realized the truest happiness that can come to a sincere soul?duty done without a dream of reward. Yet that reward had come. The heart of the child rested like a bird on its nest upon the power and probity of the man beside her that woful night when he found her by the dead body of her father. Swiftly retracing his steps, with a sense of irresistible foreboding, he had followed the pair on their homeward way. But he had come too late. Together they saw the last flutter of the paralyzed vital forces, and the moment that proclaimed the weeping girl an orphan, fixed the noblest purpose of a busy life. The morning sun was now flooding the encircling hills with a radiance like erold-dust from the forges of the gods. An intoxicating perfume of rhododendrons and a subtler odor of wild grapes and bee-haunted clovers filled the air. There was a distant low of cattle and the tinkling of bells as they wandered in wide, lush pastures, feeding on juicy grasses. Sight, sound, smell, all were ineffably soothing and sweet. But the child of the mountain hut, the loving and lovely daughter of a splendid home, kept in her faithful heart but one sense, in her mind but one menory?the man who had first showed kindness to her father, poor, neglected, despised, but never forgotten Jim Ross. She had no thought or desire that was not filled and dominated by the presence Desiae ner. "Yes." she whispered, in answer to a question fraught with the destiny of those two lives, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" THE END. FORETOLD HIS FUTURE. The Message Carl Schurz Received From Spirit Land. An extraordinary experience with a medium is given in Carl Schurz memoirs in McClure's. After receiving what purported to be a message from Schiller. General Schurz asked that the spirit of Lincoln be summoned to tell why President Johnson had called Schurz to Washington. "The answer came, 'He wants you to make an important journey for him.' I asked where that journey would take me. Answer, 'He will tell you tomorrow.' I asked further whether 1 should undertake that journey. Answer, 'Yes: do not fall.' (I may add, by the way, that at that time 1 had not the slightest anticipation as to what President Johnson's intention with regard to me was.) "Having disposed of this matter, 1 asked whether the spirit of Lincoln had anything more to say to me. The answer came. 'Yes; you will be a senator of the United States.' This struck me as so fanciful that I could hardly suppress a laugh, bu I asked further, 'From what state?' Answer, "from Missouri. J ois ?as mvir jjiwvoklngly mysterious still, but there the conversation ceased. "Hardly anything could have been more improbable at that time than that I should be a senator of the United States from the state of Missouri. My domicile was in Wisconsin, and I was then thinking of returning there. I had never thought of removing from Wisconsin to Missouri, and there was not the slightest prospect of my ever doing so. "But. to forestall my narrative, two years later I was surprised by an en- ; tirely unsought and unexpected business proposition which took me to St. Louis, and in January. 1869, the legislature of Missouri elected me a senator of the United States. I then remembered the prophecy made to me at the spirit seance in the house of my friend Tiedemann in Philadelphia." 1 Ai me commencemeiu 01 me runners' Co-operative Demonstration Work In the southern states It was found necessary to outline the fundamental principles of good farming and to Insist that the tillers of the soil should become familiar with them and practice them as a first step In the betterment of farm life. We have previously stated these first principles, but possibly they should be more fully explained. Preparation of the Seed Bed. Prepare a deep and thoroughly pulverized seed bed. well drained; break ivi f hn fo 11 fa n /InrvtK a f Q 1 fl Ar 19! in iiit mil ii7 a- uc^iu vi o? xv ui AM Inches, according to the soil, with implements that will not bring too much of the subsoil to the surface. (The foregoing depths should be reached gradually.) The presence of heat, air, and moisture is essential to chemical and germ action in the preparation of plant food in the soil. The depths to which these penetrate the soil depend upon the depth of the plowing, provided the soil is well drained. There is no use in plowing down Into a subsoil full of water. It has been proved beyond that the roots of plants penetrate the soil deeper and feed deeper in deeply plowed land. Thus, in general. It may be stated that when the soil is plowed 3 inches deep the plants have 3 inches of food; when plowed 6 inches deep, they have 6 inches of food, and when plowed 10 inches deep they have 10 inches of food. The fact that the bottom portions of the plowed land are not as rich in available plant food as the top portions shows the necessity of getting more air and heat down to them by deeper tillage. The most essential condition for fertile soil is a constant supply of mois ture, so that a film of water can envelop the soil particles and absorb nutritive elements. The hair roots of plants drink this for nourishment. If there is any more than enough to serve as films for the soil particles and capillary water, there is too much and it should be drained off. This can be determined by digging a hole 20 inches deep. If there is standing water in the bottom of the hole, it indicates too much water In the soil or subsoil. The capacity of a given soil to hold film and capillary moisture depends upon how finely it is pulverized and upon the amount of humus in it. Unplowed lands retain but little water. Thoroughly pulverized soil 3 Inches deep can not store enough to make a crop. In all southern states there are every year periods of drought, sometimes not serious, but generally , sufficiently protracted to reduce the crop. The remedy for this is increased storage capacity for moisture. This can be accomplished by deep and thorough tillage and by filling the soil with humus (partly decayed vegetation). The effect of deep tillage has been explained. The effect of humus is to greatly increase the storage capacity of soils for water and to reduce evaporation. A pound of humus will store seven and one-half times as much moisture as a pound of sand, and the sand will lose its water by evaporation three and onehalf times more rapidly than the humus. A clay soil will store only about one-fourth as much moisture as humus, and will lose it by evaporation twice as rapidly. Plants use an enormous quantity of water. An acre of good corn will absorb and evaporate during its growth nearly 10 inches of water. About threefourths of this amount will be require during' tne last seventy-nve aays 01 us growth, or at the rate of 2 2-5 Inches of water a month. This is in addition to evaporation from the soil, which, even with the retarding influence of a dust mulch, will amount to several inches each month in -midsummer. In case the land is plowed only 3 or 4 inches deep, though thoroughly pulverized, it will store an amount of moisture entirely insufficient to supply crop requirements in any protracted drought. These shallow and generally poorly prepared seed beds are the principal cause of the low corn yields in the south, and they affect the cotton yields similarly, but not so much, because cotton is a more drought-resisting plant than corn If planting is done at all, it is folly to prepare a seed bed so shallow as to bring about the almost total loss of the crop some years and a reduced crop every year. Many farmers plow or cultivate their corn nearly as deeply as they break their land in preparing a seed bed, this leaves no space for roots in the pulverized and aired soil. Roots occupy a large space. If all the roots of a single vigorous cornstalk were placed end to end they would reach more than a mile, and if allowed by the plowing they will fill the soil to a considerable depth and feed in all portions of it. The Root System of Corn. At the Wisconsin agricultural experiment station it was found that when corn was 3 feet high the roots had penetrated the soil for 2 feet and thoroughly occupied it. At maturity the roots were 4 feet deep. At this time the upper laterals were about 4 inches from the surface. At the North Dakota agricultural experiment station the corn roots had penetrated 3i feet deep and fully occupied the ground ninety days after planting. At the Minnesota agricultural experiment station the corn roots had penetrated 12 inches deep and had spread laterally 18 inches eighteen days after planting. In most portions of the south nothing less than an 8-inch seed bed will insure even a fair corn crop, and 10 inches is safer. Some soils may require more. From 6 to 8 inches of preparation for cotton corresponds to 8 and 10 inches for corn, so far as the requirements of the plant are concerned. What Is Deep PlowingPlowing 3, 4, 5, or 6 inches deep is only common plowing. In our instructions nothing less than 8 inches is considered "deep" plowing. We are not advocating a single plowing of 8 inches in depth once in two or three years, but the preparation of an 8-inch seed bed thoroughly pulverized and filled with humus. It should be plowed and cross plowed to that depth, or if cross plowing can not be safely done on account of hills then it should be plowed twice In the same direction and disked thoroughly or the smoothing harrow repeatedly used. When Should This Plowing Be Done? Always plow lr the fall before the winter rains set in; the earlier after the first of October the better. Always use a cover crop of oats, barley, wheat, or rye, if possible. Every observant farmer has noted that seeds germinate more quickly and that plants grow more rapidly on fall breaking than on spring breaking. Fall plowing renders more plant food ready for use, while the preparation of the land In the fall naves work In the spring, when everything on the farm is crowding. A cover crop Is a net gain. It keeps the soli from washing. It utilizes the plant food that otherwise might escape into the air, and it adds humus. The soil Is Improved by the crop and winter grazing is provided. In plowed land the loss of plant food is less than In unplowed land; more plant food may be produced and more can be stored. In case a cover crop is used the loss of plant food is slight. An objection is sometimes urged that fall-plowed soil becomes saturated with water during the winter and remains wetter and colder later in the spring than land left unbroken in the fall. This is true only upon land not sufficiently drained and where the breaking is shallow. Water passes through deep breaking readily, and with reasonable drainage it is ready for planting earlier than lands broken in the spring. When land Is nearly level and drainage poor, the soil should not be flatbroken, but left in ridges or narrow lands about 5 or 6 feet wide, suitable for planting, with a dead furrow between. This provides winter drainage and keeps the pulverized soil out of the water, which is Important even if unbroken. Deepening the Soil. The advice to go down gradually is given solely because the inexperienced farmer may try tp plow too deeply the first time and bring to the surface too much of the subsoil. The best plan is to double plow; that is, to follow the breaking plow in the same furrow with a narrower plow or a scooter (with sides removed) and go down as deeply as desired. Generally the disk plow may be sent down 8 or 10 Inches with Impunity If the plowing is done In the fall, and especially if the land is plowed twice or more. There is no question that breaking and pulverizing to a depth of 8 to 10 or 12 inches is economical. The cost of breaking 10 inches deep when done with a disk plow should not be more than 50 cents an acre in excess of breaking 6 inches deep. Whether a plant has plenty of food all the time or only pa?*t of the time makes the difference between a good crop and a poor crop. Ic It Advisable to Plow Deeper than 8, 10 or 12 Inches? The depth of plowing must be determined by the farmer himself. He knows the conditions and is the best Judge of the cost. In many sections, if done in the fall it undoubtedly pays to subsoil 15 or 20 inches. This has been proved by some of the best farmers and experimenters in the world. Some subsoils in humid climates have been made sc close and compact by the abundant rainfall that air does not penetrate them to aid in preparing plant food. Such fields, therefore, may not show any benefits of subsolling until after two or more years. It rarely pays to subsoil land In the spring, and it is never advisable to use I fhti onhanll nlnu? urhon tha ailhqnil ifl OUWUV.t f?V f? " "V.. *?V fully saturated with water, even though the surface be fairly dry. Under such conditions of plowing the clay subsoil Is pressed and packed, when the object Is to pulverize It and allow the air to act upon It. Experience Agrees With Theory. No principle in agriculture has been more thoroughly demonstrated than the value of a deep, thoroughly pulverized seed bed. The Romans plowed on an average 9 inches deep?always three times for a crop, and in stiff lands nine times. They did not call 3 inches "plowing"; it was only "scarifying." The Flemish farmers were the first to follow the better lines of agriculture after the Dark Ages. They devoted their efforts to three main points: (1) The frequent and deep pulverization of the soil, (2) the accumulation of manure. and (3) the destruction of weeds. A deeper and more thoroughly pulverized seed bed was the foundation upon which England built an improved agriculture, and this principle has been generally accepted there for more than one hundred and sixty years, until the average production has increased nearly five-fold. A late letter from Hon. William Saunders, director of the Central experimental farm, Ottawa, Canada, states that farmers usually plow shailowly immediately after harvest (August) "to preserve moisture and destroy weeds. ? * * In October they commonly plow 8 inches deep. Any plowing done in the spring months is usually shallow, not more than 6 inches deep." Eight inches of breaking in October in Canada, where frosts penetrate 3 or 4 feet deep, is better for moisture storage than plowing to a depth of 15 inches in the southern states. The writer has visited a number of southern agricultural colleges this year. In every case the directors of their experiment stations favored a deep and thon>ugh1y prepared seed bed. The Georgia experiment station bulletins repeatedly urge a deep, mellow, and rich seed bed for corn, and they insist that if the soil is not naturally such it should be made so by deep tillage and the addition of humus. Bulletin No. 63 of the Georgia experiment station, on "cotton" states that "fourteen years of experimentation have justified certain conclusions that may be accepted as practically final." The following Is one of them: "Thorough breaking and commingling of the upper soil, gradually increasing the depth to 8 or 10 inches, using plow and harrow, is more effective than deeper but less thorough pulverizing." On the sugar plantations of Louisiana the tillage for cane averages 12 to 15 inches in depth. On the Eva plantation, in the Hawaiian Islands, the average depth of plowing is 30 Inches. This plantation produces the largest crops of sugar cane to the acre in the world. In the Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration Work the importance of a deep and thoroughly prepared seed bed like a garden has been most widely demonstrated. Thousands of tests have been made each year by exact and painstaking farmers to an extent that leaves no possible room for doubt as to the great value of a deep and thoroughly prepared seed bed. Concretely stated, a deep, thoroughly pulverized seed bed filled with humus has the following advantages: /i\ Tf rvrntflHou mnro fnrwl hPOflllSP it increases chemical action and multi-1 plies bacterial life In a larger body of soil. (2) It stores more moisture and It loses Its moisture less rapidly on account of its cooler lower strata and the presence of more humus. (3) It Increases the number of roots that a plant will throw out. (4) It allows plants to root deeper and find permanent moisture. (5) It largely obviates the necessity of terracing, because It holds so much water In suspension that heavy rainfalls will go to the bottom and be held by the drier earth above until they can be absorbed by the subsoil. (6) Humus enables the soil to store moisture, Increases Its temperature, makes It more porous, furnishes plant food, stimulates chemical action, and fosters bacterial life. Exception* Due to Conditions of Soil ard Subsoil. (1) Never plow below the line of standing water In the soil, because the subsoil can not be pulverized in water. The water level must first be lowered by drainage. (2) Do no deep fall plowing on light, sandy land on dry, semiarld plains, and this especially applies to elevated sandy tabl(-lands. Such lands can be helped by adding humus and using a winter cov< r crop of durum wheat. (3) Do not plow deeply or subsoil In the spring. The subsoil Is generally too full of water, and it Is too late for much effective action of the air upon the soil and for the winter rains to firm the subsoil before planting for cotton. (4) Thin gray soils underlaid with yellow or stiff clay near the surface, most of the post-oak flats, and the comparatively level coast lands should be broken In ridges (back-furrowed) 5, 6 or 7 feet wide, according to the crop to be planted. Cotton and corn may be left thicker In the row to offset the wider space between the rows. The dead furrow between the rows should be double-plowed and made as deep as practicable, with a good outlet for the water. This method will gradually deepen the soil, increase drainage, reduce washing, and give a larger and deeper body of loose, aired earth for the roots. This plan Is excellent when surface drainage is necessary. Soil to be live and friable must be kept out of standing water winter and summer. The sugur planters of Louisiana all use the ridge method (generally 7 feet wide) both for sugar cane and corn. The dead furrow is as deep as a plow drawn by 4 or 8 heavy mules can penetrate at the last breaking. This gives an average depth of tillage of 12 or 15 inches. The adoption of the ridge method on demonstration fields in the Yazoo Delta in 1906 increased the yield of corn from 14 bushels per acre to 70 bushels. No fertilizer was used. Winter Management. In case no winter cover crop is used the soil should be disked or harrowed two or three times during the winter, provided it is dry enough. Give good drainage to all parts of the field. And cultivation done after the deep fall breaking should be shallow?not more than 3 or 4 Inches deep. S. A. Knapp, Special Agent In Charge. Approved: B. T. Galloway, Chief of Bureau. September 15, 1908. "W Chemists say that papers written with the Ink in general use today will be Illegible in twenty-seven years. .JtiTAmerican manufacturers of well drilling machinery have a practical monopoly of the business throughout the world. itsr It has been decided that a congress of the chambers of commerce of the British empire will meet In Australia during the year 1909. itv Nearly all medical men in the West Indies advise the wearing of thin woolen and not cotton underwear. Many persons wear "cholera belts" of flannel. "E mil m Y 1 . 2 man inten pathos, wr This st by Special Be si "THE J ALASKA AN EMPIRE. Interview With an Army Officer Long Stationed There. "Alaska Is an empire without a population." said Quartermaster J. Schick, of the Tenth United States Infantry, to a reporter for the Washington Post. "For two years I have been stationed there in connection with the installa-' tion of the telegraph lines under government direction, and I am wonderfully impressed with the future of that country. As large as all that portion' of the United States west of the Mississippi river, it has a population of AMi.. on nnn uiii> uv,vvv, aiiu iiic pcupic ui mc olair.i have but a hint of the wealth within Its boundaries. "Although $11,000,000 In gold was shipped out of Fairbanks alone this year, in spite of the strike there, and $7,000,000 was shipped out of Nome, Alaska's mineral resources have scarcely been scratched. Through a large section there are not two miles In which paying gold cannot be struck. Thousands of men have been induced to go to certain sections of Alaska in search of gold on false representations, and then have turned around and on their own account have dug down and found gold for themselves. Alaska is the richest asset the United States has. "The seasons are short," Mr. Schick continued. "They open in May and close in October, and all the supplies for the region must be shipped into the country during that period. Nevertheless, the best potatoes in the world are raised there during that short season, and many other things?in fact, almost everything else?can be grown. In the southern section of Alaska, of course, all forms of agriculture and stock raising are engaged in with growing success. But I speak now mainly of upper Alaska. "You don't see AIe:-.Ka except in winter time. In the summer it is much like any other country, but the winters are wonderful. It is the healthiest place in tne woria. xou see men ou ana iw years old doing: hard manual labor without exhaustion, so exhilarating: Is the climate. Its healthful qualities are being recognized, and away up to Hot Springs there Is a hotel that cost $250,000. It Is built mostly of logs, It Is true, but It has a natatorium as big as this lobby. Yes, sir, Alaska has a wonderful future." Quartermaster Schick and Lieutenant G. C. Rockwell are on a leave of absence, the Tenth Infantry recently having returned from Fort Gibson, Alaska, to Fort Benjamin Harrison. The two officers made the trip to Washington from New York In an automobile, and had no trouble with the authorities until they pulled up in front of the New Willard hotel, where they were arrested by a policeman and taken to headquarters, charged with speeding, but released on their own recognizance. "We did not for a moment suspect we were violating the speed ordinance," said one of the officers. SPECIAL TRAINING. Opinion That Aptitude I* the Secret of Business Success. None of our institutions of learning: have ever attempted a more interesting: experiment than Harvard university is about to launch In its college of industrial captaincy," said Wallace R. Coiburn, a retired merchant of Kansas City, to a New York Telegram reporter. "Business men who are retiring from the activities of trade naturally look upon the new idea as more ideal than practical, but we must not forget that methods of fifty years ago have departed from business never to return. "While it is true that conditions and requirements are altogether different now, I question whether the new higher business training scheme Is capable of turning out the man who will be needed. I am inclined to believe that ^ > # ? ? > ^ I # I I # ? ? > I # > ? i # nil? Tim/i IXT/^C inty juvjivi^muc: BY OPIE READ , BE THE ENQUIRER'S next Se ?the opening Chapters of which o appear in these columns. Watch md read them if you enjoy a sto ist, near to nature and full of hi itten in the Masterworkman's be ory is copyrighted and is to be i Permission of the Publishers. ure to read the Opening Cha UCKLINGS," by Opie Re ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? despite these plans for stuffing: business ability Into a man through the medium of a special course of two years after he has finished college, we will find at the end of the next quarter of a century that the men who are at the head of our great commercial corporations will have to come up on account of their Individual fitness regardless of special training, Just as our leading business men of today came up. In other words, If business Is to be made a higher art the natural genius of a man will count for more than all the courses of a business college of the proposed type." BUYING A RING. A Story They Tell In Japan to Illustrate Occidental Love. "The Japanese marry out of esteem and trust to the coming of love afterward," said a Japanese lady. "With us when loves comes It lasts. We have a song that we like to sing?'I want to live to ninety-nine years, and you must live to be a hundred, so that we may be happy while our hair ;rows gray.' "That Is better," she continued, "than the love that comes swiftly and as swiftly flies away again. They tell in Japan a story illustrative of this transitory love?the love of your west. "A tourist, they say, was touring Brittany. He came to Qulmper, and he found In the Placs Publlque beside the river and old woman selling trinkets. " 'What Is the price of this?' he asked, taking up an antique ring of silver and sapphires. " 'Is it for your wife or for your sweetheart?' said the old woman. " 'For my sweetheart.' "'Fifty frans!' " 'Fifty francs! Nonsense!' And the tourist turned angrily away. " 'Come back,' said the old woman. 'Take It for ten. You've been lying to me, mougn. iou nave no sweemean, Had the ring been for her you'd have bought it at once without regard to Its price.' " 'I will take It,' said the tourist, smiling. 'Here are the 10 francs.' "So the old woman wrapped the ring up. " 'But you haven't a wife either,' she grumbled. 'If it had been for her you'd have beaten me down to five francs. Oh, you men!'" UNIFORM STANDARDS. Comment on the Idea of a Well-Known American Lunatic. At various times and places universal standards have been suggested, writes a "One Time American" in * Berlin paper, by which the intelligence of a nation should be judged. Thus, its estimate of the worth of women, its consumption of soap, its patronage of newspapers, etc. Why not Include also its credulity as to America and its people? A local paper, he continues, prints a column interview with one Louis A. Oourdain, who predicts that a royalist party, which numbers over 3,000 voters and ha3 a strong organization in every state of the Union, will within three years overthrow the government at Washington and establish a monarchy, with a mysterious woman of royal ancestry but born in the United States as queen. The future queen's name is "Helen of New York." She is young, beautiful and unmarried, but the leaders "will have no difficulty when the time for marriage comes to bring about a union with a member of a European royal family." A near nobility will be created, and the men who are now known as "bosses" will be the first barons, counts, etc. The paper makes no comment on the matter, and undoubtedly recognizes the real worth of the story, but not so the people. "They take it seriously," says the writer, "and only recently I heard a number of men, of more than average intelligence, discuss at a club, in all seriousness, the advent of Queen Helen. These are the men who. when they go to New York for the first time, are disappointed when they see no Apache Indians." 5] rial Story are soon I iforthem I 00000 ry of hu- 1 jmor and st style. published \pters of I 1J