Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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McCORMICK MESSENGER. McCORMfCK. S. C.. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1940 "V - Smart Sports Frock With Useful Pockets DOCKET frocks are very smart 4 especially sports and resort types like this (1889-B), which gives pointed importance to the pockets that Paris is newly spon soring as both decorative and use ful. This charming design is real ly everything you want in a new dress for sports and daytime. It’s young and casual. It buttons down the front so that it’s easy to put on. The wide, inset belt and the shoulder portions, cut in one with the sleeves, make it flattering to the figure. You’ll greatly enjoy adding this frock to your midwinter wardrobe right how—in bright wool or fiat crepe if you’re staying on the job, in pastel silk or cotton if you’re flitting South. Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1889-B is designed for sizes 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20. Corresponding bust meas urements 30, 32, 34, 36 and 38. Size 14 (32) requires, with short sleeves, 3% yards of 39-inch ma terial; with long sleeves, 4 yards. For a pattern of this attractive model send 15 cents in coins, your name, address^style, number and size to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1324, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. Beware Coughs from common colds That Hang On Creomulston relieves promptly be cause it goes right to the seat or the trouble to loosen germ laden phlegm. Increase secretion and aid nature to soothe and heal raw, tender, inflam ed bronchial mucous membranes. No matter how many medicines you have tried, tell your druggist to sell you a bottle of Creomulsion with the understanding that you are to like the way it quickly allays the cough or you are to have your money back. CREOMULSION for Coughs, Chest Colds, Bronchitis Fair Words He who gives you fair words feeds you with an empty spoon. ON A DIET? Try This Help A deficiency of Vitamin B Complex and Iron In year diet can contribute to seri ous weakening of your strength. By all take Vlnol with your diet for Its heloful Vitamin B Complex and Iron. At your drag store, or write Vino! Co., M I. Wabasha. St. Paul, Minn. WNU—7 8-40 As We Wish What ardently we wish, we soon believe. Watch Your Kidneys/ Help Them Cleanse the Blood of Harmful Body Waste Tour Iddnevs are constantly filtering wmato matter from the blood stream. But kidneys sometimes lag in their work—do not set as Nature intended—fail to re- more Impurities that, if retained, may B ison the system and upset the whole dy machinery. Symptoms may be nagging backache, persistent headache, attacks of dizziness, getting np nights, swelling, puffineas under the eyes—a feeling of nervous anxiety and loss of pep and strength. Other signs of kidney or bladder dis order are sometimes burning, scanty or goo frequent urination. There should be no doubt that prompt treatment is wiser than neglect. Use boon’s Pillt. Doan’s have been winning new friends for more than forty years. Tney have a nation-wide reputation. Are recommended by grateful people the country over. Ask your neighbort George Washington-*-''First in Farming,” Too WASHINGTON AT MOUNT VERNON, 1787 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) A VIRGINIA gentleman djpped his goose-quill pen into an inkpot and began writing a letter. Now and then he would glance up thoughtfully, his eyes sweep ing over broad acres fringing the Potomac. He was middle- aged,* of commanding phy sique, with a stern, yet kindly face. The letter, dated Decem ber 12, 1788, said: “The more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better I am pleased with them, in so much that I can nowhere find so great satis faction as in those innocent and useful pursuits. Indulg ing these feelings I am led to reflect how much more de lightful to an undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth than all the vainglory that can be acquired from ravag ing it.” Thus in the fullness of his years and honors did George Washington write to his Eng lish friend, Arthur Young. Every American is familiar with “Light Horse Harry’’ Lee’s characterization of Washington as “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Country men.’’ Few Americans, perhaps, are aware that Washington laid just claim to another distinction. He was “First in Farming.’’ Washington was America’s first scientific agriculturist. He preached the gospel of soil im provement in season and out; he made original discoveries in crop rotation, seed selection and live stock breeding; he carried on im portant experiments in the use of fertilizers; he pioneered in the use of farm machinery. Made Farming Pay. The Father of his Country was a shrewd and canny farmer. He made agriculture pay. He be came the richest man in the Unit ed States by reason of his success with the soil. At his death Wash ington, by his will, disposed of more than 49,000 acres of farm land, including his beloved Mount Vernon as well as far-flung do mains in Ohio and elsewhere, which were rented or farmed by his deputies. His landed estate was valued at $530,000, while he had additional buildings, equip ment, live stock and other invest ments worth $220,000. His slaves were not included in this inven tory, for he freed them all in his will. Washington’s serious farming career began in 1759, at the age of 27. He had inherited Mount Vernon, married the charming Martha Custis and received a handsome dowry in lands and chattels. For the 16 years he was to devote himself to the land. Farmer Washington had plenty to contend with, however. The land he inherited was worn out by a century of tobacco growing. Concentration on this single crop year after year, with no rotation and no attempt at fertilization, had seriously impoverished the land. Unlike the farmer of today who can get advice from his coun ty agent, state agricultural col lege or experiment station on whether his soil is deficient in nitrogen, phosphoric acid or pot ash and needs commercial fer tilizer, Washington had to depend on talks with his neighbors and his reading of farm papers and books on agriculture published in England, whose editors were un familiar with problems in Vir ginia. He corresponded frequently with Arthur Young, British agri cultural scientist and editor of the “Annals of Agriculture.’’ He col lected an extensive library of agricultural books including “Horseshoe Husbandry,” “A Practical Treatment of Husband ry,” “The Farmer’s Complete Guide,” and “The Gentleman Farmer.” When Washington gleaned a new idea from his reading, he quickly tried to apply it. For in stance, he laid out experimental plots on different soils of his own land similar to the plots so famil iar today to any farm student. He carried on experiments with fertilizer in a fashion reminiscent • of what soil scientists do today. He had ten small boxes made. These he filled with soil taken from the same part of the field so that it would be uniform in composition. One box served as a check plot. Into the other nine he placed different fertilizers such as cow manure, horse ma nure, sheep dung, mud from the creek, marl from a gully, black mold, and mud from the bottom of the Potomac river. He divided each box into three sections, planting wheat, oats and barley. He used exactly the same number of seeds of each grain in each box, and planted the rows exactly the same. Mud from the bottom of the Potomac proved good fertilizer. So he built a special scow and hoisted mud. The cost of obtain ing it, however, was too great for the results he got. Washington gave increasing at tention to wheat growing as an alternate to tobacco. He tried various experiments such as steeping his seed in brine and alum to prevent smut. He tried also to protect his grain from the Hessian fly. In 1763 he entered Into an agree ment with John Carlyle and Rob ert Adams of Alexandria to sell them his wheat crop for the next seven years. The price was to be three shillings and nine pence per bushel—or about 91 cents. Considering the difference in pur chasing power then and now, Washington was getting the equiv alent of at least $1.80 for his grain. In 1769 he delivered 6,241% bushels of wheat. Thereafter he ground most of his wheat and sold the flour. He owned three mills, one in western Pennsylvania, a second on Four Mile Run near Alexandria, and a third on the Mount Vernon estate. The flour graded superfine, fine and mid dlings. We have Washington’s own word for it that his flour was as good as any produced in Amer ica—and the Father of his Coun try was no boaster. In a charmingly written mono graph on “George Washington, Citizen and Farmer,” Dr. J. Christian Bay, librarian of the John Crerar library of Chicago, recounts some stories of Wash ington as a farmer and human being. Describing some of the voluminous notes Washington jot ted down in his diaries concern ing his agricultural experiments, Mr. Bay says: “Washington’s attention was at tracted to the old problem of large and small seeds, and he invented a barrel-seeder to MOUNT VERNON — From a rare aquatint, engraved by Epan- cis Jukes after Alexander Robert son, 1800, in the William L. Clem ents’ library, Ann Arbor, Mich. spread his seed evenly and ef fectively. He compared continu ously the crops from large and small seeds, and suggested that large potatoes yield better than small ones because, as a rule, produces equal. He Counted Seeds. “It is curious, also, to think of the Father of his Country sitting in his study carefully counting the number of seeds to the pound. Yet he found that a pound of red clover contains 71,000 seeds; a pound of timothy, 278,000 seeds; while meadow grass gave 844,000 to the pound; likewise a pound of barley numbered 8,925 grains.” The Revolution halted, for a time, Washington’s farm career. For six out of eight long years, as commander-in-chief of the Con tinental army, he did not even set foot on his beloved fields. Peace in 1783 at last brought him release. He had left Mount Vernon a simple country gentle man. He returned as one of the most famous men in the world. Happy to be home, he threw him self once more into his old occu pation. During his army cam paigns, his keen observations of agriculture as practiced in New York, New Jersey and other northern colonies, had broadened his outlook. He was more than ever convinced of the desirability of pastures and of live stock for conserving the soil. He was more wide-awake to the need of better tools. The run-down condition of his soil, however, was a cause of in creasing concern. Unfortunately for him fertilizers, as we know them today, were not in exist ence. As a soil conservation measure, Washington began to experiment with clover and other grasses. He was prompted to do this at the urging of Noah Webster, news paper reporter, editor, and fa mous as the compiler of a dic tionary. Webster had expounded his theory that some plants have the power to reach into the air and extract nitrogen fertilizer which their roots fix in the soil. “Nature,” said Webster, “has provided an inexhaustible store of manure which is equally acces sible to the rich and poor and which may be collected and ap plied to land with very little labor and expense. This store is in the atmosphere, and the process by which the fertilizing substance may be obtained is vegetation.” Washington tried every kind of legume known to Virginia farm ers, and imported many kinds of seeds from England. In this way he introduced timothy to his coun trymen. He early discovered that clover and peas had a soil en- , riching power. In an English journal he read about a new legume—alfalfa—which had been brought from Switzerland. He found that alfalfa, too, could en rich the soil, but it never proved profitable for him. Even while serving as Presi dent from 1789 to 1797, Washing ton found some time to keep an eye on his farming operations. He had extensive experiments conducted in grain and live stock breeding. He imported new strains of wheat from South Af rica and Siberia, neither of which proved as good as his Virginia grain. Rotation of Crops. Washingtpn drew up elaborate plans for rotation of crops on his different farms. Not content with one plan, he often drew up sev eral alternatives. He calculated the probable financial return from each, allowing for the cost of seed, tillage and other ex penses. He was constantly on the alert for better methods of threshing grain than the age-old practice of treading and flailing. He read in an English farm journal about a threshing machine invented by a man named Winlaw. In 1790 he had observed the operation of Baron Poelnitz’s mill near New York city, based on the Winlaw model. This mill was operated by two men and threshed about two bushels of wheat per hour. In 1797, two years before his death, Washington built a thresher, himself, on plans evolved by William Booker, who came to Mount Vernon and di rected the construction. In April, 1798, Washington wrote Booker: “The machine by no means an swered your expectations or mine.” At first it threshed about 50 bushels a day, then fell to fewer than 25, and finally broke down completely, although it had used up two belts costing between $40 and $50. “Washington was essentially America’s first conservationist,” an official of the Middle West Soil Improvement committee pointed out recently. “The Father of his Country re alized that man owes a duty to the future as well as the present welfare of his soil,” he said. “Washington’s primitive attempts to put back into the soil the fer tility that had been depleted by constant croppings are testimony of this characteristic.” As a public man, Washington was eager to improve the lot of agriculture. In his last message to congress he recommended the establishment of a “Board of Ag riculture to collect and diffuse in formation, and by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement.” But nearly a century passed be fore anything so important was done by the federal government to promote the development of agriculture. Part of Washington’s plan for his sixteen-sided barn. One invention of which Wash ington was proud was a 16-sided barn which he built on one of his farms in 1793. He estimated that 140,000 bricks would be required for the structure. These were made and fired on the estate. The barn was especially notable for a threshing floor 30 feet square. An ingenious method of separating the grain and straw was provided by interstices of one and one-half inches between the floor boards. Thus when the grain was trodden by horses or beat out with flails, the kernels fell through to the floor below. This floor was to furnish an illustration of what Washington called “the almost impossibility of putting the overseers of this country out of the track they have been accustomed to walk in. “I have one of the most con venient bams in this or perhaps any other country, where thirty hands may, with great ease, be employed in threshing,” he wrote a friend. “Half of the wheat of the farm was actually stowed inr this barn in the straw, by my or der, for threshing. Notwithstand ing, when I came home about the middle of September, I found a treading yard not thirty feet from the barn door, the wheat again brought out of the bam and horses treading it out in an open exposure, liable to the vicissitudes of the weather.” What Washington said to the overseer on this occasion has not been recorded for posterity. But it is a safe bet that the man re membered it for the rest of his days. The Father of his Country is 1 often pictured as a man without a sense of humor. Yet in the midst of sober agricultural exper iments, he gave the following ad- The seed house at Mount Vernon. vice on how to keep warm all winter by the aid of a single piece of wood. The story is told by Mr. Bay: “Select a suitable piece of wood, rush upstairs as fast as you can, open a window, throw out the wood. Rush downstairs into the yard and seize the wood again. Rush upstairs once more, throw out the wood a second time. Rush downstairs and get it and continue in this manner un til you are warm. Repeat this process as often as necessary.” He concluded this piece of ad vice with the words: “Probatum Est.” But it is as a prophetic contrib utor to the knowledge of soil con servation that he will be best re membered in his career as a farmer. “It must be obvious to every man who considers the agricul ture of this country,” Washington wrote in 1796, “and compares the produce of our lands with those of other countries, no ways su perior to them in natural fertility, how miserably defective we are in the management of them; and that if we do not fall on a better mode of treating them, how ruinous it will prove to the landed interest. “Age will not produce a syste matic change without public at tention and encouragement; but a few years more of sterility will drive the inhabitants of the Atlan tic states westwardly for support; whereas if they were taught how to improve the old instead of go ing in pursuit of new and produc tive soil, they would make those acres which now scarcely yield them anything, turn out beneficial to themselves—and to the com munity generally—by the influx of wealth resulting therefrom.” v Beauty Treatment For an Old Chair By RUTH WYETH SPEARS f-I ERE is proof of what a beauty *■’ treatment and a new costume will do for an out-of-date chair. Its new dress is very chic. The material is a soft old red cotton crash with seam cordings and binding for the scalloped skirt in dove gray. An inch was cut from the back legs to tilt the chair for greater comfort. The carving at the top and the upholstery on the back and arms were left in place, but the lines of the chair were com pletely changed by padding with cotton batting. Unbleached mus lin was then stretched over the padding to make all perfectly smooth. Soft rags or excelsior may be used for filling under the cotton if desired. • • • NOTE: Mrs. Spears has pre pared four booklets for our read ers containing a total of 128 thrifty hqmemaking ideas; with step-by- step illustrated directions. Each book contains an assortment of curtains; slip-covers; household furnishings; rag rugs; toys; gifts and novelties for bazaars. Books may be ordered one at a time at 10 cents each; but if you enclose 40 cents with your order for four books (No. 1, 2, 3 and 4) you will receive a FREE set of three quilt block patterns of Mrs. Spears’ Fa vorite Early American designs. Address: Mrs. Spears, Drawer 10, Bedford Hills, New York. Doea your throat feel prickly when you swallow —due to a cold? Benefit from Luden’t special for mula. Contains cooling menthol that helpa bring quick relief. Don’t suffer another second. Get Luden’s for that “sand paper throat 1” LUDEN’S 5* Menthol Cough Drops Wisdom in Man He is a wise man who does not grieve for things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.—Epicurus. MINOR SKIN IRRITATIONS Death Reveals The world never knows its great men till it buries them. NERVES? Cranky? Restleas? Can't sleep? Tire easily? Worried due to female functional disorders? Then try Lydia E. Pinkham’a Vegetabia Compound famous for'over 60 years in helping such weak, rundown, nervous women. Start today t Father of Folly Ignorance is Folly’s father and mother. SALESMEN WANTED We want men with cars to sell Carded Aspirin, Razor Blades, Combs, Pipes, etc., to retail stores. Also staple drugs and specialty merchandise^ Build a reg ular route of 200 customers and become independent In a business of your own. Frau particular*, wrlta 1 CRAIG’S CO- Dept. WU-2, Memphis, Teua. Unguided Zeal Zeal without knowledge is thi sister of folly. 7o Relieve Misery f\\P S LIQUID.TABLETS. SALVE. NOSE DROPS SPECIAL • BARGAINS TATHEN you see the specials of VV OU r merchants announced in the columns of this paper you can depend on them. They mean bargains for you. • They are offered by merchants who are not afraid to announce their prices or the quality of the merchandise they offer. - i —