The State Democrat. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 22, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 10, 1896 Page: 3 of 8
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FARM AND GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST
AGRICULTURISTS.
TO
<ome Up-to-date Hints About Cultiva-
tion of the Soil and Yields Thereof
-—Horticulture, Viticulture and Flori-
culture.
ULLETIN 119, of
Cornell University
experiment station,
speaking of the
'■I4C) Hill texture °' 8°M'
CWw\ says:
Every good far-
mer knows that a
hard and lumpy
soil will not grow
good crops, no mat-
ter how much plant
food it may contain. A clay soil which
has been producing good crops for any
number of years may be so seriously
injured by one injudicious plowing in
a wet time as to ruin it for the growing
af crops for two or three years. The
injury lies in the modification of its
physical texture, not in the lessening
of its fertility. A sandy soil may also
be seriously impaired for the growing
of any crop if the humus
or decaying organic matter is
allowed to burn out of it.
It then becomes leachy, it quickly loses
its moisture, and becomes excessively
hot in bright sunny weather. Similar
remarks may be applied to all soils.
That is, the texture or physical condi-
tion of th soil is nearly always more
important than its mere richness in
plant food. A finely divided, mellow,
friable soil is more productive than a
hard and lumpy one of the same chem-
ical composition because: It holds and
retains more moisture; holds more air;
presents greater surface to the roots;
promotes nitrification; hastens the de-
composiion of mineral elements; has
less variable extremes of temperature;
allows a better root-hold to the plant.
In all these ways, and others, the mel-
lowness of the soil renders the plant
food more available and affords a con
genial and comfortable place in which
the plant may grow.
The reader will now see the folly of
applying commercial or concentrated
fertilizers to lands of poor texture. He
will see that if potash, for example,
were applied to the hard lumps of clay
it could not be expected to aid in the
growth of plants, because plants cannot
grow on suth soil. If the same quantity
were applied to proper soil, however
the greater part of it would be pre-
sented to the roots of plants at once:
and its effects would no doubt be ap-
parent in the season's crop. The read-
er will readily understand that it is
useless to apply commercial fertilizers
to lands which are not in proper phys-
ical condition for the very best growth
of crops.
Farmers do not appreciate the im-
portance of humus as an ameliator of
land. In farm lands, it is usually sup-
plied in the form of green crops, stub-
ble or sward, and barn manures. When
humus is absent, sandy soils become
too loose and leachy and hot, and clay
soils bake and become lumpy.
The writer has much of this hard
unproductive land. What is to be done
with it? To cover it with commercial
fertilizer would be of little benefit. It
must first be put in fit condition for the
growing of crops. A crop of clover
plowed under would quickly improve
it, but the land is newly planted to or
chard and he does not care to seed it
down. The next recourse is stable ma
uure. Of this enough can be had to
cover the hardest spots. For the rest
catch or cover crops must be used. Fol
lowing beans or potatoes, he can sow
rye and plow it under very early in the
spring. Now and then he can use
fall crop of sowed corn or oats or some
thing of the kind. After a time, he
may be able to get the land in such a
condition of tilth as to secure an occa-
sional stand of crimson clover. This
practice, continued judiciously for a
few years, ought to radically change
the character of the land; but all this
will be of little avail unless the plow-
ing and cultivation—which are now so
inadequate—can be done in a timely
and intelligent way. All this will take
time and patience. He wishes that
there were some short-cut and lazy way
of improving this land by making some
application of fertilizer to it, but there
is not, The most he can do is to slowly
bring it into such condition that it will
pay to put concentrated fertilizers on
it. In short, the first step in the enrich-
ment of unproductive land is to im-
prove its physical condition by means
of careful and thorough tillage, by the
addition of humus, and perhaps by un-
derdrainage. It must first be put in
such condition that plants can grow in
it. After that, the addition of chem-
ical fertilizers may pay by giving addi-
tional or redundant growth.
L. H. Bailey.
Horticultural Noted.
Prof. J. L. Budd, writing in the Iowa
State Register, gives some important
suggestions, which we republish, as fol-
lows:
Cherry on Own Roots: Careful ob-
servation will show that the cherry
trees that are sprouting in garden and
orchard are mostly on their own roots.
Our cherry trees are either budded on
Mahaleb stocks or crown grafted on
Mazzard seedlings. The mahaleb root
never sprouts. So if sprouts appear it
shows that the tree has been planted
deep enough so that roots come from
the scion which throws up sprout3. The
Mazzard root may sprout, but as usual-
ly planted it rarely does. If it does
sprout, the leaf is so peculiar that it can
be detected at once. The point we wish
to make is that every little sprout of a
valuable variety, if set in nursery row,
will make a valuable tree. Within the
past week we havo seen valuable
sprouts in farmers' gardens who were
talking about buying more cherry trees.
Do not forget that the sprout from n
good variety is more valuable than a
grafted tree.
#
Clean Up and Plow the Garden: We
again repeat the statement that the
garden cleaned up and plowed in the
fall is in better condition for planting
in the spring, and it is rarely infested
with cut worms. Indeed, during the
past twenty-five years we have not
failed to plow the garden in the fall and
we have rarely had a plant cut off by a
cut worm. We also never fail to turn
over in the fall land on which we ex-
pect to plant the spring small fruits,
tree or shrub seeds or root grafts. With
this care little if any damage is done
by cut worms. But it has happened
that not quite enough plowing was
done in the fall. In every case the part
planted in the spring plowing suffered
from cut worms, and plum seedlings
were totally destroyed.
*
Why so Few Plums: Several have
asked why the native plums bore so
shyly this season, as they blossomed
very full and we had a mild winter and
no frost. The reason is very simple.
While the blossoms were expanded we
had continuous moist or rainy weather1
in most neighborhoods, which was not
favorable for pollination. In some
neighborhoods the sun shone more and
plums were quite plentiful. But on
soils where the trees suffered severely
last summer from drouth the blossoms
last spring of the native plums were
not perfect. On the college grounds our
trees on hardpan, within six feet of the
surface, blossomed very full, but not
one blossom in a hundred was perfect.
In our work in crossing it was difficult
to find a blossom with a perfect pistil
and not one of our crossed blossoms
developed a plum. But on more, favor-
able soil the blossoms were perfect and
fruited well where a few hour3 of sun-
lvnc came at the right time. Many
com fields also show the effects of
moist weather. When the period came
for filling out the ears several days of
moist weather prevented the flying of
pollen. Hence in some neighborhoods
the corn is not filled out on most of the
ears, while in others where the weather
favored the ears are perfect.
Planting Apple Keedn.
Having planted more or less each
year for the last forty-two years, and
tried spring and fall with varied suc-
cess, the fall planting did the best,
wrttes P. M. Gideon in the Cultivator.
I sow the seed in the drill and cover
not more than one inch deep, and so
planted, scarcely a seed will fail to
germinate the next spring. The seeds
to do their best should be planted not
less than one inch apart, and if to be
grown as orchard trees without graft-
ing, they should take one winter in
nursery to test their hardiness, and
then reject all that fail to make a hardy
growth and a perfect terminal bud.
Take up and set in orchard at one year
old, for at that age the tap root can be
had entire and easily planted. In
growing a healthy tree the most import-
ant part is the tap root. Small fibrous
side roots are better cut off, doing more
injury than good. I grow and fruit
thousands of seedlings, and in a pro-
miscuous lot not more than one in fifty
will be a fairly good apple. To make
seedlings a success requires experience
and careful culling. My best success
was 1,200 culled from 10,000, and even
then some poor ones.
Kre Paralynl*.
This Is also called the "nameless bee-
disease," and has attracted much atten-
tion the last few years, not only in
California, but in several states, says
a writer in American Bee Journal. In
'this disease the imago, or immature
bees, are the ones that die. The dead
or enfeebled bees are carried by other
bees outside, and thus the ground in
front of the hives has constantly a
mound of dead bees. Usually the col-
ony does not wholly succumb, but it is
so weakened that it produces little or
no honey. Generally the colony recov-
ers after a time, usually after the bees
have replaced the queen with a young
one. The disease has worked consider-
able havoc in some parts of this state
the present season; I think in some
cases the loss has been as much from
the "new bee-disease," already de-
scribed, as from the "bee-paralysis." I
am much inclined to the opinion that
partial starvation may cause weak ma-
ture bees as well as enfeebled larvae,
and so it is quite possible that, in some
cases, the "nameless bee-disease" may
have been credited with harm due to
insufficient stores. From my own ob-
servation, and from what I can learn
from others, I think this last disease
comes from some constitutional weak-
ness of the queen, which shows itself
in debility of her progeny, the worker-
bees. I have known, in several cases,
the disease to soon disappear after the
queen was superseded; and in other
cases, where the bees replaced their
queen with a young, healthy one, the
disease soon vanished. It is quite pos-
sible that those who claim to have
cured the evil by some treatment, as
giving the bees salt, or salt water, gave
their treatment just after the bees had
superseded their queen. Others who
were unsuccessful with the same reme-
dies, were less fortunate in the date of
application. The best advice which
can be given, in case the old bees die
off too rapidly, is to see that the bees
have abundance of food, and in case
that fails to bring relief, try re-queen-
ing of all affected colonies.
Nitrogen Gatherer*. ,
Nitrogen is the most costly constitu-
ent of commercial fertilizers; and, in
many instances, the increased cost of
the fertilizer duo to the nitrogen it
contains will balance or even exceed
the increase in the proceeds from the
crop, due to the nitrogen. Fortunately,
we are not obliged to rely entirely
upon commercial fertilizers for our
supply of nitrogen to enrich our soils.
Recent investigations have proved
that the class of plants called "legum-
inous plants," to which the clovers,
peas, beans, etc., belong, have the
power of deriving from the air a part
of the nitrogen required in their
growth. For this reason they are
sometimes called "nitrogen-gatherers."
This fact helps to explain why clover
is so valuable in restoring and enrich-
ing poor soils. The clover plant is rich
in nitrogenous matters and, when the
crop is plowed under, they decay in
the soil and add to its supply of nitro-
gen for the next crop.
In one consignment recently a feath-
er dealer in London received 6,000
birds of paradise, 360,000 birds of vari-
ous kinds from the East Indies, and
400,000 humming birds. In three
months another dealer imported 356,-
398 birds from the East Indies.
Honey Farming.
The honey trade in this country has
grown to great proportions, for honey
has ceased to be a great luxury, says
the New York Tribune. "It forms part
of the grocer's stock in the smallest
hamlet, and bakers and candy makers
and patent medicine men use it by the
hogshead. There are several firms in
this city who regard an order of ?1,000,
$1,500 or $2,000 worth just as a dry
goods merchant looks on an order for
fifty yards of muslin. New York, Bos-
ton and Chicago are the centers of
the trade in this country, and London
rules the world. The supply is steady,
for if there is a shortage in one part
of the country or the world, another
part is sure to make it up. There is no
use in attempting to make an estimate
of the value of the crop, but it will go
well into the millions. It is known
that there are 30,000 bee-keepers in the
United States, and many who are un-
known. Honey comes from all parts of
the country, but California and the
northern states supply the greater part.
The southern states do n^t furnish as
much as would be expected, partly be-
cause people are not paying attention
to the work, and partly because bees
are not cared for as well as at the
north. The honey which the southern
states do send is different from that
of the other states; the product of Flor-
ida is considered the best, but that is
only as a cheaper grade.
Oniong from Seed.
It may not be generally known that
onions may be grown from seed sown
in September, or October, provided
there is sufficient moisture to germin-
ate the seed and get them well started
before cold weather. The young plants
will stand the winter, says Texas Farm
and Ranch, with a slight protection of
long manure scattered upon them in
the early part of December. One culti-
vation in the fall will be all the work
needed. The seed should be drilled in
immediately before or just after a rain,
olherwise the seed may fail of germina-
tion, and they will need a deeper cov-
ering of soil to prevent drying out.
Onion seed *hus planted will, with fa-
vorable conditions, produce a fine crop
of bulbs in the spring and come into
use earlier than sets planted in the
spring. Let it be understood that large
bulbs can only be produced when fer-
tilizers are freely applied. The drop-
pings of the hen yard and wood ashes
make an excellent fertilizer for onions.
HANGED BY A MJB
THE WINNER FAMILY MUR-
DER AVENGED.
The Husband and Father and an \i!e~ed
Comrade in Crime Taken From rem-
ington .lail Ht Midnight and ll.inged—
Lyncher* to lie I'roaeeuted.
Lexington. Mo., Dec. 8. Two hun
dred unmasked men from Kay count}
broke into the jail here last night,
took Jesse Winner and James Nelson,
who were charged with the immler ol
Mrs. Winner and her two children,
near Richmond, October *G, across tin
river and hanged them.
Deputy Sheriff Richard (Jreen ar-
rived in this city yesterday morning
with Lon Lackey, the other man con-
nected with the murder, and lodget.
him in jail here, but left last evening
with him for Kansas City, wheiv In
was be placed in jail for safe keeping
The mob demanded the keys to tin
jail from Jailer Goode, hut he refusei;
to give them up. They told him it wa>
the keys or death, but he replied: * Let
it then be death.''
Deputy Fulkerson drew his revolver
and in an instant was cov ed by a
hundred or more rifles. Nigat 'Vatch-
inan Crowder shouted to the guards to
be "brave, boys," and a number of
guns were placed against his head and
body and he was warned to keep quiet.
Finding that they could not get tin-
keys, the lynchers, who had brought
tools of nil kinds with considerable
dynamite, which they declared they
would use, broke the locks oi the cor-
ridor door and entered the jail. Then
they broke the lock off the cell door
and were in possession of the two men.
After crossing the river tin* mob
took Winner and Nelson about half a
mile up the road that leads to Lexing-
ton Junction. At a point known as
the "railroad pond" a huge fire had
been built. Here they stopped. It is
one of the most dismal places in Kay
county, and a tit place for such h trag-
edy ti) be enacted. The road on either
side is skirted by a dense and almost
impenetrable growth of timber and
underbrush. The mob had previously
intended, so it is said, to hang Winner
and Nelson until they were nearly
dead and then throw them into the
fire and burn them, but when they
reached the spot they decided that
they did not have time to put their
original plan into execution, so they
proceeded to hang them.
After tying the ropes around the
necks of the two men. they were asked
if they had anything to say. Winner,
pale, and trembling, according to the
statement of a man who says he was
an eye witness, made a full confession
of his part in the crime, lie said that
he came back to the house on the n ight
of the murder and after his wife es-
caped from the house he struck her
over the head with a club. and. think-
ing he would make certain of her
death, he split her head open with
an ax.
Nelson was bold and defiant, but
when he felt the rope tighten about his
neck he confessed that he cut the
throats of the two children. The brutes
were then drawn up until their feet
were clear of the ground and the ropes
tied on the limb above. After waiting for
some time to make sure that the men
were dead, the mob started for Rich-
mond. leaving the dangling bodies of
the two brutes as a grewsoine example
of the vengeance of an outraged
people.
Constable Kates, under instructions
of Coroner Dove of Oamden, cut the
bodies down and conveyed them to
Lexingtan Junction, where an inquest
was held and the verdict was rendered
that the men "met their death by
hanging, at the hands of an 1 riknown
mob." lion. William Aull. prosecuting
attorney of Lafayette county, expected
to offer evidence that Winner and
Nelson met their deaths by hanging,
at the hands of certain men whoso
names he has in his possession, and
who were recognized beyond any pos-
sible doubt, but he did not reach the
Junction in time. He will, however,
use every possible means to have these
parties answer to the law for taking
justice into their own hands, but there
seems to be a great deal of doubt as to
whether this can be done, for the peo-
ple of both counties are morally cer-
tain that the proper men were hung
and it is stated on good authority that
any amount of money will be raised in
defense of the men should any pro-
ceeding be instituted.
RESOURCES OI
Recited
ALABAMA.
the Inaugural Address of
(•overnor rJohntdon.
Governor Joseph P. Johnston was In-
augurated governor of Alabama Dec. 1.
Before taking the oath of office he de-
livered a long address, sounding the
keynote of his administration, which
is to promote the development of Ala-
bama's resources and improve the con-
dition of her people. Speaking of the
resources of the state he said:
"With an area of but little more than
fifty thousand square miles, there is no
territory of like size in the known
world so prolific in the variety of its
resources; were a wall erected around
our state, cutting off all access, we
could produce within our borders
everything necessary for the comfort
or convenience of man. Great veins
of iron ore and seams of coal put at
our command almost boundless re-
sources in fuel, iron, and steel. Splen-
did forests of yellow pine here stand
ready to build homes for millions of
people. Building stone and marble,
lire clay, kaolin and lime exist in great
abundance; walnut, maple, oak, cherry,
nsh and other hard woods await the
hand of man for manufacture or the
adornment of our homes. In the pro-
duction of pig iron we take rank as
the fourth state in the union; in irou
ore, third; in coal we stand fifth; in
the production of cotton, fourth, and
In its manufacture, fourth. In lumber
we are near the head of the list. It
would be unjust should I fail to in-
clude in our minerals copper, lead,
graphite, marl and gold; indeed, the
only mineral that we seem to be with-
out and to want most is silver. Leav-
ing forest and mine and coming to our
fields we find that they produce gen-
erously cotton, corn, wheat, rye, oats,
tobacco, rice and the grasses and here
is the home of the pear, the peach, the
grape and all small fruits. Vegetables
are grown with great success, and this
industry is steadily developing. Our
splendid rivers, the Alabama, Coosa,
Tallapoosa, Warrior, Cababa, Bigbee
and the Tennessee, are the liquid ar-
teries of the commonwealth, fed by In-
numerable creeks, all fruitful in power
to convert our raw products into arti-
cles of merchandise. Over 3,000 miles
of railroads traverse our state from
north to south, and east to west, fur-
nishing quick transportation to market
for our products. When we come to
our climate we find that the Giver of
all good things has not stayed His
hand, and that He has blessed us with
opportunity to labor twelve months in
the year without detriment to health or
comfort, "adeed, we can scarcely ap-
preciate thfc blessings we enjoy in this
respect when compared with less fa-
vored regiot-'s. for even now we are
seemingly unconscious that roses are
blooming in our gardens, and the fra-
grant air is sweet with their perfume.
* * • With a profound gratitude to
the God of our fathers, that our lots
have been cast in this sunny land, let
us beseech Him to send warmth and
vitality and enduring growth into
every field of endeavor, that will make
us strong to accomplish the things that
make a state loved at home and re-
vered abroad."
Light is essential to the health of
the hens, therefore have good win-
dows.
Keep Plants Apart.—It is .good for
plants to keep as much apart as pos-
sible. If the seed fell straight to the
ground, and the young plants all grew
up together around the parent one,
they would starve each other out. For
plants are like people, and when
crowded too closely together, fall to
fighting among themselves. Their
struggles are very bitter ones, though
we do not see or hear them. The plants
that are strongest in these silent bat-
tles end by getting the light and air,
and water and food they need from
the soli, while the poor weaklings are
left to starve and die. To prevent too
much of this wasteful crowding and
struggling, old Dame Nature has in-
vented many a clever little scheme.-
Ex.
If you cannot kerp your poultry iu
comfort, cease to keep them at all.
Richmond, Mo., Dec. 8.—The bodies
of Winner and Nelson, who were
lynched near Lexington were brought
to this city last evening at 5 o'clock.
Thev were hauled in a lumber wagon,
which was met by a yelling crowd of
men and • boys, some of whom were
making threats of destroying the
bodies. Winner's remains lie in the
circuit court room, while Nelson's body
has been taken charge of by liis father,
a respected farmer, living six miles
south of town, and removed to home of
the deceased, in the west part of town.
THE CRIME BRIEFLY RKVIK.WKI).
The Winners lived northeast of llieh-
mond, 011 a small farm, and Winner
worked in the town as it miner. Octo-
ber 26 the woman and two small chil-
dren were found with their throats
cut and their heads crushed with an
axe A deaf mnte child escaped death,
but could throw no light on the trag-
edy. Winner and Lackey, the latter
Winner's farm hand, were arrested
soon after the murder and both pro-
tested innocence. Winner tried to
prove an alibi, but strong evidence was
found against him, and it was also
known that he had been intimate with
Maggie Catron. The latter was ar-
rested and confessed that Winner and
James Nelson committed the crimes
while she and Lon Lackey held tlia
horses outside.
The growth of the post office business
of the country lias been amazing. At.
the close of the revolutionary war
there were only 75 post offices in the
United States. At the close of the war
of 1812 there were 3,000. At the be-
ginning of the civil war there were
28,586, and five years after its close, in
1870, there were 28,492, or about 100
fewer, the only step backward during
the history of the post office depart-
ment. By 1880 the upward rise had
started again and in full force, and the
number of the post offices in the coun-
try reached 42,000. There are now 70,-
000 post offices in the United States,
and the number is constantly being
increased. J
A flat-iron has been invented that is
designed to be both labor and fuel sav-
ing to the busy housewife. They are,
by a very ingenious contrivance, self-(
heating, and the fuel only costs one
cent for three hours. Think of it, you
housewives who have done the family
ironing beside a bright fire all these
long, hot summer days! It is also
claimed that the irons keep a very per-
fect heat, will never scorch, and give a
much better gloss.
Tulip wood is very much used by
builders for the interior woodwork of
houses, particularly for butlers' pan-
tries, etc. It is white, smooth and
quite free from knots. It may be
stained, shellacked, varnished or left
in its natural color.
An attachment for kerosene lamps
which may be fitted to any burner and
which gives a much increased illumin-
ation has recently been patented. It
is said to give a light four times great-
er than any burner will do originally.
The lady to whom it is desired to
show most honor is taken to dinner by
the host, and sit at his right hand.
A young man may, with perfect pro-
priety, ask permission to call upon a
young lady.
When walking with two ladles a gen-
tleman should take the outer id«.
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Bixler, Mort L. The State Democrat. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 22, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 10, 1896, newspaper, October 10, 1896; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc116885/m1/3/: accessed April 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.