Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 46, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 14, 1909 Page: 2 of 16
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OKLAHt^A FARMER, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1909.
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FIRES AND FATALITIES FROM
THUNDERBOLTS.
(Action of Farm Mutuals and Fire Mar-
shals.)
Each year the tires and fatalities
from lightning increase, although tiif.
number and area of storms does not.
Ono reason for this is the greater num-
ber of buildings; the other, lessening of
the number of tall >r es which act *as
lightning rods.
In America the annual loss by fire
from lightning stroke now exceed four
and a half million dollars. The reports
■do not cover the large number of houses
struck by lightning in which the chim-
neys were demolished, siding torn off and
foundations damaged. •
When a barn is struck the probabili-
ty Is two to one that it will be entirely
destroyed, contents and all. If a dwell-
ing, the chance" is but one in seven that
it wiH be fired at all but the number kilK
ed is greater.
Thffl persons giving the most attention
to the prevention of loss from lightning
are the officers of the farm mutual in-
nsranee companies. In several states
those companies carry more than three
hundred millions insurance, and in a
large number half as much. Their ex-
perience shows that the loss by lightn-
ing in states in the Mississippi valley Is
from two-thirds to three-fourths as
great as that from all other causes add-
ed together. In . Iowa in 1902 the fire
loss on farm property from lightning
was three times as great as from all
other causes combined.
The American Ass'n of Mutual Com-
panies.
In the meeting of the American As~
sociation of Mutual Insurance Compan-
ies at Denver the matter .of reducing the
assessments where the building was rod-
ed was discussed favorably. This has
been done by many companies. Other
companies penalize the absence of a
rod by paying but 80 per cent, of the
los^ If it is by lightning. Others put
rodded and unrodded buildings in sepa-
rate classes. Aside from this manj
companies have been formed to insure
rodded buildings only.
During a discussion -at the last annual
convention of the mutual Insurance as-
sociation of Iowa it developed that about
Iki.'S of all the companies, where more
tlii half the buildings are rodded, it is
a fact that in 15 years there isn't a
case*on record of a single building with
rods on it that has been struck by light-
ning, and a great many of them thart
were not rodded have been. "To quote
from the report of an annual meeting
j«f the Illinois Association of Mutual In-
surance Companies, Mr. Hanlan asked if
anyone could tell*>f an instance where a
^tiarn burned by being struck by lightn-
ing when it was protected by lightning
ixods in perfect order. No one could,
b Capatalized Insurance Companies,
p "Old Line'" companies have been dis-
: Cussing the necessity of making a
[el large for the lightning clause in the
roolicy if the building is not rodded.
i One large company reports that gne-
Htourth of its losses on school houses pro-
Btected by lire departments are from
[lightning.
f The manager of the company doing the
The State Fire Marshal of Minnesota
has said in a bulletin: "From special
reports received in this office of 381
lightning ftr>-s during the last five year
not one of these structures wtre provided
with a lightning rod."
In Ohio the last 8S3 fires from lightn-
ing have been investigated by the firb
marshal. But, four of these buildings
had modern rods on them. In one the
stroke was from below. A number of
houses having rods were struck but in-
vestigation showed, in each, that the
rod was more than 25 years old arid was
broken or rusted off.
The number of lightning fires in this
state last year, was 229 with a loss of
$297,225.
FAR NORTH WILL SHOW STRAW-
BERRIES AND SALADS AT ALS-
KA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSI-
TION IN-SEATTLE
Alaska will c how man f wonders
among its exhibits at the Alaska-Yukon
Pacific Exposition in Seattle this sum-
mer, not the greatest, or the least of
which will be $5,000,000 in gold dust,
just as it came from the placer mines
of'Nome and the Tanana.
The Tanana alone turns out $19,000,000
every year in original wealth and' Nome
produces as much more. .Accepting the
American dollar as the American diety,
that is something to brag of but, strange
though it be, Alaska no longer boasts
its loudest and braves of its golden rich-
es, but of the fact that it has homes and
farms for the tens of thousands whom it
hopes to win to the north through prop-
er exploitation and truthful account of
its conditions.
Alaska has been more written about
by novelists than historians. Romance
has suppressed fact and the popular idea
has come to be that the northern terri-
tory is an iceberg shoaled In the Arctic
and its trails, the way of the wolf.
For five months of the year it is warm-
er in Fairbanks, close to the Arctic circle
than it is in Northern California, Ore-
gon, or the state of Washington. Inci-
dentally, the days are twice as long for,
as a Dawson poet has written it, "the
sun comes up while it Is going down"
and all plant life works a double shift as
a result.
Dine of Strawberries.
In May the residents of the mining
camp of Fairbanks, which is- in the
heart of the Tanana valley, dine on
home-grown strawberries, delicate let-
tuces, succulent cucumbers. Two montns
later muskmelons and watermelons, equ-
al to those of Rocky Ford and California,
flood the markets, grown by the over-
flowing acre at Manly Springs, fifty
miles north of Fairbanks. With the
twenty-four hour day, reddishes show
their tops above the surface in five days
and mature In less than three weeks.
It is the same with onions, squashes, to-
matoes, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas and
other tuberous growths, thrive as no-
where else. Dawson City is now produc-
ing potatoes to supply its whole popula-
tion through the winter, where it was
used to pay twenty-five cents "per pound
for those that were brought in "over the
ice" in winter.
Three years ago the winter price on
eggs in Fairbanks was three dollars per
dozen and every ^gg was brough in over
the <100 miles of winter trail. Then it
was discovered that Missouri hens laid
a little bit faster unuer the stimulating
influence of Alaska's climate than any-
where else, with the result that fresh
eggs are daily diet and chicken Is to ba
had in the restaurants at seventy-fiva
cents the portion. ,
Dairjes Pay Fortunes.
There was also the time, before Alas-
Little Soldiers
In your blood are the millions
of corpuscles that defend you
against disease.
To make and keep these little soldiers
healthy and strong, is simply to make
and keep the blood of the right quality
and quantity.
This is just what Hood's Sarsaparilla
does— it helps the little soldiers in your
blood to fight disease for you.
It cures scrofula, eczema, eruptions,
catarrh, rheumatism, anemia, nervous-
ness, dyspepsia, general debility, and
builds up the whole system.
er, Oregon. The young men who went
into this venture because they had
"£ ne broke" in mining, divide $20,-
000 per year as their profit.
Alaska Shows "Farm Exhibit."
A few miles out of Nome there are
hot springs which, even in midwinter
keep clear of frost several hundred acres
of land. It is the boast of Nome that
everything can be grown there except
palm trees and that they are going to
experiment with that line during the
next season. All of which is rank ex-
aggeration, but it goes to show the pride
of the "sourdough" in the recently reali-
zed capacity of his country.
The southeastern coast of Alaska,
warmed by the Japan current, has for
years produced fruit equal to any, wheat
oats and all of the small fruits, berries
thrive there marvelously. In the way of
berries, all Alaska, including that por-
tion inside the Arctic circle, produces
rankly a wild raspberry that far ex-
cels in size and flavor the cultivated
fruit of the "outside."
Specimens of all its "farm products"
Alaska will show at the Exposition,
which opens In Seattle on June 1st. It
is the claim of Alaska that for any man
who will take there the same amount
of money and business sense that would
establish him successfully upon a small
western farm, there is the same certain-
ty of success, with the measure of it
Infinitely enlarged. This contention it
will seek to prove by its display at the
Seattle fair.
'•We think it will not be long until in-
BSDuice companies will charge a higher
ite for property unprotected by rods
ban for protected that is, a difference
In rate will be made."
£ State Fire Marshals Investigate.
{•' The State Fire Marshal of Wisconsin
Mays in his annual report: "From per-
IjBonal investigation as to the metlunl*
;susad by almost all the concerns in the
'•1Igfl#ning rod business today, l am eon-
•Vln jrd that the business Is conducted *'
H legitimate \y:n und lightning rods can
tl>o purchased fiir seasonable prices." In
' >4his state (I • w re 112 lightning fires
(p-ith a loss .ii !i:i!i.G25.
The State Kir Marshal of South Oa-
Ijota in hi report says: "Lightning
ponies third as a cause of loss by fire
yftnd statlstii' show that mills, elevator?
And large barns are the source of the
heaviest lo Statistics also prove that
jDulldings pi i • i'I.v provided with lightn-
ing rods 1 i.i i only In exceptional cases."
In this a tat with a population of but a
half million, there were 21 lightning
Ures with a loss of $57,321.
ALFALFA COUNTY.
There is a considerable amount of
early gardening done in Alfalfa county,
and the potatoes are already in the
ground. The oats are sown but they
are not yet up. The cold weather has
made their growth very slow. The
heavy winds have don more or less dam-
age to the wheat in this county especial-
ly on sandy land. On the very heavy
land they are growing very well. The
alfalfa is green and affords very good
pasture. There are numerous stock and
public sales this year. The stock is gen-
erally going at a higher figure than it
did a year ago, but the sale of stock
bogs is lax.
ii i made by following the ptow with a
roller, after which use the harrow to •
form a surface mulch to hold moisture,
and this harrow must be repeated after
each rain, to prevent cracking of the
surface and consequent escape of mois-
ture through such cracks. If the soil
Is badly infested with weeds it Is a
good plan to grow a hoed crop or two
nn the field, affording an opportunity to
thoroughly clean the land preparatory to
seeding to alfalfa.
Fall seeding is best in the South for
two reasons: first, the plants can start
iihead of the weeds or grass, and second
they root deeply by spring, and may
yield two or three cuttings the first year.
If seeing in the spring preparation of
the ground should be the same as for
fall sowing. Impervious clay soils should
be plowed in the fall, thus allowing win-
ter frosts and rains to render the ground
friable. Cultivate thoroughly as soon
as spring's first warm days come, as a
well settled seed bed is of prime import-
ance at any season.
The selection of seed too, is all import-
ant, as upon its vitality and purity de-
pends the subsequent crop. This sta-
tion once examined a five-gram lot of
alfalfa seed which contained 80 Russian
thistle seed, the alfalfa seed itself giv-
ing a low germinating test. The weed
seeds usually found In alfalfa seed are
£:'een and yellow fox-tail, plantain or
rib grass, pigweed, lamb's quarter, and
crab-grass.
Alfalfa is sown at the rate of 15 to
20 pounds per acre, while sAme claim
10 or 12 pounds is sufficient. When the
ground Is rich and thoroughly prepared
free of weed seeds and grass and the al-
falfa seed used is clean and of high ger-
minatlve power good results are obtained
with 16 pounds per acre.
In seeding secure uniform distribution
of seed, putting it not more than an
Inch below the surface. Any up-to-date
grass seeder will secure this object. It
has not been our practice to sow a
nurse crop with alfalfa.
Alfalfa Is one of our best pasture
plants but care must be exercised to pre-
vent loss by bloating of cattle and sheep
fed on It. A good stand is often injured
by pasturing heavy stock on it when the
ground is full of water, and close graz-
ing is always hurtful. This station finds
that one of the chief causes of failure
In growing alfalfa is pasturing, especial-
ly in early spring. It requires about three
years to become thoroughly established,
during which time it should not .e pas-
tured at all.
r-
ka's capabilities were realized by even
rgest_ farm^business wrote a year ago: ,,s pioneers, when all the milk used in
the territory was brought in in tin cans.
Today, at Nome and Fairbanks, splen-
didly equipped dairies provie it fresh the
year around and the Fairbanks dairy-
man, last year, took $13,000 as his prof-
it and did not half supply the demand of
the camp.
The meadows and valleys of the Yu-
kon and Tunana produce abundance of
natural hay. Freighters, dairymen and
liverymen reap it by the thousands of
tons, but it is not the best forage. This
being the fact, they turned to the re-
ports of the United States Agricultural
Department and began to experiment
with timofhy and rye. Now it Is de-
monstrated that, can enough farmers be
kept from mining to till the soil, there
will shortly be an end to shipping hay
during the winter, at a cost <>£ twenty-
two cents per pound.
Across the (1heoa river from Fair-
banks are an acre of given houses and*
■i>
many acres of gardens trowing the sal-
ad vegetables, celery that would make
Kalamazoo Jealous, and the hoi t of
strawberries that conn; from llood Ifiv-
If you are wanting new blood,- buy your
stock eaTly and let them become accus-
tomed to their new quarters before you
want, fertile eggs.
Till the ground till it fills the till.
ALFALFA IN OKLAHOMA.
The article -below is condensed from
bulletin No. 82 of the Experiment sta-
tion at Stillwater, and contains valu-
able information and advice for all who
wish to sow alfalfa.
Alfalfa has been designated the king
of forage crops, and it remained for the
West to show its value. The area de-
voted to alfalfa in Oklahoma is yearly
widening.
Comparing alfalfa hay with prairie
hay the former # is decidedly superior,
and it contains almost as much digesti-
ble protein as wheat bran, and is a fine
combination with corn or kafir meal.
In Oklahoma four or five crops can be
cut each year, and being a prennial al-
falfa will remain bearing for years with-
out reseeding, if a good stand is ob-
tained at the start.
Alfalfa does host on loamy, well drain-
ed soil. It needs much moisture while
growing, but it will not stand "wet feet."
drain down several feet, and standing
For this reason the soil should readily
water near the surface and enclosing the
roots is a fatal menace.
As to preparation: The land should
be plowed in July, a good seed bed be-
CANTALOUPES MADE $60 ACRE.
Thomas W. Clayton, who lives a few
miles northeast of Texhoma, believes
melons are money makers. He had a
small patch last year and he made
good big- money out of it and he will
go in heavier this year.
Last Year Mr. Clayton had in two
an«d a half acres—and rememDtr ,a.st
year was the dryest in the history of
the Texhoma country, too—and he
cleared after all expenses of seed,
planting, cultivation, harvesting and
packing, $150 on this small piece of
ground. He cleared above all expenses
$60 to the acre. Twice the price of
the land. And in the dryest season
in the history of the country.
No wonder Mr. Clayton will try
more melons this year, when such an
enormous sum to the acre can be made.
No where in the -world will land pro-
duce more profit than in the Texhoma
country when It Is properly and intelli-
gently cultivated as Mr. Clayton culti-
vates his land.
wz
COUNTRY
BANNKH FARM COUNTIES
OFWASHINGTONandIDAHO
IntereHted in dairying. hog*, fruit,
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Greer, Frank H. Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 46, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 14, 1909, newspaper, April 14, 1909; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc88234/m1/2/: accessed April 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.