The May Record. (May, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 31, 1916 Page: 2 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Socialist Newspapers and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
r/menilizers are going
f *fo be higher than they\
have ever been. A famine\
impends. Yet the American
farmer wasted more than four
hundred million dollars' worth
V. of manure, the best ferti• J
. N. lizer,' last yean / ,
THE
RECORD,
MAT
OKLAHOMA.
/MOML
TO
TfcMPIX
REAT
ADRAS, dusty town of splen-
did distances, with a harbor
unprotected from storms, is
yet the terminus of four rail-
way lines and the third largest city of
India. Its importance is less due to its
position as a trading center than to its
being the capital of a presidency con-
siderably larger than Great Britain
and Ireland. It is the seat of a uni-
versity and its observatory keeps the
time for the whole of India.
Many of the modern public and offi-
cial buildings in Madras are handsome
and imposing, but ever since Queen
Elizabeth granted a charter to the
original East India company, the
building most rich In historic memo-
ries is St Mary’s church, within the
precincts of the Madras fort, St
George, writes A. Hugh Fisher in the
The farm scientists and the theorists can preach
all they want to about the economy of the fanner
building tine, big sheds to keep the rain off the
manure or other such plans, but It goes without
saying that the average farmer Isn’t going to see-1 Illustrated London News. Standing one
it that way. But he doesn’t have to! The remedy | Sunday morning in the welcome cool-
far such losses is simple In the extreme. In fact,
exactly the right way of handling manure so as
to save all this loss lsabout the cheapest. Cleanest
and altogether the easiest way to handle manure.
The first step to prevent the loss of the fertilizing
elements in manure is to provide plenty of bedding
or litter in the stable to absorb and save all the
liquid. The losses due to* fermentation can be
greatly checked by mixing horse manure with cow
inafiure and making the temporary piles compact
to as to exclude the air, and by thoroughly wetting
the manure, which will assist in excluding the air
and also reduce the temperature.
The ideal way on the average farm is to follow
the plan, all through the year, of hauling manure
directly from the stable and spreading it at once.
There is a generally prevailing notion among farm-
ers that if manure is hauled and spread in mid-
summer, the sun will scorch it to a cinder and burn
all the good out of It The government agricultural
station in Maryland, Just outside of Washington,
decided to determine this matter accurately, and I font of black granite In 1687 were bap-
lts analytical experiments have exploded two very tlzed the three daughters of Job Char-
ness of the Secretariat buildings, I was
upon the site of the earliest inner fort,
where divine service was held until St
Mary’s church was built in 1678, to re-
main-subject to various additions and
alterations—the oldest British build-
ing now existing in India. Among the
numerous old gravestones now placed
along the north and part of the east
and west sides of the church is one of
Aaron Baker, the first president and
governor of Fort St. George, with the
oldest British inscription in India,
dated 1652. The Interior contains the
colors of numerous regiments, and so
many monuments and tablets^ to men
-famous in the history of the British
occupation that the church is some-
times edited the Westminster abbey of
India. Nor are its records associated
only with death and burial. In the
^■^"■^KRTILIZERS are going to be higher
I than they have ever been before, ow-
V bA 1 log to the war. So acute has the
I potash situation become that Uncle
I g I Sam, among all bla other diplomatic.
I I troubles, has been dickering with the
allies and with Germany to let a little
' miserable shipment of 10 tons of pot-
rAMj ash fertiliser come through the block-
ade for the use of the department of
Agriculture's farm experiment work. let with such
• fertiliser famine staring the American farmer
la the face, he has deliberately wasted during the
last year between four hundred million and four
hundred and fifty million dollars’ worth of manure,
the best of all fertilisers. And this, according to
authorities on agriculture and fertiliser, is a regu-
lar yearly occurrence. It is not theoretical; it Is
actual loss, and the strangest part of the story Is
that the great bulk. If not all, of this waste, could
be saved Just as easily as not. In fact, most of It
would be saved If American farmers were, for In-
stance, Dutch or German farmers. It would bo
saved by the farmers of any of the old countries.
Where every pound of soil fertility is conserved as
automatically and as naturally as though it were
minted money. In Germany the size of the manure
pile has long been an Index to the wealth of the
farmer.
What the value would be of the Increased crops
that would result from this American plant food,
now wasted, can hardly be estimated, but the In-
creased yields of corn, wheat, potatoes, and all
farm crops would amount to something enormous.
On the basis of using this needlessly wasted
strength In manure on the corn crop alone it Is
estimated that the yield would be Increased at
least a billion and a half bushels, besides perma-
nently Improving the condition of the soil to a
tremendous degree. In fact, a good many corn-
gelds of the present day would be so surprised at
receiving their quota of this wasted soil fertility
that they would not recognise themselves. And
yet the Dutch or the German way of handling ma-
nure, efficient as it Is. Is not the best. Americans
have discovered the way to prevent all waste in
umnunr and It Involves no more labor or expense
on the part of the farmer than bis present methods
through which be loses annually nearly half a
billion dollars.
The average successful farmer or gardener will
say that this statement doesn’t apply to blm;
that he knows the value of good manure and uses
every Mt of It that he can get But Is he certain
that he makes the best use of all bis manure?
When be hauls a ton of manure on to the field. Is
Its fertilising content all that It should be and Is
he sure that from 10 to 50 per centaof Its crop-pro-
strength has not been dissipated through
»—»-«— nre-fa nging. or lack of provision to absorb
the animal urine?
Thke as an Instance the case of urine alone: A
onw will produce 45 to 60 pounds of solid maanre
she win also i — - —
ration goes Into that urine. So it is most Impc^tant
to conserve the urine, for nitrogen Is the most ex-
pensive element of manure or fertiliser. The other
two Important plant foods are potash and phos-
phorus. ’
Even though manure Is highly regarded by all
good farmers, nevertheless there Is probably no
product of equal value which Is so miserably neg-
lected and regarding which such real Ignorance
prevails. The first great source of loss is through
the Incomplete absorption of the urine, and It is
not Infrequent to see no attempt being made to
save this portion of the manure In spite of the fact
that It is richer In both nitrogen and potash than
is the dung, and in spite of the fact that these fer-
tilisers are more available for the plant in the
urine than In the dung.
The second greatest source of waste of manure
is the loss Incurred by leaching. If a good-sized
manure pile is stacked up against the side of the
stable where the water from the eaves can drip
on It, or If It Is piled on a slope or other exposed
place, every heavy rain washes away crisp bank
notes in the form of nitrogen and potash. These
leached chemicals are the most valuable portions
of the pile, the most available for plant forcing.
The third common source of loss is that Incurred
by heating and fermenting. When manure is put
in plies It soon heats and throws off more or less
gas and vapor. The fermentation which produces
these gases is caused by the action of bacteria, or
minute organisms. The bacteria which produce
the most rapid fermentation in manure. In order to
work their best, need plenty of air, or. more strict-
ly, oxygen. Therefore, fermentation will be most
rapid In loosely piled manure. Heat and some
moisture are necessary for fermentation, but. If the
manure Is wet and heavy, fermentation Is checked
because the temperature Is lowered and much of
the oxygen excluded from the pile. The strong
odor of ammonia, so common around a stable. Is a
simple evidence of the fermentation and the loss of
nitrogen which is going on.
Fresh manure loses in the process of decay from
K) to 70 per cent of Its original weight An 80-ton
heap of cow manure left exposed for one year lost
66 per cent of Its dry substance. Some testa con-
ducted by the United States department of agri-
culture showed that two tons of horse manure ex-
posed In a pile for five months lost 67 per cent of
Its gross weight 60 per cent of Its nitrogen, 47
per cent of Its phosphoric add and 76 per cent of
Its potash, or an average loss of three-fifths.
Five tons of cow manure exposed for the same
length of time In a compact pile lost through leach-
ing and dissipation of gases. 48 per cent in gross
weight. 41 per cent of its nitrogen. 19 per cent of
Its phosphoric add and 8 per cent of its potash.
Here was a terrific waste, veritably, yet not greater
than Is to be found In most common farm practice.
What would any business man or any farmer think
of a city real estate Investment Or a land la vest-
ment which depredated In value In this wise? And
what If he discovered that he
It at almost no coot e
compton beliefs, the summer-burning theory being
one of them. The other common belief which has
been blown to atoms is that it Is better to plow
manure under in the fall than to leave It exposed
on the land’s surface during the winter and then
plow it under in the spring.
In the first Instance manure spread in “burning”
July and allowed to stand until the following
spring gave better results in carefully checked ex-
periments than that spread in the following spring
just before plowing. In the second series of ex
pertinents, better yields were secured after allow-
ing the manure to lie on top bf the land all winter
and plowing It under In the spring than were ob-
tained from plowing It under in the fall.
LANSING, PRESIDENT FOR JUST ONE DAT
The next president of the United States will be
Robert 1 .unsing of New York, the present secretary
of state.
Mr. Lnnslng’s term of office does not depend
upon the action of any political convention; It
is likewise Irrespective of any primary or direct
election. In point of fact, it dates back to January
18, 1886, when congress passed an act providing
that, in the event of the death, removal, resigna-
tion or Inability of both the president and the vice
president of the United States, the secretary of
state shall act as president.
March 4, 1917, will fall upon a Sunday, and It Ifl
contrary to all precedent—although not in opposi-
tion to any law—to hold an Inauguration on Sun-
day. Therefore the incoming chief executive will
take the oath of office and commence his term
shortly after noon on March 5. President Wilson’s
term commenced at noon on March 4. 1913; there-
fore, according to the Constitution, which defines
the term of a president as “four years,” his tenure
of office will be over at noon on March 4, and, even
if he is elected to succeed himself, he cannot take
the oath of office until noon on the following day.
Vice President Marshall, of course. Is under the
same disability as the president. ''Therefore the
secretary of state. Mr. Lansing, will be president
of the United States for the 24 hours and some
minutes elapsing between noon on Sunday, March
4. and the time that the new president takes the
oath of office on the following day.
This brief term of office is not a mere formality.
It la an actual occupation of the power of presi-
dent, with all his authorities and prerogatives. Mr.
Lansing—“President Lansing.” for the day—will
be empowered to occupy the White House, to Is-
sue pardons, to attend to all the other business of
which the chief executive has control, and to ride
to the capitol, should he desire, as the outgoing
president on Inauguration day.
Moreover, this Is the first time In the history of
the nation that a secretary of state has had this
honor bestowed upon him and only the second
time in the 140 years of the existence of the United
States that the office has been held by anyone
other than the president and vice president.
TH1 MARK OF THE DEATH'S HEAD.
From the day of the medieval archer, who
notched his crossbow, to the day of the Western
bad man. who notched his gun, men have always
sought to preserve some mark of military prowess,
some tally of their victims. This war has not
changed human nature. The modern military avia-
tor, the only soldier who still fights single-handed,
does not notch his gsn; bat ho paints a death’s
bsndonthe wing of Ms ’piano to show that bo has
nock, whom he had by’ the Hindu
widow he had rescued from the funeral
pyre of her husband; Robert Clive was
married here in 1753, not far from the
"Writers’ • Buildings,” where, some
years previously, he had twice snapped
a pistol at his own head; the name of
Arthur Wellesley appears In the regis-
ter as a witness to another marriage
In 1798. It is unfortunate that the
edifice was not designed in a nobler
style than was understood by Its archi-
tect, the master gunner of the time,
whose chief, and very reasonable, care
was to make the walls thick and the
roof rounded to resist artillery.
The Madras museum Is especially
rich In remains from the Buddhist
tope at Amaravatl, many of the sculp-
tures from which afe familiar to Lon-
doners on the walls of the grand stair-
case in Bloomsbury.
Through the Nilgiri Hills.
From Madras I went via Erode
Jnnctlon to Mettupalaiyam, the ter-
minus of the broad-gauge railway, and
there changed to the narrow gauge
which climbs up the Nilgiri hills. The
engine was at the rear, and from
seat on the extreme front of the train
I was able to watch the scenery to ad-
vantage while the lookout man kept
his eyes on the metals for any signs of
landslip, such as we met In one deep
cutting, where a piece of fallen rock
lay across the line.
We crossed over clefts and gorges,
by bridges, through the sleepers on
which I could see foaming torrents far
below my feet—and crept along nar-
row ledges with precipitous depths on
one side and a rocky height soaring on
the other.
“Ooty” itself (7,200 feet above sea
level) Is not unlike Nuwara Eliya in
Ceylon, In its natural scenery as web
as from the social point of view. Sim-
ilar arum lilies were growing near a
similar lake, and both places are
crowded during the hot weather by
Jaded British seeking health and recre-
ation. At the time of my visit, how-
ever, Ootucamund was empty. There
were no happy bachelors under canvas
on the golf links, there was no one at
the hotels, and 8L Stephen’s church
was almost as deserted as the cricket
ground. In small huts on the hillside
I saw some Todas, the men wearing a
mantle called the “putkull” thrown
round the shoulders without any fas-
tening. They are distinctly lighter
than most of the other aborigines of
southern India, and the skin of the
women Is of a still paler brown than
that of the men.
Totfas Are Interesting.
The mountains and hills of i«mHs
have been the refuge of aborigines
who fied before the advance of toe
Aryans, and In the Todaa, as well as
In the more northern tribes of the
Bhlls, Kota, G hoods, Santala, and Na-
gas, may be studied toe
AT MADURA
tne Todas number only a little over a
thousand, and^are said to be steadlljr
decreasing, which may be partly ac-
counted for by their custom of po-
lyandry. They have preserved their
traditions to an extraordinary degree-
without any written language, and It
Is only to the complex ritual of their
customs and ceremonies that they
show the least servility. With an ab-
solute belief In their own superiority
over the surrounding races, It would bo
difficult to find a people more innately
conservative, but Mr. W. H. Rivers,
during his masterly study of this most
interesting race, came to the conclu-
sion that they were far from lacking
in intelligence. Their life is chiefly-
concerned with the keeping of their
buffalo dairies, and in his records of
their mythology Mr. Rivers thus trans-
lates their own account of Toda ori-
gin:
“Behind On’s buffaloes there came
out of the earth a man, holding the tall
of the last buffalo, and this was the
first Toda. On took one of the man’s
ribs from the right side of his body
and made a woman, who was the first
Toda woman. The Todas then in-
creased in number very rapidly, s»
that at the end of the first week there
were about a hundred.”
One of the finest views In to»
Nllgirls is that of the Droog from the
rocky bluff called Lady Canning's
Seat, about four miles from Coonoor,
which Is 1,000 feet lower than Ootaca-
mund. To this I drove through the
woods, one morning Just after sun-
rise, along a road bordered at first
with roses and wild heliotrope, past
villas and tea plantations, past tall
tree ferns and tree rhododendrons
crimson with blossom. Suddenly round-
ing a corner of the road I came on
wider landscape. Grandly from the
plains rose the Droog, irom the steep
summit of which Tippoo Sultan is said
to have thrown his captives. This,
and other cloud-girt heights beyond
were all of that deep blue color that
gave the Nllgirls their name.
OTRANTO AND ITS STRAITS
Italian City and Expanse of Water
Have Seen Many Important
Historical Events.
Across the Straits of Otranto, wherw
an Austrian cruiser Is reported to have
sunk several armored British patrol
boats recently, have sailed some of
the greatest history-making expedi-
tions of ancient and medieval times,
says a bulletin issued by the National
Geographic society. This 60-mile ex-
panse of water, which joins the Adri-
atic and Ionian seas, separates the
southeastern extremity or heel of the
Italian peninsula from that part of
Albania which was known in ancient
times as Epirus.
It is 60 miles from Otranto, the
beautifully situated Italian fishing vil-
lage which gives its name to the
straits, to Avlona, the nearest port In
Albania. Four hundred miles to the
northwest are Venice and Trieste, at
the head of the Adriatic, while three
hundred and fifty miles to the north-
west, beyond the Ionian sea, is the
British possession, Malta.
At the beginning of the war Otranto
was a town of scarcely more than 2,000
Inhabitants, but of some importance
as the Italian terminus of the cable
and telegraph line to Constantinople,
via Avlona. It also had cable connec-
tion with the Island of Corfu. The
town's historical associations date
back to Greco-Roman times, for it oc-
cupies the site bf the ancient Hydras
and whs one of Rome’s ports of em-
barkation for Apollonla, the famous
Greek center of culture and city In
which the future emperor, Augustus,
was completing his education at ths
time that be was summoned to ths
capital following the assassination of
Julius Caesar.
Otranto was one of the Calabrian
towns captured la 1088 by Robert Guis-
card (the sly), that resourceful Nor-
man adventurer who, at the high tide
of his career, gave promise of dupU-
eating In southern Italy and In Greece
the triumphs won by his fellow coun-
tryman, William the Conqueror, who
during the same decade was subduing
England. Four hundred years later
the seaport was again raided and this
time fell under the hands of the
Turks. From this set-back it never
recovered. Among the points of in-
terest In the village today are the cas-
tle, built by Alphonso of Aragon, nnd
the cathedral, which dates back to toe
Seventh century and In which are t»
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Morris, W. E. The May Record. (May, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 31, 1916, newspaper, August 31, 1916; May, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc941946/m1/2/: accessed April 16, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.