Newspaper Page Text
S
y\\\U |< v \f OF WFSOOAf A ‘
OWES .Ntnui.D TO I’OSE AS
SAGES.
Very Crafty Birds They Are—The
Night Owl of Nova Scotia—Het
ter Weather Prophets Than
• round hogs.
T I yiTOSE science who the talk blue of the pr P
ol bird and
robin nnd groundhog in the
m a Her of spring predictions
know not whereof they speak, the New
York ID raid maintain*. The ground¬
hog is not in the race for spring wis¬
dom with the owl. On the first bright
day in spring you may hear the dislo¬
cated stac vto notes of some redbreast,
actively gathering tw for a proHpoc
tivo honeymoon. li at the same time
you fail to hear the lovemaking night
whoop of the owl you may make up
your mind that the robin’s nest will
be full of snow in a few days.
On some occasions the wise old owl
will rent the top flat in some hollow
tree as early as th • rniddlcof February,
with the snow lying a foot deep over
everything. When this occurs yo»
may r<^t a Mired that spring weather
will set j n early, and that by the time
the trees are green the abstruse prob¬
lem of owl multiplication will have
been well under way.
Owls are tlio favorite birds of tlio
taxidermists. limy are ignobly and
incessantly filled with sawdust by every
disciple of wtuffology in the land.
’They low are furnished with abnormal yel¬
vy s, and arc placed in unnatural
attitudes to glare at passers by. It
would be a wise owl that could recog¬
nize its own effigy in the window of
the average bird staffer.
According to those who ought to
know this is a great owl country.
There are lug owls, little owls, horned
owls and hornless owls, owlsthat whoop
and owls that whistle, and in short
eve ry kind of owl that one could wish
for.
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VIRGINIAN EAREO-OWn. CROWN OWEi.
Away up in Maino among the snow
burdened cedars lives the hawk owl.
Ho is a slim, brownish black little
chap, fujl of confidence and claws. His
specialty is' ptarmigan and grouse,
and there are but, few days in the year
when they do not figure in his mefi u
Although ho is the dude oj
he can fight. His breast is »
brown mul white, ami )m> •iiu disks
arc of mottled gray. He keeps up the
reputation of tho family for wisdom.
Sometimes a party of hunters plod¬
ding through the snow may observe
his owlship flying along at a safe dis¬
tance in the rear, waiting for tho es¬
cape of sonio wounded bird. It can
hunt by day ns well as night, and will
hover around camp fires for hours.
Many is the tid-bit it’purloins from the
camp larder.
Another resident of tho extreme
North is tho great snowy owl. You
have seen them in taxidermists' win¬
dows, sitting white and solemn oa a
dead branch, with staring yellow
eyes, a gray mottled back and feather
hidden claws. This owl is only a win¬
ter visitor to tho United States, but
sometimes during an especially cold
snap it is seen as far south as Georgia.
It huuts by day as well as night, It
probably acquired this habit from
necessity, as tho polar day is six
months long. Its flight is as noiseless
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CANADA OWL.
ns a floating feather or a bit of down,
It looks harmless enough, but it can
strike with the speed and force of a
peri grille falcon, and many is the
duck and grouse it takes ou the wing,
It is said to be especially fond of iish,
which it obtains after the manner of a
fish hawk. There is probably no bird
iu the northern regions so heartilv
detested by trappers. It knows a
good thing when it sees it, and a trap
is its especial object of regard. It
watches the traps set by the fur
hunters, and woe to the animal caught
therein. It not too large and fierce
the snowy owl will stow it away in
short order. It regards a trap as an
invention created for its essential
enjoyment.
Lhe little night own is a denizen of
Nova Scotia and Labrador, It is
sometimes eaten by the Esquimaux,
It is ringed with chocolate brown
bands, between which are a series of
redish white spots. A band of white
across the throat gives it the appear
anee of wearing a linen collar. It L
a murderer of field mice, and the
death of many a hare can be laid at
its door. Uateh it in your hand and
it becomes a feathered buzz saw. Its
beak pops like a nutcracker, its claws
grab hold of anything that comes
their way nnd it develops into a pic
ture of outraged dignity.
The Columbian owl, which is a deni
cu of the great forests of British
Columbia, is u serene, comfortable and
alderuiauic little chap that lives high
ou those heavy humming night beetles
and moths that hauut the copses in
THE MONROE ADVERTISER, FORSYTH. GA„ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER TV 1S94. -EIGHT PAGES
tho summer time. It is more timid
than many of its kind and less
PF- t ?n° TaCk ‘V* >tak Bnd makc
bltifT-. Phis may be due to an excess
of wisdom. It is a remarkably hand
some bird. Its iiead is dotted with
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GREAT OWn.
yellowish white spots, its back is olive
brown and its tail is barred withrows
of transverse whito markings. Its fa¬
cial discs are brown, and it has pale
reddish spots on tho wings.
Everybody has heard of the bur¬
rowing owl, the side partner of the
prairie dog and rattlesnake. Through¬
out the M est it is called the prairie
owl. Apparently it has less to brag
about in the way of wisdom than any
of its kind. No bird can be right men¬
tally that will take up its residence
with and make a confidential friend of
a rattlesnake. Even its animated bill
of faro, the prairie dog, marvels at it.
On approaching a dog town you can
see dozens of these owls blinking on
top of the burrows. It has long feet
and light yellowish brown plumage,
spotted with white. Its tail is barred
with white, and its face, throat and
ruff are a light gray. It is not a thing
of beauty, because it looks like a sort
of albino, or a feathered mistake. On
being approached it utters a low cliat-
tcring sound not unlike that of a
prairie dog, starts and skims swiftly
over the plain toward a certain
row frJin which it lias ousted the law¬
ful occupants. Down it goes into the
decths, and you could not ggjfe it out
n&k » -burgla r’fljiiQ my . ^Pickets, It i8 said to
feed on field mice and but
there is a suspicion in the minds of
old frontiersmen that a timely autopsy
and would tender disclose prairie the presence At young
dog.
In tho latter days of August it sud¬
denly disappears, Nobody bus ever
been able to find out where it goes.
The Indians, who are close observers,
aver that it spends the wunter in tor¬
por.
Those who have traveled through
the woody hills of Massachusetts are
familiar with the Acadiau owl, famil¬
iarly known as the “saw-whet.” Its
love notes bear a startling resemblance
to the filing of a large saw. It is a
soft, fluffy looking object, and how it
manages to mako such harsh notes is
a wonder. Many a man whilo travel¬
ing along a country road listening to
the love-making of these birds has
fancied himself iu the vicinity of a
sawmill. Another peculiarity of the
“saw-whet” is the snonug notes of its
young. The little downy chaps sit in
their nest and snore away for hours
with their eyes wide open. It may be
that they are only endeavoring to
give expression to their hunger.
When calling to each other the voice
of *,ho “saw-whet” is almost exactly
liks a bell.
Everybody familiar with country
life has heard the long, quavering
scream of the screech owl. For a bird
so small and insignificant its voice is
tremendous. It has the unpleasant
habit of doing the wrong things at the
right time. Take your best girl for a
walk in tho woods in the gloaming
and note the result. Just when si¬
lence is busily engaged in speaking
louder than words from right over¬
head there will arise a scream like that
of a lost soul. If you have never
heard the sound before it is likely
that you will do a hundred yards in
even time. It is only the love note of
the screech owl, and is tho only way
he has of expressing tender emotion,
If by chance you catch tho little fel
low in your hand you will find that it
can express something else besides
emotion. It clatters its beak like
small castanets and hisses and bites
with great vigor. Its plumage is soft
and downy, and mottled brown. Its
eyes are large and keen, and its facial
disks a yellowish white,
Every dog has its day, and every
well regulated barn has its owl. At
least this pertains to barns in the
Eastern States. The barn owl is the
bully of its tribe. It has an especial
weakness for chickens of the spring
variety, and it shows its wisdom in
taking up its abode near its piospec
live larder. It also pays strict atten
tiou to mice, squirrels and other small
animals. It is never found far in the
woods. This owl, when wing broken,
becomes a great bally and blowhard.
On approach it hisses like a goose,
swells out its plumage and blinks its
great eyes imposingly, although it is
doubtful if it can see to any extent in
the daylight. It* plumage is* grayish
brown on the upper parts, interspersed
with yellowish red, produced by mi
uute mottling.
The owl that we are most thor
oughly acquainted with, whose cries
we have heard most frequently in the
woods at night, is the barred owl. If
its language is translated correctly it
is a very inquisitive bird. Walk ont
into the woods on a moonlight night,
and you are sure to be greeted with,
, “VVho-who, who-who, who-ar-r-r-e
you?” If yon refuse to ans«*r it fills
the woods with a sort of horrible
lau £ hter - hah-ha, whah-ka, ha
a-a-a!” it will cry in derision.
The barred owl is a great destrover
of poultry and is thoroughly hated bv
the .Southern farmers. Its sight 13 so
defective in daylight that it has been
known to light upon the backs of cows
and horses, probably mistaking them
for something feasible. Down in
Louisiana tbe “Cajuns” lAeadians)
sometimes make gumbo soup of it.
They pronounce its llesh palatable.
Its plumage is a light reddish brown
on the upper parts, its face brownish
white and its tail barred with brown¬
ish red streaks. Its abdomen is a yel¬
lowish white.
Last and greatest of all is the great
horned owl, the bird of Minerva, the
feathered emblem of wisdom. The
vision of the horned owl is as keen as
that of a falcon. It is one of the Nim
rods of the feathered tribe and flies
like a trailing shadow. It is never at
rest. Watch it as it sits on a tree,
and you will see its bill snapping as
though in anticipation of coming
good times. Now and then it utters a
shriek, now it bays like a bloodhound
on trail of a murderer, or calls for
help for some starving person. At
such times it keeps its keen eyes in
motion, and nothing escapes its vision.
Such is the great horned owl.
Boulanger’s Lost Opportunity.
Paul de Cassaguae says that Bou¬
langer, when he ivas in command of
the Thirteenth army corps at Cler
mont-Ferron, entered into negotiations
with the right and pledged himself on
his word of honor that as soon as he
returned to the war office he would,
within forty-eight hours, possess him¬
self of tho persons of tho President of
the French republic and his colleagues
in the cabinet and send them to Mount
Valerien. “If Boulanger had only
had the good sense,” said Cassaguae,
‘ ‘not to stir for thirty or forty days
the coupe would have been made and
the republic would have ceased to
exist. ”—Chicago Herald.
Washington Lived Here.
The little State of New Jersey, as
every schoolboy knows, was the scene
of many stirring events during the
Revolution, and almost every city,
town and hamlet has, or claims to
have, a landmark of which its inhabi¬
tants are very proud and delight to
point out to visitors. "While there is
no doubt of the authenticity of the
claims made for many of these places
they have certainly lost nothing by
tho traditions with which they are
surrounded. As in many other parts
of the country, however, some of these
monuments which should have the
greatest claims on the American peo¬
ple from a historical point of view
have been neglected, apparently for¬
gotten, and allowed to go to decay
and ruin. In the march of history
and progressAbeyJhave been lost sight
One of those is the oldBerri va-fetyfise,
at Rocky Hill. It was in this house
that Washington resided lor many
months, and among other acts wrote
Ins farewell address to the Continental
Army. The house is an old-fashioned
structure, with large square rooms
and low ceilings to retain tho heat
from the hickory and oak logs burned
in the big open fireplaces. At the
tune that General Washington occu¬
pied the house it was the homestead
of tlie family of Judge John Berrian,
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WHERE WASHINGTON WROTE THE FARE¬
WELL ADDRESS.
one of the oldest families in the State,
which at that time owned vast tracts
of land, obtained by grants from the
Crown. Judge Berrian, when the clash
came, remained loyal to the American
cause, and his house became a refuge
for General Washington on more than
one occasion.
A Novelist’s Phonograph,
Captain Charles King, the novelist,
does not write at all; he uses a ph ono
graph. His hours for composition are
after midnight. Having thought of a
story he comes home from the theatre
or from a social party feeling in the
best of spirits ; starts in at midnight
talking his story into the phonograph
and continues to dictate for four
hours. This practice is resumed
next night and is kept up for eight,
ten or twelve nights—until, in fact,
the story is ended, The phonograph
is then turned over to the typewriter,
who prepares the manuscript, which
Captain King revises before sending
to the publisher.—Chicago Herald.
To Emerson is this story attributed:
On being asked by a friend what he
lectured for, he replied: “F-a-m-e.”
“What do you mean by that?” in¬
quired the other. “Fifty and my ex¬
penses. ”
Three-tenths of the earnings of a
Belgian convict are set aside for his
benefit on release.
Printing in colors was done in the
fifteenth century.
The Parting bluest,
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; Farmer Green—“Thank goodness, Jane, tb|ey haiu’t missed the kyars.
j Now we’ll have something to eat ourselves.”—Friank Leslie’s.
A Curious Life Preserver.
The lower portion of the curious de
vice which is represented in the cut
resembles a life-; reserving dress; the
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upper part is a kind of buoy or float
ing chamber, in which , the occupant
has some freedom of motion for his
head and arms.
The objeqt is to provide the ship¬
wrecked person with not only a means
of flotation but with complete shelter.
Inside the: enlarged upper chamber
it is propose- ! to place provisions and
a water supply, so that the wearer can
stay afloat for a month, if need be,
with safety and comfort.
The uppeb portion is made of strong
sailcloth, waterproofed and distended
on a jointed cylindrical frame. Across
the lowest r|iug a diaphragm is placed,
in which arje two apertures for the
legs, which are incased in waterproof
pants and boots, covered with metallic
rings, in order to afford protection
against fishes and the sharp rocks.
TkeBe rings are made to fit one with¬
in the other when the dress is folded,
so as to enable the device to be stowed
in small space.
The top c f the upper chamber is in¬
closed by a 'hood, in which a window
is made. An A air pipe is provided,
leading to respirator fastened over
the mouth <f»t the occupant. An an¬
nular air chamber is provided, which
keeps the upper part of the apparatus
well out of the water. A man of
Newark, N. J., is the inventor.
A Chinese Beauty.
If China >vere only as beautiful in
its personnel as in its scenery ! There
are not over many beautiful women in
China, says a traveler, and fewer
handsome iheu; lmt tho Chinese wo
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THE PRETTIEST WOMAN IN HONG KONG.
men at high, rank are, to the best of
my belief, always intelligent and
charming, and usually highly edu¬
cated, often intellectual; and in Hong
Kong 1 knew at least one Chinese wo¬
man, whose picture I secured, who
would anywhere take rank as a beauty.
.J, ’JR'e Cobra Stone.
It . said*Hat ... the cobra , .
is carries m
lts mouth . a small ii stone i that l,. when i
eatable of „ . . out , faint, . . .
i warm is light'that giving a
white resembles the lamp of
the gW.tfortn. The serpent take,
advantage of this resemblance to fur
msh himstflt a dainty desert of fire
flies, of which he is very fona. Ihe
wmged inMOt is attracted by the sup
pesedgloaWorm, which M the fema e
and falls in easy prey to the wily
cobra. J. ew ol ei ger.
—.►
Enlarging a Wheelbarrow’s Usefulness.
It is oftjen desirable to wheel away
from a law?n or garden light rubbish,
straw, ha y, or vines, for which pur¬
pose the Ordinary wheelbarrow does
not give sufficient accommodation. So
often is it ‘desired to wheel away light
but bulky loads of this sort, that such
an arrange ■ment as is shown in the il
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WHEELBARROW with rack frame.
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lustration] will be found light very rack servicea- frame
ble. It ie simply a
that can He ]vay attached to the barrow in
the same 1 that the ordinary sides
are attached, the addition of a couple
of socketb near the han being the
only necessary audition to the barrow
in order to accommodate tae rack.
The construction is so plainly >ho , An
in the skatch that aaded explanation is
not needed. American Agriculturist.
MODISH MODELS.
DESIGN'S EVOLVED FOR THE
AUTUMN VL o \MP VHIN
All About "Bridesmaids—A Wedding
Where There Were Twelve—Hats
to Suit the Most Capricious
Taste Are Shown.
1 *T~ ERE j (all
are some extracts re
Diting to bridesmaids) from
1| accounts of recent London
Y weddings.
The eight bridesmaids who attended :
Miss Peel were all attired in white
satin dresses, the bodices being i
trimmed with cream pointed guipure;
shoulder capes of emerald green vel
vet, and largo velvet picture hats,
adorned with black feathers.
The four bridesmaids at the Tre
thewy-Wood wedding wore pretty
yellow bengaliue dresses, with black
colors, the colors of the Hampshire
Regiment, and black hats, trimmed
with yellow flowers, and they carried
yellow bouquets, tied with the regi
mental colors. The bridegroom to
each gave a gold chain, from which
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PALL MILTilNERY.
was suspended a heart-shaped locket
set in diamonds.
At the marriage of the Hon. Rosa
Hood, the six bridesmaids wore pure
white broclie dresses, trimmed with
moire, and iu their pretty white chip
hats were roses, to correspond with
the lovely bouquets of white rose3
which they carried.
At the Dicksou-Knosken wedding
there were five bridesmaids, attired
alike iu white muslin dresses, made
up over white satin. Their pictur¬
esque hats of black tulle were trimmed
with roses, and they carried bouquets
of roses and white arasols, gifts from
-the bridegroom. -
At the marriage of Lady Esther
Gove to W. F. D. Smith, M. P., says
London Truth, the bridesmaids,
twelve in nainbejg included seven
small children, some of whom were
tiny scraps whose behavior amused
one immensely. They grew so tired
of standing still, those babies. And
you should have seen how they ad¬
mired their wedding garments. They
stroked their ribbons, petted their
frocks and closely examined the white
roses they carried, as though scien¬
tifically tracing the cause of their per¬
fume. Not old enough to have ex
perienced the solace there lies in
standing s on one leg, they varied the
monotony . of „ stan-ong , both , by .... litt
° on
mg . their ,, s feet , and , gazing witn great ,
£ ‘.J t £- their Ubpered T)I . e ttv shoes one'to “We
mustn tai the
ttawgb ° inciting Ideal-little her to a
breaoh of the 0 m mand.
f fi £ went { to a ‘ ir of ro9v
H Iv ' . never saw raoh ;
t little c om ,, anv o£ rest i sss _ flnt .
*' „hite-clad baby J bridesmaids
befor Qne Q , the wag , he w
year-old stepsister of the bride. Her
mother looked very well in gold and
white brocade. The bride’s dress wa 3
most particularly pretty and becom¬
ing. One would think that all possi¬
ble variations on the hackneyed theme
of white satin and orange blossoms
had long since been exhausted, but
evidently there are brains still full of
fresh ideas on even the stalest sub¬
jects. The lovely ivorv-tinted satin of
which Lady Esther Smith’s dress con
sisted was trimmed with exquisite, al
most priceless, point d’Alencon old
’ family lace, and hemmed with
was
sprays of orange blossoms. The
bodice was filled with chiffon and
trimmed with lace, and the sleeves—
an important feature in the architec
| ture of a dress—were arranged in al
! ternate puffs of satin and frills of
lace. The bride wore a comb of
| orange blossoms under her tulle veil,
i Her bouquet was a perfectly glorious
| one, and shed fragrance for yards
| around it. She looked very nervous,
i and her color kept coming and going,
but it was a sweet face that looked
through the wedding veil.
bcttons everywhere.
jj er Button gown was a great suc
c g ss> s-jjje was conscious of this after
\ rearing it for the first time. Such
' f attention she had
aQ amount Q never
before received. It was an imported
f roc ^ audit carried just sixteen dozen
| buttons. They were very small but
tons of glistening gilt and they shone
i upon her dress like cords of gold.
The skirt of this French costume
was made of fine white broadcloth,
! with an fcmisual amount of fulness at
the back. On the right side of the
skirt a narrow panel of helitrope vel
vet appeared to be caught to the
broadcloth by a row of gilt buttons,
; which stretched from waist line to
hem. The bottom of tbe skirt was fin¬
ished by a band of th velvet gleam
I ing with another lioe of gilt buttons,
The bodice was hel: trope chiffon over
silk and shirred to a yoke of white
broadcloth outlined with very.small
gilt buttons. The chiffon at tbe waist
line tucked in to a corselet of helio
trope velvet, bordered with buttons.
Ihe draped sleeve was of white chif
fon over heliotrope silk. ~ The puff
was most graceful. Below the elbow
;be chiffon was drawn over a tight-
fitting cuff which seeme 1 held togeth*
er by a row of buttons.
PAINTY STRAW’ HATS.
Some of the new straw hats liav.
crowns of one color and brims of an
ether, like purple and green or red
and blue. Some have rough effects
made by straws of different colot
woven in, but with so much trimming
Rs i*s placed on them and the facings
of shirred tulle or Italian crape one
sees T ®ry little of the hat itself. One
tat wThto the rough straw was made
°f green and white strauds.ha l a m vs a
°f trimming consisting of green moire
ribbon of the exact silvery green of
the under side of poplar leaves. Thera
'vas besides a grape vine, with its
creamy white tufts of blossoms, it,s
tendrils and finally two bunches of
Green grapes of different sizes. This
was placed artistically on th ' ton of
the hat, and just under the bent part
the brim was a small cluster of rioa
8 ra P es and the faded leaves, The
whole hat was really poetic,
PRETTY DRESS TRIMMING.
Narrow black velvet ribbon overlaid
with ecru vino lace is a pretty dress
trimming. Cream lace is used as well
on serge and sacking dresses as on
satin. Velvet overlaid with ecru in¬
sertion is common on erepon dresses,
green being the color used in one ef¬
fective model. Suits made with tabs
and buttons have the mock button¬
holes outlined with soutache. White
embroidery and black satin ribbons
are the trimmings used on a dark blue
erepon. Silken muslin crepe lisse,
mouseline de sole, figured lace, span¬
gled tulle and Liberty satin are some
of the gauzy fabrics found as trim¬
mings on the latest imported designs.
Black silk muslin and jet are by far
the most desirable accessories for
black and white silks.
THE NEW STYLE SHORT COAT.
The new style short coat is made ol
electric blue cloth, braided down the
front. The coat is double-breasted,
and has a large collar of the fur and
an edging down one side and the cuffs
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and muff of the same fur. Another
coat, which is to become very popular
this fall, is a loose ulster, also for
! driving, made of dark cloth and hav
ing a p-tinted collarette of seal and
deep cuffs of the same,
Would Work Nothing But Miracles.
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Tramp — “Madame, I’m not a tramp,
I’m a magician. I don’t want food,
but being a very charitable man my
self and seeing how kind you must be,
I will show you a neat little transfor
mation scene.
W’iclow Jones—“Well '7.
Tramp—“You bring S a plate of
soup and I’ll turn it a a man.
Truth,
General Rule for Diets.
The general rule for all diets should
be an abundance of sweet fruit-*, fresh
or dried, green vegetables—those
grow ing above ground receiving the
preference—a small proportion of the
brown bread, milk, eggs, ant
a little meat.—Rochester Post Express
SUGAR CULTURE.
THE PROCESS FROM PLANTING
TO REFINING.
" Sowil «” the Crop—Cutting th«
Cane—Old and New Methods of
Extracting the Juice—A Pic¬
turesque Industry.
N this warm and moist climate, es
sential to cane-growing, the sea¬
son begins as early as February,
says a Lake Charles (La.) letter
to the New York Post. It is n pic¬
turesque sight, to observe the first
stops of “sowing"’ the crop, which is
by digging it up. A gang of plowmen
uncover the furrows in which the
seed-cane has been imbedded for tho
past three or four months. Then
comes the “hooking up” brigade,
composed of colored people, Span¬
iards, Mexicans, Acadian French, Ger¬
mans and others of mixed nationality.
Each has a long pole, with a hook at¬
tached to one end, with which ho
“hooks,” or pulls, the exposed cane
out of its burial place. A relief corps,
with old-fashioned carts, follow in tho
wake of those “hookers” and throw
the seed-caue into the carts, whence it
is hauled to the field where the cane is
to bo planted. The women accom¬
panying the gang take armfuls of cane
and drop them at intervals along the
furrows, tho men merely driving the
carts and whipping the mules. Then
follows a gang of oolored women, who
place the canes in the furrows and
chop them up, using a heavy knife,
something on the order of a butcher’s
cleaver. By cutting the cane it is
strengthened in its growth. One acre
of seed-cane will plant three acres,
and about five tons of seed-cane are
planted to the acre. The average
yield is from twenty to twenty-five
tons of cane per acre. The same gang
of plowmen now cover the caue, after
which the rows are worked by the
“light brigade” with hoes, removing
the dirt from the roots of the sprout¬
ing cane so as to give it a chance to
shoot up into tho air. The rows are
about seven feet apart. About the 1st
of March the growing cauo is under a
strong headway, but it needs constant
care until it arrives at its full growth
early in July.
On the arrival of the cutting season,
early in September, everybody turns
out with a hatchet or cleaver. There
is a detachment for each row, making
the field ring with their lively melo¬
dies and Area liau airs. Tho canes
overtop their heads, and frequently a
man on horsebuck it lost to sight in
this wilderness. Tho cane is hewn
down just above the ground, the top
is chopped off, and the leaves stripped.
The canes nro then thrown into tho
wagons and carried to the mill.
The sugar-cane has much woody
fibre in its composition, and is of
thick and sturdy growth. It is a
perennial plant, growing a half cen¬
tury from the same roots or cuttings.
The juice is enclosed in cells of the
woody fibre. The earliest process
known for extracting the juice was by
orushing and gsiwding, similar to that
by whi«’u the early Spanuw is in Cali¬
fornia extracted wine from tuo (jry Xtp-a.
The stump of a tree was scooped into
a hollow, into xvliich xvas placed a
grinding trestle, to which wa3 at¬
tached a wooden arm, and to this arm
a yoke of oxen were hitched. An old
colored man with a club drove them
round and round, as blind-folded
horses were made to turn the wheels
of ferryboats in earlier days. While
the oxen went round under the man’s
goading a boy feed in tho cane, and
another took from the bottom of tho
primitive mill the crushed remains.
Under tho improved process a
wagonload of cane is thrown upon a
dummy railway, which is carried to
the crushers—large iron rollers with
a pressure of from sixty to seventy
pounds to the square inch. The pro¬
cess of crushing is varied. Sometimes
tho cane is run through slowly, so that
all of the juice may be extracted:
and, again, swiftly, and repeated.
About seventy-five or eighty per
cent, of the weight of the cane is ex¬
tracted, giving about 103 pounds of
sugar from a ton of cane. The two
iron rollers “chew” the cane into a
pulp. There are two or three
sets of these rollers, and af
the caue has passed through, it
is considerably flattened out. This re¬
fuse is called bagasse. The pulp and
juice are received in a rubber apron,
and conducted to a mill, and thence
through a trough to a strainer, where a
colored woman takes away the* cane
shreds, which are again run through
the mill. The juice is then pumped
into an iron cylinder, heated to 190
degrees. It then runs into clarifying
vats, and slacked quicklime is added,
which brings to the surface all im¬
purities. After these have been
skimmed away the juice is heated again
by the pipes and “whipped” with long
paddles until the surface is covered
with white bubbles and waves. Then
it is permitted to settle for half an
hour. After this it is run into a big
iron drum, into which there is a quan¬
tity of animal bone-black. It filters
through in the course of several days
into large cupola-like boilers, and the
juice is boiled in a vacuum by exhaus
steam. Then it goes through a fresh
filtering process, with the temperature
reduced to 130 degrees. Now granu¬
lating begins, and the grains become
larger and larger. Air is admitted, and
the juice, or grains, are run into a
large receiver, in which is a wire-screen
basket, revolving at the rate of 1500
revolutions a minute, This force
throws the molasses through the screen,
leaving the grains of sugar. Thu»
screen is stoj:>ped and the sugar faUa
to the bottom into a receiver, where a
colored man shovels it into a tube,
from which it runs into barrels.
ine molasses is boiled over and a
second grade of sugar is made. It is
again put through, and a poorer
quality, dark brown and sticky, the" is
turned out. This is used by col¬
ored people mainly, but a great deal
of it is shipped East, and is sold tc
the poorer classes.
No \S outlet* She Was Nervous.
An old lady in Grand Rapids, Mich.,
had been reading a work on neurology.
She told her grandson afterward that
it was no wonder she was nervous, a 4
the book said there were no less than
19,000.000 nerves connecting wdth the
brain m the human body.—New York
Mail and Express.