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EDITORIAL PAGE
THE SUNNY SOUTH
SEPTEMBER 23, 1904
Ufie SUNNY SOUTfl
Published Weekly by
Sunny South Publifhing Co
Buslne/s Office
THE CONSTITUTION BUILDING
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Subscription Terms:
To those who subscribe
to CAc Sunny South only
Six Months, 25c ^ One Year, 50c
LESS THAN A PENNY A WEEK
Entered at the poatofflre Atlanta* Ga.*aa aecond*claaa mall matte*
March 13, 1IMI1
JP
The Sunny Seuth fa the oldest weekly paper of Literature,
Romance, Pad! and Eldtion In the South # It it now re*
flared, to the original shape and will he published as for*
merly every week P Mounded In 1874 it grew until 1809,
when, as a monthly. Its form was changed as an expert*
ment & It now returns to Its original formation as a
weekly with renewed vigor and the Intention of gcllpst
tag Its most promising period In the past.
Is the “Boy Orator f *
Doomed?
T is noteworthy that campaign years,
with their bitterly contested prob
lems, their contradictions and their
controversies which convince only
those who participate in them, seem
to cast a like combative influence
over our other public activities. Va
rious topics which had been debated
without the garnishment which youth and exhuber-
ance is likely to lay on pretty thickly.
At any rate, we welcome this slight impatience
over the cocksure activities of very young men in
the various professions. It is a pretty effectual an
swer to the empty claim that men of mature age
and ripened experience are being shelved as soon
as they pass a certain mile post. It has been ap
parent, from the very start, that the only support
of this assertion lay in sporadic instances, not at
all indicative of the dominant trend. The criticisms
of the boy orator will, too, serve another distinctly
valuable end;—they will rub off some of the conceit
of power with which he invests himself and teach
him to spend more time and study in finding out
what the people he serves really want and need.
J1 School for Poor Sleepers
EOPLE who do not know how to
P to sleep properly and who wish to
learn to discharge this very vital
function with grace and success will
shortly have the opportunity opened
to them through a school to be es
tablished for that purpose in enlight
ened Paris. Those who snore, who
slumber with their mouths open at
an ungraceful angle, or whose ap
pearance in an unconscious condi
tion resembles a Gordian knot, will
be shown how to stifle their laryngal
artillery, how to enjoy rest with the
Law Against
Practical Jokes
CLASSIFIED BY PERCENTAGES.
Per Cent of
Effectiveness 1
Pointing the unloaded gun 34.3
Rocking the boat 27.8
Ghosts .. 15.0
Impersonations 11.6
Sudden crying of “Booh” 10.0
Sundry small Insanities 1.3
Total 100.0
mouth closed in a firm, sweet line
and how to dispose the limbs as if posing for one of
the three graces in a recumbent posture. If the Pa
risian specialist has really mastered an easy system
for correcting snoring he deserves a prominent
niche in the world’s hall of fame. He can sell the
with but desultory vigor prior to the | patent to the sleeping car company for a stiff price, | does so unless it is loaded. The world
eruption of the rival political candi- and, retaining private rights, extort hig* figures j ]»* ‘SouifnS «
DDLY enough, nobody ever
has been lynched for prac
tical Joking. Only a few
times, comparatively, has
the practical joker been
haled to the bar of justice
for his criminal ignorance.
There are no plain records
of cohvictlon on such
counts. But in this age of
nervousness some of the
methods of the practical
Joker have become so set
and hackneyed that legis
lation might do worse than put some of
them into the criminal code.
A dangling ske.’-Ton operated by wires
from the, hidde.+ iosition of a medical
ptudent at Glencoe the other day threw
a sister of the Joker into convulsions,
and left her life despaired of by phy
sicians. But it was tremendously funny
while It lasted.
With the practical Joker, whose ef
forts work lasting harm to the Innocent,
the unloaded gun is the chief means to
his hand. In most of these cases it is
deadly because of the simple pointing at
the victim; in a few deserved instances
the joker impersonates a robber or bur
glar with a revolver, and himself dies
a* the hands of the startled one. Socie
ty, however, still goes on burying such
degenerated criminals with all the bene
fit of clergy and in consecrated ground.
The mail who rocks the boat never
V.
Along' the Highway
By FRANK L. STANTON
TOGETHER.
I.
We twain together, my love, o’er all
the lands,
Hearts that beat In music, tenderest
clasp of hands;
Whether stars are shiuing, or stormy
skies unfurled,
We twain together, my love, across the
world!
- II.
We twain together—faith, and courage
strong;
Every sorrow dreams of joy, every
sigh a song;
In the thorn-red valleys love a rose
impearled,—
We twain together, my love, across
the world!
HI.
We twain together, still for weal or
woe;
Lost without each other, since God
will have it so!
Though the black storms roar around
us—the stars from heaven
hurled,
We twain together, with God’s smile,
across the worlui
HE COULDN’T SAY THE WORD.
I.
I’d been acourtin’ Sally,
An’ the heart o’ me was stirred,
But, ever’ time I got a chance,
I couldn’t say the word!
«. , „
I’d start off; “I’ve been thmkm —
But so low it wasn’t heard!
An’ she’d pick a flower to pieces,
An’—I couldn’t say the word!
m.
Her sky-blue eyes, like ueaven—
Her voice jest like a bird,
Jest singm’ to a feller
Who could never say the word!
IV.
But when she took that city chap,
’Twas then my heart was stirred,
When she said, apologizin’:
“Well, you wouldn’t say the word!”
from distressed parties who have to deal with ster- , victims , whUe it has gone on with com _
torous bedfellows. As to the other portions of the | pulsory vaccination for the prevention of
curriculum we are not convinced. It is, of course, j 1 *- scourge that may never menace the in-
unpoetical to sleep with one S mouth open, and tne I ness of the boating season, this rocker
habit of sprawling out like a centipede or being j°f the b <*at is the deadliest of the prae-
doubled up like a crazy football gives rise to much j orphan?everv civ^auL^
anguished protest from anyone with whom the per- j The ghost worker has done his full
former may have effected a sleeping copartnership, j share ln the fining of madhouses and
t, , . . • ., , • . • „ sanitoria. Women are Ills victims for
But we maintain that these last two objections, I the most part> and at sugceptib , e a ges
from an abstract Standpoint, are not half as well J they have been wrecked In mind past
made as the first. We may forgive a man who I hope cf cure - impersonating death by
sleeps ungracefully—but our leniency and philoso
phy is taxed to the limit to cover with a mantle of
charity he who makes night hideous with '.inharmo
nious sound.
Seriously speaking, however, this' school for mak
ing sleeping a fine art has something hygienic back
of it. The hours which we spend in sleep are
among the most important in our lives. They re
dates spring to the fore with alarm
ing violence as soon as the cam
paign begins to “ warm up,” and
catch some of the earnestness and
truculence which characterize the
amenities of the stump. A vivid present instance is
the manner in which publicists of high and low de
gree are hammering away at the “boy orator” prob
lem. The advocates of the juvenile wonder are
growing more vociferous and wordy, while his ene
mies are developing equal powers of satire and re
joinder. Dr. Frank W. Gunsalus, an eloquent di
vine of Chicago, is aimong the latter. In a recent
sermon, more specially directed against the boy
orator of the pulpit, he stated his belief that the
public was rapidly tiring of the learned disquisi
tions of the young man rampant, and that in the
future the demand would be only for the seasoned,
experienced religious campaigner. He assigns as
his reason the fact that people of middle age and
even those younger, have no desire to Be hectored m pm u nr
by young men. They do not mind academic attain- I and putting life and hope and zest into the system • taBon l t?a neurotic victim,
nients—in fact, a minister’s mission is furthered by
their possession. At the same time, the average
man and woman who attend church regularly, want
to drink their spiritual inspiration from a source
which has been seasoned with age and experience.
A young man may thunder against sin and error
with the impasioned vehemence of a Beecher or
! these practical jokers, strangely enough,
has been an effective form of their own
insane and morbid dispositions. Just
why anybody should be frightened at the
reality of a dead practical joker is not
to be reasoned out; why the counterfeit
of death should have such results de
pends upon the nervous systems of the
victims.
The crying of ‘'booh"' belongs to the
infantile mind of the infant and to the
, , , . . „ , , . . . infantile mind of the adult. In the one
store the fagged energies of the day before, giving I it ls an expression of childish piayfui-
the tired brain a chance to recover its equilibrium ne!!s : the other it is at once a sign of
mental atrophy and a dangerous manlfes-
. tation to a neurotic victim,
worn out with long exertion. That, at least, is the j a dozen other unclassified fool's mad-
mission of sleep and its effect under normal condi-j nesses contribute to the total of every
. ... . year’s lists of fatalities. But the fool
tions. i lie fact that a man snores is almost invaria- goes on unpunished.
Tills same fool, however, has his apolo
gists, if not champions. There are those
who declare that all jokes, in one light or
another, are practical Jokes. It ls only
when they end too seriously that they
cease to be jokejs arid are apt to be re
garded as quasi-criminal.
DISCOMFORT ESSENTIAL TO JOKE—
Gothic
“Read the ordinary joke, whether It be
truth or fiction, and observe whether it
be potentially practical or not,” ls the
philosophy of a Chicago reasoner. "What
is the joke that you laugh at most hear
tily? The one in which some person
other than yourself gets worsted to the
greatest degree of discomfort short of
permanent injury. Ask yourself why it
is that when you see a man fall hard in
ou laugh, regardless
if a dray horse falls
harness your sympathy
A “POINTER” FOR WRITERS.
“Bully for that!” exclaimed the ed
itor. “Here’s a poem that really has
something m it!”
“Indeed?”
“Yes, sir! Sixteen ■tamps and a
year’s subscription!”
CHEAP FOR CASH.
A western singer has this rhymed
introduction to his volume of verse:
“Kind critic, do not pass me by,
Nor do me wrathful wrong;
My soul is in this book, and I
Have sold it for a song'. ”
SOME OLD-TIME PHILOSOPHY.
Take away everything to growl at,
and a world of happiness would be the
mournfullest sight in creation.
Few of us would care to ride in a
chariot of fire to the next world.
Even the prospect of free coal is not
pleasing.
There is a good deal of dust in the
middle of the road—so much, In fact,
that we can’t see the fellows who are
doing the loudest shouting.
Nine times out of ten the fast train
pulls out from the station while we’re
two miles off, calmly waiting for the
wagon.
We picture heaven so far away that
we must have wings to fly to it; and
CERTAINLY.
In Collier’s Weekly Mr. Robert
Bridges asks: “Has Poetry a Chance?”
Yes, sir! Same chance as other mat
ter. It goes through the mail at same
rates, and gives all the magazine edi
tors a fine chance to send it kitin’
back!
THE REAL POVERTY.
Deem Life’s music little worth-
Ever rate it wrong;
He is poorest of the earth
Who has no soul for song!
HIS OCCUPATION GONE.
“You have fame, frienns, fortune—
everything now; why in the world are
you looking so down cast?”
“Don’t ask me!” groaned the gloomy
one. Don’t you see that I have noth
ing to growl at!”
Uhe Busy World
At any moment, it is expected that the
Russians and Japanese may get togeth
er in a decisive battle at Mukden.
General Kuropatkin is strongly worthy,
ing his position and defenses, and is
reported to be in command of ample
troops for all offensive and defensive
purposes. The Japanese are advancing
v,’ 1th eight and possibly nine divisions.
Both armies have recovered fully from
the ordeal of the battle at Liao-Yang.
the weather conditions are facvcrable,
and it is expected that the impending
struggle will exceed in importance that
of Liao-Yang. In Tokio, there a
disposition to criticise General Kuropat-
kin's strategical judgment in selecting
Mukden over Tie Pass as the site for
i a final stand, the only explanation being
that he does not care to risk the loss
! of prestige which would result from
evacuating Mukden in a similar manner
to his action at Liao-Yang.
Already the outposts of the opposing
forces are in touch and the clash is ex
pected momentarily. It ls reported from
port Arthur that the Japanese have re
duced two important redoubts in the
Russian chain, one of them protecting
the Port Arthur water supply. It is
planned, apparently, to force the cordon
on the doomed fortress closer and
closer, and precipitate its fall within a
week or ten days. While no definite
winter campaign plans have been an
nounced, It is the consensus that the
Japanese will push Kuropatkin as far
into the interior as possible before the
oncoming of severe weather. When this
develops, the Japanese will guard the
advance and await the coming of spring
to renew their aggressions.
Russian authorities at St. Petersburg
express the hope that even should K;:-
repatkin fail to crush the Japanese
during the present campaign, the spring
will see the quick consummation cf that
hope, since, in the meantime, any quan
tity of recruits can be forwarded to thf
front and the long period of rest will put
new strength and hope in both officers
and men.
King Peter Ivarageorgeovitoh has
been crowned king of Servia. Although
there have long existed threats of vio
lence, to culminate at the coronation,
there was no overt manifestation at tin
critical moment, and the king passeq
through the elaborate ceremonials with-
<(| IT p RA r;v c-a diuicdo >• ! out the Slightest untoward Incident
LI I fcKAKY FARMERS. Much enthusiasm was displayed at the
An exchange speaks of Literary ' coronation, and King Peter issued a con-
.. , .. - Farmers. lhats good! A farm. > servative proclamation of amnesty.
> ©vil comes along and clips Inm in connection with literature, will; it will be remembered that last summer
ffd we have & good excuse for enable an author to dine occasionally J Alexander and Draga, predecessors of
not going. | and keep the bailiffs back. j Karageogeovitch, were assassinated at
‘ the palace at Belgrade. Immediatel.
thereafter, Peter was called to the
throne, although for a time armed inter
vention by the European powers seemo i
probable.
Hop’Growing Offers Profit
^ To Southern Farmers &
IN TWO PARTS—PART II
By HELEN HARCOURT.
Wrtten for Xoha Sunny South
bly evidence of unhealthy breathing which more
than any other crude factor, is responsible for sleep
failing to exert its proper recuperative effect. The
uncouth position and the open mouth, too, are hot
Spurgeon—but unless he lias passed through the j correct from a standpoint of health. In sleep, the
tests and the actual crises of these men, his counsels limbs should be so placed that perfect relaxation of
will fall on deaf ears. all the organs and muscles is possible. Where the
There is much truth in Dr. Gunsalus’ contentions. ! body is cramped or thrown into a strained posture,
Feople are very apt to think that the smooth, heard- ; circulation is retarded, proper lung action pre-
lcss face, innocent of the wrinkles of laughter or j vented, blood forced to the brain and. perhaps, the
care, belongs to a personality which cannot give ; heart compelled to work overtime in equalizing
them many pointers about life with which they are j some unnatural strain.
not already tolerably familiar. On the same princi- ! It is popularly supposed to he part of a parent’s
pie, we make it rather difficult for our young law- j duty to so guide the first few years of a child’s life
vers and doctors to subsist for many moons after ! that healthy sleeping will become second” nature. ; a f b j pp ba y ts st whlij
they have been granted a sheepskin and set up as j How many of them do it? If they did there would ever so lightly in h£
qualified to cure our phvsical or legal diseases. We j be fewer complaints from people who rise from is awake in a moment. Man likes to see
would rather they conduct their experiments on ! sleep more tired than when they went to it; whose j ? s gr ,e?°u T^ar^oT'a? once savage
some ather patient, and if they must learn wisdom
from experience, let some other victim furnish the
experience. Similarly, the majority of churchgoers
are prone to the belief that a man’s ability to reg
ulate their spiritual disorders is more marked after
he has come in contact with the actual hard facets
of life itself, than when he has been turned loose
from a theological seminary, full to the brim with
fortuitous theory.
Meanwhile it is impossible to overlook the fact
that hoy orators, like physicians and lawyers, must
make a beginning. Dr. Gunsalus did in his younger
days and he must not deny the youngsters of this
day and generation a smilar right. We believe, too,
that the dislike for melodramatic or sophomoric
utterance nowadays is rapidly working a reform in
the most objectionable phase of the hoy orator,
whether in the pulpit or on the hustings—his bump
tiousness. He is finding out that his congregations
and his audiences do not care for didactic discourse.
They demand something that is practical, some
thing which deals with life itself and not with book
ish notions of it, told in a straightforward manner,
..ree; It
bodies and brains seem to have undergone a stupe-, nature, which prompted him to do hat
fving process instead of a revivifving one; and who i tle witu bis £ e n° w “ ian at sight, it - the
C * . , -... . ,, counterfeit ghost ot the practical Joker
are finally induced to consult a specialist in the be- I causes the victim to roil down two flights
lief that they are suffering from some nervous dis-lof stairs with only ordinary cuts and
ease. Ts it not possible that almost as many of the i and thereafter to m a mile,
1 - . j breathless, to a nearest habitation. It is
nervous disoreds of the present day are due to lm- a joke to ten for a lifetime; if the victim
perfect sleeping methods as to the “twentieth cen-! dies of heart disease at the first shock
,, r , . , . , i i i some practical joker may reform for life.”
tury pace of which we make such a childish and j The point of this philosophei . is that ln
would-be blase boast? Medical opinion in this di- every joke, told or printed, somebody
rection is significant. For the cure of many mala- must appear discomfited, otherwise it
1,, i i • '; is pointless. Yet even the fiction joke
dies nowadays doctors recommend sleep in the open | must not be carried too far in lts dis _
air, and they attempt to persuade the patient to so | comforting results, or the intellect re
regulate his method of wooing the drowsy god as to i volts at n - Jn lts la - st analysis the
. I practical joke thus appears to be more
get only the best results. _ j or less morbid m any of its forms. At
Tile Paris idea is sound, after all. It would make jthe same time it has been said that the
for better heath conditions if similar institutions ! pfcrson who has not . an appreciation of
r . . . the humorous situations in life must be
were established in man)' of our American cities classed with a type which has no sur-
and in the country precincts, too. If it will apply plus imagination with which to play.
a deeper reasoning and include in Its course a re- j ' J ' aki °s the pun as the father of all wit
v , • i i • . . ... and of all humor, J. Hughlings Jack-
View of the causes which produce insomnia, it will ; son M D f k s, has written to
more than justify its existence in spite of the good-
natured chaff which is likely to he scattered over it
by the thin-witted humorists of the press gallery.
Superstition Which Attaches to Many Phantom Ships
MOXG the multitude of su
perstitions to which the
sea has given birth not
the least interesting are
those concerning weird
spectral ships doomed by
some irrevocable decree of
fate to sail the wide seas
over till eternity, without
hope of ever once entering
a harbor of safety.
’Block island, on the At
lantic coast, was alleged
to have its ghostly ship.
* * * In tempests she appears—
Without a helmsman steers.
Tradition says of this ship that a
hideous-faced goblin invariably sat on
the bowsprit, smoking a horrid pipe fill
ed with a more pernicious weed than to
bacco, and ill betide the luckless vessel
that encountered her. for—
Over the decks the seas will leap.
She must go down into the deep
And perish mouse and man.
The most generally accepted version of
the Flying Dutchman, however, is that
of the pigheaded Dutch captain who
ihich. rising in three pyramidal flames I ? wore he wou| d round tke Cape of Storms
« . !n the teeth of a terrific hurricane. His
into the representation of a ship, was fatuous determination scared the crew
supposed to be a perpetual reminder of ] out of their wits and culminated in
tlx- w ickedness of its former inhabi- ; threats of mutiny. Eventually they be-
tants, who. in the colonial days, cruelly i came obstreperous, but the bold skipper,
lured an immigrant snip on to the rocks ! not daunted, clinched matters by throw-
wlth great loss of life and then looted
and burned it.
Conspicuous among these ls the Fly
ing Dutchman, or rather Flying Dutch
men, for there are innumerable ver
sions of this legend, which have been
colored and designed to concur with the
various fancies and ideas of different
nationalities.
It is not improbable that the original
IFIyin-g Dutchman was that described in
the old Norse tradition of a Viking who
had sacrilegiously stolen a ring from
the gods and whose skeleton was ever
ing a few' ot them overboard and, ter
rifying the remainder, reiterated his oath
with treble violence. Then an appari
tion endeavored to turn him from his
purpose, to receive a most impolite, not
to say irreverent, reception. It dogged-
lv persisted and so enraged the captain
that he fired at it with his revolver. But
Instead of hurting the ghost the hall
lodged ln his own arm. at which mis
fortune he. not unnaturally for a sailor
and a Dutchman, became even more
sacriligious in his expressions. He was
forthwith condemned to navigate his
vessel forever and ever, with gall to
afterward seen seated on the main mast | assuage his thirst, red-hot iron for his
hunger, forever sleepless and without
hope of arriving at port. By the aid of
his friend Satan he was able to bring
about disasters and tempests, and his
ship was "the harbinger of wreck and
woe” alluded to by Scott In “Rokebv."
The French equivalent of this ship was
the Courier Hollendals, which was said
of a black spectral ship, enveloped in
fire, to behold which foreboded wreck
and disaster. A later aDnish varia
tion of this story no doubt Inspired
Longfellow's lines describing:—
A ship of the dead that sails the sea.
And is called the Carmllhan. • * •
to sail around the world in twelve hours,
with terrible disasters following in her
wake.
German tradition is rich in phantom
ships, and tells of one on board of which
was a nobleman who had been 'forced to
leave his fatherland because of a great
crime, and who was a'Ueged to toss dice
with the devil for his own soul, while
another Teutonic creation was a death
ship which was supposed to be chock
full of murderers and criminals of the
lowest order. A skeleton holding an hour
glass stood in a conspicuous position,
and—
* • • Tlie ship was black, her masts
were black.
And her sails coal black as death.
And the evil one steered at the helm
and laughed
And mocked at their falling breath—
Which undoubtedly must have been a
most grewsome spectacle to run against,
and something akin to the appearance
on All Saints’ day of the souls of sailors
drowned during the year, a belief which
was prevalent in this country. It was
said that ln the darkness of the night
the watchmen on the wharves would
observe a boat within hail, and, hasten
ing to cas’t it a line, it would dls^pear,
and simultaneously frightful shrieks
would rend the air.
Another phantom ship, so the story
goes, appears occasionally off Cape
d’Espoir, in the Bay of Gaspe, in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. She is crowded
with sailors, conspicuous among whom
is an officer pointing shoreward with
one hand and supporting a woman with
the other. Suddenly the lights go out,
there Is a shrill cry and the ship sinks.
This ls supposed to be the ghost of a
British transport which was lost at the
time of the Anglo-French wars in Can
ada.
son,
The London Lancet touching upon the
•morbid phase of jokiug:
"To call punning a slightly morbid
mental state may be taken as a small
joke, but I do not think it extravagant
to call it so; it certainty is not i£ it be
a caricature of normal mentation. A
miser has been defined as an amateur
pauper, the habitual drunkard is certain
ly an amateur lunatic, and in the same
j style of speaking we may say that pun
ning is playing at being foolish; it be
comes morbid in at least that slender
sense.
"But I contend that the world owes
some respect to the’ first punster. For
a dawn of the sense of the merely ridic
ulous, as in punning and in the simplest
jokes, shows the same thing as the dawn
of the esthetic feeling—a surplus of
mind; something over and above that
required for getting food and for mere
animal Indulgence. AH the more so,
too, is there a debt if punning be that
out of which wit and humor were
evolved.
“It is not a good sign if a man be
deficient in a sense of humor unless he
have a compensation, as Wordsworth
had, in a sense of the sublime, or in
great artistic feeling, or in metaphysical
subtlety. * * * Not because a man
has no sense of humor, but because he
has not the surplus intellect which the
keen sense of humor implies.’’
In all of this Dr. Jackson leaves the
practical joker outside his diagnosis. But
as punning is the lowest form of wit in
words, so the practical joke, by infer
ence, is a morbid expression of the low
est form of wit In deeds. In history,
Laban played the first practical joke
upon the patient Jacob in the story of
Genesis. Afterward Jacob played his
joke with interest upon his father in law.
The practical joke is and always was
a two-edged sword. It would be a sad
world if the coroner occasionally did not
sit upon the body of the joker instead
oT the body of the joked.
of posts, upholding their green screens,
stretching for half a mile in one direc
tion, and three-quarters of a mile ln
E have already noted that another is something to look upon'and
the roots of the hop plant to remem ’ oer -
that are used for setting This is an «P-“>-aate hop yard, as the
* . . hop field is technically called, and a
o are p eces o ho run- model #f the most improved methods of
ners or layers that reach cnlture and curing. That Is why we are
out from the growing going to Inspect it. There are few per-
vine. These run along the sons who can embark in the business on
surface of the ground for such a stupendous scale, for it requires
several feet without dlmln- a large capital, hut it is here to be re-
ishing in size. The pieces marked that this great hop yard did not
cut from them for plant- spring up full fledged, but earned much
Ing are 6 to 8 Inches long, the ca y ital lt represents today. There
containing two eves. In is no reason ’ though, w j e ® a
... . , that have been found to be so successful
, „ , setting out a new hop cannot be lm itated on a small scale.
yard the best possible roots should be rp be bop r0 ots at Pleasanton are plant-
secured. Many growers prefer to pro- ed 6 feet apart, making 1,210 plants to
cure their roots from another district the acre. Every ten years, by which time
to infuse new blood, as it were, into the’ the crowns have become large and
. ’ woodv the roots are renewed. This is
yard, as a hop garden is technically done by tearing them up with a heavy
termed in the United States. In the south plow, and a strong team, as though pre-
the planting should be done ln January paring a new field, ln smaller yards the
and February. Make the holes with a oltl roots are often grubbed out. The
dibble, and put two or three roots to a new roots should be set half way between
hill where the markings cross.6 or 8 the P laces where the old roots were.
Inches apart, leaving their tops level In F ®bruary men go tnrough the >ar<
with the surface of the ground Tn the cuttin S off tl,e spreading upper roots and
tenth hill of every one hundredt row hilllng UP th ? T* ,°? T ^
place stamlnate, or male plants so that Th6n ’ ab ° Ut ‘, he ISt ° f W .‘ th
... p ' . so tnat elevated platforms, railed like *ialconies.
hin V With r ery 0ne - ,mndr r nh go slowly through the yard. While men
rib . ' draw U P mellow standing on the platforms fasten strings
earth, so as to cover the tops of the at four ! foot intervals all along the cross
roops 2 or 3 Inches deep, literally "hill- wires . dropping the lower ends so that
mg hem up If the ground is very they hang over the little mounds where
moist, less of an earth mulch will the future vines are to spring up. The
answer. wagons are followed by men or boys who
As to the varieties to 'plant, the favorite drive down litle iron pegs and tie to
in this country, so far, is called the them tne hanging ends of string. This
Large Gray American. ’ The original one big nop yard that we are visiting
plants were carried from Vermont to uses a million and a half of these iron
Alameda. Cal., by two brothers named pegs, and 35.000 pounds of string. The
Flint. Some of the roots were taken work of thus “stringing the vines” oc-
from Alamedo to Sacramento, where cupies 160 men for five weeks,
they received the best of care and atten- The use of wire trellises istead of the
tion, and became the real pioneers of the old primitive pole has increased the
hop industry tn the United States. A product of hops per acre from one ton to
still better variety, bringing higher prices j one and a half. About the middle of
in the market, has recently been import- |July the vines begin to biossom. At this
ed from Bavaria, by the department of | time the male hop vine scatters its al-
agriculture. Roots of these plants have ; most imperceptible dustlike ?ollen to the
been -laced tn the special hop-growing , coax ing of the breeze, or to the soft
districts of this country, and already the I caresses of the bees and the butterflies,
plants promise to be superior to any 1A11 of thes e are instrumental In carrying
hitherto grown hero, maturing earlier, l * be P°li en to the neighboring female blos-
and thus extending the picking season. I soms > which are thereby strengthened
The cutting, setting and replacing of and fertilized to the point of producing
poles for the hop vines to cling to used to '• fbose seeds which are so potent a factor
be one of the heaviest expenses and most * n tbe best virtues of the hop. The male
tedious tasks ln connection with a hop
yard. But this drawback has been large
ly done away with. The wire trellis has
taken the place of the old-fashioned pole,
and this improvement has reduced the
cost of hop growing more than any other.
Two forms of wire trellis are used, the
high and the low, the former being the
favorite. Rows of poles or 'posts are set
from 35 to 42 feet apart each way. con
nected on top by a strong wire. Fastened
at right angles across this wire are
smaller ones. 6 feet apart, and paralel,
thus forming the mammoth meshes of a
coarse screen. Sometimes, Instead of the
small wires, strings are tied to the top
wire, and dropped to the ground to serve
as supports for the growing vines.
PLACING THE POSTS.
The posts are of redwood, oak or cedar,
4 to 6 inches in diameter, and 20 feet
long. The outside post should be a lit
tle stouter, say 6 by 6 inches, and set
2 or 3 feet in the ground. These posts
should slant at an angle of 30 degrees
from the perpendicular. Opposite each
of them, at a distance of about 20 feet,
an anchor or brace 6 by 6 inches, and 4
feet long, should be buried 4 feet in the
ground, the anchor rope being a wire.
The biggest hop yard in the world is
out in California, that land of big things.
The hop business is here conducted on
the latest and best methods, and so the
wisest thing we can do is to make a visit
of inspection to the great Pleasanton hop
yard, and see how they do things there.
Three hundred and sixty-eight acres of
hops are a sight not to be seen every
day. Half a mile long, rows of vines
all on one wire, and stretching away on
all sldes_ as far as the eye can reach.
The ‘odor of the blossoms, just before
picking time, is almost oppressive, and
the great vista of carefully aligned rows
vine does not bear the cone-shaped flow
ers of the female, but has little grape
vine bunches of small brown seeds which
scatter their pollen as they burst open.
The picking—we are still inspecting the
Pleasanton hop yard, remember—begins
about August 20. It is begun and fin
ished as quickly as possible. If the pick
ing Is delayed too long, the hops turn
red and dry on the vines, and then there
is trouble with the pickers. They are
paid by weight and the dry hops weigh
much less than the green, so that for
picking the dry flowers almost prihib-
itive prices are asked. The pickers—men.
women and children—are engaged weeks
beforehand, special care being taken to
secure reliable persons who will stick to
the work and not desert just when they
are most needed. As a matter of precau
tion in this direction', the pickers are paid
fof their work in tne mornings with
promissory notes due only after the hop
picking is over. These notes, it is un
derstood, are forfeited if the picker de
serts for any cause save that of illness.
The afternoon pickings are paid for in
spot cash.
BOY BROKE RECORD.
The average pay of the hop picker is
85 cents per 100 pounds, and a general
average is .a5 pounds a day, which
means a little over a dollar a day for
the picker. The largest picking ever
made in this yard ^'or probably any other)
was 448 pounds. lt was a 19-year-old
boy who thus broke all previous records,
and in doing it he earned S3.80. Some
families come to the hop yard and wvk
as a unit, earning between them as much
as $10.00 a day right along through four
or five weeks of the season. Quite a lit
tle fortune this, when we come to add
it up.
At the Pleasanton top yard only white
'^CONTlSlUEft^ONT^JsT^PAGEr ^
A JOR GENERA T.
JAMES F. WADK
who has been in
command of the di
vision of the Philip
pines, has received
orders to leave Ma
nila on the next
available transport
and to assume com
mand of the depart
ment of the east,
with headquarters at
Governor’s island, to
Gen IVado be vacated by Gen
eral Corbin on October I. General Cor
bin will proceed to Manila on that dat&»V
Pending the arrival of General Corbin
in Manila Major General Leonard Wood,
commanding the department of Min
danao, will take charge of the divisioi
of the Philippines. Major General Wade
who was born in 1843, is the son of
“Ben” Wade, United States senator from
Ohio during the civil war. During th.
war with Spain he commanded the camp
at Tampa, Fia.
DWARD F. SWIN-
XEY, who was elect
ed president of the
American Bankers’
Association, is presi
dent of the First na
tional bank of Kan
sas City, Mo., and
for a long time has
been a leader in th.-
organization. Two
years ago he was
chairman of the ex
ecutive council, and
Ed Swinnev last year he w;!s
first vice president. Mr. Swinney takes
high rank as a financier and is in clos
touch with the influential leaders in the
bankers' association. He is 55 years of
age. Tlfe annual convention of the bank
ers’ association, which was held in New
York, was attended by representative
bankers from all parts of the country
RINCE HERBERT
BIRMARCK, son o?
the "Iron Chancel
lor,” is dead of can
cer. His attitude had
been that of a man
not appreciated by
his sovereign and
who was waiting in
the background for
an opportunity to
resume his career.
His delivery as
a p a r 1 i a mentary
Prince Bismarcie speaker improved
year by year. He always declined to
join any political group, steadfastly call
ing himself an independent. His haughty
and imperious manners in early life,
when he was ever conscious of the fact
that he was the s on of the most power
ful statesman in Europe, softened in
later life.
Prince Bismarck’s father trained him
for his successor as chancellor of the
German empire and advanced him rap
idly in the diplomatic service until, at
the age of 40, he was minister of foreign
affairs, in which position he took part
in nearly every important international
transaction.
T this moment the
■yes of all France
•ire upon Alexandre
Millerand. who is
r.aking a determined
and by no means
hopeless effort to
wrest the premier
ship from Emiie
Combes. M. Combes
has made one or two
rrors of 'policy and
many grievances are
harbored against
him by the poli
ticians of different stripes that make up
his working majority. Advantage is be
ing taken of this state of things for all
it is worth by a recently formed coali
tion of which M. Millerand is the organ
izing and directing spirit. Combos and
his ministry were put out by the late M.
Waldeck-Rousseau as temporary substi
tutes for himself and his friend, and
for the purpose of testing public opinion
on the anticlerical association act. Con
trary to expectation, the Combes minis
try has stuck tenaciously to office, and
making no sign of retiring.
Jtlejc Mtilef-anet