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A SUNFLOWER SECRET MILLIONS OF POUNDS USED, BUT FOR WHAT IS A MYSTERY. Only « Few Men Know and They Won't Tell—How the Crop i. drown nnd Harvested—it HnnUlie* Mnlnrla—Tho l’lonner Suntlowor Capitnllnu A correspondent of tho Chicogo Record writes as follows from Law roncoville, Ill.: A man down here is advertising for 1,000,000 pounds of sunflower soed. He has bought three-fourths of a mil lion pounds of sunflower seed and ex pects to ship 5,000,000 pouuds. raised Practically all of this crop in the world goes out of Lawrence County. This same man who is now buying the soed by the trainload got rich by raising such things on liis rented farm, going into the murkot for strange aud unusual things, while his neighbors stuck to wheat and corn and hogs. His name is W. R. Crack el and he is both shrewd and inquisi tive, but while supplying the world with what sunflower seed it needs he has never been able to find out what the world does with it. This sunflower seed industry is not only an art ex hibit and a poem, but one of the greatest mysteries as well. A good many people hero are prof- on gaged in it now, but it is not so itable as it was to tho grower. Farm er Crackol sold his first big crop for nine oonts a pound; tho next year his neighbors put out a good deal of land iu sunflowers, and sold the pro duct for eight cants a pound, which was some hundreds of dollars per acre. 1'hen came the deluge. Everybody in- in Petty township planted sunflowers ?tead of corn, and the farmers accom plished their own undoing. One township iu this county broke tho market from eight cents to two couts by causing an overproduction in the ivorld’s supply. Then many went tack to corn and wheat, and now things have settled down to a basis that pays well enough, but does not make rich inon. NEEDS LITTLE CULTIVATION. The sunflower is grown from tho seed and a twenty-acre field soon after it comes up looks like a patch of ground much neglected to tho weeds. The plants are cultivated somewhat, but in the rich soil of tho island, whare Crackel started the industry and where it still flourishes, the sun flower grows to unbelievable propor tions with little care. Early in the aeason the field takes on the color of tho soft, rich green peculiar to the leaves of the plant, and a little later blotches of deep yellow appear all over the greeu palette, ns one by one the flowers stick themselves above the general level like township commit teemen at a political meeting. The field on a level with the top of the low rail fence is one plane, the plauts be ing interwoven with their long, broad leaves intermingled iu what seems to be a perfect amalgamation. The flowers that first appear are not mnoh larger than a saucer and are light yellow in color. Each day more of them can be counted, everyone on a tall upshoot and bending its head in the most dignified way imaginable, making the field look like a crowd of tonsured courtiera Miluting tlieir king. 1’hey bow toward'the sun as a general rule, bending to the east in the morn ing, tho south at noon and tlie west In the evening. As late summer comos, no view is . richer thftn. forty or eighty acres of sunflowers. Tho color tone is yellow then—a rich, deep yellow—with just and 9nough dark blown for harmony a little of dark greon for contrast. High stand the stalks and each is bowed low With its weight of flower, but still reaching far above the fence and the corn in.the adjoining field. how or.or is harvested. Tho narrow, yellow petals wither and fall away, or tnrn brown and sere, aud then tho harvesting of this most unique crop begins. The heads are out off the stalks by baud aud thrown into a wagon. After boing carefully dried they have lost all their beauty aud are dark, angular, ugly things that impress one most with their size. Some of tho flowers are as large in diameter as six columns of a news paper is wide and the brown tonsure in the center is often a foot iu di ameter after tho petals have fallen and it is dried. Tho seed is separated by running the heads through an ordin ary thrashing machine cylinder, which knocks the seeds from the pockets in which they were imbedded, Tho operation of cleaning is rather,crude yet, there being no special machines for the purpose. The yiold per acre varies greatly. A field of flowers only as large as a des sert plate will not have hall'the amount of seed as a field of flowers as large as a half-bushel. Almost any kind of laud with slight attention will yield 600 pounds to the acre; and crops of 1600 pounds to the acre are not very un common, although they are the result of extra atteutiou by growers who havo studied the habits aud needs of the sunflower aud who also have very rich land. Just now the buyers are pay ing from $1.25 to $1.50 per hundred pounds for the seed delivered at the warehouse. The cost of raising an acre of sunflowers is very mnoh less than the cost of an acre of wheat or corn aud the crop is much more cer tain. This city is the great sunflower seed market of the world, but small quantities, comparatively, are bought at Bridgeport, St. FranGisville, Stwn ner, Birds and others of the smaller towns in this county, each station sending out several carloads in a year. The crop of 1899 is now being thrashed and sent to market and in this county will aggregate about 5,000,000 pounds in the opinion of those most interested. Small quantities of sunflower seed are sent to market occasionally from iy separated points in the United stat e9 - 1>nk in no other p lacB is iU ® Heod-raiHing . made business. a WHERE DOES THE SEED OO? What does the world do with 5,060, 000 pounds of the seed of a plant com monly associated only with an esthetic craze? Only a very few men know, and they won’t tell. The secrecy which envelopes the whole matter of its use like the hist of a stage burglar, sug gests that it is an'adulterant. It once sold readily at ton cents a pound, which was the equivalent of nearly $2 a gal lon for tho oil, and what oil can lie used for an adulterant atsuch a price? The same mau, Crackol, who started the whole thing here as a farmer ami now handles nearly the whole crop as a dealer in grain, thought of all that. Ho is a mau who takes excellent care of his own business and at the same time has a philanthropic interest in the doings of liis neighbors down here where everybody visits everybody else. Home other people had a casual curios ity about the mattor, but when they discovered that Crackel had to shame facedly admit what he did not kuow and could not find out, they let it go at that. Crackel found out that the oil was pressed from the seed, ami that was all. After several years’dealing with the Cincinnati firm, who buys the seed finally, he took an excellent opportu nity and made it clear that he thought he might now be admitted into the degree which enlightened about what wa3 done with the sunflower seed. The senior member of the firm ac quiesced, and after initiatory cere monies over an altar with a big mir ror behind it, he gravely told Crackel that the seed was used to feed canary Wrds, at the same time giving a sign by slowly lowering and raising his left eyelid. One of these days Crackel will take in a capitalist and corner the market on sunflower seed; then he will loosen up only on conditipn that he is allowed to see exactly what be comes of the seed in its final resting place. In the meantime the public will have to do without knowing for wliat the seed really is used. Sunflowers have always flourished here in this oldest part of tho State, where Jesse IC. Dubois belongs to its modern history, and George Rogers Clark passed on on his way to capture tho neighboring Fort Vincennes and the northwest from Great Britain. But they were used to feed chickens and to keep off “feverimager” until recent years. It is a fact that plenty of sunflowers growing around a place will lessen the malaria there. They take up so much moisture from the ground that the latter is a less healthy culture medium for the plasmodium malariiB, aud perhaps the chemistry of their own existence and growth is an tiseptio to that queer-shaped germ which the Italian scientist discovered to be the essence of malarial poisou As a consequence of the great change , in farming in Lawrence County bring mg the sunflower crop into such prom liiouoe, there is more money and less malaria along the banks of Muddy Greek and in the valley of the histon oal Embarrus River._ Hotter fiun When You See Him. Every one who baa anything to do with this class of stock should remem ber that the bull is a dangerous aui mnl. He may have been gentle in the past, but that does not give the slight est degree of security that he will re main so in the future. He is a treacherous beast, is easily disturbed and when excited is equally ready to attack friend or - enemy. Men have been known to go around these aui mals as freely as they do horses, aud women have petted handsome bulls, but such acts are as dangerous as handling dynamite bombs. The bull should not be abused, but he should never, even while a calf, bo petted or played with. From his earliest days he should be taught that man is his master. Wheu he is being driven from one place to another an occa sional strike with a good whip will be a great aid in enforcing this les son and impressing it firmly upon his memory. After he is a year and a half old he should not be turned into a pasture, or be allowed in a yard with other cattle. He ought never to be led with a rope, but only with a strong staff that is safely con neeted with a ring or a “leader” in his nose, and tho man who has charge of him should always be on his guard. If it is necessary to go into a yard or stable with him when he is iooke, a rawhide whip should always be ear ried. The man should not turn his back to the bull or for a single mo rnoiit relax his vigilance. Cutting off the horns, which some recommend, is not to be fully relied upon. It will not make a radical change in the dis position, aud while it will keep the bull from goring it will not prevent his trampling a mau to death. The only way to make a bull permanently safe is to take them off near the shoul ders. Horns or no horns, as long as he live, the bull will be a dangerous animal to handle.—Lewiston (Me.) Journal. A Handicapped Genius. A certain Clevelander has iu soma t way secured quite a reputation for literary work. He is supposed to do lots of it aud is looked upon with afeel ing akin to awe by people who are not literary themselves. Not long ago a sister of the genius was asked concerning her brother’s work. “It’s funny I fail to see any of it,” said the questioner. “Doesn’t he ever write anything over his own name?” “I think you have been misin formed concerning my brother’s talent,” said the sister coldly aud with great precision, “He never writes anything for publication.” And she said it with an air that im plied that writing for publication was a little , too common for any use.— Cleveland Plain Dealer. ASCENT OF A DRAGON BALLOON. / •as. Jj J m M 1 Am ■Sa V M ■ K j musii I si* r m dw fa / v V i 309 * j W8r am A • <■ BRITISH WAS EALLDOflS WATER THE BOERS. Remarkable Battlefield Work Done by • LMounted Telegraphers. DISPATCH from Cape Town m British states that troops the mjh ; have tant the balloon, auxiliary an military and impor- the in —V?/ >?■ J* defence of Lady smith was eou s. siderably facili tated thereby. The balloon was in telephonic communication with the camp, aud kept a watch on the Boer movements during tho night. The brilliant work performed bv l]le si H during corps of the United states army / l the war with s * aiu caU8 d speoia V atteutiou to be d awn to thftt brancll of the s<5rvice . An iuteresti £ comparisou j wi u be afforded b t e stu y of the opera - turns G f the signalers of the British army in the hostilities in the Trans vaal. The latest information received is to the effect that a complete balloon ing corps from England' is on the a«8p!p!8 It m H mmmM Jm–asssf mmlsM j| = — T CIB3US-LIKE FEAT IN THE FIELD. ! scene of action. The great Napoleon regarded military balloons as of “no strategical importance.” He was accompanied by a ballooning corps duviug his second campaign in Egypt, but the wagons containing tho acces- HdS–A prprm ! _________ __-- —.- ■ == - : —--—= = 'S±i T§}' b pj ■tr© OL_ BALLOONING TRAIN IN THE FIELD. ' series fell into British hands, and this calamity no doubt influenced his •pinion. However, since those days military balloons have done good work cu many occasions, aud it is con- fidently expected that their advent in warfare. The British balloon division is fully equipped for the work it is to per form. The chief work which it will be expected to execute may be summed up as follows: First, to' discover the whereabouts of the Boevs hidden in cover; second, to make observations and to take photographs; third, to – filT M Ijj I i film — 5 - TOWER CONSTRUCTED BY ROYAL ENGI NEERS WORKING WITH THE BALLOON DIVISION. carry dispatches. Invaluable infor mation concerning the enemy’s movements will be telephoned from the men in the car to those below. The balloon, too, will render ex cellent service for map-making pur poses. Photographs will be taken vertically downward that will she w every detail of the country and the position of the Boer forces. It is only a matter of practice for skilled surveyors to become efficient in judg ing distances aud heights from a bal loon car aud in making accurate j I sketches The British and maps, military balloons now | going to the front hold about 10,000 cubic feet of hydrogen. Each balloon will carry two persons—one iu tlie car and the other iu the netting, These balloons are made of gold beaters’skin, which is far superior in every way to silk. Each balloon will be placed on a wagon and drawn by twelve horses to the scene of opera engine or by four horses, This gas is stowed in steel cylinders, 110 cylinders being required to fill one balloon of 10,000 cubic feet capacity. Hitherto one cause of great concern been in the ballooning operations has the difficulty of obtaining a balloon sufficiently steady to ensure the mak ing of accurate observations. It Has also been feared that the difficulties attending the manufacture, handling and conveyance of the gas might prove insurmountable. In order that this may not prove a stumbling block in the Transvaal, the British army is being also furnished with equipment for the rapid erection of observation towers. The care of these is entrust ed to the Royal Engineers, a section of the British army whose operations have always been distinguished by excellence of work. One of the illus trations shows one of these towers after it has reached a height of 110 feet. It will be seen that the ob servation pqsts afford every facility for recounoitering the movements of the Boer army. The results of the m is K mm ti \ ? ft I m Cm JSfgSs iW*®| i–sasii » V TELEPHONING FF.OJI A WAR BALLOON. observations made by balloon or tower will be communicated to the general staff’ headquartei s by means of tele phone and telegraph lines, to be erected by the telegraph battalion battalion of the Royal Engineers. This has seen long aud honorable service. In the erection of temporary lines it has made a record for speed, stability and efficiency. Galloping across a plain, horsemen may be seen, im paling their specially constructed posts at regular distances. With a speed that is almost incredible, other horsemen follow, unreeling the coils of wire; others, with an agility aud skill hitherto confined to circuses, pursue them, standing on saddle to adjust a wire to the insulator, drop ping into their seat, only to repeat the operation a few yards further on. The illustrations show that this line is not as primitive in construction as one might suppose. Baled Money. But speaking of cotton—strange how the subject sticks to one—I once asKed a small farmer in Georgia, “Why do you raise cotton year after year? It seems to me it’s the hardest thing in the world to raise; it requires more care than anything I Know of; has to be plowed ofteuer and looked after more carefully; why don’t you raise something to eat?” And the man with the two-mule farm laughed and said, “I’d know yon was from the North just by that fool speech. Be cause I owe for my laud, f have to have money every year to run this j farm. I can borrow money on my next crop of cotton. And the man who lends me the money can keep his eye on my crop from the time the seed is in the ground till it is loaded on the cars. His security is all right. But if I go to him iu the spring and tell him I ain’t going to raise any cot ton, but only corn and garden truck, he can’t keep track of no such perish able security as that. He won’t lend l4e'*so < i°to rid, 0 ,, ciittoa*-* ISlSI gam 2000 miles away just what they ought to do. So much easier than it is to go there anc do it.—Robert Burdette, in the Los Angeles Times. Secret Drawers Designed by a Woman. “Most people seem to think,” said a maker of furniture, “that secret drawers and hidden receptacles in furniture only exist in novels and plays, but this is by no means so. I very frequently take orders for such items, and I employ a clever woman designer, who shows positive genius iu planning places of concealment, which no amount of tapping or ineas uring could reveal, In most cases, dis even were the hollow receptacle would covered, the woodwork around have to be cut away, so complex are the fastenings. Most of the orders come from women—and rich people, of course—and I have no doubt that a desire to hide articles from too curi ous servants dictates the orders.” “Barker humbly says he is but an instrument in tiie hands of destiny.” “I kuow he talks that way; but, all the same, he thinks destiny has its hands full when it is using him. — Indianapolis Journal. “He That Any Good Would Win " Should have good health. Pure, rich blood is the first requisite. Hod’s Sarsa parilla, by giving good blood and good health, has helped many a maito success, besides giving strength and ourage to women who, before taking it, could not even see any good in life to tin. f oMa, A Good Strategist. “John,” said Mrs. Thursby, “you were saying yesterday that yei were in financial trouble, I believe.” “Yes,” Mr. Thursby replied, “and I’m terribly worried. I didn't shop a wink last night.” “I think 1 heard, you say sometiing, too, about a note held by Mr. Hcvltt, didn’t I?” “That’s what is causing the trouble. If I could get him to extend tho tine on it for about ninety days everything would come • out all right. I could then realize on some securities I held and get on my feet, but if he insists on payment now I shall have to each flee my valuable holdings, and this will practioaly ruin me.” “Have you asked him for an exten sion of the time?” “No. That wouldn’t do any good. Ho novar favored .anybody i n his life. K he knew how I am fixed he would be all the more anxious to press me for an immediate settlement.” “Well, don't you worry dear. Ills wife, you know, is several years older than I. We met at a party tills after ■ noon and I spoke to a lot of women there of the days when she and I went to the same school. She turned pale when I mentioned the fact, fearing, of course, that I was going to tell how long ago it was, aud that she was sev eral grades above me because she was older; but I put down my pride, and pretended that as I remembered her she was a little thing in pinafores just learning her primer lessons when I graduated. You go to Hewitt’s house now, and when she Is present ask him to extend the time on that note.”—Clii cago Tiraes-Herald. Evolution of the Salmon. When a young salmon is first hatched it Is known as a parr; just before it leaves the fresh for the salt water It is called a smolt; when it first returns to spawn it becomes a grilse, and not until it has spawned is it en titled to be dignified by the name of salmon. _ Putnam Fadeless Iter do act stain the bioitU or spot the kettle. Sold by all druggists,____ Cotton Bolls for Paris Exposition. O. V. Ki*jr, eommisBionur from Mississippi to tlio Paris Exposition In 1950 has arranged what promises t» So a great novelty In the way of aa exhibit.frwm its state. He has mail s arrange ments to secure live hundred thousand cotton bolls, whieh iioitoh will be sold at tho exposition of the by original field darkle* as souvenirs American exhibit. They will bo the first cot ton bolls ever shipped abroad. Con't Tobacco Spit and Smoke Tour Life Away. To cmt tobacco easily and forever, be mag netic. full of life, nerve »nd vigor, take N»-To Bae. til® wonder-worker, that makes weak men strong. All druggists, SOc or $1. Cure guarau teed. Booklet and sample free. Address Sterling Remedy Co., Chicago or New York. Human Frailly. If some men could realize In cash their own estimate of thtrtnselves, the money market would soon be cornered. By writing »t once lor the remarkable offer of Ihe South's great est Institution of Pr–otleal Business Training, Tie Ga.“Ala. gosiaess Celiege, Don’t Delay-! MACON, GA. ■ a 1 33 f mi S 239 ■is “I Vlcvo i6 o*q traabled a deal Will* a Lsurpid liver, which produces constipa tion. I found CA3CABET3 u> be ail you claim for them, and secured such relief tho Erst trial, that I pureiunied another supply and was som plotsly cured. I shall only be too opportunity glcd to i^c onasiwnd Oasearsts whenever tb* Sjj is presented-” J. Philadeiphia, A hb. Pa. 29941 Susquehanna Are., CANDY *W CATHARTIC £ A TS.AB5 MASU nSOIOTtSRCO Pleasant, Palatable, Potont, Tasic Good. DO Good, Never Sicken, w eat.en, or Gripe. 10c, 26c, 5UC. SXFLS,. »«---i-.. » 8WniB * 1lg CURE YOUR HORSE of S^ntvhi, Curb, Splint, Capped Hock, Sore Tendons, Cut*, Kick*, Bruises, etc., by using Asa bBSS–ESI PS Also an invalu*bl« remedy for man. When taken internally it cures lest Cramp* and Colic. It is the antiseptic known. Every b.ttle is vrnrrsnted. Sold by dealers and druggists generally. Family size, S5C. Horse size, 50c. ami $1.00. Prepared by EARL.S; SLOAN, Boston, Mass WAHTft )i ?ob«c.5–HA ^“AV^. 1 r . te.'.tunon'.-u^nd^o amck r? , t«f«nYcores’ 0 ,. Bse9 . cwt <in>-s Free. » r . h. h. ssexb s bow*. i« b Ati»ct».— If afflicted vrltli l j Thompson's Eye Water sore cjv6, uso