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Basket-Willow Growing
i INDUSTRY BEING FOSTERED BY DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. I
BY ELLIOT I MITCHELL.
there Secretary Wilson's statement
are no bad acres in the
States is again brought to
through thi‘ efforts of the
of Agriculture ti> induce more general
attention to the culture of the basket
'willow. There are very many farms
in this country which contain some
low land, and through which runs a
small stream. Tills portion of the
farm is too often allowed to run
to waste, dense growths of weeds and
scrub prospering in the rich, moist
soil, and the locality rarely visited by
the farmer except when in search of
some stray cattle which have come
down to the brook fora drink.
Although Introduced in this country
us early as 18-10, willow growing in
America occurs only In restricted lo¬
calities throughout a relatively small
portion of the country. On account
of the isolation of these groups of
growers with little or no connection,
and because the growers are not In
touch with basket makers, there has
been little chance for improvement.
,v
American
baskets Made
in Richmond,
Virginia.
Pooling Oroen
Willow for
llankot Work.
While this Is not true of tile condi¬
tions In western New York, the trade
there demands only the cheapest
grade of the steamed willow. Hut
steam-peeled rods have a dark color,
and hence cannot be used for fine bas¬
kets.
Willows Crow on Corn Land.
The general Idea Is that: willows
will grow only on very swampy
ground, but experience shows that all
serious attempts mn'de on well
drained soil, even though of poor qual¬
ity, have lieen successful. The ground
Is prepared Just the same as it would
be for corn or wheat. Willow plant¬
ing generally is done in the autumn;
should he in rows, the sets or cut¬
tings, according to older methods be¬
ing placed about ten inches in length
and planted in the ground until about
only tin Inch and a half protrudes
above the ground Almost without
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A WILLOW SWAMP.
exception through the country
lows are planted from P inches to
foot apart in raws 2'- feet to ft
distant from one another, thus
ing front about 14,060 to 23,000 to
acre. This method of wide
Is followed for several reasons, It
course being cheaper to plant
cuttings, and the cost of
being reduced, the wide rows
for the use of a plow. It is also
derstood and held by the
authorities that the more shoots from
a stool or stump, the greater the yield.
Whore the cuttings have been planted
on meadow or corn land, the first
the rows are hoed two or three times,
and later run through with a ‘light
plow, in later years only the plow Is
vised. On bottomland, however, they
aiv only cultivated once, and there¬
fore only grassed with a sickle.
To Produce Straight Rods* \
' The Department of Agriculture has
fon ml that though there may he ol»
Jeetion Increased to close planting on account of
cost and greater amount
of cultivation necessary, both a
heavier yield :i ml longer, more even
sized and better rods are obtained—
straighten less branchy, yield" and less ta¬
pering. While a of four tone
of green rods per acre may be ob¬
tained In twelve years where the holts
are planted in rows three feet apart,
with a distance of one foot between
holts, over six tons are obtained from
an acre planted 29x!> Inches, in only
ten years. The Department also ad¬
vises that the, cuttings should be
less than twelve inehes In length,
planted with the buds pointing
ward. and that when planed in
ground each cutting should be
fectly perpendicular. When
are planto'd close together all
and grass, the fees of the
should he kept out.
Osiers should bo cut the first year,
even if no valuable material can
obtained, for if this is delayed
tln> second year, there Is apt to he a
tendency to branch, so that less
able material can Is' cut. This cut¬
ting should he done during the winter,
from November 1 to March b and
jiear the ground as possible.
bundles of these cuttings should then
la* kept in running water until small
leaves or sprouts appear, when they
will be ready to ped.
Pretty White Willows.
Willows thus peeled are of a fine
white color, while those which un¬
dergo steaming or ladling for the re¬
moval of the hark are of a dark color,
being stained by coloring matter con¬
tained ih the bark; hut experience has
shown that the articles made of boiled
willow are much more durable than
those made from the white rods of
spring peeling, The operation is so
simple that old persons Incapable of
arduous labor can make fair wages
doing this sort of work.
And yet, the farmer may ask, Is
there a market for willow ware in
this country? The United States con¬
sumes the largest amount of willow
ware of any country in the world.
T'rom one district in Germany alone,
as far back as 1SP3, in spite of the
panic existing tit that time, $230,000
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worh of fine willow ware was Im¬
ported. since that date, however, the
value of willow imports has decreased,
due, probably, to the increase of wil¬
low growing In this country.
The manufacture of willow Is what
might he termed a “house Industry,”
in which the men, women and chil¬
dren tire engaged in peeling and split¬
ting the rods and weaving tho bas¬
kets under contract
\ „ ^ ---
Big Crops This Year.
Secretary Wilson hns returned to
Washington from a tour of the North¬
west, where lie was shown some
great crop yields. He expresses it ns
his belief that the farmers have more
money now than ever was theirs be
fore, and that with such full treasure
chests there is no danger of an indus¬
trial panic. The year’s crop of
wheat, corn and oats will be larger.
t year, lie says that the area enpa-
1 of raising durum or macaroni
cut is now pushing well into the
ert region. The yield of this
cut alone this year, it is believed,
1 exceed 20,000,000 bushels, a
cat, by the way. which grows
Mr Wilson gives us the pleasing in
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MAKING WILLOW HAMPER.
poultry lower tills winter than they
1:1 V(> been for some time, owing to the
heavy grain crops. Fattening cattle
on corn at 50 cents a bushel, he said.
ihat » S* is a what Profitable the farmer performance, has been and do
ing for the past three years; but with
this year's grain crops, the farmer
should find at the end of tho season
that his margin of profit is greater,
and in the due course of events, meats
should be cheaper.
To Make Old-Fashioned Yeast.
Roil two ounces of the best hops in
four quarts of water for half an hour:
strain and let the liquor cool down to
the warmth of new milk, then put In
a small handful of salt and half a
pound of sugar, beat up one pound of
the best flour with some of the liquor
and then mix well all together. Let
this mixture stand until the third day.
then add three pounds of potatoes,
boiled and mashed, let it stand a day
longer, stirring frequently and keeping
it near the fire In an earthen vessel,
then strain and put in bottles and it
is ready for use. The advantage of i
this yeast is that it ferments spontan¬
eously not requiring the aid of other
yeast. If well cooked and kept in a
coo! place, it will keep six months or
more. It has been thoroughlv tested
and never fail* to make delicious light
bread.
Cbemist Wiley on Pure Food.
Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, the chief of
the Bureau of Chemistry of the De¬
partment of Agriculture, has just re¬
turned from a tour of the British
Isles, France and Germany, where he
has been studying the preparation of
food products—packing, shipping, and
human consumption of foods. Dr.
Wiley is a pure food man. He be¬
lieves that we should all have pure
food, or at least know what it is
adulterated with, and he is one of the
most active advocates in the country
of national pure food legislation.
“The question of pure food,” he
said, “is one that should l>e better un¬
derstood, and more actively engaged
in by people generally. We have se¬
cured legislation enabling us to pre¬
the importation of impure and
harmful foods, but the people are ap¬
careless in regard to domes¬
tic manufacture. There is one feat¬
ure of the pure food investigation
WILLOW IN THE ITT, SPROUTED,
READY FOR PEELING.
appeals to me, beyond all oth¬
effect of impure foods on in¬
People who are under the
of a physician, prepared and .are should com¬
to eat foods
know at least what they are getting.
If the foods which they buy as ‘pure,’
found upon analysis to contain
ingredients which have proven harm¬
ful to them, they should have some
recourse at law to punish the maker
of this fraudulent food. A simple in¬
stance Is sufficient to illustrate the
point. There is fit this time a great
demand for gluten flours. They are
recommended for certain diseases,
and there are various preparations dti
tlie market which fire sold at high
prices. Many of the so-called gluten
Hours contain but a small percentage with
of pure gluten; they are ‘filled
chalk and starchy substances, and are
not fit all what is claimed for them.
This is one example; a hundred Others
could be named.”
GIANT KANSAS CORN.
Exciting Experiences of Boy Lost In
Field of Growing Grain.
\ report which seems to have ootne
from the Portland Exposition states
that a great object of curiosity there
is a corn stalk of mammoth size reach¬
ing almost up to the very roof of the
agricultural building. The history of
the stalk is perhaps as marvelous as
the object itself.
It appears that prior to the last
hot wave which swept over the co:y
try, a farmer In Kansas sent liis-A*
teen-year-old son out to take a i look
over the corn field and notify 'uni cf
tlie prospects. In order to do this the
son went to the implement shed which
this wise farmer had provided and
procured a ladder with which he
climbed one of the cornstalks. After
surveying a fine growth of corn for
miles around, the boy started to climb
down, but in his excitement <at the
prospects of the golden harvest which
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PEELED WILLOWS,
his father would reap, he- had failed
to notice the rapidity of the growth of
the stalk which he had aseeuded. As
quickly as he stopped down, so much
more rapidly the stalk seemed to grow,
and he was no nearer the bottom than
when be started.
Ilis father, noting the absence of
his son. saw that it would be useless
for him to bunt through the jungle of
waving corn, so he climbed to the top
of liis windmill and bis anxious eyes
beheld his boy waving liis red bandana
In despair. Hastily summoning bis
neighbor and liis other two sturdy
sons, they proceeded with axes to
chop down the wicked stalk. Their
axes, however, failed to find the same
mark twice, so rapidly did the stalk
shoot upward. Night came on with¬
out their accomplishing anything aud to
the boy was left to what appeared
bo a terrible fate. Like most Kansas
boys, liis opportunities, however, he and was existed a- ake to fort £ll
con¬ a
long time on the raw corn, having
sumed so much that he later notified
his parents by means of a message
written on one of the dried corn leaves
that be was getting so fat there was
danger of tlie stalk breaking with his
weight He wrote that he believed a
more balanced ration wtoukl relieve
liis fears, suggesting the planting of
beans at the base of the cornstalk as
an expedient
However, before tlie beans could se¬
cure enough growth, the drought
came on aud stopped the growth"of
the stalk and the boy was enabled
to climb down, thus saving bis life
As mementos of the occasion, tlie lad
gathered up the corn cobs which he
had thrown down from his lofty seat,
amounting bushels to something over" four
and a peck, and on these he
has been working, turning them into
corn-cob pipes which he is exhibiting
at the Truth Bureau of the Portland
Exposition.
Prior to 1789 the Speaker of the
House of Commons was paid a salarv
of 5 pounds a day and a fee of 5
pounds on every private bill passed.
I
CONTROL OF CANAL MATTERS.
Transfer to the State Department
Under Secretary Root,
It seems to be generally accepted
that the control of all matters in con¬
nection with the construction of the
Panama canal is to be transferred
from the War Department to the
State Department Under the law the
work is to be performed under the di¬
rection of the President, and he origi¬
nally intrusted it to Secretary Taft on
the general ground that all national
business engineering works were properly the
of the War Department It
is now realized that Secretary Taft
has a great deal more than his pro
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Washington Post.
share of the government
work and responsibility, and it is
with a view of relieving him of a por¬
tion of Dis official burdens that 'the
President suggested the advisability
tlie transfer of the Panama Canal
work to the State Department
Secretary Root's acceptance of the
trust would enable Secretary Taft to
devote more of his time to the con¬
sideration of important questions af¬
fecting the government of the Philip¬
and tiie business of the army
It is known that Secretary
has no personal ambitions In
with the Panama canal
and is entirely willing, as a
matter of general expediency, that its
should be transferred to
Secretary State Root as the head of the
Department.
Secretary Hoot, however, with all
his ability for hard work, is under¬
stood to have no hankering after the
canal job.
THE FLOOD OF NOAH. ■)
Geology Proves the Foundation ot
the Biblical Account.
There are Biblical doubters who scoff
at the idea that there ever was a great
Hood, yet the testimony of the geolo¬
gists, to say nothing of Ignatius Don¬
nelly’s theory of the submerged conti¬
nent of Atlantas, proves that at one
time the entire earth’s surface was
covered with water. Professor Wright
of Oberlin, who has made geology a
life study, brings us new light upon the
subject, lu writing on tlie subject of
the “Contributions of Geology to the
Creditability of the Flood” lie states
that the level of the land changes con¬
stantly. The highest mountains were
once below the sea-level, as is proven
by the finding of sea-shells on the sum
mits of the highest peaks. All of Cen
tral Asia was ouce covered by water
and Is now drying up. In fact the dry¬
ing out process has been going on for
thousands of years. The Turkestan and
Siberian low-lands were once sub¬
merged, while evidence Is sliovvu that
the Desert of Gobi was once a body
of water equal to tlie Mediterranean in
size and depth.
The valley of the Jordan in ages back
was covered with water to a depth of
from 1.000 to 1.-100 feet, while changes
of level and climate in Asia seem to
prove that the Deluge once passed over
the entire country.
Uncle Sam's “Conscience Fund.”
Tlie conscience fund of the Treas¬
ury is not, as is popularly supposed, an
idle fund which is added to from time
to time, lies dormant, and is never
used. Contributions to this so-called
fund are turned into the regular gov
eminent receipts and on the books ap¬
pear under the heading “To Account
Conscience.” This account was opened
by the United States government in
1811. It would not be fair to ir*“r
from this fact that the American con
science had its awakening at so late a
date iu the country’s history, but that
year witnessed the first return to the
government, as the result of the “still,
small voice,” of money of which it had
been defrauded some time before.
President Madison found on bis desk
one morning an unsigned letter in
which the writer confessed to defraud¬
ing the government of $2, for which
his conscience had made him suffer
sorely. This amount was enclosed with
the request that it be turned into the
National Treasury, the writer express¬
ing the hope that this full restitution
and repentance would restore a clear
and easy conscience. Contributions
have since been received varying in
amounts from a 2-cent postage stamp
to ten thousand dollars or more.
Up to date the amount received from
those who have defrauded the govern¬
ment and become conscience-stricken
is over $100,000.
A Very Accurate Description .
Hon. George S. Legare, a member of
Congress from South Carolina and a
graduate of a Washington law school,
has a sense of humor and enjoys a
good joke even at the expense of the
members of his profession. He dot's
not uphold the “smart" lawyer and tells
of a case iu his native city of Charles¬
ton whore a pettifogging attorney was
cross-examining an old negro witness.
After asking the old darkey a num¬
ber of catch questions in an endeavor
to confuse him. he finally asked the
witness his occupation.
‘T'se a cahpentah, sah.”
“What kind of a carpenter?”
“Dey calls me a jack-leg cahpentah.”
“What is a ‘jack-leg’ carpenter?”
“He’s a cahpentah what ain't a fust
class cahpentah, sah!”
“Well, explain fully what you un¬
derstand a ‘jack-leg* carpenter to be,”
insisted the lawyer.
“Boss, ’deed Ah claih to goodness Ah
dunno how ter ’splain any mo' 'bout a
jack-leg cahpentah ’ceptin' hit am jes’
de same diffuuce as dey is betwix’ you
an’ a fust-class lawyah, sah 1”
Kirk’s
AMERICAN CROWN
SOAP
*s a green soap, consistency of paste, a perfect
cleanser for automobile machinery and al*
vehicles; will not injure the most highly
polished surface. Made from pure vegetable
oils. If your dealer does not carry American
Crown Soap in stock, send us his name and
address and we will see that your wants are
supplied. Put up in 12^£ 25 and 50 lb pails.
James S. Kirk& Company
CHICAGO „ ILL.
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