Newspaper Page Text
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HF.ARST’S RT'NDAY AMERICAN. ATLANTA, GA., SUNDAY, MAY 11, 1913.
Feeding Soil Bacteria Most Profitable
Practice Possible for Modern and
Progressive Southern Farmer
Greatest Modern Discovery of Agricultural Science—Immense Help in
Increasing Size and Standard of Crops of Every Variety.
Methods of Inoculation and Use Fully Described.
By CHARLES A. WHITTLE. —
Georgia State College of Agriculture.
How to feed bacteria and encour
age their development is the biggest
Issue of modern agriculture. Via bae-
t ria plant8 get much of their Im
portant food, and via the plant we
live. Our invisible friends of the soil
world are middlemen in the cycle of
food preparation. If they thrive we
thrive. If they suffer we suffer.
Where they die we can not live.
Not until the last few years have
we come to learn of our dependence
upon toll bacteria and their depend
ence upon us in the practice of agri
culture,. Science has opened our eyes
and defined to some extent a compli
cated and confusing microscopical
world, reveaJing very wonderful
things, the*use of which will prove of
vast benefit to agriculture.,
The discovery of nitrogen-fixing
bacteria was epochal. Subsequent dis
coveries of how to feed and energize
them mean more than any invention,
any legislation or any plant propaga
tion affecting soil husbandry ever con
ceived. And yet there is still much to
be discovered as to bow many kinds
of bacteria fix nitrogen and convert it
into form suited to plant food and
how to foster their growth and pro*
tort them from natural enemies and
adverse conditions.
When we buy nitrates from Chile
we pay dearly for It, end if we con
tinue to depend upon this sole com-
men i tl deposit disaster awaits us. In
the air Is plenty of nitrogen. With a
lot of electricity and lime, manufac
turing enterprise is attempting to ar
rest it from the air on a commercial
basis, and in this they may succeed,
but by the bacterial process it can be
transferred from the air to the soil at
no coFt whatever; indeed, at a profit
-not only from a crop that favors the
growth of the bacteria, but also the
profit that comes of permanent im
provement of the soil.
Feed on Organic Matter.
Bacteria can not live on inorganic
dust. They must have organic mat
ter. Turn under vegetable matter and
Mr Bacterium will feast, swell up
and pop off into another bacterium,
which in turn pops off into another,
and so on. rapidly ad infinitum, every
last one of them busy attacking vege
table matter and transforming It Into
a combination suitable for plant food.
It Is great business. The fertilizer
factories are not in their class. As
farmers’ helpers they are always
ready and willing to manufacture
plant food for their board—and what
they eat is a small fraction of what
they produce. Indeed, what they use
is most often what man can no longer
use.
So it is that soil is dead, weak or
active to the extent that the bacteria
have been cut short or fed their nat
ural provender of organic matter, or
in some other way mode inactive.
Plants are not cannibals. They can
not feed upon each other. No mat
ter how much vegetable matter Is put
into the soil, If bacteria are not there
to ferment or. rot it. the vegetable
matter would never become available
s food
j. r>
growing plants,
aralc, of Germany, recently
sealed s<
ome
interes
ting facts show-
X to w
hat
extent
nitrogen-fixing
refer
* d iff ere
nt forms of veg-
ible mal
ter..
The o
lder tht* vegeta-
' IlMt! !
the
less ad
apted to the nu
n < t
tht
p baot<
tria. but green
iffs and
l to
a less
ier degree roots
d straw
rich an
• easily changed
water
into
forms'
adapted to con
tnptioti,
a re
prefer!
ed.
Green Stuffs Best,
Green stuffs are best because the
carbohydrates and nitrogen are there
found in most favorable proportions,
and also because the carbohydrates
are in the form most easily trans
formed. Green manuring not only In
crease* bacteria, but it raises the
temperature of the soil, sets off a
greater amount of carbon dioxide,
which in turn createat r porosity of
the soil and admits water for a bettor
disintegration of insoluble phosphates
and silicates.
To what extent and how rapidly
bacteria absorb and convert nitrogen
into plant food is, of course, a very
important consideration. The same
authority has found, by experiments,
that nitrogen in the form of ammonia
sulphate Is most readily absorbed,
that sodium nitrate is absorbed about
like calcium' nitrate, that the absorp
tion of nitrogen is less active in an
acid soil and that the amount of car
bon dioxide produced is an Index to
the bacterial absorption of the soil.
Soil sickness, believed* to be due to
reduced bacterial action, can heVured
\>y sterilization Some have believed
that there were denitrifying bacteria
in the soil that brought out soil sick
ness, but this seems to have been dis
proved by Russel and Golding, of
England. Other organic life larger
than -bacteria is held responsible by
these authorities in the cus^ of a
sewerage sick soil. There they found
ont. When they ster-
protc
oa pi
ilized or partially sterilzed the
proto:
■ ver they were
were destro
98 degrees foi
killed the prot.
but also harmful
or hindering fi
disappeared, or
Ba teria were then
to multiply ten times their for
mer numbers in the soil.
Exposure to a temperature of 96 to
t\M' h.mrs not only
oa or hindering cause,
isiiic organisms,
ected a certain amount of decom
position thus assisting the bacteria
in. their subsequent work of trans
forming it, and developed ns a sec
ondary consideration a large number
of fibrous roots. A temperature of 55
degrees for three hours serves the
same purpose, except for the forma
tion of the fibrous roots.
Antiseptic Destroys Factors.
The same authorities have discov
ered that an antisept!
will also destroy th
tors, indicating that
may be, they' are bio
Lodge and Smith. <
setts Experiment Station
it is not the protozo.
iting factor, for they
to eliminate the pre
tests, and in spite
different results, du
to the presence of a
of organic matter in one than the
other, the organic matter, of course,
favoring the development of the ba?-
soil, Seaver and Clark call attention
to the fact that heating noils tends
to increase the growth of harmful
fungi.
Which are the bacterial inhabitants
in the underworld that produce nitro
gen and what else happens when they
do their work in the way of chemical
changes is, of course, an important
consideration. Many keen scientific
minds have been on the trail for sev
eral years. Here a bit and there a bit
of evidence lias been picked up. One
kind of bacteria and then another
has been isolated and found to fix
nitrogen.
Numbers Increasing.
They need not be mentioned here,
but it may be said that as observa
tions continue the number increases
McBeth and Scales, of the Bureau of
Plant Industry of the United States,
have recently succeeded In Isolating
and defining some of these bacteria,
and particularly to have proved that
gaseous products hitherto attributed
to nitrogen fixing bacteria are really
the work of other bacteria—a discov
ery that may not seem here nor there
to the lay mind, but may be potential
of great things when further discov
eries are made.
A. Fousek finds that Streptothflx
converts nitrates to nitrites without
denitrification—which statement may
need some explanation for the lay
man. Nitrates are, of course, Just
the form that plants require. To
change to nitrites would mean to
make it unavailable for plant food.
Blit to change it to nitrites is better
than to denitrify it, that is, to turn
it loose into the air. This bacte
rium would not be friendly to plant
growth at all were It not for its gen
eral assimilative ability. Besides ni
trates, It assimilates ammonium
compounds, urea and uric acid. To
catch ammonia and fix it is impor
tant, for this has a strong disposi
tion to escape. Tnls bacterium,
therefore, prevents denltlrlflcation
and holds In the soil a compound
that can bo converted into plant food
when another class of bacteria tie-
come active and can .change nitrites
Into nitrates. It can fSo readily seen
that .this bacterium might have been
classed as harmful and put out of
the ways by antiseptics or steriliza
tion if the important facts about its
good as well as its bad habits had not
been learned. As.it is. this micro-
oVganlsm which constitutes 20 to d0
per cent of micro-organisms in loam
soils, 8 to- 15 per cent In clay soils
and 7 to 10 per cent in sandy soils,
will find encouragement. It not only
thrives In fallow soils, but grows on
the roots of a very great variety of
plants.
Increase Due to Fat Removal.
R. Grelg-Smith thinks that in-
crf&scd bacterial activity in soils
after antiseptics have been applied is
due to the removal of fatty protec
tive coverings of soil particles.
To set one class of bacteria after
another and check some of their
harmful or wasteful habits Is, of
course, one of the greatest move
ments of science to-day, whether it
be in the medical world or the agri
cultural world. One instance recently
coming to attention may be men
tioned Barthel and Rhodln, by us
ing lactic acid ferment upon the ma
nure heap which was losing ammo
nia by the action of certain bacteria
busy therein, succeeded in conserv
ing the ammonia and proved that the
fertilizing efficiency of the manure
was maintained 59 per cent higher
than the manure that was untreated.
It was slMply setting one set of bac
teria to w’ork to offset a part of the
work of another. The results have
demonstrated something w'orth while.
Bacteria Don't Like Sour 8oils.
When clover, peas, velvet beans, al
falfa or other legumes are not doing
as well as the soil fertility would indi
cate that they should, usually the rea
son can be found by testing the soli
for acidity or sourness. If the soil is
sour, the bacteria that set up shop on
the roots of these plants to manufac
ture nitrates from the air. close doors
and cease business. No vinegar with
theirs. The acidity must be neutral
ized that is, corrected, and the soil
made sweet before the farmer’s best
friend—nitrogen fixing bacteria—will
begin the manufacture of fertilizer.
Lime is the “sweetening.” It must
be put on In large or small amounts,
depending upon the sourness. Lime
in the carbonate form—Just plain,
pulverized limestone, marble, marl,
shells or other substance containing
a high per cent of lime -serves the
purpose and will maintain a sweet
ness for several years.
With this corrective dose, the bac
teria get busy around the roots of the
legumes. Their tiny factories can be
easily seen. They are called nodules,
In other words, swollen places. These
are store houses as well as operating
centers for the bacteria that some
how' extract from the air some of Its
nitrogen. They carry it to the roots,
rather fix it there, aiding the growing
plant to w'hich It adheres, by feeding
It with the nitrogenous fertilizer. It
is a bountiful provider and leaves
some on the roots to permanently en
rich the soil.
Th® Practical Benefit to th® Farmer.
Without knowing that there were
bacteria in the soil calling for organic
matter for food, the farmer learned
that turning vegetable matter under
improved the fertility. Without know
ing thnt bacteria would not thrive In
sour soil, the farmer learned that lime
w’as good for his land. Without know
ing that bacteria had anything to do
with it, the farmer learned that le
gumes and rotations helped the soil.
The practical benefit to many farm
ers who have been using green ma
nures, who have been using lime on
the soils and who have been growing
legumes and rotating crope, is not as
great as for those who have never
practiced these things, but even the
progressive farmer who has received
benefits in these ways now knows how
he can receive greater help. By know
ing something of the nature of his
bacterial friends, he has learned h(>w
to feed them better than formerly, to
get larger crop returns. He knows
better what to put down Into the soil,
that greater return." may be sent up
by his invisible army of farm helpers.
All the while more and rqore Is be
ing learned of the bacterial world and
more and more will he ascertained as
to how the farmer can better employ
his bacterial workers to fatten his
purse.
John W. Grant Pays Record Price
of $1,100 for Ivy St.—Three
Cash Deals.
A. 8, Hook, of Foster Robson
Agency, has sold for the Houston-
Ivy Realty Company to John W.
Grant the northeast comer of Hous
ton and Ivy Streets for approximate
ly $98,000. The property fronts 90
feet on Ivy Street and 132.5 feet on
Houston Street. This Is a high water
.mark for Ivy Street frontage, being
\r>nroximately $1,100 a front foot. If
figured by the Houston Street front
age, the price paid is approximately
$745 a front foot.
This is the old Evins property. It
was boi/ght less than three years ago
by the Houston-Ivy Realty Company
for $100,000, then 1C2 feet on Hous
ton Street and 202 feet on Ivy Street.
Soon after the purchase the Hous
ton-Ivy Realty Company sold a 100-
foot lot on Ivy street for $40,000 to a
syndicate of^ South Georgia capital
ists, and recently this syndicate sold
to a syndicate of Atlanta capitalist
headed by E. C. Callaway for $66,000.
Mr. Hook has sold for Mr. Grant
to the Houston-Ivy Realty Company
25 South Pryor Street 4for $52,000, or
at the rate of $2,000 per front foot.
Old residents of Atlanta will remem
ber this property as the old poll 32
barracks. The property 's a three-
story brick and basement building, on
a lot 26 by 120 feet, with alley on
side and rear. Mr. Grant’s father
bought this property several yea.s
ago for about $1,100 a front foot.
These sales make a very interesting
.story of the steady enhancement of
Atlanta property, both on the North
Side and South Side of the city.
The A. S. Harris Real Estate Agen
cy has sold for G. C. Rogers to a client
208 Crew' Street, a six-room house, on
a lot 54 by 120 feet, for $3,500 cash;
also 286 Crumley Street, a flve-ro*>m
house, on a lot 58 by 54 feet, for
$2,000 cash, and for W. P. Shannon t_>
to a client 204 Crew Street, a six-
room cottage, on a lot 50 1-2 by 173
feet, for $3,650 cash.
Back in Realty Game
Goes Captain Petty
Veteran Dealer Says Atlanta Is Best
Field After All—Talks of Farm
Prospects.
NEW COTTON PEST •
' CAUSE OF BAN ON
ALL FOREIGN SEED
? hindering
fa - 1
. whatever
they
logical.
. 1
ichu- i
tion, assert
that
that is the
Ilm
have taken
en re
ozoa from
th fir |
>f that obtf
lined
, as they c
laim.
greater am
lount j
WASHINGTON. May 10.—Impor-
tution-of cotton seed will be forbidden
by the United States after May 20.
Experiments with Egyptian seed
will have to cease.
Seed from Egypt, Sierra Leone,
Southern Nigeria, German East Af
rica and other cotton growing sec
tions of the Dark Continent and seed
from Hawaii, the Philippines, India
and Peru will be denied entrance to
the United States. This, in effect,
bars all foreign cotton seed, as no
varieties of cotton more valuable
than the native staple exist else
where.
The .pink boll worm, the Peruvian
cotton square weevil and t lie boll
weevils of East Africa and the Phil
ippines are the reasons for the quar
antine
With the Mexican boll weevil ^ind
the native boll worm already awing
incalculable damage irv the United
States, the department feels that the
American cotton farmer has enough
to fight. It believes that the danger
from new cotton pestH would offset
any improvement in the grade to bo
obtained by importation of new va-
THE NEWEST COTTON ENEMY.
The pink boll worm is the newest
and most insidious enemy of cotton
discovered. It infests Egypt, Sierra
Leone, Southern Nigeria and other
portions of Africa, as well as Hawaii
and India.
India, the only one of the affected
nations which his statistics of dam
age caused by it to offer, charges
against the tiny pink worm a damage
of $4,000,000 per year.
It is particularly dangerous because
it will remain dormant in the cotton
seed for six or seven months. Live
worms and pupae have been found
in cotton seed after it had passed
through the gin.
It causes premature opening of the
boll, rotting and soiling of the lint.
It causes many bolls to drop off, and
destroys much seed.
Under such circumstances it would
be practically impossible for the ex
perts of the department to fumigate
seed well enough to kill the larvae, so
the department acted quickly and at
once forbade the introduction of the
seed into the United States. Owing
to the difficulty of fighting the pest,
the quarantine probablyy will be per-
G. C. Given found that pitrifleation
was twice as rapid In soil sterilized
and then reinocculated as in soil
which had not been sterilized.
While admitting the benefit to the
growth of the plant by heating the ’ signs
ONE SHIPMENT CAUGHT.
At the time the Consul at Al-x-
ndri advised the Department of Ag-
iculture of the discoveries in con-
ection with the pink boll worm he
iformod the department that a ship-
tent of seed had just been made
from
for e
. point in Mississi
purposes The
e notified the e
seed would not
PPi i
allowed to come into the United
States, unless the Government was
allowed to fumigate it. This permis
sion was' readily given.
The young larva of the pink boll
worm Is nt first dirty white, becoming
flesh colored, suffused With pink in
the back at a later stage. Each seg
ment then bears two darker pink
dorsal transverse bars, followed by
two pinkish spots on the lateral por
tion, each spot bearing a single short
hair. The perfect Insect has golden
brown forewings sprinkled with dark
brown scales, and the hind wings are
dark gray with a continuous fringe.
GROWERS MUST BEWARE.
The Department of Agriculture has
as yet fio knowledge of the presence
of this pest in the United States, but
cotton growers are advised to be on
the lookout, as shipments of seed
which have come into this country as
long ago as twelve months, might still
contain living larvae.
In its operation the larva enters
the large boils when they are more
than half ripened, the egg being, prob
ably, though not certainly, laid on the
boll itself. The hole by which the
larva enters is usually so ."mall that
It Is inconspicuous, and even when
dissection is made of a boll which
contains a full grown pink worm, the
passage of entry is often impossible
to find, owing to the wound having
healed up.
The larva feeds upon the unripe
seed in the boll, eating out the whole
of the Interior of the seed and leaving
the ."hell filled with excrement. It
passes from one seed to another,
usually only destroying the seed in
one cell of the boll. It forms a cocoon
in the interior of the seed, in which
it remains dormant for months. In
the spring the larvae leave their first
cocoons and eat out new’ cells in
which they pupate about the middle
of May. There are at least two gen
erations.
HAS SOME PARASITES.
The only enemies of which the de
partment has record are found in
Sierra Leone and Southern Nigeria
and in Hawaii. In the first-named
sections an insect nas been observed
entering the opening of the bolls and
sucking the juices from *the body of
the pink boll worm.
No record is given of the amount of
damage caused by the pink boll worm
in Egypt or Hawaii^ but it is esti
mated that it caused a loss of $4,000,-
000 a year in the cotton-growing sec
tions of India.
Ineiden’allv, the quarantine will
prevail also against the Peruvian Cot
ton Square Weevil, the German-East
African cotton boll weevil, and the
Philippines cotton boll weevil. In
short, the actual effect of the depart
ment’s order will be to establish a
quarantine against all foreign cotton
seed. i
M. L. Petty, for over a decade
well know'n in Atlanta real estate
circles and who decided some time
ago to make Albany his home, has re
considered and opened up a real es
tate office in Atlanta. He is located
at 125 North Pryor Street.
Captain Petty Is best remembered
as a partner for several years in the
realty Firm of Grant & Petty. He
became interested to such an extent
in Southwest Georgia farms that he
was convinced that Albany would
be the field to carry on his land
operations; but other considerations
prevailed, and Captain Petty finds
hlmnelf still in Atlanta, and he be
lieves he can handle farm propositions
ns well from the Gate City as any
where. Local real estate will also
be given attention.
“The lower half of Georgia is Just
beginning to come into its own," de
clared Captain Petty. “The profits
in pecan groves, vegetables and other
products are attracting many people
to the farm. Another great influence
will be the opening of the Panama
Canal, and l expect Georgia to de
rive as much benefit from this as
any other State in the Union.”
ACCOUNTANTS TO TAKE
STATE TEST MAY 21-22
•
A half-yearly examination of pub
lic accountants will be held in Atlan
ta May 21 and 22, according to an an
nouncement issued by Joel Hunter,
chairman of the Georgia State Board.
The examination will be held in
accordance, with the certified public
accountants’ law, passed in 1908.
Those passing the examination will
be awarded the degree of certified
public accountants. Candidates will
be examined in theoretical and prac
tical accounting and auditing and
commercial law as affecting account
ancy.
SEVEN TIMES WOMAN
GIVES SKIN FOR CURE
Special to The Sunday American.
PARTS. May 10.—Mme. Maneuvrier,
living at Landrecies. has seven times
allowed strips of skin to be taken
from her body and grafted on to her
son-in-law, who was accidentally
burned and would otherwise have
died.
She was operated on without an
anaesthetic and at the enif of the
seventh operation fainted. When she
recovered consciousness she said to
the surgeons: “I un ready for anoth
or operation if it is needed to save
my son-in-law’s life.’’
HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BOX,
PROTECTED BY CAGES
DOVER, N. J., May 10.—Dr. Guy
Otis Brewster, physical director of
the Dover High School, is teaching
the girl pupils of the school to box,
and to protect them from injury he
has devised a wire cage which covers
their heads and the upper part of
their bodies.
A public exhibition of boxing in this
apparatus will be given for the first
time by the pupils at the Tri-Coun
ty Interscholastic League meet in
Morristown, X. J., on May 30. ,
Geese Profitably and
Easily Bred; Farmers
CanFindReady Market
Very Little Trouble In Raising Them. Different
. Breeds Offer Wide Range and
Many Selections.
By JUDGE F. J. MARSHALL.
The breeding of good strains of
geese*has not been developed to any
extent in the South. Upon any plan
tation of considerable size where there
Is running water and where grain is
raised a good grade of geese can
be made profitable to their owner.
They are not only profitable as pro
ducers of feathers, as of old, but they
are so large and fine in quality of
flesh that they will command good
prices in the markets. This is par
ticularly true during holiday and
Thanksgiving times. There are many
people who prize the flesh of a well-
raised goose for roasting more high
ly than they do that of any other
fow'l. In history the goose dates back
further than that of any other of our
domestic fowls. We have an'account
where Rome was saved by the geese
of those days. From what we can
find out, it is but in recent years that
we have had the benefits to be de
rived from the enlarged and im
proved varieties.
Six Breeds of Geese.
The American Standard of Perfec
tion recognizes and describes six
breeds of geese-—the Toulouse, Emb-
den, African, Chinese, Canadian or
Wild, and Egyptian.* Of the Chinese
there are two varieties—the brown
and white When it comes to profit
able market stock, the Toulouse is
used almost exclusively. The well-
bred Toulouse goose and gander are
so very nearly alike that no one short
of an expert can determine the sex.
They are fowls of mammoth propor
tions—so much larger than the tradi
tional “old gray goose that died" that
they would hardly be considered as of
the same family. The young Toulouse
gander should weigh 20 pounds and
the young goose 16 pounds, while the
mature fowls over 1 year old should
weigh 25 pounds for the gander and
20 for the goose. Just think what
roasts such specimens make! At the
prices they usually bring of 12 to 15
cents per pound alive and 15 to 20
cents dregsed, they will net the owner
from $2 to $3 each—a price well worth
working for. They are, in body shape,
broad and very deep; in mature spec
imens the keel or breastbone almost
touches the ground.
Thighs Short and Stout.
The thighs and shanks are rather
short, but stout. A rather large, but
short, head; neck medium length,
With head -carried rather erect. In
color they may be called a gray and
white. The back and front part of
the breast a dark gray or brown, with
the underpart of the breast and body
a light gray, shading to almost white
under the tail. The shanks are an
orange yellow*.
Embden geese rank second in pop
ularity, being somewhat similar in
type to the Toulouse, but not quite
,«o heavy in body, and general make
up, weighing from two to five pounds
less than the Touloufce. They are
pure white in color throughout. The
Chinese geese are small in size, but
are long drawn out in their propor
tions, having slim, erect bodies, very
long and slim necks, gracefully arch
ed, carried very upright. The top of
the head is surmounted by a large
leathery appearing knob. The larger
and rounder the better. There is a
pure w'hite variety, and a browm va
riety. Identical in other way*.
African Goose.
The African goose is built some
what similar to the Chinese w’ith. a
knob bn top of the head, but they are
a much larger and coarser variety,
with a thick bull neck so different
from the slim, racy neck of the Chi
nese. In color they are a brown,
over the back and the breast, with
the under part of the body a light
gray. The Egyptian is a small goose
resembling very much a dwarfed, un
dersized Toulouse, colored with al
ternate patches of black, w'hite and
brown, but little bred and of leps im
portance. The Canadian or wild goose
needs no description for the sport
lover who has seen them upon the
lakes and ponds of this country for
years past. In late years, however,
they' have become almost extinct, ex
cept as bred bv some of the lovers of
the fancy in fowls in this country and
Canada.
Little Practical Use.
In fact, aside from the Toulouse.
Embden and African, the other breeds
are of but little practical use. being
bred almost entirely for ornamental
purposes. Any farmer can be a suc
cessful producer of geese; or. in other
words, anyone with unlimited range
of woodland and pasture, with ponJs
or running water, can make * good
money from geese, provided, however,
that he uses for his breeding stock
one of the heavy pure breeds—\rc
should say either the Toulouse or
Embden. While the general *farmer
can do well with them, the stock
raiser can be especially so. allowing
the flocks of geese \o follow the cat
tle' and hogs over the range, grazing
and picking up grain that might oth
erwise bo lost. Geese do much better
in grass pastures with but little grain
than they can possibly do confined to
small yards and grain fed. In fact,
the person who would make a real
success in raising them for the mar
kets must not attempt it by the back-
lot route. It will be an expensive un
dertaking.
Good Scavengers.
Geese make good scavengers to turn
Into the orchard or plowed fields, be
ing good at cleaning up all sorts of
bugs, slugs and grubs from the roots
of trees and the plowed land. They
should not, however, be allowed the
run of the corn field while the corn is
small as they will eat it up (root and
branch). This is not a hard task ro
accomplish for they are most easily
fenced or even directed in their move
ments by a small child or a collie
dog trained for the watch-care. Geese
make good alarmists, too. Being al
ways on the watch, strange prowlers
of any kind *111 be given the great
“honk” signs’, warning them that they
had better keep away. While geese
breeding may be made very remuner
ative as a side line to the farmer in
a moderate way. at the extreme’.v
good prices that may be obtained from
the best hotels for fine (what are
termed “green goslings”) or well-fat-
tended young ones that have been
quickly grown, it is not advisable to
| go Into the business as an exclusive
business upon a large scale until the
market ha.s been coached and gotten
into better shape. But the growing <f
geese for home use and the local mar
kets for feathers, down and all the
rest that go with it is worth the un
dertaking.
Geese Easily Handled.
Geese are easily handled and need
but little provision in the way of
houses or sheds for their shelter. In
fact, many of the best geese raising
farmers do not deem it of importance
to provide any shelter for them, ei
ther w’inter or summer, except shade
to protect them from the heat of the
sun. If they have good shade trees
or hedgerows, they need nothing ar
tificial for their comfort.
The old practice of plucking live
geese in the northern sections of our
country has about gone out of fash
ion, because it has come to be con
sidered as a cruel practice, especially
w'hen it is done two or three times
during the year. In the South, how
ever. where the weather is hot for
many months, it can be practiced to
advantage and be a real comfort to
the goose plucked. This is best ac
complished once a year, just at the
time when the new feathers have
made the start. Looking after the
fow'ls frequently, observing when
these new feathers first show', then
the plucking can bs done easily and
without any injury or discomfort to
the patient. Geese under two years
old should not be picked.
Blindfold Goose.
The easiest method to accomplish
the w'ork is to draw an old thin
stocking over the head of the goose
to prevent its thrashing around to
get away; then hold the head and
neck firmly betw'een the knees.
Plucking only the soft feathers from
the breast, back and abdomen, be
ing careful to remove the old and
well ripened feathers, not disturbing
; the new ones or the pin feathers. In
j dressing for the market the goose is
■ first given a good sharp blow upon
1 the back of the head with a small
club, and is then quickly stuck in
the roof of the mouth with a sharp
killing knife, which is similar to an
ink erasing knife, w'ith two sharp
sides to it. This incision in the mouth
severs a neck artery and penetrates
the brain. The fowl is hung up by
its feet until it has thoroughly bled,
which takes but a moment or twd
The head is then held firmly between
the knees w’hile the left hand holds
both wings; the right hand soon re
moves the feathers, putting them into
a box or barrel, except the stiff
feathers, which are not retained. A
few feathers on the tips of the wings
and about the head are left on. The
down and hairs are shaved off with
a sharp shoe knife. All this Is done
dry. No scalding is done.
Incision Sewed.
The entrails are then carefully
drawn and the inside ringed with ice
water. The incision made for this is
sewed up w r ith a w'hite string. The
wings are tied down snugly to the
body with a clean white cord. When
the weather is warm, of course they
must be iced and kept cold until
marketed. This is about the plan
used by geese breeders for marketing
in a limited way. Gee^e are easy to
raise when once started. Like ducks,
the principal point in their case is to
keep them from getting wet during
the first two weeks of their lives;
after that they can stand almost any
thing. Feed simple mashes three or
four times a day; allow' them grass
or green stuff in abundance. When
once they begin to feather upon their
breasts they will etand lots of rain
and are really able to look out for
themselves. Oid geese are not good
for the table during hot weather, as
they usually lose flesh and become
stringy and flabby as hot weatftter
comes on.
Further Uses Seen
For Bleckley Pl^za
Vehicles Now Using Whitehall and
Peachtree Should Park on It,
Says Realty Man.
New's that the Bleckley Plaza plan
for bridging the railroad tracks in
the heart of town w'ill be taken up
in the State legislature in June has
| aw'akened a great deal of interest in
the project. The Whitehall regrade
proposition ha.s come and gone with
favorable action, and real estate men
I declare the plaza is the next improve
ment in order.
"The time will come,” declared a
prominent kind broker, “when the
people won’t stand for smoke, noise
and dust caused by the railroad
trains. There is another reason why
this improvement should be made—
automobiles and other vehicles w’hich
| are now allowed to block Peachtree
| and Whitehall can "be provided with
parking space on it. Pedestrians are
now' filling Peachtree and Whitehall,
and the vehicles must find other
places to stand.”
Fulton County’s legislators are
squarely behind the plaza plan and
will see that it is put through, pro
vided the interests of the State can
be protected in the concessions which
the State will be asked to make.
GIRL, FULL OF NEEDLES,
SAYS IT IS PLEASANT
Special Cable to The American.
PARIS, May 10— Mile. Thornton, 18,
of Rheims. swallowed a packet of
needles a few weeks ago.
A needle was recently removed
from her chest by a doctor, and since
then she has shed forty needles from
her left hand, fingers, both legs, and
her chest.
Each time a needle makes its ap-
j pearanee the girl feels a slight prick
ing sensation, but she experiences no
inconvenience, and the pricking she
says, is rather pleasant than other
wise.
“It is like drinking soda-water,”
she told the doctor.
Regrade Will Bring New Build
ings and Extension of Retail
District—$47,000 Job.
Now that Whitehall regrading is
assured between Mitchell Street on
the north anft Forsyth Street on the
south, substantial Improvements
which have been contingent on It can
go ahead. Charles H. Black will erect
a $50,000 building at the southwest
corner of Whitehall Street and Trini
ty Avenue, on the old Trinity Church
site. Charles E. Currier will put up
i structure on Whitehall, and John
W. Grant will build a $20,000 three-
story building just north of Mitchell
Street.
The street improvements and the
building improvements will have the
effect of extending the Whitehall
business district sharply southward,
to a point several blocks below Trin
ity Avenue, which has been out of the
qu *tiort with the present drop at
Trinity Avenue in the way of exten
sion.
There will be a fill of eight feet at
Brotherton Street and a cut of eight
feet at Trinity, which will make the
street nearly level for many blocks.
The south side has long desired this
improvement, and the people most vi
tally interested declare, that the city
has done a great thing to guarantee
the work.
Action on the regrading proposition
came to a head Friday afternoon at
the City Hall when the Streets Com
mittee of Council decided that $30,000
should be appropriated for the job,
$17,000 having been guaranteed by
property owners whose land will be
affected. The work is to start not
later than October 1 and will, of
course, be completed long before the
arrival of the Shriners. Out of nine
voters in the Streets Committee only
one voted adversely to regrading.
Regrading of city streets in the
downtown districts is being given
more attention than ever before. The
■work on Ivy Street, the proposed re
grading of West Peachtree, which has
been assured, and the regrading of
Whitehall will mean as much to the
city as any improvements that could
be made. Peachtree Street is better
since the removal of the “hump” at
Baker Street, and this thoroughfare,
think a number of realty men, could
be improved still more by cutting
down ten f,eet at the Aragon Hotel.
Urges Strike of
Preachers’ Wives
Bachelor Clergy Should Be Stationed
in Slums, Says Eminent
English Bishop.
Special Cable to The American.
LONDON, May 10.-Vrhe Bishop of
Manchester (Dr. Knox), has stated
.that if it were lawful for a bishop
to suggest a strike his advice to the
•wives of the clergy would be to re
fuse to do any parish work.
A rector’s wife in Ancoats, Man
chester, a district which contains
many slums, said recently.
“I quite agree with the bishop. Af
ter parish work, at w'hich one sees
terrible sights, you come home and
face dirty housework, assisted by a
typical second-class servant, for the
better type would not live in a neigh
borhood Lueh as this.
“You and your husband may give
your lives to the work, and in re
turn, you get $1,500 a year, with
which you have to provide for every
thing. We have three children. Af
ter six years’ experience I say that
these slum parishes ought to be
worked by bachelor clergy. Without
a happy nature and a happy home
the life of the clergyman’s wife in
the slums would be almost as bad as
penal servitude.
“After five years’ service in *the
slums a clergyman ought to he given
an easier living with congenial com
panions and surroundings.
Too Much Energy
Lost, Says Doctor
“Can’t Waiters” Make Up Class of
Human Beings That Are Con
tinually Restless.
Special Cable to The American.
LONDON. May 10.—“We could
quite well bear the strain of mod
ern life if we better understood how
to preserve our nerve energies,” said
Dr. Edwin Ash, a London specialist
in nervous diseases in a recent ad
dress here.
“We waste an enormous amount,”
he said, “in restlessness, which in
volves the repeated and profitless
contraction of many muscles in
tricks of manner, hurry, and haste.
There is a large class of persons who
are unable to wait for anything. They
are always anxious to get on to the
next item in the day’s program, they
speak and act without thinking apd
so waste their energies. Such peo
ple might be called ‘Can’t Waiters.' ”
Those who are “Can’t Waiters,”
who are using up too much nervous
energy, should says Dr. Ash, dili
gently practice self-control and car
ry out the following rules:
Wear reasonably loose clothing.
Spend at least one hour daily in the
open air. Always get up at the same
time. Eat slowly. Dress slowly,
speak slowly and walk slowly.
LIST OF “BAD” TENANTS
WANTED BY REALTY BOARD
Delinquent rent payers had better
look out—the Atlanta Real Estate
Board may go after them! In the
latest issue of the board’s bulletin the
suggestion is made that agents report
their “bad” clients so that other
agents may beware. The board does
not care to discriminate between cit
izens; but it wants to know whi.:h
tenants pay their debts and which do
not. Hence the suggestion.
TO BE REAL CITY
Four Thousand Acres on Ocean
and in Forest Go to Seekers
of Year-Round Homes.
Atlantans w'ho are accustomed ts
visiting Atlantic Beach have re
ceived with more than ordinary in
terest the news that this popular
Florida resort is undergoing a re
markable land and building develop
ment. Four thousand acres of land
have recently been purchased for
homes and a fourth of this has been
cleared for immediate building. A
number of bungalows and other styles
of houses have been erected and a
great many more will be bui\t this
summer, in fact, before the tourist
season has got well under way.
A complete new city will be built
at Atlantic Beach. The plan con
templates an area as large ‘Sis the
present city limits of Jacksonville.
Ample capital is available and expe
rienced men are the promoters. Near
ly 200 laborers have been changing
the thick jungle into a park-like ex
panse for a mile north from the
county road to the beach and weit
of the Florida East Coast Railway
tracks. A score of tasty bungalows
has been built. More are to be start
ed as fast as a supply of building
materials can be turned into a steady
stream of loaded cars bound beach-
ward and a force of carpenters and
masons can be assembled to han
dle it.
Double Advantage of Site.
The situation of the Atlantic Beach
Corporation’s land is such that it
offers two distinct advantages. There
are miles of picturesque ocean front
and tropical forests as well. Resi
dents can be either on the bluffs over,
looking the Atlantic Ocean, with its
dancing spume, or they can locate
In the tangled and sequestered nooks
of the inland.
The .officers of the Atlantic Beach
Corporation are: E. R. Brackett, of
New York and Jacksonville, presi
dent and organizer; J. C. Turner, of
New York, vice president; A. L. Tay
lor, of New York, secretary. and
William C. Byram, formerly of New'
York but now of Jacksonville, general
manager. There is a Jacksonville of
fice in the St. James Building and
Mr. Bvram is in charge of It.
Among the improvements put in
by the company are an electric light
ing plant, an artesian w'ell and miles
of splendid streets and roads. Pros
pective residents have in many cases
already gone to Atlantic Beach, and
many of them will stay the year-
round, since the climate of the Flor
ida resort is particularly favorable.
Janitors Fighting
for Waste Paper
Custodian Wants to Take Special
Privilege Away In Illinois
State House.
SPRINGFIELD. ILL., May 10.—
Franklin McCombs, of Chicago, new
custodian of the State House, has
come into collision with the State’s
janitors in the Capitol.
In consequence the Legislature may
be asked to specify who shall receive
•the money accruing through the sale
of waste paper that accumulates in
the State House. Hitherto the jani
tors have collected and sold it, re
taining the $20 or $30 a month that It
brought. Mr. McCombs instituted a
new practice. He has the janitors
collect the paper and put it in a base
ment room, where it*is baled on a
newly installed machine, for sale.
The new custodian, whose salary is
$3,600 a year, claims the right to the
proceeds. The janitors have appealed
to several legislators for a bill giving
them the waste.
Explosion Menaces
U.S, Paris Embassy
Workman Killed by Boiler Next
Door to Residence of Ambassa
dor Myron T. Herrick.
Special Cable to The American.
PARIS, May 10.—A boiler explo
sion occurred next door to the resi
dence of Myron T. Herrick, United
States Ambassador, to-day, killing
one and injuring three other work
men. The fence surrounding the Am
bassador’s home caught fire, but lit
tle damage was done.
The Ambassador and his family
are in Rome attending the Interna
tional Agricultural Conference. The
boiler was attached to an engine em
ployed in driving piles for a new
house.
469 PRIESTS WIN SUIT
AGAINST NEWSPAPER
Special Cable to The American.
PARIS, May 10.—Four hundred and
sixty-nLne village prieses of the
Finisterre and Lot et Garonne depart-,
ments brought an action for libel
recently at Brest against the “Cri
du Peuple,” a Socialist newspaper,
which had published improper com
ments on the priesthood in connec
tion with the death some months ago
of the Abbe Chassaing.
The 469 priests won their case. The
“Cri du Peuple” was ordered to pay
$2.00 damages and costs and a fine
of $5 on each one of the 469 charges,
besides being ordered to publish the
report of the judgment in ten differ
ent newspapers.
CHILD KILLED AND MOTHER,
HURT IN RUNAWAY, MAY DIE
MOBILE, ALA., May 10.—Returning
from an outing near Wilmer. a small
town in the western part of Mobile
County, Harold Purlfoy, aged four, was
killed, his mother, Mrs. A. D. Purifoy
was so badly injured that she can not
recover, and Carl Roberts was badly
hurt Their team became frightened
and ran away, throwing them under the
wagon John Moddy Jumped and es
caped with bruises. The child’s neck
was broken.