Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, June 23, 1909, Page 9

| INTEREST CHARM OF FLOWERS MUCH DEPENDS ON PROPER AR- RANGEMENT. Beautiful Blossoms Often Spoiled by Unwise Placing That Mars the Decorative Scheme—A Hint from the Japanese. A study of the arrangement of flow- ers shows that beautiful flowers are often spoiled by unwise placing. The Japanese tell us that flowers should be used in their seasons. Therefore, carnations, flags, iris, daisies, sweet peas, apple blossoms, tulips, nastur- tiums and pansies are specially desir- able this time of the year. The color is also worth consideration and should be varied according to the season. In spring the flowers ought to be bright, in summer they should haye all the suggestion of coolness; in autumn all the glory of the floral color, and in winter as many bright blossoms of de- cided colors as can be secured may be used. In selecting the flowers to be used in any room the general color scheme must be noticed. If the room is dec- orated in a dark tone or isa little somber, white, red, and orange col- ored flowers are best to give a note of cheer. If the room is light and cheery the more subdued. colors should be chosen. Simple flowers, such as lilies, pan- sies, violets, should be loosely ar- ranged in bunches in flat vases. Hol- lyhocks and peonies may be used more sparingiy in tall vases. The mistake of mixing different kinds of flowers is nearly always fatal to harmony. Each flower must be al- lowed its individuality in outline and color. An exception may be made in the case of field flowers that grow together in masses, such as golden rod, asters and daisies. Flowers ought never to be crowded into a vase; this spoils the charm of their color, shape of flower, stem and leaves. One or two flowers are enough for a small vase and not more than a dozen, loosely arranged, may be placed in a large vase or bowl. Long stemmed flowers are spoiled by cutting them with short stems. This is especially true of the iris; rose and peony. The tall, graceful iris stands proudly erect in the garden, sensitive to every movement of the wind. Therefore it should be placed in a, small, slender glass or brass vase where every line of its grace may be seen and enjoyed. Tulips and daffo- dils bend naturally, so a pitcher and jug of pottery or glass are specially suitable for these. It is important HANGING FRAME FOR PHOTOS | idea, especially when a frame of this Or, If Desired, Article May Be Made with Support to Enable It to Stand on Table. We give a sketch of a particularly ¢retty design for a hanging photo- graph frame, and one that may be eas- ily carried out by the amateur. A square piece of stout cardboard must be obtained of the proportions indi- sated by the dotted lines, and on this should be sketched the shape of the 'rame, care being taken to make the sides exactly equal to each other. The oval in the center must also be cut away, or if preferred, a cir- tular or square space may be ar- ‘anged for the portrait. The front of the board is then thin- y padded with cotton wool, and cov- ‘red with silk or brocade, fastened on it the back with seccotine or strong slue and left to dry. A square of jlass can be placed in front of the vhotograph, and the two fastened in heir places by means of a piece of ‘aper pasted across the back. A loop of ribbon with a rosette at he top is attached to the back of the rame by which it may be suspended rom the wall or a little cardboard upport thay be fixed to the back and ued in its place with a strip of cloth, nd the framemade to stand upon he table. It is sometimes a pretty NHEEECTIVE PAGE that the flower and receptacle har monize. The flowers must not over- power the vase nor the vase the flow- ers. The rustic and rough glass vases are new and attractive for summer homes, They come in the single vases, but where designed for a centerpiece a stand with a half dozen of these small vases is used. A few flowers are placed in each of these vases. Less expensive are the nickel holders supporting a half dozen glass vases. Asparagus ferns and grasses are also valued to decorate summer homes. These greens can either be placed in wall brackets made of pot- tery fashioned to resemble baskets or in glass vases and bowls covered with raffia and hung with handles made of this material. FROCK OF STRIPED WOOL. That five acre lot away off on tho northeast corner of your farm, unfit for cultivation, too poor for pastur- age, given over to nothing but weeds and a sheltered horde of grasshoppers and chirping crickets—may be turned into as profitable a piece of ground as you may have on your whole quar- ter section. “And those very weeds which in summer time overrun the little patch in thick rank growth, impregnating the air wth their strong heavy odor, from which you turn in disgust, and in| indignation, too, that these several acres are going to waste, can be made the source of this revenue.” So spoke an old botanist to one Il- linois farmer who was grumbling over a particularly sterile piece of soil, says a writer in the Pittsburg Dispatch II- lustrated Magazine. And the old botanist spoke truly. For instance: Every year at least 60,000 pounds of digitalis is imported into this country from abroad. Digi- talis is universally applied by the medical profession as a remedy in cer- tain forms of heart trouble. The source of this drug is the common weed, foxglove, also known by a score of other names. It sells at a good price, too. Yet none of the home product has ever been used, despite the big market for it. The United States department of agriculture is alive to the economic value of our despised weeds. The bu- reau of plant industry has established stations where several crops of di- verse species of weeds have been raised at a good profit. At the South Carolina station a plot of American This girl’s frock is of blue and white striped wool. The back and sides of the skirt are cut on the bias and plaited. The plain front or tablier is cut with the stripes running cross- wise. The blouse is cut and plaited to correspond. The narrow box plait in front is ornamented with buttons. The large collar is of blue silk, ornamented with applique of cloth. The girdle is also of blue silk and the chemisette is cf white lace. kind is intended as a present, to em- broider an initial on the lower portion of the frame. EXTENDER FOR SHIRT WAIST Simple Contrivance That Sometimes Improves the Appearance of the Very Slim Girl. Although it is the fashion to appear slender, even to the extreme, some- times the slim girl finds that her waist will set better if worn over a shirt waist extender such as is worn in the shops, and which may be had at a very small cost. The newest of these is made with a very long top ruffle that is sewed to the arm straps as far as the shoulders and fills out all hollows. At the lower edge of the extender is a tape run through a casing so that the fullness may be adjusted to suit the wearer. For the princess and the back of skirts, we are provided with strips of tape to which are riveted either hooka and eyes, or ball and socket closings. These fastenings are bought by the yard and first basted and _ then stitched along the edge of the tape to the material. Not only have these a great advantage over the ordinary hook and eye, in that they are great time savers, but there will be no trow ble about getting each hook and eye in the proper place. When the ones at the top or bottom are placed ex- actly opposite each other the rest are bound to be in the right place. Farmer Produces Burro-Zebra. wormseed showed an average of 1,000 pounds to the acre, fetching twice the net revenue of a cotton crop sown in a similar soil. Lobelia is another valuable plant. Many states have put it on the black list, the laws requiring that it be up- rooted wherever found. It is quite poisonous, but is very efficaciows in certain diseases. The seed fetches from 15 to 20 cents a pound. Then there is the burdock. Fully 50,000 pounds of the root of this are import- éd annually into the United States from Belgium. The native stalk would bring a good profit to those who would take the trouble to harvest it, as the root is worth from three to eight cents a pound and the seed from five to ten cents. Boneset or feverwort, jimson or stinkweed, pink root and pokeweed are but a few others of the medicinal weeds we have so strangely failed to derive financial returns from. Some of the native stuff, grown by the experimental stations of the de- partment of agriculture, has netted more per pound than the imported products. Nor are the swamps and lowlands to be neglected, if farming is to be made as profitable as possible. The bellowing elusive frog may be pressed into service as a moneymaker. The average annual catch of these epi- curean dainties from the marshes, creeks and sloughs aggregate $200,000. We eat more frogs’ legs in six months than France does in a year. So large is the demand that without ques- tion the American market would take at least $1,000,000 in a year. To begin this industry successfully, about three acres of land are required. As a start one should build a single With white or plain colored linen or}small pond, about 60x20 feet, where chambray blouses these eyelet embrol-|the eggs may be hatched unmolested. dered and hand-worked neck dress-jAs for the “stock” itself, that costs ings are extremely daintv. 4 Popular Collars. Three pretty collars are at present in vogue—one in Dutch Vandyke style, one a simple Eton, and the oth- er a deep Puritan collar with a bow and tab ends. Pretty colored neckwear is shown for wear with summer shirtwaists,; and many young women are making up these bits of neckwear for them- selves. A white linen collar in Dutch or Eton style is dotted and scalloped by hand in color. Two quarter-yard lengths of colored eyelet embroidery flouncing make a graceful jabot, and this is attached to the collar with a pert little bow of the eyelet embroidery over colored linen. ING THAT ARE PROFITABLE Corner of Farm Too Poor for Cultivation or Pasturage Can be Put to Good Use in Various Ways. A Lady’s Pet. nothing. The spawn can be found in ponds and ditches, wherever, in fact the matured frogs abound. Twenty or thirty quarts of this will hatch from 60,000 to 70,000 tadpoles. As the tadpoles begin to turn inte frogs, additional ponds must be avail to hold the lively youngsters, now toc large and too many for their original quarters. Five classes of ponds will eventually be found necessary; those containing the tadpoles, the partly grown frogs, the, one year, two year and three-year. old frogs respectively. The time to mar. ket a frog is when he is in his third year. As for food, frogs will eat minnows, insects, spawn of their own breed, tad poles and—each other. The frog is an inveterate cannibal. One man whe attempted the various phases of frog culture all in one pond found present: ly that a most desperate war of ex: termination, dictated by the necessi ties of gastronomic demands, was be ing carried on. After peace had beep declared but several vigorous old bulls were discovered to survive. They had swallowed the whole tribe. From frogs to alligators is not going so far. And the alligator is well worth investigating, for certainly for those who know how, he is a moneymaker. A half-grown alligator will fetch more in the market than the primest. steer that was ever shipped into the stock yards at Chicago, Omaha or St. Jo seph. His teeth alone are worth from two to four dollars a pound. The legislature of Florida has recognized the ’gator’s commercial value by giv: ing him a closed season against hunters. The sun is the natural agent that fetclies the young from the shell Man has substituted the incubator for the sun’s rays and has found the method most successful. Several al ligator farms already have been es tablished in various parts of this coun try. Florida, Arkansas and Californie all have such farms within their boun. daries. The largest of them is at Hot Springs, Ark. H. J. Campbell, the pro- prietor, owns 500 of the reptiles. He raises them just as a rancher raises stock for the market. The young and the eggs find a ready sale. One pair of alligators will breed 200 or more young in a year’s time. In the quest for breeding still more satisfactory draft animals, the bureau of animal industry, located near Wash. ington, has produced a curious cross betsveen the Mexican burro and an African zebra, presented to Theodore Roosevelt during his presidency by King Menelik of Abyssinia. The de partment expects to develop an ideal breed from the combination. Perhaps some day, in the near future, too, the farmer of Missouri will raise his “burro-zebras ” just as today he rears his mules. Trying New Vegetables.—Interest- ing tests of new vegetables have been made by H. B. Fullerton at the rail- road experiment station in Long Is: land. Mr. Fullerton carries on a com- mercial market garden, shipping the products directly by express to con- sumers, hence is able to get a variety of opinions of the merits and quali ties of the different varieties, taking into account, also, the productiveness. He finds the Palmetto asparagus the same as the Argenteuil and a fairly rust-proof variety. The Globe arti- choke he thinks will prove profitable in competition with importations of this vegetable. Among string beans the Green Pod Stringless and Brittle Wax are favored. The Fordhook Bush Lima is a fa- vorite shell bean. A good, all-round table bean is found in Black Redball. Brussels sprouts, especially the im- proved dwarf variety, are recommend- ed as profitable, and affording an in- come after most other crops are done, green cucumber is recommended. Among egg plants the Black Beauty is considered best. . Golden Queen lettuce is placed at the head among early kinds, and Warehead for later. Improved to- matoes include the Early Pink, Match- less and Dwarf Stone. Golden Bal) turnip is recommended for its deli- cate flavor—American Cultivator. Disaster on English Railroad Averted by Splendid Courage of Freight Train Conductor. John Bates, the guard of a goods train, who had been left alone on the train, averted a serious disaster by his presence of mind yesterday on the branch of the London & Northwestern railroad which runs from Bletchley tc Banbury. The train had been shunting at Pad- bury station, and during an interval of work the driver and the firemar left their engine. Suddenly the engine started—no one knows how—and dashed out of the siding. Bates, in his brake van, realized in a flash that after the train had run through Buck- ingham on the single line it would reach Westbury, where a passenger train from Banbury would be stand ing. He crawled from his van to the last of the dozen trucks which made up the goods train, and, hanging over the side of it, reached down and loosened the long lever which put the brakes on. Then he crawled to the next truck and did the-same thing and then to the next. It was a most perilous task, for the trucks were filled with granite and coal. The train dashed through Bucking- ham station at 20 miles an hour to the horror of the officials there, who saw a footplate with neither driver nor fireman on it, and a guard crawling from truck to truck and dropping the brakes. Bates’ work told. The engine could not pull the dozen heavy trucks with their brakes on, and it stopped about a mile on the Westbury side of Buckingham station. Bates, who has been in the service of the London & Northwestern Com- pany for 27 years, ilves in St. Martin’s road, Bletchley. He is a middle-sized man about 45 years of age, and bears an excellent character. His daily work is to take a goods train from Bletchley to Brackley, re- turn with a passenger train to Wins- low, and then to take the train from Winslow to Bletchley.—London Daily Mail. THE TELEGRAPH “MADE GOOD” Incident That Was the Beginning of the Present System of Train Dispatching. In 1850 a train on the Erie railroad. on board of which there happened tc be an official of the road, arrived at its scheduled meeting point, and was obliged to await the train from the opposite direction. As time passed and the other train did not appear, the official, becoming impatient at the long delay, went to the telegraph of- fice and wired the next station, ask- ing if the expected train had passed. On receiving an answer that it had not, he wired the station agent to stop the train and have it wait until the arrival of the train on which he was riding. He then requested the engineer to take the train to the next station, but found that he objected, because it was irregular and he had no faith in the telegraph. Not until the official had commanded the en- gineer to start his train, was the movement made. Upon arriving at the next station it was found that the other train had not yet appeared; the telegraph was again employed, and the train moved up another station. This demonstration of the saving in time which could be effected by using the telegraph led to the system of dispatching trains which has existed unchanged until the present time. Popular Mechanics. Worthy of Carnegie Medal. At Bloomfield, N. J., the other day, Harry Wendel, four years old, walked under the guard gates onto the rail- way tracks, just as a train was ap- proaching around the curve, and stood there, unconscious of his danger. The engineer blew the whistle and applied the brakes, but could not stop the train in the short space. Morris Wy- ker, an express messenger, was stand- ing on the platform and bounded to the rescue. He seized Harry, tossed him to one side, clear of the tracks, and then jumped to save himself. He had a dangerously close shave, for the pilot of the engine struck him on the left heel and he went spinning along the roadbed, luckily away from the wheels. “He’s killed!” cried the scared crowd on the platform. He dis- proved that by getting to his feet. He limped in pain, but there was a grin om his face. And was he cheered! Large Sum Paid in Pensions. Two thousand, one hundred and seventy-six employes of the Pennsyl- vania railroad were receiving pen- sions from the company on January 1, 1909, and the payments authorized to be made to them in 1908 amounted to $544,245.08. Since the pension depart- ment was established in 1900, the sum’ of $3,445,793.77 has been paid to re- tired employes. For every year of service rendered the company a re- retired employe is paid one per cent. of his average salary for the ten years immediately preceding his retirement. Thus a man who has worked for the company 50 years and who had re- ceived an average annual salary of $1,000 the last ten years of active service gets a pension of $500 a year. A total of 367 employes were re- tired on pensions in 1908 and 211 pen- sioners died. London’s Immense Traffic. If the number of people daily enter- ing London were to be dispatched from any given station by rail, 1,977 trains, each conveying 600 persons, would be required. If all these trains were arranged in a straight line they would cover 221 miles of railroad. WOMEN SUFFER NEEDLESSL Many Mysterious Aches and Pains Are Easily Cured. Backache, pain through the hips, dizzy spells, headaches, nervousness, bloating, etc, are troubles that com- monly come from sick kidneys. Don’t mistake the cause— Doan’s Kidney Pills have cured thou- sands of women af- flicted in this way— by curing the kid- neys. Mrs. C. R. Foresman, 113 S. Highth St., Canon City, Colo., says: “Three years I suffered with rheunta- tism, dropsy and kidney complaint, and became utterly helpless. I found re- lief after using two or three boxes of Doan’s Kidney Pills and kept on until cured. Doan’s Kidney Pills have been a blessing to me.” Sold by all dealers. 50 cents a box. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y¥. Assisting the Good Cause. A Bates county minister was hor- rified one Sunday to see a boy in the rear of church pelting the hearers in the amen corner with paper wads. As the good man looked at him the boy cried out: “You tend to your preaching, mis ter; I'll keep ’em awake!” SORE EYES CURED. Eye-Balls and Lids Became Terribly Inflamed—Was Unable to Go About —All Other Treatments Failed, But Cuticura Proved Successful. “About two years ago my eyes got in such a condition that I was unable to go about. They were terribly in- flamed, both the balls and lids. I tried home remedies without relief. Then I decided to go to our family physician, but he didn’t help them. Then I tried two more of our most prominent physicians, but my eyes grew continually worse. At this time a friend of mine advised me to try Cuticura Ointment, and after using it about one week my eyes were con- siderably improved, and in two weeks they were almost well. They have never given me any trouble since and I am now sixty-five years old. Ishall always praisé Cuticura. G. B. Halsey, Mouth of Wilson, Va., Apr. 4, 1908.” Potter Drug & Chem. Corp., Sole Props., Boston, Isn’t It a Fact That a cavalry man unhorsed is the most easily cowed? That one can show his temper only after he has lost it? That a contractor should be called upon to expand a house? That no young man ever rose rap idly till he had settled down? That the plo wmust be soiled before the soil can be plowed? That a susceptible fellow is hard- est hit by the softest glances? That in everything (except base- ball) you mus strike out to make a hit? That many students cannot state bald facts without splitting hairs? That the papers often refer to a man’s double life as a singular career, Chased and Killed by a Buzzsaw. Walter Terry, a woodsaw operator, was pursued and cut down by a wood- saw insecurely fastened that broke away from a wagon bed on which it was mounted at Ashland, Or. The saw was whirling at a high rate of speed, and when it broke from its fastenings it ran at Terry, who fled. The saw overtook him and ripped his back for a long distance and com- pletely severed his right leg just be- low the knee. ~ Terry was taken to the hospital at Ashland, where everything possible was done for him, but he died within thirty minutes. WON'T MIX Bad Food and Good Health Won't Mix, The human stomach stands much abuse but it won’t return good health if you give it bad food. If you feed right you will feel right, for proper food and a good mind is the sure road to health. “A year agol became much alarmed about my health for I began to suffer after each meal no matter how little I ate,” says a Denver woman, “I lost my appetite and the very thought of food grew distasteful, with the result that I was not nourished and got weak and thin. “My home cares were very heavy, for + besides a large family of my own I have also to look out for my aged mother. There was no one to shoul- der my household burdens, and come what might, I must bear them, and this thought nearly drove me frantic when I realized that my health was breaking down. “I read an article in the paper about some one with trouble just like mine be- ing cured on Grape-Nuts food and act- ing on this suggestion I gave Grape- Nuts a trial. The first dish of this delicious food proved that I had struck the right thing. “My uncomfortable feelings in stom- ach and brain disappeared as if by magic and in an incredibly short space of time I was myself again. Since then I have gained 12 pounds in weight through a summer of hard work and realize I am a very different woman, all due to the splendid food, Grape-Nuts.” 7 “There’s a Reason.” Trial will prove. Read the famous little book, “The Road to Wellville,” in pkgs. | 4 |