W1LOAM CAMPBELL, Editor.
—~ 1 ■ ■.
Charie, Town. J
• • r——
a., Thursday, March 23. 1915.
Vol. 104-Yol. 50, New Series. No. 17
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THE
VANDERBILT
HOTEL
Thirty Fourth Street EAST n*
p" **J> Avenue
YORK CITY
AN IDEAL HOTEL WITH AN IDEAL
SITUATION.
WALTON H. MARSH ALL, Manager.
We Have A Right Ta Crow.
You wjll *ay so too .when,' you see
s’ rfome of our laundry work. Garments
with us are washed absolutely
clean, thoroughly rinsed and the iron
i ing pleases the most fastidious. Give
us a tria'. Goods called for and deliv
ered. We sbw on buttons and do rea
sonable mending, free of charge.
Charles Town Steam Laundry.
HILL TOP HOUSE
HARPERS FERRY, W. VA.
The above Hotel, with improved service in every department, is
open to the public. Rooms with and without baths. Meals are
noted, and the location of this beautiful Hotel makes it one of the
most attractive in the community. Charges reasonable. Special
attention given in winter months to dance parties, and we are pre
pared to furnish*everything.
TJSRMS:—Single rooms $12.00 to $14.00 per week. Double rooms $20.00 to
$24.00 per week; with private bath $30.00 per week. Day rate. $2, $2.50, $3.
}
Everyone who has a garden
wants Cabbages. They need
little space—a foot or so apart
—and a garden as "big as a
handkerchief'’ has room log
at least a hundred plants.
We have just made a_
arrangement with the biggest
Cabbage Plant growers in the
oountry—Wm. C. Geraty Co., ranges- I
- Island, S. C., to furnish us with extra
choice "Frost - Proof" plants, which
we are going to give away frtfc
These plants are mown on an island
just off the coast, where the brisk, cold
breezes of the Atlantic make them
tough, hardy and healthy. The big advantage is
that you can plant them in the field a month or six weeka earlier than
homa-grown plants, which means solid heads three or four weeks earlier.
These “Frost - Proof ” plants are guaranteed to stand •
temperature of ten degrees above aero without Injury.
I : Geraty’s "Frost-Proof’ Cibbage plants are hardier, better, and worth mere
f than the ordinary plants. We are so sere of this that we agree to refund the
r ' full value of the plants—35 cents a hundred—if they are not satisfactory and
do not produce earlier and better heads than you grow bom other plants—
‘ 'a “ivost-Ibpof’ Cabbage plants will be shipped direct to you from
and at the proper time for planting in your territory. Send us the
With the price of the subscription; WO will aider the plants.
Ja(
Enclosed‘find-dollars for subscription to the Virginia Free Press for ■
yeqfa. Please have it sent for that period to
And have Cabbage Plants sent prepaid to
Benjamin, Ferguson & McMurtry
Members of tfeo Now York Stock Exchange
61 Broadway, Hew York, ,
Orders Executed in Stocks, Bonds sod Investment Securi
ties, Conservative Marginal Accounts at Reasonable
Interest Rates are Solicited. Allow Interest on Qaily
Balances- Coupons apd Diridends CoUectedWithont Charge
!•♦♦♦♦••♦..I
Making ihe Little
Farm fay
j; By C. C. BOWSFIELO <
The growing at crops for seed is be
coming highly profitable in a number of
localities and is a commendable feature
of farm industry for any good, careful,
systematic man to introduce and prac
tice in connection with his other farm
duties. There has never been a more
opportune time for talcing np this
work. In the first place, this is a good
thing to do ns a matter of economy
(uni protection for one's _ own crop in
terests. In the nest place, the multi
pMfilty tff opi>d««nities Tor ptMthtg
good corn oi‘ other seed >>u exhibition
Iso it will become mi educational force
and tend to better agriculture makes
the growing of farm seeds desirable.
Miss Maude M. Grlfiitb of St Claire
county. Mo., is making her farm prof
itable by raising English blue grass
for seed. - This product pays well ns
a hay crop. “I think so much of Eng
lish blue grass an a money maker and
as n fertilizer,” said Miss Griffith in
discussing the line of farming In which
she has specialized with suc-b marked
success, "that 1 am plahn.ug to get tho
greater part of my farm seeded down,
and especially I am working on weak
l er soil which has had successive corn
j crops.
I "English blue grass is. In my opin
I ion. one of the most Important crops
QUO WING SEED CORN.
*1*
to be grown, for there are so many
sources of advantage. It is a paying
proposition from any point of view.
, The seed is always in demand and
! commands a good price, generally
bringing from 13 to 22 cents per pound.
"After raising seed worth $50 to $75
an acre we have the pasture left for
• stock. Another advantage is that three
! seed crops may be harvested following
one seeding, inis means a decided
saving of seed and labor.”
Miss Griffith finds great pleasure as
well as profit in her work and is an
ardent advocate of the back to the
farm movement especially for women.
During the season of 1912 a farm In
Mitchell county, la., produced 20,000
bushels-of onions from twenty-seven
acres. Single acres produced as high
an 1,000 . bushels, but a raid of the
onion maggot -up^p one side of the
field cut down the average. The soil
used was heavily enriched, but it had
been cropped in onions for years.
About thirty years ago the owners
of this farm went to Iowa and con
tracted for forty acres of land near
town, going into debt to the extent of
#4,000. The neighbors called them
crazy. Since that time they have been
offered $1,000 an acre for this same
forty, but have refused it. For ten
years they have secured a gross re
turn from this land of $15,000, or an
Income of over 18 per cent upon a val
uation of $2,000 per acre.
One of the secrets of their success
cfe to have the land very rich. Origi
nally it was a black loam, with about
2 per cent of sand; six feet down lime
stone. The land is manured with well
Totted barnyard refuse every year. It
plowed about eight inches deep, and
a subsoiler is used in the bottom of
the furrow to loosen up three or four
Inches deeper. Then the harrow is put
on and kept going until the surface is
perfectly level and the soil is thorough
ly fine. In fact, it is as mellow as the
proverbial ash heap.
Onion seed is planted in rows, which
are placed fourteen inches apart The
seeds are dropped about six inches
apart in the row. It requires one and
one-half pounds to plant an acre. This
method results in no waste of seed, and
the back breaking work of thinning is
not needed.
It is rare that any hand weeding is
found necessary. The use of the wheel
hoe and band cultivator is persistent
particularly in the early part of the
season. Careful figuring shows that
the 1912 crop was produced at a cost
of 8 emits per bushel. After the first
seed was secured the farm produced
Us own seed. The largest bulbs are
always selected and those which keep
best for growing tbe seed. By doing
.tide a strain has been developed which
is not only large, but keeps well into
|he following summer, with practically
no loss from sprouting. A part of the
business now is to grow onion seed for
sale in huge quantities.
Hum a la Vealaoa.
•This if delicious for 8nnday night
Put one tablespoonful but*
' and one tables poonful currant jelly
SHE3E
Among the Sweet Peae.
STARTING THE FLOWERS
By JOSEPHINE DE MARR.
If your sweet peas begin to deteri
orate, watch closely to see that nc
seeds mature; that the soil is stirred
and a good mulch applied; that the;
get a good soaking at the roots once
or twice a week during dry weather.
In a shady corner of the garden pre
pare a bed of light, rich, sandy soil,
and put a frame about it. Cover 11
with a glass frame heavily white
washed. Water and firm the soil and
then plant cuttings in it. Cuttings ol
geraniums, roses, etc., may vary from
an inch to eight, but in all cases re
move two-thirds of the leafage and
bury the cutting,fallowing one or twc
eyes above the sdll.
If you want to grow geraniums, snii
out the tips of the branches and train
the plant to throw out shooter near the/
ground. No shoot should be allowed
to grow longer than three inches. This
snipping process will Insure lots oi
blooms later on.
Prepare a good supply of liquid ma
nure to offset the debilitating effect
of summer upon the flowers. Have a
spigot placed two or three inches
above the bottom of the barrel, fill
with straw well above this spigot
and then a foot or two of fresh manure
Pill the barrel with water and in a
few days the manure water will be
ready to draw off and apply.
Turn the potted plants that have
been plunged in the border to prevent
their roots striking through into the
soil. Cut off all the buds just as soon
as they appear, and give the plants
enough water so that they will not suf
fer. Turn the calla lily jpot on its side
in a shady place and give it a good
rest.
While most people preach the desira
bility of young plants for winter bloom
ing, you will find that the geraniums
and kindred plants will give more
bloom and be more satisfactory as
winter bloomers In their second year
than in their first, if properly raised.
Cut the year-old plants back severely,
pinch out all the shoots before they
get three inches long; repot and shift
as necessary, but do not stimulate
With liquid manure.
A neighbor has a hedge of perennial
sweet peas screening the barnyard,
from the house yard, and it is most
satisfactory. Although its flowers are
not as light and graceful as the an
nual sweet pea, they have a charm all
their own, and through heat and cold,
frost and drought, need little care or
coaxing to do their best
If you want to cover a fence or trel
lis with a quick growth of vines, get
stems of the Virginia creeper, about
six to eight feet in length, make a
trench along the fence, and bury the i
vines five or six inches deep. At ev
ery Joint will grow a shoot Give a
good soil and top dressing of well
rotted manure In spring and fall. This
vine is hardy as the oak and almost
Immune from the attack of insects and
pests.
The gladioli may be planted up to
July 20 and, if given good soil, water
and liquid manure, they will bloom
before frost If you come across the
wild cucumber this month be sure to '
carry home with you some of its seeds.
Plant them where you want them to
grow and then forget them. They will
appear next spring.
WHERE EASTER LILIES GROW
By A. D. DART.
Lying somewhat south of the gulf
■bjeeut and six hundred miles or so
off the Atlantic coast from Charleston,
S. C., is a group of several hundred
islands known as the Bermudas.
Storms seem to have been responsi
ble for our early knowledge of these
beautiful islands, which unlike most
.
sections of the habitable globe, have
never known a war.
i Mark Twain once wrote of the place,
"It is heaven, but hell to get there.”
For many years England used the
islands for a convict colony, but as
the misuse of such a beautiful spot
became apparent, the idea was aban
doned, and as many of the convicts
who chose to remain were granted
pardons, and portions of land allotted
to each one with which to make a
fresh start, many of their descendants
still own and cultivate extensive lily
and onion farms.
Today one can ride for miles along
the country roads between fields of
pure white flowers, growing in such
profusion (especially during April
when the blossoms are at their best)
that the ground is not visible—just
masses of white'and green.
There are o*er-^wo^hundred, £«ripsc
some of which are 30 to 40 acres, de
voted exclusively to lily growing.
Both tourists and natives grow very
tired of the heavy perfume of the
flowers, which is often noticeable a
mile away.
The fragrance of a bunch of lilies,
delicately scenting a room or church,
is very different from the overpower
ing perfume exhaled from a large lily
farm. There can be too much of a
good thing, for the odor of the onion,
still raised there to some extent, often
brings a welcome change.
The natives are quite resigned to
the heavy perfume, knowing that, acre
for acre, growing the lily is three or
four times as profitable as raising
onions, potatoes or fruit
It is believed that lily bulbs were
first brought to this country from
Japan, by a man named Harris, to
which country they had been brought
from their ancient native home, China.
The Bermuda lily is known as lilium
harrisii.
The original lily is probably the old
est of all known flowers, and also is
the (inly flowering plant that has no
poor kin.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
By HELEN WATTS M’VEY.
For lasting labels on plants ex
posed to the weather, cut .strips of
zinc, expose them to the weather for
a few days and then write the names
of plants on them.
Spray chrysanthemums for the black
beetle; make a strong suds by shav
ing a cake of white soap in boiling hot
water, and when dissolved, add half of
it to a pailful of hot water; apply with
a garden spray or syringe as hot as
the hand can bear. Drench the beetle
well.
After a shower, or when the foliage
is wet, give the rose bushes a
thorough dusting on all sides, with
sifted wood ashes.
If this is done whether insects ap
pear or not, it will save trouble.
Blgnonia cupreolate is said to far
exceed the ordinary trumpet flower,
Bignonia radicans, in beauty, though
it is hard to see how it can. Both
vines are absolutely hardy, and in the
southern states grow wild.
_ Give the lawn a dressing of fertiliz
er in midsummer. If you have no old
fertilizer, well rotted manure, get the
commercial fertilizers as they are not
expensive, and be liberal with them.
Adjust the knives of the lawn
mower to cut about two inches above
the crown of the grass plant; keep
the grass growing well, remove all
lawn clippings and put them in the
manure heap
Do not fall to get a root of Trade
scantia Virginlca, known commonly as
“Spiderwort,” “Blue-eyed Mary,” and
by a. few other names.
The plant is perfectly hardy, will
gitow anywhere, but prefers a reason
ably moist situation.
His Experience.
Corner Davies notes that a certain
motor car "will hold the road at 50
miles an hour,” according to the ad
I Scientific
Farming
WHY SOILS BECOME ACID. !
Due to Lima Being Washed Out of tho
Land In Humid Sections.
Now that we bar* discovered, says
Wallace's farmer, that clover and al
falfa will not grow on acid soils and
that many failures to grow these leg
umes are duo to acidity the question
comes up. Why do soils become acid?
fethapa the best way of answering
" that question is by asking others: Why
theater ig ggn'r well j^ard?, Wliy
sdoeejji^dt teakettle become iocrusted
with limef
Soil, becomes acid simply because the
lime is .being washed out of the land
in the^ humid Section. There is nat
urally a limit to the amount of lime in
the- soli, and in process of time the
amount decreases and the soil becomes
add because lacking in lime. Some
COWPEAS ▲ LEGUME OBOP.
soils do not become perceptibly acid
even after they hove been cultivated
for a long time for the reason that
they are based on limestone rock or
are glaciated soils Which have a large
ambhntof'JritKWtone Ifrfll# glWiitfteat- '
ter deposited. In the course of time,
however, even these soils will become
add simply through the washing of
the lime out of the soil into the wells
or springs.
Support is given to this statement by
the well known fact that semiarid soils
are alkaline, the very reverse of acid.
This alkalinity may not come from an
excess of lime, for there are other al
kalis besides lime. Sometimes soils in
kuv. otuuiMiu xvfoiviio ucvuaic civ am«
line that they .will not grow alfalfa or
clover; but. siugnlnrly enough, they
will grow sweet clover luxuriantly.
This alkalinity In semiarid soils, from
■whatever source it may arise original
ly, is due simply to the fact that there
is not enough rainfall to wash out the
alkaline substance.
Soils so excessively alkaline that
they will grow nothing but alkaline re
sistant plants, such as alkali grass,
can in time be made productive sim
ply by washing out by irrigation and
drainage.
The question of how soils become
acid or lacking in alkalies of various
kinds is not. however, of so much im
portance as how to correct this acidity
In order' that we may grow the le
gumes, particularly clover and alfalfa.
The only way known as yet is by the
application of lime, either in the form
of ground limestone (and the finer it
is ground the betteri or quicklime,
which is lime from which the carbon
has been expelled by heat, but which
is taken up by the atmosphere soon
after it Slakes.
| 3.......................... 1 |
HINTS FOR FARMERS.
I ... i
To protect fruit trees from mice;
Tar. one part; tallow, three parts.
Mix. Apply hot to the bark of the
tree with a paint brush.
To destroy moss on trees; Paint
them with quicklime whitewash mixed
with wood ashes.
Grafting wax; Resin, one pound;
beeswax, one pound; with tallow or
lard sufficient to soften it until it can
be readily applied.
Oiled cloth for hotbeds, etc.: Take
four ounces linseed oil, two ounces
lime water, one ounce white of egg,
two ounces of the yolk of egg. Mix
oil and lime water together at a gentle
heat. The eggs beat separately. Then
mix all together. Stretch canvas or
cloth to be waterproofed tightly upon
a frame and spread on two or three
coats as it dries. Repeat until water
proof.
Salve to cure foot rot in sheep: Mix
• four ounces best honey, two ounces
burnt alum, reduced to powder, and
one-half pound Armenian bole, with as
much fish oil as will convert it into a
salve. The honey must first be gradu
ally dissolved, then the Armenian bole
stirred in afterward. The alum and
oil are added.—American Agriculturist.
Joy in Doing Good Work.
The recipe for self-confidence is:
Do good work. “Courage,” says Emer
son, “comes from having done the
;hing,before.” A man who does good
work does not have to talk, apoldgize
■r explain—his work speaks. And
even though there be no one to ap
preciate it, the man feels in it a great.
CHAS L. YOUNG
FUNERAL DIRECTOR
AND
LICENSED ENBALNER
iMET7U,rCv WALNUT. MAHOGANY
& AND CKP A I! silKM/fOlntfa Covered
rc**»'") Atfrf COFFINS Kept in
siriei MffflS+r ItOBKSi , AN.IV.AR>
Tl!^fcUTT KWOVtfeRa.
Vv ill pf*£f!ce ’&ftfes&itag aepdht—
injr to tiia latest and most ap
I proved modes. i
Special attention paid to the 1
’ shipment of funerals and to fun- 1
era's shipped here. *
AllT/lls or Day will i
be Promptly Attended to. I
Phone No. 39-w. I
$ Charles Town. W. Va.
j We Cannot
Tell you in a newspaper
tiaement of all the Remedies,
Patent Medic nips, Sundries, etc.
that we carry in our Mock. The
average Drug Store Stock con
sists of about ten thousand dif
ferent item; we carry even more
than that.
BUT WE CAN
Tell you w! at we haveor do not
have if yon only take the trouble
to come in andaak'ua However
large our stock may be we can
not carry everything nor do we
*»y to
have what our cnatbmera do-'
tnand, and we' wiil get for yon
anything jou may want, no mat
ter bow small or how large.
Brirg cs your wants.
Miller’s
} PH AR !VI AC Y.
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YOU CAN'T BE TOO
CAREFUL
It is not only necessary to insure your proper
ty, but it is equally as important to have your in
surance written in the best companies and by per
sons who have been trained in the business.
You ejnploy a doctor or an attorney because
he is the best- Why not place your insurance in
the oldest and largest insurance agency in the
county, who represent none but the best com
panies and make insurance their business ?
If you have a fire, we see that that you get
your money.
Washington, Alexander 6 Cooke
Insurance.
Surety Bonds.
Established 1870.
It is better to be safe than sorry.
CHARLES TOWN, - l - WEST VA.
Dr, Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery