Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-03-24

FarMtng How to Insure Good trOps
-rrogress or CiviiIzation-Ira p
Bowen 4 Co.-A Supervisor In
Troubie-Bustnsss.
CHICAGO, March II, 1S70.-To day we have
had he severest sno y storm o. the year. On
FRIDAY last we had some two or three inches
OF snow and sleet. On Saturday, late in the
afternoon, it began to snow very FAST and on
Sunday m )rning the snow was eight or ten
inches deep, the heaviest single snow fall OF
the season. Monday was warm and pleasant,
but Tuesday morning there were three or
four inches Of fresh snow. and it continued
showing through the forenoon, with furlou.
wind, which blew the snow ia great heaps.
and seriously impeded locsmoton. How deep
the snow now is no one can tell. To day the
snow is thawing, ald sleighing is becoming
poor again.
COURT HOUSE ROOF FALLEN.
In the midst Of the Saturdays storm we had
catastrophe, which came near being a
tragedy, which wes repeated-not by request
late in the evening. For a year and a half
the city and county have been building two
wings to the old Court House at a cost
OF over $500 600 At quarter past one
o'clock on Saturday afternoon the greater
Dor ion oflhe roof Of the west wing fell in,
injuring eight workmen in the rooms below,
two of them seriously. At AZ p. m. meet
ing Of the Mayor, Common Council. Building
Committee, and Board Of Public Works was
held, to investigate the cause ofthe accident
at which meeting Mr.. Rose, the architect,
assured the meeting that the roof Of the
other (eas) wing was perfectly safe. But At
half-past eleven that night the east roof fell
in with a crash that was heard half mile,
with q Iumb'ing sound like thunder. A com
mittee OF in vestigation has been appointed to
examine and report on the matter, and.
strange to say, four Of this committee are
architects who have professionally endorsed
the work az safe after examination, and some
Of these spoke contemptuously of indi 'iduals
and newspapers for suggesting fears that the
building was unsafe. One Of these. after GER
tifying to the super wish g architect that the @
we o mo indications of instability in any part
OF the structure sdded: Trusting that
you will hereafter treat upn-g CATERERS for ners
papers ,oih TIE con emp they deserve, | remain
truly yours, John NJ Van Osdel." l name
Mr.. 0. because not knowing his animus to-
ward newspaper men, have recently spoken
OF him as architect Of one Of the r1ne st blocks
of Chicago.
Another architect concluded his certificate
in this wise: II aft m That the building will
stand lasting monument, pointing with
scorn to the bare falsifcations uttered so We
hemently by a few over Jealous, bigoted in
divi 1uals, who report that it is in dagger Of
falling long after their remains lay moulder-
ing in the dust and their names have passed
into oblivion Two other PROFESSIONAL give
similar testimony, one OF them declaring that
he 'couldn't see how the cracks in the inte.
rior W Ills (Which had given rise to apprel en-.
sion and critcsm) could work any injury to
the bulding." He can now probably see ho1c
il ,corked. At least the public can. The lose
is SAID to be $50, 900.
THE OLD COURT HOUSE
seems to have been endangered by the set
Ting Of the walls Of the new wings, and a
meeting of the judges and of the lawyers
practicing in the courts in this county has
been called to determine whether it is safe to
transact business hereafter in the old court
house
FARMING HOW TO INSURE GOOD CROPS.
Az the season of seeding approaches the
most important question with farmers, is,
how to make their fields produce the best
crops at the least expense The diminishing
Weld per acre of cereals, roots and grasses,
consequent on the exhaustion Of the soil by
continued cropping, has led all intelligent
farmers to the conviction that the only way to
restore their farms to their original fertility
is to return to them, In some shape, the ele-
ments of which they have been deprived.
Every crop of wheat, or other grains, or
grasses taken from the soil diminishes it's
productiveness because it takes from it por-
tons Of those elements essential to the
growth and maturity of perfect crop. And
if this process is continued long enough the
soil becomes worn out and worthless. Many
Of the early settlers OF the west, especially
on prairie farms, thought the soil inexhaust-
ina In babi ~ h,,rp bo;.
straw, as useless incumbrance. Manure
was not thought worth the trouble Of carting
to the fields for whv should soil already rich
enough be further enriched. But few
years experience of impoverished soil has
taught them the great law that the only way
to make or keep the soil fertile is to return to
il, in some form, the constituent elements
drawn from it--that they mus give back to
it what they take from it. The chief exports
Of the west are the cereals, beef and pork,
which rob the soil of phosphates and other
elements necessary to the growth OF good
crops. Wheat-the leading CROPS the
most exhaustive. Every year the wheat
belt ia moving Westward; Western New York,
Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illiuois, Wisconsin,
Iowa and Minnesota, each in turn presenting
the same spectacle OF exhausted wheat fields,
the yield per acre diminishing to two-th.rds,
one. half, or one-thlrd the original product,
as the process of repeated cropping contin-
ues. Change, rest and rotation of crops will
do something, but there is only one method
of making worn out or unproducliye lands
fertile, and that is to impart to the soil the
elements essential to the vigorous growth of
plants For you can no more make plant,
than an animal grow without its appropriate
food. There is one source of manurial sup
ply greatly neglected by Western farmers 80
the bones and offal of animals. England
sends across the Atlantic and gathers up the
bones Of our animals and converts them into
bone dust to enrich her fields. The East,
too, wiser in this respect than the West,
draws largely upon this supply, and II the ELK
or seven thousand tons of
BAUaH's RAW BONE suPER-PHosPHATE
manufactured yearly by the NorthWestern
Fertilizng Company of this city, from the
bones and blood Of the slaughtor-houses- the
product of Western farmers-the greater part
Is clipped East, at a high price, including
freight most unnatural direction, when 1t
is so much needed at homo. Five hundred
pounds of this Phosphate ia worth thirty
loads of stable manure. A ton costing s45
equals 100 loads and will suffice for
five or six acres, and will more than repay its
cost the first year. | used ton OF " lac
go. On ~, serp ~ Crane. and five acres of