Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25
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ssT'here is one satisfaction in the heavy
SHOWS of this winter. if not more, oo-
served an experienced fruit grower Oh
northern New York, to a Star reporter,
land that is that the fruit crop OF next
season will be materially benefited by IL.
All experience has been that heavy SHOWS
are a benefit to crops, and particularly 10
the fruits 1t will, 1 think, be especially
beneficial to the fruit crops of the SOUTH
as whole as well as those In the north
Last year was a rather Improbable one
for fruit growers in Maryland, PennsyiVa-
MIA and Virginia. Apples Jared very badly
as did peaches, plums and damsons- Inc
small fruits, blackberries, Strawberries ana
raspberries did not produce one-half their
usual quantities. The cold weather, you
may remember, did not last long IN 1S9S'
and the fruit trees and bushes began &c Duo
month or more earlier than they should.
A late short but rather cold snap causnt
them and the result was that peaches dld
very poorly and apples even worse. All tne'
Indications are that VIZ will have slow
spring. and that by the time the trees
bud out there will be no danger OF set
backs, and that apples and paac hes will be
as plenty as they were four years ago
am interested in some fruit farms in Mary
land and virginia, ana from every iLiil5
that I can discover by the ordinary signs
the crops will be generally very large
Apples, / am sure, will produce SIX times
as much last year. pears and peaches
over four times much The same Will
hold good far as the small trulls
are concerned The field crops Will
also be very large, for snow is thought by
many to be the best fertilizer. 1t seems to
rejuvenate wOrn-out partially worn-out
lands. as nothing else does Under all the
circumstances, therefore, the heavy SHOWS
will prove a blessing, though 1t will not
come as blessings are usually supposed to
disguise about the snow, as all can fully
testify. this winter"
The cemeteries have long since adopted
rule to charge for burial expenses when
ever body has been placed in a vault, as
well as the vault expenses explained a
cemetery superintendent to Star reporter,
but they only did so when they found that
it was absolutely necessary. The usual ex-
penses for placing a body in a vault is from
So to so for the first month and about one
half of that sum for the following month
or months. While the full charge Is made
upon placing the body in the vault the eX-
ira sum for burial expenses is returned
when the body has been buried or taken
away. The burial expenses run all the way
from S15 to $50, according to the cemetery
selected. This sum covers the charge for
interment and the grave site This prac-
tice was found to be necessary, for ceme-
teries. like nearly everything else in this
world. cannot be kept up unless there is a
financial feature attached to them. Until
the rule was adopted there were many in
stances where persons left the bodies of
their relatives and friends in vaults and
never claimed them afterward, simply de-
sorting them and forcing the cemeteries to
krrrrr rE.arT1 md L. Sit
do not claim that was done very often but
1 assure you 1t was done often enough to
force the cemeteries to adopt the rule for
their own protection There was no way
10 stop the practice except to adopt the
rule which requires that the vault expenses
shall include in the first charge interment
expenses as well. The latter, as l have
said is always returned when the body is
taken from the vault, whether buried there
or taken elsewhere. The cemetery which
is the most exact in its financial matters
is, as a rule, the most satisfactory ceme-
terry in other respects as we'll This applies
with equal force to cemeteries in all sec
tons, for the same general rules prevail in
all the best regulated cemeteries, it matters
not where they are"
There never has been scientific inveS-
tfgation of the phenomena involved in the
various phases of what is called spiritual
ISM remarked a well-kDown scientist to
q Star reporter; that is, scientific. pure
and simple. though some spiritualists very
frequently claim that science has demon
strated and approved all their claims and
suggestions. There have been a number
of Investigations made in this country and
in Europe by boards on which scientific
men have assisted, but these Investigations
were made to approve rather than to in
vestigate, In each instance the scientific
assistant was more of a spiritualist than
l.
fore his assistance was asked. The nearest
that has ever been reached to a scieRtifc
investigation was the case of Lulu Hurst
the so-caled ma gnetic girl of Georgia, who
created such a sensation about fifteen years
ago. That clever performer raised more of
a sensation in a few weeks than did the
Fox sisters, the first public spiritualistic
mediums. m as many years She made the
sensation and made the money. and then
tihc Investigation in her case was just
about being started when some one raised
the question as TO there being anything to
investigate The girl was then asked If she
used physical forces TO accomplish her per
fOrmanCes, and she replied that if she did
she was not conscious of it. 1t was then
necessary to ascertain il physical forces
were used, and Lulu was asked to perform
her wonders while standing on a platform
scale. The moment she began her efforts
were indicated on the scale. and that was
tIlS I'1St Dl tIIe mystery OF tEe Phenomena
How she did her tricks was no question
for scientific investigators. who had salts
field themselves that she did perform them
herself. There were hundreds of magnetic
girls who turned up soon afterward, but
they were not in it with Lulu Hurst. who
prOfted immensely by her skill and cum
ming.
The demand for crutches has been I'M
usually large during the past year" said a
leading wholesale dealer in crutches in New
York 10 the writer recently. In 1898 there
were sold in this city on an average of 800
pairs of clutches a week That means