The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-10-26

Ahon -aho lnCluue "copper" tln, sulphur,
carbon and other metals known to our
own earth. Not single new sub
stance has ever been discovered, and
Tor this reason the theory obtained
that they were thrown up from QUO
volcanoes with such foroe as to wander
for time In the outer atmosphere of
the earth, and to revOlve with the
earth. But this theory has long since
been abandoned, for they seem to have
sn orbit Of their own from west to
east. Then came theory that they
came from the moon, and were Of vol
oanic origin, and were thrown out with
snoh terrific force as to got beyond the
moons influence and within that of our
earth, But this was discredited be-
cause these fragments have been fall
Ing, no doubt, for thousands of years
on the land and on the sea, and on all
countries, and would have by this time
materially diminished the size and
weight OF the moon. La Place and
Humboldt favored this moon theory for
time. But our modern astronomers.
such es Professors Arago and Almsted
and Bowditch declare that metoors
are simply clouds or motion of meteoric
planets that have motion and orbit
OF theil own, and that orbit sometimes
comes within range Of the earth's and
produces cOmmOtiOn-a disturbance
that causes the fall Of som, of their
own nebulae. Some Of the children
got too far away from their mother, I
reckon.
Sometimes meteors are simply lumi-
nous and have no body to explode or
strike the earth. These have periodic
vibrations of thirty. four years. They
come in showers as .hick as snow
fakes, and fall as gently to within q
foxr nf h<,
guished. They fell in 1799-1833 and
1867, and each fall was on the 18th of
November. But there have been
minor disp ays at irregular intervals
generally about the 10th Of August. l
am old enough to remember we'll the
failing Of the stars" in 1888. NV
father held me in his arms as he stood
in the portico, for 1 was scared. Our
old negro, aunt Minty, was praying
and shouting 80 it scared all OF us
children. George Lester lived on the
opposite side of the street, and his
mother held him in her arms. Some
times in these later days would get
with my Old.time friends, DR.. Jim
George Adair, and we could boast of
the wonderful era in which we had
lived, and the advent Of steamboats,
and railroads and cotton gins, and
sewing machines, and telegraphs, and
! we never neglected to say, land we
| saw the stars fall in 1885," Dewey never
saw a night like that-but l reckon
| the Spaniards at Manila thought they
did on the 1st OF May.
But this is enough about the meteors.
| At least 1t ia about all that I know.
Joe Mulhattan, Or Munchausen, made
up big fake few years ago while I
was in Texas and telegraphed the fall
Of meteor near Brownwood that was
as big as a meeting house and had
buried itself thirty feet in the earth.
1 was at Brownwood few days after
and the postmaster was as mad as
hornet with Joe, for telegrams care
| to him from all over the United States
and England wanting to know about it
and wanting to buy 1t at any cost. Joe
| had TO ieave there and hide out foe
month or two. The postmaster an
| swered few and then swore off. There
| is one good thing about meteors.
They never hurt anybody. The books
vidential that in all the earth there Is
no record OF one having fallen on any
body or destroyed a habitation. Ter
restlai lightning gets us sometimes,
but celestial fires are not dangerous.
And now the next inquiry Is from O
young farmer who wants TO know Il 4
Ia good farming to follow grain with
grain. He does not say what kind of
grain, but I will tell him that fifteen
years ago The CourierJ ournal of Ken
tucky, offered prize of 81, ZOO for the
pest essay asay on practical agriculture.
Over 200 were contributed and the
essay that got the prize detailed the
writer's plan of farming IN Kentucky.
1t was brief, very brief. He laid of
his corn rows seven feet apart, drilled
his corn eighteen inches apart culti-
waited the ground thoroughly and har-
roWed 1t; sowed wheat early and har-
rowed 1t in. When the corn was
ready to gather he drove the wagon in
every sixth row and loaded from three
rows each side. After the corn was
all gathered he went over the corn
stocks crossways with q neavy rolior
aud rolled 1t all down fiat cn the
wheat. The stocks and the blades
covered 1t like blanket. Whom the
fret good snow fell he sowcd clover on
the snow. When It rainod or thswed
the clover seed fell into the ground
and took root, and 80 he had corn and
wheat and clover following In rotation
and made fine crop of each.
But in this region our farmers have
learned the value of peas as a fertilizer
and stock food, and the harvest of hav
this year will no doubt double all pre-
vious records. One of my friends has
small farm near town and last wear
harvested fair crop Of wheas from
twenty-acre field. After the wheat
was off he sowed ten acres of the
ground In COW peas. Last fall he sowed
1t all down In wheat and this spring
you could tell Just where the line Of
peas came to. There was no difference
In the quality of the land. 1t was ali
level and all alike and yet he harvest
ed this year ten bushels per acre on
one.half and eighteen on the other.
Now, what caused this great diff
ference 1t was the shade of the pea
vines, the shade that produces nitro
gen, and nitrogen Is the best of all !
plant food. The denser the shade the
more nitrogen goes down into the soil. |
a CanebrAke. o hriar mitch q nlouan