The National tribune., 1907-04-25

Agriculture has been working recently
with alfalfa and other forage plants,
and has produced some good results in
new way that promises to greatly
shorten the work of selection. Alfalfa
particularly Is a plant that has been
hard to work with, because it took so
long to develop a given strain from
seed. There might be promising in
dividual plant with very desirable quail
tiles, bu: it toon several years work to
propagate it from seed and secure such
quantity that it could be raised on
anything like a scale to give practical
test.
Now. however, the Department has
hit on the very simple and practical
scheme of propagating the plant from
cuttings and not waiting for the seed.
1t has been found that cuttings can be
taken rapidly from the plant in the
green house and transplanted to cold
frames on the outside. These can after
ward be set out in the nursery, and the
percentage of loss is very small indeed.
1t has been found that in the course of
a single Winter more plants can be Sc
cured in this way than from seed Sc
lection in two years. So the element
Of time in the work of selection has
been largely eliminated.
Here's a word of advice for those
who are in Government service. the
acme Of salaried happiness:
Government employees who serve a
long time and then break away from
the sure income given by Uncle Sam
and successfully enter business life are
not SO plentiful as they might be. One
Of them is William G. Brownlow, of
Knoxville, Tenn, who served in the
ptIra
then left and went to his home city,
where he is now a prosperous real es-
tate broker. He Is a cousin of Repre-
sentative Brownlow.
Il would advise all young men-and
old men too for that matter-to leave
the Government if possible" said Mr..
Brownlow. 1.-The Government is the
worst place for young man of ambi-
ton that I know Of 1t offers him no
opportunities, and by and by, if ne mar
ries and rears a family. his ambition
gradually disappears. until he awakens
at 40 to find that life has gone by and
that he is a disappointed man. so far
as the realiZat alton of the ambitions of
his youth are concerned. For time
the Government service Is splendid
thing. 1t enables young men 20 work
and earn a fairly good salary and at
the same time gives them enough time
to study law or some other specially.
But after they have been graduated
they should take the first opportunity
to get out, no matter how meager the
opportunities may at first seem. 1t
looks hard at first to brave the cold
world when one is not sure that he will
find a footing, but II he has anything in
him at all he will be sure to land and
make more of himself than he would
ever have made In the Government"
And there's straight sense for you.
The injuries sustained by many pos
tai employees while handling mail, in
which post cards, ornamented with
glass, mica and so-called diamond dust.
form part. have resulted in the pro-
mitigation Of an order prohibiting such
cards from admission to the mails I'M
less inclosed IN envelopes.
The CLASSY particles used in the or
namentation of the pictures on the cards
rub off easily and cut into the hands of
the mail handlers like little knives and
create sores that are hard to cure.
Reports have been received from sew
eral post-office divisions where postal
clerks have had their eyesght injured
by the dust from these cards, and gen.
eral outcry has gone up against their
admission to the mails unless contained
in envelopes.
The story of Capt. George P. Colvo-
coresseS, Commander of the midship-
men at Annapolis, Is an Interesting and
romantic one. A ship sailing in the
Mediterranean one day, something like
half century ago, and flying the flag
OF Greece, came across little craft OF
which the only occupant was a wee
baby. Its Captain stopt and rescued the
mite. who was less than a year old,
from the angry waters. The child's
clothes and adornments showed that he
had come from a family of wealth and
refinement. but how long the raft, to
which he was securely fastened, had
been bobbing about in the blue waters
Of the Mediterranean no one could tell
There was nothing about him that gave
any Indication of his origin or national
ity, save that his dress and the trinkets
he wore indicated that he was of Greek
parentage. and it was taken for granted
that he was a caStaWay from some
wreck. The rough men. who made up
the crew Of the ship that found him
mothered the tiny waif, and one of the
officers gave him his name and adopted
him. His career after this was check
cred, but he finally came to America
became an officer in the United States
Navy, and now ranks as high in his
recognized ability and in the affections
"a uAS oubOi uiudtCSp oS stiiy VI HIS dSSO-
ciates.
Some preachers in New England are
said to have started petition on the
rounds of the country. asking the Presi-
dent to investigate the allegation that
the Hon. Robert Bacon. Assistant Secre-
tary OF State, was a guest at the no.
| torfous "pie girP' dinner which has fig
ured in the nauseating Thaw trial
Friends of Mr.. Bacon in Washington
say that neither the report that he was
one Of the guests at the dinner in ques-
ton nor that the preachers are trying
to stir up trouble for him on that score
Is bothering him in the least He and
the President are friends of too long
standing and their relations are too
| close and confidential to permi. him to
be worried by reports of this character
Besides, 1t is asserted that Mr.. Bacon
was not a member of the pie girl din
ner party, and that as soon as his name
was connected with the affair in the
newspapers he assured the President
there was no foundation for it. Hence
should the petition the preachers are
said to be circulating over the country
be presented to the President no at
tention probably would be paid to it at
the White House further than a private
statement by the President that the pc
titiOn's allegations We're false.
No Pensions For Them.
P. D. Hall, Corporal, Co. 3. 1st Ala.
Cav. has been reading The National
C.iI, 81, =