The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-23
FRON OTHER PENS
4 COMING PRODUCT.

A possible timber development OF
great interest Is limited from the
south, whose lumbermen are noting
the rapid destruction of northern for
ests by the lumberman's ak and by
fire. The south has a tremendous
acreage of timber which may become
merchantable when eventually the
pine and hardwood forests of the
United States have disappeared. 1t is
estimated that 100000 acres of
swamp land in the south is more or
less covered with gum, loblolly pine,
juniper, ETC., which in order to make
merchantable lumber will have to be
subjected to chemical treatment or
vulcaniZation.
There is a big field for inventive
genius in the discovery of a process by
which the swamp timber of the south
can be rid of it's sap, and the fiber of
the soft wood rein forced by q filling or
vulcanizing process which would not
only preserve the wood but make 1t
susceptible Of apish like. that which
can he put upon the best grades of
pine and hard woods. Processes of
this kind have been successful in max
ing pine blocks proof against decay
where the timber is embedded in
moist earth, and the railroad com
panies have achieved marked success
in length ening the life of wooden ties
by preservative treatment-Mil-
waukee Wisconsin.
CONCERNING. WIT AND SENSE.
1t is a pestiferous trait of human
nature to be always wanting to say
something smart, something witty to
relieve the occasion as if the occasion
was always heavy and dull. There is
no doubt, If all this could be changed
and the rule be to say the sane and
sensible thing Instead of the alleged
funny thing there would be a marked
improvement in public thought and
sentiment.
1t might make conversation hesitat-
ing at first. and cause society to look
pale, but this would not last long, for
when the individual discovered he
must have something to say, if he
would go into society, he would make
the effort to acquire knowledge. He
would be looking out for ideas, and
this would prove a hearty experience.
There are stories and anecdotes that
are a part of conversation as much
so as smile is a part of the human
countenance, and they are in order
except possibly to monopolize, but
the line is drawn on those enforced
waggeries that are more suggestive of
muscle than of mind: that makes one
feel foolish if he laughs and rude If
he doesn't-Ohio State Journal
PAWPAWS.
Nature has made some things that
are in this list. You can't make any
body who knows what wild pawpaws
are believe that, orchard pawpaws beat
the real kind. To try to make paw
paws as they grow in the woods more
worth while by corraling them and
digging about them" and all that sort
of foolishness, is "superfiuous and fr-
relevant" Time was not given to men
to waste in that style.
1t particularly outrages the tradi-
lions to set about breeding" pawpaws
in Indiana, one of the genuine and
original pawpaw states. Don't we all
remember the old-time definition of
a Hoosier to be man with his coat
pockets filled on one side with paw
paws and on the other side with quin-
inc? Well, it's all right to cut out the
quinine, but how would any natural,
wholesome person regard an Indianfan
who didn't think enough of pawpaws
to go into the woods and gather them,
or who would want to eat the docile
and degenerate kind that grow in or
chards?
The Lord knew what he was about
when he made pawpaws to grow on
bushes in the woods. Let them alone.
City Star.