The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-11-26

| 'Twixt boughs Of shadowy trees,
Meath which nOon-resting toilers
| Their weary hands do ease
And watch-the calm ud-flights:
| As in the beryl skyland
| One star intones a psalm
10 farmStead lamps just lighted;
Whilst glides, in pine-sweet balm
breath from mountain heights:
| So in strange. dreamlike wonder.
Love comes to speak with Man,
In voicelesS interchanging
| OF thought that never can
Infringe its JOY In words!
William Struthers. in the Boston Trans
cript.
The Boil Weevil Fight.
The boil weevil is undoubtedly the
most serious menace the cotton planter
has ever faced. Until it arrived there
was apparently nothing to prevent
steady increase in cotton production
answering to the enlarging demands
of the world, as it was generally held
that within the area now devoted to
cotton raising there could be produced
double the present crop. This bright
outlook faded before the weevil, al
possible abandonment of cotton raising
as a result Of its ravages have sub
sided.
In 1895 the weevil was not known in
this country outside of few counties
on the southern Texas coast. By 1903
it had extended northward over much
of eastern Texas, and in October OF
that year it established isolated colon
les in Louisiana. BY 1906 the enemy
had entered nearly all of this cotton
counties Of Texas. had overspread
Louisiana. and was present In parts
of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and 1t has
since invaded Mississippi.
Some idea of the damage wrought
may be obtained from a comparison or
yields in ten counties that were free
from the weevil in 1899. but badly in
tested in 1902. The yield in the latter
year was only At per cent as great as
in the former.
The pest is hard to exterminate on
account of it's habits and rapld1ty OF
growth and multiplication. AS its name
Indicates. the boil weevil passes nearly
all of its life in the fruit of the plant,
end cannot be reached with poiSons.
From egg to adult stage requires but
IA days and a single pair will lay enough
eggs in a season to reproduce l34,0OO,o0O
individuals.
Much good was expected from the in
PRODUCTION of the Guatemalan ant. in the
own country the natural enemy of the
weevil but this importation succumbed
to changed climatic conditions. A ma
tive ant, however. known as Solenops1s
geminata, and which travels up ana
down the cotton stalk. has taken issue
with the weeviL first fighting him as
an interloper and later hunting him out
as an article of diet. According to the
bureau of entomology. Solenopsls gem
inata is responsible for the destruction
of more than half the weevils that fall
before their various natural enemies.
Good results have followed the intro
duction OF new cultural methods, sucn
as burning the cotton stalk in the fall
as soon as possible after the last of the
crop has been gathered, and by induc-
ing speedy maturity of the following
seasons crop through early planting
and the use of fertilizers.-New Orleans
Picayune.
The Wealthiest Indian.
A Choctaw Indian is going to build
q 24O-mile railroad. For the last
six years this Choctaws income mas
been a cool million dollars a year. He
is Lon C. Hill, jr., of Harrington, Tex.
and he is doing great things for the
lower Rio Grande region of the Lone
Star State. It is there that he has
made his fortune by the simple pro-
cess of buying untitled lands at low
prices and increasing the value many
man to realize the possibilities of that
territory. He had been educated for
the law, and was living at the little
town of Beeville, about 200 miles
north of Harrington, when he had oc-
casion, eight years ago, to visit
Brownsville. In order to reach it an
overland trip by wagon had to be
made over $50 miles of semidesert
country. He took careful note of the
soil, and made up his mind that here
was his chance. But he was stone
broke. So he went about obtaining
options on purchases of enormous
tracts of land along the river, at
prices ranging from 81 to So an acre.
He borrowed enough to bind these
options for two years. Mr.. Hill is
worth $6,000,000 and the money is
still piling up. He is going to build a
railroad of his own from Harlingen
to San Antonio-240 miles-and he
is doing it all alone: This is record
for eight years effort-Leslie's
Weekly.
The Missouri Game Law.
The trial of Henry Carmiller for
shooting kirkadirkins, or desert fly
ing fish, was held in Beaver Bait last
week. He was arrested by Henry
Hilo, deputy game warden. The
law on the subject says that mo per-
son shall entfce, snare, spear or take
in any way whatsoever any male or
female flying fish, elephant, giraffe.
or behemoth in the state of Missouri"
The law was passed as joke in 1853.
The bill was introduced to ridicule the
efforts of certain members to pass a
strict game law, which the members
from the backwoods counties regard
ed as an infringement of human lib
erty. In filming the boy for shooting
the flying fish the judge said: True,
this bill was passed in a jocular mood,
but it is on the statutes and has never
been repealed. AS long as we have
laws we must enforce them" The
flying fish that now infest Beaver
Creek were sent to John Purtle by a
friend in Africa with the Roosevelt
observation-disclosures City Star.
Marshal Ney's Purse.
Negotiations are in progress which, IL
carried to successful issue, will en-
rich the Musee de pArmee in Paris with
historic relic of melancholy associa-
tions. The museum wishes to exchange
with the institution at Gisors some ex-
hibit. and in return to receive the purse
of Marshal Ney. It is a little purse of
the kind in vogue at the time and mucn
later Of knitted silk, and was worked
Iaxr 4I,o 10 "a laar