The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-01-17
BY. WIN. r. sAN1oRN.

by. WI. n. SAN6OHN.
GRATIS, Ohio, Jan. 1.-THE people
of this quaint and rather venerable
| old town are actively preparing for the
| one great winter event in which all
are very much interested This is the
| annual two-day meeting of the Farm
ers' Institute, which will be held here
next Monday and Tuesday.
The Farmers Institute at Gratis is
| one of Preble county's established
educational enterprises. And it is
| more than educational it is largely a
social gathering and reunion. 1t is
carefree and pleasant occasion and
one helpful in its influence throughout
| the year.
w. U. Young is president, and w. E.
Andrews secretary of the institute.
| They promise splendid program The
church has organized to prevent stary-
to eat and to spare.
Gratis is quaint" and also "vener-
able" and with reason. Many of its
comfortable old homes date back to
early days. Now early days in Gratis
| date away back of the Civil War, for
| Gratis started bravely out on it's sec
| means that some of the land in this
! township has been farmed for more
than one hundred years.
About Cakes, Pies, Etc.
The most interesting display to most
visitors will be the array of cakes,
pies, etc Bread? Oh, surely, and
corn? Yes, certainly But bread is
an everyday affair, and not always
Onn6 of hot Dat nj
cakes and cookies. Well, say Ask
any school boy or girl They are
expert judges. But corn; anyone wish
ing to eat corn off the cob in Janu-
airy may do SO. The Ladies' Aid has
not however, put corn on their bill of
fare, but a lot of it will be shown just
the same. The Judging and awards
will interest many people, for lot of
good corn is grown in this county.
The committee on premiums played
fair to the fair sex. 1t has hung up
! as much money in the baking contest
as in the corn contest. Those level
men evidently are married, or if not,
are looking around" bit.
Did some one shout "Votes for Wo-
| men,? All right, gentlemen; just as
you say, but sample their cookery
first, if you please.
A First Settler.
Among the pioneers in what is now
Gratis township, came DR.. Christian
Saylor, as a child, his parents arriving
in their quest for new home from
Maryland. Doctor Saylor's daughter,
Caroline, married Jacob Zimmerman,
and his son, c. M. Zimmerman, is one
of the substantial citizens of this
community.
This is one of the best known to-
i bacco districts in Preble county, and
Preble county raises lot of good to-
bacco. Not the 'Burley" leaf of Ken
lucky, but a cigar leaf, for filler and
binder which is nationally used
The oldest living tobacco grower
possibly, in this section, is Reuben
Rooms, who has been cultivating the
weed for about sixty-four years, it is
said. He should surely know some
thing about Little Dutch tobacco by
now and his experiences in growing
this valuable crop would doubtless in
terest many of the later generation of
tobacco farmers He has raised all
kinds of crops and sold at all kinds
of prices during those sixty-odd event
full years.
No Tobacco Buyers in Sight.
Nearly every farmer around here
raises tobacco, some more and others
less. 1t is money crop which counts
in the business of both town and
country. Just now there is a large
supply of good quality leaf on hand
while a year ago practically every
pound was sold before this time.
Growers are wondering why, but are
not losing sleep, because of lack Of
present demand. They know that
most of the world is tobacco hungry
and that market is assured.
The bulk of the 1917 crop brought
from 20 to 80 cents and up to 33,
depending on quality.
A report of tobacco sales at Aurora,
Indiana, tells of large sales at an