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I. VAN SLYKE. Editor art ftMMwr. McHENBY, ELLflNOIS. GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND is threat­ ening the world with another book, which will deal with Dr. Priestly and the administration of George Wash­ ington, introducing the Federalists and incidents in the lives of Jefferson, Burr, and Hamilton. THE tobacco cultivation is rapidly progressing in the Crimea, where suc­ cessful attempts have been made to ac­ climatize the best Turkish kinds of tobacco, which are also the least known in Russia, such as are known under the names of Basma, Persisand, Oujound- jova, and Yenidje. THE Regent of Bavaria is making hiu sons learn useful trades. Prince Ru­ pert, who will probably be King Eome day, is apprenticed to a Munich wood­ turner, and works daily at his bench. Prince Francis is learning to paint houses and Prince Charles is' an indus­ trious market gardner. A RESIDENT of Kidder County, Da­ kota, went into an unsettled section of that Territory last summer, forty miles ahead of a new railroad, and cut 100,- 000 tons of hay; The railroad crawled tip to his stacks during the fall,and he is now selling his hay for $8 a ton. He expects to make over $100,0Q0 by his enterprise. ' SECRETARY WHITNEY recently had the Marine Band to play at his house and afterward gave it luncheon. When he invited them to the table he asked their nationalities, and said: "I have hog and hominy for the Americans, macaroni for the Italians, and sauerkraut for the Germans." Then he ordered out terrapin and champagne for them all. MRS. LILLE PBOK, of Ogalalla, Oregon, has not made any orazy quilts lately nor done any Kensington work to speak of, but so far this winter she has killed seven bears. It may be added that she has her husband so well' trained that he never stays out after 9 o'clock, and when the steak is burned or the coffee weak he never grumbles. A NUMBER of Boston capitalists are building a railway car of steel. Instead of forming their car by the current square-box pattern, they will use, as far as possible, a curved design. Hot- air pipes will heat the car, and a com­ pressible platform will render telescop­ ing an impossibility. The general adoption of such a car would be a most desirable' result. such offers, and might make a fair salary if a Democrat had any show, but he has not." . . ... * ... MRS. HARRIET YAK APKEN, who bos been in the penitentiary at Syracuse, N. Y., for ten years, serving a life sen­ tence for the murder of her husband, is dead. On her death-bed she charged Loren Qrover with the crime, and said that she was an unwilling witness to the deed. Grover compelled her to promise never to reveal to anyone what had taken place, and she never told the secret except to her confessor. An­ other instance of mistaken duty by a woman. - SOME thousands of people visited Princes end Tipton, says the London Olobe, to witness the funeral of Mr. Samuel Murfitt, who was recently ex­ hibited as the largest man in the world. The deceased, who died after a few day's illness, was a native of Wimbling- ton, Cambridgeshire, and was 55 years of age. His dimensions were as fol­ lows : Height, 6 feet 1 inch; weight, 40 stone; girth of waist, 100 inches, and he measured 20 inches round the calf of the leg. A hearse could "not be found large enough for the deceased's re­ moval, and the body had to be conveyed on a flat. The sashes had to Be removed from the windows, and nearly twenty men were employed to get the coffin through the window on to the flat.* A VALDOSTA, Ga., man, driving along the road near his home, saw a large bald eagle devouring a goose near the roadside. He alighted, gathered light wood knot, and advanced upon it, but the eagle, so far from fleeing away at his approach, stood by its game and showed fight. The man walked to within a few feet of it, and, with a well- directed blow with the light wood knot, JkApcked it over. MSBAMRY AND HOUSEWIFERY. 38 JULIA J. STENSON was married recently in New York to Dr. Henry P. Loomis. The bride wore a dress more than a century old. It Was made for her maternal great-grandmother in 1778, and worn at her wedding, when Alexander Hamilton was groomsman and Gen. Washington and his staff were present as guests. It was worn for the second time • by the bride's mother forty-five years ago. ALTHOUGH the best of the public lands have gone, it is encouraging to note that there still remain unsurveyed •about 9,000,000 acres in Colorado, 12,- 000,000 in Arizona, nearly 30,000,000 in California, 49,000,000 in Dakota, 7,000,- 000 in Florida, 44,000,000 in Idaho, 7,000,000 in !V£innesota, 39,000,000 in Nevada, 74,000,000 in Montana, 31,000,- 000 in Utah, more than 20,000,000 in Washington Territory, and so on. MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM GOOSE, of ~ Jeffersonville, Ind., recently celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of their mar­ riage. They were both born in the county and have lived for fifty-seven years on the farm where the anniversary was celebrated. They have nine chil­ dren, the eldest in his 60th year and the youngest in his 41st There were also present thirty-five goslings in the name of grandchildren and nineteen as great-grandchildren. "I SHOULD like," says John Buskin in a recent letter to a friend, "to see home rule (in my sense of ruling--not yours) everywhere. I should like to see Ireland under a King of Ireland; Scotland under a Douglas, tender and true; India under a Rajah; and En­ gland under her Queen, and by no manner of means under Mr. Gladstone •or Mr. Bright." This confirms the rumor that the Empress of India con­ siders Mr. Ruakin a crank. MISS MAUD BANKS, daughter of Gen. N. P., is now regularly on the stage. She is playing Parthenia in "Ingomar" In the small towns of Pennsylvania. The General, who is now 71 years of •ge, still holds the office of United States Marshal in Boston and runs an experimental farm .of sixty acres just outside the city. Miss Maud iti a pro­ nounced brunette, and she wears her hair after. Mrs. Celveland's style. She claims to be delighted with her profes­ sion. SENATOR BECK is indignant again. 2I*> says: "What do you think of this for insult? I don't know what some of my constituents take me for. This letter is from a young man who lives near my home, and he has the cheek to offer me 10 per cent, of 1it« salary for the first year if I secure him an ap­ pointment in the railway messenger service. This is a sample of some of the letters weget. I have received a lot of Matters of Interest Relating toFarm and Household t L**"; Management.' Information for the Plowman, Stock­ man, Poulterer, Nurseryman, and Housewife • ' THE FARJ^i ' farm Waf/tm*. There is no economy in nsing old wagons on the farm. If the money spent in repairs were reckoned at the end of the year it would make big interest on the cost of a new wagon, besides loss of time, of temper, and often waste of crops. It is poor poli?v. to pay $10 to $20 in patching np an old wagon, when a new one enn be bought for $50 to $80. When the new wagon is pur­ chased it should be kept well painted and under cover, else it will soon be an old one. Exposure to the elements injures wagons more than active use. THB woman Thomas, who was guillo­ tined with her husband recently at Ro- morantin, was the first female executed in France since 1872. The man, it ap­ pears, met his d£ath with great firm­ ness, but his wife made wild supplica­ tions for mercy on behalf of her little daughter, to whom she asked the exe­ cutioners to send locks of her hair, which they cut off, preparatory to her being placed on the block. She had to be carried in a half-inanimate condition to the guillotine, but when her head was placed on the plank she tried to jerk it back, and struggled violently. Deibler's men had to hold her down by the shoulders until the knife fell. While the blood was being sponged the husband was led to death. He embraced th& chaplain three times, and then placed his head calmly on the block. The guillotining of the woman has been described by some of the eye-witnesses who were accustomed to capital execu­ tions as the most horrible scene which they had ever beheld. A FIRE which took place lately in a remote village in China, destroyed a collection which was one of the most remarkable in the world, says a foreign letter-writer. The descendants of Con­ fucius are the only persons outside the imperial family whose titles descend unimpaired from father to son. In other cases the son's title or rank in the nobility is one degree lower than his father's, so that every noble family in the' course of a few generations merges in the commonalty. The male heirs of the family of Confucios are dukes, and have resided for nearly twenty-five hundred years in their an­ cestral home in the province of Shan­ tung, The residence was recently de­ stroyed by fire, and all the historical articles presented by successive dynas­ ties and admirers of the philosopher during all these centuries were con­ sumed. As the present duke is a lineal descendant of Confucius, there can be no doubt of the authenticity of the col­ lection, which can now never be re­ placed. Seven Ways of Getting Married. There are seven separate and distinct ways in which the nuptial knot may be tied, the attending expenses of the dif­ ferent modes varying from $1 to $1,000. The least expensive, and the one seldom adopted, except in cases of elopement, is that afforded by the Justice's office. There a couple can be firmly united in the space of a minute ' for a small sum. It is customary for a groom to dress as he may please when the marriage is to be performed by a Justice, and a dress- suit would be sadly out of place in the musty law office. The one great ad­ vantage of the Justice-shop marriage is its cheapness. As some people object to being married by a Justice of the Peace, preferring the sanction of the Church in addition to that of the law, the young people may visit a parsonage instead of a Justice's office with the same preparation. t The ceremony may be fully as informal when performed at the minister's home, the only difference being that not less than $3, and, better still, $5 or $10 should be paid for the service, although there is no fixed sum charged. The most popular ceremony among people who do not class them­ selves as in "society," and also among many who do, is a quiet ,liome wedding, where the bride is attired in a suit of plain white or traveling dress, and the groom in a plain black or brown busi­ ness suit, where only a few friends and relatives are present. The affair is in­ formal, perhaps a modest supper or lunch being served after the ceremony is performed, and the entire expense to the groom being covered by $20, or even less. This is the most popxilar wedding ceremony, and this is the way in which fully 25 per cent, of young people are married. Next in point of favor and inexpensiveness is the in­ formal church wedding, being similar in all things except that the service is performed within the portals of the church. If the affair is strictly private the bride and groom may be unsup­ ported, or have bridesmaids and groomsmen, as they please. In the latter case full-dress suits should be worn, increasing the expense. The "full-dress wedding," as it may be called when the ceremony is performed at home, is next in favor. Elaborate trousseau, full-dress suits, bridesmaids and groomsmen, flowers in abundance, and a host of invited guests are the re­ quisite, followed by a reception, feast or lunch, as the contracting parties may desire. The seventh and last, the most popular, is the full-dress affair performed in church. Among people who desire to create a stir •> in society this is the favorite. It is expensive, and in many oases unsatisfactory.-- Brooklyn Magazine. ~ DURING the eleventh century musical notes were invented, windmills were first used, and clocks with wheels were introduced. - NEVER does a man portray his own character so vividly as in his manner of portraying another's.. Seylected Field*. There are on every farm 6ome ports that have always received less manure and less care every way than has been given to the farm generally. They frequently comprise the fields remote from the barnyRrd, and to which for this reason it is difficult to draw manure. The time for this work is gener­ ally limited, and the amount drawn in a day when the distance is doubled is so re­ duced that the work is stopped, and plow, ing and seeding take the time of teams and men. The result is that despite the most strenuous efforts fields remote from the barnyard never get as much mannre as those near by. In some cases the neglected field is too wet for profitable cropping. But whatever the cause of neglect, it is time that it should cease. Even at a low valu­ ation for the land it locks ap too much capital for which its owner gets no return. If he lack money to make this land pro­ ductive, he had better sell it and use it in improving the land that remnins. Some one is always ready to buy the poorest land and to pay more for it than it is worth. In fact, selling the poorest part of the farm is commonly the very best thing that can be done with it. If its owner concen­ trates labor, time and manure on his worst land he can only do it by neglect of his best, from which alone he is sure of a profit. There is a reason for the neglect of cultivation of fields that have been ready for the plow a long time, and it is usually found in the fact that experience has proved that it does not pay. /"arm Note* and Comments. SEVENTY-SIX per cent of the raw cotton produced in this country is exported. A FARMER should be the architect of his own barn, but when he builds his house he ought to leave the arranging of the interior to his wife. IN Spain, when a person eats a peach or a pair as he passes along the road, he im­ mediately plants the seeds. Fruit-trees are plenty and free to every passer-by. EVERY farmer should aim to raise all the possible prodncts of the climate for his own use. Herein lies the independence of farm life. He grows every supply for his table, so far as his soil and climate admits, under his own eye. He is dependent, on no one for the necessities of life, or even for the luxuries ot his table. MANY farmers in places where their land is swept by tierce winds find it profitable to plant apple trees in masses <,large enough to make a wind-break on the side of the farm most exposed. The apple trte branches low down, and, if bordered by a fence four or five feet high on the wind­ ward side, the ground will be covered with snow almost as perfectly as it was in the original forests. IN the process of drying grass into hay most of the volatile oils which give green herbage its delicate flavor and odor are lost. But some farmers have found that putting clover and other grasses in barns while rather green and mixing with them enough dry straw to absorb moisture not only preserve the flavor in the hay, but a portion is communicated to the straw, making it much better for milch cows. It is possible that farmers may yet take to sowing sweet vernal grass for the sole pur- Sose of flavoring their winter's supplies of ry hay or straw. PROF. DODOE says the richest agricul­ tural districts do not necessarily produce the largest yields of corn per acre. The worn-out soil of New England, well culti­ vated and enriched, has yielded in the last five years an average of 30.8 bushels to the acre^ while the Missouri Valley, with all its natural richness of soil for growing corn, falls below this 1 per cent., and the Ohio Valley, with almost equal natural resources, drops nearly 5 per cent, behiad. The Middle States are very nearly on the same footing as the New England States.--Very true, but in New England corn is raised at a vast expenditure of mannre and labor. In Illinois an average of 100 bushels per acre on eighty acres has been raised. THE STOCK RANCH. About Pure-Brett Cattle. The numbers and value of pure4>red cattle, as Btated by the Department of Ag­ riculture at Washington, excluding Jer­ seys, that for some reason are not men­ tioned except that the number registered is 51,006 head, are as follows: No. reg- No. liv- Jv. Breed. istered. ing. vahie. ties observed, a careful and systematic feeding would save hundreds of sounds of material, while the farmer would secure a larger product at a cheaper cost. With systematic feeding comes good shelter, as the first important duty performed by the the food is to heat the body and repair waste. All over and above the immediate bodily requirement is that which becomes product, and if the hent can be saved by warm stables and dry shelter the smaller will be the quantity required for repair of waste. The feeding of cornstalks and straw may assist the farmer to winter his stock, but any deficiency of nutriment therein must be provided by a more con­ centrated food, such as grain, and the grain must be of the kinds that abound in the principal elements required for the different purposes.--Philadelphia Record. THE DAIRY. Winter Dairying. At a meeting of an agricultural society in the south of Ireland Mr. Richard Bax­ ter gave an address on this subject in which he said: Farmers should carefully consider whether the large increase in the cost of feeding and labor entailed by win­ ter dairying will be compensated by the following advantages: First, cows carried through the winter, find in profit,at a Reason that milk and butter bring the highest prices; second, I find from carefully-kept records that cotfs calving in December and January give the largest return in milk-- for, say, ten months in milk--ns they come on a second spring of milk when they get the grass at the end of April and May, and yield during the summer nearly as well as if calving in March; third, the calf is raised in time for the grass, and so has the whole summer to grow and mature; and, if vealed, is soldjwhen veal is dear; fourth, a large quantity of farmyard manure is made and the laud steadily improves from the quantity of feeding stuffs consumed on the farm; fifth, a market at home for most of the farm produce, and not selling grain, etc., at such prices as are now ruling; sixth, a much better chance of command­ ing a higher average price through the year for milk and butter by keeping up a con­ tinuous supply. The following dietaries 4ire suggested for shorthorn crosses of,6ay, 1,100 pounds live weight; and I estimate the keep for three of them would be suffi­ cient for four of the country cows weighing 800 pounds, or for five Ktrries weighing 550 pouuds each. Tho dietary can ba altered to suit individual cases and current prices of feeding stuffs in the various dis­ tricts. The total albuminoids should not be under 3.5; and the albuminoid ratio should be carefully preserved--beiug 1 of albuminoids or flesh-formers to 4.5 to 5 of carbo-hydrates (or fat andjieat producers). Jt is most imi>ortant that tlve various foods and drinks should be given at a tempera tare of from 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit (cool summer heat), but not over this; chilled foods and drinks seriously check the flow of milk, besides the increased quantity of food required lo bring them to the above temperature. Except in cold, bad weather cows should have a run on the pasture for a few hours in the middle of the day, but never allowed to stand chilling at the gate, asking to be let in; such a run is healthy for the cows aud al lows the stalls to be cleaned and ventilated. Care should also be taken that the stalls are not too hot at night. Cows should be milked as much as possible morning and evening at the same hour; it has been clearly proved that milk remaining in the udder more than twelve hours will lose proportionately in quantity and consider­ ably in quality, having a lower percentage of cream. THB ORCHARD. Aberdeen-Angus 3,500 $?00 Ayrshire......... 12,867 6,433 »0 Devon 10,187 8,00Q 81 Guernsey 4,947 3,100 149 Hereford 14,000 300 Holst«in Frieui&n21,138 20,OHO 300 Total value. $1,050,000 6*1,000 648,000 461,900 4,200,000 4,010,200 J crdiiig According to I: eqttlretnenf. AB long as the animals are fed, the kind or quality of food is not always consid­ ered; yet one may feed a large amount of food without benefit to the 6tock, while by a judicious system of feeding, in propor­ tion to what is required, a lesser quantity may be needed and the cost lowered. As animals differ in the kind of products they provide, so should the food be regulated to conform to that which is expected. A Jer­ sey cow that gives a large yield of butter from a small quantity of milk (and some of them have yielded a pound of butter from three quarts of milk) demands food rich in fat, and in feeding her for cream the breeder keeps in view the object to be obtained. He expects a large quantity of butter, and he knows that the fat mnst come from the food. If the feed is|difi- cient in the element most desired the yield will be less, for the reason that, no matter how highly bred the cow may be, nor how capable she is, it is an impossibility for her to produce anything unless she is provided with the materials with which to manufac­ ture-her daily product. Other classes of cows that excel ih pro­ ducing large quantities of milk, but not so rich in cream, have an equal task to per­ form. While the proportion of fat required may not be large, yet the milk is neverthe­ less to bo made of certain materials rich in nitrogen and phosphates. Her food, while it may be deficient in fat, should be as complete as possible in those elements re­ quired by her, and in making up her allow­ ance of food she must be fed differently from the cow that produces a large amount of butter in proportion to milk yielded. An animal that is growing requires a more comple ration than one that is ma­ tured, for it has not only to supply bodily waste, but also to ouild up the frame and increase in carcass. If the same kind of food fed to a growing animal be given to one that is matured, the excess will be voided from the body as manure, simply because the animal cannot appropriate it. In the face of these facts many farmers feed all classes of stock together, making no distinction between the growing steer or the productive cow, the young or the ma­ tured, and do not consider that butter and milk are very different in composition, and that special feeding materials must be pro­ vided according to the objects fulfilled by each animal. If a due allowance is made for the work * don* by each animal, and its characterise Regrafting Orchard*. Much lack of progress in farming is the result of what natural philosophers wonld call the power of vis inertia, or in other words the tendency of matter to remain in one place. Farmers deal more with this inert matter than with any other class. Knowing what needs to be done is one thing, but doing it, which requires hard work, is quite another. In nothing is this neglect of what should be done more striking than the almost universal tendency to let poor or unproductive trees remain year after year without, taking the slight trouble to re graft with better sorts It is no serious evil if a tree has been grown to bearing age with some worthless variety. Regrafting in from three to five years make a new top often more Ereductive than the tree would have been ad the better variety been put in originally It costs considerable to have such work done by professional grafters at from 1$ to cents per graft. At such rates an active man with an assistant to saw off the limbs will make five or six or even moxe dollars per day. But the operation of grafting is so simple that any tree-owner can easily learn it, and by knowing the habit of growth of the sort to be put in he can easily make the top-grafted tree into any shape that he desires. When he stops to consider this point the owner of an orchard will soon learn to top-graft his trees more to his own satisfaction than will be done by the average grafter, chiefly anxious to make a large day's work by putting in as many grafts as possible. Pruning the Peach. The peach tree in many eases, if not in most, receives no pruning. As a result of this neglect, after some years the trees have a few long, straggling branches, with leaves and fruit on the ends of limbs and nowhere else. The reason of this is that the new shoots come out strongest, from the terminal buds, the largest shoots of the previous year becoming the longest in the succeeding year, and so on. until the fruit is away up out of reach, as the habit of the peach is to bear on wood of the previous season's growth. Judicious An­ nual pruniDg will prevent this unshapely growth, and maintain a low-headed, round­ ish form of top. The pruning is to be done mainly in the. way of cutting back, removing from a third to a half in length, or even more in some cases, of the shoots of the previous year's growth. This not only prevents the running up of the top of the tree, but reduces the crop as well, and prevents injury from overbearing, while from the capacity of enlargement inherent in all the tine peaches the portion of the crop allowed to remain will be greatly im­ proved in every way. Having an eye to thipning the crop, the blossom buds can readily be distinguished from the leaf buds, as the former are much more plump and round than Ihe latter. A well developed 6hoot usually has three buds together in its best parts, a leaf bud in the center with a blossom bud on each side of it and close up to it. When such shoots ure shortened to about two-thirds or one-half their length four or five of the leaf or wood buds toward the end of the cut will push out vigorously, so that in the succeeding prun­ ing it may be necessary to thin out the top by removing some of these shoots entirely. Judgment and practice will determine this. The work can be performed in February or March, any time the wood IB not frozen. --•Stockman and Farmer. THE POULTRY-YARD. A Cheap Poultry-Iloute. I have recently built a small poultry- house, writes a correspondent of the Western Rural, which is decidedly the most comfortable winter quarters for poultry I have seen, when the cost is taken into con­ sideration. The house is 8x10 feet inside and is built as follows: White oak posts split in the forest from trees a foot in diameter, making four posts to the cut, and eight feet long, set four feet apart and afoot and a half deep. Streamers 1^x3 inches are nailed to the posts near the ground, in the middle, aud at the top of posts on the outside. Common oak boxing 1x12 inches wide is nailed to the streamers and cracks stripped with strips 4x3 inches. Space is left on the south side for a door and win­ dow and two small windows in the ends. The inside of the house is ceiled with the same kind of boxing, oak, 1x12 inches. This ceiling is put on horizontally, not up­ right as the outside boxing, and is nailed to the posts. Put the first board of ceiling down on the ground, or a little in the Sound is better. After it is fastened to e posts, fill the spaee between the boxing and ceiling with sawdust, and jam doyn tight and firm with a little hand matil. Then put on another plank or two, and put in more sawdust, and continue nntil you get to the top of the posts. Joist are then put across, and a loft laid of the same box­ ing, and this loft is covered with sawdust to the depth of fcur or five inches. A large wiDdow in the sonth side near the ground and a small window in each end near the joist secure ample ventilation. The house is covered with a good shingle roof. A good board roof would answer as well. The roosting poles are three-fourths inch iron rod, wrapped with strips of heavy woolen cloth. This cloth is saturated oc­ casionally with coal oil. I have one of the roosts wrapped with strips of sheep­ skin with the wool on, cut about two inches wide. I like the sheepskin as well, if not better that the woolen cloth. This house is warm and comfortable, and I expect to have an abundance of eggs all the winter. Plymouth Bock pullets hatched last May are at present making daily contributions to the egg-basket. Poultry Note*. RICE is a good healthy food ft# GLIB lug chickens, and is inexpensive. GIVE the fowls a chance to scratch and fallow; it is their nature to do so. SHAVINGS sprinkled with diluted car­ bolic acid will make a neBt free from ver­ min. Do NOT keep ducks in the same house with chickens, nor in the kitchen garden, except they be very young duck. They are then the most valuable insect extermi­ nators known. Nothing come? amiss to them. THE egg shell is poronB, and any filth on it very soon affects the meat. Eggs should be cleaned as soon as gathered, if at all soiled, and those to be'pat up for winter should be eggs which have been gathered as soon as laid. IT is said that a teaspoonful of glycerine and a few drops of nitric acid to a pint of drinking water will generally cure a fowl that shows symptoms of bronchitis, when accompanied by gurgling sound in the throat, as if choking. PorL,TRY farming ought to be conducted in connection with ordinary farming; it is its only chance, and there are many rea­ sons why it ought to succeed in this way as why it is likely to fail under other circumstances. The extraordinary ques­ tion is, why the smaller occupiers of the land who know the enormous con­ sumption of geese, turkeys, and fowls in this country, and to whom the returns they are likely to make are not to be disre­ garded, make no attempt to increase the number and improve the quality of the poultxy they already have. THE HOUSEHOLD. Bot Weather Housekeeping. Butter needs to be kept cool as well as fresh. To put it in salt water hardens it better than anything except ice. To-put it in a basin that stands iu salt water is not quite so effectual, but avoids the difficulty of putting it actually under water. Green vegetables soon become flabby and stale in hot weather owing tn evapora tion from the leaves. This is soon cured by fresh cutting the stalks and putting them intp (not under) the water. Town vegetables are apt to be in worse plight than this, for they are stacked in wagons or trucks, the first to go in being, of course, the last to come out, and there they heat and ferment, and finally arrive at the consumers' houses in a state of unwhole someness for which we know no cure. Fruit also ferments, and, like everything else, sooner in damp than in dry weather. Children often become ill from eating fruit, and so all fruit is tabooed, but the beginnings of fermentation or decay ought to be blamed. It is better to keep fruit on wood, not on a china dish, and there should always be space between each, wherever it is possi­ ble, and never more than one layer. If it were practicable, it would be better to hang fruit up instead Of laying it on anything. Grapes hung up in a dark cupboard can be kept for many weeks, and they spoil in a few days on a dish. Bed currants have been preserved in the same way, but it is not often worth while to tio each bunch to a siring.--Boston Budget. In-door Decorations. It would appear to be a decided error to adopt flower pots with aggressive colors brilliantly glazed, as they seriously detract from the charm of the plants, the intensity of the reflected light overpowering these. An appropriate frame and one much ad­ mired for water-oolor drawings is flat and with blue ground, on which, leaving wide interspaces, raised leaves, stalks, flowers, and fruit ia bronze and gilt are scattered in a somewhat informal fashion. Mounted fans in brilliant colors and with mirrored centers set on carved stands, are used for displaying portrait photographs fixed in hidden and shallow paper pockets behind the curved upper edge. This rain* bow arrangement has a good effect. Ornamental forms of wood covered with velvet plush, that serve for wall ornaments, in shape of anchors, crosses, ctars, ctc., have center adorned with bouquets in arti­ ficial flowers; and where space allows a small silver thermometer in a silver case is inserted. Classic ornaments are adapted for library chairs; tea or coffee plants or masques of Ceres, Bacchus, or Comus for card tables used as breakfast tables; designs from my­ thological history for library and writing tables; broad ornaments, as the bread tree and its fruit forms or the hop plant for din­ ing table; the moresque or foliage fruit and flowers for drawing-room tables. If the prospect from the windows be not very good a little pale amber and a very faint blue or green stained glass can be ar­ ranged in a neat frame and made to lit over and cover the .glass.--Decorator and Fur­ nisher. THE KITCHEN. Pancake* (Hithout Milk.) Make a batter of four eggs, three table- spoonfuls of flour, a little water, a pinch of salt, and a little very finely chopped lemon peel; put some good frying oil into a frying pan, aud when it boils drop Borne of the mixture into it; fry on both sides, drain it, sprinkle with powdered sugar and lemon juice; roll it and serve very hot. Brewl 1 ancukf*. Take stale bread and soak over night in sour milk; in the morning rub through a colander, and to one quart add the yolks of two eggs, one teaspoon of salt, one tea­ spoon of soda, two tablespoons of sugar, and flour enough to make a batter a little thicker than for buckwheat cakes; add last the well-beaten whites of the eggs and 'bake. nice or Hominy Croquet*. Boil the rice or hominy till well done, then allow to become perfectly cold. To one and one-half pints add a good pinch of salt, three well-beaten eggs, one spoonful of milk, flour enough to roll out in the hands into forms and one teaspoonfnl Royal baking powder. Have ready a deep frying-pan half fnll ot boiling-hot fat, drop the croquets carefully in, fry till a rich brown, serve hot. To lire** Cold f.'.urk •«, Feul, or Game. Cut them up and put them into a good well-seasoned stock, let it coma to a boil, and then set it to simmer for half an hour; add a small piece of butter, rubbed in flour, a boned anchovy, a minced onion, and a small piece of shallot, a little salt and eayenne, and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Let it stew together about ten minutes longer; shake it frequently and it will be ready to serve. .Apple Marmalade. Take nice, sound russet apples, pare and core them; cut in small pieces, and to every pound of fruit add one pound of sugar; put the sugar to boil with enough water to dis­ solve it in a preserving kettle; add one large lemon to every four pounds of fruit; boil all this together until the syrup gets thick, then add the apple and boil until it looks clear. This is very nice made half quince fad half apple. ; An Evening with Magnet*. The power of attraction which a magnet possesses is called magnetism, from the name of the ancient city of Magnesia, in Lydia (Asia Minor). The fact that a certain kind of iron ore, commonly called loadstone, possesses the power of attracting iron has been known from very remote times, but it is only comparatively lately discovered that other metals also possess magnetic power, in virtue of which they are at­ tracted by a magnet or loadstone. Metals, such as bismuth, antimony, zinc and tin, etc., being jepelled by magnets, are called diamagnetic. Mag­ netism, which is a mode of motion,as is all for<;e, lies dormant in every form of matter; but, unlike electricity, it ' can­ not be made to manifest itself in all bodies. In certain substances, such as iron and nickel, magnetism can be ex­ cited by another magnet, or by that huge magnet, the very earth itself. Again, unlike electricity, magnetism affords no phenomena directly ad­ dressed to the senses, but is distin­ guished from electricity by the perma­ nency of character when once induced. A piece of steel can be magnetized by simply rubbing it with another magnet. To prove this, rub a needle over one -of the poles of a permanent magnet, when the needle will become inde­ pendently magnetic. The most power­ ful magnets are made by induction as follows: A covered wire is coiled around a steel bar which is to be mag­ netized, and a current of electricity is passed through the wire. Under this process the bar becomes permanently magnetized. Sometimes magnets made this way will sustain twenty-eight to thirty times their own Weight. In magnetism, as in statical electri­ city, there are positive and negative poles; but one difference is that either positive or negative electricity can be generated at pleasure, but in magnet­ ism, one is always accompanied by the other, no matter how large or how small the magnet may be. Another peculiarity of the magnet is that it always has its two .poles at the ends, with a neutral point between. To prove this, roll a magnet in some iron filings (emery or magnetic sand will answer), when they will become attached in clusters around the poles, while the center will be perfectly free from the filings. The direction and the beauti­ ful curves produced by the mutual at­ traction of the particles of iron for each other, with the universal attraction of the magnet for them nil, can be shown by the following experiment, the result of which will be an abundant reward for the trouble: Wax a sheet of paper and stretch it on a wooden frame; then place a magnet directly under and touching the paper, when, by sprink ling iron filings on the waxed surface and gently tapping the frame, beautiful and symmetrical curves will be formed. To permanently fix these, hold a hot flat-iron over the paper till the wax becomes softened; then by removing the iron and allowing the wax to harden, the filings will remain fastened to the paper. < Induction is the power a magnet pos­ sesses to develop magnetism in iron or steel. Magnetism is induced in soft iron or steel when brought in contact with a magnet, and the steel becomes a permanent magnet, whereas the soft iron loses its magnetism when contact is broken. However, traces of magnet­ ism can be induced in either with­ out actual contact To illustrate the law of induction, place a piece of soft iron, such as an ordinary nail, in con­ tact with a magnet. If the iron bo then dipped in some iron filings, they will adhere to the nail only so long as the connection between the magnet and the nail remains unbroken, thus prov­ ing that soft iron is only capable of be­ ing made a temporary magnet. _ When two poles of opposite polarity are brought together, they are mutually neutralized. To show this, suspend a number of nails on the opposite pole of a magnet, when, upon touching with another pole of a negative polarity the nails will fall.--Goklen Days. Wells In India. f' Wells are naturally greatly prized in hot, arid parts of Iudia, and many Hindus earn great renowfi by making them where they are much needed. Some religious people seek for merit in the construction of large wells in public thoroughfares and other places for the purpose of supplying travelers with water. Very often people use them for irrigating their fields. A large well, built of strong masonry with a circular smooth white platform round it for people to sit on when they draw or drink water, costs from 2,000 to 3,000 rupees. Even the wants of the brute creation are not overlooked by the Hindus. They make reservoirs of strong masonry, about five or six yards long and a yard wide, adjoining a well, and in the hot season these are always kept filled with water, lie turning from pasture or from the fields in the fore­ noon for repose, and retiring at dusk for the night, whole droves of cows, bullocks, buffaloes, and goats slake their thirst here. Land owners and wealthy men vie with each other in con­ structing these wells and reservoirs; and princes sometimes imitate the ex­ ample of their opulent subjects. The average cost of an ordinary well has been estimated to be about 300 or 400 rupees. Of course it varies not only according to the depth of water and kind of soil, but also to the kind of labor employed. Some peasants, who, with members of their own families, make wells themselves, have been known to construct them, especially where^the water is near the surface, at a trming cost of 100 rupees each. Nevertheless, even in those parts of the country where the cost is very moder­ ate, the wells are insufficient. Wells have been objects of great endearment with Bomo villagers. Not satisfied with wasting time and money in their own and their children's marriages and in those of idols and trees, they some­ times marry wells with great pomp and ceremony. In some parts of the coun­ try wells are worshiped and votive offerings are seen lying near them. A Healthy Skin. Very cold or warm baths when used to excess diminish the elasticity of the skin and its power of resistance to ex­ ternal irritants. Dr. Auspetz, of Vienna, says a healthy skin is not necessarily beautiful and water is serv­ iceable to it in only moderate amounts and in moderate 'temperatures. The same authority says that a sponge soaked in oil should be applied to the scalp and roots of the hair at night.-- Atlanta Constitution. Gen. Pryor's Rise. Gen. Roger A. Prvor went to New York soon after the war without a dollar, and with no introduction save his reputation as a soldier in the lost cause. He acquired almost immedi­ ately a good practice, which has steadily grown, until it now brings him $20,000 a year. POPULAR gCIETOK. Bwotrrs of many experimeafeaniir unanimous as to the remarkable that a small amount of animal or table oil exerts in quieting the violent waves. A DISCOVERY of a network of so-called canals on the planet Mars by Schiap* arelli several years ago has been eott^. firmed this year by {Observers both ill England and Italy. ^ RECENT experiments l>y Dr. Parsona seem to establish the fact that tha germs of ordinary infectious disease* s'X't cannot withstand an exposure to Arr \ heat of 230 degrees F., or an exposure * of five minutes to boiling-water steam 2 for 212 degrees. / Ax apparatus for putting criminals to *' death by electricity is on exhibition itt Leipsic. It consists of a chair which la ~ , in the circuit of a powerful induction 4 coil. On closing the circuit, death ii • occasioned instantaneously. THERE are 172 specimens of blin<| creatures known to science, including crayfish, myriapods, etc. They ara , mostly white, whether from lack of stimulus of the light, or from bleaching •; out of the skin. Some species hava small eyes an£ some have none. ACCORDING to the recent Franklut ,r% . Institute test, one pound of coal will yield an amount of light averaging 150 candles with the electric arc light (about sixty per cent, of this it ; V glasss shades are used), twenty cantllea with incandescent lamps, and fourteen ; to seventeen candles with gas. In thia estimate it is assumed that steam coal' •' is burned under,p good boiler for th« electric lights, and that the gas ia fifes , tained from a bituminous coaL ;j THE first indispensible requisite to " ® life is the sun. Were the sun to be eat- tinguished, the green parts of the plant * f would no longer fulfill their functions* They would even disappear, as is thai case if a plant grows in darkness Hence there would be no formation of new vegetable matter. The store of food for animals would soon be ex­ hausted and they would die. Were the heat or the light of the sun to fail, noth­ ing living could exist on the face of tha earth. ^ ACCORDING to "Dr. Brown-Sequard, one has only to harden the neck and * • : feet and destroy their sensitiveness to prevent taking cold. This is done bj ; daily blowing a stream of cool air, by means of an elastic bag, upon the neck, and by immersing the feet in cool water. The air is at first only slightly cool, but is each day made colder, until the neck can stand an arctic blast with impunity. The feet are immersed in water which is at first at a temperature of about *90 degrees F., and this ia gradually reduced to 38 degrees F. IT is often observed that iron of rn* cent make rusts and wears away muolt more rapidly than samples made forty or fifty years ago. The more rapid deterioration of much of the iron of a late make arises from the fact that it contains more impurities than formerly. The common iron of to-day is filled with slag, and looks coarse and fibrous when rusted or worn. Fifty years ago tha iron made in the United States waa largely charcoal iron, and was muoh purer and better than the same gradea made at the present day. J -•m A White-Houge Receptions la Days if Jack* ̂ sonian Simplicity. President Jackson's table manner% says a writer in Lippincott's, were ai Democratic as could be desired. Ha had at each plate two forks, one of which was of silver and the other of steel. The President used a steel fork himself, and after his dinner he alwafft smoked his tobacco from a long-handled corncob pipe. Andrew Jackson enter* tained lavishly on the night of his first inauguration. The carpets of the east room were ruined by the orange punch and lemonade which were served to the crowd who came to liis reception. Bar­ rels of this punch were made and it waa brought into the rooms in buckets. At last the people began to rush for the waiters as soon as they entered the room. Glasses were broken and ladiea* dresses ruined. Tubs of punch were finally taken into the garden, and in this way the throng was drawn off, and it was possible to serve cake and wine to the ladies. At Jackson's farewell reception a monster cheese, as big as a hogshead in circumference and nearly a yard thick, was cut with saw bladee made into knives, and served out to tike guests. Each guest received three pounds of cheese. The event was the talk of the nation, and when Van Buren became President his NewYork friends, emulative of Jackson, sent him a big cheese. It was cut up in the east room. The greasy crumbs falling upon the carpet were trampled into it, and tlie ruination of the furniture during these two administrations led later Presidenta to discontinue the practice of serving eatables at general receptions. Now no guest comes to a dinner at the White, House unless invited. In Van Buren'a day Bacourt, in his "Souvenirs d'un Diplomat," says that the Presidents cook told his valet that for several months preceding the election of 1840 many persons arrived at the White House for breakfast or dinner, and threatened to vote against Van Buren if they were not entertained. The cook stated that he had all the trouble pos­ sible in satisfying them, and they often returned what he sent up, doing so on the pretext that it was uneatable, and ordered something else. ? . ,:-ri, A A -•ri m 41 Benedict AraoldL Benedict Arnold was a native of Con­ necticut, where he was born in Norwich, January 3, 1840. He joined the patri­ ots- soon after the Revolution broke Oiut andr̂ as commissioned a Colonel in tlie service of Massachusetts. In lTlfc he led av force of about 1,000 men through Jthte northern forest with the intention of capturing Quebec. Gen. * Montgomery's forces were joined by Arnold at the St. Lawrence, and the attack made but it failed. Montgomery met his death there and Arnold waa seriously wounded. Arnold became a Brigadier-General. He commanded in Philadelphia in 1878, and, living ex­ travagantly there, contracted debta. In 1779 he married the daughter ot Shippen, afterward Chief Justice of the State. Charges were made against him and he was sentenced by court martial to be reprimanded by the Commander- in-Chief. Washington was very mild in his reproof. Arnold was very muoh chagrined. In August, 1780, he r«r quested and was given command at West Point, and this important fortreaa he offered to surrender to Sir Henry Clinton. The capture of Andre dis­ closed the plot of the traitor, and proe- trated it, Arnold escaped to a war vessel of the British. He at once en­ tered the British service, and coin- manded an expedition against Virginia, Near the conclusion of the war he weal to England, where he met with a» special marks of favor. He died in jbondon in ; 1 • -r mi