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* J. • II UtJ • .•M MMHi - : » ' < ' ,. ?T^T» IT, ?, • rf- *?* tf?lpf • ..• '••iT-'t.-,: ' ie?r„<r;??.•• yrjr , . j '"•>*>, *•• « j ' • /, • >,> #.•#-« « * PLAINDEALER. 1 8PHnrGFiELD, Vt., in tbft largest town to claim a gold mine worth operating. The story goes that one citizen of th« town amassed a fortune from the •old which he washed out of the sands lit Gold Brook. . -;'J A colossal scheme has been pro­ jected for conveying petroleum in pipes from the port of Baku, on the Caspian, toBatoam, on the Black Sea. The length of the line of piling is 497 miles, the cast iron pipes are to be eight inches in diameter, and there are to be Bixty-four intermediate stations. £ •"!?/ y.'-s • - A NEW YORK writer claims to know e#an agreement between five magazine editors of that city to return unread by the next mail any manuscript Bent them in the form of a roll. He* also says that still other editors he knows even refuse to open Buch manuscripts, but at once pitch them into the waste-basket. Many an angel will be turned away un- - spares by these gentlemen. . " 'AN Albany, Ga., man was pestered with English sparrows. He soaked a quart of hominy in strychnine and baited several place3 in the yard with it. The sparrows gobbled it up, but it did not kill them worth a cent. About 100 of them turned perfectly snow \rhite in a very short while and became very pugnacious and quarrelsome, and whipped off the other sparrows as fast #* they alighted. , J*UKD COUCH, who suffered an acci­ dent in Ansonia, Conn., whereby he lost all power of speech, has mysteri­ ously gained it again. He was riding on the cars to Great Barrington, Mass., with his wife and child, when he felt a peculiar itching in his throat. As the train neared Groat Barrington Conch looked out of the window, and, turning toward his Strife, exclaimed: "Mother used to go by that road!" These were the first words he had spoken since the accident. He continues to improve. . THE cotton plant has developed new VaA unexpected capacities. The cloth made from its down clothes millions of people, the seed from the plant fur­ nishes valuable oil and meal, and now an ingenious Southerner has secured patents in all European countries, also . Canada, Mexico, India and South America, for the conversion of the cot- tob stack into ' strong fibre equal in quality to the bagging made from jute. This bagging can be sold aa cheap jute bagging and will probably take its place. " JOHN I. BLAIR, the millionaire owner Blairsville, N. J., and also the owner of one-half the railroads in Iowa, a man estimated to be worth from $40,- 000,000 to $100,000,000, was in Chicago the other day. and, it is related by- the Tribune of that city, changed his linen In the wash-room of the Grand Pacific Hotel to save the expense of paying for aToom. He is 88 years old, and wears an ancient, scrubbed-up hat that a poor man would be ashamed of. He is gen­ erous, people say, to everybody except himself. • - A SCIENTIFIC Englishman has pub- j&M an elaborate paper demonstrat­ ing that the power of our planet to support vegetable and animal life is gradually becoming exhausted; that the vitality of the planet is slowlv devour­ ing itself, so to spegk. In the course, of some millions of years, according to this authority, not only human life but all other life will become extinct by starvation. The pain produced by this announcement is somewhat mitigated . by the consideration that for some thousands of years the farmer and the fisherman will be the only aristocrats. OIL from corn is bne of the latest products whieh modern scicnce every now and then throws upon the world. The maize, which is now grown in the United States at the rate of some 2,000,000,000 bushels per year, has been experimented with and found capable of yielding 3i per cent, of its weight in oil, the germ of the kernel being the part from which the oil is extracted. The new material is of a pale yellow, somewhat thicker than either the olive or cotton seed oil, and does not seem to be readily available as a substitute for them, but it is well adapted for lubri­ cating purposes, and may be used M a salad dressing. A NEW TOPE paper says: *The 140 insurance companies doing business in this city at present are preparing for a gigantic combination, which, if consum­ mated, as it is almost certain to be, will probably raise insurance rates in New York to a point that they have never reached since the war. Of the 140 com­ panies 117 have feigned the agreement, and the promoters - of the scheme are doing such active 'missionary' work among the remaining twenty-three that it is probably only a question of a few days when the latter will enter the com­ bination." Such schemes have been tried a dozen times and failed. The' public will have some remarks to offer ppon the subject which will interest tike N ew York insurance companies. JUDGE RIDLEY, of the Criminal Couft at Nashville, Tenn., has charged the grand jury that "guessing matches," where a newspaper has offered a prize of $100 to the person who comes near­ est to guessing the population of Tennessee as it will be found by the census-takers, will come under the law- against gambling as violations. In these "guessing matches" the people who make the guesses have nothing whatever at stake unless it be the small bits of paper on which they write down their figures audi their names. BY the rules of those whp gamble a man most have something at stake, and their authority says that a man cannot even bet on a certainty. To make thi« a violation of the law against gambling requires a greater stretch of law than that made by the Missouri judge, who had indicted a lot of people who at­ tended $ church fair. Such hair-split­ ters as. Judge Ridley on the bench do much to weaken respect for law. BUT small belief will be accorded by those who possess any knowledge of Egypt to the tales which are now being circulated concerning the alleged treachery jof Emin Pacha, says the New York Tribune. It is asserted that he had arranged to surrender his province °f Wadelai to the Madhi at the time of the fall of Khartoum in 1885, and that he was only prevented from carrying out his intentions by the menaces of his Egyptian subordinates. It is on the authority of the latter that the charges in question are being made against Gordon's heroic lieutenant, whose sur­ name of Emin--the Arabio for "Faith­ ful"--is cherished and respected by native friend and foe alike throughout the wilds of the sad, dark Soudan. The character of his traiucers should in it­ self be sufficient to pat an immediate stop to the calumnies which have ob­ tained currency concerning him. For while the most honest and respectable of native Egytians excel even the Cre­ tans in that extraordinary talent* for lying which is so graphically described by St. Paul, those who were with Emin at Wadelai were, every man of them, either ticket-oMeave convicts or Cair- ene officials who had been banished to Soudan its a punishment for some un­ usually disgraceful misdeed in lower Egypt. Exile to the Khedive's Central African provinces was always regarded as a penalty almost worse than death, and was only resorted to in the most flagrant cases of crime. Gen. Gordon repeatedly protested tliat the regenera­ tion and civilization of the Soudan wquld remain impossible so long as the Cairene Government persisted in using the Up­ per Nile provinces as a penal settlement fof criminal and disgraced officials, whom he denounced as the curse of Central Africa. And it is on the authority of these black sheep, of these men branded with infamy, whose cruelty and rapacity were the main cause and origin of the great Soudan Rebellion, that Emin "the faithful" is held up to the obloquy of the world as a coward and a traitor! r'V„1 -i I "t- „• t: 4' : tab# 4* : A Moojrth Wedding. Up-stairs, in a little tiny room, some of the usual sweet hot tea was prepared for us by three radiant negresses, the bridegroom's mother and aunts. We went down again, and were intro­ duced in the other open room, filled likewise with squatting women, this time friends and relations, some old, some young, but mainly of that indefin­ able age, vacant, weary, worn out. At either end of the room was a bed in the alcove; the curtains of one of them were raised, and we were ad­ mitted to present our compliments and our silk kerchiefs to the bride. On the bed, as on a little stage, and surrounded by two or three other wo­ men, sat the little bride, a charming pretty young creature of twelve or thirteen. She sat--with her em­ broidered vest and muslins spread out, the hands folded, her face elaborately painted under the eves, above the eye­ brows, and with a large' black patch in the middle of a delicate rouged cheek-- absolutely motionless, scarcely raising her heavy black eyelashes, and faintly smiling on us. With lier ha'o of gause, her shimmer of gold embroidery, beads and borrowed jewels, she looked even more like a miraculous Madenna than Mme. Hasan, or like some wonderful enchanted princess in a pantomime. They ex­ plained that she was not vet completely dressed, as the woman who was to paint her up had only just come. Accord­ ingly we withdrew. The curtain walfwithdrawn from the bed, the womaiv-Reated on it drew little to the side*, and the bride was displayed in her glory. She sat there, her legs folded under her, her hands folded in her lap, her head a very little inclined, like the figures of Buddha. A perfect breast­ plate of jewels, strings on strings of beads, gold and pearls, glittered over her vest; a long, de'icate white veil was Bpread over'her back and shoulders; on her bead she wore a high tiara of shin­ ing embroidery, stones, and tinsel; and, strangest of all, upon her cheeks were painted two elaborate triangular pat­ terns of red, black, and yellow, like a piece of chintz. She was no longer the mere miracu­ lous Madonna, who, after all, had some­ thing human about her; and as wc turned away, through the twilight which filled the white court, and the chantiug and drumming aud cymbal clashing became fainter, I felt as if I had been admitted to see some mysteri­ ous half-living idol of India.--New Be- view. A Big Man. Mr. K. is a carriage builder and a big man in his line. Recently at his dinner table he remarked to the minister that it was queer that so advanced a nation as the Israelites knew so very little of the comforts of locomotion. "Well, you must recollect that they did not keep horses for a long, long time," answered the minister. "And is there no mention of anything in the way of carriages anywhere early, in the Bible?" insisted Mr. K. "Well," responded the minister, "while there is no special' mention of anything that way, wo have still the right to conjecture that BO- enlightened a people were not quite blind to the ad­ vantages which, thanks to you, we en­ joy so much nowadays:" "Just so," interrupted a Mr. M*Phun; "we have the right to conjecture. Fox instance, we can well imagiae when the spider saw he was going to be late for the ark that he took a fly." But that was the lost dinner party he was ever asked to at that mansion. Why He Couldn't Pay Mere* Proprietor of Second-hand Clothing Emporium--Seventy-five cents is all 1 can allow you for that suit, my friend. - Disgusted Citizen -- That sign ol yours says you "pay the highest price for cast-off clothing." You'd bettei take it down. Proprietor (aghast)--Take down thai sign! My friend, that sign cost me $50. MESSAGK rOK MAMMA IK JUEAYKM* "Isthis thstorgmph office?* ; s Aeked * childish voice oue '.Icy. "• • Aa I notiMd the click of my iuatniinoHji. -f With its message from far away; , • Aa it CMaed I turned; at my olbow , Stood the ni-rest scrap of a boy, * whose childish face was all aglow "V1*. " f With the light of a hidden j<»y. * \ The golden enria on his Shaded eyes of d epest blue,; ts Aa if a bit of inmmer sky # Had !ost in them its hue; " • They scanned my outfit rapid^f From ceiling down to flc or, Theu turned to me with eager _ As he asked the Question *1 "Is this the tAl'graph affltes?* r "It Is, my little man,* ' I said; "pray tell me what J mi WSlll. " And I'll Help you if I can." :: Then the blue eyes grew more eage-. > And the breath camo thick nnd fast, * A And I saw within the chubby hauds A folded paper grasped. "Norse told me," he said, "that the lightning Came down op the nirsi some day , And mv mamnjn has gone to Heaven, And I'm lonely since she is away; For my papa us very busy And hasn't tuuch lime'for ms. So I thought I'd -write her a letter. And I've brought it for you to MS "I've printed it big so theangela Could read out qnick the ns^ue. And carry it straight to iny mamma And tell hor how it came: And now won't you please t o take it, And throw it- up good and strong " Against the ^ires in a funder shower. " „ And the lightning will take it along.* Ah! what couid I tell the darling? For my eyes were dlliag fast; / I turned away to hide the ; xara. But I cheerfully spoke at inat:. •, "VJ "I'll do the bast 1 can. ray child," . . J Twas all that I could say; "Thank you," he said, aud then sosaasd the sky; "Do you think it will funder to-day , vi But the blue sky smiled in answer, 'V V'-"f And the sun shone dazzling bright, , And his face, as he slowly turned ,) Loft some ( f itj g adsome light; -- "But,, nurse," he said, "if 1 stay so lon£ . '• Won't let me come auv more; So pood-bye, 1 11 coma uad see you agalb ' Right after a funder shower." --XtaityhLtrs of A merica. A WESTERN STORY The Sad Fate that Befell Boys. Tw» Im BY W. 1. FKKrtCtt In the Spring of 1869 two young meu, named respectively Harry Graves and Joe Langly, left their parents' houses, some ten miles east of Council Blurts, Iowa, and went to Denver, Colorado, for the double purpose of seeing the West and making some money if an op­ portunity offered. From Denver they drifted out to a mining caiup, where, striking a good job, they decided to stay for a time at least. Here they met two men whom they had known back in Iowa. One of these men bore a very hard reputation in the country around his former home, and it was even said that he was n member of an organized gang which had committed a number of robberies. The other was *quite wealthy, and owned a large farm ad­ joining Graves* father's farm in Iowa, but as ho always had a iiard set of men working foi- him, his reputation was but little better than that of the men whom he harbored. But as we all are ever eager to meet and be friendly with any one we have known «ear our old home, so tlie boys were glad to meet the«e men on friendly terms and discuss inci­ dents fSfhi'.iar to a'.l. Several robberies had been committed in the camp just before the boys arrived, but in spite of all efforts no clew had been found to the guilty parties. The boys had quite a sum of money with them, and thoughtlessly made a remark to that effect before their Iowa ac­ quaintances. Jently and Burns. That oight Graves was aroused by a noise in the room where he slept, and saw a man in the act of searching his cloth­ ing. . Graves sprang from the bed and grappled with the intruder, and in the brief struggle which ensued the burg­ lar's mask being torn aside, he recog­ nized Burns; the nest second he was felled to the floor, tmconcious, by a blow from behind. It happened so quickly that Langly, awakened by the struggle, had nc time to offer assistance. Some time elapsed befoce Graves became conscious, and told Langly of his discovery of the identity, at least, of one of the robbers, and it was plainly evident to them that his pal was Jently. The following morning' the boys tnade known their adventure of the night before, and the fact that Graves had recognized Burns as one of ihe burglars. There was a vigilance committee in the camp, and they speedily got together.1 aud went on a hunt for the outlaws, but the bird* had flown. As Colorado was theu a Territory, and the judicial machinery in consequence rather loose, no attempt was made to trace the meu up. AH the robberies in samp ceased after their departure, it was plain that they were the guilty ?nes in the former robberies that had been committed. Late in the fall of the same year, the boys, wearying of Western life, decided to return home, and they gave it out in ?amp that they would leave the week before Thanksgiving. Here for a time we will leave them, and go to the home of Burns, in West- arn Iowa, for there he had returned af­ ter he had fled from Colorado. On this particular evening he was ex­ citedly pacing up and down & room in his house, holding a letter in his hand and talking rapidly to a man seated in the rdom who, on closer in­ spection, we recognize as Jently. "I tell VQU, Jently,; those boys mtist be cot rid of before they ever have a chance to get back here and blow on as. I don't it now how it happened that they haven't written home about it be­ fore this." "But they haven't and that's enough for us." "I'd have fixed Graves for good that oight if I'd hayesthought he knew me." ' "Miller says in uis letter that they i leave the week before Thauksgiving." "They'll be here pretty soon, then, and now what's going to be done?" "I don't know. Boss," replied Jently. "You do the planning in this case, as fou do in all others, and I'll carry them out; that's all I've got to say." "Let me see." said Burns half aloud, "they're intending to surprise the old folks, so there'll be nobody in town to meet them.". After a moment's pause he exclaimed: *By Georcre, Jently, I have it! You get three of our men to help you, and : go up to the Bluff's and stay till those j boys arrive. I've got some blank war­ rants here, and I'll fill otii out, you i have one of the bov* pass himself off as | the Sheriff of Mills County, and the i Other two as his deputies. When tttey have the boys safely in charge, you come on and tell me, *nd we'll meet them out aways on the road, and the rest you can guess." "All right, sir," said Jently, fill out your papers." THE pictures in a rogue's gallery are . . . not all steal engravings.-- Washington j The paper was quickly made out,and jSfair - F ̂ I u he handed it to Jently, Buns ssid: *Be sure and get those follows as quics as they leave the train, for if they one* with their friends they might make you trouble and perhaps beat you in t&rely." ^ "Never fear about that; and now rta off," replied Jently. As the boys, Graves and Laiigty stepped from the train in Council Bluffs, the night before Thanksgiving day; they found themselves confronted by three rough-looking men. One of the men laying a hand heavilj on Harry's shoulder gruffly said; you'n just the fellers we'ro lookin' for, yoc were pretty slick bnt we've got yov now, all snre enough.1* " What do you mean, sir," exclaimed Harry, roughly shaking the hand from his shoulder. "Just what I said," replied the other; Tm the Sheriff of Mills County and you and your partner here are wauted down there mighty bad for burglary. These here gentlemen is my deputies, so it's no use to make a row." "Certainly not," replied Langlje; you are the Sheriff, as you say you are ' you have got a warrant for us all righ enough. That's all we want to see." "Now you're talking sonse. young felier," said the pretended Sheriff as he produced the bogus warrant and proceeded to read it, After reading it he permitted the boys to examine it to their own satisfaction. "That seems all straight enough, Harry," remarked Joe, "but how tliej came to place such a charge against ue. I can't understand." "Neither can I, Joe, but I guess wi may as well give it up," said Harry Turning to the pretended Sheriff, hi said, "I suppose we may now con side t ourselves your prisoners, so just lead on wherever you are going with us as? we'll follow." « "All right," he replied, "but first Z-~ have to search you." In a moment he had relieved t' young men of their weapons, and fr- greater safety, he said, had snappe* handcuffs on their wrist*. Five minute later they were eeatM in a wagon, which was being driven rapidly out of town. About eight miles out from the city they were met and halted by a couple of men. who proved to be Jently and Burns. The former had stood back and watched the successful entrapping of the yonng men, after which he mounted his horse and hastened on ahead to inform Burns. They had then returned together and met the wagon in a thick piece of woods, a mile frarn any habitation. "Well, young men, I'm very glad to see you," said Burns. "You fellows, however, know too much for your own ;ood; for it will be the cause of your eath. The sooner you both make your peace with God the better 'twill^ be for your souls." Surely you don't mean to murder us!" exclaimed the boys. "That's a harsh word, young tpan, but you can call it that if you wish, for in five minutes yon will l>oth be swing­ ing from a limh of oue of those trees. That's certain," replied Burns. Cowards! murder us if you choose 1" cried Harry. "We are in your power, and resistance would be useless, but we can show you how to die in a manner men of your stamp never dreamed." "Those are brave words, young man," sneered Burns, "but they won't help you any. Climb that tree* there, Jim, and fasten these ropes to a limb, and the rest of you tie their hands and feet." Jim obeyed, and the others, after a sharp struggle with the boys, who fought manfully in spite of the hand­ cuffs, succeeded in binding them se­ curely. They were compelled to stand while the ropes were being adjusted about their necks. Then the wagon was driven from under them, and their bodies were left swinging in the air. Their murderers, after witnessing their death struggles, disappeared into the night. Thus was committed one of the most cruel murders ever recorded in the an­ nals of Western Iowa, and the mur­ derers were never found, although no effort was spared toward their appre­ hension. Our Neighbor's Affairs. Why discuss them at all ? It is such a temptation to add details and distort meanings in order to produce a piquant story, that even good people sometimes yield to it; so 'ware danger, and eschew gossip entirely. A word spoken out of season, even if the truth told badly at an improper time, may inflict an injury trhich it is not in the power of any one to repair. The motives of the indivi­ dual are quite a secondary matter; the gnnshot wound inflicted by the "man who didn't know his gun was loaded" are just as fatal as the murderer's shot. When a cruel wrong has been doue an innocent person, it only adds fuel to one's indignation to have the gossip re­ tailer expostulate with tears in her eyes that she meant no harm, she only told what she heard, she did not know it would do harm. The harm that has been wrought is the mattei that chiefly concerns "as in such case--not the mo­ tives. It is a good rule not only to re­ frain from all evil criticism of persons, but from listening to such criticism. It should systematically- be enforced on children that such conversation is be­ neath them and indicative of low breed­ ing. The writer remembers seeing a mite of eight years old draw herself up when such a conversation, which was distasteful to her, was taking place. "Mamma has always told me," she said, "never to gossip about my friends or to go with any one who did, and I don't want to hear anything •mean of people I don't know." And this should be the creed of every one. Walking-Stick Plantation. Members of the dude fraternity, to whom a walking-stick is so necessary that they take cold every time they go out without it, will appreciate the fol­ lowing commercial iteni from London Tid-Bits: Walking-sticks are, to a great extent, imported into England from abroad. The numbet received from other coun­ tries reaches nearly five millions an­ nually, with a combined value of about twenty-five thousand pour.ds. Commoner sticks, as thoae of beech, ash, thorn and hazel, are, to a great ex­ tent, grown in this country. In Glou­ cestershire, for instance, many acres are devoted to no other purpose than the raising of wood for the walking- stick market. A peculiar branch of this business is the importation of overgrown cabbage stalks irom the Channel Islands, where cabbages are regularly trained with a view to being transformed into walking- sticks by a process of stripping off each leaf as it appears, and fin*lly>tkying and hardening the stems. 4 THE FARM AND GARDEN. DSHORHTSO BY CHEMICALS. If the "chemical dehorn ers*'--now un­ dergoing experiment--proves successful, says the Breeder » Gazette, the problem is satisfactorily solved for those who desire to maintain polled stocks, so far as the "rising generations" are concerned; for they certainly offer obvious advantages over the use of gouge, knife or saw. HKNS SBTTIJFG TOO CLOSELY. The instinct of the hen to set, espe­ cially of the Asiatic breeds, needs some curbing, even for success in incubation. If the hen d:>es not get off at all to eat' for several days, the eggs become addled from too much warmth and exclusion^ from the air. Wetting the eggs is alsoi important, not to soften the shells, but to prevent the drying up of their lining; inside the shell, which while moist ad-i mits air enough through it to preserve! the life of the germ. Hens that set themselves out of doors usually hatch their entire setting. They are forced toi hustle for their food, are often wet by rains and dews, and this keeps the eggsi moist.--i Oultnatar. may be less, and ttte hatr is not as strong.! Hogs living on corn-meal, water, aad salt! did not seem to have their bones strength-* ened by feeding well-water instead of| rain-water. But hogs living on corn- meal, salt, and rain water had their bones doubled in strength by feeding bard- wood ashes, and still strengthened by feeding ground bone. The ash material in the bones of such hogs was doubled in amount, ground bone giving better re­ sults than wood ashes. The hogs also drank more water, consumed more food, and made much heavier gains than those not getting ground bone or ashes, but did not have more muscle or lean meat. Hence, Professor Henry's final conclusion that while the body of the hog, perfect or imperfect, is the result of inheritance, it can be greatly modified by the kind of -Amrrican Agriculturist. THB START FOR AMWHtA#® Every farmer's family uses potatoes.. The time, labor and fertility required for their production are not considered, for i potatoes must be had. But they are 1 more expensive to raise than asparagus, and their cultivation calls out more skill. The labor needed to grow half an acre of potatoes each year would in three years plant, transplant and establish for- fifty years a large bed of asparagus, which with a little care annually through' this half century, would load the home table ! and the nearest market (at handsome fig­ ures) with a delicious luxury. Asparagus 1 is most easily gathered and prepared, highly nutritious and healthful in its tendencies, and acceptable to nearly everybody. Procure or raise thrifty one- year-old plants, and set them at intervals of three feet in rows four feet apart, using the richest land of almost any kind, although loam is best. (Keep it always1 full of plant food, which can be put on I at any season, and never too abundantly). ; Open the drills deep enough to allow j several inches of soil above crowns of the plants when they are set. Keep the! ground clean and the third year cut every ' sprout as fast as ready. Stop cutting' when early peas York Trl-! bum, .V/:. :: Whatever may be said of the market east for scrub horses there is no doubt but that thepe is a demand, both at home and abroad, for heavy 'draught horses. There is mors than double--yes, more than treble--the common horses in use than there are good ones, and more than double bought and sold every day. Still, if we count the difference in the price of a pair of common horses and a good draught team we will find that the latter is in demand at a figure much above the difference in the cost of production. Outside of the original investment in ; good mares and a heavy stallion of high ; standing the cost of production is not so ; very much larger than the cost of the ! common scrub. Large homes, of course, j eat a little more than small ones, and re- j quire a little care, but they are generally ; kind, easily broken and don't know any- i thing but to pull, and with the ex;ep- j tion of the fleet roadster and the well ; mated carriage horse is the most saleable ' animal produced. Then the great beauty j of the draft horse is in the fact that, like j a beef steer, he almost sells by weight. | There is at least but little training neces- j sary to fit him for service, and where a ! man has but little idea of how to handle j or train a horse he can do but little bet-1 ter than to grow the heavy class.--New York Herald. A TBOUT, fourteen inches long, fell from » cloud into the yard ol Mr. Daniel at Tampa, Fla., a day or two ago* i| was still alive when picked up. PLANTING LARGE POTATOES. The system of planting large potatoes! whole should be condemned, says a writer in Indiana Farmer. Such superflu­ ous use is not at all reasonable, and that of selecting small potatoes for seed, either cut or planted whole, is the re­ verse of economy. Sometimes a good' yield is obtained from small potato seed when the vaiiety is vigorous and in line with favorable conditions. The eyes on a well-developed potato are large and capable of strong sprouts. The vigorous sprout of a cutting froq^ a potato has t< advantage from the beginning. It yiolu better and withstands variations of weather with greater uniformity than the small potato cutting witlf its numerous small sprouts. The s«(fe rule In prepar­ ing potato cuttings islsto select the best! samples within reachX in health, uni­ formity,<and size, and cut them in pieces' with an average of two eyes to a cutting.] While the seed of a potato that is in its, prime m yielding qualities may be saved and continued in the same locality for two or three years, it is best when prac-i ticable to obtain seed every second yearj from a point 100 or more miles north of you. The potato will not acclimate; it; loses vitality when kept stationary in onej locality; it is benefited by change and the movement should be Ssom nofth to SOUth. A ' . - -| - • * THE LATEST IN SWRKB-TEECTSD. For the past three years the Wiscon­ sin Station has been experimenting, tot the purpose of determining the effects, of various foods upon the carcass, bones and vicera of hogs. In all cases corn-1 meal has served as a ration for one lolj of pigs under study, because corn is andl must continue to be the staple hog-food at the West. Again cornmeal has beeni fed a ration containing part cornmeal^ but in addition sucb other ingredients as dried blood, peas, shorts or skimi milk--foods rich to protein, or lean-* meat producing. To avoid redundancy^ the phrase "corn ration" will be underf stood to mean corn, salt, ashes anq water; "mixed ration" will mean part( corn, and with the articles above men-- tioned containing considerable protein,* together with ashes, salt and water. Professor W. A. Henry says the following seem to be fair deductions from these investigations: For the market price or cost of pro­ duction. Indian corn is beyond all com­ parison the cheapest single food for hogs.. They will live a long time and make 4 fair gain upon an exclusive corn diet^ When kept upon such a ration, they grow; quite fat, but, when yet smalt, have the) form and appearance of mature hogs, be-j ing dwarfed in size. When kept in thd pen, they seem satisfied after eating, ly4 ing down in apparent comfort to awaiti the next meal. The carcass of corn-fea togs contains more fat and less water! twenty-five per cent less muscle, or leai} meat, and less blood than carcasses o| hogs given a mixed ration. The exolu^ sively corn-fed hogs also have smalleij livers and kidneys, the skeleton k light-! cr. ftnd^h ̂ bones not as strons; the hidei food £iven WBH AND OABDSM NOTES. Op&fi the mouths of all drains. Breed from no scrubs this year. What progress with the garden? Remember that fiat culture is best for dry soils aad ridgiqg for wet. j Remember that uitferent soils require jdifferent fertilizers, and want no others. { Will varieties of buckwheat cross and jmix? is one of the questions of the day. ' Brains as well as farms are capable of cultivation. Never lose sight of thin jfact. • Children lore to dig in the dirt. Why Should this love be destroyed by false education? I Give your teams a change of diet. You like it yourself, and so do they. It is snpetizing. « nen your soil needs potash only, what is the use of putting on other fertil­ izing ingredients? Push your work or your work will push you. The first is much pleasanter, besides being more profitable. Good roads would reduce the cost of hauling farm products to market at least bne-half for the whole country. Sprinkling salt on the top and at the bottom of garden walls is said to keep snails from climbing up or down. • Give the ewe clover hry, if you have $t, bran and crushed oats, and she will provide the lamb with plenty of milk. • Rust and rot work incessantly for the benefit of the manufacturers of farm tools. It is well to uot forget this fact. . Prepare your ground well before plant- ling, cultivate well, and, barring acci­ dent. the harvest will not disappoint you. ! Keep tfae stem of the tree smooth and jfree from rough bark and. suckers. Let •only that grow which is needed for future juse. ! Every man should try to furnish him­ self with all necessary tools and not rely too much on the good nature of his neighbors. In testing seeds the smaller seed that are perfect germinate first, but are after­ ward slower in development than the larger ones. If you are a farmer, do not be accusing the farm of producing the hard times. Look in other directions if you want to find the cause. '• When ornamental shrubs are out of (flower it is well to cut away the flower clusters and not allow the shrubs to ex-, haUBt themselves in ripening seed, save those with ornamental fruit. The same jmay be said of herbaceous perennials, though some of these seeds are often wanted. • If you set duck-eggs under hens set ithem on the ground. If frost is entirely out and the weather settled into spring, you can place a cage over the hen and arrange things so nothing will bother !her. Never under any circumstances iallow other hens to molest a sitter. It iwill cause trouble, and lots of it. SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL. A method of transmitting sketches by jtelegraph has been devised. ! Compound locomotives are to be the [railway engines ot the future. "l Los Angeles, Cal., has one sewer 5000 feet long that has not a single connec­ tion. In one place it is twenty-five feet funder ground. An .ungusn inventor oners a system Dy which coal gas compressed to one-eighth tits natural bulk can be carried about and 'utilized as an illuminant when desired. Instead of chewing slate-pencils and (drinking vinegar and lime-juice adipose jdoctors feed their patients raw fruit jwithout sugar or cream and obesity tea. i The doctors in the French fleet have jbeen forbidden to practice "hypnotism" ion their patients. A similar prohibition was issued some months sgo to the j French army doctors. | The appliance of hydraulic power to ithe manufacture of steel seamless boats is lone of the latest things in England. These boats are thought to be .in every (particular superior to those made of wood land can be made at about the same cost. The experiment of constructing a ;large building of paper has been success­ fully made at Hamburg, Germany, where Jain immense hotel, with its facade and {other important parts composed of that Imaterial, and claimed to be fire-proof, pas been erected. WISE WORDS. Live while yon can, die trim JOB must. A silent tongue is «a «nemj to the feast. Keep out of the frying pan and trust to the broiler. Merriment at meat means a long face for the doctor. A whiff of the kitchen is sometimes better than the taste. People who kill lions learn to shoot by practicing on other things. Before great victories can be enjoyed great battles mnst be fought. Educating the boy is the parent's en­ deavor to get him to choose right. To have a course marked out before­ hand, is to be prepared for difficulties. It is not so much what a man does as what he loves that dccides his destiny. An egg oa your own plate is better than a turkey oa somebody else's table. No amount of cultivation can change a worthless weed into a useful vegetable. What a blessed condition of life it is when even our troubles may he made a means of joy. If we were met not so imperfect our­ selves, we would have a better opinion of other people. Shadows have no claws;: they carry no swords, and fire no guns,.but they ;en many people to death. Pfionlfl who boast tl a: IRISH It takes so IHtltf * happy or fiils«ldira|̂ r trifles in their ̂ es. sure, they don't know' good but their Hkes mean so much to then their elders that it cruelty not to consider nothing unusual for ation to leave a permanent character. . Many a child has wounded by having to < tractive lunch to the panions. Not that the not have made it bet*l busy, and thought it di The other day the writnir ladv speak affection a lost mother in the-e wc "She was such a rA me up such dainty i to school * It makes my just to think of them "O mother, the other girhs| sun bo r. netsPlease let hat!" pleaded a little set The mother thought not to be encouraged, S shrinking child had to tare of dressing diffeM«il||^ mates, and bear with their laughter. A six-year oltf boy, who thought | self big enough for trou plaid suit with a skirt to it. laughed at him for wea clothes," aud when his mothejH ing; him for school next morning, <jaid: "Mamma, I don't want to wear girl's dress." The mother gently urged the mi but the spirit of resistance wap in the boy. "It is a girl's dr«iip| aint going to wear it!" he reit "Very well," saidl his length. "You may have your wear this suit or go to bed*agal|i|j t Freddy chose to return to ~ " noon he was still obstinat$1 given bread and water for h|)l and at supper-time be fared n61 He uttered no complaint, but active healthy boy, it was a alty for him to lie there all day. After supper one of Freddy's came in to inquire whit was the; The mother allowed him to see dnrata son. " Sick ?" asked the gwest. "No," was Freddy's sober reply. *b«t I've got to lie here just the same." *Wha' for?" asked tha other bey, xb astonishment. "'Cause I won't wear * girl's diM," answered the little fellow. *t dun I ever shall get up again. I don't to if--if I can't have some trousys," the voice ended in a sob.. The mother, who had been an 3a£H|i tional listener to this conversation, melted by Freddy's mingled grief i resignation, and before noon the a day he was made happy by hie: trousers. * " Perhaps it was the better way toyiilK a point which meant so much to 'C little fellow's pride rather than to|M^ miliate him into compliance. Not % child's every idle whim shoftllif gratified, but if an older person that some harmless wish is dear to I little one's heart, let him try to from the child's ]K>isit of view before ut­ tering a cold or contemptuous --Youth's Companion. Buying a Cheap Suit. Mr. Shortpurse--I Bee you are i tising cheap summer suits at five " dol­ lars up. • Dealer--Yes. air. Five- dollars Now, here is something I am surej will like, handsome, durable, and out, only $33. "But the five-dollar * "Yes, sir. Look at this aoit,#ir, m." "The five-dollar suits I would - * " Ah. yes. Want something cheaper. Here is an elegant suit lor think of that." "But the five-dol " - », "And here is one for $23," "But the five ** "Or, we can let you have $21." "But the " "Here's something cheap, only "See here I I want to see those five- dollar suite." "A gentleman like you aureiy wouldn't want to wear a five-dollar sail.'*' "If you have such a thing I'd like to see it." "I see I have made a mistake. Jim» show this feller them slop-shop rags.*--• New York Weekly. Depew on Superstition. "I am not superstitious," said Chan* cey M. Depew the other day. "I no not believe in witches, spirits, elves, vam­ pires, ghouls, or ghosts. Nor do I be­ lieve in au evil genius, the evil eye, a bottomless pit, or a devil with horns and a cloven foot. I would not pass a night in a church or graveyard with a corpse, because- that would be an un­ pleasant and unprofitable way to spend a night. I would wear nothing in tha nature of a talisman or mascot and never carried a lucky eoin. As to ait- ting down with thirteen at a table, tint is one thing I would not do. But I re­ spect the superstition, not because I ana superstitious, but because I do not want* to feel uncomfortable. A good dinner consists in something more than things to eat and drink. Its pleasure depends more on the subtler elements of good company, minds at ease and attuned to harmony with the spirit of the occasion. If your dinner is to be made uncomfort­ able by a mournful or unpleasant feature of this kind you might better stop at a restaurant and 6waliow a dozen oystet^ You could at least then have a pleasant .,w with the man behind the eounbsar ^thile he-opens your oysters. A Slight MisuiMlerstauding. She was a young lady of a decidedly rural aspect, an£ as ahe was wending her way through the largest dry good* Store of the town she came within range of the cleric of the glove depMfct inent, whosaidt "Are you looking for kids, miss?* She looked at him a moment in maftt surprise aud then answered slowly: *Your question is a little bit saasgv air, but I donl mind telling TMi ttsk I've- only beec married a week. Terrible Privation. *1 reelect very well," said the Tenn aMe man. "when the hiyrli water el dncah in '44 kept me a pris'ner tor th*«» days on the ridgepole of a bank.* "What did you live on, gr&ndtstlMr?* inquired one of the interested little ad* wtirecs. "All them three days, children," sasl the aeed Kentuckian, shuddering aM*# ihoollection, "I lived on water." IT depends upon the iuteeifc EIS lis® iver whether a gift possiaM^nMigv If a gives, with sat! decides what t« | * " shall receive* it i this fcr "•h