The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

HOMEMADE FERTILIZERS. Virginian's Common SenH Talk Mi m 8atgect of Practical Interest. V A fertile soil is one that contains in a |K>luble and available form all the needed • Elements of plant food. Of all these pot­ ash, phosphoric and sulphuric al:ds, sil­ ica* nitrogen and carbon are the soon- ; .fest exhausted by cultivation, and "there- ore the most necessary to be supplied . >y artificial means. If the farmer will ake good care to return adequate stjp- Jblies of these in his soils, nature will in Almost every caae furnish an abundance |>f the others. The art of maintaining a . «oil fertile lies in returning to it anually Enough at least of humus, potash and phosphoric acid to make up for the loss • i>f these elements occasioned by cultiva­ tion and cropping. The farmer can do much for his soils by several economic methods, and a Vir­ ginia correspondent of The American ~ Agriculturist tells what some of these lire. He says: Humus, or decaying and decayed organic matter, is most readily gsjjtnd cheaply supplied by growing upon . the soil and turning under such green crops as clover and field peas. Every farmer knows the value of these, but it Is not every one that utilizes them to the ' extent that he should. In place of the green crops, or as an adjunct thereto, let jpim also make liberal use of forest mold find litter. These should form the bulk if every compost heap and the bedding !or all his live stock. Of potash and phosphoric acid, the :%est and richest home source is wood joshes. Only apply a moderate dressing |§|>f ashes about once every 10 years, and ^ |uiy soil, other things being favorable, "Will remain fertile. 'Any farmer, if he JWill, can obtain by home means enough 'i/tmleaohed ashes to top dress at least one ifield annually, and so rotate around un­ til finally all are thus treated. Wher­ ever there are logs and dead timber and \ sods and rubbish generally upon a farm, there are the materials for the ash Jupply. It is a fact not as well known it should be that burned and smoke lpregnated soil, turf, peat, clay or f uck is gt itself a valuable and lasting rtilizer. _ During the leisure spells, when the \Woods are not so dry as to render the Tfscape of fire probable, the farmer should $e burning the waste material of the farm in order to increase the stock of r + Ashes. After the logtf and large timber ikre well on fire let him throw on what- » ever turf, sods or leaves may be conven- • Anient to the pile, making the fires with fhat end in view. Of course this burned llirt substitute for ashes is not as good a ; fertilizer as pure ashes, but mixed with wishes it is a good and lasting manure, tad it increases the bulk of ashes, en­ abling the farmer to get enough an­ nually to top dress at least one field. Phis form of ashes makes a capital top Iressing for clove*, grass, small fruits, yfrineyards, orchards and fields of On any soil needing potash. The Best Food For Poultry. Opinions differ greatly as regards what Is the best food for poultry. Some peo­ ple swear by soft foods of various kinds, k Whereas others patronize a grain diet Alone. All sorts of mealy doughs, how­ ever, are a wholesome food for poultry and result in producing more eggs than leeding a whole grain diet pure and sim- ! j|le, says The Feathered World, which also avers that the ideal diet for poultry ibouid be neither too much soft hOi too fnuch hard, but just the happy medium. Several people feed soft foods alone in every possible form--with and without pepper, with and without pot liquor, with and without grease. Experiments made with such feeding suddenly and gradually in all weathers proved unfa­ vorable in every instance. Several good birds died of diarrhea induced by such feed, while the others suffered greatly from sicknesses of various kinds. A change of diet is essential to good " condition--charcoal, burned bones, sand, little salt, while onions, cabbage, po­ tatoes, beans, etc., are all good for health, and hence lead to egg produc­ tion. All kinds of poultry are also very fond of milk, and it appears to make no difference to them if it is sour, thick or s Clabbered. The waste from cheeserooms ttr buttermilk from the churn is excel­ lent food, especially if mixed with an fflccasional meal feed. * To make hens lay well the authority #ited says: Put two or more quarts of • Water and one large seed pepper into a kettle and boil; now stir in coarse In­ dian meal till thick; cook this one hour |md feed hot. Horse radish may be chopped fine and stirred in, with the re­ sult that you will get eggs daily, instead of none perhaps before feeding. Many people complain that their hens won't lay; to such we recommend cooked feeds, fed hot, especially good egg bringers be­ ing boiled apple skins seasoned with red pepper, or boiled potatoes spiced with horse radish. Corn or wheat fed aloue tend to lay on fat and keep egg baskets empty. A spoonful of sulphur stirred ill with cooked foods is a good thing for bens; it frees them from vermin and gives tone to the system. V;/:* ' Getting Rid of Rats. An Ohio farmer, writing to The Amer- v'-wan Agriculturist, says: On the barn floor I placed a 36 gallon kettle filled half „ fall of rye. A plank 6 feet long led from the floor to the top of the kettle. Tho rye was left in the kettle for about a fortnight, until the rats had become thoroughly familiar with the kettle and were making it the headquarters for their nightly revels with seeming confi­ dence that no harm was intended, when, Very treacherously, one evening water Was substituted for the grain, and a half Inch of chaff from the barn floor con­ cealed the water. The result was that 21 drowned rats were forked out the first morning and 03 within a week, and aft- m that no rata were seen for a year. 8MUT IN CORN. •£ All the Investigators Ban Discovered on This Subject. Corn smut has been shown to differ inaome important particulars from other smuts, as those of wheat and oats. In the smut of oats and the stinking smut of wheat the smut germs adhere to tho seed grains and are sown with them. Both germinate at about the same time, and the smut enters the young plant and lives in it, but makes no external appearance until the flowering time of the host plant, when those plants that are affected show the smut in the heads. The fungus germinates and matures its seed simultaneously with the host plant. Therefore any treatment, of the seed which will destroy the Adhering smut j.spo*es without injuring the seed of the * Train will be effectual in preventing the iknut. This the Jensen treatment with hot water does. ^ But experiment has shown that this an* similar trep&nents of seed corn are nor effectual ijh preventing corn smut. Why notj^yjjte investigations and ex- perimeCB®P^ Dr. Brefeld have shown that the ^orn plant may be infected in any of the| young and growing tissues at any time previous to maturity, and that the smut excrescences or tumors may and do appear in the parts infected in 14 to 21 daysi after the time of infection. This resultf is supported by the fact that the corn smut may and does appear on any part of the plant--stem, sheaths, leaves, ears or tassels. Moreover, ex­ periments tried at some of the experi­ ment stations sustain Dr. Brefeld's con­ clusions. Professor 'Peck, the botanist of New York, commenting on the foregoing in The Country Gentleman, advises going through the fields and destroying the smut as fast as it appears by cutting off and burning every visible smut tumor, and burning it before it has shed any spores. He also suggests spraying with a suitable fungicide. Following is a summary of the subject of smut in corn from the Nebraska station: Corn smut is widely distributed, ant* the injury resulting from its attacks varies from a fraction of 1 per cent to more than half of the crop. The Mack powder of the smut consists of the spores, which are simple seedlike reproductive bodies. Thepe reproduce smut much as seeds reproduce ordinary plants. Smut spores may grow in manure and liquids in the barnyard for an indefinite period. The smut enters the corn when it is very young, penetrating the soft tissues of the lowest joint and the root of the small plant. Smut does not pass from plant to plant in the cornfield. Outward applications to the affected corn plant will do no good, for the fun­ gus is inside, and no application will reach it. Great care should be taken to keep the ground from becoming filled with spores. By a rotation of crops the increase of smut may be prevented. Do­ mestic animals should not be allowed to eat the smut in the field, for they will distribute the spores in their droppings. Care should be taken not to contaminate yard manure with the spores. Infected stalks should be removed from the field before the smut balls open and then care­ fully destroyed. Plant none but seed which is perfectly free from smut spores Experimenters differ in opinions as to its harmfulness when eaten by cattle, bntit is certain that it is not an active poison. Ventilated Corncriba. Ear corn should not be stored in a tight corn bam or building of any kind where the air cannot circulate freely. If put away in such places before it is thoroughly dry, which will take a good many weeks, it is very liable to become damaged, especially if the winter should be mild and damp. Corn is never kept in better condition than when stored in the old fashioned out of door cribs, with roofs that will barely keep off the rain and with sides so open that the ears may be seen through the slats. Another ad­ vantage in storing corn in isolated cribs that is worthy of consideration consists of the fact that, although of the cheap­ est and roughest construction, they are easily made rat and mice proof by set­ ting them 18 inches from the ground on short posts, with a circle of tin around them just below the bottom of the crib and of sufficient diameter to keep the rodent from crawling over it. r* -4 Radiahe* Tested. In the last annual report of the experi­ ment station of the University of Ten­ nessee is given a summary of tests made of 27 varieties of radishes. The seed was sown April 15, and nine varieties were of marketable size by the 15th of May. Wood's Early Frame, a favorite variety with market gardeners, gave roots large enough for market on May 12. Round White Forcing and a number of others were about two days later. All of the following varieties are very early and good for forcing purposes: Wood's Early Frame, Bound White Forcing, Round Red Forcing, Cardinal Globe, White Box, Salzer's Twenty Day Forcing and' Early French Breakfast. On the Country Road. To save peas or beans from the weevil, put them in a box or can and drop a lump of camphor gum among them. Remember that crimson clover is an annual--that is, it will not grow the second season any more than cabbage or corn will, explains The Rural New Yorker. At the Vermont station it has been de­ cided that apple and pear scab are much the same, being covered by fungous growths that can be largely prevented by spraying the trees with various cop­ per solutions. If meat is put away in proper condi­ tion, it will keep sweet; otherwise it will decay, and it would make many a farmer feel poor to%have his pork spoil. Meat most frequently spoils because it is put away before it is thoroughly cooled. Eternal vigilance is the motto where moles are a pest. Set good traps every morning and every afternoon wherever there is a run. If these traps are prop­ erly set, no mole can pass them and es­ cape. £^4? J IT WAS A LUCKY SH01 how FL0UR18 MANUFACTURE°- IT SAVED A rtOCKY MOUNTAIN WIN­ TER'S LIFE FIVE TIMES. B« Took Good Aim, and Whan Qniet Wat Once More Restored He Counted Up F1t< Dead Bodies--No Wonder Bo Is Called i Famous Story Teller. A group of men were sitting the hotel porch "swapping" yarns. "Some people do not believe in luck*; well, I do, and I'll tell you why," said the travelei as he paused and deliberately put hit right leg across the knee of his left and glanced pensively down the street. The group pricked up their ears, for the traveler was a famous Btory teller, and all rightly judged that his remark wae but the prelude to the recital of oneo! his adventures. "When I was some 15 years youngei than I am now," continued the traveler, "I was exceedingly fond of hunting. One fall my love of this sport led me tc take a hunting trip in the Rocky moun­ tains. I was ambitions and wanted tc add a grizzly bear rkin and a few elk heads to my colIec$Su of trophies, and incidentally, if it might be, to let day­ light through an Indian or two. "Well, for two weeks I hunted with­ out getting sight of Wiir or track of elk, bear or Indian, and the thing was be­ ginning to get monotonous, when one afternoon" found me traversing the bot­ tom of a deep canyon. I was alone, my guide having remained in camp on ac­ count of a sprained ankle. The bed ot the canyon was rent with deep fissures and covered with great rocks, and its sides Were seamed and cracked. A few stunted shrubs and trees, of the kind the elk is fond of feeding upon, grew along the sides and bottom of the canyon, and I hoped to find some of the animals here cropping the tender twigs. At last, just as I rounded a high point of rocks, 1 caught sight of an elk, a noble fellow, standing some 10 rods up the canyon with his face toward me. He was nos­ ing the air suspiciously, and I feared that I would not get a shot at him unless I was quick about it. Accordingly I threw my rifle to my Bhoulder, and tak­ ing hasty aim ut the broad, flat forehead fired. "I was totally unprepared for the startling effect of that shot. Almost at the instant my finger pressed the trigger there came a puff of white smoke from behind a rock some 20 rods up on the opposite side of the canyon, and I saw an Indian leap to his feet only to fall back dead, while at the same moment a pierc­ ing scream, seemingly coming from di­ rectly over my head, caused me to look quickly up. In the midair, with great paws outstretched and long, sharp nails extended, I beheld a mountain lion ap­ parently about to drop on my head. I bounded to one side. As I did so my blood almost froze with horror, for 1 had jumped directly over a rattlesnake, which now lay not two feet from me, with his head reared ready to strike. . "Before I could make a movement to defend myself from this new danger down upon the snake fell the body of the lion, crushing out its life. The lion rolled over once or twice and then, to my surprise, lay still. I had not had time to recover from the terror and as­ tonishment caused by these startling in­ cidents when my ears were greeted with a terrific bellowing, and looking up the canyon I saw the elk charging down upon me. I whirled about, intending to seek safety in flight, when, to my utter confusion, not a dozen feet away and di­ rectly in the path I must pursue if I con­ tinued my flight a monster grizzly bear reared himself up oh his hind legs and with wide open mouth rushed for me. I was in an awful situation. I could see no possible way of escaping. On the right hand was the perpendicular wall of the canyon and on the left a deep chasm. Before was the grizzly bear and behind the rushing elk. Death faced me whatever way I turned. I trust I may never feel the horror of that moment again. Thegrizzly bear sprang forward to seize and crush out my life with his strong arms, and the elk gave a mighty bound, his huge horns lowered ready to transfix my body. "At that moment my heart seemed to sinjc into my boots, and I fell flat upon the ground. With a crash like that of the collision of two locomotives, the ani­ mals met over my prostrate form. The terrific momentum of the elk bore him­ self and the bear over my body. For about five seconds there was a tremen­ dous struggle; then both beasts fell, locked together, to the ground, and in a moment more had expired. One of the sharp prongs of the horns of the elk had pierced the heart of the grizzly, and the elk's neck had been broken by the bear in his death struggle. I bounded to my feet, not knowing whether to run or stand still, so sudden, so terrible and so many had been tho dangers which had threatened me. But everything was quiet, and all my foes were dead. ? "On investigation I found that my rifle ball had struck the elk at the base of the hotns, where the bone is thick and hard, and after partially stunning him had glanced diagonally across the canyon and pierced the brain of the In­ dian, who, concealed behind a rock, was about to lire upon me. The shock of the ball had been sufficient to deflect the aim of the Indian enough to cause him to miss me and to pierce the heart of the mountain lion just at the moment he sprang upon me from a cleft in the rocks above my head. The lion landed upon the rattlesnake and crushed the life out of him before he had had*time to strike, and-the elk and the bear in their eager­ ness to kill me had destroyed each other. "I call that a lucky shot, at least for me, because it saved my life five times and was the death of an Indian, a grizzly bear, an elk, a rattlesnake and a moun­ tain lion." And the traveler deliberately removed the right leg from the knee of the left and glanced upward with the look of a man who is confident that he is a favor­ ite of Providence,--Chicago Tribune. 1 Tile Various Processes Wheat Passes In the HUL The noises on the inside of the mill are deafening. One who has never been in a flouring mill of the largest size can­ not realize what a peculiar lot of noises •are mfide by the machinery. As soon as the wheat enters the from the long spout which brings it down from the upper floor it falls between two rollers of iron--"chilled" iron they call it, and very hard iron it is too. One of these rollers revolves rapidly, the other more slowly, in order that the separa­ tion of the coat, or bran, from the ker­ nel may be more easily accomplished. The wheat first passes between rollers separated just enough to allow the coat to be crushed. It is then carried away to the top of the mill again, to a room where the sun vainly tries to shine in through the flour coated windows far above the city's roofs. It next passes over a wire sieve which separates the bran from the kernel proper. w This bran, which contains much of the^ flour material, again passes down and is ground once more, this process being re­ peated four times, making five grind- ings, each one finer than the one preced­ ing it. Each time the fibrous or bran portions are more completely separated, and at last the bran-Comes out a clear, brownish husk with every particle of flour removed. The inside part of the kernel has mean­ while been going through an interesting process. After the first grinding or breaking it passes to a big six sided re­ volving reel covered with a fine wire netting or sieve. Through this reel the finer portions of the kernels pass, com­ ing out in what are called "middlings,' a granulated mass which goes back to the rollers for another crushing. This process is repeated through five reels, aH but the first being of silk. The last one has 120 threads to the lineal inch. The flour which comes out of the fifth reel, while white in hue, is yet not of the fin­ est or "patent" grade, but is classed as "baker's" or second grade flour. The middlings above referred to are purified by an interesting process. They are passed over a fine wire sieve, through the upper part of which a strong cur­ rent of air is passed. This holds in sus­ pense the tiny portions of fibrous matter which may have been in the flour, and at last, after this process of middlings purifying has been very carefully car­ ried out, the flour appears a spotless, snowy white--the "patent" flour, as it is called. In the process of grinding in this gradual and repeated way, the germ of the wheat, a tiny particle about the size of a mustard seed, is separated from the white flour. It is what one might call the life part of the wheat. If it were ground up, it would not leave the patent flour so white and powdery, so it is sep­ arated in one of the sievings and passes into the darker or lower grade flour. It contains, however, the best and most nutritious part of the wheat. The last thing that happens to the pul­ verized kernel before it is ready for market is the filling of barrels or sacks. Down many stories through a smooth tube comes the white or "patent" flour. Under the tube is the barrel or the sack, as the case may be, and, as it begins to fill, a steel augur just the size of the bar­ rel bores down into the flour, packing it carefully and solidly beneath the broad blades.--St. Nicholas. Your next weeks washing His First Experience. John Smith was a clerk who had to work the telephone which had been new­ ly fitted at his office. He will never for­ get his first experience with the instru­ ment. On hearing the clatter of the bell he took down the receiver and heard his employer's voice asking for informa­ tion concerning business. John was un­ der the impression that as his employer was two miles away he ought to put his hand to his mouth like an ancient mar­ iner on the stage, who is paid sixpence a night to do "Ship, ahoy!" business. He accordingly thundered his answer into the transmitter. The answer came, "I don't understand you at all." Smith essayed again and again, bat with no better result. A happy thought struck him when he had recovered his wind after the tenth blast, and he softly whispered to himself, "I wonder if the Old idiot is deaf." His hair rose slowly on end as he heard the sound of his gov­ ernor's voice coming softly from the re­ ceiver, "No, John, the old idiot is not deaf, and you can take a fortnight's no­ tice." John now declares that telephones are frauds--Pittsburg Dispatch. Kler Hardie. Kier Hardie, the labor unionist mem­ ber of parliament, is no fool despite his sartorial eccentricities and his dia­ tribes against constituted society. His enemies tried to deposit him in a cavity not long ago by procuring a firm, of clothiers to offer him a suit of clothes free, calculating to expose the trans­ action to Mr. Hardie's confusion. That gentleman, however, knew his men, and in reply expressed his willingness to ac­ cept the clothes if the firm would agree to pay its employees the union rate of wages in the future. That closed the in­ cident.--London Letter. 1 ' Mi ,*< •'§ : Will look whiter, wiII ba cleaner andL will ^ ^ tto cUik wltf| fcss laber If ' SANTA CLAIIS SOAP w I# used. The clothes will smell sweefccjrmfUt ; ji" w i l l l a s t l o n g e r . S A N T A C L A U S S O A P i t X . J ] i* cleans but does not injure t-he* fabric* It does qot rou$h*n or chap the* 4|tn<U. . '; ] . - -Vs'!* ~ ^ (Vv ^ " - Do you need a he ttag or cook atove? If to, noW ft tlMi buy. We have a large stock of the celebrated ACORN & GARLAND STOVES, As well as other makes. Our stoves give universal satisfaction and are worthy ot inspection. ^ K - ^ The Largest I h*»« on hind Anti-Ru»tioK Tia*4t*, T»U« Oatlary, everything tound in a hardware store / , i First class new work and Repairs in Tin, Copper and Sheet-Iron* Your trade is ref-pectlully solicited. JACOB BONSLETT, McHenryf The Bascom Folder -i'f 'r--J1. v' 3 ^ h The above is a out of our sew Folding Machine* which caiH now be seen at work in the Plaindealer Office. Our patrons, and those needing such • machine are invited call and see ir at work. It is simple, easily handled, and takeft such little power4hat you cannot notice it. The machine was put in by the Bascom Folder f?o., of Sidney, O., who have been build- ing and selling them for the past eight years, and every machine i$ fully warranted for five}ears. If you need such a machine please write the abeve company for prices, discounts and terms, as they sell the machine on the most favorable terms. Or write their Agents Chicago Newspaper Union, Chicago; J. F. Garret, Syracuse, N, Y.; Mather Manfg. Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Marder Luse & Co., Chicago; Benton, Waldo & Co,. Milwaukee; Wright, Barret A Stillwell i St. Paul; Geoctkin & Son, Toronto. Canada, Corduroy Portieres. Corduroy promises to be a great fa­ vorite, both for hangings and for the coverings of divans and chairs. In some of.its newest formsnt is strikingly hand­ some, showing figures of a lighter tone upon a ground of the same color, and in even the familiar plain it is both good and desirable. For portieres it is espe­ cially to be commended, as it takes rich, deep folds and gives just that sense of warmth and freedom- from draft that i& to be desired. Too Maeh of a Bow. Sir William Fraser tells a good story of Brigham Young and "The Lady of Lyons.*' Young took his wives to see a performance of Lytton's play at Salt Lake City. • When the agony was piled up, he rose, and, followed by his spouses, left the theater, exclaiming, "I won't stand such an inferpal row being made shout one womanr*--Ar&ronaut. JUIilA A. STORY, DEALER IN I Medicines ONE DOOR WEST OF RIVERSIDE HOUSE, UoHeuj.lll, A FULL LINK OF ;Drujs, (Meals, fye Stni, Paints, Oils ftCoIors Constantly on hand. Also a large line of Patent Medicines. Toilet J^tJcles. AND A COMPLETE STOCK OF STATIONERY AND DRUGGISTS' SUNDRIES ,-'f --•---- JP hysicianm Prescrtptioiis Carefully and accuratey compounded by a Registered Pharma­ cist-„ Tour patronage is respectfully Solicited, , JULIA A,