Ti ARMORED TRAIN IN WAR Hee $2 caees HAS BEEN MECH IMPROVED SINCE BOER WAR. And It Has Gans Which Fire High- Explosive Shrapnel Shells. The armored train is stated to have been and it played a prominent part, in the Boer War, where it proved big ly serviceable in spirited attacks upon reving parties of the enemy, and also in patrol duties. But in reality it was a somewhat crude weapon. An engine was combined with a flat deck trick to form a single unit, the whole of which was enclosed in a steel plate envelope. In general appearance the train re- sembled' a steel box. the walls' of which were continued upwards to a sufficient height to protect the marksmen when standing upright upon the deck of the truck, The whole of the engine. was encased so as to secure complete protection of the vital parts, only the top of the funnel being visible. The walls of the train were loop- holed tu facilitate rifle fire. while, Jn sume instances, provision was inade alse» for the mounting and manipulation of machine guns. These novel weapons of war created considerable astonishment and pro- duced decided discomfiture upon their first "appearance among the* unsophisticated Boers. Locomotive in Centre. But the armored train of to-day is a far more formidable and useful military weapon. In one or two in- stances, what might be described as armored railway motor cars, simi- lar to those which was utilized in the South-African War, have been brought into service, but their value is relatively negligible when rang against a foe, which depends vitally upon its artillery. It is an armored train in the full- est interpretation of the term, since it comprises a number of vehicles coupled together, with the locomo- tive placed in the centre. This cen- tral disposition of the locomotive is and en- hances the formidable character of the train. An 'equal number of vehicles being attached to either end of the propelling vehicle and a simi- Jar armament being carried in each section, the train has complete com- mand of the country on all sides of the railway. This train, however, is not impro- vised from existing stock, but is of special construction. The vehicles wre of the two four-wheel truck type with substantial steel girder framing. The walls are of heavy steel plate carried from floor of the truck to the roof. In some instances the wails are vertical. but in other cases they have an inward slope. In the former instance the vehicle is roof less, but in the latter case a roof is provided, thus securing protection against shrapnel fire. The forces accommodated in the open armored truck, however, are extended, a measure of protection, since on either side of the vehicle a semi- roof is fitted, supported by vertical stcel posts rising from the floor of the truck. This "protection is close- ly similar to that adopted in the trenches, and, to a certain degree, performs the self-same purpose, be- 'ause the marksmen are protected hom shell fire while at the loop- holes with which the walls are dotted A Central Gangway of the so that the members of the crew have free movement and are able to concentrate their efforts at any desired point. Some idea of! ; the rouminess of the vehicles may | be gathered from the fact that meals may be cooked and enjoyed aboard with every comfort. The eutstanding feature of the armored trains, however, is the artillery equipment. Light guns, throwing high-explosive shrapnel shells, are placed at intervals. The guns are centrally mounted and provided with steel shields for the benefit of the gun crew. The walls of the truck on either side of the guns are fitted with doors so as to facilitate the transference of ammunition. The guns are so disposed as to be trained through a fairly high eleva- tion, and may also be swung through a complete circle so ke to fired upon either side of the ine. The installation of guns of such calibre upon an armored train is somewhat unusual, but it enhances the fighting value 'of the train to a very pronounced degree, as experi- enée has shown. ne might won- der how a train could possibly with- stand the recoil arising from the discharge of a weapon, but owing to the solid and heavy construction of the truck, and the fact that the centre of gravity.is placed some what low, the whole 'battery of guns may be fired simultaneously over one side without imperilling the stability or the safety of the train in the slightest degree. Tn fact, when a broadside is discharg- ed, the only perceptible effect of the recoil is a slight 'kick' side- ways-on the part of the train, and the flying soy of the doors on the depressed si cxiends from end to end train. the idea of Lerd Fisher, Th nie armored 4 train ele e to be} regarded as tind fo re and | difficult fantor with which to reckon in warfa ARES ie ot IS LIFE GROWENG LONGER? Svientists Say WH Has Increased. times having lived to a great age, cand we have been led to believe that. by to live longer than we do now: ere are early historical records of years. scientific knowledge of past condi- tions the more reason there appears to» doubt the literal truth of these statements. We must take into cofsideration that these stories of long ages come down to us from a time when man had no such accurate understand- ing of the actual passage of periods as we have tea-day. did not have our calendar as a ba- sis for reckoning. Men who have made a study of the subject tell us that the people | who are said to have lived to such | great ages in the past probably did not live as long as we know is pos- sible to-day, as the period then re- corded as a year was probably much | shorter. us reason to believe that the aver- age duration of life has steadily in- creased. More attention is given! new to the care of our bodies. We have improved living conditions, made them more sanitary and have } learned to fight, check and eradi cate diseases which formerly were regarded as necessarily fatal. Records show that people longer to-day than only a few ve ago, and it is concluded that average length of life is greater now than at any time in the world's his- tory. Ce HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF WAR. The German Soldiers Are "Fed Up" With It. Some remarkable instances have come to light of German soldiers who are getting sick of the war. A lance- -corporal in the Gordon High- landers in a letter to his parents tells of the interchange of opinions men of his regiment had on Uhrist- mas Day with German soldier- in the trenches. The Germans, he writes, are "fed up" with the war, and will not fire unless the British soldiers do. They admit that they pass been bluffed by the Kaiser, and y. they were told... mans. had Cree 160 guns from the Russians, but knew now that it was all lies. One fellow, who was a teacher in England, when asked what he thought of the war, said, 'The war is finished here. We do not want to shoot." An even more remarkable incident is vouched for by a British officer. He says that one day a German who had been slightly wounded in an attack on the British was pulled into one of our trenches. He at once. said, "Give me a rifle. I have lived 27 years out 30 in England, and it is time some of those swine over there were wounded."' He fired at the Germans all day, and was taken to the rear a prisoner in the evening. WHEN YOU CAN'T SLEEP. Watching Breathing Will Soon Lull You to Slumber. If you are troubled with insomnia let your breathing mesmerize you. The objection to repeating the al- phabet over and over, or counting up to thousands, or counting im- aginary sheep jumping over a stile, is that you must keep your mind awake to keep on doing them. As soon as the mind drowses the pro- cess is apt to stop, and this stop- ping is apt to jerk the would-be sleeper back from the very edge of sleep. That is why these plans so often fail. But watching the breathing needs no mental effort. It goes on whe- ther you think of it or not, and the soothing regularity of it is apt to lull the mind speedily to slumber. It will fill the mind, too, and pre- vent all other thoughts from enter- ing, grins ¢ the louder as sleep comes nearer The plan is not to think of the breath as coming from the rising and falling of your chest, for this makes you think of chests, then of colds, and so on, till your mind is distracted with scattered thoughts again. The oorrect way is to keep your eyes, in imagination, looking at the breath as it comes from the nostrils. On the Road? "Has he reformed?" "Not exactly. He is just flirting with conscience.' First Countryman--We're doin' fine at the war, Jarge. Second Countryman--yYes, Jahn; and ao be they Frenehies. First Oountryman --Ay, and so be they Belgians and Bnonne. Seoond Countryman -- an' so be the Allies. Ido be oncerhith wheré they oome from, Jahn, but they be devils for fight- Although scnied to the rails, Steadily:) We often hear of people of former r it Was a common thing in days gone} gu 'of individuals who lived hundreds { The more we advance in thi Scientific investigation has given | q sm DAVID: RPATTY. Here ae Big Vietory Vietery Over *s First Line Ships. gar as episodes: in Ds a t wounded in tempt. With only one ally to -him he silenced the millionaire 'objections and married that ally.} 'But then he i» a ver man. He is such @ jolly one, that it-is impossible to help li him. Even those over whose hes he \has passed swear by him bean him no grudge. It seems only} ¥ natyral that he; should: command-- 1e is so strong, so fearless, so Yre- sourceful. So says a writer in the} 54 London Tatler. Many good things as well as} ,; horses gome out of Lreland, and ved Beatty was one of them. He s the sun of a soldier, Captain D. eatiy, of Borodale, County iW exford, and was born forty-three lyears ago. When thirteen he en- tered the navy, and as midshipman / put in some time on beard the royal lyacht, the Victoria and Albert, whose first lieutenant at the time ;was the Hon. (now Sir) Stanley pe 'olville. The two men were des- tined to meet again. | While serving in the Mediterran- | ean in 1896, Beatty was landed with 'the naval brigade as second in com- |mand under Colville, and did ex- cellent work in getting the gun- 'boats over the cataracts. Every} one said that he was so handy and quick. Indeed, it-was just about this time he got known as a fast man (not about town), and he hag been getting faster ever since. At Hafir, Colville was wounded and Beatty took command, and the men who served with him that day say that the way he silenced first enemy's gunboats and then disabled their guns in the forts at Dongola was '"'a fair treat." At any rate he got a D.8.0. for his trouble. Jumped Over 395 Heads. Two years later he was at Atbara and Khartoum, when he was men- tioned in despatches, got a medal as well as the 4th Class Medjidie, was made a commander, and did a record in the way of jumping, i.e, over 305 men's heads. He was only twenty-seven. It was about then that the navy began to discover that they really had at hold of an infant prodigy and that he' was get ting fairly into his stride, for in 1900 je a most d fleur he made a most dashing ; Rear-Admiral Sir David Beatty. tempt to silence two Chinese guns at Tientsin during the Boxer Re- bellion. Even though twice wound- ed he still gallantly advanced with the 200 bluejackets in the storming party attempting an impossible task. He proved, however, that he pos- sessed just that quality which used to make Marshal Soult so angry. "These English," Soult used to say, 'know nothing about war, they ne- ver know when they are beaten.' For this exploit David Beatty was made a captain--a captai n at twenty-nine. Great Nelson's ghost, something was wrong! Grey-hair men shook their heads and feared that the service was going to the devil. But Beatty, quite unabas by their prophecies, proceeded the next year to make another conquest and married Ethel, the only daugh- ter of Marshall Field, the American multi-millionaire. Rumor had two remarks io-make concerning the marriage, the one that every even- ing, after dinner Admiral Beatty drank to his wife's beautiful eyes nd this jot merely as.an-excuse to hare an extra . The r that Mrs. Beatty would not al husband to take a title. now that he has been O. B., his wife becomes Lady Beat. ty, doubtless very much against her | & will. How Americans are maligned. He has a splendid town house, a fine shooting and fishing at Inver- cauld, where he has entertained royalty, and a beautiful place in the ehires. Was their ever a lucky. man ? a stop. bad luck he has Some years ago thieves broke into his_residence, Brooksby Hall, Melton Mowbray, ower' r, .|trifles already mentioned 'ling ae oueand: of pounds' bodes of jew- bin co in motion fide style, } ih shaded | ; * and they got off safe with the None of the. was ever Fecovered shve Beattys' medals a corations, which in their haste y dropped in the grounds. Rear-Admiral ai 39. nigel Sigarnd years of age he @ rear- iral, and as be- an infant prodigy, was by far » youn admiralin the service. m was a year older be- in the race for promotion. Stil! bhe Gtaensiet had much to complain of rtune, for in addition to the he was -- an A.D.C. to the King, one of hose shipmates he formerly was, and on Mr.» Churchill coming into office he could not resist a man of suoh dash and courage as Beatty. and made him Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiraty. "He is un- doubtedly a man of ability, but don't you think the is rather too in- clined to run risks * * said +a. col- league to Winston. "There is only one thing he would rather run and that is a horse,' replied Churchill. And Beatty is fond of horses; was there ever an Irishman who was not? Because it runs in the family, his brother, Major Charles Beatty, is one of the most successful train- ers at Newmarket. History-Making Days, History has filled pages rapidiy of late. In 1913 Admira! Beatty hoist- ed his flag on the battle-cruiser Lion as rear-admiral of the battle cruiser squadron. In June of last year he and his ships were enter- tained' by the Russians at Revel and Kronstadt and. immediately after- wards in the Kie! Canal by the Kai- ser. What Englishman could have pierced the fog of rman deceit and treachery, and known that even when feasting them the Kaiser had deci on war--that "the day" was at hand? On July 20 the King ealled Admiral Beatty on board the Victoria' and Abert and personally invested him with the Order of K. C. B. By this time the mutterings of the coming storm were audible. How it broke all of us know. Vice-Admiral Beatty's luck is, of eourse, phenomenal. Ever since he was a middy he has always happen- ed to be in the right place at the right moment, and by the same to- ken he has always been able to take full advantage of the opportunities that have offered. As a writer of despatches he is by no means a dulard, as his despatch on the Bight of Heligoland affair shows. What a p.m, sighted and engaged a Fae -ifunnelled crviser ahead. Lion fired two salvos at her which took effect, and she disappeared into the mist burning fiercely and in a sinking condition." At the time these two salvos were fired the enemy cruiser was steam- t high speed at right angles to the Lion, who was herself steaming at 28 knots! Then: "She was sight- ed again at 1.25 p.m. steaming 8. E., and with colors. still flying. Lion opened fire with two turrets, and at 1.35 p.m., after receiving two savos, she sank'--a foretaste of what will be later! HORSE POWER. How and Why the Term Came to be ised. Many years ago, before most of the motors of to-day were thought possible, man used the horse to turn the wheels of his machinery by means of a tread-mill. In this way the horse came to stand for a unit of power according to the size of the machine he could work effectively. When engines began to displace horses, because they could develop several times the motive power, it was natural to refer to their capa- city on the basis of a horsepower unit, by speaking of an engine as being able to do the work of two, three, four, five or more horses. And so the custom was established of making use of the term as de- scriptive of power. The fact is that a "horsepower" --or simply h. p. as it is generally figures in engineering descriptions --really means a greater power than is expected of a horse and greater than he is capable of. It means the power to lift 30,000 pounds one foot in one minute. The continued use of the old term to indicate this modern unit of power for an engine or motor illus- trates how, for want of a suitable substitute, custom will keep alive a term that 'has lost its apparent sig- nificance. in genera] use it is very dense. is, ite partioles are very compactly united, and there is no room for air to ciroulate in between thege parti- es. Most apparently sol sub- stances are penetrated by more or less air, and this, of course, affects Pe weight in proportion to the ulk. A-piece of w is lighter than a piece of lead of exactly equal bulk because the little particles which make up the piece of wood are not very close fogether, and it in'. and robbed him and his wife eontains a lot of air. pee ineUSH SPARROW A PEST!: HAS BECOME VERY TROUBLE- SOME EN AMERICA. Spread All Over the Country in the - Space of Sixty Years. The English sparrow was intro- omigae into America about 60 years ag is now distributed over ently all a the United States and Southern Canada, This rapid dis- semination is a result of the bird's hardiness, extraordinary fecundity, diversity of foe agressive dis- position, and almost complete im munity from natural enemies, says the New York Sun. Ned Dearborn, biologist Department of Agriculture, is se- vere on the English spdrrow. He says they are cunning, destructive and filthy, although admitting that sparrows consume quantities of weed seed and in siummer numerous insects. j During an investigation of birds } that destroy alfalfa weevil in north- ern Utah English sparrows were found to be feeding their nestlings largely on weevil larvae and cut- of the worms, both very injurious to alfat- fa. Wherever this birds proves use- | ful it is entitled to protection and | encouragement. ; Under norma! conditions its; choice of insects may be unfavor able Out of 522 English sparrow | stomachs examined by the biological ; department of the Agricultural De-.| partment, 47 contained noxious in- sects, 50 held beneficia! insects, and | 31 contained insects of practically | no importance. The Agricultura! Department does not say what was found to the credit or discredit of the other 394 specimens examined. A report on only one quarter of the specimens examined can hardly be considered satisfactory to earnest people enquiring into this subject. Destroys Fruits. The English sparrow is condemn- ed for its destruction of cherries, grapes, pears, peaches, buds and flowers of cultivated trees, sprouts and vines. In the garden, the scien- tists say, sparrows eat seeds as they ripen, nip off tender young vege- tables, especially peas and lettuce, as they appear above ground. We have never experienced this trouble although sparrows are abundant about the garden. They are a nuis- ance with their muss, building nests in trowblesome places, in the gut- ters on the roof, causing the water to overflow a littering up the building generally, but this is the worst charge we are able-to bring against the English sparrow. Mr. Dearborn says the English sparrow reduces the number of some of our most useful and attrac- tive native birds, such as bluebirds, house wrens, purple martins, tree swallows, cliff swallows and barn swallows, by destroying their eggs and young and by usurping nesting places. It attacks the robin, wren, redeyed vireo, catbird and mocking bird, causing them to desert parks and shady streets of towns. Unlike our native birds, whose place it usurps, it has no song, but is noisy and vituperative. It defiles build- ings and ornamental trees, shrubs and vines with its excrement and with its bulky neste. No where is the English sparrow included among the birds protected by law, and as individuals and flocks have an extremely narrow range, each flock occupying one lo- eality to which its activities are chiefly confined, they are easily ex- terminated. When a place has once been cleared of sparrows it will be some time before it is reoceupied. English sparrows are good to eat. and their use as a food is recom- mended because of their nutritive value and as a means of reducing their number. Sparrows feed in close flocks, and when thus assemb- led a large number may be killed by a charge of shot from a small bore, 12, 16 or 20 gauge Parker shotgun. Sparrows can be baited by scatter- ing grain about, shooting the birds and then rebaiting the places. The baiting places should be far enough apart so the birds at the second and third feeding places will not be frightened by the discharge of the gun at the first flock Traps Are Best. In many places traps must be em- ployed where a gun cannot be used or where it is not desirable. Besides being safe, properly designed traps have other advantages. Native birds caught in the traps can be lib- erated unharmed and trapped epar- rows can be kept alive for food like ultry. In Europe sparrows have een utilized for food for centuries. In captivity the birds must be kept clean, supplied with fresh, olegn water daily. A yariety of food is re uired to keep th them in good aondi- tion ; bread, oats. wheat, corn-meal mash, lettuce and ca age will be relished. To mercifully kill a prepped spar row place the thumb nail gt the|' base of the ekull an dislocate the neck by haf and quick p ig To dress sparrows cut off the le the wings at the outer point and the neok close to the body; strip off in skin, beginning at the neck; make & cut through the 'bods all extend= ing from the neck along the baek~ bone till the-ribs are severed, then around between the legs to the tail; and remove the vicera. Sparrows may be cooked by any. of the methods employed for reed- birds or quail, and compare favor- ably with the best kinds of smalt game. We rarely appreciate game for the food itself, but' more ofter: for! the'name.. Several years ago - party of duck hunters arrived tired: and hungry at a tayern near e! shooting grounds, and where they, were to put up for the night. The host hae the reputation of a. splendid table, the food wsnally consisting of fish or game. A bird pie was served for dinney and all agreed that it was delisious,! the best quail pie they had ever tasted. In England sparrows are trapped with a sieve, one end held! up by a short stake to which a long string i tied. The trap is baited with br crumbs, oats ur wheat. The bi na are permitted to eat the bait untl a number have gathered under the! sieve, when the cord is pulled, re- moving the stake and allowing ~ trap to fall over the birds gathered: under the sieve. a a PLUM CULTURE IN ONTARIO. Bulletin Issued wei the Ontario De- partment of Agriculture. Plum culture in Ontario is des- cribed in a very full and suggestive manner by F. M. Clement, Director ,of the Ontario Fruit Experiment Station, in Bulletin 226 just issued y the Ontario Department of Agri- culture. This treatise is most timely. Dur 'ing the decade between the census (of 1901 and that of 1911 the num- ber of plum trees in Ontario de- creased in number by over half a million. In 1911 the eee' of trees reported was 1,124,022, of which a little more than two-thirds were in bearing, the value of the crop being estimated at $374,675, or about half a dollar per bearing tree. In the bulletin the cost of produc tion is very fully gone into. e three chief drawbacks to suc- cessful plum growing in this pro~ vince, according to the author, are: 1. Too many varieties. He gives a list of varieties best suited for certain districts; also a general list of varieties with description of qualities. Mr. Clement, however, notes with satisfaction the tendency to drop many of the much-vaunted Japanese varieties and some of the earlier domestic sorts. 2. Lack of careful cultivation and handling of the product. The ques- tion of soil, sunaeatioet as. penne, pruning, picking an ing are thoroughly dealt with he the au- thor, and many practical hinta along these lines are given. Mr. Clement, like most experts, prefers vigorous one or two-year-old trees for planting in plum orchards. Some excellent pointers are also given as on siaaiaeis and as regards cover cro' 3. P Neglect of spraying at the right time and according to the best methods. A spraying calendar is provided, Diseases of the plum ure des. cribed with methods of nyse also insect enemies and how t. pose of them. a ee dis- Cherry Fruit Flies. During the past five or six years cherry growers in this province have been complaining of little white maggots which were attacking growing cherries, rendering the in- terior of the fruit ?--- and un- fit to eat. Prof. Caesar, of the Ontario Agriculiugal College, was given the work of investigation, and, assisted by Mr. G. J. Spencer, has just written the results of sev- eral years' observation, which have been issued by the Ontario Depart- ment of Agriculture Bulletin Two distinct varieties of in- sects, the eggs of which become maggots, have been identified: one is the White-banded Cherry Fruit- fly and the other the Black-hudied Cherry Fruit-fly. e life histories of both these flies--which, happily, appear to attack no other fruit than the cherry--are given in the bulle tin, together with methods of con- trol. as ---- Guard the Tongur. You would not think of taking your neighbor's life wounding or im with any physica! weapon. But you perhaps do not realize that when you 6ay an evil thing about you are wounding kim more grievously than you could possibly wound him with gun or dagger. You ec . killing his reputation, which be a worse calamity to him ham killing his body. [t is strange indeed that this terrible item of wrongdoing is so easy and so wide- spre It is hard to understand the peouwliar pleasure whioh many po le geem to fee! in saying 1yp- Jngs about obhers. Bad as tit simply as a breach of good od borHnéss and good vitizenship-- ith unspeakably bad from the standpoint of Christianity and the teachings of eiplasienihy: s Founder. But, alas! The things we want to [Seat usually the things we