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WINTER ON THE FARM.
Profitable Employment for the Farmer
and His Men.
Employment more or less continuous,
which common hired men can engage in
and carry on alone, may be brushing up
and oiling tools and putting them in or
der for coming work. Where crude
petroleum can be readily obtained a
dime’s worth properly applied may be
worth dollars to wooden tools and lum
ber wagons by preventing cracking and
decay. The work of applying it is very
simple and easily understood. During
occasional mild days, "Should any occur,
it may be put on with a coarse brush to
gates and various outdoor structures.
Drawing out manure and spreading it
on the land where it will be needed for
future crops as fast as it accumulates at
the stables. In this way it requires
handling but once, it clears the premises,
and the ground being frozen it is not cut
up with the wheels as when the work is
postponed till spring. Trials which
have been made by spreading on snow
for the coming corn crop have resulted
in fine crops and the best success.
Equally favorable are the results from
the winter top dressing of meadows.
In many localities the work of digging
ditches in winter may be carried on
with profit and for the permanent im
provement of the land. Let them be
laid out before the ground freezes, and
the digging commenced by plowing sev
eral furrows and throwing out the
loosened top soil with the shovel. The
work may then be carried on in cold
weather by loosening the bottom soil be
fore each night, which will prevent hard
freezing, or by placing small bundles of
straw in the ditch. As the work deep
ens even this care will be hardly neces
sary. Where a ditching plow is used
the bottom soil may be quickly loosened
and the ditch prepared for a cold night.
Drawing the tile for filling may be profit
ably done in winter.
Where there is no silo, and the owner
has a treadpower and cutting machine,
a good employment consists in cutting
up the corn fodder for feeding to cattle,
by which far less will be wasted than
by feeding the long stalks to them.
Trials which have been made have
proved that the fodder was doubled in
value to them, and the great superiority
was shown of the short manure as com
pared with long stalk manure.
A winter’s task for man and team con
sists of drawing sand for a clayey soil
for improving its texture. Fine enrich
ing manure for garden work may be
provided for spring by drawing the
black mold from sheltered places in
■woods and placing it in alternating lay
ers with stable manure. When well
rotted and thoroughly intermixed it will
make an excellent garden fertilizer. It
will be improved by a light intermix
ture of ashes and bone dust. There are
several smaller tasks which should not
be overlooked, says Country Gentleman,
authority for the foregoing, either for
the owner Or his men, among which are
shelling corn, assorting apples and re
moving rotten ones, picking potatoes, if
needed, filling the icehouse, covering
strawberry beds with evergreens, cut
ting firewood, cutting dead branches
from trees and converting them into
fuel.
An Old Question Reanswered.
With each recurring season is asked,
“Are bees w.hich have been wintered in
the cellar as hardy as those "wintered out
of doors?’ As usual, there was not
unanimity in the replies given to this
query by leading apiarists in Gleanings
in Bee Culture. To use Mr. Root’s own
words in concluding the matter, these
started out, “I think so,” and then, “I
think not,” and so on. Then it becomes
apparent that locality has something to
do with-it. Our good friend Muth, away
down in Cincinnati, prefers his bees out
doors. Doolittle thinks that where he
is— central New York—one is as good as
the other. Professor Cook, of Michigan,
agrees. Friend France, of Wisconsin,
with his great big tenement hives, as I
should suspect, prefers outdoor winter
ing. So, you see, it depends on the size
and kind of hive. And then friend Ma
lium, of Vermont, suggests that when
taken out of the cellar they should have
outside protection. And, by the way,
some good friend declares that the best
way in the world to winter bees is to put
them in ch> ff hives and then carry the
chaff hives into the cellar. When you
carry them out in the spring they will
have the chaff hive protection. Mrs.
Harrison, of Illinois, says it depends on
how late ycu leave them in the cellar.
Taking a thin walled hive right out of
the cellar and leaving it exposed to heavy
frosts or severe freezing is not just the
thing. Dr. Miller, of Illinois, has an
uncomfortable suspicion. If he were in
our locality—Ohio—l think this “sus
picion” would be still more uncomfort
able.
Plaster and Salt.
Country Gentleman says: “Plaster, al
though one of the cheapest fertilizers, is
quite variable in its effects on the
growth of crops on different soils and in
different seasons. One hundred pounds
to the acre have been as useful as a
larger quantity. Salt, like plaster, is
uncertain in its action, but is put on
more copiously than plaster, at the rate
of from five to ten bushels an acre. The
value of either can be determined only
by making the trial in different locali
ties.”
Salting Cows.
I have found out by experience that
cows will give from 10 to 15 per cent.
more milk when they have all the salt
they will eat. I like the plan of throw
ing a small handful of common salt in
the manger every time I put them in to
milk. If your cows are used to being
salted once or twice a week, try my plan
and see if it does not increase your
amount of milk the most with the least
outlay of anything you ever tried.—
National Stockman.
PACKING PORK AND HAMS.
One Method for Insuring Good Sweet Pork.
A Pickle for Hams and Shoulders.
There is a difference in the methods of
packing pork: but the one here given is
vouched for by American Cultivator as
sure to result in sweet pork if the hogs
are well fattened on good food. Have
the pork barrel perfectly clean and
sweet, scalding and washing it in hot
water made strong with soda until it is
so, and see that it is well hooped and the
bottom braced so that it will not break
out. Get the Joest jjt clean .broken jock
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9. 1892.
salt, and to a Half buslieTbf salFadd one
ounce of saltpeter, or from two to four
ounces of baking soda, mixing it well
with the salt. After the animals are
killed, allow them to remain in a cool
place, but not where it is cold enough to
freeze, for about twenty-four hours, for
the animal heat to get out. If the out
side freezes before this heat is all gone,
the inside, especially against the bone in
the thick part of the ham and shoulder,
will surely be tainted, and salt cannot
save it. It is best to guard against any
chance of freezing.
Cut off the head, hams and shoulders
and remove the sparerib and other de
sirable lean pieces. If not accustomed
to doing this work or to seeing it done,
it will pay to get some butcher or old
farmer to show you just how to do it.
You will then have before you the broad
side of pork. Cut each end off squarelv,
and then proceed to cut into strips of
about four inches in width, having all
of one width, and begin packing by cov
ering the bottom of the barrel with salt.
On that place a layer of pork, beginning
at the outer edge and laying the rind of
the pork next the barrel and keeping
right around the barrel in that way,
making snug stowage as possible, and
fill the last space in the center with a
piece or pieces cut to fit snugly and
driven into place with a wooden maul.
On this place another layer of salt and
begin anew, going On until the cask is
full or the supply of pork is exhausted,
after which cover with salt and put a
cover down upon the pork, and cither
press it down or weight it with a heavy
stone. Put in no water, as in a short
time, if the packing is well done, the
water in the pork will make a brine that
will cover the pork entirely. In using
always keep brine enough in the barrel to
cover the pork and kpep it pressed down.
Some cut off the belly strips, or thin
and partially lean part of the side, and
put it in a pickle with the ham, to be
taken out and smoked as breakfast bacon,
and it is much bbtter in that way. For
these and for the hams and shoulders we
have used a pickle made by using eight
pounds of salt, four pounds of brown
sugar, one ounce of baking soda and one
half ounce of saltpeter. Some would use
more saltpeter, and some would use
molasses instead of sugar. Add water
enough to dissolve, and put it over the
fire to scald, carefully skimming off any
scum or dirt that rises to the top. It
need not boil at all, but should be made
scalding hot. Set away until cold again,
and while it is cooling pack the shoul
ders, hams and bacon strips in a per
fectly clean cask as snugly as possible.
This preparation is for 100 pounds of
meat, and if there is not water enough
to cover it more cold water may be added.
Those who like their meat smoked will
find the shoulders and bacon strips salt
enough in throe or four weeks, but a
large ham may need to stay there six or
eight weeks. Those who like it without
smoking can leave it in the pickle, as it
will not get too salt or get hard. This
pickle should keep sweet all summer in
a cool cellar, but if any signs of spoiling
are noticed the meat should be at once
taken out and washed in water in which
is a little soda to remove the tainted
brine, and the brine can be scalded over
again and a little more salt added, cr a
new brine may be made. Wash out the
cask before replacing the meat, and put
the brine in cold as before. In smoking
use corncobs or hickory wood.
The Use of Separators.
The subject of separators has been a
prolific topic for discussion at the bee
meetings and in the bee journals. As is
usual, the question, “Separators or not?”
calls forth widely varying replies, some
beekeepers favoring their use, while
others look upon as an unnecessary
expense. One correspondent tells why he
uses separators; another explains why he
doesn't use separators: one favors wood
separators and another tin separators,
etc. In summing up the matter W.
Z. Hutchinson, the editor of The Bee
keeper’s Review, disposes of the ques
tion as follows: “I think all -will admit
that only straight combs ought to be
put upon the market. If the condition
of the honey flow and colonies or of the
management result in straight combs
without separators, then they are a use
less expense; otherwise they ought to be
used. Combs need not necessarily be
as straight as a board, but so straight
that they may be readily removed from
the case without injury. If a beekeeper
can secure nearly all straight combs
without separators, and has a local mar
ket—in which he can sell direct to con
sumers—for the few bulged combs that
he may have, separators would still be a
useless expense. When separators are
needed it appears to be settled that wood
is preferable for loose separators and tin
for those to be nailed fast to wide
frames.”
Agricultural Brevities.
The editor of The Rural New Yorker
worked for ten years with seedling pota
toes before he produced one that he
deemed worthy of introduction.
It speaks volumes for the dairy school
at the Vermont experiment station that
it has now as a student the butter maker
who took a prize at the great food show!
Peking ducks are the best layers, but
do not fatten so readily as some others.
It is reported that Wyoming offers a
bounty of three dollars for each wolf
head, but the pests have lately become
so troublesome that the cattlemen havp
offered an additional bounty of five dol
lars a head.
Drying sweet potatoes and grinding
the chips into flour promises to become
a new industry.
A Peculiar Find.
Mrs. J. W. Hood had a peculiar ex
perience a few days ago. She was
searching for a mislaid article and was
rummaging about on the closet shelves,
when she laid her hand on a lady’s golc
watch. It did not belong to her, and
she was at a loss to understand how it
came there. The incident worried her
so that she finally went to the office
where Mr. Hood is employed to tell him
about it. Mr. Hood was as much sur
prised as his wife, and advised her to
make a further investigation. Upon
her return home she again went to the
closet shelf and there found her silver
spoons, which she had packed away in a
trunk in another room a few days be
fore.
The only satisfactory explanation they
could find was that burglars bad been
in the house and had the gold watch
with them. They probably found the
silver spoons, and were looking in the
closet for other valuables when they be
came frightened and hurried away, leav
ing the watch and spoons lying on the
shelf. Mrs. Hood has advertised the
watch, but so far has failed to find an
owner.—Chicago
CHEAP ICEHOUSE.
A Structure That Will Hold Forty to
Fifty Tons.
To cheaply build a good icehouse for
forty to fifty tons make it high, so that
but little roof is required. The founda
tion should be three feet below the sur
face to avoid frost. Two stories 15 by
16 is about right. Double doors must
extend to the roof. The corner posts
must be rabbeted as shown to receive
the matched board lining. On the out-
Wp-- " " L - 1 ‘ ‘
■' ■ ■ a
Oil
PLAN FOR ICEHOUSE.
side of these posts a light frame should
be covered with heavy building paper
inches from the lining and 1% to 2
inches from the paper; the covering
should be nailed on lightly. This work
leaves two dead air spaces between the
sunshine and the ice, and no sawdust
packing will be needed. A ventilator in
the shape of a blinded window should
be placed in both gables under the roof
and the best of drainage must be pro
vided below.
In the cut the outer line shows the
covering; the middle one the paper lin
ing; strips of plank are spiked over the
4by 4 posts to which to nail the cover
ing, and the inner line is the matched
lining. Os course the plan can be mod
ified to suit circumstances, the main
thing being to have the dead air space.
An inside tight frame, with the outside
partition of sod or adobo bricks, well
plastered together with clay mud, would
do. If you live on a western farm and
have more straw than you can use, build
a straw stack right over such a house
and ice will keep in it the year round.
Straw, coarse hay or chaff can be used
in place of sawdust for packing ice if
you think any packing necessary.—Farm
and Home.
Beginning with the Incubator.
Those who contemplate using incu
bators and brooders need not wait until
the time arrives for beginning opera
tions, but would do well to conduct an
experimental hatch in order to be more
familiar with their work. From Novem
ber to April is the season for using in
cubators, as the chicks that reach the
market from January to June bring the
highest prices.
There is one thing that the hen will
not do, and that is to sit before she is in
clined to, and this inclination on her
part may be postponed so late as to ren
der her less serviceable. The only al
ternative is the incubator. This can be
operated at any time, and will hatch
more chicks at one operation than will
a dozen hens. The incubator fills a
place that the hen has left vacant.
Though it entails labor, both day and
night, in operating the incubator, as
well as in caring for the chicks in the
brooders, yet the work is bestowed on
large numbers once, and when people
of experience jmanage such business they
are amply remunerated. There is some
loss at times, and for the novice often
disappointment.
It is not intended to advise an ama
teur to venture into broiler raising in
the expectation of making it pay at first.
But it is well to try an incubator if it is
desired to hatch chicks in -winter. Do
not venture with a large one. An incu
bator holding not over 200 eggs will
give the best results. Experiment with
it and learn, and use the brooders for
the same purpose. The beginner will
be surprised on finding how much he
will be compelled to learn by experi
ence, for no matter how much he may
have “read up” on the subject, in actual
work hundreds of little details will ap
pear of which he -was not before aware.
But as all difficulties can be overcome,
one need only persevere to succeed. —
Exchange.
Yearling Hackney.
Below, reproduced from The Breeder’s
Gazette, is a fine picture of a Massachu
setts hackney colt a year old. It is
American born, from an imported sire.
<7 f
YEARLING HACKNEY.
It is the fashion of course, but if the
fancy breeders would only allow just a
little more tail to these fine hackneys it
would be a relief to the beholder. The
mutilated stump sticking up like that in
the picture is both hideous and painful,
and we don’t care what anybody says.
Otherwise this yearling of a breed of
horses fast growing in favor as riders
and drivers is a beauty.
At the New York food show some of
the dairy bulls exhibited were more fit
for a fat stock show than to be put up
as the head of a dairy herd. One qf the
prize Holstein sires weighed 2,790
pounds. The creatures were in some
cases too fat and lazy even to stand up
right any length of time. Among the
qualities such monsters as these would
transmit to milk and butter cows would
certainly not be those of firm flesh and
hardiness. In general dairy bulls get
far too little exercise, owing in great
measure to the danger of allowing them
at large. But in no case should they be
kept just tied up by the neck in a stall
to get fat and soft.
FATTENING POULTRY.
Two Weeks Will Make the Birds Fit for
Market.
Two weeks is sufficient time in which
to fatten fowls for the market. But this
demands conformity to certain condi
tions. The fowls should not have full
liberty. At this time it is not economy
to give them opportunity for exercise.
It is desirable that all the food taken
should be used to make fat, not for
strength of muscle. Fi'om eight to
twelve may be shut in a small room to
gether, where there will be nothing to
disturb thfinu If the room should.be
partially’darßened,; alltile "better. Let
the birds have complete repose; let all
their powers work toward digestion.
The quickly fatted fowl is tenderest and
most juicy. If no suitable room is avail
able, a large coop may be constructed,
with feeding troughs outside.
It is important that the feed should be
clean, sweet and abundant. For this
reason it should not be placed so that
they will run over it or defile it. The
object is to have the birds cram them
selves, sit down quietly and digest, then
cram again and so on to the end of the
chapter. Now if they are confined in a
coop hatung a tight bottom the place
will soon become- intolerably filthy.
There should be openings or wide spaces
in the floor, that it may be cleaned often,
then covered with sawdust or some
other suitable litter. Kept in this con
dition the fowls will take four square
meals in a day.
If there should be a quarrelsome one
in the lot it should separated from
the rest. Such a fowl will prevent the
others from eating to the full, and dis
turb the quiet which is necessary to the
rapid digestion of the food. Fighting
tends to leanness. Even scolding will
use up food and prevent an oily, rotund
condition.
There is no better food for fattening
purposes the world over than sweet, fine
ly ground cornmeal wet up with
skimmed milk. The mixture need nor
be so dry as when meal is mixed with
water. There is no danger that fowls
will get waterlogged on milk. Some
poulterers feed buckwheat meal, think
ing that it renders the poultry better in
flavor. There is no objection to mixing
one-third buckwheat meal with the corn
meal as a change. The mixture should
be seasoned with a teaspoonful of salt
each day. Fowls that have dough for
their rations will not require much
water, yet fresh, pure water should be
supplied, that they may drink when, they
thirst. —Poultry World.
Consumptive Cows.
Os all the human deaths that occur in
the world it is reasonably estimated
that one in seven is due to consumption
or tuberculosis, and at least 3,000,000
persons perish from it every year out of
the population of the globe. The recent
remarkable development of bacteriology
has directed special attention to the in
fectious nature of the disease. While
in a majority of cases the fatal infection
is derived from human beings afflicted
with it, it has been amply demonstrated
that in many cases it is conveyed to man
from tuberculosa cows through the
medium of milk.
Although in large cities precautions
have been taken to prevent or curtail
the sale of adulterated, « watered or
skimmed milk by means of lactometer
tests, there is no practicable method of
detecting the milk of consumptive cows
after it has reached the city for delivery
to consumers. Those who buy can there
fore be protected only by sanitary super
vision of the dairy herds at the sources
of supply and by the eradication of the
disease among them.
Investigation has shown the existence
of tuberculosis in some of the dairy
herds that supply milk to the large cities
in the eastern states. The most notable
inquiries of this kind have been those
recently made in the neighborhood of
Boston under direction of the health
authorities of that ciyy and of the Mas
sachusetts state of agriculture.
These revealed the i prevalence of the
disease on dairy ftyrms in many towns
which sent milk to the Boston market.
—Hural New Yorker.
_r • .
Live Stock Points.
It was well known that there was an
epidemic of glanders in the stables of a
New York street car company during
the past summer, and it was remarked
at the time that there was criminal care
lessness in the conduct of those having
charge of the stables. The horses that
died were dumped into the city dead
horse delivery with the rest. The con
sequence was that a young German, who
skinned one of these glandered beasts,
caught the disease by the virus from
.the horse’s body getting into a small
sore upon his hand. Ke died in horrible
agony a few days after, with unmistak
able symptoms of glanders. When a
horse dies of glanders burn his body
and don’t stop to skin it.
Ewes bred in November will bring
lambs in March. But the ewes must be
thoroughly well fed and cared for from
the time of breeding till the lambs come.
Unless the sheep owner can give this
care and has warm quarters for the
March lambs and knows just wh'at to
do with them, it is better in the northern
part of the country to have the lambs
come in April.
Now look out. Just after the secre
tary of agriculture has officially pro
claimed there is not a case of pleuro
pneumonia in the country is the time
for it to appear in some out of the way
farm down in nowhere. But the fact
that the disease is apparently stamped
out is gratifying, showing that the mu
tual labors of the government and of
breeders throughout the country have
not been in vain.
Few of the incubator men can raise
eggs enough at home to keep their ma
chines going, so that raising eggs for the
incubator is fast becoming a trade by it
self.
Last year good Christmas beeves sold
in the Chicago markets at from $6 to
$7.15 a hundredweight, which was not at
all bad. But the beef had to be first
class.
A Heroic Dancer.
One of the dancers in the Black Crook
company, who is known by no other
name to the employees of the Academy
than Annie, or “Walking lady No. 17,”
was standing in the wings Friday night
waiting for her turn to go on with the
rest of the ballet. She wore a blond
wig and was costumed in the scant at
tire demanded by the exigencies of the
occasion. She seemed nervous and looked
pale and ill, but nobody noticed it. Sud
denly she reeled and felh
When a doctor was summoned it was
found she was suffering from lack of
food. It was also subsequently discov
ered from other sources that the young
woman had sent all her wages away so
her two little sisters who were in want
and had reduced herself almost to star
vation. These facts I know to be true.
—Cor. New York World.
Railroads and the Game Laws.
A large doe was struck and killed by
the night train coming south on the
Adirondack and St. Lawrence railroad
in the Adirondack's. The carcass was
taken to a slaughter house in town and
dressed. A question arises as to the lia
bility of the railroad company for killing
deer out of season.—Cor. Utica (N. Y.)
BUTTER BLOOD.
A Jersey Sire from Ono of the “Fust
Families.’’
Three of the great Jersey butter mak
ing families of cattle are St. Lambert,
Stoke-Pogis and Matilda. The illustra-
BUTTER BLOOD.
tion shows a perfect type of a bull of
the Matilda blood.
If you want to get points as to what
constitutes a first class American Jersey
sire, here they are. Note them.
Aerating Milk.
Professor Henry H. Wing, of the ag
ricultural experiment station of Cornell
university, has been making a series of
experiments in aerating milk. He tried
the various known methods and the
patented aerators that have been put on
the market. He also compared the
cream raising po-wers of aerated milk
and that diluted both with hot and cold
water. As to cream raising, the sum of
the trials is that the best results are to
be had from plunging undiluted milk in
ice water at 40 degs. When milk is put
Into water as cold as this there is no ad
vantage to be got from diluting it, and
you get the good skimmilk besides. The
milk was allowed to stand twenty-four
hours before skimming. Then he tried
aerated and nonaerated milk to see
which kept sweet the longer. On this
point the professor says:
“The difference in favor of the aera
tion is considerably less than we had
expected to obtain; but there were sev
eral conditions that are likely to have
made this difference less than it would
be under ordinary circumstances. In
the first place, the air in which the
milk was set was comparatively uni
form in temperature and free from con
taminating odors; in the second place,
only a short time elapsed after milking
and aeration, so there was little chance
for contamination in the stable. Then
again all the surroundings of the cattle
were kept as neat and clean as could
well be done. We believe that under
the conditions that affect most dairies
the good effects of aeration ■would be
more pronounced than those we ob
tained. But we are inclined to regard
as extravagant the statement recently
made in a leading agricultural paper
that “aerated milk will keep at least
three times as long as nonaerated.”
The question is often raised whether
milk that is intended for butter making
may be aerated and the cream after
ward successfully separated by the
gravity proceess. Four trials were
made in which the milk that had been
aerated was set in Cooley cans at 40
degs. side by side with milk of the same
lot that had not been aerated. In all
cases the temperature of the creamer
was from 40 to 44, and the milk set
twenty-four hours. The results were as
follows:
Aerated, av. per cent, of fat in skimmilk... .53
Not aerated, av. per cent, of fat in skimmilk .31
It will be seen that while there was
some loss in the efficiency of the cream
ing of the aerated milk it was not very
great. What is remarkable is that the
aerated milk suffered no fall of tempera
ture after it was placed in the creamer,
and -was more efficiently creamed than
the diluted milk set at 60 degs., where
the fall of temperature was from 30 to 35
degs. This seems to be in direct contra
diction to the theory which supposes that
the fall of temperature after the milk is
set is one of the chief factors in com
plete creaming by the deep setting grav
ity process.
Dairy and Creamery.
A correspondent of Hoard’s Dairyman
finds that salt is a good thing on ensi
lage when there is not. too much of it.
To every foot of ensilage he sprinkles
salt about as thickly as he would sow
grain in a field at three bushels to the
acre.
A butter dairyman with a herd of Jer
seys in New York the other day tested
the milk of ten of his cows just as they
came into the stable to be milked, and
found it averaged 4.72 butter fat. The
richest sample ran 5.8, the poorest 4.
The richest milk as ■well as the poorest,
it may be observed, came from cows of
the St. Lambert family. Blood does not
always tell, but it does nearly always,
often enough to bet on anyhow.
A bull may be bred to two genera
tions of cows, mother and daughter;
then he should be changed, as inbreed
ing should not go further than this.
It will be interesting to know who
gets some of that $1,250 offered by the
American Jersey Cattle club in cash
prizes for the best fifty essays on Jersey
cattle. The essays were all to be in by
Sept. 1, and the result will ere long be
known.
Whatever breed of dairy cattle fails
to be sufficiently advertised and im
proved in this country, it is certain that
the Jerseys will not get left as long as
the American Jersey Cattle club is alive.
In localities where it is too cold for
Indian corn to ripen it may be grown
for ensilage with great profit.
A good way to build up a good city
milk trade is to give your customers
nothing but good milk. Hundreds of
city people have concluded they did not
like milk and it did not agree -with
them simply because they were imposed
on by the skimmed and adulterated milk
furnished by dishonest salesmen. A hu
man being could support life on milk
alone and get fat besides if the milk
was pure and of rich quality.
Cold Nerve in a Robber.
The bold thief who a few weeks ago
tried to kill Charles Wonnell when the
latter refused to quietly submit to see
ing his house robbed returned to Won
nell’s house about 4 o’clock yesterday
morning, and knocking at Mr. Won
nell’s window until he was aroused
made a proposition to sell the watch se
cured upon the night of the burglary.
Wonnell replied that he couldn't buy
the watch then if he wanted to, as ho
had no money in the house, and added
that he did not care to buy the watch
back.
“Well.” renlied the man outside ths
window, “you will surely give some
thing for it. Will you give me ton dol
lars for it?”
Wonnell asked how he knew it was
the stolen watch, and was told that a
brother knight in Wonnell’s lodge, K. of
11., had told him that it was, and that it
bad the proper initials engraved upon it.
The man said he had bought the watch,
but refused to give his name, saying
when asked, “Oh, you wouldn’t know
me if I told you my name.” Wonnell
finally told the man that if he would
leave the watch at Frank Hosbrook a
grocery he (Wonnell) would leave ten
dallars at the same place.
The man departed, but the watch was
not left at the grocery. Mr. Wonnell
thinks he recognized the voice of hu
last visitor as that of the burglar, and
believes that the proposition to sell the
watch was but a ruse to induce him to
open the door, when he would be over
powered and compelled to submit to an
other robbery.—lndianapolis Journal.
A Baby Climbs a Ladder.
Think of a baby twenty-four hourt
old climbing a stopladder! It was rathet
an undersized infant for that ago too.
Os course it could not climb up by it
self, so the nurse carried it inlier arms.
It did not cry, but clapped its hands de
lightedly. The child was a little boy
and the climbing of the stepladder took
place in the very room where he wai
born. The mother regarded it as an im«
portant event evidently. It was by hel
orders that the performance took place.
Her interest the less becausa
it was all for the sake of gratifying an
old time superstition.
Monthly nurses all agree that if a
baby goes down stairs before it goes up
stairs its path in life will be downward
and ill luck will attend it. Accordingly
precautions should be taken against
such an omen. In this instance the
child having been born on the top floor
of the house it could not be carried up
stairs, and therefore its mother had sug
gested the ingenious plan of having a
stepladder brought into the room so that
nurse could mount it with baby in her
arms.
But that was not all. A small Testa
ment was attached by a string to th®
child's arm and in its chubby little fist
was placed a gold dollar. Thus reason
able certainty was secured that the boy
would grow up both rich and pious. At
the same time it seems very odd to see
such superstitious observances practiced
in the city of Washington in the year
1892.—Washington Star.
Recovered After Many Years.
The unearthing of a large quantity
of stolen silverware, gold lined snuff
boxes, etc., in a cave near Jasper, Tenn.,
has created a sensation. The story beats
fiction a long way. During the winter
of 1863-4 the Federal soldiers were en
camped for some time on Battle creek.
Among them was an Ohio regiment.
Not long since a gentleman appeared in
the neighborhood and told the follow
ing story:
He was a member of the Ohio regi
ment referred to, and in his mess was a
soldier who was a born thief, and who
never let an opportunity pass to steal
anything he could carry. During the
time they were encamped at the moutlj
of Battle creek he hid his stealings in a
cave, and so clever was he in his work
that no suspicion ever fell upon him.
short time ago the two old comrades®
were together talking over their experi- fIE
ences, when the story of the stolen sil- ~~1
verware was told and the request made I
that the gentleman referred to visit the J
locality, search for the cave, and, if pos- fl
sible, recover the hidden silverware and J
restore the articles to the rightful own- E
ers or their heirs. ■
The old soldier who had so many years t|
ago gone wrong is getting aged and fee- fl
ble, and to ease his conscience and make J
reparation, as far as in his power,
begged his old commander to do this fed!
him. He was successful in finding n<®
only the place, but the plunder.
least 200 pounds of silverware of evd®Eg
kind almost was found in the cave, ®
ranging from napkin rings to solid silver 1
water sets. Many o? the articles have f
the owners’ initials on them, and all are 1
in a state of good preservation. The i
articles have been taken to a store in the
village near by, and are being turned
over to those entitled to them as rapidly
as possible.—Cor. Houston Post.
Aerial Torpedoes.
The Marine Francaise publishes an ar
ticle by Admiral Reveillere, in which he
assures his readers that a revolution in
naval affairs is approaching not less im
portant than that caused by the intro
duction of armored ships. The gun will
cease its contest with the armor plate in
the sense of seeking to penetrate by its
shock, and will henceforth scatter de
struction by launching explosive shells
of large capacity at comparatively low
velocities. A shell containing 100 kilo
grams of panclastite would, he says,
be a veritable torpedo, and would infal
libly destroy whatever it fell upon. The
gun for this service would be a mortar,
such as is used for military purposes,
and in the admiral's view a mortar of
22 cm. (8.6 inches) would replace a gun
of 14 cm. (5.5 inches), and one of 27 cm.
(10.6 inches) a gun of 16 cm. (6.2 inches),
wherever those are found.
Guns of high velocity, he says, must
be reserved for action against the per
sonnel; they have henceforth no place
against the ship itself. This proposal is
but an extension of Admiral Reveillere’s
project of swift mortar vessels, analo
gous to torpedo boats, but constructed
for the launching of aerial torpedoes.
Tho Care of the Soldier.
“The five years now drawing to a
close have been marked beyond any
similar period in the history of the mili
tary establishment by legislation and
modification of regulations calculated
to ameliorate the condition and improve
the situation and surroundings of th®
enlisted men.” This is taken from the
report of the adjutant general of the
army. New quarters of the most im
proved designs have been erected, the
vegetable component of the ration has
been increased, post exchanges have
been established, the clothing has been
increased, new barrack furniture and
equipments have been supplied, a
method of procuring discharges by
purchase has been provided and tho
enlisted men have the option at the
end of three years’ service of re
turning to civil life with an honorable
discharge, and the existing methods
of lighting, heating and ventilation of
the quarters leave nothing to be desired.
It would seem that the enlisted man has
no longer reasonable ground of com
plaint. His material surroundings are
far in advance of those prevailing in any
European army.—Jsew York Tribune.