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THE CADET.
Ob, T'm a fellow, my good sir
Who never knew a breath of fear;
My hack is straight as any spear:
My shoulders stretch a good throe span.
To say I am right you’ll not derm* .
Hurrah! I’m an American
I wear the uniform, my friend.
That strikes me as the best on earth
Though wildly gay, my fiercest mirth
Ne’er hinted at the drummer's ban.
Let revel die ere I offend
The flag! I'm an American!
* .
To run and leap, to ride and spar,
To swim, make love, and a sword
Flung round my head like flaming cord.
I’m usually first, my man.
Keen-eyed, steel-pulsed, aud muscular;
Ha! ha’ I'm an American!
Hixfeet of spring and joy and pride;
Six feet for victory or a shell;
A voice to mats with wine, or yell
Orders from Beersheha to Ilan;
Six feet with nothing base to hide.
Thank Good! I’m an American!
You know I’m not a vain young blade;
The best I say is not enough
When speaking of such human stuff,
That in no age turned face and ran.
I did not make it, when all’s said,
For I was born an American'
—Hose Hawthorne Lathrop , in Harjter's
KETURAH’S OMEN.
Mrs. Totten sat before the fire with
an open letter in her hands.
“lain going to Burdctt to-night,
John,” she said, decisively. “I gather
from this that Mary must be quite sick."
“Yes, I think myself that's what you’d
better do, mother,” answered Farmer
Totten
Ruth looked up from her stocking
basket. “It is such a long drive to Bur
dett!” she said, glancing, with a look of
eoncern, at her mother’s tired face. “It
ecems too bad to have you go to-night,
mother.”
“Oh, I wasn't thinking of that. It
btnhers me most to think of leaving
•Turah and you here alone all night,
though really there is no danger. Is
Silas coming up, ’Turah ?”
“No, he aint!” came sharply and curt
ly from the pantry. Any mention of
Silas always vexed Keturah.
“Well, then, Ruth, I’ll stop in at the
May woods and ask the girls to come up
and stay all night witli you. There are
three of them, and you can pop corn and
boil candy and have a regular frolic.
That'll take the edge off your loneliness.
Now pa, you go out and hitch up, and '
I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
Left alone, Kuth drew closer to the
fire.and resumed her darning. The furni
ture cast shadows over the yellow-painted
floor. Taddy executed a series or noise
less yawns, which made him look more
like a griffin than a cat. Through the
window a long bar of deep orange light j
was fading slowly on the distant horizon.
The clock-ticks became peculiarly dis
tinct.
> Ruth’s needle stopped its swift weav
ing, and she stared dreamily into a corner.
A noise in the buttery startled her. It
was only Keturah putting up the tnilk
pans, but something in the vigorous clut
ter bespoke, unusual agitation on the part
of that eccentric handmaid.
At length the buttery door opened,
and Keturah appeared on the threshold.
Her long, sallow face wore a particularly
morose aspect, and the glance she cast on
Ruth was portentous.
“I don't like it, your am takia’ this
trip to-night.”
“Why, ’Turah!”
“Well, while I was a-milkin' I see
aeven crows flyin’ up from Seneca, and,
to begin with, that's a bad number.
Then, to make it more sartin, they flew
in a zigzag across this house, aud that
argufles that something unfortuuate is
bound to happen here to-night.”
The silence seemed to grow deeper,
and Kuth stirred uneasily in her chair.
“Nonsense, ’Turah! Seven crows fly
ing up from the lake are not at all un
usual. I don’t believe iu your signs.”
“Well, you hain’t lived as long as me.
an’ Soen as many of ’em come true. The
very night my father died my mother see
the white death-horse peerin’ in at the i
winder, waitin’ to carry him off.”
Ruth’s involuntary glance out into the
gathering darkness was not lost ou Ke
turah.
“And the night my Uncle Eph died
the clock threw the shadder of a coffin
two hours before any of ’em expected
him to die. Aud the day before Aunt
Sallie died all her bees swarmed and left
their hives, and hung for nearly five
minutes in front of her bedroom winder
before they left the farm. It’s plain to
sec, Ruth, yc hain’t had the proper ex
perience in signs to jedge of ’em.
“But the greatest sign of all," Keturah
continued, beginning to lay the supper
table, “was when Hank Loomis died over
to Sugar Hill. Ever hear of that? Ye
hain't? Well, I wonder!”
“Hank was a tnrrible sinner. He just
drinked himself straight to the edge of
the grave, and the summer afternoon he
laid a-strugglin’ with death Deacon
Brown urged him to repent; bit he
wouldn’t. Says he, ‘l’ll die as I’ve lived,
an’ you git out!’
“Three o’clock in the afternoon the hall
door stood open, an’ it was so hot the
dooryard flowers lopped over on their
stems and hung still. Suddenly there
come a sound like a long, cold blast of
wind. Everybody felt the icy chill. It
howled unairthly, an’ the die-away moan
made them shedder down their spines.
Follerin’ it came three soundin’ raps on
the brass knocker. They were awful!
“Hank’s sister Belindy, she crop’ out
and peeked over the bannisters, an’there
was the hall empty, an’ not a livin’ soul
in sight high or low. Jest then Hank
give a gasp an’ a groan, an’ up an’ died.
Want to go down sullar with me for the
victuals?”
Ruth hesitated and snivered.
“Yes, I’ll go, ’Turah.but I don’t want
to hear of another omen to-night. I'm
getting nervous.”
The cellar was dark aud gloomy. Ruth
held the lamp while Keturah took down
the necessary edibles from the swinging
shelf. The return to the warm, cosy
kitchen was exceedingly pleasant. Ruth
ate her supper sitting opposite Keturah,
and speculating on the nature of omens
in general, while Keturah discoursed
volubly of her wonderful “knack for pre
sentiments.”
“And I feel sure,” she declared, over
her fourth cup of tea, “that them crows
meant trouble here to-night."
The sound of wheels and voices out
side gave a quick, bright turn to affairs.
Belle, Kitty and Grace Maywood came
rushing into the kitchen, brimming over
with merriment, and bringing a joyous
atmosphere with them.
“This promisor fun!” cried Grace,
whirling Keturah around giddily innpite
of her protestations.
“’Turah, we want some of your very
butteriest molasses taffy. What makes
you look so sober, Ruth?”
They settled comfortably around the
tire. ’Turah brought in the molasses jug
and the butter jar. Ruth took down
several ears of pop-corn from the back
kitchen rafters, and the girls shelled
them while ’Turah made the candy. At
length it was finished, and set out on the
side porch in two goodly-sized milk pans.
A pyramid of snowy corn was piled up on
the blue platter, and then Grace and
Ruth fell to cracking hickory nuts on
flatirons.
Kitty had just returned from a visit to
Ithaca. She was overflowing with “new
ideas,” and after describing the latest
fashions, she began to dance.
Keturah sniffed. She had been sitting
by the table, listening with a pleased air
to the girls’ chat, but at the sight of
Kitty's dancing her face lengthened again.
“That must ha’ been the very place where
he stood,” she said, dolefully, “and the
very same kind of a double-shuffle he
danced. I don’t like to see it, after
them seven crows to night.”
There was a solemn mystery in her
words which made itself felt, and the
girls all huddled together as she told
again the story of the sign she had seen
that night.
“But. I can't see that the dance is very
dangerous”' pouted Kitty.
“Ever Hear how your Unde Bije died,
Ruth? My mother told me. Forty
year ago Bije Totten lived in this house,
and he was a great feller for to dance a
double shut He. He was the greatest
dancer in the country, Bije was.
“Well; he had company here one
night, and of course they asked him to
heel and toe it for ’em. He stood up aud
begun to whistle the tune he danced to,
when all on a suddent he stopped. He
told ’em seriously he felt he oughtn’t to
dance it. Somethin’ told him not to.
But they persisted and joked him, till
finally he give iu.
“ ‘1 do it.,’ says he, ‘agin niv convic
tions.’ And when becomes to the place
where he give three high hops, he just
fell over, spang ! and up and died before
his wife could get to him. Hut he
seemed bound an’ determined for to fin
ish that, dance.
“Once u year, on the night that he
died, at twelve o’clock, the family reg
ularly heard that double shuffle a-goin’
on iu this kitchen, and then all to once p
heavy thud ”
“O’Turah, stop!” cried Kitty, in an
agony of terror. Kuth was white, and
both Grace aud Belle looked frightened.
Keturah paused, a little dismayed at the
consternation she had produced.
“I don’t think I shall sleep a wiuk
to-uight!” cried Kitty.
“Hark!” said Ruth, sharply: “What’s
that!”
It sounded as if a step was approaching
the house. There was a footfall on the
porch, and then a knock.
“The seven crows have come!” mut
tered Keturah, under her breath, as she
listened intently.
The knock was repeated, and then
came an imperative rap.
“No one shall open that door this
night!” declared Keturah, with a white
lace.
Agaiu they heard the step, and sud
denly a noise arose, so terrific and
deafening that it seemed as if a cyclone
had struck the. house. The windows rat
tled, the door-latch shook, and w 1 1 the
general uproar were mingled frightful
stamps and slams. These sounds doubled
rir violence, and low, angry growls were
distinctly heard.
Panic-stricken, the girls shrank to
gether in numb terror. Keturah stood
as if frozen, but she presently managed
to say ■
“It’s my sign! 'What Ims happened?
Oh! what has happened? It’s awful!
It’s awful I"
The uproar died away all at once into
light echoes.
“Ruth, Ruth!” wailed Keturah,
“either Mary is dead or somethin’ tum
ble has happened to your mother! Didn’t
I suv so?”
But before she had finished speaking a
hearty man’s voice on the other side of
the door called out:
“Won't you let mo in? I’m Silas
Vandevender!”
There was no mistaking it, and in a
transport of relief Ruth sprang to open
the door. Silas hobbled across the
floor, over which he usually strode, and,
carefully lifting first one foot and then
the other, he shuffled toward the centre
of the kitchen.
One glance at his feet told what had
happened. Each foot was firmly fast
ened in the centre of a milk-pan full of
soft taffy, and Silas, with a queer grin,
gtood regarding the pans curiously.
“So that’s what it was, was it?” he
s id, after the girls, in a strong reaction
from intense fc&i, had laughed till the
tears came. “Only some of ’Tury’s taf
fy. Well, it’s tol’able sticky, ’Tury! I
wonder at you settin’ this stuff to cool on
the porch. Did you caic’late to ketch a
burglar? I come here to-night primed
for stealin’, but ‘twas in a fair way. I
only wanted to steal you from Mrs. Tot
ten 1”
A phenomenal blush overspread the
gathering chagrin on Keturah’s face.
Kitty giggled outright.
“I set one foot in somethin’ soft,”
Silas went on, “an’while I was tryin’ to
stamp it off, I set the other foot inter the
same stuff. I was kind o’ su’prised, ye
see. an’ I danced consid’able out. there
tryln’ to git out o’ the trap. I couldn’t
contrive what on airth had caught me
that seemed so sudden fond o’ my boots!”
He removed the pans, each with a
sticky impress of his great cowhide boots
in the centre, and with an apology for
having spoiled the taffy, placed his adhe
sive feet on a newspaper.
“I do hope, Ketury,” he went on,
“that when we’re married you’ll stand by
me like your taffy.”
Although this was intended in strict
compliment, Keturah took it very ill.
“You haint got me yit, Si Vandeven
der!”she said, crisply, and retired into
the buttery.
Ruth brought out her father’s slippers
and gave Si some idea of the nervous
state they had been in. He laughed at
their uneasiness over “ 'Turv’s rubbishy
yarns,” as he called them, and so reas
sured them that the little household was
once more in a state of calm and content
ment before he went away.
Next morning the girls found not only
a beautiful breakfast awaiting them, but
Keturah with an astonishing emerald ring
on her finger and a self-conscious smile
on her face. Broad daylight had turned
her thrilling signs into mirth-provoking
myths,and she herself had quite discarded
the mood of prophecy.
“So,” said Ruth, when Mrs. Totten
had returned with the news that Mary
was better, “ ’Turah, if your seven old
crows meant anything, it was that yon
were to become Mrs. Vandevender; and
that must be a good sign which proves
you all wrong.”
“Mebbe,” said Keturah.— Youth's
Companion.
The Power of Hasheesh.
A Cairo (Egypt) correspondent of the
Pittsburg Ijtadtr thus describes his first
experience as a hasheesh eater:
Seeing my companion c’flhveying a
piece of this sugar eagerly to his mouth,
I was encouraged to do likewise. It
was an aromatic, somewhat bitter-tasting
pastille, dissolving quickly like soft pep
permint on the tongue, and leaving like
wise a slight burning sensation, which,
however, passed away after a few puffs
from a cigarette.
Suddenly the smoking'cigarette fell
out of ray lips. I felt myself impelled
to talk—to reveal myself to my neigh
bor—tell him that I was no longer a com
mon, groveling human being, who had
to wander through life on this hard
earth with wretchedly slow legs, but that
I could fly—soar like the eagle through
ethereal space.
“So, you see, this is the way I do it,”
I remember ejaculating.
The most ineffable exhilarating sensa
tions thrilled my inmost self. 1 felt my
self liberated of all earthly trammels, un
burdened of all carnul weight—-free to
range infinity's vast fields. Some strange,
quickening power pulsated through my
every vein.
My whole being seemed etherized. En
circled with the fragrance of paradise. I
was borne aloft on buoyant pinions
through immeasurable space. On and oil
I was wafted unto an elysnim of bliss
and loveliness. There was neither be
ginning nor end to my aerial flight. All
was boundless as eternity.
I inclined my head backward and im
bibed iu torrents the balmy, regener
ating air, and the glorious, roseate light
which was shed around me. All these
momentary sensations I remember impart
ing to my English friend at the time. I
felt that I wished him to share my eth
ereal enjoyment. I wished to take him
along on this soaring ascension into ce
lestial solitudes.
But my spiritual trance was now near
ing its end. Consciousness was grad
ually returning to me. I experienced a
peculiar rushing sensation in my ears.
My mouth felt very dry and parched.
Before my eyes rose big dark blotches.
The beautiful, rosy glow is fast fading
away, and in place of it rises a grayish
fog, through which I dimly see some
of the people in the room. Slightly
startled, I come quite to, aud find myself
leaning far backward in an armchair. My
friend is standing near me with his back
toward the table gesticulating and ap
parently endeavoring to push his chair
away from him.
The evening glow at the window has
not quite disappeared yet. I look at my
watch and am astounded—the gigantic
air voyage has lasted only twelve
minutes.
His House Was Stolen.
“I never in my life saw such a place
as Chicago,” said L. P. Thomas, of'
Springfield, who recently arrived from
that city. “I am used to New York,”
he added, “and don't object to having
the socks stoic off my feet, provided the
street thieves leave my feet on my ankles.
But Chicago—whew I” and he leaned
back iu a Colouade armchair. “Let me
tell you what happened to a cousin of
mine out there,” said Mr. Thomas, feel
ing for a match. “It was about five
years ago that I shut up his house in Chi
cago aud went abroad. Ho was gone for
over two years. Just before returning he
wrote to have the house painted. The
house painting firm to whom he wrote
replied iu about a month, stating that
they would like to do the work if they
could find the house. My cousin hustled
home to Chicago and skipped up to the
lot.
“The lot was there but the house was
-gone. Somebody had actually moved
away the entire building and all that it
contained. The neighbors made no re
monstrance, of course, supposing that the
owner had ordered its removal.”—Phila
delphia Press.
Ruins of Buried Cities.
News from Kiachta states that the ex
ploring expedition under the orders of
M. Yadrinstew has returned there after
having successfully made the ascent of
the heights of Oreoa. The expedition
had also discovered the ruins of the pal
aces of the Mongol Khans and of two
large ancient cities. Oue of the latter
had a circumference of twenty versts, or
fourteen miles. A cemetery with a num-
Ixr of royal tombs was also fouud there.
Lastly, the expedition i'lmiu 9 to have de
fined the geographical position of Kara
koram, the capital of Genghis Khan.
HOW THEY FEED.
Ol>l> WAYS IN WHICH VARIOUS
ANIMALS TAKE THEIR FOOD.
Eating Without a Mouth—Teeth in
the Throat—Masticating in the
Stomach—Absorbing Food
Through the Skin.
The process of eating is by no means
the same in every animal, as the sub
joined notes will show.
That peculiar echinoid, the sea urchin,
has five teeth in five jaws—all the five
immediately surrounding the stomach.
The jaws have a peculiar centralized mo
tion, all turning inward and downward,
so that they also act as feeders.
Snails have teeth on their tongues,
hundreds of them, but, as if these were
not enough, some have them also in their
stomach.
The cuttle-fish, which among other
strange things always walks with its
head downward, does not chew its food
at all, but masticates with its gizzard.
Bo do geese, fowls, ducks and indeed all
modern birds. Seizing their food in
their beaks, they swallow it whole, if
grain or seed, and in large pieces if it be
fruit or bread. In that condition it goes
into the gizzard, a powerful muscle
with a very tough, horny lining, which
acts as a mill, being sufficiently powerful
to pulverize uncooked corn. To assist
in the milling process, all grain-eating
birds swallow little pieces of gravel,
glass, crockery, metal, etc., the horny
interior of the gizzard being sufficiently
tough to escape cutting by these mater
ials. It is because of this fact that the
ostrich has acquired his reputation of en
joying a ferruginous diet.
Even when they had teeth birds only
used them to take their food, depending
upon the gizzard for mastication then as
now.
Fishes and reptiles use their teeth for
the same purpose, that of taking their
food, but like the birds they gulp down
their food unchewed, ami unbroken if
possible.
There are, however, exceptions. The
ray, or skate, for instance, has a mouth
set transversely across its head, the jaws
working with a rolling motion like two
hands set back to back. In the jnws are
three rows of flat teeth, set like a mosaic
pavement, and between those rolling
jaws the fish crushes oysters and other
mollusks like so many nuts.
The carp’s teeth are set back on the
pharnyx, so that it may be literaliy said
to masticate its food in its throat. The
carp, too, is about the only cud-chewing
fish, the coarsely swallowed food being
forced up to these throat teeth for complete
mastication.
Some fishes are absolutely toothless,
like the sucker and lamprey; others again
have hundreds and hundreds of teeth,
sometimes so many that they cover all
parts of the mouth.
The great Greenland whale has no
teeth, its baleen plates or whalebone,
taking their place. Along the center of
the palate runs a strong ridge, and on
each side of this there is a wide depres
sion along which the plates are inserted.
These are long and flat, hanging free,
and are placed transversely—that is
across the mouth—with their sides parallel
aud near each other. The base and outer
edge of the plates are of solid whalebone,
but the inner edges are fringed, lilliug
up the interior of the mouth, and acting
as u strainer for the food, which consists
of the small swimming mollusks and me
dusa;, or jelly fishes. This whale rarely,
if ever, swallows anything larger than a
herring, shoals of these small creatures
being entangled in the fibers of the
baleen, the water which does not escape
from the mouth being expelled by the
blow holes. Though the cavity of this
whale’s mouth is big enough to contain a
ship's long boat, the gullet is not larger
than a man’s fist. The lower jaw has
neither baleen nor teeth, but has large,
fleshy lips within which the upper is
received when the mouth is closed.
While the Greenland whale has no
teeth the sperm whale has them in great
quantities on the lower jaw, and uses
them, too, when occasion requires. On
the other hand the narwhaie very seldom
develops more than one, the left upper
canine. It makes up for the lack of
number by the extraordinary growtli at
tained by this one tooth. It grows out
and right forward, on a line with the
body, until it becomes a veritable tusk,
sometimes reaching the length of ten
feet. Apropos of tusks, the elephant’s
are its unduly developed upper incissors;
those of the walrus are its upper cauincs,
and so are those of the wild hog.
Man is the only animal that has teeth—
incissors, canines and molars—of an equal
height. Man, the ape, and nearly all
ruminants, have thirty-two teeth. The
hog. however, is better off than this,
aud has forty-four. So have the opossum
and mole. The river dolphin of South
America has far beyond this, however,
having no less than 222 teeth. Teeth
are not part of the skeleton, but belong
to the appendages, like skin and hair.
The sturgeon is toothless and draws
iu its food by suction, but the shark has
hundreds of teeth, set in rows, that
sometimes number ten.
Lobsters and crabs masticate their food
with their horny jaws, but they have also
sets of teeth in their stomach, where they
complete the work of chewing. But
there is oue peculiar kind of crab, called
the king or horse-shoe crab, which chews
its food with its legs. This is an actual
fact, the little animal grinding its mor- !
sels between its thighs before it passes -
them over to its mouth.
The jelly fish absorbs its food by wrap
ping itself around the object which it
seeks to make its own. The star fish is
even more accommodating. Fastening
itself to the body it wishes to feed on, it
turns its stomach inside out and enwraps
its prey with this useful organ.
Dogs seize their food with their jaws,
cats, with the’r feet, and so do monkeys,
some of them pressing their prehensile
tails into service. The squirrel uses its
paw* to carry its food to its mouth, the
elephaut its trunk, and the giraffe, aut
cater aud toad with their tongue.
Spiders chew their food with
jaws, which are sharp enough to giv
quite a nip.
Grasshoppers and locusts are very well
provided with the machinery
foresting much anl often. They hav<
saw-like jaws, and gizzards, too, the
latter being fitted out with horny teeth.
The caterpillar leeds with two saw
edged jaws, working transversely, and
uses them to such good advantage that
he eats three or four times his own
weight every day.
Toads, tortoises, turtles and most
lizzards have no teeth. Frogs have teeth
in their upper jaw only.
Anteaters, sloths and armadillos have
no teeth.
The lion and the tiger, and, indeed,
most of the carnivora, do not grind their
food,using their jaws only up and down,
the molars acting like chopping knifes,
or rather scissors. Their mouths, in fact,
are a veritable hash mill.
The butterfly pumps nectar into itself
through a tube, and bees and flies suck
up their food with a long tongue or a
proboscis.
The spider’s mouth is quite a compli •
cated affair. It has fangs for holding its
prey, masticatory organs for bruising its
solid food and a sucking apparatus for
taking up the fluids. Quite as compli
cated is the mouth of the mosquito, which
consists of the lances, the saws and the
pumping tubes.
The leech has three saws, with which
it does good service in the phlebotomy
line.
The woodpecker has a three-barbed
tongue like a Fijian’s spear, with which
it draws out the worm which it has ex
cited by its tapping.
The clam feeds with a siphon and the
oyster with its beard.
Strange and curious as some of these
modes of feeding are, however, they none
of them compare in simplicity and effec
tiveness with that practiced by the tape
worm. This creature has neither mouth
nor stomach, but just lays along and ab
sorbs the already digested food through
its skin. —San Francisco Chronicle.
Thrilling Adventure in a Crater.
A party who have been exploring the
crater of lava beds about twenty miles
southwest of Albuquerque,N. M.,have re
turned, and vouch for the truthfulness
of the story related by .1. A. Beaton and
R. W. Loudon. These two gentlemen
stated that on their way to the Malpaii
they met a Mexican who volunteered for
a few dollars to go and show them what
he knew about the crater. Asa general
thing the Mexicans are superstitious and
shun the vicinity of the lava beds, but
this man agreed to go. He piloted the
Albuquerqeans to a cave on the highest
point, through cracks in the floor of
which a warm vapor ascended. Viewdng
the surroundings for a few seconds, the
men were startled by a low, rumbling
sound, like distant thunder, and the lava
beneath their feet trembled.
The Mexican fled immediately to the
open air, but before the gentlemen could
realize it a portion of the bottom of the
cave fell, and they with it. into intense
darkness. Neither was injured, but the
ground upon which they fell seemed to
sway to and fro. Fortunately one of tho
party had a candle and some matches,
aud after innumerable attempts to light
it the candle was made to burn.
When light was obtained a lake of
water, black ns ink, was seen at their
feet, while the opposite shore appeared to
be moving from right to left. It seemed
that they had landed on a floating island
or huge mass of lava which has probably
been eddying around in this strange
whirlpool for centuries. The Mexican
soon returned to the mouth of the cave,
and, lowering lariats, by the aid of their
horses pulled the imprisoned explorers
out of their bondage aud to the surface
once more. —San Francisco Chronicle.
Wanted Ilis Drink.
Dr. Fitzgerald: It is not infrequently
that we hear of horses asking in theii
peculiar language for food and water;
but it is, I think, a little uncommon for
one to assist in procuring these neces
saries of life, as a horse of my acquaint
ance did. Albert was iu the habit ol
being watered m a wooden bucket pn
the porch of the well, which was about
two feet from the grouud. If he was
out iu the yard and wanted water he
would come to the porch, and if his
bucket was empty would neigh until some
one came and tilled it for him. One day
the bucket was taken from its accustoiped
place and put in the yard, about two or
three yards from the well, for the calf to
driuk, and was not brought back.
Albert came after awhile for water, and
seeing his bucket in the yard stepped up
to driuk, and finding it empty he grasped
it between his teeth and brought it to
the porch, set it down with a self-satisfied
air and called for water. He deserved
it, I think; don’t you?
The Most Costly Wood.
The most costly of all the various
woods now in use among cabinetmakers
is what is technically known as French
walnut; it does not, however, come from
France, but is brought from certain parts
of Persia, Circassia, and Asia, its growth
being thus exclusively Oriental. To
work the logs into a condition for
veneers, they arc first subjected to a
steaming process until they become al
most as soft as butter; they are then
fastened to an iron beam, which revolves
around a finely tempered knife with a
razor-like edge of the same length as the
log. Every time this beam turns around
it moves a fraction of an inch nearer to
the knife, and a thin sheet of wood is
shaved off with great smoothness and
laid on the floor; these sheets are in fact
but the one hundred and twentieth of an
inch in thickness, and indeed the veneers
a:# frequently made as thin as 175 to the
inch. The veneers used on furniture are
somewhat thicker, the thinner ones being
used on picture frames, also for covering
walls in some cases.
Upward of 500 horses have recently
been purchased in Australia by the agents
*>■ the Indian Government.
AGRICULTURAL
TOPICS OF INTEREST RELATIVE
TO FARM AND GARDEN.
VARIATION IN HORSE-RADISH.
While the flavor of horse-radish does
not vary, yet there is often considerable
difference in the pungency of its root.
We have seen that grown on heavy and
rather wet soil much stronger than that
from sandy nr gravelly land. It may be
there are different varieties, or the differ
ence may be due to the soil. After the
roots acquire age, they become more
tough and stringy. Hence horse-radish
growing wild does not work up so well
as that grown by regular gardeners and
always cleaned out when a year old.—
American Cultivator.
THE START FOR TOMATOES.
It is time to plant tomato-seeds in
boxes of fine soil in the house or in hot
beds. Do this even when near enough
to town to buy plants, because home
made plants can be made more hardy
than those from the florist, and they are
always at hand when the right time comes
for setting them out. Time spent in
going for plants is often more valuable
in the busy spriug than the plants. I
have found that frequent transplantings
greatly improve the young plants. They
should be removed from the box or bed
into small pots or cans, then into larger
and larger, until when set out they are
large, bushy plants, which, when knocked
from the dry-pots, with all the earth
around the roots, will not seem conscious
of the transfer.
An experiment last summer of setting
tomato plants at the bases of sunflowers,
up which they were trained, proved very
successful. The ground was made rich,
and the vines bore an abundance of good
sized, firm, -well-flavored Mikado toma
toes.—New York. Tribune.
SOWING PEAS IN SEASON.
In growing peas it is well to remem
ber that early kinds cannot be success
fully grown out of season. They mature
early aud must be grown early in the
season. It does not follow that as they
may be sown in March and fruit in fifty
days, they may be sown in July aud
fruit in the same time. The fact is,
they will grow more rapidly in one-third
less time, but, as soon as they mature,
their constitutional weakness renders
them unable to withstand the heat, and
they are attacked by mildew and perish.
For late peas, late varieties must be sown.
Early kinds may be sown at intervals of
a week or two—as long as they will re
main in bearing up to June, but not
later with safety, aud late kinds planted
with them will carry the supply out a
month later, which is the best that can
be done. This does not apply to corn,
which is a tropical plant and requires
heat, or to beans, which are equally
favored by heat; so that although the
peas may give out by September, there
will be vegetables of other kinds sufficient
for all uses. —New York Times.
CORN NOT FODDER.
■“I don’t want corn fodder green, dry
aor ensilaged,” say* Professor Chamber
lain. “The real corn crop is best and
cheapest. One cannot afford to grow au
inferior corn crop for cattle food when a
better crop can be grown at the same ex
pense. It costs no more to care for an
acre of field corn than to properly pro
duce the same area of fodder corn. To
be sure, some sow two bushels of seed
broadcast, aud get a watery crop that
isn’t woith harvesting. But corn should
never be broadcasted. Not over sixteen
quarts of seed should be used, and the
planting should be done in order, far
enough apart to admit the sun and culti
vation. When the grain is ready to
pick, simply pluck the ears and throw
them in rows upon the bare ground.
They will take no harm whatever if sim
ply moved once in a week or two. The
crop can be gathered and placed in the
silo as readily us if it had never borne
ears, and is just as good or better, being
matured, besides providing the profit
consisting of grain. Ears treated iii this
way of the past fall have been cured in
good order, notwithstanding the severity
of the rainy season, during which they
were left upon the ground for weeks.”
POUI.TRY REARING.
It is feared by many persons who feel
inclined to the pursuit of rearing poultry
that the market may be overstocked and
the demand cease, or at least be so over
supplied that the market value of chick
ens will be too small for profit. There is
little fear of this. As to poultry gener
ally, there cannot well be too much of
it, for it can be produced cheaply enough
to supply a demand thrice as large as the
present with profit at considerably less
than the rates now current. With a
larger supply the demands of the dealers
for profit will be lessened, because the
trade will be increased, hence one cent
per pound profit may pay these useful
public servants then as well as three
cents now. But the rearing of broilers
is now a fine art, and only a few of those
who attempt it succeed. Hence, while
the demand is constantly increasing, the
supply does not keep pace with it, and
will hardly do so for many years. But
with a small reduction in price tha de
mand will double or treble,and the same
apparatus being sufficient for twice as
many chickens as are now reared, the
total profits of the business may bo in
creased. although the prices may be di
minished. No doubt there is plenty of
room for many more brooders and
broods.
TREATMENT OF SHRUBS
Comparatively few persons know the
beneficial effects of dressings of soil when
applied to ground which has been ex
haused by the roots of shrubs. The ne
cessity exists for fresh food most gen
erally in cases where trees grow among
•and overtop the shrubs and where leaves
are carted off before decaying. Four
inches in thickness may be taken as the
least quantity of earth to prove of per
manent good. Wonderful results have
been known to follow in the next season’s
growth, through a liberal application of
fresh earth immediately over the roots of
shrubs that were apparently dying at the
time of the application.
Another plan of putting fresh vitality
into shrubs, where the soil is strong, is
to dig a circular trench at sufficient dis
tance from the trunk of the plant not to
stop growth, the width of the trench to
be not less than twelve or fourteen
inches. An opening is formed at one
side and the soil is simply turned over
and broken up to a depth of about fifteen
inches. When the shrub is circled the
soil thrown out is put back and the work
completed. If this be done early in the
spring great benefit will arise. The
reason is much the same as in the case of
shrubs dressed with fresh soil., viz., the
emission of numbers of strong loots in a
medium more suited to a healthy growth
than hard soil in an unbroken state. This
latter method is one much practised by
English horticulturists.— World.
CLEAN MILK.
There is one thing that everybody on
this earth is interested in, no matter
where he lives or what he does, no mat
ter whether lich or poor, refined or
vulgar—that is clean milk. Pure milk
is nourishing to those in health and to the
sick. Foul or impure milk is poisonous
to the blood and unfit to be taken into
the system. If milk, after standing a
few hours, looks dark and cloudy at the
bottom of the vessel there is something
wrong, and the matter should be inquired
into at once. Extra care is needed to
keep the milk clean where cows are kept
in stables. The animals should be care
fully brushed, and every particle of dirt
wiped or washed from the udder, and
the stables cleaned before milking is be
gun, as the fresh milk absorbs foul odors
readily. With farmers there is no excuse
for using unclean milk. Those in cities
who procure supplies from milkmen may
be obliged to endure what they can not
change. City authorities, however,
should take the necessary precautions to
have the people served with pure milk.
It is quite as important as that they be
served with clean meat. Milk which is
kept where it can be reached by currents
of impure air will absorb the impurities
with which the air is loaded. Smells
from the kitchen may be tasted in the
milk kept in cupboards opening into the
kitchen, where vegetables are being
cooked daily.
The cleanliness and purity of milk
also depends on the food and water given
to cows. If the water is found in stag
nant pools or mud-holes look out foi
fevers, headaches, and other forms of
malarial disorders. Clean food, clean
water, clean udders, clean stables, and
clean pails and pans—then wc have clean
milk, and if kept in a clean place it will
continue clean and pure, and always
prove itself wholesome, nourishing food.
Chicago Times.
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.
Don’t use doubtful seeds.
Milk, sweet or sour, is excellent foi
fowls.
Good onion seed sinks when placed in
water.
The parsnip is a root much relished by
cattle.
Fresh sprouts of onions are fine for
poultry.
Exclude light from potatoes and keep
them as cool as possible.
The shelter that shuts out both pure
and cold air is not a profitable struc
ture.
Rust and rot do more for the imple
ment maker in winter than wear and tear
do in summer.
The secrets of large yields always and
everywhere are rich soil, good seed and
thorough tillage.
Many people are prevented from rais
ing asparagus by an exaggerated notion
of the labor involved. Its requirements
are simple.
If a ben will leave her nest when any
one approaches she should not be used
for setting purposes. She will generally
prove an unsteady sitter and breaker of
eggs-
A good crop of both corn and weeds
cannot be grown on the same grouud at
the same time, any more than two rail
way trains cau pass each other on the
same track.
Profitable feeding must be steady
feeding—in spasmodic feeding the feasts
may do actual harm, and the short rations
surely entail loss. Do not cram one day
and starve the next.
In buying poultry for breeding pur
poses, go to Some reliable breeder, who
has his reputation at stake. It may cost
a little more for the birds, but the buyer
can depend on what he gets. Culls are
expensive at any price.
Some farmers think that they can
afford to spend a frequent half-holiday
in town as their crops are growing. Sad
mistake! A farmer can not neglect his
business any time without loss, no better
than the merchant or mechanic.
Experiments in feediug mileb cows,
described in a bulletin of the Massachu
setts State Agricultural Experiment
Station, attest the great economical value
of corn-fodder, stover, and ensilage for
the production and qualitv of milk and
cream.
Where one cow only is kept there is
little trouble in obtaining all the butter
the milk is capable of producing. But
where there are twenty cows this is quite
mnossible, as the milk of different cows
requres varied management and treat
ment.
It is difficult to sow grain or grass seed
evenly on hillsides if the sower walks
sidewise of the hill; throwing down the
hill, the grain falls on a broad strip
thinly; throwing up the hill, on a narrow
strip thickly. Also, it is difficult to
walk straight.
Ground bone is a fertilizer that bene
fits nearly all crops; can he applied at
all seasons of the year; will not injure
any tree or plant; is permanent and last -
ing in its effecis, and is the cheapest
form of fertilizer in proportion to the
benefit it imparts that can be used.