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yT. *E* IfAllT, Publisher.- VOLUmW NEWS OLEATOOg, Tlie average life of the buffalo gnat is said to be about fifteen days. Steel works'to OoSt $400(000 ft re telbl erected in Batesville, Ark., during this year. One man will ship 9,000 cords of ton* bark fromtlie Vicinity of Chattanooga this season. Mrs. L..G. Coburn, a lady of San Antonio, Tex., has 40,000 silk worms at work in her yard. There are .5)90. oqnjdptat pregpt in the Norjfc Cafojgna |e4it&htjaly, Juf whom are and*B(fc aft colored. An orange tree in Orange county, Fla. measures six feet four inches in cir cumference three feed jfrora the ground. An Atlanta metfchnan'say*-oi\e-foiirth of the corn coming into Georgia from the West is in a damaged condition. The old Tallahasse gas-works were sold the past week for SSO. They were abandoned at the commencement of the late war. The Vicksburg and Ship Island and Memphis and Vicksburg railroads have been sold to R. T. Wilson A ' Cos., of New York, for $400,000. A tract., farming bind; -y£s sold in Mxtotefe foiling, *' Sheriff’s sale a few days ago for fifteen and twenty cents an acre. The Times says the ne groes of that city] are accumulating property, and several of them are bnild inghouses to cost from $2,000 to $4,000. Mr. J. A. Anderson, who fives near Athens, Ga., has a gourd that has been in use to hold pepper and spice|. .ftyer 200 years. The genealogy of dje gsjprd is clearly traced. A little boy at Mt. Crawford, Va,, rad his £*n| through a crack in a hog pen ,-wi i pks**! td)oriie ifaHiftd, dud be fore help could reach him the flesh was completely torn from. thy bones by tbq bogs. (Ilrfllwkl'r ‘ Memphis Avalanche: The buffalo gnat is worse than high water. A fifty foot bank is no obstacle to him. With a grindstone finder each wjng flies over hill and dale and bores the life out of the A*o*f£i] Montezuma ((fa.) A man from Drayton tells us cf a combat he saw several days ago 'between a rooster and a crow. The rooster was attacked in a field while attending to his own le gitimate business.. victory, for -a while seemed donbtfiU, but finally the rooster conquered and left his opponent in the field dead. Near Penfield, (fa., lives two ladies, who, since the war, started to farming with one old blind horse. Now they own a good plantation sjell stocked, all, paid for, and have bales of cotton on liana. They man aged for themselves, one attending to the farm while the other managed the household affairs. The Mormon t'dd*rs hare both no tified that they cannot teach their ab • horrent doctrines in Morgan county, Miss., At a meeting of the Apple Grove Grange the following among other em phatic resoldfihnCVere adopted-; Re solved, that appointed who will present to said parties a copy of these resolutions,"and respectfully re quest these Mormon elders who are in truding themselves, and their vicious? and devilish dbctriflfs JpQ thus coal munity to desist from so doing, and further, to leave this community im mediately. never to return, Carrollton (Ga.) Times: “Mr. John R. Handley Jtyfyig niSar hercv has arc markable with rentarknblc bis* tory. It is made litre the ordinary rat tler razor, the thick part of the back be ing soiid gold, so pronounced by silver smiths. He has been offered $25 for it, as it-is thought that the gold upon it would amouri'to jfull| th^ t iucljpdhe party makiSjylfie mffer pr<q>Wmr Vrre*- turn the razor as before minus the gold. Mr. Handley, who was present at the surrender of Gen. Stoneman near Macon, found this remarkable razor in the. road, w|i*re, Geu- <‘if < fe'jE'rfthe Afc-fcgdqr. a1 or irfc *7 at Humoring customers: “Yes,” saida lady customer,; •' ‘ these are very pretty- - t but haven’t yon something more ex pensive ?” The gentlemanly clerk took down another package of the same goods, remarking briskly: “Oh, yes, ma’am ; here is something which will more per yar^but^^js^ it was the highest. . Pbof. Mehan has advanced the theory that the absence of frees hfion the Ameri can prairies is* due to annual fires, it being kpowfi thatsncb fires oamtd by the Indians dhring a Weg period.- and atmualsmay in- i ttieii''area ' yearly', while trees were never able to fret beyond the line to which the annual ‘fires extended. THffi JACKSON NEWS. I i I The elongated Oscar W. Ildo had made $25,000 out of his lectures. The asssuraneo IrtisgQiie out that thera will be plenty of peaches in Southern Indiana. Governor of Missouri is of thtWipbannstEat grraSlr is aeao. feel pretty sure that thq Governor hopes he is, at all events. Toi satiate his blood-thirsty appetite,! King Tlieebaw caused the butchery of fifty-four persons. It is to be hoped thjnf tins wifi last Jiim/or Jo me time. Congress js endeavoring to regulate' oleomargarine. It is to be sincerely i>o r n Hint, it will succeed to that degree that the honest butter-maker may be pro tectee!. * ■ —■<■>>■! ji 'i- . . * Senator Mahone, the Virginia Road justor, readjusted his family affairs the other day by presenting his wife with a set of diamonds valued at $40,000. There is no repudiation about that. / —a-A— The Queen of England does not for get thoso in death whom she held in high esteem in life. On the anniversary of Lord Beaconsfield’s death, she sent two wreathes Of immortolles and prim roses to be placed upon his grave. Tub yonr. Ifiß2 has so far made rather a food showing in disastrous events.' Missouri, Kansas and Pennsylvania have all suffered devastating' oyclones, nnd there, hav* already been ssverpWhookuig calamities. The President recommends Congress to make a law prohibiting trespass on Indian .territory by white settlers, mak ing the first offense finable in the sum of SSOO, and the second, SI,OOO. Wo rauyjfcpwtjunk the President is reaching for Captain Payne, of Oklahoma fame. Capt. Howgate stole $160,000 govern-, mnt funds, and now, that he has escaped from prison, Marshal Henry oners sooo reward for his apprehension.’ Five hundred dollars is very clever. If all Iris carcass is worth, the Cap tain may feel that he is tolerably secure. Queen Victoria, who went to Men tone, France, for her health, has re turned Suddenly and clandestinely to England. That seems to be about tho way royalty has to tcavej, nowadays to escape rypy stray built is that may ba flying arouncC Tim Bible used in the United States Senate in swearing in Senators has been stolen. It has been in use for fifty tliree years, and every Seuator admitted Hbat; period was sworn in upon’ that I&bhv nd had kissed it. Seinebody probaby wanted a relic. The London Spectator lias an exalted opinou of the wonderful strides individ ual possessions are assumingin America, It says “that years hence English for tunes wfll appear very paltry compared .-With American.” THe Spectator had in its mind’s eye Vanderbilt, Gould and the fry who are following in then- foot steps. Aj Chicago firm ha%Jjjred Mason, the ] solcifer vAro tried to assassinate Guiteau, as a salesman in their store for one year, at a salary of SI,BOO, after he is pardon, ed from prison. Asa salesman, Mason being inexperienced, would evidently not be much of a success, but as an ad vertising card, ha jrortld probably bo worth SI,BOO for a year or two. There is no doubt but that the peopla of tho Pacific States want Chinese immi gration stopped. la voicing this senti ment, the San Francisfeo Bulletin says : The veto iB a unique document among out State paper*. It reserves all its tenderness for the Mix Chinese companies, and slaps in the face, so to gjreak, three sovereign States of the Union. It upholds slavery after a biobdy wat waged to destroy it. and puts tho “lobby” American Cosn sjejlii. And now Do Lrsaeps is going to flood the Sahara Desert from the Meiliterrat nean Sea, tho French Cabinet Council approving of his plan. Scientists say that the great desert is above the sei level, and this being true, and Da Lesseps being a great man, we suppose tlm |jme jSatt nrfyed.whsn we shall see water running upnill. ! ♦ ■ ■ - >l The President has transmitted to Congress a letter addressed by the Mim ister Plenipotentiary of Mexico to the I Secretary of State, proposing a conclu* sioitefuvnif ion; l*tjce<* flic two Coun tries f(Jr thafU|ifd S|at*R Wifi Melico, fr*n the! R m QUA 4 §aeo.n, J>y Jhe erection of durable monuments. The expense of crowning the Czar at Moscow wjU be ten million almost eight million dollars. In othek words, enough money to feed,and clothe 30,000 peasants for a year will be wasted in gilding the ceremonies of a tottering dynasty. The nobility of Moscow and Petersburg ,Imvfe volunteered-their ', ] it. ctio:, to the- Trnr<rM -futiiay, and the Czar has accepted the proffer. 1 It has been decided, and the decision ! ,r a a a hair-breadth escape—l3 to 32—i tliat women can BOt be educated for the | medical profession at Harvard College. ' That Governing Board came pretty | nearly getting tied on women IhaJ timet 1 It is stated that lire Faculty docs not '’object to the women themselves, but the " 33evoted to the Interest of J, *ksoix andi 34utts Oounty, WEDKEgftrVY, MAfY' g, 188-2, tfme-honorei‘principle of educating men only must be maintained. That lets the women out. England made a great fuss about the “farce at Washington’’—referring to ilia tedious trial, of Chateau—and advised this nation*to*make : short work of tfie assassin. Singular indeed is it, that right cln tlio heels of this farce one Maclean shoots at the crown head of that country and is acquitted on the ground of insanity. Now, it is a question whether Macleau is as crazy as Guiteau, and it is self-avi&nt that Guitestn know ho was committing "a crime against' the law. C?ol. R. G. Ingkrsoll has been reply ing, in New York, to Talmage’s assaults and at his lecture Sunday night, speak ing of ills Ht-feat for tlio Illinois Govern orship, he said: They say I was defeated for Governor of Illinois because I was an infldol, and that I am an infidel because I was defeated. That’s logic. Now I’ll tell you. They asked me whether I was an infidel, and I said I was ! I was de feated. I preserved my manhood and lost an office. If everybody were as frank as I was, some men now in office would be private citi zen. I would rather he what lam than hold any office iu the world aud boa slimy hypo crito. MRSf. Donnougiit’r husband left her in PiMrirkmce and wont fortune hunting to California four years ago. He sent hex mutrfy oreusionally, and übw, haying acr euwfii Inter! $2!>,005, has returned to his old home. But he finds that his wife married Thomas Frookletou, in 1879, and has since had two pairs of twins. Froekleton says that she told him she w&3 a widow, and he is willing now to give her up, but Donnought doesn’t want her under anycirenmstances. Thus between the two she falls through, and tlio twin* come tumbling after. fiftrfAKEß - Keifeb has discharged a second official stenographer from the House, the two men (discharged being the (driest of the corps aud the most effi cient men on the staff. In their places have been put two others, favorites, ono of whom has already acknowledged his *nd his dismissal asked for by a committee. In asking for ah explanation the Now York Herald pointedly says : “Do these discharges mean that the inquiries of Congressional conmiittoeS into alleged iniquitous tran sactions like those of S higher and shall be gendered nugatory and void by incom plete and defective records?” Keifer perhaps can answer. - The JolinF. Slater Fund of $1,000,000 for the education of the colored people of the South seems to have excited wratfi in the bosom of a Malden (Mass.) editor, who charges that Mr. Slater ac cumulated the money as proprietor of cotton factories in Connecticut and Mas sachusetts, which have been notorious for presenting Some Of the wbrst features of “long hours, poor pay, and thieving i truck stores.” The aforesaid Malden editor says it should be stated thus : “The cotton operatives of Connecticut and .Massachusetts liavd (fiven ono million dollars ! to educate the negro, and Mr. Slater go! s tho ; credit of it.” It may barely be possible that this is “conscience money” that Mr. Slater has given. If bo, good enough. Another blowing up of rocks at Hell (fate will tako place as soon as the ar rangements now being made by General Nfcwtbn are completed. This timo the area to be exploded.wijl be three times as great as that of 1876. Eleven acres of the reef known as Flood Rock ore being tunneled at a depth of fifty or sixty feet, and when this work is com pleted, two years heme or so, the whole reef will be broken up with one scat tered charge of dynamite. About seven acres are already completed. Ilalletts Rock, broken up. in 1870, lias been fished out and carried away until there is now a twenty-six foot channel at low water, where six years ago was one of the barriers of navigation. ■ :■ ryT It is Deuevei tnat even newspaper correspondents are occasionally capable of exaggeration. At all events they are now telling of a boy in Paris who has a telescopic eye. One eye is as largo as a silver dollar aud the other as small as a French pea. Up to a few months ago this large eye was of no use. But after an operation on it an astonishing change tvamrtpir. ,~Ttta Aye became •jMemwpie ip ft* y;*ige,' and the boy could expand or contract the pupil at will. At night he could sef the rings and mwins of Jupiter and the newly discovered satel lfif S of (Mart [f’he&f it **s discovered lliat the sninlleb eye was diicrosoopic, a drop of water appearing to him through it as a wo+ld of life. The oculists, mioro scopjsts, .and astjopomers of Paris are said to be in a state of great excitement over tho boy. r.J mV. • The report of the majority of the Gobrrrißtoe appointed to audit the ex penses of the illness, and death of the late President allows Dr. Bliss $25,000, Dos Atgnew and Hamilton, $15,000 each, and Ilrs. Reyburn, Boynton and Hunan Edson, SIO,OOO each. The mininority, in their report, say: - ; We do not object to the pc.-moot by the gen eral gr.vcrnrMO*t Sf fils ffnmat ejLpsrmesuf s!ie late IVesi-idit; who V&V stricken 8owt) i n't he performance of bis duties, and because of too . occnpylng that public statiwh. On* objection. to the report grows out of the recommendation >4B 'he payment Jvr seryiits, rf JUiu pbysiciauH and surgeons who attended the late President. We are perfectly willing to con cede that a liberal compensation should bo al lowed the physicians and surgeons, a compensa tion in excess eveu of what it was possiblo for Eny of those medical attendants to have earned in their ordinary practice during that time, lint the sums rocommendofi to be paid by the majority of the committee are excessive.' Wo ire of opinion there was no extraordinary med ical skill exhibited in tbs treatment of tho case, and nothing calling for an extraordinary al lowance for professional services, but while willing to be liberal we oould notonnaerrt to the manner of payment reoommended, nor to the extravaganed aud wanton lavishmont of tho pubiio funds. There *re a great many private citi zens who hold about that same view. 1 Bail road Sociability. “ Speaking about the sociability ol railroad travelers," said the man with the crutches and watoii pocket over his oye, “I never gqt so well acquainted with the passengers on a train, as I did the otlior day on the Milwaukee and St. 1 Paul Railroad. We Vfcro going at the rate of about thirty miles au hour, and another train from the other direction telescoped us. We were all thrown into each other’s society, and brought into immediate social contact, so to speak. “I went over and sat in the lap of a corpulent lady from Manitoba, and a girl from Chicago jumped over nine Beats and sat down on the plug hat of a preacher from La Crosse, with so much timid, girlish enthusiasm, that it shoved his hat down over liis shoulders. “ Everybody seomed to lay aside tlio usual cool reserve of strangers, and wo made ourselves entirely nt home. “A shy young man with ,an emaciated oilcloth valise, left his own Scat, and went over and sat down on a lunch basket where a briilal couple Seemed to be wrestling with their first picnic. Do you suppose that reticent young man would have done such a thing on ordi nary occasions ? Do you think if he had beon at a celebration at homo that he would have risen impetuously and grind whore those people were eating l>y them selves, and sat dowij. on the cranberry jelly of a total stranger ? “I should rather think not. “ Why, ono old man, who probably at home led the class meeting, and who was as dignified as Rosoee Conkling's father, was eating a piece of custard pie, when wo met the other train, and lie left his own seat and went over to the front end of the oar and shot that piece of custard pie into the ear of a beautiful widow from lowa. “People traveling somehow forget tho austerity of their home lives, and form acquaintances that sometimes last through life." —Laramie Jloonm'atiy. Trees and Rainfall. It is universally acknowledged by all scientific observers that the rainfall of a country diminishes rapidly as its for ests ore cut down. In Australia there seems to be an exception to this rale. In New South Wales, according to the Journals and Proceedings of tho Royal Society there, about one-half of the tim ber laud of the colony has, during tho last twenty-five years, been denuded of trees by natural decay, ring-harking and clearing for cultivation. Naturally a diminution of the rainfall might liavo been expected, but this has certainly not been the case; indbed, statistics rather indicate the reverse. Tho prin cipal rivers, too, liavo not been dinrin iij#eil in volume of jvator. The experi ence of Mr. Abbott, with ring-barking of trees on his run at Glengarry, seems especially significant. This operation (for improvement of grazing capacity) ho carried out in 1869 and 1870, on most of the watersheds of three creeks each übout two miles long, draining well-de fined valleys shut in by high ridges of basalt. For twenty years previously these creeks wore dry watercourses, only holding water for a few days after rain,. and iua few places in winter. But soon after ring-barking' they became, nnd have continued, permanent streams, with increased flew of water and num- ber of springs. The explanation that Mr. Abbott offer! is that the large pro portion of the rainfall, formerly taken up by the gum-trees and evaporated, now finds its way to the crooks and riv ers. Another ruestion is suggested : Do the Australia! gum-trees differ in their action on tho rainfall from thoso of other lands ? Old Time Reformer. It is the genernlopinion of the reform ers of our day tint they, or at most their immediate predecessors, wore first in the field, and that all was darkuess before. I As far as suffrage is concerned, the fact that women coaH vote in New Jersey seventy or eighty years ago throws some doubt upon thii claim. The suspicion is strengthened into conviction by au appeal to his:ory. A Masaaoliusetts woman has discovered that Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, “"<1 gener ally his wisest eouuselor, as far back as 1774 wrote to lim in behalf of woman’s citizenship. He was at the time in at tendance on the first Constitutional Oon | gross at Philadelphia. She Bpeeially a-iked him to remember the ladies in the | new code of lavs and to treat them bet i ter than his ancestors had done. Mercy 1 Otis, sister of James Otis, about the j same time hit upon the ginee much, used J phrase of “ iihefent riglrts,” declaring f that they “ Ibe onged to' all mankind, and 1 had all been conferred on all by the God of nations?" These aro old authorites •according to tlie American standard of •antiquity, ami we think Hemiramis and Zenobir, Hjwffiv nothing of fiber ancient | women oiT ncle, must have held very nmolithe same idea of the equality ol ; (.hfWHii. If io utterances of theirs V thispfte# are oxtantyTheir career® cab still?! be tadfcd, and “actions speak luudelfthau wirds ' ■_ jpijun in America. It is Inflated that th of opium coaauuers m this country lias doubled in tin last four years, and that they nowfuse 6,000,000 grains a year. The ißjport Oi opium last year Was 140 ]>*r cent, in esoess of that in 1876, and that year the import was 70 per cent. 1 gllater tbarjki 1867. Physicians, drug gists arid traders all report that the use ! of opium is krgtfy on the increase, par i-txrmlaclY a ‘ m ’PH won J en ' w 'h° supply • ffiur-fiWrs of the victims of opium. This increase.i* nut due to a disuse of alco -1 folic fntoxicSnts, but is largely attribut il to.Ui£.growing useoiJ.behypodermic syringe. Forestry St all sties. In some Aaiiftons of Switzerland there is a law forbidding the destruction of a tree without planting another to take its place. This law is an outgrowth of peoossity. It has been scientifically demonstrated that tho increase iu violent Bterms, inundations, nnd landslides in Switzerland, scattering doath mid de struction on all sides, is due to deforest ing tho mountains. Gradually tho timber lias disappeared until little remains, except on tlitf high slopes of the mountains, aud that little is of inferior size and quality. Unless tho process is arrested, tho mountains of Switzerland will present as bald on ap pearance as thoso Alps which divide France from Italy; and nothing moro desolate and dreary ontsido the steppes of Asia, or tho desert of Africa, presents itself to the eye of the traveler. Switzerland, compared With tho area of the United States, is but a spook, but if we have moro acreago and wider stretches of timbered luiklb, we are also consuming them more rapidly. A glance nt tho series of forestry bulle tins issued by tho Ootisus Bureau is suffi cient to alarm one for the future timber supplies of the United States. Tho maps show the original extent of tho forest lauds and tho area de nuded by tho remorseless ax of the lumberman. Take Miolrigan, the great pine State of the Northwest. Moro than three-fourths of the land, including the upper peninsula, has been stripped of its timber. A Tew statistics will show that, the amount Of white pine remaining on tho Saginaw and its tributaries, anil in tho basins of streams flowing Into 'Lakes Huron and Michigan, is estimated at 29,000,000,000 foot, hoard measure. Tn the single year ending with May, 1830, 4,068,7711,000 ’feet were cut. At this rate the supply will be exhausted, in less than eight years. Of the same tim ber on tho peninsula there wore 6,000,- 000,000 remaining, in round numbers, and of this 828,438,000 feet cut in one year. From Mouominee and Delta counties the merchantable pine, Bays tho Bulletin, lias been almoßt entirely re moved. Tho destruction of tho hard woods has been on tho samo exhaustive seale. The maps show that along every navi gable stream, and 6n the rivers of the lakes, the timber lias nil been cut away, anil each year tho lumbermen have to go back further into tho interior for their supplies, nnd the cost is increased by the greater difficulty in getting the tim ber to market Wisconsin has Only 6,100,000,000 feet remaining of white pipe. Iu the eenpus year 540,997,000 feet were cut. How long before Wisconsin will cease to furnish a supply of this valuable timber ? She has still 3,840,000 apres of hard wood forest; hut the ravages in that aro hardly less than in the pine lands. Minnesota still has 17,200,0(10,000 feet of pine, and some 0,775,000,000 of mixed pine and hard wood to boast of, but tho out (luring the census year was 115j777,- 000 feet, and each .year as the supplies in Wisconsin and Michigan dwindle tho demand upon Minnesota’s resources will increase. In short, unless something is done to encourage the replanting of forest# of pine urid.hard wood it will not be twenty, years before there will boa timber famine in the land, with prices So ex travagant. as to put aa end to building in wood and to,tho uso of wood as fuel. Wo need not dwell on tho effect of do forestry on climate and temperature. This has been repeatedly dono in these columns. It is the universal testimony of mankind that it results in diminution of rainfall, and the, dwindling away of creeks and navigable streams, and an in crease in sudden and devastating storms and violent hurricanes. . We have the history of the old worhU before ns, anil if we do hot profit by the warning ex ample. wo deserve to bo punished for such a crime against nature, —Cincinnati Commercial. cats. Your hooks say that cats are "noc turnal in their habits,” and this state ment will not hurt you, for it is true. It means that cate wish to take their recre ation when people wish to sleep. This difference of taste accounts for the guer rilla warfare which is waged against them night after night and year after year from all the hack windows in town. It also accounts for the curious things which you sometimes find in the hack yard in tho morning and which the cook tolls you arc meteorites. Nothing bus been devised that ldllft oats, and weap ons are limited to such hand projectiles as inspire respect or terror. The old Stone-throwing machines of the Greeks and Romans were originally devised for this kind of combat, and wore lienee called catapults. Every adult eat has Jiad more costly articles thrown at it than any opera singer that ever lived ; for, when a man’s state of mind becomes such that he gets out of bed to serve his country in this cause, the first article lie touches is the tiling that goes, whether it lar a coal scuttle, an ivory-)>aeke<3 hair-bniHli or a diamond bracelet. Man has the right of this Conflict, and he will surely win if ho lives long enough.— Exchange. Hindoo girls, says the St. James Ga zette, are taugiit to think of marriage almost as soon at they can talk ; indeed, they aro often contracted in marriage at 6 years of age, and go to live with their husbands at 12 or 13. Before thiß, at tho ageof-5 they are taught to propitiate the gods in order to secure a good hus band, and their little minds are distracted by the idea of what a model husband ought to be. The orthodox conception is a husband like the god Siva, who was lioiy, austere, advanced in years, and faitlifnl nnd devoted to one wife, tlio goddess Doorga. Good little girls revolt at the idea of a husband marrying a second wife while the first is alive, and will consequently confess their anxiety to marry a faithful spouse like Siva ; and they learn from their ciders to utter the most vindictive curses against a rival wife. But for all that, Kirslina is j the idol of Hindoo women, and he • -s j anything but faithful to ono wife. He not only kicked over milk pons, and ran away with the clothes of milkmaids when they .went tp. bathe, hut he danced and flirted with other men’s wives, eloped with royal damsels, and married an infinite number of beautiful women. Silos and Ensilage. Tlio now system of preserving and feeding ensilage is one of such simplicity that doubting minds are incredulous as to possible results. If the building of a silo and the subsequent process of filling with ensilage were some wonderful teevet, oj perhaps anew discovery pro tected by a series of patents—if tho use of the system were permitted only under the payment of heavy royalties—there is a class of skeptical minds who fatten on nneertuin quantities, nnd who have but little faith iu nny practice which is within tho reaph of persons of ordinary intelligence and common sense. It is difficult, for many minds to realize the facts claimed for eusilago, or to explain to tliemholves why such results should lie socured by processes so simple and by apportions so economical. Yet proof j —absolute demonstration—is within the reach of every inquiring mind, or ol every enterprising farmer who is willing to expend SSO for commencing experi ments upon his own farm. | It is the most singular fact that the doubting minds are those who have had no practical experience on tho subject, lmt whose conservatism is on parade. It is equally surprising that no intelli gent, practical attempt nt silo building or ensilage feeding has resulted in fail ure, although men of all classes and nt taiumonts have experimented with the new system. It would bo reasonable to expect many failures among so many beginners pf varying capacities, were there anything intricate or uncertain in the process and its auxiliaries. No authority in this country is competent to pronounce jiositively upon the future success or failure of this now system ; it is for the interest of no one to urge or induce tho adoption of the system by any unwilling farmer, nnd no one is to he enriched by tho muutiplioation ol silos, except, perilapfi, the individual owners. Many a conservative farmer will await the report of bis more enter prising neighbor, who has built, or is in tending to build, a silo, yet it is quite certain that before many years, every one will have ample opportunity to judgo, in tho most careful manner, the merits and drawbacks of the system of ensilage. Grave doubts have been expressed by some authorities of repute as to the effect of feeding ensilage upon the but ter product. Though many accounts of successful butter mnking have been recorded yet our self-imposed critics have wisely shaken their heads os if oxpcctiug disaster without being able to trace the cause or advise tho cure. Tho value and disirahilitv of eusilago is callable of practical demonstration, and tlio intelligent farmer who desires to make his business profitable will not fail to investigate for himself a simple pro cess which will onahle him to nd<l largely to tho capacity of his farm in feeding live stock and thus enriching his soil. —A merican Cultivator. Flora and Fauna of the Desert. Bunch grass, ns gray as the sand it self, dwarf evergreens, nearly black in color, and cactiw, .with a few wild flow ers, are almost the only botanical con tribution to the changing picture. No trees grow on the desert. The cactus ftmrijy, the mo At eccentric of plants, makii this region its homo, The first to lie scion coming from Tho Eftstlsof tho variety most familiar to Eastern hot houses, shaped like mittens upon ex tended human hands, tliumbless, and fiOrdered with sharp spines. A com moner variety in the desert is of a vine like character, clinging somewhat closely to the ground and putting forth branches nt augios as eccentric as tboseof tic* let tors of the CJiiucso alphabet. East of Tucson this variety takes to itself a flunk or stem as odd in appearance ns itself, black, leafless, branching much like a stag-horn, anil bearing its vine like burden upon each terminal point. Tho most, singular variety of the oactu* grows near Tuceou, where a grove num bering several hundred individual plants is seen upon a barren, stony hillside. It shoots up round and straight like a telegraph pole, tho largest specimens attaining nearly two feet in oiroumfer- cnee, by twelve to eighteen feet in height, often without branches, but generally putting forth two shoots like tho elbows and connecting links of a stove-pijK), It hears upon its upper end a small tuft or flower. So great a dis proportion between stem and flower is probably found in no other plant, Tlio trunk is covered with regular rows of warts and spines. Tho Spanish bayonet occupies thou sands of acres and lias its share of ec centricities. When young its long tough bayonets point in every direction as if guarding some-precious fruit with in its worthless stuiup. Later all but thoso pointing upward and downward fall off, leaving a hand in its middle, giving it the apjiearauce of a small bun dle of straw tied up and ready for the harvest wagon. Individuals of the variety send np a shoot from tho center four or five feet, like a bamboo, bearing at tlio top a pleasing cluster of Hrnall flowers. —New York Tribune. Great Expectations. Every day some new suggestion is made as to the probable use of electric ity. A Han Francisco professor thinks the timo is coming when swamps and sewers will be deprived of tlieir nnwholo sorneness by strokes of lightning, or, in other words, by electric currents which will kill tho germs and spores which communicate disease to the human sys tem. This is based upon the germ theory of disease, which is to tho effect that malarial and other foul air conta- gions are duo to animalculse, orinfu9ria, which multiply in the victim’s body after inoculation. But would it not be a miracle if all atmospheres were ren dered wholesoiuo by electrical discharg es ? The electric light Iran made one change in cities which may I’.vl to im jKirtaot results. It has enabled build ings and other public works to be con structed at night as well as day. Labor er# aro employed eight and twelve hour shifts, and edifices aro >completcd in less than half the time required when ordy day work could be employed. In summer laborers rirefer to work at night. Scientists tell us as yet we only dimly appreciate the marvelous changes that will be wrought by electricity in human conditions.—Deworesf’aA/oufAfy, IEUMNj $1.69 p#r Aaa. NUMBER 34. HIBTOIUCAL. The Christians of Egypt burnt buttei instead of oil in their lamps, in the third century. The first admiral of England was Richard de Lucy, appointed by Henry HI. in 1223. It was not till after the ninth century that copyists began to leave spaces be tween words in writing. The revenues of the 190 abbeys which were dissolved at the Reformation amounted to over £2,000,000. Caligula, not satisfied with building ships of cedar with sterns inlaid with goms, had a poarl collar made lor his favorite horse. Br a statute of George 1., buttons covered with cloth were prohibited, that tho manufacture of metal buttons might bo encouraged. According to contemporary author ities, from 50,000 to 100,600 persons were put to death in the Netherlands during the reign of Charles V., on ac count of their religious opinions. Until the seventeenth century neither glass nor soap were manufactured in Scotland. In 1620 the art of tanning leather woe introduced there, and paper was first made about the middle of the eighteenth century. The influence of John Knox in promot ing tho Reformation was greater than that of any one man, though Ilia sanotion of the murder of Archbishop Boaton, to gether with various other cruelties, leave a stain on his memory. Two of the assassins of Capo d’lstria, I’reaideut of Groeoe, were sentenced to ho immured in brick walls, built around them up to their chins, and to be sup plied with food, in this species of torture, till they died, in October, 1831. Ferdinand and Isabella issued a decree expelling from Spain every Jew who re fused to deny his faith. To make them Christians, or, failing in that, to extermi nate them, was the business of the In quisition, established in the same reign. Neither Columbus nor Oook ever dis covered more degraded and brutish be ings than wore the aboriginal inhabitants of Greece. When Solomon was in all his glory and the Hebrew nation in its unity and greatness, tho Greeks were divided into moro clans than aro our North America Indians. A Southern Case of Witchcraft. “If the town of Salem, in Massachu setts," said Bob Billingsby, “ thinks she has had the onlicst witches in this coun try, all I got to say about it is that she is simply mistaken. Now, there was old Brother McGraw and old Sister Hut ton—” Bob’s story, in short, was thus : Old Brother McGraw and old Sister Hutton were members of Philip’s Bridge Church. Brother McGraw was a consistent mem ber, but old Sister Hutton, to say tho truth, was regarded somewhat as a heathen, and ovou addicted to witch craft. A calf of Brother MoGraw's, of uncommon promise, dwindled in spite of uncommon pains, and finally died, and the good man, persuaded in his mind that his neighlxir, although a spiritual sister, had bewitched it, set out in his jwrath for lrer house, and, taking her by the blind, gave her a violent wrench. Sister Hutton reported tho case to the church, and, at the conference one Sat urday, Brother McUraw, being mildly remonstrate ’ with, went so far as to say that he would have to think about it. The moderator blandly suggested to him to withdraw for a few moments, retire into the woods, reflect and pray over tho matter. Ho did so. On returning, tire moderator and tho brethren were gratified to observe the calm regret that was visible upon his.countenanoe. This moderator was a man of power, both as to intellect nnd character. It was Silas Mercer. Then this dialogue ensued : Mr. Mercer—“ Well, Brother Mc- Graw, I see you’ve returned, and I think you’ve cbfne to a just conclusion in tho matter about which you have been re fleeting.” He looked inquiringly at the aged brother, nnd tho aged brother answered his inquiring look with meek silence. “I think you feel sorry, Brother Mc- Graw,” suggested Mr. M., in a kindly, leading tone. “Yes, Brer Moderator,” answered the aged brother, “wery sorry; I’m wory sorry.” Yet there was some gruffness in his tone which led tho moderator to doubt the nature of his regret. “Brother McGraw,” said he, “will yon let the church know what sort of sorrow it is you feel ? Is it a godly sor row, Brother McGraw ?” Then the aged brother lifted high his head, looked the moderator full in the face, aud answered: “ Brer Moderator, I'm sorry—l’m sorry—that I didn’t break her neck.”— Editor' Drawer, in Jlarper’s Magazine. Wood Taste Among the MightyT Tho more I think about the elephants, tho more wonderful they seem to be. The great clumsy creatures are so very knowing, so very loving, and so like hnman being# in many of their qualities. They know their power w'ell, and they also know just, when they must not use it Deacon Green tells me that keepers and trainers of elephants often lie down on the ground and let tho huge fellows stop right over them; and that they feel jxrrfectly safe in doing so, because they know the elephants will pick their way carefully over the pogtrato forms, never so much ns touching them, still less treading on them. Yet the mighty crea tures can brush a roan out of existenco as easily as a man can brush away a fly. And what delicate tastes they have—de lighted, I’m told, with strawberries, gum-drops, or any little dainty of that kind. They are fond of bright colors, too, and travelers tell wonderful tales of seeing elephants gather flowers with the greatest care, and smell them, apparently with the keenest pleasure. It is true they eat the flowers after ward, but dear me! I’ve seen girls do the same thing! Many a time I’ve watched a little lady pluck a wild rose, look at it a moment, sigh “how lovely!” then open her pretty lips and swallow the petals one by one. Why shouldn’t an elephant?— Jatlbin the-Pulpit, St. Nicholas.