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THE FARMERS OF TK3IR DEPLORABLE IN HINDOOSTAN. Hardly Any ( lothing—Living in Uts—Tbeir Agricultural ments Very Crude. The density of the population of India, Bays Frank Carpenter in the American Agriculturist, can hardly be compre¬ hended. In some of the provinces through which I traveled there were 12S0 persons, by actual statistics, living on each cultivated square mile. A square mile is a section of land, and it would makc four of our farms of a quarter sec- tion each. The average of popu ation in the United States is six people to each such farm, or twenty-six acres for each person. In these Indian provinces two of persons had to exist . off the products every acre and .120 persons got their living out of each 16’0-acre farm. In some of the districts the people are actual so many that th^ population loses its increase and remains the same from year to year. Everywhere I found the farm¬ ers terribly poor, and everything con¬ nected with them was managed on a starvation basis. The masses wore nothing but two strips of thin cotton cloth, and eighty out of every hundred people went barefooted. About Calcutta and in Bengal, which contains some of the richest soil of India, starvation looked out of the dusky faces of the Hin- doos, and in the 2000 odd miles which I traveled through North India I did not see one man or woman who had calves on his or her legs as big as the biceps muscles of the arms cf a healthy sixteen- year-old American boy. The laboring people are skin and bone, and it is won¬ derful how they work all day under the broiling sun of the tropics, with only a little bit of rice or gruel to eat and noth¬ ing but water to drink. In the opium districts I found farmers feeding their children opium to take away their hunger and to reduce their sensibility to the cold, and nowhere did 1 find the average j farm-house better than the American pig-pen, and the majority of the farmers lived in low huts made or mud bricks dried in the sun. The fanners in India do not live upon their farms. They exist together like bees in little villages, and vou see these j villages dotting the landscape on every side. They are made up entirely of these mud huts, and you find in them no street lamps, no big school-houses, no town- council halls, and none of the surround- ings of the American town, The huts are from six to fifteen feet square, the roofs of which are thatched with straw or oovered with thin earthen tiles. There ire no chimneys, and the smoke finds its way out of tho door or from under the eaves. Some of the better houses have low mud walls around them. The Hindoo farmer's wife seldom has a cooking-stove. She cooks upon the floor, and the floor is of mud. The walls are unplastered. The family have no chairs, aud the chief piece of furniture is a rough wooden framework, over which cords are tied, forming a bed. The huts are so small that these beds are put out- side during the day, and the beds are sel- dom more than four feet long and three feet wide. The farmer and his family lie spoon-fashion upon them, in the same clothes they wear in the day-time. If they would stretch out their legs they would have to hang them over the side of the bed. There are no barns to be seen in the fanning country of India, and in the past the wheat has been piled up on the ground until floods and rains have de¬ stroyed much of the crop. This will, however, be changed this year. I was told by our consul at Bombay that Chi¬ cago men had recently come to India to build a vast elevator, w T hich would result in the wheat being better taken care of and would increase the amount exported to Europe. rude The farming tools of India are as as the dwellings. The plow is little more than a sharpened stick, and it is so light that the farmer carries it to his field on bis shoulder. His furrows are mere Rcratches on the surface of the ground, but he goes over the field so often that the soil is thoroughly pulverized. In addition to his plow he has a hoe and a mattock, and these implements are the same as those used by his forefathers centuries ago. His whole farming out- fit could be bought for $10. He har- vestssome of his crops with a sicWe, but the most of the wheat is pulled from the ground, and the stubble is always saved for feed for his cattle or for fuel. Noth- ing that can be burnt or eaten is ever wasted, and the weeds are saved for the cooking-fires. The grinding of meal for the family is done in the same pristine way as dc- scribed in the Scriptures. The women move two stones about one over the other, and the grain is crushed between them. There are no roller patent pro- cesses in the East, and throughout India, China, Japan and Egypt I saw no mills of this kind in use. It is generally sup- posed that the East Indians subsists en- tirely upon rice. This is a mistake. Only about one-fourth the population of India are rice-eaters. In the northern part of the country wheat is largely used, and millet is ground up every- where and made into bread. Millet is in fact the staple food grain in India. It w raised throughout nearly the whole of mottos ta n. ^__ .i p, evet^i o ri n . . , a rerv ouiet life Her eyesight has « .} become . •°° ' WISE WORDS. Temptations are a tile which rub of! the rust of self-confidence. Through the wide world he only is alone who lives not for another. 4 person who forgives without forget- t j n „ 3S nob ] er than he who forgives and forgets. and injus¬ Sometimes, to unkindness tice, silence may be softer than even the soft answer which turneth away wrath. Sincerity is to speak as we think; be- lieve as we pretend; act as we profess; perform as we promise, and really be w hat we would seem and appear to be. They who have never known prosperi- j. y can hardly be said to be unhappy; it is f rom the remembrance of joys we have ]ogt that the urr0 , vs of affliction are pointed. exasperated against When classes arc eac h G ther, the peace of the world is al- ways kept by striking a new note, In- stantly the units part and form a new order, and those who were opposed arc now side by side. lie that will give himself to all manner of ways to get money, may be rich; so he that lets fly all he knows or thinks, may by chance be satirically witty. Honesty sometimes keeps a man from growing ncb > and civl hty ^ rom being W1 ^y. If one is so weak or so sympathetic that he must have a confidant, let him choose one, and one only—the most faithful, the most reticent, the one with the most tact and quickness of apprehen sion, and then trust him or her uureserv- edly. much under¬ There is no duty w T c so rate as the duty of being happy. By be¬ ing happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world, which remain unknown even to ourselves, or when they are dis¬ closed surprise nobody so much as the benefactor. Russian Fruits. The extreme cold to which vegetation in Russia is subjected has effectually killed many varieties of fruits -which are t°° tender for the climate, It has been commonly found that the fruits which can exist and thrive under these adverse conditions when brought to a milder dime like the United States, prove of great value, not alone retaining their hardihood, but also apparently display- ing gratitude by an increase in bearing capacity. Among the plants obtained which have proved of especial useful- ness in this country can be named the Russian cherries, plums and apples in considerable variety. In portions of Russia « ver y available spot is given up to the production of fruit. At \aldimir, cher- rics are a specialty, and orchards of 10,- hOQ to In,000 trees (or rather bushes, for the cherry dogs not attain great size there), are not uncommon. The tem¬ perature often falls as low as fifty-eight degrees below zero. During tho short summers Moscow and the cities of Southern Siberia are overwhelmed with this luscious fruit. Simberisk, located in the dry steppe region, 500 miles south Moscow, on the black prairie soil, is a literal swamp of apple, pear and plum trees. A peculiar characteristic of fruit growing is the extreme provincialism in of the business. Varieties grown one province and very common and popular are utterly unknown or known by an en¬ tirely different name in another locality comparatively a few miles distant. The apple tree is usually small in size, bushy in its habits of growth aud loaded with showy and excellent fruit. The same growth characterizes the ravages of in¬ sects. Apples are set as closely as the American method of setting grapes; cherries and plums are not more than five feet apart. This region, as is well known, is 1000 miles north of the line stretching in the United States from Newburg* on the Hudson, to Des and Moines, Iowa. The dry summers the cold winters make the average life of these trees short. The true ironclads have the foliage and habits of the wild apples found on the bluffs of the Upper Volga. The trees are low and scrubby, but rich in their production of good fruit .—New York Herald. _ Breach ot 1 rust. ^ ~7~ ^ An old man who was blind was being led down Marietta street by a dog just at the time when the sidewalks were most crowded and the roadway was full of ve- hides. Long experience had taught the blind man to trust his four-footed guide, aud he went along feeling certain that he would be led into no danger. Sud- denly a tempting bone, a few feet from the sidewalk attracted the dog’s atten- tion. He looked at it wistfully for a moment, and then, unable to withstand the temptation, he weut after it. Un- conscious of danger, the blind man fol- lowed the dog. and before any one could put out a hand to save him he was under the feet of a passing horse. The driver pulled up his team just in time and the blind mail escaped with his hat knocked off. Remorse must have immedkately seized the dog for he led the blind man back to the sidewalk and refused to lock at the bone again .—Atlanta Constitution. ■ • ■— — Power of a Growing Tree. There is a black birch tree near Y'ork, Me.,says a correspondent of the St. Louis Republic, only about thirty-five feet high, two roots of which have been able to lift a granite boulder, computed to weigh at least twenty tons, about twelve inches from its original resting place. The tree is still growing and the rock continues to be raised and pushed up- ward and sideways at the rate of about inch • yaar. THE FARM AND GARDEN. ASHES AS A FERTILIZER. Ashes are too much wasted by many farmers who do not seem to appreciate their importance as manure. They arc among the best fertilizers that can be ap¬ plied either directlv to the land or mixed * hcocflcial ,vith the compost. They are to all crops, and this has been found to apply even to coal ashes, which, in them- selves, have but little manurial value; but the reason that even these are so useful is that they absorb and retain moisture. Independent of the postash that wood ashes retain and which makes it such a valuable manure, an application of i? renders the ground porous and keeps it cool and moist. Farmers cannot be too careful to save it and spread it over their lands. Upon sandy lands we consider it equallv as valuable, pound for pound, as *mauo. bushels of wood About one hundred ashes per acre is a fair proportion to ap- ply on light soil .—Connecticut Frmer. THIN PLANTING FOR ENSILAGE. Corn grown for fodder, either as en- silage or dried for winter use, should always be planted or drilled thinly enough to permit the formation of some ears. What distance apart this wili be must depend largely on condition of the soil, that very rich tending to produce some ears when drilled quite closely in rows far enough apart to tun a cultivator through while the plants are small. It is not necessary nor advisable that the ears lie large for 1 odder, as they will be harder to cure if dried, and more diffi- cult to out up wuh the ensilage cutter, attle eat this richer food much moie thoroughly than they do corn fodder grown so closely as not to form ears. The grains of corn also in this ensilage are perfectly digested, and do not come out while on the manure heap, as they do when corn is fed dry. An addition of bran ’ wheat uud dIm / s or bar ! e > s P ro « ts improves the ration . for cows givmg milk, but ,s *f!' s uecessar than w, tb rhc - fodder. . P 001 ' e U thickly , , grown corn A merican Culticator. ECONOMY IN FARMING. Improved farming implements and labor-saving machines are now' so com- mon that the farmer that is content to plod along with only those of the long- time-ago pattern is seldom to be found in any good farming community. I cer- tainly would not discourage any one from getting the best farm tools for his use, as they will usually be found the cheapest in the end; but there is such a thing as overdoing this business and investing more in implements to w ork with than one will be able to realize from their use. Before a farmer runs in debt for expensive machinery he should estimate the amount of monev his crops will prob- ably bring him; and'if he is at all wise he will not pay more lor labor-saving raa- chines than their use will be worth to him. Every farmer should gauge his expeudi- tures by his probable income from his crops, and not attempt to rival more wealthy neighbors with larger farms in the character and variety of his farm tools, but, as the old saying goes, he should cut his coat according to his cloth. A farmer in moderate circum- stances should also be careful about hiring help and should firs) ask himself the question if his hired man is likely to yield him a profit over and above the wages %„L. paid him aud a fair allowance for hi S The profits to farming are too small now to allow of any expendi- tures that do not return an actual profit in some way. World. requisites for peaches. Our best 'Method cultivators tre^ a«ree verv J nearly ft orchard^ s o etmillv s ot ah^to danger Allows w thail^ of ' -uu no ne u-er ever to se ( \ i:rin „ a rc ^ U la,- annual cron Most of them Wlight, loose soil for this fruit, hnd if not natU rallv fertile then apply stimulants . A rich compost will prove US( . f „ b but as a r;de m j nera | fertilizers are pre f e rred in most soils. Potash in Hom< form ; s dec idedly the best, most economical and certain of all plant-foods f or the jieach. In many instances trees that showed incipient indications of the disease were brought back to vigorous health by applying this alkali to the soil. Although highly advantageous to all kinds of fruit, potash is even more valu- a ble in peach-culture than in any other. Thorough cultivation in a young orchard j s indispensable to success; formation of rootlets in the peach requires a very loose, open soil, so the frequent use of cultivator always makes itself visible in accelerated growth and richer foliage. Many orehardists believe that a free growth will in a measure ward off dis- ease. that fungal disorders more fre- quently affect slow-growing trees than those in vigorous health. Frequent cui- tivatiou may be omitted when the orchard reaches bearing acre, on the prin- c iple that fruit is more plentiful when growth is slightly checked, but so long ls crops are gathered some equivalent ought to be returned to the soil. I think we may all agree that a young tree growing energetically needs an annual heading oaek of the leading shoots at least; and whenever it becomes too bushy, a condition such treatment is liable to induce, the superfluous branches must be thinued out. Another requisite is thinning the fruit; large, finely colored specimens are so much in demand aud command ach a good price that the comparatively little expense of thinning is more than overbalanced by the re- c-nnts. Each spring, if not twice in the season, It pays well to hunt for an3 kill the borers. A number of preventive contrivances are in use, with more or less advantage, such as tying tarred paper loosely around them at the surface of tha ground, heaping up soil, coal-ashes, lime, etc .—New York Tribune. the cake of rows, *^ s an a( Ujunct in . producing . whoie- some milk, sound food is of prime im- portance to cows, and this must be ap- portioned so that the requirements of the body arc supplied. In this connection *hc va ^ 1ic something approaching the succulent quality of green grass cannot he tco highly commended. Those who have silos filled with corn, or clover, are fight, ana the farmers who have a ^ ar K e crop of unsalable potatoes on hand cannot market the surplus to bettet ad- vantage than to give his stock a moder- atc ration of potatoes. T hese will cor¬ rec ^ the feverish condition a cow is apt to be in wnen kept on hay, straw and corn. Water is such an important ele¬ ment in the auimal economy that it is more necessary, if possible, than food. It i 8 Sidd that a horse has lived for eleven days w , t hout food, but that he cannot cx j st more tban fi ve days un i es s supplied w jth water, Much has been said and written dur- 3ug a few years past, about giving cattle warmed wa ter to drink, and there is no quest i on but that cattle thrive better for having water at a moderate temperature i nstea d of drinking ice water. In cold weat hcr there is a marked difference 3Q the general appearance of two herds otherwise treated alike, if one lot drinks ice water and the .other has water j u re g U lar quantities at forty-five degrees to fifty degrees; or even somewhat high¬ er. There are many devices on sale for heating water. The small, drum-like af- fa3r) so often illustrated during the past two or three years, has most of the good qualities, with the additional merit of costing less than any other, The value of shelter is so well cstab- lished that little need be said on this sub- ject, but value of sunlight and cleanliness in the stable needs to be urged far more than it is. The rays of sunlight readily penetrate through glass and leave their health-giving properties within, so that no on <J need hesitate to use glass freely in the winter quarters of cattle. An aid to health and thrift in cow stables is the use °f lime as a wash for all woodwork. Lime is also destructive to insect life that molest stock. What is known as “barn itch, ” and also ringworms are diseases caused by insects that propagate their species and exist about the premises while cattle are in the pastures, but are ready to attack them when the stables? are again used as winter quarters. As noted above, lime-washes are partly successful in kill- ing them, but it is well to burn a quan- tity of sulphur in the stable. An iron kettle with a few live coals in it, on which a pound or so of sulphur has been thrown, placed in the building after the cattle have been driven out, answers the purpose. The fumes will penetrate every nook and crevice, to the destruction of an y living thing. The stables should be cleaned at least once a da y ? if possible, plenty of'absorb- cuts used, and as au additional purifier, sand plaster may be used by sprinkling freely about the stables and pens. If plaster, or gypsum, is uot .at hand, dry earth, in the form of road dust, may be used instead, with good success. Tht use a broom, both in the manger and where the eat.le stand do mneh to. ward making the stable tidy and fitting the cow to furnish clean milk .—Dairy Column. farm* axd garden notes r , u • Z 1 ° n ! Softnmmmg oxxtrinnmll^cuttmgout g "*"* Kee P your fence boards au(1 P osts un- der shelter until you are ready to use ? em ‘ Then draw thcm out and use 1>Cm !ltonce - ' 11 has 1)C <m learned that potatoes re- ( l nirc a due proportion of nitrogenous and mi >ieral food, as has long been held b y good larmers, and that mineral man- ” res a ^ one produce little result. The bberal use of barn-yard manure which seems to is b e justified by the large yield, tb° u ?bt to offset the disadvantage of ” rearcr liability of disease. Continuous ” rowtb 01 " potatoes in the same land ap- P ears to render the crop less liable to dis- ease ? nstea d of more so. While the artificial method of chicken growing,hatching in incubators and reur- ing with artificial mothers, is necessary to growing broilers for market, it will not supercede the old-fashioned method for growing breeding stock. The arti- ficial chickens are less able to look out for themselves, and are generally smaller and less vigorous than the same breeds grown naturally. Some of the instincts of self-defence are lost, or at least are blunted, by dependence on methods in which they are not necessary. ~The conditions different^from for o TO win:Tthe~'best sorghum are those for ^rain ctod« should Mineral and nitrO^eneous fnanures not be used, except that the latter may be applied very early, to opt the young plant started vigorously, When a broad leaf is made, this will draw from the air the carbon needed to ma ke the sweet in the cane. If mineral manures have been used, or too much of the nitrogeneous late in the season, thev cause so much more impurities to be re- moved before either syrup or sugar can be rid of the disagreeable taste which they necessarily have before being puri- tied. WORTH WHILE. It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows by like a song. But the man worth while is one wr.o wifl smile When everything goes dead wrong, For the test of the heart is trouble, And it always comes with the years, And the smile that is worth the praise of earth Is the smile that shines through tears. It is easy enough to be prudent, When nothing tempts you to stray. When without or within no voice of sic Is luring your soul away. r. V*. But it’s only a negative Tirtue Until it is tried by fire. And the life that is worth the honor of earth Is the one that resists desire. By the cynic, the sad, the fallen. Who had no strength for the strife, The world’s highway is cumbered to-day, They make up the item of life. But the virtue that conquers passion, And the sorrow that hides in a smile, It is these that are worth the homage of earth, For we And them but once in a while. -Ella Wheeler Wilcox. HUMOR OF THE DAY, “Papa, what is a green grocer? 1 ’ ‘ ; He’8 a grocer who tries to sell sugar without sand in it.” One can stand it, perhaps, from an enemy, but no man likes to be cut by a barber .—New York News. it does not seem right to have" charge an enemy's battery after the guns been p a i d f or .—Pittsburg Chronicle. “Why do you call your parrot Hon¬ esty?” “Because Honesty is the best Polly, see ?”—Philadelphia Times. When you have chosen the proper w ay, And the proper thing to do, There’s sure to lie some fool to say: “I wouldn’t if I were you.” Racket J — . “Give me the man who sings at his work,” says a writer. He can have him; Also the man who whistles at his work. —New York News. Scribblerus—“Did you like my .las! book?” Miss Pert—“O, have you written your hist one? I’m so glad l”— Lawrence American. The mouth of the .Amazon River i? six hundred miles wide. Good gracious! Suppose it took it into its head to yawn.' —Philadelphia limes. . , Do you believe in corporeaI punish , men t, Major?” J “No. I do not think that peual tie3 should cver be inflicted p su5ordiuate officers.”— Bazar. Teacher of Political Economy—“You ™ a y mention an infant industry, L ively Young Student—“Sitting still and sucking one s thumbs. —Chicago Times. “A little of everything, gentlemen,” said the boarding mistress, affably, “in the way of variety makes the spice of life,” and she told the waitress to bring on the hash. “Blood will tell, sir. It is blood makes the hero.” “You don’t know what you are talking about. Hero, in¬ deed. Y'ou evidently never saw how blood runs in a battle.”— Bazar. John—“I started to read some of your jokes last night, but before I «ot half through I was most unfortunately inter¬ rupted.”Jack—“How was that?” John_ “I fell asleep .”—Yankee Blade. i to^MsVn^e Patient_“T siv dnrtnr btk “ cnr . n ' i a J__,. of Docto It ig not hing serious, but I wouId advisc ou? nevertheless to keep your eye on it .”—Texas Siftings. y ° U lady s soup., >» ° m sir, bl r fmenta it • will w wash out What kind of fish, i^ * **** -^iladxlphia Inquirer. - Scroggs—“Y’ou look rather downcast, old man; anything of notehapnenedto- (la y • Gnggs_“Ycs, mine for a thou- sand fell due, and I didn’t have a cent wtlica t0 P a y —Harvard Lam- P°° n - Miss Hyde Parker—“Do you know Mr. Stone, the sculptor?” Miss Breezy (of Chicago)—“Do I? Well, I should twitter. I held his chizzles many a time while he sculjicda burst of pa.”— Mun- sey's Weekly. Mr. Rising Fuffty—“Sir, supposing I should ask you for your daughter's hand, would ” Mr. Stockson Bond — — “What!!!!” Mr. Fuffty (retiring)— ‘ ‘But, of coure, sir, I ata only supposing,’ you know.” Judge—“Can you give any reasons why you can't pay your debts?” Delin¬ quent Debtor—“I have nine reasons, your Honor; a wife, a mother-in-law, six children and an empty pocketbook.”— New York Tribune. “Are you sure you are strong enough for my work?” “Oh, j-es, sir, you mav be sure as to that. Why, the last man I worked for was bigger than you, and I knocked him down and broke three of his ribs with one blow .”—FHegende Blaetter. Mamma—“Y'on must put an end to it at once.” Penelope—“Surely you would not have me decline a man who saved my life!” Mamma—“He may have saved your life, my dear, but from what I know of him it is the only thing he ever did save.”— Life. I Doctor (to patient)—“You are troubled with stuttering, I believe. Patient (in¬ dignantly) — “No, sir, I—I—I—don’t stu—stu—stu—stut—stut—stut—stutter at all, but I sta—sta—sta—stain—stain— stammer some, when I get excited.”— BW. ington Star.