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Agricultural. The Squash Borer. Farm and Fireside : Of late years it has become extremely difficult to ob tain a stand of squash and melon vines, owing to the depredations of the striped squash beetle and the squash-vine borer. The first of these we should fight with London Purple or Py rethrum; but for the borer, the bisulphide of carbon will be found the most satisfactory remedy. To apply it, make a small hole near the root of the plant with a walking stick or other instrument; pour in about half a tea spoonful of the liquid, and quickly close the bole with the root. This liquid is extremely volatile,and its protective power is partly due to this property, as it diffuses itself through the soil around the roots of the plant, but does not injure the plant itself. The vaj or of bisulphide of carbon is very explo sive, hence extreme care must be exer cised in handling it. Bunoh Grass Failing. Willamette Farmer : It is said that the bunch grass pastures have given out, in a great degree, and that cattle raising is not so profitable. A new grass comes in its place that is excel lent for sheep, and cattle men are sell ing their bands off? to be driven to Wyoming, and buying sheep. This may not be the case every where,but it is the case where close grazing occurs. The greater profit of sheep and wool over ott er stock will insure that sheep will gradually replace cattle through the whole Eastern country, and then western Oregon and Washington will have to grow beef for this market. The time is not distant w hen the far mer with good grade Short-horn steers who will stad feed in winter will find a profit in it. When it comes to a close market there will be no profit inbreeding the common stock of cat tle. That is a branch of business where “blood will tell.” Working Unshod Horses. Germantown Telegraph: Robert Martin, of Greed Farms, Conn., says that he works his three horses with out shoes, saying : “I find that they work better, are more sure-footed, and far less liable to lameness than when shod, and I am satisfied that horses’ feet as nature made them, are all suffi cient for ordinary work. After my long experience 1 should now as soon think of going to a farrier myself to be shod as to send my horses. Our roads are rough, hilly and stony,much more than the average roads. To pre vent the hoofs from chipping, the toes should be kept slightly rounded by a coarse file, such as is used by shoers, and the feet should always be looked to when the horse is groomed.” What surprises us so much in this matter of horses going without shoes is, that if this is really correct, why the thing does not become universal. Remedy for Hollow Horn. P. 8., Shannon county, Mo.: The treatment required for the disease which produces the condition of the horns, known popularly as “hollow horn,” is as follows: The most con spicuous symptom is a general low fever, with heat or coldness, or both alternating, of the extremities, chief- Jy of the horns and ears. The mem- fanes of the head are congested or lamed, and there is often a dis- large from the nose. The first treat- lent consists of a brisk cooling purga tive, such as one pound of epsom salts if the horns and ears are hot and the muzzle dry; if the horns are cold and the nose is moist, a quart of linseed oil should he given and turpentine should be fi eely rubbed about the roots k of the horns and ears. After the pur gative, in either case, warm gruels of ^seed or bran should be given, with spoonful of ginger, andtheani- should be well nursed. A tarry should be stirred in the drinking or if it is not readily taken in tay a little tar should be rubbed [e tongue every day. Farm Hints. grown on clay land make the leal, keep longest and bring the [it price. sr brood your chickens in and makes them weak and more |lt to raise. said that if food is kept from gep twenty-four honrs before the mutton will have better tees will endure a goodly i of ashes and cinders at their [he sweepings of the Slack- jire excellent. futh old Ing ; few cattle, poor farming.” But the cattle must all be thrifty. Bee to it, and have the garden at tended to. Give your wife and family the luxury of plenty of fresh vegeta bles. By having a good garden you will save money. Give your boys and girls healthful employment, and you will feel better satisfied with yourself and all around you. There is no better and surer way of killing young trees than to expose the roots to the wind, which dries them out very rapidly. Make a note of this and if you have any trees to transport, be sure to have the roots thoroughly covered with blankets or something as effectual. This precaution may save you the life of scores of trees. Oil the Bearings. New England Farmer: Castor oil is largely used for oiling axletrees, the bearings of grindstones, mowers, etc. A small proportion of kerosene added to the castor oil and thoroughly shaken up with it, renders it less lia ble to gum. Mulching. A member of the Oneida Commu •i nity, writing on the importance oi mulching fruit trees and plants of every kind, says that he mulched a row of the Franconia raspberry, and also one of the Philadelphia, side by side. The effect was very marked. While the Franconias, which were not mulched, were literally scorched and the leaves crumbled in the sun, the row which received the mulching carried through nearly double the crop of fruit. The material used for mulching was old, half decayed buck wheat straw, etc. A Huge Sngar Mill. Farmers’ Union: Mr. 8. Wallace, of Minneapolis, is constructing a sugar cane mill of about 40,000 gallons per season capacity. It has various new improvements, and when tested this fall will be followed by larger ones, which will be manufactured during the winter, 'there is no reason why those mills should not be made in Minneapolis as well as in the East. Mr. Wallace’s mill he has now under construction, will be put in Pierce county, Wis. One feature of this mill is a pan which makes its own steam. The size of the pan is six by twenty feet. Drainage in Old Times. Irish Farmers’ Gazette: Under drains were used by the Romans and constructed of wood. Even brush drains have been made in various parts of England. Thorough drainage came into practice about the middle of the present century, through the exer tions of Mr. Smith, of Deanston, and for a long time stone was the principal material used in their construction. They are either thrown in promiscu ously or laid out in throats or channels. When tiles or pipes came into use stones were laid around them, but it is found that less soil percolates into the tile when the earth is close around it. ______ Clips. The phrase, “matrimonially in clined,’ implies that few lovers are level-headed. We’d like to be introduced to the man who knew enough to keep happi ness when he once got hold of it. It is a sad astronomical fact that during the terrible thunder storm the other night the milky way became sour. Ryan, the pugilist, is fond of Pina fore, it is said. We cannot believe this, as he lias shown no desire recently to face Sulivan’s music. “Oh, for a hotter half!” said the sorrowing widower when he found a counterfeit fifty-cent piece among his change. A gentleman who was asked fti his marriage certificate quickly took off his hat and pointed to a bald spot. The evidence was conclusive. Customer—“Give me some fish !” Waiter—“What will you take, sir, blueflsh ?” Customer—“It makes no difference; I am color blind.” When a murderer is reprieved twen ty minutes before the performance is to take place, a playful way to put it is, that he “skipped the rope.” Why would coal dealers make good lawyers? Because they know all about coke and little ton. Borne of the young ladles who go to Florida bring home young alligators. Others secure husbands. GROWING OLD. Softly, oh softly the years have swept by thee, Touching thee lightly with tenderest care; Sorrow and death did they often bring nigh thee, Yet they have left thee bnt beauty to wear, Growing old gracefully Gracefully fair. Far from the storms that are lashing the ocean, Nearer ea«h day to the pleasant home-light, Farirom tne waves that are mg with com motion, Under full sail and the harbor In sight, Growing old cheerfully, Cheerful and bright. Past all the winds that were adverse and chilling, Past all the Islands that lured thee to rest, Past all the currents that wooed thee unwil ling, Far from the port and the land of the blest, Growing old peacefully, Peaceful and blest. Never a feeling of envy or sorrow When the bright faces of children are seen, Never a year from their youth would’st thou borrow; Thou do >t, ’•emenaber what lieth between ; Growing old willingly, Gladly, I ween. Rich in experience that angels might covet, Rich in a faith that has grown with thy years, Rich in a love that grew from and above It, Soothing thy sorrow and hushing thy fears. Growing old wealthily, Loving and dear 1 Hearts at the sound of thy coming are light ened; Ready and willing thy hand to receive; Many a face at thy kind word has bright ened; “It is more blessed to give than receive,” Growing old happily, Blest, we believe. Eyes that grow dim to the earth and its glory See but the brighter the heavenly glow; Ears that are dull to t he world and Its story Drink in the songs that from Paradise flow, All this sweet recompense Youth cannot know. Forward, yet softly the years have swept by thee, Touching thee lightly with tenderest care Sorrow and death they did often bring nigh thee, et they have left thee but beauty to wear Growing old graceful v, Graceful and fair. An English horticulturist, who is a oarfeul observer of insect life, has no ticed that honey bees rarely go near lowfii^rittyiuuakle-beee Good, Bad, and Indifferent. Adaptability: A man never looks so like a red-handed villain as when he is told by the photographer to “look pleasant.” Vennor’s rival: A Lowell man, a gentleman and a scholar, figures the weather problem in this wise: There iB a large amount of snow yet on the hills and in the forests to the wind ward of us, and we shall not have warm weather until this melts, and it cannot melt until we have some warm weather. Consequently, when it comes to prophesying, he gives it up. Life in the cabin : “I say, mammy ! didn’t yo’ tell Peleg dat he mustn’t go in bavin ?” 1 Yo’ right I ded chile! Has yo’ been dis’beying my ’struc- tions, Peleg?” “No, mammy, I hasn’t! I clare to goodness I hasn’t been in bavin. Yo’ see I put on Un cle Josh’s britches by mistake der smorning’, an’ dere were sich a heap o’ looseness to ’em that when I un’er- took ter jump ober de brook dey dropped off an’ I hatter guin arter ’em. Oh, no, I hasn’t been bavin, mammy !” Economy : “It is no use,” exclaimed Fenderson, at the family tea table: “we must economize. Beef and mut ton are way up, butter and eggs— everything in fact. Meat once a day !b all we can afford ; and, mother, you must give the children some kind of cheap sauce to save in butter. We must cut down expenses some way.” And Fenderson then lights his fif- teen-cent cigar and sallies forth to the billiard room, putting out a mat ter of two or three dollars in the course of the evening. Poor thing : “How very chilly it is this morning,” said Cictley to her mother; “I hardly know what to wear this weather. Sealskin cloaks are not seen, and spring wraps are not near warm enough.” “Land sakes, don’t be so particular,” said her prac tical mother. “Wear my red and black blanket shawl. That’s com fortable.” “What! and look like a washerwoman?” and the dear girl swooned. The feminine mind is ex ceedingly sensitive when matters of dress are under discussion. Truth is mighty: “This is the third time you have offered me a half dol lar with a hole in it!” indignantly exclaimed a Miohigan avenue salocff keeper to a man who had called for beer. “Wrong—entirely wrong 1” sighed the stranger as he replaced the money in his pocket. “On theiaoftit ion I offere vou^t trade hole in it. In this present instance you have just refused a fifty-cent piece which 1 spent over an hour in plug ging up. I like to see a man tell the tiuth once in a while, even if his beer is bad.” A proud >outh : “I’m shaving my self most of the time now,” said the young man, proudly, as he adjusted his head to the back of the chair. The barber gazed thoughtfully at the gash in the left cheek, noted the irregular Maltese cross in the chin, observed the finely-executed outline map of the Hell Gate excavations on the left side, hovered over the piece of ear that was held in place with courtplaster and pityingly scanned the prize collection of pimples and blotches which orna mented the neck.” “Yes, I notice you are,” he said, musingly, as he softly strapped his razjr. Huge joke : They were talking of the innumerable caravan of. colored men, now passing to the tomb, who had once been coachmen to the Father of his Country. Brown said they were one and all impostors. “You wrong them,” said Fogg, “Wny, I can show you a man, a friend of mine, who has seen Washington.” “Nonsense I” ex claimed Brown. “I’ll bet you some thing on that.” “What shall it be?” “A dinner for three.” “Done.” Fogg retired, returning a moment later with a youngish-looking fellow.” “Here he is,” said Fogg. “What!” cried BroWD ; “do you mean to say you have seen Washington?” “Oh, yes,” was the quiet reply; “lived there two winters.” Brown paid for the dinners without a whimper. Courting episode : The Gothic sty’e of hand-writing, now so popular among young ladies, may have its disadvantage^. It is said that a ycung man who recently received a speci men of it could not tell, for the life of him, whether it was “Yes, with pleas ure,” “No, thank you” or a sketch of a picket fence. Logic: “Pa, am la little sinner?” “Yes, rny son, we are all sinners.” “And, papa, the Bible says the devil is the father of sinntr3,doesn’t it?” “Yes, dear, I believe it does.” ‘Then, papa, are you the devil?” His off spring’s logic was too much for him and he slipped out of the room with out answering. Meteorological: An Irish emigrant who stood shivering in front of Castle Garden one morning last week, thus addressed his equally forlorn and gruesome companion : “I don’tunder- ehtand it all, Pat; whin we lift owld Oireland it was in the month of May. Tin days we tuk to cross the ragin say, an’ beggorah it’s December.” Squelched: A young medical stu dent at Bowdoin College once asked the late Profetssor Parker Cleveland if there were not some more recent works on anatomy than those in the college library. “Young man,” said the professor, measuring the entire mental calibre of the youthful scholar at one glance, “There have been very few ntw bones added to the human body during the last ten years.” Oppression : ’Arry—“I see by this ’ere new Hart copyright act, that a nob’s photograph mayn’t be ’x’ibited in a shop window without ’is consent. ’Biowed if it ain’t enough to make a man turn Conservative.” “How do I manage to rid myself of bores?” said a woman of the world. “Nothing is easier. When I want to send a man away, I talk to him about myself. When I want him to stay indefinitely, I talk about himself.” “Father, did you ever have another wife besides mother?” “No, my boy. What possessed you to ask such a question ?” “Because I saw in the old family Bible where you married Auno Domini, In 1835; and that isn’t mother, for her name was Sally Smith.” Teacher: “John, what are your boots made of?” Boy—“Of leather.” Teacher—“Where does the leather come from?” Boy—“From the hide of an ox.” Teacher—“What animal, therefore, supplies you with boots and gives you meat to eat?” Boy—“My father. Mental and Moral Insanity. In a trial where it was attemp^d to get a murderer off on a plea of insan ity, t.n old nhysloian, who was a wit ness, was Wked—“Where shall the line be dn^^ between mental and moral insa|^^A “Well,” deliberately answered ^^Bld doctor—I think the should usm^^L.be drawn aroun^Ae neck. Brownlow and Maynard. Tne death of Horace Maynard^ brings to mind an incident in hi career. In Ante Helium days, at a certaii period, Maynard and Biownlow were “ cheek by jowl ” on general princi ples, but as rival candidates, had many passages of wit. It was carte and tierce from the opening to thej close of the campaign. One incident illustrates the happy faculty Brown- low possessed, in fact, to an eminent degree, for amusing an audience. “Gentlemen and ladies, my distin guished competitor is a princely fel low, generous to the backbone. Let me tell you how he “ cornered ” pork and provided for his home interests, nothing tests the man quicker, than the manner in which he makes provi sion for his household gods. The test w»s put to Horace, and he triumphed. Pork was high in Knoxville. It was early spring when Mr. Maynard called at the office of the most impos ing establishment in its line in the ^ity. ‘Gentlemen, I wdsh to lay in my winter supply of pork about Sep tember, will you please furnish me a daily bulletin of fluctuations in the article, and when the bottom is'J reached, “ rockbottom” understand me, I will call and give your firm my order.’ “ Daily bulletins were forwarded to the distinguished gentleman’s resi dence, 6$, 5£, 5£, at last, 4£ on the first of September was the “ rockbottom ” reached, and so was Mr. Maynard ad vised, who responded promptly in per son. ‘ Mr. Maynard, we’ve struck the bottom of ihe well.’ ‘ All right, gen tlemen, glad to know it. Many thanks for your attention to my interests. How much will that keg hold ?’ asked the “ Narragansett Chief,” as with his fall figure raised to Its utmost ten sion, his long black hair brushed be hind his ears, his keen eyes glittering with the excitement of one who is embarking upon the dangerous water*! of investment, he pointed to a small! keg beneath the counter. ‘ That keg, Mr. Maynard. What do you mean ? Do you jest? Why, that’s a nail keg, and will hold about ten pounds,’ said^ the astonished grocer, whose ment forces had been busy estimating tl! possible profits some dozen tierces! 4 No, sir, I never jest on so serious a matter as household economy. Fill that ^eg, sir; have it carted to my residence, aud I’ll pay the bill.’ “And, my feiiow citizens,” said the infinite-, ble speaker with inexpressible drol- lery, “I’ll be dogoned, if Maynard 1 didn’t have pork for sale in the spring.” —Phila. National Union. Is It Worth Domesticating ? M. Roland h as been calling atten-i tion to an animal which is met with/ on the banks of South Anrerics rivers, and which he considers wg suited for domestication. It is at the size of a pig, and is called cubiai, or the water hog. It is not aquatic animal, but defends itself fro| its enemies by plunging into wate^ and remaining there a few secondq It lives among the reeds, and come out morning and evening in search its food, which consists of herbs anc roots of all sorts. Its large incisors enable it to cut the hardest of woodj with ease, ^ken young it is easj tamed. It knows its master, and li| to be caressed, and it is very deal in its habits. Its skin forms suppl and permeable leather, and the flesh is good eating. Without requiring more care than rabbits, it will furnish as much flesh as a sheep, though the flesh is less delicate. The apathetic character of the animal enables it to utilize all it absorbs, so that there] no need to fatten it, and a large nui her may be kept in a small space. It^ is not afraid of cold ; in very hot weather it lies in water among tlie reeds. The scientific name is not given, but the animal is probably a member of the family potamochoerus which frequent swampy ground*. of 11 It is better that joy should be spread over all the day in the form of strength, than that it should he oon oentrated into ectasles, fulroftlanger, I and followed by reactions.—Emerson. “Well,” said a child, “if the haired of our head are numbered, the num bers must get awfully mixed up, fori lots of women wear hair that grew oiJ some one else’s head.” “Don’t you believeln a future li which we shall ties thj together »»