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Rules
for Keepers of Stieep.
1. Keep sheep dry under foo with
Utter. This is even more necees iry
than roofing them. Never let them
stand or lxe in mud or water,
2. Take up lamb bucks early in sum
mer, and keep them until December
following ; when they may be turned
out.
3. Count every day.
4. Begin graining with the great
est care, and use small quantities at
first.
5. If a ewe loses her lamb, milk her
daily for a few days, and mix a little
alum with her salt.
6. Let no hogs eat with the sheep
in the spring, by auy means.
7. Give tbe lambs a little mill-feed
In time of weaning.
8. Never frighten sheep if possible
avoid it.
6. Sow rye for weak ones in cold
eather, if you can.
10. Separate all weak, thin or sick
rom those strong,in the fall, and give
them special care.
11. If any sheep is hurt, catch it at
once, and wash the wound, and if it
is liy-time, apply spirits of turpentine
daily, and always wash with some
thing healing. If a limb is broken,
bind it with splinters tightly, loosen-
*ng as the limb swells.
12. Keep a number of good bells on
sheep.
13 Never let the sheep spoil wool
ith chaff or burs.
14. Cut tag locks in early spring.
15. For scours give pulverized alum
in wheat bran ; prevent by taking
great care n changing dry lor green
food.
16. If one is lame, examine the foot,
clean out between the hoofs, pare the
oof if unsound, and apply tobacco
with blue vitrol boiled in a littfe
water.
17. Bhear at once any sheep com-
encing to shed its wool, unless the
eather is too severe, and shave care-
lly the pelt of any that die.
18. Have at least one good work by
you to refer to. This will ba money
in your pocket.
Agricultural.
the
Frogs for the Feast.
A Word About 8ilo».
Bo far as silos constructed and used
*ast season have come under our obser
vation they have not withstood well
the combined action of acetic acid and
water and moisture. Tins relates
to silos constructed of stone under
ground and plastered with hydraulic
cement. The cement, under the com
bined action of the acid and ex ternal
water, will crumble and fail off, leav
ing wide areas of the walls in a de
nuded condition. In all silos acetic
acid is developed to a greater or Jess
extent, and this in the form of vapor
comes in contact with the lime in tie
cement and forms a fixed salt, an ace
tate. When this occurs the wall is
weakened and falls as soon as the
contents of the silos are removed. It
should be known that cemented walls
are not impervious lo the inflow of
water. Although cisterns will hold
water, if left empty in wet places, wa
ter will find its way through from
without, and numerous silos con
structed on the sides of hills where
there are springs were found to have
several feet of water in them last
spring. Considerable loss resulted
from this cause. All silos should be
constructed with drains, and it is
very important that the drain s snould
be trapped so as to prevent a current
of air from passing in under the con
tents of the silo. As a rule, where
silos ar j constructed underground it
will be better to plank them inside of
a rough, dry well. The planks will
last many years and need but few re
pairs. If ensilage is to hold its place
in popular estimation, much is to be
learned in regard to the construction
of pits and in methods of ensilaging.
There is little doubt but that the cut
ting pr >cess, which is so expensive
and laborious, may be dispensed with,
and it will be found that it is better
to partially dry the fodder in the
field before putting it iuto the pits.
If 25 per cent, of the water Is re
moved it will cost much less to han
dle the fodder and the value will not
be in the least diminished.
This, of course, has been previously
pulverized and Bifted. Should you
choose, put all together, mix perfectly,
and you have a ton. It has cost you
about |8, and as far as my experiments
go, and others that have tr ed the
same way, it is equal to auy ton of
nitrogenous fertilizer used. I use
about two hundred pounds of this to
the acre, and find it as good as any
fertilizer I ever used costing $45 a ton.
I find it better than bone cut with
sulphurate acid until it contains 15 per
Forms and Habits of Fishes.
Professor Bickmore Tells About Spinal
Development.
The formation, coloring and
curious spinal development of
the numerous varieties of bony 1
fishes were illustrated and de- I
scribed in a very entertaining coan-
ner by Prof. Bickmore at the Ameri
can Museum of Natural History. A
type drawing of a fish’s vertebrae was
exhibited on a screen, showing that
Points of Etiquette and
Decoration.
cent, of soluble phosphoric acid, such ( ^ ie diff’ r j nt bony parts of a fish
as Prof. Babin in his addresses has put
down as the most valuable superphos
phate. I arrived at this formu'a by
experiments against reason, as the
chemist would say ; but as I have ex
plained, it is just the mixture that is
acceptable to the little rootlets of va
rious plants. Next to this I find from
75 to 100 pounds of bone-dast t> the
acre, without any preparation except
to mix with dry woods dirt, so it can
be evenly distributed—say 150 pounds
of d-'st: to 500 pounds of loam—and
then apply broadcast, as before, put
ting this amount on two aores.”
How the Savory Batraehian is Caught,
Cooked and Eaten.
Frogs are most plentiful about the
onths of June and July. Then, as
the colder weather comes, they bury
themselves in the mud and lie dormant
through the winter. The largest sup-
in early summer comes from
eague Island, in the Delaware river,
oar Philadelphia. After July th
rogs are caught and shipped from
Canada. The town of Perth, Ontario,
has the most important trade and de
lves quite a handsome revenue from
shipment of the frogs to New
“ork and Chicago. There is no dis
tinguishable difference between the
Pennsylvania and Canadian breeds,
the frigs of both being nearly of the
same sizs and appearance. The
Southern catch is considered the most
profitable, because it reaches the mar
ket at the opening of the season and
furnishes a new delicacy.
In the course of the season New
York receives from 1000 to 150.) pound
per day. The price averages 50 cents
a pound, but as the supply diminishes
it reaches the retail prices of 60 and 78
cents. In the summer of this year
Canadian frogs sold for 25 cents. It is
noticeable that the fr >gs are becoming
scai’Cfer every year. The consumption
of them as an edible is rapidly increas
ing, and I have no doubt that in a few
years they will not be purchasable. A
number of persons have tried to culti
vate them, but as yet uo one has found
food for the young fry. If a number
are placed together In a tank they will
inevitably starve, and We can do noth*
ing to save them.
Straw in Place of Hay.
Colonel F. D. Curtis has been ex
perimenting in feeding farm animals
upon straw in place of more costly
hay, and finds a profit in it, provided
a suitable amount of grain be given
with the straw. Last winter he found
himself short of hay,but with plenty of
straw, and he gives in the New York
Tribune his experience in substituting
the cheaper for the dearer fodder. The
straw was fed chiefly in cold weather,
as the animals had a better appetite
then than after the weather became
warm in the spring. A horse ate 84
cents worth of meal and 60 cents
worth of straw in seven days, that
would have eaten $2 worth of hay in
the same time, if hay alone had been
his food, thus making a saving of
more than one-fourlh. Milch cows
working oxen, and young cattle all
did well with straw and corn fodder
as a pari of their ration. The butter
made was of excellent quality, and
the milk yield highly satisfactory.
He found that bright straw for hone
driven on the road is superior to hay,
as they will not so readily overfill
themselves as with hay. Plenty of
grain must be given with str »w to
animals of hard work. He believes
that farmers can afford to sell a por
tion of their hay, and then purchase
grain to feed with their straw, and
make a profit by the exchange. I
is no new thing to feed str iw in win
ter to farm animals ; but it was not
until such experimenter! as Professor
Sunbor i and the agricultural chem
ists showed the philosophy of the
practice that farmers have felt free to
adopt it as sound policy.
Literary.
Sex ot Eggs.
Science and experience have suffi
ciently demonstrated that everything
that bears must possess both the male
aud the female qualifications; hu
perhaps it is not generally known tha
such is the case with eggs. I have
found by experience that it is, and by
the following rule : I raise as many
pullets among my oblckens as I wish
to, while some of my neighbors com
plain that their chickens are nearly all
roosters, and they cannot see why
there should be a difference. I will
tell you here what 1 told them, and
for the benefit of those who do not
know that the small, round eggs are
female ones, and the long, slender
ones are males. This rule holds good
among all blrls. So you wish to
raise pullets, set the small, round eggB;
if you wish to raise roosters, set the
long, slender ones. In this way you
whiohever sex you
Home-Made Fertilisers.
The following directions for making
home-made fertilizes are from the re
port of Dr. Cutting, Secretary of the
Vermont Boar 1 of Agriculture: “Take
600 pounds of bone meal (dust), the
finer the better BIft if you oau get a
fine sieve, so as to save 100 pounds of
the fl'iest. Put the coaree part of it
into a tub or box, and wet with water
until it is moist; it will take three or
four pailfuls; then slowly add two
gallons of sulphurate acid, which
weighs at least 14 pounds to the gal
lon. Btir continuously ; it will foam
and boil. Let it stand twelve hours,
then add auother gallon of acid as
before, and while it is hot, so that the
lumps break easily, add the other 100
pounds of boue meal. This will then
weigh about 850 pounds ; add to it im
mediately 1650 pounds of drv loam,
woods dirt, muck, or, if these are In
convenient to get, you may add sand,
h T JLhLft won
Mr. Arthur Nicols, F. G. 8., has
written a book ent’tlcd “Z >ological
Notes,” which takes u/> the structure,
affinities, habits, and mental faculties
ot wild and domestic animals, and in
eludes many anecdotes concer ring and
adventures among them, as well as
sketches of some of their fossil repre
sentatives. Mr. L. Upcatt Gill, No.
170 Strand, London, is the publisher.
Dr. George Macdonald’s new volume
of essays, which he describes by the
name of “Orts,” is worthy of far more
consideration than its title is likely to
obtain for it. Among the topics dis
cussed are “ The Imagination,” “The
Art of 8hakespeare,” “The Elder
Hamlet,” Wordsworth’s Poetry.”
“Shelley,” and “True Christian Min
istering.” Sampson Low & Co., Lon
don, are his publisher!.
“The Vaz’rof Lankurau” will be
the first m< darn Persian play ever
printed in Europe. The volume will
comprise the Per dan text,explanatory
notes, a glossary, a grammatical in
troduction, and an English transla
tion. The work will be out shortly,
and will be used by Mr. Cnarles Schef-
er, the director of the school of living
Oriental languages at Paris, for his
course In the second half of the win
ter’s session.
As a brief account of E iglish authors
Dr. J. Soherr’s cmdansed “History of
English Literature,” translate d from
the Germain by M. V., and published
by Sampson Low & Co., is worthy of
seme attention. Dr. Scherr praises
M. fine’s work highly .though differ
ing from him on many points. H.s
fi st edition appeared nine years before
M. Taine’s, aud Is the only critical
work on English lit -rature that has
recently come from a German author
Miss Anua Bucklaud has written a
a book named “The Story of English
Literature,” which is one of the most
fascinating works of its kind ever
written. It strikes the happy medium
between critical and narrative writ
ing, and happily combines biograph
ical and descriptive account! of the
great English writers, with a fair esti
mate of their chief works. Jt is just
the book to put into the hands of
16 year-olds. Cassell, Petter, Galpin
& Co. are the publishers.
Mr. Grant Allen’s slender volume
ou “The Colors of Flower!,” which is
published by the Macmillans in the
Nature Series, is expauded from an
essay which originally appeared in
the Cornhill Magazine, and was
warmly commended by Mr. Charles
Darwin for Its originality. It Is writ
ten in the Interests of evolution, in
which Mr. Allen heartily believes,
and will be found within the reach of
tbe non-scientific reader.
Baron de Malortie lias written a
work ou “E^ypt,” published by Wm.
Ridgeway, No. 109 Piccadilly,London,
which discusses the native rulers aud
the int irferenceof foreigners in E.rypt
with a free hand. He enforces the
opinion t iat the shortcomings of the
native rulers are tr'fliug compand
with the blunders of their patrons,
aud that their mistakes are mainly
due to foreign meddling and advice.
Much valuable information is packed
into the volume, whloh Is the latest
book on Egyptian politics.
are essentially tbe same. Attention
was called to the variation in the
forms of fishes, and Prof, Bickmore
explained at some length the various
combinations in the formation of fins.
Prom the common dorsal and caudal
fins this part of a fish’s anatomy is so
developed as to form wiugs which en
able fish to fly, and legs which enable
fish to creep on tbe earth.
A drawing of a flying fl ih was dis
played on tne screen and its charac
teristics wers brie fl / described. The
Professor said he had seen flying fish
spring out of the sea when the surface
was aa smooth as glass and fly a con
siderable distance. The dolphins, he
said, exhibited great sagacity in chaf
ing the fl /ing fish. A dolphin can
usually j idge a flying fish’s power of
remaining in the air so accurately that
the former can swim under water aud
come up to the sur ace just in time to
catch the flying fish as it drops from
exhaustion. The dolphin is a vera
cious fish, and often hunts arjund
among rocks and weeds for its pray.
While fishing for blue-fish, off Cape
H itteras some time ago, one of Prof.
Bickmore’s party caught a dolphin,
which attracted their attention ‘by
leaping out of the water. The body
of the fish was bright yellow, and its
spinal development was light blue in
color. While dying the dolphin’s
color changed from yellow to Bilver,
then from silver to gold. The gold
and silver hues then alternated, chas
ing each other like fleecy clouds.
Fishes have a very keen sight, but
tb6ir senses of hearing and smelling
are not so acute. Any sudden changes
of light are qickly noticed by the mem
bers of the finny tribe. The eyes of
fishes vary in siz >. Borne fishes, which
swim down near the deep bottom of
the sea, where there is little, if any
light, have large eyes and are also pro
vided with a phosphorescent appen
dage looking something like a bundle
of rags, which apparently lights their
pathways through the dark and mys
terious depths. There is a class of
fishes called “star-gaz es,” whose eyes
are so place 1 that they look directly
upward instead of onward. Another
kind of fish has its eyes placed nearly
half-way back on the top of the body.
The eyes of the sun-fish are set in a
soft and elastic cushion which can be
closed completely over the eyes when
ever the fi :h is so disposed. Fishes
that lie on one side, like the fl >under,
have one eye larger than the other.
The lecturer described and illustrated
fi th which is supplied with fins
The finger-nails should never be cut
or cleaned in public.
The custom of removing the glove
before shaking hands is no longer
j obligatory.
Tbe latest thing out in tabie covers
are of coarse netting over bright-col
ored silk.
Make your leave-taking short, and
do not dally, but depari, gracefully aud
politely.
Spun-glass napkins costing $100 *
dozen are a recent addition to the su*
ply of luxuries.
A unique claret jug is in the fori
of an upright cockatoo in beautifullj
enameled glass.
New shades for the vestibule are
seen in white and ecru linen embroi
dered in Kensington designs.
Exquisite curtain draperies of Ma
dras silk have a plain center, and bor
ders of satin with gay floral designs.
There is a great demand for brass
portrait plaques aud placque pictures
done on porcelain for hail and library
decoration.
New brass candlesticks to set nat are
made like censers, with a socket in
the centre, and are accomp ankd by a
tray and snuffers.
Lustra painting is a new art, and
can be applied to every fabrio from
velvet to linen and also to wood and
the various articles made of terra
cotta.
Pretty and inexpensive screens can
be made by covering an ordinary
clothes-horse with dark felt or plush,
upon which Cainese crape pictures
may be mounted.
In buttonhole-stitching the bottom
of a flannel skirtt, first double the
flannel as if to hem it, aud baste it in
place. This will give firmness to it,
and it will last twice as long.
Special marks of kindness and at
tention should be received with dis
cretion, for it is far better to refuse
privileges which were never intend
ed.
It is not now considered correct to
introduce visitors who are calling at
the same time, and considerate visi
tors will obviate any awkwardness by
taking their departure Immediately
upon the arrival of a stranger.
When at a dinner party a gently
man is introduced to the lady who!
he is to take in to dinner, he shoull
converse with her until dinner is ai
nounced, when he should offer h<
his right arm aud conduct her to tl
dining-room.
A new frame for small mirrors ai
pictures has the top and left side aboi
one-half the width of the bottom at
right side. It is covered with pluq
and a small owl placed on a perch
uameuts the upper right hand cori
About the Ostrich.
something in the f irm of legs.
This fl-di, he said, frequently made
long journeys over the ground in
search of water when the stream or
lake In which it was originally had
been emptied by drought. The pecu
liar sh apes, colors and habits of angel
fishes were touched upon. Not only
the bodies but the fins of some angel
fi !hes are found to be completely cov
ered with glistening scales. Bands of
various colors encircle the bodies of
moat of the fishes of tils class, and
the variegated app c arance of some
angel fishes remind a beholder of the
top of a Japanese box. The angel
fishes swim around in quiet lagoons,
and procure a large part of their foi
by knocking insects off' from over
hanging bushes along the shore.
Tneir peculiar shaped mouths—some
thing like a bird’s bill—enable them
to sh#ot tiny drops of wat.e, with fatal
force, at their prey. Fishes have a
groat many nerves but very few
brains, There is iu each fish a set of
muscles and a set of nerves for each
set of vertebno — N. Y. Times.
Miss Mar / L. Wately gives aglimps
behind the curtain in her little vol-
lAie, “ Scenes from Life in Cairo,”
which is published by Seeley, Jack-
son & Halliday, London. It is a book
for the day, and will be read with
speci^fintereBt in connection with
itate Ei ^
Cassell, Patter, Galpin & Co., pub
lish for Robert H Smith, Professor of
Engineering in the Mason Science
College, Birmingham, an excellent
little hand-book on “Cutting Tool
Worked by Hand and Machine,”
which contains fourteen folding plates
and fifty-one wood-outs.
The customs collectors at Boston*
New York, Baltimore and Portland’
have been inBtruoted to reoeive pro
posals for the construction of sheds for
imported cattle at the quarant ue sta-
itablleh
There is some prospect of ostr
farming developing into quite an
dustry in the south-west, and it wil
some time be a cold day when the
simple-minded rustic of that region]
will not have ostrich on toast if he
wauts it. Ostrich farming, howevei;
will always have its drawbacks. Tl
hen ostrich is not a good layer
rule, only laying two eggs per annul
which, being about the size of a pore
lain wash bowl, makes her so prouc
that she takes the balance of the yeai
for the purpose of convalescing.
The ostrich is chiefly valuable fo^
the plumage which he wears, anc
which, when introduced into the!
world of commerce, make the husband
almost wish he were dead.
Probably the ostrich will not come
into general use as au article of fuod,
few people caring for it, as the meat ie
coarse and the gizzard full of old hard
ware and relics of wrecked trains, and
old irons left where there has been a
fire.
Carviug the ostrich is notsodiffloul
as carving quail, bocauso the joints a]
larger and one can find them with It
trouble. Siill, the bird takes ui
good deal of room at the table, and’
best circles ar i not using them.
The ostrich does not set. She donl
have time. She does not squat dowj
over something and insist on hatohij
it out if it takes all summer, but i
just lays a couple of porcelain ouj|
doras in the hot sand when Bho
like it, and then goes away to tbe|
side to quiet her shattered nerve
Captain Webb seems to think
the use of porpoise oil rubbed
over the body and even the face, pt
ve4V.be chilling aotion of cold]
affecting the vital parts of
who remain a flB^imej
v