Newspaper Page Text
Agricultural.
Fieid, Farm and Garden.
In the New York Tribune a resident
of Oil Creek warns fruit-growers
against using petroleum on fruit trees
and shrubs. It kills all trees around
where it is pumped, and a neighboring
orchard that had been painted with it
began to decline. This applies to crude
oil, but others claim that refined oil, as
used for lamps, is less harmful. It
kills flies and destroys the eggs of in
sects if brushed on lightly in winter,
but in summer must not be applied to
the foliage except when largely diluted
with water, which should be kept con
stantly stirred.
Sorghum seed is said by Dr. Wilhelm,
of Minnesota, to be equal to corn as
feed for all kinds of stock, and twenty-
five bushels may be obtained from an
acre. It also makes a flour equal to
that from buckwheat. The ski minings
from the pans, when boiling for sugar,
are found to be very valuable as food
for hogs, they taking on flesh rapidly
when fed on this alone. Good vinegar
is made from the clear liquor. The
seed and vinegar are estimated at $30f*
and a material used for making wrap
ping paper yields $12, or $42 per acre,
without estimating sugar.
It is a common remark that most
anything is good enough for a hog, and
to this senseless proposition is traced
the disease among swine owned by
breeders who indorse it. Since time
immemorial the hog has been called the
farm scavenger, but, nevertheless, the
successful breeder is he who relics the
least upon this over-estimated charac
teristics of the animal. Bad water,
worse treatment in handling, and a
superabundance of filth are the founda
tion of all diseases to which hogs are
subject, and it is consequently easy to
believe that the health of the animal
and the quality of the meat must in
crease in proportion to the cleanliness
of the food and surroundings.
M. Pasteur, of France, says that the
grass grown over the graves of cattle
that died of splenic fever is a source of
infection to the cattle feeding on it.
He points to the agency of earthworms
in carrying- the germs of deadly bacteria
from br.^ed carcasses to living animals.
Having introduced worms into a pit
which had contained the carcasses of
cattle that died from splenic fever, he
filled it with earth. In a short time he
procured from the intestines of these
worms the means of reproducing the
disease in its worst forms by inocula
tion. lie also showed that the worms,
by casting out over the surface earth
containing the bacteria germs, gave the
disease to all cattle that grazed over it.
A correspondent of the Country Gen
tleman claims that he gets the greatest
number of eggs when he feeds his hens
on wheat screenings. He feeds in this
way : “I have fed sorghum seed, com
meal, oats, corn middlings, and have
concluded that feeding wheat in the
morning and shelled corn at night,
witli a feed of ship-stuffs wet up, hav
ing a good dose of ground pepper put
in, and then baked and fed twice a
week, and once in a while substituting
l>owdered sulphur in place of pepper, is
the best plan. 1 have good shelter and
good, clean nests; feed regularly and
allow them a good range, with plenty
of gravel to scrarch in. I sell the fowls
, when they are two years old, and
^always keep the hens for hatching.”
Concerning his experience with ensi
lage W. C. Strong, of Brighton, Mass.,
writes: Having a cemented tank which
had been used as a reservoir for water,
I tried the experiment of using it as a
silo in 1880. Ten acres of Hungarian
jrass (about 130 tons), very foul with
|g or rag weed, so that it would have
an unmerchantable in a dry state,
r^cut fine and packed in the usual
way, and sold during the winter to
milkmen at $7 per ton, they doing the
qarting. They reported that the cows
sought the ensilage with avidity, ate it
clean and seemed to thrive and give an
improved quality of milk over that pro
duced from hay and brewers’ grains.
Last season the silo was filled with corn
of excellent quality, and the bulk of it
sold to milkmen at $7 per ton, they
coming for it, in loads of 1500 to 2000
jMunds,. about once a week. The re-
yl^s have been emphatic from pur
chasers that it was an "economical and
excellent fodder, the quality of the
tint the notice of consumers
I une milk than they had
fore. A smaller allowance
brewers’ grains w'JPised
k I feed my own cows
fym, Jind
-a
era in my experience. That ensilage of '
corn is the cheapest and most whole
some food for milch cows, if supple- j
mented with a small allowance of
shorts and hay, I entertain no doubt.
Dr. Hexamer says that in 1872 straw
berries shipped from Charleston to
N orthern m irkets Wrought an average
price of 57 cents per quart; in 1874, 38
cents ; in 1870, 21 cents; in. 1879, 14
cents, and in 1880, 121 cents. Many
years ago, Jucundas from Knox, at
Pittsburg, brought in New York from
50 to 75 cents a quart, and for some
years after the war selected berries of
Triumphe de Gand sold readily at from
40 to 50 cents a quart by the crate.
There are, however, one or two good
points in this decline. These fine sorts
then had no competitors in the many
excellent varieties which have since
sprung into existence and supplied the
market; and the scant supply then,
confined to a few purchasers, is replaced
by the enormous quantities which en
able any one who has a few cents to
feast on strawberries, and the whole
people can have them.
Perfectly "double flowers cannot pro
duce seed, since all the reproductive
organs are converted into petals. Semi
double or partially double flowers may
produce seed, and these flowers possibly
may be self-fertilized or may be fertil
ized by others partially double or by
single ones, and in either case may
form seed, considerable portion of
which produce flowers more or less
double. Or single flowers fertilized by
semi-double ones may produce seeds
capable of similar results. Unusually
large and vigorous plants are not par
ticularly favorable for the production
of seeds, but rather particularly unfav
orable ; plants of medium vigor,
neither stunted nor forced into rank
growth, are best. The raising of seeds
that will produce double flowers is an
art that requires much experience to
enable one to practice it successfully,
and nearly every kind of flower requires
a peculiar and special treatment.
Sacred Monkeys.
Victor Jacquemont estimates that
the Bengal Presidency alone contains
1000 monkey asylums, supported chiefly
by the very poorest class of the popula
tion. In the rural districts of Nepaul
the hanumans have their sacred groves,
and keep together in troops of fifty or
sixty adults, and, in spite of hard times,
these associations multiply like the
monastic order of mediaeval Europe;
but they must all be provided for,
tnougii the natives have to eke out the
crops with the wild rice of the Jumna
swamp jungles.
The strangest part of the superstition
is that this charity results by no means
from a feeling of benevolence toward
animals in general, but from the exclu
sive veneration of a special subdivision
of the monkey tribe. An orthodox
Hindoo must not willingly take the life
of the humblest fellow-creature, but he
would not move a finger to save a starv
ing dog, and has no hesitation in stim
ulating a beast of burden with a dagger
like goad and other contrivances that
would evoke the avenging powers of
the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals. Nor would he
shrink from extreme measures in de
fending his fields from the ravages of
low-caste monkeys. Dr. Allen Mac
kenzie once saw a swarm of excited
natives running toward an orchard
where the sliakinjsof branches betrayed
the presence of arboreal marauders.
Some of them‘carried slings, others
clubs and cane-spears. But soon they
came back crestfallen. “What’s the
matter?” inquired the Doctor; “did
they get away from you?” “Kappa-
Muni,” was the laconic reply, “sacred
monkeys.” Holy baboons that Enlist
not be interrupted in their little pas
times. They had expected to find a
troop of common makaques, wanderoos
or other profane fout-handers, and re
turned on tiptoe, like Marryat’s ser
geant who went to arrest an opstreper-
ous drunkard and recognized his com
manding officer. Unarmed Europeans
cannot afford to brave these prejudices.
Captain Elphinstone’s gardener nearly
lost his life for shooting a thievish han-
uman. A mob of raging bigots chased
him from street to street till he gave
thorn the slip in a Mohammedan sub-
urb, where a sympathizing Unitarian
helped him to escape through the back
alleys. The interference of his count ry
men would hardly have saved him, for
the crowd increased from minute to
minute, and even women joined in the
chase, and threatened to cure his im-
>iety with u^miip-mush
, Play Your Hand for all
its Worth.
There is no greater barrier to a man’s
success in life than his willingness to
fall into line with the stupid fellows
who play second fiddle ; the Jaeque
Strops to the Robert Macaires. They
should learn that the world laughs at a
clown and they despise the assumed
gravity of the serious imitator. Then
again this class should learn that the
fools whom you would deceive can be
of no service to you, and the wise men
who would serve an honest intention,
or a candid presentation, can see
through your stupid efforts to wear
gracefully the solemn dignity of the
owl, or the gaudy trappings of the
peafowl, and if you put on the shaggy
mane of the king of beasts, but open
your mouth and your bray soon dispels
the delusion, and the idiot of false pre
tense stands out in all his comical de
formities ; a laughing stock to half the
world, a subject of pity to the rest.
Too many of the genus homo are but
claquers who howl from society’s pit
when the chief signals the supposed
good points upon the stage. They are
but illy paid, and rarely reach distinc
tion ; yowling like dervishes to impress
society with your piety; compiling
other men’s ideas to assert your hoped-
for position on the plane of journalism ;
baying like a “yaller” dog at the man
in the moon, to show your sympathies
when modesty would sit more becom
ingly on the strongest of us ; all these
are but the outcroppings of imbecility
that writes brass upon its frontlets, and
prints ape upon its phylacteries. To
such grotesque characters we will say,
the strongest card you can play is the
one nature provided you with, that is
your own natural force. If you fail
with this hand, even if you play alone,
you can retire with dignity, but nine
times in ten you will succeed, whereas,
the assumption of a character as mimic
or harlequin, will result in a most mis
erable failure, making you a laughing
stock for the world to jeer at.
If you are born to be a woodchopper,
hew to the line, let the chips fall where
they will, don’t imagine you can play
Blackstone on the one hand or Galen
on the other. Don’t imagine if nature
cut you out for a hewer of wood and
drawer of water, that had you the
chance oi other men you would have
been an Astor or a Vanderbilt ; not a
bit of it. Nature has kindly put you
exactly where you belong, and there is
no use of kicking in the traces. If you
take the “studs” you will find society
ready to cudgel you into line. If you
show your heels like the artless mule
the world will tie your legs and merci
lessly sit down upon you. “Th*e is
no use kicking against the pricks,” is
biblical, old and trite. Conform to the
places where you may find yourself, in
the workshop, at the bar, or behind the
counter. Play your hand for all it is
really worth. If you hold trumps so
much the better, but remember, that
no wise card player attempts to catch
the right bower with the left. This
is a good lesson for the moralist. Let
How to Split a Sheet of Paper
It is one of the most remarkable prop- j
ertiea of that wonderful product, paper, j
; that it can be split into two or three I
| even parts, however thin the sheet. We
; have seen a leaf of the Illustrated News, |
! thus divide 1 into three parts, or three)
i thin leaves. One consisted of the sur-1
I face on which the engravings are j
I printed ; another was the side contain-
| ing tin 1 letter-press, and a perfectly
blank piece on each side was the paper
that lay between. Many people who
have not seen this done might. think
this impossible ; yet it is not only possi
ble but extremely easy, as we shall
show. Get a piece, of plate glass and
place on it a sheet of paper ; then let
the latter be thorougly soaked. With
care and a little dexterity the sheet can
be split by the top surface being re
moved. But the best plan is to paste a
piece of cloth or strong paper to each
side of the sheet without hesitation pull
the two pieces asuuder, when part of
the sheet will be found to have adhered
to one and part to the other. Soften
the paste in water and the pieces can be
easily* removed fiom the cloth. The
process is generally demonstrated as a t
matter of curiosity, yet it can be util
ized in various ways. If we want to
paste in a scrap-book a newspaper arti
cle printed on both sides of the paper,
and possess only one copy, it is very
convenient to know how to detach the
one side from the other. The paper,
when split, as may be imagined, is more
transparent than it was before being
subjected to the operation, and the
printing ink somewhat duller ; other
wise the two pieces present the appear-
of the original if brought together.
Some time ago the information of how
to do this splitting was advertised to be
sold for a considerable sum. We now
impart it to all our readers.
the rich neighbor, who was elected
the office, and ever after the two m
were the greatest friends. Thus,
deam, do good actions always meet
heir reward.”
Lentel Regulations.
wiser it not richer. We cannot trans
form ourselves into the condition of
others, and if we could we question if
we could play the role of the stranger
as well as the one nature has planned
out for us; no logic or sophistry can
change the decrees of fate. A man at
thirty is either a fool or his own physi
cian, and the' same rule will apply all
through the varied phases of life.
Don’t imagine you will gain knowledge
with age. You aro not wine, although
many of our readers may lie full of—
just as you please, the juice of the
grape or the idea. What a man doesn’t
know at thirty he will never learn.
If at that age you are a shoemaker,
stick to your last. If an attorney, even
should your coat lie out at the
elbows, or if a kind providence had
placed you’in one of its highest niches,
say mounted 1 ! you booted and spurred
on the editorial tripod, ride your nag,
until his tail drops off rather than think
. you can dismount and souffle in the
j gutter for place among the not so
| blessed.—Thoroughbred Stork Journal,
! In 1770 Sarah Goddard printed a
! paper in Newport, Rhode Island, ably
conducting it, afterward associating
with her John Carter. The firm was
announce^ Sarah Goddard & Co., s)^
taking the partnership precedence, as
j was proper anil right.
The Robber and the Editor.
"Listen, my children,” said a vener
able man, “and I will tell you a story,
beautiful and true. Once upon a time
there was a bad, bold robber, who had
his haunt in the wilds of a mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, in the val
ley, was a village. It whs not a very
large village, yet in it a newspaper was
printed. The robber looked upon tlfe
editor of the newspaper as being the
chief man of the village, and thought he
must be very rich. So one dark night
he came down from his den in the
mountain and stole into the dwelling of
the editor and then into the room where
he slept.' The editor, being a good man,
slept as soundly and sweetly as a child.
The robber searched all the place, but
could not find the caskets of gold and
diamonds he had supposed to be stored
up in the room. He then put his hands
in all tlife pockets of the clothes of the
editor, but found no money in any of
them. The robber then stood for a
time as in a stupor. He was like one
awakened from a dream. He listened
for some moments to the deep, regular
mankind profit by it and we will he" 1 bfeathing of the sleeping editor, and as
An Illinois court lias decided that a
woman’s lie about her age doesn’t viti
ate her insurance policy.
he stood so he began to feel sad. The
heart of the bold, bad man was touched.
Quietly he took from his purse $4.75,
placed the money in the pantaloons
pocket of the editor, and softly stole
from the house. In the morning, when
the editor got up and put on his panta
loons, there was a jingle i* of money.
A look of astonishment came into
the face of the editor. He put his
hand into his pocket and drew'
out the money. When he saw this
great wealth the knees of the editor
smote together ; he turned pale, fainted
and fell to the floor, and there lay as
one who is dead.”
“Oh ! oh ! grandfather, did they catch
the bad robber man and hang him on a
tree i*’
“No, my dears, they did not catch
the bold, bad robber. lie is still living.
From that day he reformed, and got a
place as cashier in a big bank, where
you will be glad to hear that he is doing
well and is greatly respected by all in
his church.”
“And the poor editor man, grand
father ! What became of him ?”
“Ah, yes, my darlings! I had almost
forgotten him. Well, when he came
out of his faint, and his eyes saw' all the
money lying about the room where it
had fallen, he was sorely perplexed. At
last he felt sure it uad been quietly
placed in liis pocket in the night by a
great and rich neighbor who ow’ned a
tanyard and was running for the Leg
islature. So for days and days ho
printed in^fia- paper whole columns of
The following we believe are the giyi-
eral Lentel regulations.
1. All the faithful who have (Com
pleted their twenty-first year, are, unKeas
legitimately dispensed, bound to ofo- ,
serve the Fast of Lent. ^i
2. But one meal a day is allowed, 5
Sundays excepted.
3. This meal is not to be taken until
about noon.
4. When permission is granted to cat
meat, flesh meat and fish are not to bdi
used at the same meal, even by way of
sauce or condiment. r
5. A collation is. allowed in the
ing. The quantity of food used th
according to the practice of re
Christians, does not exceed the fi
part of an ordinary meal.
6. All kindsof fruit,bread, vegetabli
and fish are allowed at the collation. At
that time, however, eggs, butter, milk
and cheese are permitted by the Church
only to those, who being bound to fast,
live w here the use of such articles at the
collation has grown into a custom. But]
they are not allowed even there at the)
collation on Ash Wednesday or G
Friday.
7. General custom has made it la
to drink in the morning some wany g
liquid, as tea. coffee, or thin chocolate I
made with water. *
8. Necessity and custom have author
ize the use of lard instead of hutteyA
ifceparing fish, vegetables, etc. t ^
9. The following persons are exempt t
f from the obligations of fasting, viz: All
under tw'enty-one years of age, the sick,’’
women during pregnancy or wdiile nurs
ing children at the breast, persons
obliged to hard laboi, and all who
through weakness cannot fast without
injury to their health.
10. By dispensation the use of flesh
meat is allowed at any time on Sundays,
once a day on Mondays, Tuesdays,
Thursdays, and Saturdays, with the ex
ertion of Holy Thursday and the sec
ond and last Saturdays in Lent.
11. Persons exempt from the obliga
tion of fasting on account of age or hard
labor, are not restricted to the use o:
meat at oqe meal only on those days o
which its use is granted by dispensation.
Those dispensed from the fast for other
causes, as well as persons who are
obliged to fast, are permitted to use
meat only at one meal.
12. The time, w'ithin which the pas
chal precept can be complied w ith com
mences on the first Sunday of Lent and
expires on Trinity Sunday, inclusive.
t
Discovery of Mont Blanc.
Mont Blanc, the highest of the Alps^
is, strange to say, a modern discovery*
At least, no mention is made of this
colossus of European peaks in any itin
erary, or in any literary work whatever,'
till recent times. M. Charles Durier, ‘
in his work “Le Mont Blanc,” says:
“This mountain rises in the centre of
the most poj|g|0pland civilized states
of Europe; it is, in fact, the axis around
which European civilization has re
volved and still does revolve. Its height
is considerable ; it dominates everything
in its vicinity, and to make its appear
ance more striking on the background
of the blue sky, its summit, though
placed in a favored, temperate latitude,
is ever covered with a mantel of snow.
And yet, during twenty centuries, no
historian, no traveler, no savant, no 1
poet names it, or so much as alludes to
it. As the sun describes his daily track,
that peak throws its shadow upon at
least three countries possessing different
languages, but still it was profoundly
ignored.” The same author informs us
of a map of the region round about
Mont Blanc, published in the second )
half of the sixteenth century, but which j
gives no hint as to the existance of the |
mountain, which, nevertheless, is visi- j
ble from all sides at distances of sixty
leagues.
C
\\
The academy of sciences decides that ■(
raw meat is easier of digestion than ,
that which is cooked. In prescribing it /
preference should l>e given to flesh that j/
has been frozen, as very low temperiW*
tures destroy the eggs of the many para*- - ^
sites which often infest meats of all
i
1 kinds.