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m LAST OF THE WAPITI. W FORTY-MIL'S CHASE AFTER A LONE ELK. Story of the Extinction of the Race in the Great Forests of Pensyl vania. “I will tell you the story of how the iast elk that ever startled the hunter with his whistle in the forests of Penn sylvania was killed, if you would like to hear it?" said an old resident of that eregion to a New York Times corre- Eondentas they sat smoking together in is cabin after a hard and not very suc cessful day’s hunt. * “By all means,” X replied. “Nothing could be more to my wish.” i “The killing of that last elk occurred as late as the winter of 18B7,” continued the old hunter, “ulthough elk was be lieved to have been extinct in this btate twenty years before. Sixty years ago they were still very numerous in the Northwestern Pennsylvania forests, pspeciaily in the wild Sinnemahoning region, in what is now Elk county. “Elk County was formed from other pounties in IBi3, and it was because elk Was still numerous within its bounda ries that the name was given it. The bite of the present county scat, the village of Ridgeway, was an unbroken wilder ness when this county was formed, and bo better place for elk could be found. X shot an elk on the site of the 61d Elk County Court House six months before the land was cleared on which it was to be built. From whero Hidgeway now is to the present city of Bradford, the metropolis of the oil region, a famous Elk path or runway extended, leading to a salt lick in what is uow Washington Park in Bradford. “In 1845, the country having been settled very rapidly, and elk hunting having been pursued persistently by many expert hunters without regard to the means used to kill the animals, what was believed to be the last elk in the Btate was killed. The hunter who shot : it was Beth Kelson, a famous woodsman, who had a record of Dr elk from 1830 to 1813, and who was still living the last I knew, 1 having visited him at Pound Island. Elk Co nty, in 1883. Nelson set his traps and hunted the ridges of that region year in and year out after killing that elk, and was satisfied that the wapiti face had been annihilated along the Sinnemahoning,and if it had disappeared from that wild section it was certain that it had no representative in any other part of the Btate. Early in September, 1807, however, as he was setting his traps in Bennett’s Cheek, near Flag Swamp, he heard the peculiar and unmistakable whistle that a bull elk makes at that time of year, and then only for three or four days. It is its call for a mate, and tins Indian hunters call it “the lone gong.” Nelson returned to his cabin, got his hounds, aud started back for 1 lag Bwamptoput them on the trail of the elk. in the meantime, unfortunately for the old elk hunter, a heavy rain had commenced to fall and by the time he had reached the spot, where he had heard the bull’s whistle all scent of his trail had been obliterated and Nelson Was forced to abandon his hunt. “It was something that Nelson never forgave himself for that he did not keep his discovery to himself, for had he done go he believed that he would have round his record as an elk hunter by killing the last ODe of that race in Pennsylva - nia. But he told other hunters, and the news that there was a bull elk still in this Sinnemahoning woods soon spread throughout the region, and the woods were scoured for weeks by scores ot hunters all anxious to lay the lone elk low. Among the hunters who made the woods of Northern and Northwestern Pennsylvania their camping grounds as late as 1807, were many old-time full blooded Indians, who lived on the Corn planter Reservation in Warren County, and on the Cattaraugus Reservation, over the New r York State line. Promi nent among these was an Indian known as Jim Jacobs, who lived on the Catta raugus Reservation. He was the greatest hunter that ever roamed the woods of that country, and he was then over seventy flve years old. He, in company with another Indian hunter, started in after the eik. Other hunters tired of the weary and unprofitable search and left the woods, but these two Indians knew no such thing as weariness or ‘letup,’ u’< ouv u uo U I U|/, and they kept relentlessly on the hunt. In the latter part of November, on one snowy day, the long search for the elk . yv&s rewarded. The Indians struck its i trail, and the chase began. Elk, uniike deer, did not fly from danger by tremeu- ! dous leaps, but kept up a peculiar trot, which they could maintain without fatigue for days. It never directed its course for water when pressed by hounds, as the deer does, but kept on its course as long a 3 it was pursued, or until it was brought to bay. When tlie dogs succeeded in drawing near to! the flying elk it invariably sought the summit of a rook or elevated point, Where it would stand and defend itself against the dogs with its forefeet. This was the stage of the chase in which the doom of the elk was sealed. The dogs would harass it, but, if they were trained to the business, kept at safe distance from the quick aud powerful blow of its Iharp hoofs, for one blow would kill the earnest dog that ever followed the trail. The dogs would then keep the poor elk at bay until the hunters came up, when the well directed bullets ended the combat. “.iiui .'acobs wns learned in all the tactics of the elk, and having discov ered the trail of this ‘lone elk of the Sinnemahouiug.’ as this one had been named, they knew that only tune and persistence were necessary to eventually secure their game. The animal babied pursuit for days, but the Indian hunters were as tireless as their g ime, and on the fourth day atter starting ihe elk, two of them through a heavy snowstorm, the game was brought to bay in the forests of larion County, near the head waters of the Clarion Kiver, forty miles from the point where thetraii was first struck, although twice that distance, if not more, had been covered in the. chase. “When the two Indians arrived on the spot wheie the elk had t>een forced to turn upon its pursuers, they found it sur rounded by the dogs and fiercely fight ing them .’im dacobs was anxious to secure the noble animal alive, and hours were spent by the two Indians in edorts to that end, but they were u eless. .Inn Jacobs shot it through the heart, and the last of the wapiti race in Pennsylvania— the 'lone elk of the tinnemihoning’— died, defying its enemies to the end. Jim .Jacobs, the proud slayer of the ani mal, hunted throughout that part of Pennsylvania until 1882, and, although then ninety years old, showed no signs of loss of vigor. He was run over by the cars at Salamanca last year and cut to pieces almost within sight of his own house on the reservation.” SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL. Cattle are now slaughtered by elec tricity in Russia. A doctor says that the older a man grows the smaller his brain becomes. The number of lightning rods manu factuiod is diminishing year by year. Gilsonite is found, on analysis, to con tain about eighty per cent, of carbon or asphalt in pure form. Icebergs are a great source of danger to transatlantic navigation from March to August every year. English chemists have made the inter esting discovery that fluorine will dis solve metal, of any sort, e ven geld. Firing is only done properly when the fuel is consumed in the best possible way. that is, when no more is burned than is necessary to produce the steam required. At the meeting of the British Associa tion, ! 'rofessor G. F. Fitzgerald dwelt on recent experiments-of Hertz, in Ger many, asproving conclusively that light is an electio-magnetic phenomenon. At Hallo the skeleton-like, fibrous covering of a species of tropical cucum ber is now being converted into a sub stitute for sponge, and is already being exported in immense quantities to Eng land and other countries. Complete combustion must be obtained in the perfect furnace, and this is going on when ihe fuel is burning with a bright flame evenly all over the grate. Bine flames, dark spots aud smoke arc evi dences of incomplete combustion, due to lack of air. August Belmont, tire proprietor of a fine breeding farm in Kentucky, claims that he has kept his horses free from disease and in remarkable good health by giving them a dose of quinine regu larly. It is said to be particularly effec tive in case of pink-eye. The Smithsonian Institution at Wash ington has sent an expedition to Nova Beotia and secured fac similes of the “fairy rogks,” on which are curious hieroglyphic characters, evidently very old, which may throw some light on the history of the early discoveries of America. The markings are cut in upon a rock of highly-polished slate, and the intaglio is about a sixteenth of an inch deep. In the gold case factory of the Wal tham watch works in New York can be seen the largest belt ever made for the direct transmission of power. It is 105 feet long, with a 21-inch face, and was made by the Schieren Electric Belt Com pany of New York. The belt contains no rivets, the laps are cemented, and the joints of the outer edges are made more secure by brass pegs forced into the leather by means of machinery. Collating all known observations, Dr. E. von Martens, of Berlin, finds, that of twenty-seven species of molluscs found in the Suez Canal nine came from the Mediterranean and eighteen fromfhe Red Sea; aud that of sixteen species of fishes reported from the canal six were from the Mediterranean and ten from the Red Sea side. Tables of the distri bution of these species in the canal w that the admixture of animal life of the two seas is far from complete. According to the British Medical Journal , half of those who live die be fore seventeen. Only one person in 10,000 lives to be 100 years old, and but one in 100 reaches sixty. The married live longer than the single, but out of every 1000 born only 100 are ever mar ried. Of 1000 persons who have reached seventy there are of clergymen, orators and public speakers, forty-three; far mers, forty; workmen, thirty-three; soldiers, thirty-two; lawyers, twenty nine; professors, twenty-seven; doctors, twenty-four. The Age or Socretiveness Past. As to professional secrets, says the New York Commercial Ad ertis r, tho doctors and lawyers themselves have taken to “giving them away” oi late years, in conversation and through the columns of the 2iress, so that any fairly intelligent person 13 competent now to discuss and decide many questions of a purely technical character, which were formerly unfathomable mysteries to the mass. So family secrets nowadays get into print, and everybody knows the “secrets'* of trade—the ways in which articles are adulterated, prices forced up or down, etc. The Masons aud Odd Fellows have been infected with the pre vailing spirit, and no longer seek to maintain that air of absolute reserve which u~ed to be so potent with many. The world is becoming constantly bet ter informed on all subjects, Secretive ness is not one of the successful vices of the present day. People are getting to be altogether too “knowing” for the old ! time diplomat, or professor, or burglar. And now, to cap the climax, we have among us the phonograph, which bids fair to destroy what little secrecy still lingers in certain circles of society. A Chinaman's Tooth Powder. Song Wnh is a Brooklyn (X. Y.) “celestial,” who, in addition to laundry - j ing, makes a respectable living by sell ing to curiosity seekers the latest impor tations from his native land. Rice with two red sticks sells at ten cents a box. 1 The latest thing Song has offered is what he cabs Chinese tooth powder. It comes in little pink boxes covered with Chinese letters. The powder is pink, aud tastes like dried sage. Wah says that there's a “spirit in the powder that runs around and washee teethee.” Two Mild-Eyed Dynamiters. Two m n passed each other on Spruce street one morning this week, wrote a New York Sun reporter some time ago. One of them was a large, bluff, breezy individual, with a frank countenance, a kindly eye and a hearty manner. The other was a short, bearded, mild looking individual, with a lace of serenity aud amiability. Tne lirst was the Fenian dynamiter. O’Donovan Rossa, and the next was the Anarchist dynamiter, John Most, who do not en v oy the reputation of being cherubs. THE MERRY SIDE OF LIFE. STORIES THAT ARE TOLD BY THE FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. Mnch Relieved —The Attractions of Gravity—A Cheerful Assurance- Clevercr Than He Thought, Etc. Young T ady(badly frightened)—“Oh, George, there comes papa.” George (ditto) —“Where? Where?” Young Lady—“ Hear him stepping along the hail in his stocking feet.” George (greatly relieved) —“Be calm, darling, be calm. George is not afraid of stocking feet.” — Mercury. The Attractions of Gravity. “What a sombre-looking visage oid Duhlechin has, hasn’t lie?” “I should say so. Why, it’s the gen eral verdict hereabouts that he was never known to smile.” “Indeed! I wonder what could have attracted his wife to him?” “The attractions of gravity, I pre sume.” A Cheerful Assurance. “80, Mr. Hankinson, you are going on a tour of the world," “Yes, Miss Whitesmith.” “And will you promise to write tome from every country you may visit?” “Promise? Ah, you know howl will value the privilege. And you will really care to hear from me?” “Yes. I am collecting postage stamps.”— Nebraska Journal. Cleverer Than He Thought. lie was young and inexperienced, and as he struggled to tell his love, his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth, it was hopeless. Drawing a beautiful Bolitaire diamond engagement ring from his pocket, he tremblingly placed it upon her tapering finger. “Is it too large, Miss Lulu?” was all that he could utter. “A trifle too laruo, Mr. Sampson,” Miss Lulu shyly replied, “but I can have it fitted the first thing in the morning.” —Epoch. She Had Realized. ‘‘Amelia Sassafras,” said Marcellus Roddy with an accent of pain in his rich Voice, “do you realize the anguish you have caused me by your refusal of my heart and hand? No, you are cold and passionless. Ysu realize nothing.” “You are mistaken, Mr. Roddy,” said Amelia, haughtily. “Do you remember the ring you gave me? And the opera glasses? And the bracelets? And the gold thimble?” “I do remember them,” moaned the wretched young man. “Well,” said Amelia, “I have realized as them all. I giveyou the pawn tickets and this bundle of letters. Farewell forever, Mr. Roddy.”— Chicago News. E jual to the Emergency. Don’t judge a man by appearances wholly, unless yoH are prepared for sur prises. Two men who started out from Fort Fairfield, a while ago, in search of oats were set hack. After going about a dozen miles they found a log house, whose owner, in reply to questions, stated that he had the required 150 bushels to sell. When the purchasers got ready to pay they could show only $lO in change and a .SSOO bill. “Now see here, Pat,” they said, “we’re in a fix. What will you do, take the S4O and trust us for the balance, or take back the oats?” “Begobs I’ll do Cither,” said Pat. “but I’ll change the bill!” which he did. The One Impediment Removed. “If there is any person present,” said the minister, with due solemnity, “who knows of just cause or impediment why this woman should not be married to this man, lqt him speak now or forever after hold his peace.” “I don’t think anybody will put in any objections, parson,” said the stal wart young Arizona bridegroom. Mr. Roundup, as he laid his hand casually on the butt of his revolver and looked carelessly around the room. “The only impediment I know of was a young feller by the name of Lariat, and I cleaned him out yesterday. And now, if you will go ahead, parson, and finish up this job, Miss Kacktus and me are waiting.”— Chicago Tribune. Her Poem. She glided into the office and quietly approached the editor’s desk. “I have written a poem” she be gan. “Well!” exclaimed the editor, with a look and tone intended to annihilate, but she wouldn’t annihilate worth a cent, and resnmed: “I have written a poem on ‘My Father’s Barn,’ and" “Oh!” interrupted the editor,with ex traordinary suavity, “you don’t know how relieved 1 feel. A poem written on I your father’s barn, eh? I was afraid it was written on paper and that you ! wanted me to publish it. If I should j ever happen to drive past your father's i barn I’ll stop and read the poem. Good ; ifternoon, miss. —Detroit Free Press. Not That Member. “I ain aware, Mr. Popplecorn,” said young Smilax, “that 1 am at present only an humble clerk in the lace de partment of your [establishment; but I hope that my industry aud capacity, w ith your help, will enable me to rise rapidly, until I may aspire to the proud position of partner. Therefore I have the. honor to ask you to confer upon me the \and of your daughter.” “That is a very pretty speech,” re plied old man Popplecorn: “but your demand is quite too modest. Instead of giving you a little thing 1 ke my daugh ter’s hand, I will confer upon you a larger member of of the family, nothing less than my foot, aud here you get i*,.’ He got it and got.— Aew York Dispatch,’ Equal to the Occasion. The old man’s step was heard at the gate and the welcome bark greeted him as he came up the steps. “1 eap from the window, George,’’the girl hastily exclaimed, “the distance is short.” “But the dog, the dog 1” “I’ll fix the dog.” And fteorge leaped from the window and the girl hastened to the door. Flinging her arms about the old man’s neck, she exclaimed: “Oh, Papa, I'm so glad to see you. The evening lias been so lonesome. And Nero, poor fellow. Come in, Nero, and I’ll give you some lumps of sugar.” Aud Nero came in. —Ej och. The Unsympatiietie Tooth Puller. He was in the dentist’s chair. There aren’t many sentences in the English language that convey so much, that have such painful significance. It means pain, annoyance, irritation, agony. Somehow you resent the dentist, even if you have a raging toothache and he pulls it out and relieves you. You feel mad about it, and when he is merely pottering around with his glittering instruments of torture you feel that he is a necessary evil, and you have no kind of respect for him. I suppose it is the knowledge of this that induces him to make his bills as heavy as he can. I don’t think a dentist really knows what pain is. He goes entirely by the expression on your face, and he generally tells you that what he is going to do will not pain you, when it is going to hurt like fury and vice versa. This enables him to deceive you and have lots of fun with you. He goes quickly over the painless operations and takes his time over the painful ones. This fellow was in the chair. The dentist cheerfully told him the operation he was about to perform was a painful one, and he began. The fellow smiled a beaming smile. The dentist was surprised. He looked at him and began to take it easy. He then began to sing as he picked out a still more wicked looking instrument, and he w,as dallying playfully with the tooth whii'e the patient was smiling. “It doesn’t seem to hurt you much,” he said with a kind of air of regret. “I am glad, because I cau take my time —• when you smile.” “Smile! Smile! I’m suffering intense torture. Don’t you know pain from pleasure? That’s how I always look" when I’m in agony,” and the dentist felt a thrill of joy.— Han Francisco Chronicle. Helping Him Out of His Dilemma. An unkind story, even if true, was told me while I was in England of young lady who married a stuttering man. The young man was undoubtedly a stutterer of the most positive order, for I have heard him go through paroxysms to get out a simple “riood morning!” The lady whom he subsequently married was of an eminently* practical turn of mind, No maiden modesty or bashful ness cloyed her methods. She spoke to the point, and never left a thought un expressed if she deemed it pertinent. After he had called upon her some three or four times she decided that it was about time for her to know his intentions. So the next time lie called, after they had seated themselves as usual on the sofa, she said quietly, but firmly: “Mr. Smith, I am very much flattered by tho interest you have taken in me, aud the flowers you have just given me are very pretty, but I feel that I should be not doing my duty if I delayed any longer asking you what your intentions are; whither do these intentions and presents lead?” Young Mr. Smith rose to his feet and a blush rose to his cheek. He essayed to speak. For a moment his lips and tongue seemed paralyzed. Tfien he man aged to get out M-M-M-M-M-y d-d-d-d --d ” —but he could get uo further. The d might have stood for any number of words, but Miss Smith, justifiably, per haps, interpreted it to stand for darling, and the youth’s acute embarrassment tc n modest confusion in making a formal proposal. Any way, she took Mr. Smith by the hand and looking into his eyes ex claimed: “Mr. Smith, I appreciate your embarrassment, but I understand what you wish to say. You may speak to papa, and if he approves so do I.” They xvere married a few months later, but Mr. Smith has never explained satisfaciorily to his friends whether he stuttered into matrimony of his own free will or against it.— Pittsburg Dispatch. Hippophagy in New York. Up to a few years ago horse flesh was an almost unknown commodity in Ameri can markets, but now it seems to have become very popular. Several shops in the French quarter of this city display steaks and roasts cut from the flanks of horses, and in some restaurants this treat is served as a regular course in a table d’hote dinner. A reporter went iato a Bleecker street butcher shop and asked the proprietor if he kept horse flesh. “Sartanginong, misieur,” he replied. “All ze bong tong butcliaire sell zeharse. Eet ees ze cream of ze meat, and ze dis timiay Frenchman always get eet.” Going to a large ice chest he brought forth a quarter of what looked very much like venison. “Zat ee3 zeharse meat,”said he, “and ze price eestwanty cantz a pound.” The meat is a good deal darker than ordinary beef, aud there seems to be a good sale. It is imported, so the dealers say; but it is alt:gether probable that the portions of the carcasses of some of the overworked car horses serve as en trees or roasts on some tables.— New York Hun. Locomotives 09 Storm Generators. A correspondent of the Northwestern Railroader advances a curious theory foi the increasing prevalence of floods aud rain storms. He says that there are over iSO,OOO locomotives in use in North America, and estimates that from them alone over 54,000,000,001) cubic yards of vapor are sent into the atmosphere every week, to be returned in the form of rain, or over 7,000.000,000 cubic yards a day—“quite enough,” he says, to pro duce a good rainfall every twenty-four hours.” Estimating the number of other non 'condensing engines in use as eight times the number of locomotives, the total vapor thus projected into the air every week in this country amounts to more than 470,000,000,000 cubic yards. “Is this not,” he asks, “sufficient for the floods of terror? "Is there any reason to wonder why our storms are so damag ing?” l>elel-Headed Muskrats. Hunters who have been in camp or the reservoirs aud marshes north of Day ton, Ohio, prophecy that if there is auy i thing in signs this is to be a tough win ter. I ast year the muskrats did not build winter quarters until about the latter part of November, but long before that time this season their little adobe bouses dotted the marshes,and were built high, thick walled and well lined. FAIi tt AND (lARDEN, Plucking Poultry. The American Poultry Yard gives the following directions in regard to pluck ing fowls: “Plucking fowls is a tedious process. If there are any who want to operate without the aid of the scalding process, let them do so, and when they are tired of it, let them try the follow ing improved methods: Dip the fowls in cold water and let them drip. Then jjp ply finely pulveri/ed rosin to the feath ers, using a dredging box for conven ience. 'then scald in the usual way. I he rosin sticks the feathers together, so that the pin feathers come out with the others, saving much trouble. Apply about half a teacupful of rosin to a fowl. Use the common crude article. It is cheap stuff, and its cost is made up ten times over by the labor sayed.” Storing Cabbages. “We know of no better way to pre serve cabbages through the winter than that which we have recommended for a number of years,” says the Germantown Telegraph. “It is to plant or set them up in row’s as they grow—that is, with roots dowu— fill in with soil pretty freely; then make a cohering by planting two posts where there is a fence to rest on, or four where there is not, allowing for a pitch to carry off the water; lay beanpoles opposite the way of the pitch and cover with corn fodder or straw or boards. In using through the winter avoid as much as possible the sun side and close up again. We have not found setting the cabbage upside d«wn in rows, as many do, of any advantage, as we have kept ours for more than twenty years in the way we mentioned in a sound, perfect condition, through the winter into tlie spring,- and could even up to the Ist of May if desirable.” Winter Dairying. Why one can’t see that winter dairying is better in every respect than summer is a mystery tome. Butter brings abetter pr.ee; there is no bother of cream get ting too sour, or its being too warm ; no trouble keeping the butter in good con dition till a tub is filled; and there is a better yield of butter wneu cows are fed grain. If the cows are dry they have to be fed enough to keep them "in good condition, and they are bringing no return for it, while if giving miilTthey will pay fora good, generous ration *of food and a good profit besides, and the increased richness of the manure adds extra profitableness to the land. It is much pleasanter to milk in winter than in summer; you nave plenty of time, are in no rush to get at other work that is driving you, and can give fhe calves plenty of time to drink, and then a September calf the following spring will be as large as a calf of the previous May on the same feed. I have heard summer dairymen make the remark, when going by our calf pasture late in the fall: “There's some calves that need Btockings aud blankets to carry them through till spring.” But when they Bee them in spring they won’t believe they are the same calves they saw in the fall. If you try winter dairying once, you will never return to the summer sort. —New York Tribune. Why We Plow. One of the objects secured by plowing is a loose soil in which to plant the seed, j A certain degree of moisture and heat as well as contact with the soil is hecessary to secure good germination of the seed, »o<i give theplauts a good opportunity to grow. Flowing is the most economi cal method of preparing the soil for : planting the seed. It also aids to lessen the work of cultivation. Another object in plowing is to de stroy weeds. Clean cultivation is an essential to all cultivated crops; good growth and yield is secured. If weeds are plowed'under before they mature seeds, a largo number can be destroyed. By keepm g the surface clean, plowing, harrowing and cultivating, the weeds can be killed out, insuring a better growth of the plants and a better yield. Plowing also aids materially in mak ing available plant food already in the soil. The more the soil is stirred, and tho finer tilth it is worked into, the larger the amount of fertility. Plowing deep brings to the surface material that under | the influence of the rain, snow, frost and sunshine is rendered available for plant food. By plowing in the fall the ele ments have better opportunity for acting upon the soil and making it in better condition to supply the right amount of ; plant food to secure a good growth. It is quite an item iu securing a good growth of the plants to have a soil through whi h the plants can penetrate readily. It is fully as important to se cure a good growth of roots as of stems or foliage, and a loose mellow soil is a material aid to this, and a soil that has been thoroughly plowed can be readily worked into good condition. Stirring the soil aids to retain and se cure moisture. A thoroughly plowed field will retain more moisture than if left undisturbed. It also aids to draw moisture from the subsoil by capillary attraction. By plowing and stirring the soil moisture sumcient to keep up a good growth of plants can be secured when if left undisturbed, the plants will suller for want of proper moisture. As plowing serves several good pur poses, care should be taken to do the work thoroughly and in good season.— Farm, Field and Stockman. Agricultural Value of Fertilizers. While it is important to the fanner to know the commercial value of the fertil izers that he is obliged to purchase, it is vastly more important that he should know something of the agricultural value. The commercial value consists of the price that is required to he paid, while the agricultural value consists of the increased money value of the crop secured by means of the use. There is really no direct connection between tho two values, although in some cases they may be approximately the same. There may be a wider diilerence in the two values m the case of a manufactured article than where pure chemicals are em ployed. The principal elements of plant nutrition are nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, each of which exists in a great variety of forms. The real value of a fertilizer to the farmer may depend quite largely upon the desgn he has in its ( use. If his purpose is to improve h s soil, having little regard for large immediate returns in the shape of crops, he may with safety make use of those that are loss available for immediate action upon plants, or that require chemical change before being fully available. But if, on the contrary, no regard is had for any improvement of the soil, but rather the effort is made to se ure the greatest crop possible with uo regard to subse quent effects, then there could bean em ployment of those fertilizers that would be most available td plants or most active in their effects. Experience bus shown that different manureal substances are very unlike in their activity, or rather may exist under such unlike conditions of solubility as to produce very unlike results. All elements of plant food must be rendered soluble in order to become available for use,and so while a sufficient amount of any one principal element may be supplied to produce an average crop, it may be so insoluble as to produce an entire failure, and in this determination even the experiment stations are at fault. A manufactured phosphate may con tain a guaranteed amount of nitrogen, and the station upon its analysis may find it present, but fails either from neg lect or inability (quite probably the lat ter) to determine its source, or ths origmai condition of its existence. Where nitrogen exists as sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda, it is in an immediately available form and will be very largely, if not wholly, employed by the growing crop; but if’it exists in the shape of horn scrapings, hoofs,old scraps of leather, or woolen rags, it is in such condition that it cannot be secured by the growing crop in any desirable quantity, and so is of uncertain value. Now, so lar as a guaranteed amount of nitrogen is concerned, it may exist m a superphosphate; but it may be of the one form or the other, and nothing but a field trial will satisfactorily determine its value. There is very much yet to be learned regarding fertilizers, and espe cially those of a commercial importance. It is a question deeply affecting the farmer’s interest, regarding the most economical form in which the fertilizer may be applied, if it becomes necessary for him to resort to outside resources. A considerable number of experiments are being tried in various parts of Con necticut by the farmers themselves, under the direction of the experiment stations, to determine practically these questions that are continually arising regarding the economical s.de of fertilization. Experience teaches that there is a great difference in the effects of different brands of phosphates, and there is a growing desire to know why this dif ference exists when the price varies but little. The moze rational conclusion would suggest the greater availability of the ingredients in one case than in the other. Then if the farmer cau be in formed through the experiment stations of the farm in which each exists, he will be better prepared to secure that which he most desires. But with all the talk regarding spe dal fertilizers the farmer should remember that there is no more perfect fertilizer than is provided in the various manures of the farm, and that his chief effort should be to provide all that he possibly can, resorting to special manures only as he is compelled from absolute necessity. —New York Observer. Farm and Garden Notes. Clover is a renovating crop every time. It is an easy matter to have a small steady income to meet the little outgoes. Eggs should be served abundantly on the larmer’s table, and in such variety a* not to make them tiresome. When the clover dies it is a great ad dit on to the fertility, and the soil is iq bfetter condition for other crops. Do not expect your horse to be equally good at everything. The horse, like the man, must be adapted to his work. A crop of clover will increase the nitro genous elements in any soil, whether i| is cut and cured in the form of hay or whether it is fed off. Peas and corn fit for table use will grow and produce earlier crops than ripa seed, and plants from immature seed ara more feeble than those from ripe seed. The most prosperous farmers are thoso who rarely go to town without a package of butter, a basket of eggs, some poul try, fruit or vegetables to help pay the bills. Dr. Sturtevant is Credited with saying that “careful experiments, have shown that unripe tomato seed will grow and give a gain of fifteen days in earliness over ripe seed from the same plants. To find the pressure of water in a penstock, multiply the height of the head in feet by ti'iy the pounds’ weight of a cubic foot of water. Then every square foot of tho penstock will have to bear a pressure equal to this sum in pounds. Sheep are better scavengers for small, unripe, wormy apples than are swine. A well-fed sheep likes the bitter taste oi the wormy apple that the pig has to be starved into eating. Besides the sheep will go around nights and early in tn« morning after fruit, while the pig will lie abed until hunger forces him to get up. No branch of farming is more profitabl* or conducted with less labor than orcharding when the products can be sold even at a moderate price. Besides this, apple trees m ay be planted on land too rough for root or grain culture, and brigh altitudes are more exempt from killing by than orchards in the valleys aud lowlands. When the use of one kind of manure is continued for several weeks upon house plants, the plants receiving it do not respond to its stimulating influence as readily as when it was lirst given. When such is the case give a few water ings with clear wrater, and then apply some other kind of manure, and health and vigor will be continued. Few farmers realise the amount which an acre of grapes will bring if the crop is a full one and prices are very low. Three cents a pound seems ridiculously cheap, yet at this price an acre of any productive variety will bring more money than an acre of grain or any kind of farm crops. Two tons per acre is a email yield, but three cents a pound gives a gross return of $l2O per acre. The cause of cotted wool is the heat ing of the fleece by the sheep lying clo ely together when the wool is wet. Warmth, moisture, pressure, and soap cause wool to felt, and cotting is simply the fe ting of the wool on the sheep’s back. It is avoided by keeping the sheep in shelter during wet weather. The soap required to complete the felting is pro vided by the solution of the yolk of the wool, which is really a soap, in t)A water held by the fleece. *