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AGRICULTURAL TOPICS OF INTEREST RELATIVE XO FARM AN1» GARDEN. Preventing Fermentation of Cider. There are many different ways ot pre¬ the venting fermentation, but in any case cider ought to stand in large open casks long enough to ferment slightly, so as to cause a considerable scum to rise to the surface, when it may be skimmed off, and also give time for the sediment to settle at the bottom before anything is else is done with it. jS'othing more important than to abstract by natural means the minute particles of pomace that are held in solution by the cider. cider A quite effective way of cleansing the and preventing after fermentation is to scald it just after it has been slight¬ ly fermented and settled. To do this it may he drawn off or dipped out of the casks into large copper kettles, or for large quantities an old copper still,hold¬ ing When three or fonr barrels, will be better. large fire is applied the heat will cause a amount of scum to rise at once to the top to be skimmed off. The heating should cease as soon as the boiling is reached, when the cider is again placed in clean, open casks to stand and settle until it has become en¬ tirely cold, when it may be drawn into barrels and tightly bunged. The effect of the scaling, if done at the right t me, is two fold. It quite thoroughly the cleanses the cider and stops fermentation at the right point to leave it a sweet and pleasant drink. While cider thus treated will afterward taste somewhat of the scalding, it will not be unpleasant to those who like it sweet, and is to be preferred to cider in which the fermentation has been arrested by mustard seed or chemicals. Cider in any of these ways will not afterward make good vinegar. Where the quantity of cider to be made will not justify the expense of casks, the cider may be fermented and settled in barrels, bungs open, by draw¬ ing from one to another.— Neu> York World. Plows and Plowing. The plow has long been used as the symbol of agriculture. The finely made and beautifully ornamented steel plow which Victoria sent to the Queen of Madagascar by was years afterward found some missionaries, who had pene¬ trated into the interior of the island, in a temple. It had its place among the representation of the deities the natives worshipped God of and was They recognized did as the agriculture. not em¬ ploy furrow it in their fields, or leave it in a have done. to rest, They as western prostrated farmers might themselves have before large it and prayed grain. that they might crops of In a museum in Canada is a collection of the plows used in all ages and in most countries. They are arranged in a long row. The first plow is a portion of a tree, one branch being used to attach an animal to and another used as a handle. By their order they show the evolution of the plow that is now employed in the most advanced countries, Attempts have been made to show that the pro¬ gress of agriculture may best be shown Dy improvements in the plow that turns the soil. best It plows is generally acknowledged world that the in the are made in this country. It is also admitted that the work done with them is very poor. Ob¬ serving plowing travelers done state that much and better is in Great Britain in many portions of the continent of Eu¬ rope than in this country. This state of things is explained by assuming that very excellent plows lead to carelessness in the use of them. When an imple¬ ment can be depended upon to do good work it is often if not generally placed In the hands of a person who has little judgment, hut expert experience do good or skill, plowing None with an can a other poor plow. In the England, plowman 'as in some countries, ranks above the common farm laborer. He is regarded as a skilled workman. guide Ordi¬ narily he does nothing but the plow. He makes a careful study of the business and becomes very expert. In ibis country boys and girls tend ma¬ chines in great manufacturing establish¬ ments and turn out articles that can only be made by skilled mechanics who use common tools. On our farms incompe¬ tent persona are trusted with the use of plows and are expected to do good work because the plows are so easy to manage. have Large tendency farms and low make prices plowing for grain' a to poor. When a plow can be run half a mile without meeting with an impediment the skill person holding it docs not acquire the of one who plows among stumps and stones. lie relies on his plow to do everything. tool is He seems to forget that a not endowed with intelligence. The appearance of fields in many parts of the country show that skillful plow¬ ing lias become a lost art. Perhaps .it would be more nearly correct to say that it is an art that has never been acquired. Plowing of is so badly done in many parts the country that it is not strange that a brought variety of implements have been that should out be for done supplementing the work with the plow. The first settlers of the country had nothing but a wooden plow and a home-made harrow, which was often no more than some branches of trees bound together, with which to prepare land for raising a crop of grain. Farmers of the present day have clod-crushers, revolving pul¬ verizers, rollers, and half a dozen kinds of harrows with which to do the same work. Still old farmers declare that soil is not as well prepared for seeding as it was in the good old days when they were young.- -Chicago Times. Screenings from the Grainfields. to Sowing cheat shrunken wheat is an attempt nature with light coin. He who well drains, manures and prepares the ground, can grow profitable crops of wheat on almost every soil. It is a general rule, with not more than the usual exceptions, that the finer the seed-bed the larger the yield of wheat. that Wheat can be *safely grown on lands would be ruined by washing and gullying them. were cultivated crops kept on It pays richly to save wheat straw care¬ fully, though it is used only as an absorbent. Western farmers may smile, but it is true. The man who whitewashed his grana¬ ries with boiling hot wash, putting it in all the cracks, did not fear the miller’s examination of his wheat. Treat your grain crops with an eye to the value of the straw as well as of the grain, and in the spring it will not be said of your cattle, as it was said of Ephraim, that they “feed upon wind.” ' A patch of rye and timothy seqded together always comes “pat.” The rye will make pasture in the spring even earlier than bluegrass, and by the time the rye fails the timothy will he ready. There is nothing like a steady succession of pasturage. Rye may be sown in the fall and clover on it in the spring. The rye can be cut for the straw (which frequently sells for the same price per ton as the best hay) as soon as the blossom falls, and there will be a good growth of clover for pasture. In this way poor land may be made to yield a respectable income while being improved.— American Agri¬ culturist. The Barber’s Delicate Art A barbqr says in the Globe-Democrat Few people have an idea how few there are who could become barbers by any amount of application, I have had nineteen apprentices at various times, only seven of whom are tonsorial artists. Some boys are and too nervous to cigarette acquire the ability, particularly smokers. Others are too lazy. Still others have not the suaveness necessary, for a successful barber must be a polite man. Others have not the essential mechanism or cannot attain to the re¬ quisite lightness of touch. But morbid peculiarities are great factors in unfitting a candidate. For instance, I have just dismissed an apprentice because of his inordinate antipathy to warts. When a customer who is the possessor of a wart is down in a chair at the boy’s mercy he shaves all around it with the utmost caie; then a devilish grin distorts his features, the expression and he being the off fun¬ the niest I ever saw, cuts wart. The customer rises and discovers his face bleeding terribly, and the result is a row and a lost customer. The Ainos are Beardeil Like Parflx. The British Consul at Hokodale states hat the Ainos—who are a remarkable ribe of small, hairy and people, originally living by hunting the fishing—have occupation been in great straits since of their fishing grounds efforts by the have Japanese in 1869. Since 1882 been mado to relieve their distress and to teach them farming, cultivated and in by 1886 them. about In 808 acres were their chief home in the island of Yesso, the Ainos are estimated to number 14, 000 individuals, with 3600 houses. They are supposed to Traveler. be gradually in a.—Arkansas HOUSEOLD MATTERS*. To Clean Paint Work. A steamboat steward says that house¬ keepers should go to a steamboat for lessons on cleaning paint work. The cabin of a steamboat, painted a dear white,is kept quite as if the painter had iust left it, being not only clear, but having a beautiful polish. All that is necessary is a little water, a sponge, pure castile soap, and a smooth cloth for rub¬ bing after the dirt has been washed off with the sponge. The rubbing restores the polish. Many people paint every year, whereas if the paint is washed in this way it will show clear and with a high polish for four or five years.— Prairie Farmer. Use Plenty of Apples. Apples are abundant and cheap this year, says the New York Witness, and there is no more useful fruit. ilaw, stewed, wholesome, baked or preserved, they are toothsome and nutritious. The fall apples are the most juicy and delicious, but do not keep, and for that reason have to be sold cheap. Every good-sized family should buy a barrel of them at once for immediate use, and save them from spoiling by eating them up A considerable portion of them might also be made into jelly by coring them and boilingskin and all. Red ap¬ color ples are best for this purpose, as the of the skin gives a fine rich tint to the jelly. A liberal allowance of lemon juice should be added to the apple juice and an equal weight of sugar, and the whole boiled into a jelly. It is the cheapest good when of all jellies, and remarkably well made. Bought apple jelly is not nearly so nice, and can seldom be relied upon. It is frequently made from the refuse of the evaporating es¬ tablishments, that is, the cores, and skins and wormy apples. Pickles. For pickles of all kinds use the best cider vinegar and not an acid, vinegar, so-called. It cannot be too strong, as it is weakened when scalded. Unscalded vinegar does not keep well with pickles. Never use a metal vessel in pickling; it should be either granite ware or por¬ celain. Pickles should be examined fre¬ quently white and the soft ones taken out. If specks appear in the vinegar drain it off and scald; add a half teacup of sugar to each gallon and pour again over the pickles. A few bits of horse radish or a few cloves added will improve the flavor. All vegetables or fruits for pickling, except for sweet pickles, should be sound, but not quite ripe. Co not scald cucumbers, but soak them in salt and water. Boiled beets can be pickled whole, first removing the outer skin, to be sliced when required. Vegetables that require to be boiled or scalded before pickling will be whiter if a little lemon or green grape juice is added to the water, as cabbage, cauliflower, white beets or onions. For green vegetables put a little soda in the water to preserve the color. Care should be taken not to scald too much, or they will be soft and tasteless. Always have the vegetables or fruit vinegar, perfectly cold before should pouring over the which be in all cases very hot. A good average of spices to a quart of pickles spice is an even teaspoon each of all¬ and peppercorns, one-half a tea¬ spoon of mustard seed, a piece of Jamaica ginger one inch long and a tablespoon of stick cinnamon broken.— Detroit Free Press. Household Hints. Use a warm knife in cutting warm bread and the like. A paste of whiting and benzine will remove spots from marble. A salt ham should be soaked over night in plenty of soft water previous to boil¬ ing. After washing a wooden bowl place it where it will dry equally on all sides, away from the stove. Fruit stains on white goods can be re¬ moved by pouring boiling water directly from the kettle over the spots. Hive sirup is lungs. good for croup or inflam¬ mation of the It must be kept in a cool place, for if it sours it is very poisonous. If poached look you want eggs to par¬ ticularly nice cook each egg in a muffin ring placed in the bottom of a saucepan of boiling water. A creaking hinge can he cured by the use of a black lead pencil of the softest number, the point rubbed into all the crevices of the hinge. Corks may be made air and watertight ■ by keeping them for five minutes under melted paraffine. They must be kept down with a wire screen. For cleaning brass use a thin paste ot plate powder, two tablespoonfuls of vine¬ gar, with four tablespoonfuls flannel; of alcohol. with Rub a piece of polish chamois. Suet should be cooked before it is stale. Boil for two or three hours, then strain through a linen cloth. One-fourth of this fat and three-fourths lard is a good mixture for frying doughnuts. Be very particular about disinfecting the kitchen sink. Washing soda, two tablespoonfuls to a gallon of boiling water, makes an excellent wash to pour hot into the sink at after you have fin¬ ished using it. Bean Lore. The flowering beans were anciently supposed made to light-headed; give out a perfume that men hence, when a person seemed unusually silly, the ex¬ pression used of him was: “Beans are in flower.” Another saying connected with beans was: “Ogni grano ha la sua semola”—“Every bean has its black,” that is its black eye. This was equivalent to saying: “Every person has his fault.” Beans have always had something since mysterious the days connected when with Pliny them ever of wrote Pythagoras’s “that rule against eating them, the beans contain the souls of dead.” And long ago in the city of Rome the priests said that the dark lines on bean-blossoms were letters. Still the modern mind is doubtful as to the success of the said priests in reading such alphabet. But the land of mys¬ terious beans was Egypt, where the priests dared not look upon the vege¬ table. To Pope Euticianus is attributed “the blessynge the ghosts of benes dead upon the appeased aultar,” and of the were by the Romans, during the J emuria, by throwing beans on the three fire of the altar every And other night for Popish times. an ancient book, of 1565, says of some ceremony to which beaus belonged: beans “We do not use to seeth ten or twelve together, but as many as we meane to eate; no more must be steepe, that is, meditate, upon ten or twelve sinnes only, neither for ten or twelve dayes, but upon all the sinnes that ever we committed even from oui birth, if it were possible to remember them. ”— Independent. A Bird Without a Nest The term night-hawk is commonly ap¬ plied to several species, all of which have certain peculiarities. From its curious cry one is called chuck-will’s widow, this call being uttered so loudly by the bird that it has been heard fot nearly a mile. About the middle of March they come back from their winter pilgrimage; and unlike most of the birds, they have no housekeeping to keep them busy, as they build no nests. While the robbins, humming birds, thrushes and others are busily scouring the country for material with which to build their nurseries, the chuck will’s-widow is fast asleep in some out of-the-way corner, only coming out in the afternoon and evening to gather its supply of food. When the time comes for laying, our seemingly lazy bird selects some secluded spot and deposits her eggs anywhere on the ground, and the very first glimpse, if we are for¬ tunate why she in builds,no finding them at The all, explains nest. eggs are almost the exact color of the surround¬ ings, and so mottled and tinted that dis¬ only by the merest accident are they covered, and when the two little chuck will’s-widows come out they are even more difficult to find than the eggs. Being very and, sleepy though little fellows they rarely move, standing with¬ in a few inches of them, the observer might suppose them to be two old brown leaves or a bunch of moss, so deceiving, is their mimicry. A Duel to the Death. Two young men in France who wen engaged trifling to two sisters and agreed quarreled ovei some matter, to settls their dispute by a duel, in which both should be wounded and one at least should be killed. The condition agreed upon were that the right foot of the one should be tied to the left foot of the other, and then, each being armed with a dagger, they were should to stab one another by turns until one die. Each of the combatants received seven wounds before one of them expired, while still tied to his antagonist. The other was also removed in. a dying state.— Net* York Press. i