1 Denorralic; atc Bellefonte, Pa., February 20, 1914. m=. CUDDLEDOWN TOWN. Cuddledown town is near Cradleville, Where the sand men pitched their tents; In Drowsyland You understand, In the state of Innocence. *Tis right by the source of the River of Life, Where the Grandma Storks watch over, While honey bees *Neath funny big trees Croon lullabys in sweet clove. Tis a wondrous village, this Cuddledown town, For its people are all sleepers, And never a one From dark till dawn, Has ever a use for peepers. They harness gold butteflies to sunbeams, Play horse with them a screaming, While never a mite, Thro’ out the night E’er dreams that he’s a-dreaming. Oh, Cuddledown town is a village of dreams, Where tired little legs find rest; ’Tis in God's land, ’Tis holy land, Not far from mother’s breast. And many a weary grown-up man With sad soul, heavy, aching, Could he lie down In this sweet town, Might keep his heart from breaking. —From “Mrs. Wiggs” of the Cabbage Paich. WONDERFUL FACTS CONCERNING BEES. Queen Lays from Two Thousand to Three Thousand Eggs a Day. There are some curious facts connec- ted with the life and workings of the bee that are not generally known. Scientists tell us that the bee has two stomachs and 1000 eyes, and that a queen lays between 2000 and 3000 eggs a day. A hive is madeup of a single queen bee, working bees (female non-breeders) and male bees, known as drones. As many as 2000 drones and many thousands of workers are quartered in a single hive. Drones do not sting, but they make considerable noise while flying. The smallest bees in the hive are the workers, ‘and they are armed with a stinger. The queen lives to the age of 3 or 4 years, but her fertility decreases after the second breeding season. The workers life is limited to from 5 to 8 weeks, in which time she literally works herself to death. To hatch a drone requires several days more than it does to hatch a queen or worker. Bees cannot climb a smooth surface like glass, earthenware or tin. The eggs of bees are white, similar to polished ivory, and about the size of a period (.) For several evenings before swarming a peculiar noise can be heard in the hive. The celebrated Huber described it as a kind of ring, or sound of a small trumpet; by comparing it with the notes of a piano-forte, it seemed to be the same sound with the lower A of the treble! John Burroughs says that when a bee brings pollen' into the hive he advances to the cell in which it is to be deposited and picks it off as one might his overalls or boots, making one foot help another. Because of its thoughtful provision for the future, and for the care shown its young, the honeybee ranks among the highest of all insects. Toward the close of the summer sea- son queen bees shrink in size, so much so that they are often mistaken for work- ers. The young queen takes her wedding journey when but 6 to 8 days old, mating with the drone bee in midair. This single mating is said to be good for the fertiliza- tion of a few hundred thousand eggs. The average drone does not live more than from two to four months. Every bee has two kinds of eyes, says a scientist, two large, compound ones looking like hemispheres on either side, and three simple or single eyes, which crown the head. Each compound eye is really an immense aggregation of eyes, composed of 3500 facets, which mean that every object seen has its image re- flected 8500 times in the bee’s tiny brain. It is characteristic of bees that they can foretell an approaching storm. If a shower be approaching, they hurriedly fly through the air in a regular scramble for their hive. Scientists tell us that when the work- ers discover that two rival queens are in the hive, numbers of them will crowd around each queen and seem to encour- * agea fight. Should the queens seem averse to fighting, or attempt to fly off, the bees at once detain them. If, on the other hand, either combatant shows a disposition to fight, all the bees forming the circle at once move back so as to give full room for that attack. As one writer puts it, it seems strange that those bees, who in general show so much anxiety, about the safety of their queens, should, in particular circumstances, oppose her preparations to avoid impending danger —should seem to promote the battle, and to excite the fury of the combatants. The young bee is at the height of her sirength and usefulness in a few days after she comes out from her cell. For the next two weeks, generally, she re- mains at home, making herself useful in helping to do the housework of the hive, removing dead bees and foreign matter, attending the queen and feeding her, secreting wax, building comb, caring for the larvae and ventilating the hive. Herman says that, when first hatched, the bee appears to have no desire to col- lect honey; she must first serve her ap- prenticeship in the hive before the desire awakens to go forth to the honey fields. When older, she either joins the field force and collects honey, or is detailed to do sentinel duty at the entrance of the hive, for bees have a habit of placing a guard at the entrance of the hive to prevent any intrusion from other colonies. Before leaving their old home, each bee fills her honey sack so as to be pro- vided for the journey. After the cells are completed, and near- ly filled with honey, they are allowed to remain open a few days, that the extra water may evaporate, and the honey be properly cured. They are then sealed or capped over with wax. The wonder- ful regularity of the honeycomb is a beautiful tribute to the skill of the tiny worker, while its slight irregularities show it tobe the work of intelligence rather than of an unreasoning machine. : The time of the drone is spent in glut- | tony and idleness. He has a very short | tongue, too short to gather honey from | the flowers. In size he is large and bulky, | and in each hive there are hundreds or | even thousands of them, just before the ! swarming season. As the season ad- | vances the workers slaughter these drones | in the most cruei manner. In the strict- : est sense, bee life is communal, and the | death of the drone is necessary to the | welfare of the hive. It is not profitable | to carry these idle, non-paying boarders over the winter season. { According to the World's Encyclopedia | of Wonders and Curiosities, we find that | when a queen is removed from a hive ' the bees do not immediately know it. ' They go on with their young and do all the ordinary chores. But, after a few | hours agitation ensues. There is a great | tumult in the hive. A strong, humming noise is heard. The bees desert their young and rush over the surface of the combs in a wild, panicky confusion. Evi- dently they have discovered that their ruler is gone, and the bad news spreads like wild fire through the hive. On re- turning the queen peace is at once re- stored. The bees recognize the individ- ual person of their queen. Should another be palmed upon them, they seize and surround her, so that she either suffocates or dies from hunger. It is very remarkable that the workers never attack a queen bee with their stings. But should more than 18 hours pass before the stranger queen is introduced, she has some chance to escape this cruel punishment. At first the bees arrest and | hold her, but less rigidly, and the crowd soon begins to disperse, and finally shows her to rule over the hive in which she was at first treated as a prisoner. Should 24 hours have passed, the. stranger will be cordially received, and at once admitted to the sovereignty of the hive. It appears that the bees, when de- prived of their queen, are thrown into great agitation; that they wait about 24 hours, hoping she will return; but after this the agitation stops, and they begin to construct royal cells. It is when they are in this temper, and not sooner, that a stranger queen will be graciously re- ceived, and upon her being presented to them the royal cells, in whatever state of forwardness they may happen to be, are instantly abandoned and the larvae destroyed. The sting of a bee is fatal only when she leaves her sting behind her in the wound she has made. A careful observer thus describes the modus operandi of the bee in inflicting her sting: If she has plenty of time, she uses a pair of instru- ments called palpi—wonderful instru- ments full of fine hairs, each hair ter- minating in a delicate nerve—and with these palpi she will sound a piece of flesh —a nose or a hand, say—as perfectly as a physician will sound a patient’s lungs. She can tell precisely in this way wheth- er or not her sting will penetrate with- out meeting any obstruction or coming to any harm. If it seems good to her at the end of her examination, she turns, darts in her sting, and at the same time injects into the wound a tiny drop of a clear, pale-green venom. If she has time she withdraws her sting, circling around and around the wound, screwing out the little weapon as a carpenter screws out a bit. But if she has not time her life is in danger; she flies away, leaving be- hind not only her sting, but her poison sac as wel. FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN DAILY THOUGHT. The biggest artis the art of life.—Constance Smedley. WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY CONTESTS. Hostesses who do not care for cards are often at a loss to provide amusement for a special entertainment, such as a Washington's birthday party. Here are a few contests that may prove both amusing and appropriate. Have a large Norfolk Island pine or araucaria covered thickly with paper cherries, previously numbered by the hostess. The guest who guesses nearest to their number gets a prize. Arrange a spinning wheel with flax and test the girls in a forgotten art. The one who succeeds in spinning the best thread in five minutes wins Or, the men can be set to spinning while for the girls there can be a huge leg of wood and a hatchet to see which one can most successfully emulate the truthful George in chopping. The threads spun should be fastened to a name card to make prize awarding easy. Have the flags of the original 13 States pasted on a large card that all can see. Each flag is numbered and the guests are provided with small cards with cor- responding numbers to be filled out with the name of the Colony owning the flag. A prize for this contest would appropri- ately be a book of Colonial history. Another contest would be the names of the 13 colonies in anagram. The anagram is written on cards with space for the name of the State beside it as I amen (Maine) Lead E raw (Delaware), May darn L (Maryland). The hostess can easily arrange the other colonies and can add, if desired, names of well known Revolutionary heroes. Initial characteristics of well known colonial heroes and heroines prove amus- ing if the guests are fairly well grounded in history. Have a number of names written one under the other with space beside it to write the characteristics,thus Benjamin Franklin—Boosted Freedom; Benedict Arnold — Betrayed America; George Washington—Governed. Wisely. The one who makes the cleverest charac- teristics wins the prize. George’s relatives and friends might form the basis of another contest, the guests being asked to fill in names to a list numbered, his father's name? his wife’s maiden name? of what Lord was he a protege? and as many more as the hostess thinks are well known or should IS. ' Cheap and appropriate prizes can easily be picked up in this day when every store is filled with Washington favors. FEBRUARY BIRTHDAY. The fact that February is the month when so many of our celebrated men and women were born gave me an idea for a birthday party to be given in honor of a young lady whose birthday came in Feb- ruary. The guests invited all claimed February as their birth month; but this need not be so, unless desired. The in- vitation-cards were decorated with the zodiacal sign for the month, and the rooms were decorated with carnations— the month’s flower—and foliage plants. The guests were each given little book- lets with stiff covers decorated with the let ribbon. The following inscription : was found on the first leaf of the book: “Fortunate are you if this is your birth- month. You too may awake some morn- ing to find yourself famous. Show how wise you are already, by guessing correct- ly the names of six celebrated authors, | six celebrated musicians, six celebrated statesmen, and six others, not classified, born in February. These names are sug- gested by objects, words, and through music. Write the names down in the booklet as they are suggested to you, each class on a page by itself, as indicat- ed by the name on the top.” The authors represented were Dickens, Longfellow, Lowell, Ruskin, Hugo, Lamb; the musicians, Mendelssohn, Handel, Pa- ganini, Victor Herbert, Sembrich, Ole Bull; the statesmen, President Lincoln, President Washington, President William Henry Harrison, President Fillmore, General Sherman, and Horace Greeley; the unclassified six were Daniel Boone, Sir Henry Irving, Edison, Evangelist Moody, and Elihu Vedder, the painter. The picture of an English inn with these words below, “Born February 7th, one hundred years ago,” suggested Dick- ens; Lamb was represented by a toy lamb on the mantlepiece; a pretty land- scape picture with the words below, “By a Modern Painter,” suggested Ruskin; a little Indian doll suggested Longfellow; and a letter L tacked up to the floor, Lowell. A wedding-march played on the piano made the guessers think of Men- delssohn; a violin with one string, Pa- ganini, since he was the violinist that was noted for playing with only one string. A picture of the Messiah suggested Han- del, and selections from “The Wizard of the Nile,” played by the hostess, spelled Victor Herbert for the contestants. “Marching Through Georgia” recalled General Sherman at once. A negro doll suggested Lincoln. A copy of the New York Tribune resresented Horace Gree- ley. A picture of colonial times, decorat- ed with flags, suggested Washington, and a phonograph, Edison. The prizes were books and sheet music. The birthday cake was decorat- ed with red candles, and had a wreath of carnations—the month’s flower— around the bottom. The place-cards were decorated with picturesof the noted men of the month. An interesting and novel entertainment for a Washington’s Birthday fete would be a revival of the art of cutting watch papers, called paprotamia, such as maid- ens of the olden days used to delight to make for the favored swain. The old watches used to have separate cases, and the papers were used to make them fit. There were also papers cut into wonderful open-work designs, senti- mental or grotesque. Often these were printed or worked with gay crewels. We read of Jefferson,in his young days, bemoaning that the watch papers cut for him by his adored Belinda were torn, whereupon he “could have cried bitterly, but I thought it beneath the dignity of a man.” He asked his lady for another paper of her cutting, which though buta plain round one, he promises to esteem more than the nicest in the world cut by other hands. To use this old art as a modern amuse- ment supply a pair of sharp scissors for each guest, sheets of gold and silver paper, boxes of color, some embroidery silks and fine needles. Explain what is wanted and set the girls of the party to cutting designs for | their partners for dinner. Offer a prize for the most artistic of these papers. The men in the meantime should be given strips of other shapes of muslin and set to sewing a patch such as were pieced into the quilts of our grandmoth- ers. Have on hand a uumber of old patches in different designs to copy, also a supply of big thimbles and big-eyed needles. Offer prizes for the most neatly sewed patch, also for one of original design and artistic coloring. Another amusement of the present gen- eration that was serious artwork for our Colonial ancestors is the making of wax flowers. Have a supply of wax screts in various colors and set your guests to copying from memory the impossible de- signs and flowers dear to our ancestors. Again, thee can be cutting of sil- houettes from black paper. If some of your guests have artistic tastes excellent likenesses can be made in this way; oth- ers will have to resort to tracing shadow pictures reflected on a sheet. As prizes give old prints or one of the books on Colonial customs. A Goat in a Studio. From “More Than Conquerors: The Magic Touch,” by Ariadne Gilbert in the January Si. Nicholas. Among other stories in the charming “Reminiscenecs of Augustus Saint Gau- dens” by father and son is a confession by the son. When he was a boy in Cor- nish, he had a pet goat which he had trained to play a but ting game. The goat would butt, Homer would dodge, and then, to his great glee, the goat would butt the wrong thing or the air. One day at dinner time, when thestudio barn was deserted, Homer was playing this game. Beyond the open barn door stood the wax model of the Logan horse, ‘‘waiting to be cast in plas- ter.” This time, when Homer dodged, the goat butted the back of the horse. But since it did not fall or break, the relieved child thought it wasn’t hurt, and didn’t tell. Before any one noticed that “the rear. of the animal was strangely askew,” the horse had been cast in plaster and the enlargement begun. ‘This meant the loss of a whole summer’s work—just one more of the accidents and errors that in- greased the “toughness of the sculptors ife.” Fancy a man dying of thirst, by the side of a spring of sparkling water. Thousands of thirsty people pass him, quench their thirst at the spring and go on their way rejoicing. But he doesn’t know whether the water will quench his thirst or not. He never will know until he tries. But the fact that the other thousands have slaked their thirst at the spring is evidence enough. There are people bearing the burdens of disease, who are offered healing in Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery. It has healed hundreds of thousands whose lungs were diseased, whose blood being impure bred disease in other organs nourished by the blood. And yet these people have never yet made the trial of this great remedy. ‘They are not sure it will cure them. It has cured ninety-eight per cent. of all who have used it. It always helps. It almost always cures. When there is constipated habit use FROM INDIA. By One on Medical Duty in that Far Eastern Country. A Visit to Lucknow and a Compari- son of Its Beauties With Other Cities in India. Lucknow, JANUARY 7th, 1913. Dear Home Folk: The pleasant, cool weather is still with us and I am glad that even for such a tiny period of the year one can depend upon being cool, and have warm clothes look comfortable. Lucknow is a beautiful place; it is no- ted chiefly for its magnificent palacesand its gardens, and it does not disappoint one in the least. I arrived here about 9.30, after one of the very worst railroad journeys it has ever been my lot to take, and I sincerely hope that nothing of the kind will ever come my way again. As I had been on the train from eleven ' o’clock the night before I was indeed glad to get off, and went at once to get something to eaf after which I started out to find a place to stay. This is the centre of Methodist mis- | sion work in upper India so that they have a fine big girls’ school and college here, which is situated in a garden called “Lal Barg.” Sometimes they take guests for a few days’ stay, and hoping that they would take me in, I told the driver ! to go to “Lal Barg,” and off his poor old . skeleton like team started. Past the most beautiful big trees and pretty home | gardens on each side of the wide, smooth road we ambled in and we ambled out, then we stopped and started, and finally we came to the city, where the roads are narrow, so we twisted and curled and backed and side-stepped, until I could | almost - wipe those horses noses and I wondered whether the man really knew |! where he was going, or was only trying to make the way seem long that I would the more willingly pay him a big fee. | The latter surmise proved to be correct, and after what I thought was an hour, (it should have been fifteen minutes) ! we drove through a gateway into an im- | mense big compound and on all sides one | saw very fine big brick buildings and I | read the name of the college on the gate- post. I was fortunate enough to be kept | here and I put my various blankets, mat- : tress and pillows, as well as clothes into the “guest” room and then started out to see the place. In contrast, I could scarce- | ly imagine a more different place from Benares. This is a big Mohammedan cen- tre, and besides, the king of Oudd be- lieved in not letting his neighbor look at | his breakfast table, and the palaces are | all placed at long distances from each other and the grounds between are beau- tifully kept. Roses and flowers of all kinds, as well as grass make these gar- | dens, as they are called, instead of parks, ! a delight to me, for grass is at a premi- um here except during the rains. The one place of interest here to an English traveler, is the place where the mutiny occurred and as the residency (as the headquarters are called) is situ- | ated in the center of a large green park and the building itself was once a beau- tiful old palace, it is well worth even my . American eyes seeing. These old Mo- hammedans loved show and they built | for themselves the most gorgeous tombs —nothing like the Taj, but still very ele- gant. Their fish ponds were hewed from ' marble, and you would have rejoiced could you have seen the big fish jumping for flies in that magnificent place. It was from a second story veranda of one . of the palaces that I stood and looked at them. The Saturday I arrived here I drove and drove until I vow I hated the sight of a conveyance. Sunday I found the Methodist church was just across the way and I went over. On being told that a family of Meeks was very much inter- ested in the church it sounded so home- like to me that when I heard Mrs. Meek played the organ, I remained after the service to speak with her. She invited me to their home that night for dinner, and I enjoyed being with them very much. The next day I went out on more sight- seeing jaunts and one place I visited, called “The Garden of Delight,” made you think of the “Arabian Knights.” Although now only a crumbling mass of ruins and the garden very neglected, one could easily people it, in imagination, with beautiful women and music. It was so beautiful I wanted to stay, but as I am always finding contrasts, I next drove to a garden celebrated in the mutiny times. The way led through the native bazaars, past car shops and over the most bleak, bare country I have ever seen. There are no stones in Lucknow and only little rolling hillocks so that I could readily see for miles and miles. I then came to the garden and found it was merely a brick enclosed space, with great cannon holes in the wall and the grave of a very famous soldier about the center. Having been bidden to the Meeks for tea I went there at three o'clock and after tea Mr. Meek took me to the “Chawk,” or native bazaar, and to see a picture gallery of the old kings of Oudh, for Lucknow is the capital of what used to be a native State. On returning from the “Chawk,” we found that a big reception was going on at the college. A big conference of Mo- hammedans was being held in Lucknow to consider the establishment of schools for their children, especially the higher education of their girls, and it was deem- ed advisable to entertain them at this Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets. zodiacal sign,and tied together with scar- ——Have your Job Work done here. big college, which is in all respects pure- ly American. = We drank their coffee | they thought they would like to see me. compartment and the railroad fare is . on the very fastest train in India, I paid | the immense sum of one dollar and ten | cents, and most of the fares were much ' lows I could just as readily use them to ' make myself comfortable, so go third- : Scotsman points out, one must assume | eon—the wild, not the Hurlingham va- ! riety. { should never be brought in close prox- ' pound of cellulose or vegetable fibrine. 1 | combs, boxes. pins. paper cutters, or- and ate some cake and then went to: listen to some speeches, after which I! said good-bye to my new found family and went back to Allahabad. 1 started for home on Thursday but had to stop at Fathepur, as there is another hospital there belonging to this same mission and I staid over night with them and leaving them at 7.30 the next morning, I got into my own room about 3.30 in the after-: ; noon. It took me several days to settle down to work, but now it is all a thing of the past and unless I must, I don’t think I will stir again until next fall, when I want to go to see Kashmir. You will wonder how I can afford to travel about like this; well on nearly every train in India there is a third class only a few cents. Coming from Fathe- pur, and that was an eight-hour journey, lower than this, as one must pay a little extra for traveling by mail trains. I did go second-class but found that as I had to carry a mattress, a blanket and pil- class and carry my own upholstering. (Continued next week.) The Hazel Hen Said to Be a Wonder In a Short Spurt. What is the fastest game bird that flies? Of course, in seeking an answer to the question, as a writer in the equal conditions of atmosphere and cause for flight. for all creatures, hu- man or other. seek their highest rate of speed under the influence of fear. A recent writer declares that in a race of, say, 200 yards he would back a bird which, though not found in Brit. ain, is indigenous to most of the rest of Europe and is especially familiar in Scandinavia—the hazel hen or geli- notte. Yet, curiously enough. this is one of the forest haunting birds which, like the American “fool ben.’ usually fly up into a tree when flushed and, re- jecting further attempts at escape, elect to be shot sitting. *‘But,” says the writer referred to above, “on the rare occasions tand that they are rare 1 readily admit) when one catches a geli- notte in the open I have never seen any bird fly so fast nor move its wings with such extraordinary rapidity.” Next to it at any rate one must sure- ly place the teal, which has a marvel- ous knack of getting under way quick- ly. Some experienced observers would give the third place to a bluerock pig- Inflammable Celluloid. Celluloid. being first cousin of gun- cotton and closely related to nitro- glycerin, is highly inflammable and imity to a flame. Celluloid is a com- reduced by acids to guncotton. Cellu- lose is found in all vegetable life, par- ticularly in young plants. It is a starchlike substance. principally cellulose. After the cotton fiber is cleaned it is submerged in acids. which quickly reduce it to cellu- lose in the form of a thick, pasty. semi- transparent mass. Camphor is added further to thicken it, and the required coloring matter is thoroughly mixed in, after which the celluloid is molded by heat and pressure into various use- ful and ornamental objects. such as naments, etc.—New York World. Learr to Write Well. First legibility. second sightliness. should be the endeavor in handwriting and let the character’ and the “indi- viduality” take care of themselves. If you wish to devise a signature hard to forge that is another thing, but one’s everyday handwriting should be plain and as good looking as one can make it. The art of writing a neat. legible. well punctuated. correctly ex- pressed and spelled letter should be- long to every high schooi graduate. much more to every college graduate. and the thanks of the community are due to those who are testing and try- ing to improve our methods of educa- tion; but they must remember that the letter style is properly more locse and conversational than any other and therefore should not be criticised in just the same way.—Kate Upson Clark in Leslie's. Within the Law. A real negro mammy of the old type came up the walk through the old fash- ioned garden to the side porch. She had a basket of “fresh aigs” on her arm and was offering them for sale. “Are you sure they are perfectly fresh, auntie?’ asked the lady who came out of the house. “Yes’'um, they sho is all right, Miss Bess. Ain't nary disorderly aig amongst em.” —~New York Post. Exclusiveness. The pinhead puts a barbed wire fence around himself because he in- stinctively knows he’s a fourflusher and is afraid you'll find it out if you get too close.—Indianapolis Star. = The Main Point. Crummer—1 see that a woman was killed in the crush at a bargain counter yesterday. Mrs. Crummer—Dear me: what bargains were for sale?—Puck. Adversity borrows its sharpest sting from our impatience.—Horne. Panama's Cathedral. The towers of the Panama cathedral are roofed with pearl shells, which re- flect the sunlight so that they can be seen far out at sea. Cotton fiber is | ; { cattle. Others manifest a preference for FARM NOTES. —There is coming to be an egg crisis in December of every year. The city people get excited about the price of eggs. They blame the cold-storage people, and the grocers, and the hens, and every- body else—except themselves. Last win- ter the cold-storage people in some cities, having good store of eggs, skiilfully work- ed up a “co-operative” movement among the city consumers, and worked off a great many of their eggs independently of the grocers. This year the egg panic took the form of a boycott on eggs. People raised a slogan against the use of eggs until the price went “down. About that time the pullets began to lay—and the price went down. As a matter of fact, the city people are themselves to blame for the high price of eggs. The New York 7imes Annalist shows that clearly. They have grown fond of eggs and eat morc of them than formerly. The population of seven great cities of the United States has increased 30.9 per cent. in ten years, but their con- sumption of eggs has increased 73 per cent. It is stated that the city person who ate four eggs a dozen years ago now eats five. So eggs have risen in price faster than anything else. If the cities are eating nearly twice as many eggs as formerly, and we are pro- ducing only a fifth more, clearly the country people are going without eggs so as to sell them to the cities. What more can we do? It may well be said that we might keep more hens. Well, that isn’t a bad idea, and we commend it to all farmers who can see their way to in- creasing their flocks. And if the flocks now kept were all cared for as they should be, and placed under the com- mand of cockerels hatched from the eggs of hens with records as first-class layers, that would go far toward filling the ach- ing void in egg production. —Will farming pay? That is the ques- tion that generally presents itself to the man who is contemplating engaging in agricultural work. Will it pay? Ask the same question of the merchant, and what would be his reply? Much depends upon the man. No business can be guaranteed a suc- cess until a certain amount of experience is gained. Of what worth is land, or im- plements, or stock, if the man in charge does not know how to use them? In farm- ing, as it would be in business of any kind, the beginner should start in a small way—he should grow as his experience and capital will warrant. First, it is important that a proper se- lection be made of a farm. It should not only be of good soil, but it should be pleasantly and profitably located. Near- ness to market is a consideration worth taking advantage of. The word “farming” hasa broad sense. Itis a tree with many branches. As many of these branches should be taken | care of as the ability and facilities of the owner will warrant. —The general preterence seems to be for live stock. This is a very important branch, and, when rightly handled, brings big returns. But not all men are equal to the task. Some might be a failure | with horses, or cows, or poultry, and yet { do wonderfully well with vegetables or grains. A man should know his talents. Some men, naturally, take to horses; others to cows, and so on. A good horse- man might prove to be a failure as a dairyman, and vice versa. We believe in people being “born” to their occupations. By that is meant, if a man is a “born’’ horseman, from small up he will show that talent. It comes natural to him. He is an apt scholar. His judgment of the value of a horse is seldom at fault. It is his forte. It is so with some men in regard to sheep, some for hogs, some for poultry. So the beginner had best select the branches that he takes the most interest in, and then a selection of the farm best adapted for those interests should be made. For instance, if a man intended to make pork-growing a feature, it fol- lows that land should be selected that will grow corn. Corn and hogs are in- separable. Many farmers are always behind with their work, and yet they are economical and industrious. This proves they have selected the wrong branches. There are men who, without capital or experience, adopt farming for a business, and then are surprised that they are not success- ful. There is a saying. “Muscle without brains on the farm is like a ship at sea without a compass.” A right beginning will need no chang- ing. Some men are constantly changing from one branch to another. They do not fully test the one before they adopt the other. Such men never succeed. A man should stick ‘to his calling. It is only the ignorant who learn nothing by experience. The longer one sticks to a certain line the better will he understand it, and the greater will be his success. —Common-Sense Farming.—There is nothing mysterious about farming. Fol- lowed on the same lines that would be allotted to any other business, it is prac- tically sure of meeting with success. Using good common sense is about the greatest secret. The farmer who is making a success is a practical man. He has few theories to work out. He has learned what to do and how to do it. He reaps profit where men less practical find disappointment, if not disaster. It is well to be an enthu- siastic farmer. An institute lecturer, some years ago, said: “I believe that farming, when con- ducted with the same skill, economy and enterprise which characterizes most oth- er fields of industry, affords ample re- muneration;that it leads to abetter phys- ical development than almost any other vocation of life; that its lessons and sur- roundings promote a higher moral and spiritual development than any other calling, and therefore, it pays.” There is nothing more important to succesfful farming than a judicious appli- cation of time, and an intelligent rotation of crops. How to maintain the fertility of our soil is a question of primary importance. Not more than two crops of grain should precede the sowing of clover. The farm should be in grass at least one-half the time. Another important matter is the divi- sion of time. The man who works from ‘1 15 to 18 hours a day is generally a man who is behind with his business. There is just as much need of good, sound judgment in farming as in any other vocation. To use muscle instead of brains, is but to court failure. Ten hours is sufficient for any man to work in one day, and if the work is sys- tematically arranged, it is surprising how much can be accomplished in that time. Farmers must have more system in their work. They must be closer readers.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers