ITEMS OF INTEREST ON AGRICULTURAL
TOPICS,
Shemical Elements of Plants Storing Apples
and Grapes - Curing a Horse -Taking Care
of Corn Fodder—Frofit from Keeping Cows
-£tc., Ete.
CHEMICAL ELEMENTS OF
: PLANTS.
Ten chemical elements are found to
be essential tothe growth of agricul-
jural plants. These are carbon, oxy-
gen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus,
potassium, calcium, sulphur, magne-
sium and iron. To this list chlorine
and sodium, the constituents of com-
mon salt, are added by some authors.
Manures and fertilizers are used for
the purpcse of conveying to the soil
the three elements, nitrogen, phos-
phorus and potash, in available and
tonvenient form, exjerience having
demonstrated that pructically all soils
sontain an obundant supply of the
other minerals required for
growth,
STORING APPLES AND GRAPES.
should be placed in the coolest and
most airy part. It is best to keep
them in a shed or garret until there is
the cellar. To keep well, apples
should be kept in receptacles as air
tight as possible.
never be left uncovered. Open the
barrel and take out s sufficient quan-
tity to last a few days and then nail
the cover on again.
condition until Christmas, yet it can
he done. Use a keg, jar, or any re-
¢ 'ptacle that is clean, dry and tight.
Put a clean layer of sawdust about
three inches in the bottom and then
a layer of grapes. Pick off all the
imperfect ones and do not let the
bunches touch each other. The grapes
shonld be perfectly dry. Sprinkle
sawdust all over and through them
and a thick layer on top; then anoth-
receptacle is full
a tight cover and keep in adry, cool
place. —New England Homestead.
CURING A HORSE.
ed from a successful driver something
about curing a horse of pulling on the
bit. The driver did not think an aged
horse could be enred of the habit, but
with a& young, good headed horse it
was always possible to overcome it.
He said: ‘It takes two to make a
pulling match; the horse will not pull
his driver if his driver does not pull
himi. When I get hold of a colt that
has learned to pull I first have his
im ont
harness
erinary dentist; then I rig }
with a nicely fitting
him anywhere, and use a snaffle bit
of the proper length. I give him his
head to start away with, ahd if he
reaches for the bit and doesn’t feel it
aud then starts off fast, as most of them
will, I pull him np instantly, turn
him around and start him over again
with an easy rein.
him and turn him around he will go a
little further withont asking for the
bit than he did the time before, and
sfter a few lessons he generally finds
out what I want.”
TAKING CARE OF CORN FODDER.
Another season of shredding has em-
ohasized the value of shredded corn
“odder as stock food, but it has also
oven demonstrated that the process is
quite expensive, and the machines do
not have sufficient capacity for rapid
work. Manufacturers must rise to
the orcasion if they expect their ma-
chives to sell widely. Under present
conditions the cost of husking the
corn and shredding the fodder is great-
er than it ought to be, often amount-
ing to more than the farmer can get
out of it as stock feed. This will keep
many from attempting to shred,
The matter of storing shredded fod-
der is better understood, and now
there is not much loss from molding,
a8 was the case when the method of
keeping fodder was first attempted.
The precaution is simply to let the fod-
der and the stalk: become thoroughly
dried in the field before running
through the machine. If it can be
run into the barn and placed in the
mow with little or no tramping. so
murh the better, for where compacted
by being stepped upon, moisture is
apt to collect. It can be safely stack-
od under a shed or even on the open
ground, if the work is ‘well done, and
the top of the stack covered with lay,
ors of straw. Observe the same pre-
cautions as in stacking hay, keeping
the middle full and solid, and raking
off the loose material from the outside
of the stack. Stack as near the feed-
ing place as possible, so that it can be
fed out with the minimum amount of
labor.
If it seems practicable to shred. by
all means store the fodder in a barn,
shed, or stack as soon as well cured
in the fleld. It will not have to be as
dry as for shredding, for close com-
pacting is not ible with whole
stalks, The loading and nnloading is
rather heavy work, but by the use of
derricks in the field and at the stack
this is greatly lightened and is not so
formidable as it might appear, By
putting the fodder into the barn or
stack in sections it can be easily taken
out when wanted for use. .
spite of the fact that much of the best
material is washed out of the outer
parts of the shock. This amounts to
a considerable percentage, particular-
ly if the shocks are small and the
weather rainy. Better store the corn
fodder in some way if at all possible.
— American Agriculturist.
PEOSIT FROM KEEPING COWS,
It bas been hard work for farmers
whe have relied on the dairy to fig-
ure a profit on cows at the low prices
they have been obliged to accept for
milk and other dairy products. To
many it seemed as if they were only
getting market value for the feed giv-
eu to their cows, and doing a good
deal of extra work to get even as much
as this. Yet even thus the dairy has
probably paid as well as anything
else. If the products of the farm had
all or even the larger partof them been
gold, there must have been such de
preciation of soil fertility as to make
{ the farm less valuable every year. On
| the other hand, by keeping cows, and
using all the manure they make, ad-
ding some mineral fertilizers which
will restore what the milk sold ha
taken from the soil, the farm may bd
kept growing richer all the time.
Where cows are largely kept, much
corn and clover will be grown. anid
this means a greater amount of barn-
yard manure, besides the fertilizing
effects from clover roots in the soil,
both while growing and in their decay
But the best opportunity for mak-
ing money by keeping cows will be
missed unless by purchase of improv-
{ ed animals, and by grading up with
herd is constantly improved.
inereased value of the herd.
| become cows and increase the butter
{and milk yield.
farmer may not
any money,
seem to
| farm. But if the productiveness is
the farmer's capital has increased in
| spend his later years in the comfort
that a life of hard work ought
to earn,
to the best stock in his line that he
| value of a herd of cows in eight or ten
Years,
well as to buy more or less grain t«
feed them. In this way a much great.
given, and the valne of the
pile be correspondingly increased. No
cows on the farm that will give him a
i as much corn and
did, for these are not
crops. What he will
wheat bran and middlings, linseed and
cotton seed meal. and when they are
cheap enongh, some oats also,
these make the manure pile rich, and
when the farmer has
| warrant buying these feeds for them,
commercial fertilizers, that were ne-
| cessary while he relied wholly on his
{ own farm to supply feed for his cows,
products The making of
the farm, and the manure from it isd
saved. — American Cultivator.
A Support for Staging.
So many accidents have
from the fall of staging that many de.
vices looking to safety in its construc.
tion cannot fail to be of Interest to
many persons. A clamp, holding the
cross section and the upright firmly
together, is an invention of great
value. The construction of the clamp
i# such that, the greater the weight of
the cross section, the more firmly the
teeth of the clamp presses into the up
right. They are anchored by pressure
from the opposite direction and a
sharp blow from a small hammer re
leases the clamp when the crossplece
is removed. This devise has its ad
vantages from different points of viet.
Continual nailing breaks the grain of
worthless unless the broken ends are
cut away and whole wood furnished.
By this invention there is merely the
pressure of teeth into the surface of
the wood, which operation may be re
peated indefinitely with very little
damage to the fibre. There is not only
n support for its end, but a holder for
the cross pleces, A man may carry.
gtrung on a stick on his shoulder, the
necessary clamps to put up an ogdl
nary staging, and neither hammer or
nails are required in any portion of ir.
Spain's Soldiers In Manila.
Spanish soldiers are small, sickly
amd devoid of pluck. They were gliud
to surrender. They bad received n¢
pay for months, were starved in the
trenches, and were told that Amer!
cans would give them po quarter
Spanish business men are not advers
to a change, They have had ipnum
erable troubles, Only the governmen:
officials are bitter, but they concen
their hatred under a mask of friend
ship.~Chicago Tribune.
A correspondent of the Keystone
Philadelphia, suggests that retailers
should adopt trade-marks and um
them on stationery and stock and jz
| advertisemouts,
ALPINE ACCIDENTS.
SENSATIONAL FATALITIES WHICH AT-
TENDED A FASCINATING PASTIME
————
The Fate of Some Who Never Returned to
Tell the Story of Their Perilous Sport
With Glacier, Peak and Pass.
The Alps are once more the theatre
of those sensational fatalities which
have from time immemorial been asso-
ciated with the dangerous but fasci-
nating pastime, or exercise, or what-
ever you choose to eall it, of Alpine
climbing. Within a few weeks, an-
nounces the New York Sun, five per-
sons have lost their lives as a sacrifice
to this diversion, and England acd
the Continent are appropriately shock-
ed. Within the last month Dr. John
Hopkinson, one of the most distia-
guished of England's men of science,
President of the Institution of Elec-
trical Engineers, and a fellow of the
Royal Society, together with his son
and two daughters, was killed while
ascending the Petite Dent de Velslvi,
a peak of 10463 feet in the Val
d'Herens, one of the side valleys run
ging up from the central valley of the
Rhone, and a few weeks later Prof.
Masse, a well known surgeon of Ber
in, met his death while climbing Piz
Palu. a peak of 12,000 feet,
The death of Dr. Hopkinson and his
oon and daughters were particularly
distressing. He was considered a good
Alpine climber and was a member of
the old Alpine Club, and his son,
south of 23, had had some experience,
“he two daughters, of 19 and 18, it is
no exper! :
father had
peak before
and no doubt the sense of supremacy
aver hazards of Alpine climbing |
impelled him to undertake k |
with his family, but ithout
Leaving behind this alto
ence In the The
Alps,
the
this tas
3
w the
aid
indispensable assistant
Hopkinson made himself
sponsible for the lives of his party
four. No to tell
that dreadful accident happened which |
plunged these four to a death as cruel |
could [ma It
have been a fatal slip of the younger |
re
f
Of
directly
one survived how |
as ingennity des might |
wn the awful |
it
fath
Mr
tt
in moti
f the
machinery for catastrophe
sstep of the
the clumsy accident of
ie
Francis Doug
guide
death of himself, Lord
las, Mr. Hudson and a on
Matterhorn. The exact of
Hopkinson tragedy will probably nev
the
Cause the |
of
ties
the most sensational
associated with the
the peak which ti
is not regarded
: ’
thoug!
AR
surmount
dangerous
F attempt
to as
particularly
he
Mass
accident by which
nature |
i
his life
and consequences, He
and in t
was different in is
skilful climber, his ascent was |
accompanied by another physician, a |
celebrated guide and a Ts How
the accident oconrred is shown in this
description: “In a
he ice by which It was bridged gave
the
way, with the result that Prof. Masse |
rolean
crossing Creviss
the ruide after him, while Dr.
Borchard was suspended on the brink
and the Tyrolean had to support the
weight of the entire Eventual
ly the guide, who was at the end of |
the rope, having that the
bottom of the crevasse was not far off,
cut himself loose and scrambled out
with the help of his ice axe. But when
he came to the rescue of Prof. Masse,
it was found that the latter's death
had been caused by the rope, which he
had himself insisted on being tied un
der bis shoulders. The consequence
was that when the rope was pulled
taut the professor's circulation was
suspended. But how an eminent sur
geon could have made such a blunder
almost passes one's comprehension.”
In this tragic incident the guide es-
caped practically uninjured, while the
surgeon for whose relief he had per-
formed so brave an act was the victim
of the passion for Alpine climbing. It
is not the first time that guides have
eut the rope in order to save the party
intrusted to their care and experience.
That is one of the accompaniments of
this perilous sport. It is one of the ele
ments of danger and one of the exhi
bitions to be expected when such
great risks are taken.
No one is rash enough to expect that
these accidents, occurrmg within a sin.
gle month, will have the slightest de.
terrent effect. The sport of Alpine
climbing will go on, as it has gone on
for so many years. The Alpine club
wiil still continue to do business on
the same old peaks, and in the same
old crevasses, Some will retarn to tell
the story of their adventures against
the obstacles of glacier, peak and pass,
Others will never return. They will
remain in their Alpine homes, a hu
man sacrifice, and the mystery of their
deaths will forever be a mystery.
Those who climb Alpine peaks speak
in the language of enthusiasm of the
joy, the exhilaration, the excitement
and the risks of their journeys. Their
language is the language of contempt
for those who know nothing of the
glory of sealing crags and crawling
over crevasses and the language of
envy toward those who have sur:
mounted some peak as yet unclimbed
by their feet and untouched by their
alpenstock. These superior beings look
with an unholy scorn upon the laferior
person who finds some diversion in
golf, or who meets with plenty of ex
citement in football, or who is even
enthralled with the leisurely progres.
It is well,
party.
discovered
world of monotony. Nevertheless, one
cannot but wonder at the spirit of ad
venture which impels a man to eu
gage in this most perilous of under.
takings. Sport would mean nothing
unless it involved an element of dan-
ger, and no doubt elvilization of the
hardy sort would languish If the lo-
noxious occupation of propelling a cro-
quet ball over an inoffensive lawn
were to displace all other forms of ath-
letie entertainment. Most men, how-
ever, will rejoice that the Alps are so
far away that the temptation of risk-
ing life on them may well be regard-
ed as remote.
MAN'S INTRINSIC VALUATION.
His Physical Personality Ranges from $6,665
to Over $333,333.
The more money a man can produce
each year the more valuable, of
course, is his body to him. The less
money a nian can produce the less
valuable Is his body. The rallroad
president's body is worth a vast for
tune, On the other extreme, the body
of a tramp, a criminal, a lunatic or 8
beggar is worth lterally than
nothing.
The poor laborer who is prone ti
in.agine himself of very little use ip
jess
fit to anyone will be surprised to
know that he ls in the possession of
a bandsome legacy, from which, by
the proper exercise his bands, he
draws a yearly interest.
For Instance, take case the
ordinary “farm hand He is found
over the United States. He Is a
Swede in the Northwest, a native in
South and possibly ag Irishman
German in the East He
an average wage amounting
How much do you sup
of
the of
»"
or a gots,
to
is $200 a
an
rate
S00 |
about 6.665,
him in nature
at an annual
or cent, Tell |}
won't believe
For bh year |
to
tnent
tue Of
. al
oR of 31
1 ‘
$54] a8 wWoria
he you he'll |
a drawing b inter
sate
i there |
Yui
Wi
mason or painter
an6 Seems queer, dos
i ff +}
m would
to realize th
3 $d ¥ :
IDORING nu
at the
#0 careful if
$26. 0007
Just
he
Wort
qt
the sum
oF
48 a
o per cent. invesime
ition,
when he gets
£25 in
urday he
Then,
iraws iis enveld Sat
mthemati
worth
clerk,
may ascertain by
reasoning that his body
Pre rp
Of course, the prof
worth big money. The civil engineer
who draws a salary of 31.800 a
reckon that is worth $60,000,
physician
8
843.7 good for a eh?
essional men are
year
nay he
whose practice brings)
a principal of $52.353 to brag of.
of {f our
The
churches,
may be
aa. The
get all
money, when
pastor
a minister
£4.000 a year, is worth $133.10
lawyers, the gentlemen
the fame, position and
they command an income of $10,000
a year arc worth on the whole 8333. |
3k President MeKinley 3s worth the |
comfortable sum of $£1.0066,0006,
one o city
whose Income
who
Dog Commits Suicide.
A dog belonging to Marcus Vander.
pool of Lisle, N. Y., made a success.
ful attempt at suicide recently. As
sistant Chief of Police Ables of Bing.
hamton with several residents were
standing on the creek bridge when the
dog, a large collie. ran down the bank
and into the water. It was first
thought he was playing. and as the
water is not over four inches deep at
this place, no attention was paid to
him. He was seen to lie down on his
side and thrust his nose under the
water, where he held it. Finally his
peculiar movements attracted the at.
tention of the spectators, and they de-
scended the bank to find that the ani
mal had drowned himself. The dog
lay with his head under the water
that did not cover his body. Before
the spectators reached the spot he was
seen to raise his head and thrust it
into the water again,
The reason for his act ig not known.
He was in his usual cheerful spirits
when last seen about the farm, but all
the spectators agree it was a deliber.
ate sulcide.~New York Sun,
General Wheeler's Remark.
One of the brightest things sald
about the pro-Caban war, or any other
war, wag dropped by “Fighting Joe"
Wheeler the other day .at the Wind.
sor Hotel reception to Mrs, Grant:
“The strength of American arms in
war comes solely from the soldiers’
memory of the women they have left
behind.” The old soldier is as gallant
as he is brave. He has a happy face
nity of saying the right thing at the
right time, and of doing It.—~New York
NOTES AND COMMENTS
—
New Zealand has a law which pro
vides an annual penzion of $456 for |
every honest needy person who has |
reached the age of sixty-five and bas |
Hived twenty years in the colony.
This season's onlon crop is put by |
the American Agricaltorist at 3,100.1
000 bushels, an extraordinarily good |
showing for one of the wost reviled |
of vegetables, i
Iu Venezuela people are golog in for
the yucea plant. Coffee 8 too low to
be largely remunerative, Three acres
of yucea will produce 20,000 pounds |
of tanioca. land which is yucea |
planted will return from six to seven |
times as much money as coffee,
Ambassador Hitcheock
prevalent American idea that foreign
ers are not granted patents in Hussia,
He says they have the same nghes as
Russians, and more thas seventy-five
per cent. of the patents granted
Russia are granted to foreigners,
these many are Americans,
corrects
iti
Of
Pittsburg. (Penn. women has a “So.
ciety for the Promotion and Amelior
ation of Cats.” They actually attempt
education of felines and the
president of society “We
feel assured that under Process
of culture many hidden
pected good quali.ies in
the will be
face.”
There
Crease
the
the Says
our
and
nature of
the sur
unsas-
+}
Lae
ca vitought to
in-
disease
been a noticeable
foot
cattle
has
of the and nu
herds
nit
tho
Horse
have lec]
1. There are in
Switzerland. The people are eating
much k on’ and
h, and nation
devourer
n Switzer
and
2
»in
land,
ug
breeding sheep rails
culture he
or n.000
ned,
fnereasis hives
k% beef goat's
is
are ey of
years the
Awitzeriand
about
that
pegestrians a
Oo
For the
past
colonial hist
ang t
prize
tliree veurs
ory of this part
in t
The
ho
taken he cont
popularity.
afternoon of
34
its same clul
one SOASON 1
teacher's day, t
ors
the teace
all
invited,
which
srrhools
0
of the are a spe
80 or
cial al entertainment being pr
ided for them. The idea
friendliness between
0
tv is 1
i the
1
both among the pouplis and teachers
y estab
#3 &rhools
Elections In Guatemala are decided,
it appears, by majorities so large as to
render unpecessary any subsequent
electoral In order to dispos«
of contests more expeditiously,
are now in Washington three commit
contest,
resentatives, But one committee,
probably. would suffice in Guatemala,
where, at the last election
dent of the republic, the vote was cast
in the proportion of 700 for one candi
date to 1 for the other. The term of
the President of Guatemala is nomi
nally six years, and he is not eligible
for a second term, but when Guate.
mala gets a good President it is the
custom to prolong his term, and a term
thos prolonged is thus indefinite, and
ends usually when the President dies.
Dr. Thompas F. Rumbold, in a pa
per on this subject, attributes the ner-
vous prostration commonly attributed
to “overwork” te chronic nasal in-
flammation, the most potent and fre
quent factor in the production of
which Le asserts to be the result of
excesses of aleohol, tobacco and
“colds” induced thereby. These prac
tices, he says, increase the congestion
of the nasal mucous membrane, pro
ducing a tendency to “colds.” causing
vascular paresis, which, commencing
at the periphery, gradually travels to
fhe brain vascular system, and the au-
thor holds that this disturbance of the
cerebral circulation is the real reason
of the irritability of temper, inability
to hold the mind continuously on a
definite subject, sleeplessness, forget-
fulness, desire for change and excite
ment, accompanied by physical ex-
haustion and loss of ambition, which
are commonly attributed hy the phy
sician to be continuous application of
the mind to business and professional
dutfes,
There 1s probably no game which
i
et,
in a “hazard” The opportunities for
tricky playing being so great in this
game it 18 all the more gratifying
that so little is heard of golfers yield-
fng to the temptation to take unfair
advantage of each other, It Is 5 ga
“on bonor,” and honor is so
generally observed in playing golf
that Is has come to be called “the
gentleman's game.” Indeed, golf
players. as a body, follow the rules
and etiquette of the game so strictly
had there been a golfer in the
charge of San Joan he would doubt-
jess have shouted I" before fin
“Fore!
ing.
War gave an lmpetus to shipbuiid-
ing and the best of it Is that the im-
has lasted though the war is
over, says the New York Commercial
During April, May and
June shipbuilding was double what it
was in the same months of 1897. Dur.
ing July, August and Beptember it
was {irinle. War withdrew vessels
from merchant use to be auxiliary
cruisers, and ships were laid
down to take thelr places, and as many
them will needed permanently
Government the new ships
will not be at all an over-production.
Re from tax show
that commerce did no off at all
during the interesting
fact, Probably there was never a na-
val war during
ocean both in
in for
petus
new
of Der
ae
celipts thie tonnage
t fall
war,
before h the
owl
actually in-
Now the ex-
laws to Ha-
other islands will
demand
Amer-
of
commerce, our
aud bottoms
reased during
4
CHUsion of our wu
i
WAr.
‘
wall, Porto Ric
tate a
American
new creasing
When
monopoly
islands they
volume of
iw
nour
good
Fa
“tivity
heen adopted by
1 Ministers
ighly siguifl-
ins between
Hith-
Hitioners
This
garian
or
in
Hun-
subser-
matters,
wiginal
ile thousands
‘ticed in
Hungary
Austrian
of
the
an
worthy note
re.
to the urgent
Cornmant
government
by the
Ie
{ ypposi-
pul in
Austrian
of
the
The
dur
between
Ie
side
walls of
Vienna
ken down
us
ie
Is Laughter Dangerous.
i making med-
will
will
of their time find-
ing out not if de-
to remain on this mundane sphere
that they will prefer to get out and
take the newhere eliza
The latest nonsense, or at it
seems nonsense to a non-medical mind,
is perpetrated by a writer in the “Brit
Medical Journal” who says that
laughter in itself cannot very well kill
but it may do barm. Hysterical girls
ans keep on
liscoveries life after awhile
fot I the living, Peojns
in
they
woria
spend so much
do
what oO
gile
chances soi
least
=a
i
tions are often given to immoderate
laughter, which tends to increase ner-
vous exhaustion. Dr. Felichenfeld re-
lates a case in which a little girl suf-
fered from very definite cardiac symp-
toms after immoderate laughter. The
patient was thirteen years old, and
had previously been free from any
sign of heart disease. After laughing
on and off for nearly an hour with
some companions she suddenly felt
stabbing pains in the chest, and was
seized with fits of coughing, fol-
lowed by cardiac dyspnoea, very
well marked. Fellchenfeld Delieves
that the cardiac disease directly re-
sulted from immoderate laughing.”
Looked at from an everyday stand.
point most people will still believe
that It is better to laugh and die than
pot to laugh and live. Heretofore the
world has thought that laughter
lengthened life, and most gis, In
spite of Dr. Felichenfeld, will con-
tinue to think so,
Cristobal Colon's Cat.
A prisoner of war, who positively re-
fused to be interviewed, was seen at
the office of the United States Ex-
press Company recently en route to
the United States Rupply Station, St
Joseph's, Mich, where he will be put
in custedy of Lloyd Clark, a reiative
of Captain Clark, of the Oregon. The
following notice was found pasted on
the prisoner's personal effects:
“To Good Americans—Treat me kind-
ly and give me food, for I am a prison.
er of war from the Cristobal Colon, be-
ing forwarded fo my captors, the
crew of the Oregon, to the gallant
commander, Capt. Clark, whose brave
efforts forced the Colon to surrender
July 3, 1898" The prisoner's name
was Mr. Thomas Cat. He was a Sand-
some specimen, having a silver gray
coat, with tiger stripes, and showed no
horrors of war, alt