WARM QUARTERS PREVENT DIS
EASE.
No farmer will burn corn or hay
in a stove, in order to keep his ani
mals warm in winter, but he burns
extra quantities of such materials in
the bodies of the animals when he
does not provide warm quarters.
Heat must be procured from fuel of
some kind, and the animals must have
the fuel or fall off in weight and pro-
duction. Warm quarters save food
and prevent diseases.
FAT HOGS VS. LEAN HOGS.
Those who advocate the advantages |
of hogs with less fat and more lean |
are correct, so far as market prices
are concerned; but where a farmer
has plenty of corn, it will pay him to
sell fat hogs. for the reason that fat |
can be produced at less cost than mus-
cle, and also because a fat hog re-|
moves less fertility from the farm than |
a lean one. Much depends upon the |
corn crop, however, well as the
market price of corn.
as
CARE OF YOUNG STOCK.
Younz stock is often too much ne- |
glected. It looked upon gsome- |
thing of little present vaiue, but to
be of value bye and bye. Hence, it is]
left to shift for itself, and this, too,
during the very period in its existence |
when it should be most cared for and
when its future value can be most en- |
hanced. When young stock left |
to pick up its food here and there, |
just as it can get it, it fares badly; |
and this is a chance when it is fed
with older stock. A common result |
is stunted growth. Good shelter]
should be provided during the winter
months, and separate from that of
older stock, at least so arranged
that the young things may not be an-
noyed, for continued fear preys upon
the young animal's system and inter-
feres with growth.
is as
is
or
CORN A PROFITABLE CROP.
in the eastern states, where dairy
ifs a large industry, more land m
be devoted to for
exportation, but on the
from the silo,
cattle and hogs
chasing. For
balance the
may
beans give
trate required.
hese crops should
farmer almost
bran would
not
se}
Corn.
fe
or as {
and t
the t
to farm
to the
us save pur
1 needed to
ration, or alfalfa
for roughage, and
the protein concen
to grain
hu +
protein
clover
be grown
will
SOY
make the
independent,
dairy
gs little
required. Then let
him weed his dairy, keeping no
cow that not give 6.000
pounds of milk, or make 200 pounds of
butter in a year. Corn, in my opin.
fon, cannot be grown in the middle
and eastern states in competition with
the great west, for shipment The
grain and stover must be utilized on |
the farm and marketed in live stock
or dairy products, to make the corn
crop profitable to the farmer of the]
Ohio valley or the older eastern
states. —Orange Judd Farmer i
be
out
does over
HANDLING SHEEP WITH PROFIT
I have a flock of about fifty
and keep them in a house 24x36 feet.
This house is well ventilated, dry and |
I mever allow my sheep to get wet dur |
ing the winter, If I can help it.
best results with lambs born during
January and February. If the tem-|
perature is low all this time, so much
the better. My single lambs average
ten pounds apiece. When dropped I]
am on the lookout and transfer ewes |
and lambs to a basement pen with a
temperature of thirty-five to forty and
above.
The ewe gets a quart of oats per |
day and when the lamb is seven days
old it is docked, and if a ram is cas-|
trated. 1 provide a box stall with a
creep and in this I keep a supply of
oats, so that the lambs can get at|
ft when desired. | continue feeding!
them oats after grass comes. By this |
treatment Januaryand February lambs |
sell at five cents a pond when
months old. They generally average |
100 pounds per head. My ewe lambs |
kept over are sheared in July. During
the season of "98 [| reserved twenty
ewes. These were sheared in July,
the smallest one producing two and |
one-half pounds of wool. My flock]
was sheared the last of March in 1899, |
a few of the lambs at twelve months |
shearing “eleven pounds. [ Kkeep|
Shropshires and like them -—P. B.
Dietes in New England Homestead.
ewes
I have |
six |
THE FRUIT BARK BEETLE.
Considerable interest has been |
aroused in not a few fruit growing lo- |
calities over the depredations of what |
is known as the shot-hole borer. The |
following extracts taken from a re
port on this pest by Professor R. H.
Petit, State Entomologist for Michi
gan, will probably be of interest and
valuable to many who have or are lia.
ble to come in contact with this pest.
The first intimation of the trouble is
the discovery of numbers of smal!
drops of gum exuding from puncturos
in the body or limbs of peach, plum,
cherry or apple trees. A closer ex
amination reveals a small round hole
a little less than one-sixteenth of an
inch in diameter under each drop of
gum. If the outer bark around the
hole be removed or pared away, a
small burrow will be found to extend
for a longer or shorter distance in the
layer between the wood and the bark,
sometimes branching considerals'y.
These burrows or galleries usually
exhibit a definite arrangement when
carefully examined. There Is an egg
chamber, along the sides of which the
eggs are laid. When the young grubs
hatch they commence boring a tunnel
away from the brood chamber and
continue until they attain their full
size, when they go a little deeper and
pupate, coming »out in time through
holes bored to the surface, as adult,
winged beetles. The effect on a tree
of a number of these borers usually
leads to its death. The beetle itself
is little more than one-sixteenth of an
inch long, somewhat cylindrical, al
most black in color, and i8 covered
with minute punctures or pits. It be
longs to the family of scolytidae or
bark borers. The insect seems to pre
fer to work on trees that are in an
unhealthy condition, hence one shou!l
strive to keep all trees healthy and
vigorous. When a tree is but sligntly
attacked, the bark may be pared out
where the tunnels are, or the trees
coated with a whitewash mixed with
paris green or arsenic. This wash {3
said to be an excellent preventative,
If a tree is badly attacked, the cheap:
est and best way is to cut it out and
burn it. If there happens to be a poor,
worthless tree in the orchard, it is a
good plan to girdle it in midsummer to
induce the beetles to lay their eggs In
it. and then cut it down and burn it
before the beetles emerge, which is
said to be about the middle of June.
Several broods ¢f insects are matured
At a meeting of the Missouri Valley
Horticultural Society, one of the mem-
bers gave a description of his method
of keeping apples. His cellar is 80x40
feet, and about eight fect deep, bully
of stone. He sets the barrels (with
out heads) one on the other, three
high. The cellar has a large double
door in the end and regular tempera-
ture is maintained by opening and
closing this. He opens at night to ad-
mit cool air and closes in the day time,
and by this process a comparatively
uniform temperature is maintained.
The upper story cannot be kept as
cool as the lower, and in this he keeps
the apples that are to be sold before
the holidays. In building such a
structure he advises the use of stone
in the lower part, but wood for the
upper, as it can be kept cooler.
Another member reported that in
$000 bushels of apples. He first
sprinkled a solution of coperas, then
piled the apples in as high as
possible. Upon being asked for his
ventilation, sald that
not want much; that it
experience that the apples ex.
posed to the air, rotted than
the in the middle. Apples left in
have a greasy coating formed
on the outside, and if they once reach
this stage they are comparatively free
rot. This coating is formed In
six weeks to two months, and
most of the rotting is during
this period. The cellars should
sprayed frequently to stop all fungus
growth. He afso advocated building
storage houses over springs, as
flow of water will keep the house cool
and also give sufficient ventilation.
bins
opinion he
they did
was his
on
too
worse
Se
piles
from
from
done
be
FARM HINTS
You cannot keep the poultry house
too clean.
If you keep six cows it will pay you
to have a hand separator.
There is not much profit in fatten-
Don’t neglect to give the pig-pen
a coat of whitewash as often as re
quired.
Avoid churning cream at a too high
and grain of the butter.
Keep the stables free from foul
odors and filth of all kinds. Milk ab-
sorbs these things very readily.
Each cow should be milked by the
same milker so far as practicable, and
should have gentle treatment always.
Don't, dear dairyman, think of allow-
one to touch the butter by
hand during the process of making
i.
Milk at the same hour every day,
mit.
Warm quarters must be provided
for pigs in winter, or there is a waste
growth is checked.
Is any one prepared to deny the
statement that a ton of well cured and
well kept corn fodder is not worth as
much to feed as a ton of hay?
Don't try to keep any more hogs
than you can properly care for. A
few well kept are more profitable than
a large number improperly kept.
A very good substitute for skim
'
A gallon of petroleum and a gallon
of machine oil will make a mixture that
will kill the lice on hogs. Mix it
thoroughly and apply in a thin spray
on the infested animals.
Breeding ewes should be fed at all
times so as to keep themselves and
their lambs in healthy growing condi
tion and the early lambs should be
forced by means of extra food given
to the ewes.
Corn stalks, well cured, are a good
roughage for cows, but where they are
the principal feed, corn or corn meal
carrots and mangels, with a sprinkling
of meal. It will pay.
A Wealthy Russian Magnate,
Prince Yousupoff, a Russian mag:
nate of great wealth, has a most mag-
nificent collection of diamonds, which
is one of the most valuable in Europe.
One of the collection, valued at 2,600,
000 roubles, is kept at his fine estate
TIME LOST IN LIFE, |
Three-Eighths of One's Existence is
Practically Lost.
“1 read the estimate prepared re
eently by the British Government with!
reference to longevity among men in
who fond of mathematics, “and I
do not care how much men may figure
on the lengthening of life's average-—
the fact is, a fellow doesn't live so
long after all. Life is very short when
we come to think of it. It Is, indeed,
a fitful fever, to borrow the simile of
the poet, and the distance hetween the
cradle and the tomb is the span of
one's hand. How much of a man's
life is devoted to the actual work of
accomplishing whatever his highest
aim may be? Did you ever think about
figuring on this problem? 1 have, be-
cause, I guess, | happen to have a
penchant for mathematics. But it is
{interesting for other reasons. Of
course, a fellow does nothing until af-
ter his twenty-first birthday. He must
attain his majority before he enters
upon the duties of iife He-
fore this time he is passing the pre-
paratory stages of life, and, theoreti-
cally, is equipping himself for its seri-
ous battles Fifty years is the life
of the average man, although life's
general average figures down to a
point much below this
“Give the average man thirty years
beyond the period wnen he becomes of
age, 1 it would be safe to as-
gume, even in this rushing age, that
tho ave
and thirty minut=g in eating, allowing
for the time it takes him to go to and
18
goerious
guess
from his
le hat
of one hour and
every twenty.
or in exchang-
ing pleasantries with his friends aod
chatting on unrelated to his
business, in winding his watch and in
other indulgences of an innocent and
barmiess Kind This would make a
total of nine hours out of every twen
ty-four that a man spends in
things that are unrelated, in a strict
to his b This amounts
to three-eighths of the life that is be
fore him. He has yoars «nn which
to do his work
the tab We might safely figure
he spends an average
hirty minutes out
four in other min
of
Ways
topics
sense, 1siness.
thirty \
He would devote elev
months
as indicated,
and
do his Hitt
en three sleeg
years and
and to other
to
and
nine
le do.
things
hn YOars
months in hich to
“Twenty ye
time,
ra looks like a good bit
to thi
thing of living purpose,
to endear to our
y accumulate a little
money besides, » time does not seem
long 1
than this when
and gatheri
meetings and
1
these f{
but shen we come
for a
ourselves
ing
countrymen
really much shorter
we allow for Sundays
i and prayer
that sort, but
not figure
man's life 1 have left them out
—-Philadelphia Enquirer
social ngs
things of
inctions in
do
ERA OF HIGH SPEED.
Examples of the Strenuous Life on
Transportation Lines.
BRIEFLY TOLD.
Condensed Special Dispatches From
Many Points.
received these pen
sions: John Ludwig, Sizerville, $12;
Henry Harmon, Pittsburg, $6; Vin
cent Amos, Scenery Hill, $10; Freder
ick Berthel, Washington, $12; William
Morlock, McKeesport, $12; George Coy,
Den Run, $10; Michael P. Dick, oaring
Spring, $8; Joseph B. Milburn, Bristol,
$12; Oliver Staley, Claysville, $12; Orion
W. Miller, Tepleville, $12 Alfred M
Gorley, Uniontown, $10: Nancy Holmes,
Millvillage, $12: Alfred Walton, Dick-
{| sonburg, $12; William H. Robinson,
| Pittsburg, $6: John H. Camp, South
Oil City, $6: Martin S. Potter, Altoona,
$10; Philip Johnson, Oil City, $6; Hi-
ram Davis, Saegertown, $8,350; Johnson
H. Crick, Rimersburg, $8; Damel Sim
mons, Braddock, $12: Charles W. Smith,
Dugall. $12; Samuel A. Morse, Leroy,
$24; John Kelly, Sandy Lake, $i0;
Rhoda A. Adams, Russell, $8; Rachel
Hilty, Pittsburg, $8: Mary H. West
ift Lydia A. Cox, Wells
$25; Sarah A Transfer,
Vande
boro, $2 Fruit,
i Sourwine, ™
son 0
$8; Julia A Rockford,
Amos A. Hassler, a 15-year-old
George Hassler, of Ephrata, was foun
of George Harman, a
ret
Pennsylvanians
P
ryr
$8;
dead at the home
Penryn. Hassler
good health, but inve
coroner's physician she
monia developed during the
the boy was
ed
tigation
wed that pneu
ioht and
night and
smothered to death
fire at the
Pittston
poured kerosene
When the kitchen home
Harry Sigafoos, at
burn, Mrs. Sigafoos
it Ihe can of
ploded, setting
clothe Her
sistance and In
Both
was de stroy
Owen Mcla
man on th
would
oil Can and
fire 1
husband
ght
’ Lid won
}
own aught tire
seriously burne« The |
ed by
are
ie
vill 3
Viiie, On
an hour on the electric raliroad be
tween Berlin and Zossen is the latest
manifestation of the tendency of the
age. This particular railroad bas
been built under the direction of the
kaiser as primarily a military line,
he having made up his mind to test
the value of electric traction in War.
Presumably its success will induce
the country to be gridironed with
electric lines as “first aids” in mobi.
lization. The results of the speed
trials are. however, commercially val
factor electricity may become as a
transportation agency, though we
must know more than we know now
of the conditions under which the Ger.
man experiment was made before con-
clusions are absolutely safe as to the
utilization of forces. A vast amount
of knowledge remains to be attained
before we can figure the commercial
value of electricity as a motive power
on a scale more extended than its
present
But it is not alone in Germany that
speeding up is the order of the day.
Here in the United States the trans.
continental lines are virtually being
rebuilt, the reconstruction being point.
ed toward speed. The trip between
Boston and the Pacific coast, which
only a few years ago “spoiled” a week
can now made in four days and
four hours. This time will be sharply
cut when the improvements between
Ogden and San Francisco, now in
progress have been completed. Ben.
ton. we believe it was, who in the dis
cussion of the Pacific railroad project
was wont to point to the setting sun
and say “There ia the east.” The
use
be
At the Pacific coast the fast-speeding
trains will shortly be met by steam-
ers much faster and much larger than
any heretofore Known in our China-
Japan sorvice.
All railroads tributary to the trans
continental system-—and most lines
are now-—foel the influence of this ex-
pansion and are placing big orders for
rolling stock. The entire output of
American Locomotive Company for
next year has been contracted for in
advance when its capacity will be
2000 locomotices per annwm. For
through business, for long hauls, the
own. Nor ean it be expected that it
will be stabled for good until the
doubts as to the cost of electricity
for the safne business have been re
gelok, near Moscow; but the most val
uable of all is at the Yousupoft pal:
ace at St. Petersburg. The latter ia
especially rich in historic stonea,
that it is a cheaper agency than
steam.~ Boston Transcript.
AA AAA SAARI
A sea anemone taken from the Firth
in captivity until 1587,
Standard
pany, Beaver
Pittsburg & Brad,
to build seven miles of
Armstrong and Butler «
$70000; president, Edware
Dewey, New York
| Under the order sent out by officers
of the American Steel & Wire Company
! of Pittsburg, a pension department has
| been created in that organization. [Its
provisions retire from service
nd under pension all employees who at-
| tain a certain age or whose physical con
{| dition necessitates a relief from duty
i The new went into effect January
1. The company has about 20,000 em
| ployees. A fixed fund, the amount of
{ which has not yet been announced, has
| been set aside by the Company It will
be placed in charge of a committee of
disbursement A board of arbitration,
to be announced hereafter, will be ap-
pointed to frame regulations
State Treasurer Barnett reports that
at the close of business on December
| 31, there was $4.300.631.57 in the general
fund of the State Treasury. Philadel
phia banks held the following sums
Farmers and Mechanic< National, $136,
Quaker City National, $639.-
| 236.92; Corn Exchange National. $75.
{ 000; National Bank. Germantown, $30.-
{ 000; Ridge Avenue Bank, $20000: Sixth
i National, $30,000; Southwark National,
| $30,000
Auditor General Hardenbergh will
proceed against a number of corpora
tions which have not complied with the
law passed by the last Legislature re
quiring them to pay to the State treas-
ury a bonus on their authorized increase
of capital stock. It is alleged that in
many instances this increase has been
made and not reported, and the law
punishes such delinquents to the extent
of forfeiting their charters,
Having read of the action of the May-
or of McKeesport in offering to ac
i knowledge total abstinence oaths on New
| Year's Day free of charge, Alderman
Alexander M. Sayder, of Lebanon, an-
nounced that during this whole year he
will administer swearing-off oaths with-
out price. He has added the stipulation
that all violations of the oath are to be
punishable with thirty days m jail. Al
ready a large number of persons have
taken the oath.
Dairy and Food Commissioner Cope
has turned over to the State Treasury
81.600 collected from violators of the
“sleo” and pure food law. Of the sum
#35 was paid by dealers convicted in
Westmoreland county.
The lower public school building in
the Second Ward, Allentown, was dam.
aged by fire to the extent of $2,000. The
fire occurred before any of the pupils
were in the building. he old part of
the schoolhouse was one of the two
buildings in which the first homeopathic
medical college in the world was started,
this being the institution out of which
Hannemann College in Philadelphia
grew. It has been used for public school
purposes many years,
ida, the Syeat-old daughter of Henry
Urban, of ncaster, was burned to
death, the result of playing with
matches
aclive
order
500.11 ;
COMMERCIAL REVIEW,
Geperal Trade Conditions,
Bradstreet's says:
the old and confidence in the new year
are the dominant feature the entire
industrial, commercial and financial sit
uation. The week has naturally been
quiet to the verge of dullness as regards
new business, the main attention being
concentrated in gathering up the threads
of old business, in stock taking and ir
preparations for the future.
A
eral quietness i
steel situation, whi
loses activity
Wheat, including flour, exports for the
week aggregate 4.81847: bushels, as
against 4,201,543 last week and 3,014,301
in this week last year. EXPOrts,
July 1 to date (twenty-seven weeks)
gregate 140,740,501 bushels, as
gh 806,545 last
Corn exports aggregate 270,236 bush-
els, as against 424,336 last week and
4,470,521 last year. July 1 to date corn
export 20,820,751 bushels
against 7,048 8635 last
Business failures in the United
for the week number 270, as against 219
last week, 268 in this week last year,
in 1900, and 237 in 1894, 1808, and
458 in 1897.
Satisfaction with
of
CONSPLUOUs exception
AY yh
vy Cds
against
HCA SOT.
3 ATE y as
Season
States
22
333 1n
Flour Jest Patent, $
Grade Extra, $4.25;
$3.20a3.40
Wheat
Philadelp!
No 2, Re
Corn
LATEST QUOTATIONS,
4.75;
Minnesot:
. x s »
SNEW XOX ani)
, Bg!
Eated
adeiphia
vegetables quot
IF 0 HAR A ba WW
a
nt
& Wh
a
*
Boao ;
‘estern, per
Eastern Shore
brl
, $2.00a2.50
asi 00
land, per bri,
Arundel. per brl,
Richmond's, per brl, I i
North Carolina, per
2.2%
Dressed Poultry. —Turkeys—F
head and feet off, 13a14¢;
hoice, head and feet off,
poor to medium,
and feet off, 12a13¢c
head and feet off, choice,
mixed, —aloc; do, poor to
age. Geese, head and feet off, 10M2a11¢
Turkeys—Fancy, head and feet on, 13a
t3%4¢; do., good to choice, head and feet
on, —-at2c¢; do. poor to medium, —aioc
Ducks, head and feet on. good to choice,
ttat2e. Chickens—Young, head and feet
on, choice, —at0¥sc; do., mixed do.
pagizc; do. poor to aBc
Geese—Head and feet 10
choice, —atoc
Eggs. —We quote: Western Maryland
and Pennsylvania, per dozen,
Eastern Shore (Maryland and Virginia)
per dozen, 26a--c; Virgima. per dozen
26a—<c: West Virginia, do, 23%5a20c;
Western, do. Southern, do
23c ; guinea, per dozen, —3 C
age, choice, at mark, per dozen,
do. do. loss off, do., 20a2i«
prices to 1 cent higher
Butter Creamery separator
creamery gathered cream, 22a23c;
ery imitation, 19a20c¢
Cheese — New cheese, large, 60 pounds,
1o0¥4at1c; do, flats, 37 pounds, 11a114¢c;
sicnics, 23 pounds, 11izat1l4c
$2.00a2
S$200a2
fancy, $200a
a TOC
Chickens
ali«
medium
do.,
medium
good
on,
208 ;
208 | 2%
sid stor
18aigc;
Jobbing
20a27¢ ;
cream-
Live Stock.
Chicago. —Cattle—Good to prime, $6.50
a7.75; poor to medium, $4a6.25; stockers
and feeders, $2a4.25; cows, $1.25a40%;
heifers, $2a5.25; canners, $1.25a2.30;
bulls, $2.25a465 Calves, $336.50; Texas-
fed steers, $3a400. Hogs—Mixed and
butchers, $626.60: good to choice heavy
$6.35a6.70; rough heavy, $6a6.33; light,
$6.10a6.40. Sheep steady strong ;
lambs strong 1oc higher; good to
choice wethers, $325a485; Western
sheep, fed, $4.258400: native jambs,
$3.50a6.10; Western lambs, fed, $3525.00.
East Liberty. ~Cattle—Choice, $6.20a
6.40; prime, $5.85a6; good. $5.35a6.35;
fair, $4.3024.50; common, $2.750378
Hogs—Fair to prime heavies, $6.5520.08;
best mediums, $5.43a0.50; heavy Yorkers,
$6.30a6.40; hight do. $610a020: pigs,
$5.00a6.00; roughs, $320. Sheep—Best
wethers, $300a4.15; good, $3.408375:
mixed, $2.50a3.25; culls and common,
$in2: vearlings, $324.50; lambs, $426.10;
veal calves, $7a8.
LABOR AND INDUSTRY
There are 25.000 union clerks,
Canada has a department of labor.
China is to have an American bank.
ourncymen tailors have 240 unions,
Frisco blacksmiths enjoy the nine:
hour day.
Bakers announce
unions the past year,
Laundry union label is used in twenty.
two cities, i
Musicians issued, forty-three charters
during last year, \
Los Angeles has a Woman's Ugion
Label League.
At Stockton, Cal, no union men idy
in anv line of trade. 3
10
to
seventy-two new
[ Oats For Yay.
i We have found oats for hay to be
an easy and profitable crop; but to be
a success, tuey should be planted in
| the fall. The quality of the sofl must
| determine largely the time of plant
ing. We want to get the oats well
started; but we do not want too large
a growth before real cold weather
seis in; for if they have begun to run
up, they are more lisble to be killed
back badly. On the other hand, If
| established, the freezing and thawing
i likely to throw the plants out of the
ground, especially on ciay land, for
such land expands snd contracts very,
under the action of cold and moisture,
The Georgia Experiment Station has
adopted a system of drilling their oat
seed in the bottom of small furrows,
which places the bud of the oats below,
the general surfgce, thus making the
soil give it a partial protection. But
thelr method of planting only two rows
at a time Is rather laborious, and until
some better tool has been found for
putting in the seed than the drill they,
use, the practice will not be generally
adopted. If the oats are planted at the
right time the danger from winter kill-
ing is not great, and only in a very
exceptionally cold time will your stand
be destroyed, Also, If the winter graz.
will be still greater; while if your ob-
ject is hay, theze Turf Oats are de-
cidedly preferable, as the straw is more
tender and stock eat it up clean, where
they leave a large part of the stiff
Rust-Proof straw.
We had one exceptionally fine acre
of these Turf Oats last spring, from
which we gathered ten big two-borse
wagon loads of excellent hay. The
oats stood from four to six feet high
all over the field, and. were cut just
as the top grains began to reach the
dough state, and while the straw was
green. We have been feeding our
mine head of horses and mules on this
hay all summer, with the addition of a
small feed of corn once a day, and
they have kept in fine condition, doing
beavy work all the time.
The land on Ih these
which best oats
grown was a stiff clay loam, and
had been maiured the year before;
the land was in tomatoes at the time
Where land
in the spring
rebreak for oats;
had had some very,
and the land had
become hard, my
mdition so
seemed necessary
been well broken
do not usually
in this case we
10
its
Te
was
land
lumpy, necessitating consid-
work to make it fine; but we
worked it down, replowed, and worked
it down again before sowing two bush-
els of seed to the acre,
1f land is broken deeply for any win-
ter grain crop, great care must be
taken to work it down until the seed-
bed is fine and firms, otherwise the
rain roots cannot get a good hold and
will be more liable to suffer from the
cold. The unusual success of this acre
of oats was undoubtedly due to the
extra work put on the seed-bed, for
we had other oats on equally good
land planted at the same time whose
yield *vas not much over half as large.
Oats are strong feeders and very
large users of potash and nitrogen; the
analysis of oats in bloom about the
time they are cut for hay, show them
to contain ammonia, 1.19 per cent;
phosphoric acid, .67 per cent, and
potash, 2.564 per cent. If your land is
strong and you have a good pea-vine
stubble 0 sow your oats on, your soil
will probably contain a sufficiency of
ammonia; if It does not, it will be
shown by the oats themselves by their
light green or yellowish appearance,
and this can be corrected in the spring
by an application of about 100 pounds
of nitrate of soda to the acre. The
main thing to concern ourselves about
now is the phosphoric acid and potash.
Now, if we wish to obtain the best
results, the proportions of these in-
gredients should wary according to
the texture of our soil; of course, no
fron-clad rules can be laid down, but
general experience has shown us that
light, sandy soils are more deficient
in potash than red clay soils: 1 would,
therefore, recommend for light soils a
fertilizer analyzing ten per cent. phos-
phoric acid, and ten per cent. potash,
made by combining 1600 pounds acid
phosphate with 400 pounds muriate of
potash to make a ton; for heavy clay
soils a fertilizer analyzing about twelve
per cent. phosphoric acid and five per
cent. potash, made by combining 1800
pounds acid phosphate with 200 pounds
muriate of potash. This fertilizer:
appiied at the rate of 300 or 400 pounds
to the acre should insure a find crop.
You can apply it broadcast after the
oats are plowed or worked in: or bet-
ter still, barrow it in about two weeks
before planting. —Professor ¥. J. Mer
riam, Battle Hill, Ga,
and
poor
time, and
up
A Polsonons Tree.
One of the most extraordinary trees
in the world is found in Madagascar.
It is known as the tangen tree, and
because it abounds in poison the name
thnghinia venenifera has been given
to it by botanists. In the criminal ree
ords of Madagascar it has played a
notable part until ouite recently.
Whenever an accused person was
brought into court, fruit from the tree,
about the size of an apple, was handed
to him by an attendant. Thereupon
the judge, who was surrounded by
several witnesses, bade him eat the
fruit, and assured him that if it pro-
duced no 111 effects he would be
deemed innocent of the charge which
had been made against him. On the
other hand, if the poison in the fruit
killed him, he would be considered
guilty, Many unfortunate persoos,
1s sald, lost their lives in this way