Front Mingle Eye to n Whole Potato. "If I were to name the beet special fertiliser for potatoes in one word that wort! wonhl be aslios," Raid W. A. Armstrong at tho meeting of the Elmi ra (N. Y.) Farmers club, '• and I apply them either in the bill or in tho earth over the seed." J. S. Van Dnzor, who lost year made many experiments in planting potatoes, found iu the use of manures that the best yield was with manure put under thoßoed. Tho potatoes failed to be BH smooth as oould have been desired, but this was attributable to tho fact of the manure not being well rotted. Mr. Van Dnzor also experimented with different quantities of seed, varying from a sin gle eye to three, four or more. HIIIB planted with dingle eyes did not oorao np well and tho yield was much less over the seed and qi direct contact with it than in others with a greater allow ance of seed. 8. Van Norman said " any kind of stable mannrc mny bo r.sed for pota toes," to which 0. D. Inman replied that so far as his observation goes it is better to put no manure on tho ground the season it is in potatoes, nono when they am planted, nor after. To obtain a satisfactory crop of potatoes he wanta the land to be rich enough bo fore seeding it with Clover or grasses; then, when the sod is tnrnod over, plant and till well without raauuro. Ho cuts the olover in proper time and turns the aftermath in by full ploughing. When the ground is cultivated after planting, i it is well to go down to tho bottom of | the sod, working it up for tho benefit of i the crop. In reply to president Hoff- ! man's question: '' Suppose you had a | field well manured and planted to corn, | would you tnrn the corn stubble next i year for potatoes and consider it a good j chance?" Mr. Inman replied that it wouM answer very well, but he would prefer a rich soil. Q. 8. McCann last year ploughed po tatoes in every third furrow and got a good crop with but little cost. For twenty years he has fonnd that large, smooth potatoes planted whole always gives the best crop both as regards quality and amonut. President Hoffman said that his field planting is done with whole potatoes, and has been for many years. For early use he finds cnt pieces better, bnt not so for the general crop. A Dog Story. Tbiß comes from Charleston, Ind. Mrs. Brandlon tells it. She says; "My husband had a dog which he bronght from Kentucky, which ocemed to me to have more sense than auy auimal 1 ever knew. She would look np when order ed to do anything, as intelligently as a child, and if she understood what was said, wonld give a pleasant bark, and start off to fulfill the order. I have often made her shut the door after the chil dren, and she would come in at the kitohen door, opening tho latch with her foot, and always shut it after her. One time she had half a dozen puppies in the barn, which were her glory and her pride, bnt one morning when my hns bund awakened he heard a great row nt the barn, and went oat with bis gun, expecting to find a horsetbief. As fie opened the door Flora went by him like an arrow, and though ho called her loud and long she kept right on toward the village. In looking around the t>arn for the tramp he expected to find, he dis covered that everything was all right, except Flora's neat. The puppies were all gone. " We did not aee Flora for three days, when she came back bringing a string of about three pounds of Ransage, which she kept iu her nest until they spoiled, and she died of grief that summer. One of our neighbors saw her, while she was missing, hanging around a but'tier's shop in Louisville. Bhe had followed those puppies fifteen miles—and re covered them." What It Costs to Dir. When a corpse becomes a corpse, the first thing to do is to notify tho under taker. He comes at once, and takes complete control of the whole matter,|and does not surrender his fnll charge un til be receipts the bill. Of course, be fnrniahed everything, and the bill of an undertaker of a first class funeral will read about as follows: Coffin, $300; shroud, s4o;crapo, $5; gloves, $"2; flowers, $6O ; hearse, $10; carriage* (twenty),|sloo; gffcve, $2O; incidentals, SJO; total, $637. A cheaper funeral than this, of oourse, is procurable, and the majority of fu nerals are cheaper than this. A very respectable pageant may be gotten np for from $6O to $75, and a poor man can have the satisfaction, on that amonnt of outlay, to go to his grave fol lower by three or four carriage, in ad dition to those of his friends which may be in attendance. These are only medium funerals, and if we should put the figures at the high notch it would not be less than $l,OOO more, or about $1,600 to die stylishly, and abont $5OO to fade away in an ordinarily respectable, qnict man ner. This is in painfnl contrast with the burial of the friendless poor, who have a gravo in Potter's field—a plain wood box and ahorse and wagon to con vey them to the shore of the dark river. —Cincinnati Time*. A New Breed of .Sheep. Mr. Darwin has furnished the Agri cultural Omctle with an account from an Australian paper of a new breed of aheep. It appears that a gentleman named Carrie bought some merino rams from what is known as the Camden flock in New Bonth Wales, the origin of which was a few Bpaniah sheep from the private flock of George 111. After the Camden rains were taken to Victoria, lambs having fleeces of a peculiar char acter appeared at intervals, and in other flooks I ;ha ne of Camden rams caused the ooessional appearance of lambs with fleece of peculiarly fine, long, straight, and lustrous fiber; hut this was held to indioate weakness, and the animals were discarded. However, ten years ago Mr. Carrie saved a ram lamb showing in a marked degee these characteristics end selected s few ewee with similar fleeoes, rather less pronounced, and the result is what is now known as the Larra me rino, The flock now numbers about 100 ewes, and great things are expected of it. This is said to he the third instance on reoord of a distinct variety of sheep making s sudden appearance. PIKE'S PEAK SIGNAL BTATION. Wandrn of Ills lllshrat Inlmlillril Porlloo • fib* lllobr. A Colorado correspondent of the Bos ton Journal writes as follows: Tho United Btates signal station at Pike's peak is the highest signal station in the world; it is also tho highest inhabited portion of the globe. It was oponed in the month of September; 1873. That it was a wine provision of tho government in establishing a signal station at this point is no longer questioned, the facts having already demonstrated its practi cability, ami tho*present suocess prom ises that Pike's peak signal station is yet to stand at the head of all astronom ical and meteorological stations in tho world. This point is wondorfully favor ed by natnre for the study of nßtronomy and meteorology. The rarity of tho at moHphero brings out a remarkable bril liancy and clearness to the stars and all tho heavenly bodies. Tho nights are most always cloudless, and cloudy davs aro tho exception. Nino-tenths of the . storms aro below tho peak. Tho l>eat I and most complete report of tho last , total eclipse of tho snn received at • Washington was tho report of Professor ILond, of Colorado college, from obser vations taken at Pike's peak. The signal station is now nnder the charge of Bergcants Ghoatc, Blake and t Bweeney. These officers are detailed - from tho army because of their poculiar J adaptability and Hpccial qualifications for the accnrate execution of tho nioe duties of takiug astronomical and me teorological observations. To Sergeant Hufus Clioate I am greatly indebted for the particulars embodied in this article. Tho summit of Pike's peak contains sixty acres. It is 14,330 feet above the level of tho sea. On the highest point stands tho signal station, a rough stone building twenty-four by thirty, one story in height. It is divided into four rooms—officers' room, kitohen, store room and woodroom. And here in this bleak spot, nearly twenty miles from tho habitations of man, though three milea nearer the heavenly regious than most parts of New F.ngland, these men live the larger part of tho year. Tho station is threo miles from the timber line, where the greater part of vegetation ceases. Bhort grass tufted with delicate Alpine flowers strnggle for an existence against tho frigiditv of tho atmosphere and creep toward the mountain top; bnt there are hundreds of acres of cold gray and reddish rocks where not a vestige of verdure exists. Like the dwellers of the Arctic regions, | tho inhabitants of Pike's peak have hut | two seasons—summer and winter. Two months of summer— August and Beptem* I her—and ten, long cold months of win ter. Tue summer season passes quick I ly. The atmosphere is congenial; the many visitors at the peak enhance its social life with joy, wonderment and mirth. Daring the" summer of 1878 up ward of nine hundred people, in parties ; of from five to thirty, visited tho peak, j among them many ladies. They regis | tered from the four qnarters of the globe, I and they all expressed admiration and astonishment at the grandeur and sub : limity of the wonderful views as seen , from the peak. To behold a aanrise from the peak is an event of a lifetime, ami for this purpose visitors often re main over night at tho station to be ■ ready to catch the first glimpse of the snn as it shove tlie horizon, gilding with its bright ray* the moan | tains, hills, valleys and plains, to the wonder and delight of the amazed be | holder. j - The duties of the officers are various. Hover -ibscrvations are taken daily; all | storr. i are closely watched, and each spc< 1 and distinctive characteristic 1 dul ■ recorded. Sunrise snd sunset de mand close attention. Every peculiari ty of the beavenlv regions is viewed and a record made of the same, and monthly 1 reports of these records are sent to j headquarters at Washington. The I present year bus l>ecn unusually prolific j in snn-dogs, which are said to prognos ticate earthquakes, anhtorranesn explo sions, immense freshets and troublous times. A government office at Piko's peak is no sineonre, for the officer must buffet all storms snd brave all weathers. ; Occasionally an electric storm visits the peak. There is bnt little thunder sc ! companding these storms, bnt the mountain seems all on fire. Sergeant Cboate informs me that when he was out observing ono of these storms it ap peared as though tho whole mountain | top was s sheet of electric flame. It came out of every rock snd darted i around with wonderful audacity. It 1 played around him, snd, as he expressed it, shutdown Ilia back ami darted ont of 1 each boot-toe, and so completely filled him with electricity that he oonld no retain his foothold, bnt bounded snd rebonnded from the rock like a rubber ball; he felt as though a powerful electric battery was pouring fiery darts all through him, ana deeming "discre tion the better part of valor," he bound ed Into the signal station for preserva tion. Sergeant Chnate was at the spring. , in December, and on December 21 he left for tho peak, wearing Norwegian | snowshoes twelve foet in length It ' was a weary task and a dreary trip. The first night out he slept in the snow on the mountain's side. Tho second night the mercury fell to twenty degrees 1>- low zero. lie sought shelter in a desert ed cabin, through which the wind whis tled tnnes anything bnt agreeable; here he built a small fire, but avoided sleep, fearing the extreme oold might prodnoe the sleep of death. The third day ho reach ed the station safely. The summer months are also occu pied in preparing for the long siege of winter. During the months of Angnst and September upward of 8,000 pounds of the usual variety of familv stores and about twenty-five cords of firewood are snugly stowed away. These are (M car ried to the peak in small quantitlew on the back aof tfco poor, despised burro, whose head has the appearance of being encased in cloth and whose ears are nearly the length of his legs, and who walks at the paoo of a snail, and a very slow snail at that. Hpftio bu ninoty-lwo dnke*, MA mar qniHM, 632 oonnta, ninety-two nnoonnt*, end ninety night baron*, beeide* forty four ennobled; foreigner*. Twi> dnkra, fifty-eight marqaiae*, thirty oonnU, sis rieconut" end l*o baton* have been ere htd by the preaent king. The nniver ■ity atndenta this year nnraber 16,339, of whom 6,823 are atndring medicine and 6,409 law, Hint* About Accident*. A child rolls down the stairs, or (alls from a height, and in either onso strikes its head with force. Wlmt shall bo done till tho doctor oomen T Wo would givo the following directions, an nearly an pfwaiblo in the order in which they ahotild bo adopted: Raise tho child gently in tho arms, and carrying it to tho neareat sofa or bed, place him on it i —unless crying londly, when ho can be soothed quickest in bin mother's arms. All the clothing should be loosened, 4 especially about the neck, to afford the freest circulation of the blood to and from the head. To equalise the circa lation and prevent inflammation, the head should DO kept cool and the ex tremities warm. Cooling lotions of arnica or witch-haeel and water, or sim ply water, should Ire applied to the ncad on thin cloths, well wrung out so as not to wet tho pillows aud lied-clothcs. No more than two or four thicknesses of linen should be used, because thick cloths prevent evaporation, and what was intended to cool tho head acts as a poultice and makes tho head hotter! Ice and ioo-cold water should not be used unless the head is very hot, as it is believed that children have been killed by the application of pounded ice to the head. Bottles of hot water or hot irons aro all that is necessary, beside* the bed clothing, to heat the extremities. All applications of mustard and other irri tants |lessees no advantage over these, and have the disadvantage of disturbing the sufferer. Bhonld the patient's face lie vory pale, and siguß of fainting ap pear, camphor or ammonia should lie applied to the nostrils, aud a little brandy or wine be giveu. Then the room should be made as quiet as (inssi bio and every means used to invite "na ture's sweet restorer," sleep. Wo know the popular idea is that patients suffer ing from any injury hi the head should be kept awake by all means ; and it is mainly to combat this erroneous notion that we are prompted to write ont tbooo directions. No injury—or degree of in jury—of the head contra-indicates the sufferer's sleeping. In fact, positive harm may be done in trying to prevent sleep. Best is what tho brain aud blood vessels want more than any ono other thing; and, if not allowed, what would have pasbed off in a few hoars or days may be prolonged into inflammation, with all its dangerous consequences. Of course the air of tho room should be kept pure—windows and doors open, if the weatlior permit—and tho presence of persons not absolntcly neceasary for bidden.— W. 11. Vail, M. I)., in the Chrintian Union. Chinese Poetry, Chinese poetry ia the subject of an in teresting article in Macmilla>i's Maya fine. Few persona appreciate tho gen nine poetry to which the Chinese havo given birth, yet poetry occupies almost as important a place in their literature as in onr own. Here is a literal trans lation of a short poem: The boart, whan it la tuiuol finds no place of rest. Tb mind, when embittered, thinks only of grief. In tho following the writer is sup posed to lie apostrophising a bod of chrysanthemum plants in full bloom: See their sletxlor shadow picturad on the fenca whilst their delioaie perfume scents the garden walls; Their tints, now dark, now ltgbt, flash 000 Mainst the other; The dews as they drop strengthen their frame*; Hungry, they feed on sir— What can with their bright colors compete ? Talking of them one might pity their languor, as of that of an Invalid: Delicate, ther opeo with const Ito lions at beet antnmnal, Yet say not that they hiootn to no purpose: Fur did they not by thtr charms inspire Tao to poetry and oonTtvialUy I Here is one that has been metrically translated * It ia called the " Tiny Bill:" Over gren fields and meadows a tiny rill ran (The little precious coquette), Hhe was pretty, aha kuew, and thus early began Gayly flirting with all that the me*. Her favors on both tides she'd gracefully shower. Regardless of whom they might be; One moment abe d kiss the sweet lips of a flower. The next —lave the root of a tree. She would leap from one rock to another In play. Tumble down on her pebbly bed . like a naiad, let the deeding, sunn ait ten spray. Fall In ptistnalic gems round her head. Homstiniee she would lash herself Into rage. And rush roaring aad seething along; Till a hit of smooth ground would her anger assuage. When shed Hqwktty nninanr a song. ♦Vondcrfnl Frt*. Hir Astley Cooper relates the case of a sailor who waa received In Bt. Thomas' hospital in a state of stupor from an in jury in the head, which continued some months. After an operation he sudden ly recovered so far as to speak, but no one in the hospital understood his lan guage. But a Welsh milk-woman hap pening to come into the ward, anawer *d him, for he spoke Walsh, which was hia native language. H bad, however, luen absent from Wales more than thirty years, and previous to the acci dent had entirely forgotten Welsh, al though he now spoke it fluently, and recollected not a word of any other tongue. On bis perfect recovery he again completely forgot his Welsh, and recovered bin English. An Italian gentleman, mentioned by Dr. Rush, in the beginning of an illness, •P°ke English; in the middle of it, French; bnt on the day of hia death spoke only Italian. An ignorant servant girl, mentioned by daring tho delirium of a fever repeated with perfect correctness passages from a number of theologijal worka in Latin, Qroek and Rabuiical Hebrew. It waa at length discovered that she bad been servant to a learned clergyman, who was in the habit of walking backward end forward along a passage by tho kitchen, and there read ing aloud hia favorite authors. Dr. Abercrombie relates the ease of a child, four years old, who underwent the operation of trepanning while in a state of profound stupor from fraetnre of the skull. After hta recovery, he re tained no reeolleetion either of the opera tion or the accident: yet, at the *age of fifteen, during the delirium of fever, be gave hia mother an exaei description of the operation, of the persona present, their dress and many other minute par ticulars. Grandfather Llckshlngle's Bathing Bulb One of the children asked how Captain Paul Boyton got along in the water this terribly oold weather. "What I that feller I" exclaimed Grandfather Licksbingle, starting up from reverie. " That feller is swim min' from Pittsburgh to New Orleans by overland route in an ulster overooat suit three-ply mittens. Every mornin' tbo paper has an account of bow he lectured in some town the night afore. Then he cuts across lota, in the direction of New Orleans, and delivers another lecture. He'll arrive at hia destination by-aud by, providiu' the wulkin' keeps good. Anybody can swim to New Orleans that way. Now, when your grandfather ao coroplisbod his great aquatic feat, an the newspapers called it, of swimmin' from Now Orleans to Pittsburgh, I never left the water once. Every public hall along tho route was decorated with flogs an' Chinese lantern, an' committees waited on mo forty miles below the towns nnd pleaded with mo all the way up, offerin' mo anywhere from twenty-tlve cents to 8700 a night if 1 would round into port aud lee lure. I wouldn't have it. As for little oold snaps like this one, I rather enjoyed them. It took n little more fnol"— "Fuel, grandfather?" "Yes, fuel. I had a very perfect bathin' suit. It had a furnace in the basement, with regiatcrs open in' into every room in tho house, so to speak. When tho mercury got down alxmt sw-ro, nn' the water began to feel a little chilly like, I'd holler down the telephone to tho Rtoker to heave in n few packages of coal ile, resin, bacon, alcohol, aquafortis, or whatever come handiest among the freight"— "Btirely, yon don't mean freight, grandfather? "I don't mean notliin' else; bnt if you children think von know more 'bout your grandfather's bathin' suit than he does himself, why, dog-gone it, vou'd better tell it 1"— Oil City /let rick'. West Indian Superstitions. As regards animals, Guinea pigs may lo mentioned as specially unlucky, at least in Bt, Croix. There are families there, among those from whom one would not exoect such tbii gs, whose children would on no account Wallowed to keep these pretty littlo pets. What precisely is the harm they do is not stated. All you can get out of one is, " Ob, they always bring trouble to a house; they're very unlucky." And yet, if tho writer of this was an adept at ono thing more than another in his small boy days—which were spent in Barbados —it was at keeping Guinea pigs. They were kept by liim on scale so large that he oould set np some of his school fellows as Guinea-pig keepers. Ho even ran tho rbk of keeping them sometimes in his desk at school, Wring holes and catting slits in tlic lid, to give tho little bright-eye*! creatures air. And it was n gri at risk to rnn, for those were the good old "licking times"—now, hap pily, almost over for schoolboys. The master of the school was one of those men who are now, it is to be hoped, nearly ss extinct as the dodo—men who lielieved that yon conld tcsch a boy through his back, or through the palms of his hands or the seat of his pants loons. Hut yet the Guinea-pigs never brought a thrashing upon thfir owner or his friends. Home of the boys at Jliia very school were possessed of a sovereign plan for making yon perfect in your lossons, which may have kept off the trouble the Guinea-pigs would otherwise have brought on the school. When you hail learned any lesson thor oughly '•:-day. Calmly do your duty, and let Cod take care of fjis own world. He is still alive, and is the King. Do not imagine that things will go to ever last i:'W hack and asked the woman if she had seen a panel. " There's a bit of newspaper on the chair boy ant," said she ; " perhaps that itwhich it proved to W, and my friend returned a happier and a wiser man. Another circumstance: A man I know of lost a roll of bills amounting to $lO,OOO. They, also were'tied np in a newspaper. *He told a friend, and the two talked over the loss and the probability of finding the money. The friend male him tell all the ground he had l/oen over since ha Lad the money. The last place was the postoflloe. The night w:ui wet over head and slushy under foot. They shipped at the nontoffice, and going to the place where the man had been, and found two or three torn bits of newspa per. It was the same. They looked further, and found the lost treasure. It hail been kicked in turn by every one who came into the office, and when found, was all untied and completely soaked in slush. They seised it eager ly and returned to their hotel, where I hey spent several hours in cleaning it. It was all there ; and at last they got it dried. The grateful man took uis friend out and bought him the band somest watch that he oould find. Adulterated Food. From facts and data in our possession, rays the New York Herald, it •> sus ceptible of rroof that nearlv all the es sentials of life are seriously tampered with, and that the adulteration of food la the rule rather than the exception. The following list is carefully prepared, and will give an idea of the extent to which the evil extends: Sausages— Male of impure meats and teasoned with spices. Hrrad —Mixed with alum, lime water and flour ground in with lead. Flour—Adulterated with damaged peas, powdered alum and casein, in which are worms, insects, acari -and smut. Cofleo— Adulterated with ooooanut shells, almond shells, chiooory, beans, peas and corn. Tee—Colored with black lead and Prussian blue. Oysters, Clams and Lobsters—Stale and decaying. Cbeoae—Colored with saffron, Vene tian red, carrots and annotto, which latter is often fonod to contain poison ous chro mates. Essences—Adulterated and contami nated by nitro-beuEole, prnasic acid, oil of turpentine, sulphuric acid and citric acid. Hagar—lnjured by putrid blood, with which it is " purified," and adulterated with clay, sand and bean dust, with now and then a fair share of marble dust. Cake—Flavored with oil of almonds, containing pruaaic acid. Spices—Black pepper, adulterated with buokwbeat, caramel or shorts; cay enne pepper, adulterated with red lead, almond shells and gingt r. Time Enough te Keller. One day Billy, that's my brother, he and Sammy Doppy was play in' by a mud-hole, and Billy be said: "Now, Sammy, lea play we was a barnyard; yon be the pig and lie down and woller. and 111 be a bull and beller like everything. So they got down on their *>" and knees, and Sammy he went in the mad and wollered, wife Billy hollered like distant thunder. Bimcby Sammy be enm out muddy—yea never seeo such e muddy little feller—and be said: yon be the pig an' let me bel- Bnt Rilly he said: " I ain't a very geod pig 'fore dinner, and ittie be time 'naff for yon to beller wen yr mother sees yer do m"—Little Johnny. A Lutheran clergyman, of Philadel phia, informed Dr. Bush that Germans sad Swedes, of whom be had a lane number in his congregation, when near death always prayed hi their native languages, though some of them, he wee confident, had not spoken them for fifty or sixty yearn.