LADIES' DEPARTMENT. rmillion Nolo*. atered Irish poplins havo come into fashion. Very small buttons to fasten tho corsage is the latest freak of fashion. The wicker-basket bonnets so fash ionable in Paris have reached America. Bonnet crowns completely shingled with small feathers will he much worn. The new do beiges come in im proved forms, finely finished and illum inated. Blouse waists for children and young girls never go entirely out of j fashion. Red hats, red feathers, red gloves, i and red stockings are worn by the million. The jackets, ulstorettos and sacque* for early fall wear are made longei this season. Very plain skirts will be much worn, but not to the exclusion of more elalnirate ones. Colons! handkerchiefs are brought out in the loveliest combinations of jpsthetic colors. Plaids are worn by women who affect English styles; they are not generally becoming. The wearing of green and red together is revived, but both colors must be in subdued tones. Pompadour designs and stripes ap pear in the new evening silks intended for the dressiest toilets. Raspberry-and-eream color rivals strawlx-rry as a popular color for millinery and evening 'dress. Full lace jabots, reaching from the neck to the point of the Isxlice, will In worn with dressy indoor costumes. The Imuffant tournure draperies as now worn give all women very uasym metrical and even ludicrous figures. The latest fancy for neck lingerie is to unite several colors in the ribbon l>ows that mingle with the laces at the throat. Dressy cloth suits are tailor finished, and then made effective with hand some soutache embroideries and artistic crochet buttons. Every lady should have a plush jacket in black, seal bjown, or some other color which will harmonize with any kind of a skirt. Flowers are now but little worn in the corsage in demi-toilet, being replaced by knots of riblsin in hues contrasting with that of the drees. Grecian lynx, a long-haired, light colored fur of a yellowish tinge, will l>e a very fashionable fur for trimming winter cloaks and costumes. For dinner or ballroom wear brocaded moire antiques are very fashionable. In white these superb fabrics are very handsome for bridal dresses. Nonpareil Velveteen is found in all the stylish new shades of green, sap phire, wine color, chaudron, bronze, seal brown, and black. When made with the pile tiirm-d upward so that it will be raised by wear instead of becoming flattened, it cannot bo dis tinguished from silk velvet; while the difference in price reduces the cost of a costume by about two-thirds. A I.fnrnfe cleaned and put in order. Tad stood by, with feelings of alarm, while a general overhauling of the vehicle went on.the coachman dusting, rubbing, and pulling things al>out, quite uncon scious of Tail's anxious watch on the proceisiings. Pretty soon, drawing out a queer-looking bundle from one of the Imixi-s under the seat, the man brought to light a part of a loaf of bread, some bits of cold meat, and various other fragments of food from the larder. Tail, now ready to burst with anger and disappointment, cried, "Oh! oh! give that up, I say ! That's my Past Day picnic!" The poor lad, from dread of going hungry, had cautiously hidden, from day to day, a portion of food against the day of fast ing. and had stood by while his hoard was in danger, hoping that it might escape the eves of the servants. He was consoled by a promise from his mother, to whom he ran with his tale of woe, that he should not suffer hunger on Fast Day, even though his father, the President, hail proclaimed a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer for all the people. Wedding Rinr. Most women have a sincere interest in betrothal and wedding rings, so that a few facts picked up concerning them may not coine amiss. The first has al tered noticeably in shape and setting. A pure white diamond, the only suit able gem, is underset in short claws so that the stone hidi-s the setting com pletely. Polished gold is preferred to Human gold. The shank is oval and ta|>crs from the gem. There is neither enamel nor engraving on its surface, and inscription* are r.it inside as the purchaser may order. It is but an old fashion revived, and one which will lie liked. In the last thirty years wedding rings have changed twice in style, from the narrow, double circlet to the polish ed oval; and lastly the plain, wide, flat band, which is now also preferable in polished gold. A fourth style, and one eminently in harmony with the present temper of romantic sentiment, might well revive the ornament which deco rated a ring discovered long ago in Egyptian ruins. It represented two cats, sitting back to back, and between them the goddess of love, who smiles sweetly on vacancy while they glare around at each other in genuine Kil kenny fashion. Much rings are gener ally made to order. A cowboy at Prcscntt, A. T., was running the town and carrying a high head until a Ma ichusetts coinsnmp tive cracked his skull with a club. The natives never dreamed that a cowboy i could be laid out. Splinters from the floor whereon Jesse James fell when he was shot are sold on the premises for 26 cents each. JUNTA KEN FOB a J.CNATW. TIIC War II Wlfr I'wr*|trrlrdly Turned the TuhlfN on Her lliiftliunri. A man whose wife had just been de clared insane went with her yesterday morning, in company with a court attendant, to the office of the Brooklyn Charity Commissioners to have her committed to the lunatic asylum. While they were waiting for Commit ment Clerk Short to get through with other business the court attendant stepped out, promising to return soon. The husband, weighed down with the melancholy nature of his business, sat brooding over tho matter beside his wife, who, on tho other hand, hap pened to be in an especially cheerful mood. She talked to him In a lively way, and appeared to he doing all she could to lift up his spirits. When Mr. Short found leisure to attend to the ease, he fancied that ho took in tin situation at a glance. " What appears to bo his hallucina tion?" he asked, drawing the lady a little on one side. "Oh," said she, divining the clerk's error with a lunatic's quickness of per ception, "it's the old story. He thinks I'm insane, and endeavors to control me. lie is not often violent, but I feel it is necessary to put him under restraint." " Yes," said Mr. Short, with the in stinctive sympathy that clings to him, notwithstanding his occupation; " it is a sad thing, but you must make the best of it." Mr. Short noticed tho husband ges ticulating wildly behind his wife's back, touching his wn head, and then pointing to his wife's—all the time, however, carefully avoiding her obser vation ; but he saw no evidence of any immediate violent outbreak on the hus band's part. "Sit down, my g<*l man—sit down. Everything is all right. I understood how it is," "Y*. my d< nr. the gentleman under stands all atwmt it," chimed in the wife, in a kindly tone. Then th<- husband tried to pull the clerk aside and whisper something in , his ear. "Yew, yes," said the latter; "I know all about it. Xolssly is going to hurt | you. You are just as safe here as if j you were in your own home, and so Is she. "But I'm not going to stand this any longer," broke out the husband, at last losing his patience. " Don't mind him—he'll quiet down in a moment," said the lady reassuringly (o the clerk. "I am not crazy!" shouted the troubled man. breaking away from all self-control in his vexation. "It is she that i crazy!" " I told you how it wouid w," said ! the wife. "The next thing, perha]*, : he will try to make out that you are crazy." By this time there had appeared that amount of color in the husband's face that Mr. Short liegan to look a)Hint for assistance. While he was in this anxious state of mind the court attendant reapja-ared in the doorway. His explanation soon put matters on a right footing, much to the discomfiture ; of the clerk. Hungarian Bra**. The Boston Cultivator says this, plant has two peculiarities, explained by Dr. Sturtevant, as follows: First, it a plant of warm regions ; second, it is a drouth plant. The inference from this is—what my experience in light soil confirmed—that the ground must lie warm at the time of planting, and the soil must lie a dry one; that is, free from standing water. A careful examination has shown me that the Hungarian is a very shallow rooting crop—it feeds very near the surface when the temperature of the soil is the highest. Another peculiarity with ine has ltecn that a single cold or cool j night chocks the growth of seed. I Bearing these observations in mind, I have not failed in obtaining a very large crop by pursuing the following course: First, planting not earlier than June 20th, in order to secure the warm soil, and the certainty of no cool nights during the ensuing six weeks; second, manuring or fertilizing rinse to the surface, and just scratching in ; third, planting at least six perks of iced per acre. In order to have the -rop relished by cattle, 1 have found it necessary to sow thickly, and to cut just as the heads ln-gin to lie discovered. By this course 1 have a hay the cattle prefer to timothy, and pound per pound it rxjM-nds better than timothy, and my eye detects no falling away in con dition, and the scales detect no change in the milk yield. If over-ripe—-and most people rut too late—the rattle do not relish it as they otherwise could, j and the eye and scab* show inferior feisling value to the liest hay. London haa 41 theatre*. with an ag gregate Mating capacity of more than w.ooa Nomrtnrng About Hpldcrs, I Th destruction of by npiJnri Is enormous. I have counted 260 in- I sects, email and great, banging en tangled in one orb web. In one net in Fulriuount I'ark I counted thirty eight mosquitoiw; in another, hung under a bridge at Asbury Park, and out of reach, there must have boon two or three times as many. Green head flies j by the legion have been seen in the welw that fairly enlace the boat house* at Atlantic City and Cape May. The very small spiders prey upon micros copic insects like gnats and devour myriads. A glance at the fields, bushes and trees on a dewy morning in Sep tember will reveal an innumerable multitude of webs spread over the landsc ape, all occupied by spiders of various ag< s, sizes and families, and all busy destroying the insert pests of man. There are several species of spiders, divided into two classes, the sedentary and the wandering spiders. To the first class lsdotig the orb weavers, who make a circular web ; the line weavers, whose web is labyrinthian ; the tube weavers, who hang their nests on walls or rocks or branches of trees, and the tunnel weavers, who live in tunnels cut into the eazth and having automatic doors ingeniously contrived. In the wanderers are included the cetegrades, whose motions arc quick and vivacious ; the laterigraden, who have a queer sideways motion, and the saltigrades, who jump, and dance and vault. The dolomede spider is a swimmer, and lives on or under water. | She builds her nest on a detached branch of a tree or bush, which she makes into a tent. The argiopa fas ciapa, or banded spider, is a silver yellow and black color. Spiders are not social creatures. They are generally, on the contrary, of solitary habits, and are mostly canni bals, eating each other with great gusto. They mate in the spring and autumn, and the mating is often a trying and dangerous one. They reverse the order of nature in one respect, for the males are infinitely inferior in every respect to the females, and tin latter are well aware of the fact. Their courtships are seem* of violence, and not of love and je-ace. The lady b-iks with suhliine contempt ujion the gen tleman and keeps him at a distance. He ran only approach her by strata gem, and sometimes she nips off one of his legs in her anger and casUrtiim adrift a cripple. I havo seen poor fellows who have lost four out of their eight legs, and still they were attracted to the opposite sex like moths to a can dle. A spider will never eat her own young, but the mal<* will destroy them when they ran. The mother either g.s* away or dies soon after the hatching of her eggs, which numls-r alsmt UK) to each nest, and the little ones are thrown ujon the world almost . as sen as they see light. There are several varieties who carry their eggs in a silk pouch until they are hatched. The tills* weavers sometimes rare for theiryoung until they are able to get about, and I had a brood of about sixty in my yard until the rains destroyed them. Spiders have numerous enemies, and much of their clever nest building is designed for protection against these inroads. Toads ami birds destroy them by the thousands, ami a little parasite railed the irhnumen—a small fly—lays its eggs in the cocoons of the spider, and when the larva- apjwars it fis-d --first on the eggs and later on the young spiders. Orb weavers and line weavers desert their eggs when laid, and meet their offspring, where they live so long, as strangers. Another bitter enemy of the spider is the mud daubing wasp, which has a proems that might be valuable to humanity, if it could lie discovered, of kr. Houghton, of Dublin, in a paper real liefore tin- Science Association at Montreal, deduce! from certain appar ent facts requiting tin: condition of the planets that the earth and tin moon, when they separated from the -olar nebula 'lid so in the form of solid meteoric stones, each of them having the t< mp> rature of interstellar space—that is, a temperature not much aisivc 4'.0 degrees Fahrenheit below the freezing point of water, t Provlslnntag an Ocean Steam-nip. Three thousand five hundred pounds 'of butter, 3,000 hams, 1,600 pounds biscuit—not those supplied to th< - ri-w; 1,000 pounds of "dessert stores" muscatels, almonds, figs, etc., exclusive of fresh fruits, wliich are taken in at every port; 1,500 pounds of jams and j'-llies, 6/** i pounds of tinned meats, 1,008 pounds of dried beans, 3,00" pounds of rice, 5.000 pounds of onions, 10 tons of potatoes, 60,(Ml piumls of Hour, and 20/**' eggs. Fresh vegcta- Ides, dead meat, and live bullocks, sheep, pigs, g.s-se, turkeys, guinea l inls, ducks, fowls, fish, and casual game, are generally supplied at each jMirt of call, or replenished at the further end of the journey, so that it is difficult to obtain complete estimates of them. Perhaps two dozen bullocks and 60 sheep would he a fair average for the whole voyage, and the rest may be inferred in proportion. The writer has known 25 fowls sacrificed in a single day to make chicken broth. Four thousand shut*. 2.000 blankets, B,ot*l towels, 2/"*' j*.unds of various soajis, 2/**> poind- of candles—except in those vessels which are fitted with the electric light; 1,000 knives, plates, 000 ciijw and saucers, 3,000 glasses—fancy what a handsome in come the amount represented by annual loss from breakage would lie!— 800 table-cloths, 2,000 glass-cloths—all these are figure* exhibited by the pro verlitor of one ship alone. Think what they would amount to when multiplied by the numis-r of shi|is in each com pany's fleet, and then try to realize the fact that this department constitutes only one, and by no means the greatest of their incidental exp-nsca. lost His Wager. The late French Ambassador to the Russian court always carried a very valuable gold cigarette-rase, which had Ix-cn presented to him by the Emperor. General Ignatieff advised the Ambas sador to lie careful of his prize, as St. Petersburg was full of pickpockets. Whereupon the diplomatist offered to lay a wager that he would go all over the city during his stay there, with the cigarette-rase aiwuit him, without losing it. General Ignatieff accepted the wager, and invited the Amtassador to take a cup of tea wirti him at the Rasp berry Rush, a noted drinking place, informing him that it was a sight worth seeing. They repaired to this establishment and ordered tea, after which the Amltassadnr pulled oat his cigarette-case, offered the General a cigarette, lighted one himself, and re turned the ease to his breast pocket, keeping his hand on it. When thej descended to the street the Ambassador was astonished to find that his cign j rettc ease had gone, and that a piece I of soap of the same shape and size wa left in Its stead. Tho proprietor was j informed of the theft and the trinket , was restored to hiiu ou the following | day. How Broken Own ClblM wt If. The machinery used for picking up a cable fri both deep ari'l shallow waLWC is of the most simpld description. K consists of a rojc about an Inch said • quarter in diameter, made from twiste# strand* of the strongest hemp, w*tf* Interwoven wires of fine st*d; tta# grapnel at the end la merely a xoiuJ shaft of Iron some two feet weighing abont 100 pounds, and preT longed into six blunt hooks, which verp much resemble the partly closed fingers , of the human hand. In picking up ' the cable iu deep water, the Minla after reaching the waters near tha break, lets out her rope and grapnal. then takes a course at right anglaa to ' the cable and at some distance from the fracture, so that the broken end | may not slip through the grapnel; tb ' grapnel rope Is attached to a dynamome ter, which exactly measures the strata on the rope, and shows unerringly the cable has been caught. If tba grapnel fouls a rock the strain rutem * very suddenly and to a high point; txsß the exact weight of the cable txung known, the dynamometer signals bp j the steady rate or increase its hold oal ! the cable, which is very far below. The ease and certainty with which thai cables are picked up in these days 'm amazing. Awhile ago one of the lined of the Anglo-American Company wa* caught without trouble at a depth of two and a quarter miles, near the mid dle of the Atlantic. Captain Trott, of the Minia, who has won great tame for his skill and ingenuity in cable matters, but recently picked up the French cable 180 miles off and In four hours from the time tba grapnel was let g<>, he had the cable spliced and in good working condition* The splicing is a work of great deli cacy and skill, and when accomplished by trained fingers, the "spliced" put can scarcely ly distinguished from the main cord. So rapid has been the im provement in perfecting the modem I cable, that the resistance to the electric enrrent has been reduced to one-quarter j of what it w as twenty years ago, whrte the duplex system of sending and re ceiving messages double the capacity |of every new cable laid. The working age of the modern cable is about thir teen years. An I nkind Habit. To accuse a friend of looking ill— for it savors of an accusation—is to make him very uncomfortable. Thin habit of remarking upon the looks of others is not a kind one. It is not pnly contrary to good sense, but a due regard for politeness and the observ ance of good manners demand that it shall not be indulged. It is bad I enough in the family, where the ques tions and the searching glance are tho expression of kind feeling, unless, in let*!, t|p' apparently anxious inquiries as to how you have slept and how you are feeling this morning are about as meaningless as the remark upon the temperature, but it is absolutely insup portable from any one but a dear friend who has not had the experience of going out for aw alk, or into a neigh -1 >or's house, ami leing greeted with the assertion that she must be ill. In many cases you arc accused of not looking well, w hen, in reality, you may lie in lietter health than usual. It is a great confession of weakness, but I have gone home from a walk, out of which ail the sunshine has been taken by some sucll thoughtless remark, and looked in the glass to see if I could dis cover the sign of some ailment. Such remarks are not kind, and certainly produce anything but pleasant feelings. Would it not be well to do away with them forever? They may be intended to convey interest, but too often fall short of their object and seem only rude. Information About brain. Wheat is supposed to have coma originally from Asia, north of the Himalaya Mountains, where it grew wild. Corn comes from South America. Wheat was first grown on the Ameri can continent by a slave of Cortex, Lu Mexico. The James River settlers, under instructions of the Indians, be gan to raise corn in IGOB. Samples of wheat were sent to Kurope from the Dutch colony of the New Netherlands as early as 1626. As early as 1690 "rye and Indian" bread was becoming fashionable, and oats and barley were cultivated as soon as rye. The growth in the grain area has been almost un broken, and at a very early day the colonists hml a surplus for export. New England, the South and Middle Mates do not produce enough wheat to supply their own wants, but the South is rapidly increasing the acreage of both wheat and corn. The export trade in grain has l*en a regular and impor tant business since 1821. Trior to that It was spasmodic and intermittent, Often as late as 183" the home wheat crop was not equal to the consumption, and imports were made from Europe.