I THE BONES OF COLUMBUS. | Mystery Enshrouds the Final Resting Place of the Great Discoverer. Mystery and secrecy surround the oxhumation in Havana, Cuba, of the remains of Columbus, and this fact has given rise to grave rumors, whioh appear to have some foundation, as there has been no attempt at denial from any source. The removal of the remains was effected behind the closed doors of the Cathedral, which were guarded by an armed forced. Few of the authorities were present, the uames of those who were to attend be ing handed to the Chief of Police the night before in General Blauco's own handwriting. No official account of the ceremony or statement regarding t' condition of the remains has been e public, but it has leaked out from aa authori tative source that they are not in the same condition as when they were placed in the niche. When the remains were placed in the mausoleum a small cask t was en closed, containing coins, gold and silver medals, precious stones and rolls of parchment, as was then the custom upon the occasion of a burial. It appears that this casket had been tampered with and rifled of its con tents, and further rumors say that only portions of the remains are left. Gossip and speculation are rife, the exact truth of which the authorities make 110 effort to affirm or contradict. A. quasi-official explanation, however, is to the effect that secrecy was given # It 1 ( j TOMB OF COLUMBUS IN THE CATHEDRAL AT HAVANA. to the ceremony because a cable dis patch received reported that General Toral had been murdered in Madrid the day before, and fears were enter tained that disorders might occur if the public aud military came together in great numbers. Some of the more rabid Spaniards goto the length of saying that the ■whole ceremony was a farce, the Washington Government having ob jected to the removal of the remains and their Government going through the pantomime in order to make the public believe that the remains, which really are left there, were shipped to Spain. Spain's pitiful appeal to be permit- VIAL CONTAINING THE ASIIF.S or COLUM BUS AT GENuA, ITALY. ted to remove the bones of Christo pher Columbus from Havana to Madrid will likely be passed upon by the Paris ppace commissioners, but before any discussion is reached four nations will become involved in the controversy. The four nations not only claim the right to posses the remains of Lhc great discoverer, but they assert that they already have them and are pre pared to back up the assertion with all sorts at proof. There is a quartet of Columbian graves in different parts 112 I W (?ij<oVaAtfo\ov» LEAD CHEST CONTAINING THE BONES OF COLUMBUS. of the world and each one is sepai ately worshiped as the real article. One of these is in Havana, one is in Santo Domingo, one is in Genoa, Italy, and one is in Valladolid, Spain. When Santo Domingo, where his body was interred after having been brought from its resting place in Seville, became a possession of France, the Spaniards removed what they sup posed to be the bones of Columbus, with many of the other valuable and and sacred relics of Spanish rule, tc Havana, where they have since re mained. As a matter of fact historians are now agreed that the bones which the Spaniards conveyed to their only remaining possessions in the Western Hemisphere were not those of the great navigator, but of his son, Diego Col umbus, a former Governor-General of Santo Domingo, who was buried in the samo sepulchre with his father. The certainty that the Spaniards had made a blunder in removing the body was established through a very curious circumstance. Just before his death, Columbus, greatly aggrieved by the injustice and cruelty with whioh he had been treat ed by the people for whom he had done so much, requested that the chains in which he had been brought back a prisoner from his last voyage to the West Indies, and whioh he al ways kept in his room as a memento of Spanish gratitude, might be buried in the coffin with him. His request was scrupulously regarded by the members of his family, and without the knowledge of the Spanish officers these relics were placed in his coffin before it was finally sealed. A Frenchman who chanced upon some autograph letters written by the explorer found among other interest ing documents the navigator's will. He was struck by the strange clause relating to the shackles, and made in quiries whether or not any such things were found when the coffin was re moved from the tomb in Santo Do mingo. As no one remembered to have heard of any such thing, an in vestigation was set on foot, with the result that the bones of Columbus were found to be still peacefully re posing in the new French colony. As a matter of course, the Spaniards have derided the notion that they could by any possibility have made a mistake, but subsequent discoveries have only tended to strengthen the idea that the Spaniards had merely given one more example to the world of the careless ness and superficiality with which they carry out all their official acts. The sepulchre whioh oontained what passes among the Spanish inhabitants of Cuba for ' he bones of Columbus is extremely temple in character. The SLAB OVEB THE COLUMBUS TOMB AT HAVANA. cathedral in which it is situated, how ever, is a very handsome structure. The bones were in a plain stone vault made of marble, placed to the right of and at the foot of the main altar. The stone vault surmounted by a bust supposed to resemble the explorer, but said to differ in every detail from his portraits. The bones of Colum bus, the Spaniards say, were taken to Havana in 1795 and placed in a grave dug under the spot where the vault now stands. In 1822 the Spaniards in Cuba erected the present tomb and placed beneath the bust of Columbus the followiug inscription: O, grand Columbus! In this urn enshrined A thousand centuries Thy bones shall guard! A thousand agos keep thine image fresh, In token of our nation's gratitude. When the supposed bones of Colum ! bus were removed from Santo Dom ingo, the ceremony was made the oc casion for a display of Spanish gran deur such as had never before been seen in Jie Western Hemisphere. It easy to concede that the lead found at San Domingo was not the one in which the bones of the Admiral were taken to San Domingo, for it is generally admitted that the name America, which appeared on the casket, was used before 1509, and the Gothic characters iu the interior of the chest were not common until the seventeenth century. The circumstance that the chest found at San Domingo is small, also confirms the suspicion that it was made to contain half a skeleton. That sent to Havana, although of the same length and depth was wider, perhaps to give more room to the hip bones and the skull, besides the other bones corresponding to those found at San Domingo. The San Domingo chest contained some fragments of lead which bear the unmistakable signs of age. This sug gests the probability that the chest was cast from an older one. After a distinguished career in Eu rope and Asia, Mgr. Roccococchia, the discoverer of the remains of Columbus at San Domingo, was made Bishop at Orope, Vicar of San Domingo, and delegate to Hayti and Venezuela in 1874. The leaden chest was found on September 10, 1877. The work in the cathedral had just begun when a hid den tomb was discovered at the left of the altar. A leaden chest was found. It contained the remains of Don Pietro Colombo, the discoverer's grandson. The chest containing the bones of Columbus was at the right of the first. When the discovery was made, be* sides Mgr. Cocchia, the Italian Con sul; Giobatta Cambiaso, his brother, Luigi, and the authorities of San Domingo, were present. The Consul, CRYSTAL CONTAINING TnE ASHES OF COLUMBUS, AT PAVIA, ITALY. who was a Genoese, seized a pinch of the ashes in the chest and placed them in a crystal vial. A ribbon was attached to the vial, bearing an in scription iu Italian to this effect: "Ashes of the immortal Christopher Columbus, discovered in the Cathedral of San Domingo the 10th of September, 1877. To the City of Genoa, from her affectionate sons, Giobatta and Luigi Cambiaso." When the vial arrived at Genoa the muncipality decided to preserve it iu an urn of bronze. The urn was executed in 1886 by Pandiani, of Milan. It is in the style of the seven teenth century. Four sea horses sus tain it at the corners, and graceful de signs adorn the frame, which bears on each side the arms of Genoa. The whole is surmounted by a female figure representing Genoa, the Queen of the Mediterranean. The left hand rests upon au anchor, and with the right the figure holds aloft the wreath of victory. Pavia received a similar honor, for at her university the discoverer of the New World completed his studies. The ashes were placed in a small pyramid of crystal, and that was de posited in a splendid receptacle. [FOR FARM AND GARDEN.] Thorough Preparation for Wheat Pays. The past season one field at the Kansas experiment station was given thorough treatment before seeding, [t was harrowed, disked and dragged until a fine dust mulch four inches deep was formed. This yielded 223 bushels per acre, weighing 54.7 pounds. Another field given ordinary tr atmeut yielded 19 bushels weigh ing 53.7 pounds. This is a difference of nearly 18 per cent, in favor of good culture. Harvesting Potatoes. One reason why potatoes frequently bring low prices is that they are bruised or out in digg ng. Wlieu the tuber is thus injured in its tender and moist state it rots quickly. Hardly one grower in a dozen realizes how tender freshly dug potatoes really are, and the habit of roughly dumping them into barrels or wagons is almost universal. Then there is the common practice of assorting them as soon as they are dug, which should not be done unless they are designed for im mediate shipment. After digging, store the tubers in a cool, dry and dark placa that should be kept at au uniform temperature. Assort into grades after they nave been dug for two or three weeks, and if they are to be stored for any considerable length of time, they shou d be closely ex amined at least once a week for dis eased specimens, in marketing, the same careful handling should be ob served as in harvesting in order to put the tubers on the market in the best possible condition for the highest prices. LOUR of New S warms. Every beekeeper who relies on gathering his swarms of bees after they have escaped from the hive knows that despite his best efforts, some of the largest and earliest of his swarms take to the woods, and become the common property, by law, of whoever can find them. But if the beekeeper be active, h ) can, after fiuding which direction the swarm is going, follow as fast as he can and locate its new residence. In such case the swarm is no longer a wild ole but belongs to the owner of the bees fro u which it came. It is usual in the fall to stupefy these be.-s with smoke, taking the honey out of the tree. We have known beckee ers to take up all of the stupefied bees they can find,being sure to secure the queen, put all to ge her in a hive with some honey for winter feed, and have a new swarm iu their apiary next spring, iut usually these bees are not very successful. Probably those of them which remem bered their previous life made the mistake when going out to secure honey of trying to find their old home in the woods.—American Cultivator. lltiiltl the Poultry HOU«P Now. At this season of the year, before there is need for shelter, houses needed for poultry should be built. How to build them, what size they should be and where located are largely matters for each one to decide for himself. Good ventilation, light, dryness and warmth are all necessary no matter where the building is to be, aud if possible a scratching shed,such as re cently illustrated and described in this department, should be provided for or added to buildings al ready erected. For the beginner in poultry raising, a comfortable house that will do for from twelve to eigh teen hens can be built at au expense of about twenty dollars if one does the work himself. Such a house would be about twenty feet loug by ten feet wide, sheathed and battened aud the roof covered with building paper. It would also include doors end windows. If a scratching shed is provided iu connection with such a building from six to ten additional hens can be easily cared for, as the house proper would only be occupied at roosting time and the hens huddle close together at night, requiring very little room. The floor of the house as well as the scratch shed should be kept covered with litter so that the hens will be kept busy scratching it over. Hone anil Kg^s. In selling eggs at market price the question of profit hinges on the cost of the production of eggs. The keep ers of pure-bred poultry—that is, the fancier, who raises only fancy stock and who gets from one to five dollars a setting for his eggs, aud the same figures for his fowls—has no need to count the cost so closely in the pro duction of his stock, as the prices ob tained are sufficient to cover even ex travagaut outlay, and to leave a good margin of profit. With the marketer, however, it is quite different. He must bring his bill of expenses low iu order to real ize any profit iu eggs. In this con nection we would suggest the free use of one of the modern inventions for the poultry yard—the bone cutter,not the dry bone crusher, but the green bone cutter, and the liberal use of green cut bone in feeding the laying stock. With the writer, green bones, fresh from the butcher, are obtain able at 50 cents per 100 pounds, and their value as food, iu the production of eggs, is worth from three to five! cents a pound. In fact, the fresh-cut bone we find the best and cheapest egg-food that we can buy. There is certainly a good margin of profit iu selling eggs at market prices when the hens are fed plenty of fresh-cut, clean boue. Of course it must not be fed exclusively. But it may, we believe, constitute one-third of the feed given tho hens without any bad effects. Too much boue will cause dysentery or bowel trouble. But with the coming of cooler or cold weather the haas can eat a great deal of it to advantage. The cut bone is cheap and it stim ulates laying wonderfully. We be lieve that every person who is produo ing eggs for market should utilize, a* heu food, the cheap and wholesome bones, that can be had at any butcher shop. —H. B. Greer in Agricultural Epitomist. Do Not Pasture Meadow* in Autumn. There is no time of the year when we farmers should be more careful ol our next year's hay crop than just now. It is an old practice and a bad one which some of us have followed for generations, of turning stock into the meadow just as soon as the hay is well secured. I have found from re peated trials that it causes a loss in the long run and no longer sanction such methods Of course, every dry year pasture gets short in July, August and September, so when the farmer sees a good living for his stock in his newly mown meadow it is a great temptation to turn them in, and in nine cases out of ten in goes the stock. How much better would it be if farmers would only get into the habit of sowing plenty of fodder corn early in the spring and summer, having it to use at this time of year when it is so njuch needed and so well liked by the stock. No doubt in some sections nearly all farmers have been taught the result of pasturing meadow sin the fall from experience, but in parts of Ohio, Michigan and Indiana I have observed that farmers are pasturing their meadows. The ground is so bare when winter sets iu that much damage is done to the unprotected plant roots. The best crop of mixed hay I ever had was on a new seeding. After the wheat was cut several showers brought forth the seeding to such an extent that several neighbors warned me that if I did not cut and remove this second growth from the field it would smother out the plant life and ruin the Ci-op for the coming season. Prom what I had read on the subject I was led to believe that no damage would result from letting it re naih, but on the other hand great and lasting re sults would be accomplished toward the rebuilding of soil fertility.. Had this surplus crop been harvested it would have made two tons of hay per acre; so you can see it was a large tttnouut of green stuff to let go back on the ground. In the spring I rolled dowu the dead clover aud what other grasses there were (it should have been cut in the fall) and got the best crop in my experience. This was not the end, however, of so great a nourishing crop. Today this same field produces the best crops on my farm, and the reader may be sure that hereafter what growth comes after the first cutting (Juue clover ex cepted) either from wheat, oats or hay it will remain on the grotind for two purposes—one, the rebuilding of the soil and the other winter protection. —Elias F. Brown in American Agri culturist. EfttablUbliiff a Strawberry Bed. Young, vigorous strawberry plants set out during tile, mouth of August stand an excellent chance of fi»«tuing a first-class bed for summer and fall, and of yielding the next season a large crop of fine berries. Preparatory to setting plants, choose the richest and best-tilled plot of ground which is available for use. It is also highly important that the land upon which strawberries are to be grown has been well kept aud is reasonably free from weed seeds, for weeding is the most expensive and unsatisfactory labor connected with strawberry culture. As the strawberry needs lots of plant food to do its best, we may ap ply some well rotted horse or cow manure, or if such is not available, we can use what is actually better for the purpose, namely,highgrade unbleached hardwood ashes, which, for all frufts, are au unsurpassed fertilizer, natural and effective. A seedsman in this vicinity once applied a large dressing of ashes to an acre of ground, which, a few years later was set to straw berries. The large crops of magnifi cent berries which this piece of land produced for several consecutive years were proof positive of the fondness of the strawberry plant for wood ashei. We would apply the ashes to straw berry ground at the rate of from three to four tons an acre, spreading the same broadcast and thoroughly har rowing it into the soil. The addition of from one-half to a whole ton of finely ground bone to each acre will be a wise practice. With such fertil izing and careful preparation of the soil, we are ready to set the plants. Several plans of culture, each hav ing its advocates, prevail. We can confine the plants to hills, or we can have the densely matted row, or the thinly matted row. The largest and finest berries are grown by hill cul ture, while the matted row usually gives largest crops. The writer favors the thinly matted rows as giving large berries with good crops. The idea in this practice is to have the plants cover the ground well except in the paths, aijd yet to allow each plant plenty of room to attain a complete development. In setting the plants we may strike out rows three feet apart and set the plants one foot apart in the row. Good culture and plenty of moisture will encourage the rapid formation of runners and new plants. Give the plants attention while they are layering, so that they may become uniformly distributed over the ground, thus avoiding either crowding or bare spots.—M. Sumner Perkins in Col inan'a Rural World. Bees are said to see an enormous distance. When absent from their hive they go up in the air till they see their home, and then fly toward it in a straight linn. NEW HEAD OF THE MORMON CHURCH. Lorenzo Snow , President of the Latter D>; Saint*, a Forceful Character. Lorenzo Suow, the newly chosen President of the Latter Day Saints, is on* of the most forceful characters ia Mormondom. He is an Ohioan by birth, and, strange to say, is a product of tbe famous Oberlin College, the alma mater of so many distinguished men before him. Mr. Snow had heard of the Mormons and was first intro duced into their circle by a visit to his sisters at Kirtland, Ohio, which was then a Mormon centre. He became convinced that the book of Mormou was the truth, and, being a man of decided character, he determined to give up his life to the cause. As a missionary in the Mormon religion he traveled at home and abroad, and his labors were always successful. There is scarcely a place in the U,nited States which he has not visited on his errand of proselyting,and he has been a mem / ilx x LoRErNZc SNoW ber of the Morruan faith from the earli est days, when the celebrated Zion in Missouri was the hope of the followers of Joe Smith. Elder Snow is truly an elder. He is now eighty-four years old,but in perfect health aud possesssd of all the keen mental facilities that are requisite for a leadership of the Mormon Church. The Killing of Lieutenant Wansboro. Close in front of me a slight and boyish lieutenant compelled my atten tion by his persistent aud reckless gallantry. Whenever a man was hit he would dart to his assistance regard less of the fire that this exposure in evitably drew. Suddenly he sprang to his feet gazing intently into the village, but what he saw we never knew, for he was instantly shot through the heart and fell over back ward, clutching at the air. I followed the nieu who carried him to the road aud asked them his name. "Second Lieutenant Wansboro, sir, of the Seventh Infantry, and you will never see his better. He fought like a lit tle tiger." A few convulsive gasps and the poor boy was dead, and as we laid him in a shady spot by the side of the road the sergeant reverently drew a handkerchief over his face and said, "Good-by, Lieutenant, you were a brave little officer, and you died like a true soldier." Who would wish a better end.—A. H. Lee, R. A., British Military Attache, in Scribner's. A I>lno*i»ur» Sixty Feet L.on£. Remains of the largest reptiles that ever lived were discoved in large num bers recently by Mr. Lambe, F. G. S., of the Geological Survey of Can ada. Mr. Lambe spent two months in the Red Deer district, north of Med icine Hat, in the Northwest Territories of Canada, and as a result has secured some splendid fossil remains. The fossils are the remains of dinosaurs found in the cretaceous rocks. The dinosaurs were reptiles varying from twenty to sixty feet in length. Some of them had three horns, one over the nose, the others near the eyes. They were either herbivorous or carnivorous, and existed ages be fore the mastodons. Mr. Lambe also discovered the remains of turtles, alli gators and fish. In removing the fos sils from the rocks great care had to be exercised, as the remains are exceed ingly heavy, and the work of getting them to cump was slow and laborious. The embroidered coat worn by a Frenoh academician costs $125, the white cloth waistcoat st> and the striped trousers sl7. The plumed hat aud box are down for $52 and the sword, with scabbard, for sl2. Total, $172. , There's Always a Way. Shipwrecked Mariner—"This pad dlin' with my hands is slow! I'll never reach port this way." "Wasn't I a chnmp not to think o* that before?"
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers