4 'One Year's Seeding, Nine Years' Weeding 112 ®Cjcglected impurities in your blood St seeds of disease of which you may never get rid. If your blood is evert ihe least bit impure, do not delay, but take Hood"s SarsapariUa at once. In so doing there {' safety; in delay there is danger. Be sure to get only Hood's, because Perry'n Big Gum. Commodore Perry had not yet electrified a grateful nation with his immortal message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." While the battle was in progress the sound of the guns was heard at Cleveland, about sixty miles away in a direct line over the water. The few settlers there were expecting the battle and listened with intense interest. Finally the sounds ceased. They waited for a renewal. None came; the lull was painful. Then they knew the battle was over; but the result, ah! that was the point. One old fellow who had beo lying flat with his ear to the ground soon settled that point. Spring ing up he clapped his hands and «houted: "Thank God! they are whipped! they are whipped!" "How do you know?" the others in quired. "Heard the big guns last!" Perry's guns were the heawest.— The Buckeye. Pain Conquered i Health Re stored by Lydia E. Pink ham's Vegetable Compound. [LETTEX TO M*S. PINKHAU HO. 92,649] "I feel it my duty to write and thank you for what your Vegetable Com pound has done for me. It is the only medicine I have found that has done me any good. Before taking your medi cine, I was all run down, tired all the time, no appetite, pains in my back and bearing down pains and a great suf ferer during menstruation. After tak ing two bottles of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound I felt like a new woman. lam now on my fourth bottle j and all my pains have left me. I feel ! better than I have felt for three years and would recommend your Compound to every suffering woman. I hope this letter will help others to find a cure for their troubles." MRS. DELLA i JJEMICKER, RENSSELAER, IND. The serious ills of women develop ' from neglect of early symptoms. Every pain and ache has a cause, and the warning they give should not be disre garded. Mrs. Pinkham understands these troubles better than any local phy sician and will give every woman free advice who is puzzled about her health. Mrs Pinkham's address is j Lynn, Mass. Don't put off writing until health Is completely broken down Write at tho first indication of trouble. Oar Delightful Language. "Where did the dog bite the plain tiff?" "Just outside the planing mill." "I asked you, sir, where the dog bit—b-i-t—the plaintiff?" "Oh! Ir the small of the back." "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place'?" "I did Bay so." "You claim you said 'small of the \ Jack' in the firsC) place?" "No, I said lumbar region."—Cleve l»ud Plain Dealer. One Cure For Insomnia. Sleeplessness from overwork, aud especially from literary work, says ihe Hospital, requires rest and change of air and scene. Of the measures which conduce to deep, matters of diet and nursing, and what may be called "management," one cannot be too studious, for by their aid much may be done to avoid the use of drugs. An Excellent Combination. The pleasant method and beneficial effects of the well known remedy, SYRUP OF FIOS, manufactured by the CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP Co., illustrate the value o* obtaining the liquid laxa tive principles of plants known to_ be medicinally laxative and presenting them in the form most refreshing to the taste and acceptable to the system. It is the one perfect strengthening laxa tive, cleansing the system effectually, dispelling colds, headaches and fevers gently yet promptly and enabling one to overcome habitual constipation per manently. Its perfect freedom from every objectionable quality and sub stance, and its acting on the kidneys, liver and bowels, without weakening or irritating them, make it the ideal laxative. In the process of manufacturing figs live used, as they are pleasant to the taste, but the medicinal qualities of the remedy are obtained from senna and other aromatic plants, by a method known to the CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP CO. only. In order to get its beneficial effects and to avoid imitations, please remember the full name of the Company printed on the front of «ivery package. CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP CO. SAX FBAWCISCO. OAL. x,ot7xavn.xjs. KY. NIW YORK, W. Y. ■Tor vale bv all Druggists.—Price 50c, per bottle. HOME. Ah, home 1 when all elsewhere la dreary. When we are most heartless and weary, What place beside is half so elieery, As home, sweet home ! There Inn'cent glee and childish prattle Uagulle the hours with noisy tattle, Forgetful half of life's rough battle, We are at rest. At night, when homo from work returning We see afar a bright light burning, In haste wo seek the shortest turning To home, swoet home. Where o'trr the frugal board presiding, In hope and faith and love abiding, The mother hears from lips eontlning, The day's exploits. And thus the moments so entrancing Glide swift uway, when soine one glancing lit the tall clock, sees near advancing The midnight hour. And while the bird of night Is brooding, Oh, whore, beside, come dreams so soothing As now from out our brows are smoothing The lines of care? Fancy in dreams her flight is winging, In sweet low tuaes joy bells seem ringing, \ psalm of peace night winds are singing At home, sweet home. —(M. E. J., in The Century. j MISS ROSEANNA [ 4 AND ► ] The Tall Clock. [ ▼▼WW'VV'WWW '•Things are In the saddle aud ride man kind." Miss Roseanna Meggs lived in a house of her own—a very commodious aud comfortable one—on the coruer of the principal street of Brambleville. She had but oue companion, an anti quated woman called Lizette. Miss Roseauua's ancestors were 1 people of quality, and her house con tained many valuable relics indicative of bv-goue grandeur; indeed Lizette herself was little more than a relic, I for as she was very old aud very deaf , aud rather cross tempered, Miss Rose- 1 auua had no excuse for keeping her , except that she had served all her life in the Meggs family. But the inanimate heirlooms, the mahogany table and writing desk, the cherry clock, the brass candlesticks, the pewter plate aud flowing blue china, these were almost as dear as life itself to Miss Ro>t an >a's heart. Especially was the tali clo k prized ; not ouly because it was olid cherry : aud a hundred years old, 11 a day, but because of a rumor that had come down with it, to wit, that General Washington had sat for a few moments in a great, great nude's parlor while the tall clock prized, not only because it was solid had beeu brought to Roseauna's home by a maiden aunt , who had grumbled at Roseauna's board aud growled at her bed during five years of invalidism, aud died at last, leaving behind a cleau record for unamiability, but not a farthing in money—only the tall clock and some old clothes by way of compensation. The fact Miss Roseanna never com plained or so much as hinted that her departed aunt's disposition was not altogether angelic, is evidence of the ttore she set by the tall clock. It is not strange that she was quite ove whelmed with sorrow aud chag rin, when, rummaging through a jhest of old letters one .Juue day, she chanced to find a little slip of paper, neatly folded and innocent looking as a school girl's note, but, alas, how deceiving are appoarances! The note ran: ''When I am gone (which I am convinced W >ii't be long, seein' I'm situated as I bo), wii"n I'm gone 1 want the cherry clock that WHS Uncle Daniel's, and that has the honor nf being ticked in G. Washington's heiiriu', I want togo to Sarah Maud Pitkins, and I nobody else. And to this will aud testa- I ment I hereby set my haad and seal under 1 heaven this day. "Jane Ann Meggs." The slip dropped from Roseauna's hand, but she did not move or cry. Through the open winnow she felt the breath of the pleasant Juue breeze and saw her log cabin aud goose chase and coverlets fluttering on the line, and wondered in a dazed way, if she could be identical with the light hearted woman who hung them there an hour ago. "Oh, I would rather part with any thing else in the house—anything else!" she mourned at last. "And that it should goto Sarah Maud, Sarah Maud Pitkins of all people! If it had been any of the other cousins " Roseanna's breast heaved and she burst out crying. Now every neighbor's child in Brambleville could have told you that there had been a fe.nl of many years standing betweea the two cousins, Roseanna Meggs aud Sarah Maud, who married a Pitkins. But though | everybody knew of the rupture, very I few pretended to know anything of the cause, aud the stories of those who made such preteusious were so contrary that no one could be be lieved. Some said that Ro. eanua had con sidertil Lein Pi.kins beneath the family dignity, and quite unfit for her first cousin's companion; others de clared that Roseanna was jealous; that she had wanted Lem Pitkins her self, that was where the shoe pinched, while a large faction said that the whole trouble had come from Rose auua having said In Sarah Maud's presence that "she would never marry a man with such a one-sided, shamby pamby gait as Lem Pitkins had," whereupon Sarah Maud had fired like u fuse aud goue off in a rage that had never cooled since. But whatever the cause, the fact of the feud remained. Seven years had passed sinco the cousins who had been liko sisters in girlhood—had passed a pleasant word. Roseanna had never seen Sarah Maud's youngest child, though she was now past three, aud as for the others she barely knew them by sisht. She thought bitterly of All this sit ting there by the old trunk, in the light of the fair June day. She thought, too, of the martyrdom she had endured in earing for Aunt Jane Ann, and that Sarah Maud, during all that trying time, had never so much as stirred her a dish of corn-gruel—■ that gruel that she always ordered to be made "a little thicker'n than milk, but not near so thick as gravy." Sarah Maud had no time for crippled and insolent maiden aunts. Aud now the precious old clock would staud in Sarah Maud's house! Surely this was the unkindest cut of fortune's lash that Boseanna had ever felt. But after all what use was there in fussing and fretting! There lay the "will and testament," and downstairs in a jog in the hall—where it fitted so nicely—stood the old clock. There was only one course open to a woman of honor. Boseanna asked herself, iu bitter scorn, if she, Boseanna Meggs, was possessed either of honor or com mon sense? Then, summoning all her dignity, she closed the old trunk with a bang, and walked with stately measured steps down the stairs and through the dim hall. Hardly glanc ing iu the direction of the old clock, she opened the mahogany writingdesk and penned a short, curt note. In cold, clear-cut English, without au unnecessary word, she explained the situation to her cousin. '"his done, she put on her garden h t and went out to Hud the man who u..l odd jobs for the villagers of Brambleville. He came in less than an hour, aud the old clock, together with the note, was then sent to Sarah Maud Pitkius. Boseanna's fortitude was admirable during the carrying out and packing of her treasure, but when the wagon was well out of sight she broke down utterly,aud dropping into a chair cried her heart out, with the soft breeze fanning cheek and brow and catching gentl_v at the fold of her print dress. Old Lizette, understanding nothing, grew nearly distracted at her mistress' grief. Her own troubles were quite forgotten for the time—those frightful grievances that she never wearied of conjuring. "Sakes alive, mum, don't take on so! You'll be sick, sure as can be. Sakes alive, don't please,mum, fur my sake, don't!" she kept repeating, while she inarched back and forth, like a sentry, before Boseanut'» chair. Boseauna's sleep was troubled and uuvefreshing that night. Her head ached wildly,aud when at last she fell into a heavy drowse, a bevy of tall clocks came marching around her bed i and begau screwing up their faces and talking among themselves in thin, ticktockety voices. "She's worse than Aaron with his golden (alf about that cherry clock. Why, she'd sell her soul for it—aud a Methodist, too! Now, if the old thing had been handsome like me there would have been some excuse," a pompons old clock was saying when Boseanna woke with a start aud found it was broad day. Having overslept so long it was quite late when she breakfasted, aud the dishes were not all cleared away when some oue drove up to the front gate. Boseajiua's eyes were so blurred aud weak from weeping that slie could see but indistinctly, but she was not for a moment puzzled; the man slianibliu.; out of the wagon was no other than Lem Pitkius—uobody else in Christendom ever walked with such a graceless gait—and the woman ho was helping out must be Sarah Maud. Iu her Hurry Boseanna did not notice something long like a coffin covered with a blanket in the back of the soring wagon. A moment and Sarah Ma ml knocked at the door. Bose auna's heart leaped aud thumped wildly, but she managed to reach *he door; Sarah Maud stood before her. "How do you do, Boseanna?" she asked thrusting forward her hand "\s if she was uncertain about its being clasped. But it was, though weakly. "How do you do?" Boseanna re turned. "I got your note aud the clock yes terday," Sarah Maud began. Her voice was strained, and she was lather out of breath. "And I thought we'd drive right over this morning and tell you that I don't feel right in keepiu' the old clock, and so we've brought it back. You took care of Aunt Jane Ann, aud you ought to have it. It was just oue of her mean freaks a writin' that note." Sarah Maud paused. Boseanna stood dumb like a sheep bofore her shearers. Her face was bloodless and her eyes dim and dazed. Then she made a rush forward aud fell weeping on Sarah Maud's neck. And in that hour the hateful breach was healed forever.—Waverley. Alligator* Foncl of Ruble*. Contrary to popular belief, 110 alli -1 gator will attack a man of his own j volition either iu the water or out < 112 it. It is, however, passionately fond of pigs, dogs aud babies, particularly , black babies. All the loss of human ' life from alligators in Lousiana has been confined to negro infants. The | saurian is sometimes trapped by tyinfl \ dog to a treo near the bank of a lake at night. The howls of the animal, ! which knows very well the perilous duty it is on, will bring nu alligator ] oat of the water inside of au hour, i It is then surrounded by men witli torches, peppered with muskets loaded with buckshot aud Anally beateu to death with clubs aud axes. Not in frequently a broken leg or two results from the flail-like blows of its mighty tail. A good many alligators are killed in the latter part of February ; when they are just breaking from the mudbanks in which they have been ! incased all the winter. At this time they are stiff, not more than hall awake, almost wholly blind and could ! not damage a child.—New York Sun. IFOR FARM AMD GARDEN.! www-wvwwwv-wwr Decay and Preservation of Fruit. Professor Caldwell of Cornell uni versity read au interesting paper upon the decay and preservation of fruit be fore a recent meeting of the western New York horticultural society. He said in part as follows: The fungi spores attacking green fruit are car ried sometimes by flies and wasps from au unsound specimen to those perfect. Carefully conducted experi ments have shown that the fungus does not cause a ferment, but that it makes a poison that causes a breaking down of the cells called rot. The spraying of plums with bordeaux mix ture has shown good results, but the spraying of apples has so far been of little use. The decayed fallen fruit should, as a remedial measure, be picked up aud destroyed, as also should the mummy plums be picked from the trees. A member reported that the rottiug of grapes had with him fouud a complete cure in the spraying with carbonate of copper. For Feeding the Soil. There are only three ingredients of plant food which have to be consid ered in feeding the soil. These are phosphoric acid, potash aud nitrogen. The last-named can be furnished by clover or peas, while the other two can be purchased cheaply on the mar ket in the form of acid phosphate or boue for phosphoric acid, and muriate of potash or sulphare of potash for potash. These materials should be applied directly to the land to be sowu to clover or peas, so as to in sure a heavier growth and thereby a larger absorption of nitrogen. There is nothing complicated in the matter of fertilizing land. All that is needed is careful observation aud some little study of the principles involved. Common Error in Growing Annuals. The commonest error in . growing annuals is to plant them in flower beds. This mistake is frequently made with other plants, but never so persistently and disastrously as with phloxes, zinnias, marigolds and ! 4h9ir like. If a strictly geometrical scheme is intended, or if the garden is one of the old Italian style, with a high wall about it, tbeu flower beds will fit the place. But in the free aud natural dooryard gardening,the whole picture is sadly disfigured when it is cut full of holes to receive strange, detuched bunches of unwilling flowers in varied assortment. There they uncomfort ably staud about through the sum mer, each bunch of flowers jealous of its neighbors, all appearing to be afraid of overstepping the circumscrib ing bricks, stones or oyster shells which hem them in, all chafing at the restraiut, and all wishiug they were safely away in the woods, where they might clamber down the banks or revel in the grass the way flowers were meant to do. A Site for the Poultry Farm. The first thing to be considered in starting a poultry farm is the site. This should be, if possible, on a nice slope; if the ground is level it should be drained. The question of soil is au important one and should be con sidered. Some people think, "any kind of land will do." There is a lit tle truth iu this, but not the whole truth. Grass land is the best, pro viding there is sufficient drainage, so that it will not remain damp after rain. The best soils are gravel or sand; saud is the best, and it keeps clean longer. Sandy soil after every shower looks clean, through the rain washing the droppings into the sand. On clayey or sticky soils the droppings remain on the top aud are damp for several days after lain. With stiff, clayey toil poultry culture is a difficult task; with saudy soil we are more likely to be successful, for after a fall of raiu all impurities are carried off and the yard seldom becomes foul. If the poultry breeder raises his stock on stiff, clayey soil he will be compelled to dig aud turu over his yards every season; ou the other haud, sandy soils will not require to be turned over so often. If the yards or peus have a good coating of grass aud the rainfall be fair most of the drop pings will be used up by tho grass after the raiu has dissolved it and washed it down to the roots of the grasp. As to the amount of land needed, it is just that area that cftu be taken ia>e of and no more. In beginning a poul try farm it is always best to own the laud or make arrangements for a long lease. It is a mistake to rent a farm from month to mouth or quarter to quarter, for 110 pe son cares to erect buildings, pens, yards, etc., on the laud that he might l;e asked to leave just when he had got everything into ■working order. —Fai.n, Field aud Fireside. The Averaore Dairy Herd. It is unmistakably true now that the owner of a small herd of good dairy cows kept well in hand has a better chance of making a profit than one who tries to manage a large, un wieldy number, none of which seem to come quite up to tho standard. Tho tendency is to return to the smaller lverds, aud bring theai up to a paying point. This is not always au easy tesson to learn, for wo always like to count on numbers. But it is better *.i» reduce the numbe s to the point where proper attention can be be stowed upon each individual. Any thing above this is a waste of time aud labor, aud a misuse of iuvestod cap ital. The average farmer should keep from ten to twelve cows 011 every lfiO acres; but a farmer who devotes all of his attention tj dairying, and is strictlv a dairy farmer, should average about one cow to every three acres. If one has the necessary business to conduct his farm economically, this portion of cows to the acre will be about right. It is possible to make as much profit from butter selling today at twenty live cents a pound as it was wheu it sold for thirty-live and forty cents. The reason for this is that we observe different methods today, aud get more both from the cows and the soil. How to do this, however, is a problem that each must face aud solve. The farm separator is essent : al for future success in dairyiag. The sep arator has passed beyond the experi mental stage, audit has come to stay. With a good farm separator in use, teu good average cows—not scrubs— should produce 8450 in butter money, taking the prices as they are today. This would pay, whether the cows were kept on an ordinary farm or dairy farm. On poor land the number of cows must be reduced. Never attempt to raise more thau the land will actually support. It is better to begiu on a small scale aud work up. Thus a far mer friend of the writer's took a farm of 160 acres, aud started in dairying with a dozen cows—all the land would support at the time—and by judicious methods he worked his herd up to forty. That is the number of cows he can feed off his former j oor farm. He not only kept in view the quef-tion of maintaining the standard of his herd, but he had to improve his soil year by year. Such a thing is pos sible, and when it is accomplished it deserves mentioning. There are plenty who fail to hold their owp in this respect, and let both cows and land degeuerate year after year. The products of the dairy should never be raised aud sold at the expense of the laud. Sooner or later the accounting time must come.—American Culti vator. Sinutn of Small Crninft. Smuts cause a great loss each year throughout the grain growing sections. According to the Ohio experimental sta tion, in a recent bulletin, the loose and stinking smuts of wheat alone cause an annual loss of §400,000 in Ohio. The losses from the oat smut were equal to or even greater than this. These losses cau be prevented if the seed is properly treated. For the loose smut of wheat the hot water treatment is recommended. Soak the seed graiu for four hours in cold water, allowing it to stand for four hours more in wet sacks, then immerse for live minutes iu water held at a temperature of 133 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread at once on a smut-free surface to dry and then sow. Some germs may be injured by the treatment, so the station recom mends that one-half more seed b« sown than is ordiuarily recommended. If the wheat is affected by stiuking smut or bunt, it is probably best to immerse the grain in cold water, stir ring thoroughly, then skim off the smut balls which will rise to the sur face. After this has been done either of the following treatments may be employed: If the hot water method is chosen, immerse for teu minutes in a vessel containing water heated to a temperature of 130 degrees Fahren heit. Then cool quickly l>y thoroughly stirring or immersing in cold water. The water must bo heated to exactly the temperatuie stated, and for this purpose a thermometer must always be used. Immersion longer thau ten minutes may injure the grain. If the hot water method does not seem prac ticable 11 solution of copper sulphate or bluestone will answer. Make the solution by dissolving two pounds ol sulphate to ten gallous of water. In this immerse the wheat seed freed from smut balls as already described, and allow to remain for teu minutes. Allow it to staud ten minutes longer iu the sack, then spread and dry with unslacked lime, shoveling very fre quently. Or the above solution may be sprinkled over the grain in a heap, using oue gallon to every bushel of graiu. Sprinkle at intervals from five to ten minutes. Stir so that the whole will be thoroughly wetted, and at the end of an hour shovel over and dry with lime. Treatment with a solution of formalin in the same manner has beeu found quite satisfactory. Use one pound of formalin to about fifty gallons of water aud immerse the wheat in this solution for about thirty minutes or sprinkle as iu the case of sulphate. For oats, the hot water treatmout in open vessels is very satisfactory. Immerse the seed for ten minutes, keeping the water at 130 degrees or for seven minutes keep it at 130 de grees Fahrenheit. Empty out at once upon a clean floor aud dry by stirring. The formalin solution may also be used, applying as in the case of wheat, the only difference being that if the seed is immersed, allow it to remain two hours instead of thirty minutes. If the solution is sprinkled over the heap, allow the heap to remain two or more hours before drying. Consider able success has been had by soaking the oat Fead twenty-four hours iu three-quarter per cent solution of potassium sulphide. This solution is prepared by dissolving one and one half pounds of sulphide i:i twenty five gallons of water.—American Agri culturist. Tl»e Forgetful Professor. A Cambridge p