I' RURAL MAIL DELIVERY J
p| The Marvelous Growth and Popularity gg
ifr K '!> \ O . o^ 8 . 'I *C \W- °o V
f(grm mm P to the present
Hi W time there has
re Ka i been nothing in
| tho history of the
I postal service of
States," says the
annual report of
the first assistant
po s tma ster-gen
eral, "so remark
able as the growth
of the rural free
delivery system."
The daily delivery
of mail at the far
mer's door,'by the Federal Govern
ment, is no longer an experiment. In
the words of the report, the system
has now "to be dealt with as an estab
lished agency of progress, awaiting
only the action of the Congress to de
termine how rapidly it shall be de
veloped." The current month finds
rural free delivery of mail in success
ful operation from 383 distributing
points radiating over forty States and
one Territory, while other districts
from Maine to Texas are anxiously
waiting for those regular visits from
Uncle Sam which mean so much in a
variety of ways.
ItDRAI. CABRIKR, BOWLING GREEN, OHIO.
(Twenty degrees below zero.)
This country is learning that ethical
considerations like these are most in
tensely practical, aud that a study of
such problems is what the country
needs for a truly larger growth. But
figures are deduced in the report to
convince those to whom figures are
the only tangible evidence. So the
report sets forth that whenever the
Bystem Las been started properly, it
has been followed by these results:
Increased postal receipts. More
letters are written and received. More
newspapers and magazines are sub
scribed for. So marked is this ad
vancement that many rural routes al
ready pay for themselvos by the addi
tional business they bring.
Enhancement of the value of farm
lands reached by rural free delivery.
This increase in value has been esti
mated at as high as $5 an acre iu some
States. A moderate estimate is from
$2 to $3 an acre.
IVIERI NO J
SUGAIS PLANTfcBS IN LOUISIANA*"
DtUVEfIING MAIL IN ARIZONA
7ma^
A general improvement of the con
dition of the roads traversed by the
rural carrier. In the Western States
especially the construction of good
roads has beeu a prerequisite to the
establishment of rural free delivery
service. In one county in Indiana a
special agent reports that the farmers
spent over S2OOO to grade and grAvel
A road to obtain rural free delivery.
Better prices obtained for farm
products, the producers being brought
into daily touch with the state of the
markets, and thus being enabled to
take advantage of information hereto
fore unattainable.
In the communities -where it has
been tried free delivery is considered
the greatest boon that the Govern
ment ever has conferred on them.
One Missouri farmer has calculated
A SCENE NEAII LAFAYETTE, IND.
that in tho last fifteen years he has
driven 12,000 miles going to anil from
the postoffice to get his mail—all travel
that is saved to him by the free de
livery system.
In the lust report of the First As
sistant Postmaster-General there are
some striking illustrations.
There is, for example, a scene at a
country store, twelve miles from
Lafayette, Ind., from which point
three rural letter carriers start daily,
each making a circuitous drive of
twenty-five miles or more, without
passing over the same road twice. At
the particular point photographed
four cross roads meet, and twenty or
more families, most of them living
half a mile from the store, have each
put up an individual letter box of
galvanized irou, lettered with the
name of the person for whom it is in
tended.
RURAL DELIVERY MAIL BOXES IN" VIC
TORIA, ILL.
Into this box the carrier, whose
hour of arrival is known, and scarcely
varies ten minutes, winter or summer,
drops the letters and daily papers for
each family, and collects in return
their mails which are deposited iu a
Government collection box, placed in
position at the same spot. The farm
er's children, or such idle hands as he
can spare, gather up the mail and
carry it to the honse, and the farmer
is thus spared a drive of twelve miles
to the postolfice, which he would
hardly feel justified in undertaking in
the most favorablo weather more than
twice a week, and then at muoh per
sonal inconvenience and pecuniary
loss. Under the rural free delivery
system he gets his mail and his paper
daily without cost of tune or money.
and he is gratified—properly so —for
the recognition which the Govern
ment lias given him in bringing the
mails so near to his door.
Kural free delivery carriers, as a
rule, "put on frills" in Indiana, which
State, next to Ohio, has the lion's
share of the existing experimental ser
vice. Most of them provide them
selves with regulation uniforms, at
their own cost, and furnish special
wagons, with pigeon holes and other
postal appliances—all for SIOO a year,
horse hire included.
Out in Arizona, where in the genial
summer sunshine the temperature oc
casionally rises to 110 degrees and
stays there, the rural carrier rarely
wears auy insignia of Ins dignity, ex
cept his badge, which is a nickel
plated arrangement made to lit any
kind of hat. Instead of comfortably
riding in a specially constructed postal
wagon, he as often as not mounts a
bucking bronco, or diives him to a
backboard, with only an umbrella fot
shade. But he makes thirty odd miles
' a day, nevertheless and the Depart
meut Las just issued orders to cut
down this particular route from Tempe,
five or ten miles a day, chieHy out of
consideration for the bronco, because
A CARRIER AT CRAWFORDSVITjt,E, IKD.
tlio carrier can probably sleep as com
fortably iu his saddle as auywhere
else.
The hardships sometimes encount
ered by the rural carriers are shown
in the photograph of a rural carrier iu
Northern Ohio returning from a trip
when the thermometer was forty de
crees below zero. Yet, though the
First Assistant Postmaster-General
reports that there are several girls
acting as bonded rural carriers, few
instances are recorded of their failing
to make their daily trips, either in
the coldest storms of winter or the
blazing heat of summer.
One question which has received
grave consideration by the Depart
ment is the insecurity and improper
character of the mail boxes put up.
On this subject the First Assistant
Postmaster-General says:
In the early days of the service,
when neither Congress nor the Post
office Department, as then organized,
held out any hope that rural free de
livery would prove more than a tran
sitory experiment, extreme careless
ness was manifested as to the kind of
receptacles put up as rural free de
livery boxes. Tomato cans, cigar
boxes, drainage pipes up ended, soap
boxes and even sections of discarded
stove pipes were used as mail boxes,
and were frequently placed in hedge
rows or other inconvenient spots out
of reach of the carrier.
The Department has entered upon
a systematic effort to correct this con
dition of things, and a recommenda
tion is made that the Government pro
vide uniform boxes and maintain
them, charging a moderate rental.
Kaiser'd Great King of State.
Whenever the Emperor of Germany
is engaged in an importaut function,
either imperial or royal, those near
him notice that should he by any
chance take the glove off his left hand
he wears on the middle finger a largo
ring—a square, dark-colored stone set
in massive gold.
The story is that the ring is an old
heirloom in the Hohenzollern family,
dating from the time when the ances
tors of the Kaiser—the Margrafs of
Nuremberg—followed their leaders to
the capture of the Holy Sepulchre
from the Moslems.
Margraf, of Ulrich, who lived in the
thirteenth century, was an adventur
ous prince, and it is believed that the
ring which the Kaiser nov wears came
into Ulrich's possession after a hard
fought battle under the walls of Jerusa
lem. It belonged to one of Saladiu's
successors, and iu some unexplained
manner it found its way onto the fin
ger of the German Knight.
Home one of the Nuremberg Mar
grafs obliterated the sentence from
the Koran which originally adorned it
and engraved a Latin cross in its
place.
A Hard Thine to UiMl*r*t«ncl.
One of the hardest things to under
stand iu this workaday world is how
so many incompetent men get such
desirable jobs.—Puck.
l>uei All the Talking Hri-nnir.
A clever woman can always give a
slow man the impression that he ha.i
."aid a lot of bright things himself. -
Chicago Record.
| AN OmCER'S_DARINC EXFLOIT,
&riga<lier-Goneral J. l f ran klin 8011, .Single
Hamloil, Whipped Seven Filipino?.
Official repoits received at Wash
ington show that Brigadier-General
J. Franklin Bell, Colonel of the Thir
ty-sixth Volunteer Infantry, who is
also a Captain in the Seventh Cavalry,
DIUOADIER-OENF.RAL I. FRANKLIN BELL.
has performod one of the most bril
liant exploits of personal daringduring
the war in the Philippines.
This special act, of gallantry was
performed by Bell, who was then s
Colonel, near Porac, Luzon, when he
was in command of some scouts ahead
of the regiment. Just as the day was
dawning the party encountered the
enemy's patrol, consisting of one Cap
tain, one Lieutenant and five privates.
Colonel Bell was iu advance of his
men and spurred on hie horse. The
enemy was confused, and the men
sought to run away. Colonel Bell
pushed ahead alone and uusustained
charged the seven insurgents with his
pistol. He scattered the party and
compelled the surrender of the Captain
aud two privates under aeloseaudhot
tire from the remaining four irsur
gents, who were coucealed iu a neigh
boring bamboo thicket. In the report
it is stated that this feat was one of
several heroic acts performed by Col
onel Bell during the present war, and
that the wonder is that Bell still lives.
Colonel J. Franklin Bell entered
West Point from Shelbyville, Ky., in
187-4, aud graduated into the cavalry
service. When the Spanish war be
gan he was a captain in the Seventh
Cavalry. At the beginning of the war
Le was sent to the Philippines with
General Merritt aud had charge of the
Bureau of Military Information. He
was subsequently appointed a Major
of Engineers aud then a Major aud
Assistant Adjutant-General of Volun
teers. When the Thirty-sixth liegi
aieut was recruited, Major "Bell was
appointed to be their Colonel.
Time and again the conduct of
Colonel Bell in the Philippines has
been commended by his superior of
ficers, and he has been recommended
'or medals and for brevets. At the
:aki»g of Caloocau last February,
while our troops were shelling the
town, Bell, then a Major, led a com
sany of the First Montana Regiment
.u a clever aud audacious outfianking
maneuver whereby they penetrated
.he town and arrived unexpectedly
the enemy's left flank. The enemy,
nitwitted as well as outfought, fled
irecipitately.
Natural Curiosity.
The living tree horse here sketched
« a natural curiosity to be seen in the
vicinity of Datchet, near Windsor,
England, says St. Paul's. It is formed
>f four topped elms, which stretch
THE LIVING TREE HORSE.
over a space of 150 feet and grow tc
the height of sixty feet. The topi
have never been touched by the shears,
or otherwise influenced than by na
ture's own hand.
Woulil Nurse Him llriMir,
They found her hurriedly packing a
valise. "Where are you going?" thej
asked. "To the Transvaal," she re
plied. "But I thought you didn't
believe in women going to war?" "1
Jon't; but if you think I am going tc
let any of those red-cross women
nurse my Harold back to health if he
is wounded you are mistaken. I'm
going to be there myself."—Golden
I'euuy.
A Venerable Church.
The Second Unitarian Church ol
Boston recently celebrated its twe
hundred and fiftieth anniversary.
Samuel Mather was (he first ministei
this ehurcb. Afterward Increase
aud Cotton Mather filled the pulpit,
ind it was here that Emerson served
his only pastorate.
The Chinese Flag in Washington.
The Chinese Embassy is the only
one iu Washington that flies the flag
of a foreign country^
Queensland is being gradually ron
rerted into a large orchard. The Aus
tralian orange iu particular has a great
future, as it ripens at a time when
Spain, Italy and California cannot
provide the fruit.
CAA'AAAAAts- tAAA
, I FARM AND GARDEH.I
Silage for Fattening Cattle.
At the Ontario Agricultural college
they fed three lots of two steers each
as follows: Lot 1 had 57 pounds of
ensilage each; Lot '2, 31 pounds of en
silage and !> pounds of hay; Lot 3, 43
pounds of roots and 11 pounds of hay.
Each had about 12 pounds a day of
grain, consisting of ground peas, bar
ley and oats. Lot 1 weighed 2789
pouuds at the beginning, aud in 146
days gained 555 pouuds or 1.9 pounds
each per day. Lot 2 weighed 2735
pounds at first and gained iu same
time 448 pounds, or 1.53 pouuds each
day. Lot 3 weighed 2672 pouuds,
aud in the time gained 537 pouuds, or
1.84 pounds a day. The gaiu by
feeding only ensilage and grain was
not much larger than that ou roots
aud hay with graiu, but all estimates
indicate that the silage is much more
easily and cheaply produced, the 57
pounds requiring less land and less
labor than the 43 pouuds of roots, to
say nothing of cost of the hay.
Dry Storage for Fruit.
A cellar or any other place where
mould or mildew appears on the walls
or iu any part of the room is too damp
for the successful storing of fruit.
Brush it up, clean it thoroughly, give
it a thorough ventilation, and if it
cannot bo made dryer by such treat
ment, warm it uutil dry, for, although
the fruit should be kept coo!, it is bet
ter for it to be too warm for a little
while than too damp all of the time.
One way of drying the air in a cellar
is to place a pan of unslacked lime, or
more than one if the cellar is verv
largo or very damp, at such a plat e
that it will absorb the moisture.
When the lime has slacked by the
moisture, chain'e it aud putin an
other. This will dry the air without
greatly raising the temperature. This
will destroy the moulds and other
fungus very quickly. It will also
sweeten the air, or destroy bad odors,
which some fruits will absorb very
quickly. Grapes that have been in a
musty-smelling cellar will soon be
come unfit to oat from this cause.
I>ry Kartli as an Absorbent.
As au absorbent in the poultry
house dry earth is excellent. It is
doubtful if there is any kind of ma
terial that cau be put under the roosts
that will work with greater certitude
in neutralizing the odors and in tak
ing up and evaporating the moisture.
In fact, dry earth is altogether too
good mi absorbent and moisture de
stroyer, if one wishes to save the
manure to use as a fertilizer. It has
been fouud that iu a dry earth closet
the same earth may be used over and
over again. The dust burns up all
faecal matter and even the paper
usually found in such places has dis
appeared. The same dirt lias been
used over aud over in a dry earth
closet for six years, being taken out
aud dried each time the closet was
cleaned. In another caso the dust
was used over ten times. After both
of these experiments the dust was
analyzed and less than one per cent,
of nitrogen found. Most of the earth
that has beou so used is of no more
value for fertilizing purposes than the
dirt taken from the garden. When,
therefore, we consider its use in the
poultry house the value of the manure
must be taken into consideration. If
cleanliness is our sole object, then we
need not hesitate about using dry
dirt, aud we may feel sure it will
prove effective. Some amount of
moisture seems to be needed both to
help the manure retain the volatile
portions, aud, we may also presume,
to keep germ life in a state in which it
can develop. Certainly dust should
prove to be a good germicide, for
spores once falling into it would be as
surely destroyed iu time as would the
paper and other matter in the drv
earth closet.—Farm, Field aud Firo
aide.
Preparing Hoes for Winter.
Bees ought to be prepared for win
ter before very cold woather sets in.
When the fall honey crop is removed
from the hive it is none too early to
begin. In the middle states the be
ginner will have better results by
wintering oil the summer stands. Cel
lar wintering requires more experi
ence aud watchfulness, says F. G.
Herman in the New England Home
stead. The first requisite to success
ful wintering is to have bees enough
to cover at least four Langstroth
frames. They should have from 20 to
30 pounds of good ripe honey. If
lacking in stores they should be fed
good granulated sugar, one cup aud a
half of sugar to one cup of hot water
making a syrup of the right consis
tency. If you have on haud some ex
tracted houev, add a few tablespoons
ful, which will prevent its granulat
ing. Bees will winter well on good
sugar, which is about the only sub
stitute that can be used. Unripe
honey or honey dew often kills the
beea in winter, as they cannot stand a
long confinement ou such food.
If the bees are iu a double walled
chaff hive, nothing more is necessary.
If iu a hive of single thickuess an
outer case of some sort should be put
over the hive, but in no wise close up
the entrance. Bees need plantv of
fresh air. The hive entrance should
be left open full width, which will also
prevent the combs from becoming
moldy. On warm days during winter
when the thermometer registers 50
degrees or more the bees wdl tly out
for a cleausing flight, after which
they will be able to stand another
month of rigorous weather. With
cellar wiutering I have had no ex
perience, but the conditions necessary
are tp have a well ventilated cellar
kept dark, with an even temperature
of about 45 degrees. Some time in
November, light after the been have
had a good flight, remove them to the
cellar, selecting the time toward even
ing. The bees should be handled a»
gently as possible to keep them ftora
tilling themselves with honey, for if
will be four or five mouths before
they will have a cleansing flight. II
an even temperature, quietness, dark
ness and ventilation are secured, suc
cess is assured.
liiirßO and Small Vegetable*.
While on a visit to the Pacific coast
I found onions and potatoes of enor
mous size, aud the boast of the people
is that they can grow larger vegetables
than cau be grown elsewhere in the
country. It is possible that more
large vegetables aud fruits cau be
grown in Washington, Idaho, Oregon
and California than can be produced
in other sections. But there are fre
quent specimens of vegetables in the
middle west that are as large as any
that can be grown anywhere. Large
onions and very large potatoes are
not desirable, however. I have seen
| onions grown in Indiana that were as
large as an onion could be. The land
was peculiarly fitted for onion grow
ing, and the product was enormous in
size. But lam under the impression
that onion growing on that land was
abandoned simply because there was
no market for such large onions.
| They were like the eggs of the ostrich,
I a fine curio, but of no utility to the
j average person. The market demands
[ a reasonable sized onion and potato.
In many of our hotels and restaurants,
say nothing of private houses, a small
onion only is used for flavoring pur
poses. These places will not buy
onions that are "overgrown." Nor
will they buy potatoes that are over
size. Usually potatoes are brought
onto the tables of public eating houses
whole, aud potatoes that are as long
|as ycur foot can not bo used. It is a
mistake to attempt to grow large
onions and potatoes.
Fruit is different. That can not be
too large. From the cranberry to the
apple, size attracts attention and wins
the customer, especially if the fruit is
well colored.
At Lewiston, Idaho, I saw a Ben
Davis apple that in any market of the
world would outsell any apple that is
grown. It was more than twice the
size of the Ben Davis of the east, and
was as beautiful as a picture. Irriga
tion, climate or soil had made a new
apple out ol' this very common and
not highly appreciated variety. In
growing fruit, therefore, next to good
shipping qualities—for without these
it is useless to grow fruit commer
cially—appearance is the most impor
tant thing. Of course, the quality
must be passable, for the consumer
would not buy fruit the second time,
however handsome it might be, if the
quality was so bad that he could not
eat it. But quality is secondary to ap
pearance. The large, handsome col
ored apple, peach, cherry or other
fruit are always the best sellers. The
eye fixes the standard of taste aud is
a regulator of the appetite.—B. F
Brimsou in the Epitomist.
l'lpiily of Space for Poultry.
One of the greatest mistakes ot
poultry raisers is to suppose that
chickens do not require much space.
A dairyman only keeps enough cows
on his farm that the land is able to
support. If one acre will support a
cow, it is crowding them to have as
many on the farm as there are acres,
but if you put 500 hens on one acre
the latter would be quite different.
Laud is genei ally cheap enough for
poultrymen to have ample room for
their poultry, but as a rule they are
always too cramped. Not more than
50 to 75 hens should be raised to the
acre. A 50D chicken farm should con
tain at least 8 or 10 acres exclusive of
buildings. That is a larger space for
each bird than most people provide,
but it is not too liberal an arrange
ment, as any one will discover after a
few years' experience. Farmers cal
culate their profits by the acre. If
they cau clear from S2O to .S:SO an acre,
they consider themselves fortunate,
and they do not grumble at their hard
conditions. Fifty dollars an acre
would supply them with substantia!
rewards for thinking themselves well
blessed.
Now iu the case of the chicken raiser
we find that everything is in his favor
for a comparison with any other class
of farmers. Suppose 50 hens are
raised to the acre, a profit of 50 cents
a year on each bird would make fair
farming. He would be clearing $25 a
year per acre, which would be more
than many farmers cau clear taday in
raising either wheat or corn. But 50
cents a year clear profit is small in
deed for respectable poultry, and a
dollar a year is not too much to place
to the credit of the average well-bred
fowl. Here we have SSO an acre, aud
alO or 20-acre farm stocked to the
capacity mentioned ought to yield a
good living income to the owner. The
trouble with most of us is that we ex
pect to make as much on three or
four acres as another farmer can make
on a huudred-acre farm. That is
placing a handicap upon poultry rais
ing that is hardly fair. One acre ju
diciously cultivated should raiso
enough food to keep 50 chickens a
year, and that is about all we can ex
pect from it. Let us goto work and
cultnate the soil for chicken food as
systematically as the farmer cultivates
his land for corn aud wheat, and then
we will realize larger profits and a
sure income. The birds will no longer
be crowded, aud fewer diseases will
attack them. Both our pocket books
aud poultry will be richer and better
for expandiug the chicken farm iu
this way.—Anne C. Webster, in
American Cultivator.
a Good Thing*
Egotism is often a good thing in
that it induces men to put forth com
mendable efforts for the purpose of
liviug up to what they think they are.