LIVE STOCK .> AGRICULTURE OXFORDSHIRE SHEEP. ——-4^r~r" —* & ■'■■" -••'•• ' ' . * '• •- ~. '* : : ' '-v.;,-- ; One of the less well known varieties of sheep bred in America is the Ox fordshire, which has a pood reputation as a producer of mutton, especially when well selected ranis are used. The fleece is short, but yields an excellent quality of wool, weighing seven pounds on an average. The Oxfordshire is a large sheep and is late in bringing lambs, so the lighter weight of the lambs generally shown causes some criticism of the breed. This sheep is well liked by owners of country estates, who consider a flock of well bred sheep an addi tion to the beauty of their lawns. The photograph shows a flock of Oxford ghires on the lawn at the country home of P. A. B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pa. ICE ON THE FARM. Directions For Building Cheap and Practical House. CUBIC BLOCK IS BEST. Product Stored So as to Allow Air ; Space—Permanent Structure Should Be Made of Concrete Brick or Frame on Concrete Foundation. The secrets of keeping ice are protec tion from moisture, air and heat. The Bite for the icehouse should be well flrained either naturally or by artificial means, so that the stored ice may not l be damaged by the moisture resulting from its natural decay in storage. The I Icehouse should be located convenient ly to the dairy or other building in which the ice will be chiefly used. The location should also possess the ad rantages of protection from direct sun shine, so far as practicable. The north slope of a hill or the protection of an ather building to the south or west is an advantage worthy of consideration. The design of the Icehouse should be such as to make it possible to store the Ice as nearly as possible in a cube. The cheapest satisfactory type of ice storage is a building constructed by setting flattened chestnut or cedar posts in the ground at intervals of four j feet and boarding up on both sides with rough sheeting and protecting the whole with a one-third pitch roof cov ered with a good roofing composition. The outside 6beetlng can be covered with .or replaced by ship lap siding. The space between the two board walls may or may not be stuffed with shav ings. The stuffing will increase the In sulation, but the shavings should be thoroughly dry at the time they are packed in order to prevent decay. The Ice should be stored so as to allow a space at least fifteen inches wide be tween the ice and the wall. The inter vening space must be tightly packed with sawdust, shavings or some other yood insulating material in order to preserve the ice. In order that the la bor of filling the icehouse may not be excessive a doorway should be ar ranged In the middle of one side ex tending from the foundation to the plate. The door Itself should be made in sections and short planks provided to be placed inside the house across the doorway as it is filled with Ice, so as to take all pressure of the packing material away from the door end to retain the material in place. If the Icehouse is to be a permanent structure it may be built of concrete, brick or frame on a concrete founda tion. If brick or cement is used for outside wall It will be necessary to use as liberal quantities of packing material between the ice and the out side walls as when they are built in the inexpensive manner first describ ed. If the buildings are to be used for storage without packing the ice in sawdust or shavings, then It will be necessary to Insulate the room by at least a six inch layer of shavings un der a board floor and on top of a con crete floor and with six inches of pack ing between the masonry wall and a board well Inside of it and a ten or twelve inch layer of shavings or dry i sawdust over the top of the room, and! this again protected by a well venti- J lated attic space. The mass of ice in ! the room should fill it as completely] as possible, and the cakes should be; stored on edge and so arranged as to i prevent the formation of water courses or air chambers (chimneys) extending i through the mass of Ice. Worth Looking Into. j Farmers do not give proper attention! to the matter of storing fruits and vegetables grown on the home grounds. Their season may be continued for weeks or months after frosts when properly sorted and stored. Milo Maize For Chickens. Milo maize makes good chicken feed and ought to make hens lay. How ever, milo maize or any other grain is not good for hens when fed exclusive ly. A variety of feed is what laying hens require. > ? ' BUILDING. T 1 iji "He is not happy unless he is J T building something. Wonder T IX what he will do when he gets T through building?" X A That Is what a farmer's wife ? T said of a man in her neighbor- X | hood. And it did seem as If y T that man was most contented X £ when adding some building to IT his farm home until at last he !C y had a little village about him. y T The fact is when a man stops X y building he begins togo back- y X ward. We do not mean here just 2 y building houses or barns, but do- J I lng something somewhere and X T somehow that will make the v -j- home more beautiful and help it If T to produce better. T Build a new fence. Make it a -j. j. good one. The day of the old X y stump fence or the brush fence y X is gone. Good post and board X , y or wire fences are the only ones y X that will stand the test. X £ Build up the orchard. Cut out y .j. the old trees and replace them Ij! X with those that are better than t X any you ever had. X ' £ Build up the soil. Put rich- T 4. ness into It that never was there J. T before. Leave It better than you jr jj- found it.—Farm Journal. J The Care of Winter Litters. Sunlight and exercise are very im portant to winter farrowed pigs. If large litters are to be raised the young animals must have both. When the sows are shut up in dark pens or stalls and the pigs are not allowed to get out they will lie round and suckle the sow and will soon get the thumps. This ailment Is difficult to treat, but very easy to prevent. The cause Is too much feed and too little exercise. It attacks the fattest litters and the fattest pigs In the litters. Prevention consists in feeding moderately until the pigs are in the fields every day. On sunshiny days the pigs will usual ly try to follow the sow and will take the exercise needed if allowed to do so. In disagreeable weather they should be driven round the pen or the shed for exercise If they will not follow the sow. Though this is a little trouble some, it Is often necessary If all the litter Is to be saved.—Country Gentle man. Sweet Clover Booming. There seems to be a boom on in sweet clover, but booms are unsafe things, and a word of caution may well be dropped, says Farm and Fire side. Sweet clover Is a money maker to the farmer who can grow It success fully. But because it Is a wayside weed It must not be assumed that It will grow successfully of its own ac cord. There Is a trick to sweet clover growing which must be learned or fail ure will be met with. It has about the same feeding value as alfalfa. It will grow in localities where alfalfa fails. It prepares the way for alfalfa on the same ground. It makes good hay and furnishes good pasture. It renovntes the soli. But it Is not as good a plant as alfalfa for the purpose for which alfalfa is grown. Home Mixed Fertilizer. j Dr. G. S. Fraps, state chemist at the | Texas experiment stntlon at the Agrl j cultural and Mechanical college, Col j lege Station, says: ! "A fertilizer containing 2 per cent j nitrogen, C per cent phosphoric acid and G per cent potash can be made by using the following Ingredients: Six I hundred pounds of tankage, 700 pounds i of phosphate, 240 pounds of muriate of | potash and 460 pounds of dirt. I "These ingredients should be mixed ! thoroughly. A mixture containing 3 ! per cent nitrogen, 8 per cent phosphor ic acid and 4 per cent potash could be made by using 800 pounds of tankage, j 1,000 pounds of 14 per cent acid phos phate and 1(30 pounds of muriate of potash." Good Cow Advice. No cow can produce her maximum unless she has the right kind of care and food, and if she does not produce her maximum she will not give the best profit A CHILD'S VOCABULARY. How Many Words Do You Think the Three-year-old Uses? "The trutti is, I btelieve, that most par ents greatly underestimate the number of words that are used by their chil dren," says Professor G. M. Whipple In the American Magazine. "The only way to get a child's speaking vocabu lary is togo after It with pencil and paper and religiously set down Ills words one by one, not for a day or for several days, but for several weeks. When during the course of a dinner table conversation I asked how many words an ordinary, everyday three year-old boy could use the first of my friends 'guessed' ISO words. His es timate was greeted with derision by the other, who declared: 'Oh, pshaw! Fifty words would cover the vocabu lary of the brightest three-year-old you ever knew.' Needless to add that my assertion that my own youngster at that age actually used, by count, 1,771 different words was the occasion of po lite incredulity and Jocose commisera tion of the fond but deluded parent. "However, this vocabulary 1s on rec ord In detail (Pedagogical seminary, March, 1000), and the Inquisitive read er may learn there that it Is by no means the largest vocabulary that has been reported, though, to be sure, prob ably above the average performance. In the twenty odd published vocabula ries we llnd that children from sixteen to nineteen months are using from GOto 232 words, that two-year-old children are using from 115 to 1,227 words and that the vocabulary In creases rapidly from that time up. It is perfectly safe to assert that the av erage three-year-old child makes use of 1,000 words." ORIGIN OF POSTAL BANKS. Idea First Adopted Half Century Ago In Great Britain. It has been fifty years since the first postal banks were established. The Idea of using the postofflce for the col lection and safe keeping of small de posits had Its origin in Great Britain. Under the leadership of William E. Gladstone, then chancellor of the ex chequer, parliament in 1861 passed the bill providing for the creation of the postal savings bank system. The United States, therefore, !s di vided by half a century from the out posts of progress in this important re spect. Figures made public on the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of postal banks show that there are in Great Britain and Ireland 15,000 postotDces designated as depositories for the peo ple's savings. The number of depos itors is 8,000,000, and the amount standing to the credit of depositors Is nearly §850,000,000. That is indeed an impressive show ing of the accumulations of a nation's thrift protected by the government's guarantee.—Chicago News. In Dire Straits. The Man In Background—Oh, yes; they hate each other. You see, when they married each thought the other had money. The Woman In Background—And neither of them had? "No. They can't even afford to get a divorce."—Life. j'some Chuckles and Hearty Laughs^ Starting Over Again. "Well, well," said the man who had wandered back to the okl village, "so the Kagle House is still the Eagle House! No change after twenty years!" "There have been a few changes," responded the oldest inhabitant. "Since you've been gone the hotel has been re spectively the Grand Central, the Grand Union, the Grand Junction, the Great Northern, the Great Southern, the Im perial, the Regal, the Empire, the Re gent and the Mansion House. She's Just starting around the circuit for the second time."—Louisville Courier-Jour nal. She Clean Forget. Duluth is the home of a woman who, in the line of absentmlndedness, has the whole world beaten to a finish. She is absentminded from the time she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep. "Emily," a friend asked her on one occasion, "how old was your mother when she died?" "I don't know," replied Emily sweet ly. "You know she died long before I was born."—Twice-a-Month Topular Magazine. Those Husbanda! "John," said Mrs. Spender, "I've got lots of things I want to talk to you about." "Glad to hear it," snapped her hus band. "Usually you want to talk to me about lots of things that you have not got"—Wasp. Business Safety. "Aren't you afraid that stenographer will divulge some of your business se crets?" "No," said Mr. Growcher; "I'm safe on that point. I've got one who can't read her own notes." Washington Star. The Queer Ones. "I suppose," said the city man, "there are some queer characters around an old village like this." "You'll find a good many," admitted the native, "when the hotels fill up."— Louisville Courier-Journal. POLLY'S GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS By OLIVE HARPER. "Well, Mrs. 1.1 Hung Chang, I be lieve 1 will," said Polly Adams to a ridiculous china doll that sat on the chimney staring fixedly before her. It was nearly midnight, and the house was still. The Christmas tree stood all decorated and with the giftp hung upon it in the library, back of the par lor, and Polly had been sitting beside the fire in her pretty yellow eiderdown pajamas. Pajamas were a fad that season among all her girl friends, and Polly always, as she said, "kept right along with the procession." Polly was tired, for she had been busy all that day. They were not rich, and so much of the running devolved upon Polly, and the three boys were home from school, and they had two visitors to remain till New Year's. One of them was Archie—it is enough to call him Just "Archie." So, while Polly braided the heavy mass of rich brown hair into one long loose plait, she glanced at the mistletoe and then at the sphinxlike face of the Chinese doll as she said: "Now, Mrs. Li Hung Chang, what shall I do? Archie loves me. I know it from a dozen—yes, a thousand things, but he is so shy and timid. Minnie Blake Is engaged, and so would I be if only Archie had the courage of a—a chipmunk," she hastily added as she thought of her bare feet and pos sible mice. "Now, if I could hang this mistletoe to the chandelier tonight in the excitement of seeing our gifts I could manage—l know I could—to get him under it beside me, and the boys would do the rest, and then—well, the Ice would be broken. The chandelier was high and Polly not tall, so do her best, standing on her tiptoes, she could not reach the fixture. "I must get up on the table," she said to herself, "and I hope I'll not fall and break my neck and rouse the house." Just as this very courageous little maiden stepped to the table with one foot, while the other was still resting on the insecure chair, there was the sound of a latchkey in the front door and then a blast of wintry wind and two voices in the hall. They were those of her oldest and most unbear able brother, I'red, and the other voice belonged to Archie Steadman. She tried to step down from her In secure perch, but the treacherous orna mental chair tilted, and Polly came down suddenly, striking her head against the table. Just then Fred bounded forward and switched on the light and, seizing a heavy cane from the hatrack, sprang into the parlor. But Polly had man aged to get on her feet and scamper to the library door, dropping one of her slippers as she went and leaving the lamp behind her; but, try as she might, she could not open the library door and stood there pulling with a strength born of desperation, while Fred said: "Burglars! Here's the light! They're after the gifts on the tree! Come on!" Opinion Delayed. Daubley—Now, Miss Billyuns, how do you like— —that? Miss Billyuns—l'll let you know by phone.—Chicago New«. And then the library was also flood ed with light, which was reflected from a thousand gilded ornaments on the tree, and by the illumination Fred and Archie saw a miserable little fig ure in yellow pajamas huddled up like a cold duckling, with one bare foot; and with its head down, in the corner : of the door frame as though trying to hide. From her baby days Polly had had a queer habit of hopping from one foot to the other without moving from her place when frightened or angry. Now one slippered little foot and one pink bare one kept up the familiar hopping movement. Fred looked at the culprit a moment and then sprang forward and, seizing one shoulder and the long braid of hair, turned her around to the "Weli, I suppose she can't help being a little fool." light, while the miserable girl covered her face with her hands. Fred laugh ed loud and long, saying: "Well, I'll be Jiggered if It Isn't Polly!" Archie said nothing and was trying to pretend that he did not know any thing at all until he" saw the tears streaming through the fingers, and then he said hotly: "Fred, I am ashamed of you. You are not treating your sister right at all. Here, Pol-I mean Miss Adams," con tinued he, at the same time Jerking the big maroon cover from the old fash ioned square piano, to the instant de struction of two plaster ornaments. "Here, Miss Pol—Adams." With a malevolent look at Fred, Archie fumbled in all his pockets until he found a small box. Then he reach ed for one of Polly's wet little hands. Archie looked very imposing to Polly, and little by little her sobs ceased, and by the time he had opened the box she could see through her dimmed eyes that he had a superb solitaire ring for her—one to make the heart of any girl proud and one in keeping with his wealth. So she even smiled a little as Archie, with one last look of defiance at Fred, placed the sparkling ring on the proper finger. In Accord. Very frequently the winter highways in the Yukon valley are mere trails, traversed only by dog sledges. One of the bishops in Alaska who was very fond of that mode of travel encounter tered a miner coming out with his dog team and stopped to ask him what kind of a road he had come over. The miner responded with a stream of forcible and picturesque profanity, winding up with: "And what kind o' trail did you have?" "Same as yours," replied the bishop feelingly.—Pittsburgh Press. "Gentleman" Defined. An exact definition of a gentleman has been tried many times, never per haps with entirely satisfactory results. Little Sadie had never heard of any of the various definitions, but she managed to throw a gleam of light on the subject, albeit one touched with unconscious cynicism. The word was In the spelling lesson, and I said: "Sadie, what is a gentleman?" "Please, ma'am," she said, "a gen tleman's a ma:i you don't know very well."—Oakland Enquirer. The Recall. Maud Muller had Just refused the Judge. "Marry a fellow who may lose his Job any moment on the recall?" she sniffed. "Not much." Herewith she smiled on a farmer in stead.—New York Sun. Paying the Penalty. "And do you really think that so much danger can lie in a kiss as the papers say, doctor?" "Certainly. One of my friends had a terrible experience. As the result of a single kiss he married." Journal Amusant. In the School of Lov*. "Why did you break your engage ment with that schoolteacher?" "If I failed to show up at her house every evening she expected me to bring a written excuse signed by mother."— New York Evening MalL YIELDS MILLIONS IN GOLD. Colorado Still Leads California and N»-. vada In Production. While nttention has been diverted in a measure to other regions, Colora do during the past few years has gone quietly forward and, perhaps unknown to many, has up to the present hels its place as the leader in gold produa( tion, says the Tonopah Bonanza. The figures compiled by the United States geological survey for the yea? 1910 gives Colorado a production of $20,507,058; California, $19,715,440, an« Nevada, $18,878,864. Doubtless when the figures for the present year are complied It will found that an even closer tie is ap-i parent between the three principal gold producing states. There have been several large sales of gold min ing property in California during the present year, and extensive plans are being worked out which will result in a much greater production next year. For the current year, however, reports would not Indicate any very marked.' increase In gold production. On the other hand, both Colorado and Nevada have shown greater re turns from the established camps, with new properties being opened, and. In Nevada particularly, new camps which will add to the total out put. In Nevada there are a number of properties Just entering the list of producers. Wonder, Fnirvlew and | Manhattan are all making greater ; records than In 1910, with prospects. I much better for the coming year. ! Other camps are also coming forward with greater records, and In all It Is evident that Nevada will show a ma terial advance this year over last In Colorado the older camps hare shown a mnrked activity during the ; present year, with rapid extension of . work at properties long idle and the | opening of new properties. CEYLON'S "DEVIL BIRD." Ita Terrible Screams Strike Terror t» the Superstitious. Of all the awe inspiring sounds emit-j ted by wild creatures, none, it is said,, j is to be compared to that of the devil! ! bird of Ceylon, whose cry has been l likened to the scream of a human be-' ! lng undergoing the most excruciating' j torture. Naturalists have Identified this bird with the brown wood owl found In Hindustan, j The devil bird, or ulama, as the i Cingalese call it, Is an elusive crea ture. The natives of Ceylon regard i the cry of this bird with superstitious i horror, for. It is claimed, its scream j heard at night presages the most dire misfortunes. ! A British official of the Ceylon civil j service has given some study to this | curious bird. Its ordinary note, he states, is a magnificent clear shout like ! that of a human being, heard at a great distance and producing a fine ef fect In the silence of the night. But | the sounds which have earned for the ! bird its bad name and which this of j ficer reports he heard to perfection but | once are said to be well nigh lnde \ scribable, the most appalling that can | be imagined and scarcely to be heard, ' without a shudder. It has been com pared to the cries of a boy in torture ; whose screams are being stopped by | strangulation. : MERE FACTS. Z • • The curfew rings in 3,000 American and Canadian towns. The United Kingdom has about 25,- 000 newspapers. The peach and plum are short lived trees. The pear and apple are long lived. Four p. m. is the rainiest hour of the whole twenty-four. A coin is in circulation on an average for twenty-seven years. Missouri mules are being shipped to South Africa. The river Jordan is said to be the most rambling stream known. It winds 213 miles in covering a distance of sixty miles. The light of one candle may be seen a mile, and that of three candles is vis ible two miles. Spot Memorable In History. On the riverside promenade at Ems there is a stone inscribed, "13 Juli, 1870, 0 Uhr 10 Min. Morgens." This marks the exact spot where Wllhelm I. and Count Benedettl terminated the interview which led the French to de clare war. After the Franco-Prussian war the old emperor often returned to Ems. On one occasion his doctor men tioned that the municipality wished to commemorate the interview with Ben edetti, which they considered the most memorable event In the annals of the town. He was instructed to meet the em peror on the promenade by the Lahn at 6 a. m.the following day. Wll helm then said: "During my lifetime let nothing be erected to recall that sorrowful struggle. When I am dea& do as you please. Since you wish to know where I dismissed BenedettL it was here under this tree at 0:io in rae morning." And saying this he placed his foot on the spot where the monu ment now stands.—London Chronicle. Very Rich Japanese Are Scaroe. The Tokyo Jiji compiled a list of Japanese men of wealth at home and abroad and finds that there are only 1,018 who possess $250,000 or more. But if the Japanese are generally poor some of them at least are getting rich rapidly, for ten years ago there were only 441 In the $250,000 or more clan. J
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers