LIVE STOCK J*AGRICULTURE SAVE YOUR TREES Life of Infected Chestnuts May Be Prolonged For Years. DIRECTIONS FOR THE WORK. Federal Department of Agriculture Recommends Cutting Out of Diseased Spots and Treatment With Coal Tar or Good Paint. Where valuable ornamental, shade or orchard chestnut trees become in fected In one or more spots with the chestnut bark disease that has been killing the trees in several states and is spreading rapidly the life and use fulness of such trees can be prolonged for several or for many years, depend ing largely upon the thoroughness with which the recommendations given in a bulletin issued by the United States department of agriculture for cutting out tho diseased areas (lesions) are car ried out. The essentials for the work are a gouge, a mallet, a pruning knife, a pot of coal tar and a paint brush. In the case of a tall tree a ladder or rope or both may bo necessary, but under no circumstances should tree climbers be used, as tlioy cause wounds which are very favorable places for Infection. Sometimes an ax, a saw and a long handled tree pruner are convenient auxiliary Instruments, though prac tically all the cutting recommended can be done with a gouge with a cut ting edge of one or one and one-half inches. AH cutting instruments should be kept very sharp, so that a clean and smooth cut may be made at all times. By cutting with the gouge into a dis eased area a characteristically discol ored and mottled middle and inner bark Is revealed. All of this diseased bark should be carefully cut out for at least an inch beyond the discolored area if the size of the branch will al low It. This bark should be collected 1n a bag or basket and burned. If the cutting is likely to result in the re moval of the bark for much more than half the circumference of the branch or trunk It will probably be better to »r->y v -i - v: * W' . i ,-v ■ i- : ' r< Photograph by United States department of agriculture. CHESTNUT TREE PARTLY KILLED BY BARK DISEASE. (Upper Branches Dead, Lower Living). cut off the entire limb or to cut down the tree, as the case may be, unless thero is some special reason for at tempting to save the limb or tree. The fungus usually, though not always, de velops most vigorously in the inner bark next to the wood. When this is the case not only all the diseased bark and an inch of healthy bark around it must be removed, but at least two or three annual layers of wood beneath the diseased bark must also be gouged out. Special care should be taken to avoid loosening the healthy bark at the edges of the cut out areas. Except in the early spring this is not difficult after a little experience in manipulat ing the gouge and mallet, provided the gouge is kept sharp. Small branches which have become infected should be cut off, the cut be ing made well back of the disease—at least two or three inches, if possible. All cut-out areas and all the cut ends of stubs should be carefully and com pletely painted with coal tar. A good grade of paint has been recommended by some authorities as superior to tar, but it is more expensive. If the tar is very thick the addition of a little creo sote will improve it for antiseptic pur poses as well as for ease in applying. If the first coat is thin a second one of fairly thick tar should be applied within a few weeks or months. Other coats should be applied later whenever it becomes necessary. The entire tree should be carefully examined for diseased spots and every one thoroughly cut out and treated in the way already described. In case of suspicious looking spots a portion of the outer bark can be cut out with the sharp gouge as a test. If this cut shows the characteristically discolored bark the spot can be considered as dis eased and cut out accordingly; if the cut shows healthy bark it need merely be treated with tar or paint, as other cuts are treated. In examining a tree for diseased spots it is always best to begin at the base of the trunk and work up, for if the trunk is girdled at the base it is useless to work anywhere on the tree. When the spores of the fungus are present, especially in the form of X "ANIMALS WITH GOLDEN % £ HOOFS." £ £ "When I was n boy," writes a •J* correspondent of the Denver !j* Field and Farm, "my father sent % v me to drive a large flock of £ sheep from the stockyards to a | X pasture. The sheep were hun- £ pry and we were unable to keep 4» X them off a field of fine fall T T wheat. The owner with his sons | and dogs came running as he % * would have done were his house * X on fire and ordered us to 'Get X X those sheep out of his wheat!' T ❖ After the first burst of wrath •£ X was over I explained we did not T 112 have bridles and lines on the ❖ X sheep and that it had been im- X £ possible to keep them off: If he 4j X would help us we would get X X them off ns soon as possible and ¥ that my father would settle for X X any damage done. We worked ¥ 4» fast and hard and so did the X 5 sheep, eating as they went. The X ¥ field looked as if it had been * mowed its full length and for ¥ several rods back from the road. * % A few days after the owner of X % the wheat came to see father, T claiming damages, which he X X agreed to pay. The amount, T ♦j 4 however, was to be determined y % at harvest time. Nothing fur- .£ ¥ ther was heard about the matter ¥ .♦« for nearly a year. Then, instead X ¥ of wanting payment, there came T ♦> a frank acknowledgment that 112 the best wheat was harvested X •I* from the land the sheep passed X over, and the owner agreed to X 112 take some sheep, pasture them + .j. on his wheat fields and care for X X them free of cost." ¥ .j..;. .J. *l* •! ••' •> -V *s* *l* V *i* threads or horns, they are readily washed down the branches and trunk by every rain and thus carried down to or toward the base of the tree. As a result the base of a tree, the crotches and other places which afford easy lodgment for the spores are particular ly subject to infection. Although spraying with any of the standard fungicides appears to have no effect whatever in stopping the progress of the disease after it has once started in the inner or middle bark, there is little doubt that it is of use in preventing infection from spores washed down by rain from the upper part of a tree or from Fpores which have been transported from other trees. For this reason the spraying after each rain of the parts of a tree below a spore bearing lesion is recommended, but only on an experimental basis. If no spore bearing lesion occur la the tree there is less apparent reason for spraying. The scattering of slaked lime about the base of a tree and the whitewashing of the trunk and larger limbs have shown apparently bene ficial results in preventing infectious and perhaps also depredations of bor ers. A tree which is being treated for in dividual infections must be carefully watched and the diseased spots promptly cut out as they appear. For this purpose each tree should be ex amined very carefully two or three times at least during the growing sea son. French Care of Stallions. The Frenchman's method of work ing stallions makes the animals very obedient, which is due to three things. The Frenchman is very severe on his horses. lie breaks them to work ear ly, and he works thein steadily. His horses are usually of a good disposi tion. When a team of several of these stallions is halted only the lead horse is tied, and all usually stand quietly. Forms of Nitrate to Use. The best form of nitrate for orchard or vineyard is a cover crop of clover plowed under. If you feel that you must buy nitrogen I would suggest some preparation of barnyard manure and would ndd potash also. Nitrate of soda is all right to use now and then if your pocketbook will stand it. —Professor U. P. Iledrick, Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y. Dry Seed Corn Won't Freeze. If seed corn is thoroughly dry there Is but little danger of the germ being destroyed by freezing. Corn for seed is easily dried out at storing time. THE CHRISTMAS TREE. Inexpensive Decorations Which Will Look Artistic. The cost of decorating a Christinas tree is largely a question of choice. Nothing makes so much show for the money invested as tinsel, and it should be used on the Christmas tree as extravagantly as the purse war rants. An inexpensive but exception ally artistic decoration was worked by one mother to whom expense was a great consideration. It consisted of chains of cranberries and popcorn in terwoven with gilt and silver tinsel. The red of the berries, the white of the corn and the glitter of the tinsel against the green of the tree were won derfully pretty. Another mother who had to evolve her decorations had only cotton bat ting and tinsel as her stock in hand. The tree was first flecked with bits of cotton, as if a snowstorm had passed that way, then sprinkled freely with epsom salt, which produces the same effect as diamond dust and costs next to nothing. Then yards and yards of tinsel were draped over and among the branches. The result of this sim ple decoration was charming. The base of the tree was banked with cotton. Paper Christmas bells make effective and inexpensive decorations for a tree. If the children of the household are kindergartners their fingers can fash ion the trimmings of tissue or gilt and silver paper. Apropos of the children lending a hand, it is a mistake upon the part of the mother, after the children are old enough to assist, to take upon herself the entire task of trimming the tree. Then, too, it is really depriving the children of a great pleasure, for the fact that they had a hand in the mat ter will add rather than detract from their joy. Of course the gifts, tlie real surprise feature, if hung upon the tree, j must be putin place after the children ; are off for the Land of Nod. The bet- I ter plan is to arrange the gifts around I the base of the tree, for if hung upon it tlie decorations will be more or less disturbed when detaching the gifts. RULES TO GET WEALTH. Rothschild Said It Took More Wit to Hoard Than to Earn. Rothschild commonly ascribed his early success in a great degree to the : following rules: "First.—l combined three profits. I | made the manufacturer my customer j and the one I bought of my customer— [ that is, I supplied the manufacturer with raw materials and dyes, on each of which I made a profit, and took his manufactured goods, which I sold at a profit, and thus combined three profits. , "Second.—Make a bargain at once. Re nn offhand man. "Third.—Never have anything to do with an unlucky mnn or place. I have seen many clever men who hnd not shoes to their feet. I never act with them. Their advice sounds very well, but fate Is against them. They can not get on themselves. How can they do me good? "Fourth.—Re cautious and bold. It requires a great deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune, and when you have got it it requires ten times as much wit to keep it." The last idea was one which Roth schild frequently expressed.—Life. r— n ■"« inn «... «« ■ ~,1. mn o SCRAMBLED PROVERBS. 1 <J— <5 Never look a gift horse on the bright side of things. Early to bed and early to rise; vine gar never catches flies. The whirligig of time makes the world go round. A barking (log never makes two bites of a cherry. Fools rush in while the iron is hot. It is a poor rule that has no turning. —Chicago Tribune. I Bits of Good Fun For Everybody | ❖ •!* Being More In Earnest. The Itev. Sylvester Home, the Lib eral M. I*. from London, was talking about religion at a dinner in New York. "Too many of us in our religious ob servances," he said, "are like a little Tottenham court road girl. "This little girl said one night to her new nurse: " 'Oh, must I sleep in the dark?' " 'Yes, miss,' the nurse answered. " 'Then wait a minute,' said the lit tle girl. 'l'll get up and say my pray ers more carefully.' " A Formidable Foe. "Rome o' dese reformers," said Til de Rasberry, "makes me think of Ras tus IMnkley's dog. I says to Mm, 'Ras tus," I says, 'is dat dog good foil rats':' An' he says, 'No; lie's mighty bad foil rats.' 'Does he ketch 'em an' kill 'em?' "No," says Rastus; 'he don't ketch 'em ncr he don't kill 'em. Hut tf dey come fooliu' aroun' him he'll mighty near skeer 'em to death.' "—Washington Star. No Absentees. "So you actually went to church last Sunday?" "1 really did." "Excuse me if I seem skeptical. What was the text?" "Aha, I have you there. The text was. 'He giveth his beloved sleep.' " "Good work. And who was there?" "All the beloved, it seemed to me."— Cleveland Plain Dealer. TWO YULETIDES. Greek Catholic Church Still Cele brates Christmas Jan. 7. RUSSIA OBSERVES THAT DAY. Only Great Nation That Clings to the Julian Calendar Made Up According to Time Measurement of Julius Cae sar. "Christmas comes but once a year," wrote somebody, and everybody ac cepted the statement as truth. It is not true, however, for Christmas comes twice a year. Those of us who reckon by the Gregorian calendar cel ebrate Dec. 25. Those who still ad here to the Julian calendar observe Jan. 7. Russia is the only great na tion which still holds out for the Ju lian calendar. The Greek Catholic church sticks to the time measure ment adopted by Julius Caesar forty six years before the birth of Christ. Thus the Greeks and all the adher ents of that church, including the Rus sians, of course, hold their Christmas on the 7th day of January. In the city of New York both Christ mas days are celebrated. New York city has a considerable population of Greeks, Russians, Armenians, Syrians, Servians, Poles, Bulgarians, Montene grins and Vlaehs, all of whom observe the Julianic Christmas. For forty days prior to Jan. 7 they observe a fast, eating no meat, neither beast, fish nor fowl. They eat fish eggs or caviar, but draw the line there. Their principal diet for the forty days' fast ing is made up of olives, beans, caviar bread and crackers. Hut at C o'clock on the morning of Christmas day, Jan. 7, the Julianist fast is over. Julianist friends goto church early on their Christmas morn ing, but not too early. They eat break fast first. High mass is celebrated in the Greek Orthodox church at S o'clock. The forty days' fast having ended two hours before, the Jullanists are joyful ly full of the good things of this world before they enter the house of wor ship. The chief viand, so far as its symbolic character goes, is a spiced loaf of rye broad covered and filled with walnuts, with a cross cut on top. This is called the christopsoma— "bread of the Christ." The Greeks, many of them arrayed in gorgeous new clothing, bring their feast to an end with the cups of Turk ish coffee and the Turkish cigarettes, mixed in with songs and toasts. It is highly interesting for a plain Ameri can, with a plain name like .Tim Jones, to sit in a cafe and hear the songs of the foreign gentlemen with seven jointed surnames, observe the satis faction depicted in their countenances as the feast goes on and receive the impression that this is real Christmas cheer, though it be thirteen days late, according to our method of counting time. Regarding Color Blindness. It is a curious fact that color blind persons are not often aware of their defect of vision. Even scientific men frequently fail to detect this defect in themselves. The following is a favorite theory to account for the cause of color blind ness: The eye is capable of four dis tinct color sensations—blue, yellow, red and green. These arise, however, from only two sources, each of which has a double action, producing the sensations of two complementary col ors. One of the sources of sensation corresponds to blue and yellow, the other to red and green. Most color blind people are deficient in the latter source of sensation and can distin guish, therefore, only blue and yellow with their compounds, but sometimes the reverse is the case. Harper's Weekly. Hunting. Jones—My wife was hunting last week: Smith—ln (lie mountains for rabbits? Jones—No; in the stores for Christ mas bargains. Sonny Was Wise. "You'll be late for supper, sonny." said a merchant in passing a small boy who was carrying a package. "No. 1 won't." was the reply. "I've dot de meat."—Llpplncott's. CHRISTMAS IN SHETLAND. Islands Have Curious Yuletide Cus toms. The festival of Yule, as is well known, dates back to prehistoric times, when men worshiped nature rather than nature's God. The inhabitants of the Shetland isles are descended from Norsemen, who were zealous in religious belief, and "Yule" to them meant a season of great importance, says Madame. The "Gammel Norsk Hjul" signifies, liter ally, "wheel," and the festival so called was held in honor of the sun at the winter solstice wheeling round toward the equator. The return of the sun important period of the year as being the beginning of renewed life in nature, which only could be revived by the light and warmth of the ascend ing orb. The course of the sun was observed in all things as far as possible. Every thing was turned from left to right. The boat was so turned on the water, the corn stacks so built in courses, the mill so turned in grinding and the wheel in spinning. In fact, everything went with the sun, even the round of the drinking horn. Many superstitions included in na ture worship had full scope at the "Hjul" time—or more modern "Yule" —when a vast multitude of "trows," or fairy folk, who at that season were not only active, but maliciously dis posed. had to be propitiated. To give the fairy folk no opportunity of playing tricks the fishing creel and lines were removed from the wall, the spinning wheel taken out of gear and its integral parts laid aside and every thing suspended from ceiling or walls lifted down, as if left in their usual places the übiquitous elves were sup posed to set all going against the sun's motion, which of course would mean serious trouble. The time of Yule was and still is rigidly observed as "helly" —i. e., a time of rest from all manner of labor. V MISFIT CHRISTMAS GIFTS. j| Now the women so a-shopping y & Every week day without stopping, <s> Buying thin gifts for the stout man |L <|> and fat presents for the gaunt, '£ And we reckon that's the reason y 'f Why at every Christmas season y J, All the married men and single get X the things they do not want. <J> When a man with whiskers flowing i|> y Gets a razor, then he's going <?> SJ To emit ejaculations that would not look well in print, «?> And If hand soap Is presented y He'll be sore and discontented, For his feelings will he harrowed «§> ® by that most suggestive hint. *£* V A & For tobacco, then a brier A Or a meerschaum for his Christmas y '■> would be sinful and absurd. y 'f Tou might just as well give blub- t? 2 ' >er % To a whale, for Yuletide grub or y ■5, A bushel of canary seed to a chap y <?> who has no bird. «?» «x> •j* But It doesn't really matter If the women widely scatter All their tokens of affection on tho Jf, A men In manner rash, <|> fFor the luxury of living Is enhanced by Christmas giving '4* 'j' When the presents are not misflts that you can't exchange for .*» cash. «3> •*» —New Tork World. <l* <s> <P> Where Clay Is Food. In the colony of Upper Senegal and Niger, near a place named Diekuy, ex ists nn edible clay, of which the na tives are very fond. It is found in a layer between strata of limestone, and a gallery lias been driven into the earth for the extraction of tlie sub stance. It is not only eaten on the spot, but, broken into pieces a few inches across, is sold to the inhabitants of the surrounding country over a ra dius of some twenty miles. It is said by French explorers that some natives consume several pounds of the strange food every day. A similar custom is found in the Sudan and in other parts of Africa.—Youth's Companion. The Danger In Flattery. The curtain had fallen on the per formance of the amateur theatrical company, and compliments wise and otherwise were flying freely. The well meaning young man approached his hostess. "You played the heroine's part mag nificently, Mrs. l'ortleigh," he said gushingly as lie bowed before her. "You're too kind, Mr. Unsleigh," re plied the good lady, who would never see forty again. "Rut I'm afraid you're only flattering. A young and pretty woman should really have taken the part." "Ah, madam," he sighed, "with your skill you proved quite the contrary."— Philadelphia Ledger. A Lost Race. "Oh, yes," Mrs. Smith told us, "my husband is an enthusiastic archaeolo gist. And I never knew it tfll yester day. I found in his desk some queer looking tickets with the inscription. 'Mudhorse, 8 to I.' And when I asked him what they were ho explained to mo that they were relics of a lost race. Isn't it interesting?" Black Diamonds. "I want to provide for my grandson, but stocks may depreciate. How do I know what will be good a few years from now?" "You might leave a few thousand tons of coal in trust," suggested the family lawyer—Washington Herald. CHRISTMAS MINE. By J. WILBUR TAIT. This is a true story. It happened in 1805. "It is now nearly Christmas, Brokaw, and I see no way for us to keep soul and body together till spring except to go into the mountains and cut wood." "And freezo our fingers and our noses and our feel. We may as well starve to death." "It won't be long. The spring 'll be along in a few months, and we can go to prospecting again. "Prospecting? How many years have I been digging holes in the ground for nothing? I tell you, Trimmer, I'm through with prospecting, and as soon as I can get a regular job I'm going to take it." "Rut you can't get a job just now, and we've nothing to eat. Come; cheer up. It's always darkest before day." The two ragged, discouraged men climbed the mountains of Calaveras county, Cal. There was a chance of their making some thirty or forty dol lars a month, on which they could eas ily live and buy some clothes, but it was a sad comedown from the roseate I dreams with which they had begun to hunt for a fortune. They found an old j abandoned miner's cabin, in which I they made their home, a dispiriting 1 place in which to live, for it was a j perpetual reminder of another's fail ; ure. But they were not hunting for gold in this region. They were keep ing themselves alive. [ Every morning as soon as it was | light the sound of their axes rang in i the wood and continued till the early winter twilight came on. Cord after j cord was stacked up, each cord repra | senting days of hard labor. Mean while a snowstorm came down on I them and covered the ground to a ! depth of two feet. The prediction aa to frozen members was not verified. "We've got such a pile of brush hero from chopped off branches," said Trim mer to his partner one afternoon, "that we'd better get rid of it." So they touched a llame to it, and it was soon roaring and crackling, send ! lng out a pleasant heat. It melted the snow beneath it and left an area of hot ground. "Here's a good chance for n roast," said Brokaw. "I'm going to make an oven in this hot earth, and we'll cook our deer meat, and as today is Christ mas we will have a befitting meal if wo never get another one." So Brokaw began to dig a hole for the baking. At the depth of two feet he struck a bed of rock, j "Good!" he exclaimed. "It's hot stone and will keep its heat. Give me the meat." The venison was brought in a bak ing pan, and Trimmer was about to place It in the hole when Brokaw stop ped him. "Hold on till I chip off a piece of the j stone to see what it's like," he said. ' "I thought you were through with prospecting," Trimmer remarked satir ! ically. "So I am. This isn't prospecting; it's only a habit. Any man who has been hunting in the earth as I long as we have will want to see ev erything he takes out." He broke off a bit of his oven bed, the venison was placed in the hole and covered over, and (he two men listened ' to the welcome sound of its sizzling. Brokaw took the piece of rock into hla cabin, where he lighted a candle, for it was now dark and the brush had burned to cinders. Trimmer was over the oven basting the venison and hum ming a little Christmas ditty when he heard liis partner call. ! "Come here, Trim." Trimmer went to the cabin where Brokaw was holding the chipping of rock to the candle. "What do you think of that?" asked Brokaw, his eyes standing out of his head as big as butter plates. "What do I think of it? Why, great Scott, man; it's live rock!" "That's what it is," replied Brokaw; "nothing more nor less—that is, if I know live rock when I see It, and t think I do." "Shake!" shouted Trimmer. "We'vo struck it, and struck it big!" It was a supper of another kind from roasted venison that the partners par took of—a probable realization of their vanished wild dreams. The meat wns savory, but (heir minds were not on it. They were laying plans. Experience had taught (hem what to do. They would keep their secret. They would pre-empt their claim. They would learn (he dip angle and the length and breadth of their newly discovered ledge. Spring came, and the partners wer» still ostensibly cutting wood, while they were really gathering informa tion. One day Brokaw went down into the valley, appeared at an assay office, handed in tlie chip of rock he had bro ken from the floor of his improvised oven and left it to have it assayed." He went back to the assayers the next day, got his report and started up the mountain. Trimmer saw him coming, but so cautious were the men in guard ing their secret that he withheld in quiry till both were in the cabin and the door closed. "Well?" ho asked impatiently. "Six hundred dollars to the ton." "Bleb, by thunder!" Such is the story of the discovery of the famous Christmas mine. Before the next Christmas came around from the time when Henry Brokaw dug ao oven in which to cook a haunch ol venison for a Yuletide meal he and John 1.. Trimmer had more than real ized their wildest dreama.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers