LIVE STOCK AGRICULTURE
QUEER SQUASHES.
Europeans Strange to Our Eyes,
but Useful In Some Ways.-
GOOD FOR PIES AND JAMS.
Italian Varieties Valued Also as Orna
mental Plants—French Cultivate
Them as Field Crop For Feeding Cat
tle—Seeds Pressed For Oil.
Writing in American Homes and
Gardens of "Gourds and Melons of
Unusual Growth," Jacques Boyer says:
In Europe squashes and pumpkins
nre used almost exclusively in the
fresh state in making soups and for
other purposes. The peasants of the
south of France make excellent pies
and jams of some varieties and also
stew them like potatoes. In ancient
times pumpkins were cleaned of their
seeds, dried and prepared in various
ways in winter. They formed an im
portant article in the food of Itoman
slaves, and this custom of drying
pumpkins was continued to a late pe
riod iu the vicinity of Genoa, Italy.
The market gardeners of Paris pre
serve the purity of race of their gourds
by collecting the seeds themselves. In
Anjou an oil which is edible, but quick
ly becomes rancid, Is extracted from
the seeds.
The Italian squashes, which are gen
erally elongated and of green or yel
Photograph by Long Island agriculture experiment station.
VENETIAN SQUASH.
lowish color, are nonrunning varieties.
Tbe stems are very short anil thick,
and the leaves are large, dark green
and. deeply incised into live or seven
lobes, with somewhat indented edges.
The fruit has a smooth, dark green
rind, marbled with yellow or pale
green.
The early crook neck squash, which
is bright yellow in color, curved near
the stem and entirely covered with
rounded excrescences, is valued espe
cially as an ornamental plant. The
Touraine citronille, on the other hand,
is cultivated chiefly as a field crop for
the feeding of cattle. The rind is
smooth and dark green, and the flesh
is yellowish white and of inferior qual
ity. The seeds, which are very oily,
are used in France iji the manufacture
of certain medicinal lozenges.
CITY MAN AS A FARMER.
Educator Advises Study of Certain
Sciences and Specializing.
If the city man who has a longing
to get back to the farm imagines he
can load a quiet rural life in the ca
pacity of an agriculturist and succeed
in that line he is mistaken, according
to Professor O. S. Morgan of Colum
bia university.
New economic conditions and a tem
pered public opinion toward the life
of the farmer have turned the tide, so
that today the tendency is for the city
man to seek agricultural pursuits
rather than for the proverbial farmer's
boy togo to the city to seek his for
tune, Professor Morgan said. His ad
vice to the city who desires to
take up farming is togo slow and first
to acquire at least a general knowl
edge of some of the sciences, such as
biology, physics, geology, botany and
chemistry; then specialize, for the city
man is normally a specialist from
temperament and training, and that
kind of farming is best, declared the
educator.
What la Silage Worth?
A correspondent of the National
Stockman and Farmer at Dubois, l'a.,
wants to know what a ton of good
com silage is wo.rth in the silo. That
Is a Question which frequently arises
in farm settlements and on which a
great variety of views may prevail.
Home have given silage a very low
value, counting merely the cost of
growing the crop and putting it up.
With a big variety of corn and a high
tonnage silage can be figured down to
quite a low value, but such iiguring
la manifestly unfair. Silage contains
corn in varying amounts, usually
around five bushels per ton in good
silage, and the price of corn should
be considered in estimates as to the
price of silage. Using this as a basis,
our friend can rate the value of his
■llaga by basing it on the corn it con
taint. In recent years most estimates
hare been at $2.60 to $3 per ton, but
It max be worth, mora If rich In grain.
*«* •♦**** »*«»*« ♦'♦♦J* »*♦ »*« »*♦ »JwJ» *J» *J««|» «$• «$•
4*
* "COMBINATION FARMING." 112
•8* _ T
£ The profits of farming are be- $
•£ lug investigated in an extensive *
way by the Cornell (X. V.) ex- 4*
T periment station. The plan Is
•v to compare the actual returns ♦>
£ and outgoes based on figures ob-
Stained by agents visiting the *
* farmers in the various counties
? of tlie state. The idea is to give ❖
X comparative figures rather than J,
* to disclose facts to which the v
individual farmers might object. 4.
* The conclusion seems to be, on *
4. the whole, in favor of combina- £
£ tion fanning against special
<5» farming. 4
% It appears that farmers make 4.
•i- more money by having a num- ❖
*j* ber of side issues in combina- X
4* tiou with whatever may be their J
£ specialty. The experiment sta- *
* tion suggests tlie importance of j
X the farmer having a combination *
X that will furnish the most profit- 5
* able work throughout the day 112
and throughout tlie year and as- X
* serts that no single product will 4-
5 accomplish this result. 4<
* The conclusion is not against *
S specialized farming nor in favor %
* of ordinary general farming, but £
!*! ratlier leaning toward what the
X station calls "combination farm- $
•!- ing," which depends mostly 011 *
* tlie specialty, but advances the %
•j* income by a wise selection of
t£ side lines which enable various I£
<• economies of labor and equip- *
luent and add decidedly to the
profits.—American Cultivator. *•*
♦*« ♦♦♦ »*• »*« ♦*« «*« »*• ♦.♦♦J* *!•
"TUCKING IN THE ENDS."
Little Things to Be Done to Make
Stock Comfortable In Winter.
With the winter here a number of
ideas come to us if we would make
the stock comfortable.
Most barns need to lie better lighted.
Great improvement lias been made in
this respect in the past few years, but
a trip through the country shows far
too many barns where little light ever
conies in save through the cracks in
the siding.
The old board slides may be taken
out and sash for glass be putin their
place. The opening many times needs
to be made a good deal larger, but this
can easily be done by any farmer who
is at all handy with a saw.
Then, too, more attention should be
given to furnishing fresh air foV the
cows. This can in most barns be ac
complished by putting a board shaft
from the floor up through to the top
of the barn.
A good many barns have more ven
tilation than is good for the stock, but
it is not of the right kind. The kind
which gets in at the cracks and where
boards are off is about the worst pos
sible.
Straw enough for bedding is a neces
sity of comfort. True, good straw is
marketable at a good price, and yet if
used as bedding and turned back on
the land it is worth a fair price.
The day of foddering out on the
ground is long gone by on the best and
most successful farms, and yet many
still do it. Good racks ought to be
made for this purpose.
Lay in a stock of currycombs and
brushes for use on the backs of cows
and young stock and see that they are
used every day. The time to begin is
now.—American Cultivator.
Honey Farming.
With the development of reclama
tion projects in various states of the
west a new and attractive industry
has made Its appearance—nothing
more nor less than honey farming.
Now that extensive irrigated tracts
are being added to the arable lands,
honey growing on a large commercial
scale has become a profitable enter
prise. The average cost of bees is
about $5, and in irrigated territory a
hive will produce about seventy-six
pounds more honey a year than its
members require. The honey sells at
the point of production at prices rang
ing from 15 to 20 cents a pound. As
bees multiply at the rate of 100 per
cent a year, It Is estimated that a bee
farm will return annual dividends of
150 per ceut after the first year. It
would be difficult to Imagine an easier
or more profitable form of farming.—
New York Mall.
Good Faad For Bhotaa.
Corn and oats, half and half, soaked
twenty-four hours or else ground make
au excellent feed for growing s botes
four tojitix montln old.
FACTS ABOUT TRIPOLI.
Country Italy Began War Over a Mos
lem State Since 665 A. D.
The African provinces of the Otto
man empire which Italy sought em
brace an area estimated at 398,000
square miles, or nearly six times the
size of European Turkey ami nearly
four times as large as Italy. The coun
try is badly watered, and the products
are scanty. Cattle and sheep are raised;
also dates, oranges and lemons, barley
j and wheat. There is a considerable
■ trade in ostrich feathers, which come
by caravan from central Africa. There
; are about a million inhabitants, mostly
Berbers. The Jews number perhaps 10,-
000. The European population is in the
coast towns and consists of Maltese
and Italians, about 0,000 or 0,000.
Tripoli was conquered by the Arabs
in 047-005 A. D. and lias ever since re
mained a Moslem state. In 1510 Ferdi
nand of Spain took It, but in 1553 the
Turks under Torghoud and Slnan cap
tured it. From 1714 to 183." the Kara
manli family of beys ruled principally
independently, but since that time Tur
key has governed the country. Sev
eral rebellions (notably in 1842 and
1844) have been suppressed. The re
gion embraces the vilayet of Tripoli
(Taraboulous el Gharb) and Bengazi,
an independent sanjak. Tripoli city
has about 30,000 inhabitants, Bengazi
35,000, while 1 tenia Is the only other
coast city of any size.
Tripoli city is a station of the north
African mission, an English society,
and medical work is.carried on there
among all classes. Of late Italians
have been quite active in opening
. schools in Tripoli, especially for the
Jews. An American-archaeological ex
pedition is at work in Bengazi.—'"The
Orient, Constantinople."
What About the Hired Man?
They talk about the servant girl, suggest
ing this and that
To make her life more happy in the man
sion or the flat.
They say to teach her music and to culti
vate her mind
And never, never speak to her in tones
that are unkind.
But—
What about tlie hired man,
Hired man. tired man.
Frequently the tired man—
What about his life?
Nobody ever sighs for him,
And books nobody buys for him
r intimates that pies for him
L'hould never know a knife.
The ladles read their papers at the Help
ful Household clubs
And talk about the hardships of the maid
who bakes and scrubs
They advocate a fashion plate upon the
kitchen wall,
And higher aspirations they propose for
one and all.
But—
What about the hired man,
Hired man, tired man.
Soon or late the tired man—
What about his lut?
Nobody ever thinks of him
Or sends out fancy drinks for him
Or talks of fashion's kinks for him
Or gives to him a thought.
They write to all the papers on the serv
ant question now.
And women of authority with high and
bulging brow
Get up and make orations on the way to
help the cook
And tell how like a parlor every kitchen
ought to look.
But—
What about the hired man,
Hired man, tli;ed man,
After while the* Jired man—
-1 Who's concerned for him?
He'll have to keep his hustle on
And toll tffitltug and rnstle on •
And heave and pull and tussle on
Or else his ehance Is slim.
—Chicago Evening Post.*
! A "PacK. oJ~ JSf to Laugh At j
Loss Not Irreparable.
Returning home one evening, tlie
husband found the bride, in tears. Be
tween sobs she managed to let liim
know thai something horrible laid hap
pened.
"it does seem too awful," she said,
"that the very first meat pie 1 made
for you should be eaten by the cat!" j
"Well, never mind, dearest," said
her husband cheerfully, putting her on
the shoulder. "We can get another cat
easy enough."—Harper's Weekly.
A Load on Her Mind,
Reminiscences.
"Once I could have bought the site
of Chicago for S4OO In Mexican mon
ey."
"I know how It is, old chap. 1 had
u chance to buy a beefsteak once or'-
11 cents a pound."—Kansas City Jour
nal.
Those Telltale Eyes.
Mrs. Jagg—My husband's eyes in the
morning are an open volume to me.
Mrs. Swagg—How do you mean?
Mrs. Jagg—They are red.—Comfort
FRAYEiniTLES,
Ones That Formerly Suggested
Elevated Positions.
TERM BARON IN GERMANY.
Waiter Once Said He Who Tipped a
Pfennig Would Receive This Distinc
tion—Kriegsraad Usually Worn by
Mildest Danish Apothecaries.
There was a time in France when
"monsieur" carried considerably more
significance than it does now. Indeed,
it conveyed the idea of high rank, pret
ty much as it does to this day among
the Norman population of the Channel
islands, and even in England the wife
of a knight or a baronet, who is by
courtesy "my lady," is in reality only
"madame." But for the last seventy
years at least "mousieur" has ceased
to be any more distinctive than
"esquire" in England, "senor" or "dou"
in Spain, "signor in Italy, "senhor" in
Portugal, "herr" in Germany or, it
might be added, than "colonel" or
"judge" in certain parts of our own
country.
In England even within the memory
of men living the old distinctions of
"mister" and "esquire" were to some
degree preserved. A gentleman en
titled to "bear arms"—an "armiger"—
had alone the right to the latter desig
nation, although by courtesy it was ex
tended to every landowner and justice
of the peace, anil in "New England the
latter functionary is to this day styled
an "esquire" or "squire." though we
have dropped the redundant "worship"
still claimed by certain English magis
trates. Then "esquire" was extended
to every professional man, though le
gally it is in England confined to some
of the younger sons of dukes and mar
quises and their eldest sons, to the
eldest sons of baronets and knights, to
all the untitled sons of noblemen, to
justices of the peace, officers oft lie
army and the navy, barristers and doc
tors of law and medicine. It is not the
right of surgeons or attorneys and,
curiously enough, does not necessarily
belong to landed proprietors. In some
old books the distinction is carefully
maintained in the prefatory list of sub
scribers, the misters and esquires be
ing divided into separable categories.
Even in the body of the text the "armi
ger" is always mentioned under this
title, and until recent times, says the
New York Press, it was not regarded
as a clumsy pleonasm to address a let
ter to "llis Worship the Honorable
Reginald Barker. Esq.. .1. P.," just as
a foreigner who prides himself on his
knowledge of English etiquette always
insists on appending "esquire" to ev
ery Briton's name, no matter what
may be its immediate antecedents.
Mister, or master, has lost all its
original meaning. It is no longer ex
pressive of power or possession. In
England almost every one above the
grade of laborer or small tradesman
regards it as little better than an in
sult to be addressed in a letter as plain
"Mr."
In Germany a similar condition ex
ists. "llerr" Is no longer "lord" and
to be acceptable must usually be qual
ified by "well born" or even "high well
born." In like manner "frau" and
"fraulein," "flue" and "froken," which
iu the north were tilles of "people of
The Worth of Freedom.
"It posts more,'.' said a prominent
Washingtonian, "to get divorced than
it costs to get married."
"Maybe so," said tlie lawyer as he
took the big check, "but it's worth
: more, isn't it'/"'
He Got the Egg.
Amateur'Conjurer—Has any gentle
man iu the audience an egg?
l' One gentleman had, and the conjurer
promptly got it.'
v * ;
Business Looking Up.
"Why have you painted your sign up
side down?"
"I carry aviation goods. I want It ao
that the bird men can read It aa they
fly overhead."—Pittsburgh Poat
quality," are now the ordinary desig
nation of those who tifty years ago
would have been content with their
"trade" as handle to their name, while
their wives and daughters would nev- i
fc/ have expected any other designa
tion than that by which they were
baptized or at best "madame" or "jorn
frue."
In Spain "senor" and "senora" are
of universal application, and, though
in Portugal "dom" is (or was) strictly
reserved for the royal family, the
Spaniard not styled "don" would be
much offended. So in the new.world
the profession of republicanism does
not preYeot every Latin American
from Mexico to the Argentine Itcpub
lic from being addressed somewhat
tautologically as "senor don."
In Germany and Belgium nobility of
a nominal' description is becoming so
common that titles, unless of a very
unequivocal kind, "are being gradually*
abandoned. "We call everybody a
baron," the waiter explained to a de
parting guest, "who tips us a pfen
nig." and in Denmark it is almost
equivalent to a personal affront to ask
any one above the rank of a country
schoolmaster whether he is a "kam
merraad," or court councilor. Yet,
strange to say, the truculent title of
"kriegsraad," or war councilor, is usu
ally borne by the mildest of village
apothecaries.
It is the same with the English "es
quire" and "mister." Anybody in Eng
land can "bear arms" and, for the
matter oi that, does so wituout trou
bling the college of heralds, and, except
j that sometimes in addressing a letter
] to his tailor or butcher there may be
| in -the mind of the average Englishman
! a doubt whether the addressee should
| tie called by the first or the 'Second
J title., all distinction between t.he two
j lia.s been practically lost, and it is per
i fectiy certain that to neither is there
attached the smallest title of honor.
S ITEMS OF INTEREST. :
• •
During the last census decade the
population of this country increased 21
| per cent.
At the beginU g of the year 11)11
I there were twent. live-irrigation proj
j ects under govern lent patronage. In
j tlie course of.construction. Four have
| been finished in then eantime.
I A general increase has been made in
J the pay of the members of the London
I police force which will add $400,000
per year to the municipal expenses.
For the first time in history a joint
stamp, bearing the legends both of
France and Britain, has been issued in
the New Hebrides Islands, which are
jointly administered by the two couu
| tries.
j The yearly bill for preventive dis-
J eases in this country amounts to from
i $2,000,000,000 to $4,000,000,000. The
| damage from insects annually is esti
j mated at $l,O-19,000,000.
California, ranking second in the mat
j ter of activity in the development of
water powers, has 1.070 wheels gen
erating 400,774 horsepower. There are
several states with more wheels, but
less horsepower.
in 1910 lead production of the Cnited
States was 372,227 tons from domes
tic ore and 108,553 tons from foreign
ore and base bullion. The principal
producing states were Missouri, with
101,059 tons; Idaho, 9-1.524; Utah, 57,-
081, and Colorado, 35.085. Seventeen
other states contributed.
Getting Out of the Dark.
On the death of his first wife a lit- j
erary celebrity of the south erected an j
elaborate memorial to her on which j
| was inscribed the sentiment "The Light 112
of My Life Has Gone Out." The late |
Bishop Wiliner of Alabama pointed out
the memorial to a friend who rvad the j
; words and then asked, "But lie mar- j
j ried again, didn't he?"
j "Yes." replied the bishop, "he did. j
I You see, lie struck another match, as j
| it were!"— Harper's Magazine.
His Direct Opposite.
Bertie -I shall never marry till 1
meet a woman who is my direct oppo
site.
Minnie—Well, there are plenty of
bright, intelligent girls in your neigh
borhood.
Off Day For Gallantry.
Young Lady—Won't one of the gen
tlemen in the car offer me his seat?
Conductor—l think not, Miss. 1 ' You're
foo pretty. They've all got their wives
with them.—Fliegemle Blatter.
Cauao For Provocation.
Owner (feebly)— What happened to
us?
Chauffeur—A telegraph pole ran Into
us, sir. I never see such road hops.—
Puck.
OCEAN CURRENTS.
Bottle Voyages an Aid to Study
of Direction and Movement.
KNOWLEDGE IMPERFECT YET.
Various Causes Contribute to Making
Destination of Corked Messages Un
certain—Two Hundred Such Papers
Found Annually.
The officer of a vessel who while at
sea steps to the rail ami hurls a well
corked bottle overboard in which there
is a slip of paper is not bent on a ro
.rnantic venture. Instead of a request
for a letter of acknowledgment and
possibly au acquaintance from the sea
side maiden who might find it, perhaps
a year later, that slip of paper contains
the names of the vessel and its master,
the date and the latitude and longi
tude at which tlie bottle began its voy
age. Below this there are blank spaces
for the name of the tinder, the date,
locality and the postoffice address.
At the bottom of the slip, printed in
eight different languages, are these
instructions: "The Under of this will
please send it to any United States
Consul or "forward i direct to the hy
drographic office. Washington, D. C."
The whole operation represents a
little step in a great task upon which
work has uninterruptedly gone for
ward for many years. It is one means
of determining the direction and
movetfirtjit of the great as well as the
smaller currents of the ocean, and it
will perhaps be due to the continual
varying „u6- the latter currents that
this, tatikj may never be ended.
There lias been a knowledge of the
existence rtf ocean currents since ships
began'to traverse the oceans, but until
the earlyseventies It was limited.
Mariners km>,w that on the west coast
of Xiuro|»e, there was a force which
tended to carry them southward and
'that on the east coast of North Ameri
ca a similar force which carried them
northward, but they knew neither the
true set nor direction.
it was tiie object to determine the di
rection and rate of flow in originating
this.system of bottle voyages, says the
Washington Star.
In 1873-0 the voyage of the United
States ship Challenger showed that
there are two kinds of ocean currents,
permanent and semipermanent. liy
the use of specially constructed ap
paratus it was discovered ttint the
permanent currents possessed a drift
or movement far below the surface,
.while the temporary currents affected
the surface waters only. This is shown
decidedly in the movement of the bot
: ties. The bottles following a regular
stream or permanent current will
move nearly twice as fast as those
traversing a semipermanent current.
There are twenty-seven permanent
currents in the oceans of the world,
and there are nearly as many more of
the semipermanent variety existing at
one time. Several causes tend to orig
inate and maintain these drifts. Uni
formly- directed winds have the great
est influence, and differences of tem
peratures, storms, polar ice and eddies
each llave some effect, creating usual
ly the currents of semipermanent va
riety.
When a bottle is thrown overboard
in midoceau it is not always possible,
therefore, to forecast its landing place
unless it be launched in the "midst of
the great currents, such as the gulf
stream. A semipermanent current
formed on tin- edge of the main cur
rent by either of the above causes may
grip it and whirl it off to some distant
part of the ocean, where it may drift
into another and entirely different part
of the ocean. About 200 bottle papers
annually reach the hydrographic office
in Washington. On a liberal estimate
this means that about 70 per cent of
those thrown overboard are recovered.
There are three causes which tend
to produce an element of uncertainty
in the tale told by these bottles of the
rate of flow of any ocean current—
drifting into a temporary current pro
duced by stormy winds, being carried
around an eddy and the length of
time they may lie on an unfrequented
shore before being picked up. The
great number of bottles thrown over
board, however, almost entirely elimi
nates these defects, since the average
rate of drift of the majority is nearly
the same.
The greatest drift of any bottle yet
reported to the hydrographic office was
that of one thrown overboard from the
steamship Fuerst Bismarck on May 1,
1808. According to the letter of trans
mittal from the I'nited States consul at
Hamburg, It was recovered at (Jluck
stadt. on the Kibe. Aug. 1, 1808. Hav
ing been thrown overboard opposite
Cape ltace, on the Newfoundland
coast, the distance covered was 2,400
miles, giving 20.1 miles as the lowest
possible estimate of the average drift
per day, or a little over one knot per
hour. It is supposed that a preponder
ance of westerly gales helped the bot
tle along.
Jewel Weighs 243 Pounds.
Jewel experts throughout the world
have been thrown into a state of ex
citement by the appearance of a beryl
that weighs 243.1 pounds and is 18.9
inches high and from 15.75 Inches to
1C.5 Inches in width. This Is the largest
beryl ever found and Is reported to
have been sold by its finder for nearly
$25,000. T|ie beryl was picked up by a
Turk In the state of Mlnas Geraea,
Brazil. Its color is. a greenish blue,
and It la absolutely free from Impari
ties. It is estimated that this.on crys
tal idll furnish st least 200,000 OUtets
of jewels of various sizes.—Mliwankftt
Journal