WHY DO WE WAIT?
Wh? do we wnlt till ram are dPf
Before we npt-Hk our kindly word,
And only utter levins praise
Wlieu not a wlilnpr cun be heard?
y do we wait till hands are In Id
mie-folded, pulnelen, ere we place
liyillll iiittiii luwn Dw-t-i aiiu n.v.
And llllna In their Hiiwleu grac?
Why do we wnlt till eyes are sealed
To Unfit and love in dentil's deep tranc
Dear wistful eves liefnre we bend
Above them with Impassioned glance?
Why do we wnlt till hearts are still
To tell them nil the love In oiiim,
And five them sueli late meed of praise,
And lay above thorn fra-jr.int flowers?
How oft we, enreless, wnl' till Ufa's
Bweet opportunities are pant.
And hrenk our "slataster-bux
Of ointment" at the very last!
Oh. let us heed the living friend
who walks with us life's common ways,
Watching our eves for look of lovo,
And hungering for a word of praise!
A. T. Herbert, In Woman's Home Com
panion. The btory of. a Forest
Fire.
By Raymond S. Spears.
For more tlinii tlx weeks no rain had
fallen along tin; southwest Bide of the
Ad Iron d ticks. The ground was parch
ed. In every direction from Soaberry
Settlement fires had beui hurtling
through the forest, but as yet the val
ley of the West Canada had escaped.
But one night a careless man threw
a burning match into a brush heap.
When morning came the west wind,
blowing up the vnlley, waa ash laden
and warm with the 11 r that waa com
ing eastward toward the settlement In
a line a mile wide.
Soon after daybrer Lem Lawson
met the fire on his way to Noblesbor
uph and warned the settlement of
Its danger. One man hastened to No
bleeborough for the fire warden, two
went up the West Canada to the lum
ber camps. The rest of the male pop
ulation, Including boys, hastened down
the main road to an old log trail. It
was hoped the fire might be stopped
at Khe opera the road afforded.
With hoes and shovels the men dug
a. trench through the loam to the sand,
cattering the dirt over the leaves to
ward the Are. When the first flames
oame along, they redoubled tholr efforts
amid the flying sparks and suffering
amid the flying sparks and suffcoting
smoke, but without avail. The sparks
and great pieces of flaming birch curls
carried the flames over the road into
tjie woods beyond the men, fairly sur
rounding them with Are.
Beyond the road the Are had a freer
weep. Only the year before that
woodlot had been cut over for the
pruce pulp. Hundreds of the tree
tops, brown and dry, needed only a
park to set them off, and it was a
wave of flame that ran Into each one,
Instead of mere Bjwirks. In the more
pen places little tongues of Are darted
In a narrow line for yards ahead of
the main wave, skipping among the
auwty leaves. The Are ran up the curly
birches In spirals and darted high
above the treetops.
1 The men could only go before It,
pausing now and then to throw dirt on
a spark. Those who lived in the settle
men glanced from side to sldo, won
dering if the Are would cross the brook
where they now determined to make
another and the last possible stand.
The settlement was built along the
brink of a steep slde-hlll. The bed of
the stream was only a few feet wide
chiefly sand-bar and dry boulders, at
this time and beyond it, toward the
.fire, was a flat, or bottom, sixty rods
wide, averaging not two feet above
the bed of the brook.
The bottom was covered with stand
ing balsams and heads of dead spruce
tops, like those oh the. ridge, only larg
er and more numerous. " It was a
wampy lowland In all but the dries:
easons; now it was' like a great bed
Of match sticks, and -quite as inflam
mable. Even the mold wotild ' burn
there. '-
Should the Are cross, the brook, It
w.ould climb the hill and burn the
buildings. ' Then It, would sweep across
.the. narrow fields .of grass, or go round
the ends of the settlement clearing, In
to the "big woods." Lumbering was
"the main business of the settlement.
Should these woods go, the men would
'be without homes and without occupa
' tion.
" One of the Are Aghters was Will Bor
son,' son of the man who had thrown
the maicli, and as he fought with bis
hoe along the road he heard the men
.on, each side of him cursing his father
by.na.me for his. carelessness. More
than once these men turned on Will
and. told hlra he ought to put that Are
out since his father was to blame for
tt The words stung bitterly, but he
'made no reply to. them.
Will did his best. Sparks burned
holes in his shirt; a flare of sheet fire
from a brush heap singed his eye
lashes and the hair over his forehead.
When old Ike Frazler cried out, "It's
' abuse here any more, boys!" Will was
the last one to duck his head and run
tor the road up the oreek to the settle
ment. Half a dozen men were detailed to
go to the houses and help the women
carry the furniture and other house
hold goods out in the fields to the watering-troughs;
the rest hastened to the
brook and scattered along it and threw
water on the brush at the edge, hoping
the flames would! be deadened when
they came.
' Among them worked Will Borson,
thinking with all his might and looking
up and down the creek as if the dry
gray boulders, with the scant thread
of water oozing! down among them,
would give him some Inspiration. The
width of the stream was only a few
feet on an average, and twenty feet at
the widest pools, over which the flami
and sparks would quickly Jump.
There were many trout in tihe stream,
and Will knew the pools by heart
When Sol Oardini was planning - to
make a Mali-pond abve the settlement
the summer before it was Will who
had advised him to dam the gorge. The
result had been that Instead of the ten
acre pond on which the landowner had
calculated, he formed a ltfke two miles
long and half a mile wide. The gorge
was where the brook, in the course of
ages, had worn down through forty
feet of rock; here the dam of log crib
bing was laid to the height of thirty
feet, with a ballast of broken stone.
Will was one of those who helped to
build it, and up to the night before be
had helped to get out stone for the
foundation of a house Cardln was to
build beside the lake.
The flre reached the flat at the foot
of the ridge and came toward the brook
In Jumps. The mon worked fasler
than ever with tholr ten-quart palls.
Old Ike Frazler glanced up the stream
and saw Will leaning on his hoe-handle
doing nothing.
"HI there!" yelled the man. "Get to
work."
"You tell the men it'hey want to be
looking out!" Will called back. "Home
tlilng'll hrtpiMMi pretty quick!" With
that he dropped his hoe and went
climbing up the side-bill toward his
homo at the 'lop. Mrs. Borson was Just
piling the lost of her bedding on the
wagon whon she saw Will coming to
ward her. He unhitched the horse
from the wagon, and had the harness
scattered on the ground before his
mother could control herself enough
to cry!
"Those thlngn'U be burned here!
What are you taking the horse for
we we "
Thon she sank to the ground and
cried, while Will's younger brothers
and sisters Joined In.
Will did not stop to say anything,
but leaped to the back of the horse,
and away he went up the road, to the
umazement of those who were taking
their goods from the houses. ' But he
was soon In the woods above the settle
ment and out of Bight of every one
He was headed for the dam. He had
thought to open the little sluice at the
bottom of It, which would add to the
volume of the water in the stream
raise it a foot, perhaps.
He reached the dam, and prying at
the gate, opened the way. A stream of
water two feet square shot from the
bottom of the dam and went sloshing
down among the rocks.
"That water'll help a lot," he
thought. Then he heard the roar of the
fire down the brook and saw a huge
dull, brlok-oolored flash as a big hem
lock went up in flame. The amount
of water gushing from the gate of the
dam seemed suddenly small and use
less. It would not fill the brook bed.
Will sprang to his foet.
In a little shanty a hundred yards
away were the quarrying tools used In
getting out the stone for the Cardln
house. To this Will ran with all his
speed.
With an old ax that was behind the
Bhanty he broke down the door. In
side he picked up a full twelve-pound
box of dynamite, and bored a hole the
size of his finger into one side. Then
to the dam.
He climbed down the ladder to the
bottom of the dam, and Axing the fuse
to the cap, ran it into the hole he had
bored till It wae well among the saw
duet and sticks of dynamite. He cut
the fuse to two minutes' length, and
carried the box back among the big key
logs that held the dam. He was soon
ready. He Jammed the box under wat
er among' the beams where it would
stick. A match started the fuse going,
and then Will climbed the ladder and
nun for safety.
In a few moments the exploslou
came. Will heard the beams In the
gorge tumbling as the dam gave way,
and the water behind was freed. Away
it went, washing and pounding down
the narrow ravine, toward the low bot
tom oiv which the Are was burning.
The fire-flghlers heard the explosion,
and paused, wondering, to listen. The
next instant the roar. of the water came
to their ears, and the tremble caused by
logs and boulders rolling with the Aood
was felt. Then every man understood
what was done, for they had been log
drivers all their lives, and knew the
signs of a loosed sluice-gate or of a
broken Jam.
They climbed the Bteep bank toward
the buildings, to be above the flood-line,
yelling warnings that were half cheers.
In a few moments the water was be
low the mouth of the gorge, and then
It rushed over the low west bank of
the brook and spread out on the wide
flat where the flre was raging. For a
minute clouds of steam and loud hiss
ing marked the progress of the wave,
and then the brush-heaps from edge to
edge of the valley bottom were covered
and the flre drowned.
The fires left in the trees above the
high water mark and the flames back
on the ridge stm thrust and flared, but
were unable to cross the wide, wet
flood-belt. The settlement and the "big
woods" beyond were saved. .
Sol Cardln reached the settlement on
the following day, and heard the story
of the flre. In response to an offer
from Will, he replied:
"No, my boy, you needn't pay for
the dam by working or anything else.
I'm in debt to you for saving my tim
ber above the settlement. Instead."
Then he added, In a quiet way charac
teristic of him. "It seems a pity if wit
like yours doesn't get ite full growth."
Youth's Companion.
Killing Time.
She I heard you singing in your
room this morning.
He Oh, I sing a little to kill time.
She Top. have a good weapon.
Boston Transcript
PEARL8 OF THOUGHT.
No man Is wise at all times. Pliny.
A loving heart Is the truest wisdom.
Dickens. 1
Let them obey that know not how to
rule. Shakespere.
Keep all you have, and try for all
you can. Bulwer Lytton.
A majority Is always better than
the best repartee. Disraeli.
Trusting to luck Is a lnzy man's
Job. Florida Times-Union.
Old fools are more foolish than
young oiiob. Rochefoucauld.
Between brjdge and stream the
Lord's mercy may be found. St. Au
gustine. A nlcknnme Is the hardest stone
Hint the dovil can throw at a man.
W. Huzlltt.
Bo not nrrogimt whe-n fortune
smiles, nor dejected when she frowns.
Ausonliis.
Do the duly which Hot h nearest to
thee. Thy second duty wlil already
have become clearer. Carlyle.
What surprises a girl most about a
man daring to kiss her is that he
didn't do It before. New York Press.
The man who knows enough to make
a fortune hardly ever knows enough
to tench his children how to spend It.
New York Press.
The plotiHiintest things In the world
are pleasant thoughts, and the great
art in lifo Is to have as many of them
as possible. Bouve.
To Judge human character rightly,
a man may sometimes have very small
experience, provided he has a very
largo heart. Bulwor Lytton.
To pnss out of the great, Inspiring
thoughts Into the personal duties Is
not to cease to be religious. It need
not be, at least. It may be the cloth
ing of religion with rpallty, the grip
and gndkon truth and God and light.
Phillips Brooks.
One of Washington's most Invalua
ble characteristics wna the faculty of
bringing order out of confusion. All
business with which he had any con
cern seemed to regulate Itself as If
by mnglc. The Influence of his mind
was like light gleaming through an
unshaped world. Nathaniel Haw
thorne. VIRGINIA CITY TODAY.
The Gold Seekers Have Gone and the
Town Is Dilapidated,
iVrglnla City Is Indeed a strange
town a living skeleton. In the height
of its opulence it boasted a population
of 30,000. Today there are less than
one-tenth that many. Dilapidation and
ruin are seen on every hand.
The chief Btreets terrace along a
great hillside. Further up the slope
are wastes of sagebrush growing in
stunted clumps that half hide the
earth with their gray twigs and fol
iage. Down below Is a valley where
the mines have dumped vast heaps of
waste.
The entire region is a wild upheav
al of hills and around the horizon are
seen ranges of snowy topped moun
tains. The only trees are an occasion
a. gnarled scrub pine or dwarf cedar
a few feet high.
The town streets are rough and dir
ty and ns I walked about I was con
stantly encountering old tin cans and
getting my feet tangled up In wires
from the baled hay. Buildings in good
repair are rarities. There are totter
ing fences and ragged wans and brok
en roofs and smashed glass and many
windows and doors are boarded up.
The search for gold has resulted In
tearing the country all to pieces. Ev
erywhere the hills are dotted with
prospectors' holes. iFrom any height
you can see dozens perhaps hun
dreds. They suggest the burrowing of
woodchucks or prairie dogs. The re
gion along the Comstock lode abounds
too In deserted shafts. From Outing.
The Sailor and the Parrot.
"We are a bluff lot," said Capt.
Prltchard. "Did you ever hear about
the sailor and the parrot t Well, an
old lady was returning from abroad
with a parrot of which she was very
fond. She intrusted the bird with
many admonitions, to a sailor for the
voyage. Seasickness, or something,
killed the parrot the third day out.
The sailor, knowing how upset the
old lady would be, could not bring
himself to tell her the sod tidlngss, but
asked a companion, famous for his
skill In such matters, to break the
bad news to her very, very gently.
The man assented. Approaching the
old lady with a tragical face, the fa
mous newsbreaker touched his cap,
and said. "I'm afraid that 'ere bird
o' yourn ain't goin' to live long,
ma'am.' - 'Oh, dear!' exclaimed the old
lady in alarm. 'Why?' "Cause he's
dead," was the reply." New York
World.
He Consented Then.
Passenger on pay-as-you-enter car:
"Conductor, can't that newsboy get
on?"
Conductor "Not unless he pays."
Passenger "Then how am I going
to get a paper?"
Conductor "I guess if you can't
Ash one through the window, you'll
have to go without."
Passenger "All right, if I haven't
any paper to read, I suppose I might
as well sit back here near you and
see if you ring up all the fares you
collect."
Conductor ( motioning to newsboy on
back step) "O, boy, you can come
in."-J-St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A recent hurricane in Nicaragua
drove the water from the river
against the houses In the town of
Prtnzapolca with such force that
most of them were destroyed.
The Origin of Fear.
By GEORGE I, KNAPP.
The average man would sooner
face a 200-pound human antagonist
than a fifty-pound dog which ha
could choke to death in three min
utes. I have seen a charging ram
scatter half a dozen men, any, one of
whom could have mastered the brute
in a moment, and not one of whom
was, in ordinary matters, a coward.
There are instances on record of men
who with their bare hands have held
and baffled an ugly bull, but It was
only the pressure of grim necessity
that 'taught them their powers. Put
a man against an animal, and the
man looks around for weapons or
support, whether he needs them or
not. There was a time when he did.
For man, to-day the most lordly of
animals, was once well nigh the most
humble of them all. He has come up
out of a state in which fear was the
normal condition of existence; fear
of violence, of the dark that gave op
portunity for violence; fear of fall
ing, of animals, of being alone. And
into the plastic gray cells of our
brains are stamped these ancient ter
rors; a living record of the upwnrd
climb of man. The baby shows this
record most clearly. In him the
prints of heredity are not yet over
laid by the tracks of use nnd custom,
and therefore In him we may most
enslly read our past history. He Is
our ancestor as truly as he is our re
incarnation, and his every shrinking
gesture and frightened cry are chron
icles of the Younger World, tales of
the Age of Fear. They tell of the
days when man was not the master
of the earth, nor even a highly con
sidered citizen of the same, but a
runaway subject of the meat-eating
monarchs whose sceptre was tooth
and claw; a humble pleblan in the
presence of the horned and hoofed
aristocrats of woods and fields. They
speak of the nights when our hairy
sires crouched In the forks of trees
and whimpered softly at the dark;
whimpered because the dark held so
many enemies; whimpered softly lest
those enemies should hear. Llppln-cott's.
Daniel Webster's Oxen.
Of oxen Mr? Webster was always
fond, and was as. good a Judge of
them as could anywhere be found.
He knew all his own by' name, kept
track of their ages and peculiarities.
On his return from Washington they
were among the first objects of his
thought, and, sometimes, after enter
ing the house and greeting the mem
bers of his family be would, without
sitting down, go out to the barn to
see those dumb members of his larg
er family, going from one to the oth
er, patting and stroking their facet
and feeding them from his hands.
Equally fond was he of showing them
to his guests. On one occasion, as he
stood thus with a friend, feeding
them with ears of corn, his son Flet
cher amused himself by playing with
the dog. "My son," said Mr. Web
ster, "you do not seem to care much
for this. For my part I like It. I
would rather be here than in the
Senate. I And it better company."
Every one remembers how, only a
week before his death, he had them
driven up into the lane before the
house, in order that he might see
them for the last time, and as they
came to his window called each by
name. Such glimpses are worth vol
umes In revealing to us the real char
acter of the man. Providence Jour
nal, Potato Crop in England.
The counties of Yorkshire and
Lancashire, England, both of them in
the Hull consular district, are the
eastslde potato Aelds of England.
Thousands of acres are planted with
potatoes there every year, and in a
good season heavy crops are grown.
While the land is fertile, perhaps the
scientific cultivation and the careful
selection of seed docs as much as any
thing to Increase the yield. The to
tal crop of potatoes In the United
Kingdom averages In value about
$100,000,000 annually, but when the
crop is poor, owing to an unfavorable
season or a blight, there are large im
portations from the Continent.
According to the report of Secre
tary Wilson, Just issued, unfavorable
weather made the potato crop only
275,000,000 bushels, or more than
45,000,000 tons five per cent, be
low the five-year average, although
the value, $190,000,000, is eighteen
per cent, above, and was never
equalled by any former crop. In
diana Farmer.
Too Many For Him.
An American traveling in Ger
many was much bewildered at the
large number of distinct and appar
ently independent countries through
which he went.
Just as he became accustomed to
Bavaria, with its blue-and-whlte na
tional colors, he would find himself,
without warning, in Wurtemberg,
where they have an entirely different
king, and entirely different military
uniforms,' and a strikingly different
dialect. Then a few hours' ride on a
train whisked him into Saxony, and
then it was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and
then Saxe-Weimar, and then Baden,
and then Hesse Darmstadt.. At last
he threw up his hands in despair.
"Where are we now?" he inquired.
"Frankfort-on-the-Maln."
"Who Is the local duke?" he asked,
wearily. New York Times.
Halcyon Interval.
Is there anything new in the line
of cute phrases since 'handing torn
one a lemon' came out?"
"No. not yet, thank Heaven."
New York Times.
IWORTH KKOWINCH
There Is a noticeable lncreai o!
Japanese servants In the rural homes
about New York City on account of
the unwillingness of the others to
live In the suburbs.
A New York womai who Is a mem
ber of seven card clubs estimates that
every day In New York City there are
four thousand women praying bridge.
A farmer on Long Island, N. Y.,
says that the potatoes he raised last
season were so big that thirty-six of
them made a bushel.
The largest lump of anthracite
conl ever mined recently was taken
from a mine in the Panther Creek
Valley of Pennsylvania. It weighs
seven tons, and will be placed In a
museum, either In Philadelphia or
Boston.
The seeds of the parnslte plant Jln
kungo, a natlvo of Mozambique, yield
an oil that, is said to be superior to
the salad oil of commerce.
Being once asked whether he had
rend any of the books of a popular
novelist, Thackeray rejoined: "Well,
no. You see, I am like a pastry cook,
X bake tarts and sell 'em; but I eat
bread and butter."
The survey of the Chlnlng-Chnng-chun
line, which Is said to be built
Jointly by the Chinese and Japanese,
has been completed. The cost of the
line is estimated at 9,000,000 taels
(one tael about seventy cents).
As nearly as can be ascertained,
the wealthy persons of New York
City receive thlrty-flve thousand beg
ging letters a day from strangers,
and the writers stand a better chance
of finding money than In getting from
them, for even the most liberal phi
lanthropists do not dispense their
charity excepting according to careful
plans and after investigation.
THE WOMAN INTERFERED.
She Wasn't Going to Let Any Flirta
tion Go On in Her Presence.
"I saw an odd case of Interference
with other folks' business the other
day in the subway," said a young
man. "A very pretty and young girl
got in a local train on the upper West
Side. A couple of stations further
on, in came a young man who sat
where he could see the girl.
"She was good to look at, too.
He caught her eye and apparently
held her attention. Maybe it wasn't
Just the right thing for her to do, but
after a time she moved her head and
obviously tried to smother a smile.
"The young chap wasn't a bit back
ward and before the train got much
further along be was sitting In the
cross seat with the girl and chatting.
"There was a middle aged woman
in the car who apparently had
watched the whole affair just as I
had. The car was practically empty
and the others in it were reading
rewspapers and hadn't paid attention
to what was going on.
"First thing I knew the woman
changed from one of the lengthwise
seats, and took her place In the very
cross seat where the two were sitting.
They didn't notice her until she
leaned over and 'said something to
the girl. I could Just imagine from
her looks that she was asking: 'Do
you know this young man?'
"The girl flushed up, looked three
times as pretty and the woman kept
on talking and looking stern.
"The upshot of it was that the
young fellow got out at the next sta
tion, apparently to hide his embar
rassment, and the girl stayed where
she was.
"After she'd broken up the little
party the woman moved out of the
seat and back to where she was be
fore. It made me a little sore and I
felt like asking her what business it
was of hers. But then again it wasn't
my business either, so I didn't."
New York Sun.
What the Detective Dldn'f, Know.
Even the lowliest may be able to
show you that your fund of informa
tion is sadly incomplete. "I well re
member," said H. K. Adair, a detec
tive, "a walk I once took down Mar
ket street. As I strode along, proud
and happy, a rose in my buttonhole
and a gold-headed cane in my hand,
a drunken man had the Impudence
to stop me. 'Ain't you Mr. Adair?'
be said. 'Yes,' said I; 'what of It?'
'Mr. Adair, the detective?' he hic
coughed. 'Yes, yes. Who are you?'
I asked impatiently. 'Mr. Adair,' said
the untidy wretch, as he laid his hand
3n my shoulder to keep himself from
falling, 'I'll tell you who I am, Mr.
Adair. I'm hie the husband of
your washerwoman.' 'Well, what of
that?' said I. My scorn brought a
sneer to the man's Hps, and he said:
You see, you don't know everything,
Mr. Adair.' 'What don't I know?" I
demanded, ''.ell, Mr. Adair,' said
he, 'you don;, know that hie I'm
wearing one of your new white
shirts.' " San Francisco Argonaut.
Alphabetical' States.
New Mexico, with Arizona, ad
mitted under its present name, there
will be eight States with an initial M
and eight Ns, the News and Norths
being chiefly responsible for the latter
list. There will also be four Ws, four
Is, three Os, three As, three Cs and
two each of Ks, Ts, Ss and Vs. while
the seven remaining letters of D, P,
R, U, G, F and L will be represented
by a State each. Boston Transcript,
A French chemist has invented a
tablet which, dissolved In a glass of
water, will clarify the air in a room
as well as a window left open aa
hour.
A combination of a lump of soap of
the size of a hickory nut, a pint of
boiling water and four tablespoonfula
of turpentine Is the familiar solution '
used to transfer newspaper cuts to
another' piece of paper or to cloth.
Dr. Schllck's apparatus for prevent
ing ships from rolling at sea has late
ly given fresh proof of Its ability. One
of his gyroscopes has been fitted oa
bom-d the mall steamship Lochlel, and
tried on the ship's regular route be
tween Olmtii and Bunessan. While the
vessel was rolling 16 1-2 degrees on
each side through a total angle of 33
degrees, the gyroscope was started,
and Immediately decreased the total
angle of roll to three degrees. The
apparatus Is driven electrically and
requires but little attention.
A simple blood test has been per
fected by Plorkowskl, a European
chemist. A little diluted serum from
a given animal Is placed In a very
small test tube, Into which Is then
Introduced one drop of the fresh or
dried sample of blood In a solution of
salt. The tube Is then allowed to stand
45 minutes. If the blood and serum
are from the same species as the
dog a faint red precipitate of coagu
lated blood appears under clear 11
tild, but If blood and serum are from
unlike Animals thn hlnnrl will he dis
solved In the serum, which will turn
mon oorn m Twr ntr nnn nnioi uoi t a r rxvwr
to be human blood.
cuiil (liHdivHrv in inn rnim imn7.t.H I
a part of Africa where it had not been
known to exist enables us to define a
few regions where the gorilla, the
chimpanzee and the pygmies exist la
conditions suggestive of the possibil
ity of discovering the fossils of their
ancestry In good preservation. The
pygmies are now known to have ex
isted practically In situ for 3000 years,
nnd It let hrnhahld TWi. Vapnav thfnlra
that the two great anthropoids may
have been there for as great, or a
greater length of time. He Is trying
to Indicate lnr.fl1lt.ieii rtt limited ata.
In which the likelihood of discovering '
the fossils mentioned is very great
FERTILIZER FOR COFFEE DE
MANDED. Problem Submitted for 8ome Ingen
ious Chemist.
In the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, ."'
the cultivation of coffee Is beginning
to assume considerable proportions.
Many things there contribute to the
success of the Industry. The climate
is favorable, the soil excellent, and
the price of land Is reported to be
low. Already the quality of the yield
Is attracting attention. It Is assert
ed, however, that one thing is yet
needed a good artificial fertilizer.
On some plantations barnyard manure
Is used, and It Increases the product
greatly, but it can be obtained only -in
large cities. William W. Canada,
American consul at the city of Vera
Cruz, declares that If some chemist
could devise a cheap substitute- a
great blessing would be conferred on
the coffee planters. After a few crops
have been taken the soli shows ex
haustion. The choice then seems to
He between abandoning the older plan
tations for new ones and applying a
fertilizer.
The problem Is probably not so sim
ple as it seems. . Experiments would
seem to be necessary In order to
judge the value of any article which
mlirht ha offered And ftll PTWrlmpnl
do not turn out well. On the other
hand, If something was found which
could be supplied In large quantities
without great cost it ought to sell
well In other countries than Mexico,
which raise coffee.
Sharks and Fruit Trees.
The use of Ash fertilizers has proved
a success for the large apple orchards
In Tasmania. Other fertilizers are
scarce and fish are unusually numer
ous In the waters around the island,
and are caught In Immense numbers.
The directions for use have a novel
appearance. One writer recommends
"three sharks or ten barracouta" for
each tree. The growers have been
in the habit of using the fish almost aa '
caught, but the objections to this plan
are evident, and a company Is now
formed to work up the fish, extract
the oil and grind the waste for fertil
izer. American Cultivator.
Among the Missourlans.
"A most peculiar effect was produced
by the announcement in the advertise
ments of a county fair to be helrfc.flHt..
my state," says Congressman Champ
Clark. 'Among other things, the an
nouncement said that 'attractive feat
ures of this great fair will be highly
amusing donkey races and pig races.'
Then to the amazement of the judic
ious, this note was added: 'Competition
in these two contests will be open to
citizens of the county!" Llpplncott's.
His Successes.
She I understand that drinking Is
one of your fallngs.
He You have been misinformed. It
Is one of my most pronounced success
es. Chicago Journal.