A returned traveler says that ths Crow Indians have forsworn war and are tilling the soil.! According to the Treasury esti mate the stock of gold now in the United States is greater now than ever before, and is increasing. A report just made public by the Department of Agriculture shows that Austria-Hungary not only began im porting American wheat in August, but that Austria-Hungary, as to all cereals except barley, is changing per manently from an exporting to an im porting country. The President of the Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank has been found guilty of wrecking that in stitution, and has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment. If he had been found guilty of wrecking a chicken loop he would have probably got four jr live years, observes the Louisville Qouricr-J ournal. Two hundred and fifty acres of land have been secured at New York City 'or a botanioal garden, whioh will be modeled on the plan of the famous Kew Gardens at London, though it will be many years before it can hope ;o even get in sight of those wonderful jardens, where are grown specimens >f rare plants oollected from all over the world. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company has recently applied elec tricity to a new use —that of working turn-tables for locomotives. Four men were required to turn a locomo tive by hands at a cost of twelve cents per locomotive, whereas the electrical machine reduces the cost to half a tent. The saving effected will be ibout S7OO a year. Lewis Giuter, the American To jacco Company millionaire, who died recently in Richmond, Va., was one >f those venturesome business men who had such a mania for advertising and spent so much of his income in the newspapers when beginning busi ness that he frightened his partner Into selling out to him. That partner jot $60,000 for his half of the busi ness. A few years later Giuter sold jut to the American Tobacco Com pany for $7,000,000, and died leaving $10,000,000. General Stone estimates that with railroad 00-operation narrow stone roads or gravel roads surfaced with •tone can be built generally through nut lowa at a cost of from 8800 to 81200 a mile where no heavy grading is required, and suggests that the cost can be largely reduced by the employ ment of convict labor, as is done in other States. Conservative estimates based upon the hauling of crops and local travel place the tax paid annually by the farmers of lowa because of bad roads at 811,000,000. There threatens to be a plethora of gold, according to the reports from the gold fields of the world. An im mense amount is estimated to come from the Klondike within the next three months; the reports from the Pacific coast miners show that they are increasing their output, whether by increased diligence on the part of the miners or from the use of im proved methods for working the mines and extracting the gold, aud now we have a dispatch from San Francisco stating that 81,500,000 in gold is now on the way to that port from Austra lia, making tho gold imports from that quarter during the past four mouths $10,000,000. Tho editor of the Evanstnn (Wyom. ing) News Register says he received the following a few days ago: "I'd like to be a boy again, without a woe of care, with freckles scattered o'er my face and hayseed in my hair. I'd like to rise at 4 o'clock and do a hundred chores, and saw wood and feed the hogs and lock the stable doors, and herd the hens and watch the bees and take the mules to drink, and teach the turkeys how to swim so thoy will no) sink, and milk a hundred cows and bring in wood to burn, and stand out in the sun all day and churn and churn, wear my brother's cast-ofl clothes, and walk four miles to school, nnd get a licking every day for break ing some old rule, and then get home again at night and do the chores once more, milk the cows and feed the hogs and enrry mntes a score, then creep wearily up stairs to seek my little bed, and hear dear old dad say, 'that worth less boy, he doesn't earn his bread.' I'd like to be a boy again; o boy line so much fun; his life is just one round of mirth from rise to set of sun. 1 think there's nothing pleasanter than closing stable doors and herding hens and bees nnd doing evening chores." I WORLD'S BIGGEST CANNON 1 w ♦ > TO PROTECT NEW YORK. V% w <j> * r\ . -\ . xt ,A\/t\A'> 7'r77v\/v\*4". The largest gun ever built is now being constructed at the Bethlehem (Penn.) Iron Works. This enormous piece of ordnance will weigh, when completed, 126 tons. It will exceed by six tons weight the monster gun which Krupp, of Germany, exhibited at the World's Fair, in Chicago, and in length it will be nearly live feet longer than the German gun. This monster guu is being fabri cated under the War Department. It is the biggest order ever given to any establishment in the world. The great gun is being built under the superintendence of John F. Meigs, formerly a Lieutenant of the United States army and a standard artillery authority in this country. With him is associated Captain F. L. Zalinski, United States army (re tired). The Government inspection work is in the hands of Captain Ira McNutt, of the ordnance corps of the army. All three gentlemen are on the ground and personally see to every detail of the immense undertaking as it progresses. -The intention of the War Depart ment, it is aunouuced, is to mount the great pieeeon a specially built founda tiou on Romer Shoals. The protec tion for this guu will be a turret, which will wholly inclose the crew and the greater part of the gun. From its position on Romer Shoals the great piece of ordnance will have a full sweep of the channels leading into New York Harbor. There is not, it is declared, a vessel afloat to-day with armor of sufficient strength to resist BIGGEST GUN IN THE WORLD TO PROTECT NEW YORK. ~ ~,** weigh, complete, 12G tons, and is six tons heavier thau the giant gan shown by Krupp at tho World's Fair at Chicago, It will ue mounted on a speeial foundation at ltomer Shoals, in the lower Bay. No vessel could resist a shot from It. Its shot. John F. Meigs estimates that a blow from the new gun woulil have a striking energy equal to that of a 2000-ton ship when running at full speed. The shot from the gun, he adds, would smash, crack and batter down any armor which it would be possible for a ship to carry. The caliber will be sixteen inches, the length, from breech to muzzle, will be forty-nine feet two inches. Throngh the breech in a vertical line the gun will have a measurement of exactly five feet, Mr. Meigs com putes the weight of a shot for tho new gun at a little over 2300 pounds. That means more than a ton of metal. The heaviest shots fired in England have not weighed over 2000 pounds. The powder charge for tho Ameri can gun will weigh nearly 1000 pounds. Provided extreme elevation for range could be obtained, a shot from the New York Harbor gun should be able to travel more than sixteen miles. The greatest known range ever at tained was from the famous "jubilee shot" in England. The distance measured about, twelve statute miles. The United States has never before attempted any heavier piece of ord nance for coast defence than a twelve inch gun. The weight of a piece of the latter caliber is approximately fifty tons. In the sixteen-inch gun there is observed a jump of seventy six tons increase in weight. The first ingot for the new sixteen inch gun was cast recently at Bethle hem. It was for the tube forging and weighed 82,800 pounds. The jacket forging is also out. It weighs 90,000 pounds. Under tho contract made with the War Department the Bethle hem works will turn out all forgings for the great gun. The tempering and annealing process will also be applied at the Bethlehem shops. When all the parts are out, the tube, jacket and hoops will be shipped to the United States arsenal at. Watervliet, West Troy, N. Y. There they are to be as sembled together, and the gun itself rifled and made ready for service. All metal used is fluid compressed. The specifications which are being ad hered to demand the most exacting physical tests. Specimen pieces of metal are taken from all forgings, are subjected to elongation, breaking and bending tests. Finally every part of the gun must be of forged metal. The tube, for instance, has been cast and rough bored. It will next have a man ' drel introduced through its length uud then be placed under the hammer. For this latter stage the Bethlehem I works have the largest hammer in the 1 world. It is capable of delivering a j blow of 120 tons, or some ten tons j more thau tho famous Krupp ham- I mer. The building of the new sixteen-inch gun is an expensive undertaking. The gun itself will cost about $120,000. T JT single guns the average cost to the 'government for all fortification work in this country is roughly SIOOO per ton of gun. The cost of the gun carriage and tur ret will bring the cost up to as much again as the weapon, while the cost lor foundation will, it is estimated, round out a grand total of at least $300,000. The foundatiou for the six teen-iuch gun will require a depth, it is said, of fifty feet if earth be the basis. This foundation must be constructed of concrete. IDAHO'S WOMAN COVERNOR. lor Two Weeks Miss Margaret Itoeve Filled the Executive Chair. The news that for two weeks a woman had filled the executive chair of the State of Idaho—a thing unpre cedented in this country's history— created no end of lively comment throughout the Northwest. The woman is Miss Margaret Reeve, who for several years has held re sponible places abont Idaho's State building, having for the last four years been private secretary to the Gover nor. When Governor Steunenberg and Secretary of State Lewis were called to the northern part of the State on business of the greatest importance in connection with the Stnte's vast do main of white-pine timber, they were at their wits' end to know whom they could safely leave in charge of State matters during their absence, as At torney-General McFarland had pre ceded them from the State. It seemed for a time the trip would have to be postponed, or that one of them would have to remain behind, when Secretary of State Lewis sug gested to the Governor that Miss Reeve be left in charge. The Gover nor was almost stunned by the bold plan, but Miss Reeve had proved her self most efficient, being familiar with till the routine work in tho building, and the Governor consented to the plan, and Miss Reeve was left at the State house clothed in full Guberna torial authority, which she exercised in a manner that not only gave satis faction to the Governor, but has won her great distinction. Before the Governor and party had been absent twenty-four hours matters of great importance were brought to Miss Reeve's attention. The Gover nor and Secretary of State had left a number of important blanks to which they had attached their signatures, and it was left to Miss Reeve's dis cretion to issue them or not—requisi tions, applications for extraditions from Governors of other States, and many other matters. She sought legal advice, but the at torney informed her she must depend upon herself, as ho did not "care to be mixed up in the acts of any female Governor." When the Governor re turned he was surprised at the amount of executive business his fair substi tute had turned out, and frankly ad mitted the excellence of her judgment, of i ! MISS MAIiUAUET lIEEVE. although in one instance—the case of an application for extradition—he said he would not have issued it until he had given the protestants a hearing. He has announced his determination to defend with vigor every act of "Gov ernor Reeve," including those quoted. Currents In the Atlantic. Experiments havo been going on for the past two years for the purpose of trying to learn something of the characteristics of tho Atlantic ocean as a great moving body of water. As a result the whole Atlantic is shown to be slowly circulating round and round, like an enormous pool. ELECTRIC CABS IN NEW YORK. Horseless Vehicle* Have Heroine a Fix* lure in the IJig City. Electric cabs, hansoms and broug hams are a success in New York, bo ELECTRIC HANSOM USED IN NEW YORK. much of n success that the company operating them has just given out an order for 100 new vehicles. During June, the first month of their opera tion, a total number of 032 calls were received, averaging between thirty-two aud twelve per day, carrying 1580 pas sengers 1003 miles at rates similar to the horse-cab system, aud each month since that time has seeu a steady in crease in the service. The best results obtained from these vehicles show that about 1.25 horse power is supplied fov a propulsion of 2000 pounds over ordinarily level roads at a speed of ten miles au hour. This consumption of power is a triflo over two and one-third times that of similar work on rails, which indicates that the equipment of the battery is carefully adapted to the total weight of the vehi cle and just sufficient for practical traveling capacity. The maximum weight of a battery for a hansom weigh ing 3000 pounds is 1200 pounds for a distance of twenty-five miles at the maximum speed of twelve miles or at an average speed of si,x miles. A vehicle to travel twice this dis tance could readily be built, but it would need to be twice its weight in order to nccommodate twice the bat tery equipment. This type ot vehicle is constructed with the view of a speed of from six to twelve miles [an hour, but a vehicle can be built to approxi mate thirty miles an hour, although it would necessarily bo made as a racing apparatus and not fit for street worl. Two one-and-one-half horse-power motors, weighing 172$ pounds each, are found sufficient for a hansom, and are operated at a maximum speed of 1350 revolutions per minute. Largest Cast Iron Pipe Ever Moulded. The largest pipe ever cast was turned out at Bessemer, near Birmingham, Alabama, the other day. The pipe was FIRST 72-INCH PIPE CAST. seventy-two inches in diameter on the inside,and seventy-six and one-quarter inches in diameter, outside measure ment, and twelve feet six inches long over all. The metal in it weighed 20,- 000 pounds. The seventy-two-iucb pipe was moulded for the New Orleans & Northeastern Kailroad, to be used for culverts under their tracks. A small river can flow through one of these pipes. It is as largo as the great sewers of Paris which were built of brick and stone. A Churelt Literallv Founded on a Koch. The tenth anniversary of the Pres byterian Church at Waterloo, lowa, was celebrated a short time ago. There would bo nothing remarkable about IBEBgF* CHURCn MADE PROM A ROCK. that, only that the church ia part of a solid rock, having been cut out of a big boulder ten years ago. General Boulanger's black charger, on which he hoped to ride to a throne, now draws a Paris cab. A Natural Food for Homes. The oat is a natural food for horses at any age. It has just the kind of nutrition to make the muscle and hone, and, conjoined with exercise, these are the basis of strength. It is especially important that the colt I begin to develop muscle at au early ! age. If be is allowed free room in which to run, the colt fed a few oats daily will do all else that is needed. I He will even groom himself by rolling lon the ground or in the snow when [ snow is on the ground. Besides, a pint of oats twice a day, making only a quart a day, will keep the colt grow | ing when with only hay he will have a rough, staring coat and grow very little the first winter. What is worse, the colt thus underfed is likely to ■ have its digestion injured. The'hull I of the oat prevents it from injuring , the colt when fed in such small quan tities. Towards spring the amount of i oats may be increased to a quart at j each feeding. At a quart a day it is j less than a bushel per month, and at j the largest it is less than two bushels j per month. What is ten bushels of i oats in comparison with the increased | value of a thifty horse instead of hav- I ing an unthrifty one? T. B. Terry, of Hudson, Ohio, who is a notable example of success on I small farms, has given in late numbers of the Practical Farmer some account ! of what three young men are doing on I small farms. The first of the "small farmers" be quotes from is a Pennsyl vanian, Mr. Cockliu, of Bowmansdale, who writes: "I believe that the greatest mistake we made in our business was having j too much to do. I now think that | with one-half the acres (we have 275) 1 we could have realized as much or more." This is one of the great mis takes that many make. Gradually lay | your plans so as not to undertake any more than you can do thoroughly well and on time, as a rule. We * have i money invested outside now. All | things taken into account the farm ; pays best. But suppose we took some of the money aud bought another farm, aud tried to double our money. Do yon think we would do as well finau : eially as now? I do not, and then | look at the increase of worry. Big j crops on a small farm pay better than j average crops on a large one, or at I least they may be made to. A good j friend from Indiana once'said to me, "It is too bad that you should throw away your time on such a little piece of land." Now [honestly doubt whether we should have done as well OB a large farm here, and I know we should } have had much more worry aud anxiety. Don't you think I am right?" The next, Mr. Frank M. Price, says: "When I lirst began reading what you wrote in Ohio Farmer, brother and I were farming 180 acres together. After thinking much, I concluded that I could get more out of life on a smaller place. So I rented my half farm to brother and bought a nice little place of twenty-six acres near Richmond, Ind. We have eighteen acres divided into the three strips of six acres each, where we raise corn, wheat and clover. We keep four good Jersey cows. We send milk to a near by creamery and get back two-thirds of the Rkimmed milk for our pigs. Our six acres of corn measured last J year iu the crib 150 bushels. We j are getting along nicely, have time to j read, raise some flowers, keep our yard nicely trimmed, do our best on our little place aud feel that life is worth living. Wife and I take a trip every year, attend the lecture course in Richmond, and am not thinking of the almighty dollar. We aro laying up some money each year; are out of debt now." And referring to (this Mr. Terry I adds: "Now.friends, is not this farmer getting more out of life; is he not better off than many a one who works himself and family almost to death in trying to carry on a large farm and keep everything up; who never has time for a "trip," or to read, or to fix u;> the home surroundings? Rut twenty-six acres is a very smalt farm. For some kinds of farming 100 might be small. No exact rule can be laid . down. Mr. Price's success comes from good land and a good location, aud then through work and little ex pense. I hope this letter will interest a good many young readers. You do not need a great deal of land in order to be successful. And don't miss Mr. Price's idea of what true success is." Farm and Garden Notes. Provide the sheep plenty of pure fresh water; it will tell iu your next wool clip. Make your butter as you please, but if you want to get the best prices make it as folks want it who buy it and pay the best prices. Grain is cheap. A little added to the roughage eaten will bring tho calves, colts and sheep through the winter iu good shape aud pay a divi dend. A poor cow in the dairy is like a dull tool in a carpenter's hands—requires the expenditure of a large percentage of energy to obtain a small percentage of result. Don't let any good calves slip away from you this season. With proper oire they will he money two vcirs from now—strong indications that way, to say the least. Where wood ashes cannot be ob tained, corn cobs can be burned to a charcoal or else to a fine ash and kept in some clean place to which the hogs have access at all times. In visiting an old breeder you will find, as a rule, his breeding boar in a large grass lot. A boar cared "for in this way will get stronger pigs than one kept in a dry lot on corn diet. The farm which is well fed will feed the farmer. It must he applied to the stock as well as to tho laud, and by feeding the stock well the land may be fed with the greatest accuracy, and so the circle of feeding he made com plete. Here is the way a prominent stock man puts it: "We are going to have the best times we have seen in fifteen years, and the stock-raising interest will, with proper management, have its full share in the general prosper ity." The prices at which pure-bred bulls can be obtained leave no excuse for the use of low grade sires, and a bull with a little extra feed will sell for beef after two or three years' service in the herd for nearly, if not quite, his his first cost. The value of rape is becoming bet ter known every year. Au authority states that one acre in rape, for hogs, is equal to about forty-six bushels of grain. It is relished by sheep, and poultrymen who have largo flocks are becoming interested in it, as it is an excellent source for providing green food. A well-known successful farmer, who is very much interested in good hogs, says: "My pigs consume the skim milk from my Jersey herd. This, with middlings and ground barley, makes more muscle than corn does, and there is none of that heating so detrimental when corn is largely the diet of growing pigs. Clover pasture is another good accompaniment." It is surprising that so many farm ers seem to he content to raise and feed cattle which are only calculated to bring second or third-class prices, and which in order to make them sala ble at all, consume more good feed than better bred animals will, and which make such a very unsatisfactory return for what they eat as compared with what the better class will realize. Dehorning cattle is now practiced extensively, but there is a right time for so doing. The horns should never he removed when flies and insects are troublesome, and the instrument should be scrnpulonsly clean. Late in the fall is au excellent time for the operation, and it is better to experi ment with a few instead of dehorning the entire herd. Novices can have the operation performed by a veterinary surgeon, if preferred. Sick Room Hints. Every woman is likely to find her self at some time in charge of a sick room, and, if it be a new charge, the knowledge of a few simple rules will be almost indispensable. The first point to he considered in selecting n room for the sick is that it should he, if possible, on the side of the house receiving the morning or noonday sun. This is a rule that is unvarying—in summer or winter the sun is conduc ive to health. The proper tempera ture to maintain is from sixty-five to seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, One of the best appliance for cooling the room is an electric fan which blows over a tub or howl of ice. A simpler plan is to use au ice bag of rubber or oiled silk. Under ordinary cirsum stauces the patient's face and neck may he sponged several times a day with cool water and the palms of the hands rubbed with ice. There are a largo number of drugs for lowering febrile temperatures, hat they should only be used when prescribed by a physician. The same caution must be observed as to the use of ice packs aul poultices. Tepid sponge baths, to which bay rum, vinegar or alcohol solution have been added, are cooling and grateful to a sufferer in the sum mer time, and may usually be given at least once a day—American Queen. Importations of liritlah Chalk. One of tlie few exclusively impcy taut British products used iu our coun try is chalk. It comes from the hanks of the River Thames, being obtainable nowhere else in large quantities. In its crude form remarkable flint fossils are sometimes found, usually the re mains of fish. The process of manu facture from the natural state to that of a form when it can be utilized is simple. When received at the mill the chalk is put into great machines and ground in water, then floated ofl into vats of water, where all the im parities and foreign substances are precipitated, the water being after ward drawn off by n series of filtering operations and the soft residuum dried by steam heat and exposure to the air. The substance is then re duced to a powder of different degrees of fineness by grinding in burr mills and belting, when it is ready to be packed in barrels and shipped for use. The Long-Llvcd Orange Tree. The orange tree will bear fruit till lot) years old, and there are recorded : instances of orange trees hearing when ! 500 years old. HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS. To Clean Looking-Glascs. Sponge first with a little spirits ot ■wine. Then dust the glass with powdered bluing done up in a bit oi cheese cloth; rub off with a soft cloth and wipe with an old silk hand kerchief. Treated in this way, there will be no cloudy appearance to the glass. Have the Scraps. Save every scrap of meat, for it is meat whioli makes the monthly bills mount up. Into the stock pot go tongh ends from rib roasts, fat ends from mutton chops, bones from sirloin, steaks and from all fowl. The so called inferior pieces make the best soups and stews. Sonp meat may be seasoned and made into pressed meat for luncheon. Cold mutton may be transformed into hash on toast with tomato sauce, scalloped mutton or macaroni timbale. Cheeno Recipes. In America cheese is regarded more as a luxury than as a staple articlo of food, and yet one pound of cheese is equal in food value to more that two pounds of meat. It being very rich in both fat and proteids. Considering this, its price is very low, and it ought to be a treasure to people of limited means and do good service in replac ing sometimes the moro expensive* meat. Cheese as a good value is fully rec ognized in Italy and Germany, where it is eaten extensively uncooked, and also as an addition to cooked food in a great variety of dishes. An excellent dish may be prepared ofjeheose and po tatoes, the potatoes being chiefly com posed of starch, which is a heat-giver, while the cheese is highly nitrogenous and supplies the elomouts in which the potato is deficient, the two to gether formiug a fair approach to the theoretically demanded balance of con stituents. Cheese and rice 'make an other dish, as do spaghetti and cheese, and breadcrumbs and cheose and a uumber of other dishes. Several recipes are given below which are par ticularly timely in the season for chaf ing-dish parties. Cheese and Potatoes Baked—Peel and cut six large potatoes into lino slices; grate half pound of Amer ican cheese and mix half teaspoonful salt with one-qunrter teaspoonful white pepper. Have ready one tablcspoon ful butter. Pat n layer of the pota toes in a pudding dish; sprinkle over Borne of the seasoning and small pieces of the butter and cheese. Continue in alternate layers till all is in tho dish. Place in a medium hot oven and bake till the potatoes are done. Potatoes au Gratin—Peel eight me dium-sized potatoes; put them in saucepan over the fire; cover with one quart of water and add one tnblespoon ful salt. Boil till tender. Drain off tho water and mash the potatoes fine. Heat a half cupful milk with half tahle spoonfnl butter; add it to the potatoos and mix all together, adding littlo white pepper. Put the potatoes in a dish and cover with a thiok layer of grated cheese. Sprinkle over little melted butter und bake light brown in a hot oven. Macaroni au Gratin—Break half a pound of Italian macaroni into pieces and place them in a saucepan. Cover with boiling water, add half table spoonful salt, and boil forty-five minutes. ' Then drain. Grate four ounces of American cheese, return the macaroni to the saucepan, adding half the cheese, two ounces butter and halt even teaspoonful white popper. Toss the saucepan for a few minutes over the fire. Mix well together, then put the macaroni into a dish, sprinkle the re maining cheese and pour half-ounce molted butter over the top. Place the dish in a hot oven, and hake light brown, about ten minutes. Then serve in the dish. Cheese With Bice—Place one cupful of well washed rice in a saucepan; add two quarts cold water and one tea spoonfnl salt, Boil till the rice is done, but not broken. Drain in a col ander and rinse it off with cold water. Put the rice alternately with four ounces grated cheese in a dish; add half tablespoonful butter and a littlo white pepper. Mix one egg with one cup milk. Pour it over the rice and hake light brown in a hot oven. Cheese Padding—Grate half pound cheese and one heaping pint of bread crumbs und melt one tablespoonful butter. Mix bread crnmbs, cheese and butter together and put them in a pudding dish. Beat three eggs un til light; add one pint milk, pour if over the ingredients in the dish. Let stand fifteen minutes, then hake. Cheese au Gratin—Toast three slices ot bread to a fine golden color, and place a slice of cheese over each one; lay them on a tin plate and bake in u qnick oven till the cheeso is melted. Remove, lay tho toast Ou three hot plates and serve at once. Welsh Babbit—Toast four thin slices of bread to a fine golden color; lay the toast on four hot plates and keep warm; place a saucepan with half a pound of fine-cut American cheese, four tablespoons cream or water and half an ounce of butter over the fire; stir until it forms into a creamy mixture; then ponr it over tho hot toast and serve immediately. A little English mustard or one tea spoonfnl Worcestershire sauce may be added, and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. / Golden Back—Prepare a Welsh rab bit, the same as in the foregoing recipe, and lay on to each one a poached egg. Another way is to lay one slice of boiled bacon over the rabbit and a poached egg on top of the bacon. Uultdlng Wive Fences. To assist in building wire fences a new devices has a frame mounted on a wheel, with spindles to carry three or more reels of wire, so that all thewirea ran be strung at the same time.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers