Tho whaling industry, which is de clining fast enough naturally, lias re ceived another hard blow by tin many fatalities which nave happened to the ships of the fleet this year it Arctic waters. In the old colonial times there wer< only seventy-five postoffiees it America. Ten years later there wort 900 offices; in 18S0, 12,000; in 1883. 07,000, and to-day about seventy thousand have regular postmasters receive aud deliver mail matter ant employ 2,000,000 employes, men am women. One thing which both surprises auc exasperates tlie British troops who art operating in India is the discovers that the hostile tribesmen are tlior oughly armed with modern rifles o: English manufacture. It appears tha the English gunmakers are so eagei for business that they have been readj to supply arms to the enemies of theu own Government. Dr. Edward Everett Hale is having a rather unpleasant time ol' it these days owing to u ridiculous report sent ont from Boston to the effect that In advocated the study of the Indian language in the schools. The doctoi writes that all he asked of the public school was that New England hoys should "know the meaning of the words Massachusetts, Connecticut-, Hhawmut, Wiunisimet and other words which como into their local life as one ought to know why the Tuileries were bo called if he lived in Paris." The doctor also denies that he repeated the Lord's prayer in Indian. Ho used the two first words of the prayer to il lustrate the formation of Indian words, and adds: "In tho two first words of it are all that I know, ex cept the amen at Hie end." By tho time Dr. Hale's little talk had filtered through several sources until it reached the newspapers it had become a lecture in which the most extraordi nary position was taken, which sur prised his admirers everywhere. Contrary to tho popular opinion one would make money by hackihg labor all the year around, maintains the Now York Press. The following figures, furnished by the Board ol Trade of England, give proof of this. Thev relate to the year ending August 31. and may, therefore, be trusted to show the actual and present relations of the two great parties. During the Avelve months :t total of 8.70 disputes were settled. In 358 the men curried the day; in 207 the masters were vie torious, and in 194 the men were par tially successful, which means that some sort of compromise was arranged, while thirty-three disputes are classed as indefinite. Of the total of 821,800 men whose wages were increased oi diminished, only 75,200 had embarked on actual striker, while in the case oJ 700,500 the change arose from the automatic working of sliding scales, p-gather with negotiation, the action of conciliation boards and the volun tary concession of employers. Put ling it in the form of a percentage, we have in the ease of each 100 workers 87 V receiving an advance and 14?. suf fering a decrease. Tho Boston Herald observes: "The *iw that bus been passed in Switzer land rendering compulsory insurance against illness on the part of all the citizens of the republic who cannot show that they have reserved means of support in case of physical or men tal disability is only a symptom of the tendency all over tho world toward securing social well-being by means of legal enactments. As the State is <*allcd upon in the last resort to care for those who are both physically and financially incapable of supporting themselves, tl. State has the light to demand that those who may at any time become burdens upon the public shall in the days of their strength, health, and activity supply themselves with the means of meeting the ills ol life. It is presumable that the State itself might undertake to carry on an iasuiancc business of this kind and exact its premiums iu the form of a tax. It could doubtless do the busi ness on st large scale at a much lower cost than if the same service was per formed by one or more corporations. Another form of insurance of the social kind is that provided for in Now Zen land, this coming out of the annual taxes. Under the New Zealand sys tem every one over sixty-five years ol age who has lived twenty years in the country is entitled to draw a pension. Tiie maximum amount is fixed at 82.50 u week, and too minimum amount at $1.25. This is not a huge sum, but on an average payment of, say, 8100 a year, there are a great many poor men and poor women of over sixty-five years of age who would find life much easier as the result of this official con tribution." BATTLES OF THE FUTUBE ! I IT IS PREDICTED THAT THEY WILL! EE FOUCHT IN THE AIR. ) ' L.illoii For AVarfaro Alhui.i an Act-mii-' I>1InIic(I lact—Fiance anil Ccrintiny Have I Iviuir I IretK—l>aueer to This I ■ Country I rum an Airship Squadron. I The appeal for money for balloon ex*! J periments, addressed by the Chief , Signal Officer of the Army to the J Secretary of War, is a confession of the weakness of the United States iu a branch of military art which, accord*: ing to the Detroit. Free Press, is gain* i iug importance steadily. Our own bureau of military intelligence has been gathering information on this sub ject very industriously of late, and tlie Government is following closely all that is being done in the direction of aerostatics by foreign powers. At the same time, nothing is being done in i this country toward the creation of a i fighting balloon service, though many | students of military science believe that the war vessel of the not distant j future will be an aerial vessel—a My ! ing machine that will accomplish u re volution in the jtractice of warfare far ! more complete than that which has been marked by the creation of mod ern battleships, high-power guns and high explosives. It is an open secret that Germany , now possessed a fleet of war balloons, which in the event of trouble with France would take a most important part in the operations against the lat ter country. The French, however, have balloons of their own, more or less similar iu type, and it seems not unlikely that iu the next Franco-Ger man conflict there will be actual en gagements between squadrons of air ■ ships. The balloons in question are cigar- j I shaped—that form presenting the least opposition to the wind. They are op- I eruted by means of propellers, and are ' steered with rudders of some sort, j One of the newest French balloons, j with which experiments have been ■ made at the School of Aerostation at ' Meudon, is described us being tilled j with hydrogen gas. Inside of it is a I smaller bag, which is pumped full of ! air, so as to keep the outer envelope still', in the car carried beueatli is a j powerful bichromate battery, which : runs an electric motor, driving a verj ; large and light cloth-covered screw j I propeller. This machine travels fit -1 teen miles au hour. An improved | copy of it twipe as big is being built. 1 ami is expected to "do" twenty-five j | miles an h our. Rumor says that the Germans have : evolved a balloon that is readily I steered and carries a great weight ; but they are extremely anxious not to give out any facts'. The French and the English also have tried captive bal loons with success in campaigns—the former in Tonquin and the latter in Africa. Even slow-going Spain is in vestigating the subject, ami proposes to employ balloons to watch the rebels ! in Cuba. Sooner or later Uncle Sam will bs obliged to have a lleet of war balloons. Balloons are the only means of de fence against balloons. A. hostile fleet or vessels could not approach out i shore without a fight, but a squadron i of air-ships could sail in and hover over our great cities without the slightest effective resistance. No fort that can be built is able to withstand high explosives dropped from aloft. It is easy to imagine two or three bal loons hanging in the air over New York like gigantic birds holding de struction in their claws, ready to de j stroy the town unless bought oil* by a fabulous rausom. True, such air-ships could not fly across the ocean. But what is to pre- ' vent vessels of war from bringing them oyer and sending them up from a short distance off our coast? The balloons j may be placed iu very small compass, and the hydrogen gas required to in* J flute them can ho carried compressed in steel cylinders. Imagine a flock of j such flying locs launched toward our ' shores! What could we do for de fence? Nut anything. That is to say, j : we. could do nothing unless we had ! baboons of our own. We would bo obliged to surrender and pay whatever war indemnities might he demanded. On the other hand, no hostile fleet would dare t< eoino near our coast if , wo owned a few war balloons. Ac cording to the latest estimates, nearly I 8100,000.000 must ho expended in or der to establish proper coast ami bar bie* defences. Millions of dollars ' would have to he spent annually for j the maintenance of the system thus created: furthermore, the system it selt would hu .rto be remodelled every i few years in order to keep in from be- j coin ing obsolete. "Vastly more eifec- ' ; live, ' say Professor 11. Hazen, , • "would be the protection afforded by j half a dozen aerial batteries of four • balloons each stationed at different point along the Atlantic seaboard. To establish these batteries would cost not more than s'loo,ooo, and the ex pense. of maintaining them would lie ' only a lew thousand dollars per an- ! num. I hey could easily and promptly ! destroy any foe that ventured near ; our shores. The wind at high levels is always from west to east, and at the j shortest notice they could float sea- I ward ami assail a hostile squadron, ■ dropping torpedoes upon the decks of ! the ships and blowing them up. Hav- j nig wiped out the enemy, they could return bv the use of propellers." The war balloon needs no gun. All , it has to do is to drop explosives, which would he best made up iu the shape of cartridges. A single car tridge of moderate size, loaded with j nitro-glyceriue, will render a first i class cruiser burs du combat; three or j four will destroy a battleship. Members of the Turn Verein of San Francisco desire the elimination of the i words "In God We Trust" from th# coins of this country. CHINESE CHILDREN. ' Ci-Izlit niul Interesting Littto Specimen* of Oriental Humanity. ' J The Chinese children are things ol i beauty and joys forever. They are as ' pretty and bright as they can be, and ; run scurrying away from you where ever you may chance to walk in the quarter. The place literally swarms j with them, and ye t the Chinese are • too provident to have very largo fami ! lies. A merchant with three wives , will probably not have over four chil dren. ftis > aid that the largest family in Chinatown is that of a poor Chinese S clergyman. He is a Presbyterian ; missionary and has already seven chil dren. This is mure Presbyterian than . Chinese. The parents are very fond of their children, especially the men. The women do not seem to care so much, but the men fondle the little ! ones all day, and love to carry them about in their arms. You cannot please a Chinese father more than to say pleasant things about his child. The babies are undeniably interesting. The little ones have a peppery smell much pleasanter t the nostrils than i sour-smelling American children. The little boys assume the diguity of cue strings when-tliey are about Ave. Red is the prevailing color for the cues of the children of both sexes. It means simply youth, and has no sinister sig- I uiflcance, as so many Americans think. • I once asked a Chinese father fcwhat Hie. fur ears on the baby's head signi fied. "It's the fashion," he explained loftily, "nil same American ladies wear i birds on their heads." The Chinese are very fond of saying, when re proached for the cruelty of foot-bind ing, that the practice is not nearly as injurious as squeezing the waist. In telligent and educated Chinesenie not at all bad at repartee. Of course, the little children have any number of bangles, beads and bracelets byway of decorations. Jt is not unusual to see bangles on their little bare ankles as they ruu through the streets. Their clothes are very gay, though'!here seems to be a grow ing aud unfortunate tendency to dress the little ones in American fashion. This is the. more to he regretted as, though Chinese dress is becoming to Americans, the converse is by no means true. The close-fitting Ameri can garments show off all the defects , if tho figure and seem to rob the Chinese of all their native grace, j which is considerable. Many of tho •hildren go to American or Mission , schools, and parents of heathen faith ! allow their children to go to the I 'white devils'" missionary schools bo- I *uuse of the advantages they have in learning English. After school hours the children play on the sidewalks, j They play queer little games with sticks and stones. The most common materials are playthings for a Chinese baby. One of their favorites requires a worm and bowl, and the screams that greet the worm's attempt to es cape are fraught with merriment and terror. The little girls are usually staggering under tho weight of an in ; irdinately fat baby brother, but they ilo not seem to mind. They are ex tremely obedient children and seem brighter than little Americans of th* same age. National Magazine. Key Concealed in n King. A Cincinnatian but lately returned from England tells of a rather novel innovation in the way of locks and keys, or, to speak more correctly, key, says ilio Cincinnati Enquirer. At a country place he visited he was surprised to see his host unlock the gateway of the pla<!4 with a small key that iu some mysterious way was pro duced from a large seal ring he wore. Yet the ring was not large enough to lie conspicuous by"reason of its size or style. As he expressed some sur prise in the matter his host said: "This is a master key. You see, it , slides under the set in tho ring and occupies no space whatever. It will unlock every look about tho place, 'even my dressing bag, my trunk, my baud box and wine cellar." i He was asked as to the arrangement in general, whether one key, say of the butler, would unlock the front door. "Not at all," he replied. "The locks are all arranged in suites. Tho butler can unlock all tho doors that are in his department, and the house keeper can unlock the linen closets aud other doors under her supervision, but she cannot get into the butler's domain. And in every other depart ment about the place from cud to end every one has his or her key, but I have only the master key. All of tho doors open to me. My valet can open my dressing case and closets, but ho cannot get a bottle of wine. Of course, the arrangement in a seal ring is nov- I el, but il is very handy for me. In tho first place, 1 cannot lose it, and iu the second place, everything opens to me without asking a question." Abandonment of Sunday. During the "Reign of Torror," 1793, the infamous decree to abandon tho Christiau religion in France and to 1 substitute for it the worship of Liber* 1 ty, Equality and ileason was passed. : Churches were quickly despoiled ol their ornaments, and civic feasts sub stituted for religious festivals. Tho | convention also enacted that time, in i stead of being reckoned from the | birth rof Christ, should be reckoned 1 from the birth of the French republic; : and that the Christian Sabbath might not be observed, a day of rest being ' granted only at the close of every ten j days. No other instance is known where the observance of one day in seven as a day of rest has been aban doned since the command for its regu lar observance was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It is a singular coincidence that, by keeping this command, there is at present a perpetual Sabbath, since the Greeks observe Monday; the Persiaus, Tuesday; the Assyrians, Wednesday; the Egyptians, Thursday; the Turks, Friday; the Jews, SatuK day, and ths Christians, Sunday. HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY. USED SOMETIMES BY DOCTORS IN PLACE OF AN/ESTHETICS. A New Yorlc l'liyftlciuu Says He 11 n* Found It of Service—lts Frteet on tlie Operator—Hypnotising a Person sit u l>i Ala lice—Theories Ahout Hypnotism. "Do you use the hypnotic influence in your practice?" asked a New York Sun reporter of Dr. Robert A. Gunn, who is a firm believer in hypnotism. "Yes," said Dr. Gunn. "Occasion ally I do. But not as often as I used to. It is not because I have less con fidence in it, but because I have been too busy to experiment with it. Ido not think that the greatest success lies in the use of the hypnotic power by the physician or surgeon himself. For instance, in the case of a surgical operation the better arrangement would bo to have a regular hypnotist : place the patient under control, just us we have a doctor simply to give the chloroform or ether. Then the oper ating surgeon has 110 strain upon his i own nerves, and cau give liis entire concentrated attention to the opera tion." "Is the exercise of the hypnotic I power exhausting to the operator?" "Not exactly exhausting, but it does take something from him. For in stance, 011 one occasion I invited a number of friends to my house for the purpose of showing them some experi ments in hypnotism. I spent about three hours at the work, and after they had all gone I sat dowg at my desk, intending to prepare an article to be i sent to the printer in the morning. The subject was one with which I was perfectly familiar, and ordinarily J ! could have prepared the paper iu n very short time. On this occasion, however, I was incapable of construct ing a single sentence. I had 110 par ticular sense of exhaustion; I simply l'elt like remaining perfectly quiet, and I finally gave up the attempt to write that night. "Soon after that I wanted to devote an evening to hypnotic experiments, so concluded to do my writing in the afternoon and have it out of the way before evening. I wrote for over three hours and up to within u few minutes of the time set for the experiments. Although 1 had the same subjects as before, all of my experiments were un satisfactory and some of them were j total failures. I had evidently ex ! fiausted my nervous energy by close application to mental work, and there had not been a sufficient interval for I recuperation." i "Could you hypnotize a person in the same room with yon without mak ing an open attempt to do so?" "Not unless I had hypnotized the 1 same person a number of times before. It is always more difficult to hypnotize si person the first time than it is after ward. The more frequently it is done, ! the more susceptible the subject be j comes." 1 "Have yon ever hypnotized a persyn at n distance?" "Yes, in one case. I had been treeing a woman for insomnia. Ihad on repeated occasions put her to sleep through hypnotic influence. One evening I said to her: 'I am not com ing to-morrow night, Airs. , but at 10 o'clock exactly 1 shall try to put you to sleep just as if I were here.' the next evening I weut home so that at 10 o'clock I could settle myself for a concentrated effort to hypnotize my patient. 1 conjured up the picture of the room, of all her surroundings, of herself, n-.id then I tried to put her to sleep. The next day she told me that she had gone to sleep soon after 10 and had enjoyed a good night's rest. Well, of course, I put it down to her imagina tion and concluded to test lier. I told her that I would try again that night at the same hour. But I did not. I •vent out with a friend and did not come home until late. "The next day she said: 'Doctor, you didn't do as you said you would. ; I was awake until 2 or 8 o'clock this morning. L assured her that I had ' ; tried to influence her and that I would ' try again that night. Again, however, I did not. I wrote until about 1 n. j m., and then I concentrated my mind , ! on my patient and tried to put her asleep. In the morning she told me ! that at 111 o'clock she was perfectly wide awake and remained so until 1 : o'clock, when she suddenly became ' drowsy and soon went to sleep." "l's hypnotism used in any of the New York hospitals?" "I don't think so. It is in France and Italy that the greatest experiments - have been made. In the famous hospital at Nancy, in France, thou sands of insane patients are treated by i hypnotism every year, and wonderful results are obtained." "How long does it take to put dif ferent subjects under hypnotic con trol?" "Of course that varies greatly. ' Some persons can bo hypnotized in two or three minutes. With others several attempts, of half an hour at a time, arc necessary. It grows easier with repetition. Some are susceptible at the very start. I had one patient, a woman, who had an obstruction of the tear-duct, so that the tears con tinually ran down her checks. I had repeatedly asked her to let me operate on it, but she would not listen to the idea. Filially a small abscess formed and she came to me again. I urged her to let me operate, but she would not consent. I had noticed that when I treated her eye I seemed to have a soothing effect on her, so without say ing anything to her I began stroking her forehead and eyes, but only as if I were examining the afflicted part. She began to get drowsy nud I quickly put her to sleep, made a slit and inserted a probe, extracted the matter, and fixed the thing [up properly, then wakened her. "She wouldn't believe it when I told her I had operated on her. *o I turned the. eyelid over and showed her the cut. 'Oh, well.' nlie said, 'it was always that way!' Then I put her to sleep again, inserted the probe, and left it there while I wakened her. That convinced her, but when I went to take out the probe she screamed and wouldn't let me touch her. I had to put her to sleep a third time in order to get the probe out. After that she came every morning for a while, let me put her to sleep, and insert the probe; then sat. in the outer office for half an hour, with the probe in place, and after that was put to sleep again to have it removed." "Have you found that there are any after effects of hypnotism?" "No, except beneficial ones." "What is your theory about hyp notism?" "Well, I don't agree with a number of explanations, so called, which have been advanced. The physicians of the German school ascribe nil the phenomena to the influence of 'sugges tion,' but they don't explain what causes the condition in which a sub ject becomes susceptible to this sug gestion. The physicians of the French school say that all hypnotic sub jects are in a diseased condition and that the hypnotic state is simply si form of hysterical seizure. I consider this an error. I have hypnotized sub jects whom I consider normal and healthy. Hammond, Beard, and others who have been compelled to [ acknowledge the genuineness of the phenomena, explain them as resulting from 'a polarization of the attention,' whatever they may mean by that. "I regard the hypnotic power as a concentration of nerve force. Every time we have a thought, an emotion, si sensation, there is an explosion of nerve cells in us. It is this explosion which produces nerve force. It is this force, iu a peculiar degree, which constitutes personal magnetism. The orator who sways his hearers to alter nate tears and laughter possesses it in sin unusual degree. This nerve force lias a particular character in dif ferent individuals. Like different chemical elements, these 'auras' sometimes meet and mingle, some times meet and repel each other. When they are agreeable to each other there is friendship. When this is carried to a higher degree wo have love. By a concentration of will power we can direct the current of nerve force and magnetism and make it influence another person. By re peating this effort at concentration and direction wo gain more and more perfect control over the current and it becomes constantly stronger. That seems to mo to be the secret of the hypnotic power." A Moment of Awful Suspense. "The nervous strain on the engineer of a fast train is something enormous," said one of tliom the other day. "Not only the lives of the passengers are at slake, but there is the constant fear of running over some one on the track. An accident, 110 matter how innocent the engineer, is always a kind of hoo doo." "What was my worst accident? I shall never forget it. If it had been traced on my mind by a streak of lightning, it couldn't have made a more lasting impression. It happened one bright noouliglit night in November. We were spinning over the rails at full speed across country where there were few people passing at that time of night, when L looked out and saw the figure of a man lying across the track not ten feet in front of the en gine. I stopped as quick as possible, but too late, of course. We had run over him, and the lifeless body was under the wheels. "Wo got out to look for him and found his hat, a piece of his coat sleeve and one of his shoes, but the rest scorned to be further back under the train. I backed up the engine and got out to look again. There lay the body. T nearly fainted when I saw its distorted form. I felt like a mur derer. "Did I know the man? No, not personally. Ho was a scare-crow from a neighboring corn lleld." - Detroit Free Proas. A Profitable Tree. "What do you think of one apple tree from which ninety boxes of fruit were gathered in one year?" queried P. W. Tonneson, the county fruit in spector. "Well, it's a fact. Just across the Puyallup lliver bridge on Alain street of Puyallup, on Mr. Lac3*'s place stands an apple tree, the record of which might be placed among the historical archives of the State. The tree measures live and a half feet in circumference, and is somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty-five years old. It is of the Waxen variety. Ac cording to Air. Lacy's statement, the tree has borne this year about ninety boxes of apples, most of them being salable fruit. Air. Larson, the former proprietor, stated, while living 011 the place several years ago, that the tree has been a regular bearer, and that it had averaged between fifty and sev enty-five boxes of appleß during the past twenty years. The huge tree presents a remarkable appearance in the spring when in full blossom. It is without doubt the largest and most prolific bearing apple tree iu the State."—Tacoma (Wash.) Ledger. La<ly Somerset's Gifts. """ Ladv Henry Somerset has given the town of JReigate, England, sufficient laud for the erection of ten alms houses. This gift is in connection with the scheme for the erection oj almshouses nt Reigate iu commemora tion of the diamond jubilee. One of the conditions of the gift is that on the governing body of the almshouses there shall be not loss than three wo men, and 111 deference to Lady Henry's wish a scheme in which pro vision is made for this representation ; has been drafted for submission to 4 town meeting shortly to be convened.' The Best Celery. Good celery—or wo may say first class celery—cannot be obtained with out an abundance of Avater, for the plant is naturally a citizen of swamps. It is always best, therefore, to set the plants in shallow ditches, so that AVR ter can be more easily collected; and it is also very fond of liigh living, consequently no Avell prepared manure is too rich for it. The quality of mar ket celery has fallen oft" somewhat of late years, chiefly through the culti vators treating it to surface culture. When planted iu the latter way there is not the same advantage for blanch ing as when set in trenches. It is much easier to let down earth than it is to raise it.—The Silver Knight. .Alillft Hity Good For Homes. I am surprised to learn of Professor Hinebaugli'a adverse experience Avith millet as horse feed noted in American Agriculturist of November 151, as mine is just the opposite. I fed three horses millet from October, 3890, till about the last of June, 1897, together Avith grain ration. I must say T never had my horses do better. In fact they rather lost tlesli after feeding timothy hay with'the same amount of grain. L am now feeding the same horses millet and grain and expect to do so as long as the millet lusts, which Avill be all winter at lerfst. .1 have seen and talked with one man in this county Avho has fed millet longer than £ have. He raises more and more of it every year and feeds it to all kinds of stock. I have cut the millet quite green, before it is all headed out.— William Dougall. Schenectady County, X. Y., in New England Homestead. Tlie Old Farm. The following beautiful composition is from the pen of Jean (I. Wiley, in the National Stockman and Farmer; 44 What a cherished spot in the memory of vast multitudes is the old farm! Men AVIIO haA*e climbed to the topmost round of the great ladder of fame; men who have achieved by in dustry, self-reliance and perseverance, success in life; many of these look backward o'er the long years to the happy days of childhood spent on tlie ld farm. 4, A memory lingers o'er this cherished spot, the loving face of a good mother, the cheerful countenance of a kind father, the bright faces of brothers and sisters gathered round the old fireside, soften the heart and bring tears to the eyes of the strong est men. 4 'A sweet influence of such a homo is like a flower that never dies, but sheds its sweet perfume all through life, and reblossoms anew in eternity. "It is said that in order to bo suc cessful in any pursuit one must first learn to overcome difficulties, it was on the farm where most statesmen en countered and overcame difficulties. V boy on the old farm has an oppor tunity to learn this important lesson without meeting many of the tempta tions incident to the life of a city boy. As we live, in an age of progress, the farm of to-day bears but little resemblance to the farm of fifty years ago. It now requires an educated man to make u prosperous farmer. 44 One who has spent his liappy childhood on the old farm, received jin education and went abroad, plunged into cares and bustle of city life, in after years revisits the old farm. All the old familiar spots, as the meadow, orchard and old-lashioned AVOII, with ; its moss-covered bucket, recall scenes which seemed long since forgotten. ''Pictured on memory's wall are the ! faces of loved ones, those of father, j mother, brother, sister and dearest, friend, as [they were in boyhood's ' days. They are all gone. Some are dead, others are toiling or roaming in different parts of the world; and as lie sits [and meditates upon the past, he longs once more to be that free-froin care, light-hearted boy, roaming over the meadows and woodlands of the old farm, that he once was. He now realizes, more fully than ever, how vain are the hopes of life. 4 'The old farm house is tilled with strangers, and he, feeling wiser and better by his A*isit to the old farm, returns to the toils and cares of city life." Farm and Burden Not AH. The goose lays a score or two of eggs in a year. From thirty-five to forty ducks and drakes are allowed in a pen. Eleven dozen eggs a year is the average estimate given as the produc tion of the hen. Ducklings are marketed at five pounds weight, which they should at tain in ten weeks. The secret of large honey crops is, strong colonies and pleuty of room for the bees to store honey. Each frame of comb in a hive should occupy one and a half inches of space, and in spacing the frames it should be done with exactness. In 100 parts of the yolk, fifty-two per cent, is water, forty-five per cent, is oil and fat, and one per cent, each of albuminoids, coloring and mineral matter. Peach trees may be examined for borers as late as the Aveather holds good, and if not yet attended to should not be neglected longer. Do not per mit these grubs to winter in the trees. If two or more swarms cluster to- gether, do not hive them thus, bill hunt out tlie queens and divide them, especially if they are first swarms ano large ones. Valuable queens are thus saved by so doing. [f properly kept and judiciously ap plied to land, poultry manure is worth one-half the cost of the food the fowl gets, and yet little account is taken ol the droppings when an estimato is made of the profits. A very-profitable field of investiga tion for farmers the coming winter will be to learn ull they can about the insect and other enemies of the A'ari ous plants Avhich they cultivate and the remedies therefor. Robbing frequently occurs at the ! end of the honey season, as iu swarm ing colonies frequently become queen less, and sooueror later they will fall a prey to robbers. If colonies are in proper condition in every respect rob bing seldom occurs. Beeswax is a valuable product, and every particle of comb should be saved and rendered into wax. The price of beeswax has not fallen below twenty - tive cents per pound for the last twenty years. The solar wax extractor, Avhich can l>e made very cheaply, should stand in every apiary. In the planting of Avindbreaks the Nebraska station has found that the western grower needs protection chief ly on tho south and Avest, since it is from that direction that the most damaging winds come. The eastern grower needs protection on the west and north for like reasons. If obliged to keep apples and pota toes in the same apartment, store the apples in the cooler and the potatoes in the warmer portions of the cellar. \ cry many apples are lost every year by being kept too warm. They are best preserved in a temperature main tained close to the freezing point, I.arjffHt Fountain In tho World. The Anaconda Mining Company has acquired rights to all the water iu Hearst Gulch and Lake, at Anaconda, Montana, which are fed by tho melt ing snows that exist there the entire year. This lake lies up against Mount Haggiu, 2900 feet above the level of the street in front of the Montana Hotel. The company will raise the bank about Lake liearst so as to make it a reservoir Avith a capacity of nearly a billion gallons and giving a daily fioAv of four million gallons down a slope of 3000 feet into the city. A steel pipe line will carry this water down six miles to Anaconda, where another immense roserA'oir will be built to recei\'o it. This reservoir will be 320 feet higher than tlie busi ness centre of the city and a quarter of a mile long. Its short line will bo irregular, lying against the hills, and | it Avill be a beautiful sheet of water. I As a further means of adding to the beauty of the spot, the supply main from Lake Hearst Avill terminate in a fountain in the centre of the reservoir. Only a portion of the enormous pres sure will be used, but a solid jet of water over throe inches in diameter will be thrown 220 feet vertically in tho air, A\ hilo around the base of the fountain Avill be a fringe of sprays, consisting of rows of jets rising to varying heights and at different angles. The fountain, when completed, Avill be, without exception, the largest iu the world. Tiiriioil to Stone "AA'liilo Ho Hosted. A petrified man. leaning up against a tree in the Avoods near 3'satonA-ille, Wash., is the discovery of Prospector Lafayette B. Smith, Tacoma, reported to his friends Saturday. The story was first received as a joke, whereup on Smith said that he would prove that he was telling the truth, and forthwith started for Eatouville, pre-* pared to bring in the petrified form; He reports tho body to have been pet rified while standing, with clothes and boots on and with several traps scat tered about. Smith will have to build u trail a distance of a mile to get the petrified trapper out of the heaAry tim ber and into tlie turnpike leading to this city. He left here equipped with axes and other tools necessary to bring his find to town.—Sun Francisco Ex aminer. /'Kismet.** A lady living in a fashionable quar ter has a bit of statuary bearing the inscription "Kismet." The housemaid AVUS dusting the room the other day when the mistress appeared. "Shure, ma'am, what's the man in' of tji3 'ritin' on the bottom of this?" asked the maid referring to the inscrip tion on tho statue. "Kismet means 'fate,' " replied the mistress. Bridget was limping painfully when out with her sweetheart not long after ward, and be asked: 4 'What's the matter, Bridget?" 4 'Faith,/" was the answer. "I have the most tirrible kornsonme kismet!" —Tit-Bits. •laiHineHe Birth Tre. At the birth of a Japanese baby s tree is planted, which must remain untouched until the marriage day ol the child. When the nuptial hour ar rives the tree is cut down, and a skilled cabinetmaker transforms the wood into furniture, which is consid ered by the yonng couple as the most beautiful of all ornaments of the house. —Median's Monthly.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers