The locomotives for the Mniichuriaij Railway, as well as most of the rails, have been contracted for in this coun try instead of Europe. Tho Mormons are becoming very active in New Zealand, and it is stated that eight more missionaries are on their way from Salt Lake City to this colony. They intend to work principally among the Maoris, of whom there are already four thousand members of the Mormon Church. After a long period of suspension the ironworks of a Western city re sumed operations and the black chim neys poured out dense clouds of soot over the town. Raskin would have ana thematized it for its hideousuess, aud daiutily clad women looked upon it with horror, but a little girl, hungry and cold, whose father had been for j mouths without work, clapped her hands and exclaimed: "Was there ever anything so beautiful as to see the smoke in the chimmeys again! That big piece is a shawl for mother, and those cunning little bits tumbling down are shoes for baby, and ob, there comes such a lot of tho smoke maybe it is a really hat for me; auywd**, I know it's shoe-strings." Lieutenant Colonel Maus, U. S. A., who has had charge of the physical examination of the twelve thousand New York militiamen mustered into the service of the United States, has made a very interesting report upon tho subject of this inquiry. He finds that it was necessary to examine seventeen thousand soldiers in order to obtain twelve thousand up to the required physical staudard, which was placed very high; some think too high. Of this number the three up country regiments were far superior | to the city troops in physical develop- ; meat, a logical result of the tonic of pure air and out of door employment and recreation. Of the city soldiers Colonel Maus found the cavalry supe rior to the infantry—clearly a tribute to the value of exercise ou horseback. Among the infantry the chief causes of rejection were a tendency to hollow chests and impaired vision, unmistak able evidence of long days at desk work and poring over ledgers. Poor feet was another frequent defect, aud deafness was not uncommon. One of the London papers sees a "romance of commerce" in the re cent death of one Henry Greenwood? an inmate of the workhouse inlirmary at liampstead. It seems that Green wood was once a rich man, and be longed to a firm of jewelers so emi nent that it supplied the pearls worn l>y Queen Victoria at her coronation. At that time, indeed, he and his part ners were the leading dealers in pearls, not only as regards England, but in the whole world. Greenwood, after his most famous transaction, led a rather adventurous life, a part of it in Australia, where he was Mayor of Ballarat. He accumulated a fairly considerable fortune, which, however lie lost in various reverses, until to. ward the close of his life he was in a state of abject poverty. His death took place in the workhouse from cancer when he was about eighty years of age. Curiously enough two of the members of the liampstead Board of Guardians when Mr. Greenwood en tered tho workhouse were old school mates of his,and one of them met the expenses of the funeral in order that lie should not lie in a pauper's grave, aud was 1 imself the only mourner following the coffin. The growing cities of Europe—in creasing as they are, constantly and enormously in the density of their population—present an area unfavor able to human life; and it has been estimated that unless such a city as Paris were supplied with human life from outside, everybody in it would die out in about four generatious, re flects the New York Sun. The con ditions of city life are unfavorable to human longevity aud health; but when we come to examine in a city who they are that will survive the longest and are the best able to com bat these unfavorable elements and who, therefore, must become the leaders in that city and found the moat prominent families aud will gain the most control and get up into the highest society by living there long and gettiug as much as they can from their fellow citizens it is discovered that they all have skulls of a some what similar type—long-skulled— somewhat below, in that respect, the medium skulls averaging throughout Europe. A man must, in other words, have a long head to get along in a great city and found a family there and continue it for a number of gen erations. Our word "long-headed" is, in a certain sense, a provision of scien tific discovery; it is literally and ab solutely true to the craniologist. THE MUSIC OF THE MARCH. f Merrily beat tho drums as the brave boys march away; Merrily, merrily, merrily the silver bugles play; And ho! for war ami victory! the brave shall 'win tho day— Merrily, merrily march tho boys where tho red flag waves the way! Mournfully beat tho drums when the brave boys march awny From the red and trampled battlefield where the dying gasp and pray; Anil ho! for homes left desolate and hearts that weep alway— Mournfully, mournfully bent the drums, and the drooped'flags drape tho day! 030O0G0OGO000O0SS § THE TRADER'S "WIFE. § A Tale of the Philippines. rHE inference is natural but, no, she is not my wife," said tho old trader, as he glanced at the pretty young Phil ippine woman who had just entered Jj/ and greeted the jr / /. strange papalangi ft/ J j(f 1 with a graceful MlfllJ/ Jl\ \ tolote alii. HmatM'/ // I He was not at all ■fi|Jjl||||§Cw p \ offended at my ' \ r,in( i° m su ßg® 9- 1 ■ 1 tiou. It was quite \lf excusable, for in -rfjifcF 4 ¥ these regions n /mW 1 letVh trader without a ' !y 7 I |E/ native wife is n I f / phenomenon. Hut HM\ I 1 ""SH if 1 had 1/ used my faculties m V"l(|i|! of observation, I \ \ 1 have known bet- I >j ter. There was I no trace of woman <J ly care in the ' dingy, unkempt little dining room; the wooden walls were dirty and bare of adornment, the table was littered with old books and ragged, much worn newspapers, while the floor looked as if it were a stranger to the broom. I watched the girl closely, but the trader took uo notice, he seemed ab sorbed in his sului.or native cigarette, which gave forth great clouds of smoke at each vigorous puff. The lithe, slen der wrists, with muscles like line drawn wire, were wringing out the fail, or strainer of bark fibre, with which tho pounded kava root is sep arated from the water. The vise-like grip on the fibre never ceased until every drop of juice had been expressed, and then, with a pretty, graceful ges ture, she tossed tho strainer over her shoulder to a boy standing outside, who shook the dry dust free,and threw it back. Again and again the process was re peated. With the utmost care every grain of sediment was drawn from tho bowl, and the daik brown liquid, nauseous but refreshing, was ready. The first cup seemed to arouse the old man's dormant loquacity. "Slio is a strange girl," he re marked, letting his eyes rest for a mo ment on the kava maiden. "Not like any of the other Malays. I can't make her out. She never goes gadding about with the other girls nor flirts with the young men. She just stays quietly at home and refuses all the suitors who ask for her hand. She might have been married a dozen times during the past year had she chosen." "Perhaps " and I hesitated. He nodded. "Yes, perhaps she has an eye on this establishment." There was no trace of unseemly levity in his tone. I waited in re spectful silence, for he was one of those kindly gentlemen who wear their hearts upon their sleeves, and I knew that he would, if left to do it in his own way, tell me tho tragedy of his life. He took another bowl of kava,rolled a fresh cigarette and sighed. I smoked patiently. Then he rose, and, opening a small writing desk which ] stood in a corner, drew from it an old and faded photograph. "There is my wife," be said, it was just an ordinary common pic ture, taken by n cheap photographer, and, thanks to the climate, rapidly fading into obscurity. One could make ont the features or a Malay woman, rather stout and showily dressed, a baby in her nrms and n lit tle girl of about two years holding on by the skirts. As a work of art it was beneath con tempt, hut the old man handled it reverently, and, before he spoke again, laid the picture back in in its receptacle. "It's fading quickly," he remarked sorrowfully, "though I keep it from the light all I can. It was taken by a traveling photographer in New Britain just before . But it's all I have left of her. There's only the boy and I alone now," A smile lit up his thin face. "Here he is," he exclaimed, as a fine little fellow of about ten years rushed into the room. "Faa-mole-mole, pa," be gan the youngster, in that strange mixture of Samoau and English which half-caste boys speak m this country. Then lie stopped, noticing my pres ence. "All right, Jacky," said the father, giving the curly head a kindly pat, "go and say talofa to the gentleman." And bashfully tho boy, who had not seen a strange white man for months, held out bis band, and then took the first opportunity of escaping from tho room to join his playmates. "He's all I have left," continued the trader, "and I'm doing my Best to bring him up as an Englishman. But what can I do here? He must play with the Sainoan boys, or with no one, and I cannot afford to send him away to school. The little girl's better off; she's gone with a missionary to Syd ney, and he takes good care of her, She'll grow up into a white lady, I suppose, some day and won't know her old father." I There was a long pause, and we drank more kava and smoked in silence. Then the old gentleman be came reminiscent. "She was three years old when the old woman died, and the boy here well, he could jnst toddle about, hold ing on to his mother's skirts. There were some who blamed me for taking her to that outlandish New Britain, where the people are real savages, and not civilized like here. But what was Ito do? I'd been trading for MeAlis ter k Co.—you've heard of them, I sup pose?—when the firm broke up, and I was left stranded on the beach. I hadn't bad a chance to save much, and there was the wife and child to keep. When I got the offer to go to New Britain and open tip some new trad ing stations, I jumped at it, without thinking overmuch of the risk. "I was a fool, I know, and now, if I could only take it all back." He took another cup of kava to hide his emotion. I could tliink of nothing appropriate to Pay, so I sat and waited, while the girl, squatting on the floor, looked up in her master's face and thoughtfully began to prepare a second bowl of kava. At lust he resumed the broken nar rative: "We got on all right as long as we were at the head station, where there were several whites, and the natives had, in away, learned some manners. .But when I went away to distant parts of the isle to open tip new stations T began to feel sorry that I'd brought the missus with me. But she would not hear of going back, not she; she swore she'd stick to me through thick and thin, and so she did till the end. "But to cut a long story short. We opnued up three or four stations safely euough. We used to go, just ourselves, in a boat with our box of trade and a crew of four boys from the Duke of York's isle. They were more afraid of being eaten than we were, so they stuck to us pretty close. "It was the cheek 'of the thing that did it, and I wonder now, when I look back, that we were not killed and cooked a dozen times over. The na tives simply could not understand a white man coming among them like that all alone, and they were so aston ished that they forgot to attack us. "They were a poor lot of savages, and if you gave one of them a piece of print he would hang it around his neck and walk away as proud as Punch. They were always fighting among themselves, and thought no more of killing a man than we would of shooting a pigeon. Why, I've seen a young fellow executed there just for stealing a cocoanut oft' a chief's tree, and if they had dared they would have killed me just as readily for the sake of my trade. "They hadn't much to buy goods with, either, a 'ittle copra and some beclie-demer and pearl shells. They wanted axes and tomahawks and knives, but most of all they wanted tobacco I common clay pipes. What they did with them I don't know, for they did not buy any to bacco. Kept them as a sort of idol or fetish, I suppose. They would sell everything they had to get a pipe, and especially a black one, and it was be cause of those cursed pipes that I lost my wife and nearly lost my own life, too. Perhaps it might have been as well," he added, despondently. "Nonsense, man," I interposed, as cheerfully as I could, "hut how did it happen; tell me about it." "It was the fourth place I was at, I think, a wild part, where no mission ary had ever dared to set his foot. We were a long way from the main station, and I had to depend upon myself entirely. It was up at the head of a deep bay, and there were a lot of mangroves, I remember, growiug along the beaeli, and then you went up a steep bank ten or twelve feet high, on top of which was the village. "Well, the chief was very glad to see me; he said they wanted a white trader badly, and invited me to stop. So I pitched on a likely spot in the middle of a grove of palms, close to the beach, yon may be sure. We soon ran up a rough bamboo house, and I got the wife and children, for there were two by this time, into it. Then wo carried the goods ashore, hauled up the boat and I sat down to wait for my customers. "I might hnve been waiting till this day, for all the business I did. The chief was very pleasant and fair spoken and took all the presents I gave him with the greatest condescension. But when it came to trading I found the people were so poor that they'd noth ing to trade with. I got about a hun dred pounds of copra and a little pearl shell in a week, that was all. I soon ihade up my mind that the place was not good enough for my business, and besides, from one or two little things I'd noticed, I came to the conclusion that it would be healthier to leave as soon as possible. | "It would not do, I knew, to appear ; in a hurry to get away, so I took mat tcl'B easily, ami gradually packed itp the trade and got everything ready for starting. But, quiet as I was about it, the natives were too smart for me. They saw what I was up to, aud the word went round the village that the white men was not to he allowed to go away aud to take all thnt lovely trade with him. I was in a tight place, and I knew it, and the boat's crew just sat sliiv -ring in their linked feet, for they felt that their fate would be the same as mine. "But the old woman was not afraid at all. It was wondeiful the way she kept up, with the two babies to look after aud all cooking and work of the house to do. As for me, I was pretty well worn out with watching, and did not get a wink of sleep for three nights. The natives would come around friendly enough during the daytime and look at our goods, aud we had to treat them pleasant, for it would never do to let them see that we were afraid. But at night we had to be all on guard, for we never knew at what momenta rush might be made. I had raised a kind of rough stockade of bamboo about the house, and within this I posted the fonr men of the crew, each with a Snider, I had a Winchester myself, but what good would these arms be if the natives should make a rush in a body on us? I didn't dare sleep, I can tell you. I was up and around every few minutes to see that the guards were awake and keeping a bright lookout. At last, on the third night, we had everything packed and I made up my mind to start at once. The boys got the whalcbont out from the shed under which she had been lying, and together we pushed her down the steep bank into the bay. But we had no sooner launched her than she filled, the water was up to her thwarts, ami there was nothing for it but to haul her ashore again. "I could not make it out nt all, for n week she had been a perfectly sound and seaworthy boat, and I knew she could not have dried up so much in the time. Still there was no doubt about her leaking, aud I soon found out the reason. Those devils of na tives had been at her, and some time, it must have been during the previous night, had managed to knock a lot of holes in her bottom. They werequiet over the work, too, for, though the boat was close by, we never heard a sound. They had staved in the planks with the heads of their stone axes. It was a good job I had not sold them any iron tomahawks, or else the boat would have been cut to pieces beyond repnir. It was bad enough, but, as the wrecked craft lay there in the mangrove swamp, I saw a glimmer of hope. Tf we could patch her up wo might still get away. If we couldn't—well, 1 kuew none of us would see another dawn. It was touch aud go, but there was just a chance. I posted the men on guard all around the palisade, with strict in junctions to lire at every native they saw approaching. Then the wife and I, and she was a brave littlo woman, set to work. We collected all the old ment tins we could find about the place, and, as we hud been living on nothing but tinned stuff for the past week, there were plenty. I made a tire and melted the solder out of the tins, so that I had a number of strips of clean metal to use as patches. "It was hard work, I can tell yon, lying on my bnck in the mud amid the prickly mangrove stumps, nailing lit tle bits of tin on each broken place. We put the children to sleep in the bottom of the boat, while my wife held the candle for nie. How many hours I toiled I don't know, but I thought I would never have finished. Now and again an alligator—and they are plenty in those parts—would crawl out of the water to see what was going on, or perhaps in search of his sup per, but the wife would dash the light in his face, and he would go back quicker than he came. "The first flush of dawn was in the sky by the time I had finished. I was stiff' and sore and worn out, but there was no time to think about these things. We launched the boat, and she seemed pretty tight, so I bade the men bundle the trade boxes into her and make ready to shove off, while the wife and I went up to the house to get a few little personal effects we had not yet carried down to the bench. "I remember, just as well as if I could see it now,scrambling up the slip pery bank and making our way to the little house. We were careless, per haps, but we did not anticipate any attack. I walked straight up to the hut. The door was closed, aud I was goiug to push it open when my wife, who was just behind, caught me round the waist and threw lue backward with nil her force. She was a strong wo man, and I was weak and tired, and I rolled over like a baby. "At the same instant she fell, a dozen spears through her body, the door burst open and a crowd of naked savages dashed out and made a rush for the boat. They thought mo dead, or badly wounded. I suppose, but at any rate they did not stop to look, they were in such a hurry to get the goods, and the oversight saved my life. I yelled out to the boat's crew to shove off, and then I crawled up to where my wife was lying. It was all over with her, I could see at a glance, and all she could whisper was Wave, vave, run quick and save yourself!' "Perhaps I should have stayed. I do not know, but nt any rnto I had no time to renson over the matter. There were the savages coming back from beach full of rage and disappointment at finding the boat out of their reach. ■ f crawled to tho right and made n cir cle round to gain the shore, and luck ily I got away Unobserved. The boat j was lying a hundred yards off. For tunately the men had had the sense to ' wait and see if we escaped. I swam | off to them and found the children all - well, aud the native boys shivering j with fear. But a kick or two soon roused them, a id I had the boat pulled as close in shore as I dared. "The savages were rushing about and shouting and making a tremeud ! ous row. Evidently they were search- I ing for me, and they had lit great torches of dry cocoauut leaves, which showed them up as bright as day. This was just what I wanted, for I emptied my ride into the midst of them, and the boys gave them a volley with theirs. They scattered like magic in every direction. I made a rush up the shore and carried the wife down, for I was beginning by this time to feel a bit ashamed of myself for having left her so quickly. Cut what could I do? My gun was in the boat, and if I had stepped I should only have been killed, too, and the children would have been left without a father. I found her lying in the same spot, but she was dead, and the wretches had even tied her up ready to carry her away. "By the time I had lain her in the boat it was nearly daylight, and I thought I would wait a bit and see it through. My blood was up, and I felt ready for any devilment. I took a big drink of schnapps and gave the boys a strong dose, too. This, as they were not used to liquor, made them quite mnd, aud they wauted to land at once aud wipe out the whole settle ment. But I thought it wise to rest awhile, and, with my ritleon my knee, I sat stiil and looked at the dead woman as she lay on the bottom boards of the boat, and at the little children sleeping so peacefully by herside. We pulled the boat off just out of range of their spears. By and by, when the sun was up, a great big savage stole down to the beach to have a look around and I potted him as neatly as I would have douo a wild pig. "Then another and another, until they begin to see that the bnsiness was a dangerous one, and gave it up. Having scared them sufficiently, we anchored the boat close in aud waded ashore. It took mo half a day to do it, but I cleaned that town out thor oughly. Their houses were little bits of huts—not like our fine dwellings raised off the ground on poles, aud each fenced in as if they were always afraids of attacks. Most of the people had cleared out into the bush, but any that I found I shot, and I burned every hut in the place. I don't think they will forget me there in a hurry. Next day I buried my wife at the hea l station, and resigned my billet. I had had enough of New Britain." The old man stopped suddenly. "Pass the kava silei," lie said to the girl, who was still squatting patiently on the floor. "And now you will un derstand, youug man, why Ido not wish to marry again."—Denver He publican. The Uses of Scrap Iron. Scrap iron commands a relatively higher price than borings and turn ings, for foundries fitted up to use pig iron can very conveniently make use of largo pieces of scrap iron for melting, and thus its market is less restricted. Borings and turnings labor under auotlier disadvantage, however, for, in comparison with the larger pieces of waste iron, the former are impure. Stored on the floor un der the machines they are exposed to the accumulation of dust from the floor, dirty waste used by the work men to wipe oil from their hands, tools carelessly thrown down and for gotten in the rush of work, rubbish of every sort, and brass or lead filings from the finishing departments. This accumulation of impurity entails a loss in iron of from ten to twenty per cent, in weight to the purchaser, hence their lower price. There are n round dozen of Inrge scrnp iron dealers in New York, who employ from ten to twelve workmen and drivers each, and in addition to these many smaller fry who, with their own horse and truck, and per haps a poorly paid helper, keep soul aud body together, and sometimes make enough to feed their horses, by buying in the cheapest and selling in the denrest markets the small lots of borings and scrap iron they are able to haul.—New York Times. Spaniards In tlie United States. The number of persons of Spanish birth in the United States is placed by the late census at 5183. Contrary to a popular belief, fostered by the alarming stories of Spanish spies and sympathizers, there are no consider able bodies of Spanish population any where in the United States, and out present adversary has a smaller pro portion of citizens here than Turkey. All the other Latin nations are very much more numerously represented. Thus Italy has sent to this country 1812,580 immigrants; France, 113,174, and even Portugal, Spain's nearest neighbor, with only a fourth of her population, has nearly three times as many natives, here or 15,996. —St.- Louis Globe-Democrat. Cows That Wear Guggles. The poet who won a fleeting fame by the announcement that he "never saw a purple cow and never hoped to see one," probably thought his fancy had reached the limit of the grotesque. Spectacled cows is an idea which would probably have utterly overcome him. Yet spectacled cows exist." They are the gentle kine of the Russian steppes. The steppes are covered with snow for six months in the year, and the cows graze on tufts of grass that crop above the snow. The effect of the sun's rays falling upon the glittering white waste on the eyes of the cattle was, of course, blind ing until it occurred to a cnttle owner to put smoked glasses on his herds. Over 4(1,000cows now wear the goggles. Electric Lau>|is For Policemen. The police authorities at Scotland Yard havo recently been testing a new electric lamp, designed to supersede the "bull's eye." It is said to be the invention of a police constable, rI 1 1 IU I '' ■■■ ■ N i ii.l ... "fun- Gooarkerry nml Currant Ci tUnga. It is very ensy to make o ittings of either currant or gooseberry bushes. A foot leugth of last year's growth, with the end smoothed oil and fixed standing in the soil, will put out roots from its smoothed surface. It is best to only leave one bud above ground. This will make the stem for the future plant. To Ilomeftticiite Wild Flower*. Most wild flowers may be made to grow iu gardens if provided with an environment sufficiently like their na tural one. Select a sbady place, fer tilize it with leaf mould, water freely aud protect the plants from the sun for about a week. In removing them trom the woods be careful to get all the roots and to leave as much soil around them as possible. Gestation In Summer. All the domestic animals vary from one to two weeks in the time they bear their young. If the latter part of ges tation is in warm weather, and when there is plenty of succulent feed, the parturition usually occurs a little sooner than it is expected. If during cold, freezing Aveather the reverse is the case. It is probable that the more succulent food obtainable during warm weather has something to do with it, by keeping the bowels open and the general system relaxed.—American Cultivator. liegonl i Culture. '— Begonias of all kinds grow best in a soil that is quite rich, somewhat saudy , aud porous. A soil that is heavy, 80 Pf?y apt to become sour cannot be used with good results. The mat ter of drainage is also an item in the culture of begonias not to be over looked. In potting the plants pro vide ample drainage by placing broken pottery, cinders or some such matter in the bottom of the pots. Flowering begonias can be bedded out in the summer with success, if plenty of water is given and a fairly sunny, warm location selected for the bed. Those of the Rex type will do best if plunged in a partially shaded location. Both classes should be protected from hot, drying winds, and should never be allowed to suffer for want of water.—Woman's Home Com panion. Small Size of Jmuy Cotvg. It is quite possible that Jersey cows Mid others giving large messes of milk are undersized because iu calfhooil, for a time, at least, they are apt to be fed on their own dam's milk. If their stomachs are cloyed then, the effect remains until they may be half grown. Jersey and Guernsey milk, because it iB extra rich, is often pre ferred by dotiuffparents for their very young children, who have to be brought up ou the bottle. Yet no cow's milk is a complete substitute to a child for that of its mother. All re quire some dilution, and the milk that is richest iu butter fats needs some thing added to it worst of all. This is not, however, to excuse the city milk dealers, who may dilute the milk to the legal standard. One-half the mortality in cities of babies brought up on the bottle would bo obviated if they were fed properly. A Fnrm Holler. Portable farm boilers for cooking vegetables for bogs and other animals aienow made in many styles, but on many farms the question of expense will lead to the using still of the old fashioned "set" kettle. It is a com mon practice to set such a kettle in brick, and lea - , c it exposed to the weather. The kettle is thus constantly being filled with rain, and the top bricks loosened. The accompanying COOKING APPARATUS FOR ANIMAL FOOD. cut shows an excellent plan for cover ing the kettle when it is constructed out of doors. This keeps everything snug and dry and presents a much bet ter appearance than does the kettle ihat is exposed to the weather. Such a kettle can be located convenient to the various farm buildings, to economize labor in feeding out the cooked food, i Whatever limy be the relative chemical value of cooked and uncooked food for fnrm animals, it is safe to say that the digestibility of vegetables is greatly aided by cooking, which is n most im portant point iu tho case of feeding young animals.—New York Tribune. Sewnße Farming. The sewage farm at Acheres, France, which ij fertilized by the sewage of Paris, has been successful both for the purification of the'sewage aud the pro duction of various crops. The sewage, which amounts to 17,600,000 cubic feet per diem, flows as far as Clichy by gravity, and is there raised one hundred and eighteen feet and dis tributed over the farm. At present the pnmping-station is of 1200 horse power capacity, but it is to be in creased to 6000, and to deal with the output of the Paris sewers would re quire a farm of 11,120 acres instead of the 2471 acres now under cultivation. The land is worth Ave times as much as previously, and many of tho land owners are eager to have the sewage supplied to their properties. When the sewago leaves the farm soj great is the degree of purification attained that a bacterial examination reveals fewer bacteria to the cubic centimetei than is the case of most streamiT'feup posed to be uucontamiuated.—New Y'ork Post. Making a Hoiked. The ordinary hotbed consists of t> pile of fermenting stable manure, covered with a frame and glazed sashes, in which is a layer of fertile soil. The bed should be located where it will be easy of access, but it should be or dry ground, and not where watei could flow over the ground and about its base, even in wet weather. II should also be sheltered from heavy winds, and with a full exposure to the sun. In preparation for a bed the fresh manure aud long litter are col lected from stables aud drawn togethei to the location of the bed, where they AN LT-TO-DATE FRAMED HOTBED. are placed in a conical pile. As the manure is thus thrown together it is facked down by treading on it, the treading being repeated as the bed is raised a few inches at a time, until the pile is finished off to a point at the top. After a few days it may be no ticed that the pile is heating by see ing steam rise from it. It is then customary to handle over the manure, shaking it out and again making it into a pile and tramping it down as before. Iu two or three days the signs of heating will again be evi dent, and it is then ready to be made into a bed. The bed should be made large enough to extend at least a foot out side of the frame at sides and ends. Iu throwing ttte manure into shape, as the pile rises in height every few inches, it should be beaten down with the back of the fork so that the mate rial will be of uniform density. The bed should bo two fest or two and a half feet iu depth; the deeper it is the steadier and longer continued will he tho heat. When the bed is finished evenly on top the frame con be set on aud covered with the sashes. Iu a few days a strong heat will rise, and when this abates somewhat, so that the thermometer thrust into the ma nure indicates only eighty-five or ninety degrees, a layer of rich mellow soil that has beeu previously prepared should be placed in the frame and spread evenly over the bed, to a depth of about six inches. The bed is now ready for use, and seed sowing in it can commence. In the management of a hotbed constant reference must be made to a J shaded thermometer kept inside, and air must be given sufficiently to keep the temperature down to about seventy degrees, and there should be mats provided for sheltering tho bed ou cold nights and in severe storms.—Vick's Magazine. Feeding Without Profit. The chief object of feeding should bo profit from tho conversion of field crops into more concentrated forms for market. When stock ca:i he kept with profit, there is a double profit from the farm—one from producing tho crops and one from converting them into meat, milk, wool, etc. But a considerable number of farmers that do not have profitable stock farms, feel obliged to keep stock for the sake of tho manure, skinning all grass and clover fields, and growing ether forage for the maintenance of the stock. We want to bear iu mind that stock add nothing to the quantity of plant food in the forage, were it given directly to the soil, hut that tho feeding robs the average farm of more than half its strength. The stook takes part of it own use, aud most farmers do not have perfect appliances for saving aud applying the remainder. There is con tinual loss, the distribution is bad, usually, nnd if the cultivated field that grew a second orop of clover or a heavy aftermath of timothy could re tain it as a malqh to be plowed under at the right time it would get far more fertility out of it than it ever would from the manure made by feediug it, and the distribution over the surface would be far more even. Nine times out of ten the fields need vegetable matter far more than anything else, and the idea that all growth should be passed through the stables means in actual practice the robbing of the field in respect to the very thing it most needs. If the feed is needed for stock that is going to bring a nice profitover all cost, that is another matter entire ly; but where scil fertility is the main consideration, and cultivated crops are the farmer's source, of income, he is on the wrong track when he puts la bor on the harvesting of all manorial crops, only to have half the fertility lost by passing through the stables. Soils may by fed as directly by plow ing growth under as by applying the manure gotten by feeding the growth, and the amonnt of plant food secured by the fiist method is much £~cater.
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