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.