111111 Tile' l>rulned Land. Land that is tile drained before win ter will not be covered with water next spring and will stand plowing several weeks earlier than undrained land. As the water falls below the warmth and air follow. Decline in llrftieli Agriculture. The aggregate area of corn crops, which comprise wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans and peas, amounts to 8,470,892 acres, which represents a de cline on the year of 230,710 acres. hThis contraction of the corn acreage follows, moreover, a similar decline of 96,208 acres last year, and 13.157 acres in 1899. A generation ago, say in 1871, the United Kingdom returned W 11,833,243 acres as under corn crops; ' this year the area is 3,350,351 acres less. In other words, an area not far short of three and one-lialf million acres has been withdrawn from corn croppings during the last 30 years. Jfhe wheat crop alone has incurred just over 2,000,000 acres of this loss. This year's area of corn crops is made up of 4,112,365 acres of oats, 2,140,- 875 acres of barley, 1,746,141 acres of wheat, 2j54,093 acres of beans, 155,665 acres of peas, and 67,753 acres of rye. It appears, then, that nearly one-half of the entire corn area of the British Isles is seeded to oats, whilst if we eliminato the pulse corn crops, and have regard only to the cereal corn, the oats acreage represents more than half the total. A Hue for llie Potato IIooU. Cool fall weather is an ideal time to gather stones from the meadows and tillable pastures. Their room has % much value, and It will not pay to let < i torn cumber the ground. To avoid backache and sore lingers, a potato hook may be used to gather the stonC3 on a boat, and, if any are partly im bedded in the earth, the tines will more readily pass under them than one's fingers. The large stones will have to be handled in the old way. It is useless to expect an ideal meadow with many stones on the surface, even if they are quite small. That all changes are not improve ments is shown by the following: A hardware dealer advertised something new in potato hooks, and I sent by a neighbor for one. The improved tool had tines of uniform size the whole length, and flat on the ends. The blindness Is to prevent marring the tubers, but when one is scratched it makes a larger wound than would a sharp tine. If a potato becomes im paled upon a blunt tine it is not easily jarred off, and the potato is likely to be split open. In hard ground the tool i is quite useless. Such changes arc not the kind to stimulate trade.—New York Tribune. lVaya of Storing Cabbape. There are several ways. One that i have found to suit very well, says a writer in American Gardening, is to select the best drained positions in tlio garden. Then with the plow or spade open a trench running east and west about eight or ten inches in depth and 15 inches broad; across the trench we place strips of wood about four feet apart—these act as supports for fence rails, or any pieces of wood laid over and parallel with the trench about two inches apart—on the wood we put two rows of cabbage, head down, finishing with a third row on top and along the centre of the others; over tile hole put a coat of dry straw, and this is covered up with about six inches of soil, adding more as the weather becomes cold. Except during very cold or very mild weather both w ends of the trench arc alio' ,"6(1 to stand open to carry on a circulation of ' air. Before pitting the plants should be dry and turned downward for a time, to allow the water to drain out of the axils of the leaves. See that there is a drain or fall from the pits to al low rain water to pass away. Another successful method is to open a trench east and west, throwing the soil to the sou.h; then packing the heads closely together with the roots in the ground, covering up tlio roots and stalks up to the heads with earth. A covering of leaves or straw, etc., must be put on the top to protect from the cold. This can be removed in mild weather, giving them the benefit of air and light. This plan is especially advantageous to immature heads, as they keep on growing when the weather is not too severe. 1 Winter Work In I'ench Orchard!. A v We have the worst drouth in 20 years in our immediate vicinity. Still peaches made a moderately fair crop of elegant fruit where orchards were well cultivated, which is the rule here. The yellows prevailed here to a rath er unusual extent, although I think It has been more noticeable on ac count of an usually rigid enforcement of the law regarding its destruction. You ask regarding inummy fruit and dead twigs. In my orchard, where careful pruning and spraying are practiced, I do not have them, but if I did, I would certainly remove them in the fall. The only fall work I do in my orchard is to get broken limbs, if any, out of the orchard and get my cover crop of oats well started. I leave all pruning until early spring, then rush it through before the buds start. It has happened here that a large per centage of buds have been killed dur j ing a severe winter; then in order to W save a crop the pruning must be light '* and this cannot be determined until after March 15. We wait until that date before pruning at all. If I was working in a southern on chard I feel sure I would change the plan and finish all my pruning and fer tilizing during the winter months, but I would not, under any circumstances, practice what I have seen in some southern orchards, that is, winter plowing or cultivate n. I am fully con. vinced of two things in peach culture. First, any dlsturbar.ee of soil or roots while a tree is dormant or in a rest ing stage is injurious; and second, any pruning or cutting of the peach during its active or growing period is very injurious. I am aware that the inclination to do things out of season, as a matter of convenience, is some times almost irresistable. But in my experience I have always paid a penal ty when I violated these laws of na ture. Roland Morrill, in Orange Judd Farmer. Making Ilii*li Grade litiller. No one can make good butter with bad odors around the creamery. Tire vats, churn, worker, utensils and em ployes must be absolutely clean and sweet. In running a creamery where the mill; is drawn to the creamery and there separated, is much better than a gathered cream plant where only the cream is brought. Farmers will not take care of cream properly and the greater part of it comes sour. In run ning a factory with a separator, I should separate my milk at 80 degrees Fahrenheit, letting the cream stand over night and cool down to churning temperature about 62 degrees in win ter and 58 in summer. I always want my churn stopped when the butter is in granular form, about the size of wheat kernels. The buttermilk will then draw off freely and can be worked very easily. ! always work my butter twice and sometimes in third water, the water being 10 de grees colder than churning tempera ture. I salt it to suit my trade, using mostly one ounce to the pound. I have never used the combined churn and worker, for I think the butter has a better grain with the churn separ ate. In packing I want my packages as clean as possible on the outside as well as inside. In packing in tubs I have them lining up and fold over the edge of butter one inch, then the top circular is put on top and tucked down betwen tub and lining. I have had men tell me that my butter took well, because when they took a cover off< the butter was smooth and nice. In putting up prints the same care should be taken to have full weight and a neat package. In making butter from gathered cream It requires more care. I am selling all I make in pound prints, at two cents above highest market price, having the same regular trade for 12 years. 1 always take my prize butter right out of the qhurn with all the rest and do not follow any different methods.—F. S. Mallory in American Agriculturist. Fall Treatment of Innectn. One cannot do better on the farm late in the fall and winter than to make a thorough search in the orchard and garden lor insect pests and their p"" or la""-ie. We know 1 enn"gh about the insect world now to under siami ihal me best way to des.roy these is to prevent their millions rf eggs from hatching. Many of these are laid on the twigs and in the bark of the orchard trees. The tree borers and grubs bury themselves at the base of the trees and inside of the bark, and there hibernate. The flies and in sects glue their eggs to twigs and bushes, or bore pinholes in the trees and deposit them there. Millions of these eggs are laid for another sea son's crop of insect pests. The old insects of many species die in the fall, and leave the future of their race to the eggs thus laid. By destroying these eggs we get ahead of the pests and greatly limit their ravages. One should go carefully over the orchard trees and vines, and examine twigs, branches, roots and trunks. Wherever there is any suspicion of eggs glued in masses to the bark or sawdust to indicate the presence of a hole full of eggs, the owner should scrape the bark carefully and run a little thin wire in the hole. Great quantities of eggs can be gathered from the bark of twigs and trunks in this way, and if immediately burned thousands of insects will be prevented from coming into the world. The worms and grubs that bore in the trunks of trees to hibernate must be hunted for diligently, and with a piece of wire they can easily be killed. Even the leaves under the orchard trees should be raked up and burned. If it were generally known how many in sect pests these leaves harbor In win ter they would not be saved for bed ding or anything else. Many a pest crawls under the leaves and goes to sleep lor the winter or deposits eggs there to hatch in the spring. The only sure way to prevent tills is to rake up the leaves after they have all fall en and burn them. It will pay in the end good interest on the work and in vestment. Not even spraying will do so much good in keeping down the insects, as this searching investiga tion of the trees in fall and winter. Re peated every year, the orchard will soon become so free from noxious in sects that the foliage and branches and fruit will take on quite a different appearance. Many twigs on affected trees will be found honeycombed with small pinholes. These should be pruned off and burned. They repre sent colonies of insect eggs that may bring forth millions of pests next spring.—Professor James S. Doty, in American Cultivator. The greenfinch is the earliest riser of the bird family. It sometimes be gins to pipe at 1 o'clock on a sum mer morning. The blackcap comes next and then tHe blackbird. . To Muko Clothe* Lat. Never in home dressmaking cut any kind of woolen goods until it ha 3 been sponged, as cheap material is often not dampened before it is sold. To do this properly at home get an ironing board or table the width of the good's, and cover with tightly stretched calico. Spread your cloth wrong side up cover with a linen cloth that has been well rung out in water, and then press with a hot Iron the lengthwise of the goods. Never let the iron be atill, and while pressing allow the goods to fall evonly onto a clean cloth placed on the floor. Not NerejuHi'lly Expensive. It is not necessary to pay so much for a Gainsborough hat. It is of all hats the most reasonable. While it will accept a great deal, it will also uo without much and will look well on a little, when any other hat would look skimp. The Gainsborough must -e large and or good shape. Its crown must be of moderate height and its brim broad and inclined to be undu lating, that is, it must be a brim that can be bent or molded, turned or twisted. But when once the hat is secured, the worst is over. The rest is comparatively simple, for the Gains oorougli can be trimmed with odds and ends that would look out of plaec upon another hat. New Sliirt Waist*. The new shirt waists are nearly all In light colors and in white, many showing a printed floral design and all bearing lace in one way or another. The large square lace trimmed collar is still popular, the sailor knot be neath showing lace incrust, while the tucked sleeves form a puff at the wrist. The new woolen muslin is an excellent material for the pretty new blouse, which is an essential feature of milady's wardrobe, and this comes in plain and printed, show ing the most delicate combinations of color. A in pale yellow Tuscan silk had the finely tucked col lar and sleeves of material, trimmed with lace of the same shade In ap plique, while the tiny vest of finely tucked white muslin was crossed with narrow bands of pale yellow velvet fastened on the left with small buckles.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat. A Western Equentrienue. Mrs. Minnie Austen, a typical wom an of the plains, lias recently been giving exhibitions of equestrianism at Portland, Ore., and has astonished many, even among the experienced plainsmen, by her daring feats. She Is an absolutely fearless horsewoman, who delights in feats that seem haz ardous and in risks that appear dan gerous. The crowd of cowboys who were performing at the carnival dur ing the horse show were so confi dent of Mrs. Austen's ability that they were willing to back her to the ex tent of SIOO to ride any four-footed animal sent to the grounds. During the week Mrs. Austen has been nightly doing a tandem hurdle act that has proved Immensely popular with the carnival visitors. With two spirited horses going at file utmost speed that vigorous whip-lashing could get out of them, she went tearing around the track, taking the three hurdles as clean as ever any famous hunter cleared a brush or fence. —St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Woman Ceil mi a Tiiker. It was through the death of her hus band that Mrs. Daniel A. Button of Fontlac, Mich., became the first wom an census enumerator a number of years ago. She had been in the habit of arranging and copying the work of her husband, who was one of the deputies appointed for census pur poses. When left alone Mrs. Button applied for her husband's position, in due time receiving the appointment. It was decided by the government after receiving her reports that the Manufacturing statistics should bo compiled for the first time in the his tory of the census, and this work was placed in her hands. Mrs. Button found it a difficult task, as she had to visit personally every manufactory, large or small, in the district, and as certain the amount and cost of ma terial used, the value of the articles purchased, the expense of production, and the gain or loss per year. Upon sending in her final report to the su perintendent of the census bureau she received from him a letter of com mendation for the excellence of her work, and a deputy marshal's badge— white silk in blue 'etters. One of tlio Cliliio.o Kinprr-n'l Clonk*. "There'll be an opera cloak worn here this winter that will make every woman In town turn green with envy," said a Washington woman who had just returned from a visit in Now York. "I saw It last week, and if I could have pulled my soul up by the roots I think I'd have traded it off for that dream of a cloak. The woman who bought it will spend the season here. I saw it at a tea—l won't say whose —in New York City. "The woman who sold It Is the sister of a naval officer —a surgeon, I think. The brother brought it from China, and—whisper—it's loot. He found it In the Forbidden City, where a lot of Russian soldiers who were looking for secret doors and hiding places in the walls of a palaee had fiung it on the floor and were trampling it under foot. He brought it away to keep it from being carried off by some care less and dishonest person. "It's a long, kimona-sliaped thing of black satin, embroidered in a mar velous way, and it's lined through and through with the richest ermine, and if the Empress misses it, I'm sure she'll be glad to know it's in safe hands." —Washington Post. Margaret Fuller. It is due to a woman's effort that a tablet has been erected as a memorial to Margaret Fuller, who was drowned many years ago off (he Isle of Pines,- Long Island, and on this spct the tab let to her has been placed. Margaret Fuller's real influence among women is only beginning to be understood. Hundreds of women who today are reaping seme results of her movement scarcely know of her existence, or if they do, It is merely as a member of the set of literary persons in Concord, Mass., when Emerson, Alcott and those men were a unique coterie. As a matter of fact, Margaret Fuller was far less associated with them than seems to be thought. She did indeed know them, as those men admired the type of women for which she stood, believing, as has since been demon strated, that woman was capable of embracing more opportunities than were then afforded her. Margaret Fuller was in the best sense of the word a broad-minded, in tellectual woman, says a writer in the Home Magazine. The men of her day considered her their mental equal, and. what was equally to the point, treatel her as such. She lectured and wrote, and her opinions were heard with respect;. Her tragic death off the Long Is land shore on her return to this coun try with her husband and child, having married an Italian, is one of the events that has until recently been unmarked in any way. Her body was never recovered, and with the passing of time much that she did has been forgotten. It is Mrs. Lillie Devereaux Blake, who ita3 at last done something to perpetuate her memory by raising money for the tablet that was put in place a few weeks ago. Although she has long admired Margaret Fuller, it was not until several years ago that Mrs. Blake, who spends her sum mers on the Isle of Pines, found that she was within a short distance of the place where the former was drowned. Mrs. Blake immediately set about having a memorial of some sort erected there. With energy that has remained unflagging she has interest ed persons in the work, has held sales, given teas and resorted to other simi lar means to raise money, with the result that this season she found there was enough, and with simple ceremonies the tablet was unveiled. Flowers are used on cold-weather hats. Large white wings are much seen cn the new toques. Pretty afternoon gowns are made of the gav silks and libertv-satin foulard now shown in floral designs. Tucking promises to be used for waist trimming on every sort of ma terial that can possibly be tucked. A new fancy in corsets is the use of white velvet printed in colors with floral designs. This is a step beyond the silk and satin of other years. The dog muff has made its appear ance in Paris. In the front is a deep padded pocket, in which the wearer's tiny pet can be safely deposited. Collecting scraps of lace to mount in an album is said to be a fad at pres ent among English women. Beneath each piece of lace is written the name and the date and place where it was obtained. Every now and again one sees let combs, though they are not very uni versally worn and there are pretty things in jet brooches to be found. These come in fancy designs, fleur-de lis. horseshoes, and In more conven tional patterns. White Indian cashmere is utilized for elaborate evening coats and one notable example from a Parisian de signer is combined witu black chantilly lacc. A broad puffing of white chiffon down the front is held in place by jet motifs. Very attractive is a brooch, a long spray of acorn leaves and fruit, the leaves of diamonds, the lower part of the acorns each a single pink pearl and the upper part, in which the pearls are set, of a bronze gold, set with small diamonds. In bags of various kinds, those to carry in the hand, chatelaine bags with silver frames and card cases are combined black and steel. Frequently the foundation of the bag or case will be of the jet beads and worked in will be a design of some sort in the steel beads. Beading plays an important part in handlcercrlefs. Very dainty little handkerchiefs have a line of beading on the exact edge in lieu of a hem, and inside this a line of embroidery, fine and delicate—anything heavy would be out of keeping—a slender vine with a little more elaborate work in the corners. In some of the hand kerchiefs the beaded edge Is entirely straight, and in others It is slightly undulated. Perhaps the former is the most attractive. BUYING "GBEENGOODS, DIFFICULTY IN PREVENTING THIS; FORM OF SWINDLE. Few Kealize to What Extent Tills Par ticular Calling of the Powers That Pro is Carried Kings Among the Crooks— -1 lie Method* of the Sharpers Are Many. Perhaps every newspaper reade: knows what a "greengoods" man is. but how many people who think tha they were pretty well acquainted with the intricacies of metropolitan life have any idea to what extent this particular calling of the "powers that prey" is now carried? The trade of the "greengoods" man is one of the most puzzling and mysterious with which detectives have to deal. And what is most astonishing of all is that every day within a radius of a few miles from New York City hundreds of daring schemes are being carried on and brought to full realization. A New York Tribune reporter was prompted to make inquiries as to the extent and workings of this practice by a Washington dispatch. This dis patch said that J. L. Bristow, fourth assistant postmaster general in his recent report, had advocated an amendment to the interstate com merce law which would prohibit tele graph and express companies or their employes from aiding and abetting "greengoods" or lottery swindles, or any other scheme carried on partly by mall and partly by common carrier in violation of the postal laws. The necessity for such a law, together with the probable difficulty of its enforce ment. was made evident by Theodore W. Swift, chief of the New York post office Inspectors. Mr. Swift said: The "greengoods" man is one who promises to give a certain amount of counterfeit money for genuine money. He is one of the oiliest individuals with whom detectives have to deal. He is difficult to apprehend, and when he Is caught it is almost impossible to obtain sufficient evidence to secure his conviction. Every year ho robs innocent, trusting men, of large sums of money—how large we have no means of determining. He is a high wayman, a true freebooter, who handles his revolver with as easy an assurance as he does his chief weapon —his tongue. We have fought him sub rosa for years, and we are still learning his cunning ways. He is the trickiest, nerviest, most desperate ruf fian in good clothes with whom we deal. I could talk to you for hours of his wormings, his twisting and hit burrowlngs. but perhaps a description of only one of a hundred different methods by which he makes his living will serve as an illustration. Practically all the "greengoods" men ot the country operate from New York. They work in this city because the great volume of mailing which goes on here makes detection more difllcult. If after they receive replies they could be tracked and watched, and if we knew from whom their mail comes, of course we could more readily drive them out of existence. As the system is now worked we have no means of knowing who send letters to them or at what point these letters to the sharpers are really written. Let's take the simplest case. The "greengoods" man sends out a circu lar to a man whose name he finds in the directory of some town. This cir cular may state that the writer has a son who once worked in the treasury department, who is perfectly familiar with the process of making money. The crook adds that further instruc tions may he obtained by telegraphing to, say. "J. W. Ellis, Greenville, N. J.," which, of course, is a fictitious ad dress. The innocent is told not to use the mails, but to telegraph all communications to the crook under a signature, say, for example, "736." No. 736 accepts the bait and tele graphs as instructed. In a short time a generous pile of messages from gullible persons, addressed to the crook, accumulate at Greenville. It is easy for us to find these telegrams at that office, but we can't find the crook. By collusion with the telegraph oper ator, copies of these messages are sent by mail, by express, or by hand to New York, where the crook has all along kept himself. This scheme prevents us from capturing him. It is practically impossible to prove that the operator, who receives SSO for his share in the transactions, is an accessory to the operation. Each of these copies ol' telegrams represents to the crook a possible "sucker." The greengoods man then writes again to No. 736, the weakling, and sends him a genuine one dollar bill as a specimen of the counter feit money which is for sale. He adds that for SSOO, in good money, SSOOO worth of counterfeit money like the sample enclosed may be purchased. The innocent is then instructed to come to New York, but to first tele graph, always in cipher, to the sharp er's real address in New York tell ing him when he starts. A few minutes after No. 736, the innocent, goes to a room at an ap pointed hotel, the "steerer," or as sociate, of the greengoods man ap pears. The "steerer" then pilots the man with the SSOO into the country, perhaps to a small Pennsylvania town, where the greengoods man meets them. He is told that safety requires such a move. The crook then actually gives the "sucker" SSOOO in genuine money for his SSOO. Then the crook tells No. 736 that it would be better if he did not take these five crisp one thousand dollar bills to his native town; that it would ue far safer to submit tnem to a chem ical process, invented by the crook, that would, after a few days of treat ment, make them appear older and .'-ss likely to cause any one to sus pect tlielr origin. Mind you. this prop :>ition is made after the SSOO is in ho pocket of the sharper. It is al nost incredible, but it is a fact that he countryman, in the majority of ases, consents to give back his SSOOO worth of genuine bills to the crook to subject it to the "process." After re citing the SSOOO back the sharper dis appears, the "steerer" does likewise, and the "sucker" is penniless. Had le murmured an objection or hesi ated a moment, he would have been confronted with a loaded revolver. In this way theft by assault and battery is not necessary, and the same object is achieved in the quiet suave fashion described, and the victim, because of his position as a would-be dispenser of false bills, is blocked from com plaining to the police. This is the simplest method of greengoods procedure. There are a thousand variations to thi3 theme > each of which is a hard nut for us to crack. You ask why canuot one of our men impersonate a credulous per son and then arrest the blackguards? We have done this, but have practi cally abandoned the idea.because gen erally we have been unable to pro duce enough evidence to convict. The sending of the telegrams and letters is so adroitly managed that the train of evidence which we may collect is likely to break at an important point. Of course, the detective's life is in constant danger when pursuing these crooks. "Where do the sharpers get the money with which to play their trade? Where did the man in the case cited get his ?SUOO in genuine money?" was asked. Mr. Swift replied: "That is the most interesting part of the story. The system does not depend for its success upon the re sources of a few needy swindlers. These men are simply agents of wealthy criminals, who manage their men, outline the plan, think of new schemes and pay their agents a gen erous percentage of the amount they steal from their victims. This weal thy criminal is the king sharper of the crowd; it is he who furnishes the capital. To prove my knowledge of the existence of these facts, I'll say that I know one of these king crooks, lie lives in Pennsylvania where he has a magnificent stock farm. Many acres of rich laud, on which are costly cat tle and horses, stretch on all sides from his baronial-like mansion. There are others like lifm, closer to New York human vultures, who by the ex ercise of a peculiar cast of intelli gence have been able to amass large fortunes. They have wrought so cun ningly that, while we are certain that they are exceedingly dangerous to society, we are almost powerless to convict them. The very nicety of the law of evidence renders almost impossible the fulfilment of justice. We have been fairly successful, liow. ever, in driving these highwaymen from our postofllce, and what we want now Is just this amendment to the interstate commerce law which will make telegraph and express com panies—the former particularly— more heedful of their duty. We have a law in New York state which pro hibits this wretched business being carried on by telegraph or mail. All states should have such a statute i or else let us have a Federal law to the same effect. New Jersey has a statute prohibiting telegraph and express companies from aiding and abetting these swindlers. We have recently had a New Jersey operator imprisoned for violating this law. IlHd liven There All llie Time. One of the "fly men" at the central police station was given instructions several weeks ago to "bring in" a young man who had a criminal record. The detective knew his man and had received information that he was in the city. A detective working under an in struction to arrest a man when found does not usually devote all his time to the search. He puts the warrant into his pocket and depends upon encoun tering his man sooner or later. If he has no other work on hand lie occa sionally drops into the resorts such as are usually favored with the pres ence of men who have been photo graphed side and front. One morning the "fly man." while on his way to his room met the long sought crook at the front stairway of the building. "I want you," he said good-natured ly, "but 1 didn't expect to ilnd you here." "This is where I live. "For how long?" "Since I came back, six weeks ago." "Well, you're a bird. I live here, too." Both men were touched in their professional pride—one that he could search for weeks to arrest a man in the same building, the other that he should rent a room next to a "fly man." —Milwaukee Sentinel. Siuilln to IVmil Window*. Snails have long been employed in this country for cleaning windows. The creatures are dipped in cold water, and then placed upon the pane. They crawl around slowly, devouring all foreign matter and leaving the glass quite blight and clear. They are, of course, used only for upper windows, not easily readied from out side. Water snails also command a ready sale. Almost every aquarium owner keeps a few water snails. They are the best of scavengers and keep the place as tidy as a new housemaid. London Answers. On the Mississippi, between St. Louis and Minneapolis, GO Hawmills are in operation, and 179 steam craft of various kinds navigate this stretch of the river.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers