ApfefliL * HINTS A Sign or I.nck of SUi'l. Abandoned farms are evidences of lack of skill and industry on the part of their former occupants. The fact that some of these farms have been made profitable demonstrates that more farms are abandoned because | of inducements in other directions to individuals who cannot make the farm pay more than for lack of capacity of the soil. Not a CSoocl Footl for Cnvrn. A recent writer says lie fed his cows on pumpkins liberally for some time j : , and they fell off in their milk two or. three quarts per day, each cow, which i was caused by the pumpkin seeds, for j when they were removed and the same quantity of pumpkins fed, the cows in £ creased in their milk to a larger jr amount than they had before given. A satisfying proof that pumpkin /seed will dry up the milk secretion is demonstrated by feeding alternately for a week or two by the t wo methods. When the seeds are allowed an im mediate lessening of thfe milk supply ! follows. While pumpkins are valuable as food for the dairy and constitute a cheap ration, the seeds act adversely and must be removed. Hon;* for Ouick Return*. It has always been my experience that there is a deciilej advantage with hogs over all other stock kept on the farm —the quick returns if good man agement is given. As with all stock, it is essential that a good breed be had. By having well bred animals a quick growth and early maturity can be obtained. If a sow farrows in early spring, say April, late enough not to , endanger losses from cold, in nine months the pigs, with good treatment, can be ready for market. By this time another lot of pigs can be growing. Thus we can sell two lots of pigs in a year from the same sow. This gives a quick return, and at this year's prices, a good one on the money in vested. No other stock will answer as well. The value of the hog to the farmer cannot he questioned.—Mrs. M. A. Speakman, in Orange-Judd Farmer. Careful Cribbing. Care should be taken in cribbing corn to protect it aginst rats. Cribs should be raised from the ground so that the floor can not be gnawed through, and the posts should be so guarded that they cannot be climbed, I know of no better plan than the old one of covering the top of each post with a galvanized iron pan, extending out so that the rats cannot climb around it; strips of galvanized iron inay be nailed around the top of the posts, flaring outward and downward, •# like the eaves of a house, so that the * rat can not pas the obstruction. Cribs should not be near other buildings, and everywhere care should be taken to avoid building rat harbors. The pest of rats does not stop with the mere loss of the grain they consume, although when corn is 50 cents per bushel tills loss Is well nigh intoler able; they visit dwelling and poultry yard, and everything about the farm suffers. All should begin at the be ginning to reduce this nuisance by cribbing the corn so carefully that there will be no encouragement to the rat family.—G. March, in the Epito mist. Failure or SiiccMD. The careless dairyman lias no pos sible excuse for existence. His cans are more than likely to be rinsed in ditch water, it hot water chanced to be convenient, tney may be scalded ever in a week or two. If he makes W butter at home, he does it without a thermometer. The youngest child who can turn the handle or lift the dasher is placed at the churn, and told td remain until he hears the butter milk "slashing round!" This man, If he insists on keeping cows, should take his milk to a creamery and buy his butter there. He is a fossil, not a dairyman. But, if a man can keep his milk clean every day in the year, if he can be interested in the sweetness of his milk cans, if he can be thoroughly con vinced of the virtues of water actual ly at boiling point as the only destruc tion of germs of ill flavor, if he can watch over his cream and control its ripening, and churn with his thermom eter and his understanding as well as with his hands, if he can be enthusi astic over the grain of his butter and keep before his mind's eye the perfect product, rather than the dollars and cents represented by it —then he has 1 found his vocation and is likely to do it credit. —Edith Evans before the Arizona Agricultural Association. Fertile Egg* In Early Spring. If one desires to secure fertile eggs early in the season there are certain precautions to be taken. The hens Shouid be induced to exercise as much as posible. To secure this end there is nothing better than to have abund ant litter and scatter whole grain in it, so as to compel the hens to scratch for their food. The food shouid con tain at least 10 percent and 20 percent would be better, of animal matter. Whether the animal food is ground green hones, beef scraps or animal meat Is not of so much consequence as that animal food be given. Probably if the bones have plenty of lean meat adhering to them, they are the best to /use. • Beef scraps I nave used in prefer ence to other animal foods, because they are always obtainable at reason able prices. Some so called animal 4 meats are apt to be two laxative aiul their use requires more care than most poultrymen are willing to give. If a mash is given for one meal, it should be fed warm, not hot, and the addition of a little sulphur will be found beneficial. The eggs should be gathered regu larly, and frequently if the weather is cold in order to prevent their being chilled. While an egg will endure con siderable cold, yet even a slight chill may prevent it from hatching, and it is always "better to be safe than to be sorry" in such matters. The fresh er the eggs the stronger wil be their fertility. While eggs sometimes will hatch when six weeks or two months old, they are much more likely to hatch If not more than one week old. If they must be kept, their fer tility will tend to be preserved by turning them over every day or two. If eggs are purchased for hatching and come from a distance, they should be unpacked promptly, put in a cool place and allowed to lie undisturbed upon their sides for from 24 to 48 hours, according to the distance they have traveled, before they are placed under a hen or in a incubator. Experi ments have shown that the jarring incidental to travel to some degree dis places tile contents of the eggs and that a period of rest is necessary to secure the proper readjustment of the contents. Neglect to give traveled eggs the requisite rest is probably re sponsible for not a few complaints re garding their being fertile. A rotten egg is one that has been fertile. Not a few complaints are made that the eggs set were infertile because after incubation they were rotten. But their rottenness proves exactly the reverse. An egg which has never been fertilized will be as odorless after three weeks incubation as it was at the start. The sweetness may not prove that it was never fertilized be cause it is possible that fertile eggs may be so injured that the germ never starts to grow, but rottenness proves that there was a germ which began to grow but died during some period of the incubation.—H. S. Babcock, In American Agriculturist. To tlie Ilesruo of Wornout I.untl*. The unproductive pasture and mead, ow lands of New England are in no sense worn out and exhausted; they are not dead, never to be re vived again. Their returns are small, simply because they lack care and attention. Stir them up, get air through them, and then add some available plant food so plant life can get started; they will quickly change from their unproductive condition, giving satisfactory returns. All things considered, New England is one of the best hay-raising sections of the whole country. Much of these lands are giving good farm return with neither artificial feeding nor care. Think vyliat they would surely do were they handled in a business like way. The New Hampshire col lege farm is one of the most vivid ex amples of what skill, science and caro will do in the way of rescuing worn out lands. When the college was moved to Durham, the farm repre sented one of the most depleted and broken-down farms in the whole New England district. But 12 tons of hay were cut that first year; it required some time to produce enough forage for the smal number of animals kept. But what a change in a few brief yeai 1 The past season finds every field on the old farm under cultivation, and newly seeded to grass, and two large barns filled with hay and corn to over flowing, and 80 head of cattle and horses supported, besides a large num ber of hogs. How was this done? By tillage, crop ratation, manures and fertilizers. What was done for the improvement of that farm is possible for every farmer in New England. The first step is tillage, and thorough tillage at that; chemicals and crop rotation will not show their full value unless good tillage is followed. Soil must be stirred up and filled with air. This practice will improve the physical condition of the soil; and changes the unavailable, unassimilable plant food into available plant food. It losens the soil, it puts life in the soil; it makes a comfortable home in which the plant may grow. Then crop rotation adjusts the different plants to the environments of their food. Finally, chemicals supply the needed plant food to get a good and vigorous growth from the beginning. We have found it advisable in bring ing up the New Hampshire College farm to add the following chemicals just before sowing: Muriate of potash 150 pounds, nitrate of soda 100, and acid phosphate 200 pounds per acre. This mixture was scattered broadcast, then harrowed in followed by the crop seed. One favorable season the yield was increased from less than a half ton of hay to the acre to more than three tons. An eight-acre field three years ago was treated in this manner by fall and spring seeding, and the following summer 22 tons of timothy-clover hav were cut. The last summer a trifle less than 24 tons were harvested. Oth er fields were treated in a similar way. In every case the yield has been doubled and trebled by tillage and fer tilization. Does it pay? Nothing pays better than when hay sells for sls and S2O per ton. The expenditure of $lO per acre for labor and fertilizers will be returned in a single year, with a profit of as much as twice what was origin ally spent, and then for four or five years everything is profit, except the cost of harvesting the crop.—Charles W. Burkett, in American Cultivator. The leopard cannot change his spots, but a girl can get rid of freckles. ! i Were Never Defeated * • • • Victorious Gener&.l3 Who Conducted Campaigns Without • ® Reverses. £ It is curious and interesting In read ing the lives of great military com manders to observe among the large number of generals who have held in dependent commands how few have careers of uninterrupted success. A man who can go through a campaign and fight many battles and never suffer a reverse must, indeed, be a command er of the first order. The Duke of Alva, one of the most eminent soldiers of the sixteenth cen tury. never, throughout his long and eventful career, lost a battle. The archbishop of Cologne was struck by Ills efforts to avoid a conflict, having on one occasion urged him to engage the Dutch. "The object of a general," replied Alva, "is not to fight, but to conquer; he fights enough who obtains the victory." Oliver Cromwell, throughout his mil itary career, never lost a battle, though he very nearly sustained a reverse at Dunbar. The Duke of Marlborough affords an excellent example of a successful sol dier. He combined all the qualities necessary for a great commander, and although he fought several battles against the most experienced generals I Chinese Clsuns Fight J If\ vil Trivial Disputes That Sometimes Lead Jo Great Loss cf Life, g Americans in the region around Swa tow, China, have been brought face to face unexpectedly with a curious hin drance to trade in the form of constant fights between clans over the most trivial things. As nearly every Chinese laborer is a member of a clan in that district, the commerce of the twentieth century is stopped every little while by the survivals of a past so ancient that the American commonwealth is an ab surdly young infant compared with tt. The clans are all formed of blood rel atives and are added to systematically by interniariage so that all the mem bers are bound together by tie 3 of rela tionship. Each member pays all he can to the headman of his clan, and the sums obtained In this way are enor mous. Thus the Ur clan recently fought for six months and the total cost of the war was only 13 cents a man, certainly as low a war budget as there is on rec ord. A few months ago two men from two different clans met in a village in the province. One mentioned the other's clan in a disrespectful way. A pretty © -rt<L>- .cßrv--uxL.--.-Bii- -reti. .v-DIA- <t A. DREAM STORY ? v |t And Very Good Ons for Those Who Can Believe It. A former Boston newspaper man told a story not long ago of an experience of a young woman of his acquaintance, which, while it has not yet been em bodied in any work of Action, at least gives evidence of imaginative powers and may be considered later. The young woman spent her summers at an old Marshfleld farmhouse, the win dows of which had an outlook on the ocean. She had a fad, of course, and it was the collection of various kinds of seaweed. According to the story, she had a dream one night of a storm-tossed mariner who came and stood by her side and implored her aid in going on a search for treasure lost at a certain point in the Indian ocean. The dream passed and the morning came. The young woman was about to leave her room when she noticed a small pool of water which might have been caused by a dripping umbrella, near the fire place. In the pool floated a small piece of seaweed of a variety which she had A Little Heroine. It was "over in Jersey" tnat a little incident happened a few weeks ago in which an 11-year-old girl displayed qualities of character wortay to be compared with the men who stood by their posts in the New fork tunnel disaster. The girl in question, with a companion somewhat older than her self was playing on tho ice in tho Itaritan canal, near New Brunswick, when tho latter suddenly went down through an air-hole, says Leslie's Weekly. No help being in sight, the younger girl promptly laid down flat on the ice around the hole and waited for her friend to come up, but when the latter appeared she was too far away, and her rescuer coulu not grasp her. Twice the girl sank out of sight, and when she reappeared, the other who had commenced to yell lustily for help, but witnout changing her posi tion, managed to grasp ner friend's hair. She could not pull the drowning girl out of the water, but she held on desperately until a man who heard her cries came up and rescue both. The water had flowed over the ice around the hole so tnat the younger girl was half submerged, and more than half frozen when help came, but she did not shrink from her effort, nor seem to realize that she herself was In any danger, her only thought being for her companion, whom she had snatched from the very jaws of death. Why He Kept a Dog. A prominent dog fancier and wealthy man of Philadelphia stepped Into a grocery the other night and ac cidentally stumbled over a fat old Ger in Europe, he was never once defeated. The famous Russian general, Suwar off, was another commander destined never to suffer defeat. He gained sev eral victories against the Turks and against the Poles, and in Italy he was opposed by Moreau. Being completely outnumbered, he effected a brilliant re treat over the mountains of Switzer land, through Germany, into Russia. He was held in great respect by his soldiers, and although he showed him self to be an exceedingly able tactician, he used to say that the whole of his system was comprised in the words, "Advance and strike." The Duke of Wellington, throughout his brilliant campaigns, both in India and in the Peninsula, has preserved to himself a remarkable record of unin terrupted successes from the first bat tle in which he was vested with su preme command throughout the Pen insular war, in which he defeated the ablest of Napoleon's marshals, until the eventful day of Waterloo, when he defeated the greatest soldier cf modern times. Don't bounce the baby when he cries. Look for the pin. battle was fought in consequence by the clans. Several hundred men were on each side. About fifty were killed. It was a satisfactory affair. In Chao Peng two men of the TJr- Chang clan went out frog-catching and passed through one of the villages with less clothes on than the law allows. It was late at night and only one vil lager saw it. But the indignity was not to be borne, and war was declared. It involved 16,000 men on one side and 20,000 on the other. Another battle in which property valued at ? 10,000 was destroyed was caused by a dispute between men of rival clans over a gambling debt. The amount at issue in the quarrel was .0028 cent. At present there is more or less de sultory fighting between the Chow Yang and the Jao Peng clans. No one knows what they are fighting about, but the rate of deaths is estimated as being ten or twelve a day, which is pretty good for mere bickering. It Is hard to be poor, of course.- But then, it isn't easy to be rich. never seen before. Sho could not ac count for it, but it was carefully pre served in a specimen book. Not long after she was a passenger on one of the ocean liners. Among her fellow-passengers was a professor in one of the English universities, and an acquaintance was formed between the two. The professor shared to a certain extent her interest in seaweeds, and one day she was turning over the leaves cf her specimen book in his company. Coming to the specimen so strangely acquired the professor uttered an ex clamation. "How did you come by that?" he asked, with a manifest show of inter est. She told him as well as could be. "It is strange," said the professor. "That is the second specimen of that variety that I have seen. The only other one that I know of is preserved in the British Museum and was found at a seldom visited point in the Indian ocean." Then the young woman re membered her dream. —Boston Herald. man, who was sitting in a corner smoking his pipe. Under his chair was the most re markable specimen of a nog that the gentleman had ever seen. It had the appearance of a pug, with rough red hair and a long tail. It was impossible to resist laughing at the placid old man and his nondescript dog. "What kind of a dog is that?" ask eu the gentleman. "I don't know," replied the German. "I suppose you use him for hunt ing?" "No." "fs he good for anything?" "No." "Then why do you value him so?" "Because he likes me," said the old fellow, still pufllng at his pipe, and the expression of the dog as he looked up from under the chair fully confirmed the statement. "There is no better or stronger rea son than that," asserted the gentleman emphatically, as he walked away. Use of Volvofc CulTa. Velvet cuffs on coats, after the plan of King Edward's new frock, were hailed here as a great invention sever al years ago when the.y were introduc ed. The wear and tear on the cuff of an overcoat is always likely to be so great that the cloth soon shows it. There was never any means of repair ing this until the velvet cuff was heard of. No other consideration did so much to gain for the style in vogue it got. Nine out of ten Americans who wore velvet cuffs on overcoats did it to hide the repairs that had been made. New York City.—Novelty waists are in demand for all occasions, and some of the latest designs are buttoned at one side. This way of fastening is said A FANCY WAIST. , to admit of a great variety of rich ' embroidery and other effects across the front. White satin, taffeta and novelty silks and light shades of pink, blue or gray are among the materials used for waists to be worn with black ] taffeta silk or velvet skirts. The chiffon j separate waist has also come to stay, , despite the efforts of fashionable dress makers to discountenance it. A Paris , Importation in this line was made with the groundwork of pink satin, veiled first with blue and then heliotrope chiffon, and trimmed with ecru lace and touches of silver. Woman'* Five-Gored Skirt. i No skirt is more generally satisfac tory than the one cut in five gores. FIVE-GORED SKIRT. Tlie admirable May Mantou model, shown in the large drawing, includes an upper portion so shaped and a grad uated circular llounee seamed to the lower edge and is shaped to lit with perfect sntigness at the upper portion, while it flares ut the lower, and the flounce falls in graceful folds and rip ples. The original is made of sage green veiling, with trimming of bias folds headed with black and white fancy silk braid that are arranged at the foot in the centre and over the seaming of the flounce and skirt; but all dress materials are suitable, and tailor stitching, with eorticelli sill;, can be substituted for the bands when pre ferred. Both front and side gores are narrow in conformity witli the latest style, and the fitting is accomplished without hip darts. The fulness at the back is laid in inverted pleats that are pressed quite flat. The flounce is curved to give the fashionable fulness, and is seamed to the lower edge. To cut this skirt in the medium size nine and three-fourtli yards of material twenty-one inches wide, eight and one eighth yards twenty-seven inches wide, seven and one-half yards thirty-two inches wide, four and one-fourth yards forty-four inches wide, or four and one-fourth yards fifty inches wide will be required. All-Overs as Trimmings. Dressmakers have discovered that the lace all-overs are possessed of even greater possibilities than the narrow appliques. Hence we see them used for everything from whole dresses to the tiniest appliques—some one ligure, a leaf or a flower, being chosen for the latter. Then, too, these cut up into big bands, some of them a dozen inches in width. These are usually edged with the narrowest sort of a scroll ap plique In the same lace. A band set on tae skirt in apron overskirt effect serves admirably to head a flared or a pleated flounce. For these dresses silky voile and crepe de chine are ideal fab rics, and white is flrst choice. New Work For Chiffon Rosea. Chiffon roses are no longer "lilies of Ihe field." They must now toil, being useful as well as ornamental. Their especial labor is to hold down the ends of black velvet ribbon trapping. A j charmingly dainty dress in white ciiif i fon with Cliantilly appliques has the j bodice as well as the skirt given dis tinction by a number of full-length strappings. A pink chiffon rose, ex quisitely made in different shades, catches the end of each strap. Lest it prove not trustworthy, the strap is also held some inches above by a glittering rhinestone buckle. WocU For the Summer Girl. Summer-girls-to-be with leisure and skill may make for themselves very pretty belts, which will look especially well with their white waists or whole dresses. Rows of ribbon arranged gir dle fashion are feather-stitched to gether with white silk. A few whale bones covered with white may be necessary to keep the belt in shape. A Saxon Decree Against Corset*. The Minister of Education in Saxony lias issued a decree thai; uo girl attend ing the public schools and colleges may wear a corset. He maintains that tight lacing is as deadly a foe to in tellectual effort as the cigarette, there fore as legitimate an object for educa tional legislation.—Woman's Tribune. Woman'* Three-Piece Skirt. Skirts with flounces, that produce ample flare at the feet, and that fit with snugness about the hips are in the height of style and appear to gain in favor month by mcutli. This grace- ful model IS adapted to all coft ma* terials, whether wool, silk or cotton, but as shown Is made of foulard. In pastel tan color with figures in white, and is singularly effective and stylish. The fiOunces curve iu away to give the best results and run up just suf ficiently at the hack to give a smart effect, their edges being finished with stitching in self colored corticelli silk. The skirt is cut in three pieces, fitted at tile waist with short hip darts, and the fulness at the back may be gath ered or laid iu Inverted pleats, that are Hat for a few inches below the belt, then form soft folds and fall in rip ples to the floor. The tlounces mo circular, curved to give the fulness desired by fashion, and are arranged over the foundation. One, two or three can be used as may be preferred. To cut this skirt in the medium size, fifteen and one-eighth yards of mate rial twenty-one inches wide, ten and THREE PIECE SKIRT. one-eighth yards twenty-seven inches wide, ten yards thirty-two inches wide, or seven and five-eighth yards forty four inches wide will be required.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers