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i* -f'cJ iSlng me a song from the noon of the day, Wake a refrain from its glory Bring me the flow'rets that bloom on the way Make life a beautiful story Swell the sweet anthems that ring with a hope Born not of earth and its sorrow Tell me of gates that are waiting to ope For us on the "perfect to-morrow I" Sing to me never of night, or of gloom— Life holds enough of such sadness— Chill and decay let us hide In the tomb Death gives uo echo of gladness. Cast not a shadow encourage no strifo Time to Its close Is fast speeding Harvest the joy and the sunshine of Life And follow where conscience Is lead ing. •—Donahoe's Magazine. SOCIETY PALS. Grs$ HEY were "Society Pals," if my readers will tolerate such a slang description of them. He, Jim Broughton, was an officer in a battery of artillery stationed at Bray bridge. Sbe, Mnude Brierley, was the daugh ter of the Vicar of St. Botolph's, a vil lage three miles from Braybrldge. They had only known each other for a few months, and without being actu ally in love, were conscious of a feel ing of satisfaction when each caught sight of the other In a drawing-room, In a ballroom, or at a meet of the hounds. •'She's here, anyhow, so it won't be so deadly," was more than once the unspoken observation of Jim Brough ton, as he found himself perhaps one of three men, handing tea and coffee at at 5 o'clock "crumpet-worry," where fe males most do congregate. Maude also had more than once said to her sister as she drove into Bray bridge for someentertalnment or other: "I hope Captain Broughton will be there all these sort of things seem to go off better when ho is there." But she would have utterly laughed to scorn the idea that she was in love with him. JJut the man took a different view of the friendship! lie began to feel so Insufferably bored at any gathering from which Maude was absent, and she always appeared to him to be so gtuulnely glad when she met him, that he quite made up his mind that he had only to put the Important, if rather trite and ancient question, to And him self the accepted lover of the nicest girl in the neighborhood. Yet Jim Broughton was not a conceited man— in fact, the reverse—but he had. like & I CAKtfOT DO WHAT YOU ASK ME." many men, been always trained up in the belief that every girl, more espe cially every girl belonging to a large family, was bent on getting a husband as to what the husband might' be like, was, he believed, a matter of second ary Importance to the girl. Hence the mistake he made aud his consequent discomfiture. Ho found himself one afternoon, while hunting, within a mile of St Bo tolph's there was no scent, and it had come on to snow, so, under the circum stances, perhaps he may be forgiven for turning his horse's head away from hounds at 3 In the afternoon, par ticularly when he could see through the leafless branches, creaking in the snow-storm, the house which held the girl lie was beginning to feel he could not do without Some more people came to tea, and Broughton found himself sitting lu rather a far-off comer of the big draw ing-room with Maude. He thought that she looked a perfect little lady, from the colls of her pretty hair (the one beauty the girl's few enemies allowed her) to the point of her tiny shoe: aud, mom than that, the thought cam to lilm that she was a good woman, p.nd every man, I believe, however bad he may be, deep down In his heart hopes that the woman he loves may be that. Presently Broughton bent toward her and in a low voice addressed her as "Maude he had never called her so before, and she thought It a little forward of him. Then she understood that Captain Broughton—Jim Brough ton, as he was called by everybody— was asking her to marry him! But she had never dreamt of mar riage with him! Thought chased thought through her brain. Had she encouraged the poor fellow? How nice It was of him! Would It hurt him much to be refused? In the pleasant twilight Broughton got his answer. "Why did you ask me that, Captain Broughton?" He heard in her voice a new note, a note of pity or of pain. "I cannot do what you ask me. Never, I'm afraid. I am so sorry." "Never mind," said poor Jim Broughton. And the worst of It was. wherever she went she heard his praises sung. One night she, with her father and mother, dined at the Murdochs'. It iwas a large party. As they stood and Sat about previous to dinner being an nounced, Sirs. Brierley glanced with justifiable pride at Maude she, In pearl-gray, looked, In the subdued light of the stundard lamps, a charm ing picture of graceful refinement. Maude was talking to a commonplace old lady about the ravages of the influ enza. There were two young fellows near her suddenly she heard one of them make a remark which seemed to stun her and stop the beating of her heart. "Poor Jim Broughton got a bad fall." "So I hear horse came right on the top of him, I believe." "Yes served him right, you know lie had no business to ride at such a place." Maude found herself praying that she might not faint or make a scene, for this news hurt her terribly. After be had got his answer that wintry aft eraoon he had systematically kept away from her: she never met him pow At people's houses, and she never t, A SONQ OF CHEER. RUSSIAN BATTLE SHIP POTEMKINE WHOSE MUTINOUS CREW SURRENDERED. RUSSIAN BATTLESHIF KXIAZ POTKMK1XE. The Uusslan battleship Knlaz Potemklne Tavritehesky, whose mutinous crew surrendered to the authorities of the Roumanian government, Is one of the newest and perhaps one of the finest of the war vessels still remaining under the Russian flag. She was built at the Russian naval yard at Xico laleff, on the Black Sea, was commissioned only three years ago, anil at that time contained every known modern appliance for a first-class battleship. She is 371 feet long, has a beam of 72 feet, and Is armored throughout with Krupp steel varying In thickness from 32 inches ou the turrets to 3 Inches utRiiimmr •a V/IEJ 7*0 MILE on deck. Her armament consists of four twelve-inch guns, sixteen of six Inches, fourteen of three Inches caliber, fourteen quick firers and six torpedo tubes, four submerged and two above the water line. She has an estimated speed of sixteen knots. All her hoists and gun movement are worked and controlled by electricity. Two weeks ago her crew mutinied, killed many of her officers, and since then until her surrender had threatened ports and shipping In the Black Sea. thought she would have missed him so. And now, perhaps, he was going to die. "Is Captain Broughton badly hurt?" she asked the young man at her side. In a voice she tried to keep steady. There was a little catch In her voice, which for the life of her she could not help. The young fellow glanced quick ly at her. "1 don't know, Miss Brierley he may have only wrenched some sluews —you can never tell. He simply went at a place, as hard as he could, where there was absolutely no foothold for a horse he has been going like a mad man the last few weeks, I can't think what has come to him." Maude talked hard and fast about the Merediths' dance, talked the sub ject to death. Discussed floors, and how to mate thera slippery she com plained that the music had been too far away, and then said she liked it far away said Mrs. Meredith was the best hostess in the world, and theu found herself agreeing heartily with her neighbor when Bhe said she never introduced a soul in fact, her conver sation was so odd that the young man told the other young man that he thought she was rather "dotty." Next morning her father went In to inquire for Broughton. He was not gonlg to die. His collar bone was brok en, and he wfas one big bruise, but a few weeks of laying up would, the doctor said, put everything right. By that evening's post the poor fel low, who had been eating his brave heart out in silence for so many weeks past, received a little note which put him In a state of foolish delight. 'As soon as the doctor allows you," It ran, "you must ask two of us to tea with you I think perhaps I would recommend Lucy as being the most restful, but I'm going to be one of them!"—Windsor Magazine. THE LATE J. F. X. O'BRIEN. An Irish M. P., Who Was Once Sen tenced to Be Hanged. The death of Mr. J. F. X. O'Brien, member of the British House of Com mons for County Cork, Ireland, recalls the circumstance that he was once sentenced by the British courts to be hanged, drawn and quartered. am S had started that vast conspiracy known as Fenian ism, one of the most formidable movements against x. 0'nniE.N. the British connection which had been put on foot since the great rebellion In the end of the previous century. An insurrection broke out in several counties in the south of Ireland on the night of March G, 1807. Mr. —St. louli Globe-Democrat O'Brien at this period was engaged in business In Cork. He was already ap proachlng his fortieth year, and seemed the last man in the world to be called upou to head a body of armed men. But when the forces that were called out to meet at the tryst Ing place there was no leader of those who had been expected to take com mand, and O'Brien spontaneously and promptly took up the vacant place, and put himself at the head of the headless force. Then they started out on their expedition, and first made fdr some police barracks In the neighbor hood. There was a brisk skirmish at one of these barracks, and ultimately the police agreed to surrender, and O'Brien himself broughl the ladder to the wall of the barrack for the pris oners to come forth. The humanity with which he treated the conquered policemen was remembered in O'Brien's favor afterwards. His trl umhp was short-lived: the soldiers came up, and O'Brien was arrested and transmitted to gaol. In due time came a series of State trials, and O'Brien was convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The sentence was, how ever, commuted to one of penal servi tude for life, and he spent several years In the convict gaols of England. When an amnesty came he was re leased and returned to business, and likewise to revolutionary propaganda. He was a member of the governing body of the Fenian organization. Sub sequently, when Parnell started the Land League, Mr. O'Brien's views un derwent some modification, and in 1885, when the reduction of the fran chise In Ireland gave Mr. Parnell his first chance of electing a large party, O'Brien stood for a division of Mayo and was elected. At a later date he became a bitter opponent of the Par nell faction of the Irish party. Desiccatod Fungus The visitor was being shown through the great breakfast food factory. "This," explained his guide, "is the Predlgested Sawdustlne room. And here Is the Oata-Grita room. On our right Is the Tasteless Wheat room. "Vecy Interesting, I'm sure," said the visitor. "And now will you please show me the big mush rooms I have heard so much about?"—Cleveland Leader. Hit ft Brcalc. Spoonham—Miss Daisy, that beauti ful ring you are wearing has a flash and a tint that reminds me of your eyes. Miss Daisy—Indeed? This stone is a cat's-eye, Mr. Spooner. Explain your self.—Cleveland Leader. There is something exhilarating In dashing about the country roads In an automobile. There Is also some thing depressing In meeting a team. PUZZLE PICTURE. Find the "Richest Man in tile World.'' TRANSPLANTING TREES. The Rich Man No Longer Willing to Wait Until They Grow* If a man has the money he doesn't have to wait for uati're to grow a grove ou his land these days, says the Buffalo Express. Not so many years ago, if a man desired to have shade trees decorate his lawn, he would have to plant saplings and wait flve or ten years for them to grow. But he doesn't have to wait more than a few days now, if he has the price. It'B a price that Is high, though. Where he could plant a sapling for anywhere from 00 cents to $2, be has to give up as much as $150 for a single tree sometimes. The $150 trees have a diameter of eighteen Inches. There are men and concerns now that make a specialty of planting grown-up trees. Buffalo was one of the first cities in the country to have one of these Institutions. One man -who Is In that business there Is mak ing a lot of money now. Any day be* tween March and June and between October and December his peculiar carts may be seen carrying gigantic trees through the streets of the city to rich men's plots. Recently four immense elms were transported out of Delaware avenue, destined to shade the lawn of a man who Is building a splendid new home. One hundred md fifty dolars Is what he will have to pay for each of them. But he has a guaranty that they will be replaced if they die within three years. Elms, maples, lindens and sycamores are the chief kinds which the grown up-tree man handles. The biggest prob lem the man Is up against is getting the trees. He obtalps most of them In the country surrounding Buffato. One would be surprised to learn of the number of these four kinds of shade trees that may be found close to Buf falo, but the grown-up-tree man can not take any kind of a tree. He must be very particular in his selection. The tree must be in a perfectly healthy state and it must be of good propor tions. The farmer welcomes the grown-up tree man. Very often a farmer that has made a poor year of It in crops pulls out ahead bj selling some trees that he never ^ave any thought to. For the small six-inch trees $2 and $3 js paid, but when it comes to the eight een-lnch ones $10 to $15 and sometimes as high as $25 is paid. One farmer the other side of D^pew got $15 apiece for nineteen trees that were on his place, He would have let them go for $5 apiece If his wife hadn't disapproved of the idea of selling them at all. At her behest he put off the tree man for a few days. When the tree man came again, very anxious to get the trees, the farmer again adjourned the proa pectlve sale and made some Inquiry as to what trees were being sold for. As a result the tree man had to treble his offer before the bargain was made. They were exceptlonaly fine trees and just happened to be what one of the customers of the tree man wanted. The tree man has a special cart for transporting the trees. It is a patent ed vehicle, built In sections, with a chute Into which the tree can be easily lowered and from which It can be easily slid Into the hole at the other end of the route. All the transplanted trees usually are guaranteed for three years. Very few of them die, for the planting done by men who thoroughly under stand their business, and they are well cared for afterward. If a transplanted tree will live for three years it will live as long afterward as It would In its natural place, says the grown-up tree man. Knew Where He Was. A sketch of a memorial statue of Thomas B. lleed, proposed to be erect ed in his native city of Portland, Maine', represents Reed in the act of making a speech, one foot firmly plunted a little in advance of the other. A certain paper makes the remark that such an attitude is not characteristic of the man, for whatever Reed willed to do "he always got there with both feet." A conversation illustrative of Mr. Reed's sureness of poise was cur rent more than ten years ago. Some one asked him how he felt while the uproar about the rules of the Fifty-first Congress was going on and while the question was in doubt. "I knew exactly what 1 was going to do if the House did not sustain me," he replied. "When a man has decided upon a plan of action for either contin gency he has no need to be disturbed. Did you ever think what a soothing thing it is to know exactly what you are going to do if things do not go your way? You have then made your self equal to the worst and have only to wait to find out what was ordained before the foundation of the earth." "But how did you feel when the tu mult was the highest?" "Just as you would feel if a big creature was jumping at you and you knew just the length of the chain and were quite sure of the weapons at hand." It was this sureness of footing which gave the Iron-willed man his marked serenity of temper. The Past Recalled. One of the charms of travel, partic ularly among historic scenes, is the privilege of realizing more fully that past of which we have read and thought and dreamed. But much read ing and thinking needs to be done be* fore the traveler starts for a country so rich lu memorials of the past as is Greece. The author of "Two English women In Gregce" repeats a story which filngs a stone at an American. Of course, the lover of art or of arch eology should avoid all miscellaneous alliances, and If he cannot fall In with those who know, let him take a guide and worry it out by himself. Other wise he will receive Bhocks Hi 1 such as greeted the ears of a party of enthu siasts who, steeped In classic lore, as cended to the Parthenon one moonlight night, wheu column and architrave, rock and ruin alike seemed wrapped lu silvery silence. Here, burning with religious ecstasy, pulse beating to throbbing thought, the deep stillness of the hour was cut by the shriek of Athene's owl but the words it said were strange: "There is a smell up here that puts me In mind of a bucketful of huckle berries!" Finally. Life time is joy time! When grivf gives a warning, Ju*t shout, "Halleuiu! Good heath and good morning!" —Atlanta Constitution. You often hear women say how an noying it Is to have a sick man around the house, but If you should talk to a trained nurse, she will tell you, nine times out of. ten, that she would prefer to wait on a man, as men are much more couAderate than women. It is one sign of the most sLlfUtss folks If the roof leaM* •& fs, -Jja.^4 ?-J W --"Vf THE TIMID KITTEN. There was a little kitten once, Who was of dogs afraid, And, being by no means a dunce His plans he boldly made. He said: "It's only on the land That dogs run after me, So I will buy a catboat, and I'll sail away to sea. "Out there from dogs I'll be secure, And each night, ere I sleep, To make assurance doubly sure A dog watch I will keep. He bought a catboat, hired a crew, And one fine summer day Triumphantly his flag he flew. And gaily sailed away. But in midocean one midnight-^ She practised constantly during the next two or three days—practised while her mother was trying to get an afternoon nap, practised while her father was sleeping In the early morn ings. She was particular about her dress, too, and attended to her pretty finger nails with such care that she was not willing to soil them by doing anything to help her mother." One evening, just three after the one on which my story opened, Mrs. Lane had occasion to go to the drug store at the corner. She found Clar rlssa and her young friends seated at the ice cream soda fountain. "Evening, Mrs. Lane," said the druggist, cheerfully. "Like you to meet a friend of mine." Just then an old woman, bent with years and very shabbily dressed, came out from the inner room. The druggist Introduced her to Mrs. Lane. "Your little girl would give us a song maybe," went on the social drug gist. "My friend's mighty fond of music." "Of course she will," replied Clar issa's mother. "Come, dear." "Don't feel like singing," said the girl, sulkily. "Now, Clarissa," expostulated her mother. "Sing like a nice little girl. Do, now." "No, mamma, don't worry me," said Clarissa, affectedly. "I can't sing when I don't feel like it. Won't sing for that old frump, anyway," she add ed, hardly lowering her voice. "Perhaps," put in the old woman, in a very tired way, "perhaps some other little girl will sing for me." Two good-natured children volun teered. Neither of them Bang particu larly well, but they did their best. Clarissa forgot the incident very quickly. She could not know that her father had talked long and anxiously over her that night, and resolved to be very much more strict with her. "Children," said the teacher the next day, "the lady of whom I told you Is coming in this morning." There was a rustle and a flutter as she entered. She was tall and stately, and magnificently dressed. One after another of the most musical sang, and at last it was Clarissa's turn. She smiled up at the lady, confident of the beauty of her voice. And as she looked she started. The tall, slender form seemed to shrink and dwarf. The lady threw an old black veil over her handsome bon net no other change was needed to show Clarissa that she stood before the druggist's "friend." She sang badly, and she knew it. Her voice cracked on the upper regit tcr and her notes were flat. She could not deny that another girl, to whom the piano was awarded, fully deserv ed her prize. She was In the mood to profit by her father's talk that night. Her van ity was severely crushed, and the ugli ness of her faults was very patent to her quick, keen eyes. "I know, daddy, I know," she said, penitently, when he nad finished. "1 mean to try. And I'll' always sing for you," she added. "It's a great deal better than the new piano," said the wife to her hus band, when Clarissa had gone to bed. "Yes," he answered. "She is going to cure herself of a bad habit."— Francis Harmer In New York Tri bune. WITH THE IMMORTALS. Wandering unconcernedly In the field of view of any high-power mi crosccc there may be seen an animal •'itffpp^ '0 which has probably been living con tinuously ever since life first appear ed on the earth, and which has cer tainly never lost an ancestor by death! The creature is transparent, and resembles a drop of slightly more viscid fluid in the thin film of water In which it Is confined. Amoeba is the name by which it Is known to science. Splash a drop of ink on pa per and you have an idea of its form at any one moment—but its form Is never the same. Even as you watch It Its shape, which had a resemblance to Ireland as it appears on the map, changes. The headlands at the south west corner are becoming mqre and more prominent, till now they are like the fingers of an outstretched hand of which the palm is rapidly shrink ing. The whole creature la flowing rather than creeping toward a small chain of bacteria, which presently It devours. There is no mouth through which they pass they are simply en gulfed, as small drops of water may be merged into a larger. In an hour or two they will have been digested-— burned off as fuel to supply the activi ties of their destroyer. 4 'Twas very, very dark— The pilot screamed in sudden fright, "I hear a passing bark!" "Oh, what Is that?" the kitten said, The pilot said, "I fear An ocean greyhound's just ahead. And drawing very near." "Alack," he kitten cried, "alack! This is no paltry pup! An ocean greyhounds on my track I may as well give up!" —Carolyn Wells, in St. Nicholas. HOW SHE LOST THE PIANO. "No, I won't! I just don't care to, and I won't!" The speaker, whose pretty face was spoiled with an ha bitual scowl and pout, flounced away Trom her mother's gentle hand. "But, dearie," expostulated the lady, "your father likes to hear you sing, and he's so tired. A song would cheer him up." But Clarissa went out to talk to three or four of her girl "chums" on the porch, and the too gentle mother and the too indulgent father were loft to wish In vain for a loving little daughter. "Oh, mother," cried Clarissa, breathlessly, an hour later, "what do you think? A great lady—such a great lady—a millionairess—is com ing to our school in a day or two! And she Is going to give a prize—a piano—to the girl who can sing the best. Oh, but I want it! A new piano! That old thing"—she glanced contemptuously at the little cottage I piano, which had been one of her mother's wedding presents—"is ways getting out of tune. Besides, this will be my very own. I shall keep It In my room!" Occasionally, amid its ceaseless changes of form, Amoeba may be seen to be developing a "waist," which grows smaller and narrower until it snaps, and, instead of one large ani mal we have two small ones, which, without even a momentary pause, con tinue the search for food, till, in a few hours, each is full sized and ready to divide again. But what has become of the original Amoeba? In the absence of anything which could be called his corpse, we cannot declare him dead it must be said that he still living as the two new Amoebae. Now this splltlng Into two being the only mode of reproduc tion of the race, It follows that all the previous parents Amoebae from which our present two are descended are still living. Of course, thousands of these anlmalculae are destroyed every day by natural foes, but it must be rtP membered that these unfortunates can not by the nature of things leave any children, and so will never be ances tors, and that so long as any one Amoeba is living none of his direct ancestry is dead. The conclusion has forced itself upon biologists that death is no part of the life scheme of these humble creatures they are not like us—machines, preordained to run down in a more or less certain period of years—but they live on in definitely till some chance accident cuts short their career. Youth, or rather immaturity, they experience from time to time, but old age, never! —The Grand Magazine. THS MOST USEFUL PLANT. How many boys and girls know the real usefulness of our common Indian corn? We have corn bread and cakes on our tables, of course, but do we realize how useful is the whole plant? Millions of bushels of corn are canned each year and used for food the cobs are used for fuel glucose Is made from the corn Itself and from the stalk, a valuable syrup, as the sap is rich In sugar. There is also made from corn a gum which is useful for confections and for paste an oil use ful as salad dressing and another oil which can be used as a lubricant a kind of vulcanized rubber, too, can be made from corn, and the pith of ripe corn stalks has proved extremely val uable in making the armor for bat tleships. It is compressed tightly and placed between the armor plates of the ship below the water line. If a shell should pierce the armor this green pith expands and fills the aper ture, keeping out the water. Green pith also contains cellulose, useful in the manufacture of paper. Then, too, millions of bushels are used every year for the manufacture of spirits, which is both unfortunate and wasteful, says the New Century Path. And what would our kltchons and laundries do without the starch made from corn? Have we another plant or growing thing so widely use ful? It would be difficult to name one. PANNING HER YOUNG. The way the mother humming bird would alight on her nest was a marvel to me, says a writer in the Country Calendar. She always stopped on the doad twig of a maple before dropping to her home. I saw uer do it several times. She came at the nest like a meteoric streak. I held my breath lest the whole thing be splintered to atoms, for she hit the little cup with out the slightest pause that I couiJ see. But, when she alighted, it put to shame the touch of floating this tle-down. While the nestlings were very young, the mother never left them alone long at a time. If the day was warm, if the sun shone on the nest, the mother hovered over with wings and tail spread wide. When it was hottest I have seen the mother sit forward on the nest edge, spread her tail till she showed the white tips of her feathers and keep up a constant quivering, fanning motion with her wings and tail to give protection to the frail midgets in the nest. WHY TOUCH-ME-NOT. The columbine geranium and lark spur we think of together because they are all named after birds—the dove, the crane and the lark. The —-mine of geranium Is "crane's bill," and if you notice the seed pods of a geranium you will see that they do look like the long bin of a crane. The touch-me-not gets its name from a peculiarity of appearance. It Is the pod you must not touch, for If you do It will burst and out will fly the seeds. —St. Nicholas. Against Electric Cars! Plans to build electric street car lines in Pekln have aroused a great protest from the natives, who say the cars would be very harmful to the poor, as a large number of cool ies now make a living by hauling passengers in rickhaws or on wheel barrow*. A/5- v.* More cows go dry from mismanage ment than from any other cause. Clean out the silo and have It ready for fllUng the winter's supply of sil age. Peach stones should not be planted this spring unless they have been mixed with sand and left outdoors last winter to freeze. Cull out the poor sheep as fast as possible. IT never pays, to raise a poor scrub animal of any kind. Make room for the good ones. The scrub farmer seems to have an affinity for scrub stock. It takes a thoroughbred man to appreciate tt tluw oughbred horse or cow. It Is generally supposed that a sow's milk gets richer as she grows older, but an experiment conducted by the Michigan station shows that no perceptible change takes place. In buying food for your poultry It will not cost any more to get a variety than all of one kind, and It will be to your Interest, If you want eggs, to furnish the hcus with a variety. A woman has better success with chickens than a man, because she pos sesses the mother Instinct. A woman will go out In a rain storm to rescue a tiny little chick any time while a man would not wet his feet for a dozen. If yon want a good dairy herd, bet tcr build It up yourself. If you ilo not know what a dairy cow Is get some honest neighbor who does to pick ont two flrst class animals for you Use the best bull you can get, even If you have to go ten miles for him. The rule of selection and common sense thereafter will produce a good herd •very time. No one will make a mistake In rais ing a liberal crop of carrots, no mat ter what his farm stock may be. They are fed to great advantage to cows and horses, to sheep, swine aud poul try. For the larger animals and espe cially for the horse, there Is no better digestive. It is safe to say that horses fed a small ration of carrots twice or three times weekly will rarely suiter from Indigestion, provided, of course, their ration of grain and roughage is half way decent. There la no reason why corn and cob meal should not be fed to cattle sheep and hogs. It can be fed to those classes of stock without regrind lug, though better results will, as a rule, follow reminding, as the particles are finer and more quickly acted upon by the digestive Juices. In a finely ground condition the sharp particles of the cob are not so llkcjy to Injure the digestive organs. One of the great ad vantages of grinding the grain and cob together Is that it lightens the grain, which Is rich and heavy and not al ways thoroughly digested and assimi lated. Corn and cob meal will, of course, give better results, as a rule, when fed lu combination with other grains. Dncka Without Water. While It Is difficult to raise duck lings without a Btrcam of water In which to swim, when these birds coino from a long line of pond-raised ducks, It can ue done with fair success If a little trouble is taken. Try this plan Let their food be almost entirely a mash of cdrn, oats, bran and meut scraps with Borne finely chopped vege tables or grass well mixed through the mass. Feed this mixture in shallow troughs or on clean, flat boards and have a number of vessels of clean wa ter close at hand where the ducklings may drink between moutbfuls of the mash. In other parts of their enclos ure have vessels of clean and fresh water at all times, but not large enough for them to get luto. The Idea Is that If they have plenty of water to drink they will not want to swim In it very badly. The plan often works, hence it is tvorth trying. Trees Not Self-Fertile. There have been many complaints lately from parties who have pur chased a few plum trees, from one to a half dozen, mostly of the new varie ties claimed to be the best The trees blossom freely but they get no plums. If a few set they drop when not larg er than peas. One man threatened to cut down a half dozen fine looking trees for this reason. We advised him not to do BO, but to get one or two trees of some of the old-fashioned American varieties, say a Gage and a Lombard or Damson, and set near them. Some of these new plum trees need to be fertilized with the pollen from other varieties to make them bear any fruit. Others are only par tlally self-fertilizing, and will bear a few plums, but not many when thero is only oue variety. The climate, lo cation or weather is sometimes less favorable to Belf-fertilizing than at other times, and a tree may bear somo fruit one year and not again for sev eral years.—American Cultivator. Benovating Grass Lund. One of the flrst results of the con tinuous grazing of land by milch cows or young stock Is the exhaustion of the phosphoric acid which such laud contains. The quantity of this plant food material removed lu a single year may not appear very considerable when worked out by analysis, but un der the most favorable conditions the percentage of phosphoric acid in the soil Is very small, and when the land Is grazed for a number of years aud no manure Is applied to it with the object of returning the phosphoric add carried away, the exhaustion event ually assumes so serious a form as to considerably diminish the grass-pro ducing capacity of the land. For re storing to the soil the phosphate thus removed the best artificial dressings at present at the command of farm ers are super-phosphate and basic slag, the last named of which Is found spe cially valuable on soils deficient In lime. Other plant food materials also get carried away in the same manner, of course, but that which Is the flrst to become exhausted Is the phosphoric acid. Bow Trichinae (spreads Trichinae. Trichinae, like the bubonic plague, |g spread almost entirely through tho medium of rats, says Major L. L. Sea* man. The hog on the farm Is a great hunter of rats and cats bis victims. He eats the rat.« Infected with trichino sis and so contracts the disease. Oth er rats, whenever they get the oppor tunity, eat the carcasses of hogs which have died of trichinosis, and so a vicious circle Is established and con tinued from bog to rat and rat to hog. Then again the rats eat parts of other dead rats, and it Is also true in some cases that hogs may eat parts of other hogs that have been Infected with trichinae. So there are really three cir cles In which this disease moves—one is the large one, made up of hogs and rats, and the others are smaller, one of them eing made up of hogs and the other of rats exclusively. The two smaller ones, however, are tangent to the larger circle and therefore slm* ply widen its radius. Feeding for Ess** We do not believe that we can feed so as to make all kinds of hens lay. There are some hens that will not lay many eggs no matter how they are fed. But we can so feed that the fowls will not have their feed as sn actual obstacle to laying. It Is our observation that the matur ity and vigor of the hen are the chief things that have to do with a large egg production. We must BO feed that the fowls will be kept In a thriving condition and that their digestive or gans will not be compelled to do a great deal of unnecessary work. We find that variety counts for a great deal. All of the following feeds are good If fed each In sftiall quantities, suggests the Midland Farmer: Corn, wheat, buckwheat, oats, barley, Un seed meal, cotton seed meal, corn meal, gluten meal, meat and bone, alfalfa, beets, cabbage, rape. We might add others, but these are the principal ones. If a mixture Is fed we are likely to get the protein and fat formers about right In proportion. One of the best ways to help the birds to produce eggs Is to allow them to hunt for bugs and pick green stuff as much as possible. Every few days during the warm weather the manure should be hauled away and put where It will do the most good, preferably in the garden. When the weather Is drying It is de sirable to get It under grouud as soon as possible. I know a man who has a covered box In one end of his barn yard, and Into this he throws the ma nure every day during the summer time. The box Is built of heavy plank and has a cover to keep out the flies and keep in the smell, most of It. This Is perhaps the easiest way of keeping the manure pile from becom ing a uulsance during summer. The only objection to the box is the trouble of getting out the manure when It is to be hauled away.—Ho* bart Wllkius, Andrew County, Mo., In Farmers' Review. Making Strawberry Beds. If the strawberry bed is to be pre served for cropping another year good care must be taken of it during the growing season after harvest of the fruit. In Bome sections and under cer tain conditions It Is a good plan to burn the bed over after It has fruited. By placing heavy layers of straw on the bed and setting fire to it the old plantB are destroyed, the insects are burned up and the weeds killed. There danger, however, in this plan of in juring the young aud tender plants. In most cases a better plan would be to mow the plants to the ground and let them thoroughly dry then cover over them Just enough straw to carry the flame, set fl're to it and thus burn out what is undesirable. •J' 74 4 A The Manure Pile* A manure pile Just outside the sta ble may not be much of an objection in case of the beef steer or the horse, but it Is an objection when found Just outside the cow stable, lu the summer time there is always a dis agreeable odor rising from It, and if the cows have a partial ration of ground grain, the files that collect about the manure pile are more nu merous than In the ordinary mauure pile. The manure should be kept away from the stable during hot weather if at no other time. "I If care Is taken not to have too fierce a fire there will be little danger to the crowns of the plants. After this the cul tivator should be put In use and the soil well cultivated both ways between the rows, so as to cover the plants slightly with the soil. With the hoe all undesirable plants must then be de stroyed, together with the weeds, of course. After this the plants should receive the regulation clean cultivation until fall, when, if the work has been well done, one will have a nice lot of young plants well started, and whicb will go through the winter In good shape.—Exchange. Pasture for Orchard*. It Is by no means the field that has been cropped for years that Is the best location ou the farm for the orchard. That the fields in question have raised good crops by yearly fertilizing by no means Indicates that they have suffi cient virtue to furnish the fertility needed by trees. Usually they will, provided the soil Is properly fertilized yearly, but unfortunately the general Idea Is to give the field one lot of fer tilizer at the time the tree Is set and let It go at that this method account, for much of the trouble that results from setting orchards on fields that have been under cultivation for many years. /i 4 .„'0 Now as to the pasture. If It hai been used by the stock until they ara unable t& get anything more from It, naturally It will need considerable preparation to lit it for trees if, on the other hand, it has been reseeded occo. slonally and Is furnishing fair pas ture It Is In good shape for the tree, because the droppings left by the stock year after year have permeated th« soli, and under proper cultivation and preparation, this well fertilized soil will furnish nutriment to the orchard for a number of years. Tests of this pasture soil, both with fruit trees and small fruit plants prove that one should never think of letting an old pasture lie Idle just because It no long er fulfills Its original purpose. Try the plan on a small area with small fruits and It will be seen that the argik ment brought out here la logical,—In dUnapolis N»W(. *4 •9