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It ill If! I 5j 4 fi y' 1 E \U if 11 I 5 S in 1 .1 I THE HERALD. BY HI.ANK A BLANK. WESSINGTON SP1UNGS, D. T. THE SONG OF THE JOKE. With hair all tumbled and tossed. With-lirain top hcnvy with fun. A fuuny man sat in his dingj' den. Trying t» mnke a pun. Write! write! write! Half hid in tobacco smoke! And still with a voice of dolorous pitch Ho aanjr "The .Sons of the Joke Joke I joke! joke! While the printer yells, "Cop-ee!" And ioko— joke—joke, Witli never a smile of glee And it's, t, to be a clam In the restful mud to lurk. Where American humor never comes. If this bo Christian work. —St. Loin's Glnht AN ELEPHANT HUNT. How to Surely Bring the Monarch Down. An American Traveler's Story of the First One Ho Killed—Manner of Trapping the l*eant for Showmen—Sagaci ty of Elephants in Labor. "The day I shot my lirst elephant." said an old British Indian, "will always ibe a cd letter day in my sporting calen dar. It was in the Island of Ceylon, Ahal pearl of the Indian Ocean, lying at the foot, of the great peninsula of Iliii •dostan, the Lanka of the aneients and the Scre.udib of the days of Solomon the Wi.-e, and sacred in the eyes of all good Buddhists, for is it not there where the tooth of the great god lies upon the golden lotos leaf? Ceylon is the paradise of sportsmen, the beau ideal of a perfect hunting country. AH kinds of game abound in the low coun try and the vast forests of the interior of the island, from the lowly and wary flying snipe to the lordly elephant. True, there are no tigers as in India, .'but they have an equivalent in the •stealthy and fierce cheetah, which, in islrength and cunning very nearly, if it •does not quite, approach the 'Royal Bengal.' "On the day in question 1 had started, iin company with a friend, from Trin •comalee, the British naval station of :the island and perhaps the finest har ibor in the world, and after driving tionii! forty miles into the interior we jlcft the 'bandy' and made tracks into •the jungle. We were both armed with •express rifles, which in my opinion are by far the best weapons for elephant shooting, and we were in hopes that ere long we would conic on the trail of the 'ani,' nor were we disappointed, for shortly our attention was drawn by the native guides to the young bamboos on the side of the path, which bore un mistakable signs that an elephant had been feeding there. Soon we came on •further evidence of his presence, and on wc went, our eyes on the ground, toiling through the jungle after the ele phant". And. oh, the heat! And, oh, the thirst! Every now and then we Iliad to halt and wipe the perspiration from our brows, and send a native '.shinning' up a coeoanut tree for one of tho young nuts, from which we eagerly drank the milk. Wc were hours toiling after that brute ami thought we would never come up to liini. At last the trail led right into a .sort' of oasis of patna, or grass land, in the middle of which there was an island of jungle. The trail went straight iin to this, so we were sure that wo had Sir Jumbo at last. My friend Jack P. went round to one side while I remained on the other, and then we sent beaters in at each end to /drive the elephant out. Suddenly 1 •hoard a crackling of brushwood, then a loud trumpet, and Jack's voice shouting that Ihe elephant had turned and was coming my way. 1 remember well wishing devoutly that he had gone in any other direction, but 1 had not much time for thinking, as in a minute or so out eame the huge brute, lie was a 'rogue' and a big one to boot. A •rogue' is an elephant that has been driven from the herd for some miscon duct or other, and he is generally 'mad,' wandering about the countrv nlone and doing all the damage he can. His hand is against every man and every man's hand is against him. A 'rogue' elephant is the only kind you can shoot. as the elephants in herds are very strictly preserved by the Ceylon (iovernment. Well, when this gentle man eame out of the jungle he gazed about hint for a second or two, and then, catching sight of me. raised his trunk and gave a trumpet that would have made the angel (iabricl green with envy, and then charged right at me. Now comes ihe dillicuit. part of elephant shooting. There is only one vulnerable spot on a Ceylon elephant, and that is a small oval spot, in size only a few inches, just above the trunk. Yon might tire a battery of gallings at any other spot and fail to bring him down, and once 1 counted eighteen bullet marks in an elephant's skull we killed, and not one of which had probably given him more than a slight headache. When an elephant charges he raises his trunk so that it protects this vital spot, and trumpets shrilly, hoping by this means, no doubt, to scare the hunter. When he is with in ten paces he lowers hw trunk and at the same time brings his head down, after the manner of a bull when charg ing. Now is the time to lire. It is an anxious moment, and for one who was but a 'GriHin' at the game it was any thing but pleasant. There was no friendly tree near, and there was but little chance of escape through the jun gle if I missed, as it would require a knife for me to cut through the thick undergrowth, while the elephant could go through it like pack-thread. On came the elephant, the ground almost shaking beneath his ponderous tread. Would lie never lower that trunk? I stood with my rille at the 'present1 as motionless as a statue, and, just as he seemed to be right on nie, down went the trunk. Crack! went my rille, and 3 had to spring back a pace or two to prevent the huge beast, from coming right. on top of me as he fell stone dead at" my feet. The reaction was great, uiv highly strung nerves giving way when the elephant came down as if cut with a knife, and the rifle fell from my shaking hands. I have learned better manners since. Soon Jack came up and we had a regu lar war dance round the carcass. The 'nigger' was sent up the nearest cocoa nut and we quaffed a beaker to the pleasant passage of Jumbo's soul to the elephants' heaven. Shooting an ele phant in a herd and shooting a rogue elephant are two very different things. In the first place, as I have said, you are not allowed to shoot an elephant in a herd under a penalty of two hundred and fifty dollars, the Government using all they can catch for the Public Works Department. This is as it should be, for. before the law was established, there was wholesale slaughter among the noble beasts. It was nothing but 'pot' hunting, as the hunter would lie in wait where the herd went to water and then pick them off at his leisure, and, as Ceylon elephants have no tusks it was done in mere wantonness. Major Rogers, of the Ceylon Rifles, was a famous elephant !»hot in his day, and hi! was credited with having slain with his own gun over twelve hundred elephants. This I believe to be a well authenticated fact. He once made a bet. that he would kill two elephants with one shot. The way he did it was to shoot the mother when the yoftng elephant was suckling her, and the mother falling on her young one crushed it to death. "Elephants are caught in what arc known as kraals. They are caught either for use in the Public Works De partment, for service in the native temples, or for sale to some European menagerie. When a kraal is to be formed word is sent to the native head man of the village near where the kraal is to be built, and he. in his turn, sends out hundreds of beaters. When the herd to be operated on is loeatcd the beaters form a semi-circle and begin driving the animal slowly toward the kraal. At night they build watch tires, and between them the native patrol, armed with white wands, which arc quite suflicient to keep the elephants from breaking through. They gradu ally work them up toward the kraal, which is an open space in the jungle with some stout trees growing within it. It is surrounded by a strong stock ade and has only a narrow entrance. Into this the herd is driven. The herd is generally led by an old bull elephant, and before any attempt to capture an elephant is made this old gentleman must be shot. When the Duke of Edin burgh visited the island a kraal was gotten up for his especial benefit, and H. R. H. entered the kraal to shoot the bull, but he missed and the bull very nearly did away with young Guclph. In fact he was right on him when a timely shot, lired by a native sitting it]) a tree and armed with an old Hint musket, brought the bull's career to an ond. The bull got rid of, the next thing to do is to send in two tame elephants, with their mahouts, who single out the elephant to be capt ured. The tame ones then 'scuddle' up, one on each side, and profess great friendship for their wild companion, gradually pressing him or her closer and closer until they have him fast. Then a native slips in underneath and quickly makes ropes fast to the wild one's legs, and he is dragged by the tame ele phants to the nearest tree, where, after being thrown to the ground, he is se curely bound and left there to starve for two or three days. He is then quite tame, and when he rises up he no longer monarch of the forest but ele phant No. 991) of the Public Works De partment. or the great Jumbo of a trav eling circus. "The sagacity of elephants is pro verbial, but few who have not person ally witnessed it can imagine how use ful they are to man in such places as Ceylon. Without their aid it would have been impossible for the Govern ment to have covered the island, as it has done, with a splendid network of roads and railways. In some places it would have been impossible to have transported machinery, and without hoisting machinery the great blocks of stone used in tho foundations and but tresses of bridges could not. have been moved—but here the elephant came into play, and I have seen the noble beast at, work on the roads, moving a great block of stone into position nid standing back and eyeing it. and then giving it a gentle push, now on one side and now on the other, until the stone was cor rectly placed. An ollieer of the de partment told me, that the most sa gacious thing he ever knew an ele phant to do was on one occasion when they were unloading oine. steel piping from a railway truck. -The elephant's task was to carry the piping from be side the truck to a little farther up the track. This he did by seizing the piping with his trunk. But it so hap pened that: the piping had been oiled in order to prevent it rusting, so that when the elephant caught hold it slipped from his grasp. He thought for a mo ment, and then his elephantine mind solved the problem. Near the track was a heap of sand the animal kicked the piping over to this with his foot, and then rolled the piping backward and forward in the sand. The oil made the sand adhere, after which the ele phant took the piping up and marched triumphantly off with it. Could a human being reason better? No won der the Government objects to such an intelligent animal being indiscriminate ly slaughtered. "Elephants are also in great demand in Ceylon for service in the Buddhist tempies. Every temple has at least half a dozen attached to it, and in some of the larger temples, such as the one in Kandy, where the sacred tooth of Buddha is deposited, they have as many as lil'ty. The largest number of ele phants 1 ever saw together was when the Prince of Wales risited Kandy to view Buddha's tooth. They had a grand procession. orPerahera. in which over four hundred elephants took part. It was a weird sight. It took place at night and the rain came down in tor rents. Every elephant had an accom panying guard of about a dozen devil dancers. hideously painted, who danced round waving torches and giving utter ance to the most unearthly shrieks, while the Prince, arrayed in a gorgeous uniform and surrounded by a brilliant staff, stood oil a balcony of the old palace ot the Kings of Kandy and watched the antics of his mother's 'chil dren.' "—Chicago Herald. A ROMAN STORY. How the Senators of Oil Salisfied the nnsirrs of Tlielr Wives. Maximus Severus Tarquinius was a Roman Senator representing the Steenth District and resided with his wife at a boarding house on the Appian way. It had long been the wish of the noble Roman and of his wife, that she should wear a seal-skin cloak to keep out malaria, but so far the legislative stipend had been unequal to gratify the Spartan simplicity of the Senator. One cloudy, cold morning just after the ides of December, he, kissed his wife good-bye at the front door of the iara vansary and yanking his toga up to shut out the insalubrious atmosphere, he strode down the steps. "Will you be back to lunch, Tark, dear?" lisped Mrs. Severus. "No Pulclierrima Candida, not to day," he replied. "There is important business before the Senate, and ^he interests of the people demand evfcry hour of a patriot's time, every con sideration of his duty." "It is enough, dear be back to dinner, though, for we are to go to the Circus Maximus this eve to hear anew joke by the great clown Tcrenec Catullus." "That is, indeed, worthy of hcroic effort," he said, firmly, almost fiercely, and for the second time gave his toga a hitch and put on his strode. It was late when Tarquinius re turned. but his dinner had beer kept warm for him and his wife met lini in her boudoir in the Lover the kitchen. He had a large package in his arris but she climbed over it anil kissed him. "At last." he murmured, throwing it on the bed. "What is it?" she asked tenderly. "A seal-skin cloak," he ansvered, passionately. "O, love", oh raiiture!" she excliinicd hugging him with one arm and tearing off the wrapper .with the other, "how did you get it? 'When did you get the money? "I voted properly in tl.e Senate, darl ing." "Voted? How? What?" she hesitated in bedazzled be.wild4rnie.nt. "Candida! Wife! I have spoken. Ask me no questions. Tarquinius Maximus Severus is not on the witness stand." Then he went to dinner.—Merchant Traveler. PERTINENT HINTS. Things Wliii-li Kver.v Woman Is Anxious to Know. Embroidered shoes and slippers are much worn. Tinsel ribbons are much nsed on ball dresses. Little silver boxing gloves afford a novel match-safe for gentlemen. Gold and silver threads glisten in dress fabrics and in their trimmings. Artistic novelties are oxidized silver watch-cases, simulating a sea-shell. Well-ventilated sleeping rooms will do much towards preventing headaches and lack of appetite for the morning meal. A great: deal of applique work is out lined and filled in with needlework in which wide gold thread and tinsel are used. The skirts of walking costumes es cape the ground dinner dresses arc longer, often showing a demi-train, while, evening dresses are made with trains. (iold buttons are out in new patterns for gentlemen's summer waistcoats. These come in sets of four, this making all that: will be required for the low cut style that is to prevail. Quite new in silver belts arc flexible ones, composed of three rows of coins. Some are of nugget tinish. while others have plain surfaces. All are beautiful and afford a pretty liniMi to Lhe dress bodice. Rusty black lace can be freshened and otherwise improved by rinsing it water to which lias been added borax and alcohol ill the proportions of one tablespoonful each of borax and alcohol, to one cupful of soft water. After the lace is partly dry dip it in water in which an old kid glove has been boiled, squeeze gently, pull out the edges, and spread on cloth or blot ting paper, and dry under a heavy weight. —A'. lr. World. A BLIND WITNESS. Warning to Sprigs of the Law Who Jump at. Wrong Conclusions. "You saw the greater portion of this fight, did you not?" inquired a lawyer of a witness in an assault and battery case before a local justice of the peace. "Well, it's like this," commenced the witness. "N« equivocation, sir! You saw the. whole occurrence. 1 believe. You were there?" "Yes. I war thar." "Judging from flic appearance of your lacerated features and parti colored complexion 1 should say you saw the whole thing." "Wall, ver shouldn't jump at conclu sions in that random sort of style. It's like this "Answer, on your oath now, did you, or did vou not. see this light?" "Noap." "What!" "No sir-ee! The fust I knowed about thar bein' any likelihood of a fight Bill Spooner fetched me the gol-durndest swipe across the eyes, an' 1 didn't see any thing for an hour, hour an' a half or two hours arterwards."—Merchant Traveler. —According to a new directory of Eastern and Southern Florida. St. Au gustine occupies second place in point of population in the State. Jackson ville has 20,712 souls St. Augustine, •1,3") 2 Palatka, 3.848 Gainesville, 3,832 Orlando. 3,.028 Ocala, 2.504 Tamps, 2,376 Fernandina, 2.212 Sand ford, 2,052 Leesburg, 952: Kissimmee, 782. —Many cooks consider it a great im provement upon ordinary apple sauce, which is to be served with roast "oosc or with pork, to rub it through a col ander and then to beat it with a spoon until it is very light aud almost like pulj*.— Western Rural. ANCIENT AGRICULTURE. The Soarcc of the Power of Kg.vpt I'nder the Pharoahs. Though agriculture, in some of its departments, has been practiced as long as man has existed upon the Barth. it is to be greatly regretted that so little is known of its early history. When (iod created the world, He mingled in the soil all the elements necessary to be assimilated into food for the future subsistence of man and beast. After the creation was com pleted. "there was not a man to till the ground and so from the ground (dust), which contained all the material Of flic human body, Adam was created, ••'and put. into the garden of Eden to dress it, and keep it." Here, then, is the starting point, away back six thou sand ye.ai in.thepast, when agriculture had its origin. 1 We have but little knowledge of how the soil was tilled, what crops were raised or how they were managed in the early ages of the world but we know hat raising cattle, sheep, goats and other domesticated animals, en tered largely into the occupations of those days, and subsequently became a leading pursuit in patriarchal life and we conclude, from the frequent men tion in Scripture of corn, fruit-trees and vegetables, that the soil must have received a large share of attention. Long preceding the time of Joseph in Egypt, it is certain that the Egyp tians must have had an intelligent and practical knowledge of farming. The river Nile, was the great source of Egypt's prosperity and wealth, for every thing was dependent on the in undation. This annual occurrence enriched the soil and made Egypt one, of the most fertileandfruitful countries in the whole world. It was only a small country, and to-day is enclosed in the same boundary lines that sur rounded it in the time of the Pharaohs and though it was once a most densely populated kingdom, it not only sus tained itself by its productions, but contributed largely to the support of other nations. The great soil production was corn, which probably was the name of several kinds of cereals. In the enormity of its corn production Egypt has never been paralleled by any other country. "And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea. very much, until he left numbering, for it was without num ber." And when the famine was ''over all the face of the earth," all countries went to Egypt to buy corn, and thus the nations were preserved. At this time it was the granary which supplied the world with bread, ami kept the people from perishing bv starvation. Long ages afterwards, when it be came a Roman province, corn was still the great production of the country, and the annual supply sent to Rome was 20,000.000 bushels. Sacred and profane history both agree that Egypt not only produced food in abundance for its own dense population, but ex ported large quantities toother coun tries. There is little doubt that in a country whose soil was so rich in fer tility, that agriculture was carried to a high degree of perfection. The advan tages arising from irrigation were well understood and practiced. When the land was too elevated to receive the benelits of the inundation, artificial lakes, or reservoirs were made, and by means of canals, with which the coun try abounded, were tilled with water, from whence it was raised by mechan ical means, and conducted to the high er lands, and thus all the arable land was utilized for tillage. As agriculture is the foundation of the prosperity, wealth and power of every nation, and as Egypt was eminently a farming country, she became a wealthy ami powerful kingdom, and at one time a leading nation in learning: and we may well conceive that the tilling of of the soil, though the labor might have been performed by the, lower t'Jasscs and slaves, was directed by the hands of intelligence. It is more than likely that hay was grown, which, with crops, constituted the food of other cattle during the in undation: and If so. they doubtless practiced husbandry and rotation of crops. The inundation of Egypt was what manure is to us. Tho Nile yearly brought down from the upper countries a vast amount of slimy matter, which, as the water subsided, were deposited all over the ground, and kept the soil in a condition of high, constant fer tility. If the water, however, rose above a certain point, calamity was threatened and sometimes cattle were drowned and villages destroyed. Another calamity, though not so seri ous in its results, affected greatly the following crops, as all the low lands were kept under water till it was loo late to sow for a good harvest. On the other hand, when the inundation fell below a certain point, famine was threatened. So much depended on the height of the inundation, that the Kings estab lished a pillar at Memphis where, its heights at different seasons was exactly ascertained and the day on which, it reached a certain point was a day oj universal festivity and rejoicing.—Ban gor (Mc.j Commercial. Relief Kor Toothacjne. For ordinary nervous toothache, which is caused by the nervous system being out of order or by excessive fatigue, a hot bath will so soothe the nerves that sleep will naturally follow, and upon getting up the patient will feel very much refreshed and the tooth ache one. For what is known as "jumping" toothache, hot, dry flannel applied to the face and neel is very effective. For common toothache, which is caused by indigestion, or by strong, sweet acid'or any thing verv hot or cold in a decayed tooth, a little piece of cotton, steeped in strong cam phor or oil of cloves, is a good remedy. Care in the diet, especially when the bowels are disordered, is helpful to mitigate toothache. If the. tooth is much decayed, nothing is better than its extraction.—Phrenological Journal. —A new fashionable dance is called the "button dance." Yes, we've seen it. The wife neglects to do the buttons and tho husband does the dancing.— Yonkcrs Statesman. r. A COSTLY MANIA. The Most ?iirions Sperimen of the Idiosyncrasies of Character. There are few among the idiosyn crasies of character more enriou- than the passion for making collections oi things esteemed .lingular or valuable. Some men gather together museum- of the most absurd anil ineonirnious char acter. in which cast-off clothing, an cient furniture, old coins, defunct uten sils and forgotten fashions are mingled confusedly with valuable or valueless books, manuscripts and autographs. One person has an incredible mania tor every conceivable kind of button-:, and heaps up an enormous collection ol' all sorts, shapes, sizes and materials. An other's special weakness is postage stamps, and all the civilized govern ments of the globe are ransacked to make his collections of stamps perfect. A third dotes upon street ballads, and gathers thousands of doggerel rhymes together, to be scattered to the four winds, probably, by their next posses sor. Still another is addicted to old coins, and will show you his assortment of rusty coppers and begrimed silver pieces with a fatherly pride, while lie tells no end of stories of the very rare cent of such a year, anil of the almost unknown half-dollar of such another. We know one man, not wholly devoid of sense, who has made a collection of andirons, or those old-fashioned sup porters of lire-wood which used to or nament the wide, open lire-places of "auld lang syne." We verily believe that he would travel fifty miles tc secure a new and unique pattern of that once familiar household utensil. From the world-famous Mr. Toodles of the comedy, who would buy all the useless trumpery at auctions, including collins, because it was "so handy to have 'em in the house," to the pas sionate collector of rare books, or the enthusiast of line pictures, there is a wide interval. Yet there is something of the singular and of the unreasonable common to both. Does not every book collector, unless he is a man of single aim as well as inflexible purpose, buy multitudes of books which he does not want and never reads? If this is not at once attested by the self-conscious ness of the reader, it will be. fully borne out by the well-known and notorious experience of multitudes. We have, the testimony of experts to prove that, of all the private libraries collected with such cost and pains by the multi tudes of men of taste and fortune, about nine-tenths come to the hammer in the lifetime of the collectors. Of 1he remaining tenth the greater portion are. scattered, upon their decease, by the same inexorable agency. How seldom is the taste for book.s inherited' "He heapcth up riches and knowetli not who shall gather them," is even truer of rich libraries than of pecuniary wealth. Cicero's only son was blockhead, and the children of Daniel Webster did not inherit their father's genius. The five libraries on special subjects, which the devotees of angling, chess. horsemanship, anecdotiana, chemistry, magic, etc., have sedulously assembled, are nearly always dispersed, and that which it cost from a quarter to half a century to gather is scattered irremediably in a few hours. The casualties which occur to scat ter collections of book.s in the life-time of their owners are numerous and po tential. With some the means give out long before the taste is gratified or the desire for collecting satislied. With others want of room to store a grow ing collection operates as remorselessly as want of means to ot hers. Good house wives are proverbially jealous of many books, doubtless for a double reason, and there are few. indeed, who will suffer the. encroachments of an over flowing library upon their favorite sit ting-room or parlor, or any space sed uously devoted to show or use. So the, poor book collector, despairing of get ting room in his present domicile, and unable, perhaps, to pull down his house and build bigger, abandons the pursuit, and "sells out" in self-defence. Willi many others the passion for collecting proves transitory, and disappears as suddenly and mysteriously as it arrived. Boston and New York are always full of private libraries, sent to auction or to private sale, by amateurs with whom the mania for book collecting is an ex hausted sensation. The books are eagerly seized upon by fresh book-hunt ers. and solemnly shelved in private haunts in all parts of the country, to be used, enjoyed, abused or neglected, in turn, until the lime arrives for then to takt» up their inevitable round.— Boston liiiili/ct. SPRING MILLINERY. t'niicy Straw ISraiils siixl Oilier JU-cently Imported Materials. The indications in the early imporla :1011s of millinery and millinery mate rials favor the prevalence of fancy tra\v braids, with a great variety of diapes in both bonnets and hats. The majority of the models presented to us for inspection in the fancy braids have been of Tuscan manufacture and French reproductions of the Italian braids though many of the new braids have a distinctive ch%rac-ter of their own. Very charming little bonnets in the natural pale yellow of the straw, brown, beige-color, ecru, vivid Turkey red and other strong colors are in a variety of braid, which has thrown up on the surface little plaque or scales, the size, of a centime, of the straw split and wound around and around. Pretty little shapes are of satin Tuscan braid" purletlgc.il and rice braids are seen in' the new bonnets sent over from Paris, with models in a band of plain braids an inch wide alternating bands of from three to four fringed braids. Fancy at best enters into the rough braids, and we may safelv assume that fancy braids will be much more kindly considered than they have been for the last several spring seasons. They will not prevail, however, to the exclusion of the plain braids. Some of the most unique bonnets that have come out from Paris are of line English split straw and Belgian satin straw braid and the. bonnets anil hats of Milan and Canton braids may be expected to take their usual and standard place in the spring and summer wardrobe.— Millinery Trade Recictc. SKILLFUL CULTIVATION. Why It Can Not Fail to Prove Satisfactory and Remunerative. Skillful cultivation should be the aim of every one who raises plants and crops. To make gardening and farming profitable, it is necessary to have some thing in return for every stroke that is made ami every dollar that is invested. Even when only a few house plants art! eared for we expect to see growth and bloom in repay for our care if not, our interest in them would soon be lost. We devote an acre of land to a certain crop it costs for the season the interest for a year on the investment made for it. besides the expense of preparation, manuring, cultivating, harvesting, marketing, etc. Our crop is but half what it might be, or what good culti vation has proved might be obtained. The time and expense of preparation, of sowing and of cultivation, have been as much as for a full crop, and the cost of harvesting and other ex penses but little less but apart of the land was too wet and the planting could not be done early, as it should have been, and on the same account the ma nure that was applied, though there was not half enough of that, could out produce partial effects, and so, from these combined causes, wc get back for our season's work, perhaps, the ex penses and a little more. The interest: and expenses were fifty dollars on the acre, and our returns, all told, amounted to sixty dollars, giving a prolit of ten dollars. At this rate per acre, on the whole place, with what it provides for the table besides, with great economy, one may, perhaps, live along for a while, and the land is grow ing poorer, and the value of the first investment is lowered—the place is running down. But at a little more expense in preparation, perhaps ten dollars on the acre, enough to insure the best result, making the whole sixty instead of fifty as before, and the. crop is twice as great, and perhaps further enhanced in value by its superior qual ity. All of this success, then, is profit —sixty dollars or more, instead of ten —an amount that makes prosperity ami success, instead of failure. Pick's Magazine. GIVE IT A TRIAL. Advantages to be Derived from Giving Warm Water to Animals. There can be no doubt by any farmer who will make a fair trial during a cold "spell," that water slightly warm is best for every kind of stock. No ani mal can drink ice-cold water without injury, nor often without real pain, if the. animal drinks as much as the sys tem craves. It reduces the tempera ture of the body, already too low, in jures digestion and frequently causes pain in the teeth anil throat. The. ease is worse still when, instead of watering the stock at its shelter or pen, it has to be driven to a brook and ice broken to make :i place for the ani mals to get at the water. Thus they are exposed to the danger of slipping upon the, ice, and to the. cold winds, and get pretty thoroughly chilled by the, time they reach their quarters again. This increases the amount of feed necessary to keep an animal, and, if it be milch cows, reduces the quantity of milk that they will yield. All this is readily obviated by supply ing stock twice daily in cold weather with water slightly warm. The appi ances for heating it are always at hand, or may be at little cost. Ami to make it better still, add salt enough to give it a slight saline ta«te. which will make it more relished and better for the stock. Also for milch cows, ewes, etc., put in meal or bran enough to make a thin gruel. You will find every animal will soon become fond of this and come to look for it as a part of their meals. A milch cow having water thus treated, given her regularly, will in crease her flow of milk very percept ibly and keep it up. other things equal, as long as tin: warm salt gruel is fed to her. Horses especially are often averse to swallowing a quantity of ice-cold water. At the same time they may want it very much, and would drink a large pailful if a little warm. The gruel is excellent for the horse, as well as other animals. Cor. Country !cntlanan. American Publications. There were published in 1881. 4.088 American books, aud in 1885, 4,030. Fiction continues to lead the list, the number of books of this class published last year was 934. Next in order come religious and philosophical works to the number of 135. and following: Law. 131: juvenile. ,"88: medical science, 188 biography, 174 poetry aud drama, 171 social and political science, 103 literary history and miscellaneous, 148 line art and illustrated books, 148: his tory, 137 useful arts. 100 physical and mathematical science, 92 sports and amusements, 70: domestic and rural, 30: mental and moral philoso phy, 25: humor and satire, 18. The greatest falling off is in the case of poetry and the drama, there having been 'jfty-one. less books of this kind issued in I88.'i than in the preceding year —Current. Chinese Visiting Cards. Eighteen hundred years ago the Chinese made paper from fibrous mat ter, reduced to a pulp. Now each prov ince makes its own peculiar variety, ihe celebrated Chinese rice paper, that so resembles woolen and silk fabrics, and on which are*painted quaint birds and Dowers, is manufactured from com pressed pith, which is cut spirally by a keen knife into thin slices six inches wide and twice as long. Funeral papers, or paper imitations of earthly tilings which they desire to bestow on departed friends, are burned over their graves. I hey use paper window frames, paper sliding doors, and paper visiting cards a yard long. It is related that when a distinguished representative of the Brit ish Government visited Pekin. several servants brought him a huge roll, which, when spread out on the floor, proved the visiting card of the Emperor. —Philadelphia Call.