Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1895 — Page 6

IN A VERMONT SUGAR BUSH

THE season of maple sugar making comes at a time when the farmer could not profitably employ his time otherwise, usually about March 10, and continues three or four weeks, according to the weather. Sap will run only when the temperature Is at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and stop running as soon as frost is out of the ground, or directly after the snow is gone. Sometimes the cold weather continues so late in the spring that it is nearly April 1 before the thermomete* goes above 30 degrees. In 1893 the farmers in Vermont did not tap the trees until the latter part of March. Last year the tapping began about March 8 or 9.

As soon as the weather is favorable the farmer gets out his buckets and sets to work tapping his maple trees as quickly as possible. The maple trees are tapped by boring the trunks with a small bit—usually half-inch—about Ift inches deep, and from one to three feet above the ground. Trees are not tapped until they are about one foot in diameter. After tapping, a spout made of clean maple, beach, tin or galvanized Iron and fitted with a hanger for holding the bucket, is driven firmly Into the hole made by the bit; a bucket of tin or wood is hung upon the spout, and the tapping process is finished. The buckets are ordinary water palls, generally all alike, and each farmer usually paints all his buckets one color. Only one bole is bored in young trees, but it is not uncommon to have as many as half a dozen buckets, with two spouts each, hung to maples of large size. If the bucket fills with sap In a day the run is a good one, although twice this amount is obtained in exceptionally favorable sap days. What

is called a “good-sized” sugar orchard will contain from 500 to 800 trees. There are many orchards of 1,500 trees, and In the -northern and central parts of Vermont orchards of 2,000 to 4,000 trees are not uncommon. When the sap begins to run well the farmer and all his family must work hard. A man with a large farm will employ help outside of his family frequently, and use two or three pairs of oxen or horses to make the rounds of the trees with a sled on

which is the large sap tub into which the sap from the buckets is poured. An orchard of 700 or 800 or even 1,000 trees need not require the farmer to hire help, if he has two or three men or boys in the family besides himself. From an orchard of 700 trees an ordinary run of sap for two days will enable the'farmer to collect about eighty barrels. Sometimes sixty barrels of eap can be collected trom 700 trees in one flay. As soon as the men begin collecting the sap, the fires in the big evaporator furnace must be started, and the boiling of the sap begun as fast as it is brought in, so that none will be wasted by souring, or the quantity brought from the woods may not so far exceed the accommodations at the house that waiting to get room for it much 'will he wasted at the trees. At the tjnje when the sap ik running freely the farmer must often keep the fires going and the sap boiling all through the night, and, of course, he is likely to have to work all day Sunday and Sunday night as any other time of the we?k. It is all-important that he “make hay while the sun shines,” When the work is hardest the fun is at its best. Those who have but a small orchard will “spare” some of the family to help a relative or neighbor through sugaring. And the siigar parties—what one of Vermont’s sons or daughters ever forgets them? The snow is still upon the ground, and as night comes on the clear cold air upon the rock-ribbed hills brings the color to the cheeks and quickens the step. And the smell of good maple syrup—well, perhajts, that may have something to l «f>. wfth 'quk-keaiag the step; but the young people are not long on the road to a sugar party. The time it requires * An average computation has never been attempted; for, as at husking bees, the

young man has the girl of his choice if he can get her. At the party the hot sugar is dropped upon the snow and forms into “frogs” and various other imaginative reproductions of animal life before it is considered at the stage of perfection for eating. Some have bowls of snow and saucers of hot sap, and the great fun of a “sugaring off” party is to sit out on the wood pile, covered with buffalo skins, and “candy” the sugar by pouring a spoonful on the snow in the bowl and eat It with doughnuts and crullers.

Sometimes a small branch of stripped maple or beach Is dipped into the kettle and you have the fun of twirling it until It cools. Then you break off the candled branches. The modern evaporator makes it possible to do much sugar making In a short time. The evaporator is made of tin, copper or galvanized iron, and is so constructed that the sap flows in at one end, and, by means of partitions extending nearly across the pan, is made to take a zigzag course to the other end, where it is drawn off as syrup. The sap in the pan is kept shallow—about one-half Inch In depth—and evaporates very rapidly. Rapidity of evaporation Is greatly to be desired, not only on the score of time but because the sooner sap is converted into syrup after It runs from the trees the lighter will be the color and the finer the flavor of the syrup and sugar. The sugar house is a rough little building, with a shed half full of welldried cordwood for the boiling fire. The room is mainly occupied by the boiling apparatus, with the bunk of the man who has to'watch the pans of boiling sap day and night. One side Is taken up by the oven, which is built on a bed of brick and consists of two brick walls about two feet apart, 2ft feet high and 12 feet long, with an iron door at the end near the shed entrance to the house. A huge, old-fashioned brick chimney stands at the other end, where there also is a sort of square, brick furnace to hold a big kettle. In the roof, near the center of the ridge pole, a large slot opens to the sky as an escape for the steam, which rises in heavy volumes from the pans on the Are. The sap as it comes from the maple tree is like water and has barely any

IN THE SUGAR ORCHARD.

more flavor than good water. But it doesn’t take much heat to produce flavor. A barrel of good sap will make a gallon of syrup or eight pounds of sugar. After being reduced to syrup in the evaporator the product is allowed to cool and settle, more or less of impurities being precipitated by standing. The syrup is now ready for putting into cans for sale. The size mostly in use is one gallon. The proper consistency of syrup is generally conceded to be 11 pounds to the-gallon, and this degree of density is reached at 219 degrees Fahrenheit. The sap is never made into more than syrup in the evaporator. Then it is poured into a large porcelain lined kettle to be boiled to sugar. If wanted for sugar the boiling is continued until the thermometer indicates 232 degrees for pail sugar, or 238 or 240 degrees for cake, when the mass is removed from the fire, stirred briskly

for a short time, and then poured into tin pails or cake moulds, as the case may be, to harden. The cake moulds are often a series of parallel partitions on a large wooden board, with spaces In them about three inches apart, and JustAvide enough to admit a knife blade The moulds are dampened with a sponge, then the hot sugar poured in. Little fancy tins are also used for moulds. The farmer gets anywhere from 10 to 18 cents per pound

OX SLED AND SAP TANK.

THE SUGAR HOUSE.

for bin sugar, and from 75 cents to |1 a gallon for his sirup. A sugar maple produces on an average aboat 3ft pounds of sugar during a season.

No More Slashing.

It is a noteworthy fact that the rapidly increasing number of new books, not of poetry only, at the .present hour is accompanied by a diminution, not an increase, of critical severity. One would have supposed that at such a period—when, to adapt the proverb of the wood and the trees, one can liardly see literature for the books—the critical standard would rise; that the critic would show himself morn, not less, exacting, and would be more careful, in the interest of the reader, to emphasize the distinction between the excellent and the mediocre. Yet no one can read much of the current periodical criticism without noting that it is rather the opposite that is happening. While it is an obvious and undeniable fact that the manufacture of books, as distinguished from authorship, exists on an enormous scale, yet apparently the

average critic becomes more easy to please, not less, than of old; as if he cried in sheer despair to the makers of books: “Well, if you can’t rise to my standard I must come down to yours,” and hardly six months pass without some prose romance appearing, by some fresh writer, and being received with such a chorus of welcome and such hecatombs of praise as (to borrow Macaulay’s phrase) would require some modification if applied to the masterpieces of Walter Scott—to “Old Mortality” or “The Heart of Midlothian.” Now, as I have said, no one wishes for a return of the criticism called slashing, but what I do think the intelligent reader often sighs for is some criticism that may be called discriminating, and if the value of such in literature of whatever kind is great, it is surely greatest where the literature in question is poetry, in which Horace has told us—and the cultivated sense of mankind has ratified his words—“mediocrity is not admissible.” —Macmillan's Magazine.

Jones’ Success with “Scratch” Crews

One of the strangest things in Paul Jones’ career was the success he achieved with “scratch” crews. In his greatest fight, contemporary history says, he had “as bad a crew as ever was shipped,” being made >up of all nations, among them Maltese, Portuguese, and Malays, who did not always comprehend the word of command. Paul Jones has b<*?n severely denounced for having returned to the place of his birth bent on destruction; but, as Cooper justly points out, an officer's oath obliges him to do all in his power to harass the enemy; and it was not only Paul Jones’ right, but his duty, to use his knowledge of the Scotch and Irish coasts in the prosecution of the war. If he had any feeling on the subject, it would have been his duty to suppress It. But Paul Jones probably had no feeling whatever, except resentment. He had left his native land as a child, and upon his last visit he had been cruelly ill used, as he thought; and he did his duty on this cruise -with no more repugnance than he would have felt at doing it elsewhere—and did it mercifully.—Century.

Tickling the Plebeian Quaker.

"It catches them every time,” said a Philadelphia printer the other day who keeps a copy of “Burke’s Peerage” in his office. “.Tones, who, we will say, keeps a little hat store up on Columbia avenue, comes in here and wants me to get him up some tasty design, a trademark, that he can place upon his goods. When I show him our regular stock of designs for such a purpose, the .chances are that he will turn up his nosGjjtythem. Then I take down ‘Burke’s Peerage’ and turn to the proud name of Jones, where all the crests of the illustrious family are duly pictured forth, with their mottoes and all, the record of their nobility. Jones is fascinated, and immediately imagines that he is some way connected with some fine old English family. He picks out the crest that most pleases his eye, and some time after it reappears on his hats in Columbia avenue. It is a great scheme, I assure you, and I treasure my ‘Burke’s Peerage’ as a really valuable asset”—New York Tribune.

Paul Jones’ Naval Prescience.

It is wonderful to note the prescience of Paul Jonesffijhejight of another century. This Revolutionary captain foresaw Hie use of torpedoes, and experimented boldly with very primitive ones. He understood as fully as a great contemporary writer the “influence of sea power upon history,” and wrote, a century and a quarter ago: “In time of peace, it is necessary to prepare, and to be always prepared; for war by sea.” He advocated the establishment of a naval academy, and a supplementary course for officers closely resembling the Naval War College, and advocated the constant study and practice of fleet evolutions. This was in the days when Britannia ruled the waves with a vengeance, but without “tactic.” In his admiration for this fascinating part of his profession, Paul Jones certainly underrated the British; but jvhqn he, came to fight them, he showed them, in his preparations, every mark of respect—Century. Borrowell—“What would you do if you were tier Buggins—“Pay myself the $lO you owe me.’/—Philadelphia Record.

WILL MEET IN BOSTON

PLANS FOR THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR CONVENTION. Fully Fifty Thousand Members of the Society Will Take Part in the Meeting—Great Increase in Membership During the Past Year. July IO to 15. The Christian Endeavor convention which meets in Boston July 10 to 15 is already arousing a great deal of interest. The committee of arangements has been granted the use of the Boston common for a big\>pen-air meeting of a patriotic nature on July 13. Governor Greenhalge, Dr. Donald McLauren of Detroit, Dr. S. F. Smith, the author of “America,” and several other prominent persons will be

DR. S. F. SMITH.

present and speak. Dr. Smith is to write a special hymn for the convention. The singing will be by a choir of 2,000 voices, assisted by an immense orchestra. Fully 50,000 Christian Endeavorers will take part in the meeting, in addition to the outsiders, who will be attracted by the novelty of the occasion. The Endeavorers will march in procession from their meeting place to the common. The meeting on the common will be held in the afternoon, and the morning sessions will be devoted to the general theme, “Our Country.” In two big tents, each of which seats 10,000 people, services of a patriotic nature will be held. A number of prominent men representing all sections of this country and Canada, have been secured to address these meets. A feature of the day will be the presentation to each delegate of a copy of a handsome Illuminated card containing the hymn, “America.” During the last year the increase in the membership of the Christian Endeavor societies of the world has been over 300,000. The officers of the united societies are already assured of a greater attendance at Boston than there was at New York three years ago. The program will include the names of the leading pulpit orators of the United States, among them being T. DeWitt Talmage, John G. Wooley and C. H. Parkhurst.

CROP PROSPECTS ARE GOOD.

Corn Planting la Progressing Rapidly in Illinois and lowa. Throughout the lower Ohio and central Mississippi valleys the week has been cooler than usual. Over the northern districts, from the upper Missouri valley eastward to New England, the week averaged warmer than usual, being decidedly warm in the Dakotas, Minnesota and the upper lake, region, where the daily average temperature excess generally ranged from 5 degrees to 11 degrees above normal. Over northeastern Missouri and central Illinois the precipitation for the week has exceeded the average. There was a slight excess over the extreme northern portions of Minnesota and North Dakota, but over much the greater part of the country the rainfall during the week has been less than usual. There was also practically no rain over a considerable area in the upper Missouri valley and portions of the southern Ohio valley, and only light showers fell in the lower lake region and upper Ohio valley. Warm rains are much needed in the central valleys. Corn planting has progressed rapidly in the more northerly States and planting has begun in Illinois and lotva. Spring wheat seeding is about completed; Montana, North Dakota and lowa report early sown up and looking well. Winter wheat is generally reported as in good condition, except in Wisconsin and Oklahoma, where it has been badly winter killed.

Illinois—The week was favorable for farm work, but too cool and dry for a good growth of vegetation In secmon more liberal rains have fallen. Plowing for corn is general, and some planting in southern section. Small grain and grass are making a good stand, but need rain. Streams are low and water is scarce. Fruit is in full bloom in the southern and central sections Indiana—Cold weather and deflcient rains were not beneficial to the crops. Oats are coining up slowly but well. The plowing for corn ptogresses, and some has been planted Fruits are in bloom. Wisconsin—The week was fine for seeding oats and barley being sown for the most part and coming tip well. Potatoes are being planted and corn land prepared for plan? Ing. There is little improvement in winter wheat, the crop generally a complete failure Rain is greatly needed. Minnesota—With occasional light showers in the northern half and no rain elsewhere vegetation has this week made considerable progress. The seeding of small grain excent flax, is nearly finished; potato plantin" has begun. The sod is being turned. More’ rain would be beneficial. lowa—Favorable weather conditions prevail. Farm work is progressing, rapidly and corn planting is begun in some districts The early sown cereals are well sprouted and show an excellent stand. Pastures are affording. support for stock. North Dakota—The drought Is broken bv the rains of the past week, and seedin" is progressing rapidly with the ground in excellent condition. Early sown grain is up and looking well. The prospects generally are very good. South Dakota—The rainfall is below the average, but the temperature above average. Sunshine and an ample moist soil have Induced seed germination and the growth of vegetation. Wheat and oats are sown for the most part, and other seeding progresses rapidly. Garden and potato planting are general. Kansas—Showers and light frosts prevailed the first of the week, but it turned warm afterward. The fruit trees are full of bloom and grass is growing rapidly. All the crops are growing well in the east, but wheat Is backward In the west. They are cultivating corn In the south. Michigan—A dry week, with considerable sunshine has been favorable for the progress of farm work. Plowing is general. Oats, spring wheat and some potatoes were planted in the southern part of the State. Warm rains are much needed. Ohlo-r-Falr, cold, frosty weather has retarded the growth of cereals, but is favorable for plowing for corn and planting potatoes. Oats and clover are coming up and doing well. Some corn is planted. Apples, peaches, plums and strawberries are budding. Missouri—The weather was favorable for farm work, but the low temperature lias retarded grass and gardens. The rainfall has been Unevenly distributed. The drought continues in some counties. Corn planting is progressing well, and cotton planting begun. Wheat and oats look well. The prospects for fruit continue excellent. Nebraska—All vegetation has grown well. Small grain Is generally In excellent condition, but some fields ore beginning to feel the need of rain somewhat. Corn planting b> general In the southeastern counties. Several frosts, but no damage has been reported.

Voluntary muscles are almost always red; involuntary muscles are generally white, the most notable exception in the Utter case being the heart

HOW MONEY IS TO BE SPENT.

Appropriations Made by the Recently Adjourned Congress. The volume annually prepared by the clerks of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, showing the exact appropriations and the new offices created, has been prepared for the last session of the Fifty-third Congress by Thomas P. Cleaves, clerk of the Senate Committee, and J. C. Courts, clerk of the House Committee. The statement gives the appropriations in detail and specifies the new offices created and abolished with the salaries and also the salaries increased and reduced, together with the chronological history of the regular appropriations.

The appropriations were as follows: Agricultural $ 3,303,750 Army 23,252,608 Diplomatic and consular.... 1,574,458 District of Columbia 5,745,443 Fortifications 1,904,557 Indian .. 8,762,751 Legislative, executive and judiciary 21,891,718 Military academy 464,261 Naval ■ 29,416,245 Pension 141,381,570 Post office 89,545,997 Sundry civil 46,568,160 Total regular appropriations. 373,811,522 Deficiencies 9,825,374 Miscellaneous Total general bills and miscellaneous 383,934.564 Permanent appropriations... 113,073.956 Grand total, appropriations.. 497,008,520 The number of new offices specifically created is 1,773, at an annual cost of sl,313,324, and the number omitted is 409, at an annual cost of $497,948, making a net increase of 1,364 in number and $815,376 in amount. Included in this increase are the 1,000 additional seamen authorized to be>enlisted in the navy and 315 additional deputy collectors and revenue agents in the internal revenue service to carry into effect the incoma, tax law. In addition to the foregoing there is a net increase in specific amounts appropriated for new offices where the number of such offices and the amount of salary to individuals are not specified, of $805,700. The number of salaries specifically Increased is 119 at an annual cost of $39,506, and the number of salaries specifically reduced is 69 at an annual cost of $lB,328, making a net increase of 50 in number and of $21,177 in amount; making a net total increase on account of salaries of offices, new and old, of $1,642,253.

WORLD’S SUPPLY OF WHEAT.

Changes Made in the Available Stock in One Week. Special cable and telegraphic dispatches to Bradstreet’s covering principal points of accumulation in the United States, Canada and Europe, together with supplies afloat for Europe from all sources, indicate the following changes in available stocks last Saturday as compared with the preceding Saturday: Available supplies—United States and Canada east of Rocky Mountains, wheat, decrease 2,451,000; United States, Pacific coast, wheat, decrease 129,000; total decrease, wheat, both coasts, 2,580,000; afloat for and ih Europe, wheat, increase 192,000/ total decrease world’s available wheat, 2,388,000. United States and Canada east of Rocky Mountains, corn, decrease 630,000; United States and Canada east of Rocky Mountains, oats, increase 325,000. Leading decreases of wheat last week not reported by the official visible supply statement include 310,000 bushels in northwestern interior elevators, 164,000 at Louisville, 48,000 at Newport News and 33,000 at Leavenworth. The only corresponding increase was 102,000 bushels in Minnesota private elevators.

INTERNAL REVENUE RECEIPTS.

Decrease of $3,000,000 from Those of March, 1894. The monthly statement of collections of internal revenue issued Wednesday shows the total receipts from all sources for the nine months of the present fiscal year ended March 31, 1895, to have been $109,995,015, of which $19,802 was from income tax from persons and $8,855 from corporations, companies and associations. The remaining items of receipts were: Spirits, $63,902,869, increase for the nine months, $1,180,739; tobacco, $22,106,326, increase, $951,385; fermented liquors, $22,301,665, decrease $309,215; oleomargarine, $1,185,222, decrease, $262,193; miscellaneous, $470,273, increase, $360,539.

The net increase for the nine months was $1,950,163. The principal single item of increase was $1,295,628 from whisky. The increases and decreases for the month of March, 1895, compared with March, 1894, are shown as follows: Spirits, decrease, $2,905,024; tobacco, decrease, $145,364; fermented liquors, decrease, $180,115; t oleomargarine, decrease, $34,000; miscellaneous, increase, $17,317; income tax, increase, $16,839; aggregate decrease for the month, $3,230,355.

The Political Pot.

The bribery investigation in the Arkansas Legislature ended in a complete whitewash. The Walton election law of Virginia was declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeals. Bills for the election of State Railroad Commissioners and to repeal the antiscalpers law were killed by the Minnesota Senate. The Oregon Democratic Central Committee has sent a protest to President Cleveland against the retention in office of Republicans. The Tennessee House adopted by a vote of 43 to 30 the Senate resolution declaring in favor of the free coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to 1. The Michigan Attorney General has decided a village .council under the new law has the authority to prohibit the sale of liquor within the village limits. Chairman Adams, of the Alabama Populist State Executive Committee, publishes a manifesto warning Populists against the new silver party in Alabama. State Treasurer Henry M. Phillips, of Massachusetts, sept in his resignation to the Governor to take effect on the election of his successor by the Legislature. The Michigan House passed a stringent liquor law providing for a uniform license of SSOO. The Senate passed a bill providing for a general charter for the fiftythree cities in the State of the fourth class. Col. J. W. F. Hughes, the colonel of the militia who was removed by Gov. Lewelling of Kansas and court martialed for not driving the Republican House from the legislative halls two years ago, has been appointed major general of th* Kansas militia.

ALL ABOUT THE FARM

SUBJECTS INTERESTING TO RURAL READERS. Hanging Feed Rack for Sheep—Advantages of a Movable Poultry House—De vice for Su p porting Wagon Tongues. To Cure Self-Sucking Cows. Farm and Home says the cure of a self-sucking cow la easily effected by adjusting a halter and a surcingle

around the body just behind the fore legs. Connect the halter ring and surcingle with a stick 3 to 3% feet long, letting the stick hang between the cow’s fore legs. A short strap 4 to 6 inches long con-

SELF-SUCKING PREVENTED.

nects the stick to surcingle and halter so as to give the stick some play. A pad may be needed on the back under the surcingle as the latter sometimes cuts through the skin. In very persistent cases two sticks may be needed, one on each side of the cow, outside of her fore legs, to break from sucking. Afterward a single one will do. Feed Rack for Sheep. The usual method of feeding sheep has a number of disadvantages. When fed from the floor adjacent to their pen, the lambs are quite sure to be found walking all over the hay and grain, and making themselves generally at home in the uttermost parts of the barn. The sheep, moreover, wear off the wool from their necks and disfigure themselves when feeding through openings tn the side of their pen. When the fddder is thrown down from the floor above the pen an arrangement such as Is shown in the Illustration may be found serviceable. It Is a hanging rack with slats all around It, and made narrow at the bottom so that the flock can reach even the last spear of-, hay. There will be no crowding with such an arrangement. The feed will not be soiled, and the pen can be kept closed so that the lambs cannot escape from ft Even when the fodder is not thrown down from the floor above such a rack may

HANGING FEED RACK.

be hung near the side of the pen, and the hay thrown over into it from the feeding floor, giving much more feeding space to the flock than would a rack nailed against the side of the pen.—Orange Judd Farmer. Why the Churn Churns. The most plausible theory for the separation of the butter fat in cream by the churn, is that the fat globules in milk and cream being surrounded by a thin layer of liquid cream serum, the concussion of the churning causes the usually round, uniform, floating globules to harden into Irregular shapes, which results In their adhering to each other until the.enlarging granules of butter can be seen by the naked eye. For some time before the butter “comes,” or the cream “breaks,” the fat globules have been massing together, and the usually rapid increase in size after they are visible is due to the greater surface exposed, just as a rolling snowball grows fastest at the last. The factors which affect the completeness of the churning are stated by Director J. L. Hills of Vermont, to include the food of the cows, the period of their lactation, the creaming and ripening, the size and kind of churn, with the heat and density of the cream. There seems, however, to be no relation between the sourness of the cream, the temperature, the curd In the butter, and the time needed for churning.

Forcing Early Rhubarb. The most common method of forcing an early and large growth of rhubarb was to place an upright barrel over the plant with both heads open, and the pile around it a mass of horse manure to decompose and increase the warmth. At night when the weather is cold the top of the barrel should be covered with .ft. mat to,..eft-, elude the frost. It used to be supposed that the manure thus applied furnished .plant food as well as heat. Really, however, it gives little of either. The barrel with open head covered at night warms the soil around the plant better than' doek the manure which obstructs the sun’s rays. A very small amount of composted manure dug Into'the SolllMMae the barrel will give more,plant food for immediate usd than will a big pile of coarse manure outside. The most of the heat inside the barrel edmes from the sun’s rays both inside and outside It. The barret should, however, be wrapped in a blanket on cold nights, besides being covered at the top so as to hold the ’heat gained during the day. Crowd aft 'Melon Thieves. Melon growers have a new enemy to - guard against. Those in some parts of Delaware found large holes pecked In the melons and were at first unable to decide what was responsible. Watching the patches closely they found a colony of crows walking over the field at early morning and pecking the melons just enough to make them unsalable. One hundred melons were thus destroyed In one field before the thieves were recognized and driven away. Rotation in the Garden. However fertile the soil of a garden, If planted year after year it will often become badly infested by worms, grubs and other insects. If plant food is supplied in the shape of stable manure, the insect pests are all the more likely to become numerous. For this, as Well as for other reasons, rotation Is as Important In the garden as In the field. A good ptan Is to have a garden twice as large as Is required for

vegetables, and keep one-half In do ver, with frequent alternations. Early Corn for Fodder. It Is bo Important for securing ths best results corn for fodder or ensilage that It should nearly reach tin stage for ripening ears that only ths early sorts should be drilled for thess purposes wherever there is ariy doubt on this subject Sometimes, too, a drought late in summer cuts'll crop, destroying that which ripens latest while the darly corn has matured and Is out of the way of injury. Even in a season without drought, it is important to get the corn fodder cured ot put in the ensilage pit before the fall rains. The common New England Flint varieties will not give so large a bulk of fodder as will the Southern and Western Dent corn, but they will have a higher nutritive value in proportion to the expense of making and harvesting the crop.—American Cultivator. A Movable Hennery. On stubble fields there is often a great deal of food which, if the fowls can be induced to forage sufficiently, would amount to a considerable quantity of food. In some countries, according to the American Agriculturist, the young fowls are housed in a small, lightly-constructed bulld-

MOVING THE POULTRY HOUSE.

Ing on wheels, of a weight not too heavy, for a horse to draw, and of a size to accommodate from fifty to seventy chickens. The birds are quartered In it and drawn to the field, where they are fed once or twice in the house to accustom them to it. Then they are supplied with plenty of water and turned upon the stubble, changing them about to fresh forage as often as they seem to require new ground, to And sufficient of the fallen grain. If the house be built of half-inch matched boards, it will be found light enough to be moved easily, and will prove quite a saving in feed from year year. Fences on the Farm. A great deal less fencing is used now than when the country was newer. It can be still further diminished, not only without decrease of production, but with the effect of making the farm product greater. Before making a fence to save a little pasture, it is well to make an estimate whether it would not be cheaper to let the grass grow and cut it, or at the worst to let it fall on the land as manure. If the little pasture is a field of young clover, either one of these last-named methods will prove more profitable than turning the stock on It. So long as fencing material was abundant farmers used to cut it into rails and surround fields with them as the best way of disposing of surplus wood. But a well-fenced farm Is now not valued so highly as one without fences, but in which the more important point of maintaining soil fertility has been attended to. Support for Wagon Tongues. The Scientific American describes a new wagon tongue support which has been patented by a man in CaliforiMU. The accompanying illustration shows how it is used. It is very simple, iconsisting of two plates fastened to the front and-.rear sides of the axle by means of bolts. On the front plate are two elongated lugs, which are apertured to receive the supporting arms. The latter are preferably of stout wire, and have a

NEW WAGON TONGUE SUPPORT.

vertical section held ifi place by a set screw. It is not necessary to connect the arms to the tongue; the latter simply rests upon them. Keeping Nuts Fresh. A Dutch horticulturist journal says that an excellent way to preserve fresh nuts Is to place them immediately after gathering in clean flower pots, the holes in which have been stopped, and covering them with a tile or bit of slate, to bury them in the earth until they are needed for use. The mnin thing Is to protect them completely from the action of light Farm Notes. Land that is hard clods can not be expected -Wi give-good crops. Use the pulverizer and barrow until the soil Is worked As fine as would be desired for a garden. Never allow cows to drink water that r you would not drink yourself. Milk from copunon. cows, whela grass fed, per |ent water. The cow has nolifter in her to purify water, afid«if the water is impure the Impunity goes the milk. iCrqhard grass is excellent for permanent pasture; timothy lasts but a few years, and clover less. A good mixture is five pounds red clover, four 1 timothy,, fourteen pounds Kentucky blue grass imd fivir pounds orCh^ari},.grass, .fijst two make the good pasture in the stafct drew a large crop of potatoes. This country buys large quantities of potatoes from Scotland. Do not be afraid of low prices. If potatoes can not be sold at a profit they can be utilized at home for stock. Considering the large possible yield from potatoes they should always prove profitable. An Ohio farmer says that his 100 stands of bees pay him more than all the rest of his Sixty-acre farm, and do not require half so much labor. Wherever alfalfa is grown bees should so! low;.and even for the sake of bees it may pay to raise alfalfa, if it will grow in your latitude. For the dairy, for work, for breeding and even for fattening, the quiet, docile animal Is always worth more than the fractious one. The latter is not only m<ji;e r troublesome to handle, but It is a disturbing element among the others, and is often an expensive animal to keep within bounds.