Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1896 — Page 6

CYCLONE KILLS FIVE HUNDRED

Missouri’s Largest City and Its Illinois Consort Meet Terrible Calamity.

ST. LOUIS IN RUINS. Huge Buildings in the City’s Heart Destroyed. DEATH Off THE KI VEH. »- i . Excursion Steamers Are Blown Bottom Side Up. Human Beings Swept to Instant Doom Steamers Are Sunk. Buildings Blown Down, and Railroad Trains Overturned—Loss of Life Rivals That of the Johnstown Disaster Principal Bsrildings in East St. Louis Destroyed —Fire Adds Its Horrors—Millions of Dollars’ Property Damage. The city of St. Louis, torn and devastated by a cyclone, flooded! by torrents of rain and in many places attacked by fires, was Wednesday night the scene of such a carnival of death and destraction as has seldom been equaled in America. Owing to the frightful havoc of the storm cutting off almost every line of communication with the stricken city, but little information could be had, and that of a very vague nature. It ia estimated that as many as 500 lives were lost, while the damage to property is inestimable. Scarcely a building in the city but has been in some way or another damaged by the tornado. Ruin and desolation are upon St. Louis. For the first time in the history of a me-

THE GREAT CUPPLES BLOCK.

tropoli* the terror* of a cyclone hare come upon it* avenue* and boulevard*, ravaged the business streets and brought death to hundreds. St Louis, with its 700,000 people, passed (through in one brief halfhour Wednesday night an experience paralleled only by the horror* 'of the Johnstown flood. Cyclone, flood and fire. This triple alliance wrought the dreadful havoc. The grand stand at the race track was blown down, killing 150. The east end of the great Eads bridge was destroyed and it is reported that an Alton train went into the river. Steamer* on the river were sunk with all on board. A station of. the Vandalia in Bast St Louis was destroyed, end it Is reported thirtyfive lives were lost. The roof of the Republican convention hall at St Louis was taken off. The two top storie* of the Planters’ Hotel are gon*. The Western Union and many other building* are wrecked. The city was left In darkness. Fires broke out and threatened to destroy what the wind spared, but rain finally checked the flames. At Drake, 111, a school house is said to have been demolished and eighty pupil* killed. Telegraph wires were down and it is difficult to secure information. Heavy damage to life and property is reported from other localities.

After the wind and rain had done their work, fire added Much to the storm’s loss account. Down jwires, wild current* of electricity, crushed buildings, all contributed to this element of destruction. The alarm system was paralyzed. Approaches were blocked; a $200,000 conflagration on the St. Louis side was supplemented by a dozen lesser fires. In East St Louis a mill was burned and two other considerable losses were sustained. To the enormous total the fire* added at least 1500,000. Trail of Ruin Through the City. From where the storm entered St Louis, out in the southwestern suburbs, to where it left, somewhere near the Eads bridge, there is a wide path of ruin*. Factory after factory went down, and piles Of bricks and timber mark the spot* on which they stood. Dwelling* were picked np and thrown in every direction. Busi-

POSTOFFICE AND CUSTOM HOUSE.

nes* houses were flattened.. There was no chance for the escape of the occupants. The ruins covered bruised and mangled bodies that will not be recovered until a systematic search is made. Thousands of families in South St Louis are homeless,. practically, and the temporary hospitals •belter score* and hundred*. At the time the *torm broke the «treets were thronged with crowd* of people returning from their work. Among these the sudden fall of almost inky darknee*

penetrated almost momentarily by flashes of vivid lightning, the ominous rattle and rumble of the thunder, the torrents of stinging rain and the raging and howling of the mad tornado created a panic that made the streets of the city resemble the corridors of a madhouse. Chimneys, cornices, signs, everything that came in the wind’s way, were swept away and dashed among the frenzied people. Pedestrians were themselves caught by the wind and buffeted against the walls of buildings or thrown from their feet like mere playthings. Overhead electric wires were torn from their fastenings and their deadly coils, with their hissing blue flames, joined in the destruction of life and property. People were killed by the score and the city hospital, which fortunately escaped serious damage by the storm, was soon crowded to the doors with wounded and dying. Long before the tornado had spent itself many of the downtown streets of the city were impassable with the wreckage of shattered buildings and the strands of broken electric wire which were sputtering and blazing everywhere and had it not been for the floods of rain the tornado might have been but the prelude to the destruction of the entire city by fire. On the river the destruction was even more complete than on land. Only one

VIEW OF ST. LOUIS, OVERLOOKING THE DEVASTATED DISTRICT.

steamer out of all the fleet that crowded the levee remained above the surface of the Mississippi. The others fell easy prey to the fury of the tempest and quickly sank, in many cases carrying down with them all on board. The Great Republic, oue of the largest steamers on the river, was sunk along with others. Death List Is Appalling. Ten millions of damage to property and five hundred persons killed and a thousand injured, is what has been accomplished. Bast St. Louis is as badly damaged as St. Louis. Half a dozeu small towns close to St Louis, in Missouri, and at least two villages in southwestern Illinois are gone. There has been loss of life in each of these communities. What seemed to be three distinct and separate cyclones struck the city art 15 minutes past 5 o’clock in the afternoon. They came from the northwest, the west and the southwest When they reached the Mississippi river they had become one, which descended upon East St Louis and from thence passed on toward Alton. The day was an oppressive one in the city. There was no wind and the people suffered from the beat About 4 o’clock in the afternoon the entire western horizon was banked with clouds. These were piled one upon the other, with curling edges, yellow in tinge. A light wind sprang up and a sudden darkness came upon the city. This darkness increased until the storm broke. The descent of the storm was so sudden the fleeing women and children were caught In the streets and burled to destruction or bnried undep falling walls. Before the zzlass of clouds in the west, hanging over the villages of Clayton, Fern Ridge, Eden and Central, gave vent to their frightful contents funnels shot out from them. Some of these seemed' to be projected into the air, others leaped to the' earth, twisting and turning. Lightning played about them and there was a marvelous electrical display. Thea came the outburst Three of the funnels approached St. Louis with a wind that was traveling at the rate of eighty miles an hour.

STEAMER REPUBLIC SUNK BY THE CYCLONE.

From them and the clouds above, a strange, crackling sound This filled the air and at times was stronger than the incessant peals of -thunder. The funnels enveloped the western side of the city, and in thirty minutes were wreaking. destruction in the business heart. Men and Women, horses, all kind of fowl in the open, were picked up and carried hundreds of feet in'every direction. So irresistible was th? cyclone and so much greater in magnitude than any the country has ever previously known of, that some of the stanchest business blocks | went down before it. Structures, the pride . of mexghants and architecturally famous ■ from New York to San Ftancisco, were I lixe tinder boxes when the wind was at ; it* height The massive stone fronts caved’ in. Iron beams were torn from their fastenings and carried blocks away, as if they had been feathers. Roofs, braced and held to their positions by every device known to the best builders of any day, were torn off as if held only by threads. Telegraph poles fell in long rows, not coming down one by one, but in groups of a dozen or more at a time. A railroad train on the Eads bridge, one of the express trains of the Alton, known as No. 21, was blown over and the passengers piled up in a heap of injured. The east end of the Eads bridge, one of the most solid and finest bridges in the world, was destroyed. The other great bridges spanning the Mississippi were all injured, some as seriously as the Eads. Scores of persons wore drowned, or, after being killed on the land, blown into the water. Steamers like the Grand Republic, the City of Monroe, packet* which are famous between New Orleans and St.

Louis, were carried everywhere. Still others, after being torn from their moorings, disappeared, and have not been heard from. As a rule the smaller craft was sunk. This was particularly the case with the smaller excursion steamers, most of which had a great many women on board. Houses were blown into the river, and at one time during the worst of the blow a section of the river was scooped out and the muddy bottom shown. The water was carried blocks away ns though it were a solid. Not while within the city limits did the funnels rise and fall from the ground, as Is usually the case in cyclones in small places. There was no rebounding. Consequently whatever was in the path of the wind was either destroyed or badly* injured.

THE GREAT EADS BRIDGE OVER THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

And this destruction was done in thirty minutes. The bells of the city were pealing 6 o’clock when the worst of the storm had passed. East St. Louis Rained. East St. Louis* tremendous shipping interests have received a heartrending blow. The railroad tracks were literally torn up from the right of way and scattered. Huge warehouses and freight depots were piled on top of each ofher. Long lines of box cars loaded with valuable freight were turned upside down. The telegraph offices were destroyed and miles of wire blown down.

There was a short time after the storm when St. Louis could not communicate with the outside world. Nor could her own citizens communicate with each other by any electrical means. Such a confusion and ruin in a large city was never witnessed since the Chicago fire. Breaking at the hour it did, and the night following, the work of rescue and relief was very slow. The firemen and police were immediately made aids to the surgeons and physicians of the city. Many people were burled under the ruins of their homes or places of business. The electric lights being out, searching parties in the ruin strewed streets could not go

CLUBHOUSE, GRAN D STAND AND RACE TRACK, ST. LOUIS FAIR GROUND

ahead. They simply had to wait for the dawn. RECALLS THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD Story of the Disaster that Visited the Pennsylvania Town*. The catastrophe which has befallen St Louis was within a few days of the seventh anniversary of the awful calamity visited, upon Johnstown, Pa., and adjoining towns May 31, 1889, in which many live* were lost and millions of dollars’ worth of property destroyed by the floods that raged along the Conemaugh river,

bursting a reservoir covering a square mile located just above Johnstown. For weeks heavy rains had fallen in the mountains, and the resultant freshet wrought ruin and death that appalled the country. While towns were washed away, bridges destroyed and industries forced to suspend. Hundred* of people clung to their floating homes, which were swept onward upon a volume of water unprecedented in

ST. LOUIS CITY HOSPITAL, FILLED WITH INJURED.

modem history. Many people were rescued from their perilous positions in the upper stories of their homes. The Cambria iron works were destroyed and 2,000 men were thrown out of employment Five large bridges were swept away. Cam and lumber floated upon the

mad torrent AH trains on the Penney}, vania and Baltimore and Ohio railways were abandoned. Men, women and children were panic stricken. The fatality list exceeded 1.200. The water reached a depth of fifty feet, and it required prompt persistent snd heroic action to rescue the intqates of a valley in which death rode through upon a wave of merciless water. The rain descended in torrents for sev-enty-two hours. Hundreds of dead bodies floated upon the bosom of the river for a distance of fifteen miles from the scene of the disaster. Wires were down and all telegraphic communication temporarily cut off. Collieries in the vicinity were forced to suspend. The damage extended

to the properties of the Lehigh Valley and Reading railways.

FOUR UNDER ARREST.

Quartet of Chicago Toughs Charged with T. J, Marshall’s Murder. The coroner’s jury has charged Frank Carpenter, Charles Gurney, Clarence White and John Lang with the murder of

Thomas J. Marshall, one of the most prosperous young merchants of Chicago, and the quartet has been held for trial. The murder was one of the most sensational which have occurred in the western metropolis in years. One evening just before it was

time to close -the general merchandise store known as the Golden Rule, located ■ on West Madison street, owned and conducted by Mr. Marshall, three men entered the store by different doors and approached the cashier’s desk, where sat Miss Mattie Garretson. One of the men ordered her to deliver over the cash, emphasizing his demand by pointing two revolvers at her. She refused to compiy with his demand, and closed the cash drawer, throwing off the combination. The would-be robber aimed a blow at her head with one of his guns, which she barely managed to dodge. There were seyeral lady clerks standing about waking for the time to go home. They saw what was going on at the desk and began to scream. This attracted the attention of Mr. Marshall; who was in another part of the store talking with his general manager. Just as he was about to start toward the desk one of the other men app/eached him and leveled two revolvers at nis head; Frightened by the screams of the girls, the burglar at the desk started to back out of the store; guarding his retreat with his revolvers. Marshall advanced toward the man who was coming his way and he, too,.started out of the store, keeping Marshall covered all the time. Seeing that the latter was bent upon his capture, the man fired both revolvers just as he reached the door. One ball struck Marshall in the temple and the other in the heart and he fell back dead.

The screams and the shots had attracted a large crowd about the store doors and the robbers and murderer saw that they were in danger of being cornered, so they began to fire into the crowd, injuring two or three people, and clearing a way for their escape. They ran in different directions, but in such a manner that they came together a short distance from the store. One of them was captured, by a pedestrian just as he reached the rendezvous, but the others coming up he was set at liberty and the trio vanished. Half a hundred suspects were rounded up by the police, and out of the lot the four named above were identified by the clerks as those who participated in the tragedy.

NEW PROFESSOR AT ANN ARBOR

Six Hundred Women to Benefit by Dr. Eliza M. Mosher's Experience. Dr. Eliza M. Mosher, of Brooklyn, who comes to Ann Arbor as associate dean of the department of literature and arts and

professor of hygiene, is now on her way to Europe to study the colleges for women in connection with Oxford and Cambridge. The dean of the department for many years | was Martin L . D’Ooge, but th?" , place Dr. Mosher is :

to fill is a new one. Her duties will bring her into almost personal relations with the 600 young women in the university, and to each of them she will be guide, philosopher and friend. Dr. Mosher will be the first woman professor in the university, and her post will be one of great distinction and responsibility. She leaves a very lucrative practice in Brooklyn” to

accept the offer of the University of Michigan. • , - Henry Stefke, aged 40 years, was found dead in Bloomington, Ind., the presumption being that he met death in a runaway. >

T. J. MARSHALL.

ELIZA M. MOSHER.

DIGGING UP THE DEAD

FIVE HUNDRED BODIES OF CYCLONE VICTIMS RECOVEREDWeeke Will Have Passed Before the Full Extent of the Calamity la Known—Whole Country Offers Help —Liat of Dead by Towns. Cities as Graveyards. The fall extent of the havoc wrought by (forms which swept over portions of Illinois and Missouri cannot be known for several days. In many places telegraph wires are down, and communication with these points cannot be had at the time this is written. The reports so far as received show the storm to have been widespread and fatal to a degree never before known in' the history of the country. In St. Louis alone the angel of death only knows how marfy victims he gathered unto himself when he rode into that city Wednesday night on the wings of the wind. Not for days, if ever, will the list of victims be complete. Nearly half of St Louis is a burial ground, and across the river in East St. Louis the dismantled, wrecked, and demolished structures seem, to cover a single grave of uncounted dead. They are being counted one by one as the masses of shattered brick, stone and lumber are cleared away, but in all probability the exact number orthose whose lives were crushed' out by falling walls or whp. met their fate under the waters of the raging Mississippi will never be known. Appended is a careful and conservative estimate.of tbe killed and Injured based on the most reliable information obtainable; Killed. Injured. St. Louis 250 300 East St. Louis 150 250 Breckinridge, 111. :.... 2 ... Brinker Station, 11l 8 30 Carlisle, Pa. ’. 2 Columbia, Pa . . 1 15 Fairfield, HL 1 Gratiot, Mo ~ 4 Hariqony, 111. . 2 Lancaster, Pa '. 1 Mascoutah, IIL 1 ... Near Centralia, 111 43 35 Near Jefferson City, Mo. 4 ... Near Mount Vernon, 111... 6 20 Near Mexico, Mo 5 13 Newark, O. .. 1 Near Vandalia. HI 13 15 New Madrid, 111 7 30 New Baden. 11l 8 13 Richfield,. 111. 4 ... Ilubhville, 111. 4 26 Total 514 750

Value of Property Destroyed. Neither can the total value of property destroyed be given. Estimates in the various papers vary from $10,000,000 to $35,000,000. It is not likely, however, the damage will be over $15,000,000. On this vast loss there is practically no insurance and little salvage. There are probably not 100 people in St. Louis who carried cyclone policies, and' they were of the better class- who- were not the ones to suffer. It is the common people who are mourning to-day. mourning over the biers of their loved and lost, and over the total annihilation of what few worldly goods they owned. The damage to' the hall in which the national Republican convention is to be held' was slight as earn pared with other losses, it being confined largely to the carrying away of part of the roof and in monetary value will not exceed $5,000. St. Ixjuis is looking after its own. The moneyed men of the town, have put their hands into their pockets, and will go deeper as the occasion demands. At a public meeting the day following the storm $15,000 was raised, and that amount was more than doubted within twenty-four hours afterward 1 . The woes of the wounded and homeless have stirred the great heart of the country to its depths. St. Louis is the stricken child of the nation, and offers of aid- have been tendered from every quarter. Congress passed a joint resolution directing the Secretary of War to place at the disposal of the Mayors of the stricken cities a sufficient number of tents to provide for the temporary necessities of the homeless and to render sueh aid as might be in his power. There are eight or ten boats used in the Mississippi river improvement which are able to render assistance, and these were ordered to the scene of the disaster. The Mayors of” all large cities, presidents of Boards of Trade and commercial clubs telegraphed offers of assistGov. Stone ordered militia to St Louis to protect the stricken people and their scattered property, and Gov. Aitgeld sent two-companies to East St. Louis The Mayor of that city believes at present that the outside help will not be needed, The offers that have poured in on him have been tentatively declined. It shows a commendable spirit of self-reli-ance and courage, but as the needs of the people are revealed this aid may be found necessary to, meet them, and its acceptance will not detract from the city’s dignity. The dead will be buried and some may be forgotten; new buildings will take the place of those that lie level with the streets to-day, and the smoke of the city will soon destroy the newness thereof, but the memory of that visitation of wind will never fade from the minds of these who witnessed it. TO AID ST. LOUIS. Mayor Swift Calle a Special Meeting of the Chicago Council. Mayor Swift on Thursday sent out a call for a special meeting o's the Chicago City Council for the purpose of considering what might best be done to aid the stricken city of St. Louis. Chief Swenie of the fire department said that no call had been made on him from the fire de partment of St. Louis, but that of course he stood ready to. act when one was made. All the city officials were deeply concerned over the catastrophe which had befallen St. Louis, and expressions of willingness to aid in every way were heard on all sides.

News of Minor Note.

A business block at Burket, Ind., collapsed. One man, Joseph Condor, was killed and four others were injured, one fatally. Gov. Morton has signed the bill of Assemblyman Austin authorizing an increase in the New York police force of 600 patrolmen. f >n. John Echols, of Louisville, died at btaunton, Va. He was C. P. Huntington’s Southern representative, and was vice-president and receiver of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The whole Sawyer family, consisting of father, mother and grown-up son, were discovered in their home, a mile east of Ava, Mo., murdered. Robbery appears to hate been he motive. A. C. Putnam, president of the Chadron Banking Company of Chadron, Neb., which went into a receiver’s hands recently, was arrested for receiving money when he knew the institution was insolvent. Miss Mary Isabella Stewart, the youngest daughter of Senator Stewart, was married to Francis Lithgow Payson, son of Francis Payson, of New York, at Senator Stewart’s residence In Washington.

TIMELY FARM TOPICS.

MANAGEMENT OF THE FARM, GARDEN AND STABLE. A Home-made Spraying Contrivance that May Be Used with Success and Profit Tree Trunk Sn pport for Sweet Pe as — Agricultural Suggestions. __ Home-made Spraying Outfit. Where spraying is conducted on a considerable scale, various rigs have been made to squirt insecticides and fungicides over all portions of a tree. The spraying contrivance illustrated here has been used with good success And profit. Many fruit growers use an ordinary wagon, with box or rack and a 50-gallon barrel; but If one has much spraying to do, it is generally economy to use a larger tank, especially If water has to be hauled some distance. More thorough work can be done in old or chards if the operator is elevated above the barrel. Tbe use of long pieces of brass, Iron, copper or even gas Ripe, with nozzle attachment to tbe end, is advisable when working among the tops of trees; such are apt to be a nuisance if oiie works from the ground. Pipes are awkward if more than ten feet long. * In my orchard of twenty-five acresthe trees are twenty to thirty feet high. With my outfit, one man to drive and ■ pump and two men In the tower, each with a brass extension tube eight feet long with double nozzle on each end, every part of a large tree may be sprayed in from three to live minutes. We find it much easier to spray on a level with our work or downward, than to stand on a wagon box and spray up with the Bordeaux mixture running down our sleeves and into our faces. The work is also more thoroughly done. In 1894 I used a power pump and sprayed from a wagon. I had fine fruit up as far as the spray went, but the tops of the trees were bare of fruit, proving to me tbe virtue of the spray. The rig is on a pair of wide-tired trucks coupled short so that we can turn from one row of trees to another. I pumped the water, mixed the ingredients and did- the spraying of my orchard in three days. The spray pump

TREE TOPS EASILY SPRAYED.

caused no expense or hindrance throughout the season,—A. BL Dutton, in Farm and Home. Selecting; Seed Grain. It is impossible to tell by looking at grain in a heap or bin what its value for seed may be. The plumpest, finestformed berry, and one with uninjured vitality may have grown from a seed that produced only a single stalk and head and that poorly filled. Such a seed will tend to produce a like plant from that on which it grew. What may be done by the proper selection of seed Js shown in the great improvement that is made in the productiveness of corn, which with skillful cultivators is always chosen on the stalk, selecting those that bear two full ears. Yet if size of kernel were the test the largest and best grains might often be found on the nubbin com where the ears were not filled out, so that each grain could grow round and full instead of being compressed as it is in a well-filled ear. Ye. on such an ear there- will always be found at the tip and butt some grains that had room to grow full size. These will produce better and stronger plants than will the compressed grains from the middle of the cob.

The Weather Bureau. This institution is doing better work this year than ever, says Farm and Home; Ito weather forecasts are not always correct, and it Is doubtful if it will ever be possible to make them absolutely true for every nook and corner of the country, but they are a great help to fawners who are so located as to be ableHo'get them in time. The farmers want to-morrow’s forecasts this afternoon, so that they can plan their work accordingly. Every farmer should atao obtain the weekly weather and crop' report issued by his State weather bureau in co-operation with the national weather bureau at Washington, and the latter publishes a weekly erop and climate bulletin that wilt be found of great value. In most of the States, the headquarters of the bureau is at the State capital and it may be addressed there. Bad-Tempered Bulla. Too much care cannot be taken to keep the bull always in subjection. A ring should be put in his nose before he is a year bld, and if this is done a snap fastening a stout stick to the ring, and which can be detached when not in use, will keep the animal in perfect subjection. On no account should a bull be led or driven without this contrivance. The bull when feeling well is a very playful animal, but if in play it once draws blood, the sight of it will make him furious. The tempers of most bulls are spoiled by teasing them and then getting out of the way. If the bull never sees any one who is not his master, and is always kept in subjection by the stick and ring, his usefulness may be protracted till he is 8 or 10 years old. Enemies of Birds. The fact that the various kinds of small birds once so common are now very scarce is commonly attributed to thely destruction to gratify woman’s pride In trimming her hats. But the song birds have other enemies also, especially the English sparrow, which drives them away from their old haunts Rear dwellings. In the wild woods the

small birds are exposed to many enemies. Hawks of various kinds prey on them, while squirrels plunder their nests and destroy their eggs. Nothing will set small birds te such a storm of protest as the presence of a squirrel in tbe neighborhood of their nests. It is a guide to any one who la hunting the squirrel, for this outcry of the birds gives warning of his approach before the hunter could possibly see him. Support for Sweet Pea*. A bed of sweet peas about a tree trunk can be trained very satisfactorily in the manner suggested in the accompanying illustration. A stout bit of cord .a tied about the trunk some three feet from the ground, and from equal

A TREE TRUNK SUPPORT.

spaces about it strings are carried out and down to the ground, where they are secured by pegs driven into the ground, these pegs forming a perfect circle about the tier. - When the plants have secured a hold upon the strings and' have come to blossoming, the effect will be very pleasing and attractive. The Farm Tenant Help. The practice of hiring married men and furnishing them a tenant house with garden as a part of their pay is growing in favor. It relieves farmers’ wives from much hard labor In the extra work required to cook and provide food for a number outside their own families. It is- also pleasanter and on the whole better’'to'ljave the ’Children of the family not so closely associating with the hired help as they must needs be’if both occupy the same house. The married tenant, if a good help and receiving fair treatment, will be likely to remain a number of years. When help is hired to live in the house it is usually dismissed in the fall and entirely new help secured in the spring. But if the tenant is a good worker and honest, he will expect and should receive as good treatment socially as the farmer accords to neighboring farmers. There are and should be no social distinctions based only on wealth, in farm life. Thousands of men, once owners of farms, have been obliged' to become tenants, even when they have retained enough capital to hire the farm and run it on their own account. On the other hand, a great many farm laborers manage to save money enough so that after a few years they can become the owners of farms. Whenever they dto this they generally prove to be more efficient farmers than are those who secure what they have from the patrimony left to them by their fathers.

Nitrate of Soda for Tomatoes. There Is one vegetable for which nitrate of soda always should' be- used, and that is tomatoes planted for an early crop. It will bring tbe plants forward two to three weeks earlier than without the fertilizer, and there will be a great profusion of fruit set as compared with those not- The late tomatoes will do well enough with stable manure, but for an early crop the nitrate of soda is much preferable. It is the earliest tomatoes that always bring the highest price, for, despite competition from Southern-grown fruit, that produced at home and l freshly picked from the vines always has the preference as soon as it comes- in market. Applying Land Plaster. A little at a time and often should be the rule in applying land) plaster. The finer it is ground the more evenly it can be spread, and a very, light dusting will do as much good for the time as a heavier application. A bushel per acre, which will be about-100 pounds, is what farmers usually sow on clover. If they have the plaster on hand they sometimes apply another hundred pounds after the first crop is cut,, to make a larger second growth. This- is not done, however, on clover where a seqd crop is to be grown, as the extra growth of stalk and leaf is made at the expens of the seed. Have a Little Fnn. An excursion, to.your State agricultural cqllege or experiment station will amply repay any farmer. If a little effort is made to get up- a large party, reduced rates canbe secured, and thetrip can be made most enjoyable. This will make a pleasant outing to take as soon as the spring work is completed; in the lull just before the.summer campaign. It pays to get .a little rest at this season, and again just before and also after the heavy work of harvest. AH' work and no play makes the farmer adull boy. Farm Notes. The finest butter imported into the English and French markets id said, to be made in Northern 'France,' and is known as Normandy butter. Its quality is ascribed to the breed of cattie. pastures and method of manufacture. There Is but little liability of harm to plants by having a garden too rich, if the soil is well cultivated. ” In many instances the garden is not as rich as it should be, as garden crops are closer In the rows. The hoofs of sheep that are pastured on soft ground, should be occasionally examined, and, if necessary, the hoofs should be pared. On stony ground the hoofs are worn down more. It is the soft and damp ground which frequently induces,foot rot in the floek. Oats contain the elements of the tissues of young animals most perfectly balanced, and, with milk, promote healthy growth. Dry oats are an especially excellent feed for young calves, and to induce them to eat them they may at first be slightly moistened with milk. If put into the milk the calf may be choked. When a pasture has so deteriorated that it will not be profitable to use it for cows it will serve for sheep, if the sheep are allowed grain also, but next fall such pasture should receive a heavy dressing of wood ashes after being plowed and left unharrowed. It does not pay to use land for pasture unless something can be bad from It