Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1874 — Page 8

Heroic Soldiers.

In * eub-report of his recent fight with the Indians Gen. Miles has sent the following additional intelligence, which was received a few days ago at Gen. Sheridan's headquarters in Ohicagfe: “ I deem it a duty to brave men and faithful soldiers to bring to the notice of the highest military authority an instance of indomitable courage, skill and true heroism on the part of a detachment from this command, with the request that the actors be rewarded and their faithfulness and bravery recognized. “ On the night of the 10th inst. a party consisting of Scrgt. Z. L. Woodhall, Company I; Privates Peter Rath, Company A; John Harrington, Company H, and George W. Smith, Company M, Fifth Cavalrr; Bcouts Amos Chapman and William Dixon were sent as bearers of dispatches from the camp of this command on McClellan Creek, Texas, to Camp Supply, I. T. At six a. m. on the 13th, when approaching the Washita River, they were met And surrounded by a band of 135 Indians, Kiowas and Comanches who had recently left their agency, and at the first attack all were struck, Private Smith mortally and three others severely wounded. Although inclosed on ail sides and by overwhelming numbers one of them succeeded, while they were under a severe fire at short range and while the others with their rifles kept the Indians at bay, in digging with his knife and hands a slight cover. After this had been secured they placed themselves within it, the wounded walking with brave and painful efforts, and Pri"Vkte Smith, though lie had received q mortal wound, sitting upright within the trench to conceal the crippled condition of their party from the Indians. “From early morning until dark, outnumbered twenty-five to one, under an almost constant tire, and at such short range that they sometimes used their pistols, retaining their last charge to prevent capture, this little party of five defended their lives and the person of their dying comrade, without food, and their only drink the rain-water that collected in a pool, mingled with their own blood. There is no doubt but that they killed more than double their own number, be--sides those that were wounded. The Indians abandoned the attack at dark on the 12th. “ The exposure and distance from the command, which were necessary incidents of their duty, were such that for thirty-six hours from the first attack their condition could not be known, and nor till midnight of the 13th could they receive medical attendance or food, exposed during this time to an incessant cold storm. “Sergt. Woodhall, Harrington, and Scout Chapman were seriously wounded. Private Smith died of his wounds on the morning of the 18th. Private Rath and Scout Dixon were struck, but not disabled. “The simple recital of their deeds, and the mention of the odds against 'Which they fought; how the wounded defended the dymg, and the dying aided the wounded by exposure to fresh wounds after the power of action was gone—these alone present a scene of cool courage, heroism and self-sacrifice which duty as well as inclination prompts us to recognize, but which we cannot fitly honor”

A Faithful Dog.

Metcalfs grocery store in our place has been closed for a week or so. Metcalf was perfectly willing to have it open, but circumstances rendered it necessary for him to suspend business for a while. There had been a good many burglaries and Metcalf bought a dog to keep in his store at night. The man that sold the dog said that its one strong peculiarity was vigilance. That dog would watch that store closer than the Genius of Liberty watches the destinies of America. So the man turned the dog loose in the store and Metcalf locked up and went home. When he came down in the morning the dog flew at him as soon as he opened the door and attempted to breakfast on Mr. Metcalf's legs; whereupon Mr. Metcalf suddenly shut the door and sat down to think. Then he went after the man who sold the dog, but he had gone out of town to see his aunt, and wouldn't be back for a month. Metcalf then undertook to coax the dog through the crack of the door, but the animal still manifested a resolute determination to chew Metcalf’s legs, and so Metcalf closed the door again and began to wish he had bought a dog less attentive to business. Then he procured a double-barreled gun and spent the remainder of the week shooting slugs and bullets down the chimney, and through thq doors and windows, and up through the cellar ceiling, and still the dog held out, until finally Metcalf got a section of wire fence, placed it across the doorway, opened the door and banged the obnoxious animal into eternity!" Then he entered and found that he had shot holes through the molasses cans and the coal-oil barrels, and had blown all the china ware to atoms; so that the store looked as if a fifteeninch shell had burst in it. Metcalf cleaned up and resumed; but he is anxiously awaiting that man’s return from his visit to his aunt’s. He wants to see him about something. —Mar Adder, in Danbury News.

Against the Tide.

The Chicago Interior says : “ We have great respect for that large class of the human family whose energies are given to ‘ bearing up.’ It is a fine thing to do things, but a finer thing—to just stand it. Host people are in that defensive attitude. We all start out aggressively; events push us hard. First we slacken; then we halt; then back up against a wall and bear it. “ The castles inr the air drift into darkness, and ambition's pictures become dissolving views, and the man finds himself under the sober skies of forty with empty hands, bending shoulders, unmarked days in the present,' uncertain odes in the future. The fame of fortune that nerved his young life is under the horizon. The stimulus of hope that held him up is wasted and gone. Forge and anvil, spade and shovel, from morning to night. The mortgage clings io the cottage, and hard work cannot lift it. Doctors’ bills take the surplus. Grayhairs are col mg, and the monotonous years wear on. There is nothing ahead to look to, and nothing in the present to notch the days save a little harder work, a more restless night, and gradually failing strength. Under this gathering gloom the than does nothing fine, thinks nothing greaf,; he only bears bravely up. If the neighbors ever give a man a thought it is only to say: ‘Poor fellow! things go hard against him.’ But blessed is the man who can go against things and hold

his way with buoyant heart t under * skies that are ashen and sober,’ over '-leaves that are withered and sere.’ In God’s reckoning of the human lives there will doubtless be a great reversal of estimates, and for the comfort of those who make no-headway > against wind and. tide it will appear at last that ‘they also serve who enly stand and wait.’ ”

The Walking Cure.

He has passed Atlanta, Ga., and gone to Topeka, Kan. —De Mahler—a man who has traveled around the world and all over it on foot. He walks for pleasure. Sometimes a wagoner on the road accosts him with. “ Stranger, want a lift?’’ He always replies, “No; rather walk,” and some miles on he.passes the home of the wagoner, who by this time has his wife and children out to look at the man who had rather walk than ride. De Mahler goes trudging oh like the Wandering Jew. He has put 40,000 miles behind him since 1862, and has acquired such momentum now that he can’t stop. He must walk to be happy. Of course he stops sometimes for rest and refreshment ana sleep, but ’tis only a halt. An Atlanta editor took De Mahler to his house, and got the following particulars of his walks in life out of him: De Mahler is a Virginian. He has estates that yield him such an income as enables him to go where he pleases to enjoy himself in his own way. He was wounded in the beginning of the war, and when his wounds - healed he was bent nearly double and was totally unable to walk. He was rolled up almost like that being which turns itself into a ball and wheels from place to place. He went to Paris to get straightened out. The surgeons operated upon him, but after a fair trial they couldn’t make his head and feet stay at their respective ends of the man. At length they told him that nothing could effectually cure him but walking, persistent walking. He resolved to try it. Ha told his doctor that he was going to walk out of Paris and leave France on foot. The doctor told him he was crazy. He, however, commenced the journey, and made only 104 yards from his lodgings the first day, with the aid of a stick. The doctor tended him two weeks on his trip, that is until he got out of Paris.’ He had then begun to improve and was filled with a glorious hope, lie put his whole soul into his walk. In a month he was on the sunny slopes of the Pyrenees and had begun to straighten up like a man. He walked on, and on, and on.—-At length he was entirely cured and strode with a firm tread. Thus he walked along the world and across it, and became intensely interested iu his travels. He sailed across the seas, but walked the decks of vessels in order to keep his foot in. On land he seems to walk as naturally as the winds blow and the streams flow, and now he can't stop. He makes pencil sketches of the best scenes and remembers every place he has been in, and the name of somebody he met and talked to. He is the oughly cured of his war wounds, but n. ly lazy people might think that the cure is worse tjian the original Affliction, ■ / ' l,:/.

What Wood Is Used For.

The last census, referring to the business of 186!*, reports 63,5)28 establishments manufacturing articles made entirely from wood, employing 393,387 persons, and using materials worth $309,921,403 annually. There are besides 109,512 industries in which wood is an important part—-for example, carriages, furniture, bridges, ships, etc., employing 700,915 persons, and using materials worth $488,530,844. If we assume that half of the class of mixed manufactories are employed upon wood alone, we have a grand total of 118,684 establishments, employing 7.439.840 persons, and using wood valued at $554,186,825 annually. We cannot conceive the consequences that would happen to our civilization were the supplies for these great industries consumed. While no one would wish to see the consumption of wood for use in the arts reduced below the proper wants ot the country, we. may justly hope that the economies of forestry and manufacture may be most carefully studied, and that there may no longer prevail that wasteful disregard of material which is now everywhere observed. It is hoped that the important lesson may be clearly learned, that timber culture is in many cases the most profitable investment of labor and capital when viewed simply as to the value of its material, to say nothing of the incidental benefits resulting to agriculture in the protection which woodlands offer to insectivorous birds. Although costly experiments have been made to find inorganic materials for the roadbed of railways, nothing has yet been found that will supply the place of wood; nor havs we reason to hope that the demand for ties will ever be less per mile than at present. At the end of 1873 there were reported 71,564.9 miles of main lines, and 13,512 miles of sidings and double tracks, making 85.077.9 miles of railroad within the United States. Of the main lines, 5,462.3 miles were in the New England States, 14,209 in the Middle States, 33.905.9 miles in the Western States, 15,316.4 in the Southern States, and 2,681.3 in the Pacific States. Upon these roads locomotives were running, and a large proportion of these used wood for their fuel. The number of ties used varies from 2,200 to 2,800 per mile. If we take 2,500 as a mean, we find that 212,692,500 pieces of timber, eight feet long and from six to eight inches between upper and lower surfaces, are requited to supply this single item. The durability of ties varies with the ranging from four to ten years. Taking six as an average, the* amount requited for annual supply must be 35.448,750 pieces, or 94,530,000 cubic feet. In considering this, we must remember that a large amount of waste occurs from hewing and from leaving the upper part of the trees, some of which are used for firewood, the remainder being a total loss. Northwestern Lumberman.

i The Laporte (Ind.) Democrat tells i this dog story: “ A large dog, about a i year old, belonging to a neighbor, who had. been bitten in his ears, had his head washed several times: with carbolized water. Several weeks later he saw one of the children of the family bath- . ing her head with liniment for the earache. when, watching an opportunity, he gets the Tmiment bottle on the floor, spills it, and dabs his own head in the spilled liniment, and then rubs it in with his fore-paws. This was witnessed byfour members of the household.” Paste fob Takts. —Equal quantities of loaf sugar, flour and butter ; mix thoroughly by beating with a rolling-pin for half an hour; fold it and beat it again and again. ‘ -V-

The Yaller Dog.

[Postscript to # School Boy'i*Compo#ition.] I forgot to menshun the yaller dog. which is of a numerous speslioes, and full of fleas, lie wears his tail between his hi nd legs an is always running away from somebody what aint pestering him. If I had to have a dog, an it was yaller, I would be like Mary an take a little lamb, though I must feel offul soft. A dog what is of that disgustin color acts like he had just stole something or was just agoing to. There aint hut one thing I don’t like as well as a dog what is yaller in spots or all over, and that is cats. I like to put on as much dog as any 1 but I doutwant it to be yaller dog, or cats. Ime not of an evil dispersishun an I aint akustomed to heckter dum brootes an pull the wings outen flies, but if I see a yaller tail layin around luse Ime bound to tie something to it if I never git to be an angel as long as I live. Ide do it if it was the next thing I ever done. I once had a circumstance in my life which alwais reminds me of something I aint forgot to this day. Dad sent me into the smokehouse 1 nite to git a piece of fat meat for his felon. I set the candle on a barril an begun to slise oph a hunk of fat from some side meat with a old butcher knife. I was skeered but I didn let on. I was a whislen Shoo Fly kindy easy like when all of a sudden ths terribullest thing happened. I ain’t skeered of ghosts, cause there aint no such thing, but this waswussern ghosts. A big yaller dog jumped down the hole in tli# roof rite on to that candle an put it out, an went on down into the sope barril, I heered it howl an seed its eyes aglarin an its hair astandin on both ends, an I squatted down on my back an screemed. I knew- it would eat me up if it found where I w as, so I screemed more. I made up my mind if it got out of the barril and come at me, I would jab that buteber-nife into it a duzzen times. But I had dropped the butcher-nife into the barril when I first got reday to squat down. So I had nothing but an old pistul which was up stairs in my other pants pocket an wuzzent loded. Just be 4 the dog got out the nabors came over expecting that Ide killed a burglar. Dad bounced in an struck a match, an I pointed at the barril an dident say nothing, I was so mad. Dad lit another match an looked into the barril an put in his hand an pulled out a great big canvis-backed ham, which had broken off the nail and fell into the barril, instead of a dog. Then they all laffed, an when Ime around any more they say “ A-hern, a-ham,” like they was aKofffn up something, but I know w hat they mean, consarn ’em. An that’s what makes me so onpleasant with yaller dogs. — Brunswicker.

Crazy Animals.

In some districts in California there is a plant called the “ rattleweed,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle,: producing a most upon the intellectual and physical health of horned cattle. The “ rattleweed” grows to the height of about eighteen inches, and has a leaf similar to that of the lupine. It has an immense number of pods, which are of a light brown color when ripe, and of a three-sided form, like the Brazil nut. These pods do not crack open when ripe and dry, and as every pod contains half a dozen or so small, loose seeds it forms a rattle producing, when touched or moved by the wind, a dear, sharp -sound, resembling the warning of the rattlesnake. It is found—sometimes in small detached clumps, and sometimes in patches covering many acres —inKeru,Tulaire, Fresno and Monterey Counties, and in the northern part of Los Angeles. The effect of this weed when eaten by animals is to produce insanity, or, to speak more accurately, it appears to derange and befog their* instincts, and, judging from their actions, fills them with delusions. When thus affected, many of them die; but whether death is the direct effect of the poison, or whether it results from their inability to procure water and food, is as yet unknown. Several hundred horses have lately died from the effects of this weed in the southern part of Monterey County, and a correspondent of the Chronicle, who lately lost fifty horses on one ranche from the same cause, describes the symptoms that were observed in the ill-fated animals previous to their decease. They became, he says, crazy, forsook the land, and wandered one by one over the plain, paying no attention to their mates or to anything else. They were too muddled in their brains to seek for water and most of them died of thirst. Although they were wild, and had never been handled, any person could walk up to them on tjie plain and hit them with the hand, when they would jump, perhaps straight up in the air, perhaps some other way, and go off as though they were trying to leap over a fence at every step. They seemed to retain their sight yet would not turn aside for anything. The poor, demented beasts would walk over a precipice “as placidly and deliberately as a San Francisco free-luncher would advance upon a whisky bottle.”

Postponing Pleasure.

No one can settle down in a European city or village, says Dr. Holland, and observe the laboring classes without noticing the difference between their aspirations, ambitions and habits and those of corresponding classes in this country. The European expects always to be a tenant, the American intends ’ before he dies so own the house he lives in. If the city forbids this he goes to the suburbs for his home. The European knows that life and labor are cheap, and that he cannot hope to win by- them the wealth which will realize for him the dream of future ease; the American finds his labor dear and its rewards comparatively- bountiful, so that his dream of wealth is a rational one. He, therefore, denies himself, works early and late, and bends his energies and directs those of his family into profitable channels, all for the great good that Reckons him on from the faroff golden future. The ty-pical American never inthe present. If he indulges in a recreation it is purely for healths sake, and at long intervals, or in great emergencies. He does not taste money or pleasure, and does not approve of those who do. He lives in a constant fever of hope and expectation, or grows sour with hope deferred or blank disappointment. Out of it all grows the worship of wealth, and that demoralization which results in unscrupulousness concerning the methods of its acquirement. So "America presents the anomaly of a laboring class with unprecedented prosperity and privileges and unexampled discontent and discomfort. There is surely something better than this. There is something better than a life-long sacrifice of content and enjoyment for a possible wealth, which, however, may never be acquired, and which

has not the power when won to yield its holder the boon which he expects to purchase. To withhold from she frugal wife the frugal gown which she desires, to deny her the journey which would do so much to break up the monotony of her home-life, to rear children in mean ways, to shut away from the family life a thousand social pleasures, to relinquish all amusements that have cost attached to them, for wealth which may may not come when the family life is broken up forever—surely this is neither sound nor wise economy. We would not have the Americap laborer, farmer and mechanic become impn -vident, but we would very much like *. «see them happier than they are, by n sort to the daily social enjoyments which are always at their hand. Nature is strong in the young, and they will have society and play of some sort. It should remain strong in the old, and does remain strong in them until it is expelled by the absorbing and subordinating passion for gain. —Home Journal.

The Net of the Garden Spider.

The web or net of the common garden spider, Epeira diadema, may be seen in every garden, spread across little openings between the branches and canes of fruit trees, bushes and vines. It is more abundant this year than for several years past. It is generally passed by without any regard or concern, yet its fabricator is useful in destroying some of the moths and flies that produce injurious larvae. R has been discovered that the net of this spider consists of two kinds of silk. The threads of the concentric circle are composed of silk much more elastic than that of the rays, and are studded over with minute globules of a viscid gum, sufficiently adhesive to retain any unwary fly that comes in contact with it. A net of average dimensions has been found to contain 87,363 of these globules, and a large net, fourteen or sixteen inches in diameter, 120,000; yet this net will be completed in about forty minutes if no interruption occur. In'ordinary circumstances the threads lose their viscidity by exposure to the air, and require to have it renewed every twenty-four hours. Any person by scattering a little fine dust over the w r ebs may satisfy himself that it is retained only on the circles where the minute globules are placed, and not upon the radii. If the globules are removed, both lines are unadhesive; but in other respects they are different, the circular lines being transparent and highly elastic, while the radial lines are opaque, and possess only a moderate degree of electricity. Astronomers find the opaque silk of the radical lines and of the egg bag a convenient substitute for platina wires in the telescopes attached to their instruments, but the silk of the circular lines, being transparent, is unsuitable for this purpose.— Western Rural.

A Professional Beggar.

Professional beggars are rare in this city, but now and then the police pick up one who has managed to save consideraJale money by this mode of getting a livelihood. Yesterday morning some officers arrested an oldT woman named Mary Wooley as a professional beggar, and placed her in station No. 3. She is well known in this community, and has been plying her trade for a number of years past. She is a lean, cadaverouslooking woman, seventy-seven years of age, and speaks very broken English. She has been accustomed to walk in a bent, half-crippled manner, pretending to support herself by a heavy stick or crutch. A search of her person showed a necessity for such action on her part. Dangling under her clothes, and fastened around her hips very tightly, was found a bag full of nickles and silver com of different denominations, probably amounting to a couple of hundred dollars, and around the uppor portion of her body were found several similar bags of smaller size containing gold and silver coin. The weight of the one large bag was exactly twenty-four and one-half pounds, and, with the smaller bags, the amount of coin she carried weighed about thirty pounds. This heavy weight was sufficient to give her the appearance of an infirm, crippled old woman, and made it an absolute necessity for her to use a heavy stick or crutch, sometimes both, which she frequently did, in order to support herself in walking. There is an avaricious twinkle in her eyes, which exhibited itself when the money was taken away from her, on her arrest, in an intense unwillingness to part with her treasure. In her hand she carried another bag, which contained a half-loaf of bread, a watermelon, some cold sweet and Irish potatoes, cold meat, and a dish or two. Such food has probably constituted her meals day after day, costing her nothing, while she still gathers in money from charita-bly-disposed people deceived by her pitiful appearance. While in the cell yesterday afternoon she cried loudly for food, as she had not eaten anything the entire morning. When asked if she wanted some of her money taken out and food purchased with it; she vehemently answered no, and earnestly begged the station-keeper not to touch it. The bag which contained the food was opened, and the bread and watermelon given her, which she devoured almost in the twinkling of an eye, showing that she had nearly starved herself. This woman has been brought before court once before, when she was taken away by her daughters, one of whom lives in this city and one in New Albany—both of them unmarried. She herself lives somewhere on Chestnut, near Nineteenth. ,When previously brought before the city court it was proved that she owned a farm in Indiana, and it is said she likewise owns two houses in the city .—Louisville CourierJournal.

Advice to Settlers.

At a late celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday in Virginia, Mr. St. Andrew is reported to have given his coun* trymen the following advice, which is equally applicable to Americans intending to migrate. He said: 1. Come in colonies, or go to colonies. 2. JBring money- in your purse. 3. Leave your prejudices behind. 4. Don’t expect too much. 5. For land or business pay cash. 6. Keep two-thirds at least of your money for working capital. 7. Avoid land-sharks. You can easily find out the reliable land agents, v--8. In buying land don’t get too much df a good thing. 9. Adhere to the old-fashioned principles of British honor. Don’t attempt “smartness.” Better-class Americans don’t admire it; but they- can beat you at the game if you challenge them to it. 10. Remember that success is more in the man than in the country.

Setting Trees In Autumn.

In answer to a query as to the policy of getting apple trees in Central lowa In the fall of the year, “ Rural ” says, in the Chicago Tribune : That will depend an at least two things: The condition of the soil, and the condition of the trees. In the first place, to succeed with autumn-setting the soil must be moist. To take a tree from the nursery and plant it in dry ground is but to insure its death. The soil must be in a moist condition, and this is not always the case. In 1864 1 set an orchard of 800 trees, just as the ground was freezing in December, and, the last day of the setting, it was difficult to break the crust, but the air during the day was above the freezing-point. The trees were banked up about two feet high against the stems with well-pulverized efirth. The result was that no tree was lost, and the growth was vigorous'the following season. In June the mounds about the trees were leveled down, and a small quantity of manure added to serve as a mulch. The trees were of all sizes, from the two-year-old of half an inch in diameter to those of three inches taken from an old nursery. None of them were cut back, only to form the heads, and no thinning out of the heads has been permitted since. In the next place, trees two or three years old that have been grown thickly in the rows and been stimulated with manure and high culture are too tender to stand the first winter’s exposure in the open ground, and will be liable to be killed down to the line of the earthbanking. In planting apple trees, if I can get them near at hand, I would select four to six-year-old trees—those one and a half to two Inches in diameter—rather than smaller trees. I am aware that this is not orthodox with the profession that prefer to sell small trees; but, in practice, the older trees have the advantage. They are less tender, and again they are respected by cattle and the rabbits; at least the owner compels the stocK to respect them, while the little, whip-like trees are left to themselves. In shipping long distances there is no choice but to take the small trees; but, now that nurseries are near at hand in all of our fruit-growing districts, there is no necessity to plant the small trees; at least they should not be planted in autumn. We commit an error in planting late in spring, as the early-planted trees do the best. The ground settles about them firmly, and the roots take an early start. At least over half of our spring setting is dune too Tate, and a 'latrge _ paTr”Of”thls" setting is lost by the dry periods that follow, and only in a rainy season are they saved. Great care in setting and mulching may mitigate the disaster, but cannot fully compensate for the late setting. As we go South the autumn and milder winter weather are favorable for fall setting, and it is much better than the spring. Ask Farmer B if we should set apple trees in the fall and he will give you a decided answer, and that answer is based, perhaps, on a single experiment. This kind of advice must be taken with some allowance; at least, we should know some of the conditions that made the experiment a Failure of a success. In teaching the farmer we must avoid arbitrary rules and rather give the rationale of the process. The culture of the soil and all the operations of the horticulturist should be based on the science of rural economy rather than the hap-hazard whims of ill-digested rules that may or may not be correct. The farmer who depends on a set of rules is generally a poor farmer, and will tell you that luck is everything; labile the man who reflects and has a regard for cause and effect depends on good management, and don’t believe in luck. ... .

Danger of Feeding Green Fodder.

J. J. Mechi, of London, England, states that a person who was accustomed to supply his teams with green feed lost two cart horses worth £l5O. One was found dead and distended in the morning, the other died in the course of the day, and another person lost two cows. Young green tares, especially when cut immediately after rain, are most dangerous, with the ordinary mode of placing them before animals in unlimited quantity as cut by the scythe. The losses caused by this system iu their annual total most be enormous. .. For thirty years we have avoided such losses by invariably passing all green food, tares, grass, Italian rye grass, clover and green beans through the chaff-cutter. According to the condition of its growth we mix more or less of fine-cut straw or hay chaff with it. This absorbs its superfluous moisture and prevents flatulence, distension and death. The same principle is applied to pulped roots—pulped cabbage, kohlrabi, mangel —the latter being most dangerous early in the season unless so admixed. The cost of doing all this is a trifle as compared with the serious losses occasioned by its omission. The value of a single animal would pay the extra cost for several years. In fact, I have long since arrived at the conclusion that the turning out, roaming at large and whole food system will be given up by those who prefer profit to loss. Overripe foods, either tares or clover, which are rough and indigestible, require comminution. Of course, in such a case, being deficient rather than overfull 6f moisture, tfiey do not require straw chaff , or, at all events, very little of it. If horses are to have water, it should be before eating green tares in a wet state, not after. Bean meal should be intermixed with or attached to the out food in the manger, so that the animals cannot take it unmixed. Our horses coming in from work are not allowed to drink cold water until after having eaten a little manger food. — N. T. Herald.

Horses Suffer by Bad Roads.

Supposing a horse can pull on a level road 1,000 pounds, on a road rising one foot to the hundred he could pull but 900 pounds. If it rises two feet in a hundred 810 pounds, two and a half feet 720 pounds, four feet 520 pounds, five feet 400 pounds, and if the rise were ten feet in a hundred he could pull but 250 pounds, or only one-quarter the load he could pull on a level road. Then, again r the condition of the road, whether hard and smooth, or soft and uneven, has much to do with the amount a team can draw over it. Experiments made byMorin phow that a load of 9,000 pounds will require a, tractive force of 1,000 pounds to move it over a firm, gravel road, newly repaired. On best kind of gravel road, 310 pounds. On broken stone road in good condition, 1661 pounds; on good pavement, I3Bj pounds. According to the above calculations, in the first case it would require eight horses to do the work which one could do in the latter case. So if both roads were level,

and we have 200 bushels of potatoes to carry to market, we could draw them on the best paved road with one horse, while on the newly-repaired gravel road we should need eight horses, and if the rise were ten feet in a hundred we should require thirty-two horses to draw the same joad.— N. E. Farmer.

Farm Accounts.

There are few farmers who know what their yearly balances are, simply because they do not give attention to the very important matter of keeping farm accounts. 8o long as moderate profits are returned for the lhbor and expense of conducting the farm it is not an affair df vital importance, it is true, to be able to state the precise figures of the annual gain, but it would seem to be a source of considerable. satisfaction to have the accounts so made up that these deductions may be made whenever the knowledge is desired. There Is, however, in this business of keeping farm accounts a very important consideration, which strangely enough seems to escape observation —although it affects the profits very much. Habit governs more or less the course adopted on every farm. Now it happens that many men engaged in mixed farming have one or more branches conducted at a loss, and, lacking the figures which should reveal the whole truth, they go on from year to year throwing away time and labor which might be saved for better uses. There are many farmers on the high lands of this State who raise fair crops of corn which costs more per bushel to produce than the average price in the market. On the score of convenience this might be admissable, but let us suppose that the short crops on their fields are due to lack of proper qualities in the soil or to climate, and that all the requirements for grass are fully met, and this is a condition existing on a great many larms. An accurate account of all the cost of producing, storing and marketing the grass would often show enough profit to buy all the corn needed for farm use. Clearly enough that would be better than to raise corn on those lands where every bushel gathered represents an expenditure of labor sufficient to buy a bushel and a half when applied to the production of grass. It is poor economy to expend labor in any business without a reasonable prospect, for the mere pleasure of the exertion. Yat there are farmers who continue to raise year after year crops which are not remunerative, because they do not know what they are doing. They do not count cost. All lands are more especially adapted to some kinds of useful production than to other kinds; usually embracing enough of variety to make a profitable course. The first study should be to find what are the right crops to attempt, taking as the basis of judgment the tried capabilities rather than the inclinations of the tiller. Having settled this matter the next thing is to apply labor in that line with the best intelligence, preserving such a record of all cost that the efforts expended through the |season .shall a ithe close stand mapped out on the one side for inspection and comparison in value with the returns on the other side. Whoever does this, and at the proper time gives careful thought to the facts thus preserved, will inevitably grow wiser in his business, and as certainly lead to profits if there are any profits for him. He will find himself working for the best results attainable, and if in his case he verifies the stale saying, “ farming does not pay,” he may safely conclude that he has not the requisites for success, either in himself or in his land As to the plea that he can find no time to keep bis accounts, there is no truth in it. It is on a par with the other folly into which he falls when he cannot find time to eat or sleep. Let him remember that one wiser than he long ago declared, with the truth of inspiration, that there is a time for every purpose under the sun. This keeping of accounts liej at the very foundation of successful business, whether it be agricultural, commercial, mechanical or whatever else in the way of legitimate industry. True, it may not be an elaborate system of books, it may even be in rare cases without any books, but in some there must be the accounts preserved, and the mere full and complete the better for all purposes. How to keep a farm may be a study, but with a fair degree of intelligence it is an easy task to master. Let us take, by way of illustration, the case wherein he is supposed to lose in raising corn, and see how it is very easy to find the truth. The cost of preparation can easily be entered among the items which go to make up the cost. Labor has a market value. The field is debtor to so many days at that market value. So with all the time spent in cultivation and harvesting. Then if manures have been used a fair estimate of value can be made, and besides an estimate of the proportion of its value appropriated by the crop. If something be left over to the permanent improve ment of the land, or for the substance of crops which follow, that, of course, should be deducted, the remainder being charged in the cost of the corn, —A like course with all the items which enter into the cost, from the seed to the shelled product, gives him all the data on the one side. On the other he has marked rates to decide the value. There need be no trouble nor need the problem be complicated by the interest element unless the farmer be curious to see how that will effect the outcome. The fruth is, having obtained pay for all fiis labor at market rates and for every other substance which he has expended in production, ths surplus goes to represent profit on his investment or interest on his lands, as he may please to put it, unless, unfortunately, there be no surplus, in which case he must decide for himself whether to attempt corn again or not. There is profit in good farming, and if it cannot be found in one branch something else may be tried. What is important is to have such knowledge as the record supplies in order to be able to decide when to drop a second crop: Anything short of this is not intelligent farming. With it new fields of enterprise are constantly opening, and embarrassments to success are easily avoided. The increasing interest in agricultural affairs must depend for its permanence greatly, upon the basis of figures, and we therefore offer the suggestion to Fanners’ Clubs, Granges, and other organized educational bodies that they ; make these figures important basis for ; all farm practices. — The Husbandman. The State of Maine sold a large lot of ! its timber lands at auction the other day. About 140,000 acres were disposed of at ! prices ranging from 33 cents to'sl.3o per acre, and the right to cut timber and ! grass upon about 200,000 acres more was sold at from 27J cents to $1.75 per acre, j The total amount realized was about $150,000.