Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1875 — Page 6

The Buffalo’s Future.

It will not be many years before he will be abut up in a cage in which he cannot turn round. His nose will be decorated with a ring; and, perchance on the spot over which millions of his ancestors have roamed, some garrulous showman will poke him through the bars and describe him to a gaping crowd as a rare and curious beast, along with the hippopotamus and the kangaroo. Buffalo and Indian against locomotive and landgrant carpet-bagger is an unequal contest “ Lo" can be made to accept the situation; and in process of time his predilection for rings hirsute may be changed to affection for rings official. Buffalo is impervious to the blandishments of red blankets, breech-loaders and bad whisky. He will not be coaxed into civilization. Continued persecution has soured his disposition. He will not even yield respectable leather. He is poor eating; he has nothing to tempt the greed of the world save his stringy beef, his bones and his hair, but these suffice. The white man follows his path and exterminates him, in order that coats may be buttoned, kniveshandled, hair combed, soil fertilized and shins protected from wintry blasts. Bison is the founder of two new industries; the first is bone picking. The bone-picker sallies forth from a frontier town in a wagon. He scours the prairies for a cargo. If he comes on the ghastly relics of an Indian scrimmage, that is clear gain, for the osseous remains of the red citizen help to complete his load. An Indian skull is worth a dollar and a quarter for combs, and an Indian thigh bone makes lovely knife-handles. The bone-picker refuses the fragments of women and children. His is an uncouth sort of respect, which, in the one case, is more potent than his cupidity. A party of individuals thus engaged is called an “outfit.” The number of ‘ outfits” annually sent forth indicates a business already extended to an extraordinary degree. A Tribune correspondent says that the books of.-the Atchison, ropeka-& Santa Fe Railroad show a daily shipment of from ten to twenty tons of bones. Middlemen do the shipping, and purchase the bone-picker's cargo as fast as it is gathered, paying, at the railway station, $5 per ton. The price fluctuates, however, and furnishes the local population with tl< excitement of a small stock exchange, “ bulls” (in skeleton) of course predominating. The greater portion of the bones, after their reception in the East, is ground into fertilizer. The balance serves the usual industrial employment of the material for buttons, combs, etc. Partly from the fact that hunting is out of the bone-picker’s line, and partly because he can find plenty of skeletons scattered about the prairies, the buffalo is not slaughtered directly for his bones. They are. an incidental and minor profit —a kind of utilization of otherwise waste material. The bison carries his death warrant in his shaggy skin. The quest of that fleece is the business of the “hide-hunter.” Hido-hunting is another new industry ; one not to be longlived, for it exists through decimating its own supplies. When a party of aristocratic Britons come over to try their new breech-load-ers on the buflalo (afterward to go home and howl about the awful and useless slaughter of the monarch of the prairies by the grasping Yankees), its path’of destruction is generally thickly strewn. My lord plants a bullet in a brute for sport. Skin he needs not, and bones are hardly an object; so he leaves the animal as it fell. The -hide-hunter is on the trail, however, and the skin is speedily stripped off, packed, and the march continued in the tracks of the sportsmen as long as the game lasts. He does not .disdain to follow in the wake of th s e Indian parties who seek the meat alone for winter's use; and when these means fail he projects small raids among the herds and slaughters on his own account, leaving the meat to decay or selling it for a trivial sum. The estimated shipments of the result of the hide-hunters' labors over the railroad above-named and the Kansas lines are placed at 125,000 skins. That number of buffaloes are exterminated in a twelve-month. These hides are dressed, rolled ana sent . East, there recleansed and dried, and put on the market. The hide-hunter gets about as much for his g<x>ds as the farmer for the hides of ordinary cattle. Strange as it may appear, although the meat is coarse and, except when young, poorly flavored, it is the staple ol'an immense trade. During the cold weather, from November until April, it is esti mated that some two million pounds are shipped to all parts of the country. It costs, in Kansas, from fifty to eighty dollars per ton, in bulk, and’ retails for from six to eight cents per pound. It Is very nutritious, however, and, when jerked or dried in the sun, not unpalatable.. The Indians eat it thus prepared, and make a delectable dish by the addition of a sauce of crushed grasshoppers. Bos Americanu* yields up his life with the consoling conviction that he is not to be wasted. As long as there is anything to be made out of him nobody wi’ll desert him. If there is anything in him to utilize beside flesh, hair and bones somebody will, after it is found.be eager to grab and found another new industry on its employment. Nearly absent throughout Kansas, there is no refuge for him in either Colorado or the Indian Territory. The locomotive of advancing civilization crowds him westward. Butting against fate, he was long ago found useless, and now he runs away where once he used to meet his pursuers with lowered head. He is doomed to extinction. His flesh will be eaten, his hide worn out, and id future ages the labors of the present bone-pickers will, perhaps, prevent even the most indefatigable Marsh or Hayden of the period from reconstructing his ugly personal appearance from his fossilized bones. — Scientific American.

Fashionable Diamonds, Rubies and Pearls.

Diamonds are set to show the stone alone without any gold being visible. The crown setting is still in vogue and, to avoid all appearance of metal, jewelers make the claws that hold the stone of platinum so nearly the color of the diamond that it scarcely shows at all. The favorite diamond ear-rings are solitaire knobs worn as close to the ear as possible. It is better, however, to have them hang below the ear, as this shows the stone better than the rosette solitaires fitted into the lobe. Most ladies understand that the clear whiteness of the diamond Ufts great beauty, and that diamonds of the first water, artistically cut, can rest upon their own merits without the aid of enamel or other ornament to develop them. There are diamonds,

however, which, without being “ off color,” have a peculiar straw tint of their own, and connoisseurs value (these very highly. Notable among these is a peerless yellow diamond, exhibited here, that cost $5,000 at the Duke of Brunswick’s sale. Sapphires are now usually associated with diamonds, as the blue gem is a gloomy stone and requires the diamond to brighten it. Warm, delicious rubies are shown in th< rare shade known among dealers as “ pigeon’s blood." This glowing tint is very highly prized and when the stone is beyond three carats it is of greater value than diamonds and almost priceless. Rose pearls set like diamonds in knife-edge setting, or else in pierced gold, as turquoises are mounted, are preferred to the string pearl sets. The latter, howevdt, are always pretty, never very decidedly out of fashion be had for $45 a set. Strings of fine pearls for brides’ necklaces cost from s;k>() up to SIO,OOO. — Harper's Baear.

Room at the Top.

To the young men annually making their entrance upon aative Hfe, with great ambitions, conscious capacities and high hopes, the prospect isjn ninetynine cases in a hundred most perplexing. They see every avenue to prosperity thronged with their superiors in experience, in social advantages and in the possession of all the elements and conditions of success. Every post is occupied, every office filled, every path crowded. Where shall they find room? It is related of Mr. Webster that when a young lawyer suggested to him that the profession to which he had devoted himself was over-crowded,the great man replied: ' ‘ Young ina n. t iic re is always room enough at the top.” Never was a wiser or more suggestive word said. There undoubtedly is always room enough where excellence lives. Mr. Webster was not troubled for lack of room. Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun were never crowded. Mr. Evarts, Mr. Cushing and Mr. O’Conor have plenty of space around them. Mr— Beecher, Dr. Storrs, Dr. Hall, Mr. Phillips Brooks would never know in their personal experience that it was hard to obtain a desirable ministerial charge. The profession is not crowded where they arc. Dr. Brown-Sequard, Dr. Willard Parker, Dr. Hammond, are not troubled for space for their elbows. When Nelaton died in Paris he died like Moses—on a mountain. When You Graefe died in Berlin he had no neighbor at his altitude. 3?lt is well, first, that all young men remember that nothing w ill do them so much injury as quick and easy success, and that nothing will do them so much good as a struggle which teaches them exactly what there is in them, educates them gradually to its use, instructs them in personal economy, drills them into a patient and persistent habit of work, and keeps them at the foot of the ladder until they become strong enough to hold every step they are enabled to gain. The first years of Cvery man’s business or professional life are years of education. They are intended to be, in the order of nature and Providence. Doors do not open to a man until he is prepared to enter them. The man without a wedding garment may get in surreptitiously, but he immediately goes out with a ilea in his ear. We think it is the experience of most successful men who have watched the course of their lives in retrospect that whenever they have arrived at a point where they w’ere thoroughly prepared to go up higher, the door to a higher place has swung back of itself, and they have heard the call to enter. The old die, or voluntarily retire for rest. The best men who stand ready to take their places will succeed to their position and its honors and emoluments. . The young men will say that only a few can reach the top. That is true, but it is also true that the further from the bottom one goes, the more scattering the neighborhood. One can fancy, for illustration, that every profession' and every calling is pyramidal in its living constituency, and that while only one man is at the top, there are several tiers of men below him who have plenty of elbow room, and that it is only at the base that men are so thick that they pick the meat out of one another’s teeth to keep them from starving. If a man has no power to get out of the rabble at the bottom, then he is self convicted of having chosen a calling Or profession to whose duties he has no adaptation. The grand mistake that young men make during the first ten years of their business and professional life is in idly waiting for their chance. They seem to forget, or they do not know, that during those ten years they enjoy the only leisure they will ever have." After ten years, in the natural course of things, the'v wili be absorbingly busy. There will then be no time for reading, culture and study. It they do not become thoroughly grounded in the principles and practical details of their profession during those years; if they do not store their minds with useful knowledge; if they do not pursue habits ot reading and observation and social intercourse result in culture, the question whether they will ever rise to occupy a place where'there is room enough for them will be decided in the negative. The young physicians and young lawyers who sit "idly’ih their offices and smoke and lounge away the time “waiting for something to turn up are by that course fastening themselves for life to the lower stratum, where their struggle for a bare livelihood is to be perpetual. The first ten years are golden years, that should be filled with systematic reading.,and observation. Everything that tends to professional and personal excellence should be an object of daily pursuit. To such men the doors of success open of themselves at last. Work seeks the best hands as naturally as water runs down hill; audit never seeks the hands of a trifleror of one whose only recommendation for work is that he needs it. Young men do not know very much any way, and the time always comes ,tQ those who become worthy, when they look back with wonder upon their early good opinion of their acquirements and'themselves. There is another point that ought not to be overlooked in the treatment of this subject. Young men look about them and see a great measure of worldly success awarded to men without* principle, They see the trickster crowned with public honors,-they swindler rolling in wealth the sWpe manythe overreaching man, the unprincipled man. the liar, the demagogue, the time-server, the trimmer, the scoundrel who cunningly manages, though con-' stantly disobeying moral law and trampling upon social courtesy, to keep himself out of the clutches of the legal po lice, carrying off the prizes of wealth and place. All this is a demoralizing puzzle and a fearful temptation; and multitudes of young men are not strong enough to stand before it. They ought

to understand that in this wicked world there is a great deal of room 4fiere there Is integrity. Great trusts may be sought by scoundrels, but great trusts never seek them; and perfect integrity is at a premium even among scoundrels. There are some trusts that they will never confer on each other. There are occasions when they need the services of true men, and they do not find them in shoals and in the mud, but alone and in pure water. In the realm of eminent acquirements and eminent integrity there is always room enough. Let no young man of industry and perfect honesty despair because his profession or calling is crowded. Let him always remember that there is room enough at the top, and that the question whether he is ever to reach the top, or rise above the crowd at the base oi the pyramid, will be decided by the way in which he improves the first tfen years of his active life in securing to himself a thorough knowledge of his profession and a sound moral and intellectual culture. — Dr. J. G. Holland, in Scribner for January.

In Search of a Wife.

He was at the Central Station last night, in cell No. 6. He wasn’t drunk, and he looked so neat and clean that a reporter was led to inquire why he was detained as a prisoner. Henry Wilberforce Brown is a widower, sixty-three years of age, and lives in Kent County, where he owns a farm. He arrived here on the Sunday night train for the purpose of hunting a wife, and early Monday morning he started out. He didn’t intend to lose any time, but as soon as he found the right sort of woman meant to go to a Justice) have the knot tied, and start for home. At the corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues he encountered a smart-; looking, young girl, and stopped her and said: “ Miss, my name is Henry Wilberforce Brown. lam the father of three children, have horses, ccws and a farm, and I want a wife. I like your appear ” She jumped away from him and ran across the street, and he decided that she wouldn’t make a good wife anyway. He meandered up as far as Larned street before he saw another face that suited him, and he halted the woman and said: “ Lady, my name is Henry Wilberforce Brown. lam the father of three children, own a nice farm, have lots of money, and I want to marry. You are a mighty handsome woman, and if you will say the word we’ll go and git —” “ Sir!” she said as she stepped back; “sir! you are a drunken old fool!” “You wouldn’t suit me—too much temper!” he replied, and he waved his hand at her and passed on. He was gazing at the City Hall when a portly female came sailing around the corner of Michigan avenue, and the widower took off bis hat, made a low bow, and as she halted and wondered who he was he said • “ Madam, I am Henry Wilberforce Brown. lam the father of three children, have horses, cows and a farm, and I am looking for a wife." “ Sir!” she gasped, retreating a little. “Oh! nrr offense, madam!” he went on. “ I am looking for a wife, and perhaps you can assist me. If so, I will send you a hull lot of produce to pay for your trouble. I didn’t want to marry ybu, because you are too stout, and I know that stout women are often as lazy as the day is long; but perhaps you can tell me of some nice little ” “ You old wretch!” she shrieked; “you ought to be lashed to the bone with a rawhide! If I could see a policeman (looking around) I’d have you in jail in five minutes!” . Henry Wilberforce Brown was somewhat discouraged by his failures, but he concluded that patience and perseverance would bring him success before noon, and he walked around the Opera-House block. He carefully noted every passing female, and it was half an hour before he found one to suit. He thought he had, perhaps, been too bold with the others, and so when he stopped this one he inquired: “ Miss, you know lots of women in Detroit, don’t you?” “ What?” she asked, in amazement. “ This is nice weather to go on a bridal tower!" he continued, giving her a powerful wink with his left eye. She ran into a store, supposing him drunk or crazy, and after a little reflection he decided that the boldest way was the best; He would state his business frankly, and then if they didn’t want to marry him there would be no time lost. He started for the market, but on Monroe avenue he encountered another female whose face suited his idea, and he walked right up to her and said: • “ Miss, I am the father of three farms, and my name is Henry Wilberforce Brown. I own three children, several cows, and I want to find a ” “Police!” she screamed, striking at him with her umbrella. “Oh! no offense, madam; if you are engaged ” “Po-leece!” she shouted, fighting him back. “My name is Henry Wilberforce B ”he was going on, when several men grabbed him, and an officer came running up and tore his coat-collar and flopped him around and walked him to the station. These, briefly told; are the reasons why Henry Wilberforce Brown, widower, occupied cell No. 6 last night— Detroit Free Frees.

About One’s Self.

The object of brushing the teeth is to remove the destructive particles of food which by their decomposition generate decay. To neutralize the acid resulting from the chemical change is the object of dentifrice. A* stiff brush should be used after every meal and a thread of silk floss or india-rubber passed through between the teeth to remove particles "of food. Rinsing the mouth in lime water neutralizes the acid. Living and sleeping in a room which the sun never enters is a slow form of suicide. A sun bath is the most refreshing and life-giving bath that can possibly be taken. Always keep the feet warm and thus avoid colds. To this end, never sit in danuKshoes or wear foot coverings fitting closely. Tne best time to eat fruit is half an hour before breakfast. A full bath should not be taken less than three hours after a meal. Never ..dfink cold water before bathing. Do not take a cold bath when tired. Keep a box of powdered starch on the washstand and after washing rub a . pinch over the hands. It will prevent If feeling cold before going to bed exercise; do not roast over a fire, — Scien : tific American. ■

THE CALENDAR.

11875. | Sunday, IWat | 1875. |.9unday. Tutsaav Thwtd. rriday. , Sa/urcTy

Ju. 1 2 Juif P 3 345 H 7fl 9 3 45f17 »9 10 10 1112 13 14 15(18 11 12 13 14 15(14x17 17 1819202122(23 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 24 26 26 27 28 29 30 25 26 27 2829 30 31 31 Feb. ... 1234 56i Am. 1 234 56 7 7 8 910 11 12 131 8 910 11 12 13 14 14 15 16 17 18 1920 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2122 23 24 25 2627 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 111. ... 1 2 3 4 5 » Bek 12 3 4 789 10 1112 13 r 56789 10 11 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 >2l 22 23 24 25 26 271 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 '2B 29 30 31 ' .2627282930 April 1 2 3 Oct 12 456789 10 3456789 >111213 14 15 1617 10 1112 1314 1516 11819 20 21 22 23 24 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 lay 1 ' 31 2 3 4 5 6 7 » Sot. ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 9 1011 1213 14151 7 8 91011 1213 16 17 18 19 20 21221 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 23 24 25 26(27 28 29 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 , 3031 28 2930 Jue 1 2 3 4 51 flee. 12 3 4 6 7 8 9 1011 121 5 6 7 8 9 1011 13 14 15 16 17 18 19f 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 261 19 20 21 22 23124 25 27 28 29 30 ... .!. ...| 2627 2829130 31 ...

RECIPES, ETC.

—ls a man does not have food enough, or food of a suitable quality, he cannot work to advantage. And animals, like men, need suitable food. —Potato Balls (For breakfast). —Boil and mash a double quantity of potatoes for dinner, season with sweet cream and a little salt; work in two fresh eggs to a quart. Mold into little balls, prick the tops, and lay away in the cold on a plate. In the morning put on baking panJ and set into the oven until done to a delicate brown, which requires fifteen or tWenty minutes. —Moth Preventive.—Mix half a pint of alcohol, the same quantity of spirits of turpentine, and two ounces of camphor. Keep in a stone bottle and shake before using. The cloths or furs are to be wrapped in linen, and crumpled-up pieces of blotting paper dipped in the liquid are to be placed in the box with them, so that it smells strongly. This requires renewing once a year. —Hominy.—Two quarts of white corn; three half pints of white beans; two pounds of pickled pork. Wash the corn and put it on to boil in water sufficient to cover it, and as the corn swells more water must be added, so as to keep it coverdfl all the time it is cooking. After boiling four hours, add the beans and pork, which being done, the hominy may be sent to table. Should the pork not make it sufficiently salt, more may be added. This is very nice warmed over the next day. —Orange marmalade is thus made: The rind or peel is taken off and scraped, then boiled in water until tender, when the water is poured off’, and the rind cut in thin slices, with the juice which is extracted from the body of the orange added, and set to boil again, with the addition of three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of matter, and in from twenty minutes to half an hour the marmalade is made. It generally comes packed in bowls.— American Grocer. —Housekeepers and millers are often annoyed with weevils breeding in flour in hot weather, and frequently also in winter. They are the product of an insect which lays its eggs between the staves of the barrel and the meshes of muslin sacks. Paper sacks will exclude them completely, as they cannot be penetrated by insects to lay their eggs through them. Weevils are more annoying than injurious and can easily be sifted out. Still many housekeepers throw away flour infested by them. To avoid this loss it is only necessary to Keep flour stored in paper sacks, especially in hot weather.— Prairie Farmer.

Some Facts About Milk.

Milk consists of certain fatty or oily particles in solution of caseine and of sugar of milk. The fatty matters do not exist in a free condition, but are inclosed in little globules which rise to the surface on account of their being lighter than the liquid in which they float. The casing or covering of the fatty matters or the skins of the little globules are composed of caseine or curd. The globules are of different sizes in the milk of different animals. Some of them are round, but others are oval or egg-shaped. Milk contains, in addition, a certain portion of mineral matter, whieh consists of phosphate of magnesia, the chief constituent also of bones. In diseased milk there are certain other substances which may be said to be accidental and which cannot be identified by chemical testa, but only by the microscope. The whiteness of milk is due to the opaque globules which are suspended in it. A bluish tint indicates a small amount of cream. The whiter or the more opaque it is the more curd and butter it contains and the richer it is. The quality of milk is usually better from September to November than at other seasons of the year, but the quantity is usually less at that time. If cows are not well fed as the winter approaches the yield will not only be small, but the quality will be poor. In moist climates the yield of the cow will be more abundant, but the quality poor, that is, more thin and watery than in dry climates. The moisture in the food will have a very marked effect upon the quality. It is an error to suppose,' as many do, that the morning’s milk is richer than the evening’s. This depends very much on the character of the food which is consumed four or five hours previous to milking. If it is poorer at evening it will be found that the food consumed has been poorer in quality. The composition of cream varies as much or nearly as much as that of milk. The whole of the cream rises in twentyroiir hours’ time, when the milk is set at a temperature of sixty-two degrees. It is a mistake to suppose that more cream rises by letting milk stand thirty-six hours, as many do. The quantity will almost invariably be appreciably less and the quality poorer. The cream which rises first is the richest in quality, it being the largest globules that rise first to the surface. * A careful experiment was tried to ascertain the prbper time which milk should be allowed to stand to raise cream. Milk that was allowed to stand sixty hours produced only twenty-seven pounds of butter, while an equal quantity standing only thirty hours produced thirty pounds of butter. It was found also that one hundred measures of new milk yielded thirteen and a half - measures of cream after standing eighteen hours, and the same quantitv after twenty-four hours, but less than thirteen measures after standing forty-eight hours. The same experiment was care-, fully repeated, when one hundred measures after standing eighteen hours, yield-

ed thirteen measures of cream, and the same quantity after twenty-four hours, but it gave only twelve measures after standing forty-eight hours. It was proved that eighteen hours with milk standing in a temperature of sixty-two degrees is better than any longer time, and that all the cream that is worth getting will rise in that time. Milk that has been agitated or shaken up, as when sent by railway, throws up less cream than that which has been leas disturbed. A careful trial was made to settle this point and here is the result: One hundred measures of new milk, after standing twenty-four hours at sixty-two degrees, gave twelve measures or 12 per cent, of cream, while at the same time a like quantity of of the same milk, after having been gently shaken in a bottle, threw up only 8 per cent., a loss of onethird in the quantity of cream. This shows that the shaking the milk gets when transported by rail has the effect of breaking some of the cream or butter globules, the consequence of which is either that a portion of the fatty matter remains suspended in the milk, or, which is, perhaps, more probable, the cream which is thrown up becomes richer in fat. — Massachusetts Ploughman.

A Varied Agriculture.

Every year’s experience more completely demonstrates the wisdom of a varied agriculture. The farmer who depends mainly upon fine crop, although that may be the most important one grown, will find every few years that the supply of that product will exceed the demand so much that it will fall in price below the cost of production and sale. We use the latter term considerately because we are aware that the producer pays a large commission for the sale of his products. All the difference between the price received by the farmer and that paid by the consumer, after deducting the legitimate cost of handling, storage and transportation, may be set down as the cost of selling. Take the imported product, wheat. We think that a large majority of the farmers, East as well as West, will agree with us that the price this year is too low to pay cost of production. It may be said that the price of wheat is exceptionally low this year because the yield is good all over the world. Yes —that is true, the breadth of wheat sown every year is so great that a good crop, universally or generally, will so reduce the price that a large share of the growers must produce it at a loss. Take another product—apples. In years when the orchards of the country yield a fair crop the prices are too low to afford any profit to the producer, and a farmer who depends mainly upon his apple crop for income will be likely to find that his income falls considerably under his expenditures in such years. We think that farmers suffer much less from a glut of apples than from an overproduction of any of the leading cereals, because but few have a very large proportion of their farms in orchards. Undoubtedly it is better for the world that so great a breadth should be sown in breadstuff's, that a small yield per acre shall not result in a scarcity and cause suffering or starvation, but the instinct of self-preservation should induce farmers to so economize in farming that the failure or the over-production of any leading crop shall not result disastrously to their interests. The farmer upon 100 acres, who has a few acres in wheat, a few in corn, a few in oats, a few in barley and a few in portatoes and roots, and then has a liberal pasture and meadow, with four or five acres in apples, and as many more in pears, peaches, plums, quinces and cher ries, keeping a half-dozen cows, and perhaps twenty-five to forty long-wool grade sheep, will be likely to come out better, taking one year with another, than one who devotes the larger number of his acres to wheat or some other leading crop. If any one crop is a failure, or sells too low to afford any profit, the others may yield profit enough to prevent any general loss. — American Rural Home.

Plants for the House.

A lady writes to me to know what plants I would recommend, and how many, for two south windows of a sit-ting-room. —She wants something of a variety in the collection, and prefers those which give good satisfaction as regards constancy of blooming, and are not very particular as to the treatment they receive. Sixteen well-grown plants are enough for two ordinary-sized window’s. There may be five or six hanging-plants, if desired, and no plants are more ornamental than our best drooping plants are when grown with care. I would recommend four flow’ering geraniums. For scarlet I would take Hector, which is large of flower, has immense trusses, and a very profuse, bloomer. For rose, Master Christine, a very beautiful plant every way. For salmon, Fritz or Mrs. Austin, both desirable. For w’hite, the White Princess or Madame Vancher. For roses I know of none more desirable than Hermosa, bright rose, double and very fragrant, and a profuse bloomer; Agrippina, small, blooming in clusters of very rich, dark crimson, and Safrano, pale sulphur yellow, large, *full and delightfully fragrant. The Marshal Neil and Bon Silene roses are beautiful, but more difficult to grow satisfactorily than the other three mentioned. I have never had any success with the Marshal Neil. You will want two carnations, and among a large number of splendid kinds I know of none better than La Purite, bright, clear rose, and Peerless, pure white, both profuse bloomers and very fragrant. Of course the collection should include a calla and oleander, and an abutilon, and it ought to have a couple of bouvardias, say Davisoni, pure white, and Hogarth, rosy scarlet. Then you want a heliotrope for fragrance, and a rose geranium. This gives you sixteen plants. But if you want some ornamental leaved plants omit a rose or the salmon geranium and put in a coleus, than which noot are better than Setting Sun, bright crimson, edged with yellow, and a plant of abutilon Thompsonii. This.is one of our most striking and effective variegated plants. The leaves have two shades of green and two of yellow, and the colors do net blend into each other, but are clearly defined like mosaic work. For hanging plants take moneywort, Saxifrage, Kenilworth ivy and Wandering Jew. These grow readily and are all fine find effective plants. And you want an English ivy, too, to clamber up between the windows, and a double Chinese primrose. With this collection you ought to have flowers all winter. They are all easily grown in any good rich soil with,, an admixture of sand to keep it light and porous. ’ < » '

There are scores of other plants nearly m desirable, but these are kinds which flourish best under the treatment of an inexperienced person, and.l am quite sure they will give good satisfaction. —Aften B. Rexford, in Western Rural.

Care of Swine—Economy in Food.

Horses, cattle and other stock capable of subsisting on the coarser kinds of food, in most localities, may be earned through the winter in fair condition, where there is an abundance of hay, straw, etc.; but the case is different with hogs. Corn is not only a natural food but a^raos f entirely depended on in the West for the production of pork. Some of the root crops might take the place of corn to some extent, and with advantage, as an appetizer or to assist in keeping the animal* in a healthful and growing condition. But the cultivation of these is almost entirely neglected on our vast areas of cheap lands, and for the reason that the cereals can be. raised with less labor, and of course cannot now be procured to supplement the present short supply of corn on hand. Corn is better calculated to put on fat than to add to the growth of bone and muscle necessary to the thrift and healthfulness of young hogs. Why does one farmer, with a limited amount of corn, keep his hogs in a thrifty and growing condition, and at killing time bring them fully developed to the heaviest weights, while his neighbor, with better facilities and more feed, bringshis hogs to market in a dwarfed and diseased condition, light in weight, uneven in size, and ungainly in shape? Do farmers give sufficient thought to the economy of the food? No one can know how much may be gained in feeding hogs, by continii ,r >g in the common routine among .rmers of supplying them continually from first to last with nothing but dry corn, principally carbon—regardless of what is intended to be made of the pig. Though the phosphates and nitrogenous food, with healthful exercise, are just as necessary to the healthful and strong growth of the animal as carbon which makes fat, thus rendering the animal fit for the butcher. Threshed oats, wheat or rye, ground or cooked whole, supplies that which is not so largely contained in corn. Small quantities of these grains given to each animal once a day with the, corn is all that is necessary. This extra care pays, because the same amount of corn with this other feed greatly increases the amount of pork. Hogs when fattening should not have much exercise, especially after they get heavy. Indeed the same variety of food is not necessary after the hog is in full flesh, since the increase during the latter part of the fattening process is simply an increase of fat itself. Hence feeders who so successfully manage swine as ter keep the digestive organs in a vigorous condition by keeping them properly expanded with a variety of food and so they will not lose their appetites may safely and properly make corn the principal food. This is science in agriculture, and fully appreciates the subject need not look for a better fortune than exists in the corn fields of the West if the produce is manufactured into the best qualities of pork.— Western Rural.

Planting Potato Sprouts.

Potatoes of large size are said to be produced by a monk in France by cutting two side-shoots from each stalk when it is five to seven inches high and setting them in good, rich, mellow garden soil. In a few days they send out roots and form tubers about as early and in as large quantities as the original stalk, while the latter does not seem to be injured by the moderate pruning. Our monkish friend has discovered nothing new, but it may be worth remembering when one has a rare kind that he wishes to make the most of. Many of our nurserymen practice the same way with new potatoes. When the Early Goodrich and the Early Rose were first introduced some of the New England nurserymen propagated potatoes from the tops to such an extent that several hundreds of bushels were raised in a single season from a few original potatoes. One grower raised the plants under glass all winter. Every time a new growth appeared it was taken off as a cutting and soon made a plant. He had thus thousands of plants by the spring, each in a small pot, and these set out in the open ground planted an enormous tract of land. We do not remember exactly, but we believe as much as a hundred bushels of potatoes came in this way from half a dozen potatoes inside of twelve months. — Forney's Weekly Press.

Cutting and Storing Grafts.

There is no better time to cut grafts, says the London Garden, than at the commencement of winter. In cutting and packing them away there are some precautions to be observed. In the first place, let them be amply anfij distinctly labeled, as it is very annoying to find the names gone at tne moment of using them. For this purpose they should De tied jup in bunches, not over two or three inches in diameter, with three bands around each bunch—at the ends and middle. The names may be written on a strip of pine .board or lath, half an inch wide, a tenth of an inch thick, and nearly as long as the scions. This, if tied up with the bunch, will keep the same secure. For convenience in quickly determining the name there should beanother strip of lath, sharp at one end, and with the name distinctly’'written on the other, thrust into the bundle, with the name projecting from it. If these bunches or bundles are now placed on end in a box, with plenty of damp moss between them and over the top, they will keep in a cellar in good condition and any soft may be selected without disturbing the rest by reading the projecting label. We have never found sand, earth, sawdust or any other packing substance so convenient, clean and easily removed as moss for packing grafts. It is needful, however, to keep an occasional eye’ to them to see that the proper degree of moisture is maintained— which should be just enough to keep them from shriveling, and no more. —The length of Lake Superior on a curved line is 400 miles; greatest breadth, 150 miles; area, 38,875 square miles; area of water-shed, 51,638 square miles; discharge at outlet, 90,783 cubic feet per second; length of coast line, 1,700 miles; temperature of surface water in summer, 50 to 55 deg. Fahrenheit; of the water be low 200 feet, 39 deg.; deepest bounding, 1,014 feet; elevation of its surface above the sea, 600 feet. —The death rate of Montreal is fortysix per 1,000, fifteen per 1,000 more than New York, and twice aS heavy as London, England.