Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1875 — Page 6

VARIETY AND HUMOR.

—A bad gauge for railroads—n»ortW —lcicles, |rave la-gun to sprout m Canada. —A bitter disaster —losing monVy on hops. —The Golden Rule is just an opposite •one from the rule of gold. —Success is oneof the few things which (the world never laughs at. —Resting w hen one is not tired ib a luxury which only lazy people cdh enjoy —The South has lots of sugar-cane this and bo small supply of hurricane. —Prof. Hayden has found the best quality of coal in Colorado, and iron in vast quantities. —“ A premium for the best cat” is offered by the managers ot Ute Central NewYork Fair. —Brooklyn claims a patent on the new method of curing rheumatism. Crowd it into the two last lingers and cut them off. —Gov. Osborn says that the surplus grain raised in Kansas this year, if loaded in cars, would make a train 1,600 miles long. —Said a thoughtful editor, when a friend inquired what was the matter with him :■ “ I can find no subject worthy of my ‘steal.’” —Frog-catching is a money-making business at Castleton, N. Y. A man and two boys made S4BO at it in, one month, recently. —Trying to run a household without love is like running a railroad train without grease, and many a "hot box” is inevitable. —“Dovou like codfish-balls, Mr. Wiggins?” ?Ir. Wiggins, hesitatingly: “ I really don’t know: I don’t recollect attending one.” —Alasn’or^Nantucket. Let’s bewhale her sad late. She’s decreased 900 in population since 1870.— . Exchange. Nantucket very hard, didn’t she? —Mr. Keely hasn’t got that motor to suit him yet; but there is plenty or time. If forced to do it, one can put up with steam-engines until spring. —A Tennessee girl told a fellow she would give him a kiss if he would catch her. She ran well till she jjot out of sight Of the old folks and ftien gkve in. z —According to the published statements the summer which has just ended has been cooler by five degrees than the average season for the last eighty-six years. —Peter Cooper says that fashion is ru‘ ining America, and he wears a swallowtailed coat and a rusty old hat so that future generations can’t hold him responsible for any disaster. —The intelligent compositor is “subbing" on the Hamilton (Canada) Spectator. and being given a Latin quotation, rendered it, as if it had been so much lard, into “paid pro gao." . —The Catholic organ, Le Nouveau Afomh. < f Montreal, has been sued for not registering its publisher’s address. The complaint recites 962 infractions of the law and.uemamls the penalty, $96,200. —The tramp nuisance, in the country around Camden. N. J., has become so unbearable that the e farmers, for self-protec-tion agai«-t depredations, nave organized vigilant committees in all the principal rural towns. —Charles Dorr, of Orland, Me., went to Bangor th ■ other day to buy a wedding suit. He regaled himself on peaches and ale on his way home, from the effects ot which he died the next day—the one set for his marriage. —lt is hard tosaywho the happiest man is, but the happiest woman, according to the Danbury is she who is called upon to decide the question as to which is the eunningejU -of-hyo-uf the cunningest babies that ever lived?- -< -

—The advertisement of a Chicago woman with 820.000 for an honest, honorable husband has given a despairing world fresh hope. The number of honest, honorable men yet unmarried would exceed the belief of the most optimistic. —When, you sit down to a nice clean sheet of paper to write some poetry, do not do it. There are 370,000,000 out ot tlie 1,800,000,000 people in the world who have no writing materials, and you had . better >end the sheet to one of them. —The people wonder—can it be That Capt. Webb swam over The twenty uiiks of chopping sea Between Calais and Dover* Yet really, when one reads the tale, W lib candor undiluted, ’Tis fair to ask, how could he fail, A man that’s born Webb footed * —The San Jose (Cal.) Patriot man is getting discouraged because of the marvelous inventions of the age, and concludes : “It certainly becomes a question •of serious consideration whether man is any great production after all; it seems to be only a question of time when he will be forced to give way to animated stones and •brickbats?’ —Prof. Marsh has recently made a criti'cal scientific examination of the fossil bird discovered during his researches at the West, and which presents tlie phenomenal development ot well-formed teeth. The professor concludes that the creature was an intermediate form between the bird and the reptile, and that its discovery supplies one of the missing links in the Darwinian theory. —ln the Ohio Stale Penitentiary the •convicts are not allowed to read anything which will inlorm them what is going on •outside their pri>on walls. The Warden scrutinizes carefully all correspondence passing in and out of his hands, and nothing in the shape«a a newspaper of the day nor any book lik<. y to convey an idea of the progress of events in the world is permitted to reach the inmates. —At Mt. Desert, Me., sea-gulls are caught alive in a unique way. A stick is nut through the tail of a small fish and it is left on t ie seashore where it can be seen by the birds. They then seize and attempt to sv allow it head first, and succeed remarkaL.y well until they come to the stick, when a stop is made. They cannot swallow it further, and it is equally impossible to raise it, and so they choke, strangle and fall over, when they are cap tured. —The exact relations of matrimony and money bother the brains of economists. They think love ought always to go with good bank accounts—but it don't—and that bairns should be born where there is bread to feed them, which is oftentimes -ray far from the fact. Marriage is one of ■the things that dces not get regulated by prices current, ami the less people have of worldly goods the more reason there is for itheir joining hands to get and save. Marciqge does more to educate thrift than thrift to .make marriages, and people who seek a fortune first and a home afterward seldom get anything more than theahellof either. — Golden Age.

—“ Ain't you exprised to see met” said a five-year-old girl, as she tripped into my house in the midst of a rain-storm. “ The rain fell over me like it ran down through a strainer, and I shook it oft, but it wouldn’t stay shocked. I asked God to stop, but there was a big thunder in the way and He could not hear me, I underspeck, and I 'most know He couldn’t see me, 'cause a black cloud got'over my head as black as—anything! Nobody couldn’t sec little girls through black clouds. I'm going to stay till the sun shines, and then when I go home God will look down and say: ‘ Wy, there’s Nettie. She went to see her antie right in the middle of the rain,’ and I guess He’ll be just as much exprised as you was. 6 — Springfield Republican .

A Perilous Ride Down the Great Nevada Flume.

A company interested in the silver mines near Virginia City, Nevada, have constructed a flume fifteen miles long for the purpose of transporting wood and timber down the mountain from the forests to the mines. A New York correspondent gives the follow ing descript ion of “a ride down this flume: The flume is shaped like the letter V, and is made of two-inch planks nailed together in thu shape indicated. Across the top it is about two and (i half feet in width. The ends are very carefully fitted, so that where the planks go together there may be no unevenness, for timbers going at the rate of from fifteen to sixty miles an hour must have a clear coast. The flume is a wonderftil piece of engineering work. It is built wholly upon trestle-work and stringers, there is,not a cut in the whole distance and the grade is so heavy that there is little danger of a jam. The trestle-work is very substantial, and is undoubtedly strong enough to support a narrow-gauge railway. Itruns over foot-hills, through valleys, around mountainsand acrosscanons. In one place it is.seventy feet high. The highest point of the flume from the plain is 3,700 feet, and on an airline from beginning to end the distance is eight miles, the course thus taking up seven miles in twistsand turns. Mr. Flood and Mr. Fair, two of the proprietors of the mines, had arranged for a ride in the flume, and I was challenged to go with them. Indeed, the proposition was put in this way—they dared me to go. I thought if men worth $25,000,000 or $30,000,000 apiece could afford t,o risk their lives I could afford to risk mihe, which isn’t worth half as much. So I accepted the challenge, and two “boats” were ordered. These were nothing more than pig-troughs with one end knocked out. The “ boat” is built like the flume, V shaped, and fits into the flume. It is composed of three pieces of wood—two two-inch planks sixteen feet long and an end-board, which is nailed to the back end The boat is the size of the flume, being about two ami a half feet across the top. The forward end of the beat was left open, the rear end being closed by the board against which the water was to rush to impel us. Two narrow boards were placed in the boat for seats, and everything was made ready. Mr. Fair arid myself were to go in the first boat, and Mr. Flood and Mr. -Hereford were to follow us in the other—Mi_FairtliouglitAYe had better take a third man with us who knew something about the flume. There were probably fifty men from the mill standing in the vicinity waiting to see us off, and when it was proposed to take a third man the question was asked if anybody was willing to go. Only one man, a red-faced carpenter who takes more kindly to whisky than to his bench, volunteered to go. Finally everything was arranged. Iwo or three stout men held the boat over the flume and told us to I jump into it the minute the boat touched the water, and to “ hang on to our hats.” The signal of “ all ready” was given, the boat was launched, and we jumped into it as best we could, which Was not very well, and away we went like the wind.’ One man who helped to launch the boat fell into it just as the water struck it, but he scampered'out on the trestle, and whether he was hurt or not we could not wait to see. The grade of the flume at the mill is very heavy and the water rushes through it at railroad speed. The terrors of that ride can never be blotted from the memory of one of the party. To ride upon the cow-catcher of an engine down a steep grade is simply exhilarating, for you know there is a wide track, regularly laid upon a firm foundation; that there are wheels grooved and fitted to the track; that there are trusty men at the brakes, and, better than all, you know that the power that impels the train can be rendered powerless in an instant by the driver's light touch upon his lever. But a flume has no element of safety. In the first place the grade cannot be regulated as it can on a railroad; you cannot go fast or slow at pleasure; you are wholly at the mercy of the waters. You cannot stop ; you cannot lessen your speed; you have nothing to hold to; you have only to sit still, shut your eyes, say your prayers, take all the water that comes—filling your boat, wetting your feet, and drenching you like a plunge through the surf—and wait for eternity. It is all there is to hope for after you are launched in a flume boat. I cannot give the reader a better idea of a flume ride than to compare it to riding down an old-fashioned eaves-trough at an angle of forty-five degrees, hanging in mid-air without support of roof or house, and extending a distance of fifteen miles. As the start we went at the rate of about twenty miles an hour, which is a little less than the average speed of a railroad train. The reader can have no idea of the speed we made until he compares it tb a railroad. The average time we made was about thirty miles an hour—a mile in two minutes for the entire distance. This is greater than the average running time of railroads. Minutes seemed hours. It seemed an hour before we arrived at the worst place in the flume, and yet Hereford tells me it was less than ten minutes. The flume at the point alluded to must have very near forty-five degrees inclination. In looking out before we reached it I thought the only way to get to the bottom was to fall. How our boat kept in the track is more than I know. The wind, the steamboat, the railroad never went so fast I have been where the wind blew at the rate of eighty miles an hour, and yet my breath was not taken away. In the flume it seemed in the bad places as though I would suffocate. The first bad place we reached, and if I remember aright it is the worsf, I got- close against Fair. I did not know that I would survive the journey, but 1 wanted to see how fast we were going, &o I lay close to him and placed my head between his shoulders. The water was coming into his face like the breakers of the ocean. When we went slow the breakers came in on mv back, but when the heavy grades were reached the breakers were in front. In one case Fair shielded me, in the pther I shielded , Fair. In this .-particularly bad place I allude to my desire I was to form some judgment of the

sjieed we were making. If the truth mmj£ be spoken I was really scared almost opr of reason, but if I was on the .way to eternity I wanted to know exactly how fast I went. So I huddled close to Fair arid turned my eyes toward the hills. Everyobject I placed my eye on was gone before I could clearly see what it was. Mountains passed like visions and shadows. It was with difficulty that I could get my breath. I felt that I did not weigh a hundred pounds, although I knew in the sharpness of intellect which one has at such a moment that the scales turned at 200. Mr. Flood and Mr. Hereford, although they started several minutes later than we, were close upon us. They were not so heavily loaded and they had the full sweep of the water, while we had it rather at second hand. Their boat finally struck ours with a terrible crash. Mr. Flood was thrown upon his face and the waters flowed over him, leaving not a dry thread upon him. What became of Hereford I do not know, except that when he reached the terminus of the flume he was as wet as any of us. This only remains to be said: We made the entire distance in less time than a railroad train would ordinarily make, and a portion of the distance we went faster than a railroad train ever went. Fair said w.e went at least a mile a minute; Flood said we. went at the rate of 100 miles an hour, and my deliberate belief is that we went at a rate that annihilated time and space. ' . We were a wet lot when we reached the terminus of the flume. Flood said he would not make the trip again for the whole Consolidated Virginia mine. Fair said that lie should never'again place himself on an equality with timber and wood, and Hereford; said he was sorry that he ever built the flume. As for myself, 1 told the millionaires that I had accepted my last challenge. When we left our boats we were more dead than alive. We hail yet sixteen miles to drive to Virginia City. How we reached home the reader will never know. 1 asked Flood what I was to do with my spoiled suit of English clothes. He bade me good night, with the remark that my clothes were good enough to give away. The next day neither Flood nor Fair was able to leave his bed. For myself I have only- the strength to say that 1 have had enough of flumes.

To Oblige a Friend.

, Mr. Keyser dropped in at Statesbury’s store the other day, and after some preliminary conversation he said: “Jim, are you fond of apples?” “ Well, yes, if they are good,” respond Statesbury. “ Well, Jim, how are you on chmbingafence, a fence about eight feet high? How are you on climbing it all of a sudden ?” “ I dunno. I might get over one if I was excited about something.” “ Yes. And, Jim, you ain’t much afraid of dogs, are you? You don’t skeer much when you see a dog kinder comingat you, savage like? How would it strike you now if such a dog as that was to grab you by the leg?” “ Why, I wouldn’t let it, of course.” “ Well, Jim, I come around to ask you a favor, as a friend. J iin, I've just bought _a new dog,, a. sorter .bull-terrier, and the man said lhat he'd fly at almost anybody, and hold <>n until he was dead. Now, I have an idea the feller was lying to me, and I thought maybe if youd come around and help me give that flog—well, give him a kinder trial trip, I might find out about him. - “ What do you mean by a trial .trip ?” “ Why, I thought I’d see if you wouldn’t go into mj‘ garden and pretend to steal apples, and I d sick this dog on you, and then we’d see if that man misrepresented the facts to me.” “ Certainly I won’t.” “ Oh, come on, now—just to try him! You may have all tlie apples you can carry off with you.” “ Why, you must be crazy.” “ Won't go? Not to oblige a friend? Not to ascertain the value ot what may be a splendid fighting dog?” “ Of course I won’t.”. “ Oh, very well, then, don’t; but the first time 1 see you anywhere near my place I’ll try him on you anyway, I don tmind a man being disobliging, but when he’s ornary mean the way you are, he disgusts me.” Mr. Keyser is still looking for a person for his pet to experiment on.— Max Adder, in N. Y. Weekly.

English Social Cowardice.

A London correspondent of the New York HeraM writes: I suppose all my English friends will feel outraged by it, but truth compels me to say it, in some respects, the English people are the greatest eowards in the world. Physical danger and suffering they will encounter readily enough, but ridicule and public disapprobation have terrors for them which they dare not face. One of the most charming Englishmen I ever met was narrating to me only a day or two ago how a young American, a common friend of both of us, used to wear, when he first came to Ixmdon, a Scotch cap in the street, and how he was finally obliged to tell him that unless “he put on the orthodox stovepipe he could not ac company him. It seems that etiquette forbids a gentleman to appear in public with any other head-gear than the aforesaid stovepipe, and my English friend dared not countenance a contravention of the law. A gallant Captain of the Queen’s body-guard, to whom I related the matter, sustained his countryman, and declared that he himself, although of a profession which requires courage as its first essential, would not venture to show himself in Bond street or the park in a soft felt hat. Pursuing my inquiries, I have found that a similar tyranny prevails in innumerable respects. Mr. Gladstone is reported to have said that a cabinet minister might better commit any blunder rather than have his front door opened by a maid servant. Custom demands that a man shall be employed for that duty, and whoever infriuges the custom becomes an outcast at once. So, too, the carrying of parcels in the street by gentlemen or ladies is forbidden, and I have no doubt been set down as a lunatic by shopkeepers many a time, because I would insist on taking home my purchases in my own hands. I believe an exception is made in the case of books, provided they be not wrapped up in paper. These may be carried without loss of caste, but everything else is a mark of infamy. To walk with the coat unbottoned in front is likewise improper, and is regarded ven - much as walking without any coat at all. Nor may a gentlemap, hot in business, wear a sack-coat in London. No matter how hot the weather may be, his outer garment must be a frock coat buttoned up< as I have mentioned. Only in the country, and while traveling, is the luxury of looseness and comfort permitted. All money is hard money these times —hard to get.

GRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

—The best way to catch hawks or owls is to set up a high pole with a steel trap on the top. The birds often alight directly in the trap. —There is said to be no cure for contracted hoof resulting from laminitis or fever of the feet, otherwise known as “ founder.” The change is in the structure of the hoof and therefore beyond remedy. —Butter Cakes.—Take one-half a tincupful of melted butter, two cupfuls of sugar, five eggs, one teaspoonful of soda, and flour enough to roll. Cut with a cakecutter and put in a dripping-pan. Bake in a pretty quick oven. —Cider may be preserved sweet for years by putting it up in air-tight cans, after the manner of preserving fruit. Tlie liquor should be first settled and racket! off from the dregs, but fermentation should not be allowed to commence before canning.—Scientific American. —All farm machinery should receive two good coats of paint whenever it has been sufficiently exposed to cause the paint to scale off and lose its glossy appearance. A few quarts of tlie prepared article is economical, and will go a long way in protecting machinery during the exposed period; and there is no doubt that when unprotected by paint when in use and by shelter when not in use more injury is done than by ordinary wear.— Agricultural Exchange. * —Windgalls are the result of inflammation of the sheaths -dt' the tendons, by which is caused an excessive secretion of -the synodial fluid. The inflammation is generally caused by over exertion, sprains, or strains in driving or drawing. They ctonot be permanently removed when once they are formed. They may lie temporarily removed by pressure arid cold b:mdages, or by careful blistering; but as they return on the first occasion of extra exertion the treatment is scarcely worth while.—W. F. Herald. —Green Tomato Pie.—Take about half a dozen of tomatoes about the size of a walnut in the hull; wash them, if you want clean pies, slice them in a dish and pour halt a teacupful of sharp vinegar over them and let them sit until you want to make your pies; put in one layer of tomatoes, then strew a little flour over them and a pinch of cinnamon and sugar, and I put a tablespoonful of molasses to each pie if I have it, and about a half teacupiul of water to each pie. Try them. Some of our folks think there is no better pie than good tomato pie.—Gor. Gin. Times. . ■

—Cracknels.— To one pint of Canada oatmeal add one half-pint, lacking about two large spoonfuls, of boiling water. Let stand about five minutes; then take out on the molding-board, make in a compact mass, and roll out carefully (with plenty of flour) so as to prevent eracking at the edges. Make a little less than one-fourth of an inch thick. Cut with a knife into diamonds and bake slowly in a moderate oven. Dry them thoroughly, but do not brown them. They will heed io be watched very closely. If not wanted for immediate use let them stand exposed to the dry hir for a day or two, and then cover close in a tin box or pail, or in a stone jar, or pack them away in oatmeal as the Scotch do their oat-cake. To freshen them heat them up slightly in the oven. ✓ —The results of a single top-dressing on eight plots of nearly half an acre each of sandy, warm soil of our State Agricultural College farm exhibited the following facts at the end of thrqe years: The topdressing was applied in 1864 and the grass was cut twice each season in 1864 and 1865 and once in 1866. The produce ot each cutting and of each lot was weighed separately and a perfect record kept. The results for the four seasons were as follows: On the plot to which no manure or fertilizer was applied the total weight of hay yielded per acre was 8,740 pounds. Where two bushels of plaster per acre were applied the yield per acre was 13,226 pounds, a gain of 4,484 pounds. Where five bushels of wood ashes were applied the yield per acre was 12,907 pounds, a gain of 4,165 pounds. Where three, bushels of salt were sown per acre the yield was 13,969 pounds, a gain per acre of 5,227 pounds. Where twenty loads of muck per acre were laid on the yield per acre was 13,816 pounds, a gain of 5,074 pounds. Where twenty loads of horse manure were laid on the yield was 14,686 pounds, a gain of 6,224 pounds. These are results which indicate that there are fertilizers which will produce as good results as plaster. For instance, the plaster yielded a gain of. 51 per cent.,_ while the horse manure gave an increase of 71 per cent., or nearly a ton more grass per acre in the three 'years.— Michigan Farmer.

When to Plant.

Perhaps I had better begin by telling my readers when not to plant—viz.: when there is little or no root-action, as in midwinter; secondly, when evaporation is excessive, as at midsummer, unless means can be found to/-check evaporation till such time as thewounded roots are healed sufficiently to absorb an ample supply of moisture. If I were obliged to choose between these two extremes I should certainly for most plants prefer operating at midsummer; for then, if the work is carefully and quickly done on a day when the atmosphere is not deficient of moisture, root-action recommences in a few hours, I think I might say minutes, and our suspense is very short indeed, for then if a blank should occur we can for certain fill it up in October. Those who have not been obliged by circumstances to try midsummer planting would be astonished to see the amount of torture a healthy plant will bear at that time. When making new walks, etc., in ornamental grounds I have had gobd-sized trees out of the ground two or three weeks during June or July with merely a bit of grass wrapped round their roots, and they suffered very little from it; of course they had good balls and they were well planted. If there are young, immature growths they should be cut back when this can be done without disfigurement. Andther plan is to check evaporation by syringing whiting and water, or even dirty water, over the foliage. Whiting is best as it reflects the sun’s rays. I have no faith whatever in syringing outdoor plants with clear water in hot weather, unless it is for the purpose of knocking off insects, and these can be kfcpt off easier, better, and with less injury to the trees in other ways. My own way is to syringe all subject to insect attacks with soft-soap water, about two ounces to the gallofi, once or twice during the growing season. Let those wfip wish to be fashionable use the patent compounds; I am content to be old-fashioned- and use soft-soap, which is unpalatable to every insect with which a ganlener is tormented, including mealy-bug. I have had several battles with this detested enemy, but so far, thanks to soft-soap and my own blear

eyesight (I would mA trust any other pair of eyes besides my own), I have been able to kill the animal without materially injuring the vegetable life. Soft-soap will also kill mildew on peach trees much more speedily than sulphur will. The mildew on roses is harder to kill, but even it will succumb to a tolerably-strong dose. It should be applied in the evening after the sun is off the plants. But my text is “When to plant,” and I have not yet said anything about it. Well, the time to plant is as soon as the leaf-growth is fairly matured in autumn, and before the roots have ceased to grow, while the ground is warm and sweet and in a fit state to be properly worked. Last September I planted over half a mile of ornamental box-edging; it took less than a third of the time it would take to do in the winter or -early spring, because the weather vas good, the day pot too short and the soil worked beautifully. My man said: “Narra good to plantun now, measter, the vrost all haave it out;” but,. however, With a little forcible persuasion, it was planted; and the surface of the ground close to the box was kept loosened instead of remaining firm as it was made up; consequently the frost, of which we had rather more than a sufficiency, did it no injury, and when examined in the' spring it had roots two inches long:, and the top commenced growth as early as that which had not been shifted. Many people are afraid to move fruit frees before the leaves have fallen; this is quite a mistake. It is best for the growths to be matured, but immature growths can always be cut off, and if the leaves are so numerous as to cause excessive evaporation, arid consequent shriveling of the bark, it Is a good plan to thin with the scissors, but not too much, for the more leaves a plant will bear without shriveling the quicker will root-action commence. It does not injure a tree a tenth part as much to move it before its leaves are fallen as it doesdo move_ it in the spring when its buds are beginning imperceptibly to swell, and its circulation, owing to the absence of vigorous root-action, is sluggish. I moved many fruit trees last October, including pears of a good size on the pear stock, and they can hardly bedistinguished now. Such is never the case with spring-planted trees in the first season, and very often they do not recover at all. Another re.ason for amateurs planting early is that the nurserymen cannot plant till amateurs have finished, and consquently the later we defer ouff planting the less likely are we in future to obtain healthy young trees from the venders.— William Taylor, in N. Y. World.

Transplant Small Trees.

When selecting frees of any sort to transplant the aim always should be to choose those that are small and thrifty rather than large ones that have grown little or none at all during a year or two past. It is a grave mistake to conclude that large trees when removed and transplanted will commence bearing much sooner than small trees. When trees are only one or two years old, if the roots are removed with the stems, they will grow rapidly bj r the first season after being transplanted. But if trees are large it will be difficult to remove the roots. Hence large frees will be far more liable to die than small ones. Or if they live the roots will be so badly mutilated that young trees will soon be much larger than large ones. In order to live and grow luxuriantly trees, when taken up, must have a mat of roots. ' It is difficult to persuade our impatient planters into a proper system of reducing the heads of their trees. They will search the country over for large frees—“the larger the better”—and then they will not remove an inch of their wood; that would be directly opposed to their principle—their motto, “ the larger the better.” Experience, however, will remedy this; but it will be dearly bought in many cases. The experienced cultivator, when he goes to purchase trees, or select them for planting, will endeavor to procure first-rate sorts; and instead of looking merely at the height of the trees, will see that they have thrifty, stout bodies and good roots; the mere matter of height is of no importance to him, if everything else be right. The inexperienced, as a general thing,- will cast his eye around for the tallest tree, and have that if he can, regarding all the other considerations of minor importance. What a mistake he makes! If circumstances connected with the weather, the soil, or the time of planting be unfavorable, you may have left too much of head or side branches on your trees, the growth of the top may not be seconded or aided by the roots sufficiently, and the free will either stand still or flag’ and die. In such cases the remedy, in addition to that already alluded to, will be cutting back closer, thus reducing the growing surface and lessening the demand upon the roots. We have often had to cut back closertkan we wished to make the tree start vigorously. Last season we planted some peartrees in a damaged state, apparently quite hopeless cases, all dried and shriveled up. Some we pruned every branch off the stem, leaving only one eye at the base of each, to make a new branch. Others we cut stem and all off within a foot of tlie ground. Nearly all lived; but while the former made but an inch or two of growth of young branches the latter threw up numerous strong branches from a foot to two feet in length, and in the autumn were mucu the handsomest and best trees, better rooted and every way superior to those that were not headed in. Many of our peach-trees were cut back three times before tlie new growth would start.— N. Y. Herald. - ______

A Little Work May Add “Joy Forever.”

After the long summer of hard work bj r the farmer, necessary to provide himselt and family with food and raiment, he takes, his season of comparative rest. If a little ot this spare time were properly employed in adorning home and its surroundings, as much or more pleasure, perhaps, might be derived, from an aesthetic view of the subject, as could be given by the same amount of work bestowed in any other way. The bread and the meat which supply the physical wants of man are not all the things we should live for. The enjoyment of even these things can only come through the refining influences which tend to elevate our higher natures. We are creatures of circumstances, the soul becoming the reflex of what surrounds us. In the light of these facts, will it pay to neglect the refining and soul-inspinng influences, to en-1 dure the unsightly and disordered farmhouse and surroundings, w’hich can be nothing less than a perpetual annovance to a refined taste? The farmer who neglects these things and spends his time in the village saloon or upon the street-corner, hunting pleasure, wastes that which belongsSfiot only to 1 lus family, but to his neighbors, and time which, it properly applied, would bring

mutual results in happiness, a well-spring of joy for a lifetime, to all concerned. We have known farmers and their wives to do work enough to make things delightful all about them, but for want of system and proper care all v-i. chaos. The walks were incomplete, the frees broken and dead, because set in a haphazard way and left to shift for themselves without mulching; the fences dilapidated and down, with the lawn and flow? ers laid waste by the feet of the animal whose proclivities are to “ root, hog, or die;” the buildings brown and uninviting from the lack of paint. The same system of neglect extended into the house as well; the walls bare, neglected and without ornament. This is all wrong. Some time should be employed in providing for the happiness and pleasantries of home. In fact, the pleasant ussociattonrare the principal things which constitute a home. Bright faces and light hearts form the silken cords which unite families together, and prevent many a wayward youth from running riot in the ways of sin. The best way to prevent such evil results is to “ make home happy.” Flowers are cheap, and gladly send out their rich fragrance beneath the most lowly roof. Paint of many colors is abundant, and, like charity, “hides a multitude 6f sins.” Time is plenty when used aright, and if some farmers would Use a little as indicated above, and protect and preserve the work done, it would aid largely inflengthening out their days.— Western Rural.

Baby’s Clothes.

After baby begins to walk the trial which falls to the proud young mother’s lot is neither light nor uncommon. If she be., only tolerably familiar with the laws of life and health there is a constant warfare going on in her mind between the pretty costumes of the child and her reasonable and natural solicitude about its health. If it is a plump and vigorous child, she loims to-exhibit- its dimpled neck, arms and legs to the general public, and she generally strikes a balance by showing the legs. Now every baby’s feet should be kept warm, and a tender child’s especially, and yet these extremities are seldom properly clothed. Bare legs will not do for our climate. If our children do not die of tin's exposure they are likely to become feeble in growth, and die before middle life, except in rare instances. Not only are the lower extremities too much exposed, but the throat and chest are usually too heavily clothed, and the little creature tugs and toils with the weight and fettering- of handsome wrappings until the perspiration starts freely, _ apd weariness overtakes It. With an ignorance in no way greater than its mother’s vanity or inconsiderateness, it insists upon a rest. It gets it, of course, and also the croup, or congestion, or fever, each more or less intensified according to the child’s constitution and' temporary conditions. Sensible mothers will dress their children in long stockings that have more or less warmth, according to their temperament and the temperature of the air they are to. breathe. Their hands should be carefully warmed in winter, and their chests and necks properly wrapped, but not bundled. When self-forgetful tenderness is the prampting-jnotive jn--selpcting pretty clothes for the baby, apd the ideal of the mother corresponds to the demands of nature, the little creatures will be prettier, because rosier; the costumes that they wear will be as tasteful and carefully made, and the world will get a race of stronger, and consequently better, men and women, whose foreheads will be wider and brains clearer; and then a higher standard of intellectual culture will dawn upon our country. Then there will be fewer little graves among the green grasses that grow in the gardens of the dead; fewer Rachels weeping lamenting because their children are not.— The Metropolitan.

Holding Crops for Higher Prices.

There has been much discussion and probably will be as much more on the advisability of farmers holding crops for higher prices. As it seems to us, this is one of the' questions concerning which no positive, invariable rule can be laid down. Circumstances may make it advisable to hold one year and to sell promptly the next. - Those who held their last year’s crop of wheat until within a few weeks made money by so doing, but to use this as an argument-for so doing in all years would be very unwise.- The rise in the price of grain wgs mainly from causes which could not have been predicted. Had there been favorable weather throughout Europe and this country instead of destructive floods; had grasshoppers, chinch-bugs and other insect pests not made their appearance, prices for wheat might have remained as low as they were last year. Our own view is that, taking one year with another, it is better for a farmer who is poor and in need of money to sell his products promptly. The holder runs risk. Prices may not rise; loss by Are, thieves, rats, shrinkage, rain, etc., may come. If the farmer does not need money for the payment of debts or for improvements really essential to his best success or the comfort of himself or family, he may do as he sees fit. If a farmer has 1,000 bushels of wheat and would expect to place at interest the money ob- s tained for it if sold, he is fully justified in holding his crop if he thinks the probability is that prices will advance so as to give him a good profit. If, on the other hand, he would use the m->nev in paying a debt on which he is paying 10 per cent, interest, there ought to be almost a certainty ot a rise to make it wise tor him to hold the crop. Aside from the question ot interest, it is a good rule for a man to pay his debts as soon as possible. Too much stress is sometimes put on the price being above the cost of production as the determining question as to whether a farmer should sell his cjop. It is very important that a farmer should make a profit, but a more important question, incoming toadecision, than whether the price will give a profit, is the question whether there is a probability that a higher price can be secured. If there is a certainty that a higher price can soon be obtained, it is wise to hold, even if a good profit could be had by selling at once. If it seems certain than prices w ill not advance, it is better to sell at a loss than to hold and meet a greater loss. Because a bushel of wheat has cost only a dollar is no conclusive reason for selling at a dollar and a quarter, if the farmer’s sure he can obtain a dollar and a half—within a month. Because it cost a dollar is not a conclusive reason why he snould sell it at ninety cents, if there be good reason to believe no higher prices can be obtained for a long time to come. That a fair profit can be made is a good reason for selling, although not a conclusive one, and, as the future is very uncertain, a prudent farmer who has need of money will generally sell as soon as-hecan market his products if the price is a fair one, ami he will be w'ise in so doing.—Western Rural.

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