Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1875 — Page 6

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

—Bee-keeping is characterized by an intelligent correspondent of the Maine Jbraser as “ a science,” and he adds, very truthfully, that a person who would succeed in the business must have not only a fancy for it, to begin with, but experience. —’Tis pretty safe to say that none of our Maders will ever live to see frost-proof corn, for it has been pretty well shown bythose who ha-ve studied what are known as the laws of evolution that in all the changes ot form which plants or animals may base undergone in the course of ages the power of resisting cold is almost or entirely unchanged.— Philadelphia Prue. —Farmers are charged with being chronic grumblers. Harris, who is good authority, says: “We know that trials lead to patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and if it was not for hope arhat should we amount to* Now trials are the common lot of farmers. And it does not matter where we farm, East or West, North or South.”— lowa State Regidber. *— —Many a good wife and her poorly-clad children wonder why at the end of the year they do not receive the little comforts promised them. The editor of the Progressire Farmer says it is a little delay in •ecurintr the crops, a little carelessness in the manner of storing, a little wastefulness in the system of feeding and a 'little indifference to the state of the market. —Dandy Pndding.—One cup of milk, one tablespoonful of corn-starch, the yelks of four eggs, vanilla to taste. Boil it in a dish of hot water; when thickened put it in a white pudding-dish;' with the whites beaten to a stiff froth on the top and browned in the oven; to be eaten cold. Many people think it difficult to beat eggs to a nice troth. Take a large dining plate and with a silver knife whisk them quickly. If the eggs are good you can hardly tail. —To Preserve Apples.—Weigh equal quantities of good brown sugar and apples; peel, core and mince the fruit. Boil the sugar, allowing a pint of water to every three pounds of it. Skim it well and boil to quite a thick sirup; then add the apples, the grated peel of one or two lemons, and boil till the apples fall and look clear and yellow. If a very nice preserve is wanted, use white sugar, then the apples will be beautifully white and clear. —L. T. Scott writes in the Country Gentleman: Nearly every winter when I have my horses upin stable, I think, that I will ■call the attention of your readers to the practice of feeding potatoesto their horses. —-Lance came near losing a very valuable horse 4yom feeding him dry hay and oats with nothing loosening. I have never believed in dosing a 4 horse with medicine, but something is actually’ necessary to keep a horse in the right condition. Many use powders, but potatoes arc better, and safer, and cheaper, if led judiciously.

Talked Himself to Death.

He got off-the morning train the other Jay aijd meandered up into the city, and stopped in front of a fine-looking residence on Munson street. He opened the gate, walked up to the door and pulled the bell. In a moment it was opened and he stepped quickly inside. “ You see,” he said to the astonished girl, “ I much prefer to do my talking inside. It is so unpleasant to have the door closed in one’s face when only half through.’’ He walked into the parlor, and the frightened girl went to intorm her mistress that a sewing-machine man or bookpeddler had gained access to the house. The lady entered the room and was greeted by the young man of cheek as follows: “ They call me a blessing, the ladies do, and I am, madam. lam a labor-sav-ing benefactor to the whole sex. I have a little invention which I am introducing— little gem. It is, madam, a small, silver-plated, gilt-point concern, which will allow you to wear the new style of pull-back dresses with perfect ease and comfort.” “ What do you mean, sir ?” demanded the lady. “ No longer, madam, will you have to take your meals otf from the mantel-piece. You can sit down as easily as in the oldstyle barrel-shaped dresses. When you travel you won’t have to lean up against the water-cooler, nor sit on the sharp edge seat arm. The little invention which will thus facilitate your movements retails for only one dollar.' It is called the semicylinder, double-duplex non-conductor, magical pull-back dress-fastener,” and he opened his sachel and took out a half metal and wooden concern, and said: “Only one dollar! You place it under your skirts this way “ (illustrating with his coat-tail),” and when you desire to sit down pull the right-hand string, which you can have come out m your pocket, and lo! down you gently float until you reach tile chair. If you desire to get into a carriage, drop the invention by pulling this string, put your foot on the spring, and you'll find yourself in the carriage in an instant.” The lady called her husband to see the new invention, and the agent explained its workings to him. As the husband’s eye fell upon the agent a wicked thought flashed through his brain, and he determined to be revenged. “ This is a new invention,” began the agent,'‘>o enable ladies to draw back their skirts much tighter than at present and, at the same time, allow them to sit down. It is called the high-fangled drawback and squeeze-together, new modus operands. Ladies say lam a labor-saving benefactor, that lam an everlasting——” “ Wait!” shouted the husband; “please explain its workings again.” The agent did so. “ Why, that would make a good havhofcten”- • “ Yes,” answered the agent, “ but it is more particularly designed for ladies.” The husband sent for his daughter to examine the invention. “ This a new unparalleled, upright lon-square-shaped perpendicular, two degrees south by four west, extra strong, sling together,#nd squash up, pull-back which I am selling fojfone dollar. Ladies call me “ Hold on.” shouted the husband and father, “ until I call my other daughter,” and he waltzed out of ’the room, and returned with the hired girl and the cham.bermaid. ' You see, ladies,” began the .agent, “ ttes is a flop-over and stand-yo'u-up magical, tragical, two strings to the right and one in the center, invention for pulling back your skirts,” and he went on for half an hour, during which time the husband slipped over to the next house and induced the inmates to come over and bear the agent talk. He returned with •cc women and four children, just as the agent was winding up for she fourth time. .Escorting one person into the rdom at a time, he had the agent tell each one about the “ invention.” He stationed a small boy out in the hall with a lead pencil, who was instructed to make a mark on the

wall every time the agent repeated his story. The stock he had brought in was exhausted about noon, when he sent a messenger around the ward tOjfcend in the neighbors, and the agent was kept telling his story without intermission till near midnight. As the sun disappea/ed behind the western horizon, the agent began to showsigns of fatigue, but the husband was as fresh as ever. Eleven minutes to twelve o’clock the agent, who had just completed ; his yarn for the 216th time, looked upaqd gasped. A glass of water was thrown in his face, anti the husband told the, boy to run in half a dozen more jiersons, for he thought he could finish the agent now in about an hour and a half. The' boy left to rouse up the neighborhood, to find half a dozen who had not yet. heard the story of the “ invention." When he was absent frequent stimulants had to be given the agent to prevent him from fainting. Shortly the boy returned, saying that no more neighbors could be found, as they had all gone on an excursion. The husband on hearing this was in despair, but he had the agent repeat the story to him a couple of times, a couple of times to the boy and once to himself. When he had finished he was so far exhausted as to be unable to sit up. A fiendish smile stole across the features of the husband as he said: “ Young man, I have hoped for this moment. I have been haunted almost to death by agents. The last man that came along swindled me out of two dollars, and I then took a terrible oath I would be revenged upon the next man that attempted to gull me. Know, then, that I have induced these persons who have listened to your eloquence to come in, that I might turn your own weapon against you. You have talked yourself to death. Thank Heaven, 1 have succeeded in my revenge. You can live but a few moments longer, but before you die I pray you to repeat again that well-known story.” The agent braced himself up against the side of the room, a glass of water was given him, and he began* “ You see, I have a double duplex ” And he was dead. The Coroner was summoned, an inquest held, the jury returning a verdict that the deceased came to his death by too much circumlocution of the jaw, and thev contributed their fees to the husband, and caused a diploma to be awarded him as a testimonial of the good he had done the public. Anyone now’ passing Munson street can see a sign hung on the front door of a finelooking mansion, which reads; “ Agents, Beware! ” — Danbury News.

Fattening Hogs.

No subject is of more vital interest to the farmer, just now, than this. Many are alive to the importance of early feeding, but there are many who still adhere to an old custom, and, without regard to the demands of the market, or present and prospective values, think they must feed till Christmas or New Year’s at all events. Hence they are in no hurry to commence the process of pork-making in earnest, and the very best of the season for this purpose is past before they get their hogs properly to work. Pork' is high now, und the indications are that it will be lower before the season closes. Hogs are comparatively scarce, and corn is plenty. There is an unusual quantity of immatured corn this fall, that will make pork fast enough, but is unmarketable. Under these circumstances farmers will be induced to feed late, in order to make the most of the hogs they have, and, as a consequence, the earlier marketswill be scantily supplied. All other conditions being equal, the farmer who gets his pork ready for market first makes the most money, for it is easier and cheaper to maintain a fat hog in cold weather than to make one fat. In conversation not long since with an old hand at this business, he remarked that in seasons when corn was ordinarily plenty he preferred to sell by the first of December, even at a less price than he could get at New Year’s. He very rarelyfound the difference in price to pay- for feeding a month in cold weather. To produce the most pork in the shortest time, warm, dry, clean pens and judgment in feeding arenas essential as abundance of food. We have seen hogs fattened in a mud-hole, and well fattened', too, but such pork costs too much. Besides the great waste of food, the fattening process is retarded by such unfavorable conditions, and if an account was kept with the hog-pen and corn-crib the owner would find his expenses overrunning the profits. Corn is pre-eminently the food for making pork, but it is, no doubt, fed too exclusively in many cases. Feed some less concentrated food with it—such as cooked potatoes, turnips, etc. Aconstant stuffing with corn alone induces a feverish, constipated condition, and is no doubt the cause of much of our measly and otherwise diseased, pork. Farmers, who depend upon pork for their year's supply of meat cannot be too careful in this matter. Have healthy pork, made out of clean food, or eat none at all.— Ohio Farmer. -

Fall Farming.

If every farmer could do just as well as he knows how to do farming would be a different tiling from what it now is. It is a very easy thing to say to a farmer: “Here, if you know how to raise heavy crops, why don’t you do it ? If you know that blooded stock is more profitable than scrubs, why don’t you manage to get blooded animals* Why don’t you have the best of fruit and lots ot it to sell? Why don’t you have big piles of compost in every field ready to spread out over the hungry soil? Why don’t you have a fat steer, hog or sheep to sell in October, November, December, January, February and March S" These and many other questions are easily asked; and almost every fanner would, make ready answer, but the reasons would be as varied as the circumstances of each, or the condition ot the land on which each man operates. While the rules and laws of farming are to a certain extent of general application; while the American farmer studies Liebig and Johnston, the experiments of Lawes* and Gilbert as well as the writings of his own countrymen and the practical tests made in his own climate, yet he finds that he can use only a certain portion of the truths and tests and examples brought out. Plowing the land for crops, or cultivating it in some way to a given depth to give plants a foot-hold, is a general-necessity, a universal - practice; but are all soils equally benefited by working at any certain season? Is fall plowing equally beneficial and profitable on all soils? Fall plowing of clays and clay-loams seems to be the readiest and cheapest way of getting such soils into a fine condition for receiving the seeds of spring grains. The frequent freezings and thawings act upon the physical structure of the soil in a way similar to that of the harrow or cultivator, in reducing the mass to a fine tilth, and, very little labor is needed in preparing in the spring this fall-plowed land.

'As sandy lands are not tenacious, and are so easily brought into a fine condition, fall plowing is not considered so important; yet there are reasons which are worth considering in favor of fall-plowing of all lands; (1.) The weather is cool and teams are strong and in good flesh for work—neither too thin nor too fat. (2.) The land is nearly always in just {the right condition as to moisture and dryness to work to the best advantage. (3.) Fall plowing is destructive of the cut-worm, which so often takes the first planting of corn. (4.) It completely destroys sorrel by exposing its roots to the frost and sun. (5.) It enables the farmer to get Ids spring crops into the ground earlier than he possibly could if the plowing had to be done in spring. These are important considerations and deserve attention now. Fall pasturing of meadows is practiced by some farmers, and we are sure it must lie done contrary to their better knowledge and judgment. Meadows pastured in the fall prove failures in the following season in all cases,we may venture to assert. We know of nothing so hurtful as dose cropping of grass lands in the fall. Nothing can redeem the practice from the stigma of bad fanning but spreading over them just before winter a good coating of rotted manure and then the lands to be harrowed in the spring. Though corn is hardening up finely during the present warm, dry weather, yet the husking and storing of this crop will lie late at best,-owing to the green and soft condition it was in when the first frosts seared the leaves. It will not be safe to crib it until cool weather comes, except irf rare cases of early ripening. Fall dairying proves one of the most profitable interests of the farm. The fine butter which the rich clover with pumpkins and a little bran and corn-meal turu out makes a very attrtictive product in market and yields a very fair profit indeed. But to make a salable article one wants good butter cows as well as to be a good butter-maker. — Detroit Tribune.

Changing Too Often.

Many a man has failed to become a successful farmer through a proneness to make frequent changes in the products of his laud. Dairy husbandry is tried- for a fewyears, then sheep husbandry, but nothing thoroughly and long enough to learn the business, or establish a reputation for producing a first-rate article of any kind. If a man learns from experience or close observation that his farm is better adapted to the culture of some other crop than the one produced, he would certainly be foolish not to make a change in accordance with circumstances. In nine cases out of ten, however, a change is not made front any such consideration, but merely to do something else which promises to be more profitable. One of our subscribers writes from Wisconsin that wheat w-as formerly a profitable crop upon his farm, but of late years the land had become so poor that wheat “is played out.” We would certainly advise farmers of this class to make a change of some kind, but a man who will starve his land would probably do the same thing with his animals; consequently we should not feel justified in recommending a change in thisdirection. Better commence to restore fertility to the soil, adding deep culture and a judicious rotation of crops, until the worn-out or exhausted land again produces wheat as it did in “days of yore." This kind of a change is the one of all others needed over a wide extent of country, and before thousands of our farmers can begin to count their profits. Probably one of the most prolific sources of frequent desires to make a change is found in the accounts of great profits derived from the culture of certain crops or from keeping certain breeds of stock, as published in our agricultural papers. Of course we are not disposed to doubt the truth of these statements, nor depreciate their value to thinking men, but there are hundreds of persons who “jump at conclusions,” and if they read of a man who has made 1500 profit from an acre of fruit or vegetables in the suburbs of New York city they are inclined to think that something may be done in Maine or Minnesota. The various “manias” or “ fevers,” as they are termed, which have run riot over the country during the last half century, causing the loss ot millions of dollars to our agriculturists, all originated in the same manner, those who had the articles for sale finding their customers among those who were ever desirous ot “ making a change” in the products of their farms. The mulberry, or morus multicaulis, mania and pear, grape and sorghum fevers left more men poor than they made rich; still, there w-as an element of good in all, but the masses lacked the discretion which would have prevented them from purchasing an article or entering into a business which they were confessedly ignorant of. Right here we would hinge this entire subject of making changes in products or the general management of a tarm. If a man proposes to make any change in his system of culture he should first ascertain with .some degree of certainty that the new and untried will prove to be better than the old before attempting it. \ The same rule holds good in omitting one kind ot crop and replacing it with another, or changing the breed of animals; in fact the more thorough a man’s knowledge in this respect the more likely is he to succeed. It is usually much cheaper to purchase information in books and periodicals in regard to any branch of agriculture than through experience. Not that we believe the former can wholly take the place of the latter, but it is a much shorter and safer road to reach general principle.—AT. I’. Sun.

Th® following announcement, has been posted at the British Admiralty: “Some mischievous person has attempted to circulate a false report respecting an alleged accident to Her Majesty’s ship Alert, in the Polar regions, by’ inclosing The following written in pencil on a small scrap of paper, put into a small bottle, which was picked up on the beach at-ClOnakitty, Ireland, on the 24th inst.: ‘Onboard the Alert; three days from Disco; broken by iceberg; sinking, 18th July. God help us!’ The Alert was seen on then J 7th of July by the Valorous, all well, and the bottle if thrown overboard on the 18th of July must have been carried by currents 2,300 miles in sixty-eight dats, or at the jste of nearly thirty-four miles a day. As there are no currents running at such a speed in the track between Disco mid the coast of Ireland it is quite impossible that tbe statement can be authentic, and it is, therefore, evident that a silly attempt has been made to perpetrate a disgraceful hoax.” i There is no better tonic than cheerfulness. The man who sings at his work is generally set down as honest, contented and happy. Twig the gentle mosquito, whose song is heard most while your blood is txing diligently and maliciously sucked.— Star of the (Jape.

Our Young Folks.

The Charcoal Boy’s Cat. There was once a boy who lived in the heart of a deep forest, and burned charcoal for a living. It was a wild and gloomy place, 7 The boy worked with a great many men. They cut solid timber out of the forest, and, after digging a place in the ground, set the logs on end in the shape of an Indian wigwam; they then covered the heap thickly, so that fire would smolder in it, and set in on fire; after several days of slow burning the logs were changed into solid black charcoal ; and charcoal, you know, is sold in the markets and streets. There were long rows of these heaps where this boy worly-d. The men watched them all day while preparing new heaps, and took turns guarding' the fire in them at night. Such workers are called char-coal-burners. Many a lime had the charcoal boy lain stretched on the grass, with his hands and a bunch of pine boughs under his head, listening to the chat of his companions, or to the sighing noise ot the great woods around him. Frequently vivid pink lights would flash but of the heaps, and then they had to be covered more closely. The charcoal boy had nobody to live in his cabin with him but a cat, for his home and his brothers and sisters were far down the valley. He was much like Mother Goose’s little dairyman, who lived by himself until the rats and mice led him such a life that he had to go to London to seek him a wife! However, the charcoal boy had a cat, as I said. When the cat first came to keep his house for him she was a forlorn and wretched creature. Somebody had evidently carried her away from civilization and turned her loose in the woods. She was a mere kitten, but so thin and shaggy and wild-eyed when she appeared and rubbed herself mewing against the charcoal boy's legs as he sat in the door eating hissupper that she looked aged and decrepit. The boy might not have taken to her kindjy; but he was all alone in his cabin, and even the voice of a cat sounded pleasantly. So he gave her part of his supper and let her lie purring round his feet all night. Before long she grew sleek and spirited." She combed her coat carefully, and settled into a very domestic cat. As she sat in the door to welcome her master when he came home from his work, or as she moved gracefully about bis hut, she was as comfortable a puss as one would wish to_see. The charcoal boy, to amuse himself in bis idle hours, taught her tricks, which , she performed with such spirit that he grew really fond of hep 'His door had a wooden latch, which was lifted by a string. He connected this string ingeniously with his table, so that puss could at any time pounce upon the table, and with one sweep of her paw open or shut the door. He also hung a small trapeze from one of the rafters, and taught the cat to whirl herself over and over on it. This was great fun for the boy, and in time he trained the cat so perfectly and communicated with her so well by means of “ me-ows” that she went through her performance in a reguler routine at any time that he signaled to her. Often, when the pine sticks ..were dying down to ashes on. the hearth, and he stretched himself to sleep upon his hard bed, he put the cat through all her tricks and laughed at her till his eyes grew too sleepy to •watch her. But he did not know that he was training her to save him from danger. One night when the charcoal boy lay down in his hut he could scarcely sleep; for all the money which he had been several months earning w r as laid away in smooth bills under his head. Next day he meant to go down to the valley and carry it to his home. His mind was full of what he should see and hear at home. He lay awake, with his hands under his head, until the late owls hooted in the woods. Puss was curled around his feet. By and by he heard steps outside his cabin, and two shadows passed between his little window and the moonlight. In an instant he remembered that a couple of idle, viciouslooking men had been lingering for several days around the charcoal camp, and he felt sure that they were now coming into his cabin to rob him. He was no coward, so he resolved to give them a singular reception. Slipping off his bed and squeezing himself under it he uttered a long “ me-ow!” which puss understood. In an instant she answered with another cat-note, and, leaping upon the table, opened the door. The two men were just ready to force it open, but they started back at finding it thrown open by invisible hands. However, the bolder of the two stepped in and the other followed. “Me-ow!” continued the charcoal boy. “Me-ow!” answered puss, springing to her trapeze. “ There’s nothing but cats in here!” ■whispered one man. “ I hear ’em jump!” “ Strike a light, will you?" said the other. “ I can’t see anything!” So they struck a light, and, peering all around cautiously, saw a hut uninhabited by any creature save a cat, whirling madly on a trapeze over their heads! A wicked, ignorant man is easily terrified by an unnatural sight; the two thieves quaked. “ Ptz!” signaled the charcoal boy. “ The witches are in this house!” whispered the men. » “Me-ow!” replied the cat, promptly obeying her master’s signal and leaping back to the table to shut the door. If the two men felt misgivings when the door opened to them of itself they ,were completely frightened when it swung slowly to without hands to move it! The cat arched her back and hissed at them; but, before she could utter the prolonged ho w 1 which expressed her di si ike, they both ran and clutched the door-latch ana flew away from the cabin as if the rags of their shoes were little wings! As for puss, she stood still on the table, waving her tail to and fro like a .victorious banner, while her master laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks! — Metropolitan.

“Mother’s Boy” at Sea.

Barry’ was a duckling who sometimes preferred staying in tte water. I don’t know what Barry thought about it, but his mother often felt that “ Mother’s Boy” was growing out* of her reach. He had been broughfup at her side. It gave her a little pang to see him reStive when she tried to keep him there. And it must be said that when Barry climbed up to the ledge called the “White Boar,” and sat looking off on the ocean, he had a vague longing to be out qn that lovely sheet of water, shining in the 'sun, tuhibling into bright green waves, and stretching so far, so far down te Xhe sunset, where the red rays blurred ouvlhe. horizon. Somewhere beyond that crystal gate in the south was his father’s big ship—sailing among the spice islands, maybe; or gliding by shores where strange birds and

beasts and painted savages were dotted along, as in the pictures of a geography. The Sagadunk fishermen used th go out of the harbor early in the morning and re-, turn late at night. Barry sometimes saw them from his chamber window as he dressed himself at sunrise. They spread their sails like wings; the soil morning breeze sprang up; and so they sailed away ana disappeared down the far-off horizon. They seined to sail into the sky. One day Barry privately inquired of “ Old Kutch,” who was a famous fisherman of Sagadunk, if he ever saw his father’s ship, the Flying Fish, out at sea. The old fisherman said: “Never, so far as I know’ed of,” which was not satisfactory to Master Barry. He thought . “ Old Kutch” must see the whole world when he got below that dim horizon. “ I know my papa’s ship, and if I w’ere to go with you 1 might show her to you, and find my papa,” said Barry. Old Kutch laughed. “ But your mar, wouldn’t let you go so far away, my little man.” Barry’s countenance fell, but he explained : “She would be so glad if I brought back my P a P a that she wouldn’t care if I did go without her knowing it.” Barry was on dangerous ground for “ Mother’s Boy.” After many mysterious talks and movements, which took several days, Old Kutch agreed that Master Barry should get up early some fine morning and steal away to the boat at the wharf. At night Barry scarcely slept aS all; and when he dreamed it was of curious and often frightful sights in foreign lands. When day broke he w r as in such haste that he scarcely dressed himself. He might have gone out at the door; but, creeping past his mother’s chamber, he got out by the hall-window, stole down through the orchard, scrambled over the stone-wall, slid down the bank, and was soon on board the Polly Ann, commanded by Capt. Kutch. It was a great adventure. He was going to sea in search of his father. His heart was a little heavy when he looked back at the old farm-house where he had left his mother. But the Polly Ann was under way, and, with a curious sort of feeling in his throat, he watched the village fade away. He was at sea. It would not be pleasant for me to tell you of all the troubles that befell Master Barry that day. In the first place 'he was very hungry; and he ate a great deal of a nice luncheon which one of the fishermen produced from a big basket . strangely 1 ike one of his mamma’s. Then, when he had satisfied his hunger, his luncheon did not agree with him at all. He felt very queer. Everything seemed going around. His stpmach was all in a whirl. He was seasick, and he lost all interest in what was going on about him. The Polly Ann was very lively, and, although she was anchored on the fishing-grounds, she bounced about at a great rate. The sun was hot, and, as Barry looked over the edge of the bulwark where lie lay, he saw nothing but horrid, tumbling waves everywhere. - No land in sight, unless a low cloud on the dull, gray horizon were land. He w r as homesick; and if hi cried silently behind the ill-smelling tarpaulin that screened him I do not think any of my boy-readers should laugh at him. I have been in just such a plight, and probably did just as Barry did. What was w-orse, there was no sign of the Flying Fish, or anything that looked like her. Once in a while, a brown sail crept up from the horizon, drifted along against the sky, and melted away into the dim distance. It w r as “a down-East coaster, loaded with lime,” Old Kutch would say, unless he was too busy with his fish to say anything. Barry only wanted to get home once more. t . “ Oh, what will my poor, dear mamma say?” he moaned. v “ Y r ou oughter thought of that afore,” Capt. Kutch made answer. And so he should have. Meantime, was Mrs. Dingle going up and down the beach, crying out for her “Mother’s Boy?” Strange to say, she was doing nothing of the sort. She sat at the gable window that overlooked the sea, and, as she sewed or read, she glanced out over the sapphire w’aters of the bay and over the shining waves that rippled toward the sunset as brightly and silvery as though there were no such thing as seasickness and discomfort in all the world. She was possibly thinking of the hen and her willful duckling. That night, when the stars came out and the Polly Ann drifted up Sagadunk harbor, the most tired,"weary and homesick little chap you ever heardof scrambled out into the small boat which was to take him ashore. Mrs. Dingle, somehow, happened to be on the landing; and when Barry jumped into her arms and cried: “ I couldn’t find papa!” she only hugged him tight and whispered: “Mother’s Boy.” It seemed an age to Barty since he had been gone. The familiar little bed, with its blue-and-white check cover, looked like an old friend from foreign parts; and the hollyhocks in the parlor fire-place were fresher and brighter by candle-light than any hollyhocks he ever saw. I need not tell you how Barry settled affairs with his mamma. When he found Old Kutch, after that, one leisure day ashore, that venerable skipper asked him when he proposed going again on a voyage of discovery. Barry replied: “ I shall not be so naughty and run away again, for I am ‘ Mother’s Boy,’ you see.” “ Why, she knowed it all the time.” And so she did; and when she let Barry go off in charge of Old Kutch she was trying two experiments—one bn herself and one on “ Mother’s Boy.” — Cyrus Martin, Jr., in St. Nicholas for November.

Of the 1,200,000,000 human beings inhabiting the globe, 360,000,000 have no paper nor any writing material of any kind. Five hundred millions of the Mongolian races use a paper made from the stalks and leaves of plants; 10,000,000 employ for graphic purposes tablets of woods; 130,000,000—the Persians, Hindoos, Armenians and Syrians—have paper jnade from cotton, while the remaining 300,000,000 use ■the ordinary staple. The annual consumption of this latter number is estimated at 1,800,000,000 pounds, an average of six pounds to a person, which h;is increased from two and a half pounds during the last fifty years. To produce this amount of paper, 200,000,000 pounds of woolen rags, 800,000,000 pounds of cotton rags, straw, wood and other materials are yearly consumed. The paper is manufactured in 3,960 paper mills, employing 90;000 male and 180,000 female laborers. The proportionate amounts manufactured of the different kinds of papers are stated to be, of writing paper 300,000,000 poynds; of printing paper, 900,000,000 pounds; of wall paper, 400,000,000 pounds, and 200,000,000 pounds of cartoons, blotting paper, etc. — Rowell's Newspaper Reporter. It’s a bad omen to owe men.

MECHANICAL AND SCIENTIFIC.

Ij —The discovery of forest just below the surface »f the bed of the Thames River is attracting a good deal of attention in England. The oak, the alder and the willow are the principal trees found. These retain their vegetable character, but other signs show that the forest belongs to the period of the elk and the' red deer in the south of England. —Mr. Lcverrier has thrown a damper upon the Costly astronomical expeditions to observe the transit of Venus by asserting in a recent discussion at the French Academy that such observations are utterly valueless for the determination of the sun’s parallax, optical disturbances occasioned by the atmosphere of Venus making it impossible to fix the exact time of contact. —House-flies often die late in the summer from the attacks of a fungus (Empuscs Musca). “ The flies may often be seen,” says a writer in Nature, “ settled, in a natural position on. window-panes but with the abdomen much distended and surrounded by a collection of whitish powder, extending for a few lines in all directions on the surface of the glass. The whole of the inferior organs of the.abdomen are consumed by the plant, nothing remaining but the chitinous envelope, on which the mycelia of the fungus form a felt-like layer; the fructification showing itself externally as filaments protruding from between the rings of the body.” Our house-fly is the same species as the European, and without much doubt the fungus ■(Empusa Musca) is of the same species, while the above account of the appearance of the dead fly applies to those observed in this country. —For several years past an Italian geologist has made a study of the tremblings or quakings of the earth, and more especially those which are so extremely slight as not to be perceptible save by pendulums placed in the fields of microscopes. In one year he recognized between 5,000 and 0,000 of these movements; and graphically representing the same over many years by a curve, he finds that the line corresponds neither with the thermometric curve nor with the tidal phenomena, nor can it be brought into any relation with the distances of positions of the sun or moon. With the barometric curve, however, it is otherwise, and it appears that, in the large majority of cases, the intensity of the movements augmented with the lowering of the barometric column, as if—as the investigator states —the gaseous masses imprisoned in the superficial layers -of tire earth

escaped more easily when the weight of the atmosphere diminished, which certainly is an interesting fact.—A. Y. Sun. —A method of making varnish from vulcanized rubber is described in the Moniteur Industrial Beige, a thing which has heretofore been considered inpracticable. The process in question seemingly includes burning out the sulphur, etc., and then dissolving tlid-residue. The fragments of vulcanized rubber are for this purpose deposited in a deep earthenware pot, which is closed by a tightlyfitting cover and deposited on burning coals for about five minutes, care being taken during this period that the vessel be not opened, as the vapor is highly inflammable. On removal the mass is examinedby pushing a wire into it to see that it is uniformly melted; and if this be the case it is at once poured out into a large, well-greased, shallow tin pan and left to cool. When hard it is broken into small pieces, placed in a bottle with benzole or rectified essence of turpentine, and there,thoroughly shaken and stirred. The dissolution is effected by this means, and, after a brief rest, the clear liquor, which constitutes the varnish, is decanted from the impurities which settle at the bottom. The latest dodge, and one of the sharpest sort, has been attempted upon several sporting men of Cincinnati recently, and successfully- in one instance. Here is how it was done: Eph? Holland and a friend were rolling ten-pins at the Empire, on Fifth street, when a note came to Eph., asking him to call at the Grand Hotel to see a particular friend. It was written on a Grand Hotel “ letter-head.” He walked down to the hotel, but found nobody there that he particularly cared to see. While he was gone a note came to “Doc.” Martin, at the Empire, written on a Grand Hotel letter sheet, signed “ Eph., and asking the doctor to send him SIOO by the bearer, a young man of respectable appearance. The doctor, knowing that Eph bad gone to the hotel, and supposing he had met some friend and wanted to use that much money, promptly inclosed SIOO in an envelope and sent it “ by bearer.” When Eph. returned the doctor merely asked him if he had received that money all right. Then the little game was discovered. —A Vicksburg merchant, having been annoyed for many evenings by negroes loafing around his store, poured a quantity of nitric acid on their accustomed “roost” the other evening, and wstood back to await results. The loafer who first arrived sat calmly down, but soon moved about uneasily, and rose up and went away in a hurry. The second one didn’t sit so long, and the third one passed down the street saying: “ I kin stan’ mose anything; but when it comes to carpettacks, I has to riz on’em!” — Vicksburg Herald.

A Famous Medical Institution.

[From the Chicago Times.] “ The name of Dr. R. V. Pierce, of Buffalo, N. Y., has become as familiar to the people all over the country as * household words.’ His wonderful remedies, his pamphletsand books and his large medical experience have brought him into prominence and given him a solid reputation. The Times, in the present issue, presents a wholc-page communication from Dr. Pierce, and our readers -may fnii-u-fEun) it of the VHst proportions of his business and the merits of his medicines. He has at Buffalo a mammoth establishment, appropriately named ‘Tile World’s Dispensary,’ where are treated and the remedies compounded. Here nearly a hundred persons arc employed in the several departments and a corps of able and skilled physicians stand ready to alleviate the sufferings of humanity by the most approved methods. These physicians are in frequent consultation with Dr. Pierce, and their combined experiences brought to bear on the successful treatment of obstinate cases. The doctor is a man of a large medical experience, and his extensive knowledge of materia medica has been acknowledged by presentations of degrees from two of the first Medical Colleges in the land.” « If. you wjbuld patronize medicines scientifically preniared by a skilled physician chemist use Dr. Pierce's Family Medicines. Golden Medical Discovery is nutritious, tonic., alterative and blood : eleansing, and an unequaled Cough Remedy; Pleasant Purgative Pellets, scarcely larger than mustard seeds, constitute an agreeable and Tellable physic; Favorite Prescription, argmedyfor. debilitated females; Extract of Smart-Weed, a magical remedy for Pain, Bowel Complaints and an unequaled Liniment for both human and-horse flesh; tftiile his Dr. Sngt-'E Catarrh Remedy is kiiown the world ovist as the greatest specific for Catarrh and “Cold in the Head” ever given to the public. They are sold by Druggists,