CGRVA
SEMI-WEEKLY.
SSKfiJLS. Consolidated Feb., 1899.
COKVALIilS, BEOTON COUNTY, OREGON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1902.
VOIi. III. !NO. 15.
GAZETTE.
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
BY A. CONAN DOYLE.
CHAPTER I Cod tinned.
Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted
at the idea ot sharing rooms with me.
"I have my eye on a suite in Baker
street," he said, "which would suit as
down to the ground. Ton don t mind
the smell of strong tcbacco, I hope?"
"I always smoke 'chip's' myself," I
answered.
"That's good enough. I generally
have chemicals about, and occasionally
do experiments. Would that annoy
you?"
"By no means."
"Let me see what are ' my other
shortcomings I get in the dumps at
times, and don't open my month for
days on end. Yon must not think I
am eulky when I do that. Just lot me
alone and I'll soon be all right. What
have you to confess now? It's just as
well for two fellows to know the worst
of ea-h other before they begin to live
together."
I laughed at this cross examination.
"I keep a bullpup," I said, "and ob
ject to rows, because my nerves are
shaken, and I get up at all sorts of un
godly hoars, and I am extremely lazy.
I have another set of vices when I am
well , but those are the principal ones
at present."
"Do you include violin playing in
your category of rows?" he asked, anx
iously. "It depends on the player," I
answered. "A well played violin is a
treat for the gods; a badly played
one "
"Oh, that's all right," be cried with
a merry laugh. - "I thine we may con
sider the thing as settled that is, if
the rooms are agreeable to yon."
"When shall we see them?"
"Call for me here at noon, tomorrow,
and we'll go together and settle every
thing," he answered.
"All right noon exactly," said I,
shaking his hand.
We left him working among his
chemicals, and we walked together to
ward my hotel.
"By the way," I asked suddenly,
"how the deuce did he know that I had
come from Afghanistan?"
My companion smiled an enigmatical
smile.
'That's jnst his little peculiarity,'"
he said. "-"A good many people have
wanted to know how he finds things
out."
"Oh, a mystery, ie it?" I cried, rub
bing my hands. "This is very piquant.
I am much obliged to you for bringing
us together. 'The proper study of
mankind is man,' yru know."
"You must study him then," Stam
ford said, as he bid me good-by.
"You'll find him a knotty problem,
though. I'll wager he learns more
about you than you about him. Good
by." "Good-by," Ianwsered; and strolled
on to my hotel, considerably interested
in my new acquaintance.
CHAPTER II.
We met next day, as he had arrang
ed, and Inspected his rooms at No.
221B Baker street, of which he had
spoken at our meeting.
They consisted of a couple of com
fortable bedrooms and a single, large,
airy sitting room, cheerfully furnished,
and Illuminated by two broad win
dows. So desirable In every way were the
apartments, and so moderate did the
terms seem when divided between ns
that the bargain was concluded upon
the spot, and we at once entered into
possession.
That very evening I moved my
things round from the hotel, and on
the following morning Sherlock Holm
es followed me with several boxes and
portmanteaus.
For a day or two we were busily
employed in unpacking and laying out
our rroperty to the best advantage.
That done, we gradually began to set
tle down and to accommodate our
selves to our new surroundings.
Holmes was certainly not a difficult
man to live with. He was quiet in his
ways, and his habits were regular.
It was rare for him to be up after
ten at night, and he had Invariably
breakfasted and gone out before I rose
In the morning.
Sometimes he spent his day at the
chemical laboratory, sometimes In the
dissecting rooms, and occasionally
In long walks, which appeared to take
him into the lowest portions of the
city. Nothing could exceed his energy
when the working fit was upon him;
but now and again a reaction would
seize him, and for days on end he
would lie upon the sofa in the sitting
room, hardly uttering a word or mov
ing a muscle from morning to night.
On these occasions I have noticed
such a dreamy, vacant expression in
his eyes, that I might have suspected
him of being addicted to the use of
some narcotic, had not the temperance
and cleanliness of his whole life for
bidden such a notion.
As the weeks went by. my Interest
In him and my curiosity as to his aims
In life gradually deepened and increas
ed.
His very person and appearance were
such as to strike the attention of the
most casual observer. In height ne
was rather over six feet, and so exces
sively lean that he seemed to be con
siderably taller.
His eyes were sharp and piercing,
save during those intervals of torpor
to which I have alluded; and his thin,
hawk-like nose gave his whole expres
sion an air of alertness and decision.
His chin, too, had the prominence
and squareness which mark the man
of determination.
His hands were Invariably blotted
with ink and stained with chemicals,
yet he was possessed of extraordinary
delicacy of touch, as I frequently had
occasion to observe when I watched
him manipulating his fragil philoso
phical Instruments.
The reader may set me down as a
hopeless busybody, when I confess
how much this man stimulated my cu
riosity, and how often I endeavored tr"
break through the reticence which he
showed in all that concerned himself.
Before pronouncing judgment, how
ever, be it remembered how objectless
was my life and how little there was
to engage my attention.
My health forbid me from venturing
out unless the weather was exception
ally genial, and I had no friends who
would call upon me and break the mo
notony of my daily existence.
Under these circumstances, I eagerly
hailed the little mystery which hung
around my companion, and spent much
of my time in endeavoring to unravel
it.
He was not studying medicine. He
had himself, in reply to a question,
conflrmed Stamfords opinion upon
that point.
Neither did he appear to have pur
sued any course of reading which
might fit him for a degree in science
or any other recognized portal which
would give him an entrance into the
learned world.
Yet his zeal for certain studies was
remarkable, and within eccentric lim
its his knowledge was so extraordinar
ily ample and minute that his obser
vations have fairly astounded me.
Surely no man would work so harrf
to attain such precise information un
less he had some definite end in view.
Desultory readers are seldom remark
able for the exactness of their learn
ing.
No man burdens his mind with small
matters unless he has some very good
reason for doing so.
His ignorance was as remarkabfp
as his knowledge. Of contemporary
literature, philosophy and politics he
appeared to know next to nothing.
Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle,
he Inquired In the nalvest way who he
might be and what he had done. My
surprise reached a climax, however,
when I found incidentally that he was
Ignorant of the Copernican theory, and
of the composition of the solar sys
tem. That any civilized human being in
this nineteenth century should not be
aware that the earth traveled round
the sun appeared to me such an ex
traordinary fact that I could hardly
realize It. '
"You appear to be astonished," he
said smiling at my expression of sur
prise. "Now that I do know it, I shail
do my best to forget it."
"To forget it!"
"You see," he explained, "I consider
that a man's brain originally is like a
little empty attic and you have to
stock it with such furniture as you
choose. A fool takes In all the lumber
of every sort that he comes across, so
that the knowledge which might be
useful to him gets crowded out, or at
best is jumbled up with a lot of
other things, so that he has a diffi
culty in laying his hands upon it. Now,
the skillful workman is very caref:il
indeed as to what he takes into his
brain attic. He will have nothing but
the tools which may help him in do
ing his work, but of these he has a
large assortment, and all in the most
perfect order. It is a mistake to think
that that little room has elastic walls
and can distend to any extent. De
pend upon it, there comes a time when
for every addition to knowledge you
forget something that you knew be
fore. It Is of the highest Importance,
therefore, not to have useless facts el
bowing out the useful ones."
"But the solar system!" I protested.
"What the deuce Is it to me?" he in
terrupted, impatiently; "you say that
we go round the sun. If we went
round the moon it would not make a
pennyworth of difference to me or to
my work."
I was on the point of asking him
what that work might be, but some
thing in his manner showed me that
the question would be an unwelcome
one.
I pondered over our short conversa
tion, however, and endeavored to draw
my deductions from it. He said that
he would acquire no knowledge which
did not bear upon his object. There
fore, all the knowledge which he pos
sessed was such as would be- useful
to him. ;
I enumerated In my own mind all
the various points upon which he had
shown me that he was exceptionally
well informed. I even took pencil
and Jotted them down.
I could not help smiling at the docu
ment when I had completed it. It ran
In this way:
SHERLOCK HOLMES His Limits.
1. Knowledge of literature Nil.
2. Knowledge of philosophy Nil.
3. Knowledge of Astronomy Nil.
4. Knowledge of Politics Feeble.
5. Knowledge of botany Variable.
Well up In bella donna, opium ad
poisons generally. Knows nothing of
practical gardening.
6. Knowledge of geology Practical,
but limited. Tells at a glance different
soils from each other. After walks
has shown me splashes upon his trous
ers, and told me by their color aad
consistence in what part of London he
had received them.
7. Knowledge of chemistry Pro
found. 8. Knowledge of anatomy Accu
rate, but unsystematic.
9. Knowledge of sensational litera
ture Immense. He appears to know
every detail of horror perpetrated in
the century.
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert single stick player,
boxer and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge
of British law.
When I had got so far in my list I
threw it into the fire in despair.
"If I cannot find what the fellow is
driving at by reconciling all these ac
complishments and discovering a call
ing which needs them all, I said to
myself, "I may as well give up the at
tempt at once."
I see that I hare alluded above to
his powers upon the violin. These
were very remarkable, bat as eccen
tric as all bis other accomplishments.
That he could play pieces, and diffi
cult pieces, I knew well, because at ray
request he had played me some of
Mendelssohn's "Li Oder," and other fa
vorites. When left, to himself, however, he
would seldom produce any music or
attempt any recognized air.
Leaning back in his armchair of an
evening he would close his eyes and
scrape carelessly at the fiddle, which
was thrown across his knee. Same
times the chords were sonorous and
melancholy. Occasionally they were
fantastic and cheerful.
Clearly they reflected the thoughts"
which possessed him, but whether the
music aided these thoughts, or whether
the playing was simply the result of a
whim or fancy, was more than I could
determine.
I might have rebelled against these
exasperating solos had it not been
that he usually terminated them by
playing in quick succession a whole se
ries of my favorite airs as a slight
compensation for the trial upon my
patience.
During the first week or so we had
no callers, and I had begun to think
that my companion was as friendless
a man as myself.
Presently, however, I found that he
had many acquaintances, and those in
the most different classes of society.
There was one little sallow, rat-faced,
dark-eyed fellow who was introduced
to me as Mr. Lestrade, and who came
three or four times in a single week.
One morning a young girl called,
fashionably dressed, and stayed for
half an hour or more. The same after
noon brought a gray-headed, seedy
visitor, looking like a Jew peddler, and
who appeared to be much excited, and
who was closely followed by a slip
shod elderly woman.
On another occasion an old white
haired gentleman had an interview
with my companion; and on another a
railway porter in his velveteen uni
form. When any of these nondescript
individuals put in an appearance Sher
lock Holmes used to beg for the use of
the sitting room, and I would retire to
my bedroom. He always apologized to
me for putting me to this inconven
ience.
"I hare to use this room as a place
of business," he said, "and these peo
ple are my clients."
Again I had an opportunity of ask
ing him a point blank question, and
again my delicacy prevented me from
forcing another man to confide in me.
I Imagined at the time that he had
some strong reason for not alluding to
it, but he soon dispelled the idea by
coming round to the subject of his own
accord.
It was upon the 4th. of March, as I
have good reason to remember, that I
rose somewhat earlier than usual, and
found that Sherlock Holmes had not
yet finished his breakfast.
The landlady had become so accus
tomed to my late habits that my place
had not been laid nor my coffee pre
pared. With the unreasonable petulance of
mankind I rang the bell and gave a
curt intimation that I was ready.
Then I picked up a magazine from
the table and attempted to while away
the time with it, while my companion
munched silently at his toast.
One of the articles had a pencil mark
at the heading, and I naturally began
to run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was
"The Book of Life," and it attempted
to show how much an observant man
might learn by an accurate systematic
examination of all that came in his
way
It struck .me as being a remarkable
mixture of shrewdness and of absurd
ity. The reasoning was close and in
tense, but the deductions appeared to
me to be far-fetched and exaggerated.
The writer claimed by a momentary
expression, a twitch of muscle, or a
glance of the eye, to fathom a man's
inmost thoughts.
Deceit, according to him, was an Im
possibility in the case of one trained
to observation and analysis. His con
clusions were as infallible as Bo many
propositions of Euclid.
So startling would his results ap
pear to the uninitiated that, until they
learned the process by which he had
arrived at them, they might consider
him as a necromancer.
(To be Continued.)
The Marrying Aje.
The marrying age, according to sta
tistics, is steadily advancing. This
accounts, perhaps," for another fact,
that women are beginning to look
younger and more girlish in the shady
twenties and the early thirties than
they used to do. Twenty-five years
ago a woman of 32 who was unmarried
would hare been regarded as a hopeless
eld maid. Now she is quite a girl at
that age and her marriage is still
thought of. If we continue to grow
old in this leisurely fashion the very
name "old maid" will disappear from
our vocabulary, if indeed it has not
done so alieady.
First Woman to Win Scholarship.
Miss Helen E. Wallace, a brilliant
student at the Melbourne, Australia,
university, has been awarded the
Shakespeare scholarship of 150 pounds.
This is the most important scholar
ship in the gift of the university, and
it has never before been won by a
woman.
In Memory of Dr. Johnson.
Dr. Johnson's long association with
the Strand, London, is to be com
memorated . by placing a beautiful
stained glass window in St. Clement's
Dane chapel.
Beth's Surprise.
Beth was delighted with her aunt's
new changeable spring gown. "Oh,
mama!" she exclaimed, excitedly,
"the colors of Aunt Mary's new silk
dress are all extemporaneous!" Judge.
A Wise ClrL
, Alice How long should s girl know
a man before becoming engaged to him?
Grace Oh, long enough for him to
propose. . .
BTslPi
" For Boyi. .
About forty years !ago, gays the
Ledger Monthly, a ragged little boy
named "Tommy" Used to sit On the
piers at Glasgow and watch the boats
skimming over the waters. He was
neglecting the messenger service, for
which he was paid 60; cents a week;
but he could not help that, for the
yachts fascinated him. One Say he
said: "When I grow up to be a rich
man I'll have a yacht of my own, the
finest and fastest that was ever built."
Suddenly "Tommy" disappeared, and a
letter postmarked New York told the
old folks how he had run away to
America to make his fortune.
Prosperity proved somewhat coy, but
the young emigrant managed to save
enough to pay his way home to Glas
gow. That boy declares to-day that his
first trip here made him, for it taught
him "Yankee shrewdness and enter
prise." His father had managed to
amass a fortune of $400, and this whole
amount was invested in a little provis
ion shop. . ' "
This was the' humble beginning of
Sir Thomas LIpton's 450 stores In all
parts of the world. He is the largest
individual land owner in Ceylon, where
he cultivates tea, coffee and cocoa; in
London, among a hundred other lines,
he Is contractor for the British army
and navy; he has warehouses in Co
lombo and Calcutta; in Chicago his
packinghouse kills 3,000 hogs a day; he
sells tea In New York, makes candy in
London, runs a restaurant that cost
$500,000, where 12,000 are fed daily at
a halfpenny a head. Despite his $50,
000,000 he manages to be busy and
happy, but one of the happiest days of
his life was during the late queen's
jubilee, when 360,000 of the poor of
London sat down as his guests.
Cloud Shadows,
A LITTLE QIKL'S WISH.
I wish I could ride on the shadows of
clouds
That drift across the hill;
Over the meadows and out of sight
They sweep so smooth and still.
Over the daisy field they passed
And not a daisy stirred.
They moved like chariots grand, and slow,
But never a sound was heard.
I wish I could ride on the shadows of
clouds;
Could ride till, the journey done,
I'd find myself at the end of the world,
Where the earth and the sky are one.
Harper's Bazar.
Schoolboy of Hongkong.
The model school boy is to be looked
for in China. Eleven hundred college
boys, all bound for Queen's College,
Hongkong, and not one of them in
dulging in boisterous laughter, er even
letting off his superfluous spirits by a
run or a leap, is a sight to be witnessed
any day In that Eastern city.
A correspondent stood in one of the
streets crowded by these Chinese
school boys and watched them as they
passed. They did not hurry, but walk
ed sedately along with their books.
under their arms. The utmost exhibi
tion of youthful feeling was a reserved
smile which lighted up the face of a
boy here and there as he listened to
the conversation of his companions.
Boisterous behavior would have been
considered by those Chinese lads as
undignified and quite contrary to all
ideas of school-boy good form. The
more sedate a Chinese boy is in. his be
havior the more he conducts himself
like a little old man, the more aristo
cratic he is considered by his school
fellows, and the more praise he re
ceives from his schoolmasters and his
rarents.
There was little variety in the color
and cut of their dress. . They wore no
hats. Some had brushed all their hair
straight back it to their long queues;
while others had a fringe of stiff bris
tles dividing the shaven from the un
shaven territory of their heads.
A Shorthand Letter.
A small boy known to the New York
Sun was Introduced by his teacher to
the ditto mark.
Its labor-saving possibilities appealed
to him, and he soon found occasion to
tarn his knowledge to account. While
away on a short visit he wrote to his
father. The letter ran:
Dear Father: -I
hope yon are well.
mother is " '-"
- - sister
Dick
" " grandmother is weDL '
" Wish you were here.
"- " mother was "
" sister
. Dick 44
" grandmother was here.
" you would send me some money.
Your affectionate son, .
TOM.
Mother Mot Much Help.
Mamma When that bad boy threw
stones at you why didn't you come
and tell me instead of throwing stones
at him?
Tommle - (aged 6) Pshaw! That
wouldn't have helped any. You couldn't
hit the side of a barn.
V Why Adam Waa Luckiest. -
Little Johnnie Solomon may have
been the wisest man, but Adam was
the luckiest.
Mamma Why do you think so, John
nie? Little Johnnie 'Cause he was born
a man and didn't have to go to school.
An Old Story to Him.
"Now, boys," said the Sunday school
teacher to the juvenile class, "I'll tell
you about Jonah and the whale."
"Huh!" exclaimed a bright little 6-year-old
visitor; "ain't these kids on to
that fish story yet?"
Taking a Horse's Picture.
"Trouble? Nothing but that," declar
ed a photographer who has great suc
cess at snapping equine subjects. "And
this Is my busy season. Steeds captur
ing prizes must be photographed. So
must those who expect to at future
shows, not to mention the park stead
ies. Those who get left have their pic
ture anyway, by way of consolation.
If s a profession by Itself.
"A delicate compliment makes a wo
man look pleasant and babies are us
ually glad enough to put on a look of
Intelligence while waiting to hear the
little bird sing or watching or the
monkey. Not so with . Mr. Horse.
First you warm him up, then " you
prance him past while I size up the ef
fect. Then I shout out to bring him
round at a good clip, for it's all right.
But something's always wrong. Once
the owner's hat bows off. Second time
ronnd another team whips up between
and that's off. Next time the animal
shies on general principles. Then a
gust of wind blows his tail or if it's
cropped he drops it flat.
"Next time he looks suspiciously at
me and lays an ear back, perhaps two.
Then he loses his temper and gets tired
of the whole business and cuts capers
generally. In vain does the groom show
him a' measure of oats or run ahead
waving newspapers and emitting queer
cries.
"After a half . hour of endeavor,
anxiety and perspiration," said the
photographer, according to the Phila
delphia Record, "the owner, hot and
disgusted, tells me to snap the beast
anyhow, and It's over."
Government Autograph Collection.
Uncle Sam is not especially interest
ed in autographs, but in bis big library
at Washington he has a good many
letters and papers signed by some of
his most distinguished nephews. All
these manuscripts, which were not
well cared for until a few years ago,
are now being intelligently classified
and preserved. Harper's Weekly says
there are twenty-five thousand docu
ments of importance.
The Washington papers are the most
valuable. They include documents
written and received by the first Presi
dent, the reports from the secret ser
vice agents during the Revolution, let
ters from Rochambeau and state pa
pers. The John Paul Jones papers fill eight
volumes of the special kind of letter
file in which the national collection is
being arranged. There are thirty-five
volumes containing the proceedings ot
the commission formed for inquiring
into the losses, services and claims of
American loyalists. Another interest
ing colonial relic is of much earlier
date, the record of the Virginia com
pany covering the years from 1619 to
1624.
New England is well represented.
Mayor Peter Force, of Washington,
sold his great collection to the govern
ment. " The West is represented by the
literary remains of Schoolcraft, secre
tary to General Lewis Cass, and some
papers and letters of Cass himself.
S'pose the Fish Don't Bite at Fust
S'pose the fish don't bite at fust;
What be you goin' to dew?
Chuck down your pole, throw out your
bait.
An say your fi shin's threw?
TJv course you hain't, you're going to fish,
An' fish, an' fish, an' wait
Until you've ketched your basket full.
And used up all your bait.
S'pose success don't come at fust,
What be you goin' to dew?
Throw np the sponge an' kick yourself,
An' go to feelin blue?
TJv course you hain't; you're goin to fish,
An' bait, an' bait ag'in.
Biineby success will bite your hook; i
And you will pull him -in.
Houston Post. .......
A well-bred person is one who doesn't
boast about it.
v Treatment of Corn Smut.
The illustration sh6ws the effect of
the corn smut on the growing ears, and
ft is evident that the disease needs at
tention each season if the corn fields
of following years are to-be free from
this troublesome difficulty. Probably
the only way of getting rid of the trou
ble entirely Is to gather the smut pus
tules before they break and scatter the
spores. This work should be done as
soon as the trouble is noticed, going
over the field two or three times dur
ing the summer and gathering the pus
tules carefully, then burning them. In
this manner the disease will be grad
ually stamped out. It must be remem
bered, however, that if the spores are
scattered over the field the crop of
smut next year will be corresponding
ly greater. Spraying with . Bordeaux
mixture has not been fruitful of re
sults largely because the plants could
not be sprayed at the proper time with
out danger to the pollen fertilization of
the plant. Go through the corn field
early and follow the plan suggested
during the season, getting neighboring
corn growers to do the same thing, and
It will be comparatively easy to stamp
out the disease in a section. Indian
apolis News.
Fattening Old Cows.
There are those who think it does
not pay to fatten old cows, but we do
not agree with them." Given one fresh
or farrow in the spring, a good pasture.
and a regular grain feed every day
during the summer, and they can be
made to pay for their grain until fall,
and they will continue to gain in flesh
all the season. Then a little succulent
food, as soft or .mmature corn, waste
vegetables, pumpkins and such stuff as
seems to cost nothing on the farm, and
they will be In condition to take on
fat very rapid'r when the grain feed is
increased. . We know this because we
u.ve tried it. Beef that Is made In
that way may not bring the highest
price when sold to the slaugherer, but I
when put on the bench to be retailed
out it will be as good as much of the ,
steer beef that the marketmen handle,
and it will be sold at the same prices.
American Cultivator.
Typical Dairy Cow.
An Agricultural Department bulletin
shows an illustration of a dairy cow,
whose general features, it Is claimed,
are almost perfect. She has a medium
sized head and neck and a well defined
shoulder and neck vein. The body or
barrel is medium to long, but with a
great depth through the digestive re
gion and with a long, well developed
hind quarter and a nicely shaped ud
der. She Is short legged, close to the
ground, angular and free from fleshi
ness. Her body shows symmetry,
quality, correlation of parts and there
fore stamina and great digestive ca
pacity, and she exhibits every indica
tion of the power to give a large quan
tity of milk. It is rare that any person
purchasing a cow having such apparent
constitution and conformation, and yet
being a rangy, open jointed animal,
will be disappointed in her as a money
maker. There are exceptions to all
rules, however, and no type can be de
scribed that will meet every contin
gency and pass every swirmish line un
challenged.
Watch Growing Chicks.
If one is In the poultry business in
earnest, with a. view to making a profit
from it, due attention must be paid to
the growing chicks; not only to keep
them In the best possible condition, but
to know which are the most promising
for future work, and to treat them ac
cordingly. If one has a number of
chicks that are of better ancestry than
the Others, or chicks that are showing
good growth, and bear the earmarks
of good layers, they should be marked
in some way to identify them.
Irrigating; the Garden.
-The usual method of watering plants
of any kind Is by surface watering and
in normal seasons this seems to answer
the purpose, although it involves con-
CORW AFFECTED WITH "SMTJT.
AIT IDEAL DAISY COW.
siderable labor. In dry seasons or in
any season where it is possible to carry
on the plan at moderate cost, a plan of
irrigation which will carry the mois
ture under the surface of the soil so
that the plants may use it as desired
will be found most advantageous. Such
a plan can be carried out by a system
of tiles, as it Is done in arid sections,
but when small areas are to be watered
a number of trenches will answer the
purpose if the water can be pumped
into them at small expense
Waste Products on the Farm.
The work done on the farm just be
fore the busy spring planting begins
is very important, if proper considera
tion is given the matter of saving that
which is usually lost by Inattention to
details. The great waste of unsalable
farm products amounts to millions of
dollars annually, for farmers do not
seem to understand that It Is not al
ways necessary to send produce away
from the farms In order to find mar
kets. The farm Is the best market. In
fact, that a farmer can have, for if
he keeps live stock he will be able to
sell his raw products by converting
them into the forms of meat, milk,
butter and wool. The difficulty Is that
the waste products on the farms are
not properly utilized. One product,
that of corn fodder, has been wasted
for years, though now it is being
put to use with the aid of the shred
der, but it is in the manipulation and
handling of the manure and weeds that
the lessening of expense occurs.
Feeding; Bran.
With me stock always thrives when
bran Is fed in conjunction with grain.
I had a young mare that got out of con
dition during summer, and I tried to
fatten her on corn. I gave ten ears
three times a day. She did not do well
at alL I cut the corn down to six ears,
with a quart of bran, three times a day,
and I saw Improvement at once. I
drove her to buggy right along, an.I In
three months she was fat and in splen
did condition. I am careful never to
use stale feed. That Is what does the
mischief. Young stock do better on a
mixed feeding in which bran plays a
one-third part. I have known a great
many extravagant feeders who are
careless about watering stock. Cor.
Rural New Yorker.
To Stretrh. Barbed Wire.
Barbed wire Is "uncomfortable stuff
at the best. One of the easiest ways,
perhaps, to handle it when placing it
rpon posts is with the dev: e shown
in the accompanying illustration. This
FOB STKETCHING BARBED WIRE.
frame can be quickly made and from
It the wire can be unreeled as rapidly
as a man can walk, pulling the frame
work after him. When his companion
Is ready to staple the wire to a stake,
the pin Is put through the side of the
frame, locking the -eel, when the wire
can be pulled up as taut as desired.
xew England Homestead.
Swindling; the Farmer.
Still another signature swindle is re
ported from Indiana. Sharpers from
Chicago went through country dis
tricts, representing themselves as
hunters. They would approach a farm
er, tell him they wished to hunt on his
land, and cheerfully pay $5 for a per
mit to do so. The farmer would sign
a receipt for the' money, and this
turned up later as a promissory note
for $500. It Is said that the swindlers
secured $5,000 In one county by this
process. It is noticeable that most of
the swindling schemes now worked to
the detriment of the farmers, begin
with the payment of a small sum,'
which disarms the suspicions of the
victim. Rural New Yorker.
Cover Crops in Orchards.
Instead of the usual cover crops In
orchards some farmers prefer to have
the land cultivated in summer, thus
killing weeds and permitting moisture
and air to enter the soil, the stirring of
the soil protecting the roots of trees.
Late in the summer, about August or
after danger of drought is over, clover
is seeded and left until spring, the scar
let or crimson clover being preferred.
If the land is left In sod as a cover
crop it is claimed that the demands of
tne grass crop for moisture and plant
food in summer injures the trees.
Rust in Wheat.
Rust in wheat may be prevented by
destroying the spores in the seed. One
plan is to soak the seed in a solution
made by dissolving a pound of sulphate
of copper in ten gallons of hot water,
allowing the' seed to remain in the solu
tion twenty-four hours, then drying the
seed with fine land plaster and sowing
or drilling as soon as dry. Wheat that
showed indications of rust last year
should be avoided, however, and new
seed procured. It should also be plant
ed on a different .field from that on
which wheat was grown last year.
Feeding Lambs Beet Pulp. '
During the past season the feeding
of lambs on b-et pulp has been- very
satisfactory. At Lansing, Mich., some
3,000 were fed. Although at first the'
pulp was not relished and several died "
from eating it, later they did well. It
seems that the pulp gives the best sat
isfaction when fermented a little.