FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Fattening Stock.
It is not every farmer who can fatten
an animal economically. It is an art that
must be learned by study and practice.
There are many phases to this subject,
and their numerous conditions must be
thoroughly understood if the farmer
would realize the most from his feed ;
-Quantity of food, quality of food, variety
of food, warmth and quiet of stables and
many other important items must be
taken into consideration in fattening
stock.
As in many other departments of farm
labor, there is a great lacking here of
systematic work. Some are ignorant as
to the best methods, while others are
careless of their real interests, and have
no regularity in their work.
Every farmer seem3 to have his own
way, and it is too often chosen with re
gard to the convenience of feeding
rather than the economy. Ten chances
to one he never knows whether he has
gained or lost on the animal he has sold
to the butcher.
We cannot lay down any definite rules
to be followed in fattening stock, and it
would be still more difficult to follow
them up to the letter, supposing they
were given. But we can learn the gen
eral principles of economical feeling, and
should never rest until they are put into
practice. A man of good sense and judg
ment can apply them to his own particu
lar circumstances. I might, for instance,
say that the most economical method of
feeding rough food is by the process of
steaming, which would be very true,
while at the same time I would not ad
vise all farmers to go to the expense of
purchasing an apparatus for this work,
To those who have a large number of
animals and proper facilities it would be
good economy, but to the small stock
raisers or fatteners it would be impracti
cable or too expensive to be economical.
The same might be said of the silo and
other theories or methods.
Throwing aside the discussion of par
ticular methods, I would beg leave to
call the farmers' attention to some few
things that can be applied alike to all,
and in the programme of which the
nicest system and regularity should be
observed :
First Fatten stock in the stall. Turn
them out for exercise, but never feed in
the yard. The animal that is obliged to
fight for its food among the herd, and
eat it after it has been fouled and
trampled, cannot thrive up to its fullest
capacity. There is also an enormous
waste of food when given in this manner.
Second Give the animals warm, well
ventilated and quiet quarters. An ani
mal will take on fat much more readily
when it is made comfortable and not in
constant fear of injury. The idea that
an animal should be confined in a dark
stall probably originated in this way. I
do not consider darkness an important
condition, for if the other conditions
were attended to there would be no rea
.sonable grounds left for such a theory.
Nothing should be neglected that will
add to the comfort of the animal con
fined. It should be carded and bedded
as well as fed.
Third Give them their food in such a
condition that they can get its full nutri
tive value, and that, too, with the least
trouble and annoyance. If the fodder is
coarse, it should be cut up and sprinkled
with meal. A ton of corn stalks treated
in this way will do more good than a ton
and a half thrown into the manger whole.
If given whole, they will nose it over
Tintil they get all the leaves off, and then
commence on the tender portions of the
stalks, gradually working the mass over
until it is thoroughly fouled by their
breath, causing them to leave nearly half
of it uneaten. They should have their
feed of roots cut up, so that they will
not be obliged to gnaw them off. or run
the risk of choking.
Fourth Feed them regularly and water
them regularly. Regular feeding is an
important element in fattening stock,
and one that is too often disregarded by
the farmer. His chores must be done
"when he can do nothing else before day
light in the morning and after dark at
night, with a little intermediate atten
tion whenever he happens to be around
the house. The idea of taking caltle out
of a warm stable and turning them into
the yard before they have fairly eaten
their breakfast, and leaving them out
until dark again, is a very barbarous one,
and will surely work a loss to the farmer
who harbors it. W. D. B., in Prairie
Farmer.
Farm and Garden Notes
It is claimed that the use of an extra
amount of rennet in order to make cheese
cure quicker damages the stock, making
it "bone dry and stiff."
No good farmer will be long without
platform scales to weigh stock or produce
that he proposes to market. The use of
these scales will pav better interest on
their cost than will that of many other
implements on the larm.
The State chemist of Georgia advises
growing swTeet potatoes for fattenins
purposes. He finds thut two bushels of
them are equal in nutrition to one bushel
of corn. Land in the South that will
produce forty bushels of corn will easily
grow 151) bushels ol sweet potatoes.
The idea that apples stop the flow of
milk arises from turning cows into or
chards to pick up the fallen fruit. They
get a very uneven supply, and after
heavy winds undoubtedly eet too many
A few fed daily will increase the flow"
tind the amount fed may also gradually
be increased with benefit.
There is a great advantage in subsoil
plowing for wheat. The colder and
poorer subsoil is not turned up for a seed
bed, nor do the wheat roots penetrate it
deeply in the fall. But next spring and
summer this loosened subsoil is a reser
voir for water, giving it out as most
needed to perfect the head and grain.
A writer in the New York Tribune
states that for five years he had a horse
with hoofs shelly and brittle, so that it
was difficult to keep shoes on him during
the dry weather of July and August. In
May last he dressed hi3 feet with pine
tar, and now repeats it every week, and
the hoofs are perfectly sound even in
midsummer.
Professor Arnold states that it cost
more to make milk from old cows than
it does from young ones having the same
milk-producing capacity. The period of
profitable milking does not terminate at
the same age with all cows alike. Some
hold out longer than others, but, as a
rule, the best effects do not icach be
yond the eighth year of the cow's age.
It is claimed by an experienced horti
culturist that there is nothing equal to
the little and often system of pruning or
rather pinching. The soft young shoots
can be easily removed by the finger and
thumb, and the pruning, ' instead of be
ing confined to a single period, extends
throughout the whole season, or when
ever a shoot is noticed that demands
pruning.
Those who breed poultry are often per
plexed to know why the late hatched
chickens do not thrive as well as those
hatched early in the season. In nearly
all cases the difficulty may be traced to
lice, which prey so greedily upon the
chicks hatched in warm weather a3 to
make them feeble and subject to disease.
The best remedy for them is to dust the
chicks with Persian insect powder and
thoroughly clean the coops.
A writer in the Santa Cruz (Cal.) Sen
tinel keeps caterpillars, the appel aphis
and other varieties of pernicious insects
from his orchard and grapevines by the
following process: ''I take a five-eighths
bit and bore to near the center of the
tree, in trees five inches and upward in
diameter, fill tightly with sulphur and
ramie, then plug with a thin piece of
basswood, so that when dampness comes
to it it will reject water by easily swell
ing." Whenever a practical test of different
animals is made in feeding it is sure to
demonstrate that the employment of im
proved breeds secures a product of such
superior quality as to command an en
hanced price, and more of it in a given
time, or on a given amount of suitable
food. The great advantage and economy
of employing improved stock would be
still more apparent is pains were taken
to make the feeding experiments exact
and complete.
Small or newly set garden plants or
vegetables, which need watering in dry
weather, may be more injured than ben
efited if the operation is not properly
performed. Merely wetting the surface
of the earth forms a hard crust as soon
as it becomes dry. Covering the surface
"an inch and a half deep with fine broken
manure will prevent a crust, and the
earth will remain moist much longer.
Newly transplanted plants will do much
better with this mulching.
When farmers learn from experience
that by housing their manure and thor
oughly working it over, mixing with ab
sorbents and such as muck, earth, road
dust, leaves, etc., to take up the liquid
and the ammonia set free, its value is
double what it now is, and that, too, at
an expense much less than the same
amount of plant food could be obtained
in an artificial fortilizer, a new era will
have been reached ' in agriculture, and
we shall see the fertility of our old farms
brought back to where they were fifty
years ago.
1 he common practice of allowing ewes
and lambs to run together until taken up
for winter is bad for both. While the
ewe does not afford the three or four
months old lamb sufficient nourishment
to meet his wants, she does afford
enough to cause him to continually chase
her about, to annoy her and to spoil his
appetite for other food, and the drain
upon her system is sufficient to cause
much loss of flesh. The proper age at
which to separate a lamb from its dam is
when it is from fourteen to sixteen weeks
old; but it should be prepared for the
separation by being previously taught to
eat.
Probably there is no branch of farm
ing where, with proper care, an equal
amount of capital invested will yield so
large and sure returns as poultrv keep
ing. As an exchange remarks, "Poultry
can be converted into money while living
or dead, and no one has to wait for years
before he gets some of the benefit for
outlay and labor. But though this is
unquestionably admitted and proved,
nevertheless poultry keeping will not
yield much-prout if left to shift for
themselves, and neglected and unprovi
ded for in food and comfortable housing.
To be remunerative, the comfort and
well-being of the stock must be at
tended to." ,
Household Hints.
The unpleasant odor which pervades a
house while cabbage is being cooked
may be avoided by fitting a tube to the
lid of the boiler, which conveys the steam
from the cooking cabbage into the pipe
of the stove.
To prevent ink from damaging pens,
throw either ' into the ink-stank, or the
bottle in which the ink is kept, a few
nails, broken bits of steel pens (not var
nished), or any piece of iron not rusted.
The corrosive action of the acid contained
in the ink, is expended on the iron in
troduced. To remove iron rust, dissolve half a
teaspoonful of oxalic acid in part of a
cupful of boiling water, dip the rust
spots in this for a short time, then rinse
in several waters. As the acid is a poi
son, great care must be used in setting
it aside, and one must be sure of putting
it out of the reach of children.
An ornamental and convenient wall
pocket is made by covering a large palm
leaf fan with silk. If the silk is thin
put a sheet of white wadding under it,
so that the ribs in the fan will not show.
The silk must be put smoothly over it.
The handle of the fan must, when it is
hung on the wall, be at the left-hand
side, not inclined at all, but pointing
straight toward the left. A pocket is to
be shirred on across the fan; it is cut
rounding at the bottom, and straight
across the top. At the top of the pocket
put a bow of ribbon. Above the pocket
on the plain silk work, in delicate gray
etching silk, a spider's web, and at one
side pin on a metal spider, which can be
obtained at a milliner's store. This
makes a pretty ornament for the wall of
anv room. New York Pod.
How the Sultan Goes to Trayers.
An American correspondent tells in the
following how the Sultan of Turkey goes
to prayers at Constantinople :
At 0110 end of the main palace is a
handsome cream-colored mosque with
two minarets. Around this, though
kept at a respectable distance, were
crowds of people. The street leading to
the mosque was also lined with an ex
pectant multitude. Men were sweeping
the street clean, and then sprinkling
fresh gravel over it, to make the passage
of the carriage easier. Presently every
thing was complete, and soon after the
glitter of arms appeared in the distance.
The escort of soldiers was an immense
one, representing the very flower of the
Turkish army. They arc well-developed
men, elegantly uniformed, and un
der thorough discipline, as wa3
evidenced by the admirable style
of the few evolutions performed inci
dentally. When the soldiers had been distribu
ted properly in phalanxes about the door
I could get a view of the reyal train.
There were two carriages filled with fa
vored members of the harem who did not
alight. There was one carriage contain
ing the five princes of the royal house
hold, scared looking little fellows, from
ten to perhaps sixteen years of age.
There was thi sultan's cabinet and imme
diate staff on foot, directly in front of
the imperial barouche. There were two
other men in the carriage with his majes
ty, one of whom a fine-looking man
was Osman Pasha, I was told. The car
riage halted, his majesty alighted, and in
company with a few of his intimates,
ascended to the mosque, the head priest
sweeping off the steps before him. As
he did so the mueddin in the minaret bal
cony above sounded his sonorous call to
prayer.
Of course I could not get a good view
of the Sick Man owing to the tantalizing
movements of the boat. He is apparent
ly of medium height, and others who
were present say, has an expressionless
face, indicative of dissipation. Perhaps
his sickness is not wholly political. He
was dressed after the most approved
French style, in a black suit, with frock
coat, black tic, and the national fez as a
headdress. The lappel of his coat wa3
distinguished by two or three decorations,
including, doubtless, the Star and Garter.
I am told that his devotions consumed
an hour. .....
Uses of Arctic Exploration,
In three hundred years there have been
some two hundred Arctic voyages, for
various purposes and with various fates.
The Greely expedition was but one of
thirteen expeditions. Five hundred men
passed two winters within the polar
circle, and nineteen of them only were
lost. And Lieutenant Ray says that the
result of the observations of all these
expeditions will be the doubling of the
world's knowledge of the magnetic
forces. That is to say, as the Rev.
Brooke Herford states in his admirable
sermon upon this subject: "Not one of
all the thousand and ten thousand craft
sailing to and fro among the many lands
of earth but will be a little surer of its
compass, a little closer in its reckoning,
a little safer than it ever was before."
Is this worth nothing? Is not the
risk, the loss, even amply recompensed?
But also, as Mr. Herford points out, the
moral qualities, the patience, the cour
age, the self-denial, the faith, the en
durance, developed by these Northern
researches are incomparable. "There
is simply no other chapter in the history
of human doings to be compared with it.
Beside it the adventures of commerce
and conquest look greedy and base, the
stories of chivalry are mere tinsel, the
long heroism of the Crusades seems a
fevered frenzy." Cui bono? is not an
argument to discourage the restless soul
which the prospect of peril inspires, nor
will the pathetic story of the patient and
generous endurance, amid apparently
remediless suffing, which the record of
the Greely expedition discloses dismay
or deter other Greelys from daring the
same dangers. The Arctic story is one
of the saddest, but it is also one of the
noblest, in the annals of human heroism.
Ilarpefi Magazine.
Pleasures of Old Age.
A fine old writer says that an "old
man who is not a fool, is the happiest
creature in the world." With adequate
means of support, with few and simple
wants, he sits in his great chair, reviews
a long life well spent, sees his children
and grandchildren developing into use
ful and noble lives about him, watches
the progress of society, and reflects that
he has sown seed which is now bearing
fruit.
Acje's chief arts and aims are to grow wise,
Virtue to know, and, known, to exercise;
All just returns to age then virtue makes,
Nor her in her extremity forsakes;
The sweetest cordial age receives at last
Is consciousness of virtuous actions past.
All contact leaves its mark. We are
taking into us the world about us, the
society in which we move, the impress
of every sympathetic contact with-' good
or evil, and we shall carry them with U3
forever. We do not pass through a
world for naught; it follows us because
it has become a part of Vs.
INSTINCT TS. INTELLECT.
Remarkable Lessons Taught in the
4uiiual and Vegetable Kingdom
It has been but a few years since man
kind was willing to admit that animals
were endowed with reason. The intel
ligent and learned, however, do admit
that some animals not only have minds
but that they reason also. Instinct will
no longer answer as a name for the in
telligence qf animals. What shall the
quality of mind be called which enables
a young pigeon, after havins been taken
;400 miles from the cote in which it was
hatched, and tossed in the air to strike
a bee-line direct for its home? A dog
was once taken 157 miles from Cincin
nati in a railroad car and set at liberty.
In less than three days he had traveled
the whole distance and arrived safely
back at his master's house.
' There is a species of fishhawk in our
Northern lakes which seems to have most
remarkable eyes, microscopic as well as
telescopic. You may often see this fel
low in the morning hovering over the
Iplacid surface of some lonely lake, when
he will dart off, leave the water, and
take up his position upon the bare limb
of a blighted tree, and watch the track
over which he flew. Presently you will
see him leave his perch and, with the
accuracy and velocity of an arrow, strike
the bosom of the lake, grasp a fish and
bear it to his perch. Nature has fur
nished this bird with the bait to become
a successful fisherman. He has in his
throat or aesophagus a small sack in
which he secretes a kind of oil. This he
drops upon the surface of the water; the
fish are attracted to it, and at once there
is a great commotion in the water. The
hawk, seeing this, takes advantage of
the situation and at once pounces upon
his prey.
1 Among the instances of a superior
sense in the kingdom of the lower
animals is the turkey buzzard. Take
your position upon the prairie just at
daybreak, where you can see in all di
'rections for ten of fifteen miles,
and often further. Presently you
will discern what seems to be small
black specks, but in the course
of half an hour these specks will be cir
cling high in air over the spot where some
dead brute is lying. When you first saw
the birds they were miles away. Now,
the question is, do the birds see the ani
mal, or smell it, or both? Certainly there
is no human biped that can either see or
smell any object at so great a distance,
especially if the dead animal is on the
ground and obscured. If the birds have
eyes that have the powers of the tele
scope then the problem is solved; if,
however, the bird detects the location of
the animal by the sense of smell, we can
hardly conceive of olfactory nerves of
such delicacy.
The hearing of many animals is alto
gether superior to that of man. As is
well known to all observers of nature,
the cervical genus are particularly gifted
in this way. The deer, the moose, the
cariboo, antelope and gemsbok havo
hearing so accute that if the wind be
favorable they can hear the footsteps of
the hunter for miles.
While we are quite sure of our po
sition regarding the instinct, mind and
reason of some animals, we are not cer
tain that plants have mind and reason,
to which instinct is so closely allied;
but that they have what the world
calls instinct there can be no
question. There is a special
aquatic plant, said to grow in the island
of Madagascar, which if planted upon
the north side of a wall or barrier, and
there is a stream or pool on the opposite
side within reachable distance, will at
once bend its steps toward the water,
travel persistently up and over the wall,
down the other side and never rest until
it gets to the water. There it stops.
Some readers have heard of the Venus's
fly-trap of the Southern States. Some of
its leaves are made specially for fly-catching.
This plant secretes a sweet fluid at
the proper season to attract flics and
other insects. When they light upon
this resinous fluid they become entangled
and in their struggles the trap closes
upon them and their doom is sealed.
They are then absorbed, utilized by the
plant, forming, as Professor Gray thinks,
food for the plant.
Another of these savage carnivorous
plants is called the "sun-dew," which
grows in our marshes. It garnishes its
leaves with rubies and tips every point
with a beautiful diamond. The beams
of the morning sun kiss it as the courtier
presses his lips to the jeweled hand of
his lady-love. All this artistic display is
made to tempt the victim to certain
death. Around the brilliant rubies
and diamonds there is a colorless
glue. The moment the feet or wings of
any creeping thing touch this substance
the fate is death. Their vain struggles
only bind them more firmly. The leaf
now closes upon them and the prickly
points pierce their bodies like the fangs
of tigers or the talons of an eagle.
But the great destroyer is the pitcher
plant. Nowhere can there be found
such a death-dealing instrument or one
more ingeniously fitted for its work.
The leaves form into tubes, at the bot
tom of which there are the secret pools
of death. Into these the unfortunate
victims are hurled. Once down they
are lost. But it by chance some insect
more resolute and stronger than his fel
lows makes his way up the inside of the
tube a part of which is smooth and
he may think he is about to gain his
liberty, the illusion is soon dispelled.
The prisoner is met with, a perfect chev-aux-de-freize
firm, sharp hairs bar his
progress, and he can only fall back to
his final execution. The machinery of
these plants is perfect no human agency
can surpass it. They do their work like
thinking beings. They require no teach
ing. There is an intelligent, vitalizing
and energetic force organizing and per
fecting all these things. New York. World.
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.
l- An astronomer says that to travel the
distance of the sun at ordinary railroad
rates of fare would cost over $2,500.
000. , ' '
The first telegraphic instrument suc
cessfully operated was by S. F. B. Morse,
1835, though its utility was not demon-
strated until 1842.
Southey records in his "Commonplace
Book" that a physician, who had seen
more than 40,000 cases of smallpox, said
he had never met with the disease in a
person with red or light flaxen hair.
Science is not without its caprices.
Fifteen years ago, says the Medical Ga
zette, extirpation of" the kidney wa3
looked upon as a curiosity, if not exactly
a monstrbsity of surgery. - At present
there are 250 case3 on record.
Condors have become a pest in Chili,
ana the government is trying to extermi
nate them with a five-dollar bounty.
They are so keen-sighted that shooting
them is out of the question, and the
only known method of capture is by
traps baited with flesh. There can be
no destroying the eggs, because this vul
ture breeds on mountain peaks far above
the snow line.
While the eucalyptus or Australian
blue-gum tree destroys malaria and keeps
off mosquitoes in marshy soil, it has no
such effect upon dry soils. The differ
ence is ascribed by a German scientist to
the fact that the tree is constructed to
act as an evaporating machiwe, and only
does its work in marshy land. A feature
of the tree i3 its adaptability to different
climates, it being now grown in almost
every civilized country were frosts do not
occur.
There are now on the pension rolls
eighty-two widows of revolutionary sol
diers, and forty-eight of these come from
the Southern States. Nine are from Ten
nessee, eight from Georgia, eleven from
Virginia, four from West Virginia and
twelve from North Carolina. There is
only one revolutionary widow from Mis
sissippi, one in Massachusetts, three in
South Carolina, four in Ohio and New
York, five in Maine and New Hampshire,
seven in Vermont and eight in Pennsyl
vania. The feudal system of military service
in exchange for lands was fixed upon
England by the Norman conquest and
was borrowed from France. It was as
sumed that the whole land belonged to
the king, who divided it in knight's fees
among his followers, not only by way of
rewarding them, but to prevent insurrec
tion. ' When the Mason & Hamlin Company an
nounced the accomplishment of a great im
provement in Upright Pianos, which they
would soon give to the public, much was ex
pected, because of the vast improvements
which had been effected by them in reed in
struments, and the acknowledged superexcel
lence of. their organs. Those expectations
are fully justified by the pianos which they
are producing, which have extraordinary
purity and refinement of tone. Every me
chanic will see that the peculiarities of their
construction must add greatly to their dura
bility and especially their capacity to keep in
good tune.
This company have as great a future in
their pianos as they are already realizing in
their organs, which are confessedly un
equaled among such instruments. Boston
Traveller. .i
A good medical authority says beer is con
ducive to heart disease.
No Physic, Kir. In Mine !'
A good story comes from a boys' boarding
school in "Jersey." The diet was monotonous
and constipating, and the learned Principal
decided to introduce some old-style physic in
the apple-sauce, and await the happy results.
One bright lad, the smartest in school discov
ered the secret mine in his sauce, and pushing
back his plate, shouted to the pedagogue : "No
physic, sir, in rnine. My dad told nie. to use
nutliin' but Dr. Pierce's 'Pleasant Purgative
Pellets,' and they are doing their duty like a
charm!" They are anti-bilious, and purely
vegetable.
Virginia's crop of peanuts is estimated at
11,000, C03 bushels this year.
Any lady who desires further information
than can be given in the limited public epace
of newspaper columns can obtain Mrs. Lydia
E. Pinkham's pamphlet "Guide to Health'
by sending a stamp to Lynn, Mass.
Of the C0,000 Jews in New York city not
one is a bartender.
"Hello !" we heard one man say to another,
the other day. "I didn't know you at first,
why, you look ten years younger than you
iiid when I saw you last." I feel ten years
younger," was the reply. "You know I used
to be under the weather all the time and gave
up expecting to be any better. The doctor
said I had consumption. I was terribly weak,
had night-sweats, cough, no appetite, and lost
flesh. I saw Dr. Pierce's 'Golden Medical Dis
covery' advertised, and thought it would do
no harm if it did no good. It has cured me.
I am a new man because I am a well one."
Chcrch bells are going out of use in every
considerable American city.
It's no secret nostrum. We speak of Dr.
Pierce's Extract of Smart-Weed, composed of
best French Brandy, Smart-Weed, Jamaica
Ginger and Camphor Water. It cures chol
era morbus, colic or cramps in stomach, diar
rhoea, dysentery or bloody-flux, and breaks up
colds, fevers and inflammatory attacks.
Since 1882 France has had five epidemics of
cholera.
Hat-Fever. I have been a great sufferer
from Hay-Fever for fifteen years and have
tried various things without doing any good.
I read of the many wondrous cures of Ely's
Cream Balm and thought I would try once
more. In fifteen minutes after one applica
tion I was wonderfully helped. Two weeks
ago I commenced usiig it and now I feel etif
tirelij cured. It is the greatest discovery
ever known or heard of. Duhamel Clark.
Farmer, Lee, Mass. Price 50 cents.
25 Cents
WiJ buy a Treatise on the Horse and His
Diseases Book of 100 pages, valuable to
every owner of horses. Postage stamps taken.
Sent postpaid. New York Horse Book Co..
134 Leonard Street. New York city.
"KoiiU on Knts.
Clears out rats, mice, roaches, flies, ants, bed
bugs, skunks, chipmunks, gophers. 15c. Drgts.
To Match that Bonnet ? Feathers, ribbons,
velvet can all be colored to match that new
hat by using the Diamond Dyes. 10c. for any
color at the druggists. Wells, Richardson &
Co., Burlington, Vt.
MIB U-39