r~—~
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
BY A. CONAN DOYLE.
Capyrijat. »03. C»Wri<h«. 193$.
bf A Ganna Day la and Collier's Waalily. by McClure. Phillips Q Co.
Ill—THE ADVENTURE OF THE
OANCING MAN.—Continued.
'It la a privilege to be associated
with you la the handling of a ease."
said the Inspector, warmly. "You will
excuse me. however, If I speak frankly
to you You are only answerable to
yourself, but I have to answer to my
superiors. If this Abe Hlaney, living i/t
Elrtge’s, Is Indeed the murderer, and If
he has made hi# escape while I am
seated here. I should certainly get Into
serious trouble.”
"You need not be uneasy. He will
not try to escape."
"How do you know?”
"To fly would be a confession of
guilt."
“Then let «» go and arrest him.”
"I expect him here every instant.”
"Rut why should he come?"
“Because I have written and asked
him.”
"But this Is Incredible, Mr. Holmes!
Why should he come because you have
nHked him? Would not such a request
rather arouse his suspicions and cause
him to fly?”
“I think I have known how to frame
the letter.” said Sherlock Holmes. "In
fact. If I am not very much mistaken,
here Is the gentleman himself coming
up the drive."
A man was striding up the path that
led to the door. He was a tall, hand
some. swarthy feflow, clad In a suit
of grey flannel with a Panama hat. a
bristling Work beard, and a great, ag
gressive hooked nose, and flourishing a
can* as he wslked. He swaggered up
the path as If the place belonged to
him. and we heard his loud, confident
I*eal at the bell.
"I think, gentlemen." said Holmes
quietly, “that we had best take up our
position behind the door. Every pre
caution is necessary when denting with
such a fellow. You will need your
handcuffs. Inspector. You can leave
the talking to me"
We waited In silence for a minute—
one of those minutes which one can
never forget. Then the door opened
and the maa stepped In. In un In
stant Holmes clapped a pistol to hts
head and Martin slipped the handcuffs
over his wrists. It was all done so
swiftly and deftly that the fellow was
helpless before he knew he was at
tacked. He glared from one to the
other of us with a pair of blazing black
eyes. Then he burst Into a bitter
luugh.
“Well gentlemen, you have the
drop on me this time, I seem to have
knocked op against something hard.
Rut I cum here In answer to a let
ter from Km. Hilton Cubltt. Don’t
tell me that she Is In this? Don’t tell
me that aha helped to set a trap for
me?"
"Mrs. HI)to* Cubitt was seriously In
jured. and is at death's door.”
The man gave a hoarse cry of grief,
which rang through the house.
"You’re crasy!” he cried, fiercely. "It
was he that was hurt, not she. Who
would have hart little Elsie? I may
have threatened her—God forgive me!
—but I would not have touched a hair
of her pretty head. Take It back—you!
Say that she Is not hurt!”
"3ho wai found, badly wounded, by
the aide at her dead husband.”
He sank with a deep groan onto the
settee and hurled his face in his man
acled hands. For five minutes he was
silent. Then he raised hts face once
more and spake with the cold com
posure of despair.
"I hare nothing to hide from you,
gentlemeii’’ sold he. “It I shot the
man he had shot at me, and
there's no tsorder in that. But if you
thtnk I could have hurt that woman,
then you know neither me or her. I
tell yon. there never was a man In the
world loved a woman more than I loved
her. I hit a right to her. She was
pledged to me years ago. Who was this
Englishman that he should come be
tween uaf I tell you that I had the
first right to her, and that I was only
claiming my own.”
“She broke away from your influence
when she found the man that you ere,”
said HMmea, sternly. "She fled from
America to avoid you, and married an
honorable gentleman in England. You
dogged bar and followed her and made
her life « misery te her in order to
Induce her to abandon the husband
whom she loved and respected in order
to fly wtth ynn. whom she feared and
hated. Ten have ended by bringing
about the death of a noble man and
driving Ms wife to suicide. That is
your record In this business, Mr. Abe
Slaney. and you wlUI answer for it to
the law.”
“If Ktoie dies, I care nothing what
becomes of m“ said the American.
He opened eew of bis hands and looked
at a note crumpled up In his palm.
"See hem, mister.” he cried, with a
gleam of suspicion In hts eyes, “you're
not trying to scare me over this, are
you? If the lady Is hurt as bad as you
say, who was it that wrote this note?"
lie tossed it forwards onto the table.
“I wrote ft. to bring you here.”
“You wrote It? There was no one
on earth outside the Joint who knew
the secret of the dancing men. How
came you to write it ?”
"What one man cam invent another
can discover.”aald Holmes. “There is
a cab coming to convey you to Nor
wich. Mr. Slaney. But, meanwhile, you
have Ume to make some small repara
tion for the Injury you have wrought.
Are you aware that Mrs. Hilton Cubitt
has herself lata under grave suspicion
of the murder of her husband, and
that it was only my presence here, and
the knowledge which I happened to
I tosses*. which has saved her from the
accusattenT The least that you owe
her is to make clear to the whole world
that she was in no way. directly or tn
di-ecUy. responsible for his tragic end.”
“I ask nothing bettor," said the Am
erican. "1 guess the very best case I
can make tor myself Is the absolute
naked truth.”
“It Is my duty to warn you that it
will be used against you,” cried the in
spector, with the magnificent fair play
of the British criminal law.
Slaney shrugged hts shoulders.
Tit chance that," said he. "First of
ail. I want you gentlemen to under
stand that I have known this lady since
she was a child. There were seven of
us in a gang In Chicago, and Elsie's
father was the boss of the Joint. He
was a ctevee man, was old Patrick. It
was he who invented that writing,
which would pass as u child's scrawl
unless you Just happened to have the
key to it- Well. Elsie learned some of
our ways, but she couldn't stand the
business, and she had a bit of honest
money of her owe. so she gave us all
the slip and got away to London. She
had been engaged to me, and she would
have married me, I believe. If 1 hud
taken over another profession, but she
would have nothing to do with any
thing an the cross. It was only after her
plumage to the Englishman that 1 was
a hi* to And out where she wag 1
wrote to her, but got no answer. After
that I came over, afiu. as letters were
no use, I put my messages where she
could read them.
"Well. I have been here a month now.
I lived on that farm, where I had a
room down below, and could get In and
out . very night, and no one 'he wiser.
I tried all l could to eoajc Elsie away.
I knew that she read the messages, for
once she wrote an answer under one
of them. Then my temper got the bet
ter of me. and I began to threaten her.
She sent me a letter then, Imploring
me to go away, and saying that It
would break her heart If any scandal
should come upon her husband. She
said that she would come down when
her husband was asleep at three In the
morning, and speak with me through
the end window, if I would go away
afterwards and leave her in peace.
She (ame down and brought money
with her, trying to bribe mo to go. This
made trie mad, and I caught her arm
and Iricd to pull her through the win
dow. At that moment. In rushed the
husband with his revolver In his hand.
Elsie had sunk down upon the floor,
and we were face to face. I was
heeled also, and 1 held up my gun to
scare him off and let me get away.
He fired and missed me. I pulled off
almost at the same Instant, and down
he dropped. 1 made away across the
garden, and as I went I heard the win
dow shut down behind me. That’s
God's truth, gentlemen, every word of
It; and l heard no more about It. until
that lad ranic riding up with a note
which made me walk In here, like a Jay,
and give myself Into your hands."
A cab had driven up whilst the Am
erican had been talking. Two uni
formed policemen sat Inside. Inspector
Martin rose and touched his prisoner
on the shoulder.
"It is time for us to go."
"Can I hbc her first?"
"No she Is unconscious. Mr. .Sher
lock Holmes, I only hope that, if ever
again I have an Important case, I shall
have the good fortune to have you by
my side.”
We stood at the window and watched
the cab drive away. As I turned back,
my eye caught the pellet of paper
which the prisoner had tossed upon the
table. It was the note with which
Holmes had decoyed him.
“See if you can read It, Watson,”
said he, with a smile.
It contained no word, blit this little
line of dune log men;
Y tYJi"TT
A J * /4y i w y\
"If you use the code which I have ex
plained," said Holmes, “you will find
that It simply means 'Conte here at
once.’ 1 was convinced that it was an
Invitation which he would not refuse,
since he could never imagine that H
could come from anyone but the lady.
And, so, my dear Watson, we have
ended by turning the dancing men to
good when they have so often been the
agents of evil, and I think that I have
fulfilled my promise of giving you
something unusual for your note book.
Three-forty is our train, and I fancy
we should be back In Baker street for
dinner.'*
Only one word of epilogue. The Am
erican. Abe Slaney, was condemned to
death at the winter assizes at Nor
wich, but his penalty was changed to
penal servitude In consideration of
mitigating circumstances, and the cer
tainty that Hilton Cubitt had fired the
first shot. Of Mrs. Hilton Cubitt I only
know that I have heard she recovered
entirely, and that she remains a widow,
devoting her whole life to the care of
the poor and to the administration of
her husband's estate.
IV—THE ADVENTURE OF THE
SOLITARY CYCLIST.
—\ ROM the
>5years 1894
to 1901 tn
elusive,
Sheri ock
Holmes
was a very
busy man.
It is safe
to say that
there was
n o public
case of any
lifflcultyln
which he
was not
c o n suited
during
those eight
i years, and
there were
h u n dreds
j of private
cases, some of them of the most Intri
cate and extraordinary character, in
which he played a prominent part.
Many startling successes and a few un
avoidable failures were the outcome of
this long period of continuous work.
As 1 have preserved very full notes of
all these cases, and was myself person
ally engaged in many of them, it may
be imagined that it Is no easy task to
know which I should select to lay be
fore the public. I shall, however, pre
serve my former rule, and give the
preference to those ca ea which derive
their interest not so much from the
brutality of the crime as from the In
genuity and dramatic quality of the
solution. For this reason I will now
lay before the reader the facts con
nected with Miss Violet Smith, the
solitary cyclist of Charllngton, and the
curious sequel of our investigation.
Diun't r\now.
Cluest at Country Hotel—Where's the
lavatory?
Landlord—I don't know no such hotel
In town. This is the Feequod house.
I which culminated In unexpected trag
| edy. It is true that the circumstance
I did not admit of any striking lllustra
, tlon of those powers for which my
friends was famous, but there were
' some points about the case which made
! it stand out In these long records of
i crime from whlen I gather the ma
terial for (.her little narratives.
On referring to my note book for the
1 year 1x35. I find that it was upon Sat
: arday. the 23rd of April, that we llrst
heard of Miss Violet Smith. Her visit
was. 1 remember, extremely unwelcome
| to Holmes, for he was Immersed at the
j moment In a very abtruse and compli
! cat -1 problem concerning the peculiar
i persecution to which John Vincent
, Harden, the well known tobacco mll
I llonai-e had been subjected. My friend,
i who loved above all things precision
I and concentration of thought, resented
| anything which distracted his atten
! tlon from the matter In hand. And
yet. without a harshness which was
foreign to his nature, it was impossible
to refuse to listen to the story of the
young and beautiful woman, tall,
graceful and queenly, who presented
herself at Baker street late in the even
ing ami Implored his assistance and
advice. It was in vain to urge that
his time was already fully occupied, for
the young lady had come with the de
termination to tell her story, and it was
evident that nothing short of force
could get her out of the room until she
had done so. With a resigned air and
a somewhat weary smile, Holmes
begged the beautiful Intruder to take
a seat, and to inform us what it was
that was troubling her.
“At least it cannot be your health,"
said lie. as his keen eyes darted over
her; “so ardent a bicyclist must be full
of energy.”
She glanced down in surprise at her
own feet, and I observed the slight
roughening of the side of the sole
caused by the filotion of the edge of
the pedal.
“Yes, 1 bicycle a good deal, Mr.
Holmes, and that has something to do
with my visit to you today."
My friend took the lady’s ungloved
hand and examined It with an close
attention and as little sentiment as a
scientist would show to a specimen.
“You will excuse me, I am sure. It Is
my business,” said he, as he dropped It.
"I nearly fell into the error of suppos
ing that you were typewriting. Of
course, it Is obvious that It is music.
You observe the snatulate finger ends,
Watson, which is common to both pro
fessions? There Is a spirituality about
the face, however”—she gently turned
It towards the light—"which the type
writer does not generate. This lady is
a musician.”
“Yes. Mr. Holmes, I teach music.”
“In the country, I presume, from your
complexion?"
"Yes, sir, near Farnham, on the bor
ders of Surrey.”
“A beautiful neighborhood, and full
of the most Interesting associations.
You remember, Watson, that it was
near there that, we took Archie Stam
ford. the forger. Now, Miss Violet,
what has happened to you, near Farn
ham, on the borders of Surrey?"
The young lady, with great clearness
and composure, made the following
curious statement:
My father is dead, Mr. Holmes. He
was James Smith, who conducted the
orchestra at the old Imperial theater.
My mother and I were left without a
relation In the world except one uncle,
Ralph Smith, who went to Africa twen
ty-live years ago, and we have never
had a word from him since. When
father died we were left very poor, but
one day we were told that there was
an advertisement in the Times, Inquir
ing for our whereabouts. You can im
agine how excited we were, for we
thought that someone had left us a
fortune. Wp went at once to the law
yer whose name was given in thejpa
l>er. There we met two gentlemen,
Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Woodley, who
were home on a visit from South Afli
ra. They said that my uncle was a
friend of theirs, that he had died some
months before in great poverty in
Johannesburg, and that he had asked
them with his last breath to huht up
his relations and see that they were In
no want. It seemed strange to us that
Uncle Ralph, who took no notice of us
when he was alive, should be so care
ful to look after us when he was dead,
but Mr. Carruthers explained that the
reason was that my uncle had just
heard of the death of his brother, and
so felt responsible for our fate.”
“Excuse me,” said Holmes. "When
was this Interview?”
“East December—four months ago.”
“Pray proceed."
“Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a
most odious person. He was for ever
making eyes at me—a coarse, puffy
faced, red-mustaclied young man, with
his hair plastered down on each side of
his forehead. I thought that he was
perfectly hateful—and I was sure that
Cyril would not wish me to know such
a person.”
"Oh, Cyril is his name!” said Holmes,
smiling.
The young lady blushed and laughed.
“Yes, Mr. Holmes, Cyril Mor
ton, an electrical engineer, and
we hope t6 be married at the
end of the summer. Dear me. how
did 1 get talking about him? What I
wished to say was that Mr. Woodley
was perfectly odious, but that Mr. Car
ruthers. who was a much older man.
was more agreeable. He was a dark,
sallow, clean shaven, silent person, but
he had polite manners and a pleasant
smile. He inquired how we were left,
and on finding that we were very poor,
he suggested that I should come and
teach music to his only daughter, aged
ten. I said that I did not like to leave
my mother, on which he suggested that
I should go home to her every week
end, and he offered me a hundred a
year, which was certainly splendid pay.
So it ended by my accepting, and I
went down to Chlltern Grange, about
six miles from Farnhatn. Mr. Car
ruthers was a widower, but he bad en
gaged a lady housekeeper, a very re
spectable, elderly person, called Mrs.
Dixon, to look after his establishment.
The child was a dear, and everything
promised well. Mr. Carruthers was
very kind and very musical, and we
had most pleasant evenings together.
Every week end 1 went home to my
mother In town.
(Continued Next Week)
Animate and Fire.
Chicago Journal: Most animals are
afraid of (ire and will fly from it In ter
ror. To others there is a fascination
about a flame, and they will walk Into
it, even though tortured by the heat.
A horse in a burning stable goes mad
with fear, but a dog is as cool in a lire
as at any time. He keeps his nose
down to the floor, where the air is pur
est, and sots himself calmly to finding
i his way out.
Cats in tires howl piteously. They
hide their faces from the light and
crouch in corners. When their rescuer
lifts them they are as a rule quite do
cile and subdued, never biting or
scratching.
Birds seem to be hypnotized by fire
and keep perfectly still: even the lo
quacious parrot In a fire has nothing
to say.
Cows, like dogs, do not show alarm.
They are easy to lead forth, and often
And their way out themselves.
The first bomb outrage occurred on
Christmas eve, 1800, when St. Najant
tried to kill Napoleon. More than 130
people were Injured by the explosion.
■J
Knew His Uncle Dudley.
Robert had often seen his Uncle Fred
buying groceries from the hucksters. On#
day ills uncle noticed the little boy shak
ing his toy bank.
"How much money have you, Robert?”
he asked.
"Two cents.” was the answer.
“Now, if I should give you four cents
more, how much would you have then?"
"Ten cents.”
“No you wouldn't." corrected Uncle
Fred, “you would then have six cents.”
"I knew It," defended the boy. “I
knew It, but I was sure you would try to
beat me down.”
Gun Cotton as Fuel.
“Bight another hundred-foot candle of
condensed gun cotton! We must make
the next mile In less than a minute!"
That command, or something like It, will
bo given by the commander of a United
States torpedo-boat In the next war In
which this country may unhappily be en
gaged, writes Mr, W. R. Stewart In Tech
nical World Magazine for April. It will
not mean that, finding his ship In a des
perate situation, the captain has decided
to blow himself and hts whole command
out of the water. It will signify only the
adoption as emergency fuel of the wan
derful new compound, “motorite," a secret
composition of gun cotton and nltro-gly
cerine, invented by Hiram Maxim, whose
“Maximite" Is the high explosive now used
by the government In submarine torpedoes.
Motorite for fuel use Is packed In long
steel tubes and under forced draft can fur
nish an almost unlimited amount of power
for a short distance.
A COLD BROUGHT IT ON.
Severe Congestion of the Kidneys
Soon Cared by Doan’s Kidney
Fills.
Richard M. Pearce, a prominent
business man, of 231 South Orange
street, Newark, N. J., says: "Work
ing nights during
bad weather brought
on a heavy cold, ach
ing of the limbs and
pain in the back and
kidneys. Severe con
gestion of the kid
neys followed. Be
sides the terrific ach
ing there were whirl
ing headaches, and I
became exceedingly
weak. My doctor could not help me,
and I turned to Doan's Kidney Pills,
with the result that the kidney con
gestion disappeared, and, with if all
the other symptoms. What Is more,
the cure has lasted for eight years.”
Sold by all dealers. 50 cents a box.
Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y.
Eagles and Their Pray.
From Youth s Companion.
Ornithologists are inclined to discour
se the idea that eagles are In the habit
of attacking large animals, but a con
test witnessed by an observer and re
corded In the Scotsman dispels such a
theory. The battle was between an
sagle and a stag. The bird singled out
from a herd one particular buck, which
It succeeded In driving from the rest,
it struck the animal with Its powerful
wings, knocked It down and finally
killed It.
A still more remarkable spectacle Is
well authenticated. An eagle attacked
a fawn In the highlands. The cries of
the little one were answered by its
dam, which sprang upon the eagle and
struck it repeatedly with its forefeet.
Fawn, deer and eagle rolled down a
declivity, the bird was dislodged from
Its hold and the fawns rescued.
Many traditions are extant as to the
carrying olt of children by eagles. The
most recent case bearing close scrutiny
is one which happened In South Africa.
A Boer farmer whose stock had been
harried by eagles lay in ambush for
the robbers and saw one of them de
scend and carry off the five-year-old
child of one of his Kaffir servants. He
shot the bird, which, with the ehil<i
still clutched In Its grip, fell Into a
thorn bush. The bird was dead, but the
child was little hurt.
Two eagles will stalk a covert in con
cert. While one conceals Itself the oth
er beats about the buBhes with great
screaming, driving out its quarry for
the hidden eagle to swoop down upon,
t An even more insidious method had
been observed. An eagle seeing a sheep
I on the edge of a precipice, flew at it,
screaming shrilly and with forceful
beat of Its wing hurled it into the val
ley below, where it could devour it at
leisure. In the light of such records
there is good reason for believing the
legend of the eagle dropping a tortois\
on the bald head of Eschyius, the Greek
i poet, and so causing his death.
“COFFEE JAGS.”
The Doctor Named Them Correctly.
| Some one said "Coffee nevor hurts
any one.” Enquire of your friends and
note their experiences,
i A Philadelphia woman says:
“During the last 2 or 3 years I be
came subject to what the doctor called
‘coffee Jags’ and felt like I have heard
men say they feel who have drank toG
much rum. It nauseated me, and I fell
as though there was nothing but coffee
flowing through my veins.
“Coffee agreed well enough for a
time, but for a number of years I
have known that It was doing me great
harm, but, like the rum toper. I thought
I could not get along without It. It
made me uervous, disordered my dlges
, tlon, destroyed my sleep and brought on
j frequent and very distressing head
■ aches.
I “When I got what the doctor called
a ‘coffee jag* on. I would give up drlnk
! ing It for a few days till my stomach
regained a little strength, but I was
always fretful and worried and ner
vous till I was able to resume the use
of the drug.
“About a year ago I was persnnded
to try Postura, but as I got It In res
taurants It was nothing but a sloppy
mess, sometimes cold, and always weak,
and of course l didn't like It. Finally
I prepared some myself, at home, fol
lowing the directions carefully, and
found It delicious. I persevered In Its
use. quitting the old coffee entirely, and
feeling better and better each day. till
I found at last, to my great Joy. that
my ailments had all disappeared and
my longing for cofTee had come to an
end.
I ‘i have heretofore suffered Intensely
from utter exhaustion. I>esides the other
ailments and troubles, but this summer,
using Postum. 1 have felt fine." Name
given by Postuui Co., Battle Creek,
Mich.
There's a reason.
Restaurant cooks rarely prepare Pos
tum Coffee properly. They do not tel
| It boll long enough.
WELL DRAINED SOIL FOR FRUIT
TREES.
Even the plum which will stand more
wet than any other class with the possible
exception of the quince requires that the
*oil be well drained; there is a difference
Vetween a moist soil and a wet soil and a
anil may be well drained yet be moist. It is
pext to impossible to expect adequate re
sults for time and labor expended in rais
ing fruit in orchards unless the soil is
placed in proper condition. No fruit tree
will thrive on soil that is wet whether the
wet be on the surface or beneath it. Any
noil with depth enough to supply fertility
to the tree roots will grow fruit trees for
even if it is not rich enough it can be made
so provided it is not so sandy that the fer
tilizer goes beyond the reach of the roots
or so wet that the roots rot Instead of
grow. The wet soli can be subdued by
draining and the sandy soil put in proper
condition by stable manure or by growing
any crop which will supply humus and
plowing such crop under.
A PROMISING LATE STRAWBERRY
The Fremont Williams strawberry is one
of the new late sorts from which much is
expected. When it Is introduced the name
will doubtless be shortened In accordance
with the general plan of using but one
name for a variety when possible. The
variety has been under test throughout
the country for two years and has shown
every indication of being all that was
claimed for it by the originator. Its one
bad featurfe, and this will be mainly in the
opinion of the consumer, Is Us rather mis
shapen form. It Is fully as late as the
Gandy generally considered the best late
•i
„ort, of much better quality and ta large
■ nd firm. In color It la an attractive
bright crimson and this feature ought to
offset, to some extent, the bad shape. If
It does as well under general culture as it
has under tests It will be a valuable
acquisition. It has nor yet, so far as the
knowledge of the writer goes, been Intro
duced but doubtless will ho offered a year
from now. Those who raise late varieties
of strawberles for market should keep
track of this sort.
FROM PASTURE TO BARN.
Those who advocate the use of dogs In
driving the cows to and from the pasture
may be right provided they have the right
sort of a dog but there are few dogs that
can be trusted to do their duty properly;
none unless they are trained from puppy
hood. The average dog consigned to this
work barks and generally annoys the ani
mals until they are more or less fright
ened. some of them fighting and all of
them runntng. This running the cows
from the pasture to the barn does much
more Injury than generally supposed and
assuredly makes the flow of milk much
less. The supply of milk depends very
largely upon the condition of mind of the
cow; if she is happy and contended she
gives down her milk freely and the food
she consumes makes rich milk of the be3t
quality; If she Is frightened her milk
loses both In quality and quantity.
WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR CON
GRESSMAN.
What the fate of the bill before the com
mittee to stop the free distribution of seeds
Bent out by the department of agriculture
will be Is. at present, problematical but
every farmer who is interested In having
government money property expended
should write to his congressman now and
hrge him to vote In favor of abolishing the
fraud. The quarter of a million of dollars
used for this free seed humbug can be
better expended for the benefit of farmers.
Bear In mind that these seeds are sent out
in sealed packages ar l bear no postage so
that in addition to the expenditure for
seeds the government has to pay the rail
roads to carry the trash. As an evidence
of the lack of discrimination used In send
ing out these seeds an editor residing In
North Carolina received seed of Early
Minnesota corn which Is absolutely value
less In the south. The money now used
for this free seed distribution would do
the farmers of the country much more
good If It were added to the government
appropriation for the several state experi
ment stations. Write your congressman
today.
SO CALLED PEDIGREE PLANTS.
A number of nurserymen, so far as
known of good repute, have been offering
plants mainly strawberry plants, to the
public under the name of "pedigreed
plants.” We believe the name to be an
unfortunate one and to give the buyer a
wrong Impression. Several well known
horticulturists have taken up arms against
these pedigreed plants and claim they are
of no more value than any other of the
plants formed on the runner from the par
ent plant. In this they are unquestionably
mistaken, for. as all growers know, the
first or second plant formed by the parent
Is superior to the ones nearest the end of
the runner and It follows that If Ihis class
of plants Is perpetuated through coming
generations they are superior to those
from the plants formed at the tip of the
runner and perpetuated. The pedigreed
plants are nothing more or less than Ihe
following out of the plant of plant selec
tion; that is, selecting the best and strong
est plants from which to propagate. If
this Is done with good results in oilier
fruits why not with the strawberries? The
one danger, so far as the buyer of these
plants is concerned, lies in the possiMl'ty
of careless help In Ihe nursery not follow
ing out Instructions given by their employ
er and there is no way around this danger
except as the nurserymen may see with his
own eyes what '» being done or have faith
ful foremen who will honestly carry out
ills plans.
RAISE CHICKS UNDER COVER.
As recently noted in this department It Is
much easier to hatch the chtcks In the In
cubator than it Is to raise them in the
I brooder and this solely Jbecause the chicks
will get chilled uidees one is close at hand
to watch them. With no cluck of the
watchful mother to guide them the chicks
will oftcn«tay out In the cold until chilled
with the warm brooder a dozen feet away.
For this very reason it will pay to have
some building arranged so that the chicks
can remain under cover all the time until
they are old enough so that a little chill
weather will not hurt them. Such a build
ing should be arranged so that It will be
light and have considerable sun come In
through the glass covered windows. An
excellent plan when raising chicks in the
incubator 13 to start the brooder several
days before the chicks are expected so as
to thoroughly test Its condition. Use a
thermometer during this test so that you
may know Just how easy or how hard it Is
; to keep the proper temperature. By this
plan you will know Just how to run the
brooder when the chicks begin to come.
Above all things see that the floor of the
brooder house Is clean and Is kept clean
If you would avoid disease and consequent
deaths among the young chicks.
STILL PROFIT IN FRUIT GROWING.
An old subject upon which we have
touched before, but one peculiarly open to
repetition each planting season w'hen the
Items are going the rounds of the newspa
pers to the effect that there is no longer
any money In fruit raising. The fact of
the matter Is there 1> more fruit consumed
today per capita of the population than
there was twenty years ago and It Is sold
at higher prices at that. As time goes on
the city dweller, the principal consumer of
fruit, realizes more and more Its health
fulness and consumes more of It this year
than he did the year befAre. On the other
hand he Is more discriminating and Is fast
learning to recognize the good sorts and
the bad and just here Is where the grower
must wake up or he falls behind and does
not find fruit growing profitable. There
is not nor has there ever been any over
production of first class fruit nor Is there
likely to be. The man who grows a firsi
class product and markets it attractively
will always find fruit growing a business
well worth his best efforts; on the other
hand, the man who Is willing to grow any
sort of fruit and to market the several
grades well mixed will find profitable fruit
growing a dream and not a pleasant one at
that.
ROTATING WITH THE STRAW
BERRY.
The best growers of strawberries long
since discovered that the same soil would
not produce paying crops many years In
succession and that rotation there was
just as necessary as with farm crops.
There Is no set rule as to what the crops
used In rotation shall be except that they
should be something which will give a
hoed crop one year and a crop which may
be plowed under to add humus to the soil
another year, for It must be remembered
that as the best strawberries are grown on
soil that is rather light such soil Is us
ually deficient In humus which must he
supplied by one of the rotating crops. One
good rotation is to plow under as soon
after fruiting as possible and sow to win
ter wheat following this by sowing clover
In the early spring, plowing under at the
proper season and sowing to rye to be
plowed under In the early spring and then
resetting to strawberries. Or, sow to rye
after the plowing under In the middle of
the summer, plow under the rye in the
spring, plant to potatoes, sow to rye again
In the fall, plow this under In the spring
and set again to strawberries. The rota
tion to be followed may bo almost any
thing In accordance with local conditions
provided the strawberries do not follow
themselves too soon.
FEEDING THE CALF EA8ILY.
The calf is a subborn little thing and
Is quite averse to being taken from Its
mother, so that, oftentimes, the problem
of feeding it is not the easiest one In the
world to solve. Any arrangement which
will do the work readily Is warranted and
one of the best plans we know of can be
evolved from the following: Keep the
calf In a pen of some kind with a solid
front. Then cut a Bquare opening in the
front just big enough to receive the food
pall. Hinge the piece that is cut out to
swing In. Then put chains, ropes or a traps
to the side of the openings (see figure A)
and attach to the cut out portion by means
7T1 . ’
of staples. The chain must be just long
enough to allow the cut out section (B)
to drop down level as shown In the lower
part of the cut altho.ugh the chains do not
show in this part of the illustration. A
cleat Is nailed on the out edge of the cut
out portion (B) and another on the outside
of top edge of opening. The pail is set in
position from the outside and the cleat at
the top of opening and outer edge of cut
out portion prevents the pail from being
overturned or the contents from spilling
out. This plan does away with the annoy
ance of trying to set a pail full of milk
over into the pen of a hungry calf who in
his haste usually knocks it out of the
hands of the feeder.
POINTS ON PRUNING SHRUBS.
If those who have shrubbery on their
grounds would but remember the simple
fact of the period of bloom and that the
blossoms on the spring blooming shrubs
are formed on the wood that was grown
I after the blooming season of a year ago
| hence if these shrubs are pruned in the
! spring we ‘■ imply cut off the flower-bearing
! shoots and no flowers are had. The time
to prune spring flowering shrubs Is just
| after they have stopped blooming so that
they may have the rest of the summer in
which to grow the flower shoots for an
other spring. The fall blooming shrubs
should be pruned In the spring for they
will then grow the flower shoots for the
coming fall period of bloom. One can see
how simple it la If they will Jjjjt remember.
