"Just a Minute.”
} boy once faced a task, and knew
He should begin it;
lie could not start to put it through
For "just a minute.’'
And though the case demanded speed.
He could not move just then; but he'd
Be ready for it—yes. indeed,
In "just a minute.”
His purposes were out of rhyme
By "just a minute.”
The whole world seemed ahead of time
By “just a minute.”
He could not learn to overhaul
His many duties. large and small.
But made them wait, both one and all,
For “just a minute.”
lo manhood he was still delayed
By “just a minute.”
Me might have won. had Fortune stayed
For "just a minute.”
But at the end of life he railed
At cruel Fate, and wept and wailed.
Because he knew that he had failed
By "just a m'nute.”
—London Answers.
The Barrel Jumping Art.
Many a boy who is a hrst-rate
"standing broad” jumper will be
atutnped utterly in barrel jumping. It
is no easy thing, and. like many sports
©f the kind, it requires a "knack” to
win at it.
We will suppose that several of your
Boy friends can beat you in a standing
Broad jump. When you tell these
chaps that you can turn the tables on
""1 i
I
_t. 0 1
The Wrong Way to Jump.
them in barrel jumping they will quite
aaturally scoff at you and say:
•'Well, get your barrel and we'll
•how you.”
Then get your barrel.
Make them jump first. They will
climb on the barrel, which lies inno
cently on its side. .The barrel will roll
and wriggle beneath them, and when
yon tell them that a rule of the game
is that no jumper must stay on the
barrel more than thirty seconds, one
tr two of them will be out of it at
Hie start, for they will be quite unable
•» get their balance in that time so
•hat they can get in their favorite
Jumping position.
The best of them will be abie to
jornp but a few feet from their tick
fish perch, for the barrel will roll be
neath them, offering no resistance to
the backward push of their feet when
tkey try to jump.
Now you yourself take a turn. You
stand about two feet from tne bar
rel and jump lightly upon it, but the
instant your feet touch it you jump
again and sail through the air, landing
several feet beyond the farthest mark
made by the others. The secret is
that the momentum of your first jump
carries you forward, and that when
yon jump from the barrel you leap
straight up in the air, not for
ward, for the momentum of your first
jump carries you on far enough. The
ground belowT the barrel lends resist
ance from that direction, while there
§* none to keep the barrel In place
when the others leap straight forward
from it.
Hidden Rivers.
Here is a jolly game.
Pass around to each of the players
a sheet of paper with these sentences
written on it.
Tell the players to find a river hid
den in each sentence, and not only tc
write down the name of the river, but
to state some one thing that he knows
aboat that river.
It will keep the players busy and
lappy for some time, you may be sure.
This game was got up by Miss Virginia
Baker in the Normal Instructor.
1. Yes, Adam, a zone is a belt pass
ing around the earth.
2. Mi»3 Elsie Davol gave a party.
3. That lawless gang escaped from
prison.
4. Oh, Eugene, see my new ">ook!
6. Will you rally round the flag?
6. Industry brings its own reward.
7. •‘Hullo!" he shouted. "Hullo!’' I
replied.
8. We must sever now our friend
ship.
9. Whatever happens, don't forget to
be polite.
10. Ned drew a plat and a chart.
11. Hurry, or we shall miss our ride.
12. The cucumber landed on the
ground.
13. Baby Is taking a little nap.
14. Oh, 1 overlooked that picture.
15. Bees gather honey from the
flowers.
ANSWERS.
1. Amazon; crosses northern part of
South America.
2. Volga; eastern part of Russia.
3. Ganges; northeastern part British
India.
4. Genesee; crosses western part of
New York.
5. Ural; separates Europe and Asia
6. Indus; western part of British
India.
7. I oire; central part of France.
8. Severn: central part of Canada.
9. Po: northern part of Italy.
10. Plata; eastern part of South
America.
11. Missouri; crosses northwestern
and central parts of United States.
12. Cumberland; crosses Kentucky
and Tennessee.
13. Lena; northern part of Siberia.
14. Ohio; eastern part of United
States.
15. Rhone; eastern part of France.
Birds with Teeth.
Birds are simply reptiles which have
shed their scales and teeth, grown
wings and feathers, and invaded the
dominion of air. The very oldest bird
of which science has any record had
very sharp teeth, rather w’eak wings
and a long tail adorned with twenty
pairs of quill feathers. Some of these
birds were not able to liy at all, and
they nearly all lived on fish. Gradual
ly, as they developed through the
centuries, they grew more feathers,
longer and stronger wings, lost their
teeth and got sharp, hard bills instead.
There were no birds before the rep
tilian age. and every bird that flies co
dav traces its ancestry back to a
sharp-toothed snake. So the old joke,
‘‘As long ago as when hens had teeth,'
is not so much of a joke after all.
Tree Game—Good Fun.
You boys and girls can have lots of
fun some evening playing the follow
ing game from the Normal instructor.
The grown folks in your family will
enjoy it just as much as you will.
Some of the questions are not very
easy to answer, either.
1. What is the most level tree?
Plane.
2. Which is the brightest colored
tree? Redwood.
3. Which tree suggests thoughts of
the ocean? Beech. «
4. What tree would we prefer on a
very cold day? Fir.
5. What tree contains a domestic
animal? Mahogany.
6. What tree might very properly
wear a glove? Palm.
7. What tree is a pronoun? Yew.
8. Which is the most melancholy
tree? Blue gum.
9. Which tree is a tale teller?
Peach.
10. Which tree is an insect? Lo
cust.
11. Which is the dandy among
trees? Spruce.
12 Which tree is an invalid? Pine.
13. Which tree never is barefoot
ed? Sandalwood.
14. Which tree can best remember
numbers? Date.
15. Which tree has passed through
fire? Ash.
16. Which is the most ancient tree?
Elder.
The Czar’s School.
The little daughters of the czar will
be rather ignored by public interest
from now on. as the tiny czarewitch,
Alexis, will occupy the center of the
stage. This will be in accordance
with the wishes of the czarina, who
has always favored a quiet and sim
ple life for her daughters, says the
Minneapolis journal.
Until the czarewitch reaches the
walking age he will not go far from
the imperial nursery, but as soon as
he is old enough—and a prince does
not have a long babyhood—he will be
placed with his sisters in the imperial
school, which occupies a little villa
in the great park at Peterhof. The
villa adjoins the Dutch and Swiss
dairies, and is a combination school
and nursery for the royal children.
No public school has stricter rules
and no hotel is governed in a more
business-like way. One of the imperial
chamberlains acts as head of the
household and all of the other officials
and attendants are dwarfs. The imp
doorkeeper is only 37 inches tall, m
spite of his formidable whiskers and
scarlet coat, and the tallest of the
24 footmen is only four feet in his
stockings. According to tradition
these dwarfs are descended from, the
spit-turners in the kitehen of Peter
the Great, and their services are in
herited with the crown.
The villa is surrounded by a num
ber of pavilions, each being a separate
and distinct playroom to which the
royal children go for their lessons on
six days in the week. They are
taught religion, first, and then lan
guagos, art and the history of person
ages, as well as countries. Dolls, gath
ered from all parts of the globe, serve
as illustrations. Riding, economics,
cooking and needlework are learned
and the management of servants is
taught with an establishment for each
princess, fully supplied, with even a
chancellor and treasurer. The little
czarewitch will be instructed in army
and navy tactics as well.
Just now there are only seven pu
pils in this unique school, the four
daughters of the czar, two cousins
and the 12-year-old princess of Monte
negro, and each is accompanied by a
nurse and a governess.
A Blind Pig Scrap Book.
One of the funniest of scrap books
is the “Blind Pig” book. It is not full
of blind pigs, but the young folk who
diaw the pigs are blindfolded, hence
the name.
Any blank book will do. Have each
of your friends shut his or her eyes
tightly and draw' a pig on a page of
the book. The eyes must not be
opened until the drawing is finished,
and then the artist will see the queer
est-lookir.g thing you can imagine as a
result of his or her efforts.
Each artist should sign his or her
name to the pig, which will look like
almost anything else but a pig. The
book is a most interesting thing to
keep, and when its pages are full of
A Page of the Book.
pigs, drawn and signed by all your
friends, it is a curiosity, indeed, and a
treasure which will be of interest to
you all of your life.
Game of Bees and Pigeons.
A girl is chosen to represent the
“Robber Bte.” She sits down and the
other players approach her and move
their arms to represent flapping
wings. They say:
“We pigeons come a-flying!”
The Robber Bee asks:
“Whence come you a flying?
Have a care! Have a care!
Of the Robber Bee beware!
Of the Robber Bee beware!”
As soon as she has said “Of the
Robber Bee beware!” the second time
she jumps up and tries to catch a pig
eon. The captured one must become
a Robber Bee and help the first Bee,
and so on until the players have all
been caught.
The last one to be captured be
comes the Robber Bee for the next
game.
CHRISTMAS FIREPLACE CUT OUT.
r
Cut out the three pieces, following the outlines, and cut out the center of the fireplace. Bend all dotted
lines. Bend under and paste to the under parts of the shelf the parts marked A, then paste under the two sides
pieces BB. Bend back the sides of the fireplace and connect the two side panels with the laps CC. Paste the laps
DO to the side panels and the lap E to the back on a line with the shelf. Fold up the base, pasting the laps FF
underneath and the strip In front of the fireplace in the blank space Q. Bend up the clock and ornaments,
bend down the stockings and paste the middle part to the shelf in the blank space H.
VERDI AND THE EDITOR.
Latter Set Out to Procure Bargain
and Was Shorn.
Verdi achieved his first musical suc
cess with “Nabucodonosor,” and after
its performance in the theater at
Milan he went home to the poorly fur
nished room in which his young wife
had died some months previously
from sheer lack of the necessaries of
life. Throwing himself on the bed he
slept until 5 o’clock in the morning,
when he was aroused by some one
knocking at the door.
“Come in,’’ he said, and Merelli, the
famous Milanese editor entered. He
felt confident that “Nabucodonosor’’
would not be an enduring success and
he thought that he could purchase it
from the composer at a low figure.
“How much do you want for the
opera?’’ he asked.
“Thirty thousand francs,” replipd
Verdi.
Merelli was dumbfounded, for he
had supposed that the composer
would have been quite willing to sell
the work for four or five thousand
francs.
“What is that you said?” he asked.
“I have said,” replied Verdi coldly,
“that 1 will sell you the opera for
thirty thousand francs because you
have taken the trouble to call on me
before 5 o’clock in the morning. The
price this evening will be fifty thou
sand francs.”
The editor paid the sum required,
but was so much chagrired at not get
ting a bargain that he took to his
bed and remained there two months.
BOY GAVE THEM IDEA.
How Railroad Men Got Their Engine
Off “Dead Center.”
A traveling man relates that while
riding on the new Orient line between
Harper and Anthony a few days ago.
one of the side rods of the engine
broke, and the other side stopped on
a “dead center,” so that when the re
pair was made it was impossible to
start the train again. He says:
‘ The engineer, the conductor, and
all the passengers took turns going
over the thing and trying to devise a
way to make it run. Finally a boy
came cut of the field where he had
been plowing to see what was going
on. He crawled through the wire
fence and sat down on the bank and
fanned himself with his straw hat.
“ ‘If you’d back that last car up the
grade an’ let 'er come down kerchunk,
that ’ud start her,’ he finally suggest
ed. deliberately.
‘ The railroad men sniffed contempt
uously, but the passengers sided with
the boy. Finally the conductor gave
orders that the rear car be uncoupled.
No less than fifty passengers caught
hold and pushed the car up the grade, j
Once at the top the car was let go. |
The loose coach gained momentum as
it came down the hill, and in spite of |
the engineer's admonition to let her
come down easy,' the emergency bat
tering ram crashed into the train w ith
a tremendous thump. The engine was j
bumped off ‘center- all right."—Kan .
sas City Star.
Fixing the Blame.
Mayor Weaver of Philadelphia re
lates how a prominent business man
of that city who owns a very dilapi- j
dated frame building in the Heberew j
quarter was recently summoned by
telephone by the tenant, a small cloth- |
ing merchant, who stated that the j
place was on fire.
The business man was very indig
nant when, on arriving at the scene ot
the fire, he found the damage was 1
insignificant, the firemen having
speedily extinguished the flames. An
noyed that he should have been called
away from some important business,
he remarked rather sharply to his ten
ant:
“It's a pity the whole thing didn't
burn!”
“My dear sir.” replied the tenant,
with a deprecating gesture of his
shoulders, “you can’t blame me; I
didn’t send in the alarm!”
Money in Shetland Ponies.
“It is a wonder to me. ’ said Mr. T.
W. Moulton, of New Orleans, at the
Shoreham, “that the opportunity oi j
making money by breeding Shetland :
ponies is so greatly overlooked. Here i
is a business that is light, pleasant
and profitable. Good specimens ol
these ponies are always in demand
by people of means, who buy them
for the pleasure of their children. It i
is a common thing for a Shetland tc
sell for $100. and they often brine
more. They are easy to raise, and
being small eaters, their keep is not
expensive. I have a friend down south
that makes a comfortable living out
of a little herd of these ponies, and it
is by no means his principal occupa
tion.”—Washington Post.
The Voyage.
I go not where I will, but must;
This planet-ship on which I ride
Is drawn by a resistless tide;
I touch no pilot wheel, but trust
That One who holds the chart of stars.
Whose fathom-lines touch lowest deeps.
Whose eye the boundless spates sweeps.
Will guide the ship through cosmic bars.
My soul goes not a chosen way;
A current underruns my life.
That moves alike in peace or strife.
And turns not for my yea or nay.
Not on the bridge, but at the mast,
I sail o'er this far-streaming sea;
I will arrive: enough for me
My Captain’s smile and word at last.
More Than Good.
“Entre nous,” said Miss Ayers, who
delights in talking dictionary
French, “aren’t you quite fond of Mr
Godley?”
“Oh, yes,” replied Miss Bright,
“he’a quite a good friend of mine.”
“Ah! your bon ami?”
“Better than that. He’s ray bon
bon ami. He,brings me a box even
evening.”
Temperance for Children.
In the temperance periodical Der
Abstinent, Prof. Nothnagel expresses
the opinion that children under fif
teen should abstain net only from all
alcoholic drinks, but from tobacco,
coffee and tea.
Japanese Hospital Ships.
Japan has four hospital ships, sup
plied with all the most modern appli
ances, including ventilators, steam
heat, electric light, electric fans, etc.
There is a special X-iay nni 1m. each
ship.
The Thoroughbred Dairyman.
It takes the thoroughbred dairyman
to produce a good herd of dairy cows.
This is because there is no rule that
may be laid down by which the work
of dairy herd producing may be uner
ringly accomplished. The work is not
ane that may be cut out by machinery
after some particular pattern, but, to
use a common phrase, we must “cut
and fit.” The whole thing comes
back to the quality of the man that
does the “cutting and fitting.”
We have had a very small number
of thoroughbred dairymen in the past,
and that is why we have so few real
, ly good dairy herds. Fortunately the
state dairy schools and the progres
sive dairymen in all the states are
now laboring to produce a large num
ber of thoroughbred dairymen and we
lave reason to hope that in the fu
ture the tribe will not be so small as
it has been in the past.
The thoroughbred dairyman is al
ways trying to educate himself in
dairy knowledge. He finds this a hard
task with the present sources of in
formation; for the information itself
is but just being accumulated. Much
he learned yesterday he is compelled
to let go of to-day, and some part of
what he learns to-day will have to be
discarded to-morrow. But the thor
oughbred is not discouraged by this
state of things. He is not only not
satisfied with the amount of informa
tion that he can get from others but
he sets to work to do some experi
menting on his own behalf. He finds
enough to keep him busy in trying to
solve the problems that are yet un
solved or that have been solved in a
very imperfect manner. This kind of
dairyman is making his impress on
the country because he is a worker
and knows how to intelligently direct
his operations, whether they relate to
the work of his dairy or to the experi
ments he Is conducting.
The thoroughbred dairyman learned
long ago to control his temper and to
be gentle with his dairy animals. He
also insists on the other men having
the care of the cows being gentle. He
has learned perhaps by instinct that
a rough manner or a boisterous voice
does not increase the milk flow or
the production of cream. Gentleness
is one of the things that marks him
as distinct from most of his fellows.
Milking Machines.
Of the various makes of milking
machines that are being sold on the
market the Thistle seems to stand at
the head, though it has few friends
in the United States. We hear from
it however from time to time in Eng
land, Germany and Australia. In
those countries it is being tested quite
extensively, with varying results so
far as making itself friends and ene
mies. In recent tests in Germany it
has been used continually for a year
or two but the cows where it is used
are not kept for milking purposes be
yond a year and a half. Then they
are sold to the butchers and new cows
purchased. It has been asserted that
the milking machines dry up the cows
and reduce the length of the milking
period. With cows that are only to be
milked to the end of one milking pe
riod it is impossible to ascertain the
truth of this. A few cows purchased
would not allow themselves to be
milked by the machine. Some of the
hard-milking cows had to be stripped
by hand after the machine had done
what it could, but the easy-milking
cows were milked clean by it. It
seems to be evident that if we are
to have milking machines we will
nave to develop a special class of
cows with teats of a certain conforma
tion and with milk ducts that easily
and quickly give down the rniik.
Improved Dairy Cows.
Most of the dairy cows in the coun
try are without pedigree, that is, they
are grades. The day of the '•just
cow“ has passed. The distinct breeds
have been used so widely over the
country that their blood is to be found
in almost every community. It has
been said of the beef grades that a
good feeder is the one that shows
most of some distinct beef breed in
him. Of the dairy cows it may be
stated as a general truth that the best
dairy grade is that one showing a
large proportion of blood of some
breed noted for milk production. This
truth is not put at naught by the fact
that many of these cows without pedi
gree show Shorthorn blood. There is
the milking Shorthorn wnose blood is
quite generally diffused over the coun
try. The great trouble with it is that
no effort has been made to keep it
distinct from that of the beef Short
horns. Dairymen should take the hint
from this fact and get as high grades
as possible. If they buy a bull to
place in their herd it should be a pure
bred bull and not a grade.
Cow With First Calf.
The cow with her first calf is not
generally a large milker, and often
she does not give enough milk and
butter fat to pay for her keeping.
This is no proof that she will not be
a good producer of butter and milk
in the future. Doubtless many a
good cow has been lost by reason of
the owner passing judgment on her
when she was a heifer. Some of the
most renowned milkers in the world
were small milkers with their first
calves. The same cow at eight years
^f age may be worth double what she
was at three, and may give twice as
uiuch milk and butter-fat on the same
amount of food she consumed when
a heifer.
The Goat and Disease.
One thing in favor of the goat is
.hat it is little subject to disease.
.Vhether this is true of all of our
jommon diseases we do not know.
Doubtless the goat is subject to some
disease. At least it is asserted that
tne goat does not have tuberculosis,
if this is so it is a strong factor in
its favor. Its milk should, in that
case, be used more and more, and
new and better breeds of milk goats
should be developed. We are sup
posed to have about two million goats
in this country. A physician says
that we should have twenty millions
just to supply milk for the babies of
the country*
Colts and Nutrition.
Without doubt the size and vigor of
colts depend largely on the nutrition
of the mare before the birth of
the colt. A well-nurtured mare will
bring forth a vigorous colt. If the colt
have a perfect ration he will develop
into a strong horse. Bad nutrition is
the cause of physical and mental in
feriority in the human family and the
same is true of the equine race. The
mentality as well as the physical force
of the horse is governed by the food
question. It is certainly true that
some of the animals thai are depend
ent on man are more poorly nurtured
than they would be if turned out to
hunt grass for themselves. Who has
not seen brood mares worked so long
on poor food that they were merely
"skin and bones,” to use a common
expression. Yet such animals in such
condition were permitted to bring
forth colts. The prenatal influences
of such animals are against them.
They will be backward in physical de
velopment and will be to a consider
able extent more stupid than other
colts that have been born under better
conditions.
The mare must be well nourished
if a good colt Is to be secured from
her. The owner will need to studv
the laws of nutrition a little if he is
to get the best results. Too many of
our brood mares are given only corn
and timothy hay, which is a very bad
ration for an animal expected to in
crease the horse population of the
world. Where timothy hay is fed,
oats should be substituted for corn.
That is, the protein element in the
food should be supplied. When tim
othy hay and corn are fed the protein
is painfully deficient.
Fattening Sheep for Prefit.
Where possible the farmer should
fatten his own sheep. Recently we
heard about a community of farmers
where a great many sheep had been
raised but had been sold to men that
made a business of fattening and fit
ting sheep for market. The men ..hat
did the finishing in this case took
their sheep only a few miles away
and began the work of putting on
flesh and fat. They came back from
time to time to buy the clover and
corn fodder of the farmers and even
the grains they had raised. But prin
cipally they purchased the rough feed
that every farmer had in abundance.
The finishers made money out of their
enterprise. The question naturally
comes, why didn't the farmers them
selves have the enterprise to keep
the rough feed at home and not let go
of the animals to consume it. They
would then have retained on their
farms the manure that was lost to
them. In some cases the farmers in
the locality mentioned hauled hay and
other roughage fifteen miles to sell to
the men doing the feeding. It looks
very much as if some of our farmers
have not figured the different opera
tions down close enough to know what
will prove profitable and what will
not. We need the work of the pencil
more in the problems of the farm, i
Because a certain method of doing >
has become the vogue is not a proof j
that it is the right thing to do or that
it is the profitable thing. Ultimately
it will be found that it pays the farm
er to follow all the operations of sheep
breeding, feeding, including finishing
on his own farm.
Cattle Breeding.
Cattle breeding is not the easy
science that it seems to be. It is
fraught with problems that the strong
est minds have studied and have not
entirely settled. Among them are the
great questions of in-breeding and
atavism. In-breeding is one of the
obstacles we place in the way of
atavism, that is, the tendency of ani
mals to revert to the primeval type.
This matter of in-breeding is one that
must be handled in the most careful
manner, though it is not as necessary
now as it was in the early days of
the breeds. Then it was used as a
means of securing continuance of type
and the quality known as prepo
tency.
It is an encouraging thing that our
agricultural colleges are making the
exhaustive study they are of the sci
ence of breeding. It is more encour
aging to know that the experiment
stations are backing up the agricul
tural colleges by carrying on experi
ments to set at rest some of the great
controversies of the past. The world
has benefited greatly through the work
of the men that founded the leading
cattle breeds. That benefit is to be
increased by the work of the stations
in fixing the lessons that are to be
taught. The whole tendency is to stop
the methods of bad breeding that have
done so much to deteriorate the stock
of the country. A minister recently
said that many men know what is
right, but that few men do what is
right. We may say the same of cattle
breeding. More men know how to
breed right than do breed right.
The Clean Stall.
It is a useless piece of advice per
haps to say “keep the horse stall
clean.” Yet we have seen horse stalls
that were always dirty. Moreover we
have seen white and gray horses kept
in such stalls. When they came out
of them in the morning it was a good
task to get the dirt and stain off them.
They were unsightly in spite of all
the washing that «ould be done. A
good many farmers are too much
afraid of wasting bedding. Sometimes
too they shake out and save not only
the dry straw but also much of the
wet straw. The horse is not a dirty
animal and there is little use in let
ting him get dirty. If the stall is
kept clean work will be saved.
Farm buildings should be given a
"going over” before the cold of the
winter comes. Too many cracks in
the barn may give abundant ventila
tion, but they give more—too many
drafts. Ventilation is health, but
drafts are the opposite. It does not
cost much to stop up cracks, and if
one kind of material cannot be se
cured for this work another can.
As a general thing the grape vine
yard should be given clean cultivation
every year.
I POULTRY
Geese.
In common geese the' males and
females differ in plumage, but this is
not the case with the pure-bred geese.
In their case the males and females
are alike. The largest geese are the
loulouse, and these are popular with
men that have a fancy for large fowls.
If a man wants layers, however, he
will choose the China. Those that
raise the geese largely for feathers
will choose the Embden, because their
feathers are pure white, and hence
the market value of them is greater
than with those geese whose feathers
are multi-colored. If a man merely
wants to produce birds that can be
marketed to good advantage he wiil
find a cross of the Toulouse with the
Embden give good results.
Where geese have access to a pond
or a river they will derive much of
Deir subsistence from the water. The
writer knew of a man that lived on the
banks of a river and had a large flock
of geese. Across the shallow river
was a starch factory, and from this
a large amount of soaked corn daiiv
ran from the sluices into the river.
The geese made their living off thi3
corn, which they fished up out of the
water. It made a perfect food so
far as softness and digestibility wer*
concerned. They balanced their ra
tion with the semi-aquatic plants grow
ing in the river and along its margin.
There are many like situations where
a flock of geese would save what
would otherwise go to waste.
Shallow ponds in summer teem with
fish, water beetles, worms and other
forms of life. A flock cf geese shows
great enjoyment in hunting their own
food in such places. Geese are also
consumers of some of the hugs that
disturb the peace of the farmer. One
man told the writer how he used to
use them for the destruction of po
tato bugs. The geese would travel
down the rows, darting their heads
nowr to this side and now to that.
They consumed in the course cf a
day a very large number of bugs.
The fault to be found with them was
that they did net do their work per
fectiy, but left colonies of bugs here
and there, which later had to be des
troyed by other agencies.
The goose lays from twenty-five tc
fifty eggs and if she could be bred
up to lay more would become more
popular on the farm. Perhaps it is
possible to ultimately develop geese
to lay as many eggs as hens, but that
result is a long way in the future
at the present time.
Preservation of Hen Manure.
It has been a fact of common knowl
edge for a long time that, as ordinar
ily stored, hen dung loses a large part
of Its nitrogen. Because of the small
number of hens kept by most farmers,
little attention has been given to
means of preventing these losses. The
Maine Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion has made a careful study of the
effects of chemicals upon the loss of
nitrogen, and reached the following
conclusions.
By itself, hen dung is a one-sided
nitrogenous fertilizer. As usually man
aged, one-half or more of its nitrogen
is lost, so that as ordinarily used it
does not carry so great an excess of
nitrogen. Because of its excess of
nitrogen it will be much more econom
ically used in connection with manures
carrying phosphoric acid and potash.
As both acid phosphate and kainit
prevent the loss of nitrogen, it is po»
sible to use them in connection with
sawdust or some other dry material
as an absorbent so as to make a well
balanced fertilizer. For example, a
mixture of 30 pounds of hen manure,
10 pounds of sawdust or dry loam. 16
pounds of acid phosphate, and eight
pounds of kainit would carry about
1.25 per cent nitrogen, 4.5 per cent
phosphoric acid, and 2 per cent pot
ash, which, used at the rate of 2 tons
per acre, would furnish 50 pounds ni
trogen, 185 phosphoric acid and 80
pounds potash.
Frsshness of Eggs.
There are many old ways of test
ing the freshness of eggs. Some of
them may be of little value. Here
is one that Is going the rounds, but
for which we cannot vouch. It may
be all right: Eggs are placed in a pan
of water, giving each room enough
,so that its motions will not be inter
fered with by the others. The air in
the egg will be governed according to
the age of the egg, if the egg has
been kept in a moderately warm state.
If the eggs are just laid they will be
motionless. If they are more than a
week old they will partly stand on
the little end. This is because the
air chamber is in the other end of
the egg. This air chamber grows
larger as the egg becomes older and
the moisture in it evaporates. When
the eggs get still older they will stand
up straight in the water and when
very old will float.
This test of course would be of no
value in the case of pickled eggs or
of eggs kept in cold storage where
the temperature was so low that the
evaporation of moisture from the eggs
would be very small.
Don’t Market Unfattened Stock.
We have seen the traveling buyer
of chickens drive up to the farm
house and ask for poultry. We have
seen the farmer get out a pan of
corn and toll the hens and roosters
about him, then draw them into the
henyard and the work of selecting
begin. The cockerels were sold with
out an hour of fitting. They were
gaunt and lean shanked. They
weighed light when put on the scales
or hung on the steelyards. The farm
er got out of them very little for the
care he had bestowed on them. These
birds should not have been sold with
out being fitted. Shut them up and
give them at least three weeks of goo*
feeding.
Bottled milk is of no more value
than any other kind of milk unless un
usual care Is used In cleaning the
bottles every time they are used
A good bone mill will pay its cost
many times over in the course of a
year, with a fair-sized flock.