Few insects, and certainly no other species of the natural order to which this one belongs, have caused such enormous pecuniary losses as has the chinch bug. No other insect native to the western hemisphere has spread its devastating hordes over a wider area of the country with more fatal effects to the staple grains of North America than has this one. But for the extreme susceptibility of the very young to destruction by drenching rams and to the less though not in significant destructiveness during rainy seasons of the parasitic fungus, on both the adults and the young, the practice of raising grain year after year on the same areas, as followed in the United States, would become altogether unprofitable. Some of this insect’s own habits, emphasizing as they do the effects of meteorological conditions, are the most potent influ ences that serve to hold it within bounds, by giving its tendency to ex cessive increase a decidedly spasmod ic character. The shaded portion of the map shows the extent of territory affected by chinch bugs. For the farmer engaged in attempts to check the ravages of the insect in his fields the question of origin, or how it came to reach him, will at the time have little interest for him. .It will suffice that it Is present in overwhelming numbers, and what he will most desire will be to learn how to rid his premises of its most un welcome presence. If, however, the farmer happens to be a thoughtful and observing man, he will sometimes wonder how it is that, except in Virginia and the Caro linas, a person need not be very aged in order to remember a time when the chinch bug was an unknown fac tor in his profession, with a possible value far too small to merit considera tion. If he happens to reside in northeastern Ohio, or in some por tions of New York, and has spent some time in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas or Minnesota, he will probably marvel at the striking difference in appear ance between many of the chinch bugs of his own locality, and those found in any of the last-mentioned states, and will probably be able to satisfy himself of their identity only by the similarity of their vile odor. Again, he will probably be equally at a ioss to understand why it is that his own timothy meadows are over run by these pestiferous insects and destroyed, while in other localities, perhaps less than 100 miles away, similar meadows are left untouched. It vs not the excessive numbers, but the persistency with which they wiU congregate en masse on limited areas, that renders the attack of chinch bugs so fruitful of injury. With an ample supply of food the young develop and leisurely diffuse themselves over the adjacent fields, and there are neither swarming flights nor migration. In 1884, in northern Indiana, a small field of wheat wafc severely attacked by chinch bugs. At harvest there was every prospect of a migration from the field of wheat to an adjacent one of corn, and the bugs were present in sufficient numbers to have worked serious injury to the latter; but the wheat had grown up thinly on the ground, and there had sprung up among the grain a great deal of mead ow foxtail grass, and panic grass, and to these grasses the bugs transferred their attention, finishing cheir devel opment thereon, and later, so far as could be determined, they scattered by flight out over the adjucent fields, working no further injury. Pedes trian migration may continue for a fourth of a mile or even more, but on reaching a suitable food supply the tendency of the bugs is to con gregate upon their food plants until these are literally covered with indi viduals varying in color from the black and white of the adults to the bright vermilion of the more ad vanced larvae. Whatever tendency there is exhibited toward a wider diffusion is confined to the adults, Corn Plant Two Feet Tall Infested with Chinch Bugs. the others remaining and leaving in a body only when the plant on which they have congregated has been drain ed of its juices and has begun to wither, when they simply crawl to the nearest plants and again congregate upon these as before. In case the migration has been to a field of corn, if this is badly overgrown with either of the two grasses previously named, the bugs will collect upon the latter, and unless the corn plants are very small they will not as a rule at tack them until the grass has been killed. Some farmers have gone bo far as to claim that a beenfit is de rived from a certain abundance of chinch bugs, the statement being made that the bugs will kill out these grasses to an extent that nothing else will. It is clear that the acquisition of wings is not the signal for the adults to abandon the companionship of the larvae and pupae, yet they do gradually disappear from among them. It is possible that the disposition to pair does not exist until ihe individ ual has reached a certain age be yond seeming maturity, and that it is not until the passion for mating has overcome their gregarious inclination that they are disposed to migrate. F. M. WEBSTER, TJ. S. Bureau of Etomology. PREACHER AND THE PYRAMIDS A Concordia clergyman who is mak ing a tour of Egypt writes home that, although one of the pyramids occupies 13 acres, it doesn’t matter, for no crops would grow on the land any how. “It is wonderfully impressive, and as I rode around it I wished an unavailing wish that I could be alone. But this was impossible. The camel driver and all of his neighbors and relatives and friends were attending me, not because they cared at all for the stranger from a far country, but because they wanted a share of his money. I wished to enter the temple to see the few rooms there* but when I started in that direction a mighty host of Bedouins started, too. They had been lying in the sand, but now they came nlshing up to be on hand at the very start. I gave it up, for I could not see or learn anything with Such a rabble at my heels.” More Water for Egypt. Sir William Garston has recom mended that-the great dam at As / aouan, Egypt, be raised nearly 23 feet, which would more tlian doable the present water supply. The dam now supplies about a quarter of the water which eventually will be needed in Egypt. With the proposed enlarge ment about 930,000 acres of land would be brought under cultivation. The change would coat hbaut $7,500, 000. How He Felt. “How do you feelf’ asked the ten der-foot of Piute Pete, of Grizzly Gulch, “when you wake up and find a rattler in bed with you?” “Three feet for my gun,” replied Piute Pete as he measured out five fingers. I3ad on Hubby. “I told her her bulldog was the most hideous animal I had ever teen.” “What did she say?” “She sail} 1 wouldn't say that if her j husband was present.’’ - I HOSPITALITY OF TO-DAY. Very Cusinesslike Indeed le the Mod ern Hosteee. In these days it would seem that the word hospitality has assumed A new and strange significance, or rati* er Buffered a transformation, and we who float along on the stream of so cial life accept the idea with thought less ease and take it for granted that mere forms and ceremonies, social bargaining, lavish display, and elabo rate entertainments stand for true hospitality. When we are so exact as to look up the meaning of the word we find that, according to the best authorities, hospitality is the recep tion and entertainment of guests with out reward, and with kind and gener ous liberalty; also that to be hospita ble is to be sociable, neighborly, given to bounty, generous, large minded. There is something that pleases our imagination when we read about the hospitality in the olden times, when life was simple and when a delightful leisure existed which does not belong to modern times. In an old-fashioned novel we read that the heroine, in the fourth week of her visit at a friend’s house, wa? in doubt whether she should continue her stay, and the painful consideration made her eager to be rid of such a weight on her mind. She resolved to speak to her hostess, propose going away and be guided in her conduct by the manner in which her proposal was received. It was directly settled between her hostess and herself that her leaving was not to be thought of and the limit of her stay depended on her own in clinations. Not so the hostess of these days, who invites a guest for a stated period, and it is tacitly yet positively understood that from Saturday until Monday does not include even lunch eon on the day of departure. All this is far more sensible and more satis factory, although so businesslike. To-day we are told that those who entertain consider that they are pay ing their acquaintances a sufficient compliment by inviting them to a crowded reception, when the hostess has hardly time for a greeting. Soci ety is nothing if not “practical and businesslike,” and if a hostess “enter tains lavishly and is well gowned” she does all that could be required and “cannot be expected to take much In terest in her guests.” This touch of satire shows how hospitality mas querades under false colors. HOUSEHOLD HINTS. A crust of bread put into the water in which greens are boiled will ab sorb all objectionable rankness of ! flavor. The rollers of a clothes wringer 'may be easily and effectively cleaned by rubbing them with a cloth which has been dipped in coal oil. , When ironing colored clothes see to it that the irons are not too hot. Excessive heat will fade the clothes. Iron on the wrong side. < When too much salt accidentally has been used, the effect may be coun teracted by adding a tablespoenful of vinegar and a tablespoonful of sugar. If the clothes line becomes kinked or twisted when it is being taken down wind the line toward you, in stead of away from you, and it will wind smoothly. If flour sacks are to be washed, turn them wrong side out and put in cold water. Wash and rinse in cold water. The use of hot water for this purpose will make the flour sticky and hard to wash out. To do up ruffled net curtains stretch out on a sheet after starching. Pin just to the ruffles and leave until dry. Take up and iron only the ruffles, dampening as you go along. This will leave the curtain perfectly straight. Getting Rid of Warts. Warts are simply an overgrowth of flesh covered with a hardened skin. They are of two varieties, hard or soft, and either can be removed with out much difficulty. A very simple remedy consists in wetting the warts several times a day with a piece of moistened common washing soda. This will cause them to disappear al most before one is aware of it. Muri atic acid or acetic acid applied to a wart every night for three nights in succession will soon cause it to shrivel and blacken and finally fall off. Use a wooden toothpick in applying and be careful not to touch the nor mal skin around the wart. In some cases it may be necessary to scratch the wart with a tiny sharp instru ment before the first application in order that the acid may begin Ms work more easily. This will hasten the result. Try Smiling. Have you tried smiling? It is the latest remedy for all the ills of the flesh and the spirit, and it is cheap. All that is necessary to do to try the new “smile cure,” which the London doctors are recommending, is to lift the corners of the mouth slightly by means of the facial muscles, expand ing the lips and showing the teeth. Practice this before the looking-glass night and morning until the smile has worn in, and the beneficial results will be forthcoming, it is seriously as serted. There is no state of affairs so discouraging that it can’t be bet tered by smiling over it, and there is no joy*1n life so joyous that it will not spread a little wider over the surface of the globe with the coaxing of a smile. Maryland Chicken. Joint a small chicken, roll in sea soned flour, then egg and crumb the joints, says Good Housekeeping. Lay in a dripping pan and on each joint lay a thin slice of fat bacon. Bake 20 minutes in a very hot oven, Re moving the bacon to a platter when thoroughly crisp. Arrange the joints with the bacon, thicken the fat in the pan with two level tablespoons of flour, add one cup of thin cream, and when thoroughly blended strain over the meat. Dress Covers. Take a castoff night dress and cut It off just under the sleeves. Run in a neat casing for tape to draw it to gether around the coat hanger. This may be slipped over any party dress and will completely protect it from the dust dy, ✓ RARE OLD VOLUME UNIQUE COPY OF THE KORAN OWNED IN KANSAS CITY. All Hand Work and Must Represent Labor of Many Years Proof That More Art Was Once of High Grade. A rare old book is owned by Fred erick C. Butler of 1224 Harrison street, says the Kansas City Star. He found it in a deserted bamboo house in Sulu island while he was with the Fourteenth United States cavalry in the Philippines in 1903. It had been owned by a Moro Moham medan priest. The book is a copy of the Koran and is made wholly by hand. Even the paper is hand made. The bind ing is of thick, stiff caribou hide. Each folio is sewed with cord made from help fibers and is of an even size, showing cleverness and skill in spin ning. In one place there is a little piece of smooth bamboo twisted in the cord to bring it tight when slack ened from use. As for age, that can nor. be denied by anyone on seeing the pages. The leaves at the begin ning and end are frayed and worn and the paper throughout is yellow with age. The most wonderful thing about the book is that every character, it being written in Arabic, was made with a stub pen or flat reed. Each page is covered on both sides with closely written cnaracters tnat appear to De printed when viewed from a little dis tance. Around the writing is a mar gin of an inch or so and in this mar gin are single characters, display let ters or characters, and sprays of tiny flowers done in color. Dispersed through the writing at irregular inter vals are little circles drawn with a compass, the center picture of the needle being plain in a majority of the circles. The circles are filled with different colors and are appropriately punctuation marks. Two pages in partycular always ex cite wonder and admiration. They alone, of all others, show the height that Moro art had reached at the time the book was made. These pages were executed with a pen or reed as the others were, except that the writer brought a brush and gold leaf into play. The marginal design departs, radically from the reBt of the book and the writer made a design distinct ly oriental. It looks like the border of a Bokara or Damascus rug. It is almost impossible to describe the The Hand Illumined Koran. many little painstaking curves and curlycues that he put in these two pages, the color of which is still bright and clear notwithstanding the age of it When the book was found it was taken to Hadji Buto, prime minister of the sultan of Sulu, and he said of it: “This book is a Koran, written by a Moro in Arabic many years ago. There are nowadays no people in this island can write such a book. I myself can write it; it would take me about three months. I know the Koran by heart and could write out of toy mem ory, although it is Arabic. It must have taken that writer more than a year to finish the work. We Moros don’t have a Koran in the Moro lan guage. We read it in Arabic.and the priests, or hadjis, tell us what it means in our language.” Outrage Due to Superstition. One of the cemeteries near Naples has been the scene of a crime that shows a curious recrudescence of mediaeval superstition. A little girl was buried there in July, 1905, and 12 months later it was arranged to trans fer the remains to a niche in the little mortuary chapel. At the exhumation suspicion was aroused by the extraor dinary light weight of the coffin, which, on being opened, was found to contain only the child’s skull wrapped in straw. Profs. Avtonelli and^Fimiani, who examined the head, declared that it had been ruthlessly torn from the trunk soon after death. The police investigations have re sulted in the discovery that the girl’s body was disinterred and the bones pulverized to serve for the rites of necromancy and witchcraft which are still so much in vogue among super stitious peasantry of that region. Bird's Queer Plight. A fluttering in the flue leading from the kitchen stove attracted the atten tion of Mrs. J. Edward Sims the other morning. When Mr. Sims came in he was asked to investigate, and much to his surprise found in the stove pipe, only a few feet from the gas flame, a red headed woedpeckpr. How the bird got intoiv that predicament cannot be ex plained,, but he must-have entered at the chimney top and worked his way downward. Perhaps he was lazy and was looking for a hole to build his nest in, without drilling one into the wood. His bright coat of red,- white and black was subdued to a sooty brown, and in outward appearances he resembled the chimney sweep, and he was gasping for fresh air when re leased.—Columbus Dispatch. 8urface Friendships. Surface friendships are not friend ships at all, and do not deserve the name. But if you find the heart of your friend and plant your own love , there and cultivate it, you will reap a harvest for a lifetime. Ton cannot do tkte withe very one. ii.’• .... '• . SPARROW NEST OP MONEY. Greenbacks Werth $15 Recovered from Eavee of House. William McGrath of Belleville, N. J„ walked into his bedroom several days ago and saw a sparrow fly from the top of a clothes closet out through an open window. There was a green piece of paper in the bird’s bill, and McGrath at once thought of a roll of money he had left in the closet. He found that many of the bills had been stripped from the roll. He decided to watch and see if the bird came back. The window was left open, and the other day McGrath Baw a sparrow fly into the room. He waited a few minutes and ft came out again and went to a house about a block away, flying in the eaves. McGrath obtained a ladder and got permission from the occupant of the house to climb up to the eaves, and was rewarded by finding a nest made of greenbacks and straw. There were $5, $2 and fl bills there, aggregating about $15, but in pieces. McGrath is now trying to piece the bills together.—N. Y. World. SIGN OF SERVITUDE. In Persia women are held in little esteem and it has been said with some truth that to wear her dress is to be a slave. FESTIVAL OF THE WELLS. Custom of Unknown Origin Observed Each Year in England. The annual custom of decorating the wells of the village of Tissington, in the heart of the peak of Derby shire, which for centuries has taken place on Ascension day, was duly ob served. Many visitors joined with the vil lagers in the thanksgiving service held in the church. There a procession was formed, and each of the five dec orated wells was visited, psalms and Ascensiontide hymns being sung. Upon the stone frontage of the wells a wooden structure covered with a layer of clay had been placed, and flowers' had been wrought into ex quisite mosaics, with scriptural pas sages interwoven. The origin of the celebration is in volved in obscurity, but the uninter rupted continuity of the observance in recent years may be due to the cir cumstance that during a terrible drought in Derbyshire the Tissington wells did not fail.—London Standard. Dachshund Proved Innocence. A black and tan dachshund gave evidence in a law court in New York recently. He belongs to Mrs. Fanny Henning, whose neighbors complain ttat he howls alrnight long. In sup port of their contention they exhibited photographs of the dog with his mouth wide open, taken from windows overlooking the Henning’s back yard One witness swore that the dog barked 234 times in seven minutes: so the judge suggested calling the dog. In he came, leisurely, walked to the witness chair and climbed into the seat, yawning lazily and blinking in the sunlight. The court usherE tickeled him in the ribs, rubbed his head roughly, pinched him, and even pulled his ears. He appeared to he sc well bred that not so much as a vrtlim per was heard. The judge said that the neighbors had evidently been dis turbed by another dog. HOW BIRDS FLY. The long feathers of a bird’s wing are fastened to the bone. It is this which gives the wing the strength and surface wherewith to beat the air. Rare Pilgrim Fiah Caught. A Breton fishing town—Concarneai —has had a novel experience of iu own. One of its trawl boats, the Saint Louis, has just returned to port not with a heavy cargo of sardines that all the good folk so much desired but with a catch of an entirely un wonted and unwelcome kind. This took the form of a monster fish measuring not less than 25 feet in length. The fish is one of the “pilgrim” kind and is associated with the shark family, though said to be less ferocious than the ordinary shark, though, as the monster is very rarely seen, but little that is definite is known of him. The incident hae no parallel within living Breton mem ory. Had Died Together. Aepigeon was recently seen to fall into the yard of the works department at Deal barracks. On examination it was found that a snake two and one half feet long had coiled itself round the bird’s neck and one of its wings. Both bird and reptik* were dead. The head of the shake was tightly held In the pigeon’s i^asoijie Tenjple to Be Built lij Capital New Temple for the Masons in Washington. The new Masonic temple at Wash ington will be of classic design. The peculiar shape of the site made it possible to impress on the shortest but most important facade, facing 50 feet and eight inches on Thirteenth street, the character of tlife temple so that the most ignorant might, without inquiry, know its purpose. The sides extending down New York avenue 132 feet and six inches and H street 144 feet three inches, respectively, are a continuation of this Thirteenth street motive, and here the windows are made much more archaic in charac ter, and by their shape, size and dis position lend mystic character to the structure. The building will be six stories high, and the first story about 30 feet in the main auditorium, the total height being 110 feet above the side walk, the greatest height allowed by law on this site. It will be heated by steam and have a special system of ventilation for the auditorium, ban quet hall, lodge and locker rooms. The structure is to be fireproof throughout, with steel-frame construc tion. The exterior walls, however, will be self-sustaining. The auditori ums and lodge rooms are to be prac tically free from columns, with 50-foot plate girders spanning from wall tQ wall. The massive Indiana limestone base of the building is heavily rusticated. The principal entrance is marked by a large semicircular opening or door way to distinguish it from the rec tangular openings on the 6ides, which merely are entrances and exits to the auditorium. The entrance lobby will be of white marble, with bronze and iron outside vestibule and elevator doors. The colonnade of the superstructure is flanked at either end by heavily rusticated piers, which complete that part of the composition. An attic story crowns the whole with an elaborate metal cheneau, which gives an interesting silhouette against the sky. The whole composition is designed for light-colored material. Indiana limestone will be used throughout, with the exception of the entabula ture, which will be of architectural terra cotta, an exact match of the stone. The building will be completed by the first of next June. Including the site thfe new temple will cost $405. 000. RICH GRAFT IN OLD GAME. Colored Men Find Dupes Among Their Race in Washington. The recent appearance in Washing ton of a husky individual who en gaged in the scheme of manufactur ing to order on short notice, Free Ma sons, Odd Fellows and members of several other secret organizations for a consideration, recalled to the mind of a veteran newspaper man the ex periences of a “get-rich-qulck” fellow of African descent who came here sev eral years ago on money-making bent He claimed to be the highest function ary of a mythical organization which had a high-sounding name, something like “The Ancient and Honorable Or der of the Amalgamated Sons of Ham and Daughters of Raphael.’’ His work was among the poorer element of col ored people in the district, and he “worked” them early and often. "Dis hyah order,” he was wont to ex plain, “circulates ’round de worl’. It am composed of kings an’ queens, and dere subjects. You kin go any whar an’ git work or money.” He also explained upon the death of son of Ham or a daughter of Ra phael, their heirs would receive a large sum of money, while a weekly stipend was allowed members when they were ill. This slick fellow had the front of his coat decorated with a great va riety of brass medals, which he claimed had been presented to him by “de crowned he’ds ob Eurip.” One of the bogus medals he said had been pinned on his coat by “de he’d man ob Chiny,” who was a high officer of the order, while 20,000,000 of his sub jects paid toil to its coffers. The fellow initiated hiB victims in their own homes, claiming that he had a dispensation from the highest officer so to do. He was assisted by a colored woman whom he termed “Saint Lizzie,” and was raking in the shekels of the poor and ignorant dupes when Capt John C. Dailey, then the “fighting sergeant” of South Wash ington, or fourth police precinct, got busy, and the fellow, hearing he was wanted by the sergeant, fled across the Long bridge and has never been heard from since. All Ordered “Whale.” ▲ bill of fare in a well known Wash ington restaurant, frequented largely by lovers of Bohemian life, caused a good deal of merriment among several westerners who dropped In for lunch last Saturday afternoon. A lot of appetizing dishes were enumerated on the card, among them shad, and that was what for a time disconcerted the man who did the writing. The announcement read: “Shad, one-half 50 cents; whale, one dollar.” Now the western men, who, by the way, reside in one of the principal cities of the great lakes, were accustomed to the famous white fish, trout and the like, but desiring to partake of something new, ordered “whale,” at the Bame time nudging- each other to observe the effect on the man with the apron and towel. He picked up the card and after studying it for a while broke out into loud laughter. The hasty penman had written “whale” for “whole.” After declaring that in fu ture he would be more careful, he passed the card back to be carried away as a souvenir of the occasion. “Ro-zie-velt,v Is Right. Strange as it may seem, correct pronunciation of the president’s name is rarely heard. Only a few days ago Mr. Roosevelt laboriously explained to a visitor the orthoepy of his patro nymic. He spelled it out thus: “Ro zie-velt.” “It is more nearly Ro-za velt than it is Ro-zie-velt,” the presi dent explained, patiently, “but if I should syllable it that way for you and you should follow my spelling in an effort to convey to others the his torically correct pronunciation of my name somebody would be sure to give the broad sound to the ‘a’ and make it ‘Ro-zah-velt,’ so that it is safer to use the diphthong ‘ie’ in order to avoid worse confusion. So, remember that in my name the double o is just o, the s is z and the e following the s is short a.” Presidential Type of Beauty. When President Roosevelt visited Atlanta on his southern tour in 1905 he met Miss Selma Adelaide Allen and made her famous by declaring she was the prettiest girl he had ever see in the south. Miss Allen, of course, had many wooers and the fa vored one, Leonard Day, a New York lawyer, has just won her for his bride. Mrs. Day is a graduate of Fairmount university^ Washington, where she first met the man whose name she now shares. She has been described as “a remarkably handsome girl of pure blonde type, with eyes of por