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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1914)
The Adventures of Kathlyn By HAROLD MAC GRATH Illustrated by Pictures from the Moving Picture Production of the Selig Polyscope Co. (Copyright by Harold MacGrathJ SYNOPSIS. Colonel Hare, animal hunter, starts ! front his home in California for Allaha in I India. Before leaving he writes a note \ which he charges his daughters. Kathlyn and Winnie, to open on Dec. 31, if they have not heard from him by that time. He tells them of a title that was con ferred on him by the king of Allaha for saving the lUter's life. CHAPTER I—Continued. The elder sister did not care to In still into the heart of her charge the fear which was in her own. "Who knows but there may be good * news In the envelope? Dad’s always doing something like that. New ■ Year'g!” The collie, released from the kitchen, came bounding in. In his exuberance he knocked over a cloisonne vase. Both girls were glad to welcome this di version. They rose simultaneously and gave chase. The dog headed for the outdoor studio, where they caught him and made believe they were pun ishing him. Quietly the watcher entered through the window, alert and tense. He flew to the desk, found the envelope, steamed it open at the kettle, extract ed the sealed envelope and Colonel Hare’s note. He smiled as he read the latter and changed his plans com pletely. He would not play messen ger; he would use a lure instead. With his ear strained for sounds, he wrote and substituted a note. This hourl of Ha'adi would not pause to note the difference in writing; the vitalness of the subject would enchain her - thoughts. It was all accomplished in the space of a few minutes. Smiling, he passed out into the fast settling twilight. They were shipping a lion to San Francisco, and the roaring and con fusion were all very satisfactory to the trespasser. Midnight. From afar came the mel low notes of the bells in the ancient Spanish mission. The old year was dead, the new year was bom, carrying with it the unchanging sound of hap piness and misery, or promises made and promises broken, of good and evil. The packet!" cried Winnie. Kathlyn recognized in that call that Winnie was only a child. All the re sponsibility lay upon her shoulders. She ripped the cover from the packet and read the note. Kathlyn: If not heard from I'm held captive in Allaha. Sealed document can save me. Bring it yourself to Al laha by first steamer. FATHER." “I knew it." said Kathlyn, calmly. The fear in her heart had. as the brown man had anticipated, blinded her to the fact that this was not her father's characteristic blunt scrawl. ‘‘Oh. Kit, Kit!" "Hush, Winnie! I must go, and go alone. Where’s the evening paper? Ah, here it is. Let me see what boat leaves San Francisco tomorrow. The Empress of India, 6 a. m. I must make that. Now, you're your father's daugh ter, too. Winnie. You must stay be hind and be brave and wait. I shall come back. I shall find father, if I have to rouse all India. Now, to pack.” When they arrived at the station the passenger train had just drawn out. For a while Kathlyn felt beaten. She would be compelled to wait another week. It was disheartening. “Why not try the freight, then?” cried Winnie. “You little angel! I never thought of that!" But the crew would not hear of it. It was absolutely against the com pany’s rules. Kathlyn could have cried. It isn’t money, miss, it’s the rules,” said the conductor, kindly. “I can’t do It.” Kathlyn turned In despair toward the station. It was then she saw the boxed lion on the platform. She re turned to the conductor of the freight “Why Isn't that lion shipped?” “We can’t carry a lion without an attendant, Miss. You ought to know that.” “Very well,” replied Kathlyn. She smiled at the conductor confidently. “I'll travel as the lion's attendant You certainly cannot object to that.” “I guess you’ve got me,” admitted the conductor. “But where the dickens will we put the cat? Every car is closed and locked, and there is not an empty?” "You can easily get the lion in the caboose. I’ll see that be doesn't bother any one.” “Lions in the caboose is a new one <gi me Well, you know your dad's business better than 1 do. Look alive, boys, and get that angora aboard. This is Miss Hare herself, and she ll take charge.” “Kit, Kit!” “Winnie!” “O, I’ll be brave. I’ve just got to be. But I’ve never been left alone before.” The two girls embraced, and Winnie went sobbing back to the maid who waited on the platform. What happened in that particular caboose has long since been newspa per history. The crew will go on tell ing It till it becomes as fabulous as one of Sindbad’s yarns. How the lion escaped, how the fearless young wom an captured It along, unaided, may be found In the files of all metropolitan newspapers. Of the brown man who was found hiding in the coat closet of the caboose nothing was said. But the sight of him dismayed Kathlyn as no lion could have dime. Any dark-skinned person was now a subtle menace. And when, later, she saw him peering into the porthole of her stateroom, dismay became terror. Who was this man? CHAPTER II. The Unwelcome Throne. Kathlyn sensed great loneliness when abont a month later, she arrived at the basin In Calcutta. A thousand ^ more natives were bathing ceremo niously in the ghat—men, women, and children. It was early morn, and they were making solemn genuflexions to ward the bright sun. The water front swarmed witlr-brown bodies, and great wheeled carts drawn by sad-eyed bul locks threaded slowly through the maze. The many white turbans, stir ring hither and thither, reminded her of a field of white poppies in a breeze. India! There it lay, ready for her eager feet. Always had she dreamed about It, and romanced over it, and sought it on the wings of her spirit. Yonder it lay. ancient as China, en chanting as storied Persia. If only she were on pleasure bent! If only she knew some one in this great teeming city! She knew no one; she carried no letters of introduction, no letters of credit, nothing but the gold and notes the paymaster at the farm had hastily turned over to her. Only by constant application to maps and guide books had she managed to arrange the short cut to the far king dom. She had been warned that it was a wild and turbulent place, out of the beaten path, beyond the reach of iron rails. Three long sea voyages: across the Pacific (which wasn’t), down the bitter Yellow sea, up the blue Hay of Bengal, with many a sea change and many a strange picture. What though her heart ached, it was impossible that her young eyes should not absorb all she saw and marvel over it. India! The strange, elusive Hindu had dis appeared after Hongkong. That was a weight off her soul. She was now assured that her imagination had be guiled her. How should he know any thing about her? What was more natural than that he should wish to hurry back to his native state? She was not the only one in a hurry. And there were Hindus of all castes on all three ships. By now she had almost forgotten him. There was one bright recollection to break the unending loneliness. Com ing down from Hongkong to Singapore she had met at the captain’s table a young man by the nam§ of Bruce. He was a quiet, rather untalkative man, lean and sinewy, sun and wind bitten. Kathlyn had as yet had no sentimental affairs. Absorbed in her work, her father, and the care of Winnie, such young men as she had met Jiad scarce ly interested her. She had only tol erant contempt for idlers, and these young men had belonged to that cate gory. Brace caught her interest In the very fact that he had but little to say and said that crisply and well. There was something authoritative in the shape of his mouth and the steadi ness of his eye, though before her he never exercised this power. A dozen times she had been on the point of taking him into her confidence, but the irony of fate had always firmly closed her lips. And now, waiting for the ship to warp into its pier, she realized what a fatal mistake her reticence had been. A friend of her father! Bruce had left the Lloyder before dinner (at Singapore), and as Kath Iyn’s Britlsh-India coaster did not leave till morning she bad elected to remain over night on the German boat. As Bruce disappeared among the dis embarking passengers and climbed into a rickshaw she turned to the captain, who stood beside her. “Do you know Mr. Bruce? “Very well,” said the German. “Didn’t he tell you who he is? No? Ach! Why. Mr. Bruce is a great hunt er. He has shot everything, written books, climbed the Himalayas. Only last year he brought me the sack of a musk deer, and that is the most dan gerous of all sports. He collects ani mals.” Then Kathlyn knew. The name had been vaguely familiar, but the young man’s reticence had given her no op portunity to dig into her recollection. Bruce! How many times her father had spoken of him! What a fool she had been! Bruce knew the country she was going to, perhaps as well as her father; and he -could have sim plified her Journey to the last word. Well, what was done could not be re called and done over. "My father is a great hunter, too.” she said simply, eyeing wistfully the road taken by Bruce into town. “What? Herr Gott! Are you Colo nel Hare’s daughter?” exclaimed the captain. “Yes.” He seized her by the shoulders. "Why did you not *^11 me? Why. Colo nel Hare and I have smoked many a Burma cheroot together on these wa ters. Herr Gott! And you never said anything! What a woman for a man to marry!" he laughed.' “You have sat at my table for five days, and only now I find that you are Hare’s daughter! And you have a sister. Ach, yeB! He was always taking out some photo graphs in the smokeroom and showing them to us old chaps.” Tears filled Kathlyn’s eyes. In an Indian prison, out of the jurisdiction of the British Raj. and with her two small hands and woman's mind she must find him! Always the mysterious packet lay close to her heart,! never for a moment was It beyond the reach of her hand. Her father’s freedom! The rusty metal sides of the ship scraped against the pier and the gang plank was lowered; and presently the tourists flocked down with variant emotions, to be besieged by fruit sell ers. water carriers, cabmen, blind beg gars, and maimed, naked little chil dren with curious, insolent black eyes, women with infants straddling their hips, stolid Chinamen; a riot of color and a bewildering babel of tongues. Kathlyn found a presentable car riage. and with her luggage pressing about her feet directed the driver to the Great Eastern hotel. Her white solartopee (sun helmet) had scracely disappeared in the crowd when the Hindu of the freight ca boose emerged from the steerage, no longer in bedraggled linen trousers and ragged turban, but dressed like Y native foe. He was in no hurry. Leis urely he rollowed Kathlyn to the hotel, then proceeded to the railway station. He had need no longer to watch and worry. Tbere was nothing left now but to greet her upon her arrival, this golden houri from the verses of Sa'adi. The two weeks of durance vile among the low castes in the steer age should be amply repaid. In six days he would be beyond the hand of the meddling British Raj, in his own country. Sport! What was more beautiful to watch than cat play? He was the cat, the tiger cat. And what would the Sahib Colonel say when he felt the claws? Beautiful, beautiful, like a pattern woven in an Agra rug. Kathlyn began her journey at once. Now that she was on land, moving to ward her father, all her vigor returned. She felt strangely alive, exhilarated She knew that she was not going to be afraid of anything hereafter. To enter the strange country without hav ing her purpose known would be the main difficulty. Where was Ahmed all this time? Doubtless in a cell like his master. Three days later she stood at the frontier, and her servant set about arguing and bargaining with the ma houts to engage elephants for the three days’ march through jungles and mountainous divides to the capital. Three elephants were necessary. There were two howdah elephants and one pack elephant, who was always lagging behind. Through long aisles of magnificent trees they passed, across hot, blistering deserts, dotted here and there by shrubs and stunted trees, in and out of gloomy defiles of flinty rock, over sluggish and swiftly flowing streams. The days were hot, but the nights were bitter cold. Sometimes a blue mlasmic haze settled down, and the dry, raspy hides of the elephants grew damp and they fretted at their chains. Rao, the khitmatgar Kathlyn had hired in Calcutta, proved invaluable. Without him she would never have succeeded in entering the strange country; for these wild-eyed Mahom edan mahouts (and it is pertinent to note that only Mahomedans are ever Kathlyn on Her Way to Allaha. made mahouts, it being against the tenets of Hinduism to kill or ride any thing that kills) scowled at her evil ly. They would have made way with her for an anna-plece. Rao was a Mac homedan himself, so they listened and obeyed. All this the first day and night out On the following morning a Jeopard crossed the trail. Kathlyn seized her rifle and broke its spine. The Jabber ing of the mahouts would have amused her at any other time. “Good, memsahib,” whispered Rao. “You have put fear into their devils' hearts. Good! Chup!’’ he called. “Stop your noise.” After that they gave Kathlyn’s dog tent plenty of room. One day, in the heart of a natural clearing, she saw a tree. Its blossoms and leaves were as scarlet as the seeds ot a pomegranate. “O, how -beautiful! What Is it, Rao?” “The flame of the jungle, memsahlb. It is good luck to see it on a journey.” About the tree darted gay parra keets and fat green parrots. The green plumage of the birds against the bril liant scarlet of the tree was inde scribably beautiful. Everywhere was life, everywhere was color. Once, as the natives seated themselves of the evening round their dung fire while Kathlyn busied with the tea over a wood fire, a tiger roared near by. The elephants trumpeted and the mahouts rose in terror. Kathlyn ran for her rifle, but the trumpeting of the ele phants was sufficient to send the striped cat to other hunting grounds. Wild ape and pig abounded, and oc casionally a caha wriggled out of the sun into the brittle grasses. Very few beasts or reptiles are aggressive; it is only when they feel cornered that they turn. Even the black panther, the most savage of all cats, will rarely offer battle except when attacked. Meantime the man who had followed Kathlyn arrived at the city. Five hours later Kathlyn stepped out of her howdah, gave Rao the money for the mahouts, and looked about. This was the gate to the capi tal. How many times had her father passed through it? Her jaw set and her eyes flashed. Whatever dangers beset her she was determined to meet them with courage and patience. “Rao, you had better return to Cal cutta. What I have to do must be done alone." "Very good. But I shall remain here till the memsahlb returns." Rao sa laamed. “And if I should not return?” affect ed by this strange loyalty. Then I shall seek Bruce Sahib, who has a camp 20 miles east.” “Bruce? But he Is in Singapore!” —a quickening of her pulses. “Who can say where Bruce Sahib is? He is like a shadow, there today, here tomorrow. I have been hie servant, memsahlb, and that is how I am today yours. I received a telegram to call at your hotel and apply to you for service. Very good. I shall wait The mahout here win take yon directly to Hare Sahib’s bungalow. You will find your father’s servants there, and all will be well. A week, then. If you do not send for me I seek Bruce Sahib, and we shall return with many. Some will speak English at the bungalow.” "Thank you, Rao. 1 shall not for get.” "Neither will Bruce Sahib,” mysteri ously. Rao salaamed. Kathlyn got into the howdah and passed through the gates. Bruce Sa hib. the quiet man, whose hand had reached out over seas thus strangely to reassure her! A hardness came into her throat and she swallowed des perately. She was only twenty-four. Except for herself there might not be a white person in all this sprawling, rugged principality. From time to time the new mahout turned and smiled at her curiously, but she was too absorbed to note his attentions. Durga Ram, called lightly .Umballa, went directly to the palace, where he knew/the Council of Three solemnly awaited his arrival. He dashed up the imposing flight of marble steps, exult ant. He had fulfilled his promise; the golden daughter of Hare Sahib was but a few miles away. The soldiers, guarding the entrance, presented their arms respectfully; but instantly after Umballa disappeared the expression on their faces was not pleasing. Umballa hurried along through the j deep corridor, supported by exquisite ly carved marble columns. Beauty in stone was in evidence everywhere and magnificent brass lamps hung from . the ceiliqg. There was a shrine topped by an idol in black marble, incrusted with sapphires and turquoises. Durga Ram, who shall be called Umballa, nodded slightly as he passed it. Force of habit, since in his heart there was only one religion—self. He stopped at a door guarded by a single soldier, who saluted but spat as soon as Umballa had passed Into the throneroom. The throne itself was vacant The Council of Three rose at the approach of Umballa. "She is here,” he said haughtily. The Council salaamed. Umballa stroked his chin as he gazed at the huge candles flickering I at each side of the throne. He sniffed the Tibetan incense, and shrugged. It was written. “Go,” he said, “to Hare Sahib’s bungalow and await me. I shall- be there presently. There is plenty of time. And remember our four heads depend upon the next few hoars. The soldiers are on the verge of mutiny, and only success can pacify them.” He turned without ceremony and left them. With oriental philosophy they accepted the situation. They had sought to overturn him, and he held them in the hollow of his hand. Dur ing the weeks of his absence in Amer ica his spies had hung about them like bees about honey. They were the fowl ers snared. Umballa proceeded along the corri dor to a flight of stairs leading be neath the palace floor. Here the sol diers were agreeable enough; they had reason to be. Umballa gave them hew minted rupees for their work, many rupees. For they knew secrets. Before the door of a dungeon Umballa paused and listened. There was no sound. He returned upstairs and sought a chamber near the harem. This he entered, and stood with folded arms near the door. “Ah, Colonel Sahib!” “Umballa?” Colonel Hare, bearded, unkempt, tried to stand erect and face his enemy. “You black scoundrel!” “Durga Ram, sahib. Words, words; the patter of raip on stone roofs. Our king lives no more, alas!" “You lie!” “He is dead. Dying, he left you this throne—yon, a white man, knowing it was a legacy of terror and confu sion. You knew. Why did you re turn? Ah, pearls and sapphires and emeralds! What? I offer you this throne upon conditions.” ‘‘And those conditions I have re fused." “You have, yes, but now—” Umballa smiled. Then he suddenly blazed forth: “Think you a white man shall sit upon this throne while I live? It is mine. I was his heir.” "Then why didn't you save him from the leopard?- I’ll tell you why. You expected to inherit on the spot, and I spoiled the game. Is that not true?” “And what if I admit it?” trucu lently. “Umballa. or Durga Ram, if you wish, listen. Take the throne. What’s to hinder you? You want it. Take it and let me begone.” “Yes. I want it; and by all the gods of Hind I’ll have it—but safely. Ah! It would be fine to proclaim myself when mutiny and rebellion stalk about. Am I a pig to play a game like that? Tcli! Tch!” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in de rision. “No; I need a buckler till all this roily water subsides and clears.” “And then, some fine night. Hare Sahib’s throat? I am not afraid of death, Umballa. I have faced it too many times. Make an end of me at once or leave me to rot here, my an swer will always be the same. I will not become a dishonorable tool. You have offered me freedom and jewels. No; I repeat, I will free all slaves, abol ish the harems, the buying and selling of flesh; I will make a man of every poor devil of a coolie who carries stones from your quarries.” Umballa laughed. “Then remain here like a dog while I put your golden daughter on the throne and become what the British Raj calls prince con sort. She’ll rebel, I know; but I have a way.” He stepped outside and closed the door. "Umballa?’’ ‘‘Well?’’ “Kit, my daughter? Good God, what Is she doing here when I warned her?” Hare tugged furiously at his chains. "Durga Ram, you have beaten rSe. State your terms and I will accept them to the letter. . . . Kit. my beautiful Kit, in this hell hole!” “Ah, but I don’t want you to accept now. I was merely amusing myself.” The door shut and the bolt shot home. Hare fell upon his knees. "My head, my head! Dear God, save me my rea son!” • ••••• The moment Kathlyn arrived at the animal cages of her father she called for Ahmed. “My father?” “Ah, memsahib, they say he Is dead. I know not. One night—the second after we arrived—he was summoned to the palace. He never came back.” “They have killed him!” “Perhaps. They watch me, too; but I act simple. We wait and see.” Kathlyn rushed across the ground intervening between the animal cages and the bungalow. There was no one in sight She ran up the steps . . . to be greeted inside by the suave Um balla. “You?” her hand flying to her bosom. “I, Miss Hare.” He salaamed, with 1 a sweeping gesture of his hands. (TO BE CONTINUED.) BY THE POOL OF THE LOTUS Thoughts of Inmates of the Harem Not Always Pleasant, Despite Surroundings of Beauty. i The best of all In this embroidery of running water war the square pool that lay in the midst of the zenana, for the bottom of it was carved Into the Image of a huge and many-petaled lotus flower, all of one block of white marble without flaw or stain, and the petals seemed astir when the clear crystal passed flowing over them. And at each corner of the lotus, complet ing the Bquare, were triangular panels of delicate water flowers, and through the water the carnelian and the agate dnd the jasper of which they were fashioned shone strangely with vivid gleams. * All around the pool of the lotus used to sit the flowers of Shah Jehan’s gar den of girls, and there is no pool on earth that lias reflected the image of such beauty. Often did the pearl Illy, the chief flower and favorite of the harem, sit there with unsandaled feet, waiting for the summons of her lord* and sometimes a cloud would pass over the image of her face re flected there when she considered that 60on her loveliness would pass and her beauty be marred by the wrinkles of the shriveling years, and desire would fail, and long after her lips had crumbled into dust and her soft limbs had been laid underground for the worm and the red ant to fatten upon, the water that flowed there would be •ever renewed and know not the hor ror of age.—From “Dewan-i-Khas” (the Hall of Private Audience), by E. F. Benson in the Century. Silhouette and Painting. The art of painting begins inevit ably with drawing—with expression by means of the point—the result: line. This every teacher and academy real izes and has to realize. More; every great school of painting has evolved from it. But this use of the point, or i drawing, soon reaches its limitations, and the brush demands mass, or per haps It is more correct to say that mass demands the brush. The float ing of masses on to canvas or paper, with Its edges holding the outline of the form, Is silhouette. Silhouette, In other words, Is the basis of all mass impressions; without a sense of sil houette we can utter no large and sublime ifloods. Tet, strange to say, the small part given to sllheuette in the teaching of the art of painting In academies—Indeed, more often the utter lack of It—has always struck me as extraordinary.—Haldane Mao fall la T. P.'s Weekly, London. ^ AJ'-ai "V— NORWAY’S PERIOD OF GLORY Deeds of Norsemen in Tenth and Eleventh Centuries Marked Flow ering Time of Nation. One of the features of the celebra tion of Norway’s centennial was a stone carved with old runic characters. It was found in Nova Scotia more than a century ago, but for a long time no one could read the roughly carved runes. This was done at last by an American scholar, who found that the inscription was cut by a Norse ex ploring party that left Greenland in the summer of 1007 A. D„ bound for the coast of New England. They landed in Nova Scotia on their way, and left this record of their trip. What a glimpse this gives us of the daring spirit of those old pioneers of the sea! The world has never seen a braver breed of sailors than the Norsemen of the tenth and eleventh centuries They pushed their voyages of plunder and discovery from the rocks of New England to the delta of the Nile. They seated their chieftains on half the thrones of Europe. They harried ev ery civilized coast within reach, and barbaric shorelands they settled, or, at least, explored. There is eves, some ground for believing that a party of Swedes and Norwegians penetrated as far inland as Minnesota, doubtless by way of the great lakes. It-was the flowering time of a na tion, expressed in terms of daring and adventure, rather than in art, litera ture or,civilization; but while it lasted it was one of the wonder epochs of the world. How London Women Vote. The house of lords, after two days' debate, rejected Lord Selborae’s bill for the enfranchisement of a million women. The picked women of the bill are those who now enjoy the municipal franchise. "Enjoy,” per haps, is a word of too sanguine a complexion. Only 30 per cent of the women entitled to vote at elections for the London county council think It worth while.—Saturday Review. / Discoverer of thfc Pacific. The discoverer of the Pacific ocean was Vasco Nunes de Balboa. On the early morning of the 25th of Septem ber, 1513, Balboa, and a email party of men, made their laborious way np the densely covered face of a steep ridge from the snihmit of which they were rewarded with the vision of the great "South sea” which, up to that time, bad never been seen by the eye of a white man. ... •','v' V . .Jh'-'.i.Jr'J... /’•• %ir - ' ■■ ..... 5 . .» ' '■ ‘ NOT DIFFICULT TO HANDLE FALL LITTER Profits From Fall Utters Depend on Care and Management. Marty successful breeders and feed ers of swine are inclined *jo discour age the practice of breeding their sows to farrow two litters a year. In fact, some writers upon swine subjects are inclined to believe that it will pay a man to kill, or otherwise dispose of every pig farrowed later than the first week in September. Both observation and experience have convinced me that the profits from the fall litters depend fully as much on the care and management of the young pigs as they do on the time „th.ey are farrowed. Unless a man has comfortable hog houses and abundance of room to pro vide exercise for the fall pigs he should not attempt to grow them. Personally I feel sure that I can make a profit, as large profit, from a limited number of fall pigs as I can from the litters that are farrowed dur ing March and April. The fall pig crop is easier ta handle and the young pigs possess more vi tality and strength than the litters that are farrowed in the spring after thu sows have been without exercise and abundance of succulent foods that are hard to obtain during the win ter. Then again the sows' ration of pas ture and forage crops during the sum mer is better adapted to the develop ment of the unborn pigs than the win ter rations that are fed by the average swine breeder and feeder. The sow that has been allowed the run of the pasture and the forage crops during the summer is usually In Ideal condition for the ordeal of far rowing. The class of farm feeds available during the fall ie better adapted to the needs of the sow and pigs than feeds that are available for spring feed ing. If winter dairying is being practiced | the skim milk may be utilized at & good profit in feeding the pig3 and they will be in excellent condition to make the best possible u.ie of the pasture and forage cn;ps tbs following summer. Fall pigs that are given an abun dance of palatable, nourishing food, abundance of exercise t,nd a dry sleep ing place can be made tp come through the winter in a thrifty, growing condi tion and make profitable lightweights for the summer mark&i or excellent feeders to place in the- feed lot the following fall. The sows that are bred for two lit ters a year are sure to continue more regular and certain breeders. We have found it very difficult to get our sows safe with pig when they were bred for but one litter a year. FERTILITY NOT LOST IN FEEDING ALFALFA Crop Draws Most Heavily on Lime and Potash, Resembling Clover in This Respect. An alfalfa field will yield on an av erage 8,000 pounds of cured bay per acre in one season. This cured bay will contain about 6,880 pounds of dry matter. The number of pound# of each of the four most important ash constituents removed from an acre by a season’s crop of alfalfa hay, as com pared with clover hay, is as follows: Potash—alfalfa, 206 pounds; <ffover, 66; phosphates—alfalfa, 68 pounds; clover, 28; lime—alfalfa, 89 pounds; clover, 76; magnesia—alfalfa, 22 pounds; clover, 17. Alfalfa draws most heavily on the lime and potash, resembling clover tn this respect, but because of its heav ier yield per season, a greater quantity of these ash constituents is removed. If the alfalfa is fed on the farm and the manure well preserved and re turned to the land, but little fertility is lost. If it happens that the soils are poor in these constituents, fertilizers of lime in the form of land plaster and potash in tiie form of wood ashes can be profitably applied. With the aid of nitrogen gathering bacteria, alfalfa, like clover, can use the free nitrogen of the air, still it must not be Inferred that a fair sup ply of nitrogen in the soil is unneces sary or that the application of nitro genous fertilizers is always wasteful. Professor Dyer of England has shown by careful experiments that the “use of moderate quantities of nitrate of soda has been decidedly remunera tive." He found that in five years, an an nual dressing of one hundredweight of nitrate of soda per acre gave an In crease of nearly three tons of green al falfa fodder per acre per year, while an annual dressing of two hundred weight per acre gave an Increase of four and a half tons of fodder per acre per year. From this he calculated that there was annual profit due to nitrate of a little more than four dollars per acre in the first case and over six dol lars per acre In the second case. Water Required for Crops. It takes water to produce a crop of weeds. If that be true, and it Is, the water which the weeds get is that much taken away from the crop. A garden crop between the rows in a young orchard is all right, provided there be plenty of water tor both the garden and the orchard. An orchard under dry conditions needs all of the available water. Conserve as much of it as possible by maintaining a constant dust mulch between the rows. Winter Cover Crops. Rye, barley, wheat and oats make the best of winter cover crops and im prove the soil when plowed under by Increasing the vegetable matter. A combination of one of the clovers or vetch and one of the grains for cover and green manure crops is often fet ter than any single plant Don’t Neglect Poultry. Don’t neglect the poultry at this sea son of the year when other duties press, or you will not find the poultry as profitable next fall on account of not having done so well during the summer. No Medicine Required. Healthy animals require no medi cine, conditions in them may be es tablished and maintained by intelli gently applied alteration in the quan tity and quality of their food and la HEIGHT OF ROOSTS FOR THE ASIATICS Brahmas and Cochins Being Quite Heavy Fowls Should Not Be Compelled to Fly. Roosts for Brahmas or Cochina should not be more than a foot above ground. Being very heavy birds, they cannot easily fly, and it is better that they should not be compelled to. Some breeders do not allow them to roost at all, but instead heavily bed the floor of the pen and allow the fowls to squat wherever they feel in clined. But In allowing them to roost on the floor, care must be taken that there are no drafts, which often Is the case If the doors do not, flt tightly. Leaves or cut straw make good bed ding for such fowls, and if each morn ing the droppings are collected the birds will do as well on the boor as on tk<% roosts. TELEPHONE AS AID TO AGRICULTURIST Docs Its Work With Lightning Like Rapidity and Saves Farmer Much Valuable Time. In these days of scarcity of help on the farm the value of the telephone Is becoming more thoroughly appre ciated. It does its work with light ning like rapidity and saves hours, and even days, In time, when It is most valuable. It carries messages to the town, the neighbors, and brings the doctor, help and aid at all hours of the day or night. It seldom goes on strike and generally speaking is the most re liable help on the fan/t. Vetch Is Valuatls Hay. Vetch Is an annual. There Is dan ger of Its reseeding itself unless cut at the proper time and will cause, con siderable trouble to eradicate, espe cially where wheat is grown, l etch should be cut for hay when well in the blossom, or three or four days be fore the entire plant la in bloom It is cured the same as clover or allalfa and makes a very valuable hay. Prob ably one of the reasons why vetch is npt raised more extensively is because of the expensiveness of the seed. Best Grass for Dry Areas. Brome grass is probably the best of the cultivated grasses to grow in dry areas. When established it will fur nish grazing early In the season, not so early as winter rye, but earlier than the native grasses. It will also furnish grazing In the autumn proportionate to the amount of the precipitation. During the entire season, therefore, It Bhould furnish much more grazing than the native grasses. Failure of Trees. Lack of fibrous roots is a leading cause of the failure of so many young forest trees dug up In the woods and transplanted. Benefit of Straining. Straining does not purify milk. It merely gets out the visible dirt. That which cannot be seen is the most harmful. Segregate Sick Fowls. Never allow sick fowls to be with the balance of the flock; many poul try diseases are contagious. Adds to Durability. Paint adds much to the appearance and durability of poultry buildings and is a good investment 4