APPLE3 PACKED FOR MARKET Every Individual Piece of Fruit Should Be Carefully Laid in Box or Barrel. Never ship bruised fruit, because every bruise means quick decay and rotting fruit never brings its cost on the market. Some growers harvest their fruit by shaking it onto the ground on beds of straw placed around the trees or knocking it off with poles and clubs. Fruit gathered in this way is almost worthless. Fruit should be picked in bags or baskets slung around the picker’s neck : in order that lie may use belli hands and every individual fruit should be iaid, not thrown, into the receptacle. I Growers of fine oranges have learned that even the slight abrasions made j by the picker’s finger nails will cause1 decay, and in many orchards the pick ers are provided with gloves to pre vent injury of this kind. Next to proper picking comes grad dng, and many growers consider this the most important operation in pre paring fruit and vegetables for mar ket. This work can best be started in •the field with the growing of the crop. Careful cultivation means fewer culls and less expense for sorting and grad Ing. Usually fruits and vegetables are divided into three grades. “Firsts” or “Primes,” "Seconds,” and “Culls." "Firsts” must be uniform in size, color and shape, of an even degree of ripe I ■ — ... ■■■' Apples Packed in Eox. ness, and free from insect injuries, bruises and all other defects. “Sec onds” must he good, fairly uniform specimens, not noticeably marked by, insects or other damage. “Culls” arc these specimens which are left. Each package should be filled with the same grade throughout. If this is done the top layer may be faced by • arranging one to three layers of fruit tc increase the attractiveness of the package. This is honest and perfectly legitimate, provided the entire con tents are of the same grade as those placed on top. Fall and winter apples for the local market may be allowed to fully ripen but should be picked before the mel lowing process begins. Summer, fall, and winter varieties for long distance shipment or storage should be gath ered as soon as fully grown and col ored. The fruit should be allowed to become thoroughly cool before ship ment. If packed in barrels or boxes in the orchard, they should be kept in a cool shed for a day or two before being put into cars, ami no fruit should be shipped in carload lots or kept in refrigerator cars. To show the importance of the proper grading and packing of fruit it may be mentioned that some apples sold on the New York market for four dollars per barrel, while apples from the same orchard at the same time sold at four dollars per box. The former were ungraded, while the latter were graded, wrapped and well packed. Most of the fancy fruit from the western states sold on the eastern M I - Properly Packed Apples. markets Is wrapped In paper and packed in boxes. Apples of this hind frequently sell on the Chicago, New York and other big markets at five cents each, while if they were [lacked Indiscriminately In barrels they would not bring one-third of that sum. The Crimson Rambler. Cutting is the best means of prop agation ior the Crimson Rambler. Under glass, short cuttings two or j three inches long can be made in No vember and December, from wood of the current year’s growth. 'They should be planted in sand, in flats or pans and kept in a cool place. They root in February or March and can be either potted in thumb pots or kept on in flats until May or .'una, when they should be planted j out tn rich beds. . BEAUTIFY AND ARE USEFUL Vines Shade From Hot Sun, Hide Old Obnoxious Features, and En courage Birds to Nest. (By JOSRVMINE DR M'.UU ) When in doubt as to what to plant plant vines, is sound advice. Vine* beautify, they are useful, they art easy to grow. They shade from the hot sun: they hide old, oi obnoxious features; they encourage the birds to nest about the house; they are tin drapery nature throws over and and about with a lavish hand to soft en and embellish. When preparing to plant vines, be sure to spade deeply, manure heav ily, and prepare the soil carefully. After perennial or hardy vines are 1 r yfTlpeV' Boston Ivy and Prairie Queen Rose. established, it is difficult to cultivate them, therefore, do all you can be fore planting them. When they be gin to “spin," they must have suit port, otherwise they will be stunted In growth and unsatisfactory. There are so many beautiful vines among annuals, perennials and hardy vines that it is hard to decide, If the choice is at all restricted. if you wish to blot out an old building, cov er it with vines. If you dislike the necessary fence, turn ,t into a thing of beauty by planting vines along its length. A dead tree renews its youth if vines are allowed to clothe Its branch es. Let vines shade the porch and thus make it a cool and leafy retreat from the summer's sun. Curtain the shutterless south window with vines and let them grow about the home wherever possible. The back fence may be hidden by vines and the sides of a steep terrace or bank may be transformed into a thing of beauty by planting trailers along the top. PEARS PICKED BEFORE RIPE They Should Be Carefully Laid in Baskets. Sorted Into Grades, and Shipped to Market. Pears should always be picked care fully before fully ripe, without bruis ing, with the stems on. They should he laid carefully in the picking has kets, which should hold half a bushel ■or so, and then be hauled to the pack ing house or other convenient place and at once sorted into grades, and either packed or skipped or placed in ripening house for future shipment. It is usually better, in most cases, especially with summer fruit, to pick the trees over two or three times although thi$ is not absolutely neces sary, and unless the trees are over loaded may not be worthwhile. When the fruit has not been properly thinned and the trees are overloaded mal.j growers begin to pack the fruit long before it is full grown and send it to market. By this means the trees are not only relieved, somewhat, but the fruit that is left swells to the largest possible bulk; moreover, satisfactory returns are often secured from the early pickings. This method is par ticularly successful with Clapp’s Fa vorite and Bartlett. Both of these va ricties will ripen up tolerably well when they are not much more than half grown. The same principle is successfully used in handling Le Conte and Ivieffer pears, but these should he nearer maturity to he good. V Stone fruits, such as the cherry, peaeh and plum require hut little pruning. Hogs are certainly preferable in the orchard to a blue grass sod around the trees. To make- chrysanthemums bushy and compact, pinch the branches back from time to time. Geranium cuttings should "callous" over and take root within three weeks or a month. One of the most pernicious enemies with which the plum tree has to con tend is the plum curcuiio. All shrubs that have done bloom ing should be pruued at once. Tills induces blooming buds and branches: lor next year's crop. Do uot work the soil deeply about plants that root close to the surface; merely break the crust with the claw rake, or with the fingers. Arsenate of lead should always b.‘ used instead of Paris green on stone fruits, because there Is very little dan ger of burning the foliage. Go over the berry plantations every week to pinch back the new shoois that are upming up to make the fruit ing wood for the next year. Re-trim the sod edging of borders; all gravel or loose walks allowing a giowch of weeds should be well soaked with strong brine, and hand weeded. The garden strawberry is an Amer ican product. It adapts itself to a wider range of latitude and to greater extremes In environment than auv other cultivated Iruit. - - I hiediterrer : 1 Ft-:, "cit Wonderful: : . -.ly, ■ , Grea ~ ' * n •* for T. dvr ' !' " r. t hr r-jjntttoil that the bo t ca ■ kieoiu.; tea- 1 . re am ; wcl.. rful fr.ni. . Gi •*. credit ! »l"r) ;h • so much lor tie . . i. meet u .. . WitII* j it I * . tv • • - a t ; fu I* I. . „und;.,. ' . ;.i c i fo . f'i ■ .... 01 he . 1 | • -i c.ted the i Wj made the : !•': u {•: ■ other. Ilut today o. ’ . ho;; red Mlnorcas are by far th. tesi, to our lancy, but the English-brtt' Anconas aud Andalu sians are their best. We pay the no; t attention to color of shanks, beak, skin, and plumage; I---—-, ^ .ta. -i i .-. „ .1 i White Leghorn Cock. they pay the most attention to size, shape and head points. For white they wish absolute white, hut some black spots would not bother them as us. They demand the truest surface color; we draw the line too close oit under-color. They are for real beauty as seen; we love to hunt for hidden Head of Minorca Cock. defects that are only harmful in onr imagination as show qualities. We quibble so much about little, harmless things that we often lose sight of .he real elegance of quality that may be or has been produced at the loss of tome of our imaginary evils that ore tucked away among the undercolor. _ LEG WEAKNESS IN CHICKENS Behind Disease There Is Usually to Be Found Story of Overfeeding of Fat Foods. Behind leg weakness there is usual ly to be found the history of over ! feeding of fat-producing foods. Cases ' are sometimes seen in flocks where a j large quantity of condiments or fgg ; food Is given. At the first appearance j of the trouble reduce the quantity of j the fat producing foods. Take away corn, corn meal and con diments. Let them have very little meat. Put the weak birds in a place by themselves. If the fowls are crowd ed increase the space or get. rid of some of the birds. Feed steamed cut 1 clover as a noon meal, whether it be ' summer or winter. If you have peas or beans boil ant; add some to the n ornir.g mash Be sure the drinking water is pur< ,• rd give the houses extra care to set tl ey are in perfectly sanitary condition. Rub the chicken’s legs with P ic ture of arnica and add one-half tea spoonful of tincture of mix vomica to each quart of the drinking water Be careful not to confound ' •: weakness with rheumatism. In the latter disease there 1s a swelling of the joints. The Brooder-House. With the modern brooder house, that is heated artificially, I think quite likely as many chicks can be raised under artificial conditions as under natural conditions, says a writer in Baltimore American. My practice has been for some years to hatch the chicks in an Incubator, and give them to brooding hens if I happen to have them, rather than to go to the trouble and expense of running the brooder. Cause of Failures. One reason why the keeping of a large number of fowls together falls to prove profitable is because those undertaking the business have l*.;k ud experience . '.TER TROUGH FCR FOWLS Convenient Receptacle for Chickens to Drink f re Is Necessity on Stock Farms. On e, ri.'-'k farm, where chickens r.' ’ (or raised. it Is important that ' t : ahve convenient for thorn, or they will often drown in attempt I’-ik to drink from the stock tanks, cs P Vv "‘bcp. the water becomes a If 'or fi is advisable to have \.t «r in as ninny different places ns i- s ide. Ill receptacles convenient for them t. drink from. Old fruit cans, Chicken Trough. Pit'iior round or square, can ho made to answer the purpose of a good wa terlng trough. The tops of the cana should be pounded down, not cut, so as not to Injure the fowls' feet should they stop over them. Any b< that will hold a dozen or moro caus, set close together that they cannot be up set, will answer the purpose for a frame. If small chicks havo access to the frame, clean stone should be dropped In the cans; then they can easily climb out before drowning. GIVE CHARCOAL TO POULTRY One of the Best Stomach Corrective* That Can Be Found and la a Necessity for Chickens. Charcoal Is one of the best stom ach correctives that can be given to man or beast and is a necessity for healthful chicken raising When soft feed In the way of mashes are fed to the fowls, charcoal Is very essential, for It corrects any tendency of the food to sour and greatly assists t^e process of digestion. It has been prov en that all poultry will grow and fat ten faster and the meat will be moro delicious In flavor when charconl Is fed to them regularly; In fact, In all the large fattening plants charcoal Is regularly fed to all the fowls In the fattening coops. Charcoal can be pur chased at any poultry supply house, but can easily be manufactured at home. If you burn wood in your stove, there will be plenty of charcoal In the ashes to feed a large flock of fowls If you don't burn wood, take some corn eels and put In the oven (ill they are thoroughly charred. Corn and cobs may also be partly charred at times and fed to the hens with profit. The Frrm Poultry. With the common knowledge of the earning of the farm flocks hnvo come desire to keep more fowls and make their keeping a special department of Che farm operations. On most farms it will prove better and more economical to allow the poultry free range during favorable weather and fence off the lawn and garden. The gains made by chickens during the summer are rapid and poultrymen are fast beginning to realize that If hey have large healthy birds they must have abundant range during the period when they are growing and de veloping. Purifying the Yards. Frequent rains and excessive heat will cause the yards to be In a very unhealthy condition, unless the sur face soil is spaded or turned under in some manner, especially on heavy clay locations. If spading is too la borious, then the yards may be bone fitted by sprinkling them with a solu tion of copperas or blue-stone, dissolv ing one pound of the mineral in two gallons of water and sprinkling through the nose of an ordinary water ing pot. A few spoonfuls of carbolic acid In the solution will also be of an advantage. Hot coops mean coTds and roup by and by. Too much sun is as great an evil as too little. A serious setback in growth Is never fully recovered. It Is easy to hold cockerels too long and feed away the profits. Market everything not making val uable use of every kernel it eats. If your chicks are ailing and you don't know the reason, look for lice. One bad egg may lose a customer and puts a question mark on the week's product ion. Moulting Is a great strain. Give nourishing food. A little iron tonic In the water is good. Fresh bones from the butcher shop, pounded fine, are superior to the commercial bone meal. Green food is cheap feed, and hens will lay much better than when kept on an exclusive grain diet. The profits w'lth poultry are largest when the fowls can eat what would otherwise be thrown away. Nine-tenths of the young chicks die from being infested with lice and mites. Grease on the head and under the wings Is good. During the very hot weather the chickens get dumpish and lose their appetite. A change of food during this period will help them. See that they have plenty cf pure, fresh wa- j vr | 4 ALCOHOL AND RACE SUICIDE Two Noted Scic UNts Give Their Views of Strong Drink and Its Effects. In an address st I'hiladelphle, Dr. T. A. MncN'Icholl, surgeon at the Red Dross hospital, New York, presented this striking comparison in the study id two separate groups ot families: “Through n long lino of successive generations I have made a study of two separuto groups of families. One group, children of drinking parents; one group of children of abstaining parents. “In ten families of drinking habits there were 55 children. Thirty died in Infancy, three of heart disease, four were Insane, seven were anaemic, eight were tuberculous, one had dia betes, three had very poor teeth, threo had adenoids. Only four of the num ber were normal. Of the total, two were excellent, six were fair, and sev en were deficient In their studies. 111 ten iin h in nuHiaiimiK pttr onts there were 70 children. Two died in Infancy, two were neurotic and anaemic, one had rheumatism, one was tuberculous, and 64 were normal. In study, 66 were excellent, 10 were fair, only two were deficient. “Of the children of total abstaining families, 90 per cent were normal; of the total of children of drinking par ents, 93 per cent were abnormal. “Eighty per cent of the children of regular drinkers have convulsions while teething. Of children dying from such diseases as measles, whoop ing cough, scarlet fever, and other In fantile disorders, n largo percentage are children of drinking ancestry." Dr. T. J. Mays, specialist In con sumption, Philadelphia, in ills address before the semi-annual conference of the American Society for the Study of Alcohol and Other Drug Narcotics, de clared that inebriety was very closely associated with consumption. Tlie former destroyed the vitality of (he body and permitted disease germs to gather and grow in the lungs. In ebriety and consumption are twin dis eases, the one following tlie other. The disease germs of tho latter would not flourish in the lungs if the brain and nervous system were strong enough to throw them off. Alcohol , not only frequently causes tubercu I losls, but there nre many cases where I the children of drinkers develop tlie , white plague. A consumptive patient frequently presents himself, in whom tlie most diligent search falls to le ! veal the slightest trace of family con ; sumption. The condition Is frequent ly found in the young, especially in girls, who, after careful inquiry, are found to liuve a father or mother, or sometimes both, who had been tip plers of alcohol. Children of alcohol parents nre from 200 to 260 per cent more liable to consumption, and from 300 to 600 per cent more prone to nervous dis eases than nre children of abstemious parents. PASSION FOR GIN DRINKING Historian Lack'/ Says Liquor Never Ceased to Be Counteracting In fluence on Morals. In his "Eng'rtnd in the 18lh Cen tury,” I.nckv, the hi tot'ian, says that about 1721 ilio passion for gin drink ing affected the masses and it spread with the rapidity and violence of an epidemic. “Small as is the place which this fact occupies In English history. It was probat ly. If we consider all the consequences which have flowed from It, (he most momentous in the eighteenth century — Incomparably piore so than any event in the purely political or military annals of the country. The fatal passion for drink was at onc» and irrevocably planted In the naM n. Phv-icians declared that In excessive gin drinking a new and terrible source of mortality had been opi ned for the poor. Retailors of gin hung out signs that their cus tomers could he made drunk for a pen ny and dead drunk- for two pence, .)n,5 that straw was provided free.” The latter referred to the custom of hav Irg straw in tlm cellars on which those who had g own too drunk to g t home could sleep off their potations. If<> goes on to say that, “from the early years of the is»h century gin drinking has never ceased to he the main counteracting influence to the n oral, intellectual and physical bene fits that might he expected from In crease commercial prosperity.” Less Scotch Whisky Drunk, An unprecedented state of affairs prevails In the Scottish distilling In dustry. It has just been announced that the North Hritish distillery is to be closed down. This makes the fourth large grain distillery which has ceased op erations in Scotland during the past month or two. At the annual meeting of the Distill ers’ company, limited, the predominant producing concern, it was reported by the chairman that their stocks hnd in creased by more than $250,000. h> foreshadowed the possibility of having to close down one or more distilleries permanently, and stated that such a contingency had already been provided for by writing down their value. ;iC.V»E MAKING WOMAN’S AHT £he Can Add to Husband's Comfort by Havirfj the House Attractive and Hospitable. The birds find - • rres of exultation in the building of tlielr nests, and you can discover that they p.re hou e fur nishing by the joy of their son.-s. It is the natural instinct of love and life 11 make n place to dwell in. lo the woman who can devise a beautiful gown, the arrangement and decoration of a room is the expansion and ten fold higher use of her art. To the woman who would endear herself to her husband, a guarantee might be of fered that if she can keep within tho limit of his means and yet make for him a lovely, comb,riable, appropriate abiding place, in which he has room for the development of Ills own tastes and opportunity to bring about him his friends in hospitable fashion, she will have endeared herself Inexpress ibly to him and increased his pride in her tenfold. Let the good order and beauty and contrivances for his Indi vidual comfort be sufficient to make his friends envious, and ready to say that his home tempts them to marry, and the wife becomes lovely in his eyes, in a fsr more flattering way than because she is pretty and well dressed. To become the source of a husband's comfort and rest Is to have placed yourself beyond the fear of losing your complexion or ceasing to be his Ideal of a pretty girl. It is also to rise from the position of a dear pel to a useful, important partner, without whose clever brains and wlBe direc tion his life would cease to be a suo cess. Home-making Is not easy work, but the married woman who sets aside her kingdom for lack of courage and ener gy to rule It, 1b but a disinherited prin cess who has lost the greatest Joy of life when she abdicated her throne. WAS GENEROUS TO A FAULT Story of Statesman Who Voted for Anythlnfl That Would Force Treasury to Pay. There are Innumerable stories about Mr. Brownlow. who recently died, his manners and methods. His colleagues never tire repeating his reply to the representative of an uplift magazine who was in Washington years ago In terviewing members on the principles that actuated them in the perform ance of the public duties. "Mr. Brownlow," said this upllfter, “you have been in congress n good many years and are known as an or ganization, or machine. Republican. But have you no faith, no principle, no creed that guides your conduct out side of party lines?" "Young man," replied Mr. Brownlow In his rumbling voice, "I have the proud record of never having voted against any proposition to take money out of the federal treasury.” The upllfter gasped, and Mr. Brown low ambled on Ids way. His friends say Ids statement was almost literal at that. Ingratitude Mr. Brownlow consid ered the one Inexcusable crime. He never was guilty of It himself. One day a man who had done a favor for Mr. Brownlow asked him to vote In committee for an increase In salary to an official in one of the government departments. "Why, Mr. Brownlow," he said, “lot me tell you something. This Is the most meritorious case — Mr. Brownlow Interrupted with a snort. "Do you want ine to vote for au Increase to this man?” he asked. "Indeed I do,” said the friend. "Then,” said Mr. Brownlow, “that’s enough. Never mind about that mer Itbrious business.” “Are They Pittsburg Aldermen?" A member of Pittsburg commandery had a sumcwlmi embarrassing oxperl i ence during the Templars' visit to Chi ! cago. He had been introduced to a ' young woman at the reception given 1 by the* Pennsylvania grand command ; ery at the Hotel I-a Salle, and chati I cing to meet this same young woman, I she impulsively ask