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THE FAGf S ABOUT COBALT7N' WHAT IT IS AND WHERE FOUND. No Great Demand For the Mineral Heretofore, Hence It Has Not Beer Extensively Mined---Mr. Edison's Discovery May Create a Demand For It---Original Form .z the Mineral and How It is Obtained---The Ferm in Which !t Appears in North Carolina aid the Localities Where It is Found By JOSEPH HYDE PRATT. The North Carolina geological and economical survey has, during the past two or three weeks received a great many letters regarding the occurrence of cobalt in North Caro lina, and it has been thought that a short article giving a description of the occurrences of the cobalt and the localities where it is known to occur in North Carolina would be of in terest. Cobalt is a material that is very similar to nickel and nearly all the minerals in nature that contain one of these metals contains also a small percentage of the other. There is great similarity between the two metals and in the reduction of the ores both the nickel and cobalt go into the matter, which is afterwards refined and the two metals separa rated from each other. "On account of the small demand for cobalt, there has not been a great deal of prosprcting directly for deposits of this metal; while on the other hand, the demand for nickel has constantly increased so that deposits of min erals containing this metal have been prospected for in many sections of the country. Up to the past two years all the cobalt has been ob tained in this country, and Canada has been as a by-product either in nickel or lead mining and smelting, and there has been no direct mining for cobalt ores. Recently, however, new sources of supply of cobalt ores containing but little nickel has been fouzid in Canada, which have result ed in the i-oduction of cobalt in some quantity and this could be in -creased very largely if a sufficient demand for the metal could, -be -created. These deposits are along the line of the Temiscuming & Northern Ontario Railway, ninety miles northeast of the town of Sun burry, Canada. These cares carry a considerable percentage of cobalt and are rich in native silver, which makes the ore very profitable min ing. Missouri Cobalt Ore. ' In the United States the only co balt ores that have been mined to any extent are the lead ores at Min La Motte, Mo., which contain con siderable percentage of cobalt and ;a very small quantity of nickel. 'These- are melted to a slag contain -ing lead, nickel and cobalt, which is afterwards refined. The princi pal use of cobalt which is in the formn of the odide, is in manufactur ing pigments, the principal- one being ~known as cobalt blue. With nickel, however, the principal use has been as a steel hardening metal and some experiments have been made with -cobalt for this purpose.. There is -not, however, a distinct enough :property of ':he two metals to war rant the use of cobalt to any extent as a steel or iron hardening metal as long as its cost is so much higher than nickel. If, however, a special use can be devised for it, as has been advocated by Mr. Thomas Edi Eoin the manufacture of storage f~tteries, there should be a consid *erag~e increase in the demand for the' netal, which would warrant more prospectingtor sources of su~p ply, although~ the prese-it known sour (i4 3upplies of this metal can Jsatisfy a very large increase in - ,demand. /There are a number of minerals that contain a considerable percent age of cobalt, principally in the form of sulphides, arsenides and oxides. The principal minerals and the ones more constantly met with in nature are as follows: Linnaeite: A pale, steel gray, brittle mineral which tarnishes quite readily to a copper red color is as hard as steel, has a Decific gravity of about 5; it is quite commrncly found in octaherval crystals, but also occurs to massive. It is a cobalt sulphide containing sometimes a con siderable percentage of nickel. This 2nineral is also known as cobalt pyrites. ~ . - --_._____ -White Cobalt. Cobalite: This mineral is a co balt arsenic suiphide of a silver gray to steel gray color, sometimes with a tinge of red or violet. It is of a tin white color and also thassive, when the color is ap~t to change to a steel gray or a grayish color. It is as hard as steel and about 6.5 in specific gravity, it is known also as tin white cobalt and gray cobalt. These minerals have not been found in any large masses, but are mnore apt to be more or less spar ingly disseminated through rocks and also through veins containing other minerals. Thiese minerals in decomposing would form carbo nates, sulphates, and oxides and co balt, which would be entirely differ ent ip appearance from the minerals from whiesh they have been derived. 'The more common alteration prod* iiet would be the oxide and this is apt to be found largely mixed with other minerals, so that little or none of it has been found in the free state. The principal sources of this ox Id-- of cobalt are in association with' the mineral psinlomelane, one of ,thE manganese ores and that variety known as wad, or bog manganese. In cc'main localiis this w-'i or ho mlagaese' contains considerable co bait oxidelt, when it is known as asbolite. These minerals are ir color iron black, steel gray, and re sembling somewhat a soft amorphout variety of graphite or black lead for which they have at times beer znistaken. Asbolite: This is also known a black cobalt, earthy cobalt and co balt oxide. It contains sometime as high as thirty-two per cent. o cobalt oxide. The North Carolina Decposits. phides or arsenics, the original me tallic minerals of cobalt, have been identified, but in a number of locali ties the oxide, or asbolite, has been observed, associated with manga nese minerals or ores. The princi pal localities where the asbolite has been found are as follows: A few miles southeast of Cary, Wake County, where black manganese co balt mineral can be observed for a quarter of a mile, outcropping oc casionally on the surface. A littlE prospect work has been done here by sinking pits and making cuts across the vein, and it has shown it to be probably continnmicaceous schist extending in a general direction north twenty degrees east that can be traced from Bessemer City north eastward into Lincoln County. These schists contain throughout nearly the whole area numerous small seams, incrustations and stains of black manganese material which gives reactions for cobalt. Some of this material is largely iron oxide when it is more of a reddish or yel lowish ochre color, but the most of it is black. At the Ormond iron mine, one mile southwest of Bessemer City, there is a considerable quantity of this material found mixed with the iron or.e, and it may be that it was the cobalt which went into the pig iron that gives this iron its repu tation for hardness and toughness. At the Long Creek Gold Mine, situ ated about six miles northwest of Dallas, Gaston County, masses of quality, taken out of the Asbuy shaft, were thickly encrusted with mammilary masses of asbolite or earthy cobalt. About a mile north east from the Long Creek mine, on the old Lincolnton, Yorkville, S. C., road, near the summit of Cross or Paysour Mountain, a band of' rock iAeen feet wide across contains veins and seams of wad or asbolite. Following this vein in a northerly direction, it descends the west slope of Cross Mountain and fifty years ago a number of openings had been made on the asbolite seams. Some of this material was analyzed and gave 13.26 per cent. of the cobalt and nickel oxides, the larger nmount of this being cobalt. The same for mation can be traced into Lincoln County and similar seams of wad are observed. The original minerals from which this cobalt oxide is derived may be one of the sulphides mentioned above, or one of the sulphides that contain both nickel and cobalt. Where It i; Found. As all the cobalt identified in North Carolina has thus far been as sociated with psilomelane wad, it is such deposits that will attract the most attention in prosecuting for this metal. This mineral has been foud/ at a great many localities throughout the State, as at Scott's Hill, Burke County, near Lenoir, Caldwell County; at Gillespie s Gap. near Bakersville, Mitchell County; on Cove Creek and Richmond Creek, Haywood County; near Buckhorn, Chatham County; Murphy, Cherokee County; Franklin, Mason County; Webster, Jackson County; and Zir conia, Henderson County. . The simplest test of- cobalt is by fusing up some of the powdered Riineral with borax, the cobalt oxide giving to the resulting borart glass a deep blue color. This test is so deli cate that it will show even traces of cobalt and can be used -even when a large percentage of nickel Is asso ciated with the cobalt.-Charlotte Daily Observer. MYSTERIES OF "RED DEATH." Strange Sect That is Said to Have Many Adherents in Russia. In the Russian journal Ural are given some amazing details of a mys terious sect known as the -Red Death. The sect has its headquarters at Ekaterinoslav, and has m'any ad herents throughout the region. They have their temples and meet at night for their mysteries, in which red wine forms a considerable part. The feature of this strange sect which most strikes the outside world is that associated with its title. When one of Qe sect is at the~ point of death he is carried to the ter'nie, in which is a room with no window, but covered-ceiling, walls and floor -with red. There is no furniture, but on the Qoor are two cushons. The victim who, in the jargon of the sect, is --ripe for glory," is laid on the floor with his head on one cushion and left alone for some time. A young maiden clothed in red then enters, slowly approaches the body, and if death has not already taken place, puts the second cushion over the victim's mouth and holds it down until all sign of life has gone. *Author of Leather Stocking Tales. He had little systematic education. His character was developed and affirmed before his mind was either trained or stored. His taste natu rally suffered. Taste is the product of tradition, and of tradition he was quite independent, quite ignorant. Fortunately, he was also ignorant of its value, and when at thirty he began to produce literature his energy was unhampered by diffi dence. But it was inevitable that the literature he produced should be extremely unliterary, and noticeably so in proportion to its power. His talent was not distinctly a literary talent. He had not even a tincture of bookishness. Of the airt of litera ture he had perhaps never heard. 11 Iwgs quite possible in his day-singu lar as it may seem in ours -not tc in er of M. HeI left school ear-ly and was a sailor, a man of business, a gentleman of more or less, leisure enough, at all events, to encourage a temperament that was aristocratic and critical, and not in the leasi speculative, adventurous, and. aes theti.-From "Cooper," by WV. C. Brownell, in Scribner's. Excessive use of drugs is the cause of death of 20) per cent. of the popula tion of Austria, according to official statistic~s. while 44 pet- cent. of the medical profession in that country dii of 1-art disease. * For a - Youl Chill DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES? )h. do you believe in fairies? Dear child, with eyes of blue, And the wonderful Never Never Land, Oh, doesn't it call to you?, The children play in that beautiful land, And wonderful things they do Ehe pirate band they slay outright, Oh, doesn't it call to you? he boys they never grow up, you know, But they play the long years through, And things turn out as they should, my dear, Oh, doesn't it call to-you? One dear little girl with eyes of brown Is the mother of all so true, hev build a home and keep "real house," Oh, doesn't it call to you? Peter Pan is a rare bravo boy, The "wonderfulest" that grew, He wants you all to be the same, 'My child, he is calling to you. He is calling with plaintive and el6sh voice, To all, and not a few. "Oh, come and believe in fairies," Dig children, he's calling you! For if you believe in fairies. They'll live--yes, it's really true. Making your life one long, sweet song, So come and believe, oh, do! -G eorgianna Pitcher, in the Theatre Mag azine. THE WOLF AND THE CRANE. A Wolf devoured his prey so rav enously, that a bone stuck in his throat, giving him great pain. He ran howling up and down, and of fered to reward handsomely any one who would pull it out. A Crane, moved by pity as well as by the pros TRICKS IN El You can entertain your friends 1 iustration with goblets, provided yoi hat you do not use your mother's intil you become expert. A tric- in equilibrium, which yoi ust the shovel and tongs exactly as ect of the money,. undertook the' angerous task. Having removed :he bone, he asked for the promised 'eward. "Reward!" cried the Wolf.. 'Pray, you greedy fellow, what re ward can you possibly require? You save had your head in my mouth; md, instead of biting it off, I have et you pull it out unharmed. Get iway with you, and don't come again rithin reach of my paw."-Progres ive Farmer. COCK ON 'rHE CHURCH SPIRE. A small black cock stood on the ip of a tall church spire. He was not a live cock; but he could turn round and round, for the wind moved him. There was an E to tell that the --id blew from the east, and a W to tell when it blew from the west. There was an N to show when the wind was north and an S to show that it was south. The Black Cock looked like a rave cock, he held his head so high. The north wind made him cold, but the south wind warmed him. The east wind made him Ewet, but the west wind soon dried him. The Black Cock did not care which wind blew on him, as a live cock ''ould have done- He stood up straight and brave all the time. The folks who went by the church did care. They looked up at the Black Cock and said: "It will be cold, for the wind is north;" or, "It will be hot, for the wind is soute;" or, "We shall have rain, for the wind is east;" or, "It will be fine, for the wind is west." So you see that the Black Cock rs of use, though he could not crow o'r at corn, as those you have seen on the farms do. One day the iorth wind -blew so hard that it broke ot the rod on whcn the Black Cock turned, and the poor thing fell to the roof of the church. John saw him fall, and ran to a man who was near and told him. The man climbed up and got the poor cock and brought him down. The Black Cock -vas much bruised and scratched by his fall. But the man got a new rod for him to turn on, and he 'bought some gilt paint and a soft brush and soon made him shine as bright as gold. Then the man took him up to the top of the tall church spire, and set him in his old plac' once more. He seemed to know that he was made to tell the way of the wind. Se Loo, he seemed glad to look like gold, like the sun he loved. In the race to reach him first, the north wind beat all the rest, and gave him a whirl to the north. "Whizz! Whizz!" he cried. And the small boy clapped his hands up at him and cried, "Crow, ock. crow!" But the Gold Ccck did not crow. He just whizzi round and showed the folks that the wind was north. ittle Folks. THE CUCKOO. The cuckoo alwa--s leads a mourn l. secluded life. If we a -. zger iren.... us, from May to October, it will most probably be observed silently slipping from the cover of one tree or thicket to that of another, generally alone, and frequently uttering the harsh guttural note from which it has long since acquired the name "rain crow." I nevcr have understood why it should be called a crow. Certainly it does not resemble the crows in our coun.ry either in voice, ap*jearance, c- manner of life. the cuckoo is often heard calling on cloudy days, or just before rains, and for this reason it is usually ac credited with the power of foretelling the coming shower. It cannot sing; but it has some notes peculiarly its own, which, once heard, are not easi ly forgotten. "Tut-tut, tut-tut," it seems to say, "c1-uck-cl-uck, cow, cow."-Progressive Farmer. MAIL DOXES AS NESTS. Since free delivery of mail in rural districts has been established I have been pleased to discover two or three pairs of bluebirds nesting undisturbed in mail boxes by the roadside. It is gratifying to know that the birds al lowed themselves to be disturbed two or three times a day and yet not aban don their nests. But the thing that gives the bird lover the greatest de light is that fact that no one robbed the nets. I am sure the bluebird will in time learn to appreciate this kind ness. and the day is not far distant when it will be a common occurrence QUIIBRIUM. y performing- the tricks shown in fpractice a littefirst. It is suggested est goblets, but use cups of tin rcan perform successfully if yo~u ad the iI~ustration shows. to find some kind of bird's nest in every home-made box that holds a let ter.-From "Nature and Science," in St. Nicholas. What :is a Lady? Sociafly a lady is an illuminatin~g exception to the "Crewd." She has old-fashioned motions that puzzle the majrity and delight the few.. She has no longings for a career or for suffrage. She detests snobbery, but refuses to know any save the "best people-for her to know.. Those who. paint pictures, hew marble, and write books or give to the world the worthy products of their talents are among her "best people." Not that she looks upon great wealth as a bar sinister to social eligibility. What has money to do with lady hood? Bue she knows the need of money is the root of much evil: therefore among her friends are women whose millions are but gold en addenda to their thrice-charming selves-indeed she often is born to the purple or acquires it by mar riage. Many are called upon, but few are chosen as a Lady's intimates. To all she is careful to be polite, and so escape the snare of petty Ibroils and spiteful "roastings." Friendships that are born in a night, and die in a fortnight, she rejects. IShe connides in none. If uncon sciously she incites, she never in vites, confidence, but when trusted is loyalty's synonyme. - Minna Thomas Antrim, in Lippincott's. IPerfectly iormal. A journalist visited an insane asylum to get material for an article, and was shown over the establish ment by one of the inmates, who was so intelligent that it was almost im possible to believe he could be out of his head. "And what are you in here for, my man?" asked the journalist at length. Immediately a cunning look came into the man's eyes and he looked about him warily. "I'll tell you if you keep it dark," he said, lowering his voice. "I have a mania for swearing. I write 'cuss words' all around. It's great sport. Why, they have to hire a man just to follow me round and rub 'em out. But," coming a little closer. "I'll tell you a secret. I'm four 'damns' ahead of him. and I've got 'hell' written all over your back'"-Lip pincott's Magazine. Moderation in Exercise. It is better to be lazy than dead, and it is probably just as comfort able. For obvious reasons the pre scription to take "moderate exer cise" is misleading and unsatisfac tory. Most of us are constitution ally incapable of exercising moler ately. We begin violently and r.nid Iquickly. And what is "moderate eercise?" One philosopher who Itried it for twenty years arrived at the same as to walking. Smell the ~r.:oring. look down the long way tat separates you fre-n your busi A FLOWERY SANDWICH. Savory sandwiches are spread with butter that has been flavored by lying rolled in a thin cloth overnight on a bed of violets, mignonette, rose petals and nasturtium leaves and blossoms. Cover the butter with the flowers and cover its receptacle tight. Rose geranium leaves are sometimes used, but tieir fragrance is pretty strong. KING'S PUDDING. Four tablespoonfuls flour, two ta blespoonfuls sugar, two eggs, a little milk, one teaspoonful baking pdwder, strawberry jam. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. b-at up the eggs and stir them in gradually; sift the flour gent ly among the butler and eggs, then add about a tab'e.poonful of milk, and, last of all, the baking powder. Butter a pudding mold and put into it a large spoonful of jam, pour in the pudding, cover with buttered paper and steam for two hours. PUFFY IEAT SOUFFLE. Add a cupful of bread crumbs that have been soaked in a cupful of hot milk to two cupfuls of chopped cold meat, add a teaspoonful chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of onion juice, a teaspoonful of salt, one-half teaspooonful of pepper, a-tablespoon ful of grated celery. Mix this well together, add the yolks of two eggs, well beaten, and pour into a but tered pudding dish. Then take two cupfuls mashed potatoes, add a tea spoonful of salt, one cupful of hot milk and at the very last fold in the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff snow. Spread this over the meat and bake in a hot oven for twenty-five minutes. The potatoes will puff up and brown nicely. FANCY CUCUMBER PRESERVES. Young cucumbers about the length of one's middle finger should be used for preserving. Place them in a strong brine and allow them to re main there for one week. Then wash them and soak them a day and a night in fresh water, changing it about four times. Wipe them, and with a small knife slit them down one side. Dig out the seeds and stuff with a mixture of chopped raisins and citron. Sew up the slit with fine thrcad. Weight and prepare a syrup, using a pound of sugar to a pint of water to every pound of cucumbers. Heat the sugar and water. When the boiling point is reached drop the ucumbers into the syrup, Siminer them gently half an hour. Take out the preserve and spread it upon a dish in the sun. Let it remain there until the syrup has been boiled down with a few slices of ginger root. hen add the cucumbers, and simmer very gently five minutes. Put them into glass fars and seal. This recipe has been used by a noted housekeep er for ov er thirty years. Dry your saucepans before you put thenm away. Be careful not to throw anything bu. water down the sink test you clog Be sure to put scalding water in each saucepan or stewpan as you finish using it. Take notice of all orders that re quire time in t e preparation o- a dinner and hurry nothing. Take care of your copper utensils that the tin does not become worn off. If so, have them instantly re placed. ~ Be particular in washing vegeta bles. Lay cauliflower and cabbage in salt and water for an hour or more to get out the insects. if a dinner party is in prospect, ask for a bill-of-fare and get ready ad you can the day before, to ease worry and hurry on the day (ixed. Keep your spice box always re~ plenished and take care to let your mistress know whether you are out of anything likely to be required, that its place may at once be -.up~ p)lied. Wear plain cotton dresses and large aprons. Be ,sure to keep youi hair neat and sraooth. Be careful 01 fuel. It is a great recommendatior: to a cook to use only the necessary amount of fuel. lla:e an eye on your mistress's in terests, not permitting waste os an) kind; a cook who is just and nones and does as she would be done b: . worthy of the greatest respect ani may o sure of being successful an happy. Pudding bags and jelly cloths re quire care; wash and hang them t dry directly after using them. Ai: them well before you put them ewa: or they will smell musty. Keep then in a warm, dry place. After washing up your dishes, and cleaning th4 dishpan, scald out the sink and siul brush. We Yankees Like Fruit. For strictly orchord product which found markets and presum ably were consumed during the yea ending June 30, 1905i, the Americal farmer received $8S.751,840, and w raised in American vineyards on and a half billion po)unds of grapes which crop) brough our America: ;-ineyardists over $13.0 00.000 more American sub-tropical fruits brough the producers nearly $10Q,000.00( and we imported from the West In dies and Scuther'n Europe $25.00%Q 000 worth of tropicai fruits. Ernest C, Rowe, in Leslie's We! F SOUTHERN:. TOPICS OF iNTEREST TO IHE PLAN 3 Plowing, Good and Bad. A correspondent of the Country Gentleman opens his communication with an axiom, for it is certainly true that good plowing is at the founda tion of good farming. All that is said about plowing when the soil is too wet or too dry applies, of course, only to heavy soil containing a large percentage of clay. Most of the sandy lands of this State can be plowed as soon -as the rain stops, without any injury. Florida farmers have yet to learn that one-horse plowing does not pay. Good plowing, it has been said, is at the foundation of all good farm ing; and there is much of truth in the statement. A field that is poorly plowed is not likely to produce a heavy crop, and always requires extra labor in its subsequent prepara tion and cultivation. Land that is plowed too wet or too dry is ce-tain to be baked or cloddy, and often re mains in this condition the season through. Shallow, careless plowing has been the bane of this section; and many a gullied hillside testifies to the work of the man who plowed four inches deep because he was in a hurry to get through. Down in the cotton country, where, in many local ities at least, the rule is a darky, a mule and a little one-horse plow that turns up from two to four inches of soil, the dam'age is equally apparent, and even more general. Good plowing and deep plowing are, however, not necessarily synonv mous. Some land needs to be turned no more than four inches, although it is fair to say that there is very lit tle of that kind in thissection. Land to be well plowed must 'e broken to a uniform deptlt and be free from the "skips" and "wallows" left by so many plowmen. When the soil is too wet to shed, or so dry that it breaks up in chunks, a good job is impossible. The ideal condiLion is when the soil as it falls frorL the plow crumbles down into a soft, smooth bed. This ideal condition is not always obtainable even where the land is smooth and uniform, and where, as is often the case with us, one field may have in it a half dpzen types and conditions of soil aiid as many differences in 'topography, the prob lem is one of great difficulty. Where one has to plow up hill and down, through alluvial deposits and clay banks, he must be a better plowman than any with whom I am acquaint ed if he keeps his furrows of uniform depth and width. He cannot set his plow for every variation of soil or slope, b'ut must strike an average as best he can. This means that he may plow eight inches deep in one place anld four in another. Usually, too, the Ieast depth will be reached where the greatest is needed. Now this is a very unpleasant state of af fairs, but it seems also to be inevit able. -It is one of the disadvantages which the man who farms in the hill eountry has to contend with. If any one can tell us any practicaI way of surmounting this difficulty I can promise him the gratitude of at Ieast one reader,. and believe he will have that of thousands of others. There are some things a farmer is said never to appreciate until he has had and lost them-running water, a good fruit supply,. abundant shade trees and a convenient wood lot. I think it is safe to- add that the man who has leveI land of uniform qual ity cannot fully appreciate his good fortune unless he has at one time farmed on hilly land.-Florida Agri culturist. The Country Boys and Girls. It is a remarkable fact that a large part 6f the brain and brawn has al ways come from the rurar districts of all .countries. We might go down the business street of any town in North Carolina to-day ana. take an inventory, so to speak,. of the men who are doing the business, and we would find a large part of them were reared in the country. We do not write to make odious comparisons between the country children and the town children, but we wish to call the attention of 'parents in the country to the new order of things coming to pass. We wish to ask fathers and moth ers if it is reasonable to suppose that their boys and girls in the country who only have an opportunity to cul tivate and develop their minds from three and one-half to four months in the year will be able to stand up and compete with and enter into life's struggles with the boys and girls in the towns who have- nine mouths to iaprove the mind and be trained for life's work: to say nothing of the mtagzaznes, good literature and lec tures ..o which they have :v-cess. It is noct reaisoo'bic to supnose that cihildren who iuava ')ractically~ Items of Interest. President Shea 's faction held eon trol in the teamsters' convention. Virginia Robinson 5 years old, wa burned to death at Cameron, W. Va The Henrico road supervisors re fused :o authorize an election for bond issue to improve the count: roads. The women sufferagists convene< in Copenhagen. Thc batleship 31ikasa, Admiral To go's flagship in the battle of the Se: of Japau.' has been raised at Sas e bo. SThe D~uke of Connaught and mnem bers of his staff were in an automoc bile in Wales when it was demnolishes by a collision, but esc'aped injury. tFive .Japanese were killed andi sev eral others wounded for raiding th seal roo~kerv on the Island of Si Paul ML-La. C-ari * . 31urphy. the Tamman; TARM '. f10TE&8 ER, STOCKMANANO ?RUCK G.9% ER. - the same natural ability and have more than twice the opportunities the others do, will be equal when the contest comes. Parents of the rural districts, your children are as dear to you as any parents. Do you want them to be helpless or inferior in capacity to their fellows in the years to come? I am sure no true parent does. But mark the prediction: unless the par ents of the rural districts bestir themselves and secure more of the advantages for their children in the way of education the time will sure ly come when those who have it not must serve. This is not a pleasant thought, but it is as true as the Gospel itself. We do not want to see parents of the rural districts satisfied with three or four months' school; they must not be content with this if they e pect to keep pace with the towns and villages.-Catawba County News. Cultivating the Plum Orchard. There is even more necessity, for regula-r and clean - cultivation with the plum than with the peach, inas much as it requires a more plenti ful supply of wa:ter. Moisture can only be retained by cultivation, shal low but thorough, after every com pacting rain, thereby pulverizing the crust and forming a soil mulch to shut off capillarity and so retain the water already chambered in the subsoil from the -winter rains. To insure such a reservoir of moisture the orchard should be plowed in both directions with either cultiva tor or disk harrow as early in win ter as possible. Even during win ter it will pay once or twice to break tha' compact crust that forms after heavy rains with an acme harrow' or similar instrument, ,though this is quite generally neglected by com mercial growers to their loss. Crops "of grass and weeds should never be allowed to develop in the orchard, as they not only rob the trees of water, but of plant food without a corresponding return. Low, cultivated crops, like cotton, while of course distinctly in~furions to the trees, are less objectionable, since to a certain extent they pay for board and lodging. Cowpeas in rows oc cupying the middle between the trees are rather more of a benefit than a detriment, for although they trench on the water supply, they return an equivalent in the nitrogen they trans fer to the soil. Small grain, how ever, is ruinous. Cultivation should cease before the 'maturity of the crop and not be resumed until the trees have become dormant in the fall. This will permit the wood to ripen up' well, which a constant dis ruption of the'root system by the cultivator would prevent.-Prof. H. s - -N. Starnes. Visiting Neighbors' Farms. Every farmer should get out occa sionally and visit his neighbors' farms. Every other business man mal-es it a point to know the men who are engaged in his line of work, and he profits by 'the acquaintance. The farmer who stays at home all the time is inclined tc. -get the idea that the sun rises and sets for the particular benefit of his individual patch of earth, which means that he is in a fair way to go to seed. Of course when a man visits anotker mans farm, he wilI not brag, criticise or gossip. If he goes in. a friendly give-and-take spirit, he will general ly find his neighbors c~uite readyt to explain how he grows more corn' to the acre than does the~ man on the next quarter, or to show why -his coultry or his dairy bring him a prof it, whereas they are only a drain on the resources of too many of his fel low-farmers. It is not safe to jump at the conclusion that because a man' gows more corn to the acre than you grow his soil is any better than yours. In nine cases out of ten he raises more because be uses i,etter seed, or because he hats learned-bet ter methods of cultiv:ation.-Farm Life. Severe Root Pruning Favored. Alhough the horticulturist of the Georgia experiment station declines to make any positive statement con cerning the advisability of severe root pruning when planting young trees, he says that he is fully satis fied that peach trees fr-om which the rootse have been largely cut off will live and flourish in Georgia even in stiff clay and under adv.arre weather' conditions. The same statement may also be made of apple and cherry trees. In some experiments made he found that the root-pruned trees made fewer, deeper. larger and more robust roots. These rqots' enerat'?d seventeen and one-half inhsfr the roots oi -dnPruned trees. Pointed Par-graphs. As a rule a young widow begins to get better, looking about ten days after the late lamented moves to the e~ emetery. Men haven't much love for men, rwomen haven't much love for women; and most men end women have less 'love for each cther than they have for themselves. . The best time a womian has going Sabroad is waving good-by to all her . envious friends. A man's judgment is not to be - mentioned with the way a woman - an do things wvithout any. When a girl would like broiled steak and French fried potatoes she - .seems to think you w.,uld imagine it worse than for her to have fat an Soicitors for- a charitable cnte V prVe are offered more excuses tha