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I11 ' *" ni l III 1 I " 'irn^^ 111 h l I I' l ill I SBBB W11 BU riTTaaaMMBMMBMCga^BWMBi^ VOL. XLIII. WINNSBORO, S. C., WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 13, 1886. NO. 11. ! ^ITp^??1B?i?I? THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH. 80.ME KEASOXABLE SI FatOM HIGH AlTiiOHt i V. ? ^ What Work the Good Farmer* I)o in the Monti: of OeJoI-er? \:s Interesting ArtiPV& cle From an Intelligent Writer. (vV L. Jar.es in the OJtobcr "Caltir^'or.") The gathering and housing of summer crows will for the present occuuv must of the fanners' time. The rewards of skill and labor are now his. He not only : s has the pleasure of seeing his barns and & store-houses well filled, but also the ex . quisite enjoyment of plans consummated, of undertakings well executed. His estimate of his own ability is possibly enhanced by the success of his ventures, and he may reasonably rind properly indulge his pride a little. For > six months or more he has been engaged in an arduous campaign?one calling for ^ unceasing attention, unflagging energy f and discriminating judgment at every turn?one in which difficulties were concfonfIt !-?#? mt.'f- oTtil nTwnmf-?rtianv a Scylla on the one side and a Charvbdis I on the other to be shunned?one in which co-operation with nature was to be assiduously courted and antagonism ||pj^ "with her as carefully avoided. Now the Sr bent bow may be a little relaxed, and f elasticity restored to the c trained body! and mind. While the plain, routine work of pick- j ing cotton or breaking com is going on, j t there is no strain upon the mind, and it j can leisurely and quietly look back and i compare results with their causes. Like j the old soldier who recalls the battles he ' fought, the fanner can now bring back before him the "tight places'' he was in, t the difficulties he had to meet, and how i he met them, and calmly and judicially ! discuss his management, whether gooil; or bad. If you had to do it over again. 4-1-nvw* o-r?v /?!?or?trc*c rr?n ttvmiI/1 f4 C4.X V_ v? VVl ?T V U*V4 . J / Would you have broken your laud deep- j er and more thoroughly? .Would you j rhave harrowed it more before planting? ; Would you have used the same quantity j and kind of manure? Would you have j worked your crops more rapidly and j oftener in spring and early summer, and j gotten ahead of the grass before the j ? -. rains set in? If you had known it was ! l going to be a wet summer, would you " - not have bestirred yourself a little more? ' v Could you not have bestirred yourself r without knowing it was going to be wet? Is it not an excellent rale to be always prepareu lur ait; wuibi, uiuuyu ^ for the best? Don't you thick now, in view of your extended cotton Held, with their clean, bare surfaces ready to be washed away, and their soils leached by the winter rains, that you planted rather too much cotton? Would it not have pa been better to have rested some of the Sj^ land you cultivated? It is quite remarkf ? able that in a country in which popula-j tion is so sparse, and land is so super-1 * abundant, we are as anxious to utilize j every foot of it every year as in coun-; ^ tries where population is very dense a. 1 i i the land can hardly support it. Our j i judgment is that if half the open land in j Bjk the country was rested every year (abso- ] lute rest, not sown in Grain) as much I would be made on the* half cultivated as | Wm is now made on the whole. Have the arrangements you adopted I If last winter and spring to prevent the f washing of your land proved successful? Didn't you make your terraces in the early spring, just before the usual big k rainfalls Qpcur, and did not these rains strike them before they/had time to get: compacted or get a growth of any kind i hL upon them to bind and hold them, and j did not they get badly washed away'? "Would it not be better to make terraces / on land when it is resting or in stubble, rand do the work in the fall or early winter, so that the terraces may get settled and firm before the heavy spring rains; j and would it not be well to - ow the ter-! races in rye or wheat, as soon as they are | made, and get a growth upon them at i v -dQT once? If terraces freshly made in stub b?e land should give way under heavy rain, the land would not" wash, because [ it is compact and held by roots. But when terraces are made in spring, and the land between them ploughed, as is . generally the case, the washing becomes L excessive and disastrous if heavy rains ft prevail. "We have found that on old /-_ land, in which washes have already started, it is extremely diilicult to get terraces well established without the aid ! of some hillside ditches. Our practice j P in such cases is to run ditches just as i k one would do 11 lie aid not nave terracing in view, and then lay off terraces just as if there were no ditches present?of course jumping over and not tilling the |N ditches where the terraces cross them. I After tne terraces become well established and both incipient and old gullies are fty' entirely filled up, the ditches may be filled up if one thinks he can control the water without them. On very rolling land, where tKe disposition to" wash is very great, we find it best sometimes to F run short secondary ditches between the t j regular ditches. A secondary ditch will I run across from one ditch to the next R below, starting just below the dam of the 'first and emptying into the one below. [. -w Placed just above an incipient wash a wkf small secondary ditch ^vill assist materif ally in stopping it. We cannot join the I ardent advocates of terracing in wholeI sale denunciations of hillside ditches. We find the latter, at times, very useful K nay, almost indispensably. * If one starts' with fresh land, and there is no i uncultivated slope above from which water may flow down upon it, terraces i ^ alone may answer, but on* old lands | where washes have already started these may be arrested and permanently J - stopped by a judicious combination of ditches and terraces with more ease and more quickly than by terraces alone. 1$ Terraces are sometimes made too narrow; a strip, at least two feet wide, in the middle of them should not be dis& turbed by the plow, but left firm and compact to resist the Trashing action of water. After the terrace is well estabW \ flfctshed it may be reduced in width if V ?BSeemed ad viable. Can a good part of fV>o l#?isTiT? time between this and sDrimr Fbe better spent than in de-rising ways and putting into execution means to prevent the washing away of our soils? All admit this is the very foundation of successful farming, and yet we go on from year to year pursuing methods which facilitate the wasliing away of the soil and hardly ever stopping and taking time to arrest it What is done in this direction is most frequently done in a hurried an I imperfect manner in the opring, when heavy rainfalls startle us from our lethargy by their destructiveYr seftfinn-; wii'sra mains and wrasse:: ' constitute the prevailing crops these Wjmy difficulties do not confront farmers. We ^9 scarcely ever see an allusion to the wash}S ing away of soils in Northern or Western agricultural journals. "At the South, the ||| trouble lies at the door of cotton and tobacco?land-destroying,libor-demandWfr ing crops?how they have cursed one HL hotr they still curse our agriculture Strange paradoxes; where the laboi Bp*' problem is most difficult and embarrass $$$ jng, we raise crops which call for mos' [ labor; whore summer droughts are mosl j disastrous, we rely chiefly on summex i crops; wbere winter rains are most j copious and destructive, we keep oui | lands bare through the winter that they j may be washed away and their fertility | destroyed bv leaching; in a climate adj mitting the greatest variety of producj tion, our crops are few in number and I we are buvers of almost everything, j when we ought to purchase almost nothI ! Kecently we have take a advantage of | the comparative leisure on the farm to i do something towards stopping washes, i In many places we found little washes i started on the upper side of ditches. Our j practice for some years has been to leave j an un plowed strij) three or four feet wide along the upper margin of ditches to stop washes and filter out the dirt j coming down from above. It works adj mirably, but sometimes, notwithstanding j this precaution, little washes have start[ ed. "We had a hand with a wagon load of leaves follow each ditch on stubble hmd and throw leaves in each wash, and where rocks were convenient, put some oc them at lower end of wash to hold the haves in place. In the absence of rocks a few stobs may be driven across the mouth. Leaves not only catch and hold dirt, but enrich the spot, and next year grass and weeds will spring up in the wash and illter out the dirt passing through them. A very little work of this kind every summer will keep a farm in excellent condition. It should be done in summer or autumn so as to be ready for the winter rains; not in spriag nfter those rain's have done their destructive work. i V\ e have also been constructing some barricades across a branch bottom, having considerable fall, to prevent the scouring cifects of heavy freshets. The narrowest points between converging hills were selected for their sites. At one point where a wagori road was desired a broad dam of rocks was built across from two points of equal altitude on each side of the branch and a high bridge bni.t across the latter. At other pvuius iwu rows oi .suiKes, some uiree feet apart, were firmly driven in the ground, and the space betweeu tliem iliied with brush and logs. Our purpose is, next spring, to drive willow stobs along the line of these barricades, and let them grow up to trees," and thus form living and ]>ermanent barricades to catch ar.d hold trash and dirt. Work of this kind must be -well done; the power of water is very great, and unless the stakes ar^ strong and driven deeply in the ground, the whole is liable to be swept away, it is well to have a small crowbar and prepare deep holes to receive the stakes, which is easily done by jobbing the ar down, shaking it backwards and forwards, and repeating this a few times. In connection with this matter of preserving the soil, we venture o re pear a suggestion made in tne Cultivator several years ago: That fields be laid off in strips (horizontal) from twenty to fifty yards in -width, and these alternately sown cIqvoi and cultivated. Washes started in a cultivated strip would be promptly arrested by the uncultivated strijj below it. A vast deal could be acc >juplished by this simple arrangement toward the preservation of the soil, and now that the pasturing of grain fields-is bul% iurgely abandoned, -there is no objection to adopting it. We cannot too often or too emphatically stress the pcuii, mat clean culture is tiie mam cause of the red, gullied hills south of the Potomac. Will our readers pardon us for again urging the great importance of seeding down our bare fields? If they have no faith in their ability to raise" grass, or have 110 special use for that crop, they can sow rye, and it is not yet too late to do that. On average land and for the : _tr i nuw iii view, a nau uusnei ui seed to the acre will suffice, and the small outlay will bo returned manifold iu the improvement of the land. With pe as as a summer renovating crop, and rye as a winter one, wei have the best of facilities for bringing up our worn and wasted soils. " . Towards the last of the month wheat sowing will be in order in the northern sections of the cotton be't. It is well to realize the fact that our climate is not the best for wheat, and that it should not therefore be made a leading crop. But while this is true, by judicious selection of varieties, and of suitable soils, with proper preparation and manuring, enough wheat for home supply be raised. First as to varieties. We must discard the handsome but tender white wheats, and take those of the Mediterranean type?red, bearded kinds, which seem at home in-warm climates. The ?T-v m 1 ^ ~ 1:4. ^wu nuu^t:?julc win navt? iaj jieiu <x lietie on the score of white flour; it will be none the less nutritious or palatable. In the next place, the highest and dry est knobs and knolls should be selected. No matter if pour; make up for that by manure. There is very little land rich enousrh to brine- wheat without manure anyway. If it lias been sown in peas, so much the better; there is no better crop to precede wheat than peas, unless it be clover. Turn the pea vines under not very deep, and . then harrow the land several times. Get the finest tilth you can. II' cotton seed is to be used, and there is nothing better, thev can be spread on the land before it is turned, but it will not do to turn them under deeplv. If commercial fertilizers or cotton seed meal are used, they can be harrowed instead of being plowed in. After the seod is sown, roll the land; this v.-ill cause the seed to come up better and more uniformly. Wheat may be sown from the 20th of October to the 1st of December, according to latitude. The tendency of late years has been to sow too late/ About the 25th of the month a killing frncf ikiiiHv rw?nrc ami if ic ttpII to have everything ready for it, peavines, forage, hay, etc., gathered and housed. Groundpeas siio^ud also be gathered "by' that time, that the tops may be cured as lorage, and the gathering of the nuts facilitated. After killing frost the nuts quickly lose their hold on the vines, and are left in the ground when the latter are pulled up. Sorghum cut and stowed away under shelter will keep green and | sweet for a long time, prolonging the i period of green feed well up to Christj mas. Stalks, leaves and heads cut up togetner v:c nnci to oe a moss exueueiu feed for cattle. Our people, generally, have not learned yet to appreciate its value as stock feed. We think it superior to ZMiilo Maize or any other of that class. The amber cane is the best variety for this purpose. The sweet potato vine is another good ! feed, liable now to be ruined by frost. ! As it is almost impossible to cure them, i the/ Uiuy uj uichei- grazed. or pulled ofi and led. JLittie damage to the potato will accrue if this is done after the middle of October. Everything should be in readiness also for digging the potat toes. Alter tlie weather gets cool and : vegetation ceases active growth, ti-e digi ging may take place at any time when -; the soil is dry. Where the vines ore not 11 fed off to stock, the usual practice is to ! j pull them out of the way with a plow. -1 This gathers the vines in heaps at the -1 end of the rows and deprives the land oi c i their fertilizing properties. It would "be : | better to have a turn plough with sharp, j revolving coulter, and run it on each ; side -of a row so as to cut off the vines and bun- them in the middles. Then with a plow, called a "potato digger,'' such as is used by Northern farmers for digging Irish j^otatoes, the tubers might be lifted out of the ground with great rapidity and without being cut and bruised. Dig in dry weather after the JLlxl o 1U-JJ1VX1 V , ?/UU 111 hills of thirty to forty bushels, keep dry, wrap with pine straw and cornstalks six to eight inches thick, and cover with din, increasing the thickness of the Litter as the weather gets colder, until it is one foot thick. At lirst leave an airhole at top of hill, say for four or five weeks, then stop it up with dirt and cut oil' all communication with outside air. A i shelter over the hill is preferable, though ! not indispensable, if enough dirt is put on the hill, and it is well sloped so as to shed water rapidly. She Can't Throw a Brick. Had Paris seen Helen attempt to shoo a cow out of the back yard, it is safe to say that the Trojan war would never have been waged, and Homer would have been obliged to take the Havmarket riot for an eoie. Had Antonv seen Cleonatra -ir v ? chase a street car down a dusty aveirue of Cairo, it is safe to state that he would have fled disenclianted back to Octavia, and the divorce court lawyer?"decree quietly secured; no pubheity"?would never have made a cent from him. Had Dante seen Beatrice fire a half brick at the vandal hen which prospected for seeds in her flower-bed every spring, it is again safe to say he would have sent back her notes, her white mouse penwiper, the lava smoking set with "Merry Christmas" painted across the stern, and discontinued that rocky courtship which he subsequently celebrated in his poem ?">c? tr?^nrr?a " In the three situations given above the average woman is grand, massive, Titanic, incomprehensible. The man who witnesses these feminine moods from the weather side of a high board fence and does not stand with head bared, hushed and awe-stricken has no poetry in his soul. In all she is great, but in the brick-throwing act she is greatest?and most'dangerousl There is a physiological reason for this. It is not her fault that an ambulance wagon has to be rung up after her brick-throwing moods, but that this kind of exercise always creates a flurry and an upward tendency in the window glass market. She cannot help aiming at the hen and bringing down the usual inoffensive citizen in the next ward. Her shoulders were not rightly constructed for ball tossing, and in the hurry incident upon laying the citizen she frequently forgets to consult her handbook on throwing,, and makes the left hand do all the labor instead of the right, as laid down by the ; auinoniies. -\or is sne mentany con stituted for a base-ball pitcher. Many < husbands who are not right-minded 1 sneer at their wives' weakness of mental < grasp in i'ot being able to distinguish between a mutilated and jumped-on umpire and a three-base hit. These nice subtleties of the game may be thus lost to her, but it is not-her fault. Her gray 1 brain matter is" not put up that way, < architecturally speaking, any more than ] her shoulder is built to bring confusion < and death to cows. It will be observed by all wlio take the ; trouble to attend a base ball game in the 1 interests of science that the best ihrow- < ers have very square shoulders, and the ] shoulders of some are higher at the 1 corners than near the neck. In these ' latter the clavicle tends upward as it 1 leaves the spinal column, a circumstance < which allows free play of the arm in any 1 direction. Whereas as is seen in a lady's < skeleton, the shoulder-blade slopes down < like a toboggan slide and overlaps the ' arm-socket m a manner wmcn prevents her lifting lier arm without erocldng her shoulder-blade or bursting out a seam in 1 her basque, either of which is calculated ; to discourage* good marksmanship.? j Chicago Inter-Ocean. ' 1 \ Maine Conundrum. The way people can mix up them- : selves and their relatives in the matter < of marriage was perhaps never better 1 illustrated than in" the case of a back woods Maine family, of "which a correspondent writes: 1 A father, son and grandson married ' three sisters. ; That looks simple enough, doesn't it? J It hasn't davrned on you yet? Well, see here: 1. the father, married AbagaiL 2. Benjamin, son of Amos, married Betsey. 3. Charles, son of Benjamin, married Caroline. What then? Amos is brother to his son. Amos is brother to his grandson. Amos is grandfather to his daughter. Amos is grandfather to his sister. Amos is father to his wife. Amos is father to his grandson. Amos is his own grandfather, his own son and brother-in-law to himself. Benjamin is brother to his father. Jt>enjamin is orotner to nis son. Benjamin is brother to his mother. Benjamin is brother to his daughter. Benjamin is the son of his sister. Benjamin is the husband of his sister. Charles is brother to his father. Charles is brother to his grandfather. Charles is brother t$ his mother. Charles is brother to his grandmother. Charles is grandnephew to his mother. Charles is grandnephew to his wife. Charles is the grandchild of his aunt. Charles married to another aunt. Charles is the son of his aunt. Charles is the husband of his sister. Maine is responsible for a good many tilings, but tnc ioregomg wm snow tnat slie is stiil engaged in the good work.? Rochester Express. ' . A Cure for the Felon. That woollen smoke is a cure for a felon U certainly one of the medical discoveries of the age: Could we give the name of the correspondent v,-ho Sends us the following it would bp at once re cognised as of authority sufficient to guarantee the truthfulness of any assertion to which it might be appended: -"If you ever endure the agony of a felon yon will appreciate the fact that it can be cured by woollen smoke._ Place the woollen rags under an inverted flower pot and put coals upon them, or set them on the tire in sorie other way; then hold the felon ovev the smoke, and it will extract ail the pain. This has 7?. .1 T',~ ~ r*.: 1 ^4.- : - i uwu uuiiu vj u. liicxiu ui uuuit; wiu'jlu a week. 1 assure yoy. $;at in iuy circle "we consider it as great a discovery as that ether will temporarily deaden pain. The 1 ardv remedv for a felon that I ever cnrt sidered infallible, and I have liad : cognizance of several aggravated cases, ' was having the part laid open (under the influence of ether) and the bone thor' oughly scraped. That reaches the root of the difficulty, but tie smoke cure is : far better."?Boston Transcript. > ^ A bank cashier may get himself involved, but he generally comes out all right in the long run?that is, provided the long run is ; to Canada. i WHERE THE FLAG WAS FUELED. | THE SLEEPY OLR PL \CE THAT WILL E\Ell L!\E l\ HISTORY. An Eve-Witness to the Surrender?The Story Toid by Colonel Peers on the Historic Field. (l>ttc-r to the Philadelphia Tisi<?.) Appomattox Courthouse, Va., a sleepy little village, dozing its days away on the old stage road between Richmond and Lynchburg, seems to the Northern traveler to have become tired of existence away back in the early part of the century and to have settled into a Rip Tan "Winkle sleep, from which it only o r\ c-1t 1-1\t? r\$ I vauu ?.wojuu-IWU. wj i^au\.iv.i. VJL cannon ant1, the tread of armed men, only to relapse into more profound slumber. All unconscious of its worldwide fame and the richness of its local history, the little town is content with its own peculiar life and calmly ignores the roar and rush of the outside world. Once in a while a stray tourist comes this way, but seldom does the old tavern door open to admit a stranger. Its hinges have accumulated rust for years and long sprigs of grass grow between the broken porch-steps. The whole town wears the same passive air of somnolency as when Generals Grant and Lee rode through its quiet streets to close, by a few strokes of the pen, the most bitterly contested and bloody internecine contest ever to swell the pages of history. THE ROAD TO APPOMATTOX. This morning two tramps from the borders of the Keystone State found themselves at Appomattox Station, on the .Norfolk and Western Railroad. After a walk of three miles through sedge, field and thicket, forests and corn-fields, they reached Appomattox Courthouse. Upon the brow of a hill overlooking the town a small graveyard brings vividly back to memory the one short but pregnant .period of civil war which is .inseparably connected with the place, for within its whitewashed fences are eighteen graves in one long row, each with a nameless white pine head-board of simple design. These graves contain the dust of the Confederate soldiers killed in the last skirmish on Saturday night and Sunday morning before Lee sent the flag of truce over the hills to Grant. A small whitewashed pine monu ment had been erected in the centre of the lot by some loyal friend of the dead, | but even it is now overturned and lies prostrate before the row of mounds. The Courthouse, a tall, squcre, red brick building, resembling more the residence of a solid old Virginia farmer than a public structure, stands within a small square or "green" in the center of the town. The old stage road coming over the'eastern hills deferentially turns to one side and passes around the Courtbouse in a semi-circle, to resume in front its onward course again. Just north of the public building and across the road is the tavern, u, glcJuiiy-looking structure of ancient architecture. A mass of matted ivy leaves cling to one iamp wall, wliile near by the old-time well-sweep rears its mossy head. Very rarely does a guest inscribe his name in the musty register, or climb the creaking stairs with his tallow candle to seek repose. The county jail is southeast of the Courthouse about twenty yards away. Iwo small stores, one of which enjoys the additional dignity of being the postDfiice, a blacksmith shop and ten or twelve dwellings constitute the remain j.er ui me iuwju, \> uiuu. uuuuims, uy i ictual count, one hundred inhabitants. ! The nearest church is two miles away, j Ihe people of Appomattox are very kind j and hospitable, and without questioning i the intent and purposes of the stranger at their gates, receive him courteously, j minister fco liis wants quietly, iinostenta- j tiously, but with a kind-heartedness be-j neath all that is genuine and cheering. : A. number of Northern visitors stray here j in the course of the year; in. fact, curi- j Dsity is the motive inducing strangers bo come at ail, but there is no coolness in the welcome of these people. Ihe veteran who fought under Meade at Gettysburg and followed Hooker into the Wilderness finds here one of Jackson's "foot cavalry" ready to grasp his tiand and share his humble home with liis late foe. r-AT AVt'T -OTTTJc'c? C?rr/\T>1T i LiUlkO O OX Uik X . A great man here is Colonel G. T. Peers, clerk of the county court, an office lie has held ^interruptedly for eighteen years, and ^together for nearly a quarter of a century. Colonel Peers is the only white man now living at Appomattox Courthouse who was here at the time of the surrender of General Lee. He is the friend, counsellor and leader of the little community, and his kindly, blue eyes and flowing white beard give him a patriarchal appearance. His j.1. r> uinut; in nit; ui iue ouuruioubc is crowded "with musty old papers, many bearing date early in the last century and concerning the estates and fortunes of many proud F. F. Y's. Colonel Peers is probably better acquainted with the local events transpiring at the time of Lee's surrender than any man the South. Witji grpat kindness he pointed cut the scenes of the memorable incidents of the 8th and 9th of April, 1S65. "I remember well," he said, as, standing on the Courthouse "green,"he gazed t.linncrhtfnllV tllO tl-nrulc el-i-r+in rr +V10 western sky, as though catching again in memory's eye the glimmer of hostile banners through the trees?"I remember as though yesterday the day when the Army of Is-or them Virginia passed into liistury. There were few men in Appomattox that spring. Some were with Lee around Richmond, others with Joe Johnston in the South,, and others again were sleeping on the fields of Gettysburg, Antietam and Chancpllorsville. There were anxious wives, broken-hearted widows and childlcss mothers among us, and the few who remained could easily see the dark clouds gathering closer over the Confederacy. Lee, driven out of Richmond and uprooted from Petersburg, was hurrying I his weary troops toward the western mountains, witli the sleuth-hounds of Grant and Sheridan pressing hard behind. On Saturday morning, April 8, a few stragglers reached Appomattox with the information that Lee was close at hand, while terrified cp.v?jfcr.v people from the -est cai.ic in with .the intelligence that Sheriian had come up the railroad trade and was across the road in Lee s front. In the afternoon Loo arrived and encased on the brow of a hill aVion r, 21 mill' from +mvn A limit half-way between, through a fertile meadow, runs Appomattox Creek, crossing the road near an old apple orchard." A COUNCIL OF WAR. "I went into the Confederate camp that night and learned from on officer that a council of Trar had just been hold i by General Lee and his generals, at which it was deeded that if Sheridan's cavalry was the only obstruction in front an attempt would be made early the next morning to cut through, but it' Ord's infantry bhould arrive during the night there would be nothing'left but surren; der. Lee's pickets had been thrown through and about a mile west of the town, and a sharp encounter occurred about dusk between them and the 15th I New York cavalry*. The picket line fell ! back through the town, followed hard I 1 . T -? - 1 . . I ' 11 uy me enemy, ana it was m leauing ims pursuit that the commander of the cavalry, Lieutenant Colonel Eoot, was killed ~'in the centre of the village. This was the last life lost at Appomattox. On Sunday morning a battery was planted in my yard one hundred yards from the Courthouse, and an artillery duel with ihe Federals began. From this batten* ' . 1 ? i i ,i * "r> me last snots were nreci. by tne Army 01 Northern Virginia. About 9 o'clock thr-.t Sunday morning word "was brought General Lee, who had ridden up under one ox the apple trees on the banks of the creek, that the infantry was in his r/ont j:vcral thousand strong. Accordto the decision of the council the night before, he immediately sent forward from this point the flag of truce. This was th6 only part played in the closing drama of the war by the famous 'apple tree of Appomattox." General Lee and General Grant never met under its boughs; in fact, the latter never got vri':hin two hundred yards of the apple tree. He rode through the village about Ci. ~ xl e a. ^ __ i. ^ i iiu jiuur uiter wie nag ui truce entered liis lines, and was met by General Lee on the brow of a bill, half way between the town and the apple orchard. Here the two chieftains conversed awhile, then turned and rode together into the town." THE SURRENDER. "Meeting Mr. Wilmer McLean in front of the Courthouse, General Lee asked him where they could do some writing, and the party was escorted by tha.t gentleman to his own house, where, in the parlor, the articles of -capitulation were drawn up and signed An hour or so later General Lee passed me on his return to camp. He was alone, and rode slowly and thoughtfully, his head bowed upon his breast, as though in deep | thought. He did not seem depressed, j but looked Jjke one who, while conscious of leaving done his best, had been compelled to submit to the inevitable, feeling'at the same time the terrible importance of the step he had taken. Alter the surrender both generals retired to their respective headquarters, and, if I mistake not, neither came into town again. Both, I think, left on Tuesday, General Grant leaving General Gibbon to complete the surrender and parole officers and men." During Colonel Peers's narrative lie poinied out many points of interest. The "spot where the two great leaders met is marked bv n nilp of stones. wliilfi nearly a mile up the road, on the brow of the hill, stands the solitary poplar ' under which the Confederate command- ! er stood while delivering his 1'urewell : address to his troops. ' The MbLean house, where the articles ' of surrender were signed, is a long, com- j fortable-looking, red brick dwelling, 1 with a porch running its entire length. ' Over the parlor door hangs a picture of J the ltoom, representing ifc when the art;r?if being signed. ' Mr. Wilmer McLean, who owned the 1 house at the time, was a refugee from j the first battle of Manassas, bringing his ' family here to escape the horrors of wai. f In 1869 the old place passed into the 1 hands of Mr. N. H. Eagland, its present I ; owner. His son, Mr. T. T. Eagland, is a merchant and postmaster in the vii- * lage. < i 1 The only vtime when tlic town awake/ to any degree of life is on Court days. J They are periods of great interest to the ( Virginia farmers and people flock to ' town from far and near. Two resident 1 lawyers transact the local Court business 1 and the Judge of the County Court is ; allowed to practice before the Circuit ^ Court. A strong effort is being made to have tlie Courthouse and jail removed to Ap- > pomattox Station, three miles distant. ' This place contains more inhabitants ' than its sister town and is growing as J rapidly as the average interior Virginia town. Then several brands of whiskey 1 are sold here. The country surrounding 3 Appomattox Courthouse is' poor and tui- ' inviting and there is little to attract 1 strangers save its rich mine of historic interest. 1 Split Ten-Dollar ."Vote*. ! A new departure in the matter of ] counterfeiting money was brought to j light at the United States Sub-Treasury in Baltimore a few days ago. A somewhat worn ten-dollar Government bill was presented at the cashier's window with a request for change, which was ; given. Tiie note was sent to Washing- , ton as mutilated currency, and was re turned with the information that one side of the note was good, but the ther ] side wus a well executed counterfeit of < the original. It was found that a genu- < ine ten-dollar bill had been split, the ; face being separated from the back, a seemingly impossible undertaking. The original fa/;C with a counterfeit back had , been used, and it is quite likely that the . genuine back with a well executed counterfeit face has been passed in some , other quarter. More recently another ten-dollar "front" wr.u presented at the , T.'ir.rln-a- u-i+.h a similar reniiest for change. The clerk at the window, suspecting the bill, tokl the man who handed it in to wait a moment until he consulted Dr. Bishop, the Sub-Treasurer. Dr. Bishop recognized in the note the familiar game, and paid it was worth iust So. When the clerk returned to the window the man had left without waiting for his change.' ' The Sub-Treasury, wliich was out ?5 on the first transaction, tvc ? pvpnod nr> l->v+1i<v<5fv>r>v.rr?"Rn.1timore v "J ? ? Sun. ?General Boulanger, desiring to secure from the French government an appropriation for new explosive bombs, recently invitee the Budget Committee to witness the experiments he f.'as carrying on in private. The experiments he was parrying on in private. The experiment, is made with a monster mortar, for the destruction of fortilications; the missile explodes with exceedingly destructive effect. It is charged with a new explosive. of whose composition Boulanger and liis associates alone possess the I secret. The compound, however, is ad-1 initted to have all the power* ryi cotton with none of ?t? ^eleois, and is said, in r.dd'itlan, (0 be easily Transportable UY.-1 free from liability tu spontaneous ignition. It is stilted that fhe , budget and committee v?rr v,..t onlv highly satislM ;;r.w? . i&we'J, out promised ?foly support the General's uef nr>5i.ri(1 tVvr n. 1 arcro crwinl jrnnmriripf.iort. < i j ?At ^ Montreal Knights of Labor j picnic at Onnstown, Que., one married ' couple brought their fourteen children , on the grounds. The judges charged j with the dnty of giving a prize to the I largest; family present thought more j than fourteen children ought to have: been there with some couple, and adver- j tised for parents who had beaten that | show. . SteakholdcTS?Butfhors. [ clp!:> riii; railway dei-ahtmext ; Hi* 3* t!:c ."tiraiis of Htrformia;; a Bright Youns Men ns:J s Prett\ tiir! Happy. (riom the Vashin^n II -publican.) J t;Thc life o- a government clerk is at j best a monotonous one, as in nearly all i the departments, the clerks have the same routine work day after day," said a venerabie Treasury clerk, "and wlien there is a bit of gossip to relieve the monotony of his life it is taken up with a relish and retold till it blossoms out in many different forms." j "What is disturbing the monotony I now?" inquired the reporter. I "Well, I a:n getting to that. Six I years ago last March a bright- eved, rosycheeked young fellow of twenty-two received an appointment through political influence in the division I an employed in. You know that was before the days of civil service reform. Jie was quick and intelligent and it was not long before he was as familiar with the work as the oldest clerk in the office. For a week or so he was a most efficient clerk and alwavs on time. With sorrow I began to notice that lie was becoming dissipated; that liis work was behind, and instead of the frank, independent expression that he had when he came in the office was a careless, devil-may-care sort of a look. I remonstrated with him and told him he would be dismissed, and justly, too, if he did not shake the companions he was associating with. 'His only reply would be: 'I can take care of myself; you needn't fret about me.' His downfall didn't surprise me mucii, lor 1 nan seen a numoeroi young men go just liis way who had come in the departments honest, sober young fellows, and leave it broken down in health, and careless as to how they made their living. Things went 011 tins way until the present administration came into power, and the heads of the different bureaus were changed. Consequently a great number of new clerks came in. Among these was a pretty young lady with large brown eyes and a fascinating smile. The clerks, both male and female, immediately took took to her, and she became a general favorite. The young men in the office never lost an opportunity to have a few minutes' chat with her. but that is as far as it ever went. Though she treated all pleasantly none were ever invited to call on her. The young fellow I spoke about had gotten so that he seldom had anything to say to any one. I11 the course of time he made the acquaintance of the pretty young clerk, and that evening one of the older ladies, with the best intentions in the world, told the young lady not to get too intimate with that man, as he was considered a 'rounder,' or in other words, dissipated. ' She said she liked him and thought there was a great deal of good in him if lie had the proper encouragement. He seemed to be a gentleman and tnat it lie : .lid anything wrong it was only through < carelessness. Alter this the two young people were together constantly when aot at the office and a most wonderful i-hange came over him. He stopped Irinking, attended to his work with a i crill and when not somewhere with her 'A an evening stayed in his room and read. I was pleased to note the change xnd knew that all would come out well. 2 She had only been in the office about 1 six months when he came to me one day J rod said he was going to resign, as his ' salary was not sufficient to support a < ivife as he would like to, and that he had 1 secured a j^ositi n as book-keeper in a tvliolesale grocery house in New York. 1 re went away and I heard nothing from ' jLi.cn. We often spoke of him at the ] office, but no one ever dared ask the roung lady clerk about him, for they re- 1 membered how she went for the old iadv ' ivlio spoke of him to her. Several weeks 1 jinee 1 was surprised when the young 1 .adv came to me, as the youns; man bad 1 ijcfore, and said she v.ould be pleased if i [ would send her resignation to the J Secretary. I asked her jokingly if she 1 tvas going: to be married. She blushingy admitted she was, but would not say ;o A'hom. I suspected and felt pleased, rhis morning she and her husband called to see me, and it proved to be the young man I suspected. He told me that he iiad been very fortunate since leaving -lie office, and was now head book-keeper for the concern to which he went from the department, and attributed all his success to the pretty young bride at his side. They left this" evening for New i'ork, where henceforth will be their home. It does my heart good to see a marriage like that." ! Kin?Inc><i t? ?iSeuex,"ina communication to the ' Barnesville, Ga., Gazette, says: "Edgar | Jet" never wrote a truer sentence than when lie said in the Gazette last week "No, we are not good enough to our liorses and mules; if WS could show to them more kindness, they might return 'o us more gentleness." And he might have added, and more obedience and better service. A horse, kindly treated, will obey his -master in anything that he i i.? z JUU uiiucx^tituu, ituu nu \y iiuii^ and better able to rendev. good and satis- : factory qe~vip8 when be is well fed and pared for una kindly spoken to than when be is half starved, either for food or water or both, and whipped unnecessarily, and scolded at without cause. Some men never speak kindly to a horse, and so never have a kind horse. We think a horse or a mule, properly treated and cared lor, instead of being considered "dead old'' at fifteen would be then just in his prime, and would do good work till thirty, if not forty; and if the law forbidding cruel treatment of domestic animals was rigidly enforced, we should have better and cheaper horses and mule?. But good laws, without virtue enough in the people to respect them, are of little avail. Another feature of the treatment of horses is, that the man who treats his horse wrong will not treat his wife right. Let every young isidy make a note of this fact, and watch how her sweetheart treats his horse. ?Two young ladies were conversing in a street car in the high key which the rumbling of that public conveyance demands if one wishes to be heard wl$e the car is in motion. ?t.id one of them, "the at sister's wedding i;%c ivher night were just too curious for anything. Of course we notified the ncwspapeas that the weddy&g would take place, but, you believe it, I one of tiiO'iL. li.-.rrid rf?r>orh'?isi w-all-t./l n-n ta that night in the parlor nnd ?^ked her the E.ii?.c.s of the bridesmaids and lots of other impudent questions. Ma told hiiu to jr.st step i:it<T the back kitchen and wait until every had gone away and she would tell hiiu all about it.''?Cleveland I\ViinDealer. A \ illain'a Act Dsirin^ a Political Celebration. Athkns, Ga., October 7.?Reports have reached tli- ttanne?- Watchman of an explosion in Carnesville la-t night. While a bonfire was burning in the public square, built by friends of the successful Franklin county candidates. s<frae one threw a cartridge or dynamite bomb into the flames. An explosion followed and Senator-elect f;cwi-: Davis is; reported seriouslj burl. 'I A FLORIDA HERMIT. THE VERY STRAXGE ROMANCE THAT COMES FROM LAKE ELSTIS. The Remarkable Story of the Lone Fisherman ?A Strange Creature Who Took Delight in the Fierce Storms of Xight. (Correspondence of the Philadelphia t-mes.) Eusns, Fla., September 29.?It was told me a few nights ago when the beautiful lake was peopled with shadows and from the dark-encircling woods came the plaintive notes of the whip-o'-will. Eustis is one of a chain of lakes that have water communication with the outside world by means of the Ocklawaha ~ri\rc-r TTio loffo-r ic o ncmwcv stream, hedged by swairp and hammock, loafing lazily wherever the notion seems to take it. These lakes are beautiful clear-W8ter streams, and embellish and make comfortable the prettiest and most delightful portion of Florida, the hill and lake region. The hills sloping down to these lakes are now dotted with the j handsome villas and thrifty orange | groves of both permanent settlers and winter residents. Lakes Harris and Eustis, in the meeting of the waters, are twin sisters in a realm of beauty. Fishing, boating and sailing are pleasures much indulged in by the lake fronters, and now, with this preface to my strange, wierd tale, I will proceed. "Some few years ago, when this country was sparsely settled and everybody knew everybody else, much speculation was excited bv the anoearance of a stranger upon these lakes. The only place where he was ever seen, however, was in his boat fishing or por.ng over some tattered book. Lake Eustis seemed to be his favorite resort. Many efforts were made to attract his attention and to discover something about him, but they all failed. He would answer no questions, nor even look up when he was addressed. He appeared to be about seventy years old, of thin, but wiry -un:? UUXLU., UJ-o iUlig, VY LLLl/C 11 ail A?JJLULl? vLV/ ? LL over his shoulders, his long white beard reaching to his waist. His clothing was of gray, almost threadbare, neatly patched in places with what looked to be the skin of some animal. His boat was a long canoe, evidently hollowed out of some tree by his own hands of very graceful outlines and so light as to be almost transparent. This he managed with consummate skill, and when his in quisitors became too troublesome lie would speed away from them like some frightened bird." A CHILD OF THE NIGHT AND STORil. "At night this strange creature was more of a mystery than ever. Then his canoe was rigged with a homely canvas and would outsail the fastest craft. The lovers floating idly on the shining waves, where the moon showered down its silver glory, would see off in the distance the tossing craft of the lienrit. ; Pleasure boats, merry laden with laughing youth and maiden, would greet Mm with song and jest. To ail of these he made no sign. When the long roll of the thurider was heard and the storm king was seen marshaling his black ; squadrons along the dark horizon all ' dtiier ooars wouia oasn ior me snore, but lie w&j in his glory then. Those ; liurrying from the scene, eager to escape . the storm and danger, would experience . i strange thrill at the sight of this old . man, who seemed to revel in the tempest. His boat would sweep through the blinding sheets of rain like a meteor, ' sometimes almost disappearing in the ; trough of the waves, then leaping to their topmost crests. At these times the ; iiermit would stand erect, and barebeaded. in his boat, wildlv sresticulatina. : sometimes giving vent to shrieks of : maniacal laughter. Every effort was ; made to track him to his hiding-place, but they ai failed. Once, a party who liad been endeavoring for a long time to solve the mystery, followed him cautiously, as he seemed homeward bound ind unaware of their espionage. He paddled out of the lake into the river, : ind when a short distance out, making ' in abrupt 'ram, apparently disappeared in the saw-grass prairie at the edge. The tiunung-party could see no tr&co or mm ind returned to their homes hi greater bewilderment A ^eeiv passed and the hermit -was ' still missed upon the lake. Another ' week having passed and still no sign, the young men who had originally followed him determined to make a thorough search. They wye prompted to this by the coc\erq? feelings of humanity as \>eU as by ouriosty. He might be -.i/%1- rryvi.xi /^ic4i?aco ^ I 444 JL iUUUiW a. Light boat they set out upon their selfimposed mission. Reaching the point where he" had disappeared tney pushed resolutely through the tall parted grass, and after a short distance, to their astonishment, th$y came to a narrow branch or treekj easily navigable to small boats. Two hundred yards from this point was a clump ?of hammock, and here their search ended. The hut was before them. Tying their boat to a large exposed root, they gently approached it It was about eight feet long ar.d Sour feet wide, made with sat)liner-, thatched with .crass, the sides covered with dried hides of alligators. The stench that came from the interior of the hut was almost overpowering, Propping the door back with a pole they looked in. The hermit lay dead upon the iioor^ his body badly decomposed. Death had evidently approached him very suddenly, as las lingers still held a little memorandum book which he had been reading. The I J 11 J.1 piui/jr wywcu uic uuuv wen ??> tiiuj could and, tumbling the hut down upon it, left it to await the final trump. TEE STOBY OF HIS LIFE. "From the little book which I saw," said the narrator, "for I was one of the party, we learned the following facts: The* man supposed to be over seventy years old was not yet fifty, years ago, a few miles out of iSavcamah. lived Frank \Y aiton anq Jitinme o encoat. ine larfcis | of tlieir parents adjoined; the Vwo ' grown up together. Together tb^y mastered the intricacies, or the tOnool-booksThey bercyso plight lovers. He was tweaW-thre^ "years old; she was barely seventeen. They were to have married m dune, Due tne tempest swung i I tlie piue against the palm. Frank en! listed in the gallant Bartow's regiment | and marched gaily to the front. Minnie ! pinned her col OA's on his liat and promised to V?e faithful to the last, lu tut-1 : spring of 1865, ragged, dirty, half-starved and penniless, he was paroled and started i 4-s\ dnswrria -f^rv oVioro fVm fnr+nnoc nf UiU/Xk IV W V VUV AV4.VVU4.VV V? his ruined peopled. On his arrival in Savannah he met an old friend iust from : his former home, and to his eager inquiries was informed that ^Minnie had been married about a week before to a young man who had escaped military duty by 'hiding out'iduring most of the* war. The news seemed to stun Frank and he turned away without a word. That night he disappeaied from friendly sight as effectually as if he had been swallowed up in the fathomless ocean. His friends?and __ lie had a host of them?made every effort to trace him, but to no avail. He -was never heard of again until his dead body -?i was found in the little hut on the Ocklawaha river. So the evil that women do lives after them." Hamilton Jay. - ?~ -flnw" THE VALUE OF TERRACING. How It is bhov. v. on a Farm in Georgia?Something for Every Farmer to Kead. (From ihe Atlanta Constitution.) In replying to inquiries elsewhere, mention is made of a recent visit to the ^ fann of Air. Orme, near W. -?.-Pnin^ _ Georgia. It is an historic farm, the first terracing of land in the manner now so i generally practiced having been done there. A former owner observing that an ^ old mnside ditcli run nearly on a level, and which had become obstructed, filled up and overgrown with weeds and grass, had caught the washings from above and saved the soil, conceived the idea that a narrow bed or dam run on a level would do the same thing. He proceeded to construct some of these, and thinking +1 4. 4.1,- -.1 - X ** mat liic cuije ui ii i-erxuct: liiurt luaii three feet liigh would fce very inconvenient in a field, located them at such I distances apart that the difference in level between tvvo successive ones should be just that amount. Subsequent experience has shown that he hit upon the very best distance. When Orme subsequently purchased the farm, he quickly perceived the value of the discovery, and terraced all his land as rapidly as it was brought into cultivation. The result is simply marvelous. "Without a hillside ditch on the place, and entirely through the agency of terracing, steep hillsides, which-were formerly deiaced by great gullies, have changed into smooth, level terraces, susceptible of highest cultivation. Where the lines of level had been correctly run, the results were perfect; J in a few instances, incorrect running had caused slight washes. "We saw terraces which were established some fifteen years ago. The soil had accumulated on tlieir upper sides until. the intervening surface had become almost or quite level, just as it appears in yards and gardens where the work is done -with spade and shovel. " _ j A little bed along the line of level is thrown up by two furrows of a large . plow, the centre of the bed not being disturbed and remaining nrm.^ This strip, aoout a loot 'wide under tlie bed, ? ?_ . is very important, as it prevents the bed. from being cut through by heavy rains before the growth of grass and weeds have strengthened it. To facilitate this strengthening, grass seed are sown on the beds as soon as they are thrown upblue grass perhaps the best for the purpose. Nothing more is required but to repair any point through which water may have cut before the- bed was well established' mnw rl/Yrm 'xTTTMf . 7 "v " v?v 11*4 V VX J WiV/ ^ weeds, bushes or briars that may have sprung up, and to plow well down to the. upper edge of the terrace border to keep it from widening too much. The lower edge of the border should be kept nicely trimmed by running the plow near it, but care should be taken never to undermine it. If these rules are observed- the uncultivated terrace boril jr will not ex- T ceed a foot and a half in horizontal TT-7 /I til 4-Vr/-\n rrl-> "U ~"U^ ? -? trAVfcWU.} iVO VCJLlUA^cU. llCl^i-Lll f reach three feet. Such is the i^rocess by which a broken, hilly farm has been held firm against the ravages of water, and which, by judicious cultivation and manuring, has been made one of the most beautiful and valuable in the country. If the terrace border or bed can only be held until it becomes firm and filled witli roots, the hftttta is term Tf if ic TvHrtfcwi nMrnrrfW .r v^. AW M JL/XWJ.J" repair it, and as Mr. Orme's experience clearly demonstrates, you will finally succeed. His land is now no more liable to -wash than the mo?t gently inclined planes. The manure put upon it is in * no danger of being carried into the sea. He holds both soil and manure firmly in his grasp. Pointing to the soil which has been held by the terrace border, and which, in some cases, had accumulated to the depth of two and a half or three t'eet, Mr. Grme very pertinently asked: What would have become of that soil if only hillside ditches had been present? Would it not all have been washed into and carried away by those ditchts? "We could net answer no. Our faith in terraces has been greatly strengthened by inspecting this farm. They have been tested?tested by prolonged time (fifteen years), tested on deep declivities and on gentle inclines, and tested on a variety of soils; in each and every case the verdict is, successful ;OH\ A.YD JACOB DYIXG. The 8 iccessors of the Siamese Twins, a Noted Pair, on Their Last Legs. Tlu twins of Locana, who have been shown in almost every town of Europe as the successors of the renowned Siamese twins, are at present dying at Vienna, or at least are very ill. These twins, now ageci iu, are umteu irom tiie sixth rib downward. They have but one abdomen and a single pair 'of legs. One of these is under Jacob's control, the other under that of John. They cannot walk and cannot easily keep their balance. One is much stronger and healthier than the other and eats more; it is Jacob, and he keeps his brother alive. Some time ago both quarreled over a toy, and John got so excited that he fell into a state of syncope or trance, from which he did not recover till the next day. He had already had an illness of the same kind, and Virchow of Berlin had thot n co/^atirl s\rtn rx?s\nlA lrill him. This Jacob knew well; so, of course, the illness of his brother (an apparently lifeless body) gave him all the more concern, since "the death of his brother would but shortly precede his own. The physician s are doing their best to save the unfortunate children. Of course, no operation can be thought cf in the present case.. r.ven m uiai 01 uic ?iamese twins, therewere great difficulties attending a surgicalintervention; and. before it was resolved to-, intervene, death had: Iready done its work. It the twins recover, ,:.,y will go the States, where they were engaged, it is said, at the rate of $0,000 per year; if not, their skeleton is already promised to a London anatomical nr seum for ?8,000.?JScieneefor October. ?Dr. Allen, of Xew ilaysville, Ind., uas a wonderful dog. It is a large- black animal performs its daily \vork with, the utmost promptness and regularity. This consists in keeping the kitchen woodbox tilled. At intervals through the day it wiii report to the kitchen and view ihe wood-box. Whenever the supply of fuel is getting low he proceeds to the yard, grabs a stick in liis mouth and takes it to the kitchen, repeating the operation till the box is tilled ag:iin. It keeps a special lookout on wash-days, and at other times when an unusual quantity of wood is. being used, and never lets the box get empty as long as there Is a supply in the vitrei. The Washington Pod says that General Miles will soon have an opportunity to explain his reasons for disolx;ying the orders of 'the War Department in accepting the surrender of Geronimo conditionally. A court of inquiry is to be instituted to decide whether a court mertial should be ordered. The Pout says thai General Miles' report was received with considerable indignation by the President, .. :.k