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OUT IN THE WOODS. "KJnt in the woods where the maples grow, There's a musical drip that the children know, ! A spink, spank, spink, 1 A silverv tink As tie waters down from the great trees 3ow. .Sweet are the waters that trickle down ."Through the great trees, afar from the town, With their spink, spank, spink, Till the trough looks pink -As it peers through the sap from its coating brown. A rough-hewn trough is the trough for me And its home-made "spile"' in the maple tree. For the spink, spank, spink, Is a silvery tink 'That dwells like a song ic the memory. "The dead leaves rustling beneath the feet Once gathered from sun and from rain the sweet. And the spink, spank, spink. Of the famous drink Is the song when the spring and the winter meet. Oat in the woods where the maples grow There's a musical drip that the children know. And the spink, spank, spink, Is a silvery tink That will summon the violets from below. ?Columbus Dispatch. A Hero of New Mexico. BT CHAKLE3 P. LUMMIS. TThen I look back over the strange career of my brave old Spanish friend, Colonel Manuel Chaves, whose weary remnant of a body was laid to lest two 1 years ago under the shadow of the noblest mountain in Western New Mexico, the exploits of many heroes, who were handier to the frame-maker, seem a trifle tame. Known and loved here, yet his name seldom reached to the great outside world of newspapers and historians, and to-day he tills the grave of an almost unrecorded hero. Yet I suppose there was -never a more remarkable life. For over fifty years he was almost constantly warring against the Apaches, Comanches, 3?; ^avaios and Utes. Over 200 of his relatives were killed by Indians. He participated in more than 100 fights and carried a scar for nearly every one of thfcm. His body was such a network of rrhnef-.lv pirjihrirps that srarpfilv rmild von e . / '?"?J ? J lay your hand upon him anywhere without touching a scar. For the last fifteen years of his life he suffered untold agonies ?the result of his awful wounds and the years of exposure and hardship, but he 5? met this more merciless foe as calmly as he had met the Apache, and when, at p; seventy-four, the flickering soul went out, it was calmly as a little child's. >; . Life on the New Mexican frontier in his day -was something which we can ill realize. There were no railroads then to make travel easy for even the timid and ^ veak, nor mails to bring far friends near; nor telegraphs to flash warning or lope. The lonely New Mexicans, shut ./iff frnm nrtH almnat. from t.'no j, East by a vast and fearful wilderness, ' were surrounded by savage nature and .-still more savage man. It was one of the bitterest lands on the earth, aland of _ vast distances and scant product, of in? finite thirst an<3 little wherewith to S -quench it, a laud of hardship eternal and of daily danger, where boys were soldiers and mothers had to fight for their babes. It was almost as if there had " been no other world beyond those awful %, plains. Whatever was consumed was 1 made at home, and found no other marW' .ket. There were not even firearms for -defence against the relentless savages, $ , -save a scant supply of the clumsy old Spanish escopetas, (flintlock muskets) scarcely better weapons than the bows and arrows whose use the settlers learned .from their foes. . Manuel was in his youth a wonderfully expert archer, and 1 -won countless ponies and blankets from the Indians themselves in contests during the short intervals of peace. Later he -became the best rifle shot New Mexico / -lias ever produced. The little town of Cebolleta, where Manuel passed his boyhood, was never at peace in the first half century of its existence. It was out and alcne from the other Spanish settlements, and in the -very heart of the Navajo country; and it was a fearful sufferer at the hands of the p? " x Indians. It was from Cebolleta that young Manuel started, when he wa3 eighteen years -old, on his first expedition?though he if- had already seen enough of war at home, and was accounted among the bravest of KTr the brave. With his eldest brother, Jose, and fourteen other young men, he started for the Canyon de Chusco, 150 . miles to the westward, in the stronghold of the Indians, on a trading expedition. What a commentary on the times in which they lived?this seeking a market among iavages from whom murderous assaults the traders were in constant peril even while at home! They were attacked at !'* -night in the Canyon de Chusco, and all were killed save Manuel?who was left lor dead with seven arrows in his body, .-and his Indian servant, Pahe, who was . also fearfully wounded. Alone and on foot they started on that fearful journey homeward. Pahe died of his wounds in two days, and Manuel dragged himself i . alone the rest of the way, hiding by day from the savages, crawling on by night, followed by sneaking coyotes that never left his bloody trail; tortured with thirst . and pain, with no food save the cactus fruit, until at last a faithful servant found him fainting on the last ridge of San Mateo and carried him home upon his back. When he recovered from these wounds he was engaged as a guide to a party ol traders from Mexico to New Orleans, anc thence went to St. Louis with a younf Cuban, who finally robbed him of all h( % had in the world. Then he returned to New Mcxico anc -Battled in Santa Fe, but in 1S46 had t< flee to Utah on account of political coin plications. The following year he was recalls and put in commaud of an expeditio: against the Utes, whom he thrashc soundly. The invasion of New Mexico by th America 3 forces in the Mexican war wa not opposed, and the Territory becam -vart United States without blood jjt? -shed. Very ejon thereafter came th "Taos rebellion," a small but fierce uj: .rising of Apaches aad Pueblos in tb . most northern of the Pueblo towns, an iManuel played an important part in sup ?* *-<pressing it. In a fearful hand-to-han< Bg'i, -atruggle, too, he saved the life of hi ? commander?Captain Zeran St. Vrait afterward owner of the 4,000,000-aci h Jat. Yrain grant in Colorado. A gigai tic Apache bad his knife at the heart of the prostrate St. Vrain, when Don Manuel, shooting a foo who was almost upon him, wheeled and crushed the skull of 1 St. Vrain's assailant with the barrel of his ponderous rifle. In 1S55 he led a regiment of volunteers on a six months' campaign against the Utes, making a brilliant record therein. In 1S57 he accompanied General Lor 1 ing's command in the war against Cuchillo Negro (Black Knife), the most redoubtable of all Apache warriors. He captured the savage chief with his own hand in a desperate night attack in a gloomy canyon where hia scout3 had found the camp of the hostiles. General Loring was greatly elated by this cap- ! ture, but the prisoner was murdered by the officer left to guard him?a turbulent man who afterward met a violent death. In 1S60, when a large band of Navajos made one of their characteristic raids on the Rio Grande settlements and drove off 5000 sheep, Colouel Chaves pursued them with fourteen men. He overtook the hostiles at nightfall at Ojo de la Monica and routed them; but in the morning found his camp surrounded by several hundred Navaj'03. From dawn till dark of that desperate day the fifteen heroes withstood the wild charges of the 1 swarming savages, each fighting from behind his tree. One by one the brave New Mexicans sank back on the redsoaked earth, bristling with arrows; and J at nightfall only two ot them were left? Colonel unaves ana woman oancues? both fearfully wounded. A company of j soldiers from Fort Craig arrived just in time to save them. In that ghastly struggle Colonel Chaves had fired his clumsy muzzle-loader 6ighty times, and for every shot an Indian or a horse had fallen. He had two bullets loft when the arrival of the troops ended the fight. ! That was the kind of war they had on J the early frontier. ' In a dozen other Indian outbreaks, before and after those to which I have so briefly alluded, Colonel Chaves dis- J tinguished himself by the same cool f bravery, the same dauntless will and the same matchless skill as a marksman. When the Civil War broke out Colonel ] Chaves took command of the Second Regiment New Mexico Volunteers, and 1 did brilliant service in this out-of-the- ' j way corner of the Union. When Colonel Chaves returned to his ' lonely home at Ojuelos it was only to ' find that the Indians had despoiled him of everything?his horses and cattle, his 1 30,000 sheep, crops and all?and left ' him Denniless, a blow from which he never fully raUied his affaire, though his industry never lift him in want. After New Mexico's share in the war was over, there was still more than two decades of frequent Indian outbreaks within her broad borders, in most of which Colonel Chaves was a prominent figure. On one occasion his lambing i camp at the Salada was "jumped" by a ! large force of raiding Apaches. The j few shepherds were too badly frightened i to fight much, and all would have been ( i killed but for the coolness of Don Manj uel. Posting each man behind a tree, | with a promise that he himself would I I shoot the first who dared run?and they 1 ! dreaded his matchless aim even more ! than they did the Indians?he took hi3 * ten-year-old boy by the hand and ran up J the hill a few rods as a feint. The In- 1 | dians, seeing his flight, dashed straight 1 I into th2 camp without their accustomed 1 I ^.olimlnowr mmtrpll VTf>5 t.O Sf>G of what I stuS their enemies might be made. A3 one grabbed up Colouel Chaves's priceless 1 Navajo blanket from beside the fire he 1 fell sprawling with an ounce bullet 1 through his brain. Another snatched 1 I the blanket and Colonel Chaves called to J j one of hi3 companions to shoot. But 1 ! when he saw the poor fellow's hand 1 ) trembling so that he could scarce hold 1 ! his gun, the Colonel shouted, "Wait! ( I Don't shoot!" He hurriedly rammed J another charge into his old muzzle- 1 loader, and although by that time the Indian had got so far that he felt him- 1 self safe, the unerring bullet caught him < as lie ran ana tore ni3 necK neariy m twain. By that time the shepherds had J recovered their seDses and gave the In- ] dians such gallant resistance that the lat ter soon withdrew, carrying away some valuable horses, but no scalps. Ah, what a rifle-shot the withered, wiry old man was, even when I knew him, in his old age! New Mexico has ] never had another such marksman as he j was in his prime; and his six-foot muz- ] zle-loading rifle of enormous calibre was | never excelled by the finest modern arms i that cried conclusion with it. In all his 1 long life?in nearly fifty years of which i not six months at a time were ever with- i out warfare?he never was known to miss but one shot. ' And never did he have to shoot twice at bear or deer, and i seldom more than once at human foes. I shall never forget my mingled amusement and awe at an incident which occurred wnen he was seventy-two year3 old and suffering fearfully from a cataract in his eye. We were out with his grandson, Roilolfo Otero?a gallant lad and fine rifleshot. Rodolfo had a fine Winchester with which he did some extremely clever shooting. "Try it, grandpa!" he kept urging the worn, old man, bent and wasted by disease. He had never trusted our modern magazine guns, but at last yielded to Rodolfo's entreaties. "Go, put me a mark on yon cedar," he said, pointing to a gnarled tree a full 10U yards away. Rodolfo ran over, and ?considerato of his grandfather's age and condition?fastened to the tree a paper some six inches across. "Va!" cried the old man, calling him back. "What thinkest thou, hijito? That I am as the moles? Here, take [ thou this bullet and make me a mark of r j it on that paper!" '| Rodolfo did so. My ejes are none the ?j worst in the world, but I could not even 5: sec that lead-mark less than half an inch ' in diameter. Colonel Chaves raised the ' j rifie in his withered hands, looked pain0' fully at the fluttering papor, threw the " rifle to his shoulder and fired?all in the ' cime in which one might count five. * j "Pucs!" he said, as the smoke cleared, 1 | "now it sees itself better," and he fired * 1 again, with the same rapidity. And ! when he walked to the mark the bullet e : was in tha spot Rodolfo had marked, and tS the second beside it so close that the e flattened bits of lead touched! Little wonder that such a marksman, e as cool in mortal danger as in sport, a born commander and a noble man, was ;e the terror of the savages, and was loved ^ and is mourned by those he helped to de? fend.?St. Louii Republic. s Australia is the only country in the world to which ruminating animals are e aot indigenous, and yet cattle and sheep i- j of various breeds thrive there amazingly. ' < ' ' ' ..-.v. I AGRICULTURAL. i TOPICS OF INTEREST RELATIVE ] TO FARM AND GARDEN. ' < BEE 3TIKGS. Bee stings were considered at the Wisconsin Convention. It was regarded as an easy matter to avoid stings by proper protection. Most apiarians try to avoid arousing or angering bees. Bee veils, hats and gloves are used by many, but the quiet action of the beekeeper and care in handling them will enable the bees to be handled without Btinging. Sometimes smoke angers the bees instead of quieting them. It was advised that all beginners should wear veils until they have acquired confidence and are quite fearless.?New York World. AVOID EARLY PASTURING. Pastures should not be pastured until the herbage has made a good start. It is a great waste to feed off the grass before it furnishes a full bite. The roots are nourished through the leaves. It is in the leaves that the food of plants is prepared tor assimilation ana caaage into < cellular tissue; and until the leaves are c well grown the roots cannot grow. But 1 when the leaves are well started the 1 roots increase and the foliage then grows a more rapidly, and as this grows the 8 roots become stronger. It is plain, then, that early pasturing stunts the growth a all through the year, and is of little benefit to the animals themselves.? American Agriculturalist. WHEN 18 A HEN TOO FAT? A hen is too fat when she is apparently too heavy behind, when she is lazy and cares nothing for work, seeking only to have the owner feed her. She cannot :i_ ?*? I i.: J / susiiy uy% suuii ueuumt-s tueu. hulll tiertion when chased, does not lay, though c in good health, and is very heavy when a held in the hands. We do not 6tate that i my one of the above causes indicate a 1 fat hen, but to observe her in all of I them. Of course, the surest method is c to lift her and the weight will be there. 8 Examination of the rear of the body will t ilso show the fat under the skin by its r color. s As to what should be the character t und quantity of the food required to f fceep them in a healthy condition, can- 8 not be correctly stated, as no two hens $ ire alike. Leghorns and Brahmas (or c Dther large breeds) should not be kept t together. If hens are in good condition, the best food is chopped clover hay (chopped half an inch in length and calded), all they will eat in the morning, a tablcspoonful of ground meat mixed with mashed potatoes; and scatter wheat for them to pick up before going to roost.?Farm and Fireside. BOYS ON THE FARM. The decadence of farming of late years is largely due to the undeniable fact that city life has offered greater attractions as well as greater profits to the young. While it is true that farming does not now require so severe and unremitting toil as formerly, can it be said that young people on the farm have been encouraged to find their pleasures and relaxation at home? This is the only way to make farm life attractive to the average young man. If on each holiday he goes to the city,it will naturally soon seem ; to him that city life is all a holiday while | c life on the farm is one of unceasing i drudgery. It often happens that city c boys kept at work in stores, and only allowed to so into the country for vaca- I tion, sec only the holiday side of farm life, and acquire a love for it that those , brought up on the farm too often do not share. Why do not farmers take a hint . from these facts, and make as much holiday as possible for their sons at home? [t is time that the old rule, which made t the boy hoe his row and run for water, while the men rested, was superseded by a ? practice which would give boys the easiest tasks, and the little investments f that gave largest profits, as the best means to interest them in farming and ^ make this the occupation of their lives. ?Boston Cultivator. t SMALL FRUIT CULTURE. For leaders who propose a spring 8 planting of strawbeiries or other small fruits,a few points selected from a paper f read at a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society by M. P. M. Au- i: gur, Pomologist of the Board of Agri- t culture of the State of Connecticut, will be both seasonable and useful. For c spring planting, for fruit alone, it Is rec- c ommended tc set the strawberry in rows three feet apart and one and a half feet in the row, allowing each spring plant j. to throw one strong runner on each side, rooting a single plant opposite the intervening spaces so that each trio will rep- 8 resent the angles of a triangle. For I July planting, set in rows two feet apart and one and a half in the row, just after f a rain, when each plant can be taken up c with a mat of earth adhering. The Wilson was once every man's t berry; the crescent was called the iazy f man's berry, and the Haviland is much after the style of the crescent. All are t rather too small to be satisfactory. There t are now too many good varieties offered to allow of detail in their description. Asa rule, the pistillate varieties have been the most productive when properly c matched with suitable bi-sexuals. Thus three or four rows of the Jewell, with ^ the Sharpless on one side and the Bel- ' mont on the other, are considered well matched. Likewise the Jersey Queen, c with the Cumberland on the one side y and the Charles Downing on the other, ( have produced immensely. With the raspberry and the blackberry, j as with the strawberry, the tendency is , to overcrowd. Plant raspberries six feet | by six feet apart; blackberries, eight feet by six feet. When the canes reach j three and a half feet, nip out the tips, j which will give strong laterals, aud when these reach one and a half feet clip them. Few are aware of the possibilities of these plants when well treated. PEAS IN THE GARDEN. Early peas are usually a very profitable crop for the market gardener. They can be planted among the earliest of any crops, in fact just as soon as the ground is in condition to work, and as the question of profit is largely determined by earliness every effort should be made to secure this point. Choose ground that is either level or that slopes slightly toward the south, and prepare it by working in a very liberal quantity of good manure. Enough should be applied to make the soil distinctively rich and loose, so that its quality ia apparent to the eye and the hand. To put the soil in the best condition to secure quick germination of the seed, it should have the benefit of hand labor, provided the area to be planted is small jnough to warrant this. There is no sther tool that will put a seed bed in as jood condition as a sharp-toothed steel rake. After all has been done that the plow and harrow can accomplish the rake :an still be used to advantage to finish to the depth of a couple of inches. Drills can then be opened by a small garden plow, worked by hand, and the leed covered by the same implement, rhe Beed should be sown rather thickly n it, either by hand or with the seed Irill opened so as to let the seed run out iberally. An appreciable gain in earliness is nadc by sprouting the seed before plantrig by mixing it with the fine soil and ceeping it warm and moist for twenty:ourhour3 before using. Thus prepared ind planted, the warm suns of April will ift the younsr sprouts above the ground. rhe variety to bo used is of course a first and best," of any reliable seedsnan. The kinds known as "halfiwarf," will in the average prove most )rofitable. But where space is very imited, or for forcing in hotbeds, Iwarf varieties, like "American Wonder" >5er special advantages. They require 10 brushing, and may be planted in close ows, but to give best results the plants hould not stand closer in the rows than ix inches. The question of Btaking the vinea hould be determined by the availability >f labor and brush. As soon as the rine has attained a height of a few nches it begins to throw out tendrils hat seek for some support. If this is urnished the vine will expand more han if left to itself, and probably will tave a greater fruiting capacity. If >rush is not supplied to encourage vinng there should at least be some proection afforded to prevent the vines Iropping upon the ground. The pods ire quickly soiled by contact with the jround, and in wet weather will rot. ro guard against this stakes may be >laced at intervals along the rows, and >ne or two strands of heavy twine tretched so as to catch the vines when hey "begin to fall over, or a clean mulch ttay be spread which will answer the ame purpose. The mulch, too, would >e of value in checking evaporation rom the soil in case of drought, but hould not be spread until the season is o far advanced that the ground has be-' :ome thoroughly warmed, or it will reard the earliness of the crop. Within a week from the first picking, )eas usually be come plentiful in the narkets and the price goes down onelalf or more, and remains down while he bulk of the early'crops are being vorked off. Then the price often re:overs to nearly the first figure, as most gardeners fail to have a "second early" :rop sufficiently early to keep up a contant supply. To meet this need a "secrnd early" variety cannot be depended in, but the same "earliest" sort should >e planted again within a week of the irst sowing. The ground upon which larly peas are grown can always be used or a second crop, as the peas will be off n time to plant potatoes, late cabbage ?r celery. So the manure applied should >e in sufficient quantity for the needs of >oth crops.?American Agriculturist. FARM AND GARDEN NOTES. Fresh ejzes are those not over a week ild. Fiesh water should be given twice a lay. A cow likes to be milked if she likes icr milker. Oats stand next to wheat as an egg>rc?ducing food. The greatest profit on a pig is in the irst 200 pounds. Radical changes of feed often make he hens eat sparingly. "Wheat bran wet with hot water makes , good summer breakfast. It is not necessary to coddle or pamper owls to make them grow. Roasting cotton seed ia said to greatly mprove its feeding quality. To keep fowls in a dirty, ill-ventilated tennery is a foul proceeding. Twentv-four hours after hatching is oon enough to begin feeding. The fowla will not thrive if they are orced to stand in mud all day. There la more profit, in the long run,' n cultivating one acre than in skimming en. Keep your stables warm, dry and lean, and provide plenty of good bedling. One pound of cheese contains more tutritive elements than two pounds of leef. Owing to its fertilizing value clover hould never be sold for less than $15 )er ton. Trim your fruit trees so as to give a ree, open top, no two limbs touching or rossing each other. Close observers say that skim milk is vorth twenty cents a hundred pounds or feeding to calves and hogs. Hen manure is no better than any other aanure unless the food of the hens conains valuable fertilizing elements. Whenever the fowls can have a good range and get plenty of green feed little ir no animal food will be necessary. Eggs are often badly flavored by alowing the hens to werk too much over he manure heap or to eat unsound feed. Are your stables clean? For the sake >f those who have to drink the milk?as veil as the cow3?be sure they are :lean. The cow gets her exercise in gatherng food to All her stomach. She is at est when she is doing her best in elajorating milk. Don't put any faith in the methods of improving bad butter or cheese after it is made. The right way is not to make i bad quality. Change the water for fowl* at least once a day, and place the water-vessels of whatever kind in the shade to keep as cool as possible. With poultry,as with everything else on the farm, there is always an opportunity to 3ell at good prices fowls or eggs that are of little better quality than others are offering. Game, Houdan, .Leghorn, Hamburg, Andalusian, and Black Spanish are the varieties o* chickens that require high fences is order to control them. They are all high flyers. Sulphur for nests, whitewash for the houses, coal oil for the roosts, cleanliness for the floors and plenty of pure air and a variety of food for the fowls are essentials in profitable poultry keeping. ' ' V- -v. ... ' A SALT ISLAND. THE WONDERFUL ISLA DEL CAR jnufl Ui'r D1?A.1UU. Xt Contains the Oaly Pnre "White Natural Salt Deposit in the World?Mined by Yaqal Indiana. One hundred and twenty miles southwest of Guaymas, Mexico, and fire miles east of the mainland of Lower Calif ornia, in the Gulf of California, lies a small island known to the Mexicans as the Isla del Carmen. Carmen Island, although only nineteen miles in length and six miles in width at its broadest part, is noted as one of the most remarkable islands on the American continent. At this place is found the only pure white natural salt deposit known, and the value of such a mine is secondary only to the fabled gold mines of King Solofeion. The island is owned by a Spani3h-American named James Viosca, who went to Lower California thirty years ago and married a daughter of the Governor. FTa livflrt nfc T.* Pa* the capital of the lower half of the State, where he has been American CodsuI for a number of years. Carmen Island is fortunate in having a fine harbor in Salinas Bay where large vessels find an anchorage in four fathoms of water. Within a mile of this anchorage the salt is mined. Just how long since this saline deposit was discovered no one can state with any accuracy. Two hundred years ago there was a Jesuit mission at Loreto on the mainland west of the island, and it is known that the fathers obtained the salt they used for domestic purposes from Isla del Carmen, ' but among tho Yaqui Indians there is a legend that their forefathers knew of the deposit long before the mission was established and that it was one of their number who first acquainted tbe pious brethren of the existence of the mine. But it was not until 1865 that the salt deposit was utilized for commercial purposes. In that year a Mexican, who divined the value of the mine, bought the island from the Government, but after owning it only two years he sold his title to Ben Holliday, of famous overland stage-line notoriety, for $91),000. The new proprietor engaged James Viosca to manage his acquisition, but after Holliday died the bankrupt estate was glad to realize ready cash for the salt treasure, and Viosca became the owner of Carmen Island. To him it has become veritable gold mine. The salt deposits cover a surface of 1000 acres. About one-third of this acreage is a mass of pure, clean white salt; the remainder is covered simply with a layer of soil, brought there by rains from the adjacent mountains, and also in places with a thin coating of coral, all of which when removed show the pure white salt beneath. The suit deposits in this basin have proved by actual investigation to be fourteen feet in thickness, but it is hard to work at any depth below the surface, as the briny water sweeping through creates a new layer of salt of from five to eight inches in thickness in fifteen days. The most remarkable thing about this deposit is the fact that although the salt has been taken from this basin for ages, the surface of the lake has never been lowered, but always retains the same level. The method of obtaining the salt is very simple. A man armed with an iron bar breaks off chunks of the crystalline mass, which are then loaded into carts and hauled to dry land, from 600 to 800 feet distant. Here the stuff is dumped, reloaded and taken to the wharf, half a mile away, where lighters receive the salt and convey it to the vessels lying in the bay. Crude as this system is, the cost of mining the salt and conveying it to the wharf averages a trifle leas than twentyfive cents a toe. The entire salt basin is always covered with a briny solution averaging four inches in depth. The workmen, who are mostly Yaqui Indians, wade around all day long in their bare feet in this pickle deposit, and the result of their exposure is seen in numerous ca86s of sore ankles to which the Indians pre subjected. Before they became hardened to the work the poor fellows suffer excruciating torments the moment their joints come in contact with the salt water, but, like everything else, the system finally gets accustomed to the exposure, and, once thoroughly seasoned, the Indians cease to complain. But irritating as this is, it does not compare with the agony suffered by the poor fellows, who, while pounding the briny crystals, receives a splash of salt water in his eye. Half a dozen of the Yaquis have partially lost their sight in this way and one Indian on the island has become totally blind. The brine is so strong that if a particle gets into the optic the sight is destroyed unless the saline substance can be removed at onco by a vigorous application of fresh water. As pure water can only be obtained at a distance it often .'happens that the sufferer prefers to take his chances rather than go to the trouble of reaching the remedy. Hence one-eyed workmen are quite prevalent on the island. Many theories have been advanced accounting for the presence of this wonderful salt deposit, bnt the one most generally accepted is that the surrounding hills and mountains contain immense sodium deposits, which are dissolved by natural courses of water, either rain or underground, veins, and then carried to the lowest ground which in this case is the basin that contains the salt deposits. All creeks in this vicinity discharging their water into this lake have salt water before getting to a point even several feet higher than the surface water of the lake, which has no communication whatever with the sea. It is only fed from these creeks flowing from the adjacent hilis and mountains. The salt found on this island is of a very superior quality and is believed to be the only pure, white, natural, refined salt?deposit or mine?in existence. In its natural deposit it is found in even layers from five to eight inches in thickness. It forms even and pure white crystals, and is ready for the mill as taken from the lake. When fine table salt is required no other refining process is needed than that of milling. The actual deposit, extending over 620 acres,at a uniformed depth of twelve feet, gives 340,170,000 cubic feet, or 12,148,92S tons of pure,perfectly refined salt. As soon as the workmen have excavated a given number of cubic feet they abandon the site and operate at another point. In the first cavity the brine comes quickly to the surface, reforms or crystallizes, and in two weeks is ready again for the native miners. This proc/ I ' ' '.v.cess of reforming is constantly progressing and the attentive watcher may se< the crystals appear on the surface ia much the same way that suoirflakei gather and form in a concrete mass. Mexicans Are Not Rich in Expedients. On the tramway between the towns ol Zac-atecis and Guadalupe in Mexico, which are a few miles apart, the waj from Zacatecas is down grade. Thi cars go at great speed by their own gravitation; no ammais are anacnea, for the descent is as steep as a toboggan slide. It requires six mules, however, to draw each car back again. The animals are harnessed three abreast, like the horses in the Paris omnibuses. Even the projectors of the tramway had no fixed idea as to how it should be operated, and an American overseer "ha3 been in charge from the beginning. The cars were ordered from Philadelphia, and while they were being built, the steel rails, which came from Liverpool by way of Vera Cruz, were laid down from one end of the route to the other. When the cars arrived, it was found that they would not run on the track, as the rails had been laid on a guage three inches narrower than that for which the cars were designed. The Mexicans, in their ignorance, saw but one way out ot the difficulty; that was, to rebuild the cars, make the bodies narrower, and cut off the axle-trees to fit the gauge of the rails. The present superintendent, a practical American engineer, was in Zacatecas at tne time, ana tooK in tne state of affairs at a glance. He offered for five hundred dollars to show the owners how to get over the trouble without altering an article on the cars. The money was paid, and with twenty men and proper tools the American took up a few rods of the track, made a gauge for the rest, and in one day had the cars running over the short distance. The managers of the road at once put the American in charge, and he has held the position ever since.?Argonaut. A Great South-American Railway. The station of the great Southern Railway on the Plaza de la Constitucion at Buenos Ayres is a vast and handsome building, which will bear comparison with the best modern railway stations in Europe. The monumental marble staircase and entrance hall, the offices of the administration, the waiting rooms, and the arrival and departure platforms, spanned by a tasteful iron roof, are all as fine as anything of the kind in the Old World. The adjoining goods station and depots are of enormous extent, and during the season form the great wool market of Buenos Ayres. The plan and distribution of the various services are most conveniently arranged. The rolling stock of the great Southern Com???? //>?. naao>H/fQK 4- Kaffir* ia liirn fKft afa . pauj 1U1 HIOIUO id) KUW VUW w?v> | tion, of the most modern and improved description, built in England, the ordinary cars on the North American plan, and the sleeping cars on the European system, with compartments of four bed3. This company runs also vestibule trains between Buenos Ayres and La Plata, and these cais, likewise built in England, are fitted up with the greatest luxury, and provided with every convenience that a traveler can desire. I confess that I was agreeably surprised to find such an admirably appointed railway in the new republic. In the Old World, even in these days of international expresses and through trains from the Bastille to the Sublime Porte, the public is not accustomed to such splendor as the Buenos Ayres great Southern Company offers to the nil admirari Argentine farmers.?Hwjper'a Magazine. Sural Argentine. All the country traversed by the above railway lines is devoted to pastoral and agricultural industries, and the landscape, with the exception of the hilly district of the Sierra de Tandil and the Sierra de la Ventana, is alwayB the same?bare pamDa, with 6tretches of marshes and small lakes abounding in wild-fowl. As for the estancias, towns, villages, and colonies, when you have seen one you have seen all, and all are equally unpicturesque. The life, too, has become less fertile hi picturesque incidents since the enclosure of the land with wire fences, which makes the management of the herds much simpler, and enables the estancieros to dispense with the guard of mounted gauchos, who are now to be seen only in the very distant interior. At present the majority of the population has no particular character, being composed of Italian and French immigrants, of Basques with red or blue cloth caps, and a few native gauchos with broad . belts constellated with silver coins, long ponchos, and wide Oriental trousers like petticoats, generally black, but sometimes striped with brilliant colors. Nowadays, however, the gaucho is losing his individuality, abandoning his pecu1?A? A K/jPrtminrr aaoimilttpd tiai WObUUig| dUU UbUUUMUg I in dress and habits with the swarms of miscellaneous Europeans who have peopled the modern Argentine, &nd made the hundreds of colonies and towns that have sprung into existence within the past tea years. To visit these young centres of so-called civilization is no pleasant task.?Harper's Magazine. Yellow Pine the Peer of Any Woed. A Chicago paper says workers in ornamental wood now assert that yellow pine, hard fi?ished in oils, is the rival in beauty of any wood that grows, not excepting the costliest of the hard species, it being susceptible of receiving' and maintaining as high a degree of polish as auy known wood, while, when impregnated with cil, it is almost indestructible. In such a condition it is im- ' pervious to even hot grease and other | substances that leave an ineffaceable stain upon white pine, maple and various other woods. The yellow pine referred to is the long leaf pine growing so abundantly in East Texas. Trees can be found in this species with a curled grain a little on the plan of "curly maple." No other wood can be made into more beautiful cabinet work. There are a few small mills in the long-leaf pine i regions further east that cut this char- | acter of piae exclusively, shipping the product to 'Northern cities.?Boston Transcript. How Tall Chimneys Oscillate. The extent or degree of the oscillation of tall chimneys may be exactly taken by a close observation of the shadows they cast upon the ground. An instance to the point is that of a chimney 115 feet high and four feet in diameter externally at the top, near Marseilles, 1 Franca, the oscillations of which were i observed by the shadow during a high wind to attain a maximum of over twenty inches.?Detroit Free Press. i jSBF m*:' 'AS ' I I la ' POPULAR 8CIXHCS. The great Lick telescope, of California, reveals about 100,000,000 of stars. The greatest ocean depth ever found by measurement was in the Atlantic near Puerto Rico, 4651 fathoms. Aluminium bronze is rapidly super* seding manganese bronze for screw pro* . pellers in high-speed vessels. By a new device pieces of metal may be shaped with rapidity by being forced under dies while rendered soft or plastic by an electric current. It is stated that undented tin platef will give an electric current in common water when one is exposed to -the light and the other screened. A new roofing paper is made by applying to the miner a comnosifcion of boiled linseed oil and pulverized charcoal. - The paper so prepared is said to be perfectly sir and water proof under all circumstances. 7 The residuum of petroleum "distillation, which at one time was a by-product of a little value, has now, owing to the increased demands for lubricating oils and wax, become more valuable than the first ( product. It ia proposed doing away with the old system of lightning rod protection and replacing the rods with narrow ribbons of copper, which will use up the energy of the lightning and save the building frcm destruction. An English engineer has designed,and is now manufacturing, a portable crosscut saw; that is, a large two-man saw that can be folded up into small com-,. pass. It is really a flexible chain of sawteeth riveted together. The ratio to the circumference to the diameter of the circle was computed by ~ Archimedes as 22.7, and P. Metros A~ U QKK 11Q A . +n,}.V.,o * ['* UIOUO IV WVcAAV* <UU?V? a WAUVUQ va?" culation Shanks has now fixed it as far as 530- decimals, and Rutheiford has verified the result up to the 440th deci-' y mal. According to the latest observations v ;.V< which Dr. Finsterwalder has published, J-'' ? as stated in the Scottish Geographical Magazine, the region occupied by advancing glaciers is extending from west to east, and has lately crossed the limits of the },> eastern Alps. The glaciers in this regioa ' have been receding during the last thirty . O. years, but now there is undeniable proof ;:h that those of the Ortler group, at aiiy vj; rate, are in a state of progression. A physician has hit upon an excellent way of utilizing rubber in the treatment of wounds. He places one end of the strip of rubber upon ode lip of the wound and then stretches the rubber to fasten > the other end to the opposite lip. In this v < way he draws the several parts closely together, and the elastic rubber continuously holds them there. The efficiency of the sheet rubber used was increased by painting it over with a thin gutta-percha cement. Professor Keyes notes a remarkable . J effect of gravitation in the form of some v shells belonging to the genus Capultft. TTTVil*A AMa4n?A ' a/1 in aifnaflArtd . 1 TV 11CU CUC WCCUUIC. CAIOICU iu DMIWMVUB to cause an attachment beneath, so as to be inverted, as it were, the shells- would assume an elongated form. The same species when found where they had to bo "right side up," or on the top of a flat surface, had wide, depressed shells. Some would consider these forms as requiring new specific names. Professor Keyes contends that a true description of the species should be so drawn as to i allow for such variations. Photographing a Bursting Babble. l|| At a recent lecture before the Royal Institution, England, the lecturer, after referring to a series of photographs of animals in motion, which had been taken by means of a movable shutter, said that i rapidly occurring phenomena might also be photographed by the exposure of the * < lefts to a flash of magnesium light or to the electrical spark. After stating that qeither of these flashes was absolutely instantaneous, he proceeded to show their actual duration. It appears .that a flash , from a Leyden jar lasts less than onetwenty-five millionth part of a second. 3ome idea may be formed of such a duration by considering that it is nearly the tame fraction of a second as one second ' Is of a year, as a year contains, roughly, 25,000,000 seconds. It was further ihown that a soap film might be photographed in the act of breaking, but as this occupied less than one-tenth of a lecond, it was more difficult to photo* graph than jets of liquid. A dry shot would pass through a soap bubble without breaking it, bnt a shot wetted with f alcohol would break the film at once'. By means of the dropping of weights suspended from the electro-magnet it was ??:kir, matra fho Kmlnnv nf.th* pvaOlU&W uw tuaav v**w q ww ? Sim and the flash of the spark simultaneous, and thus photograph the film in the act of breaking.?New Orleans Timet Democrat. "m i Canine Jealousy. Druggist Koehler lives in Mounts Auburn. He owns a huge bloodhound, which for a long time had been the pet of the children on the block. Not long ago he presented his neighbor, Mr. Hill, with a solemn looking little pug. The children immediately transferred their affections from the big bloodhound to , the little pug. The bloodhound moped for a while, and once or twice assaulted his riril, the pug. The other day the pug disappeared. It was sought far and wide. One of Mr. Hill's servant! remembered that she had seen the bloodiound carrying the pug pup in his nouth through the side yard of the Hill residence. Another search was made. The pug was found in tlje cistern. It vas dead. The bloochound had captured the pug, carried it into the rear rard and dropped it into the cistern veil, the cover of which was half removed. The bloodhound thus du posed >f his rival.?Cincinnati ComnwrciiL Treatment of Lockjaw. It was not long ago discovered in Germany that inoculations with the blood of victim of lockjaw fail to produce the disease, but that fluids from the wounds causing the lockjaw invariably give rise to it. This indicates that the specific poison of lockjaw remains near its point bf entrance, and that iocal treatment is necessary. .Acting on this theory, Dr. Pavilini recommends subcutaneous injections of carbolic acid. A severe case of lockjaw in a boy of fifteen was on the ifourth day treated with injections of a pne per cent, solution of carbolic acid pear the wound in the foot, and this was bontinued at intervals increasing from three hours untiljthe twenty-seventh day. The boy recovered.?Trenton (aY. J.) American. __ J" _**? . rL'.i_ _ . . . _ * ! i ' ^