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- ; -V r food and Flaror. The food that animals consume modifies the character of their flesh. Turnips yield a peculiar flavor to mutton. The flavor of mutton from sheep that have lived upon the highland is different from that of sheep which have obtained their food chiefly from the lowlands. The garlic of the meadows and some fragrant herbs modify the flavor of the meat. Oily food tends to make the fat soft. Hens partly fed on scraps of decayed meat yield eggs that are at once unpleasant to the taste and unhealthy. Feeding the animals for human food is of great importance and demands experience. It is not enough that food makes fat?it should also impart an agreeable flavor. Horse KariUh Culture. Horse radish does well on any kind of soil, but best in rich, moist ground. A sandy loam, well enriched with decomposed stable manure, will give fine, clean, straight roots: on clay soil the roots are apt to fork and "tiuger." The ' rows are made twenty-four inches apart, and sets are planted eighteen inches apart in the rows; no other cultivation is required but to keep the ground clean. As it is a iate crop it is usual to grow some other crop as an early crop, between the rows, and put the rows two and a half feet apart. Beets of an early kind are excellent to grow with the horse radish in alternate rows, as they do not make large tops. Horse radish is entirely hardy, and can be left safely in the ground all winter, but it is best to harvest the roots and keep them in pits. Killing Vermin on Pig*. A matter that should have careful Attention in raising pigs is the bedding and sleeping quarters. They should have warm, dry peus with ample ventilation. The bedding should be changed twice weekly and the pens well cleaned out. Before replacing the bedding a little lime, sprinkled about the floors, or a good disinfectant should be used. See that there is no vermin on the sows or in the pens; if there should be drive them in the pen and sprinkle with any of the "hog dips" or iwith crude petroleum. This will free them after three treatments at intervals of a week apart. To thoroughly get rid of vermin the remedy should be applied vigorously and the floor and all parts of the sleeping pen should be sprayed aud all old, infected bedding burned.?Farming. Butchering Appliance. r \ Much of the disagreeable work of butchering on the farm might be avoided if one would take the trouble to have the necessary conveniences. First build a low and strong platform. It should be made of lumber faced on the top side and made extra strong by cross pieces underneath. The legs short, stout and well braced. At one end cut out a piece so that the barrel ^ ? t- JTT described may rest in the opening. A strong brace is made in the form of a frame, in which the barrel is used for scalding purposes. At the rear of the platform a scaffold is erected, being simply a strong.piece of studding mounted on heavy posts set into the ground. Figure C shows the curve in the platform cut for the 6calding barrel, figure B the form of construction of the brace set back of . ? the barrel and figure A the scaffold.? Indianapolis News. Shade Important. Now, the tree-planting time is at hand, every poultryman should endeavor to plant a few fruit trees near the poultry house, not little, small twigs, which will not furnish shade or fruit for several years, but the largest that cau be found. There are many kinds of fruit trees that will bear the second year, and the xx-iTl odd to the nrofits of the poultry yard. Plums, especially the new Japanese varieties, are very fine, while cherries, peaches and apples all do well. If the orchard has already been planted it will be better to arrange the poultry houses so that the fowls will become accustomed to staying there. There -is no better place for them, and they will keep the insects away from the trees. What'* a Good Potato? Most people, I suppose, take it for granted that the beet potatoes are the ones that contain the most starch, says a writer in Garden Magazine. On the . contrary, it is the ones that contain the mos-c gluten, because gluten is an albuminous food, and starch is znueli eheaner than albumen. Now ait a potato open and look at tiie small illustration and we shall learn something worth knowing about this gluten. Virst comes the skin of the potato. In a new potato it is thin urd clear, while a c.Tky skin indicates a mature potato, and one more likely to be mealy. Second s a thin iayer varying from one-eighth of an inch to one-half an inch in thickness, This is the gluten. > * I V . Z- -Cv .* > <K4,f 'V?- ? j Third comes the largest part of the potato?the starch. If this is very dense the potato will be mealy, but if non-uniform the potato will be of poor quality. Fourth is the very centre of the tuber which contains little starch and a great deal of water. If this area branches out into the starch the potato will not be a good cooker. Breeding Partridge Cochin*. Although Mr. Mitchell's residence at Bristol. Conn., is right in town, he has demonstrated that it is not necessary to have a forty-acre farm to raise tine birds. His poultry house is a model for neatness, and the second story is entirely arranged with individual pens for setters as well as pens for mated birds. It is equipped with incandescent electric lights, so that the birds can be seen to good advantage in the evening. These birds are the result of years of line-breeding in a systematic manner that has, and is. producing birds so perfectly finished that one simply wonders at their perfection. Mr. Mitchell is both a fancier and a naturalist. His labors toward perfection have been persistent, and he has consistently followed a line marked out for himself from the beginning. The result was shown at New York last winter when he showed four generations, and every oue of them was a prize winner. I saw over 100 birds on the place. They were youngsters, and all roosted on a bed of sand, except the more forward ones, and they had pens especially prepared for them. Their roots were but a few inches from the soft sand. Now, here is where development of the Cochin comes in. Leaving aside feed, they were handled as all I Asiatics JLU0U1U oe?quieuy auu viuae to the ground. As soon as they are in good feather they are placed in. the training coops and taught to pose and to be handled. That involves labor, but it wins many prizes.?J. H. D., ir the Massachusetts Ploughman How to Make a Hot-Bed. The location of the hot bed is an important matter. It should be on welldrained soil, well sheltered from wind and fully exposed to the sun. It should be near the house, for convenience. Fresh manure from the horse stable, mixed with litter from bedding, is the material most generally made use of to furnish the heat needed in the hot-bed. A pile of this material is spread on the place selected for the hotbed, covering an area somewhat larger than the hot-bed itself is intended to be. It is thrown on the ground in layers of a few inches in depth. Each layer is trod down firmly before another is added. The pile should be finished off by rounding it over. Leave it in this condition for a few days, until fermentation sets in. This can be told by a warm moisture which will be seen rising from it. It should then be forked over, shaking out the long straw as this is done, and, making another heap of it, as at first. In two or three days it will again give evidence of further heating. After this it is in condition for final disposition in the bed. As the manure is now thrown into shape it should be packed down well, making it as uniformly compact as possible. There should be about two and a half feet of this material. It is now ready for the frame. This should be put in place and covered with sash. Bank up well outside the frame with the manure. Allow the sash to remain in place until strong heat is generated. When this begins to decrease, and the thermometer does not register more than eighty-five or ninetydegrees, cover the manure inside the frame with about 0 inches of fine, rich soil, worked until it is in the mellowest possible condition. The bed is now ready for use.?Eben E. Rexford, in "Making the Country Home," in the Outing Magazine. I Hints For Poultry* A good egg will sink in water. Sitting hens should not be fed while on the nest. Growing chicks should be protected from the sun. The nest must occasionally be renewed and kept clean. Road dust, with fine sifted ashes, makes a good dust bath. Cleanliness and vigilance are the best preventives of disease. As a rule fowls will keep healthier If they have a good range. A dark comb is an indication of a congested state of tivc system. There is more profit in marketing fowls early than at any other time. Now you who have attended the poultry shows and who have found out that you did not know it all, can you not improve the next season? An aid to making fowls lay in cold weather is to heat their grain before feeding, but do not get it too hot, as fowls have been killed that way. After cleaning your poultry house thoroughly and using crude kerosene oil in all the crevices and on perches, then litter the floor with straw and chaff. The festive lice still give their attention to the fowls, notwithstanding oiled perches, etc. A good dose of insect powder is about the only thing that will rout them. It is poor policy to sell all your best birds, even if you can obtain a good price, for while you obtain more ready money you are *ot improving your stock, and your birds will deteriorate each year as long as you practice selling all of the best. ' - - ? .-* >" ~ > ' . ;V. W > . ;t sV' TRAINING A SHOW HORSE HOW AN AMATEUR SHOULD PREPARE FOR THE RING. Hesrlnning the Animal's DevelopmentNeed For Care and Patience?Grooming: an Important Point?Country Exhibitions Should Be Tried First ? Things to Be Avoided at All Horse Shorn. take a good horse into ^ -Y-jJ ^adison Square Garden 0 I O ring and a blue ribbon 1 1 f looks simple, but only the veterans fully understanu i that this is the coping stone of an edifice carefully planned and built, month by month, until completed. Seldom, if ever, is an edifice reared in a night. With the spread of the country house idea, for which the Horse Show has undoubtedly done so much, there has naturally come a much wider field in horse ownership than ever existed previously, or than could exist under any other surroundings. Most healthy men of any nationality, and Americans especially, love a horse,-and, owning one, want him as good as their means will permit. The suburban dweller desires one with a certain amount of action, pleasant to look at, kind, and well mannered. Many a man of what may be termed moderate means has bought a horse which suited him. His friends have complimented him, his wife's friends have envied her, and the ball rolls along until some one says: "Why not sen$ him to the Horse Show? He is surely better than many prize winners of last year." This is the case withevery type of household pet, dogs, cats, chickens, pigeons, canaries, without end,, and the fine specimen, sooner or later, gravitates show-ward, which is perfectly natural. What does the suburban dweller do? If he boldly grooms his horse, dons a new set of harness, enters, and heads for Madison Spuare, he is doomed to 1 "" * * 1 ? ? ? 1/1 I disappointment, it may uituusi. uc ?um, no matter what horse he may have. If this point is thought over, it will be remembered that certain enthusiastic young men, of practically unlimited wealth, have, in the past, bought the best horses they could obtain, gone to the Garden, and were ignominiously "gated," or sent from the ring as not eligible for first honors. This was no illegitimaV discrimination; it is simply that they were trying to run along a difficult road before they had taken the trouble to learn to walk. The man heading toward, the Horse Show should first get an expert opinion as to the qualifications of his animal, thus saving time. There are plenty of experts who will do this, and do it correctly. If the horse has scope, the expert will point out how it may be developed, what the defects are; if the action is clean cut but too low, how it may be raised; if the "mouth" is in good order, and sensitive to the bit, and what myst be done to bring out all that is best; just as one develops a man on a football, hockey or baseball team. The owner, if he has the time (his groom ;or some one else, if he has not), takes the horse in hand as soon as a decision is reached. The earlier in the spring the better, for the course is a prolonged one. The horse, if for harness, is carefully driven. Speed is not desired, nor aimed at. If the horse has action "bred" in him he will show it to a certain extent, n ne uus uui, uuu there is a sluggishness in catching it, there must be more time and more patience, or the animal must be discarded. Most horses have a certain amount of action or they would not be considered eligible for tin show. I The idea is not to train him to go high but rather to go forward?a great distinction and difference. The high action kills pace, a great requisite in the final tests, the forward action interferes much less, combining -tyle and speed. Take the horse (if he has a good mouth) with what is known as a Liverpool bit with the reins in the middle bar (in the lower bar, if a hard mouth), and drive him over rough, uneven ground. A plowed field after the harrows have been over it, as the deep furrows play havoc with the springs, and the jolt frightens the horse. Let him be shod at least twice as heavily as for the road, and as he catches his feet on the uneven places, and as the weight of the shoes drag, so he will instinctively strike higher, and more forward, with his fore feet. The hock action will look after itself, unless he has a lot of thoroughbred blcod, then the hock action generally remains stiff. Go leisurely, keep him up to the bit and curb, not pushing so as to make him liable to break his pace, but just jaoving smoothly along, using the whip lightly, if at all. An hour or two each day for a week will make a wonderful difference. Then remove the shoes, replace with lighter ones, and this change, with the smoothness of the road, will persuade, him at once to strike higher and more forward. Keep him still close in hand, move steadily without spurts, the driver never losing touch with the mouth, and watching for every sliding back from grace. Once the path to improvement is struck, it is astonishing how much the horse will improve after each visit to plowed, or rough ground. He must not be overdriven, nor underdriven, and patience is the one great watchword. If the horse is a saddler, of course the same applies to the walk, trot and canter, the action being stimulated for the walk and trot on the harrowed ground, and the canter from exercise on level grass. In neither case must the pipil be permitted to slouch for a single instant. Grooming is another great feature, n?d the attractive glossiness of a show horse's coat is not obtained in a single week. He should be systematically brushed with the body brush, always \ ' . in tlie direction of the hair. This should be done until the heat crinkles under it. showing that heat has been generated, then follow with a handful of dampened meadow hay, and finish with a smooth, soft cloth. This is different from the perfunctory "wipeoff and a promise," with the aggressive tap of the brush 011 the side of the stall, La common in many liveries. The currycomb should never be used on high-class horses, except to clean the brush. It has a tendency to break and open the coat. Grooming should be done at least twice a day. The horse likes it, and each time it improves the tendency of the hair to grow right. The front of the animal should receive close attention, as there is where the ihdex point lies, and there grooms are most likely to be slack. White parts should be washed with soft soap once a day, and thoroughly rinsed to avoid the tinge of yellow. Take no heed of preparations to pro duce skin lustre, eituer external or internal. Good, old-fashioned "elbowgrease" properly applied externally, with a little flaxseeed given in the feed, will be all that is necessary. Presuming that action, manners and appearance are well developed by midsummer, the amateur enters his horse at one of the many country shows, in or near his district. These are out of doors, on the grass, not overcrowded, not too many faces close to the ringside, and' not too much glare of color or light, or the crash of a brass band under a roof. Consequently the tyro horse will be likely to do his best If the owner thinks he has the ability to show his horse without getting stage fright, or precipitating that nervousness which is speedily communicated to the horse, destroying his chances, let the owner drive. If he is not successful, let him obtain any of the halfdozen or so semi-professionals in evidence, and let one of them take the horse in the ring for another class, to find out what is the reason. The average amateur will find it is distinctly one thing to drive along a road, and another to drive around a ring under close surveillance, even if it be that of fridnds. One has to serve an apprenticeship to most things, and this is no exception. Tfle caramai iauirs 01 me uuiaieuLare the imitating of the personal tricks of the professional. So certain moves are made, the horse is "nagged;" bit, whip, voice, are used to make the horse do his best, and the horse is simply confused and bewildered by the clumsiness with which the fine "gallery" work of the clever professional is done. Watch a professional juggler and an. amateur and the point is made clear. With few exceptions the horse will do best with least "fussing." Take him up, just as on the road, and let him "find himself." If he will not do so, he is not the horse for an amateur to bother with. Women will generally do better with the horse of the household than will their "lord and master," humiliating as it is to confess the fact. A great mistake is to enter a ring and at once attempt to make the horse show his best. The Judge is looking for the more likely ones to be retained on conformation, trim, make-up and' general appearance. Any action, speed or manner display is simply wasted, and the horse bothered unnecessarily. All with a chance at the finish will be given-a second looking over. So go close around the outside of the ring, making the turns as wide as possible and' getting all the straight there is. Take no notice of any other competitor, what he is or is not doing, simply go along in the procession, showing action ntil they begin to draft those "above the salt," when one turn with speed is a good move. When called to station, purposely go a trifle bej*ond the line, and back yours into line, to show perfect manners before called upon. Keep him well in hand, straight on his feet, and always swing him into movement before asking him to back or make any change. By this time the fate of your exhibit will be sealed. Whether successful or not, both horse and man will have learned a great deal, and the man will realize it fully. It will be the same at each of the first dozen suburban shows. Distinct progress will be made and noted, and, when the move is made to the great Garden, the average man will feel that horse show life has begun all over again for him. He will then realize, as he never could otherwise, that but for the curriculum of the smaller shows, neither he nor the horse would have had a ghost of a chance. At the smaller shows horse and man have grown to know each other, they know what each can do, and how to do it. It has been a kindergarten and they are the better friends for the experience.?New York Post. limine Bnannsa. It is generally known that bananas are shipped while yet green and unripe, *8^. f?w persons are aware of the careful and elaborate time calculations required in setting out the plants and cutting off the fruit in order to Insure the arrival of the bananas in proper condition at their destination. When a plantation is begun, the young plants are set out at certain intervals, so 4-V? n-rt nHn/llinA o r nPoHrOl! luc/ mil {11vuu1.c ai ivjuiui times during the year. A certain, number of days before the arrival of a steamer the green fruit is cut. and a close calculation of the time that will be consumed in the voyage must always be made, else the bananas will be spoiled. Fruit steamers carry steam heating apparatus to insure a uniform temperature throughout the voyage. The ripening is calculated to occur only after the fruit has reached the retail dealer.?The National Fruit Grower. 4<7h? Land of ProinUe." A narrow,,dingy street leading to the workhouse gates in Hoxton has been named "The Land of Promise" by the Shoreditch Council, says the Lendon Express. " s. X EY0LUTI01 9 ? 9 By DR. HUGi Wr HAT is that in the egg which enables it to develop all the qualities of the bird? Something must be there, and we may even assume that all the separate qualities displayed by the bird have their representatives in the egg. Now, if it were only possible to get at these representative particles within the egg. what changes might not be effected in the development of the bird? To take a very simple exampie, the peacock has a white variety, lacking the bright colors of the feathers. If iu the egg of the ordinary peacock we cuuiu seize upon xne representative particles of the color and impede their development, perhaps we would succeed in reproducing the white variety at once and quite artificially. Obviously this is the heart of the matter, for if once the principle should be discovered to dislocate such a representative we might apply it to numerous other instances. A white peacock would be no novelty and no gain, but we would be able to make white varieties of other birds and other animals, and perhaps even of the bright colored flowers, which until now have resisted all endeavors of breeders in this line of work. Methods of attacking this problem are not at all failing. We might try to kill some of the representative particles in the egg, or to stun them, or to injure them in ever so slight a measure, so as only to retard their development. The process of the evolution of animals and plants must be attacked by direct experiment. This evolution, linwpvpr "h-is n lnn?r hictnrv nnvpririfT many millions of years. Its historical part, of course, is not accessible to experimental work. From its innermost nature it must be studied according to historical and comparative methods. In laboratory work we may simply pass it by. After eliminating this great mass of detail concerning the pedigree of the animal and vegetable kingdom two points remain, which present themselves for experimental study. These are the beginning and the end. Obviously the real end is not yet reached. Evolution is going steadily on even now. In the same way we may assume that the beginning is not yet finished. The laws that ruled the material world some twenty or thirty millions of years ago must have been the same that are still ruling it in our days. Circumstances may have changed, but it is not very probable that those which permitted life at the beginning and those which have made it possible during the long geological ages should have been widely different. On the contrary, it seems only natural to assume that new life may nowadays originate as well as in former times. It is only a question of where we are to look for it. On this very difficult point I like to be guided by the genial conceptions of Brooks. In his "Foundations of Zoology" he depicts the primeval seas and their living population. All life must have been limited at those early periods to the high sea; all organisms were floating amid the waves, going only to a depth of some few metres. Here the main lines of the animal and vegetable pedigree must have been produced, starting the great divisions of both kingdoms. The only exceptions are offered by llie flowering plants and the vertebrate animals, which seem to have originated on the shores or perhaps on the 'land itself. As long as all life was in this floating condition evolution proceeded rapidly and broadened out. Then came a period when, as Brooks says, the organic world made the discovery of the possibility of living on the bottom of the sea, feeding on the sinking remains of the floating world. This great change was the starting point for numerous adaptations and for the evolution of a richness of forms and structures, but without the previous progress in the production of n?ny really new divisions. The experience of agriculturists and horticulturists has long since established the fact that new forms of animals and plants from time to time arise. How they originate is another question, which it is not the task of practice, but of science, to answer. The fact, however, is undeniable, and all observations point to sudden changes or so-called sports as the tirst beginning. Especially in the dominion of horticulture Korshinsky has shown. How Herbert Spencer Painted Hit Carpet In Harper's Magazine appears an article on "Home Life With Herbert Spencer," written by two friends who lived with him. It reveals a new and amusing side of the great thinker's character. Here is one of the incidents: "The pattern of his drawing room carpet began to fade when it had only been down a few months. It consisted, or rather had consisted, of clusters of blue flowers on a drabbish ground. Now, with the principal color gone, it had become far too dull for the taste of that lover of brightness. He therefore conceived the unique idea of hav ing each flower stamped over wun reu ink. For this purpose he invented a small tin tray, which was so made that it stood quite flat on the floor to prevent any possibility of the ink .being spilt or dropped about. Bent in it were little wells about as large round and twice as thick as a halfpenny. These depressions were filled with the liquid. "The sempstress?whom he was always glad of an excuse to employ be r<r, :? V "'vS / kT Trying to Develop ^ Specific Peculiarities. ? ? * D DE VRIES. J& J& J by an ample critical survey of the historical evidence, that sudden sports are the prevailing rule and probably even the exclusive manner of originating new varieties. Such considerations have led to the conviction that what occurs in horticulture must also occur in the experimental garden. If the conditions are the spme, why should not the phenomena be the same, too? If mutations are rare in horticulture, the exp-eri- ' menter has only to arrange his work $$ so as to be able to detect rare occurrences in his cultures, too. In doing this I have suceeded in observing mu tations quite analagous to the horticultural instances and collecting all the evidence concerning their ancestry and their descendants, as well as concern- 'J ing the mode of their appearance. Moreover, I have had the good for- . 1 tune of discovering a wild plant which is even yet in a condition of mutability. Yearly it is observed to produce new species. It is the large flowering evening primsose, which bears .the name of Lamarck, the founder of the theory of evolution. It clearly shows how new species arise from an old stock not by continuous and slow,changes :,-M but suddenly. The stock itself is not altered by the process nor even notice- / ''i ably diminished. The new species whi<5h it produces arise on all sides. J Some of them are in a higher, others in a lesser degree, fit for their life conditions; some persist during years, while others disappear nearly as soon oo +V>otr nrlcn *38 UO tutj U1AI9V* This instance of experimental muta- J tion is found largely to agree "with the " experience of breeders, eepecially in horticulture, and likewise with the conclusions that have been drawn from f . comparative studies. The assumption that those species and genera which | now consist of large groups of closely ? allied forms have originated in the same way seems quite undeniable; and as soon as the validity of this generalization is granted for these cases it ' :? will have to be considered of general, if not universal, bearing. Two main lines have to be distin- ,;'9 guished: to study the phenomenon itself and that of its causes. Mutations, -| of course, cannot be assumed to be a special feature of the evening primroses. They must occur elsewhere, too, and these must be sought One or two novelties among thousands of in- dividuals of the common type are not Jj easily found, especially where the dif- * M ferences are slight and new and thereby apt to be overlooked. No differentiating remarks, however slight || should be considered as insignificant J| All' aberrant individuals should be planted separately and- protected with all the care required to insure the full- 'M est development. Many of them after- ^ | ward prove to be only fluctuating vari- /&| ants or to have deceived the experimenter. They are simply discarded. Tt is onife sufficient if some reniain ' a! and prove to be mutants. As soon as ' in this manner a mutable strain will be ^ discovered, the greater part of the :>/' other species may be excluded, although the search for new mutable species should never be wholly neg- J lected. Each year some new forms ^ should be taken into culture, in order . to have sufficient' chances of grad- ' - i ually increasing the evidence concern- f ^ ing the occurrence of mutability in na- | ture. The chief objects of this inquiry, Jj however, must be study of the mutable strain itself. Some of its seeds yield dg new species, while others are more con- " servative. Thence the question. Which seeds mutate and by which causes are | they elected to do so? The location of % the mutating seeds within the fruit the position cf the preferred fruits on the spikes, the influence of the indi- - -:i vidual strength of the sundry branches ^ -3 and many other points have to be investigated. Further, it is probable that the degree of mutability, or, in . other words, the yield of mutating seeds, is more or less dependent on the - "a! outer life conditions. Thence the neces- - - Ji sity of studying the influence of culture in general, of light and heat, of soil and water, and last, but not least, , ' of manure. Extreme combinations of * _ these factors should be tried to see whether perhaps they may give extreme results. Underlying all and directing all the efforts should be the hope of obtaining such a knowledge of the phenomenon ;|| as would enable us to take the whole ;1 guidance of it into our own hands.? - ^Jg Scientific American. cause she was so hard-working and so - , | poor?was soon set to carry out his . 1 plan. Down on her knees she had to go, and as she was decidedly stout, it was no light task. With a cork cut '| the exact size and dipped in the* ink. she pressed firmly down on eaca , flower, thus leaving It as if covered with red cherries. No wonder it took her over a week, working all day, for ; 7 the carpet was from twenty-five to thirty feet long and proportionately wide." j'4| ' Pretty Wedding Custom. In some parts of the Tyrol a beautiful. though curious, custom prevails.. . tt When a girl is going to be married and. . just before she leaves for the church. t . :i her mother gives her a handkerchief, which is called a tear-kerchief. It is made of newly-sfcun and unusued linen, and with it the girl dries the natural -'-J tears she sheds on leaving home. The tear-kerchief is never used after the marriage day, but i9 folded up and placed in the linen closet, where it remains till its owner's death, when it is taken from its place and spread ovei > her face. ;.>|?