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?1.50 PER YEAR. OUR WASHINGTON LETTER. ? . HHWMAL xom AMS? mm. Ailniilil fcjr Dm OiImiIIm O^jrHght ? Lieut. Totten now predicts that the worM will oome to end la 1919. There are wan members of Congress -who have a Mspieton that the end wil1 come next November. Japan has declined to take the apace mm< by Be? la at the St. Looie Ex position. Her ambition Is centered on aecapjln;? the space whioh she expects Russia to vacate in Korea. There are indications that the Mor mon apostles are locking to the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections for their next revelations. It la necessary for the French Canal Company to turn over a lot of material and things to the ITrited States. There Will be no objection if the Frenchmen hold out the Chagree fever and the mosquitoes. There is no longer any queatlon about the presence of spring. North Carolina la sending her first shipments of Vermont maple sugar syrup to mar net. Booker Washington wants to see the negro elevated, but doea not approve the Ohio way of doing it. "Who are benefitted by warf'aaks . the peace-loving Savannah News. Well, there are the map makers for a starter. While he ostensibly opposes tbe im portunities of his friends who want him to ran for the Prealdency, Mr. Cleveland Is too good a fisherman to miss the sport of rising to the best bait ?very time It Is thrown to him. ? Congressmen msy be pardoned if he Inquires what is the use of having a pull If he is not allowed to use It. Many a man la or jdited with having "sporting blood in bis veins*' when an analyaia would ahow that it was no thing but booze in his blood. The Birds Our Friends. Every meadowlark that visits jour farm should be encouraged to stay and make its abode on your premises. It is the friend that will help you destroy cut worms and grasshoppers iu the. The meadowlark is distinctive ly a ground bird. It nests on the ground, and feeds on the ground. Occasionally'^ may be, seen setting on a telegraph post j or tree for a few minutes, but it 1 prefers to get no farther from the earth than a fence top. From careful examination, by authen tic authority, it has been found that the food of the meadowlark is made up largely of insects. Its vegetable diet consists of a few jgrains of cultivated plants and the seeds of noxious weeds, but ?chiefly of the latter. The in sects it eats are mostly beetles, caterpillars and grasshoppers, fiome of these beetles are inju rious to cultivated crops, and some ane not. The caterpillars are those popularly known as cut worms, which are hard to destroy by artificial means, from the fact that they spend a great deal of their time beneath the surface of the soil. They come up only long enough to cut off stalks of young grasses which they drag back into their holes. But the meadowlark knows their liabit and picks them up while they are doing the mischief. Nearly all birds are beneficial, rather than detrimental, to the farmer. They eat some grain, to be sure, but mostly that which shatters off in the fields and would never be utilised. Even if all -the grata they use was a direct loss it would not be so great as the loss incurred bjr the insects which they kill. Don't. Don't give young turkeys when taken off nests <a round pod of black pepper. It matters not if your mother, grand-mother, and grand maternal ancestors back to Kve so peppered young turkeys. Don't do it. If you pepper, give it ground, and than it will not grind to death the little turkeys. Don't cut off the tails of young dtfoks, geese, etc. We don'tcare If the geese that saved Rome had their tails cut off, don't do it. God kndws best what tails the young ducks and "geese need, and has given the tail for some purpose, among others a sort of balancing rod. > Don't pull off the pip of sick chicks. It matters not who cries "sick chicken wid de pip," and what old cold mammy advises to Mpull off de pip or de chicken will die, *' don't you do it. God pro vided the pip on the tongue of chicks, and it is not needful for you to know what the purpose is, only don't pull it off. * To Make The Town Grow. Mr. 8. A. Fishburn, secretary of the Commercial Club, of Dal las, Texas, has prepared a set of rules for making a town grow. He guarantees their efficacy. Here tney go: 1. Join no organizations look ing to the upbuilding of your town. This will prove an encouragement to those who give their time and money to sustain such organizations. 2. Impugn the motives of those who join and charge them with a desire to advertise them selves. This inspires patriotic men to work all the haider for the public good. 8. Pour cold water on every new home enterprise, predict its early failure, and contribute to that end by patronizing its rivals in other towns. This will encourage others to put their money in home enterprises. 4. When a committee calls on you for a contribution to any good cause, act like a sore-head ed bear, and yield up what you do give as begrudgingly as possible. This lightens the burd ens of the committee mem and sends them on their way rejoic ing in their work of love. 5. When strangers visit your town let then wander around alone and enlighten themselves by reading the signs and pump ing the professional loafer. They will carry away a delightful re membrance of their visit and ad vertise the town wherever they go. 0. "Cuss out" your public officials (to their backs, of course) and accuse them of everything from petty larceny to high treason, no matter whether you can substantiate your charge or not. This will prove a keen in centive to the complete fulfiill ment of their official obligations. 7. Whenever your town papers differ in the slightest with your ideas of public policy, declare that it has been bought up and promptly cutoff your patronage. The editor will turn the other oheek and redouble his efforts in behalf of thetown and its "good people." 8 . Oppose any enterprise which is not in exact accordance with your own ideas. This will be con ductive to that spirit of conces sion and unity which is necessary to progress. *. Give sparingly, if at all, to movements for the general good of the town, even if you are the largest property owner in it. This will spur on to greater exertions the public spirited citizens your town now has and induoe the coming of others. 10. Observe these rules close ly and there can be no doubt about the growth of your town. It will grow and continue to grow? up in weeds? until it shall, ultimately become fit habitation alone for bats and owls. We believe that some of our 1 people already understand and employ the principles here for mulated but they are not enough; to make the system completely j effective. A wider employment' of the rules will accomplish; something definite. Now is the timo to organize. ? Chicken Column. Poultry an Essential Part of Farm Work. Chickens form an essential part of the stock upon farms. The twelfth census shows (that there were 5,739,656 farms in tne United States in 1900, and it is safe to say that those which did not have chickens anion# the stock were few indeed. The census also shows that there were 250,681,593 fowls (chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks) in the United States. This gives an average of 42 to every farm. Poultry not on farms is omit ted from the census bulletins, hence that on farms only is here considered. The raising ot poul try in the villages of the country M a matter of no small import ance, and the totals would no doubt greatly augment the farm totals. The value of all fowls on farms In 1900 was, $85,794,996. It is difficult to estimate bow much should ' be deducted from this sum to represent the fowls under the age of three months, but evidently the amount would be considerable. Whatever re mains over such deduction repre sents quite accurately the poul try stock, that is, that which is kept for breeding and laying. Let us assume that this reduced amount is $70,000,000, which is certainly not too low. Now we have 250,681,593 fowls, worth $70,000,000, producing for mar ket in one year poultry worth $186,891,877 and eggs worth $144,286,870 ? a total value of $281,178,247. In seeking for the causes of this startling situation one must not overlook the great amount of work done by the me chanical incubator, which is not only fully as successful as the hen but does its work on a very large scale. oThe use of the in cubator has made- it the duty of the hen to devote her whole time to the production of egg g. In 83 of the states and territo ries the value of the egg exceeds the value of the poultry product, while in the remaining 19 the re verse is true. In the production of eggs, Iowa Jeads, with 99, 621,920 dozens, worth $10,016, 707. Ohio comes next as to amount, with 91,766,630 dozens, worth $10,280,769. Although Io wa has about 8,000,000 dozens of eggs more than Ohio, the value of the product of the lattor state was considerably higher. Illi nois takes the third place for eggs, with 86,402,670 dozens, worth $8,942,401, and Missouri comes next with 85,203,290 doz ens, worth $8,815,871. There were produced on farms in 1899 1,298,618,144 dozens of eggs. This amounts to 48,127, 272 crates of 80 dozens each. An ordinary refrigerator car, which has an average length of about 48.5 feet, holds 400 crates. AU this means, then, that a train of these cars sufficient to carry the product of 1899 would be 868 miles long, or long enough to. reach from Chicago to Washing-, ton and have several miles of cars to spare. Another statement that will no doubt come as a surprise, is that the egg product of 1899 valued at a higher figure than the com* bined gold and silver product of ithe United States during any ye ar since 1850, except for the one year of 1900. ? The poultry and egg product of 1899 exoeeded in value the wheat crop of 28 states and ter ritories, as folio ws: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indian territo ry, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mas sachusetts, Mississipi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wis consin and Wyoming. While the very large majority 6t the fowls on farms were chick ens, there were enough turkeys, geese and ducks to demand at tention. In 1900 there were 6, 599,367 turkeys, 5,676,863 geese and 4,808,355 ducks, not inclu ding any under three months old. Texas leads in the number of turkeys, with 648,671; Ken tucky in the number of geese, having reported 541,475. As to ducks, Iowa takes the lead with 487,752. ? United States Depart ment of Agriculture. Don't Coddle Chicks. It is a great mistake to coddle chicks; too close confinement, too much feeding and in a word over-care kills more chicks than neglect. Would you learn a lesson in sensible practical poultry, then go to the negro tenant's country cabin. You will find bens with broods of 12 to 20 chicks, never cooped, ranging freely in sun shine and ' shade, wandering in woods, fields and* meadows, chigpitig Cheerily in morning fall chill, and healthy, happy and fat and plump and hardy. The negro feeds little, and that scraps, dry dough, or corn bread crumbs, and trusts old hen to find food and shelter. As broilers or frying size as you prefer, the negroes' chickens are fat, plump, juicy and abund ant about his cabin, His hens lay constantly, and cackle merrily, and the old co.k struts and crows, and voices health and happiness among his. family of fowls. An Early Error. A few years ago a great Texas daily, in calling attention to ar tificial hatchers, then on exhibi tion in its city, said that the main advantage the artificial over the natural method of hatch ing was the saving of time; that whereas it took twenty-one days ordinarily to hatch hens' eggs thy old way, these ma chines operated by steam would hatch in less than half that time. A Few Hogs. A hog is a person who sits sideways in a car where other passengers are standing. A hog is a person who jams his suit case in front of you at the railway station so as to get your place in the line to the gate. | A hog is a person who "breaks in" while you are negotiating in a store and takes the attention of the saleswoman away from you. A hog is person*who opens his window in the railway car and allows dust and cinders to fly in the face ot the passengers be hind, though he would not tole rate an open window at the seat next in front. A hog is a person who insists on discussing *'the mutability of human affairs" with the ticket ?eller at the theater whon there is a long "Indian file" in his rear ana the curtain is about to be rung up on the performance. ? Cincinnati Commercial. j FARM CLIPPINGS. The Bent Seed Corn the Cheapest John H. Ver Steeg is the name of an Iowa farmer who has come, through actual experience, to recognize the value of the best seed corn. He told the Iowa Homestead that, as a result of reading so much about the im portance of giving attention to the matter of improving crops, he last spring decided to pur chase some highly bred seed oorn. "I paid $5 for two bush els of corn in the ear. From that corn I am sure the crop av eraged ten bushels per acre more than the crop from my own seed. You can see, therefore, from this that the $2. 50 corn was, af ter all, much cheaper than my own <seed, which would posibly be worth little more than what it would bring for feeding pur poses. When asked what were his ^>lans for the selection of seed for the next year's crop, Mr. Ver Stceg said: "I have already picked out fifteen or twenty bushels of the best corn grown on the fourteen acres which I had planted w\th this improved seed. This has been placed in a well ventilated room, being spread out in a thin layer over the floor. When I fin ish my fall work it is my inten tion to spend considerable tide in selecting from this lot the few bushels that I shall require for seed next year. I would not take $10 per bushel and permit an ex pert corn man to take the best three bushels from that seed, al though there is no question in my mind but what I could get the price for the asking." ^ This is but one case in many, but it points the way for all growers of corn. Good seed is the essentia 1 first step to large crops of first-class corn. The better the seed the better the crop, and the bigger the yield. Curbing Balky Monies. A horse may refuse to start just from "pure cussedness," or there may be some other cause which a skilled driver may find out. First ot all, look to the bit, se9 that it does not hurt the gums, inspect it, advises a well posted writer on the equine. Then look to tfee shoulders un der the collar, and feel if the animal flinches from pressure, for there may be injury there, even without the presence of a wound, or the collar may press on the windpipe. This would make a horse in harness balk. If no manifest reason for not starting can be discovered, pro .ceed as follows: While speaking to the animal, pass the hand down the front leg to the coro net, lift the hoof up pretty high, and then, with anything, as a as a stone, strike each nail in the shoe, with a final tap on the frog of the hoof, thon say some thing to the horse as you suddenl y let the foot drop to tho ground, and the driver gathers up the reins sufficient for tho animal to feel tho bit. Tho horse's attention will have been diverted by what has been done, and he will often start off at once, if it has been a matter of ill temper. Tnis de vice has been rarely known to fail, if the horse feels that he is master of the load behind him. Vho Gait of Walking. The walk of a young horse is largely influenced by the driver. If you put a horse into the care of a slow, idle man, or if a young horse is driven by a slow, care less man, the animal will acquire a habit of slow motion that will be difficult to overcome. In a .majority of cases a slow, trailing gait makes really harder work for the horse. A moderate quick walk, with at least all ordinary farm work, exhausts the animal less that a slow gait. Another point that should al ways be considered is, that when a horse is allowed to get into the habit of moving slowly, he be comes aged and incapacitated be fore his natural time; his joints and sinews becomes stiff and con tracted, and he is less valuable, not only to his owner for use, but must be sold at a much lower price if placed upon the market. So far as conditions will preuvit, a young horse that is being train ed for work should be worked with an older animal that has been trained to move fairly quick, as he will not only bo a more valuable animal, but prove more profitable to all concerned. Johnny's IS s nay on the Hog. The hog is called a hog b'cuz he makes a hog of himself. It runs in the family. All hogs are hogs. The hog has two sides to bis character, one of which is good to eat, and the other we can't so' cordully admire. As an article of diet the hog is one of the warmest friends to the human race that I know of. Most ot him is gpod for food, and the rest is useful for making sausages, bristle brushes and other uten sils. Nearly everything about him is palatable but his voice., The latter always seems to mo to sound as if it had kind o* soured. It is said that you can't make a silk purse out of a ? er ? . h'm! ? lady hog's ear. I have never heard vof any fool big enough to try it. As a citizen, tho hog is not so warm. His manners and instincts are gross in tho extreme, and his sola ambition 'pears to be to eat from early morn till far into the night. When a man dies ho becomes the late Mr. So-and-so, and we say nice things about him. When a hog is dead ho is pork, and pa often says, "Con found this pork!'* When I eat too much pa calls me a pig. A pig is a hog's little boy. This is all I know about tho hog. Items. Occasionally women make fools of men, but they are not respon sible for all the fools. A light corn crop never had any effect on the crop of corn whisky. This is ono form of corn, the use of which is not commended. Corn whisky is a robber, and robs the brain as the soil robber does the pocketbook. If a person desires to bocomo rich ho will will find wisdom pos sesses better staying qualities than wealth. The pleasure of to-day which leaves a bitter taste to-morrow is not pleasure; it is all vexation of spirit and a do stroyer of all moral principles. Whether white, red 01* black, tho hogs should be profitable. Get none but the best of the breed. It is not a good plan to sell otf all the young sows after the first litter. Old sows provo to be tho best breeders, and they rear tho strongest pigs. Somo men have troublo be cause they do not appreciate their wives Becauso AdamQsin ned many mon excuse their ac tions by laying a great many ills on the wife. The man who con siders his wife as hedoes himself will be devoted to her instead of making trouble for her. Are we doing our best? We may not even be ablo to do as well as our neighbor does. But wo are able to do as well as wq can do. No man will te held r/k sponsible for what he cannot Aq>, but he should be held responsi ble for what he can d/G>, We ought to he doing our feest just now.