Farmer Township (part 22 of 25)

Electric ' Wagon

Low steel wheels; wide tires and durability and good service written all over it. Don't be talked into buying an inferior. Get the wagon that lasts. Or we'll sell you a set of Electric Steel Wheels -nd make your old wagon new at slight expense Spokes united with the hub; absolutely impossible to work loose, bold on a money-back guarantee. Their saving in time, labor, horse fleeb and repair bills will pay forthem in a single year. More than a million and a quarter in use. All we a*k is a chance to tell yon more about them. Drop us a line, we'll do the rest. Catalog free.

is the Latest, Most Rapid. Strongest, Simplest, Fully Guaranteed, and shipped on its merits to any responsible party in the U. S. Write for catalog and price* to The SQUARE DEAL MFG. CO., Delaware, O.

Tankage the cheapest and best fertillier for Wheat and the permanent enrichment of all soils. Supplies Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid and Potash: makes Hnmns. Sold and guaranteed under the State laws regulating sale of commercial fertilisers. Samples mailed on re quest. Agents wanted. American Reduction Co. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.

"For the Land's Sake use Btwker's Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and those who till it. Est. 1873. For prices or agencies address Bowker, Cincinnati."

kills Prairie Dogs, Woo dchucks.Oop hers ind Grain Insects. 'The wheels of the gods grind slow but exceedingly small.*' Sothe weeYil, but you can

Barley For Stock

Conditions here seem no longer favorable for raising corn. Would barley be a good substitute? Would it thrive in Lorain Co.? What is its feed value for horses, compared with corn or oats? How much seed should be sown per acre, and should it be sowed in spring or fall? What is the best variety, and what is a fair yield? - A. B., Columbia Sta., O.

I do not think bailey would thrive so near the lake where the soil is a little thin. Barley does its best on rich, black soil that will produce a good crop of corn. It does not grow as tall as oats and in a poor season it is hard to gather with a binder. It usually produces about as many pounds of grain to the acre as oats, sometimes a little more on a rich soil, because it will not lodge as badly as oats. In our comity where it seems to thrive very well there is comparatively little raised, which goes to show that it is not a very valuable crop.

There are three kinds. The fall or -winter barley should be sown at the - ime time as wheat. We used to raise considerable of this kind but have discarded it and I have not seen a field of it for several years. This kind is ready to harvest before wheat. Then there is the beardy spring barley which does better with us than the smooth spring, and is the kind we raise, but not very extensively. It is ready for the reaper after the wheat harvest and before the oats are ripe, and if for any reason you can not get onto it when just right it falls down very badly. The beards are quite bothersome and the hands prefer to shock it with a fork on that account. A fair yield of barley is from 30 to 40 bushels to the acre and it is a much better substitute for oats than corn.

A pound of barley has nearly the same food value as oats, but it is very hard for the horses to chew and should be ground. We raise it principally for the chickens and consider it a very good food for them, and when we have more than they want, as we will have this year, we get it ground for the pigs and mix it with middlings and a little tankage. This makes an excellent food for pigs and brood sows. One thing is in favor of barley and that is it is a splendid nurse crop for grass seed in the spring. I do not remember that we ever failed in getting a grass catch when sown with barley. - Walter S. Tomlinson, Defiance Co., O.

Shri'Hkrds' Problems

Making Pasture. - G. S. T., Ohio.has an old timothy meadow affording very little pasturage that he desires to use as a sheep pasture in 1909. He asks what to with it in-order to get the most from it. - There are two courses open. If there are heavy rains in August it will be comparatively easy to act upon either plan. The condition of the land and the use to be made of it in later years would determine which was the better. If it is desired to keep it as a pasture for several years (and if it is a pretty thin piece of land, that is the most profitable use to which it can be put) I should disk it thoroly without plo ving immediate' ly after a rain, after the timothy now on it has gone to seed, and sow more seed where needed. Then cover it all over with good stable manure at the rate of eight tons to the acre, or in lieu of that, put on 200 pounds of a good complete commercial fertilizer to the acre. If there are some very hare spots in the field, sow some rye upon them. That will afford a much relished variety for fall and spring.

This is not practical every season as the needed rains do not always come. If the soil is very thin I should try hard to get a satisfactory seed bed without plowing. If. however, the soil is fairly good and the sod too heavy to cut with a disk, or the weather remains too dry. the alternative is to plow. I would then sow rye. two bushels to the acre at early wheat-sowing time, and seed to timothy, still using the manure or fertilizer. Some rape seed might be added to advantage. The amount of fall pasturage this would furnish would depend much upon the season. The young timothy is not easily killed by the tramping of the sheep, but a good stand of clover is not probable where sheep graze the rye continuously. If, however, they are alternated in some other pasture so that they do not tire of the rye and get to cropping the clover, a fair stand may be secured and the field thru this method worked into a meadow or continuous pasture.

Breeding for Wool. - Mr. T. also has one hundred grade Shropshires from which he wants to raise lambs, the ewe lambs to be saved to increase the flock and the wether lambs to be sold in fall or winter for mutton. Wool is an important consideration in his mind and he asks what breed of rams he should use.

Just now all the medium grades of wool, including Shropshire, are at a discount, Merino wools being at a premium. It is not possible, however, to change breeds rapidly enough to be in at every change in the fashions. I do not deem it good business to try it. The fleeces of his flock might be increased in weight by the use of Merino rams, but the flock would lose as much in mutton features, so that does not appeal to me as an advisable course to take. I have never seen the advantage in mixing breeds except in a few special instances. I am not convinced that simple crossing has any virtue. That is, I do not believe crossing produces qualities that were not in the parents. Starting with Shropshires and desiring lambs to be sold in the fall or early winter, I should continue to use Shropshire rams.

Foot Scab. - H. D. T., Carpenter, O.J describes a case of what is probably foot scab. It is due to a scab mite somewhat similar to the more common scab mite. Thoro and repeated treatment with any of the efficient , sheep dips advertised in this paper j will cure it. The affected feet should! be held in a warm solution for a full minute or more. If none of the creo- j sote dips are available, strong tobacco decoction, or lime and sulfur solution, will prove effective.

Breeding for Fall Lambs. - B. G. 0. 1 thinks that his ewes are not breeding for fall lambs as he desires. He is using, or has with the flock, a Shropshire ram. He asks whether the fault is with the ewes or the ram. It may not be either and it may be both. The sexual passion is not very strong in i hot weather and especially not in the, heat of the day. They may be mating at night even when the ram appears to give no attention to the ewes in the day time. The little trick that has seemed of value with us is to turn two rams together with the flock. Each is a st imulus to the other. Grain | feeding is not necessary if the flock is improving without it. - H. P. Miller.

Like a young bird and gulp down whatever food or medicine may be offered you ? Or, do you want to know something of the composition and character of that which you take into your stomach whether as food or medicine ?

Most intelligent and sensible people now-a-days insist on knowing what they employ whether as food or as medic'ne. Dr. Pierce oclieves they have a perfect right to insist upon such knowledge. So he publishes.VMQadcast and on each bottlswranper, whatJiTS>*edicines are made of and vexi/ies jgrrnaT^alb This he feeh ho can weikCTord to do because t he rgontin- ingredients of which his medicine are made are Studied and understood ftie mojvWnrXiejr superior curaTTvTvTrtuJs tv appreciate^ ' "

For the cure of woman's peculiar weaknesses, irregularities and derangements, giving rise to frequent headaches, backache, dragging-down pain or distress in lower abdominal or pelvic region, and kindred symptoms of weakness, Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription is a most efficient remedy. It is equally effective in curing painful periods, in giving strength to nursing mothers and in preparing the system of the expectant mother for baby's coming, thus rendering childbirth safe and comparatively painless. The "Favorite Prescription" is a most potent, strengthening tonic to the general system and to the organs distinctly feminine in particular. It is also a soothing and invigorating nervine, and cures nervous exhaustion, nervous prostration, neuralgia, hysteria, spasms, chorea, or St. Vitus's dance, and other distressing nervous symptoms attendant upon functional and organic diseases of the distinctly feminine organs.

A host of medical authorities of alllhe several schools of practice, recommend each of ths several ingredients of which "Favorite Prescription" is made for the cure of the diseases for which it is claimed to be a cure.. You may read what they s&y for yourself by sending a postal card request for a free booklet of extracts from the leading authorities, to Dr. R. V. Pierce, Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Institute, Buffalo. N. Y., and it will come to you by return post.

and allows the cattle to feed In peace. It does not yum the hair, blister the ekln or mabe milk taste or amelL Saves double Its coat in extra mils-.

la a clean, non-penetrating llqnld that Is absolutely harmlese - easy to apply. Keeps the cows In good condition and makes money for the farmer. If jour dealef can not supply - you,

Modern Changes

The law of the survival of the fittest holds good in every kingdom - 1 mineral, vegetable, animal. What was the fittest a few years ago is unfit now, and in accordance with this law of shifting necessities we find that within our memory the whole gamut of cattle has been run thru in supplying the larder with beef.

Not many years ago the ponderous steer bred on the Western prairies was the best selling beef animal in the world. He was wanted by exporters, by butchers, by cattle connoisseurs and by gourmands. To be in prime condition he must be four years old and weigh from 1.600 to 2.000 pounds.

The demand now is for a younger and fatter animal, something thru which the porcelain teeth of the age can sink without effort. To be highly prized and priced, this young animal should be two years old. or under, should weigh 1.000 pounds, must have been fed for the market from the day he was calved, and should be a Polled Angus, a Shorthorn, or a Hereford (as they dress more) to please the buyer. The more blood he has in him of these now fashionable breeds, and the sooner after birth he is In condition to put on the market, the better for the prof- Its of the breeder.

The profits of the breeder on this Bteer are greater than on the old-style four year-olds. The two-year-old matures sooner, gets fat quicker - and the better his blood the quicker he fattens - and while he weighs about 30 percent less than his predecessor, his cost

A Safe, Speedy and Positive Cure for Curb, Splint. Sweeny, Capped Hock, Strained Tendons, Founder, Wind Puffs, and all lameness from Spavin, Ringbone and other bony tumors. Cures all skin diseases or Parasites, Thrush, Diphtheria. Removes all Bunches from Horses or CatUe.

Fly It Strikes

longer than any imitation. Used since 188S. Absolutely harmless, cores all sores. Half cent's worth savesS quarts milk and much flesh, NO LICE In Poultry House, or any plo. - H n sprayed. II dealer otters substitute, send us »1 lor Improved 3-tube 8prayer and enough SHnO-l'LY SO protect 200 cows. Name axprnl office. SI returned if cows not protected. Rend pouts) forlrsa booklet. Shoo-Fly Mfg. Co., 13S1N. lOthSt.. l'Mla.. Pa. Kditor knows from experience that Sboo-Flyis O. K

Oldest American Dip. Ohonpewt, ' mo-t effective, atronfiPKt obtiinabla. 1 gal. can |I.n0. 52 ml. Imrn-I $40- Ca tul o« Stockmen's Supplies Krt»e. F. S. BURCH & CO., 177 Illinois Street. CHICAGO.

per pound is much less also. The breeder has the expense of his teed and tare for only half the time he had his predecessor's, one item in cost of raising which more than compensates for his lesser weight. It is the breeder's maxim that the quicker an animal can be put in condition for the block the greater the proportionate profits. Good breeding, careful feeding, and early maturity are very essential to success in cattle breeding. It is well for the breeder to remember that competition is sharper and prices lower, and that economy in those items of greatest cost (food and time) should be considered in meeting the demands of the market. A steer can be fed to a weight of 1,000 pounds cheaper than one can be fed to a weight of 2,000 pounds, and while the immediate profit is smaller it will come quicker. Again, the profit on two well-bred twoyear-olds is larger than on one of the old style four-year-olds.

This argument presupposes that the breeder has a good animal to start on. Scrubs pay poorly at best, and often do not pay at all, to say nothing of those which are a clear loss. To feed a poor animal is almost like putting salt in a sieve, while to feed one of good blood is to use your five talents to make five other talents. Besides these considerations the farmer will have had the additional great advantage of a supply of manure which will bring very tangible profits in increased crops. - E. Russell.

Mixing Slop In The Summer

W. S., West Finley, Pa., has bran, shorts and oilmeal to feed his hogs and he wants to know in what proportion it should be fed. He does not say that his hogs are running on grass, but it is presumed that they are, as there will be little profit in feeding hogs now in a dry lot at this time of year when clover or green grass should be the main part of their feed. The farmer who undertakes to raise hogs without a pasture lot for them to run in is up against' a pretty hard proposition, with all kinds of hog feed way up in price.

Bran, middlings and oil meal make an excellent combination for growing hogs in winter, or for brood sows, but as a food for fattening hogs on grass it is not as good as soaked corn. If I had the mixing of it for profit I would use one percent bran, 98 percent middlings and one percent oil meal. The profit will all have to come out of the middlings as the bran and oil meal will have to be fed at a loss. So the less of these two feeds that is mixed in with the middlings the better it will he for the feeder. I would not think of feeding oil meal at this time of year to hogs running on grass but would let it lie until next fall or winter when it will pay to feed it if not fed in excess of 10 percent of the whole amount of feed consumed by the hogs.

The bran is entirely too bulky for hogs running on grass, and it will not pay to feed it in large quantities. But we sometimes have to make the best of what we have and are compelled to feed at a disadvantage. In that case I would not feed over 10 percent of oilmeal, which has a food value and a medicinal value, as well. The medicinal property is not so important when fed in connection with green grass or clover, as the bowels are kept too loose with the oil meal. In this case it has really only one value and causes a loss on account of the medicinal value as it acts on the bowels as a sort of physic. Too much of a good thing sometimes spoils it, and this is the case in feeding oil meal at this time of year on grass without corn.

We have 100 fall pigs yet to market that we have been feeding middlings and tankage with corn on clover, and I never had pigs do better. These we are sending to market as fast as they will bring top prices, and we expect to dispose of all of them this month (June). There is a time when it is profitable to feed bran and oil meal and we feed it at that time, but plan to have it all fed up before the hogs can get a full bite of grass. But I have seen the time when I, too, had little to go on and had to feed as best I could without regard to the real profits. At that time I would have been glad to have had bran, middlings and cil meal to feed. - Walter S. Tomlin- «>n, Defiance Co., C\

Dickinson Record Meeting

The annual meeting of the Dickinson Record Co. was held at the Conrad Hotel, Canton, O., June 2, 1908, with a good attendance. S. R. McCormick presided in the absence of the president and vice president. The minutes of last year's meeting were read and approved. First subject open for discussion was "The Private Record Book." It was decided to furnish it free to members and to non-members at 50 cents each. These books are the best private record books obtainable and may be had at any time upon receipt of price to the secretary. A motion was carried to fix the initiation fee at $2. In the discussion of this many points were brought out. Up to this time the company has charged no fee for transferring, but on motion the fee for recording and transferring sheep was fixed at 15 cents per head for members and 50 cents for non-members.

Officers were elected by acclamation as follows: Pres., D. L. Dickason, Ashland, O.; V. Pres., S. R. McCormick, Fresno, O.; Sec. and Treas., Miss Beulah McDowell, Canton, O. Board of trustees - Alfred Bailes,H. M. Culbertson, J. H. McDowell, J. C. Blake, A. R. Clapp, O. C. Day, E. A. Shilliday. Executive committee - O. C. Day, A.R. Clapp, H. M. Culbertson. Pedigree committee - F. Wallace McEwen, Scott Holtz, Wm. Gibson.

The old by-laws were read and each section taken up separately and discussed, after which it was decided to have a new list printed. - Beulah Mc- Dowell, Sec.

Am. And Delaine Merino

The publication of the first volume i of the American and Delaine Merino Record, near 700 pages, containing the ! breeding of over 250,000 sheep, was j completed the last week in March, and the volumes were distributed among the members of the Consolidated Association of Merino Breeders in April. We expect to commence the publication of the 2d volume at once, aided by the promptness of the members in sending in any new additions to their flock history that they may want toappear in the 2d volume, giving the breeding of late additions added to the flock or pictures of any individuals in the flock. With each member acting promptly the 2d volume will be in the hands of the breeder before the close of 1908.

Remember, there was much delay caused in the printing of the first volume by the members not respecting the order given to have all cuts and flock histories forwarded to this office by August 1, as a number delayed sending their work in until late in the fall or early in the winter, causing an unnecessary amount of work in the mixed condition. We are anxious to place each flock in the best possible manner. We have given all the members due notice by mail to promptly forward all plates and cuts for publication in the 2d volume, and without further notice, we will publish without delay the complete records of the 1907 crop of lambs with the additions of about 50 new flocks. - S. M. Cleaver, Secretary, Delaware, O.

Some time»ago, when home on a visit, my brother George incidentally told how his nearest neighbor, Dick Mar. quis of Caldwell Co., Mo., (who then held the world's championship for rapid shearing), had sheared over 300 seven-pound wethers in fourteen hours and some minutes, by machine process. I afterwards retold the story to some of my neighbors. Some did not say anything; some said they didn't believe it, and others said you will have to show us. Then I didn't tell it any more.

Now comes Mr. Ford, living in my own county (Guernsey) who says he can beat that record by hand; and tie the wool. I believe these experts owe the Ohio Farmer and its readers an apology or an explanation. Please tell us all about the shears, the wool and the sheep. Is it true that the sheep on the plains have just a patch of wool on their backs and a bunch on the end of their tails weighing five or six pounds? - J. C. Umstott, Guernsey Co., Ohio.

The finest thing about REX Roofing is the sense of security it gives. You don't have to worry about REX. You know that a building roofed with it, is roofed as well as can be, and protected as thoroughly as can be. The hardest storm cannot get water through it, nor blow it off; the hottest sun cannot melt it nor open its seams; falling sparks cannot ignite it.

Is durable; it ie good all through. Its body in high grade, long-fibre wool felt, heavy, dense and durable; the saturation or waterproofing is slowly worked in until the bodyis thoroughly impregnated with it - KKX saturation will never dry out; the coating is of special rubbery, gummy compounds that unite with the body and the saturation,

J. A. & W. Bird & Co

Three coming l-year bulls ready Tor service. Some cows mid heifers, mime Jersey twine, Cots wold ami Lincoln sheep. L.K.Kuney. Adrian, Mich.

Solid-colored bull calf, eligible to reg. dropped Mur. 17, inn*. Sired by our Melia Ann bull. Village lum King No. 756&0. W. B/PBIOE, WOODV1I.LE. O.

' T>rond Meadow Stork Farm - A number of young -!> Jersey Balls and Chester-White hogs. Ifvon want one, say so. F. P. DILL. Wcstervllle, Ohio.

HOLSTEIN8 for Sale-Best strains. Duroc red hogs, prize win's. F'cv poultry; Collie dogs, Belgian Hares. J. R. Ross & Sons, R. 5, Blanchester, O

Holsteins For Bale - Bull calves Ave moi ai 1 younger. with advance registry official backing. : J. A. WARD, O. P. & E.. Stop 14. Willoughby, Ohio.

T arge Knar. ISerksli ires - Sows due to farrow in Ljaui:., Sept. and October. Spring pits not akin. Prices low. Thos. E. EUersole,Carrollton,Ohio.

T^or Sale - Berkshires, reg. : pigs of either sex, whose grand- *ire was champion at St. Louis Exp'n ; from 2 to 4 inos old; at 45 to $8 each. 1. KRANTZ A SONS, Canal Dover, Ohio.

REGIST'D POLAND - CHINAS of all ages - Boats. Sows and spring pigs in pairs, no kiti. 1 am breeding 20 long, deep-bodied, heavy-boned gilts of big type to big type boars for Aug. & Sept. farrow. L. B. HAKNER. R. 3, XENIA, OHIO.

John Garden, Ravenna, Ohio

Special price on 7 cows and heifers; mostly Scotch from imported cows 'and bulls. A lenap for any farmer that wants to start right cheap. Also bulls, all ages for sale. For catalogs and prices address JOHN GARDEN, RAVENNA, OHIO.

Sired by Lord Crocus, he by Lord Mistletoe (81522), out of Imp. Sweet Crocus, both bred bv Wm. Duthie, Collynie. Scotland, Lord Mistletoe sired by the famous Lovat Champion (74948), Norton Kenney .Columbus Grove. Put. Co.,0.

OHORTHOIiNS, Poland-Chinas, Iiarred Rocks of 0 best strains. Choice Bull Calves and Spr. Pigs for sale. D. J. Green & Gander. Cumberland. Ohio.

I H. L. Stewart. R. 6. Tiffin. Ohio

H. S. WELSON,w-rfsDEDN.rnhoCtOr. White*. ~ Anv °ee: Both sexes, not WIIC31CI ITIIIIC9 Choice young Sows bred for Sept. farrow. Please describe what yoa want and 1 can suit you better. Lots of bone. I H. L. STEWART. R. 6. TIFFIN. OHIO.

l^OR BALE - Scotch topped bulls from 2 to 15 mos. ^- old. Well grown; from gooa milking dams. Prices reasonable. E. W. BROCKET!'. Atwater. O.

In order to close out the remaining stock now on hand at the) SHARON VALLEY STOCK FARM, so as to make room for another importation early this fall, the finest and best Drnft Stallions and Msres, Belgian and Percherons, also several teams and well matched geldings, suitable for brewery or anv heavy work, will be sold at ridiculously low prices to anyone who in need of such horses, will visit Col. G.W. Crawford's Barns at Newark, O . and select the one he wants before the other fellow gets ahead of him. The Sharon ValleyStoek Farm has imported and sold more stallions and mares (Belgians, Percherons and German Coachers) than any other importing establishment in America. tntorcBtpii nersons will be met at station if they will phone to Interest^ Q w CRANVpOR[) prop to all things - natural and artificial. Sometimes things get greatly out of balance but they will gradually work back to normal. Just now there is a great dearth of labor to help in the harvest fields and in the general work of the farms. At the same time there are many boys and men in the cities who are looking for work. They are strong, healthy and honest, as a rule, and would be glad to get places upon farms until the reopening of the shop and factories where they were formerly employed. The Cleveland Director of Schools has written to this paper saying that a -number of boys who have been working in the school gardens during the school year desire places to work on farms or in large gardens, during the summer. They have all had some experience in garden work an J are good, strong, healthy fellows, from 14 to 17 years old. They would expect to be paid something for their work, but they would probably be useful and enthusiastic workers. This is good work for the Director of Schools to be doing. It helps the boys and it will assist the farmers who want more help. Those who are interested should write, not to this office, but to Charles Orr, Director of Schools, Cleveland, O.

Help is scarce and the Saving Work, farmer must take advantage of every opportunity to economize energy and time. Some men are natural-born economists and have the knack of "doing things easy," while others either do not appreciate the many ways they may save work or else spurn short cuts and labor-saving devices because "it looks lazy." The man who saves labor is the man who will accomplish the most with the least exertion. The writer recently had the pleasure of visiting two progressive dairy farmers who are wide awake, have good farms and herds, and who are making money. One has a farm of 130 acres and no hired help. The other has 150 acres and employs one man. Both do all of their farm work, milking, handling, shipping, etc. .without outside help except at special jobs such as silo tilling, etc. Neither has what could be called a fancy farm ( where money is spent instead of earned) but both farms are well equipped and up to date in every way. Both have wind pumps and gasoline engines. Both have litter carriers running on tracks thru their cow stables and both haul the manure out onto the land every day of the year. Both have their stalls arranged so that the bind ends of all the cows are in line and all directly over the drop. One has watering troughs In all the stalls, the supply being regulated by a floating valve iu a large tank. Both breed pure-bred cattle, study their work in all .departments, save labor in every possible maua^ and both are gettiug on nicely by such wide-awake economy and care. They believe in saving work, and the results show that the plan pays. There are countless ways in which the average farmer can save work and it is an excellent practice to watch for new machines and devices that will help in the work of each particular farm. Another highly important matter is to save steps and extra work in the house. Household help is particularly scarce. In building or rearranging any house see that things that are used together, or at about the same time, are arranged so as to save steps for the wives, daughters and helpers. Have everything on the same level, have the water supply convenient to the kitchen - right in the kitchen if possible - etc. A little study and forethought along these lines will lessen the hurdens in all departments of the farm work and give time for profitable reading and thinking and recreative pleasures.

Gambling. New York Legislature to obey the constitution of the State and forbid open gambling at race-tracks. It has been a long and bitter fight. The Governor, backed by the moral sentiment, doubtless, of a large majority of the people, has insisted that, since the constitution forbids gambling everywhere in the State, the legislature shall not legalize it anywhere in the State - as it has been doing. The fast-horse and sporting class has contended that to forbid open pool-selling at horse races would cripple or kill the great industry of breeding fast horses. The following published telegram voices fhis feeling:

"Louisville, Ky., June 11. - Kentucky probably will suffer to a greater extent by the passage of the race-track bills in New York than will New York. Many wealthy Easterners own large farms in the bluegrass region and operate hundreds of breeding plants there. Millions of dollars are invested in these plants and a small army of men is employed.

"The operation of the law passed in New York will probably mean the closing of these breeding establishments, the throwing out of employment of more than 5,000 laborers and the loss of many millions each year to the bluegrass region."

We regard this and similar assertions as simply "scare" talk. We do not believe it is true. Men want and will have fast horses, and will (and may properly) hold speed contests, and there will be more or less quiet betting among "gentlemen." But the whole argument that legalized and open gambling is essential to the financial success of the great fast-horsebreeding industry rests upon the silent assumption, ill-founded we believe, that this industry can not succeed without the contributions of the "lambs," obtained by fraud and by "fixed" races in which certain horses, on which the "lambs" have risked their money heavily are not permitted the street car strike in Cleveland, O., because the use of dynamite and the throwing of stones began from the first. Among other similar things we said: "Criminal violence to enforce a strike should never and will never be tolerated in this land of freedom." The result has been that the strike was a flat failure. With thousands of men ready "» fill the places of the strikers, those places were quickly filled and the cars were running about as before the strike.and most of the strikers simply lost their jobs. After a few arrests the violence virtually ceased. But on June 11 heavy charges of dynamite were placed on both tracks at a dangerous curve at Overlook-road, Euclid Hights, in such a way as to throw a swiftly-moving car over the brink. Fortunately the first car was moving slowly and tho the flanges were blown from the wheels and the motor fell between the rails, and the car was thrown from the track and badly wrecked, and seven passengers were seriously injured, yet the car did not go over the precipice as the fiends who placed the dynamite evidently intended. Such use of dynamite is detestable. No controversy between employer and employed and no possible contingency can give the least excuse for endangering the lives of innocent third parties in no way connected with the controversy. Such acts seem prompted by utter fiendishness, and our laws *>nd courts should treat the perpetrators with the utmost rigor. We do not say or know that the perpetrators of this deed were strikers or even sympathizers:, but such deeds are oftenest done in connection with or at the time of a strike.

A news item in a Dangerous Dogs. Cleveland daily paper says: "Health department statistics are now fully tabulated only to May 15. From February 1 to May 15, forty-one persons were bitten by dogs. Thirty-seven dogs were reported mad, twenty-four being killed and nine quarantined." This is for Cleveland alone. If such statistics could be collected for every city and town in the state the results would be astounding, and it would be evident that the love of dogs is responsible for great loss of life and tor the maiming of large numbers of persons and animals annually. We all love dogs - good dogs; but there are great numbers of mongrel and poorly-kept dogs in every city and town that would be better off if they were killed; ^nd the people of these towns would inus have one less danger to contend with. There are some dangerous and worthless dogs in the country, but as a rule the farmer has some use for a dog and takes care of him, feeds him and gives him something to do. When the farm dog becomes a wanderer, a night runner or a sheep killer, he should be, and generally is, put out of the way as soon as possible, and his place filled with a new recruit. One of the greatest dog dangers these days arises from the fact that miners and workmen in railroad construction gangs, who, as a rule, are not very materially responsible, have a habit of keeping dogs, probably as pets. They do not feed these animals much nor give them anything to do. so the brutes naturaly band together and forage for a living. Such dog packs have made serious inroads upon the sheep industry in eastern Ohio and West Virginia. The only sure remedy is to kill them off. And the only sure protection of children and grown folks in towns and cities is to kill off every animal of the dog family that is not the acknowledged property of some one who will be responsible for his behavior. Every time this statement is made a howl goes up from a class of foolish sentimentalists who are soft along "humane" lines. But if they will only be reasonable they will see that a poorly-kept, half-starved, ownerless dog 13 not having a good time; and any sensible person can see that the safety of people and useful live stock is more important than the possession of useless, dangerous dogs.

Dun's Review of June 13, says: Gains outnumber losses in reports of commercial and industrial activity. Business is remarkably well maintained, considering the nearness of the national conventions' which are named as a cause of the dull times. Weather conditions are favorable to trade and. on the whole, crop reports are encouraging, despite excessive rains and floods in the Southwest, There is a feeling of confidence about the fall retail trade and wholesalers and jobbers are busy preparing to meet the demand. Full reports for May indicate that building permits were only about -5 percent less than in the same month in 1907, and gives the best comparison of any month this year. Anthracite coal production in May surpassed 6.000.000 tons for the first time on record. Idle freight cars decreased to 381.779. against 413.338 In April. Railway earnings for the first week in June were 19.5 percent less than same week last year. Foreign commerce at New York City for last week showed losses of $2. 138.633 in exports and $5,338 - 652 in imports as compared with the same week in 1907. The most important feature of the iron and steel trade during the week was a reduction of 5 to 10 percent in prices of all steel products except rails. The change has not brought out a larger volume of business yet. but Is along the line of readjustment which is taking place in other departments and must have an effect as soon as active distribution is resumed. Pig iron suffered a greater reduction in price but total sales are so small that lake shipments will not become general until next month. Liabilities of commercial failures thus far reported for June amounted to $5. 989. 644. of which $1,109,728 were in manufacturing. $2,123,739 in trading and $2,756,177 in other commercial lines. Failures this week mynbered 285 in the United States, against 187 last year, and 24 in Canada compared with 20 a year ago.

Bradstreefs summary of crop conditions for the week Is as follows: Rainy weather and its results are the only real drawbacks to the grain crop situation. Warm, dry weather is absolutely necessary in the Southwest where wheat Is ripe. Much wheat and corn has been lost on the bottom lands, but that on the uplands looks good but needs cultivation. Spring-wheat conditions in the Northwest are very good. Close to record crops of whc.u. corn and oats are possible, and hay will be a bumper crop Fruit looks well the country over. The cotton-crop reports are good except In Texas, where much cotton will be replanted and where the entire crop is thr. weeks late. Southern fruits look and promise finely.

The statistics on wheat st.v-ks on June 1 show depleted supplies. The total United States and Canadian stocks aggregated 29.700.000 bushels, a decrease of 11.900.000 bushels from May 1. Kuropean sto.ks showed a decrease of 12.700.00* bushels, and the combined stocks of America and Europe were 101.400.000 bushels, a decrease of 24.600.000 bushels from May 1. The total decrease of the world's sup- | bj Is about 51.000.000 bushels.

Commodity prices continue to move downward. Bradstreefs approximate Index number for June 1. is 7 722 as compared with 7 962 on May 1. S.065 on April 1. 1908, and 8.990 on June 1. 1907. Twent> -seven articles, including beef on tha hoof. corn. oats. rye. flour, cheese, potatoes ami tobacco, are hlRhcr than ther were i year a.;.i but sixty-five articles, including wheat, sheep, hogs. horses,milk. - ccs butter, apples, hides, cotton, wool, lumhor and hay are lower.

The International Harvester Companf recently published the first annual report which It has issued since Its present organisation In 1902. The development of the company's business in the last three vears is shown by total sales of $55,687.- 978 in 1905: $67,589,056 in 1906. and ITS.* 206.890 in 1907. These sales include harvesting machinery. tillage Implements, wagons, twine, etc.. and gave a net income in 1907 or $9,220,497. After appropriating the sum of $2,000,000 for Improvements and paying all charges, and 7 (Concluded on page 16.)

Cleveland, Ohio. June 20, 1908

It was a -warm day in early summer. For two hours Carl Winthrop had been up getting ready to leave on the 7:15 train, for Norrisville, where he was to meet two of his former college friends, Hal Preston and Morris Thayer. Hal had invited both boys to spend a week with him at the Preston cottage, on the shore of Whitney Lake, before the family moved up there for the summer.

"But you've no knowledge that he'll be here - next week," suggested Mrs. Winthrop, who felt that it would be such a good plan for Carl to have a few days' outing in the woods. She very much wanted her son to go.

"No; only he wrote he'd be in town sometime before the twentieth - and that's only two weeks from now. If he should come this week, and find me away - I wouldn't stand much of a show of getting the situation in the factory. And I want it - mightily; Professor Barnes says it's a splendid chance financially; and he's highly recommended me. You know he's related in some way to Mr. Holbrook. I should hate awfully to lose such an opportunity - as that," slowly folding up the letter.

The next day, however, Carl received word from Mr. Holbrook himself, stating that he couldn't possibly arrange to be in Lennox before the fifteenth, owing to an unexpected business engagement that would delay him at Fountain until that date.

Carl Winthrop had been obliged - - owing to financial difficulties that had involved his father - to leave college at the end of his sophomore year; and it was now his ambition to fit himself for the law. Circumstances at home,* after a year, had so shaped themselves as to make this plan possible, providing Carl could, in some way, obtain the necessary funds to defray the expenses of a law course.

A letter, discussing his new plans, to Professor Barnes, who had been Carl's college adviser, had brought.after a time, a suggestion that he apply for a position to Mr. Clayton Holbrook, owner of a large establishment for the manufacture of electrical appliances.

"Your training in physics during your course with us will make you a valuable hand, I've no doubt," wrote the professor. "A letter which I am sending out in this same mail recommends you to Mr. Holbrool<\"

Ever since he had received this message, Carl felt there was an opportunity now offered, that would eventually lead to the culmination of his cherished desire, especially as Mr. Holbrook had answered in most favorable terms his application for a situation with him.

Two days before Carl was to leave for Norrisville, Mrs. Winthrop met on the street one of her neighbors, Mrs. Homer Troxell. At supper time she mentioned the fact to Carl.

"I am very glad," she said, "that I met her just as I did. I happened to mention your going to Norrisville, Thursday; and she wants to send Ted along with you as far as Paxton - that's the last station this side."

quickly. "You don't mean she wants me to take care of him all that distance? Why, mpther, he's almost helpless. I should have to carry him - cripple as he is - both on and off the train. And - "

"That's why she wants to send him with some one who's strong, Carl," interrupted Mrs. Winthrop, gently, if Ted can go now - and it's impossible for his mother to leave home just at present - he will be able to receive treatment from a specialist, a Dr. Emerson, who thinks he can help the boy, or at least lessen the poor child's suffering."

"As soon as Mrs. Troxell mentioned the matter," continu d Mrs. Winthrop, "I told her you'd be glad to take Ted with you, and see that he reached Paxton safely. She will arrange tor an attendant to meet him there."

"I'm sorry that I suggested it, if you feel that way," and Mrs. Winthrop poured for herself a cup of tea. "I thought you'd be glad to do it; and you could so easily - with your splendid physique. You could carry the child anywhere, and not know it.'"

"Never mind," and Mrs. Winthrop's voice betrayed her evident disappointment. "I'll see Mrs. Troxell in the morning, and tell her it won't be possible - as I thought - for you to take Ted to Paxton. I'll make it all right."

"I pity any one like that." He was thinking the situation over, later in the evening. "But that's no reason why I should want to take him along with me!"

"Perhaps he won't be able to get the help Dr. Emerson promises - unless he goes - with me!" kept running in Carl's mind. "And I should be - to blame."

Finally Carl dropped asleep, but it was not until he had decided to take Ted to Paxton with him, and do everything he could for the little chap's comfort.

"I am - well, most anything one might call me!" exclaimed Carl, to himself, as soon as his better nature had asserted itself. "At the very time I almost refused to aid somebody else - when I could do it without the least bit of trouble - here I am," and he was thinking of Mr. Holbrook, "asking some one else to help me. I've been a fool; but I'm glad I don't have to remain one."

"No; not after my being so mean as I was last night. I'm ashamed I said what I did about not wanting to take Ted Troxell to Paxton. I want - to take him; and I'm going over to see Mrs. Troxell right after breakfast - the first thing I do!"

his dress-suit case and fishing-tackle to the station, and then went to oveTsee Ted's getting there. The little fellow was much excited, not only with the prospect of the trip before him - it was an added pleasure to be able to go in the company of Carl Winthrop, whose strength and athletic ability the boy greatly admired.

"Let me carry him right to the carriage," demanded Carl, when it was time to go. "I can do it just like a fly - and he won't have to use his crutches at all. The walks are still wet from the shower last night, and are slightly slippery."

"No, indeed; he's as light as a feather." Then quickly, noticing the expression on Mrs. Troxell's face, "but he'll be heavier when he comes home; I doubt if I could do it so easily then. You'll be big and strong soon, won't you, Ted?"

It was a happy car ride for Ted Troxell. The morning was beautiful, and everything along the way was new to the child. But the greater joy came from Carl Winthrop's attention.

He explained everything that was new and strange, as they passed thru tunnels and over bridges and by the different farms and villages, along the railroad line. And when Ted got weary of looking at the objects outside, Carl made for him a restful place in the seat, and told him fascinating tales from ancient history and mythology.

Across the aisle sat a gentleman - he took the train at Mouse Falls - who, for the last half hour appeared to be absorbed in his morning paper; but in reality he was. closely watching Carl and his crippled companion. He noticed every attention that was paid the boy - Carl's going for water, getting a pillow from the Pullman porter, to place behind the weak back, the interest with which each new object was explained, and the stories - just the kind that appealed to a boy's mind.

"He's just the one" - . The gentleman opposite - it was Judge Wentworth of the Supreme Court t>f his state - paused. Across the aisle Carl was cutting out a pin-wheel from the fly-leaf of a magazine. "I - I wonder - "

"He lives in my town," interrupted Ted. "And he's letting me go with him as far as Paxton, where I'm to get off. He's - awfully good - to me! 1 just - love him," impulsively.

"Good-by, my boy," and Carl squeezed the little fellow's hand. "When you come back we'll have some more good times. Get well just as fast as you can!"

By Indirections - before he returned to his own seat - Judge Wentworth had learned Carl's address; also that of several of his former instructors. Carl wasn't aware there was any motive in the stranger's questions, so shrewdly were they put.

The outing at Whitney Lake proved the most enjoyable of any that Carl Winthrop had ever experienced. He dreaded to have the days come; for, as he said, "They'll have to - go!"

"I hope - I shall get the place - with Mr. Holbrook," deliberated Carl, on leaving his friends at Norrisville.And he couldn't dismiss the thought from his mind. "I feel just like working; and I'm suTe I'd give satisfaction."

As soon as an opportunity offered, after Carl reached home. Mrs. Winthrop gave him two letters that had come for him in his absence. One bore the postmark of "Fountain."

But the letter - it was a brief one - read: "Owing to the financial stringency at the present time, I find I shall be unable to give you a position."

" 'My reason for writing you is this," Carl began reading again, " 'I have an invalid son, fourteen years old, for whom I want a private tutor and companion. I have learned from your former instructors of your educational qualifications. I know some

"The pay is twice as much as Mr. Holbrook would have given me," he said, handing Judge Wentworth's communication to his mother, "with a chance to begin law study at once under Judge Wentworth. And think of it_the good luck has all come thru what I - I called - a nuisance. I wish I had him here this minute, mother. Ted Troxell is - a dear!"

Ever since America's settlement was begun there has been a pioneer element moving westward. The frontier man has used his energy and life, backed up with a dogged determination, to make the country better by finding and making for himself a home, where "home" had not been before. This desire, coupled with a spirit of adventure, has made the United States great.

The grandsons of these adventurers, as they live surrounded by all presentday conveniences that make life enjoyable, have but a faint conception of the hardships endured in the making of a new state. The poor crops; the poorer prices and worse markets many miles distant; sickness without medical aid; outlawry; insufficient s c h o o 1 in g and even food shortage - these are some < the conditions that first settlers must tolerate and endure.

For many years I ho Indian Territory had .been the home of the "squaw man" and the Indian. Here also was the wealthy cattle owner with his thousands of acres of pasture and half as many cattle. People saw the wealth that was lying dormant or held by the few, and began to push and beg for an opening of a portion of this country for settlement. The first great rush for land took place in 1899 when nearly two million acres, known as old Oklahoma, was cut out of the heart of the Indian Territory and offered to the settlers. It has been said that the game of chance that was used by Uncle Sam in disposing of this part of his domain, was the incentive for the would-be home-seeker. The idea of getting into a line with several thousand people, and, at a given signal, making a race for a piece of land that would in a few days or years be worth from two to twenty thousand dollars, was indeed a novelty. At the same time it was a means of furnishing a home to a number of people who would never have been able to secure one in any other way. In the twelve years following, eighteen million acres more were bought of the Indians and gi' en tc the settlers, gratis.

In (he course Of time Oklahoma became thickly settled. The cattleman had made way for the "nester." The pastures were plowed up; crops and orchards were planted. Where once stood the tepee and chuck wagon, one saw the school-house and claim "s h a c k." Oklahomans awoke to the fact that they had as many school children as many states had inhabitants at tv8 time of admission; so they began to beg for statehood. Jointly with Indian Territory, or singly - any way to get statehood. After many political storms, the fiftyninth Congress gave Oklahoma and Indian Territories joint statehood. taking the name of the former territory. The state, which was forty-sixth in number, was twenty-third in wealth. The million and a half inhabitants have a state as large as Ohio and Indiana combined, and as there are four sections in each township set apart for school purposes, we have more acres of school land than some New England states have area. At the time of the passing of the enabling act, all vacant homestead land was reserved to be disposed of, and the money obtained therefrom was to go into the state school fund.

There are three state normal schools, a university, an agricultural and mechanical college, besides many large and well-equipped denominational institutions. Indian schools, many of which are kept up at the expense of the government, are well attended. Only a few of these schools advance western section. Oves the entire state, from east to short-grass west, one finds excellent crops of cotton, grain and fruits. Indeed, it is not uncommon to see growing on one farm, wheat, corn, oats, cotton, tobacco, alfalfa and many kinds of fruits. Cotton is one of the main crops. It is grown in all parts of the state except the extreme north; but wherever grown it has proved to be a paying crop, as the boll weevil is almost unknown in Oklahoma. In 190*5 there were planted two million acres of the fleecy staple.

In the western part of the state, one finds a thrifty class of farmers, who, by careful cultivation and the growing of crops suited to the country, have made their part of the state follow closely upon the heels of t e eastern part. The dry weather seems to come at a time when it affects cotton very little and the average farmer always plants enough to solve. in a great measure, his problem of existence. He is assisted by his hogs, cattle, alfalfa and Bermuda grass, the latter being to Oklahoma what the bluegrass is to Kentucky.

Nearly all kinds of fruit and vegetables thrive in this state, and it has been well said that Oklahomans could live independently within their own state boundaries. Where no trees were to be seen eighteen years ago, one now finds large apple and peach orchards, from which fruit is shipped in carload lots. Small fruits grow abundantly, and the grape, plumb and dewberry are native products.

An Oklahoma Cattle Ranch

the pupils beyond the eighth grade, and many leave school before that period of advancement is reached. If the Indian children choose, they may attend white schools but the negroes .in both city and country must have separate schools. There are in the new state 100,000 descendants of the red men, and a poll taken before election showed 47,000 negro voters. One might be led to believe, on account of these, found gas, salt, coal, lead, zinc, asphalt, cement, gypsum and oil. This state, and Texas and Kansas, furnish one-half the refined oil used in the United States. Now that cement is used so extensively for building material, the state is to the front in this new enterprise, as her output of building material is seemingly inexhaustible, in cement material.

that Oklahoma possessed a large number of illiterates. On the contrary. the percent of illiterates is only seven, while that of the entire United States is nearly four percent greater.

Oklahoma soil is yet in a crude condition and has not yet been brought to yield all that it may. but the corn and wheat which it produces make this state rank well with other cornand-wheat-produoing countries. The the Democratic sisterhood of states. All of the state officials are Demo- < rats as are the two Senators aud four of the five Congressmen. The new constitution, which is the loncsr y< t written for any state, was adopted by a large trajority and with it was an amendmen' that l'.nes up Oklahoma with Kansas and Geo-gia as a "dry state." The constitution has been severely criticised, bat let all bear in

The Lewistown Reservoir

THE LEWISTOWN RESERVOIR The Lewistown Reservoir. Logan Co., Ohio, was established by the Legislature of Ohio in 1850. It was enlarge,! in 1859. It covers 17,000 acres, and in eludes Indian Lake and Mud Lake. The depth of water in the reservoir proper ranges from three to twenty feet, with an average of about eight feet. The lakes, of course, are deeper.

Were the banks to give way on the southwest, where the depth is greatest, it would do much damage to property by flooding many thousands of acres of farm lands which are comparatively level. It is not probable that there would be destruction of life as at Johnstown, for there the water was confined to a narrow gorge, while in this case it would spread out over a vast area yet more or less damage would result all along the Miami River as far south as Cincinnati.

It was dry, or nearly so, in October, 1900. and has been very low or nearly dry on other occasions. A heavy gale from the north or northeast at times of high water causes a feeling of uneasiness to many farmers whose lands would be flooded.

It affords a fine outing place for thousands of people from all over the state and even from New York and Chicago. There are many cottages and several hotels. Good boats are numerous and the boat hire is only 25 cents per day, while at many such places the charge is 25 cents per hour.

I ake Ridge is an island, once a hill on the east shore of the original lake, now reached by a bridge 700 feet long. A good hotel and many cottages are here. Orchard Island is reached by a filled-in road and is nicely parked, with large hotel, feed stables, picnic grounds, etc. Russel's Point is a peninsula with hotel and . numerous cottages and a station on the Ohio Central Ry. Lake View, on the west, is a station on Ohio Central Ry., with good hotel and many cottages. O'- Connor Beach is another boat landing and popular resort.

The writer has lived for 49 years six miles almost due south of this reservoir and thousands of people drive by his place for an outing at some ot the many resorts, but he seldom has time to join these outing parties. Neighbor Roberts goes for a fishing trip about twice a week and gets much recreation in this way. Quite a number of people living near get a good income from boat hire and rent for cottages.

Tho it covers a good deal of valuable land, there are manufacturing interestes dependent on the water supply, all along the river. Then, too. there are climatic benefits derived from the fact that so large a body of water in a dry season provides moisture in the air, attracts rain clouds, induces condensation and encourages precipitation. The first rains we get after a protracted drouth are in the vicinity of the reservoir.

The day is near at hand when the state will provide more public parks for the benefit of the toilers in the citie3. and it would not be wise to dispose of this on? -which is already well established and comparatively safe. - John L. Shawver.

Shk Knew What She Meant By Mrs. M. E. S. Charles

In the rich bottom lands of Ohio and Indiana, grow the most gigantic tulip trees in the country. With their crowns lifted 150 feet into the air, their trunks straight as shafts, throwing out strong, far-reaching limbs,and the whole grand frame-work clothed with lustrous foliage and flowers, the trees look more like strays from the tropics than natives of We soil.

The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), has a wide range and has impressed itself upon public attention in various ways. Consequently it has many names. In the Atlantic States it is called "yellow poplar," and further West, "poplar." The color of the wood has gained it the name of "white wood." Because the Indians made they draw apart and the cone becomes a lily-like cup - the ghost of a flower. Under some of the cone-scales, but not under every one, there is a seed. These are scattered by the winds and in protected places often the seedlings appear in great numbers.

Flowers Of The Desert By Stanley Dubois

What one usually sees from the window of his car as he crosses the deserts of southern California is the abomination of desolation, a transition all the more startling if one has been traveling by daylight down the San Joaquin Valley, where he has emerged from a veritable Garden of Eden of fruits, flowers and agricultural beauty.

their dug-out canoes of its trunk, the eirly settlers of the West called it "canoe-wood." But from the shape of the flowers the name "tulip tree" seems most appropriate. This tree is indicative of rich soil. In the early history of the country it was one of the largest and most numerous of our forest trees. From an economic standpoint it is of great value; and this high value has led to its practical extinction. But the freedom with which it grows indicates that it would repay cultivation.

A grove of young tulip trees is beautiful in the dead of winter. It is not hard to find the old seed tree, whose offspring, of various ages and sizes, stand in close ranks. A young tree standing in the open, is singularly straight and symmetrical. The shaft is tall and gray and smooth, crowned with an oval head of ascending branches, clean and handsome thruout. The winter twigs, with their oblong, terminal buds, are well worth looking at. The leaf scars, left by the fallen leaves, are prominent, and a narrow ridge encircles the twig at each scar. Spring tells the meaning of these lines when the leafy shoots unfold. Cut across the terminal bud, and its contents show all parts of a flower - or, if the tree be too young to bloom, the little leaves are revealed, packed away to wait the coming of spring. During their infancy these odd-looking le-es are shielded with peculiar care. At the base of each one are two large stipules. When the tiny leaf slept in the bud, it was folded lengthwise down the middle, and then bent over on its stalk, till its green blade was completely upside down. These stipules then covered and protected it from the cold. But everything must be paid for in some way, and the tulip tree's leaves have sacrificed their tips, it seems, to secure an extia warm covering, for botanists attribute the peculiar form of the leaf to the arrangement of the bud.

The flowers aTe clear green with dashes of orange, and their form is like that of the garden tulip. They are held erect on the stout limbs, like candles on a Christmas tree. In May and June they are at their best, furnishing nectar for countless bees and other insects. The flowers are followed by curious, cone-like seed pods made up of many scales. As these dry in the autumn winds and frosts, leys, rock-seamed and fire-scarred, drifting sands and waterless waterways, shadeless stretches that seem endless; lifeless miles of hideous barrenness, and nothing else; scarce a soul or a habitation is anywhere to be seen, only the employes of the railway, Chinamen and Mexicans.

In a temperature that quivers and blisters with heat more than half a year at a time, the rays of the sun fall on one like a blast from a furnace by day, and at night it is often cold enough to freeze. Lizards, rattlesnakes, tarantulas, spiders, horned toads and coyotes the only living creatures that stay there from choice; few or no livable locations for hundreds of miles; sustained agriculture absolutely impossible under average conditions, and life a burden, existence a hideous dream.

And yet the desert is not wholly evil, but is wholly good; I have tested it and speak from knowledge. Hot - < yes, but the air is absolutely pure. You can't farm the desert, neither can you farm the Mississippi River, but you can make magnificent use of it in other ways; so, too, of the desert. The desert is the most effective sanitarium in the world for the alleviation and cure of lung troubles. The great white plague simply can not exist on the desert. If there were no other value to it, that were immeasurably good.

But, by no means is the desert all barren waste; there are plenty of places where water is obtainable that are marvels of fertility and beauty; where trees and flowers and fields, under the influence of almost perpetual sunshine, and heat and water, have grown into such a wealth of luxuriant beauty as is utterly beyond thought. The average mind can not conceive the fertility of the soil of the desert, of course not all of it, but full seventy-five percent of it.

The rains of the past winter have been unusually copious and well distributed, frequent and gentle, so that the thirsty earth absorbed all that fell. Ten days after the first rainfall last December, from the barren waste of hillside and valley and plain there sprang into life a carpet of greenery as compact as ever grew on any prairie east of the Rocky Mountains; this over thousands of square miles. By the first of January flowers began to bloom and in a couple of weeks there was a gorgeous wealth of color, principally yellow, scarlet and blue. I have never seen its equal. So completely was the earth covered with flowers that it was not possible for one to set his foot down without crushing flowers; they were there in unthinkable millions. If there were only one flower to the square foot that would mean nearly 28,000,000 flowers to the square mile, and, only think, there were hundreds of them to the square foot and hu dreds of miles of them, not just in clumps here and there, but literally covering the ground. Why, even after leaving the Pass of the Tehachipi, going north, after passing Bakersfield, there were square miles by the score a perfect mass of red gold color, the California poppy. But it is more particularly of the desert flowers of which I wish to tell.

The tall yuccas, and the ghostly, distorted cactus trees, and the sprawling, prickly pear cactus were crowned with white and scarlet blooms till they far surpassed the rarest exotics of the florist's production.

Such a wild riot of color and greenery as tile desert shows this year proves beyond the thought of a doubt its wonderful possibilities for agriculture. Given water and the results are simply incredible. And as the population comes to the desert so is water found, always. There is not on record a spot where water has been intelligently sought and applied where the rewards have not been certain and abundant.

Whenever the tattoo of the raindrops sounds above the sleeping seeds and dry roots, they waken and the Reign of Flowers is commenced. But few of them are large, and fewer are on tall stems. Nature puts forth her efforts at reproduction, and flowering is but one short phase of that effort; she has but small time for stalk building. Ten days I staid just up there, left me tell you; some of them will develop stem, leaf and flower in three days after bursting thru the ground. Time is the essence of their growth, and they make incredible use of it.

is no larger than the least heliotrope of your garden, and yet this wee bit thing is so plentiful that it covers the ground as close as any lichen, a perfect mat, till miles and miles are aglow with its vivid, rose-colored pink and you could not set your foot down without crushing hundreds of them.

Then there is another little beauty well named "bluet." Its stems will be from three to five inches high and the flower a heavenly blue, each one less in size than half the diameter of a nickel, and so closely do they overlap each other that the mass is solid blue, and you may travel for hours across fields of this wild thing, your horse crushing them every step.

So, too, on the desert are fields of primroses and larkspur - primroses with blooms four inches across, royal flowers are they truly; snowy white that turn to carmine as they wither. These superb beauties close at night, and open with the warming sunlight and look unblinking heavenward all the daylight hours.

If you are at all familiar with seashore plants and flowers you will be amazed to find here on the desert your friends, hundreds of miles finm the ocean; stranded waifs that once were on the shores of pre-historic seas which these desert hills and valleys, plains and uplands without doubt once were. The sea sand verbena is there, with its faint, sweet odor, unmistakable, certain, sure; the same lavender-pink flower. It carries one in fancy to wave-washed shores, to booming breakers, and shining sands. A blooming sea-treasure. There, too, you shall find the sea dahlia. Thru all countless ages of time since when it, too, nodded to the ocean, this golden beauty has preserved its identity beyond question.

Some of the plants and flowers of the desert have an offensive odor, but many of them are perfectly exquis:. A sun-distilled fragrance, that, pick if you will a hadful of them, will fill your room with a perfume more delicate than the mist of a half forgotten dream, yet a fragrance that will endure as long as a spray of them holds together.

As Uncle, Hiram Sues It

It takes biamed good hoein' and lots of it to grow ez big a crop o' politicians 'n' statesmen ez went to the Chicago convention, 'n' it looks now like the booms o' some on 'em won't be wut'.i the hoein'. By the time the thing is all over, some of 'em that tho't they wuz rie-ht smart boomers may find that they wuz only weeds, by mighty.

miles of wild fuchsias; so many and so thick is their growth that the deep red color can be seen twenty miles off, and not one plant of all those millions is over two inches high; but they are perfect as to stem, leaf and bloom.

So anxious is the vegetation of the desert to grow and bud and bloom.that it is not uncommon to find patches on which will be flowers, little things, of cream color, lemon, white, orange and pale rose, all these colors on one stalk! It is incredible but it is true.

Then there are lupines and thistles; not the miserable thing of our Eastern fields, but one of the most handsome plants and flowers in the world, a regal thing, a goddess in its stately white elegance. But the king of them all is the yucca. Growing more than often on inaccessible, barren mountain sides and on plains which it were sure death to attempt to cross is its protection, for otherwise it would be exterminated because of its surpassing splendor. I have gathered them eighteen feet high, on which there were two thousand blooms, these many on one stalk - blooms waxen white, each one nearly as large as the first joint of my forefinger. They look much like the bloom of the tuberose, and the odor is not attractive, tho it is not offensive. The natives call them "El Lumierre de Dios," the candles of God. Well named, for, seen from a distance they simulate a tall wavering flame among the tawney and gray surroundings of their habitat.

Some of the best of the desert flowers bloom only at night. One of these is much the same as our common sunflower, only it never gets to be so large, but within half an hour after the sun is up it has folded in on itself and shows only a little yellow bud hiding among its green leaves. All this, and more and more and more on the desert. There is not a pageant, not a flower show of man's devising, not a queen's garden that can compare with the desert at the present time.

In the lower hall of Mrs. Brownlow's "select" boarding-house, hung a huge bronze gong, which had been brought from China by Captain Jeremiah Jackson, the present landlady's seafaring ancestor, and a cousin, only three removes, of General Jackson himself. Of these facts Mrs. Brownlow always informed her patrons at the first opportunity, doubtless in order duly to impress them with the past social importance of her family, and to give her an excuse to tell of the sad necessity that compelled her, a dependent widow, to take in boarders. The gong had a penetrating voice; and, when the hammer or drum-stick, wielded by the vigorous arm of the hired girl, struck it, the sound was not unlike the boom of cannon and the crash of thunder co-mingled and prolonged, and went hurtling thru the house, searching out the ears in every room, even to those of pretty little Miss Morrison, who occupied the hallbedroom, top-floor-back, and warning all to appear without delay at the dining table, at the peril of their stomachs. The hungry boarder, if he were acquainted with the customs of the place, never lingered an instant in obeying that summons; for "first come, first and best served; last come, get what's left," was the maxim that ruled Mrs. Brownlow's table service.

Miss Morrison was a new boarder, she had come only the night before, and, therefore, was, as yet, unacquainted with the little peculiarities of Mrs. Brownlow's boarding-house; and she lingered in her room, even after the last gong had sounded, not knowing that the coffee was being replenished with hot water, the juiciest chops rapidly vanishing, and the last egg swiftly disappearing down the throat of hungry Miss Watson, better known to her fellow boarders as "The Wonder," on account of the astonishing gastronomical feats she performed daily, and yet continued to remain thin and gaunt with the half-starved look of a pauper beneficiary, on her angular countenance. Miss Morrison was young, only eighteen, and, consequently, to be excused for standing before her mirror a few moments longer than there was any need, just to see that her beautiful dark hair was reared in exactly the right kind of a pompadour to make a most bewitching frame for her pretty oval countenance, and that every hook and pin and ribbon of her dainty blue dress was doing duty in exactly the fight way and place, before she went to the dining-room and subjected herself to the curious eyes of Mrs. Brownlow's hoarders. But, at last, even her critical eyes declared herself in perfect condition, and she went slowly down the four flights of stairs, and, with a hand that shook just a little, for Miss Morrison was new to boarding-house life and it is a nervetrying ordeal to face a boarding-house table for the first time, she turned the door knob and enterd the dining-room.

close to the two windows of Mrs. Brownlow's basement dining-room. At the long table sat three men and two women, and at one of the smaller tables Miss Morrison saw a man sitting with his back toward her. The other table was empty.

"You are late, my dear," and Mrs. Brownlow bustled officially forward. "The last breakfast gong sounds at eight-thirty o'clock, and it is now five minutes of nine; but I think I can scrape up enough for a bit of a girl like you to eat, even after all these hungry gourmands have had their fill;" and her eyes flashed a smiling glance down the empty rows of chairs faced by soiled dishes. "This will be your table and your seat," and Mrs. Brownlow pulled back a chair from the small table before which sat the solitary man. "It is the only vacant seat I have, and always goes with the hall bedroom, top-floor-back. Will you have lamb or pork chops?"

Miss Morrison hurriedly sat down, gave her order, and then glanced across the table at her companion. At the same moment the man lifted his eyes. There was a start of surprised astonishment on both sides, then the man straightened up in his seat with a jerk, as if a cold poker had been suddenly thrust down his back, glared for an instant at Miss Morrison, and stolidly resumed his eating. In a few minutes he arose from the table and left the room, without even another glance in the direction of Miss Morrison.

The effect of the meeting on Miss Morrison had been equally perturbing. The instant her eyes had met the eyes of the man her cheeks had flushed hotly and her lips had parted, as if she were about to speak, and then, as suddenly, her face had paled and her chin had gone up in the air, and her round gray eyes had looked with seeming cold indifference into the staring eyes before her. When the man left the table Miss Morrison's eyes followed him out of the room, and a few minutes afterward, having eaten hardly a mouthful, she arose and hurried up stairs to her room.

There were no introductions at Mrs. Brownlow's boarding-house, but of this custom Miss Morrison was ignorant, and it had surprised and hurt her to be so brusquely seated, without the formality of an introduction even to her table mate; and in her embarrassment she had not looked at him until she had taken her seat; and then had come the shock of recognition that had rendered each speechless, apparently with indignation that the other had dared to presume to come to this boarding-house.

Miss Morrison ran swiftly up the stairs to her room, her mind in a wild turmoil, and her heart jumping so that it seemed as if it must leap out of her throat. The instant the door closed behind her she stamped her foot violently. "The brute! How I hate him!" she exclaimed. "I shan't stayin this house another hour "vlth him! Of course he'll think I came just on purpose because he is here. Oh, oh, I wish I were dead!" and she flung herself face downward on the bed and began to sob. But in three minutes she was again up on her feet. "Oh, I can't stay here! I must find another boarding-place! I can't meet him again! Oh, what shall I do? Where can I go? I'll show him that I didn't come here because he is here. I won't endure that cold stare of his again. I must go. I will go and tell Mrs. Brownlow now that I have got to leave her," and she started for the door, but before her hand touched the knob she stopped. "No; I shan't let him drive me away. I have just as much right here as he has. I'll show him how well two can play the marble-heart business. Oh, I'll cut him, dead, tonight at dinner. I'll give him a stare that will congeal his blood," and then pretty little Miss Morrison did a very curious thing, considering what she had been doing and saying. She opened a locket.which was fastened to a chain that hung around her neck, looked at it steadily for a minute or two, while her eyes began filling with tears, suddenly pressed it to her lips, kissed it rapturously, and flung herself sobing on the bed! For it was his miniature.

When Wallace Irving lifted his eyes that morning and saw Bessie Morrison sitting at the table in front of him, he was the most astonished man in New York City; and with reason. Six months before he had left her at the door of her wealthy father's home in Port Huron, Michigan; and from that moment he had not seen nor heard a word from or about her, until he saw her in Mrs. Morrison's boardinghouse, a thousand miles away from her home, sitting in front of him at the breakfast table. For an instant the sight had paralyzed all his faculties; and then the thought of what had occurred at that last parting froze his blood, and he left the table without a word or a look of recognition, but his heart was throbbing madly, for he had loved Bessie Morrison. Had loved her? For six months he had been desperately trying to starve that love to death. He had left Port Huron, had lost himself in New York City, and had so resolutely closed all avenues of information that not a word concerning Bessie Morrison or her family had come to him; but it had been all in vain. Night and day her sweet face was ever flitting before his eyes; and now at the first glimpse of her he knew that all his efforts had been worse than vain, that never before had he loved her so ardently as he did this morning; and the knowledge was maddening.

"What a blamed idiot I am," he muttered, as he hurried down the steps of Mrs. Brownlow's boarding-house, on his way to his office, "to let a little chit like her so completely upset me! I wish she were in Jericho, the little - little" - flirt, he was about to say. "Well, confound it all, I won't call names, but I hope I am man enough to eat no more humble pie of her making. I'll show her that, whatever else I may be, I am not a fortune hunter. Confound her money and her impudence anyway!" and his face flushed angrily at the thought of how she, in her passion, six months ago, had taunted him with wanting to mary her only because of her father's wealth. "As if I cared for the old man's cash box! But," and he stopped short, half way up the L station stairs, so greatly did the query astonish him, "what In the world is she doing in New York City? And how came she to come to my boarding-place? Could she have known? No. The surprise on her Iface, when she saw me at the table, was too real, and there was no misunderstanding the look in her eyes. She didn't know I was there, and she wasn't a bit pleased to find me there; and we hadn't seen each other for six long, long months!

So engrossing became his thoughts, that he passed his station; and when at last he did reach his office, he sat for over an hour before his desk, staring blankly at a pile of letters in front of him; then he suddenly jumped to his feet, and walked impatiently back and forth across the room. "And she's to eat at the same table with me!" he groaned aloud. "Well, I am not obliged to notice her. and I won t. If she waits until I do she'll wait until she is gray-headed." and he savagely threw himself back into his chair and began to attack the letters with feverish diligence.

Four months before this eventful morning Bessie Morrison's father had failed in business, had lost practically every cent of that money that Wallace Irving had so bitterly anathematized, and she, poor girl, had been obliged to take a part of the family, burden upon her own shoulders. With the expectation of assisting her father, she had some time previously taken a course in typewriting and stenography at a business college; and, when the crash came, one of her father's friends had offered her a good position in his New York City office. She had acepted his offer, and was to begin work the next morning. Another friend, who had lived in New York City, had recommended her to go to Mrs. Brownlow's to board, and to Mrs. Brownlow's she had gone, utterly ignorant that the same kind friend had also recommended the same boardinghouse to Wallace Irving some six months before, when he had so suddenly departed for New York City.

Wallace Irving had not heard of the business failure of Bessie Morrison's father, for reasons given above. But she had insulted him by imputing mercenary motives and the first step towards any possible reconciliation must come from her, not from him.

That night, in her little room upstairs, Bessie Morrison anxiously awaited the sound of the gong; and in his large front room on the second floor, Wallace Irving walked restlessly to and fro, stopping every two minutes to glance at the clock, while his ears were straining to catch the first sound of the dinner gong. Bessie Morrison was wondering if he would dare to appear at the dinner table; Wallace Irving was saying to himself, "Well, if she has the cheek to come down to dinner and face me, now that she knows I am here, after the way she. treated me in Port Huron, I'll" - when thruout the house boomed the first notes of the gong.

Bessie Morrison sprang to the door and rushed down stairs. "I'll get there first, so he'll not think I've delayed a moment on his account," she thought, as she sped downward.

Wallace Irving hesitated a few moments, and then with back held stiffly erect and lips pressed firmly together, he marched to the door, which opened directly at the foot of the stairs, and swung it open. As he did so he heard a scream, and saw a white object plunging headlong down the stairs; and, with an exclamation of horror, he leaped forw ard just in time to catch the white object in his strong arms.

His blood was jumping madly thru his veins, his arms were around her warm yielding body, her head was resting on his bosom, her eyes - Heavens, he was but a man, and his love had been starving for six months!

"Darling, oh darling, are you hurt"'" and. in his madness forgetting everything, he pressed a hot kiss on the sweet lips. Then he came to his senses and - froze stiff.

Bessie Morrison slowly released herself from his arms. Her bosom was heaving, her cheeks were red, and there was a wonderful light in her eyes.

"No. I am not hurt, not in the lea- Thank you. I caught my toe in my dress. I was hurrying down stairs. Oh. Wallace, I hope you don't think I tumbled on purpose: and - and - and I'm sorry I wasn't the one you thought I was. Wall." Bessie Morrison's voice was very low. and very tremulous. * and her eyes were almost hidden utu der their long lashes, as she uttered this old name of endearment.

It was fully a second, and a second is an age at such a time, before Wallace comprehended the sweet truth; and then - . Well, the angular Miss Watson, who happened to be comins down stairs at that moment and sav it all. was so scandalized andshocke! and horrified that at last she had to scream : and then Miss Morrison an I Wallace Irving went down to dinner very demurely together!

Building A Desk

(Many boys and girls are wishing for desks for their rooms and their very own individual use, where the family finances can not afford to purchase one. So we give herewith a design for a simple and convenient one which any boy - yes, and most farm girls - can themselves make at very small expense. In the farmhouse out at the writer's old home are still in use quite a number of useful and creditable pieces of furniture which the young brother constructed when a boy in his early teens - and there afe a few bits of carpenter work that the writer did herself which are

Fasten the back and sides together by strong 2-inch-wide cleats, placing the bottom of the lower cleat 4 inches, from the bottom of the legs, the top of the next cleat so that it will come even with the top of the boards of the front part of the desk, and the third at the top of the high part. Nail the bottom shelf of the desk to the top of the lowest cleat both at the sides and back, then nail on the top of the high part, and the boards which are to serve as the top of the lower part and the writing ledge. The latter board should extend over the front and sides a little to make a neat finish, and may be hinged to lift up and give access to a box made beneath.

I went out and held his dog while he trimmed the hair off its ears with Aunt Em's button-hole sizzirs. I don't believe God ment for little girls to mind their old-ladylike aunts, anyway. We went over and told Mis Heth about the gobler. Bill ast her how much we'd have to pay for it. She just laffed and laffed and said bless your dear little hearts, the goblers all rite, and gave us each a cookie. I told Bill I beleved Mis Heth would be an angel sometime but he laffed and said she was too fat. He said God didn't have any wings big enuff for 250 pound angels. I spose Bill knows, but if angels are going to be little and old-ladylike like Aunt Em I aint going to heaven. More a non as the story riters say. - Caddy V. Gregory, Story Co., Iowa.

A Galloway Roadster And Its 9-Year-Old Trainer

My father takes your valuable paper, and I saw in it that you want the pictures of the boys and girls and their pet animals. I send you one of my Galloway calf roadster. I also have a team of lambs, of which I will send you the picture later. I made the cart which you see in the picture from some old cultivator wheels, and the harness out of some old harness that my father had no use for. - Johnny B. Diley, Franklin Co., O.

also still doing duty, so she believes in encouraging the girls, too, to learn to use the hammer, saws, chisels, bits, drawshaves, planes, etc., because, from personal experience, she knows that it comes in pretty handy at times. We feel sure that some of car boy and girl readers have made some articles that would be worth telling other folks about, so we wish to say right here that we shall be glad to publish and pay well for the directions for making and for the pictures of several such articles. Now, boys and girls, show us what you have done. - Editor.)

By John Upton

Use narrow matched boards not over 4 inches wide. Make the desk 4y2 ft. high at the back, 3 ft. wide, 2 ft. 6 in. deep at the bottom, and 12 in.

put in to suit your needs. Drive the nails in lower than the surface of the boards, fill up the holes with putty, .and paint or stain the desk, or just simply varnish it, as preferred.

deep at the top of the tallest part. This will leave 18 in. for the width of the writing lid or ledge. Use two of the 4-inch boards for each of the two back corners, sawing off one edge of each so that the boards can be neatly fitted to each other at right angles and make a square corner. These back corner boards should be 4 ft., 6 in. long, then cut the boards for the sides and back of the tall part of the desk only 4 ft, 2 in. long, and have the bottoms of these come 4 in. above the bottom of the corner boards. This will form 4-in. legs at the corners. Cut four front corner boards 2 ft., G in. long, then enough 2 ft. 2 in. boards to

I dident dast tell Pa about Gip, but when I went up to the field with a pale of water for Pa I told him and he said he Bet Gip had found some good boy who wouldn't ty no cans to no dogs Tales. He said that fellers that would do that alwaz growd up to be men what would whip horses and fite and sware like old bill goskins does. I felt pretty mean I tell you. I didn't eat eny dinner and when Pa went back to work I went over in the woods and looked for Gip agen. I hunted all round and once I thot I found part of the String the can was tide with, but I didnt find no more, I came home in time to ride the Horses to water and when I got back Pa was milking and Ma was out there and I herd Pa tell Ma that he had cawt Gip when he First came up in the field and Pa took the can off and Gip went home to Hairys home. I tell you I felt good. I went and found Bluie and put her in her box in the cellar and covered her up, and then I went and put a bord over the hole in the hen house door where it blows in when it is cold and I put some new straw for the calves to lay on. I felt so good I went to bed early and Ma come in and sat on my bed and talked awhile and then kissed me a lot and I went to sleep and didnt dreem about Gip none. Ennyway I bet I wont ty no more cans on no dogs tales yny more. Gip haint come over teince. - Robert Bruce Williams, Oceana Co., Mich.