THE MONEY TO PAY FOR IT: enclosed is $1.75.
ED. L. PEMBERTON, Ansonia, Conn.
I am SO DEEPLY INTERESTED in the ARGOSY I SHOULD BE LOST WITHOUT IT;
please extend my subscription another year.
WINNIE S. MOORE, Audubon, Ia.
I have been a reader of the ARGOSY the last year, and CANNOT NOW DO
WITHOUT IT, LET IT COST WHAT IT WILL.
D. E. BROTHWELL, Wakefield, Kan.
THE ARGOSY is the VERY BEST PAPER of the kind published. I WOULD NOT DO
WITHOUT IT FOR TWICE $1.75.
FRANK G. JOHNSON, Painesville, O.
I prize the ARGOSY ABOVE ALL YOUTH'S PAPERS. Its high moral tone and
instructive reading is sure to leave a LASTING IMPRESSION WITH ITS
READERS.
Mrs. IDA AUSTIN, Fort Halleck, Wy.
The character of the ARGOSY COMMENDS ITSELF TO ALL.
WM S. CLARK, Washington, D. C.
I have read the _Golden Days_, _Youth's Companion_, and _Wide-Awake_,
for boys and girls, BUT GIVE ME THE ARGOSY; I WOULD NOT GIVE IT FOR ANY
OTHER PAPER I EVER SAW.
A. B. WILLIS, Brooklyn, Ill.
NOTICES FROM THE PRESS.
THE GOLDEN ARGOSY is handsomely printed on tinted paper, and is
freighted with reading matter that can be safely placed in the hands of
our youth.--_Herald_, Norristown, Pa.
It is SPARKLING and PURE, interesting and HIGH-TONED. The best authors
in America contribute to its columns.--_Journal_, Lewistown, Me.
Parents and guardians who would place fascinating as well as
instructive, reading before their children, WOULD DO WELL TO SUBSCRIBE
TO IT.--_Church Union_, N. Y.
THE GOLDEN ARGOSY has ECLIPSED, in EVERY respect, its older but less
enterprising contemporaries.--_Daily Transcript_, Peoria, Ill.
Full of LIFE and VIM, it commends itself to those desiring to be
entertained and instructed. The illustrations are SUPERB. We commend it
to the reading public.--_Vanity Fair_, San Francisco, Cal.
It has taken a LEADING PLACE among the best papers of its class. The
publisher EVIDENTLY UNDERSTANDS boys' tastes.--_Times_, Indianapolis,
Ind.
THE GOLDEN ARGOSY is a BRIGHT, SPARKLING paper for boys and girls;
NEITHER SENSATIONAL ON THE ONE HAND NOR DULL ON THE OTHER.--_Press_,
Philadelphia, Pa.
THE GOLDEN ARGOSY is a youths' paper, and CONTAINS MORE INTERESTING
READING MATTER than any other similar publication in the
country.--_Telegraph_, Dubuque, Iowa.
IT IS A FIRST-CLASS PAPER, FULLY EQUALLING THE _Youth's Companion_, and,
being once introduced into the home, will be sure to remain.--_Herald_,
Camden, Me.
THE GOLDEN ARGOSY is AS FAR REMOVED FROM THE PROSY INANITY OF
SUNDAY-SCHOOL LITERATURE AS IT IS FROM THE DEMORALIZING SENSATIONALISM
OF THE HALF-DIME DREADFULS.--_N. Y. World._
THE GOLDEN ARGOSY is not only BEAUTIFUL IN APPEARANCE, but every way
COMMENDABLE IN the CHARACTER OF ITS CONTENTS. IT IS ONE OF THE FEW
PAPERS for young people that JUDICIOUS FATHERS AND MOTHERS care to put
in the hands of their children.--_Detroit Free Press._
* * * * *
REMEMBER _that $2.00 pays for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _from this
date to January 1, 1885; For $2.00 you get it for one year and a
copy of_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED STATES,
FREE! _This is the most liberal offer ever made by any first-class
weekly agricultural paper in this country._
* * * * *
FORESTRY.
Henry Stuart writes the New York Times: A wise and careful system of
agriculture might have left our fields still fertile and productive, so
an economical use of the forests might have made them a perennial source
of wealth. Fortunately the injury is not beyond a remedy, for it is
easier to restore a growth of timber than it is to bring back fertility
to a barren soil. It is easy to care for what is left and to replant and
renew the growth, and even to do this better and more quickly and with
more and quicker profit than nature has done it. It is easy, too, by a
wise and practical use of the forests that are left, to so husband them
as to take regular harvests from them as the farmer regularly harvests
his fields or selects the fatlings from his flocks. He does not gather
in all these at one fell swoop, taking the fat and the lean and the
young and the old, as the fisherman gathers all into his nets, and as
the lumberman has felled the woods, but he selects those that are ripe
and carefully rears the rest until they are ready. Had the timber been
culled in this way from the forests year by year there would have been a
periodical harvest, and as the mature trees were cut out a new growth
would spring up. But, on the contrary, as in the old fable, the goose
has been killed for its golden eggs, and the source of a lasting profit
has been recklessly sacrificed.
Fortunately the land is left, and can be put to its proper use as soon
as it can be controlled. And still fortunately, by a wise
administration, the forests may be made a profitable source of public
income, instead of, as heretofore, the prey of the spoilers. It is
useless to complain of past mistakes. They have been, as we have pointed
out, mere incidents of our system, and possibly unavoidable. But the
time has come when the system must be changed, and the necessity for a
change has become so apparent that it can not be long delayed. It is not
only the commerce of the country that must suffer by a continuance of
the system, but agriculture suffers still more; and it is not only the
public who will gain by a change, but the example will be followed by
the farmers, who will doubtless soon learn to take care of their own
timber lands and plant more, and so the benefit will be general.
Besides, the farmers will not be long in discovering the profit in
growing timber, and would plant groves as one of the most profitable
crops that could be grown upon their rougher lands, or as a resting and
restorative crop for their worn soil.
* * * * *
Before the New York Academy of Science a few days ago, Professor Albert
R. Leeds gave some "facts gathered from eight years of personal
inspection as to the alleged destruction of the Adirondack forests." He
said that a rapid course of spoilation was going on in the outskirts of
the forest, and the effect of it would soon be felt in the flow of the
Hudson. The impression that the Adirondacks were pine-producing was a
false one. Pine trees were seldom seen and the mountains were covered
with spruce and hemlock. But the spruces, owing to a disease which
attacked them a few years ago, are rapidly dying off. On the Ausable
river and along the shores of Lake Champlain the destruction of the
forest is especially great. Persons living about the forest start fires
in the woodland which spread rapidly and are more destructive to the
trees than the lumbermen. Professor Leeds thought that the railways
which are making their way through the forests would be an important
element in their destruction, for the sparks of the locomotives would
originate forest fires. He said that the purchase of the forests by the
State might not require so great an expenditure of money as was
anticipated.
* * * * *
In closing an article on "Forestry and Farming," the Germantown
Telegraph maintains that the idea that farmers and land-owners generally
entertain that they may not live to enjoy the advantages of the
tree-planting, should be utterly banished from their minds. It will
require only about twenty years to realize the most liberal hopes of
success; at least it will add to the value of the farm by the fact that
the amount of timber is to be increased instead of diminished. We all
know how anxious every purchaser of a tract of land is to know whether
there is any and how much timber upon a farm offered for sale. In fact,
there is no greater mistake made than to cut down the wood upon a farm
when purchased, with a view to meet the second payment; and this mistake
is invariably brought home to everyone in a few years. It is like taking
the life-blood out of the land.
SCIENTIFIC.
Official Weather Wisdom.
Almost from its invention the barometer has been vaunted an indicator of
impending weather, and now we are in possession of numberless rules for
interpreting its indications, mostly of a vague and indefinite purport,
few, if any, pretending to accuracy and certainty. As mankind are always
desirous of attaining weather wisdom, these rules have tended to give
the barometer its widely recognized reputation, rather than any really
infallible principles, clearly formulated. With no other philosophical
instrument have people so deluded themselves as with the barometer.
Meteorology having become almost an official monopoly, the officials
seem to have made the readiest and largest amount of reputation out of
the barometer as a weather glass; for all that they have had to do is to
compile rules from a number of authors, without any necessity of
acknowledgment, print as much as they please at the Government expense,
give it away freely, and the notoriety of authorship is secured easily
and expeditiously. Thus the British nation has been officially supplied
with about eighteen different editions of the Barometer Manual, widely
differing from each other according to the views of the authors; for
although the book remains the self-styled authors change, much the same
as with the Cambridge books on mathematics. A study of the edition,
"Coast or Fishery Barometer Manual," teaches that the barometer
foretells coming weather; that it does not always foretell coming
weather; that only few are able to understand much about what it does
tell us; that it may be used by ordinary persons without difficulty;
that its indications are sometimes erroneous: that any one observing it
once a day may be always weatherwise; that its warnings do not apply
always to the locality of the instrument; that storms frequently occur
without its giving any warning; that barometer depressions happen with
and without gales; and similar ambiguous or contradictory assertions ad
nauseam. It is perfectly astounding to contemplate that official
authority sanctions such inconsistent teaching, and moreover
disseminates it far and wide, forcing its circulation by giving it away
gratuitously on humane and eleemosynary grounds. Where only such
confusing advice and direction can be given is it becoming to stamp it
as official? it is lamentable inconsiderateness to expect fishermen to
be able to dodge the weather by such guidance; and it is time to stop
this easily concocted nostrum for notoriety; for it is vague and
inconclusive in every precept, and has scarcely an assertion which is
not contradicted by some other.--_Engineering._
A Remarkable Electrical Discovery.
The London Times of recent date states that a new electrical contrivance
has been perfected by Mr. A. St. George, the inventor of the telephone
which bears his name. This invention, which is really supplemental to
the telephone, will enable every description of conversation carried on
through the instrument to be not only recorded but reproduced at any
future time. Briefly stated, Mr. St. George's invention may be thus
described: A circular plate of glass is coated with collodion and made
sensitive as a photographic plate. This is placed in a dark box, in
which is a slit to admit a ray of light. In front of the glass is a
telephone diaphragm, which, by its vibrations, opens and closes a small
shutter through which a beam of light is constantly passing and
imprinting a dark line on the glass. Vibrations of the shutter cause the
dark line to vary in thickness according to the tones of the voice. The
glass plate is revolved by clock work, and the conversation as it leaves
the telephone is recorded on the sensitive plate, the imprinted words
spoken being fixed as is done in photography. The plate can be brought
forward afterwards, and when replaced in the machine and connected with
a distant telephone, will, when set in motion, give back the original
conversation.
* * * * *
On October 15, 1881, a gentleman in Newburgh, N. Y., inclosed a spider
in a small paper box. He carefully guarded and watched it, and affirms
that for 204 days it partook of no food or water. It showed no
emaciation, and appeared as active and strong as at first until within a
very few days of its death on May 7, 1882. Tamerlane learned patience
from a spider; perhaps Tanner was taught by them how to fast. The Hour,
from which we take this item, also has the following: Another spider
story is sent from California by the Rev. Dr. McCook, of honey-ant fame.
He found a small cocoon of eggs and young spiders, which had no less
than five other kinds of insects living in and about it. These intruders
consisted of small red ants, a diminutive beetle, and a series formed by
a minute chalcid, parasitic on a larger chalcid, which was parasitic on
an ichneumon, which was parasitic on the spider. All were seeking to
devour the eggs and spiderlings, yet the whole cocoonful, victims
included, seemed to be living on most amicable terms.
* * * * *
Various methods for hastening the conversion of cider into vinegar have
been recommended. A French method is as follows: Scald three barrels or
casks with hot water, rinse thoroughly and empty. Then scald with
boiling vinegar, rolling the barrels and allowing them to stand on their
sides two or three days until they become thoroughly saturated with the
vinegar. The barrels are then filled about one-third full with strong
pure cider vinegar and two gallons of cider added. Every eighth day
thereafter two gallons of cider are added until the barrels are
two-thirds full. The whole is allowed to stand fourteen days longer,
when it will be found to be good vinegar, and one-half of it may be
drawn and the process of filling with cider be begun again. In summer
the barrels are allowed to stand exposed to the sun and in cold weather
kept where the temperature is 80 degrees.
* * * * *
A Party of the United States Geological Survey have found it practicable
to ride to the highest peak of Mount Shasta, and suggest the
establishment there of a third elevated station for weather
observations, similar to those on Pike's Peak and Mount Washington.
* * * * *
A herring produces from 30,000 to 50,000 eggs, and the eggs are so small
in size that 20,000 can be put one layer thick on a square foot of
glass.
* * * * *
COUGHS AND HOARSENESS.--The irritation which induces coughing
immediately relieved by use of "_Brown's Bronchial Troches_."
Sold only in boxes.
* * * * *
MISCELLANEOUS.
To Our Readers.
THE PRAIRIE FARMER is the OLDEST, MOST RELIABLE, and the LEADING
AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST, devoted exclusively to the
interests of the Farmer, Gardener, Florist, Stock Breeder, Dairyman,
Etc., and every species of Industry connected with that great portion of
the People of the World, the PRODUCERS. Now in the Forty-Fourth Year of
its existence, and never, during more than two score years, having
missed the regular visit to its patrons, it will continue to maintain
supremacy as A STANDARD AUTHORITY ON MATTERS PERTAINING TO AGRICULTURE
AND KINDRED PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRIES, and as a FRESH AND READABLE FAMILY
AND FIRESIDE JOURNAL. It will from time to time add new features of
interest, securing for each department the ablest writers of practical
experience.
THE PRAIRIE FARMER will discuss, without fear or favor, all topics of
interest properly belonging to a Farm and Fireside Paper, treat of the
most approved practices in AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, BREEDING, ETC.;
the varied Machinery, Implements, and improvements in same, for use both
in Field and House; and, in fact, everything of interest to the
Agricultural community, whether in FIELD, MARKET, OR HOME CIRCLE.
IT WILL GIVE INFORMATION UPON THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, WESTERN SOILS, CLIMATE,
ETC.; ANSWER INQUIRIES on all manner of subjects which come within its
sphere; GIVE each week, full and RELIABLE MARKET, CROP, AND WEATHER
REPORTS; PRESENT the family with choice and INTERESTING LITERATURE;
amuse and INSTRUCT THE YOUNG FOLKS; AND, in a word, aim to BE, in every
respect, AN INDISPENSABLE AND UNEXCEPTIONABLE farm and fireside
COMPANION.
Terms of Subscription and 'Club Rates':
ONE COPY, 1 YEAR, postage paid $ 2.00
TWO COPIES, " " " 3.75
FIVE " " sent at one time 8.75
TEN " " sent at one time, and
one to Club getter 16.00
TWENTY " " sent at one time, and
one to Club getter 30.00
Address
The Prairie Farmer Publishing Co.,
Chicago. Ill.
* * * * *
STANDARD BOOKS.
ROPP'S CALCULATOR AND DIARY.
Practical Arithmetic made EASY, SIMPLE, and CONVENIENT for all, by this
unique and wonderful work. Is worth its weight in gold to everyone not
quick in figures. Contains nearly 100,000 BUSINESS Calculations, SIMPLE
and PRACTICABLE Rules and ORIGINAL Methods--the CREAM of this great and
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child, to make CORRECT and INSTANTANEOUS computations in GRAIN, Stock,
Hay, Coal, Cotton, Merchandise. INTEREST, Percentage, Profit and Loss,
Wages, Measurement of Lumber, Logs, Cisterns, Tanks, Granaries,
Wagon-beds, Corn-cribs, Cordwood, Hay-stacks, Lands, Carpenters',
Plasterers', and Masons' work, besides THOUSANDS of other practical
problems which come up every day in the year. Will prove of GREAT
BENEFIT, almost A NECESSITY, in the hands of every FARMER, Mechanic, and
Tradesman.
It is neatly printed, elegantly bound, accompanied by a RENEWABLE Diary,
SILICATE Slate, PERPETUAL Calendar, and VALUABLE POCKET-BOOK, all
combined, for the price of a COMMON diary.
Fine English Cloth $ .50
Fine English Cloth, with flap .75
Fine Roan Leather, with flap 1.00
Sent postpaid to any address on receipt of price.
Address PRAIRIE FARMER PUB. CO.,
CHICAGO ILL.
* * * * *
How to Paint
A new work by A PRACTICAL PAINTER, designed for the use of TRADESMEN,
MECHANICS, MERCHANTS, FARMERS, and as a guide to PROFESSIONAL PAINTERS.
Containing a Plain, Common-Sense Statement of the methods employed by
Painters to produce satisfactory results in PLAIN and FANCY PAINTING of
every description, including FORMULAS for MIXING PAINT in OIL or WATER,
Tools required, etc. This is just the book needed by any person having
anything to paint and makes
"EVERY MAN HIS OWN PAINTER."
Full directions for using WHITE LEAD LAMP BLACK--IVORY BLACK--
PRUSSIAN BLUE--ULTRAMARINE--GREEN--YELLOW--BROWN--VERMILLION--
LAKE--CARMINE--WHITING--GLUE--ASPHALTUM--PUMICE STONE, and
SPIRITS OF TURPENTINE--OILS--VARNISHES--FURNITURE VARNISH--MILK
PAINT--PREPARING CALCIMINE.
Paint for Outbuildings
--WHITEWASH--Paste for PAPER HANGING--HANGING PAPER--GRAINING IN
OAK, MAPLE, MAHOGANY, ROSEWOOD, BLACK WALNUT--STAINING--GILDING--
BRONZING--TRANSFERRING--DECALCOMANIA--MAKING RUSTIC PICTURES--
PAINTING FLOWER-STAND--MAHOGANY POLISH--ROSEWOOD POLISH--
VARNISHING FURNITURE--WAXING FURNITURE--CLEANING PAINT--
Paint for Farming Tools
for MACHINERY, and for HOUSEHOLD FIXTURES
To Paint a Farm Wagon
--to RE-VARNISH A CARRIAGE--to make PLASTER CASTS. The work is neatly
printed, with illustrations wherever they can serve to make the subject
plainer, and it will save MANY TIMES its cost yearly. Every family
should possess a copy. Price, by mail, postpaid, $1. Forwarded free to
any sender of two subscribers to this paper at $2 each. Address
PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO. Chicago.
* * * * *
STANDARD WORKS.
By PETER HENDERSON
Gardening for Profit,
A WELL-KNOWN WORK ON
Market and Family Gardening
Gardening FOR Pleasure
A guide to the amateur in the Fruit, Vegetable, and Flower Garden, with
full directions for the Green-House, Conservatory, and Window Garden.
PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE,
A guide to successful Propagation and Cultivation of Florists' Plants.
PRICE, $1.50 EACH, BY MAIL, POSTPAID.
Address
PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO., Chicago.
* * * * *
TALKS ON MANURES
By JOSEPH HARRIS, M. S.
Author of "_Walks and Talks on the Farm_," "_Farm Crops_," "_Harris on
the Pig_," _etc._
While we have no lack of treatises upon artificial fertilizers, there is
no work in which the main stay of the farm--the manure made upon the
farm is treated so satisfactorily or thoroughly as in this volume.
Starting with the question,
"WHAT IS MANURE?"
the author, well known on both sides of the water by his writings, runs
through in sufficient detail every source of manure on the farm,
discussing the methods of making rich manure; the proper keeping and
applying it, and especially the
USES OF MANURE,
and the effects of different artificial fertilizers, as compared with
farm-yard manure, upon different crops. In this he makes free use of the
striking series of experiments instituted years ago, and still
continued, by Lawes and Gilbert, of Rothamsted, England. The
REMARKABLE TABLES
in which the results of these experiments are given, are here for the
first time made accessible to the American farmer. In fact, there is
scarcely any point relating to fertilizing the soil, including suitable
manures for special crops, that is not treated, and while the teachings
are founded upon the most elaborate scientific researches, they are so
far divested of the technical language of science as to commend
themselves to farmers as eminently "practical." It is not often that the
results of scientific investigations are presented in a manner so
thoroughly popular. 12mo. Price, postpaid, $1.50.
PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO. Chicago.
* * * * *
HOUSE PLANS FOR EVERYBODY.
By S. B. REED, Architect.
One of the most popular Architectural books ever issued, giving a wide
range of design from a dwelling costing $250 up to $8,000, and adapted
to farm, village, and town residences. It gives an
Estimate of the Quantity of Every Article Used
in the construction, and probable cost of constructing any one of the
buildings presented. Profusely illustrated. Price, postpaid, $1.50.
Address
PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO., Chicago
* * * * *
NOW is the time to Subscribe for THE PRAIRIE FARMER. Price only $2.00
per year is worth double the money.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
HOUSEHOLD.
For nothing lovelier can be found
In woman than to study _household_ good.--_Milton._
CHRISTIAN CHARITY.
O stay not thine hand when the winter's wind rude
Blows cold through the dwellings of want and despair,
To ask if misfortune has come to the good,
Or if folly has wrought the sad wreck that is there.
When the Savior of men raised His finger to heal,
Did He ask if the sufferer was Gentile or Jew?
When thousands were fed with a bountiful meal,
Was it given alone to the faithful and true?
If the heart-stricken wanderer asks thee for bread,
In suffering he bows to necessity's laws;
When the wife moans in sickness, the children unfed,
The cup must be bitter, O ask not the cause.
Then scan not too closely the frailties of those
Whose bosoms may bless on a cold winter's day:
And give to the wretched who tells thee his woes,
And from him that would borrow, O turn not away!
--_Dr. Reynell Coates._
* * * * *
A correspondent writes:
Will give the readers of THE PRAIRIE FARMER the favor of telling
us all about making sandwiches. How thick should they be when
complete? Best made of bread or biscuit? and if chicken or ham,
how prepared? Please don't say shred the meat and sprinkle in
salt, pepper, and mustard, but tell us how to shred the meat. Do
you chop it, and how fine? and how much seasoning to a given
quantity? or do cooks always guess at it?
MRS. C. H.
--Will not some of our lady readers tell us how they make sandwiches.
The question is an important one for city as well as country, where so
many thousands of "lunches" have to be prepared daily.--[ED.
* * * * *
A correspondent writes the lady readers of THE PRAIRIE FARMER concerning
a new line of work, which we hope many of them may find profitable:
Much has been written regarding proper and remunerative employment for
women. Silk culture, poultry raising, and various other themes have been
thoroughly ventilated, and the result has no doubt been very beneficial;
but there are many ladies who have no opportunity to raise silk worms,
or follow any business of that kind. To that class I wish to open what
to me was an entirely new field.