Still again when we passed six hundred miles east of Moscow we had opportunities for picking stray cherries of excellent quality from trees standing near the 56th parallel of north latitude.

To undertake to tell of the varieties of the fruit and the relative hardiness of the trees—as estimated from the behavior of varieties we knew something of—of the many varieties and races we studied on this extended trip would make too long a story. On the plains of Silesia, north of the Carpathian mountains we first began to be intensely interested in the cherry question. Here the cherry is the almost universal tree for planting along division lines and the public highways. As far as the eye could reach over the plains when passing over the railways, the cherry tree indicated the location of the highways and the division of estates. As we passed the highways running at right angles with the track we could get a glimpse down the avenues to a point on the plain where the lines seem to meet, and we were told that unbroken lines along the highways were often found thirty to fifty miles in length.

As a rule these street and division trees are of a race wholly unknown in this country excepting a few trees of the Ostheim in Iowa and Minnesota. They are classed in the books as Griottes with colored juice and long, slender, drooping branches. The trees are smaller than our English Morello with low stems, and neat round tops. While some other races are hardy on this plain as far north as Warsaw in Poland and Russia the Griottes are grown for three main reasons. (1) The trees are deep rooted and so small in size that they do little shading of the street or cultivated fields. (2) They rarely fail to bear full crops as the fruit buds are hardier and the fruit buds expand later than the Kentish and the other and more upright forms of the Morello. (3) The fruit is less acid and richer in grape sugar than the Kentish forms making it more valuable for dessert, culinary use, and above all for making the celebrated "Kirsch wasser" which here takes the place of wine. Some of the thin twigged Griottes with dark skins and colored juice are as large in size as our Morello and nearly or quite as sweet. That they will prove hardy and fruitful with us we can hardly doubt as they grow on the dry plains of Northeast Europe where the Kentish forms utterly fail. Why have they not been introduced? I once asked this question of Mr. George Ellwanger, of Rochester, N.Y. He replied that in the early days of their nursery some varieties of the Weichel type were introduced in their collection. But the Eastern demand ran in the line of the Heart cherries and the Dukes, and if sour cherries were wanted for pies the Kentish forms with uncolored juice seemed to be preferred. I suspect the difficulty of propagation and the inferior look of the little thin twigged trees in the nursery had something to do with the ignorance of our people of the merits of this hardy and fruitful race. In the trying climate of the Swabian Alps, the Tyrol, and the east plain of Silesia, Hungary, Poland, and South Russia, the trees are on their own roots mainly, and the sprouts are used for propagation. When small they are placed in the nursery with the tops and roots cut back in the form of root-grafts. For the use of methodic growers and or planting on private grounds where sprouts are not wanted the trees are budded or inarched on Prunus Padus.

How will we propagate this valuable race of the cherry? The scions are too small for profitable grafting, and budding on our Morello seedlings hardly answers, as the slow-growing top favors sprouting from the root. Perhaps we shall find that our bird cherry (Prunus Pennsylvanica) is best suited for our use. The question of propagation of this race is important, as the cherries grown in immense quantities in the Province of Vladimir, one hundred and fifty miles east of Moscow, and in all the provinces of the upper Volga are of this thin twigged race. Beyond all doubt it is the coming cherry for universal use in Central and Northern Iowa, and even in Dakota and the far Northwest. Yet it is not the only race of the cherry which will thrive on our prairies and prove longer-lived, more fruitful, and far better in quality than any we now have.

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On the grounds of the Pomological Institute, at Proskau, Silesia, we saw many varieties of the Amarelle and Spanish cherries that will bear more summer heat, an aridity of air, and a lower summer temperature than our Richmonds or English Morello. In leaf and habit of growth these Amarells of Austria and South Russia are much like our Carnalion, but some of the varieties bear large fruit, as nearly sweet as is desirable for dessert use. The race known as Spanish bears sweet fruit, much like our tall growing Hearts and Bigarreaus, but the leaves are smaller, firmer, and thicker, and the habit of the tree is nearly as low and spreading as that of the Amarells. In Austria we are told that the original stock of these round-topped, sweet cherries came from Spain, but as we went east to Orel, Veronish, and Saratov we met varieties of this race on the grounds of amateurs and proprietors who told us that the race was indigenous to Bokara and other parts of Central Asia. While these varieties are hardier than the Richmond the trees are lightly protected with straw during the winter for protection of the fruit buds, when paying crops are secured. North of Orel the Griottes alone are grown on the bush plan, with from three to six stems springing up from the crown. In Vladimir tens of thousands of acres are covered with these bush cherry orchards, producing many train loads annually of fruit of surprising excellence, considering the far northern and inland location of the plantations.

On the college farm we have some specimens growing of the Ostheim, Vladimir, double Natte, and other forms of the Griottes, and a few specimens from Orel and Veronish of the Amarells and the Spanish races. We have now orders out, of which we have received a part, for perhaps fifty other varieties from Austria, Poland, and South Russia.

For the present these will be planted in experimental orchard with a view to noting their behavior in our climate. Until scions are grown here we can not make much advance in propagation. The work is necessarily slow, but it can not fail, I think, to finally demonstrate that so far we have been on the wrong track in attempting to grow cherries on the prairies of the Northwest.



PRUNINGS.

If turnips or other vegetables to be fed to stock become frosted, place them in a cool cellar, cover lightly with straw, and let them remain frozen. If they do not thaw they will be little harmed for feeding.

Snow should not be allowed to accumulate on evergreens. If so, and it partly thaws and then freezes, it can not be removed, but will catch the snow and wind, often to the entire destruction of the tree.

A frost proof vegetable house is described as made with walls fifteen inches thick, double boarded, the space between the boards being filled with sawdust. The ceiling is also boarded, with about ten inches of sawdust between the boards.

New England Homestead: The early black cranberry is the popular early berry on Cape Cod. It escapes the early frosts and so the crop produces better prices. A larger, lighter and longer berry is the James P. Howley, which is being introduced in Essex county. The latter variety is not so early as the former, but bears well, and in the protected bogs along shore is frequently preferred.

Northwest Farmer: Mr. Edison Gaylord, of Floyd county, Iowa, advocates setting trees in a leaning posture, to prevent them from being killed by the combined effects of the wind and sun on their southwest side. Prof. J.L. Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College, says, in confirmation of Mr. Gaylord's view, he saw hundreds of the finer cherry and plum trees in Russia planted at an angle of forty-five degrees towards the one o'clock sun. He says that only for a short time will trees thus set have an awkward appearance.

The most convenient boxes in which to start seeds and cuttings are those known as "flats" among gardeners. A good size for the kitchen garden in which to start tomato seeds, etc., or for the ordinary conservatory, is two feet long, sixteen inches wide, and three inches deep. These shallow boxes are easy to handle, take up little room, and allow of much better drainage to the young plants. Salt or soap boxes can be easily cut up into three or four boxes three inches deep. Neat leather handles on each end of the box will increase its handiness. The bottom is better if made of several pieces of board, as the cracks insure good drainage.

James Vick's plan of catching slugs is as follows: "Take some pieces of slate, or flat stones, or flat pieces of tin, and lay them about in the garden among the plants, distributing them very liberally; just at sundown go out and place a teaspoonful of bran on each piece of slate or tin, and the slugs will soon become aware of it, and begin to gather and feed on it. In about two hours, when it is dark, go out again with a lantern and a pail containing salt and water, and pick up each piece on which the slugs are found feeding, and throw slugs and bran into the brine, where they instantly die. It is well, also, to go around in the morning, and many slugs will be found hiding under the pieces of slate, and can be destroyed in the brine. By following up this method persistently for a few weeks the garden may be effectually rid of the nuisance."

A correspondent of the Iowa Register advises us as to the proper manner of performing this operation: "To heel trees in properly, a trench should be dug on high, dry ground from two and a half to three feet deep; one side of which should slope from the bottom at an angle of 35 to 45 degrees. The trees should then be set against the sloping side of the trench and sufficiently apart to allow of fine earth being brought in close contact with every part of every root. When the roots and bodies of the trees are carefully covered, the trench should not only be filled but rounded up so as to form a mound over them. When air spaces are left among the roots they are liable to mould and rot. And very frequently, when they have not been buried sufficiently deep, the outside bark becomes detached from them and will slip off when they are being taken from the trench."

A correspondent of Gardening Illustrated (England), says this is the way to make an asparagus bed: Trench the soil at once two spits deep, and work in stable manure as the work proceeds, or if procurable, seaweed and plenty of sand, or any gritty substance, such as road scrapings. It should be left as rough as possible on the surface until April next, when the young plants will be in the best condition for planting, viz., with shoots a few inches long; then draw wide drills, and spread the roots of the plants out, covering with fine sandy soil, leaving the tips of the shoots just peeping through the soil, and if mild showery weather prevails the growth will be rapid. Put some pea-sticks to support the growth and keep it from suffering by wind waving. Merely keeping from weeds is all the other attention required until November, when the old tops may be cut off, and a dressing of rotten manure spread on the surface of the bed, to be lightly forked in during the following spring.

The Rural New Yorker says as follows: We plant the Cuthbert raspberry for late, the Hansel for early—both are of a bright red color, and suitable for market as well as for home use. For a yellow plant the Caroline. It is hardy and productive, though not of the first quality. For canning, or for table use, if you like a fruit full of raspberry flavor though a little tart, Shaffer's Colossal. It is rather dark in color for market, and perhaps a little soft. For a hardy, early, red raspberry that is sweet and delicious for home use, plant the Turner. For a raspberry that is excellent in every way, plant the new Marlboro. For the earliest and most productive of blackcaps, plant the Souhegan. For a larger and later blackcap, plant the Gregg. For currants, plant the Fay's Prolific for red, and the White Grape currant for white. For grapes, plant the Lady for earliest white, Moore's Early and Worden for early black. For later, plant the Victoria or Pocklington, for light colored; the Vergennes, Jefferson. Brighton or Centennial for red, and the Wilder, Herbert or Barry for black. For strawberries, try the Cumberland Triumph, Charles Downing, Sharpless, Manchester (pistillate), Daniel Boone, James Vick, Mount Vernon, Hart's Minnesota, and Kentucky. You can not select a better list for trial unless by experience you know already what varieties will succeed best on your land.



FLORICULTURE

Gleanings by an Old Florist.

PROPAGATING HOUSES AND OTHER THINGS.

In the days of our boyhood the propagating house was, in the more pretentious nurseries, a very sacred place, under lock and key, and some of its mysteries supposed to be so profound that prying eyes of other establishments were not welcome.

Bell glasses in those days were thought to be indispensable, and some of the plants desired to be propagated were found to require months, sometimes nearly a year, before they could be transferred from the cutting pots. The hot-water tanks, and other bottom heat appliances of the present day were then unknown; and these appliances have resulted in greater simplicity of management. Still we are bound to admit that the demands here generally embrace a class of plants that, as a rule, are found to root the most readily, while those that have always been known to tax the propagator's skill, as the Heaths, New Holland, and others called hard wooded plants, are but little called for in this market.

At that time nearly everything was placed in pots of almost pure white sand, surrounded by the ordinary atmosphere of the house; while nowadays the establishment must be small indeed if it does not contain some place where the bed is so arranged that the heat at the bottom is from ten to fifteen degrees above that of the house proper. Here lies the whole secret as to whether it is a part of a single green-house or a house devoted exclusively to propagating purposes. For the purpose of being able at all times to control the temperature of the top, the propagating house has often a northern exposure, except in the very dead of winter. With a bright, clear sun above it is almost impossible in the daytime to keep down the temperature of the house sufficiently to prevent the young cuttings from wilting, after which disaster is very likely to follow in their final rooting. Given a top temperature never above 55 or 65 degrees, with a bottom always from 10 to 15 degrees higher, if the cuttings are in good shape it is a simple matter to root them in from seven to fifteen days; though the time it takes depends, of course, upon the plant and condition of the wood. At first efforts used to be contrived to get this bottom heat by means of the old flue system, with plenty of material covering the bricks, to break, in part, the dry burning nature of the heat.

Then hot water came in and furnished what was thought the acme of a propagator, and tanks of elaborate workmanship, and made of the finest material down to the commonest wood, were made so a circulation of hot water was kept up over as large an area as the necessity of the owner might require.

The results seemed excellent, but lo, every now and again, disastrous failures would occur. A material would spread all around called by the florist the cutting bench fungus, that would sweep through his crop like a plague; all sorts of theories would be given, and numberless articles appear in the horticultural periodicals of the day on its cause and cure. Presently it was found that those who did not use a tank of water, but had inclosed a space to be heated by hot water pipes, did not seem to suffer so much from the invidious foe. Much moisture was found an excellent remedy for the enemy, though it might have been its first cause, as it could be best warded off by dousing with the once praised hot water tank.

Whether a house is used exclusively or not, the ordinary hot water pipes are simply inclosed in a brick or wood space, with ventilators that may be opened to let off part of the confined heat into the house at pleasure. The front benches used are about two feet six inches to three feet in width, over, say four 4-inch pipes, up to within eighteen inches or two feet of the glass. On this is a platform over which three to six inches of sand is put, and in this bed are placed the cuttings where, with the differences before mentioned, they are kept as uniform as possible, and the sand kept decidedly wet. Almost everything we called soft wooded, or that can be got from the soft wood, even including most of our hardy shrubs, can be rooted with almost unerring certainty in the larger establishments by the hundreds of thousands.

As modern ideas demand large propagating, even in the summer, when it is next to impossible to keep these proportions of top and bottom heat, if in an ordinary propagating house, such firms as Miller & Hunt, strike out with another idea to overcome the difficulty. This is none other than instead of glass, they have a muslin canvas-covered house, in which they have again pits, where mild bottom heat can be obtained by the use of spent hops, tan bark, manure, or other material. Of course, it would be idle to talk of a summer bottom heat of 60 deg., but instead of that, they get one of about 80 deg., and depend upon a close, uniform, high, moist temperature to carry out the same results.

With this, rose plants can be and are raised by the hundreds of thousands from the single eye to a cutting, with a loss of not five per cent in the aggregate, and often not one per cent. It is very evident that with new or scarce plants this is an enormous average, as by its means firms can import the new European plants in the spring, at perhaps very high rates, start them into immediate, rapid growth, and from half a dozen plants to work on, maybe in the next spring markets have hundreds for sale.

This is all new as managed by us old 'uns in former times, but he who expects to be up with the present day and cater for that class of patronage, must take the new and not the old way of doing things, or he will, in the vernacular of the streets, "get left."

As we are on this particular topic, however, and as the amateur window plant-grower may want to propagate some little stock as well, even if not on these "high-falutin" ways, it might not be amiss to say that beyond the methods of "slipping" here and there cuttings in and among others growing in pots, or, mayhap, in a pot all by themselves, they can readily root lots of plants in a water and sand bath, which is nothing more than taking a deep saucer, putting half an inch of sand in the bottom, filling up the saucer full of water, and keeping it full; stick your cuttings into this, place right in the sunniest spot of your window, and they will grow about as certain, many of them, as if treated by the florist's more portentious method. Likely the reason of all this is, the water keeps the cuttings from wilting long enough for them to put forth their efforts for existence in the shape of new roots, obtained from the stored up material in the cuttings, and as soon as this is done they become new individual plants, requiring only to be transferred into a suitable medium of earth to go on as an independent, but similar existence to the plant from which they were obtained.

EDGAR SANDERS.

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CHICAGO, JANUARY 12, 1884.

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[Transcriber's Note: Original location of Table of Contents.]

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RENEW! RENEW!!

Remember that every yearly subscriber, either new or renewing, sending us $2, receives a splendid new map of the United States and Canada—58x41 inches—FREE. Or, if preferred, one of the books offered in another column. It is not necessary to wait until a subscription expires before renewing.

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1841. 1884.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER

PROSPECTUS FOR 1884.

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Its managers are conscious from comparison with other journals of its class, and from the uniform testimony of its readers, that it is foremost among the farm and home papers of the country. It will not be permitted to lose this proud position; we shall spare no efforts to maintain its usefulness and make it indispensable to farmers, stock-raisers, feeders, dairymen, horticulturists, gardeners, and all others engaged in rural pursuits. It will enter upon its forty-fourth year under auspices, in every point of view, more encouraging than ever before in its history. Its mission has always been, and will continue to be—

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"THE LITTLE DETECTIVE."

WEIGHS 1/4 OZ. TO 25 LBS.

Every housekeeper ought to have this very useful scale. The weight of article bought or sold may readily be known. Required proportions in culinary operations are accurately ascertained. We have furnished hundreds of them to subscribers, and they give entire satisfaction. During January, 1884, to any person sending us THREE SUBSCRIBERS, at $2.00 each, we will give one of these scales, and to each of the three subscribers Ropp's Calculator, No. 1.

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The sorghum-growers of Kansas are invited to meet at Topeka, the second Wednesday in February. The Kansas wool-growers meet on the 15th of this month.

Do not forget the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society meeting at Kansas City, January 22-25. This will prove one of the important horticultural events of the year.

If any of our friends have Vols. I to XIV, and the years 1861, 1863 to 1873, and 1875 to 1883, of THE PRAIRIE FARMER, they would like to dispose of, we should be glad to hear from them.

The fifteenth annual exhibition of the Montana Agricultural, Mineral and Mechanical Association, will be held at Helena, September 8th-13th, 1884. President, S.H. Crounse; Francis Pope, Secretary.

The twenty-fifth annual fair of the Linn County (Iowa) Agricultural and Mechanical Society will be held on the fair grounds at Cedar Rapids, September 9, 10, 11, and 12, 1884. C.G. Greene, Secretary, Cedar Rapids.

If you are in need of a first-class wind mill, find out all about the Nichols' Centennial as advertised in our columns by Nichols & Daggett, and see if you do not think it just fills the bill. It is strong, durable, steady, and it takes and uses all the wind there is going.

Hon. E.B. David, member of the Illinois State Board of Agriculture from Mercer county, made a brief call at THE PRAIRIE FARMER office last week. From him we gathered the facts regarding the late meeting of the Board mentioned elsewhere. Mr. David has long been a staunch friend of THE PRAIRIE FARMER, and his call was a very welcome one.

Immigration at the port of New York fell off last year to the amount of 66,405 persons, or about 14-1/2 per cent from that of 1882. The total number landed this last year was 388,342. The greatest decrease was from Sweden and Russia. From England came 30,818; Ireland, 52,555; Germany, 164,036; Italy, 24,101; Norway, 11,536; Hungary, 11,448; Switzerland, 9,447; Denmark, 7,770; Bohemia, 4,652. Last year the arrivals were 182,893. It is not unlikely that there will be a greater falling off this year for times are not sufficiently promising here to greatly stimulate emigration from Europe.

The Crystal Palace Company, of London advertise the holding for six months, from April 3 next, of an "exhibition of arts, manufactures, and scientific, agricultural, and industrial products," and invite the participation of American exhibitors. A court in a central position on the main floor has been set aside for expected American contributions, and the ordinary charge for space is two shillings per square foot. This will probably seem a trifle steep to American exhibitors who are not accustomed to pay for space in their own exposition buildings.

Last year was not a very surprising one in the matter of railway extension within the limits of Illinois. The report of the Railway and Warehouse Commissioners will show that but 135 miles of track were laid. But there are 10,456 miles of track in use in the State. The companies among these lines numbering sixty-four, operate 29,370 miles of road or nearly 20,000 miles outside of Illinois. The total net income of these companies was $81,720,256 and the dividends amounted to $36,374,474. In 1882 the dividends amounted to but $29,000,000. The average freight charges in 1883 were 1.09 cents per mile, while the year before they averaged 1.20 cents, hence it must follow that the amount of traffic greatly increased over that of 1882.

A lecture course for farmers at the Nebraska Agricultural College, will be given from February 4-15, by the regular instructors in the college. One or more lectures will be given on the following topics: Breeds of cattle and swine; breeding, improving, and care of stock; care of farm machinery; health on the farm; adulteration of food; economical farming; tame grapes; ensilage; what to feed; meteorology and plant growth; sorghum-growth and manufacture; horticulture; principles of pruning; the digestive organs of domestic animals; injurious insects. A number of leading farmers of the State have been invited to lecture upon their specialties. All the facilities of illustration and study owned by the college will be at the disposal of the students attending the course. These include several compound microscopes, a good agricultural library, meteorological apparatus, six breeds of cattle and four of swine, orchard, nursery, arboretum, vineyard, etc., etc. A limited number will be boarded at the college farm for a price not to exceed three dollars per week. Persons attending will be aided in securing cheap board in the city. Persons expecting to attend or desiring further information should write to S.R. Thompson, Dean Agricultural College, Lincoln, Neb.

Some of our readers may wish to paste this item in their scrap books. It cost to run the United States Government last year the sum of $251,428,117, expended as follows: To supply deficiencies, $9,853,869; legislative, executive, and judicial expenses, $20,332,908; sundry civil expenses, $25,425,479; support of the army, $27,032,099; naval service, $14,903,559; Indian service, $5,219,604; rivers and harbors, $18,988,875; forts and fortifications, $375,000; military academy, $335,557; post-office department, $1,902,178; pensions, $116,000,000; consular and diplomatic service, $1,256,655; agricultural department, $427,280; expenses District of Columbia, $3,496,060. The interest on the public debt amounted to $59,160,131 and the amount of principal paid off was $134,178,756. The receipts from internal revenue were $144,720,368, and from custom duties $214,706,496.

The Minnesota State Horticultural Society will hold its seventeenth annual meeting at the College of Agriculture, Minneapolis, four days, beginning with January 15th, and with the Minnesota State Forestry Association on the 18th. A cordial invitation is given to all persons interested in horticulture and forestry to be present. A large number of papers and reports are to be read, followed by discussions. These reports are by persons who possess a thorough practical acquaintance with the subjects presented, including such men as Peter M. Gideon, J.C. Plumb, Dr. T.H. Hoskins, Prof. C.W. Hall, Prof. J.L. Budd, Dr. F.B. Hough, H.J. Joly, J.F. Williams, and others. A number of premiums are offered for apples, grapes, plants, and flowers, vegetables, seeds, and miscellaneous objects. John S. Harris, of La Crescent, is President, and Oliver Gibbs, Jr., of Lake City, is Secretary.



ILLINOIS STATE BOARD.

The Illinois State Board of Agriculture held a business session in Springfield last week. All the members were present at one time or another during the meeting. The premium list was revised for the fair of 1884. The premiums for speed were somewhat increased over last year. In cattle sweepstakes classes it was decided that no animals can be allowed to compete except the winners of a first prize in other classes in which they had been entered, except in the case of the grand sweepstakes, to which will be permitted animals not previously entered for any prize.

The Board is to make a laudable attempt to stimulate corn culture and to benefit the corn growers of the State. It offers $100 for the best bushel (ears) of corn grown in each of the three grand divisions of the State, and a second prize of $50 for the next best sample in the three divisions. The premium samples are to become the property of the Board, and the winners of prize premiums must deliver on cars directed to the agricultural rooms, Springfield, twenty-five bushels (ears) of same variety that shall equal in merit the premium bushel. The winners of the second premiums must send the samples and fifteen bushels of same variety and of equal quality. The premiums will not be paid until the comparisons of the premium corn with the larger lots are made by a committee of the Board at its winter meeting in January next. The corn thus donated to the Board will be distributed to farmers throughout the State for planting in 1885.

Premiums are to be offered for tools, implements and appurtenances used in the coal mining and handling industry of the State.

Premiums for poultry have been increased, and an expert will be selected to do all the judging in the poultry department.

The chicken exhibit at the Fat Stock Show will not be continued.

The committee of dairymen appointed at the late meeting of the Illinois Dairymen's Association did not present themselves at the State Board meeting to confer about holding a dairy exhibit either at the State Fair or the Fat Stock Show, as instructed to do. No explanation of the failure was made. The State Board, however, to leave nothing undone to establish its desire to meet the dairymen half way or more, appointed a committee consisting of Messrs. David, Chester, and Griffith, to confer with the DeKalb committee, in Chicago, at some convenient time to be agreed upon.

It was decided to hold the next Illinois State Fair at Chicago the week beginning September 8th, and the Fat Stock Show at the Exposition Building, Chicago, beginning November 11th.



SORGHUM AT WASHINGTON.

Prof. Wiley, of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, will soon issue his report upon the sorghum business of 1883. Newspaper correspondents have been permitted to make a digest of the report. He pronounces erroneous the prevalent impression that every farmer may become his own sugar-maker. Sorghum, unlike sugar beet, contains various non-crystallizable sugars, the separation of which demands much skill and scientific knowledge. Sorghum-sugar will have to be made in large factories. The existing factories have shown that it can be made, but how profitably or unprofitably can not be stated by Prof. Wiley, who suggests that farmers near factories may, in effect, make their own sugar by raising the cane and trading it at factories for sugar. Cane giving sixty pounds of sugar per ton ought to bring the farmer thirty-five pounds, the rest of the sugar and molasses going to the manufacturer to pay expenses and yield profit. The profitableness of making sugar from sorghum depends largely on utilizing all waste products. The scums and sediments make manure hardly inferior to guano. Bagasse, or crushed cane, can be turned into manure by being thrown into hog-pens, as at Rio Grande, N.J., or it will make a fair quality of printing paper. It is not economical to burn it. If the manufacture of sorghum-sugar is proved to be profitable, it will result in supplying to a large extent our demand for sugar, but as sorghum makes a great deal more molasses in proportion to sugar than sugar-cane does, the Professor concludes that when there is enough sugar there will be a great deal more molasses than can be disposed of.

Prof. Wiley has made experimentally some fair samples of rum and alcohol from sorghum molasses. Under favorable circumstances one gallon of molasses weighing eleven pounds would give 2.75 pounds absolute alcohol, 3.03 pounds of 90 per cent, and 5.5 whisky or rum. Thus each gallon of molasses would give nearly half a gallon of commercial alcohol and two thirds of a gallon of whisky or rum. As it has been abundantly proved, he says, that sugar can be made from sorghum, the Government should make no further experiments in this direction. Prof. Wiley has tried the diffusion process, and finds it yields 20 per cent more sugar, but at a somewhat higher cost than grinding. The Government, he thinks, should purchase machinery for large experiments in the diffusion process, and should raise its cane somewhere else than near Washington, as land there is expensive and not adapted to the purpose. The Government should also make arrangements with agricultural colleges or other agencies in various States for experimenting with sorghum-culture to determine what parts of the country are most favorable to the culture of sugar-producing plants. Prof. Wiley suggests in each State the trial of two acres divided into ten plots—five for sorghum, four for beets, and one for corn—to test for purposes of comparison the general fertility of the soil and the character of the season. The Government ought to carry on for a series of years the process of selection of sorghum seed in order to secure an improvement in the quality of the cane.



THE COLD SPELL.

The cold weather of last week seems to have extended over nearly the entire North American Continent. Nothing for severity has been known to equal it during a long series of years. East, West, North, and South it was all the same, differing in degree of course, but uniformly colder than scarce ever known in the same latitude.

The greatest loss to stock so far as heard from was in that in transit to market. On some of the roads the losses were heavy. A dispatch from Independence, Mo., says a train of fifteen cars, loaded with mules from Texas via the Iron Mountain and Southern road, arrived there on the 5th, when it was discovered that at least 100 of the mules had frozen to death, and the others were in a freezing condition. The mules were two years old and direct from grass. They had been three days without food.

Many trains arriving at Chicago had scores of frozen animals.

No great disaster is yet reported from the far West or from Minnesota and Dakota. Still there must have been great suffering not only among the dumb brutes, but among human beings as well. It is fortunate that polar waves do not visit us more frequently.

The effect upon fruit, buds, trees, and shrubs is not yet ascertained. It will be a marvel if many localities are not barren of fruit of nearly all kinds next year.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER will be very glad if its readers will favor it with their ideas and the results of their observations in regard to the damage of all sorts done by the intense cold of the first week of the year.



QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

William Miller and F. Myrick, Peotone, Ill.—1. What are the laws in regard to drainage passed by the last Legislature? 2. Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and who his associates?

Answer—1. This is a question probably neither lawyers nor judges in Illinois are competent to answer. It you doubt it procure from the clerk of your County Court a copy of the public laws of 1883 and read the fifteen pages relating to drainage. 2. The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is M.R. Waite, and his associates are S.F. Miller, S.J. Field, J.P. Bradley, J.M. Harlan. W.B. Woods, S. Mathews, H. Gray, and S. Blatchford.

Samuel Snodgrass, Meade Co., Ky.—1. I have some large, old, and apparently healthy, apple trees, but they are comparatively barren. What can I do for them? 2. I have others which appear to be going to decay and will soon die. Had I better anticipate their death by cutting them down, or try to save them as I would like to do, for their associations with the past.

Answer—1. We know no better course for you to take than to dig a deep ditch all around the trees, say three feet wide and as many deep, and just within the outer reach of the limbs, and fill this in with half the earth removed and the other half made up of vegetable matter, ashes, road dirt, and such manure from the barn and stable as you can spare. Having done this make an arrangement about each tree that will retain all the rainfall which comes down to the earth beneath and collect as much more from the open spaces about as possible. 2. Your old and decaying trees may be saved if decay has not gone too far. But the remedy is an heroic one, and rather expensive as you will find. First treat the decaying trees as described for the healthy ones, with the exception you add a greater proportion of fertilizers and manure when you fill in the ditch with half new material. Then (and all this work should be done, as it can readily be done, in your latitude during the cold months when vegetation is at a stand) give the old trees a thorough pruning, even going as far as to remove 90 per cent of all the leaf and fruit buds on the tree. Then wait for results, looking for nothing more than a new growth of wood the first year, but fruitfulness thereafter and a new lease of life. But remember as in the first place, care must be taken to supply abundant water, indeed as much more as the average rainfall, so much being absolutely necessary to afford the roots the amount of manurial plant food, in solution, the new departure demands. Every fruit-grower knows when a dwarf pear has borne a certain number of crops, fruit buds cease to form and the tree becomes nearly barren. If at this stage the dwarf is deprived of every bud, whether fruit or leaf, and the limbs are left to resemble bare sticks, and at the same time the earth about the roots is fortified with wood ashes and well rotted manure, a handsome growth of branches will be made the first year and a crop of fruit result the second. This, the writer has tried with perfectly satisfactory results twice on the same dwarfs, and has others which, having been submitted to this course of treatment, in the fall of 1882, made a handsome growth in 1883, and have set fruit buds for a good crop in 1884. The life of an average apple tree in Illinois is scarcely more than 35 or 40 years; but there is no doubt if, when they begin to show signs of decrepitude or decay, they are treated as above, they may be made to live and bear fruit for perhaps a hundred years.



AMERICAN ASH.

There are five well-known species of this genus (Fraxinus Americana), and they occupy an important place as valuable timber trees. This is especially true of the white ash, more commonly called the American ash. Of this tree the late Arthur Bryant, Sr., said in his Book on Trees: "It is one of the most valuable and worthy of culture for the quality of its wood and the rapidity of its growth. When full grown it is one of the largest of the trees of our forests. * * * * The prairie soils of Iowa and Central and Northern Illinois are well adapted to the growth of the white ash."



WAYSIDE NOTES.

BY A MAN OF THE PRAIRIE.

It is a strange and almost an unheard of thing for any one to say a good word for the "tree peddler" but I am going to say it if it breaks the heart of every horticultural baby in the land. Since a time to which the memory of man runneth not back, the poor "tree peddler" has been abused and maligned by horticultural speakers and writers. In conventions he has been ridiculed and denounced. Every cross-road nursery-man not possessed of stock sufficient to warrant a line of advertising even in his local paper, nor business force enough to send an agent through his own neighborhood to take orders for trees, has spoken in a horticultural meeting or written a letter to his favorite paper, warning the farmers against the wiles of the oily tongued fellow with colored fruit plates, specimens of preserved fruits, and an order book for trees, shrubs, and vines. And I think I have known of some of the big fish in the nursery business who with one end of their tongues have lashed some other big fish in the same business for employing irresponsible agents to sell stock for them, while with the other end they were commanding a small army of the same class of agents to go forth into all the world and preach the gospel of tree planting and—sell trees. Others have sold and continue to sell trees to peddlers without limit, for cash, and of any and all varieties called for, while they denounced the system of peddling in unmeasured terms. Now it is just as possible for a tree peddler to be an honest man as it is for the man who grows trees to sell to be honest. I do not say that all men belonging to either class are honest. It would be equally absurd to say that all of either class are dishonest. I despise the quack, the liar, the deceiver in any business, and I have no respect or love for the man who will sell worthless varieties of trees or wrongly named varieties, knowingly. Honesty here as elsewhere is the best policy. But here is a fact, as I believe: It is better to plant an inferior tree than none at all, and I know of neighbors who would go down into their graves without ever planting a tree if some persuasive peddler had not talked it into them to do so, and these same neighbors now have quite respectable orchards. Here is another fact: One half the orders sent to nursery-men by farmers during the past twenty years have called for varieties utterly worthless for the localities in which they were to be planted. And the tree peddler often gratifies the purchaser by pretending to sell to him a sort which he has made up his mind to have because he knows it was good in his old home a thousand miles away. But the peddler, not having this variety, and knowing that if he did have it it would prove worthless, substitutes a Ben Davis or some other approved variety, and it goes into the ground and in due time produces an abundance of excellent fruit. In this case the peddler does a really good thing. If nursery-men will stop propagating everything but varieties adapted to the country and the markets, and many of them are doing this, the tree peddler will be powerless for mischief—will in fact become a great public benefactor. But so long as nursery-men will continue to grow and sell worthless varieties, and so long as the people will remain in ignorance regarding adaptability, so long will the dishonest peddler remain an unmitigated nuisance and fraud. In brief these three things are wanted: Intelligent and honest nurserymen; orchard planters who either know what varieties are best for them to have, or who are willing to trust the selection to the afore-mentioned intelligent and honest nursery-men; and third, first-class talkers, intelligent as to varieties and methods of culture, who buy only of the intelligent and honest nursery-men, to go through the country and sell trees. It is unfortunate that it takes so many words to express what I wanted to say, but I am done at last.

* * * * *

I have got it! Yes, all the ice I want is now white for the harvest in our "artificial" pond. It is the only thing that reconciles me to this fierce visit of polar weather. As soon as a trifle milder wave gets along our way we shall carefully store away sufficient for the year's use. By the way, where are the poor deluded woodchucks, muskrats, and Old Settlers, who told us we were to bask in mild etherialness all winter long? I am disgusted this morning, with the mercury at 30 degrees below zero, and still going down, at the whole batch of them, and with Vennor and Hazen, and all professionally weatherwise men and things. I have heard of little real suffering in my neighborhood from the cold, among either humans or brutes. Doubtless, when the weather moderates and people get out to tell each other all about the cold spell, there will be many true tales of intense suffering and more than the usual romancing about the terrible week. And then the Oldest Inhabitant will thaw out, and with all the self-satisfaction that superior age and experience crown him with, will tell how much colder it was in such and such a year, until we wish this little spell had sealed his memory and mouth, for we do all take a great pride in living in a time that excels all other times, albeit, if it be only in a storm or a freeze. But in these things the early times of the Old Settler can never be excelled, no matter in what century he flourishes. He is always master of the situation. His experiences are like those of no other settler that ever lived and died. With him, imagination has gradually usurped the place of experience and its isothermal dips and dodges carry him through hotter and through colder seasons than are marked down in any Standard Time PRAIRIE FARMER, or any other map or chart in existence. But for this weather business I should like to live next door to the Old Settler, for he is generally truthful, good, kind, full of practical knowledge and common sense.



LETTER FROM CHAMPAIGN.

We are having some very sharp winter weather, and sleighing as uninterruptedly good since the 20th of December as I ever remember. This morning, January 5th, the mercury reported 28 degrees below zero at 5:30 A.M., and 20 degrees below at 10 o'clock. This is the coldest since January 29th, 1873, when 36 degrees below was recorded at the Industrial University here, and 42 degrees below by the spirit thermometer at one of the Jacksonville institutions. But the wind was west at that date, and it is so to-day, showing our coldest weather comes from that direction rather than from the northwest or north. The explanation I suppose to be, those great fountains of cold storage, the Colorado mountains, lie west and southwest of us, and are several hundred miles nearer than the lower peaks and ranges northwest.

* * * * *

It is an interesting and important truth to know at this time that an unexpected source for seed corn has been discovered here at home. It has been ascertained by experiment and investigation that the early frosted corn, which has been allowed to stand in the field, has a sound germ, and though shrunken, will make fairly good seed, whereas corn which was not frosted till late in October, and ripened in most respects, save drying out, is wholly unfit for seed, having had the cells of the kernels ruptured by the freezings it has been subjected to. This rupture of cells the grain of the frosted corn escaped, having parted with the surplus water of vegetation before hard weather set in. However, the early frosted and shrunken cane fit for seed may be confined to this county or neighborhood, or a narrow area, and therefore I advise every one who thinks of making use of it to ascertain for himself, by the usual methods, whether the germ is sound or not.

* * * * *

Several parties have written me—one from Missouri, another from Indiana, and a third from Kentucky, that they have seed corn for sale, cheap and in quantity. I have no doubt of it, and I have accordingly advised each to advertise it in THE PRAIRIE FARMER, if they are really desirous of selling, stating briefly what variety, where grown, and at what price. I should be glad to advertise it for them gratuitously, but the contract of THE PRAIRIE FARMER with its contributors contains a clause to the effect that "they shall neither use its columns to grind their own axes nor the axes of anybody else." With the recourse of early frosted corn to go to, and the assistance of appropriately selected seed from abroad, the gross mistakes and disappointments of 1883 are pretty certain to be avoided in 1884.

* * * * *

No doubt many who are more or less familiar with the Reports on Hog Cholera in the official publication of the Department of Agriculture, ask themselves why Dr. Detmers is singled out by Frenchmen as the sole authority on swine diseases, when his colleagues of the commission, Dr. Salmon and Laws went nearly as far as he did in their extravagant statements. But the prominence Dr. Detmers has obtained in the estimation of Frenchmen is now explained in this: At a late sitting of the French Academy of Sciences that eminent savant, Pasteur, referred to him and his investigations in flattering terms. Giving an account of the discovery of the microbe which causes the rouget of swine in France, Pasteur said: "Respect for historic truth compels me to state, however, that in the month of March, 1882, the microbe of the rouget was discovered at Chicago, in America, by Professor Detmers, in a series of investigations which did great honor to their author." With the indorsement of one of the most eminent scientists in the world, before a body equally distinguished, Dr. Detmers may find some compensation in being singled out as the scape goat for an unfortunate commission which has cost the country many millions.

B.F.J.

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REMEMBER that $2.00 pays for THE PRAIRIE FARMER one year, and the subscriber gets 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.



POULTRY NOTES.

Poultry-raisers. Write For Your Paper.

A DUCK FARM.

You will not find it on the map because it is not mentioned there, and I shall not tell you where it is because I promised the little woman who owns it, and who gave me permission to tell other women what she had done, that I would not mention her name or the name of the place where she lives and works. How did I happen to find her? I didn't find her; it just happened—i.e., if anything ever happens in this queer old world of ours. We bumped our heads together once in a railway accident, and we have been firm friends ever since.

Her farm is only a bit of land, some thirty acres, but for the last five years she has made from ten to twelve hundred dollars a year from it, and most of the money came from the ducks. She sells eggs for hatching, and ducks for breeding and for exhibition, but the main object is ducks and feathers for market. She thinks ducks are less trouble and quite as profitable as hens. She keeps twenty-four stock ducks, eight males and sixteen females, through the winter. The ducks commence laying from the middle of February to the first of March, and lay from 100 to 125 eggs each in a season. The first laid eggs are set to get ducks to sell for breeding stock and for the early summer market. For this purpose the eggs from the ducks that are two or three years old are used, and when hatched the ducklings from those eggs are marked by punching a small round hole in the web of the feet. She thinks, and rightly, too, that the eggs from the older ducks procure larger and more vigorous birds than the first eggs from the young ducks.

As soon as the weather gets warm enough to ship without danger of chilling on the way, she sells eggs for hatching at $3 per dozen, and finds no difficulty in disposing of as many as she cares to spare at that price. Her sales of eggs for hatching amount to about $100 yearly. Besides the eggs used and sold for hatching she generally sends a twenty-four-dozen case to New York just before Easter. These large, finely-shaped, pure white eggs sell readily for Easter eggs, and bring from forty to fifty cents per dozen.

From the eggs set on her own place during the season she raises from ten to twelve hundred ducks each year. The ducklings are hatched from the first of April up to about the first of August. Most of the ducklings are raised by hen mothers, and she keeps some fifty hens for that purpose. The hens are all pure Buff Cochins, and are kept until they are two years and a half old. Besides raising two broods of ducks each season, each hen pays her owner an average profit of seventy-five cents a year from the sale of eggs for market. When fattened for market at the end of the second season, these Cochin hens are large and heavy, and the carcass of the old fowl generally sells for enough to pay for a pullet to take her place. No chickens are raised on the farm; the pullets are bought of a neighbor who keeps the Buff Cochins.

She aims to set several hens and the incubator at the same time; when the eggs hatch the incubator ducklings are divided up among the hens; one hen will care for twenty ducklings until they are old enough to care for themselves. The eggs hatch well—those in the incubator quite as well as those under hens, and when the incubator ducklings are once mixed up with the others she finds it impossible to distinguish "which from 'tother."

When the ducklings are ten or twelve hours old they are moved with the mother hen to coops and safety runs, which are placed in an orchard near the house. This orchard contains about four and a half acres, and the coops are scattered over it a few rods apart. On the side of the orchard that leads to the "pond lot," the bottom board of the fence is a foot wide and comes close to the ground in order to keep the ducklings from taking to the water too early in life.

When the ducklings are four weeks old the hens are taken away, but the ducklings are kept in the orchard until they are six weeks old, or until they are well feathered on the breast and under part of their bodies, when they are turned into the pond lot, where they "take to the water like ducks."

The pond lot contains nearly thirteen acres, five of which are covered with water. Originally, this lot was a piece of low, rocky, bushy pasture land, between two low ranges of hills. A stream of clear, sparkling water, a famous trout brook, ran through the center. The woman who proposed to raise ducks saw at once the advantage of such a situation, and had a dam constructed near the upper end of the lot, and later another was made lower down, so that the lot contained two large ponds. Where the fences which separate my friend's land from that of her neighbor cross the stream, water-gates are put in, which keep the ducks from swimming out with the water; and the bottom boards of the fence around the rest of the lot keep them from getting out that way. Two well-trained dogs guard this lot at night, and woe to the two-footed or four-footed prowler who intrudes.

The duck houses are simply long, low sheds—with the exception of the one where the breeding stock is wintered, which is inclosed—placed on the slope a few rods back from the water. They were built of refuse lumber, and the cost was comparatively trifling. Connected with the house for the breeding-stock is a small yard where the ducks are shut in at night through the laying season. From the time when they are twelve hours old till within twenty-four hours of the time when they are killed for market, the ducklings are well fed with a great variety of food. From the first meal until they are turned into the pond lot they are fed every two hours between daylight and dark. "Little and often," is the motto. Before they take to the water the ducklings are fed a little cooked meat once each day, and doubtless this ration of meat has much to do toward making the fine large ducks that my friend has a reputation for raising. After they are turned into the pond lot the ducklings are fed but three times a day till within two or three weeks of the time when they are to be marketed; then they are confined in the fattening yards and fed oftener.

The fattening yards are situated between the two ponds, and so arranged as to inclose a portion of the stream.

The ducklings are marketed as fast as they reach a suitable age and size. She commences sending them to market about the middle of June and keeps it up till about the middle of September, when she quits till near the middle of January. These prime young ducks, getting into market at a time when such poultry is scarce, bring good prices—from 22 to 25 cents a pound, dressed. By the time the price begins to decline she has marketed all the earlier ones that she cares to spare, and the later-hatched she keeps growing till mid-winter, when fine ducks are again scarce and the price goes up. At Thanksgiving and during the holidays when the markets are crowded with poultry of all kinds, she holds on to her ducks, unless she has an order at an extra price.

At first my friend kept the Rouens; then she tried the Aylesburys, but now she keeps only the pure Pekins, and is so well satisfied with them that she has no desire to change for anything else. She says, "For laying qualities, quick growth, great size, fine flesh and fine feathers, the Pekins can not be excelled."

On her place I have seen six-weeks old Pekins that weighed six pounds a pair alive, and those that dressed from three to four pounds each at ten or twelve weeks. At five and six months her ducks dress from six to eight pounds each. For the feathers, the best and finest of which are carefully saved by themselves, my friend obtains forty cents per pound.

All the work connected with the duck-raising, except now and then some heavy work which is necessary in the pond lot, is now performed by my friend and her three children, a boy of fifteen, and two girls of thirteen and eighteen.

There is a moral to this, but if you can't find it it will not do you one bit of good.

FANNY FIELD.

* * * * *

CONSUMPTION CURED.

An old physician, retired from practice, having had placed in his hands by an East India missionary the formula of a simple vegetable remedy for the speedy and permanent cure of Consumption, Bronchitis, Catarrh, Asthma and all throat and Lung Affections, also a positive and radical cure for Nervous Debility and all Nervous Complaints, after having tested its wonderful curative powers in thousands of cases, has felt it his duty to make it known to his suffering fellows. Actuated by this motive and a desire to relieve human suffering, I will send free of charge, to all who desire it, this recipe, in German, French, or English, with full directions for preparing and using. Sent by mail by addressing with stamp, naming this paper.

W.A. NOYES, 149 Power's Block, Rochester, N.Y.

* * * * *

A GUILT frame—the prison window.



THE APIARY.

APIARY APPLIANCES.

In the last issue of THE PRAIRIE FARMER the "Italian and German Bees" were described true as life, by that prince of writers, L.L. Langstroth. After a careful perusal of the article named, in which the good and bad traits of each race are delineated, any person ought to be able to choose intelligently which bee is best, all things taken into consideration, for him to procure.

In starting an apiary, there is another item of equal importance, and that is what kind of dwellings should be erected for the occupants of this future city. The wants of the future tenants should be considered; provide them with all modern conveniences, as to pantry and larder, and don't forget, as some architects do, that abodes should be ventilated as well as warm. Some bee-masters prefer houses that are high between ceilings, others low; some prefer large houses, many again those that are smaller. The size has to be made according to the frame chosen. There are five different sizes of movable frames now in use among bee-keepers, and those are equally successful who use either size. The Langstroth is more in common use than any other. Some object to it, claiming that it is too shallow.



In looking at the plates of the five different sizes of frames, an idea is gained how minds differ. Each one has its advocates, and its votaries claim that the frame they use is the very best for all purposes. We were once looking out of the window of a friend's house on her neat, well-kept apiary, and remarked what baby hives. And we found no fault with the baby, when this lady showed us her beautiful white sections of comb-honey, and ate her delicious peaches, canned, with extracted honey for sweetening.

It must be fun to handle the little Gallup, but the Langstroth has an advantage over all others; it consists in this: that it is most used, and if a person desires to sell his hives and frames, he can more readily do so. It is also easily obtained, as it is kept in stock by supply dealers, and can be quickly sent forward when ordered, but if it was an off size wanted, a delay would occur; some change might have to be made in the machinery, and it would cost more, as well as the delay occasioned, which, if in the midst of the honey harvest, might cause great loss.

Other appliances of the apiary, to suit this frame, are kept by supply dealers; such as extractors, comb-baskets, uncapping cans, etc. With any of these frames a hive can be made large or small, by regulating the number of frames. If the hives are bottomless, as many make them, a tall hive can be made by tiering up, as is practiced by those who work for extracted honey. The Adair frame was formerly used in a hive called the "New Idea, or Non-swarming Hive." Its non-swarming qualities consisted in its being a long hive, and if empty frames were always kept in front, so that the bees had to pass through empty space to reach the brood nest, they would not swarm.

Frames should be placed in a hive an inch and one-half from center to center, and should have three-eighths of an inch space between them and the hive. This last item was considered of enough importance to have a patent issued for it. If the distance from the top of the frames to the honey board, or between the frames and the hive, is less than three-eighths of an inch, the bees will propolis it together, and if it is more, they will build comb between.

MRS. L. HARRISON.



WHAT SHOULD BE WORKED FOR.

As publishers, says the Weekly Bee Journal, we should,

1. Encourage planting bee-pasturage, that there may be, every season, a crop of honey to gather, in order to make apiculture a certain occupation.

2. Foster district and local societies to afford mutual instruction, and strengthen fraternization.

3. Institute large and attractive honey and apiarian exhibits at all fairs, to educate the community to the desirableness of a superior product.

4. Cultivate a discriminating domestic market, to encourage superiority and excellence.

5. Sell at all times, and in all places, an honest article under an honest name.

* * * * *

BROWN'S BRONCHIAL TROCHES for Coughs and Colds: "I do not see how it is possible for a public man to be himself in winter without this valuable aid."—Rev. R.M. Devens, Pocasset, Mass.

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SCIENTIFIC.

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.

"We have seen his star in the East," said the wise men. From what remote region of antiquity may we suppose that this fancy came, that important events to the world of man were heralded by marvelous phenomena of the heavens? To the ignorant man, there can never be any world outside of that with which he is concerned. So the primitive man had no use for planets, comets, and the like, that were not in some way concerned with his destiny. And we no doubt own our magnificent modern science of astronomy to the quack system of astrology, which was only a device to induce the heavenly bodies to minister to the importance and conceit of man.

The accepted Scriptures tell us that the birth of the Savior of mankind was heralded by the appearance of a remarkable star in the sky. Taking this assertion to be true, it might be a matter of some interest to consider what explanations have been made of this phenomenon. A large majority of religious teachers, we admit, even to the present day, have attempted no explanation whatever, but have settled the subject by calling the star a miraculous appearance, concerning whose true nature we can know nothing. But two solutions of the phenomenon have been given by well-known astronomers, either of which, if accepted, will place the miracle in the list of purely natural occurrences.

Kepler held that the Star of Bethlehem was simply a conjunction of the planets. Astronomy, which, more fortunate than history, can bring unimpeachable witnesses to its record of past events, assures us that there was a remarkable conjunction, or rather three conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, in the year of Rome 747, or seven years before the Christian era. It is now generally admitted that Christ was probably born at least four years before the date fixed upon as the first "year of our Lord," and remembering how much uncertainty hangs about this date we might consider ourselves fully justified in placing it, as Kepler did, in the year 7 B.C. This being granted, let us see how the occurrence of the conjunctions in this year explains the miracle of the "Star."

In the first place, note that the Magi, or Wise Men, of the East (presumably the country of Chaldea) were the first to call attention to the star as indicating the birth of the "King of the Jews." The Chaldeans were devoted to astrology, and it is only reasonable to infer that whatever remarkable appearance they saw in the sky, they would endeavor to explain it by their astrological laws. On the 29th of May, 7 B.C., a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred, in the 20th degree of the constellation Pisces, close to the first point of Aries; on the 29th of September of the same year, another conjunction of these planets took place, in the 16th degree of Pisces; and on the 5th of December, a third, in the 15th degree of the same sign. (These are not conjectures or inferences, but known astronomical facts.) If we suppose that the Magi, intent on their study of the heavens, saw the first of these conjunctions, they actually saw it in the East, for on May 29, it would rise three and one half hours before sunrise. It is not necessary to suppose that the planets approached near enough to each other to appear as one star, for they probably did not—it was their conjunctions that gave their astrological significance. It plainly indicated to these observers that some important event was impending, and what could be more important than the birth of a great man? But where was this one to appear? The sign Pisces was the most significant one for the Jews, for according to astrological legend, in the year 2865 A.M. a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in this sign had heralded the birth of Moses; the proximity to Aries indicated that the hero foretold was of kingly lineage; the Jewish expectation of a great king had become a well-known story in Chaldea during the captivity, ergo, the inference was prompt and sure, this conjunction indicated the birth of the expected King of the Jews. That they might be among the first to do honor to so great a personage as they believed this king to be, the wise men soon set out for Judea. The journey probably took them five months or more. On their way they witnessed the second conjunction, which no doubt only strengthened their faith. If they performed the journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem at the time of the third conjunction, December 5, in the evening, as the narration implies, the stars would be some distance east of the meridian, and would seem to move from southeast to southwest, or towards Bethlehem. Their standing over the house we may regard as an additional statement that crept into the narration probably through its repetitions.

Such is Kepler's explanation of the Star of Bethlehem. But before he had given this to the world, indeed while he was an infant in his cradle, Tycho Brahe had connected the phenomenon with that of one of the great variable stars of the solar system.

The latter astronomer discovered, in 1572, what appeared to be a new star in the constellation, Cassiopeia. It was a star of the first magnitude when first perceived, and daily it increased in brilliancy, till it out-shone Sirius, equaled Venus in lustre, and could be perceived, even by the naked eye, at noonday. For nearly a month the star shone; at first it had a white light, then a yellow, and finally it was a bright red. Then it slowly faded, and in about sixteen months had disappeared.

Amidst all the conjecture concerning this remarkable appearance, some regarding it as a new world in process of creation, others as a sun on fire, Tycho Brahe held to the belief, though unable to prove it, that it was a star with a regular period of light and of darkness, caused possibly by its nearness to, or distance from, the earth. When the telescope was invented, forty years later, the accuracy of this theory was known. At the spot carefully mapped out by Tycho Brahe, a telescopic star was found, undoubtedly the same one whose brilliant appearance had so startled the world in 1572. Upon this, astronomers began to study the annals of their science for similar appearances, and found that a very brilliant star had appeared and disappeared near the same spot in the heavens in 1264, and also in 945. The inference was that this star had a period of about three hundred years, and counting back, imagination might place one of its periods of brilliancy very near the time of Christ's birth. For this reason it received the name of the Star of Bethlehem, and many have fully accepted the theory which makes this variable luminary identical with the "Star of the East."

This second theory has especial interest just now, for if astronomical calculations are correct, we may look for the reappearance of this remarkable star during the coming year. If it does fulfill the prediction of its return it must be reckoned as one of the most noteworthy phenomena of the century.

For the benefit of amateur observers, who are as likely as any to be the first to perceive this remarkable sight, we may say that Cassiopeia, the constellation in which it will appear, lies very near the North Star. You all know how to find the Polar Star by the pointers of the Great Dipper; continue this line beyond about an equal distance, and you will strike Caph, the largest star in Cassiopeia, or the Chair, so-called because the stars form the outline of an inverted chair. Near one of these the wandering luminary will probably flash out, "to amaze a wondering world."

We may remark, in conclusion, that though there are quite a number of variable stars, their nature and the cause of their changes are but imperfectly understood. The Star of Bethlehem has no doubt an orbit, which brings it much nearer the earth at some times than others. But astronomers do not believe that the mere fact of distance explains all changes. There is a star known as Mira, which for eleven months is wholly invisible to the naked eye, then flames forth as a star of the first magnitude, and is visible for a period of nearly three months, fading at its close into darkness again. The star Algol, in the constellation Perseus, is usually of the second magnitude, but every two and a-half days it begins to decline in brilliancy, becomes very faint, and remains thus for about three hours, and then waxes bright again. Possibly this may be caused by the shadow of another star. In 1866 a star of the eighth magnitude, in the Northern Crown, suddenly flamed up into extraordinary brilliancy, remained thus for several months and gradually subsided. This star was examined with the spectrum, and showed lines of burning hydrogen. This led to the theory, now held, that the increase in brilliancy of these stars is caused by the incandescence of this gas. These fixed stars are all supposed to be suns of other systems, and to be surrounded—like our sun—with envelopes of fiery gases; from some cause not at all understood these gases may, at regular periods, flame up with fiercer heat than usual, and produce this appearance of greatly increased light. This is a very inadequate explanation, no doubt, but it is the best that astronomers have yet been able to devise in the matter.

A.C.C.

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HOUSEHOLD.

For nothing lovelier can be found In woman than to study household good.—Milton.

HOW THE ROBIN CAME.

Happy young friends, sit by me, Under May's blown apple-tree; Hear a story, strange and old, By the wild red Indians told, How the Robin came to me:

Once a great chief left his son,— Well-beloved, his only one, When the boy was well-nigh grown, In the trial-lodge alone Left for tortures long and slow Youths like him must undergo, Who their pride of manhood test, Lacking water, food and rest, Seven days the fast he kept, Seven nights he never slept. Then the poor boy, wrung with pain, Weak from nature's overstrain, Faltering, moaned a low complaint; "Spare me, Father, for I faint!" But the chieftain, haughty-eyed, Hid his pity in his pride. "You shall be a hunter good, Knowing never lack of food; You shall be a warrior great, Wise as fox, and strong as bear; Many scalps your belt shall wear, If with patient heart you wait One day more!" the father said. When, next morn, the lodge he sought, And boiled samp and moose-meat brought For the boy, he found him dead.

As with grief his grave they made, And his bow beside him laid, Pipe and knife, and wampum-braid— On the lodge-top overhead, Preening smooth its breast of red And the brown coat that it wore, Sat a bird, unknown before. And as if with human tongue, "Mourn me not," it said, or sung; "I, a bird, am still your son, Happier than if hunter fleet, Or a brave, before your feet Laying scalps in battle won. Friend of man, my song shall cheer Lodge and corn-land hovering near. To each wigwam I shall bring Tidings of the coming spring; Every child my voice shall know In the moon of melting snow, When the maple's red bud swells, And the wild flower lifts its bells. As their fond companion Men shall henceforth own your son, And my song shall testify That of human kin am I."

Thus the Indian legion saith How, at first, the robin came With a sweeter life from death, Bird for boy, and still the same. If my young friends doubt that this Is the robin's genesis, Not in vain is still the myth If a truth be found therewith: Unto gentleness belong Gifts unknown to pride and wrong: Happier far than hate is praise— He who sings than he who slays.