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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1895-6-7, Page 3"411 Natt WING AND HAND. !Sennett by Bata Ts DeWitt TalMage. Bev. Dr. T.almage's sermon in the Academy of Musa: was a powerful and ,eloquent plea for practical Cbristianity. The subject op announeed was; "Wing .and Hand," the text being Ezekiel, 10:21: --.'"Ilie likeness of the hand e of a Man was under their wings," 'While tossed, on the sea between Austra- lia and Celyon, I first particularly noticed this text, of which then and thew I mad* ;memorandum. This chapter is all a -flut- ter with cherubim Who are the cherubim? An order of angels, radiant, mighty, all- knowing and worahipful. When daintet ot setilptor tried in the temple at Jer- usalem or in the marble in Egypt to repre- eent the eheatabim, he made them part lion, or part ox, or part eagle. But much of that is an =intended burlesque of the cherubim, whose majesty, and. speed, a,nd splendor we will never know until, lifted 'into their presence, we behola them for .ourselves, as 'pray by the pardoning grace of God we all may. But all the accounts Biblical, and all the suppositions human, represent the cherubim with wings, each wing about seven feet long ,vaster, more amposing than any plumage that ever floated in earthly atmosphere. Condor in flight above Chimborazo, or Rocky Mountain eagle aiming for the 'noonday sun or albatross in play with .ocettn tonapeAs, presents no such glory. We eau get an imperfect idea of the wing .of the cherubim by the only wing we see —of the bitd's pinions—which are the arms %if the bird, but in sonae respects more wondrous than the human arm; with power of snaking itself more light, more heavy; of expansion and 0°3a -traction; , de- fying all altitudes with all abysms; the bird looking down with pity upon boasting 'man as he toils up the sides of the Ad- viondacks, while the wing with a few strokes puts the highest crags far beneath elaw' and beak-. But the bird's wing is only a feeble suggestion of the cherubim's wing. The greatness of that, the rapidity of that, the radiance of that, the Bible again and again sets forth. My attention is not more attracted by those wings than . by what they reveal when lifted. In two places in Ezekiel we are told there were hands -under the wings; human hands; hands like ours. The likeness of the hands of a man was under the wings." We have all noticed the wing of a cherubim, but no one seems to have noticed the human hand under the wing. There are whole sermons, whole anthems, whole doxologies, whole millenniums in that combination of hand and wing. If this world Is ever brought to God, it will be by appreciation of the fact that super- natural and human agencies are to go to- gether; that which soars, and that which . :practically works; that which a,scends the Jheavens, and that which reaches forth to earth; -the joining of the terrestrial and the celestial; the hand and the wing. We :see this union in the construction of the Bible. The wing of inspiration is in every .thapter. What realms of the ransomed earth did. Isaiah fly over? Over what battle -field for 'righteousness; what cor- onations; what clonunions of gladness; what rainbows around the throne did St John hover! But in every book of the Bible you just as certainly see the human hand that wrote it. Moses, the lawyer, showing his hand in the Ten Command- ments the foundation of all good legisla- tion; :Amos, the herdsman, showing his hand in similes drawn from fields and ,flocks; the iishermen apostles showing their hand when writing about Gospel es nets; Luke, the physician, showing his e ' hand by giving especial attention to dis- \ eases cured; Paul, showing his scholarly hand by quoting from heathen poets, and k making arguments about the Resurrec- ition that stand as firmly as on the day he planted them; and St. John shows his hand by taking his imagery from the ap- pearance of the brigbt water spread around the Island. of Patmos at the hour of sunset, "when he speaks of the sea of glass mingled with fire; scores of hands writing the par- ables, the miracles, the promises, the hosannas, the raptures, the consolations, the woes of ages. Oh, the Bible is so human; so full of heart -beats; so sym- pathetic; so wet with tears; so triumph- ant with palm -branches, that it takes hold of the inunan race as nothing else ever can take hold of it—each writer in his own ,etyle; Job the scientific; Solomon, the royal -blooded: Jereimalt, the despondent; Daniel, the abstemious and heroic—why, we know their style so well that we need not look at the top of the page to see who is the anther. No more conspicuous the uplifting wing of inspiration than the hand the warm hand, the flexible handa, the skilful hand of human instrumentality. " The likeness of the hands of a man was under the wings`." Again, behold this combination of my text in all successful Christian work. We stand or kneel in Our pulpits, and social meetings, and reformatory associations, ,offering prayer. Now, if anything has wings, it is prayer. It can fly farther and :faster than anything I can now think of. In ono second of time from wbere you sit it can fly to the throne of God and alight in England. In one second of Ulna from where you sit it can fly to the throne a of God and alight in India. It can girdle the earth in a shorter time than you can seal a letter, or clasp a belt, or hook an eye. Wings, whether that prayer starts from an infant's tongue, or the trembling lip of a centenarian, rising from the heart .9f a farmer's wife standing at the dashing :churn or before the hot breath of a country oven, they soar away, aud pick out of all the shipping of the earth, on all the soas, the craft on which her sailor boy is voyag- ing. Yea, prayer can fly clear down into the future, When the father of Queen Victoria was dying, he asked that the infant Victoria might be brought while he sat up in bed; and the babe was brought, and the father prayed, "If this ahild should live to become Queen of England, nuty she rule in the fear of God!" Having .ended his prayer, he said, "Take the child 'away." But all who know the history of England for the last fifty years know that tle prayer An that infaut more than sev- enty years ago 'has been answered, and a with Winn emphasis and affection millions .of the Queen's subjects have this day in .chapels and cathedrals, on lancl and sett, =supplicated, "God Save the Queen!" Prayer flies not only across continents, but aoross bent -ivies. If prayer had only feet, it ntight run here and there and do wonders. But it has wings, and they are As radiant of plume, and. as swift to rise, or swoop, or dart, ot circle, as the chem. laina's wings whioh, swept through Eze- kiel's vision. But oh, my friends, the wrayer must have the hana tinder the -Wing, ot it may amount to nothing. The a Mothet's hand or the aathetat hatd, insist write to the wayward boy as soon as sem can hear how to addreSs him, Chtistian SoulS must contribute to the veatigelient -of that fat -off land tor which they have boon praying, Step singing, "Fly abroad, thou mighty Gospel," unless you. are w11 - Mg to give something of your means to make it fly. Have you been praying for the salyation of a young man's soul. That is right; bat also extend the hand of ins vitation to come to a religious. aneeting. It always excites our sympathy to see a inan with his hand in a sling. Wo ask him, "What is tbe matter? lit pe It is not a felon?" or "Have your fingers been crushed?" But nine out of ten a all Christiana ate golug their iife long with their hand in a sling. 'They have been hurt by difference, or wrong ideas of what Is best; or it is injured of eonventionali ties and they never put forth that ban to lift, or help, or rescue anaone. The pray, and their prayer has wings, but there is no hand under the wings. From the very structure of the hand, we might make up our mind as to some of the things it was made for; to hold pat, to lift, to push, to help, and to rescue, And endowed with two hands, we might take the broad hint that for others as well as for ourselves We were to hold fast, to lift to push, to help, to reseue. Wondrous handl You know something of the "Bridgewater Treatises." When Rev. Franois Henry Bridgewater in his will left $40,000 for essays on The Power, Wis- dom and Goodness of God, as Manifested in the °reason," and Davies' Gilbert, the President of the Royal Society, chose eight persons to write eight books, Sir Charles Bell, the seientist chose as the subject of his great book, "The Hand; Its Mashaniam and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design." Oh, the hand 1 Its machinery beginning at the shoulder, and working through shafts of bone,upporarm and forearm, down to the eight bones of the Wrist, and the aye bones of the palm, and the fourteen bones of the fingers and thuinb, and composed of labyrinth of muscle, and nerve, and artery, and flesh, width no one but Almighty God could have planned or executed. But how sug- gestive when it reached down to us from under the wings of the cherubim ! "Tho likeness of the hands of a man was under the wings." This idea conibined in Christ.' When He rose from Mt. Olivet, He took wing. All up and down His life you see the uplifting divinity. It glowed in His forehead. It flashed in Eis eyes. Its cadences were heard in His voice. But He was also very human. It was the band under the wing that touched the woes of the world, and took hold of the sympathies of the centur- ies. Wateh His hand before it was spiked. There was a dead girl in a governor's house, and Christ comes into the room and takes her pale, cold hand in His warm grasp, and she opens her eyes on the weeping household, and says, "Father, what are you crying about? Mother, what are you crying about? The Book says, "He took her by the hand, and the maid arose." A follovrer, angered at an insult offered Christ, clrevithe sword. from its sheath, and struck at a man with the sharp edge, aiming, I think, at his fore- head. But the weapon glanced aside, and took off the right ear at its roots. Christ with His hand reconstructed that wonder- ful organ o sound, that whispering gal- lery of the soul,that collector of vibrations that arched way to the auditory nerve, that tunnel without which all the musi- cal instruments of earth would be of no avail. The Book says, "He touohed his ear and healed him." Meeting a full- grown man who had never seen a sunrise, or a sunset, or a flower, or the face of his own father or raother, Christ moistened the dust from His own tongue, and stirs the dust into an eye -salve, and with His own hand supplies the strange medica- ment, and suddenly all the colors of earth and sky rush in upon the newly -created optio nerve, and the instantaneous noon drove out the long night When He sees the grief of Mary and Martha, Be sits down and cries with them. Some say it is the shortest verse in the Bible; but to me it seems, because of its far-reaching sympathies, about the largest —"Jesus wept" So very human. He could not stand the sight of dropsy, or epilepsy, or paralysis, or hunger, or dementia; but He stretches out His sympathetic handto- wards it. So very, very, human, Omni- potent, and majestic, and glorious, this Angel of the New Covenant, with wings capable of enoircling a universe, and yet hands of gentleness, hands of helpfulness, " The hands of a man under the wings." There is a kind of religion in our day that ray text rebukes. There are men and women spending their time in deleetation over their saved state, going about from prayer -meeting to prayer-naeeting, and from church to church, telling how happy they are. But show to them a subscrip- tion paper, or ask them to go and visit the sick, or tell them to reclaim a wander- er, or speak out for some unpopular Christian enterprise, and they have bron- chitis, or stitch in the side, or sudden at- tack of grippe. Their religion is all wing and no hand. They can fly heavenward, but they cannot reach outward. the other oar, and let the Weak One Who 1 ON cannot, pull give himself up to player." Pray bY all tneans; but at the stone time pull with all your might for the %Mid's rescue. An Arai° traveller hunting betner while the ice was breaking up, and supposing that, there was no human being within a hundred miles, heard the ice cracale, and lo I a lost Man, insane with henget and cold, was wading in the WO water. The explorer took the num into hs canoe aud made for land, and the people gathered on the shore. All the islanders had been looking for the lost roan and finding blm,accorditig to prearrangement, all the bells rang and all the guns fired. Oh, you can make a gladder time among the towers and hilltops of heaven if you can fetch home a wanderer. There is also in my snbject the sugges- tion of rewarded work for Gr'od. and rigat- eousness. When the wing went the hand went. 'When the wing ascended the hand ascended; and for every useful and. Chtis- tian hand there will be elevation, celestial and eternal. Expect no human gratitude, for it will not come. Butany heaterathe day cometh when your work, which per- haps no one has noticed, or rewarded, or honoretawillrise to kleawnly ,:ecognition. While I have been telling you that the bend was under the wing of the olaerubini, I want you to realize that the wing was over the hand. Perhaps reward may not come to you right away. Washington lost more battles than he won,but he triumph- ed at last. Walton Scott, in boyhood, was called " The Greek lalookheacl," but what height of renown did he not afterward tread? And I proinite you victory further on and higher up; if not in this world, then in the next. Oh, the Heavenly day when your lifted hand shall be gloved with what honors, its fingers enringed with what jewels, its wrist clasped with what splendors! Come up and: take it, you Christian women, who served at the wash -tub. Come up and take it, you C hristian shoemaker, who pounded the shoe last. Come up and take it, you. pro- fessional nurse,wItose compensation never fully paid for broken nights and the whim and. struggles of delirious sick -rooms. Come up and. take it, you firemen, be - sweated, far down amid the greasy ma- chinery of ocean steamers, and ye con- ductors and engineers on railroads, that knew no Sunday, and whose ringing bells and. loud. whistle never warned off your own anxieties. Come up and take it, you ARIO Plant*, mai others, who rocked ld e family brood until they took wing for, other nests, and never appreoiated what or artificially. In addition to this it should you bad done and suffered for them. Your be moderately rich and retentive of plant hand was well favored when. you were food, for it is impossible to raise good young, and it was a beautiful hand, so well rounded, so graceful that many ad- mired and eulogized it; and self-sacrific- ing toil for others paled it, and xnany household griefs thinned it, and the ring which went on only with a push. at the marriage altar, now is too large, and falls off, and again and again you have lost it. Poor hand! Weary baud! Worn-out hand! But God will reconstruct iare-animate it, re -adorn it, and all heaven will know the story of that hand. What fallen ones it lifted up! What tears it wiped away! What wounds it bandaged! What light- houses it kindled I What storna-tossed ships it brought into the Pearl -beached Harbor! Oh. I am so glad that in the vision of my text Ezekiel saw the wing alsovethehand. Roll on that everlasting rest for all the toiling, and misunderstood, and suffering and weary children of God, and know right well that to join your hand, at last emancipated from the struggle,willbe the soft hand, theigentle htuadthe triumphant. hand of Himawho wipeth away all tears from all faces. That will be the Palace of the King, of which the poet sang in somewhat Scotch djalect BtTI '?,PARTMENTarCasstly fertilize their own blossoms, al- though it may be quite potent on the A( Mir! ail Til blOssonts a some aim? variety. Iteaent ataaaaii •Lt." experixnente concluded by the [slatted SWUM. Department of Agtioulture haVe ETIN SPECIAL 010=1Y Shown this to be the OW Witil many varieties Of pear*, and even those varieties which are self -fertile were foutsd. if AO Oaring tee noting Wree4 to bear larger fruit and more of it, when lu n Apple Orchard. fertilized with pollen from some other variety. In planting an orchard, titerefote, while One of the first requisites to successful it is we'll to avoid planting a multiplicity ortharding is to begin well. This bulletin of varieties, yet it is lutportaan to avoid briefly outlines for the guidance of intend- plantiag too large able& of any one Yarl- ing planters some of the chief points ety, which should be considered. Transplanting. There is quite a diver - Location and Exposure. In selecting sity of opinion as to the proper time for the site for an otthard two of the main planting trees. It may be done in either things to be sought for are exemption frona spring or fall when the tree is dormant, late spring aid early autumn frosts, and As a rule, however, planting in early shelter from the prevailing high winds. spring is the safest in out climate. The locations least subject to injurious lf, when the trees arrive from the nur- frost are those bordering large bodies of sery, it is not convenient to plant them at water, and, in the luterior, the high once, they should be "heeled in" by plata lauds. It is important to plant apple ing the roots in a trench and covering trees on the highest land available. If the them with mellow soil, well packed, to elevation is not more than ten feet above prevent their drying out. Never allow the general level of the adjacent laud, it the roots to be exposed to the sun or wind affords an advantage In allowing the cold any more than. can be helped.. air to drain away into the lower levels, No matter how carefully a tree has been and lessens the danger from frosts, which taken up, its roots are always more or less oft= do great injury when the trees are In mutilated and broken, All such iujured bloom. One of the worst locations is a roots and broken ends should be out back sheltered valley from tvhieh there is little with a smooth out to soand wood. That a or no atmospheric drainage, and into newly planted tree may flourish, it is which the sun Shining makes it the hot- necessary that a balance should exist be - test spot during the day,while the cold air tween the roots aud tops or branches, con - settling into it from the higher elevations sequently when transplanting the tops makes it the coldest spot during the night. should be out back to correspond with the A free eirculation of air is very desir- roots that remain. able itt an orchard, and a full exposure The hole should be dug wide enough to is better than shutting it in too closely, yet allow the roots to be extendedfreely in all it is advisable to have orchards somewhat directions, and deep enough, that, after a sheltered from the full force of the prevail- few inches of surface soil bave been filled ing winds. These in most parts of the in the bottom, the tree will then stand country come from the southwest. The about the same deptla as it stood. in the shelter therefore shoud be on that side and nursery. Spread the roots out carefully may consist of a strip of woodland, or a in their natural positions and cover them belt of Norway spruce put out at the same with moist, mellow surface soil. When time as the orchard; or best of all, if pos- the hole is about half filled, get in and sible, 'plant the orchard on a hillside hay- tramp thatarth firmly about the roots. ing a northern or northeastern exposure. Omitting to do this is one of the most Such a location and exposure is least sub- frequent causes of failure in transplant- ject to sudden changes of te3nperature, ing. If watering is necessary a pail full drought and. the prevailing high winds, may then be added, but this is seldom The Soil and its Preparation. Apples necessary. The balance of soil bing filled may be successfully grown ou a great vari- in and tramped down firmly, a couple of ety of soils, from a moderately light inches on top should. be left loose and un - sand to a heavy clay. The best soil, how- tramped. This acts as a natural mulch, ever, is a deep, open, clayey loam, which checking the evaporating of moisture from thould be well drained either naturally below. Mulching. When. the tree is planted spread around it as fat as the roots ex- tend, or a little beyond, a five or six-inch covering of coarse stable manure, or other loose material which will act as a naalch. This is particularly necessary in dry soil or in a dry season. It prevents baking and cracking of surface soil and conse- quent escape of soil moisture from below, and at the same time maintains a formity of heat and. moisture which is highly favorable to the formation of new roots. Cultivation and Cropping. One of the raost important factors in determining the profits from an °milord. is good culti- vation. Sod should never be allowed around young trees. For the first five or six years some hoed -crop, such as roots, potatoes, beans or corn, may be grown in the orchard. The cultivation required to grow these profitably *ill keep the ground in good. condition for trees, while such crops will yield a return from the land uutil the trees themselves beginbear- ing. Never sow a grain crop in a young orchard unless a strip, at least as wide as the height of the trees, is left on eaeh side of the rows and kept well cultivated. The roots of a tree generally extend as far below ground laterally as the top spreads above it, and they should be the sole occupants of the ground as far as they can extend. Cropping between the rows, therefore, must graclually decrease as the trees increase in size, and should be dis- continued altogether as soon as the trees fully occupy the ground. • Cultivation about the trees should never be so deep as to interfere with the roots. Shallow, level cultivation is much safer than plowing. By using the spring tooth cultivator to keep the weeds down, plow- ing may profitably be dispensed with alto- gether. Cultivation should commence in the sprilig as soon as the ground is fit to work, and. be continued as often as neces- sary until about the middle of August. By ceasing cultivation at that time the trees are more likely to stop growing and ripen up their wood so that it will not be injured by severe freezing. The frequency of culti-vation necessary will depend much upon the soil and season. The aim should be to keep the surface soil loose and open, thus acting as a natural mulch and en- abling the trees to avithstand the injurious effect of drouth at any time. Manuring. Manuring an orchard in order to obtain good crop of fruit is often just as necessary as manuring a field to get a good crop of roots. In a young orchard Where hoed -crop are grown, the manure applied to grow these profitably will be all that. is required by the young trees, as they will get their share of it. The vigor of the heed -crop will be a good indi- cator of the quantity of manure neces- sary for the trees. In older orchards where there is no cropping, the annual growth of the new wood is the best guide in apply- ing manure. As a general fertilizer nothing is better than barnya,td manure, but it should be withheld where the new growth is exces- sive or where the wood -growth is at the expense of fruit. Unleached wood ashes are a specific fer- tilizer for fruit trees, as they contain all the inorganic elements necessary in pro- ducing both tree and fruit, Unlike barn- yard manure they, tend to promote fruit- fulness rather than excessive wood growth, and may safely be applied at any time. In applying fertilizers of any kind never bank them about the trunk of a tree, but spread them evenly all over the ground as far out as the roots extend. Pruning. One of the first things to be considered in pruning a aoutig orchard is the height at wbich the heads should be started. Some prefer low heads and others high heads. Either extreme should be avoided. From four to four and a half feet Is a convenient height for apple trees. To have them all alike out them book when young to the desired height. The branches aro enough to leave to 'stall; the head. Spaces these evenly, and direct new growth Whenever necessary by cutting back to a bud. pointing in the direction you wish the new %Snell to take, The ideal prtuaing tiolisists rather direeting ateasth than In cutting out what has grown. Thin out the new shoote as may be required/to keep the head front bedoming too crowded. Cut out any bratehes that mesa or rub each other, anti kap tint top symmetrical by °tiding branches grOwIng too feet in any. Particular direction, as they are often in - elated to do oh the leeavara side, If an orchard is pruned every aear, as it Aetna be, there need be tao necessity for matting out large limbe, and the ptening at any time Will be Very light Light pruns While Thomas Chambers occupied the Chair of Moral Philosophy in StAndrew's University, he had at the same time a Sabbath School class of poor boys down in the slums of Edinburgh. While Lord Fitzgerald was travelling in Canada he saw a poor Indian squaw carrying a crush- ing load, and he took the burden on his own shoulders. That was Christ -like. That was "a hand under the wing," The highest type of religiou says little about itself, but is busy for God and in helping to the heavenly shore the crew and. pas- sengers of this shipwrecked. planet. Such people are busy now up the dark lanes of this city, and all • through the mountain glens, and down in the quarries where the sunlight has never visited, and amid the rigging, helping to take in another reef before the Carribean whirlwind. A. friend was telling me of an exquisite thing about Seattle, then of Washington Territory,now of Washington State, The people of Seattle had raised a generous sum of money for the JohnstOwn sufferers from the flood. A few days afterwards Seattle was destroyed by fire. I saw it while the whole city were in tents. In a, publie meet- ing some one proposed that the money rais- ed for Johnstown be used for the relief of their own eity, and the cry was No! No! No! Send the money to Johnstown, and by acclamation the money was seat. Noth- ing more beautiful ot eublime than that. Under the wing of fire that sinote Seattle the sympathetic hand, the helping hand, the mighty hand of Christian relief for people thousands of miles away. Why, them ate a hundred thousand men aad wonaen whose One business isto help others. Helping hands, inspiring hands, lifting hands, emancipating hands,saving heads, Sure enough, those people had wings of faith and wings of prayer, and Wings of consOlation, but "the likeness of the hands eta inan was under the wings." Thera was swath souse in that which the robust boatman Said when three were in a boat off the coast in a sudden storm, that threatened to sink the boat, and one Sug-. geSted that they all knesldpWflin theboat to pray, and the robust matt took holcl of the oar and began to pull, saybag, "Let you the groats, stout fellow, lay held of It's a bonnie, bonnie wart' that we're Uv - In' in the noo. An' sunny is the Ian' we often traivel thro' ; But in vain we look for something to which oor hearts can cling, For its beauty is as naething to the Palace o' the King. We see oor frien's await us owlet yonder at the gate; Then let us a' be ready, for ye ken it's gettin' late; Let oor /amps be brightly burnin' ; let's raise oor voice an' sing; Soon vse'li meet, to part nae inair, i' the Palace o' the King. fruit on poor soil. To prepare the land for planting it should be plowed deeply in the fall and put in good condition in the spring as if prepared for a hoe crop. If the subsoil is a hard clay into which the roots of the trees cannot readily enter, it should be loosened up slightly by means of a sub -soil plow. Where it is not convenient to treat the whole ground in this way, do a strip at least five or six feet wide where each row of trees is to stand, or when planting dig the holes ranch wider and deeper than would be otherwise necessary for planting. Distance Apart for Planting. It is im- possible to state any particular distance apart for planting which would be suit- able for all conditions. The rule should be to allow space enough so that when the trees are full grown the tops will yet be a feve feet apart. This allows the free admission of sunlight so necessary in pro- ducing well colored fruit. The ultimate size of a tree will depend much upon the variety, and the soil upon which it is grown. Varieties such as the Ben Davis or Ontario, for instance, require much less room than large growing varieties such as the Greening or Baldwin, while a tree of any given variety will grow much larger or smaller than usual according as it is grown on richer or poorer soil. The best guide to intending planters is to observe the distances apart of full-grown tiarifty trees in the neighborhood. These will be found to vary with different varieties in different sections all the way from twenty- five feet in the case of the smaller grow- ing varieties to forty feet in the case of th tse varieties that spread. The average distance will be about thirty feet. It will be found to be better to keep them a little apart rather than to crowd them. Arrangement of Trees.. There are sev- eral methods of arranging the trees in an orchard. The one usually adopted is the square; most used no doubt because many do not know of a better. By this arrange- ment the trees are planted in rows the same distance apart each way, four trees forming a squaae. A much better plan is what is known as the hexagonal. By this system fifteen per cent. snore trees can be grown per acre without the least bit more crowding—no small item when we consid- er that the profits per acre are increased accordingly. By the hexagonal arrange- ment the trees in the second row are set alternating with those in the first; six trees forming a hexagon and enclosing a seventh in the centre. To ascertain the correct position for the Met tree in the second row, and consequently the distance apart of the rows that way of the orchard, take two strings the same length as the distance apart at which the trees are to be planted, fasten the end of one to the first and the abet to the second stake in the lirst row, then stretch the free ends out till they meet, this point will mark the position for. the first tree in the second row. Whichever method of arrangement is adopted the trees should be set in perfect- ly straight lines, the first tree, no matter which way we look, hiding every other tree in the row. Crooked rows are not only an eyesore, but dating cultivation they endanger the lives of the trees as well as the morals of the man who has to culti- vate them. To assist in getting the rows straight, the position of each tree should be marked by &little stake before the holes are dug. Then when planting use a "planting board." This may be five or six feet long and six inches wide, with ,a notch in one side at the middle, just largo enough to let in the trunk of a small tree, and a hole' at each end at equal distances from thts notch. Wheu a hole is to be dug place this notch about the stake ancl put a peg through catch hole at the end. The board 3nay then be taken tip and the hole dug. When the tree is to bo planted replace the board over the pegs and place the tree in the notch. It will thus stand, in the exact position as the stake which ;narked the hole. Fertilization of Blossoms. That the blossoms of a tree may "set" or become fruit, they must be fettilized with pollen froni their own or some other tree. It has long been known, however, that nature abhors self-fertilization, and that she re- sorts to various modifications of the flower to prevent it; and thus seems if possible etoss-fertilization. Bees and other baste -be flying front floWer to Rowel' axe the chlea agents in distributing the pollen and briOgs lug about cross-fertilization. In accent with this many varieties of applee hate been found to be inore or leas self-stetilea-that is their pollen, will not A. Mean Trick. Little Elsie felt herself quite a gardener as she walked across the lawn with her new rake and watering -can "My garden will always look nice now, for I can rake it sinooth with my new rake, and I shall water it every evening, and then the seeds will all come up, and the flowers will look fresh." And Elsie held up her head and looked quite proud. She had not gone far before she met her brother Dick. "Ah, said he, "you aro going to do your garden. Have you any seed to sow?" "No," said Elsie. " it is not the right time." "Doll seed may be sown at any time," said Dick, taking two large beans out of his pocket, "Don't set them very deep, and come out every morning and see if they have come up." Dick was very fond of playing his sister tricks, though his mother told him it was wrong to do te, and 1113 laughed as he saw Elsie going off with her beans, which she set near some flower pots. One morning Dick went off to the garden with a small paper parcel and hid himself behind some bushes. Presently Elsie came along, and when she looked at the garden she spread out her hands and said; "Oh!" For close by her flower pots lay a pretty little wax doll. She did not wait to pick it up, but ran to the house calling out. "Mother, mother I my doll seed has come up! Colne and look!" Her mother came and when she saw Dick looking through the bushes, she said: Dick, Dick, you've been playing your sister another brick!" They Could Not:i6 Atmosphere." Last week I mot friend 0—no matter what his name—on the G. Ta and, after the usual exchange of courtesies, invited after his brother, whem I had not seen for some time. "Oh, Sam is well," was the reply, "but he is a little down -hearted at present. You knew he owns a ranch oat in Wyom- ing somewhere, and last fall took it into his head to raise scam blooded horses. He purchased ;Mem to twenty good young Allies, shipped them out and turned them loose. But they proved a poor investment, and by the end Of the winter his herd of horses was a thing of the past." " Why?" 1 asked. "What Was the mat- ter? Herie thieves?" Oh, no,' he ails -Wood they died; they couldn'taheas a thoughtfel pattse—they couldn't ateriosphere theruSeltes to the climatal," Poor things! No wonder they died, log may be done at any time daring the slimmer, but for the general, annual pruns ing, this had better be dorm early in the apriag before the growth atarta, onPerootfectregint101 rfterseaulassettfvroontinseartsrettos, newly transplanted trees is the flat -headed apple tree borer. The xnature bisect is aa active little beetle, matey lactaf an inch lowsl', whieli lays its eggs on the bark of thetrees, generally on the sountwest site. !Viten the egg hatches the larva, eats 14 way thtough the bark where it feeds up. on the sap -wood, sometimes entirely girdling the free, When full grown it is a pale, yellow, feotless grub, over half an ineb long, with a large flattened head, The presence of thee° pests in infested treee may readily be detected by the blaeltened and deadened appearance of the bark over the parts -where the borers are at work, When borers get into the tree there is no other remedy than outing them out with a sharp knife or killing them in their bur- rows witlx a stout wire. But prevention is better than remedy, and the injury from borers can easily be prevented. To do SO wash the trunks and larger branches with a mixture of soft soap reduced to the con- sistency of thick paint with a solution of washing soda. If just enough carbolic acid is added to give it a strong snaell it will be all the more repulsive to the beetles. This should be applied during the early part of June and again early in lJaulyiyngireggs.witsheentheheetles ars mn most active i Spraying. The whole host of leaf -eat - lug insects which feed on the apple tree, such as the Tent caterpillar, Red -humped, apple tree eaterpillanYellow-necked apple tree caterpillar, Fall web worna, Tussock moth, canker worms,ete., must be fought With Paris green., used at the rate of 1 lb. to 250 gallons of water. Other insects which suck the juices from the leaves and young wood, such as the aphis, tree cricket and bark louse, must be destroyed by the kersoene emul- sion. This is made according to the fol- lowing formula: Hard soap X, lb. (or soft soap about aa, gallon),hot water 1 gal- lon, coal oil 2 gallons. Dissolve the soap in the hot water, add the coal oil, then agitate by means of a force pump or syringe for five or ten min- utes until thoroughly mixed. If properly made, this, on cooling, will form a jelly- like substance,which, before using should be diluted with about fifteen parts of fwaotwehree Ted to weaken the young trees before apple scab fungus,which affects the as well as the fruit, must not be allowed they come to a bearing point age. To hold this in cheek, spray before the buds open with a solution made of. 1 lb.of copper sul- phate to 25 gallons of water; after the foliage appears spray three or four times at intervals of ten days or two weeks with the Bordeaux mixture. This, as now used, is made according to the following form- ula: Copper sulphate,(blue vitrol) 4 lb., lime (fresh) 4 lb., water 50 gallons or one coal oil barrel. Dissolve the copper sulphate in a wood- en vessel, or in the barrel on which the force pump is manmted. To do this quick- ly hang it in a little cotton bag so that it will be just below the surface of the water in the barrel In another vessel slake the lime, using plenty of water then strain it through a bit of coarse sacking into the barrel containing the copper sulphate. Fill the barrel with water. If the lime is fresh .and pure it should neutralize the acidin the copper sulphate solution. To test if this be the case, add to a small sample of the mixture a drop or two of ferrocyanide of potassium. If the lime is insufficient this drop, wben added, will turn brown. In that case lime -water must be added until the test gives no brown coloration. The Bordeaux mixture and the Paris green may with advantage be applied. to- gether, thus forming a combined fungi- teuridee.and insecticide. To do so add four ozs. of Paris green to a beard of the mix - All these mixtures should be applied in the form of a very fine spray. The " Ver. morel." and "McGowen' nozzles have so far been found to be the most effective and economical for this work. These may be attached to any good strong force pump of wihch a number of Canadian makes may be found advertized in the agricultural and horticultural journals. SUMMARY. 1. For an orchard, select, if possible, high land with a northern or northeastern exposure. P. A well -drained, deep, open, clayey loam as best. 3. Work the land deeply and well previ- ous to planting. 4. Plant far enough apart that trees Win not touch when full grown. 5. The hexagonal arrangement of trees in an orchard admits of 15 per cent. more trees per acre than on the square, without a bit more crowding. 6. To secure proper fertilization of blos- soms, avoid planting too large a block of any one variety. 7. When transplanting, keep roots moist and pack the earth about them firmly. 8. A mulch spread about newly trans- planted trees maintains a uniformity of temperature and moisture favorable to the' formation of new roots. 9. Give thorough, shallow, level, culti- vation. 10. Cropping between the rows must gradually cease as the trees increase in size. 11. Unleached wood ashes are one of the best fertilizers for fruit trees of all kinds. 12. Like all other fertilizers, they should be spread evenly as far out as the roots extend. 3. Prune regularly every year and Street growth rather than Cut out what has grown. 14. Prevent injuries from borers by coating the Minks of trees with a soft soap, soda and carbolic acid wash. 15. Spraying is often necessary on young trees while not yet of a bearing age. 16. For leaf -eating insects, use Paris green; for sucking insects, kerosene emul- sion; and for fungous diseases, copper sul- phate solution and Bordeaux mixture. 17. The Bordettua mixture and Pais green may bo applied togoth er with ad- vantage Ills Alarm Clock. Above the headboard of Pat's bed was affixed on the wall a nondesoript =at:4;e- ;flea which quite resent bled a small in Vetted santepan, -With hammer and. spring attachment, from which a piece of twine dangled to withie a convenient distance of the bol stet. "What sort of an arrangerneat is that, Pat?" I asked. "Sere, an' its an Malaita clock," he an - Peered. "Dees it work mechanically?" "In coarse it do, sor. WS devil a bit eV a tang 01 have tor to at all but pull the sthring an' it wakes Me up hi a jaify."