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The Exeter Advocate, 1897-1-14, Page 2A Dark Niht's work. By Paul Ingelow, (CoNTIelUnD.) I With a groan of anguish the plzotog- "Ah 1 you confess that, do you?" "Yes. I suppose old Vernon's lawyer just chuckled over your discovery." Tlziswas a clever feeler—a hint to lead on his antagonist to reveal more that the schemer wished to know. Brunt. straightforward, the hottest andd ur bonable Le Britta was no match for • his adroit foe in the line of tactics the latter had resolved to adot. Confident i n a strength and the integrity of hi osr- ' his s b y P tion, he did not discern the trap into which Durand was leading him. "The lawyer?" he repeated, vaguely. +I "Yes.'' "I have not shown it to the lawyer yet." Ralph Durand's eyes glittered with a fierce, sinister triumph. That innocent admission raised lzis depressed hopes like I magic. "Nor the doctor, either, I suppose?" he ventured. "Nor the doctor, either. "Why, continued the Drafty schemer, leading his opponent on deftly, "I should have thought that the flrst thing do after you discovered your vaunted clue to all my guilt and your own superb smartness"—hero he sneered audibly, the more effectually to throw Le Britta off his guard. and distract him from guessing his true intentions—"I should have thought that the first thing you did was to perfect yourn negative, print a score of copies, and send them to the judge, the lawyer, all your friends and nay enemies!" "No," spoke Le Brltta, bluntly. "I hastened here at once to see if I could not reason you into the right thing. There is time abundant to attend to all that." "Is there?" Ralph Durand half arose in the arm- chair. His shrinkiee helplessness slowly became the crouching attitude of a tiger posing for a sudden spring. . "Yes, an abundance of time. But, we waste words"— "And that picture, that half -developed negative, is all the chronicle you have of this alleged will?" "Is it not enough?" "It might get lost,disfigured, broken." "I shall see to that." "1 have an offer to make you." "Indeedl" "Yes." "What is it?" demanded Le Britta, suspiciously. "I will buy it of you," "You!" "Yes. I offer you for that little piece of glass one thousand dollars cash. Come, be reasonable! You are concerning your- self in the welfare of people you scarcely know. Take the thousand dollars, deliver up the negative, and leave people to fight their own battles." Jera Le Brltta flushed scarlet. "You insulting scoundrel," be cried, with flashing eyes, his fists slowly closing and unclosing. "You deserve an honest man's best efforts at thrashing you. Enough! I -will daily nu longer ger with you. I take my evidence of your guilt to the courts of justice." "No, you never will!" The declaration was a ringing hiss. Quick as a flash, Ralph Durand sprang forward. He had but one idea in his mind—to reach the precious negative, secure and destroy it. Upon it hinged all his hopes of fortune; he knew it, he realized it fully. His shove, sudden as it was, however, was intercepted by the guarded Le Britta The photographer divined his purpose. He met the fierce onward rush of the scoundrel, ere he was half -way to the table; he seized him by the shoulders. Ralph Durand was .)powerful man, an adroit man, too, in tricks likely to baffle and beat an unwary foe. The man however who had never weakened a splendid constitution with over -indulgence in liquors and tobacco was fully a match for a rum -wrecked nicotine -poisoned adversary. Seizing Durand by the shoulders he fairly Bung him straight back into the arm -chair he had just left with a shock that made the craven's jaws come together like the springs of a steal trap. There he sat a picture of baffled villainy, a huddled -up mass of breathless jarred humanity. "You sit still if you arewise!" warned the photographer sternly. "Once more and for the last time, will you resign your trustas guardian of Gladys Vernon, go your way until the law finds you out for some new villainy, or shall I take that negative to a court of law and force you to do sof" "Give me time to think!" pleaded the breathless, baked Durand. He sat scowling, trembling with rage, bis eyes glaring balefully at the man who had beaten hien back at every point. Watchinghip. wearily, Le Britta awaited his decision. Suddenly Durand sprang to his feet; just near to hand was the fireplace, and lying across its fender was a short, heavy iron poker. This he had seized, this he now waved above his head. "Never!" he fairly yelled. "If I give in in one point, you will hound me down in a dozen. Never! never! never!" He poised the iron missile. Le Britta, supposing that he meditated a murderous assault upon himself, dodged, advanced, sought to get near enough to his nimble foe to disarm him. The poker swayed aloft,cutting the air in a swooping circle until it whizzed like a minnie ball. Then it left the hand of the rascal but not to descend on the head of his ' unarmed foe. • No. with a groan of alarm and startled dismay, too late Jera Le Britta compre- hended the full sinister purpose of, his foe: The glass negative, not its possessor was the source of all Ralph Durand's interest just then. The whirling missile of iron swept clear past Le Birtta's dodging head; it grazed the table, straight as an arrow -struck the tilted fac-simile of Gideon` Vernon's last will and testament. Crash! The neat moment the precious glass negative was shattered into "a thousand pieees1 CHAPTER XVII. --A NEW SDR• PRISE. 'You scoundrel!" Fairly blinded with anger, the dis- Mayed' and routed. Le Britta sprang forward to wreak summary vengeance on the sly, dissimulating rogue who had bked his jl,_co inge.rely, r ra tapper comprehended the terribly disastrous denouement, of the sconethat bad hegiui with an augury of certain triumph. Ralph Durand had sank back into the arm -chair, with the gloating, exultant face of n fiend rtunpant and satisfied. "Ha! ha!" he chuckled, jeeringly. "who is master now, my smart picture peddler? Your work goes for nought!" "Wretch!" "Let me sea. I offered you one thousand dollar, for your picture. I would not give one thousand cents just now! Gather up the fragments, any over -sanguine meddler! Theywilll sell for OldIaSS " h ' Le Britt, was too overcome to speak, helplessness h'.position,'the Thoof Ins wild victory ohis opponent, the useless- nessnese of further discussion all occurred to his mind, as a glance at the glass -littered carpet showed the wreck and ruin wrought by the well -directed iron missile in the brawny hand of Ralph Durand. He glared once at the scoundrel, whom he could have annihilated with a look. Then, turning, he slowly walked from the room and the house, uttering a single bitter, ominous, echoing word oi' warning— "Wait!" Ralph Durand laughed mockingly and gleefully. He rubbed his hardened palms together, he gloated over his enemy's downfall, he chuckled, he capered. Long after Le Britt, had got out of sight of the villa, he sang and danced, a poured downliberaloof and fiery brandy, little reckoning of a change destined to come over the spirit of his dreams ere many days of his worthless, scheming existence ha 1 passed away. As to Le Britta, that tramp back to the village was the bitterest walk of his life. He blamed himself for all that had occurred, He reproached and dopreeated now the blind over -confidence that, tempting him single-handed to oppose a crafty foe had led him into the greatest error of his life. But all that was past now and added to pity for wandering Gladys and his keen sense of jusitce was a smarting sense of defeat that spurred him on to take up anew the cudgel against Ralph Durand as a personal foe against whom he bore an espeeial personal grievance. What should he do what could he do? The old will giving Durand full control of the Vernon fortune and therefore an undisputed censorship over Gladys Vernon herself could never be annulled now. The unscrupulous swindler was free by clear sanction of the law and Gideon Vernon's expression of utter confidence in hls power to wreck this royal estate, render its rightful legatee an outcast, and defy her helpless friends. Oh! it was bitter, torturing, cruel to realize; and, worst of all, the object of his perseentions, Gladys, was a wanderer, a fugitive. Her lover, Sydney Vance, had disappeared, and the threads of their lives commingled in a tangled skein the solution to which the crafty Durand alone possessed. There was au element of the indomitable and stubborn in Jera Le Britta's nature. It had marked importantand vital issues iu his Life in the past. Just now it spurred him on to action. His duty was to return home. Fre had done all he could torigi1ht a Treat wrong and had failed but � ho could not confess himself beaten; be could not endure Me thought that he had undertaken a great task and had failed iu its accomplishment and must perforce shrink from the field with drooping colors. "I will learn the truth. I will evolve consistency from this tangled complica- tion!" he uttered forcibly, and just arrived at that conclusion he came face to face at the edge of the town with the village lawyer. Mr. Munson greeted him cordially, more than that, effusively. His thought- ful eyes glowed with excitement as he intuitively traced in Le Bride's presence there a subtle connection with the Vernon interests." "What news?" he queried expectantly. "None of any great cheer or encourage- ment" replied the photographer in a depressed tone. "And you?" "The doctor and myself .have sent a detective to trace and' bring back poor Gladys." "Has he found her?" "Not yet. Another officer is looking out for her lover Sydney Vance. Rome was not built in a day. It takes time to follow an obscure trail. We shall have some word shortly." "I hope so" murmured Le Britta. "I have something to tell you." "Yes?" "But not of a very inspiriting nature." "Your face tells me that." Le Britta related his story of the dis- covery and fate of the glass negative. The lawyer looked startled at the thrilling recital. "Too bad!" he commenced when the photographer had completed his graphic narrative; "too bad indeed!" "The negative was an important clue?" "Decisive I should say; but we won't cry over spilled milk. That scoundrel of a Durand is a desperate man but we shall catch him napping yet." "I doubt it." "The sleekest rogues forget to bar their doors, sometimes." "He is always on his guard." "You talk hopelessly." "Of finding out something by remain- ing quiescent?—Yes. I believe in person- al effort, Mr. Munson; I do not pretend to any particular detective ability, bus I ant going to try to see what I can do by watching this knave. For all we know, he has tracked Gladys. He May have her a captive somewhere. he may connive at her death. He may have some scheme to later come in and inherit or claim the property personally. The stake he plays for is a large one, and he will win, if left undisturbed." The lawyer looked impressed and. serious. "You are talking sense, Mr. Le Britta, he remarked, gravely. "Of course, pursued the, photograph- et, "I 'am a comparative stranger to Miss Vernon, but I have a heart, sympathies, that impel meto do my duty. I must, 1 shall, find this poor girl. I cannot rest until I" know her fate. I shall, make all my arrangements to devote a week, or months if need be, in her behalf." "In other words, you will personally take up the trail?';" ee Yes." The lawyer's eyes sparkled , with genuine admiration, and he grasped Le Britta's hand warmly. ." You are a •noble man,Mr.: 'Le Britta!" he murmured, with strong emotion. "I can rely on you. Command nay co-operation and my bank account. I fept now that we will succeed." tepee started on a ease, :Jera Le Britta was a hard man ' to dissuade from his purpose. He remained at the village that day and the next, "looking over the ground, "sets_ he called What be learned lie olid not impart to either the it. 1 � ,. e a vycl or the doctor, Lor it consisted of trivial suspicious and seg gestione.. • "To•Tuorrow,','.. hr' said to the iiLWret' that •night, "I shall obtain a -suitable disguise; to -morrow •I shall take up the trail at 'Hawthorne.. villa. First, T .steall strive to locate the missing Sydney Van(,a. ,, " Azzd not . Gladys?" ejaeulated -the lawyer. surprised.., "No; for she, I am sanguine,.is resolute in hiding from friend and foe alike. Vance, 'on the contrary, I feel sure, 15 a prisoner in the power of Ralph Durand, or has been murdered by hint. Ftston such a (tun e on Durand. or find Vanceand gethis story of 1 the dt tth of Gideon Vernon, and wn have a tangible bates• to proceed upon, T vz, ur d once deposed, donot fear but that Gladys will return. She will be ata aching the outcome of events at Ilitwhorne villa from a distance, rest assured of thee." "The best -laid plans of men and mice gang oft agley!" however, as Jera Le Britta realized that evening. For, on the eve of devoting all his energies toward probing the great Vernon mystery personally, that very evening the clerk at the hotel handed hist a sealed envelope. It was a telegraphic dispatch and was dated that afternoon from his home. "Return at nne read the mystifying message. "Vernon (ace. Important." And it •was signed,stranger still, by his old-time friend Dr. Richard Mitten. CHAPTER XVIII.—"FI\DERS KE1']PERS. " Jera Le Britta was surprised more than ha A soiu 1as 1 t t b to startled he perusedthe > Y innocent -looking message that bore so strange and unexpected a revelation. Its mandato advising :urgency was peremptory, its wording mysterious. At' first, he feared that It might indicate trouble in his business, A year previous, a fire bad caused havoc and disruption of business temporarily in his studio, and. he had experienced anxiety ever since on the same score. Musics in his family, too, might be inzmipsnt, But, no! neither business nor domestic complication had incited the telegram, the photographer felt sure of that after a second perusal, for the mystio interpolation, "Vernon oase," betrayed the real, actuating influ- ence behind the action of his friend Doctor Milton. "What can it mean? Vernon case!" cogitated the startled Le Britta. "Doctor Dick is no sensationalist, no alarm- ist. • He's too cool and methodical for that, He knows all about the Vernons, for I told him. Can it he .possible that ho has made some important discovery— some new evidence in the • mineral. Pshaw! that is impossible. Has he found a trace of Gladys accidentally? Scarcely; what then? The only way to find out is to return home. Yes, I must leave affairs in abeyance here for a few arrays. I must learn what Dick has discovered." Le Britt, took the first train home- ward -bound. Late as the hour was when he reached bis destination, he went straight to the office of his friend. A light showed at its outside window. Tap! tap! "Come in." "Jera!" "Dick!" . 1 Dz(.1.. "Yon got my message?" "I would not be here if I hadn't for I was deep in mystery and work. What is it," queried the photogapher, eagerly. "What I telegraphed you, the Vernon ease." "Why! Di els"— "You wonder how I come to discover anything about it, way off here, away from its center of operations." "It puzzles me, I must confess." "Still, I have." "Ah! a trace of the girl?" "Primarily, yes." "You mean that you have found out where she is hiding?" "Not at all." "Then"— "Yesterday," and Doctor Milton drew a newspaper from a table near by, "I chanced to look over a journal published in a city not a hundred miles from here." "Go on." "Glancing over its columns, I came upon a queer -reading advertisement." "What was its" "Read for yonrslf." Doctor Milton folded down the paper, and his finger marking a column beaded "Personal," indicated one of the adver- tisements ander that heading. Eagerly Le Britta perused the little item. It read:— "G. ead:"G. V.: Communicate with sue at H. V. immediately. 1 and I alone have news of S. V. Would you save him? Then do not delay. 12. D." Le Britta looked up with an excited face. "You understand?" queried the doctor, in an impressive tone. "Yes; a message from Ralph Durand to Gladys Vernon, telling her to write to Hawthorne villa if she would save her missing lover, Sydney Vance." "Exactly. 1t struck sue the minute I saw the initials, for I remembered all you had told me about this strangely, mysterious case." "It proves what I have surmised all along." "And that is?" "That Ralph Durand was instrumental: in the disappearance of Sydney Vance, and now knows where he is, "It looks that way." "Durand knows that through Vance only can he influence Gladys to return to the villa." "But why should he wish it? "That his future plottings will show. And this was why you telegraphed me?" "Not at all'.' "Eh!" ejaculated Le Britta, vaguely. "There is ,something else?" "Yes" "what? Hello! What's that, Dick? A visitor -sonic one overhearing our con- versation Le Britta had started quite violently,, for just then from the next apartment echoed a faint sound like the moan or sigh of a human voice. "No listener, no fear of that Jera, but some one is there." "Wino?" "The man whose strange discovery caused me to send that telegram." "Ah!" exclaimed Le Britta;. excitedly. "You put ane on nettles, Dick!" "When I mentioned the Vernon case: in my telegram," pursued the doctor, "1 referred to him. Listen. (10 sei CONTINUED.) When malice and a sense of',duty get all tangled up, it takes a wise man to get 'em straightened' out and sepa rated. If there are about- as many young men as young women, how can each ofthe,lat ter have seven of the former as devoted admirers? --N. Y. Advertiser, AVRICLILTLIpr KEEPING FOWLS WARM. Device For Securing a comfortable Boost- ing i'laeo .in Bleak Weather. It goes without saying that poultry will yield a small ,profit in winter if not kept thoroughly warm. Fowls will,how- ever, endure somewhat cold quarters during the day time if kept briskly at work scratching for their living, but cold nights must be specially guarded against. Country Gentlemanfurnishes a device for securing n warm roosting g place that will doubtless commend itself to miseYP y breeder. null] breeders. h theplatform r placed c,ce l l are plat d the roosts, and in front of these is a tight board partition coining down to within 15 or 18 inches of the platform. The ceiing, sides and back of the space thus v\\\MMA!` l 1 inclosed being tight. 7jhe authority quoted says a good temperature will be maintained by the heat from the bodies of the fowls themselves. for this heat rises and cannot esoape,while the impure gases, being heavier, despond to the floor below. If difficulty is had in getting fowls to go to roost in such an inclosed and partially darkened plaoe,this added parti- tion in front can be hinged at the top and raised during the day, being let down after the fowls have gone tomroost. The barrel below the platform is in it convenient position to receive each day the accumulation of droppings upon the platform. If the hallway is at one side or in the rear of this roosting place, the nests can very conveniently he placed beneath the platform and made accessible from the hallway. Feeding Sheep. "With sheep rather more than with any other class of stack, good caro is necessary in snaking the change in the fall from green food to dry," says Farm- er's Home "Usually sheep oan be allowed to run out later than any other class of stock, yet with them, as with all stack, there is no advantage in allowing to run out when it will expose them to cold or storms. If the change from green to dry food is made too suddenly, growth of bodyand fleece is 1i bio to d a a suffer a check, and when the wool starts to grow again there will be a weak place in the fibro, which impairs its quality. So far as 1s possible the feeding and man- agement should be such as will main- tain n steady growth from ono year's clipping to another. .A thrifty condition is essential to the growth of the most and the bolt wool, as well as of flesh. For this reason, in a majority of cases, it will be found n good plan to commence penning at night in good season and giving them a light feed of grain and hay or fodder, or of unthreshed oats. At first they will not eat any considerable quantity, but as the feed in tite pastures fall they will gradually eat more, and more should bo supplied them. Let them run out in lithe pasture as long as the weather will permit, but manage them so that when it becomes necessary to feed dry fend alone they will have become well accustomed to eating it. Good feed racks should be provided in order to lessen the waste as much as possible. Sheep are naturally dainty eaters and will neither eat dirty food nor drink foul water unless forced to it by extreme hunger or thirst, and this aon- dition is always against good thrift. Sheep never ought to be fed on the ground either; they should have good racks or mangers into which all rough- ness should be put, and good troughs should be provided for feeding grain. Scattering roughness on the ground is very wasteful, as the sheep will tramp over it and then refuse to eat it, With a little care in feeding, the change can be mode without detriment. With sheep, as with all stock it is quite an item to keep thrifty at a low cost, and care in making the onange to dry seed is an item." Turkeys on the Farm. Turkeys are subject to roup, and they also become lame from no apparent cause. Reflection will make plain the faot that turkeys have a severe trial in winter. Because they naturally roost high, seeking the limbs of trees, it is supposed that such locations are the most suitable, but the turkey would take better care of -itself if it knew how. It does not understand that it bas any in- tereet in buildings or shelter, and must be taught how to seek warmer roosting plaees.than the tree limbs. To alight from high limbs the turkey is compelled to strife the ground with a heavy weight on its legs, and as this is repeated daily the birds soon become lame.. The oold winds often cause frosted feet, and the birds become also blind and have swol- len eyes. The indication of blindness and swollen eyes is that of roup, due to ex- posure to cold winds. By confining the turkeys in a building havinghigh roosts, and feeding them early in the morning and: late at nigh(t'in the building for a week, they will forget the tree tops and roost under shelter. When roup gets into a flock of turkeys they might as well be destroyed at once, as they seldoin recover. Going One Better. Two old cronies in the town of Auoh- terarder were one day disputing as to Wise remembered the windier day. "I mind it bein' sio a win," said one, "that' it took the draws . three 'oors tae flee hame tae their wpd free the Domin- iee Bold, an' that's no niair than a mile." "Hoot, man!" the other replied, "Ah've seen it that windy that the craws bad taetwalk;hornet" Ocular Evidence Ineufacient. "When I was a child I swallowed three pine at once.,, "Dear met" exclaimed an interested listener, "didn't they kill you?1" SUBSTITUTES FOR HAY. The Importance of Cornstailcs and Straw For Stock heeduitt. Professor E. B. Voorhees, of the New Jersey agricultural experiment statlou, in a bulletin on cornstalks and straw as hey substitutes, furnishes some valuable information to farmers and answers the ever recurring query as to the proper use of cornstalks and straw for stook reeding. As Professor Vorhoes explains. one rea- son why corn fodder and straw have a low feeding value is that they aro coarse foods. They must' be made finer before they are fed. To obtain the best results should theybe P c find by being run through a outter and softened et t er by mixing with roots and grain or steamed or dampened with tent water. It inay Y safely be said that unless these things aro done it will be impossible to obtain the full feeding value of these coarse foods, The saving of three tons of hay in a season will pay all the cost of cutting and softening stalks and. "straw. Attention is called in this bulletin to statements made by the French minister of agriculture: "It is an error to suppose that auimnis on the farm are condemned to suffer or perish if the hay crop fails, for there aro countries where horses and cattle never receive any hay, and these countries are renowned for their cattle." He gives the following nutritive equiva- lents for cattle: One hundred pounds of good average hey a nn be replaced by 170 pounds of oat straw,;.'37 pounds of wheat straw, 150 pounds of oat chaff, 193 pounds of wheat chaff and 145 pounds of potatoes," It must be remembered that while thee° products in the quantities given may furnish the equivalent of nutrition, it does not follow that they serve would l , 11 s o cqua y well in maintaining life if fed alone. A good feed is not equally good Lor all purposes, and oven ,animals of the same kind differ in their capacity for using feeds. In England great progress has been made to feeding methods: The cut hay, straw and other coarse products are mixed with shoed roots, the feeds added, the whole mass thoroughly mixed and allowed to remain some time before feeding. This method doubtless adds to both the palatability and digestibility of the foods, Professor Voorhees gives a number of rations for dairy cows, horses and fatten- ing steers, but these are not intended as positive rules. Animals must bo fed as individuals with peculiarities of appetite, digestion and assimilation, not as fixed machines. The remark is made that where since is kept clover hay should not be sold from the farm, The importance of retaining the crops on the farm or exchanging their value for eommerolnl fertilizers should be well understood. Both cattle and horses will gain is weight on liberal enticing of clover hay. For young and growing stook, as chives and colts, linseed meal, bran and middl- ings are the best additions to the rough fodders, stalks and straw, in the way of feeds, as they are rioh in the muscle and hone forming consltnents. The amounts required should be adjusted by the feeder according to the age of the animals, Sugar Cured hams. In the absence of commercial pookers' recipes we give several formulas that have been made public by The Country Gentleman, .As there is more or Ines t' in the proportion of h ingre- dients, ion the n ro- P 1 g dients, the taste of the user must decide which is best for Mm:— One ounce salt to every pound of meat, an ounce saltpeter to 20 pounds meat, 5 pounds sugar to 100 pounds meat, water to Dover. For 100 pounds meat, 9 pounds.salt, 3 ounces saltpeter, 3 pounds molasses sugar, an ounce bicarbonate soda, 6 gal- lons water, Leave in pickle Rix weeks and smoke to taste, using fragrant woods, For 100 pounds meat, 0 paands salt, 4 ounces saltpeter, 8 pounds brown sugar. Dry Curing—Mix at pint fine salt with a pint coffee sugar and rub every part of hams for three days. .As moisture oozes from meat, lay in pans and dip over meat as your rub on the salt and sugar. In three or four weeks smoke, rah a little black pepper nn surface, put in cloth bags and.whitewash. Hampshire Bacon—In a shallow, wide tub put brine strong enough to float an egg. To each peck of salt add 2 ounces refined saltpeter and 1 to 2 pounds brown sugar or good molasses. After being six weeks in the pickle take out meat and smoke it; or when dry, rub with wheat flour, wrap in newspaper and put in dry place. Should the Hens Sit ? During this cold weather the question is whether to prevent hens from sitting or allow them to hatch a brood. The de- cision depends entirely on how one Is fixed for raising the chicks. If there is a warm room, with sunlight, and the chicks are looked after three or four times a day, it will pay well to allow the hens to sit and hatch out broods. Winter chicks pay as well as winter eggs. To demonstrate this fact it may be stated that to raise a chick to the weight of one and a half pounds will cost only eight cents for the food. If it hen raises its chicks they should sell for from 25 to 40 cents per pound, n000rding to qual- ity and circumst;,aces, but allowing only 20 cents a pound (a very low price for good broilers in winter) each chick will bring 80 cents, or 22 cents above the Dost of the food making $1.32 profit for a brood of six, without deducting the cost of the eggs used for hatching. More fre- quently good chicks bring 50 cents each. The ben will consequently pay as well as a sitter as she would as a layer, but the fact must be kept in view that it is the work, the care, the warmth and atten- tion to their comfort that will enable one to make the profit from chicks. Cattle Foods. Professor W. W. Cooke of the Vermont experiment station issues a bulletin on 'several waste products from corn that are being sold for cattle food. Three pro- ducts tested were cream gluten meal 'corn germ feed and Buffalo gluten feed. The latter to sold under the general name of "sugar meal" and is a by-products in the manufacture of glucose' sugar from corn. It is a good feed, but is very con- centrated and, like cotton seed meal,. should be fed sparingly. Three pounds per day are enough., Nest Egg Tortures. A china egg in a nest is of the same temperature as the 'atmosphere benne when the thermometer records zero the egg is also at zero The temperature of the body of a hen " 1s about 102 degrees. When a hep goes on a nest to lay and her body"'(the naked portiontouches the egg) comes in contact with the ice-cold substance, it is torture,and she also loses heat and becomes chilled. It does not pay. to use food for warming shine or glass eggs. Cover them with White flannel or some other material. Napoleon III. wrote a:life of Ctztsar that ranks very high. CONVENIENT STAIR COVER. One an For Moving heavy Packages Cry and Down Stairs. Every practical labor saving arrange - ])lent 16 welcome el a to the overworked farmer. Hence the following device, suggested by a writer in The Orange ;Judd Farmer, will hardly fail to find favor. It will be found of special servioe in barns, cellars, storerooms, etc., whore Leas dow T so 1st' of it eons hard It w whe W quic and Tile handy contrivance r lowering of barrels into cellars or the elevating of the same into upper stories a comparatively easy matter, Bags of grain, potatoes, farm maohinery, etc, can thus be readily taken into a hay mow or second story of a granary. FARM CONVENIENCES. which Contribute Largely to the Comfort and Welfare of Lite Owne r. There is a surprising difference to be observed on many farms as regards the attention given to what aro commonly considered matters of secondary import- ance but which nevertheless largely ,con- tribute to the comfort of the owner and the welfare of his animals. Many barna and stables are to bo found on good farits where the rain drips front the eaves in such a way as to make going in an out of them exeedingly disagreeable. Quite often, too, this drip may be found failing on an uncovered manure pile, leaching out its fertility an carrying it off in streams as it runs out of the yard. Again, little or no attention is paid to walks by which the building oan be reached without traveling in the spud. Not many farmers now in the region of ine}ement winters leave their animals quite unprotected by shelter, but in- stances are not infrequent where cattle are so cramped up by stanchions and narrow stalls that they might well be txrused if they preferred liberty out of It0Ors in the cold to such confinement.. On another farm, eave troughs and conduc- tors will bee found leading the rainwater into cisterns conveniently located, with pumps and water troughs for the stook, an arrangement that greatly lessens the labor of taking care of them, and saves the water for necessary uses, instead of its keeping everything in a disagreeable condition around the buildings. Where manure is to remain in the barnyard until spring, it costs very little to build a shed over the pile that will protect it sufficiently to prevent its fertility from leaching out. By timely attention to the main things that present themselves, such as a prnper housing of tools and agricultural implements as well as of the animals and poultry, a great deal will be done that will pay well for the labor and expense. A very useful article aboutfarm build- ings, though not very commonly found, is a force pump supplied with h o sufficient to throw water on the top building. These can now be obtain quite cheaply. The hose can often nsed to great advantage for other pu poses, and in the case of fires may prove of inestimable value in saving a building where other means at hand would fail. It should always be kept in the same place, hanging up, in readiness for im- mediate use, and with one force pump at the house and one at the barn it can be gniokly attached to either as the case may require. With water convenient and plenty and a hose 1n working order at hand, 'muddy wagons and carriages can be quickly cleaned and be kept in readi- ness for going out again. Besides this.. a farmer who oan show an arrangement for the protection of bis buildings against fire can unquestionably get a lower -rate of insurance than he oan where no precautions are taken; Feeding Eggs to Chicks. Eggs are expensive food for chicks, but when ab incubator is used the clear ones are sometilues given as food, but usually, cooked hard. This is a;mistake, Tho best mode of feeding eggs to chicks - is to beat them, pour on boiling water on the beaten eggs, and thicken the mesa to a stiff dough with cornmeal, but they should not be used oftener than every• other day, giving them at night. Hard- boiled eggs are excellent, but ` they are usually fed too liberally and cause, bowel disease. Making Ingredients for Pastry. In making pastry do not use the hands, as the beat of the bands would melt the batter and lard, and the cooler they can be kept the better. Do not mix the shortening too thoroughly; It should' still be in rather large lumps when turned out on the board for Tolling. , The less handling the paste receives the flakier it will be when finished..