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The Brussels Post, 1908-9-10, Page 71 of ree- Iia ass, dng. ,ins slug tin 1 Wo ,eel +04-A4-.) (1-);(+)X+ f+ (+3 +Af.m+Kf+3 43 Off **445.t;+}rkii E+ A House of Mystcry OR, THEE CURL IN BLUE i kf+i +ff+m +i 4•f +oOff—,w+ff-fo+..+xi+?�+3 +?c,:+ +ff+ 4+3(+3 +ff , CHAPTER XXIV. A man -servant answered my sum - mane. "Mrs, Anson?" I inquired. "Mrs. Anon is out of town, sir," answered the man, "The house is let.,, "Furnished ?" "Yes, sir," "Is your mistress at home?" I in- quired. "I don't know sir," answered the man, 'iplamatically. "Oh, of course 1" I exclaimed, taking out a card. It was the first T found within my cigarette -case, and was intentionally not my own. "Will you take this to your mis- tress, and ask her if she will kind- ly spare ins a few moments. I am a friend of Mrs. Anson's." "I'll see if she's at home, sir," said the man, dubiously; and then, asking mo into the entrance -hall, he, left me standing while he went in search ofhis mistress. That hall was the same down ithich I had groped my way when blind. I saw the closed door of the drawing -room, and knew that with- in that room the younman whose name 1 knew not hadg been foully done to death. There was the very umbrella -stand from which I had taken the walking -stick, and the door of the little -used library„ which 1 had examined on that night when I had dined there at Mrs, An - son's invitation—the last night of my existence as my real self. The man returned in a few mo- ments -and invited me into a room on the left—the morning -room I supposed it to be saying: "My mistress is at home, sir, and will see you." I had not remained there more than a couple of minutes before a youngish woman of perhaps thirty or so entered, with a rather dis- tant bow. She was severely dress- ed in black; dark-haired, and not very prepossessing. Her lips were too thick to be beautiful, and her top rosy of teeth seemed too much in evidence. Her face was not exact- ly ugly, but she was by no means good-looking. "I have to apologize," I said, rising and bowing. "I understand that Mo. Anson has left her house, and I thought you would kindly give me her address, I wish to see her on a most pressing personal matter." She regarded me with some su- spicion, I thought. "1f you are a friend of Mrs. An - son's, would it not be bettor if you wrote to her and addressed the let- ter hero? Her letters aro always forwarded," she answered. • She was evidently a rather shrewd and superior person. "Well, to tell the truth," I said, "I have reasons for not writing." "Then I much regret, sir, that I am unable to furnish you with her address," she responded, somewhat stiffly. I have been absent from London for six years," I exclaimed. "It is because of that long absence that I prefer not to write." "e fear that I cannot assist you," she replied briefly. There was a strange, determined look in her dark -grey eyes. She did not seem a person ;amenable to i argument, 'But it as regarding an urgent and purely private affair that I wish to i see Mrs. Anson," I said. "I have nothing whatever to do v with the private affairs of Mrs. An- i son," she replied, "I merely rent s this house from her, and, in Justice s to her it is not likely that I give the address to every chance caller." s "I am no chance caller," I re- 1 sponded, "During her residence hero six years ago I was a weloonie guest at her table." 1 "Six years ago is a long time. Yon may, for aught I know, not be 11 so welcome now." Did she, I wondered, speak the truth? i "Yon certainly speak very plain- t l,r, madam," I answered, rising e stiffly. if I have put yoti to any n inconvenience I regret it, I can, g no doubt, obtain from some other t person the information I require." N "Most probably you can, sir, p she answered, in a manner quite o unruffied, "I tell you that if you b write I shall at once forward your letter to her. More than that 1 cermet do." m "1 presume' you are acquainted with Miss Mabel Anson? I in. w quirod. She smiled with some sarcasm. B "Teo Anson 'family do not eon- _ cern me in the least, sir," she re- p plied, rising as sign that myf altoj unfritful interview was'at an end, 0 �2ontion of Mahal seemed to have c irritated her, and although I plied i her with Nether questions she s would tell me absolutely nothing. When I bowed and took my. leave I fear that I did not show her very much politeness, In my eagerness; for infitxwtation h her hesitation to give me Mrs. An - son's address never struck me as perfectly natural. She, of course, did not know me, and her offer to forward a letter was all that she ecoid do in such circumstances. Yet at the time I did not view it in that light, but regarded the ten- ant of that house of mystery as an ill-mannered and extremely dis- agreeable person. In despair I returned to St. James's Street and eutered my club, the Devonshire. Several men whom I did not know greeted me warmly in the smoking -room, and, from their manner, I saw that in my lost years I had evidently not hike;,' sire answered, "Wiz he an intimate friend?" "I believe so," I said. Then, finding that she could explain no- thing more, I took my leave, Next day and the next I wander- ed about London aimlessly and without hope. Mabel and her mo- ther had, for some unaoeountable reason, gone abroad and 'carefully concealed their whoreabouta. Had this fact any connection with the n,,ysterious tragedy that had been enacted at The Bottoms That one thought was ever uppermost in my mind, A week passed and I still remain- ed at the Grand, going forth each day, wandering hither and thither, but never entering the Club or go- ing to places where I thought it likely that I might be recognized. I could not return to the life at Danbury with,that angular woman at the head of my table --tile woman who called herself my wife, If I returned I felt that the mystery of it all must drive me to despair, and I should, in a fit of desperation, commit suicide. I ask any of those who read elite strange history of my life, whether they consider themselves capable of remaining calm and tranquil in such circumstances, or of carefully going over all the events in their sequence and considering them with abandoned that institution. They logical. reasoning. I tried to do so, chatted to me about polities and but in vain. Far hours I sat tvith- etoeks, two subjects upon which I in the hotel smoking and thinking. was perfectly ignorant, and I was I was living an entirely false life, compelled to exercise considerable existing fn the fear of recognition Fact and ingenuity in order to avoid by unknown friends, and the con - betraying the astounding blank in stent dread that sooner or later I my mind, must return to that hated life in After a restless hour I drove back Devonshae'That hue -and -cry had been westward and called at old Chan- raised regarding my disappearance Hing s in Cornwall Gardens in an u.a.s plain from a paragraph which endeavor to learn Mabel's address. I read in one of the morning papers The colonel was out, but 1 saw Mrs, about ten days after any departure Channing, and she could, alas ! tell from Danbury. In the paragraph me nothing beyond the fact that I was designated as "a financier Mrs. Anson and her daughter had v,ell-known in the City," and it been abroad for threeyears past— was there stated that I had left my where, she knew not, They bad home suddenly "after betraying drifted apart, she said, and never signs of insanity," and had not now exchanged letters. since been heard of. "Is Mabel married?" I inquired Insanity l I laughed bitterly as I as carelessly as I could, although read those lino supplied by the in breathless eagerness. Exeter correspondent of the Oen- "I really don't know," she re- tral News. The police had, no sponded. "I have heard some talk doubt, received my description, of the likelihood of her marrying, and were actively on the watch to but whether she has done so I am trace me and restore me` to my unaware." "friends," "And the man whom rumor.. de- For -nearly a fortnight I had been signated as her husband? Who iu hiding, and was now on the was he?" I inquired quickly. verge of desperation. By means of "A young nobleman, I believe." one of the cheques I had taken from "You don't know his name?" IDenbury I succeeded in drawing a "No. It was .mentioned at the good round sum without my bank - time, but it has slipped my memory: ers being aware of my address, and One takes no particular notice of was contemplating going abroad in tea -cup gossip." order to avoid the possibility of be - "Well, Mrs. Channing," I said, ing put under restraint as a luna- confidently, "I am extremely desir- tic, when one evening, in the dusky nus of discovering the whereabouts sunset, T went forth and wandered of Mabel Anson. I want to see her down Northumberland Avenue to upon a rather curious matter which the Victoria Embankment. In com closely concerns herself. Can you parison with the life and bustle of tell mo of any one who is intimate the Strand and Trafalgar Square, with them?" the wide roadway beside the "Unfortunately, I know of no Thames is always quiet and repose-• one," she answered, "The truth ful. Upon that same pavement is, that they left London quite sucl- over which I now strolled in the di- dcnly; and, indeed, it was a mat- rection of the Temple I had, in the ter for surprise that they neither days of my blindness, taken my les - paid farewell visits nor told any of sons in walking alone. That pave - their friends where they were go- ment had been my practice -ground ing." on summer evenings under the ten - "Curious," T remarked—"very der guidance of poor old Parker, curious l" the faithful servant now lost to me. My eyesight had now grown as sarong as that of other men. The great blank in my mind was all that distinguished me from my fel- lows. During those past fourteen days I had been probing a period which I had not lived, and ascer- taining by slow degrees the events of my unknown past. And as I strolled along beneath the plane trees over that broad pavement I recollected that the last occasion I had been there was on that memorable evening when I hacl lost myself, and was subsequently present at the midnight tragedy in that house of mystery. I gazed around. In the ornamental gar- dens, bright with geraniums, some tired Londoners were taking their ease upon the seats provided by that most paternal of all metropo- litan institutions, the London County Council; children were shouting as they played at ball and hop -scotch, that narrow strip of green being, alas 1 all they knew of Nature's beauty outside their world of bricks and mortar. The slight wind stirred the dusty foliage of the trees be'ioath which I walked, while to the loft river -steamers belched forth, volumes of black smoke, and barges slowly floated down with the tide. On either side were great buildiege, and straight before the dome of St. Paul's. Over all was that golden, uncertain haze which in central London is called sunset, the light which so quickly ttu•ns to cold, grey, without any of those glories of crimson and gold which those in the country associ- ate with the 'summer 'sun's decline. That walk indnoed within me melancholy thoughts of a wasted life. I loved Mabel Anson -I loved her with all my soul.. Now that marriage with her was no Tenger within the range of possibility I was inert and despairing, utterly heed- less of. everything. i had, if truth be told, no further desire for life. All joy within ane was now blotted out. (To bo Continued.) ..,_ , good wheat? The chemists and ex- "T'ltis watch 'will last a lifetime, ports at the station tested 11 and as h ha. d the said the jewellero handed ronotin'ced it n cod rrahtr of !ports good q I. Watch to the customer. "Non- hard wheat, Hard wheat! That sense 1'' retorted the other; "can'., was snffieient. But .Adams knew 1. see for mvsClf that its hours are he tenet havepatienee for another Bering met him, or of hearing of numbered?" iyear, Then there was, I reflected, ap- parently some reason for the pre- sent tenant at The Boltons refusing the address. "Yes," Mrs. Channing went on, "it was all very mysterious. No- body knows the real truth why they weut abroad so suddenly tend sec- retly. It was between throe and four years ago now, and nothing, to my knowledge, has since been heard- of them." "Very mysterious," I responded. "It would seem almost as though they had,some reason for conceal - ng their whereabouts." "That's just what lots of .people have said. You may depend upon t that there is something very mysterious in it all. We were such ery close friends for years, and it s certainly strange that Mrs. An- on bias never confided in me the ecrot of her whereabouts." "I remembered the old Colonel's trange warning on that evening ong ago, when I had first,met li'Label at his table. • What, I won- dered, could ho know of them to t heir detriment? I remained for a quarter of an our longer. The. colonel's wife was full of the latest tittle-tattle, as the wife of an ex -attache always s. It is part of the diplomatic raining to be always well-inforiu- d of the sayings and doings of our. eighbors; and as I allowed her to ossip on she revealed to me many hings of which I was in ignorance. cllie her daughter, had, it ap- eered, married the son of a New - aside shipowner a couple of years efore, and • now lived pear Ber- tvick-on-Tweed. Suddenly a thought occnrted to e, and 1 asked whether she know lilies Wells or the man Rickman, ho had been my fellow -guests on that night when I had dined at The oltone. "I knew a Miss Wells—a very renounced n1d maid, who was a riend of hers, answered Mrs, Banning. But she caught infiti- nza about a year ago, and died of t, Shelivedin Edith Villas, Ken- leen." en- inion. 'And Hielentan, a fair men, of middle age, with a very ugly face?" She reflected, "I haute rte recollection of over A MIRACLE IN ' WffEA1 NEW RICHES FROM ALASKKA. FOR, THE FARMER, Hard Wheat From fall Sowing -- Yields Up to 222 Bushels to the Acre! When the United States paid eighty trillions for the Territory of Alaska, it was to the fur the pur- Meteors looked for a return on the investment. When gold began to punt in from that great country the investment was pronounced good. But not in geld alone was Alaska destined to repay those early states- men for their real-estate specula- tion. Years after the yellow metal was discovered, there came an aged In the fall of 1906 the 1545 pounds farmer' to that far northland, and were planted in Melds by the side took back to the States the basis of the famous Blue Stem and Club far wealth to his country by the side wheat grown in that section. Watch - of which the gold from the hills and ing their comparative growth, Mr. ice river -beds should pale into in- Adapts picked on the sante day significance, writes Oscar F. G. green heads of Club wheat and Day 'n the Saturday Evening Post. gran heads of his Alaska wheat, It was in 1903 that Abraham Ad- the latter so many times larger than ams, a native of Kentucky, who the ordinary wheat that the Olub had gone with the "star of Empire" wheat seemed hardly started. to the great West to farm it, was THE FARMER, WAS JUBILANT. taken with a desire to try his for- tunes in Alaska: Leaving his ranch in northern Idaho, he made a trip storms of the worst bond came, to the land of promise and of gold, beating down the ordinary wheat but nothing carne of his attempts until it was not lit. to harvest. The at discovery. Turning his attention farmer•, discouraged, went out to then to exploring, he drifted along his Alaska wheat -fields and saw the coast of eastern Alaska, where that the sturdy Atoms had partly the Japan ourren flows near the withstood the storms, and he finally sbore and makes of the land free harvested 53,000 pounds of seed, coast to mountain eternal spring. Now was the time to make his fin- Many miles he explored, investigat- al test. He had enough for a test ing the possibilities of that country from winter -grown. Taking this to the experimental station, he soon received a report which made him for the first time that he had some- thing worth giving to the public. The station chemist wrote : Indoors or outdoors there is nothing quite so good as Ticlt—h r s u t o Shredded Wheat Wafer, which contains' in smallest bulk all the muscle -building, brain -producing qualities of wheat, TRY FE AS A TOAST WITH BUTTER, C!iEfSB OR FRUIT. SOLD BY ALL GRUrL•OOS 1018 Then Nature took' a hand, and hail - for future farming and grazing, preparing himself for a report to the farmers of his community. ' He found many beautiful bays, splendid beaches, sweeps of timber, and meadows heavy with juicy grasses. Here and there were trac- es of gold, but not of promising quantity, and then he chanced up- On p-o SURPRISING DISCOVERY. "The kernels from the fall -sown wheat were plump and sound and doubtless will grade No. 1. Judging from the chemical and physical con- dition of this sample, it will pro- bably take rank with the best grade Lodged in a nook under protectingof Blue Stem for flour. rock, sheltered from the winds, was "The sample grown from spring- s little Familiar patch. Interested sown wheat showed by chemical at once, he investigated ana found analysis a someng a higher protein that here a patch of wheat was content (this being an indication of growing, far from any living hu- its probable strength for bread- man that could have planted it. On to thinkn purposes). I ate inclined hands and knees ho pulled away the' to that thees wheat that you matted straws. Yes, it was certain-� have here is equal, if not the 11 wheat that was just ripening. ( superior, of our Blue Stem for The explorer sought among the flour -making purposes. I should thick stems for some heads, hut the like to make a mill test whenever you can send me a sufficient quan- wild game had been before him, and „ he was just about to give up when tity for that purpose. he discovered one head of wheat These aro the facts about the won- derful intact. A gigantic Bead it derful wheat of which the world was l Fully four inches longwith its rough boarding, and broad in will soon be talking. Farmers da. not believe it; wheat speoulators proportion, do not believe it; but those who Packing the head carefully away, have traveled to see it do believe it. the old man brought it back with Mr. Adams had his fields surveyed him to his ranch at Juliaetta, Ida- ho. da- and has absolute proof of the yield neighbors of his find, .e Whether h rit from each field: Te has tried his was wild wheat or not Ise could not wheat in other lands, and in some say. Perhaps, some wild laird had places it did better than in Idaho. filled its crop with the grains in. an Alabama raised wheat from it with unknown region, where it grew na- leaves seven -eighths of an inch five, and coming to Alaska deposi- broad, ted the seed in a fertile spot. And GROWING LIKE CORNSTALKS. yet it was •only curiosity that moved As a last fast, Mr. Adams sent Abraham Adams. FIe never dream -single heads of wheat to other parts ed of his find being of any value of the country where be had mon except as an experiment for his be could trust t plant and aseer own pleasure. tain the result. Reports are just In the fall of 1904 Mr. Adams coming to him, and he finds that in planted his head of Alaska wheat other States his Alaska wheat does on high and all -too -dry land — the better than on its home soil. In Ala- naturaI soil of Idaho. It grew rap- barna a head was planted Decem- idly when the spring opened its bar 31, was up January 30, waist - founts, and in the summer he had high April 1, with leaves seven -e seven pounds of wheat from this eighths of an inch broad, and July one head. That was startling. He ; was harvested, It showed to be hardly dared tell a farmer of it. He hard wheat of a fine quality, and examined the kernels. Four tines the one head yielded the same as as large as ordinary wheat, and in the first head planted in Idaho. color—instead of the homely brown- Under ordinary soil. conditions ish-gray of wheat of commerce - the new whoat will yield two bun - the prettiest cream color without a died bushels to the acre, under ex - darker spot. tra conditions above that, SEVEN POUNDS OF WHEATWhat will be the outcome? Had all America from ono head, and the finest -look- seed this year, the American amp had Alaska wheat to ing wheat mortal had ever seen! alone would have been five billions Abraham Adams began to dream. of bushels. Does that not mean a Having tested the grains as win- revolution in the wheat industry? Boren ter wheat, n1,Ir.Adams saved his Will the food of the poor become pounds to try as spring' so eheap-•that there will be no fam- wheat, and in 1906 he planted the ares'1 Or will farm property rise whole seven pounds. Sturdily .itin value with the capacity for the grew, and when it was harvested yield? All this is conjecture, but h' weighed 1595 pounds. His Alas- these things are certain t !ta find had broken the world's re- That wheat Alaska has given 11.5 cord for wheat yield 1 More than will withstand hail if not too heavy. two hundred and twenty-two bush- It will withstand frost. els to the acre was the ratio of It. grows hard wheat from fall yield, and that without any special saving, petting or manipulation. With the It�iolds up to 222 bushels to the world's average yield 12.7 bushels 3' to ,the acre and a fairyield for am •e. r ox- It will grade up to No. 1 .hard. eeptional land of twenty bushels And, last and best of all, it will here was the prospect of a miracle; bring back wheat -raising to the. a revolut'on in the wheat industry -worn-out farms of the East whore, of the world, But still there was with wheat -yields two hundred something that . might dash every bushels to the acre, farmers can ea hope of is wheat miracle. Was this ford to use manures and chemicals, Alaska wheat of good quality? and snake a profit. tilrottld it make good bread? If all America could seed with the With this last idea in mind the new wheat et would, at only fifty experimenting farmer carried a cents'a bushel, add nearly two and small quantity of hie wheat to the a half billions of dollars to the Idaho experiment station at Mos wealth of, kite farmers every year. cow . He know he had a. wheat that TWENTY -DOLLAR WHEAT. yielded past any beIicf. FCe had something marvelous in a wheat Since the above article was in that yielded equally as well planted type the following despatch has Winter or ening: Did Ito have h, boon received from Spokane, Wash- ington tl� `In the Julieetta county, in noi•thertt Idaho, Abraham Adams, fnrmerly a lumberman in Wiscon- sin, will aloe up more than $i,- 000,000 front '700 acres of land this season, in addition to producing • grain which gives every promise revolutionizing the wheat produc- tion of the world. Conservative es- timates plane the crop at from 70,- 00(1 to 78,000 bushels of grain, which Adams and his son-in-law, O. K. Hobe, a wholesale lumber dealer of Minneapolis, have contracted to eel] to farmers at $20 a bushel, not more than one bushel going to each buyer. "Adams acquired a tract of land in the Gem State six years ago an sowed Isis land to wheat, harvestin from 23 to 30 bushels of blue stein club and other varieties from ever were under cultivation. "One day early in 1904 he receiv- ed a single stalk of wheat, picked by a friend in one of the fertile val- leys in. Alaska, and sowed the ker- nels in his back garden. A. crop of seven pounds resulted the follow- ing summer. This Adams planted in the spring of 1906, harvesting 1,545 pounds of grain in July, or. over 220 bushels per acre. Embold- ened by his success he sowed the en- tire Drop in the fall of 1900, an l last summer cut enough grain to sow 700 acres of land, from which is now being cut what is believed to be the world's record yield." of d g y JEWISII FAMILY WIPED OUT. Russian Revolutionists Took Ter- rible Vengeance. News has reached St. Petersburg of a terrible vengeance taken by the Revolutionists of Yurivka, in Yekaterinoslav Province, upon a Jewish family named Edelstein, who were accused of giving infor- mation to the authorities regard, ing the activities of the agitators. They visited the Edelstein house at night and threw bombs through the windows. They then opened on the members of the family with revol- vers and shot to death the father, a daughter, a woman guest and her child. The mother, a son, son-in- law and two grandsons were severe- ly wounded. After this murderous onslaught the Revolutionists temporarily re- tired, and help for the wounded was summoned. In the course of a couple of hours the victims who were still alive had been conveyed; ho a hospital, Not satisfied with their vengeance, the Revolution- ists, now a well -armed band of about forty or sixty men, descend- ed upon the hospital, overpowered the nurses and guards and shot the mother and son to death, after' which they made their escape. Another despatch from the pro- vinces received here says that the prisoners in the jail at Saratov, upon discovering that two of their comrades were traitors, fell upon them and beat them to death. ITALIAN WATER FAMINE. Residents of Font Cities Dying of Thirst. fekeeleseseselleAleeeNsAISeveew ONTHEFRM4 FATTENING FOWLS. In Sussex, the staple fattening codd f is oats, ground very' lino by a special ocsmixed Hulk.. Buprt themees, are ewith skimdict loss costly mlxtnrea which have given excellent results,- and 'there is no reason why the fowl -fattener should depend solely on one kind of food. Success depends largely upon the proportions in which the various feeding stuffs are mixed. A mixture. of ground' oats, two parts, maize meal, one part; middlings, one part, makes an :excellent fattening ration. The principal moistening agent in all mixtures must be skim milk, since nothing else that may he used for this purpose is quite es good. Some fatteners, however, 'fend a good deal of broth, which is made by boiling down all kinds of rough fat, tallow, bones, pieces of meat, livers, etc., which can be picked up at email cost. The method is to boil these various kinds of of- fal in a levee vat for several boars, and according as the broth or soup is required it is drawn off and mixed with meal. Fowls in coops may be fed either twice or thricea day;' but we pro- fei to feed them only twice, as we , have found that they keep healthier and maintain a hearty appetite for a longer time upon two meals a day than on three, while there is no a - parent difference in gains of weigh. 14Iuch labor is also saved by feeding only twice a day, and this is an im- portant consideration in establish ments where some hundreds of fcwls are being fattened at once. The hours of feeding should be re- gular and evenly divided—that is to say, there should not be too long a .period between any two meals, for fowls in close confinement, with no opportunity of foraging for a single morsel of food, suffer in health and decrease in weight, when kept fasting too long. The attendant should be early astir, 'so as to give the fowl their morning meal between 5 and 0 o'clock in summer time, and as early as there is daylinght in winter, and the ev- ening meal is also to be regulated by the length of the day. In winter it must be fed between 3 and 4 o'clock, but in the time of longer daylinght the usual mealtime is about 5 p.m, At feeding tunes the attendant should be particularly observant, for there is no other time at which the health of the birds can be so accurately gauged. It will be ob- served that certain fowls will eat ravenously from the start, and will improve in condition daily, whilst others seem to lose their relish for .food within a few days after hay ling been placed in the coops. The flatter birds are usually unsuitable "subjects for fattening being anae- mic and thriftless, and the only ' ccurse that can be taken with them is to let them loose, and if they can he got into good health and fair condition in the fields, to sell them oft without fattening, for anything they will fetch. We may mention that the fowls which have neces- sarily to be handled in this way are exceptional, and that the majority of healthy fowls respond readily to the efforts of the fattener. It is unnecessary and indeed impossible to lay down and keep rules as to the quantity of food to be fed, and in this the attendant mast be guid- ed entirely by observation. The piactico is to place as much food in the troughs as it is supposed the fowls will eat up greedily, and then to observe them in order to ascer- tain if all are feeding well. If the attendant sees that more food is - required, he gives it; but, if, on the other hand, then is food left over, the troughs aro scraped into the feeding pail, and as the food can- not possibly get soiled in the troughs, it may be fed again at the next meal. The attendant should, however, aim at mixing only as much food at a time as will be con- sumed at a single meal. --Hone- stead Poultry Expert. A wail of anguish comes from the vast southern province of Apulia, Italy, where the population is dy- ing of the dreadful drought. No heavy rains have fallen for the last eighteen months, the wells are emp- ty and the olive groves and vine- yards present a spectacle of wither- ed vegetation. The wheat crops have failed. The Tavoliere district is reduced to a squalid desert, while in that cf Bari fresh water -costs more than wino. Over those vast tracts of un- watered country no artificial sup- ply exists. That gigantic undertak- ing, the Apulian aqueduct, so much talked of, and written about during the last twenty years, is still far from finished, nor in the most opti- mistic estimate will it bo available for at least another eight years. The Cities of Andric, Barletta, Trani and Bitonto are literally fam- ished. They have sent clamorous demands to the Government for immediate free transport of water by railways and warships. The Italian Steamship Navigation Com- pany htas talion the; generous initia- tive of despatching vessels laden with sweet water from Venice, An- cona and Sicilian ports to various points on the Apulian coast. The frog has, like the camel, the power of storing up ni5isturel which enables it to pass through tiros of drought whieh would otherwise prove fatal, He—"I shall speak to your father tonight, flow had 1 better begin?" She—lb? tailing his attentiono governing the statutes g assault,� tnanelau titer and murder, Papa i Papa s a to impulsive, you !govt.". FENCE -POST PRESERVATIVE. Experiments have for some_. ears been conducted at United States stations to determine the best me. tiled of wood preservation. The growing scarcity of timbot gives this question an interest for all of us. If the life of a fence post could be doubled, what a saving would be effected? Many substances have been tried, but the preservative now recommended is creosote. This is a by-product of oral tar, which is produced at mostplants for the manufacture of ,illuminating gas, This tar is distilled, and during the. process the condensed vapors are run into three separate vessels and thug separated into tike light oil of tar or napthas, the dead oil of coal tar or creosote, and pitch, Weer tar, when distilled in a similar man- ner, gives "wood creosote." which also possesses strong antiseptic properties. The treatment room, mended for fence posts is to have art iron tank capable of holding fifty posts, filled, when the poets are in, to a doth of three and rt half foot with orooeote and kept, hot, The poses are kept in this bath for. from ere to five hours, depending on ilio character of the wood, and are then transferred to a old bath of the same material for an hour,