HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1892-12-9, Page 7.Di.c, J, 1892
AGRICULTURAL,
A Prosperous Couple,
Wan, wife, o ai fifty year ago slnee you and me
An'
W0110' filum WO hillyoS 1lfo together sldeby
sten.
wo 1(0)' prompored, luting wo, wIre Ian' how
loll ort' Ivo be --
When wo sane spliced 5)o awned ono 005), ale
now, gosh, we own throe,
I owed five hundred on tide fawn, (Ivo hundred
dollars then.
But 1 hod prospered far boyond the gong run of
mat,
.A kindly Providence hoz shaped tbo rough
501(100 of (wanly,
An' now 1 owe four Lwonty41 re an' thirtyseven
odd con's,
'Twas only iletyyonraago you only haclonc tlresa
To aggravate your Inanity and Morena your
lot•olinosei
Now you've got two scrumptious drosses, an' a
most tronondono bonnet,
With it monst'oushoe Bowl Prat fair a•flourishht'
upon it.
'Theoo chairs wuz In our sitttn'•room but fifty
years ago,
But wo hov proaperod wondorf'ly, nn' now
there's f(vo you know ;
We've gained a lent p, a puddin' dish, an' extra
yoke er steers.
Amin' stone an'adingle cart, an' all in fifty
years.
It's all true w'at our pastor said, the wort'
moves fast to•t ay.
An' with a9nlolr, oleotricwhiz gods spinnht'
on its wsy :
Itjost goes spinniu' on its way until its work
is done,
But there's few spinnors, my dear wife, who'-
ve spun ez we have spun.
1.i11 Insects by Plowing,
Corn is out, shocked, and husked in au-
tumn, and shooks are left on the ground over
winter. Tho ground is plowed in spring,
when the soil is made ready for oats, pota-
toes, wheat, or corn, a8 tho case may be ;
sometimes early, sometimes later, according
to the crop to bo put in. Among the
many serious pests, very destruotivo in
some sections, is the corn worm, which
feeds fn the ears near the top, on
the growing kernels. There are two
broods of this larva, the second reaching full
e15e in autumn, wintering as pupt0 and re-
appearing as itnages early in spring. By the
ordinary method of cultivation the insects
undergo their transformations unhindered,
while by plowing in autumn and carting off
and burning the stalks not 1 per cent. 01 the
pupae would ever come to maturity. As
this insect in its rivet brood attacks peas,
tomatoes, and a great variety of other
plants, and also eats into the stems of
young Dorn, quite a wide range of exemp-
tion would be thus secured. When corn is
affected by the root louse, and this is the
orae much oftener thou suspected, late au-
tumn plowing will result in destroying a
very largo proportion of the ants' nest which
harbor the eggs of the lice during winter.
In fact, so Generally destruntivo of ineeet
Iife is disturbing the Ground in late autumn
I would recommend IA in all oases whore
the nature of the crop will allow the prac-
tice. I believe it to be one of the very best
methods for controlling certain classes
of insect attacks. I especially recommend
this in squash, melon and citron infested by
borers, lies, and striped beetle. I believe
it would be most valuable as a method of con-
trolling these pests. In thus et,ongly recom-
mending autumn plowing I am notunaware
that it is not the best practice on some kinds
of land. Soils that "leach" badly will not
stand it, while heavy, rich soils are usually
improved by the process. The farmer
must in all cases decide from a knowledge
of his own land, and after weighing possible
benefits and injuries, but fall plow when•
ever the land will stand it. If the prao-
tioe is unwise then at least plow as early in
spring as the soil will stand working. This
will got ahead of many insects, and will be
partly effective.
Look After the Colts.
Colts aro the most valuable live stock on
the farm, and while it does not pay to ne-
gleot any stock, either old or young, yet
Dolts should receive particularly good atten-
tion. They should be treated so kindly
that they will come to meet you in yard or
Pasture. This point is accomplished by
frequently giving them a lump of sugar, an
oar of corn, or something else they line.
Hatter -break them when small, teach thorn
to lead and stop at the word " whoa," leave
them tied for an hour or two at a time, let-
ting them have something to eat while be-
ing tied, and there will bo little danger of
their pulling at rho halter. At one year of
age they can be accustomed to the bit, and
may have a light harness planed on them
fora few hours at a time. The modern
practice of driving them to a vehicle when
only yearlings is bad, for, unless extra care
is used, injury will be the result. Colts
should bo accustomed to the sight of um-
brellas, and to strange noises. ,Keep them
growing when both in and out, of pasture.
Do not dose with medicine unless absolutely
required and then only on the advice of a
skillful vegetarian. Give them a name and
always call them by ib.
Flour or Middlings for Stook.
R.F.S. int;uir0s whether cheap flour or
" middlings ' is the most profitable for
atoek•feeding when the price is the sane.
I should say decidedly that the middlings,
containing portions of the hull, would be the
more profitable stock food. Both bran and
middlings vary in their composition and
value according to the different processes of
their manufacture, and the published anal-
yses vary a000rding to the ohmmeter of the
samples analysed, but all the tables give a
greater fending value to whole wheat than
to fine flour and a greater value to bran and
middlings then to floor. The value of food
depends largely upon tho percentage of nit.
rogenoue or mosaic forming material, There
is more of this in grain than in straw, more
in all sends than in the plants which pro.
doe them. There is also more i11 whole
wire at than in fine flour, and more in the
bran than in the Actor. Middlings usually
resemble bran in their composition much
mote than they do title flour.
Wo find Canadian flour of average quality
conteine of emote formingg. material 10,9,
carbohydrates or heat producingsubstances
77.7, while in middlings the ramp of mus.
Me material is from 12,7 to 54,6, and of heat
ptoduohlg substances 61.8 to 63.8.
To ponces with a weak atomaoh floe flour
May be more easily digestible as the flour
contains little or no erode fibro, but crude
fibro is digestible to a considerable extent
and most animals will do bettor on food con-
taining a due proportion of it, It is eas-
ed, autl probably with truth, that fine meal
or flour, mingled with some esarsor sub-
stance like bran to koop it from close pack•
ing in the stomach, is much more easily
aotednoon gby the digestive &nide of the
stomach, Pits is why many have recom-
mended moat with wet out hay for horses
std for cattle an well, In the naso of (hair
and middling tv0 think It. it. S. will And that
his animate will Had the latter bettor than
tate former and consonantly oousume morn
and make greater gain in flesh or othat'
isodnot. There may be mune clangor that
cheep flour is node from wheat that ha'
lost some of Ito vale° by butt weather at
harvest time. Mnaby food is loos valuable
than sweet,
A Q0,111iliowor Experiouoe.
Tho Drop of "moral relleetiolts" in my
garden line boon extremely largo the past
season. The insignificance of man's power
is never more clearly demonstrated than in
hie futile attempts to conquer tiny food
whiffle appetites are more voraaiono and por•
militant than his own, Intimate acquaintance
with the smooth velvety eabbago•worm fs
enough to take the aoneeit out of any of us
this year, for Pieria rapao, the cabbage but•
tinily, hos hold high carnival, and Re humus
developed with unpre05dontod rapidity. A
oontineous supply of worms of all ages and
sizes jeopardizes the theory that two broods
only aro to be expected. Mine is chiefly a
cauliflower experience.
Cabbage folds have suffered more than
usual from those pests, but the price of a
cauliflower this year is eternal vigilance, a
lavish use of insootioides, and touch loss of
time and temper on the parb.o£ the grower;
while the consumer may thank his stare if
he can snore an Indifferent head for twenty.
five cents in country markets. Last year my
stock was largely composed of Early Boston.
The heads were very solid and not so
panioled as Early Snowball, and preferred
by some for this reason, although I think
the flavor le not as delicate. But amateurs
are sometimes disposed to be critical and
rarely content to leave well enough alone ;
the suponnbunclancoof leaves of this variety
suggested much ado about nothing. Cense.
queerly I yielded to the temptation of the
Ideal. I saw in my mind's eye prize speci-
mens averaging Dight pounds, and extra
heads oven tippingthe scales at higher fig.
urea. In reality I find it an ideal variety,
if it were not for the butterfly audits larvta.
Tho lower leaves are upright will &six Moll
petiole or leaf -stalk furnished with narrow
stipules ; Tho blade of the leaf is also nar-
row at the baso, which adds to the eon•
venienoe of the butteffly, for, as the leaven
aro not close together, it is all plain sailing
to the concave surface of the heart loaves.
These loaves lap over the heads, and a more
un-get•at•able nursery for the broods to
hatch in, can hardly be imagined. Hand•
picking is disastrous, rho leaves are so brit-
tle, andno thorough work clan bo done with
exterminators until the pulp of the inner
leaves is eaten up; for until this is done,.
man is powerless, even though ho sit up
nights and work Sundays with a loaded
bellows. Sunburn naturally follows, and
even when the remaining leaves are tied
over -head the growing end pushes itself out
between the lattice work at the base, and
borne in streaks. Whoa this point is reach•
ed the worms work on the inner aide of the
Inrger loaves greatly to the detriment of the
head below.
I find a good brushing with a whisk.
broom improves their individual spa earanoe
and consequent market value, Evidently
too muoh of a good thing is better than not
enough. Give mo varieties hereafter which
grow leaves enough for their own protection
and a few to spare for the inevitable foe.—
[G. A Woolson. R^
The File on the Farm.
Tho file is a more important farm tool
than many farmers, who during all their
lives have never filed the outting edge of a
hoe blade, are aware of. If such mien have
a practical demonstration of the difference
between a dull and a sharp hoe, they are
certain to purchase a small flat file for the
workmen ID carry in their pockets when
engaged in work requiring the use of a
sharp hoe. File the hoe upon both sides of
the blade, and it will retain an edge longer
and out smoother than when the filing is all
upon one aide, although it should be filed
most in the inside. Both a fiat, a three -
cornered and a round file should be kept on
haul. Their use will often save a trip to
the shop in a busy time, and they pay
for themselves many times each year in
sharper edged tools.
GRAN'1)ADDY GAME AT LAST.
The Children Left lllm to Die, nett n 110311,,
only Chariot Took alai lip.
It was a lonely road running through the
pine, and I was deep in the wood when I
came across an old negro man seated by the
roadside, He was blind, toothless, bald,
and evidently more than 80 years old.
While I was yet thirty foot away I heard
him calling in a quavering voice 1
" I knowed it, ohilleu—I khowed yo'd
come back fur gran'daddy I 1 knowed yo'
wouldn't leave do ole man to die in de
woods 1 "
' Who are you?" I asked as I halted be.
side him.
'Fo' de Lewd 1 but who's dat? Han't
de chillen cum ? "
"No 1 How did you cone to be here in
this lonely place? Whore are your chit.
dren? "
" I nebber dun hoard yo'r voice befo'," he
slowly answered.
" No ; I'm travelling."
"Yo' see, I'ze ole au feeble an han't no
good any me. De ohillen was movie ober
to Alt/help', and dey didn't want to take
me gong wtd 'am. So—so--"
"You don't mean they left you hero to
take care of yourself ?"
"Yes, dey dun put me outer de cart
right yore 001 drive on. I called to'em, but
dey wouldn't stop. I heard de leetle ohil-
len o'yin fur gran'daddy, but William
wouldn't turn back. I'ze bin p`ayin au
p'ayin', an when I heard yo' emu I felt
suah it was William."
"If ho doesn'1 return what will you do?"
I asked.
"I shall ax de Lewd to take knot' o' me,
an ho will do It."
I promised to send him help and rode
away. It was already late in the afternoon,
and by the time the proper county oiliaial
was found it was evening, and a storm was
raging. He would not move till morning
came, and then I rode bank with him. The
old man was lying very quiet, and we
thought him asleep. As wo lifted him up he
opened hie oyes and smiled and whispered :
"I keep hearth, de tootle ohillen oryin'
book for gram' daddy 1 I'ze oomin', °Milan ;
I'ze tryin to ootch up wid do cart I"
While we wore trying to revive flim from
the fainting spell whish followed he straight.
toned out and breathed his last, bub with
1110 Iasi breath he oalled out:
"Role on, chillon, bolo oa 1 Yo'r pore
grau'daldy ant diol oomin'—colnin-
00(0 I"
"Life fn this country," said the phiioso•
Sh, "i8 e, heap like going to the circus.
oon as a man gets to the front all the fel-
lows on the back spats Metal; on hen sitting
down out of rho way."
Dr. lborldoe tolls us that there 10 a direct
relation between men's penults and tho
coin of their 11air, An utn1aial proportion
of anon wil.h dark, straight hair otter the
ministry, ; red-whiskerod 111011 aro 'apt to
be Overt to sporting and horse flesh, while
the tall, vigorous blond mon, 11815181 11000011•
dahts of the Vikings, still eon 1.riltute %largo
contingent to our .travellers and emigrants.
T1513 BRUSSEILS PAST,
SEASONABLE
In the soup—Moat,
An adder's bite—The hank clerk's
lunch,
Neckties that aro never cast aside—Fe.
male arms,
Exhorter—"Come, thou !lenity laden.'
Ohl Songhk—"Don't look at mo that way.
I ain't half loaded yet,"
The sluggard is usually told to go to hie
ant, tett, with the perversity of human nat-
ure, he tonally goes t0 his uu010.
Willie -- "llappiuess cones through
mighty little things sometimes," \\'allaco
Yes, I have frequently gotten it through
0
straw."
Adorer—"May I, be yore pilot and guide
your bark through the stormy sea of life?"
Fair Widow—"No, dear 1 but you may be
my second mate.
Young Staylaight (fishing for a compli-
ment)—"Can you imagine ire looking pic-
turosque, Miss Amy?" Amy—"Yee, Frame
yourself in the doorway."
Diggs—"I like 181108 Miggs booanso she
is coonomical," Biggs—"How do you
know sho is economical ?' Dlgga—"\roll,
there is very little waist about her,"
Mrs. DeGoode-"Why are yon throwing
stones at that little boy? Answer me that,
sir," Small Boy (very good at excuses)—
"'Cause his tolke dosen't b'long to our
church."
Knowitt—" Animals are naturally of a
quarrelsome disposition. As the poet says,
dogs delight to bark and bite." Howitt --
"Yes, and even the oyster often gets into
a broil.
"Do you over shed tears—real tears—ort
the stage?" "I did the first two or three
titres my trunks were levied on," replied
little Eva, "bot after that I sorter got used
to it, eee ?"
"Women used to sell themselves for rich
husbands," says n desolate man. " Now,"
says he, " the marriage ceremony is n pawn
ticket and they can redeem tdtomsely s at
any time,"
I think I'll have an oil portrait made,"
said Dir. Derrick, wino had become sudden-
ly rioh in petroleum. " There you go talk.
ing shop again I" exclaimed his wife, who
was taking lessons in culture,
The Husband --"You're not economical."
The Wife—"Well, if you don't cell a wan.
an economical who saves her wedding
dress for a possible second marriage I'd like
to know what you think economy is."
Little Brother—" Mr, Johnson, won't
you go and stand before the window ?" Dir.
Johnson—" Certainly, toy little man ; but
why ?" Little Brother—"Oh, ma says she
can an through you. I want to see if I
can."
"Did you take much pressing before you
accepted Jack?" asked one young lady of a
friend who had just got engaged. " Olt, a
lot. And then Jack is so strong you know.
He nearly squeezed all the breath out of my
bo"
Sudyitor—".Madam I love you 1" Widow—
"That's an old story." Suitor—" I adore
you 1" Widow—" A hackneyed phrase."
Suitor—"I cannot live without you and
wish to marry you." Widow—" An orig-
inal idea at last ; yes I like that."
First Masher—" Well, did you make the
acquaintance of that strange gid you were
raving over?" Second Ditto—" Yes; fol-
lowed her home." First AL—How dial she
strike you ?" Second Ditto—" She didn't
at all ; she got her big brother bo do it."
"Have you been reading poetry lately?"
said the bank president to the °ashler,
" Why, yes," was the reply ; "I have been
troubled with sentimentality of late."
" Well, I wish you'd give it up. You are
getting that ' far -away look' 111 your eyes,
and it worries the directors,"
Sang-Froid of a British General.
A correspondent, writiug of the late Lord
Strafhnairn, says bo was the most indolent,
lackadaisical, languid person who over
dawdled along Piccadilly. When he was
devastating oontrallndia, winning the splen-
did victories that immortalized his name, he
was so lazy that he could not be got to
dictate the dispatches recording hie own
triumphs, says the Sheffield (England) Tele-
graph. Months elapsed before these docu-
meats could bo extracted from hint, and
then they were brief and meager to the last
degree.
Ono day, when Sir Hugh Rose, ho was en-
tertaining a gallant company to dinner dur-
ing the crisis of the mutiny. With the
utmost sang-froid ho was delight)ng those
near him with one of his best anecdotes. In
the middle of it his orderly entered and,
after saluting, exclaimed : " V',re have cap.
tured 200 rebels, sir."
To him the general turned and, with that
elegant courtesy of manner on which he
prided himself, serenely replied : " Thank
you, sergeant."
Bab the man still remained. Again inter-
rupting his chief, Ito said : "But what aro
we to do with them, sir?"
"Oh," replied Sir Hugh with a soft smile,
" hang them, of course,' and he resumed his
anecdote.
In a little while Sir 'Hugh was again inter.
rupted in the middle of another story by tho
sergeant, who came in and said ; " Please,
sir, we've hung the lot, air,"
Tho general turned, bowed slightly; and
in the sweetest manner lisped : Thanks,
sergeant, very many thanks," and then went
on with his anecdote as if nothing had hap-
pened.
This story came to the ears of the queen
and she was so angry that it nearly cost Sir
Hugh his peerage.
A Remarkable Tree.
Growing near the baths of Allies, in the
Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, almost with.
in a stone's throw of the most popular ho.
tel, 4500 feet above the level of the sea,
stands the most remarkable true in the
world, 1(10 trunk of this curious tree is 10
teeters, ora little over 30 feet in dianoter
at the baso, About live yards above the
ground seven offshoots put out, from the
south side. Bontand gnarled at their place
of starting, these side. trunks soon straighten
themselves up and rise perpendicularly and
parallel to the main stem. This feature
alone is tot, perhaps, unraralleled, but
another most curious tact is that the two
largest of tho side trunks aro connected
with the main breo by sub-gnadrangular
braces resembling girders. These beanie
have probably boon formed by an auosto-
nosing of bra/mhos, which, although, com-
paratively common among agosperm0, has
novorboforo been reported in a conifer (rho
remarkable subject of this aketelt being tt
fir). The places whore tho side girders
eater the mala trunk aro an smoothly bark•
od over ns to MOO it impossible to asoor•
fain the manner in which nature forme,. the
remarkable union. Haw a limb (originally
intended to grow Moo and boas foliage,
email havo been absorbed ani converted
into a living girder is a mystery width
affords a now illustration of the power of
nature to adapt itself to estyand all oirount•
sl.an080,
TEE hUNK AND EIS WAYS,
ANato ratiet's Entertaining Beset l.often of
the .Wit Intik r anise's,.
The little fer•bearer, whose color lute been
painted darker than Itis, and singularly
made Ole I) 11100 proverbial for blackness, to
an odd but not so familiar au acquaintance
of the angler and sportsman as he was of
them and of the oomriry boy of two score
years ago,
It was a woeful clay for the tribe of the
mink ,when it beeem8 the fashion for other
folk to wear his coat, which ho could only
doff with the subtler garment of life.
Throughout the term of his exaltation to
rho favor of fashion, be was lain in wait
for at 1118 05)11 dooraud on hie thoroughfares
and by-paths by the traps, death•falls and
guns of professional and amateur trappers
and hunters till the fate of his greater
cousin, the otter, seemed to overtake Mtn.
But the tickle empress who raised him to
such perilous estate, changing her mood,
thrust him down almost to his ignoble but
safer rank, just in time to avert the im-
pending doom, of extermination. Once
more the places that knew 1115) of old know
hint again.
In rho March snow you may trace the
long span of his parallel footprints where
hot with rho rekindled annual fire of love,
he has sped on his errand wooing, burning
not aside for the most tempting bait, halt•
ing not for the rest, hungering only for a
o weetheart, wearied with nothing but tona-
l/nese. Yet weary enough would you bo if
you attempted to follow the tract' of but
one night wandering along the winding
brook, through tho tangle of windfalls and
across the rugged ledges that part stream
from stream. When you go fishing in
the first days of Summer you may see the
fruits of this early Springtido wooing in the
dusky brood taking their primer lesson in
the art that their primo•genitoro were
adopts in before yours learned it, How
proud ono baby fisher is of his first captur-
ed minnow, how he gloats over it and de-
fends his prize from his envious and less
fortunate brothers.
When Summer wanes, they will be a
nattered family, each member shifting for
himself. Some stilt haunt the alder thicket
whore they first saw light, whose netted
shadows of baro branches have thickened
about them to continued shade of leafage,
fn whose midday twilight the real fame of
the cardinal flower burns as a beacon set to
guide the dusky wanderer Thome. Others
have adventured far down the winding
brook to the river, and followed its slowing
current pas: rapids and cataract to where
it crawls through the green level of marshes
beloved of water fowl and of gunners,
whose wounded victims, escaping them,
fall an easy prey to the lurking mink.
Here too in their aea0otl are the tender
duokliugs of wood -duck, teal and dusky
dusk, and all the year round, fat musk -
rate, fueuiohingg for tho price of conquest a
banquet that the mink nto8t delights in.
In the wooded border are homes ready
builded for him under the buttressed trunks
of elms or in the hollow bolls of old water
maples and hidden pathways through
fallen trees and uuder low green arches of
ferns.
1With such a home and such bountiful
provision for his larder close at hand, what
more could the heart and stomach of mink
desire ? Het ho may not be satisfied, but
longs for the wider wabos of the lake,
whose translucent depths reveal to him all
who swim beneath him, fry, innumerable,
perch displaying their scales of gold, shin-
ers like silver arrows shot through the
green water, the lesser boas peering out of
rooky fastnesses, all attainable to this der.
ing fisher, but not his great rivals, the
bronze•matled base and the mottled pike,
whose jaws are wide enough to engulf oven
him.
Here, while you rest on your idle oar or
lounge with useless rod, you may see him
gliding behind the tangled net of cedar
roots or venturing forth from a cranny of
the rooks down to the brink and launch-
ing himself so silently that you doubt
whether it is not a flitting shadow till you
e his wake so silent that you wonder
that it breaks the reflections lengthening
out behind him,
Of all the swimmers that breathe the free
air non0 can compare with him in owiftnese
and in grace that is the smooth and 0vou
flow of the poetry of motion. Now he dives,
or rather vanishes, from the surface, mar re-
appears till his wake has almost flickered
out.
His voyage accomplished, he at once sets
forth on exploration of new shores or pro.
grassthrough hie established domain, and
from vanishes frosight before his first wet
footprints have sight
on the warm rook
where ho landed.
You are glad to have seen him, thankful
that ho lives, and you (tope that, sparing
your chickens and your share of trout,
partridges and wild duoke, he, too, may be
spared from the devices of the trapper to
fill his appointed plane in the world's wild•
nods.
FRIVOLS OF TBE PAST.
Bangs wore first worn in the court of
outs X[V.
Greek ladies had 137 different styles o
dressing hair.
Catharine de Medici imported mug's into
Franco tram Italy.
Corsets have been worn 011 the waists of
Egyptian mummies,
On festive occasions both Greek and Ro-
mans wore garlands of flowers,
Shoes with heels 6 inches high wore worn
at the court of Louis XIV'.
Gloves with separate fingers were un-
known before the twelfth century,
The huge .Elizabethan ruff was hold in
place by au under proppiug of wire,
Greek women wont barefoot indoors and
wore sandals wihen walking abroad.
Fashion plates 0185)0 1111:0 u8e during the
last quarter of the eighteenth century.
Several thousands of hair pins, in many
styles have been recovered from Pompeii.
Two Imperial Spendthrifts.
It is not generally known that the Ger.
man Empros8, in spite of her many oxoollent
qualities, is very extravagant, and owes
large sums of money to many of the Berlin
tratl80mm1, one firm alone having n bill of
800,000 marks, or 1140,000, against Her
Majesty. Tho Einpress never wears either
a dress, 0, mantle or a bonnet the second
time In public, mud everything that oho
buys is of the vary best. Itis all 8110 marc
surprising 5)11011 it 10 recollected liov ox.
tromoly elm plc her snrromrl ings wore before
het marriage to Prime Wilhelm of Prussia,
and oven after hor marriage until her hus-
band suoeooded to the empire.
The Emperor is oleo very largely in debt,
inn spite of the handsome present made to
Inion last spring by tho ll,npross I!rodoriok,
wino advance& him 1,500,000 marks, the
'Emperor has, unfortunately, not the slight.
est idea of money, anal entities it right and
oft, to the groat horror of meet' .,f h a loyal
tubje010.
All that most 111mt have 01 the world is
what they are going to got,
•
LION HUNTING, [ FOITit-FOOTED OtTTLAWS,
atetuarltablo l$xperlenres oro Sportsman
ill the par'reta or Abyssln/&.
Lieut, Egerton, whose life, front choice,
had been one of vicissitudes and remarkable
adventure, o°ntrary to Ids wont, seemed 0110
night to he in a communicative snood, am
i1( response to a request for a yarn, prefer-
red by myself, related the following : " I
think that the few months I spent In Abys•
Arabs, near the Sottito river, among the
oi
r s, wore, take it all in all, the pleasant,
est of my whole life. They received 1010
with open-hearted hospitality, and nothing
was too good for bite " white etrangor.
They are the most fearless and active lion -
tare In the world, and will attack any ani-
mal whatsoever, from the elephant and
lion to the rhinoreroe and buffalo, armed
only with astraight, two-edged sword, This
weapon Is sharpened to tho f I1Oneas of a
razor, and the Made is protected for several
,echos above the cross -lull with a thick
string, whioh they wind tightly around it
so as to afford a grip for rho right band,
while they grasp the hilt with the loft in
the ordinary tnanncr. This converts ib
into a two.handed sword, Such is the dox-
terity and force with which they use this
terrible weapon that they ofttimes sever an
enemy clean in two with a blow delivered
at the waist—which by the way, is a favor.
ire stroke of theirs. Tiley invariably hunt
on horseback in parties of two or three, and
I was present, es a spectator only, at a lion
hunt gotten up for my spooial edification.
Game was abundant in our neighborhood,
and so there was always a good supply to
satisfy the wants of the numerous lions
thereabouts. Ate a consequence, they never
showed any disposition to meddle with man
unless previously attaokod, but in snob
event maintained their old-time reputation
for oourage and ferocity, as my tale will
shosv.
The dew's of the day appointed to' our
expedition saw us (that is, three Arabs and
myself) mounted on oar mettlesome little
horses ready fir a stab. No time was lost
in quitting the camp and making at a rapid
gait for the s0tne of our expected 'marry.
Karim, whose hoepitallty I was onjoying
and for whomI entertained the sinooreat
affection, exploit° 1 to me the method to be
adopted in hunting the lion as we proceed-
ed on our way. It seemed to mo t0 be par-
ticularly foolhardy, but he assured me that
it had been the custom from time imme-
morial end that on accident seldom if ever
occurred, adding with a pardonable touch
of pride; "The lion is strong and mighty,
but Kerins knows how to overcome him.'
P.11 hour's ride brought us to a sandy plain,
dotted at irregular intervals with patches of
nabbuk bushes varying in density and area,
and where, as my mentor assured mo, we
should be certain to find "plenty lion." It
did not take long to find traces of a beast
which, front his tracks, must have been of
more than tho ordinary size, and as they
wore plain and distinct we had no difficulty
in traoking him to a small patch of nabbuk
bushes. The next thing was to get him out
of his cover, and Karim, without a moment's
hesitation, dismounted, tethered his horse,
and plunged forthwith into the prickly
jungle. For a long time we heard no sound,
and had not the faintest suspicion of what
was going forward, the Arabs all the while
encircling the nabbnk patch tvibhoot a
moment's rest, whilst I, fearful of my
friend's safety, could do 110101ng but wait
for the ter,nination of this foolhardy affair.
A little later, whilst both of the Arabs were
on the other side of the jungle, the lion
broke oover not far from where Istood, and
just as I was noting his magnificent peeper -
tons, and the angry manner in which he
was lashing his sides with his tail, and hop-
ing devoutly that be would not turn his at-
teutiou to me, for I was unarmed, Kerim
also emerged from the jungle, and, seizing a
rock which happened to bo handy, hurled it
at the retreating beast with all his foroe
and struck him squarely with the missile.
The great beast turned with a roar whose
vibrations seemed to shake the very earth,
and made rapidly for his daring aggressor.
The bold fellow stood undaunted with his
sword flung baelc over his shoulder to give
his blow full force, but I felt that his hoar
had Dome unless assistance speedily arrived.
Just at this moment the two otherAt'abs
came careering round the far end of the
jungle at full gallop. It was a race for life
and death. All this time Karim was not
only undlsmayod, but even was taunting
the lion all lie knew how, calling hint cow-
ard and robber, and heaping aspersions on
this mother, grandmother, and all his pro-
genitors for generations back, the Arabs
being firmly convinced that the boasts un-
derstand what they say, and in that belief
thus abuse them in order to metro a fight.
LIFE IN A PIRATE SHIP,
Merit and Bravery Rewarded and Dis-
honesty tory Severely Punished.
The customs and regulations most com-
monly observed on board a buccaneer aro
worth noting. Every pirate captain, doubt-
less, had his own set of rules; but there
were oertain traditional articles that seem
to have been generally adopted. The cap.
tai's bad the state cabin, a double vote in
elections, a double share of booty, On some
vessels it was the captain who deoided what
direotion to sail in, but this and other mat.
ters of moment were oftener settled by a
vote of the company, the captain's vote
counting for two. Tho affioers had it share
and a half or a share and a quarter of all
plunder, and the sailors ono share each,
Booty was divided with scrupulous oare
and marooning was the penalty of attempt•
ung to defraud the general company, if only
to the amount of a gold piece or a dollar,
Every man bad a full vote in every affair
of importance.
Armes were always to be clean and fit for
servioe, and desertion of Unship or quarters
in battle were punished with death. On
Roberts's ship 0 man who was °rippled in
battle received 8800 outof the common stook,
and a proportionate sem won &warded for
lesser hurts. Lowther allowed £150 for the
loss of a limb, and other 018ptains instituted
a sort of tariff of wounds which extended to
ears, fingers and Loos, In chase or battle the
captain's power was absolute. Ha who first
opted a sail, tithe proved to bo a prize, was
entitled to the boat pair of pistols on board
her over and above his dividend. Those
pistols were neatly o0votod, and a pair
would sell for as mucin as £30 from one
pirate to another, In their own common-
wealth the pirates aro repotted to have been
severe a tot tho point of honor, and among
Roberts's crew it was the practice to slit the
cars or nose of any niter found guilty of
robbing his follows.
Sault feeble interuotthat now attaches to
what was ouco the formidable falhl0 of the
pirates is not even testhotio, 08 is merely
antic. No imaginative essayist disposes
piracy as a lino art; butPenlJonee f8 rostra.
rooted as rho hero of a musical, burlesque,
Poor Paul 1 And he is almost the only ono
of the whole buucemeering race when story
discovers a mien of the legendary gallantry
OF preacy. Paul, whose father had boon head
gardener to Lord Selkirk, plundered tho
Selkirk mansion of its plate, which he sib•
eminently t'Otorne1 in a parcel to Lady Sol -
kirk with a lector of polite apology.
Beasts of Prey That Defy Civilization in
Nearly Every Oountfy.
,'lathes 0f wolves, I ones entl .lacltnlm---
TorslolontStu'vivitlofLions in the la -
than Province l:uzernt.
In the course of the Iaet 100 years some
10,000,000 door must have been killed iu
the Canadian North-West and tho States of
the Atlantic slope alone, and probably twice
as many west of the Rocky Mountains and
in rho °oast jungles of the Gulf States. The
hecatombs of bieons can be estimated only
by the pioneers of the Western prattles,
Boars and wolves have entirely disappeared
front an area representing at least one-fourth
of our national territory, while both are
eti11 found fn such longg.settled countries as
Franco and Spain. Even in Bolginm, the
most densely populated country of the mode
ern world, utero are still wolves enough to
retinae the total profits of sheep -raising one-
fifth. At Herbomout and St. Ceoil, fsthe
upper valley of the Moselle, the farmoro or-
ganized a circle hunt this summer to re-
venge the ravages of a pact' of wolves
that had victimized nearly every isolated
homestead, but always contrived to regain
the highlands before daybreak, Only a few
dozen milds south of Buda•Posth the shep-
herd!' of the Bakony Forest have to keep
wolf dogs, and eon 000 the track of prowling
murderers in the snow at the very door of
their stables in hard winters,
European Russia has been under cultiva.
tion since the middle of the eevonth cen-
tury, and uuder an organized government
since 856, yet even in the western provinces
of the em(fre wolves are still more numer-
ous than fn any part of North America
south of the Saskatchewan. The hue and
cry announcing the appearance of the four -
legged marauders is still heard in broad.
daylight, and often in the neighborhood of
large villages ; not in the iighland8 of the
that only, but in the fertile plain of Grodno
and Volhynia.
Tho wolf's little 000819, the African,.
jackal, has bold his own through all the
vicissitudes that changed the lower valley
of the Nile from a wilderness to a hive of
industry and back to a desert again. At
Aloo Kao, on the road from Cairo to Suer.,
the traveler Gcretaeekor passed a night in
camp where all the dogs of Eastern Egypt
seemed to have met in general commotion,
but in spite of the continuous snarling,
barking and yelping he could hear all night
rho still incessant howl of a jackal congresa
in the neighborhood of the village. They
sung in chorus and seemed resolved to main-
tain the prestige of their musical reputation,
for every 0111 0 al vocal effort on the part
of the dog was answered by a still more
soul•stirring symphony from the direction
of the thorn jungle.
In the caverns of Mount Lebanon a yel-
lowish -gray species of bear has solved the
problem of survival ever since the time ti hen
the forefathers of the Phoenician founded
the City of Damascus. The ursus iaabel-
linois, as naturalists call that distant rela-
tive of our cinnamon, is found nowhere else
on the Eastern Continent, and his present
existence can not be explained on the theory
that his ancestors left the country during
the zenith period of Syrian oivilization and
returned subsequently like the French an-
archists after the downfall of Napoleon.
In 1850, Don Juan de Garay founded the
city of Buenos Ayres, and during the next
hundred years colonists from Spain and
Chili settled the valley of the La Plata to
the upper head of navigation, and the coun-
try now known as the Argentine Republic
was explored in every din ection. In other
words, the civilization of that part of South
America had a hundred years start of Can-
ada; yet its list of aboriginal beasts of
prey fs Still as incomplete as that cf Central
Africa. .Cnormons numbers of sheep and
cattle are every year destroyed by the
pumas of the hill districts, and fn the wood.
ed lowlands of the northern border the
jaguar makes stook -raising an almost hope-
less pur8uit.
But tllestrangest instance of persistent
survival is the existence of Hous in the East
Indian province of Gus ora', Parts of Him,
dostan are covered with jungle to a degree
that makes the dislodgment of wild animals
next to impossible, but Guzerat, in the
north of the Bombay presidency, is one of
rho best cultivated revue of llritish India,
and the density of its population, 7,500,0U
on 40,000 square utiles, far exceeds that of
any part of our national territory, being
just twice that of Ohio and Illinois, And,
moreover, the oivilization, such as it is, of
that populous district, dates from the very
remotest period of antiquity. Cities flour-
ished in the Valley of the Nerbuddaa thou-
sand, perhaps thousands, of years before the
foundation of Babylon, and the temple
ruins of Cambay are older than the dawn of
the Sanskrit traditions. Nevertheless that
cradle of architecture and agriculture still
harbors lions. During a three -days' hunt
near Itlyagore four old lions and three cube
were killed a year ago and the total num-
ber of human beings annually devoured by
the lions of the province varies from forty
to more than a hundred.
Hunting parties from Bombay occasionally
beard the king of beasts in his den, but the
natives with rare exceptions, content them-
selves with passive restetance. At sight of
the redoubtable quadruped they will skin
up a tree or fling themselves flat on the
ground ; and Victor Jaeqquemot had an in.
terview with an old Hindoo who claimed to
have conquered a lion by the formnof prayer
--i. e., by kneeling in the middle of the
road and imploring the man-eater to reflect
on the wickedness of homioide in general
and the emaciated condition of the pre80nt
petitioner in particular.
An Island of Salt.
1. mass of 90,000,000 tons of pare, ooni.
pact rook snit, located on an island 185 feet
high, which rises from a miserable sea
marsh on alto route from Brasil ar 0, New
Iberia, La„ is one of the natural wonders
of the world. Row this island over nano
into 0518to1100 in such a locality is a matter
of oonjeotnre. Vegetation is prolific, the
scenery being beautiful and varied. In the
canter of Ihfs island, which is the only solid
spot in the vast expanse of sea marsh,
which extends for miles in all directions,
rises Salt Peak, the largest body of exposed
rook salt in the world, Haling never been
surveyed, its exa0t extent is, as yet, un-
known; however, those who trove visited
the locality may that there is not lues than
00,000,000 tons of pure crystal salon sight.
Itis needless to add that the dazzling Meer -
nese of Salt Peak is in striking contrast to
the eombor htgoons, bayous, and salt
marshes whish surround it on all aides.
As the oyster grows Miler its proportion
of flush and juices increase more rapidly
than its shell, as well as the relative amount
of the natural nutrients in its edible per..
tions.
A remarkable "Western African ostrich
recently arrived as Storm Leone. Tho bird
le 10 feet high, had 001111 front Central
Africa, and walked a diatunoe of at least
600 miles to the British Colony,