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The Exeter Advocate, 1898-9-9, Page 6THE MEM GERM AILMVARK JVLES CLAREil C-OP`d'Ff: SCA MT . 97 t37' , esle. FEreteoFic Thus Bernardet passee his life iui Reels. Coseablenisf ainaesine, a fertunein eome Triveehe ageney if, lee had es-isneet eeeleit, fer his own benefit. Ili* keen' ebserviug peepers. be tileaght- culy of , delett hts c'eatey, neenzieg u7.> girls aud leeeng hisnite. eine . Lerner- det wee aletteei at ties ast eiseitag ers. :ries wide!: it lauseand enee te :arid ber and vere preud teest tee wa$ etaels able ezati, Istrneriet teesani Re- , verses.: leeensets. awl el,. ellen, beside tire. as tney neered recuse they east that a crowd bed negne, to aisle. st„ "Is le Telenet atreel,n," etiserich.e seid. ''Sisese I t.toe tee; s entee."— I tater teen- itetsLeneetsd thee °Maine "es i$ alt rigno 17c.0 nave c! eight re call any ern:, e tee te yeer not / attl, 11,-,!: ii.a•izi•-ir.v.! •• =Ms": g f,r e ce(iiv;;A, -Y1.21a 'TO titqla elli ehe eel:et:lit:sere e rutt rgtlat r. "Thar acne t tual:e it see A etatemis- sary is a coannisseary. Clo peel hnut fee "But since you are "Bat I am nothing. We must have a magi,,,trate," "You are not a magistrete, thee?" "I am simply a police spy." Then he erossed the street. 'Jieneigifiser$ had gathered ablaut the door like aswarutof iiie$ arouni a he " added efentehte "en Bernardeycot needs tub. A ruttier bad spread. about 'Which brought together a erewil ant - mated by the morbid curioeity which, b aroused in eome lnineig at the hint of a mystery and attraeted by that etrallgt magnetism which that sinister thing. "a crime," arouses. The women talked in shrill tones, inventing strange sterile -and iracredible theories. Some of the common people hurried up to leant the news. At the moment Bentardet tame tap. followed by the toneiente, a coupe stopped at the door and a, taIl man get Gut, asking: "Where is 7.X. Morel? I wish to see M. Morel," The chid had not yet been advised, and he was not there. But the tall young man suddenly reengnized Ben :tartlet and laid hold of bine pullim. him after hint through the half epee (Icor, -which Moniche hastened to shut against the crowd. "We inUt-t call some officers," Ben nardet said to the concierge, "or tht crowd will push in," Moniche was standing at thE feet of the staircase, surrounded by the lodgers, men and women, to whole the was recounting for the twentieth time the story of how she had found M. Ro. tvere with his throat cut. "I was going in to read the paper— the story—it is very interesting, tbal story. The moment had come when the baron had insulted the American colo- nel, M. Revere said to me only yester- day, poor man, 'I am ansious to find eent winch one will be killed—the cola - lel or the baron.' He will never know. .And tt is he"— "Mine. Moniche," interrupted Bele mardet, "have you any one whom you can send for a commissary?" "Any one?" • "Yes," added Moniche. "M. Ber- aardet needs a raagistrate. Ibis not dif- ficult to understand." "A commissary?" repeated Mine. Moniche. "That is so. A commissary, and what if I go for the commissary myself, M. Bernardet?" "All right, provided you do not let the crowd take the house by assault when you open the door." "Fear nothing," the woman said, happy in baying something important to do, in relating the horrible news tc the commissary how, when she was about to enter the room for the purpose of reading, the— While she was going toward the dem Mernardet slowly mounted the two elights of stairs, followed by Moniche and the tall young man who had ar- riv'ed in his coupe at a gallop in order to get the first news of the murder and make a "scoop" for his paper. The news had traveled fast, and bit paper had sent him in haste to get all the details of the affair which could be obtained. •The three men reached M. Revere's door. Mouiche unlocked it and stepped back. Bernardet, with the reporter at his heels, notebook in band, entered the room. CHAPTER III. Neathing in the antechamber iedica,t- ed that a tragedy had taken place there. There were pictures ou the walls, pieces eif faience, scene anus of rare kinds, Japanese swords and a Malay crease. Bernardet glanced at the as he passed by. "He is in the salon," mid the WO- Pierge in a low tone. Gee a the folding doors stood opeuA and, etoppiug on the threshold in order to take iu the entire aspect of the placeA Bereardet saw in the center a the room, lying on tile fioer in a Pe01. blooe, the body of M. Rovere, clothed in a long, elue dressiug gown, bound at the \COILS( with a heavy cord, which lay be coils ou the floor, like a serpeut The cerpse Was exteeded betweeu the twe witulows which opeued on the Intale- vard de Cliche', and Bereardet's tirst thought was that it was a miracle that the vietizn veuld have met his death in notch a herriele rummer two steps fee= the paeseesly en the saver. "Wheever struele the blew did i quickly." thought the police officer. He advauced softly teward the budy, caereug, his eye Tepee fee inure mass and taeiug in at a gianse the eniallest ob jeese neer ie and the meet miuute de tails. He bent over and studied it tber- Ongbly., M. Rovere Railed living in his tragic pese. Tee pale teen wishits pointed anal trimmed terey-le ard, eeprees- ee in its fierce immobility a sore of menaseing auger. This nun of about a) years had evideutly died cursing thine cne in his supreme agony. The frtglitt fel woutel Femed Mea lturge red era vat, which harmonized strangely with the half whitened e,ard, the end of was wet with bleed. But what struck Dernardet above ev. erything else, arrested his attention and glad him to the spot was the loolt, the extraordinary expression in the eyes, .The mouth was open, PS if to cry out; the e,yes eeetned to ineuace SOnte We. Rua the lips aboet toepeak, They were frightful. Those tragio yes were wide open, as if transfezed by _ or fury. They 6eemed fathmulese, daring, ready to start from their socket. The eyeteows above them were black and bristling. They seemed living eyes in that deal face. They told of a final struggle, ef some atreeiousduel et holm and of werde. They appeared, in their feroleas luassebility, as when they gazed up= the zasurderer, eye to eye, face to face. bIlaarilet Wall at the hands. They ve- centracted and eeemed, in sense eliiige 2,,c7,6tance, te have cluug te the melt or the clothing of the neeaS• re ought to be blood under the nail-, sine o he made a struggle," said Bernardt, thinking And Paul Rodier, the reporter, bur. rietly wrote, "There was blood under the nails." Dernardet returned again and again to the eyes—these wide open oyes, frightful, terrible eyes, which, in their fierce depths, retained without doubt the imae,e or phantom of some uightufare of death. He touched the dead ratta's hand. The fleeli had become cold, and rigor mortis was beginning to set in. The reporter eaW the little man take from his pecket a sort of rusty silver ribbon and unroll it and heard him ask Moniche to take hold of one end of it. This ribbon or thread looked to Paul Redier like brass wire. Bernardet pre- pared his kodak. "Above everything else," murmured Bernardet "let us preserve the expres- don of those eyes." "Clete the shutters. The darkness will be more complete." The reporterassisted Monicho in order to hasten the work. The shutters closed, the room was quite dark, Bernardet be- gan his task. Counting oft' a few steps, Le selected the best place from which to take the picture. "Be kind enough to light the end of the magnesium wire," he said to the concierge. "Have you any matches?" "No, et Bernardet " The police officer indicated by a sign of the head a match safe which he had noticed on entering the room. "There are some there." Bernardet had with one sweeping glance of the eye taken in everything in the room—the fauteuils, scarcely moved from their places; the pictures haeging on the walls, the mirrors, the bookcases, the cabinets, etc. Moniche went to the mantelpiece and took a match from the box. It was M. Revere himself who furnished the light by which a picture of his own body was taken. "We could obtain no picture in this room without the magnesium wire," said the agent, as calm while taking a photograph of the murdered man as he had been a short time ago in his gar- den. "The light is insufficient. When I say, 'Go!' Moniche'you must light the wire, and I will take three or four negatives. Do you understand? Stand there to my left. Nowt Attention!" Bernardet took his position, and the porter stood ready, match and wire in hand, like a gunner who awaits the or- der to fire. "Go!" said the agent. A rapid, clear light shot up and sud- denly lighted the room. The pale face seemed livid, the variOuS objects in the room took on a fantastic appearance in this sort of tempestuous apotheosis, and Paul Rodier hastily inscribed on his writing pad, "Picturesque, bizarre, mar- velous, devilish, suggestive." "Let us try it again," said M. Ber- nardet • For the third time in this weird light the visage of the dead man ap- peared whiter, raore sinister, frightful, the wound deeper, the gash redder, and the eyes, those wide open, fixed, tragic, menacing, speaking eyes—eyes filled with scorn, with hate, with terror, with the ferocious resistance of a last struggle for life, immovable, eloquent —seemed under the fantastic light to glitter, to be alive, to menace some one. "That is all, " said Bernardet very softly. "If with these three nega- tives"— He stopped to look around toward the door, which was closed. • Some one eves raining riegiug blows on the door, loud and imperative. "It is the commissary. Oen the door, Monte/ie." The reporter was busy taking notes, describing the salon, sketching it, draw- ing a plan for his journal. It was, in fact, the commissary, who was followed by Mine. Morale/le and a number of curious persons who had foreed their way in when, the front door was opened. The eonnuiseary, before eetering, took comprehensive seee-en of the room and mid in a short toue: "Every one must go our. Madame, make all thee() people go our. No one must enter." There arose an uproax. Eacit one tried to explain bis right to be there. They were all possessed with an ireesisdble dreire to assist at this sinieter investige- "But we belong to the press," "The rep vters may enter when they have shows: tie ir curls," the commis - eery replied. "The others—no." Thera was a murmur from the crowd. "The others—no," repeated the com- missarY• }le made a Sigil to two officer; who accompanied him, and they m- utat:4mi the reporters' cards of identitifet- doe. The cuueouree of cereals ones re- telaed, protested, growled and declabnee =nest the representatives of the press, who weir preeedence everywhere, "The rearth Estate:" thouted an eld man from the feet of the staircase. Ile lived iu the house awl paeetel for a cor. -pondent a tbo inetitute. Ile ehouted ricusly, "'When a crime is committed uder my very roof, I am not even al- lowed to write an account of it, and gi-ranger4 because they are reporters, can have the exclueive privilege of wit - lug it tsp." The copmeirssary did not listen to him, but those 3.vho were his fellow sufferere pplauded him to the echo, The com- missary shrugged his shoulders at the hand clappings. "It is but right," be said to the re porter, "that the agents of the press abould be admitted in preference to any one else. Do yen think that it is eaee to dievover a criminal? I have been a joarnalist, too—yes, at times. In the Quartier occasiouelly. I have even writ- ten a pieee for the theater. But we will not talk of that. Eater, enter, 1 beg ef you, and we.shall see." And elegant, amiable, polished, entiling, he looktd toward. 11. Dernardet, arid his eyes asked, the (seesaw. Where is it? " Ierel M. le Commieeffire." Bernardet stoad respectfully ia front of his superior officer as a ei,blier carry- ing arms, and the comraiesary in his turn approached the body, while the curious ones, quietly kept back by lio. "the, formed a half circle around the pale aud bloody corpse. The commis- sary, like Bernardet, was struck by the hnughty expressiou of that livid face. "Poor emu," he said, shaking his head. "Fie is superb, superb. HO re- minds me of the dead Duke do Guise in Paul Delareche's picture, Ihave seen it aleo at Chantilly, in Geronnes celebrat- ed picture of 'The Duel du. Pierce."' Possibly in speaking aloud his thoughts the commissary was talking so rre touched the dead man's hand. that the reporters might hear him. They stood, notebooks in hand, taking notes, and Paul Rodier, catching the names, wrote rapidly in his book: "M. Desbriere, the learned commissary, so artistic, so well disposed toward the press, was at one time a journalist. He noticed that the victim's paleface, with its strong personal characteristics, re- sembled the dead Duke de Guise in Gerome's celebrated picture, which hangs in the galleries at Chantilly." • CHAPTER IV. M. Desbriere now began the investi- gation. He questioned the porter and portress, while he studied the salon in detail. Bernardet roamed about, exam- ining at very close range each and every object in the room as a dog sniffs and scents about for a trail. "What kind of a man was your lodg- er?" was the first question. Moniche replied in a tone which showed that he felt that his tenant had been accused of something. "Oh, M. le Commissaire, a very worthy an, I swear it." "The best man in the world," added his wife, wiping her eyes. "I am not inquiring about his moral qualities," M. Desbriere said. "What I want to know is, how did he live and whom did he receive?" "Few people. Very few," the porter answered. "The poor man liked soli- tude. He lived here ,eight years. He re- ceived a few Mende; but, I repeat, a very small number." M. Revere had rented. the apartment in 1888. He installed himself in hie roonas, with his pictures and books. The porter was inuch astonished at the num- ber of pictures and volumes which the new lodger brought. It took a long time to settle, as M. Rovere was very fastid- ious and personally superintended +he hanging of his oanvasee and the placing of his books. He thought that he must have been an artist, althotigh he said that he was a retired merchant. He had heard hinasay one day that he had beou costs' to some foreign. oomitry—Spain 0.r South America. He lived quite simply, although they tbeeget tbar be must be rice., Was he a miser? Not at all; very generous, on the contrary, but plainly he ,theneed the world. Ile bad chosen their apart. merit because it was in a retired spot, far from the Parisian boulevards, Pour or five years before a womau, clothed in black, had eolue thee -...a woman sybo seeraee still. yoneg, Ile had not seen her . face, which was covered with a heavy black veil. ...feet had visited 1.1. Revere quite often. Ile always accoun panied her respectfully to the door evhen.ehe wen; away. One or twice be had gone out with her in a carriage.. Nenhe did not know her eaute, , vere's life was regulated with military precision. He usually held himself up- right. Of lare sickness bad bowed him soutewbat. He weetnouv wheuevers ixo was able, going as far as the Bois and baelt. Tbete 'atter breakfastiug, he shut hineself up in his library and read and 'senate. - Hes passed ueerly all of bis ewers - tugs at home. • "Ies never med. is wait up for isbn, M tee ;weer went tothe theater," said Mouiche. The malady from whieh he suffered and which puzzled the physiciaes bad seized hint on his return: from e summer sojonni at Aix-les-Beins for his health. The neighbors bed at once noticed the effeet produced by the vure. When he Wentaway, be had beett three -what trees bled with rheumatism, but when re- turned be was a confirmed sufferer. Since the beginning of September lie had not been out, receiving no visits, except from his. doctor, and speeding whole days in Ms easy Obair or upon his lounge, while Mane. Aioniche read the daily papers to him. ng Connanm.) THE LADY'S FAN, Ana What the $tory Weller's Wife Would Have Said. About Xt. "S-S,Slid" he said when he entered the Offlee. Instinctively they drew near eud awaited developraeuts. "I went to the theater last nigbt, There was a lady with me. "After the theater we had a little supper, 1 have a very distinct recollec- tion of that because I paid the bill." "Ale" chortfeed the ring of interest- ed fellow cleats round him. "S -s -eh 1." Feld the rams of mystery again. "Do you want to get me iuto trouble? That supper has nothing to do with the story, except incidentally. But this morning, on my way to the office, 1 fouud this in iny overcoat pocket." Ho pulled out a handsome ostrich feather fans "011-11-11 I" cried everybody. "Suppose," said the luau who had been out, "suppose my wife had acci- • dentally found that fan in my pocket before I started for town this morning, what would she have said?" "What would the have said?" they asked with the accent on the "would." "She would have said," replied the man who had stirred them all up, as he put the fan back in his pocket, "she would have said as nearly as I can guess it now `I'd like to know what you mean by carrying my fan loose in your pocket like that. Do you want to ruin it?' You see," he event on, "she was the lady who was with we last evening." The arrival of the senior partner was the only thine that averted a tragedy. —.Pearson's i'eekly. 1 Seasonable Advice. "See heah, Bastes," said the good old colored deacon to his eldest son, "yo' all am gwine out inter de wicked worl' ter make er livin, is yo'?" "Yes, sub," replied the youngster. "I'se done gtvine ter try gittin 'long on mah own hook." "Den erbout all Ilse got ter say, Ras- tus, am dis heah," continued the old man: "Don't try ter break de record blowin froth offen beer; don't start ter raisin poultry in de light ob de moon an don't loaf round in front of de hin' part of er mule. An may de good Lawd hab mercy on youh soul."—Chicago News. Another Record Gone. "I've broken the record," exclaimed the dry goods salesman jubilantly. "What have you done now?" asked the floorwalker. "Why, you know that rich Mrs. Bargainhunter, don't you?" "Of course." "Well, she came to my counter this morning, and I sucgeeded in selling her a yard and a quarter of 8 cent ribbon in less than an hour and a half, and although that was nearly four hours ago she hasn't been back to have it ex- changed yet. "—Chicago Post. Her Father's Wealth. "Mother," said Miss Dottie Newrich, "can't father afford a seat in parlia- ment?" "A seat?" echoed the good lady soorefully. "My dear, your father is rich enough to have a whole sofa if he Ciesires it. "—Tit -Bits. The Imaginative Faculty. Tatler—Hackman writes well enough, but there is no imagination in the man. Teller—No? Perhaps you are not aware that he writes all those winter sketches of his in midsummer.—Boston Transcript. Abnormal Energy. "Kirby tells me he walks in his 61,3011,, • "How remarkable. He doesn't do anything but sit around while he is awake."—Chicago Record. A Swelled One. Doleful—I wish I knew how I could get ahead in the world. Bowlful—Come down to my club, and I'll give you a lessoe.--Vira. FARU0FOEND '14/3 @IliZI-.)Ekt PREPARING FOR WHEAT,, When Wheat Follows -Wheat or Oats. Plowing and After Work. With SO important a crop as wheat fanners can ill afford to be negligent ia any measures that tend to produce best results, .As is well keown, timely prep- aration of the soil in a proper eamaner is a vital poiut hi raising a 'good crop, tod concerning this an Ohio correspond- ent of The Prairie Farmer offers the following seggestions: "When wheat follows wheat Or oats, the preparation of the soil should commence as soon as potsible after the wheat or oat erop is off the laud. The usual custom is to plONY the land, but a question may arise as to whether this is the most advisable plan under all conditions, Sometimes the laud may be too dry and bard to plow, but may be put in order by the use of disk cr cutaway harrows. But we leave this plan as a Fliggestiau, and will confine our comments to the usual custom, that of plowing aud after work. The greatest error Kamen to fanners is in plowing the and and giving ir uc work till time to sow the wheat. In- stead of (lobate all the work possible on the lend, it appear:3 to be a study a+ to how little eau be done. In the eiloet to curtail labor at first the amount ie often increawil at Reding time. The obeervi ug, practical farmer Ituewt • that wheat does best sowis ou a, Atte, compact seed bed, yet he most cues the plowing is rushed till dope before any other work is done on the soil. If the weather is dry, the laud t uses up elodtly, and the clods are softer right after the plow than at any other time without ram. The rain is uneertaiu, and the clods are sure to get harder as they get drier; lieuce the best and surest time to bile them is as soon as they are =ado by followiug right after the plow, with a roller and packing the mil as tightly 48 possible. Whether or not the soil breaks clod- dy, it is best to work it down as plow- ed, for at this time it will pack better than ever after, if the weather remains dry, and the paddles will tend to hold the moisture in tW SOU. With a thor- ough rolling directly after tlie plow and continued surface workiugs with du -various kinds of Inarows an ideal set d bed may he had. The last working before drilliug tie wheat, we think, should be with the roller, as we then have a smooth sur Ines to drive over iind can sea the drill tracks plainly aud do a more perfect jot with the drill. In preparing, 'wheat land it should in no ease be worked whilt too wet, nnd nlOre satisfactory results can be obtained by working while dry. Continued workings, while in propel coudition, make plant food more avail- able and increase tho amount the plant: natty draw on. Reasoning in this line, tho amount of -work cannot be excess- ive, as not only the wheat, but the succeeding crops, will be benefited. Homemade Irrigation Heim. A writer in Rural New Yorker tells how be makes hose from strong 12 cent duck cloth: To make hose to carry (IC gallons per minute I tear the yard wide duck into three strips (it would proba- bly be largo enough if torn into four or ilve strips). Thee strips are sewed to. gether into hose on a sewing machine. The mixture of tar and boiled oil is then heated in an iron kettle outdoors and the hose immersed in it or di:awu through it while it is hot. Immediately on coming out of the hot mixture the hose is run between two rollers or be tween two sticks held tightly together and the bulk of the tar scraped off the cloth. It is then hung up to dryfor tsvc or three days. This hose will not stand any pressure to speak of. The sectiont are connected by a short iron pipe, and the hose is tied on with strong cord. Probably the hose would dry out best if equal quantities of tar and boiled oil were used, but I usually use about one part boiled oil to two or three of gas. tar. When this hose begins to leak, it should be painted over with the above mentioned mixture. One man told me that he had used hose made something like this five years before repainting it. Trouble For Asparagus Growers. Danger to the asparagus industry by rust isfeared by growers more this year than ever. According to The New Eng- land Homestead, experience at Concord, Mass., and other centers of commercial asparagus culture shows that where the rust was serious last summer the me: this year is inferior in size and quality, and similar reports come from Long Is- land and New Jersey. Experience shows that the recommendation to cut off and burn the rusted tops during summer may be a "remedy" worse than the dis- ease. At Concord fields that were thus cut off and burned last August made very little growth this spring and were hardly worth cutting. To thus mow esevn the tops while green and full of sap seems to cause a bleeding of the stalks and weakening of the roots that is almost fatal. On the other hand, as- paragus beds that were badly rusted last fall, but were allowed to stand, sent out new shoots which made quite a growth before frost. Such beds seem to have partially preserved their vigor, although even when well matured they showed a much lighter yield than beds that were not rusted. • Thinning Apples. Most of the early apples are abundant bearers and are apt to be small. Those that are sweet aro not good for much until ripe, but Early Harvest and the Twenty Ounce apple will bear picking when two-thirds grown and make excel lent pies. If this is done ill all parts el the tree, plucking a few apples where they are fullest on the bough, it will snake wlaat apples remain much larger and better, besides supplying early ap. pies for household use, says an exchange., eneenneens AWNLESS BROIVIE GRASS. rainable and Remarkable Ohara.cterlitien Observed IA Tests. Two notable claims advanced for 5 Breams inenuis, commonly known ,as smooth, .areiless, or Hungariau brozne grass, are its excelleut eedurauce of summer heat gee drought aud its ability to grow on conaparatirelypooe and hard soil. This is 4 pereunial grass with creeps lug root stalks that send up erect, stow., sinceath steels from lee to 4 feet high. with a free growth a leaves, and bears an abundance: of seed. It has beers well recommended for light soils iu xe- gious subject to eetreraes of temperature or .loug periods of clemandtt, where the finer grasses do not thrive. SOIPO years ago the South Dakota station said of smooth brow grass that it Vas the best grass .yet tried at that StatiOli, catchitrfi well where properly .sown, giving xi goad sod the first year and a fair yield of bay in favorable seasoue The for- age. though coarse, was considered of excellent. quality and under ordinary ciremeetances a largearaottut of early spring and fall feed could be obtained ha addition to a geed yield.ofhay. Awnless brume grass • is reported as remaining green in winter in the south, where it is ,eeteented for greziug. It prows well in- cold .climates, awl Ca- eadian report's speak Very highlY of both for nutritive qualities and luxuris ant 11,31dt-of growth, . .111 the report of tests with this grass under the direction of Dr. Saunders of the Canadian .experiment . stations it mentioned xis PS doing well on, &Reline . soil. Thereport fur ther eeys; "Not fully does awnless brome grass thrive in the rich, moist soil of the eastern provinces, but its growth ana productiveuess are SO wouderful evea in the dry plains of the west that its cultivatiou may be said without exaggeration to have solved the problem of fodder production atOOTH BROM: MUSS. Oil a large scale in the arid western sec- tions, Under irrigation brome grass has given on 200 acres of land the enor- mous yield of .lee tons per ecre, One notable feature which distinguishes this grass is that, while most grasses, after the flowering period, deteriorate rapid- ly while the seeds ripen, awnless brome grass can be left standing until the seeds are fully ripe, yet the hay crop will be heavier without being poorer than if it had been cut while in flower, as should be done generally for all other hay grasses in order to get the best value. This remarkable charaoter. istio of this grass is due to the fact that after the seed bearing stem has grown up a great number of leafy shoots spring up from its base." What to Too With the Strawberry Bed. Our usual method of treating a straw- berry bed after the first picking season is to invert it and sow either cowpeas or clover, says a correspondent of Rural New Yorker. The only profitable crop we have ever gathered immediately suc- ceeding turning under a strawberry bed is medium clover. Any strawberry bed which needs a plow to assist in clean- ing it up should never be run a second season. We would remove the mulch and cultivate and hoe as we did the previous season if we wished to carry over the bed and begin at once after the first hoeing to spray with bordeaux and continue spraying at intervals until growth ceases, repeating twice the fol- lowing spring. News and Notes. The statistician of the department of agriculture, from preliminary returns on the acreage of corn, estimates are - duction of 3 per cent from the area har- vested last year. There is a decrease of 502,000 acres in Illinois, of 303,000 in Iowa, of 661,000 in Missouri, of 722,- 000 in Kansas, ond of 482,000 in Ne- braska. A beekeeper says that those beekeep- ers living in or near a town would do %well to exert themselves in inducing the town people to plant basswood trees in preference to other kinds. American Cultivator says that when there is a fair set of fruit on trees or vines, if the fruit continues green longer than it should, a quantity of nitrate of potash very largely diluted with water will have a most extraordinary effect in hastening its ripening. According to the July crop reports, with a few notable exceptions -among which is Georgia, with a condition of 104, indications as to the peach crop are somewhat unfavorable. A new preparation under the name of "lan el green" is on the market as a eubetituto for pans green. According to chemical analysis of the Cornell station, it Contains arsenic, copper and lime and ..ailpiativio and carbonic acids. These ;anic substances 'would be found in a 3nixttu.,,, of pais green and bordeaux ,iir.turc t:ifter drying. '1