The Brussels Post, 1895-9-27, Page 2At the edge Of the gaarry and beneath
the summit there fa a small platfoOnt upon
which stands a Wendell but for the MAP Of
thelabeurers, It was late tide, then, that lie
]rad darted, Perhaps he had thought, the
fool, that, fu the darkness, I would not ven-
ture to follow him. Ile little knew Etienne
Gerard, With a eyeing I wee on the v10; -
10r04 with another T was through the corner,
way, and Biot, hearing ]tint in the co ,
T hnrlod myself down upon the top of
him.
Ile fought like a olid oat, but he never
had a thane') with, his aborter weapon. I
think that I mutt have transfixed him with
that first mad lunge, for, though he atruek
and etruok,hie blows had no power in them,
and presently hie dagger tinkled down upon
the floor. When Iwas sure that he waa
dead, I nee up and passed out into the
moonlight. I olimbed up on to the heath
Again, and wandered across it aanearly out
of my mind, as a man could be. With the
blood singing in my ears, and my naked
sword still olutohed in my hand, I walked
aimleesly'on until,looking round me,I found
that I had come es far as the glade of the
Abbot's Beech, and saw in the distance
that gnarled otump which must ever be
associated with the most terrible moment
of my life. I oat down upon% fallen trunk
with my sword corms my knees and my
head between my hands, and 1 tried to
think about what had happened and what
would happen it the future.
The Emperor had committed himself to
my oare. The Emperor was dead. These
were the two thoughts which clanged in
my head, until I bad no room for any other
ones. He had come with me and he was
dead. I had dace what he had ordered
when living. I had revenged him when
dead. But what of all that? The world
would look upon me as responsible. They
might even look upon me as the assassin.
What could I prove ? What witnesses had
I? Might 1 not have been the accomplice
of these wretches? Yee, yes, I was eternal-
ly dishonoured -the lowest, most des*.
able creature in all Franco. This then was
the end of my fine military ambitione-of
the hopes of my mother. I laughed bitter.
ly at the thought. And what was I to do
scow? Was I to go into Fontainebleau, to
wake up the palette, and to inform them
that the great Emperor had been murdered
within a pace of mel 1 could not do it -no,
I could not do itl There was butone course
for an honourable gentleman whom Fate had
placed in so cruel a position. I would fall
upon my dishonoured sword, and so share,
since I could not avert,the Emperor's fate.
I rose with my nerves strung to this lust
piteous deed, andae I did so, myoyea fell
upon something which struck the breath
from my lips, The Emperor waa standing
before me I
He wao not more than ten yards off,wlth
tbe moon shining straight upon hie cold,
pale faoe, He worehis grey overcoat, but
the hood was turned bank, and the front
open, so that I could see the green coat of
the Guidee, and the white breeches. His
halide were clasped behind hie book, and
his chin sunk forward upon his breaot, in
the way that woe usual with him,
"Well," said he. in his hardest and most
abrupt voice, "what account do you give of
yourself ?"
I believe that, if he had stood in silence
for another minute, my brain would have
given way. But thee sharp military
accents were exactly what I needed to
bring me to myself. Living or dead, here
was the Emperor standing before me and
aekmg me questions. I sprang to the sal-
ute,
"You have killed one, I see," said he,
jerking hie bead towards the beech,
"Yee, eke."
"And the other escaped ?"
"No, sire, 1 killed him also."
"What 1" he cried. "Do I understand
that you have killed them both?" He
approached me ae he spoke with a smile
which set hie teeth gleaming in the moon-
light.
"One body lies there, sire," 1 answered.
"The other to in the tool -bougie at the
quarry."
"Then the Brothers of Ajaccio are no
more," be oried, and after a pause, as if
speaking to himself: "The shadow has
passed me for ever." Then he bent forward
and laid his hand upon my shoulder,
"You have done very well, my young
friend," said he. "You have lived up to
your reputation."
He was flesh and blood, then, thie
Emperor. I could feel the little, plump
palm that rested upon me. And yet I
could not get over what I had seen with
my own eyes, and as. I stared at him in euoh
bewilderment that he broke once more into
one of hia smiles.
"No, nq Monsieur Gerard," said he, "I
am not aghast, and you have not seen me
killed. You will come here, and alt will be
clear to you."
He turned as be spoke, and led the way
towards the great beech stump,
`she bodies were still lying upon the
ground, and two men were standing beside
them. As we approached I ,saw from the
turbanathatthey'wereRoustem andMustafa,
the two Mameluke servants. The Emperor
paused when he mane to the grey figure
upon the ground, and turning back the
hood which shrouded the features, he
lowed a face which was very different from
hie own.
" Here lies a faithful servant who has
given up his Iife for his master," said he.
•" Bloneieur de Goudin resemhlee me in
figure and in manner, as you must admit,'
Wnat a delirium of joy came upon me
when these' few words made everything
clear to me. He smiled again as he saw
-the delight which urged me to throw my
erne round him and to embrace him, but
he moved a step away, ae if he bad di vinod
my impulse,
° You are unhurt?" he asked.
"I ant unhurt, sire, But in another
minute 1 should in my despair--"
"Tut, tut 1" he interrupted. "You did
very well. He should himeslf have been
more on his guard. Isom everything whioh
passed."
You saw it, sire 1"
"You did not hear me follow you through
the wood then? I hardly lost eight of you
from the moment that you left your quar-
ters until poor De Goudin fell. The coon
terfeit Emperor was in front of you and
the real one behind. You will now escort
me back to the palace,"
He whisperedan order to'his Mamelukes,
who saluted in silence and remelted where
they wereetanding. For my part, I follow-
ed the Emperor with my pelisse bursting
with pride. My word, I have always oar -
Tied myself as a huagar should, but Laaalle'
himself never strutted and swung hie
plink hoe Apure and platter hie sabre if it
were 4001--I, 1btienue Getarfi--the eenli-
dant of the Fmperor,the0lipeenewordem0n
of the light cavalry, the who Clew the
world ba assaesige of Napoleon?, Itut he
noticed my bearing and tnrued upon me
like a blight,
"Is that the way to carry yourself on a
oaoret mission ?" he hissed, with that cold
glare in hie gee. "Ie it thee thee you will
make yeureomendea believe that nothing
remarkable fiat occurred ? Have done with
,khie noneenee, m040100r, or you will find
yourself transferred to the sappers, where
Yee would have harder work aud duller
Online."
e '
That was the way with the Emperor. If
ever he thought that a0y0ne might have a
claim upon him, he took the Drat oppotroun.
ity to chow him the gulf that lay hetweon.
I saluted and wao silent, but I meet oaten
to you that it hurt -me after all that had
passed between tie. He led on to the
palace, where we passed through the aide
door and up into his own cabinet. There
were to couple of grenadiers, at the atairoase,
and their eyes, started out from under their
fur cape, I promise you, when they saw a
young lieutenant of hussars going up to the
Bmperor'e room at midnight stood by
the door, 115 I had done in the afternoon,
while he flung himself down inan arm-
cbair,aud remained adept ea long that it
seemed to me that he had forgotten all
about me, I ventured at lesb upon a slight
cough to remind him.
"Ah, Monsieur Gerard;' said he, "you
aro very ourioue, no doubt, as to the mean-
ing of
ean•iugof all this?"
' I am quite content, etre, if it is your
pleasure not to tell me," I answered,
"Ta, ta, ta," Paid he impatiently. "These
are only wordo. The moment that you
were outside that door you would begin
making inquiries about what it means. In
two days your brother offioerewould know
about lb, in three days it would be all over
Fontainebleau, and it would be in Parison
the fourth. Now, if I tell you enough to
appeaseyour curiosity,tbere is some reason-
able hope that you may be atm to keep
the matter to yourself,"
He did not understand me, thirtEmperor,
and yet I could only bow and be silent.
" A few words will make it clear to you,"
said he, epeaking very swiftly and pacing.
up end down the room, " They were
Corsicans, these two men. I had known
them in my youth. We had belonged to
the same society -Brothers of Ajaocio, as
we called ourselves. It was founded in
the old Paoli days, you understand, and
we had some strict rules of our own which
were not infringed with impunity."
A very grim lookoame over his lace as he
epoke,and it seemed to me that all that was
French had gone out of him, and that it was
the pure Coreioan, the man of strong pas-
oione and of strange revenges, who etood
before me, His memory had gone back to
those early days of hie and for five minutes
wrapped in thought, he paned up and down
the room with his quick little tiger etepe.
Then with an impatient wave of his hands
he came back to his palace and to me.
"The rules of such a society," he contin-
ued, "are all very well fora private citizen.
In the old days there was no more loyal
brother than I. But oironmstanees change,
and 10 would be neither for my welfare nor
for that of Franco that I should now submit
myself to them. They wanted to bold me
to it, and so brought their fate upon their
own heads. These were the two chiefs of
the order and they had come from Corsica
to summon me to meet them at the spot
which they named, I knew what such a
summons meant. No man had ever returned
from obeying me. On the other hand if I
did not go, 1 was sure that disaster would
follow. I am a brother myself, you re-
member, and 1 know their ways."
Again there came that hardening of his
mouth and cold glitter of hie eyes.
"You perceive my dilemma, Monsieur
Gerard," said he. `How would you have
acted yourself, under snob oiroumatanoes?"
"Given the word to the 10th Hussars,
sire," I cried. "Patrols could have swept
the woods from end to end; and brought
these two rascals to your feet,"
He smiled but he shook hie head.
"I had very excellent reasons why I did
not wishthem taken alive," said he. "You
can understand that an assaeein's tongue
might be as dangerous a weapon as an
aeeasein's dagger. I will not disguise from
you that I wished to avoid scandal at all
cost. That was why I ordered yon to take
no pistols with you. That also is why my
Mamolukes will remove all traces of the
affairs and nothing more will be heard
about it. I. thought of all poeaible plans,
and I am convinced that I selected the
best one. Had !sent more than one guard
with De Goudin into the woods, then the
brothera would nob have appeared, They
would not change their plane or mise their
ahanoe for the sake of a Bingle man. It
was ColonelLasalle'e accidental presence
at the moment when I received the sum-
mons which led to my ohoosing one of his
hussars for the mission. I selected you,
Monsieur Gerard, because I wanted a man
who could handlea sword, and who would
not pry more deeply into the affair than I
desired- I trust that, in this respect, you
will justify my choice as well as you have
done in your bravery and skill,"
"Sire, I answered, "you may rely upon
it."
"As long as I live," said be, "von never
ripen your lips upon this subject,"
"1 dismiss it entirely from my mind, sire
I will efface it from my recollection as if it
had never been, 1 veld promise you to go'
out of your cabinetat this moment exactly
as I was when I entered it at four o'clock."
"You cannot do that,"said the Emperor,
smiling. "You were a lieutenant at that
tome. You will permit me, Captain, to
wish you a very good -night."
(TO DE CONTINUED.)
Crispl's Body Guard.
An Italian newspaper has recently pub
imbed in detail the daily expellee incurred
by the Government in guarding King
Humbert's Minister of State, which is
probably the first time that unpopularity
has been measured by a pecuniary standard.
According to this paper Crispi'o person ie
watched over by two commissaries of police
at 51.60 a day, twenty-two " agents" or
deteotives, at a little ot'er DO cents a day
for eaoh,and two viae -brigadiers. at 60 cents
each (one would suppose from their tibiae
that vloe.brigadlero would coat more). A
carriage at $2.611 also figures in the bill.
The total, reduced to American Money, le.
$26.10 per day, or $0,526.50 per year. This,
however, is only during the time when the
Prime Minister i0' in Rome. When he
travels the expellees are three or four times
as great; whioh bring the annual amount
up to about $12,000.
Unrequited affeotioe, ea a rule io a mie'
dolman lye I did that night I Who should 1 attune rather than it fault.
B in $:1R
IMPRQV1NG VRUITS,
Sita nievelolpiteut SValolt nag Tafref t'f apo
*110*2e Qutilfty Of the ConrnlenFrttite.
If there be a timely thought for the hob
seam 10le surely that in wbioh one reoalle
the almaetcomplete, rovoltttion which the
fruit trade hue nndergonp is the test few
decades, Half a Century ago 0h000 04004'
lent products of garden and orchard were
almost inaccessible to the poor ; to day..-
thenke to swift railroad arauoportation and
the development of panning industry. they
are received everywhere in abundaaoe, and
Pan be sold at prices low enough to meet
the neede of the humblpetpurse,
Not len remarkable than their inoraaee
In quantity has been the improvement
which has taken place in the quality of the
00mmon fruits, though this atnolloration,aa
the naturaliato Boli us, le one that has been
going on over since the age in whioh ;me-
ta ble.eating
ege=table.eating auimale first appeared upon our
planet.
Somewhere in what is known as the
tertiary period, fruits were first developed
asa meaua of dietrihutiug the 'neede of a
variety of planta Owing to the deposit of
eugary matter in the tloeuea, birds were
Ied to peeler Pertain seeds to others ; such
chosen seeds were widely dispersed, and
had the hese Mance of surviving.
The most attractive of the ourvivore were
again eaten to the rejection of the reat,and
by a continuation of the same process .the
earliest fruits underwent
GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT.
The edible portion of the plant which
we now call fruit was developed from
different parte of the floral envelopes or of
the ovary of the plant, the calyx beoomiug
enlarged and fleshy, as in the apple and
pear; the receptacle itself swelling to form
the strawberry; the integuments of the
ovary increasing in bulk, as in the Daae of
the plum, the peaoh, and the grape. In
other plants compound fruits arose, in a
variety of ways, from a mass of flowers, as:
in the case of the mulberry, the pine.
apple and the fig.
The first of the fruits were thus brought
into existence through the agoney of the
lower animals by what is galled natural
selection. Bub when man name he began
to select and improve fruits for himeslf.
The most primitive trlbee must have exec.
deed, in tomo form or other, tine new kind
of oeleotiob.
The progress made within bistorio times
in the character of certain apples and pears
has been remarkable, not to say extraordi.
nary. The apple of the age of the lake.
dwellings of Switzerland, for example,
hardly equalled our arab-apple; while the
luscious peaoh of to -day is believed by
expert naturalists to have had at one time
the low estate of a mere almond,
A purely modern feature of these im-
provements has been the BOOMS achieved
by the fruit raiser in producing seedless
varieties.
THE ABSENCE OF 80005
isaseerted to have a double advantage,
since the nutriment originally needed to
develop the Beed goes to iti0reaaing the
supply for the fruit.
At present, the fruits in common use
that have few or no made include bananas,
pine -apples, and a certain kind of urangee,
together with acme other tropical fruits
that do not reach the great markete of the
world in large quantities. Yet oul0ivatore
do hot greatly despair of adding to this
lief-ofoliminating the small and hard neede
of the strawberry, the raspberry, the black-
berry, and the Durrant, and of providing
for the market that " long -felt want" -the
seedless grape. Nor do they altogether
frown on the enthusiastic fruit consumer
who looks forward to a future of ooroless
apples and pears, of etoneleos cherries and
plume.
In the meantime, cultivators of fruit are
much more anxious still further to improve
means of transportation that to provide
nitro lusoious fruit. Should they succeed,.
it may prove possible even in our own time,
with the help of more soientido methods of
transportation, to draw to our northern
markets some of those edibles that now
make the sultry tropics almost a regret to
the untravelled-even such delicacies es
the avocado pear, the custard -apple, the
oherimoyer, the sweet -cup, the sweet -sop,.
the durian, the papaw, the rambutan, the
mango, and the mangosteen.
DUBBING A KNIGHT.
Elaborate Cerentotly of Transforming
Plain Citizen Onto a Nobleman.
Last month the knights of the birthday
honours list repaired to Windsor to receive
their formal investiture at the hands of
the Queen. It is en interesting circumstance
that knighthood alone Parries this epscial
distinction. Your mere Peer or Baronet
takes hia patent and no more said or done;
but the Knight receives his honour direct
from her Majesty by the literal laying on
of hands. The ceremony is ouriouo. The
Knights go down to Windsor and are
entertained by the lords -in -waiting at
luncheon. If there is any time to spare
they are conducted about the castle for an
Inopeobion of the State Departments and
other curiosities. Then they are aeeembled
in the anteroom and epeoial care taken to
impress on each the importance of following
the right man in the prearranged order.
When, let us say, Henry Irving's `urn
arrives, he will be ushered into a room where
her Majesty is seated, attended by some of
the prince: nee and ladies.in.waitmg. He
will make a profound obeisance, advance
toward the sovereign, and kneel on the
left knee. The Queen will take a sword
and touch him lightly on the shoulder,
uttering the worda"Sir Fleury,"nob "Rise,
Sir .Henry." The "rico" hes no existence
except in historical roma/ons. Sir Henry
wilt not rise just then, but will place his
right arm on hls right knee in knob a peel -
tion that her Majeety will lay her hand
upon his arm to bo kissed, Then he will
rico and bow himself gracefully out of the
room bookwards.
Her Majesty is very partioular about thio
kissing of her hand. She will not hate it
done in the illusory, fashion practised by
witueeees in a police court whentheyare
p000ented with a greasy Testament. Sir
John Rigby, when ho was knighted, Was
thinking of the Testament and neglected
to kion the Royal stand, whereupon he was.
storuly called bank and compelled to go
through the ceremony over again. The
Quoen's word ho the matter of titles is
absolute law. Were she to address a by.
0tander inadvertently ao "duke,"a duke he
would remain, unlose Phe revoked the hod.
our,
nit 27, 1895
NO WEATHER, BIM EH ?
NOT EVEN A WET MOON LEFT BY
AD? EN{ LJSli INVESTIGATOR,
Conrruon ltellefe anent .1114 )veatjter
Ictteelted en the Read by Modern Mote'
oralogtentstudy-An ttntds,P1 mutt, and
140000rbs All 54118 to no Wortblcse An
FereoaetAtrg.
Superstitious and proverbial lore about
the weather were cruelly rent in rho ioono'
elastlo address ori 0 Weather Palla0ioe"
read to the Royal Meteorological Society at
its recent annual meotiug in London by
the President, It, Inwards, In early times,
when the weather had to be studied from
cloud, $l , and sea, and from the behavior
of animals and plants, men wore pardonable
for doingwhat is still often a cause of error •
foretelling what they most wished for and
putting down as a universal law what was
only n ooinoldenae of independent events,
Une class of propheoiee eonneete the weather'
with pertain seasons of vile year,partioularly
days in the week, or the days ofcortaipsaints
which was a convenient way of fixing a date,
and even with partioular times of the day.
Wo often hear snob slayings as " Fine on
Friday, fine on Sunday," or "Friday is the
best and the worst day of the week," and
proverbs like "rain atoeven,fine at eleven."
When those oayinge come true they are
faithfully remembered, when they fail they
are forgotten. There is no kind of founda-
tion for auoh rules, whieh Mr. Inwards
oohs "solf•exploding," or for the belief
that if it mine on St. Swithin's day, July
15, is will rain for forty days after. That
date to very near a well known bad period
in wet years, as the terms "St. Margaret's
flood," July 20, and "Lammas flood," Aug,
I, show the fent that scone heavy rains
began on July 15 woe: enough to establish
the " law," ivhicb every one knows is
CONSTANTLY BROKEN.
Equally unfounded are the ecientifio
superstitions, presented under the shield
of astronomy, which base infallible rules
for the weather on the relative position of
the moon, Bun, and planets, Thoee appeal
to analogy, to 00943014 and to gammon
eenae. The known action of sun and moon
on ocean tides is generally the starting
point of such theories, and it is clear to
common sense that when the earth is
nearer to the sun or the moon to the earth,
or both sun and moon are pulling together,
there ought to be tide of.atmoephere simi.
lar to the tide of ocean which these influ-
ences undoubtedly produce. But the facts
do not hear the theory out; the atmos-
pheric tides do not ebb and flos', except in
an infinitesimal degree. Again, the sun'
and moon move in planes that are at an
angle to each other, so that at times their
attraction sots in widely diverging lines, at
others almost in the same plane. Here is a
;dear ease: When the angle le greatest,when
the moon is " on her back," there .must
be atmospheric disturbance. Unfortunate
ly the storms do not come, and we must
And some other cause for our weather.
Hardly a year goes by without a new moon
theory to account for it. lvl. Flerguergues,
as the result of twenty years of obeerva-
tione, has found that when the moon was
furthest from the earth the barometer
averaged 755 millimetres, and when near-
est, 704 millimetres, a diterence of only
one millimetre.
Some prophets have built their faith on
cycles,predicting that weather changes
would repeat themselves when sun and
moon got back into the acme relative posi-
tion, which they do in nineteen years, with
an error of only an hour and a half. ()there'
advocate a cycle of fifty-four years, but all
the cycle systems have broken down when
tented, and as far as we know, there is no
period within which -weather changes re-
peat themselves. There are plenty of other
fallacies
ABOUT VIZ MI00N,
such ea that the full moon eleare away
clouds, that you should sow beans or cut
trees on the wane of the moon ; that it is a
bad sign if the moon changes on Saturday or
Sunday ; that two full moons in a month
will bring a flood ; nbatto en the old moon
in the arms of the now brings 008 rain, M.
Flammarion says that " moons influence
on the weather is negligible. The heat.
coming from it would affect our temperature
by twelve millionths of u degree, and the
atmospheric tides caused by it would only
affect the barometric pressure a few
hundredths of on inch, far leas than the
ohangee always taking place from other
coulee."
The Moon and the Weather
May change together'
But the change of the Moon
Does not change the weather,
Even the halo round the moon is discredit-
ed ; it has been found -by observers that it
is followed by fine weather as often as by
rain.
About the Bun there are many fallacies,
and ever duce the discovery that theepot0
on its surface appear with greater or lees
frequency, theorists inahoale have tried to
prove that they rule our weather. It has
been proved that the frequency of sun spots
and the variations of the magnetic needle
are intimately connected, and that the
aurora appears and dieappearsin some sort
of sympathy with the eunspot variations,
but thin ie as far as we can get for the present,
as then changes seem , to have no definite.
relation to our weather. Mr. Scott has
proved thpt there are no equinoctial galea
Coming down to earth, we• find a long
list of abatements of the behavior of animals
and plants having a supposed commotion
with the weather. E. J. Lowe has carefully
examined a number of well known signs,
and all seem to break down completely. He
took the signs of bats tying about in t e
evening, many toads appearing at suuae
great quantities of ensile, fish. raising to
the surface, bees buoy, orowdo of locusts,
restless cattle,landrailo clamorous, flies and
gnats troublesome, many fnaeet0, crown.
Hooking and noisy, epider webs thick on
the grass, spiders hanging front their webs
iu the evening, aud duke and geese mak.
tog more noise than usual. Calling a day
fine when no rain was measured in the rain
gauge, he found in 361 observations of such
signs that they were followed 213 timesby
the fine weather and only 146 by rain. Evan
SwiLLOtV0 FLYING LOW
cannot be depended upon, as espoolally in
summer and autumn they almost invariably
Aim along the ground. Animals probably
feel the dampness nr. darkness preceding
wet weather, and this makes them uneasy,
but not more than it affects man himself.
Aa to owe oaratebing their etre, and goats
uttering alae, they are no more true ao
signs of rain than the adage whioh orodita
pigs with ageing the wind, The Well le
believed to po a weather prophet and tura
peaks havebeen written aboutitobeliavior,
The author of ono devised an inetrumpnt
by which leeches eopld give audible storm
warnings, Ie consisted of trvelvo bottloo
of water, each containing 8 leeolr and a
mbut 1etal 000 tubo 000
whloh smf0allwoufor ld"try to 10 0s. anter oeaeiiyqusezo,
when a tiiunderet0rm 000010 008, 50cording
tP rte palate, In the tubo was 4 piece oh
whalebone, 40ta013001 to a chain from whish
hang a bell,yvhioh rang when the whalebone
wee to0olied, Twelve loechas were ueod a0
a0 to make sure that at least one wortld do
1010 duty,
PIare oleo need 00 weather indioatore
and as they not in sympathy with the damp•
twee, gloom, and chilliness of the air, aud
train, hose aro
their laoonditionsdfcatione float00genera90800 blly0 oapreceiloded
a1togother f4dlaaioue. The pinipornot`ond
the martaold close 01(010 petals before 14121,
became the air la getting damper, aud for
the same reason the poplar and the couple
ohm the under /metrics. of their loaves. An
artificial leaf of paper will do the same, 11
hard, Chiu paper to used for the upper aide
and thioker uuoized paper for the lower,tho
leaf will purl up in sympathy with the con-
dition of the air, So will a slip of ordinary
photographic paper, And the olaoknese
that moisture produoeo'in plants applies to
insects, some of whioh eau fly only fn the
outshine.
In 1392 attention was directed to a plant,
the Abrus predaborius, a beautiful shrub of
the mimosa kind, which has the property
of being eenaitive in a high degree, so that
its pinnate leaflets go through many
curious movemepoe, and it was claimed
that these forma guidoof unerring certainty
to foreshow the coming weather. Even
earthquakes were said bo be predioted by
TRIS WONDERFUL. PLANT.
If it closed its leaflets upward, after the
manner of a butterfly about 06 settle, Lair
weather was shown ; when the leaflets.
remained fiat, changeable and gloomy
weather was indicated ; while thunder at
various distances was to be foretold by the
curling of the leaflets, and the nearer the
thunder the greater the curl, until when
the points of the leaflets crossed, the thus.
der storm was indicated as being overhead.
Menges of wind, hurricanes, and other
phenomena were to be shown by the various
curious and beautiful movements of Oho
leaflets aud otalks. Those movements
undoubtedly took plane, hut the botanists
at Kew were unable to find any connection
between them and the weather, and found
that most of them were due to the agency.
of light and moisture. At the meteoro-
logical office the movements were found to
have nothing to do with eithercyclones or
eartbquakee. Yet this sensitive plant
hadbeen made the subject of an English
patent.
In the countrya large Drop of hips, haws,
and !lolly berries ie held to be a sign theta
severe winter le coming, and that nature.
thus provides winter food for the brde.
But it ie nob s0. Neither is it true a green
Chiistma0 makes a fat churchyard, se Mr.
Dine's statistics have shown. It is often
stated that the noise of cannon will produce
rain, and in Austrian Tyrol the onuroh
belle are rung to avert thunder.; but the:
notion is a fallacy. The experiments made
in America to test whether rain could be
produced by exploding a large quantity of
gunpowder in the air resulted in nothing
but smoke and noise,
Only a selection has here been made of
the vast catalogue of falleores that have
grown up about the weather. There are
still people, Mr. Inwards remarked in con-
clusion, who believe that the Saints' days
rule the weather, that the sun pate out fire,
end that warm water freezes sooner than
cold.
WONDERFUL GOLD MINE.
It Is Located In Algoma, Near ,Oackfsh
Day -From Eight to Teen Dollars Per
Ton- In Free glad.
A Port Arthur correspondent writes : I
have for some time heard rumours of a
wonderful gold discovery upon the north
shore of Lake Superior, but as rumours
and discoveries have both been so plentiful
recently, paid little attention to it. Row.
ever, with a view of finding out what
truth there was in it, I to -day iuterviswed
Mayor McKellar, of Fort William, who,
with his brothers, Peter and Donald, are
the owners of what promises to be at
Algoma Ooolgardie, The locality in which
the discovery has been made is in the
mountains, near Jaokfish bay, Lake
Superior, about five miles from the Cana-
dian Pacific railway, where it skirts the
shore at that point. The vein or ledge
has been traced for one and one-half miles,
it havinga width from 16 to 25 feet, and
conservative eatirnatee are that it carries
from SS to $10 per ton in free gold besides
the snlphuretea, In addition to this, in.
places vein quartz may be broken off
whioh is literally spattered with the.preoi-
ous metal, and would easily go from twenty
to thirty thousand dollars per ton. Your
correspondent has no hesitation in saying
that without exception it is, so far as can
be told et the present moment, the riohoet
and most important mining discovery made
in Algoma, The evidence about it has
been oorroboroted by uninterested parties
who have personally examined the pro-
perty.
GRAINS OF GOLD.
Politeness has been defined to be artifice'
good nature ; but we may affirm, with much
greater propriety, that good nature fa nat-
ural politoneoo.-Stanisiaua.
The stage is a supplement to the pulpit,.
where virtue, according to Plato'a sublime
idea moves our love and affection when
made visible to the eye. -Disraeli.
Opinions, theories and systems pass by
turns over the grindstone of time, which at
fleet gives them britlianey mad ohorpnese,
but flually wears them out.-Riverol,
I have oleo seen the world, and after long
experience have •disoovered that ennui is
oar greatest en my and remunerative labor
our most Inning friend.-Juetuo Moser,
Speeoh is too oft,,n not, as the Freooh-
man defined it, the art of oonoealing
thought, but of quite etiflleg and suspend-
ing thought, e0 that there is none to con
Peal. -Carlyle.
What we truly and oarneotly aspire to
be that in 0omo some we are, Tho mere
aspiration, by changing the frame of the
mind, for the moment roalixeo itself; -Mrs,
Jam00on,
Montooquieu wittily observes, that, by
building preheated mad houses, men tacitly
fuoiuuate that all who are out of 'their
eeneea are to bo faunal only,in tho0oplaoo0,-
Warton.:
NO 50 Very .gmy,
Work in the poultry yard le almoot coa-
tinuoue it nay number al bowie aro kept
end the beet rosulte aro desired. The poul-
try raiser does net have it ulama of it by
any mown. RI0 Whinge to put to the Goat
daily, and he moat hay(' the patlonoo of
Job to overcome all obetacleo, And, during
the breeding season the Dare of a lot 91
fowls i0 trying and laboriono, according to,
the number of variotloo kept. A half dor•:
ell breads will keep apeman buoy if all the
eggs the hone lay are not and the ohioke
oared fop as they should be, With a nuin. ,
Mr of broodaof ohioke to be fed every little'
while,watered and got under shelter, at the
approaoh of attains ; flee and mites to bei
looked after, houooe gleaned out and kept.
free from vormin,sotting hens to attend to,;
mato to examine for beakers eggs, setting.
]fella 00 bo feel and watered and kept free
from vermin, those and other details keep,
the breeder at work, aud our experience is.
that is ie about ate Posy to attend to a then -
nod birds as a hundred or so. If a breeder
is fixed e0 as to have good, handy bouoee,
ample runo,good facilities for watering and
feeding, in Mot, if he can, have bio plant.
aystomizod ao as to cave labor sad roduoo
the change of lose, the work 10 not so hard..
And, while it may nob be steady worlc,it le•
work that takes a person's time and de-
mands his almost eonetanb attention, At
all events, whether be works or playa, he
has got to be there all the time, or Nome
ono has to be there to look after the ohioke
just the same as the merchant and his olerka
have to be at the store whether ouetomer0•
Mime or not. '
In the oaring for fine stook, however,tho
breeder cannot give the work to an inex-
perienced hand to attend to, 11 the breed.
er's wife takes an interest in fowla,• as she
ought to do, she may be able to manage
them tf neeeseity compels him to be absent
0aoasioually, or if be be sick. But, if the
wife takes no interest in fowls, and refuses
to pare for them,or, pretending to do s0,
neglects them, then it lea positive necessity
for a man to be at home all the time or hire
an expert, whioh, will not pay on small ,
planta. No, the breeder does not have a
plonic raising fowls, by any means.
Fertilizing Turnips. "
Turnips have been commonly regarded as
a "phosphate" orop. By this we mean that
phosphates have been, by many, considered
as the fertilizer par excellence for .this'.
crop; and that if phosphates were liberally
applied to the land devoted to turnip cul-
ture this was all euffioient,no other fertilizer
was necessary. Our brethren across the
sea have exhaustively tested the phosphates
and the nitrogenous and potassic fertilizers,
singly and in combination they have used
barn -yard manure liberally (20 tons per
acre) ; and they have tried raising them
without any fertilizer at all. They have
tried raising them on commercial fertilizers
alone, without the aid of a barn -yard man.
urn and have thereby succeeded in raising
large and profitable orops, Barn -yard
manure used alone has also afforded large
Props, but the best and most profitable re-
spite have been enured by a combination
of barnyard manure, 10 tone bone meal,
150 pounds ; muriate of potash, 100 pounds.
Thie should be intimately mixed, and the
above amount applied broadcast to a single '
acre.
The increase of product, resulting from
the nee of potash over and above that
where this salt was omitted, was five tons
per acre. Nitrogenous fertilizers alone do
not give best results; phosphatic) fertilizers
alone do not give best results; a combination
of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers,
but without the addition of petite') in some
form, do not give beet results; a union of
the three or 'complete" fertilizer has
invariably given uniformly profitable
results. This is a0 might be reasonably
expected. When the fact is taken into
consideration that "the turnip crop 10
essentially a 'sugar' Drop; and that rho
presence of considerable potash is an im-
portant condition in the formation within
plants of carbo hydrates, and especially of
sugar."
Poultry Diseases.
Chickens, ducks and turkeys will get
sick occasionally. They will catch cold
or eat food that upsets them. They get
rheumatism, liver trouble, indigestion,
constipation, bowel disorders, etc, If we
know the Pause we would usually admin-
ister proper remedies. If fowls could
have free range, pure . water, and
a variety of food to their taste,
there would bo little trouble. If they
could be kept free from lice and from pais.
onous influenoes there would be little of
croup, cholera, dto, Try to ascertain the
cause, when your fowls get sink. Beyond
a few simple remedies,it i0 not worth while
to doctor. Better disinfect and 0r9 to
prevent, The following, from a report of
the Canadian Experiment Station, shows
what filthy water will doe
In November, 1890, Mr. M. Cowley
wrote that a disease was carrying off a
largo number of fowls. The fowls first
went lame, their Pomba wilted, and after
hobbling about from bad to worse -for a
month or five weeks, they died. Upon
examination, the livers in most casae were
found ulcerated, while in others they •
looked as if covered with hayseed. All
information possible was given. A des-
cription of the ailment was published in a
report of last year, and excited great
interest, one gentleman writing, from ,Brit-
ish `Columbia that his fowls were similarly
alfeoted. A fowl whioh had died from the
disease was sent to Prof. Wesley Mille, of
McGill University, for examination, but,
no satisfactory reauit0 weroobtained, Two
nick fowls wore later sent to the Experi-
mentlarm poultry house, and were put'
in the hospital for observation, but got
bettor. During the latter part of last
summer a letter was received from Mr.
Cowley, saying that hie fowls continued to
die. He was advised to try camphor in
some Shupe is the event of the ailment be.
ing acute dysentery or oholora, On the 10th
instant (December) a letter was reoefyed
from Mr. Cowley, saying that.0ibee the
cold weather set in, and by the use of
ooneiderable alum in the drinking water,
thefowls had got better. Ila was positive
that the trouble was Paused by the fowls
drinking manure water from the barn. Ho
had built a new place, and at time of
writing there was not the slightest sign of
climate.' Thera can bo 110 doubt that the
filthy water wao the cause of the. trouble.
The ailment ceased when the fowls were
removed from the source of it,