Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, February 11, 1899, Page 6

By JOHN a CHAPTER XV. (Continued.) “T can searcely anything on that head, my dear Von Mitschka, till I know what the service you demand of I said this with a smile, to me is. show that I did not take the matter very seriously; yet I was’ unwilling that I should sail at the outset under false colors. Von Mitschka took no notice of my speech; but I could not help seeing that the Pole gave a perceptible start as I spoke and regarded me for a mo- ment or two with a curious intentness. “I said that you should have an in- | said nu terview with Prince Kropenski,” the chief, “and I will arrange for to see him to-morrow. The Prince is quite well, | hope?” he added, turning to his lieutenant. “Perfectly well in health, but very; He gives us more trouble y half-dozen of the rest.” me—What are we to, do about the new prisoners, the survi- vors of the Novgorad?” said Von Mitschka. “We cannot hous them, and 1 do not see how we are to feed them; yet we dare not allow one of them to return to Rus “Sooner than do th , I would sheot them in a body,” said Lob’ as calmly as if he had been speaking of slaughtering a number of pig: I oe pose that he saw something of the horrence I felt reflected in my face for he hastened to add:— “Better that a few meet their fate a few their time, than have the we have been doing for for Russia—destroyed.” As it happened, I overheard a speech which Von Mitschka made that after- noon to the surviving officer and sea- men of the ill-fated Nevgcrod. He ex- plained to them, not without a touch of magnificence that he and his friends were at war with the Russian government, and that they were pris- ‘Their lives were, there- should great work Poland—and one war. fore safe; but, for the time being, they must remain on the island. Unfortun- ately, he said, the accommodations not sufticient, and the food must short period, rather monoton- ous in char But the “authorities would do their utmost to have huts erected for them, as well as large sup- plies of food laid in, before the sum- mer came to an end. For the present they would be allowed as much per- sonal liberty as was con: ent with the safety of the settlement. “Are you not id of a ing among the prisoners?’ I asked, when I found myself opposite Von Mitschka at dinner that evening, after Lobieski ad left us. #280. I n't say that I am,” he re- Xurned. “and for three reasons. In the first place, our men are all heavily armed, while the rebels would not have as much as a cartridge or a cut- nong them. In the second place, who are to live outside Il be well treated, much better than the average sailor on board Russian man-of-war, so that they e no very strong inducement their lives in an attempt to es- And, in the third place, even if ucceed in making themselves the island, they have no any tools or materials for making one, ne ny knowledge of their whereabouts; so that if they did get the upper hand, they would be lit- ile better off than they were before.” Th is something in that. I sup- pose it would be highly indiscreet in me to ask what quarter of the globe we are in?” “My d cape. they did masters of boi nor path,” said the conspir- atcr, with a smile of real feeling, Lie & have such confidence in your honor that, if it had depended solely on me, you would have been told all our se- erets long ago. As you know, I have to consult others; but I have obtained permission to tell you the situation of th sland, approximately, on condi- tion that you keep the matter a sec! et until we give you leave to diy ulge “[ will give the promise,” I swered,, reflecting a moment, with this pro that what I may observe for mysel is my own-—subject, of cou , to the old stipulation, that if I dec ne to serve you as you desire, I must hold my tongue about the whole affair.” For reply Von Mitschka held out bis hand, and we shook hands. “You must know, then,” said he, that we have been sailing about for the last few days with no other ob- ject than to pr nt you—and not only you, but the prisoners we had on board nd some of the sailors—from know’ ing our real destination. It may surpr you to know that the island over thee is part of the soil of Great Britain. “Great Britain! Impossible! Do you mean to tell me, seriously, that we are jn England?” “In Scotland, at any rate, which comes to very nearly the same thing. This is one of the outlying islands ot the Herbrides—you will my mentioning its name at present.” 1 was too profoundly amazed to re- Once more I was confounded at lence of resources, Of cool au- ty displayed by the leaders of the revolution. new “How is it possible,” you should keep your prisoners here a month without the fact being known? ked, “that La . inquiri ies, How to you manage to evad to prevent communication—? Von Mitschka interrupted me with & y laugh. y dear fellow,” he cried, “the sim ple fact is that what seems to you next to an impossibil has proved, as I knew it would, the eas whole enterprise. Indeed, it has: pre- sented no difficulty worthy of the name. Fill up your glass and take a fresh cigar, and 1 will tell you exact- ly how we managed to set up what is practically an independent state on the soil of Great Britain.” “Racher more than two years ago, in tne spring of the year before last, two st part of the before | 1 A Romance of Russia. THE BLACK THE BLAGK TERROR a8 K. LEYS. AIOIXDIKGI PEUUTTUCUSULETTCSESTD ‘or three of us, who had been turning over in our minds the idea of the se- cret prison for some time, ‘hired a small steam yacht and took a cruise round the coast of Norway in search of an island suitable for our purpose. We found plenty of islands, but they were all too liable to visits from whal- ers, tourists and sport. So then we continued our search among the islands off the coast of Scotland, and we were lucky enough to hit upon Inch—you won't mind my calling it simply the Inch?— Thank you. It was for sale, and one of our number, assuming the character of a wellthy Dutch merchant, went to Lendon, opened a bank account, and epenly purchased the Inch for a deer ‘orest. “Our first business was to get rid of the few shepherds who inhabited the island with their families. It was ne- cessary that there should be no talk in the newspapers, about a hard-hearted foreign landlord turning British sub- | jects out of their homes; and the shep- herds profited by our caution. We gaye each family a hundred pounds. j Some emigrated; others found farms on the mainland; others went south in search of employ When we had j the place to ou penow n that the proprietor, yment. Var Kelp, - | the style of a Dutch ‘heuse, and that | he intenced to send for workmen from | Holland, to insure that the house would be finished to his liking. Of jcourse, the masons and carpenters | were all members of our society. ‘The island furnished stone in abundance; the wood Ww brought from Norway. It took a year to build and furnish the prison with accommodations for the governor anc an armed guard, Weare now building a new prison, farther from the sea shore by the help of con- vict labor.” “You mean that you force your pris- oners—generals, governors of prisons and of towns to work at digging and building like ordinary convicts? “Certainly,” replied the chief, with a slight frown, “hey are suffering & oe tithe of what they have been in- flicting upon men as little accustomed as themselves to manual labor. They are working out their sentences.” “You mean that each is sentenced to confinement for a term of years?” “In proportion to his offense—cer- tainly.” “And when their sentences are ex- pired?”’ “By that time either our plans shall have succeeded, or we shall have failed. In the latter case, we shat conduct our prisoners to some town from where they can make their way te Ku and the Committee of Pub- lic Safety will cease to hold its sittings. We shali at least have the satisfaction of knowing that some wrongs have been avenged, nd that many outrages have been p omted by the fear of falling into our hands.” “Do you have no visits from the ten- nts of the shootings in the neighbor- s understood on the islands nearest to us that Mr. Van Kemp is a unsociable fellow, who prefers left to himself.” “Or from fishing boats?” They occasionally put in here, espe- cially if a gale happens to be blowing. But Angus is on the lookout for them, and he renders them any little service they require without allowing them to have as much as a suspicion that any- thing unusual is going on in the isl- ands.” “Angus? Who is he? mean that you have a member of your society “Not exactly. He is Mr. Van Kemp's gamekeeper,” said Von Mitschka, with a smile. “He has proved invaluable, and [ am very proud of him, for 1 dis- covered him myself. Jus a year ago, when the buildings were finished, and we were beginning to recognize the ne- cessity of having someone in the set- tlement who could talk to casual visit- crs in their own tongue, even if we had but two in the year, I happened to be inva large manufacturing town in the north of England. “It was a dismal, wet night, and cold, though the season was summer. Hurrying along a street of dreary as- pect, and of apparently infinite length, I overtook a group of weary, footsore travelers, whose appearance compelled me to pity them. There was a father, a2 mother and half a dozen children, in spite ef their evident poverty, there at deal of what you call re- y about their bearing. L You don't cotchman a vearance of the man. His magnificent height would have made him a notice- able figure anywhere; but there was a look of despair on his sunburnt face that was terrible to see. “I spoke to the man. He scarcely answered me. When he did speak, it was with a savage demand for “work, I told him I was a stranger in the town, and asked where he meant to pass the night. He made no reply, but his wife spoke for him, saying that they were on their way to the work- house, which lay at a distance of two miles, at the top of a long hill. It was built there by a former generation of oflicials-I forget what they are called—" “Guardians of the Poor?’ I sugg:st- ed. “Yes—by a former generation of guardians, with the inhuman object of saving the pockets of the ratepayers, by making it nearly impossible for those who were most in need of help ta obtain it. They were on their way to this place to beg shelter for the night, with no idea what was to become of them next day. “I took them into a public house, and gave them some food and price of a lodging for the night; and | felt posi- tively ashamed to receive sa much men in search of | we let it be | s going to build a shooting lodge in | gratitude for so trifling a service. he man now told me that he had no trade, and was burdened with a wife and children; he found it next to impossi- ble to support his wife and family on his scanty earnings. ‘hey had wan- dered all the way from Scotland, Heaven only knows how, always hop- ing that in the next town reguiar em- ployment would be found, and always disappointed. They were on their way north again, and the man intended, he said, to try and find occupation as a shepherd. “It occurred to me that, as the man came from one of the Western isles, it would be a good plan t® en, his 5 ices. I told:him that an acquaint- ance of mine had purchased the inch (which he knew very well by name, al- though he had never landed there), nominally as a sporting estate, but in reality for the purpose of building on ita lunatic asylum for foreign patients. 1 told him that my friends did not de- sire it to be known that there was an ylum on the island, in case the Goy- ,ernment should object to its being there. And I wound up by asking him whether he would accept the post of gamekeeper on the Inch, with Jiberty to keep sheep of his own, his sole duty being to keep a lookout for fishing boats and other vessels that mighv ‘come to the island, and acting the part of gamekeeper, preventing their pene- trating beyond the beach. The poor fellow cried with joy when he understood the terms of my offer. His gratitude was unbounded, and he has proved the mest faithful and best of servants. He and his family live in one of the abandoned cottages on the other side of the island, and it is im- possible for a vessel of any description to approach from any point of the compass, without Angus sounding his | whistle, to warn all hands to keep un- | der cover, while he meets the strangers. lit they land, and answers all inquiries | about the eccentric owner of the new istone house among the hills. When y comes for us to break up our shment here, Angus will be com- Vv well off, for 1 lent him a | litule money to buy sheep at the begin- |ning of his engagement, and his flock jis growing. “Put it is time we were in our berths. To-morrow I will show you over the island, and bri ou face to face with Prince Kropens r | the CHAPTER XVI. The Prison on the Island, Next day Von Mitschka was busy su- perintending the transfer of the p oners we had on board to the quarters which had been prepared for them, and had no time to think of his prom- When they were safely housed the supplies that had been brought im the hold of the Susannah were fetched up on deck; and the whole of that day, and for several days afterwards, the utmest activity pre- vailed in this settlement of outlaws. First of all, the stores had to be raised out of the hold, and laid in convenient heaps along the deck. ‘Then they had to be lowered into the small boats—far 1 for the work they were do- ‘no ashore, carried up to the Ss vody called the pris- ventoried and stored ise to me Von Mit<chka volunteered to show me lover the place, and one day we were rowed ashore together directly after noon. The beach was like that of most Scotch islands—a lcng expanse of brown rocks, invisible at high water, then a marrow belt of white shingle and yellow sand, then, almost immedi- ately, the purple moorland. The hills, which took up most of the interior, were partly green, partly covered thick with heather and the heatber- bell, which, being in full flower, shed over the hills a light, delicate shade of red which changed at sunlight to the deepest purple. There was, of course, ho attempt at decoration or ornament in the prison, outside or in. Everything was of solid construction, but rough and plain; and IT can scarcely convey in words the strong impres m of barrenness and desolation which the absence of every- thing that could be called beautiful, of every conventional scrap of ornament, such as one sees in the poorest houses, caused in my mind. ‘Yhere was bo proper road between the beach and the prison, no inclosure, not so much as a scrap of garden ground. ‘The rough stone wall sprang directly from the rough hillside. Above it one could see the upper windows of the house, star- ing, without the decent draperies of blinds or curtains, on the expanse of rock and sea. Within the inclosure of the outer wall were several buildings, which Von Mitschka explained to me in pass- ing were used as quarters for the men who were not on duty, and as store- house. Projecting from the prison it- self was a large porch, which was used as a kind of office. Here we had to go through various formalities; and 1 was amazed to see that there was the same strict atten- tion to rules and forms in this amateur gaol as one sees in prisons of legiti- mate order. When the permit was signed, | was conducted over the whole place, 1 had an impression that Von Mitschka wished me to see all that was to be seen, in case it should be desirable for me to bear testimony at some tuture time that the prison was clean and well ventilated, and that the inmates were not ill-treated. As most of the prisoners were al work in the open air, the cells were empty, and I inspected a good many or the ‘They were all on the second stiry, all clean, and, although very small, comfortable enough if they were used only as dormitories. 1 was shown the punishment cells; which were nothing more nor less than Cel- lars, nos yery clean and not very dry, furnished with large iron rings driven into the wall, to which fetters could big attached. “Have you ever flogged any of your prisoners?’ I asked, in a low tone, as Von Mitschka and 1 “ascended the steps from the underground cells. “Not yet, though we have often thretened to do it. Hitherto the threat has Sroyed sufficient.” I was next taken into the kitchen and shown the food served out to the prisoners. It seemed to me of fair quality, but I could imagine that it would be a long time before men ac- customed to luxury could bring them- selves to touch it, much less to eat it ‘h relish. You would like to see the men at work, wouldn't yous” asked my guide; and on my saying that | would, he took me out of a side door. 1 at once found myself in a passage some twenty feet wide, the walls of whieh were at least ten feet high. There was no roof to this passage, the object of which I saw was to isolate the pris- oners as they went to and from their work, and prevent any chance of es- cape. We went up this queer alley for per- haps a quarter of a mile, and then Von Mitschka suddenly stopped. I stopped, also, and peered over his shoulder. ‘This was what I saw: In the bottom of a natural hollow fifty or sixty yards below me, were some twenty men, most of them wear- ing chains, hard at work excavating the granite which formed the sub- stance of the hill. Some were boring holes for the blasting powder, others were dragging with ropes at the huge fragments which a former explosion had dislodged, others were wielding the chisel and mallet. ‘Yhe labor-mas- ter, as I took him to be, was sitting on a rock in the middle of the laborers, a rifle laying at his side. And upon knolls, from which the whole area of the quarry could be commanded, sen- tries were posted. Each man had lis bayonet fixed, and (I had no doubt) a ball cartridge in his rifle. Not a sound of any kind except the faint, metallic tap—tap—tap—of the mallets, re: ached the ear. They were silent as souls in pargatory toiling in expiation of their sins. For some time I stood watching the terrible scene. To witness forced 1a- bor is as painful as it is to witness any | other form of human suffering. It is, to a sensitive and generous mind, dis- tressing to watch the convicts at Dart- moor at their unending toil, and the re- flection that they have in every, or very nearly exe ase richly deserved their fate, does but little to lessen the regret, and nething to lessen the pity, with which we regard them. But here Were men who, according to the ac- cepted rules of human conduct, were innocent. No preperly-constututed tr- punal had condemned them, ‘They had but done their duty; and if, in some cases, they had done it in a ae and | offensive manner, this, surely, was ex- essive punishment for such an orrenne. Looking up suddenly, 1 found that y companion’s eyes V ‘e fixed on mny face. I could guess that he had been reading my thoughts. “You must not imagine,” he said, gravely, “that these men, many or whow e now engaged in honest toil for tke first time in their lives, are all, or nearly all, men of family and posi- tion, such as your friend, the Prince. Several of them are ex-turnkeys, con- yicted of cruelty to the prisoners they had in their charge. Some few are con- yicted spies. And in our code ot ethics the man who pays a spy is exactly on the same level as the spy himselt—ex- cept that he generally has not got a tenth part of the spy’s brains. What ue does for another is quite the same if done for himself. We make no « inction between the governor who ! uses these infamous instruments and the instruments themselves. ‘Chere is not a man there,” cried Von Mitschka, raising his voice and stretching his right hand toward the hollow, “who does not richly deserve, not the life of labor, mer but death itself. Not a man of them all who, under a just tem of government, would not b forfeited his life. A more splendid act of retribution, a more just punishme nt of guilty men who thought themselves secure to work their own cruel will on their helpless fellow creatures, has never been witnessed since the cred tion of the world!” If there was something theatrical in the chiefs words and bearing, there was, at the same time, something Im- pressive im his boast; and I w forced to own to myself that, granting that the facts were as he stated them, there was a great deal to be said of his view of the case. I said nothing, however, and Von Miteshka, making no further remark, turned on his heel and led the way to the prison. But he walked with downcast head, and I felt tolerably certain that his thoughts were still busy w’ ‘ith the same subject. AS we reached the prison he stopped and looked me straight in the face, with a defiant air, as if I had in some way contradicted or opposed him, and said: “What is the difference between this convict settlement and that of any oth- er in the world?” “Why, for one thing, I suppose in other prisons the culprits have been regularly tried and sentenced,” 1 re- plied. “So have the criminals here.” “But not by a regularly- -constituted tribunal.” “What do you mean by regularly- constituted?” “phat question would take us back to the origin of human society, and the right of the King—or the chief pow- er in the State—to preserve order.” “After all, isn’t their right based on this—that they have the power to pre- serve order, as you call it—to punish those who inure or oppress their fel- low men?” “I se where you are leading to,” L said, with a smile; but—’ “But is it not so? Is it not the fact that the ultimate justification for the attempt of one man to coerce another— to make him do this and forbid him to do that, and to visit him with punish- ment if he refuses to obey—1s that the ruler is the stronger of the two, and can enforce the decree he pronounc- es?” “Well, yes. Of course, all govern- ment is, in the last resource, founded on force.” (To be continued.) His Expectation. She—What do you expect to get on Christmas? He—I expect to get the worst of it, | as usual.”—Cleveland Leader, . 'FARM AND’ GARDEN, MATTERS OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURISTS. Some Up-to-Date Hints About Cul- tivation of the Soll and Yields Thereof—Horticuiture, Viticulture and Vloriculture. Clover for Sick Land. In every case we would say sow clover every time you sow small grain, even if you will be compelled to plow it up the fall after it is sown, says Wal- lace’s Farmer. Keep your land full of grass roots so as to prevent nitrogen from being washed away during wet seasons. ‘d This kind of treatment will cure the kind of sickness that results from suc- cessive grain farming, and we present it now not because it is anything new, in fact, we have said the same thing over dozens of times in the last ten years, but for the sake of some thous- ands of new subscribers to whom we have never presented it before. It is one of those stories that will bear tell- ing a good many times, for the fact is that there is more sick land in the west than sick people. There are portions of land on almost every farm that are not exactly sick. The fact is, they were never well, but can be brought into vigorous and abounding health with great profit to the farmer if he will give them his un- divided attention and do a little ac- tive work. We refer to sloughs and swales, more or less of which are found on every farm. The soil of these is black, has plenty of humus, an ex- cess of it in fact, but the trouble is that it is drowned out. It is full of water most of the year, which excludes the air, and therefore prevents the de- composition of this vegetable matter, prevents the plants from using it, and hence will grow only rank, coarse, herbage that can live under hard con- ditions. Something may be done for these lands by setting them to alsike clover and keeping the coarse grasses mown off until the alsike becomes es- tablished. If these coarse grasses are mown off a couple of times a year and alsike is given a chance, their roots will decay. This will give the-water a chance to soak down instead of being held on top and will measurably dry out the land. The only remedy, how- ever, that is permanent is that of tile drainage, which means simply lower- ing the water level to the extent of the depth of the drain and allowing the air to have access to the upper three or four feet, and let it set up its factory of fertilizers, which it will do if permit- ted. Two or three years’ cultivation will correct the sourness, or, as the scientists say, the acidity of the land, and these lands from being practically worthless will become in time among the best on the farm. Crimson clover 1s not of any particu- lar value in the west for the reason that it will not stand the winter, and it is not always easy to get a stand of any kind by sowing with corn at the last cultivation on account of the dry weather likely to occur in July and August. This is no misfortune for the reason that better results can be ob- tained by the yse of either the com- mon red or the mammoth. Even where a farmer has no stock and where he intends to keep his land in continuous cultivation, it will pay him as above suggested to sow clover with every crop of spring grain, and when the conditions are such as to secure a stand it will pay him at present prices of seed to sow in his corn at the last plowing. The sowing of clover is the one sure, cheap, easy way of restoring sick land to health. Farmere as Road Builders, Here in Paulding county we build roads that cost the taxpayer $850 in cash per mile, of crushed stone, nine feet wide and nine inches deep. This is 1,320 cubic yards, at 65 cents per cubic yard, or $858, says an Ohio con- tributor to the Rural New Yorker. The hauling is done by the farmers and others who are interested in roadmak- ing, which is much more satisfactory than to bond the township, and pay six per cent interest to raise the extra $2,- 142, which he must pay if he leaves it to the contractor, while his team, per- haps, stands in the barn. The increase in the valuation of the land is the least reason why we should improve the roads. Pleasure and home comforts depend upon our facilities for getting around. Churches and schools depend on them. Show me a. district where the roads are all unimproved, and I will show you a district that is lacking in moral standard, and chil- dren are at a disadvantage to obtain even a common-school education. Churches must close their doors dur- ing the winter, and when summer comes, all have lost interest in church- going. Why try to increase the products of the farm, and not increase our facili- ties for delivering them to market? It costs the farmer more to deliver his products to the railroad than it costs to ship it from there to the city. Who would take the contract to haul 100 hogs four miles over a bad mud road after a big rain, for what it costs to ship them to the city? I have seen, in this county, four horses attached to a wagon loaded with less than 1,500 pounds, and then it was a sin to have them out in such mud. Often we are compelled to walk and take with us our butter and eggs, while our horses are in the barn needing exercise, all because the road is too bad to take them out. It does increase the price of land, as land along a good pike will bring $10 to $15 an acre more than land situated a mile away from it, if there is no prospect of there ever being a pike near it. Live Stock Diseases in Indians. Indiana Experiment Station Bulletin: The veterinary department of the ex- \ periment station has been keeping a careful observation upon the occur- rence of the diseases of domestic ani- mals in the state, and a brief summary of the conditions for the past year are as follows: The greatest loss has been caused by hog cholera. The disease has been general all over the ste, but has not so completely devastated all the herds in a given locality, as is often the case. The total loss is prob- ably more than 900,000 hogs, valued at more than $5,000,000. The disease has subsided somewhat at the present time. The station has used 4,300 pounds of “guaranteed cholera cures” in the past two years, without finding a practical remedy. Cattle were affected by an unusual number of diseases. Contagious sore eyes existed as an epidemic during the late summer. While it did not cause many fatalities, it resulted in much loss in delaying the fattening process and in a diminished flow of milk. A few weeks later an epidemic of sore foot apd mouth disease occurred, also causing considerable loss. Within the past few weeks several hundred fatal- ities have resulted from eating spoiled corn and fodder. This loss is erro- neously atttibuted to ergot. Ergot, however, never occurs on corn, and as tar as experiments have shown, the corn smut does not produce any known disease. The disease is probably proz, duced by some product of the decom- position of the corn. Tuberculosis has been found where it had not been sup- posed to exist, and requests for tuber- culin tests are constantly being made. The station; however, is not prepared to conduct these tests. Symptomatic anthrax caused considerable alarm in some localities. Sheep escaped disease as a rule dur- ing the summer months, but late re- ports indicate some trouble may be ex- pected this winter. Horses have been practically free from epidemics.—4 W. Bitting, D. V. M. Draining Land With Trees. A Maine contributor to American Gardening takes as his text draining land with trees and shrubs. He writes as follows: I found it necessary to se- lect a location for the cesspool of a new house, and in the light of past ex- perience I fixed upon a place a rod and a half from an elm of a century’s growth and within a few feet of a pro- posed line of hedge. The location would also be where a bunch of shrubs or evergreens could be grouped to give a good effect to the lawn when laid out. I placed the cesspool in this situation because I had learned by experience that trees and shrubs drink up enor- mous quantities of liquids from the ground and that their roots delight to feed upon just such impurities as will soak out into the surrounding ground from cesspools and sink drains. No one would believe what quantities of water the roots of a single tree even will take up from the ground unless he has had a practical demonstration before his eyes. I do not recommend open sink drains, though these are much better than closed drains that are not proper- ly trapped, but where such a drain exists and is likely to exist, or where a cesspool is to be located, I know the presence of trees and shrubs is desir- able. Most Valuable Maris. A bulletin of the Virginia Experi- ment Station says that Professor Cook thinks that the most valuable marls and those which will best pay the cost of long transportation are those which contain the largest per cent of phos- phoric acid; that the most durable marls are those which contain the most carbonate of lime (CaCO,); that green sands containing but little of either phosphoric acid or carbonate of lime become active fertilizers when composted with quick lime; that marls which are acid and burning from con- taining sulphate of iron can be ren- dered mild and useful as fertilizers by composting with lime; that forage crops, clovers, grasses, etc., are par- ticularly improved by the use of marls. Lime, which has been called the “basis of all good husbandry,” is probably one of the most valuable and most extens- ively used of mineral manures. The value of lime and other mineral man- ures as fertilizers depends much upon their composition, and in this the agri- culturist must seek the aid of the chemist. Changing Heavy Clay Soil. It requires at least 100 or more loads of sand to cover even very slightly the 43,560 square feet in an acre of land, says American Cultivator. This will make the cost more than the change is worth, unless the sand and clay are much closer together than is usual. We have known it to be done in gardens for the culture of melons and cucum- bers, both of which succeeded better where sand constitutes a part of the soil. But usually the application of manures, and the plowing under of clover and the thorough underdraining of the clay, will make all the change needed, and do it much more cheaply than can be done by drawing sand on it. So soon as a clay soil is und drained the frost mellows the surf; soil so that clover seed will grow, and when a clover growth is secured it will so increase the amount of vegetable matter that there will be no difficulty thereafter in keeping the soil friable at least to the depth it is plowed. In view of the great im; the tobaose andibacry ands esse ae portant practical results which it is believed will result from the proposed investigations, Secretary Wilson re- quests that congress be asked for a spe- cial appropriation for tobacco investi. = gations. A spinster says the opportunity is more often a failure than marriage. Introduce new blood am poultry ouce a year, eee