ALBAUGH-DOVER CO

["2260 Ma\"!\"\" Blvd. CHICAGO", "^ l^TT' Cures while he works", "V Ay M . WE ORIGINATED the treat-", "1 llM W Ij ment of horses Under Signed", "^—m^^^m Contract to Retvirn Money if", "'plip Remedy Fails. Write and Stop ike", "I n r»lTf I.ATE8T Save-The-Horse", "K RARJ ^ BUCK is our 17 Years' Uiacov- I erle«. Fully describes Test for Spavin — How to Locate and Treat 58 Forms or l.ameneHS — Illa«- trated. This BOOK -Sample Contract", "land Advice— ALL FREE to (Horse Owners", "Trade Mark Kegixtered and Managers only).", "TROY CHEMICAL CO., SSConmierce Atc., Bingbamlon, N. Y. Druggists everywhere sell Save-The-Horse WITH CON- TRACT or we send by Parcel Post or Express paid.", "**MONARCH\" Cider Press", "will net more money lor you than any other Investment you can make. lObbl. to400 bbL per day. Also makers of a pple butt ere ook ers, evaporators, etc,", "A. B. FARQUHAR CO„^Hd.^ Box 105. York. Pa Deatti to Heaves", "\"(iijarauu-*(l or MoDer Back.\" Couijba, Distf^mper.IudigeatioD.", "^HEWTON'Sj?ri'^rGt:r-\":", "At draeei.'tU' or Bt-ti: povtpaid. ■EWTON REyCOT CO..TOLEDO.OH", "Best Cotiditi", "The School of Veterinary Medicine At the University of Pennsylvania", "trains students In all lines of veterinary work. Facilities unexcelled. For catalogue, address Louis A. Klein, Ucan, Dept. B, 39th and Woodland Ave., Pfalladelplila.", "•Lj Line's Steel ul Wagon Jack", "All steel and un- breakable. Easiest operated and must powerful on the market. Ask your liard- ware store or direct to you via express for", "$1.00 hill. Lane Bros. Co., Lincoln Ave., Poughkeeptie, N.Y.", "Heal Cuts", "without dangerous scabe. Ateosorea and wouutlii of every descrlptloo: bums, ecalds, galU, grease neela, cracks In thcsklQ. For this purpose nothing equals", "' ^f§> Healing Ointment", "or Healing Powder", "E<iually good for man or beast. Both Ointment and Powrier are widely UHi'd in hornet* of refinement.", "25c, 50c. Sample mailed for 2c. \"Your money back If It falls\"", "Stock HfOk FREK Our product*, an* sold by dealer* i'ViT.v where, or", "PR.\\TT FOOD COMPANY Philadelphia Chlcalio", "Dollar-a-Pound Wool", "By C. J. Oviatt i V^HEN the extensive wool exhibits of the University of Wyoming were prepared much long-staple wool was saved from the clip of the college flock. This included fleeces from Lincoln. Leicester. Cotswold and, later, Dartmore sheep. Except for their extreme length, these were typical fleecei of the various breeds. One fleece which had been ofi exhibition for several years had an average length of twenty-four inches and an original weight of forty-three pounds.", "One Hundred Dollars for a Hundred- Pound Sack", "Wishing to replace these soiled and torn fleeces with fresh ones, the writer made in- quiry as to the market for such wool. -Ad- vice came in the form of an offer of a dollar a pound in the grease and transportation charges for all wool with a staple length of twelve inches or more. About one hundred pounds of *his wool was sacked and shipped, and in due season a check for one hundred dollars was received.", "The demand for such wool is the result of modern fashion. Not only is much of it used in the manufacture of garments, but wool with an exceptional length with an application of a permanent dye oft finds its way into milady's hair-dressing parlor, and since this is more sane and sanitary than hair of questionable origin the demand for such will probably increase. Braids and crimps of many kinds can be made from such wool, and if the supply was not so limited its usages would multiply.", "Fearing that the demand for such wool would be subject to sudden changes of fash- ion, a letter of inquiry was sent. We quote sentences from the manufacturer's answer. \"At the present time the demand \"for such raw material is much greater than the sup- ply, and unless something unusual and un- foreseen happens the demand will increase in the future. I am inventing and produc- ing many new articles for which we need such long-staple wool. I wish also to re- mark that I bought last month two thousand pounds from England.\" He further infers that long-staple wool is becoming a neces- sity, and fashion will not reverse the de- mand.", "Its Production is Not Difficult", "By practising a little selection and breed- ing the production of such wool is not dif- ficult. Especially is this true in the West and North, where a cool climate favors longer growth, and in the summer the ex- cessive covering is not uncomfortable. In other sections this difficulty may be over- come by proper housing and shearing at a time to avoid the summer heat. Many of the sheep of the above-mentioned breeds produced wool which qualified for the doUar- a-poimd price. The Lincoln fleece mentioned was from a ewe and brought $43. True she is an exceptional ewe, but proper breed- ing and selection will soon bring a good flock to a standard of at least a twelve-inch staple. The Dartmores. with their wool characterized by good crimp and extreme luster, also produce a long staple and re- spond readily to selection. One ram pro- duced twenty-two inches of staple in fifteen months. We have also many Cotswold and Leicester fleeces with a staple over twelve inches. Any of these breeds and perhaps others can be made to grow long wool.", "Certainly here is an opportunity for many breeders who now have flocks bearing long- staple wool. From all investigation the mar- ket seems steady and strong and not liable to a reverse. If a few inches in length in- creases the price five times or more there is sufficient incentive to, at least, a fair trial.", "Horse Sense in Raising Hogs", "[continued from p.^ge 5]", "he has a group of five hog-lots and three hog-houses back of his barn and well away from his commodious farm home. These are so arranged as to enable him to separate various broods or litters for the protection of young stock or for feeding ; also to feed from his cribs or to give access to his corn- fields, and to load for shipment, all with a minimum of labor to himself and of worry to his stock.", "Water is piped to each of the lots from a central concrete tank near the house, which is kept filled by pumps driven by gasolene engines. Gravity carries the water from this tank to auxiliary tanks, and these supply drinking-fountains in the diff^crent lots. The flow into the drinking-fountains is automatically controlled, so that there arc no puddles about, and the fountains seldom become fouled. To aid further toward cleanliness, the approach to each fountain is up a slight incline of concrete. This pre- vents wallowing. In the winter the water- tanks are protected from freezing by banks of straw manure, and as a further precau- tion the supply-tank is equipped with a heater.", "Bringing out fresh litters of pigs in Febru- ary and early March, however, is attended with the dangers due to sudden and extreme changes of temperature. One of Mr. Bear's hog-houses was built with just these changes in mind. It is a plain structure of matched boards, but it serves its special purpose as", "well as other purposes most satisfactorily. The wall is double, and has an enclosed air- chamber up to the level of the tops of the pens inside, of which there are fourteen.", "Seven large windows on the south side give abundance of light throughout the day, and half-windows and a door at each end help in this. The upper sashes of the large windows are mounted with weights and pul- leys, and may be easily lowered for ventila- tion. The half-windows at the ends may also be dropped for the same purpose. The floor is of vitrified brick, which makes thor- ough cleansing possible, but is, of course, kept well covered with straw when the pens are occupied. He uses \"horse sense\" in every detail of his work.", "The plan of the house is not unusual, but inside are some contrivances of Mr. Bear's own invention, which neighbors have been quick to copy. One of these is a home-made kind of pen-gate. This slides up and down, and may be set at any desired height. On one side, about a third of the way from the bottom of the gate, is a short bar of wood, set -diagonally and turning on an iron bolt. This bar is pointed at the lower end, and the point fits into notches in the casing at the side of the gate. If, for example, you wish to keep the sow in her pen and at the same time allow her pigs to run, the gate is lifted perhaps eight or ten inches. The point of the locking-device is then set in one of the notches, and the gate cannot pos- sibly drop. Again, the gate can be locked so that the sow cannot lift it. The upper lock consists of a strip of wood one inch thick, two inches wide, and about a foot long. One end of this is fastened with a strip of iron to the top cross-cleat of the gate in such a manner that the other end swings freely up and down. The loose end is cut diagonally, and when dropped as far", "The pigs ceinnot be crushed in a comer , of a pen of this construction", "as it will go — to within an inch and a half of the cross-cleat — it jams against the gate's side support. A push upward, therefore, merely increases the friction and locks the gate the tighter. The harder a sow pushes to get out, then, the more securely she locks herself in.", "Each pen is also provided with a frame to prevent a sow from crushing her pigs in a comer nest or against a wall. Such frames are not uncommon, but these of Mr. Bear's have the advantage of being easily remov- able, in order to facilitate the business of cleaning the pens. Imagine a rectangular frame, of oak, 2x4, oped on one side, with the ends of the pieces projecting about two inches at the corners, and you have the design. The frame is dropped flat on the floor, open side toward the front. It is then drawn forward, the side arms being short enough to give room for this. Then the back of the frame is lifted and the projecting ends of the rear crosspiece are slipped into slots between two blocks nailed to the partitions. The forward ends of the arms are held up by iron pins passing through them, and into holes made for the purpose in the pen partitions. Once a frame is set, it cannot be worked out of place by any of a pen's occupants. These frames save Mr. Bear many pigs every year.", "Entrance to the hog-house may be had directly from any of three of the hog-lots by fenced inclines as shown in the picture of the building's exterior.", "The central passageway of the hog-house is very convenient, also, in the handling of hogs when it comes time to wire their noses to prevent rooting, for example. At the door from the house to a feeding-floor there is a hog-trap. Hogs, driven in from the lots, move down the passage. One of them steps into the trap on its way through to the feed- ing-floor, and just as it is about to step out a lever on the trap is shifted, and the hog is caught securely by the neck. It 'can neither push forward nor back out. The work of adjusting the nose-wire is then quickly and easily performed, and the hog set free.", "Again, the house, arranged as it is, makes the loading of hogs for transport to the railroad easy. The hogs selected for ship- ment are assembled on the feeding-floor and fed. • Then, when they arc ready to be loaded, they are driven, one or more at a time, through the central passage of the hog-house, up a movable incline set directly opposite the east door, and into the waiting wagon. The whole aim is not to worry the animals and cause a loss of valuable flesh. To aid in this, movable gates are provided. A hog, once in the passage, is cut off from returning to the feeding-floor by one of these movable gates in the hands of the man doing the loading. It is then gently crowded forward and on out into the wagon.", "Cattle Prices are Not Alluring", "By W. S. A. Smith THE month of April is without doubt the hardest month of the year on live stock. Cold weather and a full stomach through the winter hurts no animal, but the prevailing custom with renters and some shiftless farmers of allowing stock to wander through the fields in April picking up a precarious living in wind and water is not conducive to a fat pocketbook. and with the high prices now prevailing for stock cattle no man can afford to have cattle lose weight.", "Stock cattle are still very high, and, with no immediate prospect of any great decline, for this reason alone it will certainly pay not to stint the feed now.", "Some Dry Feed Nov,r is a Good Investment", "As a general rule, heretofore an advance per hundredweight above purchase price has always been required in order to pay for food consumed This year, with stockers at eight cents, and the prevailing prices for feed, a man is well paid for his farm produce if he gets no advance in price, as he can put on one pound gain daily for eight cents. If he attempts to increase this gain his cost will increase. Cattle will shrink the first two weeks on washy grass, and a little dry feed at this time is money well invested.", "There is nothing as yet particularly allur- ing in fat-cattle prices. The bulk of the cat- tle bought last fall have been sold at a profit, and the cattle that replaced them have for the last three months cost between seven and eight cents, and that's aU they are bring- ing as short-fed cattle now. The general opinion still seems to be we are due for an advance in light-weight catde, but it is an unreliable thing to figure on.", "Of Interest to Sheep Importers", "By John P. Ross pVENTS of great interest and importance to breeders of mutton-and-wool sheep everywhere are to take place in England during the coming summer. On June 30th the International Congress of Sheep-Breed- ers will be held in the city of Bristol, the port at which in the colonial days the produce of our southern plantations was. for the most part, landed.", "At this meeting the diseases of lambs and young sheep will form the chief subject of discussion. Men of world-wide fame are ex- pected to be present, and it is hoped that much useful knowledge will be gained on this subject which is important.", "The Royal Agricultural Show is to be held in the same city from July 1st to the 4th.", "On July 9th and 10th the dispersal sale of the celebrated flock of Lincoln long-wool sheep of the late Henry Dudding is to be held ; and on the twenty-third that of the equally celebrated Hampshire Downs of James Flower.", "Sheepmen from all over the world will be present or be represented by buyers at the sales, but it is probable that this country will send the largest delegation, because nowhere is the value of individuals of these two flocks more highly appreciated than with us. There is hardly a breeder of thorough- bred Hampshires or Lincolns in America who does not owe something of his success to these families ; and these sales will offer the last chance of securing rams and ewes directly from their homes.", "The Wool-Market Again Active", "By John P. Ross [ANY circumstances combined to de- press the sheep-market toward the close of last month. Shipments from Colo- rado and parts of Nebraska and Wyoming had been very heavy, while the demand from eastern centers was light. The early Lenten season, too. had its effect in lessening consumption, and then came the fearful havoc of storm, flood and fire to disorganize the traffic of almost the whole coimtry, un- settling for a time all the usual conditions which govern the course of trade.", ".■\\dd to all this the special difficulties which are just now affecting sheep interests from the uncertainty of the course which will be taken as to the wool tariff and the admission of free meats, and the wonder is that the market has not altogether broken down.", "No more satisfactory proof of the healthy condition of the sheep industry could be asked for than can be gathered from the fact that at the beginning of the present month, a reaction had taken place, putting prices very near where they were at the highest period of the new year.", "Don't Feed Beyond the Handy Weights", "The wool-market, too. has shown quite a revival in activity ; Boston reports show that a good demand exists for nearly all olasses of wool, and foreign advices all point to a healthy condition of the trade.", "Colorado and m'any of the western States are still feeding large numbers of both sheep and lambs, and when these sources of supply are exhausted, fat sheep and lambs from Texas and Kentucky will be coming in. It is therefore not likely that any rise in prices will occur during the spring and summer, and it would seem a wise proceeding for tho.<c who have stock finished in good shape to market them now. rather than to keep them in the expectation of higher prices. It", "is especially undesirable to keep on feeding either sheep or lambs until they get beyond what are considered to be \"handy weights.\"", "Faster Lambs Were Scarce", "A rather notable feature of the market has been the almost entire absence of real Easter lamb. When one considers the immense prices that wealthy individuals and fashion- able hotels and restaurants willingly pay for this luxury, the short time required to pro- duce a fat lamb which will dress out from twenty to twenty-five poimds and its small money cost, the small number forthcoming wgs really remarkable.", "Of course care and patience are needed, but no real labor is attached to it. It is not really so troublesome as the raising of incu- bator chickens ; in fact, it is a good deal like the highly lucrative cut-fJower business, for, as the plant still remains to produce a new crop of flowers, so the ewe remains to pro- duce lambs perhaps for many years.", "Two or^ three years ago I tried, through the columns of F.arm and Fireside, to get up a little enthusiasm for this special cult, because in my young days I found more money in it than in any other branch of the sheep business. I much regret to see that its advantages are so little appreciated.", "Of course this is a winter branch of the business, but preparations have to be made, and the ewes intended to be used for it have to be selected and made ready at least by the middle of June.", "\"What's your hurry. Bossy?\" \"Here comes the Prodigal.\"", "A Choppy Hog-Market", "By Lloyd K. Brown", "THE hog-market has remained much the * same of late. Scarcity of supply on one side and insistent fresh-meat demand on the other have maintained prices. Daily varia- tions in receipts have caused corresponding fl-actuations, but the average price from week to week varies but little. Muddy roads and spring field work have caused the choppy market which is to be expected this season. Eastern demand continues strong, and pack- ers, to supply their fresh-meat trade, must pay the price or remain ' out of business ; they have but little control over the market.", "Both the eastern demand and stock-hog demand are expected to diminish during May. so that prices may decline unless the supply also increases.", "Unusual Activity in the Hog Belt", "The floods crippled the railroad service to the south and east of Chicago and tem- porarily curtailed demand for meats, but with the return of regular service demand for pork is increased, especially from the stricken district, and from the south beyond, which was also cut off from Chicago.", "The heavy hogs continue to predominate in the market, and consequently the light- weight hogs maintain their premium. For the present the average weight may increase some, but before long the fall hog crop will begin to be noticed and pull down the aver- age. Feeding and breeding are being carried on to their fullest .extent.", "Demand for Pure-Bred Sows is Brisk", "Feeding is profitable, and all hogs are therefore fed to a heavy weight, and almost all available females are being saved for breeding purposes.", "In the central corn-belt States the increase in sows is but little due to replacement of breeding stock lost from cholera. The States of secondary importance in producing pork have increased their number consider- ably. The pure-br^ed-sow business this sea- son has been one of the largest in years, which is a good criterion of general breeding operations.", "The market this spring resembles that of three years ago, but eleven-cent hogs cannot be expected. However, no material change need to be expected for some weeks.", "Marketing Cattle in Austria", "By James B. Morman 'THE American farmer can learn some- thing about marketing from the foreigner. In this country the producer of cattle for meat is doubly handicapped. In the first place, it is a time of high prices for farm labor and everything the farmer has to buy, so that the problem of raising cattle profit- ably for the meat trade is most .difficult.", "The experiment stations have been mak- ing experiments to determine rhe most economical methods of feeding cattle to yield the greatest gains in flesh, but little has been done to show the farmer how he can market his stock more profitably. The", "feeding experiments are of sorne practical and scientific value, but it takes time and study and capital to accomplish important results. As a rule the average farmer is imable to meet the conditions successfully, and as a consequence he frequently has to sell without profit or even at a loss. .A.c- counts kept by some of the experiment sta- tions show that this has occurred when cost and labor items are carefully ascertained.", "But in the marketing of the cattle — that is where the rub comes. When the farmer desires to sell, he cannot demand his own price. If he could, he would fix it according to the cost of production and the addition of a little profit on his investment. On business principles, the producer is entitled to a profit. But instead of fixing the price, the farmer must sell to local jobbers or to meat-trust agents at the price they name, and the farmer is again handicapped.", "Similar conditions prevailed in Atistria before the year 1907. From the farmer to the consumer, animals intended for slaugh- ter went through the hands of a whole series of middlemen. The consequences were that meat was very dear when purchased by the consumer, while the profits of the cattle- raiser were very small. At that time the farmer who raised cattle for meat was thrown mainly on his own resources and there was scarcely any other course for him to pvirsue than to sell his live stock to the jobber. ' The small farmer, with only a few animals, would have gained nothing by seeking to dispose of his cattle to a small body of consumers. The cost of everything in 1907 was so high that he would have gained little by this method of sale.", "Under these circumstances the stockmen realized that the only course open to them was to organize co-operatively for the sale of their cattle. As a means to this end, the Austrian National Association of Agricul- tural Societies established a central market in Vienna in 1907 in order that the profits from the sale of meat animals might go to the breeder instead of to the jobber and other middlemen. The collection and sale of live stock are carried on as follows :", "The national society sends into the most important stock-raising districts a large number of trustworthy agents who form a connecting link between the Vienna Institute and the cattle-raisers. By this intercourse between agent and farmer it becomes quite definitely known about how many animals there are for sale in any particular region. When there are in any locality siif&cient cattle to make a car-load, the confidential agent, according to a prearranged agreement with the stockman, tells him when to bring his stock to the nearest railroad station.", "Figures Show the Real Success", "The agent then sees to it that the load is forwarded direct to Vienna, where the manager of the central market takes it in charge and sells it at the right time. Sales are made on commission. The balsuice of the proceeds the society immediately trans- mits to the owners of the cattle. The com- mission alone is deducted from the price of sale, since the central society makes no charge for services.", "The benefits of the preceding plan may easily be seen. In the places from which cattle are forwarded to Vienna the middle- men immediately offered higher prices, and where stock are not sold in the co-operative way the farmers get higher returns. The statistics of sales indicate a real success, for the Vienna Institute has sold cattle in five years valued at about $4,532,850. In the year 1911 alone the cattle sold were valued at about $2,640,000.", "In the Province of Galicia the local co- operative societies are making an attempt to put the system in operation, which has been successfully carried out by the confidential agents of the Vienna Institute in other parts of the country. They are well prepared for this experiment because small farmers are greatly in the majority in that territory. Galicia is by far the richest cattle-raising part of Austria-Hungary.", "There are Local Credit Societies", "The best and most prosperous cattle- breeding associations are to be found there, and certainly the co-operative credit so- cieties are among the best in the country. But the small farmer in Galicia is generally in need of ready money, so that at present he is glad to sell his cattle at a low price to jobbers who pay him in cash. If, however, he should offer his cattle for sale through the local co-operative society, it would not pay him until after the money had been received from the sale of the cattle. There- fore, the co-operative societies in Galicia have made arrangements with the local credit societies to furnish some advance money to the farmer as a part of the sales price of the stock, and for this advance of money the co-operative society undertakes to be security.", "The government has promoted this im- portant movement between the societies not only by means of financial assistance, but afso by the creation of a special office under the authority of the minister of agriculture.", "Besides the ten central markets which have been established, there are in Austria no less than one hundred and thirty local co-operative societies for the sale of meat animals. Their total sales annually amount to many millions of dollars.", "would be saved annually by the exclusive use of", "m Bmi ^.\"SEPAR ATOMS", "It is estimated that a million cow owners in the United", "States are still skimming their milk by some wasteful \"gravity\" method.", "At an average of four cows to the farm and an average", "cream loss of 310. per cow per year (it is more often from 315. to 325.) all of which could be saved with the use of a De Laval Cream Separator, this alone represents an annual cream loss of 340,000,000.", "Then there are, all told, perhaps a half million inferior", "and old and worn out machines in use whose owners could easily save 35. per cow per year by exchanging their \"cream wasting\" machines for De Lavals, and figuring on an average of six cows per farm, this represents another loss of 315,000,000 at least.", "Then to this tremendous cream waste through the use", "of inferior separators must be added the excessive cost for repairs on cheap and inferior machines and the cost of replacing machines which should last from ten to twenty years but which are ready for the scrap heap in two or three years. There must also be taken into consideration the loss in lower prices received for cream and butter due to inferior quality of cream produced by poor separators, all of which must easily equal at least 310,000,000 more.", "This makes a grand total of $65,000,000 which would", "be saved to the cow owners in this country by the exclusive use of De Laval Cream Separators. g.", "At first sight these figures may seem startling but any", "experienced dairyman or creameryman will agree that the cream and other losses without a separator or with an inferior one will average a good deal higher than the above estimates and that these figures are really very conservative.", "Any cow owner who is selling cream or making butter", "and who is not using any cream separator or an inferior machine, is really paying for a De Laval in his cream losses and at the same time depriving himself of the benefit of its use.", "De Laval Separators are not only superior to all others", "in skimming efficiency but are at the same time cheapest in pro- portion to actual capacity, while they are so much better made that they last from two to ten times longer.", "No cow owner can logically make the excuse that he", "cannot afford to buy a De Laval, because it will save its cost over \"gravity\" separation in six months and over any other separator in a year and is sold for either cash or on such liberal terms that it will actually pay for itself while it is being used.", "It will surely be to your advantage to join the million", "and a half satisfied users of De Lavals. A little investigation will prove to you that the truth of the matter is you really cannot afford to sell cream or make butter WITH- OUT the use of a De Laval Cream Separator.", "The nearest De Laval agent will be", "glad to demonstrate this to your own satis- faction or you may write to us direct.", "The new 72-page De Laval", "Dairy Hand Book, in which important dairy questions are ably discussed by the best authorities, is a book that every cow owner should have. Mailed free upon request if you mention this paper. New 1913 De Laval catalog also mailed upon request. Write to nearest office.", "The De Laval Separator Co.", "NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO", "CHICAGO SEATTLE", "Let's have a little cold-tlooded reasoning. You've got several thousand dollars' worth of perishable property under cover. A little dampness — a trickle of rain — might cost you more than the price of a dozen roofs. Same next year. In 20 years one good roof will protect a fortune. In one year a poor roof may destroy it.", "Now— can a roof be too good ? Is it a thing to bargain about— to buy with narrow-minded economy ?", "When you can secure for only a little more the absolute protection — the positive insurance — which NEPonsET Pariod Roofing gives, can you afford to experiment with cheap, bargain roofings ?", "Waterproof Building Products", "NEPDNSET roofings are a fire prolection, IcaJc - proof and long lived. Any one can laythem, NEPDNSETParoid Roofing is for general use. NEPONSET Proslate Roof- ing is an omamcntai roof- ing for dwellings. ActracdFC colors.", "Are you going to build? and weatherproof. Sead for", "BIRD & SON", "[F. W. BIRD & SON]", "Building Papers", "If NEPDNSET Waterproof Building Papers are built into walls and floors, the building will be warmer, will cost less to heat and will last years longer. Recom- mended by architeas. engi- neers and building' owners everywhere.", "WaU Board", "NEPDNSET Wall Board", "is a scientific product which takes the place of lath and plaster; comes in sfiects 32 inches wide. Remember, it is the only wall board with waterproofed surfaces that re- quires no further decoration. Anyone can put it op.", "Write for valuable information about modem ways to waterproof samples, free booklet and name of nearest NEPDNSET dealer.", "(Ss), 611 Neponset St., E. Walpole, Mass.", "Hew Tort Chicago San Francisco", "■Washin^n Portland, Ore.", "Canadian Plant: Hamilton. Oat.", "SQllllIIII", "M AKA-SHEL", "Roaghest grit on earth. In- ;rea5es egg production. Xh.e original silica grit. Avoid substitutes. Ask your local dealer, or", "send Sl-25 for two I'JO-lb, bags f. o. b. cars. Agents Wanted. EDGE HILL SILICA ROCK CO. > Box P. New Brunswick, N. J.", "PFILE'S 65 Varieties", "LAND and Watsr Fowls. Farm-ralxsd stock, with egg. in season. Send 2c for my valuable illustrated descriptive Poultry Book for 1913.", "Write Henry Plllo, Boi 627, Freeport, III.", "Sixty Page Catalogue Free. 60 Best Varieties, Poultry, Ducks, Geese, Turkeys and Hares. I/)wKt prices on fowls.", "Eggs for Hatching. H. a. SOIUER, Boi so, -SellersTille, Pa-", "YOUR HENS YOUR FARM YOUR MONEY", "Farmers and Fanciers", "should get the FREE POUL- TRY BOOK and Catalogue written by ROBERT ESSEX, well known throughout America, After 25 Years With Ponltry. It tells How to Mak. Most From Eggs and Hens for Market or Show, contains Pictures of 130 Poultry Houses: tells cost to build; descrites IaMERICA S LARGEST LINE OF INCUBATOP^ -AND BROODERS— S2.25 to $4« each. Write today. Robert Eiui lacabator Co., g3 Henry St., Buffalo, N. T.", "MEN WANTED", "Prepare as Fireman, Brakemen, Elec- tric Motormen, and colored Train Por- lers. Hundredapat to work — 165 to 8160 amontb. No experience necessary. 500 more wanted. Enclose stamp for Applica- tion Blank. Name poeitton you want, L RAILWAY C L Dept 33, INBIAHAPOUS, fflD.", "Greider's Fine Catalogue", "aDd calendar of pure-bred pooltrr for 1913. large, many pages of puultry facU. 70 va.rieiies illustrat- ed aod described. iDcuba tors and brooders, low prii;e of sioclc and eggs for hatchiD?. A perfect guide to all poultry raisers. Send 10 c«nis today. ' B. H. GEEIDEE, Boi 62, B&eemE, Pa.", "TH0USA>'1>5. all breeds. Money Makers. Profusely illastratod instractiTe matter, Prov, Squab Co., Providenco, B. I.", "Our direct", "prices save yon $30 to $100", "8x20 Silo, $64.72 ; 10x24, $92.23 ; 12x26, tl 18.25. etc. All sizes. Modern plan, air-tight, continuous doorfront,convenient. Griffin SUos last. Getfree catalogue and save money on best Silos made. GRIITIN LCHBES CO.. Box 17 , Hudson FaUs. N. Y.", "It is to your advantage to mention Farm and Fireside in writing to advertisers. Farm and Fireside folks get the very best attention.", "BaiV4Bi6 Money", "^ \\ —and Get a Bigger, Better {of \\ Machine — Guaranteed a Lifetime", "' jiftW We want to send you our big, new Separator Vjjv \\ Catalog. It will save you a lot of money.^", "Just think of it! A full size 200 lb. capacity machinel for only $19.e&-» price NEVEK BEFOKJE MADE, t", "— ' . --r \"-\"-.^E. backed", "by a Lifetime Guarantee aEainst defective material and ' workmanBhip. SkimH 1>4 quarts a minute and gets ALL the cream. Thooeande in use. Catalog Rhowg four larger Hiree np to 600 lb. capacity shown here— ari hoIcI for much lees than others ask— all OUARAI«T££I> A UF£XIM£.— backed byamUiiondollarvcash capital.", "Cream Separator has a wonderful new \"triple force\"", "Bkimmlng device, complete in ONE PIECE, made of Alnmioam — Ji^ht, mat-proof and eaay to clean. Milk elime and hittter-fat won't stick to it. The Maynard has no dines, no \"harrl-to-Ket-at** place« to wash. Note the«e labor-«aving featnref*: Self-draining bowl: low down milk tank; open milk and cream pponts: ball bevtocs bathed in oil; may to ttim; oil ean't drip on floor; sturdy frame.", "60 Days' FREE Trial", "^ Send for oar Free Catalog today. See for yourself the money , yon save — ae© how wo gladly putany size Maynard on yoor farm ^— let you use it two whole monthB— then, ff you are not", "pIcMed. send H back at our ezMikae. Yoa won't b« oat penny— not er«n for freight. r>oe't hur until you ret oar biff Ptm catalog uid lowest ^ price* «T«r qtioted. Scndinc for Dook dooa not obUffate jroo io any way.", "The Charles William Stores, Inc.", "Dept. A20 BS Ploa StTMt, NEW YORK CITY", "QiiL.lr SUiMBMit tro^ Uvw York, Chicjro * Kcinji.* Tity", "Poultry-Raising", "Home-Made Portable Poultry- Houses", "By W. C. Smith", "VERY often the farm tenant or the village renter wishes to keep a larger number of fowls than he has housing accommodations for. In such cases the more expensive buildings cannot be afforded. He needs most of all simple, portable, inex- pensive houses. To fill this need I have worked out the following plan. The houses are cheaply built and can be readily moved from place to place.", "Two six-by-nine colony houses with shed roofs six feet higl; in front and four and one-half feet high at the rear are set in line ten feet apart, facing the south. The material used in these houses is the cheapest that wUl nail up in a substantial manner and is as light as can be had. Usually one half or three fourths inch stuff is used for sheathing and two-by-three-inch material for the framework.", "The roofs of both houses and tlie outside ends, that is, the ends of the extreme east and west, are covered with roofing-paper. The rear wall of each house is also covered with the same material. The fronts are boarded up three feet from the bottom, and the remaining thre feet covered with net- ting. A curtain is framed to swing in this opening on cold days. Fig. 1 illustrates my meaning. The right-hand house has a door in each end. while the other house has a door at the inside end.", "Fig. 1 — Showing how the houses are placed before being joined", "Fig. 2 — The complete house with panels cind roof in place", "A section twelve by four and one-half feet is now made of the same material as the houses and which will fit the space at the rear between the two houses and lap one foot on each. Another is made for the roof ten and one half by twelve feet, and another frame boarded half-way up and completed with netting is made for the front. These sections are fastened in place by means of hooks on the inside comers of each section fastened into staples driven in the walls of the original houses.", "The central part of the house can be used as a scratch-pen and the colony houses as roosting-quartcrs. Windows may be placed in the fronts, and the completed building will have the appearance of Fig. 2. The building will care for from forty to fifty adult fowls, and a partition placed through the middle\" of the scratch pens will divide it into two com- partments.", "If the colony houses are placed on run- ners allowances must be made in the height of the different sections to make up for the width of the runners. The houses may be built in any size desired and the whole thing made ready to move by simply unhooking the different sections and loading them onto a wagon.", "Farm and Fireside, April 26. 1913", "necessary expenditures or tying up of capital in luxuries that increase the amount charged to interest on investment. What is practical and essential is in the plant, nothing more.", "When asked whether he had a special system of feeding, he said, \"I don't know that I have, except I like to let the hens feed themselves most of the time. I don't believe much in slops and wet mashes. They are not natural to bird nature, and they make extra work. I am a busy farmer, and I want to feed them right and do it quickly so I can go about my work. Wheat-bran and different whole grains are their every-day diet and are the basis of all the rations. -Such side dishes or extras as meat, milk and green foods in the form of beets, cabbages and alfalfa, are provided for them in season. In the morning I throw down a mixture of whole* grains in the litter on the floor. That takes me only a few minutes and will keep th^e fowls scratching all the forenoon. In winter I feed something warm at noon, which may be cooked meat and vegetables. Com at night is quite a steady ration, es- pecially during cold weather. All the time the dry mash, shell and grit are kept in hoppers. I try to put the stuff where the hens can get it, and then I know I can depend on their natural instinct to balance their own ration. They will be better fed than if the ration is scientifically com- pounded.\"", "His Opinion on Setting Hens", "Mr. Vandervort has strong convictions on chicken-raising. They are based on ten years' experience. He has given both the incubators and setting hens a chance to show what they can do in comparative tests.", "\"The setting hen,\" he said, \"does the best for me. The old reliable hen will hatch the eggs and take care of the chicks with less watching than a non-intelligent machine, and she doesn't make a mistake if I don't have her in mind all the time : then I had rather risk the hen with valuable eggs. She has made with me the reputation of giving me more and stronger chicks, especially more show birds : still I use incubators if the hens are not ready when the time comes for the incubation of eggs.\"", "He then brought his books and showed me the following records for one year :", "Eggs sold $650", "Stock sold for breeding purposes 400", "Cull stock 100", "Prize-money net 50", "Eggs and fowls used in family 50", "Total $1,250", "Expenses Feed purchased for 300 hens, includ- ing grain, milk and meat $300", "Stock purchased from breeders 25", "Insurance and interest on investment. SO", "Total $375", "This makes Mr. Vandervort's salary for a small part of the day spent with hens $900.", "If a reader can find in this article the answer to the question at the beginning, I shall feel it may help him to solve his prob- lem of working up from a fifty-cent to a three-dollar revenue hen, and perhaps he will see that Mr. Vandervort got at the very foundation of his success when he said. \"I loved the chickens.\" This is the question to ask yourself when thinking about this three- dollar profit, \"Do I like hens?\"", "Knowing How with Hens", "[continued from page 5]", "\"Do you sell both stock and eggs?\"", "\"Yes. Perhaps one third of the receipts for the poultry is for stock sold.\"", "\"Do you advertise your eggs and stock?\"", "\"Yes, in leading poultry papers, but I get the best returns from advertising by showing birds. I exhibit at the principal poultry shows, and the prize-money more than pays my expenses. In this way 1 keep in touch with the best class of buyers and keep my business before the public.\"", "\"What do you do with the eggs out of the hatching season ?\"", "\"I have customers in New York City for strictly fresh eggs who pay me more than market quotations.\"", "Ail His Capital Was Well Invested", "The next subject we discussed was the housing, care and feeding of fowls. Just across the driveway at the rear of the farm- house and perhaps four or five rods distant from it is the poultry-house. It is a long, narrow. low building about seventy-five feet long divided into six rooms. For each room there is an outside yard. The different breeds arc separately confined in these yards all the time, except when they are given the range of the farm. This is given on alter- nate days, which makes an outing for each flock about once a week. The buildings and furnishings are just what is needed for sanitary housing and convenience — no un-", "The hen,, the farmer, the parcel post and the savings bank are all good friends.", "The strength of an eggshell is no greater than the amount of mineral matter in the feed.", "A damp hen-house keeps company with poultry pests rather than poultry profits.", "Exterminating the Chicken- Mite", "By Mabel Phillips", "TTHE time is at hand when many people turn their poultry out to roost in the trees rather than try to rid their poultry- quarters of the little chicken-mites that seem to swarm everywhere, even to taking the life of the setting hen if she persists in staying by her' nest.", "My poultry-house is always ready for the young chicks as fast as they grow old enough to roost, by simply applying boiling-hot meat- brine, or as a substitute a brine made of equal strength applied to every crack and crevice of the walls, perches and nests.", "If this is thoroughly done it will com- pletely route the chicken-mite for a whole season.", "I slake lime with the hot brine and add an ounce of crude carbolic acid to every ten or twelve quarts of the mixture, which purifies and disinfects at the same time.", "This hot briny mixture soaks into the wood and stays there, and no mite will ever crawl over or breed in wood where it has been applied.", "This work should be done in the morning and the roosts allowed to dry, else the poul- try will have son- feet.", "OLD friend called on me the other day, and we talked about ! farming, politics, or- charding, tariff,' the Department of Agriculture, co-operation, the Balkan war, the futurists and goodness knows what else. He had plenty of time to talk and was interested in about everything. Finally I observed :", "\"Do you recollect, Lupton, how you and I got acquainted ?\"", "\"Yes,\" he said ; \"it was when I was a clerk at the Interstate Commerce Commission.\"", "\"And your coat was always out at the elbows,\" I interjected unfeelingly.", "\"And mostly I didn't have a cent in my trousers,\" he added, laughing.", "It's mighty easy to be cheerful about those old times, if the new times are more prosperous. Lupton was very cheerful. He dragged out of his pocket and handed me a cablegram from Glasgow.", "\"Apples sold at seventeen shillings sixpence,\" it read.", "\"Per barrel?\" I asked.", "\"Yes; I had three thousand barrels in that consign- ment,\" he said. \"Thej^ll net me\" — this is my recollec- tion of the figure — \"about $325 a barrel.\"", "Lupton's storj' is worth telling, and here it goes. He's a native Virginian, of the Shenandoah Valley gar- den spot, just a little the loveliest piece of agricultural country I ever laid eyes on. It fed the Confederate armies in Virginia for years, and then Sheridan made good his vow to fix it so that a crow couldn't fly down it without packing his rations. When the war ended, that wonderful farming region was well nigh a desert; it had to be made over from the beginning.", "A Ten-Dollar Bill Was a Stranger to Them", "1 UPTON was bom about the time the war ended, ' and grew up in that country, poor like the rest. He couldn't get enough money together to get a new start, and, after serving a term in the Virginia State Senate, he got an appointment as a government clerk in Wash- ington. He was in the Treasury, at $900 a year, which is just over the subsistence line, in Washington.", "\"When we came to Washington,\" Lupton once told me, \"we rented a little house and moved in. We had two children and nothing else to speak of except some debts back at home. As soon as we got our stuff into the house we concluded -to have the gas turned on. Mrs. Lupton went down to the gas office to get it done; but coming home at night I noticed that there was no gas. I asked why.", "\" 'They wanted me to deposit ten dollars before they'd turn it on,' she said. Then she laughed, and so did I. There hadn't been ten dollars in the family at one time since either of us could remember. There wasn't likely to be for a long time in the future, either, so far as concerned a deposit for the purpose of getting gas turned on. We cleaned up the kerosene-lamps and decided to struggle along without gas. We did too; it was two years before we had the gas turned on.\"", "It was hard sledding, paying as much as possible on the old debts and living within the family income. But the Luptons had made up their minds to do it, and they succeeded.", "Down at the Treasury Lupton shared a desk with an old-time clerk who dressed a good deal better than Lupton cQuld. They became friends. The friend knew of Lupton's financial condition and took an interest in him.", "At this period it was the dream of Lupton's life to get back to Virginia and start an apple-orchard. Lupton studied apples, read apples, talked apples, dreamed apples; did about everything except eat them. They were too expensive for that. He talked to his friend and desk-mate almost endlessly about what he was learning about apples. He was going to start in as soon as he had a few thousand dollars saved; which he might accomplish by the time he was a hundred years or thereabouts.", "\"Lupton,\" said his friend one day, \"what do you say to my staking you to get that orchard started ?\"", "\"Have you got the money to do iti^' asked Lupton.", "Then the story came out. The seat-mate, though he looked like any other government clerk, was in fact quite different : he had real money. It had been left to him,", "Hon. S. L. Lupton, Farmer, Helps Senator Hoke Smith to Teach the House Committee Agriculture", "By Judson C. Welliver", "in the beginning, by an aunt who had died in Japan. He had taken good care of it, made it grow, had lived modestly and was worth perhaps $200,000. Lupton hadn't suspected it.", "His friend told his story and again demanded to know if Lupton would use some of his money. Lupton guessed he would.", "\"But,\" he said, \"I may be wrong on this apple dope of mine,\" he said. \"Suppose I am?\"", "\"Well,\" replied the friend, \"you believe in it so strongly that if you had the money of your own you'd go into it?\"", "\"You bet I would,\" was the prompt reply. \"I'd risk every cent; but risking somebody else's is different.\"", "He Knew How to Stretch a Dollar", "THEY agreed finally that Lupton was to be grub- staked. He went down around Winchester, in the Valley, and at length bought 150 acres at $50 an acre. The Treasury friend put up the cash.", "Lupton scratched and saved ; earned a promotion and at length was transferred to the Interstate Commerce Commission, where he got $1,400 a year. He studied apples harder than ever, and presently started planting his orchard. He didn't do it quite as anybody else would have done. He had a tremendous lot of theories.", "He always took his annual vacation at the time when he could make the time count for most at the farm ; he made ever}\" dollar go as far as it could possibly be stretched, and he knew how to stretch it.", "It was during this period of setting out the orchard, and hanging on to it like grim death till it could produce, that I became acquainted with Lupton. He was a good official, having come into a place of some responsibility. I can't refrain from telling a little story to show how carefully he looked after other interests than his orchard.", "One Saturday night in the spring of 1908 he burst into my office a few minutes before midnight. I was working late. Lupton was out of breath.", "\"Can you get to the President quick?\" he demanded. \"Not inside of a minute,\" I laughed. \"What's the excitement?\"", "Then Lupton told me. \"Up on the hill,\" he sputtered, jerking his thumb toward the Capitol, \"they've set up a job to kiU the appropriation for enforcement of Sec- tion 20 ; you know ; going to asphyxiate it ; do it in secret ; ruin the new Interstate Commerce law ; starve it to death before it gets working. Don't you see?\"", "and be beaten, he will have broken their back, and he'll be able to force their hand all the way through?\"", "Lupton, as I observed before, had been a state senator in Virginia. He knew some real politics. I didn't; but I could see through that millstone when he showed me the hole; and I knew T. Roosevelt would too.", "\"Will you go to the White House with me after church?\" I asked. \"No ; you go alone,\" he said ; and I had to. I told Secretary Loeb about it. He saw it; we told the President. He jumped at it. He almost repeated Lupton's words.", "\"Get me up a memorandum about the big importance of getting this appropriation right now,\" he said. Thar afternoon some of us got together and framed up the memorandum, which went to the President early Mon- day. He had got more information meanwhile, had summoned and conferred with some of his loyal sup- porters, and before night had a be-eautiful fight going.", "The big day came ; the day for the fight on the floor. It lasted all day, and in the end, with almost a full house, the item was voted into the bill by a majority, I think, of eleven! Roosevelt had won his victory; the organization had been smashed. The session's deadlock on legislation had been picked — :with Lupton's idea.", "Maybe the story hasn't much to do with orcharding, but it shows the sort of chap Lupton was. Next day he went back to work at his desk, and nobody suspected his part in the big fracas.", "Some months thereafter I walked in on him and asked hpv/ the orchard was doing. He had expected to get his first crop that season from the first fifty acres of apple- trees.", "DON'Ti make the mistake of assuming that, after £ill, Lupton got on because he ■", "found a friend that grub-staked him. That friend observed that Lupton was '", "living in the city on $75 a month, supporting a fzimily and every month paying off a . little of the old debts. He reckoned that he could afford to take a chance on that sort", "of citizen, and he didn't make a mistake. There are a great many more ways ]", "to stake men like Lupton than there are men like Lupton to be staked. ■", "I had got the point. Section 20 was what many of us regarded the most important feature of the Dolliver- Hepburn act, the section that provided for government inspection and supervision of all accounting business of the railroads. The Commission had asked $500,000 to begin enforcement of the section. There had been no open opposition to granting it; but Lupton had come into knowledge of the fact that the railroads wanted the appropriation denied, and the Cannon machine in the House was planning to do just that; do it in secret, because that was the only safe way. He told me just what he knew, and I saw that he was entirely correct.", "Lupton Knew the Political Game", "\"T^HE President needs to know this right away,\" I 1 admitted. \"They've pigeonholed his legislative program for this session ; he hasn't got a thing worth while out of committee.\"", "\"No,\" replied Lupton, \"and he doesn't need anything so much as a big, popular measure on which he can force them out into the daylight and give 'em a good lickin'. This is the one. Don't you see that if he can organize a big fight on this, let them take the wrong side", "How He Helped Senator Smith", "HE DIDN'T say a word, but pulled out a drawer, took the top letter and handed it to me. It was from a New York commission house and contained a. draft for $14,285, with notice of their acceptance of his proposi- tion to take the apples on the trees and pick them ! \"Whew !\" I whistled ; \"going to get a new suit ?\" He pulled out another drawer. \"I wanted to show you this one, too, ahead of anybody else,\" handing me another letter. It was his resignation of his government job.", "Lupton went down to live on the farm, bought more land, planted more trees, and now has 400 acres in apples. His place is rated worth about $200,000, but isn't for sale.", "Lupton — Hon. S. L. Lupton, Winchester, Virginia — is now president of, the Eastern Fruit-Growers' Associa- tion and a great booster for co-operative marketing by all kinds of tillers of soil. Last winter he was in Washington, presiding over a meeting of this organiza- tion, which covers six States. He learned that Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia had introduced an amendment to the agricultural appropriation bill, to direct a detailed investigation of co- operative work among farmers, with publication of the results and recom- mendations of methods to extend the system, and to give it the benefit of government assistance. He called on the Senator to say that he was doing just the right thing. \"Can we help you in any way?\" he asked.", "\"Yes, you can,\" was the prompt reply. \"The House, committee refuses to stand for that provision. Can you get your association to adopt strong resolutions in favor of it?\"", "Lupton guessed he could. He brought Senator Smith over to make a speech to the association; then the association did the resolving, and sent a committee headed by Lupton to call on the House* Committee of Agriculture and urge that it change its mind.", "The Lupton emissaries had to fight for a hearing, but they got it. Lupton talked the House committee and himself black in the face. When he was done the committee reversed its former action and inserted that item m the bill! It became law; and underwit the Department prepared the report on co-operative market- ing that we have had so much to say about in F.^rm .AND Fireside.", "The thing is only just starting. Such men as Lupton are pushing it all over the country, and men like Hoke Smith are fighting for it in Congress.", "Farm and Fireside, April 26, 1913", "What to Plant for Beauty Around the Farm Home", "By C. B. Whitehouse and Belle Case Harrington", "HE farm home without plantings of shrubberj-, flowers and vines is a house to live in, not a home. Al- though its barren, incomplete look maj' not have much eifect upon the busj' owner, his wife cannot say as much, for being a woman she natur- ally loves pretty things, and most", "of her life is spent in and about the", "house. To have a few fine flowering shrubs and vines necessitates small expense, yet they add actual money value to the property. Incidentally they raise the stand- ard of the family in the neighborhood, for if a man 'S known by the company he keeps he also is judged by the appearance of the home he maintains.", "A good stretch of lawn is one of the first things to be desired, and there is no reason why every farm should not have it. But lawn is not enough. Tie the house to the grounds by a few well-selected plantings close to it. At each side of the porch steps place a Spircea Van Houttei, which will grow to a height of four or five feet, and in front of that group a few of the Thunberg bar- berry. Have the spiraea a foot or two away from the corner formed by the porch and steps, and in front of it, in an irregular planting, set in three or four of the shorter barberry-. You will find 'them very attractive later on. No shrub is more beautiful when in blossom.", "At each end of the porch plant a flowering shrub of some sort, either the Hydrangea paniculata grandi- flora, which bears such fine, large clusters of blossoms and has such a long flowering season, or a group of two or three Japanese rose-bushes, known to the horticulturist as Rosa rugosa. These Japanese roses, with their clean, crinkled green leaves, are an orna- ment withcrut a blossom on them, but they do blossom, heaviest in June and Jul3^ continuing until fall, when the roses are followed by huge seed-pods of brilliant red tha't last most of the winter. The Japanese rose is perfectly hard3' in the coldest climate, and the best thing about it is its complete freedom from the pests which infest all other kinds of rose-bushes.", "The only practical plantings for the farm home are hardy shrubs and the hardy perennial flowers, free from pests and taking care of themselves after they are established, for just when certain flowering things need spraying and dusting with insect-powders, both men and women on the farm are most busy.", "If you like brilliant effects, make a narrow bed, about eighteen inches wide, along the skirts of the porch between the end shrubs and those at the steps, and put in a few roots of hardy perennial phlox of a bright color, setting the plants a foot or more apart. The large trusses of blossoms will add to the pictur- esque effect of your home, and also are fine for cutting. In fact, the more the flowers are cut during each year's first season of bloom, the more certain they are to have a second crop of blossoms later on in the fall.", "For earlier flowers a few bulbs of iris or jonquils, scattered among the phlox-roots, or set just back of them, will amply repay you by their cheerful early blossoms — perhaps the first in the spring in your neigh- borhood. They will not interfere with the other growing things in the least, and once established will blossom for years. Phlox-roots multiply rapidly. In a season or two the bed will be luxuriantly full, and you will be able to take some roots up to give to your friends.", "The Porch Plantings are Most Impwrtant", "The front and back porch plantings are the most important of all. They are near at hand to be enjoyed, and decidedly improve the house, so if nothing else is done you will be glad in the end to have accomplished that much.", "If the yard is fenced and further planting is possible, do not scatter it here and there on the lawn. Try groupings of three or more shrubs in the corners of the fence and along the sides, varying the number of plants in the groups.", "Even if the yard is not fenced follow the same plan: place the plantings where a fence naturally would be, and if possible keep the grass cut between the porch plantings and those along the fence. Going over it only two or three times during the summer with the farm mower will do wonders for the appearance of things.", "For the outside border my choice would fall among the following : Persian lilac, snowball, white and pur- ple common lilac, mock orange ( Fhiladelphns coro- narius), goldenleaf elder, hydrangea and flowering almond, the hardy, old-fashioned shrubs our grand- mothers loved.", "If only one nibre tree may be added to your home grounds, make it a cut-leaf birch. Plant it near the evergreens if you have them — not too near for its own", "This wild grape-vine makes an attractive trellis between chicken-yard and lawn", "health, but near enough to have the eye take them in at one glance for they are charming together.", "If j'ou have no evergreens and can plant some, do so by all means. If there are anj- unpleasant views from your windows, plant some evergreens to shut off the view, or put in some willow-roots this spring, and in two jears more nothing but beautiful foliage will meet the eye when you look that way.", "The Place for a Border Bed", "Three or four feet in front of the fence shrubs is the ideal place for an irregular shaped border bed, or for clumps of the many desirable hardy flowers which need practicallj' no care when once established : peonies in many colors, larkspurs tall and stately, sweet-william with its coloring so like an oriental rug, gorgeous tiger lilies, bleeding-heart, and any other flower you know and love.", "If there is a fence, plant a few roots of Concord, or any other good grape which thrives in 3'our locality. Or if the fence is not a safe place for grapes by all means have them somewhere — on a trellis or the back porch. The vines are beautiful, fragrant in blossoming-time, and pay. They are verj- easily grown, requiring only to be pruned back each year to the usual three or four \"arms.\" that they may bear more heavily.", "An occasional stirring of the soil aboflt the roots of", "the new plantings and, imless it is a wet year, an occasional good soaking (not a sprinkling), say a couple of times a week, during their first summer will help them to become firmly established and give them a fifty per cent, better growth. The next year they will prat- tically take care of themselves, though a good mulch of manure each fall will repay you in the blossoms they will send forth.", "While many do it, there are manj' more who do not have the time nor the strength to put in any quantity of annual flower-seeds. The beds require some work to put them in condition, and the seedlings when first out of the ground usually require thinning or trans- planting and weeding, all of which is backaching work. Three annual flowers which, personally, I am perfectly willing to put in a little labor on, although our farm is a very busy place, are pansies, poppies and the gladioli. The pansy might almost be called a perennial, and a thriving poppy bed or border will nearly always seed itself for the second year. After that they will have to be replanted, but I always feel recompensed for my trouble.", "The work of planting gladioli bulbs in the spring, and pulling and storing them in the fall, is a thousand times repaid by the glorious spikes of blossoms they will send forth for so many weeks. No other flower equals them for generous flowering, the beauty of their blossoms in the garden, and the ease of their culture.", "If one has no money at all to spend upon the home", "American ivy transforms this porch into a cozy summer nook", "surroundings, use native shrubs and vines. Few realize how much can be done with them. Naturally more hardy than the cultivated varieties and with soil and climate similar to their native habitat, they give excel- lent results and add much to the beauty of the place.", "Among vines there is probably nothing which gives more delight than the native American or five-leaved ivy, which differs from the poison variety in that,its leaves have five parts instead of three. This ivy trans- forms a porch into a shadj- bower, and it is particularly useful in covering unsightly fences, buildings or stumps. It makes a clean, rapid growth, is free from insect pests and becomes a mass of brilliant coloring in the autumn. The only coaxing it requires is an abundance of water the first year after it is transplanted.", "WildJClematis is a Lovely Vine", "The wild clematis, sometimes called traveler's-joj-, or virgin's-bower, is quite as beautiful as its cultivated sister. Clematis paniculata, and has the added advantage of the beautiful feathery seed-pods \\yhich last half the winter. This wild clematis is found festooning itself from fence-posts and broken tree-trunks in many sec- tions of the Middle West, and makes one of the most satisfactory porch vines to be found.", "Another vin'e is the wild grape, whose grace and beauty the professional landscape gardener has been quick to see and utilize. The filmy white blooms of early spring possess an exquisite fragrance, and in the autumn a luxuriant growth supports the tiny bunches of grapes which are quite as ornamental as flowers. This vine will thrive in shady situations where the cultivated grape would be a complete failure. It is particularly good when planted over a well-house, or made to cover an unsightly fence.", "Bittersweet, with its clusters of red and gold seed- pods which hang on the vines most of the winter, is a beautiful vine, but a slower grower than either the grape of clematis. Neither does it furnish as much shade, but it is very pretty grown with the others.", "At the time of planting the roots of these desirable hardy vines, sow a few seeds of an ornamental gourd-vine or wild cucumber for a viney effect the first year. Thej- will not be needed the second year.", "In almost any wooded district plenty of elderberry and golden willow may be had for the digging, and very effective groups of shrubbery or trimmed hedges they make too. The elderberry, if not so common, would be considered extremely beautiful when loaded with its large, flat-topped clusters of white fragrant blossoms, followed later by the berries which the birds love so well. It is an obligingly rapid grower where a screen is needed, and will stand for any amount of pruning if a low hedge is wanted.", "The sumac, so much used in wildwood scenerv' simulated in the city parks, is attractive throughout the summer. The graceful foliage, surmounted by the rich red \"bobs,\" becomes a mass of riotous color in September. The sumac is excellent for massing in an otherwise unsightly comer or for use as a screening hedge, the only drawback being that it sheds its leaves early in the fall.", "For a handsome lawn tree of small size trj; the dogwood with its showy white blossoms in May. To offset this, plant an Indian wahoo, or burning-bush, and the bright orange-red seed-panicles will set off j^our yard till the beginning of winter.", "A Violet Comer Important", "Be sure to have a violet corner. Make the soil rather rich, and the great purple violets, ten times more attractive than those the florist grows, will gladden the early spring.", "Then plant trilliums in front of the porch or against the side wall. They will be out before the violets are gone, and their snowy beauty will lead more than one passer-by to stop and admire. The trillium grows only in leaf-mold, and it will be ne^cessary to bring some wood-soil when they are transplanted.", "Bring enough, too, for a fern-bed. Put it on the shady side of the house where nothing ever does well. Wall in the bed with stones, and let a covering of leaves rot upon the bed each winter. Put in some of the hardier \"brakes\" for a background, then the finer ferns and the maidenhair if it can be obtained.", "The roadside purple asters with yellow centers are now coming to be appreciated for their real beauty, and one specialist in hardy annuals has improved and propa- gated until he now advertises twenty vaweties. Planted in clumps, nothing is prettier than their regal royal purple. Beside the asters plant a clump of the vivid orange pleurisy-root (Asclepias tuberosa), also called butterfly-weed, and you will have a color-scheme to delight the eye of all who see it.", "The wild clematis has a decorative value which is all its own", "Letty Meets the Art of Life", "By E. T. Royle", "ETTY wrote vigorously in her diary, the customary line a day expanding indefinitely. It was a Sunday evening \"in late spring, when tender buds threw a haze of soft green over the willows, and gave a tinge of gold to the mari- golds in the swamp.", "\"You must have a lot to tell about one dull Sunday,\" remarked Letty's Aunt Anna, who •/nothered the family and the farm with impartial justice.", "\"I'm writing up my diary for all next week,\" responded Letty, as snappily as a really nice girl would permit herself to speak.", "\"Well !\" responded her aunt, \"since when did you learn to read the future?\"", "\"Reading the future is the easiest thing in the world, if you live on a farm where nothing ever happens, two miles out of a stodgy little town where nothing ever could happen,\" replied Letty, opening the pages of her diary like a fan. \"Of course I don't expect real thrills, but I've looked back through the past six weeks, and I could run one week into another without making a ripple, except one Wednesday that stands right out because something happened at last : the rain leaked through the attic roof into the box where I keep my summer hat. That was thrilling!\"", "\"When you come to my age,\" responded Aunt Anna unsympathetically, \"you'll be thankful for busy, restful days when things don't happen,\" a statement that would have been more impressive if Mrs. Story had passed through a life of storm and stress before reaching the peaceful haven of Westerling Farm. As it was, Letty permitted herself a slight snif¥, and wrote in next Thurs- day's diary : \"Packed eggs — read connty paper — put away maple syrup.\"", "\"You'd be in a hole, Sis, if the hens went on a strike and an earthquake struck the Weekly Argus,\" remarked her younger brother, who had been sufficiently interested to look over her shoulder.", "\"Then I really would have something to write about,'' said Letty, with a sisterly pull at Eddy's red hair. \"As it is, I know we'll wash to-morrow, and Mrs. Wickens will tell us for the fifty-'leventh time that she only goes out to oblige people, and I'll have to hang out because it's too muddy for her to risk her 'neuralagy,' and Tuesday we'll iron and have baked beans and a baked Indian pudding, and Wednesday we'll have the last of Sunday's roast made into Irish stew or soup (if you keep on eating the way you did at dinner, there won't even be bones for soup, Eddy), and Thursday I'll go to prayer meeting if it isn't too bad to take a horse out, and Friday I'll sweep and set bread and have to stay home from choir practice because it's frozen too hard or thawed too soft, and Saturday I'll bake and clean up and get ready for a nice, peaceful Sunday, after the mad excitement of the week.\"", "\"If that isn't just like a girl,\" remarked Eddy. \"Why don't you go ahead and make things happen? Now, if I took hold of that diary I'd whirl in something new every day, if it wasn't anything more than inventing beanless baked beans, or some new dewdab in fancy- work.\"", "\"Eddy, you're such a peach of a housekeeper that I think I'll let you make my next angel cake while I go out and break the sorrel colt,\" responded Letty, as she picked up her diary and slowly trailed up-stairs, while Eddy, merely reflecting from the boundless experience of his fifteen years that all girls were queer, settled down luxuriously with a plate of apples and \"Two Years Before the Mast,\" until Aunt Anna sent him reluctantly to bed.", "Letty's antedated diary was entirely accurate as to Mrs. Wickens and her cherished \"neuralagy.\" Even the Monday's bill of fare bore out her prognostications, though Aunt Anna's unhappy adventure with an explo- sive bottle of tomato catsup, which bathed the indignant housekeeper and the pantry with sanguinary billows, — gallons of it, apparently, contained in one small bot- tle,— 'Was really the unexpected. Tuesday brought ironing, and as one can't diversify ironing very much without scorching shirt-waists or lumping starch, Letty felt quite sure that here again was the same familiar round. It is true that her aunt ostentatiously prepared brown Betty and spaghetti with cheese, instead of the beans and Indian pudding that Letty had predicted, but that was not really exciting. She was wishing for the twentieth time that she hadn't put braided panels in her linen skirt, and trying to press out the braiding from the wrong side without drying out all the rest of the skirt, when Eddy appeared, remarking, with his mouth full of cruller :", "\"Did you hear about that old dominie from town that's rented the Snellgrove place?\"", "\"I heard some kind of a minister was coming, and dear knows some of us need one.\"", "\"Well, he's Episcopal, and I guess his folks have turned him out to grass. He isn't preaching any more, but he's got the dandiest microscope you ever saw.\"", "\"I never saw any microscope, except in pictures,\" said Letty rather tartly.", "\"Well, here's your chance,\" responded Eddy. \"I'm going up there to-night with some of the fellows to see it, and the dominie said that if we had any sisters we could bring 'em along too.\"", "Now, in a big city, with public school free lectures on everything under the sun, a microscope is no novelty, and plenty of young people acquire a superficial famili- arity with science that breeds contempt toward real knowledge. Healthy-minded young people in the country, however, do not look at life from the moving- picture standpoint, and, her ironing finished, Letty changed her dress with a sense of gaiety that made her erase one discontented line from her diary.", "The old Snellgrove place had been shorn of so much of its acreage that its renting had been a difficult mat-", "There were low bookcases, and a few pieces of quaint pottery", "ter, especially as \"old lady Snellgrove,\" to use the , neighborhood expression, insisted on going with it. The average renter of a run-down farm does not care to inherit a rather opinionated boarder too, so the farm had reverted to golden-rod and daisies, while Mrs. Snellgrove continued to live in one corner of the old house and raise the earliest broilers in the vicinity, in spite of the general prediction that she would probably fall down cellar or have a stroke all alone some day, without a neighbor knowing anything about it. How- ever, the Reverend Doctor Axtun, dispossessed from the pleasant rectory he had occupied for a generation, by the dictum that made him rector emeritus, had fallen in love with the old house, and beingj as local gossips explained, a \"lone widower man,\" Mrs. Snellgrove's determination to remain in the house proved very helpful ; for, though she was genesally described as pernickety of temper, her housekeeping was quite up to Solomon's standard.", "When the young people filed into the living-room, the various girls looked at one another for a moment, while Letty decided, with lightning rapidity, that certain use- less pieces of miscellaneous \"fancy-work\" that adorned the family \"parlor\" should be packed away the next morning. Mrs. Snellgrove's rag rugs were on the bare floor, but her \"golden-oak parlor suite,\" v/ith plush upholstery, had been retired ; instead there were solid library tables and Canton chairs, into which the boys sank with an air of solid comfort. The flowery wall- covering had been replaced by golden-brown cartridge paper, the grained and varnished woodwork was now ivory white, and there were low bookcases, a few pieces of quaint pottery and a number of prints in plain dark frames.", "\"It looks, somehow, like a society picture in a maga- zine,\" whispered Lora Matthews to Letty, \"but it's terribly plain.\"", "It zvas plain, and none of the young visitors realized the value of mezzotints and Belleek, though several of the boys reminded their sisters afterward that it wasn't stylish to clutter up a room so that fellows couldn't take any pleasure in it, and that was why the domestic- science department of the state college was called on, later, for advice as to the study of home-decoration.", "That evening was fully entitled to the space Letty gave it in her diary, which lapped right over from Wednesday into Thursday. Mrs. Snellgrove sat there Icnitting at her shell-pattern bed-cover, while Doctor Axtun, whose round collar and ecclesiastical waistcoat caused a very slight constraint at first, called on the boys to help him in placing his big microscope and arranging the lights.", "\"Who ever thought that a honey-bee had such claws ?\" remarked Lon Matthews, whose fancy for bee-keeping had been rather discouraged by a grain-farming father.", "\"Well, I didn't know that butterfly-wings were covered with scales,\" remarked Myrtle Deering, \"and who'd have thought that yellow stuff in willow-catkins was anything but dust?\"", "The young people had moved into the dining-room, where Mrs. Snellgrove's dark old furniture had dwelt in the perpetual twilight of gray paint and a tapestry wall-paper chosen because it \"wouldn't show dirt.\" Pumpkin-yellow paper and white paint had transformed the chilly north room, in which the old furniture now showed its rich color and nobly simple lines. There was a cheerful bustle in the kitchen, where the boys were offering their help with the coffee, while the girls arranged the plates of cookies and baskets of fruit. Letty's eye was attracted by a carved wooden nut-bowl, and Doctor Axtun explained to her something of the wood-carving done by the Swiss, Austrian and Bavarian peasants. I't was a revelation to her that men and", "was they vari", "women might milk and plow and mow, might live in hardship and poverty, and yet translate their humble lives into enduring art.", "\"But I always thought those old- country immigrants who come here so ignorant,\" she said. \"We have to teach them everything, and yet most of us wouldn't even see the sense of copying real oak-leaves in wood.\"", "Letty thought about the nut-bowl several times before the little feast was over. It made as strong an impression on her as the bee's foot did upon Lon Matthews. It was a somewhat hesitating query from Lon that gave her courage to ask further light, and when she went home she carried under her arm a wonderful book, borrowed from Doctor Axtun's shelves, which pictured peasant art in some of the older coun- tries. It was the churching shawls and caps of strange provinces of which Letty hardly knew the names — Slavonia, Croatia, Ruthenia— that first made her dissatisfied with the crude blos- soms she was outlining on a silk pillow-top.", "\"Here I'm spending my time doing embroidery that might just as well be machine-made, when a lot of women who can barely read and write do work that gets into a book because it's peasant art,\" she complained.", "\"Well,\" remarked her aunt cheerfully, \"if you want to do work like those .foreigners, better start studying Great-Grandma Waring's sampler and bedspread ; they're up in the attic.\"", "Letty thought, with a sudden blush, of the time she had used Grandma Waring's sampler for a carpet in an egg-box doll-house, and of various \"dressings up\" in which the bedspread of homespun flax with its cross-stitch border had figured. She blushed for those dark ages in which these heirlooms were merely \"old truck,\" and without honor as works of art. She looked at the rescued sampler with respect, but no admiration ; it had a lacrymose weeping willow and a high-shouldered lady in the fore- ground, and a distant view of dumpling-like sheep in a very green meadow. The bedspread, soiled and tattered, with cross-stitch border, she could more readily admire, with its soft blue and fawn design on the unbleached linen. \"They're beautiful,\" said Doctor Axtun, who shown these resurrected treasures. \"You see, re pure vegetable dyes — indigo, butternut, oak and ous lichens such as the handicraft workers are now reviving.\"", "\"Do you mean,\" asked Letty with some hesitation, \"that nowadays, when we can buy such heaps of pretty things made in factories, people are really going back to the things country people made by hand years ago?\"", "\"Child,\" said the old clergyman rather solemnly, \"don't you know that the only enduring art is the expression of some worker's ideal?\" Moved by the girl's interest, he went on to talk of the revived colonial handicrafts in New England, the hand-woven bedspreads of the South and the handicraft workers in wood and metal who have found their inspiration in medieval Europe. That was outside of Letty's interests, though it recalled the old French blacksmith, down at the cross-roads, who diverted himself in his leisure by hammering out wonderfully intricate hinges, locks and latches, which, as one of the neighbors said, were \"pooty fancy, but nothin' like as neat as factory made.\" But there was a sudden intuition, a flashing thought, that was to change all Letty's future and take away forever the feeling that nothing could happen in the country.", "\"Aunt Anna,\" said Letty the next day, \"do you mind if I hitch up right after dinner and go down the creek road to see old Mrs. Van Eeden?\"", "\"Why, that's a real nice idea, Letty,\" responded her aunt. \"It isn't often any of the young folks go over to see her, and she'll like it. She wanted a trio of our guineas too; it's lucky Eddy penned some last night, thinking they were ready for them over at Matthews'. Lon just 'phoned over that they aren't fixed for them to-day.\"", "So as soon as the dinner things were set away behold Letty and her friend Persis Horton starting off in the buckboard with the crate of pessimistic guineas fastened on behind and Persis holding a jar of Mrs. Story's special mustard pickle, after the good old country fashion that forbids one from visiting an old neighbor empty-handed.", "It must not be imagined that Mrs. Van Eeden was some poor old soul to whom the girls' visit came as one glint of sunshine in a dark and poverty-stricken existence. On the contrary, she was, as her hired men asserted, \"richer'n mud\" — she owned three farms and a prize herd. And while she had, as one man who traded cows with her observed, a tongue you could clip a hedge with she also had as much kindliness as shrewdness and enough \"faculty\" to set them both off. The girls chaperoned the guineas into the enclosure which was to be their home until they were \"wonted\" to their new surroundings, then viewed the brooders and admired the latest calves until Mrs. Van Eeden said she was going to cut her last fruit-cake for their delecta- tion. It was the sight of an old blue-and-white bed- spread thrown over a couch that enabled Letty to bring up the subject she really wanted to talk about.", "\"Why, yes,\" responded her hostess to Letty's query, \"that's one of the bedspreads Father Van Eeden wove on his hand loom, and I've got three pair of sheets to go with it. The flax was raised right on this farm, and hackled and spun by Mother Van Eeden, and wove right in this room over by that north window, and a messy thing the old loom was to have right in a body's kitchen. And those sheets are just as strong as the day they were made, too, if they ain't quite as fine and white as boughten ones.\"", "It was while fingering the sheets, silken in sheen, with the dull creamy tint of the natural flax, that Letty began to talk, rather hesitatingly, of the old-fashioned needle- work that possessed her mind, [concluded on page 26]", "Some Simple Bird-Houses", "By A. E. Swoyer", "Farm and Fireside, April 26, 1913", "THOSE who appreciate the value of birds, not onh- as songsters, but as destroyers of insect life as well, will endeavor to keep them about the .earden-plot. To do this successfully requires the building of suitable bird- houses, protection against their natural enemies and perhaps occasional feeding.", "Of these three things the construction of proper homes is the only one in which instruction is needed, for these must not only he correctly designed in order to afford the necessarj' protection, but may be made ornamental as well. A standard type is the cottage illustrated ; this is designed as a double house, is so simple that any boy can make it and, when nicely painted, is very attractive.", "To make this cottage, secure, first, a piece of one-inch board eighteen inches", "I-QWIIR-PQT CDLDNY HDUSZ", "The ends, however, require doorways, although the partition does not; therefore remove the narrowest of the three pieces, and cut the door and ventilating holes^ shown in the other two. The door should not be too large ; one two inches square is about right for general use ; it may be laid out with a try-square, the two side cuts made with a saw and the piece re- moved with a chisel. The ventilation openings should be bored with a one-inch auger, but if this is not at hand smaller holes may be bored with a bit and brace. The sides of the house are pieces of half- inch wood, each eleven inches long and six inches wide ; after they are cut j'ou are ready to set up the frame.", "Xail the two end pieces to the sides with small wire finishing-nails, being care- ful not to mar the wood ; this is best avoided by the use of a nail-set, by means of which the heads may be countersunk. This done, fit the partition in the same manner, and fasten the frame to the base by means of larger nails driven through the latter and into the sides and ends. Needless to say, the frame should be", "long and nine inches wide ; this is the base, or bottom. Then take two pieces of one-half-inch lumber eleven inches long and nine inches wide, and one piece of the same thickness and length, but one inch narrower, and nail them lightly to- gether ; the edges of the two larger boards should be flush, and those of the smaller piece one-half inch in. Measure up from one end a distance of six inches, and mark this point on each of the side edges ; then find the center of the opposite end and mark it ; lines drawn from the two side points to this center will lie at approximateh' forty-five degrees and will mark the slope of the roof. \\Mthout seijarating the boards, saw along these lines, and 30U will have not only the two ends of the cottage, but the center par- tition as well.", "placed in the center of the base, which will allow of a three-inch rest and feed- ing-board at either end.", "All is now ready f