Agricultural And Domestic

A western farmer says that he discovered many years ago that wood could be made to iaat loiiger thau iron in tbc grouud. ïime and weather, he saya, teem to have no effect on it. Posts eau be prepared for iess than two cents apiece. ïhis is the recipe : Take boiled linseéd oil and stir it in pulverizod chareoul to the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over the tinabcr, and, he adds, there is not a man that will live to see it rot. Wash Fon Houses. - Pour boiling water on stone lime, and cover it close. When slaked, press twelve quarts of it through a fine sieve - add to this two quarts of fine salt and two gallons of water. Boil and skim it, and add to every ten gallons two ponnds of alum and one pound of copperas. Gradually add one pound and a half of potash and two gallons of fine sand or hardwood afehes sifted. Add the coloring preferred ; put it on with a brush. It is as pretty as paiíit, and very durable. - Prairie Farmer. The Hen Boost. - We had lostseveral of our choioest f owis, and been kept awake many nights - making flying visits to and i'rom the poultry yard, but still the nuisance did not abate. The owls would sail down, seize their prey, and then inock at us with their taunting " Tohoo I" as they alighted in some neighboring tree to devour their feast. A friend has since come to our relief, and told us to hang up some white sheets about the yard ; we did so. The next night the owls came as usual, skirmished around a little, fiounded their clariou cali, and departed to parts unknown, and havo not disturbed us sinee. - Ohio Farmer. CONFINING PoULTRY. - If We WÍsll to confine our hens, so as to protect the garden and crops, we must necessarily take much more pains than wlien we allow them to run at large. To confine hena, and have them to do as -vell as when allowed to run at large, we must observo the followiug rules : 1. Feed regularly, at least twice a day ; not too much, but just enough to satisfy their appetites. 2. Keep pure water before them all the time. 3. Keep plenty of gravel and sand before them. 4. Próvido for them a good, warm roosting house, and always keep it free from clirt and vermin. 5. Keep at least half of their park in grass, and plow the remainder occasionally, so as to allow thein plenty of wallowing places. - Cor. Country Gentleman. How Mtjoh to Fatten an Animal. - A farmer made an experiment. He took a sheep that weighed about one hundred pomids, put it in a pen, and after it had become wonted, weighed all its food and found that three pounds per day of fodder and grain was all he could eat. The farmer had verified a rule well known to the mnch-despised "book-farmers,'' and ariivedat by many and caref ui experimenta, that about three pounds of good food per day for each one lraudred weijjht of live stock is a fattening allowanco. For illustration, a sheep weighing one hundred pounds requires three pounds of food per day, and a steer weighing one thousand needs thirty pounds. These rules are approximately correct, being varied somewhat by quality of food and stock. The farmer, knowing the weight of his feed and that of his stock, by applying these rules, can guess closely as to ■whether he has food enough for his stock - Mar land Plovghman. Heamh of Faiïmers.- The Massachusetts Board of Health is out with ite fourth annual report, in which is to be found an interesting paper on the longevity of the farmers, It says the evidence collected from the country physicians througüout the State for the last twenty-eight years, shows that the average length of the life of a farmer in that State is 55} years. This is much longer than that of any other class of citizens. The class most nearly approaching farmers, viz : out-door mechanics, live 52 years on an average. The almost unanimous belief of those pliyaicians and the compiler of the paper is, that farmers might live much longer than they do, by exercising more cnre in choosing, cookijg and eating their food, in avoiding over-work aiid exposure to change of weather, and the use of l'oul drinking water. Their food consists too much of pork, pies and saleratus bread and cakes. The cookery is bad, nnd meáis are eaten too quickly for good digestión, when work hurries. More vegetables and fruit should be eaten, and more rest taken.. More cleanliness as regards out-houses, and more care to avoid leaving cess-pools, sinks, etc, neaïer to a well than thirty feet at least. About the House. When boils make their appearance, take a teaspoonful of soda in a glass of inilk cvery morning and evening. To oleanse articles from tar, rosiiï, or any compovuids of a resinous cháracter, the use of flaxsoed meal, moistened with water, is recommended. Gekman Toast. - To one egg beaten weli, and one cup of sweet milk or cream ; season with a little salt and pepper. Cut stale bread in slices, dip in the milk to moisten, and fry in butter, on a griddle. This is a nice dish for bronkfast. A Nice Ginqerbread. - One quart of New Orleans molasses, one quart , of thick milk, two eggs, half pound of butter, 0116 omice of saleratus, two ponmls of jlour, plenty of ginger. Mix all togetluT in one soft batter, put in pnns. Oven not too hot. Soon baked. When it is not convenient to take a lock apart to fit a new key,the key blank Éhotfla be snióked over a candle, inseited in the key-hole, and pressed firmly against the opposing wards of the lock. The indentations in the smoked part made by the wards will show where to file. Aunt Makx's Pudding. - Butter a tart-dish, spriukle the bi)ttom with fine ly-nueed oandied peel and a very little shred saet, then a th:n layer of light brèad, and so on until the dish is l'ull. For p. puit rtish make a liquid tústarf of one egg and lilf a pint of milk, sweet n, pour over the pudding, .and bake as slowly ns possilile for two hours. Puuee of potatoes dift'ers from mashed potfctcK m Otlly in the i-mployment of morfl milk ujkI biiiter, nnd in tho whole hth (üueluUy reduced to u potfecüy amopth, thick, c'reum-like jiiixfui'i!. When e omy ii a gn .ut object, mul tghere lich djshes are ïv.it desired,.th foKowing is an b Unirable mode Í ma.shing potatoep: n lill thoroughly dpe, h Kiil; i.! (if galt i ill'1 ,iu! VSfitll tWO 1 placed bao to back, beat the whole up tl 11 no lumps aro left. If doue rapidly, potatoes thus oooked are extremely light and digestible. African War Tactics The heathen Africans who are waging war against the Republic of Liberia, that feeble nursling of our old Colouization Society, liave adopted an effective method of livir.g ofï the enemy, as a recent letter shovs. When they kill or capture a Liberian, they cut off lus head and right hand, whicli are caref ully dried and preserved, and broil and eat the rest of him. Thia simple plan saves the trouble of guarding prisoners and burying the dead. It greatly simplifies the coinmissariat department of "the army. Instead of the conquerors feeding captives, the captives ai'o made to feed them. There can be no doubt that the assailants feel a stern joy in meeting foemen worthy of their stomach. The little Eepublic seems to be in a bad way. it deserves sympathy for its gallant'fight, especially since the war was begun by an attempt on its part to suppress the Capo Palmas slave trade. England and the United States have both been asked for aid. It is certainly a hard fato for a man to be broiled beneath an African sun for many years, only to be finallj' broiled for an African stomach. The only possible revenge is to make yonrI self so tough beforehand that your devourer will have the nightmare for a night and dyspepsia forever af ter. - ■ Chicago Tribune. Alonzo the Brave Mr. Alonzo Potts occnpies the honorable and responsible position of head clerk in a shop in a certain town in Vermont. Now, in that emporium was a skeleton woman used for bringing out I the glories of the dry goods, which Mr. Potts had ordered . to be removed; bnt when he came in and tliought he saw it still in its place, with that exuberance of spirits which head clerks sometimes exhibit, he threw liis arnis about the fascinating dummy, pretending to be overeóme by its exceeding beauty. Heavens ! A scream from the skeleton ! Mr. Potts had encircled a lovely and living creature ! Fleeing from 'the mart, she narrated the indignity to her husband. He went to Potts, who soothed him with six pounds of sweet potatoes. We would not be uncharitable, but a stern regard for historica! truth impels the query, did Potts really make a mistake ? His name even is very suspicious. These Alonzos arealways looking out for fair Imogenes; but as for the husband of the embracedby-mistake, what shall we say óf him? Six pounds of sweet potatoes, indeed ! Popular Fallacy Concerning Ovenvork. The subject of overwork, then, is one of the greatest importance to study, and has to be diseussed daily by all of us. My own opinión has already been expressed, that the evils attending it on the community at largo are vastly overestimated ; and, judging from my own experience, the persons with unstrung neryes who apply to the doctor are, not the Prime Minister, the Bishops, Judges, and hard-working professional men, but merchants and stockbrokers retired fi-om business, Government clerks who work from 10 to 4, women whose domestic dnties and bad servants are driving them to the grave, young ladies whose visits to the village school or Sunday performance on tho oigan are undermining their health, and so on. In short, in rny experience I see more ailments arise from want of occupation than from overwork, and taking the various kinds of nervous and dyspeptic ailments which we are constantly treating, I flnd at least six due to idleness to one from overwork. - Dr. Wilks, in London Lancet. (jirasshopper Antidote. Prof. C. V. Biley, State Entomologist of Missouri, has sent to Hon. John Halderman, of Kansas, the draft of a law whieh the letter proposes to introduce in the Kansas Legislature this winter. The law is for the purpose of preventing the grasshopper pest, or at least to, preserve the State, as far aa possible, from tho ravages of that insect. It provides that persons shall be recompensed for destroying both the eggs and the insect. The Professor recommeuds SI per bushei for grasshopper eggs, and fif ty cents per bnshei for the insects. The law is to be introduced on the principie, "In time of peace prepare for war." Prof. Kiley says the peopio of Missouri or Kansas have no cause to fear a return of the grasshopper next ycar, or for a number of years. No eggs wero deposited in either State during the laying season of 1875. Christmas Pie. Christmas pie has succeeded Christmas tree. The pie is a jolly English custom, and very amusing when there is a large company of intímate friends. It is made of sawdust, stuffed with gifts and favors i'or the Germán that is to follow, and baked in an enormous wooden tub, decorated with holly berries, gold foil, and gay pictures. It stands in in the center of the drawin g-room on a piece of canvas to protect the carpet, and each guest is allowed to táke three spoonfuls. If he gets a present with his name on it, there is a shout of applause; but if he üshes out some one else s.back it has to go, and the pie M stirred up again, and that person takes his or her turn. A QuiU with a Ilïstory. A citizen of 'Lexington, Ky., has in his possession a (]uill oí' a condor whifh has a history. It was given to Henry Clay in 1824, with an injunction neverto cut it until he was elected President, when he was to write his flrst ïamsagB with it. In caso he was not elected it was uot to be cut until a " constitutional President wrote a constitutional message for all the States." Af ter Mr. Clay 's death it was given to Millard Killmore, but he was likewise uuable to use it. During tho last campaign the owner d( - termined to give it to Mr. Greeley sliould hu be eleöted. The qnill, whieh is still uncut, is over three feet long, and is as large round as a man's thumb. A Tj.vkge Èttvöstment in the bonds of tho Suez Canal Company by Great Britain is interpreted by the London Ti,i i to meao a prepttration lor important politicai obanges in the East, with the pi scollnpse of the Turkish Empire. In the event of such chango, Grcat Britain will I-ave ;i conimandiDg interest in that part of tho Sultan's dominions, as the '■ :;.., iawháoh Great Jïritain is most nearly concerued. The purelms;' of tiloso bondSj with tÜe intima'ion that there may be still further investnieiits, signiiies that tliere is no great unwillingness to adopt a new Eastern poliey, and allow a rotten Empire, kflP togethor tólêlyi by the (rent Powtrs, to dtqp to l, ■' Ml propoBo t" HKikii ;,),l i -mente, whch arjj iin},oitu.nt lor their relatipuB t" heï Itulia posfifSBious, by actual purchase.