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Forty years ago this Christmas, or there- abouts, James Sampson and his wife Matil- da, came to Mlllhollow from London. A few years previous to their arrival some one had cleared a little land by the side ofa small stream in the midst of a dreary swamp, and built himself s. log house, which he left a few months afterwards, driven away it is said, by the loneli- jisss and mosquitoes. This house Mr. and Mrs. Sampson took temporary posses- ‘ sion of. Being a. man of some means, Mr. Sampson immediately purchased a consider- able tract of land surrounding the clearing and set about building a large saw»mill and a 'more commodious and comfortable resi- dence. These completed he energetically proceeded to provide lumber needed by the rapidly arriving settlers, to build their houses, on the read some miles away, known as the “ old London road." He prospered at this business exeeedingly. There was a ‘ ready and ever increasing market for all his mill could produce. A few years went swiftly past, and still the thrifty miller I found his mill busy, and. cash (in kind) flow- | ing rapidly in. Any one paesing through; Mill Hollow in those days, and noting om every bend the signs of busy industry would l hesitate to believe that a few more years and all would become silent again us before ‘ the advent of the first settler. Superstition and crime are most potent factors In Ieterd- ing the healthy growth of a community, and Mill Hollow was destined to know some-‘ thing oi each. In these early days, however, ‘ could be heard the sharp whirr-r of the 1 steel saw, the roar of the mill-stream, the 1 quick strokes of the woodman’s axe, the commiugfed sounds of a multitude of men unloading logs, piling lumber, and the thou- sand and one thinge incident to a settler’s‘ life in. a. new country. ‘ This was Millhollow several years after the arrival of the Sampson family. The owner seemed well content with whathad been ac‘ complished. Cut off though he was from every semblance of civilization by miles and miles of lonely forest, he had lived those years in blessed tranquility, and he often said in the hearing ot his mill hands that he was heartily glad he had come. So was not, however, Mrs. Sampson, She was a woman of an entirely different mental disposition from her husband. Where he was reserved and quiet, she was lively and sometimes even boisterous; where he was refined and affectionate, she was somewhat coarse; where he was humble she was proud. In short the couple had very little in common, and it was a very fortunate Mr. Sampson had built his mill nearly in the centre of a clearing of about fif- teen acres in extent, and surrounding It at short intervals he had aleo built about twenty log houses to accomodate hi mill hands and their families. His own house was precisely like any one of these all but in size; it was as large as any two of the others in the settlement. All the houses had little garden plan: of perhaps a quarter of an acre in eachs surrounded by strong, though rude, rail fences, unlovely in them- selves but furnishing very necessary proâ€" tection to the poultry, pigs and cows from the wolves and bears of the wilderness. The river which supplied the motive power to the mill, emerged from the Cedar Swamp at the right-hand, ran through the centre of the clearing in an almost straight course, and reentered the Swamp again at the ex- reme left. On one side of the mill was a great heap of saw logs cut from enormous white pine trees. On the other side were neatly built piles of newly-sewn lumber awaiting transportation to the London Road. Scattered here and there over the clearing were rude sleighs used for hauling lumber and logs in winter, and heavy ungainly wag- gons for the same duty in summer. In short, Millhollow was a typical backwoods settlement, of which there were, at that time, scores throughout Ontario. A ddapit‘zafi‘cd, 01d and ruinad sawmill in, or at least was, until a ahert time ago, stand» ing surroundad by a, few uncian log dwell~ A brooding melancholy had taken posses» sion of the denerted place and claimed it for its own. This decaying collection of ruined mill and old log huts was called Millhoilow, and was once a promising and thriving little settlement. its origin was almost precisely like half the villages smd towns in this country ; its location was good, and indeed themwna no reason, in the ordinary course of circumstances, why M illâ€" hollow should not become as proteutioua an have some of its contemporaries. But “the little aetilement was not destined for any such future ; its history wan; to be Bhort and colamitous, ending in desolation and deâ€" cay. figs more lit}l.§pldthtfi'd, if poeuil)le,and time Worn and. Menuâ€"worn than itrself, en a smell tributary if the Grand River in Ontario. These old buildings had not been used for many years; and when I last saw them they had reached an advanced stage of sorry decrepituder The clap boards, which had once covered their log sides, had long ago dropped away; the roof had in many in, stances fallen in; and the windows, innoA cent of glass, were almost hidden by a rank profusion of weeds growing undisturbed in the garden plot surrounding the forlorn houses. The yard was over grown with thistlea; the mill. itself had dwindled to a. mere skeleton ; and what was now left of iiiâ€"merely the black beams and rafters-â€" stood out gaunt and repulsive from amongst the decaying ruins around. The old, steel, upright; new remained still fixed in its rotten wooden frame, but it was nearly eaten away by rnsfi, and like the mill, was but the ghost of its former self. n. 1 The present writer was naturally intur- ested in these old ruins, particularly as he, almost from early bdyhood,had heard vague hints from several okl wise-acres whocalled themselves the first Battlers, of‘a certain un- canny event in connection WIth their histo- ry. A brief holiday was taken advantage of to hunt up the records, the results of which, gleaned with care from many dl- verse sources, he thinks curious enough to present to the public. a In short, the whole localizy fossessed an exceedingly depxeasiug and ‘ repulsive aa- pact, which was conaiderably intensified by the near proximxty of a lonely, dark, ever- green swamp of cedar and tmnarac, from whose depths issued the inky waters of‘a sullen btmam, which flowed mrose the clear ing with a calm, imperturbalalc course,un1;il, coming in contact with the mill machinery, they were teased into a dull angry roan AN UNEXPLAINED MYSTERY. A TALE OF CANADIAN BAGKWKIODS LIFE. The authorltleé at the county town heath-- red themselves, and sent ofiicers here and there, but all to no purpose; The murder- er defied all pursuit. Neither could anything he learned of Mrs. Sampsonâ€"she had disappeared as eflectually as if the earth had opened and swallowed her up. The settlers bethought themselves of the recent visit of the mysterlous stranger, and a. ser- ious effort was made to trace him up, but it led to nothing: He had been stabbed in the neck from be- hind and his body flung down the stairs un- der the floor of the mill amongst the black timbers and heaps of moist sawdust, where it had evidentlv lain all night. When this discovery was made, the workmen selected one of their number to break the sad tidings to the widow who was supposed to be at home. The messenger, a. few moments lat- er, returned hurriedly with the intelligence that the house was deserted,and Mrs. Samp- son nowhere to be found. Although an immediate hue and cry was raised, the murderer was not discovered, which was not remarkable, as he had sever- al houra’ start, and the swamp was dense, and many miles in ex tent, autficientlyflarge, in fact, to hide a1} army of murderers. Suspicion painted to a guilty complicity of the wife and the stranger, but suspicion The forcmm observed nothing unusual until he reached the ataivs which led to the bottom of the mill, and on these he was her- rified to see several pools of blood, At the same time he observed the outline of a hu- man form lying in lthe sawdust at the foot of the stairs. Rushing out at once and call- ing help, Mr, Brooke went back to fu ther investigate, which resulted in finding Mr. Surgpaon lying in a pool of blood cold and skiff; thing ‘Ithut no chiidren were burn bum their union; Mia Sampson had never begin satinfied to live in the backwoods In pvint of fact she hmth the life with abiding hatred. But her hexabzmri, city-born as he had berm, was resolved t0 persevere in hi3 determina- tion to remain buried in the Wildernew, and the wife waa forced to submit, so far, to her huaband’s will. The sfmnger turned away" with a dex‘inive laugh,and as he strode 03 Mrs. Peters hmrd hinimty; 4 The owner of Millhollow was done to death, and his Wife was nowhere to ba found. This shocking event was discovered the followie. g morning aftsr ita occurrence by Mr. BrooLe, the foreman of the mill. he usually reached the mill in the morning a few minutes before anybody else to prepare for the daily routine, and this particular morning was no exception to the rule W'ith the light of after events before us, who knows but Mr. Simpson was prompted in this by a wise instinct of self-preservation which failed only by reason that he had not gone deep enough. But of this anon. In the rhenntime it will be sufficient to note that the settlers became aware that Mr. Sampson had conceived an intense antipathy to city life, and that his wife Matilda loved it, though why this feeling bad sfisen in his case he never divulged. It was seen that they wore a strangely assorted couple,some- thing out of the common indeed, m the ill- assortment, and curious eyes were in conse- quence of tenet upon them than would. other- wise have been the case. It was remarked that Mr. and Mrs. Sampson never alluded to their earlier life by any chance. Thus it began to be suspected that this part of their lives was under a cloud and tabooed by com- mon consent. The neighbors were per- plexed at this reticence, and never neg. lected‘ the slightest opportunity to obtain a clue to the fanciel hidden mystery, if mys- tery there was, But Mr. Sampson’s secret. did not immediately unroll itself, and guesses and surmises proved a waste of valuable time. “ My God ! Bedlam, you here? Man, or rather devil ! take heed 1hat you do not; cross my path once too often. I have suffered much from you, and there’s a limit to human endurance. Why did you seek m: out? What do you expec; to do? But I need not; ask youâ€"J need not ask you. Begune ! and. ailow me and mine to live our lives in peace.” “Humbug; You’ve had your innillfingamp 5011. I’ve sworn to have mine if I have so iolEow you to the pit ’ 1 he Stranger was nctsuen agedn in Mmhob low, but it was noticed by Mrs. Pat-am that Mr. Sampson was a. changed man thereafter. He gr: w moody and careworn ; eating little or nothing, and moved around like a. man just. recovering from a severe illnesg‘ A few weeks after the stranger's final dis- appearance occurred the tragdy which fibril- led the whole county with terror and dis- may. At lost, however, an event occurred which excited the settlers considerably, and gave rise to a. good deal of whispering at the expense of Mr. Sampson. A stranger came to the settlement and hung about the place for weeks, appearing at irregular intervals, coming, from nobody knew where, and de- parting just as mysteriously, but always keeping out of Mr. Sampson’s sight. Mrs; Peters. the gossip of the place, de- clared, but few paid any attention to the story at the time,that she saw this stranger, who was as ill-favored as to looks as could well be, being endowed with a forbidding hooked nose, ungainly figure, wide mouth, strong jaws, small, hard grey eyes, 8. livid disagreeable looking scar un one cheek, in earnest conversation with Mm. Sampson for over two hours behind the mill. lier curi~ osity prompting her to watch the pair closeâ€" ly, she stole out of her house making a cir- cuit of the mill to the opposite side, her in- tention being to get behind a. clump of bushes a. short distance from Where the pair were standing, and over hear What was being said‘ But when the reached her vantage point she found to her chagrin that Mrs. Sampson was gone, but the stranger was still there with a mocking smile on his lips and his face directed toward the dwelling of the Samp- sons. Mrs. Petershad not been at her post twenty eecends when the heard footsteps approaching from the direction of the mill. The stranger, evidently hearing them too, looked surprised and apprehensive, glanced this way and that, and finding that he could not get out of sight drew himself to- gether and immediately was confronted by Mr. Sampson. The latter had been wholly unaware of the stranger's presence, forHMrs. Peters saw him suddenly come to a full stop and heard him ejaculate in consternatiou and anger : ‘xrsxrmnmmyzwmmmwmmmtm "m Being what he was it was not strange that Peters could not be induced to enter the mill after the occurrence of the murder. He would cheerfully undertake any kind of work outside as long as he was not required in the mill. Dick Hart, however, was made of different material. It mattered little to him whether he was inside or outside the mill, and he was popularly believed to fear neither man nor the Evil Spirit. He even enjoyed hearing other people relating storâ€" ies of the supernatural, and so now, after Peters had solemnly warned the company what they might expect, he leaned back in his cosy seat, puffed little clouds of tobacco smoke above his head for a minute, and then winking at the rest of the company, he From which the intelligent reader will in- fer that old Sol Peters did not belong to the modern materialistic school, baton the conâ€" trary, he had filled his mind full of old wives’ fables and superstitious untll half the children in the settlement avoided him as they would the devil. “ Yes, we put his body, poor man, into the ground ; but do you suppose, as long as his murderer stays unhung, that his spirit can rest quiet? No. He’ll come one ofthese days and ask us if we’re not ashamed of our selves to be resting and sleeping and enjoy lug ourselves, leaving the villain who struck him, to live on his Ill-gotten gains in safety. Perhaps you will not believe me, but I know of more than one poor mortal coming back from the other world because of some uneasiness regarding personal affairs in this.” “ My goodness, Mr. Peters, what do you mean ? You surely don’t think the poor man is wandering around such a night as this ‘2 But, fudge I didn’t we bury him '2 Old Sol Peters, once more removing the ever-present pipe from his mouth, startled the Whole company by asserting that he would not be at all surprised if Mn Samp- son should walk in upon them at any mo- ment. Mrs. Brooke, looking horrified, threw down her knitting and stared at the imperâ€" turbg§le Peters, they ej_aculated:> This opinion evidt‘ntiy coincided with the ideas entertained by the other settlers, as no one called it; into question, and all grew so]- emn over the enormity of the crime thus presented, and shook their heads and gave each other significant looks. The tr:ge:1y centinued, a“ a matter of course, the all uhmrbing topic in the settle- ment! The mill-hands rarely ente; ed the mill without shuddering, and not one of them, even dare-devil Dick Hart nut except» ed, ever cared to venture to the gloomy reâ€" cesses under the upper floor where the mur- dered man was found amongst the slimy debris. The spot was too suggestive. The dim uncerhln rays of light which struggled feebly through the inaterstices of the legs and clap-boards, were just dim enough to shed an uncanny glamour around ; and the never-ceasing gurgling of Water from the mill-race intensified the feeling of dread which every one fell; the moment the cheer- ful day light above was left behind the trap door of the upper floor. “Why its as plain as a pikestafl,” an- swered Hart. “ Matilda ngpson and Hookvnoae are lovers. They probably un- derstood one another pretty thoroughly in the ‘old country.’ Mr. Sampson, to avoid trouble and Hook-nose together, comes to Canada. and hides himself in the back- woods. For.some yam-e: thereis peace. But finally Hook-nose hunts up his old flame,who by this time is tired of mosquitoes and her husband’s company, and is quite ready to go anywhere or do anything to escape them. The precious pair plot to put Shmpaon out of the way, and take what money he had swath for their own was. The plan succeeds, and "they are gone. That’s my unravelling of the mystery." 11 On Christmas evening, several months after the occurrence of the tragedy, Mr. Brooke, the foreman, his Wile and family, and several of the mill hands including the redoubtable Dick Hart, were gathered after supper around the immense open fire place, in which great logs of wood roared and. flamed and sent out volumes of genial warmth and light; throughout the capaeious apartment, which served the double capac- ity of living and sitting room in Mr. Brooke’a abode. “ I am sometimes half inclined to think as you do” Mr Brooke said quietly, “yet we may be doing an innecent person a. great wrong by our suspicions." was: notI naceaaarily fact, and the pm”, if they were guilty, h d covered their tracks no thl that it availed nothing. 'l‘in-‘ya‘ meanwhile, sped (dung afi usual, andthe ‘ gruduadiy returned t) their rm- of the v Ji- zarge as before flu! Lion . Mr, Broom, as: fore mcu Of the mil}, aaaumeé the, murclez“, and ths mill W s Etfll‘bhd once nmx'e and. would run until 3 was known What hJ-d b. come of Mrs‘ Sampnon, It had been snowing heavily all day, and new as the night had settled down the storm wee greatly increased. The Wind howled outside over the dark and gruesome forest, and came in heavy and well sustained gusts against the staunch log house, rattling the windows as if it would shake them out of their frames, and rearing sullenly down the cavernous chimney. Every one felt thank- ful of a. roof on such a night, and no honest man cared to be abroad“ The conversetlen at Mr. Brooke’s turned, after a time,as was natural, upon the late tragedy, which, al though it already had been discussed from almost every point of View, WM still a sub- ject of absorbing interest to every resident of Millhollow. “ No,”lsaid chk Hart as if he had been personally appealed to. “ No; yo'ucan de- pend upon it whereever that hook-nosed stranger has gone Matilda Sampson will not be far away. I believe the murder was a put up job between them, and they have gone away together, and the authorities are a pm‘cnl of jackassea or they would have been caught before this.” “ I don’t think he got much monsy,” said Dick Hart, “for I’ve heard Mrs. Sampson say that the old man always hid his money somewhere and never carried much around with him.” N 7“ Dbflyt-Ju think Mrs. Sampaon shared her husband's fate? ” queried Mr Brooke of no- bodgjnparficgllaf. -7 . u. . “ “I think it very strange,” Mr. Brooke began, “thus the authorities hava yet; made no headway in tracing that stronger who was here shortly before the murder.” “ Bless your: life, Where am they to look Y" answered old. Sol Peters, removing hi5 pips from his mouth with a. jerk. “Who knows but that fellow may hen thousand miles off by this time. I believe he got: ‘tiu‘ enough from Sampson to carry him to China." “You tell a. pretty strong ghost story, and that’s a. fact,” said Dick Hart, as the old mam concluded, “butit’s not so very late yefi.“ Couldnlt you tell us anofiher 2” N ' “No, no, Hafi-t ; one must do you,” said Mr. Brooke; “don’t you see Peters is not eqan _to {my moye '3” Sudden silence fell upon all, and no one seemed in& hurry to breakit. This inter- lude Within, served but to give emphasis to the turmoil of the elements outside of the house, which seemed to grow more violent as the evening wore away. Every fresh gust; seemed stronger end more resistless than its predecessor. And, in truth, Mr. Brooke was right Peters was looking as if very little more would upsst him altogether. He was trem- bling nervously, and pale as death, as if the occurrence: he had been relating had only j ust been experienced. His story, told as it had been with simple candor, and, ovidently, with entire belief in its truth, was having its effect upon the party. A seal plush bonnet has the brim border ed with natural beaver. “Not apertlcle,” Peters declared indig- nantly,â€"“But the fact of Adam,he.vlng been in the house does not depend altogether upon me. He showed himself to my mother, and pointed out the wound in his forehead as he had to me, and then faded away just as mysteriously. My mother never recover- ed from the shock she received that night, and just before she died a letter was received from one of the surgeens of the H ector, giving us the sad particulars of Adam’s death. He died, the letter said, from a cutlese stroke, in the head received while trying to board a. French man-ofâ€"war, and the date of his death was the day he appeared at his home covered with blood, and wet with sea-water of the West India seas,” “ \Vell, an I was saying, when I was quite ayoung man, my brother Adam, who WMS older than I was; went to sea. He was a midéy on H. M. S Balm”. Five years later his vessel was ordered to the West Indies 311:1 took part in several engagements with the French. \Ve heard this from several seamen who had been sent homa with wounds which prevented them from serving His Majesty any further. - “ I could not bear to look at it, and buried my face with a shudder, among the bed clothes. When I recovered sufficient courage to again confront my ghastly bed fellow, I found that the figure had arisen from the bed and was standing close by, with folded arms, gazing down at me. As soon as my eyes met his he turned away and was moving without a sound to- ward the span window when something gave me courage to call his name. At the sound of my voice the figure stopped, gave me a long,lingering look with his great mournful eyes, then slowly pointed with big right hand to the gaping wound in his forehead. After standing for a m amont thus, its: figure gradually got more and more indistinct and finally altogether faded away without my being able to see whether it had left the room by the window or the door, or had sunk through the floor. Then I got up and searched the room but nothing was there‘ If any of you, I think, had seen What I saw that night you would never doubt but that the dead can, and sometimes do, come back from the other world.” “That’s a very singular story," admitted Hart, puffing away more rapidly at his pipe, “but did’nt you find some blood about next morning? ” “ I really have sham Bimfi‘T‘ikl viaifimm from the othe: nvozld. Cl ht; {' at téme was: mmzy, "may yeam raga) thm'gh E mnmnflJer the even‘a well entangle; aux-:2 ix is “'1': 0m: 1? film‘? tell you about l “we: a young mun what1 in occurred and it mAumlly made n. deep im- pressian upon Hugâ€"«1m imprahsion which has! a good deal to do with making me What you see me to- flax/,9. davuutly reltgious man,’ living in the blasted hope of one day com- ing face to face with dear friends long pass- ed away from this troubled bustling life of (mm 1 feel sure I shall see and know them and that they will see and know me. With that I am content ; what more indeed could one desire. “it was Adam,but,lndeed, greatly Chang» ed from the Adam who had left us long ago. His faee was pale and leaden-lzoking, and swollen in a frightful manner ; his halt seemed to be wet and all matted together; and there was a great cut on the temple from which blood was still oozing. II: was an awful, awful sight that I saw there in the pale moon light. “ But none could tell us anything of Adam, and as we received no letters or other intelligence, we did not know for several months whether he was alive or dead, and we naturally grew very uneasy about him. My mother, then wellup in years, worried a great deal over the long silence, and. one day she said that Adam, alive or dead, ought to know of some way of relieving the anxiety we felt for him. The night after she said this, I felt very miserable“ thinking aboufi mv brother, and tossed about for hours without being able» to go to sleep. Peters, after hemming éud 11:4“ ing for a. firth», zina.‘ :23: c '17:vach in ' ‘ wave tuna an fnllows : Finally, I think it must have been to- wards morning, I sank into asort of un- easy slumber from which I was suddenly awakenerl by some one saying close to my ear, ‘Brother Solomon, Solomon ’ I looked around the room ; asit was still durkIcould see no one, and believing that I was the victim of some troublecl dream, I soon clos- ed my eyes, and was about: to sink once more into slumber, when I heard the same words as before, spoken very distinctly close to my ear. Inamnbly every faculty 1 pc‘asesaed was fully awake. The room sud- denly becama light from a full moon which had burst through the acurrylng clouds for P. brief moment, and I became painfully consjaus that there was somebody in the room beside myself, and that somebody was actually lying on the bed by my side with am arm flung across my body. entr:z..t©d Peters to tell them the p'thicu‘um of some much occurrence as he han m Lian- I was very much frightened and was about to cry out for assistance, when I chanced to notice that the figure was cloth- ed in seamun’s toggery. Then I bethought myself of the. words, ‘ Brother Solomon, Solomon,’ and the idea. occurred to me that the figure was possibly my brother Adam come home from sea. I put out my hand and touched the figure on the shoulder, be- fore I knew scarcely what I was doing, and said ‘ Is that you Adam '!' Without answer- Ing the figure turned itself towards me and raised its hand, and I instantly saw that it was really my brother. (TO BE CONTINUED.) WV“7Wull, I jest did.r aaady, an’ I creeped er long er half mild’ in de shade ob de fence comin’ home, cos do sun am po’ful hot tar day: . . N . w .- .uv n “Now see heah, you Junius Brutus, you jes walk turkey ober to dis side ob de struc- tur. an’ esplain ter yo’a po’ but bones parunt how’s yo km by dat er squash,” said 91d Gabe Snowdown to his youngest picuninny, who had just staggered into the cabin under the weight of a huge cow pumpkin ; “did yer conflaberate dat fraum dam po’ white trash down de road, yo,_son of Iieliaa '1" "Nailiuh! Go Iaung, yer good fer-nothln’ niggah. Ijes erguated with yer. Haln’t yer ole daddy tole yer ofi'en enufl' dat no honea’ niggah evah totes hum fixins at dis time er day '3" Hogs: differ as much as other animals in thelr ability to take on fat. Thirty young hogs of improved breeds will gain much faster on the same amount of food than old and unthrifty animals that belong to no re- cognlzsd breed, It is claimed that the sugar beat in Cali~ fornia does not exhaust the soil, A beet raiser reports raising on his ground from fourteen to twenty-nine tons per acre in iour years, planting on the name ground each year without fer];in rs. The Wt..<t(/‘il. Rural has some positive ideas on the treatment of animal dimases. Most of these diseases can be cured in the feeding-box before they break out, A great deal of the Work that veterinarians are called upon to perform is rusiiy needless. A diseased condition of animal life is pro- duced by some violation of nature's laws. The great study of the people should be not how to cure diseases so much as hhw to pre- vent them. In the olden times cattle and horses seemed to require much less doctor» ing than at present. The single cow of to- day that is treated almost like one of the family is hardly ever sick. Animal health is easy to maintain, if those who handle stock will use judgment and care. The farmer’s children are generally models of health, yet they get little doctor’s care beâ€" side What their mother gives them. Her remedies are simple, yet they succeed be- cause they are given in time, and because constant attention is given to the children’s condition. If farmers would doctor their animals on this same principle there would be much less disease. There are too many herds of cattle in this country that are pampered into disease. They get too much care. Their owners mean to give them the best possible treatment, but the matters of feeding and shelter are badly overdone. These with the victims of exposure and rough treatment, and those weakened by in- breeding, make up a grand army of invalids that yearly increases. Buck Fanshaw. stop- ped a riot before it had a chance to break out. His example is worthy of imitation in the stock business. It is well to cure diseases before they break out, and this can only be done by careful treatment. Oftentimes woman will dissuade her son from marrying, but it is suspected that she in Influenced by remembering how big a fool the boy’s father made of himself when he married. Many prominpnt sheep 1'9. sera in Tennes- ueu have resolved t0 abandon the business, owing to 13m want 05 a dog law, asserting that 300,000 s‘uep cannlt be maintained agazmt 500000 dogs. The famous Lorillard farm in New J eraey contains 1000 acres. The barn has stalls for 56 horses; 40 hands and 15 teams are em- ployed in the farm work. In one building are 200 stall for catlla.‘ The pigpeu is 408 feet; long and holds 300 hogs. The corn crib holds 10,000 bushels of shel’ed corn. The stable in which the yearlings are housed contains 68 box shells, and the centre of the three aections of the building is covered with glass, and affords a dry place where the 0015:: can exercise in wet weather. AGRICULTURAL ITEMS. A large pmportion of aha most successful bLe-koapgrs in the United Smtea are min- stm. Saveml rectors of tho E tabllnhed church in England give instruction in bee- eaping to their parnshianers. Theodore Roosofelt does not; believe in the big thousand acre farms of the VVe:§l:, and amys that in almost every case ‘S‘xmse farms have really bankrupted mom. of the rich men 9. he tried to run them, but; who have: had to hawk down before the enterprise anti indus- try of the small farmers. Prof. Cook. in his paper on. Eocnomic En- tomology, says the ream 1) why imported in- sect pests are for a time more destructive that native species is in the fact that they have fewer parasiten or predaceous enemies to contend with. In. the course of a, few years theso (nemies increase in finch num- beza as to hold them in check. He said that new insect posts are learning to feed upon plants heretofore not dieturbed by them, so that the entomologist has constant work be- fore him» The experiment of milking cows three thus! a day was tried m: the Iowa algzlcul- tural college, and the :x'vemgrc daily gain of the herd was four pounds, orhull enough to pay for the extra. trouble and expense. The Increase in milk is noi; connid‘ " sufficient to pay for the labor and u e ; even when cows ielding over twenty g: 13:3 daily are used. he only hdvmxtage if: that the cows will have to be kept in the barnyard and soiled, thereby effecting a greater saving of manure. ALondon paperzclaima that “there is no better way of securing a. heavy 0"op of peaches and nectarinen than by putting a colony of bees in the house when the tmea are in blossom.” The English grow peaches in hot houses, but a hive may alas be useful in the orchard: here. One of the moat wasteful practices, says the Sfoc/mum, is tho too common one of feeling on the ground. Go where you will and you will find farmers feeding their sheep on the ground in the worst weather that ever stormad. Not only out of consider- ation for the dumb animals, but as a matter of economy, troughs should be conntrucfied in which to place the feed. A correspondent kills Canada. thistlen by pouring a small quantity of benzine around the roots. He claims that one application will do the businesa thumughiy. This isn’t exactly the time of year to try it, but it may be well to make a note of it for future reference. A Lesson in Morality. CATTLE HEALTH. FAQRM.