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With the coming of cold weather, the cellar becomes an interesting and attractive place. The shelves filled with canned fruit and_other delicacies, boxes and barrels of potatoes and other vegetables, a collection of un- ripe tomatoes, bins and trays of apples, all look mlg‘hty good when storms beglnrag'ing. So thought Mr. Rat, for he prompt- ly discovered a secret passage to this storehouse of mine. He evidently thought he was established for the winter, as he went about feeding sys- tematically. Beginning on a large Irish Gobbler, he ate a part of it each night. On a shelf I had arranged, for my own use, some choice apples of several varieties. Taking a. fancy to an especial-1w fine specimen of a King of Tompkins’ County, he ate a portion of that also each night. Not succeed- ing in shutting him out by closing what was supposed to be his entrance, I secured a trap. Tying onto the pan a bit of bacon, I waited for the mom- in-g. The bait was gone, but the trap had not beeh sprung. After a number of daysâ€"during which I saw Mr. Rat several timesâ€"by carefully oiling the parts of the trap, I succeeded in mak- ing it so sensitive that one morning I ?ound my quarry dead, caught by the end of the nose. There have been no signs of rats about siince‘t _ Mice have been quite plentiful about the houseâ€"driven in by the cold from the garden and grass, where they have been feasting on corn and other delicacies. Taking a barrel ‘of waste papers from the woodshed to burn in the garden, I found in it, and killed, a dozen ha-bfâ€"grown mice. For several days I have been byapping in the Woodshed and in an upstairs store- room. The battle is almost over, and I am looking forward to a peacefuI winter. Does it pay to pick stone? Some- times it does and sometimes it doesn’t. If the stones are not too large or too deeply imbedded, clearing up a piece pf stony land may be one of the least expensive ways of adding to one's productive acres. But if the stones _are large and lie deep in the soil, clearing may prove more costly than buying additional acres. ' The equipment you need in going after a field of relatively small stones lying near the surface consists of a crowbar, a pick, a round-pointed, long- hand-led shovel, chains, horses, 3 stone- carrier, 3 stone-boat, a wagon, and a lot of good, wiry human muscle. A little explosive, with caps and fuses, should be used for the large and deeply-grounded specimens. Usually the employment of dyn-a- mlbe means putting a charge of about 40 per cent. dynamite under the stone to blow it out of the ground and then mud-capping with 5-0 or 60 per cenrt. dynamite to break it up. Better to sults are obtained with a smaller amâ€" ount of explosive if the mudhcapping and cracking are done after the stone is out of the gnound. Work of this kind has to be done with care to avoid flying fragments of rock. While it is easier to break up a stone after A good autumn slogan for the vil- lager and the farmer is, “Death to rats and mice.” Keeping this iri mind, and acting on it vigorously, much good food will be saved for poultry, pigs, and people; and many buildings, and much other valuable property, will be saved from serious injury. The first thing to do is to loosen the stones. Most of this work can be done with crowbar, pick, and shovel. The tougher cases can be hauled out with chains and horses, after the ground around them has been dug away. Here and there, however, is likely to be found a big felbow which even horses can not budge. When this kind of a s imen is encountered, the only t mg 170 do is to use dynamite or some similar explosive. Average yields of corn and sun- flowers for four years at the Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa, on sandy boam, have led to the Dominion Field Husb’andman expressing the opinion in his report for 1924 that there is no object in changing from oorn to sunflowers on land where the former yields satisfactorily. Corn is, moreover, he adds, an easier crop to handle than sunflowers and produces a slightly better ‘quality of silage. 0n sandy, loam the average yield in the quartette of years of corn silage was 30.41 toziu and of sunflowers 21.68 Three or four men make a better crew for shone-picking than two, if there be need of pushing the work rapidly. In any case the larger crew makes the work easier. Two men can loosen the stones and drag out the larger boulders with horses and chain-s while one hauls, and another can fill up the holes when not needed to help load. ' - In this equipment the only impleâ€" ment that needs explanation is this stonsmzrrier. This can be made of two pieces of oneâ€"inch gas-pipe about three and one-half feet long, with a heavy network of strong wire, about 18 inches wide, betWeen. If you have no gas-pipe, twv.) stout wooden sticks Rats and Mice. Corn' and Sunflowers on Different Soils. DOES IT PAY T0 PiCK STONE? BY W. P. KIRKWOOD I .Wood ashes may be used to advan- itage as a fertilizer for most crops, on light and gravel-ly soils, orron vegeâ€" table loams inclined to be sour. Thy lane especially valuable for clover, lcorn and mangels or for orchards and lfor grapes on sandy loams. In a new lpamp-hllet prepared by Dr. Frank T. EShutt, Dominion Chemist, farmers are advised to conserve this home source of potash more carefully, not merely :collecting the ashes from house stovesI ‘but burning the brush piles gathered in clearing land and pruning orchards, and saving the resulting ashes. Stor- ,age in a shed or receptacle protected [from the weather is essential. There I'is no more valuable potassic fertilizer . than ashes, as their content of potash , lie in a soluble form and immediately? 'available for crop use, and besides lthey neutralize acidity in soils. The. Eashes from soft .Woods are lighte?‘ than those from hard woods, but Dr. 'Shutt states that weight for weight they are not much, if any, ,pocrr-er. According to the pamphlet, which may 'be obtained free from the Publications Branch, Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa, '25 to 50 bushels of wood ashes per? pacre will furnish ample dressing for. lever: very light sails. 0n heavy soils ashes are not needed ,as on such they may destroy good tilth. They should ébe broadcasted on plowed land in the lspring, preferably on a quiet, damp lday, and thoroughly harrowed in. it has been. bIOWn out of its soil bed. it \is sometimes advisable to do the mud-capping and breaking beforehand â€"after the earth around the rock has Been dug away. ' There is Xess danger In this, and the pieces do not scatVer so far and are more easily picked- up for loading on the wagon. In counting the cost of these clear- ing operations every item of expense was incl‘udedâ€"man-labor, horselabor, explosives, caps and fuses. Mud-capping means the placing of a charge of the explosive on the sur- face of the rock in a compact heap, covering it with from eight to twelve inches of stiff mud, and then explod- ing it. For this kind of Work 60 or 60 per cent. dynamite is best. If the breaking is '00 be done before a boul- der is Lifted out of the ground, by a charge of lower percentage dynamite, say 40 per cent, the soib must be dug away from the stone a-l-l around and down to the bottom, to give room for expansion. A stone-carrier was used effectively in the clearing work done in this ex- perimental work. The work was fur- ther lightened by the use .of a plank in unloading stones from the Wagon to the rock pile. With this it was pos- sible to rel-1 large boulders from the wagon to the top of the rock pile and thus build a higher and more compact pile than could have been made other- Wise. tons per acre, but the latter having a larger percentage of moisture con- tained a lower percentage of dry matter. On heavy clay the average yield in green weight of sunflowers, during the four years of the experiments, was 19.44 tons and of com only 9.53 tons per acre. In actual dry matter sunflowers have yielded 3.51 tons while corn yielded only 1.85 tons per acre. It is cllear, the Husbandman points out, that on such heavy land sunflowers are a much more profitable crop. Another interesting fact is that on the clay land Where the rows of sunflowers were not thinned the yield was 19.44 tons per arre, while where thinned to six inches apart the yield was 14.35 tons per acre. In the report, which can be had free on tpplication to the Publications Branch, Ottawa, graphs are given-in- dicating at a. glance the yields of water, Cry matter and green wenrht in tons of both sunflowers and cam on heavy clay and Lrtik sandy loam as well as a great deal of other valuable information. The fat-content of mika varies from month to month. It is highest in November, December and January, and lowest in Aygust. From then til-1 November there is a gradual increase in quality and quantity. The Fertilizing Value of Wood Ashes. During the winter months, when it 13 sometimes difficult to get suitab‘e green feed for poultry. certain substi- ltutes may be used. In order to test ithe relative values of clover leaves, lsweet clover meal, alfalfa meal and tomato pulp for this purpose an ex- periment was conducted ln 1923-24 by rthe Dominion Poultry Husbandman, at the Ottawa Experimental Farm. IOne pen was given clover leaves fed [in the l‘dtter once a day, another was given clover meal mixed in the wet 'mash fed at noon, 9. third pen receiv- led alfalfa meal in the same way, and -to the fourth pen tomato pulp mixed lln the wet mash was fed, All the hens were fed‘ a standard scratch grain and standard mash, beef scrap was kept continually before them and they had both milk apd water' to drink. The clover meal gave by far the best results for production, cost of producing eggs and profits. Tomato pulp came second, alfalfa meal third and clover leaves Last. The hatchabll- lty of the eggs from the birds fed tomato pulp was, however, exception: ally poor. With even the most diligent care, the storage house will sometimes be- come infested with rats or mice. Apparenthy once they get started on an apple or pear d-iet they become Confirmed enthusiasts, and any other This is the story of two air balloons, one red, and the other yellow. They were given to Dick and Edie at a chil- dren’s party that they went to one summer afternoon. There was all sorts of fun at the partyâ€"Punch and Judy, races, and donkey ridesâ€"~but auuy, luyva, auu \‘v ..... more than all these they loved the two big alr’ balloons that were given to them by their little hostess as they were leaving. Dick and Edie played with their balloons tilll bedtime, and before they went in from the garden they tied them to the post of the verandah. It was such a lovely night they thought they would be quite safe. After the children had gone in a wind began to rise which blew the two balloons backward and forward. Then a gust of wind came, and the two balloons were born loose and began to mount up and up, higher and high- er, till they looked like little specks. It was getting dark, and lights were beginning to twinkle from the houses. Floating past a window, the two bal- loons saw a little l‘oy getting ready for bed. He had with him a large wooden horse with a broken head and no tail, and he was taking it into his little bed to cuddle for company. “What a grand night for a fly!" said the yellow one. “On-e >could fly up to the moon in no time." “But the children would be so sorry to find us gone in the morning,” said the red one, who was very kind- the red hearted. aNével' mind the children," a‘nswer- ed the yellow one. “I want to see the world.” VVJ «v V “He 1(107‘ksrlike a deal:- little boy," said the red balloon softly, “and I think the horse is his oldest and dearâ€" est toy." On they floated, and passed the winâ€" dows of a large girls’ school. The dormitory windows were all lit up, and they could see the little girls in their white nightdresses, and pigtails down their backs, jumping over the beds, and. chasing one another round the room. The door opened and a lady came in; all the little girls pop- ped quickly into bed” and covered themselves up. There was just one tiny girl who had not time to pop into bed, and she began to cry. “Silly little thin-g,” said the yellow balloon; “there is nothing to cry for!” “She is so tiny,” said the red one; “and look, the lady has taken her on her lap. and is kissing her, so she will be comforted. I am so glad.” ‘Now they left the houses and were out in the open country. They sailed over fields and treetops, and once right "WK/11;; QSmy little boy,” said the yellow ba‘rloon, “to take such a hard toy as that tgubed." Substitutes for Green Feed in Poultry Feeding. Regina, Susk. Dr. C. E. Saunders, dis J. C. Mitchell, thrice winner of the w‘ sloner; F. H. Auld, deputy agricuhtural Rats and Fruit. of two air balloons, THE TWO BALLOONS In homes where there is a pipeiess .heater or any kind of heater which =requiree a register in the floor, articles of value are sometimes dropâ€" §ped through the grating. Mrs. Brown, ’who had such a register, had her hus- band fasten a piece of wire netting iover the register. This can be “sew- |ed” on by running fine wire through 1 it and- the grating and pulling it down ‘snugiy, or, if the exposed wire is un- Vsightly or there is danger of marring the floor, the top of the register may be removed and the netting fitted to f the underside. food must be tempting to induce them to touch it. The most hopeful plan of attack is to start a many-sided campa1g'n, putâ€" ting out simultaneoufily two or three sorts of traps and several kinds of poisons, each kind conveyed on two or three different baits. This is far more effective than putting out one poison one night and another the next, and a trap the third, for the enemy seems to soon learn that we are after him and is more wary than ever. The foreman looked him up and down. “Are you a. mechanic?" he asked. across a wide river. It was beautiful, for they rose so high the red one thought that at last they must surely reach the stars. Once the yellow one got caught on the bough of a tree, by the string which still floated behind him, and he was held there for quite “No, sort," was: the answer. “Ol'm Mcan'thy." Weak and delicate stock are t first victims of contagious diseases. a long time. “You must wait ‘for me,” he criecl to the red one. “You can’t go Without me. You wouid never find your way to the moon without me to show you the way.” on a gilded weathercock that was on the church steeple, making it look like Another gust of wind set him free and they flew on together. It grew lighter; the houses and gardens be- came visible. The rising sun shone gold “Look!” cried the yellow one, “I shall fly and visit that beautiful’ golâ€" den bird. I am» sure he will be pleased to see men? because We are the same color, and it shows We are of royal blood.” “I shall not come," said the red one. “I can see a dear little girl sit- ting in a garden below. I shall go and visit her. I like children better than golden birds, so good-bye!" And he started for the earth. He found it easy to go down because the gas was slowly escaping from him, through the opening where he had been tied. yellbow balloon got as close as he could to the weathercock, and was just about to shout “Good morning" in a very angry voice, for he thought the golden bird yery'proud and‘ rude, when it veered quickly round and the end of its very sharp and pointed tail pierced the side of the balloon. There was a loud report,.like a pistol shot, the poor balloon got smaller and smaller till he 'was only a piece of shrivel'ed tissue, and then dropped rapidly to earth. “Goodâ€"bye!" cried the yellow one, “You are very foolish and will never rise in life.” But the red one did not hearâ€"he was already out of sight. Now the proud yellow balloon float- ed on till he was close to the church steeple and the golden bird. “Good morning!” cried he to the weathercock, but; there was no answer. It only veered‘ first one way and then another with every gust of wind. The red balloon had fall-en slowly and gently till he was just over the garden where the little girl sat. She saw it coming, and held her hands out to reach it: Then she took it indoors to show her father. He tightened up the string on it, and so stopped any more gas escaping, and all the sum- mer it was the little girl’s companion, and helped to make her happyâ€"and so the red balloon was happy too. “Good morning!” again cried the bal‘loon, but no answer. Then the Guard the Register. Irlsh. I wish that every reader of this page might read this story. It made me do some hard thinking about real thin-gs. The mother of a bright college girl recently went to see her daughter and spend a few days on the campus. The girl took especial delight in taking her mother to see the sights and hear the sounds of college fife. Of course she wanted her mother to meet some of her newly-made college friends, so the two of them went calling on these friends in their rooms. In the room of one of her daughter’s friends the mother sat and baked about but said little. As they came away she said, "I hope you do not, under any conditions, make a confi- dant of Helen. She is bright and has attractions, I win admit but . . .” "Why, mother," exclaimed her wr- privséd daughter. “She is a peach of a girl! One of the most popular girls in the whole college.” “Well, I was thinking of the pic- tures she has in her room. Every- thing is suggestive of nudity and some of the prints she has are positively vufigar. I am wondering if her thoughts are not a good deal like her pictures?” “I never thought of that," admitted the daughter, who knew she had every reason to trust her mother’s judg- ment. They went to the room of another girk Here, as before, the mother keenly took in the generall tone of the room. 0n the wafl of this girl’s room hung a picture of Sir Galahad, and another of Watt’s “Hope.” There also were various high minded mottoes and baeutifuI'Iy lettered sentiments on the Wall‘s. As they left the Hall the mother said, “I like Ethel! I am glad you and she are such good friends! I am sure that your father and I would be glad if she could come and spend a vaca- tion week with you.” The daughter said nothing but long afterward she learned that her moth- er was right. These two girl friends Said the mother, “I noticed the pic- tures which she had in her room. I imagine Ethel's mind is very like her choice of pictures and sentiments.” “Well, Mother! And what gave you such a case on Ethel? She is not so wildly popular in College and is a perfect ‘grind’ ‘at her books." Doubie side draperies are here charmingly adapted to the matron, and give iines of flowing ti-imness. This type of frock is chic, distinctive and slenderizing, and will grace many THE GRACEFUL SIDE FLARE The Mind May Be Like the Pictures the Eyes Enjoy- THE PGWER 0F PICTURES BY JOHN W. HOLLAND had thoughts like the pictures they had chosen and at which they: Not long ago a certain school b0 began to slide down in his grades. Finally he was “flanked” and left the} school. A teacher who loved the lad,1 hunted him up and visited him in hls: room. One look around the room 1‘6â€"' vealed the reason of the scholastic' failure of the youth The wal'lls of the rcom were literally papered with pic-i Lures of vulgar suggestions. Without LOOKED a doubt the pictures. got between the ind and his school books so that his: brain oei'l's did not care to “bother with" grammar and mathematics ‘ WHY HE FAILED. Students of psychology tell us that we remember a greater amount of: what we see than of what we hear. The percentage is something like three times'ee much. If that is true then we are just about what we SEE. There is a record of a very 01d prayer that ran like this: “Turn away mine eyes from behobding vanity (what- ever may draw one away from that which is best)!’ morons THAT Urum‘. Ulysses said, “I am a part of all: that I have met." Too much care can’ not be taken by parents to see that what their children meet through the eye be of such character as will 9qu their minds to high- and noble things! We are animalé without trying but: we are moran beings only through conscious efi‘ort. Every eye that read this page will} see in memory some picture that hung on the wallls of the old homeâ€"perhaps; a picture of a beautiful landscape, 9.] scene portraying love and tru; afi‘ec- (ion, a country road winding past :31 home or a church. There it hangs before you, forever in your mind,' forever a part of your file. Happy are the young people whose parents have the insight to hang the walls of their early homes with noble‘ pictures. 7 Pictures were once the possession" of the rich few. Now the humblestj farm home can have prints of the masterpieces for a few pennies. Alice Cary said: an afternoon and evening function. It may be made sleeveless or with short’ sleeves and is fashioned of figured veivet, having two semi-circular side draperies of plain georgette, through? which the design of the material is plainly discerned. The draperies are placed one above the other, and are stitched to the frock across the top and down the sides about three or four inches from the edge, leaving the ends to fall in graceful cascades. The V neck and long unbroken line at centre front and back are particularly be- coming to the figure of large propor- tions. No. 1233 is in sizes 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 and 46 inches bust. Size 40 bust requires 3% yards of 36 or 40- inch material for the plain dress, or 5% yards for the dress with double side draperies. Price 20 cents. “Of all the many pictures that hang on memory’s wall, I The one of Home and Mother is the nob'Jest one of 3-1-1." The designs illustrated in our new Fashion Book are advance styles for; the home dressmaker, and the woman or girl who desires to wear garments dependable for taste, simplicity and economy will find her desires fulfilled in our patterns. PriCe of the book 10 cenrts the copy. HOW TO ORDER PATTERNS. Write your name and address plain- ly, giving number and size of such patterns as you want. Enclose 200 in stamps or coin (coin preferred; wrap "it carefully) for each number, and address your order to Pattern Dept, Wilson Publishing 00., 73 West Ade- laide St, Toronto. Patterns sent by return mail. Glass-Topped Sills. The Window sills in my kitchen have been fitted with pieces of glass, and I can now set pots of plants or fioWers on them without marring the dei'icate gray paint. I also had a piece of glass fitted to the top of my white-enameled refrigerator, which protects it, and I can set anything on it without harming the surface. In the autumn I break off Ehoice pies-93 of ivy from the vines outdoors and put them in water in the house, where they throw out roots and keep fresh all winter. They can then be transpianted in the springâ€"«Mrs. Turkey grower? of Manitoum IS< land, Ontario, are determined to make turkey raising one of the premier in- dustries of the Island and to thiaelnd dustri-es of the Island and to thiaend recently formed the Manitoulin Co- operative Turkey Growers’ Associa- tion, for which incorporation is being applied under the Ontario Companies Act. Assistance in the work was given by representative-s of the Do- minion Live Stock Branch and the minion lee Ontario Depz 13E in lcelandic, Diagnosis. erly criminals in Iceland were the lunatic asylum. The Ida;- could not un-deasItzmd any one o foolts-h as to commit a. crime. 2;; an exceedingly kind-hearted au-ght all criminals must be in- Agriculture