No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 349 



to call it was not in vain; because I know those of us who live long 

 enough will hear later of that farmer's son or daughter. But if you 

 start it don't get back in the old rut again in a short time like the 

 following given by a Lewistown Journal, says of a case up in Maine. 



A certain old man who does handsome work with the fiddle at 

 country dances is ''great on time," but unless he is argued with he 

 will play ''The Girl I Left Behind Me" from eight o'clock till twelve, 

 for every dance except the Virginia reel. 



Some of the old dancers were on the floor not long ago, and be- 

 tween dances one of them went up to the fiddler, who sat rubbing 

 the rosin on his bow. "Uncle," said the dancer, all the folks on the 

 floor want you to play old "Speed the Plow" for the next dance. 

 Can't you give it to us? 



The old man tucked his rosin into his pocket. "I sh'd like to 'com- 

 modate ye fust-rate," he said, "but there is suthin' sing'lar 'bout 

 that tune of 'Speed the Plow.' Jest as soon as I 'Speed the Plow' 

 'long a little ways I run into 'the Girl I Left Behind Me.' " 



If you do that you are worse than the greengoods or the gold 

 brick man. 



FLOWERS, SALT, SOAP SUDS AND TURPENTINE. 



By prof. a. M. VANTINE, Uniontoum, Pa. 



READ AT UNIONTOWN INSTITUTE, FAYETTE CO., FEB. 22, 1901. 



We talk of our stock, our grain, our fruits and our vegetables, but 

 rarely, if ever, speak of the decoration of our farms, and the grounds 

 that surround our homes. A tidy house is the pride of the owner of 

 it, and the influence of tidy house-keeping extends farther than the 

 walls of the house, over which the housekeeper is the queen. An 

 observer in our city can tell the tidy, well-kept homes, by noticing the 

 front step and the pavement, so an occasional traveler can pick out 

 the well kept houses and thrifty farmers, by noting the condition of 

 the fences, the buildings, the yard and the garden. 



No other decoration adds »o much to the beauty of a place as a few 

 well selected flow'ers, and some shrubbery, nicely arranged. The 

 cost of which is so trifling that it need be no excuse for not having 

 these beauties of nature around us. There is no reason that the 

 front yard should not be decorated with beautiful flower® from 

 long before the last frost leaves in the spring, until long after the 

 first comes in the fall. 



