California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



until a small blue flame appears; it will 

 Uipn begin to flicker, and eventually go 

 out. 



Sometimes the wick becomes too short 

 ti) carry up the kerosene, and the lamp 

 (,'nes out. If you have not time to put 

 in new wick, a piece of cotton rag pinned 

 on below will answer every purpose, and 

 become a good feeder. If a hole should 

 become broken in the glass chimney, 

 paste on a piece of paper, which may 

 often be done in a moment, and it will 

 auswer its purpose well for a long time, 

 or until you get a new chimney. Some- 

 times the burners of lamps become gum- 

 my, and prevent the wicks moving free- 

 ly. Boil them up in suds over the fire 

 a short time, and they will become en- 

 tirely clean and work well. 



To Extinguish Kebosene Flames. — 

 Oue of the most ready means is to throw 

 a cloth of some kind over the flames, 

 iind thus stifle them; but as the cloth is 

 not always convenient to the kitchen, 

 where such accidents ai-e most likely to 

 occur, some one recommends flour as a 

 substitute, which, it is said, promptly 

 extinguishes the flames. It rapidly ab- 

 sorbs the fluid, deadens the flame, and 

 can be readily gathered up and thrown 

 out of doors when the fire is out. 



Prevention of Piee. — Keep matches 

 iu metal boxes, and out of the reach of 

 children; wax matches are particularly 

 dangerous, and should be kept out of 

 th« way of rats and mice. Be careful in 

 making fires with shavings and other 

 light kindlings. Do not deposit ashes 

 iu a wooden vessel, and be sure that 

 burning cinders are extinguished before 

 they ai-6 deposited. Never put firewood 

 upon the stove to dry, and never put 

 ashes or a light under a staircase. Fill 

 fluid or spirit (or kerosene) lamps only 

 by daylight, and never near a fire or 

 light. Do not leave a candle burning on 

 a bureau or a chest. Always be cautious 

 about extinguishing matches or other 

 lighters before throwing them away. 

 Never throw a cigar stump upon the 

 floor, or into a spit-box containing saw- 

 dust or trash, without being certain that 

 it contains no fire. After blowing out a 

 candle, never put it away until sure that 

 the snuff is out. 



Farmers' Shoe Crease. 



Put into some fire-proof vessel one- 

 fourth pound of lard or soft grease, like 

 lard, one-fourth pound of tallow — beef 

 or mutton tallow — one-fourth pound ol 

 bees-wax, half a pound of neatsfoot oil, 

 three or four tabUspoonfuls of lampblack 

 aud a piece of gum camphor as large as 

 a hen's egg. Melt the ingredients over 

 a slow fire, aud stir them thoroughly al- 

 they are melted. Never heat it so hot as 

 to make it boil. Soft grease which has 

 salt in it will not injure the leather. Now 

 have the leather warm, and warm the 

 grease, not so it will flow, but have it so 

 soft that it may be put on with a brush. 

 Should the leather seem to need it, give 

 (lie shoes or boots an oiling occasionally. 

 It is not best to dry this grease all iu be- 

 fore the tire, but allow it to remain on 

 the surface of the leather. A light coat 

 of this kind will exclude the water even 

 if the boots are exposed to the wet all 

 day. This shoe-f^rease will not injure 

 leather by making it hard and inelastic. 

 A\'hen a man's boots are exposed to the 

 wet he shoidd hang them up iu the kitch- 

 en where the leather will gradually dry, 



and put on a little grease every morning. 

 It is far better to grease a little often, 

 than to grease boutifully every ten or 

 twelve days. Leather should not be al- 

 lowed to become very dry before greas- 

 ing. Always apply the grease as soon as 

 the leather is almost dry, then the leather 

 will be mellow aud never become hard. 

 Nothing injures shoes or boots more than 

 to set them aside to dry when covered 

 with dirt. Keep boots and shoes away 

 from the fiie when they are liable to be- 

 come heated. Heating injures the 

 leather. 



Another: Take one i^art (by weight) 

 rosin, one part beeswax, and four parts 

 good, fresh lard, Mix and melt together 

 over the fire, so as to be sure not to burn 

 the mixture. It makes an ointment that 

 is superior to anything I have ever seen 

 tried, for the flesh of either horses or 

 cattle, for either fresh or old sores, and 

 is especially good to remove old, dry 

 scabs. 



The mixture is the best thing I ever 

 used for boots or shoes for out-door wear, 

 as it makes the spongy leather water- 

 proof, and the hard leather soft. 



Cement foe Mending India Rubber. — 

 Cut virgin or native India-rubber with a 

 wet knife, into the thinnest possible 

 slices, and with shears divide these into 

 threads as fine as fine yarn. Put a small 

 quantity of the shreds (say one-tenth or 

 less of the capacity of the bottle) into a 

 wide-mouthed bottle, and till it three- 

 quarters full of benzine of good quality, 

 perfectly free from oil. The rubber will 

 swell up almost immediately, and in a 

 few days, especially if olten shaken, as- 

 sumes the consistency of honey. If it 

 inclines to remain in undissolved masses 

 more benzine must be added; but if too 

 thin and watery, it needs more rubber. 

 A piece of solid rubber the size of a wal- 

 nut will make a pint of the cement. This 

 cement dries in a few minutes. 



Chapped Hands. — A writer in the 

 American Orocer asserts that to preserve 

 the smoothness and softness of the 

 hands, keep a small bottle of glycerine 

 near the place where you habitually wash 

 them, and whenever you have finished 

 washing, and before wiping them, put 

 one or two drops of glycerine on the wet 

 palm aud rub the hands thoroughly with 

 it as if it were soap, then dry lightly 

 with a towel. Household work and bad 

 weather will not prevent your skin from 

 being smooth aud soft, if this plan of 

 using glycerine is followed. 



Damp Closets. — For damp closets and 

 cupboards generating mildew, a trayful 

 of quicklime will be found to absorb the 

 moisture and render the air pure, but of 

 course it is necessary to renew the lime 

 from time to time as it becomes fully 

 slaked. This last remedy will bo found 

 useful in safes and strong rooms, the 

 damp air of which acts frequently most 

 injuriously on the valuable deeds and 

 documents which they contain. 



To Fasten Loose Window-Sashes. — 

 The convenient way to prevent loose 

 window-sashes from rattling unpleasant- 

 ly when the wind blows, is to make four 

 one-sided buttons of wood, and screw 

 them to the beading whicfi is nailed to 

 the casings of the window, making each 

 button of proper length to press the side 

 of the sash outward when the end of the 

 button is turned down horizontally. 



Soap Bits — To put to use bits of soaj) 

 which are still too good to throw away, 

 but are a nuisance in the soap dish, place 

 all, even to the smallest pieces, in a 

 small bag of flannel, aud they will be 



found to make the most delicious lather 

 for the bath. 



To FILL Ceacks in Stoves oe Stove- 

 pipes. — Use stove polish wet with tur- 

 pentine; it should be used when the 

 stove is cold. 



fiocicultuve. 



Experience in Fish Culture. 



BY SETH GEEEN, IN THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 



m — 



af N the fall of the year 1837, while I 

 T t was trout fishing in Canada, I saw 

 J '■ some salmon make their nests in 

 yj\ the gravel, and cast their spawn, 

 iS^ and cover them up with gravel. I 

 watched them two days, and made up 

 my mind that fish eggs could be hatched 

 artificially and at some future day I 

 would try my hand at it. I watched the 

 habits of diiierent kinds of fish, when- 

 ever an opportunity presented itself. In 

 the summer of 18(34 I bought a part of 

 Caledonia Creek, which is celebrated as 

 a brook trout stream, and immediately 

 began the construction of ponds, rice- 

 ways, etc., in preparation for the ap- 

 proaching spawning season. When the 

 time arrived, October '20lh, I took my 

 first spawn. At my first attempt I filled 

 a milk-pan half full of water, and 

 stripped the milt and spawn of the male 

 and female in it. I examined them ev- 

 erj' day, and November 6th I could tell 

 the eggs that were impregnated, and, by 

 carefully counting, found that there was 

 25 per cent impregnated. I consulted 

 Mr. Stephen Ainsworth, a gentleman 

 who, I knew, had had as much experi- 

 ence in, and was as well read on, the 

 subject as any one up to that time. I 

 told him what I had done, the per cent- 

 age I had impregnated, etc. ; and he told 

 me that was as good a per centage as had 

 ever been impregnated in any country. 

 I made up my mind that if I had to pick 

 out 75 per cent of the eggs I took, I 

 should not propagate many fish. I had 

 a good many difficulties to overcome, and 

 I thought to overcome this by experi- 

 menting. I tried first on the belief that 

 one drop of milt was sufficient to im- 

 pregnate a pan of eggs, which I found 

 was a mistaken idea. I continued tak- 

 ing spawn in the same way till November 

 7th, when it occurred to me 'that, by 

 using little or no water, the milt would 

 have a better chance to act on the spawn. 

 I accordingly took some spawn in the 

 above way, and, November 23d, I found 

 that, instead of 25 per cent impregnated, 

 I had 97 per cent. That was the first 

 improvement I had made, and I felt very 

 much gratified, as I had accomplished 

 something which had never been accom- 

 plished before, the thirty-second day I 

 had been taking spawn. I practiced this 

 dry impregnation for four years before I 

 told any one. I sold the spawn for from 

 $8 to $10 per 1,0(IU. and it was as safe to 

 me as though I had a jniteut right on it. 

 During the four years my success had 

 gone the rounds of the papers, aud the 

 Fish Commissioners of the New England 

 States, hearing of my success, came to 

 me and made arrnngemeuts with me to 

 come to the Connecticut river and under- 

 take the artificial iiropagatioii of shad. 

 As Holyoke, Massachusetts, was thought 

 to be the best point to begin operations, 

 I accordingly went there. I arrived there 

 June 2!1th, 18li7. and as this was my first 

 attempt at shad-hatching, my troubles 

 \^ere not few. My first experiment was 

 to hatch the sitawn on gravel- -the same 

 as I did trout; but as they were so much 

 lighter than trout-spawn, it would not 



work. I tried numerous other experi- 

 ments. Among my experiments I had a 

 box with a sieve bottom, and as I was 

 examining the spawn, I accidentally in- 

 clined the box GO that the current, strik- 

 ing the lower edge of the box, caused a 

 back-action, and the eggs began to boil 

 up. This was just what I had been look- 

 ing for, and I nailed cleats on the sides 

 to keep it in the iuclined position. This 

 was the fifth day after I had arrived at 

 Holkoke, and by this simple contrivance 

 I hatched 15,000,000 in ten days. There 

 had been a number of attempts to hatch 

 shad by different parties years before, 

 but all had failed because the spawn 

 were so light they could not find any 

 hatching apparatus that would hold them 

 and give them circulation enough. This 

 was my next great success, and it is 

 worth millions of dollars to the country. 

 There will be plenty of shad for all fu- 

 ture time, and, if it had not been dis- 

 covered, they were as sure to become ex- 

 tinct as all kinds of game. It will not 

 be many years before all kinds of game 

 will be gone in this country. 



In 18B7, aud for years 'previous, shad 

 had been selling for $40 per hundred. 

 In the year 1870 shad were very plenty, 

 and have been every year since. They 

 have been sold as low as $3 per hundred 

 during the last four years. I will copy 

 an extract from the Fish Commissioner's 

 report of the State of Massachusetts for 

 the year 1871: 



"The season was remarkable for the 

 great take of fish in the river, which was 

 the more striking because of the gradual 

 decrease of the fishery for many years. 

 On Sunday, May 21st, vessels in Long 

 Island Sound observed the unusual spec- 

 tacle of vast shoals of shad. The next 

 day they struck in at about the mouth of 

 the river, and filled the nets. At Lin- 

 coln, ten miles from the mouth, and on 

 the coast, 3,560 fish were taken in one 

 pound, (500 is usually a large catch), 

 and the total yield for the pounds for 

 that day was over 25,000. At Haddam 

 Island, a short distance up the river, 700 

 were taken at one sweep of the seine, 

 which is more than one-third the yield of 

 a similar seine (or the whole of a previ- 

 ous season. A seine four miles below 

 Hartford took 900 shad the same day. 

 As this is some fifty miles up the river, 

 it is plain that the schools struck in all 

 at once, and that those which headed for 

 the stream kept ou with great rapidity. 

 Now, it does not appear that in the Hud- 

 son to the west, or in the Merrimac to 

 the east, the run of shad was unusual. 

 On the contrary, both rivers report a 

 small average. 



" Whence, then, this local phenome- 

 non? The Connecticut people call them 

 "Green's shad," attributing the increase 

 to the artificial hatching of Seth Green 

 at Iladley's Falls in 186'?; and this opin- 

 ion gets color from the fact that in 1868 

 the small yearling fish were unusually 

 plenty." 



Again, I copy from the Fish Commis- 

 sioner's report of Connecticut for the 

 year 1873: 



"The number of shad annually run- 

 ning into the Ccrauecticut river has in- 

 creased to such an extent that the com- 

 plaint of the fisherman is no longer of a 

 paucity of fish, but that the market is so 

 overstocked that they do not obtain a re- 

 munerative price for them." 



Again, the Massachusetts report for 

 the year 1873 says: 



"Speaking of the past season, 1872, 

 shad were more plenty aud cheaper than 

 ever. The New Ycn-k m.arket was so 

 completely glutted with them that the 

 dealers refused to receive m(n-e than a ■ 

 certain number at any jirice; the price 

 was reduced from $18 to $3 per hun- 

 dred." 



