23 
SAVE THE BONES. 
BY TIIOS. D. BAIED. 
Manure is the life of gardening and should be 
collected from every source it can be. Every 
gardener knows the value of stable manure and 
endeavors to get all he can, but there are other 
sources of getting manure of great value. Bones 
reduced to a powder are an excellent fertilizer 
and can be obtained cheaply. I save all the bones 
of beeves and hogs and from the table, and store 
them away in barrels and in the winter, as soon 
as I have ashes, I place a layer of ashes at the 
bottom and then a layer of bones in alternate 
layers, putting about twc-thirds ashes. This is 
kept thoroughly moist; if done with chamber lye 
a nd soap suds all the better. By spring these 
bones are soft enough to be easily reduced to 
powder. This mixture has a telling effect on 
growing crops. As it takes all winter to dissolve 
bones and as the bulk of my ashes were obtained 
in the latter months of winter I decided to try 
a new way. The bones were all carefully saved 
and stored away in barrels; ashes were carefully 
saved and in the spring a hopper was made and 
filled with ashes, putting straw or husks at the 
bottom of the hopper. These ashes were leached 
and the lye put in a large kettle of bones and 
boiled; and in a short time I had a fine lot of 
bone dust. It did not take much longer to re¬ 
duce these bones than to make soap. Try it. 
We used to advocate cutting potatoes for 
seed to single eyes, and practiced putting less 
seed on an acre than any of our neighbors. 
We still believe that as a rule single eyes will 
produce larger tubers than heavier seeding, but 
since the advent of the potato beetle we find that 
it is poor policy to cut so fine, for the bugs 
always select the weak shoots and are quite apt 
to conquor them. 
CHEAP ROOF PROTECTOR. 
A correspondent of the Iowa Homestead on 
the above subject says: 
There are a class of men scouring through 
central Illinois “painting” roofs of barns, corn- 
cribs, grain elevators, and the various kinds of 
metal roofs, and I know from observation that 
the paint does give good satisfaction; the prices 
asked for this work vary according to the length 
of the purse the property owners are supposed to 
have, being from 30 cents up to $1.00 per square 
10x10 feet. This “paint,” which is nothing 
more than coal-tar, is obtained from the cities 
where gas is made and does not cost more than 
$2.00 to $2 50 including the barrel. These men 
try to make believe that there is a great secret 
connected with mixing the “ingredients.” The 
formula is this and it don’t vary much: Take a 
coal-oil barrel to the gas house and fill to 2 gal¬ 
lons out, then go to the drug store aud put in 2 
gallons gasoline, bung the barrel tight. The 
hauling home will thoroughly mix it, and when 
ready to use it, run into a bucket and add two 
double-handfuls of cement; stir this together 
and apply with a white-wash brush with a long 
handle. 
While working on roofs always wear rubber 
boots or shoes; these will take a better grip on 
shingles or board roofs than stockings. Apply 
during the dry time in summer months, one or 
two coats. Many men have failed to find a 
benefit from using coal-tar alone, because it has 
a gummy nature and does not penetrate the 
wood, but with the above mixture the trouble of 
scaling off will be gone and a good slate-like 
coat will be left that will shed the water rapidly. 
Use linseed oil to clean your hands, this is 
the best, although any grease will do. 
Don’t put this on house roofs where the rain 
water is to be used for cooking purposes, as it 
leaves a disagreeable taste for a year or more. 
If the roof is old and leaky, have some old 
oyster cans, or any old tins, and make tin shing¬ 
les, and slip them in the leaky places. 
A Man up-town made a wager with a lady 
that he could thread a needle quicker than she 
could sharpen a lead pencil. The man won. 
Time, fourteen minutes and forty seconds. It is 
thought the result would have been different if 
the woman had not run out of lead pencils In¬ 
side of five minutes.— Nobeistown Heeald. 
It has been noticed by a shrewd writer on 
American manners that a mechanic in search of 
work is “out of a job,” a clerk in the same pre¬ 
dicament is “disengaged,” and a professional 
man is “at leisure.” The mechanic “gets work,” 
the clerk “connects” himself with some establish¬ 
ment, and the professional man “resumes prac¬ 
tice.”— Exchange. The farmer is the only man 
we know who needs no such expressions. He 
“takes hold” when a boy and never lets go. 
Theee is pathos in this from the Boston 
Teanscript: “Here I’ve been talking for half 
an hour!” exclaimed an auctioneer, “and I 
haven’t got an offer,” “Half an hour, indeed!” 
murmured an el lerly maiden; “what’s half an 
hour to so many long years, and still no hope of 
an offer!” 
