~ jw. " • 1 . 7/rrr~ . . 1 — ■- ■ ■**< — 
is dodging after some insect to supplement 
his supper, and two of them that hare 
strayed behind appear to be uttering their 
•quacking notes to attract the attention of 
Mother Duck who is intent on getting home 
as soon as possible. The picture tells the 
story as plainly as we can write it. We ac¬ 
knowledge our obligations to that excel¬ 
lent journal. The Poultry Monthly of Al¬ 
bany, N. Y., for tire use of the engraving. 
DAHLIA CULTURE. 
Few plants make a finer show than dahlias 
well grown, and few flowers are more perfect 
and symmetrical. The tubers should be taken 
up in the Fall and cleaned of all earth and 
dried. They may then be stored loose in a bar- 
el or box in a di y, sweet cellar. In February 
or the latter part of January they should he 
placed in smaller boxes in oleau sand and wa¬ 
tered frequently. If the cellar is moderately 
warm they will soon sprout, and by April or 
May will have made good shoots. As soon as 
freezing weather is done set the boxes out of 
doors on the sunny side of the house, and when 
the weather becmes settled transplant the roots 
to the beds or ho rders. Treated in this manner 
plants will give blossoms the last of June, while 
they usually are a month or more later than 
that. Dahlias should have a deep, rich soil. If 
the soil is light or clayey a good sized hole 
should be dug and filled with rich earth. Wa¬ 
ter the plants thoroughly and tie them up to 
drab colored stakes. The white varieties are 
generally productive of more perfectly sym¬ 
metrical flowers than the yellow and red vaiie- 
ties. 
Breeding or Raising Poultry.— A Texas 
correspondent of the American Poultry Journal 
makes the following very pertinent remarks on 
the difference between breeding and simply rais¬ 
ing poultry: 
There is a wide difference between the breeder 
of poultry and the person who simply raises 
poultry. There are hundreds of persons raising 
thoroughbred poultry, who know nothing of the 
principles of mating their fowls; they make up, 
perhaps, their breeding pens with so many hens 
to a cock, without any idea as to their affinity, 
or relative qualities, and yet they advertise 
themselves as breeders. Many make no selec¬ 
tions at all, but put all to breeding, sell and 
hatch eggs from them promiscuously, from one 
year to another, and when they offer to sell eggs 
n z : :— — r ■ —■ 
at one dollar a setting, the ordinary purchaser 
will wonder why some people will ask from $2.50 
to $5.00 for a sitting of eggs from the same va¬ 
riety of fowls, and in most cases they will buy 
eggs from the poultry raiser, and not the breed¬ 
er. * * * I find, however, that the 
better class of people can see the difference as 
soon as they visit the yards. * * * 
The proper mating of the breeding stock is the 
most important principle connected with the 
breeding of poultry, and yet I will venture to 
say, that it is less studied and experimented 
with than any other matter connected with the 
profession. Breeders, as a rule, will select what 
they consider the best specimens they have, but 
to give a reason why they place a certain cock¬ 
erel in a pen with a given lot of hens and pullets, 
not oae in twenty can do it. They take chances 
of raising nice fowls out of a large number, and 
still they will claim in their advertisements that 
they are mated for the best results. True, they 
hope to have the best results, but are unable to 
give a reason for the faith within them. 
Sense and Nonsense. 
MOSTLY NONSENSE. 
A Troy lawyer asked a woman on the 
witness stand her age, and she promptly 
replied: “I sold milk for you to drink 
when a baby, and I haven’t got my pay 
yet.” 
Keep up with the procession of life, 
young man; close up to the band. If you 
ever fall to the rear, where the elephants 
are, you are apt to get trod on. 
The meanest man in the country lives in 
Missouri. He pleaded in a breach of prom¬ 
ise suit that a contract made on Sunday 
night was not binding. 
“Is the neighborhood much bothered with 
cats?” asked a gentleman, who was negotiating 
for the lease of a house. “It used to be,” frankly 
answered the landlord, “but since a French res¬ 
taurant was opened round the corner there 
hasn’t been one seen.” 
The present season has been remarkable 
for honey in Addison County, Vt. The market 
price is now eighteen cents per pound, but deal¬ 
ers say they will soon be able to purchase at 
less rates. The copious rains through the Spring 
and Summer months have induced a splendid 
growth of white clover, which is favorable to 
honey. 
