4 
C7>e  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
103i 
(Continued  from  page  1003.) 
CHAPTER  XII 
THE  BOY  BEHIND  THE  AX. 
The  straw  ride  was  about  my  only 
outing  of  the  year.  I  had  no  money  to  go 
pleasure  hunting  and  I  was  tired  and 
sleepy  nights  with  my  wood  chopping  all 
day.  I  was  by  no  means  a  cracker  jack 
with  the  ax,  hut  T  whacked  away  steadily 
as  long  as  I  could  see  during  those  short 
full  and  winter  days  anil  gradually  be¬ 
came  able  to  strike  hard  where  I  wanted 
to  hit  and  to  make  good  big  chips.  My 
arms,  shoulders,  chest  and  back  were  fill¬ 
ing  out  a  whole  lot,  I  noticed.  A  muscle 
on  the  back  of  my  arm  stood  out  like  a 
rope  when  I  straightened  it.  My  coats 
became  tight  about  the  shoulders  and  my 
once  Happy,  store  made  clothes  buttoned 
over  my  chest  without  a  wrinkle  as  if  I 
had  been  fitted  into  them.  I  had  an  appe¬ 
tite  like  a  horse  those  cold,  hard-working 
days,  and  I  throve  well  on  my  beef,  bread, 
baked  beans  and  vegetables  and  apples.  I 
cooked  the  stuff  evenings  and  nights,  and 
warmed  it  over  a  little  brush  fire  with  a 
cup  of  coffee,  in  my  little  corner  woodlot 
at  noon.  Resides  the  timbers  I  had  ex¬ 
changed  for  building  material,  there  was 
about  100  cords  of  salable  wood,  including 
that  scattered  around  the  lot  and  beside 
tin*  walls,  which  I  figured  would  fully  pay 
for  my  land.  1  cut  oft  about  half  of  it 
that  season  and  sold  it  in  the  town  in 
small  lots  delivered  as  best  I  could  in  my 
express  wagon,  although  T  managed  to 
famous  March  panic.  Uncle  was  too  full 
of  his  own  troubles  to  give  much  atten¬ 
tion  to  me  or  to  anything  except  to 
stocks.  He  had  tied  up  quite  a  bunch  of 
securities  with  a  little  string  of  marginal 
payment,  and  was  doing  his  best  to  hold 
it  together,  the  price  level  of  that  wild 
market  swung  back  and  forth  through  his 
string  as  fast  as  he  could  meud  it.  lie 
grew  five  years  older  in  appearance  that 
year,  I  have  thought.  On  one  of  the 
critical  days  I  wrent  w'ith  him  to  the 
broker’s  office. 
“No  other  home  these  days,  Frank,” 
he  would  say.  The  office  force  seemed  at 
the  top  notch  of  hustling  over-work,  and 
so  they  were  as  I  knew  from  my  own 
early  business  experience  in  an  office  of 
the  same  general  character- 
(To  be  continued.) 
Mosquito-Eating  Fish 
MV  have  a  pond  without  springs  or 
outlet,  except  in  the  early  part  of  the 
season.  It  is  three  rods  across,  -  '/■*  or 
three  feet  deep,  muddy  bottom ;  brush 
and  trees  grow  in  the  edges,  and  it  is 
filled  with  mosquito  larvie  and  other 
stagnant  water  life.  What  kind  of  fish 
will  keep  the  mosquitoes  in  check  and.  if 
possible,  he  good  to  eat,  and  where  can 
we  get  them?  E.  A.  P. 
Michigan. 
Probably  the  best  fish  for  this  pur¬ 
pose  to  be  used  in  small  ponds  is  the  top 
minnow,  Gambusia  affinis.  This  little 
fish  lives  in  such  small  artificial  pools. 
and  does  well.  It  is  active,  and  eats  large 
quantities  of  the  mosquito  larva*.  The 
common  goldfish  is  also,  a  very  good  one 
for  this  purpose,  hut.  it  is  not  active  as  the 
small  top  minnow,  and  would  not  there¬ 
fore  he  satisfactory.  You  will  find  it 
very  difficult  to  get  a  satisfactory  fish 
which  combines  the  habit  of  eating  the 
mosquitoes  and  also  gives  eatable  food. 
Very  likely  the  German  carp  would  he  as 
good  as  anything  as  a  fond  fisn  in  that 
pond,  but  the  little  fishes  here  men¬ 
tioned  will  he  best  for  the  purpose  of 
cleaning  out  the.  mosquito.  You  are  right 
iu  supposing  that  the  mosquitoes  are 
bred  and  nursed  in  these  stagnant  pools 
or  ponds  and  that  unless  the  larv.e  are 
destroyed  in  some  way  the  whole  neigh¬ 
borhood  will  be  afflicted,  These  larva; 
can  he  largely  held  in  check  by  these 
little  fish  and  also  by  putting  oil  on  top 
of  the  water.  rl  ie  latter  plan  is  not  of 
course  satisfactory  where  the  water  is 
used  for  the  stock.  Write  to  the  Bureau 
of  Fisheries  at  Washington,  D.  G. 
The  director  of  the  New  York 
Aquarium  gives  this  further  informa¬ 
tion  : 
The  top  minnow  (Gambusia  affinis)  is 
a  useful  destroyer  of  mosquito  larva;  in 
small  ponds,  hut  there  are  other  species 
available  for  the  purpose,  such  as  the 
fresh-water  killifish  (Fundulus  diaphun- 
us).  The  most  practicable  course  for 
owners  of  small  ponds  is  to  stock  them 
w'ith  some  kind  of  fishes  from  local 
w'aters,  as  the  young  of  many  species  in 
fact  the  young  of  most  of  our  native 
fresh-water  fishes  eat  mosquito  larva*.  A 
pond  well  supplied  with  such  easily  ob¬ 
tainable  fishes  as  common  roach  or 
shiner,  common  sunfish  or  even  gold  fish 
is  not  likely  to  give  trouble- 
C.  II.  TOWNSEND. 
The  War  and  the  Weather 
Regarding  question  on  page  806,  the 
idea  that  battles  cause  rains  is  very  old. 
In  the  earliest  times  the  rain  was  at¬ 
tributed  to  tin*  clash  of  swords  and  sweat 
of  Soldiers,  later  to  the  noise  of  cannon 
and  guus,  then  tn>  the  dust  partic.es 
(smoke)  caused  by  the  burning  of  black 
powder,  and  now,  as  I  infer  from  your 
question,  to  the  gases  freed  by  the  ex¬ 
plosion  of  guncotton,  etc.  Anyone  at 
all  familiar  with  the  real  cause  of  rain 
(the  cooling  of  humid  air  by  vertical 
convection)  will  see  at  once  that,  it  can¬ 
not:  he  induced  by  noise,  nor  by  the 
gaseous  products  of  modern  explosives. 
Furthermore,  statistical  studies  show 
that  the  weather  during  years  of  war 
does  not  differ  appreciably  from  the 
weather  during  years  of  peace.  It  is 
true  that  at.  the  place  of  battle  rain  oc¬ 
curs  more  frequently  during  and  imme¬ 
diately  following  the  conflict,  than  imme¬ 
diately  before,  but  this  is  because  the 
aggressor  usually  chooses  to  make  his 
attack  when  the  ground  is  comparatively 
firm,  rather  than  when  it  is  wet  and  soft, 
and  thus  ill  adapted  to  rapid  movements; 
he  begins  the  battle  during  fair  weather 
rather  than  foul.  C.  v.  makvin, 
Chief  of  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau. 
A  man  was  walking  along  the  street 
and  he  saw  a  house  on  fire.  He  rushed 
across  the  way  and  rang  the  bell.  After 
some  time  a  lady,  who  proved  to  be 
slightly  deaf,  appeared  at  the  door. 
“Madam,  your  house  is  on  fire."  “What 
did  you- say V"  The  man  began  dancing 
up  and  down.  He  pointed  above.  “I  said 
your  house  is  afire!  Flames  bursting 
out!  No  time  to  lose!"  “What  did  you 
say  V"  “I  louse  afire  !  Quick!"  The  lady 
smiled.  “Is  that  all?”  she  said,  sweetly. 
“Well,  replied  the  man  hopelessly,  “that’s 
all  I  can  think  of  just  now." — San  Fran¬ 
cisco  Argonaut. 
hire  a  one-horse  sled  for  part  of  that 
work.  I  had  to  shade  prices  a  little  to 
sell  all  the  wood.  Some  of  the  wood  was 
too  small  to  bring  full  price.  I  sold  some 
of  the  best  for  $2  a  cord  extra  because  I 
delivered  it,  sawed  and  split,  work  which 
I  did  under  shelter  in  stormy  weather-  So 
I  averaged  about  $4  a  cord  for  my  wood 
and  paid  Mr.  Frost  a  round  $200  toward 
tic*  mortgage  and  interest  and  the  bill  for 
plowing.  He  took  the  money,  his  old 
face  cracked  all  over  with  smiles,  almost 
as-  pleased  as  I  was  to  pay  it,  as  I  did 
about  the  hist  of  March. 
“I  knew  I  was  giving  you  a  good  thing 
when  I  sold  you  the  hill  lot,  but  I  didn’t 
think  it  would  turn  out  so  much  wood, 
I’ll  admit." 
“Well,  I  haven’t  earned  more  than  fair 
pay  for  the  Fall  and  Winter,  and  I’ve 
had  to  work.  I’ve  done  chores  and  cook¬ 
ing  by  lantern  light." 
“I  always  like  to  see  a  lantern  that 
shows  hard  use,”  he  replied  “That’s  the 
way  for  a  young  man  with  the  stuff  in 
him.  He  gets  ahead  while  city  hoys  stay 
out  nights  and  sleep  mornings.  When 
you  took  that  hill  I  guessed  you  were 
either  a  born  fool  or  a  horn  farmer,  but 
you  seem  to  be  coming  right  along  with 
the  goods." 
In  short.  I  found  my  standing  much  im¬ 
proved  among  the  farmers  and  store¬ 
keepers.  Frost  kept  telling  about  my 
Winter’s  work  until  I  was  given  quite  a 
reputation  as  a  steady,  ambitions  fellow; 
a  great  help  it  is  too  when  there  is  favor 
or  store  credit  to  he  asked  for.  I  have 
concluded  that  most  people  are  glad  to 
help  a  young  man  along  if  he’ll  give  them 
half  an  excuse  to  trust  him.  Men  I  think 
get  about  all  the  credit  they  show  them¬ 
selves  fit  to  use  and  sometimes  a  whole 
lot  more. 
CHARTER  XIII. 
A  TASTE  OF  THE  CITY. 
Just  before  I  was  ready  to  pruue  my 
fruit  trees  and  work  my  land  I  hired  Ben 
Laut.v  to  do  my  chores  and  I  made  a  visit 
of  a  couple  of  days  with  my  city  relations. 
I  will  not  deny  that  it  seemed  good  to 
v.  alk  the  old  crowded  streets  once  more 
and  to  go  tu  the  show  at  night,  especially 
since  I  had  Cousin  Lena  for  company. 
Coming  from  my  lonely  life  on  the  hill 
the  call  of  the  city  was  at  its  loudest  to 
a  young  man  with  my  natural  liking  for 
excitement  and  good  company.  Yet,  en¬ 
joy  the  change  as  I  did,  1  never  felt  that 
I  ought  to  give  up  my  little  farm  and  go 
hack  there  iu  the  city  to  live. 
Maybe  Uncle  Ed’s  worries  helped  my 
d  -termination.  It  was  the  time  of  the 
The  Hessian  Fly 
Quick-acting  Fertilizers 
A  Preventive  M easure 
You  can  beat  the 
Hessian  Fly  with  Fertilizers  if 
you  use  the  right  kind.  The  idea 
is  to  seed  late  and  force  the  fall 
growth  with  fertilizer  containing  at 
least  2 °/o  quickly  available  ammonia 
and  not  less  than  10%  available 
phosphoric  acid.  But  it  must  be  the 
right  kind  of  fertilizer.  We  make  it 
Acid  phosphate  alone  will  not  bring  the  quick  grow¬ 
ing  effect.  One  more  bushel  of  wheat  per  acre  will 
pay  for  the  ammonia  and  may  save  you  many  bushels 
if  the  fly  is  present.  If  there  is  no  fly,  the  fertilizer 
will  repay  its  cost  anyhow  in  the  wheat  crop. 
Ask  us  for  Government  chart  showing  best  dates  for 
seeding  in  your  section.  Also  for  new  booklet  “How  to  Get  a 
Crop  of  Wheat/*  both  mailed  free.  With  the  shortage  of  labor 
this  year,  you  want  to  make  your  own  work  produce  to  the  limit . 
Our  active  fertilizers  will  help. 
The  American  Agricultural  Chemical  Co. 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Buffalo, 
Cleveland,  Cincinnati  and  Detroit 
Address  nearest  office.  Agents  wanted. 
