762' 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
pairing for t(jf |omtg. 
THE ZOOLOGIST’S WOOING. 
When I first saw you, Eland deer. 
My heart It did repine; 
Because I irnu how gooA you were, 
And wished that you ermine. 
When I your tapir fingers pressed 
Upon that eve in May. 
The glance you gave me sealed my fate, 
And I am still yours toady. 
I'll never break ape art the lynx 
That bind my heart to thine, 
Till I shall lion my last couch 
And in my grave reoliue. 
Gaze, Eland dear, upon me now, 
(That’s civet pleases you), 
One glance from your bright eyes will light 
This mole dering fire anew. 
And iflt is for porcupine, 
Though it should ruin me, 
I’ll bring as many ham at u you 
As one could wish to see 
But then, of course weak antelope, 
For that would lie a boar; 
But we can stay right here rat homo. 
And I’ll never leave you mohr. 
-» ♦ » 
FARMING FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.-NO. 3. 
HENRT STEWART. 
Water and Its Uses. 
No plant can thrive or grow without water. It 
Is as Indispensable to plants as It 13 to animals. 
Plants contain from 65 to 95 parts of water In every 
100. Hungarian grass contains 65 percent, of water 
whiie It Is In blossom, while a pumpkin contains 95 
per cent. Water Is then the most Important food for 
plants, because It supplies the greater part of their 
substance. But this la not the only office It per¬ 
forms In the growth of plants. It Is equally useful 
In another way, and that Is In bringing all the 
mineral or solid food to them In such a condition 
that It can be used; for nothing whatever Is taken 
up by the roots of plants that Is not dissolved In 
water. Every part of the soli, or of manure that 
may be In the soil, that enters a plant by Its 
roots mu3t first be dissolved in water; and the 
quaniityof water that enters a plant in this way 
must necessarily be very great. For Instance, all 
the water that goes Into the roots of grass or clover 
during the growing season, If It- were collected at 
one time, would stand 12 inches deep over the field. 
Every pound of wheat produced needs for Its 
growth from first to last 200 pouud3 or more of 
water, and for every pound of ash, or mineral 
matter, that exists la a tree, or any other vegeta¬ 
ble, 2 , 00 o pounds of water have p assed through the 
plant. No water Is ever taken In by the leaves of 
a plant; all that Is ever absorbed 13 taken In by 
the roots. The water thus taken In passes up from 
the roots and mingles with the sap; and after leav¬ 
ing behind It in the plant Its load ol dissolved 
matter, passes out through the leaves; and the 
more vigorously the plants grow, the more water 
they require for their sustenance In this way. On 
this account It Is that In a wet season grass and 
other crops grow more than In a dry season, it 
does not matter how rich the soil may be, If there 
Is not water enough for a plant, It will not 
grow In It. But If the supply of water is abun¬ 
dant, there may be a good crop on poor land, be¬ 
cause the more water there Is in the soli, the more 
of the soil will be dissolved and t,he plants will 
take up more water, u It Is necessary for them to 
do so, to procure enough mineral foou for their full 
growth. Again, It Is one or the advantages of 
having good and rich soil, that In dry weather, 
when the supply of water Is not almudam, the 
plants can procure all the food they need from a 
smaller quantity of It, and while crops are poor on 
poor soli, they may be very good upon rich soil. 
This Is one of the ways in which the good farmer, 
with good land, escapes Injury from a dry season; 
while the poor farmer, with poor land, suffers se¬ 
verely rrom a partial or total loss of bis crops. 
To secure a large yield of grass, some farmers 
practice a method of artificial watering which Is 
known as Irrigation, This consists of leveling 
the surface of the fields, forming banks around 
them and providing canals with gates and sluices 
by which the water from streams or reservoirs 
may be spread over the grass. In some cases 
as much water as would form a total depth over 
the field in the whole season of so to 100 feet 
Is used In this way; either by flowing the field 
occasionally and leaving the water to remain sev¬ 
eral days until the soil Is well soaked, or by caus¬ 
ing the water to flow In a slow current over the 
grass continually. By this system of cultivation 
grass Is forced to grow as much as one inch a day 
and to yield during the growing season as much as 
80 tons of green fodder per acre In several cuttings. 
This is an Interesting example of the value of 
water for vegetable growth, and goes to show that 
the extent of the product of the soli may depend 
In a great measure upon the quantity of water that 
Is supplied. 
Water is not a Blmple substance, but a compound 
of two gases, viz., oxygen and hydrogen, united 
in the proportion of eight parts of the former with 
one of the latter by weight, and by measure of one 
volume of the former with two of the latter. It laone 
of the most abundant substances in existence; It 
exists dissolved In the air In very large quantities; 
it forms tnree-lourths of the substance of every 
living animal; It Is found In every stone and rock; 
it may be solid as lee, liquid as In Its most common 
form, or in vapor as In steam or the moisture of 
the atmosphere, the latter of which takes the vis¬ 
ible form of clouds or fogs when It Is condensed by 
cold Into very small round particles which float In 
the air, moved here and there by the winds. The 
office of water ta so Important in agriculture that 
every farmer should be Interested to learn all 
about It. 
-♦-*-♦- 
NUT BEARING TREES—No. 3. 
The Beech. 
This forest tree of the genus/ntrus is to be found 
In the temperate regions of the northern hemi¬ 
sphere on both continents. F. sylvatlca Is the 
common white beech of Europe, Of this the 
American tree grown in Florida and other south¬ 
ern States is taken to be a variety. 
F. ferruglnea, or red beech, has the leaves ob¬ 
long, ovate, acuminate pubiscent beneath, coarse¬ 
ly toothed obtuse, and unequally subcorded at 
base; nut acutely three-sided, murioate; most 
frequent In the northern United States. 
F. purpurea, whose bright blood-colored leaves, 
seem like a mass of flame when tossed by the 
wind, on a clear, sunny day Is much prized as an 
ornamental tree for lawns and parks. 
F. cuprea, also Is sought for Its peculiar copper- 
colored foliage, and F. pendiila, or weeping beech, 
is also set tn lawns and cemeteries. 
The beech is easily grown from seed as also by 
grafting, budding and in arching. Ine th early 
Spring, if wandering In the woods or the near 
vicinity of beech trees, one will see, starting out 
from among the brown leaf-mats, little green, 
three-sided affairs, somewhat, resembling growing 
beans. They are very dainty and white when first 
out of their brown shell, and very sweet to the 
taste, a sort of ml xture between the flavor of a 
nut and a vegetable. 
Soon the little affair opens again after the man¬ 
ner of a bean, and the two first leaves push out 
Into the light, and the beech tree starts on Its 
slow compact growth, scarcely ever bearlug fruit 
until the 60th year of Its age, and then not each 
successive year. The tree lives only about 860 
years. 
It thrives In a deep, moist soli, attaining some¬ 
times, as on the banks of the Ohio, thehlght of 
loo feet, but it also succeeds well on a rocky soil, 
AMERICAN BEECH.—FIG. 3T0. 
and has been found growing among debris at the 
foot of rocky cliffs. When crowded by lte kindred 
or by other trees Its trunk rises pillar-like even to 
so feet before branching out, then making a sud¬ 
den tufted crown. Standing alone It, sends out 
branches at a htglit of from is to so feet, at an 
angle far and wide, the lower ones almost hori¬ 
zontal, while the upper rise to form the majestic 
crown. Its light grayish or leaden-greenish bark, 
smooth and shtny, presents a tempting surface to 
pocket knives, and how many a man grown old 
away from the scenes of hla boyhood, will be re¬ 
minded of some shining bole by the song: 
“N, for Nannie, and B, for Ben, 
I see them now as I saw them then, 
On the bark of the beech tree old; 
Hhe waist deep in the clover white, 
While the mellow beams of the June sunlight, 
Fell on her curls of gold." 
Few boys or girls have grown up on the farms 
that have not In mind a beech tree somewhere 
with its “ N, for Nannie, and B, for Ben,” and the 
Summer idyl that died perhaps when the season 
faded, yet here la Its silent grave-yard, and where 
It will remain long after the carver has forgotten 
the Summer and the tree monument. 1 mind me 
of a tree away by the side of a little singing brook, 
and on Its smooth bark cut the words” My Birdie.’’ 
Alone it stands and the winds whisper it and the 
rill sings hy, while lover and maid have gone out 
Into the busy whirl of life. 
Young beeches are useful for live hedges, as 
they bear pruning, and as their branches coalesce 
by being tied together. The wood Is yellowish 
white In the common beech, brownish in the red, 
and very hard, its close wood cells, with thick 
walls, afford a great quantity of heating material 
so that the wood ranks next to hickory and 
maple as fuel. It la also Incorruptible when 
constantly under water. The tree Is so rarely 
struck by lightning, that woodmen and Indians 
consider themselves safe while under its shelter. 
A very good oil Is extracted from the beechnut, al¬ 
most equal to that of olives, and keeping longer 
than any other after purification. 
Wild animals feed on the nut, and swine revel 
and fatten li allowed a beechnut range. The little 
chipmunks or ground squirrels, tamlas, trust to the 
beechnut almost exclusively for their Winter 
stores, making their tunnels In the ground In 
some quiet spot, carrying carefully away every 
bit of earth taken out or their excavations, in 
order to attract leas attention, and lay up a Btore, 
In subteranean palaces of perhaps a bushel or 
two of nuts apiece and little boys, on mischief 
bent, are sometimes known to dig out these little 
storehouses and appropriate their contents, rather 
than gather them for themselves. 
Maod Meredith. 
SOME SIGNS OF AUTUMN. 
Just over the hill there, the woodpeckers are 
making preparations for the moonlight nights of 
the next fortnight, when, led perchance hy a lord¬ 
ly log-cock, they will steer their way across the 
Gulf Stream to the uttermost south. Even now, 
dark though the nights are, they can be occasion¬ 
ally heard calling to each other across the tree- 
tops. The blue-jay will remain with us. but his 
gaudy plumage la already the worse for wear, and 
there Is a droop to his top-knot In curious contrast 
with Its bristling defiance when, seven months 
ago almost to a day, he sat upon the catalpa tree 
and noisily announced the approach of spring. 
Even the children have developed a tendency to 
bring their playthings Into the house; and there 
is something suggestive la the complacency with 
which the two-year old alts and watches the lone¬ 
ly white butterfly—the ghost of Summer time—flit 
In and out among the morning-glory vines. Two 
w eeks ago, the same youngster would have sent 
hls straw hat sailing after the wandering Insect, 
but now he Is content to languidly watch It drift¬ 
ing about with melancholy uncertainty. There la 
nothing In the morning-glory vines to attract the 
attention of a reasonable butterfly. The blossoms 
have closed and locked their doors. They hold 
their reception now from four to seven a. m., and 
the butterfly abroad that early, Is likely to go home 
with the i heumatlsm.—Atlanta Ga. Constitution. 
- »« ♦ - 
A FAITHFUL DOG. 
A few days ago the engineer of a train near 
Montreal saw a large dog on the track, barking 
furiously. The engineer whistled, but the dog 
paid no attention to the noise, and refused to stir. 
The dog was run over and killed. The engineer 
observed that the animal crouched close to the 
ground as he was struck by the cowcatcher. A 
minute later the fireman saw & bit of white mus¬ 
lin fluttering on the locomotive, and he stopped 
the engine. On going back to where the dog was 
killed it was discovered that not only the dog, but 
a little child had been killed. It was then seen 
that the dog had been standing guard over the 
child, and had barked to attract the attention of 
the engineer. The faithful animal had sacrificed 
hls lire rather than desert hls charge. The child 
had wandered away from a neighboring house, 
followed by the dog, and It la supposed that the 
child lay down and went to sleep on the track. 
Correct Speech —Correct speech Is such an In¬ 
disputable mark of a lady or a gentleman that It 
cannot be too often repeated that the true stand¬ 
ard of pronunciation Is one In which all the marks 
of a particular place of birth and residence are 
lost, and In which nothing appears to indicate any 
habits of intercourse other than with the well bred 
and well informed wherever they may be round. 
In the matter of accent, the aim ought to be to 
avoid all that Is local, affected or vulgar. Let no 
transgressors Imagine that they can escape with 
impunity. Their speech will Detray them, and 
even well-educated children will be merry and 
satirical over them behind their backs. 
<Tbf f u^ltr. 
HIDDEN BIRDS. 
1. No, my little bird of Paradise no one Is sure. 
2. 1 pity the poor heathen. 
3. Nape, a cocked rifle Is very dangerous. 
4. No, Jab, 1 (Ruth) deny It. 
6. The nymph 1 custarded. 
6. What a caper CalUe cut. 
7. Trundle your hoop ? O, Eva 1 you are too big. 
8. See that dot, Terel ? 
9. Will you sell your farm 7 
10. I, the glorious Spring do venerate. 
11. Hiram Lecush at church. 
i*. See lr In Charley’s store they keep taffy. 
13. The cannon-ball Btruck the stern. 
14. What a wretch, Ough I 
15. I like Agra best of all. 
is. ” Bedab 1 chickens are fotne,” quoth Pat. 
17. For those who love beef, eat Erney’s potted 
beef. 
18 . Moses Is kind to every one. 
19. This tilt Is sure to win the prize. 
20. Trees of palm I peddled. 
21. He Is noted for swiftness. 
22 . Watch imney’s wall, Owes. 
23. With a double-painted canvass belt, Du C. 
kept hls tent dry. 
24. For obln, red-breasted shirts were sent from. 
Paris. 
25. Gastur T. led over hls lame horse. l. o. 
W Answer In two weeks. 
-*♦»- 
A FRACTIONAL PUZZLE. 
One-quarter of Noah; one-quarter of Abel; one- 
fifth of Herod; one-third of Ham; one-quarter of 
Shem; one-fltth of Hager; one-seventh of Solo¬ 
mon ; take one from each and form the most faith, 
ful man oi the Bible. Little One. 
iar Answer in two weeks. 
A DIAMOND PUZZLE. 
A consonant; a pronoun ; a sort of rock; a puz¬ 
zle ; an animal; a boy’s nickname and a conso¬ 
nant; a vowel. 
isr Answer In two weeks. Little One. 
A NAME PUZZLE. 
Place five male names so as to f orm a sixth. 
Answer tn two weeks. l. o. 
-♦ * ♦- 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.—Oct. 30. 
Hidden Coins.— 1, Rubio, 2, Rupee; 8, Pistole; 4, 
Crown; 5, Ducat; 6. SovereiKn; 7, Mill; 8, Groat; 9. 
Amnnu >‘1fi auiiH • 11 Picrio>MU>n • IQ bnotui>i'a ■ 10 f luvHn , 
Namr Puzzle.— Celestlne, Hettie, Rachel. Inez, Sa¬ 
lome, Thomasine, Ida, Adeha, Nell, Aurora. Initials 
form •• Christiana." 
Aobostxoal Enigma—A nnie L. Jaok. 
14, Bank-note; 15, Greenback; 16. Thaler; 17,;Levy; 18, 
Bullion, 19. Coupon; 2u, Napoleon; 21, Guilder; 22, 
Florin; 28, Real; 24. Rixdoilar; 25, Pence. 
NOV. (3 
alilmtj) ^rabing 
MORNING. 
LAURA 8. HAGNER. 
Oh, mystery of morn, 
So stainless and so fair ! 
Thy birth should wake the world 
To penitence and prayer. 
Each day is a reprieve 
To erring, sinful man, 
And angel spirits grieve 
To view the wasted span. 
What griefs may hidden lie, 
In ambush 'mid the hours; 
What blessings in that Summer sky, 
To fall like Summer showers I 
Father! our hearts prepare. 
For all Thy love may send: 
Help us to serve Thee day by day, 
And trust Thee to the end. 
--—-■ 
THE LIVING CHRIST. 
The picture of Jesus Christ could never have 
been drawn had there not been a living Christ 
from which to draw it. The life, character, the 
teachings of Christ could never have been written 
by mortal men. If that life had not first been wit¬ 
nessed, If that character had not been seen, If 
those teachings had not been heard. If this Is so, 
then the simple existence of these books is suffi¬ 
cient proof of their historic truth; for the reason 
that what they describe la beyond human Inven¬ 
tion. Here Is the marvellous picture. Here are 
the hooks. They must In.some way be accounted 
for. No respectable scholar denies that they have 
been in the world from the earliest Christian age. 
Either Jesus Christ lived, and this Is a natural 
record of hls real life, or somebody of that age in¬ 
vented It. 
Now, for Tour unknown and unlettered men to 
conceive of such a character as that, to actually set 
him In motion, with all the graces and virtues of 
(to Inimitable and noble manhood, to supply wisdom 
for him, to furnish him with the strength and 
loveliness of Jesus Christ, to carry through con¬ 
sistently a being making such stupendous claims, 
to make that airy fiction the source from which 
stream all our best thoughts of God, and to make 
him, at the same time, a real brother man. so real 
that we clasp him as our own flesh and blood—for 
four unknown men, I say, to have risen In the 
darkness of the old Roman world and done that. Is 
a miracle of authorship which surpasses a Qy mir¬ 
acle of the New Testament. The character of 
Jesus is the supreme miracle. It Is far easier for 
me to believe that Jesus Christ came down from 
heaven, as these men say he did, than to believe 
that they manufactured him.—Dr. Mitchell, In 
Chicago Standard. 
4 « »' 
The cross of Jesus summons the whole race to 
the Father’s house. ” They shall come from the 
east and from the west, and from the north 
and from the south, and shall sit down In the 
kingdom of God.” if I be lifted up, 1 will draw all 
men unto me,” if the mission of Christ was for 
aU men, the mission of the church Is to all men, 
for her function Is to carry out the purposes of the 
Master: her duty co-extenslve with the sphere of 
Hls work; her glory the fulfillment of Hls. Christ 
did not feel that the wants of Jerusalem, and the 
test of Israel, Justified a neglect of Ethiopia or 
Parthla, Macedonia and Rome. We have no right 
to love and live In a land less broad, or limit our 
sympathies to a brotherhood less universal.— 
Wayland Hoyt. 
. - - - -»»» ■ ■ - 
Which?— The inquiry often made, "Which Is 
the most Important, pulpit labor or pastoral labor?’« 
Is like the query, “ Which of the two blades of a 
pair of scissors Is the more important?” We 
Bhould answer, “ Both,” The man who visits, and 
docs not prepare for the pulpit by diligent study; 
the man who preaches and does not visit, either 
ofthemwlU find hls usefulness, we will not say 
paralyzed, but very greatly abridged. If a man 
studies with the condition of hls people tn view, he 
will study to ten-fold advantage; It he visits with 
hla pulpit in view, he will visit to ten-fold advan¬ 
tage. We may add that no minister can afford to 
lose the benefit to hla own mind and heart. Many 
of the best sermons are born of a visit to the bed 
side of some aged saint, to the kitchen of some 
plain tolling woman, or to the workshop of the 
mechanic.—Nat. Baptist. 
•-- 
The maxim that knowledge la power Is true 
only where knowledge Is the main thing 
wanted. There are higher things than knowledge 
lathe world—there are living energies; aud In 
the moral world, certainly, It Is not knowledge, but 
aspiration, that Ib the moving power; and the 
wing of aspiration is prayer. Where aspiration is 
wanting, the soul creeps; it cannot fly; It Is at 
best, a caged bird, curiously busy In counting and 
classifying the bars of its own confinement.—J. 8. 
B tackle. 
-» »» - - 
Sanctified afflictions are amoDg the most pre¬ 
cious blessings of the Christian’s present lot:— 
patience and submission to God’s holy will, are 
thus brought out and strengthened, and he Is emi¬ 
nently glorified. 
- ♦ A 4- 
Let It not bo Imagined that the life of a good 
Christian must necessarily be a life of melancholy 
and gloominess; for he only resigns some pleas¬ 
ures to enjoy others Infinitely better.— Pascal. 
How often, having spent our strength over ma¬ 
terial things, we bring to the cause of Christ Jaded 
bodies and wearied minds. We need a consecrated 
enthusiasm in the doing or God’s work. 
