255 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
Oxeye Daisy And Sorrel Beneficent.— 
We don’t hear much outcry against the Oxeye 
Daisy since it has been shown that it is a saviour 
and ameliorator of poor soils, aDd that a good 
growth of it on a piece of ground is about as 
good a provision for a crop of wheat as so much 
clover. Another well-hated weed is sorrel; but 
it is another beneficent plant that not only 
holds poor exhausted sandy soils together and 
stores the nitrates that might otherwise be lost, 
but by secreting an- acid which is effective in 
dissolving coarse and unavailable mineral pot¬ 
ash in the soil, gradually renders it competent 
for the growth of broader-leaved and nobler 
plants, and when they appear the modest, use¬ 
ful sorrel effaces itself. Yet if any spot of 
ground is uncovered by the higher crop, the 
sorrel at once occupies it and goes on with its 
regular beneficent work. It is not because the 
land is sour that sorrel is so. It will grow its 
best around an old lime pit or on land abound¬ 
ing in potash. w. 
Tyrone, Pa. 
What do You Think? —Thousands of Ru¬ 
ral readers reside in the suburbs of the larger 
cities and towns. Many of them are commut¬ 
ers who had, as a matter of course, paid 
their fares in advance; during the first few days 
of the blizzard week; the railroad companies 
were unable to carry them to and from their 
places of business, or, in other words, were un¬ 
able to perform the service for which they had 
been paid. As a matter of equity, they should 
refund the unearned fares to the commu¬ 
ters who paid them. I do not see that the fact 
that the fares were paid in advance alters the 
case in the least. Stage and horse car com¬ 
panies got no pay from passengers, no matter 
how regularly they had been accustomed to 
travel; why then should the railroads? 
J. H G. 
R. N. Y.—This seems to be a case where the 
proverbial good nature of the American 
people must come into play. So far as we could 
see, the railroads did their best to carry out 
their agreement: they certainly spent a great 
deal of money in getting trains running as 
early as they did. In cases where passen¬ 
gers were neglected or where the managers 
did not do their best to break through 
the snow, the passengers would be justified in 
demanding a return of advanced money. 
Where the management did its best we should 
be inclined to feel good-natured about it. 
CATALOGUES ETC., RECEIVED. 
made here and are well described in the cir¬ 
cular. 
Hand Bone Mill.— Catalogue from Wilson 
Bros., Easton, Pa. We have two of the $5 bone 
mills and they give the best of satisfaction. 
We use them for crushing bones and oyster 
shells for the poultry, and the hens show their 
appreciation by turning the crushed bones into 
egg shells. 
Fertilizers. —Circular from C. H. Demp- 
wolf & Co , York, Pa. In this we find de¬ 
scriptions and analyses of various special and 
complete fertilizers. A specialty is made of 
Nova Scotia Land Plaster. 
HOW TO LEVEL BACK-FURROWS AND FILL 
DEAD-FURROWS. 
Make a V of two 2x6 inch 12-feet planks. 
Make the point end sharp by shaving off the 
corners, and bolt firmly together: place the 
spreading ends 18 feet apart. Use for the 
spreading brace a 2x4 inch 18 foot scantling 
spiked firmly on the ends of the V near the 
top, which will leave two inches to be rounded 
Fig. 97. 
off sled-runner-fashion to prevent catching 
rubbish. To fill a furrow, hitch team to ropes 
or chains attached to the spreading ends of V. 
To level ridges, hitch the team to the point 
end. Place a wide board across the top to 
stand on, placing it so as to do the best work 
It might be better to sharpen the lower 
edges of the planks, though perhaps not. See 
the whole thing at Fig. 97. 
GEO. O. GR1DLEY. 
Woman ® Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
CHAT BY THE WAY. 
Buckeye Fencing. —Catalogue from Mast 
Foos & Co., Springfield, Ohio. The reputa¬ 
tion of the celebrated Buckeye goods has been 
earned by square dealing, the use of the best 
of materials and the adoption of a fair sched¬ 
ule of prices. Those of our readers who are 
in need of any of the articles mentioned in 
these catalogues may rest assured they will be 
dealt with in an honorable, business-like man¬ 
ner. The speciality offered in this catalogue 
is the wrought iron fencing and cresting, bqt 
the iron turbine wind engine, Buckeye force 
pumps,and lawn-mowers,as well as the hose reel 
and lawn-sprinkler are all explained. Send 
for the catalogues. 
Thomas Smoothing Harrow. —Circulars 
from The Ilerendeen Manufacturing Co., Ge¬ 
neva, N. Y. It is about as useless to speak of 
the merits of this implement as it is to speak 
of the merits of the plow. It has been before 
the public many years and is known every¬ 
where. It can probably be employed at a 
greater variety of farm operations than can 
any other implement. Besides this tool, the 
manufacturers offer the iron-fr&me pulveri¬ 
zer, the Herendeen Spring-tooth Harrow and 
“Victor” Potato Coverer and Cultivator. 
Willson Spring Singletree. —Circular 
from F. R. Willson, Columbus, Ohio. The 
object of this inplementis to save the shoulders 
of the horse. When it is in use the bumps, 
jolts and sudden springs that ordinarily fall 
upon the horse’s shoulders are saved, for the 
spring lessens the blow. This is a genuine 
implement. Jt will save your horse a world 
of discomfort. 
Mckenney’s Fertilizer Machines.— Cat¬ 
alogue from the Taunton Cotton and Machine 
Co., Taunton, Mass. These machines have 
been before the public long enough to secure a 
good reputation. They distribute fertilizers 
accurately and at any desired rate. The 
Strawberry and Lawn Fertilizer Machine is 
one for which many of our readers have asked. 
This one is good. Send for the circular. 
Agricultural Implements. —Circular of 
A. Blaker & Co., Newtown, Bucks Co , Pa. 
Thrashers and cleaners, tread-powers, corn- 
shellers, land-rollers, corn-markers, root-cut¬ 
ters, plows, harrows and horse-rakes are all 
But this is not possible where there is a large 
family and a small house. Where there are 
two or three girls and only one room, as 
sometimes happens—let us hop© the room is a 
big one—it is most desirable to have a neat, 
iron, single bed for each one; a capacious 
screen in front of the washing apparatus will 
give privacy for dressing. Painted with 
white enamel paint, with a touch of gold here 
and there, the little iron bedsteads are very 
dainty. Of course the girls need plenty of 
closet room; the oft-described packing case 
petticoated in chintz, to form a wash-stand, 
will give a shoe closet, and a wardrobe in 
which to hang frocks is made by fitting in one 
corner, six feet from the floor, a triangular 
shelf with a row of hooks just below. Cur¬ 
tains fall from the front of this shelf to the 
floor, and the result is a very convenient 
corner cupboard. 
THE “DARK SIDE” IN BRIEF. 
I would like to say that, in my judgment, 
the “cyclone” stirred up by Mrs. Fisher’s 
article (foreseen and alluded to by me when I 
read it) was inevitable, I will not say from 
the spirit, but certainly from the tone in 
which it was written. The very women 
whose lot she deprecated were made mad by 
the slighting and contemptuous air in which 
their wrongs were alluded to, as if they them¬ 
selves did not have the sense to see and the 
sDirit to resent the carelessness, coarseness and 
cruelty of the male members of their families. 
There is more to all this than Mrs. Fisher sees, 
or seems to have the sympathy to understand. 
The very word she has coined to designate 
the women of the farm “Farmerines,” is felt 
as an insult everywhere, and her lack of sym¬ 
pathetic comprehension alone excuses its use. 
b. a. c. 
TRAINING THE MEMORY. 
CHARLES TURNER WHITE. 
C igar ribbons are not without value in 
decorative work. The Art Interchange 
says that they may be used to form a fringe 
on banners, mantel valances or curtains in 
a smoking room or bachelor’s sleeping cham¬ 
ber. A valance of Havana brown silk may 
have a fringe of yellow ribbon and an em¬ 
broidered design of the tobacco plant. A sofa 
pillow with a cover of gray linen or momie 
could have a lattice panel or border of the-rib- 
bon sewed on flat; the same design on a val¬ 
ance could be finished with a fringe of the 
ribbons. 
* * * * 
In furnishing a bed room the prettiest way 
of trimming the windows is to have curtains 
depending from a pole. They should only 
hang a few inches below the frame; long cur¬ 
tains only harbor dust and get in the way. 
There should be two curtains on each wide 
enough to come all across the window, one of 
heavy stuff—cotton plush, or more expensive 
material if desired—the other muslin or 
scrim. They are drawn to each side and left 
hanging in straight folds. 
* * * 
Very pretty pen-wipers are made of cut 
worsted, firmly tied at one end, tassel fashion, 
and glued into a tiny wooden bowl. Shells 
that will stand securely can be utilized in the 
same way. Glove aud handkerchief sachets 
are in the form of a music roll, but larger 
round; they are of brocaded silk or any other 
fancy stuff, edged and tied with cord. The 
cord is plaited to make a strap handle and 
this is finished off by twisting the ends into 
flat medallions sewn firmly to the sachet. 
* * * 
So soon as a child is old enough to lisp and 
toddle around, he is old enough to have some 
personal responsibility: not such responsi¬ 
bility as was put on John Stuart Mill, whose 
classical training began when he was three 
years old, but habits of neatness and order 
should begin at such an age; the little one 
must learn to pick up his toys and to avoid 
wilful destruction. Each child should have a 
personal receptacle for his possessions, and 
should learn neatness on his own part and 
consideration for the belongings of others. 
The Rural has often spoken of the advan¬ 
tages in giving each child a.roorn of his own. 
I was discoursing recently to a friend about 
the excellencies of a German scientific work I 
had been reading. He was a diligent student 
who had spent the best of two score years 
within library walls, and his answer was in 
substance this: “There are so qiany good 
books, and yet in reading them how very lit¬ 
tle we carry away with us." This is by no 
means an original truth. Men long ago dis¬ 
covered that the receptive capacity of the 
human mind is limited, and the intellectual 
conquerer ofteuer weeps for the ability to 
conquor, than for new fields of conquest. 
Have you ever read a volume of history, or 
science, aud closed the book with a sense of 
absolute annihilation? The book is crammed 
with facts, dates, theories—as the case may 
be—all collected, digested throughout, aud 
put in order by one man, and yet reading the 
book casually, you retain few facts, fewer 
dates, aud no outline at all of the subject as a 
whole. If you ever have had such an experi¬ 
ence, you have no doubt auathematized your 
memory as bad, vacillating, untrustworthy. 
Now probably your memory is as retentive as 
the average, and you are simply learning that 
the human mind, though it can do much, can¬ 
not do everything. Until we learn this wo 
are quite liable to under-rate our own abili¬ 
ties. Few persons have powerfully retentive 
memories. The great mass learn to forget, or 
to do what amounts to the same thing—let the 
knowledge acquired leak out of the mind, or 
drift away beyond the convenient reaching 
distance. One reason why we forget is that 
we never thoroughly learn. This has special 
practical force in the matter of our ordinary 
reading. We read a valuable book. For the 
sake of computation let us suppose the book 
contains one thousand facts. Can we remem¬ 
ber them all? No. The impression, made on 
the mind by this assemblage of facts, has al¬ 
most an exact illustration in a composite pho¬ 
tograph. Each fact has in turn touched the 
sensitive plate of the mind, some striking 
point, novel theory, or dramatic incident 
have given character to the whole, but the out¬ 
lines are shadowy, and in a short time fade 
away. 
It does not hence follow that the time spent 
in reading the book has been thrown away. 
There is a subtle something which distinguish¬ 
es the reading man or woman from the non¬ 
reading. This is true even when the former 
reads nothing better than novels, or where 
the facts gleaned from higher sources are 
speedily forgotten. Literature, like society, 
has a refining influence even when the contact 
is casual. The deep, strong current of the 
river may wear a deep chaunel in the heart of 
the granite, but this does not alter the fact 
that the tiny, shallow rivulet smooths the 
surface of the pebbles over which it flows. 
Yet there is a more excellent way than read¬ 
ing to forget, and that is reading to remem¬ 
ber. 
It is better to remember one thing of value 
than none. It is better to store up one fact Of 
history from reading a volume of five hun¬ 
dred pages than to forget everything, except 
perhaps the title of the book. 
It is better because it adds so much to our 
store of knowledge, because it strengthens the 
receptive faculty of the mind; and makes the 
memory more retentive and acute. The mem¬ 
ory is strengthened, as are the muscles of the 
arm, namely by use. The blacksmith’s ap¬ 
prentice may not be able to deal sledge-ham¬ 
mer blows at first. This comes later. It 
never comes at all if he spends his time play¬ 
ing with the trip-hammer. 
One of the most serious results of habitual 
novel-reading is an enervated memory. Sen¬ 
sational reading of any kind appeals solely to 
the emotional nature. It may be compared 
to dropping pebbles on the strings of a harp. 
The transient melody called out is purely ac¬ 
cidental, and owing wholly to the nature of 
the instrument. In rare instances the judg¬ 
ment is feebly exercised in novel-reading, but 
only where the novel is of the analytic type, 
such, for example, as the character studies of 
George Eliot. 
The exercise of the memory is never volun¬ 
tary. We instinctively recognize the folly of 
trying to remember an imaginary fact, or a 
fictitious incident. 
In reading a really valuable book, it is an 
excellent exercise to select a few facts, and 
make an effort to remember them. The judg¬ 
ment is active in choosing a few among many 
—the memory in retaining the selected few. 
It is a good plan to keep a blank book on 
the reading table, or book shelves, and gradu¬ 
ally fill it up with questions calling for facts 
memorized in the course of our reading If 
the facts are isolated, and miscellaneous, so 
much the better as far as training the memo¬ 
ry is concerned. It is more difficult to retain 
a given number of facts having no connection, 
than the same number of facts associated in a 
logical sequence. If you have never realized 
this, choose a half-dozen dates at random, write 
down questions calling for each, take up the 
questions a month later, and watch the strug¬ 
gling effort of your own mind to establish some 
link of connection between the dates. Sup¬ 
pose, for example, one question calls for the 
date of Socrates’ death (B. C. 399) and the next 
for the date of the Declaration of American 
Independence (1776). Aside from the assured 
fact that one belongs to ancient, and the other 
to modern history, ten to one your best clew 
will be the occurrence of repeated figures (9 
and 7) in each. Now, if no such clew exists 
the memory is thrown on its own resources. 
This principle of association is perfectly legi¬ 
timate, because it is natural. An exercise of 
pure memory, however, is beneficial, just as 
an exercise of pure muscle. 
To the many readers of the “Rural” who 
have literary tastes, let me in conclusion com¬ 
mend the use of a “memory question-book.’ 
The busiest house-wife, who has the desire to 
rise above the companionship of pots and ket¬ 
tles, and spend a leisure hour in communion 
with the best minds, can do so. If a hundred 
facts, unknown before are memorized every 
year, you are a hundred facts wiser at the end 
of it. If the “question-book” is frequently re¬ 
ferred to the facts are all kept witbin reach¬ 
ing distance, and much of incident, descrip¬ 
tion, or explanation clusters around each, and 
adds to your fund of knowledge, and your 
understanding of the whole subject. 
ASPIRATIONS IN HOMESPUN. 
THIRD LETTER. 
After all, the country does not seem lonely, 
even when compared with my brief glances at 
the city. The blue hills, fading into dull 
shadows far off where the twin valleys meet; 
the ice-bound river, and the leafless trees, 
with here and there a swaying pine, seem old 
familiar friends after the monotony of brick 
and mortar. I might long for fresh fields 
and pastures new if condemned to a country 
life without the hope of occasional change, 
but somehow the city never seems big enough 
to grow in. 
Of course, like the country mouse, I’ve been 
sight-seeing. After visiting the big libraries, 
the art galleries and the educational institutes, 
the wonder to me is that any city girl should 
be poorly educated or unfitted to earn a liv¬ 
ing. Is she artistic? There is the Cooper In¬ 
stitute, with its free classes and classes for 
which a nominal charge is made. Has she 
ambitions in the line of decorator or indus¬ 
trial art? The School of Industrial Art for 
Women will instruct her thoroughly. Is she 
too poor to pay for instruction, yet ambitious 
to become a typewriter, stenographer, dress¬ 
maker, seamstress, book-keeper, clerk or 
painter of photographs? The Young Women’s 
Christian Association will give her free in¬ 
struction in any of these arts, and in a dozen 
others. Not only this, but the Association will 
provide girls who are strangers in the city with 
respectable boarding places, and will en¬ 
deavor to-find them employment. There is 
an excellent library, and both social and re¬ 
ligious gatherings, to which all self-support¬ 
ing women are freely welcomed. Every 
friendless girl who is trying to support her¬ 
self in the great city should visit the Associa¬ 
tion at its handsome home, No. 7 East 15th 
Street. 
But in spite.of the advantages here record- 
