eyes not deep—few; rate of 907.50; dug August 
33; neither dry nor mealy on most soils. 
Seedling. —From H. B. Williams; skin 
buff, inclined to pink; few eyes, not deep; 
white flesh; rate of 736 bushels; dug August 
19: quite mealy. 
Carnival. —Irregular ; skin mottled ; buff 
and pink; flesh nearly white; quality fair. 
Seedling of Early Ohio.— Dark skin ; 
from W. H. Cook; color of Early Ohio: flesh 
nearly white; rate of 564,66 bushels; dug Au¬ 
gust 4; quality not very dry. 
Same. —Light skin; oblong-cylindrical; rate 
of 561 bushels ; flesh nearly white ; dry and 
mealy. 
Montreal. —Irregular shape; buff slciu; 
eyes rather deep; large average size: dug 
Sept. 3; rate of 1,189.34 bushels; flesh nearly 
white; dry and very good. 
Alexander's Early Extra. —Roundish- 
flattenod; eyes few and prominent; rate of 
544.50 bushels; dug August 15; not dry. 
Late Hoosier. —Cylindrical; skin buff- 
pinkish about eyes, which are dee]); flesh 
white: rate of 860.43 bushels: dug September 
17; strong vines; fair quality. 
Potentate, —Rouudisb-flattened—hollow at 
ends; few eyes, not deep; skin like Beauty of 
Hebron; white flesh; rate of 645.83 bushels; 
dug August 4; mealy and good. 
Bonanza. —Quite shapely; eyes a little deep; 
skin rosy; rate of 786.50 bushels; dug August 
18; quality fair. 
Guelph. —Roundish or oblong; eyes llot 
deep; skin buff-white; rate of 431.67 bushels; 
dug August 33; quality fair. 
Halton. —Round cylindrical; eyes rather 
deeply sunken—though variable: skin pinkish; 
often msseted; rate of 534.83 bushels; flesh 
yellowish; dry and good. 
Cream of the Field. —Irregular cylindri¬ 
cal; often prongy: buff skin; eyes rather sun¬ 
ken; flesh yellowish; rate of 1,075.55; dug Sep¬ 
tember 3; late intermediate; excellent. 
Stalwart. —Oblong, often tapering; buff- 
white skin, often russeted; eyes not deep. 
North Star. —Skin buff, streaked ami 
banded with purple; eyes rather deep; irregu¬ 
lar, large at one end; flesh white; rate of 
453.75; dug August 19; quite mealy. 
Bouck’s Seedling.—O blong, somewhat 
egg-shaped; skin and flesh white; eyes on sur¬ 
face; late intermediate; mealy and good. 
Home Comfort. —Irregular aud ill-shapen; 
skin pink; eyes prominent and depressed, mak¬ 
ing surface hilly; rate of 90S bushels: (lug 
Sept. 8; flesh yellowish; sweet and mealy. 
Superlative, —Irregular: eyes not promi¬ 
nent; buff and white skin: flesh nearly white 
with dark spots when cooked; rate of 872.25 
bushels; dug Sept. 8; not dry or mealy. 
Continued on Supplement , page 41. 
for Women. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
A LAWYER’S SOLILOQUY. 
I have sat In my office all day. 
And thought, and studied and planned; 
I have rents and accounts I must pay, 
And I vp nothing to pay with on hand. 
The lawyers having plenty to do, 
And money at Interest heeldt), 
Are the ones where the clients all go. 
When e’er a good ease they ’ll have tried. 
1 have always been honest and pure, 
And never have championed the base.' 
And candidly hoped I’d secure, 
My share of the business at least. 
It Is something I can’t understand. 
That my honesty all do commend, 
While business thlev’fl Veep from my hand. 
And to some trickster’s ofHee they’ll send. 
I have o. wife and four children to feed, 
And to clothe as becometh our stat ion, 
Manv things we actually need, 
Wlille the future gives no consolation. 
A small house I now own it Is true. 
But ’tie mortgaged for a thousand or more, 
Our furniture—’tls slmnlv not new, 
And we owe several bills at the store. 
I have waited and struggled and worked. 
And hoped a good practice to gain. 
While mv effort.*: riitmc fortune has mocked, 
And has duped me again, and again. 
Now, had t my talents employed 
At farmlne. mechanics, or trade. 
And mv foolish ambition destroyed, 
A home for my family I’d made. 
The money for study expended, 
For library, clothing and board. 
And petting admitted and started, 
Would buy a farm lit for a lord. 
I am sorry I did as I did. 
Sly life I believe I have wasted. 
On a farm I wish I had staid. 
Where want we ne’er would have tasted. 
c. L. N. 
THE NEW YEAR. 
The practice of making good resolutions at 
the beginning of a new year is often ridiculed 
because the resolutions are too often forgotten 
before six weeks of the year have passed. But 
the practice is not a bad one. 
Every oue has a greater or less number of 
good resolves that enter his or her heart from 
time to time and only wait some good oppor¬ 
tunity to be put into practice. The first of 
the New Year, if set apart as a time to think 
of good resolutions, will see these crystalizing 
into practical results. None will be made 
poorer by making a new effort in some wise 
direction. Not only may the overcoming of * 
faults be put on a list of changes for the new 
year, but branching out into some new depart¬ 
ment of study or work ought to be included. 
There are always obstacles in the way of a 
new venture of any sort, often many unex¬ 
pected and trying ones, but these once over¬ 
come. the tide turns, and circumstances be¬ 
come helpful where at first they hindered. 
Expect opposition, discouragiug times, and 
even partial failures, aud prepare to meet 
them all with an unflinching, persistent deter¬ 
mination to reach final success. 
Does this sound like too much earnestness to 
put into New Year's resolves? If faults are to 
be overcome, the fight may last all the year; 
but what of it if victory crowns its close? I 
once heard the story of a woman's conflict 
with her temper, and it has encouraged me so 
often I will tell it briefly. She was a neat, 
careful housewife aud her husband and chil¬ 
dren gave her occasion for scoldiug every day, 
by carelessly leaving scattered about bats, 
boots, books and numberless other things, and 
she never failed to scold them sharply. One 
day her husband retorted that “she was grow¬ 
ing to bo as great a scold as Aunt Lizzie Rix- 
on.” a woman whose scolding tongue made her 
the dread of half the country round. Without 
one word she went to her room and locked 
herself in, and all day long looked over her 
shortcomings, at first angrily and bitterly, 
then so despairingly that she almost wished to 
die. But at last a little grim hope led her to 
resolve to conquer her temper, and as an aid 
aud a reminder she promised herself she would 
never reprove the children in a voice above an 
undertone. 
She adhered to her resolve, and was often 
reproached and grieved to see how surprised 
the children looked when she gently gave 
them a word of reproof. Sometimes it took 
all the patience she could muster to see her 
husband tlmow his hat. on the floor, his coat 
on one chair aud his bundles on another, wheu 
he came in from business, aud to leave them 
there, for the mere act of removing them 
would he dome, she knew, in a spirit of re¬ 
proof, if she allowed herself to touch them 
before her indignation subsided. Aud so she 
fought, and conquered her temper, and, iu 
time, succeeded in training her hoys and girls 
to adopt her own neat ways, and “papa’s 
things” ivere always picked up by some of the 
little folks, and it became their pleasant task 
to meet him at the door and help him dispose 
of coat, hat and bundles. 
What fault is most troublesome to yourself 
and your friends? Measure its strength now’, 
aud begin your fight with it for the New 
Year. 
If it has long been an unexpressed wish 
that more time could be given to music, read¬ 
ing or study plan for itnoAV. Begin with easy 
music and small volumes, simply written, and 
advance to larger tasks as the smaller ones are 
finished. 
It may be in a family of girls, oue has long 
intended to learn dress-making, that she may 
lessen the expenses, and also to fit herself to 
earn her own livelihood, if that should ever be. 
come necessary. Do this the coming year, if 
it seems a wise thing after further thought. 
Dreams may be have been indulged of 
changing the plain, dingy, second-story room 
into a bright, attractive place, by the use of 
a little money, more time, aud considerable 
“ mother wit.” Let those dreams become re¬ 
alities during the coming year. 
Keeping accurate account of household ex¬ 
penses, cannot Is? beguu at a better time than 
ou the first of January—or personal expenses, 
both are of profit and interest. Many things 
can be commenced with the Ne\v Year. 
Each one can best determine Avhat, these are; 
but let there be something in each life to make 
the yeans, as they come and go, better and 
brighter. alioe brown. 
CONCERNING WINTER EVENINGS. 
Much baa been written of late on the subject 
of self-eui tore, home study aud private courses 
of reading, and yet, notwithstanding, the whole 
is considered in general as a mere theory, and 
when the boy or girl leaves school, they shut 
up their books, content never to open them 
again. Men and women read, it is true, more 
or less. The majority find time to peruse the 
weekly paper, and occasionally a “good story,” 
or a spicy magazine article. This is the ordi¬ 
nary literary pastime of many an intelligent 
farmer aud farmer's wife, and even of many 
young people, whose long, winter evenings 
drag heavily on their hands, unless entertained 
by a chance caller, or some similar diversion. 
What shall we do with our winter evenings? 
This is an important question, aud one to which 
various answers are giveu, Some young 
people manage to speud the majority of them 
among their friends, or at some place of 
amusement, while the remainder are passed in 
a very unsatisfactory manner at home. Law’- 
ful pleasure and enjoyment is a necessary part 
of human life, yet pleasure-seeking is by no 
means the end and aim of our existence, aud 
when in such a position, we at once perceive 
the evil results, by that restless discontent that 
takes possession of us the moment our fuud of 
pleasure is exhausted, and by the eagerness 
Avith which we look forward to another oppor¬ 
tunity to gratify our incliuation. If we only 
appreciated the value of the.se precious horn’s 
frittered away in senseless gaiety, realized that 
they W’ere portions of the brief space of exist¬ 
ence allotted to each of us, and that every hour 
is an opportunity presented but once in a life¬ 
time for raising ourselves to a higher and 
uobler plane of existence. I say if Ave realized 
aright this fact, how much of regret might he 
spared us iu after years. I do not desire to 
be considered ns an enemy to lawful amuse¬ 
ments, or as waging an indiscriminate Avar- 
fare againt innocent social pleasures, but only 
against the abuse of certain forms of either, 
against a tendency to make pleasure aud 
amusement the chief business of the Avinter 
season. 
But this is only incidental; our question is, 
how can these eveningB, aud spare hours in 
general be profitably employed? First let 
us see Avhat they amount to in the aggre- 
S ate. Counting four evenings per week, and 
wee hours each evening for, let us say, 18 
weeks, Ave find this is together equivalent to 
216 hours. This at least can be considered a 
fair estimate of leisure hours at the disposal 
of most young people who are fortunate 
enough to have a comfortable country home, 
how much valuable information might be 
acquired every Winter by devoting this time 
to mental improvement; “You may have had 
an excellent education in earlier years, yet 
there is much to learn, aud the way is made 
all the easier by your previous habits of study. 
Or perhaps Your uducatiou may have been 
defective; all the more reason then to retrieve 
what is not yet hopelessly lost. Never let the 
idea- that you have education enough for a 
farmer or a farmer’s wife keep you hack 
from every possible endeavor to cultivate 
your mental poAvers. Remember that your 
occupation is not yourself, that labor with 
the hands does not degrade the man or 
woman, but that the benefits of a liberal 
culture will come to you as a farmer or 
mechanics, or housewife as much as though 
you occupied a higher position in the esti¬ 
mation of men. Again, do not allo.v your 
circumstances to influence you greatly in 
this matter. Knowledge is knowledge how¬ 
ever acquired. A regular course of instruc¬ 
tion under competent teachers is valuable, 
and yet very much may bo gained by your 
own unaided efforts .and diligence. What 
cannot the 216 hours rightly used accomplish 
in this direction? This may be nnsAvered 
from experience, if you care to make the 
trial. And here a little caution is necessary. 
Do not attempt too much. Concentrate your 
efforts largely in one direction. Much valu¬ 
able time is lost by reading without order or 
system. Choose some subject which you de¬ 
sire to loam. Master first an outline of the 
subject, then you are prepared to branch out 
into details, Cultivate the habit of attention. 
Do not lie afraid to studi/, aud even memor¬ 
ize important points. Do not let reading take 
the place of study, hut rather the opposite. 
This is the safast at first. Valuable works in 
history aud science may now be purchased 
at a price which leaves no excuse for ignor¬ 
ance. 
These bints and suggestions have been 
hastily thrown together as a result of wide 
observation aud experience, and I trust that 
they may be useful to some reader of 
the Rural. We have only to appreciate the 
value of our opportunities, in order to realize 
the duty of improving them, holly dean. 
Pom csti c Cconoimj 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
NOTES. 
The results of the average cook are such as 
to make one wonder if a well-boiled potato is 
a thing purely ideal. 
As potatoes are a standard article of food ou 
most tables, try to serve them in as many pal¬ 
atable ways os possible. 
Put potatoes ou to boil iu hot water. When 
clone, drain off every particle of Avater, place 
on the side of the range for a feAv moments 
with the cover a little to oue side to allow of 
the escape of steam, replace co\*er, shake or 
toss gently and serve at once. 
As the best part of the potato lies nearest 
the skin, it is imperative that the peel taken 
off should be thin. 
- Mt 
SOUPS. 
no. r. 
I nAVE no exact measurements for this soup, 
as it is sometimes intended for a small family, 
and sometimes for a large one, but I find the 
following rules a sufficient guide. Measure 
iuto the pot one teacupful of boiling water for 
each member of the family, and auotber 
cupful to allow for escajie iu steam, etc. In 
this cook oue medium-sized potato for each 
cup of water. Pare the potatoes and cut them 
in thick slices or squares. When they are ten¬ 
der, add fiour enough for thickening, first 
stirring it into scorched butter, adding only 
enough flour to the butter to make it batter- 
like ; if too thick, it wall float in lumps in the 
soup. A heaping tablespoon of butter is 
enough for three pints of soup. Add a slice 
or two of well browned toast broken up fine; 
season with jtepper and salt, and serve hot. 
Boil three or four thin slices of salt pork in 
two quarts of water for half an hour. Have 
peeled six or eight good-sized potatoes, cut in 
three or four pieces. Boil these Avith the pork 
until they begin to fall in pieces. Then thick¬ 
en w ith a couple of tablespoonfuls of flour and 
butter well rubbed together. Stir Avell and 
Avheu it boils up, the soup is ready. Salt, pep¬ 
per and butter may be used for seasoning, ac¬ 
cording to the taste. The pork should be 
boiled half-an-hour before the potatoes are 
put in, and any scum that rises must be re¬ 
moved. _ AUNT RACHEL. 
NO. III. 
One pound of salt pork, one dozen large po¬ 
tatoes, tAvo onions, seasoning, a spoonful of 
butter, a cup of uew milk, one egg, three quarts 
of Avuter. Boil the pork in the water one and 
a half hour. The boiling should bo moderate 
aud water must be added from time to time to 
supply that which has evaporated. Take out 
the pork, add the potatoes after peeling and 
slicing and the onions minced, aud boil gently 
for an hour. Stir often. Add the butter, a 
dash of pepper, beat the egg and stir into the 
milk and add by degrees to the soup. Boil up 
and serve. mrs. e. f. 
no. IV. 
To four quarts of water add six large pota¬ 
toes chopped flue, two minced onions, tAvo 
pieces of celery cut iuto bits, and a half tea¬ 
cup of rice. Boil slowly, stirring to prevent 
burning, one hour. Just before taking from 
the tire, add a lump of butter the size of an egg, 
Avorkedsmooth in a spoonful of flour and a cup 
of thin sAveet cream. Season and serve with 
bits of toast. _ cook. 
no. v. 
Three pints of strong stock (the AA-ater in 
which you have boiled two pounds of cheap 
beef, mutton or veal), an onion, 13 good-sized 
potatoes, two spoonfuls of rice, one quart of 
cold Avater, two spoonfuls of butter, season¬ 
ing. Peel aud slice the potatoes, cover Avith 
boiling water and cook ten minutes. Turn off 
this water, cover with the quart of cold water, 
add the onion minced and cook until the pota¬ 
toes boil to pieces. Pass \A r ith the water through 
a colander into the stock, cook gently half an 
hour, add butter, the seasoning and rice, 
which should have been boiled tender iu a very 
little water. Simmer five minutes longer aud 
serve. mrs. economy. 
MASHED POTATOES. 
One dozen gooil-sized potatoes washed, and 
pared as thin as possible, thus leaving all the 
starch w’hieh is near the surface; cut in tAvo, put 
into a kettle of boiliug Avater aud cover telosely; 
itttettaiwous 
The American 
people are quick to 
appreciate a good ar¬ 
ticle, which accounts 
for their consuming 
several millions of 
cakes of Ivory Soap 
the past year. Its 
sterling merits and 
moderate cost estab¬ 
lish it permanently in 
every household 
where once tried. 
Frceof charge. A full size cake of Ivory Soap 
Avill be sent to any one AV’ho can not get it of their 
grocer, if six two-cent stamps, to pay postage, are 
sent to Procter <fe Gamble, Cincinnati, Please 
mention this paper. 
