JAN 30 
CRUSHING AND CUTTING CORN FOD¬ 
DER. 
I find by pi actical. experience, that corn 
fodder is more than doubled in value by crush¬ 
ing and cutting t, I use a cutter that 
crushes before cutting, and that cuts one- 
fourth of an inch long, rendering it all palat¬ 
able for all kinds of stock, and eaten readily 
without the least waste. And for me, a pound 
of stalks that have been harvested at the 
proper time and well cured, is equal to a 
pound of the best hay. This may seem to 
many a little overdrawn. Before I had 
learned it by experience, it would have ap¬ 
peared to me absurd. A vast amount of stalks 
are. thrown away, so to speak, by being thrown 
out in barn-yards and fields in the foddering 
of stock, and in the majority of cases but 
very little benefit is scoured from the practice. 
The leaves and husks are eaten, and, what I 
have found to be better, the stalks are wholly 
lost as a food. J. l. b. 
Chatham, N. Y. 
FUNGUS CAUSES SCAB ON POTATOES. 
1 think if any one will examine a freshly dug 
scabby potato with a microscope, he will find 
a fungus busily at work, I have never failed 
to find the pest in different fields and at differ¬ 
ent times whenever the scab appeared. 
New Hartford, Conn. c. G. K. 
CLEARING LAN D. 
Every farmer who has bushes on his land 
should clear an acre every year, and if he has 
turned over a piece this Fall, let him next Sum¬ 
mer harrow,manure and seed down, and report. 
Portland, Maine. F. H. p. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
WHAT TO READ, AND HOW TO 
READ IT. 
I. 
Seated the other day on a deal box in my 
storeroom, and surveying complacently my 
rows of well-filled jars, I drew a deep sigh of 
relief at the thought that the breathlessly busy 
season is over, and the long evenings have 
come, with the opportunity of growing once 
more familiar with the printed page. And 
for the moment a pessimist, I wondered 
whether, after all, this same printed page is 
not as often an instrument of evil as of good, 
whether, when garden and field and preserving- 
kettle claim us again, we shall lay aside our 
books wiser and more noble women for their 
society. 
As a result of my musings, it was “borne in 
upon me” to lift up my voice in the columns of 
the good Rural, before our first desultory 
literary excursions harden into the winter’s 
habit. 
There is an idea, as prevalent as it is false, 
that a womau who is reading is necessarily 
gaining some culture. The non-literary mind 
makes no classifications. Books are books; 
and, if a daughter of the house is prone to be¬ 
come absorbed in reading, her family, and 
very soon her friends, regard her as devoted to 
self-improvement, as “a clever girl,” perhaps 
even as somethingol’ “a bluestocking:" Never 
was there a greater mistake! She may !*• aim¬ 
lessly drifting along through haif-comprehend¬ 
ed pages; she may he amusing herself, per¬ 
haps :is harmlessly, certainly as uselessly, as 
if she were playing at “cat’s cradleor, 
worst of all, she may be committing intellec¬ 
tual and moral suicide, unfitting her mind to 
act vigorously, or her heart to beat purely 
and truly. Few subjects are of more mornen- 
teus importance to us than what we read,.and 
how we read it. 
Our associates are, many of them, forced 
upon us; our books we choose, and by that 
choice, we are doing much to determine the 
poise of our minds, and the “ply and tendency” 
of our characters. 
Obviously then, our first rule must be. Never 
read a bad book. No matter bow great the 
temptation; no matter who has read it before 
you, resist firmly every influence which is for 
evil and not for good! Life is too short, and 
sin too powerful for us to lend even our 
imaginations to the side of wrong. [ have 
heal’d girls say, laughingly: “When I am told 
not to read any book, I never rest uutil I get 
hold of it!” Do you ever think, gii’ls, why 
you are w amed against certain books! .Sim¬ 
ply because those who love you, know they 
would sully the purity of your fail’ souls! Bin 
may be forgiven, and error retrieved, but who 
<-au ever restore the bloom to the peach, or 
innocence to the heart? Years ago, I heard 
this nan-ative from an aged and holy man. I 
have never lost the impression it gave me. 
“Thirty years ago,” he said, “I was waiting 
at a street corner for a friend. I opened a 
volume on a neighboring book stand. The first 
sentences that met my gaze were of a vile 
character. I hastily put aside the book, and, 
seeing my friend, joined him at once. During 
all these years, I have read many books, wise, 
eloquent, religious. Alas! how little I can re¬ 
call from their noble pages; but those few 
sentences of that ribald volume are written iu 
my memory. I would give worlds to forget 
them, but I cannot." This little anecdote has 
been to me a life-long sermon. May it be so 
to you! While we are upon the painful subject 
of bad books, let me say that the worst 
books are not those vulgar old stories that 
everybody lias heard of and nobody reads, 
those stories that “call a spade a spade.” and 
“keeps you so busy holding your nose that 
you can’t even laugh at their jokes,” as a re¬ 
cent reviewer cleverly said. Far worse are 
the refined modern tales that gently break 
down all the barriers between right and wrong, 
that use no word which would bring a blush 
to the cheek of “Mr. Podsnap’s” typical 
“young person,” that don’t even “leave a bad 
taste in your mouth,” as was said of Balzac, 
but that subtly and surely make the eternal 
laws of purity and truth seem to crumble as 
do the rocks themselves under atmospheric 
influences! A novel was once given me, 
which a young girl had just read aloud to a 
large circle of ladies and gentlemen. She did 
it with impunity: there was not an “improper” 
word in the book, but the entire romance 
treated of a young wife’s love for one who 
was not her husband, and the reader was con¬ 
strained to give her the fullest aud most aj (prov¬ 
ing sympathy! A bad, immoral book, under all 
its delicate wording,even as a book which treats 
of sin, plainly shown to be sin, may be a pure 
and noble book. The test is not whether a 
book can be safely read in general society,but 
whether any portrayal of vice is sanctified by 
the motive of the portrayal; whether it puts 
before us right and wrong as God puts them; 
whether our utmost tenderness for the sinner 
results, not iu our coudoning the sin, but in 
something like the Divine pity which never 
forgets to say, “Go, and sin no more!” 
Having resolved to read no bad book, re¬ 
solve just as firmly to read no useless book— 
no “trash.” “I wish,” said to me once a gen¬ 
tle-looking teacher, “that Miss- Braddun, Mi’s. 
Southworth aud Mrs. Holmes were burned on 
a funeral pile made of all they ever wrote!” 
I forgave her the exclamation when she told me 
that, having before her a class of 1KJ grown 
girls,some point iu the history lesson suggested 
to her to ask how many had read “Ivanhoe.” 
Six hands were raised! “How many,” she 
continued, “have read “The English Orphans!” 
and lo, there were 80! “I think ‘The English 
Orphans' is real sweet,” I hear some girl pout- 
ingly whisper. Ah, yes, my dear, if life were 
only long enough for everything! But think 
what great books are lying closed around you 
while you dawdle over the “real sweet” ones! 
Don’t be frightened at the words “great 
books;” greatuess is always simple, and while 
the maudlin sentiment will unfit you for your 
daily duty, whatever that is, the truly great 
novel, or poem, or biography, if you read it 
aright, will make you knead your dough more 
thoroughly and scrub your floors with a more 
gallant heart! There is an atmosphere about 
the mountain tops of literature that fills the 
mental lungs and sends the sluggish blood 
coursing along the veins, and we come from 
those flights looking about for something to 
do “with our might,” if only to dust a room! 
We cat ch something of the author’s thorough¬ 
ness and flue finish, and, as we cannot put it 
into words, we are fain to express it in reso¬ 
lute avoidance of all slackness and slovenliness 
of practical work. 
And the last rule of abstinence is; Never 
read an unaccredited book. It stands on the 
same footing with the wayside tramp. He 
may be an admirable character, but appear¬ 
ances are very much against him! 
And now, having told you what not to read, 
I fear I have already transcended my limits, 
and must postpone until auother letter the 
fulfilment, or rather, the beginning of the 
fulfilment, of the promise of my title. 
A COUNTRY HOUSEKEEPER. 
SKETCHES OF GERMAN LIFE. 
BERTHA A. ZEPI WINKLER. 
PEASANT CHARACTERISTICS. 
There are some things which call forth ex¬ 
hibitions of traits quite beyond the surface of 
ordinary life. Among these are periodical 
sensations and excitements furnished by that 
vagabond tribe known as gypsies, traveling 
acrobats, and itinerant musicians. Their ad¬ 
vent marks epochsxif village life from a pleas¬ 
urable as well as pecuniary point of view. 
For what they do not give in cash for a gyp¬ 
sy’s flattering prophecy, or to an importunate 
smaller appendage of the caravan, they lose 
by pilferings from chicken-coops and vege¬ 
table gardens. Manj r of the peasants are left 
poor in purse and poorer in contentment for 
this reason. Being ignorant, the smallest ap¬ 
pearance of anything beyond their common ex¬ 
perience or ability, excites superstition and 
often an inordinate desire for gain by super¬ 
natural means. Peasant simple-mindedness 
aud shrewdness is often amusingly illustrated 
by the escapades of shrewder vagabonds with 
whom there is no getting even. They have 
always in reserve that fund of “Mystery and 
Magic”—mere trickery to call it by its right 
name—which fills the good people with awe 
and dreading admiration. The appearance 
of a “band” is the signal of sharp watchfulness. 
Geese that have been left to roam at large are 
quickly driven home and stabled, and so 
with everything that can possible come 
within reach of covetous hands. On the 
other hand, when auytbing is once stolen no 
effort is made at recovery though they may 
see their property iu broad daylight by the tents 
of the thieves,the recove red chicken mig ht, have 
a spell put on her and afterwards lay bad eggs; 
or the goose shed feathers on which no one 
could sleep, or die iu peace. They have seen 
the jugglers perform some impossible things 
aud surely auyone that could walk on a tight¬ 
rope in mid-air must lean on the invisible arm 
of the devil. So they look on with grave, ab¬ 
sorbing fascination, ask timid questions and 
are told bold lies for which they pay, quite 
satisfied, ami afterwards go to church more 
diligently for having had to do with the evil one. 
This desire to pry into the mysteries of life 
as they deem it, is not, a healthy craving for 
knowledge. It is an impulse of cupidity. They 
judge everybody’s motive by their own. Every 
person known to carry on some business out¬ 
side the pale of ordinary life and knowledge is 
credited with supernatural powers from Satan 
to make money. The mysteries of alchemy 
still buzzes In many an inquisitive head, and 
souls are yet subscribed for obtaining knowl¬ 
edge of some “black art.” 
All this is quite in keeping with character¬ 
istics of a better tendency. Their necessities 
drive them to scheming for better conditions, 
and their superstitious aud general ignorance 
of the wide world keeps them from realizing 
their folly, while the sinfulness of it is out¬ 
weighed by some such thought as “the church 
we have always, but the magic man comes but 
once a year.” After a week of excitement and 
wealth-seeking in vain, everybody settles down 
and makes the best of their old life, sorry that 
they have been tempted from it even in 
thought, and heartily glad, after the pastor’s 
visits and reconciling prayers to God, that the 
devil did not come wheu they called him. 
Besides the traveling shows, there is a pecul¬ 
iar mode of communicating tragic aud sen¬ 
sational news from the cities, The latest mur¬ 
der, robbery, or railroad accident is carried 
in descriptive aud horribly illustrated detail 
on pointed canvas from village to village, by 
some moneyless adventurers who make a living 
in this way. 
While the gaudily painted cauvas picture of 
the tragedy, given, of course, in its most ex¬ 
aggerated style, is displayed on every street 
by turns, the bearers, iu horrible monotonous 
and doggerel verse, sings of the occurrence 
and everybody stands agape. Tearssoou come 
to the eyesof the most susceptible, and every¬ 
body’s feeling is wrought up to an injur¬ 
ious pitch. That boiug all the news that 
comes to them of the great world, they are 
not likely to form a very high estimate of it. 
To them it is a maelstrom of wickedness. And 
if they only go to the city to yearly market, 
they keep guardedly within their booths, or 
preserve that half scared watchfulness, if 
necessity takes them around, which we can 
see in their faces any day at Castle Garden. 
AS THE HOMES, SO THE NATION. 
“If our homes wore all abodes of purity 
there would be no more national questions of 
reform to solve. There would be no more 
evils rising upaud overshadowing our land t ill 
they must bo supplanted by reform or crushed 
out by revolution. If every school girl could 
I>erfectly understand this, what u step 
would be taken iu the advancement of the 
next generation ! In conversing tipon this 
topic the other day, a lady of rare culture aud 
intelligence said “I always feel a twinge of un¬ 
pleasantness whenever any one speaks of the 
corrupt government ut Washington, tor it 
always brings to my mind the thought that, 
there is u corrupt people behind it. The gov¬ 
ernment cannot rise above the people, When 
the day comes that the farmer comes to town 
with just us straight sticks of wood on the bot¬ 
tom of his load as he has on the top, aud just 
as large potatoes on the bottom of his basket 
os he has on top; when the merchant gives full 
measure for a yard; wheu capitalists do not 
cheat their dependents—then and not till then 
we shall hear no more of bribes and the steal¬ 
ing of public money at Washington.” 
I thought this remark would grace any polit¬ 
ical speech, but ladies as a rule do not make 
political speeches, yet we can do a great deal 
iu our homes for politics. No woman should 
tbinkshe is prepared to converse intelligently 
in a mixed company without being well versed 
on all political questions of the day. To thor¬ 
oughly understand these things is to make 
women more thoughtful of their responsibility 
and to make a closer connection between our 
home and our public life. The home life 
should foster in every child such a love for 
truth aud virtue that the National life will 
be strengthened in such characteristics. So 
let us see to it that the daily newspaper is 
often found lying on top of our fashion mag¬ 
azine. EMMA C, STOUT. 
JET BONNET. 
Any one having a little knowledge of mil¬ 
linery, as well as some taste, can always make 
over a bonnet or make a new one, more par¬ 
ticularly if they have something for a pat¬ 
tern. So we present in this cut an exceed iug- 
1 
Art needle-work 
and valuable embroi¬ 
deries are frequently 
ruined, or their beauty 
much impaired by 
washing them with 
ordinary soap, which 
is too rank lor such 
delicate articles. A 
simple, and the prop¬ 
er method is to make 
suds of hot water and 
Ivory Soap, and allow 
to cool till lukewarm. 
This solution, while 
very effective, is per¬ 
fectly harmless. 
Free of charge. A full size cake of Ivory Soap 
will be sent to any one who can not get it of their 
grocer, if six two-oent stamps, to pay postage, are 
sent to Procter A Gamble, Cincinnati. Please 
mention this paper. 
