The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-10-24
AGRICULTURAL.

rope, Jn1rty-nve feet from lne SIounu,
on Sunday. Three thousand Christians
were present, and the collections
amounted to thirty-fve dollars.
Some curious statistics about small
birds have recently been laid before the
British House of Commons. The thrush
is said to work from 2.30 in the morning
until $50 in the evening, or 10 hours.
During this time he feeds his young 206
times. Blackbirds work II hours. The
male feeds the young IA times and the
female So times per day. The industri-
Gus titmouse manages to spread All
meals day before its voracious off
spring. According to one naturalist
their food consists chiefly of caterpillars.
These statements, and hundred more
quite as curious, were made in an elo-
quent plea for law to protect small
birds from being shared and shot. I'm
fortunately, although the statistics seem
to prove that they are really the allies
instead of the enemies of the farmer, the
old prejudices against them were strong
enough to defeat the bill.
While the high price of meat in Eng
lend is creating widespread discomfort,
and the provincial butchers are clamor-
ing for free trade in foreign cattle, it
appears probable that importations into
England from the continent must be
stopped altogether, in consequence of
an extraordinary outbreak of the cattle
plague in continental countries. 1t is
said that of late every cargo of cattle
from Russia has included diseased ami
mails. Large numbers of infected cattle
have been discovered among those lately
landed from Germany, and carcasses of
diseased animals are frequently washed
ashore on the coast, having been thrown
overheard from ships destined for Eng
lish ports. 1t is considered essential to
the safety of English herds that rigid
restrictions should be placed on impor-
tations of live stock under the condition
of affairs, and this will tend to still
further increase the price Of animal
food
TESTING MILK.-The richness of milk
may be determined without waiting to
find the quantity of craam which may
be separated, by placing the milk be-
tween two plates of glass, so arranged
that one may be made to approach to or
recede from the other by means of a
screw that is to say, by pouring given
quantity in box, having two glass
sides, one being movable towards the
other, and then placing behind it the
flame of a stearine candle or any other
standard light, and observing the point
at which it is rendered invisible on sep
arating the glass plates. This point,
when compared with the permanent line
indicating the best milk, is the measure
of the richness of the sample.
CHEEsE.-The Denver Ne,cS tells us
that practical steps have been taken to-
ward the establishment of cheese fac
tory, on an extensive scale, at the central
point of the Monument Valley, about
sixty miles from Denver. The facilities
are unequalled. Cold springs of the
purest water are available, building ma
terial is cheap, and it is estimated that
the milk of from 1000 to 1890 COWS can
be relied upon. The superintendent of
an Eastern factory-one of the best in
the country-has been interested in the
project, and by another season it is pro-
posed to have the works in operation.
| This is cheering news to all Colorado,
for no matter what the profits of mining
and stock-raising may prove to be, we
need diversified industry, as by it, and
by it only, can the territory be thickly
populated.
THE Usage ORANGE AS A TREE.-The
| Usage orange is native of Arkansas
and southwark, and in a genial soil at
tains the height of sixty feet. 1t is q
wide-spreading tree with pointed leaves.
Two spines of thorns are borne in the
axil of each leaf, and it is its thorny
character which, among other qualities,
makes it valuable as a hedge plant.
From the resemblance of the fruit in its
exterior to an orange, and the facts that
the first plants known in cultivation
were brought to st. Louis from the
country of the Usage Indians the popu-
lar name of Usage orange was applied to
it. The vigorous and healthful aspect
of the Usage orange, and its striking ap-
pea1 ance when loaded with fruit, make
it very desirable as an ornamental tree
A FORTUNE FROM THE CRANBERRY
"A few years ago a successful merchant
of Chicago, Mr.. Sackett, well known foI
enterprise, generosity, and also a specu-
lative turn of mind, was induced by two
friends of his to try an investment with
them in the purchase of Western land
with view to prospective increase il
price. Each was to furnish an equal
share toward the enterprise. More a;
an accommodation to them than regard
for the profit, he consented, and, fur.
nishing his part, they went West to make
the purchase, while he remained at hi'
business in Chicago.
Now these enterprising friends of hi'
found that they could buy up Il large
tract of land near Berlin, Wis, very low
by including in it portion of WORTHLESS,
swamp. They closed the trade and il
making the division among themselves
they took each third Of the fine lane
and left the mud and water for Mr.
Sackett, who had never seen the Land
and accepted the division on faith in hi
friends. And for some time he continued
to pay the taxes, until he failed in bust.
ness and, thinking to realize on the sale
of it, he went West for that purpose
when to his dismay he found that, fan
from being able to sell it, he could not
even give it away. Signing just little
at the duplicity of his friends, who had
so divided the valuable and left him the
worthless, he wandered over the swamp
he almost disdained to call his own, and
splashed through its mud and water il
desperate hopelessness. Poverty an6
want stared him in the face, when 10
something else stared him in the face
too. He found something on his land
| IL l. 4