Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1898-02-26

peaches on the table. The commission
man Is lucky II he finds purchaser al
10 cents per basket for such fruit. Even
retailers win not impose on their Gus
toners with such fraudulent packages.
What becomes of it, Italian vendors
OF cheap fruit get hold OF il and retail
II from push carts In the streets and
suburbs OF Chicago. They are about
the only kind Of men who can dispose
OF 1t. Reputable grocers and market
men will not touch it, much OF it goes
to the garbage pile. condemned by our
health officers.
That Seed Distribution.-The gov
eminent seeds. The Rural New Yorker
says: The free seed distribution Is as
much OF bugaboo as ever. Secretary
wilson was inclined to distribute the
seeds according to the original design.
which was to import and distribute
new, rare and promising specialties.
But the comptroller of the treasury has
decided that the language of the ap-
preparation as passed by congress is
mandatory. and that the only course
iert open to the secretary is to adver-
use Tor seeds all put up ready for dis
tribution. and the commonest kind Of
seeds at that He can't even buy the
seeds and have them put up for dis
Irioution. The whole thing is a farce.
Inc writer received some of these
SEEDS the past spring, as he has for
several years. and among them were
varieties grown by market gardeners
ior the past forty years. But the sys-
tenn must tickle the farmers. as it must
please the congressman who think
that they can buy the farmers for a
pinch Of cabbage or onion seed.
Annual Rings on Forest Trees.-In
all the timber trees of the temperate
portion Of our country the wood of the
stem lis laid on in sheets or layers
which. on any cross section, appear as
SO many concentric rings. Generally
these rings are sufficiently well defined
to be readily counted, and, since only
one is formed each growing season,
they furnish very convenient record
OF the particular cross section, and, IL
properly chosen, of the age of the tree.
Viewing cross section of the stem of
a pine, fir. cedar. ETC., these concentric
yearly rings appear as alternate mar
row bands or lines of lighter darker
color, the dark line. or summer wood"
occupying the outer portion of any one
ring and being sharply contrasted
against the lightest portion of the in
ner, lighter. or spring wood" part of
the next ring.
Foreign View of American Agricul-
ture.-The French delegate Monsieur
Zolla, who is investigating American
agriculture. is delighted with the in
telligence of American farmers and the
great variety and abundance of their
farm stock and agricultural products.
He praises our agricultural schools as
superior to those in France. He SAYS:
These schools are numerous and they
are conducted in splendid buildings.
with every convenience: that the an
paratus for teaching the best methods
of dairy work. of stock feeding. and
of general farm economy are complete
and admirable. You spend SO much
Ol lhCcc ctnOOlc- DuI I0eQ YOU
have it to spend, and we are compare
lively poor. have received every
where, from your minister of agricul-
ture at Washington, Mr.. Wilson. from
your state officers, and from every
farmer have met, the most obligjng
courtesy. "-Ex.
Trees and Men.-A single tree. ac-
cording to computation in Knowl-
edge. is able, through its leaves. to
purify the air from the carbonic acid
arising from the respiration of a con-
siderable number of men, perhaps a
dozen or even a score. The volume of
carbonic acid exhaled by a human be-
ing in the course OF twenty-four hours
is put at about 100 gallons; but by
Boussingault's estimate, single
square yard of leaf surface, counting
both the upper and the under sides of
the leaves, can, under favorable cir
cumstances, decompose at least a gall
lon of carbonic acid in a day. One
hundred square yards of leaf-surface
then would suffice to keep the air pure
for one man, but the leaves OF tree
of moderate size present surface Of
many hundred square yards.
Soiling or Pasturing.-There is no
question in the minds of those who
have tried 1t of the great saving made
by the practice of soiling. Expert
ments recently made at the Michigan
experiment station show that about
four times as much food is obtained
from meadow allowed to mature hay
as from a field pastured. In soiling the
difference would probably not be SO
great, owing to the fact that the grass
er peas, or alfalfa, or whatever is
grown for the purpose, is cut before it
fully natures, but even then from two
to three times the number of animals
can be supported by soiling as on pas
ture.-Ex.
Strange Work of Lightning.-The
London Lancet reports the remarkable
case OF the killing of Major Jameson