Connecticut western news., 1907-04-25

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 Cats and song birds, flower beds and hens running at large, do not, as rule, 3harmonize on the same premises.
 1t is for the neighbor rather than the neighbor's' hens that one must needs exercise the larger measure of patience and charity these nice spring scratching days.
 The economic aspects involved in the exchange of 300 plug tobacco tags for a five dollar parlor lamp are open to very serious question. We have known folks who considered a deal of this kind "a very clever piece of finance.
 Beats all with what unconcern a fel- low will wear dowdy old duds when he knows he has two better suits hang ing in the closet. Were his worst his best outfit he would in all likelihood be ashamed to be caught fn them out of doors.
 A Richmond Va) woman who evi- dently doesn't take any stock in the modern clothespin was taken to the hospital the other day to have dozen of the ordinary brass kind taken from her interior anatomy, which she had swallowed as a result of sneeZing when she had her mouth full of them. If she survives she will mend her ways.
 Altogether too large a measure of satisfaction is derived by man from a consciousness of the fact that he Is just a little better fixed than his neighbors, and by far too much misery is traceable to a realization of the op- posite condition. He only is rationally content who aims at a sensible adjust ment of self to environment and finds happiness in this fact.
 Contrary to quite common notion, freezing does not kill many of tho com mon disease germs, New York physi- elan having traced several typhoid fever epidemics to the use of ice which had been taken from pond in the vicinity, the waters of which were con- taminated with disease germs. Freez- ing of water removes the calcium makes it soft-but does not kill disease germs
 Up to date no effective method has been discovered for checking the dam- age done by the stalk borer, which seems to be no respecter of plants, at lacking pigweeds, potato vines, salvias and other vegetables and garden flow CTS with equal avidity. Thorough cul- tivation of the soil seems to greatly lessen the damage done by the worm but after they have once entered the stalk they are out of sight, and 1t is almost impossible to get at them.
 The fertility of the soil Is in a way the farmers principalhis amount on deposit-and whenever he allows this principal to become lessened or depict ed he invariably reduces by so much his interest returns. Sound economic policy not only suggests the advisabil- ity of keeping the principal intact, but if possible adding to 1t from time to time. If the tiller of the soil will keep this thought in mind, he will not have to bother his head about debts and the poorhouse.
 A number of states have adopted the cash plan of paying road taxes, with tho result that there has been an i'm proyement both in the quality and the
 
 instances there have been agitations looking to a restoration of the old slip shod system of working out the road taxes, but in every case 1t has meant a step backward, lessened efficiency and poorer roads. The cash system is sensible, up to date and businesslike and should be retained by all means
 Of the 77,9S1 ,227 ties purchased by the railroads of the country in 1905. 44.6 per cent, or 34,677 ,304, were oak, while 23.5 per cent, or 18,351, ,O37, were pine. Cedar, chestnut, red fir and other varieties of trees furnished diminished per cents of the sum total. On the SUD- position that each tie used contained thirty feet, board measure, the amount of timber represented by the white oak ties alone is over billion feet. In view of these figures one can the more readi- ly understand why such tremendous ef- forts are being made both by railway companies and the department of for estry to discover some method of treat ing ties before they are laid which will add to their period of usefulness.
 If the potatoes you intend to plant for seed show any tendency to be scabby, give them the formalin treat ment. This may be done by placing the seed after 1t is cut up in a coarse sack and suspending 1t for two hours in solution made by adding one pint of 40 per cent formalin to thirty gal Ions of water. An old pickle or vim egar barrel will answer the purpose nicely. After soaking the required length of time raise the sack, slip un- der 1t couple of sticks and allow the solution tO drain back into the barrel