_______________________________
i._ , water is the truest level to use. We
never ppt down in the bottoms to Ievel'and
elean out the last spade, but rather stand
en the last, spade above and use a long
handled scoop. This makes a smooth
bottom for the tile and it i:i easier work
When we lay the tile, as I would not
lave an open ditch if tile could be obtained, we cover them a little with dirt,
enough to protect them from getting
broken, bnt never stard on them, as it
makes them up a&d down hill. Always
fit them as close together as possible, as
dirt in tile destroys the value of a ditch
by checking and damaging tlie How
Branches should always enter the main
at less than right angles, the smaller the
better, as it should not interfere with but
aid the main ditch. Wc- have found from
experience that it pays to ditch, if rightly done. Do not expect too much the
first vear, for a ditch draws by suction
and like few things improves with age.
Howard Co. C. B.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should be
sent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach us one week before the date of publication.
Topics for discussion in future numbers
of the Farmer are as follows:
No. 240, Oct. 13th.—How should an icehouse be built? How harvest and store
ice so it will keep?
No. 241, Oct. 20th— How do you handle
chickens during fall and winter?
No. 242, Oct. 27th—What changes
would you advise in the fish and game
lows of Indiana?
Wintering Bees.
Editors Indiana  Farmer:
To winter bees successfully the following points should be observed with each
colony. A young queen under one year
old is preferable. She will be in her
prime the next spring; and if other conditions are favorable, when the harvest
comes will have a strong colony for business.
Many colonies perish during the winter
because they do not have sufficient stores
to enable them to live through the winter.
The weight of the hive will indicate
whether there are sufficient stores. When
.. ., r risk .i-.i:. ___ _. <i_-_.iL.
cellar. It requires food to bring them
through in the cellar if conditions are not
unfavorable. They will winter one-third
less. They should be carried into the
cellar before severe freezing and snowy
weather sets in. The colonies should be
prepard the same as for wintering out
doors. Exclude the light and any influence that will disturb them. The cellar
ventilation should be good.
If the bees are content with their surroundings they will remain quiet, and you
may conclude the temperature of the cellar is all right. Should they become very
restless, during a warm period of weather
in the winter, remove them to their summer stands, for a few hours or day, after
they have taken a cleansing flight, they
will quiet down. They may then be replaced in the cellar. They should not be
taken out of the cellar in th spring while
the weather is cold; their long confinement makes them sensative to the cold
outside. If not careful in this respect,
the old bees will die off before there are
young ones to fill their places.
I often wonder why it is sa many farmers who keep bees let them shift for
themselves. Then they wonder why thoy
do not have honey, like someone else who
has made a careful study of his bees and
gives them the little care they need, at
the proper time. It is one of the pleasures of the craft to know the "blessed
bees" will amply repay for the little care
and attention we give them.
Fannie A. Wood.
Pointers in Laying Tile.
Editors  Indiana  Fanner:
To fully understand the drainage of
farm lands it is essential to
the farmer, as to know the
best methods of cultivation, and
the proper aplication of fertilizers. Well
drained land does more to produce a
good crop than either fertilizers or cultivation. In drainage we must first consider the quality and size of tile. Neither
"hard burned" nor pale tile should be
used. A four :nch hard tile will not
measure more than three and one-holf
inches, and if j~sed with medium red tile
will obstruct the water space just 25 per
cent. Pale tile will not stand frost and
pressure. Three inch tile should not be
used in a drain of more than ten rods in
length. Four inch tile should only be used
.
son__
good   dis-
tance ">
Jay  land.
All lat,£
3.     I have
some  vt. "•
as     almost'
worthless" ■£
We have
much   land  .
ditches     in
Indiana.     It v_,i
20 cents per
rod, to reclean
>tV
_hes.     In ten
years that amount \
buy tile at two
dollars per rod,
and
__e corn raised    on
the square rod for ten years would at
thirty cents per bushel make ninty cents
or enough to pay for filling. These ideas
I have gained by actual experience, handling tile in the yard, and the spade in the
ditch. E. P. J.
Madison Co.
START AT THE BOTTOM
Two boys left home with just enough
money to take them through college, after
which they must depend entirely upon
their own efforts. They attacked the collegiate problems successfully, passed to
graduation, received their diplomas from
the faculty, also commendatory letters to
a large ship building firm with which
they desired employment. Ushered into
the waiting-room of the head of the firm,
tne first was given an audience. He presented his letters.
"What can you do?" said the man of
millions.
"I would like some s< rt of a clerkship."
"Well, sir, I will, take your name and
address; and should we have anything of
the kind open will correspond with yon."
As he passed out, he remarked to his
waiting companion. "You can go in and
leave your address.' "
The other presented himself and bis papers.
"What can you do?" was asked.
"I can do anything that a green hand
ean do, sir," was the reply.
The magnate touched a bell which called
a superintendent.
"Have you anything to put a man to
work at?"
"We want a man to sort scrap-iron,"
replied the superintendent.
And the college student went to work
sorting scrap iron.
One   week   passed   and   the   president
meeting the superintendent, asked, "How
is the new man getting on?"
'O," said the boss,  "he did his. work
so well and never watched the clock, that
in  tbe   thigh.      But  to:'  the  prompt   intei
by tbe father,  tue son would nave been l.il.
There is a pig en the farm of Howard Bi.
halter, near Thorntown, which is a freak of n.
ture. Tbe animal's head is a reproduction of an
elephant's head, the ears being large and shaped
like those of an elephant. On ihe pig's snout is
a bonel?ss protuberance, five inches long, closely
resembling an elephant's trunk. The remainder
of the body is like that of an ordinary pig.
Gathering the cranberry crop in Wabash county
has begun. The yield this season is above the
average, thanks to the continued wet weather.
and on the Blair farm, near Chesterton, which is
probably the largest single mar_-h, it is estimated
that from 1,500 to2,000 bushels of the fruit will
be picked. •
A fairly well-dre<sed stranger was busy at
South Bend, for a f.w days, passing *5 -md $10
counterfeit gold pieces on business houses, where
he made small purchases. Tho counterfeit is a
good one, save that the coins ure light, and for
that reason should be easily d.lected.
George Swartz, of Wabash, for some time a
stenographer of a loan igency there, has invented
a machine for milking cows, whieh will do the
work of two or three maids, and do It perfectly.
Ue is now enlisting capital in his scheme.
Workmen found two well-preserved human
skeletons in a gravel pit at Hagerstown. Within
the memory of the oldest inhabitants, no one was
ever buried there, and the bones are supposed to
be of a race older than the Indian. Three yeara
ago Ave other skeletons were found in th same
place.
(Scucval flews.
A citizen of Hartford, Conn., was arrested for
catching frogs in a public resort olr. He was
fined and appealed the ease. The Superior Court
has just decided that frogs are fish within the
meaning of the statutes und that the accused
was, therefore, liable under the law. The citizen hai pleaded that the statute did not refer to
frogs.
James Otv'rlandcr, a farmer living near Enid,
,). K.. has a Jast mare which he is fond of
driving. The other day tin1 mare ran away with
hitn, and by way of punishment he hitched the
animal up wrong end to and drove her backward
half a mile. "Besides." says a local paper in relating the incident, "the mare could hear much
better while he cussed her."
A nursery near Mexico. Mo., contains 250.(KM.1
yonng fruit trees, pruned and cultivated to perfection.
A thousand guests are said to have arrived at
the various New Tork hotels on one day last
week.
A  division  of the wheat  crop  in  Ellis  county,
.   would  not give each resident more than
1,333 bushels.
One day recently, a Wesley, Maine, farmer
found a cow in his rasture so completely charmed
by snakes that he was obliged to push her away
from the place where she stood.
No one has been able to give satisfactory reason for the formation adopted by the wild duck
or mallard in flight. The birds arrange themselves in two converging lines like a huge V, the
leader occupying the point.
Only one eity in Sweden would he classed with
our larger cities—Stockholm, which is somewhat
smaller than  Pittsburg.
Lightning has killed so many cattle while they
were standing near wire fences that it is proposed to diminish the danger by means of ground
wires, which will conduct the electricity into
the  earth.
Houghton county, Michigan, which is In tlie
heart of the Lake Superior copepr mining region,
has the highest assessed valuation of property
per capita of any county in the United States.
The total valuation for the county is $120,000,-
000.
ion for an _„_
,