Keep Bees.

The Apiary

The beginning of the new year is a general time of settling accounts and making resolutions for the future. The head of many a family is overcast with gloom as he ascertains the true state of his affairs, and perceives how little he has to show from the past year of toil. His family may have been industrious in a general way, and yet been consumers only, and not producers. We knew a farmer's family where there were three daughters just budding into womanhood. On inquiring of the mother what she had to sell to clothe her daughters with, she answered, Not a thing. Have you no butter, eggs, fowls, honey, or bees-wax to sell from this good farm? No, nothing. These girls were not idle! Oh no. They pounded the organ, and the result was music as sweet as filing a saw; crocheted, darned lace, and helped mother. When their father went to town they asked him to bring them a pair of shoes, a bustle, or a necktie, with no thought or care. And all the while the neighbors said "he was hard run."

There are few farmers' families that are so situated that they can not care for a few colonies of bees. They not only need the sweets they gather, but these industrious insects help to fertilize the bloom of their orchards and meadows. Nature has appointed this insect, and it alone, to do this work for her.

Honey can be used in many ways as a substitute for sugar—in canning fruit, making cookies, and for other culinary purposes.

We would advise all those contemplating bee-keeping to start on a small scale, if they have had no previous training. Two colonies are plenty, and then let their knowledge increase in the same ratio as do their bees. The next thing in order, after purchasing bees, should be a good standard work on apiculture; and study it well. A person should be full of theory, and then they are ready for practice. Those who are energetic, willing to work, intelligent and willing, eager to learn, observing, persevering, and attentive to their work, will rarely ever fail in apiculture.

We have heard farmers say that bees will not flourish with the same care given to other farm stock, and that they have not time to attend to them. We would recommend to all such to try the experiment of procuring a colony or two of beautiful Italians, in some good movable frame hive, and present them to the family, with abundance of bee literature, and see if they are not taken care of, especially if the almighty dollar puts in an appearance.

Mrs. L. Harrison.

Prof. Cook, at the late Michigan Convention of Bee-keepers, spoke in this wise on the topic of the New Bees:

"I have had no experience with the Cyprian bees, but I think more and more of the Syrian. I find no trouble to handle them, and take my large class of students, new to the business, right into the apiary. These thirty or forty students daily manipulate the bees, doing everything that the bee-keeper ever needs to do, and rarely ever get stung. I find that the comb honey of the Syrians is excellent, that the bees go readily into the sections. We did not get all our sections so that they could be crated without the use of the separators; but I am not sure but that it was more our fault than the fault of the bees. They are very prolific, breeding even when there is no nectar to gather, and they often gather when other bees are idle. I have this fall secured from Mr. Frank Benton a Carniolan queen, and shall try crossing the Carniolans with the Syrians. Perhaps we can thus secure a strain with the amiability of the Carniolan, and the business of the Syrians."

Mr. Willingford, of Carlingford, Ontario, who had a crop of several tons of honey this year, has taken it to England for sale.

Manufacturersof tobacco, of pickles, of cakes and cookies, confectioners, and pork-packers are now using honey more extensively than ever in the preparation of their specialties.

A singularinstance of bee-swarming occurred a short time ago in Singapore harbor, on board the British steamer Antonio, which at the time was lying entirely outside the shipping in the roads. A swarm of wild bees from the shore suddenly located themselves directly under the sternpost of a boat lying above the deck, and all attempts to drive them away proved unavailing, the chief officer being very severely stung in endeavoring to get rid of them. They held to their position for several days, and were eventually destroyed after the steamer had hauled alongside the wharf.

Rev. L.L. Langstrothrecently said: When I commenced bee-keeping, a sting caused much swelling, but in time this trouble passed away. Several years passed, during which I handled no bees, and when I again attempted it, I found myself more susceptible to the poison than ever, but by continuing to work with the bees, disregarding the stings, my former indifference returned.

Ohiobee-keepers will discuss the following questions at the Columbus meeting on the 14-16: How to winter bees successfully. How many brood-frames are necessary in one hive? What can be done to prevent adulteration of honey? How to create a home market for honey. How many colonies can be kept in one locality? Can we do without separators? What shall we do with second swarms? Which is the most salable section—one-half, one, or two pounds? Which are best—deep or shallow frames? Is it advisable to have a standard-size frame for all bee-keepers?

Manyare inquiring the proper way to let bees out on shares, so as to have both parties satisfied. I do not know any such way, for the most I have known in regard to letting bees out on shares resulted in both parties being dissatisfied. But it all depends on what the agreement is; and perhaps you had better have it down in writing. One case I have recently heard of, the agreement was to divide the profits. Well, it so happened that there was no profit, but there was a pretty big loss; and as no provision had been made for this state of affairs, each one felt disposed to put the loss on to the shoulders of the other. I decided it would be about fair to divide the loss; but very likely circumstances might make this not the right way after all. So says the editor of Gleanings. It strikes us that he is all right, but if he had said to bee-keepers "use the same common sense as to contracts that people do in other kinds of business," he would have covered the whole ground.

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The feminine portion of our population is getting to be mighty independent. Instead of waiting, Micawber-like, for something (a man) to turn up they are going to work to turn it up themselves. They would rather make a living for themselves than have a man to make it for them. They are teaching schools, operating telegraph instruments and telephones, clerking, keeping books of account, type-writing, doing short-hand reporting, lecturing, preaching, practicing law, and some have so far fallen from grace as to be editing papers. But many of these occupations present closed doors to our country girls and women. Many of these can not leave their country homes, and these occupations, with the exception of school teaching, can not be carried on in the country. Others, who could leave home, are chary of braving the wiles and temptations of the city, and their friends are still more loth to have them go. The great need is some work, light, respectable, and yet fairly remunerative, which our country lassies can carry on at home. School teaching is possible, but teaching country district schools is the most thankless of all drudgery, and, besides, a majority of our young women are not able to endure the worry and close confinement. If it can be made successful, sericulture offers by far the best opportunity to country girls to earn their own pin money, or even their own living. It can be engaged in at home; it is light, pleasant, and interesting work; and there is no doubt that American silk can be produced of such a quality that there will be a brisk demand for it at good prices. But if all this be true the question at once presents itself, Why have not American women engaged largely in sericulture?

The answer is that they have been appalled at the very outset by the alleged expense of the undertaking. The promoters of the enterprise took to writing books. There was an excuse for this amounting almost to a necessity. To engage in silk culture, a person must be possessed of some special knowledge. It is no harder than poultry or bee-keeping, but a person to succeed at these must have some expert knowledge, and as sericulture was a new thing, beginners must have books containing what they needed. But these authors made the business much more difficult and expensive than it should be. First of all, they laid it down as one of the Medes and Persian laws of sericulture, that the worms must have mulberry leaves to subsist upon. Mulberry sprouts are costly to begin with; then the trees must grow at least two years, and should grow five years, before the leaves are used. This, of itself, was enough to deter but a very few from silk culture. But they made it appear, also, that very expensive appliances for a cocoonery were necessary, and only the most costly breeds of worms should be used, entailing greater expense and difficulty. The books were, and for that matter are, filled with dry scientific details of the internal construction of the worm and of its habits—details which only confused the learner and which, though giving an author material from which to deduce rules of instruction, should have been omitted from the book and their place supplied with the rules deduced. In short, it seemed to be the prime object to make sericulture as hard and forbidding as possible, and to deter the people from it rather than to induce them to engage in the work. For this very reason there has been considerable popular indifference to it, and from the agricultural press it has not received that attention which so promising an industry deserves. I would not be so unjust as to leave the reader to infer that all authors on sericulture have been thus guilty. There have been some very few who from the very start have presented it in as easy and practicable a light as was consistent with successful work. Nor would I be ready to assert that those who have said it could not be made financially profitable without mulberry groves, fancy priced worms, and expensive appliances, have done so from base motives. Yet it would appear as if not a few could be justly indicted of this; for they have mulberry sprouts, fancy priced worms, and costly appliances to sell. And perhaps it occurred to them that if they deterred the people generally from taking hold of it, they would have less opposition and competition.

But be this as it may, the fact is that it is not necessary to have mulberry groves, costly appliances, or even fancy priced worms (though good worms only should be reared), in order to profitably engage in sericulture. I know of no business presenting so promising an opening that requires less capital. And I say this, having no axe to grind in any way, simply for the sake of those girls and women who might make money by it, and who would do so if they only knew the facts. I have no book, no sprouts, no worms, nothing whatever, to sell.

I have said that the leaves of the mulberry are not essential to silk growing. If this be true the greatest obstacle in the way of sericulture becoming a great national industry will have been removed. And that it is true is proven by the experience of not a few practical silk-growers. Without exception those who have tested the matter say that the leaves of the Osage-orange are equal to those of the mulberry, and some say they are better. My position brings me into correspondence with the leading specialists in agricultural pursuits, and among others with many practical silk-growers. To-day I received letters from three silk-growers, one in Illinois, one in Kansas, and one in California. Each had fed the leaves of the Osage-orange exclusively for the last two years, and with the best results. One said there was no doubt that they were at least equal to the leaves of the mulberry, and the other two pronounced them superior. One of our best authorities on sericulture, Prof. Barricelli, has shown by means of chemical analyses and other scientific data, that as nourishment for silk-worms the Osage is superior to the mulberry. In fact, nine-tenths of the practical silk-growers of the West, those who are making it not only practicable but profitable, are now feeding Osage leaves exclusively. This should be known by the people at large. There can be no monopoly of the Osage-orange. No one can demand of the expectant silk culturist exorbitant prices for Osage sprouts. In very few localities will it be necessary to plant the Osage even. We have an abundance of Osage hedges, particularly in the West. In such localities the silk culturist will be at no expense whatever for food for the worms, and will not be under even the necessity of waiting a couple of years for it to grow. When this is more fully understood by the girls and women of the country, we may expect silk culture to assume the importance of a profitable national industry.

John M. Stahl.

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The Youth's Companion

FOR 1884.

THE COMPANION presents below the Announcement of its Fifty-Seventh Volume. Its unusual character, both in the range of its topics, and its remarkably brilliant list of Contributors, will, we trust, be accepted as a grateful recognition of the favor with which the paper has been received by more than 300,000 subscribers.

Illustrated Serial Stories.

A Story of English Rustic Life, byThomas Hardy.The Foundling of Paris, byAlphonse Daudet.A Boys' Story, byJ.T. Trowbridge.The Covenanter's Daughter, byMrs. Oliphant.A Story of Adventure, byC.A. Stephens.My School at Orange Grove, byMarie B. Williams.

Science and Natural History.

Eccentricities of Insanity, byDr. W.A. Butler.Common Adulterations of Food, byDr. J.C. Draper.The Home Life of Oysters, and other Natural History Papers, byArabella B. Buckley.Wonders in Ourselves; or the Curiosities of the Human Body, byDr. Austin Flint, Jr.Insect Enemiesof the Garden, the Orchard and the Wheat-Field, byA.S. Packard, Jr.Demons of the Air and Water.A fascinating Series of Papers on Sanitary Science, byR. Ogden Doremus.The Youth Of the Brain, "Speech in Man," "Animal Poisons and their Effects," and Other Papers, byDr. W.A. Hammond.Strange Ways Of Curing People. A Description of Curious Sanitaria,—the Peat, Mud, Sand, Whey, and Grape Cures, byWilliam H. Rideing.

Encouragement and Advice.

Hints for Poor Farmers, byC.E. Winder.The Failures of Great Men, byJames Parton.A Dietary for Nervous People, byDr. W.A. Hammond.Hints for Country House-Builders, byCalvert Vaux.The Gift Of Memory, and Other Papers, giving Instances of Self-Help, bySamuel Smiles.A New Profession for Young Men.The Opportunities for Young Men as Electrical Engineers, byThomas A. Edison.At the Age Of Twenty-One.A Series of Papers showing what Great Men had accomplished, and what they proposed doing, at that period of their lives, byEdwin P. Whipple.

Original Poems.

BY ALFRED TENNYSON,VICTOR HUGO,THE EARL OF LYTTON,J.C. WHITTIER,T.B. ALDRICH,DR. CHARLES MACKAY,And Many Others.

BY ALFRED TENNYSON,VICTOR HUGO,THE EARL OF LYTTON,J.C. WHITTIER,T.B. ALDRICH,DR. CHARLES MACKAY,And Many Others.

Illustrated Adventure and Travel.

Shark-Hunting, byT.B. Luce.Four Amusing Stories, byC.A. Stephens.Outwitted. An Indian Adventure, byLieut. A. Chapin.A Honeymoon in the Jungle, byPhil. Robinson.Wrecked Upon a Volcanic Island, byRichard Heath.Stories of the Cabins in the West, byE.J. Marston.Adventures in the Mining Districts, byH. Fillmore.The Capture of Some Infernal Machines, byWilliam Howson.Breaking in the Reindeer, and Other Sketches of Polar Adventure, byW.H. Gilder.An American in Persia, by the American Minister Resident, Teheran,S.G.W. Benjamin.China as Seen by a Chinaman, by the Editor of the Chinese American,Wong Chin Foo.Stories Of Menageries. Incidents connected with Menagerie Life, and the Capture and Taming of Wild Beasts for Exhibition, byS.S. Cairns.Boys Afoot in Italy and Switzerland.The Adventures of two English boys travelling abroad at an expense of one dollar a day, byNugent Robinson.

Reminiscences and Anecdotes.

Stage-Driver Stories, byRose Terry Cooke.Stories of Saddle-Bag Preachers, byH.L. Winckley.My First Visit to a Newspaper Office, byMurat Halstead.Queen Victoria'sHousehold and Drawing-Rooms, byH.W. Lucy.Child Friendshipsof Charles Dickens, by his Daughter,Mamie Dickens.Our Herbariums; Adventures in Collecting Them, byA Young Lady.My Pine-Apple Farm, with incidents of Florida Life, byC.H. Pattee.Bigwigsof the English Bench and Bar, by a London Barrister,W.L. Woodroffe.At School with Sir Garnet Wolseley, and the Life of a Page of Honor in the Vice-Regal Court of Dublin, byNugent Robinson.Student Waiters. Some Humorous Incidents of a Summer Vacation in the White Mountains, byChild McPherson.

The Editorials of the Companion, without having any bias, will give clear views of current events at home and abroad.The Children's Pagewill sustain its reputation for charming pictures, poems, and stories for the little ones.

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Household.

For nothing lovelier can be foundIn woman than to studyhouseholdgood.—Milton.

For nothing lovelier can be foundIn woman than to studyhouseholdgood.—Milton.

A frosty chill was in the air—How plainly I remember—The bright autumnal fires had paled,Save here and there an ember;The sky looked hard, the hills were bare,And there were tokens everywhereThat it had come—November.I locked the time-worn school-house door,The village seat of learning.Across the smooth, well trodden pathMy homeward footstep turning;My heart a troubled question bore,And in my mind, as oft before,A vexing thought was burning."Why is it up hill all the way?"Thus ran my meditations:The lessons had gone wrong that dayAnd I had lost my patience."Is there no way to soften care,And make it easier to bearLife's sorrows and vexations?"Across my pathway through the woodA fallen tree was lying;On this there sat two little girls,And one of them was crying.I heard her sob: "And if I could,I'd get my lessons awful good,But what's the use of trying?"And then the little hooded headSank on the other's shoulder.The little weeper sought the armsThat opened to enfold her.Against the young heart, kind and true,She nestled close, and neither knewThat I was a beholder.And then I heard—ah! ne'er was knownSuch judgment without malice,Nor queenlier council ever heardIn senate, house or palace!—"I should have failed there, I am sure,Don't be discouraged; try once more,And I will help you, Alice.""And I will help you." This is howTo soften care and grieving;Life is made easier to bearBy helping and by giving.Here was the answer I had sought,And I, the teacher, being taughtThe secret of true living.If "I will help you" were the rule.How changed beyond all measureLife would become! Each heavy loadWould be a golden treasure;Pain and vexation be forgot;Hope would prevail in every lot,And life be only pleasure.

A frosty chill was in the air—How plainly I remember—The bright autumnal fires had paled,Save here and there an ember;The sky looked hard, the hills were bare,And there were tokens everywhereThat it had come—November.

I locked the time-worn school-house door,The village seat of learning.Across the smooth, well trodden pathMy homeward footstep turning;My heart a troubled question bore,And in my mind, as oft before,A vexing thought was burning.

"Why is it up hill all the way?"Thus ran my meditations:The lessons had gone wrong that dayAnd I had lost my patience."Is there no way to soften care,And make it easier to bearLife's sorrows and vexations?"

Across my pathway through the woodA fallen tree was lying;On this there sat two little girls,And one of them was crying.I heard her sob: "And if I could,I'd get my lessons awful good,But what's the use of trying?"

And then the little hooded headSank on the other's shoulder.The little weeper sought the armsThat opened to enfold her.Against the young heart, kind and true,She nestled close, and neither knewThat I was a beholder.

And then I heard—ah! ne'er was knownSuch judgment without malice,Nor queenlier council ever heardIn senate, house or palace!—"I should have failed there, I am sure,Don't be discouraged; try once more,And I will help you, Alice."

"And I will help you." This is howTo soften care and grieving;Life is made easier to bearBy helping and by giving.Here was the answer I had sought,And I, the teacher, being taughtThe secret of true living.

If "I will help you" were the rule.How changed beyond all measureLife would become! Each heavy loadWould be a golden treasure;Pain and vexation be forgot;Hope would prevail in every lot,And life be only pleasure.

—Wolstan Dixey.

Although the lady readers ofThe Prairie Farmerhave probably by this time made up the heavier part of their winter wardrobe, still a few suggestions may not be out of place, for the "fashions" is a subject of which we seldom tire.

In discussing the subject of silk and silk-culture at the late Woman's Congress, Mrs Julia Ward Howe said that "although silk is said to be depreciating in value, and is not quite as popular as formerly, yet we must confess it lies very near the feminine heart," at which statement an audible smile passed over the audience, as each one acknowledged to herself its truth.

We are glad to see that wrappers are becoming quite "the thing" for afternoon home wear, and a lady now need not feel at all out of place receiving her callers in a pretty, gracefully made wrapper. The Watteau wrapper is made of either silk or brocaded woolen goods, conveniently short, the back cut square at the neck, and folded in a handsome Watteau plait at the center, with a full ruche effect. A yolk portion of silk fills in the open neck and is sewed flatly underneath to the back. The side seams are curved so that a clinging effect is produced at the sides. Jabbots of lace extending down the front, and a prettily bowed ribbon at the right shoulder, with a standing collar at the neck, and a linen choker collar give the finishing touches to the toilette.

Velvets and velveteens seem to be taking the place of silk, and are really quite as cheap. In fact, velveteens are cheaper, as they are so much wider. A suit of velveteen is fashionable for any occasion—for receptions, church or street costume. The redingote or polonaise is very stylish and pretty, especially for a tall, rather slight person. For a young miss the close-fitting frock coat, with pointed vest effectively disclosed between the cut-away edges of the coat fronts, is much worn. The latter curve away from the shoulders and are nicely rounded off at their lower front corners. An underarm dart gives a smooth adjustment over each hip, and in these darts are inserted the back edges of the vest. Buttons and buttonholes close the vest, but the coat fronts do not meet at all. The coat and long-pointed overskirt can be made of any heavy material, but the vest should be of silk; a deep box-plait on the bottom of the underskirt made of silk to match the vest will make the suit very stylish and pretty.

There ought to be great satisfaction among the wearers of bonnets and hats this season, because they can so easily have what they want—big or little, plain or decorated, as they please. For a person with dark hair, gold braid loosely put around the edge of a velvet capote is very becoming. Bunches of tips are worn much more than the long, drooping plumes, though both are fashionable; while birds—sometimes as many as three on a hat—are often preferred to either. We notice upon the street a great many elegantly dressed ladies with but a single band of wide velvet ribbon fastened somewhat carelessly around the bonnet and tied in a bow under the chin. Unique it may be, but undoubtedly the taste of the wearer, would be the verdict of the passer by. In fact, one can scarcely be out of the fashion in the choice of a bonnet or hat, but care should be taken that it be just the thing for the wearer, and that it be properly put on.

I firmly believe in the doctrine that "good clothes tendeth toward grace." What woman can not talk better when she knows she looks well? She can then forget herself and lose all self-consciousness, which is a state most devoutly to be desired by all women—particularly our young women. So, girls, study your costumes, especially the "superfluities," or "furbelows," as they are wont to be called; make yourselves look as pretty as you possibly can—and then forget yourselves.

I wish all our lady readers might have been here the holiday week, for the stores were perfect bowers of beauty. It was a pretty sight in itself to watch the crowds of happy-faced children, with their little pocket-books in their hands, at the various counters buying presents for father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Children always enjoy Christmas more when they can make, as well as receive, presents. So I hope all our little readers were made happy by both giving and receiving.

I am sorry I could not give you a more satisfactory talk on the fashions, but our space is limited this week. I hope the ladies will not forget that our "Household" department is open to them, and that they will contribute anything that may be of interest to the others.

Mary Howe.

The farmer's wife in the Netherlands has long been using a sort of a silo. Probably she had been doing so for long years before M. Geoffrey began experimenting with preserved stock food in France. The Netherland housewife's silo consists of an earthenware jar about two feet tall. Into one of these jars in summer time she places the kidney bean; in another shelled green peas; in another broad beans, and so on. Making a layer about six inches deep in each. She sprinkles a little salt on top and presses the whole firmly down. Then she adds another layer and more salt. She leaves a light weight on top to keep all well pressed down and exclude the air, in the intervals between pickings for often the harvest of a single day will not fill the jar. When full, she puts on a heavier weight, and covers all with brown paper. She thus has green vegetables preserved for winter. The ensilage is said to be "more or less good, according to taste."

Chicken Salad: Two common sized fowls, one teacup of good salad oil, half a jar of French sweet mustard, the hard-boiled yolks of ten eggs, half a pint of vinegar, one teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, eight heads of celery, one teaspoon of salt or a little more if required. Cut and mix the chicken and celery and set away in a cool place. Mash the eggs to a paste with the oil, then add the vinegar and other things, mix thoroughly, but do not pour it over the salad until about half an hour before serving, as the celery may become wilted.

Soft Gingerbread: One cup butter and two cups sugar well worked together, three eggs well beaten in, one cup New Orleans molasses, one cup good sweet milk and five cups of flour into which has been stirred one teaspoonful baking powder, not heaped, two tablespoonfuls ground cinnamon and one tablespoonful ground ginger. Bake in small dripping pans not too full, as they will rise.

Mixtureof two parts of glycerine, one part ammonia, and a little rose water whitens and softens the hands.

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Farmers, Stockmen,Dairymen,  Fruit-Growers,Gardeners,  Florists,Poultrymen,  Apiarists,Silk-Culturists,  Housekeepers,Architects,    Etc., Etc.

The Prairie Farmer Publishing Companywill give to any person, association, or club, who will obtain and send subscribers toThe Prairie Farmer(including both new subscribers and renewals), at the regular price of the paper ($2) each, any of the books contained in our Book List on the following terms:

Forthreesubscribers, books to the amount of $1.50.

Forfoursubscribers, books to the amount of $2.00.

Forfivesubscribers, books to the amount of $2.50.

Forsixsubscribers, books to the amount of $3.00.

Forsevensubscribers, books to the amount of $3.50.

Foreightsubscribers, books to the amount of $4.00

Fortensubscribers, books to the amount of $5.00.

For Twelve Subscriptions and Upward,

A Dollar's Worth of Books for Every Two Subscriptions sent at $2.00 each.

All books given under these offers will be delivered at our office, No. 150 Monroe street.

If it is desired that they shall be forwarded by express, they will be packed and delivered at the express office by us, the receiver to pay cost of carriage.

Sent by mail to any part of the United States or Canada, the postage will be seven cents on each dollar's worth of books.

It is necessary that parties to whom the books are given shall remit us the postage before the books are sent.

A Dictionary Free!

This is no catchpenny affair, but a valuable lexicon. It is the popular

AMERICAN DICTIONARY,

on the basis of Webster, Worcester, Johnson, and other eminent American and English authorities. It contains over 32,000 words, with accurate definitions, proper spelling, and exact pronunciation; to which is added a mass of valuable information. It is enriched with 400 illustrations.

REMEMBER,

every subscriber at the regular price ofThe Prairie Farmergets this Dictionary FREE, if preferred to our commercial map.

HERE IS ANOTHER.

ROPP'S CALCULATORAnd Account Book for 1884.

This is the most useful thing in the way of a memorandum book and calculator ever issued. It is a work of nearly 80 pages of printed matter and an equal number of blank leaves, ruled, for keeping accounts. The contents include a vast array of practical calculations, 100,000 or more in number, arranged for reference like a dictionary, so that a farmer or business man may turn to the figures, and find the answer to any problem in business.

There are three kinds. We use No. 3. Full leather; assorted colors, with flap, slate pocket, and a renewable account book, ruled with divisions or headings especially adapted to farmers' use. The retail price of this book in leather is $1. We will send itfreeto every subscriber toThe Prairie Farmerwho sends us $2. Or we will sendthreecopies of No. 1, the cheaper issue.

AND YET ANOTHER.

American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness.

It is the latest and best standard work recommended and endorsed by all who have read it. The acknowledged authority. Beautifully and appropriately illustrated; handsomely and substantially bound. It contains 38 chapters, treating on all subjects relating to etiquette. We send this book—plain edition, to any subscriber desiring it who sends $2.00 forThe Prairie Farmeryear, or for two subscribers toThe Prairie Farmerat $2 each, we will send American Etiquette bound in English cloth, burnished edges.

Our large and varied premium list will be issued in a few days. Send for it.

MISCELLANEOUS.

TO PRESERVE THE HEALTH

Use the Magneton Appliance Co.'s

MAGNETIC LUNG PROTECTOR!

PRICE ONLY $5.

They are priceless to LADIES, GENTLEMEN, and CHILDREN with WEAK LUNGS; no case of PNEUMONIA OR CROUP is ever known where these garments are worn. They also prevent and cure HEART DIFFICULTIES, COLDS, RHEUMATISM, NEURALGIA, THROAT TROUBLES, DIPHTHERIA, CATARRH, AND ALL KINDRED DISEASES. Will WEAR any service for THREE YEARS. Are worn over the under-clothing.

CATARRH, It is needless to describe the symptoms of this nauseous disease that is sapping the life and strength of only too many of the fairest and best of both sexes. Labor, study, and research in America, Europe, and Eastern lands, have resulted in the Magnetic Lung Protector, affording cure for Catarrh, a remedy which contains No Drugging of the System, and with the continuous stream of Magnetism permeating through the afflicted organs;must restore them to a healthy action.We place our pricefor this Appliance at less than one-twentieth of the price asked by others for remedies upon which you take all the chances, andwe especially invitethe patronage of themany personswho have trieddrugging the stomachs without effect.

HOW TO OBTAINThis Appliance. Go to your druggist and ask for them. If they have not got them, write to the proprietors, enclosing the price, in letter at our risk, and they will be sent to you at once by mail, post paid.

Send stamp for the "New Departure in Medical Treatmentwithout medicine," with thousands of testimonials,

THE MAGNETON APPLIANCE CO.,218 State Street, Chicago, Ill.

Note.—Send one dollar in postage stamps or currency (in letter at our risk) with size of shoe usually worn, and try a pair of our Magnetic Insoles, and be convinced of the power residing in our Magnetic Appliances. Positivelyno cold feet where they are worn, or money refunded.

CLUB RATES.

To Our Readers.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER is theOldest, Most Reliable,and theLeading Agricultural Journal of the Great Northwest,devoted exclusively to the interests of the Farmer, Gardener, Florist, Stock Breeder, Dairyman, Etc., and every species of Industry connected with that great portion of the People of the World, the Producers. Now in the Forty-Second Year of its existence, and never, during more than two score years, having missed the regular visit to its patrons, it will continue to maintain supremacy as aStandard Authority on matters pertaining to Agriculture and kindred Productive Industries,and as aFresh and Readable Family and Fireside Journal.It will from time to time add new features of interest, securing for each department the ablest writers of practical experience.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER will discuss, without fear or favor, all topics of interest properly belonging to a Farm and Fireside Paper, treat of the most approved practices inAgriculture, Horticulture, Breeding, Etc.;the varied Machinery, Implements, and improvements in same, for use both in Field and House; and, in fact, everything of interest to the Agricultural community, whether inField, Market, or Home Circle.

It will give information upon the public domain, Western soils, climate, etc.; answer Inquirieson all manner of subjects which come within its sphere;giveeach week, full andreliable Market, Crop, and Weather Reports; presentthe family with choice andinteresting literature; amuse andinstruct the young folks: and, in a word, aim to be, in every respect,an indispensable and unexceptionable farmand firesidecompanion.

Terms of Subscription and 'Club Rates':


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