THE PINE KNOT.
SOUTHERN PINES, N;
Fifteen years a;jro the buffalo ranges p
Kansas and Colorado were covered with
thousands of these animals. The other
day a party went out from Denver, and
after a week's hunting managed to kilt
three from a herd of twenty-nine that
they found in Lost Pa k. It is said 1 hat
there are not more than 2,000 buffaloes
now in existcn:e. Systematic slaughter
has produced this shameful resu't.
Tulane university, at New Orleans, to
which a New York woman has recently
given $103,000, is to be the recipient of
the valuable ' archives ( of the Lou siana,
Historical Society. Iiruing the civil war
the building in which they were kept was'
pillaged and the content were carried
north. The secretary of th3 WisconsipJ
Historical Society ' discovered them in
the possession of a soldier in Iowa, pur-J
chased and kindly returnee! them, to their'
original home. !
'She, can't control her tonguen or f lIJe;
can't control his tongue1 are frequently
heard in this world where people, be'ng
unable to control the very tongues that.
make use of the phrase, talk a great deal,
about their neighbors. But there is in
St. Louis a man who literally cannot cork-l
trol his tongue, and the county medical
society is looking into his case." Botts is
the man's name. Muscular action being
involuntary, hU tongue shoots in and oijt;
of his mouth as does the tongue of a
snake.
1
'The St. Louis Glohe-Democrat relatqsj
that while Edwin Booth was in Mil-;
waukee this year he had a very curious ;
experience with an, autograph hunter. JL-.
geutleman called on him at' his hotel,
and having gained admission to his rooini
asked him if he would kindly write his
autograph in an album which he (the vis
itor) had brought with liiin. . Mr. Bo nth
answered with a courteous affirmative!.
The visitor opened the album at a certain
place, which he had marked, and said
to Mr. Booth: ; 'Please write your name
under that one.' Mr. Booth at a glance
saw that the -riamc under which he was
asked to put his autograph was that of
his dead brother, the assassin of Mri
Lincoln J. Wilkes Booth. Withoaj;
saying a word or looking up at his vis-:
itor, he closed the album with an angry
slap, and threw it violently against the
nearest-wall. . The autograph hunter
took the hint, picked up his book ant
walked out of the room."
Tiger-Slayer Simpson, lately back5
from Bengal, says -it- is little short
madness t6 try on foot to come up with j
a tiger. Though the beast have a ball
in his heart he still can chalrgc even a
hundred yards.and then strike a murder-
- j i
ous blow with his mighty paws. Per
haps the boldest instance of shooting on
foot, the success of which was evidently
more the result of good luck than good
management, is to be found in a story
told by a gallant old Frenchman named ;
Devcria, who, says Mr. Simpson', had
served under the great Napoleon, and'
was a remarkably daring and cdoI man. ;
He was informed that a tiger had taken
up its quarters near his house, so he went?
and took a look at it crouching in
the grass. He returned home and cleaned
his one single-barreled rifle, fitted
bullet to it after much trimming wit
his penknife, and. rallied forth intending
to shot at the animal from some distance,1;
but he thou.ht as bs bid only at fe
chauce he had better get closer, so he
walked up to within about fifteen yards
of it. The tiger never moved, and tlifc
Frenchman killed it oh the spot with 4
ball throu .h the b:ain.
1 'The, straighten and probably the
best built 400 miles of railroad in the
world, '1 says Demas Rarnes, just back to
New York from Russia, 'is betwcea S&
Petersburg and Mcscowh The con
tractors who completed this enterprise
were two Americans Messrs. Winan?f
of Baltimore, and Harrisoi, of Phila
delphia. They are said to have pocketed
sorne $15,000,000 'each as a reward for
their enterprise. Trains uro l the road
are mirr.erou,; cars good, freight busi
ness heavy, station houses fine and meals
'irst-dass."
An ex-Con federate gives the following
description of the guerilla Gcnerd and
ex-Consul to Hong Kong : "John S.
Mosby is a slight,bent, blcjnde man, with
a cold grf.-y eye containing no more ex
pression than a boy's marble. lie talks
slowly, never gets excited, and do?s not
know what fear is.. He loves his friends
and hates his enemies, and he carries his
n'ght to the death.; I lately heard a story
from a Captain in the Union Army of a
scene in which Mcsby took part during
the war. - A Union regiment had diiveu
him with a small body of his men into a
ten-acre field, about which was a high
fence. They could see him plainly
within it and they surrounded the field
and began trclose in on Mosby. They
wanted to capture him.au he had already
killed i nearly half their regiment. They
closed in upon him slowly, his handful
of troops still firing. They had backed
him up close to a fence, and they appar
ent' y had him in their grasp, when he
drove his spurs into his horse and went
over the fence like a flash, and as he did
so turned in the ait upon his saddle and
shot a soldier through the head with his
revolver. There are fovv such shots as
Mosby, 1 and during the war he shot to
kill." By the way, Colonel Mosby is to
lecture fifty times this winter, receiving
$500 a lecture. ' !
Ducks in Uunderground Pouds.
Panther Creek is a stream in North
eastern Colorado, i One of the sources of
the creek is a shallow, seclgy pond, from
which the water pours over a miniature
precipice some ten feet in height and five
or six in width. The pond is the resort
in their; season of a great; many wild
ducks, who feed on the sedgy plants
growing oh i s margin? and shallow bot
tom. Last year a neighboring ranchman
noticedithat on disturbing these water
fowl, in place of flying off to adistaace.
they cire'ed about for a fewj minutes one!
then dashed through the veil of water
formed by th
falls
coming
frcm the
pond. ";;' : ' j
Though a good deal astonished the
ranchman had then no time for investi
gation of the singular circumstance, and
not until a short time ago did he follow
the traqks of the ducks through the fall
ing waters. Beyond a slight ducking he
exi erienred no inconvenience in passing
behind She falls. Once there and the
way wV.s clear. Opening before him was
a passage three feet in -width, and of
suiEcient height to allow a man to pass
upright. The walls of the subterranean
way were dripping with water, and un
doubtedly passed directly beneath the
pond, life had not gone many yards be
fore the sound of great quacking fell
upon his cars. "Hastening his pace, he
soon came unon a large; cavern,, in the
center of which was a lake. The sur
face of the lake was thick, with ducks.
The water fowl was mostly! mallard and
teal, though several other varieties were
represented. .
On the approach of the intruder the
ducks rose in an immense cloud and dis
appeared through an opening beyond tha
lake.. One adventurer followed them and
found another and similar lake, covered
withj wild ducks. Again the fowl arose,
and with frightened and claroorous
quacks thronged through another pas
sageway. Here the pursuer found the
largest lake of all, and the end of the I
subterraneau water chain." The ducks '
now took the back track, and he could j
hear the rush of their wins and the
saund "of their ha sh notes growing j
foiater as they sought the safety of the
outer aTr.v C'leienne ( Wiohi'iny) Lender
In StJ Petersburg the police can at any
time enter any dwelling to search for
ihilit, and, there is no habeas corpus.
AGHICULTURAL
TOPICS OF IXTKItESTjRKLiATIVK
TO PA113I AND GARDEN.
Squash Vine Korer,
This destructive insect Was discovered
soon after the middle of July, when it
was found to be working ier ous injury
to the squash vines. Several remedial
ag.euts were immediately tried! Thcs.
were injected into the soil close to the
stem of the alccted plants by means of
an injection DuniD constructed on the
principle of a hand corn planter. The
substances used were kerosene emulsions
of different strengths Paris green solu
tion, lime water and a solution of a mix
ture of I"ari3 green and lime. The ker
osene, emulsions had little or no effect.
A solution of Paris green, .one tible
spoonful to ten quarts of water, proved
a partial remedy, as did! lime water.
The best results were secured by a mix
ture of one part of Pars green and
twenty arts of lime in a waterysolution.
This mixture when thoroughly injected
around an affected stem IchecKed the
work of the borer. It is; believed that
this will prove a veTy efficient remedy,
but further experiments are necessary
before its merits can be definitely known.
Ohio Experiment Stat, on.
Preparing Land for Grass Seeding.
The land intended forj sowing with
grass seed in the spring should be j lowed
at once by all means, as the most thor
ough pulverization of the soil is indis
pensable for needing with giass without
a crop. , Tha land shouldibe plowed as
deep as niay be judicious, and after lying
a month, should be cro s-plowed and
thrown into back furrows j and left thus
in ridses until the spring, when these
ridges are split and the land leveled. A
thorough working with a cultivator or
the Acme harrow across the furrows will
then fit the soil for the seed. The land
is then smoothed with a brush harrow or
a smoothing plank andj the seed is sown
both ways to get an even stand and left
without any further work. The seed
should I e sown directly after the smooth
ing harrow so that as the soil settles
down it is covered sufficiently. Orchard
grjis? is the best of all kinds to mix with
c'over, as both come into a fit stage for
cutting at the -s ime time. When the
clover fails the orchard grass will ocdupy
the ground fully and remain for many
years. Twenty-five pounds of orchard
grass to ten pounds of re1;clover shbu'.d
be sown in such a case as this. -New
York limes. '
- Cutting Corn with a Reaper.
. An inquiry was suggested in a late
number of the Country Gentleman for a
a reaping machine fitted for cutting
corn , sown for fodder, to obviate the
slow work of reaping by (hand. Since
the appearance of that inquiry, we ac
cepted an invitation from j). M. Dunn
ing
oi AUDurn, 10 examine nis corn
crop, cut ana bound with a self binder,
and to witness its operation. He showed
us a ten-acre field which had been all
neatly cut and h ndsomely bound with
cord, the only hand la-bor 1 being that o
placing the sheaves in shocks. The corn
had been sown wih a wheat-drill, at the
rate of a bushel and a half, of seed to the
acre, all the tubes running, the soil
being rich and clean, without .weeds,
the surface remaining smooth and level.
The growth of the stalks, which was too
thick for ears to form, was about five
feet high. Io cultivation had been
given. When the growth was moderate,
the cutter bur, which wa? six feet long,
took about four feet in breadth, but on
the heavier portions of th? crop it cut
only two or three feet. Two horses drew
the machine. On witnessing the opera
tion in an adjacent field, there appeared
to be r.o difficulty whatever in its work-1
ing. The driving wheels were :of the j
usual width, and where the ground was
soft sunk an inch or more into the soil;
and with the view of hr.ving a machine
which will serve both jfor corn and
wheat, it may be well to increase slightly
the width of the wheels, as corn ground,
from later cultivation, is commonly more
mellow than settled whe4t land. Tho
sheaves, regulated in size by self operat
ing mschinerv, were quite uniformly
about eleven inches in diameter, and
weig' ed fifteen or twenty pounds. A trial
was made on a heavier crbpT averaging
about six feet high and partly prostiated
in some places by a stormi The reaper
went through the e portions without
difficulty when the swath was necessarily
null . . i i . t
a little narrower tnan
with smaller up
right corn. j
A trial was made
at our request on
common corn planted in bills and weU
loaded with ears, taking one row at a
time. The only difficulty in this work
was in the large size of the ta-s, whicb
tended to choaly the throat of the elevat
ing attachment. " It was obvious that
this difficulty could be removed by mak
in"1 this passarc adjustable and adapted
tothc size of the ears. AVhere these were
not large the tutting nd binding were
well performed, j
To those who have employed sickles
and hand-cutting, the great advantage
of employing a self-binding reaper as a
saver of labor must be obvious, especially
for filling silos. Cutting corn in thi
way, raisea in nnis wua nai cuuurc,
where small and early ripening sorts are
planted for removal at the beginning of
autumn, would lessen the objection to
sowing winter wheat after corn. The
difficulty of clearing the corn off out of
the way in time for the wheat crop has
been a leading objection to this course,
which otherwise would often prove ad
vantageous. Or late in autumn a crop of
rye might follow the corn for early spring
feeding, or for ploughing under in May
for green manure. Corn land wh:ch has
been well manmed before planting, if
thoroughly cultivated and mellowedr
would not be a b id preparation for sow
ing winter grain, if the earlier and smaller
kinds have been planted5lt is hardly
necessary to allude'to the advantage oi
being able to cut up a crop of corn rap
idly before a threatened frost. Country
Gentleman.
An Anecdote of Grant.
An officer who served on Grant's staff
during the war said to the Boston 7Vap
elkr'is Washington correspodent:' "Thi
first time I ever saw Grant was 'when hi
came to take command of the armyi Thil
was at Brandywine station. We had
been accustomed to see McClellan, Hal
leek, Burnside nnd the other Generalj
go about from brigade to brigade, and
division to division, attended by a cloud
of gorgeously uniformed staff officers,
and, of course, we expected thatGrant'i
arrival would have a great deal of show
in it. We were awaiting bis arrival,
knowing thathe was on his way, when
a freight train rolled in. There was a
caboose on the end, and out jumped two
men. One of theni was a short, Etnmpy
man, with a full brown beard. He wore
a black slouch hat," tipped down on his
eyvs. As he picked his way over the
railroad tra.ks to the station a soldier
who ha 1 been at Fort Donelson shouted:
'Here's Graut, boys.' On the platform
was General Ingalls, the Commissary
General of the army, and wlio was one
of Grant's classmates. lie recognized
his old comrade, and they shook handi
for a moment. Then Ingalls invited hii
commander to take a seat in a four in
hand which was waiting. It, was raining,
but Grant stood a while and looked ovei
the turnout; then got inside and drove to
headquarters. Gen. Ingalls had provided
a most magnificent dinner for the com
mander. Grant sat and ate he irtily,
and after he had finished he turned and
inquired: 'Ingalls, where did you get
al'i the stuff?' The Commissary General
replied with some pride that he had
brcught it down from Washington ex
pressly for the event. Then Grant
wanted to know if the Soldiers were in
the habit of getting a lay-out like that.
Uj on being answered in the negative,.
Grant said: 'Ingalls, I have been in the!
habit of eating a soldier's rations. What'i 1
good enough for them is good enough
for me.' Ingalh didn't fnegleci to taki
the hint, and there were no more gor
geous banquets after that in the head
quarters of the Army of the Potomac.
After this' episode Grrfnt smoked, and
finally said: 'One more question, In
galls. Where did you get that four-in-hand:'
'It has been attached to the
headquarters for the use of the com
manding crcneral for a lornr time, sir.'
was the response.. Grant never changed
bis expression as he replied: 'I don't
wantithere. TuTus; the next t'me w
need it it will be used in the field as as
ambulance' and it was.
The Last of the Buffalo.
Lost Park is so hard of access that thi
few bisDu still in the State find that local
ity a place of comparative safetv. Out
side of the remainder of this herd, t wen
- i ty-si iu number, Mr. Swera snys there
are seven bison oi this ariciy-s;iit ex
isting in ths United States and.twenty oi
another. Tiie herd of seven, according
to Mr. Swcm, is located on Itabbit Ea:
l ange, between Middle and South Parks
The other small herd said to be undei
go vernment protection in the Yllowttoni
Parle. The ranire in Lost Park is twi-ntr
- . four by seventy-five miles in length ant
. V.a an elflrflfinn tf n(arlv 10 "I'lll
Leicer TiVunt