Chapter D: W. Barlow, Nettleton, Mo.—Honey-dew is a sweet substance found

on the leaves of certain trees and plants in small drops, like dew. There are two kinds of honey-dew, one which exudes from plants, and the other which is deposited on leaves by an insect called the _aphis_, or vine-fretter.

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H. M. Eastman, Fourche, D. T.—The oldest form of religion now extant is the Hebrew religion. The next oldest, probably, are Parseeism, or the religion of Zoroaster, and Brahmanism. All of these have changed materially as regards ceremonial, but in doctrine they are essentially consistent with the faith of their founders.

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“306,” Dana, Iowa—General P. H. Sheridan was at Sedan, by courtesy of the King of Prussia, at the time of the surrender of Napoleon III. and Marshal MacMahon’s army. At the opening of the battle, according to the account of the correspondent of the New York _Tribune_, written on the field, “the King, Count Bismarck, General Von Roon, the War Minister, General von Moltke, and Generals Sheridan and Forsythe stood in a group overlooking the principal field of attack.”

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Leonard Bauman, Clarence, Iowa—The most productive salt region of the United States is the Saginaw salt district, Michigan. The most famous and productive salt mines in the world are those of the rock salt region of Wieliczka, in Gallicia, a province of Polish Austria. Great chambers have been excavated in the solid salt, some of them fully 150 feet in height, and of immense length and breadth. One of these is fitted up as a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony.

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An Engineer, Des Moines, Iowa—The assertion that State prisons are filled with criminals of good education is a gross exaggeration. Unhappily, the laws of all the different States do not provide for full and carefully kept statistics, but in all cases where such statistics are kept they go to show that, as a rule, ignorance is the accompaniment, if not the foster parent, of crime. For the most reliable report on this subject write to the Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C., asking for copy of the paper of Dr. Wickersham, read at a recent session of the National Teachers’ Association.

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P. L. Stevens, Montfort, Wis.—Coal oil is much better as a preservative of fence posts than kerosene oil, which is more expensive and is not so effective.

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Peter Sanborn, Chicago.—Every soldier who, prior to June 22, 1874, had made a homestead entry of less than 160 acres, may enter so much more as, when added to the quantity previously entered, shall not exceed 160 acres.

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S. G. Salisbury, Independence, Kan.—You are right in the opinion that the President may call the militia from one State to another.

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Subscriber, Chicago.—The great single span of the Brooklyn bridge is 1,595½ feet, or about one-half longer than the great span in the Cincinnati suspension bridge, which is 1057 feet.

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F. V. Noggle, Galien, Mich.—Probably the deepest mine in the world in actual working is a shaft in the Rosebridge colliery, near Wigan, Eng., which is 2,445 feet deep.

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C., Muscatine, Iowa—According to the laws of Iowa, one-third of the estate, real and personal, of a wife who dies without issue and intestate goes to her husband as dower, and the rest goes to her parents or heirs on the parents’ side.

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A Subscriber, Pittsburg, Ind.—1. The total number of troops called for by the President during the late civil war was 2,763,670 men, and there were 2,772,408 men furnished, besides 86,724 paid commutations, making an aggregate of 2,859,132 men.

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A. O. A., Cambridge, Wis.—The total tobacco crop of the United States in 1880, as given by the statisticians of the Bureau of Agriculture, was 446,296,889 pounds, valued at $36,414,615. The crop of 1881 was 449,880,014 pounds, valued at $43,372,336.

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A Farmer, Cresco, Iowa.—Trichinæ may sometimes be seen with the naked eye, appearing as minute specks. They average in size one-seventy-eighth of an inch in length and one-thirtieth in breadth, and it does not require a very powerful microscope to disclose them.

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R. A. Santer, Hitesville, Iowa.—To kill white willow, cut it close to the ground in February or March to encourage the wood growth, and then cut again about the middle of the following August. If any of them sprout after that, keep them cut back and the roots must perish.

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Minnie Brumfield, Perry, Iowa.—“Sheridan’s Ride” was written by Thomas Buchanan Read, one of the most delightful of American poets.

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John Nail, Xenia, Ill.—Your question has been answered very recently. A husband and wife cannot, both, make pre-emption or homestead entries. A married woman can do so only where she is held to be the virtual head of the family, as in case of the insanity or imprisonment of her husband, or abandonment.

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A Subscriber, Hobart, Ind.—The proportion of butter in milk varies with the breed of cattle and their food. The average is about 5 per cent in good milk. It is nearer 6 per cent in the milk of Jersey cows on good feed. The proportion of butter in cream also varies considerably. It will average about 5½ pounds of butter to ten of cream.

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