the Shorthorn, uncertain. It is claimed by students of the history of these animals that they were bred from the original English stock. Richard Tompkins and a man by the name of Haywood were among the earlier and more important breeders of Herefords. These animals were first imported into the United States to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1817, by a man named Henry.

The Herefords are large, but not quite as large as the Shorthorns. Their horns are white, and

curve forward and downward, and are longer than those of the Shorthorn breed. The neck of a Hereford is rather long, and tapers toward the head. In color the animal is medium red with white face, white feet, and white tail, and with white under the body.

Another one of the famous breeds of beef cattle is the Aberdeen Angus or, as it is sometimes called, the Polled Angus. This breed originated in northeast Scotland, and is perhaps descended from the English cattle.

Some of the early breeders of Polled Angus cattle were William McCombie, Lord Southesk, and the Watson family.

Mr. George Grany of Victoria, Kansas, has the honor of first bringing these animals to America, having brought some of them to his home at Victoria in 1873.

Aberdeen Angus cattle have no horns. This is the reason they are sometimes called "Polled" Angus cattle. Their bodies are rather round and they are compactly built. In color they are solid black.

THE OLD BARN

Low, swallow-swept and gray,
Between the orchard and the spring,
All its wide windows overflowing hay,
And crannied doors a-swing,

The old barn stands to-day.

Deep in its hay the Leghorn hides

A round white nest; and, humming soft
On roof and rafter, or its log-rude sides,
Black in the sun-shot loft,

The building hornet glides.

Along its corn-crib, cautiously

As thieving fingers, skulks the rat;

Or in warped stalls of fragrant timothy,
Gnaws at some loosened slat,

Or passes shadowy.

A dream of drouth made audible

Before its door, hot, smooth, and shrill

All day the locust sings.

Shall hold it, lazier still

What other spell

Than the long day's, now tell:

Dusk and the cricket and the strain

Of tree-toad and of frog; and stars

That burn above the rich west's ribbed stain;
And dropping pasture bars,

And cow-bells up the lane.

Night and the moon and katydid,

And leaf-lisp of the wind-touched boughs;
And mazy shadows that the fireflies thrid;
And sweet breath of the cows,

And the lone owl here hid.

-MADISON J. CAWEIN.

If the farmer does not raise his own meat, he is at the mercy of high prices-he must pay dearly for it even though the sellers may demand for it three or five or ten times what it should really cost. Bacon that the farmer could produce for himself for less than five cents a pound is sold to him in the market for from fifteen to twenty cents a pound. In the last ten years there has been a steadily increasing alarm about the high and higher cost of living, and thinkers have given themselves much concern as to how to solve the problem. The intelligent farmer can work out the solution of the problem for himself, simply by producing on his own farm the foodstuffs that he needs. It is not only a good plan for the farmer to produce the meat needed for his own household, but it is very much to his advantage to have a surplus to sell.