THE FIREMEN OF LONDON. BRAVI FELLOWS. WELL TRAINED AND EpriCIENT. Am fk«TC IfBMlKr la Fur Below the Cttj't Heed* â€" MeaTjr Caiubrnvue aud lande- ^aalr Ai^pamlan Turd. Th« Hetropolitan fire brigade of LonAon city and London county tuLs proved too sniail. There are fewer firea in London in projortion to its Bize, than in any American city of the first cla.<ia; nevertheless, a "standing fire brigade" equal to ail eniergencieii It baa been again and again proved is necessary in the great metropolis. It is a simple qucBtton of matliematicH »s to whether it is cheaper to burn up $10,000,000 every decade In one col- ossal burst of uncontrolled flajiie,, or t» increase the yoarly output and keep ft "staoidlng foToe" equal to the erucial teat, vvhen thai test cornea. The Londoners boa«t that they have ''so few fires." T,u«t year thjere were 4.815 calls or fire alarms, out of theae 925 wore laiao, but had to be answered but let the dreaded duplicate fire of size demand a division of apparatus and what would hai»i«nf Think only of the miles to \» traversed for one of the two huge and efficient trucks to reach a fire, and the force shows up again weak. The fire brigade has in use what is Icnown as THE MANUAL ENGINE. There are eighty of them and for mi- nor caUfi they are used exclusively and do guod work. too. The force po.ssessi-s, strictly speaking but 57 land engines and is dependent on Huburban assis- tance when those fall short. They have also two engine trollies. London leasts two hiundred fire es- OOMMERCIAL PEACH ORCHARDS. For a conuuercial peach orchard, tree« should always be purchased Ln the fall. Select some dry location aiKl heel them Ln deeitly, having all the roots m conitact with the soil. As cold weather approaches, cover the entire top with soU or other material to the point where it is to be out oft at planting time. This protects the trees from excessive evai;oration, as well as Its two Diuncirea iire es- , , .> u • *i, cai» alations and two hundred and ''o°» s^^^re freezmg. By havmg them ~: . _â€" L^..!- : i Una ' S_t na nit tv> fiiM ara^ir^rw r^lavtl-infv r*aw% thirty-Keven fire escapes, but it has only one hundred and fifty-six watch lK>xes. The brigade has eleven cral vans, the caiiaclty of which was severe- ly tried in thi-s last fire calamity, for the engines a.te coal ax did the fire the buildings it was reducing to fuel. To drive tlie rolling stock and pilot the floating stock, the department is furnishetl with soven,ty-five drivers and. seventeen pilots. The total num- eV>r of honses is one hundred and thirty-iseven. No description of a fire department could be complete wi.thout a word al:x)ut the b^iraea. The London fire I brigade has some of the most superb all the same. Of the 3,920 fires that , and well drUled animals In the world, get a start, only 142 proved of really The horses are trained as are ours. They know the alarms and go to their serious proportions and gave battle to the forcn; the rest were trifles, most of them merely chimney fires; which Bp».akB rather badly for the London flue by the way. Th* Metropolitan fire brigade was •stabUshed thirty years ago, after the great fire of 184!6, at which time St. Catharine's docks were destroyed. The ivorlA-famous Capt. Shaw soon took the force in hand and through his services London was content. Never- theless, in 1887, fifteen millions of dol- lars went up in smoke in one grand bon-fire, and almost immediately the maaagement of the fire brigade was changed and given into the hands of tlie county council, which still controls It. So much to past history. THE PRESENT CHIEF of the force, L. De L. Wells, R. N.. has under him only 820 men and an area of 118 square miles to guard and pro- tect; that means that he has the whole of London, hrosully speaking, the city and the county, too. In the thirty years of the life of the brigade it has quadrupled its power and p< ssessioiis but the frequency of fire has almost quadrupled too, and the brigade is nut •trong enouigh. In London there are to-day but 57 laml stations with 17 sub-street sta- tions, and there are something over 10.000 miles of streets to lie covered. I.>a.it yenr the engines traveled o^er 78 175 m' efl in answering their "few calls" to fire, and Ihny used 103,000 tons of water in putting out chim- â- ey fires and the "Ui- that were ser- ious," 1'be truth of the matter is that though London Is water-loggedâ€" lor It rains there three-sevenths of the timeâ€" llhough the very air is 82 i>er cent, water soaked, fire is growing to be daily a more imminent danger. The firemen have to work under the most unfavoralile oonditions, against ma- terial that onne ignited would be in our dry atmoBi>here and frequent droughts, just BO much tinder. It is pleaded that the lyondun firemen can- not be expert as they have no great opportunity for practice. Well, that opportunity, will come, is come, in fact, and in time old, narrow, crooked, liis- torical London will all Ija burned down and rebuilt, which will lessen the fire problems of the future. lle.'iidea the 57 land stations there are five large floating stations, that guard the eml;ankment and (be do ks where lies London's wealth. Thoy have nins firs engines on Imrges and eight •teaim tugs that in case of a water front conflagration rush up and down the 1'hames, in among threatened ship- ping, extinguishing or driving off by faiose iMjwer. floating, burniag wreok- age or, more dangerous still, the burn- ing oil that uuually makes A FEAIUJRE OF HORROR in a river fire. To supplement t he water force there are 18 barges and 1£ skiffs, a force that applied to a les- ser need would lie magnificent, but Ix>nd.on must pay the cost of Iwing the greatest city of the world. Her five flioating L-tations, nine barge en- flnes eight tugs, thirUven liargesand welve skiffs are not enouigh for the miles upon miles of water front, where are enthronewi the money mak- ing mills of the nation, the very seat •f commerce of the "greatest commer- cial country of the glolie." Chief Wells, as has l>een said, has a Itorce of only R20 traineid men under hUra, and some 225 more are laeing put Into working shape. His assistant of- tlt-or is Sidney <>. Oamble, and togetht- er they have done all that lay in their po'\ver til jwrfe-t the force; but for them to charge the posdible emergency â- u<c.h as artifse in November 19 last, with some six hmodred menâ€" for the rest of the city cannot lie entirely ne- Slei'leilâ€" Is to enai't again the famous charge of the Six Hiu'ndied. Thny may Ao tlieir all. Inut help must cume from outside sources; in this, a wide strpet, a falling wall and a dead wind; if the wind bad risen, if Red Cross street had lieen narroiw, if the wall had stood, the fire might have been double its prr>piirtinnp. Fortune saved the day, not force for it was lacking. The entire eqtiiimient of the depart- ment consiata of fifty-nine hose carts and tbirty-tieven miles of hoao, hose that i» (n every way modern and ui>- to-dat», but not eaoug;h of it, or men to handle it for London's requirements. 3%* deipartment has but seven long ladders and two ladder truoks, proji- erly ayeaklac, auppleaniented by nine Uddar "fU»" The total aouuda well, places as promptly as do the men. Stubl>orn or tatupld action on the part- of a fire horse might at any time mean thousands of dollars of extra loss. The horFe, is, of course, utterly ignorant of (this, nor has he any interest in the re.Hult as have his masters, yet who ever heard of the fire hirse that was tardy, that was not willing to use his la.st breath to get there, who was not in place to have his collar snapped on, and at the sound ready to dart out with his heavy clattering load' More honor is due ths fire horse than he gets from the public but he is appre- ciated by his co-Avorkers, the men, and in London, as here, each station has its idol, and the strife for first pla'.e for their horaes amon^ the men is strong. As compared with our home equip- ments THE GENERAL VERDICT in regard to the Knglish fire equip- ment, is that it Is unnei-essiirily heavy cumljerstone, bulkyâ€" that there are Iiounds upon pounds of superfluous weight dragged a'out, whi-h make the placing and shifting of the engines Sn the narrow streets almost impoa- siUie and always a matter of time and delay. If a step is to le made at the ba-k of a truck it is ten times heavi"r than it need I*. It is solid. Knglishly solid. it won't break at an inopitor- tune moment, but it and all the fi.xings of which it stands tyije make the truck just so much more defeat it^ own end. The yearly cost of running this me- tropolitan fire brigade is $775 0"0. an enormous outla,y yet .imall as com- pared with tue risk in the great i-ity. TJiou-sanda Of quarters are in so dan- gerous a condition. des|iln the effi- cient fire force of fog and rain, which the l-rigade supplements, that the in- surance companies will not touch them at all. The government pays ISO 000 of this total for the prote-tion of pub- lic buildings and 199.003 is paid cheer- fully by the insurance oomixinics; the rest, or $655,000 is met by the tax-pay- at hand in the spring, planting can often be 4one lung before the nurs- eryman can deliver his trees. Clay lands should be plowed In the fall, aa the mellowing by frost will permit of better as well as earlier planting. On our level lands w^ i>Iow ao as to plant the treea on the ridge in the center of a narrow land. This assists in drain- age and makes a dee]ier, mellow soil for the tree roota. The trees were planted one rod apart in all the older orchards. Now the tendency is toward a greater dietance. The selection of varieties is a very important matter. Some of the fin- est (leaches do not beajr enough to be profitable. The fruit of some of the beet varieties is too tender for ship- ment. Others rijien sit the time when larger and better varieties are in the market. The list of profitable market sorts is small. The phenomenal success of the Elberta has created a large de- mand for trees of that variety. S« far it tt thb best all around peach grown. A list suitable for one local- ity n' -ht not be the one which should be se .ted for another. Varieties do not l^. have alike in all localities. Mar- kets are not alike in their deman Is. And no list can be given which is ad- apted to all localities. A g^ood rule is to plant the varieties your nearest suc- cessful neighbour has found profitable. Pruning should begin before the tree is planted and cuntinue during its pro- ductive years, but it is most imiortant be left rouifh or be made smooth," Dr. Carr saya^ "the question was submit- ted to this trees, half of the wounds being left as made by the pruning-sD>w, the other being smoothed as by a chis- el or knife." The difference in healingi was slight and in favor of the saw cut. there being less checking, and the pre- parations used to cover the wountl re- maining a trifle better. ' 'rhe next question was with what to cover the wound. To test this five dif- ferent materials were uaed. namely, li- quid grafting, wax. shellac varnish, white lead paint, pine tar, and coal tar, and as a check, nothing. The wax gave best results, both in aiding the wound to heal and in the durability The shellac-covered wounds did not heal as wbll as those untreated. Paint did not hinder and there w^as but little evidence that it favored it. Pine tar was rather worse than nothing, and coal tar proved an alieolute hindrance. But, says Dr. Cttrr, " when we come to the matter of checking, results are dif- ferent. LTntreated wounds check worst of all. while thoae covered with paint checked least. Wax ond coal tar are both deci'ledly beneficial. To pre- vent checking is quite as important as healinr the checks serve as start- ing place:, wT decay, which may, in' time, destroy the life of the tree." In thb pruning done the first of the year, when the weather was cold, the wounds not treate.-! with an ai>plica- tion very soon began to check. While the applications iirevented this for a time the shellac soon began to crack and drop off, when the exposed wood would then crack. The wax showed a tendency to do so, hut not so badly. Coal lar stayed on better than the others, (laint coming next. If the wound heala well it doe.s not matter whether the application droiJS off or not. but it was found that where the cover does not stay the wound is likely to crack ojien. Taking everything into considers^ tion., Dr. Carr says nothing seems bet- ter for covering pruning wounds than common paint, grafting wax ranking next. DUCKS AND TURKEY. The largest flocks and the most thrifty looking turkeys are found on farms having high dry land which has a light growth of grass and where a new breeding gobbler has lately been OIE IN TEN MI SUCCEED BISHOP BOWE ON THE CHANCES OF FORTUNE IN THE KLONDIKE. Aa Ibe Head of Ibe Episcopal HlMlaaarr Dlslriet or Alaska He GIteri Wordo of T/nrnlas •• ThoM Who Are Mrditatlas an lavadoa of the Norlhera Void Fields. The Right Reiv. Pieter T. Rows, Bishop of tbft missionary district of Alaska, in bis second annual report, whii'h he has just transmitted to the Board of Managers of the Comeatic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, has this to say of the ElooidikB gold fields. "From the beginning the story of Alaska has been romantic. It has been a story of surprises. The latest one is the almost fabulous richness of the recent gold discoveries. Ths stories of these retul like fables, but they contain much that is true. This is not a pertinent subject, perhaps, for this report ,but the effect which it will have upon our work will justi- fy the reference. The district in which these rich claims ar<i found is Canadian territory. It is undoubted- ly rich and of great extent. That other finds as rich aa these will be made is an uncertainty, but should they be only one-fiftieth aa rich they will be exceedingly valuable. "A solier estimate of the number of men likely to go to this section with- in a year is from 100,001) to 500,000. It is more than likely that a large per- centage of this numlier will find their way into some of the large unprospect- ed gold districts of our own territory. Birch Creek. Munook, Copper, etc. Cer- tain it is that a great development ia on the way. Here is a large, RICH MINERAL COUNTRY. Railroads are lielng projected, even, The one from near Copper River by the Standard Oil Company is a feasible one. So many persons going in at imtroduced. They generally do best on land where they have not be^n kept for «"><* "« "we to create a serious con- years, i. - *»•-», it is more difficult to dition of things. Ground is not. suf- keep tbeen ^aiah year iocy are kept on place, esi>ecially if a large number that it be well done for the first three or four years. The roota may be prun/- '< ^ and most of the laterals may safely be ' .r- i •* ed before planung. Much of the taproot *" «"»*»• Twenty years ago it was rut away. If all root pruning is done easy for any one to raise turkeys, in the fall, berore heeling in the trees. | When a place or region is overstock- the wounded surfaces will gnuxulato ^^ turkey diseases become prevalent, durmg the winter, and root growth • >,. . ,. . , f..,i,..„ begin much earlier in the spring. At^'^^ '" ^'^ east have given ^V t^irk^ pi' ting time the top ehoul- b. pruned "'«"|8 "" a""""!! of loss from disease to a straight whip n*i mor. than M ""* those who produced inferior stock or 30 inches high. The priming tbe ?° ,*''"°"° ."' w««t'*'» competition. In first year sl,ou]<f consis*. In .hort^ning ^fj^'^ """'"S' " '" Y'fVl, 'i^ •the leading branches of tie last year" PL^" ""''• "^ ^^' ''*"*^ ^° ^^'^ *-^^ growth, leaving them d-a?ributed along "^^^^^^^ three-fourths of those who lake up artificial duck raising make a fsilurs of it because they are not suit- ed to the business. It requires intense aiiplicution and constant suiiervision. All hands must lie U'> esirly and work early and late. Most people are unwill- ing lo put in the 16 to 17 hours re- quired during the long summer days. A Itack lot in a thickly settled place ing them distributed alon^ the stem left at julantint time. Avoid having the branches rrdiate from a common center. If prorerly distribut- ed along tbe trunk, a bran.;h broken by wind or an overload of fruit works no jiermancnt injury to the tree. Prun- ing afler the first yoar should consist in shortening the main branches so aa lo form a short jointed, comiact head. Continue this shortening process each ers. »-i»uiiuuo mia snorieninK process eacn • , -i. j * i . " i i But it is to .« supposed now that f^-^-J^ tj,« «ork w^he'n the wood ^^.^1 f l4°ro?at"riS I'^Z^Trf. s?deVTrec3^r"ln"iL''%rn!;"w;a:Ta^^- /L^'^v-^rut^rr'te'^.nt '^^ '^^ near neighbors and where twenty-four hours over ten times tbe sum total of the yearly cost of the department was eat-n up, not lef-ause what there was of a defen.se was n'lt good, but liecause tliere is only about half enough of it. Taken as a whole the fire brigade of I-ondon is a superb body of effi'-ient n)en well e<iitipp»d. No blame sh-uld lie put ujion thinm. as a mass. The'r discipline is good, thiey are splendid specimens of English manhood, but I hey are too few, and unless some steps le taken, an enemy from within iray wipe out L<iadon whivh all England's idanding army cannot defeat. It were economy for London to keep a stand- ing fire brigade as well. :» « f«,.. ..~ ... .1 u* « .1. • "V '"ats are not so islenty. I>>nds are not m a lew years tlie we'irht of the fruit * t j ,,. . .l ;,. i.,.,„^ it .1. .1 » 1 u u necessary to success, although the IS borne at the end of long brancbe.s, . » v, i- u. j n, » i ».,h!..i. »,« =.., 1 1. I ^u Vu »â- i plumage of breeding birds that have ac- loa yfr.fr ., > i? he finst ^^ to them looks cleaner and in bet- ?H or!,n« ^- ""u \ ""*''' *° ^ '? ter condition. Young .lucks grown for which r. ^r.^ 1 '«-^'-'°K 7'^'^r^'' market do best if they have only wa- which baa not been properly trained. ,._ »^„ j-inV ' "" j should be headed back severely. Should ; '" "* anna. a crop failure follow, it will give the fidently prospected, supplies of pro- visions will le inadequate, the hard- ships and trials to~) great for many. Distress and suffering will l« tbe re- sult. "All these conditions are likely, and are more serix>us than many realize. No one should give up a living or sal- ary, for an umertaintyâ€" and uncer- tainty it is. Noone should venture to â- go without taking a year's provisions aud $5tH). While I have all po».sii>le faith in the country, .vet I fear that nine-tenths of those who venture will fail. I feel comiielled to .itate this that men may not go there ignorant of the true condition of things." In another part "f the report Bis- hop Rowe .says of, the railroad already referred to: "Kyok a small island nearly oppo- site the great delta of the Copper River is the pla"e from whi.-h tbe targe c> al fields and oil wells lately discovered on the ciiaat are reached. These are going to l» worked i>y the Standard Oil Company. From this point, fol- lowing tbe Copper River, the same, company is projecting a narrow gauge railroad a-ross tbe country to Korty- Jilile or Circle City. One object Is to find in that mining re,jtion a market for their coal. It is thfl .shortest and most direct route to the interior of Alaska. It will make the supposed THIRD CENTENARY OF THE FORK. Three Haadred tear* Afo lordii and Ladlit*. Kven Kmprron, Ate mih Their Wlngtrt, T'bere are every day. if wo wished to celebrate them, anniversaries of some kind or other. The third centenary of that modest and useful table utensil the fork, ia just at hand, and should not lie imssed by in silence. It is three hundred years sinoe that very neces- sary instrument wbs known and used In France. It is much more recent than tlie siMon, which was obligatory in all ages foor the consuming of liquid foods. As to solid foods, ttiey were eaten in the style of Adani. Tlie nobility and wealthy adojited the fork aliout 1000; trees-ac-hai;^-t;-m;ice"rea;iy'fo7be"t:iNEW WAY OF SUPPLYING FRESH r:i'c^^X:^ibi:%o'"th^''r:er''';n" ter crops. Such severe pruning should I EOaS. i p,^^ y^^y ^^^f t^ tjjg g„ii creeks of never be do<ne after the flow of sap has ; ^ ,^y^ number of farmers near the the Forty-^Mile and tbe Sixty-Mile started in tbe siiring. but always when | cities retail their own egga. chickens. tbe wood iji dormant In cultivating leacb orchards, it isietc. and have a good trade with the the common F'ract.ice to plow away from well-to-<lo families, but from now on th« IT" i° "'I'l^'^'fi.'**- -^ir," ^"Z"''' ' they will be absolutely unable to sujv tbe ground, and by the middle of June , ,, ,. \. j . .i. idow again, this time throwing the P*? *" *"« ^88» wanted. As it »o>w earth toward tbe treee. leveling the is. farmers in remote districts take ground on I doing all after-cultivation , their egga to tbe nearest store once a r,'!>wi!iS A^"°T S»m««"«««'ul l»a«h â- .week or once in two weeks. The store growers do not plow alt ajl. hut loosen "in Circle City there was a popula- tion la<»t winter of 1800â€" now it is deserted and called "Silent City." The wonderful rich finds at the Klondike rau!«d the stampede. The claims l>ack f>f Circle City are as guod as ever, only not as rich as those at tha KIon,dike. They paid from *17 to $80 per day. The district Is large; many creeks are _ .._ ,,._.. â€" „.. .,„. â€" ,^^ t , . IV 11 1 _ not yet prospected and rich finds may tbe ground in the spring with the disc keei*'' h»l<«« th»m usually a week or , . \^ made here. There is enough or cut-away harrow, doing all after- [°J^^J,- l^"^**\.^°u* f?'!Jl^!.?"f: in sight for years of work for several thousand men. I expect that liefors cultivation with the same tool or a «' ""^^ «•> °^ "*t^ these eggs are no romnion harrow, aiming: at all times longer strictly fresh whem tbey reach to have a mulch of mellow earth U(v the consumer. on the 8u«'face, As soon after every Now, if a reliable man would gath- rain as the groiuoH, is dry enough to er eggs once a week from those whom work, the barrow is started to break he knows can be depended upon to give the crust and renew the mulch at once, him only eggs whioh have been gath- Conlinue cultivation until the fruit is erod every day and then express them about 'o ripen. If kept growing all to the farmer with tbe retail city trade summer the wood will riiren and fruit so he in turn couild deliver the eggs buds develop In good quantity for next before they were 10 days old, a good year's cr;>p. business, in a smtvll way. could be work- â- I - ed up for tl e dull months. SOME HINTS AS TO PRUNING. ' The iioints to lie emphaaized are : The eggs must lie gathered on'v from re- The mam thinig with the fruit-grow- Uable producers, and once a week. They er. Dr. Fred. W. Carr. thde horticultur- must be exs^rossed lo n^tailer same <lay ist. says, is to watch the habit of »* re<-eived. All business must be done upon honor, as any dishonest methods spring, if not already tbie populatloai will be returning. " GOT IT AT LAST. Aaother Pars To Bo Proof That It TrntbrBl. " Mister please give me a few cents to buy something to eat. I haven't bad a bite for two days. ain;l I'mâ€"" But tbe man had passed on. " Mister wop't you pleoiie give me a few ceinta to buy a loaf of bread fur me pore old mother? She's hungry. it did not lieome common among the ^ growth of thb young trees to prevent „ould ruin' the trails at once. As re- | and there hain't lieen any coal in the lower classes for more tbian a hundred years afterward. Kor two hundred years it has lieen iln comimon use. This knowledge does not seejn to have been general, for at a re^iireseintation of Moliere's " Bourgeois Gentilhomme " the characters are re'i:'re.s<^nt,ed as eat- ing with forks at a roi>ast served in one of tbe prilicipal scenes, when to be entirely correct they should i»ick the dainties out of the dishes placed be- fore them with their fingers. The fork became a general fashion among the Mobility in 1000. Himry IV. used it entirely, because Tuilementdes Ileaux Ielh9 us of a plot against the King, in which it was decided to poi- son hitn by meahs of a fork, in the hol- low lorongs of whlph the poison was to be inserted, and would then flow into the morsel he was eating. A curious immivhlet of 1605 pIctuDM a si range country, in which the inhab- itants, instead of eating with their fingers, as all thb world, did. used tbi« strange at« a day. the forittation of undesirable and gards profits, a dollar a case should crowding limlis, aWd to remove ocoa- be readily received and two or more sional suckers ajd water shoots which oa^ ought to be easUy collected in may siiring out from thie trunk and base of the bmnohes as the tree gets ' older. } The toj> of the tree needs to be kept more dense Ln dry than in moist situ- ations, tbe fruit being less likely to PALACE OP VERSAILLES. The palace of Versailles in Paris ia supposed to be the costliest ever built. It ia said that Louise XVI, to prevent suffer from shade than from exposure th^ vast sums which he spent upon this to iviad and sun. In the West low- headed trees are lo favor, because be- lieved to suffer leas from tbe wind and sun-scald. When pruning is done in late autumn or winter the wounds moat remain ex- posed to trying conditiooa, before the chanoe to heal can come, whereas wouiuls ma^JB in early Bpring or dur- ing summer may begin healing at once. " As to whether the wvujtds should wonderful palaee being Known threw all the docuonents relating to it in tbe fire. THROWN ON THE WORLD. Weary â€" Yea, mum, I wu« comfortab- ly fixed, but wun day a feller demol- labied me ateepia' apartments wid an ax. Lady, In 8ur{>riaeâ€" Why did he do itf Weary, tearfully- 'Cause he needed klndlin' wood ; an' dat old hogshaad did seem ao muoh like home. bouse furâ€"" But tJhis man alaa Ivad lassed on'. " Mister won't you please give me a tew cents fuir niu blind father i Hs hain't got. no us* of his leigs. nndâ€" " The third man likewise hii.l failed to yield up. "Mister, won't you please be so kind as to give a few cents to a iiore orphan that hain't got no home, and hain't had nothin" to eat sence last Friday, and can't â€" " No res|ons«. llie fourth man had not seemed to hear him. " Mist«r won't you [deaso give a few cents to a nvun that's dyin' of thlr.st ? I hain't had a whi.sky fur three days, :»til I'm mighty near- Thanks! May heaven bless you t'.i'." NATURAL COLOR 01' SEALSKINS Sealskins are originally of u ligtit drab color, but as found iu tin* ma'liet are always dyed.. i a t