How to reckon the cost of hay.

RULE.-Multiply the number of pounds by half the price per ton, and remove the decimal point three places to the left.

How to measure grain.

RULE.-Level the grain; ascertain the space it occupies in cubic feet; multiply the number of cubic feet by 8, and point off one place to the left. NOTE.-Exactness requires the addition to every three hundred bushels of one extra

bushel.

The foregoing rule may be used for finding the number of gallons, by multiplying the number of bushels by 8.

If the corn in the box is in the ear, divide the answer by 2, to find the number of bushels of shelled corn, because it requires 2 bushels of ear corn to make 1 of shelled corn.

Rapid rules for measuring land without instruments.

In measuring land, the first thing to ascertain is the contents of any given plot in square yards; then, given the number of yards, find out the number of rods and acres.

The most ancient and simplest measure of distance is a step. Now, an ordinary-sized man can train himself to cover one yard at a stride, on the average, with sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes.

To make use of this means of measuring distances, it is essential to walk in a straight line; to do this, fix the eye on two objects in a line straight ahead, one comparatively near, the other remote; and, in walking, keep these objects constantly in line.

Farmers and others by adopting the following simple and ingenious contrivance, may always carry with them the scale to construct a correct yard measure.

Take a foot rule, and commencing at the base of the little finger of the left hand, mark the quarters of the foot on the outer borders of the left arm, pricking in the marks with indelible ink.

To find how many rods in length will make an acre, the width being given.

RULE.-Divide 160 by the width, and the quotient will be the answer. How to find the number of acres in any plot of land, the number of rods being given.

RULE.-Divide the number of rods by 8, multiply the quotient by 5, and remove the decimal point two places to the left.

The diameter being given, to find the circumference.

RULE.-Multiply the diameter by 3 1-7.

How to find the diameter, when the circumference is given.

RULE. Divide the circumference by 3 1-7.

To find how many solid feet a round stick of timber of the same thickness throughout will contain when squared.

RULE.-Square half the diameter in inches, multiply by 2, multiply by the length in feet, and divide the product by 144.

General rule for measuring timber, to find the solid contents in feet. RULE.-Multiply the depth in inches by the breadth in inches, and then multiply by the length in feet, and divide by 144.

To find the number of feet of timber in trees with the bark on. RULE.-Multiply the square of one-fifth of the circumference in inches, by twice the length, in feet, and divide by 144. Deduct 1-10 to 1-15 according to the thickness of the bark.

Howard's new rule for computing interest.

RULE. The reciprocal of the rate is the time for which the interest on any sum of money will be shown by simply removing the decimal point two places to the left; for ten times that time, remove the point one place to the left; for 1-10 of the same time, remove the point three places to the left.

Increase or diminish the results to suit the time given.

NOTE.-The reciprocal of the rate is found by inverting the rate; thus 3 per cent. per month, inverted, becomes of a month, or ten days.

When the rate is expressed by one figure, always write it thus: 3-1,

three ones.

Rule for converting English into American currency.

Multiply the pounds, with the shillings and pence stated in decimals, by 400 plus the premium in fourths, and divide the product by 90.

POPULATION OF IOWA CITIES.

The following table presents the population of thirteen of the principal cities of Iowa for the years 1870, 1875 and 1878-the population for the last named year being, in the main, estimated:

Fort Madison, Mt. Pleasant and Waterloo are, probably, entitled to appear in the above table, as each of them, doubtless, has a population of over six thousand.

*Includes whole township.

THE PIONEER.

In the heart of the grand old forest,
A thousand miles to the West,
Where a stream gushed out from the hill side,
They halted at last for rest.
And the silence of ages listened

To the axe-stroke loud and clear,
Divining a kingly presence

In the tread of the pioneer.

He formed of the prostrate beeches
A home that was strong and good;
The roof was of reeds from the streamlet,
The chimney he built of wood.
And there by the winter fireside,

While the flame up the chimney roared,

He spoke of the good time coming,

When plenty should crown their board

When the forest should fade like a vision,
And over the hill-side and plain
The orchard would spring in its beauty,
And the fields of golden grain.
And to-night he sits by the fireside
In a mansion quaint and old,

With his children's children around him,
Having reaped a thousand-fold.

HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

PREFATORY.

The County, its location and name-The United States Dragoons-Colonel Boone and his connection with the county which bears his name.

BUT little more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the first permanent settlement was made within the bounds of what is now Boone county; it is less than a half of a century since the uncivilized aborigines roamed the prairies wild and free, unfettered by the restraint of common or statutory law and uncircumscribed by township boundaries and county lines. Almost a century ago a friend of America, although an Englishman, in language almost prophetic, wrote:

"Westward the course of empire takes its way;

The four first acts already past,

A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last."

The compiler of a history of a county has a task which may seem to be comparatively easy, and the facts which come within the legitimate scope of the work may appear commonplace when compared with national events; the narration of the peaceful events attending the conquests of industry as "Westward the course of empire takes its way" may seem tame when contrasted with accounts of battles and sieges. Nevertheless, the faithful gathering and the truthful narration of facts bearing upon the early settlement of this county and the dangers, hardships and privations encountered by the early pioneers engaged in advancing the standards of civilization is a work of no small magnitude and the facts thus narrated are such as may challenge the admiration and arouse the sympathy of the reader though they have nothing to do with feats of arms.

Whoever has made it his business to study the "Great Northwest" as it has unfolded itself in history during the last quarter of a century has doubtless met with ever recurring surprises. The story of its unparalleled growth and almost phenomenal development has so often been repeated that it has become a commonplace platitude; but a careful study of the country will suggest questions which have thus far not been answered, and cannot be. Why, for instance, have some sections filled up so rapidly, and certain cit

ies sprung up as if by magic, while others, seemingly no less favored by nature, are still in the first stages of development? These questions cannot, in all cases, be answered; but whoever has studied the matter carefully cannot fail to have discovered a law of growth which is as unvarying as any law of nature. The two leading factors in the problem of municipal growth are location and character of first settlers. The location of Boone county was most favorable; and what is true of Boone county is true of the whole State. Almost surrounded, as it is, by two of the most renowned water-courses of the world, one will readily see that it possessed advantages enjoyed by no other State in the Union. These conditions, so favorable to the past and future development of the country, are beautifully illustrated by an ingenious little poem entitled "Two Ancient Misses" written by a gentleman who has won a wide-spread reputation at the bar, and whose name, were we at liberty to give it, would be familiar to most of the people of Boone county. We here quote it, as it well illustrates our our point and is of sufficient merit to be preserved.

TWO ANCIENT MISSES.

I know two ancient misses

Who ever onward go,

From a cold and rigid northern clime

Through a land of wheat and corn and wine,
To the southern sea where the fig and the lime
And the golden orange grow.

In graceful curves they wind about
Upon their long and lonely route,
Among the beauteous hills;

They never cease their onward step,
Though day and night they're dripping wet,
And oft with the sleet and snow beset,
And sometimes with the chills.

The one is a romping, dark brunette,
As fickle and gay as any coquette;
She glides along by the western plains,
And changes her bed every time it rains;
Witching as any dark-eyed houri,
This romping, wild brunette Missouri.

The other is placid, mild and fair,
With a gentle, sylph-like, quiet air,
And a voice as sweet as a soft guitar;
She moves along the meadows and parks
Where naiads play Æolian harps-
None ever go by fits and starts-
No fickle coquette of the city,

But gentle, constant Mississippi.

I love the wild and dark brunette
Because she is a gay coquette;
Her, too, I love, of quiet air,

Because she's gentle, true and fair.

The land of my birth, on the east and the west,

Embraced by these is doubly blest

'Tis hard to tell which I love best.

It has been intimated by one that there is nothing in a name, but a name sometimes means a great deal. In this case it indicates the character