35 



Wild fowl. — In Princess Anne County, Virginia, during the gun- 

 ning season, from November 1 to Marcli 1, 104 days, tlie average num- 

 ber of geese shot daily was 25 : of ducks, 100 ; in all, 2,G00 geese and 

 10,400 ducks. Average price of geese, 70 cents ; of ducks, 40 cents ; 

 making in all for the season, 85,980. 



The shaee system. — Mr. Louis Grevemberg, of St. Mary's Parish, 

 Louisiana, has been quite successful in cultivating about three hundred 

 and ten acres of land in corn and cane on the share system. He em- 

 ployed six Creole families, allowing about twenty -five acres to the hand, 

 or fifty to the family. Each family found their own teams, plows, feed, 

 and food. His share of the crop was 02^ hogsheads of sugar, 100 barrels 

 of molasses, and 800 bushels of corn. 



Osage orange tlmbee. — It is said that Bois d'Ai^c timber (Osage 

 orange) will resist rot and decay iudehnitely. It makes excellent wagon 

 timber. There is a forest of it on the Upper Trinity Eiver two miles 

 wide and fifty miles in length. 



Cost of living in Califoenia. — The difference betvv'cen the cost of 

 living in San Francisco and the Atlantic cities is stated by the Commercial 

 Herald of the former city, based on a comparison of bills of fare of well- 

 known restaurants in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. The fol- 

 lowing table is given : 



Boston. 



San Francisco. 



Lamb chop, with peas 



Broiled Ijani and eggs , 



Rump steak 



Tenderloin steak 



Large porterhouse steak . . . 

 Fillet of beef, with truffles. 

 Fillet of beef, with olives.. 



Pork steak 



Mallard duck 



Venison steak 



Roast beef 



Boiled tongue 



Boiled ham 



Roast turkey 



Pressed beef 



In San Francisco restaurants an admirably cooked and well served 

 meal, consisting of tenderloin or porterhouse steak, with two kinds of 

 potatoes, pickles, green tomatoes, green corn, string beans or peas, and 

 all the bread and butter one requires, can be had for the moderate charge 

 of from 25 to 37^ cents. 



Fish culture. — A practical movement is going forward in Virginia to 

 urge the legislature to encourage by proper enactments the propagation 

 of fish in the waters of that State. At the last session of the Maryland 

 legislature $2,000 was appropriated for the purpose of defraying the ex- 

 penses of a commission appointed by the governor to stock the rivers of 

 the State. The Alexandria Gazette says : 



It is now proposed that Virginia take similar action ; that a similar commis.sion and 

 api)ropriation be made by our legislature ; that the two commissions may act jointly, 

 together with the aid of the proper de]>artnient in Washington ; that a practical exper- 

 iment in pisiculture be made during the spring of 1871, in this neighborhood, on shad 

 and herring roe taken from those fish and brought to this market. 



At a late meeting of the Maryland Academy of Science it was sug- 



