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Sioiix City, Io«va, Corn Palace. 



The plans adopted for this year's Corn 

 Palace at Sioux City, Iowa, are simply 

 marvelous, far exceeding anything hereto- 

 fore attempted by the enterprising citizens 

 of the famous " Corn State." 



"We are pleased to be able to place before 

 our readers a representation of the palace 

 dedicated to "King Corn," for the year 

 1890. It is a marvel of beauty, and a very 

 pleasing surprise to even those who gazed 

 upon the wondrous handiwork formed from 

 the fruits of nature at the festivals of 

 former years. 



ing closes in an immense dome, from which 

 rises a substantial tower 170 ft. high. On 

 each side of this central tower will be two 

 smaller ones, located on the turrets, and 

 heavy festoons of grain will be hung from 

 the smaller ones to the central tower. 



The arrangement of the interior is where 

 the architect has given full sway to his 

 novel ideas. The main building will be 

 octagon in shape, with a diameter of 166 

 feet. Around the room, at a height of 32 

 feet, Avill run a balcony, supported on 

 pillars. These pillars will be so arranged, 

 however, that a clear passageway 50 feet 

 wide will be left from the entrance, giving 



Sioux City Corn Palace.— Opens Sept. 25; closes Oct. 11, 1890. 



Besides the exhibition of the many agri- 

 cultural productions for which that portion 

 of Iowa is noted, a " Corn Palace Pageant," 

 has been arranged for, to be superintended 

 by Francois Dubois, the French artist who 

 has also been secured to prepare the attrac- 

 tions for the Mardi Gras in New Orleans 

 next year. The Sioux City pageant prom- 

 ises to be the most unique, novel and daz- 

 zling ever witnessed outside of the ilardi 

 Gras city. 



The date this year for the opening is 

 Sept. 2.5, and the festival will continue 

 until Oct. 11. The Corn Palace will cover 

 an area of 264 feet square, which is twice 

 as large as that of last year. The structure 

 is of Arabic design, and resembles in gen 

 eral outline pictures of some of the famous 

 Turkish mosques. The center of the build- 



an unobstructed view for a distance of 272 

 feet. At the end of the passage will be 

 arranged an immense waterfall, and other 

 attractive features, that with the great 

 distance, will naturally impress the visitor 

 as he steps inside with the immensity of the 

 structure. 



The central building will be so arranged 

 that the light will be excluded. The ceiling 

 will be formed of a painted sky on canvas, 

 arched over. From the ceiling will be 

 suspended innumerable incandescent lights 

 in globes cast in the shape of stars, which 

 will produce an effect as startling as it will 

 be beautiful. 



To the right of the central building is the 

 auditorium, a room 100x100, which is an 

 entirely new feature of this year's Palace. 

 This room will be furnished with seats, so 



that those who are tired of the crowd in 

 the main building, can seek rest and musi- 

 cal entertainment in the auditorium. On 

 the north and east sides will be large rooms 

 for exhibits, and space will also be allowed 

 for this purpose in the gallery of the cen- 

 tral building. 



It is the intention, in addition to the 

 genera! plans, to have as many attractive 

 features as possible, that are both novel 

 and unique. The decorations will surpass 

 anything of the kind ever witnessed before. 



The committees in charge of the work, 

 have the details arranged, and this year's 

 Palace will prove such a panorama of 

 unique novelties and natural beauty that 

 no one can afford to miss seeing it. 



Intruders Under tlie Bed. 



A letter in .Qleanings from Shaowu, 

 China, gives the following very interesting 

 account of an experience in the Celestial 

 Kingdom : 



One very common way in which the peo- 

 ple in this particular corner of the world 

 have of building their one-story or story 

 and a half houses, is as follows : 



A foundation of cobble stones having 

 been laid where the side-walls are to stand, 

 and perhaps also where the back of the 

 house is to be, two tiroad planks are fast- 

 ened on their edges between upright poles 

 set in the ground, on each side of the foun- 

 dation, and damp earth is put between 

 them and pounded down hard. The planks 

 are then raised one course higher, fixed 

 firmly in place, and then more earth put 

 in and stamped down, and so on until a 

 depth of 10 feet or so is attained. Then a 

 wood frame is put up inside of these walls. 



If the house is designed for a shop or a 

 store, the whole front consists of movable 

 boards sliding in grooved pieces on top and 

 bottom. This is the general plan on which 

 many a Chinese inn is built. 



To economize space, the tavern keeper 

 generally has a box bed for his own use. 

 This consists of two boxes, each one about 

 3x31., feet in length and breadth, and 2'i< 

 feet or more high. These two boxes, set 

 side by side, make as good a bedstead as 

 most Chinamen have. 



I was resting in front of a tavern one day 

 last February, when I observed .a string of 

 bees pouring in and out through a crack 

 between the corner post and the earth wall 

 on my right. Through the obligingness of 

 the landlady, I was enabled to investigate 

 matters. There in that corner of the build- 

 ing stood one of these box-beds. Rats had 

 gnawed a hole in the lower corner of the 

 box at the bottom, close by the crack, and 

 through this crack and rat-hole the bees 

 had come in and taken possession of the 

 box. The landlady told me that they came 

 of themselves in the previous May. and 

 that she cut out their stores last fall. They 

 had nearly half a bushel of pure white comb 

 partly filled with clear white honey. 



Rape, which is much cultivated here as 

 a winter-spring crop for making rape-seed 

 oil, was just coming into bloom, and the 

 bees were doubtless at work on this. In 

 fact, ten days of mUd weather had started 

 a number of wild plants to blooming, and 

 the bees were booming. Chinese bees 

 always seem very docile. Rape honey is 

 said not to be equal in flavor to tea honey. 

 The tea-plant blooms in December. 



