340 Notes afid Gleanings. 



The Western Rural, of October 14, comes to us in the form of a " Fire 

 Extra " of two pages, issued by means of facilities afiforded by the Detroit Ad- 

 vertiser and Tribune Company, the office of the Rural having been destroyed in 

 the great fire, with all the type, presses, and other machinery, as well as the files 

 of the paper, the editor's agricultural library, &c. The editor's residence was 

 also destroyed, with his private library of about two thousand volumes, the accu- 

 mulations of twenty years. New type was, however, ordered by telegraph the 

 morning after the fire, and the Rural hopes to be out in the old style, but in an 

 entire new dress, within a month from the time of the fire. It has our best 

 wishes that it may more than recover its former prosperity. As we write this, 

 the papers which have been filled with the story of the terrible calamity which 

 has befallen Chicago, are telling of the wondrous energy displayed in reconstruc- 

 tion, and we have no doubt that this city, which has been the marvel of the earth 

 for its unparalleled growth, will be still more a marvel for its recuperative power. 



The Prairie Farmer has sent out a sheet filled with the details of the fearful 

 calamity which has come upon Chicago, but full also of energy and pluck, and 

 hope and promise for the future. Their building being situated in the very 

 heart of the business portion of the city, was sj>eedily swept from existence. 

 The front wall was of Athens marble, and all the other outer walls of brick ; but 

 so intense was the heat, and so devouring the flames, that in fifteen minutes from 

 the time of the attack not one stone was left upon another. Engines, presses, 

 type, engravings, books, paper, forms ready for the press, all were destroyed. 

 The library, embracing almost every standard work on agriculture and horticul- 

 ture ever printed in the English language, the reports of all the State Agricul- 

 tural Societies that have published their transactions, and bound volumes of a 

 large number of agricultural and horticultural journals, — a collection which had 

 required over thirty years' time to make, and which was in many respects the 

 most complete of any in the country, — was lost. Full files of the Prairie Far- 

 mer, from the beginning, were preserved, with all the account books. The first 

 train from Alton, after the news of the conflagration reached that city, brought 

 Dr. Hull, the horticultural editor, and through his generosity this number of the 

 Prairie Farmer is issued. Messrs. Orange Judd & Co., of the American Agri- 

 culturist, also sent a despatch, offering to issue the next number of the paper at 

 their expense. 



" The ruins of Chicago constitute to-day the best foundation for business suc- 

 cess that the world aflfords ! Chicago has never been but the index of the great 

 country that surrounds it. You, our readers, with your labor and your produce, 

 built this new wonder of the world. . . . The paper will be mailed to you, 

 each and all, next week, we hope, in full size, and with even more than its usual 

 variety of matter." Such is the brave spirit with which the Chicagoans are 

 rising from the terrible calamity which has overwhelmed them. 



The Bradshaw Plum. — At the exhibition of the Puget Sound Farmer's 

 Club, Dr. Alfred Eggers exhibited specimens of the Bradshaw plum, nine of 

 which weighed two pounds. This variety is thought, for hardiness, size, quality, 

 and productiveness, to excel any other in the orchards of Washington Territory. 



