1892 
The  Cost  of  Living. 
NOTES  FROM  CORNERS  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 
A  Good  Showing  for  Mobile  Bay. 
Flour,  best  patent,  $4.50  and  $5  ;  sugar,  granulated, 
6  cents  per  pound,  Y.  C.,  5  cents  ;  meat,  dry  salted 
side  per  pound,  10  cents ;  hams,  best,  15  cents ;  dry 
salted  shoulders,  8%  cents:  hams,  picnic,  10  cents; 
bacon,  side,  10%  cents  ;  bacon,  shoulder,  9  cents  ;  rice, 
best,  7  cents;  rice,  good,  5  cents;  coffee,  best,  20 
cents,  good,  12  cents  ;  corn  meal  per  half  bushel  bag, 
23  pounds,  45  cents  ;  corn  meal,  per  bushel,  70  cents ; 
bran  per  100  pounds,  $1.  Fresh  meat,  beef  8  cents  and 
10  cents  ;  cotton  seed  oil  for  cooking,  75  cents.  A  fair 
suit  of  clothes  $10  and  $15.  Boots  don't  sell  in  this 
country— shoes,  brogans,  $1.25  and  $1.50  ;  shoes,  dress, 
$2  and  $3.  Dress  for  wife  or  daughters  ?  Well  now 
that  depends ;  I  have  never  tried  to  find  out  and  don't 
think  I  could  if  I  wanted  to,  except  for  material, 
maybe.  As  for  medical  attendance,  this  has  been  our 
home  for  23  years  and  now  I  have  a  family  of  10  and 
not  a  doctor’s  bill  have  I  ever  had  to  pay,  though  we 
sometimes  have  use  for  some  simple  medicines.  My 
specialty  has  been  the  establishment  of  a  pear  orchard 
and  the  larger  part  of  my  cleared  land  is  now  in  trees 
and  I  am  extending  it  every  year.  My  income  from 
orchard  fruit  this  year  was  very  small,  owing  to  the 
frost  of  March  19,  1892,  which  occurred  on  the  coldest 
night  of  the  whole  winter,  when  the  temperature  was 
24  degrees,  and  it  came  just  when  the  trees  were  in 
full  bloom.  The  same  cold  snap  injured  early  vege¬ 
table  crops  also,  but  as  we  can  farm  all  the  year  round, 
we  just  put  in  some  other  crop  and  went  ahead. 
'I  here  is  no  chance  here  to  lay  up  six  months  in  the 
year  and  feed  out  what  has  been  made  in  the  other  six 
and  try  to  keep  warm.  Our  farm  supplies  us  with 
milk,  butter,  chickens,  eggs  and  vegetables  of  some 
sort  all  the  year.  We  don’t  try  to  cure  any  pork  ;  we 
sell  the  whole  hog  or  pig  dressed  and  buy  Western 
pork  ;  it  is  better  and  cheaper.  I  now  have  tomatoes 
as  a  fall  crop,  snap  beans  and  field  peas,  tuimips, 
onions,  sweet  potatoes  and  a  fall  crop  of  Irish  grow¬ 
ing,  also  Scuppernong  grapes  and  Keiffer  pear  — 
the  Bartletts  of  the  South,  Mr.  Powell’s  denuncia¬ 
tions  notwithstanding.  Oh  yes  !  we  manage  to  live 
and  go  to  the  Bay  fishing  once  in  a  while  also,  and 
get  fish  too.  C.  C.  WARREN. 
A  California  Raisin  Grower. 
The  best  flour  is  worth  $4.20  ;  granulated  sugar,  1(5 
pounds,  $1  ;  beef  from  7  to  15  cents  per  pound  ;  a 
fair  suit  of  clothes,  $14.  Boots,  shoes  and  cotton  or 
other  dress  goods  are  but  very  little  higher  than  in 
the  New  England  States.  We  have  very  little  use  for 
a  doctor,  having  lived  here  seven  years  without  hav¬ 
ing  to  call  one  to  the  ranch  ;  but  if  one  is  called  on  in 
town  for  a  prescription,  he  charges  from  $1  to  $1.50. 
All  patent  medicines  are  the  same  here  as  in  the  State 
of  Maine,  where  we  came  from.  There  are  but  four 
in  our  family.  We  raise  our  own  fruits,  milk,  but¬ 
ter  and  eggs  and  buy  all  our  vegetables,  meat  and 
everything  else  for  family  use.  We  raise  our  own 
hay  and  grain  for  the  horses  and  chickens  and  also 
for  the  cows.  We  keep  seven  horses,  seven  head  of 
cattle  and  about  700  hens  and  chickens.  We  sell  out- 
butter  and  eggs  to  private  customers,  getting  30  cents 
per  pound  for  butter  and  30  cents  a  dozen  for  eggs. 
Broilers  are  worth  from  $3  to  $5  a  dozen.  Our  spe¬ 
cialty  is  fruit.  Dried  peaches  are  worth  from  11  to 
12%  cents  per  pound.  As  to  raisins,  the  growers  have 
formed  a  combination  and  have  forced  the  packers  to 
sign  an  agreement  not  to  sell  any  raisins  unless  they 
will  net  the  growers  4%  cents  per  pound  in  the  sweat 
box.  I  hold  stock  in  a  cooperative  packing  company 
and  we  have  already  sold  a  large  number  of  carload 
lots  that  will  net  us  five  cents  in  the  sweat  box.  The 
first  crop  of  grapes  on  Muscat  vines  dropped  badly, 
owing  to  the  cold  spring,  and  the  grapes  are  two 
weeks  behind  in  ripening.  A  great  many  have  been 
picked  already,  but  the  raisins  are  very  poor,  being 
off  color  with  little  or  no  sugar.  They  are  really 
worthless,  except  for  cooking  purposes.  Muscats  bear 
three  crops  here  ;  the  first  two  we  pick  and  cure  ;  the 
third  is  of  no  account.  They  set  about  two  weeks 
apart.  J.  F.  HAMILTON. 
Fresno  County,  Cal. 
Expenses  in  an  ‘‘Old  Kentucky  Home.” 
We  pay  at  present  $4.80  for  a  barrel  of  good  flour, 
and  50  cents  for  10  pounds  of  granulated  sugar.  Put¬ 
ting  the  pork  and  beef  we  raise  on  the  farm  at  market 
prices,  meat  for  one  month  costs  us  about  $5.20  on  an 
average  for  the  year.  A  good  tailor-made  suit  of 
clothes  costs  from  $20  to  $30  ;  ready-made  $16  to  $20. 
Ordinary  working  shoes  cost  from  $1.50  to  $2.50;  boots 
HE  RURAL  NEW-YORKE 
of  the  same  quality,  $2  to  $3  ;  fine  shoes,  $3.50  to  $5. 
There  is  such  a  variety  in  dress  goods  for  ladies  that 
it  is  difficult  to  give  prices,  but  I  suppose  about  $10  to 
$15  would  be  about  the  cost  of  a  nice  dress.  Those  for 
common  wear  are  very  cheap — 5  to  15  cents  per  yard. 
Medical  attendance  costs  us  very  little — average  for 
five  years  past,  about  $15  per  year,  medicine  included, 
mostly  for  a  single  attack  of  sickness.  Patent  medi¬ 
cine  bills,  insignificant. 
There  are  six  regular  members  of  my  family,  with 
two  workmen  who  board  in  the  house  the  most  of  the 
year,  and,  at  times,  there  are  other  hands.  Perhaps 
an  average  would  be  about  seven  for  the  year,  lam 
engaged  in  general  farming,  raising  wheat  mostly, 
with  corn  and  tobacco  and  some  fruit.  There  is  stock 
enough  to  supply  meat  and  milk,  with  some  to  sell 
occasionally.  We  supply  ourselves  with  nearly  all 
our  provisions  from  the  farm,  except  groceries,  which 
cost  considerable.  Farmers  are  now  realizing  more 
money  from  their  farms  than  for  a  long  time,  and  con¬ 
sequently  are  much  more  contented.  In  fact,  give 
them  a  reasonable  return  for  their  labor,  and  there 
w-ould  be  less  of  the  recent  spirit  of  restlessness  among 
them  than  in  case  of  men  of  almost  any  other  calling. 
o.  w.  mc  kenduCk. 
A  Wisconsin  Water  Seller. 
Here  in  La  Crosse  County,  Wisconsin,  we  can  buy 
patent  flour  at  from  $4  to  $5  per  barrel.  Ten  pounds 
of  sugar  cost  55  cents;  a  fair  suit  of  clothes  from  $10 
to  $18;  a  pair  of  fine-quality  boots  from  $2  to  $4;  shoes 
from  75  cents  to  $3.  A  dress  for  wife  costs  from  $1  to 
$10.  Our  family  consists  of  myself,  wife  and  seven 
children,  equal  to  about  seven  grown  persons.  The 
medical  attendance,  including  patent  medicines,  has 
averaged  $40  per  annum  for  the  last  six  years. 
We  buy  our  flour,  make  all  the  butter  we  need,  raise 
some  fruit  and  about  half  the  meat  we  consume 
which  is  not  a  great  deal,  as  we  prefer  to  use  more 
fruit  in  its  stead.  We  also  raise  all  the  vegetables  we 
need.  We  follow  mixed  farming,  keep  accurate  ac¬ 
counts,  discard  crops  that  do  not  pay,  substitute  clover, 
and,  last  but  not  least,  at  the  suggestion  of  The  Rural, 
we  raise  and  sell  more  water  in  the  form  of  berries, 
melons  and  asparagus.  The  pleasure  of  raising  these, 
coupled  with  the  proceeds,  goes  a  long  way  towards 
making  a  statesman  of  a  slave.  .torn  van  loon. 
Precautions  Against  Cholera. 
The  Approach  of  the  Plague.— Just  as  the  strength 
of  a  chain  is  that  of  the  weakest  link,  the  efficiency  of 
a  national  quarantine  against  cholera  or  any  other  in¬ 
fectious  or  contagious  disease,  is  that  at  the  least  care¬ 
fully  guarded  point  on  the  coast  or  frontier.  In  1848 
two  cholera-infected  vessels  arrived  at  different  ports 
in  this  country  on  the  same  day.  One  reached  New 
York  and  was  rigidly  quarantined,  and  the  disease  ob¬ 
tained  no  foothold  on  the  mainland.  The  other  ar¬ 
rived  at  New  Orleans  where  the  quarantine  precautions 
were  inadequate,  and  the  plague  at  once  made  its  way 
ashore,  and  after  becoming  epidemic  in  a  few  days, 
was  carried  up  the  Mississippi,  Ohio  and  Missouri, 
across  to  Chicago  and  finally  reached  New  York  six 
months  after  the  city  had  been  saved  from  its  direct 
attack.  Hence,  however  careful  and  efficient  the 
quarantine  precautions  at  this  port,  the  scourge  may 
find  its  way  into  the  country  either  through  Canada  or 
some  other  Atlantic,  or  a  Gulf  or  Pacific  port.  Before 
a  general  epidemic  in  any  country,  sporadic  cases  gen¬ 
erally  occur  here  and  there,  especially  along  the  chief 
lines  of  travel,  and  though  at  present  there  are  few 
prospects  of  a  general  outbreak  in  this  country,  re¬ 
ports  of  such  sporadic  cases  have  already  been  pub¬ 
lished  in  different  parts  of  the  States,  though  doubt¬ 
less  most  of  them  have  been  due  to  mistaken  diagnoses 
of  other  ailments. 
Advices  from  Washington  say  that  no  “  relaxation 
will  be  made  in  the  stringency  of  quarantine  regula¬ 
tions  till  the  advent  of  frost.”  Why  should  any  relaxa¬ 
tion  be  made  then  ?  While  yellow  fever  and  several 
other  contagious  diseases  are  checked  or  entirely  stop¬ 
ped  by  frosty  weather,  experience  has  amply  demon¬ 
strated  that,  though  in  most  cases  the  extreme  virulence 
and  infectiousness  of  Asiatic  cholera  are  to  some  ex¬ 
tent  modified  by  cold  weather,  frost  does  nothing  more 
than  modify  its  ravages  in  the  most  favorable  cases, 
while  many  of  the  most  virulent  and  fatal  outbreaks 
have  occurred  in  frigid  seasons.  This  has  been  espe¬ 
cially  the  case  in  Russia,  where  some  of  the  worst  epi¬ 
demics  have  raged  in  winter  in  a  climate  as  rigorous 
as  our  own  in  January.  There  should,  therefore,  be 
no  relaxation  in  the  quarantine  regulations  in  this 
country,  summer  or  winter,  so  long  as  the  plague  is 
prevalent  in  other  countries  with  which  we  have 
intercourse,  and  as  the  disease  may  at  any  time  or 
place  burst  or  steal  through  our  most  careful  defences, 
it  is  well  to  tell  briefly  something  about  its  character 
from  the  collated  information  given  by  European 
and  American  experts  with  regard  to  it,  many  of 
R  64 1 
whom  have  officially  studied  it  at  its  birthplace,  in 
British  India. 
How  It  is  Contracted. — The  general  consensus  of 
the  most  trustworthy  opinion  is  that  Asiatic  cholera 
is  an  infectious  disease — not  contagious.  It  is  exceed¬ 
ingly  improbable  that  the  infectious  principle  is  con¬ 
veyed  to  the  healthy  by  the  medium  of  the  air,  and  it 
is  certain  that  it  is  never  transported  to  any  distance 
in  that  way.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  infection 
ever  takes  place  through  the  lungs,  and  it  is  certain 
that  it  does  not  enter  the  body  through  the  skin,  or 
through  cuts,  sores  or  abrasions.  It  enters  through 
the  stomach  on'y,  and  makes  its  attack  in  the  intesti¬ 
nal  canal  after  leaving  the  stomach.  It  is  there  only 
that  the  infectious  material  multiplies  enormously, 
and  often  with  extreme  rapidity,  generating  a  chemi¬ 
cal  poison  which  destroys  the  lining  of  the  intestines, 
causing  extensive  flakes  of  the  latter  to  be  thrown  off, 
while  the  raw  surface  exudes  large  quantities  of  the 
fluids  of  the  blood,  causing  what  is  called  rice-water  dis¬ 
charges.  This  infectious  principle  has  been  proved  to 
be  the  cholera  bacillus — an  extremely  minute  vege¬ 
table  parasite  that  multiplies  in  enormous  numbers 
and  with  incalculable  rapidity  in  the  intestinal 
canal  of  the  victim.  Every  drop  of  the  evacuations  of 
the  bowels  and  stomach  of  the  sufferer  contains  thou¬ 
sands  of  these  infectious  parasites,  and  these  dis¬ 
charges  and  everything  contaminated  by  them  are  the 
only  sources  of  danger.  Cholera  is  never  generated 
by  fright,  ill-health  or  constitutional  weakness,  filth, 
starvation  or  anything  else,  however  predisposing  and 
aggravating  these  may  be,  unless  this  infectious  prin¬ 
ciple  be  first  introduced  in  the  stomach.  Without  the 
actual  presence  and  multiplication  of  the  cholera 
bacillus  in  the  intestinal  canal,  an  attack  of  Asiatic 
cholera  cannot  occur. 
In  Rural  Districts. — Although  Asiatic  cholera  is 
highly  infectious  and  frightfully  mortal  when  it  ob¬ 
tains  a  foothold  amid  ignorance,  squalor,  poverty  and 
dirt,  of  all  dangerous  epidemics  scientists  hold  that 
it  is  the  most  easily  and  certainly  avoided  by  any  in¬ 
dividual  if  only  proper  precautions  be  constantly  and 
scrupulously  observed.  Virchow,  the  great  German 
expert,  declares  an  epidemic  of  cholera  is  far  less  dan¬ 
gerous  than  one  of  diphtheria,  and  other  authorities 
are  much  of  the  same  opinion.  It  is  the  novelty  com¬ 
bined  with  the  frequent  sudden  fatality  and  extreme 
torture  of  the  disease  that  spread  such  terror.  In 
threatened  and  infected  towns  and  cities  full  informa¬ 
tion  is  published  by  the  health  authorities  and  all  pre¬ 
cautions  are  taken  to  prevent  an  attack  and  to  isolate 
and  treat  all  affected  cases  in  the  best  manner.  At  the 
appearance  of  the  first  symptoms  even  of  doubtful 
cases,  the  patient  is  taken  in  charge  by  the  proper 
officials,  and  handled  for  his  own  best  good  and  the 
greatest  safety  of  the  community.  In  country  places, 
however,  this  is  generally  impracticable,  at  least  at 
the  outset,  and  it  behooves  each  family,  therefore,  to 
know  how  to  act.  In  such  situations,  the  wells,  cess¬ 
pools,  privy-vaults,  dung  heaps  and  refuse  vegetable 
accumulations  are  the  chief  sources  of  danger,  and 
timely  precautions  should  at  once  be  taken  to  put  all 
the  accessories  of  the  homestead  in  a  thoroughly  sani¬ 
tary  condition.  Since  the  infectious  agent  exists  only 
in  the  evacuations  from  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
various  materials  are  capable  of  conveying  it,  such  as 
clothing  soiled  with  the  matter,  hands  befouled  with 
it  and  articles  of  food  and  drink  contaminated  with  it. 
It  is  by  means  of  soiled  clothing  and  personal  effects 
in  which  the  agent  is  preserved  in  a  more  or  less 
moist  condition  that  the  infectious  principle  is  con¬ 
veyed  long  distances  both  by  land  and  sea,  and  in  this 
way  it  generally  finds  its  way  to  isolated  farm  districts 
and  houses.  The  contamination  of  water-courses  and 
small  streams  by  vomit  or  voidings  of  infected  persons 
is  perhaps,  however,  the  most  frequent  and  certainly 
the  most  rapid  means  of  producing  a  sudden  and 
widespread  outbreak  in  country  places.  The  water 
may  also  be  often  poluted  by  washing  therein  the  per¬ 
sonal  effects  of  cholera  patients. 
(To  be  continued.) 
Business  Bits. 
Mouk  About  the  “Man-Weight.”— “The  Inclosed  clipping  from  a 
late  Rural,  was  senttousby  one  of  our  friends,  and  we  wish  to  say  for 
your  edification  that  the  Man-weight  cultivator  referred  to  In  this 
article,  was  one  of  the  first  manufactured  In  1801.  We  think  that,  as 
this  was  the  first  season,  and  as  the  machines  were  without  a  practical 
test,  It  should  not  be  expected  that  we  would  have  them  perfect  in 
every  respect.  In  that  machine  some  cast-iron  was  used,  that  has 
proved  was  not  sufliclently  strong  for  the  work  that  they  do.  In  the  ma¬ 
chine  for  1892  and  the  machine  that  we  are  now  selling,  there  Is  no  cast- 
iron  In  their  construction,  and  the  machines  are  satisfactory  In  every 
respect,  as  hundreds  of  our  customers  will  testify.  If  you  will  send  us 
the  name  and  address  of  the  party  who  wrote  that  article,  we  will  send 
him  the  necessary  parts  to  make  his  machine  as  good  as  we  are  now 
make  them.  Yours  truly,  J.  A.  eveuitt,  Seedsman.” 
Comment.— I  wrote  the  Everltt  Co.  before  I  gave  you  my  experience 
with  the  “  Man-weight  cultivator,”  to  see  whether  they  would  send 
me  repairs  for  the  machine,  or  return  my  money  and  take  the  machine 
back.  They  did  not  answer  me.  Probably  the  machine  would  work 
all  right  In  a  light,  sandy  soil,  but  In  a  soil  where  there  are  small 
stones,  It  will  not  stand  the  racket.  I  used  the  Man-weight  myself  and 
was  very  careful,  but  It  broke  In  three  different  places.  I  have  a 
Buhlman  wheel  hoe  that  has  been  used  more  than  10  years,  and  I 
would  not  give  It  to-day  for  a  brand  new  Man-weight  cultivator,  p.  a 
