342 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
7 
Iftos of tbe ®5Ufh. 
HOME NEWS. 
Monday, May 2 , 1881 . 
Tbe floods in the West have been doing much dam¬ 
age since our last report. At East St. Paul, Minn., 
st reets were submerged aDd at Carver, the Inhab¬ 
itants in the lower part of the town were obliged 
to flee to higher ground. The lowlands along the 
MIsslssippl were flooded. Much damage was done 
to crops and stock Near lies Moinesj#owa, twen¬ 
ty families were kept out of their dwellings for 
several days. Near Quincy, III., a strip of highly 
cultivated land, from three to eight miles wide 
and 5ii miles long, was completely submerged. The 
Missouri River at Atchlnson, Kan , was over 22 
feet above low water mark, and the flood there 
equals the notable one of 1844. At Nebraska City, 
Neb, about 400 persons were rescued from the 
floods, whose houses were swept away and 8.000 
head of stock were lost. At Kansas City, Mo., the 
waters rushed over the lower town so rapidly that 
the inhabitants could only flee tor their lives 
without being able to remove their household 
goods it is said that fully c.ooo people In Missouri 
were driven from their homes. 
A bill has been introduced into the New York 
Legislature requiring telegraph and telephone 
wires in the city of New York to be put under 
ground. With the new Bystem of electric lighting, 
which will be undoubtedly Introduced in all cities 
of considerable size, there will be an additional 
reason for getting the wires out of the way. In 
Germany the wires have been put under ground 
with manifest advantage. 
We have t.o record this week the death of two 
eminent men ot letters—John 6. Palfrey and 
James T. Fields. The former, the Ills'orian of 
New England, died on the 2tir.li lu9t., aged nearly 
85 years. He was born In Boston May 2,1790, and 
graduated at Harvard In 1816. He was at one 
time editor of tbe North American Review and 
also at various times held office under the govern¬ 
ment. He has written a large number of books on 
a wide range of subjects. 
James T. Fields, poet, lecturer and publisher, 
die! in Boston on SuDday evening, the 2-Hh Inst. 
He was born at Portsmouth, N. H., Dec. si, 1817. 
He studied at the Portsmouth High School, but 
did not receive a collegiate education. He was for 
some time a member of the publishing Arm known 
as Tlchnor & Fields, Boston. He was a poet of 
considerable reputation, a lecturer of acknowl¬ 
edged power and grace, a man of most genial 
manner. 
A sensible bill has recently been Introduced Into 
the Massachusetts Legislature, which provides 
that before a liquor saloon Is opened for the sale 
or intoxicating liquor the consent ot a majority of 
the property owners la the vicinity shall be ob¬ 
tained. It is on the ground that a liquor saloon 
partakes of the character ot a nulBance. 
President Garfield received a miniature bale of 
cotton the other day from an ardent admirer at 
Fort Worth, Texas. It was neatly bound with 
polished brass strips, and marked as If ready for 
shipping. It was accompanied hy the following 
letter: *• By thts mail l scud you a bale ot cotton 
to enter your cabinet of curiosities. The fortunate 
people out here are free tram general elections for 
two years, and have devoted their time to In¬ 
creasing the Importance of their king—cotton— 
and enhancing the value of Ills empire—Texas. 
Vermont is the only State that has not a blngle 
Chinaman. North Carolina and Delaware have 
each one. and Alabama four. Tbe largest number 
In auy southern Store Is 433, and Louisiana is tbe 
State. Sugar growing has brought them there. 
The other States aDd Territories In which they 
are most, numerous are: Pennsylvania, 170; Illi¬ 
nois, 2U; Utah 518; Arizona, 632; New York, 942; 
Montana, 1,761; Idaho, :t,378; Nevada, 5,423; Ore¬ 
gon, 9 515. and California, 75,122. 
Contracts have been made to carry 60,000 emi¬ 
grants from Norway and Sweden to Hull, whence 
they will proceed to Liverpool and thence to Amer¬ 
ica. 
on the 25th Inst, the statue of the late Admiral 
Fatragut, it. s. N., was unveiled at Washington 
with imposing ceremonies, The statue represents 
Fan agut with a marine glass In nls left haDd, his 
toot, on a block and tackle and supposed to be 
standing on the Hartford. President Garheld, 
Gen. Maynard and Senator Voorhees made the 
add rasses of the occasion. The statue cost $20,ooo» 
and vi mile Ream was the sculptor. 
The question of free canals was settled, for the 
present. In the state Senate on the 27th inst. Mr. 
Forster’S resolution amending the constitution so 
as to abolish all tolls on tbe Erie canal and pro¬ 
viding tor Its maintenance by a tax on the peo¬ 
ple, failed to pass. The prevailing belief Is that a 
free canal is not so much needed as an enlarge¬ 
ment or lnciease of its capacity, but the present 
constitution does not permit the state to make 
any Improvement beyond keeping U in repairs. 
Illinois affords a slight Indication of what may 
be expected when the women vote. They are 
asserting their new rights mostly In temperance 
issues In one town in Illinois over a thousand 
votes were polled by the women, and In another 
all t heir candidates were elected by a majority 
of 500. 
The executive committee of the World's Fair 
commission held a brier session on the 27th Inst. 
Nobu.-Jnese was transacted, the regular public 
mmiugot the commission being adjourned until 
next Wednesday. It la stated that T. F. Taicott, 
one of the active ptoinOiers of the project, has re¬ 
signed irom the commission. Taicott Is reported 
as saying, that the transportation companies 
wani ed to reap without sowing. Their policy was 
disheartening, aDd he washed his hands of the 
whole affair. The citizens had raised a million, 
which whs enough to show their earnest ness. 
The sum of $1,630,000 Is required to pay the sala- 
lles of the members of the Home of Representa¬ 
tives ana their mileage, lu admuou to this the 
last House voted Itself $125 for each member for 
newspapers and postage stamps, making an addi¬ 
tional $37,725. The clerk disbursed on account of 
salaries to stationery clerks $221,449 last year, ex¬ 
clusive of $25,000 which the Treasury Department 
paid direct to the stenographers. During a recess 
the persons who receive compensation are only 
about one hundred less than at other times. The 
cost for the senate Is about $ 600 , (too a year, nearly 
$400,000 going for salaries and mileage. 
Secretary Blaine recently authorized the prepa¬ 
ration of working drawings aud estimates of the 
erection of the monument to George Washington 
at his birthplace In Virginia. Tbe sum appropri¬ 
ated was $30,000. 
The developments ot the star Route mall service 
jobbery promise to open oue ot the most discredits 
able chapters ot our interior political history. For 
the people to be robbed of millions of dollars by 
rascally contractors and their confederates Is bad 
enough, If that were all; but when the stolen mon¬ 
ey goes, as Is charged, to swell a corruption fund 
and to buy votes by wholesale, the climax of out¬ 
rage Is reached and the Infamy becomes, as it 
were, monumental. 
The prohibition law In Kansas has not gone into 
effect till to-day, yet In most towns saloonH are al¬ 
ready closed, and there was not to be an open bar 
In the State at the beginning ot this month. The 
Governor of the state sayB that many of the saloon 
keepers have removed to Missouri, " but for every 
saloon keeper that goes out of Kansas on account 
of the prohibitory law a sulliclent number of sober, 
Industrious, energetic f am Liles come Into the State 
to build a school-house.” 
There Is a movement on the part of certain per¬ 
sons who profess t o be governed by a desire to Im¬ 
prove the condition of the colored race In America 
to found a colony in New Jersey, where all the In¬ 
dustrial pursuits wilt be taught to colored men, 
with a view of their becoming qualified to ltd re¬ 
sponsible positions in factories of ail kinds. 
Tfie flood of Immigrants across the State to the 
West is as great by tbe Erie as by tbe Central. 
Last week the Erie carried 2,661 Immigrants Into 
Buffalo, 2,071 of whom went West hy the Great 
Western Railroad. 
After June 1st postal cards will be unmallable if 
anything but the address la written on the address 
side. An order to this effect was Issued recently 
by the Post Office Depanmebt. 
Good news 1 The Senate, It Is reported, will soon 
take up the executive business, for which It was 
called together. The unopposed nominations will 
he at once confirmed, tfie Chinese treaty will be 
at once considered, and the Intolerable proceed- 
lngs,of the past lew weeks will be brought to an 
end. can it be l 
North Carolina Is agitating the temperance 
question. A Prohibition convention was held on 
the 27th Inst, about 459 delegates being present, 
representing every county In the State. State, dis¬ 
trict and county committees will be appointed to 
push the work, and the campaign against intem¬ 
perance promises to bo a lively and aggressive 
one. The popular vote on prohibition will be taken 
on the first Monday In August. 
A Illucrable Little AVoinuu. 
A lady writes: “ Looking back to the time 
when I commenced using your Compound oxygen, 
I can scarcely believe myself to be tlxe miserable 
little woman I was. I had not had one day’s good 
health In almost seven years, and w as going down 
every day. Can now work with delight.; am Btlll 
gaining to flesh. My r.ase seems somewhat tedious, 
hut none the less sure.'' Treatise on “ Compound 
Oxygen” sent free. Drs. Stakkkv & Falun, lloa 
and till Girard Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 
■ ■ - ■»»» 
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Upon motion of Sir. H. Maxwell, the British 
Mouse of Commons, April l, alter prolonged debate, 
resolved, by a vote of 75 to 59, to put the trade In 
adulterations of butter and substitutes fur it under 
strict governmental supervision ... A bill enacting 
severe penalties tor adulteration of butter and 
cheese is before the Illinois legislature, it also 
provides for a state inspector of these commodi¬ 
ties... __The London Times reports that In the 
small county of Bedfordshire 16,000 acres have 
been put out of cultivation by reason of agricul¬ 
tural distress.The Welland Canal has 
been opened to-day.Last Thursday the 
Girard Point Grain Elevator, situated near the 
junction of the Schuylkill and Delaware Riv¬ 
ers, Philadelphia, with a good deal of the sur¬ 
rounding property, was destroyed by fire along 
with its contents-67,000 busbels of wheat and 
30,000 bushels of corn. Total loss about $7oo,ooo 
Tbe Texas wool Clip is a fortnight later than 
usual.A canning factory is projected at 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., mostly for tomatoes. 
The St. Louis Grand Jury last Wednesday made a 
report to the Cilmlnal Court of 17 indictments 
against Robert L. Lindsay for connection w tth tne 
Missouri land swindle, recently unearthed, nine 
against John Brady, and lour against Herman 
Schuster, also connected in the land frauds.. .... 
Two of the largest and handsomest maple groves 
In this State are at North UarperBfleid, Delaware 
County. They contain 4,2ou trees, and will furnish 
seven tons of sugar, in 1876 mere was 200 ,out) 
pounds of sugar made in the town of Uarper&field, 
and it is estimated that the production this year 
will exceed that enormous quantity.At Bll- 
dah, Algeria, may be seen eucalypti, only five 
years old, 60 feet high.A skeptical French¬ 
man writes to the Prefect ot Police at Paris that 
all the asserted discoveries In regard to trlchlnaa 
are mera inventions of vegetarians, and he offers 
to prove It by living three days off nothing but 
pork that la alleged to be diseased, lr the Prefect 
will supply the meat—a Gallic mode ot suicide. 
A resoluilon has been introduced Into the Arkan¬ 
sas Legislature to hold all. S. Convention 01 farm¬ 
ers In St., Louis next October.That project 
of the Freedmen’s Oklahoma Association, promis¬ 
ing too acres of the public land to every freed- 
tnah mat to tut* in Oklahoma, has boot ocularoa 
Illegal by the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office In Washington. The government which 
prevented Col. Carpenter and Capt. Payne aDd 
t heir white fol lowers from occupying the Choctaw 
Indian reservation la not likely to be more com¬ 
plaisant to the colored ** man and brother.”. 
Special efforts are being made for tbe success of 
the meeting or the Mississippi Valley Cotton 
Planters’ Association at Memphis. May 25. Dele¬ 
gates are Invited from all the Cotton States, and 
from various manufactories of this country and 
England Interested In agriculture or cottOD manu¬ 
facture. It 13 proposed to make the Memphis 
gathering a tender for awakening popular Interest 
In the exposition at Atlanta m October. .... . 
The bill introduced Into the Massachusetts Senate, 
allowing the alumni of the Agricultural College 
representation on ltB Board or Trustees, has been 
defeated by means which the editor of the Haver¬ 
hill Gazette. w r ho was present, characterizes as “ a 
disgrace to the trustees and the Senate.”. 
Gen. Le Due has published a pamphlet showing 
why he should “Btick,” by showing the good he 
has done.The Illinois Agricultural College, 
at Champaign, has now 280 students and a newly. 
elected Regent, Dr. Peabody.Jowa bas $v 
000,000 worth or real estate exempt from taxation 
under the Timber Culture ACC.That beet 
sugar company at Franklin, Mass, wlU try tbe 
experiment anot her season. The property ot the old 
company has been sold toa new one for $60 000 . Con¬ 
tracts are to be mode at once for a supply of new 
beefs, and The probabilities ot complete success are 
thought to be stronger than ever before_Flax 
culture Is growing rapidly and largely In the West. 
.The Russian Government announces that 
the grain crop of the old Caucasus Is almost cer¬ 
tain to prove a failure; that locusts have begun to 
appear In incredible numbers In all districts upon 
the Caspian Sea: that no such visitation has been 
known before, and that In one district 39 tons or 
locusts’ eggs were destroyed. The Government 
also points out that, in the event of the grain crop 
falling (and Tlflis merchants Indorse the sumo 
view), tbe Untied States will have to supply the 
grain, which they can do cheaper than the plant¬ 
ers represented by the merchants or Odessa and 
Tanganrog.With regard to the prices of 
wool It Is sate to say that no Important Improve¬ 
ment Is likely to take place In the near future, 
owing to the nearness of the new clip, and the 
large supplies of torelgn and domestic still avail¬ 
able on the seaboard. The 1681 clip of California 
Is held at. Ban Francisco at prices too high to 
tempt Eastern purchasers In the present condi¬ 
tion of their market, and all Indications point 
to correspondingly extreme views on tbe part 
of growers In the South and West. 
Tbe New Yoik State Legislature bas appropria¬ 
ted $l5,uou for tbe support of tbe State Flsb Com¬ 
mission . _A Swiss colony bas been established 
In Laurel county, Tenn. Cattle breeding, cheese 
making, tanning and wine growing are the Indus¬ 
tries which the settlers will become interested in. 
The colony is aided hy a company of capitalists 
who planted a very succea&rul Swiss colony at 
Highland, 111, about 1830. Tennessee Is to be con¬ 
gratulated upon so Industrious and hardy an ac¬ 
cession.Seth Green states that he Is con¬ 
vinced, on Investigation, that an acre of water can 
be made to produce as much food as an acre of 
land. He adds that the Improved acres of land In 
New York State are valued In the aggregate at 
$1,221,472,277. or $76 94 per acre, on the average. 
At this rate ot valuat ion, the 647 lnlaDd lakes In 
New York State, covering an area of 466,457 acres, 
It properly stocked with fish, would be worth $36,- 
889,200 as sources of food supply. 
During the past week extraordinary depression 
has prevailed here in the fine of ocean steam 
Heights, which fell to quotations the lowest made 
In this market In a long period, leading, however, 
to freer movements, and, toward the close, a slight 
revival of firmness. Grain hence, by steam, for 
Liverpool, which went down 2,vj@2j^ pence per 
bushel, closed at 2?*d. bid ; tor Glasgow at 5d ; for 
London at 4d ; Bristol Avonmouch and Cardiff at 
5@5V,d.; Hull at 3V&4d., Uavre at ll@13c., Ant¬ 
werp at 4<as4k;d., Rotterdam at 4,H.'@5d., Bremen 
and Hamburg, on prompt shipments, at equal to 
5@5f.,d. per bushel.Owing to tbe low rates of 
freight, dealings in apples on export account have 
been lively here the past week. On the basis of 
2s. cd. to 2 s. per barrel freight, contracts were 
made for 10,600 barrels to till ports against 3,100 bar¬ 
rels last week.The arrivals here of hops since 
September l, 1680, bave been given at about 84,260 
bales, against about 76,100 bales the preceding 
season; exports hence. In the Barne time, 
about 40,700 bales, against about 42,500 bales 
In the coi responding period In 1679-80. 
From European advices ot April 11, we learn 
that In Germany Spring work w r aa late, and the 
Wheat plant generally backward, but strong and 
bealthy. In Holland vegetation was backward, 
and the Winter barley suffered from the severe 
frostB In Roumanla the weather had been favor¬ 
able, and the growing crops were reported as being 
In healthy condition. In France the young wheats 
continued in a backward condition, but the great¬ 
er part ot tne Spring sowings had been satisfacto¬ 
rily accomplished, In the United Kingdom there 
had been a week of dry and scorching east winds, 
which brought vegetation to a siandsUll. Tbe 
wheats were looking very brown, but held 
tneir own fairly well. They were late for the 
time of year; not more forward than generally is 
the case the first week In March. On fight soils 
the weather was Injuring the wheat plant at the 
roots 
A General Company of Preserved Food and Salt 
ed Provisions has Just been formed In France. Its 
objeor Into form •• preserving” establishments at 
home and abroad, and especially In the Danublan 
regions where there are great numbers of beeves, 
hogs and sheep whose preserved flesh it la pro 
posed to introduce lute France. Under Ministerial 
letters this Company Is entirely exempt rrom 
taxation for three years—wonder whether Its 
formation has had anything to do with the em¬ 
bargo on our "preserved’ bog product*). 
An Important Statement. 
[Boston Globe. March 22.j 
Most of the readers of this paper wifi remember 
an article published In our columns some time 
stnee regarding the remarkable case of Mr. B. F. 
Larrabee, of the New York * Boston Dispatch 
Express company. Mr. Larrabee had been given 
up to die by a number ot our best physicians, his 
trouble being Bright’s disease of the kidneys In 
Its most aggravated form. To-day he Is as well 
and healthy appearing a man as can he found 
upon our streets, and a goodly portion of his time 
is spent, in answering letters and inquiries regard¬ 
ing hts case, and in telling of the wonderful power 
which saved his life, restored hla health and has 
kept him well ever since. ’These are facts which 
any one can readily verify by communicating with 
Mr. Larrabee. 
In tuls connection there is an Important fact 
which we specially desire to state. When we 
published the account of Mr. Larrahee’a remarka¬ 
ble recovery many people said : ** oh, that is paid 
for.” People seem willing to read column after 
column about the sufferings of humanity and the 
horrors or disease, hut as soon as a newsp iper, In 
the interests of Its readers and humanity, points 
out a pure and valuable remedy for alleviating 
these sufferings or of curing these diseases, they 
say: “ oh, thatls paid for.” This is all wrong. We 
know whereof we affirm regarding Mr. Larrabee’B 
case, and anew It at the time we published it, and 
the present case of Dr. Whitney, which followp 
Is of precisely the same nature We have friends 
who have been cured, and from personal knowl¬ 
edge we Bifirm as we do The newspaper Is tne 
servant of the public, snd as aucb should study 
the public needs. Brlght’B disease bas ever been 
Considered an absolutely fatal complaint, but from 
the remarkable cases which bave come under our 
observation we do not hesitate U> pronounce It 
curable, even tn Its tlual stages. TUese are facts 
which the public are entitled to know, and as such 
we publish them. Tne following editorial, copied 
rrom tho Marlboro (Mass > Times, we give entire 
for the benefit of our readers : 
" Dr. Alston W. Whitney, of West Newton, who 
was reoeutly In the Massachusetts General Hos¬ 
pital to be treated for Brlgot’s disease, is now at 
home, and wbai is rather remarkable lor a regu¬ 
lar old school physician Is doctoring himself with 
a patent medicine, to wit: Warner’s Safe Kidney 
and Liver Cure. And It is doing him good, too, 
and strong hopes are felt, hy all his Intimate 
friends that, he will soon be almost as good as 
new. We doa’t advertise the safe Remedy, and 
so what wo say of It Is nor, a paid-for puff, hut we 
cannot forbear saylug that we consider it a most 
remarkable medicine for tfie relief of all urinary, 
kidney and fiver troubles, and we have known of 
Its having wonderful and most astonishing rem¬ 
edial eftp-cts m some chronic cases of deraneement 
where all other specifics had failed. We have had 
occasion to recommend Its uae m several cases, 
and have never known anybody to use it that was 
not immediately and permanently benefited.” 
FOREIGN NEW8, 
Acaoss the Atlantic the United Kingdom, the 
first place we come to, la still chiefly Interested In 
the "Irish Question” In home affairs, while in 
foreign matters the Eastern Question has been 
temporarily over ridden by interest in the Tunis¬ 
ian Question. Gladstone’s Irish Land BUI does not 
content the Irish agitators, though its provisions 
are so liberal to the tenantry aa to greatly dis¬ 
please both many of the Liberals, headed by the 
Duke of Argyle, who has resigned from die cabi¬ 
net In displeasure, and all the Conservatives, 
headed hy Sir Strafford Northcoto, who has suc¬ 
ceeded Earl Beaconsfleld as head of that party It 
Is doubtful If the extreme Irish party would be 
satisfied with any land measure that fell pflorc ot 
making a free gift of the land to the tenants and 
then some ot them would want donations to stock, 
till and fertilize It, the last preferably with the 
carcasses of the late landlords. Arrests sllll con¬ 
tinue In Ireland under tile coercion Acts, chiefly 
of loud mouthed nobodfi-B, although it la now an¬ 
nounced that Mr. John Dillon, M, P., and the 
other prominent members ol the Land League will 
be promptly added to tne number ot prisoners. 
Dublin has just been "proclaimed ” — that Is, 
announced by the Government to be now subject 
to the Coercion Act, so tuat tnere, as In the other 
'• proclaimed ” districts, anybody may be arrested 
without oliarge aud Imprisoned without trial until 
the term for which the act. was passed expires. 
The “proclamation” ot Dublin causes "intense 
excitement,” we are told by this morning’s cable. 
.The "Eastern Question” having been 
temporarily settled by the acceptance by Greece 
ot Turkey’s ultimatum with regard to Its conces¬ 
sions or territory, the “Tunisian Question,” us 
foreshadowed In our editorial of a few weeks ago, 
has taken the foremost place amo) g tUe possible 
causes or a European embrogllo. Tunis, under a 
ruler entitled Bey. Is nominally a part of the ot¬ 
toman Empire, owing allegiance to the sultan, but 
usually paylDg to him neither that, nor anything 
else In the shape of revenue or reverence. On its 
Western borders, adjoining the French dependency 
ot Algeria, live a bigoted Moslem tribe known to 
the " Frankish infidels" by the name of Kounflrs. 
They have always been hosilieto the French in 
Algeria and showed It a few months ago by killing 
three of ’em. Of late Italian and French influ¬ 
ences have beea diplomatically contending lh 
Tunis and the latter, formerly all-powerful, 
has been much weakened by ns rival. The 
murder of those three Frenchmen by the 
Bemt-savage Kuunfirs has been seized upon to re¬ 
place the ••losahlo” French Influence by "tenable” 
F/eneb domination Bo war nominally against 
the Koumirs really against the Bey, was declared a 
couple of weeks ago, and a body of to.uoo picked 
French troops have surrounded " lioumlrland,” 
aud seized upon the chief lrontter poimson the 
way to TunlB, The bas, m extremis, ap¬ 
pealed U> the hauauted feuium who biusiueua 
