evinced by the following figures: The banking 
and exchange business forthe year ending, Oct. 
1, 1881, is approximated at over $20,000,000; 
commercial transactions, exclusive of wheat, 
will exceed $11,000,000. The banking capital 
of Fargo is $815,000 (five banks). There were 
1,350,000 bushels of wheat marketed in 1880. 
There are two large elevatoi's, a large roller 
flouring-mill. and several smalle.r manufac¬ 
tories. The value of permanent improvements 
for the past year is estimated at. $500,000, The 
grow-th of Fargo has been largely stimulated 
since the advent of the St. Paul, Minneap¬ 
olis, and Manitoba Railway, offering a com¬ 
petitive lino to the Northern Pacific. Several 
railway projects, some under way, we will 
discuss anon. Here w*e found the Holly 
w'ater system with a capacity of 1,000,000 gal¬ 
lons per day: a street railway organized to be 
built this Fall; telephone connections with 
Moorhead, 97 working and 50 more ordered; 
and, in fact, all of the modern improvements. 
There are three large and well kept hotels, 
besides a dozen smaller ones. This ambitious 
young city, not content with a contracted 
radius of trade, is reaching out for country 
merchants’ patronage and will become, no 
doubt, a commercial center for jobbing as 
w*ell as retail trade. 
Moorhead, too, has the aspirations and de¬ 
sires of her sister city and, although behind in 
the matter of population and volume of busi¬ 
ness, has the energy and will to become an 
earnest competitor. From this point two 
new railway lines are being built north and 
south, and with the trunk roads mentioned, 
this city bids fail- to be a railway center of 
no mean importance. The necessity of a foot 
and a wagon bridge between the two cities is 
felt by both, and it will doubtless be 
built the coming Summer. Moorhead tallied 
1,800 at the census: now estimated 2,700 to3,- 
000. It has six religious societies and five 
churches: the finest school building in North¬ 
western Minnesota; a weekly newspaper (a 
daily is soon to he established), and various 
civic societies. The public improvements of 
the past year foot up over $400,000, the great¬ 
est. of which is the building of a magnifi¬ 
cent hotel, the Grand Pacific, to cost when 
completed, with furniture, $105,000. It has 
120 rooms, hot and cold water, gas, elevators 
and every modern appliance for comfort or 
luxury. That, with their present excellent 
house, will be apt. to give Moorhead a reputa¬ 
tion. In this handsome building the St. P. M 
and M. R. R., is to have ticket and general 
offices, waiting rooms, etc., all trains stopping 
here for meals. Other improvements to be in¬ 
augurated by this railway — round house 
shops, etc.—will foot up largely. The hand¬ 
some opera house is a feature. It cost $ 10,000 
and is arranged neatly and tastily. That is 
something Fargo lacks and needs. 
Moorhead has good water-works, the same 
telephone exchange, a street car company or¬ 
ganized to operate with the Fargo company, 
and in many things the “ dual cities” are aid¬ 
ing and abetting the interests which should he 
common to both. The banking capital of 
Moorhead is $160,000, with two banks; ex¬ 
change and banking business between live 
and six millions. There is a large and increas¬ 
ing commerce—700,000 bushels of wheat were 
marketed there in 1S80. The place has a stor¬ 
age capacity for grain of 150,000 bushels—to 
be more than doubled the present year. 
There is a fine roller flouring mill as well as a 
large brewery and other manufacturing in¬ 
terests. Property is yet reasonable and large 
purchases are constantly being made in both 
cities, as Eastern capital is seeing the advan¬ 
tage of Western investments. Around these 
cities the country is of the same general char¬ 
acter as other portions of the famous valley 
heretofore described. A fuller and more de¬ 
tailed review of Moorhead’s interests we will 
make the subject of a succeeding letter. The 
Red River of the North is navigable as far up 
as this, there being two lines plying between 
these points and Grand Forks. 
East of Moorhead the St. P. M. & M. Rail¬ 
way intersects the Northern Pacific at Glyn- 
don, a young village which commands its por¬ 
tion of trade in the section. Here we made a 
hearty breakfast. Speeding up the line winch 
runs north to Manitoba, the first town of any 
importance at which we stopped was Ada. It 
is about midway between Glyndon and 
Crookstown, has a population of over 500, 
with elevators, numerous stores, hotels, lum¬ 
ber yards, etc. As a grain mark t it is rapid¬ 
ly improving, last year’s shipments being 
over 350,000 bushels. It has at present an ex¬ 
tended radius of trade, drawing for 20 miles 
around. There are church organizations, 
schools, societies, etc., and in many ways the 
town presents those, characteristics which in¬ 
dicate a rapid growth and permanent prosper¬ 
ity. There is a bank as well as a well edited 
paper, the Ada Alert,” very aptly named, 
indicating, as it does, its wide-awake, broad- 
guage proclivities. 
There are many ways in which the farmers 
of this district could still further improve 
their condition. They are taking too many 
eggs in one basket, or, in other words, putting 
too much reliance on wheat. We w’ere as¬ 
tonished to learn that at Fargo and Moor¬ 
head, oats had been imported to a country 
where the yield is never less than 50 bushels 
and often as high as 75 to the acre. Then 
again, flax can be planted on new breaking, 
giving a considerable yield and improving 
and benefiting the soil, while it pays the farm¬ 
er a profit on his first year. With free gov¬ 
ernment lands, liberal rebates on purchases of 
the St. P. M. & M. railway landR, a short, 
prosperous season, and a comparatively certain 
yield, bringing a good price, it is no wonder 
that the most self-satisfied people we have 
met are the farmers of the Northwest. 
Societies. i5cc. 
THE ARKANSAS STATE FAIR. 
[Tii’ hat. Special Report.] 
The new grounds of the Arkansas State 
Mechanical and Agricultural Association are 
pleasantly situated about one mile from the 
city of Little Rock. Ark., and this is where 
the State Fair was held October 17-22, this 
year. The citizens have spent a considerable 
amount of money in fitting up the grounds, 
and as they are roomy and easy of access, 
t here is no reason why, under proper manage¬ 
ment., this fair should not improve year after 
year. This year’s fair w*as a great improve¬ 
ment over those of former yen rs; yet, judged 
from a Northern point of view, the agricul¬ 
tural portion could not bo called a success— 
too much horse, too much side shows, too 
much old fogyism, and not enough of the life, 
energy and display that at. the best fairs do so 
much in the way of educating both the 
dweller in the town and the dweller in the 
country. I never met with a warmer recep¬ 
tion in my life, than at this fair. A thing that 
very forcibly impressed me was the almost 
universal wish of the progressive men of this 
State for Northern immigration, Northern 
push and ideas. Within the past six years the 
State has made more progress in agriculture 
than during its entire previous history; hut, 
strange to say, the railroads, especially the 
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern, and a 
few progressive people are at the bottom of all 
this improvement. The State w ill not do any¬ 
thing for agriculture. The college, with its so- 
called experiment station, is situated so far 
away from any agricultural center that it is 
at present of no real use to the agricultural 
and horticultural portion of the community. 
The railroads centering hero are doing the 
greater part of the w ork, assisted by the indi¬ 
vidual efforts of citizens uud the State press. 
The needs of this State can be easily ascer¬ 
tained on an examination of the fair, by what 
is not exhibited as well as by what is. Among 
the cattle on exhibition were a few good spe¬ 
cimens of imported stock; but, though milk 
here is now worth 10 cents per quart and 
butter 40 cents per pound, still there has been 
no general effort to improve upon the native 
stock, and this in a country where 7 " all the 
finer grasses will grow the year round: clover, 
Timothy and Alfalfa grow luxuriantly, and 
Bermuda Grass spreads even into the city. 
What is wanted are good bulls of the Ayr¬ 
shire, Holstein and Jersey breeds to cross on 
the native cows and thus improve the progeny 
for dairy purposes. In importing pure-breds 
from the North they should bo brought when 
young, as they must get acclimated if expected 
to live. The native cattle here ure small, 
weighing from 500 to 800 pounds, and they do 
not give over seven quarts of milk a day. I 
saw a number of pairs of steers that would not 
weigh over 600 pounds apiece. There is a great 
field for the dairyman and breeder in this .State. 
In the agricultural department there were 
the same marks of nogligenco and unthrift. 
What was worth seeing was made up in great 
part by exhibits of such progressive men as 
Messrs. Ken* & Kannady, of Sebastian Coun¬ 
ty, in the extreme western part of the State. 
For their county exhibit they brought seven 
car-loads of cattle, cotton, coal and agricul¬ 
tural produce, which made an excellent dis¬ 
play of what til© county produces. Their show* 
of corn and w heat was especially good. An¬ 
other fine exhibit was that made by G. W. 
Davis, of Jefferson County. He made a flue 
show* of Eureka Cluster Corn, of which he 
raised the past season 76^ bushels of shelled 
grain per acre—a very large yield, consider¬ 
ing the severity of the drought. This corn 
very much resembles Blount’s White Prolific. 
It has about the same size of ear and kernel 
and grows from four to ten ears per stalk. It 
ripens with him in about I (todays. 
The various soils of this .State are fitted 
for almost every branch of agriculture. Cot¬ 
ton and com thrive finely on the rich bottom 
lands; corn, wheat and garden products on 
the uplands. But with ail these rich lands, 
large crops are not the rule. The farmers in 
this section want a higher education, and, so 
far as I can find out from talking with good 
representatives from all parts of the State, the 
farmers are more than willing—they are anx¬ 
ious—to learn and profit by the best methods 
practiced elsewhere in their vocation. Im¬ 
proved agricultural machinery is very little 
known in the State, and much of the cultiva¬ 
tion is still left to the blacks, who rent, the 
farms on shares and wear out the land with 
their loose manner of farming. For the first 
time in the history of the State, a State Agri¬ 
cultural Society has just been formed, Its 
officers are progressive farmers and planters, 
and they propose not only to develop the rich 
resources of the State energetically them¬ 
selves, but also to call in Northern men, ideas 
and push, and raise the average crop of com 
from 30 to 75 bushels per acre; of wheat from 
seven or eight to 30 bushels; and of rye, cot¬ 
ton, oats, etc., in proportion. The land here 
is capable of producing as large crops as are 
harvested in any part of the great Southwest: 
all that is needed is proper tillage to bring 
them forth. The Society proposes to establish 
county and town societies all over the State. 
The exhibit made by the Little Rock and 
Fort Smith Railway, which nins through 
the center of the State from Little Rock to 
the w estern boundary, show*ed the great vari¬ 
ety of products w hich that section of the coun¬ 
try is capable of raising. Dr. W. W. Hippo- 
lite, Vice-President of the National Bee- 
Keepers’ Association, made a handsome ex¬ 
hibit of honey and bees. He uses a modifica¬ 
tion of the Langstroth hive, made to suit this 
climate. There was quite a fair display of 
butter and cheese in small quantities, the first 
premium on which was carried off by t^i old 
New*-Yorker—Walter Crandall, of Prairie 
County. 
The show of agricultural machinery, wag¬ 
ons, etc., was light. It would be well for our 
manufacturer to make better exhibits here 
another season, for I never found a population 
more sadly in need of improved machinery. 
Cotton machinery—presses, gins, planters, etc. 
—were on exhibition, but no grain drills, saw 
mills or mowers and reapers, and many other 
machines that are needed in this section, were 
not shown. Numbersof farmers and planters,if 
only they were made acquainted with the ad¬ 
vantages of these machines, would buy them, 
and, by greatly increasing their crops by their 
use, open up an extensive market for them. 
Sheep and swine were about the same in merit 
as the cattle, and could be greatly improved 
by more care and better breeding. There was 
a world too much horse—not “agricultural 
boss trots,” but regular horse races, with all 
the accompanying pool-selling. This sort of 
thing should be replaced by breeders’ purses, 
and the pool-sellers should be driven from the 
grounds, as well as the side show's, which have 
no proper place at an agricultural fair. Sev¬ 
eral gambling games were started on the 
grounds—absolute swindles—but to the credit 
of the officers of the Society it must be said 
that as soon as they found out the character of 
these, tli© sw-indlers were hustled off the 
grounds and their tools confiscated. 
It is claimed that to draw* a crow*d it is nec¬ 
essary to have horse racing, military shows, 
etc. Let this Society* next y*eur use the same 
amount of money paid this year to the horse 
owners and military companies and offer extra 
premiums for breeders of cattle, sheep, swine 
aud mules, as well as for county exhibits of 
agricultural produce, and see if the reform 
will not bring not only a much finer lot of ex¬ 
hibits, but also as large a crowd. The citizens 
of Arkansas have altogether too much pride in 
their State to allow* their fair to become a fail¬ 
ure, and a large and fine show of stock and 
machinery will bring numerous visitors from 
other States, as w*ell as throngs of natives. 
The progressive citizens of this State are fully 
alive to the fact that if they want people to 
come here they must show* them not only what 
lands they have, but what these lands can and 
have produced. In a short time an agricul¬ 
tural paper will be started under the auspices 
of the new State Agricultural and Horticul¬ 
tural Societies, following, as far as its means 
will permit, the style of the Rural New- 
Yorker — devoting more attention to tho 
treatment of facts than of theories, and if the 
farmers and planters throughout the State 
give it the support already* promised, its suc¬ 
cess will be assured. w. H. k. 
CATALOGUES, ETC. 
Fourteenth Annual Report of the Ohio 
State Horticultural Society for the year 1880-1. 
Dr, J. A. Warder, Cincinnati, President; G. 
W. Campbell, Delaware, Ohio, Secretary: We 
shall take occasion to refer to this very valua¬ 
ble report again. 
Tenth Report on the Noxious and Benefi¬ 
cial Insects of Illinois ; by Cyrus Thomas, 
Pb.D., State Entomologist. This is one of a 
series of reports, tho first one of which was 
made by Mr. Marsh, the next four by Dr. Le- 
Baron, aud the remaining five by Professor 
Thomas. The value of these reports is well 
attested by the large demand for them, not 
only in Illinois, but in other States as well. 
A large portion of the present report is devot¬ 
ed to the descriptions of larvae, as it is in the 
larval or worm stage of existence that farmers 
and horticulturists meet with many insects. 
But two orders have been here discussed, the 
Lepidoptera and Hy*menoptera, as it is the 
author’s aim to treat thoroughly, each year, of 
one or more of the notedly injurious insects. 
The Aimy worm is discussed in its various life 
stagps. There is a descriptive catalogue of 
larvae; the question of tho relations of cli¬ 
matic conditions to the development of injuri¬ 
ous insects forms an interesting chapter; a new 
corn insect is discussed, and a long list of 
plants injured by* the various insects men¬ 
tioned in the report and of the scientific names 
of the species which injure them, is affixed. 
There are numerous illustrations throughout 
tho Work—-about 200 in all, Dr. Packard’s 
paper on the Hessian Fly is inserted by* his 
permission. Professor Thomas is doing a 
grand work for tho State of Illinois and the 
country in general, in his investigations into 
the nature, habits, etc., of various noxious and 
beneficial insects, and w*e wish him “long 
days ” in which to carry on a w*ork so much 
demanded. 
OrntomoloiRcol. 
A NEW INSECT ON PEACH TREES. 
A. J. CAYWOOD. 
Quite a scare is taking hold of peach- 
growers here, and they have good reason for 
the fright owing to the danger threatening 
their business. About four years ago I was 
informed that certain growers were losing 
peach trees in from one to tw*o years after 
the cause made its appearance. On visiting 
the places, I found guiu issuing in small jets 
all over the trunk, from the surface of the 
ground to well up among the branches, and 
so numerous were the jets that it was diffi¬ 
cult to put the end of one's linger between 
them. I found minute insects moving about 
on the surface of the bark, so small that 
they had previously been overlooked. On 
placing a microscope over them I discovered 
u perfect beetle with covered wings, almost 
precisely the shape of the large May Beetle, 
but not more than one sixteenth of an inch 
in length, and when the wings were extended 
they were three times the lengt h of tho body. 
For the want of a proper name I call it the 
“ gum bug.” It is brown, approaching black. 
During the past two years 1 have endeav¬ 
ored to ascertain its changes from the egg 
to the perfect beetle, with less success than 
with any other insect to which my attention 
has been called. I thought the egg was de¬ 
posited in the bark in the Fall, mid that the 
larva, after hatching and living there one 
season, made its appearance as a perfect insect 
annually; but I find the booties, both under 
the bark and on the surface, euting their 
way in and placing themselves in a position 
like that of those I find under, and whether 
the egg is deposited in the ground and the 
insect there perfected, afterwards attacking 
the tree for food, or whether the transforma¬ 
tion occurs in tho bark, I have not deter¬ 
mined. It is possible that tho egg is laid in 
the bark; that the perfected insect comes to 
the surface annually, and afterwards eats back 
a hole in which to deposit its egg; but having 
no knowledge of any insect that deposits its 
egg in this way. I cannot convince myself 
of its certainty. 
The pests do not appear on young trees to 
half tho extent that they are seen on larger 
ones. They ure first discovered near the 
ground and the second and third year they 
proceed up tho trunk. This fact led mo to 
believe that tho egg is deposited in the tree. 
This Fall 1 took out and utterly burned some 
25 five-year-old trees that one year ago wore 
pictures of health. By running the hand up 
the body a handful of gum could bo obtained 
with one effort, each insect killing u sprt of 
bark half an inch in diameter down to the 
wood; but the cavity in which it lies is but 
an eighth of an inch across. Bussing through 
the grounds of a neighbor a few days since I 
did not discover a single peach tree that was 
not a perfect blotch of gum, and all of them 
will l>e removed next Spring. 
The beetle makes its appearance about the 
first of September aud continues its warfare 
down to December. As abovo stilted, it is 
new here, but may have been known longer in 
Other sections, Some think it has been intro¬ 
duced iu trees from other localities. If it does 
exist elsewhere, and a remedy is known, we 
hope it will be speedily given, or the poach 
business is doomed; for when the pests make 
their appearance they surely spread from tree 
to tree until all are infested. They began with 
me iu a single tree. 
No gum issues w hile the insect is in the hole 
—I suppose they consume it; but it follows 
