AUG 42 
§37 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Vnvicats. 
NORTHERN NEBRASKA. 
The Beauties and Resources of this 
Section, as Noted by our Special 
Western Correspondents Their 
Observations upon its Adapta¬ 
bility for Agricultural and 
Pastoral Pursuits, and 
Superior Attractions 
for Immigration. 
MESSRS. HOLMES AND BWEKTLAND. 
(Special Correspondents of the Rural New-Yorker.] 
Sporting in ideals—flirting with fancies— 
coquetting with theories — incredulity of 
others’ observations—forgetting quickly the 
lessons of experience, and confiding in an ill- 
defined hope — waiting, Micawber like, for 
something to turn up, constitutes the sum in 
the problem of many a human life. 
The associations and reminiscences of early 
life in the Eastern States—woodland and glen, 
meadow and field mountai: and stream, 
orchard and garden, church and school, home 
and happiness—seemed to satisfy our ambition 
and quiet every aspiration for more than a 
theoretical knowledge of the world outside 
and beyond. Our fathers heard of the won¬ 
derful country a thousand miles or more 
toward the setting sun. They knew but little 
or nothing of its topographical baauty. its be¬ 
witching landscapes, the fertility of its soil, 
the streams, lakes, limber, prairies, and health¬ 
ful climate; but associated with the term 
“Out West” was a country given over to 
Indi-ms. buffaloes, all kinds of wild beasts, 
and devoid of any of tbe atti ibutes of civiliza¬ 
tion—and these ideas were carefully incul¬ 
cated in the family. Meantime capital and 
enterprise joined hands and led the van of 
civilized li e in its westward march, until to¬ 
day from the Atlantic to the Rockies the air 
resounds with the prmns of sturdy, happy 
yoerranry, the music of machinery, the 
whistle of the locomotive, and the voices of 
millions in the full enjoyment of church, 
school and social privileges, Thoold, settled 
States of the East have become crowded. 
Lands are high, and many a young man who 
reads the newspapers under the roof tree of 
his sire, and learns that the wheat, corn, beef, 
pork and minerals which supply the Eastern 
market come from the West, finds himstlf in 
the unenviable position described in our 
opening. 
In aid of these and other candid readers of 
the Rural, we accepted an invitation from 
tbe officials of the Sioux City & Pacific R. R. 
to joiu them in a flying trip over their lines, 
and visit a section of the country to which we 
wore strangers. The pressure of other duties 
made us reluctant to accept, but having gone, 
we shall never regret the decision. 
The Superintendent and Assistant Superin¬ 
tendent of the road, the General Passenger 
and Ticket Agent, accompanied by his wife 
and a lady friend, and the writer, with his 
better-half, comprised the pleasant, social 
party that took possession of the “office car” 
of the road at Missouri Valley, Iowa, the 
Eastern terminus, and crossing the swift, 
eddying tide of the Missouri River, sped away 
to and up tbe beautiful “ Elkhoru Valley,” 
stopping frequently at bright, thrifty towns 
whose life and trade bespeak the rapid settle¬ 
ment and growth of the country surrounding 
them. 
THE FARMS AND HERDS 
which met our vision from track to horizon 
on either side revealed more of active and 
dormant wealth at a glance than we could 
write upon a page. The comely and commo¬ 
dious farm-houses and barns proclaimed the 
richness of the soil and tbe prosperity of the 
inhabitants more forcibly than language, 
while the hills, valleys, groves, streams, fields 
of waving corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley and 
grasses, herds, flocks, homes and laborers 
formed a landscape view e’en from our feet to 
where it played at bo-peep with tbe clouds in 
the dim distance and received its misty kiss 
of ether blue, which would defy the fancy of 
a poet or brush of the artist. 
The corn was somewhat backward, but a 
good stand and of good color, growing nicely. 
Much of the grain was ready for the sickle, 
harvesting having already begun in some 
fields, giving every indication of a large yield 
by the healthy condition of the stand, length 
of the heads, number and size of the spikelets. 
The natural and cultivated grasses succulent 
and nutritious in quality and plentiful in 
quantity, will supply all tbe grazing and hay 
required for the flocks of sheep and herds of 
cattle, and—then what ? Taking the entire 
area we traveled, not to exceed one-twentieth 
of this luxuriant growth will tie utilized !—The 
inference is plain—that this section of mar¬ 
velous beauty and wondrous wealth is inviting 
the tiller of the soil and raiser of stock to 
settle along the valley and garner from its 
hounttAaifl wuiltb- 
FARMS PARTIALLY IMPROVED 
can be bought for from eight to twenty dol¬ 
lars per acre, according to improvements and 
proximity to the railroad. Unimproved lands 
can be had at from four to ten dollars, the 
price being governed by the same influences. 
Near tbe bead of the valley and beyond, 
Government lands are still obtainable under 
the Homestead, Pre-emption and Timber Cul¬ 
ture Acts of Congress. 
Tbe Eastern farmer who would sell his farm 
there ond come out here, could with the pro¬ 
ceeds, buy about six or seven acres for one, 
nearly equal in improvements; which would 
yield of any Western product-, grain or stock, 
nearly or quite double the amount to each 
acre; while the expense of marketing would 
not exceed 40 per cent, of that in any locality 
500 miles distant from New York city. The 
“boys,” if you chose, could he located on 
unimproved lands near-by, to develop farms 
for themselves, aided by your money and ad¬ 
vice. In doing this, do not deceive yourself 
by computing the hardships of pioneering— 
for they do not await one in this section. 
School-bouses in near proximity ure scattered 
all through the valley and education is free. 
Religi ms organizations, from iron-clad ritual¬ 
istic, through every shade of Prote«tantism 
and the different liberal creeds, are found in 
the cities and towns. Cultured and refined 
society greet you on every hand, and civic 
societies are as prosperous and efficient as 
elsewhere. 
A rich soil, beautiful topography, pure, 
limpid water, plenty of timber, convenient 
markets, easy living, good social privileges, 
high altitude, equal temperature, healthy 
climate and cheap lands with low taxation— 
if tbe picture of this country as we found it 
is not enough to make one “ haopy as a King,” 
let any reader who is interested, write to the 
Rural New-Yorker, asking plainly and 
pointedly any questions to supply the de¬ 
ficiency, and we will be pleased to respond. 
The second morning out we halted on the 
bridge crossing 
LONG PINE CREEK. 
and gazed down and around upon the top 3 of 
the deciduous and evergreen trees in their 
richest foliage; upon the rippling, laughing, 
dancing waters of the creek ninety four feet 
below us; along the canyon curving sharply 
to the west with its precipitous bank bedecked 
«ith shrubbery and Anvers, upon seven 
springs of pure, sparkling, cold water that 
come bubbling to the surface on the convex 
western hill sides, become confluent well up 
the hill side and form two cascades of great 
beauty as they go leaping to the creek below, 
while the center or the amphitheatre fs slighc- 
ly elevated and covered with trees, the tout 
ensemble forming a picture sublime, beauteous 
and fascinating. 
Another halt was made on the bridge cross¬ 
ing Plum Creek, 103 feet above the water; the 
sceuery here is pretty, bat cannot compare 
with that of Long Pine. 
The officsrs of the road took along a photo¬ 
grapher, and had a number of views taken; 
they think of publishing a pamphlet giving a 
detailed description of this country and illus¬ 
trating it with these pictures, but are unde¬ 
cided as yet regarding it. Such a book would 
find thousands of interested readers. 
Our space is exhausted, and yet we have 
not given reference to a single town on the 
line; in justice to them we shall have to devote 
one letter soon to a glance at their importance 
and growth. We must also endeavor at some 
future time to give more of the details than 
we can give litre regarding the crops, as well 
as stock-raising and its profits as we find them 
here. 
We must not close without a brief mention 
of our visit to Fort Niobrara, Capt. R. H. 
Montgomery commanding, and our hospita¬ 
ble reception by the officers of the Fifth U. S. 
Cavalry garrisoned there. We would be 
pleased to give a pen-picture of the Post and 
its surroundings; to mention respectively the 
officers and their families who contributed so 
heartily and bounteously to our enjoyment; 
to enumerate the buildings and describe their 
structure; to comment and compliment as all 
deserve, and we may do so in the future, but 
for this time must desist. 
-«-»-*- 
RURAL BRItuFLETS, 
HYBRIDIZING TUB PEA, ETC. 
We have received tbe following communi¬ 
cation from Mr. E. S. Goff, the efficient Hor¬ 
ticulturist of the N. Y. Ex. Station: “In a 
late Rural you express a doubt that new va¬ 
rieties of the pea ever originate by crossing 
old ones. This is quite contrary to received 
opinions. Mr, Andrew Knight, the famous 
English horticulturist, is said to have made 
successful hybrids not only between different 
varieties of the pea, but also between the gar¬ 
den and field peas, which are ranked as dis¬ 
tinct species, I have fertilized this season 
about a hundred blossoms of the pea with 
pollen from other varieties. A large propor- 
. tion of these blossoms produced pods. The 
fcrtilizaAiau could not' bavu cooi* frog} tjjoir 
own pollen, for I removed the stamens as 
soon as the petals were visible—a day or two 
before the blossoms opened. No pollen 
can be given off by the stamens at this early 
stage of growth, as will readily appear by an 
examination. The pollen of the pea is very 
rarely or never carried hy insects, as the 
stamens and pistil are entirely inclosed by the 
inner petals. Whence came this fertiliz¬ 
ation, if the varieties cannot cross!” 
We are greatly obliged to Mr. Goff for the 
above note. A considerable time ago, Dr. 
Sturtevant remarked to the writer that he 
had endeavored to cross the garden peas but 
found, as we understood him to say, that the 
ovules were already impregnated, even in 
quite immature buds. We thereupon ex¬ 
amined a number of buds and found that the 
- pistils were so far developed that it seemed 
that pollenation and impregnation had al¬ 
ready occurred. Hence it was that we inti¬ 
mated that the subject should again be re¬ 
ferred to. If Dr. Sturte/ant's surmise (he 
said nothing positively) were correct, then 
we desire to credit him with having incited 
us to the inquiry. If Mr. Goff has any late 
peas not yet in bloom, we should much like to 
have him remove the anthers a3 l*efore, and 
see if fruit will not form all the same. 
In this connection webeg to narrate a bit of 
experience which may interest botanists who 
have been engaged In crossing flowers. Four 
years ago we raised several plants from the 
seeds of Hibiscus Mos ;t°utos, the Swamp 
Rose Mallow. As soon as the buds matured 
sufficiently to bear it, the petals were un¬ 
folded and the anthers very carefully cut off 
and brushed out with a camel's-bair brmh 
while yet they were quite green. Pollen 
from the Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus) 
in liberal quantities was a little liter applied 
to the stigmas. Not less than 50 buds were 
so treated, while every other bud not so emas¬ 
culated was cut off as soon as formed. Now 
it should appear that any seeds that formed 
in the manipulated flowers, were the result of 
hybridization between H. Moscbeutos and H. 
Syriacus. Seeds matured so abundantly that 
the work was repeated with, if possible, addi¬ 
tional care, only to give the same results. 
From these seeds we raise! about 100 plants, 
in the house the following Winter, about 25 of 
which were planted out-of-doors in the 
Spring, All of them bloomed—but ne ther 
in bloom, stem nor in leaf was there or is 
there( we have still a dozen of the plants) the 
slightest variation from Hibiscus Moscheutos. 
Was any hybridization effected? If not, 
whence did the stigmas get their pollen!.,.. 
In the matter of crossing and hybridizing 
(we use the first to denote a union between 
different varieties of the same speoies, and 
the second to denote a union between dif¬ 
ferent species of the same genus) we 
have for 10 years past carried on a 
deal of correspondence with those who are 
supposed to have originated many new va¬ 
rieties of grapes, potatoes, wheats and oats— 
and we may say that the opinion forced upon 
us is that in most cases there has been no 
positive evidence that crosses have been 
effected. For instance, one wheat crosser 
stated that he waited for the anthers to ap¬ 
pear before removing them and inserting 
pollen between the pales, while there can be 
no doubt whatever that impregnation occurs 
several days before the anthers appear out¬ 
side of the glumes... 
Again, we hear of “hybrid” oats. With¬ 
out wishing to casta doubt upon the integ¬ 
rity of those who say they have crossed 
them, our own futile endeavors lead us to be¬ 
lieve that the palets so invest the generative 
organs that the stamens cannot be removed 
and others inserted without destroying all 
generative power. As to potatoes, we find 
that some “hybridizers” give the parents of 
a new hybrid merely because the two parents 
were raised in i he same plot. As to grapes, 
there is no such thing as knowing the male 
parent (where more than two kinds bloom 
near each other at the same time) unless the 
cap and anthers are removed, and some sub¬ 
stance impregnable to both wind and insects 
is made to oover the bud.. 
When catalogues are filled with “hybrid” 
this and “hybrid” that, merely for the pur¬ 
pose of attracting attention and investing 
the new flo er, vegetable or fruit with mys¬ 
tery, merely to insure a readier sale at pre¬ 
posterous prices, it is surely commendable in 
those whose aim it is to impart trustworthy 
instruction, to examine into the accuracy of 
such matters................. 
A writer asks the Ohio Farmer if wheat will 
mix the same as corn will mix when different 
kinds are planted near each other. He is an¬ 
swered that they will mix, though not as 
readily as corn or oats. We think the answer 
is incorrect. For five years past we have had 
from 20 to 100 kinds of wheat, growing within 
areas less than an acre in extent, and we 
have never seen the slightest evidence of mix¬ 
ing from natural causes, The pales of wheat 
hug the stamens aud pistils closely, and the 
oollec. is shod bvfujv tins actijoiv appear 
What we call the “ blooming of wheat” seems 
to be merely a provision of nature to get rid 
of the stamens, and thus afford full space for 
the enlargement of the fertilized ovary or 
fruit, since the grain is not only a seed, but, 
botanically considered, a fruit. It is out of 
the question for anybody to experiment in 
crossing wheats without arriving at the con¬ 
clusion that they cannot cross through any 
natural cause. As for oats, we cannot see 
how they can cross naturally or artificially 
either. The so-called Hybrid Excelsior Oats 
seem to us merely the old Chinese Hulless— 
improved, perhaps, by selection. We should 
be glad to have proof that any cross between 
oats has ever been effected. As to the use of 
the word “ hybrid” in this connection, that is 
merely tbe distortion of the proper use of 
words to help the seedsman in rendering his 
advertisements attractive. 
CAUSES OF THE WAR IN EGYPT. 
To explain the cause of the present war in 
Egypt a short sketch of the recent history of 
that country is needed. In 1517 Egypt was 
conquered by the Otman Sultan Selim I, and 
remained a Turkish province until 1768 
when the Mamelukes—Circassian military 
slaves who were the military force of the pro¬ 
vince—threw off tbe Turkish yoke. Four 
years later the Tuikish authority was re¬ 
established. In 179S-1801 the French authority 
established by Bonaparte was dominant. On 
the expulsion of the French in the latter year, 
civil war broks out between the Turks and 
the Mamlukes. The struggle resulted in tbe 
elevation to piwer of the Turkish leader 
Mehemet Ali, an energetic Albanian adven¬ 
turer, in 1806, though his power was not fully 
e-tablisbed until 1811 when he treacherously 
slew 500 turbulent Mamelukes. Heuextcon- 
qnered tbe Wahabees of Arabia, as well as a 
part of Nubia and in 1831—''3d he declared his 
independance of Turkish authority and waged 
a successful war against the Sultan. Tbe 
struggle was renewed in 1830-40 and resulted 
in a treaty confirming Mehemet Ali, then a 
Pasha, as Viceroy of Egypt, with hereditary 
family rights. He became imliecile at the 
age of 80, in ISIS, and his son Ibrahim was 
invested with the pashali.c; but he died in 
two months. Mehemet Ali died in 1849, snd 
his grandson, Abbas, succeeded him as Viceroy. 
He died iu 1854 and was succeeded bv Said, 
a fourth son of Mehemet, who ruled ti 1 1868, 
having heaped upon the country a heavy 
debt to support his contingent of 15,000 men 
during the Crimean war, as well as for public 
works and persona! extravagance. He was 
succeeded by his nephew, Jsmail Pasha, who 
for the next 10 years loaded Egypt with an 
enormous burthen of debt, tbe money beiDg 
mainly spent in gross personal voluptuous¬ 
ness and extravagances of all sorts. Among 
bis good works were the concession to De 
Lesseps for building the Suez Canal, in the 
construction of which he employed 30.000 
workmen at forced labor, for which they 
received no pay, the numerous deaths among 
them being constantly replaced by fresh lev¬ 
ies. His personal interest in the canal he 
afterwards sold to the British Government for 
five million pounds—upwards of $25,000,000. 
He also built a couple of railroads, and 
partly rebuilt Alexandria and Cairo on 
a grand scale. By means of a heavy bribe 
and by doubling his yeaily tribute of 
$1,850,000 to the Porte, he obtained from 
tbe Sultan the regal title of Khedive in 
1866, together w-ith tbe right of direct suc¬ 
cession to the throne from father to son, con¬ 
trary to theu ual Turkish law in such matters, 
which has always vested the succession to the 
throne in the oldest surviving male member 
of the ruling family, who is often an uncle 
or nephew Sultausbaveoccasionally secured 
succession for their sons by putting all their 
other male relatives to death immediately 
after they ascended the throne. 
Ismail was also made independent in the 
internal affairs of Egypt, and by further 
bribes to the Porte in 187:} he obtained the full 
rights of sovereignty, including the making of 
treaties and the maintenance of armies. The¬ 
oretically. however. Egypt remained a nomi¬ 
nal dependency of Turkey, the Khedive pay¬ 
ing an annual tribute to the Sultan whom he 
acknowledged as suzerian, and to whom he 
was to furnish a contingent of troops during 
war. 
The extravagance of Ismail ab ibis time was 
unbuiuded, aud by 1875 he bad borrowed 
$500,000,000 from French and English bank¬ 
ers. The money was loaned at high interest, 
but the interest soon cess d to be paid, and in 
1879 the English and French governments, 
acting on behalf of their respective subjects 
who had made the bad investments, brought 
such powerful pressure to bear at Constanti¬ 
nople and Cairo that Ismail was forced to ab¬ 
dicate, His son, Tewfik, quite a young man, 
succeeded bitu with the consent of the Pow¬ 
ers. He at once put the administration of the 
government under the supervision of the Eng¬ 
lish and French governments, each ropo» 
'Aoiueuwi uu page HO.) 
