JAW 24 
perature of 55 degrees. Meal, if fed alone, 
especially to youDg calves, should bespread 
thinly on the bottom of troughs, so that it will 
be eaten slowly and insalivated. 
Sweet skimmed milk is worth to feed, in 
conneclion with other food, to a good breed of 
pigs, one cent a quart. Two quarts of milk, 
Prof. Roberts says, drawn from the cow bj r 
the calf, are worth three quarts fed to it from 
a pail............ 
The Rural World says that an accomplished 
dairy-woman is a blessing to the public at 
large, and a benediction of peace and pros¬ 
perity to him whose home she honors as a 
wife. 
C»mpul)m. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS. 
XXIII. 
MARY WAGER FISHER. 
Boih iu going up and coming down the 
Columbia we bad, for a part of the way, as fel¬ 
low passenger, a tbiD, yellowish-skinned man, 
who squirted tobacco juice incessantly, but 
who was evidently an honest, candid person, 
and talked iu a dialect that 1 would give much 
to be able to reproduce. He wore a suit of 
clothes so neatly patched and mended as to 
indicate, very unmistakably, that there was a 
woman somewhere who loved and cared for 
him. He said that for a good part of his life 
be had been hunting for a Paradise, which be 
bad not yet found, and be had been every¬ 
where. He had heard a good deal about the 
land in the Summit Prairie in the Blue Moun¬ 
tain regiou, Oregon (these mountains can be 
seen from Walla Walla), and so he went up 
there. It was the first of July, and when he 
woke up in the morning he found ice oue- 
quarter of an inch thick in bis frying-pan, by 
actual measurement. He expected to see the 
vegetation killed by the fretziug, but after 
three or four days he fouud that the cold did 
not seem to affect things. He pub a stick 
down by a plant of “Touch-me-not,” which is 
tender. In the morning it seemed to be 
frozen stiff, but after the situ had shone on it 
for an hour or two it held up its head as gay 
as you please. He spok of the frost as “con¬ 
gealed dew, which hurt nothing’’; but he did 
uot find the country a Paradise, and so moved 
on. He said that last Spring he went up into 
Washington, about 12 miles back fi'otn the 
mouth of the Klickitat River, iu the Camas 
Prairie. The valley there is green all the 
year, the climate perfect, and bis stock, which 
he took there, flourished finely. The wild pea 
grows breast high, survives the Winter, and 
cows thrive on it. One of bis neighbors had 
13 cows, and he claime 1 to make $5 a day 
from them—sending the butter to Portland. 
He talked considerably concerning “volun 
teer” wheat crops in this valley, the wheat 
sprouting out from the stubble aud bearing 
a second and eveu third crop. But of this he 
could uot vouch personally, not having lived 
long enough in the valley—but as pretty a 
field of wheat as he had ever seen was near 
his farm, and the owner of it said it was the 
third volunteer crop. The man said he kuew 
it was a big story to tell, but he believed it! 
Up toward Mt. Adams, there are ice caves, 
of which 1 had heard, and this man gave us 
quite a graphic description of them—how the 
ice “stalactites” form as large as a “bed post' 7 
—and be took hold of a post on the steamer to 
illustrate it, and that outside the caves, the 
grass is green almost to the very entrance. 
The water drips down from the roof of the 
caves and congeals in its descent. He said 
that some of the farmers thereabouts kept 
tbeir butter in these ice caves. The glacier 
on Mount Adams probably has somewhat to 
do with the formutiou of ice in these caverns. 
During our third sojourn in Portland, we 
visited the Chinese theatre, as being one of 
the characteristic sights cf the Pacific Coast. 
I believe it is much the same as the oueiu San 
Francisco. The Chinese are exceedingly fond 
of theatrical amusements, aud before the city 
government limited the playhouses to mid¬ 
night, the ceaseless clang of their “music' 7 was 
heard until the small hours of the morniug. 
The Celestials seem to make less distinction 
between night and day than do most people, 
and are out at all hours of the night, and I 
never yet passed a Chinese laundry at so late 
an hour but the white clad little meu were 
busy at the ironing boards. Their industry is 
most commendable, and one of the prettiest 
sights in Portland, in the heart of the city, in 
the bottom of a deep ravine, are the Chinese 
vegetable gardens. Whether they have any 
eye for artistic effect or not, 1 do uot kuow, 
but they arrauge their plants so that in color 
and form, the gardens form a surprisingly 
pretty picture, 
We entered the theatre about seven o’clock 
in the evening, and had to pay fifty cents 
each, while the general admission for the 
Chinese is twenty-five cents. An American 
stood at the head of the stairs, who seemed to 
be there for the double purpose of beiug of 
service to Americans and to insure order. 
When midnight came he weut upon the stage, 
and informed the actors that they must cease, 
and if in the midst of a sentence, they bad to 
“stop off” short. He directed us to a seat m 
the gallery where we could overlook the 
whole house. Ou two sides of the gallery 
were stalls, or boxes, in which women sat on 
one side, and men on the other—men of the 
fat and sleek, merchant-type. There were a 
dozen women, and several children from two 
to three jears of age: children seem to he 
great pets with both men and women, aud for 
quiet, good behavior, those Chinese babies 
were simply marvels. The little creatures 
watched the stage with evident iuterest, and 
although they were kept there as late as ten 
and eleven o’clock, there was not a whimper 
from one of them. The women chatted and 
laughed and seemed to enjoy themselves. 
Running around the gallery were some dec¬ 
orations of Chinese scenes. The appoint¬ 
ments of the stage were of the simplest 
description. At the rear sat the musicians 
who played the drum, fiddle, banjo, gong and 
cymbal, and for not more than two miuutes 
during the five hours we watched that novel 
scene, did the noise of these instruments al¬ 
together cease. Large, red placards hung 
up at one end of the stage, seemed to in¬ 
dicate the subject of the play, aud were 
changed at intervals. The stage had no cur¬ 
tains, aDd the slight change of scenery—which 
consisted chiefly iu the re-adjustment of a 
small table, a screen and two or three chairs, 
—was performed in full view of the audience. 
In the pit, or on l he main floor of the theatre, 
sat only men, on benches with backs. The 
men all sat with their hats on, mostly black 
felt. Iu one end of the gallery sat men also, 
aud both down and upstairs, a good many took 
off their shoes and displayed tbeir stockinged 
feet; but the stockings were faulilessly eleau, 
white, and whole. The majority smoked ei- 
garrettos, as did the women. A vender of 
fruits aud nuts passed around, and the people 
bought fairly, eveu of white grapes from 
California; for it is true that as the Cbiuese 
improve their condition and get out ot debt, 
they live proportionately better. 
There was uo cheering. Occasionally a 
smile went round at some “bit” in the acting; 
but throughout the play perfect order and 
decorum prevailed. Chinese were continu¬ 
ally passing iu and out, and I believe they 
pay, many' of them, by the hour, or for the 
length of time they witness the play. A great 
many ate what seemed to answer to the usual 
“peauut,” but as a young Chinaman who sat 
near me, saw me observing what be wa9 eat¬ 
ing, he very politely' offered me some, say ing 
with a pleasant smile, “Melon seeos, 7, and 
upon examination they were indeed a sort of 
watermelon seed. In eating them they slip 
the meat out of the seed with great quickness. 
We counted the seats and the number on each 
seat, and esiimated that the attendance was 
about 500. Of course, the majority of Cbiua- 
men here are of the poorest class, but they 
have this peculiarity, that they do uot look 
degraded. When young, they have faces 
frank, sincere, intelligent in expression, and 
usually have pleasant manners. As they grow 
old, both the men and women become ugly, 
like the Indians, and when a Chinaman has 
his hair cut and bis person attired in Ameri¬ 
can f sbion, he looks very like a civilized 
Indian—but usually haudsomer—aud it is easy 
to think of the Indians, Chinese aud Japanese 
as beiug closely allied as to race. We stood 
for some time one night in front of a Chinese 
barber shop, watching through the window 
the operation of shaviug, Aside from the 
front hair being closely shaven half over the 
head, the entire face is carefully gone over 
witn the razor, so that not the smallest hair 
can escape beiDg cut off, aud the same for the 
neck. The extreme tidiness in the personal 
appearance of the Chinaman and the uu- 
cleanliness of his own dwelling are probably 
the outcome of centuries of custom or train¬ 
ing. 
It is said that women never act in the Chi¬ 
nese theatres, and that all “female” roles are 
taken by men, who certainly fill them so per¬ 
fectly that they have every appearance, iu 
voice, mincing gait, coquettish manners, 
etc., of being genuine women. Of course, as 
we do not understand the language, we could 
only very indirectly come to any conclusion 
as to what was being played. It evidently was 
a tragic opera, and a queen or princess the 
heroine. In one or two cour tship scenes the 
acting was very good, hut a large pait of the 
performance was declamatory, in a high, 
shrill, sing-song toue, very peculiar aud mo¬ 
notonous, aud always accompanied by the 
incessant clatter of “music.” The faces of 
the actors were painted in the most positive 
manner, and so curiously at times as to look 
like masks. But the most interesting feature 
to m?, was the costuming, the wonderful 
head dresses, and the most beautifully em¬ 
broidered robes I have ever seen. After the 
I lay was over, we went into the dressing- 
room, where we found a very pleasant Cbioa- 
mau in charge, and he showed several of the 
costumes, which were fully bs rich and superb 
as they looked to be on tne stage. He told us 
how much Ihey bad cost in China, and that 
they would wear and look well for many 
years—one he showed, he said had been in 
wear for 80 years. They were ver}' carefully 
cared for, aud worn only over thick under¬ 
suits, in order to protect them from perspira¬ 
tion. He said the play was a very good one, 
and urged us to “come again to morrow.” 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Kansas. 
Peoria, Frauklin Co., Jan. 5.—The first 
part of the Summer was very wet aud cold, 
and the crops did not look well; then the hot 
winds set in and scorched aud dried them up 
a great deal, so the crops here last Fall were 
not as good as they generally are. We have 
had a very pretty Fall and Winter so far. 
We have had two good snows here this Win¬ 
ter; it is very dull and cloudy weather here 
now. M. T. B. 
Michigan, 
Owosso, Siawassee Co., Jan. 13.—We bad 
a bountiful harvest of all kiucis of crops here 
the past year, and if prices bad not ruled so 
low for all kinds of produce, the farmer would 
have long looked back to the year 1884 as a 
prosperous one. As it is, those out of debt 
are all right. Stock of all kinds are looking 
well, and I predict better times just ahead. 
N. B A. 
New York. 
Little Genesee, Allegany Co.—Farmers 
in this section the past season have bad much 
to encourage them in the way of abundant 
crops; but low prices for all kiuds of farm 
produce have left them generally rather de¬ 
spondent. Oats were a splendid crop, and are 
bringing 25 to 30 cents per bushel. Corn was 
never better, and bay was fair. Some farmers 
report an extra yield, while others say their 
yield was never less. This was owing to the 
late frosts which nearly ruined some meadows 
and left others untouched. The potato crop 
was hardly up to the average, and many plots 
were badlj' injured by the rob Beiug near 
the Allegany Co. oil fields, we are getting bet¬ 
ter prices for hay aud potatoes than neighbor¬ 
ing places, hay bringing $10 per ton, and po¬ 
tatoes 40 cents per busheL Apples, pears, 
etc , were a total failure. A. j. b. 
Sherman, Chautauqua Co.—The year 1884 
was a fairly prosperous one for the farmer. 
Crops were usually good. Hay is somewhat 
scarce, and the price is high; but the quality 
is much better than last year. Grain is cheap, 
and much more will be fed thau usual. Milch 
cows bring from $25 to $30, for average dairy 
stock. M, L. D. 
Ohio. 
Bennington, Morrow Co.—We had a very 
dry Summer; but crops were good, except 
coru on day ground, which was very light. 
But prices are so low that money is very 
scarce, aud business depressed. About the 
usual acreage has been sown to wheat, which 
looks unusually well. Success to the Rural! 
t. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
Annville, Lebanon Co., Pa., Jan. 12.— 
Crops of all kinds were good—all that the 
farmers could reasonably expect; aud they 
were housed iu good condition, with excep¬ 
tional cases where great negligence sometimes 
prevailed on the part of the farmer. Prices, 
in consequeuce, are low. ou the whole, for all 
kiuds of grain. Stock of all kiuds went into 
winter quarters in good condition. As we had 
abundant rain, pasture was good all along. 
Fruits oT all kinds w f ere more abundant, on 
the whole, than we could reasonably expect, 
although the unanimous complaint is “ My 
apples do not keep.” Mine were uever before 
so badly rotted. Winter wheat did not, on 
the average, look very well, With all the 
rain last Fall, the growth was uot what it 
might have been. The grouud froze up about 
the middle of December, w hen we had a fine 
fall of snow, making excellent sleighing at 
Christmas; but a very mild spell set in and 
the ground became all bare again. Long live 
the Rural! j a. b. 
Wisconsin. 
Green Bay, Brown Co., Jan. (5th.—Last 
Summer w’as wet with a low temperature, 
which matured wheat finely, and after Sep¬ 
tember commenced the heat was suflicient to 
bring corn through with a bountiful harvest. 
Perhaps 35 or 40 bushels is a fair average for 
this county, ltye was an average crop, so 
were oats and barley. Hay uot quite an 
average. Wheat is now selling from (55 to 75 
cents a bushel iu our market; oats, 30 cents; 
corn, 50 cents; potatoes, 25 to 88 cents; hay. 
clover and Timothy, $8 to $10 per ton. 1 Busi¬ 
ness of all kinds is dull aud small. T. b. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Kansas. 
Pittsburg, Crawford Co.—My peas were 
planted too late. The tomatoes were ahead 
of any we ever raised; every one who saw 
them praised them. The corn is small for our 
climate. My Blush Potatoes, planted in 
trenches and mulched, did splendidly; they are 
very large—the largest weighed two pounds 
and thirteen ounces. When cooked they are 
white and very dry and of excellent flavor. 
We prize them highly. Success to the Rural! 
J. A. L. 
New York. 
Bethlehem Centre, Albany Co.—The 
Rural tomatoes were very fine. The corn 
grew very large and ripened. G. f. i. 
Leonardyille, Madison Co.—The Rural 
coru is too late for this section, but I have 
some that will do for seed. The oats rusted 
somewhat, and are also late; but 1 have a 
nice lot of them. The peas did well; but my 
hens eat them all up. The tomatoes were the 
nicest I ever saw; they were perfect beauties 
and of the Quest quality. The Garden Treas¬ 
ures were fine. Crops of all kinds were rather 
short in this section. e. m. 
Olilo. 
Shelby, Richland Co.—Crops of all kinds 
were unusually good last year, and the quali¬ 
ty was unusually fine. I could not test all the 
seeds received from the Free Seed Distribu¬ 
tion. The Garden Treasures were all that 
could he desired. The Rural Corn grew nicely, 
but does not yield as well as our own variety. 
w, J. H. 
Psnnirbunia. 
Kane, McKean Co., Jan. 5.—This is my 
first year with the Rural, and though I take 
five other papers, uone pleases me better thau 
the Rural, and uone pleases the children so 
well. It is the best paper of its kind 1 have 
ever taken, and is well worth the price without 
any free seeds; and the owners have made a 
decided improvement in it iu having it pasted 
aud cut. This is what might be termed a 
new country; 22 years ago it was a “howling 
wilderness,” the home of the wild cat, bear, 
and wolf. The P. aud E. R. R., through Kane 
to Erie, and the P. and W. narrow guage, 
were built a year ago. Kane is a thriving 
town, having nine stores in all, and three good 
hotels, and some that are not good. We are 
2,200 feet above tide-water. The Winters are 
long. Grass, oats, potatoes, and all kinds of 
vegetables do well, except, tomatoes, which 
don’t always ripen, although I always raise 
and ripen some iu a hot-bed under glass. The 
greater part of the farmers are Swedes, and 
they understand but little Euglisb. We are 
the only English-speaking family within 
miles. \v. w. 
Wisconsin. 
Atkixson. Jefferson Co.—The Diehl-Medi¬ 
terranean Wheat and (he rvo look well. I 
went according to the Rural’s directions in 
sowing and mulching, 'lbe oats I did not 
sow this year on account of not having a suit¬ 
able place. The tomatoes were very nice 
and the flowers beautiful. j. s. 
(.Every query mnst be accompanied by thename 
and address of the writer to Insure attention. Before 
asking a question, please see if it Is not answered (n 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions 
at one time.] _ 
INCREASING A HAY CROP. 
It. W., Charlton, Mass.—I have a farm that 
formerly filled two barns with hay, with some 
stored in a neighbor’s barn; but during 1883 
and 1883 we had a severe drought, and the 
crop of hay in 1884 was reduced one half. The 
land is hilly with a play subsoil, which, with a 
moderate dressing of stable manure, will 
produce auy crop at home in this latitude. 
How am I to restore it to its former fertility, 
us I am remote from a supply of stable 
manure. What fertilizers can l use, and bow 
should I apply them? 
A ns — 11 seems tbatyour laud is not suffering 
so much from impoverishment as from the 
effects of the drought in killing the grass 
roots. We suggest, the application of 200 
pounds of bone flour and 40(1 pounds of[kaiuit, 
or, what would be.hbetter, probably, 200 
pounds of sulphate of potash per acre, sown 
broad 'ast; then harrow thoroughly with a 
sharp harrow, so as to well scarify the surface; 
then n-seed with whatever grasses you most 
desire to occupy the land. We think one 
year's experience will make you more than 
satisfied as to the renovation of the field. 
SCROFULOUS SWELLING IN IIEIFHR’S LEG. 
N. L. W., De Witt, Mich.— Some tiuie“last 
Winter I noticed a small bunch above the hoof 
