5S2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
“What’s in a Names” —There used to be a 
school out in Illiuois, called the “Illinois In¬ 
dustrial University.” Its endowment was in¬ 
cluded in the original Congressional grant. 
Its motto was—‘‘Learning and Labor.” The 
ground, building, faculty and students are 
still in the State, but they now belong to the 
“University of Illinois,” _ The word ‘ Industri¬ 
al” has been kicked out of polite society, and 
left to shift for itself. The Legislature of 
Illinois passed the bill which threw out the ob¬ 
noxious word. The students of the institu 
tion petitioned the Legislature to do this. The 
reason given for the change was that studeuts 
were humiliated and their prospects hurt by 
the word “Industrial.” It is strange that this 
feeling should crop out in the West, where, if 
anywhere in the country, ought to be found a 
feeling of mauly independence and a scorn 
for such foolishness. The agricultural press 
of the West ba3 been quick to ridicule this ac- 
tiou. Wo can give a few sturdy sentences to 
show that there are still some people who are 
not afraid of this terrible word. The 120 Sena¬ 
tors who voted against the change offer a 
long protest, of which the following is a good 
sample. 
“This legislative construction that the 
word “Industrial” is derogatory and its asso¬ 
ciation injurious, borders upon insult to every 
man aud woman who follow industrial pur¬ 
suits, and it puts a stigma upon labor—the 
very foundation of all that is valuable in civ¬ 
ilization.” 
The Ohio Farmer says: “The farmer who is 
familiar with the facts would disgrace his 
calling by sending bis son to the newly-named 
University.” 
The Iowa Homestead alludes to the affair 
as a “sad mistake.” It calls the students a 
“congregation of dudes.” It has no patieuce 
with this pandering to a depraved and 
maudlin sentimentality. The Western Plural 
says a Legislature never wrestled with such a 
silly question before. The Farmers’ Review 
congratulates the students that the offensive 
term “Industrial'’ will no longer offendthem. 
The National Live Stock Journal says that 
the object was to get rid of anything that 
would suggest a practical education. 
W. F. Brown, in the N. Y. Tribune, speaks 
about young farm workmen. They' ought to 
save more money. Most of them get fair pay 
for the larger part of the year. The first 
$100 is always the hardest to save. If the 
young men would be more economical for a 
few years, they could easily get a good start. 
The young man who spends all he earns sel¬ 
dom amounts to anything. He must look for¬ 
ward to a life spent as a farm laborer. Not 
a pleasant prospect Aloney can be saved in 
buying clothes. Buy them so that they will 
do for farm work when no longer suitable 
for best wear. Buy a good, well made suit, 
and when It gets a nttle shabby, it can be put 
to honorable use ou the farm The farm 
haud should keep away from saloons and liv¬ 
ery stables; these places go hand in band with 
hard times. 
The “Scrub.” A writer iu the Live Stock 
Indicator thinks there is considerable danger 
in the oft repeated cry—“the scrub must go.” 
This is particularly true as regards the range 
cattle man, who has not bad much experience 
in breeding cattle. Practical experience has 
taught him that it is easy, by means of thor¬ 
oughbred bulls, to produce from the native 
range cows, cattle far less hardy than the 
natives, and in some cases less suitable for 
range breeding. He asks the following ques¬ 
tions of his fellow breeders. 
Do cattle, graded up with two or three 
crosses of Short horn blood, stand the range 
as well iu Winter as native.or half bred cattle? 
-Do steers graded up, take ou fat and gain 
in growth and weight as quickly on the range 
as native or half-bred steers?-Do the buy¬ 
ers of steers make &ulfieient difference in 
price between improved steers (off the range) 
and ordinary good native or half bred steers 
to justify the breeder in using Short-horn 
bulls, on account of such difference (if any) in 
favor of the improved steers?-Do Short¬ 
horn bulls get as many calves, when turned on 
the range, as the native bulls do? 
Joseph E. Case writes the Michigan 
Farmer his experience w itb the cut worm. For 
five years he bas always had good crops; 
while his neighbors have ofteu had poor crops 
or none at all. sir, C. picks his seed at husk¬ 
ing time, and gets it very dry. He sows a 
barrelful of salt and ashes per acre on the 
sod just ahead of the plow. He never sows 
more than he can plow under in half a day. 
One year when work was pressing, he was un¬ 
able to treat all his corn land in this way. On 
the land not treated the worms began to work, 
but an application of equal parts of salt, 
ashes aud plaster drove them away. Wheth¬ 
er this kills them or not be could not say. 
They went, and stood “not upon the order of 
their going.” 
Beautifying the Farm —A writer in the 
Michigan Farmer takes a shot at the men who 
urge farmers to improve the natural beauties 
of their farms. He says they overlook the 
fact that no business of mankind is so severely 
practical as working out a living ou a farm— 
that esthetical gush comes only to leisurely 
individuals, aud is only appreciated by those 
who swing a pencil instead of an ax. or sit in 
a study instead of clearing up a creek bottom. 
The owner of an 80-acre farm, who has many, 
or even one taugled hillside, bushy bank or al¬ 
der-fringed stream, with no other means of 
livelihood except wbat he grows on his new 
farm, must make every acre produce some¬ 
thing beside fanciful pictures for tourists to 
be pleased with, or there will be an artificial 
patch recorded at tbe county seat, the contem¬ 
plation of which is neither poetical nor es¬ 
thetic. We do not believe that a man on au 
“80-acre farm” is obliged to work so hard all 
the time that he cannot dream of beautiful 
tbiugs. Tbere would be little use in living 
such a life. 
The Western Rural says there is no danger 
that, the industrious man will rest too much. 
The danger is generally the otber way. Far¬ 
mers work too hard as a rule. The possession 
of the world would not compensate any of us 
for the loss of health. Make sure of health 
anyway. A good laugh is better than a 
bottle of patent medicine. Every well spent, 
holiday will add a month to man’s life. There 
are few men in good circumstances who want 
to "die young.” Be calm aDd go slow. Wbat 
is more beautiful than a vigorous old age, 
where the faculties we have cultivated through 
life find their ripest development? Wbat is 
more to be dreaded than the “long disease 
that comes as the result of wasted energies 
and overwork? _ 
A Huge Ice Factory.— A1 i ska has a very 
largo glacier, and according to the San Fran¬ 
cisco Courier, it is moving to the sea at the 
rate of 1,820 feet yearly. The front presents 
a mass of solid ice 500 feet deep, from which 
huge blocks, weighing hundreds of tons, fall 
off into the sea every few minutes. These so 
agitate the ocean that the largest vessels are 
tossed about by the waves like toy boats, aud 
approach very near the mass only with tne 
greatest danger. The top of this glacier is 
very rough and broken, like a chain of small 
mountains, while the body of the ice is of great 
purity, ami dazzles the eye with its rainbow 
tints of light and deep blue, Serious thoughts 
are entertained of devising some way to util¬ 
ize this huge ice factory in supplying San 
Francisco and tioutnero California. W hat a 
grand place to have a cottage this hot 
weather I _ 
The Lost Bison.— The San Francisco 
Chronicle says that the Westeru hide-hunters, 
according to the best authorities, have thor- 
ougnly cleaned out the buffalo on the prairies, 
and now the plains wtuen used to tremble 
with tbe tread of vast herds moving to new 
grazing grounds in Montaua and Dakota, are 
deserted by every creature but the cowardly 
coyote aud a stray antelope here aud there. 
This destruction has been effected in about 10 
years, or since tbe Indians were cleared from 
the Missouri River aud Yellowstone country. 
The mighty hunters from England were al¬ 
lowed to organize regular butchering parties 
which killed the bison as they would have 
shot down pbeasaucs iu a well kept preserve. 
Between American pot hunting and British 
sport the buffalo is almost au extinct species 
before the railroads have become fairly bal¬ 
lasted or the towns have emerged from the 
shanty period. 
— - - «»* 
RURAL’S LIFE NOTES. 
Did you ever notice how kind and consider¬ 
ate a lazy man is? He is in agony all the 
time for fear he will injure his tool or his 
worn.. Give him a boe aud he will scratch 
with it as lightly as possible. He is as care¬ 
ful of the face of nature as he would be of 
bis sweetheart’s face. But au ax in his hand 
aud he is suddenly seized with a most intense 
admiration for our forests. The lazy man 
has never had full justice done him we fear. 
He Is a kind-heaited creature; that is all. His 
bump of benevolence bas been so largely de¬ 
veloped tlmt it has pulled his head out of 
shape......... 
The Times-Democrat thinks ibat Northern 
house builders do not pay attention enough to 
appliances for cooling. Our city houses, to a 
Southern mind, seem built for winter use 
entirely, the great object being to conserve 
heat. In the Summer the richer people fly to 
the seashore, while the poorer classes are left 
to fight it out with the heat. At the South, 
houses are built with large doors and windows, 
aud wide balls. Tbe object is to provide all 
the ventilation possible. These houses are 
pleasant enough in Summer, but it is 
probable that tbe Southern people suffer about 
as much in cold aud rainy weather as their 
Northern friends do in Summer. 
Coffee is, with good reason, a favorite 
morning beverage says, Good Housekeeping. 
It prevents waste of tissue and often enables 
people to undergo great and protracted labor 
upon insufficient food. This is coffee', not rye, 
chicory or ground carrots. 
L. H. Bailey, Jr., of the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College, says embellishment is worth 
more in rendering a farm attractive than is a 
fine harness in showing off a horse, from the 
fact that tbe embellishment is part aud parcel 
of the farm itself..... 
The Farm Economist is true to its name 
when it says that a whole fruit farm is not as 
dangerous in a cholera season as one unclean 
back-yard...... 
The same paper calls tbe nose the advance 
guard of the human system.. • 
Some people bore you when they talk, be¬ 
cause you get tired waiting for them to say 
something. Stick to the point.. 
Prof S. A. Knapp says that hay is not the 
strong point of the Agrostis family: it is pas¬ 
ture for moist lands. The evergreen grass of 
Ireland is au illustrious member of this family. 
A company of Ohio farmers recently "swung 
around tbe circle.” They drove about the 
country visiting some of the model farms that 
have been described iu the Ohio Farmer. 
They must have had a glorious time, as the re¬ 
port says they returned “with minds filled 
with underdrains, potatoes, fat stock, cream¬ 
eries, silos, big barns, and eyes full of all kinds 
of material, aud every one sober and a credit 
to their families aud the community in which 
they live.” These “farmer visits” are pro¬ 
ductive of much good..... 
Dr. Baer, an eminent German physician, 
charges intemperance in drinking directly to 
intemperance in eating. Habitual drunken¬ 
ness result!, Iu many cases, from the morbid 
cravings of a poorly fed stomach. There is a 
greatdeal of good, sound sense in this doctrine. 
The comic paper, Life, suggests various 
ways to keep cool. Here are a few: 
Sit In a refrluerator. 
Call on a Boston girl. 
Raise the wlnrt anil pay your debts. 
Eat cucumbers. 
Go to Philadelphia. 
“T. C. J.,” in the Breeder’s Gazette, speaks 
a gooil word for the Perennial Rye Grass of 
England, Lolium perenne. He even thinks 
many farmers would find it to be more profit¬ 
able than Timothy. The seed is obtained 
with great difficulty; most of it Is sent from 
England..... 
The Farm Journal says that a compress, 
saturated with arnica, is the best treatment 
for a spavin. Keep it on a few days and then 
take it off aud bathe the leg with warm water, 
and put it on again as tightly on the spavin as 
possible.....* 
The great poiDt with some people, the Farm 
Journal thinks, is to get the best possible 
wages and never to work a minute beyond 
the regular time. It is bad policy in the end. 
Employers are apt to estimate the value of 
such services at just what they are worth. 
People that look out for themselves so scru¬ 
pulously enlist very little sympathy. 
Horace Greeley said that the young man 
who saves money the first year he has a 
chance to do so, usually accumulates proper¬ 
ty, while tbe one who spends all he earns at 
the start, seldom amounts to anything.... 
Don t forget to say a pleasant word as often 
as you can to the wife this hot weather. It 
won’t hurt you any to smile a little. You 
can’t do any work that will bring you more 
profit...... 
Hurrah for Queen Cow! 8he is the gen¬ 
tlest, noblest Queen that ever ruled in any 
country. She is tbe only Queen we will ac¬ 
knowledge. 8he is a practical sovereign. She 
represents $1.500,000,U00 in t.he hardest of 
cash. She has lifted more mortgages and 
done more to support savings banks than any 
other farm economist. She has given uew life 
to thousands of wasted farms. She has cured 
many a case of agricultural blood-poisoning. 
Patient as a woman, in prosperity, she will 
fight like a tiger when the wolf howls at the 
farmer’s door. Calm-eyed Plenty takes her 
milking pail for a throne. Peace and Pros¬ 
perity follow where the old cow leads. Long 
life to Queen Cow!. 
The Kansas Live Stock Indicator chron¬ 
icles a case of a hog being butchered in 
Nebraska iu whose stomach were found three 
pounds of burnt nails, which the hog had 
swallowed in eating coals from the remains 
of a burnt house which contained them. Now, 
if this hog had such a craving for charcoal 
as to eat the nails in obtaining it, should we 
not take a hint and furnish our pigs with a 
supply without the necessity of their eating 
the nails too?,....... 
Prof. Johnson, of the Michigan Agricul¬ 
tural College, has been trying some experi¬ 
ments to determine the relative value of 
cooked and uncooked meal for pig feeding. 
Two lots were selected, each consisting of two 
Poland Chinas and one Essex. One lot was 
fed uncooked meal, consisting of ground oats 
and corn simply mixed with cold water; the 
other had the same meal cooked and mixed 
with warm water. In three months the total 
gain of the former was 15)2pounds pud that 
of tbe latter 214)^ pounds, or 22 pounds in favor 
of cooking, an amount that scarcely paid for 
the trouble and expense. 
Take the roosters away from the hens. 
They are of no use..... 
Spade up the chicken yards. 
A writer iu the Country Gentleman thinks 
that one of the most valuable herds for dairy 
purposes could be produced by crossing un¬ 
registered or high-grade Jersey cows with a 
thoroughbred Holland bull.. 
Flemish people call manure the God of 
Farming—a good, sound agricultural re¬ 
ligion. 
There are honest men in every calling in 
life. t Don’t consider every man a rascal till he 
proves himself to be so. Be generous, but 
keep your eyes open. 
Try to make a good speed record in the 
garden, but take plenty of time at tbe table.. 
Good common sense has books on it. It 
sticks in a tnau's mind. You can't pull it out, 
but it must go through aud be tested. 
There are plouty of tools on the farm that 
ought to be kept sharp, but there is one that 
should never be laid ou tbe grind-stone excejit 
it be to dull it This tool is the human tougue. 
It can do tbe kindest and yet the cruelest 
work. A single sharp, hasty word may cut a 
gash into somebody'8 heart through which the 
great happiness of life may ooze away. Years 
after, you will wish your tongue bad been cut 
out before you spoke the word. Keep the 
tongue dull . 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS. 
XXXVI. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
The Pacific Coast Steamship Co., with head¬ 
quarters at Sau Fransisco, aud the Oregon 
Railway aud Navigation Co., with head¬ 
quarters at Portland, dispatch one steamer 
early in each month from Portland to Alaska. 
This steamship carries the mail, and for this 
service the Government pays the O. It. and 
N. Co. $14,0(10 per annum to deliver mulls at 
three post offices, for the accommodation of 
probably not over 500 persons at most. These 
post towns are Fort vVranged, J uueau (former¬ 
ly Harrisburg,) and Sitka. 
The steamer used ou this route, with the 
occasional exception of July and August, dur¬ 
ing which months tbe tourist travel is heaviest, 
when a larger vessel, the Ancon, is takeD, is 
the Idaho, a trim and well built ship, com¬ 
manded by Capt. James Carroll, whosewepu- 
tation ou this coast for careful aud able sea¬ 
manship is of the highest character. The 
“Idaho” makes tbe round trip inside of 80 days 
and at a charge of $95, Which includes fare, 
state room aud meals. The expense of running 
this steamer is placed at $9,0tMJ per month. 
The first point at which the “Idaho” stops 
after leaving Portlaud, is Port Townsend iu 
Puget Sound. 8bo here awaits the regular 
u’ttll steamer from Ban Frausisco, if she ar¬ 
rives iu advance of it, and receives from it a 
large accession of freight and pussengers. As 
the “Idaho” was advertised to sail from Port 
Towusoud on "about” the 6th of June, we left 
Beattie at four o’clock of the tnorniug of that 
day, on the superb steamer "Olympian”—one 
of tbe extravagances of Henry Villard—and 
after a sail of three hours were in Port Towns 
end, which ranks the third or fourth port of 
entry In the United States, reckouiug from the 
uurnber of vessels that enter and clear. Capt. 
Beecher, who formerly commanded the st ‘aui- 
ar “Evangel,” and who is a sou of the Rev. 
H. W. Beecher, has been appointed Port Col¬ 
lector. The Government Is about to build a 
House of Customs here, butthe sleepy town, of 
perhaps 2,0UU Inhabitants, has little of note 
beyond Its fine locution—ou a high plateau— 
and magnificent mouutatuand water scenery, 
which requires a clear sky for its full appreci¬ 
ation, au atmospheric condition that did not 
prevail upon either occasion of my visit. Less 
