rHE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
find tbat one kind of grass does not make a 
pasture, and that pasture has to be fed like 
other crops. They find mangels to be easier 
and cheaper to cultivate, more valuable spring 
food than turnips. They find it a dangerous 
thing to have too few livestock and too much 
crops. They find it good at all times to have 
much live stock. They find it impossible to 
uphold the best condition of cattle-life in Win¬ 
ter without roots. They find it very difficult 
to grow a gettuine gooseberry. They find 
there is no such thmg as a cow that gives lots 
of milk on a little food. They find mixed 
farming to be the most difficult, the hardest 
physically, the deepest mentally, and the most 
reliable of any. These are all sensible ‘'finds,” 
and it would pay all farmers to ponder on 
them well. 
Fall Grass Seeding.— A. W. Cheever 
advises farmers to sow grass seed as soon after 
the heat of Summer is past as the condition of 
the laud will permit. Don’t sow grass seed 
when the heat is greatest. Grass delights in 
cool, moist weather all through its life. Na 
ture’s time for sowing is soon after the seeds 
ripen in Summer. The seeds fall to the 
ground and wait only for rain to start into 
life. Grass seed sown in Spring is placed un¬ 
der unnatural conditions. Hot weather is be¬ 
fore it, and if it gets a start in the Spring it 
will try to produce seed the first year. This 
practice affects grass plants as it affects 
heifers to have calves at an early age. Grass 
sown in Spring and cut for hay in July, has 
been killed outright by the operation. The 
hot sun dried the surface, and the root growth 
being shallow and scanty, the plants were 
killed. Nothing is gained by spring seediug, 
except the labor in replowing after grain is 
harvested. Grass sown aloue this Fall, on 
well tilled aud well enriched land, should pro¬ 
duce a full crop of hay next July. Fall-sown 
grass has the advantage over spring sown in 
this, that the anuual weeds which may come 
up with it will soon be killed by frost and be 
out of the way of the grass, while iu Spring 
the chances are usually more favorable to the 
weeds tbau to the grass, as the weeds are 
starting at their natural season, while the 
grass is not. 
Cotton-pickers.— Several new cotton- 
pickers have been invented of late. Some of 
them seem to give fair satisfaction; but most 
require hand-picking after them. The work 
of a cotton picker will probably ueverbemore 
satisfactory than that of a milking machine. 
The human hand is best adapted to such work. 
There are some thoughtful Southern men. who 
claim that the introduction of machinery of 
this kind into the cotton field would change 
the character of cotton culture. The great 
army of “pickers” would find themselves with¬ 
out work, and the small cotton growers would 
be eveutually forced out of the business to a 
certain extent. They would be forced, for 
self-support, to take up mixed husbandry, 
which is the very thing the South needs. 
BY THE SHORT WAY. 
Persons who live on farms will always en¬ 
joy a monopoly in supplying the market with 
choice beef, says the Chicago Times. The 
flesh of cattle unprotected from storms, aud 
compelled to pick up their living during 
droughts and through the Winter, will neces¬ 
sarily be greatly inferior to tbat of cattle 
raised on farms where they are protected, and 
well supplied with water aud food. The or¬ 
dinary farmer can compete with the “beef 
barons," if he will work systematically, and 
make everything count . 
The Live Stock Journal gives, as au illus¬ 
tration of the difference between modern 
dairy science and that of our forefathers, two 
different methods of describing good milk. In 
old times, we would have said “the cream 
would allow a mouse to skate on it;” now we 
say. “it has 113 per cent, of solids, with 4.50 of 
butter fat"... 
The American Farmer says that the comb 
of a fowl indicates the condition of its health. 
A close observer always looks at the comb 
first.. .... 
The Sportsman speaks of butter made hy 
lightning. A pair of electrodes are placed in 
the milk and a current is made to run 
through. The milk at once undergoes a curi¬ 
ous change; little balls form upon the elec¬ 
trodes and then detach themselves ami float 
to the top. The butter l $ then collected and 
worked over. The process is much quicker 
than churning, Butter so made will uotstuud 
the ordeal of a thunder storm .. 
Sec’y C. W. Garfield says that the people 
of Grand Rapids, Mich., now that, they have 
come to know the Shaffer Raspberry, prefer 
it to all others, and the demand is much 
greater than the supply. The Shaffer seems, 
notwithstanding its bad color, to be growing 
gradually into favor everywhere. Iteertaiuly 
is hardy and productive. 
Anybody that buys unleached wood ashes 
buys an unknown quantity of phosphoric acid 
and potash. Ashes should be sold on analy¬ 
ses just the same as other concentrated ferti¬ 
lizers. In hickory there are .according to Prof. 
Johnson, 7.54 per cent, of potash and 2.19 of 
phosphoric acid. In birch there are 8.15 pot¬ 
ash and 2 30 phosphoric acid; in oak, 9.86 
potash and 1 92 of phosphoric acid; in chest¬ 
nut 9.36 potash and 1.69 of phosphoric acid... 
The “battle of tbe breeds" promises to be 
sharp at Chicago at the Fat Stock Show. 
Over *5.000 will be given in premiums. The 
Hereford Breeders’ Association, the Aberdeen- 
Angus, Holland and Short-horn Breeders’ As¬ 
sociations of America have agreed to dupli¬ 
cate all prizes won by their respective breeds. 
By this arrangement it is possible for a single 
animal to win the magnificent sum of *1,000. 
This surely ought to push breeders on to the 
utmost eflort,...... 
Prof. L, B. Arnold, in the N. Y. Tribune, 
in speaking of uses for surplus fruit, says that 
apples can be utilized as food for stock as well 
as food for man, For serving as a condiment, 
as well as a direct food, they are as valuable 
as an equal weight of roots. The dried waste 
of evaporating houses makes au excellent food 
for milch cows. It increases the flow of 
milk, gives a tine flavor to milk and butter, 
and contributes to healthfulness. It has a 
feeding value equal to 45 per cent, of an equal 
weight of corn meal....... 
Mr. Leet, of Connecticut, writes us that 
the idea appears to be quite wide spread that 
if a man does not know how to do anything 
else, he had better go to farming, and be 
thinks this is the cause of much very poor 
work that is called farming. When a farmer 
thinks he has a thing worked down to a cer¬ 
tainty, a change of conditions causes a failure 
and he awakens to the fact that he is not half 
as wise as he thought. It has always been a 
surprise to ns that so mauy meu go through 
life on a farm without realizing how much 
there is that they do not know and how great 
is the need for close study.. 
Mr. Fish, of Richland Ceuter, Wisconsin, 
said, in the convention of the Wisconsin, 
Dairymen’s Association, that if every patron 
of the cheese factories were compelled to fence 
bis cows away from stagnant water, tbe value 
of Wisconsin cheese would be enhanced one 
cent a pound on an average... 
Mr. Favtl, in the same meeting, said that 
20 veal’s ago, in Jefferson Co., Wis., it was a 
rare thing to find a farm that was not mort¬ 
gaged, aud to-day it would be equally rare to 
find one that is, and for no other reason than 
that fanners have substituted the cow for the 
plow. Not only have mortgages been lifted, 
but good houses have been built, and very 
many of the farmers have become money 
lenders instead of borrowers. When the cow 
does this for the farmers, does she not become 
a benefactor, and should she not be kindly 
treated!... 
President Morrison, at the same meet¬ 
ing, said tbat in rnakiDg butter and cheese, it 
was too bad to ask live cows to compete with 
dead hogs, and uot only with these that are 
killed, but even with those that die of disease 
as well.... 
Our good friend the Farmer’s Review speaks 
of New England men who farm on fields that a 
Western farmer would never think of tackling. 
It points out the moral. Economy has much 
to do with the success of these old Yankee farm¬ 
ers. They cultivate every little patch aud 
corner and stick to the same farm. This is 
what enables an Eastern farmer to hold mort¬ 
gages on Western land and wonder withiu 
himself, that, if everything is so prosperous 
on the Plains, “why in thunder dou’t they pay 
their interest up to date/"... 
Oub Country Home says for sumac (dog¬ 
wood) poisoning.make a strong solution of alum 
water and bathe the affected parts freely fora 
few times and it will effect a cure. Try it; 
the remedy is cheap. 
Don’t neglect the lawn. It is not as impor¬ 
tant as the wheat crop perhaps; but it de¬ 
serves better treatment than it usually gets. 
Don’t grow Timothy in front of the house and 
thus try to make the ground provide hay and 
still look like a lawn. It cannot be done. 
Dr. Hoskins, in the Vermout Watchman, 
gives a young farmer this very sensible advice. 
He says it is much better, as a rule, to buy hay 
than manure; that wheu hay cau bo bought 
at *6 or *7 a ton, it is much cheaper than 
manure at a dollar per load; that a tou of hay 
properly fed to the cows of a butter dairy, if 
the manure—the whole of it liquid and solid 
—is saved and returned to the field, ought to 
raise auother tou. There is no doubt that 
this is the true gospel of improved farming, 
and the only thing which puzzles us is why 
men will be such greenhorns as to sell their 
hay for so low a price. It is about on a par 
with the trade when Esau sold his birthright. 
The Industrialist says that the Kansas Ag¬ 
ricultural College pastures are subdivided into 
small fields, which are cropped by the cattle 
in regular order. This plan works well. Cat¬ 
tle seem to enjoy passing to “fresh fields and 
pastures new,” eveu though tbe new feed is no 
better than the old. In pasturing as ordinar¬ 
ily practised, too much good feed is “mussed" 
over until it becomes distasteful to the herd... 
Prof. S. A. Knapp says that the delight of 
Red Top is to spread itself on rich bottom 
land and along the borders of sloughs. It 
forms a dense, firm sod, and affords twice the 
grazing of most other grasses. On wet lands, 
its use can safely be advised for pasture. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS. 
XXXIX. 
ALASKA CRUISE. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
The splendid weather which we had so far 
enjoyed, continued for the afternoon after 
leaving Nabd Bay. and the day ended with a 
superb evening, tbe sun setting six minutes 
later than on the day before, and the long twi¬ 
light lasting until midnight. I went to my 
berth at 11 and could see to read with perfect 
ease. The setting son cast a bronzy sheen on 
the water, which was reflected on every ripple. 
At about 10 we had very curious aud wonder¬ 
ful mountain views which surrounded us on 
all sides, save for one small opening in the 
North toward which the ship was steaming. 
Tbe Captain said that we would find ourselves 
in the morning at Fort Wrangell, where the 
sun rose at this season at half-past-two, there 
not being over a half hour of night, from 
half-past twelve until one. I had already be¬ 
gun to feel the ill effects of lack of sleep, but 
it required more heroism than I could muster 
to close my eyes in the magnificent evenings, 
or the glorious days, to the scenery every 
where spread around me. 
We arose at five next morning, finding the 
“Idaho” in port, and one of the sailors said 
that she would remain only until the rise of 
the tide at nine o’clock. Hastily fortifying 
ourselves with coffee and crackers, we left the 
laddie asleep, aud went on shore to see the 
town. Wrangell—so named from a Russian 
baron—is distinguished, perhaps, more than 
any other Alaskan Indian village, by its to¬ 
tem poles. Tbe town, near the north end of 
Wrangell Island, has but a narrow strip of 
level land along tbe beach, the mountains 
rising in the rear, and for quite a long distance 
along the beach stretches a line of Iudian 
houses, fairly well built of plank, or of split 
timbers set upright, out iu svery instance with 
solidity. There are a hundred or more of 
these house?, each one occupied by several 
families, related by the ties of blood or mar¬ 
riage. As a rale, the house consists of but 
one room with a door In front, reached by a 
short flight of steps, and a window at each 
side. The roof runs up to a peaked ridge, aud 
in the middle is an openiug for a chimney, or 
vent for smoke. Later on, after breakfast, 
when we found we should have a little more 
time, and wished to have the laddie see the 
totems, we entered one of the houses, where 
we were kindly received. The floor of the 
house was four or five steps below the entrance, 
and in the middle, in a stone or brick-paved 
square, was the lire, with several members of 
the family cooking and eating breakfast, tak¬ 
ing soup with horn spoons. Running entirely 
around the room were two rows of banquets 
or counters, the one immediately against the 
sides of the house being some four feet higher 
than tbe seeoud, or inner one. which was 
about the same bight from the floor. These 
were built of boards and finished with boards 
in front. The first row of counters was used 
for cooking utensils and the household vessels, 
while tbe higher one served for beds and the 
choice articles of the house. The counters or 
platforms that stretched across the end oppo¬ 
site the door seemed to be the place of houor, 
and at that end was grouped considerable mod¬ 
ern furniture—tables, boxes, dressing bureau, 
clock, looking-glass framed in gilt, a framed 
advertisement of “Sarsaparilla,” three com¬ 
mon mirrors, chairs, shawls, a picture of 
Christ with bread and wiue. a fine bed in 
company dres3, two other bedsteads, a num¬ 
ber of traveling satchels, etc. The family 
was evidently quite a wealthy one. The large 
round logs that stretched the entire length of 
the house on each side.on which the roof rested, 
had beeu chipped with careful precision, so as 
to present an ornamental appearance. A 
woman sat near the door shelling clams; one 
or two men still lounged in bed, rolled in their 
blankets. I noticed in tbe house a cook stove 
—not in use—and a washboard. One of tbe 
men iu “store clothes” sported a showy gold 
watch chain. One of the women took a gold 
bracelet from her wrist for us to see. It'was 
of native work and finely engraved. She 
asked *85 for it. Nearly all the Indian women 
wear silver bracelets, sometimes as many as 
ten on each wrist, offering them for sale to 
tourists; but only tbe wealthy wear gold. 
Both sexes of all ages wear earrings of silver, 
of native design and workmanship, and for 
these they ask from *2 up, per pair. I thought 
the interior convenient in its arrangement, 
but affording little or no privacy, which is 
not required by their habits of life. The oc¬ 
cupants were of all ages, from the aged blind 
to the nursing infant, and all seemed well 
and happy. One of the men spoke a little 
English. 
In front of many of the houses, rises the 
totem pole of the family—sometimes th re 
are two—one representing the male aud the 
other tbe female ancestry. These poles illus¬ 
trate in their way the pedigree or heraldic 
crest, and after several generations become 
very complicated in design. They are of 
wood, simply a long log standing upright, and 
carved on the front from the top to the bot¬ 
tom. We made drawings of two or three. 
One was simply the Dole, with a wooden bear 
ou the top, looking down with a comical, but 
exultant grin, as much to say, “Here I am, 
high and dry; now catch me if you can.” Up 
three 3ides of the pole were the carved prints 
of his £eet,all with the toes upward. Another 
tall and elaborate pole was finished at the top 
with a serpent’s head slowing its fangs. Un¬ 
der tbi3 sits a man with his hands clasped 
around his knees; underneath a large human 
face with a large hooked nose —evidently a 
caricature; beneath this a bear sitting on its 
hunches, resting on a large pair of eyes; three 
ornamental mouldings complete the bottom. 
A third pole had a raven perched on top. A 
grave, built up of small round logs, in corn¬ 
cob house fashion, was surmounted with a 
large wooden figure closely resembling an al¬ 
ligator—and I wondered where these Indians 
obtained an idea of an alligator. The leading 
totems, or crests, are the raven, the bear, the 
wolf and the whale, aud these again embrace 
many subdivisions which include the fish, the 
eagle, owl, fox, etc., etc. They make large 
use of the black-fish and of the eyes of the 
different animals and birds iu their ornamen¬ 
tation, attributing some specific power or in¬ 
fluence to each. 
In front of one of the houses we came upon 
an Indian wrapped in his blanket and sitting 
ou the ground. When quite near him, he said 
In a pleasant voice, “Good-morning,” and 
then we saw that he was blind. He continued, 
“You Boston man;” (’’Boston man” means 
“white man”). Anaximander replied “Yes." 
“Your wife you have with you I What is your 
age? I am blind—now 25 years—was sick— 
small-pox. I think I am about 80 years old. I 
have been interpreter. AmaHyda, My name is 
Paul Jones. Has the steamer come ini Did Lear 
come t I want to see Lear. I have had four 
daughters—my wife is dead. Have you any 
tobacco? No! You do not smoke! That is 
sad! Yon should smoke,” We gave him some 
money and promised to send him some tobacco 
from theship. His head was altogether superb, 
and when bis blanket slipped from his should¬ 
ers—he wore no other garment—I saw that 
his arms and shoulders were equally so. His 
short, black hair had some threads of gray. 
His manner was full of diguity anil his voice 
of pathos. In short, he had the look aud 
bearing of an emperor,and I was not surprised 
to learn later that this Captain Paul Jones 
was of high degree. His brother, the chief 
of all the Hydas, died last year, and the pilot 
of the survey ship “Patterson” told me that 
he was the finest, the most superior Indian on 
this coast. 
One of the Indians at Fort Wrangell, a lame 
fellow, is quite a noted silversmith, and reaps 
qaite a revenue from his carved silver brace¬ 
lets, which he hammers from coin aud then 
engraves. The captainof the‘*Idaho” bought 
all that he had at *3 the pair, for the conven¬ 
ience of the passengers. They were all of 
the same pattern I think, but the stock was 
nearly exhausted when I got around to secure 
a pair for myself. They were of very neat 
and graceful design and contain silver to the 
valne of *1.50, maybe. Oue also finds at 
Wrangell a Presbyterian Mission for the Indi¬ 
ans, but we had too little time to devote to it 
to form any opiuion of the value of its work. 
The I udiaus here seem to be quite comfortable 
and own a great mauy fine canoes, of which 
they take marked care in keeping them shelt¬ 
ered from the weather, sometimes building 
houses for them, but oftener extemporizing a 
covering of branches of trees and blankets. 
The sun poured down hot, and mosquitoes in¬ 
fested the air, but although annoying, they 
left upon us no traces of bites. Mr. Lear left 
the steamer at W rangell, promising to secure 
for us, upon our return, certain ounce, includ¬ 
ing specimens of the very large garnets— 
large as hickory nuts, which are found im¬ 
bedded in rock near the village. There are 
but ten or twelve white people living here. 
