THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
743 
stack and from this (by refilling) a perpetua 
and never freezing fountain could be made, 
the water running from a faucet as needed. 
By adding hot water to replenish the daily 
waste, the contents could be kept moderately 
warm, for the greater comfort, of the birds. 
Knox Co., Ohio. j. j. friltz. 
Mr. C. R. Plumb, of the New York Experi¬ 
ment Station, writing to.tbe Country Home, 
speaks of the Surprise Wheat first distributed 
among the Rural's Free Seed Distributions, 
as follows: "The Rural New-Yorker re¬ 
commends the Surprise Wheat. This wheat 
should be better known, ns it has some most 
desirable qualities. As T have grown it among 
several score varieties, the straw is unusually 
erect and stiff. But the strong feature of the 
Surprise is the head. A wheat panicle, or 
head, is made up of a number of spikelets, 
eommonlv called breasts. These spikelets con¬ 
sist of clusters of flowers, the number of 
flowers varying in different spikelets from 
one to five. Almost always the number of 
fertile flowers to a spikelet is two or three, 
and rarely over three. But a careful ex¬ 
amination of man y heads seems to demonstrate 
that the Surprise, as a rule, has four fertile 
flowers to a spikelet. The heads are square, 
large and compact, and the number of spike¬ 
lets to a head shows a large average.” 
The Rural New-Yorker was the first to 
announce from its own trials that the White 
Australian, Belgian and Welcome were all the 
same. Now. Mr. Plumb printst.be following: 
"White Australian,White Belgian, Welcome; 
these are synonyms. Seedsmen admit it, and 
I have proven it to mv satisfaction hy com¬ 
parative tests. One dealer told me that if a 
farmer wrote to him for White Belgian, he 
took the grain from the Welcome bin and sent 
it as White Belgian, and it was just as well; 
the farmer never knew the difference.” 
MULTTTM IN PARVO. 
The N. Y. Times remarks that the Bohemian 
Oat swindle is now bearing fruit: fruit of two 
kinds, a crop of oats and a crop of notes 
given in payment of the seeds at $10 a 
bushel, which the farmer has to pay. The 
Rural New-Yorker from its own test of the 
Bohemian Oats, was the first to warn its 
readers against them as a remarkable variety, 
and against the swindling operation alluded 
to by the Times. 
A writer in Our Country Home says that 
among harieys, the Manshury to-dpy is tak¬ 
ing the lead. It is a first-class variety, quite 
erect in growth, earlv, producing large, well- 
developed, six-rowed heads. 
Dr. Lawks does not think he e«n keep a 
larger herd of live stock by ensilage. He 
prefers mangels as giving more food per acre 
than the average silage crop. 
Dr. Lawks's wheat crop on the plot upon 
which wheat has been sown for 41] years 
succpssivelv without anv manure whatever, is 
14 ?< bushels per a^re; the plot receiving farm¬ 
yard manure 40j>£. and the average of the 
plots receiving chemical fertilizers only S3’-jf. 
Sir John remarks that it is only under special 
circumstances that the produce of the dung 
exceeds that of the artificial manures. 
The potato crop of Great Britain is short.. 
Mr. Armstrong, of the Husbandman, says 
that, when men assail the integrity of farmers 
with glib sppech. it is wpII enough to watch 
their transactions, and perhaps in most, cases 
it will be found that wrong is practiced by 
them in buying and selling, much more fre¬ 
quently than bv farmers with whom they 
deal... ...... 
Apples bring good prices in England this 
year thus far. Pack as described elsewhere.. 
A great deal is said as to the best means 
of keeping poultry free from lice. We have 
never had a lousy hen or chicken, and our 
plan is to kerosene (through a spraying bel¬ 
lows) the houses and perches every fortnight.. 
Tax imitation bntter, says the Orange 
County Farmer. If it is right to tax whisky, 
it is right to tax fraudulent butter. They 
should be rated side by side... 
Editor Green, in the Weekly Press, notices 
that the front or parlor door isan inhospitable 
feature of the farmhouse. The path to it is 
seldom trod, the grass covers it, and the visitor 
thinks twice before venturing to such an un¬ 
welcome entrance. Front, doors and front 
parlors are stiff and uncongenial affairs. 
Again Mr. Green says, "If there is any 
pleasanter sight than seeing your own wife 
strolling ahout and singing in a well-bep„ 
r arden, tell me what it is,” We don’t know, 
unless the tittle ones are added.. 
As soon as a hog gets ill in the cholera 
region of the West, the whole herd is at 
once sent to market, says the Press. "This 
well known fact,” says the Industrialist, 
“somewhat dulls our appetite for side meat,”. 
Our respected contemporary, the Farmers’ 
Review, according to its voluminous reports 
just received, estimates the present corn crop 
the largest ever produced in this country-.... 
Now is a good time to make grape-vine 
cuttings. Cnt just above one eye and below 
another, thus giving the c.utting3 two eyes. 
Plant the cuttings in mellow soil, so that the 
top bud is just above the ground. Cover with 
litter..... 
A writer in the Indiana Farmer thinks 
that he keeps his hen house free of lice by 
having two sets of perches, which he changes, 
exposing to the weather the set not in use. 
How much easier to kerosene the perches oc¬ 
casionally. 
From experiments carefully conducted for 
the past three vears with green versus drv 
food for cows, Prof. Sanborn does not think 
that at the present price of land, with the 
abundance of good pasture and the cheapness 
of grains in Missouri, soiling of cows or other 
stock is at present profitable. This is no doubt 
true iu many of the Western States where land 
is cheap: hat we believe that even there it will 
pay to feed dairy cows liberally on grain and 
oil-meal, even when running to pasture. 
The Massachusetts Ploughman calls for a 
law to regulate the sale of swill pork, if it does 
not regulate the production of it. It sayR 
that swine fed on the waste products of cities 
are not ouly unusually susceptible to hog 
cholera but also to trichina. 
Silage is getting a blast of abuse from 
many quarters now, Tn England its enemies 
claim that it wears out cows, hurts calves fed 
upon it. and makes the babies who drink the 
the milk from cows fed on it, sick. 
A number of southern Holland breeders 
are trying to form a new association. They 
object to tbe clause in the constitution of the 
present association, requiring a #100 registry 
fee on imported animals. They wautto bring 
in what cattle they like, aud thus be independ¬ 
ent of the well-established breeders . 
W. L. Langstroth states that he was so 
severely stung by bees that his system was 
filled with the poison. It was almost impos¬ 
sible for him to shake hands with one fresh 
from an apiary, or even to handle a letter 
from a bee keeper, without pain. The thought 
occurred to him that he might reach a point 
where his svstem would be completely inocu¬ 
lated and incapable of receiving more poison. 
This was found to be correct. After a certain 
amount of stinging, the operation was almost 
painless. Few of us would have tbe patience 
to reach that most desirable state of affairs.. 
The N. Y. Trihune is opposed to silk culture 
as a work for women in this country. The 
work is of the most monotonous and slavish 
character, unsuited for our Araerioau women 
while there is a demand for eggs, honey, 
small fruits or flowers. Iu every silk-raising 
country, the women are obliged to work at 
very starvation wages. 
The late lamented Jumbo consumed in one 
vear ovpr 75 tons of hay. 800 barrels of pota¬ 
toes and 350 bushels of onions, besides a vast 
quantity of peanuts, candy, etc. His loss is a 
serious blow to agriculture. 
The Savannah News, speaking of the 
Georgia local-option stock law. savs that 
people in "fence” counties who visit the "no 
fence” counties are quickly convinced of the 
folly of maintaining $ 1.000 worth of fence to 
keep out #100 worth of stock. 
Chloride of lime is recommended by 
Chambers’s Journal as a rat-riddance. The 
pests are not killed, but they "make them¬ 
selves scarce.”. 
The Live Stuck Tudicator has fouud a cure 
for sheep-killing dogs. When the sheep are 
found dead, simply say it was tbe wolves. 
Leave the sheep where it is and place some 
strychnine in it. When the wolves come 
hack to eat the sheep, strange as it may seem, 
the strychnine will change them into tbe 
neighbors’ dogs. There will he a reform in dog- 
raisin g at once.... 
Prof. Sanborn does not recommend Alfal¬ 
fa or Lueern for Missouri, ne savs that few 
farmers of his state appreciate Rod Clover... 
Prof. Sanborn does not speak favorably of 
eitner Vetch (Vieia sativa) or Sanfoin, and 
he thinks that close, compact subsoils and 
heavy soils in wet seasons are not favorable 
to it...... 
FOR three years he has carried on very care¬ 
ful experiments during the summer season 
with green food versus drv food for cows, 
weighing food, growth or decline in weight 
of cows, weight of milk anti weight of butter. 
With the present price and plentitnde of good 
pasturage, clover, Timothy and grains in 
Missouri, he very seriously doubts the pro¬ 
priety of handling, daily, in little lots by 
high-priced Tabor, water-laden green food for 
dairy or other herds ... ..................... 
Mrs. Tsaac Clark well says that children 
are imitators, and the best way to teach them 
true politeness is to be polite to them. The 
best way to keep them from forming bad 
habits is to refrain from indulging in bad 
habits ourselves.. 
Dr. Wm, Horne does not believe in hang¬ 
ing a stuffed sack at the heels of a horse to 
cure the kicking habit. He says it spoils the 
horse instead of curing him. 
Jacob BiGGLE.of the Farm Journal, recom¬ 
mends this list of pears for every family: 
1 Doyenne D'Ete, 
2 GifTard, 
1 Tyson, 
2 Bartlett. 
t Boussock, 
2 Seckel, 
1 Belle Lucrative 
1 Howell, 
1 Anjou, 
1 Rutter, 
1 Sheldon, 
1 Jones’ Seedling, 
5 Lawrence. 
Ruth Brown says, in the same sprightly 
journal, that 20 or 25 bens will produce 
enough surplus poultry and eggs to pay an 
ordinary farmer’s grocery hill, and if the hens 
are managed just right they will pay for some 
little things besides. The poultry-yard is a 
nice thing to fall back on when other sources 
fail, and it i3 better than running a debit ac¬ 
count at the store......1.,... 
Editor Wilmer Atkinson savs'that an ac¬ 
tive brain is one of the greatest labor-saving 
implements the farmer can possess. Itshould 
he kept bright and sharp. The man who per¬ 
mits it to rust from want of use, or dulls it by 
dissipation and strong drink mav go to Con¬ 
gress, or become a bank president, but will 
never make a good farmer.. 
We beg very heartily to indorse the follow¬ 
ing statement, which we find in the Farm 
Journal: "An agricultural paper that is pub¬ 
lished for auy other purpose than giving use¬ 
ful information to its subscribers, and rnakiog 
a living for its publisher, is not what it pre¬ 
tends to be, and is a fraud.”.... 
Cut out the unsightly branches of currant 
bushes, the old canes of raspberries and black¬ 
berries and see that they are staked and tied. 
Prune grape-vines now. Rid strawberry beds 
of weeds. Mellow the soil and after the first 
hard frost, mulch.. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS—XLIV. 
ALASKAN CRUISE. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
"WAKING” AN INDIAN. 
The Sitka Indians cremate their dead, and 
as I bad made a request to be informed if a 
death occurred at the “Ranche,” two gentle¬ 
men came to our house one evening at about 
nine o’clock, saving that an Indian lay dead, 
that the funeral services were then being held, 
and that the body would be cremated next 
morning at ten o’clock. We immediately 
went to the ranche, and hearing much noise 
in one of the houses, opened the door and 
looked in. A medicineman—a shaman —was 
going through bis incantations seated by the 
fire with several Indians. He wore no gar¬ 
ment but a wol f skin over his shoulders, aud 
bis head was made terrible by a crown of goat 
horns and lappets of ermine. He was shak¬ 
ing a carved wooden rattle, beating on the 
floor, and bad about him bis "shakes,” wooden 
images, which represent various good or evil 
spirits He glared ferociously at sight of us, 
and ceased his noise. Wesoon left and passed 
on to the house of mourning: the singers were 
chanting, keeping time with loug sticks or 
staffs which they beat on tbe ground, an¬ 
nouncing the house. We went iu without 
ceremony, as is the custom, and found the 
room full of Indians, most of whom were 
sitting on the floor leaniug against the ban¬ 
quette or platform tbat surrounds nearly 
every Indiau interior. The room was hung 
with some muslin, and at the end opposite the 
door, where lay the dead man, was hung the 
Araeriean flag. Tbe four large corner posts— 
gaily painted in designs—probably totems— 
were uncovered: every body was in best at¬ 
tire of clean blaukets. The eight or ten men 
who sang, stood, and wore broad-brimmed 
peaked crowu hats, such as the women weave; 
two or three women were sobbing. The 
chancing was solemn and wierd. and produced 
a mournful effect. After a time, an Indiau 
lighted a kerosene lamp, evidently for our 
benefit, and we advanced to look at the dead, 
who was set up on the floor as if alive, and 
covered with a blanket, leaving only the face 
exposed. This was painted in lines of red, 
aud looked as if iu life, although the eyes were 
closed. Ou the head was a crown, or head¬ 
dress,laud near by stood his mask,7,decorated 
with feathers. Every thing was done decently 
and in order, and the funeral was quite as 
respectable as a "civilized” one. I was told 
that the chanting would be kept up all night, 
and that the following night there would be 
festivities. Tbe man had died that morning 
of consumption, 
CREMATING him; "DEAD-HOUSES.” 
The next morning we were at the house be¬ 
fore ten, but the cremation, just beyond the 
ranche, on the beach was already nearly over. 
A dead body is never taken out of the front 
door, but through the hole in the roof—in ac¬ 
cordance with some superstition. We met on 
the way the singers returning with their 
staffs, and knew we were too late. When we 
reached tbe pyre, only the bones of the body 
were to be discerned in the Are. They lay up 
sticks of wood from four to five feet long, in 
cob house fashion, with a smaller, similar 
structure on the inside on which tbe body is 
laid wrapped in its blanket. Wood is then 
laid over the top, and the pile ignited, pro¬ 
ducing a very great heat. A few Indian 
women were seated not far away in the grass, 
and two or three men with long sticks were 
watching and attending to the fire. When 
everything is reduced to ashes, they are 
gathered and put in a box, and along with 
other possessions of the dead, deposited in a 
tomb or "dead bouse” in the Indian cemetery. 
This tomb is built of wood in the form of a 
little house, five or six feet square, and as 
many high, with a peaked roof, and painted 
in bright colors. They are very picturesque, 
and one of the first things to be noted upon 
reaching Sitka, is the hill to the left of the 
town, dotted with these toy houses. Some of 
them have a window in one end. I tried one 
day to make my way through an old part of 
this cemetery, but I became fairly imprisoned 
in a jungle of bushes and undergrowth. The 
dead houses and all they ever contained had 
fallen into decay; tbe canoes of the dead that 
had been hauled up by tbe tombs bad fallen 
to pieces, the ravens croaked, and altogether 
it was dismal. Every step I took was as if 
taken on a feather bed. for ever?* where in the 
woods and thickets, the ground is a foot or two 
deep with moss, and it may be akin to walk¬ 
ing over flowery beds of ease, to walk over 
this tundra, but it is very tiresome business. 
It is well there are no snakes in Alaska—I have 
yet to learn of one having ever been seen—for 
I walk on many occasions into most "snaky 
places.” We went on tbe following evening 
again to the house of mourning to see the 
festivities, but found perfect quiet and the 
occupants evidently asleep. 
AN INDIAN WAR DANCE. 
On the afternoon of July 4th a young man 
came to the door, and announced that we 
were invited to the Firemen’s Ball that even¬ 
ing, and just as we were ready to go, with 
the laddie snug in bed. a messenger came with 
a card on which was written, " Indian 
War Dance on the Parade Ground, instanter 
I thought it was a sight for the child to see, 
and in five ruinates he was dressed and we 
were off for the novel spectacle. A pile of 
wood in the middle of the ground was 
ready to be lighted, and there was a large 
congregation of Indians, but the dancers had 
not yet arrived. It was an impromptu affair 
—a purse of six or eight dollars baviug been 
raised to hire the Indians to danee. Present¬ 
ly, we heard the roar of their coming—a wild, 
monotonous, but musical singing, in which 
many of the outsiders joined, with a rhythm¬ 
ical swaying motion, # that evidently was in¬ 
fectious. and a torch was put to the camp-fire, 
which would have produced a more brilliant 
effect if the night hail been darker; but 
Alaska during the summer months is practic¬ 
ally a land of no night. The Indians ranged 
themselves at on$ side of the fire, in two rows, 
and one at the head wielded a thin piece of 
wood, about ten inches wide and eight feet 
long, which was decorated with painting and 
fringes of hair, which he seemed to use to 
keep the dancers in line They were gotten 
up in grand array, with faces painted in pat¬ 
terns of red and black, ehieflv confined to one 
side, their most savage rings in their ears and 
noses, gavest blankets on their shoulders, and 
very “stuuning” gears on their heads—horns, 
eagles’ quills, tails of animals—while the 
women dancers bad silver bracelets bound 
about the head so that they stood out in front 
like horns. The dancing was chiefly postur¬ 
ing, and an np aud down jiggle, accompanied 
by their peculiar wild, swaying, rhythmical, 
monotonous, deep-toned chanting. After a 
series of four dances, with pauses between, 
they marched away, while some of the "thrif¬ 
ty” ones tarried to carry off the unconsumed 
fuel of the camp fire. 
From the war dance we went to the fire¬ 
men’s fiance, held in a low, log building, with 
a hand engine, hose-cart and 75 buckets util¬ 
ized from kerosene oil cans, occupying an 
anteroom. The ball-room was still hung with 
the wreaths put up on Decoration Day. It 
was the laddies’ first ball, and a motley asseni- 
