4885 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
483 
much the quantity of food grown in this 
country, where the number of mouths to eat 
it is continually increasing-. I hope we shall 
never rest until every cottage iu this country 
has a garden. It is an extremely profitable 
undertaking. It calls for skill and labor, but 
the labor is interesting; every one heartily 
enjoys seeing the growth of what has been 
planted, and the work benefits both mind and 
hody, besides being useful to the community. 
Let nobody despise the cultivation of flowers. 
There is nothing more touching than to see 
how human nature dines to beauty in its 
purest and most delightful form. All these 
are excellent pursuits.” 
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. 
Oun good friend Colonel Weld, in the Phila¬ 
delphia Press, says that the buggv is an infal¬ 
lible index of thrift and enterprise, and to a 
certain extent of culture and civilization; that 
with its advent the South will do more to bet¬ 
ter its roads, than with a century of preach¬ 
ing while still practicing horse-back travel. 
We say then, long live the buggy. .. 
Mr. F. W. Wilson. has devised a system of 
numbers for each gate on his farm. Bv this 
system a new farmhandleamst.henumber and 
location of each gate and lot in a few minutes. 
Itis an improvement over the old way of using 
odd names for gates and lots, known only to 
members of the family and the all the-year- 
round man... 
A loose, neglectful master makes a hired 
man of precisely the same kind, says the New 
York Tribune... 
The Tribune also says that it is often 
thought that the victims of swindlers are as 
dishouest as those who cheat them. 
Look for the borers now. says Mr. A. W. 
Cheever. The saw-dust at the opening of the 
holes will tell you where to find them. Dig 
them out with a pocket knife the first season. 
The second year, a wire or auv stroog. pliable 
substance mav be used to punch them to death. 
A New Jersey doctor thinks that the use 
of the lawr-tnower will give young ladies that 
sort of exercise they most need.. 
If C7. S. Com. Colmau wants to distinguish 
himself and merit the gratitude of the coun¬ 
try. let him use his best influence to abolish 
the Washington seed distribution. 
According to the British Agricultural 
Gazette, if we would hnve a cow do her best 
in cheese production, she should be allowed 
to run at. large in pasture: but if she is to give 
us the largest amount of butter, keep her 
closely coufined in a stable or comfortable 
yard ....... 
Prof G. E Morrow says, in the Breeder’s 
Gazette, that it is humiliating to know that 
dishonest and miworthv men find a profitable 
field in the publication of practically worth¬ 
less papers professedly designed to aid farm¬ 
ers, and that offers, ahsurd on theft faces, of 
prizes in lotteries, loans without security, etc., 
should be effective in securing many subscrip¬ 
tions to such papers ... 
He also remarks, in the same excellent 
journal, that the agricultural nress has more 
influence, actually and relatively, than ever 
before. It remains as it was 20 years ago, the 
cheapest, quickest and most effective means 
by which to affect agricultural opinion and 
practice.. 
The S-uith Bend Tribune says that a lady 
in that, citv. who has a false tooth set on a 
pivot, sneezed it, out the other dav while feed¬ 
ing chickens. An old ben thought, it a grain 
of com and swallowed it as soon as it struck 
the ground. After a long chase the hen was 
captured beheaded, its crop opened, the tooth 
found and restored to the lady’s mouth, where 
it afterwards helped to masticate the old hen. 
There can be little doubt that fresh manure 
may not help crops at all; mav. indeed, as 
Prof. Shelton savs, injure them the first sea¬ 
son, though it may act with great efficiency 
during the second, third, fourth or eveu fifth 
year. 
Prof Shelton (Kausos Ag. Collegel also 
made an experiment to ascertain bow much 
corn shrinks during the Winter. The trial 
began November 1st, and ended July 1st. The 
shrinkage amounted to six percent. Thus the 
farmer who carries his crop hoping to sell at 
higher figures, must not omit this loss. 
The Student’s Farm Journal (Iowa Ag. 
College) says that the farmer " ho has not the 
ambition to raise strawberries and other de¬ 
licious fruits and vegetables, which cost so 
little, but will continue to feed bis family on 
fat pork, isto be pitied. Further, such things 
as peas are not onlv palatable, but they stick 
to the hired man’s ribs.... 
Agriculture wants men who are not 
ashamed of it, to lead in its progress. 
The editor of the Orange Co. Farmer ob¬ 
serves that he has followed a plow in a corn 
field when you could hear the snapping of the 
corn roots as they were ruthlessly cut off. Is 
it good for the growing crop to do so?. 
The Farm Journal advises us to go to din¬ 
ner when the bell rings. It also advises us not 
to get careless in using Paris-green inasmuch 
as it is just as dangerous as ever it was. 
The recipe for the Government harness 
dressing is as follows. “One gallon ueat’s-foot 
oil, two pounds bay-berry tallow, two pounds 
beeswax. Put the above iu a pan over 
a moderate fire. When thoroughly dissolved, 
add two quarts of castor oil; then while on the 
fire stir iuoue ounce of lamp-black. Mix well, 
and strain through a flue cloth to remove sedi¬ 
ment; let it cool, and you have as fine a dress¬ 
ing for harness, cr leather of any kind, as can 
be bad.,.,,. 
Peter Henderson says that the flavor and 
crispness of all celeries will be increased if 
they are soaked in ice cold water for a short 
time before serving on the table. 
General remarks applicable to one civil¬ 
ized country as a whole, are, as a rule, equally 
applicable to any other civilized country, with 
slight variations. How do the following re¬ 
marks of the Paris National, with regard to 
the great Republic across the water, apply to 
the great Republic on this side of the water, 
adding 20,000,000 to our population and a pro¬ 
portionate number to our rascals and poli¬ 
ticians: “There are in France 36,000,000 of 
human beings who work hard from morniug 
to evening, and who do harm to no one. There 
are besides in this country 800,000 rascals who 
rob and murder, and who pass by the name 
of the army of crime There are, further¬ 
more, in France 300 000 politicians whose sole 
occupation is to excite class against class. 
With regard to the 36,000,000, nobody pays 
anv attention to them; but the other 600.000 
are the object of the most careful solicitude 
on the part of the governing classes. If a 
professional malefactor commits a criminal 
act. every effort is made to save him from 
merited punishment, aud if a professional 
agitator incites bis fellow citizens to pillage 
and worse, he is a privileged being ”. 
Opr worthy friend, the Wesrarn Rural, 
gives its readers an interesting chapter on 
“The Chronic Borrower.” This creature 
never has anything that he ought to have, 
and always wishes to borrow a thing just 
wheu the owner wishes to use it. He usually 
fails to return what he borrowed, or returns 
it in bad shape. He is simply an unqualifi-d 
nuisance. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS, 
XXXIV. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
I have latterly had a talk with a practical 
Pennsylvania lumberman, who has heen 
spending some time here looking over timber 
lands in different parts of Western Washing¬ 
ton, and I made a note of some things he said, 
which I think may be of interest to such read¬ 
ers as are wondering if there is not money to 
be made iu Washington lumber. As I have 
hitherto said, not ranch good timber land 
conveniently located for present consumption 
is left to be bad of the Government at 32.50 
per acre. The United States laud laws in this 
part of the country have been but poorly ad¬ 
ministered. The land maps are not good, and 
the laud surveys have been very inaccurate. 
I mention these tbiugs to put such persons as 
are ineliued to trust to maps, on their guard, 
for a good and accurate map is as rare as an 
honest man! 
Land in Washington Territory (I shall be 
glad wheu the word Territory need not be 
written after the name of anv domain that is 
to be a State, for Territorial Government is a 
shabby thing! is not considered good timber 
laud, unless the trees cut from two to three 
thousand feet. A good deal of timber is sold, 
of course, independently of the land by the 
“stnmpnge,” or from 25 to 50 cents a thousand 
by hoard measure, of which the basis is a foot 
square and one inch thick. The price, of 
course, depends upon the size of the timber, 
and the ease with which it can be got into 
water or other mode of transportation All 
around the immediate shores of Puget Sound 
and Lake Washington, the good timber has 
been cut, so that now most of it lies further 
back, and the next to be cut will, of course, 
be selected up the rivers, where it can be eas 
ily “skidded” into water. 
The Pennsylvania lumberman told me that 
he found the best timber up the Skagit River. 
This river is at times, uavigable, as far up as 
150 miles. A hundred thousand dollars are re¬ 
quired to make it safely navigable aud fur¬ 
nish it with booms so that the timber need not 
be lost iu times of freshets. One man lately 
lost theie, by freshets, some forty thousand 
dollars worth of timber—his total output. 
There are no saw-mill3 to speak of on this river 
and the logs are taken to different mills on the 
Sound. Of course, it is more profitable to log 
near water than near railroads. The early 
railroads built here were of wooden rails with 
straps of iron. There is a vast amount of tim¬ 
ber laud on this river, and it can be bought for 
four or five dollars an acre up. Large and 
valuable tracts of timber have t been secured 
by corporations, through subornation of per¬ 
jury, sending out cruisers and employing men 
to take up claims in the best timber. In this 
dishonest way. some mill companies “own” 
from 150.000 to 300,000 acres, which they are 
largely holding in reserve. One timber claim 
of 160 acres is all that one person can lawfully 
obtain from the Government. The timber 
consists of fir and cedar. fThe name given to 
thi3 cedar, in the California Botanv, is Thuja 
gigautea—to the fir “Douglass Spruce” or 
Thuja Douglassii.) The fir is a hard, 
tough wood, does not split well, and is espec¬ 
ially good for ship building, masts and all. 
The cedar, which has a foliage like that of 
Arbor-vitae, and is a species of it, is a soft 
wood and some of the trees split beautifully. 
Both the fir and the cedar grow to an almost 
unequaled hight, sometimes reaching an alti¬ 
tude of 350 feet, aud a diameter ranging from 
seven to twelve and even fifteen feet. Wheth¬ 
er the fir reproduces itself or not, i3 not abso¬ 
lutely kuown. Young fire grow up on tim¬ 
bered land, but some leading lumbermen say 
the growth is not of the same variety as its 
predecessor, and is valueless for timber, while 
others believe it to be identical. What can 
be had from one cedar tree, that splits well, 
seems almost incredible. Where there are no 
saw mills, settlers split boards from cedar 
and these boards are called “shakes.” Tbev 
can be planed and otherwise polished to meet 
the exigencies of the builder. 
On the Skagit River lives a bachelor from 
New Brunswick, N. J., who has a ranch with 
about 40 acres in meadow. He cut a cedar, 
and from 40 feet of the butt split “shakes” 
enough for all his buildings, aud from the 
remainder he split a thousaud rails—and it 
should be borne in miad chat the “shakes” 
house is all wood, ceiling as well as floors, and 
a house all of cedar, is nice, although it mav 
be rude This bachelor has lost one of his 
legs, and his misfortune seems to have been 
strangely multiplied in the animal life about 
him. His dog went on three legs, having had 
one foot crushed; he had a three legged cat, 
whose fourth foot had been lest in a trap: a 
calf had just been born with three legs, and 
at that juncture the bachelor thought infirm¬ 
ity had become sufficiently “numerous,” and 
he billed the poor calf. Another man on the 
Snohomish River had made his house and 
outbuildings of one cedar tree, and the stump, 
which was 13 feet high, and imperfect, he 
had hollowed out, put on a roof, cut through 
a door-way aud places for windows, and used 
it fora store house. There are no Redwoods 
in Washington, that species of tree terminat¬ 
ing, I tbiuk, in Upper California or Lower 
Oregon. 
From wbat I have learned from various 
sources, there is no immediate chauce for 
money making here in the lumber husine-s. 
Like most other thiugs. it is over-done; but 
there can be no doubt that money invented in 
timber land, well selected, will some day yield 
a handsome profit, as it is only after years of 
wilful and wicked waste of trees, that their 
value becomes appreciated. On the great 
treeless plains ea9t of the Cascade Raoge.these 
magnificent trees would he “ worth their 
weight in gold.” while the desire here seems 
to he to clear the land! In this wise, do hu¬ 
man fools play at cross purposes with nature. 
An intelligent Scotch nurseryman at Seat¬ 
tle, has been experimenting, during the past 15 
years, with various kindsof trees, to find what 
kinds do the best in this climate. With nut- 
beariog trees be has had no success. With 
fruit trees, the North Europeau varieties 
do the best—those which thrive in England 
and Holland thrive here. He has some fine 
seedling Sequoia gigauteas. which are uow 
about four or five feet high and have been grow 
Ing as many years. He produces also Cedars of 
Lebanon, paying one dollar for a cone. They 
grow wild in Englaud, and I rememher hav¬ 
ing seen a fine one in the grounds at Warwick 
Castle. In talking of Lebanon Cedars, he said 
that his father moved one for a gentleman in 
England, the transplanting being entirely 
successful, but the operation was performed 
at an expense of £10,000—350,000. The gen¬ 
tleman sold his estate but retained that one 
tree. 
The English Ivy grows here iu the most 
luxuriant way, and I have seen a main stalk 
of it quite a foot in diameter. It is no uncom¬ 
mon tbiug for it to creep through the walls of 
a house aud be trained all around a room; or 
for it to grow from water iu a pot—no soil— 
aud completely border a room. The largest 
one I have seen has been fed with lime. A 
physician told me that he has, when riding on 
horse-back through the woods, often found 
the ferns as high as his head—and this luxuri¬ 
ant growth is characteristic of much of the 
vegetation, which is due to the moisture of 
the climate and its mildness, which admits of 
an almost uninterrupted season of growth. 
L°t it not be inferred from my letters that 
the Puget Hound Basin is a Paradise. A 
gentleman, who has lived here 14 years, hav¬ 
ing come hither from Maine, said in a con¬ 
versation a few days ago, “None of the fruit 
here Is so well flavored as iu the East, and the 
Eastern climate is more conducive to health. 
People need the brisk change of the seasons, 
and the low rate of mortality here is due to 
the constant influx of new blood.” I notice 
by the health reports, that death from con- 
sumptioD (pulmonaryl is very decidedly on 
the increase, although a health officer ex¬ 
plained that few of the cases had originated 
here. The atmosphere is not electric, and it 
never thunders. The weather during the 
month of May was for the most part cool, 
clondy and with frequent showers. The prin¬ 
cipal wild flowers in bloom were the Rhododen¬ 
dron Californieunff?). growing in places, in 
great plantations and from six to twelve feet 
high—superb—with large, pipk blossoms; 
honeysuckle, syringa (Pbiladelphusl au>1 sev¬ 
eral beautiful varieties of spirsea. and straw¬ 
berries a3 large as any I have hitherto 
reported. A friend mentioned one he had seen 
at a grocer’s, which measured in circumfer¬ 
ence, one way. five inches, aDd seven another. 
But I found a great scarcity of wild straw¬ 
berries, although the ground had been white 
with blossoms in the early Spring. June 1st, 
strawberries retailed at five cents the pound. 
A gentleman from Minneapolis visiting 
Seattle, said that he found the cost of living 
here verv low. comparatively, and that for 25 
cents be had an excellent meal—such as he 
could nowhere get in the cities of Minnesota. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
California. 
Candy, Modoc Co., June 26.—Our assessor 
tells me the area in grain is 40.000 acres in 
this county; prospect favorable; average 10 
per cent, less than last year. Wheat average 
30 bushels per acre ; oats, 60 ; barley, 45. 
Potatoes and all hardv vegetables and hardy 
fruits do well where they can be irrigated. 
Those that have the advantage of irrigation 
sell to those that have not. We are in the 
northeast corner of the Sta’e at an altitude of 
4,600 feet, consequently frost occurs oftener 
than we wish. Horses and cattle with a little 
can do well, aud a great manv are raised and 
fattened here to a good advantage. Hav is from 
the natural grass, with a very few exceptions 
of small patches of Timothy and Red Top. 
T. J. L. 
Canada. 
South Mountain, DunlasCo., Ont., July 
6th—Crops are looking well in this section, 
although the season is late. The apple crop 
is light, but other fruits are plentiful. Hay 
and grain appear to be average crops s. j. t. 
St. Thomas. Ontario, July 4. — l have trav¬ 
eled in Elgin. Middlesex and Oxford Counties 
and find hay very promising. All cereals and 
roots are very good. Potatoes must be a very 
large crop. Fall wheat excellent; no com¬ 
plaint of any insect pests. Small fruits good; 
but apples not one-third of a crop: cherries 
a complete failure. Black knot verv bad in¬ 
deed; plums are about all destroyed here by 
it. Butter 10 to cents; eggs 10 cents; 
factory cheese, wholesale, 6% to 7\{. Gar¬ 
dena never looked so well; constant light 
showers. Grapes promise well. h. n. r. 
Summerside, Pr. Ed. Tslaud, Julv 3 —Oats 
and potatoes are our staple crops, of which 
large quantities are exported. Sufficient 
wheat is raised to supplv the country, exclus¬ 
ive of the towns. No attempt has been made 
to raise tobacco. Corn is cultivated only as a 
garden crop. There are average areas under 
crops and perhaps mote; and notwithstanding 
the cold wet weather in the first half of June, 
the outlook is very encouraging. j. d. s. 
Colorado. 
Montrose. Montrose Co., June 28.—This 
section is what is known as the Ute Reserva¬ 
tion. and was occupied until within the past 
three years by a tribe of Indians of that name, 
consequently no crops were raised until 
last year, when a very small area was plant¬ 
ed in wheat, oats, potatoes and other vegeta¬ 
bles. In comparison with last year, the area 
in wheat is 500 per cent, greater, and prospect 
verv flattering: oats .500 per cent.greater, with 
prospect of a yield of 10 bushels to the acre, on 
an average. Very little rye has been planted. 
A few, however, sowed small patches last 
year which are now nearly ready to harvest, 
and the crop is very fine indeed. Barley. 1,000 
per cent, greater area; prospects good. Pota¬ 
toes 500 per cent, greater, with prospects for 
even a much larger yield per acre than last 
year. This is the “boss” potato country; we 
