342 
MAY 18 
the rural mw-mmm 
HOME NEWS. 
Saturday, May 12,1888. 
The Erie Canal was officially opened at 
midnight Wednesday. The poor outlook for 
freights depresses boatmen.Governor 
Hill, of this State, has vetoed the Crosby High 
License Bill. He admits that the liquor traf¬ 
fic should be regulated, but denies that the 
hill would do it. He says the measure would 
he unjust to the rural districts. The High- 
License party says the veto message is full of 
assertions, but devoid of argument. 
Thirty-eight Michigan counties have voted 
under the local option law, and all but two of 
them have decided that prohibition shall pre¬ 
vail for the next three yearsA carload 
of dynamite on the Philadelphia and Reading 
Railroad exploded, Sunday, at Locust Gap, 
near Shamokin, Pa., killing seven people, 
wounding 20, burning eight houses and 
wrecking many others.In association 
with the Opposition leaders, as alleged, Eras- 
tus Wiman is perfecting plans for speakers 
stumping British America and renewing the 
agitation for a commercial union between 
Canada and the United States. Dr. D. 
W. Bliss, physician-in-chief to President Gar¬ 
field from the time he was shot by Guiteau 
until his death, is seriously ill, and his recov¬ 
ery is doubtful.. .Judge Tuley, of Chicago, has 
rendered a preliminary decision in a contested 
will case, which pronounces children born in 
slavery illegitimate, and holds that they can¬ 
not inherit property from the father, on the 
ground that slaves were property, like cattle, 
and couldn’t, therefore, contract legal mar¬ 
riages. The case is to be appealed. Com¬ 
modore Kittson, the noted capitalist of St. 
Paul, Minn., and owner of several famous 
trotters and pacers, died on the west-bound 
train leaving Chicago Thursday evening. He 
left his fine stock farm near Philadelphia, 
Saturday, and was expected home next Tues¬ 
day.Delegates to the Chicago and St. 
Louis Conventions are still being chosen by the 
various States. Those to the former are great¬ 
ly divided in opinion as to Presidential candi¬ 
dates—Sherman, Gresham, Allison and Harri¬ 
son being the favorites, though many of the 
States have “favorite sons” who will get at least 
a complimentary vote. Blaine is by far the 
most popular, and could doubtless get the 
nomination if he asked for it.or even if he open¬ 
ly consented to accept it. Last Saturday’s re¬ 
port that he had done so was contradicted by 
his friends. He is still traveling in Europe, 
and is in excellent health. Cleveland is real¬ 
ly the only Democrat spoken of. Thursday the 
Democrats of Tennessee, Vermont, Alabama, 
Michigan and Maryland wheeled into line 
with an indorsement of Tariff Reform and a 
second term.The President has vetoed 
a House bill to sell to certain Kansas settlers 
public lands granted to Indians who, on ac¬ 
count of persecution, did not take up their 
claims. The bill provides for the selling at 
$2.50 per acre, for the benefit of the Indians, 
of land which was originally held at $4.50_ 
_The wholesale commission house of Wil¬ 
liam T. Coleman & Co., of San Francisco, do¬ 
ing a business of $14,000,000 a year, has as¬ 
signed for the benfit of its creditors. The as¬ 
sets are placed at $4,000,000 to $4,500,000, and 
the liabilities at $2,000,000. Coleman was a 
’49er, and had done much to build up the Pa¬ 
cific Coast. He was mentioned as a possible 
Democratic candidate for the Presidency. 
....A rain storm last Sunday, which was 
general throughout the State, was worth 
millions to California farmers, who were in 
dread of a failure of harvest. Now reason¬ 
able expectations are likely to be realized. Sun¬ 
day at Maissee, west of Wichita, Kans., a 
cloud-burst, over a space 500 yards wide and a 
mile long, letdown such a torrent of water 
that the streets became rivers, houses were 
washed away, and four human lives were lost, 
besides great numbers of horses, hogs and cat¬ 
tle.The Methodist Episcopal Conference, 
now in session here, has, by a vote of 249 to 175, 
excluded female delegates to the Conference. 
Washington female suffragists have adopted 
a resolution urging women to leave tbe Metho¬ 
dist Church on this account. The subject of 
admitting women to the Conference, however, 
is a new one, and final action has been merely 
postponed until it has been brought before 
the local conferences throughout the country. 
The five rejected delegates approve of this 
course ; .The Sweetwater dam, just 
completed at San Diego, Cal., at a cost of 
$800,000, is said to be 20 feet higher than any 
dam in the United States. It is 90 feet from 
its base to its crest.Tuesday Sen¬ 
ator Voorhees apologized to the Senate for his 
unparliamentary language the week before, 
but be did not apologize a bit to Senator In¬ 
galls, toward whom he had used the language... 
_Govenor Hill has vetoed the repeal of the 
bill making Saturday a half-holiday, chiefly 
on the ground that sufficient time had not 
elapsed since the passage of the half-holiday 
law to allow it a fair trial.Early in the 
week disastrously heavy rain storms were 
reported in the “West” from Kansas City 
northward. In Iowa the rainfall from May 1 
to May 8 was unprecedented. Streams every¬ 
where were booming and fields saturated ... 
Tuesday the Local or Courty Option Bill 
was defeated—53 to 61—in the New York 
Assembly.Same day the Senate passed 
the Anti-Trust Bill, and a bill appropriating 
$1,000,000 to the State prisons.Wednes¬ 
day Col. Robert G. Ingersoll delivered a mas¬ 
terly eulogy on Roscoe Conkling before both 
Houses of the New York Legislature. 
.Jay Gould owns $20,000,000 of Western 
Union stock. The 30 Directors of it own $27,- 
000,000, and various others hold $40,000,000. 
The company owns up to a profit of seven 
cents on each message.There is consid¬ 
erable hesitation in the Senate about confirm¬ 
ing lawyer Fuller as Chief Justice of the 
United States, the highest judicial office in the 
world. It is said he wasn’t loyal during the 
war—indeed, he is charged with having been 
a “copperhead.” He is likely to be confirmed, 
however, as the two Republican Senators 
from Illinois support him.The 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science will hold its next annual meeting in 
Cleveland, August 14 to 22, inclusive. 
For about 12 days immigrants have been 
pouring into the single port of New York at 
the rate of more than a million a year. About 
one-third of the whole number have been 
Italians.Dr. Everett Wagner, a 
miser, who died near Elmonton, Ky., willed 
his body by piecemeal to his heirs, setting 
aside $1,000 for dissecting it. He left his for¬ 
tune for charitable purposes, as his relatives 
had treated him badly... .The Butchers’ 
National Protective Association, with a mem¬ 
bership of 14,000, will have a convention in 
Philadelphia soon, with a barbecue at which 
50 steers and 100 South Down sheep will be 
roasted in 200 feet of trenches. 
.... The new Chinese-treaty has been con¬ 
firmed by the Senate by a vote practically 
unanimous.The majority report of the 
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is 
against the confirmation of the Canadian 
Fisheries treaty. The Mills tariff bill 
has occupied most of the time of the House of 
Representatives during the week. No con¬ 
clusion yet reached.A petition for the 
rehearing of the Bell telephone case has been 
filed before the Supreme Court. The Court 
on the previous decision stood three to four, 
Justices Gray and Lamar not voting. The 
death of Chief-Justice Waite causes it now to 
be a tie, so that much will depend upon the 
course of the new Chief-Justice....... .The 
Maine Board of Agriculture held 27 institutes 
last year—total cost $1,307, or- about $55 
apiece. 
... Gen. James W. Ewing, disbursing clerk 
of the Department of Justice, is understood to 
be short from $8,000to $9,000 in accounts.... 
The Supreme Court of Illinois has affirmed the 
decision of the lower courts in the Cook Co., 
boodlers’ cases, and the defendants will all have 
to serve their terms of sentence in theState Pen¬ 
itentiary.Rev. Lyman Abbott, tempo¬ 
rary Pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 
N. Y., has been formally called to the perma- 
nant pastorate, and will accept. 
More than 3,000,000 copies of speeches in Con¬ 
gress on the tariff bill will be distributed be¬ 
fore the election this autumn. Every mem¬ 
ber who has spoken on the subject has ordered 
from 1,000 to 10,000 copies of his own speech, 
while the more notable speeches have been or¬ 
dered from all over the country. Orders have 
been given for 160,000 of Mills’s speech, 60,000 
of Burrows’s, and 35,000 of McMillen’s.. Gen. 
Alfred H. Terry is at New Haven, much fa¬ 
tigued after his trip to Florida, where he has 
been for several months.The Mississip¬ 
pi at Quincy, Ill., now shows 16 feet above 
low-water mark. A vast area of bottom-land 
is inundated. Experienced river men say the 
water will reach the high-water mark of 1851. 
Four miles above Quincy, on the Missouri 
side, Lone Tree prairie is entirely under water, 
and there the river is eight miles wide. Du¬ 
buque and vicinity are also inundated, and 
the raging flood is moving rapidly south.... 
.... A money package containing $41,000, sent 
by the American Exchange Bank of this city 
to the Treasury at Washington, May 4, was 
pillaged en route, brown paper having been 
substituted for the money-old bills for redemp¬ 
tion. Investigation hitherto fruitless so far 
as known to the public. . 
.. It costs N. Y. boatmen now 3J^ cents a bushel 
for transferring canal grain at terminal 
points. The McEvoy Elevator Bill, which 
passed the New York Legislature on Thurs¬ 
day, reduces these charges nearly $100 on 
each boat load of 8,000 bushels. 
■ ♦ ♦ ♦ 
FORIGN NEWS. 
Saturday, May, 12. 
... The Pope’s condemnation of “boycotting” 
and the “plan of campaign” will probably 
have little practical effect in Ireland. The 
Bishops do not approve of it, and have com¬ 
municated with Rome about it. It is thought 
the Pope may modify or altogether withdraw 
his condemnation—hardly the latter. Poli¬ 
ticians and people seem united in the opinion 
that Rome should not interfere in the politi¬ 
cal troubles of Ireland. Dillon has been con¬ 
demned to six months’ imprisonment under 
the Crimes Act.Gladstone says he is still 
certain of the ultimate triumph of Home 
Rule, and has renewed his agitation in its 
favor. There has been a great deal of talk, in 
and out of Parliament, about the weakness 
and unprepared condition of the English 
land and naval forces and armaments in view 
of the critical condition of Europe. The high¬ 
est military and naval authorities have giveu 
their opinions on both sides. The general 
conclusion is that England’s fortifications are 
inadequate, her forces two few, and her navy 
not as efficient as it should be; but that all 
these evils have'been exaggerated by extrem¬ 
ists. Yesterday, Prime Minister Salisbury, 
in the House of Lords, strongly condemned 
the utterances of Lord Wolseley on this sub¬ 
ject, and it is thought probable that England’s 
“only General,” may in consequence resign. 
.. In France things have been comparative¬ 
ly quiet during the week. Boulanger’s popu¬ 
larity is still in the balance—may go up or 
down at any moment. What few elections 
have taken place have been in favor of the 
Government, as a rule.The Emperor 
of Brazil, who with his wife has been travel¬ 
ing in Europe, is dangerously sick at Milan, 
Italy.The King of Portugal is so unwell 
that he has appointed his eldest son and heir 
to act in his stead.Queen Regent Christina 
of Spain has just passed through a serious 
crisis.Another attempt has just been 
made on the life of the Czar by a partially in¬ 
sane officer of the guard. 
.. .The reports with regard to the condition of 
tbe German Emperor during the week have 
been very contradictory. This morning’s 
cablegrams say he is somewhat better, but the 
general inference is that, with brief intervals 
of recuperation, he is steadily drawing near 
his death. He suffers intensely, but is said to 
ae “the most heroic patient that ever lived.” 
Bismarck would not oppose the marriage of 
Prince Alexander of Battenberg with Princess 
Victoria, if the former would absolutely resign 
all k claims,,to the ^throne of Bulgaria,, The 
Chancellor doesn’t want to endanger Ger¬ 
man’s friendship with Russia, which has been 
constant since first pledged in 1814. He 
has told Carl Schurz that be is confident that 
the peace of Europe will not be disturbed. 
..Africa is being portioned among European 
governments in about the style that Amei’ica 
was. It contains 11,600,000 square miles, of 
which the great desert occupies 2,300,000 
square miles. Over 5,000,000 square miles 
have already been appropriated by various 
European colonies and nearly 3,000,000 are 
now being scrambled for. Since 1884 Ger¬ 
many has been appropriating vast areason the 
East coast. Great Britain controls 340,000 
square miles in Central Africa and a vast area 
north of Cape Coloney, with an annual trade 
of $65,000,000. She will also probably finally 
make Egypt a dependency. France has 700,- 
000 square miles on the north of the Continent 
and has claims on a much larger area. Her 
trade is over $100,000,000 a year. Portugal 
has long bad large possessions there. Belgium 
controls the great indefinite arfa of the new 
settlements along the Congo. Italy is trying 
to gobble up a part of Abyssinia on the Red 
Sea; while Spain is trying to extend her pos¬ 
sessions southward from Tetuan and to found 
several colonies on the west coast. There is a 
good deal of talk, too, about finding in the 
Lark Continent an opening for the over¬ 
crowded population of the Flowery Kingdom, 
whose thrifty Mongolians are bitterly object¬ 
ed to every were by the Caucasians... ...... 
The first civil code in Montenegro was pro¬ 
mulgated last Sunday by Prmce Nicholas with 
great ceremony. It is to be hoped these Jaws 
will have some restraining influence on tbe 
bravest, most patriotic and turbulent set of 
cut-throats and plunderers in Europe. 
.... Special interviews with the provincial and 
assistant liquidators of theAmerican Exchange 
in London do not present much encourage¬ 
ment to the creditors of the bankrupt institu¬ 
tion.The Brazilian Chamber of Depu¬ 
ties has passed a bill ordering the immediate 
abolition of slavery throughout the Empire. 
.The differences between France and the 
United States concerning the compulsory en¬ 
rollment of an alleged American citizen for 
military duty, are in a fair way of settlement. 
.Dispatches from India announce that 
Delhi and Moradabad have been visited by 
disastrous hail storms, about 150 persons 
having been killed. The hail stones were 
flat and oval in shape, and some of them 
weighed as much as two pounds.The net 
profits of the Suez Canal in 1887 amounted to 
29.815,992 francs, being very nearly one half 
the entire receipts.The Black Sea and 
Azof Canal Company, with a capital of $17,- 
000,000, is about to begin cutting a canal 
across the Crimean Isthmus.. .. The Gov¬ 
ernment of Germany is exercised by the 
Federal council called Bundesratb, and the 
diet known as the Reichstag. The former 
consists of delegates from the Federal States; 
17 from Prussia. 6 from Bavaiia, 4 from 
Saxony, 4 from Wurtemberg, 3 from Baden, 
3 from Hesse, 2 from Mecklenberg-Schwerin, 
2 from Biunswick and 1 from each of the 
other States except Alsace-Lorraine. The 
Reichstag consists of 397 members (one repre¬ 
sentative for every 100,000 inhabitants) 
elected by ballot.. 
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Saturday, May 12,1888. 
The resolution before the House of Commons 
demanding that cheese passing through 
Canada from the United States to England, 
should be branded, has been withdrawn on the 
ground that it would be impossible to interfere 
with goods in bond. The American cheese trade 
is happy.Tuesday a fire at the stables 
of Richard B. Conklin, who raised the famous 
trotters Rarus, Wedgewood, King Wilkes, etc., 
near Greenpoint, N. Y., destroyed the barn 
and all its contents, including cows, hogs and 
horses: loss $50,000.Lord Roseberry, of 
England, is to import from Vermont a pair of 
Black Hawk trotters.President Cleve¬ 
land has signed a bill opening the Montana In¬ 
dian Reservation, making available over 17,- 
000,000 acres for settlement. 4,000,000 acres be¬ 
ing in the famous Milk Valley, one of the finest 
in America.It is said that the army 
worm threatens serious damage to the crops 
in the Ohio Valley.The demand in the 
London market for Easter lilies has become so 
great that lily growing has become a great in¬ 
dustry in Bermuda... . The Red Carnation 
is now regularly recognized as the representa¬ 
tive Boulanger flower.Cuba is expected 
to reduce the sugar crop from 15 to 20 per cent. 
below that of last year.The following 
officers were elected by the Jersey Cattle Club 
at its annual meeting in this city on May 2: 
President, Frederick Bronson; Vice-President, 
Edward Austen; Treasurer, John I. Holly; 
Directors, to serve three years, J. J. Richard¬ 
son, of Iowa; Edward Burnett, Mass.; George 
W. Farlee, N. Y.,and J. C. Sibley, Pa.; to 
serve two years, William J. Webster, Tennes¬ 
see. F. W. Wicks was re-appointed Secre¬ 
tary.The following is the organization 
of the Agricultural Experiment Station at 
Cornell University, under the Hatch Bill: 
Council in control, President, C. K. Adams, 
W. A. Wadsworth, President of the State Ag¬ 
ricultural Society, Hon. A. D. White, Prof. 
I. P. Roberts, Dr. G. C. Caldwell, Dr. James 
Law, Prof. A. N. Prentiss, Prof. J. A. Com¬ 
stock, and Prof. L. H. Bailey. The working 
force consists of Prof I. P. Roberts, Director; 
H. Wing, Deputy-Director and Secretary; 
Prof. G. C. Caldwell, Chemist; Dr. James 
Law, Veterinarian; Prof. H. J. Comstock, 
Entomologist; Prof. L. H. Bailey, Horticul¬ 
turist; James M. Drew, Assistant to the Agri¬ 
culturist, and J. M. Stedman, Assistant to the 
Entomologist.Hon. Mortimer White- 
head, Lecturer of the National Grange, has 
recently begun the publication of a Grand 
Army paper called the Canteen.Pro¬ 
fessor Philips, instructor in military science 
at the Maine Agricultural College, will be re¬ 
lieved by Prof. Hatch of the 18th Infantry, 
July 1st.In the New Hampshire Agricul¬ 
tural College, A. W. Wood has been appoint¬ 
ed Superintendent of the dairy work, F. W. 
Morse, Chemist, and W. H. Lamson, Botanist 
“Herbrand” Fifth Wheel for Buggies.— Adv. 
.Ohio has raised the quarantine against 
Cook Co., Ill.Professor J A. Lintner 
places the total number of insect species in 
the world at 320,000. Of those found in the 
United States 7,000 or 8,000 are fruit pests, 
and at least 210 attack the apple. 
Nebraskans are talking of starting a new fat 
stock show for themselves and the neighboring 
States, at Omaha. Well, why not? Nebraska 
is one of the greatest live stock States in the 
Union.Dr. Billings has been reappointed 
Director of the Nebraska Experiment Station, 
but it is objected that he may be beheaded at 
any regular meeting of the Board of Regents, 
which implies too unstable a tenure of office, 
for the highest efficiency. 
.Quite a numberof amend¬ 
ments to the Mills Bill are being proposed, to 
increase the duty on wheat from 20 to 25 cents 
per bushel, eggs five cents per dozen (they are 
now free), potatoes from 15 to 20 cents and 
vegetables from 30 to 40 per cent, ad valorem. 
.The oleo bill finally passed the Massa¬ 
chusetts House on Monday by a vote so over¬ 
whelming that no count was attempted. 
Four weeks ago a similar bill failed to pass 
the Senate, but it is hoped that some of the 
members have since seen either the evil of 
their ways or that farmers are resolved not to 
be fooled. 
A Capricious Appetite, 
Irregular, unsteady, and hard to satisfy is 
is not a blessing. Anybody who “knows how 
to keep a hotel” can tell by long experience 
that these are the hardest people to provide 
for. With digestive apparatus demoralized 
by dyspepsia, these people hardly know what 
they want, and they are not satisfactorily 
nourished even with the daintiest dishes that 
can beset before them. A hearty and gener¬ 
ous eater is easier to provide for, and what he 
eats tells on him, to his own advantage and 
for the credit of those who feed him. 
Dyspepsia and indigestion are domestic hor¬ 
rors which all may rejoice to be rid of. It 
is a glorious thing to be so well as to get away 
with pretty fair quantities of good food. “I 
could not eat with any comfort,” is the record 
of many a dyspeptic before taking Compound 
Oxygen. The corresponding record after a 
treatment by means of this great vitalizer is: 
“I have a hearty appetite, and now enjoy my 
food.” Worth trying. Write toDrs. Starkey 
& Palen, 1529 Arch st., Philadelphia, Pa., for 
pamphlet about dyspepsia,also interesting trea¬ 
tise on Compound Oxygen. Sent free.— Adv. 
Saturday, May, 12, 1888. 
The May crop report of the Department of 
Agriculture, a synopsis of which was tele¬ 
graphed from Washington yesterday morn¬ 
ing, says: 
Low temperature and deficient rainfall,with 
drying winds and some frost, have reduced 
condition of winter wheat in the Central 
States. It has also been cool on the Atlantic 
coast and not favorable to improvement, and 
yet the plant has nearly held its owd in this 
region. On the Pacific Coast only a medium 
development is reported. In the Southern 
States changes are slight, several averages be¬ 
ing the same as last month. Pennsylvania 
shows a decline of four points, New York 16, 
Ohio 12, Michigan 12, Indiana six, Illinois 
seven, Missouri two and Kansas three. The 
general average is reduced nine points—from 
82 to 73. Last year condition was reduced 
from 88.1 in April to 85.8 in May. The State 
averages of winter wheat in the principal 
States are as follows: New York 76, Pennsyl¬ 
vania 87, Virginia 90, Ohio 58, Michigan 84, 
Indiana 59, Illinois 57, Missouri 80, Kansas 94, 
and Texas 90. Winter rye remains very near¬ 
ly as in April, the average being 92.9 instead 
of 93.5. The condition of winter barley is 
88.3, promising a medium crop. 
Spring plowing is not quite so well advanced 
as usual. It is relatively later in the more 
northern States of the Atlantic coast, slightly 
later than usual in the Middle States, and 
scarcely up to a full average in the South. 
Its progress is an average in the Ohio Valley, 
but late in the Northwest, especially in 
Dakota. 
Cotton planting was delayed by excess of 
moisture in February and low temperature 
in March, the soil not being in condition for 
early planting. The delay was greatest in 
Texas and Louisiana. In Arkansas, Tennessee 
and North Carolina from four to six per cent, 
less than usual was planted on the first of 
May. In States on the coast, from South 
Carolina to Mississippi, planting is nearly up 
to its average advancement. 
An investigation of the rate of wages of 
agricultural labor shows that no material 
change has occurred since the last previous 
inquiry, in May, 1885. There is a slight in¬ 
crease in New England, in the Northern tier 
of States from Michigan westward, and in 
some of the Southern States. There is no 
appreciable change in the Central States. The 
next monthly report will give rates by States. 
The Cincinnati Price Current gives an esti¬ 
mate of the wheat crop as 75 per cent, of a 
good average condition, referring entirely to 
the winter wheat crop, and including Califor¬ 
nia as well as the other States. 
The Kansas State Board of Agriculture has 
received crop reports from every county in 
the State, showing that a largely increased 
acreage of oats and wheat is reported, and 
both crops are growing vigorously. Wheat 
was never in better condition at this time in 
the year. It is unfortunate that the acreage 
is not larger. Chinch-bugs are flying in some 
places, but they are not feared. Corn is 
nearly all planted, and cultivators have been 
in the fields a week in the southern counties, 
In a few localities rain is needed, but gener¬ 
ally ovei\ the L State^the ground is well moist- 
