THE RURAL. HEW70RKEB. 
formed egg consumers know that in a great 
many cases two new, fresh-laid eggs are worth 
as much for their use as three preserved eggs 
which look quite as good in the shell.... 
We are advised from time to time that 
many of our readers have purchased Japan 
Chestnuts, or the seeds, and planted them. 
We hope they will advise us from year to year 
how they grow and fruit. 
The Philadelphia Press comments upon the 
different quantities of seeds to be sown to the 
acre, which authorities recommend. Hender¬ 
son & Crozier, for example, sow from three to 
four bushels of oats. The Rural people have 
raised oats of nearly every kind for 25 years, 
and our best crops have come from 1 % bush¬ 
el. Of course, the poorer the land the more 
seed is needed; and. again, some kinds of oats 
tiller more than others—the Champion, for 
instance... 
Once having eaten a Savoy, the ordinary 
cabbage, Mr. Stiles of the Weekly Press 
thinks, is coarse, flat and flavorless. Why 
should not the very best, be always found on 
the home table of the farmer?. 
Mr. J. Hoopks, writing for the Press, says 
that fuchsias are among the best plants for 
beds in partial shade. To have them in per¬ 
fection the plauts must be of good size and 
well established in five or six-inch pots. After 
setting out in the open ground, the foliage 
must be syringed or sprinkled every evening 
except in rainj' weather. 
Single (>etunias, Mr. Hoopessays, null give 
as much satisfaction for a small amount of 
care as any annual in the entire list. Get, a 
good strain of seeds in the first place, and the 
plauts will furnish a supply of seedlings there¬ 
after without the trouble of sowing. As soon 
as the frost is out of the ground the young 
plants put in an appearance, and quickly begin 
to bloom, and keep on blooming constantly 
even after a few sharp frosts. The diversity 
of color and markings in a bed of mixed seed¬ 
lings is really wonderful. 
Mr. H. is of the opinion that tuberous-root¬ 
ed begonias give better satisfaction than any 
of the newer bedding plants. A slight shade 
during the middle of the day is beneficial, al¬ 
though they wil 1 grow mid bloom in the sun. 
The double flowers appear to be as satisfactory 
as the single, although the former are not so 
floriferous. The tubers should be potted early 
in the season and set out without breaking 
the ball of earth.. 
The Industrialist says that one lias only to 
see the contents of an ordinary millinery 
store to kno w something of the extent of the 
bird traffic. But when we remember that there 
are many thousands of these stores in the en¬ 
tire country, and that all of them are similar¬ 
ly stocked, we shall see that the number of 
birds annually killed to supply them must 
count up into the millions... 
8upt. Thompson, in the same journal, says 
that the fanner who worries the least, and 
does more work than his neighbor with less 
trouble apparently, Is the one who is never 
Viehind with his work. A farmer who is be¬ 
hind with his work is in a worse predicament 
than a business man of a city; for he deals 
more with Nature’s laws—and Nature waits 
for no one. • ... 
J. J. Thomas quotes, in the Country Gentle¬ 
man, from an address delivered by David 
Thomas before the Buffalo Horticultural So¬ 
ciety in 1848. Among other things the speaker 
said that no animal but man appears to enjoy 
the beauty of flowers. Ho never noticed any 
Indication on the part of the lower animals 
that they were in the least affected by beauty. 
The love of flowers must t hen be considered as 
evidence of a higher organization, and those 
who cannot appreciate it, suffer for want of 
proper development and have claims upon 
our sympathy . 
Prof. Long, of England, says there are in 
every herd cows that, are mere manure mak¬ 
ers or pickpockets. They have the same feed 
that the rest, get, and yet they will not give 
one-half the milk. The cows are in the herd, 
yet the trouble is to pick them out. They are 
generally frauds in the fact that they are the 
best-looking cows of all. They give a good 
mess of milk for a short time and then drop 
almost out. It pays to get rid of all such 
cows..... 
Australian fruit arrives in England in ex¬ 
cellent condition. It is packed in corkduet or 
sawdust, and placed in a cold compartment, 
where the temperature is kept as near to 40 
degrees as possible. 
J. D. Goon WIN brings to light, in the Sheep 
Breeder, a new enemy of sheep—the skunk. 
This odorous little animal attacked his flock 
and succeeded in killing two sheep. It caught 
them by the nose and held on with its sharp 
teeth in ap'te of the frant ic efforts of the sheep 
to throw it off. The heads of the wounded 
sheep swelled badly, and they lived but a few 
days, thus strengthening the fgenerall belief 
that the bite of the skunk is to a certain de¬ 
gree poisonous... 
The Kansas Farmer strikes the last Mis¬ 
souri Legislature a well deserved blow when it 
speaks of the stinginess which compelled the 
printing of the last report of the Missouri 
State Board of Agriculture in the style in 
which it appeared. The great State of Mis¬ 
souri is disgraced by such legislators. 
The Pacific Rural Press looks upon Orchard 
Grass as the best all around grass it knows for 
of ground 31 tons of sugar beets were raised. 
The average yield is from 20 to 24 tons. A 
factory for the manufacture of sugar from 
bee s is contemplated—to be built this year 
by a stock company, at an estimated cost of 
$200, (WO and consuming 200 tons a day. The 
yield of sugar is 10 per cent. Mr. A. sends his 
present crop of sugar beets to the Alvarado 
factory in California, at a contracted price of 
$4 per ton. He uses the German seedjand 
sows in drills at the rate of six pounds to the 
acre. Mr. Ezra Meeker, who has a farm in 
A COMFORTABLE RESIDENCE. Fig. 235. (See page 351.) 
a California climate. It does well under more 
diverse conditions than any other grass there. 
It keeps green through the dry Summer, but 
does not grow until the Fall rains. The only 
objection to it is that it is inclined to grow in 
.bunches... 
Cficnjwljcrc 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS.-L. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
Sugar-beet culture in Washington Territory; 
a fine farm house; farm life and routine; 
anti-Chinese agitation; need of restric¬ 
tions on immigration. 
While visiting the farm of Mr. A., at the 
this valley, is the leading spirit in the sugar 
beet factory. He is a large hop producer, and 
it was his hop farm in the Puyallup Valley 
that we wrote about last year, Mrs. A. told 
me that her husband was the first raiser of 
hops in the White River Valley, and that he 
sold his crop at Olympia for 75 cents a pound. 
But they had scruples in regard to hop cul¬ 
ture which contributes ultimately to so much 
misery, and they abandoned that business al¬ 
together. 
The farm is well stocked with fruit, and the 
apples were being picked and boxed, the boxes 
selling for 40 cents. No poultry is kept on the 
farm at the present time, as it is regarded as a 
“nuisance ;” but the only daughter of the 
house, a young lady attending the university, 
had a plan on foot for establishing a poultry 
head of navigation on the White River, 
Washington Territory, as the mornings in the 
Fall are wet from heavy mist, which is not 
dissipated until toward noon, our rambles 
over the farm were usually in the afternoon. 
One day we went to look at the growing pro¬ 
ducts Lu a newly cleared field—boots, cab¬ 
bages, onions, carrots, etc., all of enormous 
size and the best quality. On a selected acre 
: yard. The children have an enthusiastic love 
for the farm, and are full of schemes for beau¬ 
tifying and improving it. The farm house is 
new, and probably cost six or seven thousand 
dollars. It is finished throughout in tir, stained 
and varnished, and with beautiful hard-wood 
floors. It is of spacious dimensions, with 
I modern improvements,and was largely planned 
by Mrs. A. and her daughter, particularly as 
to the kitchen, which has some novel features 
The library is stocked with good books, and 
the house has the further refinement of music. 
The education of the children is a very consid¬ 
erable expense, but is regarded as a very im¬ 
portant one. 
The inclination of pioneers, removed from 
the stimulating effects of social surroundings, 
to degenerate into slip-shod habits is so marked 
in many cases that I asked Mrs. A. how it hap¬ 
pened that she had escaped a similar fate. She 
laughingly explained how r it had come about, 
partly through the influence of a brother, 
who wmote her that he hoped, come what 
might, that she would always keep her “can¬ 
dle-sticks clean,” and partly through her own 
“stuck-up-edness.” She always argued that 
it was a mistake to lower one’s-self to suit 
one’s surroundings, but rather to stimulate 
others to self-elevation. During the early years 
she experienced the sore trials of isolation and 
the difficulty of getting help for the house, the 
only service available being the Indians, and 
she had taught Indian women how to work, 
to wash, and clean house. Of course on a 
farm where so large a force of men is to be 
fed for a part of the year, it is a matter of im¬ 
portance to have efficient house service. Dur¬ 
ing the past year she has had a Chinaman 
for cook and general housework, with an 
assistant for washing dishes, etc., during the 
haying season; this cook also does the launder¬ 
ing, and has a salary of $30 a month. He is 
of superior skill as a cook, and very neat. 
Mrs. A. never khows what she is to have set 
before her at meal time, the cook making out 
his own bill-of-fare. She simply sees that 
there is no waste, and looks after the supplies. 
The table was invariably first-class—such 
cream as I never saw surpassed; only a few 
cows are at present kept, but a dairy is under 
contemplation in connection with the sugar- 
beet industry—and the meats were served 
promptly and with admirable order. The 
hired men ate with the family at a long table, 
but they appeared at table invariably with 
clean hands and faces and neatly brushed hair. 
During the Summer the original dwelling is 
used as a cook and dining house, so that the 
mansion house is free from the life of the 
kitchen; but in the Fall this building is re¬ 
quired for the storage of apples, etc. 
After the meadows are cut there follow sev¬ 
eral months of excellent pasturage, and large 
bands of cattle and sheep, which are brought 
from east of the mountains (Cascade), afre pas¬ 
tured here for the Seattle meat market. The 
charge per month for sheep is 15 cents a head: 
for cattle from SfJ cents to one dollar: for 
horses $1.50. I noticed, with genuine pleasure, 
that while the farming was first-class, the san- 
itarv features of the farm house and adjacent 
buildings were carefully looked after, with 
convenient drains, and the appointments of 
the house, as well as its connection with out¬ 
buildings, so arranged as to facilitate work 
with the least fatigue. A piazza surrounds 
the house both on the lower and the upper 
floor, and from the tower on the top the out¬ 
look is magnificent, including an unobstructed 
view of Mount Ranier with the foothills, the 
mountain presenting a strikingly near and ma¬ 
jestic appearance. One of the sons visited the 
mountain last Summer and shot during his 
short encampment there six mountain goats. 
Sunday is religiously observed at the farm, and 
neither Sunday-school nor church is neglected. 
It is hardly necessary to say that people of 
this class have not failed to win general appre¬ 
ciation and respect, and to be honored by all 
who know them; and no name in the Territory 
stands higher for integrity and trustworthiness 
than do theirs, which is no small thing on this 
coast, where high principles are not always 
held at par: and where, in order to '‘succeed,” 
disreputable proceedings are often winked at. 
It must not be understood that success in farm¬ 
ing here is to be achieved in any way but by 
bard work, frugality, and good management. 
The conditions here are different in several re¬ 
spects from those in the East, but the same 
qualities win success the world over. Mr. A. 
probably works harder than any of his hired 
men; but born with an equable, gentle, and 
kindly temper, he finds himself to-day with 
unbroken health and unworried countenance, 
and with nervous strength as fresh and tense 
as many a young man; while his wife is as 
trim in figure and as alert in step as a girl in 
her teens. 
As this will be my last letter but one from 
Washington Territory, I wish to say that I 
hope nobody has been induced to come here 
“to settle” from anything 1 have written of 
the country, 1 have endeavored to be strictly 
honest, to tell the truth and to grind no axes, 
for I have none to grind. 1 like the cou^-y 
exceedingly, and in years to come the Puget 
Sound Basin will undoubtedly be one of the 
most magnificent portions of the United 
States. Its tine climate, the productiveness 
of the soil, anti its great natural advantages 
and attractions are worthy of great praise. 
At this time there are no “booms,” and if one 
