THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
DEO H 
aud butter is now consumed as fuel to keep 
up animal heat. 
Each animal has its own stomach, says Col. 
Curtis in the Farm Journal. He also says 
that farmers are taking to the half-bred Per- 
cherous. Are the cattle running down, s'asks 
the Col. Give them less below-zero. 
A cheat many people are pious, says John 
Tucker, because they are afraid of the devil, 
aud he suspects a great many politicians are 
friendly to farmers about election time be¬ 
cause they are afraid they might lose then- 
votes. For his part he will try his best to 
get farmers to go to our legislature, and will 
vote for them. The closer the times the more 
need of farmei-s to make laws and keep down 
taxes. Farmers are very foolish to leave all 
of their interests to men iu trade, and to law¬ 
yers and politicians. What makes it worse is 
the fact that the laud has to pay the most of 
the taxes..... 
What folly it is to lay out uew villages iu 
the country ou the small city lot plan just as 
if there was no room in this broad laud of ours 
for gardeus and lawns,says another writer in 
the Farm Journal. The mere grasping money¬ 
maker fails to see the great influence there is 
in these things toward civilization and morals, 
Another writer suggests that a couple of 
barrels of late-keeping apples buried iu bran 
in the wagon house loft or grain bin, will come 
out in May sound aud crisp and be a welcome 
addditiou to the spring provender for the 
family.... .... 
Mr, Stahl says iu the Indiana Farmer,that 
as the craze for commercial jollies aud jams 
subsides on account of adulteration, the popu¬ 
larity of honey is bouud to grow. 
Mr. Stahl thinks that women usually make 
better beekeepers than men. Bees, he says, 
must be treated like children, kindly and pa¬ 
tiently, and such work woman does bettor than 
man. Let the ambitious girl think of thiR 
way of getting a start. 
Mr. Poore, in the Cultivator, says that 
working on the roads is merely another name 
for a leisure, story-telling day. Iu multitudes 
of cases when the roads are nextto impassable 
iu the Springit is through the sheer negligence 
and laziness of the people whose business it is 
to make them. ... 
Mr. Poore also says that many narrow¬ 
minded souls seem to think that every dollar 
they spend upon public work is the same as 
thrown away, merely because they cannot 
take it to market and get their money hack 
the same day, with a good profit. This is one of 
the most mistaken notions that could well 1 >e 
entertained. A public road or public building 
is often just as important and profitable to a 
man as the house he lives in or the coat he 
wears... 
Josiah Hoorks, in the N. Y. Tribuue, 
writes of several things which, iu years past, 
we have endeavored to impress upon our 
readers. First, never prune evergreens in the 
Winter. Choose either Spring or late Win¬ 
ter. Second, drawing together the branches 
of trees, roses or shrubs that are to be protect¬ 
ed during the Winter and wrapping them up 
closely with straw or matting will do more 
harm than good. It will prove destruction 
instead of protection. Third, one stout stake 
is as useful as a dozen iu supporting a tree. 
Drive it in the ground, as illustrated iu the R. 
N.-Y. several years ago, diagonally, and then 
wrap it with matting to prevent abrasion of 
the bark, aud tie the stake securely to the tree 
around the matting. 
Live Stock Ranching, by which untold 
numbers of cattle on the western and south¬ 
ern plains sutler the pains of a hundred deaths, 
aud tens of thousands of them die in unde- 
scribable agonies, is -‘the most heartless busi¬ 
ness on earth; an ubomination in the sight of 
God, and the kings are monsters of cruelty.” 
So says a writer in the N. O. Pleayure. 
C. S. Plumb, of the N. Y. Experimental 
Station, states iuthe Weekly Press that he has 
found that seed oats, soaked in sulphate of 
copper (lour ounces to out* gallon of water) for 
40hours have produced a crop free from smut. 
The Editor of the Px-ess of Nov. 24 says that 
the Oriental Spruce weai-s a lovelier green 
at this season than any conifer he knows. 
Has he compared it with the Nordmaun’s Fir? 
< 
(turn 
jWljCVf. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS. — 
LXXI. 
MARY WAUKR—KiKHER. 
Los A ngelrs; "‘The greatest flower show in Ike 
United States'' 1 ; poor Los Angeles oranges; 
a chance acquai ntance; a Southern Cali¬ 
fornia d'wetting-house; general character 
of Los .1 ngrl.es; the. craze for foreign goods ; 
Pasadena; settlers; an ornate log cabin; 
women's work in Ike Golden Stair; class of 
teachers in vogue. 
The next day rain fell heavily. In the 
morning wo wrote letters and in the afternoon 
we paddled out iu the wet to visit what the 
I “Angels” called the “greatest flower show 
ever held in the United States.” The full 
name aud English of the place was formerly 
Pueblo de la Reiua de los Angeles, or City of 
the Queen of the Angels. The city has now a 
population of 80,000 probably and will contin¬ 
ue to be for some time to come the leading 
town iu Southern California. It was still in a 
“booinv” condition and laud speculation en¬ 
grossed considerable attention. T was not cap¬ 
tivated with Los Angeles from any standpoint. 
The water was atrocious, aud unless one went 
upou the lulls back of the city the attractions 
were sufficiently meagre. True, there were 
gardens iu which grew flowers, oranges and 
palms, pleasant to the eye, but uo more so to 
mine than are the oaks aud apples of the cold 
North. 
The flower show was held for the benefit of 
a Working <!iris' Home, and proved very suc¬ 
cessful liuancially. It was far from beiug 
the “greatest flower show, etc.,” but it 
was, nevertheless, very well worth seeing. 
The bank in which it was said 14,000 roses had 
been placed, had endeavored to maintain a 
fresh appearance by the daily addition of 
fresh roses. Indeed the chief interest centered 
in the roses, which grow in California—par¬ 
ticularly in the southern part—not only in the 
greatest profusion, but to an extraordinary 
size, larger than l have seen them elsewhere. 
They are equally exquisite iu color and tex¬ 
ture. but lack in perfume, as do ninuy other 
California flowers, Of the roses that appeared 
to me most striking I noted the Cliromatella, 
Isabella Sprout, Triumph of Luxembourg, 
and Beauty of Glazemvood. 
After leaving the flowers we visited one of 
the old Catholic churches and its adjacent 
garden, beiug entertained by a young priest 
with charming manners, and we also wont to 
the garden of the Sisters* school, not far re¬ 
moved, where we were given the privilege of 
pulling as many oranges and flowers as we 
liked, and where the laddie plucked au orange 
from the tree for the first time iu his life and, 
of course, ate it on the spot. To Ins mind the 
only saving grace of California was itsorauge 
product—a fruit of which his young mouth 
never tires. But Los Angeles orauges are in¬ 
ferior fruit as to cleanliness of rind, the un- 
henlthfuluess of the trees beiug manifested in 
black spots on the oranges and the dull mil¬ 
dewed look Of the leaves. 
One day we went by horse ears far out to 
the suburbs of the city, whore there are beau¬ 
tiful residences, and whore by chance we fell 
into conversation with n lady who invited us 
into her house and charmed us with her grac¬ 
ious hospitality, and it happened, as it so often 
occurs in meeting with a stranger, that she 
knew several people in the East of whom we 
had knowledge. I noticed the writing desk on 
the piazza,and she said that they ulways wrote 
their letters there; that there lmd been but 
three days during the entire Winter on ]which 
it was too cool for living out-of-doors. She 
said she wished us to see the inside of the 
house so as to have some idea of how Californ¬ 
ians lived, and wo followed her within. The 
rooms were all on one floor and opened into a 
central room, and could, if desired, ull be 
thrown into one large aud beautiful apart- 
meut. It was an interior of exceeding beauty, 
aud simple as it was beautiful and artistic, l 
noticed in the dining room what I thought a 
pretty aud convenient contrivance in u nar¬ 
row shell' running about the room about four 
feet from the floor, on which were rauged the 
the pretty decorated dessert plates, etc., the 
shelves living furnished with an ornate railing 
to keep the eliiua from falling off. The effect 
was quite novel uud very decorative. 
I .os Angeles has various horse-car lines, a 
cable road, electric lights and good schools. 
The city is ill drained and there is more or 
less of malaria—from what I heard the people 
say. It is JO miles from the sea. We spent 
several days there, making trips to adjacent 
points of interest; but wheu we finally left, 
and I looked after the replenishment of our 
lunch basket, with my customary “forehaud- 
edness,” I had a little experience that illus¬ 
trated not only California nature, but maybe 
human nature the wide world over. After a 
vain inquiry at several grocery houses for 
what 1 wanted, T was directed to the largest 
and best establishment iu the city. I vvunted 
California jellies, jams, canned fruits, cheese, 
etc. The grocer said he could give me jams 
and jellies put up in London (England) and 
cheese and preserves from New York! He 
kept almost, no California fruits, a* he had to 
eater to his customers! He hail some Pasa¬ 
dena jelly, but wouldn’t recommend it. 1 took 
some, however, and afterwards regretted that 
I had, and bethought mo of the grocer's com¬ 
ment that California needed nothing so much 
as intelligent enterprise to utilize her products 
uud make them foremost not ouly abroad, but. 
at home. But it requires something more 
than enterprise to put honest patriotism into 
the bosom of fools who pine after something 
foreign! 
Of the pretty towns that lie within a few 
miles of Los Angeles the very prettiest is un¬ 
questionably' Pasadeua, and it is exceedingly 
elegant as well as pretty. The character of 
the people who compose the colonies that have 
turned various spots in Lower California into 
gardens, has also given a distinctive character 
to the towns. They are largely Eastern peo¬ 
ple, invalid in health before coming here, 
educated, refined, and possessed of sufficient 
money to surround themselves with comfort. 
Iu a climate where for so much of the time the 
people live iu the open air—their salvatiou as 
regards health—the dwelling houses are neith¬ 
er large nor pretentious, but almost invari¬ 
ably pretty—and it would be an ugly house 
indeed that vines and roses did not quickly 
transform into a bower of beauty. 
There was a lady living in Pasadena to 
whose good graces 1 had been commended, 
aud after leaving the ears, a few minutes’ 
walk brought us to her beautiful home—as 
much of a paradise in the way of fruits aud 
flowers as l ever expect to see, while Pasadena 
has ever iu view the most exquisite—not the 
grandest—range of mountains on the Pacific 
Coast—the San Bernardino. We found our 
lady, after considerable trudging about, there 
being several cottages in her grounds- in the 
"log cabin''—a picturesque structure built 
of logs from trees cut on the place. They 
were placed on end closely together, and the 
roof was covered with shingles. On the in¬ 
side the rafters had cross-pieces, and shingles 
with rounded ends formed a deep fringe—be¬ 
low this the wall was ceiled for about four 
feet—there w as a footboard, and above that a 
dado of Chinese matting. The interior was 
one room aud very pretty. Its mistress, Mrs, 
C’., said the cost of building it was *300. 
I asked her various questions as to the actual 
success of women in California, as a good 
many women were being lured from the East, 
by the glow ol' advertised success that reached 
them from the Golden Biate, “It is always 
more in the women than iu California.” She 
said “School teaching is overdone. House- 
workers get *20 per month, aud women suc¬ 
ceed best who know how to do housework and 
take care of things. Silk culture is not yet 
profitable. Raisin growing has been, and still 
is, a good occupation for women. Orange 
culture is expeusive, aud theu oue has to wait 
several years for any income from it.” Aneut 
teaching, an intelligent old Californian said 
that there was room in the State for high 
class teachers at salaries ranging from *06 to 
*125 per month—Just as there is everywhere. 
He might have added—always room at the 
top! 1 gathered from my talk with Mrs. C. 
that, women who succeed in California were 
the kind to succeed anywhere, while it is true 
that for broken-down people the climate is 
restorative, because it admits of open air 
living the year around. 
Pasadena, is such a pretty place that it 
would seem that everybody should be Charmed 
with it—while the people are equally charm¬ 
ing. The orange groves were uufeueed— the 
trees loaded with ripe fruit aud fresh blossoms 
at the same time. While iu addition to the 
sources of profit no stone was left unturned to 
beautify the town. There is also there an 
excellent Free Lilnary—a characteristic of 
muuy California towns—enough to put to 
shame many a city in the East. Pasadeua is 
au Indian word, aud signifies crown of the 
valley, and the valley is .San Gabriel aud of 
unrivaled attractiveness. 
SPECIAL SEED REPORTS. 
We have received reports from many of 
our friends who planted the seeds sent out m 
the last Free Seed Distribution. We can only 
give them in a condensed form. The maiu 
point to be discovered is which climate, sec¬ 
tions, soils, etc., are favorable for the devel¬ 
opment of the seeds and which are not. 
Should wo print all that our friends have 
kindly sent us, we could fill several num¬ 
bers of the Rural. 
Cnuadn. 
Goderich, Ontario.—Midnight Corn very 
productive, suckers badly aud latest of all 
with me. Cautaloupes ahead of auy tliiug seen 
here. Alaska Pea earliest of the early with 
me. T. H. 
Georgia. 
Amkriovs, Sumpter Co,—Hackeusack 
Melons “simply delicious.” The Bird Canta¬ 
loupe I think a cross between some good 
netted eautuloupe and the old slick-skiuued 
“musk-melon” as raisod here by the negroes; 
worthless to eat but as large as pumpkins. I 
had only one good euough to save seed from. 
Drought cut other seeds. u. n. 
Florence, Stewart Co. Angel of Mid¬ 
night fully matured iu four months. Alaska 
pea very early, but not so good ns Market 
Garden. Bird Cantaloupe IH inches long. 
The melons were flue, of good size and excel¬ 
lent quality notwithstanding the season was 
very unfavorable—entirely too much rain. 
J. D. A. 
Iowa. 
Akron, Plymouth Co.—The Alaska Peas 
grew 18 inches high aud were the earliest I 
have ever grown, and I have planted about 
all kinds. The Angel of Midnight Corn did 
well aud is much earlier than our field corn. 
We have little use for a fliut corn in this part 
of the country, however. The molous all grew 
finely, but the Bird Canteloupes were extra 
nice. The Garden Treasures have elicited the 
highest praise from all. a. s. s. 
.MnuxarliUHetlN. 
Mouth Royalston, Worcester Co. —Suc¬ 
cess with uone but “Augel of Midnight” field 
corn, which did fairly well. k. h. s. 
Michigan. 
Hobart, Wexford Co.—The Alaska Pea is 
certainly very early, but only a few days 
earlier than some others. The Angel of Mid¬ 
night Field Corn did uot ripen an ear. Bird 
Cantaloupe did uot do anything, owing to 
drought and frost. Of the Garden Treasures 
only oue root of mignonette and several varie¬ 
ties of featherfew stood the dry weather 
enough to show what they were. w. H. 
Nebraska. 
Kearney, Buffalo Co.—Cantaloupes grew 
splendidly. Many large ones. This soil is 
“second soil” and very productive, b e. b. 
Oregon. 
Grant’s Pass, Jackson Co.—We had some 
very Hue watermelons; the Iron-clad, Pride 
of Georgia and Scaley Bank did best. The 
Alaska pea did not haven good chance; it 
grew and ripened in seveu weeks from plant¬ 
ing without sufficient rain to wet the ground 
au inch deep. The Angel of Midnight Corn 
fared the same; had some good cars: very 
early. J. H. 
Vermont. 
Thetkord, Orange Co.—Alaska peas burnt 
by drought. Grew about two feet high. Fair, 
but not equal to American Wonder. Melons 
did uot rijieu. Midnight Corn grew seven 
to nine feet high. Borne two weeks behind 
my common feed corn in maturing. The 
frost caught it. Garden Treasures fine. 
k. e. \v. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
Chicago, Cook Co., Dec. 1.—Weather very 
cold and dry. The lazy farmer is finishing up 
aud gathering corn: the forehanded farmer 
has cribbed his and is waiting for 46 to 50 
cents a bushel for it. The condition of the 
corn crop varies so greatly in the “corn lielt” 
that it is still impossible to form a just esti¬ 
mate of the aggregate yield. One portion of 
the section is importing corn from another, 
and the importing points are increasing, so 
that it is fair to suppose that the “bad spots” 
are very numerous and the crop won’t come 
up to an average. Very little, if any, corn 
from Nebraska, Kansas or Missouri will cross 
the Mississippi River this season. There would 
probably lie a great scarcity of corn were it 
uot for the large amount of old corn carried 
over in fanners' “cribs.” R. N. 
New York. 
Utica, Oneida Co., Nov. 29.— The cheese 
market to-day was slow, owing to the dis¬ 
agreeable weather, and also being the next to 
the last market, with only odds and ends 
to dose out, there was a bearish influence 
that kept prices down. Notwithstanding the 
fact that the ruling price to-duy was one cent 
less than last week, the market is really steady 
for some grades, and the last meeting of the 
Board next week will see the old prices at the 
front, the year’s sales at a good figure, with 
factories sold out on good profits. The total 
sales this week were 2,03(1 boxes, ruling at 10} .j 
cents, which is 3,162 boxes less Hum last week, 
ruling ut. 11 1 ... cents. Total butter receipts for 
the week 173 packages. The market is a little 
weaker than a week ago, but with fair de¬ 
mand for good uud plenty of all kinds offered 
Jobbers ure puyrng 22 to 24 cents for dairy 
and 25 and 26 cents for fancy. The prospects 
are that the market will gaiu a little before 
Christmas, however. R. l. 
Virginia. 
Richmond, Henrico Co., Nov. 28.—There 
has been more life in the tobacco market the 
past week. Trading in flue cutting bright 
grades has been large, and there are of this 
class very few desirable packages left in mar¬ 
ket for sale. New cutters continue to sell 
very high iu interior markets, and the crop so 
far is as inferior as bus been predicted from 
its growth. Receipts here have been nominal 
only, but about the middle of December West 
Virginia bright* will be coming in, and the 
new will be quotable. This State will uo 
doubt give u-s a larger proportion of fine leaf 
than heretofore, aud will be an important 
factor iu the market this year. A very good 
proportion of wrapiters and cutters and strip¬ 
ping leaf is expected, but the quantity and 
leaf may be smaller thau usual. Old wrap 
