THE RICE hig Tr REVOLUTIONIZING THIS SOUTH KKRN INDUSTRY, Highly Important Suggestions by the Department of Agriculture Rehabil tating Abandoned Plantations, People who are locking for places to invest considerable tums of money may be interested in some suggestions offered by the Agricultural Department in regard to the cultivation of vice in the United States and the possibilities of great re- sults, Accarding to this statement there are in the South hundreds of thousands of neres of finest rice lands abandoned and lying idle which offer great financial advantages to those willing to invest in them for the cultivation of rice in large quantities. “The losses of the rice plant. ers during the war were very great, During their absence the dykes which kept back the water from the rice lands were washed away, eanals were filled up and plantations which had cost {m- mense sums thus rendered valueless, It was impracticable for men impoverished they were their return to re-enter upon in- dustry of riee large | sums of money were required to rebuild dykes und recut and bring the land again into condition for the cultiva tionol this crop. It was not possible to | put nent ly an acre or two unde r cultiva tion beenuse great systems of dykes and canals had to be constructed before any portion of the land could be made avail able. The lands which were mort, aged arestill mortgaged, and these mor‘ gages are held by Danks of the great Southern cities, no one oaring to foreclose to get these on the because as grawin or canuls property for which there is no sale. lands which were formally worth two | hundred or three hundred dollars per acre, sccording to this report, are worth no more than twenty thirty, | and where dykes have been washed away and the canals and ditches been filled up they can often be had for one dollar pet acre. Another difficulty of small means have encountered is in getting labor to build dykes and keep them in repair, or to repair and dig canals, ‘I'he colored workmen of the prefer work in ti phosphate now | Of which Pe ople $ i i i South fields All these difficulties, the Department of Agriculture suggests, could be come by men or companies with Jarge | capital, Instead of being upon the eolored Inborer, which prefers work in other lines of industry, an ganization with to purchase dredges and flats dredge canals and build dykes by steam machinery at a very small cost. Machinery could also be used im the preparation of the land and its cultiy of the crop. The rice lane fevel and divided into recta: is with low dykes or embsnkments sround each, and there is no re machinery should not fields in the cult the crop. In this conneotion some about rice, which are i same report intereresting cording to this statement, stands first in importance among and both iu regard to the number of who consume it. the amount produced and the area devoted to its cultivation the world over. Rice forms the principal and in some cases aimost the only food according to this statement, of from one third to ome half of the whole haman rice. The rice-c nsuming nations, cluding the Chinese, Japanese, the people of India and portions of Africa, make up a total of S00 000,000) people, or over fifty-four percent. of population oof the world, Since we are inthe centennial mood, it sworth while mentioning that this is just about the 200th anniversary of the in duction of rice growing as industry inthe United Siat It in 16M that an Erglish ship bound from Mada gascar was driven to seck shelter harbor of Charleston, and its gave to Gov. Thomas Smith a sm of rice seed froin the ship's stores was planted, and it origin of the once important rice growing in South ( also said that the Foarl sent 100 pounds of seed about the same time, That there is a demand for rice, and that those whe might undertake its cul ture in quantities, 1s suggested by the Department of Agriculture, would finda market for it, is shown by the fact that over. dependent | or moans could ation and in the harvest is are pariect riliny Nei ason why steam used on these vation narvesting of general given i Rice, ac. BiS0 arc cere nls grains, 1 TLor i 18 » intro An ea was in the is said, industry of It is | Shaftesbury | Was, aroiina of to month. This is more than time last only amounted to 7,000,000 month, States Georgina, Louisiana pounds per of North and South Florida, Alabama and Tesas, but a Carolina, Mississippi, one-half the amount consumed in this that probably would be consumed if its production were more general. Carolina rice, it is said, the world. As a food the value of rice is too well known to require comment, It is inter. esting, however, to remark that accord ing to this report rice contains a slightly larger amount of nutritive matter than wheat or rye or corn or potatoes or beef, One pound of rice, according to the re. report in question, is equivalent to one pound of wheat fleur, or over four pounds of potatoes, or nearly two pounds of beef. In the matter of heat prodnction, calculating its fuel value and potential energy as a food, the pound of riee is slightly lesa energetic than a pound of wheat or fat beef or oatmeal, but is more energetic than a jovad of rye flour or cornmenl or lean eof. In the matter of digestibility, which is extremely important to a large class of people with impaired digestion, the rice is shown to be fully as digestible us wheat flour or Indian meal, aod more digestible than bread or potatoes, [8t. Louis Star-Sayings. A RAO AH SO Cream-colored and chamois yellow felt hats in Alpine and Duse shapes are trimmed with blink velvet and black mersury wings. ; Crows the Most Accomplished Avith- metiolans and Dogs are Next. far animals can count. He declares that Polynesian tribes of men who cannot get beyond five or six. The doetor had a dog, which was ne- oustomed to bury the bones it found, esch one 1n a separate place in the gar. den, One day, wishing to test industry in a great variety of directions. Cotton ns a basis of wealth ana of pro- ductive industey has made possibile the growth of prosperous citigs and towns where, at least before the “development of mineral resources in the Soath, noth ing of the kind could have existed, The cotton interest has contributed to the all transportation systems in the Sonth, whether in the paliny days of steambonting or since railron 8 have been constructed in every State, Even need of iron by railroad companies in gave it no less than twenty-six bones, which were all buried one after another in special hiding places. The next the dor was given more bones, and he was forced to dig up the old ones. Without any hesitation he recovered ten and then carne to a stop. After whining and running about as if in a state of great perplexity a new idea seemed to enter the canine brain, no hidden bones, the total before his memory again failed him. Then there was a second period of whining and perplexity, after which the seven remaining were found with some difficulty, The doctor concluded from twenty-six was too large « number for bones thint this t the in three shorter series he had been obliced to remember hones, as it were, The eat. it won'd seem, is even un arithmetician than the dog, not being able to count as far as ten. Before giving his cat its regular piece of meat the doctor wonld put it under the animal's nose and then withdraw it less than give the re the sixth time that he would the morsel, This m peated every day until the imber was cat be . to waiting five ithe perfectly ustomed times, but would spring forward of jis ord at sixth thus demonstrated that to remember up fo six, but without suc attempted to per form the experiment with higher num bers the eat became confused and would wro R acd Own ax the tion Having Was present that pussy able the doctor tried to seven, As soon ess As he The number six, therefore, wonld ’ seem to be the limit of this eat's Dower i of rounting. less interesting were similar ex the vill { age of doctor found a peasant’s horse used ploughing, and Wan red the | ing the furrows and st larly at the mighman nlstions ths eslima’e neriments with horses, [In Pekoe, the which which had wns for twentiet] stopped Lad In 3 1 had an far twenty the kL henever (ine day they tried where three false mile verstes, OVEr A TO ip in between the real ones, the horse, deceived by this trick, stopped for his oats at the end if twenty had bean put and sure enon verstes instead usnal twenty fi The sare being noon fy id st counting trot of « wore onter fed fewer stroke } . ¢ : rokes e he wou he experi ive slrn on working resignedls i ment was made of striking tw at the wrong time, when go inon tf his that he had This shows a started for oats in spite heen fed a hoy iitte Knowledge may be gs [OT ne COTTON STILL KING, America’s Greatest Single Contribution to Modern Progress, The development of the production of cotton in the { nited States with a single insifinificant proportions to is without a parallel in history. The facts n this « have led D. A. T np kins to write for the Engineering Maga- zine a review of "Cotton as a Factor in Progress," which contains many facts of great interest, which doubtless will prove new to a large number of readers, The present industrial development in Re nent had its beginning, says Mr. Tomp we of which would have destroyed the greater portion of the value of the other three, power-spindle, the invention of power-loom, the invention of the cotton cotton, and in the mannfzcture of cotton machinery, and the need of coal for trans portation and manufacturing purposes, to hus given rise. The ton-growing industry, in short, has fur nished what opportunity hae ‘xisted in th's large portion of the union, the employment of engineering and mechan ical skill, contributing thus to eve branch of material progress. oot tor ry o AFRICAN RAIN MAKERS, A Fakir Who Did His Clond-Compel ing With a Magic Whistle, A popular figure in Africa is the rin I'he office, however, is rather if the chief in charge of the weather falls to produce rain or demand his life is not safe, an amusing description of rainmakers, half chief and half magician, named Katchiba, who called on the fam and that rain was maker, perilous one, for Baker gives one of these ous explorer, said needed “+ Well” i replied, rive your] sople rain?” “Give my “why don't vou people rain!” sald Katehibe “(sive them rain if they don't un You don’t know my people. If enough to give them rain be give gems? I am fore they give starve! No don't bring me yams snd all that | drop of rain shall ever fall again in Obbo. 1 pudent brutes are my people Do you know they have i threatened to kill less 1 bring the rain. They shan’t teach the rascals to insult me” With all Katchiba w wld give id ne fo me goats they i jet on let the supplies mn of fowls. require one positive iy nw have qu in a great di ything for it Know how toget « a iT an mn ¥ Rin "said Katchiba, Je or perhaps in ive them ne sl Yes, | r, and tell the 1 he § guns live Wer, ANCRIS corn to NGIrrow mo . y iy % - PCH, In Jour ar deciarston fu NC Ww fils shrill tic on my fingers that wey topped ls ears and relapsin into a smile ol at the any sudden effect bad been produced “Whistle again,” | said, and more | performed the whistle Weomaotive, “That will do; the cunning old admiration, took a glance sky from the doorway to see if ne like once f rain maker, and proud eon sel's opinion” on his cose, he toddied off southern portion of the United States in the production of the raw material for the utilization of these inventions. It is not alone of interest that the im by mechanical inventions has added to the productive oapacity of Southern agri culture and increased the wealth of an important section of the United States, been benefited by the chespening of clothing and other articles made of eot ton by reason of the marvelous increase in the extent of production of this fiber. The manufacturing and commercial in. terosts of New England have been pro. moted to a remarkable extent by the same cause, to say nothing of the effect upon the cotton manufacturing interests in England and other parts of the world, and the increase in the consumption of cotton goods due to the wonderful cheap- ening of their cost. The single item of the benefit to the shipping interest dae to the cotton carrying trade is of great extent, Cotton, morethan any other one item of freight, has been the basis of transatlantic commerce, Leaving aside these general considera. tions of Enefite at home and abroad, to industry and commerce, and the in- creased comfort of the human race, we may again recur tothe importance to the Southern States of the cottom-growing and vio'ent thunder added to Katchiba's renown, and after the shower horus were blowing and drums beating in honor of their chief. Between ourselves, he cen. Companion, A “ Peirifying Spring» in Georgla The recent secounts of the wonderful properties of & sertain creek in the Black Hills country, which is said to transform plants, nuts, leaves, and even flesh into in 8 very short time converts wood and several other substances into hard rock, accidentally lost his knife in the basin, which has been hollowed out of the granite strata by the ceaseless bubbling of the water. A month later the old was agreeably surprised to find his favor. ite knife. The water had had no effect upon the bright steel, not even to the extent of leaving a speck of rust, but with the woed of the koife's handle it was far different. The petrifying par. ticles with which the water is so high! impregoated bad entered every pore an sap-tube in the wood, and what was but a few weeks before a hickory handle of “home make,” was now two thin slabs of solid stone, wood like in appearance, but as hard and unyielding as a chip from a granite bowlder. To this day the place is known as “Old Moore's rifying spring.” (St. Louis Republic, Peru has ocly thirtyaeis tele h offices ih entire airy ni bt Be miles - w NOTES AND COMMENTS. Tur women of Teeland have had muni cipal suflinge for mois than twenty years, They sre pow aligible to muni. cipal offices, A yan in Washington County, Penu., any notice of it, Tur British Government report of an investigation into the epidemio of infin enza of the past four yeurs regards the proof of the contagiousness of the dis. case as overwhelming, and that it is pot trapsported through the atmosphere, Tue Chinese doctor's lot is not w holly i" happy one. Four members of the In perial College of Physicians nt Pekin failed recently to make a proper diag nosis of the I Hpror's indisposition and were punished by being fined a year's salary. It has been suid that the world most to those who Kil lords: next most to snd actors, teach vad come along somewhere of those who amuse while those {01 papers nent Ww ho write the the bottom the liar, Fou lumber used? will say for houses and buildings, doubtful if) t. of the lun put goss into The raliroads, farmers, purposes take about 40 per cent =X) what is the greatest { Nine people out of ten It rout is 00 per oe build miscellaneous aud the other Foes into boxes and The estimate Lumberman, the oldest in the pet 1% made on the and cent . Bny¥s the >» uthiern iudement of some of best informed lumbermen country, ad is a mile ortion of { this pot twenty yards, and the cr £10 Hy), the it ils ana 8 Consider fii aRy the * [nner hh cost, In i i iret lund, from HH to $5,005,000 per mile The i ile, ween the Mau Aldgate, cost the 23 (00, i constructed mile het sion House and inci iaing Cor 000600 nitoget her, " nearly $10, upensations, «1 that a company has been at Dundee. Seotland, for the working the whale and seal Antarctic An ex expedition was there ast sumnet iit h bg § fisheries of the ocean sent is re 1 seals are much Antarctic waters than asserted that an Anta: better 4 Mrs r alter the HRinedg tired consider MmRrris tion plants enlaty i ath Nathan's all her properts ¥, and w» rk City his 1 erie max into mw New Yo A Ni Ww Yous exerhanoe al the freatinent by Dr. Elmer Lee, of Chicago umphantly demonstrated in tl Petersburg last the dread disease of most of fis The process is this simple sf thing ! It «« testinal cana! of the patient with warm ney, of « and tri Tear. has rolsbh»ed terrors nsists merely in flooding the in sompsuds at frequent jontervals, snd thus washing out and rendering harmless the the use of this method Health Officer Jenkins, of New York, has been able to save no less than nineteen of the twenty two that have developed at Quarantine, redocing the mortality to 15 per cent, This is a wonderful achivvement, considering that the ordinary death rate of cholera rune from 50 to 7B per cent, sceording 10 the violence of the plague. Since this dis COvery a person fortified with soap and water and a good syringe need dread the cholera no mote than an attack of pneu monia or biliows fever, The discare has Caseor did it. ‘ Acconrvisa port just issued, the Isbor question practically unknown in the Netherlands, Strange as it may seem, the Dutch work is live on forty cente m day. The why they prefer long hours to short is because they can thus work in the slow and leisurely manner that suits them best and can indulge their national con- science in the matter of thoroughness; and they are content with low wages be. cause they know how to make them go a long way. The only thing thatin anyway resembles a labor question in Holland is connected with the introduetion of ma chinery, which puts the true Dutchman out of gear altogether, forces him to work briskly and even makes him dis cover that old-fashioned wages are not quite up to new fashioned ideas, Tue ailigator business in Florida, Dr. Hugh M. Smith, of the Fish Commission, informs us, is on the deeline for want of alligators. Formerly the capture of alli. gators brought many a dollar to the state. Hunting was as systematic as it was relentless, “It is within bounds to say,” writes Dr, Smith, ‘that since 1880 not less than 2,500,000 alligators have been killed in the state, ho 2 is not surprising t e supply hss been greatly reduced in view of the more growth of the animal, and the sacrifice of large numbers before they had reached the reproductive age.” Accord. ing to the obmervations of those who have studied the alligator, it is not more than a fon in nn twelvemonth, He ten Years old before he in two {ect jong. When he is twelve feet in length he has lived three-quarters of a century, On the St. John's, below Palatka allicstors are In the Indian River long 1% con, Melbourne, Ten years ago 5,000 alli the scason were thought fair business. To-day not hail are Kissinunes, on centre of the In 1x89 83,600 It not and Fort Pierce to bea taken, were taken there. WHE business in hides in Jacksonville, rapids rapialy The centered req eipts nr seems to be but the diminish “Tug way io which an immense crowd will colleot in any New York street ina derment and commen strangers in the city,” to a Sun reporter, y xy i said a fll slreel DroKer ‘but the way a crowd spring up from the ground in a deserted dead of midnight this week had re street in the greatly surprized even me, | mained at my of and was walking up Bro befor ining the Halli Park ¥ there lee until ne iriy 2 in the morning, md way for a few blo home, 1 cume « pol a soul In sig . Budden) of arin behind and a» scurrying of feet A man was pursui another slong Mail street, the first shouting ‘Murder! A policeman came running from the sh i KE ’ Cur LAY i with wos a shout ie iow of the pars erowd of men = Epriug ont ust 1% 8l is 1 seemed to around the minute there were ing after the i Oa gut t3e3d ie Hon they started 1 niimmel go} wey arted to pumme: ons then | sireams runing from doorways salon: clerks from iron the 1 and newshovs from fhe imps from the before i had rea i ant Mail Kit Ww, there was a dense Cro king Mall street from several hundred men nies before ther of life als ings, anda t thie me ©, $s ie WO mi Or sound Some Ceorious Superstitions, el Peter Seweenes her Bay, said Cole 5 a 1vn thers Ag LiWALS step on ig to out it, ISOns AlWAYS snd doesn’t sirike first. Them sia y thos seminary the imine persons, Are who hav with a edu those so thelr foot first Tien rn ng a room. Thes foot { sO liar way alwavs aremost and of enter will enter with a ceriain their exit will be made WARY And, great Scott! | for a wut cranks and never get through. wot mind telling me why you in Oe sali might go on pick up stray pins “Why. . g the other man : © If FOr answered luck, of fs, course.” ais For $1.1 Diovoming luck? ‘To we sure, Well, have brought you these any eh!’ nek, pins ever Why, only dast winter, at a time when | was in ve ry uneasy cir- cumstances, [ picked up three pins in one forenoon, with the point toward me in every eaxe. That afternoon | got “Sou got a draft?’ ssked Colonel Sweeney in a sort of l-think-you.are-a tone of voice “I got an insurance assessment of £30.05." replied the pin crank sadly, “and still you say pins don’t bring luck Wasn't that luck-—