Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

3»t Valuable Labor Statistics. PITTSBURG. WORKMEN AND WAGES. Railroad and Miners’ Convention—Strike of Moulders. The railroad Coal Miners’ Conven tion has concluded its work. During the session a resolution was passed to the effect that as rents and supplies of all kinds had advanced in price, t miners considered a reduction of wag' unfair. m The President was instructed to send to the several pits of the Pittsburg district several resolutions for action' thereon. These resolutions were, that in consideration of there being no re ductien from four conts per bushel for mining, the miners agree not to strike' for more than four cents nor for a change in the present system of screen ing or weighing coal, nor for a change in the present method of paying wages- until the average for mining in the Kanawha, Hocking, Tuscarawas and Mahoning Valleys is more than ninety cents per ton, as at present computed in those districts ; that this must be ratified by two-thirds of the pits ; that the votes on this shall be counted on April 15th, and if declared carried by the President the resolutions shall be submitted to the employers. A con vention of Ohio miners is to be called to meet at Columbus, to elect State officers and demand pay on the Pitts burg plan. An Executive Committee is to be appointed to uphold the four- cent rate. The advisability of a cen tral protective fund was suggested, each miner to contribute twenty-five cents a month to it. A greeting was telegraphed to the striking Maryland miners. Baltimore, Md — A conference o^ miner and officers of coal companies was held in this city, but no result was reached other than that no other miners will be employed on the Cum berland mines for a period of sixty days. Before that time it i3 expected an agreement between the miners and coal companies will be made Paterson, N. J.—The moulders in the Grant Locomotive Works struck for an increase of twerity per cent, in wages, and a general strike to-morrow of all the moulders is anticipated, as the Moulders Union some week® ago agreed to demand the increase on April 1st. Washington.—The Preside referred the petition of the employes of the Government Navy Yards for a strict enforcement of the Eig.lit-hour law to Attorney General Beijrwster for an opinion as to his powers fond duties in tie premises. / Wages in Dakota and Moihtana. A correspondent of the/ New York <Sun, writing from Fort KLeogh, Mon tana, says: j - Both skilled and unskill/ed labor are eeded in this new counftry, and the echanic or artisan, or /any man in 1 ^ i^ingl flnfk^mplovment in tCeTflast, will here learn {W* truth of that favorite aphorism “Time is money.” The aveiage wages for farm help and labor in Dakota^ui_1881 is . as follows: * Without board, per month 830.18 i With board, per month 19.55 Transient in harvest, without board, per day... 2.53 Tiansieut in harvest, with hoard, per day 2.15 Transient not in harvest, without board, per day 1.42 -Transient Hot in harvest, with board, per day 1.27 Carpentering, without board plr lay 2.72 Blacksmith ing, without board, per day.. 3.00 Wheelwrl^hting, without, board, per day, 2 00 Machine making, without board, per day ~ .*• 3.58 8 hoemaking, without board, per day 2,00 The prices paid in Montana were as follows: Without board, per month 815.00 With board, per month 30.50 Transient in harvest, without board, per day 2.67 lent in harvest with board, per day - 2.25 Transient not In harvest, without board, per day 1,83 Transient not in harvest, with . board, per day 1.38 -Carpentering, without board per day 4.00 Biacksmithing, without board, per day.. 3.02 Wbeelwrlghilng, without board, per day, 4,19 Machine mail ing, without board, per day, 4.12 Shoeiwaklng, without board, per day 3.25 The above is the average wages for 1881. In tiie new towns of Bismarck, Miles City and many others the labor ing man has plenty to do at all seasons of the year. There are no poor men in this country excepting recent ar rivals who have not yet had time to make a start. MaiiiaohuBetts Figures. The State of Massachusetts main tains at very considerable expense a bureau for the collection of labor sta- Gstics. Much valuable information is Vhered by the bureau, but jmt a little way into the bulky volumes which it sends forth from time to time. In matters of simple statistics there is nothing to criticise in the reports, save that sometimes too much is left to estimate, in the same wsy that a fancy farmer often measures the pro duct of a phenomenal plant, or vine, or bill of potatoes, and figures the yield of an acre from that basis. The latest volume issued by the bureau deals with the three cotton manufac turing centres of the State, Fall River, Lowell and Lawrence. The following table shows the nativity of operatives: "a Fall River. Lowell. Lawrence. Native 3,137 4,883 3,415 Foreign.... 9,334 5,175 6,724 Totals.... 12,471 10,058 9,139 The influx of French Canadians is particularly complained of in Fall River. lit the three cities there are 3084 operatives who can neither read nor write. Of the 2494 of these to be found in Fall River two-thirds were Itorn in Canada and Ireland. Drunk enness is everywhere prevelant. The savings banks statements show as rollo ws: Fall River. Lowell. Lawrence. Open accounts... 18,091 32,029 13,728 Deposits 87,832,629 811,043,240 81,609,372 Concerning the condition of the peo ple tne report gives much praise to Lowell and Lawrence, and speaks in slighting terms of Fall River. It says: “In many quarters visited by the agents in Fall River they found much misery, rarely meeting with happy, contented people. In Lowell and Lawrence it appears that even the poorer class of help secures many of the comforts of life. The reason for this evidently lies in the fact that in Lowell and Lawrence there is more of the individual in labor and less of the family. In Fall River entire fam ilies work in the mill, and an obligar tion in the lease of the mill tenements requires the lessee to furnish a certain number of people to the corporation as employes. In many cases of this kind the father and mother of the family drink heavily, unmindful of the good influence they ought to exert on their children. The average wage in Fall River is $9 a week.” The value of the plant in the three cities is thus given : Fall River. Lowell. Lawrence. Machinery 812,193,900 80,179,800 83,740,475 Buildings 5,9sl,050 6,845,900 o>938,250 Water power and land 2,572,050 3,108,641 1,458,400 Hints to Farmers. Sand Farming What is sand ? Writers differ so much in their ideas of soils that it is puzzling often to define their meaning. Pure sand makes a poor soil, or no soil at all, on which to attempt to grow any kind of crop. Our common, sandy soil contains more or less clay,and this it is which gives them their capacity for being improved or made productive. The sand farming referred to by Mr. Loomis is on sandy loam. Of this soil there are grades : the lightest is a quick, warm soil, and crops grown on such mature early, while at the same time they partake of the nature of the soil; this gives to melons and similar products their rich, delicate flavor. These light and heavy sandy loam soils are the be3t of all our arable soils in New England for any crop we pro duce. There are considerable tracts where,a few years since,a person could buy any quantity for three to ten doll irs per acr H , which, rightly han dled, are very productive of all kinds of crops ; but they need constant ma nuring, to which they are very sensi tive, showing its effects, in the crops, quicker than heavier soils. Some of these lands will now command a price from ten to fifty times as high as twenty years since. Greenhouse and Window Plants. J : vl has -At is calculated to inislea inds its Total 820,700,000 816,131,661 89,143,125 The death rate in Fall River is larger than in the other cities and the aver age age at time of death is alao lowest there. The marriage rate is also low est in Fall River, while the birth rate is greater than in Lawrence and less than in Lowell. Fall River is, as re gards its mill population, a city of ten ement houses; Lowell, one in which there is nearly an equality between the tenement and boarding houses, while in Lawrence the “home,” as distinct from either the tenement or boarding house, is pre-tmiuent. The report states that there are no trades-unions in Lawrence connected with the mill operatives, and that no strikes are necessary. Mauy interviews are given to show that the relations of operatives employers are very cordial, and ^ iort of mild manufacturing millenium reiges there. Singularly enough the report was still damp from the hands of the printer when the present extensive strike began in Lawrence. “Ths laii^Fi ^^b ^*‘1 dc Settling a Point. He Missed That. Just before the Michigan Third In fantry entered upon the red-hot fight at Fair Oaks, a private in one of the companies stepped forward to his captain and said: “Captain, are we going to sail in ?” '‘I expect we are.” “And some of us will get killed.” “Like as not.” “ThiA I’d like to speak to the chap- minute.” hat for?” don’t feel prepared to die, cap tain.” “But you can’t leave your com pany.” You must take your chances whether you are prepared or not. That’s what you enlisted for.” “Y-e-s, I ’spose so,” draped the man as he craned his neck to^ >ok for rebels down in the woods, “and I was just fool enough to diskiver that Un cle Sam didn’t care a copper where I went to after I’d been shot out of his service! You bet he doesn’t get any more recruits from our town till that point is settled i” Stylish contrasts for bonnets are Holbein green with pale blue, celadon with rose, opal with olive, and salmon* pink with gjUtikldue. The increasing sun will bring many plants into flower, and at the same time encourage the insects, for the treatment of which quite full Notes were given in December last. Free use of tobacco smoke or tobacco water, where it is convenient to use smoke, will destroy many. A small collection of plants, tended by one really fond of them, may be kept tree of insects by mere “thumb and flngtr work.” Daily examination, the use of a stiffish brush like an old tooth-brush, and a pointed stick to pick off mealy bugs and scale, will keep insects from doing harm. Neglect to examine in time, and nip I the trouble in the bud, is the cause of much of the difficulty. More water will be needed by plants in bloom and making their growth. Bulbs, if any remain in the cellar, may be brought to the heat and light. When the flow ers fade on the earlier ones, cut away the stalk and let the leaves grow on ; when they begin to fade, dry off the bulbs, which may be planted in the garden afterwards. The Hessian Fly. The pest of the wheat plant is now operating destructively in many parts of the country. We hear of it in Mich igan, Wisconsin, Canada, New York, onio Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ken- tuc».j , and localites between. It is a small, two-winged fly, which lays eggs upon the leaf of the wheat in August or September. These eggs hatch iuto small white grubs, which descend to the base of the stalk, and there suck the juices, causing the Wheat to turn yellow, or die. Soon after the grubs change to pupce, vary similar in color and shape to a flax seed, and these re main until spring, when they change to a mature fly. The fly then deposits eggs in May, but the lame is too late to do much injury to the wheat. The “flax seed” condition is entered in June, and in Jufjtthe second brood of flies appear. The remedies are burn ing the stubbles immediately after harvest, or plowing them under deeply so as to destroy the pupae which may be in hiding; to sow late in the Northern States, so that the flies may have laid their eggs before wheat ap pears above ground ; rolling the young wheat, by which the maggots are kill ed, and generally by good cultivation and fertilizing to stimulate the wheat so as to enable it to resist the damage A House for 200 Fowis. To accommodate 150 to 200 fowls, it would be best to have two houses, or rather one so divided in the middle as to make two, with a door at each end. A very cheap and good house may be made of boards; 4feet high at the back, 10 feet in front, 16 feet wide, and 36 feet long. The roosts should be made at the rear, and in thv form of a ladder sloping back from the floor to the roof. In the middle there may be a room for nest boxes. If the front, which should face the South, is of glass, it will be much improved. As large a yard as possible may tye provided, and fenced with lath, so that the fowls may be kept in when desirable. The materials for such a house need not cost more than $20, and $12 additional for sash fAhe front. Questions About Eggi and Fow’, Manitoba. We do not belt^j the reports currentabout extraordinary production of eggs. Yet It may easily be true that a hen of the non-sitting breech may lay an egg every day for a long period. The Black Spani.-h hens often d* this, and w r e have personally known one to lay two eggs in one day, but there was none the next day. Hens cannot well cover goose eggs and keep them warm ; they are too large. If the bottom of the nest is made warm with down or feathers, a lieu may probably keep six of these eggs warm enough. A young bird needs no help to get out of the shell, unless it is very weak, in which case it is about ax well for it to remain there, as it would prob ably fail to thrive. If the chicks should need any help, this can be very easily given when an incubator is used. Light Brahma chicks, when newly hatched, are all white ; Dark Brahmas are black and brown; Plym outh Rocks are black and yellow, and Black-red Games are black and yellow, oi brownish. Celery. Probably in no vegetable cultivated has the variety so much to do with success as celery. Our own experience, and that of scores of our immediate neighbors, is that nearly all the giant or tall-growing kinds are unprofitable to raise. Not only does their culture entail twice the labor, but they are almost always wanting in solidity and flavor. While some hun Ireds of acre3 of celery aie now grown for the market of New York, the kinds are mainly Half Dwarf and Dwarf Sandringham, in the proportion of foul of the first to one of the second. The Boston Market variety has never been a favorite for the New York Market, as its tendency to throsv up suckers, or side shoots, considered the merit of that variety in Boston, makes it objectionable here. Hood’s Dwarf Red is the best variety of celery in cultivation, but the Ameri can public, with few exceptions, will not use red celery, while in England it is highly valued, as it should be, for it is not only much better flavored than the white soits, but it keeps bet ter, and surely, when used as an orna mental vegetable, as celery often is, its bright crimson and white color, make it more attractive than the white. Shortened Life in the man Race. Hu- 4 half Pious Reflections. The sphere in Christian duty is not there nor yonder, but here, just where you are. Wisdom is beautiful, gain her my son, Thou hast a treasury of wealth untold, Far above rubies, diamonds, or gold; She wili be sought of thee and wooed ere won Give her thy heart, and she will lead thee on To perfect peace and pleasures manifold ; Blessings shall compass thee till thou art old, Aye, even till life’s latest hour has run. immortal beauty is upon her face, Her eyes are e’er toward the hea.enlyland, True as the magnet her outstretched right baud Uner r lng points up to her native place. Whate’er thy earthly lot, is Wisdom thiDe, Thou hast indeed a heritage divine. —JOHN ASKHAM. It is the will of God that we should in everything make our requests known to him by prayer and suppli cation ; not to inform or move him, but to qualify ovrselves for the mercy. The watermau in the boat, that with the hook takes hold of the shore, doth not thereby pull the shore to the boat, but the boat to the shore; so in prayer, we do not driw the mercy to our selves but ourselves to the meny.— Matthew Henry. It is a little thing to speak a phrase Of common comfort, which, by dally use, Has almost lost its sense; yet on the ear Of him who thought to die unmourned t’wlll fall Like choicest music, fill the glazing eye With gentle tears, relax the knotted hand To know the bonds of fellowship again. —TALFOURD. We all can set our daily deeds to the music of a greatful heart, and seek to round our Jives into a hymn — the melody of which will be recognized by all who come in contact with us, and the power of which shall not be evanescent, like the voice of the singer, but perennial, like the music of the^pherea.— William M. Taylor. It is to help that Christ came. He brought the love that kindles love. He will raise us aa we will be raised. We cannot sever the interests of Christ from those of the world. There is nothing that can be his without our being the oetter for it. He asked noth ing for himself that was not for us alto.—J2ev. A. O. Lawson. The maturity of man, calculated by the completed condition of the skeleton is twenty-one years. Twenty-one years multiplied by five—105 years —is there fore the natural duration of the life of man on this estimate, and, with a cer tain natural limited range, may be ac cepted as the true and full duration. But when the actual value of life is taken it is found to present, in this country, an average of forty-two years, so that there are grand agencies at work which are reducing the national life to a very low value. If the in quirer enter further into the matter he will observe that the grand agencies eading to this reduced value of life must be in some way removable, be cause they are not always in action to reduce every form of life to the same level of duration. He will discover that the domestic auimals which surround us, if we do not kill them outright by hard labor, priva tion or exposure to the vicissitudes of seasons,are so much longer lived than we are, that they exists, practically, to their full term with as much exacti tude as we exist to the first of our sec ond stage of existence. Or, to put the matter in another light, he will dis cover that if our lower domestic ani mals were to die in the same ratio that that we die, their duration of life, as it is now known, would be reduced nearly to half what it is. The dog would have an average term of eight years, and other animals a similar re duced term of life. Such observations as these will lead the sanitarian to find a uniform object in his labor. He will ask what is the reason why man, who holds all the knowledge and skill above the brute creation, should have so little control over his own destiny that he cannot control it in respect to health and life as well as the inferior creature which, compared with him self, has neither reason nor skill. He will wonder in vain so long as he looks simply at the general fact. He will not wonder at all when he proceeds to an analysis of all the details upon which that general fact depends. In the first place, he will learn from an analysis of the data he may collect that man is the subject of many more diseases than the inferior animals are; that he suffers from certain diseases of the mind incidental to his posses sion of a mental organization superior altogether to theirs, and from which diseases they are exempt; that he suf fers from some diseases springing from human vices from which the lower animals are also exempt; that he suffers from some contagious diseases from which they are exempt; that he suf fers from some diseases connected with industrial pursuits from which they are exempt; that he suffers from in dulgences in certain luxuries of a deadly kind from which they are ex empt ; that he suffers from various ac cidents from which they are exempt; that he suffers from hereditary taints of disease from which they are ex empt. During some recent excavations in the neighborhood of Pompeii thirty human skeletons were found. One of them, which was lying at full length, appeared to be grasping a purse, In which were a gold coin, six silver and ten bronze coins, ear-drops, pearls, and engraved precious stones. Near the other skeletons were found coins of gold and silver belonging to the reign of Galba, Tiberius, Nere, and Doml- tian. Gold bracelets, ear-drops, pearls and precious stones were found with them. A Few Modern Jokes. How Luther Died. At a young ladies’ seminary re cently, during an examination in his tory, one of the pupils was interrogated thus: “Mary, did Martin Luther die a natural death?” “No,” was the reply he was excommunicated by a bull.” Do you know the latest erase, Mary Ann, Mary Ann ? Do yon know the latest erase, Mary Ann? It Is to spend your days 'Neath a big sunflower’s rays. Or to sit up with a Illy, Mary Ann. The Dentist’s Mistake: Two women called on a Maine dentist simulta- neously, one to have all her teeth ex tracted and the other only three. The dentist mistakingly put the latter under the influence of ether, and ren dered her toothless. A jury will esti mate the damage. There is a young lady in Keokuk, Iowa, who is six feet four inches tall, and she is engaged to be married. Th man who won her did it in these wor “Thy beauty sets my soul agio wed thee, right or wrong; man but little here below, but wan little—-long.” CoL-jNgersoH’s father was terian Jlirgymau who had t of preatfdng from 1 o’clock down oh a stretch, surprised at the cou