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lT ljjE of srojnsttTOS.
i t
,4 r „,T was Supplied with
„
U eflft , noon of Aug- o, 1814, fom
r British fleet, which
etfohiantly f die repulsed from the
I 1 * t the preceding year by
^ % l',eea and leave her flannel their anchor- “petti
r to Island
i down Fisher’s
! rf „., a at first thought that the
pi ;ff / their ' attack was to be Newport,
t me to anchor off Stonington
T- * r fl'h, U a boat was The sent people to the shore were
0 f truce. about to be
ir tint the place was
-
lei 7 The bombardment was delayed
the evening, when a
fcutil seat into the streets, From
midnight the firing was
1 „] and was replied to by a small
of volunteers belmid a breast
r who worked a couple of
iuB : l0re
, ers for all the cannon were
IfjfeTt ^. resumed morning aud continued the artillery all prac- day,
%heii communications the besiegers to were the Warden sending
■
Losses, shelling asking them. pardon To for these the
rtkience of Warden and Burgesses re
ff„ vs the appreciated the stern
® lt tkev ex
(i’itS • 0 f tiie occasion, but insisted
(u y continue the bombardment,
i u,i entertained the villagers and
"' The shelling was ac
’ renewed for a few hours, and
boat-load of emissaries
t to the Burgesses knidly ask
ission to withdraw their vessels
'jlje harbor. To this request a
‘refusal was resumed. returned, and the
todment was portions of several vol
/this time reached
trregiments had Stoning
j 3 )t a polite notice was forwarded
. e Captain of one of the war vessels
,,j a delegation ashore. He com
jrith courteous alacrity, while the
iteers, who had spiked their can
met and afterward drilled out the
I, r uttled the two 18-pounders
fl’erh the streets the approaching to greet the boat visitors, got
goon as
Stake L ral ige it halted till the volunteers
steady aim at it. They fired
j missed and the boat obligingly
pi d over to another point of the vil
r ■ (rein which it was thought the sol
■on laud would have a better range.
( 18 -pounders were careful drawn hastily to
[point, and by the connivance
| e hostile parties a solid shot was
B ged directly through the middle
ie boat, sinking it. The Stoning
nen tlien went out in boats and
L[ gave the enemy from a watery
tie. bombardment
niter this incident the
Lsumed and continued at the rare
[pals when the liostiles were not ex¬
tang compliments, until the next
[when L the fleet, contrary to all sailed the
[j of international courtesy,
[’Warden without a word of explanation to
Lthe and Burgesses, At this
village of Stonington consisted
i „0 ; l houses, and 60 tons of metal were
[into the place; aim"of yet so careful and
prate was the the British guu
isthat they managed to miss all but
■sot four dwellings. The only loss
life was the killing of a goose and of
Her, who was blown up at Westerly
tie [e-rani. celebrating the event several weeks
The goose was a pet and its
per was highly incensed. He inquired
Ik pardonable surprise and profanity:
flat the British Government meant
j«di:i2 a squadron 3,000 miles to kill
(poultry ?” The shot were gathered
land turned over to the troops.
A Great Cranberry Pateli.
si THOUSAND ACRES IN PENNSYLVANIA
»BE RECLAIMED AND CULTIVATED.
Fithin the last month a large tract of
pd, forest and swamp, about 8,000
k lying in the towns of Shohola and
png Grove, Pa., has been sold to
Herbert Thompson, of New York,
pin. bade H. Kempt. thorough Mr. examination Thompson of
a
pact b for its and improvement. will at onee begin The land opern- ad
p the celebrated park of the Bloom
Stove Association on ODe side and the
Stour Blue Stone Company on the
k Included in the tract are the fa¬
ils Shohola Palls, one of the most
itaesque of Pike county’s many fine
U, IK and the Shohola Creek. The
Phaser intends to drain the swamp
it supplies the creek with water. The
p ie proposed is to cut down the crest
f falls and deepen the channel above
•precipice for some distance,
he wettest portions of the tract, after
•liainage is completed, will he used
fsoil i large cranberry marsh. The bog
ping are of particularly this berry, well fitted already for the
N which is
in considerable abundance on the
F- pet Many for hundreds of acres, now
Pile deposits tillage, will be made dry,
of leaves and sedges
F Mildreds of years have turned into
F behest pilant food that can be im
N- When drained and turned up
pe fthe sun it will make a perfect soil
growth of onions and potatoes,
[ pted fertility of which will not he ex
by many successive years of
l;ke cranberries raised on these lands
pud f a ready sale iu Philadelphia and
M uch valuable oak and pin e
Ret now out of reach in the depths
I he bogs will be secured for market,
P insuring the buyer another aud cer
P source of reveuue. The streams
p ike-, in the vicinity are full of fish
P® the swamps and forests there are
deer and other game. Phi la¬
ri-ta and New York capitalists have
py over tlie higher portions of Pike
f Eolation - T *° find suitable locations for ac
of persons who are afflicted
r“ J a .y fever, as a large portion of
Co «nty is 1,700 feet above the sea
k the upland plains are swept
-*®asladen with the balsam of pine,
: e ;,ri( l kemlock. It is an ideal sec
„ ®ior
.- Persons troubled with catarrh or
Rosary complaints.
l^adWat.—A a while by Boston hanging rascal around got the a
jy-.'Jflice, inducing pretending j]iy to give be a him clerk, the
f.'‘^ey s p eo pi e to
wanted to send in registered
. told them that ‘‘under a new
uty would get no receipt.
STKABISMUS AND JUSTICE.
the man WITH THE PECULIAR
OltBS.
Foils Inin the llnnils ol o Driinicpn Pliy.
sloinn who Spoils his Siglit-How he Hot
Square.
Onee iu St. Paul, Minn., rH met a man
with eyes of cadet blue and » terra cotta
nose. His eyes were not only peculiar
in shape, V>nt while one seemed to con
stantly probe the future, the other was
apparently While ransacking the dreamy glorious past.
one rambled among the
possibilities of the remote yet golden
ultimately, depths the other sought the somber
of the previously.
He told me that years ago lie had a
mild case of strabismus and both eyes
seemed to glare down his nose till he got
restless and had them operated on.
Those were the days when they used to
fasten a crochet hook under the internal
rectus muscle and cut it a little with a
pair of optical sheep shears. The effect
of this course was to allow the eye to
drift, back to a direct hue, but this man
fell into the hands of a drunken surgeon
who cut the muscle too much and there¬
by weakened it so that it gradually
swung past the point it ought to have
stopped at, and he saw with horror that
bis eye was going to turn out and pro¬
trude as it were so that a man could
ang his hat on it. The other followed
■suit and the two orbs that had for years
looked along the bridge of the terra cotta
nose, gradually separated, and while one
looked toward next, Christmas with
fond anticipations, the other loved to
linger over the remembrances of last
fall.
This thing continued till he had to
peer into the future ■with his off eye
closed and vice versa.
It is needless to say that he hungered
for the blood of that physician and sur¬
geon. He tried to lay violent hands on
him and wipe up the ground with him
aud wear him out across a telegraph
pole. But the authorities always pre¬
vented the administration of swift and
awful justice.
Time passed on till one night the ab
tormally wall-eyed man loosened a board
n the side walk up town so that the
> •hysicnin and surgeou caught his foot in
f and caused an oblique fracture of the
c.tpula, pied his dura mater, busted
his cornucopia and wrecked his sarah
ielium.
Perhaps I am in error as to some ol
hese medical terms and their orthog¬
raphy, but that is about the way the
man with the divergent orbs told it
to me.
The physician had and surgeon clapboards was quite
a ruin. He to wear on
himself for months, and there were
other doctors, and laudable pus, and
threatened gangrene and doctors’ bills
with the cemetery looming up in the
near future. Hay after day he took his
own anti-febrile drinks aud rammed his
busted system full of iron and strychnine
and beef tea and Dover’s powders and
hypodermic squirt till he wished he
could die. but death would not come.
He pawed the air and howled They
fed him his own nux vomica, tincture of
rhubarb and phosphates and gruel, and
brought him back to life with a crooked
collar bone, a shattered shoulder blade
aud a look of woe.
Then he sued the town for $50,000
damages because the sidewalk was im¬
perfect, and the wild-eyed tire man with the
inflamed nose got on jury.
I will not explain how it was done, but
there was a verdict for defendant with
costs on the Escnlapian wreck. The
man with the crooked vision is not hand¬
some, but he is very happy. He says
the mills of the gods grind slowly,
but they pulverize middling tine.— Bill
Nye.
Some Good Advice.
In his address before the Wisconsin
Editorial Association, Colonel N. Smith,
of the Janesville Gazette , gave the fol¬
lowing excellent advice:
In speaking kind words of the people
it is better to err on the side of eharity
than to fill the paper with criminal gush,
or to crush a human spirit, or to dis¬
honor a home. If misfortune strikes a
man down, although he may not be
wholly innocent, do not kick him because
he is down, but rather try to lift him up.
If slander, a thing which never slumbers
nor sleeps, should hunt a woman, re¬
member the crowd that was dispersed
by the chilling rebuke of the Master,
“He that is without sin among you, let
him cast the first stone.”
Give young men, who are industrious
and worthy, and who are influence struggling
hard for success in life, the of
your positions, and when a kind word in
print will give them encouragement and
promote their welfare, eheerfnlly and
generously help them. impor¬
Deal heavy blows in discussing
tant questions when heavy blows are
just; and above all things have the cour¬
age of your sober conviction, but never
be harsh in your judgment, nor unmanly
toward your brethren, nor unfair toward
the public ever remembering that a true
scholar and a real gentleman can no
more be a blackguard in print than ont
of it. Let us do these things and the
press of Wisconsin shall be exalted in
tone, strengthened in influence, and in¬
creased in power.
My brethren of the press, it is doubt¬
less the experience of many of you, es¬
pecially of those who have been in
editorial work for years, that your writ¬
ings become more justly and wisely
tempered under the softening influence
of time. When the years take us to the
topmost hill in life, and we begin to
tread the downward side—Our faces
toward the setting sun—we feel more
than ever before the weight of the re¬
sponsibility resting upon us. Serious
reflection ‘then admonishes us that we
shall be in earnest, that conscience shall
be our guide, and that honor shall be the
touchstone of all our motives, so that
when the final shadow shall have crossed
our path, and life has vanished, no influ
enee shall be left behind us that it is
not just to ourselves and a benefit to
mankind.
“How is it,” asked JMrs. Fogg, “that
vou take so much interest in other
women’s faces and dress and none in any¬
thing that belongs to me?” ‘ ‘ When
yon go to a stange city,” replied Fogg,
• ‘yon run about to see all the places of
interest, but you never think of visiting
the lions of your native town.”
BEY BUTLER’S SPOONS.
The General’s Account of the Origin ol the
Famous sitory that has Been so Often
Told.
Senator Beck, of Kentucky, being very
intimate with Gen. Butler asked the
latter one day the origin of the silver
spoon scandal.
“While I was iu New Orleans,” replied
Butler, “there were a number of com¬
plaints brought to me of private houses
being entered by soldiers aud plundered
of fine plate, pictures aud any other
valuable adornments that struck the
fancy these of the marauders. I referred
complaints to a young officer on
my staff with orders to investigate thetn
strictly. He reported to me that the
complaints were greatly exaggerated,
and had originated from the impudence
and trespasses of private soldiers. Com¬
plaints continued to come in, aud on in¬
vestigation were similarly disposed of.
One day, while I was in a rather bad
humor, a prominent citizen of New
Orleans came to my office aud renewed
the old cry. His house had been inva¬
ded and stripped of all its valuable or¬
naments, and he came to me to recover
them. ‘If the United States,’ said he,
‘has sent an army of robbers down here,
and robbery is their object, very well; 1
can put up with it; but if robbery is not
authorized, then I want my property re¬
stored. ’
“Being out of temper I answered him
rather gruffly, and told him I did not
believe a word of his story; that I bad
had numerous cases investigated with¬
out finding any truth in the reports,
and that I thought it was a system of
lies to annoy the Union forces and at¬
tempt to awaken sympathy. In consid
erable passion I then ordered him away,
and said I did not want to hear any¬
more such tales. To my surprise he
said he did not care who I was or what
I thought ; that his valuables had been
stolen and he intended to complain
whenever it was necessary. He was so
much in earnest that a thought struck
me, and I concluded to test him to the
utmost.
(t i Get out of my office,’ said I, in
feigned passion, ‘and stop those lying
complaints or I’ll have you taken out
and shot.’
“ ‘You may shoot me aud be hanged,’
responded complain the indignant long Creole; but I
shall as as a band of rob¬
bers aud thieves plunder me.’
“ ‘Orderly ‘Take !’ I cried, aud au officer
appeared. rebel immediately. a file of men and shoot
this ’
“The orderly went out and soon re¬
turned with a file of men. In the mean¬
time the Creole was expressing his opinion
of the Government, its troops and my¬
self in language so earnest and sincere
that I could not doubt the truth of his
complaint. He continued it even after
the orderly had him roughly seized him and
was pushing along to execution.
At that moment I called him back, dis¬
missed the file, and, explaining the d«
ture asked of the preceding minute details investigations,
him for as to the
robbery of his house and told him I
would investigate it myself.
“He identified the hackman who had
brought the robbers to his residence
and removed the booty, and, acting on
this clue, I soon found the hackman
and compelled him to tell the whole
truth. He admitted that he had driven
the officer and soldiers to a number of
houses on similar errands, and finally
took me to a house where the plunder
was stored. It was overflowing with
fine pictures, plate, silver spoons, valu¬
able ornaments and bric-a-brac. He
then told me who the plundering officer
was, and to my surprise it was the young
staff officer to whom I had intrusted the
investigations and in whom, up to that
moment, I had imposed every confi¬
dence. He was the son of a man I
knew well. I had the plunder removed
to my warehouse until it could be
claimed aud restored. Then the staff
fficer was arrested, tried, sentenced anil
shot. I never sent any word home as
to the manner of his death, aud his
family thought he had died or was
killpd in service."
“Why have you never told this story
before and cleared yourself of the offen¬
sive charges ?” asked Senator Beck.
“Oh,” said Butler, relapsing into liiM
usual humor, “they would get up som«
other lie on me if I did.”
k Pleasant Visitor.
it New Orleans paper says :—Those
very serious nuisances that afflicted and
troubled us so much a few years ago,
the ephemeridte, or, as they are popu¬
larly called, the blind mosquito, have
agon put in their appearance. At about
8 o’clock last night, just as the steamer
New Camelia reached the landing at
Milneburg, a cloud of these mosquitoes
put in their appearanoe on the wharf
near Trisconi’s, absolutely cutting The off
the excursionists from the cars.
visitation was far more serious and
tr ublesome than any that has ever af¬
flicted New Orleans before, and it is im¬
possible for any one who was not present
to conceive of the billions on billions ot
these little insects hovering in the air
or circling in a dense cloud. Thq first
idea of the looker-on was that Trisconi’s
was on tire, and it did seem as if a heavy,
dense, black smoke was pouring from
the building, but a closer inspection
showed that it was only an almost- solid
mass of mosquitoes. The crowd stopped
aud hesitated, and then one more adven¬
turous man, shutting his eyes, closing his
mouth, and concealing bis face, dashed
through tlie mosquitoes. The whole
crowd followed, and without serious loss,
but shouting and laughing, dashed
safely through the worst of the cloud
and reached the cars in safety, with a
very earnest prayer that this blind mos
quito epidemic would not last long. It
is generally of very short duration—not
over two weeks or so, and even shorter,
if a north wind comes up and settles or
raises the lake.
A little boy looked over the back
fence aud saw another little boy eating
bread with jam on it; so he began to cry
bitterly, and running into the house de¬
manded that he, too, should have some
bread with jam on it. He got the “jam,”
but it wasn’t on any bread.
Sam Til den is now accused of having
sold turnips for horse-radish when a boy.
A greater insult could not be offered.
HIS WIFE'S HUSBAND.
AN INCIDENT IN A MAN’* LIFE NOT TO
«E FORGOTTEN.
A Young Lawyer Starts West Thirsting
for n Case and Gets One—He Marries a
Woinnn Who Turns out to be the Former
Wile ot the Man he Prosecuted.
Judge Shickleton relates au interest¬
ing reminiscence of the early days of
Arkansaw. “I came here,” said the
judge, “just after I had been admitted
to the bar in a Northern State. Like
the average young lawyer, I was poor
and actually thirsted for a ease. Shortly
after I arrived, I went to a mountain dis¬
trict and stopped at a small town where
there was considerable excitement over
the trial of a y mug man who had been
indicted for murder. The older lawyers
were loth to engage in the prosecution,
so the young Prosecuting Attorney was
working single-handed. I met him the
second day after my arrival, and when
he learned that I was a lawyer he
said:
“ ‘I am at present prosecuting, named Dawes. for
murder, a young fellow
He is guilty ..s guilty can be, and should
by all meaus hang, yet I few, with sc
much opposition, that I will not be able
to assist justice to a proper punishment
of the terrible crime. Now, what I
want von to do is to assist me.”
“I studied the case carefully. I could 1
made every point so clear that
see the jurymen shaking their heads
when an illustration was strikingly vivid.
The counsel for the defense, composed
of old lawyers whose fame had long
since been established, looked at me in
astonishment. They mot me and wanted
a compromise. Finally the minutes case went after¬ to
the jury. Within five
ward a verdict of guilty was rendered.
The young man was hanged. I mov'd
to another part of the State, where I
soon established a good practice.
“One day about three years after¬
ward I met, at a Northern watering
place, a beautiful young woman whose
husband was dying of consumption. The
consumptive grew worse rapidly, but talk his
wife was still hopeful, for he would
of what he intended to do when he re¬
covered. One night about twelve
o’clock I was summoned to the poor fel
low’s room. He lay gasping for breath,
and his wife, even beautiful in grief, sat
holding his hands. The end soon came,
and I saw her bow her magnificent head
in despair. Mrs. Delure, the fair
“I did not see
widow, for some few days after the
funeral. Then she came to tell me
good-by. ‘When the of hus¬
“ memory your
band affords a melancholy pleasure, write in¬
stead of a deep grief, will you not
to me?’ I asked.
“ ‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘I don’t
feel as though I shall ever again feel dis¬
posed to write, hut I thank you for the
deep interest you have taken in me,
and hope to some day meet and you again.’
“I returned to Arkansaw resumed
my practice, hut business cares did not
remove the image of that beautiful face.
Two years passed and I heard nothing
from Ella, as I had learned to think of
her. At last I determined to go again
to the watering place. One evening
after I had been there a few days, I was
strolling on the mountain when I
chanced to stroll near Delure’s grave.
Hearing voices I approached cautiously.
I stood behind a tree. The moon came
out, and I saw Mrs. Delure and a man
sitting near the grave.
“ ‘I cannot marry you,’ she said.
‘You have been very kind to me, and
have greatly aided me in getting my
school, but I cannot marry you.’
it i Do you ever expect to marry
again ?’ be asked.
“I don’t kuow. There is one man
whose memory I love. He was with me
when my husband died. If I were to
ever marry any one I would marry him.
I promised to write to him, and have
tried a dozen times, but each letter
seemed like a love letter.’
“I could stand no more, and exclaim¬
ing, ‘Ella,’ I rushed from my hiding
place and caught her in my arms. The
man looked ou for a moment and turned
away. arrangements
“Our were soon com¬
pleted. Our wedding was quiet and
simple, and immediately after the cere¬
mony we started for my home in Arkan
s aw.
“We begau housekeeping at once; and
I know there was not a happier man in
town than T. One evening while Ella
and I were sitting in the twilight ah*
said:
“ ‘1 never saw a man so little inter¬
ested in any one’s history as you are.
Yon have been acquainted with me a
lor^ time, now, and have never asked
anything about my former aelf.’
“ ‘Your present self,’ I replied, ‘be¬
longs to me; your former self did not.
I am never anxious about anything that
does not belong to me.’
i * » Do you know that I used to live in
this State ?’
4 4 4 Did you ?’ I asked in surprise.
“ ‘Yes.’ she said, in a saddened tone.
‘I have been three times married. My
first husband was named Dawes, but he
was a bad man, and died by the hand of
tli 0 law * *
“Great heavens, I had hung her hus¬
band.”— Arkansaw Traveler.
Steamboats.
There is something beyoud calcula¬
tion in the speed of steamers, according Two
to one of John Roach’s experts.
boats may be built simultaneously from
the same model, with every effort to
make them precise duplicates as to shape
and machinery, and yet one will prove
faster than the other. Why this is so
no man can tell. The Mary Powell has
for fifteen years been the swiftest on the
Hudson River. During all that time
she never has been beaten. Time and
again an exact counterpart has been
built, with everything c pied facilities as nearly could
as Vue best mechanics and
do it, but none of these has turned out
as good as the original. Asthereputa
tion of unrivalled speediness is a valu
able advertisement for a passenger boat,
you can see the object in trying to build
a second Mary Powell. Experience has
been the same with yachtsmen. They
erder copies of the swiftest craft, or
combine the supposed good points of
several, and nine times out of ten are
disappointed in the result.
IN THE HOP DISTRICT.
THE FASCINATION OF HOP CULTURE
—HOW FORTUNES ARE MADE AND
LOST.
One who Knows Somethin* About flops
Takes us Into the Field and Tells us to
Look About—What we Saw.
[From the New York Sun.]
Whoever makes a summer pilgrimage
westward from Albany, N. Y., by the
Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, after
the first thirty aud miles unaccustomed are passed, begins
to see strange vege¬
tation. Occasionally a luxuriant growth
of vines is met, which cover the earth
entirely from the fervent midday sun,
and rises from twelve to twenty feet in
the air. He is in the outskirts of the
hop district. It is only after he lias
gained the summit about fifty miles
west of Albany, and rolls swiftly down
the slope of the Susquehanna valley,
that he realizes that the heart of hop¬
growing America is reached. He is in
Otsego —a county which excells all
others in acreage and amount and value
of hops.
Here the hop fields become larger and
more numerous. Hop growers are no
longer the exception, but the rule.
You may drive the whole day and hard¬
ly pass a farm which has not from two
to fifty acres of the vine. This acreage
is constantly increasing. shows The his broad small
grower of five years ago
fields to-day, and even the timid, old
fashioned farmer of that time has caught
the infection and boasts a modest acre¬
age of his own. The merchant, the me¬
chanic, and even the day laborer not in¬
frequently hires a plot of ground from
some neighboring farmer and “tries his
fortune with the rest.” Instances are
not uncommon of those who rent a few
acres and rely entirely upon the crop
produced, spending the whole year in
and about the hop yard. oil
It is a mania; and as iu the regions
nothing is heard save oil yields and oil
prospects, so here you hear from
year end to year end nothing save a
dreary iteration of hop prospects, hop
sales, hop yields, and hop blight. It is
a region of unquestioned fertility, and
one of the best grazing and dairying All
sections of the State of New York.
the cereals furnish certain and abundant
harvests. The root crops are prolific,
and the orchards redundant of fruitage.
All, however, are subordinated to the
uncertain hop industry, and the rich
man looks for his luxuries and the pour
man for his necessities to the value of
this crop alone.
Hop growiug is always uncertain.
Therein lies much of its fascination. It
is the spirit of Wall street, carried a
field. The dairyman or grain grower
looks for but slight fluctuation in tlie
value of his produce fifty from year would to year.
A gain or loss of per cent, be
remarkable. Within a much smaller
limit he is safe But the hop cultivator
knows that the price of this year bears
no discoverable relation to that of the
next-. It may be three or four hundred
pei; cent, higher or lower without excit¬
ing great surprise. As great changes
as that have occurred within the last
few months. Last December the price
touched hifirh water mark, and hops
were held at sufficient $1.25 per pound. 25 To-day
it would be to obtain cents.
There are hundreds of farmers in central
New York to whom this decline means a
loss of thousands of dollars, for there
were few who caught the tide at its
flood. Who could doubt that $1.50, or
even $ 2 , would be reached iu
a few days them!” ? “ The the brewers
must have was cry.
Men who had sold their own crops at the
till then unheard of price of 60 or 75
cents made haste to buy of their neigh¬
bors at $1 or more. Fcr a time every
man with a spare dollar invested it in
hops, and looked without fear for the
golden harvest. The madness ran ahead
of the year, and futures were bought
when possible, not a few being offered
50 cents per pound for this year’s crop.
To-day no one is sanguine enough to
predict the value of this year’s yield.
When we reflect that hops can, under
favorable circumstances, be fitted for
market for 10 cents per pound, and that 15
cents full yields significance a margin of of profit, these we figures. get at
the
Eight or 10 cents per pound has not in¬
frequently been the price for a,year or
more, followed, it may be the next sea¬
son, by from 40 to 50 cents. Yet the de¬
cline is as sudden an unexpected. I
have in mind a grower who was some
years ago offered 52J cents per pound
for his crop of five thousand pounds.
Refusing to sell at that time, he after¬
ward accepted five cents per pound,
which was much more than many others
received. Another sold his whole crop
for 20 dollars. One man fed them to
his sheep, while another used them for
horse bedding. But in the overturn of
things produced by last year’s of those supposed hops,
immense shortage some
which had by some chance been kept,
were sold for more than they were
worth when new. It would be interest¬
ing to know if they have at last gone into
a greater worthlessness than before.
The factors which produoe this vast
fluctuation of prices are many. Per¬
haps there is no other plant subject to
so many vicissitudes of climate as the
hop. The roots may winter-kill over
vast areas. A slow, cold summer may
retard the growth. A hot, wet Au¬
gust may bring the mould in the wake
of that dreaded insect enemy, the fly.
The louse, an immature fly, may cover
the leaves by the thousands, causing
that peculiar black and shining appear¬
ance known as honey dew. Add to these
the depredations of the hop grub, which,
working underground, destroys the
roots, and the myraid forms of cater¬
pillars and of insect life which make their
home in the hop plantations, and you
g e t some idea of the enemies with which
the planter must contend. During the
present year there has been added to
these a blight, the nature of which is
not hills, yet precisely determined. Many
after attaining a height of from
six to ten feet, suddenly stopped grow
ing, and the head of the terminal joint
took on a withered appearance. This
the plant seemingly overcame in a few
weeks, but later it reappeared, attacked
the ends of the branches in the fall
grown vine. These withered, dropped
their leaves, and in some cases became
! tlry and hard. The loss from this cause
will not be considerable this year, but
» no one knows i ts ca use or how to sue-
anxiety cessfully contend with it, and no little
is felt lest it reappear next year.
It may seem to the reader that the
view _ here taken of the hop question is a
discouraging I kuow one. Such is not the case.
of no branch of farming industry
in which the return is so large or so cer¬
tain. A grower, and he not the most
fortunate as to sales, gives me the follow¬
ing prices obtained during the last five
years:
Per pound. Per pound.
1878............$0 14 1881............#0 30
1878 I) 30 1882 1 10
1880 0 21
Average price per pound for the 5 years.. $0 39
Yet hops were sold for forty-five cents
per pound in 1879, and the amount ob¬
tained was not the top price of any year.
Looking back through a twenty years’
acquaintance with hop growing, I fail to
recall one when the crop would not sell
for at least the cost of production at
some time during the year. It has been
the venturesome, speculative spirit,
which the uncertain return has engen¬
dered, which has been disastrous.
There are scores of growers of my ac¬
quaintance who have kept steadily on,
tilling a few acres every year, and sell¬
ing as soon as a fair price could be real¬
ized, who have accumulated generous
fortunes. On the other hand, I have
known others who have been shifty and
entirely uncertain, neglecting overcultivatiug one year and
the next, who have
held for that never-attainable highest
price, and have seen thousands slip
away from their grasp. To-day they
are Not no to lose richer than head when is they begaii.
your the greatest
secret of hop growing. To be satisfied
with reasonable profits and to be ready
to sell when these are attained are al¬
most certain guarantees of success.
But the hop is a jealous mistress, and
withal a gross overfeeder. The immense
growth of each year calls loudly to the
soil for nourishment. If this is forth¬
coming, it repays with interest every
dollar expended. If fertilizers are with¬
held, or given with a grudging baud, it
revenges itself upon the grower, stab¬
bing him where he feels it most—iu the
pocket. True, it robs the farm, calling
insatiably for every ton of manure there
produced, and more, but it repays most
liberally. Careful cultivation, incessant
watching, and a liberal baud will almost
certainly insure nothing good but returns, failure and with¬
out these can be ex
peeted. Andbew B. Saxton.
A Story of the Family.
The Portsmouth correspondent of the
Washington Star says: — When that
sturdy Irishwoman to whom the Sullivan
family may well look back with pride
was crossing the Atlantic on her way to
the new country, and was asked, “Why
do you come to America ?" she answered,
“To raise Governors for them,” little
dreaming that she would live to see one
of her sons Governor of New Hampshire
and another Governor of Massachusetts,
though L am sorry to say the third did
not so much honor to liis family, The and
was known as “Devil Jim.” story
goes that soon after John Sullivan rose
to be Governor of New Hampshire he de¬
sired to give a grand dinner to a number
of distinguished guests. A member of
his family at the time was his mother,
and, fearing she would not be quite
equal to the occasion, he concluded it
would be best to arrange for her non
appearance at the dinner-table. Ap¬
proaching the matter as gently as possi¬
ble he soon succeeded in making the
quick-witted old lady understand the
drift of his diplomatic talk and in con¬
vincing himself that he had miscalculated
the pride of the mother of the Sullivans.
Rising, in all the majesty of her Irish
wrath, “John Sullivan,” exclaimed the
old lady, “I have hoed potatoes in the
field with the Governor of New Hampshire
at my breast, the Governor of Massachu¬
setts at my side, and the devil tugging
at my skirts, but never yet have I al¬
lowed one of my sons to be ashamed of
me; -order the chaise and send me
home.” Remonstrances were of no
avail, and home went John Sullivan’s
mother in all the majesty of her right¬
eous indignation.
A Way They Hare In Russia.
The St. Petersburg Herald relates
that recently in a south Russian villags
a peasant was accused of a theft. The
culprit kept out of the way, but sent au
advocate to plead his cause before the
local judicial magnate. The lawjye r em¬
ployed all his eloquence to convince the
Judge that his client was innocent, but
his clever appeal had no effect upon the
Magistrate, who knew the aeoused, and
had probably condemned him before he
heard the details of the ease. He gava
the sentence—five and twenty blow*
with a rod. The village Solomon was
informed that the criminal could not be
found.
“Never mind,” he observed, “Justice
must have its course. As the criminal
is not in our hands, we decree that hie
advocate shall receive the flogging. The
man who has the face to defend such a
rascal deserves to be punished."
The luckless lawyer in vain protested
against the illegality, absurdity and
utter injustice of the notorious sentence.
The loss of his time and his fees, he
contended, would be quite sufficient
punishment. But the stiff old Russian
Solomon was inexorable, and the lawyer
was actually seized, bound and received
the twenty-fivo strokes as the represen¬
tative of the absent criminal.
Too Fust.
About the most amusing young whose man
at Saratoga is said to be the one
tastes have run ahead of the money al¬
lowance which his father accords him.
He could drive one horse without ex
travagence, but bis desires extend to a
pair; one good room would lodge him
comfortably, but ho likes to lounge in
two; and so he goes, making himself
miserable when he might be happy,
Why does this bring him misery ? Be
cause he could pay his bills if he didn’t
make a fool of himself; but as it is, credi
tors hound him at every turn. He came
with his hair cut very short, so the
story goes, and bleached from its natural
red to a light blonde. This had been
done for improvement, and so it was
rudely unjust for a familiar acquaintance disguise,
to cry out to him, “It isn’t any
old chap. They’ll know you in a min
ute.”