average as follows: Wheat, 404 bushels; hard wheat, 34 bushels; oats, 57.96 bushels; hay, 1.48 tons; barley, 47.24 bushels; peas, 23 bushels; potatoes, 247.8 bushels.

NEBRASKA.

The favorable decision of the Supreme Court establishing the validity of the district irrigation law will have an astonishing effect in reviving agriculture and commerce in Nebraska. Thousands of acres of semi-arid lands will at once be reclaimed and rendered as fruitful and produetive as the most favored agricultural regions in any part of the United States, and the assurance of the crops in the irrigated portions will be made a matter of certainty so that the owners of these lands will be able to sow and reap regardless of rains or bot winds.

A proposition submitted to the Lincoln and Dawson county irrigation district, comprising 40,000 acres of land lying on the north side of the Platte river in Lincoln and Dawson counties, to vote 6 per cent bonds to the amount of $275,000 was carried by a majority of 84 to 18. The canal will be 62 miles long, with 115 miles of laterals and will be 100 feet wide at its head.

In Western Nebraska there are several windmill plants from each of which thirty to forty acres of ground are irrigated. It seems that irrigation by windmills has made very rapid strides in Nebraska during 1895.

The construction of an irrigation ditch in Holt county is proposed. The ditch is to draw water from the Niobrara and Snake rivers in Cherry county.

The artesian well drilled for S. W. Davis on his farm in the Ponca valley is completed. The depth is 770 feet and water bearing rock 25 feet thick was drilled through. A gusher was struck that flows 6,000 gallons of water an hour through a three inch pipe and has a pressure of 30 pounds to the square inch, throwing a stream 30 feet into the air.

The owners of the gold-bearing lands in the vicinity of Milford are going steadily ahead with projects for developing their properties, and in a few weeks it will be definitely known what the prospects are for making Nebraska a goldproducing state. Prof. Herbert Bartlett compares the formation and quality at

Milford with that of South America, Australia and other gold fields explored by himself.

A correspondent at McCool Junction writes: "While it is believed that gold can be found here in the valley of the Blue, the flowing wells are considered by farmers as of much more value than the prospective wealth of the gold fields. The flowing wells are being found near McCool. Two wells have been located in this county and a number of farmers near here are going to bore for the artesian flow. One thing is peculiar about this artesian flow. Men using common well augers bore down to a depth of eighty to 125 feet and an abundance of water gushes up about three to six feet above

the surface."

State Engineer Howell and secretaries Akers and Bacon of the state board of irrigation are preparing to adjudicate 181 cases involving claims for water in the Republican river watershed. Twelve of the cases also involve contests for water rights, but Engineer Howell believes that he can dispose of the entire lot by the middle of the present month.

This is the truthful way the Culbertson Era puts it: "Alfalfa vs. the Mortgage. They will never stay long on the same farm. Incompatability of their temper. If the alfalfa stays, the mortgage must go."

The trouble between the sugar beet growers and the factory people at Norfolk, growing out of the refusal of the factory to accept the beets under the contract, has culminated in a big law suit against the company. This will undoubtedly throw more light upon the question as to the correctness of the findings of the company's chemists in tests reported.

Last month's disbursements at the Table Rock creamery amounted to $16,537.

Ten thousand fish have been distributed in Cheyenne county by the state commission.

Fred Smith, a Buffalo county farmer near Ravenna, raised thirty-five acres of sugar cane and is now making sorghum at the rate of 100 gallons per day. will have 2,000 gallons, which will net him $800.

He

At the recent meeting of the inter-state association of state fair managers at Chi

The Marguerite Canal Company has bought the Pioneer canal at Barstow.

A large tract of land, of about 2,100 acres on the lower Mimbres near Deming, was sold recently by Mr. Spaulding to a stock company organized in New York. It is the purpose of the company to turn this vast area of land into a canaigre farm. The building of the El Paso, Chicago & Mexican railway will be commenced some time during the latter part of this month.

Papers have been filed with the secretary of state incorporating the Albuquerque, Colorado & Pacific railroad, capitalized at $100,000.

It is believed that the Wichita reservation will soon be open to settlement. The sugar beet factory in the Pecos valley seems to be assured.

twenty miles north of that city to the coal fields. Experts estimate that a section of land containing the coal will produce 5,849,088 tons.

The Sherbrooke Tribune is authority for the statement that Hon. J. O. Smith

had 750 acres of flax on his Plainview farm in Newburgh township the past season from which he gets over 12,000 bushels of flax.

OKLAHOMA.

One of the largest and most representative conventions ever held in the Territory in favor of Statehood has just adjourned. The population now is 275,000.

Taxable property in Oklahoma increased from $19,947,922.86 in 1894 to $39,275,189.21 in 1895.

Secretary Lowe, of Oklahoma Territory, has issued a charter to the Santa Fe, Oklahoma & Western Railroad Company, which also includes a land and town site company, capital stock being fixed at $1,500,000.

The value of alfalfa for Oklahoma is emphasized by the behavior of the crop at the agricultural experiment station.

Canadian county land is quoted as more valuable than that of any other county in Oklahoma.

The report respecting the leasing of school, college and public building lands in Oklahoma is very satisfactory, and shows the net proceeds for the year 1895 to have been $88,627.97.

The governor asks that all the public lands in the Territory, not filed on at this time, be donated to the Territory for the use and benefit of public schools.

35,000 acres set to prunes, the estimated yield being from 80,000 to 100,000 pounds dried, in one orchard of twenty-three

acres.

It is reported that the Bellevue mine has been disposed of to the Standard Oil Company for $210,000.

A colony of fifty people from Scotland will locate in Grand Ronde valley.

Many tons of chittim-wood bark are shipped weekly from Halsey to San Francisco to be made into bitters.

Oregon produced 80,000 bales of hops. the past season. If weather had been better, and prices had warranted it. the yield would have reached 110,000 bales.

The total amount of wool in the grease scoured by the Pendleton scouring mill the past season was 2,171,504 pounds. The amount of clean wool from this was 566, 252 pounds.

SOUTH DAKOTA.

Farmers have been greatly encouraged by the prospects of irrigation from artesian wells, and are not nearly so anxious to sell out as they were early in the fall. Artesian wells are being bored in large numbers, and an abundant flow of water is invariably found at a depth of from 250 to 300 feet. Irrigation will be tried on an extensive scale during 1896.

Work is progressing rapidly on the Steimer & Shrader artesian wells. Brule county will probably have a dozen new artesian wells by spring, and quite a number of irrigated farms next season.

Oschner Bros, of Kimball, say the outfit is now being placed in position for the commencement of drilling on the artesian well.

Judge G. H. Carroll, of Miller, is an enthusiastic advocate of irrigation.

Frank Morris of Tripp is selling irrigated land.

A. E. Swan, of Swan Bros., of Andover has gone to Forest City to make arrange ments for sinking an artesian well for the government at the Indian agency.

An exhibition train bearing products from the big irrigation farm near Mellette, and from others in the State, is making a winter tour of the East and South.

The actual cost of irrigation in South Dakota is fifty cents per acre.

A report from Mellette says that F. R.

Ryerson, of Spencer, Iowa, has purchased W. W. Taylor's interest in the famous Hunter irrigation farm.

Johnson and Mahanna have completed the six-inch artesian well on the county poor farm, one and a half miles from Pukwana, and it is one of the finest wells in the county. It is 925 feet deep and throws a stream of water, clear as a crystal, forty-one inches above the pipe.

TEXAS.

John Willacy, of Portland, has filed with the County Clerk of San Patricio county, statements and estimates for the construction of two enormous dams across the Nueces river, one twelve miles and the other twenty miles from Portland.' It is proposed to construct a canal from the first dam to Portland. The same will be under the control and management of the Nueces Bay and Irrigation Company. The upper dam will be operated by the Nueces Valley and Irrigation Canal Company. It

also will consist of a canal of about eight miles in length between the upper and lower dams. As these dams will never fail to fill less than four times a year (owing to the enormous territory that the Nueces river drains) it will be easily understood that a very large body of land can be irrigated therefrom.

Laredo is to have in the near future one of the biggest irrigation industries in existence. Captain Wm. Anderson has at last succeeded in enlisting capitalists in New York and Chicago in the enterprise. Mr. R. Walker, who has been operating the coal mines under a lease, sold out his entire interest to these people, they paying him $11,000 for his unexpired lease. The new organization has arranged to purchase the entire Santo Tomas tract, consisting of 43,000 acres of rich coal fields. Preparations for irrigating these lands in connection with mining are now being made.

Another big Texas irrigation project has been formed in Maverick county, looking to the construction of a canal leading out from the north bank of the Rio Grande, some thirty miles above Eagle Pass, and extending down the river for twenty-five miles.

The San Antonio Irrigation Co. has been incorporated to build a canal 25

miles long and 14 feet wide to irrigate 25,000 acres of land; Z. O. Stocker, San Antonio; J. S. Taylor, Laredo, Tex.

UTAH.

The Pioneer Electric Power Company, of Ogden, has commenced the construction of its irrigation canal, lying west and northwest of Ogden and on the north side of the Weber river. The canal will have a capacity of 120 cubic feet per second, and is intended for the irrigation of 18,000 acres of land.

Two companies are clawing at each other in the effort to first acquire possession of rights on the Gooseberry reservoir and irrigation scheme near Mt. Pleasant, Utah, a new Richmond, with a surveying corps, having lately appeared upon the scene. This reservoir scheme is, with the exception of the Bear River Irrigation Company's, the largest and most important in Utah, and will involve an outlay of a capital of $500,000.

Henry M. Ryan, representing a company of Chicago capitalists, will shortly begin the greatest undertaking ever yet attempted for the development of the mines in the Camp Floyd district-that is, a thorough prospecting of the district by means of diamond and churn drills.

WASHINGTON,

A very large irrigation project is talked of in the State of Washington. The plan is to tap with a main canal the St. Joe river, in Idaho, and carry the water across the fertile portion of eastern Washington to the arid region of the Columbia basin, and reclaim two or three million acres of land which is at present valueless except for scanty grazing.

A Seattle syndicate has shipped to the Everett smelter, from one of a group of mines owned by the syndicate, a carload of ore which turned out a value of $70.96 per ton in gold, silver and lead. The vein was discovered early in August and has been traced on the surface for more than 1,400 feet. The mines are located eight miles from Skykomish Station on the Great Northern.

Spokane is feeling the good effects of the revival of mining in the Trail Creek and other districts. During the past year over $250,000 has been paid out in Spokane in dividends, one mine, the War

Eagle, alone paying $132,000. The Le Roi has paid $25,000, the Slocan Star $50,000, and the Cariboo claims large amounts.

The great jetty at the mouth of the Columbia is nearing completion. The jetty is one of the most successful works of the kind ever constructed, and the cost has been far within the estimates. There is now a wide, straight channel 30 feet in depth.

An irrigating canal is to be constructed near Walla Walla, which will water 16,000 acres of land.

WYOMING.

Application has been made to the State Engineer at Cheyenne by the Wyoming Irrigation and Land Company for water to irrigate 21,000 acres of land. It intends taking the water from Green river, in Sweetwater county, where this company has secured 48,000 acres of railroad land and has applied for an equal acreage under the Carey act.

A. M. Crafts, the Douglas civil engineer, is in Casper again viewing the territory. there, with the intention of carrying successfully his plan of building an irrigating ditch from Bessemer through the hills south of Casper to Glenrock.

A section of country that is attracting more than ordinary attention just now is the Four Mile placers, situated about seventy-five miles south of Rawlins on the Snake river, in Carbon county.

Six thousand five hundred acres of oil lands adjoining the Cudahy tract passed into the hands of C. B. McClenny, of Florida, last week, says the Douglas News.

The Golden Bar Steam Dredging Company intend placing two large steam dredges on the upper Snake river, in Uinta county, for the purpose of working their valuable placer ground, which consists of over 1,000 acres of low bars on both sides of the river.

WASHINGTON, IDAHO, OREGON AND BRITISH

COLUMBIA.

The Northwest Fruit Growers' Association held their annual session at Walla Walla, continuing for four days, with extra conclaves in the evening. It was largely attended. Dr. N. G. Blalock, the president, was in the chair, C. A. Tonneson, of Tacoma, acted as secretary.

Hon. H. S. Blandford, in behalf of the citizens of Walla Walla, very cordially welcomed the fruit growers and visitors to the hospitality of the city. There were instructive papers and addresses by N. G. Blalock, J. A. Balmer, E. F. Babcock, J. B. Holt, C. L. Whitney, J. M. Hixson, T. R. Coon, C. A. Tonneson, S. A. Clarke, John Hill, Frank Lee, William Brown, H. S. Blandford, F. I. Whitney, J. P. McMinn, Prof. G. A. Droll, Prof. J. M. Bloss (Oregon Agricultural College) and M. P. Carter and J. R. Anderson (British Columbia). Provision was made for the establishment of a Bureau of Information, the condition for membership to be actual shippers of fruit of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia, and also the applicant to be a member of the Northwest Fruit Growers' Association. The standing committee on Bureau of Information was instructed to take up the matter of exposing dishonest commission merchants. The association elected the following officers for the ensuing year: President, Dr. N. G. Blalock; secretary, C. A. Tonneson, Tacoma; treasurer, W. S. Offner; vice-president for Oregon, Emile Schanno, The Dalles; vice-president for Washington, R. C. McCroskey, Garfield; vice-president for Idaho, H. A. Russell, Kendrick. The next meeting will be held at North Yakima, the second Tuesday in December, 1896.

BOOKS AND MAGAZINES.

The December Century has a seasonable Christmas article in Edith Cane's paper on Tissot's The Life of Christ, and

the first paper on The Passion Play at Vorder Thierese, by Annie S. Peck. The Life of Napoleon is continued. Among the table of contents are Appeals to Lincoln's Clemency; One Way Out, and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel.

One of the leading articles in Scribner's for the month is Wild Beasts as They Live, by Capt. Melliss.

One of the most striking contributions is the opening paper by Cosmo Monkhouse, on Laurens Alma-Tadema, which is fully illustrated with reproductions of the artist's most famous paintings. There are good short stories by Frank R. Stockton, Joel Chandler Harris, Henry Van Dyke, Charles E. Carryl and A. S. Pier.

The December number of McClure's magazine contains a continuation of the Life of Lincoln, with new portraits. McClure's magazine claims to have increased its circulation to the extent of 100,000 since beginning the publication of Lincoln's life. It certainly is one of the most readable magazines issued. Among the other features in this number are: The Sun's Heat, by Sir Robert Ball; Through the Dardanelles, by Cy Warman, and the true story of Annie Laurie.

Lippincott's magazine for December contains, English Medieval Life; Gunning for Gobblers; Orchids; Japanese Sword Lore; Athletic Sports of Ancient Days and Meets.

The Christmas Cosmopolitan appears with a colored lithographic frontispiece. Among the leading features are: A Christmas Legend of King Arthur's Country; one of Robert Louis Stevenson's stories, A Tragedy of the Great North Rood; Butterflies, by James Lane Allen, and a story called Tonia, by Ouida; Game Fishing in the Pacific, and Actresses who became Heiresses.

The Review of Reviews for December is larger than usual and it is well filled with many important matters. Sherman's

Story of his own Career, by E. B. Andrews is interesting. The Venezuelan question is very timely on account of recent developments in the status of af fairs between the United States and England. Among the other worthy features are: An Indian on the Problems of his Race, and a character sketch of Herbert Spencer. Dr. Shaw in the Progress of the World carefully reviews existing political situations and important current topics.

The Social Economist of New York, edited by George Gunton, for December contains a number of interesting items, among them are: What Shall be Done With the Tariff; Legal Merits of the Venezuela Case; Woman Labor in England, and others.

The Monthly Illustrator and Home and Country for December contains an article of the Life of Christ, which is illustrated with innumerable reproductions of celebrated paintings and drawings. The story of Jean Valjean is concluded in this number. This magazine is rapidly tak ing its place in the front rank of illus trated publications.