will defend the suit for all parties concerned.

The state board of control is making provision for extensive surveys in all of the different irrigation districts of the state. Applications for leases were filled for about half a million acres of land. The state constitution adopts a minimum sale price of $10 an acre, which is above its market value. As it leases at from five to ten cents an acre it is altogether better to lease than buy. There were about 275,000 acres under the government grant of state lands still to be selected. When the total is selected and leased, the state will get an income from it of about $20,000 a year.

GENERAL MINING NEWS.

Under the new law in Utah the cost of incorporation papers is twenty-five cents on each $1,000 of capital stock.

The old mine at Barnack, Montana, is being fitted up, and is to be started on ores from the mines of the camp.

A Utah mining man has invented the Acme Gold Amalgamater which is being tested at the Carrington bar on the Snake river.

Anaconda is to have a plant for the manufacture of sulphuric acid from the smelter smoke, for the present only for the company's own use.

The Salt Lake Tribune has recently published a twenty-four page, 300,000 edition, devoted to a detailed write-up of the prosperous Mercur camp.

American mines are again attracting a good deal of attention in London. Prominent experts and South African miners are coming to America this spring.

Superintendent Treweek, of the Mercur mine, says he is ready to increase the output of the bonanza to 1,000 tons a day any time the management provides for the handling of it.

There are at present eleven smelters running in Colorado. All of them are now receiving twice the amount of ore they received last year, indicating that the output is doubled.

The big copper plant that has been standing so long unfinished at Salt Lake City, because of factional fights among its

owners, is to be completed and put in blast by June 1 to 15.

While the DeLamar mine in the Mercur

district, Utah, does not give out figures for publication, it is contended that it is producing more gold than any other single property in the country.

While sinking a well for water at Cerrillos, New Mexico, oil was struck at a depth of 110 feet. It was not in paying quantities, but the work is to be prosecuted in the hope of making a rich strike.

The Silverton Northern Railway is being constructed between Silverton and Mineral Point up the Animas valley, Colo. It will furnish shipping facilities for twenty goldproducing gulches, where there are many mines already in operation.

The Trail Creek district of Washington is coming to the front and will show a very heavy output before the close of the It is estimated that the average year. will not be less than 400 tons a day of $40 a ton ore, or $16,000 a day.

season.

Placer mining will be prosecuted in all of the states with great vigor the present New finds are being made and new methods of saving the gold, so that the output promises to be a large factor in the total gold production for the year.

The Power Development Company in the Kern river valley, California, is expected to practically dry the river bed in seasons of low water, and many mining locations have been made along the riverbed with a view to placer washing at such periods. It is known that there is plenty of gold in there yet.

The most valuable single carload shipment of ore that has probably ever been made has recently been shipped from the Eureka Hill mine, Utah. Twelve and a half tons were valued approximately at $375,000, there being sufficient gold in it to bring it up nearly to coin value. It was the product of the mine for about three months.

The district surrounding Baker City, Oregon, is becoming one of the important gold fields of the West, and development work is in progress there on a scale never before known. Capacity of mill and mining plants is being increased, new mills are being erected, additional men are

being employed and there is generally a wholesome condition.

The Mammoth Mining Company, of Utah, has recently struck a body of ore at the 800 foot level equal to that which gave the property its reputation in its palmiest days. Much of it yields as much as 100 ounces of gold to the ton, and the silver ore yields as high as 1,400 ounces. Twenty new stamps are being added to the mill, making a total of sixty.

There are to be two cyanide plants constructed in the Mercur district, one by the Mercur and the other by the DeLamar, each with a capacity of 500 tons per day. Other mills are being built in the same district. The process is one calling for a comparatively small outlay in the plant. The ore bodies are enormous, and although of low grade the cost of treatment is so small as to leave a handsome margin of profit.

An article by Robert A. Kirker, published in the Grand Junction, Colorado, News, advocates the establishment in that locality of an Oberstein lapidary factory. He makes the broad statement, and challenges contradiction, that there is in that locality a superior quality of raw products of agate, onyx, jasper, chalcedony, etc., more beautiful and in greater variety of "olor, without flaws or imperfections, than can be produced by any other lapidary locality or manufacturing site now established in the old world or in America. His article is a very interesting one, and indicates a comprehensive knowledge of the industry.

The cathode ray is finding its adaptation for a great variety of purposes. Recently some very interesting experiments were made in Oregon City, Oregon, by Dr. J. C. Ferry, a well-known physician there, and W. C. Cheney, superintendent of the Portland General Electric Company. The rays were made to define the free gold in gold-bearing rock as plainly as if lying on the surface of the quartz. This is probably the forerunner to a general use of it in mining operations. If they go on improving it as they have for other purposes, it will not be long before we shall hear of it being used to explore the ground between tunnels and the surface above.

BOOKS AND MAGAZINES.

GLADSTONE, HALE, FARRAR, GUNSAULUS, ETC.

No matter what the subject might be on which the men whose names are given above might write it would be of absorbing interest to the people. How much more would this interest be if the subjects on which they wrote were those to which these men had given the greatest consideration and the best thoughts of their minds. In "The People's Bible History," just issued by the Henry O. Shepard Company, of Chicago, the matured opinions of these men-of the most learned Biblical scholars in all portions of the globe--is concentrated. Of this book Bishop John H. Vincent says: "What Gladstone and Sayce have written expressly for its pages, giving the latest results of their largest knowledge, is enough to justify even the most cultivated people among us in the purchase of this admirable book, and the English ex-premier and the eminent English archaeologist are only two out of eighteen specialists who have contributed to The People's Bible History."" The beauty and wealth of illustration and the exquisite press work and typography of the book are worthy settings to the utterances of the great minds set forth in its pages. The popular edition of the book is to be had in cloth, half russia and full russia. Agents are wanted. An edition de luxe has also been brought out, containing 1,283 pages and 200 full-page illustrations and maps, and is said to be a masterpiece of modern bookmaking.

"The Education of Women in Turkey" is the interesting theme of an article by Miss Mary Mills Patrick, President of the American College for Girls, Constantinople, whose educational work among the women of Turkey, extending over a num authority on ber of years, entitles her to write with this question. Professor Thomas Davidson, who has just returned from a two-years' sojourn in Europe and the East, has written a highly interesting article for this number entitled "The Democratization of England," for the June

Forum.

An entirely new near view of Grant will be given in McClure's Magazine for June, in a paper written by the man who was chaplain of the Twenty-first Illinois when

With its rubricated initials, its fifty beautiful illustrations-of which six are in a rich photo-tint-its marginal decorations. and interesting letter-press, the Land of Sunshine, of Los Angeles, California, is very much the most attractive number yet issued by that progressive magazine of the great Southwest. The romance and mystery and beauty of California, Arizona and New Mexico find in this handsome monthly such expression as they have never had before. Pictorially it is much ahead of anything else in the West; and it is made to be read as well as looked at. Its contents are crisp, competent, characteristic and always readable. The best writers in the West (and some of the best in the East) are among its contributors.

The second article on "The Trotting Horse," by Hamilton Busbey, in the June Scribner's, contains more remarkable illustrations of great trotters. Among the most beautiful in this issue are Sunol, Azote, and Electioneer. The great stock farms of Stony Ford and Palo Alto are also described and illustrated.

The wombat is a little animal resembling in appearance a small bear, with short legs, a broad, flat back, and very short tail. It eats grass and other vegetable matters and is a harmless little creature, shy and gentle in its habits, though it can bite if very much provoked. In the May "Chatterbox" there is a story of a farmer who had a wombat for a pet; he took it a long way into the forest in order to get rid of it, but twice the little animal returned, having found its way without help to its adopted home. The third time the farmer conveyed it across a deep and broad river, and as the wombat cannot swim, he felt sure he had gotten rid of the persistent

pet; but no! the little creature soon found a huge fallen tree, which lay half across the stream, and crawling to the extreme end, sat wistfully gazing at the departed farmer. So touched was the man that he paddled back again, took his fat little passenger on board, and carried it home, much to the delight of the children.

[ESTES & LAURIAT, publishers, 196 Summer street, Boston, Mass., fifty cents a year or three months for ten cents.]

A COLORADO RANCH.

The Wallace Ranch in Colorado is eight miles east of De Beque on the south side of the Grand river. It consists of 480 acres all in a fine state of cultivation, watered by a mountain stream which furnishes abundance of water for irrigation. This stream has its source on the high table mountain known as Battlement Mesa. The top and sides of the mountain are covered with grass and timber. The grass of which there seems an almost unlimited supply is used for the pasturing of domestic cattle, and the timber furnishes shelter for plenty of large game such as elk and deer.

From the top of a near by mountain can be seen toward the east the snow-covered peaks around Gunnison and Aspen, while to the southwest can be seen the LaSalle and Henry mountains in Utah.

This ranch is just at the gateway where the creek has forced its way through the mountains and out on to the level mesas, where there is fine farming land only waiting the magic touch of water and cultivation to blossom and bring forth abundant harvests.

The best method to grow corn in one locality may not be the best in another. Careful study must be given to the local conditions. For this as well as for almost everything else the farmer has to do, it is necessary to give careful thought.

It takes less time to keep the chickens and stock healthy by preventing the sickness than to cure it, and costs less, too.

A fresh cow in lambing time will beat a creamery for profit. Dakota Farmer.

Weeds are robbers of plant life. Exterminate them.

The figures given are for the fiscal years ending with June 30, and it will be seen that our foreign commerce attained high water mark during the year ending with June, 1892. A change of tariff schedules has taken place during the time under review, and a violent convulsion in the financial world has also occurred; yet all causes combined have not so very seriously crippled our foreign trade, as the above figures will testify.

The ultimate effects of recent tariff legislation cannot yet be foreseen, but they are almost certain to increase the imports if they do not diminish the exports.

SOUTH AFRICAN MINING IN A NUTSHELL.

Probably not since the days of John Law and his celebrated "Mississippi Scheme," has the general public of England and France especially, gone into wilder or more hopelessly reckless speculation. The mining stocks of the Johannesberg region in South Africa formed the basis of innumerable wildcat concerns which have drained dry the stock markets of both England and France. Beyond a certain point, however, sensible people who stop to think a bit, know the whole business to be insane folly. Anyone reading the following figures from the London Statist, reprinted here from Bradstreet's of recent date, can see at a glance how hopeless is the prospect of dividends. from West Kaffir mining shares: "At the end of 1893 the capitalization of the Witwatersrandt mines, on the basis of the market price of the shares, was about £17,500,000, the return in dividends £1,000,000. At the end of 1894 the capi

talization was about £55,000,000, and the return in dividends about £1,500,000. The present capitalization of the whole of the mining companies having their field of operations in South Africa cannot be far short of £300,000,000, while the actual dividends for 1895 were not more than £2,500,000." Certainly, dividends of only five-sixths of one per cent. should not be very enticing to investors, even in these days of low interest.

SOMETHING ABOUT BANANAS.

It is believed by many lovers of bananas that if they could only eat the fruit directly from the plant they would find it incomparably more delicious. This is an error. Even on the plantations where grown, bananas are never allowed to ripen on the stalk. Like our pears, the banana is much better if taken from the stalk when mature, but not ripe, and allowed to ripen elsewhere. The banana stalk bears but one bunch of fruit, and is always cut down in harvesting that bunch. "Suckers" continually spring up from the roots. of the banana, hence the crop goes on, one sucker after another coming up to bear its bunch of fruit after those preceding it have been cut down in the process of harvesting. The main sources of supply for bananas coming to the United States are Jamaica and the eastern coast of Central America. From Port Limon, in Costa Rica, a good many thousand fine bunches come in every year, and also from the region of Bluefield and the Escondido river, in Nicaragua. But the largest shipments are from Jamaica. For the year 1894 the value of bananas imported was $4,960,747; and for 1893 it was $5,386,029.

FREE ENTRY OF FOREIGN FRUIT BOXES MADE OF AMERICAN MATERIAL.

Everything seems to be interpreted in favor of the foreigner when it comes to the construction of our present tariff law. Not long since the Board of Appraisers at New York, who knocked the duty off Grecian currants recently, made the fol

lowing ruling regarding foreign orange, lemon and lime boxes made of American shooks:

"In view of this doubt as to the proper construction of the law, the rule would obtain, as often announced by the Supreme court, that the benefit of the doubt should be resolved against the government and given to the importers. This would authorize the conclusion that imported orange boxes, which are made entirely of American shooks, previously exported filled or empty, would be free of duty under said paragraph 387.

"This construction we accordingly place upon the law, and, in harmony with such interpretation, we modify decision in re Haynes, G. A. 2855, sustain the protests

and reverse the collector's decision in each case, with instructions to reliquidate the entries accordingly."

The effect of this ruling will be to lower the duty on foreign citrus fruits a few cents a box, thus still further cutting into the American producers of these fruits. Perhaps the day may come when we shall have a tariff law specially favoring American producers as against foreigners. At present the latter appear to have things very much their own way.

COTTON SPINNING IN JAPAN.

In

Statistics published recently by the government of the United States show that in 1887 only 19 cotton spinning factories with 70,220 spindles were to be found at Kobi, Osaka and vicinity; while in 1893 there were 40 establishments numbering 381,781 spindles, and producing 87,667,324 pounds of cotton yarn. 1894 the output was 90,000,000 pounds. In February, 1895, there were 47 cotton spinning establishments, with 492,979 spindles and the number is liable to be greatly augmented in the near future. Up to 1894, the value of spinning machinery for cotton and silk imported into Japan was $1,445,000. It is of interest to note that in Japan, male cotton spinners receive but 8 cents a day while female operatives get but 5 cents a day. Some day our own spinners as well as those of Great Britain will have to compete with the 5-cent spinners of Japan.

The wettest place in the world is Cherrapongee, in India, the annual average rainfall there being 610 inches. In 1861, the downpour at that point reached the mar

velous figure of 905 inches. The average annual rainfall for the globe is 36 inches, and the mean annual temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

The hottest city in the world is Calcutta, India, where the mean annual temperature is 82.4; the coldest inhabited place is Tobolsk, Russia, with a mean annual temperature of 32. The average temperature of St. Petersburg is 39.6, and of Moscow, 40.

The line of perpetual snow under the equator is 15,260 feet above the level of the sea. feet above sea. In latitude 70 it is but 1,278

In spite of the fact that we hear conbits, they are quoted in the Melbourne tinually that Australia is overrun by rabmarket at 24 cents per pair, and hares range from 24 cents to 36 cents each. These prices are quoted by United States Consul Maratta.

Consul Germain, at Zurich, Switzerland, reports to the State Department that the female operatives in the knitted underwear factories in Switzerland get an average of 29 cents per day. He visited a factory employing about 500 girls and women at these wages, and was informed by the proprietor that each of them had an account in the savings bank. Large amounts of this underwear are imported into the United States from Switzerland.

Mulhall, the great English statistician, alleges that at the death of Augustus Cæsar, the population of the earth was but 54,000,000. That of Europe before the fifteenth century did not exceed 50,000,000. The world's population is now estimated at 1,479, 729,400, that of Europe being 357,379,000.

England gives the earth's area at 196,The Royal Geographical Society of 971,984 square miles, and its cubical contents at 259,944,035,515 cubic miles.

One quarter of all the people born upon the earth die before reaching the age of six years; one-half before reaching the age of 16, and only about one person in each 100 born lives to the age of 65.

H. C. Welty, of Topeka, Kansas, one of the most prominent well-drillers in the State is an advocate of irrigation by means of wells and pumps and wherever possible by artesian supply. Mr. Welty was the organizer and moving spirit in the Welldrillers' convention last year.