Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 20 December 1890 — Page 10

CEDARS OF LEBANON.

TREES WHICH GOD HIMSELF HATH PLANTED.

•A Mount Garlanded In Sweetest Poetry— Ir, Talmoge's Sermom

Rev. Dr. Talmage preached at Brooklyn and New York, Sunday and Sunday night. Text: Psalm civ. 16 lie said:

In our journay we change stirrup for wheels. It is 4 o'clock in the morning, at Damascus. Syria, and we -are among the lanterns of the hostlery waiting for the stage to start. A Mohammedan in high life is putting his jthree wives on board within an apart meat by themselves, and our party occupy the main apartment of one of [the most uncomfortable vehicles in which mortals were ever jammed and (half strangulated. But we must not let the discomforts annul or disparage "the opportunities. We are rolling on and out and up'the mountains of Leb Anon, theirforehead under a crown of enow, which coronet the fingers of the hottest summer can not cast down. We are ascending heights around which is garlanded much of the finest poetry of jthe Scriptures, and are rising toward •the mightiest dominion that botany •ever recognized, reigned over by the most imperial tree that ever swayed a leafy scepter.

The Lebanon cedar, a tree eulo gized in my text as having grown from 0 nut put into the ground by God himself, and no human hand had anything to do with its plauting.

The average height of this mountain is 7,000 feet, but in one place it lifts its head to an altitude of 10,000. No higher than 6,000 feet can vegetation exist, but below that line at the right season are vineyards and orchards, and olive groves, and flowers "that dash the mountain side with very carnuge of color, and fill the air with aromatics that Hosea, the Prophet, and Solomon, the King, celebrated as "the smell of Lebanon." At. the height of 6,000 is a grove of cedars, the only descendants of those vast forests from which Solomon cut his timber for the Temple at Jerusalem, and •where atone time there were 100,000 axmen hewing out the beams from which great cities were constructed. But this nation of trees has by human Lconoclasm been massacred until only group is left. of giants is nearly extinct, but I have ritrdfcbbt that some of the3e •were here when Hiram, King of Tyre, ordered the assassination of those cedars of Lebanon which the Lord planted. From the multitude of uses to which it may be put and the employment of it in the Scriptures, the cedar Is the devine favorite. When the plains to be seen from the window of this stage in which we ride to-day are parched under summer heats, and not a grass blade survives the fervidity, this tree stands in luxuriance, defying the summer sun. And when the storms of winter terrify the earth, and hurl the rocks in avalanche down this mountain side, this tree grapples the hurricane of snow in triumph, and leaves the spent fury at its feet. From lixty to eighty feat high are they, the horizontal branches of great sweep, with their burden of leaves needleihaped, the top of the tree pyramidal, ft throne of foliage on which might, and splendor, and glory sit But so sontinuously has the extermination of trees gone on that for the most part, the mountains of Lebanon are bare of foliage, while, I am sorry to say, the g&rthjn airlands is being likewise denuded.

The ax is slaying the forest all round "the earth. To stop "the slaughter Bod opened

the

coal mines of England

and Scotland and America and the world, practically saying by that: "Here is fuel as far as possible let tny trees alone." And by opening for the human race "the great quarries of granite, and showing the human family how to make brick, God is practically saying: "Here is building material let My trees alone." We had better

Btop

the axes among the Adiron-

dacks. We had better stop the aXes In all our forests, as it would have been bettor for Syria if the axes had long ago been stopped among the mountains of Lebanon. To punish us lor our reckless assault on the forests we have the disordered seasons: now the droughts, because the uplifted arms 9f the trees do not pray for rain, their presence, according to all scientists, disposing the descent of tho showers and then we have the cyclones and the hurricanes multiplied in number and velocity, because there is nothing to prevent their awful sweep.

Plant the trees in your parks that the weary may rest under them. Plant them along your streets, that up through the branohes passers-by may see the God who first made the trees and then made man to look at them. Plant them along the brooks, that un., d«r them children may pl^vy. Plant them in your gardens, that a3 in Eden the Lord may walk there in the cool of the day. Plant them in cemeteries, iheir shado like a mourner's veil, and •their leaves sounding like the rustle of the wings of the departed. Let arbor day, or the day for the planting of trees, recognized by the legislatures of many of the States, be observed by all our people, and the next 100 years do as much in planting these leafy glories of God as the last 100 years have accomplished in their destruction.

As we ride over Lebanon to-day there is a howling wind sweeping past, and a dash of rain, all the better enabling us to appreciate that description of a tempest, which no doubt was suggested by what David had seen with his own eyes among these heights, for as a soldier he carried his wars clear up to Damascus, and such a poet as he 1 warrant spent many a day in Lebanon. And perhaps while he was 6eated on this very rock against which our carriage jolts he writes that won.,

mm?

flarful description of a thunder storm: '•ihe voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lordisfullof majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon, He maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire."

As the lion is the monaroh of the fields, and the behemoth the monarch of tho waters, the cedar is the monarch of the trees. And I think one reason why it is so glorious all up and down the Bible is because we need more of its characteristics in our religious life. We have too much of the willow, and are easily bent this way or that too much of the aspen, and we tremble under every zephyr of assault too much of the bramble tree, and our sharp points sting and wound, but not onough of the cedars, wide-,branched and heaven-assuring, and tempestgrappling. But the reason these cedars stand so well is that they are deep rooted. They run their anchors down into the caverns of the mountain and fasten to tbe vory foundations of the earth, and twist around and clinch themselves on the other side of the deepest layer of rook they can reach. And that is the difference between Christians who stand and Christians who fall. It is the difference between superficial character and one that has clutched its roots deep down under and around the Ilock of Ages.

One of the Lebanon cedars was examined by a scientist, and from its concentric circles it was found to be •i,500 years old and still standing, and there is such a thing as everlasting strength and such a staunchness of Christian character that all time and all eternity, instead of being its demolition, shall be its opportunity. Xot such are those vaccilating Christians who are so pious on Sunday that they have no religion left for the week day. As the anaconda gorges itself with food, and then seems for a long while to lie thoroughly insensible, so there are men who will on Sunday get such a religious surfeit that the rest of the week they seem thoroughly dead to all religious emotion. They weep in church under a charity sermon, but if on Monday a subject of want presents itself at the door the beggars safety will depend entirely on quick limbs and an unobstructed stairway. It takes all the grace they can get to keep them from committing assault and battery on these intruders, who como with pale faces and stories of distress and subscription papers. The reason that God planted these cedars in the Bible waB to suggest to us that we ought, in our religious characters, to be deep like the cedar, high liko the cedar, broad-branched as the cedar. A traveler measured the spread of the boughs of one of these trees, and found it 111 feet from branch tip to branch tip, and I have seen cedars of Christian character that through their prayers and charities put out one branch to tbe uttermost parts of America, and another branch to the uttermost parts of Asia, and these wide-branched Christians will keep on multiplying until all the earth is overshadowed with mercy.

But mark you, these cedars of Lebanon could not grow if planted in mild climates and in soft air, and in carefully watered gardens. They must have the gymnasium of the midnight hurricane to develop their arms. They must play the athlete with a thousand winters before their feet are rightly planted, and their foreheads rightly lifted, and their arms rightly muscled. And if there be any other way for developing strong Christian character except by storms of trouble, I never heard of it. Call the roll of martyrs, call the roll of the prophets, call the roll of the Apostles, and see which of them had an easy time of it. Which of these cedars grew in the warm valley? Not ono of them. Honeysuckles thrive best on the south side of tho house, but cedars in a Syrian whirlwind Men and women who see this or read this, instead of your grumbling because you have it hard, thank God that you are in just the best school for making heroes and heroines. It is true for both this world and the next Rock that baby in a cradle cushioned and canopied graduate him from that into a costly high chair and give him a gold spoon send him to school wrapped in furs enough for an Arctic explorer send him through a college whore he will not have to study in order to get a di ploma, because his father is rich start him in a profession whore he begins with an office, the floor covered with

Axminster, and a library of books in Russian morocco, and an arm chair upholstered like a throne, and an embroidered ottoman upon which to put his twelve dollar gaiters, and then lay upon his table the best ivory cigar holder you can import from Brussels, and have standing outside his door a prancing span that won the prize at the horse fair, and leave him estate enough to make him independent of all struggle, and what will become of him? If ho do not die early of inanition or dissipation he will live a useloss life, and die an unlamented death, and go into a fool's eternity.

But what has been the history of most of the great cedars in merchandise, in art, in law, in medicine, in statemanship.in Chiristian usefulness? "John get up and milk the cows it's late its 5:30 in tho morning. Split an armful of wood on your way out so that we can build the fire for breakfast. Put your bare feet on the cold oilcloth, and break the ice in your pitcher before you can wash. Yes it has been snowing and drifting again last night, and we will have to break the roads." l'he boys educations advantages, along, oak plank without any Daok to it, in country school-house, and stove throwing out more smoko than heat. Pressing on from one hardship to another. After a while a position on salary or wages small enough to keop

"life, but keep it at its loweBt ebb. Starting occupation or business with prosperous men trying to fight you at every step. But after a good while, fairly on your feet, and your opportunities widening, and thon by some sudden turn you are trimphant. You are master sf the situation, and defiant of all earth and hell.

A Lebanon cedar! John Milton on his wny up to tho throne of the world's sacred poesy, must sell his copyright of Paradise Lost for 672 in three payments. And William Shakesphero.on his way up to bo acknowledged tho greatest dramaist of all ages, must hold horses at the door of the London theater for a sixpence, and Homer must struggle through total blindness to immortality and John Bunyan must cheer himself on the way up to make a flute out of his prison stool: and Canavo.tno sculptor, must toil on through orphanage, modeling a lion in butter before he could cut his statues in marble.

Thirty years from now the foremost men in all occupations and professions will be those who are this hour in awful struggle of early life, many of them without $5 to their name. So in spiritual life it takes a course of bereavements, persecutions, sickness and loss to dovelope stalwart Christian character, I got a lotter a few days ago saying: '-I have hardly &een a well dav since I was born I was 50 years of age and I am very poor, but I am by the grace of God the happiest man in Chicago." Tho Bible speaks of the snows of Lebanon, and at

But while crossing over there mountains of Lebanon I bethink myself of what an exciting scene it must be when one of the cedars does fall. It does not go down like other trees with a slight crackle that hardly makes tho woods, man look up or a hawk flutter from a neighboring bough. When a cedar falls it is the great event in tho calendar of the mountains. The axmen fly. The wild beasts slink to their dens. The partridges swoop to the valley for escape. The neighboring trees go down under the awful weight of the descending monarch. The rocks are moved out of their places and and tho earth trembles as from miles around all ravines send back their sympathetic echoes. Crash! Crash! Crash! So when the great cedars of worldly or Christian infiuenco fall it is something terrific. Within the past two years how many mighty and over topping men havo gone down. Thero seems now to be an epidemic of moral disaster. The moral world, the religious world, tho political world, the commercial world are quaking with the fall of Lebanon cedars. It is awful. We are compelled to cry out with Zachariah tho prophet: "Howl firtrees for the cedar is fallen!" Some of the smaller trees are glad of it. When some great dealer in stocks goes down, the small dealers clap their hands and say "Good for him!" When a great political leader goes down the small politicians clap their hands and say, "Just as I expected!" When a groat minister of religion falls, many little ministers laugh up their sleeves and think themselves eomohow advantaged.

Ah, beloved brethren, no one makes any thing out of moral shipwreck. Not a willow by the rivers of Damascus, not a sycamore on the plains of Jericho, not an olive tree in all Palestine is helped by the fall of a Lebanon codar. Better weep and pray and

tempted." No man is safe until he is dead, unless he is divinely protected. Yet there is ono cedar of Lebanon that alwayB has and always will overtop all others. It is the Christ whom Ezekiel describes as a goodly cedar, and says: "Under it shall como all

fowl of every wing." Make your nest

them,a forest of them. St. John saw them along the streets, and on both sides the river, and evory month they yielded a great crop of fruit. You know what an imposing appearance trees give to a city on earth, but how it exalte my idea of heaven when St John describes the city on high as having its streets and its rivers lined with them. Oh, the trees, tho trees! Tho jasper walls, the fountains, tho temples wore not enough. There would have been sorr.othing wanting yet.

So, to complete all that pomp and splendor, I behold the upbranching trees of life. Not like thoso stripped trees now around us, which, like banished minstrels, through the long winter night utter their dolorous lament, or in the blast moan liko lost spirits wandering up and down tho gale, but thoir leavos shall nevor wither. Whether you walk on the banks of the rivor you will be under trees, or by the homes of martyrs under trees, or by the heavenly temple under trees, or along the palace of the King immortal under trees. "Blessed aro they that do His commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life." Stonewall Jackson's dying utterance was beautifully suggestive: "Let us cross over and lio down under the trees!'1

A Chinese Cnitom.

According to the customs of Chinese society, the wife of tho Chinese Ministor to this country will comb her hair up from her forehead, to show that she is married. Iler tresses reach to her feet, and so difficult is the task of dressing them that one arrangement lasts several days. For the preservation of the coiffure she lies while asleep on a willow pillow as finely woven as an imported bonnet shaped liko a loaf of baker's bread. The maids dress their back hair in a queue, and arrange a bang one and one-half inches deep, from ear to ear. A bit of coquetry is displayed by allowing a single lock to float loosely in front of the face and over the shoulder. Tho hair of the Chinese girl is never cut, and, as result of the splendid care bestowed, it grows luxuriantly. sSfSSiP

thiB

season of the year the mows there must bo tremendous, The deepest enow ever seen in America would be insignificant compared with the mildest winter of snows on the Lebanon mountains. The cedars catch that skyful of crystals on their brow and on their long arms. Piled up in great hefts are thoso snows, enough to crush other trees to tho ground, splitting the branches from the trunk and leaving them rent and torn nevor to rise. Hut what do the cedars care for these snows on Lebanon? They look up to tho winter skies and say: "Snow on! Empty the white heavens upon us, and when this storm is passed let other processions of tempest try to bury us in their fury. We havo for 500 winters been accustomed to this, and for the next 500 winters we will cheerfully take all yon have to send, for that is the way we develop© our strength, and that is the way we serve God ond teach all ages how to endure and co^uer, "So I 6ay: God cheer to all people who are snowed under. Put your faith in God and you will come out gloriously. Others may be stunted growths, or weak jumpers on the lower levels of spirituality, but you ara going to be Lebanon cedars. At last will be said of such as you 'These are they who came out of great tribulation and had their robes washed white in the blood of the lamb."

V,

A Michigan subscriber writes to the American Agriculturist that the following is tho Lako Superior method of holding a cow's troublesome tail while milking: Draw the bush of tha tail into the inner bend of the left knee when sitting down on tho milking stool, and hold it firmly clasped by keeping tho knee closely bent

A Nebraska paper declares that tho great need of the west is more stock to consume the grain surplus. That is true, but as it further avers the stosk must be of higher grade than tho average which now exists in the west. With cattlo at present prices, even with extreme low prices of com. thero is no money in anything except the best quality. In dairies and in good sheep, say of the middle woolea variety, which are profitable for both wool and mutton, and in strictly first class beef cattle, there is a fair profit. In eight-month pigs that will weigh 200 to 250 pounds, and two-year-old steers that run from 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, thero is good profit But there is nothing in scrubs. Better to sell corn even at fifteen cents than to feed such.

A writer says that "an exceedingly delicate and fine flavored butter may be made by wrapping the cream in a napkin or clean cloth and burying it a foot or more in the earth for from 12 to 20 hours." We mention this plan for the benefit of the boy who has to do the Churning. He can bury his cream and play marbles till the "butter comes." That will beat tho new fangled butter-separator.

Some kinds of seeds may bo kept a long time and a very largo per cent, of them will grow another dusts will germinate fairly well, while of others but a very small per cent, will grow. Some lose their vitality the second year. Wheat retains its vitality for a long time, and can be used when more than one or two years old, but it Ls not advisable, only when fresh seed cannot be sccured. But rye must be fresh.

In regard to cutting off the eed ends of potatoes and throwing them away, J. M. Smith says: Last spring I a bushel of the seed ends and planted them by themselves right in the middle of a piece of two or three acres that I was planting and I found, when we came to dig them, that the yield was about just tho same, anu tho potatoes about tho same size. But thoie com n:: •from tho seed ends were nearly a week earlier than the others.

Prof. B. D. Halstcad finds that, ih? common asparagus is heiiotropic. i. i-.. follows the sun in its daily course, ir: early morning tho shoots are nearly upright, but when the sun is two ho uV above the horizon tho same stems lea.t: unmistakably to tho easlw rd. At noon the steins are leaning somewhat to tho southward and at evening they point westward. The curving is most prominent with averaged-sized .stem-

tremble and listen to Paul's advice to which have escaped the gardener'* the Galatians when he says: "Con- knife, and are between one" and twe sidering thyself lest thou also be' feet in height

W. Brazelton tells in Hoard's Dairyman how ho kills tiio horns on his calves. lie says get a stidc of caustic potash, then when tho caif is, 10 days old, take it by both ears, stand straddle of it, thon let an assistant have a little water, wot the place whore the .horn would come, then after wrapuing

tt

rag around ono end of the caustic!

in that great cedar. Then let tho rub the othor end on the horn spot. It 6torms beat and the earth rook, and being wet, will dissolve enough of tho time end, and eternity begin, all shall caustic to cause a dry scab to form. If be well. thoroughly rubbed for, iy a minute.

In my journey up and down Pales- £no °Perilti°n is all sufficient. Mr. tine and Syria nothing more impressed' calves six months old thus me than the trees-the terebinths, the itreated

have

31g"

sycamores, the tamarisks, the olean- Fond mothor-"Johnnie, did vor ders, the mulborrios, the olives the give the bigger apple to Charlie, as I myrtles, the palms, the cedars—all of told you to?" Johnnie—"No you see I them explanatory so much of the ate his apple up first by mistake." Scriptures. And tho time is coming "Did you give him the other one when, through an improved arboricul- then?" "Oh, no you see that ono waf ture, the round world shall bo circutn-!

of a ho

min0-"

ferencod engirdled, embosomed, em-1 1,^00^15^3T" l^ah Chollv paradised in shade trees, and fruit iias been expelled from the club for trees, and flower trees.

vu

igarity

!md

Oh, 1 am so glad that the holy land "Yuaa, wo had horrible evidence of heaven, like the Holy Lund of Pales- against him, y'know. Bertie—"What tine and Syria, is a giv-at place for was it?" Gussie—"Ono of his tailor tree*, an orchard of them, a grovo of bills receipted." ..

bad form." Gussie-

JU877CB MITCHELL DEAD.,

Am Eminent Jnrist sf the Indlaua 8tu preine Bench.

I Judge Joseph A. S. Mitchell died at hte ikome at Goshen, Ind., at 7:80 a. m., Fri» day, Deo, 12, of congestion of the stomach. Tho announcement ol his death caused a •hook throughout tho State. The Supremo Court adjourned immediately upon re* oeipt of a telegram apprising them of the event A dispatch from Goshen eaya •the whole city is plunged into the deepest gloom. Many messages of condolence were received by the family.

Judge Joseph A. S. Mitchell was a nan tire of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. He was born December 21,1836. His father died in the son's early infancy, and his life was one of toil. He graduated from the Blandenville academy at the age •f twenty, and served one year as teacher in that institution. Then he •tudied law for two years at Chambers** burg, Pa., and receiving his diploma, came west and settled at Goshen JHo began practicing his profession In the spring of 1860, but when the war broke out he was among the first of volunteers to respond. He assisted In organising Company M, Second Indiana Cavalry. Three months later he was promoted Captain of his company, which r.nk h» retained until the disbandmont January, 1865. He

TUB LATE JUDGB MITCHELL.

participated in a numbor of hard fought engagements, notably Shiloh, Stone River and Chickamauga. In 1863 he was assigned to duty on Gen, McCook's staff, and was acting inspector general of tho First Cavs airy division, in which capacity he continued until the close of the war. During Sherman's famous "March to the Sea," he was engaged in raiding the enemv's lines of communication, and while leading a charge at Newman, Ga., a minie hall from the rebel works would have pierced his heart, but it struck a package of letters in his breast pocket. This package is still preserved by his family as a priceless souvenir. During this engagement his command was out off from the main body, and was compelled to make a detour of 150 miles, and was subjected to many perilous Incidents before it again rejoined the army

After the close of his military service Captain Mitchell returned to Goshen and entered into a law partnership with John H. Baker, the firm name being Baker & Mitchell. This partnership existed long after Mr. Baker had been elected to Congress, and when political honors had also come upon the subject of this sketch. Captain Mitchell rapidly took front rank with is of on a re re as of the delegation of three chosen by the State Bar Association to attend the convention of the National Bar Association at Saratoga in 1S79. The other members of the delegation were Gen, Ben Harrison and Judge A. Dyer. lgg|g -§|gf!

Judge Mitchell was always a*"staunoh Democrat in his political belief, and firm in his convictions, but free from partisan bias as a jurist. In the Presidential campaign of 1873, and again in 1870, he was one of the State delegates to the Democratic National convention. Six years ago he was nominated by his party as Supreme Court Judge from the Fifth district, and was triumphantly elooted, and in the last election he was again chosen as his own successor.

In November, 1865, Judge Mltch^l was1 united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Defrees, daughter of Joseph H. Defrees, of Qoshen.

SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS.

Alleged Knoouuter Between Soldiers [and Red-Skin* lu South Dakota,

It is reported at Rapid Clty,S. D., that a largo party of Indians attacked eighteen men four miles below French Creek this afternoon, and in a skirmish which followed several on both sides were wounded and a number of Indians are said to have been killed. A squaw-man named Rider also brought in a report that a fight had taken place between troops and Indians four miles north of Pine Iliilgo agency and that a number were killed on both sides Little importance is attached to this last report

Nearly six hundred lodges, or three thousand Sioux, including the bands of Two Strike and Short Bull, are marching in from the Bad Lands to Pino Ridge agonoyt in obedience to Gen. Brook's order, and will report to him soon unless stampeded by fresh rumors. They have been slow to start because they were told that they were to be punished for raiding squaw^inep's ranches.

A dispatch from Fort Keogh, Mont., says: Two bands of disaffected Pine Ridge Indians under

Short Bull ahd Kick*

ing Bear are supposed to be united ana moving northward with the intention of seeking a reservation in Northern Dakota, or of crossing the northern boundary and advancing into Canada. F^fty lodges and a band of stolen ponies are with them. Troop H, Eighth Cavalry, Captain Foun. tain and Lieutenant Sydenham, with a detachment of the Twentysecond Infantry, will leave early in the morning for Dick* inson on the line of the Northern Pacific, to head thom off, and by scouting oast, west and south from that point oapture the band and deliver them as prisoners to the commanding officer at Fort Ahraham Lincoln. Lieutenant Casey,, with his Cheyenne scouts and Captain Adams's troop of First Cavalry, will pursue auotn« er course, and if successful in capturing the Indians will delivor thom ,i at Fort

Keogb. The cavalry have with'them teb puck mules per troop, and one Hotchkisa cannon. All effort will be made to prevent tbe band from joining their friends at Poplar Run agdnoy.

FARM PRObUCT8.

Interesting and Reliable Statistics Gatli. ered by the Agricultural Department.

The statistical returns of tho Department of Agriculture for Decenibor give tho average farm prices of agricultural products by counties, which are consolidated in this office to obtain accurate averages for tho several States. State agents obtain similar estimates, revise and consolidate, and for* ward State averages. Tho Department estimates, as published, aro mudo fiom these duplicate and independent sources of information, which aro in remarkable agreemont and may bo relied upon as tho truo measure of value of crops in tho minds of tho farmers. The present corn crop is worth moro than the last, and farmers will receive more lor it. Unfortunately, districts of failure do not realize their portion of the advance in average value. The average price, by prosent returns, is no. 1 cents per bushol, against 28.8 cents for the crop of 1889, an increase of 77 percent. It is the highest December price of the docade, except that of 1881, the only year in which the final avorago of condition wus worse than that of the present season. The average price then roso to 63.6 cents, and that of the foU lowing year was 48.4, witn a better crop than the present. The next highest average is 44,4, in 1887, following three years of largo crops and cheap corn. Tho prices therefore depend upon the quantity grown in the year plus the reserves from precede ing years. Tho present average shows that small crops are a sure cure for low prices, and that tho law of demand is still the main factor in making prices and prof-, its. The prices in the seven cornssurplus States are: Ohio, CI cents Indiana, 47 Illinois, 43 Iowa, 41 Missouri, 44 Kansas, 51 Nobraska, 48.

The average farm value of the wheat crop, as estimated, is 81 cents per bushel, against 69.8 for 1889, an increase of 20 per cent, on the price of last year. Tho value of wheat is affected by tho harvests of other countries, as corn is not percoptibly, and, therefore, prices sro noteutiroly gov* ered by tho size of tho home-grown crop. For example, the crop of 1885, though smaller than the present one, brought but 77 cont3 in December, whilo tho crop of 1882, aggregating over 500,000,000 bushels, the second largest ever grown, sold at SS at the same dato.

The price of oats ha* responded sharply to the pressure of a small crop and in creased demand because of a short corn crop. Tho average is c42.2 cents, against 23 cents last year. It is the highest reported since 1881. An examination of records show!* that abundance or scar^ty of corn& materially affects the value of oats, these^ grains being largely interchangeable in use. Rye, like oats, at 02.9 cents, is higher than in 1881, and tho same is true of barley at 64.8 cents. Buckwheat at 67.7 cents marks an advance over last year, but is lower than in 18S8.

The deficiency in the potato crop has caused an advance in values in all sections of the country the average is 7.77 cents, an increase of more than SK) per cent, over the prices of the last two years. Returns show slightly higher prices for tobacco to have prevailed since 1887, tho average being rot ported at7,7 cents per pound. Hay alone of all the farm products, records a decline* from last year, the present price being 57.74 per ton, and tho slight falling off is due to the increased product.

AIR SHIP SOON TO FLY.

The Mt, Carmel People Expect to Boar About the Country in Threo Weeks,

"Within three weeks we will sail into Chicago in the first of our air ships," declared E. J. Pennington at the Graud Pat cifio Hotel, Chicago, on the 10th. Mr. Pens nington, who is the chief inventor of the air ship soon to be tried for the first time, had oome to the city to attend the meeting of tho stockholders of the Mt. Carmel Aeronantio Navigation Company, which convened at the hotel this afternoon. It is virtually the first meeting of the stock* holders of this corporation, which, it is aU leged, has already a paid up capital of $20,000,000. It is proposed to invest this great sum in the manufacture of ships,for travels ing in the air.

Mr. Pennington, a neatly dressed, intels llgentand studiouB-ilooking man of about thirty years of age, explained that tho first of tbe ships was nearing completion, and that the plans for a trial trip over the count try bad" already boon completed. This trial will occur in about three weeks. The ship, lie said, ill start from tho place of its manufacture at Mount Carmel and travel to St. Loujs, a distance of 185 miles. From there it will sail up to Chicago, and from hero.to New York. Mr. Pennington^ and his associate, Mr. R. H. Butler, pro-" pose to make this trip, taking with thom a half dozen nowspaper representatives and any of tho stockholders who wish to.^ accompany them. Tho vessol with which the firsttrial tripis to bo made will bo two^JiM hundred feet in length. The cabin will be/-.V' made of aluminium. .'

In coal mining, as everywhere else, mav^| chinery is gradually supplanting the old J, ..' of an a a or pi in in First came compressed air machines,then, a year ago, eloctrical machinery. Thotwo^%|g methods aro in successful operation in£'/ block and bituminous mines. The output, of course, is im'fjer, while the number of men Is greatly reduced. A single Instaucov^lp-f of successful operation comes from Linton, In Green count.y. William Willis, a ina chine man, one day recently cut fiftysthrea"'-' fe tons and Charles Ittngo flftyflve tons ofv$? lump

coal.

As these men get 10 cents a ton

for

cutting, their wages amounted toaVifc^ $10.80. In the same mine, and on thosamn day 150 men, of whom but fifteen are pick men, loaded 5(0 tons of lump coal and 200 tons of iiut ard pea coal, which is the bigs i: gest dttj's vork ever performed at the

1

mine. The tverago earnings of tho uiui employed wis $3.

Will Laey, of Fountain City, found a

number

of lis companions in a drug ston»

tasting wtat the clerk told him was Flew

er's

extract of arsenic. Thinking the elerL was jo'^iigi Lftcoy swallowed tiio content.* of the gluss, »ud narrowly escaped dcath^