The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1881-01-26

lue ~aUuuCllOu, LIE IlllcfcS plOlntSCQ "
return him for $4,000.
The total area of lands available for
wheat GU ture in the United States is not
less than 40, 600, 600 acres. Our entire
wheat crop of the past year, phenomenal
though it was, would not supply seed
enough to SOW SO vast an era OF wheat
land.
A matchmaker ut Copenhagen is re-
ported to have made a watch which re-
quired no winding up, inasnuch as it
performs that work itself by means Of an
electric current. An electric magnet
fixed inside the watch keeps the spring
perpetually in q state of tension. All
that is required to keep the watch going
is to preserve the battery in proper
working order, for which n or two
inspections in q twelvemonth are said
to Ee sufficient.
A mysterious star, called the Pilgrim,
which was observed in 945, 1864, and
1872, is expected by astronomers to ap-
pear before long. 1t was described in
1872 az brighter than Jupiter, and such
was it's brilliancy that persons were able
to detect it at noon in a clear sky, and
at night when the sky was so overcast
as to hide all other stars" If it appears
it will probably be visible for several
weeks in the constellation OF Cassiopeia.
Chinese quack doctors doa large bust"
ness in San Francisco. The large CLASP
Of ignorant people, who elsewhere
resort in sickness TO clairvoyants, there
90 to the Cinnamon. whose horrible
mixtures of reptiles and other things
have frequently been described. 1t was
lately discovered that the most noted OF
these practitioners was in the employ OF
white spe ;ulators, who advertised him
extensively, and took the profits after
paying him a small salary. He had
been a fisherman, and knew nothing at
all of medicine. 1t is said that China
men, with their fearlessness OF death,
and their belief that every man will live
as long as his Maker intended, have
really little faith in medical science.
The Great Eastern steamship has
been definitely chartered for ten years
to carry dead meat to the United
Kingdom from the American seaboard
or the river Plata. 1t is calculated
that from Texas or the Argentine prov.
inces beef of prime quality can be laid
down in England at tn, ee pence per
pound. The promoters Of this bold
scheme intend to slaughter the cattle on
board the great ship as received from
day to day, and for the purpose they
have secured the serviccs of trained
butchers from the slaughter-houses OF
Chicago. The dressed meat will be
stored in retrigerators, and it is estima-
ted that 10000 to $4,000 carcasses of
beef, all hung-equal to 5000 or 1000
tons of meat-wiIl be shipped each
voyage.
Texas, with an area OF more than
274 600 square miles, has a great variety
of soils. but until recently but little has
been known of the country between the
BRACES and Rio Grande and north Of the
thirty-first parallel of latitude. Form
erly it embraced the hunting grounds
of the Apaches and Comanches. The
wild horse, the buffalo, antelope, bear,
deer and turkey Fastened and fattened
upon the rich grasses, and were found
in vast numbers. When the Fort Yuma
stage line was started, and forts were
located and occupied, adventurous
stockmen established ran{ftIaInS. Then
the advantages of thisf.iut lrea was
manifest as a grass.px1Ees@ and c.:
tie grazing district~Tn en in 1878 i
became known that the Pacific Rail way
comr:aJ were arranging to push
their road to a speedy completion, en-
terprising grangers began their en-
croachments upon the stock ranches.
They found the land most slightly to the
eye. The wheat, corn, cotton. oats,
rye, barley, millet and vegetables
yielded far better crops than they had
anticipated, and in 1879, when drought
had caused the great grain and cotton
fields of south and central Texas to
wither and dwindle away, they, with
poor tillage. raised fair crops; the rain
fell in season, the grass grew, and the
country that had been deemed worth
less as arabic land soon became known
as the best in the State. This knowl-
edge has extended, the section is rapidly
filing up, and the crops Of 1880 far ex-
ceeds that of 1879.