Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-04-14

the Jewellers Circular, that ''all fears
of a falling off in the yield of tho pre-
cious metal, so far as tho near future is
concerned, arc groundless. Instead OF
a diminishing yield, oil Indications point
to considerable increase at no distant
date. Statistics for 1891 have not yet
been completed, but enough data is OBJ
tainable to warrant us in making the
assertion that the aggregate will be con-
siderably greater than that of 1890"
RAIN makers, of whom General Dyren-
forth is the patron saint, seem TO have
struck very profitable field for labors,
or other performances, in some parts of
California. The Interstate Rain Making
Company has established headquarters
ut Huron, Cal, in region that has about
10000 acres in grain, and is negotiating
with the farmers to supply rain enough
to insure six sacks or more of grain an
acre this season, the pay 10 be collected
after the crop has been harvested. 1T
the season be favorable, the rain makers
will collect fifty cents an acre; If unfavor-
able, they will lose nothing, except the
cost of the fireworks.
THERE is much food for thought in the
remark of Secretary Tracy that one of
the pressing needs of the United States
at the present time is sufficiency of
coaling stations for our navy all over
The world. A modern navy is a creature
Of fuel, and the impregnability of our
ships depends upon their being promptly
coaled. In the event of war, however,
the treaties of every country would COM
pei it to remain strictly neutral, and, as
in the case of the recent trouble with
Chill, we should be forced to send with a
feet of cruisers another feet of coolers
4 sorry spectacle for nation like the
United States. We need coaling stations
both in the West Indies and in the Pacific.
A LEARNED English Justice has been
delivering an opinion from the bench
upon so homely a complaint as mumps.
Zone may catch it" he announced, ''in
five minutes by looking at a person, as
[ know by my own experience. This
statement was wrung from the Justice
in an action brought by an indignant
father against school. His young son,
i'll with a cold, had been enormously re-
ported by sister as having mumps.
lie did not have them, but on the report
he little girl was sent home, and all the
members of the family eligible to school
we're banished for three weeks. The
father sought damages, claiming that
The report should have been investigated.
The Judge, however, who evidently
looked upon mumps with small favor,
held that the bare assertion by the sister
Of the malady's presence was reasonable
ground for heroic measures.
BEGINNING on q small scale ut Cam
bridge University, England, in 1872,
formally organized into society in this
country and Canada in 1890. the univer-
sity extension movement embraced last
year nearly 10000 students at 800 CEN
tres in England and Wales alone. AL
ready one hundred colleges and univer-
stiles have indicated their cooperation
with the American society. Briefly its
object is to provide the means of higher
education for perSns of all classes and
both sexes engaged in the regular occu-
pations of life. 1t is an extension of
university work out among the people
who are unableto drop their business
and devote themselves entirely to study
1T the seats of hilher learning. In other
words, the IN ,venent is broader Chau-
tauqua-the peolle's university, carried
on through privite study, lectures and
correspondence. 1t is one of the most
hopeful signs of he times
REPoRTs from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas,
Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Cali
fornia, are that oil the Indications point
to phenomennly early spring and it
is remarked that tae farmers are making
great preparations on the strength of
the indications. In North Dakota they
are sowing wheat and barley, and plough
ing is being done in many parts of Kan
sas. If the present weather continues
all crops in North Dakota will be in the
ground nearly a month earlier than
usual. In the Walla Walla Valley,
Washington, and in western Oregon cro-
cuses and hyacinths have been in bloom
for couple of weeks, lilacs were in bud
week ago, and cherry and peach trees
will be in full blossom soon. In central
California almond trees are in full bloom,
and the apricot and peach trees are full
of blossoms. An incident in the village
of Pretty Prairie, Kan, few days ago,
when eight couples stood up together
and were married at one ceremony, might
also be taken as an import of spring,
according to the poets representations
as TO the indications of young mems
fancies.
PERHAPS the most impressive illus
tration of what irrigation can do for an
arid country is found in the Pecos Val
ley, which lies partly in New Mexico and
partly in Texas. The Pecos, tributary
of the Rio Grande, rises in the Glorietta
range of the Raten Mountains, and its
channel has an inexhaustible supply of
Of wa er. The banks of the river have
always been famous for fertility, but its
generous volume of water was wasted on
the early settlers, 1t remained for
capitalists with scientific methods of
irrigation to make proper use of the
river. To-day water is b ing supplied
10 100000 acres Of land, where a few
years ago a blade of grass would scarcely
grow. The dam above Eddy, n. NJ, in
which the spring freshets and the cloud
bursts of the heated term are collected,
is 1000 feet in length, 115 feet at its
base, and, rising thirty feet above bed
rock, holds more than one thousand
million cubic feet of water. From this
reservoir canals are carried on each side
of the river, about fourteen miles apart,
and are reinforced by fve subsidiary re-
servoirs. All crops that are common to
Southern California, except the citrous
fruits, can be raised on this land, and it
has the advantage of being two days