Evening star., 1899-02-02
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS

''The whole scheme of wheat farming in
the famous Red River Valley of the North,
said Curtis Wells of St. Thomas, n. D., at
the National today, 'is changed nowadays
from what it when [ first went up into
that country in 1881. Then and for several
years afterward we had dollar wheat, and
every bushel in the valley was graded as
No. hard. Good farmers got twenty-five
to thirty bushels an acre then. The aver
age for the valIey5'was twenty bushels,
while that for Minnesota and Dakota, taken
by and large, was thirteen bushels. Nova
days good farmers are making money with
a yield of ten bushels to the acre and some
times even less. We used to reckon that
50 an acre was the cQst reproducing a crop,
and a man had to get at least ten bushels
to the acre to come out even. L have
number of neighbors this, year who had less
than ten bushels to the acre, and yet made
money. The profit now lies in the use of
labor-saving machinery. We plOw with
disc plows in wide gauge. Our seeders
are twelve feettwidd and good four-horse
team can put in thftS 4cses of wheat in a
harding the strayl which we. plow wv under
The great mass Of farmers stiff use self
binders and handle al the straw. With two
three-horse teams and two men a binder
Will cut twenty acres a day at a cost of
about 80 cents ap acre. The header works
at about the same figure and will cut and
stack about thirty-five acres Il day. Count
ing up all the cost of seed. blowing harvest
ing and thrashng, most farmers in the Red
river country are now paying just about
S1.I.J ansacre, and if they get eight bushels
to the acre, are doing well. About three
bushels of this will be profit, so that a man
can make hardly more than days wages
wheat farming. On quarter section, or
l6o acres, a good farmer can make nova
days from $500 to S+O,.''
Il visit the states every year and look
around for available theatrical material and
new plays to introduce in England and
Australia" said Mr. George Musgrove,
manager of the famous Shaftesbury The
ater, London, and member of the firm of
Williamson & Musgrove, at the Arlington.
I have only day to spend in Washing
ton, and would like to>pay my compliments
to the magnificent city that has been built
up here since | first visited this country,
some twenty years ago. The trouble with
American plays and playwrights, in my
opinion is the star system SO much in
vogue here. Why, your stars take and keep
the center of the stage from the beginning
of the performance to the end. Often this
Is caused by their insufferabl vanity, and
oftener still by the fact that the play has
been written especially for them and they
feel obliged to predominate in every scene
and action.
In London 1t is different There the
actors adapt themselves to the play, and
every one IS given something of a chance
Australia. next to the United States, is the
pest field for theatrical ventures in the
world The people there willing to pay
good prices for good performances, and
everybody goes Sidney and Melbourne are
towns or about 100000 population each, and
IL is no unusual thing for a company to
make run of ten weeks in either of those
places. The circuit is good throughout and
lnere is good money to be made with first
ciasS material there in a theatrical line.
conditions arc peculiar, however, and some
of the greatest American and English ac-
tors make complete failure there. [ had
1ouf companies on the road in Australia in
one year. Three of them were great Sue
cesses, and the fourth, which was led by
one OF the most celebrated American ac-
tors, failed.
one of the greatest hits recently made
IN Australia was the tour of The Belle of
New York 1t was made under NV direc-
t.oii' ana was careful to have all local
hits and Americanisms superseded by terms
that TIE natives GOULD understand. The
tiieatflcal business Is looking up all over
the word, and the present season will be
one OF the most remunerItive in the history
na ot me business, if I2anfaany judge of the
Mambi was theterm Of derision which
the Spanish soldiers, applied to any chill
dren porn within that part of the province
OF Puerto Principe. ttnbt. which was held
by the Cuban insurgents during the ten
years war in that devoted island, from
1868 to 1875" said Mt J. Nelson Pohamus