The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-29

Cor. of The Progressive Farmer.
f,some of our. surplus rain could be
sent to Australia it would seem to be
a good thing, though all we have had
in this country would hardly, even mat
tiers up.
SEVERE DRoUTH IN AUSTRALIA.
A correspondent writing from Sid
ney, Australia, tells me that ITO state.
the number of cattle, sheep and horses
now being kept from starvation with
small quantities of food drawn from
all portions of Australia would be only
guess work. This applies especially
to New South Wales. "What pas
~toraIists and stock-owners are going
to do should the drouth continue God
only knows. Throughout the western
district places where dams and water
holes have retained their moisture
year in and year out for twenty years
past are now dry and dusty wastes,
and for hundreds of miles the entire
face of the country is completely bare
of every vestige of vegetation, save,
perhaps, a few trees of stunted
growth, ,andseven upon these the leaves
and branches hang dull and limp.
Queensland is almost as bad. Our
Aoeks and herds are little more than
bags of bones, painting and trembling
for food and water. The ubiquitous
hare and rabbit, as. well as the kan
CARGO, have fallen victims to the ever
present famine" 1t is heart-rending.
{. incidentally, this correspondent says
the millers of New Zealand combined
to raise the price of -four. They sue
ceeded so. well that they failed; for
1000 tons of American -four were Just
landed at Auckland, and prices have
declined. Owing to the unparalleled
demand for grain for feeding require
ments in Australia, prices for broken
wheat have risen to a higher level than
good wheat for milling purposes.
A.GooD COUNTRY THAT WE LIv IN
Do our people realize what blessings
they enjoy here? No fears of famine
haunt us, no wars threaten, and the
worst feature we have at present to
contemplate is a coal strike, which
when compared with such a condition
as prevails in Australia is trivial in the
extreme. When the next Presiden-
tial election comes, however, we shall
hear that the country is going straight
to perdition.
A LITTLE NEW YORK GOSSIP
New York is having ideal weather
SO far this summer, and no seaside re-
sort could be more attractive. There
is not a day but we have a good breeze,
and surely one does not need to go
away to keep cool. Still, the system
likes a change and ones nerves must
be a good deal raeked by a years noise
of the city; so it is well to lie on ones
back and watch the clouds in some re-
mote section "far from the madding
crowds ignoble strife" Of course,
"society" doesn't do this; but then
society isn't all of earth.
The volume of black smoke lowering
owe the city grows worse and worse.
1t has come to be a pretty serious
matter, and yet, what can we do
about it? Only wait till the strike is
settled, which may be in a month or
a year. Hard coal, what little can be
found, is worth 81 to IS per ton. Some
dealers in c%ocoanuts are selling shells
of the nuts at SO per wagon load.
They make a hot blaze and are good
as far as they go, but will not.cut much
figure in the total fuel supply.
GROWTH OF THE RICE INDUSTRY.
Some twenty million dollars are in
vested in the rice industry of the
United States. Of this amount three
fourths has been invested within the
past six years. Only a third of the
land that might be utilized is under
cultivation. The crop is valued at
about 100000 Under the Ameri-
can system two men can as easily
take care of one hundred acres as the
Cinnamon in China can of one acre.
The fact is, our people do not use half
or a quarter as much rice as they
ought. The planters ought to start