WOMAN'S EDITION THE DALLES TIMES-MOUNTAINEER. 21 i Flower Culture EDITED BY MRS. S. BROOKS and MRS. GOURLAY. shower a plant and allow the sunshine The purchase price is $2.50 per acre, on it while Mater stands on the leaves, payable one-third down, one-third in If you do, more than likely, brown spots one year, and the other third two years will appear, making the foliage look as from drte of application, these two pay if blistered, which, in fact, it is. A drop ments to be secured by promissory notes of water often focuses the rays of the at 10 per cent., which is payable semi- sun upon the plant and is sure to scorch it. As T sat in our flower decked church, beautiful varieties now grown, one can on this beautiful Easter day of April have a great display of flowers from tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety- them. Where one is not provided with eight, amid the floral offerings brought a window for wintering them, and yet from our homes and gardens, to deck would like them for bedding in the sum- vate individuals in our county, are con ,the altars, in honor of a risen Savior,, mer, in the fall take cuttings of the vari- stantly in receipt of letters asking for flowers seemed a fitting symbol of the eties desired, planting in a common information regarding our land district. glorious resurrection. soap box filled with good garden soil, These letters come from all parts of the 14 months entitles claimant to purchase country on a stranger's or even a friend's imDiems or our own great resurrec- not too rich ; a soap box will hold eight United States, and not infrequently at $1.25 per acre, or not less than five sav so. Oregon in its delightful climate to ten plants, which, by spring, will be from foreign countries, sent forth lilge years and not to exceed seven years con- and productive power of its soil throws right size for bedding, and give a wealth Noah's dove to bring tidings of a new tinuous residence and cultivation, with down the gauntlet to any country on the of blossom all summer. Almost every land. The writers are usually men of payment of final fees, $6 for 160 acres, $3 globe. Come and see for yourself, kitchen has a little window space it can moderate means, who have enough for 80 acres, and testimony of claimant Anna M. Lang. spare for this purpose, and they will monev to bring their families west, and -- - - PUBLIC LANDS. Public officials, as well as many pri- annually. If the interest is promptly paid, the notes may run for 10 years, or the entire price may be paid at time of making application. No. 8 What are the fees on home stead and how can I perfect title? .$16 for 160 acres ; $8 for 80 acres ; resi dence upon and cultivation of land for and two witnesses at 22 cts. per 100 words ; this with publication fee usually amounts to about $15. No. 9 Does a man have to live con tinuously on his homestead? The law requires a man to make it his continuous home, and particularly states that occasional visits to tracts does not constitute a residence. No. 10 Do you advise me to come to Oregon? Maybe. We would not advise any one to sell a good home and locate in a new the bright and better tion, "Emblems of land." But my thoughts wandered from the scene before, and went back in memorv BuU1clmM.yuuuC(i,BdgulWx.lc.iCS amply repay their room by the freshness after paying to enter homesteads, to of that time as I found it. Coming up they give. It may be necessary to re- build their houses and begin settlement, on the old steamer Idaho I brought with m0ve them occasionally to warmer quar- The questions asked are varied, some me a box of rose cuttings to plant m the ters for a few nights during extremely times vague and diffuse, but for the new nome, oui my uox oi cuumgs ar- cold weather, but the box being com pacted the attention only of ridicule, parativelv lisrht and small, a warm cor ner can always be found which cannot so easily be done for plants in separate pots. that! should hope any of them to grow amid such uncongenial surroundings as a Dalles door yard might offer. With but two exceptions, Judge Laughlin's and Lawrence Coes' homes, no attempt at flower growing had been made. I scarcely think any of my cuttings are the ancestors of our beautiful rose bushes of today, but any attempts to beautify and make better life's sur roundings are never lost, and today we rejoice in our gi'een lawns strewn with flowers, speaking of homes of refinement and culture. When we speak of home?, we do not mean merely the house we dwell in, but its surroundings also exert their influence. Victor Hugo says in Les Miserables The beautiful is as use ful as the useful, perhaps more so," and this is the plea I would make for all homes to be flower decked, especially for those in the country. Strapge as it may seem, our cities and villages adorn their door yards, the little space of . ground necessary for the spot of beauty on which the eye may rest, after being wearied with the toils of the day. No wonder the younger generation of this coast has ho love for the farm where there are no loving remembrances of mother's old fashioned flower garden as associated with many New England homes, though there the soil may have been sterile, and life one round of toil, yet memory clings to those homes in a way which it never does to the wide spreading wheat fields and more fertile soil of our glorious west. ; Because we have forgotten one element of man's nature, "man shall not live by bread alone" was spoken by the Great Creator who had planted within every soul a love of the beautiful. The issue is made that a farmer's wife has so much to do she cannot spare time for flowers. In behalf of my sex I will say, give her the opportunity by fencing off a small space with some wire webbing that will be chicken proof, then digging the ground once for her, I will trust that in ninety nine cases out of a hundred that spot will become a thing of beauty on which the tired eye may rest, and giving the true touch of home to the humblest cot tage. The expense will be a mere trifle in comparison with the result. 4 Going back to the Easter decorations, which seem to form a kind of text for WILD FLOWERS. Our wild flowers well deserve mention. I only wish I had more time to devote to them. The little Erigenia, or as the children call it Indian Potato, with its delicate heliotrope odor, is the first to make its appearance, coming out of the ground sometimes even in January, if we have a few warm days. Next are the Golden Stars, fitly named, as they fleck our hillsides with their paths of sunshine, then Purple Eyed Grass (the sisysinchium) with its yellow compan ion, the little Fritillaria,proclaim spring unsurveyed, being heavy timber most part are apparently from men who earnestly desire information about Ore gon. Several such letters lie before us, and while we have not space now, to speak at length of the wonderful wealth and resources of Eastern Oregon, we have thought that the publication of answers to some of the leading questions may interest our readers. Eastern Or egon is nearly in the form of a parallelogram, being 275 miles long and 230 miles wide. From this large area, 8,061,500 acres form the land dis trict known as The Dalles, comprising all of Sherman and Gilliam counties, and parts of Wasco, Crook, Morrow and Grant counties ; in all about 360 town ships ; 349,680 acres of this vast tract is and "Good Timber and Bone Dry" Is the motto of the Winona Wagon Co., builders of the Celebrated ...... ... RUSH FORD WAGONS Axles and Skeins i inch larger than size of Wiigon, viz., "A 3" wagon lias o axie and skeins. has really come, and from then on there is a constant succession of flowers until Jack Frost makes his appearance. Gold en Esythroniums (Rock Lilies), Crow's Foot (low growing Buttercups), Lark spurs, Peonies and Lupins of all shades, varying through the. blues from deepest still rough land, but 3,491,011 acres are open to settlement. The land in this district is broken and hilly, and principally adapted to grazing purposes. Some small valleys and un dulating tablelands constitute good farming land, but the greater portion is see purple to white, also pink and yellow broken, hilly and mountainous. ones while underneath all, is an infinite The Cascade range, 120 miles distant variety of smaller flowers,' too small to from the coast, is the western boundary, attract attention of the casual passer by, yet when examined show a won derful beanty. God's work is always perfect even when too minute for the unaided human eye. Summer brings Painted Cup with its the land sloping eastward to the Hood River valley. The country is watered by the Hood, Deschutes and John Day rivers and their tributaries. Timber grows in profusion on the mountain slopes, but in general the timber in the "THRRE ARE OTHERS, That are cheaper, but none so good. Call and them at MAYS & CROWE'S, The Dalles, Ore. .. JOHNSTON BROS .. DUPUR, Dealers in OREGON, fiery glow, Penstemons and many other district is only adequate to the demands of the Labiate Family, also crowds of of the country for fuel, building and the Compositae headed by the sweet- fencing purposes. The Hood River val- scen ted Sun Flower. ley is particuiarly adapted for fruit. Among the shrubs comes first the Apples, pears, plums, and all small fruits Oregon Grape, Service Berry, Wild grow well here, while the land lying Cherry, Yellow Currant Springe, the east on the Deschutes and John Day is Ocean Spray and its near cousin with better suited for wheat raising, which is the Indian name of Shush ula, bearing the great staple ; oats, barley, rye and long successions of delicate, lilac-colored vegetables of every variety can also be blossoms. The two last are spirceas, grown. The Blue mountains on the and well deserve a place in the flower east form a water shed parallel in the catalogues,. as they are far superior to main with the Cascades, from which the many of the shrubs sold. On our creeks land slopes westward to the John Day are the lovely wild . roses and White and Deschutes rivers. Large numbers of Clematis. These are all found in a short horses, sheep and cattle have been walk around The Dalles. The sands of raised here, but as the country becomes Rockland are not without their contri- more thickly settled, more attention is bution of beauty in the form of the given to farming and fruit raising. In Af ronia with its verbina like flowers. I the southern part of the district, the might mention many others, had I the leading industry is stock raising, the time to classify, and name them. It open land being fit only for grazing, would be well for our public schools to The following questions are taken this article, I must speak of the beauty 8tart Herbariums so as to preserve many from letters received here by the Reg- oi the Oregon grape, (so called). " seems to me that is our state flower, by fast trodden out of existence. No. 1-Is there any government land sole right-I should say state plant, as ' I think that it is not generally under- open to entry in your district? its leaves are even more beautiful than stood that a plant not standing in direct Yes-3,491,011 acres, the flower, though the last has a rich light does not require as much water as No. 2-How can it be taken? beauty all its own, as its golden bunches the plant near the glass. Sometimes Land under timber and stone act is nestle amid the leaves. We hear in we do not take into consideration that $2.50 per acre; desert land $1.25 per song and story of the festoons of English the less HSht a Plant &eta the lesa raPid" acre ' isolated tracts 8ubiect to open bid, holly, but our own Oregon grape, with ly evaporation takes place, conssquently the minimum price being $1.25 per acre, itsshade of brilliant green to deepest the less frequently it will be necessary No. 4-What kind of land have you? crimson, can fully equal and I am safe to water- Some amateur always apply All kinds as described above, to say surpass the world famed holly . in the 8ame quantity", daily, no matter No. 5-Can you send maps, plats, dia- dnrativP : Tts name. too. though where the plants stand, nor what the grams, lists or circulars describing va- a misnomer, botanically, as it is not a grape, but belongs to the . barberries) was given, when Oregon '8 domain , ex tended from the Pacific Ocean to the t THE DALLES PRICES ON ALL MERCHANDISE Agents for Olive Chilled Plows, McSherry Drills, Craver Steel Headers, Mitchell Wagons, J. I. Case Threshing Machines, etc. where the plants stand, nor what the condition of the soil is. This is all wrong. I believe that more plants are killed by over-watering than in any other way. The rule of giving water Rocky Mountains, so that justly, Oregon may, without rival, claim its name sake for its very own. All hail to it as a fit representative of. our beautiful state, evergreen, yet glowing with color both crimson and gold. x ii! r ' ' . r . - T ; . . ' f ; GERANIUMS. cant land? No ; the government does not furnish such for distribution. No. 6 Is there any school land left. Sections 16 and 36 in all townships be long to the state. Some sections are yet vacant, but exact location can only be only when the surface of the soil looks dry or whitish should be held in strict adherence. Plants near the glass, or in sunshine, and those in active growth, determined by applying to the State will, perhaps, require water daily, but Board of School Lands at Salem, , Or. those not so situated, and those not The state also selects tracts throughout growing much, will require much less, the district in lieu of sections 16 and 36 Therefore, the necessity of adhering to lying within certain reserves made by the rule, and letting the looks of the the government. The easiest house plant for an amateur soil govern you in this matter is one No. 7 What are the conditions of is the geranium, and with the many that will be only too apparent. Never payment on School lands? Drop by Drop ' The life blood ebbs and flows. On this depends your existence. How important then that you have rich, red blood, that health and happiness may be your poition. Build up your system and fortify your constitution by using Dr. Woods Sarsaparilla. 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