44.-Q. What is your opinion of the many opportunities one reads of for investment in orchard enterprises? In most cases the company offers to manage the proposition, planting and caring for the trees until they begin to yield, the shareholders to receive a percentage of the returns.

A. Every enterprise of this kind should be studied separately for its agricultural practicability and for its financial standing. Its agricultural value is based on the location, soil, climate, available markets, roads, varieties planted, labor employed, care given, etc., as in all farm ventures. It can be measured accurately only by examination by a practical expert as well as a scientist.

Financially, these propositions are not investments but speculations. The reputation of the directors and backers is important, but no orchard or farm can prove its ability to pay dividends until crops are marketable — and with an orchard this means six years at least. The shareholder has no voice in the management at its most important stage. The company cannot vouch for weather conditions, market demands, etc., and so can hardly be held accountable even if the proposition fails. Such schemes are not for the man who wants to become a farmer, or who wants a conservative investment, but for the business man who is willing to speculate.

45.-Q. I want a place in the Berkshires at an elevation of at least 1,500 feet for chicken and vegetable raising. Is the section adapted to that kind of business?

A. Poultry and vegetables can be raised almost anywhere in the United States, and they are wanted wherever people are. If you are near a thriving town or can reach one promptly by railroad; if you offer first-class goods, work up a trade with regular customers, and treat them well, you will dispose of your produce at a good price in the Berkshires or elsewhere.

46.-Q. Where can I get information as to the agricultural prospects of Porto Rico?

A. L. H. Bailey's "Cyclopedia of American Agriculture" and T. F. Hunt's "How to Choose a Farm." The Bureau of Soils, Washington, D. C., will send you, upon request, a soil survey, "From Aricebo to Ponce," made in 1902; the Superintendent of Documents, Washington,

D. C., can supply a list of all other Government publications on the subject; and Director D. W. May of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Mayaguez can give you detailed, first-hand information.

47.-Q. What can you tell me about the Bitter Root Valley, Montana, for apple growing? .

A. The soil is excellent, the climate congenial, the shipping facilities good, and the reputation of the region for the production of high class fruit already attained. The rainfall, however, averages only about eleven inches, making irrigation essential. Now, irrigation is one of the most complex phases of all American agriculture. The ownership of water in many sections is as yet unsettled and complicated litigations are common. In locating in this section, therefore, one should not only choose good land but also make sure of a sufficient supply of water, and of an unquestioned legal right to its use.

48.-Q. In what parts of the country will I find rice growing most profitable? What special conditions does the crop call for? What is an average value of the yield per acre.

A. The five states leading in production in 1911, with their yields, were: Louisiana, 11,690,000 bushels, averaging 31 bushels an acre; Texas, 8,174,000 bushels, average 34 bushels; Arkansas, 2,792,000 bushels, average 39 bushels; South Carolina, 117,000 bushels, average 11 bushels; and Mississippi, 76,000 bushels, average 36 bushels an acre.

Rice requires an abundance of fresh water, the ability to supply it to the land economically in large quantities, and to rapidly drain it off when necessary. The soil must be of a type that will become solid enough for the passage of men and horses fairly soon after being drained, without baking hard. Three general types are used the fresh water marsh lands of the southeastern states, the alluvial soils along the Mississippi, and the flat low prairies of Texas and western Louisiana. In 1911 the average yield for the United States was 32 bushels an acre; the average value was 79 cents a bushel; the average value per acre was therefore, roughly, $25 gross.

49.-Q. Can you give me any facts about Ware County, Georgia, bearing on its adapta

tion to farming and on its general rural conditions?

A. Its elevation is about 210 feet; its annual rainfall is about 44 inches; the average annual temperature is 67 degrees, the highest recorded, 107 degrees and the lowest, 4 degrees. The average dates of the first and last killing frosts are November 16th and March 11th although the extremes are October 28th and, April 15th. Ware County is in the heart of the so-called Sea Island cotton belt in which the greatest commercial watermelon raising industry of the state is found. The typical soil is a light gray loam underlaid with a yellow

and the black 211. The number of farms, now 924, has increased by 250 in the last ten years. Of these 629 are operated by owners - 587 white and 52 black, and 283 are operated by tenants 224 white and 59 black. The average value per farm is $1,875; 552 owners are free from mortgage debt and 84 are encumbered.

50.-Q. With a little knowledge of farming, a scientific college education, a two years' course in an agricultural college, and about $3,000, three courses would seem to be open to me: (i) intensive general farming on a medium

sand. Its adaptation for general farming is roughly indicated by the following acreages in 1910 of the more important crops: corn, 12,000; cotton, 4,000; sweet potatoes, 700; and oats, 1,031. Truck crops will of course thrive, especially if commercial fertilizers and manure are used generously; the best chances for this type of farming are near the larger

towns.

The average value of the land is $5.85, but it ranges from $4 to $125 according to condition and location. Of the county's population of 22,957, the white farmers number 2,811

sized farm in New England or New York, (ii) specialized truck or poultry farming on a little, high-priced land near a city, (iii) general extensive farming on cheap, virgin land in the South or Southeast. What do you suggest?

A. The accompanying tabulation contains facts on which you can base your own choice. Of course there are exceptions to these conditions everywhere. In the South there are also cheap cleared lands awaiting simply good farming; and in the North cheap farms that need reclaiming from the wilderness or the reults of neglect.

TO THE EDITOR:

During the Civil War I used to hear complaints from the Army. The pay was often in arrears and always inadequate. The hardships were great. The food was sometimes bad, and often insufficient. Every ignoramus felt a call to criticise, and his criticisms were generally unjust and unreasonable.

There were sometimes cabals even among "chits of girls" that resulted in a transfer from one post to another. And money for hospital supplies and nurses was raised by "Sanitary" Fairs, at which also there were raffles, and a thousand devices to get money. After a while volunteers failed and a draft became necessary. And many an officer's son cried, "No army for me." Yet for all this we fought the war through and we won. There were officers who lost heart and resigned, and men who wrote articles for the magazines, showing that the Union cause never could win. But all the same we fought on and now the South is as well pleased with our victory as the North.

All this is the experience of the Christian Church. This is, as Matthew Arnold says, "a society for the promotion of righteousness." Its first ministers hungered and thirsted and were naked; and, being reviled, they blessed; being persecuted, they endured. St. Paul made tents and earned his living with the labor of his own hands, so as not to be chargeable to his disciples. Behold the result. The world is transformed by their teaching. There is still much evil to fight. The war is by no means over. But the world is a thousand times more humane than it was twenty centuries ago. Women are honored, children are educated and cared for, even the dumb beasts are regarded with kindness. Wars are less frequent and far less cruel.

Having gone thus far, we shall not stop. The Church is still a soul-saving institution. Millions of souls in every land prove that. It is not true that ministers "go to any length of perfidy and dishonesty to secure members." I have been a church member for more than sixty years connected with churches in city and country, from Trinity Church, New York, which is the largest, to a little country church

Notwithstanding such defections the Christian Church goes on with its good work. Its membership in this country increases more rapidly than the population. The population of the United States increased 32 per cent. between 1890 and 1906. The number of church members during the same period increased 60 per cent. The various religious bodies are becoming more alike in their service and more brotherly in their conduct. The great Protestant religious orders (for they may fairly be called that), the Young Men's Christian Association and the Salvation Army, have their branches in every nation.

What citizen of Boston counted for more than Phillips Brooks? What New Yorker had the influence of Bishop Potter? Where in Minnesota or Dakota were the citizens whose voices were listened to with more regard than Bishops Whipple and Hare? I speak of men from one religious body because I knew them personally. But ministers of power and influence might equally be named from all the churches.

May I add one leaf from my own experience? I was for sixteen years Chairman of the Executive Committee of the New York Civil Service Reform Association. For as many, I was active in the Reform Club in the cause of tariff reform and sound money. I found that the "most fearless and aggressive leaders for moral and spiritual betterment" were members of Christian churches. Many of them were ministers of religious bodies. The first president of the New York Civil Service Reform Association was a Unitarian Minister, Henry W. Bellows. The most eloquent free trade advocate was a Congregational Minister, Henry Ward Beecher. The spirit of enthusiasm and self devotion that animated these men still lives in the churches. For the young man who

is fired by that spirit, there is no nobler calling than the Christian Ministry.

There are two kinds of men who ought not to undertake this work. One is the lover of wealth and luxury. To him the church offers no attractions. The other is the cold-blooded, pessimistic man, who is critical of faults and has no hope of correcting them. To him the ministry is a burden. But for the lover of God and man, who feels that the forces of righteousness are mighty and is glad to work with them in spite of difficulties and discouragements, there is no vocation that offers such opportunities of usefulness.

New York City. EVERETT P. WHEELER.

WHERE BLACK RULES WHITE

TO THE EDITOR:

In the WORLD'S WORK for July appears an article by Mr. William Bayard Hale, entitled "The Crisis in Central America," setting forth certain impressions gained while travelling in some of the Latin American countries during the early spring.

Mr. Hale was a member of the party headed by the Hon. Philander Chase Knox, who was dispatched by President Taft to the countries bordering on the Caribbean Sea with a message of good will from the United States Government. I had the privilege of conversing with one of that party who rubbed elbows with the natives of every country at which the American cruiser dropped anchor. He is a careful observer and in a position to pass upon the accuracy and fairness of Mr. Hale's deductions. When asked about the articles referred to, he said:

"Mr. Hale is to be congratulated upon the clearness and fairness of the major portion of his narrative. With one exception he has vindicated his enviable reputation in these regards. Unfortunately, this exception has to do with the one country whose position in the family of nations could least afford misrepresentation, even by innuendo and, in the present case, it is putting it mildly to say the picture has been overdrawn. The author disposes of the troubled countries of Central America with some praise and a measure of gentle criticism, even sparing that darkest of the groupNicaragua - the venom of his pen. Perhaps it was this severe strain upon his conscience which drove him to revel in such a tirade of superlatives against Hayti. Europe, and Asia, and Africa, and Australia, and the islands of the sea may have no towns whose lack of progress can be compared with that of Port au Prince; upon this I am not informed, but surely the man whose footprints are not yet cold in Central America has a convenient

memory when he styles this Haytian capital 'the filthiest, most dilapidated, most horrible town in the world.' Without a tax upon his imagination or a perversion of the truth, Mr. Hale could have painted a kindlier picture of his fellow creatures in the island of Hayti.”

This statement, coming from a member of the party of which Mr. Hale was a part, lends different color to conditions in that Island Republic. The very extravagance of the author's language robs his statement as to Hayti of much of its force. From different sources I am informed there are many evidences of improvement in Port au Prince, Mr. Hale himself having said that since his last visit there are noticeable evidences of progress. I am indeed hopeful that the Island Republic will soon take her place among the foremost of the Latin countries.

Having read with much interest your editorial, "Why not a Few Free Ports?" proposing the establishing of zones in which foreign materials could be brought under bond to be manufactured by American workmen into products for export, I would like to say that, in my opinion, the plan is one that would add much to the prosperity of the country.

But what about the Constitution? Here are two sentences from that document which knock your scheme in the head:

"All duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." - Cons. U. S., Art I, § VIII, ¶ 1.

"No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another." — §. IX. ¶ 6.

On the face, these provisions seem just. Yet a very little reflection will show that they really are unreasonable and unnecessary burdens on the country. It is possible that legislation. might be so written that free manufacturing zones could be provided for in every state. Everybody knows, however, that they would naturally be located on tide-water, at points to which foreign materials could easily and cheaply be brought. Surely Indiana should not begrudge Maryland the advantages of its situation on the salt water, then Martond should deny the inlan

natural gas with which Nature has provided her.

The Constitution cannot put an inland state on the seashore and give it ports, but it seems that it can deprive a state with a shore and with ports of some, at least, of the advantages which Nature has given her.

P

ERHAPS the most interesting phase of the present-day struggle to realize our ambitions in whatever direction they may lie, and one indeed on which it were well for everyone to be informed, is the different methods adopted by Americans, both men and women, to keep themselves physically fit to stand the strain of keeping constantly up to "concert pitch."

They are not by any means always adopted until Nature has cried quits, and the subject is struggling to recover his efficiency, but whenever employed they are well worthy a study and ofttimes ludicrous to the looker-on, though perhaps not to the performer.

If you were to arise at six o'clock some fine morning and visit Central Park and Riverside Drive, New York, you would be amused by viewing, among a number of others, some stout gentleman who looks very dignified after nine A. M.; now, however, he is on a horse (part of the time), or even running on foot, and looks hot, uncomfortable and funny. This is a consistent practice at the present time of many New York business men, as well as those of other cities.

In convenient proximity to several large cities there are Health Institutions that could perhaps be aptly called "Training Institutions." Those who visit there are placed in he hands of a veritable "Trainer," who runs them, rides them, trots them, exercises them, and supervises their diet. They are under strict discipline which does not always set well, but accomplishes what they are there for puts them in good physical condition.

There are many gymnasiums and physical culture schools located in convenient places in the large cities. opportune hour a day oody its much needed

exercise.

Osteopathic Treatment might be termed, in a way, "exercise without effort," or, better still, "involuntary exercise," for certainly the manipu

lation exercises the subject, tho not of his own volition.

Many and diverse kinds of massages, Swedish, German, etc., combined Diet and Exercise, Sour and Sterilized Milk Treatments, Raw Wheat, Fruit and Nut Dishes, etc., are being liberally patronized to the end that men and women, under our present mode of living (which is hardly natural), may maintain or even increase their capacity for strenuous effort with its attendant reward.

All of these methods have their advantages some undoubtedly greater than others - I am not competent to choose.

But mark this:

Every one of them that is effective has for its primary purpose and ultimate result the elimination of waste from the system.

This can not help being the fact, for the initial cause of probably 90 per cent of man's inefficiency is the inability of the system, under our present mode of living, to throw off the waste which it accumulates.

The result is a partial clogging of the colon (large intestine) which is the direct cause of sluggish livers, biliousness, slight or severe headaches and with these, or any one of them comes inability to work, think or perform up to our usual standard.

That eminent scientist, Professor Metchnikoff, states unqualifiedly that the poison generated in the colon is the chief cause of our comparatively premature old age.

Now if these exercises or diets were entirely successful in eliminating this waste from the colon, they would be, with their strengthening and upbuilding properties, wonderfully result ful - but they do not and cannot.

One might as well chop a tree down from the top, or try to pump a lake dry by starting at one of the brooks that feed it.

When you are ill, and a physician is called the first thing he does is to purge the system Why first, because the waste has to be dis