incerely hope not. On Friday night, January
4th and 5th, all the thermometers commonly used by farmers went clear
down out of sight. As they only mark about 30 degrees below zero it was
uncertain how cold it really was. Unsheltered stock suffered terribly. A
few farmers were caught without wood, and suffered from the storm in
securing a supply. We have had five days of snow so that there is a
heavy coat all over. A. J. L.

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ST. LOUIS, MO., January 13.--Advices from Mobile say the late cold snap
caused immense damage in that section. The loss to the orange groves is
estimated at nearly a $1,000,000, and the value of vegetables killed in
Mobile county alone will reach the same sum. Great damage was also done
to orange groves in Florida, but many orange growers profited by the
Signal Service warning and built fires in their groves, and thus saved
their trees. News from the Michigan peach belt is that the fruits are
uninjured.

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Strawberries are sold in New York city at fifteen cents each.

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[Illustration]

AGRICULTURAL

Farmers, Write for Your Paper.

Illinois Tile-Makers.

The Illinois State Tile-Makers' Convention at Springfield, last week,
was more largely attended than in any previous year since the
association was formed. Nearly one hundred joined the association.

The convention was welcomed to the city by Governor Hamilton in an
appropriate address in which he expressed his deep sympathy with and
interest in all the manufacturing enterprises that are giving employment
to the people and adding wealth to the State. He announced himself as in
favor of protection and encouragement to the manufacturing interests. He
thought the tile men were greatly adding to the wealth and
productiveness of Illinois, and that they were also indirectly improving
the health of the people.

The President's address was brief but full of information and good
sense. He pointed out at length the improvements in tile kilns, and in
various appliances, which have been made in recent years, and declared
that valuable as these all are, they can not make up for the lack of
skill and experience. He believed the increased interest in terra cotta,
and in useful ornamental and out tiling points to the great source of
supply as the timber of the country decreases in quantity. The
drain-tile manufacture was sim