value of exports from Great Britain to the
United States during the fiscal year ended September 30, 1883. The total
value of declared exports from the various United States consular
districts in Great Britain and Ireland during the year was $165,207,987,
a reduction from the figures for the preceding year of $14,231,858.

* * * * *

Mr. Calkins, member of Congress from Indiana, succeeded on Monday in
getting a suspension of the rules and the passage of a bill providing
that in any suit against an innocent purchaser of an article
manufactured in violation of the patent law, if the plaintiff shall not
recover twenty dollars or over, he shall recover no costs. This bill is
a blow aimed at the drive-well patent agents, and others of that ilk who
are perambulating the country to the annoyance of farmers. If the bill
passes the Senate, and there appears no valid reason why it shall not,
it will put an end to this species of robbery now so prevalent.

* * * * *

The only general advices we have regarding winter wheat come through the
extensive grain commission house of W. T. Baker & Co., Chicago. They
have private reports which indicate that the crop maintains a very high
average, and, with the exception of a few points in Southern Illinois,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, is doing as well as could be expected at this
season of the year. In Kentucky and Tennessee the ground is quite bare
of snow, but north of the Ohio river, from Kansas to Ohio, the wheat, as
a general thing, is well covered. The crop, however, was generally sown
late, and in many quarters fears are entertained of the final outcome.

* * * * *

The Nebraska State Farmers' Alliance held a meeting at Kearney on
Wednesday of last week. A platform was adopted declaring in favor of
national legislation to regulate railway traffic, demanding the
abolition of national banks and the substitution of Government currency,
demanding a tariff for revenue only, expressing sympathy with labor,
asking protection to labor organizations, recommending the abolition of
convict labor, asking Congress to reclaim all unclaimed land grants and
reserve the public domain for actual settlers, and opposing the
acquisition of public land by foreigners.

* * * * *

Do not forget that the Annual Farmers' Institute, or Agricultural
Lecture Course, at the Illinois Indu