Last week this region was favoured with a few days of rain, after one of the most prolonged and wide-spread spells of drought I remember during about twenty Years' residence in this (Fukien) Province. The recent rain was, however, too late to save the rice crop. During the past months I have made a number of trips to different points in the northern half of the province, and from observation and inquiry one is led to believe that not more than twenty or thirty per cent of the rice fields will be harvested, many of them being dry enough to bum like a prairie fire. Most of the ponds and smaller streams became dry a month or more ago, but even the fields that are near unfailing water and could therefore, be irrigated, will yield less than usual. The crop of potatoes, sugar cane, peanuts, ete., is also generally very poor, so the condition and prospects of millions in this part of the country can be readily imgained.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.