Fewlinghsien, Feb. 4.
The weather in this district for the last two months has been ideal, and the farmers have been profiting by the great chance to harvest. a bumper crop. The root crop is "aceptionally fine this year; drying for the celebrated Ch'in Ts'ai may be seen everywhere. This vegetable dried here and sent down river, where it is considered a delicacy, The crop this year is almost double last year's output.
I have lately been successful in securing from authentic sources, an extensive table of information about this district, The area of the dit trict is said to be 13,869 sq. li, ded into nine towns and cow th 1,085,134 fields, and 51,000 acres of barren land. The highest mountain is 6,000 ft. and the small rivers are navigable for 330 li. This does not include the Yangtze. We are governed by sixteen officials, with 925 sub-officials, and 412 representatives.
There are 34,500 students, 52,000 merchants, 65,000 Iabourers, 15,600 coolies, 680,000 farmers, 1,002 doctors, 854 teachers, 18 news-writers, 41,249 unemployed, 3,600 miners, 12 fishermen, miscellaneous workers 1,200, We export from this port hogs' hides, rice, wheat, dyes, oils, flax, coir, wax, feathers, paint, drugs, salt, vegetable Our imports include cotton, petro-lenin, cloth, silk, salt. This is a distribution centre for the up-river salt.
The leading occupation is agricul. ture, as may be seen by the great preponderance of farmers. There are some coal mines, but the work is not extensive. There are some fine fields up the small river. The district about Lanch'uan is rich in iron ore and coal, and is tapped vid the small river. The country is hilly, and roads bad. Carrying is done by pack animale and coolies.
Some of the products of agriculture in the district are arrowroot, melons, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, peas egg-plant, beans flax, bamboo, drugs, tea, fine and coarse, Business in hogs amounts to about 234,000 per annum. There is also the exportation of hogs' bristles, fowl, feathers and lumber, which is used in the vicinity down river.
We are told that the Standard Oil Ca, is opening a branch office here. It will be welcomed, and the more so if it tends to keep the price of oil anywhere near the normal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.