or in 1886, we are informed that British Columbia, on account of the lack of money in circulation, is not adapted to any large immigration of poor families; but for men possessing even a small capital, there are few more profitable investments than a cereal farm or cattle-rancho within its borders. As an agricultural region the mainland is divided into sections by the Coast Range. The interior has a climate of extremes, and the coast a mild and equable temperature, while the southern portion, with its wide, trough-like valleys, requires irrigation during the summer months. Though it contains large tracts of good arable land, the entire province is better adapted for stock-raising than for the production of crops. Vancouver Island contains not more than 300,000 acres of farming-land, of which less than 15,000 acres were under cultivation in 1886. In the Queen Charlotte Islands there are some 15,000 acres of flat and unwooded land, but of this only a few hundred acres are suitable for agriculture. Public lands are vested in the provincial government, and the policy is followed of reserving them, in the main, for actual settlers. The exports in 1884 amounted to 3,099,814 and the imports to $4,142,286. The exports consisted mainly of coal and gold, fish and fish-oils, peltries, hides, and lumber. The population is described by the author as, if not among the richest, among the most contented, hopeful, and thrifty communities of the Pacific coast, and the colony as entitled to claim the distinction of being one of the most progressive regions of British North America.
Shoppell's Modern Houses: An Illustrated Architectural Quarterly. January, 1887. New York: Co-operative Building Plan Association, 191 Broadway. Pp. 12, with Colored Plates. Price, $1, $4 a year.
The design of this publication is to furnish, with views and plans, designs for houses, etc., in number, from which intending builders may select such as suit them or nearly suit them. "Working plans, specifications, etc., will be furnished on application, with plans of such alterations as may be desired, at fixed rates. Estimates of cost are based upon actual cost of structures, such as will be secured by buying the materials and having the labor performed by days' work. The Association represents that within six years eight thousand houses have been built from its plans. The present number of "Modern Houses" contains forty-nine designs for houses, with plans, descriptions, and costs, from $1,000 to $12,000; designs for a railroad-station, and for stables and carriage-houses; articles on "Axioms and Rules of Color"; "Plumbing and Draining"; "Planting a Large Plot"; "Sea-side Cottage Decoration"; and an installment of Viollet-le-Duc's "Habitations of Man in All Ages," which is in course of regular publication.
The Open Court. A Fortnightly Journal, devoted to the Work of establishing Ethics and Religion upon a Scientific Basis. Edited by B. F. Underwood and Sara A. Underwood. Chicago, 111. $3 per year, single copies fifteen cents.
The aim of this journal, established through the liberality of Mr. Edward C. Hegeler, is announced to be "to continue the work of 'The Index'—that is, to establish religion on the basis of science; and, in connection therewith, it will present the Monistic philosophy." The new journal starts out under good auspices; it is published in convenient form, its typography is very attractive, and, under the charge of the well-known editor of "The Index," we may reasonably expect a successful career.
The four numbers before us contain articles by William J. Pottor, upon "Society and the Individual"; Professor Thomas Davidson, upon "The Need for Free-Thought Education"; Edmund Montgomery, upon "Monism in Modern Philosophy and the Agnostic Attitude of the Mind"; by Moncure D. Conway, upon "Unitarianism and its Grandchildren" and "Jephthah's Daughter at Honolulu"; and by Anne Olcott Crommelin, upon "Flowers and Poets." There are also an editorial department, correspondence, discussions, and book-notices.
With the aims of "The Open Court" we are in full sympathy. There can be no more worthy nor more important object than that of establishing a scientific basis for ethics and religion. The times are ripe for labor in that direction, and able, well-directed efforts thereto ought to be welcomed and encouraged in every way. We
