1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3n 
Events of the Week. 
domestic.—T he entire plant of the Western Oil and 
Manufacturing Company, at Newark, N. J., was burned 
April 1; loss $200,000. The company manufactured table 
oils and perfumed soap.April 3 a severe wind 
and snowstorm prevailed over a large section of the 
West and Northwest. At Chicago the wet snow broke 
down telegraph wires in every direction. In the lower 
Michigan peninsula the snow was preceded by rain and 
heavy hall. Railroad traffic in Colorado was much in¬ 
terrupted by snowslides. Flood waters in Lake Champlain, 
lashed by a terrific wind, did much damage at various 
points. A break in the Mississippi levee occurred six 
miles below Lake Providence. Louisiana.The 
Southern Pacific Railroad is endeavoring to build a cut¬ 
off across one end of the Great Salt Lake, Utah. The 
work has been hampered by quicksands: almost daily 
sections of the track disappear; 12 lives have been lost, 
and 50 cars have dropped out of sight. The engineers 
believe that the $4,000,000 cut-off on the north side of the 
lake will have to be dropped and that the Southern 
Pacific will be compelled to come to Salt Lake City and 
cro.ss the lake at the south end. The chief engineer ad¬ 
mits that the large amount of earth and rock dumped 
into the lake east of the promontory and nearer the Og¬ 
den shore has had a preceptible effect in driving the 
quicksands to the surface where they appear above the 
track, but in his opinion the problem lies on the pro¬ 
montory side of the body of water sought to be spanned. 
Four 60-foot piles spliced together have been driven into 
the lake bottom and yet no sign of bedrock was found. 
. . . . Three large fires in West SirUft business estab¬ 
lishments in Chicago, April 4, caused a loss of $180,000. 
. . . . Plans are under way for the establishment of 
an Angora goat packing house in Kansas City. The 
men identified with the new venture live in Texas and 
Chicago, and they have secured a charter from the State 
of Texas. The plant will be equipped with a tanning 
outfit and the skins of the animals will be made into 
robes. A very large percentage of the fur garments in 
use to-day are made from the Angora fleece. The com¬ 
pany will establish the lacteal branch of its business 
somewhere in Texas, where Angora milk will be con¬ 
densed and sold for medicinal purposes. Cheese and 
macaroni will be packed. 
ADMINISTRATION.—Investigations in the Post Of¬ 
fice Department are disclosing serious frauds, which re¬ 
call the unsavory Neely-Rathbun scandal in Cuba. There 
are now seven distinct and separate investigations going 
on in the department, which require the services of over 
a dozen inspectors and which involve nearly 12 importaoit 
bureaus and many high officials of the service. There 
are many complaints of the way in which supplies are 
purchased. 
L.\BOR.—The first serious hitch in the findings of the 
Anthracite Coal Commission had its Inception in the 
lower coal region April 4, when the employees of the 
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company and 
several individual collieries through the Mahanoy and 
Shenandoah Valleys refused to accept Saturday as a 
nine-hour day, as against eight hours previou.sly in 
vogue.April 8, 9,000 carpenters went out on 
strike in Greater New York, completely tying up all 
building operations. This strike is not the outcome of 
any difference with the employers, but is a fight be¬ 
tween rival labor unions. Besides the United Brother¬ 
hood of Carpenters and .Toiners, which is the principal 
organization of carpenters in New York, there is the 
Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, which 
is said to have about 2,000 members at work here. The 
Brotherhood, by means of this strike, is striving to 
crush its weaker rival and force its members into its own 
ranks. The strike came without any warning, and is in 
violation of agreements made with large employers, who, 
in consideration of promises made by the union to protect 
them against strikes, now pay carpenters $4.50 a day. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—The Bulgarians and 
Macedonians are in revolt against Turkish authorities in 
a number of districts, and fierce fighting is reported. 
The money raised in this country to pay the ransom 
demanded for Miss Ellen M. Stone, American missionary, 
and Mme. Tsilka, has been used by the Macedonian Rev¬ 
olutionary Committee to buy arms and ammunition for 
their adherents, and the military activity of the Turkish 
government was the result of knowledge that this had 
been done. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Department of Agricul¬ 
ture announced March 12 a new code of regulations for 
the suppression and extirpation of contagious and in¬ 
fectious diseases among domestic animals in the United 
States. They require owners to exercise reasonable care 
that their animals are not affected with any contagious 
or infectious disease; all persons having charge of dis- 
ea.sed animals are required to keep them confined and 
secluded. Premises or vehicles where diseased animals 
have been kept shall not be occupied by healthy stock 
until danger of Infection is removed. There are numer¬ 
ous other stringent regulations touching the care and 
seclusion of animals and the quarantining of infected 
districts. Violation of the regulations is made punish¬ 
able by a fine of $100 to $1,000, or by Imprisonment not ex¬ 
ceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment. 
The Oregon State Grange will hold its annual meeting 
in Oregon City May 26-28; secretary, Mary S. Howard, 
Mulino, Ore. 
In August, 1801, Seth Adams, then of Dorchester, Mass., 
brought a pair of Merino sheep from France to the United 
States. A year or so later Mr. Adams was awarded a 
prize of $50 by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting 
Agriculture, for introducing the first Merino sheep to 
Massachusetts. In 1807 Mr. Adams moved from Massa¬ 
chusetts and settled in Muskingum County, Ohio. He 
brought with him 25 or 30 Merino sheep, descendants of 
the pair imported in 1801. These were the first Merinos 
to be brought west of the Atlantic coast States. Mr. 
Adams became a great breeder and distributor of Merinos 
in the West. In view of the great work which Seth 
Adams rendered to Ohio and even the Nation, it has hoen 
proposed that the sheep breeders and feeders of Ohio 
erect a memorial to his name and fame. It has been 
further proposed that this be in the form of a structure 
to be known as “The Seth Adams Memorial Building,” 
to be located on the campus of the Ohio State University 
among the buildings of the College of Agriculture, and 
to be devoted to sheep husbandry. This to be a beautiful 
structure, containing a lecture room, sheep judging audi¬ 
torium, museum, library of sheep literature and a Seth 
Adams Memorial Room in one part, with wool rooms, 
shearing room, dipping room, hospital and feeding pad- 
docks in another part—the latter to be connected with 
the farm fields; this building to be a central point in 
Ohio, for the free use of all sheep organizations in the 
State in annual or special ses.slons, if they so desire. 
This proposed plan met with the unanimous and official 
approval of the Ohio Wool Growers’ and Sheep Breeders’ 
Association at their annual meeting in January. It has 
also the approval of the authorities of the Ohio State 
University, who have been fully consulted concerning 
the matter. Contributions for this purpose are requested 
from Ohio shepherds. It is desired that each person 
contributing, specify how many sheep, at one cent each, 
he or she represents in the contribution. It is hoped that 
the shepherds of Ohio will contribute a total of at least 
$10,000 for this memorial. Sums in any amount will be 
acceptable and postage stamps may be sent in sums of 
25 cents or less. Address contributions to C. S. Plumb, 
Professor of Animal Husbandry, Ohio State University, 
Columbus, Ohio. 
A car of cows from Herkimer County, N. Y., Intended 
for beef, arrived at New York recently. The State Agri¬ 
cultural Department seized them on arrival at the stock- 
yards. Three were in a dying condition. Of those 
slaughtered under the direction of the Department, eight 
were far gone with tuberculosis, and three had venomous 
pneumonia. It is reported that several died on the way 
and were thrown out before reaching here. 
"A MICHIGAN FRUIT TOWN'S MARKET, 
Benton Harbor is situated on Lake Michigan, about 60 
miles from Chicago, which city is probably the best 
market in the Middle West. Boats leave this port for 
the city four or five times a day during the busy season, 
most of the fruit leaving about nine in the evening and 
arriving from three to four in the morning. Farmers find 
it so convenient to pack up the day’s products of fruits 
and vegetables and consign to Chicago commission men, 
that but few resort to peddling. There is no public 
market here, and no license is required when a farmet 
sells his own products—but those who buy and peddle 
are required to pay a license fee. The ordinary condition 
prevailing in most places is that the great majority of 
farmers are engaged in general farming, while a few 
make a specialty of market gardening. It is not so here. 
Here all are engaged in fruit production, with vegetables 
as a side line. The local demand is supplied chiefly 
through the dealers, and no one is engaged in market 
gardening as a specialty. There is no doubt that a profit¬ 
able peddler’s trade could be built here, but that would 
contemplate extra horses and men, and good help is hard 
to get. Young men who board in the farmer’s home get 
$18 to $22 per month, while married men who board them¬ 
selves receive $32 to $40 per month by the year. This fact 
alone will keep many farmers from peddling. The 
weather this Spring has been variable—mostly too warm 
to be safe, then a sudden drop in temperature. The 
poach crop is seriously injured; the more tender varieties 
will be scarce except in favored localities. The San Jos6 
scale also has a foothold, but the people are thoroughly 
awake, and we think we can keep it from doing serious 
injury. _ r. 
NOTES FROM MASSACHUSETTS, 
No question more vital to farmers could be asked than 
this one of a proper outlet of the farm’s products. Both 
the market man and the farm peddling system have their 
weak points, the former being conducive to staleness of 
perishable wares, the latter on the score of so many 
needless miles covered by so many going over the same 
ground. I will instance milk peddling as nicely illustra¬ 
tive. In my own town of 8,000 population perhaps each 
of a dozen or so milkmen (mostly farmers) covers the 
whole residential center. Is this economy? The problem 
will sooner or later be solved, as all industrial problems 
are coming to be. by some more economical means of dis¬ 
tribution. Two at least furnish a high grade dairy milk, 
from .Jersey and Guernsey herds respectively, command¬ 
ing six cents, where others get only five. A system which 
mixed the product of all farms together would not suit 
the best trade. The grocer handles much butter now 
which for.nnerly was delivered by the farmer individually. 
This is economy of distribution, gives the buyer an as¬ 
sortment for a choice and saves the annoyance of staying 
at home for the butter man. Now, there are two solutions 
of the milk problem. One is the growing custom here¬ 
about for peddling milk as a business apart from farm¬ 
ing. The other is for farmers to organize, hire suitable 
retailers, each to carry each farm’s milk under label. 
The same wagon could carry perishables generally among 
the vegetables, in addition to butter, cream and eggs. 
This should be true economy of distribution. If there is 
a profit in handling as compared with present methods it 
should accrue to the organizer of such a system and 
why not to the farmer? One set of teams could be busy 
gatherlng.mainly, of farm wares from their sources, an¬ 
other distributing in the town or city which is the chief 
market of the given locality thus organized. The element 
of regular and certain distribution of the farmers’ wares 
afforded by such a system is a thing each one would learn 
to appreciate. 
There has never been any movement in my town to 
regulate the disposal of farm wares, and I think the same 
is true of most New England towns. I once heard a re¬ 
mark made by a farmer that a system which curtailed 
the farmer’s right to deliver his wares would he an im¬ 
provement. This T took to be a weak acquiescence in 
some selfish marketman’s view of the situation. Un¬ 
less such restriction of the farmers’ rights came from 
themselves and provided for acceptance of all wares of¬ 
fered in good condition, shipment of surplus to some other 
market, and in short proved an advantage to themselves, 
it could not be expected to remain in favor in any local 
city where farm interests have a representation in local 
government. An organization among farmers is much 
wanted looking to this end of economical distribution and 
so managed that no farmer could conceive any objection to 
the same. No secret order is to be considered in this con¬ 
nection, to close its doors to certain families regarded as 
social inferiors. Farmers are proverbially the slowest of 
mortals to regard their calling a sufficient bond to cement 
their union into a fraternal order based upon common in¬ 
terests growing out of a common trade. With the advent 
of a suitable farmers’ guild, agriculture would fill that 
high position ascribed to it by Washington. From the 
mere lack of organization it is a pitiable failure as con¬ 
trasted with most callings which have enjoyed a complete 
organization. Give it this, and it may rise from a posi¬ 
tion so generally in keeping with the travesties which the 
“Rube plays” have assigned it, to be “the noblest of 
callings,” a power in politics in keeping with its true 
place as a molder of human character. The farm has 
given to the world its best brains, bone and sinew. But 
it remains a pitiable failure as regarded from a business 
point of view. F. w. proctor. 
Massachusetts. 
PEDDLING AT ELMIRA, N, Y, 
Farmers dispose of their products to dealers and gro¬ 
ceries when there is an active market for them and good 
prices, but when the market is flooded and price low, 
as it often is, then they peddle from house to house. All 
the largest and best market gardeners dispose of their 
goods to the grocers, commission houses and hotels. 
The little fellow and old-time gardeners peddle from 
house to house. 1'herc is a license of .$25 for hucksters, 
but all growers can sell their products at any time or 
place they choose free of charge. Peddling more than 
over-production has been the cause of low price for 
vegetables in this city, and farmers who grow a few 
vegetables come into town once a week; they are not 
posted on price, consequently accept what the grocery- 
man says is the market price, which knocks the bottom 
out for market gardeners. At the same time ai market 
gardener cannot buy of farmers; they refuse to sell to 
gardeners even for more money, only as a last resort to 
close out before they go home. There has been great 
effort to put a stop to the house-to-house peddling, but 
so far little or nothing has been accomplished, fiffiere is 
no public, or private market place in this section, 'fhe 
city of Elmira provided such a place some years ago; 
it was very unsatisfactoi-y and given up at the end of 90 
daj'S. Neither dealers nor consumers paid much attention 
to the market. Consumers buy only from the wagon at 
their door to select from and much the same with dealers 
except in case of shortage. Wholesaling to dealers and 
shippers is the only way market gardeners doing much 
business find any money in gardening. The everlasting 
stream from house to house peddling ruins the large 
gardeners: too much of a one-eyed business and greater 
opi)ortunity to cut each other’s throats. 
A. G. MinUER. 
BUSINESS BITS, 
For more than three-score years the McCormick has 
represented the highest attainment in the manufacture 
of harvesting machines. “A Model Machine” is the title 
of an interesting book which should be in the hands of 
everyone who needs or operates a harvester. Write for 
it to the McCormick Division, International Harvester 
Company of America. Chicago, or the nearest McCor¬ 
mick agent, and also a.sk for a 1903 McCormick caleiidar. 
The manufacturers of the Iron Age tools have just 
issued an enlarged catalogue, showing more completely 
than any previous one. their full line. Old friends among 
farm and garden implements are there found, but to 
the number are added many new and interesting mem¬ 
bers of the family, which must still further extend the 
fame and sale of the “Iron .Age” tools. Anyone interested 
in quick and economical farm and garden work should 
obtain a copy of this Iron Age Book for 1903 by writing to 
the Bateman Mfg. Co., Box 102, Grenloch, N. J. 
TitR following figures give some idea of the magnitude 
of the Deering Harvester Works at Chicago: Works 
cover 85 acres of ground and 10,000 horse-power is used 
in operating the plant, the cons\imption of coal being 500 
tons daily; 10,000 people arc employed by the Deering Di¬ 
vision; 25,000,000 feet of hardwood lumber and 20,000,000 
feet of pine lumber wei’e used in 1902; 105,000 tons of steel 
and 90,000 tons of pig iron were used in 1902; 2,000 gallons 
of oil for paint and 10.000 iiounds of dry paint are used 
daily; 30.000 miles of binder twine arc made daily. 
The farmer’s attention Is called to the new book of 
the Hallock Weeder and Cultivator Company, of York, 
Pa., manufacturers of the famous Hallock quadruple 
cultivator and weeder. The total destruction of all weed 
seeds, information of the utmost value to the farmer, is 
treated of at some length. Another Interesting chapter 
tells how thorough tillage can be obtained and moisture 
held in the ground, thus resulting in better crops with 
less labor. A page is also devoted to shallow cultivation, 
which is advocated by all the leading agriculturists. This 
book will be sent free on request. 
A HAPPY combination of two necessary factors in the 
corn crop is found in the Eclipse Corn Planter and fer¬ 
tilizer distributor, manufactured by the Belcher & Taylor 
Agricultural Tool Company, of Chicopee Falls, Mass. 
In it we have a hill or drill planter of marvelous ac¬ 
curacy, adapted to planting almost all cultivated crops 
as well as corn, and at the same time a distribution of 
fertilizer with the seed in any quantity desired. It is 
justly one of the most popular tools known to corn plant¬ 
ers and truckers. There’s no reason why you should not 
have a fertilizer distributor when you buy a planter. 
AVrite for descriptive circular. 
An implement of greatest \'alue to the farmers is the 
modern manure spreader. The value of the manure an¬ 
nually produced upon the farm is recognized, but too 
many farmers do not realize that a large part of its 
value escapes them by failure to spread aright. Manure 
may be made to go twice as far and secure better re¬ 
sults from all the land when evenly distributed, than 
when thrown out in lumps and piles on limited areas to 
leach and wash away. The original Kemp spreader 
manufactured by the Kemp & Burpee Mfg. Co., of Syra¬ 
cuse, N. Y., as it has been Improved and appears on the 
market this year, is the general fayorite. The company’s 
illustrated catalogue gives full and accurate informa¬ 
tion. and we recommend anyone at all interested in ma¬ 
nure spreaders to write for it. It will be mailed free. 
