1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
5o5 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Trachoma, or “pinkeye,” Is epidemic at 
Buffalo, N. Y. According to the statement hf an official 
of the United States Marine Hospital, over 100 cases of 
the disease have been found among the employees of the 
Lackawanna Steel & Iron Company. A large number of 
cases of trachoma have been treated by local physicians 
in almost every section of the city. It is believed that 
the disease was brought there by foreigners who came 
into the country by way of Canada. Joseph Skool, with 
a bad attack of the disease, has been placed under ar¬ 
rest. He came from Brantford, Ont.In the 
United States Court at Macon, Ga., June 24, Judge Emery 
Speer imposed a fine of $1,000 each on three young men— 
William Shy. Arthur Glawson and Robert Turner—for 
holding a negro in involuntary servitude. The men, who 
are well-known farmers, caught a negro who was in debt 
to them, gave him a whipping, and made him go to work 
for them. Judge Speer said that the negro problem could 
not be solved by such harsh measures, and that the laws 
uf Georgia were against such treatment.As 
guests of the Amalgamated Copper Company about 1,000 
ranchers from the Deer Lodge Valley, Mont., whose 
farms have been damaged by the acids and fumes from 
the new smelter at Anaconda, visited the smelter June 25 
and inspected the work being done by the company to 
solve the smoke nuisance problem. The ranchers were 
brought to the smelter by special trains furnished by the 
company, and a banquet was served in one of the big 
Hues leading to the new smokestack. The flue is 40 feet 
wide and 20 feet deep, making a roomy and novel banquet 
hall. I he Amalgamated Company has settled flnancially 
with a large number of ranchers for damage already 
done, and President Scallon, of the Anaconda Copper 
Company, told them it was spending hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of dollars to protect them in every way possible. 
.... Gov. Terrell has ordered an investigation of the 
misdemeanor convict camps of Georgia because of evi¬ 
dence presented to him that these camps are hotbeds of 
brutality. Complaints have been reaching the Governor’ 
of shocking outrages pex'petrated in these camps. Tire 
camp to be first investigated is that of Broach Brothers, 
in Oglethorpe County. The Governor, in his order, makes 
the following charges against this camp: 1, The cruel and 
inhuman whipping of Devereaux Burdette, Charlie Col¬ 
lins, B. Moon, Charles Rucker, Haskell Webb, Joe Will¬ 
iams, and other convicts therein confined. 2. The inflic¬ 
tion ol punishment upon convicrs by persons unauthor¬ 
ized by law. 3. The failure to provide transportation for 
discharged convicts who were i-eceived in said chain gang 
from other counties. 4. The failure to allow, good time to 
convicts who were entitled thereto under the law. 6. The 
failure to provide proper food, clothes, tobacco arid sleep¬ 
ing quarters as required by law and said rules. The 
statements in the specifications, it is alleged, convey no 
idea of the brutalities practiced. It is afieged that the 
convicts have been almost cut to pieces by whips, and 
that they are huddled together at night like so many 
brutes, it is also charged that scores of convicts who 
have served their terms are being detairred iir practical 
slavery. Tne Governor’s order has caused a sensaaon, as 
rrrany prominent men in Georgia are engaged in leasing 
corrvicts. Edward McRee, a member of the House, runs 
a convict camp and he has been charged by a Grand 
Jury with holding men in servitiude. Similar conditions 
are alleged in Alabama.A bill introduced in 
the Georgia Legrslature June 26 by Representative Gra- 
nade, of Wilkes County, provides that hereafter a tax of 
aoo shall be imposed orr every divorce granted in the 
Slate upon grounds other than infidelity, it is stipulated 
also that every applicant for divorce must pay $25 before 
the petition is filed, and the taxes are to go into the pub¬ 
lic school fund. Representative Granade is a married 
man and has 11 children. He says the divorce evil threat¬ 
ens the social system and believes his bill will act as a 
.Jn accordance with the warning of the 
Supreme Court last February that jail sentences would 
be imposed upon all persons convicted at future terms in 
violation of the liquor law, the druggists of Bangor, Me., 
have announced that they would be unable on and after 
July 1 to furnish their customers with any liquor, even 
upon physicians’ prescriptions. The present United States 
revenue stamps will expire on June 30, and the druggists 
declare that they will not renew their stamps. Many of 
the saloonkeepers will follow suit, and go out of business, 
while others will remain in business, and take their 
chances of being sent to jail. Those who take out rev¬ 
enue stamps can be convicted upon the simple evidence 
uf having paid the tax. Those who do not take out 
stamps will be in danger of prosecution by the United 
States authorities.To save the life of Assist¬ 
ant General Superintendent Wilson Fredericks, who was 
badly scalded in the Philadelphia & Reading Railway 
wreck at Westfield, N. J., last February, 6,000 men em¬ 
ployed by the United States Express Company have vol¬ 
unteered to permit the removal of a piece of skin from 
their arms. Mr. Fredericks is in the Muhlenberg Hos¬ 
pital at Plainfield, N. J.Judge Cyrus L. Per¬ 
shing, who presided over the trial of the Molly Maguires 
m the Schuylkill County courts in 1876-77. died in Potts- 
ville. Pa., June 29, aged about 80 years. He served sev¬ 
eral terms in the State Legislature and was a candidate 
for Congress in 1858, when the dissensions growing out of 
the Kansas slavery excitement brought defeat to the 
Democratic party.Hanna, Wyo., was the scene 
of a terrible disaster June 30, when an explosion of fire 
damp in Mine No. 1 of the Union Pacific Coal Company 
snuffed out the lives of 234 men, injured scores of others 
a-nd caused the destruction of a vast amount of property. 
The mine was not fired, but the explosion was terrific, 
and completely shattered the timbers of the main shaft 
and numerous entrances, filling the working with debris, 
and those of the miners that were not killed outright by 
the explosion were buried alive. Only 46 men were res¬ 
cued. Of the 234 dead about 175 were married and leave 
large families. About 100 were Finlanders, 50 were col¬ 
ored, and the rest were Americans. The Hanna mines 
are the best on the Union Pacific system, having been 
established in 1878. The town was named for Senator 
Mark Hanna, when he was a member of the Union Pacific 
Company. Mine No. 1 is practically a new property. It 
has twenty-six entries, fifteen miles of workings, and a 
main Incline shaft of mile in length. The mine has 
been recognized as a dangerous property for some time 
on account of the large amount of gas, but the system of 
ventilation has been so good that an accident was not 
anticipated. 
ADMINISTRATION.—June 24 five indictments were 
found against ex-Congrefesman Driggs, of Brooklyn, N. 
Y.. in connection with the postal frauds. The Federal 
Grand Jury also found two indictments against George 
F. Miller, of Nyack, the New York agent of the E. J. 
Brandt-Dent Company, of Watertown, Wis. Mr. Millet 
is charged with aiding in the alleged bribery of Mr. 
Driggs. The language of the presentments is that he 
“paid money to a Member of Congress for aiding and 
procuring the sales of automatic cash registers to the 
Post Office Department.” Additional indictments were 
returned June 29 against A. W. Machen, the deposed su¬ 
perintendent of the rural free delivery division of the 
Post Office Department, and the Groff brothers, with 
whom, it is alleged, Machen had unlawful dealings while 
connected with the Department. The new indictments 
charge Machen with accepting a bribe and the Groffs with 
giving one. They are brought in to cover three additional 
counts and to put the first indictment on the same foot¬ 
ing as the second, which latter involved the Lorenzes, of 
Toledo, O., in the charge of conspiracy to defraud. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
Early apples seem to be a fair crop. Other apples have 
set pretty well. Potatoes are uneven; oats uneven; wheat 
looking fairly well; corn very backward; barley very 
little raised. c. r. j. 
Penfleld, N. Y. 
The present indications show not over 25 per cent of 
average crop of pears and not over 33 per cent of apples. 
Plant lice are very abundant in many orchards, and al¬ 
ready damage has been reported. Wheat is very good; 
hay very light but improving; beans and corn backward. 
Penn Creek, N. Y. b. b. 
Apples and pears are a very light crop. Peaches are a 
total failure; plums light; currants light. Strawberries 
dried early in season, and since the wet weather began 
many have rotted. Blackberries promise a large crop. 
Hay has made a good growth the past two weeks, and 
will make a fair crop. Corn is very backward. Potatoes 
and garden truck look well. a. n, s. 
Hudson, Mass. 
The fruit crop is a partial failure in this neighborhood. 
Apples seem to be very good wherever spraying has been 
done thoroughly; where spraying has not been done they 
are inferioi’. Peaches are very scarce; they will hardly 
reach one-fourth of a crop; pears are very light and are 
very scarce. The small fruits will be very plentiful. The 
outlook for all farm crops is very promising if it quits 
raining, vv. s. a. 
Aspers, Pa. 
Farmers’ prospects have improved since the rains. A 
very large acreage of beans is being planted. Hay will 
be a fair crop; small acreage of corn, cabbage and pota¬ 
toes. Fair crops of fruit are now growing, and the qual¬ 
ity shows fine. The quantity of apples will be one-third 
to one-half of last year in this locality. The general in¬ 
dications are that the farmers as a whole will not receive 
as much money for crops as they got last year, principal- 
be a fair yield. Gardens are doing very well. * f. j. h. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
The farming interests in this section have been very 
much hurt by the long-continued drought, which lasted 
for about 55 days. After the rains set in a great many 
replanted their crops, which failed to come on during the 
dry spell. We have had nice rains for the past three 
weeks, and if the season continues good there will be a 
fair crop. The hay crop looked to be a failure until the 
rains set in, but now the farmers report that there will 
be a fair yield. Gardens are doing very well. f. j. h. 
Warrensburgh, N. Y. 
We have no plant lioe on our orchard. Apples are set 
full and promise well; there is some falling of the foliage, 
following the severe dry weather. Late peaches a fair 
crop; plums a good crop on some kinds; cherries full crop 
on late kinds; gooseberries full crop, also late currants. 
Pears moderate; strawberries light; farm crops of all 
kinds are improving since the rains began, with pros¬ 
pects of good crops of potatoes and beans if season is 
right. Corn is backward apd hay will be light; wheat 
fair yield. u. p_ 
Trumansburg, N. Y. 
Fruit trees of all kinds are looking well. 1 think I never 
saw the foliage look better at this time of year. Apples 
are about an average crop; cherries a big crop and very 
fine quality. Plums and pears promise to be a large crop; 
small fruits fully up to the average. Wheat and rye, 
though straw is rather short, is looking well. Spring 
grain is backward and short for the time of year. Mea¬ 
dows very poor, hay crop wlli be very iight. Corn a very 
little good; a good deal of it just coming up, and more 
just planted, some of it the second time. The long 
drought lasting seven full weeks was broken about June 
10, since which we have had rain enough and to spare. 
Stanley, N. Y. p. e. y. e. 
Early apples bid fair to be a good average crop; they 
appear to be less affected by insects than usual, probably 
on account of the extended dry weather. The plant lice 
have not affected iarge bearing trees badly, but young 
orchards have suffered from them to the extent of kill¬ 
ing the new growth. Pears are not heavily loaded, but 
are doing well for the season. The peach crop bids fair 
to be light. Cherries are quite abundant and beyond the 
expectations of all since the Spring freeze. Plums in this 
immediate vicinity are overstocked, with trees already 
breaking with the burden. I cannot say how general this 
is. As to grain, the wheat looks well, as you pass, but 
much of it is going dowfi as if by insect. Spring grain got 
a bad start in consequence of the drought, and much of 
it is very thin and cannot give a heavy crop. The corn 
crop has a terrible black eye; most of it is oniy where it 
should have been a month ago. There will be a large 
acreage sown to buckwheat, if it can be got in between 
showers. Many farmers have given up hope of more than 
a sustenance, but possibly the cloud may yet have a silver 
lining. j. m. c. 
Five Corners, N. Y. 
The apple crop, that is apples to ship in barrels, does not 
cut a great figure here of late years. Orchards are most¬ 
ly neglected. Many a fine orchard has been pulled out, 
and the land planted to grapes. I do not think as yet 
plant lice are doing much damage. I do not think there 
will be over 70 per cent, possibly not 65 per cent, of a 
grape crop in the Chautauqua-Erie belt this Fall, but that 
is only my guess. Currants look like half a crop; goose¬ 
berries a failure; peaches light; apples medium; pears 
same; cherries nearly a failure; plums good crop (if they 
do not rot); hay crop will be much better than it prom¬ 
ised in May; other crops look very well; if weather is 
favorable from this on all will turn out well. Scarcely 
any rain in May and scarcely anything else so far in 
June. A. I. L. 
North Bast, Pa. 
The Bartlett pear crop is very light in this section, not 
more than one-fifteenth of last year, though in some 
places along the river there is half of a full crop. Apples 
will be scattered; some orchards are a full crop, and 
others are not 50 per cent of a crop. There are but few 
early apples raised in this section. Seckel pears are half 
last year’s crop. Rye is very poor, not half an average 
crop. Oats are coming on well since the rains. Corn is 
very backward, and the ground is so wet that it is im¬ 
possible to work it. I should think that the hay crop had 
gained one-third since the rains came. Potatoes are look¬ 
ing well. The plant lice are very bad in the orchards, 
both pear and apple, though worse on the young trees 
than old ones. I thought the lice on the trees would be 
destroyed by the rain, but I cannot see that they are 
any less since. j. p. v. d. 
Stockport, N. Y. 
The hay crop wiil be rather light on account of dry 
weather during May. June has been wet and cold, making 
corn backward and a poor stand, but the last three days 
have been warm and favorable, and corn is beginning to 
move. Wheat promises an average crop, and oats look 
very well where drilled and fertilized, but not so well 
when this has not been done. I notice a few apple trees 
where the leaves are eaten in spots about one-eighth inch 
in diameter or less, the damage being done to the under¬ 
side of the leaf. The thin fiber that is left turns reddish 
brown and many leaves fall off, but so far only a few 
trees have been attacked. The prospect is for a plentiful 
crop of apples of very good quality, honors being pretty 
equally divided between early and late varieties. There 
are some peaches, in spite of many frosts and several 
freezes while in bloom, but no pears. c. j. w. 
Sewickley, Pa. 
Conditions are just fearful in the well-cultivated thor¬ 
oughly manured and sprayed orchards. Owners of some of 
them who had a good crop in sight are now feeling very 
blue; the louse is causing much anxiety. Some have been 
spraying with whale-oil soap, 30 pounds to a 250-gallon 
tank of water; It is thought the application kills the in¬ 
sects that receive a dose of it, but to look at a tree that 
has millions on it and look at the leaves and fruit which 
cannot be covered, the lice apparently are increasing as 
fast as can be killed. One man has used a barrel of soap 
(cost about $25), and says he has given up his crop, as 
he does not want to do more. The neglected orchards 
are in pretty good condition, with a fair showing of fruit 
and almost no lice; we cannot understand it. We can 
give no estimate of crop until we can see the end of this 
louse problem. Pears, plums and prunes are affected 
about the same as apples. i. n. s. 
Albion, N. Y. 
We are (June 27) in the midst of gathering the cherry 
crop, which is about half a crop of the finest fruit I have 
ever seen. Peaches will be only a very moderate crop of 
good fruit. Plums are abundant, with present appear¬ 
ance of fine fruit. Pears are looking well for abundance 
of fine fruit; grapes in good condition. There are lots 
of plant lice, but I do not think there is as much danger 
from their work as many imagine. Last year they were 
much more numerous, and I took fright with others and 
whi^ des^oyed the lice, and I have only a small showing 
of them this year. Some of my neighbors treated their 
with kerosene, and they had as many apples as 
I did, and I came to the conclusion that the lice were 
comparatively harmless. On the whole I think the pros¬ 
pect for a moderate crop of fine fruit decidedly flatter¬ 
ing. Farm crops are decidedly late and somewhat un- 
proinlsing, especially hay; yet last week’s copious rains 
are doing much to repair damage on Spring grain, while 
Winter wheat and rye bid fair for an average; large acre¬ 
age In beans is planted which receive full benefit from 
recent rains. Our cabbage crop is just about nowhere- 
grubs very destructive in every plot, so only a small part 
of the usual will be planted. Potatoes have a grand 
chance to make a bountiful yield. c b 
Spencerport, N. Y. ' ' 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Archdeacon & Co., 100 Murray St., New York, are ex¬ 
perienced commission handlers of peaches and all kinds 
of choice fruits and vegetables. 
Wm. F. Peebles, of Stamford, Conn., writes the Law- 
rence-Wllliams Co., of Cleveland, O., regarding Gom- 
bault’s Balsam as follows: “I have use Gombault’s Caus¬ 
tic Balsam for some time for many complaints and al¬ 
ways found It all that you claim for it.” 
If you find anything the matter with your stock 
whether horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, or even wJtli 
your dog—and if you want reliable and quick advice in 
me matter—write describing the trouble to the Veterlnarv 
Department of the West Disinfecting Co., Inc. (manufac¬ 
turers of Chloro-Naptholeum Dip), 4 E. 59th St New 
York. ’ 
There Is no better advertisement than a satisfied cus- 
sample letter which the Electric 
Wheel Co., Quincy, Ill., are receiving from purchasers of 
their wheels and wagons: “Some time ago I bought a set 
of metal wheels of you and like them very much. I have 
trouble keeping my wagon at home, as my neighbors have 
bothered the life out of m'e ever since I got it. I would 
not do without it and never use my high wagon at all 
except when my neighbors have my little wagon.” 
-- --lAVAoctxici* AO uuuijolicu ov tne 
Newton Horse Remedy Co., of Toledo, O., in which symp¬ 
toms are described, whereby ailments can be recognized 
and m which remedies and treatment are given for spe¬ 
cific di.seases. The proprietors have built up a reputation 
that is famous on Dr. Newton’s Heaves, Cough Distem¬ 
per and indigestion cure, and they will be Pleased to send 
the book free, to all who make a request 'for it. 
