1903 
521 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—George D. Cosby and Barancas P. Cosby, 
farmers of Tallapoosa County, Ala., pleaded guilty to 
the charge of peonage in the United States Court July 
1, and were sentenced to serve one year and a day in 
the Atlanta penitentiary. The system of leasing the 
labor of convicts in Alabama, amounting in its practical 
application to peonage, or slavery, has been under in¬ 
vestigation for some months. Various atrocities have 
been brought to light, including instances of cruel 
punishment of negroes held and compelled to labor be¬ 
cause of debt and minor offenses. Many arrests have 
been made and most of the cases are still pending in 
the State and Federal courts.The United 
States Government has instituted suit in the Federal 
court at Butte, Mont., against the Anaconda Copper 
Company, the Bitter Root Development Company, the 
Marcus Daly estate, William Scallon and others for $2,- 
000,000, being the value of timber alleged to have been 
unlawfully cut from the public domain in the western 
reserve of Montana. F. A. Maynard, special United 
States attorney, was sent from Washington to bring this 
suit and prosecute other similar cases.Snow 
was general in Montana July 2, slight flurries being re¬ 
ported from all over the State. The fall was heavy on 
the Continental Divide. The temperature has dropped 
to 45. The snow alternates with cold rains. Great dam¬ 
age to crops is feared.A big Are started July 
6 in the packing house district of St. Joseph, Mo. The 
Hammond Company’s big plant was destroyed with a 
loss of $1,500,000. One fireman was killed and three per¬ 
sons were hurt.Thirty-six persons were killed 
July 5 by a flood caused by the bursting of a dam at 
Oakford Park, near Jeannette, about 30 miles from Pitts¬ 
burg, Pa. Many of those killed were drowned, some 
were crushed by timbers and others were burned and 
shocked to death by coming in contact with falling 
electric wires. Oakford Park is a resort operated by the 
Pittsburg Railway Company. The dam impounded the 
waters of several streams, making a lake. A storm 
broke and the visitors took refuge in the car barns, close 
to the park, and in a small building nearby. The barns 
and the building were all below the level of the dam, 
which held back 40 acres of water, 20 feet deep. Sud¬ 
denly the water made a breach in the dam four feet wide. 
The water poured out, the gap widened and then the 
whole lake seemed to pour down the valley. The wall 
of water was at least 30 feet high. It swept up the 
little house in which nearly a hundred persons had taken 
refuge. The building was demolished. When the wall 
of water came, those getting its direct force could not 
escape, but further down the water spread out. Men 
were seen swimming in this wider water, but the trolley 
poles had been swept into the flood, the wires were 
charged, and strong swimmers, catching hold of the 
wires, were killed instantly by the shock. The property 
loss is said to reach $1,000,000.Fire in the Le¬ 
high Valley freight yards at Jersey City, N. J., July 5, 
caused a loss of $200,000. The Are began in a 600-foot 
flour shed, containing 50,000 barrels of flour, and 14 oars 
loaded with flour. Every street within a couple of miles 
to the north of the burning shed was covered with a 
thin white layer.Race riots started in Evans¬ 
ville, Ind., July 5, eontinuing two days. The trouble was 
started by an attempt to lynch a colored outlaw who 
had shot a policeman. The trouble culminated July 6 
in an attack on the jail by a mob of 2,000 infuriatea citi¬ 
zens, the killing outright of seven persons and the dan¬ 
gerously wounding of four others by the militia which 
was on guard at the jail. While the attack of the mob 
was not unexpected it was supposed that assurances 
that Robert Lee, the colored murderer of Patrolman 
Massey, was not in the jail would be accepted by the 
mob and that trouble would thus be avoided, but the 
mob refused to believe the sheriff’s statements and ad¬ 
vanced upon the jail with battering-rams cut from tele¬ 
graph poles. Frenzied mobs paraded the city, attacking 
both white and colored loiterers, using arms stolen from 
gunshops. July 6, 500 negroes fled from the city; 28 per¬ 
sons had been injured, and the city was put under mar¬ 
tial law.A passenger train on the Southern 
Railway, from New York to New Orleans, ran into an 
open switch at Rockflsh, Va., July 7, colliding with a 
freight train, which telescoped the first passenger car. 
Twenty-four persons were killed, and many more Injured. 
ADMINISTRATION.-The transfer of the bureaus 
which are to be assembled under the act creating the 
Department of Commerce and Labor to the new depart¬ 
ment took place July 1. In addition to the bureaus of 
Corporations and Manufactures created by the new law, 
the Department of Commerce embraces control of the 
following: The Census Bureau, formerly under control 
of the Interior Department; the Lighthouse Establish¬ 
ment, the Steamboat Inspection Service, the Bureau of 
Navigation, the United States Shipping Commissioners, 
the National Bureau of Standards, the Coast and Geo¬ 
detic Survey, the Bureau of Immigration, and the Bu¬ 
reau of Statistics, from the Treasury Department; the 
Bureau of Labor, the Fish Commission, and the Bureau 
of Foreign Commerce, the latter being transferred from 
the State Department.In the Post Office in¬ 
quiry, a thorough investigation of the affairs of the 
General Manifolding Company, of Franklin, Pa., is now 
ill progress. It has been discovered that, as a result of 
the clause inserted in the Sundry Civil bill, instructing 
the Public Printer to purchase the manufactures of this 
company whenever requested to do so by the chief of a 
Government bureau, the concern is now selling to the 
Government approximately $400,000 worth of duplicating 
paper and forms every year. A prominent official who 
has much inside knowledge of the purchase of Govern¬ 
ment supplies, and especially of the Postoffice Investi¬ 
gation, said July 1 that the securing of contracts by 
members of Congress for companies in which they are 
interested was growing into a frightful abuse. Having 
secured contracts for their companies, there was an ever- 
Present temptation to make extravagant appropriations 
this official esti- 
that the custom entailed an expense to the Gov- 
ernment of not less than $50,000,000 a year in excess of 
at would be expended under economical administra¬ 
tion.Eight hundred and ninety-six new rural 
free delivery routes were put in operation July 1, the 
first since the establishments were suspended in view of 
the deficit on that account for the fiscal year just closed. 
They bring the total number of routes in operation to 
approximately 16,000. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—^At the annual meeting of the 
American Seed Trade Association at Atlantic City, N. J., 
the following oflicers were elected: President, S. F. Wil¬ 
lard, Wethersfield, Conn.; vice-president, J. C. McCul¬ 
lough, Cincinnati, O.; secretary-treasurer, E. C. Kendel, 
Cleveland, O.; executive committee, Walter P. Stokes, 
J. E, Worthing, H. M. Schisler, M. H. Duryea and M. 
L. Webster. Atlanta, Ga., was selected as the next place 
of meeting. 
Because a number of cattle have contracted the foot- 
and-mouth disease while on a vessel which had been car¬ 
rying wool from Argentina, the Government may stop the 
importation of Argentine wool. A shipment of bulls for 
breeding purposes was recently sent from Indiana to Ar¬ 
gentina. They developed foot-and-mouth disease when 
they got there. Nothing of this kind exists in Indiana, 
nor anywhere along the line of travel to New York, from 
which port the animals were shipped. They unquestion¬ 
ably contracted the disease on board the vessel, that has 
been bringing wool from Argentina to the United States. 
The Department of Agriculture has reliable information 
that the foot-and-mouth disease not only exists now in 
Argentina, but has existed there for a considerable time. 
Sheep are just as liable to this disease as cattle. The 
question presented to the Department is whether it will 
stop the importation of wool from Argentina and such 
other countries as have foot-and-mouth disease. 
Prof. Homer C. Price, Professor of Horticulture and 
Forestry lov/a State College, has been elected Dean of 
the College of Agriculture and Domestic Science and 
head of the Department of Agriculture of the Ohio State 
University with the title of Professor of Rural Economics. 
A new order of the British Board of Agriculture was 
gazetted July 3, revising previous orders, and prohibiting 
the landing in Great Britain of any hogs from the United 
States, besides prohibiting the importation of cattle from 
New England. The order goes into effect August 1. 
CROP PROSPECTS, 
We are having a very favorable season so far. The 
dry weather of April and May pinched the growth of 
grass so there will not be a full crop of hay, but fruit 
has set well and is growing clean and healthy. Cherries 
are a large crop, bringing a good price. Plums will be 
a large crop; pears set well but have dropped, so will 
not be more than halt a crop. Apples are a little more 
than half a crop free from fungus. Peaches about 60 
per cent. b. w. c. 
Lockport, N. Y. 
Regarding the fruit crop probabilities of this section, 
tersely told, “we are not in it.” Cherries, pears, quinces 
and Japan plums are a total failure; European plums 15 
per cent of a crop. Apples and peaches 10 per cent. 
Grapes so far promise well. Wheat and rye short, but 
well filled. Hay 40 per cent of a crop. Plant lice arc 
more numerous than usual. Briefly told, the season so 
far has been far from satisfactory, yet we live and hope 
for a brighter future. j. e. h. 
Orwigsburg, Pa. 
I never saw the corn crop so poor; cannot tell what the 
result will be, it depends on July and August. Apples 
about 50 per cent compared with last year; quality 
good. The plant louse has not made its appearance, only 
in a few orchards; no damage to speak of. Early apples 
are about an average crop; quality good. Compared with 
former years the wheat crop will make about 90 per 
cent; barley, 80 per cent; oats, 90 per cent; old meadows 
about 60 per cent. A dry May retarded the growth; 
clover not over 40 per cent. Peaches, 20 per cent; plums, 
loO per cent; cherries, 20 per cent; pears, 20 per cent. 
The cabbage crop will be a failure. The dry weather 
caused the seed to lie dormant, and when the rain came 
the plant was too small for setting. A large acreage 
of beans to take the place of cabbage. w. r. f. 
Rushville, N. Y. 
Our fruit crop was badly hurt by the May frosts. We 
have no peaches left in a commercial way. Apple crop 
in southern Missouri and northwest Arkansas, what is 
known as the Ozark region, is from 10 to 20 per cent of 
a crop; very inferior in quality, crooked, ill-shaped from 
effects of freeze, beside being very scabby; still dropping. 
There will be no early apples in this section of the 
country in a commercial way. Wheat about 50 per cent 
of an average crop; will average about eight to 10 bushels 
per acre. Corn is late; acreage smaller than last year, 
in fairly good condition, and if continued favorable 
weather will make average yield. Early oats good crop, 
while late oats are damaged with the rust. Hay crop 
good; pastures in fine coijditlon. While there is some 
complaint of plant lice they are not doing very much 
damage. Orchard trees are making fine growth and 
promise to be in prime condition for good crop next year. 
Nichols, Mo. a_ t. t. 
The present outlook for apples is not as good as it was 
about the middle of June, on account of damage, of the 
aphis or plant lice upon the trees. They not only work 
upon the foliage but on the fruit also. I have talked 
with many of our fruit growers as to what varieties of 
apples they would have this year, and find that there is 
a good showing for Maiden’s Blush, King, Spy, Russets 
and Twenty Ounce, but Baldwin, Greening and Hub- 
bardstons were not as good, and the crop would be about 
50 per cent of last year’s crop. Wheat and rye are show¬ 
ing well; oats and barley showing a wonderful growth. 
Meadows, especially Timothy, are making a larger 
growth of superior quality; will be two-thirds of a full 
crop. There is a very large acreage of beans planted; 
many pieces looking fine. We are having built here in 
Albion a large canning factory this year; will can toma¬ 
toes and sweet corn. Farmers are raising 300 acres of 
tomatoes and more than 500 acres of sweet corn. The 
factory will be of great benefit to the farmers for years 
to come. J g 
Albion, N. Y. 
Our early strawberries were almost a total failure on 
account of the freezing weather of April. We had some 
very fine late ones, however, of the Sample and Aroma 
varieties, which sold for good prices. Cherries and 
pears were knocked out by the cold, as were also the 
more tender sorts of peaches. Blackcaps are fairly good, 
and our own Loudon and Miller Red raspberries are 
simply grand. The “reds” are selling well at satisfac¬ 
tory prices. Last Saturday morning I sold, on our retail 
market at Newark, O., two bushels and 20 quarts for 
$12.60, or 15 cents per quart straight through. Our baby 
apple trees are doing very nicely so far this season. It 
Is a pretty even race between those that are cultivated 
and those that have been kept well mulched, with pos¬ 
sibly a peg or so in favor of the mulching. The ones 
mulched are on the poorest, driest ground, but they 
are as large, if not a little larger than any of the others 
of the same age. f. h. b. 
Licking Co., O. 
/I Good Report from Southern Ohio. 
The fruit crop in this locality will be very short. 
There are no peaches, very few pears, no plums except 
Damsons, and the early apples are almost failures with 
nearly all growers. I have more early ones than for 
several years, and three-fourths of a crop of Winter 
apples of good quality. There is not more than 25 per 
cent of an apple crop in southern Ohio, and nearly all 
who did not spray or did not do a thorough Job have 
none or very few, and they of very poor quality on 
account of the scab, which is worse this year than com¬ 
mon. Four good sprayings almost kept it from doing 
^ — --«»-- — 
barrels in all, and the quality promises nearly as well 
as last year, when more than 95 per cent were barrelable. 
Worms are nearly unknown in the orchards where we 
gave them good treatment, using the Bordeaux, arsenlte 
of soda and arsenate of lead all combined. We thinned 
some of the early apples, and have commenced on the 
late ones, and we expect to keep at it for a good while 
yet. The Rome Beauty is holding its own with any of 
them in my orchard, and many of them are entirely too 
full, while others have few or none nearby. The best 
trees have the fruit, and those that were not well sup¬ 
plied with moisture and fertility last year have few or 
none on them. We have been selling early apples and 
getting the best prices the last three weeks that I ever 
got for them. I make three grades in putting them up 
in half-bushel baskets, and get $1 per basket for the 
fancy, 80 cents for the choice and 50 cents for the culls 
at wholesale, and do not have enough to get only half 
a square when I get to market at Huntington, W. Va. 
I took 19 bushels this morning and the same day before 
yesterday, and expect to have from five to 20 bushels 
every trip all Summer, three times a week. I am glad 
I set out about 500 trees of early kinds last Spring; most 
of them have been mulched and are doing nicely. Prob¬ 
ably those in the sod are a little ahead. We have picked 
our Yellow Transparent and Early Harvest for the Ohio 
State Fair, and have them in cold storage. The plant 
lice are worse here this year than common, and have 
done some damage for me, but not a great deal. I 
have never sprayed yet for them, but I may have to do 
so another year if they don’t make themselves scarce. 
Market crops have been very short around here, but are 
getting more plentiful this week, and prices for most 
vegetables have dropped some. Peas have been selling 
at $2 per bushel and beans are worth only half or a 
third of that. Potatoes go at $1 yet and the crop is 
light. New com brings only 12% cents a dozen and 
some home-grown tomatoes are coming in. The corn 
crop is looking well, but hay is very short. Some wheat 
was good, but there was the most cheat I ever saw 
and more ox-eye daisies in some pastures than is good 
for them. I shall try to get rid of some of them by 
rmvlng them pulled and hauled out in piles, and let 
them rot or burn them. We have had good rains lately, 
and have the little grass and weeds that were in the 
orchards cut and piled around the little trees and the 
remainder put around the larger ones that needed it the 
worst, as there was not enough to go around. In time 
of wet weather I am preparing for a dry spell, and have 
nearly finished going over the small acreage of corn with 
a fine cultivator to break the crust, so as to save the 
moisture if we have no more rain soon. It has been 
fair for four days, and the barometer still says fair, al¬ 
though it looks a little as though it might rain before 
many days. Where is the hay and other feed to come 
from that I shall need to feed the stock? I still think 
It will produce better results by leaving it in the orchard 
rather than to haul it out and feed it. u t cox 
Lawrence Co., Ohio. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
a troublesome, and 
a few dollars invested in a good fly repellant will show 
in the milk pail and on the ribs of your horse. Our ad- 
columns contains the announcements of some 
reliable manufacturers. 
A CONSTANT and reliable water supply is a necessity 
farm. After you have decided upon the Swe^ 
at®* Mo write to Ralph B. Carter Co., 26 Cortlandt 
St., New York, regarding a tank. A good tank is iust as 
essential as reliable power. ’’ 
'1 HE season is now at hand when every raiser of pota- 
^rotn*** quantity is Interested in machinery for^har- 
^sting his crop. We commend to your attention the 
Mf^^Co manufactured by the Dowden 
City, Iowa. A good machine, made 
carefully, by honest men who know their business. 
sterilized milk provided for the poor of New York 
xT®fv. through the philanthropic efforts of 
Natlmn Straus, has saved the lives of countless babies. 
Mi\ Straus has now extended his benevolence to Chicago 
and promises to include St. Louis another Summer Mr* 
Straus, who is widely known both as philanthropist and 
diplomat, is a member of the firm of R. H. Macy & Co 
is sucrfLfrktrSre!®"®’ "^ail-order shopping 
land rollers, clod pulverizers and soil packers and a 
>!^®® agricultural implements have been suc¬ 
ceeded by a new organization known as the Wllder- 
Cm organized under the laws of the 
State of Michigan. The new company will continue to 
*^® 9 ^, Soods formerly made by J K 
Wilder & Sons, but with added capital and the added 
thlffi former output.^''"" to double 
f probable that no small steam engine yields 
^e power claimed for it; even fewer “horse power?’ do 
heretofore subtracted a great por¬ 
tion of the power, and it has remained for a Vermont 
firm to produce an ideal horse power. This power is 
known as A. W. Gray's Sons' horse power. These now- 
ers are in general use for running thrashers wood 
separators, churns, silagj^cut- 
ters, cider mills, pumps, etc., and for like nses.®^ Any. 
one contemplating a purchase of power or machine 1^?v 
have catalogue free by addressing A W Cirat’Z 
Middletown Springs, Vt. Grays Sons, 
