1903 
569 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A paper mill at Hartford. Conn., was 
burned July 22, and one fireman killed by a falling' wall; 
property loss $160,000. . . . There is discord in Texas be¬ 
tween the National Guard and the labor unions. The 
unions have positively declined to let members who are 
also members of the militia take the oath of allegiance 
> the President and swear to support the Constitution, 
,is provided under the Dick National Guard law, which 
went into effect on July 1, and under which the Texas 
militia is now operating. All members of unions who 
were members of the militia companies at Austin have 
been forced to resign or be dismissed from the union, and 
as a result the members have resigned from the Guard, 
as they did not want to be thrown out of the union. The 
order to resign has been given to union men all over the 
State, and fully 25 per cent of the active militiamen will 
go out. . . . Gen. Cassius M. Clay, ex-Minister to Rus¬ 
sia, died at Richmond, Ky., July 23. He was born in 
Madison County, Ky.. October 19, 1810, of Virginia par¬ 
entage, and inherited a large fortune in land and slaves 
from his father. Green Clay. While in college he heard 
William Lloyd Garrison speak and was so impressed that 
he came to believe property in slaves to be wrong. At 
the centennial celebration of the birth of Washington at 
Yale he was the orator, and made a remarkable speech 
in favor of freeing slaves. It created excitement in the 
North and consternation in the South, but young Clay 
went back to his Kentucky home prepared to stand by 
his principles, which he defended with his life on many 
occasions. He entered on the practice of law and was 
elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1835 and reelected 
in 1837 and in 1840. but his pronounced advocacy of anti¬ 
slavery doctrines led to his defeat in 1841. He was de¬ 
nounced by both political parties and assailed by pulpit, 
press and platform speakers. Even his life was threat¬ 
ened and he had to go heavily armed and had a number 
of narrow escapes and exciting encounters. He opposed 
the annexation of Texas and started an anti-slavery 
newspaper in Lexington in 1845, called The True Ameri¬ 
can, which served to stir up more fervent opposition to 
• lim than before. He fought in the Mexican War, was 
active in the Republican party in its early days, and was 
appointed Minister to Russia by Lincoln. . . . Lieu¬ 
tenant Mitchell, in charge of the construction of Gov¬ 
ernment telegraph line in Alaska, has reported to the 
chief signal officer that no less than 100 miles of the 1,800- 
mile stretch which was completed on June 20, have been 
destroyed by forest fires. The line was in operation over 
the entire length of the system for only four days before 
the fire broke out in the Tanana Valley, and communica¬ 
tion between Good Pastor and Fairbanks was entirely 
shut off. Lieutenant Mitchell estimates that more than 
a million dollars’ worth of timber has been destroyed, 
and that the fire will continue untii there is a heavy rain¬ 
fall, which may not be for several months, and much 
more valuable timber land will be consumed unless the 
lire is soon extinguished. Until it is, it will be impos¬ 
sible to reestablish communication over the entire length 
of the Alaskan telegraph. . . . Fire almost entirely 
destroyed two buildings of the Omaha Packing Company 
at Chicago, July 24, causing a loss estimated at $500,000. 
it is believed the fire resulted from combustion in the 
lard refining plant. The refining plant was consumed, 
and the flames spread to an eight-story brick warehouse, 
containing quantities of lard and 16,000,000 pounds of pork, 
most of which was practically destroyed. ... A rag 
pickers’ union has been organized in New York. There 
were 200 persons present at the first meeting, one-third 
of whom were women. The union will be a branch of the 
United Hebrew Trades, and its headquarters will be on 
the lower East Side. Said the chairman: “The work is 
not very attractive, and we are very poorly paid. We 
are employed by contractors, who allow us only $7 and $8 
a week. It is our intention to demand $12 and $15.’’ . . 
. . Race riots in Danville, Ill., July 25, resulted in the 
murder of one white man, the lynching of his negro as 
sallant, and the shooting of 60 others. The city was put 
uuder martial law. Most of the persons hurt were shot 
by the sheriff in his defense of the jail. ... At Foster, 
Pa., July 25. an attempt was made to lynch John Peel, 
a Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Company detective, 
by a crowd of residents of that village who were infuriated 
upon learning that he had gained evidence which would 
connect a score of the families of the village with whole¬ 
sale thievery of brass and other junk from the company’s 
property. Wholesale arrests are likely to follow, as at 
least 15 of the mob are known. The leader is said to be 
one of the leading citizens of the town, and it is alleged 
that because the detective had gained evidence in con¬ 
nection with the thieving which would have disgraced 
him and his son, he gathered the mob, fired them with 
liquor and led them in an attack on the detective. . . . 
A typhoid epidemic has developed at Pittsburg, Pa., the 
result of a contaminated water supply. . . . Accord¬ 
ing to a decision of the Utah State Supreme Court a man 
Is under moral, but not legal, obligations to support his 
plural wives and educate his children by such unions. 
The decision was rendered in the case on appeal from 
the Utah county district court of a suit for separate 
maintainance brought by Mary Caroline Riddle, a plural 
wife of Isaac Riddle. It was shown during the first trial 
that Riddle married Mary Caroline in the temple at 
Logan, Utah, in the Fall of 1886, while he was dodging 
deputy United States marshals, who had a warrant for 
his arrest upon the charge of polygamy. Riddle already 
having tw,o plural wives. . . . Kansas school boards 
have determined to inaugurate a reform, and are insert¬ 
ing clauses In contracts with the teachers that prohibit 
either courting or marriage by the latter during the 
school term. Many schools were badly interrupted last 
year by the marriage of the women teachers, many of 
whom immediately resigned, and making it difficult to 
fill their places. Some of the teachers object to the con¬ 
tract on the ground that it is an abridgement of their 
personal liberty, and that if this policy should prevail 
throughout the State it would create an army of unmar- 
rlageable old maids, as 7,000 women teach in the State 
schools. I 
ADMTNTSTRA'TIQN;—Charles Hedges, the Intimate 
iriend and business associate of H. H. Rand and August 
W. Machen, was summarily dismissed July 22 from his 
place of superintendent of city delivery for falsifying his 
pay accounts. A statement citing a few of the instances 
in which Hedges has defrauded the Government was is¬ 
sued by Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bristow, 
although it is known to contain oniy a small portion of 
the reprehensible practices with which Hedges has been 
charged. It was shown that he had used his official po¬ 
sition to exploit a mining company, the stock of which 
he attempted to sell to postmasters. It now appears that 
when he was inspecting this same mining property in 
Mexico he was charging the Government a per diem of 
$4 and making oath to the statement that he was en¬ 
gaged in Government work at various places, when in 
fact he was not at those places on the dates mentioned, 
in some instances being hundreds of miles away. An 
even more serious charge against Hedges, and one that 
if proved would render him liable to serious penalties, is 
still under investigation. It is to the effect that he and 
H. H. Rand were implicated in lobbying through Con¬ 
gress the claim of one J. W. Parrish for ice that melted 
in 1863. Because of the gravity of this charge, and the 
fact that the confidential clerk of the Postmaster Gen¬ 
eral Is involved. Mr. Bristow is proceeding carefully and 
thoroughly, and will take no step until the chain of evi¬ 
dence is complete. The extreme penalty for a Govern¬ 
ment clerk who assists in lobbying a bill through Con¬ 
gress is a fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment 
for not more than one year, or both. . . . The Com¬ 
missioner of the General Land Office July 22 directed the 
withdrawal from entry of 368,000 acres of public land in 
Arizona, under the Reclamation act, in connection with 
the Salt River irrigation project, and 460,000 acres in 
South Dakota, in connection with the Belle Fourche pro¬ 
ject The South Dakota land affected by the order is in 
the Rapid City district, while part of that in Arizona is 
in the Tucson and part in the Prescott district. The 
Commissioner also directed the withdrawal of 160,000 acres 
in the Roswell, N. M., district in addition to the Lincoln 
forest reserve. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The tenth annual picnic of the 
Granges of Gloucester County. N. J., was held at Pit¬ 
man Grove, N. J., August 5-6. 
The Summer meeting of the Wisconsin State Horticul¬ 
tural Society will be held at Omro, Wis., August 27. 
The annual field meeting of the Wayne County Fruit 
Growers’ Association will be held at J. H. Teats & Sons’ 
peach farm, Williamson. N. Y., August 11. A number 
of prominent specialists are expected to address the 
meeting 
ONION NOTES. 
In 1902 we grrew 950 bushels of onions on 2 3-5 acres, me¬ 
dium quality bulbs of the Prizetaker variety. The seed 
was sown in open ground In drills 14 inches apart, using 
about six pounds of seed per acre and thinning some 
with first hand weeding. Crop was harvested in August 
and stored. Average price received was nearly 75 cents 
per bushel. We have more profitable crops to occupy our 
time, and our men are not particularly fond of onions. 
We used no fertilizer, simply clean upland of a sandy 
nature. We have not seen the transplanting system used 
here. The entire planting of onions is not more than lu 
to 12 acres for this market. j, w. f. 
Guthrie, Okla. 
The growth and cultivation of onions in Wayne Co., O., 
has been quite a success for the past 10 years. There are 
at present under cultivation about 400 acres in large 
onions, to say nothing of the many small patches of lit¬ 
tle pickle onions. The large onions yield on average 
good muck lands, well drained and early sown, about 600 
bushels to the acre. Creston has very good shipping 
routes, north, south, east and west, enabling the producer 
to get an early and ready market for his crop, which 
this season promises to be large. So far as I am able to 
say, the crop here is invariably grown from the seed. 
The time of planting most desired is the latter part of 
March and early April. The amount of acreage giveji 
above lies in three different localities, one of 250 acres, 
while the remainder of the 400 is nearly equally divided 
between the other two. The price obtained varies with 
the more or less favorable seasons, but generally is 
counted upon for a large revenue to the grower. 
Creston. O. g. a. h. 
We raise onions on a small scale here in Lorain Co., 
O., from 1^ to four acres each. They are grown on muck 
land. To prepare land f6r onions one should turn under 
a clover or some other sod and cultivate to some hoed 
crop the first year. Plow the land in late Fall or early 
Spring. Cover with 16 or 18 loads of well-rotted manure 
to the acre. Harrow, roll and make fine and smooth. 
Sow 314 to four pounds of seed to the acre, but one wants 
to know, that it comes from a reliable seed firm, or he 
will often be disappointed in his crop of onions. I pre¬ 
fer to raise my own seed. For this purpose I choose a 
few bushels of the best globe-shaped and of the best 
color, and then I am not disappointed. We sow as early 
in Spring as the season and land will admit, and com¬ 
mence cultivating as soon as we can see the rows, using 
the Planet Jr. drill and cultivator. Seed rows are sown 
12 inches apart, and onions should stand two Inches apart 
in the row. We cultivate and hand weed about four 
times during the season. When the white onions begin 
to fall down they should be pulled, a part of the top 
twisted off and the onions put under cover in some loft 
or building to cure. If left out they will turn green and 
not bring as good a price as if kept white. Red and yel¬ 
low can be pulled and put in rows until well cured and 
then topped and put into dry-house until cold weather. 
Then we put them into our onion house, which is built 
on purpose, to keep them until we think it is time to sell, 
which is from January 1 to March 1. Some years we sell 
earlier. i. b. b. 
Oberlln, O. 
Not many onions are raised in this section. There are 
some who raise from 50 to 100 bushels per year. I have 
been in the business for a few years planting from one 
to 1% acre. They are sown in open ground from about 
April 15 to May 1. The land is usually given a good coat 
of bam dressing, well worked in. Some use small quan¬ 
tities of commercial fertilizer in addition. These small 
lots are usually sold from wagon to consumers or to 
country stores. I commenced on an old garden patch 
(one-fourth acre), used hen manure, and the first year 
harvested 210 bushels fine onions. The next year I had 
one acre, used about 40 loads of barn dressing and 700 
pounds of potato fertilizer, and harvested 800 bushels; 
third year, 2,100 pounds fertilizer, no barn dressing, and 
raised 600 bushels. Worms worked on them more or less. 
Fourth year I used barn dressing only and harvested 520 
bushels. Last year, from 114 acre, with barn dress¬ 
ing and fertilizer, I harvested 617 bushels, and there were 
as many more that did not mature, as it was a very 
unfavorable season. My method if selling prior to the 
two last seasons has been same as others, from wagon 
or small lots from 15 to 100 bushels to traders. The two 
last seasons I have sold to wholesalers at $1 per bushel, 
free on board at nearest railroad station. This year 
I planted one acre April 22. They came up the quickest 
and looked the finest that I ever had until June 10, when 
the maggots commenced on them, and nearly cleaned 
them out, as they have every one’s in this section. 
Troy, Me. _ n. b. h. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
We are having lovely Summer weather. Corn is just 
promising roasting ears, and grain Is ripening fast. Not 
much fruit in prospect, but that is always an uncertain 
crop. B. c. D. 
Elkhorn, Wis. 
At this writing, July 25, most crops, though somewhat 
backward, are looking well, the copious rains and warmth 
of early July pushing growth rapidly. It is believed that 
oats, corn, potatoes, peas, beans, grass, etc., with favor¬ 
able weather from now on, will come very nearly if not 
quite up to average seasons. Raspberries are plentiful, 
though considerably damaged by rain. Currants, black¬ 
berries, huckleberries and blueberries in full supply; 
peaches, plums and apples almost an entire failure— 
hardly one-quarter of an average crop. h. h. b. 
Eastern Connecticut. 
JULY 23.—The Pecos Valley is an odd corner, a verit¬ 
able oasis In the desert. The climate is unsurpassed, the 
irrigation plant the largest in the United States, the soil 
a sandy loam, the people are progressive, up-to-datb. At 
present the peaches are claiming their undivided atten¬ 
tion. Of the newer varieties tested in our orchard for 
the first time Greensboro, ripening June 20, is a thin, 
watery peach Triumph, ripening July 1, is a splendid 
yellow peach; fully merits its description, “the best of 
the early peaches.’’ Carman, ripening July 15, Is a large, 
firm, white-fleshed peach of good flavor and flne color¬ 
ing. Neither Triumph nor Carman have shown the 
slightest tendency to rot. As a matter of fact, Pecos 
Valley peaches do not rot, but reach the highest possible 
perfection in this dry, sunny climate. m. 
Carlsbad, N. M. 
LOUISIANA NOTES. 
I am from Ohio; have been in the South since 1890 and 
expect to remain here the remainder of my life. Of 
course I married here, which has a tendency to bind me 
to the South. My health is as good here as it was in 
the North. I can live easier, because I have 12 months 
in a year to work. I am a painter by trade, but was 
raised upon the farm. A farmer in this country can farm 
12 months in a year just as I can paint 12 months a year. 
The farmer or planter, as termed here, takes life easily. 
If they worked as hard as farmers do in the North 
they would be more independent; as it is, a great many 
are not. They depend too much on the negro, or entirely 
so. As a rule very few farmers or white people do 
laborious work upon the farm or plantation. It is all 
a mistaken idea for northern people to think this is a 
very unhealthy country. I see every day people who 
have lived here all their life, 80 and 90 years old, who 
are just as active as northern people. Of course there 
are unhealthy sections here as well as everywhere else; 
in the swamps they have chills and fever, but you will 
find that in the North as well as the South. As before 
stated, I have been in the South since 1890 and have 
only had two chills and very little fever. The yellow 
fever was the worst, and I did not even have a doctor 
for that. People suppose the heat is too great here, but 
it is a mistaken idea; I don’t suffer from the heat here 
any more than I did in the North. There is every in¬ 
ducement in the world for good Industrious white people 
in this section of the country. There is some very rich 
land in this parish; it will all produce well by fertilizing 
a very little and giving good cultivation. I have seen 
personally the past season a field of 35 acres which pro¬ 
duced 35 bales of cotton, which the year before did not 
produce 10 bales, and it was not fertilized very heavily 
either. The trouble is that the planters cultivate too 
much land and do not do It thoroughly. Just think of a 
man with 4,000 acres of land in one body, and about 20 
families upon it, and almost every foot could be culti¬ 
vated! Anything you plant here will grow, and generally 
produces well. All kinds of vegetables grow prollfically, 
some spontaneously. I know of one farmer raising $200 
worth of ground artichokes on an acre of land. Decem¬ 
ber 6 last we were eating green peas, beans, lettuce, 
radishes and such every day; the willow trees were al¬ 
most as fresh and green as early Spring, and we had 
only had one heavy frost and three light ones. h. m. 
Bayou Sara, La. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The Gale-Baldwln and Baldwin silage and dry foddei- 
cutters deserve the attention of every farmer desiring 
to purchase machinery in this line. They are manufac¬ 
tured by the Belcher & Taylor A. T. Co., Box 75, Chicopee 
Palls, Mass., who will be very glad to send a catalogue 
describing these machines, free to any reader of The 
R. N.-Y. 
Silo filling time Is nearly here, and there are many who 
have not yet bought cutters. Farmers now understand 
that the cutter has much to do with the successful filling 
of the silo. A strong accurate machine is needed. The 
Belle City cutter made by the Belle City Mfg. Co.. Ra¬ 
cine, Wis., is a worthy candidate for favor, with several 
points for which the manufacturers claim superiority. 
We would by all means study the catalogue, which is 
sent on application, before choosing a cutter. 
