THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
7i3 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Charles B. Farwell, ex-Unitecl States 
Senator from Illinois and one of the oldest residents of 
Chicago, died September 23 at his home in Bake Forest. 
He was president of the John V. Farwell Company, and 
helped greatly the growth of Chicago. Mr. Farwell was 
born in the town of Painted Post, Steuben County, x'l. 
y., July 1, 1823. His early education was gained at the 
Elmira Academy. When he was 15 vears old his father 
removed to Ogle County, in the western part of Illinois 
and settled upon a farm. In 1870 Mr. Farwell ran for 
Congress against “I.ong John” Wentworth and defeated 
him in one of the most bitter campaigns ever known in 
Illinois. Press and pulpit were against him and he was 
subjected to violent attacks upon his personal character, 
but he was elected, reelected in 1872, and again in 1874. 
Four years later he again came forward as a candidate 
for Congress, and was again elected. He then declared 
himself out of politics, but in 1885 he became a candi¬ 
date for the nomination as Senator against Gen. Logan. 
Later he and Gen. Logan .settled their political differences, 
and Mr. Farwell succeeded him as United States Senator 
in 1887, serving for four years. Mr. Farwell became one of 
the largest land owners in the United States by virtue 
of a contract which gave him a vast tract of land in 
Texas in payment for the erection of the court house at 
Austin. He had long been a multi-millionaire. 
Meagre reports come from Blairmore. N. W. T., of an¬ 
other mountain slide at Frank, Alberta, where over one 
hundred lives were lost in April by the bulging out of 
Turtle Mountain. The second slide occurred September 
23. The cliff which had been overhanging the town gave 
way and iiiled the valley with rock. As far as has been 
heard, no lives were lost in Frank, but it is feared there 
has been great loss to coal mines. All the people of 
Frank have deserted the town and are being taken to 
Blairmore and other stations on the Cro%y’s Nest pass 
of the Canadian Pacific.With smoke and fire 
pouring from its windows, a palace stock car filled with 
racehorses and attached to a Union Pacific through 
freight pulled into the yards at Grand Island, Neb., Sep¬ 
tember 24. The fire was quickly extinguished, but not 
before the trotting stallion Norval King, valued at $25,000, 
was fatally burned and several other horses moi'e or less 
injured. It is supposed that sparks from the engine en¬ 
tered the car windows and ignited the straw. 
Having failed to convince the Commissioner of Internal 
Bevenue that the corporation of which he is the head 
did not use artificial coloring matter in oleomargarine, 
William J. Moxley. the “Butterine King," started suit in 
the United States Circuit Court at Chicago September 
75 to recover $35,000 which he was compelled to pay as 
penalty for alleged violation of the law. W'hile this is 
an action in assumpsit and will probably be tried before 
a jury, there are important law questions in the suit 
which will be argued before Judge Kohlsaat this Pall, 
'i'he court will thus have an opportunity to review the 
contentions made before the department some months 
ago. These were in substance that palm oil was the 
principal ingredient used by the Moxley Corporation in 
coloring the oleomargarine and that such coloring was 
not by an artifical process.Samuel T. Fergu¬ 
son a Wabash Railway contractor was killed and his 
clerk, Charles 1^. Martin, mortally wounded at Mid¬ 
dletown, Washington County, Pa., September 25, by an 
explosion of dynamite caused by robbers who escaped 
with $3,600.A fast mail train on the Southern 
Railway ran off a trestle near Danville, Va., September 
27, falling 75 feet. Nine persons were killed and seven in¬ 
jured. They were all railway and post-office employees. 
Trafficking in carcasses of cattle in quai-antine and using 
his position to “make money on the side” are charges 
which may be preferred against John J. Cashin, chief 
meat inspec.tor of the Chicago Health Department, who 
has charge of the inspection of cattle at the stockyard.s. 
Cashin is said to have acknowledged- that he got $1 a 
head from a big stockyards firm for “tipping off” and 
buying cattle which w'ere quarantined on account of 
lumpy jaw, but which were considered fit for food apart 
from the head. Where the disease had spread through 
the glands the animals were sent to the rendering tank, 
but the cattle with the disease in its incipient stages 
are said to have been sold for canning purposes. Cashin 
is alleged to have conducted a business of buying and sell¬ 
ing cattle and of trading horses in the stockyards outside 
of his work as chief meat Inspector for the city. He is 
said to have conducted this business for several years 
under the title of the Calumet Packing Company that his 
name would not become known to the health commis¬ 
sioner. It is hard for any meat inspector at the stock- 
yards to go wrong and to cover up transactions in diseased 
cattle, for the reason that the Federal Government in¬ 
spects first, then some of the State inspectors and then 
the city inspectors. After these come the agents of 
foreign countries, who watch the beef market of the 
Fnited States with jealous eyes and only wait a chance 
to denounce American beef.During the week 
which began September 27, Chicago celebrated the cen¬ 
tennial of its founding. There were numerous public fes¬ 
tivities, and the city was full of visitors. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The British Board of Agricul¬ 
ture September 23, issued an order withdrawing the pro¬ 
hibition on the landing of animals other than swine 
brought to Great Britain from the New England States. 
A department of soil physics has been established in 
the State Agricultural College at Des Moines, Iowa, in 
charge of W. H. Stevenson, late of Illinois. About $3,000 
worth of apparatus has been put in the laboratory and 
100 .students will be instructed in the physical properties 
of the .soil, the various types of Iowa soil, the needs of 
each and the relations to each of moisture, texture, drain¬ 
age. etc., in regard to plant growdh. Soil fertility will 
occupy the Spring term. It wall Include a study of the 
effect on different soils In Iowa of farm manures and 
commercial fertilizers in their relation to plant develop¬ 
ment. 
The Farmers’ National Congress adjourned September 
25. after electing Harvie Jordan, Monticello, Ga., pre.sl- 
dent; Col. Benehan Cameron, Stagville, N. C., first vice- 
president; Hon. Joshua Strange, Marion. Ind., second 
vice-president; Dr. J. H. Reynolds, Adrian, Mich., treas¬ 
urer; John M. Stahl, Chicago, secretarv: G. M. Whitta¬ 
ker, Boston, first assistant secretary; A. C. Fuller, Dours, 
Iowa, second assistant secretary; Luther Tucker, Albany, 
third assistant secretary. A new Executive Committee 
composed of E. W. Wickey, Ocean Springs, Miss., Levi 
Morrison, Greenville, Pa., and W. L. Ames, Oregon, Wis., 
was elected. The next congress will probably be held 
as an adjunct to the St. Louis Exposition. 
The annual convention of the Interstate Association of 
l.ive Stock and Sanitary Boards at its recent meeting in 
Denver, Col., elected the following officers: President, 
l>r. J. C. Norton. Tuscon, Arizona; vice-president, J. W. 
Moore, San Antonio. Texas; secretary-treasurer, W. W. 
Smith. The next convention will be held in St. Louis 
during the live stock show at the fair. Resolutions 
were adopted recommending that the quarantine lines of 
the ensuing year remain as they are now, except in the 
case of four or five counties of Oklahoma; the cremation 
of the bodies of all animals that die from disease; re¬ 
questing the Government to adopt other dipping devices 
than those now officially recognized. A resolution was 
also adopted asking for a modification of the construction 
placed by Special Agent Hickox of Salt Lake upon the 
tirder of the Bureau of Animal Industry concerning 
the shipment of cattle from districts infected by scabies 
so as to allow the free movement of healthy cattle with¬ 
out Federal inspection. 
The fourteenth annual convention of the Indiana 
State' Dairy Association will be held at Plymouth, Ind., 
.D(-cember 10-11. Pii.zes will be offered for creamery and 
diiiry butter and cheese. 'I'o the person residing in Indi¬ 
ana, pres-jnting the best essay, as a result of his or her 
own work, on the cost of producing milk, butter fat, or 
butter, a prize of $10. will be awarded; and to the 
writer of the second best, $5. Secretary, H. E. Van 
Norman, La Fayette, Ind. 
The date of the annual meeting of the Peninsular Horti- 
fultural Society-of Delaware, has been changed from 
January 12-13-14 to January 20-21-22. 1904. 
CROP NOTES. 
I have just been in Bradford Co., Pa., and the apple 
crop in tnat vicinity is about one-third of last year’s 
crop, or even less and not much better here, except Fall 
or perishable apples which are in excess of the demand. 
Elmira, N. Y. c. c. h. 
The fruit crop here is very light indeed. Peaches are 
an entire failure; plums nearly as bad. Pears very few; 
Apples perhaps about 25 per cent, not more. The quality 
of the apples is fair to good. The frost of May 1 is the 
cause of our failure, trees were all set with heavy nloom 
at that time. g. j. f. 
Normal, Ill. 
The farmers report apples of good quality, but all 
have not a large crop. They are selling their orchards. 
Barreled apples bring $1. to $1.25 without the barrel. 
Three evaporators are running here and using up what is 
not fit to barrel. Apples are free from fungus here and 
good size. n. e. h. 
Pittsford, N. Y. 
Apples in this section will be about 75 per cent of full 
crop; quality good, generally. Buyers are offering $1 
per barrel for fruit, buyers to pack them. Most grow'ers 
are selling. Coopers seem to have combined, as well as 
apple buyers, as barrels are 40 cents (nearly half price 
of apples) and buyers agree to a cent as to price of both 
fruit and barrel. c. j. n. 
New Baltimore Sta., N. Y. 
The apple crop is nearly a failure here; I know of 
large orchards that have had from 1,000 to 2,000 barrels 
a year will not have 10 barrels of good 
Winter apples this year. There are some Pall apples; 
no buyers here this year. The grape crop is also very 
light, not much over a quarter of a full crop. This is 
the main crop here; something over 30,000 acres in this 
belt. Reaches not over half a full crop. i. p. w. 
Fredonia, N. Y. 
We have more apples than last year, and the quality 
is fine. The Western buyers say that Yates County 
has the best quality of any County in the State. A good 
many W'ere sold for $1.50 per barrel for No. 1 fruit, 
barrel and .all, and then the price advanced until I know 
of $2 being offered for one fine orchard. T. Costello of Ben¬ 
ton has sold his crop of 3,500 barrels (estimated) at $1.82',4 
for everything souinl on the tree, but about $1.75 is tho 
top price being offered. t. m. c. 
Ijakemont,' N. Y. 
Potatoes are nearly a failure, the vines are black and 
almost all dead from blight. There is a good deal of 
lot in many pieces, as high as 25 per cent. Tobacco and 
buckwheat are both fair crops, but late wheat and oats 
where thrashed are turning out well. Farmers are pre¬ 
paring to seed about their usual amount to wheat this 
fall. Second crop clover is making a fine growth and 
some is being cut to help out the fodder crop. There 
has been an abundance of plums, light crop of prunes 
and peaches. It has been very wet and cold for grapes. 
From quite an extended ride through Onondaga, Cayuga 
and Wayne Counties and the information I can get there 
is not to exceed 50 per cent of an average crop of Winter 
fruit. Summer and Fall apples have been nearly an 
average crop. Both Summer and Winter apples are un¬ 
commonly fair and excellent quality. I have not heard 
of any sales of Winter apples in our vicinity for shipping. 
'I’here are two quite large evaporators near us and they 
are offering 10 cents per bushel for windfalls. w'. m. 
Port Byron, N. Y. 
MILK MATTERS IN MASSACHUSETTS.—At the pres¬ 
ent time it looks as though there might be some trouble 
before the price for milk for the next six months is settled. 
The Milk Contractors and the Milk Producers’ Union have 
had several meetings this week, the Union demanding 
40 cents per can (of quarts) and the contractors offer¬ 
ing .37V1> cents per can. Both sides are very firm. In 
this section we cut a large hay crop, but of rather poor 
quality while about 40 per cent of the usual amount of 
corn was raised on account of cold, wet season. About 
five per cent of our farmers have silos, but very few will 
be filled this fall. There is a brisk demand for cow's, with 
prices ranging from $40 to $55 for common, and from $60 
to $90 for good to choice. Grain is high and the farmers 
feel that the outlook for producing milk at profit ihis 
Winter is a very poor one, but still they seem to be will¬ 
ing to pay very high prices for cows. o. e. p. 
Concord, Mass. 
A NEW ENGLAND MILK PRODUCER TALKS.— 
The milk producers of New England have arrived at a 
period where they must get their strength by union or 
fall by the wayside. One great trouble in the farmer's 
affairs is that he is afraid; were he to take a stand for 
right, his neighbors will not and he gets afraid he will 
not receive the attention in the price of his product or lie 
fears for the output of the same and does not cooperate. 
When the milk strike took place 18 months ago, it was a 
common thing to hear some producer say “I have got to 
have my money,” but would they be getting their 
price to-day if the backbone of the Producers’ Union had 
broken and all set up the cry “We must have our 
money?” We as a Union talk of incorporating, this ought 
to benefit the man who dares take stock and sign and 
live up to an agreement, as it will then not only be 
harder for the contractors to manipulate the range of 
prices, but also the sale and distribution of milk. With 
such men as we have for president and secretary the 
sale of milk under their supervision would mean a suc¬ 
cess. The hay croji in this section is about an average, 
perhaps a little more, but the feeding value falls below. 
Corn has made a marked improvement in the ripening 
grain the past two weeks, although the crop in this sec¬ 
tion is way below par, both in grain and fodder. Not 
many silos here, and farmers will not get one-half the 
usual amount of silage. Help is high and scaree at 
that, to say nothing about poor help, which is also high. 
The price of grain is high and prospects of its being 
more so. Most producers here advocate a rate that 
would bring the price of milk delivered on the car about 
34 cents per eight-quart can and they claim not much 
money at that. If we can get 40 cents what the directors 
ask, that may mean 30 or 31 cents here on the car, and 
when a man takes it a mile or two or pays two cents 
per can, for cartage, to get it on the car, he comes very 
near earning all he gets, and if he has not a good herd 
of deep milkers, he cannot make both ends meet, without 
pulling mighty hard on both ends. We are told to pre- 
liare for a strike. Some will and some will nol stick to 
their text if put to it, but they all take the gain in 
prices if any. It is true milk brings a better price than 
ever before, and why should it not, everything is higher 
in price? Cows cost from .$45 to $100 according to their 
breeding and quality of milk they produce. Every mer¬ 
chant wants to make a little money, but the hayseed 
need not; he can eat hay. As one man said in Boston, 
the contractors can rnake money to build fine homes in 
three or four years. Can the farmers? The public should 
be taught wliat it means to produce a can of milk. 
Nearly every fairly educated person knows that one pint 
of milk produces nearly as much nourishment as one 
pound of beef, and they should be taught that milk 
shipped to and received by the dealer “whole” does not 
always roach the consumers without part of the cream 
rernoved. I sold milk over the counters of a grocery store 
two and one-half years, some of it was sold for five cents 
per quart. I have my doubts about the cream being all 
there. The Boston Record agitated about four of five 
years ago in favor of three-cent milk. The editor must 
have been living on Mellin’s Food. If he had 9 or 10 cows 
to milk every morning about 4.30 o’clock we could change 
his price. Much has been said about sour milk. Some 
has been sent back to this station for sour that was 
.afterward used by families receiving it, and some sent 
back next day Went all right. “It got sweet riding in 
the cars.” We can’t see any sense in calling the con¬ 
tractors all sorts of names. We might be as foxy as they 
had we the chance. But it is better to trade cows or 
horses in a fair way and keep up our reputation as honest 
men. All we want is what is right, and that is what 
our directors have asked for, although the price is below 
most estimates. We w'ant to sell our milk and they 
have to have milk. Give us a fair thing and they can 
have it. F. w. p. 
Wauregan, Conn._ 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Wm. H. Cohen & Co.. 229-231 Washington St., New 
York, are old-established receivers of game, furs, gin¬ 
seng, poultry, nuts and similar products. Write them 
what you have to offer. 
ScoTTs’ Perfect cow stanchions are giving universal 
satisfaction to all dairymen who are using them. They 
are self-locking and self-closing. It will be well to look 
into this before buying. Circular free giving full infor¬ 
mation. Address B. C. Scott, 213 Beach St., Bridge¬ 
port. Conn. 
Coal is abundant this year, but very high in price. 
The public will be given the opportunity to pay the ex¬ 
penses of the big fight of last year. There is only one 
known way to evade it and get coal at half price. That 
is to use the Rochester Radiators. They absolutely save 
one-half the fuel, or your money refunded. Write to 
Rochester Radiator Co., 39 Furnace St., Rochester, N. Y. 
'riiE season for maple sugar is yet quite distant, but 
it is none too soon to make your plans for coming 
season. We would suggest that our readers look into the 
merits of Grimm’s improved sap and tapping tools. It 
is claimed that by their use, one-fourth more sap can 
be produced without injury to the tree. Write to G. H. 
Grimm, Rutland. Vt., for particulars and catalogue of 
complete sugar-making outfits. 
We call attention of swine breeders to the advertise¬ 
ment of J. E. Watson, proprietor of the Springbank herd 
of pedigree Berkshire swine, located at Marbledale, Conn. 
Mr. Watson has extraordinary facilities for producing 
breeding stock of the highest type, as his stock have an 
extensive range in the limestone district, with the finest 
of never-failing spring water in abundance, with clover 
and Blue grass. His method of feeding insures a grow.h 
and quality of bone that corn-belt-grown swine rarely 
possess. 
“It Is to laugh!”—is the trite saying long ago made 
universall.v popular by that quaintly clever—or shall we 
say cleverly quaint?—Dutch comedian, Louis Mann. The 
words were put in his mouth by the authors of “Th-:' 
Girl from Paris,” and their apt application to the current 
form of stage entertainment cannot be questioned at this 
time. The Proctor shows, in particular, seem nowadays 
to carry out the dictum of other years, for in all the 
Proctor programmes, whether in New York, Albany, 
Newark or Montreal, the spirit of laughtei is omnipresent. 
It is a good sign, too, that the Proctor audiences prefer 
to lau.gh, rather than cry. 'Phe average theater goer 
likes to leave his worries behind him when he passes 
through theater jiortals and the Proctor doors seldom 
close upon sober faces. 
