1903 
8o9 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—An explosion at Iona Island, in the Hud¬ 
son River, on which is a United States naval magazine, 
three miles from Peekskill, November 4, killed six men, 
wounded several badly and destroyed completely two 
shell houses, besides damaging two others. With a 
crash and a roar which shook Peekskill, the first shell 
house exploded, and for an hour thereafter there was a 
rattle of minor explosions and bursting shells. Over the 
island hung a great pall of white smoke under which 
burst forth lurid flames which completed the work of 
destruction the gunpowder had begun. The shells which 
did the damage ranged from 13 inches down. They were 
filled with the highest power smokeless powder, which 
has come extensively into use since the Cuban war. 
Fragments of them are scattered promiscuously all over 
the 10 acres of the island.Bayard Henry was 
appointed November 6 receiver for D. Landreth & Sons, 
seed merchants of Philadelphia. The house is one of the 
oldest in the country, having been founded in 1784 by 
David Landreth, who came from England. The business 
has been conducted by succeeding generations of the 
same family, and the firm owns extensive seed farms in 
Bucks County, Burlington Co., N. J., and in Lancaster 
County, Pa. It also has stor "ristol and Jamaica, 
L. I. J. Levering Jones, counsel for the firm, said 
November 7, in explaining the firm’s plight: “There 
have been many changes in business methods in late 
years, but the firm has pursued old methods. They were 
kind and thoughtful for the men they employed. When 
the harvests were over and other employers would have 
sent their workers off to get through the Winter as they 
might, the Landreths tided them over the cold season, 
when there was little or nothing for the men to do. It 
was humane, and the firm felt they could afford it. They 
were always on the best terms with their workmen, and 
the latter worked for them for years. When old age 
finally overtook them the firm did not ruthlessly turn 
them off, but kept them from want by small pensions. 
There has been a great development in the seed busi¬ 
ness in Philadelphia in recent years; there has been 
more and keener competition. With the Landreths pur¬ 
suing their old methods, business began to shrink. Ks 
to the future, liquidation as quickly as possible, owing 
to the nature of the business, is the best both for the 
firm and the creditors. The liabilities are about $150,000 
and the assets very little. An attempt was made in the 
Summer to compromise with creditors on a basis of 50 
cents on the dollar. Against this some creditors pro¬ 
tested, demanding more, and the bankruptcy proceed¬ 
ings finally resulted.’’ .... Fire in the Kearsarge 
Mine, six miles from Virginia City, Mont., November 6, 
killed nine men, among them Superintendent R. B. Tur¬ 
ner, of Butte, one of the best-known mining men in the 
Northwest.The efforts of ex-Senator Pettigrew 
and Marion Butler to establish a coiony of Boers in Mex¬ 
ico have failed. As the representatives of a syndicate 
of American capitalists they purchased 800,000 acres of 
land adjacent to the Gulf coast between Tampico and 
the mouth of the Rio Grande. This land was purchased 
with the view of settling Boer families thereon. Gen. 
Lategan, Capt. O’Donnell and M. M. Ventor, who repre¬ 
sent the Boers seeking new homes in Mexico, have just 
visited the Pettigrew-Butler property and say that it is 
unfavorable for colonization purposes. A Boer colony of 
50 families is being established near Santa Rosalia, State 
of Chihuahua, Mexico.Twenty thousand acres 
of the finest timber land of Pennsylvania on North 
Mountain, near Wilkesbarre, is being so badly damaged 
by porcupines that expert hunters have been engaged to 
exterminate them. The animals are in such numbers 
that acres of trees have been destroyed in a few months. 
The porcupines eat the bark in circles around the trunks 
of the trees.November 10, Miss May Goelet, of 
New York, was married in that city to the Duke of 
Roxburghe. The bride was absolutely mobbed by curi¬ 
osity seekers, who even climbed into her carriage and 
fingered her clothes, and a large force of police was re¬ 
quired to keep the church clear. Many of tlie carriages 
containing guests could not reach the church on account 
of the crowd, the occupants being compelled to get out 
and struggle through the mob. It is asserted that some 
women were even guilty of sliding down a coal-hole into 
the church cellar, whence they were ignominiously re¬ 
moved. » 
ADMINISTRATION.—The delay in making public the 
long expected Bristow report on the postal service scan¬ 
dals has excited comment in Washington. The Presi¬ 
dent, the Postmaster-General and Mr. Bristow are trying 
to decide just how much of the report to make public. 
The report proper, with exhibits and testimony, consists 
of over a million words, and is a most formidable look¬ 
ing document. It was at first decided to make public an 
abstract of 50,000 words and permit the various news¬ 
papers to print such portions as desired. After con¬ 
siderable discussion, however, Mr. Bristow was told to 
make a 25,000 word abstract, and was later told to cut 
this to about 12,500 words. Mr. Bristow protested that 
it was impossible to tell the straight out story of the 
postal service scandal investigation within this limit, 
much less to deal with the ramifications of the inquiry, 
but said he would do his best. When still another order 
came from the Postmaster-General instructing him to 
make a 6,000-word abstract of his million-word report, 
Mr. Bristow declared it couldn’t be done. The Post¬ 
master-General was insistent, however, urging that he 
wanted the abstract made so brief that any and every 
newspaper would print it all. Mr. Payne and Mr. Bris¬ 
tow are urging their opposing views on President Roose¬ 
velt. Mr. Bristow gives H. R. Rand, former confidential 
secretary to the Postmaster-General, who left the Post 
Office Department on June 1, on “indefinite leave of ab¬ 
sence without pay” and never came back, a clean bill 
of health with regard to the serious charges against him, 
made during the progress of the scandal inquiry. Mr. 
Itand was accused of being an active supporter of the 
Parish Ice Claim lobby, which at the last session of 
Congress endeavored to secure a big appropriation from 
the Government for ice that melted during the Civil War. 
. . . . The extra session of Congress convened No¬ 
vember 9. The President’s message was brief, and re¬ 
lated chiefly to reciprocity with Cuba. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—November 3 the Isth¬ 
mus of Panama seceded from Colombia, and revolution 
began. American marines were landed from the Nash¬ 
ville to protect Americans and other foreigners. The 
State Department recognized the new government No¬ 
vember G. Rear Admiral John G. Walker, chairman of 
the Isthmian Canal Committee, left Washington Novem¬ 
ber 8 in the United States yacht Mayflower for Colon, 
under instructions from the President and Secretary Hay 
to secure information necessary for negotiating a canal 
treaty with the Government of the Republic of Panama. 
Admiral Walker will return to Washington as soon as 
possible, and will make a report in the nature of a 
supplement to the extensive report of the Isthmian Canal 
Commission. It is alleged that the de facto government 
of the Isthmus is willing to grant all the concessions 
which Secretary Hay sought vainly to obtain from Co¬ 
lombia in framing the Hay-Herran treaty, recently re¬ 
jected by the Senate at Bogota, and that the commission 
coming to this country will- have full powers to accede to 
the wishes of this Government. While circumstances 
may cause the Administration to insist upon authority 
to police the entire Isthmus—that is, the territory em¬ 
braced within the former Colombian State of Panama 
and now controlled by the Isthmian de facto Govern¬ 
ment—the present wish of the Administration is not to 
Insist upon greater privileges than were sought from 
Colombia. The new treaty will give to the United States 
actual sovereignty over a canal strip six miles wide, or 
a lease in perpetuity of that strip, with the right to police 
it and to control its sanitation. A report that the Ad¬ 
ministration has already been assured that the four 
islands called Perico, Naos, Culebra and Flamenco, in 
Panama harbor, will be ceded to the United States, is 
not to be doubted, in view of the known willingness of 
de facto government to grant every concession that will 
insure the construction of the canal. There is no desire 
on the part of the Administration to curtail, in the new 
treaty, the pecuniary terms obtained by Colombia in the 
Hay-Herran convention. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The annual meeting of the 
American Cheviot Sheep Society will be held at the 
Transit House, Chicago, Monday evening. November 30, 
1!'03. The election of officers will be by mail ballot. The 
following is a list of the officers as they now appear: 
Those to be elected are a president in place of C. E. 
Plumb; vice-president in place of R. L. Davidson; secre¬ 
tary in place of F. E. Dawley; treasurer in place of A. 
H. Elliott, and a member of the executive committee to 
serve three years in place of H. H. Keim. 
The Association of Official Horticultural Inspectors will 
meet at Washington, D. C., November 16-20, in connection 
with the meeting of the Association of Agricultural Col¬ 
leges and Experiment Stations. The meeting will be an 
important one because of the rapid development of legis¬ 
lative control throughout the country, and the topics al¬ 
ready presented for discussion include: “What provisions 
in our Inspection laws are likely to prove unconstitutional 
if attacked?” “The attitude of Nurserymen’s associa¬ 
tions toward inspection laws.” “To what protection is 
a nurseryman entitled as against scale-infested sur¬ 
roundings?” “What is the status of fumigation in justi¬ 
fying the sale of nursery stock exposed to infestation? ’ 
The American Shropshire Registry Association will hold 
its annual meeting December 2, 1903, 10.30 A. M., at the 
Record Building, Union Stock Yards, Chicago, during the 
International Live Stock show. There will be a sale in 
the pavilion, same afternoon, of high-class Shropshires. 
The twenty-ninth annual meeting of the Ayrshire 
Breeders’ Association will be held at Stanwix Hall, Al¬ 
bany, N. Y., December 2. There will be the usual ad¬ 
dresses and discussions, followed by a banquet in the 
evening. 
• The thirty-third annual meeting of the Indiana State 
Grange will be held at Warsaw, Ind., December 8-10. 
The Ohio State Horticultural Society will hold its an¬ 
nual meeting at Delaware, O., December 9-11. 
BREAKFAST FOODS AND FLOUR. 
The so-called “breakfast foods” are now eaten in 
enormous quantities. It is generally thought that the 
use of these cereals has lessened the demand for flour, 
but it would seem from the following reports that this 
is not so: 
In our opinion, the use of cereals and breakfast foods 
has not affected the sale of wheat flour to any appre¬ 
ciable extent. We are selling as much wheat flour as we 
ever did. park & tilford. 
New York. 
Regarding the consumption of flour, would say that 
we do not think the various cereals or breakfast foods 
have in any way curtailed it, but add to the consumption 
of wheat and oats, as a large proportion of the cereals 
are manufactured from these grains. 
Oneonta, N. Y. oneonta milling co. 
From our rather extensive observation we hardly think 
that the “ready-to-eat” products have affected the sales 
of Winter wheat flours to any extent whatever. The ener¬ 
getic and extensive advertising campaigns which have 
been conducted by the “ready-to-eat” people have been 
the means of interesting a great many people in a 
cereal for their breakfast, who have never eaten cereals 
before. These cereals, however, are of such a light na¬ 
ture that we do not believe it will interfere very nriuch 
with any other commodity which was eaten at a former 
period. Particularly would this be true of flour, as flour 
does not enter very largely into the ordinary breakfast. 
It has not affected our business even on rolled oats, as 
the volume of business we are doing to-day is consider¬ 
ably larger than it was last year; and, in fact, every 
year is showing a steady and healthy growth on rolled 
oats. THE GREAT WESTERN CEREAI, CO. 
Chicago, Ill. 
CROP NOTES. 
I think acreage of potatoes about the same as last year, 
but have had considerable rot. Hard to say what amount 
is left, but will not be a large crop. Farmers are not 
selling freely, mostly going in the cellars; quality very 
good. G. T. 
Owego, N. Y. 
We have just finished gathering the finest crop of 
apples ever raised in Nova Scotia. We are not large 
orchardists in this district. I have 600 barrels and many 
have that and up to 1,200. but we will soon double this. 
1 think within a mile there are 6,000 barrels raised this 
year, and prices are holding up well. The majority of 
growers ship to London cn their own account, c. m. l. 
Nova Scotia. 
In our judgment the present prices of corn and oats are 
not very far out of line. They may fall off a little, es¬ 
pecially corn, when the new crop begins to move. We 
have had a decline of about nine cents during the past 
month on corn, and a good many good people figure that 
this is enough to put the price on a proper basis, but as 
above we would not be surprised to see some little fur¬ 
ther decline before long. Oat prices are not far away 
Irom their true value, as the crop is not large, es¬ 
pecially through the Middle States the yield is very light 
on account of the quality. Here in the Northwest we 
have the best oats that have been raised this year, a 
large proportion of them being very good weight and 
color. The cereal companies have been up to present 
time good buyers of them, and they have been selling 
very readily through the Western States at fair prices, 
we think. In view of the large hay crop, abundant corn 
crop, fair oat crop, and the very large demand for flour, 
we consider the present prices of feed stuffs somewhat 
high, and feel that before long the supply will force 
values lower. e. s. woodworth & co. 
Minneapolis, Minn 
This county is famous for its immense yields of corn, 
tne land being mostly level and soil very fertile, particu- 
iariy m the southern part, where corn is raised almost 
exclusively, hundreds and thousands of acres of it. The 
weather was unfavorable the greater part of the Spring 
and Summer, but the Fall has been remarkably fine; no 
trost to do any damage till October 24, and even the 
latest planting has ripened. The crop is not up to the 
average, but has exceeded the expectations of everyone; 
price 40 cents per 100. c. b 
Henry Co., O. _ 
NOTES FROM BENJAMIN BUCKMAN. 
I^sn’t E. Van Alstyne a little contradictory on page 737 
when he says. “A stranger could scarcely tell there had 
been any hogs in the orchard by any signs of rooting,” 
ip lines, “If one has an old orchard 
that has lain long in sod they (the hogs) will do a more 
thorough job than any horse plow?” As to the Woolly 
aphis discussed on page 738 I feel certain that they live 
on other plants besides the apple, for I have seen them 
on the roots of burdock, and I have dug our ground, 
several rods round from any apple tree, that was fairly 
infested with them. I sprayed a small apple tree in 
1902 with coal oil through an atomizer a hall dozen times 
during the Summer, killing all on the body and foliage 
of the tree each time, yet at frost they were just as 
plentiful as ever. I suppose ants brought them up each 
time from the roots. 
BISMARCK APPLE is practically worthless here, be¬ 
cause of blight. It is one of the worst blighters we have. 
1 have had the variety for eight years, and have had to 
propagate it three times to save the variety. It often 
blooms and is probably an early bearer, but the blossom¬ 
ing twig is always killed back by blight and I have never 
had a single specimen. 
THOMAS BLACK WALNUT bore last year here for 
the first time. I got it in the East, Pennsylvania I 
tnink. It IS not so large and fine as I had hoped. We 
have hundreds of seedlings in this State that are just 
as large and good—many that are better. I would like 
to know who has selected or bred this nut until an ex¬ 
ceptionally large or fine variety was obtained. 
SENSIBLE TALK ABOUT GINSENG.—The wiid root 
IS becoming very scarce in the best localities, such as 
New England, New York and Canada. There is yet a 
lair supply in the South and Southwest, but nothing like 
It has been in years gone by. The cultivated root has 
practically cut but little figure in the ginseng market as 
yet. This season will put a number of pounds on the 
market, the extent of which cannot be as yet ascertained. 
I am inclined to think that the cultivation of ginseng 
IS somewhat a novelty although I may be mistaken; I 
certainly hope that I am. There are some gardens now 
in seemingly prosperous condition, and a large sum of 
money is invested in the cultivation of ginseng. The 
high prices charged by the growers for seed and also 
plants is a farce. The men buying at the prices now 
asked by the growers will, in my judgment, be a long 
time in getting back their money. It is an undertaking 
that will bear a great deal of caution. In a small way 
and by thorough business and practical men it can be 
made profitable, but nothing like the big sum put on 
paper by men advertising to sell root and seed. The way 
people have gone wild over the matter I think that if 
growing should prove successful the market would 
break on such high prices as are now being paid for 
cultivated roots. Should silver advance to a high value, 
then the price of ginseng would be much better. The 
ma^et has greatly improved from last season, and up 
to October 1 was extra good. Silver advanced in China 
and root was scarce at Hong Kong, and keen competition 
touched a range of prices never before reached. A re¬ 
action soon took place, however, with a lower range of 
prices, due. it is reported, to large stocks held back by 
Chinese merchants and thrown upon the market in larger 
quantities than the market would bear at so high a price. 
This goes to show that only a limited amount can be 
used at exorbitant high prices. I am cultivating the 
root in a small way, obtaining my plants from the South 
grown wild. Lemuel black. 
New Jersey. _ 
STORING POTATOES.—Given a cellar deep and cool 
m which temperature will not vary much from outside 
condition, not running higher than 10 degrees above 
freezing, such varieties of potatoes as the Rural No. 2, 
Carman No. 3, Sir W. Raleigh, I.iivingston, Banner or 
like sorts, the shrinkage by March 15 should not be over 
five bushels in 100. Early varieties that will stand up 
with the E’arly Ohio, should weigh out close to 92 or ^ 
bushels. Most of the early potatoes grown by farmers 
would shrink 10 to 12 bushels per 100 from use of pota¬ 
toes that do not hold weight well, and a storage that 
invariably gets too warm. Potatoes keep best by being 
at same time damp and cool. w. e. i. 
Cable, Wis. _ 
BUSINESS BITS. 
No cow barn can be said to be modern nowadays that 
has not been supplied with the individual watering basin. 
S. Cheney & Son, Box 306. Manlius, N. Y., offer a prac¬ 
tical and satisfactory basin. If interested write this firm 
for full information. 
Out-of-Town Purchasing Bureau, 63 Barclay St., New 
York City, wants to give our readers the benefit of the 
city stores and markets and will give personal attention 
to any orders given them—you pay the same price as 
if you could go to the store yourself and get the benefit of 
their experience in buying and selecting. 
Patent claims have been allowed to Chas. F. Speed 
on a new device for telephones known as the “Lightning 
Arrester,” the principal claim being the pencil fuse with 
a shell of carbon. This appliance is made by the Key¬ 
stone Electric Telegraph Co., Pittsburg, Pa. Any of our 
readers who are interested in telephones in any way will 
do well to write to this company for their green cata¬ 
logue which will be sent free. It contains information 
worth knowing. 
If you are interested in sawmills or grinding mills 
drop a line to the De Loach Mill Mfg. Co.. Atlanta, Ga., 
and ask for their catalogue. It is an aftractive booklet 
and has the additional interest of being printed entire 
from the printing plant of the manufacturers in their 
own factory. The new factory was in course of con¬ 
struction on the occasion of our visit a year ago, and it 
is now finished. It promised to be one of the most com¬ 
plete and modern factories that we have ‘ yet seen in 
any line. 
The Humphrey Poultry Book will be sent free to all 
our readers who will drop a postal card asking for it. 
It isn’t as big as an encyclopedia and it doesn’t pretend 
to tell everything about fowls, but it does contain a 
good many valuable pointers on feeding and brooding, 
which everyone who owns chickens may ponder with 
profit. Of course it touches on the Humphrey products— 
the famous Humphrey open-hopper bone-cutter. Rapid 
clover cutter. Pure-Air brooder and other supplies. On 
the bone cutters the company has made a general re¬ 
duction in price for this season. Send vour name to-day 
to Humphrey, Fall Street Factory, Joliet, Ill. '' 
