1900 
295 
THE KUKAL NEW-YORKER 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A washout near Magenta, Tex., April 5, 
wrecked a passenger train, killing two men, and injur¬ 
ing six others. . . . Wm. Lizabeck was arrested at 
New Columbia, Ill., April 3, charged with stealing a saw 
mill. He moved the mill 10 miles. . . . Over a foot of 
snow fell in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming 
April 5. Stock will be greatly benefited, as the melting 
snow will help the range grass. ... It is reported that 
Mt. Baker, in the Cascade Range, Washington, is in 
active volcanic eruption. March 27 a tremendous 
upheaval occurred. What had been a valley and the bed 
of the Nooksachk River was transformed into a hill 70 
feet high. The river had been turned from its course, 
occupying forest land. . . . Disastrous floods were re¬ 
ported in Texas April 7, the Brazos, Concho, Trinity and 
Colorado Rivers all rising, as the result of heavy rains. 
The town of Water Valley, on the Concho, is entirely 
swept away, its 300 inhabitants escaping; immense losses 
are sustained in cattle and ranch property. The South¬ 
ern Pacific Railroad loses $100,000 in bridges and culverts. 
Hundreds of square miles of territory are flooded. April 
8 the Concho River rose from 50 to 75 feet, carrying 
everything before it, and drowning thousands of cattle 
in Concho, McCulloch, and Coleman Counties. One 
ranchman lost 700 beef cattle, valued at $20,000. At Austin 
the dam and power house were carried away by the 
Colorado River; this plant cost the city $1,750,000. This 
supplied the city with light and water, and it will be 
several weeks before it can be replaced even tempor¬ 
arily. For 150 miles along the river, every wagon bridge 
was destroyed. The loss of life is said to be about 50, 
but full details are unknown. . . . Forest fires caused 
much loss on Long Island April 8. . . . Fire in Proctor- 
ville, Ohio, April 7, caused a loss of $200,000, destroying 
half of the town. ... A great dry-goods store in 
Pittsburg, Pa., was burned April 8, with a loss of $1,250,- 
000. . . . Nine acres were ravaged by fire in the Green- 
point section of Brooklyn, N. Y., April 9. entailing a loss, 
through destruction of lumber yards, factories, etc., of 
over $800,000. . . . Argument was begun in the United 
States Supreme Court April 10 in the case of the claim 
of Admiral Dewey and his men for bounty due for the 
destruction of the Spanish fleet at Manila. The Court of 
Claims awarded the men $100 each and the Admiral $9,570. 
They claim double that amount on the ground that the 
enemy’s force was superior to the American fleet. . . . 
The little town of Hanover, N. J., was totally wiped out 
by fire April 10, not a house being left standing. It was 
the result of a forest fire, which enveloped the town on 
all sides; loss $25,000. 
CONGRESS.—April 5 the Naval Appropriation bill was 
reported to the House; it carries $61,219,916. . . . April 
6 the House passed the substitute for the Hawaiian Gov¬ 
ernment bill, which now goes to conference. Among 
amendments added to the measure was one providing 
that all Asiatic contract laborers leave the Islands within 
a year. . . . Mr. Jenkins, of Wisconsin, introduced an 
amendment to the Constitution giving Congress the 
power to dissolve any trust or monopoly. . . . Thft 
President has ratified the Hague conventions, providing 
for universal arbitration of international disputes, and 
for the regulation of warlike instruments. . . .’ Con¬ 
sul Hay, at Pretoria, reports that after a careful search 
in the files of the consulate he fails to find any evidence 
of Macrum’s charges that his official mail was tampered 
with, and that there is no interference with such com¬ 
munications. . . . April 11 the House concurred by a 
vote of 161 to 153 in the Senate amendments to the Puerto 
Rico bill. The Senate passed the bill appropriating $3,- 
000,000 for a cable to Honolulu, which will be under the 
control of the Navy Department. 
CUBA.—There has been much excitement at Santiago 
on account of the suppression of the newspaper El Cu- 
bano Libre and the arrest of its five editors, and riots 
are feared. Negroes threaten to start a revolt and drive 
out Americans. 
PUERTO RICO.—Serious riots were reported at San 
Juan April 5, growing out of labor troubles. The pier 
laborers are on strike, and assaulted men taking their 
places, many of these being English-speaking negroes 
from St. Kitts and St. Thomas. Martial law is declared, 
as the municipal police make no effort to interfere. The 
British consul has demanded protection for British sub¬ 
jects among the workmen. 
PHILIPPINES.—Continued skirmishing is reported. 
General Otis has been recalled, at his earnest request, 
and will be succeeeded in command by General MacAr- 
thur. Gen. Otis says that a large repressive military 
force must be maintained. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—Natives of the Congo 
Free State are said to have started a big rebellion to 
avenge wholesale murder by Belgian commercial agents. 
. . . The American, British, German and French min¬ 
isters have sent a joint note to the Chinese Foreign office, 
demanding the suppression of the Boxers, insurgents who 
are rising against foreigners. If these rioters are not 
suppressed within two months, the four Powers will 
land troops to secure the safety of foreigners. . . . 
Plague increases at Sydney, N. S. W., and has appeared 
at Fremantle, Western Australia. . . . Heavy fighting 
was in progress at Fourteen Streams, Wepener and El- 
andslaagte, during the week beginning April 9, but ap¬ 
parently little trustworthy news is given as to real 
movements of either British or Boer forces. ... A 
fierce attack was made on Mafeking March 27, but the 
Boers were driven back, and the town continues to hold 
out during the fifth month of siege. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Secretary Hay has addressed 
a vigorous protest to the Turkish government, against 
the exclusion of American pork. 
The Agricultural Appropriation bill passed by the 
House April 10 carries $4,116,400, being $390,778 more 
than the law for the current year. An amendment was 
adopted to increase the appropriation for farmer’s bul¬ 
letins from $85,000 to $105,000. 
The rural free delivery system of the Post Office De¬ 
partment has increased so greatly that two new di¬ 
visions have beeen formed to handle it. There are now 
four divisions in charge of the system. 
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue has here¬ 
tofore held that “crop mortgages,” as they are com¬ 
monly called, which contain a provision that in case of 
failure to pay the note secured by such mortgage, the 
mortgagee is invested with a power of attorney to har¬ 
vest the crop and sell it to pay himself—must, in addi¬ 
tion to the stamps required for a mortgage, also Jiave 
a 25-cent stamp for the power of attorney. He has re¬ 
cently decided, however, that the power of attorney in¬ 
cluded in such mortgages is not a separate instrument, 
therefore this 25-cent stamp will not be required in fu¬ 
ture. 
The Polk County (Oregon) Mohair Association has a 
membership of 195, representing flocks amounting to 11,- 
124 goats. Many grain farmers in Oregon are said to be 
going into the goat business. 
The Northwest Cured Fruit Association held a meeting 
at Salem, Ore., April 14. Crop prospects are good, and 
the Association is trying to arrange for good prices. 
A contract to buy from 30,000 to 35,000 horses for the 
British government was completed in New York April 
10. They are for cavalry and artillery use in South Af¬ 
rica, and the average cost will be $165 each. This is the 
largest single order of the kind ever placed in this 
country. Buffalo will be the point of inspection, and the 
animals will be shipped from New York, 1,000 to a 
vessel. 
The Creek Indians are preparing to leave the tribal 
government in Indian Territory, and to take dp farms 
in Iowa and the Dakotas. 
The International Cattle Growers’ Association, at 
Strawn, Texas, has issued an address urging the import¬ 
ance of an organization to stamp out contagious dis¬ 
eases, and calling a convention to meet in St. Louis 
next Fall. 
THE POTATO SCAB PROBLEM. 
HOW TITE DISEASE IS CARRIED. 
Remedies; What Not To Do. 
A GERM DISEASE.—Many farmers are evidently 
interested in the problem of overcoming the Potato 
scab. This disease has played havoc With the potato 
crop, and often causes severe loss to the farmer. 
Probably n> single subject has brought out more ques¬ 
tions this year than this matter of how best to pre¬ 
vent the scab disease. We therefore wish to give 
briefly some statements made in Special Bulletin S 
of the New Jersey Experiment Station. Dr. Halsted 
has studied this disease for six years, and he now 
gives a general summary of his results, ft must be 
understood, first of all, that the scab is a skin disease 
of the tuber. It comes from a germ or spore. It is 
carried on the tuber, on the beet, and possibly on the 
radish. It remains in the soil for at least six years, 
anu there are certain substances and conditions which 
increase its ravages, and others also which decrease 
or destroy them. 
USE OF SULPHUR.—Dr. Halsted has tried 16 dif¬ 
ferent remedies for 'the scab, including the various 
substances used for soaking the seed. With him sul¬ 
phur has given best results on the whole, and he 
recommends it to potato growers. Its action is not 
uniform, however, as the conditions of soil, tempera¬ 
ture and moisture will vary. Sulphur is surer than 
other remedies, because it can be used, not only on the 
seed, but also put into the ground. The seed pota¬ 
toes may be soaked in formalin or corrosive sub¬ 
limate, and yet the crop may show a large per cent of 
scab. This is because the soil itself was badly in¬ 
fested with the scab germs. We might buy a hen 
that we knew to be afflicted with vermin. We could 
dust her with sulphur or insect powder so as to make 
her entirely free. If, however, we do not clean and 
disinfect the henhouse before putting her in, it would 
only be a short time before she and the rest of the 
flock woina be worse than ever. Careful experiments 
by Dr. Halsted show that the scab germs remain in 
the soil for at least six years. Clean potatoes planted 
in this soil six years after the previous crop, were 
found to be scabby. That is one reason why sulphur 
is the surest remedy. Seed pieces may be dusted with 
the sulphur, and more of the sulphur put in the drill 
or hill. Dr. Halsted says that for practical use 300 
pounds of sulphur to the acre will answer. This 
would cost $10 or $12, and in some cases, where the 
scab is very bad, even this expensive application 
would pay. 
HOW IT SPREADS.—In order to show how the scab 
is introduced into the soil, a number of interesting 
experiments were made. In one case badly-scabbed 
potatoes were spaded directly into the ground in Sep¬ 
tember. The result was 44 per cent of scab in the 
next crop. No potatoes had been grown on this soil 
for many years. In another case the scab potatoes 
were heated 20 minutes with steam, and again spaded 
in. The result was 40 per cent of scab. Where the 
potatoes were merely put on the surface without spad¬ 
ing in, there was 28 per cent of scab. Dr. Halsted con¬ 
cludes that the danger is much increased by mixing 
the scabby potatoes with the soil. In other words, 
when a scabby crop is left in the soil the danger for 
the next crop is very great. It was not found that 
steam-heating potatoes for 20 minutes killed the scab 
germs. But when they were fed to cattle, and the 
manure applied to the soil, there was but little trou- 
• 
ble in the following crop. This seems to show that 
the scab germ is destroyed in passing through the 
digestive tract of cattle. The danger, therefore, from 
feeding scabby potatoes to stock is not serious, but it 
is a dangerous thing to throw culled or rotten potatoes 
directly on the manure pile, as many farmers do. Ex¬ 
periments were also tried with various methods of 
culture. In one case the soil was ridged during the 
Winter. The idea was that by plowing up the soil, 
and leaving it more open to the weather, some of the 
scab germs would be destroyed. The results, how¬ 
ever, showed that this scab germ is a tough citizen 
that will live and turn up smiling after the roughest 
treatment. , 
HOW VARIETIES DIFFER.—Dr. Halsted tried ex¬ 
periments with seven different varieties of potatoes, 
to see Whether some of them were specially liable to 
the scab. They proved susceptible in the following 
order: 1, Early Rose; 2, Delaware; 3, June Eating; 4, 
Queen; 5, American Giant; 6, Rural Blush; 7, R. N.-Y. 
No. 2. The writer, after corresponding with Dr. Hal¬ 
sted last Spring, supplied the June Eating and the 
Rural Blush, thinking that these two would show 
extremes in resisting the attack of scab. The Rural 
Blush has a thick, hard skin, which we believed 
would be able to resist the scab. The experiment 
shows that this belief was well founded. June Eating 
has a thinner skin, and is longer in shape. It will be 
seen that the tough-skinned varieties show less abil¬ 
ity to resist the scab. In our experience we have 
found a striking difference among varieties in this 
respect. The round or chunky varieties do not, with 
us, suffer severely. When the scab does attack them, 
it does not make such a bad showing on their sur¬ 
face. 1 he worst cases we have had have been on long 
varieties, and especially where a second growth has 
started. This second growth frequently takes the 
form of a nub connected with the larger part of the 
potato by a small neck, rt is on the tender skin of 
this neck that a large proportion of the worst cases 
of scab appear with us, and on such potatoes, scab 
at this point makes the worst possible showing. The 
R. N.-Y. No. 2 made the best showing in Dr. Halsted’s 
experiment. With us this does not grow so thick a 
skin as does the Rural Blush; still, the shape is such 
that there are few prongs or second growth. 
ON OTHER PLANTS.—Can the scab be carried by 
other plants? That is an important point to be con¬ 
sidered. Dr. Halsted has shown that club root in the 
turnip can be nursed and kept alive by weeds and 
other plants. He tried experiments with 16 different 
plants, mostly weeds, and all but one of them fur¬ 
nished roots that showed the disease. Charlock and 
White mustard were the worst offenders in this line, 
while such weeds as Black mustard. Pepper-grass, 
Penny-cress and even candytuft were capable of keep¬ 
ing the disease alive. This certainly gives us a new 
thought. The idea of these useless weeds not only 
taking moisture and plant food away from our culti¬ 
vated crops, but actually nursing and keeping alive 
these disgusting germs of disease, should make any 
farmer more anxious than ever to kill them out. Is 
the Potato scab carried in this way? Experiments 
were made with other plants, including tobacco, pep¬ 
per, tomato and Petunia, cousins or close relatives of 
the Potato scab carried in this way? Experiments 
plants making large roots, such as chicory, parsnip, 
radish and beets. It was found that the beet actually 
carried the germ. Potatoes planted after a beet crop 
were so scabby that it was evident the disease could 
never have come except through the beets. The beets 
themselves showed marks distinctly defined as Potato 
scab. Thre can be no doubt but that this disease is 
nursed and carried by beets. It is also thought that 
the same is true of radish. Turnips grown where the 
scab was plentiful showed a scurf on their roots which 
is probably the scab, although this has not been def¬ 
initely settled. All attempts to spread the scab to 
other plants, both wild and cultivated, have failed. 
The tomato, although closely related to the potato, 
does not show the scab upon these roots. But in view 
of these experiments, it would be folly to plant pota¬ 
toes closely following beets, turnips or radishes that 
showed signs of the disease. These things show 
clearly why a substance like sulphur, which could 
not only be put on the seed, but also in the soil, will 
prove a most useful agent in fighting'the scab. We 
were told several weeks ago by Prof. Wheeler that 
the chances are that a green crop plowed into the 
ground is useful in preventing scab, because the 
germs do not work well in sour or acid soil. This 
may explain why farmers who usually follow a clover 
sod with potatoes do not, as a rule, suffer severely 
from the disease, especially when they soak the seed. 
Where large quantities of stable manure are used, or 
where the soil is deficient in humus, and also where 
the rotation is short, there is sure to come a year now 
and then when the scab inflicts a serious loss. It is a 
problem Whether it will pay to spend $10 or more 
per acre for sulphur. Probably not, except in a few 
cases where the scab is very bad, and the price of 
potatoes is very high. 
