19QQ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
457 
MARKET BRIEFS. 
Picked Up Here and There. 
PLENTY OP VEGETABLES.—Quite an 
amount of southern produce is still com¬ 
ing in—no peas, however, as Long Island 
and Jersey are now sending an ample sup¬ 
ply of very good quality, and the prefer¬ 
ence is usually for near-by produce. The 
demand for cauliflower and asparagus is 
slack. Much of the southern cabbage re¬ 
ceived has been in miserable condition, 
some scarcely salable. String beans of 
good quality are selling well. The call for 
tomatoes Is only moderate, and prices are 
a trifle lower. 
WHEAT STILL CLIMBING.—Since the 
first of this month there has been an ad¬ 
vance of 14 cents per bushel, two days 
scoring a jump of four cents each. 
Transactions in wheat on the New York 
Produce Exchange June 18 amounted to 
more than 8,500,000 bushels. The condition 
of the crop in the Northwest is the chief 
cause of this activity. From the report 
of a western statistician it is learned that 
he drove 400 miles through the best coun¬ 
ties of North Dakota, and he believes that 
the crop in that State will fall 50,000,000 
bushels short of last year. Letters from 
that section say that the season is so far 
advanced and so much of the wheat is 
cooked dry and brown that rain would not 
help it much now,. The conditions in 
Minnesota and Manitoba are about the 
same. The probabilities are that the price 
will advance still further, though it is 
doubtful whether the dollar wheat, proph¬ 
esied by some, will be realized. 
FRUITS.—The receipts of peaches are 
steadily increasing, but prices on the bet¬ 
ter grades are still high. The apricot, 
that white-livered plum-peach, has been 
quite plentiful, but it never sells very well 
in this market as a fruit to eat out of hand. 
It is a favorite canned, but as a fresh fruit 
it is too tasteless for the average consumer 
of tart apples and oranges. Watermelons 
are coming in more freely. A good many 
of the strawberries seen for the past few 
days have been soft and in bad condition. 
After being held for any length of time 
they are sorted over so much to pick out 
the bad ones, that the good ones get near¬ 
ly worn out in handling. Some varieties 
also keep much better than others. The 
dark red, firm varieties will usually come 
out far better in an overstocked market 
than the light-colored, softer kinds, which 
cannot stand the shaking in transportation, 
often opening up inferior in appearance 
and soon decaying. The Gandy seems to 
bear rough usage about as well as any va¬ 
riety I have seen offered here. The supply 
of other berries is light, and they are sell¬ 
ing slowly. Most of the gooseberries go to 
canners and pie-makers, who stir around 
among the dealers and gather up the sur¬ 
plus nearly every day. 
COTTON AND WOOL NEWS.—The un¬ 
settled conditions in China, causing a 
heavy decline in the European cotton mar¬ 
ket, brought the prices down here on 
speculative trade, but this has been partly 
counteracted by reports of unfavorable con¬ 
ditions caused by low temperature and 
heavy rains in some parts of the South. 
Day labor in Georgia is scarce and lias ad¬ 
vanced 25 per cent, anl In some States in¬ 
jurious insects and Black rot are raising 
havoc. Current prices are: Middling up¬ 
lands, 9 1-16; Middling Gulf, 9 5-16 cents. 
Cotton Exchange seats here are at a pre¬ 
mium, the latest sale being at $4,025. Two 
years ago they went as low as $500. The 
wool trade is picking up a little. Some ad¬ 
ditional interest has been stirred up for the 
last few days by reports that the American 
Woolen Company would soon enter the field 
as a large buyer. In spite of the usual 
numerous statements of a small clip that 
are current at this time of year there is 
evidence that the supply will be larger and 
of better quality than usual. In the East 
there is an increasing tendency toward im¬ 
proving the flocks. One man whom I 
know has a fine flock of Delaine Merinos, 
shearing from 10 to 14 pounds each. Only 
a few years ago the clip of his best sheep 
would not average six pounds. It costs 
about as much to keep an inferior animal 
as a good one, and the eastern farmer, who 
has to house and grain his sheep several 
months of the year, cannot afford to keep 
poor stock. _ w. w. h. 
FRUIT IN THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY 
Comparison of Small Fruits. 
Strawberries were at their best in the 
Hudson River section last week, especially 
in the neighborhood of Cornwall and New¬ 
burgh, which I visited. In some places the 
effect of dry weather was quite apparent, 
and yet the drought was not so severe but 
that good tillage, combined with the occa¬ 
sional light rains, produced a full crop of 
more than average size and fine quality of 
berry. At T. J. Dwyer’s nursery at Corn¬ 
wall, I found the Marshall, as usual, one 
of the best berries. This berry was bear¬ 
ing well, is fine in appearance, and a most 
excellent flavor. It is a high-class berry, 
well adapted to fancy markets, and its 
high quality and rich flavor especially 
recommend it for the home grounds. It 
can be said to be moderately productive, re¬ 
sembling somewhat the Sharplcss in this 
respect, and also in vigor of foliage. The 
William Belt impressed me all around, pos¬ 
sibly more than any other berry on the 
ground. I saw this on four different fields, 
a half-mile apart, and also at John R. 
Cornell’s place near Newburgh. In all 
places it was the same strong vigorous 
plant. It was the most productive bearer 
on Mr. Dwyer’s ground. It is a high- 
quality, fine-bearing berry, and fully up to 
the Marshall in flavor. While not as rich 
as Marshall, it is more sprightly and prob¬ 
ably a third more productive berry 
than the Marshall. At Mr. Cornell’s It 
seemed to have suffered more from the 
drought. Vigor of foliage, size and quality 
of berry were the same. The Bubach is 
one of the old berries that stands remark¬ 
ably well the test of time on Mr. Dwyer’s 
ground. It is a pistillate variety, and has 
a most vigorous foliage. Its usual time 
for ripening fruit is 10 to 12 days, but Mr. 
Dwyer’s foreman assured me that they had 
been picking every day for 12 days at the 
time of my visit, and there was certainly 
a promise of eight or 10 days’ more pick¬ 
ing. This was probably due to the cool 
weather, and especially cool nights that be¬ 
gan about the time of first pickings. The 
color and quality of this fruit are good; it 
is also a firm berry, and valuable for mar¬ 
ket purposes. The McKinley was growing 
in the same field with the William Belt. 
It is a good, strong grower, fair quality, 
dark crimson color, large size, and above 
average in production. It would outyield 
the Marshall or Sharpless; it is altogether 
a most promising berry. The Glen Mary 
is the earliest berry on the ground. At the 
time of my visit they had been picking it 
for 16 days. It is a perfect-flowering berry, 
large size, and prolific, but rather inferior 
flavor. Its great advantage is in being an 
early and prolific bearer. 
Gandy is a late berry; on account of its 
hardy pulp it is a great shipper. On point 
of quality, it is a high-class berry, but in 
my taste not up to the Marshall or William 
Belt. While entirely palatable, It leaves a 
sort of musky taste after eating that is 
not altogether pleasant. The Brandywine 
was just beginning to bear at the time of 
my visit, June 18. This is a fine late berry. 
It has a strong growth of foliage that com¬ 
pletely protects the berry. The fruit is 
large and good quality. Like the Gandy 
it has a large, double calyx. It is one of 
the most beautiful berries that I know- 
color a bright red, colors all over, even to 
the extreme tip, and has a pleasant, distinct 
flavor of its own, which distinguishes it 
from any other berry. It resembles some¬ 
what the old Jucunda, which will be re¬ 
membered by some of the older growers. 
Sharpless is bearing very well. It had 
been picked for seven days when I saw It, 
and promised to bear heavily for several 
days later. The excellent quality and 
flavor of this berry is known to everyone 
at all familiar with strawberry culture or 
consumption. It is rather gratifying to 
find an old berry of this quality holding its 
own so well among the newer sorts. 
Michel’s Early was almost through bear¬ 
ing when I saw it. It shows a lack of fo¬ 
liage, rather a small berry, and is valu¬ 
able only as an extra early variety, which 
the Glen Mary is generally displacing, es¬ 
pecially for market purposes. The Cum¬ 
berland Triumph is still a great success in 
this section. It is a beautiful berry of 
good quality and fairly prolific, though 
rather too soft for shipping purposes. 
Margaret was bearing some fruit on a 
newly-set bed. It does not appear entirely 
promising, and yet, perhaps the conditions 
under which I saw it were not entirely a 
fair test. Lovett’s Early Is another early 
market berry. It is a good berry, fine ship¬ 
per, and exceedingly productive, though it 
must be admitted, somewhat off in flavor. 
Nick Ohmer was among the new varieties 
which show considerable promise. This 
berry has a good flavor, beautiful rich color, 
fair average size, and beyond any doubt, 
the firmest berry I have yet seen. It was 
growing on plants which had been severely 
propagated from, which was probably the 
reason why the plants were not maturing 
the enormous amount of fruits they had 
set. It is altogether a promising berry, 
and deserves extended trial. Gibson is a 
new berry of great promise. It originated 
in the Hudson River Valley near Marlboro. 
I saw it fruiting only in a small way on 
Spring-set plants. The quality is first-class, 
firm; no question but that it will be a good 
shipper. The fruit I saw did not ripen 
evenly, resembling somewhat the Timbrel! 
in white spots, but, of course, distinct from 
the Timbrell, which was a pistillate, whije 
Gibson is a perfect plant. No question, 
however, but that it has Timbrell blood in 
it. Let us hope that it has, as the Timbrell 
was one of the best-flavored berries ever 
produced. What made Timbrell unpopular 
was, first, that it is a pistillate variety, and, 
second, the habit it has of ripening un¬ 
evenly, and showing white spots all over 
the berry. The Rough Rider was not fruit¬ 
ing in Mr. Dwyer’s ground, but there was 
a vigorous growth of plants. The Royal 
Sovereign and new French berry, Louis 
Gauthier, were being fruited in a small 
way. 
“What do you think of them?’’ I asked 
Mr. Dwyer. 
“My experience,” he replied, “with these 
two berries will not warrant any positive 
opinion about them, except that Royal 
Sovereign is a high-flavored berry. The 
Louis Gauthier reminds me of the Len- 
ning’s White, which I discarded some years 
ago.” Mr. Dwyer is also fruiting the Hav- 
erland, Downing and some other varieties 
that he says he will probably discard, as 
the fruit is too small. Lists of varieties 
he says, are altogether too large; he is go¬ 
ing to reduce them. Only the large va¬ 
rieties are good for market purposes. In 
the market you want size and quality. 
I like to study strawberries on Mr. 
Dwyer’s grounds. First, because I find 
them there under the finest conditions, and 
in great variety. He has great faith In 
narrow rows, and thorough cultivation. He 
keeps the cultivator going right up to with¬ 
in four or five days of picking, and then 
mulches with a coarse hay. After the 
thorough cultivation, the mulch not only 
preserves the moisture, but also preserves 
the ripening berries. 
“The drought does not seem to have af¬ 
fected you?” I remarked. 
“No,” he said, "I can cope with the 
drought pretty well with the narrow rows 
and shallow cultivation. I prefer this 
method to irrigation, and it, of course, does 
not cost anything like irrigation would, 
even with the facilities for irrigating on 
hand; besides, with the large fields, and 
somewhat separated, it would take an enor¬ 
mous amount of water to have any effect.” 
J. J. D. 
HA Y IN NEW YORK STATE. 
Prospect for Light Crop. 
Hay in this section will be better than 
last year; we shall probably have two- 
thirds of usual crop. Farmers here raise 
corn for fodder, hardly anything else, of 
which there is a goodly amount planted, 
and it is looking fine for this time of year. 
There will be plenty of fodder in this sec¬ 
tion for stock. j. h. 
Salamanca, N. Y. 
The hay crop is light all around here, 
about two-thirds of last year’s crop, and 
we did not get a full crop then. No old 
hay left. There has been more corn plant¬ 
ed for fodder than ever before; one dealer 
claims to have sold twice as much corn 
for seed as he did last year. Corn is the 
main crop raised for fodder here; it is not 
growing much yet; the weather has been 
cold and dry. h. a. b. 
Chenango Co., N. Y. 
Outlook very poor for hay crop; from 
present indications not over one-half of last 
year’s crop. We have just had a good 
rain and if this keeps coming we may get 
two-thirds crop of last year. Lots of fod¬ 
der corn has been put in, and the farm¬ 
ers are still at it; considerable millet and 
more to follow. Crops, except hay, are 
looking well, and if weather is right will 
get a good crop. e. c. b. 
Delaware Co., N. Y. 
The present outlook is not more than two- 
thirds of last year, owing only to drought, 
as grass wintered fairly well, and with ex- 
ceptionably favorable conditions we may 
do much better. There is a very large 
amount of corn being put in to make up 
the probable lack of hay, also millet, oats 
and peas, and in a few cases buckwheat to 
feed green. Corn Is considered the best 
substitute mainly, the others just as good 
but not as productive per acre. All these 
help crops are looking well, and think this 
section will winter its usual amount of 
stock. D. j. 
Trestle, N. Y. 
The present outlook is now very much 
better than it was a week ago. The late 
rain, of which we have had two or three 
fine showers, has started the hay crop con¬ 
siderably, but it will be about one-fourth 
lighter than last year, (that is on the 
river bottom), but on the hill lands it will 
not average over one-half crop. Farmers 
have planted corn and sown millet; others 
are going to sow more; have also sown 
peas and oats. I prefer in place of hay, 
corn and millet. I do not like either one 
entirely alone; I prefer to have both, if 
dry, but if cattle are at pasture I like corn 
the best. As a substitute for hay alone I 
prefer millet. The outlook for corn is bad. 
It comes up very unevenly, especially where 
put in with a machine. s. w. c. 
New Berlin Centre, N. Y. 
Hay crop is much more promising; the 
rains, though rather belated, having start¬ 
ed the meadows growing at a good rate. 
A few showers, with warmer weather, will 
insure a very good crop, 25 per cent better 
than last year. Farmers generally have 
been putting in fodder corn and millet, 
Nice bright fodder corn, well cured and 
properly taken care of, makes an excellent 
fodder for cattle and horses. Millet is good 
if sown thick and gathered in good order. 
Cattle do very well on it, but it is not good 
for horses, as it acts on the kidneys, stimu¬ 
lating them to an unnatural degree. The 
best farmers in this section plant their 
fodder corn in drills three feet apart, sown 
right in the drills, or one foot apart, using 
the planter. With favorable conditions a 
large amount of fodder can thus be raised 
if put in by June 15. c. m. b. 
Orange Co., N. Y. 
The hay crop for Delaware County will 
be about two-thirds of a crop as far as I 
can learn. The month of May was cold 
and dry; we had several hard frosts, and 
the outlook was very discouraging to farm¬ 
ers, but June brought some rain, and it 
has brightened up things. Some pastures 
are looking fine, and cows are doing well. 
I think that farmers have put in some ex¬ 
tra crops to help them out, and there is 
quite a quantity of old hay in the barns, 
so I believe that most farmers will be able 
to winter all the stock they have. In some 
parts they have sold, or are going to sell, 
calves that they had intended to winter. 
Corn is the crop most planted here, and 
is looking very well. Millet is not much 
grown, only by farmers who sell milk to 
the Borden condensery. They will not 
allow farmers to feed silage, and most of 
them do not grow the amount of corn they 
did. In my experience corn with a silo to 
put it in is the best substitute for hay; still, 
some farmers who have a power for cutting 
leave the corn in the field until they want 
to feed, and then cut a largo pile of stalks 
on the barn floor, and in 24 hours it will 
heat up so it will soften and cattle will eat 
it up cleaner than when first cut. They 
claim that cows will do as well on it as on 
silage, and it Is not as expensive to handle. 
The cost of filling a silo is quite expensive, 
as it comes at a time when help is scarce. 
Wages are better here this season than 
they have been in five years; farmers are 
paying men from $20 to $25 per month for 
eight months, and men who work by the 
day get $1.50 per day. Wages for haying 
will be from $1.50 to $2 per day and board. 
Granton, N. Y. e. j. w. 
Iff 
j#; 
A ks 
^tOREAAf^ 
MOTHERHOOD 
COMES TRUE 
WHEN 4 
Dr. PIERCES 
FAVORITE PRESCRIPTION 
is USED. 
Mrs. Axel Kjer, of Gordonville, 
Cape Girardeau Co., Mo., writes: 
"When I look at my little boy I feel 
it my duty to write you. Perhaps 
some one will see my testimony and 
be led to use ^your * Favorite Prescrip¬ 
tion * and be blessed in the same way. 
I took nine bottles and to my sur¬ 
prise it carried me through and gave 
us as fine a little boy as ever was. 
Weighed ten and one-half pounds. 
He is now five months old, has never 
been sick a day, and is so strong that 
every body who sees him wonders at 
him. He is so playful and holds him¬ 
self up so well.” ^ ill 
AN AND RAPID. 
po 
digger made which doe# 
euch clean and rapid 
work as 
THE IMPROVED 
DOWDEN POTATO DIGGER 
