THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
485 
1900 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—An attempt was made to blow up a street 
car with dynamite at Toledo, O., June 28. The conductor 
was seriously hurt.While loading a wagon with 
hay in a field near Allentown, Pa., June 28, Herbert Koch 
was killed by lightning, which fired the hay, and the team 
attached to the wagon was burned to death.At 
Wilkesbarre, Pa., June 29, an entire family was made ill 
by eating diseased pork. One child died, and five others 
were critically ill.A fire at Pittsburg, Pa., June 
29, caused the death of one fireman, injuries to 11 others, 
and property loss of $300,000. The fire was in a large fac¬ 
tory, and 250 men are thrown out of work.Be¬ 
lieving that a dam which the Cambria Steel Company 
proposes to build would be a menace to public safety and 
to private property, farmers of the Quemahonlng Valley, 
near Altoona, Pa., have armed themselves and are guard¬ 
ing the point selected for the construction of the dam, 
which is to be four miles long and have a depth of 75 
feet at the breast. The property owners below the pro¬ 
posed dam claim they will be in constant danger of a 
repetition of the Johnstown flood disaster.June 
30, fire started in a bale of cotton on the North German 
Lloyd pier at Hoboken, N. J., across the North River 
from New York City. Within a few minutes the entire 
pier was ablaze, and the flames extended to two other 
piers and four North German Lloyd steamers lying by 
them. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was saved, but 
the Main, the Bremen and the Saale were destroyed. 
The progress of the flames was so rapid that people on 
piers and vessels, most of the latter being busy in the 
holds, were unable to escape, and the list of dead is put 
at 200. Most of these were caught down below, the decks 
above being a sea of flames, through which escape was 
impossible, and the portholes were too small to afford 
egress. Scows and lighters engaged in loading the steam¬ 
ers caught fire also, the burning vessels drifting down 
stream; three stranded on Governor’s Island, setting fire 
to some buildings there. Bitter complaints are made of 
the heartlessness of some tugboat men, who, it is said, 
refused to give aid to persons they may have rescued, 
because payment was not assured in advance. A num¬ 
ber of women and children were lost on the scows and 
lighters. The fire was beyond control from the first, as 
a strong wind was blowing, and the wooden piers which 
line the water front are filled with inflammable materials. 
The property loss Is estimated at $7,000,000. For nearly 
eight hours 15 men were imprisoned in the coal bunkers 
of the Main, and finally saved.The warehouse 
of the Farmers’ Feed Co., East 76th street, New York, 
was burned July 1; loss $300,000.The reservoir 
of the city water works at Grand Rapids, Mich., burst 
July 2, letting loose more than 100,000,000 gallons of water 
on the thickly-populated hillside below. More than 100 
houses were swept away, chiefly the homes of working¬ 
men, and many persons were injured.A tene¬ 
ment-house fire at Hoboken, N. J., July 2, caused the 
death of 12 persons. Henry Pacht, a saloon-keeper, was 
arrested on suspicion of having caused the fire. 
A terrific electrical storm passed over Reading, Pa., July 
3. Electric lights were extinguished, and a number of 
buildings struck by lightning. The rain flooded a large 
part of the city.A collision in railroad yards at 
Parkersburg, W. Va., July 4, caused an oil tank to ex¬ 
plode, blowing six men to atoms, and injuring a number 
of other persons.July 4, a trolley car got be¬ 
yond control at Tacoma, Wash., and plunged down a 
gulch, turning completely over as it fell; 66 persons were 
killed and 45 injured.Smallpox has appeared at 
Cape Nome, Alaska. 
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION.—The Con¬ 
vention opened at Kansas City, July 4, the weather be¬ 
ing intensely hot. Bryan was, from the start, the only 
Presidential possibility in sight, but there was an exciting 
contest over the Vice-Presidency. The leaders of the 
conservative element at first endeavored to confine the 
silver issue to a simple reaffirmation of the Chicago 
platform, but Mr. Bryan held out for a specific declara¬ 
tion in the platform for silver at 16 to 1, declining to be 
a candidate otherwise, and finally carried his point. New 
York’s Commissioner of Charities, John W. Keller, was 
selected by the New York delegates as their candidate 
for Vice-President, but this was regarded merely as an 
effort to sidetrack Hill. Silver Republicans and Popu¬ 
lists joined Democrats in urging the nomination of Chas. 
A. Towne, of Minnesota. At the first evening session 
Altgeld, of Illinois, spoke reaffirming the Chicago plat¬ 
form. Permanent organization was effected, but serious 
work did not begin until July 6.July 6, Bryan 
received a unanimous nomination for the Presidency, and 
Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, was chosen as Vice- 
President. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The first solid carload of can- 
teloupes for the season shipped out of Texas left Gal¬ 
veston June 20. They were fancy stock of the Rocky 
Ford type. 
Great damage has been done by drought in the Salt 
River Valley, Arizona. 
The association of Chambers of Commerce of the United 
Kingdom adopted a resolution at London, England, June 
28, urging the government promptly to conclude a con¬ 
vention with Germany, Austria and other Powers willing 
to abolish sugar bounties, the convention to include a 
penal clause prohibiting the entry of bounty-fed sugar 
into the territories of the contracting Powers. 
Last year Kansas exported 3,700,000 dozen eggs, as com¬ 
pared with 151,000 dozen in 1895. 
It is estimated that the total wheat yield of Oklahoma 
will be 30,000,000 bushels this year. 
The war in China is said to be affecting the ginseng 
market seriously, the demand being suspended. 
Army worms have appeared in enormous quantities 
along the Missouri River, near Yankton, S. D. The ap¬ 
pearance of the territory over which the worms have 
passed suggests the devastations of grasshoppers. 
The Summer school of the Missouri University at Co¬ 
lumbia has an interesting course in agriculture. Three 
weeks will be devoted to a study of soil, water supply, 
drainage and seed selection under Prof. Mumford, and 
three weeks to the propagation and breeding of plants, 
under Prof. Whitten. 
Flaxseed experienced a remarkable advance at Chicago 
June 25, the September delivery going from $1.48 to $1.85 
under frantic covering of shorts and reports of serious 
damage to the crops throughout the Northwest, coupled 
with a 65-cent advance in Duluth prices, which was the 
Incentive for covering. Holders saw an opportunity for 
profit when this point was reached, and increased offer¬ 
ings caused a reaction. September dropped back to $1.54 
and closed at $1.56, a net gain of 8% cents for the day. 
Of 1,800,000 acres under wheat in Manitoba, 1,000,000 acres 
will never be cut. Rains cannot now change a stunted 
crop six to eight inches high and a small head into a 
crop. Best authorities hope for seed and feed, but this 
is doubtful. June 25 was the hottest day of the year. 
At a Summer meeting of the Minnesota Horticultural 
Society, held June 19, a fund was started by the members 
to be used in purchasing premiums, or in assisting stu¬ 
dents of the agricultural school who are especially pro¬ 
ficient in their studies. The fund will be known as the 
“Gideon Memorial Fund.’’ It was named in honor of the 
late Peter M. Gideon. About 350 horticulturists were 
present. W. W. Prendergast, Hutchinson, called the 
meeting to order, and the address of welcome was made 
by Dean Leggett, of the Agricultural School. Among the 
topics discussed that of strawberry culture in Minnesota 
received much attention. 
The Queens-Nassau Agricultural Society held a very 
successful fair at Mineola, L. I.. June 20-22. 
AMERICAN FARMING IN CUBA. 
What is the Outlook ? 
LAND CONDITIONS.—The friend whose letter you 
quote on page 389, cannot have 'been in Cuba long 
enough to give an accurate statement of conditions 
here, and it really is not fair to your readers, or to 
Cuba, to let his statements go uncontradioted. I have 
been in Cuba continuously since 'March 1, 1899; dur¬ 
ing a portion of this time 1 managed a plantation, 
the remainder of the time have been engaged in con¬ 
tract work that has taken me to many parts of the 
Island, not on hasty trips, but to stay for some period 
of time. It is difficult to buy small farms in Cuba. 
The land is generally held in large tracts, and the 
owners have not got in the way of cutting it up and 
soiling it off. A movement in that direction has re¬ 
cently been made by a Boston man, who has bought 
several thousand acres at Consulacion del Sur, in the 
Province of Pinar del Rio, and now has surveyors at 
work laying it off in small tracts for settlement, and 
more Of this will be done. Renting land is another 
matter, and there need be little trouble about getting 
all the land one needs at very reasonable rates, and, 
if one is willing to go into raising sugar cane, he can 
get all the land he wants without paying any rent. 
He can have a perpetual contract with the owner to 
take all his cane and pay him a price that should 
bring the farmer an annual profit Of $100 an acre. 
CANE GROWING.—It will cost about $30 per acre 
to prepare the ground, pay for the “seed”—i. e., stalks 
of cane that are laid in the trench, and from which 
the new cane grows—to keep the ground clean and 
harvest the first crop. The growing of this first crop 
takes about one year to 18 months, according to the 
season When the planting is done. The harvesting 
or “cutting” is put off as late as possible in the 
Spring, as the riper the cane is the greater percentage 
of sugar is extracted. During this growing season 
other quick crops can be grown on other land, so as to 
give the farmer an income, or at least vegetables, etc., 
for his table, within three or four months, but I 
strongly advise against any man coming here with¬ 
out enough money to live on comfortably for at least 
a year. It will take that time for him to find ouc 
what he cannot do. The land is wonderfully fertile, 
and the climate simply superb, but farm processes 
that are highly successful in the States will not pro¬ 
duce the same results here, and every new comer 
must at first do as the Cubans do. Little by little he 
can try improved methods, and, if they succeed, adopt 
them. Your correspondent is right in the statement 
he makes about the Cubans saying one thing to-day 
and another to-morrow, but that is simply one of 
the customs of the race. They do not think it wrong 
to change their minds about a trade, and it does take 
no end of patience to deal with them. Anyone com¬ 
ing here would bebt put himself in the hands of a 
good real estate firm, and let them do the dickering. 
CUBAN BEE-KEEPING.—The apiary described is 
one of the largest near Havana, near Vento Springs, 
the source of Havana’s fine water supply, but this is 
only one of many very prosperous bee keepers scatter¬ 
ed over the Island. A friend of mine, a Cuban doctor, 
started January 1, 1899, with three hives that escaped 
destruction by the Spaniards. In February of this 
year he reported to me an apiary of something over 
130 colonies, and in March and April he was bringing 
extracted honey into Havana by the ton. He has sent 
to the States for imported Italian queens; is now sell¬ 
ing them through the Island, and generally is mak¬ 
ing a huge success. 
DAIRY PROSPECTS—But the most attractive in¬ 
dustry down here is dairying, and if some of your 
readers who are getting only 1% cent per quart for 
their milk, will sell out, come down here, and start 
a 'modern dairy near Havana, they will make fortunes, 
and confer a blessing on the Havanese. Milk now 
sells in Havana at 20 cents per wine bottle (about one- 
fifth of a gallon); it is sold principally to the ca)f6s, 
and in families where there are babies to rear. It is 
an unknown article among the poor. As a substitute, 
there is an enormous consumption of condensed milk. 
Which is retailed at 13 cents per can. I find lately 
that the market has been flooded with a well-known 
brand made in the States, but on using it, we find it 
has been put up especially for this trade; is very thin, 
and not nearly as good as the same brand was, and I 
presume is now, in the States. This has probably 
been brought about by competition here, the importer 
demanding a lower-priced article, and the producer 
being weak enough to accede to the demand, and put 
up an adulterated article under a well-known standard 
brand. The local milk is mostly produced in stables 
located all over the city; the cows are supposed to be 
driven into the country every night and brought back 
in the morning in time for milking. A further supply 
is brought from the country in cans, looking not over 
clean, with something like a wad of corn husks for a 
stopper, and I doubt much whether the stopper is 
fresh every day. If not, one shudders to think of the 
germs that may be hatched therein. Aeration is un¬ 
known, and cooling down not thought of. When re¬ 
ceived from the milkman it is immediately boiled, 
and usually plentifully salted. In a country where 
soiling crops can De raised the year round, near a city 
of a quarter of a million inhabitants, with milk selling 
at 25 cents a quart, a practical dairyman who can’t 
get rich has something the matter with him. With a 
few hives of bees, his would really be a “land of milk 
and honey.” H. e. 
BEET SUGAR A 7 LYONS, NEW YORK. 
A New Factory Building. 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. are, no doubt, aware that 
the third beet-sugar factory to be established in the 
State of New York is now being erected at Lyons, 
Wayne County, and will be interested to learn of the 
progress and prospects of the enterprise. In many 
respects this enterprise, which is organized under the 
name of the Empire State Sugar Co., is started under 
unusually favorable conditions. A few fields of beets 
were grown on this territory the first season of the 
Rome factory, 1897. The results were so satisfactory 
that the area devoted to beets has increased rapidly 
each succeeding season notwithstanding the fact that 
the beets had to be shipped long distances, to Rome 
and to Binghamton for manufacture. In 1899 about 
1,000 acres were grown, and the beets shipped to these 
places. Thus the farmers have already had consider¬ 
able experience in beet growing; the adaptation of 
the soil is well established, and, consequently, less 
difficulty is experienced in securing contracts than is 
usually the case at the beginning. It is found that on 
the river-bottom lands fair crops may be secured even 
during seasons of severe drought, while on tne upland 
soils large crops are grown in seasons of abundant 
rainfall, so that entire failure of the crop is not likely 
to occur, even in seasons of extremely unfavorable 
weather conditions. 
The factory under construction is much larger than 
any before erected in the State, and will have the 
capacity of working 500 tons of beets per day. The 
main building, about 60x230 feet, four stories high, is 
substantially built of brick, and is now, July 1, ready 
for the roof. The architects and builders, Fuehrman 
& Hopke, of Chicago, Ills., have had large experience 
in this line of work. They say that the machinery is 
all ready for shipment so soon as the roof is in place, 
and that they will easily have everything ready for a 
start by October 1. The beet sheds, office and store¬ 
house, machine shop and boiler house, are each in ad¬ 
vanced stages of construction. The boilers are al¬ 
ready in position. It has been the usual experience 
of new factories to have a small supply of beets for 
the first campaign, but the prospects are that the Em¬ 
pire State Sugar Company will have a full supply the 
first season. The Michigan Sugar Company, of Bay 
City, Mich., now holds the record for first year’s op¬ 
erations—something over 31,000 tons of beets sliced, 
but with average conditions during the remainder of 
the season, the Lyons factory will exceed this amount. 
Nearly 5,000 acres of beets were contracted with the 
farmers, and a recent canvass indicates that about 
4,800 are now growing. No doubt this area will be 
somewhat further reduced by accident, insect pests, 
etc., but the outlook now is very encouraging. There 
has been some deficiency of rainfall in this vicinity, 
but this is really favorable to the crop, as it enables 
the farmers to get the crop well started without a 
great struggle with weeds. Moderately dry weather 
at the beginning is also favorable to the crop, in that 
it tends to cause the young plants to send their roots 
deeply into the soil, and thus form well-shaped, large, 
yielding beets. 
I recently spent several days among the beet grow¬ 
ers in the vicinity of Lyons, Clyde, Newark and Port 
Gibson. The stand secured is unusually good, and the 
conditions favorable for economical cultivation. The 
farmers have the crop well in hand. The earlier 
planted pieces are thinned and hoed, and will require 
little more work till harvest. The later-planted fields 
are now being put into good shape. No field was seen, 
and only one heard of, that had been seriously dam¬ 
aged by flea-beetles. No blight or rot is yet observed. 
Altogether the outlook for the factory at Lyons is 
very encouraging. A recent communication from the 
manager of the Binghamton factory says that the 
acreage contracted this season is larger than ever be¬ 
fore, and a good stand is secured, but the crop is be¬ 
ginning to suffer for want of moisture. To all appear¬ 
ances the beet sugar industry in New York State will 
make great advances this year. j. l. b. 
