1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
489 
MARKET BRIEFS. 
Picked Up Here and There. 
STRAWBERRIES are getting scarce. 
The best that are seen now come from the 
Oswego district. Trade is limited and 
buyers very critical, apparently prefering 
other fruits to anything but first-quality 
strawberries, which have been rather in 
the minority this season. The unfavorable 
weather was largely responsible for this, 
and the fact that the crop ripened later 
than usual also put it into competition with 
other fruits, thus weakening the demand. 
UNWHOLESOME FRUIT.—Some ship¬ 
pers are reckless in regard to the quality 
of the stuff they send to market. Within 
a few days I have seen crates of green 
apples but little over an inch in diameter, 
and hard as bullets; and some pears and 
peaches that belong In the same list. The 
Board of Health has taken this matter in 
hand and seized a number of packages of 
this rubbish, most of which would be re¬ 
fused by any self-respecting pig unless 
very hungry. 
PEACHES.—A large quantity of Georgia 
stock is expected within the next 10 days. 
Thus far the receipts have been light and 
the quality more or less inferior, so that 
consumers have been suspicious. As soon 
as there are plenty of well-ripened peaches 
on hand, they will buy freely. It is said 
that some southern shippers who have usu¬ 
ally patronized New York fruit merchants, 
have this year made arrangements to dis¬ 
pose of their product direct to dealers in 
smaller towns, who have usually obtained 
their supplies from New York. 
PRIME JAPAN PLUMS from California 
are plentiful. Burbank and Abundance 
are the varieties most seen at present, al¬ 
though there is a fair supply of the dark 
red and purple sorts. Many of the ped¬ 
dlers have a mixture of all colors. It is 
doubtful whether any finer-looking fruit 
than these plums is seen in this market. 
When first taken from the original pack¬ 
ages, before the natural bloom gets rubbed 
off, they have a mixture of delicate colors 
rivaling the peach. The small ones retail 
at one cent each, and the others two or 
three for five cents. 
A QUICK SALE.—One evening a peddler 
stopped near the Brooklyn Bridge entrance 
with a lot of navel oranges. They were a 
little larger than those usually sold at the 
price asked, and his load melted away liko 
a first-of-May snow. While other fruit 
men nearby who were not in the bargain 
business, looked on, he took in money with 
both hands. People are quick to see a 
bargain, especially in fine fruit. It is 
probable that he made more money in 15 
minutes, even with his small profit, than 
half a dozen others made in an hour. Their 
plan was to do less work and make less 
money. While a promiscuous cutting of 
prices is a damage to business, a little 
pepper sauce of this sort is a good thing 
for trade now and then. 
THE PICKLE, that appetite grindstone, 
always has a fair sale here. The cucumber 
is the Grand Mogul of the pickle tribe, but 
he has annexed string beans, green toma¬ 
toes, onions, cauliflowers, etc., until he has 
a most mixed and numerous family. 
Nearly every hotel and restaurant serves 
mixed pickles, and they are as various in 
their composition as hash. Among other 
additions are mustard, horseradish, and a 
few of those packages of concentrated red¬ 
hotness, the little red peppers. There are 
factories in this city where pickles are 
made in quantities. Some are bottled, but 
a good many are sold in bulk, nearly every 
retail grocer keeping them. Near The R. 
N.-Y. office is one of these factories, and, 
when the breezes are from the right direc¬ 
tion, an appetizing odor comes in the win¬ 
dows. The factory pickle, however, is gen¬ 
erally inferior to the country-made article, 
where the cucumber, fresh from the 
garden, is put into strong brine, and, when 
salt enough, removed to a stone jar and 
covered with pure cider or grape vinegar, 
spiced a trifle. Fixed in this way, a 
cucumber is next thing to a big Northern 
Spy apple. 
TRADE FOR THE FOURTH.—At this 
time of year there is usually a boom in 
lemons, watermelons and similar things to 
satisfy the cravings of hungry and thirsty 
patriots. For some time dealers have been 
laying In stocks, and probably not far 
from 200,000 boxes of lemons have been dis¬ 
posed of in this market in the last month. 
More limes than usual have been handled 
this year. They look something like 
lemons, but are much smaller, and have 
a double-barreled extract of sourness that 
discounts the lemon, besides a peculiar 
flavor that seems to be agreeable in a hot- 
weather drink. Lime juice is bottled and 
used by soldiers in hot climates, and by 
sailors on long voyages as a preventive of 
scurvy. Just before the Fourth the 
streets are alive with small stands filled 
with fireworks of all sorts. Every year 
there are new schemes for making a noise. 
One of the novelties for this year was a 
marble having a thick coat of some prepa¬ 
ration of percussion, which would explode 
when dropped on a stone or hit with a hard 
substance, and this could be repeated near¬ 
ly 100 times, or until the coating of ex¬ 
plosive was worn off. On the evening of 
July 2, at eight o’clock, six express wagons 
were standing in front of a fireworks store 
waiting to be loaded with out-of-town 
orders. _ w. w. h. 
THROUGH NEW YORK STATE. 
Drought and the Crops. 
Part I. 
Drying Up.—L ast week I made a hurried 
trip through portions of eastern, central 
and western New York. The general com¬ 
plaint is from drought. The hay crop will 
be very light. With the exception of a 
few scattering showers, there has been 
practically no rainfall during the whole 
season, and this condition is general from 
Orange County on the southeast to Ni¬ 
agara on the northwest. The prospects 
for fruit, however, are most promising. In 
western New York the apple crop is esti¬ 
mated to be fully as large as in 1896. The 
trees, however, are said to be more heavily 
set at this season than they were in the 
corresponding time of that year, and it is 
argued by some that the consequence will 
be a smaller proportion of the best quality 
of marketable apples. While one sees an 
occasional orchard in sod, for the greater 
part they are thoroughly and carefully 
tilled, especially through the counties in 
the northwestern part of the State. 
Spraying is almost universal. Where an 
orchard has been neglected the results are 
apparent in the blighted condition of the 
trees. One small grower told me that pre¬ 
viously he had depended on a man who 
made a business of it to come and spray 
his orchards, but he found it difficult to 
get this done in the proper time; conse¬ 
quently this year himself and his neighbor 
combined and bought a large sprayer at a 
cost of 115, and gave two sprayings, one 
just before the blossoms opened, and one 
just after they had disappeared. He 
thinks the sprayer will pay for itself this 
year. 
Beans and Apples.— Beans through Or¬ 
leans and neighboring counties, are show¬ 
ing the effects of the drought. There is 
rather an even stand, and Samuel Bowen, 
one of the largest growers, told me that 
if we could have a rainfall within a week 
or 10 days he felt sure that the crop would 
come on all right, but that a long drought 
would certainly have a disastrous effect. 
Mr. Bowen is of the impression that taking 
the country as a whole the apple crop will 
be greater than in 1896. The Palmer worm, 
which is now working in some of the or¬ 
chards, he thinks, is generally distributed, 
but doing destructive work only in small 
sections. He doesn’t think it will be 
especially destructive. The wheat crop 
through the State is beginning to ripen, 
and up to the present time has been look¬ 
ing remarkably well; some pieces, however, 
are being cut badly with the fly, and this 
will, of course, reduce the yield. 
Fodder Crops. —Farmers in dairy sec¬ 
tions are supplementing the hay crop with 
forage plants, of which corn, as usual, 
seems to be the most valuable, though at 
the Geneva Station Alfalfa is remarkably 
successful. At Cornell, Professor Clinton 
has several kinds of forage plants under 
trial. On these trials the Pride of the 
North corn seemed to give the best prom¬ 
ise. Red Kaffir would come next. The 
millets were not especially promising, but 
the Pearl was the best of the several 
kinds. Speltz was growing rather thin—a 
good color, but the yield would be small. 
Canada peas showed a larger growth than 
Spring vetch. Soy bean showed about an 
equal growth with the peas. Professor 
Clinton is rather proud of an acre of Car¬ 
man No. 3 potatoes. He points to it as 
an evidence that the trial plots at the Sta¬ 
tion can be duplicated under the same con¬ 
ditions in field culture. He says the No. 
3 Is the best potato they can grow. Things 
at Cornell were a little quiet, as commence¬ 
ment was just over, and the nature study 
class not organized until the following 
week. In the meantime many of the in¬ 
structors were off on their vacations. 
New Fruits.— Professor Hunn is at work 
on some seedling strawberries, with a hope 
of improving the Hunn by securing a per¬ 
fect-flowering berry with something of the 
quality of the Hunn, with the power of re¬ 
sisting rust of the foliage, which is one of 
its great drawbacks. He has about 800 
seedlings, going back to the Johnson’s Late 
and Sharpless. The St. Joseph, which is 
claimed to be an ever-fruiting berry, had 
no fruit, and no promise of any. Straw¬ 
berries here were the latest that I saw at 
any place, which is no doubt due to the 
mulching, which was not removed until 
berries in the neighborhood were gener¬ 
ally in blossom. 
Canning Crops.— In many sections of the 
State the canning factories are exerting 
an influence on the kinds of fruit grown. 
In Ontario County, F. E. Van Epps, who 
was picking Early Richmond cherries, told 
me that he would not set them now. The 
canning factories will pay only three cents 
for the Early Richmond, while they pay 
four cents for the Montmorency; conse¬ 
quently his later settings have been of the 
latter variety. The Windsor, he thinks, 
with Mr. Willard, is the best cherry on 
earth. It is sweet and late. Mr. Van 
Epps is quite a large grower of currants; 
Prince Albert seems to be his variety. He 
has about two acres, and he told me that 
one year he picked four tons to the acre. 
He cuts them back about a third every 
year, and when I was there the bushes 
were fully up to my shoulders, meeting 
between the rows, and entirely covering 
the ground. He says that Prince Albert 
holds on the bushes longer than the Fay; 
the glut of the market is over when the 
Fay is gone, and the Prince Albert con¬ 
sequently brings better prices. He is also 
fruiting the Columbian raspberry, and pre¬ 
fers it to the Shaffer’s Colossal, because 
of its tendency to hang on the bushes, 
while the Shaffer has the habit of dropping 
off when fully ripe. Miller’s Red rasp¬ 
berry is not a success with him. The 
Snyder blacKberry is bearing heavily. He 
is growing an acre of beets for canning 
purposes for the Geneva faqtory. The 
price is $15 a ton, while some of his neigh¬ 
bors are growing the sugar beets for the 
Binghamton factory for $5 a ton. The can¬ 
ning factory puts them up whole, and can 
use nothing larger than 2% inches over, 
while of course the sugar beets grow to 
maturity. In Orleans County the factory 
at Lyons has contracted for some sugar 
beets at $4.75 per ton, delivered f. o. b. 
Medina. 
At Rochester I saw a dozen trees of the 
Bismarck apple bearing on Mr. Carlton’s 
place. They are two-year-old trees. One 
tree last season one year from bud, bore 
two apples, which kept until April, of a 
fair quality, flavor not high but good. The 
tree Is perfectly hardy, and Mr. Carlton 
thinks it productive enough to warrant 
general cultivation; another year, however, 
will afford more definite information. 
j. j. n. 
BITS OF TALK. 
The weather here is terribly dry; no rain 
this Summer. We have 78,000 hills of Car¬ 
man No. 3 potatoes, and lots of bugs. Our 
cornfield is the finest in the neighborhood, 
and has been hand-hoed, every hill, and 
now we cultivate it, and it just climbs in 
spite of severe drought. The severe dry 
weather makes us hustle, and we put in 14 
hours a day. h. s. w. 
Lysander, N. Y. 
The rose slip came unexpectedly to me, 
for which T thank you very much. I 
thought you had sent them all out. Tt 
was not wilted in the least, and is now 
growing nicely. The drought was so severe 
here that T dared not plant it in the ground 
at present, so have it in a large pall. We 
have not had over three inches of water 
(snow and rain put together), since last 
November, and all grain is very short, and 
heading out, though only about six inches 
tall. Hay none except in swampy places. 
Pine City, Minn. w. h. r. 
California Notes.— We have had so little 
rain the past year, and for three or four 
years in fact, that crops of all kinds will 
be short (except where irrigated), including 
deciduous fruits and nuts for the greater 
part of southern California. But we have 
much to be thankful for, and will continue 
to go ahead. Citrus fruits have done well. 
For the season, up to June 20, there were 
shipped east from southern California, 16,147 
carloads. Water for irrigation and other 
purposes seems to be going lower out of 
our way, but we keep digging and boring. 
So we have plenty of exercise and enjoy 
fair health. The Belgian hare seems to 
be sitting in the shade just now. 
Carpinteria, Cal. o. n. cadwell. 
We are burning up here. Hay is noth¬ 
ing; seeding all failed last year, and a good 
share of the town is under the plow. Crops 
of oats, corn and potatoes look well in 
spite of hot weather, where cared for. We 
have harrowed potatoes twice with smooth¬ 
ing harrow, and been over three times with 
weeder. Cultivated a part of them once 
with Planet, Jr. Corn cultivated once and 
weeded twice looks well. Alfalfa and rape 
grow fast. Our beets are in all shapes; so 
dry they did not come up well. Have re¬ 
sowed three-quarter acre. Flea beetles 
eat them, and the sun kills them. I con¬ 
clude they are a hard crop to start. They 
grow so slowly I dare not use a weeder on 
them, as the hot weather kills them if the 
least bit disturbed. Thinning by hand is 
hard on the knees, but we made some tools 
to use and got along quite fast. c. e. c. 
Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
The much-desired rain came in a small 
thunder shower June 29. Nature is rejoic¬ 
ing, also the farmers. Haying has com¬ 
menced. Some fields of grass are badly 
dried up. The hay crop here is very fight. 
Rye is good; corn nearly up to the average. 
Potatoes have been hard pinched by the 
drought. Strawberries have been better 
than was anticipated. Peas, peaches, ap¬ 
ples and grapes promise fairly. Butter 
plenty at 18 to 25 cents per pound; eggs, 18 
to 20 cents per dozen; corn, $1.05 to $1.10 per 
bag; bran the same; oats, $1 to $1.05; pota¬ 
toes, old, no price; new, $1 a bushel; chick¬ 
ens, 16 cents a pound, live weight; hens, 
10 cents; peas, $1 per bushel, wholesale; 
calves, six cents a pound, live weight. 
Have had very hot weather with dry winds. 
Madison is a shore town in the southeast 
part of New Haven County, 14 miles west 
of the Connecticut River. We have a few 
good farmers here, but all find it is hustle 
all the time to keep even with the world. 
Madison, Conn. m. h. j. 
Corncobs and Caterpillars.— These 
days inventors are racking their brain to 
produce rapid-fire guns and other instru¬ 
ments of extermination of the enemy. It 
behooves the farmer to keep up with the 
times. The quickest and most convenient 
way to get rid of the tent-caterpillar is to 
soak corncobs in kerosene oil, cut a piece 
of one-inch gas pipe six or eight inches 
long, fit it on a pole, stick the cob in the 
pipe, and you have a rapid-firing gun. 
Now take a basket of cobs, a box of 
matches, and two or three poles of dif¬ 
ferent lengths, and start out on the war 
path. Light your cob and apply to the 
nest. You can destroy six or eight nests 
with one cob, if thev are as numerous as 
they were with us this Spring. If you 
have any cobs left over kindle the fire 
with them. j. t. r. 
Ten Lost Years. 
Figure it for yourself. 
From the age of fifteen to 
that of forty-five a woman 
gives one-third of her time 
to the suffering incident to 
the recurring periodic func¬ 
tion. Ten years of suffering! 
And this condition of things 
is popularly accepted as nat¬ 
ural, and endured as a femi¬ 
nine disability for which 
there is no help! Is there 
no help? There is help for every 
woman and for almost every woman 
perfect healing in the use of Dr. 
Pierce’s Favorite Prescription. It 
insures regularity, dries the drains 
which weaken women, heals inflam¬ 
mation and ulceration and cures fe¬ 
male weakness. It is a temperance 
medicine — non-alcoholic and non¬ 
narcotic. 
n I was so weak I did not have breath to 
walk across my room,* writes Miss Isabel 
Miller, of New Providence, Calloway Co., Ky. 
" My periods occurred too often and the hem¬ 
orrhage would be prolonged and the loss of 
blood very excessive. I also had spells which 
the doctor said were fainting fits. I did not 
gain strength from one monthly period to 
another; was very weak and nervous all the 
time. Was confined to my bed for three 
months and the doctor told me I would never 
be any better. I lived in this way from six¬ 
teen years old to twenty-three. I was at last 
advised by a kind friend to try Dr. Pierce’s 
Favorite Prescription, which I did, and be¬ 
fore I had taken two bottles of it I could 
work all day. I took in all six bottles of the 
‘ Favorite Prescription ’ and about five vials 
of Dr. Pierce’s Pellets. I used no other 
medicine. I have never had a return of this 
trouble since.* 
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