1500 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER; 
533 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Four men at Fort Dodge, Iowa, died after 
drinking from a keg of beer. The keg was opened after¬ 
wards, and the skeleton of a rattlesnake found in It. 
How it got into the keg is a mystery.Five per¬ 
sons were bitten by a rabid dog at Rock, Pa., July 19; 
one of the victims, a boy, being fatally injured. 
A despatch from St. John’s, N. B., July 19, stated that 
the Straits of Belle Isle were still blocked with ice floes. 
Nearly 1,000 fishing vessels were icebound and unable to 
reach the Labrador fishing grounds.A three- 
year-old child was lost in the woods near Vesper, Wis., 
and was found alive near Hansen, Wis., July 18, six days 
later. There had been heavy rains, and the child had no 
protection.Statistics show that in Cuyahoga 
County, O., one divorce suit is filed for every five mar¬ 
riage licenses issued.Snow fell for a few min¬ 
utes during a severe windstorm at Marshall, Mich., July 
21.The St. Paul (Minn.) cold-storage warehouse 
was burned July 23, causing a loss of $740,000. 
Near Akron, Ala., 11 negroes were drowned in the War¬ 
rior River by the capsizing of a skiff.The ex¬ 
plosion of a gasoline launch in Long Island Sound, near 
New Rochelle, N. Y., July 23, killed two persons and 
dangerously injured a third.Five persons were 
drowned at Wiley’s Lake, Cal., July 24, by the capsizing 
of a raft used by bathers.The Post Office De¬ 
partment has issued an order extending the privilege of 
domestic rates of postage to all United States soldiers 
serving in China.Conditions at Cape Nome, 
Alaska, are said to be very bad. No attempt is made at 
sanitation, and measles, enteric fever and smallpox are 
epidemic.An explosion on a steam yacht at 
Syracuse, N. Y., July 24, scalded three children to death, 
fatally burned another, and seriously injured three older 
persons.Fire in a Buffalo grain elevator, July 
24, caused a loss of $250,000.Salmon fishermen 
along the Frazer River, British Columbia, have struck 
against the employment of Japanese labor, and martial 
law has been proclaimed to produce order. 
Three policemen were murdered by negroes in New Or¬ 
leans July 24, and much disorder followed.The 
report of Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General Bristow 
on the Cuban postal frauds places the minimum of Neely’s 
embezzlement at $131,713, which may be increased to $150,- 
000. E. J. Rathbone, late Director-General of Posts, is 
deeply implicated. 
CUBA.—Owing to the Chinese trouble troops are being 
withdrawn from Cuba. It is believed that, after the 
gradual withdrawal of the troops, independence will be 
given. A constitutional convention will first be held, to 
adopt a constitution.The report on the Cuban 
postal frauds has been placed in the hands of Post¬ 
master-General Smith.The President and Gov¬ 
ernor-General Wood have agreed upon September 15 as 
the time for holding elections for the Constitutional Con¬ 
vention in Cuba. It is said in Washington that the Con¬ 
stitution will be closely scrutinized in Washington, and 
Cuba will not be permitted to make treaties with foreign 
countries, except through the United States, nor will the 
people be allowed to involve the island in debt, unless 
authorized to do so by this Government.Yellow 
fever has broken out in the barracks of the Seventh 
Cavalry and First Infantry in Pinar del Rio. 
PHILIPPINES.—It was officially announced that during 
the week ending July 22, 200 insurgents were killed and 
130 surrendered or were captured; 12 Americans were 
killed and 11 wounded. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—July 20, the Government 
at Washington received, through the Chinese Minister, 
Wu Ting-fang, a cipher despatch from Minister Conger 
at Peking, announcing that he was under fire in the Brit¬ 
ish Legation, and in need of aid. The Chinese Emperor 
has sent to President McKinley an appeal for aid in re¬ 
storing order in China and friendship with the European 
nations. Trustworthy information of the envoys was 
still lacking July 26, all messages received coming through 
Chinese sources. It was asserted that the foreigners be¬ 
sieged in the British Legation at Peking were still hold¬ 
ing out July 9, but this could not be verified. 
Disturbances continue in Korea, 80 Russians being killed 
at Antung.July 22, the steamer Campania 
struck the English bark Embleton in the Irish Channel, 
during a dense fog. The Embleton sank immediately, 
seven of her crew being saved and 11 lost.In a 
collision between two passenger steamers in Belfast 
Lough, on the Irish coast, July 22, five persons were 
killed and 50 injured. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The pear crop in the vicinity 
of Alvin, Tex., i^ said to be very short. The severe freeze 
of February, 1899, injured the trees, and they have not 
yet recovered. 
Montana stockmen began shipping range cattle by the 
middle of July, and it is anticipated that sales will be 
heavier than for several years. Owing to the drought, 
forage is scarce on the ranges and cattlemen are anxious 
to dispose of their stock; consequently they began round¬ 
ing up fully a month in advance of the usual time. The 
first sale of range cattle for the season brought $5.25 per 
100 pounds. 
A beet-sugar factory is being erected at Rocky Ford, 
Col. 
It is reported that Texas wool growers are holding their 
wool, believing that the general clip will not be good this 
year, and that manufacturers would rather pay a higher 
price than import wool. 
Recent rains are said to have been worth $10,000,000 to 
Nebraska crops. 
The Illinois State Fair will be held at Springfield Sep¬ 
tember 24-29. The premium list has been carefully re¬ 
vised, many new premiums offered and increased in value. 
The cash premiums amount to $40,000. 
The Cambridge (Pa.) Fair Association at its forthcoming 
annual exhibition, August 28-31, will give a premium of 
$50 to the first, second, third, fourth and fifth largest and 
finest displays of farm products grown from the soil on 
one farm. 
In the horticultural competition, June 13, at the Paris 
Exhibition, first prizes for collections of apples, crop of 
1899, were awarded to the following exhibitors: Division 
of Pomology, United States Department of Agriculture, 
general collection, 53 varieties from 12 States; Illinois 
State Horticultural Society; Missouri State Horticultural 
Society; Nebraska State Horticultural Society; New York 
State Commission; collection of citrus fruits (oranges, 
lemons and pomeloes), California State Commission; col¬ 
lection of oranges and lemons in commercial packages, 
California State Commission. Second prizes for collections 
of apples, crop of 1899: North Carolina Department of 
Agriculture; Virginia State Horticultural Society; E. F. 
Babcock, Waitsburg, Wash.; Elbert Manchester, Bristol, 
Conn.; Marshall Brothers, Arlington, Neb.; I. B. Perrine, 
Blue Lakes, Idaho; E. F. Stephens, Crete, Neb. Third 
prizes: New Mexico College of Agriculture; P. Pederson, 
Huntingdon Valley, Pa. In the competition of June 27 
first prizes went to Division of Pomology, United States 
Department of Agriculture, general collection, 40 varie¬ 
ties from 14 States; Illinois State Horticultural Society; 
Missouri State Horticultural Society; Nebraska State 
Horticultural Society; New York State Horticultural So¬ 
ciety; Virginia State Horticultural Society; P. Gleason, 
LeRoy, New York; collection of oranges and lemons in 
commercial packages, California State Commission. Sec¬ 
ond prizes: Indiana Horticultural Society; New Mexico 
College of Agriculture; North Carolina Department of 
Agriculture; E. C. Warner, Cheshire, Conn. Third prizes: 
E. F. Babcock, Waitsburg, Wash.; I. B. Perrine, Blue 
Lakes, Idaho; A. I. Weidner, Arendtsville, Pa. A first 
prize was awarded W. At lee Burpee, Philadelphia, Pa., 
for 50 varieties of sweet peas in pots. 
THE AMERICAN BUTTER TRADE ABROAD, 
Why Our Share Is Small. 
The United States Is primarily an agricultural 
country, and produces far more than home consump¬ 
tion demands. Large amounts of grain are shipped to 
Europe, especially wheat, while the Indian-corn ex¬ 
port trade is materially increasing. In reality, how¬ 
ever, it would be far better for our material pros¬ 
perity, if our exportation of cereals could be decreased 
and that of live stock and dairy products be increased. 
A'll persons familiar with soil fertility and cropping, 
and their relationship to animal husbandry, will un¬ 
derstand the advantage of such a decrease and in¬ 
crease. Our live stock trade abroad has grown to 
great dimensions, but our exports of butter and 
cheese have not grown in relative importance. In 
fact, the exports of the latter are comparatively in¬ 
significant. It is, however, extremely desirable that 
our dairy export trade grow, because it means ship¬ 
ping a minimum fertility from our farms in the form 
of butter, and not a serious amount in the cheese, and 
yet for which we should receive a satisfactory re¬ 
muneration. This subject has received some consid¬ 
erable attention from the United States Department 
of Agriculture during the past few years, for which 
the country is indebted to Hon. James Wilson, Secre¬ 
tary of Agriculture. Our people, however, have still 
much to learn of the demands of the European mar¬ 
ket. England and Scotland are our great buyers, and 
we should endeavor to supply their demands. 
A few days ago, when at Edinburgh, Scotland, it 
was my pleasure to call upon two of the largest butter 
and cheese buyers in that market, in whose cellars I 
saw large quantities of these foods, including exten¬ 
sive shipments from Canada, Denmark, Holland, Rus¬ 
sia, Finland, Siberia, Ireland and France. The senior 
members Of these firms, Forrest & Trumbull, and 
John Lethem & Sons, are men of large business ex¬ 
perience and much acuteness in the trade. They 
cheerfully gave me time and attention, and discussed 
the trade in a fair and broad-minded spirit. I was 
greatly interested in the butter shown me. A very 
large per cent of it was packed in 112-pound casks, 
after the Danish style. These simply represent small 
barrels with wooden hoops. They are shipped wrap¬ 
ped in burlap, and look very clean in the storeroom. 
Some butter was packed in 60-pound American tubs, 
and some in rough barrels came from Russia, and 
there were very neat-looking boxes of butter on hand, 
but these were to be seen in but a small way. The 
Danish tub is the style in the British market, and any¬ 
thing put in other packing .is not popular with the 
buyers, unless in the 56-pound boxes from Ireland, 
which are somewhat squarish, though smaller at bot¬ 
tom slightly than top. 
The butter shown me by the merchants, which they 
regarded as best, was extra fine Danish, in casks lined 
with parchment paper. From the American stand¬ 
point, this was much lacking in salt and flavor. There 
was neither aroma or pronounced flavor, but only a. 
very slight flavor indeed, quite unlike that our Amer¬ 
ican market calls for. A sample of the best butter 
they had from the States was given me. It was strong 
to an unpleasant degree, and considerably inferior to 
a sample of what I was told was Canadian butter, 
and did not have so good a flavor as either Russian 
or Danish seconds. The firm complained that but¬ 
ter from the States would not keep alongside of 
butter from other countries, getting off flavor, and 
they ascribed this to the fact that it was not made 
with the care other butter was. It also contained too 
much water, which I distinctly noted when compared 
with other makes. The Danish butter appeared quite 
dry and from the American point considerably over¬ 
worked. Russian butter is growing constantly in de¬ 
mand, on account of its keeping quality, though its 
flavor is not of the first. It is largely used in the 
bakery trade. I regretted being shown some American 
“deviled” butter, which they told me was sold to 
bakers. It was poor stuff at the very best, and we 
ought to be ashamed to send the like abroad. 
It has been my privilege to eat butter in many 
places in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In 
almost every case I have been impressed with four 
features in it: Lack of salt, very light and often in¬ 
distinct flavor, being overworked, light in color. The 
butter is usually sweet, and made from sweet cream. 
In one warehouse I was shown a box containing about 
two dozen rolls of butter from Holland, that were 
made without a particle of salt, were perfectly sweet 
and of a very light straw color, were about seven 
inches long and iy 2 inch wide, and weighed one-half 
pound each. These were of a consignment of 400 
boxes to supply a particular trade, and were put up 
in an old Scotch style of package, excepting that they 
were wrapped in parchment. Such butter will not 
keep long, but in England and Scotland .it is prized, 
while in America it would not do at all. A sample of 
butter from a box from Ireland was very fine in 
flavor and quality. I was told that Ireland is rapidly 
coming to the front in dairying, owing to the dairy 
education now being given there. Russia is also des¬ 
tined to become a great butter producer, due to co¬ 
operative creameries, and her export trade is rapidly 
growing. Where price is concerned, Denmark leads, 
while top Canadian and Russian at the time of my 
visit were quoted at essentially the same prices. Top 
Danish was quoted at $28 per hundredweight of 112 
pounds, Canadian and Russian at $25, and the finest 
States slightly under these, by about $1. Neither of 
these men expressed anything but the friendliest feel¬ 
ing toward the United States butter trade; in fact, all 
English and Scotchmen feel very fraternal now to¬ 
wards Americans, but they said our butter would not 
sell as would the others. They complained that it was 
too salt, too wet, and of too high flavor, and would 
not keep to sell with the best Continental butters. 
Englana alone is an enormous consumer of butter, 
and that portion of north England about Manchester, 
Leeds, Sheffield, etc., is the greatest consuming dis¬ 
trict in Britain. For the last week of June, in rough 
figures, 2,128,000 pounds of butter were received in 
this district, for which $28 per hundredweight was 
paid, or over $500,000. Denmark is seeking hard to 
secure all this trade possible. Should the United 
States do so? It seems to me we should try to get 
some of this foreign trade. But if we wish it we must 
try to conform to the market demands over here. We 
color our butter because consumers in America usual¬ 
ly desire it colored. Will it not pay us to prepare our 
butter for buyers abroad with as much pains as for 
our home trade? Other countries are doing so, why 
not we? It is really money in our pockets to do so._ 
There is no reason why we cannot ship satisfactory 
butter abroad if the Canadians can, and they are 
doing it right along. In the event of preparing and 
shipping, it will be desirable, to meet with the fullest 
success, to use 112-pound casks, not to salt over two 
or three per cent, to churn cream only very slightly 
acid, and wash the butter thoroughly, so as not to 
have too high a flavor and color only slightly. 
Parchment-paper lined casks with a light layer of salt 
on ends of tubs, will be in favor. The casks cannot 
be too clean and white, and shipping in burlap sack¬ 
ing wrapped tightly about each cask, best accom¬ 
plishes this result. 
There is certainly a contrast in the attractiveness 
of appearance of the casks in one of these British but¬ 
ter cellars, and in the tubs in a South Water Street, 
Chicago, butter cellar, it being greatly in favor of 
Britain. Two days ago I was in a big oleomargarine 
factory in north Holland. The manufacturer was put¬ 
ting up large amounts of oleo in 112-pound casks and 
imitation Irish boxes, and each of these was wrapped 
in burlap for Shipment. He stated that he found it 
necessary to do this to meet the exacting demands of 
the trade. If he found it so important, is it not 
equally desirable that our butter makers should strive 
as hard to please an exacting trade? A dirty, soiled 
tub never does look as attractive to purchase from as 
a clean white one. Our dairy shows recognize, in 
judging butter, the value of appearance of package. 
It is certain, however, that far too many of our cream¬ 
ery men do not. They need to be educated. 
It will be a fine thing for the dairy interests of 
America, when we of the States can control a large 
share of the demand for British consumption of fine 
butter, and a sorry day for us if we do not do so, but 
instead control the demand for cheap bakers’ stuff 
by Shipping over increasing amounts of reworked 
•grocery butter or creamery ladles. Frank Carpenter 
has repeatedly written that the reason why American 
manufacturers do not secure more of the trade in ma¬ 
chinery and supplies in South America, is due to the 
fact that they prefer to send their goods to that coun¬ 
try according to their own ideas, instead of those of 
their buyers, which is contrary to German policy, 
which is securing the trade. Will not the same prin¬ 
ciple in a measure apply to our butter trade? Then 
if we are to export, let us export just as nearly as 
possible what the buyers want. c. s. plumb. 
Leeuwarden, Holland. 
