1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
725 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A man living near Farmhill, Wis., got a 
stick of dynamite to use at a charivari October 10. It 
exploded, wrecking his house and blowing him to pieces. 
.... October 12 there was a heavy fall of snow in the 
Rio Grande Valley, Tex.The convention of 
anthracite miners at Scranton, Pa., October 13, voted to 
accept the operators’ offer of 10-per-cent increase in 
wages, provided the operators will continue its payment 
until April 1, 1901, and will abolish the sliding scale in 
the Lehigh and Schuylkill regions. The plan was fully 
accepted October 17, and the strike ended.A 
disastrous storm swept over the Labrador coast October 
11. It was the worst since the August gale of 1883; more 
than 30 vessels are reported ashore, and there will be 
heavy loss of life.An open switch at South 
Chicago, Ill., wrecked a Lake Shore express train Octo¬ 
ber 13. Two men were killed and three injured. It is 
believed that the switch was opened by train robbers. 
.... The aldermen of New Orleans, La., are- dis¬ 
cussing a city ordinance to require separate street cars 
for colored people. The proposed ordinance causes a 
great deal of bitterness between those who support and 
those who oppose it.Another earthquake oc¬ 
curred at Skagway, Alaska, October 9. It was not so 
serious as the shock last year.The United 
States Supreme Court has granted motions advancing 
the Neely case, and the cases involving the question of 
the extension of the Constitution over the Philippines 
and Porto Rico to the second week in November. 
Port Limon, Costa Rica, has been almost totally de¬ 
stroyed by tire; loss, $2,000,000.By the capsizing 
of a small yacht in Raritan Bay, N. J., October 14, four 
men were thrown into the water. They drifted with the 
wreck 10 hours, one of them dying from the exposure. 
.... The Commissioner of Internal Revenue has de¬ 
cided that certificates of nominations for public office, 
such as are required by some of the States, and all 
papers or instruments relating to the exercise of the 
elective franchise, are exempt from stamp tax. 
The United States now offers $4,000,000 for the Danish 
West Indies (St. Thomas, St. John and Santa Cruz), 
whose purchase was discussed last Winter. It is said 
that Denmark holds them at $6,000,000.A calf 
caused a disastrous railroad wreck near Hazleton, Ind., 
October 14. The engine struck the calf and was upset; 
17 oil cars piled up on the engine, taking tire and ex¬ 
ploding, and five men were killed and several injured. 
.... A sudden and violent windstorm struck New 
York City and vicinity October 16. Many persons were 
injured in the city by falling signs and masonry, and 
at Newark, N. J., thx-ee men were killed by the collapse 
of a building.October 14 a wealthy farmer in 
Monroe County, la., was swindled out of $7,000 by the 
familiar gold-brick fraud.An explosion in a 
factory building at Detroit, Mich, October 16, killed two 
persons and injured eight others.A tenement 
house fire in New Yoi'k, October 17, caused the death 
of eight persons. The fire is suspected to be of in¬ 
cendiary origin.At Omaha, Neb., the authori¬ 
ties are in a quaixdary over the registration of a Filipino 
who wishes to vote. He was told that naturalization 
was unnecessax-y, because the Philippines are a part of 
the United States, in which case he considers that he is 
entitled to vote, after living in one precinct the required 
time for registry.Wm. L. Wilson, President of 
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va., died 
October 17, aged 57. He was well-known in politics, and 
was the author of the Wilson Tariff bill. 
PHILIPPINES.—The west coast of the Island of Leyte 
is in a state of turmoil. The rebel ladrones are actively 
plundering, the insui-gents raiding and attacking towns, 
and then returning to garrison towns while the Ameri¬ 
cans pux-sue in the mountains.Serious com¬ 
plaints are made of corrupt practices by Filipino 
magistrates in the civil courts of Manila.Capt. 
Shields and his party of 51 men, who were captured by 
the insurgents in Marinduque last month, have all been 
rescued.There was a daring attack by Taga- 
logs on the Amei-icans in northern Panay, October 11, 
but the enemy was driven back with 20 killed and 40 
wounded.A detachment of 20 men repairing 
telegraph wires near San Jos6, Nueva Ecija, October 10, 
were attacked by rebels and only seven Americans 
escaped. The rebels continue to terrox-ize friendly 
natives in outlying towns. 
CUBA.—A fight occurred at Matanzas, October 11, be¬ 
tween Cuban police and Amex-ican soldiers, in which sev¬ 
eral were hurt. There is a good deal of ill-feeling be¬ 
tween the Cubans and Americans. Yellow fever con¬ 
tinues in several of the larger cities. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—The Chinese are arm¬ 
ing through the southern provinces, and a great out¬ 
break is soon expected. It is not believed that China’s 
promise to punish Boxer leaders was sincei’e. 
Hong Kong despatches tell of the continued spread of 
the southern rebellion. The Hong Kong correspondent 
of the Daily Express sends a report that the British 
torpedo boat desti-oyer Handy shelled 2,000 rebels who 
were advancing on San-hun, killing 40 and wounding 
hundreds.Fighting continues in the Transvaal. 
President Kruger was expected to start for Europe Octo¬ 
ber 20. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Texas Truck Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation met on the Fair Grounds at Houston, October 9. 
There was a long and interesting progi-ainme. 
The ninth annual meeting of the Wisconsin Cheese 
Makers’ Association will be held at Madison, Wis., Janu¬ 
ary 23-26, 1901. The Swiss, brick and Limburger cheese in¬ 
terests of the State will receive special attention. Medals 
and premiums will be offered for all kinds of foreign 
types of cheese, as well as the American Cheddar. It is 
designed that the cheese exhibit shall be emphatically 
educational in chai’acter. 
Albert R. Green, of the General Land Office, has been 
selected as chief of the new Division of Forestry of the 
Interior Department, authorized by the last Congress. 
The corn carnival at Peoria, Ill., has been a great suc¬ 
cess financially, and it is said that several thousand dol- 
lors will be available to form a permanent carnival fund. 
The New Yoik State Dairymen’s Association will hold 
its twenty-fourth annual convention at Watertown, 
N. Y., December 11-13. The convention will be held in 
Washington Hall, with a seating capacity of 1,000, the 
extensive dairy exhibit being in another building. The 
dairy products will be scored in public. A number of 
famous dairy speakers have been secured, and the suc¬ 
cess of the meeting is insured. Any desired informatioxx 
concerning it will be supplied by the secretary, W. W. 
Hall, Fayetteville, N. Y. 
The Washington State Dairy Commissioner, E. A. 
McDonald, is accused of illegal pi - actlces, malfeasance 
and extortion. It is said that under threat of publicity 
and injury to their business he has forced milk producers 
and venders to pay sums of money into his hands or 
those of his deputies without recourse to the slightest 
warrant of law. The State Dairymen’s Association op¬ 
posed McDonald’s appointment, he being a dealer in oleo 
in Tacoma. 
A convention of all the cotton growei's and business 
men of the South geixerally has been called by the 
Geoi’gia Cotton Growers’ Association, to meet in Macon, 
November 20 and 21, ‘‘to devise means for securing to 
the cotton producers a fair price for their crop.” 
The schedule for the New Jei’sey farmers' institutes 
for the coming season is just now completed. Secretax-y 
Dye announces the opening sessions for Shiloh, Cumber¬ 
land County, November 12. Some of the State lectui'ex’s 
are the Messrs. Rice and Cook, of New York State; Alva 
Agee, of Ohio; and, for domestic science, Miss Bedfoi'd, 
Haddonfield. A ixew feature of the year’s work will be 
ujxon the value of weather service from the farmers’ 
standpoint, by Prof. E. W. McGann, of the State Ex¬ 
periment Station. 
THE FARMER’S BUSINESS PROSPECTS. 
The Apple Situation. 
StricLly first-class apples are scarce here, but there is 
an overabundance of poor stuff that no one wants. Evap¬ 
orators are all shut down; four cents per pound does not 
pay. Cider mills pay 20 cents per barrel. Cider retails 
for 15 cents per gallon. j. Y . p. 
Hudson, N. Y. 
In spite of the September gale there is a large crop of 
apples hereabouts, mostly Baldwins. Dealei'S ai - e pay¬ 
ing from 50 cents per barrel, they packing and finding 
barrels, to 75 and $1 for Kings. Little or no sale for 
cider fruit, and none evapoi - ated. c. e. p. 
Worcestei-, Mass. 
Appl.es are plentiful hex - e, and no buyei’s; good open¬ 
ing for an apple buyer. More than half the fruit was 
blown off, leaving the remainder on the trees a better 
chance. Baldwins and Greenings are the main crop in 
this section. Along the lake they ai - e more certain on 
account of not having frost, when farther south evei'y - 
thing like peaches can’t be raised. A good opening for 
a square apple buyer. s . H . 
Fairview, Pa. 
The Probable Apple Market. 
The Vermont Experiment Station issues a bulletin in 
which Prof. F. A. Waugh sums up the situation as fol¬ 
lows: 
1. The crop has been (practically, if not absolutely) 
overestimated. The statements that the px-esent crop 
gxeatly exceeds that of 1896 have been vex - y industriously 
circulated by the apple buyers and solely in the endeavor 
to keep prices down. 
2. The market has been underestimated. It has been 
assumed that the market is no better than in 1896, while 
the fact is that it can handle a much larger quantity of 
liuit. lhen the xnai'ket was not organized. Buyers were 
not in touch with sellers. Especially the whole European 
outlet had not been developed. Now all that is changed 
for the better. Then growers shipped thousands of bar¬ 
rels of windfalls and worthless fruit which this year 
they will have sense enough to keep at home. 
3. The market has been temporarily unsettled by the 
gieat quantity of hall fruit sent in and by the rexnai'k- 
able crop of windfalls harvested by the September gales. 
Buyers have shrewdly taken advantage .of this temporary 
demoralization to conti’act for Winter apples, though late- 
keeping varieties are not properly affected by it. 
4. The probable price of Winter fruit has been gener¬ 
ally underestimated. The price has ranged thus far from 
$1 to $1.50 a barrel, although a few lots have been con¬ 
tracted at $2 or even as high as $3. These latter figures 
do not represent the present market offerings, however. 
But even in 1896, when all possible adverse conditions 
conspired to keep down prices, good Winter apples sold 
late in the season at $2.50 to $4 a barrel. The same class 
of fruit, at the same season, will doubtless sell higher 
this year. 
Outlook for the Potato Crop. 
This is not much of a potato-i’aising country. The veg¬ 
etable men are charging 50 cents a bushel. Early pota¬ 
toes did not yield well at all. Late potatoes are about 
two-thirds of a crop. Rural New Yorkers are the main 
crop for late ones. There are some Sir Walter Raleigh, 
Uncle Sain, Ohio Jr. and Green Mountain. t. r. 
Geneseo, N. Y. 
In regard to potato pi-ices dealex - s started paying 40 
cents per bushel about the end of September, but they 
have now got the price down to 30 cents. They still bring 
40 cents in our local market in a small way. Most of the 
farmers here will hold unless the price rises. The yield 
is fair, about 100 bushels per acre. The most popular va¬ 
rieties here are Rural No. 2, Carman No. 3, Sir Walter 
Raleigh and Green Mountain. The weather has been too 
tvarm for shipping the past week or two. I believe that 
potatoes will bring 50 cents when the weather gets colder, 
so that dealers can handle them to advantage J e p 
Hornellsville, N. Y. 
POTATOES AND FRUIT IN PENNSYLVANIA-The 
season was unfavorable for both early and late varieties 
in this county, except the southeastern corner bordering 
on Berks and Lancaster, which was favored by local 
rains. The crop is a short one. Instead of having 
potatoes to go out of the county, as is often the case, 
we have to buy. The local supply will not last beyond 
New Year’s. Dealers pick up everything at 60 cents. 
and pay as high as 65 cents per bushel. Small lots sell 
as high as 70 cents per bushel; retail, 80 cents per bushel. 
County-grown potatoes will bring higher prices than 
western or New York stock. Right around me most 
farmers have already max-keted their potatoes. My ex¬ 
perience this year has been that there was too little rain¬ 
fall to make the fertilizer soluble. We had dry all the 
way through; yet the Carman No. 3 make me from 175 
to 240 bushels to the acre, while R. N.-Y. No. 2 and 
Sir Walter Raleigh fall far short. 
I had a fine peach crop this year, notwithstanding the 
dry Summer. Why? Because my ground was full of 
available plant food, and I gave them thorough cul¬ 
tivation. The peaches were large size, finely colored 
and richly flavored. My German Prune, Prince Engel¬ 
bert and Damson were perfection; of course I cultivate 
and spray. This county is short on apples, some farmers 
have to buy their Winter supply. I have a fair yield 
of York Imperial, Smith Cider, Baldwin and Dominie, 
with a number of other varieties, all perfect fruit, in 
all probably 500 bushels. I feed my orchards and spray 
them. I may say yet that I do not use any stable 
manure for orchards or vineyard. H. c. s. 
Lebanon, Pa. 
Poultry Trade at Chicago. 
A correspondent of the New York Commercial says: 
“Discouraged by the losses in frozen broilers last sea¬ 
son, speculators and dealers have not put in nearly as 
many this year. A conservative estimate of last sea¬ 
son’s broilers was 100,000 boxes. This year not more than 
40,000 boxes have been put away. This is going to make 
bi'oilers higher, and it looks as though the 10,000 boxes 
which wei’e carxded over from last year will yet bring a 
good price. From a large number of letters received in 
this city from all sections of the country, the estimate 
is made that the poultry crop this year, as compared 
with last, shows that there are 15 per cent more turkeys 
than a year ago; about the same number of chickens; 
ducks show 90 per cent of last year’s crop, while geese 
ai’e very short, there not being hardly 80 per cent of last 
year’s iigui'es.” 
The same correspondent says that there are practically 
no fresh eggs in Chicago, while fully 400,000 cases are in 
cold storage. From May 1 to October 10, 1,029,165 cases of 
eggs were received in Chicago, or 12,251 more than during 
the same time last year. 
HOW “QUOTATIONS’’ ARE MADE. 
A reader wishes to know where the quotations on 
country produce in the New York market come from. 
This is a practical question; doubtless others have asked 
themselves the same thing, and, after seeing conflicting 
reports in different papers, have agreed with a state¬ 
ment of one of the writers of the Psalms, and concluded 
that there are some men who, if they shorten their lives 
by over-exertion, will not do it by their frantic efforts to 
speak the truth. The basis of quotations on staples such 
as butter, eggs, etc., is in actual sales in the daily busi¬ 
ness on the Mercantile Exchange. This is simply a place 
where buyers and sellers can get together, come to an 
agi-eement on prices, and do a large amount of trading 
in a short time. By working at close range they are 
able to do more than if they had to go around the city 
or do the business by telephone. While together they 
have a chance to discuss conditions from the point of 
view of both buyers and sellers. All possible arguments 
that might have an effect in forcing the price up or down 
are brougi**^o bear, and an agreement is arrived at that 
forms the ufesis of the wholesale trade throughout the 
city for the day. No printed daily report is issued by this 
Exchange. Doubtless thei-e ought to be, but, of couxse, 
there is a x’ecord of the business done, and the com¬ 
mercial papei's have access to these facts, on which their 
market reports are based. 
For small fruits and vegetables and other products that 
are not ordinai’ily dealt with on the exchanges, pub¬ 
lishers have men who go around and ask dealers about 
the general conditions, and the figures at which sales 
have been made. In these things the reports are often 
conflicting. The two leading commercial dailies of this 
city sometimes give reports that are directly contradic¬ 
tory, and yet both may be right, for neither knows it all, 
and no publisher could thoroughly intex'view every whole¬ 
sale px-oduce man in this city each day. It is quite pos¬ 
sible that some of the information gained in this way 
may be biased. Even a strictly honest dealer might look 
at the market and genex - al conditions in one way if he 
had a surplus of a certain article, and in an entirely dif-4 
ferent way if he w’as short. It is nothing uncommon to, 
find the same grade of produce selling at different prices 
in wholesale stores within a block or two of each other. \ 
As a rule it is well to be suspicious about commission > 
merchants who promise prices much above what othei-s 
are getting, and still they may be all right, having / 
special customers, or some outlet that others do not r 
know about. No one should get the idea that market 
quotations have any of the unalterable chax-acteristics of 
the laws of the Medes and Persians. For changeableness, 
the weather is nowhere. On a temporary shortage in the 
morning, some article may sell at a high price, and yet 
in two hours the receipts by rail and boat may be so 
great that the price will take a zero drop. Market re¬ 
ports, if accurate, are simply the history of what has 
taken place, but there is no certainty that this history 
will repeat itself, even under similar conditions. What 
will occur to-morrow is another thing. It is the aim of 
this paper to give market quotations that will represent 
the conditions at the time as fairly as possible. Usually 
preference is given to the generally-accepted quotations, 
but changes are frequently made where, from the facts 
learned, there seem to be good reasons for such valua¬ 
tions. Any man who sets himself up as having a 
monopoly of the truth and giving all of the facts in re¬ 
gard to the market for country produce, is pre¬ 
sumptuous, and, if anyone takes the trouble to investi¬ 
gate his statements, is liable to find himself embarrassed. 
_w. w. H. 
Farm Prices.— We compile from the Department of 
Agriculture reports the following figures showing how 
farm prices compared on October 1 with similar figures 
for October 1, 1898. The prices quoted are for New York: 
Red Winter wheat 
No. 2 corn. 
No. 2 oats . 
No. 2 rye.. 
Baled hay . 
Potatoes . 
Hops .. 
Wool (washed) .... 
Eggs . 
1S98. 
72 @ 80% 
28%@ 32% 
21%@ 25 
44%@ 51% 
$7.50 @$8.00 
$1.25 @$2.00 
15 @ 19 
29 @ 30 
17%@ 20 
1900. 
81% 
40% 
22 % 
51% 
>11.00 @$12.00 
$1.00 @ $1.62 
13 @ 15 
28 @ 30 
14%@ - 
