78§ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—At Denver, Col., five men were shot, two 
being killed, during a riot at the polls November 6. A 
similar affray at Diamond, Ind., resulted in the death of 
one man and Injuries to eight others.November 
8, two more bodies were uncovered in the ruins of the 
Tarrant explosion in New York, making six found in all. 
Four persons are still missing.Several deaths 
from bubonic plague occurred in San Francisco during 
October, and three fatal cases occurred during the first 
week in November.Fire at Biloxi, Miss., No¬ 
vember 9, destroyed over 100 buildings, and caused losses 
aggregating $300,000.An explosion of gas in the 
Buck Mountain colliery, near Mahanoy City, Pa., No¬ 
vember 9, killed one miner, and injured 26 men and boys, 
some of them fatally.November 9, a severe gale 
extended over a wide area, accompanied by unusually 
low temperature for the season. A blizzard occurred in 
Wisconsin, and there was a foot of snow at Mishawaka, 
Ind. In the Indiana gas belt there was a shortage of 
natural gas, which in the absence of coal or wood, caused 
much distress. Losses in shipping occurred both on the 
Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast.Admiral 
Crowninshield, in his annual report to the Secretary of 
the Navy, declares that there are not enough men in 
the navy to fit out the vessels now afloat, and that of¬ 
ficers are breaking down from overwork.The 
schooner Myra B. Weaver was wrecked off the Massa¬ 
chusetts coast, in Vineyard Sound, November 11; six lives 
lost.The Nova Scotian steamer City of Monti- 
cello was wrecked in the Bay of Fundy November 10; 33 
lives lost. Only four persons were saved, one being a 
woman, the colored stewardess.A heavy fall of 
snow in the Mohawk Valley, N. Y., November 9, ren¬ 
dered roads impassable, some drifts being 10 feet deep. 
. . . . Argument was heard in the United States Su¬ 
preme Court November 13 in the Chicago drainage canal 
case. The proceeding is instituted on the part of the 
State of Missouri to secure a permanent injunction against 
the use of the canal because of the pollution of the water 
of St. Louis.A bill to disfranchise the negro 
was introduced in the Lower House of the Georgia Legis¬ 
lature November 13.Grant Bros., brokers, of 
New York, failed November 13, with a shortage of $195,000. 
. . . . The drygoods firm of W. L. Strong & Co, of New 
York, failed November 13 with liabilities of $5,000,000. 
. . . . The burning of a hotel at Poplar Bluff, Mo., No¬ 
vember 12, caused the death of four persons. 
PHILIPPINES—Gen. MacArthur, with 70,000 men, is be¬ 
ginning a vigorous campaign against the Tagals. It is de¬ 
sired to crush the guerillas before the 35,000 volunteers 
are mustered out, as they must be, June 30, 1901. There 
is no change in the Filipino attitude as the result of the 
Presidential election, and fighting continues. 
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.—The statistics of the sugar pro¬ 
ductions of the Hawaiian Islands for the year ended 
September 30 have just been compiled. They show a 
total crop of 289,544 tons, against 282,807 last year. This 
year’s crop will net the planters nearly $80 a ton, so that 
the crop is worth something over $23,000,000. The crop on 
Hawaii and Kauai is not so large this year as it was 
last, but both Maui and Oahu have increased their pro¬ 
duction.The Board of Health of Hawaii lias 
ruled that politicians may not go to the leper settlements 
to address the patients at those places on questions of 
the day. This general rule was laid down as the result 
of an application of National Committeeman Cornwall, of 
the Democratic party, for permission to send three spell¬ 
binders to address the lepers. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—Many accounts are be¬ 
ing received of the extreme brutality of German and 
Russian troops in China. Four high Chinese officials have 
been put to death in accordance with the representations 
of the Allies.A typhoon at Hong Kong No¬ 
vember 9 destroyed a British river gunboat and much 
native craft.The bubonic plague is active on the 
Island of Mauritius, 50 fresh cases and 34 deaths having 
occurred up to November 12.The Czar of Russia 
is ill with typhoid fever. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Northern Indiana and 
Southern Michigan Poultry Association will meet at South 
Bend, Ind., November 26—December 1; secretary, Chas. 
McIntyre. 
The Minnesota State Poultry Association will meet at 
St. Paul January 14-19, 1901; secretary, H. F. Huelster. 
A series of six farmers’ institutes have been held in 
Florida, under the direction of Prof. H.E. Stockbridge, 
of the State Agricultural College. Much interest was 
shown in the meetings. 
Grangers and creamerymen in Pennsylvania are unit¬ 
ing to fight the oleo dealers. Their association now has 
members in 46 counties. The first county meeting was 
held at Bernville, Berks County, November 24. 
Dr. T. A. Geddes, of the Department of Agriculture at 
Washington, D. C., has been ordered to London to in¬ 
spect cattle to be shipped to the United States. 
The National Irrigation Congress met in Chicago No¬ 
vember 21. 
Arrangements for the twenty-fourth annual convention 
of the New York State Dairymen’s Association at Water- 
town December 11-13 are being rapidly completed. The 
following speakers, with their subjects, are announced: 
Prof. James W. Robertson, Ottawa, Ontario, The Progress 
of Dairying in Canada and The Gospel of Bread and 
Butter; Dr. J. N. Twitchell, of Maine, Milk-Making Ma¬ 
chines; Prof. I. P. Roberts, Cornell University, The Silo, 
and How to Raise Material to Fill It; Dr. W. H. Jordan, 
Geneva Experiment Station, The Education Underlying 
Intelligent Dairy Practice; Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., Law- 
yersville. The Evolution of Dairying; Dr. L. L. Van Slyke, 
Geneva Experiment Station, Temperature and Moisture 
in Relation to Cheese Ripening; A. R. Ward, Assistant in 
Dairy Bacteriology, Department of Agriculture, Cornell 
University, The Cause and Prevention of Ropiness In Milk 
and Cream; F. A. Converse, Superintendent of Live Stock, 
Dairy and Agricultural Products, Pan-American Expo¬ 
sition, The Dairy Exhibit at the Pan-American Exposi¬ 
tion; Miss Anna Barrows, Boston, Mass., The First Food 
of the World; Hon. H. C. Adams, Dairy and Food Com¬ 
missioner, Madison, Wis., The Grout Bill; Hon. George 
L. Flanders, Assistant State Commissioner of Agriculture, 
Oleomargarine and Legislation Governing Its Sale. 
The New York State Veterinary College at Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, Ithaca, N. Y., was partially destroyed by fire No¬ 
vember 13. The fire originated from an explosion in the 
laboratory. A student, J. F. Fairbaim, of the class of 
1902, of Buffalo, while assisting the firemen, stumbled over 
a live wire and was for a long time believed to be dead, 
but recovered later. The building was built by New 
York State for the veterinary department in 1895, at a 
cost of $60,000. The building also contained valuable 
laboratory apparatus and the Roswell P. Flower Library 
of Veterinary Science. It was constructed of white brick 
and was one of the handsomest buildings on the campus. 
The loss is estimated at $30,000, which will be covered by 
insurance. The library was saved, but was badly dam¬ 
aged by water. 
It is reported that a movement is on foot to consolidate 
all the creamery interests of the Northwest, having Chi¬ 
cago for their market, into one big concern. 
The Elmore-Cooper Live Stock Company, of Kansas 
City, Mo., has filed a petition in bankruptcy. The liabili¬ 
ties, placed at $600,000, are mostly the result of the Gillette 
failure a year ago. The assets are placed at $200,000. 
THE COUNTRY’S APPLE TRADE. 
At Louisville, Ky. 
There are some few cars of northern apples sold here 
each week, but our season for handling northern apples 
does not really start in until about the middle of No¬ 
vember, and then the season runs along well for good 
sound northern apples until about April 7. The principal 
varieties we handle are Baldwin, Spitzenberg, Spy and 
King. There are very few Greening or Russets wanted; 
our people all prefer red fruit. They will gladly buy 
Greenings and Russets when they cannot get red fruit, 
but generally the trade here will pay from 25 to 50 cents 
per barrel more for good red fruit than for green. In 
some sections of our State there was quite a good crop 
of apples raised, but my opinion is that by the middle 
of December our home supply will be pretty well ex¬ 
hausted, and then we shall have to look to the North or 
West for our fruit. Our trade here in general all prefer 
to get their supply from the North, as the transit is so 
much quicker and the northern fruit, in my judgment, 
is much finer flavor. john t. powers. 
Louisville, Ky. 
At New Orleans. 
The South uses quite a proportion of the apples grown 
in the United States, the same conditions of demand, va¬ 
rieties, etc., existing here also being about identical in 
other sections of the South. New Orleans is without 
doubt the largest receiving and consuming point for ap¬ 
ples in the South. We usually start in with the Ken¬ 
tucky, Missouri and southern Illinois crop of early Fall 
apples about the middle of September and from that 
time onward as late as June of another year receive con¬ 
tinued supplies from cold storages throughout the North, 
both from the West and the East. Usually the favorite 
apple with our buyers is the Ben Davis; they will pay 
as much, in fact a little more for fine Ben Davis, Gano, 
Jonathan, Winesap, etc., than for the finest eating apples 
raised in Michigan or New York. The conditions of the 
apple business for this year are likely to be changed this 
season; that is the demand is likely to show better and 
stronger on fine New York State Baldwins, and fancy 
New England Baldwins, with rich red color than on the 
favorite Ben Davis, owing to the fact that there has 
been such general complaint of poor quality and poor 
keeping condition of the latter variety. The best trade 
in apples is usually during this month and next, up to the 
holidays; then there is a little relaxation of demand for 
a week or two, and then again the apple trade assumes 
strength, although there is always a fair demand for 
apples throughout the season. At the present time, the 
receipts of apples average daily three to four cars, and 
find quick disposition; of course, there are days when 
sales are made of from six to eight cars, this usually 
taking place the first half of next month. New York 
Baldwins are now coming in here and selling for the 
past week, at from $2.30 to $2.50 per barrel in jobbing 
way; some fancy Kings bring $3 per barrel; Ben Davis 
from the West command at present for best stock, $2.50 
to $2.65 per barrel, the demand being strong. We do not 
take very strongly to any other apples except red ones; 
eating qualities unfortunately do not figure with us, as 
they should, due, as we are led to believe, mainly to the 
shipping order demand calling always or almost always 
for red apples. Our large negro population in the coun¬ 
try is always fascinated with a red apple, although locally 
we have some good trade for fine eating stock, such as 
Jonathan, Blush Yellow, Wagener, Copper’s Market, Steel 
Red, Willow Twig, Spy, and other fine eating stock. 
This season we believe that the bulk of our apples will 
come from New York State and also the New England 
States, and we believe that there will be a larger trade 
than usual in apples this season, owing to the favorable 
crop conditions throughout our southern country, war¬ 
ranting more than the usual amount of apple orders, par¬ 
ticularly with assured reasonable prices this year. 
New Orleans. _ geo, w. davison & co. 
A SHOW OF AUTOMOBILES. 
An automobile show was recently held in Madison 
Square Garden, New York. The horseless vehicle has be¬ 
come so common now that it does not attract much at¬ 
tention. Two or three years ago, when one appeared on 
the streets, a crowd gathered, and small boys chased it 
as they do a circus parade. Among the exhibits showing 
early attempts at making self-propelling vehicles, was a 
steam wagon about 12 feet long, seating 15 or 20 people, 
built in 1860 by Richard Dudgeon, a machinist of this 
city. It works well, and has been run several thousand 
miles, but is very heavy, has a crude steering apparatus, 
and is doubtless more comfortable for Winter than 
Summer use, as the passengers have to face the large 
boiler in the center of the machine, which must give out 
considerable heat. The favorite use for the automobile 
is as a light road wagon, though the principle is success¬ 
fully employed in the ambulance, omnibus, and heavy 
brewers’ truck. Of course, like a bicycle, it is of most 
use on good roads, yet some are built which give good 
service under unfavorable conditions. A road wagon was 
on exhibition, which had just come from Cleveland, Ohio, 
810 miles, in 38% hours, an average of about 21 miles per 
hour. A card on it stated that they had struck very bad 
roads, and the wagon was completely covered with mud. 
Various tests were given showing what can be done 
with these machines by way of quick stopping, short 
turning, etc. One of the most interesting was an ob¬ 
stacle contest, in which heavy city delivery wagons 
went through a maze of barrels and hurdles, making 
short turns and running into corners from which the 
operator had to back and fill in various ways to get out. 
The idea was to see how quickly he could work his way 
through without upsetting the barrels or hurdles. While 
none was successful in getting around without moving 
any of the obstacles, the results showed that, unless it 
balks, an automobile is not a clumsy machine. The 
prices are too high at present to appeal to ordinary pocket- 
books, as from $800 to $2,000 is more than most people care 
to pay for a wagon. 
HOW QUOTATIONS ARE MADE. 
The quotations on butter, cheese, eggs and poultry are 
made each day on the floor of the Mercantile Exchange. 
This is simply a large building where all the dealers in 
those commodities in New York, and the representatives 
of dealers out of the city, meet each morning, and do 
from 10 o’clock until 11 what they couldn’t do in all day 
on the street. The actions of the Exchange are governed 
by rules as rigid as those that govern the action of the 
Stock or Produce Exchange. If the rules are broken 
investigation will certainly result in suspension from the 
pi’ivileges of the floor, and may end in expulsion. One 
commercial paper is supplied with the official quotations 
by the superintendent of the Exchange himself. The 
other has three men on the floor during the trading hour, 
“the call,” as it is termed, and the figures published 
each day are the official figures as they are made there. 
Not all the trading on the street can change them until 
after the call the following day. So jealous is the Ex¬ 
change of its quotations that no newspaper man who is 
not a member is allowed on the floor during the call, and 
if anyone who is there publishes a list of quotations that 
varies from those actually made, he is promptly called 
to account, and is likely to lose the privilege of the floor 
during the call. One of the daily circulars issued in this 
city is owned by the same men who supply the quotations 
to one of the commercial papers, and their reports are 
the basis for those furnished the Associated Press and 
telegraphed all over the country. It will be seen from 
this that the quotations on dairy products and poultry 
are as nearly as possible the actual market each day, 
and may be accepted as accurate. There is another cir¬ 
cular which has no representative on the floor, and gets 
its prices from the street. It always varies from the 
official reports and has no standing in the trade in New 
York. 
In vegetables it is more difficult to secure reliable re¬ 
ports of prices. Men dealing in exactly the same stuff, 
occupying adjoining stores, will frequently quote widely 
varying prices, due to some discrepancy in quality, or 
the fact that the seller has only a small quantity which 
he wishes to clear. In three years’ service for one of 
the commercial dailies, I base my quotations on three 
actual sales, made by firms which are amply able to 
hold their goods if they wish, and are not in a desperate 
hurry to clear out stocks in hand before dark. If there 
is wide variation I seek for more sales, sometimes run¬ 
ning down as many as a dozen to get one single quota¬ 
tion, and even then it is not unusual to find that the 
other daily has quoted the same stock entirely different, 
and the circulars agree with neither daily. The miscel¬ 
laneous vegetable market is unquestionably the worst in 
the entire list, and at best the quotations given can be 
but approximate. The daily I am with dropped the quota¬ 
tions entirely for several months, because it is so dif¬ 
ficult to get them accurate, but there was such a strong 
request that they be resumed that we are running them 
again as best we can. They may not agree with the cir¬ 
culars you get, but whether they do or not, they are 
based on actual sales and represent what the market was 
at one time during the day. As a rule the trading in 
vegetables and apples is over before the reporters get 
into market; hence it is impossible for them to see what 
actually occurs. But I can assure any farmer who reads 
this that the reporters are working conscientiously to get 
the prices as nearly accurate as possible, and if there 
are variations, it is because the statements made by 
different tradesmen have varied. The quotations on the 
bulk of the fruit which interests farmers, including 
apples, pears and grapes, are made in much the same 
way. It is not quite as hard to keep them straight, but 
there is still some difficulty in getting at what is just 
right. And not infrequently the reporter has to draw 
his own conclusions according to his judgment, based 
upon similar occurrences in the past. 
BURTON H. ALLBEE. 
Our local apple crop is very poor and wormy this year, 
and I have no doubt that by Spring we shall be so hun¬ 
gry for apples that we shall declare war against the 
Codling-moth, to the end that the following year we 
shall have plenty of good sound apples, that will be good 
until cherries are ripe in 1902. We are having very favor¬ 
able weather for orchard work, and are preparing as fast 
as possible for the wet Winter that we need so much. 
Edenvale, Cal. h. g. k. 
The yield of clover seed varies somewhat with soil and 
locality. It is relatively light, however, under all con¬ 
ditions. The average on sandy loams and valley lands 
is not much over one-half bushel per acre. The clay 
loams of the uplands yield from three-fourths bushel to 
one bushel per acre. The usual reason for the light yield 
as given by farmers is lack of bumblebees. My own 
opinion, however, is that it is due to the heavy rainfall 
which prevailed during the stage of pollination, thus 
blasting much of the bloom. The unfavorable circum¬ 
stances preventing perfect pollination were washing away 
of pollen and the beating of many heads low down among 
the rank growth of tangled clover stems. I base these 
conclusions on observations in my own fields. 
Indiana. J. d. nyshwundhr. 
