1902 
389 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—May 16 fire in the Chicago stock yards 
damaged the Armour lard refinery to the extent of $1,000,- 
000. The collapse of a hog runway from which 2,000 people 
were watching the Are resulted in the serious injury of 
25.May 18 the West and Southwest were visited 
with severe storms. At Goliad, Texas, a tornado caused 
I he death of 100 persons and the serious injury of many 
others. In Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin cloudbursts 
caused washouts and the destruction of railroad bridges. 
At Racine, Wis., 100 thoroughbred horses were killed by 
lightning. .... At Coal Creek, Tenn., May 19, 300 
miners were entombed as the result of explosions. Gas 
and fire have hindered the work of rescue, and it is reared 
that all are dead.In the anthracite coal regions 
of Pennsylvania 145,000 miners are on strike. Violence is 
reported at Olyphant, where several hundred strikers went 
in a washery and succeeded in forcing the employees to 
leave.May 20 a wind and rain storm lasting 
but half an hour caused $1,000,000 damage to property in 
Cincinnati and the loss of six lives.May 20 the 
petition of the United States Government for a tempor¬ 
ary injunction against the beef trust was granted by 
Judge Grosscup, of Chicago. The defendants have until 
August 4 to make an answer.E. L. Godkin, for 
many years editor of the New York Evening Post, died 
in England May 20. He was born at Moyne, Ireland, in 
1831. He came to New York in 1854, practiced law for 
several years, and then engaged in newspaper work, in 
which he continued until his recent retirement. 
WEST INDIES.—At noon May 20 the occupation of 
Cuba by the United States ceased, and the Republic of 
Cuba came into existence. After reading the formal 
transfer of authority to the officers elect, General Wood 
personally hauled down the American flag from the pal¬ 
ace, and, assisted by the veteran General Gomez, raised 
the Cuban flag as an act of the United States. 
May 20 Mt. Pelee was again in active eruption. Floods 
of lava and boiling mud pouring into the harbor of St. 
Pierre nearly overwhelmed the United States cruiser Cin¬ 
cinnati and the tug Potomac. Showers of stones fell at 
Fort de France. It is feared that the entire island of 
Martinique is doomed, and it is said that all who can get 
away are leaving. The disturbances on St. Vincent con¬ 
tinue, much of the island being made a desert by the 
heat and showers of volcanic matter. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—May 17 Alfonso XIII., 
having reached the age of 16 prescribed by the constitu¬ 
tion, took the oath of office as King of Spain. The au¬ 
thorities learned of a conspiracy to kill the king, and 10 
plotters were arrested, one having several dynamite cart¬ 
ridges in his possession.The Queen of Holland 
is rapidly recovering from her illness. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The American Association of 
Farmers’ Institute Workers will hold a meeting in 
Washington, D. C., June 24-26. Institute workers from 
all parts of the United States and Canada will be present 
and discuss all phases of the work. Among other speakers 
will be Hon. James Wilson, Col. Joseph H. Brigham, Hon. 
G. C. Creelman, Prof. George T. Powell, Prof. C. F. Cur¬ 
tiss and Secretary F. D. Coburn. 
The seventeenth annual meeting of the EIolstein-Fries- 
ian Association of America will be held at Syracuse, N. 
Y., June 4. F. L. Houghton, Brattleboro, Vt.. secretary. 
FARMING IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY. 
PART IV. 
Our method of treating potatoes for scab differs ma¬ 
terially from any we have seen published. Six kerosene 
and gasoline barrels, provided with faucets, are set upon 
a plank platform 14 feet long, two feet wide and one foot 
high. Three of the barrels are filled with potatoes after 
which the formaldehyde solution is poured over them. 
While these are soaking the three remaining barrels are 
filled with potatoes, and as soon as the first lot has 
been treated the required time the solution is drawn off 
in a pail and used on the second lot. The first lot is 
then spread on the cellar floor and allowed to dry be¬ 
fore cutting. We think this method much easier and 
quicker than immersing sacks, filled with potatoes, in a 
barrel or tank. With this outfit a man can treat 100 bush¬ 
els or more in a day, and, as we have several hundred 
bushels to treat, we began a week before planting time. 
A small quantity of formaldehyde is added from time to 
time to keep up the strength of the solution. No potatoes 
will be cut, however, until a few days before the planters 
start, although some growers cut their seed ahead and 
sprinkle it with lime to keep it from spoiling. 
Wheat seeding was completed here on May 12, 675 acres 
having been sown. The best half day’s work was 42 
acres. It is seldom that we are as late as this with our 
wheat seeding, but this has been an unusually wet and 
late Spring, not having averaged four days’ work out of 
each week. Over 200 acres are yet to be plowed for oats 
and potatoes. Spring plowing is one of the things we 
dislike, as it costs us at least 25 cents an acre more to 
plow in the Spring than in the Fall. Some plowing has 
already been done for oats, while it was too wet to seed, 
and we are now plowing for potatoes. Part of the potato 
ground was plowed shallow last Fall and with this addi- 
nonal Spring plowing, five or six inches deep, it will be 
in fine shape for a crop. 
A hand cart is under course of construction in our shot 
1 he wheels and frame were obtained from an old han 
lump hay rake. Our chickens have hatched very poorl 
’his year, only about 50 per cent of the eggs bringin, 
chicks. We have never used an incubator as we do no 
depend on poultry for a money maker. A neighbor’s in 
■ ubator hatched four per cent of the eggs. During th 
uast week part of the time has been spent repairing ai 
1 pasture fence. The three wires, all barbed, will b 
restrung two, three and four feet respectively from th 
ground. We have very few accidents with barbed wir 
'chen properly put up and kept in order. Woven wir 
ence was used when sheep were kept. It was used as i 
pm table fence and was very convenient to move. N< 
Uiiiil fences whatever are used except for barnyards 
‘ t-veraI of our horses have been troubled with th 
scratches and other sores on their legs caused by being 
in the mud so much, it having been very muddy here 
since March 1. The hair was carefully trimmed from the 
legs and fetlocks of all and the sores dressed with a 
mixture of tar and tallow. j. d. b. 
Wolverton, Minn. 
CROP AND WEATHER NOTES. 
It is hard yet to make a fair estimate of the damage 
done by the severe frost on May 10-11. Fruit growers 
were, at first, very much discouraged but later reports 
show that there will be a fair crop in some sections. 
Through western New York we estimate the strawberry 
crop at 40 per cent of a full average. Peaches are quite 
sure to fall below half a crop and grapes will not show 
much more. Plums are slightly better than peaches; 
pears about the same. Late apples promise well in spite 
of frost reports, though the early varieties will be short. 
All agree that more and better spraying will be done 
this year. This means a better average quality of fruit 
and a larger proportion of good specimens put on the 
market. 
Geo. T. Powell makes an interesting report from his 
farm at Ghent, Columbia Co., N. Y. Some varieties ol' 
strawberries were injured more than others. Rough 
Rider was not seriously hurt. In this variety the fruit 
stems are short, and the fruit, being close to the ground, 
is protected. Leaf spot and rust weakened the plants, so 
that they suffered severely. Where the foliage is perfec- 
ly healthy the plants will stand more frost than the dis¬ 
eased plants. The loss in pears was: Bartlett, 25 per 
cent; Seckel, 35 per cent, while Anjou and Bose showed 
not over 10 per cent of injury. The Anjou is one of the 
most vigorous and hardy varieties. Plums on a south¬ 
eastern exposure suffered far greater damage than those 
on a northwestern slope. Apricot trees were practically 
ruined. The day before the frost there was a fierce wind 
with low temperature and bright sun. This caused great 
injury to peaches, which was made worse by the dry 
weather which followed. 
MAY 15.—Early apples are about all frozen. Baldwins, 
Spys and Russets are not hurt much. Peaches are nearly 
all gone; so are sweet cherries; plums are hurt; straw¬ 
berries are about all killed; there may be a few late 
ones; raspberries do not seem to be hurt. The early cab¬ 
bage plants were frozen and had to be sown over. It 
looks now as though we should have a large crop of late 
apples. There will be a large acreage of potatoes and 
cabbage here. . , a 
Ionia, N. Y. 
MAY 16.—All early fruits are gone. From one-half to 
three-quarters of strawberries are killed. A large acreage 
of potatoes is being planted. The cold and dry May is 
rather discouraging for farmers. c . o. a. 
Elmira, N. Y. 
MAY 16. Apples have blossomed very unevenly; Bald¬ 
wins are quite shy; cherries, strawberries, pears and 
plums were much damaged by frost. Spring grain is 
backward; Winter grain very uneven; pastures and 
meadows are very late. c r j 
Penfield, N. Y. 
MAY 19.—All varieties of apples with the exception of 
Baldwins are blossoming from one-half to two-thirds. 
Spring grain and grass are doing finely. f. h. o. 
Holley, N. Y. 
MAY 19. We are likely to have about one-fourth of a 
crop of strawberries; a few early and a good crop of late 
cherries, and no peaches. Prunes, pears and apple* will 
yield well. There are few tent-caterpillars and Potato 
bu&s - J. G. 
Weedsport, N. Y. 
MAY 19. I he outlook now is that peaches, sweet cher¬ 
ries, grapes, early plums and early apples are lost; and 
fully 90 per cent of sour cherries, late plums, pears and 
apples are also destroyed. This will be the most complete 
failure of the fruit crop since the year 1890. w. a. b» 
Farmer, N. Y. 
MAY 20.—All early apples are gone. Late apples like 
Baldwin. Greening and Spitzenburg. from present indi¬ 
cations, are fairly good. Cherries, pears, plums, peaches 
and grapes, when they are not located near the lake, are 
nearly all gone. Strawberries will be a light crop. The 
freeze on May 8-9 did the destructive work. It will be 
two weeks before we can tell all the damage. w. r. f. 
Rushville, N. Y. 
MAY 20.—Indications at present are very promising for 
a large crop of apples in Chautauqua County. During 
’he blooming season, now nearly past, the weather has 
been cold and dry, with no heavy rains to prevent a per¬ 
fect pollination of the blossoms. Occasional frosts have 
occurred but not sufficiently severe to injure the crop. 
All varieties have blossomed fully. Pears and cherries 
have blossomed freely, but early varieties of the latter 
are said to have been injured by frosts. Grapes are the 
principal fruit of this county and promise full average 
crop. The blossoming season has not yet arrived, so 
that it is too early to form a definite estimate, but the 
vines have wintered well. Owing to the cold backward 
Spring, the growth of new wood is not as forward as 
usual, which has saved the crop from frosts. The aver¬ 
age yield of grapes for this county is between 5,0oo and 
6,000 carloads of 3,000 nine-pound baskets each. Early 
blossoming strawberries have been hurt by the frosts, 
but it is not believed the main crop has suffered severely. 
Other small fruits promise well, and on the whole the 
outlook is encouraging. B H p 
Fredonia, N. Y. 
MAY 21.—The damage by frosts now appears much less 
than was at first expected, and will be largely confined 
to strawberries, cherries, plums and peaches, which are 
badly injured, particularly peaches and strawberries. Ap¬ 
ples appear to have suffered but little and pears only 
elightly. Grapes appear free from harm; raspberries have 
suffered from frosted foliage to some extent. My observa¬ 
tions are confined to a small territory and that in close 
proximity to the Erie Canal which helps perceptibly in 
late or early frosts. c . B 
Spencerport. N. Y. 
MAY 16.—We have about the average acreage of small 
fruits in this section with a fairly good stand of straw¬ 
berries, but we had a severe frost on the night of May 
14 which did some damage and will shorten the crop. 
Cherries will be a light crop. Plums the same. Early 
potatoes a good stand. e. b. b. 
Marion, Ohio. 
MAY 15.—Tree fruits are sure to be scarce. There are 
no peaches at all. Apples are not setting as they should. 
Insects are working very badly, though not more than on 
pears. Plums and cherries are one-fourth crop. Straw¬ 
berries are just beginning to ripen and promise one-half 
crop. Wheat will be about one-half. e. t. j. 
Booneville, Ind. 
MAY 15.—Everything looked very promising, but the 
freeze of May 10 did a great deal of damage. Peaches, 
cherries and plums are almost all killed. Late cherries 
may set a little fruit as they are still blooming. Eate- 
blooming varieties of apples may be a fair crop on high 
ground and favored locations. Corn is about all planted. 
Winter wheat and grass are looking well. g. w. h. 
Butler Co., Pa. 
MAY 15.—The outlook is for 80 per cent of full apple 
crop. Peach buds were all killed by severe Winter, but 
trees are in good condition. Pears will give about one- 
fourth crop; plums, cherries and berries one-half. Corn 
coming up splendidly and ground was never in better 
condition. There is some complaint of injury by canker 
worm, and this will compel more spraying, which ought 
to be done anyway. N . F . m. 
Oregon, Mo. 
MAY 16.—Cherries set from 60 to 70 per cent of a full 
crop and are in good condition so far. Owing to the 
heavy crop of peaches last year there was not a large 
amount of bloom this season, but the present outlook 
is for about 40 per cent, while apples will *not exceed 40 
per cent and may fall as low as 25 per cent. Apples did 
not bloom until trees were in full leaf. Then they came 
out very irregularly, many blossoms were gone before 
others opened. We look for an average crop of pears. 
Sewickley, Pa. c . j. w . 
MAY 19.—Apples and pears bloomed unusually full; 
pears badly affected with leaf blight, especially Anjou. 
Peaches will be a light crop, many buds frozen, undoubt¬ 
edly due to the drought of last Summer, which left the 
buds in a weak condition. Plums give promise of a good 
crop. It is rather early to report on strawberries, but a 
light crop is expected. Late-sown wheat and rye are 
very poor. Corn is being planted extensively. There is 
a short acreage of oats. Potatoes are starting nicely. 
Tent-caterpillars are numerous. Locusts are not expected 
liere - J. E. H. 
Orwigsburg, Pa. 
MAY 17.—We have had an unusually dry Spring. The 
subsoil has not been wet for more than a year. Any 
forecast of the fruit crop must take this condition into 
account, because unless we have heavy rains in June and 
July the fruit crop of this section will be an entire failure. 
In my opinion the ordinary Summer rains will not be 
enough to mature a crop of apples. At present nothing 
is suffering from droi ’.it, as we have had showers to 
keep things growing. Apples promise well for the most 
part, although two commercial varieties, Jonathan and 
Willow, have a very light setting of fruit. Ben Davis, 
Missouri, Winesap, Huntsman and most Summer apples 
are full. Peaches here were all winterkilled. Plums 
bloomed full but have mostly dropped. Cherries on high 
ground are full, in low land were killed by Winter. Pears 
have a very light setting of fruit. Berries will be a light 
crop owing to last Summer’s drought. w o r 
Edwardsville, Kan. 
FIRE INSURANCE ON FARM PROPERTY- 
What the Old-Line Companies Say. 
We are declining to write farm property in most States 
for the simple reason that the business has been con¬ 
ducted at a loss for many years. We are not in the 
business for our health but for the object of making a 
little money for our stockholders. Farm business has 
become so unprofitable that we have had to decline it, 
and we think this is the experience of companies gen¬ 
erally. w. B CLARK Prest. 
Aetna Insurance Co. 
As J-he objects of our efforts is to make money for our 
stockholders we would naturally very gladly write farm 
property freely if we could make a profit in so doing. 
Although the rates obtainable for the insurance of farm 
property at present are very considerably greater than 
obtained on the same class of risks 25 or 30 years ago 
the results are so much less satisfactory that we have cut 
off the class almost everywhere except in a few sections 
of the States of New York and Pennsylvania—this ap¬ 
plies to the New England Middle States. 
Hanover Fire Insurance Co. jos. m’cord, Sec’y. 
We refuse to write policies on farm property in the 
State of New York. Our reason for so refusing is that 
we have proved our entire inability to collect premiums 
enough on the class to pay losses and expenses. The time 
was when we could write farm property in New York 
State at moderate rates and make a moderate profit. 
Then we found ourselves losing on this class. We tried 
advancing rates, but still lost money. We then cut off 
all mortgaged farm property. We still lost money. We 
then refused to write any property not occupied by the 
owners. Our losses still continued. We found that all 
the profit we could hope to make in all the cities and 
towns of the great State of New York was required to 
pay our losses on farm property. We therefore deemed 
it the part of business wisdom to cease doing a business 
so exceedingly unprofitable. If you can tell us why the 
business was unprofitable, and why the conditions on 
farm property have changed so radically within the past 
20 years, we shall be under many obligations. 
Hartford, Insurance Co. p. c. royce Sec’y 
of insuring farmers, and has been forced to this action 
by the heavy losses on that class of business. A gen¬ 
eration ago this company was able to make comfortable 
profits out of its farm business, at less than half the 
present rates. We are at a loss for an explanation, and 
having made several conjectures and based several 
changes and reforms on those conjectures In vain we 
have given it up. We agree with you that the physical 
hazard of a tarm dwelling should be at least as good as 
that of a dwelling in a small village, the freedom of ex¬ 
posure in the former case probably overcoming the ad¬ 
vantages of help of neighbors in the latter case. The 
severe experience, however, on country property has been 
due rather to the barn feature of the hazard where the 
moral hazard, the tramp hazard, the lightning hazard 
and the steam-thrasher hazard, to say nothing of smok¬ 
ing and open lights, seem to have concentrated them- 
selves. w. h. stevens, Sec’y. 
Watertown Agricultural Insurance Co, 
