1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
629 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—E. Liggett is under arrest at Rawlins, 
Wyo., upon the charge of wholesale sheep stealing. For 
some time past sheep in large numbers have been stolen 
from the flocks of the Pioneer Sheep Company, near 
Encampment. The arrest of Liggett was caused by the 
sheepmen, who discovered that he was selling sheep in 
Rawlins and also shipping them out of the State. It is 
believed a gang of men have been operating, Liggett 
simply being the receiver of the stolen sheep in Rawlins 
and the one who disposes of them.Brigadier- 
General Gobin, commanding the National Guards in the 
anthracite coal fields, issued a “shoot to kill order,” 
August 30, in the hope of “restoring tranquility.” More 
rioting accurred in the Panther Creek Valley, and the 
militia were stoned. The State Legislative Board of Rail¬ 
road Employes of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, Septem¬ 
ber 1, endorsed Pattison for Governor, and appointed a 
committee to urge Governor Stone to summon the Legis¬ 
lature to act on the coal strike situation. At Wilkes- 
barre and Hazleton non-union men were assaulted Sep¬ 
tember 1-2. The soft coal mines of the Pocahontas Col¬ 
lieries Co., at Bramwell, W. Va., were set on fire by 
strikers September 2, and there was a serious affray be¬ 
tween guards and strikers. These are said to be the 
largest soft coal workings in the world. Some anthra¬ 
cite mines at Nanticoke, Pa., resumed work September 
2, but main conditions of the strike situation remained 
unchanged.September 1 a passenger train on 
the Southern Railroad, near Berry, Ala., leaped from 
the track and rolled down an embankment, killing 21 
persons and injuring 89 others, of whom 29 are consid¬ 
ered fatally hurt.A prairie fire which was 
started by the stub of a cigarette carelessly thrown into 
dry grass, raged for 12 hours August 30 near Marlow, on 
the Oklahoma boundary, destroying everything in its 
path. Farmers and stockmen, more than a hundred 
strong, fought the flames, which when night came were 
finally stopped by counter fires. Hundreds of tons of 
hay and several fields of growing corn were consumed. 
PHILIPPINES.—A series of earthquakes has occurred 
on the island of Mindanao, 20 natives being killed. The 
commissary buildings and the Moro forts were badly 
damaged. Brigadier-General Sumner, in command of 
the American troops in Mindanao, telegraphs that a 
dozen heavy earthshocks and 400 slight tremors were 
felt at Zamboang, Mindanao. The earthquakes began 
August 21. The damage was widespread, but few fatali¬ 
ties were'reported. No reports, however, have been re¬ 
ceived from parts of the island where it is feared a seri¬ 
ous volcanic eruption has occurred. At Camp Vicars 
the shocks overturned a cannon and rolled heavy am¬ 
munition boxes about. Some of the soldiers were unable 
to stand on their feet during the heaviest shocks. . . . 
The War Department is still receiving reports of the 
devastating effects of the cholera epidemic that is raging 
in the Philippines. Although the officers in charge of 
the Medical Department of the archipelago and the 
physicians attached to the Civil Commission have been 
doing their utmost to stop the ravages they have been 
unsuccessful in even checking the spread of the disease, 
and now it is believed only the typhoon season will 
bring relief. 
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.—Rev. S. E. Bishop, one of the 
oldest American settlers in Honolulu, gives a pitiful ac¬ 
count of the fate of thousands of Porto Ricans who 
were shipped to Hawaii in the last year or two to supply 
labor on sugar plantations. The Porto Ricans are said 
to be extremely sick of the islands and anxious to re¬ 
turn to their old home. They complain of ill treatment 
by the overseers of the plantations and the conditions 
under which they are made to labor. The coolie system, 
which applies to the Japanese and Chinese, is a hardship 
to the Porto Ricans, and they do not seem to have stam¬ 
ina enough to demand respect and fair treatment. They 
claim that the privacy of their homes on the plantations 
is not regarded. In a large number of cases separation 
of families, made necessary by illness, continues; wives 
and husbands have not been able to find each other, and 
so great misery and distress has followed. The Hawaiian 
authorities state that the criminal element among the 
Porto Ricans was large. Many of them have been sen¬ 
tenced to hard labor for vagrancy. The charge has been 
made by the Porto Ricans that the Hawaiian courts are 
in league with the plantation owners, and that cruel 
sentences have been visited upon them on that account. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—The epidemic of cholera 
is reaching alarming proportions on the other side of the 
Pacific, the outbreak extending farther and having more 
victims. It extends from the Island of Java to Japan, 
and almost every city on the coast and many in the in¬ 
terior are affected. The disease, too, is being contracted 
by Europeans. In Hong Kong, from the first of the out¬ 
break to August 6, there had been 523 cases, six of the 
patients being Europeans, and 511 deaths, of whom four 
were Europeans. In Tien Tsin the last report placed the 
number of cases for the year at 1,049 and 764 deaths 
within the city walls, and 1,015 cases and 593 deaths out¬ 
side the city walls. In other places in China the pro¬ 
portion of cases and deaths is just as great. A dispatch 
says hundreds have died in Java.Another ter¬ 
rible eruption of Mont Pelee, Martinique, occurred the 
last week in August. The village of Morne Rouge, near 
the section previously devastated, was totally destroyed, 
and Carbet, a village on the coast, was swept by a tidal 
wave. About 1,000 lives are reported lost. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—President C. W. Garfield, of 
the Michigan Forestry Commission, presided over the 
opening session of the convention of the American For¬ 
estry Association at Lansing, Mich., August 27. State 
Auditor General Perry F. Powers gave an address of 
welcome, which was responded to by Professor Burton 
E. Livingstone, of Chicago University. But one paper 
was read at the first session. It was on “The Climate 
of the White Pine Belt,” by Professor A. J. Henry, of 
the United States Weather Bureau. An extensive general 
discussion followed, led by Director Schneider, of the 
Michigan Weather Bureau. The trend of the arguments 
was that the cutting off of Michigan pine had not so 
affected the climate in the State as to interfere with 
reproduction. 
The Society of American Florists met in annual con¬ 
vention at Asheville, N. C., August 19-22. Milwaukee, 
Wis., was selected as the next meeting place. John 
Burton, of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pa., was reelect¬ 
ed as president; H. B. Beatty, Oil City, Pa., treasurer, 
and W. J. Stewart, Boston, secretary, were also contin¬ 
ued in office. 
The initial number of the Magazine of Arboriculture 
was issued September 1 by John P. Brown, Connersville, 
Ind. It will be devoted largely to the economic planting 
of timber, and the management and care of forests. 
A meeting of the Directors of the Central Five States 
Milk Producers’ Association was held at Binghamton, 
N. Y., August 28. Delegates were present from the Dela¬ 
ware, Lackawanna and Western, Erie, Lehigh, Ontario 
and Western, Black River and the Ulster and Delaware 
Route Unions. It was decided that the committee for 
the consideration of the cooperative creameries should 
meet and present to the session a date for a general 
meeting of the delegates from these creameries. The 
principal officers were reelected and are: Ira L. Snell, 
Kirkwood, president; H. J. Coon, Little York, secretary 
and treasurer. 
The Grange picnic at Williams Grove, Pa., August 28, 
was attended by 50,000 persons. 
President Geoi-ge L. Flanders of the National Farm¬ 
ers’ Congress, the next annual meeting of which will 
be held in Macon, Ga., October 7 to 11, is preparing the 
programme for the event. President Roosevelt, it is 
expected, will be one of the speakers, as will Governor 
Allen D. Candler, of Georgia. Among the other speakers 
and their topics are: “The Interoceanic Canal,” former 
Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith; "National Irriga¬ 
tion in the West,” affirmative, C. M. Heintz, Los An¬ 
geles, Cal.; negative, Gilbert M. Tucker, Albany, N. Y.; 
“Reciprocity,” John K. Campbell, Michigan; “Forest and 
Reforestation,” Dairy Commissioner N. M. Wentaker, 
of Massachusetts; “Bird’s-eye View of the Cereal Fields 
of the World,” Statistician John Hyde, United States 
Department of Agriculture; “Postal Reforms Particu¬ 
larly Affecting the Farmer,” L. H. Wilber, Nashua, 
Iowa; “The Relations of the Dairy Industry to Agricul¬ 
tural Products of the South,” W. D. Hoard, Ft. Atkinson, 
Wis.; “The Farm Products in the Markets of the World,” 
O. P. Austin, chief of the United States Bureau of Sta¬ 
tistics; “How Can We Best Build Up Our Merchant 
Marine?” F. B. Thurber, of New York City, favoring 
subsidy and Oliver Wilson, of Illinois, opposing it. 
The annual meeting of the Illinois Horticultural So¬ 
ciety will be held at Champaign, Ill., December 17-19. 
Liberal premiums are offered, which are practically the 
same as the list printed in the annual report of the So¬ 
ciety for 1901, except for experiment stations, the pre¬ 
miums for which have been increased. Revised premium 
lists will be issued later. To secure a complete display, 
it is important that selections of choice fruit be made 
in season, before it becomes too mature, and that the 
earlier varieties, especially, be carefully stored until the 
time for exhibition. The Twin City Ice and Cold Storage 
Co., Champaign, Ill., will receive at depot, stox-e until 
time of the exhibit and deliver at the Horticultural 
Building, fruit intended for exhibition, for 60 cents per 
package. Fruit for storage should be carefully wrapped 
and packed, and addressed as above, with the shipper’s 
name plainly marked on the outside of package and the 
ti'ansportation charges prepaid. Notify the company at 
time of shipment._ 
BLOWER OR CARRIER FOR SILAGE. 
A blower, for green silage, will take a great deal more 
power than a carrier and should the main belt slip, 
slowing down the motion of the blower, there is a clog¬ 
ging of it. For this reason we are not putting out 
blowers, believing it is to the farmers’ interest to use 
cai-riers. appleton mfg. co. 
Batavia, Ill. 
Blowers are coming more and more into favor and, in 
fact, this year two-thirds of our inquiries ai'e for blower 
machines. Where the blower is independent of the ma¬ 
chine, it will requii’e at least one-half more power to 
operate machine than is required by same machine and 
connection with rattle-belt carrier, or elevating to the 
same height. However, when the blower and cutter are 
combined, and not independent, the power required to 
operate the blower is not any more than is required for 
the same size machine elevating to the same height with 
a rattle-belt carrier. J. k. wilder & sons. 
Monroe, Mich. 
According to our experience of this and last season 10 
silage cutters with blowers are sold for every one with 
chain carriers. For the time being at least blowers are 
in great demand, and we believe this style of machine 
has come to stay. It is true that machines with chain 
carriers can be operated with less power, for the reason 
that they can be run successfully at a slower speed, but 
the quantity handled within a given time is not for that 
reason as great. In other words, the cutters with chain 
carriers can be successfully operated at slow speed, 
while with the blower attachment a high minimum speed 
is necessary. We speak of coui-se of our experience 
with our own machine. Our blower is very simple in 
construction, having but little extra mechanism, and 
therefore no parts to wear or get out of order. Chain 
carriers after two or three years’ use begin to give 
trouble. This is especially true where the carriers are 
very long. After a certain amount of wear the chain 
weakens and is liable to break. It also lengthens and has 
a tendency to climb sprockets. The pipe on the blower 
machines can be set up and taken down very much 
quicker. This is much appreciated where there are sev¬ 
eral silos to be filled. Where lengths of carriers are in¬ 
volved the price of the blower machine is also less. The 
single objection of requiring more power is the only 
thing that can be said against a good blower. 
Racine Junction, Wi». belle citt mfg. co. 
It is our belief that pneumatic silage cutters are rapid¬ 
ly displacing carriers, this in spite of the fact that very 
many failures have been placed on the market. We have 
not found that a properly constructed blower takes any 
more power than a carrier machine, taking into consid¬ 
eration the work done. We are putting on the market 
machines that can be run with engines from 6 to 
12 horse power. This year we have confined ourselves 
to the large machine entirely, and have found ready 
sale for all we could build. Our experience has been 
that the blower is the favorite machine for silo filling, 
on account of the saving of time and material. There 
is, however, a certain amount of prejudice against blow- 
ers, owing to the fact that several very poor attempts 
have been made to “toggle” up existing patterns, for 
which some farmers have paid heavily in loss of time, 
etc., when time was a great consideration. 
Warsaw, N. Y. the Warsaw-Wilkinson co. 
To a certain extent blowers are taking the place of 
carriers. This is mostly where large engines are at the 
disposal of the operators, because it requires about three 
times as much power to run a blower as a carrier. The 
advantages of the blower are that it prevents the pieces 
of leaves and other dry parts of the corn being blown 
away when the silo is being filled in a wind, and also 
when the silage drops from the end of the blower into 
the silo it is scattered over the entire surface. On the 
other hand, it stands to reason that a tremendous 
amount of power is required to produce a draught of air 
strong enough to lift ears of corn. The leaves and 
stalks could be blown up very easily, but the chunks of 
ears are very heavy, and prevent the widespread use of 
blowers. After wide experience at least one prominent 
manufacturer states that he will discontinue manufac¬ 
turing them. A covered carrier is as cleanly as the 
blower, and there is certainly a tremendous saving in 
the expense of operating it. We have watched several 
blowers, but do not believe they are the thing for ordi¬ 
nary farm use, and know that a cutter with carrier 
attachment will do 25 per cent more work than the same 
cutter with blower attachments when operated by suf¬ 
ficient power to run the latter. the harder mfg. co. 
Cobleskill, N. Y. _ 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
Hay is a light crop; wheat was thin on the ground 
but well filled; oats good. Potatoes i-otted badly; some 
fields, though on high dry light soil, have nearly all 
rotted owing to heavy rains. The rot is worse than for 
many years; very much worse than last year, although 
1901 was unusually wet in July and August. Apples are 
irregular, not more than 25 per cent of a full crop; 
peaches scarce. Plums all rotted. w. h. w. 
Newtown, Pa. 
Our potato crop in this section is very good this sea¬ 
son, yield running quite large and quality unusually 
good. Prices at present are extremely low, but from 
present indications would judge that within a few weeks’ 
time, when some of the early potatoes are out of the 
road, we shall see better prices. The late crops in all 
probability will sell here at an average price of about 
25 to 30 cents per bushel. w. H. m’shane. 
Lincoln, Neb. 
NO ASPARAGUS RUST.—At this date, September 3, 
the rust has not appeared, contrary to the experience of 
the past four years. e. b. 
Middletown, N. J. 
ORLEANS CO. APPLE PRICES.—The following state¬ 
ment from the Orleans (N. Y.) Republican is sent by a 
l’eader as reliable: “S. W. Smith has an estimated crop in 
all his orchards of about 6,000 barrels and Wm. A. Lafler 
has 3,000 barrels; sold for $4,000. Albert Wood & Son 
call their crop 4,000 barrels and have sold for $7,000; H. 
D. Williams has sold his orchard near Childs for $1,450 
and E. A. Rowley has sold his crop of 1,800 barrels for 
$2.25 per barrel for everything, he to pick and draw and 
buyer to pack. Cortland Chester has disposed of his 
fruit for $3,200 and Mrs. Julia Warren has sold her crop 
of 1,800 barrels for $2,500. J. S. Williams, $1,800; Robert 
Cooper, $2,300; Mr. Petty, $2,000; Nelson Bentley, $2,000; 
Fred Tanner, $2,000; B. L. Perkins, $2,500; Albert Love¬ 
land, $1,800; W. Mathes, $4,000; S. N. Tanner by the 
barrel (estimated at $3,500). About all the sales made so 
far provide that the buyer shall pick and pack the fruit, 
the gi-ower simply being required to draw the barreled 
stock for shipment.” 
WESTERN MICHIGAN FRUIT.—The Grand Rapids 
(Mich.) fruit market now presents a lively and inter¬ 
esting study. The peach, plum and pear crop is being 
harvested, and from 8,000 to 10,000 bushels of fruit are 
sold daily. Ci’awford and Barnard predominate in 
peaches with prices for former (fancy) $1 to $1.25; Bar¬ 
nard, 65 cents. Next week will see the Elbertas and 
other kindred types to the Crawford on the market. 
Plums sell for 90 cents to $1.10; pears, 75 cents. The crop 
of peaches is fully 100 per cent; plums, 80 per cent, many 
rotting; pears, 50 per cent. The apple yield will be only 
about 70 per cent. The early varieties such as Red As- 
trachan and Duchess sold for 75 cents with a brisk sale. 
This is the largest centralized fruit market in the United 
States, and buyers are here now from points in Wiscon¬ 
sin, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana and New York, and 
competition is lively. Kent (and Ottawa County adjoin¬ 
ing) has really the only large crop in the State, outside 
of Oceana farther north. We are in the midst of the 
greatest fruit belt in the State. The weather has been 
very unfavorable for fruit during the past three weeks— 
too dry, yet on the other hand the cool nights have been 
good for shipping purposes. Very little fruit has rotted. 
The corn crop is very light, not one-half a crop—much 
complaint of late is that ears are not filling. The crop 
of early potatoes was very satisfactory, but not so 
many acres are planted; the yield was only enough for 
local demand. Prices have been 40 cents; now 50 cents. 
The yield of late potatoes will not be over 60 per cent; 
too dry: acres not yet in bloom. Prices will rule high 
undoubtedly. q. 
