1902 
677 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—The Department of State has requested 
the Mexican Embassy at Washington to use its good 
offices in protecting the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Everett 
Morgan and Miss Sarah Linley, residents of Plainfield, 
Ind., who are missionaries at Cotovoi, Mexico. It is 
learned that the natives have threatened to take the 
lives of the party unless they leave. The Mexican Em¬ 
bassy has forwarded the request to the authorities at 
Mexico. . . . But little progress toward checking the 
forest fires in different sections of Wyoming was made 
up to September 16. At the head of Chicago Creek the 
fire was again beyond control. A vast strip of territory 
has been burned over, and it is feared that the towns 
along Clear Creek will experience a shortage of water, 
due to the fact that the fire has destroyed the protection 
to the snow bed. United States Forest Supervisor Henry 
Nicholson, who was conducting the fight against the fire 
at the head of Platt Canyon, called upon the mining 
companies in that vicinity for assistance in fighting the 
flames, and men were dispatched with complete equip¬ 
ment to his aid. The fire burned for several weeks, and 
destroyed much valuable timber. In response to the 
telegrams from the Governors of Wyoming and Colorado 
the Secretary of the Interior ordered Forest Superin¬ 
tendent Garbutt. of Wyoming, to assist Supervisor Ath- 
erly, of the Crow Creek Reserve, in fighting the fire re¬ 
ported burning near Pearl, just south of the Medicine 
Bow forest reserve. They employed a large number of 
men to assist in the work. ... A dynamite bomb was 
exploded in the Canadian Bank of Commerce at Skag- 
way, Alaska, September 16, by a man who demanded 
$20,000 from the cashier. The bank clerks fled, but the 
robber lost his life in the explosion. . . . The Navajo 
tribe of Indians in Arizona are said to be threatened 
with starvation, because of failure of crops, due to long 
continued drought. . . . People living in the Paint 
Creek Valley, Ohio, are alarmed over the appearance of 
smoke and sulphurous gases from Copperas Mountain. 
Investigation shows that the slate in the mountain has 
become hot, and some of it has become a dull red from 
the action of the heat. . . . Two persons were killed 
and 44 injured in a railway accident at Leesburg, O., Sep¬ 
tember 18, when an express train ran into an open 
switch. ... A panic was caused by a false alarm of 
fire in the Shiloh Negro Baptist Church, Birmingham, 
Ala., September 19, during a. National convention of 
negro Baptists. The church was packed with 2,000 per¬ 
sons, and during the stampede which resulted 110 were 
killed and many others injured. The dead were mostly 
suffocated or crushed to death. . . . The big packing 
house at Chihuahua, Mexico, owned by Mexican and 
Kansas City capitalists, was partially destroyed by fire 
September 20. The loss is $500,000, partially covered oy 
insurance. ... A destructive prairie fire in Beadle 
County, S. D., September 19, destroyed every stack of 
hay or grain within a range of 12 miles long and five 
wide, many farmers losing their entire crop. . . . Pre¬ 
sident Roosevelt submitted to an operation September 
23 at Indianapolis for the removal of an abscess on his 
left leg, which had formed as the result of the bruises 
he received in the trolley accident at Pittsfield, Mass. 
The physicians declare that the President’s condition is 
not at all serious, but as absolute quiet is necessary for 
his recovery, the western trip was abandoned, and the 
President returned to Washington. 
LABOR.—Miners on their way to the Royal Oak col¬ 
liery of the Llewellyn Coal Company, where it was re¬ 
ported concessions had been offered the men, were turn¬ 
ed back by strikers, September 16, who said that no con¬ 
cessions could be accepted that did not apply to the en¬ 
tire anthracite region. President Mitchell and other offi¬ 
cers of the United Mine Workers and President Gompers, 
of the American Federation of Labor, held a conference 
at Wilkesbarre on that date. Mr. Gompers said there 
was no present intention of laying a general assessment 
on the labor unions for the support of the coal strike. 
After a conference of coal operators in New York, Presi¬ 
dent Baer said that the unconditional return of the men 
to work was the only way the strike could be ended. . 
. . . The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Join¬ 
ers of America, whose biennial convention was held in 
Atlanta, Ga., September 17, decided to contribute $10,000 
to aid the anthracite coal strikers in Pennsylvania. The 
money will be sent to Secretary Wilson, at Indianapolis. 
. . . At Pittston, Pa., September 19, a mob attacked 
the colliery owned by W. H. Holmes, which is located in 
the heart of the city. After driving the non-union work¬ 
men from the mine, the mob set fire to the set breaker, 
which was saved from destruction through the efforts 
of a number of men employed in the vicinity. The col¬ 
liery had resumed operations for the purpose of furnish¬ 
ing coal to the local trade. . . . The twentieth week 
of the coal strike began September 22. The foreign ele¬ 
ment was becoming restless, and disposed to take re¬ 
venge upon men who returned to work. On the above 
date the sheriff of Lackawanna County called for more 
troops. At Archbald the electric light was cut off, leav¬ 
ing the place in darkness. Chief Deputy Sheriff Miles 
McAndrew was attacked and shot at by a mob at Oly¬ 
phant. and the steam pipes of the Pennsylvania Coal 
Company’s colliery at Old Forge blown up with dyna¬ 
mite. At Tamaqua the third attempt to destroy the rail¬ 
road bridge leading to the Silver Creek colliery was made 
September 21, when several of the wooden spans of the 
bridge were sawed almost through. A morning inspection 
is all that saved a disastrous wreck and loss of life. 
. . At Mahanoy City a Reading passenger train was 
stopped and searched by pickets for non-union work¬ 
men. None was found and the train was allowed to pro¬ 
ceed. A train was also held up at Mahanoy Plane. . . 
. . September 23 Governor Stone ordered the First Bat¬ 
talion of the Twelfth Regiment from Shenandoah to Leb¬ 
anon, where one person was killed and two wounded in 
riots at the American Iron & Steel Mfg. Company’s 
plant. The troops arrived at Lebanan in the evening 
and charged the mob which met them at the station, 
taking six prisoners. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—With the single exception of 
flaxseed, which is almost an absolute failure, Russia’s 
crops for the present season are the largest that country 
has produced In any year during the last 10, according 
to a report from Consul Heenan, at Odessa. The wheat 
harvest is exceptionally large; barley and rice have been 
much above the average in quantity, and sugar beets 
are progressing favorably. It is feared that flaxseed 
will have to be imported from Argentina. The above 
data does not apply to Siberia. Reports from that sec¬ 
tion are very unfavorable. 
The dispersion sale of Clem Graves’ herd of Hereford 
cattle at Indianapolis, Ind., September 16, broke all rec¬ 
ords in Hereford sale annals, the 43 head sold bringing 
$43,000, or an average of over $1,007. The top of the sale 
was $10,000, at which figure Ed. Hawkins, of Earl Park, 
Ind., purchased the bull Crusader 86596, sired by Cherry 
Ben 56757, and calved December 2, 1898. Mr. Hawkins 
also topped the price for females, paying $7,000 for Dolly 
2d 61799, calved December 20, 1892. This is the record price 
in a sale ring for both a Hereford bull and cow. Other 
high prices were $3,000, paid by Mr. Hawkins for the cow 
Cosmo, with a heifer calf at foot by the noted Dale; 
$3,000, paid by C. E. Amsden & Son, of Shelbyville, Ind., 
for the cow Phoebe 111647; $2,000, paid by James R. Henry, 
of Gosport, Ind., for the Dalebred bull Dale Wilton 105,- 
642; $1,150 paid by Ed. Hawkins for the cow Dolly 5th 
66968, and $1,100, paid by G. H. Hoxie, of Thornton, Ill., 
for the Benjamin Wilton cow Lady Dewdrop 2d 97456. 
The official programme of the Farmers’ National Con¬ 
gress at Macon, Ga., October 7-17, has been issued, and 
an instructive meeting is assured. 
FRUIT PROSPECTS. 
Mechanical graders or sorters are not used by fruit 
growers in this vicinity. I know nothing about them 
from experience. w. t. m. 
Barker, N. Y. 
The apple crop is very spotted here, ranging from near¬ 
ly nothing to 60 per cent of a crop. Buyers are offering 
from $1.10 to $1.40 per barrel in the orchard for No. 1 fruit 
Mo. Valley Hort. Society. u. e. chandler. 
Apples were never better with us in quantity and qual¬ 
ity; perhaps 60 per cent will be salable; the crop is being 
sold at $1.50 to $2 per barrel, mostly being held for bet¬ 
ter prices. o. h. b. 
Table Rock, Neb. 
The apple market is rather quiet just at present. Some 
have sold at $2 for the fruit, and some have sold their 
orchards in bulk, but just at present the buyers are very 
quiet. T. B. WILSON. 
Hall’s Corners, N. Y. 
The apple crop in this State will be about 50 per cent 
of an average yield. The quality of the fruit is above 
me average. Buyers are offering from $1.25 to $2.50 per 
barrel. Growers are inclined to hold good fruit. 
Iowa State Hort. Society. wesley greene. 
The apple crop here promises to be much better than 
was expected earlier in the season. There will be quite 
a good crop of apples in this county, probably three- 
fourths of a crop, and the apples are all looking well. 
We have heard of no price being offered. 
Fredonia, N. Y. t. s. hubbard co. 
The apple crop is much better than at first reported. 
All orchards that have had good care have full crops, 
and pick more fruit than estimated, and of extra qual¬ 
ity. A great many buyers have been operating in this 
section. Prices range from $1 to $1.50 per barrel for sort¬ 
ed fruit, taking grades No. 1 and No. 2 at same price, 
which leaves but few culls. c. J. l. 
Greene Co., N. Y. 
Some apples are very fine with us and some are very 
badly affected with fungus, something never known here 
before by best of growers and sprayers. My pears and 
cherries were fine, but my apples are half destroyed by 
fungus. Barrel prices run from $1.50 to $2.75 per barrel 
Some have sold their orchards as the apples run; some 
made good bargains, some poor ones. The average price 
of apples should go to $2.25 per barrel. d. b. 
Medina, N. Y. 
As to apples there is an occasional orchard of fine fruit, 
but I must modify an earlier statement made. Instead of 
there being one-half a good crop I now estimate it a3 
not more than one-third of barreling fruit. Much that 
looks well on the trees will necessarily go to the evap¬ 
orator. No buyer appears. An evaporator man offered 
40 cents per 100 pounds for windfalls, 45 cents for whole 
orchards. I have heard of no sales. J. m. c. 
Five Corners, N. Y. 
There has been no appreciable change in the apple crop 
situation in this vicinity recently. Some orchards that 
promised crops of excellent quality early in the season 
have developed scab to a serious extent; others seem to 
have improved in quality. There is but little doing 
among buyers, but during the past week sales have 
varied in price from $2 to $2.75 per barrel, the former 
price to include all but “ciders,” the latter No. 1 “farm¬ 
ers’ pack.” w. T. MANN. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. 
The apple shipment from western Maryland will be 
very small indeed, the present year, and while the crop 
on the Eastern Shore is better than usual, the varieties 
grown ripen mostly in the Fall, and are marketed in 
nearby cities. On the whole the crop from Maryland wiil 
probably not figure in the apple output to any extent. 
The quality will be inferior, although there may be a 
small proportion that will work up as first-class. Thus 
far I have not learned that the buyers are working this 
State to any extent. a. l. quaintance. 
Maryland State Entomologist. 
Apple buyers are offering from $1 to $1.25 per barrel 
here for No. 1 fruit. Adding the price for packing and 
price for barrel this would make the fruit cost from $1.50 
to $1.75 per barrel ready for shipment. The crop was es¬ 
timated two months ago to range from 35 to 40 per cent 
of a full crop in this vicinity, and there will be no rea 
son for changing these figures. The fruit will be of much 
better class than in the previous two or three years. 
Scarcely any of the Fall and Winter apples will be pick¬ 
ed until the middle or latter part of October. 
Miss. Valley Apple Growers’ Assn. jas. handly. 
The tree fruit crop is an ideal one, most trees being 
sufficiently laden to develop fine fruit. Apples, pears 
and peaches are of enormous size, uniform in shape, of 
excellent flavor and entirely free from disease. The 
potato crop is claimed by old residents to be the largest 
yield ever grown in this section of the State. The tubers 
are very large and smooth; few complaints about fungus 
disease. Corn has grown very tall and leafy, but will 
not produce a full crop of ears, caused by drought and 
cool nights. e. R. D. 
Barto, Pa. 
The situation in Maine has not improved. There have 
been heavy winds and apples have fallen from trees In 
consequence Although I have been over the State to 
some extent I do not know of a single full orchard. The 
crop will fall short of 50 per cent. The quality of the 
fruit is hardly up to our usual standard. Little or no 
Winter fruit has been gathered, so I can hardly make a 
reliable estimate. The packers are paying $1 per barrel 
for canning apples without the barrel. Beyond this I do 
not know of Winter fruit being sold. The buyers are of¬ 
fering $1.25, but for best lots will go $1.50. My own opin¬ 
ion is fruit will be higher later. d. h. knowlton. 
Sec’y Maine Pomological Society. 
In regard to the apple crop in this section it is very 
uneven. A few good lots in orchards that have been well 
taken care of are very free from fungus and of fine 
quality. For these buyers are offering $2.25 to $2.50 per 
barrel, and a few have been sold. Some were contracted 
early for 28 to 35 cents per bushel for entire crop. The 
remainder of the orchards are very uneven as to quality 
and quantity, and are being bought up by evaporators at 
from 20 to 25 cents a bushel. The strike in the coal mines 
Is a great damage to the Wayne County fruit growers 
as the evaporator men are unable to secure coal to run 
their evaporators, consequently there is a great deal of 
early fruit rotting in the orchards. w. p. r. 
Williamson, N. Y. 
We have about 60 per cent of a full apple crop in this 
section, mostly of poor quality. There are a few or¬ 
chards which have been thoroughly sprayed and given 
otherwise good care which are comparatively free from 
fungus and worms. In my own orchard I have the larg¬ 
est and finest crop I have ever grown. There have been 
but few orchards bought here yet, except where they 
have been bought by our local evaporator men. In such 
cases they have been purchased at from 20 to 25 cents 
per bushel for everything, including chops, the buyer 
doing the gathering. These are for orchards of poor 
quality. Several orchards of good quality have been sold 
at from $2 to $2.75 per barrel for No. 1; I do not know 
of any No. 2 being sold. b. j. case. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
From my observation in traveling over the State I 
should judge there has been about 75 per cent of a crop; 
many orchards a full crop, and others almost fair. The 
crop of all the Summer apples was good, and marketed 
at a good price. Seventy-five per cent of the Fall apples 
are marketed and about 25 per cent of the Winter apples 
marketed. Winter apples are about 50 per cent of the 
Jersey crop. The buyers are offering 75 cents to $1 per 
barrel for Winter apples for cold storage. Many of the 
apples are being made into cider, and the droppings fol 
to swine. In the markets apples sell from 15 to 50 cents 
per five-eighths basket (according to quality). I should 
judge 75 per cent of the Fall and Winter apples are avail¬ 
able, and 50 per cent of them rank as first-class fruit. 
Apples are much fairer and more perfect than for sev¬ 
eral preceding years. h. i. budd. 
Sec’y N. J. Horticultural Society. 
The crop of apples remains about the same as pre¬ 
viously indicated. Fungus has done lots of damage, but 
the excessive moisture has made the size of the fruit 
quite large, which will increase the yield of marketable 
apples. The fungus-affected fruit will mostly find its 
place in the general market as seconds, which will take 
place of No. 1, but altogether we cannot make over 5o 
per cent of a full crop. I find that our locality has much 
larger share than other districts about us. Our section 
is lull of western buyers who are doing their level best 
to convince growers that there is an immense crop of 
apples in most of the western country. So far sales of 
good lots of Winter fruit, consisting of the average va 
rieties, have been made at from $2 to $2.25. Quite a num¬ 
ber of growers in our vicinity have sold the entire 
growth of firsts and seconds at about $1 per 100 pounds 
delivered loose, and buyers pack to suit themselves. 
Spencerport, N. Y. c. b. 
Reports to W. B. Flick, Secretary of the Indiana State 
Board of Horticulture for September 10 on apples, pears 
and grapes reveal but little if any change in the condi¬ 
tions from last report. Apples are scarce throughout 
the State, being most plentiful in the southern section, 
and least so in the central, the northern section averag¬ 
ing about with the southern. The average for the State 
is 35 per cent of a crop with 40 per cent marketable. 
Prices range from $1.20 to $2 per barrel to dealers, the 
former for windfalls and the latter for No. 1. In well- 
kept orchards the average crop is much better, with fully 
80 per cent Nos. 1 and 2. They are coloring up well, but 
dry weather is hastening the ripening period. Pears 
average for the Slate 60 per cent of a crop, with 65 per 
cent marketable. Prices range from 50 cents to $1 to 
dealers in a small way. Kieffers are scarce. Grapes 05 
per cent of a crop, in fair condition. The northern section 
reports bunches and berries of good size with some rot 
in old vineyards. Prices from two to three cents in a 
small way. 
Michigan’s apple crop is only fair. The Baldwin is the 
leading variety in all of the old orchards, and this is the 
"off year” for this variety. Michigan orchardists have 
for several years neglected their apple orchards, and 
have given peach orchards their exclusive attention, 
with the result that insects and fungous diseases have 
about ruined the reputation of the Michigan apple. But 
things are now undergoing a change. Spraying and 
pruning, fertilizing and cultivation are now generally 
practiced; old orchards are being rejuvenated and many 
fine young orchards are now coming into bearing. This 
season’s crop will be quite free from worms and scab, 
and local buyers are offering about $1.50 per barrel for 
the firsts and seconds on the trees. Taking all of the 
apple orchards in Michigan that I know anything about 
I should say that about one-fourth (possibly more) will 
go for firsts and one-third for seconds. All Winter va¬ 
rieties seem to be in demand. Of course some fancy 
orchards—those having had extra care and with choice 
varieties—are receiving higher offers. But the outlook 
here is favorable for good prices to rule later on. 
Sec’y Mich. State Hort. Society. c. e. bassett. 
