1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
8o5 
Events of the Week. 
• DOMESTIC.—A wonderful oil find has been made on 
the Scannon farm near Chatham, Ont. Before the well 
could be capped the surroundings were flooded and a good 
deal of trouble was experienced in shutting it off. . . • 
Four men were killed and two score injured by the ex¬ 
plosion of a boiler in the west works of the American 
Iron & Steel Mfg. Co.’s puddle mill, at Lebanon, Pa., No¬ 
vember 13.At the National Convention of the 
Daughters of the Confederacy, at New Orleans, October 
13, it was announced that the organization in Kentucky 
has succeeded in banishing "Uncle Tom’s Cabin” shows 
from the State, and "Marching Through Georgia” from 
the schools. . . . Virginia negroes have petitioned for 
an injunction to restrain the canvass of the Congressional 
vote in the State, alleging that they were barred from 
voting under the new Constitution, which they say is in¬ 
valid.The packing plant of Armour & Co., at 
Sioux City, Iowa, was totally destroyed by fire November 
1G; loss $900,000.The Fire Department officials 
have decided to stop the sale of parlor matches in New 
York. They have given warning that after January 1 no 
permits for the storage or sale of parlor matches will be 
issued from the Bureau of Combustibles. At the same 
time, it has been discovered that, owing to a muddle in 
legislation, no permits of the Bureau of Combustibles re¬ 
garding the storage or sale of explosives in the city are 
of any legal value. Every drug or grocery firm in town 
that deals in anything of explosive character is violating 
the strict letter of the law, even under the Fire Depart¬ 
ment's sanction. Manufacturers who use explosive ma¬ 
terials, such as shellac and varnish, are in the same di¬ 
lemma. The danger to business interests lies in the fact 
that fire insurance companies may be exempt from paying 
losses caused by fires in buildings where anything in the 
category of explosives has been stored or used. Most in¬ 
stance policies contain a provision which declares that 
the fire insurance company shall be exempted from pay¬ 
ment of loss if any business is conducted in violation of 
the lav/. A strictly technical violation would be as effec¬ 
tive as any other in shieldng a fire insurance company. 
.... The Ontario Cabinet has accepted the proposals 
of a syndicate represented by J. F. Egan, of Rock Isl¬ 
and, Ill., and Judge Utt, of Chicago, to place 12.000 Ameri¬ 
can settlers on agricultural lands in New Ontario, and 
the agreement will be signed in a few days. The Gov¬ 
ernment will set apart 2,000,000 acres of Crown lands in 
fractional sections from time to time, according to the 
needs of the company. The settlers will come in on the 
usual terms, and the syndicate proposes to make its pro¬ 
fits by loaning money to them for the dues on land, for 
the erection of buildings and on the purchase of stock. 
The agreement contains special safeguards as to the 
character of the settlers to be brought in.Coal 
and iron policemen discovered, November 14, a plot to 
blow up a portion of the Philadelphia & Reading Rail¬ 
way, near Eagle Hill colliery, Pottsville, Pa. Ninety-six 
sticks of dynamite were found placed under the rails so 
the pressure of cars would set them off. That the road 
was not blown up was due to the slipping of a nail, which 
had been arranged to strike the cap, which would have 
discharged the explosives. . . . An explosion of gun¬ 
powder at Rush Run, W. Va., November 14, killed three 
persons. . . . Fire in a railroad station at Pell City, 
Ala., November 16, was followed by a terrific explosion. 
Two persons w : ere killed and 10 injured, and 10 business 
buildings wrecked The explosion was caused by dyna¬ 
mite stored in the freight house. 
HAWAII.—The Republicans made a clean sweep in the 
elections. Prince Cupid beat Wilcox for delegate to Con¬ 
gress, and the Legislature will be Republican. The Home 
Rule party was so badly snowed under that it will prob¬ 
ably go out of existence. Prince Cupid, who is a full- 
blooded Kanaka, won against ex-Queen Liliuokalani’s in¬ 
fluence. The day before election she quietly advised all 
her retainers to vote for Wilcox. The main cause of Wil¬ 
cox’s defeat was the dissatisfaction of the white Demo¬ 
crats over his failure in Congress to do anything for the 
Territory and his advocacy of Federal control of the 
lepers on Molokai Island, which was repugnant to the 
natives.The sugar crop of the Hawaiian Isl¬ 
ands for the year ending September 30 is 355,611 tons, the 
largest crop by 50,000 tons ever raised on the islands. Ewa 
plantation, near Honolulu, was the largest producer, 
with one-tenth of the whole crop, and the Oahu planta¬ 
tion second, with 26,724 tons. . . . The amount of in¬ 
demnity to be paid Chinese residents of Honolulu for 
losses incurred by burning their section of the city to 
stamp out bubonic plague is $S0(),000. 
PHILIPPINES.—Cholera made its appearance Novem¬ 
ber 11 among the men of a detachment of the Fifth In¬ 
fantry at Manila. Seven men have already died, and a 
number of others are seriously ill. The detachment of 
the Fifth Infantry in question had been placed on guard 
along the Maraquina River, whence Manila receives its 
water supply, as it was deemed necessary to protect the 
stream from possible pollution. The cholera developed 
while the men were on this duty. It was believed that 
cholera had entirely disappeared from Manila, and its 
reappearance has created feelings of apprehension. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The tenth annual meeting of 
the National League of Commission Merchants wiil be 
held at Chicago January 14-16; secretary, A. "Warren 
Patch, 17 No. Market St., Boston, Mass. 
The Virginia Horticultural Society will meet at Lynch¬ 
burg, December 2-3. 
The Iowa State Horticultural Society will meet at Des 
Moines December 9-12. 
The Western Nursery Association will meet at Kansas 
City, Mo., December 16. 
The New York State Fruit Growers’ Association will 
meet at Buffalo, N. Y., January 7-S. 
The Granite State Dairymen’s Association will meet at 
Littleton, N. PI., December 2-3. 
The Maine State Dairymen’s Association will meet at 
Waterville December 3-5. 
The Minnesota State Dairymen’s Association will meet 
at St. Paul December i-12. 
The Arkansas State Horticultural Society will hold its 
annual meeting at Green Forest the second Tuesday in 
February, 1903, instead of the date previously announced. 
The number of applications for farmers’ institutes the 
coming Winter in New York State is greater than ever 
before, many of them coming in in the form of petitions 
signed by a large number of interested farmers in the 
community. While at least three times as many insti¬ 
tutes are asked for as can be held, there are still many 
sections where a meeting can be placet! to good advan¬ 
tage, and for which applicants would be very apt to get 
meetings assigned. In case you do not know positively 
that an institute is being arranged for in your vicinity, 
or at least four provided for your county, it will pay 
you to drop a line to F. E. Dawley, Director of State 
Farmers’ Institutes, Albany, N. Y., making application 
for a meeting. 
The Interstate Commerce Commission is struggling with 
a case involving two cows and a calf. F. C. Sayles 
shipped the animals from Newport, Vt., to Pawtucket, 
R. I., and was charged $46.75 freight on an estimated 
weight of 8.500 pounds. He complained that the total 
weight w f as not more than 1,500 pounds. The Commission 
has devoted six months to an effort to straighten the 
matter out through correspondence. This has failed and 
a formal complaint will be heard. The case will cost the 
Government 20 times the amount involved. 
Agents of Armour & Co. are reported to be making 
arrangements for the control of the entire potato crop 
of the Northwest. In Michigan and Minnesota it is said 
that the potatoes are sold for 16 and 17 cents a bushel 
and that the Armours intend to corner the market and 
force prices up to 60 cents. 
NORTHEASTERN KANSAS FARM NOTES. 
Last year, when the drought made such havoc in the 
cornfields, the domestic gossips and newspapers promised 
us a genuine famine. Corn was a luxury which they 
placed on the same list with whisky, obtainable only by 
people who had more money than sense. Hay, they esti¬ 
mated at $20 per ton, while other food articles, both for 
man and beast, were prophesied too high to buy. As it 
turned out, however, the worst did not happen. Corn 
went up to 60 cents, and as far as we have been able to 
learn, though a good deal was bought at that price, I 
have not heard of anybody going into bankruptcy court 
on that account. This year things went as they always 
do in Kansas—the opposite way. During June, July and 
August, the principal corn months, the rains just seemed 
to be made so that they came to order. Then our Job's 
comforters sang us a different, but still another woeful 
tale. Corn they claimed would average 75 to 100 bushels 
per acre on any ground. As a result of this enormous 
crop nobody would be able to sell his corn and realize 
a gain over the expenses of gathering it, without count¬ 
ing the work of planting and cultivating. However, the 
75 and 100 bushels to the acre corn gradually shrunk 
down to 50 and 40, while now, about the middle of No¬ 
vember, the market price here out in the country is 30 
cents per bushel, while grain dealers and elevators say 
they will pay 35 as soon as they are certain that it will 
keep for cribbing. How about the oats? In the Spring, 
the heavy, dry winds threw them back somewhat, and 
as a result the oats planted on uplands grew short in 
straw, but the abundant rains in May and June filled 
out the grains in fine shape, and the yield on an average 
promised not less than 40 bushels per acre, but during 
the latter part of June and first of July the heavy rains, 
accompanied by wind, beat it to the ground, where halt 
of it was left by the harvester, while that which was cut 
before the rain got wet in the bundles after it was 
shocked. Many of the farmers hurried it into the stack 
while it was still wet, and it got moldy, while those who 
thrashed direct from the shock while the grain was 
damp got their oats damaged in a similar way in the bin. 
The wheat had no show from the beginning. The long 
dry windy spell of weather we had in April knocked out 
every hope of a fair wheat crop in the first place. Many 
plowed the wheat down and planted corn in the ground, 
while the wheat that finally was harvested yielded less 
than 15 bushels on an average, and a good deal of that 
spoiled in the shock. Small grain is an uncertain thing 
here in northeastern Kansas, a great deal oftener result¬ 
ing in failure than success. Wheat especially seems only 
good to breed chinch bugs, while as far as concerns the 
oats, even when everything turns out all right by the 
time you have considered the expenses of having it har¬ 
vested and thrashed, the additional help required to 
handle it, and counted in your own time and work, you 
will have but a small profit realized, save a change of 
feed for the horses and the benefit the land receives 
from a change. j. m. r. 
Baileyville, Kan. - 
CO-OPERATION SELLING BELGIAN HARES 
Our recent reports from market and commission men 
indicated a poor outlook for the Belgian hare business. 
E. F. Hanson, manager of the Eastern Importing and 
Breeding Company, represents over 1,000 breeders of 
hares scattered all over the country from Atlanta, Ga., 
to Manitowoc, Wis., and a branch in Cuba. He claims 
that this cooperative selling puts the business on a firm 
foundation. Among other things he says: 
We get about 30 per cent more for fine breeding stock 
than we did one year ago, and with all our members 
breeding we are compelled to purchase hundreds of hares 
from reliable outside breeders to fill our orders. We 
have a ready sale for meat to wealthy clubs for ban¬ 
quets, etc., and we have nevdr sold a pound for less than 
20 cents delivered at our express office. To enable us to 
fill orders promptly we now have a cold storage in New 
York City and deliver from that at 30 cents per pound, 
and can handle all the meat of young well-fattened Bel¬ 
gians we can get. Our meat is not offered in the market 
unbled, undressed, in competition with jack rabbits and 
cottontails. It is nicely dressed, flanks pinned back with 
little skewers, head and feet off, only the liver and heart 
left in. Each hare is carefully washed, removing all 
blood, and packed separately. The meat of purebred 
Belgians such as we handle exclusively is white -as the 
breast of a chicken, and simply delicious when properly 
cooked. By careful debit and credit with over GOO raised 
this last year, we find the meat can be produced in New 
England, in Summer, for four cents per pound; in Winter 
for about six. What other product shows a better mar¬ 
gin? We get for our fine-bred pedigreed, scored and 
registered breeding stock, with real red hind feet, from 
$10 to $10 each, and despite all the hard conditions that 
have been brought into the field by unprincipled scoun¬ 
drels who engaged in handling Belgians, we have a de¬ 
mand equal to our ability to supply. 
The reason why the small breeders have had difficulty 
in disposing of their meat and breeding stock is because 
buyers have, become afraid to purchase, and will deal 
only with a concern that they know to be reliable. Tho 
killing of snufflers, sick and old hares, ruined the meat 
trade through the markets, where real Belgians were 
offered, while probably not one rabbit in a thousand sold, 
through Boston and New York markets, labeled “Bel¬ 
gian" is anything but a cottontail or jack rabbit. The 
president of the N. E. B. H. Club threatened the dealers 
in Faneuil Hall Market in Boston with prosecution if 
they did not stop displaying jack rabbits and selling 
them as Belgians. It is an absolute fact that the small 
breeder finds it very hard to get a market for his stock. 
He does not breed a sufficient quantity of meat to enable 
him to supply any quantity regularly, hence he cannot 
create any demand by getting it into the right hands in 
the right way, simply because he knows and the dealers 
know that he cannot supply such a demand if created. 
People know nothing about Belgian meat until it is 
brought to their attention. The invariable result, if 
properly cooked and served, is that they become fond of 
the meat and friends of the industry ever after. The 
small breeder finds it difficult to sell his best stock be¬ 
cause people have been so swindled by the Kansas City, 
Denver and Los Angeles dealers that they dare not trust 
an order to a part 3 ' that they cannot know all about. The 
many failures are, in my opinion, really a much less per 
cent than in the poultry business, and we have demon¬ 
strated that in Maine raising Belgian hares through the 
Summer season in large runs we can produce the meat 
at a cost not exceeding four cents per pound, and in the 
Winter at a cost not exceeding six cents per pound, and 
we could sell a great deal more meat than we can get 
to sell. _____________ 
SHALL WE DIVIDE OUR SHIPMENTS? 
A WASHINGTON OPINION.—No; we do not think that 
it is advisable to divide shipments between two or more 
commission houses in the same market. When the ship¬ 
ment is too large for one house, to handle with profit, 
we would ship to some other market if possible, but if 
the other commission houses are not well stocked in that 
particular product and one’s shipment is too large for 
the demands of the regular house, then we would divide. 
In regard to dividing shipments between houses so as to 
supply different sections of a large city, there is some 
reason in doing so in such cases; more so when the ship¬ 
ment is large and of one product, but where all the com¬ 
mission houses are on one street or section of the city, 
we believe it is best to ship all to one house except in 
aforementioned cases. In our own case, our shipments 
range throughout the year and our team delivers the 
produce at the commission house door, so we are able to 
keep an eye on our goods and see that no undue ad¬ 
vantage is taken or carelessness used in the handling of 
them; so all the old “jokes” about the goods being dam¬ 
aged in transit won’t go. geo. m’katl, & son. 
Seattle, Wash. 
“HARD LUCK.”—My experience this Fall will best ex¬ 
press my views on the commission business. I first di¬ 
vided my apples into three lots, and shipped to three 
different commission men each being well recommended 
and visited personally by myself. Although the apples 
were equally well packed and sorted, and of the same 
varieties, the first and second lots netted slightly over 
$1 per barrel; what I considered a fair price. The third 
lot which was over half the entire number, although 
sent to a widely advertised and highly recommended 
house, netted me about 33 cents per barrel. It is need¬ 
less to say I sent this house no more apples. Next I di¬ 
vided a shipment between the other two, one selling two 
barrels of Pippins at $2.25 per barrel, and the other six 
barrels of the same apples at $1.25 per barrel, the two 
houses being just four doors apart. Now, I shall drop 
the last-mentioned firm and again send more apples to 
the remaining house expecting to get something more 
than half what they are worth, and then drop the whole 
race of commission men as frauds, and either give the 
apples away or feed them to the stock. Possibly I may 
get good returns, and find after ail there are some honest 
commission men. ’ J. D. H. 
New York. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
A new book entitled “Manual of Rural Telephony,” by 
J. A. Williams, published by the Manual Publishing Co., 
• Box 5, Cleveland, O., is now ready for distribution. This 
book treats of the organization of cooperative and in¬ 
corporated companies for the purpose of establishing 
telephone systems among the farmers. 
Terp.tff's perfect washer has stood the test of time, 
and wherever it is once used wash-day loses its terrors. 
It is sent on trial which shows the confidence of the 
manufacturers. Note the special offer to our readers on 
another page. Write for catalogue and particulars to 
Portland Mfg. Co., 165 Pearl St., Portland, Mich. 
TitE Kalamazoo Stove Co., Kalamazoo, Mich., are said 
to be the only manufacturers of stoves and ranges in the 
country selling the entire product of their factory direct 
to the user. Every stove or range they sell is made of 
pure new pig iron and best grade of sheet steel The 
goods are first class in every respect, and are sold under 
a guarantee that fully protects the purchaser, and at 
the same time saves him a good deal from the price he 
would be obliged to pay a dealer for a similar stove. Ask 
for the 860-day approval test plan. 
