1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—At Seneca Castle, N. Y., Ira L. Peck died 
August 30, of typhoid fever, after being treated by Chris¬ 
tian science methods only. Legal investigation of the 
case will be made. . . The Pittsburg rail coal mine 
combination has been formed, with a capital stock of 
$64,000,000. It absorbs the property of 104 firms and in¬ 
dividuals. . . Yellow fever appeared August 31 at Key 
West, Fla. September 3, there were 30 cases, and the 
disease was pronounced epidemic. September 6, 62 cases 
were reported, the death rate being about 10 per cent. . . 
A fierce gale August 31 wrecked 11 vessels on the Labra¬ 
dor coast. . . Dan Coughlin, who disappeared from 
Chicago, Ill., last July, forfeiting a $15,000 bond for jury 
bribing, is in Argentina. . . Spokane, Wash., employers 
of all branches, have organized an Employers’ Associa¬ 
tion, representing about $8,000,000 capital to resist the de¬ 
mands of organized labor. . . A boiler exploded in the 
Republic Iron Works at Pittsburg, Pa., September 1, 
wrecking the building, setting fire to the ruins, killing 
six men and wounding others. . . More rioting occurred 
in Cleveland, September 1, when a mob of 3,000 persons 
held up and stoned six cars. . . Five bathers were 
drowned at Black Rock, Conn., September 1, being swept 
into deep water by the undertow. . . Seven persons were 
injured in a trolley collision at Lorain, Ohio, September 
2. . . A fatal riot took place near Exeter, Pa., Septem¬ 
ber 2, where the employees of the Stevens colliery have 
been on strike for three weeks. One man was killed and 
two fatally wounded. . . Pinconning, Mich., suffered 
from a big fire September 3; loss $100,000. . . Silk ribbon 
manufacturers have formed a trust at Paterson, N. J., 
with a capital stock of $30,000,000. . . Five men were re¬ 
cently poisoned at Portland, Ind., by drinking cider from a 
galvanized-iron tub, and their lives were saved with diffi¬ 
culty. . . The scarcity of steel has affected the Navy De¬ 
partment, and the time limit on vessels under construction 
will have to be extended a year or more. The price of ma¬ 
terial has advanced about 35 per cent. . . Chief Black 
Hawk, of the Wisconsin Winnebago Indians, died Septem¬ 
ber 5, aged 90. He was a staunch friend of the whites, and 
prevented the Winnebagos from aiding Chippewas and 
Sioux at the time of the Minnesota massacre. . . Alarm¬ 
ing mortality is reported among flood refugees in the 
Brazos Valley, Texas. In some districts 50 per cent of 
the negro population are stricken with fever. . . A 
yacht capsized on the Maumee River, near Ironton, Ohio, 
September 3, drowning nine persons. . . Six persons 
were killed in an accident on the Erie Railroad Septem¬ 
ber 6, at Miller’s, Pa. The Chicago vestibuled limited 
ran into an open switch and struck a freight train. . . 
Yellow fever has appeared at Miami, Fla. . . Presi-j 
dent McKinley has been made a member of the Brick¬ 
layers’ and Stonemasons’ Union of Chicago. They assert 
that they would not permit him to lay the cornerstone 
of the new Chicago post office unless a member of the 
union, and that they will strike if he ever lays the cor¬ 
nerstone of any building on which non-union labor Is 
employed. . . Barracks are being built for American 
troops at Eagle, on the Yukon, at a cost of $200,000. Sep¬ 
tember 6, it was said that 300 tons of beer, whisky and 
other intoxicants were piled on the river bank at Eagle, 
having been denied admission into British territory. The 
Canadian authorities are turning back all such cargoes. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Texas pecan crop is short, 
owing to the ravages of the web worm. . . Continued 
drought in McLean, Ford, Livingston and De Witt Coun¬ 
ties, Ill., is causing alarm; corn and oats promise a 
heavy crop. . . Hazelton, Pa., shipped to market 743,- 
400 quarts of huckleberries this season, for which the 
pickers received an aggregate of $38,120. . . Anthrax has 
again broken out in Chester and Bradford Counties, Pa. 
. . A number of farms in Lehigh County, Pa., are being 
sold for high prices, owing to the discovery of a valu¬ 
able belt of cement rock. , . Three men were badly 
hurt at the farm of H. McK. Twombly, Madison, N. J., 
September 1, by the fall of a scaffold while building a 
silo. . . Nearly 1,500 farmers attended a picnic at Bel- 
videre, Ill., August 30. The following officers of the or¬ 
ganization were elected: President, D. S. Kelly, Cale¬ 
donia; vice-president, R. F. Ardery, Leroy; treasurer, J. 
A. Brown, Caledonia. . . Milkmen at Hazelton, Pa., are 
reported to have formed a combination, and have in¬ 
creased the price of milk from six to eight cents a 
quart. . . Grasshoppers are said to have ruined a 
promising clover crop in St. Joseph and Marshall Coun¬ 
ties, Ind. . . The District Court at Emporia, Kas., has 
ordered the receiver of 3,000 cattle owned by “Cattle 
King” Gillette to sell the animals for the benefit of his 
creditors. . . Seedsmen predict a shortage in the bean 
crop. . . The secretary of the Kansas State Horticul¬ 
tural Society reports the grape crop of that State as 72.5 
per cent of a full crop. . . C. P. Close, assistant horti¬ 
culturist of the Geneva, N. Y., Experiment Station, has 
been appointed professor of horticulture at the Logan, 
Utah, State Agricultural College. . . Early grain 
around Centralia, Ore., is reported to be badly damaged 
by rain, but the wet weather has helped potatoes. . . 
Alfred Henderson, president of the firm of Peter Hender¬ 
son & Co., seedsmen, died September 5, aged 47. He had 
been an invalid for many years. He was a member of 
the Society of American Florists, the New York Florists’ 
Club, and the National Rose Society of England, and 
leaves an estate estimated at $2,000,000. . . A hot wind 
scorched Kansas September 5, and late grain and all 
forage crops suffered severely. Grain men say that the 
hot wave has reduced the probable yield of late corn 
50,000,000 bushels. . . A farmer at Sherman, Texas, was 
recently killed by a dishorned Jersey bull, which inflicted 
fatal injuries by mashing the victim’s chest with his 
head. . . Illinois farmers will hold a convention in 
Chicago, October 3-11, to discuss methods for the advance¬ 
ment of agriculture and political questions on the wel¬ 
fare of the farmer. The executive committee of Illinois 
farmers’ institutes will meet there. Farmers from Michi¬ 
gan, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio have been invited to attend. 
PHILIPPINES.—Preparations are being made for the 
punishment of the bandits who are causing trouble in 
the Island of Cebu. Several skirmishes have occurred, 
but heat and hilly country make fighting difficult. . . 
August 31, a bandit stronghold in Negros was captured 
by Lieut.-Col. Byrne and a force of the Sixth Infantry. 
It was a remarkable capture, as the only road was almost 
perpendicular, totally exposed for 1,000 feet, and the ban¬ 
dits endeavored to beat off the attacking party by rolling 
bowlders upon them. There were no American casual¬ 
ties. . . The transport Morgan City, which left San 
Francisco August 11, with 724 recruits for Manila, struck 
a rock at the entrance of the Inland Sea. near Nagasaki, 
Japan, and was beached to save the lives of those on 
board. The accident is believed to be due to a typhoon. 
CUBA.—“Green goods” swindlers are flooding Cuba 
with their circulars, offering to supply counterfeit Ameri¬ 
can money. 
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.—August 22, the transport Sen¬ 
ator arrived at Honolulu. A number of the soldiers, 
while on shore leave, bought methylated spirits of alco¬ 
hol, which they drank, rendering them nearly crazy. A 
general fight ensued, in which over 100 soldiers partici¬ 
pated, and a riot resulted. The Senator sailed August 
26, with many soldiers in irons. There was trouble on 
the way to Honolulu, the soldiers mutinying against “em¬ 
balmed beef.” 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—President Figuereo, of 
the Dominican Republic, has resigned, and the revolu¬ 
tionists have come into power with Gen. Jiminez as 
Chief Executive of the provisional government. . . The 
flooding of a copper mine caused death of 600 persons at 
Besshi Ihikoku, Japan, September 1. . . Plague contin¬ 
ues at Oporto, Portugal, and several new cases are re¬ 
ported. . . A cyclone passed over the Azores September 
3, and much damage was done to shipping and property, 
several lives lost. . . The Dreyfus trial still continues. 
A great sensation was caused September 6, by a state¬ 
ment from the German Ambassador that his Govern¬ 
ment had no dealings with Dreyfus, but obtained infor- 
tlon from Col. Esterhazy. According to the evidence of 
ex-Minister Trarieux, the French government not only 
knew that Dreyfus was innocent, but also knew the name 
of the real traitor. Every effort is being made to sup¬ 
press testimony which will incriminate the military 
leaders. 
THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR. 
A Clean and Successful Exhibition. 
IT HAS BEEN SPRAYED.—The New York State 
Fair held at Syracuse last week must be voted a 
great success as a farmers’ exhibition. One good 
farmer said, after looking the exhibit over: “This 
fair looks as though it had been sprayed with the 
Bordeaux Mixture.” In one sense, that remark was 
apt, for the fair was as bright and clean and thrifty 
looking as one could wish for. In another sense, it 
was hardly correct, because, when growing things are 
sprayed properly with the Bordeaux Mixture, they 
look blue for a number of days. There was nothing 
“blue” about the faces or the manners of any one con¬ 
nected with the New York State Fair except, possi¬ 
bly, a few of those melancholy individuals who have 
a theory that fake shows and Midway performances 
are needed to call out a crowd. It was a genuine 
farmers’ exhibition. The weather was well-nigh per¬ 
fect, and the grounds were in good condition. The 
people scattered about the grounds, gathering in little 
groups before various exhibits, meeting old friends, 
and renewing old acquaintances. The New York 
Agricultural Society has certainly gone to the front 
and gained dignity and character by thus demon¬ 
strating the possibility of holding an educational ag¬ 
ricultural fair. 
GREAT FRUIT SHOW.—The season has been a 
bad one for fruit and vegetable growing, yet the ex¬ 
hibits in these lines were simply wonderful in quality 
and appearance. Great crowds lingered around the 
potato exhibit, and the managers were kept busy ex¬ 
plaining the merits of different varieties. Varieties of 
the type of R. N.-Y. No. 2 seem to be gaining ground 
among shippers. Farmers who raise potatoes in large 
quantities, and ship to the city markets, seem to pre¬ 
fer these round, chunky potatoes rather than the 
longer varieties. The fruit exhibit was, probably, the 
best ever made at any State fair. Last year and the 
year before, the quality was not fully up to the stand¬ 
ard, but this year, the display was magnificent in 
every respect. A number of promising new varieties 
were shown. The Mersereau blackberry, shown by 
W'iley & Co., appears certainly to be an acquisition. 
As compared with Snyder, which variety it somewhat 
resembles, the Mersereau seems to be a distinct im¬ 
provement, both in flavor, hardiness and size. Many 
very promising new seedling apples were exhibited, 
several of which will be pictured later in The R. 
N.-Y. 
SOME NEW FRUITS.—The practical growers seem 
to agree that our present list of fruits covers about 
every desired need of the fruit grower. In order to 
find a place where it will permanently live, a new 
variety must possess remarkable qualifications. One 
of the new seedling apples, Stern’s Seedling, really 
seems to be an acquisition, being fully equal to 
Gravenstein, with several additional good qualities. 
The display of apples made by the Western New 
York Horticultural Society, the Eastern New York 
Horticultural Society, and private exhibitors, was re¬ 
markably fine. Out of the multitude of varieties thus 
shown, the practical orchardists advise only four or 
five for commercial orchards. At the same time, they 
661 
all agree that single trees of 20 or 30 varieties might 
well find a place on every farm. As an example of 
the mistakes of nurserymen, one farmer brougnt a 
perfect specimen of the Chenango Strawberry apple. 
He ordered Tolman Sweet of the nurseryman, and 
this was what it turned out to be when fruiting. 
That farmer said he was very glad that the nursery¬ 
man really made this mistake, for it introduced him 
to a new variety which he otherwise would not have 
known. Unfortunately, all mistakes of nurserymen 
do not turn out as happily as this. There was a large 
and fine display of pears. A few plates of the Idaho 
peai weie exhibited, but few there were who would 
say a good word in its favor. Bartlett was there in 
all its glory, although to hear the growers talk, one 
would get the idea that this variety is more popular 
along the Hudson River than it is in western New 
York. 
THE IMPLEMENTS.—The exhibits of farm imple¬ 
ments were very complete, and attracted a good deal 
of attention. The new Excelsior potato digger ap¬ 
peals to meet the requirements of a two-horse digger. 
It has a side-shaking device, which looks as though 
it would clear the weeds and leave the potatoes on 
top. It is, of course, impossible to judge a machine 
fairly without seeing it at work in the ground. It is 
a pity that the managers of the Fair cannot obtain 
land enough so as to grow regular crops of corn and 
potatoes. If this could be done, trials of potato dig¬ 
gers, corn harvesters and similar tools might be made 
on the ground. We believe such trials would be very 
popular and interesting. They might be followed by 
plowing matches and contests with harrows and cul¬ 
tivators. These things are done at some of the west¬ 
ern fairs, and we feel sure this would be in line with 
the evident purpose of the New York State Fair man¬ 
agers. We may be wrong, but we think there are 
as many farmers who would go to see two farm horses 
hitched to a plow or potato digger, as would go to see 
a single horse trot on the track. A new digging or 
plowing machine from Texas attracted some little at¬ 
tention on the grounds. It consisted of a large disk 
with a steel-cleaning attachment mounted on low 
wheels. Instead of plowing, this large disk ripped 
up or turned over the furrow. It is said to do effec¬ 
tive work on the level, stoneless soils of Texas. There 
are some fields in New York State where it would, 
doubtless, work, though we think it would shy badly 
when it tasted one of our large stones. There was a 
striking exhibit of windmills, pumps and stave silos. 
Farmers seem to be paying more attention than ever 
to the farm water supply, while the silo question is 
on top just now, since farmers have tasted the bitter¬ 
ness of a drought. 
THE FARM STOCK.—The live stock exhibit was 
very full and complete. The display of horses seemed 
better than usual; it seemed to indicate a return to 
horse breeding in this State. Dairy cattle were, also, 
strong, although.it must be said that live stock dis¬ 
plays at such exhibitions do not differ much from 
year to year. We have always believed that the man¬ 
agers might make a more serviceable class for dairy 
stock, by offering prizes for the finest grade females. 
It is a mistake, which should never be countenanced, 
to offer premiums for grade males, as some county 
associations unfortunately do. The cow for the aver¬ 
age farmer, however, is a grade cow, her maternal 
ancestors being usually what we call common or na¬ 
tive stock. We would like to see a class opened for a 
purebred bull and five of his daughters from common 
cows. This would be truly educational, more so, we 
think, than the present exhibits of pure-blood stock. 
It would be dealing directly with the practical man’s 
cow. It would open a new business for the breeder of 
purebred an'imals. It would be an argument in favor 
of the use of such blood, and would be an object 
lesson showing the necessity of selecting a dairy type 
in the herd. 
THE TUBERCULOSIS QUESTION.—Breeders and 
farmers generally are quite excited over the matter 
of tuberculosis. They have a feeling that certain 
medical men are attempting to carry out a severe and 
unfortunate policy with regard to this disease. These 
men would like to override the farmer, and attempt 
to show that he knows nothing about the disease. 
Their policy, if carried out, would mean ruin to many 
dairymen, and would play havoc with the milk busi¬ 
ness. The breeders and dairymen are getting to¬ 
gether on the proposition that the doctors have never 
been able to show that tuberculosis has been conveyed 
directly by means of milk, from the cow to the hu¬ 
man, and they will make a fight on that proposition 
for fair treatment and sensible measures for fighting 
the disease. Every man in the State who owns a cow 
should take a hand in this battle, for if the purely 
scientific men have their way, the herds of New York 
State will face a serious danger, which may be avert- 
ed by concerted action. 
While speaking of the dairy, we must not forget the 
exhibit of cheese and butter, made by the State Ex¬ 
periment Station at Geneva. Prof. Smith, who was in 
charge of this exhibit, gave out specimens of cheese 
which was cured at a temperature of 55 degrees. He 
has been trying the effect of curing the cheese at 
lower temperatures under fixed conditions of mois¬ 
ture, and he secured, in this way, a remarkably fine 
flavor in ordinary cheese. By securing this low tem¬ 
perature, after a few days at about 75 degrees, they 
retard the action of the bacteria, and in this way con¬ 
trol the ripening. Cheesemakers have been working 
along this line in various ways, but the Station is 
now conducting accurate experiments, which we think 
will prove of great value to cheesemakers. 
The whole exhibition was ihoroughly educational 
and clean, and the farmer who could not learn some¬ 
thing about his business in a day spent among these 
exhibits, is certainly out of place as a farmer h. w.c. 
