1899 
677 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A passenger train on the Norfolk and 
Western Railroad was wrecked near Bluefields, W. Va„ 
September 6, the cause being spreading of the rails. 
Four persons were killed and 30 injured. . . September 
7, Cleveland rioters derailed a car in the village of Brook¬ 
lyn, the motorman and conductor being stoned and driven 
away. This car and 10 following it were dismantled by 
the mob, the rioters grew, and then the street-car men 
cleared the track with a fusillade of bullets. Three rioters 
were injured. . . A hurricane off the Nova Scotia coast 
September 7 caused much loss to shipping. . . At Cen- 
tralia, Mo., September 7, fire started in a large livery 
stable, and spread to 17 other buildings. The city being 
thronged with visitors to the county fair, many of whom 
put up their horses at the stable where the fire originated, 
over 100 horses and many vehicles were burned. . . Sep¬ 
tember 4-7, an extended hot wave prevailed over the 
Middle West. At Charleston, Ill., September 7, the tem¬ 
perature reached 105, at Bloomington, Ill., it stood at 102, 
being the fifth consecutive day the heat had passed 100 
degrees. . . September 7, the number of yellow fever 
cases at Key West was 80. . . A fire in the Erie Basin, 
Brooklyn, September 7, destroyed one pier, a lighter and 
a variety of merchandise, the loss being $100,000. . 
Two-cent fares have been adopted on some of the Chicago 
street cars, 12 tickets being sold for 25 cents. The two- 
cent fare does not entitle the passenger to a transfer, but 
for four cents a transfer is given.- . . Dr. J. J. Smith, of 
Chambersburg, Pa., died September 7, after frightful suf¬ 
fering, of anthrax. He contracted the- disease when per¬ 
forming an autopsy on diseased cattle. . . The great 
hotel at Garden City, L. I., which formed a part of the 
A. T. Stewart estate, was destroyed by fire September 7, 
loss $200,000. . . Yellow fever appeared at Mississippi 
City, Miss., September 8. The number of cases at Key 
West continued to grow steadily. . . A mare leaped 
from a New York pier into the East River, September 8, 
and swam for 9^4 hours before being rescued. . . A fire 
at Louisville Ky., September 8, caused a loss of $200,000. 
. . The steamer Lampasas arrived at New York from 
Galveston and Key West with 95 passengers, September 
7, and was quarantined. Four Key West passengers have 
developed yellow fever, one of the cases proving fatal. 
One death from the fever occurred at Port Tampa, Fla., 
September 11, and 12 new cases were reported at Key 
West. September 12, 29 new cases were reported. . . 
September 9, a train loaded with granite broke through a 
bridge over Broad River, N. C., killing four men. . . A 
monster waterspout appeared off Atlantic City, N. J., 
September 10. . . A train on the Southern Pacific Rail¬ 
road was boarded by robbers at Cachise, Ariz., September 
9, and robbed of $10,000. . . Malignant yellow fever ap¬ 
peared at Jackson, Miss., September 10. . . An earth¬ 
quake shock was felt all over Cambria County, Pa., Sep¬ 
tember 9. . . A load of hay was set on fire by a trolley 
wire in New York City September 12, and horses and 
driver had a narrow escape. ITay and wagon were en¬ 
tirely consumed. . . A number of prominent merchants 
in Cleveland, O., have united to break the boycott re¬ 
sulting from the street-car strikes. After a certain 
date, they will refuse to sell to people who participate in 
the boycott. . . Cornelius Vanderbilt, head of the 
family, died in New York, of apoplexy, September 12, 
aged 56. He leaves a widow and five children. He in¬ 
herited $60,000,000 from his father, and his fortune was 
estimated at double that amount, at the time of his 
death. . . Snow fell at Marquette, Mich., September 13. 
. . The State of Texas has begun action against the In¬ 
ternational and Great Northern Railroad for back taxes 
covering a period of 25 years. The amount will run into 
the millions. The road was exempted from taxes by 
special legislation, but it is now held that such exemption 
was unlawful. . . At Frankfort, Ind., September 13, J. 
C. Chenoweth and his wife were indicted for murder, hav¬ 
ing caused the death of their child by neglect. They are 
Christian scientists, and when the child developed pneu¬ 
monia, they refused medical aid. . . Carlisle, Ind., has 
been quarantined on account of an epidemic of malignant 
diphtheria. Schools and churches are closed. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—At the Philadelphia meeting 
of the United States Beekeepers’ Association, Dr. H. W. 
Wiley, of Washington, read a paper on the food value of 
honey. The following officers were elected: President, E. 
R. Root, Medina, O.; vice-president, G. M. Doolittle, Boro¬ 
dino, N. Y.; secretary, Dr. A. B. Mason, Toledo, O. 
Papers were read by Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa; 
W. A. Selser, Philadelphia; G. M. Doolittle, F. Hahman, 
Philadelphia, and others. The next meeting will be held 
in Chicago. . . The East Brandywine, Pa., Farmers’ 
Club will reorganize into a Grange of the Patrons of 
Husbandry. . . Reports from Princeton, Ill., state that, 
after exhaustive tests, the entire milk supply of the city 
has been condemned, as impregnated with tuberculosis. 
. . H. P. Clute, Wisconsin State Veterinarian, reports 
an unusual prevalence of disease among cattle in that 
State. . . September 7, heavy electrical storms extended 
over Kentucky, and many horses and cattle were killed 
by lightning. At Jefferson City, Mo., the drought was 
broken by a heavy rain, which will save late corn and 
pastures. In Illinois, the drought was also broken. . . 
A heavy electrical storm passed over Summit and Wayne 
Counties, Ohio, September 8. In the vicinity of Akron 
thousands of acres of corn were laid flat on the ground, 
and several barns were struck by lightning and destroved. 
Near Wooster wind, rain and lightning destroyed crops 
and buildings. . . In Clark County, Ill., all the broom 
corn was blown down by a storm September 7, and the 
farmers needed extra help to enable them to save it. 
They telegraphed Gov. Tanner asking if he could send 
convict labor to their aid. . . The National Nutriment 
Comnany was incorporated in New Jersey September 8, 
with a capital stock of $3,000,000. The company is to man¬ 
ufacture articles of food from the by-products of the 
dairy. . . The drought at Dallas, Tex., was broken Sep¬ 
tember 10, by the first rain that has fallen since July 12. 
It comes too late for cotton, but will put the ground in 
good condition for Fall plowing. . . A good roads con¬ 
vention was held at the county fair at Rockford, Ill., 
September 7, and county presidents were elected for or¬ 
ganization. Farmers who have been experimenting with 
sugar beets also held a convention at the fair, being ad¬ 
dressed by Prof. Perry G. Holden, of the Illinois Agri¬ 
cultural College. . . During the thirty-sixth annual ses¬ 
sion of the American Veterinary Medical Association at 
New York, September 9, a successful operation was per¬ 
formed in the removal of a cartilaginous quittor from 
the foot of a horse, the animal being under the influence 
of chloi oform for 55 minutes. . . Western live stock 
commission men and brokers propose combining with 
banks that handle cattle paper to form a protective or¬ 
ganization. This plan is the result of former losses, such 
as those caused by Gillette, of Abilene, Kas., who is 
said to have obtained $1,000,000 by his fraudulent opera¬ 
tions. The aim is to get all the cattle brokers of Kansas 
City, St. Joseph, St. Louis and Chicago interested. . . 
It is reported that the big Chicago packers are trying to 
monopolize trade in butter, poultry and eggs. . . The 
Maryland State Fair will be held at Easton, September 
26-29, under the auspices of the Talbot County Fair Asso¬ 
ciation. . . Three farmers recently brought suit at 
Reading, Pa., against 21 coal operators in the anthracite 
regions. They claim that coal waste is washed down by 
the river, and dumped on their land, making it unfit for 
fdTming, and ask that the defendants be restrained from 
allowing such material, or polluted water, from escaping 
into the river. . . Six prominent milk dealers were ar¬ 
rested at Johnstown, Pa., September 11, for selling adul¬ 
terated milk. . . Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. 
J., is building a greenhouse 20x68 feet for the use of Prof. 
B. D. Hoisted. . . A virulent swine epidemic has ap¬ 
peared in Woodbury County, Iowa. . . The fatal disease 
known as mad itch has been killing cattle in the vicinity 
of Mount Vernon, Ill. The assistant State veterinarian 
says that the disease was caused by feeding the cattle 
green corn on the stalk, which had been previously 
chewed by hogs. 
PHILIPPINES.—The troopship Tartar, conveying 45 of¬ 
ficers and 1,203 men of the Kansas regiment from Manila, 
has been detained by the British authorities at Hong¬ 
kong, under the Merchants’ Shipping act, which restricts 
the vessel to carrying 750 passengers. She had been fitted 
by the American Government to carry 1,340 soldiers. Con¬ 
sul Wildman has protested, but though an American 
troopship, the Tartar sails under the British flag, and is 
thus amenable to British law. A number of the soldiers 
have made complaint of the unsanitary condition of the 
vessel. . . September 7, a scouting expedition went to 
Rosario, below Cavite, and burned seven warehouses filled 
with provisions. Seven insurgents were captured, with 
five rifles and 300 cartridges. . . The Government has 
approved a plan, submitted by Maj.-Gen. Otis, for di¬ 
viding the islands into military districts. . . The in¬ 
surgent congress held a special session August 24. . . 
September 9, 500 insurgents with one cannon attacked 
Santa Rita, but were repulsed. . . The mayor of Imus, 
who was elected last July under the auspices of the 
American Commission, has disappeared, and he is believed 
to be acting as a general in the insurgent army. 
CUBA.—The city of Neuvitas is suffering from a water 
famine, there being no water in the place, except what is 
brought from a distance. Most of the water used comes 
from Principe, five miles away; it is brought by rail by 
the quartermaster for the American troops and for dis¬ 
tribution among the poor. It sells at the rate of 15 cents 
for four gallons. . . Labor troubles continue in Havana, 
and business is seriously hampered by frequent strikes. . . 
The police have been instructed to stop sparring exhi¬ 
bitions at the American Concert Hall in Havana. The 
Cubans are shocked by pugilism, and complain that, while 
the Americans will not permit cockfights or bullfights, 
they permit men to fight. . . An alleged incendiary fire 
in the Cerro Ward of Havana, September 12, destroyed 42 
houses, and rendered 180 persons homeless. 
PORTO RICO.—The Secretary of War has directed the 
preparation of an order for the removal of the duty on 
Porto Rico coffee imported into Cuba. This action is 
taken with a view to relieving distress caused by the hur¬ 
ricane. The present duty on coffee entering Cuba is al¬ 
most prohibitory, and was so intended by our Govern¬ 
ment, in order to foster coffee-growing in Cuba. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—The cruiser Detroit 
has sailed for La Guayra, Venezuela, owing to revolu¬ 
tionary disorders in that country. . . The Russian gov¬ 
ernment has ordered the closing of 30 Jewish schools and 
synagogues in the Province of Kieff. Many Jewish can¬ 
didates have been refused admission into the Warsaw 
Polytechnic School. . . September 9, the military tribu¬ 
nal trying Capt. Dreyfus at Rennes, France, for the sec¬ 
ond time, pronounced him guilty. Under the terms of his 
10-years’ sentence, he will have the privilege of serving 
the remainder in France. Intense indignation has been 
aroused all over the civilized world by the result of the 
trial. . . A destructive cyclone struck Bermuda Sep¬ 
tember 12; damage is estimated to be $1,000,000. 
AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Report of the Philadelphia Meeting. 
Part I. 
The meeting of this society was held at Phila¬ 
delphia, September 7 and 8; it was one of the best 
ever held. The attendance was large and representa¬ 
tive, delegates being present from Nova Scotia to 
Texas. The fruit exhibits were unusually good. One 
notable feature of these exhibits was the collective ex¬ 
hibit of the New Jersey Horticultural Society. A 
part of this was a large display of grapes by Mr. C. 
C. Corby, of Montclair. For large size and perfec¬ 
tion of cluster and berry, the like is scarcely seen. 
Judging by this and other displays of grapes, it is 
evident that grape growing is by no means on the 
decline in New Jersey. 
Another exceedingly interesting exhibit from that 
State was one by the Pomona Nurseries, of nuts. 
There were chestnut trees in tubs in full bearing, and 
many named varieties of this and other nuts on twigs, 
freshly cut, and some were fully ripe and shelled. 
Many varieties of Persian (so-called English), wal¬ 
nuts were as large and well filled with meat as any 
that are grown in California. Ellwanger & Barry, of 
Rochester, N. Y., showed a large collection of pears, 
many of them being rare and especially valuable for 
amateur collections. As the orchard from which this 
and many other similar displays have come is likely 
to be dug up soon to give place to city improvements, 
it is to be hoped that some of the State experiment 
stations will secure and preserve the varieties. 
There were but few really new fruits shown. The 
Chailton grape, which is the result of a cross between 
Mills and Brighton, by John Charlton, of Rochester, 
N. Y., is one of the most delicious red grapes in ex¬ 
istence. The bunches and berries are, in size, about 
like those of Catawba. The Hicks grape, from Henry 
Wallis, of Wellston, Mo., is black, very sweet and 
rich, and is said to be very hardy and a good bearer. 
The McPike, shown by Silas Wilson, of Atlantic, 
Iowa, for the second time, is a very large black grape 
that ripens very late and looks remarkably well. The 
Bloomfield apple, a newly discovered seedling from 
Maryland, is of superior character. It is of full 
medium size, handsome red color, very pleasant sub¬ 
acid flavor, and a reliable bearer. The season in that 
region is September, which is the only objection to 
it. Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa, California, sent 
specimens of his new apple, Burbank, which is almost 
identical with Gravenstein, and cured specimens of 
his Sugar prune, which is one of the earliest, largest 
and sweetest of all prunes. 
Mr. Thomas Meehan, one of the most aged and 
venerated horticulturists in America, gave a verbal 
sketch of Philadelphia’s Contributions to the History 
of American Pomology. He stated that the hered¬ 
itary love for wine by those who had emigrated from 
Europe had been the means of popularizing the grape, 
and indirectly, other fruits, just as the rush for gold 
to California in 1848-9 led to the wonderful develop¬ 
ment of horticulture there. The first settlers about 
Philadelphia wanted to make wine, and William Penn 
urged and assisted Peter Legrean to come from 
France to grow grapes. Finding the European varie¬ 
ties did not flourish, the native grapes were taken up. 
The Alexander was the first variety of note, which 
was found wild near the Schuylkill River. It was the 
one which gave the first great impetus to American 
grape culture, and led the way to a succession of 
which the Catawba and Isabella formed a part. Pear 
trees were planted very sparingly at first, and these 
were mostly imported at considerable expense. Many 
of them were destroyed or injured in the ships by rats 
eating their roots. In case a cat was kept on board, 
there was no redress, this satisfying the ends of the 
law in such cases. The Seckel, Tyson and Kieffer are 
among the varieties that originated in or near Phila¬ 
delphia. 
J. H. Hale, of Connecticut, talked about Culture. 
He thought that mind culture is preliminary to fruit 
culture. In his opinion, culture of the soil should be 
begun before planting. Poorly prepared soil will 
never tend to the best growth of trees that may be 
set afterwards. “The blessing of weeds’’ compels lazy 
people, and others, too, to cultivate their orchards and 
gardens. After the terrible freeze of last Winter, he 
cut back the trees severely, and cultivated the soil 
just as though there was a good crop of fruit on the 
trees. The result was a vigorous growth on 80 per 
cent of the trees, 14 per cent alive but feeble, and six 
per cent dead. In neighboring orchards, where cul¬ 
tivation was not thorough, there was a loss of nearly 
half the trees, and the rest are doing very poorly. 
H. E. Van Deman, in the discussion which followed, 
stated that the orchard of Mr. R. Morrill, of Benton 
Harbor, Mich., was this year bearing a crop of about 
12,000 bushels of peaches, that are selling for from $4 
to $7.50 per bushel, as the direct result of cultivation 
last year and in former years. The trees were so 
healthy that the severe cold of last Winter, which 
killed the fruit buds and in some cases the trees in 
neighboring orchards, did not affect them seriously. 
Dr. L. O. Howard, of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, gave a very full account of the various 
attempts to introduce the trees and produce the fruit 
in America of the celebrated fig of the vicinity of 
Smyrna, in Turkey. As may be known to many, this 
is the best of all cured figs. The main difficulty has 
been to get them pollinized so as to have perfect 
seeds, which gives them a peculiarly rich flavor. This 
can be done only by a certain minute insect called 
Blastophaga psenes, that spends a part of its life in a 
species of wild or “capri” fig that has male flowers, 
and from this it crawls into the edible fig, which is 
pistillate, thus pollinizing it. Trees of both kinds 
have been growing in California for several years, but 
the insect has not been successfully introduced, al¬ 
though repeated trials have been made, until within 
the past year. It is now living and multiplying at 
Fresno, California, where experiments have been con¬ 
ducted in fig culture for many years past. We are 
now on the sure road to success in the production of 
the very highest class of cured figs. h. e. v. d. 
