1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Near Manchester, Ky., Mrs. Chadwell, 
whose husband was murdered in the Philpot-Griffln feud, 
was ordered to leave Clay County inside of 24 hours, her 
poor little house being riddled with bullets by the mob, 
and all her stock being killed. The murdered man’s 
brother had incurred the enmity of the mob. . . Sep¬ 
tember 14, the California State Board of Health passed 
a resolution declaring that a quarantine should be estab¬ 
lished to prevent human beings and domestic animals 
with tuberculosis from entering the State. It is asserted 
that tuberculosis is spreading rapidly among native-born 
Californians, and that the number of consumptives who 
seek southern California for their health constitute a 
source of danger. . . A nitro-glycerine factory at Lima, 
Ohio, was blown to atoms by an explosion September 14; 
no lives were lost. . . The town of Northwood, N. D., 
was destroyed by Are September 12; loss $200,000. The 
fire originated in the careless use of gasoline. . . A vio¬ 
lent hurricane swept the coast of Newfoundland Septem¬ 
ber 14; 40 lives known to be lost, and much shipping and 
fishing gear destroyed. . . A train on the Missouri 
Pacific Railroad plunged through a bridge near Nebraska 
City, Neb., September 15, and three men were burned to 
death. . . A marl bed covering 400 acres, and from 10 
to 12 feet thick, has been discovered at Fish Lake, Ind. 
Swift & Co., of Chicago, own the property. . . A head- 
end collision between freight trains at Delta, Mich., Sep¬ 
tember 14, on the Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Western 
Railroad, caused a loss of $80,000 and delayed all traffic. 
. . Another riot among white and colored miners oc¬ 
curred at Carterville, Ill., September 16. Seven men were 
killed, one mortally wounded, and several others hurt. 
The trouble began when some negroes from another town 
came to visit friends among non-union miners; they were 
ordered to leave by the whites, and the fight resulted. . . 
Charles A. Pillsbury, the Minneapolis flour mill operator, 
died in that city, of heart disease, September 17. . . 
September 18. 33 new cases of yellow fever were reported 
at Key West. There are now about 400 cases, the aver¬ 
age increase being 30 to 40 a day. . . A case of small¬ 
pox appeared in the Thirty-first Infantry, which was to 
start for Manila September 18, from San Francisco, and 
the regiment is being held for fear of further cases. . . 
All preparations for the celebration of the Fall festival 
at Chicago were suspended September 18, because the 
labor unions say that they will cause a general strike. 
The trouble arises from the fact that the cornerstone to 
be used for the Federal building was cut by non-union 
labor. September 19, a general strike was declared on 
the Federal building. . . Men employed in repairing 
heating apparatus in 11 Chicago public schools went on 
strike September 18, because non-union men were em¬ 
ployed, and these schools will have to be closed unless 
the trouble is speedily settled. . . The packinghouses 
of the American Fisheries Company at Good Ground, L. 
I., were destroyed by fire September 17; loss $145,000. . . 
The Chickasaw Legislature, in Indian Territory, is dis¬ 
cussing raising the price of a marriage license from $50 
to $1,000. . . The steamship Cherokee, of the Clyde Line, 
bound from Jacksonville, Fla., to Boston, went ashore 
September 19, on Naushon Island, Vineyard Sound, Mass. 
A dense fog prevailed. No lives were lost. . . Striking 
miners set fire to the property of the Dayton Coal Com¬ 
pany, Dayton, Tenn., September 19, causing a loss of 
$50,000. . . At New Goshen, Ind., C. C. Ryan, while 
prospecting for gravel on his farm, unearthed a vein of 
copper ore. . . A big sawmill and lumber plant at Cas- 
torland, N. Y., was burned September 19; loss $200,000. . . 
Severe earthquakes visited the Alaskan coast September 
3 and September 10, extending from the Lynn Canal to 
the Aleutian Archipelago. Several islands have settled 
from 20 to 25 feet, so as to be almost entirely submerged, 
even at low tide. Portions of the sea bed appear to have 
been forced up to a corresponding height, rendering por¬ 
tions between Yakutat and Juneau, formerly of safe 
depth, no longer navigable. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—September 14, there was an¬ 
other rise in the price of dressed beef; carcass js increased 
within two days from 9% to 10*4 cents a pound. Cattle 
on the hoof were bringing from $6.60 to $6.85 per 100 pounds 
in Chicago. One feeder was reported who brought 2,000 
fat cattle to Chicago. They had cost him $32 a head to 
deliver in Chicago, and they sold for $60 to $80 a head, 
in lots of 300. . . The Wisconsin State Fair opened at 
Milwaukee September 12, with a large attendance. A 
good-roads conference will be held in connection with it, 
and a practical lesson given in road-making. . . In¬ 
vestigation by the Texas State land officers shows that 
thousands of acres have been stolen by landgrabbers on 
the western plains, and the State will bring suit to re¬ 
cover such lands. . . The Pennsylvania State Millers’ 
Association held its annual session at Chambersburg, Pa., 
September 13. Col. Asher Miner, of Wilkesbarre, Pa., 
was elected president of the association. . . The Post 
Office Department has exhausted its present appropriation 
for rural free delivery, and must wait for a new appro¬ 
priation before extending the service. . . A heavy frost 
killed potato vines, late corn, and buckwheat in Michi¬ 
gan September 14. Fall pastures were injured in Illinois, 
late potatoes and buckwheat in Wisconsin. In some 
parts of Michigan it is said that 75 per cent of the late 
potatoes were ruined. . . Georgia is beginning a vigor¬ 
ous campaign against the sale of oleo in that State. . . 
Flour millers in Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky and Mis¬ 
sissippi have decided to make an advance of 10 per cent 
in the price of flour October 1. . . The first sale of 1899 
hops on the Pacific coast occurred at North Yakima, 
Wash., September 7, the price being 13% cents. The 
heavy rains caused much anxiety about the crop, but It 
is said to be high in quality, and larger than last year. 
. . The New Jersey cranberry marshes are said to have 
suffered through the frosts September 12-14. . . The 
British government is making large purchases of mules 
in Kentucky, presumably for army use in tropical coun¬ 
tries. . . The Grange picnic at Centerhall, Pa., be¬ 
ginning September 18, was a great success. There was a 
fine display of poultry and live stock. Over 200 families 
took tents at the grounds for the week. Leonard Rhone 
is Master of the organization. . . The National Vege¬ 
tarian Congress was held at London, England, September 
11-16. . . At the thirty-sixth annual meeting of the 
American Veterinary Medical Association, held in New 
York September 5-7, the following officers were elected: 
President, Prof. Leonard Pearson, dean of the veterinary 
department of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadel¬ 
phia; secretary, Dr. S. Stewart, Kansas City, Kan.; treas¬ 
urer, Dr. W. H. Lowe, Paterson, N. J. . . Erie County, N. 
Y., has been quarantined by the State Commissioner of 
Agriculture, owing to the prevalence of rabies among 
domestic animals. All such animals, which have been 
exposed to the disease, must be quai'antined for 60 days. 
. . The Pennsylvania Dairy Union will hold its next 
annual meeting and exhibition at West Chester, Pa., De¬ 
cember 4-5. H. Hayward, State College, Pa., is seci'etary. 
PHILIPPINES.—The transport Tartar was released by 
the British authorities at Hongkong, after examination, 
it being found that she was no more crowded than other 
transports. The detention was caused by complaints of 
discharged regulars, who protested to the British au¬ 
thorities against the sanitary condition of the transport. 
It is asserted that there are Americans at Hongkong 
who are aiding the Filipino Junta. . . It is generally con¬ 
sidered that the work of the American Commission was 
a failure. Their negotiations with Aguinaldo not only 
gave him a chance to rest and recuperate his forces, but 
also enabled him to give his followers the impression 
that we were suing for peace. . . A Spaniard, who has 
been held prisoner by the Filipinos, says that Lieut. 
Gilmore and other American prisoners are at Bigan; 
that they are sick and half-starved, and cannot hold out 
much longer. . . The Chinese government has entered 
a protest against Gen. Otis’s order excluding Chinese 
from the Philippines. This has caused deep umbrage at 
Pekin, being in violation of existing treaties and inter¬ 
national law. . . September 19, Aguinaldo asked a con¬ 
ference with Gen. Otis. He offers to release Lieut. Gil¬ 
more and the other American prisoners without an ex¬ 
change. . . . The gunboat Paragua had a sharp en¬ 
gagement with insurgents on Lingayen Gulf, September 
14. 
CUBA.—The steamer Vigilancia arrived at Havana Sep¬ 
tember 11 from New York; among the passengers was one 
sick man, who was taken ashore, where he died five days 
later from yellow fever. The steamer was fumigated. 
. . Every cart driver in Havana went on strike Septem¬ 
ber 19, and the transportation of goods is at a complete 
standstill. The chief complaint of the drivers, who are 
all Spaniards, is that the Cuban policemen are unneces¬ 
sarily harsh and abusive in enforcing municipal regula¬ 
tions. The agitation to force a general strike continues. 
. . At Regia, 27 Cubans have been arrested on the charge 
of attempting to lynch 12 Spaniards, who were celebrating 
some local event with a dinner party. 
PORTO RICO.—Recent statistics give the number of in¬ 
digent poor as 291,089; sick, 11,858; dead, as a result of the 
hurricane, 2,619; number of men working for food, 11,713; 
rations issued each week, 293,147. It is officially reported 
that thousands of men are drawing rations and refusing 
to work. The planters are grumbling, because they can¬ 
not get men to work, and it is advocated that the issu¬ 
ance of Government supplies be stopped. Gov.-Gen. 
Davis admits that thousands of undeserving persons are 
being fed, but says that, if the Government stop giving 
out food, other thousands of deserving people will starve. 
He intends to enforce more stringent regulations on this 
point hereafter. 
FOREIGN.—During a panic in a synagogue at Kalisch, 
Poland, on the Day of Atonement, September 14, 32 per¬ 
sons were crushed to death. The panic was caused by 
the upsetting of a lamp. . . Active fighting is going on 
in Venezuela, between the government and revolution¬ 
ary forces. . . The French High Court of Justice has 
begun the trial of 22 prominent politicians, charged with 
plotting to overthrow the existing government. The Due 
d’Orleans, pretender to the throne, is accused of com¬ 
plicity. . . The bubonic plague has broken out at Asun¬ 
cion, the capital of Paraguay. . . President Loubet 
signed the pardon of Capt. Dreyfus September 19. The 
pardon is generally regarded as an admission on the part 
of the government that the verdict was not in accord¬ 
ance with the evidence. 
AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Report of the Philadelphia Meeting. 
Part II. 
Nomenclature of fruits was discussed at length in 
papers by Professors F. A. Waugh, of Vermont, and 
T. V. Munson, of Texas. This is one of the most diffi¬ 
cult matters to handle with which the pomologist has 
to deal. There are so many synonyms and mistakes, 
and such a persistency on the part of so many orig¬ 
inators and others to blunder and perpetuate ill-ad¬ 
vised and mistaken names, that it seems like a hope¬ 
less task to endeavor to remedy matters. The nur¬ 
serymen are largely to blame for much of this trou¬ 
ble. If they would follow the properly constituted au¬ 
thorities instead of local suggestions and their own 
notions, much trouble to themselves and others would 
be prevented. The Division of Pomology, of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, and the 
Committee on Revision of Catalogue of the American 
Pomological Society are acting in conjunction in this 
work, and there is a list of all the names and syn¬ 
onyms of fruits cultivated in this country in the 
office of the former, which is the basis of reference. 
This can be utilized by every one who will take the 
slight trouble to write to the Pomologist and learn 
which are the true names and which the synonyms. 
In case of the naming of a new fruit, consultation is 
always essential, for there is a chance in almost every 
case that the proposed name may have been previous¬ 
ly used for another variety of the same class. A little 
693 
writing would prevent the confusion. Such confusion 
is growing yearly, and it should not be so. 
The Origin and Development of Buds in Fruit 
Plants was most happily and instructively treated by 
Prof. W. R. Lazenby, of Ohio. He explained how the 
bud was but the rudimentary branch or flower, or 
cluster of flowers, and how constitutional vigor had 
much to do with its normal development. Fertility 
in the soil is essential to proper bud development. 
The debilitating influences of too heavy crops were 
sure to be felt in subsequent years. 
Whitening to Prevent Frost. 
Relation of Color to the Flower Buds of the Peach 
was the subject of a paper by Prof. J. C. Whitten, of 
Missouri. This matter has been thoroughly tested by 
the speaker by spraying the bare trees with white¬ 
wash several times during the Winter for the pur¬ 
pose of retarding development. Delicate ther¬ 
mometers were made and inserted within the 
twigs of both sprayed and unsprayed trees to de¬ 
termine the differences in temperature. In every 
case, the whitened branches had absorbed less heat 
from the sun than those not whitened. The darker 
the branches, that is, the more red color in the bark, 
the higher the temperature. But from a practical 
standpoint, the spraying does not pay, judging by the 
experiments so far made. The rains wash off the 
coating, so that at least three sprayings are neces¬ 
sary. If the coating comes off the buds, which are 
the most important to be covered, the renewal is 
necessary, and their swelling is likely to cause this 
to occur. Another objection is the cost of the appli¬ 
cations, which usually overbalance the probability of 
benefit from late blooming of the peach trees. 
The cultivation of the blueberry was very ably dis¬ 
cussed by Prof. W. M. Munson, of Maine. From ex¬ 
periments made it seems probable that this delicious 
fruit will eventually become one of our best garden 
berries, when its culture is properly understood. 
There were two evening addresses, illustrated by 
stereopticon pictures, that were exceedingly instruc¬ 
tive and entertaining. The first was by Mr. Herbert 
J. Webber, of the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, on Systematic Plant Breeding. He showed a 
number of illustrations of the trees and foliage of dif¬ 
ferent crosses that had been made between the sweet 
orange and the Trifoliata, which is deciduous and 
hardy enough to endure the climate of Maryland un¬ 
harmed. It is the confident expectation that varieties 
will be eventually produced which wiill bear good fruit 
and be hardier than any of those now in existence. 
Hybrid pineapples are also being produced. These ex¬ 
periments are being conducted at the stations in 
Florida. 
New Fruits from Abroad. 
Mr. Walter T. Swingle, of the same department of 
our Government service, who recently returned from 
an extended trip to southern Europe and northern 
Africa, told about the fruits he had seen in his 
travels, and showed many rare pictures taken by him¬ 
self. The fig and date palm were prominent among 
them. He visited the famous fig orchards inland 
from Smyrna, on the Mediterranean, got cuttings of 
the trees, and growihg trees with the insect (blas- 
tophaga), that polleniizes the edible figs, all of which 
he forwarded to this country. In Algeria, he got 
rooted suckers from the best bearing date palms, 
which were also sent forward, thus supplementing the 
importations of the same that were made by the 
writer in 1889, and which latter were the first choice 
date trees, so far as is known, that ever landed on 
this hemisphere in a living condition. The effort to 
grow these dates is being made with much promise in 
the southern parts of Arizona and California. 
There were many other excellent addresses, but the 
time for discussions which should have followed them 
and nearly all others was far too limited, and gen¬ 
erally, not permitted at all. 
The old officers were elected with very few excep¬ 
tions. Mr. Thomas Meehan, of Philadelphia, was 
elected first vice president as an honor which was well 
due to so venerable and distinguished a horticultur¬ 
ist. President C. L. Watrous, of Iowa, conducted the 
meetings fin an able manner. Mr. Wm. A. Taylor, of 
Washington, D. C., proved himself to be a most able 
and industrious secretary. The report of the treas¬ 
urer showed a net balance in the treasury of over 
$600, with a sure and increasing income from mem¬ 
bership fees and legacies. The next meeting is likely 
to be held at Buffalo, New York, in connection wfith 
the Pan-American Exposition, two years hence, al¬ 
though there were many urgent invitations to hold it 
elsewhere, prominent among them being one from 
Kansas City, Mo., pressed in person by a delegation 
from there. At either place there will be a good meet¬ 
ing, for the Society is in a flourishing condition, in 
able hands, and is being impelled forward by the 
gigantic interests of fruit culture in America, both 
commercial and amateur. n. e. v. d. 
