1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
357 
A\ONG ®THE® 
MARKETCN 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Southern Potatoes. —Inquiries are frequent as to 
the variety of the potatoes coming from the South, 
and now bringing prices about double those of old 
potatoes. The names of these are generally given in 
market reports. The principal varieties one sees in 
market now are Red Chili, Hebron and Rose. The 
last two sell for a little higher price than the first 
when in fine condition, because they are generally 
considered of better quality ; but the first is often 
preferred by shippers and handlers because it carries 
better. The color shows bruises less than that of the 
others, and the breaking of the skin on a red potato 
disfigures it less than on a light-colored one. Pota¬ 
toes are very likely to become bruised when handled 
before they are ripe enough for the skin to set; for 
this reason, it is poor policy to ship them in bags, and 
such usually sell considerably lower than those in 
barrels. 
X X t 
A “Cheap” Buttermaker. —In the Special Dairy 
Number of The R. N.-Y., we gave a picture of some 
tubs of butter which were most miserably packed. 
They were from a western creamery 
that has had long experience in butter¬ 
making and packing, and had a good 
reputation. The cut was reproduced 
from the New York Produce Review, 
and the editor of the Review now tells 
me that he has received a letter from 
the proprietor of the creamery giving 
an explanation of the trouble. The 
regular buttermaker was taken sick, 
and a “ cheap ” man was engaged to 
take his place, with, apparently, dis¬ 
astrous results. The proprietor said 
that, already, this substitution had 
cost him $250, to say nothing of the 
annoyance and loss of reputation in¬ 
volved. Cheap labor often proves the 
most expensive kind of labor, and of 
all places, the very worst place to em¬ 
ploy such labor is in the preparation and 
packing of products for market. This 
part of the work requires the highest 
skill and the most expert knowledge. 
X t X 
Grain Exports. —The grain elevators 
are now being worked to their full 
capacity, some of them being run night 
and day. It is reported that during 
the two weeks ending May 7, more than 
3,000,000 bushels have been exported 
from the Brooklyn elevators alone. 
On Thursday, Leiter sold a little matter 
of 2,000,000 bushels of wheat to go to 
France. Two steamers are each loading 
about 120,000 bushels of the finest 
western corn for Egypt. It is all in 
bags, and is said to be intended for seed. Several 
of the European countries have removed the duties 
on grain, and this is stimulating shipments. Several 
of them are also said to be laying in heavy supplies in 
anticipation of a European war. Germany has so far 
refused to remove the grain duties. Spain has pro¬ 
hibited the exports of corn, rye, flour, maize, potatoes 
and fruits, as well as suppressing the duty on the 
importation of these articles. Nearly all of this ex¬ 
ported grain is carried in foreign vessels. The in¬ 
creased trade is putting a good deal of money into 
the hands of the elevator and steamship men as well 
as into the hands of the farmers. 
XXX 
Higher Prices for Farm Products. —A comparison 
of prices in the New York wholesale market with 
those of one year ago, shows that farmers are getting 
much more now, in some cases nearly double. Dairy¬ 
men are no better off. Butter is practically the same 
price, cheese a trifle lower. Poultrymen are getting 
a trifle more, both eggs and stock bringing a little 
more than one year ago. Apples are selling for a 
little more, strawberries about the same. Timothy 
hay is a trifle lower than one year ago, clover hay a 
good deal lower, and straw not much more than half 
as high. Hops are about 50 per cent higher, honey 
about the same price, and dressed meats not much 
changed. Beans are considerably higher, and the ad¬ 
vance has been made mostly within a few weeks. 
Vegetables in general varied but little from present 
prices. It is in potatoes and grain that the greatest 
advances have been made. The former are now sell¬ 
ing for more than double last year's prices. Grain 
prices one year ago were as follows : wheat, 77 to 79c.; 
rye, 35 to 42c.; barley, feeding, 27c., malting, 36 to 40c.; 
corn, 29 to 31c.; oats, 22 to 24e. Thus it will be seen 
that, however other occupations may be affected, the 
farmer, so far as prices are concerned, has a more 
hopeful outlook than one year ago. F. h. y. 
THE ISLAND OF JAVA. 
A PARADISE IN SPITE OF EARTHQUAKES. 
[The R. N.-Y. lias a subscriber living on the island of Java— 
an American who has spent many years in central Europe and 
the East. Java lies south of the Philippine Islands which are now 
likely to come under the control of the United States. The fol¬ 
lowing account of industrial life in Java will prove interesting:] 
Best of Pacific Islands. —I believe that none of the 
eastern countries is so well tilled and worked accord¬ 
ing to area as the Dutch colonies, especially Java, 
which has only about 82,000 square miles, and not 
over two-thirds of that is tillable land ; the rest is 
volcanoes and mountains. We have a population, 
with a few of the surrounding islands, of 32,000,000, 
over 200 to the square mile. With all this large popu¬ 
lation, it is very rarely that a famine occurs on the 
island, and everybody seems to have plenty to eat, 
nobody is in want, and very few beggars are to be 
seen in any part ; but it is all owing to the good man¬ 
agement of the Holland government. In the first 
place, the land is mostly owned by the government, 
and is given to the natives at a very small rent, 
but each man must work so much land, accord¬ 
ing to the number of his family. The government 
employs one land officer for so many thousand in¬ 
habitants ; he must go every few days and make 
inspection of all his territory, and see if every man 
has planted his share, or has worked and kept 
clean what he has already planted, as here in Java, 
they are planting on one side and cutting the same 
kind of crop ripe a short distance away, every day in 
the year. It is continually planting and cutting the 
year around. If any of the natives has not planted 
his share of the different kinds of crops, then this 
officer puts him in prison and makes him work in 
the streets, and he puts another man to work his 
land ; in this way, every native must raise, if possible, 
enough for his family and some to sell, even if there 
live more than 200 people on every square kilometer. 
Had the government not enforced such strict laws, 
there would be a famine nearly every year, as there 
is in British India ; but instead of being a famine, 
they export most everything that is raised, with the 
exception of corn. They also raise a good deal of 
corn, but all is consumed in the country, both for the 
working animals and the native work people, as it is 
an article which will not keep long. 
Agricultural Products; Wild Animals. —From 
middle Java, are exported the following articles: 
Coffee, cacao, rice, indigo, india rubber, nutmegs, 
pineapples, and an immense quantity of sugar, many 
kinds of syrups, also rum and arrack, which is made 
by the sugar mills; salt, castor oil, many kinds of 
peppers, vegetable oils made from different plants, 
also from the cocoanut trees, which can be used for 
cooking or salads, and over 500 kinds of different 
fruits. Scarcely a tree or plant that grows out of the 
ground but bears some kind of fruit to be used for 
eating or medicine. It is only on attending on some 
of the country market days that one can form 
a small idea of how much fruit grows in Java, though 
much of it I consider very inferior, because it is never 
cultured, or grafted, but it is left to grow in its 
natural way for hundreds of years. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Where the conditions are just right, there is no nicer or cheaper 
way to pump water to a higher elevation than with the hydraulic 
ram. The Power Specialty Company, 126 Liberty Street, New 
York City, will be glad to give all needed information, and sell a 
ram for the purpose, if you want it. 
Suoar-beet growing is comparatively a new industry. Many 
farmers will grow their first crop this year. At best, they will 
make some errors that they will not repeat again. One thing, 
however, is certain at the start. The crop must be well planted 
and carefully cultivated. To do this cheaply and well needs 
tools especially prepared for the work. The little Iron Age book 
gives a description of the tools as well as other valuable informa¬ 
tion about beet growing. Bateman Mfg. Co., box 302, Grenloch, 
N. J., will send the book free if you ask for it. 
THE HARBOR OF MANILA WHERE SPAIN’S FLEET WAS DEFEATED. Fig 155. 
Our map shows the harbor of Manila in which, on May 1, the American warships under Commo¬ 
dore Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet. The star shows the position of the Americans—the cross 
represents the Spanish. Spain had a double purpose in collecting this fleet. She wished to defend 
her Asiatic colonies, and also hoped to make a dash across the Pacific and attack San Francisco. 
The American fleet has definitely postponed that trip ! The government of the Philippines will now, 
probably, be carried on by the United States Government. The Philippines number over 1,200 islands, 
and cover 114,326 square miles. They were discovered in 1521 by Magellan, and were named in honor 
of King Philip II. Manila, at present a city of 250,000, was founded in 1570, and was captured by the 
English in 1762, and held by them for 15 months. Outside the army, there are barely 8,000 Spanish on 
the islands. The 8,000,000 natives and half-breed Chinese are mild and good-natured and for the most 
part, densely ignorant. Spanish rule has been cruel and oppressive. The few educated natives have 
organized rebellions which have, usually, been easily crushed out. What the United States will do 
with such a people remains to be seen. Another result of Dewey’s victory is to revive interest in the 
annexation of Hawaii. The argument is that, if we are to hold the Philippines, we must have a coal¬ 
ing station nearer than San Francisco. In fact, this victory at Manila opens a dozen new questions 
that many of us never before considered. 
In the eastern extremity of Java, grow about the 
same products as in middle Java, but it manufactures 
much more sugar, and has immense sugar mills. 
While the west end of Java raises principally tea, also 
much rice, the west end is very mountainous, and on 
those mountains, they grow the best tea; the tea 
requires a cooler climate than Java has in general, 
but on those mountains the air is quite cool and 
refreshing. The west end is not very thickly popu¬ 
lated, consequently many wild animals abound there, 
such as tigers and catamounts, wild bulls and cows, 
which are very dangerous, also some small bears and 
very large snakes, 25 to 30 feet long. We have, also, 
many tigers in middle Java, in the large Jatte wood 
forests, which exist on the north and south coasts ; 
people cannot go near those forests on account of 
these large tigers, and in many places, the sugar mills 
have to have people to guard the Javan workmen and 
women who work planting and cutting the sugar 
cane, otherwise the tigers would eat them all. A short 
time ago, I had occasion to visit the great Japara 
Volcano on the north coast. The evening before I 
arrived there, the tigers carried away a 
horse out of the stable of the gentleman 
with whom I stopped. I had to travel 
through the sugar cane, but had to have 
a bodj of armed men with me; we 
came on many fresh tiger tracks, but 
owing to the sugar cane being so dense 
and high, we did not meet any directly. 
The natives are not allowed to keep 
guns, consequently the wild animals 
have great freedom, and it is only on 
great hunting parties that they are 
killed. Where I am boring this present 
oil well, a large boa constrictor, about 
35 feet long, was killed, while it was 
eating a sheep which it had killed. We 
are not afraid of those large serpents, 
but of the small, poisonous snakes which 
lie concealed in the grass, and cannot 
be discerned from the green color of the 
grass. But a person must not go out 
after nightfall, especially in the coun¬ 
try, or he is liable to be bitten by 
these small snakes. All animals and 
snakes are out at night looking for 
something to eat. 
Successful Irrigation. —The success 
of the country is owing to the govern¬ 
ment making water canals. Where it 
is at all possible to irrigate the lands 
with water, this makes a crop of 
everything almost sure every year, 
so there is no danger from famine where 
so many people are to be fed from such 
a small area of ground. The government 
is spending millions every year to make 
new canals, so that more arable land 
can be brought in every year. I never was aware 
of the surety of crops every year, when one has plenty 
of water to use on the land when it needs it; six 
months out of the year here there is no rain at all, but 
a dry, scorching sun, which is almost unbearable in 
all that time; yet by the use of water, the native 
keeps planting the whole time on one side, and on the 
other side he keeps cutting the ripe crops. So it goes 
on the whole time. 
Java has many calamities which befall it by earth¬ 
quakes, and by the 20 steaming volcanoes which are 
working all the time, which keep the island nearly all 
the time trembling under our feet. Notwithstanding 
all this, it is a small paradise in many ways ; every 
thing is always green the whole year around, and on 
many of the fruit trees are blossoms, small fruits, and 
fruits at all stages, till those which are ripe are falling 
on the ground. I have some beautiful vanillas and 
cloves growing in my garden, also bread fruit, oranges, 
bananas, coffee, cacao, cotton, cocoanuts, an^Lmany 
other fruits of which I myself do not know the name. 
At this season we have what I call Summer, as it 
commenced raining about November 1, and continues 
to rain every day in many places, and will continue 
till April 1; then it stops for another six months with¬ 
out raining scarcely any. neil Sinclair. 
