1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—President Harper, of the University of 
Chicago, announced, December 22, at the university’s con¬ 
vention, that John D. Rockefeller had given the institu¬ 
tion $1,850,000, bringing the total amount of his gifts to 
the university since 1890 up to $13,600,000. A donor, whose 
name was not made public, but who is said to be Mr. 
Rockefeller, gave, according to President Harper, $1,096,- 
466 more for a special purpose not yet designated. . . . 
Five officers and instructors of the Columbus laboratory 
in the Columbus Memorial Building, Chicago, were ar¬ 
rested on the complaint of United States Revenue Agent 
Levi G. Nutton, December 22, on the charge of displaying 
the sign of a distiller and making a mash fit for distilla¬ 
tion in a place other than a duly authorized distillery. 
Those arrested are: Charles Norton, practical distiller 
and rectifier; J. A. Wesener, Ph. D., M. D., chemist; A. 
Behrman, M. D., bacteriologist; W. A. Evans, M. D.; A. 
D. Salomon, United States Commissioner, Northern dis¬ 
trict, and lecturer in the laboratories. The men went 
with the deputies to the office of Commissioner Foote, 
who immediately called the cases for hearing, and at 
the request of the defendants continued the hearings. 
Bonds were arranged and the professors left. The Co¬ 
lumbus laboratories are widely "known as the First Aca¬ 
demy of Compounders and Distillers. A large number of 
students are enrolled. A four months’ course in the vari¬ 
ous phases of distilling is given. . . . December 23 65 
persons were killed and 50 others hurt in a wreck on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, near Connellsville, Pa. The 
train was derailed by running into some switch timbers, 
and then plunged down an embankment into the Yough- 
iogheny River. Part of the wreck took fire. Everybody 
in the smoking car was killed, and the dead and injured 
were shockingly mangled. . . . Ice gorges which had 
been forming for several weeks in the Ohio River at Cin¬ 
cinnati broke December 27, carrying away rafts and 
barges and doing other damage amounting to $200,000. 
... A head-on collision between two passenger trains 
on the Pere Marquette Railroad, near East Paris, Mich., 
December 26, killed 22 persons. The wreck was due to a 
high wind, which blew out a red signal lamp set to stop 
one of the trains. ... A fire at the stock yards in 
East Buffalo, N. Y., December 28, destroyed two big sheep 
sheds and 7,000 sheep intended for export. The loss is 
about $75,000. . . . Striking livery drivers continued 
disorder in Chicago, attacking a hearse and funeral pro¬ 
cession December 28. Many funerals had been postponed 
or conducted secretly at night for a week previous. . . 
. . Fire in an oilcloth factory at Athenia, N. J., Decem¬ 
ber 28, seriously, if not fatally, injured three men, and 
caused a loss of $75,000. . . .Earthquake shocks were 
felt December 25 at Los Angeles, Cal., and throughout 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. 
PANAMA.—The note from Gen. Reyes, embodying the 
claims of Colombia in regard to Panama, made public 
December 28, asks the United States to restore the status 
quo ante on the Isthmus and hold aloof while Colombia 
whips recalcitrants back into submission. Failing in 
this, submission of the matter to The Hague Arbitra¬ 
tion Tribunal is requested. The note is said to be a long 
and able statement of the case for Colombia. It is writ¬ 
ten with the sinewy rhetorical force characteristic of the 
Latin-American, and is phrased in a way calculated to 
win sympathy for Colombia with those who oppose Pre¬ 
sident Roosevelt. The paper will be transmitted under 
the seal of Secretary Hay to the Senate in connection 
with the case on the Panama treaty. The probability of 
a contingent claim running up into many millions is a 
part of the Panama incident, and the Senate can hardly 
be expected to act without knowing the whole cost, and 
Colombia’s reckoning with us is regarded as an almost 
integral part of the canal cession we are to get from the 
new Republic at the Isthmus. The note expressly por¬ 
tends the breaking of diplomatic relations if the condi¬ 
tions and demands presented are rejected by this Gov¬ 
ernment. 
PHILIPPINES.—Gen. Leonard Wood, who has been 
conducting the operations against the Jolo Moros, ar¬ 
rived at Manila December 21 from Sulu with the purpose 
of interviewing Gov. Taft upon a proposition to confine 
the Moros to reservations. The departure of the Governor 
for the United States, however, will prevent a detailed 
discussion of the scheme. Gen. Wood wishes the Govern¬ 
ment to construct a railroad in Mindanao which will tap 
Lake Lanao. He says further fighting is not likely. He 
states that the so-called Moro question is ended, which 
will probably prove to be correct, as there was practical¬ 
ly no difficulty with the Jolo Moros until the recent ar¬ 
rival of American troops. The Philippines Commission 
has appropriated $75,000 for the expenses of an honorary 
board of commissioners, composed of 60 Filipinos, to visit 
the St. Louis Exposition and the principal cities. The 
commission will remain three months in the United 
States. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—A special meeting of the New 
York State Breeders’ Association is called to meet at 
Albany January 21. At that time and place it is intended 
to incorporate the Association under the Membership 
Corporations Law of the State of New York. 
The Vermont Horticultural Society will hold its Winter 
meeting at Burlington January 19-21; secretary, D. C. 
Hicks, North Clarendon, Vt. 
The Ohio State Forestry Society was organized Decem¬ 
ber 11 at Delaware, O., on the occasion of the thirty- 
seventh annual meeting of the Ohio State Horticultural 
Society. The initial step leading to the organization was 
taken by the Columbus Horticultural Society at a meet¬ 
ing held February 14, 1903. The officers are: W. I. Cham¬ 
berlain, president; J. L. Shawver, vice-president; Wm. R. 
Lazenby, secretary-treasurer; W. J. Green and F. H. 
Ballou, members of execK’ive committee. 
Some Texas farmers think „,.ey have found in the tur¬ 
key not only the best but the most profitable means of 
accomplishing the destruction of the boll weevil. Gid- 
dings recently shipped 5,000 turkeys, their growth and 
sale being a direct result of this discovery. The farmers 
say that the turkey is a fine bird in the cotton fields, 
being able, because of his long reach, to get the weevils 
at the top of the stalk during the season of greatest ac¬ 
tivity among the insects. Then the boli Weevil will be 
exterminated and the turkeys fattened at the same time. 
The turkey is the only domestic fowl able to get at the 
weevil easily. 
Director Bailey, of Cornell, and J. H. Hale, of Connec¬ 
ticut, will address the Agricultural Experimenters' 
League of New York in session at Ithaca, N. Y., January 
8-9. 
Prof. L. O. Howard, chief entomologist of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, in his annual report for 1903 says 
that there is no probability that the cotton boll weevil 
will ever be prevented by either artificial or natural 
checks from reaching all parts of the cotton belt, but 
that experiments have proved that it is possible to make 
cotton growing profitable in spite of the weevil, and by 
no other means than a few simple expedients in planting 
and managing the crop. These expedients, he says, con¬ 
sist of a careful selection of seed, early planting and 
thorough cultivation of the crop, and enabled the De¬ 
partment to produce, at Calvert, Tex., without any ap¬ 
preciable extra expense, a crop of one bale to 1.5 acres. 
The average production in the United States is one bale 
to 2.3 acres. 
TENANT FARMING IN MIDDLE WEST. 
One of our readers is very much interested in the prob¬ 
lem of tenant farming and he wishes to obtain practical 
information along the following lines: “To what extent 
is tenant farming practiced in your vicinity? Upon what 
terms mostly, share or cash? What is the usual share 
and about what the cash rent per acre? How do tenant 
farmers compare with owners as farmers?’’ 
Owners mostly do their own farming. Tenant farming 
is mostly on shares. They raise wheat and corn; tenants 
receive one-half and bear all expenses; hay one-half, 
millet same, garden products one-half, land owner ferti¬ 
lizers. Cash rent per acre $3 to $7; hill and valley lands 
cause the variation. Fruits generally divided. Tenant 
farmers fare about the same as owners, some prosper, 
some otherwise. In a few instances the tenant has 
bought the landlord’s holding. c. f. a. 
Center Point, Ind. 
About five per cent of the farms are rented, mostly on 
shares, the renter getting one-half of the crop, the owner 
furnishing one-half of the seed and paying one-half of 
the thrashing. If fertilizer is used each one pays half. 
Where corn is planted it is'cut by the tenant, mostly in 
100-hill shocks, and is divided in shock, each one husking 
his share. No farms rent for money rent in this locality. 
Tenant farmers as a rule are poor farmers; the owner 
must look after his own interests or his farm will soon 
run down. w. w. h. 
Glenmont, O. 
Tenant farming is practiced a great deal in this part 
of the country. We have a class of German tenants that 
are good farmers. They rent the large farms, say 200 
acres, and pay crop rent, usually about half, and land¬ 
lord furnishes the seed. Landlord furnishes pasture and 
fruit for tenant. I mean pasture for about two cows and 
work horses. Tenant keeps hollows and fence corners 
mowed and farm up in good repair. Most of the big land- 
owners live in neighboring towns; the small land-owners 
who live on their farms average up with the tenants in 
farming. I cannot call to mind any farm in this part of 
the country now that is renting for cash rent. n. h. 
Patriot, Ind. 
Tenant farming is practiced to quite an extent here, 
mostly on shares. One-half is the usual rate, delivered 
in crib, one-fifth where the ground is not in so good con¬ 
dition. Tenants compare fairly well, but I do not think 
they are quite so good as owners. Land rents for cash 
from $3 to $5 per acre according to what condition. We 
have very fine land here; it is very level and the soil is 
nearly two feet deep; it is black loam prairie; subsoil is 
gravel and coarse sand. We raise from 30 to 75 bushels 
of corn, from 100 to 250 bushels of potatoes, 30 to 50 bushels 
of oats, and from 15 to 35 bushels of wheat, and it is good 
for hay or anything for this latitude. One man can tend 
40 acres of corn. I cut 75 acres of oats in five days with 
a six-foot binder. a. j. g. 
Laporte Co., Ind. 
I should ttink that about 20 or 25 per cent of the farm¬ 
ing of this vicinity is tenant farming, of which about 
three-fourths are for cash and the remaining one-fourth 
on shares or halves, the price ranging from $2.50 to $3 
per acre, the tenant being expected to keep all fences 
and buildings in good repair and leave as much seeded 
as he found. Where land is rented on shares the particu¬ 
lars vary largely, but each party furnishes one-half of 
the stock and seed and shares equally. The tenant fur¬ 
nishes his own team and does all the work, and some¬ 
times feeds his team, but I believe he generally feeds 
undivided coarse feed but not grain. Some of our best 
farmers are tenants and some of our poorest farmers 
own their farms, but these are the exceptions mainly; 
our best tenant farmers usually stay on a farm for sev¬ 
eral years, sometimes till they can buy one of their own, 
and thus become our best farmers who own their land, 
but I think our tenant farmers are not equal to our own¬ 
ers; so many of them cannot see the need of keeping the 
farm in proper shape. ‘‘Oh, we can’t do that; there is 
no money in that for us,’’ are remarks which are made 
when one suggests the cutting of weeds along fences, 
slight repairs on buildings, etc., but they can afford to 
move every year or two. The main difference between 
a good and poor farmer seems to be in the ability to see 
the necessity of keeping the farm in good shape or state 
of cultivation, and the renter who cannot see it never 
gets a farm of his own. I should judge that one-third 
of the renters are of that class. c. d. g. 
Clarksfield, O. 
My sons are farming some land adjoining my place. 
The work is all performed by them except the husking of 
the corn which the landlord pays for. They deliver hay, 
grain and potatoes to landlord, who receives one-half 
of corn, wheat and hay; two-fifths of potatoes, each party 
to furnish part of seed; half of wheat and corn and two- 
thirds of potatoes. Half of the straw is left in stack on 
the farm for the owner of the land, owner getting h if 
of the corn fodder on the ground. If there is any fruit 
on the farm it can be picked on the shares or bought 
25 
and paid cash tot. Lottie give one-half of the fruit pick¬ 
ed and piled under trees, others two-fifths of picked fruit 
and one-half of dropped fruit. Clover is mostly sown oi> 
the wheat and is paid for by the land-owner, unless the 
tenant gets an interest in the pasture; then said tenant 
pays for one-half of clover seed. It is not always com¬ 
pulsory to haul the manure on the land, but it is the de¬ 
sire of owner to have it put on the land where it will do 
most good. The success of this kind of farming depends 
largely on the man doing the work. Quite a good many 
of my neighbors are owning and living on farms which 
they obtained by tenant farming. I am myself living 
on and owning a nice little farm obtained partially by 
grain farming and by paying cash by the acre. Any 
well-disposed man can make, money and if saving buy 
himself a home paid for and earned by the tenant sys¬ 
tem. This class of farmers are making as much money 
as the owners. Land rents iit my neighborhood at from; 
$5 to $7 per acre. a. h. w. 
Groveport, O. _ 
THE PARCELS POST DISCUSSED. 
I notice in The R. N.-Y., page 872, last volume, a refer-- 
ence to the so-called proposed parcels post bill. The bill,, 
if enacted, may properly be considered of doubtful util¬ 
ity. The United States mails are sufficiently laden now 
with matter taken at one cent per pound that costs the: 
Government seven cents per pound to carry and dis¬ 
tribute, a loss of six cents per pound, which loss is large¬ 
ly made up by letters bearing two-cent postage. This; 
low rate on second class matter, newspapers and periodi¬ 
cals to regular subscribers, is not objectionable, but the 
low rate privilege is abused by some publishers of adver¬ 
tising sheets. Nearly all persons use the mails for let¬ 
ters and are pleased with prompt delivery, and would be: 
pleased and benefited with one cent postage on letters; 
instead of two cents, which would not be obtained if the- 
mails were to be freighted heavily with matter for the: 
profit of a few individuals and at a loss to the Govern¬ 
ment of two to five cents per pound for carrying and 
distribution. Let us all favor one cent letter postage. 
New Jersey. j. s. c. 
It has been asserted for years that our railroad com¬ 
panies carry express matter for an average of one cent 
a pound, a mere fraction of the amount charged, for 
transporting mails, usually on the same trains and often 
in the same car. No one doubts they are greatly over¬ 
paid for services rendered the Post Office Department, 
but notwithstanding excessive overcharges and the late 
losses due to dishonest employees the National Post be¬ 
comes more nearly self-sustaining each year as the scope 
of its activities is extended. Reduction of letter posiage 
to one cent an ounce would greatly benefit trading inter¬ 
ests and is certain to come some time, though we already 
have the cheapest letter post in the world when its ef¬ 
fectiveness and the extent of the territory covered is 
considered. The one-cent letter rate would be a great 
advantage to city dwellers, and applied to The R. N.-Y.’s 
outgoing mail would represent a fine saving, but would 
not benefit the farmer at all comparable to a cheap and. 
reliable parcels post, carrying his high-grade produce to., 
market and bringing the world’s commodities to his door. 
Few engaged in agricultural pursuits find their corre¬ 
spondence charge burdensome, but suffer serious priva¬ 
tion by means of the extortionate rates and miserable- 
country service of the express carriers. The writer has; 
just had the “pleasure’’ of paying $2 for the delayedl 
transportation of a 20-pound package of plants from 
Texas to New Jersey and was told he was getting the 
specially favorable plant rate (?). No other civilized 
country tolerates such expensive and inadequate service. 
There is no sound reason why the post office, managed 
for general benefit, should “make money,” or in other 
words confine itself to the transportation of matter on 
which there appears a profit. It makes little difference 
whether the expense of the mails is paid by taxation or 
collected entirely from the patrons of the post, the pub¬ 
lic advantage of swift, sure and cheap transmission re¬ 
mains the same. Germany, Great Britain, France and 
other highly developed nations manage parcels posts to 
the benefit of all concerned. Americans are the greatest 
letter-writers in existence and doubtless will become 
equally generous patrons of a parcels post when estao-. 
lished. 
Winter set in on November 17, which is earlier than , 
usual, and has been steady cold ever since with a little 
snow. As farmers could not begin husking till late there- 
are hundreds of acres of corn unhusked. Help Is very 
scarce, some employ the shredders, but they are not 
gaining much in favor as they require many hands and, 
waste much corn, many farmers think the fodder unfit 
to feed. Wheat was looking well when Winter set in. 
Henry Co., O. __ m. b. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Milk fever is one of the dairy problems that presents 
itself during the Spring and Summer months. Dr. Ed¬ 
ward Moore, who is a member of the Royal College of 
Veterinary Surgeons of London, and enjoys a large veter¬ 
inary practice at Albany, N. Y„ has found a sure pre¬ 
ventive for the disease. Prevention is always better and 
cheaper than cure, and we would advise every dairyman 
to send to Dr. Moore for his little booklet, “Save the 
Cows.” Address Moore Bros., Albany, N. Y. 
Geo. H. Stahl, Quincy, Ill., offers to send any reader 
of The R. N.-Y. absolutely free of charge a Gem folding 
egg tester. He will also send full directions for testing 
eggs, together with his handsome new incubator cata¬ 
logue. When you write refer to this note. 
There is much technical information and much Infor¬ 
mation that if carefully studied and followed cannot fail 
to increase profits for any poultry man, in the new Victor 
Book just issued by the Geo. Ertel Co., Quincy, Ill. In 
addition to being a complete catalogue of their lines of 
incubators, brooders and poultry catalogues there are 
nearly 50 pages of facts and figures, hints and helps, by 
which any poultry man, especially the novice, can profit. 
Two important features of the Carborundum grinding 
wheel, which does duty in the Luther Brothers’ all tool 
grinding machine, are that it does not draw the temper 
and it does not glaze. This is true even though the dia¬ 
mond-like wheel is speeded by the foot pedal at the rate 
of 4,000 revolutions per minute. Carborundum is desig¬ 
nated by a leading scientific journal the most wonderful 
discovery of the age. The Luther Bros. Company has 
scored a signal triumph in securing the exclusive right 
to use it in all hand and foot grinding machines. By 
writing Luther Bros., 22 Penn St., North Milwaukee, Wis., 
a specimen piece of “Carborundum” will be tfont you free 
of charge. 
