1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
79 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Eight persons were killed by falling down 
an elevator shaft at St. Louis, Mo., January 13. The 
casualties were entirely due to carelessness, a crowd of 
men and boys rushing to take the elevator, those in 
front opening the gate before the cage reached the floor, 
while those behind pushed them into the shaft. 
The Postal Progress League, meeting at New York, 
January 13, indorsed a bill now before Congress pro¬ 
viding for the consolidation of third and fourth class 
mail matter, and adopted a resolution urging Congress 
to give the United States “postal facilities for parcels 
equal to those possessed by the leading countries of 
Europe,” and recommending “the purchase by the Gov¬ 
ernment of any private interests which may be affected 
by the adoption of such a postal system.” President 
Roosevelt was asked to take advantage of the World's 
Postal Congress at Rome, March 21, to secure, if pos¬ 
sible, a world postal currency and an international post¬ 
age stamp issue. John Brisben Walker declared that a 
former Postmaster-General, when asked about the 
chances of a postal parcels system, had told him that 
there were four insuperable obstacles to such a law, 
specifying by name four express companies. “Those 
companies/’ Mr. Walker went on, had influence 
enough 30 years ago to direct any legislation they wanted, 
and they have the same influence to-day. And yet it 
costs just four times as much to send an eight-pound 
parcel by mail from Rochester to Buffalo as it would 
to send the same parcel from Edinburgh through the 
United States to Seattle. The Government has got to 
buy out the express companies.” .... Fire at Havre, 
Mont., January 14, caused damage amounting to $400,000. 
Troops were sent from Fort Assiniboine to preserve 
order, as many robberies were committed during the 
confusion.Fire destroyed a malt house at 
Paterson, N. J., January 15, causing a loss of $100,000. 
. Fire started in a newspaper building at Wheel¬ 
ing, W. Va., January 17, and extended to other business 
buildings, causing a loss of $750,000.January 18, 
when the temperature in Saratoga Co., N. Y., reached 
36 below zero, icemen reported that ice was already too 
thick for profitable storing.A boiler explosion 
in a sawmill at James City, N. C., January 18, killed 
seven persons.The negro disfranchisement pro¬ 
visions of the Alabama Constitution received, inferen- 
tially at least, a hard knock at the hands of the U. 
S. Supreme Court January 18 in the decision that the 
conviction of Dan Rogers, a negro, of murder in that 
State was illegal, for the reason that persons of his 
race were excluded from the jury which indicted him. 
The opinion of the court was unanimous, all the justices 
concurring. 
ADMINISTRATION.—President Roosevelt transmitted 
to the Senate January 18 additional correspondence 
touching the relations of the United States with Colom¬ 
bia and Panama, covering the period from December 23, 
1903, to January 6, 1904. A statement of grievances on 
the part of Colombia was presented to the State De¬ 
partment by General Reyes on December 23, in which 
he says that the course of the United States 
has worked deep injury to Colombia, and he oited the 
treaty of 184(1 as showing that the independence and 
sovereignty of Colombia was to be maintained intact be¬ 
tween the two governments. General Reyes said, with 
reference to the Hay-Herran treaty, that the same course 
was followed in Bogota as was pursued in Washington. 
If the treaty, he said, had been rejected in Washington 
the disapproval would have involved no grievance for 
Colombia, and that the Colombian Congress in its dis¬ 
approval of the treaty simply exercised a vested right. 
This action, he maintained, did not disqualify the Co¬ 
lombian government for the conclusion of another treaty. 
General Reyes ends by proposing that the claims which 
Colombia presents for violation of the treaty of 1846, by 
the United States shall be submitted to The Hague Trib¬ 
unal of Arbitration.Representative Haskins 
<Rep., Vt.), introduced, January 18, a bill providing that 
every person who, after his election to and while a 
member of Congress or an officer or agent of the Gov¬ 
ernment, accepts consideration from the Government or 
an individual or corporation for procuring any Govern¬ 
ment contract, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviciton be punished by imprisonment of not 
more than two years and a fine not to exceed $10,000, 
and also that the contract shall be declared null and 
void, and that the person accepting such consideration 
shall be disqualified from holding any office of honor or 
profit under the Government. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Among the noted speakers at 
the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Live Stock 
Breeders’ Association, to be held at the Monongahela 
House, Pittsburg, February 10-11, is Hon. L. H. Kerrick, 
of Bloomington, Ill., who has bred, fed and shown more 
prize-winning steers than any other man in America. 
A number of other prominent speakers wall be present. 
The first year of the farmers' institute system in 
Georgia closed with a meeting held at Fayetteville, De¬ 
cember 19, 1903. Prior to the year 1903 only a small amount 
of work along the line of farmers' institutes has been 
attempted in Georgia. Last year witnessed a new 
awakening, and very successful meetings have been 
held throughout the entire State. The expense of the 
work has been borne by the University of Georgia. Hon. 
Harvie Jordan, of Monticello, was selected by the trus¬ 
tees as Director of Institutes. Col. Jordan is at the 
head of the Southern Cotton Growers’ Protective Asso¬ 
ciation, is a member of the State Senate, and was elected 
president of the National Farmers’ Congress at their 
meeting at Niagara Falls. 
An attractive programme was arranged for the meet¬ 
ing of the New York State Fruit Growers’ Association 
at Poughkeepsie January 29-30. The New York Fruit 
Growers’ Stake prize for best 10 varieties of apples will 
have a large entry list, and the prize will be at least 
$40. Liberal prizes will also be given for largest and 
best collection of apples, best bushel box, most at¬ 
tractive and best display of apples, and for various 
other classes. All entries, applications for programmes 
and premium list should be mailed to T. E. Cross, 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
NEW JERSEY STATE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY MEETS. 
Part II. 
Samuel A. Miller, Sussex, N. J., in his essay on “The 
Most Profitable Management of Peach Orchards,” recom¬ 
mended the purchase of trees from Southern States or 
from western New York in order to lessen danger of 
“yellows.” Discussion brought out instances where or¬ 
ders for peach trees placed with nurseries in these locali¬ 
ties by Jersey men were filled with trees grown in New 
Jersey to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned, ex¬ 
cept that the wrong nurseries got the credit for produc¬ 
ing such excellent stock. 
B. J. Case’s paper on evaporating apples and berries 
was a revelation to Jersey growers, accustomed to losses 
occasioned by gluts in the market. He said that while 
all growers should strive for highest quality adverse 
conditions were certain to produce at times fruits of 
lower grades that never should be put on the market in 
the fresh state. Canners and evaporators are useful to 
dispose of these grades. Evaporated fruits may be kept 
for years in cold storage and disposed or as the market 
demands. About 75 per cent of the apple growers in 
Wayne Co., N. Y., have evaporators, and in 1902 cured 
enough apples to load 800 cars with the dried product. 
This immense quantity would make 120,000,000 pies if used 
at the ordinary rate. It was all sold for good prices. On 
an average cne bushel of apples turns out IV 2 pounds of 
the evaporated article. The process is a great safeguard 
against glut of fresh fruits and has driven out about all 
cider mills and distilleries. Evaporation in northern New 
York has gone through long and expensive evolution, but 
is now cheap and practical. Most of the Wayne County 
apples are dried in cheap “hop kilns” made with a slatted 
floor on which the pared and sliced fruits are placed, with 
a furnace below and cupola above to carry off moisture, 
bpt there are more expensive and elaborate plants. 
W. H. Skillman, Belle Mead, N. J., had some experi¬ 
ences with nursery stock to relate. He claims there are 
more defective orchardists than nurserymen, but that 
tree buyer.? have grievances other than substitution and 
disease infestation. One cause of weak trees is bad 
seeds. More “Tennessee natural pits” are planted than 
are collected in the Southern States. Too rapid forcing 
of young trees by nitrogenous manures is in the end in¬ 
jurious. Stripping off leaves in the Fall to aid early ship¬ 
ments is often harmful to young trees. Poor digging 
greatly lessens vitality while the practice of cutting back 
young trees to hold them another season tends to stunt 
future growth. Root gall is a serious trouble; it is not 
always evident, and may not kill the tree, but leaves it 
a cripple. Bad heeling-in hurts great quantities of stock. 
Fumigation with hydrocyanic gas may injure trees if 
carelessly performed. "Black pith” in young orchard 
trees is an indication of low vitality, such trees should 
not be planted. While Black pith is usually attributed 
to freezing it is not clear this is the real cause. 
An excellent paper on propagating from bearing trees 
and nursery rows and the general influence of stocks on 
grafts, from the nursery standpoint, was read by E. S. 
Black, Hightstown, N. J Grafting and budding from 
choice bearing trees to produce “pedigree strains” is all 
right in theory, but in practice most experiments have 
failed. It is the business of mature trees to produce 
fruits, or in other words to reproduce themselves by 
seeds. The grafts and buds taken from such choice trees 
are often weak in vegetative force and fail to preserve 
their supericrity when removed to other conditions. 
Young trees produce leaf buds of high vitality, and are 
best for propagation. It is their mission to make strong 
trees before fruiting begins. Many old trees are dis¬ 
eased, and sometimes put forth a supreme effort to bear 
fine fruits. If propagated from diseased conditions fol¬ 
low. There are many contradictions and little-known 
conditions in nursery practice. Kieffer pears and seed¬ 
lings are useless as stocks for European varieties, but 
the combination works to perfection the other way. Cali¬ 
fornia peach pits, strenuously advocated a few years ago, 
are not as good as the Tennessee product. 
Much interest was shown in the caustic soda wash for 
Pernicious scale. Discussion brought out that it is an old 
remedy and has been repeatedly used. One pound to one 
gallon of water will kill 90 per cent of scales on infested 
trees. It is quickly washed off and therefore transient 
in action; does not check increase. Caustic soda cuts 
the fruit crop short, as it injures many buds. Lime, salt 
and sulphur rather helps the crop, as it does not harm 
buds and is a fungicide. There is nothing better to date 
than the lime-sulphur mixture well boiled. It Is not 
necessary to have the entire quantity hot. Prepare ma¬ 
terials for 150 gallons by using only water enough to 
slake the lime, then other materials, adding water up to 
30 or 40 gallons; remainder of water may be added cool, 
but not ice cold. The warmer the better. Use common 
Bordeaux nozzle. Use vaseline to protect face and hands, 
rubbing it freely in the eyelashes. Oils are poor protec¬ 
tion from such caustic washes. 
The following officers were elected to serve the coming 
year: President, W. H. Skillman, Belle Mead; vice-pre¬ 
sident, Horace Roberts, Fellowship; secretary, Henry I. 
Budd, Mt. Holly; treasurer, I. J. Blackwell. There was 
a very creditable display of fruits both preserved and 
fresh. The apples were unusually large and well col¬ 
ored. Finer Winesaps and Newtowns would be difficult 
to imagine. New Jersey is the meeting groifnd of these 
valuable varieties, characteristic of the North and the 
South, but they are little grown in the State. Smith’s 
Cider and York Imperial were most abundantly shown. 
w. v. F. 
SPRAYING ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 
F.Walden in The Ranch says he went through the pro¬ 
cess of development from the knapsack sprayer through 
the hand pump to gasoline power. He uses 10,000 gallons 
of liquid for each spraying and sprayed five times last 
year, so that the barrel sprayer has become a back num¬ 
ber. He describes his outfit as follows: 
"Our engine, pump, tank, agitating fixtures, cooling 
tank—in short, the entire outfit as it stands on the wagon 
weighs, as I now remember, about 800 pounds. The tank 
holds about 150 gallons of water, or something over three 
barrels. The wagon we use is a low, metal-wheeled 
wagon. When the tank is full the entire outfit, not, of 
course, including the wagon, weighs about 2,300 pounds. 
Two good, average-sized horses draw the outfit readily. 
The load gets lighter as the material in the tank is spray¬ 
ed out. Where there are steep hills a third horse would 
become necessary. It would not be proper to say that 
our engine gave us no trouble. My sons were inexperi¬ 
enced with gasoline engines, and when any trouble came 
up they had to study the matter. But they soon learned 
to know the engine, and had but little delay. We did 
not have to spray our peach trees, and what little spray¬ 
ing we did for the San Jos6 scale was so scattered about 
that the question of how many trees we could spray 
in 10 hours, I cannot answer. We sprayed five times for 
the Codling moth. We could spray about 500 apple trees 
in a day of 10 hours. We figured up at the close of the 
season and found that it cost us about eight cents a tree 
for the five sprayings. This includes cost of material, 
labor and everythi ng.” 
REPORTS FROM PEACH GROWERS. 
In reference to the peach buds being killed by the 
cold snap, we find them all right for a full crop of 
peaches. The buds are very dormant, which has been 
in their favor. N. p. c. 
Burlington, N. J. 
The freeze recently killed all the tender fruit buds in 
this section (Pine Island). In some locations there are 
no buds left, and some of the young wood frozen, while 
on the hilltops they have escaped with perhaps 10 per 
cent of a crop. h. v. 
Middleford, Orange Co., N. Y. 
I made a complete examination, and cannot find any 
fruit buds that are not frozen on our peach trees. The 
peach crop in this section will be a total failure. Janu¬ 
ary 5 the thermometer registered 24 degrees below zero; 
January G, 18 below. Some of the sweet cherries are 
frozen also. v. c. r. 
Shiremanstown, Pa. 
I have an orchard of about 3,000 peach trees located 
on one of the highest hills in this town, all northern 
exposure. I walked through the orchard January 17, 
cutting branches from the different kinds; did not find 
one live bud. Thermometer here registered from 35 to 
45 below zero in the village, one mile away, January 5. 
Washingtonville, N. Y. c. r. s. 
We have just made a careful examination in both 
trial and commercial orchards, and find them in good 
condition. We did not find the loss equaling 50 per cent 
in even the tender kinds. All standard sorts are very 
good. I confess I was very agreeably surprised, for I 
feared the loss would be total over the State, and still 
think that will be true except in very favorable loca¬ 
tions. Mercury here registered 14 below zero, but was 
much lower within two miles in the valleys on either 
Side. A. G. GULLEY. 
Connecticut Agricultural College. 
SOUTHERN VIEW OF COTTON PRICES. 
The following from the Galveston News will show 
how some of the southern people feel about the rise in 
cotton prices: 
“There are not wanting many observant people who 
consider the present returns for cotton about the normal 
value or price which the staple might have been bring¬ 
ing, year after year, all along, but for conditions which 
tended to enable the buyers and gamblers to control 
the market. It is not at all unreasonable to conclude 
that the manipulation of southern mills, bringing to the 
door of the cotton raiser the benefits of competition, has 
had quite as much to do in producing the wild scenes 
on the exchanges, as well as boll weevils and all other 
active causes counted together. This view is borne out 
In a way by the recent reduction in the wages of opera¬ 
tives in New England mills. These operatives have 
been receiving, in wages, some part of the profit or price 
which belonged of right to the man with the hoe. The 
wage-earners shared this unfair exaction with million¬ 
aire millmen, brokers, gamblers and shippers, leaving 
for the farmer, in some instances, less than the cost of 
production. It is questionable whether cotton should 
ever have brought less than 10 cents per pound, con¬ 
sidering the cost of production, all the conditions, the 
prices of the manufactured goods and of other products. 
There has not been a fair division of the legitimate 
profit of cotton. That is quite certain. The present 
strenuous demand made by competing mills and by 
speculators, who see millions in it, makes this fact the 
more apparent.” _ 
WHY RABBITS FATTEN.— The R. N.-Y. recently ask¬ 
ed: “Why do rabbits fatten when the weather gets cold 
and food is not so plentiful?” It seems to be following 
out Nature’s law of tempering the wind to the shorn 
lamb. Animals lay on fat at the last of the season to 
nurture them when food is scarce. Dairymen know how 
difficult it is to keep up a flow of milk the last three 
months of the year, while feeders improve faster if any¬ 
thing after the frosts come. You can hardly milk a cow 
poor at the last of the year, nor milk a cow fat in the 
flush of the season when food is abundant. Cows will 
frequently shrink in milk two or three days before a 
heavy storm, and sometimes recover while the storm is 
on if it is to be followed by milder weather. w. g. e. 
West Chester, Pa. 
STAINS FOR ROOFING.—Is there any real merit in 
paints or stains for shingles? I am about to build a 
large barn and wish to shingle it, and want it to stay. 
I have just had a number of sheds and factory buildings 
painted with what was represented as fireproof, and 
would be as good in 15 years as now. The agent also 
stated that spruce shingles at $2 per 1,000 were just as 
good as best cedar when coated with this, and would be 
as good as new in 15 years, and should then be coated 
again (cost $2.50 per square) and roof would last indefi- 
nately. I want the best there is, but do not wish to use 
slate or iron on account of heat. Do you know of any¬ 
one who has barn covered with corrugated iron? I 
should like to know of most durable and best. 
Leominster, Mass. f. w» 
