1004. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
801 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A great storm broke over southern Florida 
October 10-17, cutting off Miami and other towns on the east 
coast from outside communication. The schooner Melrose 
was wrecked and seven persons drowned; other vessels went 
ashore at Palm Beach, but without loss of life. . . . 
Chicago is in the grip of the worst spell of smallpox since 
1894 and 1895, according to the Health Department's chief 
medical inspector. For the first time in many months the 
pest has invaded the neighborhoods of the well-to-do. The 
disease is making strides everywhere. The Health Depart¬ 
ment employees are busy day and night trying to check the 
pest. Smallpox is epidemic in southern Illinois and causing 
great alarm. . . . After subsisting on scant rations for 
several weeks, during which they suffered intensely from 
the cold, the eleven survivors of the stranded steamship Vik¬ 
ing have been picked up from uninhabited islands off the 
coast of Labrador by the tug Douglas II. Thomas, which 
had been dispatched to their relief. They were taken to the 
Hudson Bay Company's post, at Iligolett. When the men 
were rescued their rations* had dwindled to an insignificant 
amount of salt pork. Hour and water, and their condition 
was desperate. The Viking, with a fu 11 cargo of provisions 
and supplies for a lumber concern at Grand River, Hamil¬ 
ton Inlet, was wrecked at Shag Rock, Gross Water Bay. 
last August. Soon after a gale swept the wreck, carrying 
away the greater part of her stores, and forcing the crew to 
abandon her. The captain and two of the crew sought 
refuge on a small island to the windward of the wreck, 
while the other eight men reached an Island to the leeward. 
A vessel, formerly sent to bring back the Viking's crew, was 
also wrecked. . . Collector Stranahan of the Port of 
New York, has undertaken a crusade for the enforcement of 
Section 4,472 of the Revised Statutes, which provides, under 
a penalty of $500, that all lire in automobiles shall be ex¬ 
tinguished before the machine enters any vessel, and not 
relighted until the automobile is on shore again. The law 
was passed in February, 1901, but until the Slocum disaster 
It was a dead letter. After that for a short time the ferry 
companies were careful to enforce it, but lately the Col¬ 
lector heard of various lapses, and assigned several inspec¬ 
tors to watch for violations. Recently one of his men dis¬ 
covered a gasoline automobile with the tire burning on one 
of the Brooklyn Ferry Company’s boats. A complaint was 
made and the Collector imposed the fine. A representative 
of the ferry company called at the Custom House and an¬ 
nounced that the company did not propose to pay the fine. 
Collector Stranahan at once transmitted the papers to the 
United States District Attorney, with instructions to begin 
suit at once. This suit will test the validity of the law. 
. . . Fire started October 24 in the troop stables at 
Fort Sill, Okla., and destroyed five of them. Nearly every¬ 
thing stored in the stables was destroyed, including 120,000 
rounds of ammunition, many saddles, blankets, feed, grain 
and tents. The fire started while the soldiers were at din¬ 
ner and was under such headway when discovered that It 
was Impossible for the 800 soldiers to quench it. The loss 
is estimated at $30,000. . . . Justice Brewer, of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, announced October 24 
the decision of the court in the oleomargarine case of August 
Cliff, of Chicago, affirming the decision of tiie United States 
District Court, by which Cliff was convicted of violating the 
portion of the oleojnargarine law fixing a tax of 10 cents 
per pound on oleomargarine artificially colored. In this in¬ 
stance palm oil was used for the purpose of coloring the 
substance, and the prosecution was resisted on the ground 
that the oil produces a natural, and not an artificial, color¬ 
ation. . . . The Co-operative Detective Service of Mil¬ 
waukee has been debarred the use of the mails. The con¬ 
cern was conducted by August L. Ische, who “wanted sharp 
young men everywhere; $4 a day and expenses; experience 
unnecessary.” According to the testimony in the Depart¬ 
ment those who answered the advertisement were called 
upon to give a description of themselves and to accompany 
the same with a fee of 25 cents. After that, on payment 
of $2.25, each applicant was furnished with a certificate and 
star, and the title of “private detective” conferred upon him. 
Ische admitted that he itad never been engaged in detective 
work, and was unable to show that any of the persons enter¬ 
ing into contract with him had obtained employment as a 
detective or in any other capacity. The Department decided 
that the scheme was in violation of the fraud provisions of 
the postal laws, and accordingly the use of the mails has 
been denied the concern. 
ADMINISTRATION.—Acting Secretary Adee of the State 
Department dispatched October 25 a note looking to the 
reassembling of the Hague Conference. This is an invita¬ 
tion from the President of the United States to the signa¬ 
tory powers of the original Hague treaty to come together 
again to broaden and strengthen the original convention, to 
consider means further to ameliorate the horrors of modern 
warfare and to conserve and extend the rights of neutral 
commerce on the high seas. In addition to the signatory 
powers the invitation goes forward to four of the South and 
Central American republics, which have announced a desire 
to adhere to the Hague Treaty, but which have so far been 
prevented from doing so by the singular omission of a gen¬ 
eral clause, usual in such treaties, allowing powers to 
adhere to the articles of the treaty upon their own applica¬ 
tion. Thie note is directed to the American Ambassadors and 
Ministers abroad, witli instructions to sound the govern¬ 
ments to which they are accredited and to extend President 
Roosevelt's invitation in such terms as they see fit. While 
the President has in his invitation suggested The Hague 
as a proper meeting place for the conference, a majority of 
the powers must determine that as well as the date of the 
meeetiug. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—October 22 the Russian 
Baltic fleet encountered a tleet of English fishing trawlers in 
the North Sea, which either in panic or inconceivable igno¬ 
rance the Russians must have mistaken for a Japanese 
torpedo boat flotilla. This is the only explanation at pres¬ 
ent that can be offered for the terrible fact that the Rus¬ 
sian warships opened fire on the defenceless fishermen with 
shrapnel, maintaining their fusillade, according to the fish¬ 
ermen who escaped, for 20 minutes, sinking at least two 
boats, killing two men and wounding others. Not the least 
disgraceful feature of the tragedy is the fact that the war¬ 
ships continued their course without attempting to rescue 
the. victims or even to ascertain the extent of the damage 
they had done. The only suggestion that is offered in 
palliation of this inhumanity is that the Russians were so 
overcome by panic that they did their utmost to escape the 
imagined enemy. Captain l’eaker, of the steam cutter Mag¬ 
pie, accompanying the trawlers, declared it was useless for 
any one to pretend that torpedo boats or destroyers could 
be disguised to resemble trawlers. Moreover, each of the 
trawlers carried the lights required by (lie British Board of 
Trade rules, a duplex lamp showing white right ahead, a red 
light on the port side, a green light on the starboard side 
and a globe lamp at the masthead showing white all around. 
He thinks that the Russians lost their heads and blazed 
away in confusion, and that they steamed off when they got 
no reply and found they had been firing at harmless fish¬ 
ermen. The inevitable delays of diplomatic procedure ap¬ 
pear to retard a complete and satisfactory settlement of the 
acute differences between Great Britain and Russia arising 
from the deplorable North Sea affair. King Edward has re¬ 
ceived from Emperor Nicholas himself a telegram expressing 
the deepest regret and a practical acknowledgment that 
Great Britain’s peremptory note will receive a reply conced¬ 
ing every demand for apology for the act of aggression 
against the British flag, compensation for sufferers and pun¬ 
ishment for what is everywhere conceded to have been a 
gigantic blunder, and the Russian Ambassador to the Court 
of St. James has expressed to the Foreign Minister, Lord 
Lansdowne, his sorrow and sympathy. These developments 
have allayed to some extent the deep resentment in the 
public mind. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The American Apple Growers’ 
Congress will be held in Library Ilall, St. Louis Exposition, 
November 9-11. For information concerning this meeting, 
or the Association, address the secretary, T. C. Wilson, 
Hannibal, Mo. 
At a quarterly meeting of the Connecticut Dairymen’s 
Association held in the Capitol, Hartford, October 19. it was 
arranged to hold the annual convention in Jewell Hall, 
Hartford, January 18 and 19, 1905. There will be several 
speakers from other States at the annual gathering, includ¬ 
ing Euclid M. Cobb, Monmouth, 111. ; ITof. Charles I). Woods 
of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Orono, Me., and 
I’rof. It. A. Pearson, of Cornell University, formerly of the 
Department of Agriculture, Washington. 
MAKING A HOME IN ARKANSAS. 
I am on a 40-acre place which I bought last Fall, to be 
paid for in six years, $100 annually, (first payment this 
Fall), interest at eight per cent; 30 acres tillable, balance 
suitable for pasture, situated on top of a mountain with 
gentle slope to the north; very seldom any damage from 
frost; extra good location for fruit and potatoes. I sold in 
June from my four acres of Irish potatoes 313 bushels at 
$1.01 per bushel, and 125 bushels al $1.0(5 per bushel: also 
20 bushels culls at 50 cents per bushel, clearing above all ex¬ 
penses $390 on the four acres. I have the same land in Fall 
potatoes and they are doing well. I hope to make 150 
bushels from fhe Fall crop ; will hold till Spring, when they 
will be worth $1 or more per bushel for seed. I have also 
two acres sweet potatoes ready to dig; they will yield 75 
or 100 bushels per acre, and will be worth probably 75 cents 
per bushel for eating potatoes and more for seed (culls) 
when we market in late Winter and early Spring. I have 
4 l A> acres cotton, from which I have picked 1,300 pounds, 
worth about 8 % cents per pound; will get about 700 more. 
I do not expect to raise any more cotton, as my land is 
better adapted to Other tilings. I have a little over three- 
fourths acre of strawberries, Michell and Gandy, which I 
am now thinning. They look well, and I hope to make at 
least $200 from them. That may .sound almost too big, but 
one man sold $500 worth of Gandy from less than an acre 
this year, so a grocer who bought part of them told me, and 
a German sold $1,(500 from three acres, Michell and Bubacb. 
Besides this I have raised enough corn and nearly enough 
fodder to do me next year. I have paid out less than $7 
for labor, outside of potato digging and cotton picking. It 
cost five cents per bushel to get potatoes picked up, and 
costs 75 cents per 100 for cotton picking. I quit, practicing 
medicine last Winter and went to farming some $800 in 
debt besides my place. I have a sorry house to live in. and 
poor equipment to work with, but hope to pay out, catch up 
and make a beautiful home here in a few years. There is 
much satisfaction and I believe some money to be got out 
of farming here. _ akicansas. 
THE APPLE CROP . 
Apple crop rather light or rather uneven, good in some 
orchards and none in others. Farmers are selling freely at 
from 50 to 75 cents a bushel in our home towns; not much 
will go in storage here. g. w. h. 
Gallery, Fa. 
The apple buyers have not made any better offers; 40 and 
50 cents per 100 for bulk stock or about $1 per barrel is 
all they want to pay. Dry houses pay 20 cents per 100; 
most people selling at this price; not many going into stor¬ 
age in this vicinity. c. it. j. 
I’enfield, N. Y. 
The apple crop in (his locality, as well as in most of 
eastern Kansas and Missouri, is almost an entire failure. I 
think there will not be a barrel of apples packed in Wyan¬ 
dotte County. In central and western Kansas, particularly 
in the Arkansas Valley, it is said there is a fine crop, but 
I do not know anything about the prices paid. 
Kansas. w. D. c. 
Apples are not moving as freely as for the past few years. 
Some have sold for $1.50 for Baldwin and $1.25 for Green¬ 
ing. Much of the poorer grades are sold in bulk for from 
40 to (50 cents per 100, but many farmers are holding for 
better prices. Some are sending to cold storage houses. 
Many will be put in cellars if prices do not advance. 
Hilton, N. Y. B. w. B. 
In this section a few farmers sold their apple crop early 
for 95 cents per barrel. Later buyers have been paying 75 
cents. Some have sold for latter figure. Most of the fruit 
growers here have fruit houses or cellars, and are storing 
their fruit. Some have put their fruit in New York cold 
storage. c. J. L. 
West Coxsackie, N. Y. 
The apple crop is still very largely in the hands of (he 
growers. Buyers are offering for No. 1 red fruit from $1 
to $1.40, barrels included. Some have sold, but a good many 
are holding back for a higher price. Some are being sold 
in bulk at 50 cents per 100 pounds, hand picked. I hardly 
think farmers in this locality will put much fruit In stor¬ 
age. The hope seems to be that the price will advance soon. 
Stanley, N. Y. f. e. v. b. 
A large acreage of potatoes was planted in Spring, but 
the blight has been so destructive that some fields average 
only about 50 per cent, while those dug earlier have rotted 
in the bin fully as much. I’otatoes that have been sprayed 
four or five times from the last week of July to the last 
week of August are free from rot, and average about 300 
bushels per acre. c. n. 
Macungie, Pa. 
The apple business has taken a new departure. We have 
never known the farmers to be shipping their own apples so 
freely. Buyers do' not raise on their first price, and $1.25 
per barrel is the best offer being made. Many apples are 
being placed by the fruit growers in cold storage in the 
cities awaiting better prices. It seems to be the commis¬ 
sion merchants’ year. w. a. b. 
Interlaken, N. Y. 
Apples are not as extensively grown in the northeastern 
part of the county as in northern and western. A large 
share of the crop is sold in bulk, and shippers send them 
loose in car lots. Greenings bring about 20 cents per 50 
pounds; Baldwins 22 to 24 cents; Kings $1.20 per barrel; 
windfalls for dry house 15 cents per 100 pounds. Thou¬ 
sands of bushels will not be gathered, and in the Winter 
thousands of city people will not eat a good apple once a 
day. g. f. w. 
Fairport, N. Y. 
Apples are selling quite readily to driers, or rather such 
sales were mostly made a month ago, for the quite uniform 
price of 20 cents per 100 pounds shaken off and delivered 
without sorting. Buyers are offering (50 cents per barrel 
for picked apples in piles, the buyer to furnish barrels and 
do the packing, the farmer to deliver. There seems to be 
no present prospect of rise, and yet it is very sure to come. 
Buyers ask $1.40 per barrel for this stock, f. o. b. 
Weedsport, N. Y. j. g. 
Frost lias not visited us yet, weather very dry, streams 
low. Apples about picked; corn in the shock, with good 
crop well cared for. Apples are selling at 40 to 00 cents 
per bushel at railroad for loose shipment. Prices are better 
for good Winter fruit in barrels, $1.40 to $2.25; barrels 
30 to 35 cents; short crop with inferior apples. The scab 
has done great damage. All see the necessity for spraying 
and better culture. a. j. 
Waynesville, N. C. 
The buyers have opened up in a small way, paying $1.25 
for green and $1.40 for red; $1.75 for good Kings, and 
hardly anyone selling. It seems to me, with the western 
crop poor, with the drop by the wind and frost, coupled with 
the lateness of picking, that when the first killing frost 
strikes us there will lie more apples on the ground than 
we have ever seen before. If this proves to be a fact, with 
what I believe to be no larger crop than last year in this 
country, apples must be worth more money later in the 
season. Many of the farmers will store. t. b. w. 
Hall’s Corners, N. Y. 
We have a large crop of apples in Wayne County. The 
bulk of them will go to the evaporators; probably not over 
25 per cent will be barreled. The apple buyers are deter¬ 
mined to buy these apples cheap enough so to be sure not 
to lose any money on them. The heavy winds about October 
1 have materially reduced the barreling apples; still more 
will be barreled here if the farmers can get them picked 
than any year since 189(5. Buyers are offering from $1.15, 
including barrels for Greenings, to $1.40 for Baldwins. Very 
few of the farmers are selling so far; are waiting devel¬ 
opments. B. j. c. 
Sodus, N. Y. 
In this locality there is about 70 per cent of a full crop 
of apples, and they are mostly of tine quality ; some fungus 
upon the Greenings, and hardly any upon other varieties. 
We have a storage capacity of about. 175,000 barrels alto¬ 
gether ; two cold storage buildings, one 80,000 barrels, the 
other 20 , 000 , and the farmers are putting in storage four- 
fifths of the apples. Prices paid by the buyers were for 
Greening $1.20 to $1.50; King $1.75; Baldwin, $1.25 to 
$1.50; Russet $1.25 to $1.50. Farmers are not selling their 
apples this season. Many of the large crops are being held 
and put in storage, holding them for better prices. 
Albion, N. Y. j. b. 
Latest cable advices from the principal apple markets in 
Great Britain report a more unfavorable condition of their 
markets, and while prices are a little lower on fine condi¬ 
tioned parcels, they had to make some very low sales in 
order to clear a great many lots that arrived out in bad 
order, such as Snows, Greenings, Pippins and Ilubbardstons. 
Prices realized for the best landed conditioned parcels gave 
nets here in Boston of $2 to $2.50 for King, Wealthy and 
McIntosh Red per barrel. Russet, Harvey and Spy sold to 
give nets of $1.25 to $1.90. Greening sold to give nets from 
50 cents to $1 a barrel. Baldwin and Ben Davis sold to 
give nets from 75 cents to $1.25. Some fine King, McIntosh 
Red and Wealthy, in half barrel cases, sold to give nets from 
$1.25 to $1.50 per case. Baldwin, Ben Davis, Northern Spy 
and Russet sold to give nets of 90 cents to $1.25 per case. 
Some cases that were badly packed, consisting of Fall fruit, 
sold to give nets from 50 to 75 cents per case here in Boston, 
while the same kind of fruit that was sent in barrels did not 
give as much net per barrel as these cases netted. 
Boston, Mass. _ geo. a. cochrane. 
GIVE US BETTER WIRE. 
I am glad you have taken up the fight for better fence 
wire, and when that is won it may well be continued for 
nails in particular and hardware in general. Our fences 
are all home built, of simple wire, either barbed or smooth. 
Our air is very salt. I have just inspected wire put up 20 
years ago, and find it much better than that put up six 
years ago, though nearer to the ocean. I notice the six- 
year wire is a general rust color, but not yet badly weak¬ 
ened. One place for about six feet each side of a factory 
splice retains some zinc. Your correspondents who blame 
the wire metal as well as the coating are certainly right, 
and the fault extends to nails, tubing and all steel or Iron¬ 
ware. I have one pump pipe that, is doing decent work after 
2(5 years’ service; a later one gave water unfit for use after 
12 years, and was replaced by entirely new material less 
than four years ago. For more than a year it has given 
water unfit to use, not only rusty, but ill-smelling. There 
are old hinges on the place more than 50 years old. of good 
strength yet. A pair of rub-irons on my farm wagon went 
to pieces like a bread crust in water in about three years. 
The damage to shingle roofs by means of short-lived nails 
is beyond any sort of computation. One other fact: We 
have a fence made of discarded telegraph wire. I will not 
even guess its age. The zinc was all off years ago, but the 
wire lasts; it is soft to bend and easy to cut. A piece of 
new wire is stiff and hard to cut, aud falls in flakes of rust 
soon after the zinc is gone. e. l. s. 
Cape Cod, Mass. 
CANADIAN WHEAT.—The following statement is made 
by the Canadian Information Bureau : Owing to the scare 
created by the discovery of rust in a part of Manitoba in 
August an erroneous impression has got abroad as to the 
size of this year's crop in western Canada. At the time of 
the scare a well-known wheat estimator put the whole 
western Canadian crop as low as 42,000,000 bushels, and one 
guess even had it as low as 35,000,000 bushels. Now thrash¬ 
ing is so far advanced that it can be asserted without doubt 
that the western Canadian wheat crop will be about (50,000,- 
000 bushels, or an average of 17 bushels to the acre, as good 
an average yield and a larger total by 7.000,000 bushels than 
last year. The indications now are that western Canada 
will have 4.500,000 acres in wheat next year, and with favor¬ 
able conditions will for the first time produce a crop of 
about 100 , 000,000 bushels. 
CROFS IN IOWA.—October 17 and no killing frost yet. 
On September 10 I wrote you that at least three weeks of 
warm weather were needed to mature the corn crop. We 
have now had over five weeks of dry, warm weather, and 
the corn crop is all safe. We had a light frost on three 
occasions during the last five weeks, but not enough to 
injure anything. Tender crops, such as tomato, squash and 
pumpkin vines, are still growing as vigorously as at any 
time last Summer. Strawberries are blossoming, and some 
report, having picked ripe berries. We had one piece of 
corn of 1(5 acres, timber laud, from which the timber had 
been cut three years ago. Last Spring we removed the 
stumps, hauled them in large piles and burned them: plowed 
the land in May and May 29 and 30 planted to yellow dent 
corn in drills three feet six inches, eight inches apart in the 
row. It came up well and made a very heavy growth of 
stalks, but did not begin to ear until the latter part of 
August. When I wrote you on September 10 this field was 
in wlrtit we call ‘“good roasting ears,” and at that time 
we did not expect to get much sound corn from it, but 
thanks to the long dry Fall, it has made the largest crop 
of good corn we have ever harvested. Nearly every ear is 
sound, and will soon be ready to crib. We have husked 
a few loads to feed, and two rows of corn (50 rods long 
make 15 inches in wagon box, 15 bushels shelled corn, or 
about 90 bushels shelled corn per acre. I think the corn 
crop in eastern Iowa will be the largest for several years, 
and corn will probably be cheaper, which will be good news 
to our eastern friends as well as the cattle and sheep feeders 
in Iowa. Perhaps some of your readers would like to know 
what land is worth that will raise such a crop of corn. 
Myself and another man rent this farm of 200 acres, for 
which we pay $500 per year for three years. We moved 
here last March ; the farm was then offered for $50 per acre. 
If we can continue to raise such crops I think we can buy 
it when our lease expires, although some of the wise ones 
shook their heads when we rented it, and said : “They can 
never make the rent,” and I must confess to some misgivings 
myself during the Summer. We expect to feed a carload of 
cattle and a carload of hogs, and think we can make at 
least 50 cents per bushel from our corn, of which we shall 
have about 3,000 bushels. We also had about 800 bushels 
of oats and 36 bushels buckwheat, 40 tons of hay and 
pastured 75 head of cattle and horses. n. o. f. 
Cedar Co., Iowa. __ 
BUSINESS BITS . 
Tiie low-down wagons manufactured by the Geneva Metal 
Wheel Co., Box 17, Geneva, Ohio, seem to be the right sort 
for farm work. This company also makes steel wheels, 
which will fit any wagon. A catalogue giving full informa¬ 
tion will be mailed to any reader writing for it. Address 
as above. 
The De Laval Separator Co. announces its Grand Prize 
award just given at the St. Louis Exposition. The De Laval 
exhibit at St. Louis is a creditable one, and has attracted 
much attention since the opening of the fair. Aside from 
their own display, five De Laval machines are in operation 
in the different departments of the Exposition. 
Those gloves offered by the Russian Fur Co., Gloversvllle, 
N. Y.. will we expect be the means of keeping warm the 
fingers of many of our people this Winter. It is seldom that 
one is able to buy articles of this kind direct from the manu¬ 
facturers, thus saving the profit of both the wholesaler and 
retailer. Cold weather is coming—be ready for it. 
No argument is required on the advisability of cooking 
certain kinds of foods for live stock. The “Farmers’ 
Favorite” cooker is all that its name implies, aud can be 
used in many other ways about a farm. L. It. Lewis, 12 
Main Street, Cortland, N. Y., is the manufacturer. If in¬ 
terested write him for circular, prices or any other infor¬ 
mation. 
