9 
l90l 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A fire in a cocoanut-shreddlng factory at 
Philadelphia, Pa., December 19t caused a loss amounting 
to $200,000. . . . Attorney-General Griggs argues before 
the Supreme Court that the Constitution does not follow 
the flag into Porto Rico and the Philippines. . . . The 
15-year-old son of Edward Cudahy, the Omaha million¬ 
aire, was kidnapped December 19, and released later on 
the payment of $25,000 ransom. . . . An explosion of 
natural gas at Beaver Palls, Pa., December 20, seriously 
injured seven persons, two fatally. ... In a four-cor¬ 
nered shooting affair at Sopchoppy, Fla., December 21, 
State Senator Rouse and Edgar Nims were killed and 
W. F. Edwards and Prank Walker were badly wounded. 
. . . . Each of the 3,000 employees of the Crane Com¬ 
pany, of Chicago, Ill., received as a Christmas present an 
amount equal to five per cent of his year’s earnings, the 
aggregate reaching $100,000. ... At Vancouver, B. C., 
the breaking of the Lula Island dykes has caused 
further damage to the sea walls protecting the farmers 
of the Fraser River Valley. Owing to high tides, strong 
winds and heavy rains, the lands have been badly flooded, 
and the village of Steveston is under three feet of water. 
Wooden sidewalks are floating away and the only means 
of locomotion is by boats. Wesham Island is badly flooded 
and ranch owners have been removing their live stock 
from the submerged fields in freight boats. . . . The 
Western Union Telegraph Company has been defeated in 
its suit against the National Bell Telephone Company for 
$12,000,000 royalties. . . . Greenup Co., Ky., is quar¬ 
antined in consequence of an outbreak of smallpox. The 
disease appears unusually prevalent in many parts of the 
United States. In New York City, new cases continue to 
develop. . . . Counsel for the Saloon Keepers’ Union, 
of Buffalo, N. Y., have drawn up a bill for introduction 
during the next session of the State Legislature, provid¬ 
ing that saloons in that city may be kept open all night 
during the Pan-American Exposition. . . . An Indian 
outbreak is feared at Sitka, Alaska. The situation is 
serious, as there are far more Indians than whites. . . . 
The steamer Alpha was wrecked near Union Bay, B. C., 
December 18, during a terrific gale; nine lives lost. . . . 
A private bank at Hope, Ind., was entered by burglars 
December 18, and $15,000 stolen. ... A race war was in 
progress December 25 at Cementville, Ind., armed negroes 
being practically in possession of the town. 
CONGRESS.—December 20 the Hay-Pauncefote treaty 
was ratified by the Senate, with a vote of 55 to 18. The 
Davis amendment and the Foraker amendment super¬ 
seding the Clayton-Bulwer treaty were retained, but all 
other amendments were voted down. Both branches of 
Congress adjourned until January 3. An effort will be 
made in the House when the River and Harbor bill is 
under consideration to tack on to it provisions for ex¬ 
tensive storage reservoirs in the West. The River and 
Harbor Committee has been pursued all the session by 
western Congressmen who want to get appropriations for 
this purpose. The committee has steadfastly refused. 
The storage reservoirs are ostensibly sought for the pur¬ 
pose of improving waterways, but the indirect object is 
to get vast supplies of water for irrigation schemes. The 
committee is unwilling to mix river and harbor improve¬ 
ments v/ith the irrigation question. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—Officials of the Ameri¬ 
can asphalt trust have appealed for warships to protect 
their interests in Venezuela. President Castro has an¬ 
nulled the asphalt concession, and revolutionists are 
threatening property. . . . London cablegrams state 
that disloyal Dutch in Cape Colony are joining the Boer 
invaders. Fifteen hundred of the native Afrikanders have 
united with the burghers at one point. Lord Kitchener 
is on the ground, and his forces have repulsed some of 
the Boer attacks. The British forces have reoccupled 
Britstown, recently captured by the Boers. . . . At a 
meeting of the foreign ministers in Pekin, December 20, 
everything in regard to the terms of the joint note was 
agreed to including the British modifications. Through 
a blunder in the transmission of Secretary Hay’s cabled 
message of instructions to Minister Conger, and to an 
error in translation of the cipher, Mr. Conger has been 
voting on the negotiations in direct reverse of the 
American policy. The latest advices from Pekin state 
that the joint note embodying the demands of the En¬ 
voys on China has been forwarded for acceptance to the 
Imperial Court, and the indications are that the ul¬ 
timatum will be agreed to by the Emperor. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Peninsula Horticultural 
Society will meet at Middletown, Del., January 9-lL 
Breeders of Blue Andalusian fowls are about to organize 
a club. The annual dues will be small. A meeting for 
organization and election of officers will be held during 
the Boston poultry show this month. Until this organi- 
ization the following will serve as officers: E. L. C. Morse, 
Chicago, Ill., president pro tern.; Newton Cosh, London, 
Canada, vice-president pro tern.; R. W. Lovett, Boston, 
Mass., secretary pro tern. 
Prank Rockefeller is said to be about to purchase 140,- 
000 acres of land in Kiowa and Clark counties, Kan., 
upon which to raise purebred stock. 
At the eleventh annual meeting of the Missouri Dairy¬ 
men’s Association, at Kansas City, the following officers 
were reelected: Norman J. Colman, St. Louis, president; 
H. C. Goodrich, Calhoun, Mo., first vice-president; John 
Patterson, Kirksvllle, Mo., second vice-president; J. J. 
Smith, Sweet Springs, Mo., third vice-president; G. A. 
Umstott, Mirabile, Mo., fourth vice-president; J. L. 
Erwin, Steedman, Mo., treasurer; Levi Chubbuck, St. 
Louis, secretary. The Association is working to get a bill 
through the Legislature creating the office of dairy com¬ 
missioner and establishing a dairy department at the 
State agricultural college. An expert dairyman must be 
selected for commissioner and he will in all probability 
be a man recommended by the Missouri Dairymen s 
Association. Practical dairymen showed a strong interest 
in the meeting, and displayed a decided disposition ^o 
control its management. They urge Missouri Senators to 
support the Grout bill. 
The Minnesota State Agricultural Society will meet at 
St. Paul, Minn., January 8-10; E. W. Randall, Hamline, 
secretary. The Minnesota State Fair Association and the 
Minnesota Live Stock Breeders’ Association will also 
meet at the same time and place. 
A. H. Pierce, known as Shanghai Pierce, the wealthiest 
cattle man in Texas, died at his home. Pierce Junction, 
recently. He owned enormous ranches, and was also 
chief owner of the Gulf and Interstate Railway, which 
was swept out of existence by the great tornado last 
September. 
The Vermont State Merino Breeders’ Association will 
meet at Middlebury, Vt., January 23, 1901; secretary, L, 
A. Kiff, Middlebury, Vt. 
The Western Ontario Dairymen’s Association will meet 
at London, Ont., January 15-18, 1901; secretary, George 
Hately, Brantford, Ont. 
The Provincial Farmers’ Association will meet at Kent- 
ville. Nova Scotia, January 30-February 1, 1901; secretary, 
Chas. R. B. Bryan, Durham, Nova Scotia. 
The New Jersey State Fruit and Vegetable Packers’ 
Association will meet at Camden, N. J., January 16, 1901. 
The Illinois State Dairymen’s Association will meet at 
Aurora, Ill., January 8-10, 1901; secretary. Geo. Cover, 188 
South Water street, Chicago, Ill. 
Francis X. Covers, representing the Standard Butter 
Co., of Owego, N. Y., spoke briefly at the New York 
Dairymen’s Association on the manufacture and utility 
of liquid air for refrigerator purposes. He expected to 
give an exhibition of the properties of liquid air and the 
uses to which it is adapted, but because of an accident 
to his apparatus, he was unable to do so. 
The Rosendale Creamery at Adams, N. Y., managed by 
R. H. Bent, had an attractive exhibit at the Watertown 
exhibition hall. This creamery, it was said, receives 
25,000 pounds of milk each day, and supplies two-thirds of 
the butter consumed by the guests at the various hotels 
at the Thousand Islands. Its exhibit of butter was put 
up in neat packages weighing all the way from one pound 
packages to tubs of 60 pounds. This creamery is open 
every day in the year. 
New York City Milk Supply. 
Agricultural Commissioner Wieting gives the following 
figures to show the vast quantity of milk bought annually 
by New York City. The figures given represent the num¬ 
ber of 40-quart cans: 
1888 . 6,062,216 
1889 . 6,630,278 
1890 . 8,141,983 
1891 . 8,269,953 
1892 . 9,084,781 
1893 . 9,303,315 
1894 . 9,485,018 
1895 . 9,336,827 
1896 .10,079,417 
1897 .10,338,356 
1898 .12,382,106 
1899 .13,121,655 
1900 .13,504,610 
Thus in 1900 there were sent 540,184,400 quarts of milk. 
It will be seen that the supply has doubled since 1888. Mr. 
Welting says that whatever the cause may be for this 
great increase of milk for consumption, the fact remains 
that the enforcement of the law, the decrease in adultera¬ 
tion of milk and the increase in consumption have gone 
on hand in hand since the beginning of the enforcement of 
the milk statutes. 
In spite of this immense flood of milk annually carried 
to this great city it is possible to increase the trade. 
As we have often stated, most people regard milk as a 
luxury or drink. Let them be taught to understand that 
it is a food to be eaten, and there will be a vast increase 
in it| use. The future development of the milk trade is 
based on the proper education of the people in food values. 
A Milk IVar in Pennsylvania. 
One of our readers at Hopbottom, Pa., sends us an 
account of a strange milk war at that place. It seems 
that the Scranton Dairy Company sent agents to Hop- 
bottom to contract for the milk, with 83 farmers. They 
paid a better price than these farmers were then re¬ 
ceiving, and they purposed to ship the milk over the D,, 
L. Sc W. K. R. to La Plume, Pa. Early in December the 
farmers were notified that the railroad company would 
not carry milk for the Scranton Dairy Company. The 
farmers having contracts with the dairy company took 
the ground that this was not their business, as it was a 
matter between the railroad and the dairy company. 
They continued to take their milk to the railroad station, 
but the railroad would not carry it. Finally the dairy 
company sent an agent to talk with the farmers about it. 
He said that as the railroad company would not carry the 
milk, the dairy company could not buy it. The farmers 
said that it was not their business to attend to the 
shipping, as they had lived up to their agreement in de¬ 
livering the milk. Finally, the farmers hired a lawyer 
to attend to their Interests. The dairy company then 
found that they could not get away from their contracts, 
so they agreed to take the milk from 17 farmers who had 
written contracts, but not from those who had a verbal 
promise. To the credit of those farmers be It said, that 
they agi'eed to stand together and compel the dairy com¬ 
pany to fill both written and verbal contracts. Svaits 
were brought resulting in judgments against the dairy 
company for parties who did not have written contracts. 
It is claimed that the milk combine of New York City is 
responsible for this trouble. They are said to have told 
the D., L. & W. R. R. Company that they must not carry 
milk to the Scranton Dairy Company, and that if they 
did, the milk-shipping business would be taken away from 
them. The idea is that the milk trust desires to keep 
control of all milk, and so manipulate matters as to have 
it shipped to New York, thus creating a surplus and re¬ 
ducing the price of milk. If It were sent to Scranton or 
other places, it would relieve the New York market, aJ^d 
that is just what the trust does not want done. We shall 
have more facts about this business before long, but 
farmers may well give thought to the results that will 
follow by being at the mercy of one trust which can 
bring such a pull to bear upon another trust. 
EXPORT APPLES.—The export trade in apples is report¬ 
ed good by most exporters. There will be a demand through 
the Winter for hard firm fruit, much of which has been 
already bought up. A large supply of good fruit was 
held back during the Fall, and if this is now handled 
carefully and not crowded upon the market too fast, 
there will be fair prices and good profit in the trade. 
The reports given by The R. N.-Y. last Fall came appar¬ 
ently just in time to be of service to the better cl^s of 
apple growers. Many of them were on the point of sell¬ 
ing at a low figure, as the buyers had almost convinced 
them that the crop throughout the country was larger 
than usual. The R. N.-Y.’s report stiffened their courage, 
and they either held, or demanded a better price. 
Fine Apples in Boxes. 
We hope that the days of the barrel as a package for 
fine apples will soon be numbered. The box, such as is 
used for California apples, is superior in many ways. 
There are many city people who cannot keep a barrel of 
apples. They live in flats where there is no storage room. 
The result is that they do not buy half the fruit that they 
would like to use. Could they buy boxes of fine fruit the 
chances are that they would never be without apples. 
It is a matter of size of package entirely. We give below 
some notes from commission men. The R. N.-Y. will 
keep at this matter until the box is recognized. 
Our experience has been that barrels are small enough 
packages to handle apples in. On this market it is as 
easy for us to handle barrels as it would be boxes, there¬ 
fore we do not feel that boxes would be any advantage 
to us. When apples are very high we might use boxes, 
but we can usually sell barrels as well as boxes. 
Milwaukee, Wis. B. n. Godfrey & sons co. 
It Is our opinion after a good many years’ experience 
that our customers do not care particularly about the 
kind or style of package apples are put up in, nearly as 
much as they do about the quality of the apples contained 
in the package. We think the barrel is all right as a 
package. The people are used to It, and there is no com¬ 
plaint in regard to Its being too large, but there Is an 
endless number of complaints regarding the quality of the 
fruit, the majority of which is packed in such a manner 
that the face of the barrel does not represent the bulk 
of the fruit below the face. Our farmers are altogether 
too anxious to pack up everything that grows in the 
orchard and sell it as No. 1 fruit. We need a new style 
of farmer a great deal more than a new style of apple 
package. potter & williams. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
While we favor the packing of apples in boxes, 
especially those of the fancy brand, it would take some 
time to educate the people here to use them in that style 
of package. We think the country trade will take them 
quicker than the home trade, and in time all would get 
educated to use them. f. ankenbauer & sons. 
Cincinnati, O. _ 
Cheap Dairy Cows in New York State. 
A few weeks ago a correspondent in Chemung County, 
N. Y., spoke of the low price at which dairy cows were 
being sold. He stated that fodder was scarce and feed 
high, so that farmers felt obliged to dispose of their 
surplus stock. Since this article appeared we have been 
overrun with communications from people who want to 
buy these cows. There seems to be some misunderstand¬ 
ing about the quality of the animals and the price. The 
following reports from cow districts in this section are 
fair, and will give a good idea of the class of stock that 
is offered. It must not be thought that farmers are sell 
Ing their best cows at a low figure. That would be 
nonsense at this time, when butter is bringing a good 
price. The cows that are sold are mostly culls, probably 
the poorest In the herd—what we would call the robber 
cows. Some years ago certain writers made the state¬ 
ment that the best way to engage in the poultry business 
was to come to the live poultry market in New York 
City, and buy hens and pullets at live-weight prices, 
picking them out by color and shape. In order to satisfy 
ourselves, we bought over 200 of such birds, selecting 
them as well as we knew how with an eye to the so- 
called “egg type.’’ The result was that we stocked up 
with a flock of scrubs, well-covered with vermin, alive 
with roup, and of little value as layers. We found that 
no man in his right mind ever sends his best birds to the 
New York market for sale. In buying this kind of stock 
one obtains only the culls or robber stock, which some 
one else wants to get rid of. Those who expect to go to 
the dairy districts of New York State and buy cows at 
$20 apiece will probably find in the end that they have 
purchased the culls or thieves out of some other man’s 
herd. 
The cows are all picked up In this locality. The severe 
drought last season made the price low, but the price of 
milk here Is better than a year ago. o. t. c. 
Wellsburg, N. Y. 
I do not know of many cows being sold; think they 
would bring from $20 to $25 apiece. We are so near the 
railroad that we have a good market for milk; in Buffalo 
especially, the Pan-American Exposition will make a 
big demand. Hay is quite scarce, and early in Fall cows 
have sold in some places as low as $15. a. t. g. 
Dayton, N. Y. 
There are no good cows here for sale, only at high 
prices. Old cows are being picked up and driven to 
Buffalo. I think there is fodder enough here to winter 
all the stock; a great deal of corn fodder is raised here, 
and good many silos built in the last two years. 
Delevan, N. Y. _ c. a. p. 
SAN JOSE SCALE.—Commissioner Wieting, of New 
York State, reports that he has issued 893 certificates of 
inspection to nurserymen, covering 6,026 acres of nursery 
stock and 901 acres of vineyard, from which wood for 
propagation is taken; that he granted 425 duplicate certifi¬ 
cates to be filed In other States and counties as required 
by their laws to holders of original certificates; that in 
addition to the foregoing his agents have Inspected 3,06514 
acres of orchards and 1,663 acres of vineyards where no 
certificate was required. This inspection covered 872,720 
orchard fruit trees, of which about two-thirds are of 
bearing age, and all the 1,662 acres of vineyard are of 
bearing age. 
THE CABBAGE CROP.—Readers are beginning to in¬ 
quire about cabbage. How much of last year’s crop was 
stored for Winter and Spring use? In some sections the 
late Fall with continued warm weather, caused much of 
the cabbage to rot or burst, and more than usual was sold 
at that time. In the large cabbage-growing districts of 
New York State about half the crop is reported in storage. 
This is true of the cabbage district to the south of 
Syracuse, from which large quantities of cabbage are 
annually shipped. Around Elmira and through Chemung 
County generally it is reported that no cabbage is left. 
December Just about cleared out the stock. Trade in 
cabbage has been better than usual. One grower writes 
that he is buying cabbage from Ontario County, N. Y., 
at from $9 to $12 per ton, f. o. b. From what we can 
learn therefore the total amount of stored cabbage is 
smaller than usual at this time. The open Winter may 
force some farmers to throw their crop on the market 
earlier in the Winter than usual. 
