1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
25 
Events of the Week. 
domestic.— A plan of recruiting sailors for the United 
States Navy from the farms and the country towns is 
now under consideration at the Navy Department. 
. . . . The trolley system of Scranton, Pa., was en¬ 
tirely tied up by a strike December 27.The most 
destructive fire in the history of Calgary, North West 
Territory, occurred December 26, the loss being $100,000. 
, . . . A mail pouch containing $100,000 in negotiable 
paper and an unknown amount of money was stolen 
from the Michigan Central passenger station at Wyan¬ 
dotte, Mich., December 28.Edwin G. Bedford 
died near Paris, Ky., December 31, aged 86 years. He 
was a noted breeder of Short-horn cattle, and paid the 
highest price ever given for a Short-horn bull, $36,000, at 
the New York Mills sale in 1876.At Tooney 
Creek, near the Wyoming boundary of Moiltana, masked 
and mounted raiders killed 2,000 sheep December 30. The 
sheep belonged to Daupt & Selway, who are ranging 
about 5,500 sheep in the Otter Creek country. There has 
been hard feeling between sheep raisers and cattlemen 
for some time.Five trainmen were kilied and 
one badly injured in a freight-train coliision at Melton, 
Miss., January 1.While attempting to escape 
the smallpox quarantine on a lumber camp near Sparta, 
Minn., January 2, one man was shot and killed by a 
guard. 
CONGRESS.—Senator Frye, president of the Senate, 
has received from New York telegraphic petitions from 
Secretaries Carroll, Morgan, Moorehouse, Ellinwood, 
Speer, Cobb and Lloyd, representing the National Mis¬ 
sionary Societies of the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, 
Dutch Reformed and Episcopal Churches, asking that 
when the Senate convenes for the first time in the new 
century on January 3, its first call shall be the ratifica¬ 
tion of the treaty to protect the natives of Africa against 
intoxicants, and favoring a universal application of this 
new policy of civilization by additional treaties and laws. 
PORTO RICO.—The Legislative Assembly of Porto 
Rico has been in session since December 3, when the 
House of Delegates was duly organized. The House has 
been holding daily four-hour sessions, over 45 bills have 
been introduced and no end of motions and amendments. 
But one bill has been passed. By law the Assembly is 
allowed 60 days in which to complete each session. The 
House is badly in need of a competent force of transla¬ 
tors and clerks. There seems to be no system. Bills are 
prepared and introduced covering most common matters, 
and in a manner most unbusinesslike. Few of the bills 
are in proper form. Many have been filed written in 
pencil on a sheet torn from a scratch pad. Most of the 
bills are written during the session, and are more in the 
form of suggestions rather than of projected laws. 
PHILIPPINES.—An appended report to General Mac- 
Arthur’s review of the civil affairs of the Philippines for 
the past fiscal year gives some rather startling facts re¬ 
garding the introduction and prevalence of leprosy In the 
Islands. According to the estimates of the Franciscan 
Fathers, says Major Guy L. Edie, the writer of the re¬ 
port, there are no less than 30,000 lepers in the archipelago, 
the major portion of these being in the Visayas. A house- 
to-house in.spection, begun last January, found more 
than 100 lepers concealed in dwellings. These were sent 
to San Lazaro Hospital, in Manila, but many others es¬ 
caped into the surrounding country. A commission is 
now engaged in the work of selecting a suitable Island 
or islands for the purpose of isolating all the lepers in 
the archipelago.A conspiracy to acquire claims 
to a vast amount of mining property in the Philippines 
has been reported to the War Department. Involved in 
the transactions are Americans, Englishmen, Spaniards 
and several citizens of other countries. The claims num¬ 
ber 1,618. They cover 149,288,134 square meters of territory 
and are scattered throughout the mineral regions of the 
archipelago. More than 1,000 of the claims are for gold 
lands, 500 for coal, 100 for copper, 16 for iron, and the rest 
for sulphur, granite and petroleum.The Philip¬ 
pine Commission has completed the preparation of a bill 
establishing municipal government in the Islands. It 
establishes a land tax and abolishes the head tax and 
tax on occupations. There is a growing scarcity of 
money in the Philippines, the effort to maintain the arbi¬ 
trary ratio of two to one between Mexican and American 
silver dollars having failed. The silver is being sent to 
China and India. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—The State Department 
has been notified by American Charge d’Affaires Gris- 
com, at Constantinople, of the signing of a contract be¬ 
tween the Turkish Government and the Cramps for a 
cruiser, under cover of which the American missionary 
claims of $90,000 are to be paid. It Is expected that a 
check will be sent by the Cramp Company to Secretary 
Hay for the amount. This will end the diplomatic con¬ 
troversy with the Sublime Porte.The Japanese 
training ship Tsukishima Maru, which has been missing 
for more than a month, foundered with all on board; 121 
lives lost.Antl-forelgn agitation is increasing 
In Corea. The Russians are invading that country. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The American Devon Cattle 
Breeders’ Club met at West Chester, Pa., December 26. 
The special business of the meeting was to arrange the 
Devon exhibit and competition at the Pan-American Ex¬ 
position. The competition of the Columbian Exposition 
tending only to butter worth was condemned, milk and 
cheese being of even greater importance to the people a.s 
a whole. Rules, it was decided, should provide for the 
proper analysis of the curd and give credit for the smaller 
globule and for the quantity of sugar, all of which are 
Important from the nutritive standpoint, and In food 
value exceeding the butter fat. Vice-President John I. 
Banker, Upsonville, Pa., was chairman; L. P. Sisson, 
Newark, O., secretary. Among those present were James 
Hilton, Albany, N. Y.; Jos. Hilton, New Scotland, N. 
Y.; A. S. Worden, Ulysses, Pa.; Dr. J. Cheston Morris. 
West Chester, Pa,, and J. W. Zuber, Atlanta, Ga. 
The Agricultural Department bulletin, issued December 
27, states that the wheat crop of 1900 is 522,229,505 bushels; 
area of Winter wheat planted, 30,282,664. The condition 
of growing crop December 1 was 97. The production of 
corn in 1900 is estimated at 2,105,102,516 bushels. 
Wolves are unusually fierce and aggressive in several 
counties of Minnesota, and are causing serious loss to 
farmers. 
The State of Texas is asked to make an appropriation 
of $15,000 to erect three sub-experiment stations in the 
coast district, to study sugar cane, rice, cotton and 
tobacco. 
Eight students from New York are enrolled for the six 
weeks’ special course of study and training in poultry 
culture at the Rhode Island College. Bulletin 72, of the 
Rhode Island Experiment Station (Kingston) deals with 
the history and development of this unique experiment 
in agricultural education. This year a six-weeks’ special 
course in horticulture is to follow the course in poultry 
culture. These popular courses serve to explain two 
kinds of farm life in such a way as to show their real 
advantages. This horticultural course, which opens Feb¬ 
ruary 20, will be under the direction of Prof. F. W. Card. 
The Western Wholesale Nurserymen’s Association, in 
session at Kansas City, Mo., December 11, expressed a 
unanimous opinion that there would be a rise in the price 
of nursery stock before Spring. The Association member¬ 
ship embraces the States of Alabama, Missouri, Iowa, 
Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma Territory, 
and about 30 members were present. The following offi¬ 
cers for the ensuing year were elected: President, A. L. 
Brook, Topeka, Kan.; vice-president, R. H. Blair, Kansas 
City, Mo.; secretary and treasurer, E. J. Holman, Leaven¬ 
worth, Kan.; executive committee, Peter Younger, Gen¬ 
eva, Neb.; A. Willis, Ottawa, Kan.; R. S. Welch, Shenan¬ 
doah, la.; J. H. Skinner, Topeka, Kan.; A. C. Griesa, 
Lawrence, Kan. 
Secretary Wilson, of the Department of Agriculture, 
has placed the Government seed order with the New 
York Market Gardeners’ Association at $101,975.59. The 
last contract, that for 1901^ was awarded ' to Charles 
Parker, Santa Clara, Cal., at $64,900, and the order for 
1900 was executed by the New York Market Gardeners' 
Association on a bid of $70,980. 
A committee of seedsmen from the Seedsmen’s League 
visited the United States Senate at Washington, Decem¬ 
ber 20, to protest against further appi'opriations for free 
distribution of seeds by the Government. 
State Entomologist Scott, of Georgia, has been sus¬ 
tained by the Federal authorities for destroying fruit 
trees infected with the San Jos6 scale. 
A convention of corn growers and stockmen will be 
held at the College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, 
Urbana, Ill., January 14 to 25, and in connection a school 
of instruction in corn and stock judging will be given. 
Several hundred farmers are expected to attend the meet¬ 
ing. Along with the other work, tests of vitality of grains 
will be made free of charge by the class in farm trops. 
Some of the most prominent stock growers in the country 
will make addresses. 
The Apple Crop of 1900. 
Never before was there a year when the apple buyers 
made such a systematic and persistent effort to get the 
apples for such a small price as this. From the opening 
of the Spring they kept the papers full of reports of an 
over-abundant crop. Everywhere they were talking of 
the 1896 crop and low prices, and the worst of it was 
that they made many orchardlsts believe their story, and 
bought the crop for half what it was worth. I know of 
several instances where the orchards were sold for what 
amounted to less than 50 cents per barrel, and the owner 
did all the work; In one or two instances small farms 
with a large proportion of apple orchards were bought 
by a dealer so that the crop gathered paid for the farm. 
At one of the monthly meetings of our County Farmers’ 
Club the question came up: “What are we going to do 
with our 1896 crop of apples?’’ and I was called on to 
answer it. I said: In the first place we have not an 1896 
crop, nor anywhere near it. Then every apple tree and 
stub had a crop. Now, there are large sections of west¬ 
ern New York where there are not enough for home use; 
nowhere are there as many as in that year. I asked 
those whose crop promised as many as in 1896 to raise 
their hands; only one went up. I asked for those who 
had three-fourths as many, to show hands; one-fourth 
the audience raised hands. To the request for those with 
half as many to show hands, half the hands went up. 
I then said: “There will be a demand for all the apples 
we have at fair prices. Even were the crop as large as 
in 1896 the conditions are now so very different from then 
that the apples will all be taken at much better prices 
than then. Now, times are good. Everybody has work 
at good wages, and the laboring man, who eats our 
apples, has the wherewithal to buy. So don’t be fooled 
Into giving away your apples.” Still, as shown above, 
some were so misled. Many farmers sold their firsts, 
barreled, at from $1.25 to $1.40. They afterwards sold 
the "drops” at $1.50, and still later the better windfalls 
at $1.55 to $1.65, so there was no excuse to put poor apples 
in the middle of No. 1 fruit. A good lot of No. 1 now 
would sell readily at $2. It will be a long time before 
farmers will be so easily beguiled into selling their apples 
before they are picked, and some of those who sold their 
farms for less than the apples would have brought 
are trying to find some cheap mule to kick them. 
J. 3. WOODWARD. 
The New York Cabbage Crop. 
I have just returned from a three days’ trip In Ontario 
and Tompkins counties, N. Y., buying cabbage. The 
amount stored in that section is about 4,000 tons; three- 
fourths of this amount is in the hands of shippers. I 
saw a few lots, from 50 to 100 tons, of very fine stock 
held by growers, but most of it held by growers is small 
and undesirable. Most farmers refuse to sell direct to 
buyers, and usually sell through a shipper at a loss of 
from $1 to $3 a ton to the grower. I cannot account for 
this, only that they lack knowledge of business methods 
in shipping goods. Again, I offered some farmers 80 per 
cent of purchase price in advance, but was unable to 
deal direct, only at an advance of $2 to $3 per ton. The 
average farmer knows very little about sight drafts, and 
90 per cent of them refuse letters of credit, bank and rail¬ 
road agents’ references. At the same time, if one were 
to pay them a small amount down on an advance of a 
few dollars a ton above the market price, they seem 
perfectly willing to contract and ship their goods without 
any reference whatever. It is indeed strange that farm 
ei's will cunlinue to let the speculator make all or most 
of the profit from their hard labor. There are three 
railroads through the great cabbage section of Ontario 
County; the Pennsylvania Railroad alone has hauled 4,000 
cars of cabbage this season. On an average of 13 tons 
per car, 95 per cent of this passed through shippers’ hands 
at a profit of $1 and $2 per ton that should go to the 
farmer, and would be theirs only that lack of judgment 
and business methods among farmers gives this amount 
to the speculator, who is yearly growing fatter and 
fatter on the farmers’ hard labor. I met one gentleman 
who is agent for a large Pittsburg firm that has been in 
the cabbage section, shipping from three to five cars a 
week since October 1. He informed me that he first 
aimed to buy direct from the farmers, paying highest 
market pi'ices, but was unable to deal with them. He 
then made a contract with a speculator to buy his goods 
for $1.65 per ton. The farmer, of course, takes that 
amounc, and often more than that below market pi’ice. 
_ A. G. M. 
Boxes for Apples. 
Here are more notes from commission men about the 
plan of packing apples in boxes instead of barrels. It will 
be seen that the do not f»tvor the change. That being 
the case, will The R. N.-Y. stop talking about it? Well, 
no—all the more reason why we should keep at it. We 
feel sure that the box is a profitable package for producer 
and consumer. We are not building fences between these 
two parties—we are trying to tear one down 
The apple package most desired by our customers in 
this market is the three-bushel barrel; boxes are not ap¬ 
proved of under any circumstances. 
Milwaukee, Wis. l. a. schiappacasse. 
We are receivers of apples only in a small way, and 
possibly our advice would not be worth much. We be¬ 
lieve that the smaller packages are better for one reason, 
that it avoids deception on the part of the packer. It is 
harder work to deceive in small packages than in barrels, 
for more apples can be seen. o. l. eradley & co. 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
We doubt very much whether it is advisable to pack 
apples in boxes or smaller packages than barrels. A 
great many boxes have been used this season in market¬ 
ing apples, but we think that the results will be vei-y 
unsatisfactory. Fruit packed in boxes, such as you refer 
to, is subject to all changes of temperature. The fruit 
is very often damaged by the slats used in the boxes. 
We advise all shippers to use nothing but new barrels 
in packing apples. By following this advice, we think 
that best results will be obtained. the kelly co. 
Cleveland, O. 
We cannot say that we are in favor of boxes for apples. 
We rather think it may lessen the consumption, as some 
may be only inclined to buy a box instead of a barrel. 
Also, it seems to us it would be more expensive to fur¬ 
nish boxes, and their handling. Hai'dly think that apples 
in boxes would keep as well in storage as they would in 
baiTels. But something should be done to avoid practic¬ 
ing deception in packing apples. Often apples are faced 
up nicely, and inside of the barrel they are poor and 
worthless stock. There should be a law passed that 
every packer should have his name and address on the 
barrel, and if he practices any deception he should be 
held accountable for it. hillman bros. 
Minneapolis, Minm_ 
Impudence of the Oleo Men. 
We have received a copy of the Minneapolis Journal 
containing the following sound talk: 
The situation in the Senate affecting the Grout bill is 
suspicious. The dairy interest is made up of farmers who 
individually have no money to spend to promote legisla¬ 
tion, while the oleomargarine interest is made up of the 
big meat packers who maintain an extensive and ex¬ 
pensive lobby in Washington, and apparently have suf¬ 
ficient influence with the agricultural committee to delay 
and possibly to block indefinitely the Grout bill for the 
protection of the buttermakers by prohibiting the 
counterfeiting of their product. The oleomargarine makers 
claim that If the fat of beef and pork cannot be manu¬ 
factured into imitation butter it means a loss of $55,000,000 
on cattle and $7,000,000 on hogs. Nobody proposes to pre¬ 
vent the manufacture of this fat into a substitute for 
butter; all that is asked Is that this tallow and lard shall 
not be colored to imitate butter and sold as butter. What 
the oleo people demand is the privilege of counterfeiting 
the real article with a cheaper, inferior product, and 
they are trying to get the permission of the Senate of 
the United States to perpetrate this fraud upon the public. 
'They know that the public will prefer real butter to 
tallow or lard when they can see the difference. 
It would seem as if the very transparency of this fraud 
and the impudence of the proposition which the oleomar¬ 
garine people make would kill their case in the Senate, 
for on its face it is an insult to ordinary honesty, but 
for reasons best known to themselves, members of the 
Senate listen with patience, and even with favor, to the 
counterfeiters. Among those who look with favor upon 
the oleo interest and oppose the Grout bill is that emi¬ 
nent Populist and friend of the farmer. Senator Allen, of 
Nebraska, who, until lately, had been counted a friend 
of the butter men, but has recently changed front for 
some reason. 
There is evidently a hard fight before the buttermakers 
in the Senate, but there is still reason to hope that com¬ 
mon fairness will dictate the action of a majority of that 
body and that the dairy interest will be protected from 
ruinous competition of the hog butter men by prohibiting 
the coloring of oleomargarine to look like butter and the 
selling of it as butter. 
The weather here has been exceedingly fine since the 
first of the month, no snow, but little wind and not very 
cold; 46 degrees above zero December 16, with not a cloud 
to be seen, and hardly enough wind to tell its direction. 
Some farms are changing hands at $12.50 to $15 an acre. 
Potato crop rather light from 25 to 100 bushels per acre. 
Mine went 100 bushels; heard of none other at over 65. 
Many cattle are dying of cornstalk disease; one man lost 
37 in two days; many others lost from three to 10. Pota¬ 
toes are 30 cents; wheat, 57 cents; corn, 23 cents; oats, 
20 to 23 cents; bran, $10 per ton. w. h. h. 
Letcher, So. D. 
