THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Events of the Week. 
domestic.—T he Virginia Legislature has passed an 
act requiring steamboat companies operating within the 
State to provide separate accommodations for colored 
people.The Pacific Mail steamer Rio Janeiro 
struck on a hidden rock while entering the Golden Gate, 
San Francisco Harbor, February 22. She sunk in a few 
minutes, and though only 1,000 yards from shore, 12!S 
lives were lost. A heavy fog prevailed at the time. 
Among those lost were Rounseville Wildman, United 
Slates Consul at Hongkong, his wife and two children. 
There were 234 persons on board.A head-on col¬ 
lision between passenger trains on the Pennsylvania 
Railroad near Trenton, N. J., Febi'uary 21, caused the 
death of 15 persons, and serious injuries to 25 others. 
The wreck was due to negligence.February 22, 
snow fell at Jackson, Miss., and Atlanta, Ga. 
Investigations are being made of a system of labor con¬ 
tracts in South Carolina, by which negroes are held as 
slaves. The matter has become public through the mur¬ 
der of a young negro, who sought to escape from the 
stockade where he was imprisoned.After being 
63 hours under ground, for the greater part of the time 
under water, 10 of the 13 negroes caught in the Asylum 
Mines, Alabama, by a sudden rush of water, were rescued 
February 23. When they reached the light they were 
nearly blind and in an exhausted condition. It is hoped 
to rescue the remaining three, as a large pump in ad¬ 
dition to the others already in operation has been put to 
work.Fire in a mine in Kemmerer, Wyo., Feb 
ruary 26, imprisoned 50 men; it is not believed, that any 
will be rescued. 
CONGRESS.—Representative Mann, of Illinois, Febru¬ 
ary 22, introduced a bill repealing Section 5 of the Tariff 
act of 1897, under which the President is empowered to 
levy additional duty on imports receiving a bounty from 
foreign governments equal to the amount of the bounty 
paid. It is under the operation of Section 5 that a duty 
recently was imposed on Russian sugar equal to the 
bounty paid on this sugar. Mr. Mann’s resolution was 
referred to the Ways and Means Committee. 
'i'he President has called a special session of the Senate 
for executive purposes immediately upon the dissolution 
of the present Congress, March 4. During its sessions 
the Fifty-sixth Congress has spent over $l,457,000,00ti. 
.... The Senate Committee on Relations with Cuba, 
February 25, agreed unanimously to an amendment to the 
Army Appropriation bill outlining the conditions under 
which the United States is to withdraw from Cuba. 
.... February 26 the conferrees on the War Tax 
reduction measure announced in the afternoon that they 
bad agreed upon a satisfactory compromise. This com¬ 
promise restores the House figures on the beer schedule 
lo $1.60, changes the tax on tobacco from nine to 10 
cents a pound and makes small reductions in the cigar 
and cigarette tax. Under the compromise measure the 
total reduction will be about $30,000,000. There Is no 
change in the situation in regard to the River and Har¬ 
bor bill, and there appears to be little prospect of either 
it or the omnibus bill being considered by the Senate at 
this session. 
CURA.—As a result of a conference between President 
.Mclvinley and Secretary Root supplementary instructions 
have been sent to General Wood to call the attention of 
the Cuban constitutional convention to the importance 
and necessity of including the requirements of this Gov¬ 
ernment in the Cuban constitution. It is demanded that 
the Monroe doctrine shall be recognized; that Cuba shall 
not mortgage the island lo any foreign power; that the 
United States be given the right to establish navai sta¬ 
tions at Havana, Guantanamo, Nipe and Cienfuegos, and 
the right to maintain at least a part of the pi'esent mili¬ 
tary force in the island, and that the United States shall 
assist Cuba in maintaining a stable government. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—February 22, intense 
cold continued throughout Germany. In some parts of 
the country the weather is the coldest known in 25 years. 
At Cologne a young woman was frozen to death in the 
street, and a coachman fell from his carriage with both 
legs frozen. Near Remagen a bicyclist was found dead. 
In the Gulf of Dantzic a fishing cutter was frozen in, and 
three of the crew perished. The Moselle, at Coblentz, is 
frozen solid. At Hirschberg the temperature is 29 de¬ 
grees below zero, centigrade, and in the Upper Hartz 30. 
From all the mountainous regions come reports of enor¬ 
mous snowfalls.Several of the Russian prov¬ 
inces are still suffering acutely from famine. In the 
governments of Kherson and Bessai-abia tens of thou- 
sand.s are famishing. Amid the additional hardships of 
the severe Winter hunger typhus is rapidly spreading 
also. The condition of the peasantry in the famine dis¬ 
tricts of Southwestern Russia is equally lamentable; but 
it is worst of all in Northern and East Volga provinces, 
where the people for two months have been subsisting 
on roots, grasses and olfals, and are now dying of sheer 
starvation. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Southwestern Nursery¬ 
men’s Association, recently in session at Oklahoma City, 
Okla., elected as president, J. A. Taylor, of Wynnewood, 
and as secretary, C. A. McNabb, of Oklahoma City. The 
business transacted was not made public. The next meet¬ 
ing will be at the same place January 8, 1902. 
The Texas Live Stock Association met at Fort Worth 
February 13. A fine show of live stock was given in con¬ 
nection with the meeting. 
The Indiana State Pair will be held at Indianapolis Sep¬ 
tember 16-21. 
Heavy falls of snow in the Malheur and Snake River 
valleys, Oregon, are causing a loss of 25 per cent in young 
lambs. There will also be some loss from lack of feed. 
Cattle on the open range are also suffering. 
At the annual meeting of the National Creamery Butter- 
makers’ Association at St. Paul, Minn., February 18-22, 
Kansas carried off the banner given for the best exhibit 
of butter. The score was 89.44 per cent, Minnesota being 
second with a score of 89.93 per cent. 
The Northwest Fruit Growers’ Association, in conven¬ 
tion at Portland, Ore., decided to recommend a standard 
apple box of the following dimensions. Inside measure¬ 
ments, namely, IS inches length, W/s Inches width, WA 
inches deep, containing 2,173 cubic inches and to be known 
as “standard.” The following size is to be known as 
“special”: Length, 20 inches; width, 11 inches; <lepth, 10 
inches, the ends of said boxes to be seven-eighths of an 
in thickness. _ 
NEW YORK FRUIT GROWERS ORGANIZE. 
Mot for Horticulture, but for Business. 
There were many people who regarded the recent call 
for a meeting of New York State fruit growers at Syra¬ 
cuse with suspicion—“a lot of ‘kickers’ are simply trying 
10 get even!” That remark was made by one man, and it 
probably voiced the sentiments of many who had not 
observed some recent developments among fruit-growing 
farmers. It was freely predicted that the meeting would 
be composed of a few hot-heads who had come together 
simply to take radical action regarding San Jos6 scale 
legislation. These critics would be wofully disappointed 
could they have been present at Syracuse on February 
27-28. Not far from 150 fruit growers attended the meet¬ 
ing. Here are the names of a few of those who were 
present, which will give an idea of its character: L. T. 
Veomans, T. B. Wilson, Albert Wood, F. M. Bradley, S. 
D. Davis, L. H. Bradley, H. S. Wiley, S. D. Willard, 1. 1. 
Mann, T. Greiner, L. H. Brown, P. B. Freeman, J. B. 
I’ollamer, E. A. Coates, L. S. Brooks, C. R. White, S. 
W. Smith, E. W. Catchpole, J. T. Roberts, Dr. C. A. 
Ring, B. S. Harwood, Albert Yeomans, B. J. Case, K. F. 
-Morris, H. M. Barnes, F. A. Willis, Chas. M. Day, C. H. 
Darrow, A. G. Graham, T. J. Jarvis, Ira Pease, L. M. 
l.oveless, E. W. Ferguson, C. W. Odell, 1. W. Stebbins, 
J. A. Hepworth, John Paylor, F. A. Taber, J. J. Borden, 
.1. W. Strang, Frank Pulver, W. S. Brownell, Chas. Mills, 
J. K. Prosser, J. Q. Wells, Chas. Siddon, G. G. Hitchings, 
Prof. S. A. Beach, G.*E. Ward, M. H. Boardman, W. I. 
Smith. 
The keynote from the start was the statement that this 
is not to be a horticultural society, but a buHinens organi¬ 
zation for those who grow and sell fruit. Mr. Taber, of 
Poughkeepsie, at the start asked what we were there for. 
THOM.\S B. WILSON. 
Father of the New York State Fruit Growers' Association. 
and a prompt exchange of views soon made it clear that 
the growers had not come In any spirit of spite or re¬ 
venge, but rather to build a society on broad and liberal 
lines for the good of all. It is true that fruit growers 
generally do not feel that they are being fully protected 
against the San Jos6 scale. They do not believe that all 
the nurseries of the State are free from It. as the Agri¬ 
cultural Department would have the people believe. At 
the same time it was evident that these fruit growers are 
ready to face the situation like g;rown-up men, and not 
like children. It was also made clear that there was 
little thought of tearing down any other society in order 
to build a new one on it.j ruins. For one reason or an¬ 
other, the horticultural societies of the State have taken 
'jp the work of horticultural education in the production 
of fruit. This, they are doing well, but such matters as 
selling, handling, transporting, as well as crop statistics, 
are not given the attention which fruit growers feel that 
they deserve. The general feeling at Syracuse was that 
an entirely new society devoted to these things first of all 
could handle them better than any society which had al¬ 
ready settled into regular lines of work. After much dis¬ 
cussion the new society adopted the following statement 
of the reason why it should be organized: 
1. The object of this association shall be to encourage 
the cooperation of the fruit growers of New York for 
the protection and advancement of their common in¬ 
terests. 
2. By securing such legislation as may be advantageous, 
and preventing that which may be detrimental. 
3. By encouraging such improved facilities in transpor¬ 
tation as shall tend to give us a more expeditious and 
economical distribution of our products. 
4. By endeavoring to secure a better and more uniform 
system of packing and packages. 
5. By devising some system of marketing of our pro¬ 
ducts that shall open up and develop the markets, and 
give to the grower a fair and remunerative return. 
6. By endeavoring to obtain such improved systems of 
crop reporting as shall furnish accurate information con¬ 
cerning production, thereby enabling the fruit grower to 
know the exact situation. 
7. By securing and disseminating such scientific and 
practical information as shall promote the general ad¬ 
vancement of the fruit-growing interests of this State, 
and shall tend to the improvement of the quality and 
quantity of our products. 
179 
The name adopted is New York Stale Fruit Grower.s' 
Association. The following officers were elected for the 
ensuing year: President, L. G. Yeomans; first vice-presi¬ 
dent, Jno. T. Roberts, Syracuse; second vice-president. 
Geo. W. Potter, Niagara County; third vice-president, 
John Collamer, Monroe County; fourth vice-president, 
Ira Pease, Oswego County; secretary, F. E. Dawley; 
treasurer, C. H. Darrow, Geneva. Directors: T. B. Wil¬ 
son, Hall’s Corners: F. A. Taber, Poughkeepsie; Dr. C. A. 
Ring, Appleton; S. W. Wadhams, Monroe County; W. L. 
McKay, Ontario County. 
The management of the affairs of the society is con¬ 
trolled by the executive committee. The fee for life 
membership is $10, and for annuals $1. No less than 30 
life members were secured at the first meeting. It is 
purposed to effect a system of county organizations to 
work as a part of the State society—in fact, a good many 
of the delegates to this meeting represented local or¬ 
ganizations, which have already been formed in western 
New York. It will be seen that the general plan is to 
operate this society somewhat on the lines which have 
proved so successful in California. As the result of co¬ 
operation in that far western State uniform brands of 
California fruit are shipped to our market, and sold as 
standard articles. It was even stated at Syracuse that 
New York State fruit has been packed in the California 
packages, and sold as western fruit hecause the market 
brand gave it a better figure! No wonder one fruit 
grower exclaimed: “I hope to see the time when every 
package of my fruit will carry the brand of the New 
York State Fruit Growers’ Association!” J. H. Hale 
rightly said that unless something is done to establish a 
standard brand and package for New York fruit our 
markets will go to the owners of the millions of trees 
west and south of us, whose growers are establishing pri¬ 
vate or cooperative brands. 
The meeting was eager and enthusiastic from the start. 
It was not a cut-ancl-dried affair, but there was plenty 
of sharp, earnest discussion and no disposition to let a 
few men run the whole meeting. It was not desired to 
present a long programme at this business gathering, but 
J. H. Hale, of Connecticut, delivered a very useful and 
interesting address on general fruit conditions, and Prof. 
V. H. Lowe gave a very valuable talk on some sides of 
the insect problem. It is safe to say that this new so¬ 
ciety was organized in a fair-minded, liberal and hopeful 
spirit. There are strong men back of It, and its purposes 
and objects are broad and strong enough to provide 
standing room for every fruit grower in New York State, 
it desires the support of all who are interested in the 
production or selling of fruit and, as organized, deserves 
such support. Great credit is due to T. B. Wilson, of 
Hall’s Corners, and L. T. Yeomans, of Walworth, for 
their work in starting the movement and issuing the 
call. Mr. Wilson may safely be called the father of the 
society, and we hope that the child may be a credit to 
its parent. h. w, c. 
The R. N.-Y. has had its say, in prose and verse, 
about the Ben Davis apple. We admit all its good 
qualities. It is handsome when well grown, the tree 
is strong, vigorous and early to bear, and the fruit has 
nearly the keeping qualities of potatoes. It may be 
desirable to plant the trees in order to top-work them 
to other varieties, but as for fruiting it, in eastern 
orchards especially, we certainly feel that the time is 
near at hand when Ben Davis will be correctly esti¬ 
mated by the buying public. Here is a western 
opinion: 
Your commtnis on Ben Davis are all right, it is only 
a pioneer, as a log cabin is to a dwelling house in a new 
country. It can be grown easily and is better than the 
wild crab apple, but after the way is broken up we want 
something better. We are a progressive people and should 
always be on the lookout for something better. 
Kansas. j. stayman. 
No one believes that the western people are going 
to remain satisfied with the production of inferior 
fruit. The eastern growers have arguments that are 
better yet—witness the following: 
Let me emphasize the suggestion that Prof. Van Deman 
made to a Connecticut correspondent in a recent number, 
in which he advises the use of Wagener instead of Ben 
Davis as a filler in orchard planting. Ben Davis is a 
failure in New England. The tree grows well, but the 
fruit is altogether unlike the Ben Davis fruit of the West 
and Southwest, so much so that one familiar with the 
variety there would hardly recognize it here. It seems 
lo me that an orchardlst could hardly make a greater 
mistake than to attempt to compete with the West in 
growing this variety here, where it succeeds so poorly, 
while he can grow so much better ones which will not 
thrive there. [prof.] p. w. card. 
Rhode Island. 
Exactly. It would be more sensible for the New 
England farmer to attempt to breed and fatten beef 
steers in competition with the West. 
The R. N.-Y. has become almost indispensable with us 
on the farm. It is so different from most rural papers, 
that are so plausible and flippant in telling what ought 
to be done, and holding out illusive inducements to young 
men and women to leave the sober duties of the farm 
to go straddling about the country, peddling and annoy¬ 
ing people, and contracting bad habits of idleness, the 
folly of which is only found out when it Is too late to 
undo the evil of it. c. s. 
Gunston, Va. 
An Albany (N. Y.) newspaper recently reported that a 
meat firm in that city had on exhibition a ham weighing 
93 pounds, cut from a hog that dressed 1,800 pounds. On 
investigation it was learned that some one must have 
got the multiplication table mixed up with the story, as 
the hog when dressed weighed 809 pounds, and the ham 
59 pounds. The persons who fattened the animal write 
that it was a full-blooded Cheshire sow three years old, 
with a frame large enough to carry 1,000 pounds if she 
had been kept longer. Her feed for the last two months 
was milk, with nine to 12 quarts of grain (wheat mid¬ 
dlings, cornmeal and corn in the ear) per day. 
