ItOI 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKERJ 
Events of the Week. 
domestic.—F ire in an oil warehouse in Philadelphia, 
Pa., February 27, caused damage reaching $500,000. 
... February 27, eight cases of smallpox were dis¬ 
covered in tenements in Brooklyn, N. Y.; a Targe num¬ 
ber of persons were exposed to the disease.Wm. 
M. Evarts, lawyer, statesman and diplomat, died in New 
York, February 28, aged 83. He had been blind for the 
past 10 years, but this did not impair his mental vigor. 
During President Johnson’s administration he was Attor¬ 
ney General, and President Hayes made him Secretary 
of State. He also represented New York in the United 
States Senate for one term. As an advocate and an 
analyzer of intricate law propositions, he was easily the 
leader of the American bar.An explosion in a 
coal mine near South McAlister, I. T., February 28, re¬ 
sulted in the death of three men.The main 
building of the Nebraska State Penitentiary, near Lin¬ 
coln, was burned March 1; loss $200,000.Twenty- 
one fishermen w'ere carried out on floating ice on Lake 
Erie, off Silver Creek, New York, March 3. Seventeen 
were rescued but the others perished.Five 
men were killed and two badly injured in a zinc mine at 
Joplin, Mo., March 4.The President’s inaugura¬ 
tion, March 4, was an unusually gorgeous spectacle, but 
was marred by heavy rain. President McKinley s in¬ 
augural address referred to the financial achievements 
of the past four years, declaring that National pledges 
had been fulfilled. He referred to the war with Spain, 
and was thankful that we now have a reunited country. 
"Our institutions will not deteriorate by extension, and 
our sense of justice will not abate under tropic suns in 
distant seas,’’ he declared. The President said that the 
declaration of the puriwses of this Government toward 
Cuba, contained in the resolution of April 20, 1898, must 
be made good, and the peace we pledged to leave to Cuba 
must carry with it the guarantees of permanence, in 
conclusion the President said that the settled purpose to 
give self-government to the people of the Philippines, as 
fast as they are ready for it, will be pushed with earnest¬ 
ness and fidelity. The Inaugural parade was pronounced 
one of the finest that Washington has ever seen. There 
were about 30,000 men in line. 
CONGRESS.—The Senate, March 1, after a lively de¬ 
bate, rejected by a vote of 25 to 36 Mr. Pettigrew’s mo¬ 
tion to discharge the Committee on Interstate Commerce 
from consideration of what is known as the Car Coupler 
bill, which requires sworn statements of all railway acci¬ 
dents to be filed -with the Interstate Commerce Commis¬ 
sion. The bills ai)propriating $500,000 for the Buffalo Pan- 
American Exposition, $5,000,0<XI for the St. Louis-Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition and $250,000 for the Charleston, S. 
C., Interstate and West Indian Exposition were discussed. 
Mr. Morgan offered an amendment authorizing the Presi¬ 
dent to acquire from Nicaragua and Costa Rica territory 
suflicient for the construction of the Nicaragua canal and 
appropriating $10,000,(X)0 for the purpose, but the Senate 
at the night .session by a vote of 36 to 16 sustained a 
I)oint of order against it. The House, by a vote of 159 
to 134, concurred in all the Senate amendments to the 
Army Appropriation bill, after two hours’ debate. The 
Philippine and Cuban provisions were defended by the 
Republicans and assailed by the Democrats. The final 
conference report upon the Indian Appropriation bill was 
adopted and a number of minor bills were put through, 
the final stages. The conference report on the St. Louis 
Exposition bill (which agreed to Sunday closing) was 
agreed to and the bill was sent back to conference. A 
motion to concur in the Charleston Exposition amend¬ 
ment was defeated, 84-132. The Revenue Cutter Service 
bill was sidetracked early in the day by a vote of the 
House. Senator Carter, of Montana, signalized his re¬ 
tirement from the Senate, after six years of service, by 
talking the River and Harbor bill to death. He occupied 
the floor, constructively, for nearly 13 con.secutive hours, 
although in the aggregate about three hours of that time 
were devoted to other business. All the other aitpropria- 
tion bills were completed. The Fifty-sixth Congress was 
in session 197 days, which is less than any Congress for 
years. The following statement of bills and acts is 
given by the House tally clerk: Number of bills, 14,336; 
number of rei)orts, 3,000; public acts, 345; private acts, 
1,250; total acts, 1,595; number of joint resolutions, 395. 
The Hay-l'auncefote treaty lapsed March 4 for failure of 
ratification, and it is expected that negotiations will be¬ 
gin anew for another treaty. 
PHILIPPINES.—D. M. Carman, the American who was 
accused of furnishing supplies to the insurgents, was 
released March 2 on his personal cash bond of $10,000 in 
gold. The provost marshal recommended the acceptance 
of the bail, as Carman’s physicians had certified that his 
further incarceration would have a bad effect on his 
health. He will be allowed to go to Mariveles to recuper¬ 
ate. The latest indications are that the case against 
Carman is not as bad as first reported, and that on the 
trial he may be exonerated. Further details are not ob¬ 
tainable. There is inside information that confirms the 
rumors that Mi-. Carman will be vindicated. It is believed 
that his release on bail is merely a temporary measure 
pending his discharge. He will also be permitted to re¬ 
sume his business and bid for Government contracts. 
• • . . A Manila despatch reports that Mondigar, an 
important insurgent commander in the vicinity of Iloilo, 
Island of Panay, has surrendered, with 50 men. Hun¬ 
dreds are reported to have sworn allegiance to the Unit..d 
States Government at various points. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—A serious outbreak of 
bubonic plague has occurred at Cape Town, South Africa. 
The government has taken over control from the cor¬ 
poration, and is exercising a vigorous sanitary system. 
• • • . The German Government has provided for the 
maintenance of its army in China until 1902, although 
some of the troops may be wTthdrawn before the expira¬ 
tion of that time. The objects of the military expedition 
are said to be unchanged. Some of the details of the 
execution of Chinese leaders in Pekin are of a revolting 
character, and it is intimated that the foreign ministers 
may make no further demands for the deaths of nigh 
Chinese ofik-iuls. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—At a meeting held at the Chi¬ 
cago stockyards February 22 in the interests of the In¬ 
ternational Live Stock Exposition, it was decided unani¬ 
mously to make the exposition a permanent show. Forty 
or more representatives of the various breeders’ associa¬ 
tions of the United States and Canada were present. 
During the discussion, General Manager W. E. Skinner 
said the stockyards company would erect a new expo¬ 
sition building between Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth 
streets, 230 feet wide and 7(X) feet long. Officers were 
elected as follows: President, J. A. Spoor, Chicago; vice- 
president, De Witt Smith, Springfield, 111.; A. H. Sanders, 
Chicago; general manager, W. E. Skinner, Chicago: 
treasurer, R. Z. Herrick, Chicago; secretary, Mortimer 
ijevering, La Fayette, Ind. 
The seventh annual meeting of the MassachUselt.s 
Fruit Growers’ Association was held in Horticultural 
Hall, Worcester, Mass., March 13 and 14. H. W. Colling- 
wood. Prof. S. T. Maynard of Amherst, Prof. Fred W. 
Card of the Rhode Island Experiment Station, Ephraim 
Porter Felt. New York State Entomologist, and Prof. 
Frank Wm. Rane, horticulturist of the New Hampshire 
College, addressed the meeting. 
At the recent annual meeting of the Idaho State Hor¬ 
ticultural Society at Boise, officers were elected as fol¬ 
lows: President, I. B. Perrine, Shoshone; vice-president. 
Prof. F. A. Huntley, Moscow; secretary, Robert Milli- 
ken, Nampa; treasurer, R. M. Gwinn, Caldwell. 
The Florida State Horticultural Society will hold its 
annual meeting at Jacksonville May 21-24. This late date 
is fixed for the convenience of the truckers, -who are 
very busy earlier in the season. 
The bill establishing a bureau of horticulture and po¬ 
mology in the Department of Agriculture of the State 
of Pennsylvania, with a chief at a salary of $2,500 and 
one clerk at $1,5<X) annually, has been defeated. 
C. W. Waid, assistant horticulturist at the New Hamp¬ 
shire College, has resigned his jjosition to take a similar 
post at the Ohio State Experiment Station. 
At the present time between 2,000 and 2,500 strange 
horses are scattered over a small area in the vicinity of 
Midland post office, S. D., in the interior of the ceded 
Sioux lands between the Missouri River and the Black 
Hills. The animals do not belong to South Dakota stock¬ 
men, nor do their brands show them to be the property 
of stockmen in either Montana or Wyoming, as the 
brands borne by them are not recorded in the official 
brand books of the three States, so the natural inference 
is that they have drifted to the South Dakota ranges 
from States even farther away than Montana or Wyom¬ 
ing. It is thought the animals may be from as far away 
as Idaho. Efforts are being made by officials of the 
South Dakota stock associations to ascertain the names 
and homes of the owners. Unless they can soon be lo¬ 
cated, it is feared that the herd of ‘‘elrift’’ horses will 
become the prey of horse ’’rustlers,’’ who have recently 
been very bold in that part of the State. The herd would 
I)rove a rich harvest for thieves, for with the animals 
are a large number of unbranded colts, which would be 
easy to dispose of without risk to themselves if the 
■‘rustlers’’ secured possession of them. Reputable stock- 
men living in the vicinity will strive to protect the ani¬ 
mals from thieves until their owners can be found, but 
it is feared that they will not be able to prevent the herd 
being raided by ‘‘rustlers.’’ 
Tobacco growers in the vicinity of Big Flats, N. Y., 
have had trouble with New York buyers, who, last July, 
made contracts with them for their crop, paying a small 
sum in advance. Since then the market has greatly de¬ 
preciated, and the buyers do not wish to pay the price 
called for b.v their contracts. 
Delaware now has an organized Board of Agriculture, 
though it has taken three different Legislatures to com¬ 
plete its establishment. S. H. Messick, the president of 
the board, has been twice elected to be State Master in 
the Grange. He is also president of the Farmers' Insti¬ 
tute, and a well-known up-to-date farmer. Jas. F. Shall- 
cross is a large fruit grower and farmer of the upper 
end of the State, whose ability and popularity arc attest¬ 
ed by the fact that he has been twice elected to the 
Legislature when all the rest of his colleagues on the 
ticket were defeated. A. \Y. Slayrnaker, the third mem¬ 
ber of the board, is known to many of our readers as a 
writer on small fruits and kindred subjects. The firm 
of which he is a member, Slayrnaker & Son, is well 
known to our advertising columns. 'I’he board is charged 
with the care of the San Jos6 scale, and promises a 
vigorous fight for its extermination if such a thing is 
possible. Peach yellows, animal diseases, etc., will also 
claim attention. 
A Grange was organized at Ionia, Ontario Co., N. Y., 
on February 22, by Special State Deputy J. Jay Burden 
with 42 charter members enrolled. C. R. White was 
elected master; E. D. Hoyt, lecturer; Mrs. E. D. Iloyl, 
chaplain; May Dibble, secretary, Much enthusiasm pre¬ 
vailed, and it is safe to say that this will soon be one 
of the strongest Granges in the county. 'I’hi.s is the sec¬ 
ond Grange Brother Barden has organized within a 
month, and he says that more will soon follow. 
The recent cold snap in the South did considerable 
damage to garden truck and strawberries in the Caroli- 
nas, many growers losing their entire crops. The cold 
was less severe in the Georgia peach belt, and a high 
wind prevented a killing frost. The injury to the buds 
is slight, except in the extreme southern iiortion, where 
they were farther advanced. 
199 
Southern Seed Potato Notes 
The following letter from North Carolina may interest 
some seedsmen who are after business: 
‘‘Is it possible for us who buy northern-grown sec-I 
potatoes, to get a smaller potato? The usual ‘marketable’ 
is entirely too large; is no better for seed or planting 
than the smaller or hen's egg size, and does not iilaiit 
near so far, besides being higher priced. Ask your ad¬ 
vertisers to make a note along this line, and some one 
of them will get an order from me and many others who 
want seed size instead of eating-size potatoes for plant¬ 
ing.’’ R. M. 
«axon, N. C. 
A friend who is traveling in the South sends us this 
note from the New Orleans market: 
"Seed potatoes are arriving in quantity, coming from 
Michigan and the Northwest. In carloads in bulk they 
sell at the rate of $2 per barrel. The dealers put them 
in flour barrels, heading them up and cutting holes with 
hatchets in sides and top for ventilation, selling them 
at this date for the average price of $2.25 per barrel. 
Incredible as it may sound, Boston in this market ranks 
as the potato heaven—the place from which all good 
potatoes come, and the potatoes when duly fixed up are 
branded In big capital letters, Boston Peerless, etc. The 
immortal Boston bean must here just now hide its 
greatly diminished head! Peerless is the leading variety 
with Burbank coming next, with a thin sprinkling of Early 
Rose with the New Y'ork brand.’’ j. y. p. 
New Grleans, La. 
Prices Offered for Canning Vegetables 
The following figures show what canners are offering 
f(jr contract vegetables: 
Greensboro. Md., two cents per pound for viner peas; 
60 cents per bushel for pod peas, and $6 per ton for to¬ 
matoes. 
Franklin, Ind., 20 cents for 16 pounds shelled peas: to¬ 
matoes, 20 cents [ler bushel of 60 pounds; corn, $6 per tor. 
Auburn, N. Y., price paid for peas, $1.70 per 100 pounds 
shelled. Must be raised from seed furnished by the 
company at $2.i)0 per bushel. Corn, 45 to 55 cents per 100 
pounds of husketl ears, grown from seed furnished by 
the buyer at $2.75 per bushel; tomatoes, $5 per ton; table 
beets, $8 to $12 per ton; Boston Marrow siiuash, $5 per ton. 
Stanley, N. Y., peas, shelled, $1 per bushel of 60 pounds; 
corn, $10 per ton of husked ears, husked at cannery; beets, 
$15 per ton; Boston Marrow squash, $5 per ton; Hubbard 
a little higher. 
Ionia, N. Y., tomatoes, $6 per ton. 
Le Roy, N. Y., peas, shelled, 85 to 90 cents per bush'd 
of 50 pounds; sweet corn, $6 to -$7 per ton; pumpkins, $2.50 
per ton. 
Syracuse, N. Y., peas, shelled, $1.75 per 100 pounds; 
squash, $5 per ton; sweet corn, 60 cents per 100 pounds 
of husked ears. 
Fairport, N. Y.. table beets, $13 per ton, 1'^ inch in 
diameter and under; string beans, two cents per pound; 
green shelled peas, two cents a pound, vines taken to Hie 
factory and shelled there without charge; tomatoes, 2.! 
cents per bushel; green corn, $6 to $7 per ton. 
Baldwinsville, N. Y., tomatoes, 20 cents per bushel of 60 
pounds; string beans, 75 cents to $1.50 per 100 pounds. 
Brant, N. Y., sweet corn, $6.50 to $8; tomatoes, 20 cenls 
l)er bushel; green iieas in pods, $1.25 per ItX). 
Newport. N. Y., sweet corn, 50 cents per 100 pounds, 
husked cars; green peas, $1.75 per 100, shelled; table beets, 
65 cents per 100. 
Rochester, N. Y., tomatoes, $6 iier ton; string beans, 
two cents per iiound; peas, .$27.50 to $32.50 per ton; rasii- 
berries, six cents per quart; currants, 3% cents per pound. 
Westlield, N. Y., peas, per 100 pounds, $1.75 to $2; toma¬ 
toes, 40 cents per 100; sweet corn, 50 to 60 cents per 100; 
string beans, $1.50 per HX); beets for pickling, 65 cenls 
per 100. 
Rockford, Ill., tomatoes, $8 per ton for first three tons, 
and $7 for remainder. 
The outlook for honey in southern California this sea¬ 
son is said to be the most favorable for a number of 
years. The rains have come at just the right time to give 
the flowers, trees and honey-producing bushes a gooci 
start. As the stock of held honey throughout the country 
is small, California apiarists look for a prosperous year. 
Spraying Whitewash.— I see on page 124 a call from 
F. B., of Covington, Ind., for a formula for the lime 
spray for peach trees to retard the growth of buds. 
Lime alone will soon wash off. About March is pretty 
late, latst year the buds were all spoiled long before 
March; were black in the center. 1 should say siiray iii 
December. 1 have trees sprayed last December that are 
white now, though the fruit buds were already started 
by the warm spell at that time. My formula is this: 
Stir together six pounds dry whiting, two pounds dry 
zinc; scald with boiling water to a thick paste. Scald 
one pound cornstarch as for ijaste; mix the two while 
warm, and reduce to proper consistency. This makes a 
superior calcimine. ii. l. h. 
Munnville, N. Y^. 
Cutting Potato Seep.-1 have not given particular at¬ 
tention to the recent literature concerning the different 
methods of cutting potatoes. 1 believe, however, that 
the form of the cutting is not to be governed by the 
variety, but by the form of tubers and the number of 
eyes. 1 believe that for ordinary conditions the piece 
of tuber should be as large as possible with each eye, in 
order to afford nourishment and to start the young plant. 
A few years ago, a practice was recommended of cutting 
out each eye and throwing away the botly of the tuber. 
This practice gave good results only when the conditions 
of soil and climate were almost [lerfect, so that the 
plantlct was able to form a quick connection with us 
source of food sup|)ly. It is, 1 believe, to be recommend¬ 
ed only as a special practice. The general practice should 
be, I think, as I have said, to have as much of the po¬ 
tato food as possible with each cutting. The ditticulty 
with using the blossom end of the potato is that there 
are so many eyes that each one has a relatively small 
amount of food when the tuber is cut. If the whole 
blossom end of the tuber is used for seed, then so many 
sprouts are likely to start from it that there is too much 
competition, and the results may not be good. 
U . 11. BAILEY. 
