1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
5o9 
BOOK BULLETIN 
For Sale by The Rural New-Yorker 
Fitting Sliocp for Show King and Mar¬ 
ket. The price of thi.s hook is $1.50 Instead 
of $1, as quoted recently in this column. 
At.fai.fa, by F. D. Coburn; IGl pages. 
Practical information on the liistory, pro¬ 
duction, qualities, value and uses of th's 
plant. E.xtensive reports of the results of 
trials in various Slates. I’rice, posljiaid, 
50 cents. 
Plums and Plum Culture, by !•’. A. 
Waugh: 371 pages, 117 Illustrations. His¬ 
tory of the plum; descriptions of varielii's; 
propagation and orchard management; 
diseases and remedies; blossoming charts; 
geography and climatology. Price, post¬ 
paid, $1.50. 
THE RURAE NEW-YORKER. 
40!) Pearl St., New York. 
Market Briefs 
PICKED UP HERE AND THERE 
TdCHT RECEIPTS.—During the recent 
hot we.ather the receiiits of fruits and 
vegetables at New York were unusually 
light for this season of the year. 'Phis 
was fortunate, as otherwise there might 
have been serious loss all around. In such 
severe weather iieople do as little buying 
as possible, and dealers must do extra 
hustling to get rid of the stuff, or it will 
siioil on their hands. No doubt the reason 
for this falling off in receiiits was the 
fact that the hot wave covered nearly all 
of the producing district, and shiiipors felt 
the general languor, handling only what 
was absolutely necessary. 'I'liis evened up 
matters, and the market came through in 
vcr.v good condition. 
AN AGOKIOSSIVE CKOCEIh—Ho recent¬ 
ly commenced husitiess in an up-town sec¬ 
tion of New York where grocery stores 
are, if anything, more numerous than sa¬ 
loons. It did not look as though there 
was any chance for him to work up a 
trade, but he did it in short order by cut¬ 
ting the luices on some goods and adver¬ 
tising this fact in a striking and original 
manner. Sandwich men, that is, men 
carrying two signs fastened together with 
ropes and hung over the neck, reaching 
below the knees, are a common sight for 
advertising purposes. This man fixed up 
six sets of these signs, painted with gorge¬ 
ous lettering of white and red. Then he 
hired six men who marched in “Indian 
file” about four feet apart slowly along 
the streets. This odd procession attracted 
great attention, and, when last seen, the 
new grocer was doing a good business. 
FRUIT NOTES.—A continued improve¬ 
ment is noted in the ((uality of southern 
peaches arriving, and the market is firm 
on the better grades. The Californlas 
seen thus far are the same as in former 
years, quite fair in appearance, but worth¬ 
less as compared with the eastern fruit. 
The supply of cherries is light. Most that 
are seen are the late sour varieties, which 
arc in good condition and wholesale at 25 
to 40 cents per eight-pound basket. There 
are a few strawberries in the market. 
The best that I saw were Oswego fruit, 
each basket wrapped in waxed paper. 1 
do not remember having before seen so 
many fine currants on the street at one 
time, yet they go slowly, some of the best 
retailing at eight cents per quart. South¬ 
ern apples are ciuite plentiful, although 
there is but little call for them so long as 
tliere is so much otlier better fruit to be 
had. Early apples strike this market about 
the same time as good peaches, and have 
to take a back scat. 'I'he same is true of 
the southern pears now arriving. The 
watermelon demand is heavy, but inices 
have dropiied owing to excessive rei;eipts. 
iMuskmelon conditions are improving, ami 
high prices are obtained for the better 
Georgia stock. So many worthless inusk- 
inclons are sent in early in the season that 
buyers become afraid of them, and some 
time is required to work up a trade after 
the better grades arrive. A great many 
are served in restaurants, w’here they are 
cut in two, and 10 cents is charged for 
half of a fair-sized one. It is needless to 
say that none but those of good quality 
can be used satisfactoril.v for this purpose. 
w. W. II. 
'I'he output of coal from this country for 
the year 1900 was the largest on record, 
being 267,540,000 tons. 'I'his was five per cent 
more than the previous year, and 15,000,000 
tons above Great Britain’s greatest record. 
A COMPANY has been incorporated at Al¬ 
bany, N. Y., for the manufacture of ma¬ 
chines to polish shoes by electricity. This 
would do away with much har’d hand labor, 
but it is doubtful whether it will supplant 
the old-fashioned, elbow-grease method, 
for some time at least. 
PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION NOTES. 
The Mines Building was one of the very 
first to have its exhibits completed and 
ready for visitors. It is connected with 
the Horticulture Building by one of the 
conservatoi'ics. Not all of the mineral ex¬ 
hibits are found in this building, as sev¬ 
eral of the Central and South American 
republics have .separate buildings in which 
a large part of their exhibits of different 
kinds are placed; hence the Mines Build¬ 
ing proper contains only the displays from 
the United States and Canada. Among 
the most interesting of these exhibits is 
a collection of precious stones in the rough 
and cut into Jewels rc.ady for setting. It 
might bo interesting to many readers to 
mention some of these gems in a descrip¬ 
tive way, and, while I make no pretensions 
to being a mineralogist, the information 
r may give is upon good authority. 
'I'he diamond, of course, is the most 
valuable of all gems, and is a crystal 
which was formed, so mineralogists sup¬ 
pose, under the most intense heat in the 
natural fires of by-gone ages. A perfectly 
pure diamond is clear white or translucent, 
and without any coloring whatever except 
the prismatic colors which come from the 
reflection of the sun’s rays; but there are 
various colors found among the diamonds, 
some of them being blue, green and also 
of a yellowish tint, which colors come 
from certain foreign substances that were 
incorporated at the time of the formation 
of Ihe crystals, 'fheso may he seen in the 
collection of holh cut and uncut stones, 
and in Ihe Manufactures Building dia¬ 
mond cutters are at work cutting the 
rough stones into finished diamonds. Of 
the cheaper and more common gems, 
silica is the basis of about all of them, 
'i'his is the principal ingredient of our com¬ 
mon glass, and is found in the earth in 
large quantities mixed in with rocks and 
other earthy matter. Aluminum is an¬ 
other of Ihe principal ingredients of these 
stones. As most of us now know, it is 
mixed with some other metals and forms 
an alloy which is worked into many kinds 
of cooking utensils .anti various articles of 
common use. It is very light, weighing 
only about tho same as ordinary oak wood. 
In several glass cases in the Mines Build¬ 
ing visitors will notice large blocks of 
mineral which are crusted with pointed 
or pyramidal stones of a pinkish lint. 
'I'hcse are amethysts, and when cut into 
proper shape for setting they have a very 
brilliant lustre and arc highly prized. 
'I'his coloring comes from a mixture of 
oxide of iron and manganese, and the 
varying colors which are from light pink 
to dark purple are owing to the different 
proportions of these oxides. The more 
manganese the darker is the color. 'I'he 
emerald gets its beautiful green color 
from small particles of glucina, which is 
another metallic substance, but the most 
beautiful of the green gems is the hid- 
denite, which gets its color from chromium. 
'I'he topaz, which is a very common gem, 
varies in color from yellow in different 
shades to a dark smoky or almost black 
color which is from a slight mixture of 
lluorine. 'I'he garnet gets its rich red col¬ 
oring from iron, aluminum and chromium, 
the shades varying according to their dif¬ 
ferent proportions. \Vc have all admired 
the beautiful blue turquoise stones which 
are used so much in jeweiry, and it may 
be a surprise to some to know that they 
are simply composed of phosphate of 
aluminum colored by copper. Sometimes 
the turquoise shades into a green, al¬ 
though this is rare. Opals, which vary 
from a translucent milky color through 
yellow, blue, green and red, are mixed and 
intermingled sometimes in tho most charm¬ 
ing way, ami yet these colors all come 
from these metallic oxides that I have just 
mentioned in describing the other gems, 
imbedded in silica and with a little water 
added. It may seem strange that water 
is found in these charming stones; but 
such is the case, and sometimes there is 
as much a live per cent of it. By heating 
the water can bo driven off and the 
colors of tho opal materially lessenetl in 
brilliam-y. 
One large case is devoted entirely to the 
natural carbonates of copper, and there is 
no exhibit in the mineral building which 
is more striking or beautiful to look at. 
'I'here are pieces of malachite, which are 
green in color, and look almost like frozen 
bubbles of the most beautiful tints and 
shades. A slight adilitional proportion of 
copper makes azurite, whicli is blue and 
exceedingly brilliant, almost like Indigo 
in richness. 'I'hese formations are found 
about the copper mines, especially in 
Arizona, Montana and Michigan. Nature 
has sometimes deposited the malachite 
formation and then a layer of azurite, one 
over the other, and when these layers are 
cut or ground down they make lovely set¬ 
tings for pins and other jewelry. 'There 
is an asbestos exhibit, which shows every¬ 
thing from the crude material to the fin¬ 
ished product. It might almost be called 
mineral hair, wool, cotton, or something 
of that kind, because it can be ground up 
or beaten into a fiber which can be spun 
or woven. As it is indestructible by fire 
it makes excellent fire-proof clothing for 
firemen and for covering steam boilers and 
pipes and many other such uses. The 
natural suhstance is a mixture of silica, 
maenesla and alumina. 
]i the Ontario exhibit is a fine display 
of i raphite, there being blocks of it fully 
three feet square in its natural condition. 
'I’his is the material from which lead pen¬ 
cils are made. 'We also use it In stove 
polish, little thinking that when we are 
using lead pencils and stove blacking, we 
are, perhaps, drawing upon the same mine 
for our material. A whole day might well 
lie spent in this Mines Building, but I only 
mention these few things to give our read¬ 
ers a glimpse of what there is there to 
see, and I hope they will not fail to go 
there and learn many things that will be 
at once useful and entertaining. A farmer 
needs to know something besides how to 
cultivate corn and grow good fruit. In 
fact, he ought to be an all-’reund man. 
'I'hero is one thing which I wish to sug¬ 
gest further to tho.se who may visit the 
Exposition, and that is, that if po.ssible at 
all, they do not fail to stay during the 
evening as late as nine o’clock at least, 
in order to sec the Illumination. I have 
mentioned the electric lighting before, but 
I will venture to .say further that the 
lighting of the buildings and grounds is, 
rierhaps, the most remarkable feature of 
the entire exhibition. One should take a 
position somewhere in the large open 
space which is called the Esplanade, about 
eight o’clock, and while listening to the 
music, wait for the lights to be turned on. 
'I’his is first a very slight glow as the 
band begins to play the “Star Spangled 
Banner,” and this Increases in power, but 
very gradually, indeed, until the whole 
scene is a perfect glory of light with the 
Electric 'Power as the central figure. 'This 
scene will be remembered as long as one 
lives and is worth a long trip to behold. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
JUBT 8.—About luilf of tho apple or¬ 
chards will have full croi). We are 40 
miles north of I’ittsburg. 1 have heard 
that the apple crop is better south of us. 
'i'he corn is likely to make as good a crop 
as last year; the last 20 days have been 
favorable. I’otato acreage is more than 
double last year within a mile of where 1 
live. Potato bugs are very plentiful this 
year; last year there were no bugs. Wheat 
better than usual; rye not so good; oats 
better stand than last year. Meadows 
fairly good. h. o. 
I’ortersville, Pa. 
JUDY 8.—'There is no wheat sown here. 
'The crops are corn, oats, some rye, hay 
and milk. My own crops are late potatoes 
for retailing here in Crown Point, and 
seven acres of asparagus for shipping to 
Chicago. I have been raising liima beans, 
but think this Summer’.^ crop of beans will 
be the last. 'They do not pay, and it is 
difficult to get poles here. We expected to 
have eight acres of cow peas this Summer, 
but the beet sugar folks came in and per¬ 
suaded us to sow beets instead of peas. 
W'e had two acres of Crimson clover that 
stood tho Winter fairly well, but it does 
not seem to start up again since cutting. 
I don’t think we will bother with it again; 
cow peas and rye for Winter cover are 
more satisfactory. l. c. b. 
Crown Point, Ind. 
.JUIiY 8.—In general among farmers 
within a radius of from five to eight miles 
from Progress tho apple crop will be poor. 
Smokehouse seems to be about the only 
variety that gives promi.se of a fair croj). 
Baldwins hang very thin on the trees and 
other late varieties are but little better. 
Early potatoes that were planted in time 
to mature before the dry spell, which be¬ 
gan about throe weeks ago, are a fairly 
good crop. Present prospects for late po¬ 
tatoes are very poor indeed, 'i’he excessive 
heat of the past two weeks has caused 
oven the <iuite late potatoes to begin to 
die before the potatoes have had chance 
to form. 'The crop of field corn is not yet 
seriously injured by the heat and dry 
weather, but the crop will depend largely 
upon the rainfall of the next week or two. 
Early sweet corn is already suffering, and 
an extremely light crop is feared. Hay 
and wheat are ordinary crops in our vicin¬ 
ity. Tho heat and dry weather are in¬ 
terfering sadly with the setting out of late 
vegetables, such as cabbage, tomatoes, 
celery, etc. Our salvation for late crops 
depends upon a speedy rain, the indica¬ 
tions of which are very scanty at present. 
Progress, Pa. j. g. 
JUI. 1 Y 9.—Apples will be about one-half 
crop. Some orchards, where the trees are 
set close together blossomed freely, but 
set scarcely any fruit. Corn was finished 
planting June 6 and is looking well, con¬ 
sidering the length of time planted, but 
cool weather and rains are retarding its 
growth. Potatoes are looking fine but are 
beginning to show signs of blight. Hay 
will be a big crop. Oats are y^low with 
rust, and are beginning to head. 'Too many 
rains of late have hurt most crops except 
buckwheat, which is fairly jumping. 
Carter Camp, Pa. o. s. 
The Bridhi Tm\ 
Is not infrequently followed by a long, 
lenten periotl of enforced fasting and 
fle.shly mortification. The cheek grows 
hollow, the eyes are dull and deep 
ringed, and the step is slow and languicl. 
There is an "all dragged-out feeling,” 
wdiich makes life 
an utter burden. 
The great func¬ 
tional changes 
which follow 
marriage are not 
usually antici- 
f iated, or the wife- 
y sufTering might 
be avoided. 
Dr. Pierce’s Fa¬ 
vorite Prescription 
is the best friend 
of weak and sickly 
women. It cures 
the womanly dis¬ 
eases that rob the 
eye of brightne,s 3 
and the step of 
lightness. It tones 
up the system and 
establishes the 
womanly organ¬ 
ism on a basis of 
sound health. 
" Favorite Pre¬ 
scription” con¬ 
tains no alcohol, 
neither opium, cocaine, nor other nar¬ 
cotics. Accept no substitute. There is 
no other medicine " just as good ” for 
weak and sickly women. 
11 had been a CTcat sufferer from female weak¬ 
ness for about two years,” writes Mrs. Emma 
Richardson, of Goss, Wayne Co., Ky. “Could 
not do my work part of the time. I took four 
bottles of Dr. Pierce’s P'avorite Prescription and 
felt as well as I ever did.” 
Young married women will find a 
lasting friend in Dr. Pierce’s Medical 
Adviser. It contains 1008 pages and 
is sent /ree (in paper cover), on re¬ 
ceipt of 21 one-cent stamps to pay 
expense of mailing only. Cloth bind¬ 
ing, 31 stamps. Address Dr. R. V. Pierce, 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
I 
a 
Each 
KcK con¬ 
tains loo lbs. 
mixed wire nails 
from al>out 3 to 40 penny 
size. Order a Sample Kcr. Write 
for Free t'ataloKue No. on 
bnildlnq’ material and supplies. 
CHICAGO HOUSE WRECKING CO 
nHs 
OC 
iper 
lbs 
West 'thirty'Flfih and Iron Streets, 
. I'lIU'AliO. 
Don’t Be Taken In! 
The dealer who tells you he has some¬ 
thing just as good as 
Veterinary Pixine 
is mistaken ! lie does not know. Trials 
and tests prove it the most marvelous 
Healing remedy made Ab.solutely Sure, 
it penetrates, absorbs, soothes anti 
heals—antiseptic— contains no mineral 
or poisonous substance. Will positively 
cure old sores, scratches, grease heel, 
hopple chafes, hoof rot, mange and all 
skin diseases, when veterinarians and all 
known remedies fail. Sold under an ab¬ 
solute guarantee. i* t all druggists and 
dealers or sent postpaid. 
At all drugKlsts and dealers or sent prepaid. 
2 oz., 25c.; 8 oz., 50c.; 5-lb. pkge., $4. 
TROY CHEMICAL 00,, TROY, M. Y. 
Gold-Shell Rings. 
Most people like a 
nice ring. We show 
three styles. 'These are 
made by drawing a 
shell of gold over a rod 
of composition metal. 
They are better and 
will wear longer than 
solid gold rings of a 
low carat. The retail 
price would he from 75 
cents to 81 . We will 
send one of these rings 
postpaid as a reward 
for sending one new subscription at $1. 
Cut a slip of paper the size of finger and 
send for size. 
