1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
553 
Events of the M^eek, 
domestic.—A Hindoo stoker on the German steamer 
Hohenfels, which arrived at New York July 22, de- 
veloi)ed bubonic plague. The ship was quarantined and 
thoroughly disinfected.July 25, a fire at 
Davenport, Iowa, caused damage amounting to $700,000. 
An area equal to 20 city blocks was burned over, destroy¬ 
ing residences and factories. Long drought had made 
the buildings as dry as tinder, and the intense heat 
caused many prostrations. At least 100 families were 
rendered homeless.A Hood which left destruc¬ 
tion in its wake coursed over 50 miles of territory in 
Colorado, July 27, starting at the head of West Four 
Mile Creek by a cloudburst and extending through the 
valley to a point below Canyon City. The damage will 
reach over $40,000, including the loss to ranches, stock, 
growing crops and country roads in Fremont, Park and 
Teller counties. Many ranches are entirely swept away 
and a number of peopje are reported to be homeless. 
Heavy rains made worse by a cloudburst are the cause 
of the flood. No fatalities have been reported. 
The Federal Government has begun suits in New York 
and New Jersey looking to the recovery of a part of the 
$2,2.50,000 alleged to have been embezzled by Oberlln M. 
('arter, late captain of the Engineer Corps, United States 
Army. Receivers have been appointed for property in 
both States held by Carter’s uncle and brother for the 
benefit of Carter while he is serving out his sentence in 
prison.George U. Phillips, of the Chicago 
Board of Trade, reported to the postal authorities, July 
,■50, his discovery that the country had been flooded with 
circulars emanating from New York <iasking for sub¬ 
scriptions to a $2,000,000 fictitious pool for a deal in Sep¬ 
tember corn. 
CUBA.—The government has offered a reward of $1,000 
for the capture, dead or alive, of Lino Lima, a bandit, 
who has been operating in the Matanzas and Havana 
provinces. There has been for the last three months a 
standing reward of $500 for Lima’s head. July 26, the 
bandit sent word to the authorities that he would sur¬ 
render for $500, provided he were allowed to leave the 
Island. Upon receipt of this offer the authorities doubled 
the reward and sent urgent instructions to General Rod¬ 
riguez of the Rural Guard to capture Lima. 
GENEltAL FOREIGN NEWS.—An explosion of petro¬ 
leum on the American schooner Ijouise Adelaide, Captain 
Orr, which left Philadelphia April 24 for Stockholm, 
which occurred in the harbor thei-e July 23, resulted in 
the deaths of Captain Orr, 10 members of the schooner’s 
crew and four Swedish customs officials. Only two of 
the crew were saved. The explosion set the schooner 
afire, and the blazing petroleum enveloped the vessel and 
those on board.The new German tariff, if en¬ 
forced, would be found particularly severe on Russia, 
Austria and the United States, but it is thought at Ber¬ 
lin, according to a siiecial cablegram, that the Bundesrath 
will not confirm it.George Kennan, the Ameri¬ 
can author and journalist, has been expeiled from Rus¬ 
sia. This was due to his severe criticism, several years 
ago, of the Siberian exile system. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Pennsylvania State For¬ 
estry Commission has purchased land at Carlisle for the 
purpose of establishing a college of forestry. 
The Denver National lave Stock Association has issued 
a warning against hasty acceptance of the Koch tubercu¬ 
losis theory. 
Arrangements have been perfected whereby a large ex¬ 
hibit of wool will be made at the Pan-American Expo¬ 
sition during the time of the sheep show, from September 
23 to October 5. The classification will be a purely com¬ 
mercial one for clothing, combing and carpet wools, and 
the jury will make the awards on the standard known 
to the trade. Entry blanks will be furnished upon appli¬ 
cation to F. .A.. Converse, Superintendent of IJve Stock, 
Agricultural Building, Pan-American Exposition. 
The special Summer meeting of the American Forestry 
A.ssoclation for this year will be held at Denver, Col., 
August 27-29, in affiliation with the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science. This meeting will be a 
distinctively western one. It will deal with the forest 
problems before the Western States—fires, grazing, rela¬ 
tion of forests to water supply, etc. The Federal Gov¬ 
ernment, more than 10 years ago, recognized the im¬ 
portance of the preservation of the forests in protecting 
the timber resources and conserving the water supply, 
and there have now been established in the States and 
Territories west of the Mississippi 40 forest reserves, con¬ 
taining nearly 47,000,000 acres. 
The twenty-fifth annual se.ssion and exhibition of the 
Georgia State Horticultural Society was held at Mill- 
edgeville, August 7 and 8. P. J. Berckmans is president 
and li. A. Berckmans treasurer. 
The Canadian tariff imposes a duty of three cents on 
each budded or improved fruit or shade tree imported, 
and an ad valorem duty of 20 per cent on shrubbery from 
the United States; but seedling stocks for grafting and 
llorists’ stock in general are admitted free of duty. 
Two of the largest hogs ever shipped to this country 
were received at the United States Cattle Quarantine, 
Garfield, N. J., July 26. They are consigned to George 
W. Vanderbilt, at Biltmore, N. C. One weighs 800 and 
the other 740 pounds. After a 15 days’ quarantine they 
will be sent to Biltmore. 
Up to July 20 the four bee Inspectors of the New York 
State Board of Agriculture examined 416 apiaries, em¬ 
bracing 13,393 colonies. Of this number 229 apiaries were 
found more or less infected with black or foul brood, 
and 1,834 colonies were condemned to destruction, or to 
be treated with such remedies as have been effective. 
'Fhe Department has prepared a small bulletin on bee 
diseases, which gives approved methods of treatment, a 
copy of which will be sent to applicants. It is a source 
of gratification that those apiarists who followed the in¬ 
structions given by the inspectors have been very suc¬ 
cessful in the care of their apiaries. 
Immediately after the rain, which fell in Kansas July 27, 
farmers began to buy seed for forage crops. Heavy 
purchases of sorghum, turnip and rye seed were made. 
Farmers in the Tjeavenworth section will sow large fields* 
in turnips. They make good pastures until late in the 
season, and then the turnips can be used for stock during 
the Winter. Some farmers report there will be consider¬ 
able late corn and the rain will make fodder. Farmers 
will make no further efforts to sell their stock. Several 
varieties of vegetables will be replanted. The rain was 
timely for apples and pears. The wind blew a little fruit 
from the trees, but the damage was light. 
The first Summer meeting of the Wayne County (N. 
Y.) Fruit Growers’ Association will be held at the Case 
fruit farm, Sodus, N. Y., on Saturday, August 17. The 
speakers will be Prof. M. V. Sllngerland, of Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, and H. W. Collingwood. 
WHEAT AND HESSIAN FLY. 
The Hessian fly has not bothered this locality any this 
season. The wheat is an extra good crop here this yeai’. 
The fiy took all the wheat here last season. The only 
variety that withstood its attack at all was the Mealy, 
and that partly succumbed to it, but the other varieties 
were a total failure. The variety you mention, Dawson’s 
Golden Chaff, has never been raised here to my knowl¬ 
edge. H. G. H. 
Delightful, O. 
The wheat crop is unusually good this season. The 
fiy has done practically no damage. Farmers sow after 
September 15 to avoid the fiy, and a great deal more 
Golden Chaff wheat is grown now than before. We do 
not know why it does better than other kinds; probably 
it is less susceptible. The different varieties are known 
by local names, generally named after the man who first 
introduced it into a certain locality. p. d. b. 
Ringtown, Pa. 
There has been but little damage done by the Hessian 
fiy, and that was last Fall. All varieties met about the 
same fate. As to some kinds doing better than others, 
such is the case, but that is attributed to soil and locality. 
The Dawson’s Golden Chaff is comparatively new here, 
and not tested enough to determine its merits. The va¬ 
rieties raised are Fultz, Pool and Michigan Amber. The 
yield has been from 18 to 30 bushels per acre, and tlie 
quality very good, some weighing 62 pounds per bushel. 
Rockville, Ind. h. b. b. 
Two of my neighbors have one 20, the other 10 acres 
adjoining, of what is known, as Democrat, a bearded veiy 
white straw red wheat. This looks as though it would 
yield 30 bushels per acre, with very little effect of the 
fiy. One man has a field of another variety that will not 
yield five bushels per acre. The only good wheat in th.s 
neighborhood is Democrat which, 1 think, is generally 
fair. Many Helds will not return their seed. My wheat, 
known as Bullion, will not yield 10 bushels, scarcely 
enough to pay for harvesting. Hay is a good crop, but 
not much that wilt be salable; too much rain during the 
harvest. Corn backward; barley and oats good except on 
low land. J. ic. d. 
Junius, N. Y. _ 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
JULY 22.—Potatoes are not sprayed with the Bordeaux 
Mixture in this vicinity, in my own case I have tried 
to ward off the blight by selecting my seed at digging 
time from hills with healthy strong vines that remained 
green until frost. In this way 1 have been able to grow 
healthy plants. The present outlook for potatoes is not 
very encouraging, especially late planted. The weather 
is scorchingly hot, and potatoes are suffering from the 
heat. Wheat, oats and barley are good, though the hot 
weather is pushing them along too fast. Corn is doing 
well. L,. N. N. 
Laney, Wis. 
JULY 25.—As to early vegetables, we had none in this 
section except asparagus, the others didn't get planted 
in season on account of rain. Peas were fit to pick about 
the same length of time after planting as usual, but very 
poor in quality, as is ail fruit picked up to this time. 
Apples are very scarce and inferior. Potatoes are not 
as large as hen’s eggs, even those planted reasonably 
early. a. u. g. 
Arlington, N. Y. 
JULif 23.-1 am sure nearly all vegetables here ripened 
about one week later than other years; tomatoes about 
two or three weeks later. They are scarce yet and worth 
about two for live cents. Yesterday was the hottest day 
known around here; it was 111 degrees in the shade. 
Everything is suffering from heat and drought. It has 
not rained here for a month. The market gardeners 
around here practice mixed farming; they I’aise their 
own feed for horses and cows, raise garden truck and 
onion sets from their own seed, and some have onion 
seed for sale. The dry weather has not injured the onion 
crop. Large onions are ripe, early sets ready to dig next 
week. I have four acres of nice yellow seed ready to 
cut the end of this week. The onion crop is quite as 
early as in other years. j. p. p. 
Madison, Ind. 
JULY 27.—It is almost impossible to give you any re¬ 
liable data on the apple crop at this time. The weather 
is very dry and hot throughout the apple section, and if 
it remains so long will have a disastrous effect. It al¬ 
ready affects size of Summer fruit; some of the latter is 
actually cooked upon the tree before it matures. Tem¬ 
perature 110 degrees in the shade. Some of the older 
trees (20 years of age and upwards), are loaded with 
fruit; young orchards as a rule have but little, and they 
comprise the larger acreage. Orchards of 10 to 15 years 
of age are a mixed proposition. Some have no fruit at 
all, while others have a sprinkling of fruit throughout. 
In other orchards some of the trees are loaded while 
others have little or no fruit. On the whole, I would 
say about 40 per cent of a good crop would be a generous 
estimate under present conditions; Ben Davis light. 
Savoy, Ill. H. M. D. 
JULY 29.—I think we never have a reason when all 
crops are good. Something is a complete or partial failure 
every year. This year the hay and wheal crop were 
phenomenally large. The prospect for peaches was never 
better. Corn is not over three-fourths of a crop. Many 
farmers will be disappointed at silo-filling time. Oats are 
hardly up to the average, and late potatoes are very 
late, with only a small acreage. We are looking for 
high prices next Winter and Spring. He who has, will 
doubtless do well to hold. Apples are not over one- 
fourth crop, and the best Winter varieties are scarcest 
of all. Rains are plentiful, pastures and meadows are 
green and fresh. We have had no drought this Summei', 
and no temperature above 98 degrees at my home. Oat 
harvest has just begun (last of July), and we are having 
a catching time of it, owing to the frequency of the 
blessed rains. a. k. b. 
Chagrin Falls, O. 
JULY 27.—A very small crop of apples in Maine this 
year. In spite of continuous rainy weather at blossom¬ 
ing time apple trees that bear cider apples and some 
others set fairly well. Hay in this section more than 
doubled that of last year; throughout the State it will 
average about 50 per cent more. My own fields cut three 
times more than in 1900. Some old fields in this seciion 
cut no more. There is an increase in the number of acres 
of silage corn each year, and although late it is laow of 
good color and growing well. We have thought the 
Learning best suited to our climate, but have experi¬ 
mented this year with three other varieties. j. h. r. 
Portland, Me. 
JULY 30.—We have had an unusually wet season. 
Nearly all crops have suffered from the cold wet Spring. 
Wheat is nearly a failure and the crop has been largely 
abandoned. Potatoes were planted late and largely in 
compact wet soil, and they will require most favorable 
conditions if an average crop is secured. Many were not 
planted till late in June. Our late planted potatoes we 
usually spray two or three times, beginning when the 
vines are suitable size. Our early potatoes are a very 
encouraging sight at this writing, fast closing up the 
rows, lull of health and vigor. We gave them an appli¬ 
cation of 800 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda, acid 
phosphate and muriate of potash. c. w. b. 
Phelps, N. Y. _ 
Crop and Weather Report. 
Conditions in Kansas and Nebraska have improved, 
rains having come in time to help the late corn. The 
drought is still serious in the Ohio Valley, where corn is 
in a most critical condition. Winter wheat harvest is 
in progress in Washington, and the yield is fully equal 
to expectations. Spring wheat is being cut in the Red 
River Valley. Both quality and yield are below the aver¬ 
age on account of excessively early ripening. The last 
of the oats in the extreme North are being harvested. 
The crop in the North Atlantic States is generally light. 
The cotton prospect has improved, clean fields and good 
growth being reported over a large part of the belt. In 
the Ohio Valley and Tennessee the tobacco plant is suf¬ 
fering from the dry weather. In New England and the 
Middle Atlantic States it is making a fine growth. There 
is no improvement in the apple outlook. Secretary of 
Agriculture Wilson is making a personal investigation of 
the drought damage in the West. 
The Potato Crop. 
In central northern Ohio potatoes will be short. Early 
potatoes do best planted about April 15, but this year 
they are no better than those planted in May. The cause 
is a very wet Spring followed by very hot weather. From 
June 24 to July 17 inclusive we had 15 days with mercury 
at 90 or above. Of course, this extremely hot weather 
was too much for the early potatoes, and early-planted 
late potatoes are not doing well. Owing to help being 
hard to get the Potato bugs have done much damage. 
Our late potatoes do best planted about the middle of 
June, and it is too early to tell much about the crop, 
only that most farmers got a poor stand, seed rotting 
very badly. Only those who planted small tubers whole 
have a good stand. w. w. 
Cut and Shredded. 
It is reported that 3,000 cases of California dried peaches 
which were shiijped to Seattle, Wash., were condemned 
by the fruit inspector there as wormy and unfit for use. 
The English wheat harvest began the third week in 
July. This was earlier than usual, having been hastened 
by the hot weather. Mark Lane Express says that on 
five per cent of the area sown the quality and quantity 
of the grain will be fine; 25 per cent will be a fair aver¬ 
age, and 70 per cent below average. The straw crop will 
be the shortest in eight years. 
The Pacific coast lumbermen have submitted to the 
western railroads their estimate of the number of cars 
they will need to handle their output for the next four 
months as follows: Lumber, 10,400 cars; shingles, 10,600. 
The heavy wheat crop in the Northwest will tax the 
carrying capacity of the roads greatly for the next few 
months, and they are getting extra equipment as rapidly 
as possible. 
GRANGE FIRE INSURANCE.—Having been a direc¬ 
tor for 20 years in the Farmers’ Reliance Fire Insurance 
Company of West Jersey, I thought some of your read¬ 
ers would be interested to know how we are getting 
along. Our company was organized over 21 years ago, 
composed wholly of those who belong to the Grange, 
comprising several counties, each county having two 
directors. We insure for one-half of one per cent, it 
being perpetual as long as the assessments are paid. 
The assessments for 21 years amount to two cents and 
three mills on a dollar, and we now have $12,000 In the 
treasury. We have over $5,000,000 worth of property in¬ 
sured against fire or lightning. We have no bills to pay 
for advertising; being a benevolent Institution we are 
not taxed as other insurance companies are; no salaries 
except the treasurer, who gets $25 » year; no costly in¬ 
surance oHices; the directors have $1 for taking risks; 
the secretary 50 cents for making out the certificate of 
insurance. Grangers are the better class of farmers, 
and having a company of their own they are more 
careful of fire than people in general. If farmers do 
not hang together they will hang separately, as Franklin 
said at the time of the formation of our Governmient. 
Vineland, N. J. J. "W- 
