THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
697 
idoi 
Events of the Week 
DOMESTIC.—Emma Goldman, the anarchist lecturer, 
who was arrested in Chicago on suspicion of being con¬ 
cerned in the President’s assassination, was released 
September 2\, after two weeks’ imprisonment, there be¬ 
ing no evidence to hold her. .... The steamer Ore¬ 
gon arrived at Port Townsend, Wash., September 24, 
from Nome, with 474 passengers and J750,000 in gold. 
The steamer was long overdue, provisions were low, and 
the passengers had to be put on short rations. 
September 24, lightning strucK a schoolhouse at St. Cloud, 
Minn., wrecking the building, and stunning the teacher 
and 36 pupils, three of whom were badly burned. 
Lieut. E. P. Bertholf, who was sent to Siberia last 
Winter by the Government to secure reindeer for the 
Alaskan stations, arrived at Port Clarence on August 28. 
with 254 of the animals. He secured the reindeer 1,000 
miles north of Irkutsk, the present terminal of the Sibe¬ 
rian Railway, and arrived with them at Orla after a 
journey hemmed in with inconceivable difficulties. 
.... Leon P. Czolgosz was sentenced at Buffalo, 
September 26, to be executed in Auburn prison during 
the week beginning October 28, 1901. The only statement 
made by the prisoner in court was a reiteration of his 
claim that he had no accomplices.The explo¬ 
sion of a gas tank at Newark, N. J., September 26, caused 
the death of six men.A cloudburst near the 
head waters of Alameda Creek in Presidio County, Texas, 
September 25, caused the death of 13 prospectors. 
President McKinley leaves an estate valued at about 
$225,000. It is left entirely to his widow, during her life, 
subject only to an annuity of $1,000 to be paid to Miss 
Helen McKinley, sister of the deceased. At Mrs. Mc¬ 
Kinley’s death the entire estate is to be divided among 
the brothers and sisters of the testator.The 
city council of Grlnnell, Iowa, has adopted an ordinance 
which makes it unlawful for two or more persons to 
congregate and buy one another drinks. It is held that 
“treating” promotes drunkenness.A fire and 
explosion in the Wellington colliery, British Columbia, 
October 1, caused the death of 17 miners.The 
teamsters' strike in San Francisco continues with vio¬ 
lence. September 30, four special policemen fought with 
200 strikers and sympathizers. Seven men were shot, one 
of whom will die. Regular police arrested 30 of the mob. 
all of them heavily armed. 
ADMINISTRATION.—The appeal recently received 
from the District Attorney at Nome, Alaska, to have a 
Government vessel sent there to bring back to the United 
States indigent miners has been unfavorably acted upon 
by the War Department, to which it was referred by 
the Department of Justice. A similar request preferred 
one year ago was given favorable response, and an army 
transport was sent to bring back the "indigents.” The 
anxiety manifested by the District Attorney at Nome is 
attributed to a desire on his part to get rid of a crowd 
of the more lawless characters rather than to aid people 
who are supposed to be in distress. At the War Depart¬ 
ment it was explained that there will be no necessity 
for persons having pecuniary means to remain in North¬ 
ern Alaska during the Winter. There will be three or 
four merchant steamers touching at Nome before the 
close of navigation, so that those who desire to leave 
will have the opportunity to do so.Offici^Ll 
estimates for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1902, which 
Postmaster General Smith will submit to Congress at the 
opening of the session, call for an aggregate of $6,250,000 
for rural free delivery service throughout the country, 
an increase of $2,750,000 over the current year. The total 
for the free delivery service proper, operated in cities, 
is $18,745,000, an increase of nine per cent. The grand 
aggregate for the entire postal free delivery service, in¬ 
cluding free delivery and rural free delivery, is $24,995,000. 
CUBA.—General Leonard Wood, Governor of Cuba, 
September 27, promulgated an order ot the War Depart¬ 
ment, making a reduction of 50 per cent in the duty on 
all machinery for making sugar and brandy, and for 
agricultural purposes, imported into Cuba during the 
past year. The same order repeals the special rebate 
of $3.40 per 100 kilos allowed on coffee coming into Cuba 
from Porto Rico. This provision was found necessary 
owing to the fact that Brazilian coffee was being shipped 
from New York to Porto Rico, and reshipped to Cuba 
for the purpose of avoiding the regular duty. A special 
provision allows the entry of railroad material at five 
per cent ad valorem for one year to come. 
PHILIPPINES.—A company of the Ninth Infantry was 
attacked by Filipinos at Balangiga, Samar, September 
28, and of the 72 men, only 24 escaped, 11 of these being 
wounded. The others were reported to have been killed. 
The rebels, who attacked the Americans while they 
were breakfasting, captured stores, ammunition and 
rifles.The municipal authorities of Manila have 
passed an ordinance doubling the size of the gates of the 
walled city in their part of the fortifications. The mili¬ 
tary authorities may object.Juan Cardona, 
who until recently was presidents of Geron, Province of 
Tarlac, and who was appointed secretary of the Tarlac 
provincial government, has been arrested on a charge of 
accusing people of crimes for the purpose of extorting 
money from them. More than 50 persons assert that they 
have been robbed by him, some declaring that they have 
even surrendered title deeds to property. Cardona had 
been considered one of the most reliable natives holding 
pi’o-American views. An examination of his record, 
however, shows that for several years he was a bandit, 
and that he served two terms of Imprisonment, aggre¬ 
gating five years. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—Miss Stone, an Ameri¬ 
can missionary in Turkey, Is being held by Bulgarian 
bandits for a ransom of $125,000. The State Department 
advises buying her freedom and punishing the bandits 
when her safety Is assured.Rio Janeiro has 
been officially declared infected with bubonic plague. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—By recent changes in the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, Prof. G. H. Powell, lately of 
Newark, Del., goes to the Pomology division as Assist¬ 
ant Pomologist, succeeding W. A. Taylor, who becomes 
Pomologlst in Charge of Field Investigations. Prof. A. 
P. Close, of Utah, formerly at Geneva, N. Y., succeeds 
to Newark. Del. 
Consul General Hurst reports from Vienna that the 
consumption of horse meat in the Austrian capital as an 
article of food is rapidly increasing. In 1899, 25,646 horses 
and 58 donkeys were slaughtered for food. This was over 
a thousand more than in the previous year, and about 
’1,000 more than in 1897, 
The manager of the International Live Stock Exposi¬ 
tion at Chicago, to be held the first week in December, 
announces that according to the regulations relative to 
the limit of time for making entries, it has been gener¬ 
ally stated that no entries would be received after Octo¬ 
ber 16. Now ail important exception is noted. All en¬ 
tries will positively close October 15. Animals purchased 
at sales from that date up to and including November 7 
will be admitted only by a supplemental entry which must 
be made immediately on purchase. The most pronounced 
intei’est is manifest in all parts of this country and many 
European live stock centers in the coming exhibition, 
and the finest of cattle, swine, sheep and horses ever 
shown in the United States or elsewhere is promised in 
the entries already made or assured. 
H. H. Groff, of Simcoe, Ont., has been awarded a gold 
medal and 13 first prizes at the Pan-American Exposition 
for his exhibits of new hybrid Gladiolus. 
The West Virginia State Horticultural Society, the 
State Sheep Breeder’s’ and Wool Growers’ Association, 
the State Poultry Association and the Virginia Live 
Stock Association met at Point Pleasant, W. Va., Octo¬ 
ber 8-12; secretary, J. B. Garvin, Chai’leston. 
A census bulletin issued September 30 shows that there 
is a total of 3,895 commercial floricultural establish¬ 
ments in the United States, with land and buildings 
valued at $33,000,000. Of the total Pennsylvania has 734 
establishments valued at $6,837,808 and the value of the 
flowers and foliage plants raised in 1889 was $2,043,124. Of 
the States in which this industry was enumerated Penn¬ 
sylvania was only eclipsed by New Jersey. That State 
had 494 establishments valued at $4,633,105, and an output 
in 1899 valued at $2,622,899. 
A delegate convention of the Association of American 
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations will be 
held at Washington, D. C., November 12. 
The fifth antrual irreeting of the Continental Dorset 
Club was held at the Parr-American Exposition, Buffalo, 
September 24. There was a represerrtative attendance. 
The secretary reported a year of unusual activity in his 
office; a large number of registries and transfers having 
been nrade, aird a number of new members being re¬ 
ceived, among them Hon. John A. McGillivray, Canada’s 
largest breeder, and a famous showman and Importer. 
J. Fremont Hickman, who has served faithfully as pres¬ 
ident for four years, declined reelection, and Jas. L. 
Henderson, of Washington, Pa., was made president. 
J. E. Wing was reelected secretary and treasurer. John 
Hunter, Wyoming, Ontario, and W. G. Appleby, Benning¬ 
ton, Vt., were added to the executive committee. The 
following additional vice-presidents were chosen: Samuel 
Di’umheller, Walla Walla, Wash.; S. B. Wright, Santa 
Rosa, Cal.; G. S. Lindkohl, Keswick, Va.; John A. Mc¬ 
Gillivray, Uxbridge, Ont., and Chas. G. McLain, Ring- 
gold, Pa. 
Di’. F. H. King, now Professor of Agricultural Physiology 
in the University of Wisconsin, has been appointed Chief 
of Division in the Bureau of Soils, Department of Agri¬ 
culture. Dr. King is familiar to readers of The R. N.-Y. 
through his discussion of various farm problems. 
The legislative committee of the National Grange, 
Aaron Jones, E. B. Norris and N. J. Bachelder, have 
pi-epared a memorial to be presented to the Fifty-seventh 
Congress setting forth the demands and attitude of this 
great body on many questions of National import. The 
memorial sent out by Mr. Bachelder, of Concord, N. H., 
asks legislation as follows: 1. Further extension of rural 
free mail delivery. 2. Submit an amendment to the Con¬ 
stitution granting the power to Congress to regulate and 
control all corporations and combinations of capital of 
a monopolistic nature, thus preventing the use of their 
corporate power to restrain trade or arbitrarily fix 
prices. 3. Establishment of postal savings banks. 4. 
Pass a pure food law. 5. Completion of the Nicaragua 
Canal by the United States. 6. Grant additional powers 
to Interstate Commerce Commission. 7. Elect United 
States Senators by the people. 8. Opposition to the Ship 
Subsidy bill. 9. Prohibit fraudulent sale of colored oleo¬ 
margarine. 
Peaches in the Hudson Valley. 
Last year there was a short crop, but this season the 
yield has astonished the natives, every old scrub of a 
peach tree growing wild among the weeds, as well as 
the well-kept orchards, being weighted down with loads 
of fruit. Notwithstanding the fact that everyone knows 
the necessity of thinning, not many paid any heed to 
this requirement, and the consequence was that quanti¬ 
ties of small peaches were hawked about the streets of 
the local towns for 20 cents per basket. Despite the glut 
good peaches brought good prices. Not enough of first- 
class fruit could be furnished to supply the demand, the 
best selling freely for $1 to $1.26 a basket. The Triumph 
peach is coming to the front as an early variety, but its 
appearance is not prepossessing, and the fact that it is 
not entirely a freestone but rather a semi-free, is also 
against it. The tree is a good grower and prolific, and 
the quality of the fruit is very satisfactory for pie mak¬ 
ing, dumplings, peach cake and canning. It has been 
claimed that it is not subject to rot, but with us the rot 
started with this variety, and bushels of fruit and twigs 
were removed, but the deadly rot could not be controlled. 
We were obliged to ship rather prematurely, and doubt¬ 
less thereby hurt the reputation of the peach in the sec¬ 
tion where the fruit found a market. Greensboro is a 
large, fine-looking early peach. The flesh is white. 
Though growing near the Triumph, it was not affected 
with rot. The foliage is luxurious and has a peculiar 
lustrous blue-green hue. This variety will carry to ma¬ 
turity and good marketable size without much thinning 
more peaches than any other sort we have seen, and 
through every gale it hangs on as well as the Elberta. 
The Elberta stands at the top as the best paying peach. 
Possessing many points of excellence it is not celebrated 
for Its high quality. The shipping requirements have not 
allowed many of us to know it at its best, and we may 
have thus been led to judge it harshly, classing it with 
the big tasteless sorts that come to us from California. 
This year we let several fine specimen Elberta peaches 
get fully ripe upon the tree, and can now testify that 
when thus ripened, they are delicious. Score another 
point for this beautiful daughter of the sunny southland! 
Chairs Choice with us this year heads the list for beauty, 
uniform large size and highest quality, bringing the 
best prices, the dealers greedily calling for more even 
when plenty of other sorts were on hand. We shall plant 
more of it and have top-budded to this variety quite a 
lot of trees of less desirable sorts. Think it would be 
profitable also to set out some more Champions. They 
make a beautiful appearance when grown in the sun¬ 
shine, the brilliant crimson contrasting admirably with 
the velvety white upon which it is overlaid. J. y. p. 
Hudson. N. Y. 
Genera! Crop Notes. 
The clover in this part of the country is not so good 
as it was last year. We have about 60 per cent of a 
crop. What big clover we have is good, but the little 
clover is not so good. a. y. s. 
Cutler, Ind. 
i believe that the amount of clover seed raised in the 
county will be an average crop. That raised on land 
that was pastured till June 1, or was clipped with the 
mower about that date, gave good yields of first-class 
seed. I have lived here since 1854, and never knew as 
large yield per acre (in some instances five or six bush¬ 
els. The seed that was raised on land mowed for hay, 
will grade No. 2; yield light. Cause, excessive heat and 
drought. w. T. c. 
Albion, Ind. 
The drought still continues in this section of Christian 
County, though only a few miles distant there have been 
quite heavy showers. The roads are inches deep in dust, 
and traveling them is extremely unpleasant. Pastures 
have long been eaten up, and many farmers have been 
feeding their cattle for six weeks and more. Corn is 
down quite badly, and the yield will be cut still further 
thereby. Because of the high price of hay and the long 
feeding season ahead, everybody is preparing to cut up 
more corn than usual. In consequence there is a great 
demand for the twine-binding corn harvesters, which 
the factories are unable to fill. One local agent told me 
that he had sold seven, and and was obliged to refuse 
orders for twice as many more, as he could not get them. 
Owners of corn harvesters seem to have more than 
they can do cutting for their neighbors at 75 cents to $1 
per acre, owners of corn furnishing twine. It seems to 
require from 1% to three or four pounds per acre, at 
eight to nine cents per pound. I see and hear nothing 
of the sled cutters, used a few years ago. They would 
liardly work in the present corn crop anyway. Oats 
seem to be yielding better than was expected, running 
from 25 to 40 and 50 bushels per acre. Both oat and 
wheat straw are being baled more than common, and 
will undoubtedly be used much in place of hay. I also 
hear some talk of shredding and baling corn fodder, 
which some expect to sell at $7 or $8 per ton. On this 
place we are using a corn binder for the first time, and 
with the greatest satisfaction. It takes up the corn, 
which is badly down, and ties it up in good shape for 
shocking. It requires three common horses to go right 
along with it, and will cut eight or nine acres per day 
with one team. It has come to stay. Now we need a 
shredder that the individual farmer can afford to own. 
Corn Is our great crop here, but I believe we do not get 
more than half the profit from it that we might. 
Rosemond, Ill. q, 
Southern Garaen Truck 
In a pamphlet just issued by th® United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture on the transportation of garden 
truck the following story is told: 
In the Winter of 1847 No. 14 fire engine of New York 
had its headquarters on Church Street, between Fulton 
and Vesey. Fire engines in those days were manned by 
citizen firemen. If I mistake not the commission men 
were 14’s main support. Next door to the engine house 
the boys rented a loafing parlor, and it goes without 
mention that toddies and the stiff mixtures were always 
in season. A clerk on one of the Charleston boats, which 
then landed at Pier 4, North River, front of Morris 
Street, was a guest, and while taking something, re¬ 
marked the drink was nothing compared with the mint 
julep of the South, “such a one as I had a few days 
ago.” The boys received the reference as a yarn, for 
where could mint be got in the middle of Winter, they 
having no personal experience of any other climate 
than that of New York? The clerk promised to prove 
his statement upon his next trip North. He left the 
boys, accompanied by a commission merchant, and in 
later conversation added that he would bring not only 
mint, but lettuce, radishes and strawberries as well. At 
this the merchant was doubly doubtful, and challenged 
the statement with a treat. Upon the return of the 
steamer the clerk proved the truth of his assertion. In 
a second-hand champagne basket he brought lettuce, 
radishes, mint, and, within an inner basket, were two 
quarts of strawberries. The strawberries, the first ever 
seen in New York in Winter time, were placed in a 
store window as a curiosity, where they were visited and 
examined by hundreds. This is said to be the beginning 
of the present vast trade in southern-grown produce. 
Government Crop Report 
The conditions of the past week have been favorable 
throughout most of the country east of the Mississippi, 
with but few damaging frosts. Stacked grain in the 
Dakotas has been damaged by heavy rains, while Illinois, 
Indiana and southern Michigan need rain to fit the soil 
for Fall plowing. The Pacific coast has been cool and 
wet, with severe frosts In Oregon and Washington. The 
corn crop is now nearly harvested, and out of the way 
of frost. Rain has hindered cotton picking in some sec¬ 
tions of the belt, but in the central and western dis¬ 
tricts the work is progressing rapidly. Early-sown 
wheat in the lower Missouri Valley is coming up in ex¬ 
cellent condition. Apple reports from Kansas and parts 
of Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and West Virginia a>-e 
encouraging, but no Improvement over previous reports 
is noted in other sections. 
