1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
287 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Captain John Cotter, United States Super¬ 
vising Inspector ol' Steam Vessels at New Orleans, La., has 
called the attention of the Government officials to a consign¬ 
ment of life preservers, recently supplied from a factory in 
New York to a New Orleans firm, which are far below' the 
Government requirements. The steamer Mamie D. of Mor¬ 
gan City, La., having given an order for life preservers on 
the New Orleans firm, a part of those shipped by the New 
York factory were tendered. They were examined by In¬ 
spectors Kelly and Park and found to have the stamp of (lie 
inspector at. New York, under date of M'arch 4. 1005. The 
inspection showed that the straps came off, that the pre¬ 
servers were badly put together, being below the standard in 
every respect as to sewing, materials, etc., so as to be unfit 
for the purpose intended. Not. one of the lot. of GO pre¬ 
servers tendered the Mamie I). was found oi any account. 
The entire lot. held by the local dealer was then inspected 
by Captain Cotter, who found them all unfit. A sample pre¬ 
server was shipped to the supervising inspector-genera! at 
Washington. . . . Oil. which experts say Is of the high¬ 
est quality ever discovered, is now gushing from the earth 
in the Canadian Northwest. Practically all of the country 
to the north of Montana is one vast, rich oil well. In the 
extreme southwestern section of Alberta, live miles from the 
American boundary line, a thriving town has sprung up 
within the past few weeks, populated almost entirely by oil 
prospectors and those interested in the development of recent 
discoveries. The valley in which these oil wells lie is de¬ 
scribed by geologists as an enormous crevice caused by a 
volcanic eruption cross-cutting the formation of the Rocky 
Mountains and forming a basin into which the oil lias gath¬ 
ered until it has formed enormous lakes underlying the rock 
formation at a depth of 1.000 feet. The oil is said to have 
been made by the distillation of the large coal bodies lying 
to the north, as the surface indications of oil in large quan¬ 
tities tiave been seen throughout Alberta for a number of 
years. . . . Owing to the presence in Mobile, Ala., of 
Boer war veterans, the various steamers bound for Central 
American ports are being watched closely by the custom offi¬ 
cials to keep them from leaving this country. It will be 
remembered that while the contingent was in New Orleans a 
number went: from there to Guatemala, and it was said at 
the time that it was for the purpose of filibustering. It is 
learned from an authoritative source that the various port 
collectors and customs officials along the Gulf coast have 
strict orders to watch closely the passenger lists of the de¬ 
parting vessels bound for the Central American countries, 
taking particular cognizance of the departure of any per¬ 
sons who are contemplating joining the revolutionaries in 
any of the Latin republics, more especially Honduras. . . . 
The Board of .Supervisors of Peoria County. Ill., have re¬ 
fused (lie Prairie Oil and Gas Company, the Kansas branch 
of the Standard Oi 1 Company, permission to lay its pipe line 
from Kansas to Indiana, across certain highways In the 
northern part of the county. Unless the supervisors can be 
induced to reconsider this decision the men now connecting 
the line will have to stop work and the company will find 
itself with a gap in its lines which it cannot legally close. 
A campaign for the enforcement of the Maine liquor 
law was organized March 17.. The crusade is the result of 
the passage by the Legislature of the Sturgis bill. The new 
law authorizes the Governor to appoint a commission of 
three members who shall have the power to exercise in any 
part of the State “all the common law and statutory powers 
of Sheriffs in their respective counties in the enforcement 
of the law against the manufacture and sale of intoxicating 
liquors." This commission has the power to appoint depu¬ 
ties with similar powers in the various counties. Its pur¬ 
pose is to enforce the prohibitory law where the local officers 
have failed to do so. . ._ . A drastic anti-cigarette bill 
previously passed by the Wisconsin Assembly was passed by 
the Senate March 17. The bill makes unlawful the sale, 
gift or importation into Wisconsin of cigarettes or cigarette 
materials. . . . Explosions in the Rush Run and Red 
Ash mines at Thurmond. W. Va., in which 10 men were 
killed M'arch US were followed by a second explosion March 
19, in which 14 men more lost their lives. . . . The ex¬ 
plosion of a boiler in the shoe factory of R. B. Grover & Co., 
Brockton, Mass., March 20. wrecked the building and set it 
on lire. Within an hour of the explosion the entire factory 
had been destroyed and the flames had attacked Dahlbor’g 
Block, a four-story building on the opposite side of the 
street. This structure and several wooden buildings were 
destroyed before the firemen could get control. Many other 
houses were damaged by embers that were carried In a 
southerly direction by the high wind. The work of recov¬ 
ering the bodies began while the fire was still raging and 
Injured persons were being conveyed to the hospitals. The 
charred remains were carried in quilts to undertakers’ 
wagons. Few can be identified, so completely did the flames 
do their work. During the first day 50 bodies were re¬ 
moved: the death list is put at 103, and 50 are seriously 
Injured. It is extremely doubtful, however, that more than 
fragmentary pieces of other bodies will ever be found. Med¬ 
ical Examiner Paine said March 21 that he believed other 
bodies had been reduced to ashes, and that the number of 
victims might never be positively known. He did not be¬ 
lieve that: further identification of the charred remains at 
the morgue was probable. . . . March 21 serious floods 
threatened many cities. Hundreds of families in lower Alle¬ 
gheny and Pittsburg were rendered homeless. In Allegheny 
policemen were patrolling the streets in skiffs, and many 
rescues were made of persons who remained In their houses. 
More than 1.000 people were driven out. All of the mills 
and furnaces along the two rivers were forced to close, and 
thousands of men were temporarily out of work. It is esti¬ 
mated that the flood had caused a property loss of at least 
$500,000. ... A Dill before rhe Maine State Legislature 
provides that no lobsters he shipped out of M’aine lietween 
June 1 and October 1. If this bill should pass it would 
mean a lobster famine in the country at large, since Maine 
controls over half the lobster output of the country. The 
dealers and fishermen are indignant and will combine to 
fight the bill. . . . The Assembly Excise Committee of 
the New York legislature reported favorably March 21 the 
Walnwright excise measure, which was introduced by Sen¬ 
ator Ambler and is advocated by the Anti-Saloon league 
The measure, which embodies the so-called excise plan, pro¬ 
vides for the submission of the question as to the sale of 
liquor to voters in residential districts. Whenever 40 per 
cent of the electors of the district petition for a referendum 
on liquor selling there shall be a special election. The resi¬ 
dential district “shall be a compact, contiguous territory 
containing not fewer than 300 nor more than 5.000 qualified 
electors, and not containing any block in which one-half or 
more of the block frontage is occupied by buildings used for 
commercial purposes." The determination of the special 
election cannot be reversed by any other special election for 
two years. 
ADMINISTRATION.—Senator Morgan delivered a five- 
hour speech at the executive session of the Senate March 10, 
in which lie brought: sweeping charges against William Nel¬ 
son Cromwell, of New York City, in connection with the 
negotiation of the Santo Domingan treaty. According to 
Senator Morgan. Mr. Cromwell, who was prominently con¬ 
nected witli the sale of the Panama Canal property to the 
United States, was the principal mover in the effort to in¬ 
terest this country in the affairs of Santo Domingo. The 
Senator asserted that Mr. Cromwell was actuated by a 
desire to frustrate the plans of a Mr. and Mrs. Reader, na¬ 
tives of Alabama, who are operating under the name of the 
Reader Syndicate, to get certain concessions from tlie Do¬ 
mingan Government, and, moreover, to promote the interests 
of a syndicate he (Cromwell l represented, which it is alleged 
holds a mass of claims against Latin-American republics, in¬ 
cluding a large part, of the debts against the Domingan 
Government. The concessions in question were for railways, 
electric light plants, street railways and other public im¬ 
provements. the Senator declared. The statements made by 
Mr. Morgan produced something of a sensation in the Sen¬ 
ate. as the Senator was possessed of documents and facts 
which occupied him all the afternoon, and he dealt them out 
unsparingly to support the charges he made. 
VENEZUELA.—The situation confronting Venezuela over 
President Castro’s endeavor to secure the revocation of the 
French Cable Company’s concession has reached the begin¬ 
ning of the acute stage through the action of the French 
Government in ordering two warships to I.a Guayra. the 
nearest port to Caracas, to back up its Minister's protest 
against any radical move against the cable company. If 
Castro is relying on assistance from the United States to 
get him out of any trouble which would follow drastic ac¬ 
tion on his part against the French concern, he is laboring 
under a misapprehension as to the Government’s attitude. 
The incident lias not assumed a phase far enough advanced 
to cause the State Department, to make any formal declara¬ 
tion of intention, but the privately expressed views of offi¬ 
cials are sufficient to justify the announcement that as long 
as there is no violation of the principles of the Monroe 
Doctrine the Washington Government will hold itself aloof 
from the affair. 
FAVORED SECTIONS IN FLORIDA. 
I think that in his Florida notes the Hope Farm man 
does a great injustice to this part of Florida. Of course 
all you say is entirely correct of Putnam County. But many 
of your readers would infer that these remarks applied to 
all Florida. There is another and a better part of Florida, 
and I trust that you will correct the erroneous impression 
that your widely read articles will create. In southern 
Dade County during the recent cold spell not an orange was 
injured in fruit, tree, leaf or blossom, and further, the grape 
fruit is more tender than the orange, and tne lime is more 
tender than the grape fruit, and yet the -fresh bloom of the 
lime was not hurt in the least. Why people continue to 
plant oranges where there is danger of being frozen out every 
fifth year I canuot understand, because by planting here 
they would be absolutely free from that danger. The fact 
that Prof. Van Deman located his 100-acre grove here is a 
significant pointer. But growing Citrus fruit is only one of 
the advantages which this section has over every other part 
of the State. We are now shipping daily from 300 to 500 
crates of tomatoes, and beans, peppers, egg plants, etc., in 
proportion, and although there is no part of Florida that, is 
absolutely frost-proof, there is never enough entirely to de¬ 
stroy the tender vegetables or to injure in the least the 
Citrus fruits. During the last cold spell many fields ot 
tomatoes were scorched and many killed, but along the edges 
of the Everglades were vast areas that were not. hurt. On 
those fields that were killed the plants were immediately 
pulled up and reset, and are now growing finely, the only 
difference being that they will be about three weeks later 
than they would have been and will require another applica¬ 
tion of fertilizer. Perhaps it would not be amiss to quote 
some of the prices we are now receiving for produce in New 
York: Tomatoes, $4 per crate, 20 cents quart; beans, $0 
per bushel crate; pepners, $3 per crate; egg plants, $3 per 
crate; okra, $5 per crate. By deducting about 75 cents per 
crate, or in carload lots about one-half that figure, you have 
the prices at our station. When it is considered that as 
good crops can be grown here as at the North and with 
less labor, the relative profits can be estimated. But the 
chief advantage of this section of Florida, over other parts 
of the State, is its incomparable climate. The thermometer 
runs along weeks at a time from 70 to 85 in the shade, with 
a lovely breeze from the bay blowing constantly, and as we 
look from our verandas and see roses. Hibiscus and Bigno- 
nias in full bloom, and inhale the delicious fragrance of the 
oleander and orange, and hear the rustling of the long 
leaves of the docoanut and Royal palm, mingled with the 
song of the mocking bird, we can scarcely credit our senses 
when we pick up the paper and learn that at that very mo¬ 
ment the North is in the grip of a blizzard, the thermom¬ 
eter below zero, people freezing to death, our friends dying 
of pneumonia, and a long catalogue of misery and suffering. 
We lay down the paper and thank God that He has created 
a place where people can come to escape such a climate, and 
wonder that, there are so many who do not avail themselves 
of the haven which lie has provided for them. 
CIIAKI.ES I’AItKY. 
The South with 10,000,000 1 The South with 12,000,000 
bales of cotton. | bales of cotton. 
—Reproduced from Farm and Home. 
HEATING FARMHOUSES. 
Your discussion during last year of the different systems 
of heating for farmhouses has been of much interest to me, 
because, as you say. nothing is too good for the farmer. 
This is the fourth Winter that I have had experience with 
a hot-air furnace, and I am free to say that we like it very 
much. One difficulty with some farmhouses is that they 
have not been built as carefully as they should be. It is 
cheaper to keep out the cold than to heat it at the present 
price of coal. Our house has been built on the installment 
plan, a piece at a time, and is not so well arranged for 
heating as if built all at one time. It is a full two-story 
house with a garret, and occupies about 24,000 cubic feet. 
We bought the largest-sized hot-air furnace, with a marked 
capacity of heating 60,000 cubic feet. By getting a large 
heater we need not. push it, and consequently do not use as 
much coal as a sinaller one would require. The advantages 
of hot-air are that the air is fresh and pure; in the Fall 
and Spring the chill can be taken out of the house by build¬ 
ing a little cob or wood fire; no pipes to freeze or leak; can 
lie put in for about one-half the cost of hot water or steam; 
less cost to keep in repair, and always ready to start up. 
As to the amount of fuel consumed, I cannot judge between 
the different systems, but last Winter we burned 5Vi tons of 
anthracite coal, and this Winter we will get through with 
less. WILLIAM T. CREASY. 
Pennsylvania. _ 
LAND VALUES IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY.—I would 
like to hear the opinion of our farmers in northern New 
Jersey as to the cause of farm land in our midst selling for 
$20 per acre. That will not pay the cost on buildings. Same 
land sold years ago for $80. and to-day are not the oppor¬ 
tunities as good as they have been in the past? We have 
farms about us that are run on the up-to-date plan that are 
paying good interest on $100 per acre, and we have many 
farmers who will go up to the line fence and look over and 
see it done, and will walk away grumbling and say it won’t 
pay: “I’ll do as grandfather did: he got along' all right 
and made money.” Perhaps this might be given as one of 
the reasons above mentioned for the unsatisfactory sale of 
our land. It Is certain that this part of our State offers 
fine opportunities to the thrifty who are willing to adapt 
themselves to new methods. We have a soil that responds 
quickly to good treatment, and is adapted to many different 
crops, and especially good for the clover crops when prop¬ 
erly put in. s. READ. 
Warren Co., N. J. 
THE COWAN BUTTER FAT BILL.—There seems to be 
a disposition in many quarters to criticise the action of the 
Pomona Grange of Orange Co., N. Y., in supporting the 
Cowan Butter-fat bill. I fear such critics look at the sub¬ 
ject from a selfish, rather than from the moral standpoint. 
The Holstein Breeders’ Association lias needlessly alarmed 
the average owner of Holstein cattle by claiming that so 
mauy Holstein cows give milk that will not come up to the 
proposed standard for butter fat, and done the breed an 
injury that it. will take years to overcome. If the testimony 
of Dr. Wheeler, of the Department of Agriculture, is correct, 
that all such cows of any breed, giving three per cent, milk; 
are subjecting dealers in such milk to a liability for prose¬ 
cution because it has not got the 12 per cent of" total solids 
now required by law, then thev have made a great mistake 
by heralding to the public the fact that so many cows of 
their breed only give three per cent milk. One man now 
before the American public, in a prominent, manner, has 
made himself immensely popular by favoring “a square deal 
for every man.” That is the whole purpose and the only 
purpose of the Cowan bill, and Pomona Grange will surely 
gain in the long run by openly favoring the bill. Its effect 
would be to make it just as dangerous to put skim-milk into 
a can of milk to be sold as pure milk, as it is to put water 
into it. “No more and no less," and all persons who be¬ 
lieve in fair play, be they consumers, farmers or dealers, 
should give it their support.—O. W. Mapes in Middletown 
Press. 
GARDENERS AND FANNERS.—One of the most inter¬ 
esting struggles which the farmers of Ontario have ever en¬ 
gaged in is now in progress between the truck farmers of the 
Niagara, Hamilton and Prince Edward districts, on the one 
hand, and the canners’ combine on the oth^r. These truck 
farmers grow large quantities of corn, tomatoes and green peas 
for canning. They have this year asked for an increase in the 
price paid by canners for this raw material, basing their 
demand on the adltional cost of production, owing to the 
high price of labor. The canners seem ready to concede 
the demands made except in the case of tomatoes. They 
positively refuse to pay the 30 cents per bushel demanded 
by the truck farmers, while the latter declare it must be 
30 cents or no tomatoes. If the growers stick together 
they can compel the canners to come to terms because, for 
this season, at all events, those who have been furnishing 
the canners with this form of raw material, control the 
one source of supply available. If the truck farmers win 
this fight, their example may be followed bv those engaged 
in other lines of production. If the luig producers of 
Ontario were united, they could, by regulating the produc¬ 
tion of hogs, comjie 1 the packers lo give hog producers 
at least some say in determining what the English bacon 
market will warrant packers in paying for the live hog. 
T nder present conditions, with hog producers unorganized 
and the packers united, the latter have entirely in their 
own hands the power of determining what the price of hogs 
shall lie, and they take care to make this low enough to 
insure a fair profit for themselves without too much re¬ 
gard to the interests of the farmers.—Toronto Sun. 
unusually warm and pleasant. Farmers have been" plow¬ 
ing sod for the last 10 days. Roads are dry and mostly 
smooth. The extreme cold in the Winter killed the peach 
trees, and injured other tender fruit trees. Live stock 
wintered well, and will go on grass in good condition. Our 
farmers are greatly wrought up over the failure of Congress 
to give increased power to the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission. j s 
Corning, Iowa. _ 
BUSINESS BITS. 
, RW J, ne b , reeder offering some choice stock to our 
i e 1 , R , ti , me Is Watson, Marbledale, Conn. Those 
desiiing Berkshires will do well to correspond with him. 
Bowersox, Bradford, O.. is offering some bargains 
“. \ s ' vlne - sired by “Honest Tom.” The photo- 
fTm * * I e * 10 £ appears in another column and 
will interest all admirers of this breed. Write for prices 
at once. * 
1 here would be less face trouble if every shaver would 
use real shaving soap, made especially for this purpose, in¬ 
stead of laundry or toilet soaps. The J. B. Williams Co., 
Glastonbury, (onn., make the “only soap fit for the face ” 
win, noth . <,| ' C5 u 0l ", mn ^ iey offer t0 send * free trial sample of 
Williams Shaving Soap. 
,im lKA a VKS f ho . rses are largely caused by the abormal con¬ 
ditions of the stomach due to over-feeding, followed bv vio¬ 
lent exercise on an overtaxed stomach. Newton's Heave 
«? u ,? h ’JP is & mper an(1 Indigestion Cure is an effective cure 
Write the Newton. Remedy Company, Toledo. Ohio, for their 
catalogue, containing valuable hints on the care of the 
horse, sent free to all. 
One of the first Cahoon hand broadcast seed sowers made 
was sold to J. 1*. Shattuck, of Portland, Me., who lias used 
it every season for more than 40 years. M’any other farmers 
have used these machines from 25 to 35 years. It pays the 
farmer well to get an accurate machine that will last a life- 
C. 1 ! , sower is made by the Goodell Company, Antrim, 
N. II. Write for catalogue. 
For those who can afford It, a new low wagon with 
grooved tire metal wheels Is the thing. Farmers of limited 
means who have an ordinary wagon may reduce it to a low 
wagon by buying only the metal wheels with grooved tires 
Write the Havana Metal Wheel Co.. Havana, ill for ad¬ 
vice about their patented groove tires. They supply also 
flat tire wheels if desired. Write them for directions'about 
measuring so that they may be ordered to fit exactly. 
Men who have made a succes of beekeeping send their 
practical, every-day experience to a paper called “Gleanings 
in Lee Culture.” Everybody who gets this paper receives 
the benefits of these experienced men. “Gleanings” is pub¬ 
lished by tlie veteran bee men, A. I. Root Company. Medina, 
Ohio. Over 20,000 people read it now. All our readers can 
have a copy free by sending their names to the above firm 
on a postal, or they can have a six months’ trial subscrip¬ 
tion for 25 cents. 
T. F. Kingery, Montrose, Ill., writes under (Late April 11 
1904: “The Absorbine received of vou for bog spavin 
worked like a charm. One bottle made a, valuable horse of 
a worthless one, and I got good money out of him and 
also took a bad lump off a fine fillv with one bottle 
of your Absorbine. I don’t want to be without Absorbine 
in my barn. Find enclosed $2 for another bottle.” Absor¬ 
bine can be procured at your druggists or T will send a bot¬ 
tle express prepaid upon receipt of $2. W. F. Young, I*. I). 
F., 88, Monmouth Street, Springfield, Mass. 
The Itider-Ericsson Engine Co. ranks among the oldest 
and best manufacturers of pumping engines in the world 
We believe they were the original builders of this type of 
engine in America. For upwards of half a century the 
Itider-Ericsson engine has stood all tests, and after meeting 
very severe competition still maintains its position. This 
has been accomplished by giving an article which would 
do satisfactory work with little care and at a moderate price. 
Write for the booklet issued by Rider-Ericsson Engine Co., 
35 Warren Street. New York City. It tells a true and in¬ 
teresting story in a straightforward way. 
Why do wire fences give way, break and sag? In all 
ready-made woven fences the stays or uprights are made 
of smaller wire than the horizontals, consequently they give 
way sooner and ruin the whole fence. Another reason is 
that proper allowance is not. made for the expansion and con¬ 
traction caused by changing weather. Both of these diffi¬ 
culties are entirely overcome in the famous Brown fence 
The uprights are of the same size as the horizontal wires 
and the laterals are made from high carbon, hard spring 
colled wire, which not only allows for all contraction and 
expansion due to changes in temperature, but also relieves 
the posts of much of the dead pull upon them. It is an 
economical fence to build, and even if it cost more than 
others (which It does not) it would still be the cheapest in 
the end. Our readers are urged to send for the Brown 
Fence Book. Address Brown Fence and Wire Company, 
Cleveland, Ohio. 
