1G05. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
6o5 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A dispatch from Helena, Mout., July 26, 
says that 2,500 head of sheep, belonging to John McLaren, 
of Havre, Mont., have been seized by the Canadian Mounted 
Police and are held for double duty. McLaren sailed from 
New York for Europe recently, but is being represented 
by his brother. The duty amounts to $3,100. Owing to 
better range conditions across the line, the sheepmen, it is 
presumed, have let stock stray beyond the international 
border. The police, learning of this, have increased their 
force and are preparing to make further seizures. . . . 
Colonel J. M. Guffey, the Pennsylvania Democratic State 
leader, has associated himself with A. W., It. It. and W. 
L. Mellon, Pittsburg bankers, and the Cudahy interests, of 
Omaha, all of whom are interested in the Kansas and Texas 
oil fields, for the purpose of waging war against the Stand¬ 
ard Oil Company through Kansas and the oil fields of the 
Southwest. According to George L. Craig, for many years 
associated with Colonel Guffey, plans have been completed 
and an amalgamation of a dozen or more small producers 
in Kansas and Texas, with a total amount of 10,000 barrels 
of oil a day at the present time, has been perfected. The 
united interests propose to erect at the earliest possible 
time an immense pipe line which will connect the Kansas 
oil field with the Gulf, also reaching the Texas field. The 
proposed pipe line will be 650 miles long. The Union Trust 
Company, of Pittsburg, will float a bond issue of $7,000,000 
for the new concern. . . . Up to July 25 the list of 
deaths resulting from Fourth of July accidents throughout 
the country had increased to 117, many being due to tet¬ 
anus. . . . Mr. Coldwell of the Caldwell Lawn Mower 
Company, an inventor of note, died at his home in New¬ 
burgh July 29. He was born in Stalybridge, England, in 
1838, and came to America when a lad. He had an apti¬ 
tude for mechanics. He was a pioneer in the manufacture 
of lawn mowers and the development of the modern lawn 
mower was due to his inventions. Tlis latest invention was 
a motor lawn mower. Mr. Coldwell is survived by a wife 
and three children, William H. Coldwell, Mrs. E.' C. Ross 
and Harry T. Coldwell. . . . During a terrible thunder¬ 
storm July 30 six persons were killed and 20 or more hurt 
at Coney Island and Gravesend, L. I. Five of the victims 
were killed by a bolt which struck the great flagpole at the 
Parkway Paths on the beach at Ocean Parkway, at the 
base of which were more than two hundred persons had 
taken spelter under the boardwalk. A dozen or more were 
injured by the same bolt. A mile and a half from the baths 
in the direction of Gravesend the lightning at almost the 
same instant hit a trolley car, throwing three passengers 
out and giving many others a slight shock. At Gravesend, 
three miles from Coney Island, what seemed to be the same 
discharge struck a cedar tree under which a number of per¬ 
sons had taken refuge. One was killed and two injured. 
On this date electric storms visited the Atlantic coast from 
the Virginia capes to Maine, and considerable property loss 
resulted. . . . In a flood caused by the collapse of Ward’s 
mill dam at the Easton reservoir, north of Bridgeport, 
Conn.. July 30, two lives were lost, fifty people were res¬ 
cued from drowning, three houses with their sleeping occu¬ 
pants were swept from their foundations and carried down 
the stream, bridges and vessels were wrecked and great 
damage was done. . . . Three men were killed and ten 
injured in a riot between American and Italian coal dig¬ 
gers at Giatto, W. Ya.. July 31. Two weeks ago the racial 
>rejudiee went beyond bounds and several persons were 
njured. Three young Italian diggers were shot and killed, 
while those wounded with pistol and dirk number ten. sev¬ 
eral of whom are in a critical condition. . . . State At¬ 
torney-General Mayer of New York, has sued the Equitable 
Life Insurance Company and its directors to compel restitu¬ 
tion of moneys “wrongfully acquired, lost or wasted,” and 
tile application of the surplus for the benefit of policy¬ 
holders. . . . The yellow fever record at New Orleans 
July 31 was 21 new cases and five deaths; August 1 six 
deaths and 42 new cases. Despite the precautions and tin* 
military guards on the Louisiana and coast lines, the Mis¬ 
sissippi towns are quarantining against each others on 
rumors or even whispers. Meridian, which is probably the 
largest city in the State, has still further tightened its quar¬ 
antine. New Orleans is totally quarantined: no person 
from any other place is permitted to enter the town with¬ 
out a health certificate duly sworn to before a doctor and 
notary. All freight cars must be fumigated and screened, to 
shut out mosquitoes. A curfew law has beeen passed, clos¬ 
ing all places of business at 8 o’clock. Anvone abroad 
after that hour is subject to arrest and imprisonment, and 
the police force has been increased and partly mounted for 
the purpose of arresting night prowlers and lawbreakers. 
Yet Meridian is liberal compared with some other Mis¬ 
sissippi towns. Greenville has joined Jackson, Natchez, 
Laurel and other cities in hermetically sealing itself against 
all outsiders. Steamboats are driven away from its wharves 
and all the roads to the town are guarded and no one al¬ 
lowed to enter. Gov. Vardanian was asked to allow the 
Greenville Guards, a State militia organization, to supple¬ 
ment the volunteer forces now on duty. Birmingham, Ala., 
has dismissed its entire quarantine force, finding that they 
were grafters and that refugees broke through the line on 
payment of money. Montgomery, Ala., is issuing offers of 
$100 reward for refugees who dodged the quarantine. In 
consequence of the quarantines there is no travel between 
the several Southwestern States, and the detention camps 
established by the United States Marine Hospital Service 
are proving of little value. All farmers' institutes Confed¬ 
erate reunions and other conventions in Mississippi and 
Louisiana have been called off until after the fever, and all 
intertown baseball games have been prohibited. Nearly all 
the Mississippi and Louisiana towns quarantine against 
fruit, the only exception being made in favor of the lemon. 
The banana, on the contrary, is viewed with the greatest 
suspicion as coming from a yellow fever country, and near¬ 
ly all the quarantine proclamations specifically prohibit its 
introduction under any conditions. 
ADMINISTRATION.—Dr. George ’I 1 . Moore, physiologist 
and aIgologist of the Department of. Agriculture handed in 
iiis resignation July 29 to Secretary Wilson. This action 
was the result of a hearing at the Department at 
which it was alleged by representatives of an agricultural 
publication that Dr. Moore’s wife held stock in a company 
manufacturing a culture for sol! inoculation while the doc¬ 
tor, who had charge of the comparison and revision of bul¬ 
letins relating to the enrichment of farm lands, directed 
farmers to the concern in question for their supplies of the 
culture. Allegations of “graft” in the Weather Bureau 
and Bureau of. Animal Industry are also under inves¬ 
tigation. Mr. Wilson had a long conference with Dr. D. E. 
Salmon, Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, relative 
to the allegations as to contracts for printing labels pasted 
on meat for export. Dr. Salmon was directed to make a 
careful inquiry into the matter. When the attention of 
IVrtf. W ill is Ij. Moore, chief of the Wcnthor Bureau, wns 
called to the statement That the service maintains an annex 
in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which is used by officials and 
their families as a resort during the heated term, he said: 
The Mount Weather Observatory has been authorized by 
the laws of Congress for live years. The 90 acres compos- 
Ing the fracr and the seven buildings cost the Government 
°nlv 860,000, which I consider a very moderate figure. It is 
the only place in the weather bureau service devoted exclu¬ 
sively to purely scientific investigation and has already 
proved to be of she greatest value to the service, its worth 
having increased from year to year.” 
N. Y. FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION.—This society 
will meet at Penn Yan August 16-17. On the first day the 
following programme will bo ryven : Address of wolcomo. TTon. 
J. Iluson. I’enn Yan: response bv the President T B Wil¬ 
son. Hall’s Corners: The Use of Riant Food by Bearing Fruit 
Trees Dr. W. II. Jordan, Director State Experiment Station, 
Geneva : The Marketing of Fruit. William N. Wise, grape 
dealer ana shipper, Penn Yan : Troubles of Apples in Storage. 
Harry J. Eustace, Assistant Botanist. State Experiment 
Station, Geneva : Some Grape Problems, Prof. U. P. Hedrick 
Professor of Horticulture. Michigan Agricultural College- 
Something on Apple Culture and Methods in New Yo|rk 
State, Prof. S. A. Beach, Horticulturist State Experiment 
Station. Geneva; Some Grape Pests, .Tay J. Barden, State 
Inspector, Stanley; Pollen with Reference to the Grape, N. 
o. Booth, Assistant Horticulturist, State Experiment Station, 
Geneva; Vineyard Fertilization, G. G. Lansing, sales man¬ 
ager, Niagara Grape Market Co., Lockport; Recent Foliage 
Troubles, Percival J. Parrott, entomologist. State "Experi- 
ment Station, Geneva ; Report of Special Committee on 
“Plans for Marketing Fruit,” appointed at the Winter meet¬ 
ing in New York City, T. W. Campbell, Chairman, Brooklyn, 
N. Y., Dr. W. II. Jordan, Geneva. The local committee has 
arranged for an excursion on Keuka Lake on August 17. 
IOWA LIGHTNING RODS. 
I don’t think you could find a lightning rod in Marshall 
Co., Iowa. They never think of putting up a rod on any 
new building; they have no faith in them. w. c. n. b. 
Albion, Iowa. 
Lightning rods are never used on new buildings by 
farmers in this territory. The only ones in existence are 
those on old buildings put up 20 or 25 years ago. I have 
never heard of buildings so protected being struck, but this 
shows nothing, as less than one per cent have them. In 
talking with farmers on this subject the opinion seems to 
be that while a rod of copper well-grounded would probably 
be of some real aid, tliq expense is out of proportion to the 
doubtful character of the protection. The farmers of this 
section rely on insurance to protect them and the numerous 
farmers’ mutual insurance companies are largely patronized 
by them. ' j. H . e. 
Boone, Iowa. 
YEARLY INCOMES FROM FARMS. 
I give you the production of my son’s farm of 190 acres, 
lie keeps cows and sells but a small amount aside from his 
milk. If he sells grain it all goes into some other feed, 
and his profit nearly all comes from his cows. Milk sale 
for the year 1904 is $1,958.82 ; calves, $58. total $2,016.82. 
Hay put in barn 110 loads; corn silage in silo 170 or 180 
tons; barley 325 bushels; oats 280 bushels; potatoes 150 
bushels; apples 700 bushels, mostly fed cows; cherries 10 
bushels; plums 5 bushels. Horses, five workers, three colts 
young and old cows, 46. F , G 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
I have 195 acres of land, 50 acres of which are woodland. 
I have also 70 acres of mountain land all in woods. Our 
farming is decidedly mixed, as almost every one's is in this 
section. We raise corn, wheat, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, 
hay, etc., apples, pears, plums, peaches, quinces, grapes, 
raspberries, cherries, strawberries, etc.; also cattle, horses, 
hogs, sheep, turkeys, chickens and honey. We also make 
maple sugar and syrup. We have 12 acres in apples, also 
considerable plums, peaches, pears and grapes. Some of 
our stuff we have not made sale of as yet. I will just give 
the amount we raised as near as I can : Wheat 234'bushels • 
corn 300 bushels; hay 13 tons; pork sold $133; 4 yearlings 
and 12 two-year old cattle to he sold yet. Two calves 
$i5 ; chickens and eggs $80; butter $20; one horse $65; 
apples $150, an off year here; plums $25; pears $10; 
peaches $5; lambs and wool $80; potatoes 100 bushels; 
maple sugar and syrup $45; tomatoes $0. The figures 
given are the amounts sold except wheat, corn, hay and 
cattle, which is the whole amount produced of these things. 
There are six in the family, all grown but one. Last year 
I sold more; I sold tan bark and railroad ties and more 
apples. These figures would probably be about a fair average. 
West Virginia. c . s. s. 
Our crops are hay, grain and fruit mainly. Most of the 
Alfalfa is sold to sheep and cattle men, and fed here at 
$4 to $5 per ton. Large quantities of Alfalfa not sold this 
year are being baled and shipped to Portland for export, 
Russia and Japan being in the market for same. The grain 
is sold locally at $1.25 to $1.50 per hundred pounds. The 
largest part of our prunes go to eastern markets, green, 
shippers paying $14 to $15 per ton at packing house. It 
costs about 62 cents per crate to Chicago. They were 
marketed in all the large eastern cities last Fall, all the 
shippers losing heavily. Our fancy apples, Jonathan and 
Rome Beauty, are shipped east, well sorted and sized, and 
packed in boxes, nothing but strictly first-class, high-grade 
apples being shipped. We get from 75 to $1 per box here; 
freight about the same as prunes to Chicago per box 
Almost all the fruit goes to auction houses. Our fancy 
fruit can compete with eastern fruit and pay freight charges, 
but what to do with our seconds' is a question. Prunes 
average 20 to 25 pounds to crate, four baskets to crate 
Apples about 60 pounds to box. Pears from Boise Valley 
brought the highest auction price in New York market last 
season. F H . 
Roswell, Idaho. _ 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
From reports received from seven different counties apples 
in Wisconsin will not exceed one-third of a full crop. This 
appears to be due in a large measure to the wet and cold 
weather at blossoming time, although this is the “off” year 
for apples in this State. fkedeiiic cua me field. 
Wis. Ilort. Society. 
It has been pretty dry here, but rain came last night and 
most of to-day (July 30), so things will be all booming here 
as soon as we have sunshine. We are having a very good 
season here and prospect is pretty good for profitable re¬ 
turns. Apples and pears are fair, but not full crop ; peaches 
a full crop. h. o. M, 
Lunenburg, Mass. 
Weather in this county is very wet. Hay very heavy, 
especially clover; grain injured by too much moisture. Fruit 
crop fairly good: much small fruit blown off by the great 
blow recently. Roads in very bad shape since the State 
makes the roads. Very few autos, but enough to make us 
uncomfortable; all horses unsafe with them using same 
roads. d. a. >r. a. 
Madrid Springs. N. Y. 
Replies from widely scattered localities indicate a crop of 
apples of about 30 per cent. The old apple district in the 
Northeast, long noted for its fine apples, only promises from 
one to 10 per cent, one person in Jefferson County claiming 
that his 600 Missouri Pippin trees will yield 25 per cent. 
But the “newly discovered” apple country along the Arkan¬ 
sas River in the south-central part of the State will produce 
a fine crop of from 50 to 100 per cent of clean, smooth, nice 
apples. Many growers will ship 10,000 bushels; some 20,000, 
and one says he will—conservatively speaking—ship over 
75.000 bushels. Summer apples are plentiful in our home 
markets, and are selling for good prices. Peaches are a 
failure. Cherries from 10 to 50 per cent. Strawberries im¬ 
mense: other berries light. Weather conditions are fine. 
Kanzc.3 iT'-irtf cultural Society. william h. barnes. 
You hardly know how precious the good fine days are with 
us this Summer; from the first of July till the' fourteenth 
we had rain every day. I think it is the wettest Summer 
in my recollection, and I am past 64 years of age. Farmers 
are having a hard time in getting their hay made and wheat 
cut: the wheat is damaged by rust and excessive wet weather 
about. 10 per cent. Corn on dry land looks well, but most 
of the crop is too much in the Weeds. I was glad that you 
took up the wire fence question. Eleven years ago this Fall 
I bought about 80 rods of fence, which cost me at that time 
65 cents per rod. One 40-rod fence has to-day one single 
wire that is nice and bright yet. the other nine wires are 
so badly rusted that they will be worthless in a few years. 
One stretch has not a single bright wire in it left and an¬ 
other stretch has three bright wires left. The farmers are 
somewhat protected when they buy fertilizers but how are 
they protected when they buy fence wire, where they pay 
out millions of dollars annually? I am always glad to see 
you fight the wrongs. Some people cannot buy their fence 
cheap enough, but I think those who prefer that kind of a 
fence may buy it and those who want, a better fence should 
have it when willing to pay the difference. Farmers hardly 
know what fence to buy without being swindled. p. h. b. 
Seneca Co., Ohio. 
The aptile crop in Michigan is very light indeed. At the 
present time I cannot place it at more than 25 per cent of 
a full crop, and as the fruit is still dropping badly, I fear 
that not more than 15 per cent of a crop will be harvested. 
The unsprayed orchards are in very bad condition, as al¬ 
though the season has been favorable for the growth of the 
trees, the foliage lias been greatly injured by the Apple-scab 
fungus, and where the trees were not sprayed previous to 
the blossoming period very little fruit set, and that now 
upon the trees is very scabby. In many sections there will 
not be a barrel of No. 1 apples shipped this year where cars 
have been sold in other seasons. The sprayed orchards are 
making a much better showing, but even there the crop will 
be very light, especially with Winter varieties. In most sec¬ 
tions the Duchess and Wealthy are making a good showing. 
Mich. Agricultural College. l. r. taft. 
In this State we are great readers. I believe Vermont 
leads in newspaper subscriptions. There are no millionaires 
here and next to no paupers. All seem to have plenty, and 
I sometimes think that the people of New England take as 
much comfort to the square inch as anywhere in the country. 
Our Spring was cold, dry and backward, but in the past two 
weeks we have had some hot weather and copious rain, and 
now our prospect for hay is fine. But little grain is sown 
here; it is corn as far as one can fertilize. After our 
phenomenal apple crop of last year, when thousands of 
bushels went to waste, we expected hardly a blossom, but 
trees bloomed fairly well and prospect now is for some 
apples, San Jos6 scale has not appeared here yet, too far 
north, perhaps. Corn and potatoes are looking fine: straw¬ 
berries promise a big yield, a few just beginning to turn, 
.Tune 20. so you can see the difference betweent here and 
New York. C. w. J. 
Windsorr Co., Vt._ 
PROHIBITING USE OF COLORING MATTER 
IN BUTTER. 
The oleo man will try to compel dairymen to give up the 
use of butter color. The effect of such a law is stated 
by dealers. 
We believe most of the creameries are using some coloring 
at times, and it would be difficult for us to state what the 
value of the butter would be without color. We hardly think 
there is very much coloring used in the dairy. 
Detroit, Mich. n. o. wilev. 
All creamery we handle has more or less butter color in 
it, and a large part of the better dairies. As a rule the 
small farmers use very little. We would think it would 
make considerable difference in the sale if the law was 
passed prohibiting the use of butter color. We ourselves, 
would much rather see the old oleomargarine law in effect 
than to see this restriction put on creamery. 
Peoria, Ill. kelson & finch. 
The result of the anti-color law on butter would be dis¬ 
astrous to the butter interests, especially in the Fall, Win¬ 
ter and Spring. The Cleveland market especially requires 
butter of a pretty good color, more so than New Y’ork City. 
Light-colored butter is not easily distinguished from white 
oleo, and there certainly can lie no objection raised to the 
use of color in butter which in itself is a pure product. 
Cleveland, O. f. c. chapman & co. 
All creamery butter, also dairy-made for table use, coming 
to this market is colored, except during grass season, when 
it often has a natural, higher color than during dry-feeding 
season colored. Ordinary dairy butter hardly colored is 
sold to bakers only. The trade is accustomed to a uniform 
color all the season through: therefore if coloring was cut 
out it would prove very disastrous upop the value of all 
the pure and genuine butter. telker & diinker. 
We do not think the oleomargarine people can bring for¬ 
ward any very good reason why the dairymen should not 
use some butter color in manufacturing their butter, as 
in doing so, they do not deceive anyone, nor does it improve 
the butter except to the eye. On the other hand, the oleo- 
rnargerine peop^p use coloring to deceive the public. Their 
object is to imitate and sell their goods for butter. You 
ask what proportion of the butter we receive is colored. 
At this season of the year there is very little coloring used 
in butter, but in the Fall and Winter the majority of the 
butter we handle is colored. As to what would be about 
the value of butter if shipped without any color, we are 
hardly prepared to answer. As you are no doubt aware, 
there is very much less coloring matter used in the butter 
that is shipped to the New York market now than there was 
a few years ago. We think the trade all over the country 
is asking for less coloring matter in butter than a few years 
ago. Our trade here still demands a fair color. 
Baltimore, Md. the Charles t. Matthews co. 
Nearly all butter made, except during that portion of the 
season when the grass feed is fresh, in the early Summer, 
say from the middle of May to the middle of July, has color 
used in it. ’I’lie butter made during the early Summer does 
not require it. as the fresh pasturage gives it sufficient color, 
simply to make the color about the same during those parts 
of the year as it is in the early Summer. It is during the 
early Summer that most of the butter is placed in cold stor¬ 
age, which does not find a market until during the Fall and 
Winter, and if no color at all was used, the difference be¬ 
tween the storage butter and the fresli-made butter, during 
the Fall and Winter, would be very distinct as to color, 
and would without doubt make a great difference in the 
marketing of the goods. It is difficult to say lust how much 
less the uncolored butter made during the Fall and Winter 
would sell for than if colored, but in our opinion it would 
make a difference of from 10 to 25 per cent. Possibly the 
trade might become educated to it in time, hut it would 
cause a great deal of confusion, on account of the difference 
in the shade of color of butter made at different seasons of 
the year. a. h. barber & coi * 
Chicago, Ill. 
This is a threat that oleomargarine men have made before 
I do not think there is very much in it. The manufacturers 
are men of business, and have too much sense to go in on 
spite work, which this would be. There are a lot of hare¬ 
brained people who would do anything to disturb condi¬ 
tions. Butter has been colored from time immemorial; 
color is looked upon as a necessary adjunct, and while 
courts in many instances adhere to the literal internretation 
of the law, yet in the majority of cases they take Into con¬ 
sideration what is the obvious intention of given legislation 
and decide accordingly. It was provided by Congress that 
oleomargarine should he taxed one-fourth cent per pound 
provided it had no color, and 10 cents per pound if colored 
in imitation of butter, but that the fraud (oleomargarine) 
which had been foisted on the public and by it consumed 
as butter, could only be sold when it was represented to be 
butter, has been pretty clearly demonstrated by the enor¬ 
mous falling off in the consumption of white oleomargarine 
Now, to get even (as presume they would call it) they are 
endeavoring to apply the oleo color law and trying to prevent 
the coloring of genuine butter, when as a matter of fact 
it was intended by Congress that color should be the dis¬ 
tinct identification between rank fraud (oleomargarine) and 
the pure article (butter). I think nothing of it and the 
chances are very slim that our courts will lend themselves 
to any such proposed work of spite. f. w brookman 
St. Louis. Mo. 
ONION CROP REPORT.—Returns received from our 
correspondents in the leading onion growing districts indi¬ 
cate: New York—Orange County’s crop about on a par with 
a year ago. In other sections much reseeding has been 
done, crop will be late and about two thirds of last year 
Ohio—-While wet weather has done considerable damage’, the 
large increase in acreage will overcome that and leave the 
State with a considerably larger crop than that of 1904 
Indiana—Has suffered more by floods than any of the States 
and it is doubtful if the crop will go much better than half 
of last year. Michigan—Crop badly damaged by floods and 
will hardly produce the crop of a year ago. Massachusetts 
Connecticut and Rhode Island—The New England States re¬ 
port an increased acreage of 10 to 20 per cent: considerable 
reseeding: crop late but looking well. Minnesota—Crop bad¬ 
ly damaged : loss running from 20 to 50 per cent. Wiscon¬ 
sin—I.oss about 25 per cent. Chicago District—Crop consid¬ 
erably below last year. jerome b. rice co. 
