1805 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
621 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Serious friction has developed between 
Louisiana and Mississippi over the question of quarantine. 
August - a fleet of tugs and launches, armed with howitzers 
and small guns, manned by Louisiana’s Naval Reserves, were 
sent to the Mississippi State line, on the Gulf Coast, to resist 
the invasion of Governor Vardanian's armed quarantine 
guards and to put hack from Louisiana waters the patrol 
boats of the Mississippi waters that are capturing and con¬ 
fiscating Louisiana fishing smacks in Louisiana waters. Au¬ 
gust 1! tlie fever record at New Orleans was as follows : New 
cases, 32; deaths, 11; total cases to date, 378; total deaths 
to date, 7!); new foci of infection, 4 ; total number of cases 
under treatment, 155; at Ship Island' quarantine station, in 
the gulf, off Mobile Ray, 4 cases; Shreveport, to date, 1 case; 
Montgomery Ala., 1 case; Lumberton, Miss., 1 case; West- 
wego. La., 2 cases and 1 death ; Algiers, La., 1 case; Sun¬ 
rise, La., 1 case; Empire, La., 1 case; Ostrica, La., 1 case; 
Point Celeste, La., 1 case; Vaccaro, La., 2 cases; Adoyne, 
La., 1 case; Sumvall, Miss., 1, case. August 4 there were 
five deaths and 43 new cases in New Orleans, and the local 
ofiicials asked tlie Federal Government to take charge. Arch¬ 
bishop Cliappelle. who died on August 9, was away from the 
city when the fever broke out. lie hurried back to New 
Orleans to help in the religious work to be done there. The 
archeplscopal palace is in the old Creole, now the Italian, 
quarter. In Alabama Gov. Jelks has interfered to prevent 
tiie inhuman treatment of refugees from infected towns prac- 
ficed in that Slate as well as in Louisiana and Mississippi. 
Thousands of people fled from Montgomery, Shreveport and 
other towns on the report of the first case, making for dis¬ 
tant points beyond the quarantine line. These people have 
usually been locked in cars with the windows nailed down 
and carried from 500 to 800 miles in weather the hottest 
known in the South this season. The heat and the lack of 
ventilation have made these cars in many cases almost as 
bad as the black hole of Calcutta. The outrage was called 
to the attention of Gov. .Telks by Judge Thomas G. Jones. 
Gov. Jelks took the matter up with the quarantine author¬ 
ities and directed solicitors to prosecute the quarantine 
agents guilty of such practices. Judge Jones in an interview 
says that such oppression is in violation of State law and of 
the Constitution of the United States. He says that if the 
State fails to protect citizens against such oppression the 
Federal courts would undoubtedly interfere. At Mobile. 
Ala., August 7, quarantine rules were made more stringent 
by the State board of health Issuing orders to the railroads 
not to allow any one to board any of the trains unless sup¬ 
plied with a health certificate. The United States Marine 
Hospital forces are having strenuous times placing the deten¬ 
tion camp at Fontainebleau. Miss. The residents have 
threatened to burn the buildings and declare that they will 
drive the hospital authorities off at the point of shotguns. 
Cubans are jubilant over the gulf stations being afflicted with 
yellow fever, and declare that the island will maintain its 
quarantine for months. They claim that they reciprocated 
because of the useless quarantine against their country by 
the South. August 6 one man died of yellow fever at New 
York’s detention hospital, making the third case of yellow 
fever discovered on ships entering New York this Summer, 
and t)ie second death. . . . August 8 St. Thomas's 
Church (Episcopal). Fifty-third Street and Fifth Avenue, 
New York, was totally destroyed by fire, the result of defec¬ 
tive insulation of electric wires, loss $400,000. The decora¬ 
tions about the chancel, by John La Farge and Augustus 
St. Gaudens. cannot be replaced. The loss includes an altar 
costing $10(1,000, organ $40,000, and chime of bells costing 
$12,000. . . . The strike of the telegraphers on the 
Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroad systems went 
Into full effect August 2. Two thousand men were reported 
to be out, trains were delayed and perishable freight was 
refused in St. Paul, but the railroad officials said that the 
interruption to traffic was not serious. . . . William J. 
Moxley, wealthy Chicago oleomargarine manufacturer, will 
be unable to reclaim about $3(5,000 in taxes levied upon his 
productions of butterine, for the recovery of which he filed 
his suit against Collector of Internal Revenue Henry L. Hertz 
more than a year ago. This became evident when Judge 
Grosscup gave his decision in the case, finding in favor of 
the defendant. As a result of this decision, unless the case 
is later reversed in the upper courts, manufacturers of oleo¬ 
margarine will be unable to use palm oil as an Ingredient 
and still escape the 10 cents a pound tax on colored oleomar¬ 
garine. Mr. Moxley in asking for the return of his money 
paid the Government as taxes declared that the palm oil 
was not used as a coloring, but to make the oleomargarine 
of a much finer grade. . . . Alleging that certain grain 
and elevator companies doing nine-tenths of the grain hand¬ 
ling business in Nebraska have joined forces to control 
prices and force railroads to grant rebates to members. Attor- 
nek General Brown filed suit August 3 in the Supreme Court 
asking a dissolution of the Nebraska Grain Dealers’ Associa¬ 
tion. lie also secured an order restraining all of the mem¬ 
bers from doing any of the acts complained of as in restraint 
of trade. The proceeding is said to be the most sweeping 
ever instituted in the State, and it affects the market for 
200,000,000 bushels of grain purchased at the 1.200 elevators 
belonging to members of fhe association. In addition to the 
restraining order, the Attorney General demands the for¬ 
feiture of the franchises of the corporations which have 
been parties to what he calls a conspiracy among the grain 
men. He swears that they conspired to pool and fix prices 
for the purpose of preventing competition, and that the offi¬ 
cers of the association withheld the benefit of their agree¬ 
ment from shovel houses and elevators off the right of way 
which were run by farmers. He charges that the prices were 
absolutely fixed at secret meetings, that the volume of trade 
has been controlled, that penalties have been imposed for 
violations of the agreement, by members and also that the 
blacklist has been resorted to. . Preparations for an 
early trial of the beef cases are being made by United States 
District Attorney C. 15. Morrison in the office of the United 
States Attorney General in Washington, and it is reported 
that the first case will be placed on hearing not later than 
October 5. Recent developments in one case are said to 
have prompted Mr. Morrison to visit the Attorney General 
and lay the facts before him ns justification for placing this 
particular case on trial without delay. President Roosevelt 
and Attorney General Moody are said to have agreed that the 
trial of the beef cases ought to be hastened. There are 
21 packing officials and five corporations indicted, and as 
each case will have to be tried separately the hearings may 
require at least two months. . . . The Delaware. Lack¬ 
awanna and Western Railroad plant at Hoboken. N. ,T., with 
the ferry house and one ferryboat, was totally destroyed by 
fire August 7. The train sheds, the ferry slips, the station 
and the new immigrant station south of the train sheds were 
all destroyed. The Immigrant station was a new building 
opened about a week. It cost $75,000. It was one of the 
first of the new buildings planned by the Lackawanna to take 
the place of the old buildings. In addition to the railroad’s 
property. Duke’s House, the oldest hotel in Hoboken, and the 
trolley shed of the Public Service Corporation were burned. 
Chief Croker, of the New York Fire Department, spent part 
of the evening chasing the burning ferryboat ITopatcong off 
the coast of New York with two fireboats. The railroad 
company puts its loss at $250,000; the total loss is said to 
be about $750,000. . . . August 8 the middle of a five- 
story department store operated by the J. G. Myers Company. 
Albany, N. Y.. collapsed, burying 100 persons. The first day 
eight dead and 75 injured were removed, but the total num¬ 
ber of victims was unknown. 
ADMINISTRATION.—Official confirmation was given Au¬ 
gust 3 to the reports that charges involving officers of the 
Marine Hospital Service on duty in China haft been made 
to the Secretary of the Treasury. At the same time it was 
explained that an investigation, just completed, cleared the 
accused men of any wrongdoing. Supervising Surgeon Gen¬ 
eral Wyman of the Marine Hospital Service has received a 
report on the subject from W. J. White. Passed Assistant 
Surgeon, stationed at Ilong Kong. Dr. White advises the 
Department that he has looked into the matter and secured 
a great deal of evidence, but that none of It taints the rec¬ 
ord of any hospital surgeon in the service of the United 
States. He reports that Chinese immigrants are held up 
for fees, ranging from $25 to $125, but that natives are 
responsible for the holdups, and that in prosecuting their 
illicit traffic they have used the names of the American sur¬ 
geons. 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—Secretary Wilson 
designated P. L. Hutchinson as a member of the new Board 
of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture August 2. It 
is the Secretary’s Intention to displace the members of the 
temporary board recently appointed as soon as he can find 
suitable men to till the places. Mr, Hutchinson, who is the 
first selection, is ind’orsed by Mr. Stubbs, former director 
of the Louisiana Experiment Station, with whom Secretary 
Wilson is conferring in regard to the personnel of the board. 
He is a resident of New Orleans. . . . August 2 Secre¬ 
tary Wilson denied that employees of the forestry service 
have written articles for magazines prior to the publication 
of the results of Government work in public reports. . . . 
Secretary Wilson announced that John Hyde, former Chief 
Statistician of the Department of Agriculture, will return 
from Europe and testify before the Grand Jury in the cotton 
report investigation. Hyde's friends say he fled to Europe, 
not from any fear of Department disclosures, but because he 
was panic stricken at the prospect of becoming the center of 
a domestic scandal. . . . All the papers relating to the 
investigation into the Bureau of Animal Industry were 
placed in the hands of George McCabe, solicitor of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture August 8. The inquiry, it now de¬ 
velops, not only involves the charges concerning tags, but 
also the charge that meat inspection, as now administered, 
redounds to the benefit of the beef trust. This feature will 
be gone into thoroughly, and independent dealers have asked 
to be heard. 
COUNTY POOR FARMS FOR EXPERIMENTS 
„ We have referred several times to the work done in Iowa, 
Kansas and other Western States in using the farms con¬ 
nected with poorhouses for experiment purposes in connection 
with the experiment stations. In the West this plan has 
met witli some success. We have asked the directors of 
experiment stations in various Eastern Slates what they 
think of the plan. Their replies follow : 
At first thought I am not favorable to such a scheme. It 
seems to me that the sort of observation and control essential 
to good work cannot be secured in this way. If it is desired 
to institute a system of educational work for the inmates of 
poor farms, that is an entirely different proposition. It per¬ 
haps would apply more fully to new States, where the rela¬ 
tion of varieties to environment is of more importance than 
in New York. w. h. jokdan. 
Geneva, N. Y. 
We have never tried the plan here. I do not like to ven¬ 
ture an opinion upon untried matter, but I am extremely 
suspicious of experiments conducted by people who have not 
been trained to do the work. I assume, however, that this 
is more demonstration work than investigation. It might 
have value in this way, yet I question whether the public 
would not be suspicious of results that emanate from such 
sources. e. davenport, 
Illinois Experiment Station. 
The suggestion contained in your letter of recent date to 
utilize the county poor farms as a sort of extension experi¬ 
ment station seems attractive on Its face, but I should hesi¬ 
tate to express a decided opinion as to its value in advance 
of actual experience. This State, however, had some experi¬ 
ences with experimental farms years ago, which formed a 
striking demonstration of the difficulties of experimenting at 
long range. I think I shall be quite willing to have some 
one try the experiment before advocating its introduction 
here. h. p, armsby. 
I’ennsylvania Experiment Station. 
1 very much like the Kansas idea of making experiments 
in the growing of crops at the county poor farms. 1 had 
not thought of this particular way of extending the influence 
of the colleges and experiment stations. I should not expect 
that any very great scientific results could be got. but it 
would provide one more means of extension teaching, where¬ 
by the results of the experiment station work could be taken 
directly to the people. Just how much concrete result could 
be got from these demonstration areas would depend, of 
course, on the kind of supervision that was provided at the 
poor farm. l. h. bailey. 
Cornell University. 
As you are aware, in New England the unit is the town, 
and not the county, with the result that no large poor farms 
are maintained, and none at all under the control of the 
county officers. The scheme which very likely will work 
advantageously in Kansas, would not. it seems to me, be 
applicable to our own State. Experimental work cannot be 
done at a profit, and our towns try to run their poor farms 
on the narrowest margin possible. In my judgment it 
would be a diversion of experiment station funds to use them 
for purpose of experiment on poor farms, and I do not be¬ 
lieve that the towns would vote to maintain such experi¬ 
ments over any continued period of time, ciias, i>. woods. 
Maine. 
The Kansas plan of growing crops on the county poor 
farms, I believe to be a good one where the conditions are 
right. Men are not appointed to the charge of these farms 
because of their ability as experimenters, but because they 
combine kindness of heart with shrewdness in business man¬ 
agement. Experience bears out the statement that these 
men sometimes do not look kindly on the amount of detail 
required in cacrying to ultimate success experiments planned 
by a station. In some States, too, an organization of the 
charitable institutions is such as to make the plan impos¬ 
sible. In Michigan we have co-operated to some extent with 
some of the charitable institutions, but have never under¬ 
taken co-operation with all the counties. I wish to be re¬ 
corded as not opposing the plan. c. d. smith. 
Michigan. 
This matter has occupied my attention to some extent, 
and under the conditions that exist in this State, I am not 
satisfied that it would be a profitable line of experiment 
work, chiefly for two reasons, first, that the work would 
necessarily have to be done at arm’s length ; that is. the 
station would not be able to supervise directly the various 
experiments conducted, and thus not have positive knowledge 
as to the conditions which prevailed; and second, it would 
be too expensive to provide competent persons to supervise 
the work at each farm. It is, my experience that few ex¬ 
periments conducted this way are of real value. In the 
majority of cases, there are breaks in the observations of the 
parties in charge, which prevent drawing safe conclusions 
from results. Unless a person is trained for experiment 
work, it is impossible to impress upon him the necessity of 
absolute care in making records of all conditions which may 
prevail throughout the season. e. b. voorhees. 
New Jersey. 
The plan promises, I should judge, to be more useful in a 
relatively young community, where methods have not be¬ 
come so far crystallized as here, and where it is not as well 
known as here what crops will succeed in different localities. 
It is quite possible that our methods are too much crystal¬ 
lized: that we adhere to the “ruts” too closely, and while I 
should not anticipate any very striking modifications in farm 
practice to result from the adoption of the Kansas plan, it 
seems to me there can be no doubt that it would prove to 
some degree useful. It occurs to me, however, that the 
inmates of the poor farm establishment are not just the sort 
of persons through whom one may hopefully look to attain 
progress along lines of agricultural improvement. They are. 
I suppose, those who have made a relative failure in life, 
who are old and infirm. Such persons clearly are not likely 
to prove effective agents for the introduction of new crops 
or new methods. Further. I suppose, the poor farms are not 
in general visited much. Perhaps they might be if it should 
be known that work of the kind under consideration was 
being carried on there. There is yet one other point. The 
old and infirm and unintelligent are not possessed of either 
the physical or mental characteristics which will make work 
of the best kind in testing varieties, new crops, and methods 
a possibility. On the whole. I believe that the energies of 
the experiment station might be better expended in other 
directions. wm. p. brooks. 
Massachusetts. 
Two points are of fundamental importance in the making 
of a successful field experiment: first, an experimenter who 
takes an intelligent interest in the work, or who Is willing 
to follow absolutely the instructions given him by one who 
does take such interest, and second, a uniform soil. Some¬ 
times our county infirmary farms possess one or the other of 
these prime essentials, more often neither, for both farm 
and superintendent have been selected for an entirely dif¬ 
ferent work. Where both points can lie found combined the 
idea of using these farms as test farms for scientific experi¬ 
ment is a good one, but on the majority of such farms it 
will result in failure. At the best the superintendent of the 
poor farm must owe a divided allegiance, his first duty being 
to the unfortunates under his charge and unless he possesses 
a strong inclination towards the work of investigation it will 
be neglected. We think we have found a better way in Ohio: 
In several regions of tlie State, representing various soil 
formations, farms have been selected by the station manage¬ 
ment because of their adaptation to this work, and either 
purchased or leased for a term of years. Selected portions 
of these farms are then thoroughly tile-drained and put 
under a permanent system of management, under superin¬ 
tendents whose only responsibility is that of faithfully exe¬ 
cuting the work laid out for them by the experiment station. 
These test farms are now producing results of incomputable 
value. 
In addition to the work done on these test farms, the 
station is now joining hands with a multitude of private 
farmers throughout the State, through the agency of the 
Agricultural Students’ Union of Ohio, the research division 
of which articulates with the experiment station, the educa 
tional division with the College of Agriculture of the State* 
University. The “experimentalist" of this organization is a 
staff officer of the experiment station. Under his leadership 
former students of the College of Agriculture who have re¬ 
turned to their farms, and older farmers who may not have 
had the benefit of training in the agricultural college, but 
who have, what is more important, a desire for more accu¬ 
rate knowledge concerning their vocation, are taking up the 
work of field experiment, each individual undertaking but a 
very small .line of investigation for himself, and executing 
this under the personal supervision of the experimentalist 
of the station, who spends the larger portion of his time in 
the field, visiting each season as many as possible of the 
co-operators, and by personal encouragement and instruction 
aiding them in their work. In his office at the experiment 
station the experimentalist keeps a thoroughly indexed 
record of the work done by each co-operator, and between 
this record and the personal knowledge he obtains by his 
visits to tlie different workers, he is gaining a fund of in¬ 
formation respecting the aptitude of men over the State for 
this work and the suitability of their soils and surroundings, 
by the aid of which it will be possible in a few years to 
organize a system of scientific research in agriculture, ex¬ 
tending to the remotest corners of the State, and enlisting in 
its support the highest intelligence of our farming popula¬ 
tion. CHAS. B. TIIORNE. 
Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. 
The potato crop will be much less than last year. There 
has been an unusual quantity of bugs; wet weather prevented 
good cultivation. Much low level land will hardly pay for 
digging. For some cause the ladybugs, which destroyed 
many eggs of the bugs, have disappeared so the eggs have all 
hatched. The disappearance of the ladybugs is a great loss 
as they lived on many injurious insects. New potatoes are 
selling at 70 to 80 cents a bushel. c. m. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y._ 
CANADIAN FRUIT CROPS.—Correspondents of the Cana¬ 
dian Department of Agriculture report almost universally 
that the fruit conditions have changed for the worse very 
considerably since the last report. The falling off in the 
prospects is greatest in plums and’ apples. The reasons of¬ 
fered for this may be classed under three heads, excessive 
rains during the blossoming period, Spring frosts, and the 
effects of previous heavy crops. Few of tlie correspondents 
expect more than half the crop of last year and many of 
them not more than a quarter. Sour cherries have been a 
medium crop: tlie sweet cherries have been seriously affected 
with rot, except in the dry belt of British Columbia. Small 
fruits have yielded nearly, if not quite, a full crop on bearing 
plantations, though the aggregate was somewhat cut down by 
losses from winter-killing and late frosts in strawberries, 
raspberries and blackcaps. Fungous diseases are somewhat 
more plentiful than last year. The curculio is reported in 
nearly every plum-growing section. The Codling moth is 
much more in evidence than last year, but is not nearly so 
prevalent as it was a few years ago. Onlv a few correspond¬ 
ents report serious damage as likely to occur from this insect. 
Wild raspberries and strawberries have been unusually plen¬ 
tiful in the districts where they grow. The Extension of 
Markets Division. Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, has re¬ 
ceived information to the effect that the Government of Cape 
Colony, South Africa, intends to enforce more strictly the 
existing regulations against the introduction of apples in¬ 
fected with the disease known as “black spot” (Fusicladium 
dendrlticum) or other insect disease, and exporters of such 
fruit from Canada are warned that shipments found to be 
so infected will be liable to confiscation and destruction with¬ 
out compensation, under the provisions of the Import Regu¬ 
lations. 
APPLE FAILURES AND PRICES OF RECENT YEARS._ 
The apple crop for the year 1905 bids fair to go on record 
as being one of the worst failures of recent years. One en¬ 
terprising fruit journal has canvassed every apple producing 
State in the Union, including Canada, and all. with the sin¬ 
gle exception of California, report a short crop. And now 
the farmer and fruit grower should put on a bold face, and 
demand a good stiff price for his apples this Fall. Whether 
he receives the high prices paid in former years of shortage 
remains to be seen. Assuming the price paid to be a correct 
index of the size of the crop, the shortest crop of recent 
years occurred in 1901, when the writer received $3.50 per 
barrel for No. 1 fruit and 50 cents per 100 for drying apples. 
But the worst failure of the apple crop within our memory 
occurred in the year 1890, when the entire fruit crop of ail 
kinds was practically nothing, for in that year all our books 
show to have been sold was a bushel and a half of quinces. 
In that year we barely had apples enough for family use. 
and a carload was shipped in from the West which sold for 
$4 per barrel. The Winter preceding this was warm and 
open, with plenty of mud and little snow, followed by a cold, 
backward Spring. Other notable years of shortage were 
1893 and 1898. In these we received $2 and $2.35 respec¬ 
tively for the fruit and 75 and 40 cents for culls and drops. 
In fact, we find that in nine of the last 1(5 years the price 
has been $2 or better for No. 1 fruit. Years of surplus and 
low prices occurred in 1891. 1895, 1890, 1900, 1903 and 
1904. The average prevailing price for these years was 84 
cents per barrel. In the memorable year of 1890 50 cents 
per barrel was realized, and some only received that with 
barrel Included. w. A. b. 
Interlaken, N. Y. _ 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The letter printed below from the prominent Holstein 
breeder, T. A. Mitchell, Weedsport, N. Y.. is Indicative of the 
high degree of satisfaction which the Warriner Stanchion 
manufactured by W. B. Crumb, Forestville, Conn., is giving: 
“My Dear Sir: I enclose cheek for the stanchions. We 
have just got them in and I am very much pleased with 
them.” 
Hamilton & Co., Ereildoun. Pa., write us that they have 
their Fall and Winter price list and descriptive circular now 
ready, which gives full information about their purebred 
hogs. They guarantee the stock to please or agree to take 
it back, refund all money sent, and pay half express charges, 
so buyers run no risk in dealing with them. They will send 
price list and circular free if you mention this paper when 
you write. 
While the tendency of the present, day is to hurry and 
skimp and make things “to sell” rather than “to last,” it is 
gratifying to know that there are still some few concerns 
who believe that their own interests are best served by 
making goods of quality, even though the cost of producing 
is greater than for cheap articles, which are sure to prove 
unsatisfactory In the end. Prominent among those who 
have clung to the old idea that quality counts is the Eddy- 
stone Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of the cele¬ 
brated and familiar Simpson-Eddystone prints. These goods 
have been made continuously for over a half a century, and 
their sale is greater to-day than it ever has been before. 
Among the veterinary remedies that are giving universal 
satisfaction “Save the Horse” has earned a place in the 
first ranks. Nothing can more strongly recommend it than 
the manufacturer’s guarantee to refund the purchase price 
in any case where it is used as directed and fails to do 
all that is claimed for it. Every bottle is sold under this 
guarantee and very few have asked for the money back. In 
fact the writer of th’ese notes has used "Save the Horse” on 
sore tendons and to remove bunches with very satisfactory 
results. It Is well to have a remedy of this kind in the 
stable for emergencies. If you own a horse it will nay vou 
to know about this remedy. Write to the Troy Chemical 
Co., Binghamton, N. Y. 
