1905, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
933 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—The mixing house at the works of the 
Du Pont Powder Company, near Boyles, eight miles north 
of Birmingham, Ala., was blown up accidentally December 
13 killing live workingmen instantly. The victims were 
blown to atoms, particles of their bodies being found in 
tree tops a long distance from the scene of the disaster. 
Four of them were white men. The force of the explosion 
was felt for miles. . . . The Federal Grand Jury at 
Chicago December 13 returned indictments against the 
Chicago and Alton Railroad Company, John M. Faithorn, 
former vice-president of the Company, and P. A. Wahn, for¬ 
mer general freight agent, for alleged granting ot rebates 
to the packing firm of Schwarzscliild & Sulzberger, and 
giving free transportation to the employees of the same 
company. 'Itie indictments are based on testimony given 
to the grand jury by B S. Cusey, traffic manager for 
Schwarzscliild & Sulzberger, Cusey was one of four em¬ 
ployees of the packing house firm who were .ndieted some 
time ago for soliciting rebates. Cusey and two others 
were fined $5,000 each, and Samuel Weil, one of the ”';e- 
presidents of the company, was fined $10,000 by Judge 
Humphrey. Three specific violations of the law against the 
granting of rebates are mentioned in the indictment. The 
Federal Grand Jury at Philadelphia indicted, December 14, 
the Great Northern Railway Company and several local 
agents for giving illegal rebates. Indictments against the 
following fourteen persons and corporations were reported 
by the Federal Grand Jury in the United States District 
Court at Kansas City, Mo., December 15. The Armour 
Packing Company, Swift & Co., the Cudahy Packing Com¬ 
pany, Nelson Morris, Edward Morris, Ira N. Morris, the 
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad the Chicago and 
Alton Company, John N. Faithorn, ex-vice-president of 
Chicago and Alton ; Fred A. Wahn, former general freight 
agent for Kansas and Oklahoma miners, George II. Crosby, 
freight traffic manager Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; 
George L. Thomas, traffic agent, New York : L. B. Taggart, 
clerk for C. I.. Thomas, New York. The indictments 
against Faithorn, Crosby, Thomas and Taggart charge 
conspiracy. Under the statutes the men indicted for con¬ 
spiracy may, if convicted, be sentenced to imprisonment for 
not more than two years and fined not less than $1,000 
nor more than $10,000. The indictments against the pack¬ 
ing companies whose names appear in the list charge that 
they entered into a contract with the Burlington railway 
to accept concessions, otherwise called rebates, on shipments 
of their products from East St. Louis to New York for 
export. . . . The so-called brick trust of Chicago sur¬ 
rendered completely to State’s Attorney John .1. Healy and 
his assistant. Harry Olson. December 18 in Judge Smith's 
court, when nine of the ten defendants pleaded guilty to the 
first count in the indictment, charging conspiring illegally 
to restrain trade, and paid fines of $2,000 each, which 
aggregated $18,000. The Courts also ordered the defendants 
to pay the costs. Within two minutes after final judgment 
had been entered the fines had been paid. The defendants 
in the case are: George C. Trussing, president of the Illi¬ 
nois Brick Company; John II. Gray, sales agent for the 
Illinois Brick Company : William II. Weckler, general su¬ 
perintendent of the Illinois Brick Company; Edward .1. 
Tomlins, sales agent for the Chicago Brick Company ; John 
Shelhamler, sales agent of the American Brick Company: 
Patrick McMahon, business agent for the Brick, Sand, Lime 
and Terra Cotta Teamsters' Union; Charles Hank, business 
agent of the Brickmakcrs' Union; the Illinois Brick Com¬ 
pany, the Chicago Brick Company and the American Brick 
Company. . . . The jury in the case of William G. 
Crawford, the former deputy auditor for the Postoffice De¬ 
partment, who was indicted on a charge of conspiracy with 
August W. Machen and George E. Lorenz, to defraud the 
United States in connection with a contract for supplying 
the Postoffice Department with letter carriers’ satchels, re¬ 
turned a verdict of guilty December lfi. The jury also 
found Crawford guilty on an indictment charging him with 
presenting false vouchers for furnishing shoulder straps for 
carriers' satchels. Notice was immediately given by de¬ 
fendant's counsel that application would be made for a 
new trial, pending which, Crawford was released on $ 1 ( 1.000 
bail. . . For the first time in modern history a State 
has made housebreaking a capital offence. Mississippi has 
adopted the following law: “Every person who shall be 
convicted of breaking and entering, day or night, (lie dwell¬ 
ing of another in which there shall be at the time some 
human being .with intent to commit some crime therein, 
shall suffer death, unless the jury shall fix the punishment 
at imprisonment for life, as in case of murder.” Burglaries 
accompanied by shooting of householders led to making of 
this law. 
ADMINISTRATION.—The administration made public De¬ 
cember 17 some interesting correspondence, giving a detailed 
explanation of the reasons for the failure of the Government 
to prosecute officers of the Atchison. Topeka and Santa Fe 
Railroad system, including Paul Morton, formerly Secretary 
of the Navy in Mr. Roosevelt's Cabinet, and now head of the 
Equitable Life Assurance Society, on charges growing out 
of alleged violations of the Elkins anti-rebate law. The 
correspondence consists of two letters, one from Attorney- 
General Moody to President Roosevelt and the other the 
President’s response, in which he approves Mr. Moody's de¬ 
cision that there was no warrant for prosecution of Mr. 
Morton. A resolution was introduced in the Senate Decem¬ 
ber It! by Senator Tillman of South Carolina, and was 
adopted, calling for a statement of the Administration's 
action in the Atchison anti-rebate case, but there is no 
connection between this resolution and the President’s direc¬ 
tion to the Attorney-General to give the history of the case, 
for Mr. Moody’s statement, in response to the President’s 
direction, bears date of December 13 and was acknowledged 
by the President on December 15. 
ARCTIC EXPLORATION.—Capt. Roland Amundsen, who 
left Norway in June, 1903, in charge of an Arctic expedition, 
has for the first time in history navigated the Northwest 
Passage and absolutely located the true north magnetic pole 
—that is, found the spot where the magnetic needle stands 
vertical. Amundsen established his first base in Ijeopold 
Harbor, where he made absolute magnetic observations dur¬ 
ing 1904. In the Summer of 1905 he established his second 
base station on King William’s Island, and erected self-reg¬ 
istering instr iments. The long sought monument set up by 
the Franklin expedition is believed to have been found by 
the captain near the north magnetic pole. The importance 
of his observations to navigation cannot be overestimated. 
Since 1492, when Columbus first noted the various devia¬ 
tions of the needle from the true north, scientists have en¬ 
deavored. without success, to find a reason. Amundsen's 
self-registering instruments will supply the absolute obser¬ 
vations which will complete and correct calculators for 
navigators on every sea. Surveying also from a fixed and 
absolute base will correct errors in maps and charts of 
Arctic regions and a number of terrestrial phenomena will 
be accurately recorded. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The annual meeting of the Ohio 
Horticultural Society will be held at Columbus January 
10-12, 1906; Secretary E. M. Woodard, Collinwood, O. 
The Iowa State College. Ames. Iowa, will hold its short 
course in stock judging and animal husbandry January 2-13, 
1906. 
The National Fanciers’ and Breeders' Association will hold 
its Chicago show, January 22-27.. In the Seventh Regiment 
Armory. Instead of the Coliseum, as previously announced. 
The New York poultry, pigeon and pet stock show will 
take place at the Madison Square Garden January 2-6. The 
New York Cat Show, under supervision of the Atlantic Cat 
Club, will be seen in the Concert Hall of the Garden. Stand¬ 
ard breeds of fowl, fancy birds, a multitude of pigeons, ex¬ 
hibition yards of families of birds, incubators, and equip¬ 
ments for the poultry yard will Ire shown to the best advan¬ 
tage, while the canary and caged bird section will Ire under 
the auspices of the New York Ornithological Society. 
INTERNATIONAL STOCK SHOW.—The programme of 
the opening day, December 16, at the great Chicago show 
was confined to the students' judging contest, seven colleges 
being represented by 35 students, who spent the day exam¬ 
ining the hundreds of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, and 
giving their reasons to a galaxy of agricultural talent repre¬ 
sented by 36 judges under the direction of Professor W. J. 
Black of Manitoba, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture for 
the Dominion. In addition to the judging teams there was 
a large representation of agricultural students and profes¬ 
sors. Each class of stock brought into the arena of the 
new Exposition Building was presided over by three jurors, 
who allowed 15 minutes to each student to place the animals 
as they thought proper and tell the reason for so doing. 
On account of the owners objecting to their stock stauding 
too long, the cattle were removed after the boys had taken 
a close inspection, and then the oral examination took place. 
The judges in the beef cattle classes were Professor W. M. 
Mumford of Illinois, Ar.dred Boss of Minnesota, F. C. Burtis 
of Oklahoma and O. II. Swigart of White Heath, Ill. : Tom 
Mortimer, Madison. Neb. : Williams S. Robbins, Horace, Ind. ; 
Morrice Douglas. Grass Lake. Mich. : O. E. Bradfute. Cedar- 
ville, Ohio, and Overton Harris, of Harris, Mo. The follow¬ 
ing students participated in the judging contest: 
Missouri—T. E. Woodward. C. G. Starr, II. P. Rusk, E. 
W. Rusk and C. B. Hutchinson, under the direction of Pro¬ 
fessor Forbes. 
Texas—-Messrs. Ashton, Church. Evans, Loving and Yakey, 
under the direction of Professor Marshall. 
Ontario—Messrs. Bracken. Craig, Smith. Munroe and 
White, under the direction of Professors Arkell and Day. 
Ohio—Messrs. Wallace, Snyder, Main. Waid, Cox and 
Laird under the direction of Professors Plumb and Gay. 
Iowa—Messrs. Cave. Coverdale, Crouse, Fry and Gibben, 
under the directions of Professors Kennedy and Rutherford. 
Michigan.—C. A. Willson. L. R. Slote, R. C. Potts and 
C. A. Stiles, under the direction off Professor Robert Shaw. 
Kansas—Fred L. Williams, C. S. Jones, ,T. S. Montgomery. 
II. J. Bottomiy and W. J. Brown, under the direction of 
Professor R. J. Kinzer. 
Kansas, Nebraska aud Iowa were represented by teams in 
the corn judging contest Decemlrer 18. The Kansas team 
was composed of R. R. Birch. W. B. Germest. C. S. Jones, 
J. S. Montgomery, F. L. Williams and G. E. Yerkes. Iowa 
was represented by C. L. Cohagen, I). Fish, E. H. Humbert 
and D. P. Ashby. _ 
NEW YORK STATE DAIRYMEN . 
The meeting of the New York State Dairymen at Bing¬ 
hamton was, without doubt, one of the l>esl ever held. 
Binghamlon is a good place for such a gathering. There 
was a large attendance, a good programme and a first-rate 
exhibit. The Geneva Station, Cornell University and the 
National Department of Agriculture all sent representatives, 
who did good service on the platform. The attendance was 
larger than usual, and one excellent feature was the large 
gathering of students of the Cornell dairy school. Such 
a meeting as this was an excellent thing for these young 
men. It is hoped this year to print in full the papers read 
at this meeting. It is difficult to give an interesting syn¬ 
opsis of such papers. There was more or less personality 
about them, and mere extracts never give a fair idea of 
their value. We have long felt that most of the reports 
of these public meetings fail to give a fair idea of just 
what was said and done. The published reports when in 
pamphlet form ought to be read and kept for farmers, but 
unless there is something of unusual and timely importance 
it is questionable whether the so-called reports are of great 
practical help. The usual time was consumed in speeches 
of welcome and responses. The feature is generally hurried 
through at tin' North, quite in contrast to the way things 
are done at the South. We recently attended a southern 
meeting where one entire session was devoted to long 
speeches of welcome and responses from various people. 
Both Mayor Smith, who welcomed the Dairymen, and Prof. 
Jordan who responded introduced considerable wit and 
started the good feeling. President Beebe of the Association 
in his annual address spoke of the changes going on in 
agriculture and the effect these changes will probably have 
in milk production. Dairying is now upon a firmer basis 
than ever, although still in its infancy. Mr. Beebe made an 
excellent point that men. especially young men fail to recog¬ 
nize the value of wisdom handed down from the past. There 
is a tendency to belittle the things which our ancestors 
worked out with thought and toil, though really the future 
is made by the past. As was proper. Mr. Beebe started the 
convention with the fundamental principles that dairying 
properly conducted carries a blessing to anv community, 
for the cow properly handled restores the fertility of broken- 
down farms, gives stability to business and means a steady 
and regular income. 
Alva Agee, of Ohio, gave some excellent ideas regarding 
the benefits and troubles of organization. It is true that 
most organizations formed by farmers apparently fail. This 
is due to the fact that farmers, of all men. are most inde¬ 
pendent, and fail to understand the necessity of working 
together. Social organizations among them, which will 
bring about education slowly and steadily, are hopeful, and 
will lead to a better state of affairs. 
Dr. Jordan gave an interesting lecture on the effect of 
the various grains on quality of milk. This address should 
be read entire in order thoroughly to understand Dr. Jordan’s 
position. We expect to print it, or the greater part of it, 
later. 
Dr. J. Roby, of Rochester, spoke on certified milk, discus¬ 
sing the economy of producing and selling it. He under¬ 
took to show that remarkably clean milk can be produced 
without expensive apparatus, and gave a list of rules re¬ 
garding keeping the animals, the barns and utensils clean. 
This led to some discussion, as the question of milk produc¬ 
tion is of vital interest in the lower tier of counties. 
Prof. L. II. Bailey spoke for the College of Agriculture 
at Cornell, giving a history of agricultural education, an 
outline of its present developments and idea of its future 
possibilities, lie made the needs of agricultural instruction 
in the common schools very clear, for it is evident that 
our agricultural colleges cannot do their best for a boy 
unless his early training has been somewhat along agri¬ 
cultural lines. 
J. C. Latimer, of the Five States Milk Shippers' Associa¬ 
tion made an argument for milk producers. He felt that 
the association is largely responsible for the rise in milk 
prices, and he paid his attention, as usual to the railroads 
and the dealers. 
Prof. V. A. Moore, of Cornell discussed the important 
subject of tuberculosis. This is a matter of great import¬ 
ance to New York Dairymen, who well remember the struggle 
made a few years ago in the Legislature for control in the 
matter. Dr. Moore gave a fair review of efforts made in the 
past to control the disease among cattle. With regard to 
possible transmission of the disease from cattle to man, he 
said there were difficulties in proving its possibility, yet 
no efforts should be spared to take precaution against such 
infection. He thinks the most practical means of handling 
the disease are those suggested by Dr. Bang of Denmark. 
This means the destruction of animals well advanced in the 
disease, the separating of all animals that react with the 
tuberculin test, and also the separation of their calves. 
This also means Pasteurizing their milk before it is used. 
In Denmark and Sweden such measures, thoroughly carried 
out, have been a great help. His address was of great im¬ 
portance to dairymen and was thoroughly appreciated by 
them. 
J. II. Monrad discussed what he called cow-test associa¬ 
tions. Most farmers say they have no time thoroughly to 
test their cows, but in Denmark associations were formed 
for cow testing. The first of them was so successful that 
the plan has spread through the dairy sections of Northern 
Europe, there being -100 of them in Denmark alone. Y’oung 
men from the agricultural colleges do the work, and make 
a special business of it. 
Gilbert N. Tucker, of The Country Gentleman discussed 
market milk and the milk standard. Prof. Pearson, of 
Cornell, gave an illustrated lecture on sanitary milk. Prof. 
Lane, ot the Department of Agriculture, told of the work 
being done at Washington, and other speakers discussed 
various phases of the dairy business. W. W. Hall 
stated that the association no longer received an appropria¬ 
tion from the State. Left to itself the society has worked 
hard, being obliged to raise its own funds, and should be 
supported by all dairymen, as it is doiug a work which Is 
of great value to the dairy business. Every progressive 
dairyman in the State should join the society. A long set 
of resolutions was adopted, and the following officers were 
elected: President, M. T. Morgan, West Winfield, first 
vice-pesident, W. W. Hall, Gouverneur; secretary, W. C. 
Patrick, Jamestown; assistant secretary and trasurer, 
Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., Lawyersville; directors, It. A. 
Rees, W. E. Griffith, E. F. Rowley, J. D. Frederiksen, 
Daniel G. Gates and Harry Winters. 
FARMING IN RUSSIAN TRANSCAUCASIA. 
Failing in my efforts to start farming in Transcaucasia 
this year, on account of insecurity of life and property in 
the Caspian section of this country, mainly due to the war¬ 
like movement of the Mahomedan Tartars against the Ar¬ 
menians, I had to give up my plans and to look for better 
times, a quieter place and more pleasant surroundings. At 
the end of the Summer a friend of mine wrote me from 
Tiflis, offering to rent me his house and barn in the suburbs 
of Tiflis if I had any inclination for starting a dairy, as 
milk is worth in town quite two cents a pound wholesale 
and three cents retail with a big demand. So. as I had 
nothing better in sight, I jumped to the opportunity, and 
telling good-by to my Armenian friends in Shusha, after 
witnessing the burning down by the Tatars of the last named 
city, I escaped safe and unhurt to Tiflis, losing only a cou¬ 
ple of horses, a good American corn planter and my whole 
agricultural library, robbed by the natives, a heavy and 
unfortunate loss for me. Now. anyhow, if I could not do 
myself anything in the way of general farming, I saw a 
good many things done that might interest the readers of 
The R. N.-Y. 
For the last six months I resided on a large Armenian 
estate in the foothills of the Caucasus range, about 50 miles 
from the railroad and as much from the Persian frontier. 
The next city was Shusha, a very picturesque Armenian- 
I’ersian settlement, located on a mountain some 5,000 feet 
above sea level, with a splendid climate and about 20,000 
population. Hint I could reach on dangerous roads, on horse 
back in four to five hours. A post office and a good Sun¬ 
day bazar were in Agdam. eight miles from my house, in a 
large Tatar settlement in the plain. The estate, some 
10,000 acres of land, which was bought by the present 
owners 15 years ago for £8,000 ran along a mountain 
stream. Nearly helf the land was well provided with irri¬ 
gation ditches, but nearly all of the irrigation ditches were 
out of working order. All the rest of the land, with the 
exception of a couple of hundred acres of woodland. 150 
acres under vineyards and mulberry plantations, and 50 
acres of bottom rice land, was fine hill pasture. As the 
owners neither resided there nor kept a manager on their 
place, and never thought of working their land themselves, 
all of it was leased to about 100 Tatar families for one- 
tenth of the produce of the land. But. as the Tatars live 
mostly from stock raising, and plant just as much wheat 
and barley as they need to come along through the Winter, 
and only' paid all the taxes for the whole estate (some 
£200) for the right of keeping stock, no wonder, that under 
such a system of management the estate never cleared to the 
owners over £1.000 a year, although wheat gave this year 
without irrigation over 25 bushels from an acre. First I 
was asked to manage this estate, then to rent it for £1,200 
a year, but on the end I had to refuse both. 
Nothing is more disgusting than the home of a Tatar. 
On the slope of a hill they dig a hole about 20 feet long, 
10 wide and 12 deep at the upper end: near the lower end 
they put a. few posts, cover the whole with timber and turf, 
then put on it two feet of wet clay, and the house is ready. 
Stock, with the exception of buffaloes and cows, is kept the 
year round out of doors. In a wet season, like this year, 
the houses are perfect mud holes, as such a roof cannot af¬ 
ford protection from a good rain. Sometimes it happens 
that rotten timber is not liable to stand the weight of the 
water, and whole families are killed by a breakdown of the 
roof. Of course, in the better of lowland Tatar villages, 
most of the houses are of stone, with a couple of doors and 
windows, and even with an iron roof once in a while, but 
that is not the current style. In the Summer all the Tatars, 
with their wives, stock and chickens go out camping, 
flying from heat, mosquitoes and malaria, to mountain 
pasturage, where they live in tents for about three to four 
months. If business' obliges a few of them to reniaiD 
through the Summer in the lowland they are compelled by 
the mosquitoes to sleep on high (12-15 feet) platforms built 
out of four posts and a few hoards, as the mosquitoes keep 
near the ground. They are very polite with their tongues, 
hut are the greatest thieves and liars I ever saw. The Ar¬ 
menians live only in the mountains, and in the poorer vil¬ 
lages their homes are only a trifle better than the Tatars’. 
They cultivate a little better their land and keep less stock 
and most of their young folk go to earn a living to Russia. 
Asia or Baku. Their women hide all their face with the 
exception of nose and eves with a couple of tightly bound 
white handkerchiefs, and the married ones are not supposed 
to talk to men. So much about the people, and for the next 
time I will tell something about animals and plants. 
Navtloug, Transcaucasia. a. t. kuttciiexko. 
THE EMPEROR PEAUTT has not proved eery produetlye on 
the Rural Grounds, though the peaches are large and of 
fine quality. Our T.orentz trees are not yet large enough 
to hear. These are new varieties which succeed In some 
localities, but as yet are not widely tested. Few new 
varieties of peaches introduced in late years have proved 
generally successful, and as a rule It is safer to stick to the 
old varieties when planting for market. There is not a 
particle of truth In the statement that the San .Tost 1 scale 
cannot thrive where the temperature goes below zero. The 
scale is a native to North China, where the thermometer 
goes very low. and it is not likely that any temperature 
likely to occur within the limits of the United States will 
ever injure the scale to any extent. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
We are in receipt of a beautiful calendar for 1906, which 
Messrs. Coles & Co., 109-111 Warren street, this city, are 
sending out to their customers. The calendar has on It a 
fruit picture of an entirely new design, for which the orig¬ 
inal oil painting was made by a noted artist. This firm has 
protected this picture by a copyright, and their many friends 
and customers will be very much pleased to receive this 
token of their appreciation and best wishes. 
The Studebaker Farmer’s Almanac for 1906 is now ready 
for distribution. The Issuance of this almanac has been 
made an annual event by the great Studebaker Vehicle es¬ 
tablishment. This is the seventh year. It has always been 
filled with valuable information to farmer folk in addition to 
the regular calendar and almanac features. Studebaker 
dealers have the almanac for free distribution or it may be 
had by sending a 2e. stamp for postage to the Studebaker 
Company, South Bend, Indiana. 
Smoking meats without a smoke house has produced re 
suits that are better in every wav than the old-fashioned 
method of preserving ham. shoulder, bacon, dried beef, 
sausage, bologna, fish. etc. The most perfect, palatable and 
healthful meats ever obtained hv any means of smoking have 
been produced by applying Krauser’s Liquid Extract of 
Smoke. Krauser’s Liquid Smoke is a pure, clean extract of 
hickory wood in a liquid form. It is applied with a brush or 
sponge, and it is cheaper and eleane'r than the old way. 
Information concerning its use, cost. etc., can be had by 
writing to the makers, E. Krauser & Bro., Milton, Pa. 
For some time M. T. Phillips of Pomeroy, Pa., has been 
known as the proprietor of the Keystone Dehorning Knives, 
which have a wide reputation for being the best dehorning 
instruments manufactured. This season Mr. Phillips has 
introduced his improved Keystone Dehorner. This machine 
combines all the excellent features formerly possessed by the 
Keystone Dehorner. and. in addition, has some improvements 
which very materially add to its excellence. He still con¬ 
tinues to sell his Regular Keystone Dehorner, and for the 
benefit of persons who insist upon having a cheap article, 
he has a very serviceable knife which he styles the “Con¬ 
vex" Dehorner. Anyone interested can obtain catalogs and 
further information by addressing M. T. Phillips, Pomeroy, 
Pa. 
