THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
5o9 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—rScottowu, a village twenty miles north of 
Ironton, O., with a population of 200, was washed away 
June 5. , Not a house was left on its foundation. Mrs. 
Sayre and her daughter were drowned. The flood was 
caused by a heavy rain lasting for six hours. The town 
is situated gt the confluence of the branches of the Indian 
and Guyan creeks. The valley above Scottown is long and 
narrow, and the flood swept everything before it. Men, 
women and children escaped to the hills in their night 
clothes. Four persons were fatally injured. The valley 
from Scottown to the river was swept clean. Four iron 
bridges were washed away and many horses were drowned. 
The damage to crops cannot be estimated. . . . Duck 
Hill. Miss, a town of 1,000 inhabitants* was almost de¬ 
stroyed by fire June 6. More than 800 people were made 
homeless . . . Two fires which were in progress at the 
same time in the eastern section of Brooklyn. N. Y., June 
0 . destroyed a big lumber yard with its contents, belonging 
to Joseph M. Cohen, in ltoekaway avenue, and badly dam¬ 
aged three double wooden tenements in Watkins street. The 
loss of the lumber yard is about $100,000, while that of 
the tenements will be about $40,000. Eighteen families were 
burned out. . . . Thunder showers, electric storms and 
heavy downpours of rain that have prevailed throughout 
western Pennsylvania during an euliro week culminated June 
7 in cloudbursts in Cambria, Westmoreland, Somerset and 
Butler Counties that caused the rivers and creeks to over¬ 
flow, Hooding the streets in many communities and dissem¬ 
inating a general flood scare. The greatest damage was in 
Ilooversville, Somerset county. Here a veritable cloud¬ 
burst caused Sandy Creek to rise seven feet in an hour and 
a half. The water reached the first floor of many dwell¬ 
ings, and all the factories in the low-lying sections of the 
town were obliged to suspend operations. Damage is said 
to reach $50,000. It is the greatest Pennsylvania flood 
since May 31, 1899. . . . Ferdinand C. Borges, promoter 
of the Ubero companies, who has been on trial for some 
weeks, was found guilty June 9 in the Federal court at 
Boston on 80 of the 126 counts that charged him with con¬ 
spiracy and larceny in getting more than $1,000,000 from 
investors. It was the allegation of the Government at the 
trial that Borges with former Congressman Owen of In¬ 
diana, conspired to defraud investors by manipulating the 
affairs of a series of developing companies. The trial brought 
out the fact that the scheme was devised to plunder New 
England folks, whom Borges in some of his letters described 
as “the greatest suckers in the country.” ... A dyna¬ 
mite explosion near a factory at Peciuea, Pa., June 9, 
killed 11 persons. Two unknown residents of Y T ork county 
were about to drive from the factory with a load of dyna¬ 
mite when the explosion in the factory Occurred, and the 
wagon’s contents also exploded. These men, like most of 
those killed, were torn to pieces. ... A tornado 
passed over Utica, N. Y., and vicinity June 11. The storm, 
struck the city shortly after noon with cyclonic fury. Trees 
by the hundreds were uprooted, plate class windows in the 
business section shattered, several partially erected buildings 
demolished, telegraph wires prostrated and telephone sys¬ 
tems temporarily put out of commission. At least three 
residences were crushed by huge trees being uprooted and, 
hurled against them. Crops within an area of 20 miles 
of the city were partially or entirely ruined by hailstones : 
and hundreds of cellars were flooded by the heavy fall of 
rain. . , . San Francisco has asked aid from the Na¬ 
tional Government. It is pointed out that the disaster which 
has befallen the city is not purely local, as it involves a 
great national port, closely related to interstate and foreign 
commerce, the relation of which, as well as all measures af¬ 
fecting the general welfare, is intrusted by the Constitution 
to Congress. Therefore it is asked that the precedents es¬ 
tablished in the cases of the Pacific railroad, Cuba, National 
expositions and other instances be followed. It is suggested 
that Congress authorize, first, a loan to the National Red 
Cross of $10,000,000, to aid in the re-establishment of the 
homeless in houses before next Winter; second, that the 
Secretary of the Treasury be authorized to accept. $12,000,- 
000 of bonds now unsold in the city treasury as security for 
the deposit of national money with the banks, and third, 
that such other, measures be adopted as may be deemed ap¬ 
propriate. The President is informed that a committee has 
been formed to confer with him and the Secretary of the 
Treasury on the subject, with a view of expediting action. 
THE BEEF TRUST.—In an effort to discredit the Neill- 
Reynolds report regarding conditions in the packing houses 
of Chicago, and in opposition to the legislation for proper 
meat inspection proposed in the Beveridge amendment, a rep¬ 
resentative of the Chicago packing houses, Thomas E. Wil¬ 
son, manager of the Nelson Morris Company, appeared before 
the House Committee on Agriculture June G. lie addressed 
the eommittete for four hours, denying that many of the con¬ 
ditions reported by Messrs Neill and Reynolds existed, and 
asked for further time'in which to present objection to pro- 
visionsMn the Beveridge amendment. The Wadsworth substi¬ 
tute fop the Beveridge amendment, was made public June G. 
The substitute differs from the amendment, first, in w that it 
leaves tlft matter -.of inspection discretionary with the Secre¬ 
tary of Agriculture. .It omits the adjectives- descriptive of 
meat “for human food,” these adjectives being “sound.** 
“healthful,” etc.. The substitute provides that the courts 
shall review any grievance in the matter of tlie enforcement 
of the regulations when applied to. It places the cost of the 
inspection on the government instead of on the packers. 
It exempts the preservative requirements as to food intended 
for export, and simplifies the common carriejr provision by 
allowing railroads to accept for shipment goods mgrljed “in¬ 
spected and passed,” without the further restriction that 
the commop carrier may refuse to take the shipment-if the 
packing or slaughtering house from which it comes is un¬ 
sanitary. So far as Mr. Wilson, representing the packers, 
had covered tlie Beveridge amendment iii his testimony before 
the committee, it was apparent that the Wadsworth substi¬ 
tute met the exact objections he raised regarding the Bever¬ 
idge amendment. . . . That improvements costing near¬ 
ly $1,000,000 would be ordered in the Chicago stock yards 
was the statement of Building Inspector Bartzen and Sani- 
-tary Inspector Perry L. Hedrick June 7. Bartzen said the 
•changes required in .the buildings to conform with the city 
ordinances and correct the violations found by the ibspector 
would cost more than $300,000 and may reach $700,000. 
Mr. Hedrick said the sanitary improvements, as far as he 
could estimate at present, would cost at least $300,000. Mr. 
Bartzen said further that if any of the buildings at the stock 
yards were found in a dangerous condition he would close 
them, but the packers have assured him that they would 
make all the changes ordered. Superintendent Young of 
Swift & Co., is quoted as saying that the packers would go 
to any expense to make their plants safe for employees and 
to conform with the building laws. . . , The so-called 
inspection of meats slaughtered and sold for human con¬ 
sumption in Baltimore, was characterized as a farce June 
G both by the State Board of Health and by President Alvin 
N. Bastable, of the Union Stock Yards Company. Just what 
conditions exist in scores of the smaller slaughtering and 
packing houses scattered about the city, and on its western 
edge, the State Board has no way of finding out. Baltimore 
has three meat inspectors. One of these stays at the Union 
Abattoir, another stays at the wharves to watch for bad 
catle coming that way, aud the third, single-handed, must 
inspect all the meat offered for sale in Baltimore. There is 
nobody to look after the 199 packing houses and slaughter 
houses. 
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD.—Joseph Boyer, chief clerk 
in the office of A. W. Gibbs, superintendent of the motive power 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad admitted June G at the inter¬ 
state commerce hearing that he accepted gifts of stock 
amounting to $11,000, and money aggregating more than 
$46,000, from coal companies in about three years. A* 
W. Gibb’s Mr. Boyer’s superior, said on the stand that he 
was not aware that such conditions existed in his department. 
Mr. Boyer j?aid he was at first disinclined to accept the 
money, but after thinking it over decided that he was doing 
nothing unusual. Mr. Boyer’s testimony was of a startling 
character. His stock holdings were only a small part of the 
gifts he admitted receiving from coa! mining companies. 
In his capacity as purchaser of fuel coal, he testified that 
he had received from five companies an allowance of from 
three to five cents a ton on coal used by the railroad for 
fuel purposes. From the latter part of 1903 to date he has 
received a total of more than $4G,000. The money was first 
sent to him in cash, but later cashier’s cnecks were sent to 
Mr. Hastings, cashier of the Second National Bank, of Al¬ 
toona, and placed on deposit for Boyer. The companies 
which made him the allowance were the Graff Coal Company, 
the Clearfield and Granton Coal Company, the Dunkirk Coal 
Company, Smith & Turner, and Thomas Blythe & Co. The 
Graff Coal Company allowed him five cents a ton, and the 
Clearfield and Granton company gave him a share in the 
profits, which amounted to not less than four cents a ton. 
Blythe & Co. gave him three cents a ton. . . . That 
neither sentiment nor unselfish desire to obey the law, which 
had been admittedly broken for years, promoted the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Railroad to begin the much talked of crusade against 
the granting of rebates to large shippers, but that the consid¬ 
eration was purely pecuniary, was the admission made be¬ 
fore the Interstate Commerce Commission June 7 by James 
McCrea, president of the Pennsylvania lines west of Pitts¬ 
burg. Vice-President McCrea admitted that the inception 
of this anti-rebate policy came at a time when the railroad, 
by getting control of its rivals, stood no possible chance of 
suffering by such a policy. In fact the adoption of the 
policy against rebates at that time—1900—according to the 
witness, enabled the railroad to get higher rates for its trans¬ 
portation. It made money by refusing rebates. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—M. T. Kearney, of San Francisco, 
who died on board the Cunard Line steamer Caronia while 
on her passage across the Atlantic, and whose body was 
landed at Liverpool May 29, left, it is stated, $750,000 to 
the University of California to establish a School of Viti¬ 
culture at San Francisco. Mr. Kearney’s body was cre¬ 
mated in accordance with instructions found in his bag¬ 
gage. The ashes were placed in an urn and shipped to New 
York on the Umbria, and will be deposited in a private 
mausoleum at San Francisco. 
The Arkansas State Fair Association will hold its first 
annual meeting October 1 to 10 in the $500,000 racing 
plant of the Oaklawn Jockey Club, Hot Springs, Ark. The 
fair will embrace all exposition features and a complete 
racing programme of harness and running events. 
Through the work of Homer Davenport, the cartoonist, 
the Sultan of Turkey has granted permission to Mr. Daven¬ 
port to purchase six or eight mares at Beiront, Syria, and 
bring them to this country. One stallion will be brought 
over with each mare. This is the first time that any Ara¬ 
bian mares .have been brought to America. On January IS 
last Mr. Davenport made an application for the mares 
through M. Chlket, of the Turkish l egation at Washington. 
President Roosevelt highly indorsed Mr. Davenport’s plan, 
and showed great interest in the experiment. Mr. Daven¬ 
port received word from Washington Hiat his request had 
been granted. It is more than 25 years since an Arabian 
horse has been "brought to this countrv for breeding pur¬ 
poses. The Sultan at that time allowed two stallions to be 
exported, but refused absolutely to allow any mares to leave 
the country. It is believed that the importation of these 
horses will make a big advance in the improvement of 
horseflesh in America. 
The annual convention of the Nebraska Stock Growers’ 
Association at Alliance. Neb., June 9. passed resolutions ask¬ 
ing Congress for a strict inspection of packing houses and 
also asking that the Government pay these inspection charges, 
as the packers would saddle the Increased cost on to the 
growers otherwise. _ 
STOCK FEEDING IN COLORADO. 
Stock feeding has been preached here a good many years 
but* with the advent of the sugar factories it received a' new 
impulse, and the wastes of the sugar beets are all utilized 
in feeding cattle and sheep, used in connection with Alfalfa 
hay. ,Some corn is -also fed but as the corn has to be 
shipped in. experiments are being made to see if barley, 
oats and wheat screenings will not take the place of corn. 
Not very many sugar l>eets are being fed yet, but are sold 
to the factory and the pulp (which I suppose you mean 
when you refer to starch from the sugar factory) is bought 
and fed. Yet the farmers are fast learning the value of 
sugar beets for feeding purposes. Many farmers claim 
that they are worth more than $5 per ton for feeding 
purposes and. if for any reason the beet sugar industry 
should fail, thousands of acres of sugar beets would be 
raised and the stock feeding industrv would develop faster 
than ever. It is estimated that 225.000 lambs were fed 
this last Winter in Northern Colorado, and this is under 
the general average, which is estimated to be not less than 
250,000, as the price of lambs last Fall was very high, 
also the price of hay was higher than usual. Lambs are 
not fed beet pulp biif are fed hay and grain. I have no 
estimate of the number of sheep and cattle fed, but prob¬ 
ably they number more than the Iambs. As to being profit¬ 
able that depends on the trusts and markets. I understand 
that the lamb feeders are not realizing much profit this 
year, but that beef '-attle are bringing a good price. 'Phat 
it is profitable, taking one year with another, is shown 
by the fact that the business is growing every year. 
Longmont, Col. _ o. u. n. 
There are no commercial orchards (apnle) in this part 
of the State. I am about alone in apple growing, while 
most farms have a small orchard for familv use. I do 
not know of any apple barrels made south of Wilmington 
in Delaware. I know the State from one end to the other, 
there is a barrel manufactured for truck at Laurel, Del., 
but no apple barrels. The frost on the 11th of May about 
fixed my afyfle crop for this year. I will not have 1-100 
of a crop. Wheat is looking fine. Harvest will begin 
from the 16th to 18th of this month, some field of Carls 
Prolific are at this writing getting yellow, it seems to be 
tilling all right. Corn growing fine; weather warm; hav¬ 
ing plenty of rain, too much for wheat; potatoes. In 
blossom. j. t. s. 
Middletown, Del. 
I am a western man from town. I bought a farm here 
of 13S acres in 1902 for $5,000. As I am an old traveling 
man and don’t know much about farming, I rent the farm 
out for one-half, and we keep the stock in partnership; 
we keep about 30 sheep, from 12 to 20 hogs, two to four 
cows, and 150 chickens. For the crop of 1903 my share 
amounted to $409, and for 1904—$426. For 1905—after 
selling our lambs will run up to $550. I furnish the fer¬ 
tilizer, costing $45 on an average. Our apple crop for 
1903 was about $65; for 1904 only $6 or $8; for 1905, 
my share was $95._ I sold a small farm in Iowa, 80 acres, 
at $65 per acre, $5,200, that I was getting $3 per acre 
rent, $240* When I bought this farm I did not expect to 
get any more rent than $250 a year. I looked at this beau¬ 
tiful valley in 1864 at the time that General Phil Sheridan 
made his ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek. s. a. s. 
Oranda, Va. 
I have lately come to California from Ohio, so far I 
like it very well. We have not had much dry weather. 
On May 21 it started to rain and rained till Friday noon 
giving us one and twenty-hundredths inch; it has been 
raining since so that it has brought it to about two inches 
in four days. The fruit prospect is good for peaches and 
prunes; both are loaded and peaches must be thinned. 
Two creameries have been started this Spring, one in town 
and one about six miles out: they are doing a good business. 
There is a dryer and an evaporator here but what I wish 
to speak of more especially is the cannery, a large building 
with considerable machinery in it. It has been standing 
idle for over two years, not for lack of fruit, but for some one 
who is capable of running such an affair; it is for sale or 
rent, and I think that if the right man were to take hold 
of it he could make a good thing of ir, not only foi 
himself but for the town, as there is an abundance of 
fruit raised here. Peaches, pears, plums and apricots and 
all the tomatoes a factory could handle could and would 
be raised. It is getting late to do much this year except 
in peaches and pears, but for another year it would be 
a good time now to look the thing up. e. w. l. 
Corning, Cal. _ 
ALFALFA IN NOVA SCOTIA.—Noting the good words 
spoken from time to time about Alfalfa, I determined last 
Spring to try it, yet with many misgivings, as your warnings 
about obstacles were so many. I prepared a small piece of 
land in good shape, and sowed pretty thick in Spring. After 
haying cut fine crop 22 inches high ; in Fall a good crop. 
Winter very hard on it; yet it wintered fairly well. Looks 
fine now. A neighbor sowed some with oats as a cover 
crop. Did not grow strong, yet quite a lot carnet up this 
Spring. Think there is no trouble to grow it here. 
Nova Scotia. t. e. s. 
GARDENING IN PENNSYLVANIA.—There is very little 
market gardening done here: it costs too much to market 
it. Express to Altoona is 80 to 90 cents per 100. The 
people here sell a few cars of milch cows and horses 
per year, also some ears of wheat, hay and, I think, 80 or 
90 cars of apples last year. There are a lot of wagons 
run to Altoona, so I think most money is made on butter 
and eggs; the wagons also haul pork, veal, mutton and 
poultry. It is 40 miles to Altoona, about 100 miles by rail. 
In the small towns and cities in central Pennsylvania I 
do not think people could make a success of one or two 
crops, as market is mostly retail, and one crop helps sell 
the other; that was my belief when following market 
gardening, and if I was asked what to do in that line 
I would say locate not over 15 miles from market, get a 
nice looking team, and care for them well; get a spring 
wagon strong enough and not too heavy, then grow all 
kinds of vegetables and fruits. Put them in clean boxes, 
bunches or packets, get. right to and with your customers, 
and hustle; load your wagon with all kinds of produce, 
keep two or three good brood sows, feed all inferior stuff 
to them, and if you have a surplus feed as many pigs 
as you can. If no surplus sell the young pigs. Keep a stiff 
upper lip and a tight grip on the lines yourself, and you 
are bound to win. Near the coal fields and public works 
the mixed farmer is winning. p. s. b. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
We are in receipt of a book “A Sketch of th& Develop¬ 
ment of the Modern Horse” issued by Bickmore Gall Cure 
Co., box 912, Old Town, Maine. The gall cure made by 
this firm is guaranteed to cure the horse while at work. A 
sample box with book referred to above will be sent on re¬ 
ceipt of 10 cents, to pay postage on the sample. 
“Why and How to Fill a Silo,” is the title of a booklet 
issued by Wilder-Strong Implement Co., Monroe, Mich. The 
firm is anxious to send this booklet to any of our readers 
who may be interested in the silo subject. It tells about 
the Whirlwind ensilage cutter which so many progressive 
dairymen are using to their satisfaction and profit. 
Those who may have delayed the purchase of a buggv 
until this time will be interested in the announcement 
of Kalamazoo Carriage & Harness Co., Box 25, Kalamazoo, 
Mich. The products of this factory are right in every way. 
and are sold' direct from factory to user, saving the expense 
of extra handling, middlemen, etc. If interested in anything 
in the wagon line write for catalogue and 30 day free trial 
offer. 
One frequently hears of serious accidents to farmers who 
hitch a raw colt to some “contraption” of their own mak¬ 
ing and then try to break him. It’s saner and wiser to 
hitch him to a 11-foot shaft Champion cart, and be sure 
that no matter what position the unruly beast may get 
into the driver can get off the seat quick—no danger of 
getting thrown. That’s why so many horsemen, liverymen, 
farmers, breeders, stockmen, etc., use the Champion cart, 
made in I.igonier, Ind.. by the Champion Cart Co. A hand¬ 
some, illustrated booklet is sent free to anyone who writes 
the above firm. 
Many farmers have the impression that building a silo is 
almost as serious a matter as building a barn. If more 
people knew how simple it is to erect a good manufactured 
silo, more would be feeding silage. Bv buying of the Harder 
Manufacturing Company, Cobleskill. N. Y.. you will have one 
of the best silos made and be saved all the worry and trou 
ble of building it at home. This concern has been doing 
business since 1859. and has been making silos for many 
years. No trouble about spoiled silage on account of air- 
leaks in a Harder silo. Write for the free catalogue, giving 
illustrations, full particulars and much information to those 
interested in silos. 
The time is now here when potatoes will have to be 
sprayed. It is money in the pocket to be provided with 
spraying devices to do the work -well and speedily. The 
six-row potato sprayer manufactured by E. C. Brown & Co., 
Rochester. N. Y„ is an apparatus which suits most people. 
It is a two-wheeled cart with 100-gallon cypress tank, and 
the mixture is applied under strong pressure bv means of 
gearing to the cart wheel. The power thus costs nothing, 
as the cart must go at any rate to carry the spray mixture 
tank. The Browrn Company manufactures a long and ex¬ 
cellent line of sprayers of all kinds. If in need of anything 
in this line it wil pay to write and get the Brown cata¬ 
logue. 
Warm weather brings much extra work into every house¬ 
hold. and now. if ever, the housekeeper welcomes' all ap¬ 
pliances that lighten labor. The laundry work is a serious 
problem, since the greatest increase in quantity is at the 
time when extreme heat makes all laborious work a burden 
It is a good time to investigate a washing machine, not the 
cumbrous appliance of former days, but one brought up to 
date, which gives the maximum return for the minimum of 
labor. Be generous with soap and hot water, and see what 
the “1900” Gravity washer will do for you. You can get 
a month’s free trial of it bv addressing It. F. Bieber Treas¬ 
urer, “1900” Washer Co., Box 6072, Binghamton, N. Y , or 
855 Yonge St., Toronto. Canada. 
