1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
589 
Events of the Week. 
. ■ 1 -- 1 ■' ■ . - - 
DOMESTIC.—Judge Landis, iu the United States District 
Court, at Chicago July 11, sentenced the Chicago & Alton, 
which was recently convicted of granting illegal rebates 
at Kansas City, to pay a fine of $20,000 on each of two 
(ounts, or a total of $40,000. John Faithorn and Fred 
A. Waun, former officials of the road, who were also con¬ 
victed, were sentenced to pay a fine of $5,000 each on two 
counts, or a total of $10,000. The fines were imposed on 
two counts of an indictment containing 10 counts. The 
specific charge on which they were convicted was that 
they had given to the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger company 
a rebate of $1 a car on all shipments from the Kansas 
City plant of the packing company. The attorneys for the 
railroad and for the individual defendants asked for time 
to show that the rebate was not a secret matter, but 
said, July 11, that they had not been able to bring witnesses 
Into court because the witnesses feared prosecution. The 
defendants gave notice of appeal. The tine inflicted by 
ludge Landis Is identical with that imposed on the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad In a similar case by Judge 
Bethea, in the United States Circuit Court. . . . In¬ 
vestigation into the charges of violations of the interstate 
commerce laws by the Standard Oil Company and the 
Pennsylvania Railroad relating to rebates at Clean, as made 
public in the findings of Commissioner Garfield of the 
Department of Commerce and Labor, began July 11, when 
Judge Ilazel presiding in the United States District Court, 
charged the grand jury. The main charge is that the 
Pennsylvania Railroad gave rebates to the Standard Oil 
Company for the transportation of oil between Olean and 
Rochester. According to the findings of Commissioner 
Garfield, the Standard Oil Company saved $115,000 in 
1004 by its rebates from the Pennsylvania Railroad for 
oil shipped from the refineries at Olean to Rochester. The 
Standard Oil, it is said, got a rate of nine cents a barrel, 
while independent companies in the same territory had to 
pay 38 cents a barrel. ... In choosing motormen for 
what is believed to be the first municipally owned and built 
street railway in the United States, that of Monroe, La- 
Mayor A. A. Forsythe said that the first test for fitness 
would be total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. It 
is expected that the railway will begin operating in a short 
time. A remarkable feature is the fact that the road's 
construction has not directly cost the taxpayers a cent, all 
expenses being defrayed by revenues from the city’s muni¬ 
cipal waterworks, electric light plant, wharves and other 
public utilities. . . . Battling for bis life on a narrow 
platform eight floors above the street against a hundred 
enraged ironworkers armed with wrenches and hurling 
heavy bolts, Michael Butler, a special policeman at the 
new Plaza Hotel, Fifth avenue and 59th street, New York, 
was wounded so badly, July 11, that he died in the Flower 
Hospital. Two other special policemen sustained severe 
injuries. The special policemen were employed to preserve 
order between the union and non-union men working on 
the building. There has been trouble 1x4ween the men 
since the building was begun. The union men annoyed the 
others by dropping bolts upon them. The three special 
policemen were employed by the Fuller Construction Com¬ 
pany, which is building the hotel. Butler was struck with 
bolts and wrenches, and after he was unconscious he was 
thrown through an open space to the sixth floor, where 
he fell on some planks. The other policemen were then 
overpowered and beaten, after which the mob returned to 
work. . . .A cloudburst and landslide at Ocampo, a 
mining camp, in the State of Chihuahua. Mexico, almost 
wli>ed the little city from the mountain side, June 12, and 
resulted in 10 deaths and injuries to many more. One of 
the losers is Col. W. C. Greene of New York, who owns 
the most valuable mines in the district. . . . The 
40,000 men in the collieries of the Central Pennsylvania 
coal district, who have been idle since April 1 because the 
operators would not restore the wage scale of 1903, will 
resume work on practically the same scale as that of 1905. 
The agreement to do this was made July 13 in a conference 
of the operators, President John Mitchell, and Secretary 
Wilson of the United Mine Workers of America, and rep¬ 
resentatives of the districts in the affected territory. The 
terms agreed upon were submitted to the miners, who sent 
their representatives to ratify them. The agreement is re¬ 
garded as a compromise, the miners getting the wage 
advance and the operators the open shop and check weight 
system. 
SAN FRANCISCO.—The New York Evening Post stated 
July 9 that scandals of the maladministration of the relief 
funds are beginning to take such material shape that the 
grand jury has begun an investigation of the departments 
that were conducted under the Red Cross. Even a cursory 
investigation of the looseness of this society’s organiza¬ 
tion for relief work bares evidence of amazing neglect on 
the one hand, and an inextricable tangle of red tape on the 
other, but with such a lack of system in all its affairs 
that it will be difficult to bring home the guilt with any 
measure of accuracy. Two men employed under Red Cross 
management, with city administration sanction, are in jail 
for the theft of a large quantity of blankets. One of the 
prisoners was a political heeler, whose best recommenda¬ 
tion was that he was an unscrupulous vote-getter, although 
an ex-convict of a Canadian prison. Ilis confederate was 
also a small politician who had become adroit in graft of 
the sort that on the coast is called ‘"small city pickings.” 
A score of others who have been and are occupying posts 
of trust and responsibility under Red Cross supervision are 
under suspicion of having misappropriated supplies, or 
having connived at criminal imposition. There are also 
many refugees who are being investigated, as there is 
ground for belief that they aided Red Cross employees in 
thefts of food and clothing. The correspondent of the 
Evening Post in order to see how relief affairs were going 
forward under the new $18,000-a-year commission, visited 
several camps from which bitter complaints had been 
issuing. At the camp in the speedway of Golden Gate Park 
the refugees were found to be without soap and in a filthy 
condition. Camp commanders assigned to this particular 
community of the destitute were invisible and unknown 
there, though they are receiving salaries of $200 and $150 
a month. The women, children, and old men of the camp 
were as grimy and dusty as chimney sweeps. The children 
were only half-clad, the women in tatters, and the men 
wretchedly clothed. This was not true of only tens or 
dozens, but of hundreds, and yet there are relief store¬ 
houses in San Francisco schoolhouses that are fairly choked 
with clothing contributed by the people of the country to 
relieve suffering. These campers were sleeping on springs, 
or by preference on the damp ground. They have not yet 
been provided with mattresses. Yet, there were old men 
and old women, bent and twisted with rheumatism, who 
have been sleeping for weeks with only a blanket to protect 
them from the wire knobs and metal lumps of cot-springs. 
Red Cross red tape has produced this shortage of sorely 
needed supplies, though it did not prevent an ex-convict 
employed from stealing 3,000 fine woolen blankets and 
selling them. Claims of every imaginable sort have been 
presented to the finance committee. The owners and lessees 
of buildings that were deserted and used temporarily for 
relief have put in bills for rent, and had them paid. A 
stableman presented a bill for the use of half a dozen 
horse blankets. Charges have been made by residents for 
clothing distributed to suffering people who were driven 
from their homes half-clad. As a matter of fact the people 
of San Francisco who helped one another now believe thev 
should be paid for their deeds of timely mercy and assist¬ 
ance. Charges for automobile use are as high as they 
possibly could be made. In some cases $100 a day was 
asked for the use of a car, but such extravagant charges 
were not allowed. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Indiana Horticultural Soci¬ 
ety, through the assistance of the Big Four and Pennsyl¬ 
vania lines, ran a fruit special over their respective lines, 
touching at Greencastle, July 23 : Hadley. July 24 : Irving¬ 
ton, .July 25: Greenfield, July 26: Kniglitstown, July 27; 
Richmond, July 28. One day was spent at each point. 
Forenoon and afternoon sessions were held, at which prun¬ 
ing, spraying, cultivation, and other work was exemplified 
by experts. A power sprayer for large growers of fruits 
and vegetables and a smaller one for the farmer and small 
grower were used. The most approved pruning tools were 
used and the best implements for cultivation, harvesting, 
etc., discussed. 
The Maryland State Horticultural Society will hold its 
Summer meeting at Berlin, Md., August 8-9. This meeting 
should be particularly interesting as the members will have 
an opportunity of going over the 1,000 acres of nurseries 
of the firm of J. G. Harrison & Son and they are also to 
be taken to Ocean City by Messrs. Harrison who will enter¬ 
tain the Society on Bills occasion. The annual meeting will 
be held in the Fifth Regiment Armory, Baltimore, De¬ 
cember 5-6. 
OBITUARY.—Theodore S. Hubbard, the well-known 
nurseryman, died suddenly at Geneva, N. Y., July 5. Mr. 
Hubbard was born in Cameron, Steuben County, in 1843, 
and spent his early life in that place. In 1866 he moved 
to Fredonia, where he founded the T. S. Hubbard Company, 
the largest producers of grapevines in the United States. 
He moved to Geneva in 1887, but still continued his con¬ 
nection with the Fredonia company. Mr. Hubbard was 
a highly esteemed citizen, and a generous giver to phil¬ 
anthropic enterprises. He is survived by a widow, two 
sons and one daughter. 
WINTER COURSES IN HORTICULTURE AT 
CORNELL 
The tendency in Winter course Instruction at most of 
the colleges of agriculture is towards specialization and 
concentration. A few 3 'ears ago the farm students were 
all grouped in one course in general agriculture, made up 
of a taste of dairying, animal feeding and breeding, orchard¬ 
ing, farm management, and the like. As time went on, 
and in response to an expressed desire on the part of 
the pupils, they were separated into groups according to 
the subject in which they were particularly interested, 
till now the Winter-course student at Cornell may elect 
a course in general agriculture, one in dairying, one in 
poultry raising or one in horticulture. The course in 
horticulture was installed last Winter, and there were 15 
students registered in it. The certificates to the successful 
students of last Winter in this course have just been dis¬ 
tributed, and many inquiries are already in hand regarding 
the scope of the work for next Winter. The aim is to 
make the work as practical as possible, with a view of 
equipping the student for actual orchard, garden or green¬ 
house management work, l’rinciples are taught, but the 
practice work is the most important. The course is open 
to men and women. The facilities at the College of Agri¬ 
culture are being rapidly improved, and when the new 
College buildings are completed next year the work will 
go forward with greatly increased enthusiasm and satis¬ 
faction. Persons desiring information regarding this course 
should apply to the College of Agriculture, Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, Ithaca, N. Y, 
THE QUESTION OF NIAGARA FALLS. 
If the advocates of what is misnamed the “practical” 
side of stealing Niagara Falls speak with no more logic 
and reason than J. S. Woodward, page 525, they have a 
very poor case. He says, “ninety-nine out of every hundred 
of these supersensitive people never saw Niagara Falls.” 
I suppose he has exact statistics to prove this remarkable 
statement, which fits perfectly with what he says a little 
later on, that “it may be nice for a few rich nabobs of 
this and other countries to come and see the water pouring 
over the brink into the gulf below.” I have a suspicion 
that Mr. Woodward Is probable like some others who have 
lived within sound of the Falls for many years, and have 
never seen them, if he insists that "hose who come to see 
the Falls are “rich nabobs.” I have been many times to 
Niagara Falls, and I have seen there more than any other 
place the plain people of the country, who come to see the 
Falls because they love the Falls and are uplifted and 
benefited by viewing God’s majesty as there displayed. If 
Mr. Woodward is sincere iu his feeling that he would like 
to “take the last drop out of the river and run it through 
a water wheel,” then he ought to take off his collar and 
remove all adornments of any kind from about his person 
or his home, and live the simple life of the pure utilitarian. 
The man who cares nothing whatever for beauty and 
majesty in nature ought logically to care nothing whatever 
for beauty and good appearance in man. It may be that 
Mr. Woodward sometimes goes to church and occasionally 
reads in the Good Book. If he can find a word in the 
Bible to justify his selfishly utilitarian view and to make 
him feel better in his crusade for ugliness and private 
interests, I should be glad to know of it. From every part 
of the world we have received testimony as to the bene¬ 
ficence of Niagara Falls, notwithstanding what Mr. Wood¬ 
ward says to the contrary. That energy which is to be 
so greatly aided, according to Mr. Woodward, by the de¬ 
struction of the Falls, benefits, so far as close investigation 
has been able to show, primarily the peonle who receive 
special and illegitimate advantages by taking what does 
not belong to them. In these days that sort of thing is not 
so well thought of as it was a few years ago. The beef 
trust had some special advantages, and it is now paying 
for them. The other day some men who sell ice ran up 
against a judge who believed that the special advantage 
of being able to charge double and treble for a necessary 
product was worth a term in jail ! Those who sell the 
Niagara Falls power, for which they are not paying a cent, 
are charging just as much as the traffic will bear in every 
case, and their stockholders and those who are benefited 
by selling them machinery and those who will receive 
collateral benefits close by will lie just as anxious to have 
the benefit continue as are those who support every form 
of monopoly, greed and graft, even down to the renting 
of property for immoral purposes because of their worship 
of the one' deity of Mammon. j. Horace mcfarland. 
President American Civic Association. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
I never saw a poorer prospect for apples In this vicinity. 
Peaches are short, not one-third: grapes are looking fine: 
if they go through without rotting the crop will exceed last 
year. J. c. 
Marlboro, N. Y. 
The fruit crop in this section now promises to be fine. 
Peaches are looking well and a large crop is looked for. 
Apples will be an average crop. Not many pears or plums 
raised about this section. e. h. 
New Haven Co., Conn. 
Apples dropped quite severely In June, but there is a 
good crop in sight, and very fair. I do not think the crop 
will equal that of two years ago. Blight is on the ram¬ 
page, and is sparing nothing. Old apple trees are covered 
with blackened twigs. Greenings seem to suffer most. 
Whole orchards of pears will go down this year. w. a. b. 
Interlaken, N. Y. 
Prospect at present for a good crop of apples, a full crop 
of early and Fall varieties, and a fair to good crop of 
Winter fruit, but not a bumper crop as in 1896. Baldwins 
perhaps 50 per cent of that year. Pears uncertain. In 
my own experience we never saw the Pear ps.vlla as plenti¬ 
ful as this season. Flums a light crop. Peaches ditto. 
Worcester Co., Mass. H. o. mead. 
The fruit crop in our section promises well. The straw¬ 
berry' season has been moderately successful. A fair crop 
of red raspberries is now going to market. The apple crop 
seems to be moderate in quantity, and above the average 
in quality. There is a moderate peach crop. The plum 
crop is a little light. Grapes are promising a heavier 
crop than usual. f. a. w. 
Amherst, Mass. 
Strawberries were a good crop, prices mostly satisfac¬ 
tory, though occasionally a soft lot on account of bounti¬ 
ful rain, would bring a drop in the price. Currants and 
raspberries are now being marketed: crop good, prices fair, 
six to eight cents per quart for currants; six to eight cents 
per pint for raspberries. Pears a good crop. 80 per cent. 
Peaches will be a full crop. Apples I am sorry to say, are 
short, 50 to 60 per cent or less; that seems to be the out¬ 
look now. n, ii. 
Milton, N. Y. 
There will be only a moderate crop of apples in Daupbin 
County. The June drop was unusually heavy, and the apples 
are still dropping, so that I do not believe it will be more 
than 50 per cent taking the county over. Peach trees that 
are young and healthy are holding a full crop. I have not 
seen anv trees that looked as though they would have 
to be thinned, but I think they have just about enough for 
a full crop of fine fruit. The pear trees are loaded, and 
will need thinning to bring the fruit to proper size. Grapes 
look very promising: the vines have fruited nicely, the 
clusters are large and fine. Vineyards that have been 
sprayed are uninjured by either fungus or insects. 
Harrisburg, Pa. o. h. 
Apples are perhaps one-half per cent normal crop, plums, 
one-third to one-half of Europeans, no Japans at all; peaches 
10 per cent of crop. Cherries were very full and very fair ; 
berries are now coming on and are very good, but price is 
high; growers are getting $2.50 to as high as $3.50 per 
bushel for reds and blacks. The big pickle and preserving 
houses in Pittsburg and the local canneries have caused 
the advance from almost nothing eight to 10 years ago to the 
present prices. a. i, loop. 
Pennsylvania. 
The fruit crop in this part of Michigan is likely to be 
very light. Early apples quite a fair crop, but the crop 
of Winter fruit will be extremely light. By keeping watch 
of the_ market reports and of the crop reports in The 
R. N.-Y. last year I secured $2.50 per barrel for my Winter 
fruit, ones and twos going for the same price. After pack¬ 
ing there were. less than five barrels of culls from 250 
barrels of fruit. The orchard was thoroughly sprayed 
and well cultivated. Two much emphasis cannot be placed 
on thorough spraying immediately after the blossoms fall. 
Lapeer, Mich. a. m. b. 
As to the outlook for fruit in this section I reply that 
the prospect is very favorable for a large crop of grapes of 
fine size. The quality of course must be determined later 
by the weather at the time of ripening, but the bunches 
have set unusually large, and are developing finely. In 
this immediate vicinity there is a promise of an average 
crop of apples, or perhaps a little better, which, at this 
writing, are looking perfect, and free from insect nests. 
We have had an abnormally large crop of cherries, the 
largest in fact that I have ever known here, but there will 
be no peaches and no plums to speak of, while pears will 
be very light, very much below the average. E. H. P. 
Fredonia, N. Y. 
There is the best apple crop in this county there has 
been in 20 years, and the quality as good as ever grown 
where sprayed; practically all have been sprayed better 
than ever before. I had a fair crop last year and a half 
more this season in prospect than ever before. We also 
have the material on hand to make the barrels for them. 
All varieties are full, but the Rome Beauty is the only 
one grown largely for storage. The original Ensee has 
much the largest crop it ever had, and it has had fair 
crops now for several years; a few young trees three years 
planted have some fruit on them now. There is almost 
no scab on fruit here this year where it has been sprayed. 
The weather was dry through April and May, and the fruit 
got a good start before the rains in June. We had one 
day’s record, June 5, of 5.05 inches, and for the month 
it was 11.88 inches. The first half of July it was only 
a half inch, but it is raining gently now with prospect 
of a soaking rain. Sod land on the hills made a record 
when we had the big rain, and cultivated hillsides and 
bottoms near the creeks lost many a ton of the best soil. 
Lawrence Co., O. _ u. t. cox. 
FRUIT PROSPECTS IN COLUMBIA COUNTY. 
Strawberries have been a good crop, but prices ob¬ 
tained not as satisfactory as could be desired. Sour cher¬ 
ries are a fine crop, in both quantity and quality, being 
free for the most part from worms and fungus. Sweet 
ones are fair, but not so good as the sour. Except in 
orchards very favorably located, there will be no peaches. 
I presume it is safe to say not to exceed one-fourth of a 
full crop. In this county there is scarcely a peach. 
Plums are also very scarce, particularly the Japans. This 
is the first time I have missed a crop of them since the 
trees began to bear. I know of one very good crop of 
Normand, ordinarily when there are plenty of other kinds 
on the market no one will buy these the second time, but 
I think they will sell readily this year, and be a valuable 
addition to the income from the orchards. With tbe ex¬ 
ception of Kieffers, pears are well set, particularly Bart- 
letts, although the .Tune drop has been heavy. The apple 
crop, however, is the most important, and the one most 
relied on to “pay the freight.” Unfortunately it Is light. 
My own opinion is, from the best information that I can 
get from a variety of sources, that 40 per cent of a full 
crop is a high estimate for the Hudson Valley as a whole ; 
but that I may not appear to desire to underestimate, will 
call it 50 per cent. Early varieties, such as Maiden’s 
Blush, Alexander and Fall Pippin, will give a fair yield. 
Greenings are very irregular and Baldwins generally light, 
many trees of the latter variety that did not bear last 
year having no apples this. Ben Davis trees are again 
full of apples, and will help again to pay many an honest 
debt in spite of the hard things said of them. With the 
exception of a good many Rose bugs on young trees, and 
not a few of the curculfos working on apples, there has 
been thus far a dearth of insects. Within the last week 
many frees are showing fungus on the leaves; prior to this 
the foliage has been exceptionally fine. Saturday after¬ 
noon, in walking through my own orchards, I noticed 
some trees -with very yellow leaves, and on closer examina¬ 
tion found the ground brown with them. At first I 
thought it might be Bordeaux injury, but was gratified to 
note that the fungus was only on the trees that had no 
fruit, and did not receive the last spray. By looking 
closely I could see some fungus on the leaves of the sprayed 
trees, but it was very slight. To be clear, we sprayed the 
first time everything, using six pounds of vitriol' to 50 
gallons. The next time (there being no caterpillars) we 
only sprayed those trees on which there was a set of fruit, 
using four pounds vitriol, in each case lime by the test. 
In this immediate vicinity there has been less spraying 
done for insects and fungus than for some time. I account 
for it in this way. Such unsatisfactory results last year, 
both as to Codling moth, and Bordeaux injury, the scarc¬ 
ity of help and extremely wet weather at spraying time, 
counled with the fact that many expended a good deal of 
energy fighting the San Jos6 scale with sulphur and lime, 
and becoming weary in well doing, and no insects in sight, 
lasted from their labors. I fear their works will not 
follow them. edward vax alstyxe. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The Youth’s Companion is always a welcome visitor, and 
many a prosperous man can look back to its clean and 
wholesome pages as one of the inspirations of his youth. 
The Companion not only entertains, but informs, inspires, 
and uplifts all who come within the sphere of its influence. 
Sample copies and other information may be obtained from 
the publishers, Perry Mason Co., Boston, Mass. 
IT. II. Love.toy & Sox, Cambridge,. N. Y., recommend to 
their farmer friends the Cyclone ensilage cutter and the 
Foos gas engine as an ideal combination for silo filling. 
This firm manufactures the famous Cambridge steel plows, 
which are well and favorably known to the farmers of 
New York State. A catalogue and full information regard¬ 
ing these implements may be had for the asking. 
A right working ensilage cutter and approved machinery 
for elevating into the silo, are necessaries if you would 
make good speed in ensilage making time. The Smalley 
ensilage cutters, blowers and carriers of the Harder Manu¬ 
facturing Company, Coblesklll, N. Y.. are unquestionably 
among the best type of this class of machines. The re¬ 
liability of the Smalley ensilage machinery, put out by 
the Harder Manufacturing Company, has long been recog¬ 
nized. Their catalogue, which is free, gives much val¬ 
uable information. Write direct to the Harder Manu¬ 
facturing Company at the address given. 
A breaking cart made at home is too risky. Many 
farmers have experienced serious accidents by trusting to 
some poorly-built makeshift. Wherever there is a weakness, 
there it is bound to show itself under the violent jerks and 
excited twisting of the animal. It makes things doubly 
secure to hitch him carefully to a Champion cart and feel 
protected. Anyone who needs a light cart for exercising 
trotters, running errands, etc., needs a Champion cart 
made by the Champion Cart Comnany, Ligonier, Indiana. 
It is made in three sizes with different lengths of shafts. 
The price of “general purpose” or “speeding” cart is $20. 
The breaking cart costs $22.50. A handsome illustrated 
booklet in two colors telling “all about the Champion Cart” 
is sent free to everyone writing the above firm. 
