1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
787 
CAN I. 1V. WADSWORTH BE DEFEATED? 
We believe so, but we recognize the size of the job. 
I he Tribune Almanac gives the vote of the Thirty- 
fourth District two years ago as follows: 
James W. Wadsworth, Republican. 32,364 
James E. Crisfield, Democrat. 19,328 
Charles J. Scholpp, Prohibitionist . 1,771 
To wipe out that big majority of 13,000 is possible, but 
it will require hard and constant work. Two years ago 
President Roosevelt was on the ticket. The tremendous 
force of his personality will be lacking this year. Mr. 
Wadsworth does not inspire any enthusiasm. No one 
contends that he is a great man, or that he has stamped 
his name on any great act of legislation. The meat 
inspection bill may be excepted, but there he put the 
wrong kind of a label on the can. The popular esti¬ 
mate of Mr. Wadsworth is well stated by a farmer in 
Niagara County. “There is nothing great about him 
except his name and his farm!” He is on the defensive. 
No man creates enthusiasm while on the run. Many or 
most of his defenders draw some sort of a salary from 
the public. The spirit and moral force of the campaign 
seem to be all against Mr. Wadsworth. These things 
are of great importance when we consider the real 
issues at stake. Last year Mr. Wadsworth could “hitch 
his wagon to a star.” This year there isn’t any star, the 
team has balked and strong men are holding back the 
wheels. 
The importation of Speaker Cannon to help Wads¬ 
worth looks like a big political blunder. It shows that 
the Congressman is badly frightened. Mr. Cannon has 
said that he will speak only in doubtful districts. His 
mission is to strengthen the weak of knee. Yet here 
lie comes with two speeches in Wadsworth’s district— 
the only speeches in the States besides one in this city. 
Everyone knows what this means. Here is a man with 
13,000 majority at his back holding out both hands for 
help. He thus admits that the district is doubtful— 
that his great majority has melted away! It is open 
confession of weakness, but Mr. Cannon will not be 
able to save the situation, because he cannot give any 
political reason why a man should vote for Mr. Wads¬ 
worth. He knows, as does everybody else, that the 
Republican party will suffer no loss whatever in Wads¬ 
worth’s defeat. He will simply give place to a younger 
and more energetic man, who will uphold the President 
in all worthy things and do far more for the district . 
than Wadsworth has done. 
If the arguments against Mr. Wadsworth were polit¬ 
ical they would weaken steadily until election day. As 
it is they grow stronger the more they are examined, 
and the contest is steadily rising to higher ground. The 
most hopeful thing about the canvass is the. character 
of the people who live in this district. It would be 
hard to find five counties in the State where, on the 
whole, farmers are more intelligent, better read, more 
progressive or more keenly alive to the needs of their 
business. Agricultural papers have a great circulation 
all through this district. Such papers as the Country 
Gentleman, American Agriculturist, Ohio Farmer, Prac¬ 
tical Farmer, Hoard’s Dairyman and Creamery Review 
are all fighting Wadsworth. The Grange is strong, and 
farmers’ clubs abound. A network of telephone wires 
is spread all over the district. Men no longer think 
and act as individuals, but know what it is to work 
together. Thousands of these farmers are aching for 
a chance to give political expression to their feelings 
as fanners! Now for the first time in their lives they 
have the chance. They will use it, and carry the word 
to others. We know what happens when such farmers 
as these really wake up and take hold of a public ques¬ 
tion. That is why we expect to see that 13,000 ma¬ 
jority melt away and form ice around Mr. Wadsworth’s 
chances. The size of this former majority should not 
frighten anyone. All the more glory to those who 
shovel it away. _ 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Four men were killed and eight others were 
injured, two perhaps fatally, in an accident at the works 
<>f the Maryland Steel Company, at Sparrows Point, Md.. 
October 3. The victims were overwhelmed by a rush of 
flaming gas and coke from a hole in one of the blast fur¬ 
naces caused by the forcing from its socket of a casting 
which held the compressed air. pipe. . . . Three men 
were killed and one was fatally injured as the result of an 
explosion of gas at blast furnace E of the Colorado Fuel 
and Iron Company’s steel works at Pueblo, Col., October 3. 
A fifth man was caught in the falling debris and crushed. 
. . . The factory of the National Starch Company at 
Clen Cove, L. I., was almost entirely destroyed by lire, 
believed to be Incendiary, October 4; loss .$200,000. . . . 
Five persons were killed and over 30 injured in a rear-end 
collision on the Bostou and Maine Railroad near Troy, N. Y., 
October 4. A passenger train, an hour late, received orders 
to stop on a switch while another train passed. A trainman 
was sent back to flag a special train carrying a squadron 
of the Fifteenth Cavalry en route from Fort Ethan Allen, 
Vt., for duty in Cuba. The special was right on the heels 
of the passenger train and before the trainman could go 
back far enough to give the flag signal the special crashed 
into the rear coach. ... A tornado passing through live 
miles of the residence and factory section of New Orleans, 
October 5, injured at least a score of persons and did fully 
$250,000 damage. The damage in Baton Rouge parish is 
estimated at $160,000. Two persons were killed and two 
fatally and others slightly injured. At Ponehatoula the 
damage is estimated at $10,000. Two persons were killed 
there and 12 injured. . . . An explosion in a coal mine 
at Pocahontas, Va., October 4, entoipbed 60 miners: 19 
bodies were recovered October 5. . . . Eight men were 
killed and nearly two-score of persons were injured October 
5 by the explosion of illuminating gas in the Market street 
subway at Sixth street. Philadelphia. High buildings were 
shaken by the force of the explosion, and for a block on 
either side of the point of the disaster nearly every window 
was shattered. The street caved in, halting traffic, and re¬ 
sulting in a suspension of business. Fire followed the ex¬ 
plosion, but it did no damage to neighboring buildings. The 
loss it is believed will exceed $300,000. . . . Fifteen men 
are supposed to have lost their lives in an explosion Octo¬ 
ber 5 in the Dutchman coal mine at Blossburg, a small 
camp five miles from Raton, New Mexico. . . . Twenty- 
five families were rendered homeless and property valued 
at $100,000 was destroyed October 6 by a fire which started 
on a dock in Rensselaer, N. Y. The fire ate its way through 
a hay shed, where it started, consumed an icehouse and then 
reaching Broadway, spread both north and south, licking 
up everything in its way. The Rensselaer firemen called 
for help from Albany and Troy and both responded. . . . 
Chauncey Brooks McCormick, of Chicago, a Yale senior, 
was attacked by a buck in Marvelwood Park, New Haven, 
Conn., adjoining the home of Ik Marvel, the writer, October 
7, and was badly torn before help arrived. . . . The 
Transatlantic Fire Insurance Company has lost in the first 
decision to be rendered in the Superior Court at San Fran¬ 
cisco regarding the liability of companies which have re¬ 
fused a dollar for dollar settlement of losses due to the dis¬ 
aster that befell San Francisco last Spring. The Transat¬ 
lantic had no earthquake clause. The plaintiff in the test 
case is Assistant City Attorney A. S. Newburgh, who re¬ 
ceived $850. . . . Warrants were sworn out October 8 by 
Dr. B. H. Warren, Dairy and Food Commissioner, for the 
arrest of the Philadelphia managers of Armour & Co., one 
of the members of the so-called “beef trust,” charging the 
firm with the illegal use of boric acid in hams. Samples 
purchased at the branch houses of Armour & Co. were anal¬ 
yzed by Prof. Hawaii, chemist of the department, and 
showed, it is alleged, that the hams have been “doctored” 
with boric acid in quantities ranging from one-fourth to one- 
half of one per cent. It is said that subpoenas will be 
issued for the heads of the firm of Armour & Co. in Chi- 
cago, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the “doctor- 
ing of the meat is performed in Chicago or Philadelphia. 
• • • IJy the explosion of 500 kegs of powder in the dry- 
house of the powder mills of the H. A. Weldy Powder Com- 
pany, a mile north of Tamaqua, Pa., October 9, four men 
were instantly killed and two probably fatally injured. 
’ i ’ ,, ee vessels were wrecked, three were driven 
ashore, three men and possibly fourteen more were drowned 
in the gate which swept over the Great Lakes October 8. 
Lake Superior felt the full force of the storm, the high wind 
being accompanied by snow. Vessels all along the lakes 
were forced to seek shelter. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
I he apple crop is only one-lialf what it was three weeks 
ago; so much wet weather they have fallen. What are left 
on the trees are fine. No buyers as yet; the apples are 
mostly Ben Davis. k d. T. 
Purdy, Mo. 
Fail seeding was well along by October 1; corn good. 
H ar ]V ^ Potatoes are fair crop on hills immediately west 
i ‘i, G• tubers unusually large. Timothy liay scarce, 
plenty of cow feed. Melons, cucumbers and even pumpkins 
took the blight or rather the blight took them. The ther¬ 
mometer did not drop below 65 degrees from the first of 
June until the middle of September. t 
Southern Ohio. ' * 
Just a tinge of frost barely to touch the tops of pumpkin 
s Qnash leaves up to October 3 is a repetition of our 
I90o September, and farmers here have great reason to re¬ 
joice over their line corn crop that has fully matured; 
visitors from Iowa and Illinois express great surprise at 
the size and fine quality of our corn and all other farm 
crops September was unusually wet, and did much dam¬ 
age to shock and poorly stacked grain, and also delayed 
tin ashing nearly a month, but the past 10 days have changed 
to most favorable conditions for all farm work. Thrashing 
is now in lull blast, and many report heavy vields of all 
k i n .. grain and vegetables. The displays of the latter 
at all fairs are very encouraging to growers and all visitors. 
tiKi latter being very numerous; our apple crop, wherever 
grown upon our older farms, would be an eye-opener to manv 
®: New \ork grower, the varieties of course being 
different and of the hardier kinds, but they have seemed 
to grow and mature as smooth as marbles and of large 
size Corn cutting is in order, but late to save the fodder 
at its best, and little is yet being fed. as pastures are as 
green and fresh as at any time this season. Potatoes suf¬ 
fered somewhat by rot. and while the acreage is heavy our 
farmers are putting off the digging at a most opportune 
time to secure the crop in good weather, the rush of other 
work being (he excuse for the neglect. Wheat is worth 
55 to 65 cents, corn 30, oats 25, barley 25 to 30. hav $5 to 
$7 a ton, potatoes 40 cents a bushel, butter 20, eggs IS, 
hogs $5.80,’ feeding steers $3.50 to $4. People here seem 
to think that the corn crop will move at 23 to °5 cents 
and because it is plenty there is a great demand for feeding 
stock, both hogs and cattle. Great immigration into both 
Dakotas this Fall; land sells easily at steadily advancin'* 
values; these two frostless Septembers in succession have 
been a great stimulant to eastern farmers in search of good 
corn land. f. a. scott. 
Minnehaha Co., S. D. 
ALFALFA AND SHREDDED STALKS IN 
MARKET. 
There is very little sh,redded cornstalk sold on the market 
here, so little that we do not known anything about the prod¬ 
uct or its value. Alfalfa is sold very largely on the St 
Louis market. Callahan & sons. 
Louisville, Ky. 
Alfalfa has never appeared in mercantile quantities here 
it is aimost a curiosity. We have a splendid demand for 
clover and clover mixed, and this will he much greater later 
in the season. Timothy is very scarce, selling to-day at 
$16.25 for No. 1. h. g. mougan & co. 
Pittsburg, Pa. 
There is very little Alfalfa grown in our territory, not 
enough for shipping purposes, and we do not think am- 
shredded cornstalks are shipped from this section, or at least 
we never heard of its being done. febrin bkos. co. 
Detroit, Mich. 
I have had some inquiry for Alfalfa hav, hut have never 
been able to sell any in this market. A few years ago, 
however, I sold some shredded corn fodder. My experience 
with that is it got out of condition and was heating when 
it arrived in this city. It seems (lie stalks did not get dry 
enough to allow this to be baled tightly, and got musty. 
Regarding the hay in Erie and adjoining counties, it is being 
sold at $10 to $13 loose in the mow, which would bring 
from $11 to $14 on track, and 70 per cent of the hay has 
been sold. s. m. ratcliffe. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
We have had no demand either for Alfalfa hav or shred¬ 
ded cornstalks in our trade. The Alfalfa proposition is be¬ 
ing worked quite strenuously, and it has been offered 'to us 
principally in ground form, and also in conjunction with 
ground grain, in what purports to be a complete ration for 
horses and cattle. We consider its use to be of very prob¬ 
lematical value in this section, at the price that it would 
have to be retailed for. approximately $30 per ton. We are 
of the oninion that consumers will not use it at this price, 
in competition with other feeds which can be bought cheaper. 
A great deal is claimed as to the value of the hav, and it 
may be demonstrated that its value is as stated. As far as 
the shredded cornstalks is concerned, we have no knowledge 
of it whatever. the l. c. Daniels grain co. 
Hartford, Conn. 
Alfalfa is being raised in large quantities in territories 
tributary to our market, and is a very valuable feed for all 
kinds of stock when it is fed with care and intelligence. It 
is superior to any other kind of tame grasses, and does not 
require the same bulk or weight that Timothy hay does for 
horses, no matter how hard they may be' working. We know 
of people who feed it, and they are not using more than 
half the quantity of Alfalfa that they did of Timothy, and 
half the amount of corp is being fed to horses doing all 
classes of barn work, apd the horses thrive and gain in 
flesh. They ba<J to cut down in order to keep them from 
getting too fleshy. They should begin to feed It In small 
quantities, and never reach anything like the hulk of other 
grasses, because that is a mistake. Many times they let it 
get too ripe, and then it is too much like pipestems, but that 
is easily avoided by cutting it at the proper time. The call 
for the commercial purpose is as yet light, but increasing, 
and will continue to. It can be bought in nearly all of the 
hay-producing States. As yet it has been mostly used for 
horses, although some of our dairymen claim now that it is 
superior to the Red clover. Shredded fodder has never been 
in favor in the large markets. We question whether it ever 
will or not unless they adopt some other plan than baling. 
We handled quite a number of cars a few. years ago and 
made a special effort to introduce it, but it did not meet 
with favor, although we distributed it pretty well, but not 
being fed up rapidly we found that the center of the bale 
collected moisture and the pith in the cornstalk would 
gather dampness in tho center of the bales. We think it is 
a good feeder, but should be fed on the farm where it could 
he put into a loft. We often have inquiries to know what 
we could do with cornstalks, but we tell them to feed it on 
the farm, and not ship it as we cannot do them any good. 
According to our postals, we would say that the hay crop 
in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan would indicate about 
60 to 75 per cent of a crop. Some of our customers tell us 
they will have more shipping hay this year than last. Three- 
fourths of a crop we do not believe would miss It far on the 
four States. We dislike to see such general holding back, 
and several times we have seen hay sell lower the last half 
of the year than the first. Isn’t it possible that we might 
have that experience again? The East and West have plenty 
of hay, and with economy and feeding of fodder we are in¬ 
clined to think there will be plenty of hay to go around, and 
that hay is too high to speculate on. 
Cincinnati, O. wiiitcomb & root. 
Alfalfa is a staple commodity in our market, selling prin¬ 
cipally to the dairy trade, prices ranging about the same as 
No. 1 Red clover. Shredded cornstalks we know nothing 
about in this territory. The writer, who puts in a good deal 
of his time on the road, has seen plenty of this shredded 
fodder throughout Indiana and Ohio, but as we never hud¬ 
dled any in our market we are unable to say much about it. 
In regard to the general hay crop, will say that Missouri 
has no hay to ship this year; Illinois and Iowa about hail, 
a crop, but very good quality. About 90 per cent of the 
crop is No. 1 Timothy hay. The crop in Ohio and Indiana 
is spotted, and only about half crop, principally Timothy 
hay, being very little clover mixed and clover this year. 
Our market is ruling about $2 over last year’s prices. 
St. Louis, Mo. DANIEL V. BYRNE & CO. 
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s annual exhibi¬ 
tion of fruits and vegetables was held at Horticultural 
Hall, Boston, Wednesday and Thursday, October 10 and 
11. The Society will hold its Chrysanthemum show No¬ 
vember 2-4. 
Gov. Higgins appointed the following delegates to repre¬ 
sent the State at the Farmers’ National Congress, to be 
held in Rock Island, Ill., October 9 to 20: George L. 
Flanders of North Chatham. Luther Tucker and Edwin H. 
Chapman of Albany, Daniel P. Witter of Berkshire F. J. II. 
Kracke of Brooklyn. John J. Dillon of New York City, 
Ilenry A Van Fredenberg of Port Jervis, S. Brown Richard¬ 
son of Lowville, Edward S. Comstock of Nassau. Augustus 
Denniston of Washingtonville, Herbert McClow of Newfane 
and J. W. Burke of Batavia. 
The fifth annual convention of the National Nut Growers’ 
Association will be held at Scranton. Miss.. October 31 to 
November 2, 1906. Members and all interested in the in¬ 
dustry are cordially invited to attend. The prominent rail¬ 
roads offer a special rate of one and one-third fare for 
the round trip. Scranton will supplement the programme 
by entertainments and excursions, which will include trips 
to nut orchards, boating and a clambake on the Gulf coast. 
SCALY FRUIT.—The Oregonian, of Portland, Oregon, 
recently printed the following: “Richard Deich, County 
Fruit inspector, made the biggest haul of the season in the 
way of infected fruit last Monday. When he had completed 
his work, half a ton of Peach plums and 25 boxes of apples 
had been condemned and so thoroughly soaked with coal oil 
as to make their sale impossible. All this fruit was infected 
with San Josf: scale and came from orchards near the city. 
The plums were found by the Inspector on Front street and 
at the Italian market on the East Side. Part of the apples 
were condemned in the Italian market and the remainder in 
grocery stores. The fruit men and the Inspector were much 
surprised to find the plums so badly infected this year. It is 
no unusual thing for Peach plums to be attacked by scale, 
but the pest has never been so bad around Portland before, 
and a sharp lookout will be kept during the remainder of 
the season for diseased fruit. Inspector Deich finds that the 
commission men and Italian peddlers are anxious to co¬ 
operate with him in ridding this section of unsound produce. 
The grocery men also are favorable to the crusade, and of 
the 150 grocers whose places have been visited, only two 
have raised objections to having their unfit merchandise 
confiscated. The inspector had some trouble at the small Chi¬ 
nese market at East. Sixth and Hawthorne one morning last 
week, when he condemned a dozen boxes of apples, but the 
Chinese have since realized the benefits to come from a rigid 
inspection and are now making no complaint. The com¬ 
mission men and traders at the Italian market are now on 
the alert for diseased fruit, but a few of the grocers in the 
residence districts are not as careful as they should be as to 
what they buy from farmers. Consumers can also help the 
good cause along by refusing to purchase any apples or other 
fruit that is in the least marked with scale.” 
BUSINESS BITS. 
We call attention to the Breeders’ Consignment Sale of 
ITolsteins to be held at Syracuse, N. Y., October 24. There 
will be 80 head sold, all tine individuals with good record. 
For catalogue of this sale write S. D. W. Cleveland, Sales 
Manager, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Farmers living in the vicinity of beet sugar factories have 
found the beet pulp an economical dairy feed and a great 
milk producer. It is now possible for dairymen to get this 
beet pulp in a dried form. It is more convenient to handle 
in this way and lessens transportation charges. Our readers 
are invited to send for a free booklet issued by The Lar- 
rowe Milling Co., 611 Produce Exchange, New York, which 
tells how it is made and other information. 
The Banner root cutters, manufactured by O. E. 'Thomp¬ 
son & Sons. Ypsilanti, Mich., are perhaps the best type of 
machines of this kind. The Thompsons have long made a 
specialty of their manufacture and have got their cutters 
down to a point where they prepare the roots and vegeta¬ 
bles right. This is the testimony of users. All dirt is 
shaken out before roots reach the knives and then the vege¬ 
tables are cut or shaved into thin slices so that no animal 
can possibly choke and yet the solid character of the vege¬ 
tables is preserved. A neat catalogue published by the 
Thompsons gives all particulars. 
The United Factories Company, of Cleveland. Ohio, is 
au organization of factories selling their goods direct to the 
consumer, the idea being to effect a saving in. selling cost 
by handling all of the business through one central selling 
organization with headquarters in Cleveland. This plan will 
enable the factories to handle tho business through this 
office, instead of each having an office of its own. with all 
of the attending expense of managers, stenographers, etc. 
The United Factories Company announces two new cata¬ 
logues, an iron and steel roofing and siding catalogue, and 
a buggy top and repair catalogue. Both are full of inter¬ 
esting, “straight from the factory” prices. 
A somewhat remarkable offer is made to our readers by 
the Abenaque Machine Works, of Westchester Station, Vt. 
They want to send any person who is thinking of buying 
a gasoline engine this Winter one of their famous Abe¬ 
naque gasoline engines, on thirty days’ free trial with no 
money in advance. Moreover, they agree to send a man 
along' to get the engine started for you and show you how 
to run it. although the Abenaque is so simple that this is 
really not necessary. The best way to find out the good 
pojnts of the Abenaque is to take advantage of the manu¬ 
facturer’s liberal offer and use it for thirty days, then decide 
for yourself. Send for their catalogue and descriptive 
matter. 
