1007. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
561 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Chester B. Runyan, the paying teller of a 
branch of the Windsor Trust Company of New York, disap¬ 
peared June 29 with .$96,317.75 of the firm’s cash. He had 
been on the losing side In recent speculations, but was re¬ 
garded as a quiet man of excellent character. July 5 he was 
betrayed to the police by a woman in New York, in whose 
flat he was hiding. lie had in his possession $54,410 when 
arrested. . . . The electric process smelter at Herault, 
on Pitt River, 18 miles from Redding, Calt, started up July 
4 with. 2,000 horse-power current. The smelter cost $70,000, 
and is the first of its kind to be established on a commercial 
basis. The success of the smelter, which is still somewhat 
experimental, will mean the dawn of an iron age in Cali¬ 
fornia. There are mountains of iron ore on Pitt River which 
could never be smelted in the old way because of the cost of 
coke. . . . An investigation has been ordered by Post¬ 
master General Meyer with a view to determining whether 
a post office discontinued at the town of Brandon, N. Y., 
shall be re-established there. The inquiry involves some 
unique facts. According to the papers on file in the Post 
Office Department, it appears that several years ago Wil¬ 
liam Rockefeller, who owns a large estate comprising more 
than 50,000 acres in the vicinity of Tarrytown, conceived 
the idea of acquiring the site of the town of Brandon to fill 
out his estate. Brandon was a flourishing place, with a 
post office and two or three small stores and a small number 
of inhabitants. Mr. Rockefeller purchased all the property 
from its owners except one small tract "that was owned by a 
Civil War veteran named Lamora. Lamora refused to sell 
and persisted in fishing in a stream which ran through Mr. 
Rockefeller's £state and in using the roads which had been 
open to the public, it is said, for a generation. The Post 
office at Brandon was abolished and another was opened at 
Bay Pond, three miles away, within the confines of Mr. 
Rockefeller's estate. There the people who formerly received 
their mail at Brandon were expected to get it. Lamora was 
arrested for trespass on Mr. Rockefeller’s estate, and he and 
his friends fought the case in the courts, but eventually 
was defeated. A court order was made preventing Lamora, 
in person or by agent, from going on to the estate of Mr. 
Rockefeller, and it is stated that therefore he was unable to 
obtain mail for him directed to the Bay Pond office. The mat¬ 
ter was brought to the attention of Postmaster General 
Meyer through letters received from various parts of the 
country, and he has determined not only to ascertain the 
facts regarding it, but if possible to re-establish the post 
office at Brandon or at some nearby point outside of the 
estate of Mr. Rockefeller which will be convenient for the 
residents of that vicinity. ... As a result of the suits 
filed by the Government against the Union Pacific Coal Com¬ 
pany at Rock Springs, Wyo., forcing that company to aban¬ 
don coal property alleged to have been illegally secured from 
the Government, three of the big coal mines situated on the 
disputed property have been closed down. The mines belong 
to the Superior Coal Company, which is owned by the Union 
Pacific. The effect will be a further shortage of coal in the 
West. . . . Texas cattlemen are filing complaints against 
the railroads for damages aggregating a million dollars. 
Cattle are dying by thousands in west and northwest Texas 
for the want of water. But the stock raisers base their 
claims against the railroads on the ground that they have 
failed to furnish cars in which to transport cattle to market 
and to other feeding grounds. Orders for cars were placed 
early in March and continuously ever since, but at no time 
did the roads supply more than 50 per cent of the demand 
for cars. . . . The call for the fifteenth national irri¬ 
gation congress, to meet at Sacramento, Cal., September 2 
was issued July 2. The call recites the purposes of the 
congress, invites the appointment of delegates by organized 
bodies of all kinds, and announces special railway rates over¬ 
all railway lines to California. An interstate irrigation and 
forestry exposition, the California State fair and special 
harvest excursions over California are among the enter¬ 
tainment features promised those who attend. The pur¬ 
poses of the congress are declared to be to “save the for¬ 
ests, store the floods, reclaim the deserts, make homes on 
the land,” and all who are Interested in these objects or in 
any of them are invited to participate in the deliberations 
and thereby contribute to a wise direction of national poli¬ 
cies and development of practical methods of conserving and 
developing the great natural resources of the country. The 
interstate exposition of irrigated land products and forest 
products will lie held simultaneously with the irrigation con¬ 
gress. The largest and finest list of trophies and prizes ever 
offered will stimulate competition. . . . Returns July 
5 recorded 30 dead, 1,471 hurt, throughout the country, in 
celebrating Independence Day. Of these casualties, 828 
were from fireworks, 90 from cannon, 127 from firearms, 
152 from gunpowder, 120 from toy pistols, and 19 from 
horses running away. The total fire loss was estimated 
at $245,375. This estimate was made too early to include 
victims of tetanus. ... A loss of $100,000 was caused 
and 1,000 men were thrown out of work by a fire which was 
discovered by a watchman in the plant of the American 
Steel Foundry Company at Indiana Harbor, Ill., July 4. 
. . . John D. Rockefeller, president of the Standard Oil 
Company of New Jersey, struggled through a riotous crowd 
In the corridors of the Federal Building at Chicago July 6, 
and took the witness stand before Judge Iv. M. Landis in the 
United States District Court. Mr. Rockefeller’s testimony 
amounted to little. He knew none of the essential points 
that Judge Landis sought. He had a vague idea that the 
outstanding capital of the Standard Oil Company of New Jer¬ 
sey ws about $100,000,000. He did not know positively. He 
also remembered that at one time the company had been 
engaged In the business of refining oil. He was quite sure 
that it had then owned a refinery in New Jersey. He said 
the dividends of the company were approximately 40 per 
cent annuafly. The court is making an Inquiry to determine 
the amount of the fine to be imposed upon the Standard Oil 
Company of Indiana, which has been found guilty on numer¬ 
ous counts of accepting rebates from the Chicago and Alton 
Railroad. The important thing is to learn whether the 
Standard Oil Company of Indiana is owned by the Standard 
Oil Company of New Jersey and if the Indiana concern was 
organized under the “trust agreement.” . ... Twenty- 
one persons are now known to have lost their lives in the 
tornado which swept a path 100 miles long and from a mile 
to a few rods wide through the counties of central Wis¬ 
consin July 3. In addition to those killed a score or more 
persons were injured, some of them so seriously that their 
recovery is doubtful. The property damage has not been 
accurately established, but will undoubtedly be more than 
$100,000. . . . State Attorney-General Thompson served 
injunctions at Lincoln, Neb., July 6, upon the Southern 
Pacific, Adams, American, United States and Wells-Fargo 
express companies restraining them from charging higher 
rates than 75 per cent of those in force on January 1, 1907, 
as provided by the new law which went into effect recently. 
The petitions charge that the companies in violation of the 
law are demanding excessive charges and are depriving the 
people of the State of their rights to lawful and reasonable 
rates and that unless compelled hy mandatory injunction to 
reduce rates irreparable damage will be done. The suit was 
filed in anticipation of the express companies getting an 
injunction in the Federal court against the State authorities 
from putting the new law into effect. . . . Mayor Eu¬ 
gene E. Schmitz, of San Francisco, convicted of extortion, 
was sentenced July 8 to five years in the San Quentin peni¬ 
tentiary. When sentence was pronounced there was an out¬ 
burst of applause from the hundreds who crowded Judge 
Dunne’s court room. Sentence followed the recent convic¬ 
tion of Schmitz for extorting $1,175 from French restaurant 
keepers. . . . The Interstate Commerce Commission has 
decided that the Jim Crow car law is not discriminatory 
where equal facilities are furnished to both races. In 
passing upon the constitutionality of the laws enacted by 
Southern States requiring railroads to furnish separate 
coaches for the races the commission holds that “the broad 
question of the right under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth 
Amendments of the Constitution to segregate white and col¬ 
ored passengers has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the 
United States.” The decision in the Jim Crow car case was 
written by Commissioner Franklin K. Lane of California, and 
there was not a dissenting opinion among the entire mem¬ 
bership of the commission. This fact in itself is significant, 
for when the railway rate bill was before Congress one of the 
most persistent arguments offered in opposition to the meas¬ 
ure hy its opponents in the South related to the possibility 
of the people of that section being deprived of the right to 
compel negroes to ride in separate coaches. . . . One of 
the severest hailstorms in central New York in thirty years 
fell upon part of the hop country between Cooperstown and 
Waterville July 8, and caused enormous damage to the crop. 
. . . Fire started July 9 in the factory of the Glen 
Wagon Company, Seneca Falls, N. Y„ extending to the store¬ 
houses of the Goulds Mfg. Co., and other buildings, causing 
in all a loss of $80,000. . . . The United States Dis¬ 
trict Attorney and Commissioner of Immigration at Philadel¬ 
phia are investigating a plan by which hundreds of Immi¬ 
grants were to be held in peonage in southern lumber camps 
and phosphate mines. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The fourteenth educational butter 
scoring contest of Purdue University will be held July 23 at 
the Indianapolis Cold Storage Company, Indianapolis, Ind. 
The announcement says “For creamery butter a twenty- 
pound tub is most desirable. Larger packages will be ac¬ 
cepted. Dairy butter should be sent in five-pound lots, 
preferably prints. In order to have the butter arrive in good 
condition it will he advisable to pack the twenty-pound tub 
in a sixty-pound tub and fill in. with paper between tubs. 
Send the butter early enough so it will arrive at Indianapolis 
not later than Friday, July 19. Ship all butter express 
prepaid. The butter will be scored by H. J. Credicott, 
United States butter expert, of Chicago. Unless otherwise 
directed, all butter will be sold to the highest bidder. Every 
package will be sampled and analyzed for per cent of mois¬ 
ture. A report of the contest, score card, moisture test, 
letter of criticisms and check covering returns for butter will 
be mailed to each contestant as early after the contest as 
possible. Entry blanks and shipping tags have been mailed 
to all addresses on our mailing list. Dairymen and butter 
makers who failed to receive same please write at once to 
O. F. Ilunziker, Lafayette, Ind.” 
The next session of the American Berkshire Congress will 
be held at Nashville, Tenn., February 27-28, 1908. The sec¬ 
retary of the association is Charles F. Mills, Springfield, Ill. 
THE MARKET FOR APPLE BARRELS. 
There are not enough apples barreled about here to make 
it necessary for our growers to make any special preparation 
for them. In my own case the bulk of my crop is marketed 
in 20-pound baskets covered with netting and shipped from 
the storage house to grocers every few days upon order. 
The crop will he very light here this year. 
Lucas Co., O. w. w. Farnsworth. 
Up to the present time not more than two per cent of 
the apple growers have made contracts with the manu¬ 
facturers. They are slower than usual this year in this 
respect on account of the high price asked, both for stock 
and the finished barrel. The larger manufacturers have 
bought their stock, some early in the year at a low figure, 
but the majority of them are forced to pay prices now that 
will compel them to ask from 40 to 45 cents at present, 
with the prospect of the price going to 50 cents just as soon 
as the market for fruit opens. s. w. wadhams. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
I usually buy buy some barrels in the Winter and more 
in the Spring. Last Winter I bought for 28 cents delivered, 
and the last.ones cost 33 cents cash. Prices are from 36 
to 40 now, but if all apples are going like mine I think 
barrels will ]>e lower at picking than now. I have barrels 
for sale now. Prospects were good for an apple crop, but 
they grow less every day. Lice have hurt the crop, but 
there seems to be a new kind of worm (new to me) that 
eats the' lice.; will clean all the lice from a big leaf and then 
move on to a new leaf. c. allis. 
Orleans Co., N. Y. 
We, here, are not concerned about the price of apple 
barrels as we have more than enough “left-overs” to take 
care of our crop this year, which will be practically a 
failure on most varieties, where early in the season we 
thought there was a chance for a light to medium crop. We 
do not know how barrels are quoted now—of course, they 
will be high, as barrel stock is high, but as far as we can 
learn there will not be demand enough for apple barrels in 
this State to advance prices any. I certainly think it is 
policy for growers who have apples to foot up on prices 
early, and if they do not buy, at least to keep In touch with 
the market and know where they can stock up at any time. 
If barrels are reasonable in price and crop prospects heavy 
we believe it is policy to buy early, as the certainty of 
having a supply is quite an item. Some large growers buy 
their barrel stock and hire a cooper to make it up. This is 
generally quite a saving if the right kind of help can be had, 
and is also an advantage In the way of freight charged 
The prudent man will know “where he is at” in the way 
of packages, early in the season, if he has a large crop of 
apples. b. R. BRYANT. 
Princeton, Ill. 
Heretofore the crop in this vicinity has been handled 
largely through buyers who have supplied their own barrels. 
Very few growers have purchased stock ahead. We find, 
however, that there is a tendency this year for growers to 
make their barrel contracts ahead, so as to be independent 
in that respect of the buyer. It is probable, however, that 
this will not be done much before the first of August, at 
which tinje quite a little thrashing will have been done, thus 
making room in our big Pennsylvania barns for storing 
barrels. The present price here at our barrel factory is 37 
cents, which will hold as long as materials now contracted 
for last. The stave people refuse to guarantee present 
prices, sp that if barrel makers find it necessary to pur¬ 
chase stock late in the season, they may find it necessary 
to advance the price of barrels. We believe there is very 
little likelihood of a drop in the price of barrels, unless 
something should seriously affect the crop. e. g. t. 
Adams Co., Pa. _ 
BACK TO THE LAND FOR ME! 
If a farmer goes to New York City and keeps his eyes 
open he sees a food many things in a single day, and for 
that matter in a single hour. For example, quite well up¬ 
town near Forty-fifth Street there suddenly appeared a 
couple of men in front of a saloon, who had been drinking 
and who commenced settling a dispute with fists. Almost 
as quick as thought men, women and children were rushing 
up to see the outcome. One man was there with a babe 
in his arms and a small boy by his side. Everybody seemed 
to come except the policeman, and he was intently looking 
at some pictures in a window a half block away. I believe 
he didn’t want to see, thinking, prehaps, that all would be 
quiet in a minute. The fighting did quiet down, but I 
couldn’t see what was done, for there were so many people 
around the corner. The women began to go away, laughing 
as though they had been to a picnic. Before the crowd 
had dispersed the fire engine came rattling by, with the 
attendant wagon and the ladder trucks. This called off the 
crowd, and I actually saw well-dressed, good-looking young 
men, as well as a lot of boys, go rushing down the street 
towards the place where smoke was coming up in consid¬ 
erable amounts. This fire was the third call I had seen 
in my wanderings during the day, and appeared to have 
been caused by an attempt to burn garbage, the garbage 
men being on a strike. Within a few minutes I saw a 
man who was running to catch a car, run Into by an auto, 
but, fortunately, he was not seriously hurt. Being hungry, 
I stepped into a small restaurant on Lexington Avenue. 
The restaurant was quite neat and was one kept by a woman 
and her son. These people were really worried because a 
frind of theirs had received a “Black Hand” letter in which 
a threat was made to blow up the property of their friend 
unless money was paid over. A fellow-diner who is ac¬ 
quainted was discussing New York, and said it is queer 
how people in the city live. They don’t know the people 
in the same house with themselves. I thought it became 
me to speak, and I said that there is no one within a half 
mile of were I live, but I know practically every person 
within five miles of my home. All this within an hour’s 
time. I am going to the country. h. h. l. 
CROP NOTES. 
The outlook for the apple crop is from 30 to 40 per cent 
short this year, though the quality is perhaps 20 per cent 
better than it was last year. There were no cherries or 
plums, and perhaps about 25 per cent of a crop of peaches. 
The crop of small fruit is also short. j. w. t. 
Madison, Ind. 
It is early to give any estimate as to what the fruit crop 
will he this season ; the outlook is fairly good, but not so 
much so as earlier, when the blossoms were on the trees. 
The fruit has not set as well as the blossoms indicated. In 
some sections a louse has made its appearance upon the 
trees. j. b. 
Albion, N. Y. 
The outlook for apples, and in fact nearly all tree fruits 
in this locality is very poor. I cannot recall a season when 
the crop, as a whole, promised so little—all due to the severe 
frosts in May. A few apple orchards in this (Dallas), 
county, are bearing a good crop due to favored location or 
protection by belts of timber. Very little spraying has been 
done. m. j. g. 
Adel, Iowa. 
Fruit prospects are very uneven in this section. I have 
seen and heard of a number of apple orchards that are well 
filled, a good many with light crops, and a good many with 
poor to nothing. A few estimate the crop equal to last year. 
The majority of those who have expressed an opinion place 
their estimates at two-thirds of last year’s crop. Peaches 
are said to be very uneven. Pears are reported light. The 
aphis, or apple lice, have disappeared, leaving but little sign 
of having been here. On some of the sandy ground the 
Rose bugs are eating the apples pretty badly. Hay is fairly 
good, but little cut yet on account of late Spring weather. 
Foliage on all fruit trees is looking fine. s. w. s. 
Albion, N. Y. 
Apples promise only a fair crop. The trees were white 
with bloom, and wefe very slow in coming into blossom, in 
some varieties 20 da,vs after first blossom opened other blos¬ 
soms were just opening. This prolonged blossoming period, 
together with a severe attack of plant lice, weakened the 
trees, and has caused an excessive June drop of apples. 
However at present there are enough apples left in sight to 
make a fair crop of excellent quality. With exception of 
plant lice, insects have not been troublesome, the cold Spring 
being against their development. The season is 15 days 
later than usual. The crops taken as a whole promise ve’ry 
satisfactory. grant g. hitchings 
Onondaga Co.. N. Y. 
A summary of the reports on the condition of the fruit 
crop in Iowa for June is as follows: Apples, 50 percent; 
pears, 18 per cent; American plums, 31 per cent; Japanese 
plums, 7 per. cent; European plums, 11 per cent; cherries, 
10 per cent; peaches. 24 per cent; grapes, 75 per cent; red 
raspberries, 73 er cent; black raspberries, 71 per cent; black¬ 
berries, 77 per cent: currants, 51 per cent; gooseberries, 49 
per cent; strawberries, 70 per cent of a full crop. There 
was less injury to the early-blooming fruits from the frosts 
of May in the northern part of the State, and the reports 
on the condition of the crop are more favorable from that 
section than farther south. Plums, cherries, peaches and 
pears will be scarce this year. Grapes, raspberries, black¬ 
berries and strawberries are still in good condition, and 
pomise a fair crop. The prospect for a fruit crop this year 
is 24 per cent less than on June 1 last year, and 7 per cent 
less than in June. 1902,when there was a prospect for 51 
per cent of a full crop. The conditions may improve as the 
season advances. wesley greene 
Iowa Horticultural Society. 
