1009. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
077 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—A terrific storm in Texas, June 30, did 
much damage. The storm extended a considerable distance 
up the Gulf coast. Fadre Island, adjacent to Point Isa¬ 
bel. was under water. Small craft were blown out to sea 
and many of them sunk. The small roundhouse of the Rio 
Grande branch of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico 
Railway at Point Isabel was blown over. . . . The 
statute extending the provisions of the "four mile” law 
to the entire State of Tennessee became effective July 1. 
Under the provisions of this law it will be unlawful to 
sell or tipple liquors, wines, ales or beer as a beverage in 
Tennessee. The manufacturers’ bill to prohibit the manu¬ 
facture of liquors does not become operative until Jan¬ 
uary 1, six months more time hawing been given the 
brewers and distillers than was given the retailers by the 
legislators. The retailers of Nashville say they will not 
attempt to evade the law and that sales of intoxicants will 
not be made by them. Counsel have been retained in 
Nashville and in other cities to test the prohibition meas¬ 
ures as far as persons outside the State are concerned. The 
wholesale dealers of Nashville have been advised that they 
have the right to sell their goods to consumers outside the 
State and that they would have the right to sell one to 
another. The wholesale dealers of Nashville are to es¬ 
tablish branch houses in Kentucky from which liquors can 
be purchased by people in Tennessee. In Chattanooga and 
Memphis it is understood that suits will be brought by re¬ 
tail dealers as well as by manufacturers and wholesalers. 
Attorney-General McCarn takes the position that liquors 
cannot be sold in Tennessee either at wholesale or retail. 
He says his office will prosecute all violations. . 
Indictments charging conspiracy in restraint of trade in vio¬ 
lation of the Sherman Anti-Trust law were found July 1 at 
New York by the Federal grand jury against the Sugar 
Trust, its president, five directors, and two other individu¬ 
als. The indictments are a direct result of the grand jury 
investigation which followed the compromise of the suit by 
the Pennsylvana Sugar Refining Company against the 
American Refining Company. The defendants are: Ameri¬ 
can Sugar Refining Company, Washington B. Thomas, pres¬ 
ident; Arthur Donner, director. New York; Charles H. 
Senff, director. New York.; John Mayer, director, Morris¬ 
town, N. J.; George H. Frazier, director, Philadelphia; 
John E. Parsons, director and chief counsel. New York; 
Thomas B. Ilarned, counsel for Adolph Segal; Gustave E. 
Kissel, who negotiated the loan which resulted in the 
closing of the Philadelphia refinery. After reciting the 
place and scope of the business of the American Sugar 
Refining Company in New Jersey and other parts of the 
country, the indictment states that the corporation con¬ 
trols 90 per cent, of the sugar trade in the United States. 
For the six years prior to the finding of the indictment. it 
is stated that the Pennsylvania Sugar Refining Company 
was organized under the laws of Pennsylvania, and then 
the indictment reviews the history of that corporation 
since December 30, 1903. In the review it is stated that 
(lie grounds and refinery belonging to the Pennsylvania 
Company, which the American Sugar Refining Company is 
charged with having kept closed by means of majority 
stock control and a pliable board of directors, cost upward 
of $2,000,000. The Pennsylvania Company, it is stated, 
was about to carry on business in raw and refined sugar. 
The indictment then charges that the American Sugar Re¬ 
fining Company and the individuals jointly indicted with 
if. have engaged in an unlawful and corrupt conspiracy 
affiong themselves in restraint of trade and commerce. It 
is charged that the defendants accomplished the control 
"f file Pennsylvania company by inducing Adolph Sbgal 
to borrow from Gustav E. Kissel, acting as a broker, and 
agent for a lender unknown at the time, $1,250,000 for 
use in his business as a promoter of hotel and manufac¬ 
turing enterprises, and to transfer to Kissel with a ma¬ 
jority stock a voting power as the holder of 26,000 shares 
of stock of the Pennsylvania Company. At the hearing 
held July 0 the defendants pleaded not guilty. 
In a decision of the Alabama Supreme Court, July 1, the 
‘‘locker system” of storing liquors was upheld. It is a 
blow to prohibition in Alabama. The court holds that 
liquor, when kept in lockers by individuals, and not for 
sale, is personal property, and therefore, any municipal 
ordinance prohibiting such possession is an abridgement of 
the privileges and immunities of the citizen wtliout any 
legal justification, and therefore void. . . . Jacob 
Goodman, found guilty of violating oleomargarine laws, 
was sentenced July 1 at Chicago to one yrtir in the House 
of Correcton and a fine of $500. Ills brother, Max Good¬ 
man, got a sentence of two years in the penitentiary. 
. . . Fire swept 6000 acres of grain on several 
ranches July 1, near San Bernardino, Cal. The loss is esti¬ 
mated at $125,000. The fire started in the afternaoti, and 
by nightfall great fields of barley and wheat had been 
laid waste. . . . Fire, which broke out early July 2 
in the restaurant of a Chinaman, on Haileybury Road. Co¬ 
balt, Ont., caused a loss estimated at $500,000. Three 
thousand people have been rendered homeless, and the 
entire business section north of the square has been de¬ 
stroyed. One man was killed 'while engaged in blowing 
up houses to stop the spread of the flames. Another man 
is also reported dead. Two children are missing. Six 
persons were injured.. . . . The IJotel Ruisseaumont, 
one of the largest hotels at Lake Placid, N. Y'., was burned 
down July 2. Some of the 50 guests had narrow escapes 
from death and wore rescued with great difficulty. One 
of the hotel employees was so badly burned that he will 
probably die. The fire caused a loss of nearly $200,000. 
• • . A slight earthquake shock was felt at San 
Bernardino, Cal., July 1. No damage was done. For over 
a week earthquake shocks were felt at Downieville, Cal., 
every night, and the residents of that part of Sierra 
county fear an eruption of Mount Fillmore, which seems 
fhe centre of the disturbed area. Miners, fearing cave-ins, 
are refusing to work under ground. . . . The old Me- 
Creery Building, at Eleventh street and Broadway. New 
York, occupied by the Fleischmann bakery and restaurant 
and by the John Ruszits Fur Company, one of the oldest 
fur houses in America, was entirely gutted by fire July 3, 
with a loss that will total near the million mark. The 
building stood on the northwest corner and years ago was 
tlu> first MeCreery dry goods store. The John Ruszits Fur 
Company was founded many years ago and did practically 
all of John Jacob Astor’s business. Several framed letters 
from tile millionaire were burned. It was thought July 
4 that all of these furs had been destroyed by water 
or fire. The second and third floors were occupied by 
Gus Lurie & Co., manufacturers of children's cloaks and 
suits. Their loss was more than $100,000. . . . ■ Dur¬ 
ing a balloon ascension at Big Stone Gap. Tenn., July 3, 
E. S. Cox., a farmer was caught in the ropes and dashed 
to death. . . . Charged with using the mails to pro¬ 
mote alleged fake land companies. William N. Smith was 
arrested at Chicago July 3. Snr ith is head of the San 
Louis Land and Cattle Company, and the -El Maiz Sugar 
Plantation Company, through which, it is alleged, he and 
others interested have netted $150,000. The ar¬ 
rest of Smith followed an investigation by Post Office In¬ 
spector Stuart extending over several months. The plan¬ 
tation prompter’s methods were brought to the attention 
of the Government by Prof. Ayers, head of fhe depart¬ 
ment of law in Nebraska University, who complained that 
he was the loser of $16,000 as the result of investments in 
Smith's companies. Literature of the Sugar Plantation 
Conpany gives Smith as secretary, J. II. Gregory as presi¬ 
dent and N. G. Newport as treasurer. The San Louis 
Land and Cattle Company was organized early in 1906 
and the El Maiz Company was organized to take over some 
of the land holdings of the former. According to the 
post office inspectors the land and cattle company acquired 
50,000 acres of undeveloped and uncultivated land in 
Mexico, near the city of El Maiz, State of San Luis Po- 
tosi. Dividend participating certificates, or shares, each 
representing one acre, are said to have been sold for $200 
each. Government investigators who were sent to Mexico 
to look over the property reported the land of little value 
and exceedingly expensive at the price paid by purchasers 
for shares. ... Up to midnight. July 5, 125 fires 
were reported in Manhattan. Two persons probably will 
die as the result of being scorched trying to escape from 
burning buildings. Ambulance doctors looked over 32 per¬ 
sons suffering from burns and gunshot wounds. Several 
of the injured are likely to die. . . . Nine men were 
killed July 6 by an explosion of gas in the nine of the 
Cedar Hill Coral and Coke Company at Tollerville, Col. All 
the dead were foreigners except one. 
FARM AND GA.RDEN.—The fourteenth annual meeting 
of the American Association of Farmers’ Institute Workers 
will be held at Portland, Ore., August 16-17. The officers 
of the association are: President. ,T. L. Ellsworth, Bos¬ 
ton, Mass.; vice-president, G. A. Putnam, Toronto. Ont. ; 
secretary-treasurer, John Hamilton, Washington, D. C. 
That the black rot will cost Georgia cotton planters over 
a quarter of a million dollars this season is the opinion 
of the State entomologist, who has received reports from 
a majority of counties in the State. • A bill appropriating 
$10,000 to experiment with resistant varieties of cotton 
has been introduced in the Legislature. 
JUDGING THOSE GRADE DAIRY COWS. 
If you were judging the grade dairy cows at the New 
Y’ork Slate Fair, and had four each with Holstein, Jer¬ 
sey or Ayrshire hlood. how would you settle upon the 
winner? 
In judging grade cows the first thing necessary in all 
animals should be at least one-quarter blood, and I should 
think each separate breed of grades should be judged 
in their own class, for example, take Holstein; all grade 
cows should appear in one class, then select the best 
one; all other breeds of grades judged the same way. 
Judging that way will call out a larger display of cattle, 
and will give the most satisfaction to all exhibitors at 
least. All dairy cows should have the same conformation 
in a way, as all separate breeds differ in size and color, 
but good points should, or must appear, the more the 
better; the same points in all good dairy cows. Show¬ 
ing each breed of dairy cows in a class by themselves 
should show most clearly to each exhibitor or breeder 
of the dairy cow the need of breeding the best or from 
the best and gradually increasing and bettering his herd. 
I don’t know that 1 have the right idea, but that is 
the way I should do in this case. w. s. GOI'THEMOXT 
Lewis Co., N. Y. 
Score By Performance. 
Grade cows are not supposed to have any value as 
breeders. »So if I want to judge a lot of grade cows 
of any and all breeds, some seven-eighths pure and some 
only one-eighth. I would entirely ignore blood lines. I 
would adopt the motto "Handsome is that handsome 
does,” and judge solely and only from the standpoint of 
production vs. consumption. I would not consider the 
cow's value according to the largest product from least 
food, but from the largest comparative yield from great¬ 
est consumption of food. For instance, the cow' that 
would consume two dollars in food and give three in 
product would be far more valuable than the cow that 
would eat one dollar and give a dollar and fifty cents 
product. While both are yielding 50 per cent profit one 
doubles the profit of the other, while the labor involved 
would be very little more. Even a cow that would pay 
a dollar and seventy-five cents for everv dollar eaten 
would not be as valuable as the cow that would eat 
two dollars’ worth and gives three in return For while 
the one pays seventy-five per cent and the other only 
fifty per cent profit, one would net one dollar and the 
other only seventy-five cents, and the dairyman’s aim 
should l)e to get the most food eaten with the largest 
net return. There is another important factor that should 
not be ignored : The cow eating most food makes the 
most manure, and with our hungry fields the manure 
question surely is an important one. So, if T were to 
judge these cows. I would pay no attention whatever 
to blood, beauty, size or condition, but carefully have a 
test of food consumed, product, and comparing these with 
the period of lactation give the preference to the cows 
that would put thd largest profit in the pail for the most 
food consumed. This ought not to be difficult. 
,t. s. woodward. 
A Scale of Points. 
I should go at it on the same lines as if I was after 
a cow for myself, using the points I have discovered 
in and among my own dairy. Take 20 cows and look 
them over, and a person will generally find that each 
cow has something in her favor over another cow; then 
when we find a cow with two or more points, she is 
surely in the lead of one with onlv one point. If T 
had 12 cows, as you suggest, four each of three breeds, 
and say four premiums to be given. T should set the 
standard at 100 points and have 10 divisions. There 
would be, shape of body, which I would want wedge 
shape, looking from front and rear; if the backbone was 
up (above a straight line) for a short distance, so 
much the better. 15; wide between the fore legs and promi¬ 
nent brisket would denote (to me) good lungCapacity, 10; 
good width between the hind legs for udder capacity. 
10; well-shaped udder with well-placed teats of good 
length. 15; mammary glands prominent, and the more 
tortuous the better, extensions sometimes coming well 
out from under the belly. Double extensions are not 
common, 16; wide open nostrils, 6; good width between 
the eyes, 5; dishing face, 5; neck, slim or devoid of 
superfluous fat. 6. and give me a cow with a good large 
paunch for storing away food in, 12. If it got to a 
very close thing 1 don't think it would lx 1 out of place 
to ask the owner how much milk his cow had given in 
any one month on grass, and for 10 months, coming 
fresh two months later. I will send you a very pool- 
picture of a cow that had, I think, more good ' points 
on this scale than any cow I ever saw. She was nearly 
dry when the picture was taken. I gave $100 for her, 
and in nine months from the time I bought her she 
paid for herself and the grain she ate. Milk was sold 
at the shipping station. Last October she gave 1,640 
pounds of milk at a grain cost of only $1.50; at five 
cents per quart her milk would have brought $39.50. 
E. E. STEBBINS. 
R. N.-Y r .—We are sorry that the picture would not 
make a good engraving, as it would show the kind of a 
cow Mr. Stebbins has in mind. 
Butter Fat the Test. 
I believe that any system of comparing ITolsteins with 
Jerseys will result more or less unsatisfactorily to the ex¬ 
hibitors. The only way, in my opinion, to conduct a fail- 
contest of this kind so that the-advocates of any particu¬ 
lar breed would not feel offended would be to offer, for in¬ 
stance, the first year. $190- for the host grade Holstein, 
$100 for the best grade Jersey, $100 for the best grade 
Guernsey and $100 for the best grade Ayrshire. Try it 
with these four breeds the first year, and then, if the 
interest in the exhibit is sufficient to warrant it. as many 
of the other breeds could be included hereafter as is 
thought desirable. The prizes should go to the greatest 
producers of butter fat as determined by official tests, if 
possible, or by the judgment of the person making the 
awards. The economical 'production of milk or butter fat 
could hardly be taken into account in a contest of this 
kind. c. s. greene. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
All crops are doing finely but apples. Hay crop will 
be short, as farmers have plowed up meadows; a very 
large acreage of corn planted. Hogs scarce. A. s. a. 
Pittsfield, Ill. 
Crop prospects are generally good in this section. Corn, 
extra; cotton, fair growth; boll-weevil doing considerable 
damage. Tobacco harvest well under way; not as heavy 
.as last year: quality good, so far as can be judged at this 
date. Strawberries fine ; sold first on March 30, and right 
along since until to-day (July 3), which will probably be 
the last : mainly Lady Thompson, which seems to be at 
home here. Temperature gets up around 90 every day. 
Peaches almost a dead failure: fig trees loaded. 
San Augustine, Tex. m. n. p. 
This season has been, so far, taking it all around, bet¬ 
ter than the two preceding it. More frequent rains, and 
in greater voluire, together with many days of bright, 
warm sunshine, have practically assured us a good crop 
of hay, oats and barley. Corn has been a trifle backward, 
but is a good stand and fairly clean. With another month 
of weather such as June lias boon, barring early frosts, 
we shall have plenty of corn. Potatoes, both early and 
late, look well for us. and a few of the early ones are 
coming into market, but the bugs are very, very numer¬ 
ous. Cherries are coming to market and retailing at 
$3 per bushel. Strawberries, home-grown, are quite plen¬ 
tiful. and selling for 10. 12 and 15 cents per quart. 
Elgin, Ill. w. c. d. 
This county was at one time one of the greatest cheese 
manufacturing counties in the State, something like 16 
cheese factories being operated at one time. With the 
advent of the milk condensery and the- increased demand 
for whole milk and cream in Toledo, nearly all of them 
have closed. The condensery here at Wausoon is receiv¬ 
ing 05.000 pounds of milk per day. The month of May it 
paid the farmers $27,000. The July price for milk will be 
$1.15 per TOO, the cheese factories paying $1.10 and the 
creameries $1 per 100 for the month of May. Harvesting 
hay began the last week in June with prospects of a fail- 
crop. Wheat, although a small acreage, will be better 
than anticipated early in the season, the heads large and 
well filled. Corn and oats are looking very good: fruit 
prospects, other than cherries, very poor; cherries selling 
from 8 to 10 cents per quart in local markets. 
Fulton Co., Ohio. e. a. 
ADULTERATED MILK.—A law passed at the last 
session of the New Y’ork legislature defines "adulterated 
milk” as follows: 
1. Milk, containing more than 88 per centum of water 
or fluids. 
2. Milk containing less than 12 per centum of milk 
solids. 
3. Milk containing less than three per centum of fats. 
4. Milk drawn from cows within 15 days before and 
five days after parturition. 
5. Milk drawn from animals fed on distillery waste or 
any substance in a state of fermentation or putrefaction 
or on any unhealthy food. 
6. Milk drawn from cows kept in a crowded or un¬ 
healthy condition. 
7. Milk from which any part of the cream- lias been 
removed. 
8. Milk which has been diluted with water or any 
other fluid, or to which has been added or. into which 
has been introduced any foreign substance whatever. 
All adulterated milk shall be deemed unclean, unhealthy, 
impure and unwholesome. The terms, “pure mik" or 
“unadulterated milk.” when used singly or together mean 
sweet milk not adulterated, and the terms “pure cream” 
or “unadulterated cream,” when used singly or together 
mean cream taken from pure and unadulterated milk. 
The term "adulterated cream” when used shall mean 
cream containing loss than 18 per centum,’ of milk fat 
or cream to which any substance whatsoever has been 
added. 
NEW YORK INSTITUTES—The following news comes 
from the New York Agricultural Department : 
At a conference in the office of the Commissioner of 
Agriculture June 30. attended by Commissioner Pearson 
and Farmers’ Institute Conductors Edward Van Alstyne, 
D. P. Witter, F. W. Gott, Jared Y’an Wagenen. Jr., T. B. 
Wilson and C. II. Tuck, plans were formulated for far¬ 
mers’ institutes next Winter. It w-as decided to hold 
county conferences during the late Summer and Fall, 
as was done last year. The value of these conferences 
exceeded expectations. They are attended by. the chief 
officers of the different agricultural organizations of 
the counties, and by a representative of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture. This year, so far as possible, the 
person who is to conduct the institutes in the county 
will act as the Department representative. It was de¬ 
cided to begin the field work about the first of December, 
as formerly. It was agreed also that owing to the suc¬ 
cess of the institute schools held at Sponcorport. Alfred 
and Delhi last year it will be well to hold more of 
these schools next year. The location and duration of 
the school to depend largely upon recommendation made 
by the conferences. H is proposed to secure a few addi¬ 
tional speakers who have a thorough and scientific knowl¬ 
edge of their subjects as well as good practical training 
and the reputation of having themselves done the things 
that they advocate. It is not proposed to decide upon 
locations of institutes in advance of or independently 
of the conferences which will be held in the different 
counties. Persons who wish to make such requests should 
take the matter up with the chief officer of some Grange 
or other agricultural organization within the county and 
request that he have the claims presented at the con¬ 
ference. 
