767 
1909. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—John D. Rockefeller was sued at Cleve¬ 
land. O., August 4, for $10,000 damages in a personal 
injury case by Cary Stewart, of Nottingham, O., a sales¬ 
man in the employ of the Realty Trust Company. Stew¬ 
art recites in his petition that on April t , the date of 
last Spring’s terrific windstorm, he was permanently dis¬ 
figured about the face by the shattering of a window in 
an office in the Rockefeller Building. The window crashed 
in without warning, glass striking him about the head 
and cutting great gashes in his face and neck. He de- 
«lares he has suffered $10,000 loss in actual medical at¬ 
tention, mortification, because of his injuries and their 
permanent nature, and because of the fact that he must 
endure this all his life asks the sum named in the papers. 
He alleges that John D. Rockefeller and his agents were 
negligent in that they failed in erecting the building, 
which is unusually exposed to the weather, to provide 
glass of sufficient strength to withstand any windstorm. 
_ . . with two policemen at every polling place the 
first direct primary under the new law was held at In¬ 
dianapolis, Ind., August 5, and passed off with¬ 
out serious disturbance. Just before the polls opened 
the Circuit Court issued an injunction against the de¬ 
struction of the ballots and this order to preserve them, 
so that frauds if committed might be investigated, stopped 
whatever frauds had been contemplated. While the voting 
was in progress both city chairman and many of the 
leading business men denounced the primary law and 
steps were taken to have it repealed at the next session 
of the Legislature. ... By the capsizing of a launch 
near Miller’s Dark, Baltimore, Md„ August 5, at least 
four persons lost their lives. Two bodies have been re¬ 
covered, two persons are missing and two members of 
the party were rescued. . . . Four men were drowned 
in the harbor of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, 
August 5. They were crossing to the other side to pre¬ 
pare for a picnic that was to be held in a day or two. 
Letters received by President James McCrea of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad demanding $45,000 under 
threats to dynamite property of the Norfolk and 'Western 
Railroad in Virginia and to put dynamite in cars of coal 
intended for fuel for steamships led to the arrest at 
Philadelphia, Pa., August 5, of Abram C. Eby, an attorney 
at law and mayor of Burkeville, la. Eby is a nathe of 
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He was held in $10,000 
bail. .... A complaint was filed August 6 in the 
1'nited States Court by Hays, Ilershfield & Wolf as coun¬ 
sel for certain minority stockholders of the New York 
Butchers Dressed Meat Company against that company, 
the president, Frederick Joseph; its secretary, Moses H. 
Joseph; Leo ‘Joseph, a director; the National Packing 
Company, Swift & Co., Morris & Co. and Armour & Co., 
alleging a conspiracy, in restraint of trade in violation 
of the Sherman anti-trust act. Triple damages in the 
amount of $1,500,000 are asked. The individual plain¬ 
tiffs are August T. Grimm, Jacob Schaefer, Peter 
Schmidt, Louis E. Beckman and Julius Diatz, suing in 
behalf of themselves and other minority stockholders. 
They recite in the complaint that the New York Butchers 
Dressed Meat Company was organized in 1902 as an 
outcome of a fight that the retail butchers of the city 
made against the beef trust, and that between that date 
and 1907 it was actually in operation as an independent 
concern. In 1907, the complaint alleges, the defendants 
other than the New York Butchers Dressed Beef Com¬ 
pany by trick and device bought up the control of that 
corporation and from that time have proceeded to ope¬ 
rate it in the interest of the trust. . • ■ The first 
case of bubonic plague in California in a year was dis¬ 
covered August 5, in Alameda County, by Federal and 
State officers. The victim is Joseph Mendosa, 19 years 
A seventy-five-thousand-dollar fire almost de¬ 
stroyed Belfast, Allegany County, N. Y., August 6. It 
started in W. J. Robins’s restaurant, and destroyed six 
stores before it was extinguished. . . • New York 
State Supt. of Insurance Hotchkiss denied the application 
of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for permis¬ 
sion to acquire real estate for the purpose of erecting a 
hospital for its employes, and selected policy holders 
who have tuberculosis. Supt. Hotchkiss filed a memoran¬ 
dum, giving his reasons for his action. Supt. Hotchkiss 
holds that Section 20 (2) of the insurance law pro¬ 
hibits the purchase, holding, or conveyance of real prop¬ 
erty by an insurance corporation transacting business in 
this State, save, among other purposes, “such as shall 
be requisite for its convenient accommodation in the trans¬ 
action of its business.” This clause with immaterial modi¬ 
fications, he says, has been in every insurance law since 
the first of the laws was enacted by the Legislature of 
1S49. . . . An automobile containing George Vandyke, 
of Lancaster, N. II., and his chauffeur, Frederick B. 
Hodgdon, of North Stratford, Vt., plunged over the 7.) 
loot bank of the Connecticut River at Riverside, Mass., 
August 8, and as a result of injuries the two men died 
at the Farron Hospital later. Mr. Vandyke was one of 
the best known men in the lumber trade in the I nitrd 
States. . . . One man was killed and three men 
were injured August 7 near Eatontown, N. J., when an 
automobile collided with a trolley pole. Levis Berg, of 
Spottswood, received a fractured skull and died two 
hours later. Frank Crawford, owner of the vvrecked ma¬ 
chine, and a commission merchant of Old Bridge, 
with offices at 16 Harrison street. New York, was 
injured. . . . Four chauffeurs and a young 
woman on a joy ride met with a disastrous ac¬ 
cident on the road between Worcester and Shrewsbury, 
Mass., August 8. One of the men, Stanley Taylor, of 
Boston, is dead as a result of the collision between the 
machine and a milk wagon. . . . Lightning struck 
the Liberty Bell Mine at Telluride, Col., August 8, and 
indirectly killed three miners who were overcome by the 
smoko that filled the lower levels of the mine after the 
lightning had set fire to the buildings at the mine’s 
mouth. Four other miners are in a serious condition. 
Several were overcome while attempting rescues. 
Curing cancer through correspondence is not being en¬ 
couraged by the Post Office Department. The “combina¬ 
tion oil cure,” with “treatment by soothing oils,” was 
the specialty of the Dr. Benjamin F. Nye Sanitarium, of 
Indianapolis, Ind., against which the Post Office Depart¬ 
ment has issued a fraud order. The use of the mails 
THE RURAL N E W - Y O R KER 
is denied to this’ sanitarium on the ground that Dr. Nye 
has no sanitarium, although he advertises to treat pa¬ 
tients personally in his sanitarium, a boarding house 
having been used to accommodate the few patients who 
called. The Department further discovered that Dr. 
Nye advertised himself as a “fellow of the American As¬ 
sociation of Physicians and Surgeons,” as a “member of 
tlie Incorporated Society of Science, Letters and Art 
of London, England.” and other associations not recog¬ 
nized by reputable physicians. According to the Depart¬ 
ment a chemical analysis of Dr. Nye’s combination of 
vegetable oils that “cures cancers and tumors to stay 
cured” for the modest sum of $25. which actually costs 
50 cents, shows that the combination consists of cotton¬ 
seed oil and some ordinary tonics. . . . The Tost 
Office Department has issued a fraud order against .T. B. 
McMahon at 76 West Thirty-fifth street. New York. Mc¬ 
Mahon advertised to teach “handicapping at a glance, 
how to' select the best horse in the race, the best races 
to play, the races not to play, and how to make your 
own best bets!” McMahon, according to the inspectors 
who investigated tlie case, charged $2 for the informa¬ 
tion, but never furnished it, supplying instead a small 
piece of pasteboard bearing a chart by which the cus¬ 
tomer was directed to obtain the probable time in which 
a horse which had previously run a certain distance 
Should nin other distances proportionately. McMahon's 
proposed system possessed other complications which led 
the inspectors to report that it was a scheme to defraud. 
August 7 a cloudburst at the head of a dry 
gulch just outside the west limits of Denver, Col., sent a 
wall of water covered with wrecked houses, bridges and 
fences rolling over a large and populous section of the 
city. No lives were lost, but the damage was the great¬ 
est ever done in Denver by water. . . . The Alabama 
Senate August 10 voted unanimously to approve the in¬ 
come tax amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States, recently submitted to the States by Congress. The 
Alabama House having approved the measure, also by 
unanimous vote. August 2. all that is' now needed to 
make Alabama’s approval of the income tax complete is 
Gov. Comer’s signature. . . Fire destroyed August 
10 the Okanagan Hotel, Vernon. B. C.. consuming also the 
premises of the Royal Bank of Canada, P. Burns & Co., 
Morris & Co., druggists', and F. A. Loveridge. There were 
severty-four guests in the hotel, -a three-story brick 
veneered shell, which burned rapidly, and of these eleven 
are known to have perished, the bodies being found. 
TARIFF BILL.—The Payne-Aldrich tariff bill was 
signed by President Taft in the President’s room of the 
Senate August 5. and the extraordinary session of the 
Sixty-first Congress stood adjourned without day. Three 
hours earlier the conference report on the bill bad been 
adopted l>y the Senate by a vote of 47 to 31. Seven Re¬ 
publicans, who have come to be known as “progressives,” 
voted against the bill and one Democrat, McEnery of 
Louisiana, was paired in favor of it. The seven Republi¬ 
can Senators were Beveridge of Indiana, Bristow of Kan¬ 
sas, Clapp and Nelson of Minnesota. Cummins and Dolli- 
ver of Iowa and La Follette of Wisconsin. There was 
no motion to recommit the measure. The action of Cus¬ 
toms Collector Daniels at Ogdensburg, N. Y.. in ruling 
that (ffie new tariff law does not make provision for the 
re-entry free of duty of American race horses sent to 
Canada to take part in events on Canadian tracks, pre¬ 
sents a ludicrous side to Treasury Department officials. 
There is nothing in the old law or the new which pre¬ 
vents the free admission of any article of American ori¬ 
gin, whether it is horseflesh or raiment, which had 
been shipped out of the country for exhibition abroad. 
Mr. Daniels’ quandary, like many others coming to the 
attention of the Treasury Department, was due to zeal 
in carrying out provisions of a law which is yet strange. 
The Treasury Department August 19 received the first 
reports of receipts under the new tariff law. While these 
receipts are about 40 per cent, in excess of the receipts 
under the Dingley law on the same day last year. It is 
explained that little significance as to the revenue-raising 
ability of the new law can be attached to a compari¬ 
son of the figures until further details are available. The 
reports received August 10 show tariff receipts of $930,- 
943, as against reports of $676,577 on the same day 
last year. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—J. ,T. Golden. Deputy Minister 
of Agriculture, states that the demand for farm laborers' 
during the forthcoming harvest in Canada will be higher 
than ever before. Thirteen thousand men will be re¬ 
quired for Manitoba as compared with 11,000 called for 
last year. If nothing occurs, the crop will exceed very 
much that of last year. The total acreage sown this year 
in Manitoba is 4,477,210 acres. 
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson has proclaimed a quar¬ 
antine of Fremont, Natrona. Converse.. Weston. Crook. 
Sheridan, Johnson and Big Horn counties, Wyo., on ac¬ 
count of an infection among sheep. The Secretary says 
that the quarantine is declared because a contagious com¬ 
municable disease known as “lip-and-leg”. exists among 
sheep in the counties named. The quarantine becomes ef¬ 
fective on August 12. Sheep can be moved from the in¬ 
fected area only after they have been examined by De¬ 
partment of Agriculture veterinarians and pronounced 
without infection. 
The National Irrigation Congress opened August 9 at 
Snokane, Wash. More than 2,000 delegates were pres¬ 
ent. 
The eighth annual convention of the National Nut 
Growers’ Association, will be held at Albany, Ga., October 
12-14; J. F. Wilson, secretary, Toulan, Ga. 
THE WONDERFUL WONDERBERRY. 
The “Wondcrberry” on my grounds has been . haying 
a wonderfully hard time, as it seems to be an especially 
favorite food plant of the flea-beetle. Every leaf has 
lx*en riddled, but I managed to save a few plants by 
spraying with a weak lime-sulphur solution and arsenate 
of lead. Evidently it is a species of black nightshade, 
and I will soon be able to say what value it has for 
us as a garden “fruit.” It is a pity that so worthless 
a thing as the Wondcrberry, or Sunberry, whatever you 
prefer to call it, should be the means of wrecking a 
good name and a world-wide reputation!—T. Greiner in 
Farm and Fireside. 
Upon a recent visit to White* Salmon, Washington, the 
noted fruit growing district on the north side of the 
Columbia, opposite Hood River. I saw in the window 
of the bank where I was transacting business what I 
took to be a “Wondcrberry.” Inquiring regarding it I 
was then shown side by side a “Wondcrberry” and a 
black nightshade. The “Wondcrberry” had been brought 
by a man who bought the seed from the introducer, 
while the black nightshade had been saved on account 
of its resemblance to the “Wonderberr.v.” The two 
plants were both fruiting, and the fruits and plants 
seemed almost identical; indeed the difference in appear¬ 
ance between plants of the same species is often greater 
than it was between the wild black nightshade and the 
much-vaunted “Wonderberry.” w. ir. GREGORY. 
Oregon. 
As to the wonderful Wonderberry and what Mr. John 
Lewis Childs says regarding the same, growing in my 
garden are some luxuriant specimens of so-called Wonder¬ 
berry, grown from seed purchased from Mr. John Lewis 
Childs. Seeds were started in a hotbed, and in due time 
removed to a well-fertilized bed: hence the luxuriant 
growth. They are now covered with clusters of blossoms 
and berries in all stagesi of their growth. The first setting 
being fully ripened. I have tried to eat those (ripe “de¬ 
licious. wholesome” (Burbank) berries. To some they may 
be “about as palatable as the tomato” (Childs) but the to¬ 
mato for mine; Mr. Childs can take the berries. Now in 
another part of my garden came up with other weeds, a 
vigorous specimen of what I have always known as Sola- 
nuin nigrum or black nightshade. Being close to a wire 
fence it escaped the hoe, and is of vigorous growth, and 
it, like the other, is covered with its clusters of blossoms, 
unripe and ripe fruit. Having survived the eating of the 
Wonderberry though somewhat nauseated). I thought 1 
would try the other, and found the taste identically the 
same—equally “delicious.” I again survived. These 
plants stems, leaves, blossoms, clusters of ripe and un¬ 
ripe berries, are the same in all respects, and if Mr. John 
Lewis Childs or Luther Burbank himself were here they 
could not differentiate between tlie two. As for Mr. Childs’ 
three-acre patch (if the same thing he has sent me), I 
would not give five cents for the whole lot unless I 
wanted to sell weed seed at 20 cents a packet. Now 
what are we to think of the whole business? Are the 
closing remarks of Dr. Bedell (North Carolina) any too 
severe? a. c. MOORE, M. d. 
Ohio. 
I have been reading a great deal recently in regard 
to l lie Wonderberry, and have been watching very 
closely what has been written in regard to this new fruit. 
I purchased myself last Spring a package of Wonderberry 
seed from John Lewis Childs, and took great pride in 
cultivating these berries in my garden, and 1 would like 
to give you the result of my experience. The fruits came 
to perfection, and are indeed wonderful. There are ripe 
berries, green berries, and blooms all on the same vine, 
and the vine continues to grow and bloom every day. The 
vine is a low running vine something like the goober pea 
vino, but the fruit is almost exactly like the nightshade; 
in fact I got three nightshade plants out of the box in 
which I grew these plants, and I planted them separately 
in order to test them, after reading what I have seen in 
regard to their being mixed with nightshade. These 
plants that I took 'out of the box are genuine nightshade 
plants, and are bearing berries almost identical with the 
Wonderberry, the nightshade being more polished and shiny 
looking, while the Wonderberry is a dull lead cololq and 
is somewhat larger. I can produce this nightshade berry 
fully ripe, and when they are put alongside Wonderberry 
it takes an expert to pick them out. I have cut some 
of them open with my knife, and inside is almost identical 
with the Wonderberry. I am very sure that the Wonder- 
berry is not poisonous, as I have been eating some of 
them myself, but I cannot persuade auy of my people 
to touch them ; therefore I look upon them as a useless 
plant, and will not cultivate them any more, as I do not 
consider that they are worth the space they occupy. The 
berry resembles somewhat in taste the huckleberry, yet is 
watery and insipid, and children do not care to eat them. 
Virginia. k. a. penick. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
Weather just right for corn, which is certainly fine, 
and promises a big yield, as also do potatoes. Gardens 
are fine, but fruit yield only average; plums very light. 
New seeding of clover and Alfalfa excellent. 
Washburn Co., Wis. b. w. lewis. 
It is hot here, and very wet. I had the finest, crop of 
potatoes, but one-half has rotted. Corn was immense, 
but heavy winds with heavy rainfall (near six inches in 
twenty-four hours) laid it almost flat. Much of it has 
recovered and is now shooting. Corn is very weedy. 
The winds and rains have cut the tomato crop short. 
No peaches. Other fruit crops below the average. Al¬ 
falfa and other hay crops fin*-. A number of dairymen 
about Topeka are putting in silos. J- h. q- 
Topeka, Kan. 
We are on the southern bounds of the western New 
York fruit belt, growing commercial fruits, apples and 
pears of which we are quite large producers. Crop of 
1909, apples 60 per cent of last year; pears 10 per cent; 
Baldwins very scarce, also Bartlett pears. Crop not 40 
per cent of normal. Apples in higher limbs, fair quality; 
lower small, in clusters, only fit for chops and cider; a 
year for careful inspection by both dealers and consum¬ 
ers. Conditions above extend to whole fruit bolt. 
Genesee Co.. N. Y. w - n. B. 
In general crops in this part of the semi-arid desert are 
in tine condition; pasture and meadows' good to best. 
Wheat was a thin stand generally on account of excessive 
Fall rain, and a good deal of it was plowed up and other 
crops put in, but where left stand it came out with the 
more favorable weather, and the yield is much better 
thau expected from the outlook in Spring. Oats and 
speltz are good; flax best of condition. Fruits are all 
a light crop. Grapes' 75 per cent of crop. Apples in 
some orchards nearly a full crop, but most of them have 
from none to about one-half crop. Gardens where well 
“tended” never were better. The corn is in a very flat¬ 
tering condition just now for a bumper crop. J. B. f. 
Kincaid, Kan. 
After a week of continuously wet. cloudy weather, it 
cleared off August 1, permitting thrashing and belated 
having to be resumed. Wheat in shock is badly sprouted 
and otherwise damaged, and with another bad week 
would have been nearly a tota* loss. Timothy meadows 
were badly damaged, and weeds are growing up through 
the fallen straws, so that many fields have been aban¬ 
doned. There will be some Mammoth clover seed here, 
but none of the Medium clover ; about the usual amounts' 
or Orchard grass and Timothy seed. Corn is doing well 
but is weedy; about 10 per cent of the stalks have been 
broken off by recent storms. Fruit of all kinds will be m 
short supply, and much will be imported for local use. 
Since writing the above we have had a heavy thunder 
shower lasting nearly an hour, which has stopped work 
again. Beginning with August 1 we have had five clear 
days, which enabled the farmers to clean up a lot of 
work but a large part of the wheat is in the fields to¬ 
day, ’August 5. Wheat, best quality, sells here for 98 
cents per bushel, but much of the wheat brought in is off 
grade and some damp. w. e. d. 
Hillsboro, Ohio. _ 
WAYNE CO. FRUIT GROWERS.—The meeting of the 
Wayne County Fruit Growers’ Association received at¬ 
tention in tlie matter of its programme from the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture at Albany. Commissioner Pear¬ 
son directed that a few Summer field meetings be held 
where proper arrangements can lx* made. The Depart¬ 
ment therefore co-operates with some of the regular meet¬ 
ings by sending such help for the programme as may seem 
best, 'in the case of the Wayne County Association. Miss 
Van Rensselaer represented the Department. Wayne 
County Fruit Growers’ annual Summer field meeting was 
held at orchards of E. W. Catchpole & Sons, on July 28. 
The morning was given over to orchard inspection on sur¬ 
rounding territory. Meeting was called to order and E. 
B. Norris of Sodus made chairman in absence of President 
W O Rogers of Williamson. Programme consisted of an 
address bv Prof. P. J. Parrott, of State Experiment Sta¬ 
tion of Geneva, N. Y., who spoke on “Insects” and 
answered numerous questions on lime, sulphur and other 
“burning” questions. This was followed by Miss Martha 
Van Rensselaer of the College of Agriculture of Cornell 
University. An address by T. W. Collins, of Lyons, N. Y., 
on orchard troubles, their causes and how to avoid them. 
II. IV. Baxter, of Rochester, briefly outlined the aims and 
objects of the newly organized “Growers’ and Shippers’ 
Exchange.” The attendance was large and emphatically 
a representative one. many coming from Monroe, Orleans 
and Ontario counties in autos. The holding of tins meet¬ 
ing in The large apple orchard was favorably commented 
bv” many visitors. The Ben Davis block carrying above a 
normal crop of fruit was envied by many. After a 
bountiful dinner served by the ladies of the First Presby¬ 
terian Church, the guests were taken to the orchard m 
automobiles. The Catchpole farm now consists of 160 
acres. It was taken up in 1817 and has been in the 
family since; three generations were born in the farrn- 
housee. Grain and stock farming were practiced until the 
ora of low price for same, when extensive planting of 
apples was begun and has continued ever since. Com¬ 
mercial varieties grown are Baldwin, Twenty Ounce. Hub- 
bardston. Greening and Ben Davis. Later plantings are 
“fillers” (Fall varieties) one way in the row, leaving a 
wide space of the long way of the blocks. 
