1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE VOTE AGAINST MR. DAWLEY. 
The following letter from the American Jersey 
Cattle Chib brings up the famous Rogers-Dawley 
cattle case once more: 
New York, Oct. 2, 1908. 
In accordance with Article 7 of the Constitution, the 
question of the expulsion of Mr. Frank E. Hawley from 
membership in the Club was submitted to the members for 
a mail vote, July 1, 1908, with the following result: 
Votes in Favor of Expulsion - - 163 
Votes Against Expulsion - - - None 
Respectfully, 
E. A. DARLING., 
Attest: President. 
j. j. hem i Ngway. Secretary. 
The Board of Directors voted unanimously to ex¬ 
pel Mr. Dawley after denying him the right to regis¬ 
ter any more cattle. Under the rules of the Club it 
was necessary to endorse the action of the Directors 
by a vote of the Club. In calling for this vote the 
officers summarized the case against Mr. Dawley. It 
was one of the most complete and crushing arraign¬ 
ments we have ever read and more than justified every 
charge made by The R. N.-Y. The case was so com¬ 
plete that Mr. Dawley could not muster one single 
supporter among the Club members. 
We have been informed by many well-known breed¬ 
ers that this case will prove the most helpful thing 
for the breeding interests that has occurred in many 
years. It lias taught all the associations the absolute 
necessity of greater care in recording and investi¬ 
gating complaints. It will be many years before an¬ 
other politician will be able to escape investigation 
through political influence or “diplomacy.” This case 
has cost The R. N.-Y. much time and money. We 
think this kind of public service is legitimate work 
for a farm paper, and we give it cheerfully, for it has 
helped our friends. 
As for Mr. Dawley we have no desire to injure 
him—in fact we would help him if we could, start 
once more with a fair record. He cannot do this 
until he settles fairly with Mr. Squiers and Mr. 
Rogers. He has done great wrong to these men. 
They have suffered loss at his hands. The case of 
Mr. Rogers is particularly hard. The cattle he bought 
are all dead, and his connection with the case brought 
serious loss to his business. He is now without re¬ 
sources, largely as a result of this cattle deal. It is 
hard to see a man who put up the fight that Rogers 
did go down and lose his home in this way. Mr. 
Dawley ought now to come forward and make a fair 
settlement—for he is responsible for the loss. Let 
him do this and he will take the first step toward 
genuine reformation. So long as he fails to do it he 
cannot hope for the confidence of fair-minded men. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Three hundred thousand acres of mineral 
land worth $100,000,000 and held by E. H. Ilarriman for 
the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific are demanded by 
the United States Government on the ground that the land 
was taken by fraud. Sensational disclosures are promised 
in the investigations now under way by M. D. McEniry, 
chief of the Field Division of the General Land Office. The 
land is in Colorado and comprises the richest gold, silver 
and copper veins in the State. . . . For the second time 
in two years the town of Bisbee. Ariz.. was swept by fire 
October 14. The loss is estimated at .$500,000. Fifty acres 
of the town were swept clean. Bisbee is built at the 
junction of Tombstone and Brewery gulches and the houses 
extend up the sides of the mountains surrounding. Owing 
to the floods this Summer many water pipes were broken, 
the firemen were powerless and the fire had to be fought 
with dynamite. . . . The jury in the Federal court at 
Chicago in the case of Frederick S. Baird, charged with 
attempting to defraud the government of several thousand 
acres of public land in Dawes County. Nebraska, by means 
of fictitious entries, returned a verdict of guilty on six 
counts October 15. Baird is a Chicago attorney and is the 
head of the Chicago Ranch Company, whose members are 
mostly Chicago people, many being railroad men. The com¬ 
pany filed on claims under the Kinkaid Desert Land Act. 
and pooled their interests, contributing to a general fund 
for the purpose of making the required improvements. Ir¬ 
regularities in securing the lands w r ere charged. 
Forest fires have broken out at many places in northern 
Michigan, almost simultaneously. Two villages. Mete and 
La Rocque, a few r miles apart, in Presque Isle county, were 
destroyed October 15. utterly wiped off the map. The inhab¬ 
itants escaped on special trains sent in through the flam¬ 
ing forests. Seventeen refugees from Metz are known to 
have burned to death between Mete and the village of Posen 
when their relief train w'as wrecked by a burned-ont cul¬ 
vert. Six other persons perished in the village of Metz. 
The total death list reported up to October 19 was 47. 
The country was so dry that unless rain comes the fires 
cannot possibly he conquered until they burn themselves out. 
In Arenac. Ogemaw, Crawford and Montmorency counties 
small lakes and numberless streams have dried up complete¬ 
ly. How great the loss of life will he in the fires no one 
will ever he able to tell. Across the upper part of the 
lower Peninsula October 17 a solid bank of flames 10 miles 
wide and nearly 60 miles long was sweeping. Towns, set¬ 
tlements. railroads, hundreds of acres of standing timber 
and thousands of cords of piled and sun-dried logs and ties 
have been wiped off the track of the blaze. Forest fires are 
raging in Marinette County, Wis., and October 15 serious 
destruction resulted in several towns. Iu the town of 
Pound, one-half the place was wiped out by a fire which 
started from sparks from the burning timber, the loss being 
estimated at $15,000. The little town of Packard, on the 
Wisconsin and Michigan Railroad. was totally destroyed. 
. . . Property valued at almost $1,000,000 was destroyed at 
Chicago. October 16. by fire, which consumed the Interna¬ 
tional Salt Company’s docks, the offices of the Elgin. Joliet 
and Eastern Railway, and 50 freight cars at One Hundred 
and Third street and the Calumet River. The salt docks 
were destroyed within half an hour after the alarm of fire 
had been sent in. Four years ago the docks were burned 
down, entailing a loss of more than $1,000,000. . . The 
Southern Pacific Railroad has announced its intention of ex¬ 
pending a million dollars in the near future in the construc¬ 
tion of plants for pre-cooling fruit and vegetables, the object 
being to Dermit of long hauls of perishable freight with 
little risk of decay. Two large plants, one at Roseville, 
and one at Colton, Cal., will he erected, the first capable of 
chilling 20 carloads in four hours, and the latter having 
a capacity of 40 carloads in the same time. The company 
announces that the new method practically does away with 
the loss of time and consequent loss by decay in shipments 
of California fruits and vegetables to Eastern markets. The 
device consists of a plant equipped to force through the 
loaded cars under vacuum pressure blasts of air that have 
been previously passed over ice. ... A caboose carry¬ 
ing laborers, and attached to a Union Pacific freight train, 
was blown from the track near Hermosia Junction. Wyo., 
October 19. Twelve men were killed outright and many 
others were injured. The wind had been strong all day 
and at sundown readied the velocity of a hurricane. The 
road crosses a deep canon at the point where the way car 
turned over, and the caboose rolled down the steep declivity 
to the creek bed far below. . . The first person’s 
name to be drawn out of a list of 114.769 applicants for 
Rosebud farms at Dallas, S. D., was that of Miss May A. 
Melser of Kennebec, S. D. She will receive the choice of 
4,000 farms in Tripp county, which was opened October 19 
by lottery. The names of those who registered for the land 
were contained in twenty-eight large iron cans and two 
little girls did the drawing. . . . Fire on the Chautau¬ 
qua grounds at Jamestown, N. Y., October 19, caused $125,- 
000 damage, including the November edition of the Chau¬ 
tauqua Magazine. . . . Four persons were killed near 
Clayton, N. M„ October 18, as the result of a tornado, and 
cloudburst. Twenty other persons were injured, three of 
whom may die. The new Union County Court. House, which 
cost $40,000, was wrecked, and a score of houses were de¬ 
molished or torn from their foundations. Telephone .and 
telegraph wires were blown away and miles of poles were 
levelled. . . . Thirty or more masked and armed night 
riders October 19 kidnapped from their hotel in the little 
village of Walnut Log, Tenn„ on Reelfoot Lake, Capt. 
Quinton Rankin and his law partner. Judge R. Z. Taylor 
of Trenton, Tenn.. together with a surveyor and a guide, 
Judge Taylor finally escaping from them. Capt. Rankin’s 
body was found by a searching party from Walnut Log hang¬ 
ing to limb of a tree on the shores of Reelfoot Lake and 
filled with bullets and buckshot. The cause of this trouble 
dates hack two years or more, to the time when Judge Tay- 
for and Capt. Rankin, acting for a syndicate in which they 
are said to have been large stockholders, began buying up 
all the land bordering Reelfoot Lake, a beautiful sho£t of 
water many miles in extent, which ever since it was formed 
by the New Madrid Bend earthquakes of 1811-12 has been 
known for the sport its inexhaustible fish supply afforded to 
anglers and its feeding grounds to duck and goose hunters. 
The closing of this great lake to local fishermen and more 
especially the cutting off of the scanty earnings of many 
families who served visiting sportsmen as boatmen and 
guides, raised a storm of indignant protest, and the firm 
of Taylor & Rankin, who engineered the purchase and also 
drew the ironhound charter under which the West Tennessee 
Land Company operates, received many death warnings. 
R. A. Pearson, State Commissioner of Agriculture, has is¬ 
sued a circular to the New York State nurserymen, request¬ 
ing that they give close attention at the Fail digging time 
to trees and plants infected with root galls or Woolly aphis. 
He asks that all such trees be destroyed or kept out of 
shipment, as the inspection authorities of several other 
States are attempting to keep them out of their respective 
States. He likewise calls attention to the requirement of 
the law relative to the fumigation of nursery stock before 
shipping, planting or distribution. 
PROSPECTS FOR POTATOES. 
We consider the potatoes a short crop, taken as a whole. 
In Ohio we are all of 40 per cent short of last season. 
We cannot speak for other sections as understandingly 
as our own, of course, hut what we hear looks like high 
prices all Winter. We look for dollar potatoes by the first 
of January. Of course the imported potatoes will come 
in large quantities, and if they compare well in quality 
with home grown will have a tendency to keep prices level 
all the season. d. martin & co. 
Ohio. 
We thought at one time that the potato crop in Minne¬ 
sota was short, and we do not know but what the yield 
is, but we believe the increased acreage will make up for 
any apparent shortage. The quality Is turning out very 
fair. We believe we will have nearly as many potatoes 
as we had last year. There might he a shrinkage of per¬ 
haps 25 per cent. We are inclined to believe also that 
prices will be so reasonable that there will be no potatoes 
imported from Europe. Our prices at the present time 
are around 55 cents sacked, sacks included, f. o. b. our 
shipping station. j. c. eameciion & co. 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
POTATOES IN AROOSTOOK CO., MAINE. 
Aroostook County has this year the largest and the best 
crop of potatoes ever grown there. Last year we had little 
more than half a crop, and up to October 15, 1907, we had 
shipped 127 cars; this year up to date we have shipped 
345 cars. It is well known all over the country that 
Aroostook, Maine, seed potatoes are giving the best results, 
and there will be three times as much seed stock shipped 
from there this year as from any other place. We are 
probably the largest shippers in the county, and we have 
already hooked about 400 cars. Taking into consideration 
that other shippers are having the same proportion of 
increase in their business over last year, it would seem 
that our entire crop will he cleaned up at very satisfactory 
the price we are paying. Should the market" in Aroostook 
prices. We believe, however, there is a danger line as to 
go to $2 per barrel, we believe it would encourage heavy 
foreign shipments, and that to us would he disastrous. 
It is a fact that after the foreign shipments begin to arrive 
here it is almost impossible to stop them even if they sell 
a little above the actual expense. We realize our potatoes 
will bring a premium price this year over other countries 
and States on account of their superior quality. The re¬ 
ports we get from other States in this country are that 
the crop is short from 25 to 50 per cent. We look for 
a very steady market throughout the shipping season. You 
ask if prices are likely to go above $3. Of course it looks 
like a high price to us at this time, but we do not 
expect to see high prices on any common commodities on 
the Presidential year. Our experience has been that high 
prices will curtail the consumption of potatoes as well 
as beef. We are paying in Aroostook to-day $1.50 per 
barrel for table stock, that is Green Mountains, that 
would cost, expenses added, 70 cents per bushel Boston, 
and at this particular time the retail prices do not war¬ 
rant this price. r. t. prentiss co. 
A TRIP IN IOWA. 
August 21 found wife and I on hoard train on C. M. 
& St. P. Railroad, at a small town on the Mississippi 
River, headed westward. For 20 or more miles we were 
among the hills, valleys, woods and open country that 
borders along the Mississippi; then we entered the open 
prairie land where once nothing grew but prairie grass 
and flowers. Now farm joining farm mile after mile; 
county after county, no idle unoccupied land; no stone, 
no timber, one continuous stretch of farms. On our 
journey of 300 miles probably nearly one-third of land is 
in corn. Wheat, and barley yielded well, hut oats poor, 
25 to 35 bushels per acre. About half of the thrashing 
is done. Much of the thrashing is done by hauling direct 
from shock to machine ; steam thrashers universally used, 
the farmers changing work with their neighbors. A crew 
of 13 men besides owners of machine will thrash and 
put into bin 40 to 50 acres per day. Corn being the 
most profitable grain raised, there is a far greater acreage 
of it than any other grain. One striking thing was the 
few cattle we saw, not nearly the number that can be 
kept; or near the number I think should be. We found 
where land had been pastured, then broken up, the corn 
was better, showing the keeping of cattle, seeding down 
and giving their land rest gave greater yields of grain. 
The farmer in Iowa, especially in western Iowa, seldom 
or never plows his land for small grain. Instead he sows 
his grain, then uses a disk harrow, disking it in. He 
claims by plowing he gets too great a growth of straw nn«l 
too little of grain. Western Iowa farms are in size from 
160 to 320 acres, an 80-acre is not common. On a 160- 
acre farm all was in crop except 40 acres iu pasture for 
10 to 12 head of cattle and hogs. Hogs are pastured 
there the same as cattle, aud enough land is in hay to 
feed them through the Winter: the rest of farm is in 
grain. On such a farm we seldom found any hired help 
either indoors or out; the owner or router does all the 
work except a little he hires iu harvest time. How he 
raises such good crops and keeps things in such good order 
is surprising. It can only bo done by the use of labor- 
saving machines. These he has, and the best. While 
western Iowa was entirely destitute of timber, farmers 
have planted trees and they have made surprising growths. 
The town of Audubon cannot be seen from a distance for 
the trees. In many farm yards I saw one or more years 
fire wood sawed and made ready for the stove, grown 
from the trees they planted. Apple orchards are on most 
farms. Trees looked thrifty. This being a very poor year 
for apples there are not many, but I am told apples yield 
well; other fruits yield well and are being very generally 
raised. Land through all the country I went ranges in 
price from $100 to $125 anywhere within four to five 
miles of railroad. I am told there is very little land in 
western Iowa that sells under $100 per acre. All things 
considered, land in eastern Iowa is cheaper than western 
Iowa lands. We are nearer market, have better improve¬ 
ments and as good soil, while land is no higher in price. 
B. D. 
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE FRUIT GROWERS. 
The New Hampshire Horticultural Society held a very 
successful meeting at. Milford, October 20-22. There was 
an excellent programme which went through without a 
hitch. A feature of the meeting was a ride iu automobiles 
over the hills and through several noted fruit farms. An¬ 
other pleasant feature of the meeting was the large attend¬ 
ance of townspeople. At the afternoon and evening sessions 
the large town hall was crowded to the door with attentive 
people, many of whom lived in the town. The New Eng¬ 
land fruit growers recognize the necessity of interesting 
the people who live in town and city, for they are to pro¬ 
vide the market for fruits. Naturally many of these town 
people would not be deeply interested in a discussion of 
practical methods of growing and handling fruit, but 
there are things about farm life and fruit growing which 
are of general interest to all. The evening meetings are 
arranged with general programmes so that, the townspeople 
will be interested. This is an excellent feature, and might 
well be copied by other societies. 
The New Hampshire meeting was largely given up to the 
discussion of best ways of growing, handling, packing and 
selling apples. It is not generally known that in southern 
New Hampshire and through the valleys up from the 
Connecticut River there is some of the best apple land In 
the world. The Baldwin apple grows to high perfection 
here, its color and flavor being remarkable. There was a 
brilliant display of fruit at the New Hampshire meeting, 
Baldwin, of course, predominating, as that is the stand¬ 
ard apple in that section. After the hall had been closed 
over night, a person entering it in the morning would 
feel that he was in the midst of a room full of flowers. 
The fragrance from those apples was remarkable. We 
doubt if it would he possible to select and pack a box 
of apples on the Pacific Coast which could compare In 
beauty and flavor with a selected box from this New 
Hampshire exhibition. The long-headed men who are rais¬ 
ing fruit in New England recognize what these facts 
mean. They realize that the Pacific Coast growers by 
combining so that they may guarantee their fruit and by 
putting out a uniform product have gained a great reputa¬ 
tion wherever their apples go. With even finer apples iu 
New Hampshire these New England growers realize that 
if they can follow the methods of the western men suc¬ 
cessfully they will have a great opportunity, since they 
are so close to the eastern market. Thus this meeting and 
others which are held in New England have for their 
central idea the plan of concentrating work upon this 
apple problem. It will be worked out in time satisfactorilv, 
because New Hampshire certainly has the fruit. Most 
crops through the State have been close to the failure this 
year owing to the drought. The potato crop, which usual¬ 
ly is a profitable one, has been cut short nearly one-half, 
and the present situation makes potato growers in the 
East very thoughful. When the Germans can take pota. 
toes from the alcohol factories and land them in New 
York, duty paid, at $1.80 a barrel, it is evident that 
the world has become more contracted than ever so far 
as commerce is concerned. The New England farmers 
realize that they must expect even greater competition in 
the future; therefore they must hunt for the product of 
which they have more or less a monopoly, and this they 
are finding in the Baldwin apple. All these things make 
New England fruit growers plan their campaign, and 
they may be trusted to work out this problem successfully. 
As a matter of fact southern New Hampshire offers to-day 
some of the best opportunities in land and in farming that 
can he found anywhere on the continent 
CANADIAN FRUIT PROSPECTS.—The Canadian De¬ 
partment of Agriculture issues a report dated September 
30 in which it states: 
“The prospects for the apple crop have changed mate¬ 
rially since last month. The fine growing weather of 
August was succeeded by an exceptionally dry September, 
the immediate result of which was to hasten the maturity 
of all kinds of fruit. In the case of apples, Fall and 
early varieties have been maturing more rapidly than could 
have been anticipated. Some correspondents are reporting 
that their fruit is now all harvested, except the Winter 
apples, and some of these are sufficiently mature to justify 
picking, but the growers are afraid to barrel them so early 
in the season. There are numerous complaints that ait 
varieties of fruit have dropped badly this month. Beyond 
a doubt the crop has been materially shortened, partly by 
want of growth, though the sample will yet be a fair size, 
and partly by the excessive dropping as the result of the 
dry weather. There is no improvement in the quantity 
of the principal Winter varieties. The Spy is light almost 
everywhere. British Columbia showing the best prospects. 
The Baldwin is somewhat better, but nevertheless a light 
crop in Districts 2 and 3, where the hulk of the Ontario 
shipping Baldwins are grown. The Baldwins are good 
in Nova Scotia, but are not largely grown there. Ben 
Davis and Stark will he less than a medium crop. Nova 
Scotia apples have fared much better than those of the 
rest of Eastern Canada. The month generally has been 
favorable for the development of the Codling moth. Local 
apple operators have been buying much more cautiously 
than last year, confining themselves to the better orchards 
iu the large apple-producing districts. The prices have varied 
from 75 cents for Fall fruit to $1.50 for good Winter 
varieties, picked hut not barreled. No. l’s and 2’s. 
Orchards having Spvs or Kings sold 25 to 50 cents higher. 
The returns from the early fruit shipped to Great Brit¬ 
ain were quite satisfactory. The prices for prime fruit in 
Glasgow were: Duchess. 20 shillings and sixpence to 24 
shillings; Alexanders and other large varieties, 23 to 29 
shillings. The prices in Liverpool were slightly less than 
these figures. The London market, owing to extraordinary 
local supplies, showed three to five shillings lower. Can¬ 
adian pears have secured favorable comment and satis¬ 
factory prices in London and Glasgow particularly. The 
method of packing has materially improved and prices have 
followed the improvement. Canadian grape growers have 
to face rather low prices. $19 to $20 per ton is being 
accepted iu some instances, hut others are holding for an 
advance on this, and large consignments are being shipped 
to commission merchants everywhere.” 
We have had a long dry spell; first frost. September 28. 
which killed the corn, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. Some 
wheat sown but too dry for the best results. The apple 
crop is a failure; potatoes, a small crop; buckwheat, a 
light crop. The pasture fields at present are very poor; 
many farms short of water. s. j. j. 
Orland, O. 
