1008. 
209 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—The Union School at Napoleon, Ohio; the 
largest building of the kind in the State, which was re¬ 
cently rebuilt and opened only last April, and had >cost 
the county .$110,000, was burned down March 10. A re¬ 
petition of the Collinwood horror was averted possibly by 
only a quarter of an hour in the time of the starting of the 
fire, as the children were on their way to school and some 
were playing in the yard when it was discovered. At 
nine o'clock, when the pupils should have been in their 
seats, the main part of the building was a mass of flames. 
The fire had evidently caught from a defective flue of 
the furnace chimney, where it ran up through the attic. 
Before the fire department could get a stream on the 
building the flames had gutted the attic, dropped to the 
floor below, attacked the east wing, and were roaring up 
the big central tower. The bell fell inside of fifteen min¬ 
utes. The building is a total loss. Eight hundred pupils 
were enrolled in the school. The big building had fifty- 
four rooms, including two large playrooms and two engine 
rooms. . . . Fifty or more night riders came into 
Brookesville, Ky„ March 10, and before they left 15,000 
pounds of tobacco belonging to Robert Stanton, one of the 
wealthiest planters in this section, had been burned. The 
men were heavily armed with shotguns and revolvers. 
The men attempted no violence, nor did they destroy the 
warehouse, but took the tobacco outside and set it on fire. 
After seeing that it was all destroyed they departed. One 
hundred masked “night riders’’ rode into the town of 
Birmingham, Marshall County, Ky., March 9, shot six 
negroes, one of them, it is believed, fatally, and whipped 
five others. The riders took possession of the town and 
shot into every negro cabin in the place. After warning 
about 25 other negroes to leave the place, the masked men 
rode away. The raid followed a warning of two weeks 
previous to all negroes to leave Birmingham. W. Brad¬ 
shaw, a farmer living near Henderson, Ky., March 10, 
found a note at his door warning him against employing 
negroes. It was signed “The Thirty-Five.” The note 
was accompanied by a bundle of switches, a match, and 
some cartridges. . . . Owing to the Maumee River 
Hood and the breaking down of the Cherry Street bridge, 
East Toledo, O., with a population of 50,000, was without 
-fire protection or light March 7. Its street car service 
was at a standstill for several hours. . . . More than 
a score of firemen were hurt, and hundreds of people driven 
from their homes by a fire on West 18th street, New York, 
March 10; loss $200,000. . . . Harry Orchard with¬ 
drew March 10 his plea of not guilty entered by the court 
at Boise, Idaho, more than two years ago and entered a 
plea of guilty of murder in the first degree for the assassi¬ 
nation of former Governor Steunenberg. Judge Wood took 
until March 18 on which to impose sentence. Orchard 
entered the plea of guilty to prevent the possibility of the 
death penalty. He had previously confessed to the crime, 
declaring that he had been hired by William D. Haywood, 
secretary; Charles H. Moyer, president, and George A. 
l'ettlbone, honorary member of the Western Federation of 
Miners. Haywood and Fettibone were tried in Boise and 
set free. The case against Moyer was dismissed. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Although the University of Chi¬ 
cago offers no regular courses in agriculture, a beginning 
has been made by the recent establishment of “The Agri¬ 
cultural Guild.” This guild, which is under the direction 
of four officers of the university and nine Chicago business 
men, will be conducted under the supervision of the de¬ 
partment of political economy, and will have for its special 
object the training of efficient farm managers, supple¬ 
menting, without duplicating, the work of the agricultural 
colleges by giving the practical training which their limited 
equipment and different purpose inhibit them from provid¬ 
ing. To this end the work will be divided into two classes 
—field laboratory work and instruction at the university. 
At the outset the laboratory work will be conducted upon 
10 farms, aggregating about 5,000 acres, in the immediate 
vicinity of Chicago. As most of these farms are highly 
specialized, students will be transferred from one to an¬ 
other in order to cover as wide a field as possible.’ Each 
farm, while under the direct control of its owner, will 
be managed by an expert who will supervise the work of 
the students. Prof. William Hill, director of the guild, 
evolved the idea through 10 years of experimental farming. 
Ultimately, Professor Hill hopes the guild will develop into 
a school of agriculture. 
Dr. V. A. Moore has been appointed director of 
the New York State Veterinary College to succeed Dr. 
James Law, who retires in June. Dr. Law has been at 
the head of the veterinary college for the last 40 years. 
Charles L. Beach, of the faculty of the University of 
Vermont, at Burlington, has been elected president of the 
Connecticut Agricultural College, at Storrs. 
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.—Senator Knox has intro¬ 
duced a bill to establish a system of postal savings banks. 
The bill embodies the plan outlined by the Postmaster 
General in his annual report and which he has advocated 
in public addresses as being calculated to encourage econ¬ 
omy and thrift and to afford a place of deposit free from any 
possibility of doubt or suspicion for vast sums of money 
which might be otherwise hoarded and kept out of circula¬ 
tion through ignorance or lack of confidence. The bill 
authorizes the Postmaster General to establish a system of 
postal savings banks composed of such money order offices 
as he may designate for that purpose. The bill provides 
that such, postal savings banks shall receive deposits of 
money in even dollars, with $1 as a minimum, and post¬ 
masters are required to make daily reports to the Post¬ 
master General, who will forward to the depositor a written 
acknowledgment of its receipt. Interest at the rate of 2 
per cent per annum is allowed depositors, and the Post¬ 
master General is authorized to place the money deposited 
in postal savings banks in national banks at a rate of 
interest satisfactory to the Secretary of the Treasury. 
Withdrawals of deposits may be made at any time, sub¬ 
ject to certain regulations. The bill carries an appropria¬ 
tion of $100,000 to give it effect. 
Who knows that if you heat the tongs and put a butter¬ 
nut meat between them, you can press out 13 drops of oil? 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FATHER. 
John Dillon, one of the oldest farmers of the town 
of Bethel, died at his farm home near Mongaup 
Valley, Sullivan County, N. Y., on the 2d instant, at 
the ripe age of 87 years. He had been a farmer all 
his life. After sacrificing his own inheritance and 
his wife’s liberal dowry to the oppression and 
tyranny of landlordism in his native country, Ireland, 
about the middle of the last century he sought the op¬ 
portunities of America without means other than an 
intelligent mind and a strong arm. In the year 1858 
he bought a wood lot with a half-acre of tillable land, 
and began the foundation of a farm home. His assets 
at the time were $50 in cash savings, an ax and three 
babies. He cleared the forest, cultivated the virgin 
soil and created a farm. In time he increased 
his landed holdings by purchase of neighboring 
farms, and became one of the large and 
prosperous farmers of the county. He owed some¬ 
thing of his early success to a healthy body, an iron 
constitution and tireless energy; but sound business 
principles and sterling honesty were principally re¬ 
sponsible for his steady progress. He was never 
known to default in a payment. He asked and re¬ 
ceived credit, but when the time came for payment 
there was no material thing on the farm too good to 
go to provide cash to meet the obligation. His credit 
was consequently always good for more than he would 
ever ask. When the default of a neighbor whose paper 
he had indorsed as an accommodation threatened to 
JOHN DILLON. 
take half his savings, friends suggested means of es¬ 
cape, but he said: “No. I could never recover lost 
credit. Let the oxen and the cows go. Them I can 
replace.” He paid the obligation; and it was at that 
time that his real prosperity began. 
His ambition was of the conservative kind. He was 
progressive but cautious. He was content with the 
half field in cultivation; but it must be early planted, 
well tilled, and the first harvested in the neighbor¬ 
hood. He planned only what he was reasonably sure 
to perform; but he was a skilled and rapid workman 
in every requirement of the farm, and he never rested 
or lagged until the last hill of the last row was hoed. 
He never sought political preferment, nor other op¬ 
portunities outside the farm; but he was faithful in 
his duties as a citizen; and loved the country that 
gave him opportunity and reward for honest toil. 
Simple in speech and unaffected in manner, the hum¬ 
blest workman was the same to him as the most ex¬ 
alted citizen. No situation embarrassed him, because 
he was always his plain natural self, as free from 
feigned modesty as from vain pretense. He made few 
intimates, but all men were his friends. 
He was gracious in extending favors, accepted cour¬ 
tesies and service without hesitation or apology, and 
he extended hospitality to guest or stranger with a 
cordial welcome. He was a good citizen ; a devoted 
husband; a kind and affectionate father. We are 
prone to write biographies in praise of men who dis¬ 
tinguish themselves in public service, or who attain 
distinction in public life, or who acquire great wealth 
in business enterprises, but to our mind there are 
lessons in this simple life of far greater importance 
to posterity. As fortunes go nowadays, his means 
were modest; but he never handled a dollar that was 
not honestly earned. He created whatever wealth he 
appropriated. All men were the richer for his labor. 
No man suffered when he acquired a competence. His 
legacies to his children were principally spiritual and 
intellectual, but the inheritance is prized beyond any 
power of material wealth. 
The brilliancy of conspicuous men and often their 
moral delinquency may well discourage emulation, 
but no man need hesitate to hand down the traditions 
of this simple life to his son. He was distinguished 
for no brilliant nor conspicuous effort. His distinc¬ 
tion and his success came from doing well and faith¬ 
fully from day to day the simple duties of life. He 
was content with his lot, proud of his calling and 
happy in Ins home. Modest and humble as his en¬ 
vironment was it inspired a love of simplicity, nurtured 
courage and fostered manhood. With many friends, 
he never had a bitter enemy, and died as he lived, at 
peace with men and confident in the love and mercy 
of God. He was the father of nine children, all of 
whom survive him. He is also survived by 22 grand¬ 
children and two great-grandchildren. The patient 
wife and tender mother who shared his early trials, 
cheered his labors and encouraged his hopes, preceded 
him by some 10 years to the quiet rest. 
We make no apology for this brief tribute to our 
good father. The friends of this paper have an in¬ 
terest in his life. Many services the paper renders’ 
now are suggested by his experiences and his diffi¬ 
culties, and whatever success the paper has attained 
from a business standpoint is largely due to his modest 
but prudent lessons in business and finance. That his 
crude but rigid principles have been developed and 
applied to different conditions detract in no way from 
their original value and importance. He taught us 
that prompt payment is the secret of credit; that merit 
is the price of confidence, and that success is the re¬ 
ward of honest service. We confess to a pride in the 
man exceeded only by love of the father. 
JOHN' J. DILLON. 
I -- 
FRUIT NOTES. 
Fruit buds in this locality seem to be in unusually good 
condition. There has been no abnormally warm weather, 
and even the late Fall was unusually cool, so that buds 
are not at all forward, and there has been no very cold 
weather to injure them, the thermometer at no time going 
below zero, unless it was three or. four degrees on one occa¬ 
sion. The adverse times did not seem to affect farmers for a 
while but are now gradually reaching out to them, and 
may be felt here and there. c. w. 
Ohio. 
Here in southwestern Michigan the cold has been 
around zero, but it never stays there, o,r our peach belt 
would be less favored. The freeze in October, 190G, that 
ruined so many peach orchards, may yet prove a blessing, 
as Van Buren County is “rising from its ashes," or 
rather is sitting up and taking notice that the San .Tos6 
scale is much subdued, and that her farmers are going 
ahead with commendable spirit to reset tire peach lands 
with better varieties, giving better care, and they believe 
to get better prices. Three canning factories that can 
peas, beans, salt pickles and care for all kinds of fruits are 
holding out inducements to the farmers near this well- 
located town of 1,200 people. Realizing the fertility of 
the soil must be maintained, two cows are made to grow 
where only one was kept five years ago. This is causing 
us to look up the silo question. An interest in forestry 
is being awakened; the women's clubs are doing it. More 
attention is being paid to registered sires for breeding; 
the automobile has made no perceptible decrease in the 
colts that are frisking in our pastures. Farmers’ insti¬ 
tutes are well attended. Farm papers are taken and read. 
Country schools are paying better prices for teachers, and 
a county normal class has been established. One con¬ 
solidated school has its friends and foes as have all inno¬ 
vations. Several young men from our town are at the 
Michigan Agricultural College. This has been for nearly 
20 years a saloonless county, and children nearly grown 
have yet to come under its influence. j. j. g. 
A new England federation of agricultural students has 
been formed. The object is tb bring the students of the 
New England colleges together not only for their own good 
but for that of New England agriculture. The plan is an 
excellent one. True organization is the basis of all suc¬ 
cess. Agricultural education has now won a definite place 
for itself and should take advantage of every plan of 
organization. G. T. Harrington, of Burlington, Vt., is sec¬ 
retary of the new federation. 
CALIFORNIA NOTES.—There has been 12 Inches rain- 
- fall in this valley since the latter part of October. Grass, 
weeds and volunteer grain have made a large growth. Most 
of the land intended for beans, corn, potatoes, etc., has 
been worked over with plows and disk harrows, and the 
work must continue until planting time, from March to 
.Tune. Most of the land for Spring crops is worked over 
after every heavy rain. If the soil gets dry and hard 
or covered with weeds the crops will suffer, for the rain¬ 
fall after planting time is little, and sometimes corn and 
bean crops are matured without rain after being planted. 
The soil must be kept in trim and moisture retained as 
much as possible, so our farming has to be skilfully done if 
we get the best results. The Winter lemon crop is fair and 
being gathered for the market: olive crop large, and many 
are being gathered and sent to the oil mills. Olives are 
not a full crop every year, so when there is a large crop 
some do not find a market, as the mills are not of sufficient 
capacity to work them up. The season ranges from latter 
part of December to first of April. Trices range from 
about two to four cents a pound. Some of the higher 
priced are pickled. It is considerable work to gather, and 
expensive when prices for labor are high. Many of the. 
olive trees were dug out several years ago, as the land 
could be used to better advantage. Olives and oil bring 
somewhat better prices now; prospects seem more favor¬ 
able for the future. It is probable more mills will be 
constructed and pickled olives will find better market. 
Many of them are canned similarly to other fruit: they 
will keep well, and bear transportation o. n. e. 
Capinteria, Cal. 
