1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
477 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—“Night riders” May 12 burned the large 
barn of William Shell, near West Union, Ohio. The prop¬ 
erty loss is .$3,500. Only one man saw the riders, who 
sent two men on foot up to the barn to fire the building. 
Shell is an independent tobacco grower, a member of the 
Law and Order League. . . . The jury in the case of 
Robert IT. Hollowell, who sued his brother, John E. IIol- 
lowell, and 27 other alleged “night riders” of Caldwell 
county, Ky., for $50,000 damages for driving him and his 
family from the State, awarded the plaintiff May 13 $35,- 
000. Two other suits of $50,000 and $25,000 have been 
brought by Ilollowell’s wife and son. . . . Seven per¬ 
sons are known to have been killed, and many others to 
have been injured by the tornado which swept across 
northwest Louisiana May 13. The little town of Gilliam, 
25 miles north of Shreveport, with a population of 200, 
was wiped out, and the town of Bolinger, on the east side 
of the river, in Bossier parish, was badly wrecked. The re¬ 
vised reports received at railroad headquarters in Dal¬ 
las estimate the number of persons who lost their lives 
in tornadoes in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma May 
11*13 at 42, and the number dangerously injured to ex¬ 
ceed 200. The property losses of all character are ap¬ 
proximately $1,000,000. In the vicinity of Marshall alone 
the loss is estimated at $100,000, the Texas & Pacific 
Railroad being the largest individual sufferer. It is be¬ 
lieved the total will reach 25 dead and 100 injured in 
Louisiana. . . . Extreme measures to prevent future 
mine disasters have been taken by the H. C. Frick Coke 
Company, the coking division of the United States Steel 
Corporation of Pittsburg, Pa. Orders have been issued 
providing for the dismissal of minors who become so in¬ 
toxicated while off duty that they are incapacitated for 
work the following day. The company has also notified 
its employees that it will not employ miners who drink 
(ither on or off duty. This radical action is the result of 
numerous conferences of all superintendents and other 
officials of the company. They declare that the use of 
intoxicants among the miners, particularly the foreign 
element, has been so pronounced in recent years that they 
• annot afford to employ them. At such times, they allege, 
the men take chances that they would not take if in their 
normal condition. ... An alleged “get-rich-quick” 
scheme has been uncovered by the Federal authorities by 
the arrest of Harry C. Roland, confidential bookkeeper for 
Tyrall, Ward & Co., of Chicago, who is charged with 
defrauding the firm of many thousands of dollars. It is 
asserted by the Federal attorneys that Roland made a 
full confession and that his peculations involve more 
than $50,000. The Mail Dealers’ Protective Association 
is said to have been the name under which Roland carried 
on tlie operations with which lie is charged. Getting the 
names of delinquent debtors of Tyrall, Ward & Co., which 
does a mail-order business, he is said to have written to 
the delinquents that the Government authorities were in¬ 
vestigating their accounts with a view to prosecuting them 
for using thh mails to defraud. The accounts, he would 
say, had been turned over to the “Protective Association” 
for collection. . . . The Allegheny National Bank of 
Pittsburg was closed May 18. It is admitted that the 
defalcations of Cashier William Montgomery up to date 
reach $2,105,000. The city of Pittsburg entered suits 
against bondsmen to recover $1,000,000 of city money, 
which was in the ruined bank. There was over $1,500,000 
of the city's money there, but $500,000 was not bonded. 
It is feared the city will be able to recover only $500,000. 
. . May 18 street-car strikers in Cleveland, O., dynamited" 
two days, one being wrecked and another lifted from the 
tracks. Six passengers were cut and slightly injured. Trolley 
wires were cut, dynamite caps put on the tracks, light 
wires grounded, portions of the city plunged into darkness, 
and assaults made upon street car crews and passengers 
during the day and night. Some shooting was indulged 
in. but no one was injured. May 20 five trolley cars were 
blown tip in different parts of the city a few minutes after 
midnight. At least five persons were injured. One car 
thrown from the track at St. Clair and East Fifty-third 
streets by an explosion flew through the air 50 feet and 
shattered the brick wall of an apartment house. The in¬ 
mates rushed out and several were injured by falling 
bricks. The police are seeking the occupants of five bug¬ 
gies seen in various parts of the city just before midnight 
who are believed to have distributed infernal machines 
filled with nitroglycerine. . . . An electrical storm 
which passed over Mount Holly, N. .T., May 18, was of 
great severity, and did $25,000 damage in that county, as 
there was much hail, which cut down crops. ... A 
fire at Sault Ste. Marie, OnL, caused $300,000 damage 
and the loss of two lives May IS. The fire, which was 
suoposed to have started by a spark from a dynamo in the 
Lake Superior power house, destroyed the Tagoma water 
power house, the Lake Superior Company’s power plant 
and the Soo pulp and paper mill store room. The loss is 
covered by insurance. A. E. Walsh, dynamo tender, and E. 
Cray, his assistant, lost their lives in the fire. . . . 
Judge Francis IT. Wright in the United States Circuit 
Court May 10 decided that although the National Stock 
Yards of East St. Louis. Ill., has several miles of tracks, 
cn-ines and cars and other equipment it was not a com¬ 
mon carrier and is not subject to Federal railroad laws. 
T' e S'ock Yard’s attorney contended that his clients were 
conducting a “hotel for hogs and other live stock” and not 
a railroad. In this he was sustained by the court. The 
decision came in the course of a trial in which the Stock 
Yards company was charged with violating the 28-hour 
stock law. ... In an effort to reduce the cotton 
acreage the Farmers’ Union of Georgia has appealed to its 
members to plow up at least 20 per cent of the cotton al¬ 
ready planted, and in some regions whole fields of cotton 
have been plowed up. The land is being replanted in 
corn and peas. The farmers of Georgia have suffered 
heavily from the holding movement. Thousands of bales 
have been held that could have been sold for 12 cents last 
Fall. 
CONGRESS.—Conferees reached an agreement on the 
agricultural hill and their report was adopted in the 
House and Senate May 19. In the Senate the principal 
fight had been made on an appronriation of $500,000 for 
the development of the forest reserves of the country. 
After a week of wrangling, however, the Senate not oniy 
did not cut the item out, but increased it to $1,000,000. 
The conferees cut the amount to $000,000. The bureau of 
chemistry allowance of $75,000 for enforcement of the 
pure food law was reduced to $25,000. and $10,000 car¬ 
ried for the same bureau for demonstrations in the mak¬ 
ing of denatured alcohol was stricken out. An experi- 
menLal agricultural station in the Island" of Guam was au¬ 
thorized at a cost of $5,000. after Secretary Wilson ex¬ 
plained that there were lO.Ooo persons in Guam who ought 
to be taught something about farming. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Reports received from various 
parts of the Canadian West indicate that the increased 
wheat acreage this year will be tremendous. Local grain 
men are of the opinion that about 120.000.000 bushels 
of wheat will be thrashed in 1908. While fears are ex¬ 
pressed that owing to labor and other difficulties the Gov¬ 
ernment section connecting the Fort William branch of the 
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway with its line at Winnipeg 
will not be finished in time to aid in moving the grain 
crop of this year, there is little doubt that the facilities 
for transportation between Winnipeg and the Great Lakes 
will be enormously developed this Fall. This will be 
brought about by the eomnletion of the double tracking 
on the Canadian Pacific main line between Fort William 
and Winnipeg. There being so vast an increase in the area 
of land put under seed in the Northwest this year, under 
favorable circumstances the railways will have in the com¬ 
ing Fall by far the biggest task they have ever undertaken, 
but so largely will the handling capacity be increased that 
no matter how big the harvest it. is predicted that there 
will be no more grain blockades. 
A pension has been awarded Dr. James Liw, director of 
the Cornell Veterinary College and who is to retire in 
June, by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of 
Teaching. Prof. Law has been connected with Cornell 
since its founding. He was one of the men brought to this 
country by Andrew I). White when he toured Europe to 
find a faculty. Dr. Law has been head of the veterinary 
department for 40 years. 
THE VALUE OF A RIGHT OF WAY. 
Having read the article on value of right of way, page 
398, I think M. F. should consider everything before he 
sells to any corporation. If M. F. has a good farm and 
a corporation seeks a right of way through it, his recom¬ 
pense should be the value of the whole farm, as after 
they get possession you are practically turned out to 
commons. They have and take the right to trespass to 
suit their pleasure. I have had the experience recently, 
where I sold a right to a railroad company crossing the 
centre of a hundred-acre farm for the paltrv sum of $150 
per acre for the land used. It does not seem so harmful 
until after a corporation has located, and then is when 
the trouble begins. In the first place you are turned to 
commons for every tramp that comes your way. If you 
have fruit growing on your place yoii don’t get it. If 
you have fences, the engines burn them. If you have 
woodland they burn that, and ruin all young growth of 
every description. Wherever there are leaves or dead 
grass or weeds they are sure to fire it to your damage. 
•Where does your redress come in? They say: “Well, 
we have a permit from the fire warden to burn, and we 
burn. What are you going to do about it?” I have come 
to the conclusion that if any corporation wants to cross 
any property of mine hereafter they shall buy and pay the 
full value of any property they go through. The tele¬ 
phone people have the same disease; they come along and 
ask the farmers’ consent to put up poles, arguing that it 
will not be any detriment to them, as it will be very 
convenient for them in doing business. That’s all very 
well as far as that goes, hut the farmer will have to 
pay for all the accommodations he receives, and on the 
other hand the company will come along with their gang 
of trimmers and cut and slash trees along its line, making 
the thoroughfare look as if a tornado had visited the 
town. After people have gone to the expense and trouble 
of putting out fine trees to adorn the streets and their 
farms it is a source of great pleasure to have these grab¬ 
bers come along and desecrate your property. r. 
A QUESTION OF DAMAGES. 
Being interested in the question you ask in relation to 
M. F., I will tell you our experience along the same line. 
About a year ago the city of Lockport started to put in 
a water system. One-half acre of land belonging to us 
was selected by the engineers for the stand pipe. Shortly 
after it was decided on, the city engineer and city attor¬ 
ney called on us and wanted to buy the piece. We re¬ 
fused to sell at any price. They offered us $400. Two 
days after the city attorney served papers on my wife 
and me, making us an offer of $650, and giving us 15 days 
to consider the offer, at the end of which time we told 
them if they must have the piece we would take $3,000, 
or give them $100 to stay off; On the sixteenth day 
they served condemnation papers on us; eight days after 
they went on to the piece, that was covered with nursery 
trees, built a shanty, drew a carload of cement on the 
piece, and went to work excavating for the foundation. 
Then I got mad, and went looking for law, and was very 
fortunate in getting a good lawyer, who said the city 
had a right to do as they did according to the law, but 
we would have our innings later, which we certainly 
did. Shortly after both lawyers went before a Supreme 
Judge in Buffalo, each having a list of names who they 
wanted to serve as commissioners. Five days after the 
judge appointed three men to take evidence and award 
the damages. 
We were fortunate again in getting three good sensible 
men. A few days after the three commissioners and the 
two lawyers came up and looked the land over. The 
commissioners set a day for the hearing. Our side was 
heard first. The questions asked of each witness were 
about the same, as follows : “What do you consider this 
man’s place worth, including buildings before this standpipe 
was put on, and what do you consider it worth now? 
Dow do you determine the damage?” It was quite amus¬ 
ing to see the difference in opinion of those who you 
knew were sensible men. One of our witnesses swore 
that the piece the city took was capable of producing a 
net profit of $600 per year, while one of the city’s wit¬ 
nesses swore it would not grow grass. However, the com¬ 
missioners awarded us a damage of $2,500 and costs, 
which amounted to $253.41, making altogether $2,753.41. 
Our lawyer cost us $500, and we were well satisfied. Our 
advice to M. F. is to pay no attention to any representa¬ 
tive the transmission company sends; sign no papers; 
make your price high enough so that you can afford to 
come down if necessary. This talk of allowing you to 
cultivate the land under the wires and around the towers 
is all bosh. When they get a deed of your land it is 
theirs, not yours, and you may find there as here no doubt 
a wire fence on both sides of the towers, dividing your 
land from theirs, with a big sign stuck up reading, 
“Private Property. Keep Off.” d. t. m’carthy & sons. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
We have had one of the worst seasons so far for farm 
work we have experienced in a long time. Rain every day 
and sometimes several times a day. and it begins to look 
as if we would lose our cherries aud peaches, as they were 
in full bloom, but the' weather has changed and it looks 
as if the fruit would come out all right yet. Cherries, 
peaches, pears, plums and apples promise a fair crop if 
nothing happens. it. m. j. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. 
Crop conditions compare favorably with last year, and 
farmers are very well pleased so far. People in our section 
have greatly improved their methods of farming, and we 
are rapidly coming to the front in all lines. We are 
breeding good stock, in fact, better than usual, but we want 
to see still better. Prices of stock and some other items 
seem to fall off, but farmers are not silting under the shade 
of trees waiting for advanced markets. They are moving 
things with hopes of better market conditions, which we 
trust are in sight. e. w. J. 
Wood lawn, Va. 
Grass, which is our mam crop, is looking exceptionally 
well, both as meadow and pasture. Some new seeding is 
somewhat Winter-killed, but the cool wet weather is im¬ 
proving it. Cool rainy weather has x-etarded Spring work 
so that sowing is not yet completed, and no planting yet 
done. Stock has advanced some in price during the past 
year, especially milch cows. Cows arc going to pasture in 
fully as good condition as usual, despite high price of 
grain, which we all have 1o buv. Milk ha* brought a 
good price during the past Winter and we hear few com¬ 
plaints of bard times. Few radical changes have been 
made, but silos are being built, better tools and machines 
bought, and there is a general tone of pi’osperity among 
our best farmers. p. w. s. 
Gilboa, N. Y. 
The season seems to be fully as late as last year. The 
most promising crop is grass; meadows and pastures, also 
Winter grain, are looking very fine. The planting and 
sowing is remarkably late. Even gardens are riot dry 
enough to plow yet (May 191. Some of our neighbors will 
have to re-sow their oats, which rotted on lo"’ land. All 
varieties of fruit trees are blooming except the Baldwin. 
Prices and conditions compares favorably with other years; 
stock is being turned out to pasture this week. Changing 
in farming is gradually for flip better; considerable tiling 
is h ing none and labor-saving mac inery is being added 
year alter year. We are near the Buffalo markets and a 
good many a Ores of peas and strawberries are being put 
out. As a rule farmers are satisfied aud doing well. 
Hamburg, N. Y. j. e. d. 
Spring has started early, but we are having rather cool 
weather in May. The wheat looks fine, better than it has 
for several years, and prices are near $1 a bushel. Grass 
is looking fine, with good prospects for a heavy hay crop, 
but not many fields are clear of weeds. Corn planting 
has been rather unfavorable; some are done, others who 
planted in April are planting over, and in May it has been 
wet most of the time, stopping plowing. Corn is selling 
around $1 a barrel (1% bushel shelled). More demand than 
last year. Stock has s“tood the Winter well and with good 
pasture now are looking well. Some Alfalfa was sown last 
August, but most of it has failed. I have a piece that I 
sowed three times; now I have a good stand. Fruit will 
be rather scarce here owing to late frosts. Labor is a 
little more plentiful this year than last, but prices are 
about same. Ilogs are plentiful, with prices lower this 
Spring. p h K ’ 
Beaver Creek, Md. 
I am interested in your apple crusade; strange that 
apples cannot be sold in New England for want of a Inner 
while here in the South they are worth $4 per barrel 
Something rotten besides the apples. Peaches will be 
about one-half cron in Chattooga Co., as some orchards 
were entirely killed this Spring, others about one-half. I do 
not believe that there is an orchard that will make a full 
crop. If we could only make out of the peach crop what 
the papei’s claim we would all be millonaires. A good 
many trees have been cut out in the last two years, and 
unless we make financial success a good many'more' will 
come out. I took up 15 acres last yeai\ and'unloss they 
make good will take up as manv more, i see they ar- 
talking of raising freight rates; funny how the many' have 
to be robbed so that a few can get more. Talk about the 
‘night riders,” they are honorable to what some of the 
corporations are. r . T . 
Menlo, Ga. A " K ’ 
In general this Spring is earlier than last. Corn planting, 
however, will be about two weeks later than a year ago" 
unless the weather improves. Many were i-eady' to plant 
corn (lie first week in May, but remembering last years 
experience when, owing to the wet cold weather, much had 
to be replanted, they decided to wait a few days, and 
now (May 18) with the ground already soaked and two 
downpours during the day and still raining, the prospect 
is not very bright. Crons are in excellent condition, esne- 
ciall.v wheat, which promises the best crop in years. Alfalfa 
is now a foot high and clover is doing its host to keep 
up with its rival. Farm produce is bringing good prices 
except wool, which is about 35 per cent below last year’s 
price; corn is now worth $1 per hundred, an unheard-of 
price here. Stock wintered well except sheep, many report¬ 
ing a 20 per cent loss by liver-rot. In spite of'the low 
price of hogs last Fall and Winter and the present low 
price of wool farmers as a rule attribute the present 
conditions to Presidential election year, and look for a 
return of “better times.” I believe' the farmers felt the 
recent flurry less than most other classes. Most kinds of 
fruit promise a good crop. Farmers are not changing their 
methods of farming to meet the new conditions facin' 1 - 
them owing to the scarcity of help, but are having labor- 
saving devices to supplant the (in most cases) scarce un¬ 
reliable help. The present pig crop will average about 
normal, the low price of hogs and scarcity of corn last 
Winter causing some farmers to dispose of their breeding 
stock, while other have stocked up to an extreme. Some 
shippers are predicting seven-cent hogs for September. On 
the whole farmers have little cause to grumble. 
Archbold, Ohio. j. d p 
of the season for seeding is assuming somewhat alarming 
proportions in this country. On MVxy 15 very little seeding 
had been done, and in some localities it will be 10 days 
or two weeks before the land will be dried out sufficiently 
to prepare the ground for seeding. This condition pre¬ 
vails more largely in the upland towns, where the land is 
principally hardpan soil, and to some extent in the 
northern part of the county on the flat lands whei-o much 
of the soil is heavy clay, and once thoroughly soaked 
takes weeks to dry so it can be worked. The incessant 
rains have forced the grass along despite the cold and 
chilly winds, and tempted many who have been obliged to 
buy fodder to turn their cows to pasture somewhat earlier 
and as a result many pastures will be taxed to their 
utmost for the entire season. Hav of almost anv kind 
or quality continues to be in good demand at a "ood 
price, as many farmers are having to feed hav vet Manv 
of us farmers are heard to say: “God bless die advent of 
the silo in these trying times for fodder.” 
P. D. SQUIERS. 
A MISSISSIPPI PARADISE.—I see on page 449 that a 
Connecticut reader inquires for a place that is free from 
flies and mosquitoes and also rocks. From my four years’ 
experience living at this place I can say that we are' verv 
seldom bothered with mosquitoes or flies while working in 
the Held; there are some flies at the bouse, hut no mosqui- 
toes As for rocks. I haven’t seen a stone as large as half 
a brick since living here, unless hauled in. The kind of 
farmers we need in this country are t'-e kind that are not 
afraid to put their plow in the ground over two or three 
inches, and are willing to put humus in the soil, not burn 
off the grass because it is too hard to plow under \Yo 
need farmers who are not afraid to get out in the sun 
which gets pretty hot sometimes, but sunstrokes are un¬ 
known. _ Our nights are always cool. \Ye can plow every 
month in the year and have green pasture the year round 
We can grow peaches ecual to any place, and have a can¬ 
ning factory to handle all we will give them We are abo 
on the main line of the Illinois Central Railroad within 
nine miles of the State Capitol. What more can a man 
ask for unless if is gumntion enough to get up and go to 
work? _ I am not a real estate agents trying to sell a man 
something that he doesn’t want, hut just a plain farmer 
and fruit grower running a 20-acre farm and doing mv own 
work. p s 
Ridgeland, Miss. 
. A CONCRETE SILO COUNTY.—I do not believe it prac¬ 
tical nor possible to carry on a farm without some weeds 
and a few mistakes in management, but if conditions are 
met in a way C at looks most practical at the time being, 
and then the work turns out bad owing to adverse condi¬ 
tions of weather and nature, I think one has done as well 
as he could. It is this meeting farm work in a half-hearted 
hobby-horse fas’ion and trusting to luck that makes con¬ 
ditions of farming like the samples one can see almost 
everywhere except around this locality, Appleton, Wis. If 
you should get a panel- of bright new pearl buttons and 
look them over carefully, and note how bright and alike 
they ai:\ they would look very much like the farms about 
this section. It is practically all German up here, and 
everything is done on each farm just about alike, and 
several rides about here failed to sliow me a really slack¬ 
looking place. T’’ey seem to take pride in keeping the 
community enviable, and it is surely splendid. They seem 
to be very prosperous, and one stalwart fellow, 71 years 
old yesterday, showed mo a poekotbook he was carrying 
around that he said contained over $600. and it certainl” 
looked fat. 1 never saw so many silos anywhere, and 
they are all of cement or brick. I have seen more than 25 
cement silos mostly solid concrete with eight-inch walls, 
and they are mostly 16x30 feet in size, hut some arc 
higher. There are some made of cement blocks, and they are 
very well built. Also there are 17 contracted for or 
already built this season and all right close around me, 
and two different men who are familiar with the conditions 
here told me that in this county there would be erected 
at least 100 concrete silos this year. Nearly everyone t’-is 
year is putting on a concrete roof. To me, a silo builder 
with nine years’ experience, it is a wonder. I am starting 
some concrete silo work here, and am now erecting a 
1 Cy40 hollow wall silo which will have chute and roof of 
concrete .and not an inch of wood anywhere except doors, 
which might also be of sheet iron. Later I will try to send 
you a picture of it. r. c. a. 
