1908. 
719 
LONG ISLAND PRODUCE EXCHANGE. 
Reference has previously been made to this association 
which was organized the past Spring to help the farmers 
of Long Island dispose of their crops to better advantage 
than would he possible without co-operation. It was be¬ 
lieved that by the collection of accurate crop statistics, 
so that a fair knowledge of values could be had ; selection 
of uniform labels and packages for those choice products 
which are not shipped in bulk ; and a most diligent search 
for desirable customers, a more dependable market and 
greater net profit would result. One of the main objects 
was to protect the good name of Long Island produce which 
unscrupulous dealers were tacking on to all sorts of stuff. 
The writer recently spent a day in part of the territory 
covered by the Exchange and finis bad opportunity to note 
something of the work it is doing and the general feeling 
toward it. The constitution provides for doing a general 
produce business, but at present only potatoes are being 
handled. On account of the dry season the tubers are not 
so large nor of as good quality as ordinarily. This gave 
a setback to the Exchange right at the start, as some cus¬ 
tomers who gave a trial order said they did not want any 
more. In an ordinary season this would not have oc¬ 
curred. The section of country hauling to Riverhead has 
shipped as high as 400 cars of potatoes in a year, but it is 
doubtful whether more than half that quantity will be mar¬ 
keted this season. On the south shore, in the vicinity of 
the Hamptons, drought has not been so severe, and the 
yield is better. 
As might be imagined considerable opposition to the 
Exchange has developed. At every large shipping point 
on the east end of the Island, there were local buyers who 
for years had done this work. It made a nice little busi¬ 
ness for them, and many farmers were well suited with 
that plan of selling. There was a genuine regret ex¬ 
pressed to me at the turning down of some of those useful 
men who had bettered the previous selling conditions by 
giving a fair price and paying for the goods, which is more 
than commission men always do. A number of these local 
buyers still bold their customers, some solely because of 
friendship, and others because the farmers owed them for 
fertilizer and oilier farm supplies or were otherwise tied 
up to them financially. 
I have heard but little said about tbe Exchange by the 
vegetable men in this city. Probably the case would have 
been different in a year wlien the tubers were of their 
normal gilt-edge quality so that there was a wild scramble 
them. The- Exchange has handled something over 
-.00 cars, and at the time of my visit was husv at River- 
head, neighboring towns east and west, and to some ex¬ 
tent in the Hamptons along the south shore. The Orient 
section was then cleared out, the organization getting prac¬ 
tically all. 
friends of the Exchange have reason to feel encouraged 
at having thus far made a fair showing in so poor a crop 
year. The principle of co-operation among farmers is 
right, but some time will be required to get everything 
moving nloug smoothly. Experience will show where im¬ 
provements can be made, and doubtless others will join 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—There were three deaths caused by the 
flood in Augusta, Ga., August 20; August 28, 22 bodies 
were recovered. The total death list is estimated at 60. 
One damage to the city and immediate surroundings, it is 
estimated, will reach half a million dollars. The Union 
Station was in .10 feet of water, and in the residence dis¬ 
trict in Green street tiie water was six feet deep and 
slowly rising. The Sacred Heart Church was in six feet 
of water. A dispatch from Camden, S. C., August 20, 
reported two lives lost and 19 missing as the result of the 
washing away of the steel bridge over the Wateree River 
at that place. As a result of the flood in the Oconee 
River, the Athens cotton mills were forced to close down. 
The total damage in that vicinity will reach $25,000. The 
Cape Fear River at Fayetteville, N. C., reached a height 
of 79 feet, breaking all records of former floods. Houses 
and bridges have been swept away for miles around, and 
the estimated damage to the oat and corn crop will go 
beyond 35 per cent. The greater portion of Fayetteville 
August 28 was covered with water hacked up to the city 
from the river, which is a mile and a half distant. In 
the county there were thousands of other people homeless 
and an appeal was issued for relief. The food supply 
was short, eggs selling at $1 a dozen, and vegetables at 
four times their value. . . . Nearly 30 miners per¬ 
ished in Hailey-Ola coal mine No. 1, at Haileyville, Okla., 
August 20, when fire destroyed the hoisting shaft and air 
shaft and cut off air from the men below. After the 
miners had gone down in the cage a fire broke out, occa¬ 
sioned by tbe ignition of a barrel of oil which a miner was 
trying to divide. The flames spread at once to the hoist¬ 
ing shaft and the air shaft, and all communication with 
the top was cut off. . . . Five men were killed and 
many injured August 28 at the Warrior Run Colliery of the 
Lehigh Valley Coal Company, when a runaway mine car 
dashed into a car full of miners who were being pulled up 
a slope. The slope is 2.000 feet long, running from the 
surface down to a vein which is about 900 feet under 
ground. When the car reached the third switching sta¬ 
tion on the slope the men heard a sudden roar, and were 
appalled upon looking up the slope to see a huge mine car 
rushing down at them with terrific speed. About half of 
the men were able to jump from the truck, and thus saved 
their lives, though all were more or less injured. The 
runaway, heavily laden with refuse, ran up the rope to 
which the truck was fastened and plunged down among 
the mine workers. Both cars plunged 1,000 feet down the 
slope. ... A flood in the Cimarron River, follow¬ 
ing a cloudburst, washed away a number of dwellings at 
Folsom, N. M., August 27. Fifteen persons are reported 
to have been drowned. Eleven bodies have been recovered. 
Ten miles of track and 12 bridges on tbe Colorado & 
Southern Railway were washed out. . . . Fire which 
broke out in the wholesale district of New Orleans, La., 
August 30, caused a loss of a million and a half dollars. 
The fire began at Bienville and Decatur streets in the 
factory of C. J. Wolf & Sons, also occupied by the Central 
Glass and Mirror Works. The fire began under the most 
unfavorable conditions in the old French quarter, where 
many of the buildings are very old. ... A number 
of bills passed by the New York Legislature this year, 
and approved by Governor Hughes, the most important 
of which is the so-called anti-bucketsliop law, went into 
effect September 1. The act aimed at bucketshops prohib¬ 
ited purchase or sale of securities when tbe contract is 
based merely on the public market quotations and there 
is no actual bona fide receipt or delivery of such securi¬ 
ties. _ Violation of the law is made a felony, punishable 
by a fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for not more than five 
years or both. Another important law which goes into 
effect is designed to make more stringent the provisions 
of law regarding the sale of cocaine. . . . Thousands 
of land seekers stood all night at different land oflices at 
Winnipeg. Manitoba, to take advantage of the new law 
effective September 1 throwing open Dominion lands. Lines 
were formed 36 hours in advance. Many adventurers 
came from the United States. Close upon 200 people 
waited at the land office here all night. In the line were 
several women who did not relinquish their post despite 
rain, which fell all through the night. .T. Jacobson clung 
to the doorknob and was able to enter for a homestead 
worth $1,500 or more for $10. At M"oose Jaw over a 
1,000 people stood in line all night and were drenched 
by rain. The Northwest mounted police and city con¬ 
stables were called out to keep order. At Maeleod, York- 
ton, Calgary and other Dominion land offices there were 
similar scenes. Thousands of homesteads of 100 acres 
each were handed over to applicants upon receipt of $10 
entry fee. . . . The open auxiliary sloop Minnie Belle 
of Deer Isle, Me., Capt. Samuel Haskell, carrying a party 
of 10 Summer residents, was capsized by a squall September 
T between Oak and Eagle islands and seven of the party 
were drowned. . . . The great oil well fire which has 
raged at Las Bocas, Mexico, for two months has been 
extinguished. Six giant centrifugal pumps poured gravel 
and mud into the mouth of the burning well for 10 days 
and this, coupled with persistent dynamite blasting, smoth¬ 
ered the flames. The oil has again worked its way to the 
surface and the well is flowing at the rate of 2,000 barrels 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
a dav. The oil is being banked in great reservoirs. It is 
estimated that 3.000,000 barrels of oil, valued at $3,000.- 
000 were burned. . . . Recent heavy rains have 
worked incalculable good in all but extinguishing the forest 
fire that have for weeks been raging in the Cowichan dis¬ 
trict and thence toward the heart of Vancouver Island, 
B. C. The cream of Vancouver’s most accessible timber 
wealth has been licked up by the fires, and the C. P. R., 
the Victoria and Chemainus Lumber Company and the 
Cowichan and Uadysmith Lumber companies are heavy 
sufferers, their losses running far into six figures. It is 
estimated that forest fires thus far this season throughout 
British Columbia have caused losses approximating $25,- 
000,000. The heaviest of these losses was in the Crow’s 
Nest section, where the destruction of the town of Fernie 
was a heavy contribution to the paralyzing total. . . 
Employment bureaus of Pittsburg and throughout western 
Pennsylvania have been informed that 5.000 men are badly 
needed by makers of coke in the Connellsville region to 
draw coke and do other rough work around the ovens. 
Tbe employment people, after a canvass of the situation, 
have reported that it is absolutely impossible to secure 
coke workers. Coke makers, particularly the II. C. Frick 
Company fuel end of the corporation find themselves in a 
quandary, as word has been sent out to start 75 per cent 
of all ovens in the Connellsville region in full, but there 
cannot be found enough men to run the ovens, within the 
past year 10.000 foreigners returned to their homes from 
that section and less than half that number have returned. 
As 20,000 men are required to handle ovens of the Con¬ 
nellsville field in full, a greater dearth is expected in the 
future, since men can now be secured to run only 7o per 
cent of tbe ovens. It lias been found impossible to run 
the coke ovens with American labor. 
NATIONAL WOOL GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION.—The 
movement to curb the operations of the middlemen on the 
wool market by restoring to the sheep men of the West 
absolute control of the product received its strongest im¬ 
pulse August 20 from the executive committee of the 
Wool Growers’ Association at its opening session in Salt 
Lake City. This body has undertaken the solution of the 
larger problem of national storage for western wools and 
to this end discussion was invited on the points of differ¬ 
ence which hitherto have kept sentiment among sheep¬ 
men divided. Representatives from Chicago, St. Joseph, 
Omaha, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Denver were present, 
their mission being to emphasize the advantages offered 
by their respective cities for the establishment of a perma¬ 
nent national wool market. In each case the claim was 
made that a great central market would have the support 
of allied interests. Befoi'e deciding upon action of any 
definite character the national executive committee an¬ 
nounced the appointment of a sub-committee, headed by 
Frederick W. Gooding, president of the National Grow¬ 
ers’ Association, whose function it will be to visit the 
cities which have become active bidders for the favor of 
the wool growers, reporting later to the national execu¬ 
tive committee. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
There are not enough sheep about here to amount to 
anything, and some I know of are going to dispose of the 
few they have ; too many dogs and the low price of wool. 
The leading industry here is dairying, with some market 
gardening, poultry and fruit. Hay was about an average 
crop, secured in good shape. Oats good j corn extra good. 
Potatoes, of which there is a large acreage, the poorest 
crop ever known ; some pieces not worth digging. It has 
been the driest since June 20 that the oldest man remem¬ 
bers. j. w. H. 
Chittenden Co., Vt. 
In your issue of August 22, under heading of “Brevities,” 
I notice your inability to recall any such “spotty” season 
as this, as some places have been burned up and others 
have a good crop. Allow me to add another spot to the 
map, which may help to straighten matters. We had 
frost June 8, 11 and 15: fine weather until July 1, and 
another frost; again a frost on July 8; fine weather until 
August 20, and a tub of water froze to ice one-quarter 
inch thick, leaving everything black on the ground. Root 
crops, such as beets, carrots, can be got. Potatoes are 
gone and have to be dug. According to reports tbe frost 
was general over the upper peninsula. n. m. n. 
Swanson, Mich. 
Weather fine, severe drought throughout July, but nice 
rains since. Early potatoes less than half a crop ; causes, 
blight, scab and drought. Late potatoes still green and 
promising a fair yield. Early planted corn short in fodder 
but well eared. I.ate planted corn good in stalk and ear. 
Buckwheat, the old standby as a money crop, almost an en¬ 
tire failure except in a few instances. Apples, fair in 
yield, above the average in quality, badly affected with 
Codling moth; althoiffeh most of our farmers are aware 
this pest can be controlled by proper spraying, yet few 
are interested enough to attempt it. Peaches and small 
fruits not raised in commercial quantities. Prices at near¬ 
est shipping point, choice Fall apples, $1.20 per barrel: 
potatoes, 80 cents per bushel; butter, 17 cents, eggs 18 
cents, young chickens 10 cents. p. p. 
Fulton Co., Pa. 
If the report of the apple crop now going through the 
press is not nearer the truth in other States than in Maine 
it is not worth a farthing. Maine is credited with 50 per 
cent of a full crop. ' Now in this, the western section of 
the State, where more apples are raised than in other sec¬ 
tions, there will be not more than 10 per cent of a crop. 
In a few sections there is reported 40 per cent of a crop, 
and in a few localities a little better, but in the entire State 
I do not think the average will much exceed 25 per cent. 
The corn crop is fairly good ; other crops hardly up to the 
average, except in Aroonstook County. The exceedingly 
light hay crop leaves the farmers overstocked, considerable 
of which must be sold. Owing to the light hay crop and 
light apple crop it is the hardest season for the Maine 
farmer for many years. s. G. s. 
' So. Livermore, Me. 
I am engaged in poultry, fruit and dairy business. The 
northern man of small means T would advise to stay out 
of New Mexico, if he intends to farm. Conditions are en¬ 
tirely different there; a cloudless sky and a hot sun for 
about 300 days in a year; alkali, rattlesnakes and centi¬ 
pedes in abundance; in August slow fever. I have been 
through the mill and know from experience. I started 
from Iowa with a carload of emigrant movables and $000 
in cash, .1,500 miles to the famous valley of the Pecos 
River. I was glad to get out of there later with our rail¬ 
road tickets. I returned to Iowa. I was seeking a milder 
climate, warmer Winters than in Iowa. My next move 
was to western Washington which I have never regretted. 
I keep 300 laying hens where wheat is $1.75 per 100 
pounds, and make it pay. Eggs are- worth on the local 
market 25 cents a dozen. d. . 
Washington. 
During thrt past four weeks I have been traveling over 
western New York between Syracuse and Lockport, both 
steam and trolley, over the Erie to Dansville, and have 
talked with farmers and produce buyers in reference to 
crops and the outlook, and this is the general consensus 
of opinion, together with my own observations; Wppat 
an average crop; barley and oats, bumper crops away 
above the average: beans, spotted, some excellent, some 
poor and very weedy, on the whole about an average; 
corn, tine. Recently I was in a field and I believe every 
hill was represented and every stalk had one or more 
big ears. Potatoes, from two-thirds to three-quarters of 
a crop. Many pieces not one-third of a crop. Potatoes 
came up very poorly. One large field on one of the best 
farms in Monroe County shows from one hill to one hun¬ 
dred that failed to come up. Never saw. a poorer stand. 
This is true of many fields. A large part of the plowing 
for wheat is already done. I believe farmers hurt their 
own interests by telling what big crops of potatoes they 
are harvesting or going to harvest. Two instances: one 
farmer reported 2,100 to 2,500 bushels last Fall from 
one field. As a matter of fact the buyer says he paid him 
for 1,250 bushels. Tbe other was having trouble to 
get a buyer for bis crop beeeause of the large size of the 
tubers. A buyer went to see them and bought. “How 
many arc there?” “Two big cars.” When they were 
sacked and delivered the buyer told me ho had hard work 
to make out one car. This exaggeration gives a wrong 
impression, and buyers take advantage and report the crop 
much more than it really is, and consequently are enabled 
to “bear” the market to the hurt of every producer. 
Rochester, N. Y. o. 
We have had dry weather since harvest in this part of 
Ohio; corn will not be more than a half crop, as we had 
much rain through May, June and up to July 20. This 
left corn shallow rooted and in poor shape for a drought. 
Pasture is short, early potatoes 05 to 75 per cent crop, 
late potatoes 35 to 40 per cent; oats about 35 per cent, 
hay a good crop; wheat 50 per cent; rye but little sown 
last Fall. We have had it so very hot through August up 
till the 20th it has been much harder on crops. The past 
week much cooler. The fruit crop, all except pears, is 
short and of a very poor quality. More than usual amount 
of buckwheat was sown, but a very short crop is antici¬ 
pated on account of the extremely hot sun while in bloom. 
Hay is bringing from $8 to $10 per ton ; wheat 85 to 90 
cents per bushel; oats 50 to 55 cents per bushel; potatoes 
85 cents to $1 per bushel; cheese, sweitzer, 10 to 11 cents 
per pound; apples, none for sale; fat stock very scarce 
here, but will bring fair prices. A. L. S. 
Monroe County, o. 
Some few sheep are kept in this vicinity, but they do not 
receive much attention, and are rather inferior, as the 
stock is mostly any old scrubs. I do not know why good 
sheep should not thrive hero, provided they receive the 
care and attention they should. This is a rather poor 
country. The lands are poor and worked in the poorest 
manner. Tobacco is the money crop, and all attention 
is given to that. Almost every farmer is holding and 
trying to work too much land, and that accounts for the 
slipshod treatment and the cheapness of land. There are 
numbers of people from other States here, but they nearly 
all make the mistake of going in debt for land and thus 
are handicapped and badly disappointed. The crops so 
far this year are rather below the average. The early 
Spring was too wet; then we had a spell of dry weather 
which went to the other extreme, consequently crops are 
in bad condition, for the wet weather would not allow 
cultivation and then the dry weather came just at the time 
growth was necessary. Tobacco looks fairly well. Corn 
is below the normal condition at this time" of the year. 
Hay was short, wheat and oats were not good. On the 
whole I would say this is a rather poor year in this 
section. w . K . 
Clarksville, Va. 
Sheep raising is not entered into to any extent bv 
farmers in this immediate vicinity although we always 
have a very good exhibit of small flocks at our annual 
cattle show and fair, those mostly being brought from 
Ansou Valley, about 15 miles west from Skowliegan, where 
the farmers are noted for their fine flocks. The farmers 
nearby are more given to horse raising rather than to 
sheep or cattle. The crops generally are now looking 
fairly well. The frequent showers of the past two weeks 
have improved the looks very much. The continued dry 
spell through July cut down the early potatoes, but the 
prospect looks favorable for a good crop of the later 
varieties. Sweet corn for canning which the last of 
July was thought to be about a failure, is coming for¬ 
ward very rapidly and prospects are favorable for nearly 
an average yield. The hay crop fell off from one-third 
to one-half, but is of a better quality than usual. Price Is 
from four to six dollars per ton higher than usual at this 
time of year. Of the apple crop early varieties are very 
bountiful, and no market to sell. Winter varieties re¬ 
ported a very small crop. Oats are now ripening very 
fast, and some are already harvesting them. Some pieces 
yield very small, others about an average crop compared 
with other years. 
Skowhegan, Me. _ m. b. h. 
PHEASANTS A NUISANCE. 
The Jerusalem correspondent of the Penn Yan (N. T.) 
Express said recently : 
“The pheasant problem is getting serious. A list of 
damages will be strictly kept and the State-asked to 
settle for all. The pheasant is more destructive than the 
squirrel or crow in corn, and the grape grower is the prey 
of the Mongolian pheasant. The domestic fowls and tur¬ 
keys are carefuly shut up and guarded, while the State 
turns thousands of ravenous pheasants out on the grape 
owner, and prevents the owner of the grapes from protect¬ 
ing the property that he was a warranty deed for, and you 
cannot keep the State from trespassing on your lands by 
putting up signs, etc. They would have the same legal right 
to import sheep from Colorado as pheasants from Man¬ 
churia and turn them loose on the fruit grower to destroy 
his crops. The Mongolian pheasant is a nuisance.” 
I believe tbe farmers and fruit growers need the help of 
the agricultural press to aid us in a fight against the game 
laws. I cannot believe that our State Legislature has 
any moral or even a legal right to compel the owners of 
private property to harbor wild fowl and animals and for¬ 
bid the owner from defending his property from being de¬ 
stroyed, and worst of all, issue licenses for others to tres¬ 
pass upon him, tramping down his grain, berries, etc. 
breaking the fences, and shooting the stock, either by acci¬ 
dent or on purpose. Now, if these same conditions could 
exist in the towns and cities such laws would be repealed 
so quickly it would make your head snap. With insect 
pests, rabbits, pheasants, crows, woodchucks, and fruit¬ 
eating birds, Potato bugs, etc., it is a continuous fight from 
one year’s end to the other, to have anything. Let people 
who work in the factories remember what Hale said about 
the eight-hour plan on the farm; it was eight hours in the 
forenoon and eight in the afternoon. Is it any wonder 
young men are backward about taking up farming as a 
business? * 
INSTITUTES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 
I have. just returned from a month’s work in the in¬ 
stitutes in . North Carolina. These I believe are the best 
conducted institutes in the whole country. They are con¬ 
ducted. for downright work, and there are no "frills. At 
every institute there is a separate one for the women, and 
skilled women give instructions in household economy and 
cooking. We had two cars, one of which was stocked 
with improved farm implements, and we had a man to 
give practical demonstrations with these where the farm¬ 
ers furnished teams. In tbe other car, a passenger car, 
we had some seats removed from one end and a kitchen, 
with all kitchen conveniences and seats for 60 women. 
A skilled woman teacher gave lectures and demonstrations 
on an oil stove. Then in the middle of the afternoon we 
had a joint session, .and another ladv lectured to tbe 
whole on the duties of the men and women on the farm 
in making homes, and she scored the men in such a 
pleasant way that they took it very kindly. T think that 
if the directors of some of the Northern States con'd 
spend some time at the North Carolina and Maryland 
institutes they could learn a great deal. North Carolina 
has no appropriation for institutes, but there were five 
parties in the field at once, supported by the Board of 
Agriculture from funds received from the tax on fertilizers, 
and in this way the farmers are getting some benefit from 
the tax they pay, for there are eleven million dollars worth 
of commercial fertilizers sold in the State, a large part 
of which could be saved by better farming, and we .IrLd 
to show them how. I made 55 lectures in the 30 days, 
and jumped from point to point on trains in meantime. 
The Southern Railroad furnished tbe cars and moved (hem 
from point to point without any charge, for the railroads 
are waking up to the importance of improving the agri¬ 
cultural conditions. The cotton crop is magnificent except 
in a few coast counties where a terrible flood a week ago 
bad seriously damaged the crops. The towns are on a 
boom and there are more good roads building in North 
Carolina than elsewhere. Mecklenburg County, where the 
city of Charlotte is located, has 300 miles of finely 
macadamized roads graded through the hills as level as a 
railroad, and I do hot believe there are finer roads any¬ 
where. W. F. MASSES. 
