1911. 
726 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—A flash of lightning which 
left no mark either on the dead or in the 
vicinity, killed 11 registered Holstein _cows 
June 13, and caused a loss of $5,050 to 
Charles F. Mackinson, a dairyman of Mid¬ 
dletown, N. Y. The cows were lying under 
a tree when a terrific electrical storm was 
in progress. The cows suddenly fell dead, 
following a brilliant flash of lightning. 
During the same storm the barn of John S. 
Bull, near by, was struck by lightning and 
destroyed. 
Fire supposed to have started from a 
spark from a locomotive in the rear of the 
Huttig Sash and Door Company’s plant at 
St Louis, Mo., June 15, destroyed eight 
acres of lumber, warehouses and factories. 
The plants of the Huttig Sash and Door 
Company, the Fathman and Miller Planing 
Mill Company, the Missouri Stair Company 
and the Mound City Box Company were de¬ 
stroyed The loss is estimated at $1,000,- 
000. The Huttig Company’s property was 
insured for $500,000. 
The cold storage warehouse State regula¬ 
tion hill was signed June 15 by Governor 
Dix and the new law goes into immediate 
effect. It is Chapter 335. It provides for 
the marking of all cold storage goods and 
they shall not be kept in storage for more 
than 10 months, except butter products, 
which mav remain in storage 12 months. 
State Health Commissioner Eugene II. Por¬ 
ter is given authority to inspect and su¬ 
pervise all cold storage plants and to make 
reasonable rules and regulations governing 
them. Warehousemen are required to file 
a report to the State Health Department in 
Januarv, May and September in each year, 
setting" forth the quantity of foodstuff in 
cold storage. The act prohibits the return 
of food to cold storage when once released 
to be placed on the market for sale. A 
violation of the new law is made a misde¬ 
meanor and prosecution may be directed 
against the corporation or its officers vio¬ 
lating the provisions of the statute. 
A. E. Greenwalt, president of the Penn¬ 
sylvania Federation of Labor, and Herbert 
Quick, editor of an agricultural journal, 
spoke June 15 in Washington in favor of 
the establishment in the I’ost Office De¬ 
partment of a parcels post service, at a 
hearing before the sub-committee of the 
House Committee on Post Offices and Post 
Iloads. Other representatives of the Postal 
Progress League, which has been active for 
years in trying to have a parcels post bill 
passed, are to be heard later by the com¬ 
mittee, which is considering two bills intro¬ 
duced by Representative Sulzer of New 
York providing for a parcels post. Mr. 
Quick told the committee that he thought 
a parcels post would be the greatest aid to 
the good roads movement that could be de¬ 
vised. He suggested that the service be 
restricted to a haul not to exceed fifty 
miles. The Sulzer bill providing for the 
establishment of a parcels post was advo¬ 
cated before the House Committee on Post 
Offices and Post Roads .Tune 1G by Nathan 
B. Williams of Fayetteville, Ark. Mr. Wil¬ 
liams told the committee that if the British 
postal authorities could make a contract 
with the American Express Company, such 
as he claimed they had made, and deliver 
an 11-pound package from any part of 
Great Britain to any part of the United 
States for 24 cents, the Post Office Depart¬ 
ment of this Government could afford to 
operate a similar service. Mr. Williams 
declared that about one-half of the busi¬ 
ness handled by the express companies of 
the country consisted of packages weighing 
less than 11 pounds, most of which would 
be sent by parcels post if such a service 
were established. The service would be 
profitable to the Government, he believed. 
On the application of Samuel P. Williams 
and several other stockholders. Justice 
Cohalan appointed June 10 two receivers 
for the United Wireless Telegraph Com¬ 
pany. The court named Robert E. Dowling 
and Sidney Harris. There wore already 
receiverships for the wireless company in 
Maine and New Jersey. Several of the 
company’s officials were recently convicted 
in the Federal Conrt. The plaintiffs, who 
have begun an action in equity, alleged 
that the affairs of the company were gross¬ 
ly mismanaged by the directors of the com¬ 
pany, with injury to them and to the 
corporation. Henry A. Wise, United States 
Attorney, who prosecuted the officers in the . 
Federal Conrt. was examined under a com¬ 
mission in the receivership proceeding. He 
said he knew of money the defendants had 
concealed, but refused to say where it was 
because he expected to make them pay the 
$50,000 costs that the United States was put 
to in the prosecution. The United Wire¬ 
less Company was organized under the laws 
of Maine. It has an authorized common 
stock of $10,000,000 and preferred stock of 
$3,000,000. The corporation owns valuable 
personal property, including patents and 
patent rights. 
WASHINGTON.—By a vote of 221 to 100 
the House of Representatives June 20 
passed the Democratic wool revision bill. 
The announcement of the result was greeted 
with great applause by the Democrats. A 
message was received frdm the President, 
stating that the Tariff Board had not com¬ 
pleted its report on the wool schedule and 
that for this reason he found it imprac¬ 
tical to comply with the resolution recently 
passed by the House calling for the data 
on wool collected by the board. 
Henry T. Oxnard, vice-president of the 
American Beet Sugar Company, told the 
Hardwick investigating committee of the 
House .Tune 16 how John E. Parsons, as 
counsel for the American Sugar Refining 
Company had O. K.’d an agreement between 
the sugar trust and the American Beet 
Sugar Company, which later was abrogated 
bv the beet sugar folks because they were 
advised that it might land some of them 
in jail for violating the Sherman anti trust 
law. The questionable agreement was en¬ 
tered into by the two sugar interests in 
1963, 'after the sugar trust had tried in 
vain to drive the beet sugar people out of 
business by cutting prices. Under the 
agreement the American Sugar Refining 
Company became the selling agent of the 
American Beet Sugar Company. In de¬ 
scribing the sugar trust’s efforts to drive 
the beet sugar interests out of business, 
Mr. Oxnard said that in October. 1901, the 
American Sugar Refining Company dropped 
its price from five cents to 3% cents a 
pound in the Missouri River Valley for the 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
purpose of damaging the beet sugar inter¬ 
ests. “That was the only effort ever made 
by the American Sugar Refining Company 
to drive the beet sugar people out of busi¬ 
ness," the witness added. Mr. Oxnard said 
that the purpose of the American Sugar 
Refining Company was apparently to com¬ 
pel the beet sugar factories to fill their 
then existing contracts at 3% cents a 
pound, which was less than the cost of pro¬ 
duction. In reply to questions by Repre¬ 
sentative Fordney, Mr. Oxnard said that the 
removal of the existing duties would ruin 
the beet sugar industry. Mr. Oxnard said 
that the American Sugar Refining Com¬ 
pany controlled only about 20 per cent, of 
the beet sugar industry, and there was no 
division of territory or agreement to control 
prices. The American Sugar Refining Com¬ 
pany had considerably aided in the growth 
of the beet sugar industry by its enormous 
capital and its experimenters. 
FARM AND GARDEN. — After three 
years’ efforts by the State authorities the 
scourge of the elm tree beetle has been 
checked in Connecticut. Now a similar pest 
has been discovered attacking the maple 
trees in Northern Connecticut and Vermont. 
Sugar maples over tracts many miles square 
are victims of this new scourge. The ground 
under the trees is covered with dead leaves 
and the trees are bare. Unless something is 
discovered to prevent its spread, the annual 
New England maple sugar crop will soon 
be a thing of the past 
George G. Brown, secretary of the Live 
Poultry Commission Merchants’ Protective 
Association, 19 of whose members are on 
trial for conspiring to injure trade and 
commerce, testified in General Sessions at 
New York June 19 that he had feared that 
the Armours and other large packing houses 
were planning to get the live poultry trade 
in New York and that the commission men 
had to combine to fight them. Assistant 
District Attorney De Ford asked many 
questions to find out if he could just in 
what way the big packing houses were 
threatening the chicken men. 
An international egg-laying contest, un¬ 
der the auspices of the Philadelphia North 
American and a board of experts, will 
shortly be started at the Connecticnt Ex¬ 
periment Station at Storrs. This is in line 
with the Australian egg-laying contests, of 
which about 10 are now in progress in that 
eounti'y. The advisory board of the Storrs 
contest includes the following: G. A. Me- 
Dcvitt and F. V. L. Turner, of the North 
American staff; Prof. F. H. Stoneburn, Con¬ 
necticut Agricultural College, Storrs, Cohd. ; 
T. F. McGrow, of the International Cor¬ 
respondence Schools, Scranton, Pa.; Dr. P. T. 
Woods, of the American Poultry Journal, 
Chicago, Ill. ; Dr. N. W. Sanborn, of the 
American Poultry Advocate, Syracuse. N. 
Y. ; Dr. A. A. Brigham, South Dakota 
School of Agriculture, Brookings, S. D. ; 
Prof. Homer Jackson, Pennsylvania State 
College, State College, Pa. ; Prof. F. C. El- 
ford, Macdonald College, Quebec. 
DIARY OF FARM WORK. 
ed Saturday, and after cutting buds and 
blossoms from the rhubarb, for I raise to 
sell a few hundred pounds yearly in the 
local market; then I hitch up the old black 
horse to the Keystone weeder and run be¬ 
tween the Shaffer raspberries and over the 
little asparagus hod, both raised for our 
own use. Then the grapes, about 150, set 
9x6, mostly Worden, whose good clusters 
bring us eight to 10 cents per pound whole¬ 
sale early in the grape season. The land 
is light and too poor for most crops, but the 
grapes thrive well upon it, hence the weeder 
does good work, as the soil is mellow and 
fine. As I pass the Campbell's Early full 
of bloom, with its largo clusters, I only wish 
it would do better than in the past, and 
a Brown’s Seedling. Well, I have some of 
my own I like better than that, and quite 
a number, some poor, some good, but they 
give variety to the list. Then over the po¬ 
tatoes, sweet corn and beans for home use. 
No hoe will be needed unless in the grape's, 
and I will let a hired man do that, for I do 
not enjoy doing what he can just as well do. 
This brings me to the end of my first 
filler-set apple orchard, and I run through 
four rows of that. The Wagoner and Mc¬ 
Intosh nearly all show a good setting of 
fruit, and. their branches begin to touch. 
But how tempting to raise just one more 
crop of Wagoners, they are so good and sell 
so well, before cutting them out. But the 
weather has changed, the clouds have thick¬ 
ened and for the first time I feel it will 
rain. Now all my plans for the day are 
changed, for within my storehouse are over 
two tons of nitrate of soda destined mostly 
for the younger trees, and not yet applied 
because of lack of rain. So at 10 a. m. I 
am throwing nitrate round my young plum 
trees set between young apples, and the ap¬ 
ples which do not wear a bright green coat 
are not forgotten. At noon 1 look to see if 
by chance some bees may have swarmed, as 
a number have in the last few warm days, 
but the weather is too cold and cloudy to 
suit them to-day. The rest of the day was 
used in applying nitrate all upon the trees 
except 500 pounds upon some grass land 
the dry weather had pinched quite badly. 
Before night a light rain and mist had set 
in, aDd when supper was eaten a good 
ster.dy rain was falling. To-dav I had 
planned to work alone, as all my help is 
day help. It is possible to meet my needs 
more easily than where help is kept stead¬ 
ily. And I might add nine hours is a day’s 
work for such help here on all our farms. 
June 6.—This morning it is still raining, 
md little to do except there is about a 
on of nitrate not yet sifted and the lumps 
jroken up. This is a rainy day job all 
ight and it took two of us about 2 1 /" hours 
to put it through a quarter-inch screen, 
ireaking up the lumps and putting it into 
100 -pound bags. I applied a little more 
nitrate when there was a little let-up in 
the rain, did a little rainy day work which 
v on Id not interest the reader, and as the 
rain still keeps coming I am thank till that 
2 500 pounds of the soda is where it will 
jo some good and the rain will prove a 
nlessing to all our farmers here, lor it was 
srerv badly needed. 11 • mead. 
__ /\ ATn 
In Northern New York. 
A Pennsylvania Farm Day. 
The morning of May 29 dawned clear and 
hot, no signs of rain, and vegetation dry¬ 
ing up for the want of it. In the after¬ 
noon a little black cloud arose in the 
north and started slowly southward, ac¬ 
companied by heavy thunder and lightning. 
It began to rain gradually at first, then 
faster, then big black clouds began coming 
from every direction, and finally they all 
got together and the worst rain and hail¬ 
storm of many years was on, lasting an 
hour and a half. Hillsides were gullied, 
roads and bridges torn up and washed 
away, and as I have the honorable posi¬ 
tion of path master over a certain amount 
of road that was located right in the path 
of the storm, 1 have been repairing roads 
and bridges constantly ever since. Now 
for the report. Arose 4.30, built the fire, 
tapped on the stove pipe until Harriet, the 
oldest girl, said Y-e-s. Everybody works at 
our house, father included. I "hurried to 
the barn, fed the horses, cows, etc., by that 
time the children were out, two girls and 
a hoy. We milked the cows, separated the 
milk, fed the calves and pigs, then break¬ 
fast. After the meal was over I hiked it 
a mile before seven o’clock to hold the 
levers to a six-horse grader for the day, 
getting home at 7 p. m. The boy and 
hired man cultivated corn until noon, then 
the hoy cultivated the potatoes and garden 
with his team, the hired man pulling some 
wild cotton-weed out of the potatoes, after 
which the hoy went back to cultivating corn 
and the hired man commenced putting back 
one of the two farm bridges that were 
washed away. After supper the children 
and hired man milked while I looked over 
the daily mail; then I pitched a few games 
of quoits with the boy, after which I came 
in to write up my report, after which I 
will take little Bob, the four-year-old’white' 
headed boy and go to bed with nearly the 
same kind of work before us for to-morrow, 
hut my wife is still busy in the adjoining 
room as I write, and I think the job will 
last quite a long time yet. She is trying 
to quiet the baby, who is cutting teeth. 
Weather fair and cool. w. A. BANGS. 
Columbia Co., Pa. 
A Massachusetts Fruit Farm. 
June 5.—The little clock in my bachelor 
apartment showed five a. m. as I started to 
build the kitchen fire for my housekeeper, 
and then there were a few chores at the 
barn, including the milking of the Guernsey, 
for I prefer our own milk and an opportu¬ 
nity to use what we wish at any time, 
rather than depending upon a milkman. 
The surplus can all be sold at the door, so 
she makes little extra trouble and really 
gives us as a present what we need for our 
own use. The morning is cold and cloudy, 
with a downcast wind, 46 at five a. m., 
and the self-registering says down to 41 
in the night, the coldest for a long time, 
as we have been having some very warm 
weather lately. After breakfast I expect 
to begin my farm work at seven a. m„ and 
by the way, Fruto Farm has not been so 
quiet at this time of year, with so little of 
farm or team help for more than 30 years, 
and for the first time no crops will be 
planted to sell. Much of the orchard land 
cultivated for years will be given a year’s 
rest. Yet I am busy just the same. I have 
ah acre or so near my buildings under cul¬ 
tivation, which grows many different things, 
even a few flowers. Part had been cultivat¬ 
June 12. Heavy thunder and downpour 
last night. Crops looked refreshed this 
morning. Intended cultivating corn and 
potatoes, but it is too wet. Corn and pota_- 
toos are looking fine. Rising at 4.30 to o 
o’clock, one man proceeds to get cows from 
night pasture, two more feed horses, etc., 
the fourth man brings pails and milk cart. 
Bv this time cows in yard or stable, an 
hands at milking; one man milks two cow»> 
then starts separator. By the time last cow 
is milked separating is nearly done. One 
sees to horses, another drives cows to day 
pasture, another rinses dairy utensils and 
I feed calves, herd bull, fowls and several 
hundred chickens. Breakfast at 0 to 6.30. 
Hogs and pigs fed and rest of chores done, 
we start pressing rye straw; do this at odd 
times. We prefer to do it ourselves, as 
regular press gang make bales too ragged. 
Press until 12 o’clock, have about one hour 
noon, press again until 5 p. m.. then sup¬ 
per or tea, milking and other work 
(chores) ; the day’s work then done. 
June 13. Finished pressing to-day at 3 
p. m.; cleaned up in general and stored 
press, etc. 
.Tune 14. Weather fine this morning, 
ground moist and mellow. Two men cul¬ 
tivated, hoed aud thinned fruit patch, con¬ 
sisting of grapes, pears, plums, cherries, 
berries etc. Another cultivated corn (which 
was sown in drills) with a two-horse rid¬ 
ing cultivator, a fine implement for line 
work; also with one-horse hand cultivator, 
cultivated potatoes, strawberries, cucum¬ 
bers, cabbage, tomatoes, etc., in garden. 
w. R. 
A Central New York Farm. 
Thursday, June 15.—At 4.30 a. m. we 
start for the chores and milking; this was 
finished at 6.30, and at 6.45 breakfast was 
served. The day is one of a continued rainy 
spell, so the proprietor goes to town on 
business, while the hired man is left to 
clean the vat in the milk house and cut 
wood. The boss returns at noon, and after 
dinner, the weather being brighter, the man 
is set to cultivate corn, while the proprietor 
resets the plants in the cabbage patch. 
He stops to pick a few berries on his way 
to the house and gets wet in one of those 
frequent showers. No more is attempted 
until milking time, which is finished at 7. 
Friday, June 16.—Up and milking at 
4.30. The day seems clear, and it is 
planned to cultivate, but before breakfast 
is finished it starts raining, so the team 
harness is thoroughly cleaned and given a 
good dressing of oil. This takes until after 
dinner, and after repairing a wagon, the 
rain having stopped, the man is sent with 
hoe to cut thistles in the corn and the 
proprietor spends a time reading. At 4.30 
the man is called for supper, after which 
the chickens and hens are fed and the 
milking finished at 6.45. 
Saturday, .Tune 17.—Milking, as usual, at 
4 :45. The day promises fair, and we must 
make every effort to capture the moisture 
with which we have been blessed. The boss 
goes to the pasture for colt, while the man 
hauls the manure from the barn. The man 
then takes one horse and goes to the lower 
plot to cultivate, while the proprietor takes 
the sulky, and the whole day is spent in 
this way; 5 o’clock supper and milking, 
after which the boss works a few minutes 
in the garden, aided by the mistress, and 
the man goes to the village to spend his 
evening there. harry barker. 
Otsego Go., N. Y. 
Day on a Maryland Farm. 
June 16. Cloudy and cooler. My last 
seeding of oats is nearly ready to cut for 
hay, but owing to the long drought seems 
hardly worth the cutting. Turn the sheep 
on them this morning, as pasturage is very 
short. Send off 24 old Leghorn hens, fairly 
plump, to town by the local market wagon ; 
weight, 80 pounds. Since the hot weather 
began, smaller birds are easier to sell, old 
hens bringing 15 to 16 cents. Send my 
man, with the colt and a horse hoe to cul¬ 
tivate the corn in the back hill field. Ex¬ 
cept for washing out parts of three or four 
rows, the severe hailstorm last Monday 
seems to have done my corn little damage, 
as it was luckily, all planted late. Corn and 
wheat on neighboring farms was much in¬ 
jured. Most of the washing was in the 
corn rows, and when I used the spike tooth 
harrow right after planting little soil was 
washed off. 
As soon as chores were done, I hitched 
the big mare to the one-horse corn planter, 
with block set to drill continuously. Went 
out to the field above the peach orchard, 
that I finished harrowing for cow peas yes¬ 
terday. This field (1 \> acre) was iu late 
corn last year. I sowed Winter vetch at the 
last working, which came up well but Win¬ 
ter killed. Whether this was due to the dry 
Fall and severe Winter or to lack of inocu¬ 
lation I do not know. I spent the remain¬ 
der of the day putting in a mixture of cow 
peas and sorghum in rows three feet apart. 
Since cow peas are high and scarce and 
grass a failure I must make all the fodder I 
can from seed on hand. Used five pocks of 
peas; one bushel I treated with a sample 
bottle of Farmogerm, and the remaining 
peck, untreated, I planted as a check. 
Shall be interested to see if this artificial 
inoculation makes any difference. I mean 
to follow the peas with rye or rye and 
vetch. There were too many loose stones 
for good work and wire grass troubled some. 
Early in the afternoon, the marker caught 
on a small locust stump and snapped in 
two. Lost half an hour putting in a new 
piece of wood. I must clear out all stumps 
and as many stones as possible before an- 
otlior SGcdinir. 
I stopped ^long enough at noon to take a 
full super off hive No. 3 and put the escape 
hoard under a full super on No. 4 ; would 
have gotten at least 30 pounds more from 
No. 3 if I had put another super on earlier 
instead of letting them fill the brood frames 
with honey. Honey taken to-day was clear 
and white. Planted a couple of rows of let¬ 
tuce in the hotbed for home use; we shall 
need plenty this Summer to help out the 
garden. After dark I cooped up 20 more 
old Leghorns for next week’s delivery. This 
about finishes up the old stock I want to 
dispose of and the work for to-day. 
Maryland. a. b. 
CROP NOTES. 
I am on a 300-acre farm in the Genesee 
Valley. Crops are looking well; have 40 
cows, and other stock ; wheat, oats, barley, 
30 acres of corn, all looking well. a. l. m. 
Lakeville, N. Y. 
We just finished stacking our oats yester-^ 
day. We only used one team in stacking, 
using the other two on a disk harrow, get¬ 
ting the oats ground ready for a crop of 
corn and peas. g. w. m. 
Jackson, Miss. 
After a very wet Spring we have had 
four weeks of dry weather without a drop 
of rain, which is very damaging to corn, as 
is always needs rain at this time. Cotton 
is also needing rain; the hay crop is good. 
Ilallettsville, Tex. v. w. s. 
Light rain .Tune 17; corn is doing well 
and is clear of weeds. Clover hay is being 
cut. oats turning; meadows will be only 
one-half crop. It has been dry and hot up 
to to-day (.Tune 17) ; there will be only 
light crop of Winter apples; only a few 
pears escaped the frost. This is quite a 
sheep section. M - s - 
Brashear, Mo. 
Both the sweet and sour cherry crop in 
Manistee County will be nearly a total 
failure. The Winter apples will not be over 
one-third of a crop. The Fall apples, such 
as Duchess and Wealthy, will be a full 
crop in many of the orchards. The peach 
crop will be good, as well as the raspber¬ 
ries. E. V. A. 
Manistee, County, Mich. 
I am glad to report that the present pros¬ 
pects for fruit in this locality are very 
good, although somewhat less than bloom 
promised. Owing to the large number of 
trees that are coming into bearing, this 
County will probably have much the largest 
apple crop it has ever seen. Peaches are 
rather light, plums a good crop, and cher¬ 
ries about half a crop. c. J. t. 
Adams Co., Pa. 
The prospect for apples is very good for 
all varieties, except Baldwins, which are 
very light, and when we remember that 
Baldwins constitute three-fourths of the 
trees in bearing in Western New York it 
does not mean an average crop. Poaches 
light throughout this ridge section eight to 
10 miles from the lake, but nearer the lake 
a good crop. Small fruit an average crop. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. s. w. w. 
Conditions in Michigan are promising. 
I have been the whole length of the eastern 
part of the State, and crops are good. 
Wheat fine, hay fair, oats good, corn com- 
ing and potatoes looking good. Copper and 
iron are low and the upper _ peninsula is 
not as prosperous; still, there is much pros¬ 
perity there. Eventually farming will be 
quite an industry up there. Good hay, oats 
and potatoes are grown and fine prices re¬ 
ceived. c - R - 
Drought broken here by local showers, hut 
not in time to save oats, Timothy or clover. 
These are all failures. Early potatoes also 
are cut short. Wheat harvest now on; crop 
good. Corn small, hut clean and well cul¬ 
tivated. Fruit abundant. Cherry crop 
breaks records; now picking red raspber¬ 
ries, currants and Early Harvest blackber¬ 
ries. Pears, apples and plums full to over¬ 
bearing. Farmers inquiring what to do in 
order to meet loss of hay and oats; young 
clover entirely killed out. Alfalfa seems 
to stand drought well; a neighbor just fin¬ 
ished cutting an eight-year-old tract in Al¬ 
falfa and got two tons to the acre. Stock 
conditions normal; horses in good demand. 
We are waiting patiently to see what will 
be done on reciprocity. Farmers here are 
“waking up"; something is going to fall. 
Carroll Co., Ind. J. h. h. 
