1911. 
THE RURAR tstEW-YORKER 
7-41 
DIARY OF FARM WORK. 
A Central New York Dairy Farm. 
June 13.—We arose at 5 a. m. and found 
tbe ground soaked with water. In fact, it 
has been raining nearly every day for a 
week and thunder showers followed thunder 
showers. The culmination came last nigut, 
when terrible black clouds rolled up from 
the west; but before the storm broke it 
seemed to split—thanks to the hills—and 
the heft of it went either side of us. Five 
miles south trees were uprooted and the 
roofs blown from some buildings. As it 
was we only got a good soaking, which of 
course precludes working the ground to-day. 
But we have the chores to do, and I hustle 
•after the cows while Carlyle feeds the horses. 
The younger boy, Harold, milks three easy 
cows, and when we are nearly through, puts 
Dolly on the tread to separate the milk. 
We feed the calves and pigs the warm, new 
milk right from the separator, and the 
youngest calves get a little whole milk, while 
the older ones have dry grain after their 
milk. Breakfast at 7, and Harold and the 
girl get ready to drive over to the high 
school. This is the last week, and Carlyle 
graduates. He has no school work to-day 
and will help me. The children take along 
20 quarts of cream for the ice-cream man, 
but we do not deliver butter to-day. Car¬ 
lyle washes the separator and milk utensils 
and slicks up the dairy house while I clean 
the barn. 
It is a good thing that we have a wet 
day when it is not actually raining. This 
has been a fine Spring for work since it 
finally came, and we have kept right out in 
the fields regardless of everything else. Last 
Fall I bought a barn and tore it down and 
built an addition to our home barn. Of 
course there was a great litter around, and 
snow came before we got it cleaned up. Well 
that mess has lain around ever since, and 
people would ride past and make remarks 
about it—and very properly too. So to-day 
we went after this stuff, sorting out what 
might be useful and putting it in different 
piles out of the way, while the rubbish was 
drawn to the woodyard ready for the buzz- 
saw. We had it pretty well cleaned up at 
four o’clock when it began raining again, 
and soon the children arrived from school 
pretty wet, but happy, for Helen does not 
have' to wash the mud-bespattered white 
dress. 
Supper a little before five, and then a 
repetition of the morning chores. After that 
a bustle to get ready for town, for this is 
“Grange night.” There we found several 
candidates waiting to take degrees, and as 
the Overseer was absent. I was called upon 
to fill that station. It was 10.40 when the 
Master asked “Are the labors of the day 
completed,” and it was very thankfully 
that I replied, “They are. Worthy Master.” 
But there was still ice cream and cake to 
be eaten and the drive home, so the clock 
was just striking the hour of midnight when 
we came into the house. Then we went to 
bed very well satisfied for “the life of the 
farmer you know is the happiest life ever 
led—provided he works 18 hours every day 
and devotes only six to his bed.”- 
Madison Co., N. Y. J. grant morse. 
A Mexican Farm Day. 
On the 14th of .Tune the following was 
done on my place near here called “Itancho 
El Faro.” On the break of day five men 
were started planting corn and planted dur¬ 
ing the day 40 liters each, total of 200 
liters or two hectoliters, or 11.32 bushels. 
The ground had been previously prepared by 
plowing six to eight inches deep and then 
thoroughly smoothed over with a No. 5 Cut¬ 
away double disk harrow. We had several 
good rains the few days previous, making 
the ground easy to work. All planting was 
done by hand ; as the furrows were turned 
boys followed dropping the grain. We are 
entirely dependent on the rains to make a 
crop, and this year is very promising. The 
land is also prepared before in May, so as 
to take advantage of the first rains for 
planting. Between the corn we shall also 
plant heans, but this will be done the lat¬ 
ter part of the month. My place is 300 
acres, and will have over 200 acres in crops 
by the end of this month, corn and beans; 
I have also cut wheat crop from part of it. 
Our altitude is G,200 feet above sea level, 
climate dry and extremely healthy. Soil is 
red, sandy loam, in parts very deep. 
Chihuahua, Mex. E. o. matiiews. 
Rain on a Jersey Truck Farm. 
It was Saturday night, and as Mr. Trucker 
planned the work for the following week 
the prospect was bright. In the 12-acre 
patch of sweet potatoes crab grass was 
starting, but he planned to put the day 
hands in it Monday after cutting asparagus, 
while a slx-aci-e field of tomatoes was to be 
harrowed by the boy before the vines closed 
the rows. He also thought with satisfac¬ 
tion of a six-acre field of strawberries that 
would be in prime market condition by Mon¬ 
day, when 18 pickers would start picking 
them. Then, too, a two-acre plot of Al¬ 
falfa, cut the day before, was now in the 
cock, with prospect of good weather over 
Sunday. Such was the situation Saturday 
night. 
Sunday morning dawned bright and pleas¬ 
ant, so Mr. Trucker and family hitched up 
and drove to church. They enjoyed the 
sermon, and, after a short talk with friends, 
drove home. Thus far things had been go¬ 
ing smoothly, but from this on Mr. Trucker 
seemed to be baffled at every turn. The 
day was very warm, and on reaching home 
he found an Italian who wanted the “boss” 
to come right away over to the house and 
6top too much trouble and fight. Mr. 
Trucker went and found two gangs of berry 
pickers quarrelling over water. The well 
had gone dry, and a gang from another 
farm insisted on pumping before any more 
ran In. This made trouble all around. Mr. 
Trucker straightened things out, but was 
late for dinner, and consequently his after¬ 
noon nap was shortened. The evening was 
pleasant. It was spent in visiting a neigh¬ 
bor, and when driving home Mr. Trucker 
remarked that he would get at least one 
lot of Alfalfa cured exactly as farm papers 
say It should be. But not so. In the night 
he was awakened by thunder, got up, 
dressed, closed the barn doors and reached 
the house just as the storm broke. It was 
the heaviest of the season, with high wind. 
When moteing dawned a six-acre field of 
rye was almo flat tomatoes, melons and 
cantaloupe vines twisted, strawberry patch 
soaking .e , potat; field too wet to work 
in that day, while asparagus, grown very 
tall over the warm Sunday, had turned 
tips into the wind, and every shoot was 
crooked. It was cut and bunched between 
showers and ready for shipment by noon. 
The berry pickers picked 56 crates (32 
quarts) of berries, and these, with a veal 
calf, were all to be shipped on the midday 
freight. Mr. Trucker attempted to call up 
a dealer on the telephone to get prices, but 
it was burned out and he learned nothing. 
On reaching the station he found the price 
50 cents a crate less than on Saturday. 
Little was done in the potato field that 
afternoon. 
Monday night another shower came up 
and proved more destructive than the other, 
with greater rainfall; there was. therefore, 
the following day no harrowing in the to¬ 
mato patch, and very ineffective work in 
the potato field. It was hot and showery; 
pickers managed to get only 16 crates, while 
some berries began to rot. Tuesday night 
there was another shower, but not as heavy 
as before. 
Wednesday was clear and cool. Aspar¬ 
agus was cut early. Mr. Trucker could wait 
no longer, so started two of the day hands 
in the potato field to “move” the grass, if 
not to kill it. Another plowed a three- 
year-old berry patch in preparation for a 
crop of 90-day corn. The boy harrowed 
asparagus, as no harm could be done that 
crop, even if soil was wet. The pickers got 
103 crates of berries, which were sold to 
dealers at the low price of .$1.40 a crate. 
The Alfalfa was spread out to dry. 
Thursday dawned clear, bright and cool. 
Just the right kind of weather for straw¬ 
berries, for drying Alfalfa or killing grass. 
Mr. Trucker was sure things were going to 
shape up again. After cutting asparagus 
he started the boy in that tomato patch; 
vines had grown so he could only harrow 
once to the middle, but it helped. The day 
hands were put in the potato patch and by 
noon made a good showing. After noon the 
Italians picked peas, one man raked up 
Alfalfa, and Mr. Trucker took 78 crates of 
berries, picked in the morning, to the sta¬ 
tion. When he returned, the springs were 
taken from under the wagon body, stand¬ 
ards put in, and three men started for the 
Alfalfa. There were two loads. One was 
soon on and up to the barn, but a clap of 
thunder was heard and another shower was 
seen approaching. Mr. Trucker had every¬ 
thing in readiness, two forkfuls wore in 
the barn, and the grapple fork jammed 
down for another load when the storm 
broke. The wind caught the mow door, the 
rope broke and the door blew shut, jam¬ 
ming the car and pulley. The air was full 
of sand, and Mr. Trucker had all he could 
do to get the horses in the stable. Then it 
rained, and Mr. Trucker declared Alfalfa was 
no crop for him to grow. It rained every 
time he touched it, and to the best of his 
knowledge he had never cut a single load 
without getting it wet. The storm was soon 
over, however, the jammed door loosened, 
and after throwing part of the load on the 
floor for feeding, the remainder was put 
in the mow. It was too damp to haul the 
other load, and as the boy had reported a 
full crop of bugs on the potatoes and egg¬ 
plants, Mr. Trucker decided to go to town 
and get some Paris green. But at this 
point some one shouted: “Hello, Boss! 
Cows are out! Wind blew down the fence!” 
On going around the barn he saw one lot 
of cows in the cabbage patch (cabbage al¬ 
most ready to cut and higher than for 
years), and another, consisting mostly of 
milkers, helping themselves to onions. They 
were brought up; one man dispatched to 
fix fence and Mr. Trucker drove away, think¬ 
ing of what the good wife would say when 
she found the milk and cream flavored witff 
onion. 
Things go Better. —Friday morning 
dawned bright and clear. Mr. Trucker de¬ 
termined to make this day’s work count. 
No berries were to be marketed, so he hired 
seven of the Italians, paying $1.25 each, and 
set them in the large potato patch with 
“scalpers.” The day hands cut asparagus 
and then two of them, with the boy to har¬ 
row, tackled a plot of 20,000 sweet potatoes 
planted in the young peach orchard. An¬ 
other, after dusting Paris green mixed with 
plaster on the white potatoes, hoed a young 
bed of asparagus, while the fourth cut off 
pea vines from the patch picked for the last 
time the day before, and hauled them to the 
cows. Trucker, Jr., bunched the asparagus, 
ran the weeder over the patch, then har¬ 
rowed eggplants. Mr. Trucker himself, after 
getting the others started, cultivated corn 
with a two-horse gang plow. This made a 
total of 14 “grass fighters,” and they won 
out. By night the large patch of potatoes 
was finished, three acres of tomato patch 
cleaned up around the hill, asparagus hoed, 
pea vines cut off and the ground ready to 
fit for string beans, eggplants harrowed, 
much of the eight-acre cornfield cleaned up. 
and Mr. Trucker began to take heart again. 
Saturday morning the Italians picked ber¬ 
ries again; they picked the small patches 
and surprised Mr. Trucker by getting 41 
crates, much more than he expected. The 
day hands, after cutting asparagus (only 50 
bunches this time), finished the small patch 
of potatoes and hoed watermelons. The boy 
crated berries and Mr. Trucker finished the 
corn. Trucker, Jr., bunched the “grass,” 
finished harrowing the tomatoes and in the 
afternoon harrowed the white potatoes 
(small patch for home use), then harrowed 
squashes until night. Mr. Trucker took the 
berries and asparagus away at noon, after 
which the other load of Alfalfa was hauled 
in, and, as the last forkful went in the 
barn, a few drops of rain fell, and after 
supper it settled in for a rainy night. 
After a good, hearty supper, topped off 
with a big dish of strawberries and cream 
(not tainted with onions, either), Mr. 
Trucker had time to look over the mail. 
First of all there were two checks for ber¬ 
ries, one of them larger than he expected. 
Another letter contained a check for $18 for 
the calf (240 pounds at 7/ 2 cents), while 
in another was an account sales of mis¬ 
cellaneous produce from his regular commis¬ 
sion house, showing asparagus prices higher, 
fancy selling at $3 a dozen bunches, while 
for early peas the prices ranged from 85 
cents to $1 a basket. Only one bushel of 
seed had been planted, but from that the 
yield was 91 20-quart baskets. The returns 
on the crop, less freight and commission, 
were $78.05. There was also a daily paper 
and several farm papers, but before he set¬ 
tled down to read Mr. Trucker walked to 
the barn, and as he saw the clean crops on 
either side, he felt that, after all, the week’s 
work had not counted for naught. On en¬ 
tering the barn and seeing the horses con¬ 
tentedly chewing the Alfalfa hay, he thought 
that after all it would not be well for him 
to stop growing it, for spoiled Alfalfa might 
be better than no Alfalfa, and on thinking 
of the fine tomatoes growing on Alfalfa sod, 
and of those alongside (without an Alfalfa 
foundation) net nearly so good, he conclud¬ 
ed that a truck farm was a pretty good 
place, after all, but it would not be quite as 
nice if he left out the Alfalfa. 
Gloucester Co., N. J. trucker, jb. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Judges Gray of Wilming¬ 
ton, Buffington of Pittsburg and Lanning of 
Trenton, N. J., filed an opinion in the 
United States Circuit Court at Wilmington, 
Del., June 24, declaring the DuPont Powder 
Company and 27 other companies and indi¬ 
viduals to be guilty of “maintaining a com¬ 
bination in restraint of interstate com¬ 
merce in powder and other explosives.” The 
Dills against Senator Henry A. DuPont and 
14 other defendants were dismissed. This 
is the suit of the Government against the 
powder trust for alleged violation of the 
Sherman antitrust act. The opinion, 
which was written by Judge Lanning, and 
in which the other two Judges concur, en¬ 
joins the defendants from continuing “said 
combination” and orders that it be dis¬ 
solved. The court will hear on October 16 
as “to the nature of the injunction which 
shall be granted herein and as to any plan 
for dissolving said combination.” 
Two deaths from cholera and one death 
at sea hitherto not reported were announced 
June 21 at Quarantine, New York. Paolo 
Lebuzzetti, three years old, died at the 
pest house on Swinburne Island, and Mel- 
chiorre Raffa, 29 years old, died on the 
transfer boat "James W. Wadsworth” on 
the way to Swinburne Island. In all four 
cases have developed. All the dead were 
passengers on board the Duca degli Abruzzi, 
which arrived at New York June 20 from 
Mediterranean ports. 
William A. Diboll, the treasurer of the 
United Wireless Telegraph Company, who 
was sentenced on May 29 to a year’s im¬ 
prisonment on Blackwell’s Island after con¬ 
viction with Col. C. C. Wilson and the 
other Wireless officials of using the mails 
to defraud, was released June 21 on pay¬ 
ment of a fine of $2,000. The change in 
the sentence was ordered by Judge Martin 
of the Federal District Court of Vermont, 
who presided at the trial here. No reason 
is given for this clemency to Diboll, and it 
is known that the change was made with* 
out the concurrence of the United States 
Attorney. Diholl has been in the Tombs 
since the original sentence was passed on 
him, and he and his associates have given 
notice that they would appeal. 
Literally buried under $9,000,000 in gold, 
Wadsworth S. Williams, an employe of the 
San Francisco Mint, was so badly injured 
June 22 that his recovery is doubtful. The 
gold, in sacks, toppled over in one of the 
money vaults and overwhelmed Williams, 
who was wheeling a truck. 
Miss Mildred De Haven, a daughter of 
Hugh De Haven, president of the De Haven 
Manufacturing Company of Brooklyn, and 
Miss Helen Wilson, a daughter of H. R. 
Wilson of New York, were burned to death 
June 24 at Nantucket, Mass., in a fire 
which destroyed the boathouse at the coun¬ 
try home of William Barnes, Jr., Chairman 
of the New York State Republican Com¬ 
mittee. Thomas Kerr of New York, one of 
the guests, and Ulysses Penhad, Mr. Barnes’ 
butler, were badly burned when, after es¬ 
caping from the boathouse, they went back 
to look for the missing members of the 
party, and both died later. The fire was 
started by a smoker who threw a lighted 
match upon a floor, where it ignited inflam¬ 
mable material. 
The Federal Grand Jury at New York 
returned an indictment June 26 against of¬ 
ficials of the manufacturing corporations 
engaged in the production of paper board 
which compose the Eastern Box Board 
Club, said to be the successor of the Fibre 
and Manila Association, which was de¬ 
clared to be illegal in 1910. The indict¬ 
ment, made under the criminal provisions 
of the Sherman anti-trust law, charges the 
presidents, other officers and agents of the 
various companies Included in the mem¬ 
bership of the Eastern Box Board Club with 
being engaged in an illegal combination in 
restraint of interstate trade by limiting the 
output and fixing prices arbitrarily. The 
criminal action was brought by Henry A. 
Wise, United States Attorney, as the most 
drastic remedy at law, because many of the 
new indicted individuals were connected 
with corporations which composed the Fibre 
and Manila Association. This organization, 
which operated under the “Parks pooling 
plan,” was declared to be illegal and ordered 
dissolved in February, 1910, by Judge 
Hough in the United States Circuit Court. 
Pleas of guilty were thereupon entered by 
39 members of the association and fines ag¬ 
gregating $88,000 were paid. 
A terrific thunder and hailstorm at Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., June 27, compelled the Sen¬ 
ate to adjourn, as it was impossible to hear 
speakers owing to the noise of the storm. 
Lightning struck the dairy building at the 
National Soldiers’ Home, igniting hay In 
the loft and causing the destruction of one 
wing of the building and a loss of $33,000. 
Seventy-two Holstein cattle were in the 
barns, but all were led out in safety. The 
hailstones injured crops and fruit trees. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—A mass meeting 
of New England milk farmers at Boston 
June 26 decided that a price on milk could 
be agreed upon, despite interpretations of 
the Sherman law. The Boston contractors 
refused to meet any representatives of the 
producers’ union that day regarding prices. 
The committee was appointed to call on the 
contractors and report that a price on milk 
had been agreed upon. 
The 29th annual convention of the Amer¬ 
ican Seed Trade Association assembled at 
the Rock-Mere Hotel, Marblehead, Mass., 
June 20, President E. L. Page of Greene, 
N. Y„ in the chair. Edgar Gregory, of Mar¬ 
blehead delivered an address describing the 
local points of interest and recounting some 
of the old-time legends, and the historical 
associations that would be of interest to 
the visitor. The following officers were 
elected: President, Leonard II. Vaughan, 
Chicago; first vice-president, MarshaH. 
Duryea, New York; second vice-president, 
Edgar Gregory, Marblehead, Mass.; secre¬ 
tary-treasurer, C. E. Kendel, Cleveland, O. ; 
assistant secretary, J. II. Ford, Ravenna, O. 
The 36th annual convention of the Amer¬ 
ican Association of Nurserymen was held at 
St. Louis, Mo., June 14, 15 and 16. About 
165 members registered. The secretary’s re¬ 
port showed a present membership of about 
400, and the treasurer reported a balance on 
hand of over $5,000. The following officers 
were elected: President, J. H. Dayton, 
Painesville, O.; vice-president, W. II. Wy¬ 
man, .North Abington, Mass.; secretary, 
John Hall, Rochester. N. Y.; treasurer, C. 
L. Yates, Rochester, N. Y. Executive com¬ 
mittee : E. M. Sherman, H. B. Chase, .T. M. 
Pitkin. The next place of meeting is to be 
Boston, Mass. 
WASHINGTON.—President Taft, in a 
message transmitted to Congress June 21 
scathingly arraigned the manufacturers of 
what he denounced as “dangerous drug 
frauds,” and urged Congress to amend at 
this session the pure food and drug law to 
strengthen that act in vital points of weak¬ 
ness recently pointed out by decisions of 
the United States Supreme Court. Presi¬ 
dent Taft believes that unless the law is 
amended forthwith the country will be 
flooded again by “injurious nostrums” and 
“cure-alls,” which were common before the 
pure food law first was enacted. The mes¬ 
sage was transmitted both to the Senate 
and House, and it was said that the latter 
body probably would take the matter up 
at an early date. Representative Shirley of 
Kentucky already has introduced a bill 
bearing on the subject. 
Senator Jonathan Bourne, chairman of 
the Committee on Post Offices and Post 
Roads, June 23 introduced a bill intended 
to promote the establishment of domestic 
parcel posts in the United States. The 
bill provides that from and after the pas¬ 
sage of the act no higher postal rate shall 
be charged for the transmission of mail 
entirely within the United States or its 
possessions than is charged for transmis¬ 
sion of mail partly within and partly with¬ 
out the United States or its possessions. 
The Postmaster General is authorized and 
required to establish and enforce rules and 
regulations which will give the people of 
the United States rights and privileges in 
the use of the United States mails as liberal 
as the rights and privileges the United 
States accords to the people of the most 
favored nation. 
Fred Dennett, Commissioner of the Gen¬ 
eral Land Office, has rejected all of the 
Cunningham claims to Alaska coal lands, 
thus reserving to the Government title to 
5,250 acres of the most valuable coal lands 
in Alaska. The decision of Commissioner 
Dennett, which is exhaustive as to fact, 
and which finds conclusively that from 
their inception these claims were part of a 
plan to acquire a joint property, to be ad¬ 
ministered as a corporation and financed by 
an issue of bonds, is that all the claims 
should be cancelled. The Secretary of the 
Interior concurs in the finding of the Com¬ 
missioner, and as the law provides that the 
finding of the Department of the Interior 
shall be final as to the facts, there is no 
opportunity for appeal. These claims, it 
will be recalled, were the subject of the now 
famous "Glavis charges,” which were fol¬ 
lowed by the Ballinger-Pinchot investiga¬ 
tion. The claims had once been ordered 
approved by R. A. Ballinger when hi' was 
Commissioner of the General Land Office, 
and had immediately thereafter been or¬ 
dered further investigated before patent was 
issued, and the decision made public June 
26 is in accordance with the regular pro¬ 
cesses of the Land Office, which were only 
somewhat delayed by the Glavis charges. 
Thomas R. Cutler of Salt Lake City, for¬ 
mer Mormon bishop and associate apostle of 
Prophet Joseph F. Smith, was recalled to 
the witness stand when the Hardwick sugar 
investigationg committee of the House re¬ 
sumed its session June 23. Mr. Cutler, who 
is vice-president and general manager of the 
Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, told the com¬ 
mittee that the company named is jointly 
controlled by the Mormon Church and the 
American Sugar Refining Company. The 
Witness gave n. O. Havemeyer, who inter¬ 
ested American Sugar Refining Company 
friends in the Utah-Idaho, credit for saving 
the Western concern. He declared that free 
trade in sugar would ruin the beet sugar in¬ 
dustry. Again discussing his negotiation 
with Havemeyer prior to Havemeyer’s ac¬ 
quisition of Utah stock, Mr. Cutler said the 
sugar king first made an effort to obtain 
his personal services. He wanted Cutler’s 
assistance in building up the beet sugar 
industry throughout the West. Cutler in¬ 
sisted on remaining in Utah, and as a re¬ 
sult Havemeyer acquiesced in the consoli¬ 
dation that was later arranged. With the 
Church and the sugar company doing busi¬ 
ness hand in hand the industry in Utah and 
other States where the Mormons operated 
began to flourish. 
The Root amendment to the Candian reci¬ 
procity bill was defeated in the Senate 
June 26. This disposes of one of the most 
serious menaces to the bill and the indica¬ 
tions are now that reciprocity has free sail¬ 
ing and will pass without amendment at an 
earlier date than has been expected. The 
Root amendment went down to defeat with¬ 
out any record vote, no roll call having 
been demanded. The Vice-President simply 
stated the question, there was a mild chorus 
of ayes and a louder chorus of noes and 
Mr. Sherman declared the amendment lost. 
The few who were in favor of the amend¬ 
ment apparently had no desire to put indi¬ 
vidual Senators on record. The amendment 
proposed to delay the free admission of 
wood pulp and print paper into this coun¬ 
try until all restrictions against the ex¬ 
portation of these products had been re¬ 
moved by the Canadian provinces. Under 
the terms of the bill in its present form 
pulp and print paper will be admitted free 
from all provinces except those that main¬ 
tain export restrictions. 
Immediately after July a chain of postal 
savings banks will be established through¬ 
out New York. This announcement was 
made .Tune 22 by Postmaster General Frank 
II. Hitchcock. Banks will also be opened 
in Boston and Chicago. These two cities, 
with New York, will be the first three first- 
class postoffices in which the plan will be 
tried. 
