1910. 
367 
THE NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. 
A few petty and insignificant farm pa¬ 
pers beside these we have posted have 
printed the Wonderberry advertisement. 
Of those who claim a place as “horti¬ 
cultural educators” here are four more: 
American Agriculturist. 
Orange Judd Farmer. 
New England Flomestead. 
National Stockman and Farmer. 
We regret very much to see our old 
friend the Stockman and Farmer in such 
company. It must be proud of the as¬ 
sociation. As for the Springfield trip¬ 
lets, we did not expect much of anything 
else after our experience with the Spen¬ 
cer Seedless apple. When that old hum¬ 
bug was trying to buy space in the farm 
papers the American Agriculturist sent 
two of its leading men here to defend 
their position in advertising the fraud. 
They finally admitted that the Seedless' 
apple had no value as a commercial 
fruit, yet they claimed the right to ad¬ 
vertise it and thus induce their readers 
to buy it—and they did so. When 
pressed for a reason they had none ex¬ 
cept that the price for the advertising 
was assured, and that their readers 
“could decide for themselves.” That was 
about the most cold-blooded advertising 
deal we had known up to that time. 
Linder all the circumstances this Won¬ 
derberry business will match if not sur¬ 
pass it. For what is the use for such 
papers to plead ignorance ? Some months 
ago a reporter went to the Department 
of Agriculture and asked for the latest 
news. They began to tell him about the 
Wonderberry, but we are informed that 
this man asked them to stop that talk. 
He did not want to hear the facts about 
it, for the advertisement and the facts 
would not mix. However, since that 
time a new force has entered agricul¬ 
tural journalism. We cannot explain 
what we mean better than by printing 
the enclosed letter from a reader in 
Massachusetts, who refers to a farm 
paper which printed the nightshade ad¬ 
vertisement : 
I saw in one of these papers an adver¬ 
tisement which interested me. The purchase 
of the article would amount to a hundred 
dollars. On the next page I saw a dis¬ 
played advertisement of the Wonderberry. 
1 just turned the whole order down, for who 
knows but what this article is just as 
unreliable? Again, this journal asked me 
to show it to my neighbors. In doing this, 
I got stung. The man said, “W T hat are 
you doing trying to introduce that Wonder¬ 
berry around here? No, sir, I would not 
take a paper that allowed such fake ads.” 
n. b. b. 
Now let no advertiser or farm paper 
make the mistake of supposing that this 
sort of thing is confined to a few harm¬ 
less “cranks.” Every member of the 
“Nightshade Family” knows better, for 
there are postage stamps on their backs 
which burn like blisters. Flere is another 
letter from Pennsylvania which speaks 
for itself: 
The-is sending papers around 
to school children to have them sell them; 
paper six months for 25 cents, and a cheap 
colored picture as a premium. A boy ap¬ 
proached me this morning to subscribe. I 
showed him the Wonderberry and told him 
I could not take a paper that carried such 
advertisements. 1 am writing the same 
thing to them. All true-hearted farmers 
should meet your efforts more than half 
way to rid the world of rogues who live 
by preying on the unsuspecting farmer. 
C. F. W. 
You will see therefore that what we 
mean by a “new force” is an army of 
determined men and women who make 
it their business to follow up such things 
and cut into them deep. Such people 
may be trusted to take care of the 
“Nightshade Family.” 
Poison Ivy.—i noted some time since 
an inquiry for a remedy for poison ivy 
Poisoning. We have it here in all its glory, 
and when we first feel the itch from it we 
just rub on and in salt, just common salt; 
sometimes we mix it with vinegar, but alone 
will do about as well. If the poison gets 
a good hold I have used a five-per cent solu- 
lion of carbolic acid on bandages, keeping 
them saturated. w J m 
West ford, Mass. 
THE RURAb 
THAT COMMISSION BONDING BILL. 
We are subscribers and interested 
readers of The R. N.-Y., and always 
take much interest in many of the im¬ 
portant matters discussed in your paper. 
We are particularly interested in the so- 
called Lupton bill, which was recently 
introduced by Assemblyman Lupton. We 
have had some correspondence with Mr. 
Lupton regarding this bill, and we re¬ 
gret that so many of the commission 
merchants of New York city, and also 
of our own city, have seen fit to object 
to the bill, and from latest information, 
that we have received it looks as though 
the bill would never be reported out of 
committee. We were in hopes that both 
the New York and Buffalo branches of 
the National League of Commission 
Merchants would support this bill, and 
at one time it did look as though Buffalo 
branch would act favorably upon it, but 
it seems that the majority of the mem¬ 
bers of Buffalo branch thought it would 
not be wise for such a bill to become a 
law. They claim it is class legislation 
and simply a scheme for additional in¬ 
come for bonding companies. 
Our firm, who are members of the 
National League of Commission Mer¬ 
chants, are very much in favor of such 
a bill becoming a law in this State, and 
do not hesitate to let that fact become 
known, notwithstanding considerable 
criticism from some of our brother 
league members. We regret that any 
members of the N. L. C. M. should ob¬ 
ject to such a bill, because it is just 
what the aims and objects of the N. L. 
C. M. are. We are supposed to be de¬ 
sirous of ridding the country of un¬ 
scrupulous, dishonest, irresponsible com¬ 
mission merchants, and here is a bill, 
J. ,T. II. GREGORY. 
which if it became a law would do more 
to rid the country, or at least this State, 
of such men than anything that we 
know of. We have some of this kind 
of men in Buffalo, and in the large cities 
there are more of them. The city of 
New York has a great number of them, 
and we fail to find a law that will put 
them out of business. Any responsible, 
fair and square commission merchant 
should be willing to give a ten thousand 
dollar bond, in fact such a firm must 
comply with the requirements of this 
bill, even though they give no bond, but 
it is the irresponsible firm, whom the 
shipper cannot bring to time. 
F. BRENNISEN & CO. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—A bill authorizing the in¬ 
corporation under the laws of the District 
of Columbia of the Rockefeller Foundation 
was introduced in the Senate March 2 by 
Senator Gallinger. .Tolm D. Rockefeller, 
Sr., John I). Rockefeller, Jr., Frederick T. 
Gates, Starr J. Murphy and Charles O. 
Heydt are named as incorporators. The 
object of the foundation is to “disseminate 
knowledge, establish and maintain endow¬ 
ment aids to others, prevent disease, and 
to provide for teachers, assistants, etc.” 
Senator Gallinger, author of the bill, said 
that he had only a general knowledge of 
the objects of the proposed foundation, but 
he thought that Mr. Rockefeller had en¬ 
tered upon a systematic plan of giving 
away his millions. The Senator called at¬ 
tention to the terms of the bill, which, he 
said, showed philanthropy of a wider scope 
than that embraced in the Carnegie Foun¬ 
dation. 
Twenty-three miners were killed March 
3 by the explosion of the powder magazine 
on the 1,100-foot level of the Mexican 
mine, one of the Treadwell mines on 
Douglas Island, Alaska. Of eight men in¬ 
jured four are expected to die. The maga¬ 
zine which exploded was thirty feet from 
the place where shots had been fired twenty 
minutes before. It contained 275 pounds 
of powder. The men were gathering at the 
landing waiting to go up. All were killed. 
The man in charge of the magazine had 
locked the door and was waiting to go 
up. He was among the killed. Two horses 
were eating near by. One was killed, but 
the other was unhurt. Several miners at 
work not far from the magazine were 
uninjured. 
Thirty persons in the rescue party at 
the scene of the Cascade Mountain snow- 
slide disaster in Washington perished in a 
new avalanche March 2. Floods threaten 
NEW-VORKER 
the valleys of the Cascades and add terror 
to the situation. Eighteen feet of snow 
on the western slope of the mountains and 
eight feet on the eastern slope is being 
melted by the warm winds from the sea. 
The rivers cannot carry away the water 
and the Washington valleys are overflowed. 
Railroads are compelled to suspend busi¬ 
ness and many bridges have been washed 
away. It is believed the most widespread 
flood in the last twenty years threatens the 
valley. The survivors tell remarkable 
stories of their experiences. Passenger 
filled coaches were carried 200 and 300 
feet and in some instances 1,000 feet down 
the mountainside into yawning gorges and 
buried under the snow and debris. Not a 
ray of hope remains of rescuing alive a 
single one of the many imprisoned in the 
cars now buried so deep. Men who came 
from the wreck say that the first intima¬ 
tion the passengers had of their danger 
was when the snow swept down upon them 
and lifted the cars bodily in the air and 
then dropped them over the precipice. One 
survivor described the sensation as similar 
to that felt when on a storm-tossed ship 
at sea. A storm was raging and the light¬ 
ning was flaring at the time of the catas¬ 
trophe. The men who succeeded in ex¬ 
tricating themselves from the wreck car¬ 
ried on relief work by the electric flashes. 
The exact number of dead will not be 
known for weeks, or until the snow, which 
is over 10 feet deep in the canon, has 
melted, it is believed that the list will 
reach 100. Of 700 sacks of mail carried 
away by the avalanche only 150 have been 
recovered. There is no trace whatever of 
one mail car and seven clerks and weigh¬ 
ers. in some places cars are known to be 
under 70 feet of trees, snow, earth and 
rocks. The loss to the railroad is esti¬ 
mated at $1,000,000. 
Fire wrecked the upper floors of the 13- 
story Alwyn Court apartment house on the 
southeast corner of Fifty-eighth street and 
Seventh avenue, New York, March 4. The 
rest of the building was flooded with 
water and the furnishings were ruined. The 
building had been but recently completed 
aud contained but six families. The loss 
was estimated at not more than $100,000. 
There were no small apartments in the 
building. Its suites ranged from 14 rooms 
and five baths to 34 rooms and nine baths. 
The yearly rentals of these apartments 
were from $0,500 to $22,000. Fire Chief 
Croker said that the fire showed one thing 
indisputably, and that was the utter fal¬ 
lacy of trust in so-called fire-proof con¬ 
struction. '1 hose apartments which were 
occupied were so well filled with hangings, 
furniture, carpets and bric-a-brac that the 
fire never lacked for material, and the 
flames seemed to find little difficulty in 
jumping from one apartment to another 
and from one floor to another. 
Thomas Collier Platt, thrice United 
States Senator from this State, and once 
its “easy boss,” who nominated Theodore 
Roosevelt for Governor of New York, and 
later, against his will, for the Vice-Presi¬ 
dency, opening his subsequent path to the 
Presidency, died March 6. lie had known 
every President, personally, since Lincoln. 
Mr. Platt was born in Owego, N. Y., on 
July 15, 1833. He came from Revolution¬ 
ary ancestry on both sides of the house. 
Among the important measures to be 
considered by the New Jersey Legislature 
this term will be the James bill, which 
makes it a misdemeanor, punishable with 
a prison term and fine, for anyone to 
keep meats or produce in cold storage 
longer than six months. It also provides 
that foods must be marked with the date 
they are received in storage, and goods in 
one storehouse cannot be shifted to an¬ 
other one. The proposed law makes the 
penalties fall on both the owner of the 
stuff and the owner of the cold storage 
warehouse. The regulations are to be in 
the hands of the State Board of Health, 
which will have entrance at any time for 
its inspectors, the right to condemn meats, 
etc., and compel their removal and de¬ 
struction. 
Six were killed and 19 injured in an 
explosion in the starch factory of the West¬ 
ern Glucose Co. at Roby, Ind., March 7. 
There was a renewal of disorder in the 
Philadelphia car strike March 8, men op¬ 
erating cars being attacked and retaliating 
by shooting, which wounded several per¬ 
sons. A number of the car men were badly 
injured by bricks aud other missiles. A 
number of textile mill owners tire likely to 
close down their mills indefinitely, as their 
men went out on sympathetic strike with¬ 
out any grievance with their own employ¬ 
ers, and it is now near the end of the busy 
season. 
The strike situation of the International 
Paper Company at Corinth, N. Y., became 
alarming March 8. A carload of strike 
breakers were dynamited and pistol shots 
were exchanged. None was injured. The 
railroad bridge has been burned. The strike 
breakers, 109 in number, were forced to 
return to Saratoga until conditions would 
permit them entering the Corinth mill. 
THE MILK INQUIRY.—Deputy Attor¬ 
ney-General Coleman concluded his milk in¬ 
vestigations with the examination of three 
witnesses from the Borden Condensed Milk 
Company, Edward L. Marsten, George L. 
Nichols, two directors of the company, and 
Manager Cochrane, of the routes depart¬ 
ment. The only imporrant witness was the 
last named. He told of a visit of Charles 
II. C. Peakes to the Borden company’s 
main office on Friday, October 29. just be¬ 
fore tin- raise in the price of bottled milk 
was announced. Mr. Beakes is a member 
of the Consolidated Milk Exchange, of 
which several members were recently in¬ 
dicted by the Grand Jury. Mr. Coleman 
asked about pasteurizing milk. Mr. Cocli- 
rane said they pasteurized it in Chicago 
because of a city ordinance, but they did 
not in New York. 
“I)o you believe that a structural change 
takes place in the process of pasteuriza¬ 
tion?” asked Mr. Coleman. 
“I do.” was the reply: “we know that 
the casein is hardened by it and physi¬ 
cians say that this hardening makes milk 
less digestive." 
Mr. Cochrane presented a statement 
showing the reason for the boost of the 
price in bottled milk as follows : 
“Cost per quart for fluid milk. $.0438. 
Labor, fuel, miscellaneous expense (country), 
and milk freight, $.016471. Labor (city), 
uniforms, ice. horseshoeing, bottle, caps, 
repairs, accident payments, advertising 
matter, stationery, city and county furni¬ 
ture, waste and gifts, city food and bed¬ 
ding, repairs to wagons and harness, bottle 
loss and horse depreciation. $.027991. To¬ 
tal, $.088262.” 
Mr. Cochrane admitted that the com¬ 
pany had paid the farmers a little less for 
milk in 1909 than in 1908. The average 
price of milk by the 100 pounds during 
1909 was $1.60, during 1908 $1.61 2.-3. 
The average price for 40-quart cans for 
1909 was $1.36% and for 1908 $1.37 2-3. 
A list of the cost of bottled milk in other 
cities of the country was submitted, show¬ 
ing a variation in different places from 
seven cents a bottle to 14 cents a bottle. 
The price in Chicago is eight cents. The 
hearing is ended, and Mr. Coleman is busy 
with a report for the ’Attorney-General 
summing up the testimony. No announce¬ 
ment was made of any probable action. Ex- 
District Attorney Jerome appeared in the 
Criminal Branch of the Bupreme Court 
March 5 as attorney for seven directors of 
the Consolidated Milk Exchange and en¬ 
tered a plea of not guilty for each of his 
clients. Walter R. Comfort, who is in 
Cuba, is the only director under charges of 
conspiracy who has not surrendered him¬ 
self. Assistant District Attorney De Ford 
intimated that unless Mr. Comfort came 
back promptly the State would try to ex¬ 
tradite him, although the crime charged 
is only a misdemeanor in this jurisdiction. 
Mr. De Ford said he was anxious to try 
the eight men together. The seven milk 
operators who pleaded not guiltv through 
Mr. Jerome are Daniel Bailey, John A. 
McBride, Frederick Ii. Seiler. Henry F. 
Huntemann, Thomas O. Smith, George 
Slaughter and James A. Howell. 
POSTAL SAVINGS BANK BILL.—After 
the insurgents had substantially amended 
the postal savings bank bill the measure 
was adopted by the Senate March 5 by a 
party vote of 50 to 22. Only one Demo¬ 
crat, Mr. Chamberlain, of Oregon, voted 
for the measure on its final passage, 
though Democratic and Republican votes 
alike were badly scattered on ail the 
amendments up to that time. The insur¬ 
gent victory came on an amendment of¬ 
fered by Senator Borah, of Idaho, making 
it impossible to invest the funds, collected 
by the postal banks in the outstanding is¬ 
sue of $730,000,900 2 per cent bonds by 
providing that the funds shall be invested 
in no bonds paying less than 2% per cent 
interest beyond this rate. There are in 
existence to-day $118,500,000 in 4 per¬ 
cents and $64,000,000 in 3 per cents, but 
the high premiums at which thev sell 
make investment of the postal funds in 
them practically impossible, even if such 
a course would accomplish Senator Al¬ 
drich’s object of relieving the national 
banks of the country of the load of low- 
interest bonds they are now carrying. The 
obvious significance of the insurgent vic¬ 
tory in prohibiting the investment of the 
collected funds in less than 2% per cent 
bonds is that the funds to be collected 
under the operation of the postal bank bill 
cannot be used to aid in the retirement of 
the 2 per cents now used as a basis of 
national bank currency. It means that for 
the present at least, and until other bonds 
are issued at high rates of interest, tlie 
Smoot amendment, from which the regu¬ 
lars, headed by Mr. Aldrich, hoped so much, 
is practically nullified. 
OBITUARY.—James John Howard Greg¬ 
ory, the well-known seedsman of Marble¬ 
head, Mass, died in that city February 20, 
in his eighty-third year. Mr. Gregory was 
born in Marblehead, and after his graduation 
from Amherst <'oliege he became a school 
teacher. His entry into the seed trade may 
be called accidental. A correspondent of 
the “New England Funner” sought some 
desirable Winter squash, and Mr. Gregory 
supplied him seed from a variety given 
him by an old lady, Mrs. Hubbard, which 
they called “Marin Hubbard's squash.” The 
good points of this squash were described 
in a number of papers, and this resulted 
in demands for seeds that formed the foun¬ 
dation of Mr. Gregory's great business, 
which comprises over 400 acres of seed 
farms. Many new varieties of merit have 
been introduced by Mr. Gregory, and he al¬ 
ways made a specialty of selected strains. 
He was our leading authority on the 
squash and several other vegetables, and 
has done much valuable writing upon these 
specialties. Mr. Gregory accumulated great 
wealth, and was noted for his charity and 
philanthropy. He gave freely to southern 
colleges and churches, aided liberally in 
the education of colored people, and in 
famine periods abroad and distress in the 
West, he gave -liberally of seed stock. His 
native town benefited largely by his kind¬ 
ness both publicly and privately. Mr. 
Gregory was an extremely active man both 
mentally and physically, of wide culture, 
and a prolific writer and lecturer on many 
subjects. lie served his town as a select¬ 
man, a library trustee, a school committee¬ 
man, and as a member of a committee to 
seek a water supply, in 1876 and 1x77 
he was elected as the joint candidate of 
the Republican and Prohibitionist party as 
a State Senator for his district which 
included the city of Salem and the towns 
of Beverly and Marblehead. During his 
period of service lie was the cause of 
bringing the State Board of Agriculture 
into a higher state of efficiency. For many 
years he was the vice-president of the 
Essex County Agricultural Society, and 
superintendent of the Old South Church 
Sunday School. He was married three 
times, and is survived by a widow and 
four adopted children. 
The weather in Kansas is simply fine, 
and we will soon plow in a few days 
(March 2). 1 have hotbeds made. The 
Winter has been cold, and more snow and 
rain than for 19 years, so we expect good 
crops and plenty of fruit, as the buds 
have not started yet. Last year the peach 
aud plum trees were in bloom the second 
week in March, so we hope for a line sea¬ 
son. The Alfalfa was fine last year, but 
the seed poor. It is starting nicely now. 
Garden City, Kan. w. e. w. 
This is a milk-producing district chiefly, 
with some gardening and fruit. I combine 
all three on my place. Many city people, 
some with plenty of money, have bought 
up all farms for sale about here, and many 
of them are making a paying thing out 
of the place. Some are improving and 
adding to these places simply as an amuse¬ 
ment or side issue, not for any income, 
but simply for the pleasure they are get¬ 
ting out of it. These people an- putting 
in all the way from $10,000 to $30,000 and 
even more on these places. They employ 
much help and are in many ways ah 
advantage to the community. We are all 
studying the improved methods and systems 
of farming, and I think with use of as 
many of the improved tools as we can get 
we will put farming on a basis it has never 
reached before, and put money in our 
pockets. a. e. 
Ilopkinton, Mass. 
