1910. 
777 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Fire losses in British Co¬ 
lumbia during the week ending July 21 were 
said to aggregate $1,500,000, while half a 
million more would he lost by the enforced 
suspension of affected industries. July 22 
rain began to fall; the entire loss in the 
Kootenay region was put at live to six mil¬ 
lion dollars. In Wisconsin there were dis¬ 
astrous losses near Galloway, and the loss 
in logs and standing timber is put at $500,- 
000. Numerous smaller tires are reported in 
Marathon, Shawano and l’ortage counties. 
Heavy losses are reported around Beaudette, 
Minn., fires crossing the line from Kainy 
River, Ont. 
An automobile, driven by Max Lang and 
carrying four little children, was struck by 
a Lake Shore trolley at Clean, N. Y., July 
22. Two children were killed and two badly 
hurt Lang had taken the children out for 
a ride, and was running fast when the acci¬ 
dent happened. The automobile turned tur¬ 
tle and the children were thrown out. 
Three are known to be dead and six are 
missing as a result of a flood at Bisbee, 
Ariz., July 22. Many residence and business 
buildings were demolished, basement were 
flooded and street car trallic was interrupt- 
de. The main streets were filled with 
debris. The damage is more than $150,000. 
The city was in darkness and had no water 
even for domestic purposes in some dis¬ 
tricts following the storm. The town of 
Lowell was a -heavy sufferer also. The 
storm centred over the mountains and then 
from all sides torrents poured down Tomb¬ 
stone Canon and Brewery Gulch. Five hun¬ 
dred feet of railroad track were washed 
out at Bisbee. All of the Southwestern’s 
tracks in the vicinity of Douglass, Benson 
and Bisbee are badly washed. Many houses 
were carried down the canon to Lowell. 
Hundreds of cattle and hogs were drowned, 
but the ranches generally benefited by the 
rainfall. A thousand acres of irrigated 
lowlands in the Nacozari Valley were 
washed out. The flood caused a shutdown 
of three hours at the Calumet and Arizona 
smelter at Douglass. Much coke was washed 
away. 
The Northwestern Malt and Grain Com¬ 
pany plant, said to be the largest malting 
concern in tin; world, at Forty-sixth avenue 
and Cortland street, Chicago, was damaged 
by fire July 24 to the extent of $225,000, 
and the brewery of Charles F. Ogden & Co., 
extending from Oakley avenue to Leavitt 
street on Division street, was practically 
destroyed with a loss of nearly $75,000. 
Both fires were said to be the direct result 
of the hot wave which swept over the city 
from the southwest, bringing the highest 
temperature of the year and causing ex¬ 
plosions of grain dust in both plants. ’The 
fire in the Northwest Malt and Chain Com¬ 
pany's plant bioke out at noon with a ter¬ 
rific explosion in the grain elevator and 
before any attempt could be made to check 
the flames the building was a mass of fire. 
The burning embers were carried for blocks 
by the high wind, setting fire to a score of 
cottages and residences in the vicinity. 
While the fire department was bending 
every effort toward extinguishing the fire 
at Oragin, the Ogden brewery at Division 
and Oakley avenues became the scene of the 
second great fire of the day from identically 
the same cause as the first. The building 
is a three story brick and wood structure 
two blocks long' and it was completely gut¬ 
ted before the fire was brought under con¬ 
trol. 
Serious rioting, dynamiting and train 
wrecking took place along the line of the 
Delaware and Hudson Railroad between 
Wilkesbarre and Carbondale, Pa., where 1,200 
section hands are striking, July 25. In a 
riot at Carbondale one was killed and six 
injured. The tracks of the road under the 
Laurel line viaduct at Avoca were dyna¬ 
mited and blown out. In the yards at 
Hudson, three miles from Wilkesbarre, fish¬ 
plates were removed, spikes were drawn 
and the rails replaced so that they were 
spread two inches. Similar mischief was 
done in t}ie Carbondale yards, and as a re¬ 
sult locomotives were derailed in each yard 
and more serious accidents were narrowly 
avoided. July 24 a mob of about 500 at¬ 
tacked strike' breakers at Carbondale and 
several hundred shots were fired, the police 
trying to protect the strikebreakers. 
Notice has been given to transportation 
companies by G. E. Totten, government 
agent for meat inspection at Pittsburg, Pa., 
not to ship out of the State meats from 
13 branch establishments in that district of 
well-known packing concerns. It is alleged 
that the packers have been doing a “pro¬ 
cessing’’ business, and not submitting their 
meats to proper Federal inspection. The 
companies named as offenders include Ar¬ 
mour & Co., Swift & Co., Cudahy Packing 
Co., Nelson Morris & Co., and others. They 
maintain that they have not been sending 
meat outside the State, and, within its 
border, inspection is not required. 
The premature explosion of a full ser¬ 
vice charge of powder in gun No. 3, a 
12-inch rifle on a disappearing carriage, in 
Battery Deroussy, Fort Monroe, Va., July 
21, caused the death of 10 men, the fatal 
wounding of another and the serious injury 
of four others. Eight of those killed died 
instantly and two of them shortly after 
they had been removed to the hospital. The 
killed and injured belong to the Sixty-ninth 
Company Coast Artillery. While the cause 
of the explosion may never be known, Col. 
Townslev, commandant of the fort, said 
that it must have been caused by the pre¬ 
mature pulling of the line which is used to 
discharge the primer on the charge of 
powder. This may have been due to the 
catching of the line in the mechanism of 
the gun or it may have been accidentally 
pulled by one of the men serving the gun 
in his haste to get the gun into action. The 
breech block was torn from the gun and 
hurled into a creek behind the battery, as 
was the body of one of those who was killed. 
The Russo-Chinese Bank at 52 Pine 
Street, New Y’ork, reports the loss of $600,- 
000, stolen by an inside thief, the German 
cashier, Erwin Wider, who has disappeared, 
being connected with it. The bank is a 
branch of the Russo-Chinese bank of St. 
Petersburg. 
An opium “still” in full blast was found 
by revenue officers July 26 in a Chinese 
den in the -heart of Kansas City, Mo. In it 
was the largest and most valuable quantity 
of opium ever taken in one raid in this 
country. The officers found $25,790 worth 
of opium and $25,000 in gold, silver and 
paper money packed away in trunks, boxes 
THE RURAL 
and sacks, while the opium was hidden 
away under mattresses, in jars, cups, crocks 
and dishes. The opium still was found in 
the store of the Charles Kwong Sang Com¬ 
pany, 113 West Sixth Street. The detec¬ 
tives placed Charles Kwong, manager of the 
place, under arrest. They took him and the 
opium to police headquarters, leaving the 
money under guard in the place they 
found it. 
Liberty Hyde Bailey, dean of the Cor¬ 
nell College of Agriculture, who was chair¬ 
man of President Roosevelt’s Country Life 
Commission, was painfully injured July 26 
at Ithaca by a runaway horse. Dean Bailey 
left his home to walk down town. As he was 
in front of a blacksmih shop a large horse 
dashed out of teh shop and knocked down 
the dean. Dr. Bailey crawled to the side¬ 
walk and fainted. He was taken to his 
home. Ills left hand was sprained Ins left 
hin and side badly bruised and the tendons 
in his neck were badly wrenched. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—A novel claim 
was filed against New York State July 20 
by John Petzel of Germantown, Columbia 
County. He asks for $45 damages for the 
“destruction of cherries destroyed by robins, 
birds protected by the laws of the State of 
New York.” Petzel alleges that the robins 
destroyed his Spring crop of 150 baskets of 
sweet cherries. 
Secretary Wilson’s meat inspectors will 
continue to inspect lard substitute, and not 
a pound of that article can go into inter¬ 
state or foreign commerce, unless it bears 
the mark “U. S. inspected and passed.” This 
is the gist of an opinion rendered July 25 
by Judge Fowler, who is acting attorney- 
general "during the absence of Mr. Wicker- 
sham in Alaska. The opinion declares that 
lard substitute, which is a cooking com¬ 
pound made up of one-fifth animal fat_ and 
four-fifths cotton-seed oil, is fairly within 
the definition of a meat food product, and 
must be inspected. 
THE BOSTON MILK WAR. 
We continue the testimony given before 
that committee of the Massachusetts Leg¬ 
islature. General Wood of Worcester, 
Mass., said : 
"My experience upon the farm began 
with the care of a herd of cattle at eight 
years of age. I have had intimate acquaint¬ 
ance with cattle, and the production of 
milk ever since, which covers more than 
half a century. It takes from 50 to 60 
pounds of food to feed a cow a day. Tie' 
cows upon my farm are perhaps above the 
average, and they consume 55 pounds by 
actual weight and measure. The cost of 
the division of food I estimate in this 
manner: Fifteen pounds of hay, I reckon 
at $15 a ton. I am selling hay at the 
present time for $23 at the barn. Fifteen 
pounds at $15 per ton is practically 12 
cents—11 and a fraction. With this amount 
of hay a cow will consume 30 pounds of 
silage,' and the cost of this is readily $3 a 
ton, so that we will allow 4y 2 cents for 
the silage. Cows, as they average, must 
be fed according to their period of lactation 
and according to their production, from 
four to 12 pounds of grain per day, on 
an average eight pounds per day, and fig¬ 
uring the market price at the present time 
at a cent and a half a pound, there is 12 
cents for the cost of your grain. The labor 
may be figured in this way: A man can 
take care Summer and Winter of 20 cows, 
and only 20. It would be regarded as a 
hardship to milk 20, and two men usually 
milk that number, but a man employing his 
whole time in caring for the product and 
the care of the cow might be given 20 cows, 
and it would occupy his entire time. The 
wages of that man would be $1.50, so you 
will see that it costs 7% cents a day to 
take care of the cow. The losses in a dairy 
have been shown by experience to be at 
least 10 per cent, so that assuming that 
a cow is worth $100, this is $10 a year. 
To avoid fractions, we will say three cents 
a day each is lost upon a herd. The insur¬ 
ance and taxes for each cow would prac¬ 
tically be a penny a day. The interest, if 
she is worth $100, would be $6 a year, or 
two cents a day. Add that together and 
you get 45 cents that it costs to keep a 
cow each day. You will note that I have 
figured grain at $30 a ton, while at the 
present time much of it costs $33 or $34 
or $35. I have figured hay away below 
its market price, and labor at its lowest 
cost. You will note that I do not figure 
anything for repairs upon buildings and 
various incidental expenses which the 
farmer will have, but allow these burdens 
to fall entirely upon other departments of 
the farm. Now 6,000 pounds is a fairly 
good yearly production for a cow. The av¬ 
erage through the country is less than 
4,000 pounds per year. Massachusetts, 
however, produces a somewhat larger aver¬ 
age, but 6,000 pounds, or a can a day of 
8% quarts, is the maximum; consequently 
for every 8% quarts of milk we are pro¬ 
ducing we expend 45 cents. I am pre¬ 
pared to defend that proposition from any 
standpoint.” 
“What would you figure the profit on the 
investment to the farmer if the rates were 
maintained the same all the year round? 
That is, if you have a Winter rate in Sum¬ 
mer as you now want it?’’ 
“There would be no profit to the farmer 
at either time, unless he received more for 
his milk than he has yet received.” 
“In other words, then, even if you had 
a Winter rate in Summer, according to your 
calculation, there is no profit to-day to the 
farmer in his milk?” 
“Not a penny.” 
“Is there any loss?” 
“Yes; every penny that a man sells his 
milk at, for less than five cents per quart, 
is a loss, and must come out of his capital, 
or out of other departments of his farm.” 
(Cries of “Correct,” and applause.! 
“Now I assume that you claim that the 
contractor is getting a profit, which, do you 
maintain, from even his standpoint is 
large ?’’ 
“I maintain that it is exceedingly large 
and extortionate; without the slightest 
question. No man can continue business a 
few years and become a millionaire, and 
with only a small capital, without an ex¬ 
tortion from some source.” 
“Now. General, what would you say the 
contractor could sell the milk for, under 
present circumstances, and make only a fair 
profit? I might say that I come from Bos¬ 
ton and my point of view is purely a con¬ 
sumer’s point of view in asking this ques¬ 
tion.” 
“Pardon nte if I express my satisfaction 
to know that one consumer has appeared at 
the State House to manifest his interest in 
NEW-YORKER 
tiie situation, for up to the present time 
I had not heard of any. I believe that 
within the proper and legitimate radius for 
the transportation of milk into Boston, 
which would be practically a hundred-mile 
circuit, wh-ich would take in the New Eng¬ 
land States very largely, half a cent a 
quart would be a fair and legitimate freight 
rate; and it is practically what the rail¬ 
roads are now receiving. I believe that if 
milk was produced and sold upon the farms 
at 5Vj cents, and the freight added, it 
would make six cents that it would cost 
in Boston. I believe that three cents is a 
legitimate profit for delivery. I further¬ 
more believe that when any man or body of 
men suggests to you that it is legitimate for 
him to receive as much for taking a quart 
of milk from the depot and carrying it to 
some Back Bay residence, and leaving it 
on the steps—when he asks as much to per¬ 
form that act and more than 1 get for 
maintaining my farm, with $30,000 or $40,- 
000 invested, and all the risk incident 
upon it, I believe it is a condition that can 
never possibly continue, and it would never 
have arisen if the farmers had realized 
what was being wrought about them; if 
they had realized into what a net they were 
being ensnared.” 
“Then your answer, General, to my ques¬ 
tion is this, that you consider three cents 
a reasonable profit for your contractor and 
your distributor?” 
“I do, and you will pardon me if I em¬ 
phasize it a little more by saying that my 
experience along that line and my knowl¬ 
edge is derived from the fact that as a boy 
I performed that same service and peddled 
milk for 11 years.” 
"General Wood, how large a herd have 
you at the present time?” 
“I have 40 head at present. I sold 60 
head that were giving milk, because I would 
not submit to the outrageous treatment 
that producers were subjected to.” 
“For what purpose do you keep the re¬ 
maining 40 head?” 
“Simply because I must have something 
to eat up the product of my farm. If I 
were to sell off the hay and grain I would 
probably soon have a farm that would not 
maintain itself. Therefore, I have gone into 
the various States and bought young cattle, 
and have brought them to the farm. Six 
of them are giving milk, which affords me 
an opportunity to feed the other 35. When 
those which are rapidly coming into milk 
arrive at that place where I must be de¬ 
pendent upon the present market, then 
these cattle will all again be sold and go 
west, and I will buy new calves again. I 
cannot, nor can any man, produce milk and 
got a new dollar for an old one under pres¬ 
ent conditions.” e. f. Dickinson. 
MEXICO FOR HOMESEEKERS. 
The Mormons have been very successful 
in Mexico in agriculture. They have located 
in the northern part of the country where 
climatic conditions are similar to those 
that obtain in the southwestern section of 
the United States. They have entered lines 
of farming that they learned thoroughly 
in the States, and have not done much ex¬ 
perimenting. Aside from the Mormons I 
am not familiar with any Americans who 
have as yet won out in agriculture in 
Mexico, although of course I do not doubt 
there have been multitudes of cases un¬ 
known to me. Generally speaking, however, 
the American who has come to Mexico to 
farm has found conditions so entirely dif¬ 
ferent from those he has been accustomed to 
that the odds have been heavily against 
his success and he usually makes the matter 
worse by tackling products that he has 
never before seen growing, much less had 
practical experience with. The man who 
has grown tropical products in California 
or Florida, and who comes here willing to 
learn the new conditions that he must 
labor under should succeed in time if he 
has adequate capital and good judgment 
in selecting his location. Eirst of all he 
needs advice from some person who has 
lived at least eight or ten years in the 
immediate neighborhood where the new¬ 
comer proposes to settle. Twenty or 50 
miles away conditions may be and prob¬ 
ably are entirely different and he must 
know the past record of the man who ad¬ 
vises him to be sure that he is both honest 
and competent. If the newcomer cannot 
get in touch with the right kind of local 
adviser he had better keep out entirely, and 
it goes without saying that he should buy 
no land sight unseen. There are Americans 
all over Mexico from the northern line 
clear to Guatemala, and there are usually 
a few honest ones in each locality, so it 
is usually practical to get sound advice 
anywhere, but the prospective buyer needs 
to be a judge of human nature as well of 
the line of farming that he proposes to go 
into. 
The pretended “election” of Diaz for 
another presidential term has just occurred. 
The only serious opposition candidate has 
been in the penitentiary for a month or 
more charged with “insulting” Diaz, be¬ 
cause he publicly stated a few unpleasant 
truths taken from the public record made 
by the Diaz administration. If a real 
election had been held Diaz could not have 
carried a county in all Mexico. In point 
of fact, after 10 years of life in this so- 
called republic, divided between both city 
and country life, I do not know personally 
even one Mexican who favored the re- 
election of Diaz excepting of course the 
men on his payroll, and wealthy capitalists 
who fear political change in this country, 
just as they always do in all countries. 
It must not he inferred from the above that 
many government employees are really at 
heart in favor of Diaz. The truth is that 
he has in the past been a benefit to the 
country, but has butlived this political 
usefulness and has not had the decency 
to step down and out voluntarily. Diaz 
is and has been the friend of the foreigner, 
who has received absolute protection and 
encouragement, and holds to-day nearly all 
of the best paying jobs and government con¬ 
cessions, aside from Diaz’s immediate per¬ 
sonal following who hold the rest. The 
Mexican people are bound to improve their 
political condition peaceably if possible, 
forcibly if necessary, and this before many 
vears;' and prospective settlers must figure 
on this fact. To-day political conditions 
parallel those in Russia so far as the native 
Mexican is concerned. More foreigners en¬ 
ter Mexico every year, and their stories of 
liberty in their home countries naturally 
make'the Mexican restive. He, too. wants 
to be treated like a civilized human being 
by his own government, and not as a child 
or a dog. But the feeling is against Diaz, 
not against the foreigner; foreign interests 
wi.i be taken care of by whoever succeeds 
DiaZ. AMERICAN. 
CROP NOTES. 
The fruit crop in this county will be very 
light. Apples and cherries are the kinds 
of fruit grown here mostly. The Fall varie¬ 
ties of apples will be perhaps 40 per cent 
of a crop. Duchess and Alexander; the 
Winter fruit ve-y light, some growers hav¬ 
ing a very good crop, due to location of 
orchard and care. The sweet cherries are 
better than half a crop, and the sour 
varieties one-quarter. The price on cherries 
has been very good, some of the growers 
contracted at $1.60 per 16-quart crate. 
They have averaged better than $2 per 
crate. While this is not a peach country, 
wherever there are any orchards, indica¬ 
tions are for a full crop, although some 
growers are finding in young orchards that 
the crop is dropping quite badly. This is 
not noticed in old orchards. Plums, Dam¬ 
sons, Bradshaw and Shippers’ Pride are 
over half a crop. The pea crop one-quarter, 
with quality good. E. A. 
Grand Traverse Co., Mich. 
Our crops in this vicinity are above the 
average for years past. The hay crop; is big 
and of good quality ; the oat crop is cer¬ 
tainly fine, and a big yield is looked for. 
Both the potato and corn crops are good; 
buckwheat not a very promising crop at 
present. No rain in June, but plenty for 
everything in July. This month and next 
are the family reunion months; lots of it 
going on here. Haying about completed; 
good weather for the past week. Ev rybody 
is busy, no idlers, help is scarce, $2 per day 
and board are the going wages for good help. 
Cattle are scarce and are bringing a pretty 
good price; horses from $150 to $225, cows 
from $35 to $55 per head ; veal calves from 
seven to eight cents per pound ; hogs eight 
to 8!4 cents per pound, live weight. Hay, 
old, baled, $15 to $16 per ton. Butter, 25 
to 28 cents per pound: cheese, 14 to 15 
cents. Feed $1.40 to $1.50 per 100 pounds; 
milk at the cheese factory, $1.31 per hun¬ 
dred pounds. No fruit of any kind. 
Port Allegheny, Pa. n. k. 
We are having the worst drought this 
part of the country has ever had, so far as 
my experience goes, having had only one 
rain this season in May, except a couple 
of showers that dampened the ground. 
Corn is fully three weeks behind, and un¬ 
less rain falls shortly the crop outlook 
is anything but encouraging. Ilay is short, 
a third to half a grop would be a liberal 
estimate. The same will apply to early 
potatoes, while late potatoes are in a worse 
state. Except small fruits grapes are our 
only fruit this season. We have had a 
bumper crop of pests of all descriptions, 
while lice seemed to be on about everything 
that was green. Box elder trees in some 
places were covered with a louse that re¬ 
sembled the pea louse, while melons, cu¬ 
cumbers, squash, eggplants, Lima beans, and 
if there was not enough of the tender 
things to go around, such things as sun¬ 
flowers, jimson weed, grass, etc., would 
go to make a menu for these pests. The 
lady-bugs cleaned up this army in short 
order. It seems that the dry hot weather 
was good for the lice, but better for our 
little spotted friends. Whether their 
work is in vain or not the help is none 
the less appreciated. Young clover sown 
this Spring is either badly injured or killed 
out entirely. Last Winter was especially 
hard on some old Alfalfa; some fields so 
badly winter-killed that they had to be 
plowed up. We have some corn planted 
on clover sod turned this Spring that is 
still waiting for a rain to sprout the re¬ 
mainder of the seed, and the end is not 
yet. While crops are not in as bad a con¬ 
dition as would be expected from the con¬ 
tinued dry weather, one good rain at the 
present time would be nothing short of a 
godsend to the farmers and gardeners in 
this part of the country at least. 
Benson, Neb. a. d. f. 
MARRIED WOMEN AS FARM OWNERS. 
The Vomen of the United States have 
been encouraged in various ways to acquire 
and hold real estate, and naturally take 
some pardonable pride in making a good 
showing. They are not at all pleased to 
find in the Advance Schedule of Agricul¬ 
ture the following paragraph : 
“Manager.—If you do not own the farm 
or rent it, but manage it for the owner who 
pays you wages or a salary, write ’Manager’ 
in answer to Inquiry 6. A husband is 
never to be reported, however, as manager 
for his wife’s farm, but if he manages it 
for her should be reported as ‘Owner.’ ” 
A letter of inquiry as to the precise mean¬ 
ing of the term “farm” under this ruling 
elicited this response : 
"The instruction on the agricultural 
schedule to which you refer is to harmon¬ 
ize the method of reporting ownership of 
homes on the population and agricultural 
schedules. A home which is owned by any 
member of the family is considered to be 
an ‘owned’ home, and ’rented’ only when no 
member of the family owns it. 
“If a man has a plot of a quarter of an 
acre, or any other part of an acre on which 
by intensive agriculture, by poultry rais¬ 
ing, bee keeping, floriculture, truck garden¬ 
ing or any other agricultural operation he 
is enabled to employ his time or the time 
of one person fully, or to secure an income 
of $250 a year, such tract of land is called 
a farm. All other small tracts are con¬ 
sidered house lots and are not treated as 
farms.” 
A census report on this basis will not 
only make statements which are utterly 
without reason or justice, but absolutely 
false. If the other returns are as reliable 
as this one, the question would naturally 
arise, what have we to show for our 13 
millions of dollars appropriated for this 
purpose of finding out. the exact status of 
affairs in the United States? If the wife’s 
real estate may belong to the husband by 
Government decision, the door is open for 
endless complications among the unlettered 
as to title and general ownership. Ignor¬ 
ant wives may be robbed by unprincipled 
persons who can show by Government de¬ 
cree that their farms are “owned” by their 
husbands. As this ruling runs into all 
sorts of small places that are productive 
we may look for a full crop of tricksters 
who work on the credulity of the unsus¬ 
pecting. __ s * 
My old remedy for ivy poisoning has 
never failed. Take the inner bark of black 
elderberry wood, first scrape off the out¬ 
side bark till you see the white soft bark, 
then boil this and use as a wash warm. It 
can be used as often as possible, in a 
short time there will be no more itching 
or swelling. H - 
Ohio. 
