1056 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 28, 1915. 
Crops and Farm News 
Indiana Farm Notes. 
According to the general outlook here 
the season of 1915 will be one of the best 
in many years. The ber;t of weather pre¬ 
vailed during the haying season, so that 
the crop could be secured in good con¬ 
dition, although owing to the dry weather 
in May and .Tune the crop was not a 
heavy one. The second cutting of Alfalfa 
has already been made, and the present 
indications are that a third cutting can be 
made this year. While a two weeks’ spell of 
wet weather followed immediately after 
the wheat harvest, the bumper crop was 
quite well secured. A few jobs have 
already been thrashed, the yields reported 
being from 20 to 45 bushels per acre. 
The oat crop 'las been harvested but has 
not yet all been housed. It is the heaviest 
in years, and dairymen and stockmen in 
general are especially grateful for the 
excellent crop. The corn is making rapid 
headway and is about all in ears. May 
and June were unfavorable to the crop, 
but later the conditions became more 
favorable, and it has now fully caught up 
with the season. Barring frosts, it will 
be a heavy yield. Dairymen do not com¬ 
plain, as four per cent milk has not fallen 
below .$1.40 per hundred. We have never 
seen pastures doing better, or cows giv¬ 
ing more milk than this season. The 
flies arrived early and cows are conse¬ 
quently not in very good condition, al¬ 
though grass and water are abundant. 
Prices of farm produce are on the aver¬ 
age some higher than last year at this 
date. Wheat, $1.05; oats, 48 cents; corn 
80 cents; dressed hogs, 8 cents; dressed 
veal, 12 cents; potatoes. 35 cents and 
very plentiful; apples, 60 cents; butter, 
27 cents; eggs ,20 cents. D. L. 
Elkhart County, Ind. 
The Maine Potato Crop. 
A little rust has made its appearance 
in some sections, the last few days, due 
to the very warm evenings. The topic 
of the day seems to be what price will 
potatoes bring this coming season? This 
is a question all over Aroostook. Latest 
government reports state that the total 
crop of potatoes for the whole United 
States will be approximately 431,000,000 
bushels, which looks as if prices will 
not be high, but when you consider that 
New York State has considerable less 
potatoes planted this year than last, and 
New England, it is estimated, will be 
10,000,000 bushels less, we shall not be 
surprised to see potatoes above the aver¬ 
age the coming season. In Aroostook 
last season the yield was very high, in 
fact much above the average, and as ej¬ 
ected this season will be lower, but will 
e better in quality. The New York 
markets and Boston markets are firm and 
should this continue, the opening prices 
on this season’s potatoes will be up to 
the average, if not above, so the pros¬ 
pects look good at the present time for 
prices in Aroostook County. 
w. H. B. 
August 10.—Crops in our section are 
the best in five years and farmers ai’e 
feeling at home again. Wheat ground 
is being broken for Fall planting by our 
best wheat growers. Tobacco will soon 
be ready to put in the barn, and then 
our sorghum will be ready to make into 
molasses. The apple crop is fine, and 
the fruit is hanging on well, considering 
lack of spraying. A few sprayers in this 
section, but not in general use. Dairy 
cattle are selling at $40 to $75 for grades 
and scrubs, with registered Jerseys at $100 
and up; no Ilolsteins in the county at 
present. Many horses and mules are be¬ 
ing sold to European buyers. Many farm¬ 
ers are buying automobiles, which are 
calling for better prices. H. w. c. 
Calvert City, Ky. 
In this section of the county there is 
not much surplus farm products. Farm¬ 
ers use their corn for silage. Oats are 
generally consumed by feeding whole or 
by grinding, and used with corn for feed. 
Cattle are always in pretty good de¬ 
mand. They bring the best prices at auc¬ 
tion. Eggs and chickens bring good prices 
nearly all the year. Through July and 
August eggs run from 40 to 50 cents per 
dozen; chickens, 20 to 24 cents per 
pound; old hens, 17 to 20 cents. This 
section of the county has been ruined 
for farming by so many foreigners set¬ 
tling here. There are no milk stations 
or creamery near us, so a great deal of 
the milk is made into butter, which is 
a good price the year around, 30 to 35 
cents per pound. The cattle are mostly 
Holstein. Some pure-bred, some grade 
stock. H. B. L. 
Ulster County, N. Y. 
Consul Chas. L. Hover, Prague, Bohe¬ 
mia, reDorts that the American muskrat 
is making a nuisance of himself in that 
foreign country. It appears that this 
muskrat was introduced by an Austrian 
prince about 10 years ago. Specimens 
were carried over to Austria and liberat¬ 
ed. Once set free the muskrat has fol¬ 
lowed the course of the Elbe and Maldo 
rivers and is reaching out to the Danube. 
In Austria the muskrat attains a greater 
size than in this country, with a very 
much inferior fur. He has also developed 
a number of evil habits since he went 
across the water. He digs into the dams 
and banks of ponds and lakes so that 
the water breaks through, and he also 
plays havoc among shellfish and the 
smaller fishes. lie has also picked up 
the habit of stealing the eggs of both wild 
and domestic fowls. This nuisance has 
gone so far that Bohemia has declared 
war upon the muskrat and established a 
penalty for those who leave the nests of 
this animal undisturbed. 
New York State News. 
Indians Seek Pay. — An interesting 
and somewhat novel event was the com¬ 
ing to Albany this week of six Indian 
chiefs bearing an old sheepskin treaty and 
demanding 213 pounds and six shillings in 
accordance with the treaty agreement. 
This read : “The people of the State of 
New York shall pay the St. Regis In¬ 
dians, for the conveyance of a large tract 
of land in St. Lawrence County, an allow¬ 
ance of 213 pounds and six shillings on 
the third Monday in August of each 
year.” The document is dated 1797. The 
Indians were dressed much after the 
style of the ordinary business man and 
are all chiefs, they said, from a reserva¬ 
tion at Oka, Canada. The treaty is writ¬ 
ten on heavy sheepskin and still bears 
the seals of the commissioners who rep¬ 
resented the State when the treaty was 
made more than a century ago. The At¬ 
torney General’s office will investigate the 
legality of the claims. 
Signs on Highways. — A good law 
goes into effect on September 1 which 
forbids the painting or erection of "any 
business or commercial advertisement” on 
any objects within the limits of any pub¬ 
lic highway under penalty of a fine of 
not less than $5 and not more than $25, 
or by imprisonment for not more than 
10 days, or by both fine and imprison¬ 
ment. It is also made unlawful for any 
one to remove or destroy a. mileboard, 
milestone, danger sign or guide sign ox- 
post, lawfully erected within any public 
highway. Under the present law the 
placing' of advex-tising signs within the 
limits of the highway is unlawful, but 
the only person who can be prosecuted 
is the one caught putting up the signs. 
Under the new law the one who causes 
the signs to be so placed can be prose¬ 
cuted. The written consent of property 
owners must also be secured before signs 
can be placed on their premises. 
Swine Cause Disease in Cattle.— 
According to Dr. F. J. Loomis, meat in¬ 
spector for the City of Watertown, the 
foot and mouth disease which afflicted 
cattle in Hornell a few weeks ago, was 
caused by swine which were found infected 
within a half mile of the premises where 
the cattle were, the infection being car- 
ried by drainage from the swine yards. 
No known cases of the disease have been 
found within a radius of 75 miles of the 
premises where the cattle wei-e. It is 
believed that the swine had had the dis¬ 
ease in a mild form for some time. 
Drumming Up Attendance. —This is 
literally to be done by the management 
of the Columbia County Fair, which is 
to be held September 6-10. It is proposed 
to secui-e two or three brass bands in 
the county, which are to be conveyed to 
the various villages in the county on the 
Saturday preceding the fair, in autos, 
where they will play and where the fair 
will be further advertised. Two or three 
routes will be laid out so that the county 
may be well covered. With the bands 
will go a parade of autos carrying adver¬ 
tising matter. 
Good Test of Sanitation. —Not many 
stables in the country will stand the 
test to which the one of Douglas Robin¬ 
son of Herkimer County was put to re¬ 
cently on the occasion of the meeting at 
his farm of the Herkimer County Farm 
Bureau members. The luncheon for the 
guests was served in the cow barn, the 
tables being placed on the main alley. 
The menu was an elaborate one and the 
place was a whole lot cleaner than many 
a restaurant. It was a good illustration 
of what up-to-date dairymen are doing 
to conserve the public health and please' 
their own sense of neatness and cleanli¬ 
ness. 
Orange County Grangers. — More 
than 1.000 persons attended the Field 
Day of Orange County Pomona Grange 
at Middletown last week. The speaker 
of the day was Hon. Chas. M. Gardner, 
past master of the Massachusetts State 
Grange. j. w. d. 
Buffalo Markets. 
Plenty of all sorts of foodstuffs and 
very low prices. There is now a good 
stock of peaches and berries. Butter is 
down and such common articles as pota¬ 
toes and cabbage are about as low as 
they were last year. Head lettuce is so 
plenty that it is sometimes plowed down 
to get rid of it. The claim is that busi¬ 
ness is so poor that people have less 
money to buy with than usual. Potatoes 
are quoted at $1.25 to $1.50 per barrel, 
retailers selling them at 13 cents a peck. 
Apples are becoming plenty at $1.25 per 
bushel for Southern. Elberta peaches 
are $1 to $1.50 per bushel for Texas. A 
few Niagara County are 12 to 15 cents 
per seven-pound basket. Home-grown 
plums wholesale at 15 to 18 for seven- 
pound basket. Watermelons are 15 to 10 
cents each and cantaloupes, $1.25 to $2 
per cx-ate. Bei-ries are fine and plenty, 
but very low. Blackberries and huckle- 
ben-ies wholesale at nine to 11 cents a 
quart and raspberries are five cents for 
purple, seven cents for red and eight 
cents for black, per quart. Moist weath¬ 
er has pi-oduced a big crop. Currants are 
15 to 25 cents for seven-pound baskets. 
The currant season is closing. 
All vegetables are very quiet. String 
beans are 20 to 35 cents per bushel and 
peas the same. Cabbage is $1 to $1.50 
per hundred ; cucumbei-s, $1.50 to $1.60 
per bushel, home grown, or three for five 
cents retail; lettuce, radishes and onions 
eight to 10 cents per dozen ; tomatoes, 75 
to 90 cents per 20-pound basket; turnips, 
$1 per barrel. Green corn retails at 25 
to 30 cents a dozen, and is going down. 
The quality is usually poor at first, but 
impi-oves fast. 
Spite of late declines in butter it is an¬ 
nounced that it is still going down. Quo¬ 
tations are not above 27 cents for best 
creamery, wholesale, and the top retail 
price of 29 cents is to ne reduced. Cheese 
remains at 161^ cents for best domestic 
and eggs are 21 to 27 cents for the range 
between Western candled and strictly 
fresh. Eggs are stronger in price than 
most articles on the list. Dressed poultry 
is 15 to 19 for turkey, 16 to 19 for 
chicken, 15 to 16 for fowl, 22 to 23 for 
broilers, 17 to 18 for ducks, with live 
poultry a cent or two less. Live turkeys 
are seldom offered. Frozen turkey is 21 
to 22 cents per pound. The price of hay 
has declined slightly on account of the 
rains, not being quoted above $29 for No. 
1 Timothy. Beans are also a trifle easy, 
but no decline is recorded. Marrows are 
$4 and others $3.40 to $3.60 per bushel. 
The new crop promises to be much larger 
and firmer than the old one was. 
J. w. c. 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—The Pacific Mail Steam¬ 
ship Company, the largest transoceanic 
line under the Stars and Stripes, an¬ 
nounced Aug. 13 that it had sold its fleet 
of five big ships to the Atlantic Trans¬ 
port Company, a subsidiary corporation 
of the International Mercantile Marine. 
On Aug. 25 the Mongolia, the largest and 
finest steamer in the Pacific Mail service, 
will start on her last voyage to the Fax- 
East. Thereafter the flag of the Pacific 
Mail Steamship Company will be missing 
from Oriental ports. In fact, from now 
on the national flag will rarely been seen 
in Asiatic waters except on men-of-war. 
The steamers sold are the Manchuria, 
Mongolia, Korea, Siberia and China. 
The Bxitish Ambassador has warned 
Gov. Whitman that American aviators 
must cease flying from New York into 
Canadian territory or regrettable conse¬ 
quences may occur, as Canada is in a 
state of war. Previous complaints had 
been made of this practice. 
. William Lefler, the Deti-oit man con¬ 
victed in Sandwich of complicity in the 
dynamiting of the Peabody overall plant 
in Walkerville, Ont., and of entering into 
a conspiracy, must serve 10 years in the 
Kingston penitentiary. Lefler contented 
that he had merely been the dupe of 
Albert Kaltschnxidt, a former resident of 
Detroit. The Peabody factox-y was work¬ 
ing on a war contract. 
The steamer Eastland was raised from 
the river bed at Chicago, Aug. 13. and 
divers immediately entered the hull and 
began searching the cabins and other 
rooms for bodies of additional victims. 
Huge cranes were used in raising the 
ship. While the work was in progress 
traffic in the river was stopped and 
nets were strung across the channel to 
catch any bodies that might be x-eleased. 
Fire in the Hotel Carlton, ASbur.v 
Park, N. J., Aug. 14, routed many guests 
and caused a loss of $100,000. 
The decision of the prize court in the 
case of the former Ilamburg-American 
Line freight steamer Dacia, which granted 
American registry in January but was 
seized by a French cruiser in February 
while bound with a cotton cargo for Bre¬ 
men, was made public Aug. 16. The 
French court holds that the transfer was 
illegal, and the vessel was held for a 
prize. The American owned cargo of cot¬ 
ton has been partially paid for by the 
French government. 
One man was burned to death, two 
were so badly scorched that they will not 
live and five others were injured Aug. 
16 by the explosion of a big tank of gaso- 
ine in the laboratoi-y of the Eagle Oil 
Works, Calvin Point. Jersey City. The 
cause of the explosion is not known. A 
workman was tightening a valve on a 64- 
gallon drum of gasoline and the others 
were working about the labox-atory when 
it occurred. It is believed that a spark 
generated by the friction of the valve 
screw ignited the gasoline. 
Armed Mexicans in foi-ce crossed the 
Rio Grande at a ford near Mercedes, 
Tex., Aug. 16, attacking an outpost of 
half a dozen cavalrymen at Saenz. Corp¬ 
oral William, of Troop C, Twelfth Cav- 
alry, was killed and Lieutenant Roy O. 
Henry of the same troop was wounded. 
The battleships Louisiana and New 
Hampshire i-eceived orders Aug. 16 from 
the Navy Department to go to Vera Cruz. 
The great Gulf hurricane Aug. 15-18 
caused at least 189 deaths near Galves¬ 
ton, Tex. Twenty-five were drowned 
in Galveston and immediate vicinity; 
twenty-five at Virginia Point, just across 
the bay from Galveston; 55 were lost 
when the bark Sam Houston sank; 52 
were drowned at Texas City, including 
12 United States soldiers; La Porte re¬ 
ports six deaths; Port Arthur, six; Sea- 
brook, three ;Mirgan Point, eight, Hous¬ 
ton suburbs, two, and Hitchcock, seven. 
The list at Galveston probably will be 
increased, as many bodies were seen float¬ 
ing in the water, few of which so far 
have been recovered. Five hundred build¬ 
ings and homes were actually destroyed 
in Galveston, not including many which 
were badly damaged. The buildings 
wrecked include the big grain elevators 
near the bay front., the contents of which 
wex - e lost. One thousand feet of the sea 
wall which was depended upon to save 
the city from destruction were washed 
out in front of the Galvez Hotel. The 
causeway, which cost $4,000,000 is de- 
sti-oyed at both ends and 5,000 feet of it 
was destroyed in the centre, which will 
make it imnossible for trains to enter 
the city for about, two weeks. The large 
loss at Virginia Point was caused when 
the Causeway Hotel there collapsed. Sev¬ 
enty-five persons had fled there for safety, 
and only 50 escaped. One hundi-ed men, 
women and children are still marooned 
on Red Fish Reef, and so far it has been 
impossible to send them aid or supplies 
and their suffering must be intense. Fires 
have started and it has been impossible 
to control them because there is no water 
service or power. The greatest suffering 
has resulted from lack of drinking water. 
Despite conditions which have made thou¬ 
sands homeless. Mayor Fisher has issued 
a proclamation declaring that outside 
help, either financial or in the way of 
food or clothing, would not be welcomed. 
Pie says the city neither needs nor de¬ 
sires outside help, as it is able to care 
for its own sufferers. It is believed the 
total death list will reach 400, and the 
financial loss $20,000,000. 
FARM AND GARDEN. — The an¬ 
nual grange outing of Essex, Morris 
and Union Counties, N. J., was held at 
Verona Lake Park, Aug. 14. The at¬ 
tendance was very large, the speakers 
of the day being United States Senator 
James E. Martine and State Senator 
Joseph Frelinghuysen. 
The New Jersey State Beagle Club will 
ask the legislature next Winter to extend 
the season in which hounds may be train¬ 
ed in hunting rabbits. Under the pres¬ 
ent law rabbits may be shot on days be¬ 
tween November 10 and December 1, 
when there is no snow by which the bun¬ 
nies may be tracked. The law provides 
further that on and after October 1 of 
each year until the season closes owners 
of dogs may trail rabbits as a training 
for the animals, but none may be killed 
until November 10. The club membei's 
want the season advanced to September 
15. thus giving hunters an additional two 
weeks to get their dogs in shape. 
OBITUARY. — Nicholas Hallock. a 
former seed grower of Long Island well 
known to R. N.-Y. readers as a valued 
old-time contributor, died at Seattle, 
Wash., of pneumonia August 5. Mr. Hal¬ 
lock was born in Ulster County, N. Y., 
in 1827. Plis eaxdy life was spent in gen¬ 
eral farming, but in 1852 he settled in 
the vicinity of Queens, Long Island, where 
he added seed growing to other lines of 
farming. He was active in farm inter¬ 
ests and organizations, and was widely 
known. At the time of his death he hail 
been making a tour of the Pacific Coast 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings. 
Cambridge Valley Fair, Cambridge, N. 
Y„ Aug. 23-27. 
Cayuga County Fair, Moravia, N. Y., 
Aug. 31-Sept. 3. 
Northern Nut Gi-owers’ Association, 
Powers Hotel, Rochester, N. Y., Sept. 
1 - 2 . 
Farmers’ Exhibit, Solebury Deer Park, 
Solebux-y, Pa., Sept. 3-4. 
Orleans County, N. Y., Fair, Albion, 
Sept. 8-11. 
New York State Fair, Syracuse. N. Y., 
Sept. 13-18. 
Bergen County Fair, Ilohokus, N. J., 
Sept. 14-18. 
Genesee County Fair, Batavia, N. Y., 
Sept. 21-25. 
Trenton Intei’-State Fair, Trenton, N. 
J.. Sept. 27-Oct. 2. 
Farmers’ National Congress, annual 
meeting, Omaha, Neb., Sept. 28-Oct. 1. 
International Dry Farming Congress, 
Denver, Colo., Oct. 4-7. 
International Wheat Show and Expo¬ 
sition. Wichita, Kan., Oct. 4-14. 
Fifth annual apple show, Indiana 
Horticultural Society, Indianapolis, Nov. 
Nov. 6-13. 
Chrysanthemum Society of America, 
annual show. Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 10- 
14, 1915. Special show, San Francisco, 
Cal. 
Paterson Poultry Association, annual 
show. Paterson, N. J., Nov. 16-20. 
Bei-ks Corn Contest, Reading, Pa., 
Dec. 24. 
Reading Pigeon and Poultry Associa¬ 
tion, annual show, Reading, Pa., Dec. 
6 - 11 . 
Annual Corn and Grain Show, Tracy, 
Miiin., Jan. 3-8, 1916. 
Vermont State Poultry Association, an¬ 
nual show, St. Albans, Vt., Jan. 18-21, 
1916. 
August 14. Have had lots of rain here, 
as well as farther east. We have lots of 
hay, but very little has been put up 
without getting wet. We did get up six 
acres of Alfalfa—second cutting—with¬ 
out any rain on it; will have a third 
cutting in a week or 10 days. Corn is 
growing fine, but most of it has plenty of 
weeds in it. This has been a fine sea¬ 
son for the flowers. The perennial Phlox 
has never been so fine. I have several 
thousand Gladiolus bulbs planted and 
they are extra fine this year; can pick 
an armful of blooms almost any day now. 
Dahlias have not done so well. Tulips 
and peonies wei’e fine. I have 400 or 500 
tulips and shall plant more. D. T. G. 
Crete, Neb. 
