Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-12
OLD AS THE HILLS.
The Scheme for Widening Diamond
Alley Agitated 50 Years Ago.
POINTS ON PLANTING TREES.
Taxation Said to be Dealing Death Blow
at the Farming Business.
MOVEMENTS IN LOCAL STOCKS AND OIL

1.-THE project for widening Diamond alley
is not a new one,' remarked prominent
Fourth street gentleman yesterday after
noon. "It was agitated when l was
schoolboy, 40 or so years ago; but there II is
vet, and there it will likely remain for the
next generation to wrangle over. Ii you
will tell me when the hump will be cut down l
will tell you when the alley will be Wideneu-
They are both conundrums."
Tree planting. it is stated, will be on large
scale this season, particularly in the suburbs
Apropos of this aveteran nurseryman furnishes
some valuable information. He says; Many
of those who contemplate planting trees selec6
the largest and oldest they can get from the
nurseryman, expecting earlier and better re-
suits. This, however, is mistake Inc opera
ton of lifting such trees necessarily gives
shock to their vitality and interferes with tnelr
vital functions, and the tree will be the longer
in recovering from the injuries after Trans
planting than younger trees, which sustain less
injury, and which usually have more and nner
rootlets than trees of greater age. The smaller
trees adapt themselves better to the change,
make new roots quicker, and sooner become
fitted to their new locations and conditions.
Those impatient for early fruitage will nnd
only disappointment in selecting the most
mature specimens they can find.
The Lonerbaugh property, on Wood street,
Williamsburg. has been sold. The old buildings
will be removed and fine brick business BLOCK
erected in their stead. The price paid IS
known only to the principals, but it would re-
quire five figures to express it. Ten years ago
Wood street was mud road running through
a bowling wilderness. Now it is lined with
handsome houses on both sides, from the rail-
road station to Penn avenue, and is the princi-
pal thoroughfare of the enewly-hedgedb borough.
%&
Does farming pay in Pennsylvania? is a
question that is being discussed in many of
the country newspapers. Some show that the
business is as good as it was a generation ago,
while others take the opposite view. A writer
in Hollidaysburg paper says:
Standing lately at Bradley's station, looked
over a section of country comprising 25 FARMS
with all of which Ihave been intimately ac-
quainted during the last half century. Forty
years ago there were upon each of these farms
able-bodied men with from to boys. Each farm
had upon it 3 or horses, average Of 20 head of
cattle and as many head of sheep. To-day of
these farms are vacant. Five of them are in the
hands of tenants-a class unknown in former
times-and the others, with one or two exceptions,
are feebly operated by an old man and boy.
Farmers are being taxed out of existence. as the
$50 acres with which l am acquainted,
the taxes last year, exclusive of
national taxes (Which average IS per
head) were SIS. This takes eight tons of hay, or
$50 bushels of oats corn, rs bushels of wheat
and the cost Of marketing is frequently to be
added. We are taxed in scores of other ways
which do not appear so plainly. We are under
the necessity of buying wire for fencing. This
article, which is made at a fair profit for S25 per
ton is sold to the farmers for s25 Suppose It costs
$50 ton to make it? Can any occupation bear
such tax? 1repeat, that farming is threatened
with destruction by excessive taxation.
The Philadelphia Record says building lots
for weekly installments of 40 cents are adver-
tised in Pittsburg This is misleading. While
such lots are advertised in Pittsburg, they are
not Pittsburg lots, as the advertisement clearly
states, but are located at Portland, Jay county,
Indiana. Forty cents wouldn't buy enough of
Pittsburg ground for chemical analysis The
Record ought to besbetter posted.