The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-15
GEORGIA PEACH IS
GREAT DEL|CACY
Crop Was Not Seriously Dam
aged by Recent Frost
THE ARKANSAS DIAMOND
Field May be as Rich as Some in South
Africa-New Orleans Man Saw
HaIley's Comet on It's
Former Visit
By ROBERT LEE CARTER


New York, May 14.-(Special.)-Nes
York rejoices in the news that the Geor
gia peach crop is safe even If cottol
has to be repanted. There may be SOM
fruit more delicious than a plumb rip
Liberia but if there is it doesn't come t
New York. Hence the sympathy for thu
damage done to cotton is tempered by
the news that the Elbertas are safe.
1t is a pity that the whole southern
country has not been so fortunate as the
peach belt but A. NJ. Runcie of Little
Rock, Ark, tells me:
The fruit crops of Arkansas and Mis-
souri, are practically a total loss as &
result of the recent cold wave. AN i'm
mense loss has been suffered by the fruit
growers in the Ozark valley" says Mr.
Runcie. Fruit crops, especially the peach
crops, are almost a total loss.
Farmers of that region who grow
practically nothing but fruit, will make
no money this year. and the prospects,
too. were excellent for one of the heaviest
crops on record.
In coming up through the Ozark val
ley on my way here, saw the farmers
making heroic efforts along the railway
lines to save part of their fruit. In the
orchards they were burning great fires,
trying TO make enough heat to counter
act the cold These fires were visible for
miles"
Mr.. T. S. Dean of Augusta, Ga. does
not take as rosy a view of the damage
to cotton as some of the cotton men
have seen.
while there Is considerable variance Of
opinion concerning the damage done to
the cotton crop in the southern states by
the recent cold snap, all accounts agree
that the loss has been tremendous,
amounting in some states to at least half
of the crop" said Mr.. Dean.
THE farmers took advantage of the
good weather to put in early crop
this season, and for this reason the crop
had a good stand when the frost came.
The cotton plant is sensitive to cold, and
as the cool weather which preceded the
big frost had prevailed for several weeks
the crop was not in fair condition anyway.
Some Of the farmers have left that
portion of their crops which is only par
TALLY damaged. from which they will re-
only the totally destroyed parts. 1t was
an unusal sight to see snow an Ice cover
ing the fields in Georgia.
81 notice that the National association
of cotton manufacturers, recently in ses-
sion in Boston. declared against any fur
Their attempts at tariff revision. At the
same time the association passed. a reso-
luton favoring the buying of cotton on a
new weight basis"
New York jewellers are showing much
Interest," in the Arkansas diamond fields.
Charles S. Stiff of Little Rock, has
brought a number of stones here which
are on exhibition in Maiden Lane. The
specimens shown are considered equal In
quality to the best of the South African
diamonds, but it is still question whether
the diamonds exist in sufficient abundance
to make the Arkansas fields important.
The diamonds occur in volcanic pipe
similar In all respects to that of the
South African fields. Up to the present
little has been published about the dis
covery. Mr.. Stiff thinks the time has
come to talk. He says that the Arkansas
varieties already found include clear
white, blue and white and canary yellow
stones.
There is a man in New Orleans who
saw f1dlley y cOInbI on It's former ylS1l,
asserted j. II. Phillips of the Crescent
city. He is Edward Schlessinger. who
has just celebrated his Tooth birthday an
niversary, and has been on exhibition
as a real centenarian' at one of the sum-
mer shows of the Crescent city.
He is one of the few people of the
south, probably in the United States, who
has this distinction, for while there may
be many centenarians in this country few
of them cared anything about astronomy
or Halley's comet when it was visible be-
fore
'At the time Mr.. Schlessinger saw the
comet rs years ago he had just been grad
uated from a German university and
was an eager student of astronomy. Ac-
cording to him he say the comet in Sep
TENDER of that year while master of
sailing vessel bound from a German port
to China.
while sailing through the Indian ocean
the comet was visible for days from the
vessel Mr.. Schlessnger says there were
several great typhoons at that time. Sail
ors of that day believed the storms were
caused by the comet AS master of the
ship he kept a complete record of the
comet for many days in the ship log
giving every detail of his observations
at sea, and he still has this log, which
I believe would be of the greatest interest
| to astronomers who are now studying the
| comet"
Kentucky is sure to go democratic at
the next election says Paul Dunbar of
Louisville.
| Governor Wilson, who is republican,
has made a good governor, but he can
not be reelected. He got in last time
inly because of an unprecedented land
slide which swept the democrats off the
political map.
Senator Bradley will be defeated at
the next senatorial election by a demo-
crat. He is a good senator and the first
republican that Kentucky has had in a
long time. Kentucky is normally dem
ocratic state and she will be sure to go
| that way next time.
Decisions of the treasury department,