Ref: Town and Country Newspaper Pennsburg, Montgomery County, PA Saturday - September 17, 1904 RAISED AN IMMENSE CROP OF POTATOES This being potato harvest time, it may prove interesting to our readers to refer to the several large crops that are being housed in the vicinity of Macungie, Lehigh county, where for the last few years several of the most progressive farmers have laid particular stress upon potato culture, putting out large acreages of them. D.D. and N.D. FRITCH were among the first to plant large tracts with potatoes and they have been very successful. On the FRITCH farm 41 acres were planted with potatoes. About half of these have been housed and the yield is estimated to be about 14,000 bushels. All are of large, nice size and very few have rotted. It is an interesting sight to see the process of taking the potatoes from the ground and follow them to the barns. On the FRITCH field a rotary plow digger drawn by four horses throws out the big tubers, separating them quite cleanly from the ground and stalks. Fourteen pickers gather them with baskets and empty these into bushel crates. Three two-horse wagons follow and haul the potatoes to the barns where they are heaped up in deep layers until sold. They are dug or plowed out of the ground at the rate of three bushels per minute, if there is no unusual delay anywhere. At the other places the work is similarly done. Everything moves along in a systematic way and great quantities of potatoes are handled in a day. C.O. SHIMER had thirty-five acres planted in several tracts. From the 16-field across the Swabia creek he got 5,800 bushels. This average of about 360 bushels per acre is a yield seldom obtained. Mr. SHIMER fertilized with cattle manure and also phosphate. W.O. LICHENWALNER had planted nine and a fourth acres and obtained about 3,500 bushels. Charles LICHTENWALNER's acreage was eleven and he got about 2,500 bushels. Theodore J. BARDER got 3,700 bushels from sixteen acres. There are others in these parts who had smaller acreages but the yield was generally very good also. WILL HAVE EXCURSION RATES The patrons of the Colebrookdale Railroad, running from Barto to Pottstown will soon have excursion rates between their place and Pottstown. Here-to-fore the regular three cents the mile rate was used. The trolley line between Boyertown and Reading has taken as much of the Pottstown merchants trade away that they took the matter up and presented a petition to Edson J. WEEKS the General Passenger Agent asking for lower rates. The request was granted and when the change takes place it is expected that the round trip rate between Boyertown and Pottstown will be about thirty-five cents while at present it is fifty cents. The Colebrookdale Railroad was built about thirty-five years ago, and efforts had frequently been made to secure excursion rates over the line, which is twelve miles in length, but without success. SENT TO JAIL FOR WOUNDING COWS Before Judge ENDLICH, of Reading, on Tuesday afternoon John PETERSHEIM, a farmer of Caernarvon township, and John YOST, his farm hand, were tried on the charge of cruelty to animals. It was alleged that the accused wounded some cows that strayed into PETERSHIEM's fields. PETERSHIEM was acquitted, but YOST was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $50 and to undergo a year's imprisonment. WHIPPED HORSES, FOILING HIGHWAYMEN Two highwaymen attempted to hold up a team containing Mr. and Mrs. Christian BENNER, Jr., Herbert OXLEY and Miss Bessie OXLEY, of Norristown, on Tuesday evening, near Gulf Mills. Mr. BENNER cut the animals with the whip and when they plunged ahead and knocked the highwaymen down he drove down the road and escaped. During the excitement Miss OXLEY fainted. HORSE SALE BY ELECTRIC LIGHT Dr. Jesse Z. HILLEGASS, proprietor, of the Allentown Horse Bazaar will hold a sale by electric light on Thursday evening September 22. He has over two hundred horses which will be offered for sale. One consignment is from New Jersey and another from Kentucky. The latter load has a number of well bred horses and some that will do to go out with to the races by next season. CHURCH ANNIVERSARY St. Peter's church, on the mountain, between Siesholtzville and Shimersville, an edifice erected in 1844, and wherein the Lutheran and Reformed congregations worship, will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary on Sunday, September 25, and at the same time have a rededication. The edifice has been generally renovated during the summer. John WETZEL had charge of the carpenter work and NUSS & BRENSINGER did the painting and papering. New pews and other furniture has replaced the old and the church now makes a very nice appearance. At the coming service the pastors, Rev. I.B. RITTER, for the Lutheran, and Rev. O.R. FRANTZ, for the Reformed congregation, and other preachers, will occupy the pulpit. There will be services forenoon, afternoon and evening. There will also be arrangements for the entertainment of guests with refreshments at the church. The public is cordially invited to attend the services. THROWN OUT OF BUGGY IN TURNING A CORNER While Jacob BARTMAN and Charles ERB were returning home to Harleysville, from the residence of Samuel LANDIS, near Lederachville, last Wednesday afternoon, and in making the turn at the turnpike, the horse started off rather suddenly, throwing both occupants out and upsetting the wagon. The horse ran as far as the residence of Rev. Jacob MOYER, where it was halted. Mr. BARTMAN received several ugly bruises, though not serious, while the horse received a pair of badly cut legs. The wagon was almost a total wreck. COW FELL IN WELL AND WAS DROWNED Orlando BROWSE, a farmer residing at New Hanover, lost a valuable cow this week by a peculiar accident. The cow fell into a well and was drowned. Mr. BROWSE had just had a well dug in a field near his barn, which was not yet walled. This well was only protected by a covering of some light boards, and over this slight protection a large apple tree had been blown by a storm. The tree had the fruit still hanging on the branches. Mr. BROWSE's brother from Pottstown, was a visitor at the farm the day of the accident. He noticed the slimly protected well and also the cattle grazing in the same field, and remarked to his brother, that it was a dangerous place for the animals. During the day a fine cow that Mr. BROWSE had purchased just a week before for $50 was attracted by the apples and ventured upon the boards in order to get to the lower limbs. Under her heavy weight the floor gave way with a crash and the animal was thrown into the well, the very accident that his brother had prophesied a few hours before. When Mr. BROWSE went to look for his bovines that night he found that his favorite animal was missing and a further search revealed the fact that she had fallen into the well and was dead. Her neck had been broken by the fall and it was with great difficulty that she was removed from the pit.