No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 4«9 



1 can sell my grapes for more (ban tAviee as much per pounds right 

 at home than my neighbors are selling theirs and taking them to 

 market, and it is simply because of the way I have been marketing 

 them. 



DR. CONARD: Mr. Chairman, I also endorse Brother Clark's 

 ideas as to marketing our farm products. What he says, not only 

 applies to peaches, but to all other farm products. The man who 

 goes into the market with a first-class crop of peaches, properly 

 prepared for market, easily gets a quarter of a dollar more than 

 his neighbor who has failed to properly prepare his products for 

 market; so it is with potatoes and applies to anything, in fact. We 

 will consider the dairy business for a minute; the selling of milk. 

 That is where the thing cuts the greatest figure, in the line of agri- 

 culture, of anything that I can think of. The man who goes to 

 market with his milk in first-class condition always commands the 

 highest price, while the man who comes along with his milk be- 

 fouled, impure and unclean, does not only get a less price himself, 

 but hurts the market for others. 



That is true of the dairy business, particularly if you wish to sell 

 milk to tbe creameries. Where a shipper sends it to the cities, and 

 gets it there early, it is possible for him to get a little better price 

 for it; but even then the price is held down by the milk that is not 

 well prepared and marketed. 



MR. NELSON: Line upon line and precept upon precept, is what 

 we need on the subject. Brother Clark spoke of producing an ex- 

 tra good article, and that brought to my mind what first started me 

 on that line. About fifteen years ago Mr. Root told a story that 

 happened at Medina, Ohio, that did me more good than anything 

 that I ever heard in my life. A farm.er and his wife drove into 

 market with a couple of barrels of gooseberries, and they went 

 around asking the storekeepers what they would give for them, 

 but could not get a satisfactory ofi'er. After making the rounds, 

 they started home with their gooseberries and met Mr. Root, 

 who was running a truck wagon, selling produce that he was rais- 

 ing in his own garden, which was known to be good. The woman 

 said to Mr. Root, "We have been trying to sell these gooseberries 

 but could not." Mr. Root looked at them and offered her eight cents 

 a quart and she was very glad to take that. He turned around and 

 went among his customers and sold them for fifteen, and he couldn't 

 find gooseberries enough for that market. ■ I tell you it is all in the 

 man behind the gun. When I take honey to market in bottles and 

 jars and go to the grocers, I never let them set the price on it. 

 I tell them, I will give you so much on the dollar, if that is satisfac- 

 tory. If you don't wish to accept that, you do not need to handle the 

 goods; what you don't sell I will take it off your hands. That is 

 the question of marketing in a nutshell. First, you must have a 

 good thing, and then know how to sell it. 



MR. McCLELLAN: This is a question that relates to more than 

 what you take to market, that you will attempt to realize the dol- 

 lar ouT: of. The production of the farm from three-fifths to two- 

 thirds of it ordinarily, is marketed right on the farm. Now what 



27 



