104 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



DIFFICULTIES TO BE OVERCOME. 



It would be idle to minimize the difficulties which 

 have to be surmounted. The ordinary farmer has no 

 skill whatever in packing products for transportation. 

 The parcel post will therefore be flooded with articles 

 improperly packed which cannot be legally carried, 

 and which will be left at the depots of transmission 

 unshipped until the owners can call and take them 

 away. My own experience in transmitting food prod- 

 ucts by parcel post, before the present arrangement 

 referred to went into execution, illustrates this difficulty. 

 I desired to send some white clover honey produced near 

 my farm in Loudoun County to a friend in New York 

 City. It was comb-honey, well preserved, and was 

 packed as well as I knew how, so as to avoid damage 

 and leakage. It started on its journey from Bluemont, 

 Virginia, to New York City. When it reached Wash- 

 ington it was found that the honey had begun to leak 

 out. The package was withdrawn from the mails, and 

 I was notified that it could not be sent any further. 

 This is only a type of the difficulties of properly pre- 

 paring an article for shipment, by those unskilled in the 

 art of packing, which will have to be surmounted. 



In the next place, the consumer will have to order 

 blindly. He will have no opportunity of inspecting 

 the products he purchases before they are bought. 

 This, however, is a difficulty which will be overcome 

 by natural causes. The farmer who ships imperfect 

 or improperly prepared food products will at once lose 

 his customers. Therefore it is self-preservation on his 

 part to ship only articles of good quality and in prime 

 condition. Both consignee and farmer must be helpful 

 and patient until normal working conditions are secured. 



