No. 4.] SURPLUS FARM PRODUCTS. 97 



UTILIZATION OF SUEPLUS FARM PRODUCTS. 



H. F. HALL, AGRICULTUIL\L EXPERT FOR CAMPBELL's SOUP COMPANY, 

 CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY. 



The matter of holding or preserving perishable farm products 

 during a season of plenty and low prices to be used during times 

 of scarcity and higher prices is a question of very great eco- 

 nomic importance not only to the farmer but to the consum- 

 ing public as well. Large quantities of food are annually al- 

 lowed to waste because the market price will not cover cost of 

 harvesting and marketing. By many it is claimed that cheaper 

 and more direct methods of distribution, thereby enabling 

 the consumer to secure his supplies at such a price as to en- 

 courage greater consumption by him directly as a substitute for 

 the higher priced commodities, together with the tendency 

 of the consumer to buy during gluts and do his ow^n canning, 

 would solve the problem. This would doubtless have a great 

 influence but for the present-day tendency of the consumer to 

 order his food supplies in cans rather than to buy the raw 

 material and go to the trouble of home canning. In fact, the 

 present-day method of the consumer to have his goods delivered 

 in a " ready-to-eat package" is doubtless one of the principal 

 factors underlying the cause of continued gluts. 



The buying public no longer seeks the farmer's wagon to buy 

 at first cost and carry home in a hand basket the vegetables 

 and fruits needed for home consumption. For this reason, 

 public retail markets in most of our large cities have proven a 

 failure, and while the consumer often complains of high cost 

 of living, he perhaps forgets that his method of ordering goods 

 delivered in small quantities and taking thirty days for pay- 

 ment has an important bearing upon the cost price. This 

 would indicate that an efficiency movement is needed to im- 

 press upon the housekeeper the importance of better methods 



