12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



they have derived from this, and they have been of an imme- 

 diate and a cash vahie to them. I have cited an instance 

 several times, — the spinach illustration from the city of 

 Providence. 



Last June spinach was selling on that market at 45 cents a 

 bushel. At that rate the producers were hauling it in in increas- 

 ing supplies, and when it came to Wednesday morning the pro- 

 ducers stated to Mr. Taylor, the agent of the Bureau of Markets, 

 that they expected there would be a tremendous glut on the 

 market, especially by the latter part of the week. But they 

 continued to hold their nerve, and on coming to market Thurs- 

 day morning started their price — as is the custom on most 

 farmers' markets — where they left off on the day before. They 

 started at the 45-cent figure, and it continued through Thursday 

 at that price. 



They said, "This is surely providential and something un- 

 usual, but it will be to-morrow that the market will break." 

 And so in their habitual manner, on Friday morning, although 

 the supply of spinach had greatly increased, they started the 

 price at 45 cents a bushel. It sold for a while at 45 cents, and 

 later was reduced to 40 cents; but the market was cleared up 

 on spinach at that figure. 



They said, "To-morrow is the day, because the people of 

 Providence are surely full of spinach before this time, and we will 

 not be able to sell the supply that we will have come to market 

 in the morning." But starting in their accustomed habit at 40 

 cents a bushel, they were surprised to find the spinach had sold 

 entirely at an early hour without a decline in the price. 



Now, the reason for that they were kind enough to attribute 

 directly to Mr. Taylor's work through the Bureau of Markets. 

 It was because of the fact that publicity had been made use of 

 relative to the abundant supply of spinach. The article had 

 been reported in this manner, that "spinach was now at the 

 height of the season, and it could be bought to best advantage 

 for canning for the coming winter's supply." 



The women read those articles; they had the close co-oper- 

 ation of the newspapers, and they were publishing all of this 

 information. In connection with that article there were state- 

 ments made of government recipes of different ways to use 



