1897.] ESSAYS. 43 



grape prices render profitless our orchards and vineyards. I do not 

 think the extreme low price of either Apples or Grapes can be wholly 

 chargeable either to over-production or poor quality. The truth is, 

 we shall have low prices till we have more money. 



Study your business, understand the laud that you cultivate, get all 

 the information you can in relation to the business tliat you arc carry- 

 ing on, and make a specialty of some few articles, because any one of 

 the articles that you might produce will give you a living. 



I am carrying on at this present time five distinct branches, and 

 any one of them will give me a good living at any time. We of today 

 have a better chance than they did ten or twenty years ago, even in 

 farming. We have opportunities today for acquiring knowledge at 

 the Agricultural Colleges and Experimental Stations ; we have the 

 land which is at our disposal ; we have the markets, which you all 

 know are the best in the world. There is no such market in this 

 country, or in any other country, as the Boston market ; and there are 

 no such vegetables or produce of any kind in such good shape as shown 

 in the Boston markets. When I am in a large city 1 make it a practice, 

 some pleasant mornings, to go down to the markets and learu what i 

 can about the handling and sale of farm produce. 



I was in New York in the midst of the Asparagus season. There 

 was a great quantity of it coming into market; most of it came in 

 boxes of white pine, but they were old, they had come and gone, back 

 and forth, time and time again. It was very nice, fine Asparagus, tied 

 up in the usual way, but it sold at that time for six cents a pound. 

 There was another lot came in on the same boat, in wliite, clean boxes 

 made of very thin wood, cheaper boxes than the others, and the As- 

 paragus was of the same quality, to all appearances, but it was tied 

 up with nice, pink tape, which does not cost five cents a mile. It 

 looked very attractive, and it sold for ten cents a pound. 



I have seen Kalamazoo Celery sold in the market (and they grow 

 very nice Celery out there), tied up with blue tape, a third of an inch 

 wide, tied at the bottom and also about half-way up to the top. This 

 blue tape on the white Celery made the bunches look very attractive, 

 and everybody wanted it. It sold for a good deal less money than 

 my friend Mr. W. W. Rawson gets for his Celery, but when 

 Kalamazoo Celery was selling for 18, 20 and 25 cents per dozen, 

 done up in the ordinary style, this gentleman's Celery, tied with 

 blue tape, was bringing 35 cents a dozen, an increase of 40 per cent. 

 I think it is a good plan occasionally to visit the markets, study 

 prices, compare varieties, and learn how to better your crops and 



