THE MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS 897 



price on any given date to all farmers. The farmers can, how- 

 ever, get about 15 s. more by carting to Liverpool, at an expense 

 of, roughly, 7 s. 6d., thus netting a profit of 7 s. 6d. more per 

 ton than they can get by sending to middlemen. This is done 

 as much as possible by the farmers who themselves cart and 

 sell at the Liverpool market, paying a toll of 3 s. per one-horse 

 load and 3 s. 6d. more per two-horse load. The farmers have 

 attempted to eliminate the middleman and sell directly to or 

 through the wholesalers by combining together for shipment, 

 but this has never proved practical on account of jealousies and 

 lack of business ability among them. 



Below is a rough estimate of the cost of growing an acre 

 of potatoes : 



25 tons manure at I OS. per ton .... ^\^ los. 



1 2 cwt. seeds at 4 s. cwt i 



To plough twice i 



To make rows 15 



To set seed 15 



Cover seed 7 6d. 



Care, weeding, etc i 



^TTTTsTSd 



To this must be added the cost of digging, handling, cartage 

 to station, storage, etc., which would bring the total cost to ,20 

 or ,2^. Some farmers gave a higher estimate than this, but 

 it would seem to be a fair one for the section. Wages for farm 

 hands are from 20 s. to 25 s. a week. 



Taking the average yield as 10 to 13 tons per acre, the profit 

 would average from ,\6 to ;!^i8 per acre, as nearly as can be 

 reckoned under the varying conditions. 



In Cheshire the farms are often larger, and a large number of 

 farms send directly to the wholesalers who supply hampers, charg- 

 ing, sometimes, a rent of 1 d. per hamper. The prices received by 

 the farmer, which are clear except for expenses of carting to the 

 station, were, when visited, 3s. 3d. to 3s. 6d. per hundredweight, 

 according to distance, quality, state of market, etc. The freight 

 from one of the centers to Manchester was 6 s. 6d. delivered 

 in the market. 



