1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



503 



Hence the bulk of the provision trade cannot 

 be rated higher than second or third qualify, 

 while the portion that can rightly be called 

 first quality, is a very small part of the whole. 

 If the public only demanded a better quality 

 of goods, and would willingly pay the corre- 

 sponding increase in the cost of production, 

 it would be easy to comply with their request. 

 But consumers, generally, do not appear to 

 realize that there is a difference in the expense 

 of raising a good and an inferior article. 



Take for example the potato. All readily 

 perceive the great difference in their qualities, 

 but few will willingly make a corresponding 

 distinction in the price. They wish to buy 

 the better kinds at nearly the ordinary price of 

 the poorer varieties. The truth is the coarser 

 and more hardy varieties always give a larger 

 and more certain yield than the finer and delicate 

 kinds, and can rdally be afforded from twenty 

 to fifty cents per bushel less than the latter. 

 As this difference cannot be easily obtained, — 

 the prices of all sorts in market being very 

 near the same, — farmers at once learn it is for 

 their interest to raise the coarser and more 

 hardy kinds. So with all vegetables and fruits, 

 those varieties that give a large and certain 

 yield of (-nly a fair quality are the most re- 

 munerative. Before there is decided improve- 

 ment in the quality of eatables, then, consum- 

 ers must offer greater inducements to produce 

 the best. 



In Boston and other Eastern cities, the con- 

 sumer does not usually come in contact with 

 the producer, and the latter receives less encour- 

 agement to excel from the long array of middle 

 men who intervene ; for as a class they adhere 

 more tenai'iously to the one-price or same val- 

 uation rule, and consequently put a lower pre- 

 mium upon quality than consumers themselves 

 would do. At their stores, or through agents 

 along the railroad lines, these middlemen offer 

 certain prices for the various kinds of produce. 

 Good, bad and indifferent are brought to 

 them, and generally received without varia- 

 tion of price; or, if varied at all, it is but 

 slightly. Perhaps the poorer lots might not 

 be received alone at the given pi ice, but they 

 help make up a large quantity, and, as a part 

 of tlie whole, may pass inspection. 



Even for an article that vaiies so greatly in 

 quality as butter, the wholesale selling price 

 among farmers is nearly uniform. The wide 

 difference of pi'ices the consumer observes in 

 the retail trade is not made in the wholesale 

 The painstaking dairyman gets but a trilie 

 more for his superior article and extra labor 

 than the careless do for their inferior. 



In collecting eggs about the country, an egg 

 is an egg. One price is paid, although a 

 dozen of them, from some breeds of hens, 

 weigh from four to six ounces more than from 

 others. By the time these arrive in the mar- 

 kets of the large cities they have lost much of 

 their original goodness, from repeated hand- 

 ling, long transportation and keeping, and 



whosoever purchases these in warm weather, 

 makes a doubtful investment. Although the 

 producer near by may bring in his eggs clean, 

 fresh, uninjured by carriage, and warranting 

 every one sound, it is with difficulty he can 

 get two or three cents per dozen above the 

 price of railroad eggs, and take store pay at 

 that. All know the greater value of freshly 

 laid eggs, and traders admit it by carefully 

 putting them aside for "particular customers." 

 But why not make a corresponding difference 

 in price ? Why not hold out inducements for 

 producers to take more pains to bring a good 

 article to market ? 



Again, the milk trade affords another illus- 

 tration of this one-valuation system. Here it 

 is one price for the producer, and one price 

 for the consumer. Mr. C. may feed his cows 

 upon the best of roots and grain, the sweetest 

 of grass and hay, and have thereby milk that 

 pleases every one, yet not one cent more 

 per can does he receive for it, than his neigh- 

 bor B., who, by feeding upon slops, swill, sour 

 grass, coarse and poor hay, produces, at less 

 cost, an inferior article that nobody wants. 

 These different qualities are all taken, and the 

 load made up, but the milkman knows the 

 contents of every can, and the "particular cus- 

 tomers" again come in for their share of good 

 things, without exlra charge, while the infe- 

 rior stuff is put upon the par, and ihose of 

 doubtful credit, or should the dealer be strictly 

 impartial, he mixes the different qualities to- 

 gether, making the good sell the bad. Thus 

 these "particular customers," in buying many 

 kinds of produce, receive the better portion 

 without paying a full equivalent, while those 

 who take the lower grades from necessity or 

 choice, pay too dearly. To say nothing of 

 the injustice of this mode of dealing to either 

 party, it is manifest that its practical effects 

 among farmers is, to give quantitypracedence 

 of qualitij. 



But who is responsible for the damaged con- 

 dition which produce presents in market. •* 

 Farmers know what will keep, and generally 

 take care to sell such in season ; but when 

 tbey sell they cannot dictate how long the ar- 

 ticle shall be kept, or how far transported. 

 Your butter was not rancid, cheese mouldy, 

 fruits decayed, vegetables withered when they 

 left the farm. All these imperfections are the 

 result of frequent and rough handling, too 

 long keeping and transportation. Once in 

 the hands of the middlemen they do with it as 

 they please, and they exercise the right to 

 mix, compound, extend, re-sort, or re-mark 

 as circumstances may favor. And if the pi ofits 

 can be increa-ed by t^toring the commodity, 

 they do not hesitate to indulge in speculation 

 to the sorrow and expense of the hungry pub- 

 lic. It is well known that all kinds of farm 

 produce deteriorate if kept be)ond a certain 

 limit, and always suffer more or less loss by 

 transportation. Even hardy vegetables, like 

 potatoes, cannot be exposed three or four 



