504 



NEW ENGLAND FAR]\IER. 



Nov. 



weeks to air, strong light, and great changes 

 of temperature in cars, stores, and to all the 

 rough handling they get thereby, without los- 

 ing much of their goodness. A large portion 

 of early vegetables, and perishable fruits 

 brought long distances, — as from the Bermu- 

 das, Charleston, Norfolk, New Jersey, and 

 the Western States, — by the time it is retailed 

 in our markets is dear food for the human 

 stomach at any price. All delicate fruits, in 

 order to be transported long distances at all; 

 must be picked before they are ripe and fit 

 for eating. Deducting what is lost by fer- 

 mentation and unnatural ripening, jambs, 

 bruises and heating, fermentation and wither- 

 ing, it is strange that what remains can tempt 

 any appetite. What man, cultivating a gar- 

 den, would gather his peas, salads, tomatoes, 

 peaches and small fruits four and six days be- 

 fore wanted for use, or would think eggs 

 would improve by a week's ride in wagon.'' It 

 would require some persuasion, or (he artifi- 

 ces of a clever cook, to induce gardeners, 

 who know what good fruit and vegetables are, 

 to eat these articles treated in this way. They 

 would also doubt their ability to sell such stuff. 

 But middle men, through the position they 

 hold, or the credit system, or superior tact as 

 salesmen, can sell what the producer cannot. 

 Such damaged stuff is bought, sold, and con- 

 sumed, and serves to depress prices to the 

 discouragement of home production. 



Therefore, before the inhabitants of any city 

 congratulate themselves upon their ability to 

 obtain their supplies from remote districts, they 

 should consider that as the distances lengthen 

 the middlemen multiply, and the produce is 

 placed more completely under their control, and 

 speculations and all the evils alluded to above 

 increase. When it is remembered that the 

 losses incurred thereby fall chiefly upon the 

 consumer, it would be a' safe conclusion to say 

 it is far better economy to pay a little more 

 for products raised near by and brought in as 

 needed, in a fresh and healthy condition. 

 Under the stimulus of liberal patronage for 

 home productions, many thousand acres now 

 lying waste, or only partially improved, around 

 every city, would be converted into gardens ; 

 consumers and producers would more fre- 

 quently meet face to face, and the wants of 

 the former would be more easily gratified. If 

 all kinds of produce shall* be graded strictly 

 according to quality, and sold at correspond- 

 ing prices, the producer of inferior articles 

 will find little profit in bringing such to mar- 

 ket, while those whose productions always dis- 

 played care, neatness, and skill, would realize 

 a more adequate reward for their labor and 

 would be stimulated to attempt still higher 

 perfection. N. s. T. 



Lawrence, Mass., Sept. 1, 1868. 



— A widow woman at Concord, N. H., who had 

 an Income of over $6000 last year from her invest- 

 ments, does houscworlt for weekly wages. 



For the yew England Farmer, 

 THE LAW OP THE EOAD. 

 Thinking it possible that your readers might 

 be interested in knowing what this is, I here- 

 with give my experience and investigations, 

 hoping that none may ever be betrayed into 

 submitting a (luesfion of collision to arbitra- 

 tion, if they should be so unfortunate as to collide 

 or have an emplo)eedoso. My experience was 

 this : one of my teams was passing a carriage 

 that had stopped just outside of the usual trav- 

 elled rut, standing on a forty-five degree angle 

 with it, and, according to the teamster's judg- 

 ment, at a sufficient distance to allow him to 

 pass. His whippletrees to the forward horses 

 cleared the carriage, and he felt all was right 

 as they were longer than the hind ones, but to his 

 surprise the hind ones hit the wheel of the car- 

 riage enough to say they hit. The horse in 

 the carriage then went ahead all clear, and the 

 team went on, the teamster supposing that all 

 was right again — but was immediately startled 

 by the scream of the woman who was in the 

 carriage, but too late to prevent the breaking 

 of the carriage which had backed into the 

 hind wheel of the team. Now it appears the 

 woman backed the horse each time the carriage 

 was hit, and that owing to this backing it was 

 broken. I offered to settle the matter with 

 the owner of the carriage. He declined mak- 

 ing or receiving any proposition, but sent me 

 an attorney's letter which I did not heed. Af- 

 ter a time, finding I was not to be driven, 

 he came and proposed an arbitration. I felt 

 he would gain a point if I refused. The re- 

 sult was I had to pay costs and expense of re- 

 pairing the carriage, making it much better 

 than before. All I have stated here as facts 

 were proved by the testimony of the chairman 

 of selectmen of the town. The ground of the 

 decision was, that my team having bells, 

 caused the horse in the carriage to start, the 

 woman was frightened and pulled back on the 

 lines, and I must pay for it, as my team did 

 not leave one-half the road for the carriage to 

 back and go ahead in. 



Our laws require turning to the right, giving 

 one-half the road. Loadi d teams are by cour- 

 tesy allowed the whole road when it can be 

 done without too much inconvenience. Al- 

 most all men driving a light carriage will do 

 this, especially on bad roads, or up hill. If 

 collisions occur when the party is out of his 

 proper place in the road he is liable to dam- 

 age for the injury sustained, unless the being 

 there was unavoidable by reason of the horses 

 being unmanageable. In this case it becomes 

 the other party to give way, even if he has to 

 take the wrong side of the road. If both par- 

 ties are in fault neither can recover. 



When carriages are going the same way, 

 the foremost driver is required to turn to the 

 left and allow the hind one to pass him on the 

 right, if driving faster than he is. 



This law is too often disregarded, and in 



