822 



gLeaningIs in bee cul/ruliE. 



UCt. 



half a bushel of peaches they are generally 

 rounded up just a little. In transportation 

 they get shaken down so the basket is hard- 

 ly level full. Now, if you sell them out and 

 heap up your measure there is great danger 

 that you do not get cost for them, let alone 

 the expense of doing business— that is, if 

 you want to sell things on a small margin, 

 and small margins are the rule nowadays— 1 

 mean, of course, where you buy the fruit to 

 sell again. We sell fruit on our wagon 

 along with vegetables, to help pay traveling 

 expenses. By the time our wagon had been 

 running about six months, we discovered 

 that by far the better way is to sell things 

 by weight. Look at the market reports in 

 any of your papers, M'ill you ? Cabbages are 

 quoted at from three to four dollars per 100 

 heads. Now, the heads in our field weigh 

 from one to ten pounds. Beets, onions, rad- 

 ishes, asparagus, pie-plant, etc., are usually 

 sold by the bunch. Well, what does a 

 bunch weigh V Sometimes more and some- 

 times less ; and this leaves it for the gar- 

 dener to give just as small bunches for a 

 nickel or a dime as his customers will stand. 

 Worse still, the bunches are not all alike. 

 Now, we make our bunches by weight. We 

 weigh them up, just so much in each bunch. 

 Our cabbages are put on the scales, and sold 

 for so much a pound ; the same with celery, 

 squashes, etc. The nicest thing fcr weigh- 

 ing small quantities is the little scale below. 



THE " FAVORITE " FA^MILY SCALE. 



The scale stands in a convenient corner of 

 the wagon. Wheii the purchaser picks out 

 just the article wanted, it is dropped on the 

 scale, and both parties can see at a glance 

 just what the article weighs. There has 

 been one objection made to this — that a cer- 

 tain squash or melon may Ije more desirable 

 than the others. Well, our plan is to fix the 

 price at so much for first-quality goods. An 

 indifferent specimen is sold at a less price 

 per pound. Celery is sold the world over, I 

 believe, at so much a root or dozen roots. 

 In our grounds we have a good many roots 

 that weigh a pound each ; but by far the 

 larger part of them do not weigh half a 

 pound each. Is not so much a pound by 

 much the fairest way ? 



Since school lias commenced, the small 

 boy we had on our wagon is obliged to at- 

 tend school, and two men now take charge 

 of the wagon. We have the lines lengthen- 

 ed out so the driver can stand on the step at 

 the back end of the wagon. See cut oppo- 

 site Chapter XXL While the driver stands 

 on the seat, his scales are on the low shelf 

 at his right hand, ready to drop any article 

 on them that needs to be weighed. Two 

 men manage the wagon entirely. A trusty 

 horse is used, and a couple of hooks are fixed 

 to hold the lines right at hand on the back 

 end of wagon. Whoever gets through with 

 his customer first, takes the lines and drives 

 along to the next stopping-place. The wag- 

 on seldom fails to make a trip on account of 

 the weather. A rubber blanket is carried 

 along to cover the horse when it is rainy. 

 Pieces of enamel cloth of suitable sizes are 

 in readiness to cover articles that may be in- 

 jured by rain— honey -jumbles, some kinds 

 of fruit, etc. The receipts from the wagon 

 average, in cash, from 20 to BO dollars per 

 week, going every forenoon. The expense 

 of the trip— men, horse, and wagon, is about 

 $2.00 for each forenoon. Thus you see it 

 costs 20 per cent, or one-fifth of the value 

 of the articles, to sell them ; therefore 

 if any one will come and take our stutf 

 from the grounds, in quantities sufficient to 

 gather the crop to order, we can afford to 

 let him have it for one fifth less. We esti- 

 mate, also, that we can not afford to carry 

 any article on the wagon unless we can 

 make a clean profit of at least 2.5 per cent ; 

 and sometimes even this is too close a mar- 

 gin. Peaches that cost a dollar a basket 

 can not well be sold for less than $1.50 on 

 the wagon. 



To he continued Nov. 15^1SS6. 



