GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



tliouglit they could not get 50 cents a peck; 

 but one of his young clerks interposed 

 something as follows: 



" Why, yes, we can, Mr. B., for we have 

 quite a few customers who do not care any 

 thing about the jyrice providing they have 

 something that is good, and looks nice." 



It occurs to me just now that I had better 

 tell you something about the potato market 

 in Bradentown when I arrived there in No- 

 vember. We carried down a few potatoes 

 I had just dug in my garden in Ohio. When 

 tliose were gone I bought a peck (for table 

 use, of course) in Florida. They were 

 potatoes that had been shipped down from 

 the North. I think they cost 69 cents a 

 peck. Of course, this price includes deliv- 

 ery; and I have sometimes thought tliat 

 peoi^le like myself who do not ask to have 

 things delivered should have a little lower 

 price. Well, of these potatoes that cost 60 

 cents a i^eck, nearly half of them had to be 

 thrown away. They were bruised, cut witli 

 a hoe in digging, and had begun to rot. 

 They were ill-looking and ill-smelling. T 

 went to another grocery, and there found 

 but little better potatoes. Mre. Root said 

 she had to throw away half of them. By 

 the time my new potatoes were on the m.ar- 

 ket, potatoes from the North were being 

 shipped in, and these were rather bettor, 

 and sold at a lower price — I tliink about 40 

 cents a peck. 



Do you inquire why potatoes in Florida 

 should be 60 cents a peck when they are 

 digging them here in Ohio at 60 cents a 

 bushel f Well, there are several reasons. 

 Potatoes are bulky, risky to handle, and if 

 sent to Florida during the hot weather, 

 especially right after being dug, they are 

 liable to rot. Tliis does not explain, how- 

 ever, why we should find so many potatoes 

 down in Florida that are cut or otherwise 

 injured in digging. Mrs. Root declared that 

 somebody sorted out culls and then charged 

 consumer's 60 cents a peck for them. Some 

 of you may ask, " If new potatoes can be 

 sold down in Bradentown for $2.00 a bush- 

 el, why does not everybody go into the 

 business f ' I asked my neighbor, Mr. Rood, 

 why he did not grow potatoes by the acre. 

 He said, " Simply because I can make more 

 money in growing celery and strawberries." 

 1 suppose you know that new potatoes 

 are shipped from Florida to the Northern 

 markets by the hundreds of carloads, and 

 this is being done now while I write. I do 

 not think, however, they get the big price of 

 $2.00 a bushel. 



Now, something else conios in right here 

 that Mrs. Root has complaired about. She 

 says the people who write for the papers 



never mention it. She says that $2.00 a 

 bushel is not so much when they are paid 

 for in store pay, like our eggs and all sorts 

 of vegetables and fruit (that is, where we 

 do things on a small scale) ; the produce has 

 to be carried to the towns and sold at the 

 groceries, and all you get is " store pay." 

 I believe the rule is for the grocer to sell 

 potatoes, fruit, eggs, and vegetables at just 

 what they pay for tihem. Their profit comes 

 from the goods they sell in exchange for 

 truck. 



A year ago, when I left Florida I had a 

 credit of about $40.00 at the groceries; but 

 it took it all, and more too, to pay for the 

 " chicken feed " from May till November. 

 Mrs. Root comes back at me just here and 

 asks where the profit is. The profit comes 

 in the young flock of pullets that have to be 

 fed until they are old enough to begin to 

 lay. You see I am now coming over to the 

 poultry part of my article. 



We hear it over and over again that it 

 does not pay to keep chickens in Florida 

 because grain costs so much; and that is 

 true to a certain extent, or according to 

 how you look at it. Wheat, oats, and corn 

 cost about $2.00 per 100 lbs. ; corn and oats 

 a little less, and wheat a little more. But 

 now look here : Even if it is true that you 

 can't grow wheat, oats, and .corn profitably 

 in Florida, you can grow Irish potatoes (as 

 I have demonstrated every winter), and get 

 a good price for them. I can swap a bushel 

 of potatoes for 100 lbs. of corn, and usually 

 get 15 or 20 cents besides to m.y credit. I 

 do not know how many bushels of those 

 nice potatoes could be gi'own on an acre; 

 but I think it safe to say 200. Now, if every 

 bushel were swapped for 100 pounds of 

 corn, what sort of a corn crop would that 

 be? And, by the way, all the grocers in 

 Bradentown deliver their stock, and, if you 

 wish, they at the same time pick up your 

 products, such as eggs or garden truck. One 

 of the grocers recently purchased a Ford 

 auto truck, and he will come down to my 

 place, a mile from his store, to bring me a 

 bag of corn and take back a bushel of pota- 

 toes. Now, Florida has some drawbacks, I 

 admit; but is there not much to be tliankful 

 for also? 



Just a word or two more about swapping 

 country produce. If I am correct, this 

 practice is not confined to Florida, but it is 

 a fashion almost all over our land. Take 

 your butter", eggs, etc., to the store, swap 

 them for groceries: and is not that a short 

 cut from producer to consumer? T think 

 that butter of late is mostly cash; and here 

 in the North we have egg-dealers who go 

 around to the farmers and pay cash. Mr. 



