No. 4.] MARKET GARDENING. 17 



plants thrived on it. We found the same thing with onions. 

 I was shipping spring onions all through July, and getting a 

 low price for them, so I went to sprinkling them, and was able 

 to put them into the market so that thej brought the top price 

 and went into the market as Bermudas. I didn't call them 

 Bermudas, and they were better than Bermudas ; but that is 

 what they were sold for in the market. 



But I noticed that, while the consumer paid from 2 to 5 

 cents an onion, I didn't get any such price. I had paid 40 

 cents a head for cauliflower in Brooklyn, but the concern that 

 handled our crops only allowed $1.50 for a barrel of 22, 26 

 or 28 heads. The men raising tomatoes in New Jersey were 

 getting 17 cents a bushel for them, and they must have lost 

 considerable every time they shipped. Tomatoes at the same 

 time were selling for 5 cents apiece to the people who ate 

 them. I looked into the matter, and found an agent who was 

 one of five standing between our crops and the ones who -ate 

 them, and all his expenses were for a new hat occasionally, 

 for that was where he had his office. He had no knowledge in 

 particular, no expenses for a stenographer or anything of that 

 sort ; but he had a house overlooking Prospect Park, a bunga- 

 low at Watch Hill, a big steam yacht and three automobiles, 

 — all out of the farmer and the consumer. You know that in 

 a New York apartment they have to buy a little at a time, 

 because they have no place to store things. So we tried to see 

 what we could do for New York. We decided on a hamper 

 we liked the looks of, and filled it with all sorts of things, just 

 enough for a small family. You see this one here. This 

 cauliflower would cost 25 cents a head in New York. This 

 vegetable is used for salad, and the restaurants call it all kinds 

 of names. I should estimate that the quantity we have here 

 would cost anywhere from Y5 cents to $1.50 in the market. 

 All that is sold in the market conies from Belgium in the 

 steamers, and there is a big demand for it. Here is a basket of 

 potatoes, — you know they have no place for a bushel or a 

 barrel, and must buy from hand to mouth. Here is a little 

 cabbage, small, to be sure, but they bring good money this way. 

 That lot of stuff would bring us from 12 to 14 cents in a New 

 York commission house ; we get $1.50 for it this way, and the 



