Proceedings of the Farmers'' Club. 397 



namejy, The American Entomologist, wliich is especially devoted to 

 the subject of insects injurious to farm crops. It is edited with care, 

 by gentlemen of ability, and it ought to have a large circulation among 

 the class which it is especially intended to benefit. If our Kansas 

 friend had read the Entomologist, he would ere this have come upon 

 a full and helpful account of the pest complained of. 



Middle-men. 



Mr. Charles W. King, of Sumenburg, Essex county, Yt., wrote as 

 follows : — " I wash to know if there is not some way that farmers niay 

 escape the grasp of the ' middle-men' — those who come between the 

 producer and consumer ? Take, for instance, our beef. There is the 

 drover with his runners, the butcher and the stall men. The result 

 is that the consumers pay double, and often more, than we, the pro- 

 ducers, receive. It seems to me that by a combination of effort these 

 ' middle-men ' may be reduced to some honest or legitimate businessr- 

 but I am at a loss to know the method of operation." 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter. — I have reason to hope that the evil will be 

 remedied, and that at no distant day. I am informed that arrange- 

 ments are being made by an association of industrious individuals in 

 Ohio, to transfer beef in refrigerator cars, and in such a manner as to 

 do away, to a great extent, with the hitherto necessary " middle- 

 men." 



Mr. J. W. Gregory. — There is a steamship, the William Taber by 

 name, now fitting up at the foot of ^Nineteenth street in this city, for 

 the purpose of bringing Texas beef to the northern markets. There 

 will be facilities for making ice on board the vessel, and preserving- 

 the meat by driving a current of cold air through the apartments 

 intended for its reception. The air is not only cold but dry, and the 

 cold is intense enough to turn a room full of beef into stone in an 

 hour. But that degree of frost is not found the best. I regard this 

 as a very important experiment. When in Texas, not long ago, I 

 was offered 1,000 head of cattle for $15 apiece, and each quarter was 

 warranted to weigh from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and 

 sixty pounds. This beef was excellent, much better than most of 

 that brought from long distances, ofiered in the metropolitan market. 

 If tlie vessel alluded to prove able to perform the Avork, and I see no 

 reason to apprehend a failure, there will be better times for the deni- 

 zens of our great city, particularly for those who need beef most, and 

 now have the least of it. 



