1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
179 
est ease. The framing and construction of this 
building, will be a very interesting study for those 
mechanics who may visit the Exhibition. 
-— .»■ —■ - 
Decrease of Population in our Farm¬ 
ing Counties.—Farmers’ Prospects. 
The State Census in New York shows that there 
has been a decrease of population in ten of its ag¬ 
ricultural counties in the last five years, amounting 
to 6,177. All the counties having a large city, ex¬ 
cept Jefferson, show a decided increase, which re¬ 
veals the fact that the tendency of our population 
is more and more toward cities. All the increase 
of the state in the last five years, which amounts to 
32:3,000, has been in cities and villages. This ten¬ 
dency has been marked in New England for the last 
fifty years, and is destined to go on in the future. 
Nothing can be more certain than that in the older 
states the consumers of agricultural products are 
rapidly increasing, while the farming population is 
decreasing, or barely holds its own. It follows 
from this that farm products must increase in value. 
The demand for them grows faster than the supply. 
Within fifty years the price of many of these prod¬ 
ucts has doubled, and some of them quadrupled. 
Veal and mutton were thought to be well sold at 
4 and 5 cents a pound, cheese at 6 cents, eggs at 10, 
butter at 121, poultry at 10, and beef and pork at 5 
or 6 cents. Animal products are, without doubt, 
destined to advance in price still further. If prices 
go up as consumers multiply, farming must pay 
better in the future than it has in the past. The 
young men, who, during our centennial year, will 
make up their minds as to their business in life, 
should take these facts into consideration. There 
is to be a harder struggle for bread and the com¬ 
forts of life, in the large cities, where consumers 
arc so rapidly multiplying. Labor will not be so 
well rewarded there. All farm products will be in 
greater demand, and will bear higher prices, while 
the cost of production will not be materially in¬ 
creased. The comforts of life have greatly im¬ 
proved in our farming districts, and in most of 
them in the older states, the style of living is much 
above that of laboring people in cities. To those 
who stick by the farm, and cultivate the paternal 
acres, the future promises an abundant reward. 
- »-•— - 
The Produce Commission Business—Fruit 
Dealers. 
BY C. W. IDEM.. 
[The produce commission business, especially that 
devoted to fruits, is one about which we have many 
inquiries. There is probably no business in which 
the relations of the parties concerned—the consign¬ 
ors and consignees—are less understood. There 
are abundant sources of dissatisfaction on both 
sides ; the producer may think he has put up his 
fruit in the best manner, but it arrives at the market 
in a damaged condition, and the returns are small; 
a neighbor may have received on Tuesday, profita¬ 
ble returns, while one who ships his fruit on Wed¬ 
nesday, and it arrives when there is a “glut” in 
the market, finds that his fruit has sold at half the 
price of the other, and at once suspects fraud on 
the part of the dealer. These troubles occur when 
everything is fairly conducted, and are inseparable 
from the nature of the business. The following 
general view of the trade, setting forth some pecu¬ 
liarities connected with it, concerns every fruit¬ 
grower, as raising the fruit is of little avail unless 
it is properly sold. It has been written at our re¬ 
quest by Mr. C. W. Idell, No. 227 Washington St., 
N. Y., who is one of our oldest fruit commission 
dealers, and from whom we may expect other arti¬ 
cles relating to the business. Ed], 
In every large city there are to be found commis¬ 
sion merchants whose character for responsibility 
and promptness is so well known that it is never 
questioned by those who consign to them. When 
another dealer makes application to fruitgrowers for 
consignments, the idea does not enter their minds to 
make inquiry into the character and responsibility 
of the new applicants ; their dealings with the 
one they have heretofore trusted have been so sat¬ 
isfactory, that, thinking all others equally honest, 
they ship to the new men simply because they have 
been solicited to do so. 
Perhaps no line of business, in large cities, is so 
filled up with persons who have neither the ex¬ 
perience or means to do what they promise, as the 
fruit commission business. 
The reasons for this state of affairs are very ob¬ 
vious. One is, that many suppose that little or no 
capital is needed to carry on a commission busi¬ 
ness. As to this point, it is safe to say that fifty 
per cent of the commission dealers are the sons of 
farmers, who, without any mercantile experience, 
conceive the idea of becoming commission mer¬ 
chants ; they count upon the well-known character 
of their parents, who can and do influence their 
neighbors to aid them by sending them consign¬ 
ments of fruits. When these persons begin, they 
fully intend to keep all the promises they make, 
and do so as far as they are able ; but being entirely 
unused to the business, they are not aware of the 
risk they must run, or the expenses that must be 
met before they can turn these consignments into 
cash and pay the consignors. Moreover, they are 
not aware that there is a class of buyers who are 
constantly on the watch for beginners who do not 
know them ; these buyers purchase freely, where 
a new comer will trust them, but they are very sure 
to defraud him out of the payment. It is a custom 
among the commission dealers to sell to good par¬ 
ties, and collect the bills at the close of the week. 
These dishonest buyers also claim this short credit, 
and if they succeed in obtaining it, often ruin 
young firms who trust them. Many instances have 
occurred where young commission dealers were 
daily defrauded out of a large portion of their 
sales, nor did they realize it until they came to 
settle with their consignors, when they discovered 
they were short of funds with which to square ac¬ 
counts. No doubt these merchants were honest in 
their intentions, but they did not know how to 
control the business intrusted to their care, yet 
their creditors suffered the loss of their money 
just as much as if there had been intentional fraud ; 
not having a sufficient amount of capital to meet 
the demands of their creditors, they have been 
compelled to hear themselves branded as dishonest. 
It is probable that the majority of those who 
fail, do so from the want of a moderate amount of 
capital with which to sustain themselves until they 
could acquire the necessary experience to succeed. 
Unfortunately there are some who carry on a thor¬ 
ough, systematically, fraudulent business, but 
these men do not fail so readily, for they arc a 
shrewd set, and can make more money by contin¬ 
uing than by failing; should they fail, that would 
end their opportunities for defrauding, but by con¬ 
tinuing in business, and employing numerous 
agents, or drummers, they succeed in getting a 
large run of trade, and make money. 
It is a singular fact, that farmers and other grow¬ 
ers will often ship their crops to dealers of whom 
they know nothing, nor do they take the trouble to 
inquire in regard to them. Yet were these same 
persons to ask for a loan of $25, they would not 
lend it until they had made the strict inquiry as 
to the applicant’s responsibility. If growers would 
make proper inquiry as to the dealer before they 
shipped their fruit, there would not be so much 
money lost by them as at present. They would 
find that many of the so-called commission mer¬ 
chants had no fixed location, but were running 
about the country, misrepresenting themselves, in 
order to obtain consignments. It is surprising to 
what extent these men really succeed in procuring 
consignments from growers who make no inquiry 
in regard to them. Such is the effect of personal 
application by a persuasive man, that in some in¬ 
stances, growers who were cautioned about ship¬ 
ping to these persons, have refused to believe 
them dishonest, and were convinced only when 
they were cheated out of their consignments. 
When this happens they are quite ready to assail, 
not only the men who defrauded them, but to set 
down all in the commission business as frauds. 
There is one thing in regard to these irresponsi¬ 
ble dealers that growers do not think of, that is, 
that they are themselves responsible for their exist¬ 
ence. This may seem improbable, but it must be 
remembered that these men are wholly dependent 
upon the distant grower for supplies, as the city 
dealers, knowing their characters, will not trust 
them for a single dollar. Did farmers also refuse 
to trust them, they would be driven out of the 
business. Let growers observe one simple rule and 
they will be safe from all loss by fraud. If you do 
not know a dealer, do not ship to him until you as¬ 
certain that he is responsible. If a man is trust¬ 
worthy, you can soon find it out, and there is no 
necessity to run a risk simply because solicited to 
do so. If he wants your crops, let him furnish you 
with his references. The old adage that “ an ounce 
of prevention is better than a pound of cure,” is a 
very good one in this case ; while the prevention 
is an easy one, the cure is very difficult, and it 
is a poor offset to the loss of your money to turn 
and denounce him, when you are aware that you 
alone are to blame for trusting a person of whom 
you know nothing. It may be well to suggest to 
young men desirous of becoming commission mer¬ 
chants, that they first hire with some good bouse 
until they have learned the business, and feel 
capable of carrying it on themselves, or, if they 
have capital, they may arrange to become a junior 
partner in some established firm. 
--if . «►»-—- 
Growing Rape Seed in Wisconsin. —A corres¬ 
pondent from Wisconsin, states that he raised last 
season, 41 acres of rape seed, which yielded 30 
bushels of seed, worth .$1.65 a bushel. He sowed 
in the middle of June, at the rate of 4 quarts of 
seed per acre, and cut the crop before it was quite 
ripe, with a self-raking reaper. It lay upon the 
field until dry, was then hauled in a wagon rack 
over a tight box, and covered with cloths, to save 
the seed which shelled easily. The seed was 
thrashed upon a bare barn floor, by treading with 
horses_The yield would probably have been bet¬ 
tered by using double the quantity of seed, and by 
manuring. Rape is a crop that needs a rich soil. 
Transplanting Evergreens. —Each spring there 
come numerous inquiries about transplanting ever¬ 
greens, and many think success depends upon 
choosing exactly the proper time. In our experi¬ 
ence we have not found the when so important as 
the how, having removed the trees in the fall, and 
early and late in the spring. If one can have his 
choice of times, no doubt that the period when the 
swelling of the buds shows that vegetation is active 
would be preferable, but we have succeeded with 
much earlier and much later planting. The one 
great and all essential point is to keep the roots 
from becoming dry. If these are dry, send the 
tree to the brush-heap, as that will be its ultimate 
destination. If the trees are to be brought from 
no great distance, a dull day can be waited for, 
otherwise the roots must be packed in wet moss, 
be puddled, or some protection given them ; they 
had better be kept soaking wet than to dry at all. 
Some ask what manure to use. Probably guano 
would kill them the quickest, but fresh stable ma¬ 
nure will be pretty sure .—Never manure an ever¬ 
green at planting. When well established, well 
decomposed manure will be of use. The top af¬ 
fords such an obstacle to the wind that all trees 
over two or three feet high should be staked. 
Barefoot or Shod.— The relation between the 
well clad feet and valuable labor of one man, and 
the bare feet and carelessness or indolence of 
another, is something worth considering. A care 
ful, tidy, neatly dressed workman, is generally 
careful of the animals he tends, and neat and quick 
about his work, while a slovenly dressed man is 
too apt to be careless or idle, or smoke in the barn 
when the employer is absent. In Vienna, at the 
Exposition of 1873, 12 to 20 cents more a day, was 
regularly given to workmen who wore leather shoes, 
than to those who wore heavy wooden clogs or went 
barefoot. Every person who has employed many 
laborers, can readily understand the reason for this. 
