462 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 8 
Fruit Men Who Wsnt “ Empties ” Back. 
G E House, Ulster Pabk, N. Y.— r 
inclose a circular issued by the Fruit 
Growers’ Association of the Hudson River 
Valley, showing the stand taken by them 
in regard to the berry package question. 
The berries shipped from this section 
are nearly all red raspberries, and, if we 
were to use the gift packages at the 
prices the manufacturers charge now, 
we would have to go out of the business. 
In using the return crates, the expense of 
getting a quart of berries to New York 
or Albany is 5 1 9 cents; to Buffalo or 
Boston, our best markets, it is 0 2 9 cents; 
the gift packages would increase the ex¬ 
pense 3% cents. The gift package for 
all other fruits, except berries, is good 
enough, and I think the growers woulu 
all b.» willing to use the gift for berries, 
if strong enough to carry safely and sold 
cheap enough. Then the express com¬ 
panies must reduce freight, and the com¬ 
mission man charge less for selling. 
Until this is done the gift packages must 
wait. 
R. N.-Y.—Below will be found the 
chief points in the circular referred to. 
It represents the views of the fruitgrow¬ 
ers of five towns near Newburgh, N. Y. : 
Inasmuch as the Fruit and Produce Trade Associa¬ 
tion has, within the last lew months, issued to the 
producers and shippers several circular letters In 
regard to the use of a non-returnable crate for ber¬ 
ries, we deem It due sou and ourselves to make this 
reply, showing how the matter appears lrorn our 
standpoint. 
In your circular of February 3, you assume to rep¬ 
resent those who market their fruit In New York. 
We are sure that in advocating the use of a non-re¬ 
turnable crate for berries, you do not represent the 
wishes or the best Interests of the shippers of the 
Hudson Itlver Valley. You have not even consulted 
them In regard to the matter. 
Tnese associations do not believe that “ tho time 
has fully come” when the interests of the producer 
require a non-returnable crate—mote especially if 
he must pay for It. If the Interests of the dealers 
require It, justice would say let them pay for It; or 
it, as you assert.‘‘all interests require It,” let all 
Interests untie In paying for It. 
Producers in other parts of the country, because 
of cheaper lands and cheaper labor, can perhaps 
afford to pay from 12 to 30 per cent of the gross value 
of their products for packages. We cannot, for that 
would often mean our enure prollt 
We are w tiling to concede the quart baskets sent with 
strawberries, but are confident there Is no good reason 
why fruit will not sell to the co; Burner for as much in 
a well painted standard crate, with clean quarts, as in 
any non-retur: able package that can be procured. 
We regard the non-returnable package as simply a 
convenience to the dealers, for which the shipper la 
expected to pay. We therefore insist upon the re¬ 
turn of all standard strawberry crates andslats, and 
all raspberry crates and cups, or that they shall be 
paid for. We have no idea that the consumers of our 
fruit will consent tolorego Its use merely tecause 
some dealers refuse to handle It In returnable pack¬ 
ages. Tne question Is simply, through what channel 
shall It reach them ? 
Tne members of these associations are pledged to 
ship their fruit only to such Arms as will agree to re¬ 
turn our stanuard crates and slais, and raspberry 
crates and cups. 
The above Is the.result of mature deliberation on 
the subject by a body of growers of long experience, 
u body of men who have grown and shipped fruit 
enough to entitle their opinions to consideration by 
all concerned. W. 1‘. Westlake, Sec'y. 
Middle Hope. N. Y. 
Sheet-Iron Mulch. 
G. S. P., Winslow, Me. — Among the 
cld material which I have found exceed¬ 
ingly useful on the farm, is old sheet- 
iron and tin roofing, which like the tin 
can is supposed to be as nearly value¬ 
less as anything can well be. When I 
got my first lot of it, I used it as Mr. 
Terry did his surplus straw—as a mulch 
for blackberries. By laying it smoothly 
on the ground, with a straight board on 
top, it can be cut rapidly with an axe 
along the edge of the board, in strips of 
three to six feet wide, as desired. Find¬ 
ing it a success in keeping down black¬ 
berry shoots and Witch-grass, I began to 
use it wherever I bad strawberries or 
asparagus, to keep down the weeds along 
the borders. Wherever the ground is 
very rich, the weeds encroach very rap¬ 
idly, but a three-foot border of tin pro¬ 
tects the beds completely, and, though 
not ornamental, is fully as much so to 
my mind as a dense mat of hungry weeds. 
Smaller sections of it I lay around 
young trees or newly set bushes, and it 
saves much hoeing, and favors their 
growth, it seems to me, in every instance. 
It does me good to shut off the light and 
air along the edges of these garden beds, 
where once there was war, through the 
season, all along the line. Near cities 
and towns such material is plenty, and I 
think will in many cases not only take 
the place of straw, but do its work 
better, besides lasting for many years. 
Farming With “ Yaps ” to Help. 
Subscriber, Hancock County, W. Va.— 
1 have been reading the discussion over 
the hired man and I think some writers 
are too hard on Carrie Meigs. I have an 
aged mother, a sister, and, last but by 
no means least, a wife. I love them 
and also have groat charity for all re¬ 
spectable females, and therefore don’t 
like to hear harsh things said about 
them. The men who have been criticis¬ 
ing this lady do not take into considera¬ 
tion that in her locality what she has 
written may be true. There is more 
truth than poetry in much the same con¬ 
dition in my locality. There is not one 
man in 25 whom we can hire in this 
country who is fit to associate with our 
families, that we are trying to bring up 
to manhood and womanhood in a re¬ 
spectable manne. There is not a man 
in this locality that can he hired who 
has been raised here. There is not a 
farmer or fruit grower in this country 
who has not to hire one or more men, and 
none hires his boys out if he has any. 
We are supplied in this county by men 
from a certain portion of Ohio and lower 
West Virginia, who are well-known here 
as “ Yaps,” and their chief care is to get 
the time in as easily as possible and get 
exorbitant prices for the work done and 
when they get the farmer in a tight 
place they make some pretense of being 
angry or sick and want to leave, but 
will stay if the farmer puts the wages a 
little higher. 
One writer says, “ Women should stay 
in the house whe^e they belong.” We 
have here ladies who manage their own 
farms and oversee their men at work and 
appear to do it as well as any man. Some 
of them have husbands in other kinds of 
business. He attends to his vocation and 
the wife attends to the farm. Isn't E. 
A. T., of Croton, Ohio, looking through 
a dark glass at his neighbors ? If I lived 
in a country with neighbors as cruel as 
he speaks of I would move to some more 
congenial clime. 
The Good Roads Question. 
G. E. W., Afton, N. Y.—Let each town 
vote to raise by tax from §100 to §500 as 
needed each year, to he applied on work¬ 
ing the roads, the commissioner to use 
the money to help each road district as 
it needs it, by hiring teams or machines, 
or both, to do the work. Let the path- 
masters work their tax as they have 
been doing in past years, and the above 
sum be added after their tax is worked, 
the commissioner to pay for the extra 
work out of what is raised by the tax. 
This in a few years will give every town 
a good road evetywhere. It may not 
get rid of quite all of the mud, but it 
may save a good many homes and give 
every one the benefit. 
Pine Shavings for Manure. 
E. 1). Darlington, Fokihiook Farm, 
Pa.—L ast winter I visited the horse 
farm of John W. Akin. I found that 
the stalls are all bedded three inches 
deep with fresh pine planer chips, which 
are compressed into bales at the mills 
and can be bought much cheaper than 
straw. This litter asorbs all the mois¬ 
ture, and when too much soiled for 
longer use is shoveled up quickly with 
large scoop shovels into wagons driven 
along the wide gangways in the rear of 
the stalls and spread on the fields with 
the same implements. It is very light 
and fine, and the hauling and spreading 
is hut play compared with the drudgery 
of this work as pursued on the ordinary 
farm, while a most noticeable ehaDge 
was the entire absence of any unpleasant 
odor about the stables even while this 
work was being performed. 
I had the impression that while these 
chips were a most convenient bedding, 
they would sour or poison the ground 
when the manure was applied to the 
fields, but I was informed that this was 
not the case, that they were an excellent 
fertilizer when used in this way. The 
practical result of their exclusive use 
had been a harvest of about 500 tons of 
hay from 150 acres the past season. 
A novelty in farming is the feeding of 
these horses. They are fed exclusively 
on a mixture of two-thirds fine bran and 
one-third of a cheap grade of flour which 
costs at present about §20 per ton. Of 
this the biggest Percherons get about six 
quarts at a feed and the smaller horses in 
proportion to their size. The stables 
were not as warm as in many of our 
barns on account of the very free ventila¬ 
tion given through the hay mows over¬ 
head, but the stock all seemed comfort¬ 
able and in perfect health. 
Potatoes as Bed Fellows. 
J. J. I , Defiance, Ohio. —The Rural 
asks for information as to “ Potatoes as 
bed fellows.” Here is an item—a true 
one: “ About 1840, Curtis Holgate, a 
man of some prominence in Utica, N. Y., 
came West and settled in Defiance, hav¬ 
ing bought a farm near town and a 
dwelling on the public square. In im¬ 
proving his new home, he planted a row 
of hard maple trees around the lot— 
placing a half bushel of potatoes in the 
hole dug for each tree. The next morn¬ 
ing the trees were all out of the ground, 
the town hogs having cleaned out the 
potatoes. He planted the trees again, 
putting in nothing hut the rich soil of 
the valley. The trees grew and were for 
years a blessing and an ornament. This 
is all that I know about that kind of 
nonsense. 
Science in the District School. 
C. P. A., Woodbridge, Conn. —I want 
to indorse most earnestly the article on 
the teaching of natural science in our 
public schools, written by Mr. C. E. 
Chapman, on page 270. His position is 
unassailable, and his deductions are the 
very essence of common sense. For years 
I have advocated similar plans, and hope 
to live to see some of them materialize. 
I would place upon the walls of every 
(Continued on next page.) 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
POT-GROWN 
STRAWBERRIES. 
Selected varieties for family and market should be 
planted in July or August, In order to get good re- 
salis the following season. Handsome Catalogue, 
with latest information as to varieties and culture, 
ready July 1st. Free. 
ELLWANGEB & BARRY, 
Mount Hope Nurseries, 
53d Year. Rochester, N. Y. 
* * ® » * nil * » *_* » * * * 
* F1SLL 1893 
v "KEYSTONE 1 ’ 
t Corn Husker and 
FODDER CUTTER. 
at Husks the corn and cuts the fodder at 
" same time. 
3 
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Two sizes:— 
Do fast and good work. 
‘KEYSTONE’ 
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KEYSTONE” 
DISC 
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The great 
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for any 
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Send for full descriptions. 
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SEND FOR CATALOGUE. 
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113 River St., BATAVIA, ILL. 
Scrofula 
In the Neck. 
The following is from 
Mrs. J. W. Tillbrook, 
wife of the Mayor of Mc¬ 
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“ My little hoy Willie, 
now six years old, two 
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hunch under one ear 
•hich the doctor lanced and it discharged for 
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Farmers YOUB Produce 
To F. I. SAGE & SON, 183 Reade St., N. Y., 
Receivers of all kinds of Country Produce, In¬ 
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Calves. Specialties— Berries, Grapes, Apples, Pears, 
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to be found at any hank. 
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FuRm elc - ; electric cars to city. 345 acres-305 
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Entire farm lenced and cross-fenced; running water 
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shelled corn to the acre; 120 acres in clover and 
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owner must sell. For particulars address 
WINTHROP G. STEVENS, Lynchburg, Va 
DON’T PAY WAGES 
for what any animal from a Blx-montbs calf to 
a l,0C0-pound horse can do better. Only perfect¬ 
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Manufacturers of horse-powers for one, two, three 
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Buckeye Wrought Iron Punched Rail Fence. 
Also manufacturers of Iron Creating, Iron Turbine and 
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