1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
481 
THE PROSPECT. 
During the past two years The R. N.-Y. has had 
quite a little to say about rape as food for sheep. 
This plant was nevv to most of our readers, though it 
has been grown in England for many years. Ameri¬ 
cans who go to England for sheep have often noticed 
the great value of this crop on English sheep farms, 
and some of them have tried to introduce it here. 
There is so much interest in the matter that the 
United States Department of Agriculture has issued a 
little pamphlet by Prof. Thomas Shaw, of Canada. 
This gives the needed facts about rape, and every 
sheep man should study it. 
X X X 
So long as Indian corn lasts, the stock feeder need 
not trouble about green fodder. Between corn ripen¬ 
ing and winter comes a time when grass alone must 
provide rough forage unless we take from the win¬ 
ter’s supply. True, the silo may be managed so as to 
give green food the year around, but a crop that could 
be pastured during the fall and winter would evidently 
be more economical. One reason why sheep and lambs 
are rushed to market during the late summer and 
early fall is because of a lack of pasture. The rape 
crop is designed to fill just this hole in the food sup¬ 
ply. It can be sown after a crop of rye or grass and 
be ready for grazing in early September, continuing 
to give an abundance of food till the ground freezes 
up. For example, take the grain stubble or sod that 
is to be used for corn next year. Plow and fine it up 
well, add chemical fertilizer or manure and sow rape. 
In September turn in the sheep and let them eat it 
down. If need be, feed them grain. Their droppings 
and the uneaten parts of the rape vines can be plowed 
under next year for the corn. There is one illustra¬ 
tion of the value of a pasture plant that will do most 
of its growing while other plants are ripening. 
X X X 
Rape in its early growth can hardly be distinguished 
from the turnip. As it develops, however, it is seen 
that while turnips form large, bulbous roots, rape 
roots are small and stringy. But this difference is 
more than made up above ground, as the rape grows 
long and thick leaves which will furnish, on the aver¬ 
age, 10 tons of green food to the acre. The green 
rape has a higher nutritive value than green clover, 
and the sheep can be turned in to eat it on the ground 
or it can be cut and carried to them in the bams. 
We hope to print, very soon, the experience of some 
sheep men who have grown rape. In the meantime 
we advise those of our readers who like to experiment 
to get a quantity of the seed and test it in a small 
way, at least. By all means send for and read the 
pamphlet issued by the Agricultural Department at 
Washington. Like Scarlet closer, this plant may be 
just the thing you need to fill out your list of crops. 
X X t 
Why has the Indian Government, after years of dis¬ 
cussion and investigation, rather unexpectedly discon¬ 
tinued the free coinage of silver for private parties at 
its mints, and thus still further demoralized the advo¬ 
cates of bimetallism throughout the world ? Mainly, 
no doubt, to put the most important dependency of the 
British Empire on the same footing as the United 
Kingdom as regards its currency—making gold the 
only standard of value. This no doubt was done in a 
great measure under pressure of the English money 
kings, whose holdings aie thus greatly appreciated. 
Then again, of late there have been great uncertainty 
and confusion in the value of the white metal in India. 
While the normal value of the silver rupee—the chief 
currency in the East Indies—is 48 cents, at present it 
ranges about 29. Then again, the exchange business 
between India and England is of enormous extent, 
and recently this has been greatly demoralized, to the 
loss of English investors in Indian securities. For 
instance, the railroads of India pay, on an average, 
4 4-5 per cent interest on the money lent in England 
for their construction, but owing to the recent fall in 
the rates of exchange the amount of rupees remitted 
to England to pay the sterling charges makes it equiv¬ 
alent to a payment of interest of over 7 3-5 per cent. 
In this way during the last year they suffered a loss of 
11,000,000 rupees, instead of making a gain of 8,000,000, 
which they would have done were it not for the finan¬ 
cial disturbances, and other interests were injuriously 
affected in the same way. 
t X X 
Then again, the dominant power in India is, of 
course, exercised by the resident English military and 
civil servants of the government, and for years these 
have been loud in their complaints that their salaries 
were paid in a greatly depreciated currency, though 
based on the normal value of the rupee. This has 
entailed great hardships on a multitude of them in 
India as well as on their children and other members 
of their families resident, for one cause or another, in 
the Mother Country, and probably their influence has 
had as much weight as any other in prompting the 
sudden action of the government. Like our own Con¬ 
gressmen after the return to specie currency here, all 
these are now clamoring for back pay on a gold basis, 
and it is not improbable that India will suffer from a 
vastly greater and more scandalous “ salary grab” 
than our Congressional Solons then inflicted on this 
country. J j: J 
Once more the trade papers are charging that the 
present depreciation in the prices of wheat and flour 
are, at least partly, due to the fact that in making 
their reports to the government and others, the 
farmers of the country persistently understate the re¬ 
turns in hopes of getting better prices for their grain. 
Such rumors, spread abroad year after year, have a 
pernicious effect on prices. In Europe to-day the 
general impression among the grain trade is that the 
wheat crops of 1891 and 1892 in this country were 
greatly underestimated, and this aids other causes 
materially in depressing prices. A close observation 
of the crops and reports for considerably over a dozen 
years strongly impresses us with the lack of truth in 
the above supposition. Still while investors generally 
regard the present price of wheat as below its worth, 
they are afraid that in presenting the prospects of 
the wheat crop of 1893 at 100,000,000 below last year’s 
output, this year’s crop is also estimated much too 
low, while the present large surplus prevents any 
material advance. 
FREE CRATES ONCE MORE. 
A LETTER ABOUT IT. 
The two letters from berry-growers at lttdgely, Md„ about free 
crates, which were published In a recent number of The Rural, 
and the Interviewing by The Kuual's reporter of the gray-haired 
commission merchant, were read with much Interest by me. I can 
only say that during the past few days many car-loads of empties have 
been returned to Rldgely from New York, and that my own New York 
empties have been promptly returned. I think The Rural’s reporter 
has been made a victim of a blulf game, and 1 believe a further In¬ 
vestigation of the empty business will be of Interest to the paper's 
subscribers In New Jersey and on the “ Eastern Shore.” j. s. L. 
Clayton, Del. 
Well, didn’t I say in the article mentioned that there 
were commission merchants who would return crates? 
Of course, if returned at all, it is to their interest to 
return them promptly. It’s really too bad, though, 
that after being interested in this subject for years, 
both as a grower of small fruits and as a market re¬ 
porter, and after having made a study of the New 
York markets, the most important in this country, 
with a special view of benefiting the farmers and 
shippers, I should be “ made a victim of a bluff game.” 
I have a personal acquaintance with a large number 
of New York commission-men, and know a great deal 
about their peculiarities. I selected the one I did for 
the interview reported because he is what might be 
called an extremist, very radical on the subject. I 
knew that a talk from such a man would attract more 
attention. The object seems to have bee n accomplished, 
but I shudder to think of the attention it wou.d have 
attracted had I reported the language verbatim with 
all the original dashes and exclamation points. 
A More Conservative Commission Man. 
I have since interviewed another of the opposite 
class ; a very conservative man. 
“ Do you return berry crates ? ” I asked him. 
Yes, if the shippers wish. A great many of the 
crates received are intended for gift crates, and the 
growers don’t expect them back, but many of those 
we get from Jersey and other nearby points are good 
solid crates, well made, and have cost the growers 
more money than they can afford to lose. All crates 
should go with the berries, however.” 
“Can you sell berries for as much in the return 
crates as in the gift crates ? ” 
“ Ye—es, I think so ” 
“ Do any of the purchasers object to making a de¬ 
posit on the crates ? ” 
“ Yes, many of them do. They say that they will 
try to return the crates, but refuse to make any 
deposit, and will not agree to return them.” 
“ How do you manage to sell to such and still get 
the crates returned ? ” 
“We sell them what they want and then trust to 
them to bring back the crates and partitions. Of 
course the baskets are not returned.” 
“ But do you generally get your crates back under 
these circumstances ? ” 
“ Most of them bring them back ; some don’t.” 
Now, please notice : this man sells the berries 
anyway, the buyer refusing to agree either to pay for 
the crates or to bring them back. He brings them 
back or not as suits him. Now, practically, what is 
this but free crates ? 
Who Pays for It All ? 
“ But isn’t it an immense expense to return the 
crates in the height of the season ? ” I asked. 
“ You’re right, it is. We have six floors in our 
store, and one of them is given up entirely to sorting 
and storing the crates until we can get them ready to 
return. It used to take two floors. Then there are 
the carting and handling, and the accounts that must 
be kept with each shipper. Sometimes one of the 
river boats will bring down 1,000 or more empties, and 
dump them on the do?k in a pile. They are for 100, 
perhaps, different commission merchants. Each of 
these must go over this pile and select the crates for 
his customers. It is an immense task. I tell you, 
crates ought to be free, and that is what it is com¬ 
ing to.” 
“ Are the packages of any other products returned 
to the shippers ? ” 
“ No, only in exceptional cases.” 
“ Who pays for the cost of returning empties ? ” 
“ Well, I suppose either the consumer or the pro¬ 
ducer.” 
‘ But will the consumer pay it when he can buy 
berries in gift crates ? Is it likely that he will pay 
more for berries because the retailer bought them in 
crates that must be returned ?” 
“ It isn’t likely that he will.” 
“ Then who eventually pays the cost ? ” 
“ I suppose that it must eventually come out of the 
grower.” 
A Little “Back Talk." 
The South doesn’t expect its empties back. The 
West doesn’t ask to have empty crates returned. For¬ 
eign countries send large quantities of produce here 
without any expectation of the packages being sent 
back. Here immediately surrounding this city is a 
small territory, the fruit growers in which cling to an 
old custom which was, perhaps, well enough under 
different conditions, but is nothing but a continual 
vexation to all concerned under present conditions. 
One example : A car-load of berries is received here 
from the South. They are resold to go in large lots 
to wholesalers in Boston, Albany, Montreal, Syracuse 
and a dozen other points. These wholesalers in turn 
each sell to a dozen or 20 retailers in small towns in 
the surrounding country. Nice job—isn’t it ?—to get 
those crates all back first to the retailers, then to the 
wholesalers, then to the commission merchants, then 
to the producers ? The great trouble with all the 
people who are opposing the change is that they can’t 
see that all the expense of this complicated business 
must come out of the grower, ul :imately. 
One of the objectors who have been given space in 
The R. N.-Y., uses to enforce his argument the case 
of 300 baskets of cantaloupes sold for one cent a 
basket, and figures out how much the farmer would 
have lost had the baskets been free. He neglects to 
tell us of the enormous profits made by the grower by 
having his baskets returned. Ilis argument is worth 
about as much as the price of the cantaloupes. 
Another correspondent claims that gift crates would 
increase the cost of marketing their berries 3% cents 
per quart. What nonsense ! How can he prove this, 
when good crates and baskets, plenty good enough 
for free packages, can be bought for a cent per quart ? 
I am glad to see that some fruit growers have written 
The R. N.-Y. favoring the gift crates; not that I care 
for myself, for I am working only in the interests of 
the farmers, but that the latter may see that at least 
some of their number have had the scales removed 
from their eyes. I append a clipping from a fruit¬ 
growers’ paper, published in the midst of the Illinois 
berry district, perhaps the largest territory of its 
kind in the world : 
Twenty-tive years ago It was the practice here to have crates and 
other packages In which fruit had been shipped, returned. The com¬ 
mission dealers of Chicago, so far as possible, preserved the cases, 
placed them on tne cars and the railroad returned them free. Such 
a thing has not been known here for the last 20 years, and everybody 
Is better pleased than with with the old practice. F. H. V. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
A portable bath Is Just what Is wanted in every house that has no 
regular stationary bath. E. J. Knowlton, Ann Arbor, Mich., makes a 
specialty of portable baths. 
Ikon and steel make good roofs, and only need to be kept carefully 
painted to last for years. The 'Curtis Steel Roofing Company, of 
Niles, Ohio, sell their rooting directly to customers. This Is a good 
thing to remember when In need of rooting. 
A most convenient pressing board has been invented by Mrs. M. J. 
Day, of Newburgh, N. Y. It Is Intended principally for dressmakers 
In pressing sleeves and waists, but is found to be especially service¬ 
able also In Ironing sleeves, waists and Infants’ wear. 
Other things being equal, a fence that takes up little room, and at 
the same time presents a sightly appearance, should have the prefer¬ 
ence. The Page Woven Wire Fence Co., Adrian, Mich., make a fence 
that covers many good points. It takes up little room, Is elastic, 
strong and ornamental. 
Before undertaking to dig four or live acres of potatoes by hand It 
might be a good thing to find out what a digger would cost, and how 
near one would come to paying for itself the lirst year. The King of 
the Potato Field, manufactured by H. W. Doughten, Moorestown, 
N. J., Is one that has received very hearty endorsements. 
There are few farmers who could not use more or less drain tile to 
good advantage, and if they would use just a little In an experimental 
way each year they would soon have an object lesson as to Its prac 
tlcal value. Begin right, however, and get good tiles, properly made. 
This is more important than may appear at first thought, as the uni¬ 
form size secures a regular flow of water, besides avoiding the dis¬ 
advantages of breakage and stoppage In poor tiles. Jackson Bros., 
Albany, N. Y.. make undoubtedly the best tile on the market. 
