September 16 
6l8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
and remit embarrasses me seriously, although credit¬ 
ors bear with me yet on account of these promises.” 
Naples, N. Y. w. n. anablk. 
The headings mentioned are those of price currents 
issued at different times. The first is dated April 15 ; 
two banks are given as references on this. The other 
is dated June 24 ; the firm name is changed, and gives 
three banks as reference. The following is the letter 
referred to from the Irving National Bank : 
“ Mr W. H. Anable, Naples, N. Y. 
“ Messrs.-, having ceased to bank with this 
institution should not refer to us, and we have to-day 
written to the firm accordingly. The firm consists of 
-only.” 
On August 26 we visited this man, stated the case 
and asked him what he proposed doing in the matter. 
He frankly admitted that the returns should have 
been sent long before, but said that times had been 
hard, money close, collections slow, and that he had 
been shoving off those whom he could safely. In cor¬ 
roboration of his statements he showed what pur¬ 
ported to be a statement of the sales and a check 
made out in settlement, but not dated or signed. He 
assured our representative that he would send the 
check on the following Wednesday, August 30. We 
wrote Mr. Anable to this effect, and asked him to let 
us know promptly when he heard from the house, or 
if anything further bearing upon the case transpired. 
“After Many Days” He Comes to Time. 
Later we received another letter containing replies 
from the other two banks given as references, in rela¬ 
tion to the standing of the firm in question. One of 
them stated that it had never had an account with 
that bank. It had, therefore, no business to give the 
bank as a reference. The other bank, evidently the 
one where the deposits were made, stated that the 
account of sales was all made out, but that, as collec¬ 
tions were very difficult, the shipper might have to 
wait a few days for his money. The opinion was ex¬ 
pressed that he would get it all right. So it is seen 
that of the three banks given for references, the con¬ 
cern certainly was entitled to refer to but one. 
Thus the matter rested until Saturday 
morning, September 2, when a letter 
was received from Mr. A. saying that at 
the time of writing nothing had been 
heard from the firm in question. Had 
it sent the statement and check as prom¬ 
ised, it would have come to hand, of 
course barring unlooked for delays, be¬ 
fore that time. Two unsuccessful efforts 
were made to see the representative of 
this promising firm, and before the third 
and successful one, he had made out and 
sent the long promised statement and 
check. At least he said that he had. 
He had doubtless come to realize that 
The R. N.-Y. was after him, and that there would 
be no let-up until a settlement was made. Monday 
was Labor Day, and a holiday, so no mail was received, 
but Tuesday morning came a letter from Mr. Anable 
saying that the statement and check had been received, 
and that probably it would be all right unless the 
check was permitted to go to protest. We were 
promised a fuller statement after the matter was all 
closed up. No amount was mentioned, but from one 
letter of Mr. Anable we judge that the amount which 
was promised him was much less than he should have 
received for that quality and amount of apples. As it 
was he received nearly $900, which he had, when he 
first wrote us, about given up as lost. 
This Shipper’s Mistakes ; the Law. 
Now this shipper made several mistakes. In the 
first place, he should have written to the references 
given. Had he done this, and learned that references 
were given for which there was no authority, he should 
have dropped the concern then and there. Then he 
entrusted a large amount of property to a stranger of 
whom he knew nothing. He should have learned of 
his home banker the financial standing of the party. 
This he could easily and cheaply have done. Then he 
should have accepted the offered advance. No matter 
how reliable and honest a man may be to-day, he may 
be utterly unable to pay at all next week. Then he 
should have demanded a statement of receipt of goods 
and sales made promptly instead of waiting for weeks. 
In spite of all precautions, however, every shipper 
must realize that there is risk of loss. Experienced 
business men suffer losses after all their care, and can 
it be expected that those not so well versed in business 
transactions will be more fortunate ? 
A word as to the law protecting, or which is sup¬ 
posed to protect shippers. The New York Legislature 
of 1892 passed a law for this purpose. Under its pro¬ 
visions any commission merchant doing business in 
this State, who receives from any person in the State 
agricultural produce which is raised in the State, shall 
immediately send to the consignor a written statement 
of the property received. As soon as the property or 
25 per cent of it is sold, a statement of the amount 
sold and the price received shall be rendered to the 
consignor upon request. Failure to comply with any 
of the provisions of this act is declared to be a misde¬ 
meanor. 
This law is all well enough so far as it goes. It 
goes to show that the legislators are looking after the 
interests of the dear farmers, and that is about all 
that it does show. It protects no one from outside 
the State, and no one shipping produce not grown in 
the State. Then it is extremely difficult for a shipper 
living at a distance to do anything to bring commis¬ 
sion-men to time if the latter choose to act dishon¬ 
estly. There are numerous ways of defrauding the 
shipper, any one of which is difficult of detection. 
The goods are often reported as arriving in bad order, 
as being short in weight, etc. Then sometimes they 
are sold for a higher price than the one returned to 
the shipper, the latter being thus defrauded. Some¬ 
times goods are sold at once, and are reported as 
being held for an advance, the consignee thus secur¬ 
ing the use of the money belonging to somebody 
else. Then there are extra charges for cartage, stor¬ 
age, cooperage, assorting, insurance, etc., which may 
be made to cover up the dishonest returns. No re¬ 
liable, honest commission-merchant resorts to these 
subterfuges to cover up his rascality; it is only the 
dishonest ones who do this. 
In the ways previously indicated, one may learn 
who are safe parties to whom to ship. The law may 
be well enough in its way, but it is better to ship to 
those who need no law to make them honest. The 
law is of no effect unless a case can be made out and 
proved, and this is an extremely difficult thing to do. 
We have not begun to exhaust this subject, and shall 
probably refer to it again in this connection. 
DID MY SOIL NEED NITROGEN ? 
READ THE ANSWER IN THE BERRIES. 
In the fall of 1891 I planted 5,000 strawberry plants 
on a quarter of an acre of land, about 1x2 feet apart, 
and applied 200 pounds of bone meal mixed with sev¬ 
eral times its bulk of well rotted and pulverized cow 
manure, putting a handful of the mixture in each hill 
when setting out the plants. The soil—known here 
as shot clay—had just been cleared of a natural growth 
of fir (Pseudotsuga Douglassii) timber. It was too full 
of roots to be well plowed, and a neighbor advised me 
to grow potatoes for a year before trying to raise ber¬ 
ries, but I was resolved to go ahead and see if thorough 
after culture would not remedy poor plowing. The 
soil is naturally porous. 
During the summer of 1892 the bed was kept free 
from weeds and well cultivated, nearly all the runners 
being pulled off as they appeared. In September, 250 
pounds of finely ground tankage and bone, dissolved 
in sulphuric acid, were applied scattered along the 
rows. The growth up to this time was fairly good, 
and the plants passed the winter without injury. In 
the spring of 1893, not being satisfied with the growth, 
I applied 50 pounds of nitrate of soda mixed with 100 
pounds of finely ground tankage, scattering it among 
the plants on March 1. The growth after this was 
wonderful; cultivation went on until the plants were 
in full blossom, and would have been continued longer 
but the growth was so luxuriant as to render working 
among the vines impossible. The patch was the won¬ 
der of all who saw it. I confess to feeling a little shaky 
about using so much nitrogen and little or no potash, 
but hoped the soil contained plenty of the latter to 
satisfy the plants’ requirements. 
The season was a favorable one and now that it is 
over I own to a feeling of satisfaction with the result 
of my experiment. From that quarter of an acre of 
berries the sales, according to my sales-book, amounted 
to 4,582 quart boxes (standard boxes are not quite 
quarts, however) and although the average price was 
less than five cents per box—the lowest ever known 
here—the sa'es amounted to $205.85 or about $100 
clear of all expenses. In addition to the above, my 
family ate strawberries for six weeks as they had 
never eaten them before; the seven pickers were 
allowed to help themselves without stint; several 
crates were used in canning and, owing to a scarcity of 
pickers and carelessness on the part of those I had, 
many were lost. At 1% cent per box, good pickers 
earned from $2 to $2.25 per day. The quality was so 
good that the berries sold themselves even when other 
and poorer sorts were almost unsalable. The varieties 
planted were Bubach No. 5, Crescent, Sharpless, Jessie, 
Itaska and May King, given in their order of produc¬ 
tiveness. Jessie gave great promise, but failed to 
fulfill it; May King rusted and so gave but poor re¬ 
turns. Twenty-five plants each of Haverland and 
Parker Earle did nobly ; these, with Bubach No. 5, 
Sharpless and possibly Warfield No. 2 will be my 
staple berries till Timbrell or some other untested 
variety proves itself more desirable. 
To a large extent my success in raising strawberries 
and other garden crops is due to following out the 
advice of The R. N.-Y., to ask one’s soil what it needs. 
I have asked my soil a dozen times what it needed 
and the answer has always been, nitrogen, and now 
the questions I am asking myself are : 1. How long 
will this last ? 2. Is a good clover sod a cheaper 
source of nitrogen than tankage at $30 per ton ? 
Mason County, Wash. frank binns. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
NEW RASPBERRIES. 
It seems to be about the right time to place before 
our readers anything of importance we may have 
learned about new kinds of raspberries during the 
past season. Among reds, the Cuthbert, introduced 
about 15 years ago, has generally held the first place 
as a hardy late variety. Trials of the past season lead 
us to tope that a more valuable kind will be found in the 
Loudon. —Plants were sent to us in early May of 
1892 by F. W. Loudon, of Janesville, Wis., and set out 
here in a rather poor sandy loam May 10. Mr. Loudon 
wrote : “I have fruited it for six years. It is a seed¬ 
ling of Turner crossed with Cuthbert. The berry is 
large, color beautiful. It yields 200 bushels to the 
acre, and may be shipped to New Orleans in good 
shape.” 
Our first notes were taken July 10 : “ The Loudon, 
as judged by this—its first season of 
fruiting—is the best hardy late red we 
have tried. The plants did not suffer at 
all by the past winter—one of the se¬ 
verest known. The berry ripens about 
with Cuthbert. It has advantages over 
Cuthbert. The berries average larger, 
the drupes larger. They cling to the 
stem and do not crumble when picked. 
The shape is broadly conical, the color 
nearly that of Cuthbert, perhaps a little 
brighter. The berries are very firm, 
which may not so well be said of those 
of Cuthbert. It is among the heaviest 
yielderswe have tried. 
Judy 14.—Finest hardy red we know of. Some of 
the berries are nearly round, some are decidedly coni¬ 
cal, mor e so than those of Cuthbert. When ready to 
pick, the color is a bright red, the berry firm. When 
dead ripe, the color is a darker red, but not at all 
purple. 
August 1 . —Now that Cuthberts are gone, Loudon is 
still bearing. 
The only further comment we have to make is that 
the canes are vigorous and virtually thornless, the 
foliage luxuriant and healthy. It is not safe to pass 
any emphatic judgment upon a new raspberry from 
the way it conducts itself during the first fruiting sea¬ 
son, and the same may be said of almost any fruit. As 
judged b/ this first season, the Loudon is a hardier 
variety than Cuthbert. It is more prolific. The berries 
average larger, and they are decidedly firmer. They 
hold to the peduncle better. The color is a trifle 
brighter and the quality fully as good. Neither the 
plants nor berries resemble the Turner (its alleged 
male parent) in any way. 
Columbian —This new raspberry was received from 
J. T. Thompson, Oneida, N. Y., May 6, 1892, and 
planted in a rather poor clay-loam soil about 50 feet 
from Shaffer (Shaffer's Colossal.) Mr. Thompson, the 
originator, wrote : “ Seedling of Cuthbert. Resembles 
Shaffer, but superior in all ways. Growth of cane 10 
to 16 feet, three-fourths inch in diameter, with 
ring of wood at base one-fourth inch thick. Roots run 
deep, insuring against the effects of drought. It never 
suckers, and is propagated from tips. It has stood 28 
degrees below zero.” 
July 10. —Canes thick, eight feet tall. Berries 
broadly conical, drupes large, not very firm, a trifle 
crumbly. Not good for market. Borne in racemes of 
three or four inches, a dozen to a raceme. It is difficult 
to distinguish this from Staffer in any way; color, size, 
shape, quality or time of ripening. The berry is per¬ 
haps a little deeper than the Shaffer. The thorns are a 
bright, light green; those of Shaffer are a little darker. 
Sore Back Device for a Huckster’s Horse. Fig. 205. 
