1893 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
8i5 
besides, the pickers were having a good thing of it, if 
I didn’t. 
Where was the fault? There was a surplus of fruit 
and prices were bound to rule low. Yet I made them 
still lower by breaking my markets in detail. I started 
in by making consignments to eight or ten points, 
large and small, and when the cities were overstocked 
I had not enough smaller and out of-the-way places 
looked up to which to ship, so of course I made my 
shipments too large for the eating capacity of the 
markets. There were plenty of people within a hun¬ 
dred miles who would have paid $1.50 per crate, but I 
had not found them. The large markets were all full, 
and were shipping berries into the small towns, but I 
should have forestalled them by sending fresh berries 
to the latter from the start. True I found the places 
later, but not rapidly enough to take all of the hun¬ 
dreds of crates that I was picking daily ; so as I said, 
I broke down all my good markets in detail where I 
should have, by 
light consign¬ 
ments, kept them 
calling for more. 
Prices in a city 
may fall and rise 
again, but in a vil¬ 
lage they fall and 
stay there. 
The proper dis¬ 
tribution of fruit 
is one of the hard¬ 
est things to ac¬ 
complish along 
the line of fruit 
growing. Lately 
I have endeavored 
to place myself in 
close correspond¬ 
ence with fully 
twice as many 
markets as 1 think I shall use, for I know that mutabil¬ 
ity is abroad, and that some of these markets will 
fail me when I have no leisure for “trading horses ” 
Farmingdale, Ill. benjamin buckman. 
THE TRANSPORTATION OF FARM PRODUCE. 
HOW SOME BONG ISLAND FARMERS SOLVE IT. 
It is one thing to grow a crop, but another and 
entirely different thing to profitably market it. This 
is the great problem, especially in localities remote 
from markets, and, when the produce is perishable or 
bulky, the difficulty is still further increased. Those 
so situated as to be able to haul their produce directly 
to market are fortunate. Great expense, vexatious 
delays and ofteD exorbitant transportation and com¬ 
mission charges are thus avoided But a comparatively 
small proportion of the producers of different kinds of 
agricultural commodities are thus favorably located. 
Most of the farmers and truck rs within 20 miles of 
New York bring their produce directly 
to the markets in the city with their own 
teams and wagons. But one trip a day 
is made, and some come from such dis¬ 
tances that but three trips per week are 
feasible. Of course, as large a load as 
possible is brought, and the market 
wagons are constructed with this end 
in view. They are roomy affairs, and 
when filled with vegetables, the load is 
often nearly as large as one of hay. 
Fig. 201 shows one of these loads 
reproduced from a photograph of one 
passing the Hicks farm. The load is 
entirely concealed by the tarpaulin covering which 
is securely tied down. The wisp of hay on top is for 
the feed of the horses, with, perhaps, a little grain 
added. It is evident that the horses are not thorough¬ 
breds. Many of these truckers buy broken down car 
or truck horses from the cities. Many Of them have 
become lamed from traveling on the pavements, and, 
when put on the farm are capable of a good deal of 
service. The cart attached to the front team is pecul¬ 
iarly a Long Island institution, and is known as a 
Long Island tow cart. It has many and various uses. 
Its necessity in this case is that many of the country 
roads are so poor that the single team cannot draw so 
large a load as is possible after the better main roads 
and paved streets are reached. So the teams are 
doubled up by hitching on the team with the tow 
cart, and when the hard road is reached, the extra 
team returns home. 
This picture was taken about noon. The trucker 
starts for the city at varying times of day, according 
to his distance out, but always so as to reach here 
early in the night, to be ready for the early morning 
market. Arrived on the market stand, he either sleeps 
on his wagon awaiting the advent of purchasers, or re¬ 
pairs to some nearby hostelry to get a wink of sleep. 
It is hard, irregular business, with litt;e to commend 
it to those who love regular hours and work by the 
natural light of the sun 
But some, even of the Long Island truckers, are too 
far from town to drive the distance, and for such pro¬ 
vision is made as shown in Fig. 2G2. The wagons are 
run upon a flat car, two on each as in the illustration. 
Some cars are wider and carry four wagons. The poles 
are removable, and the footboards turn up so that the 
wagons may be run close together. The horses are 
put in the box car shown next the engine, while the 
drivers occupy the caboose in the rear. The number 
of cars may, of course, be increased to accommodate 
any number of wagons and horses. When the city is 
reached, the wagons are unloaded, the horses hitched 
on, and the market may be reached with as much 
facility as, and with less fatigue than is possible for 
those who had driven the entire distance. 
It isn’t many farm horses that have the opportunity 
to ride to market, and the sight of one of these 
market trains is considerable of a novelty to farmers 
from the interior of the country. 
What They Say. 
A Village Milk Supply. —Pure milk is a great 
desideratum, and the village or city which has a con¬ 
stant supply of it is to be congratulated on its good 
fortune. Having my Babcock milk tester with me at 
my home in Port Jervis, N. Y., I determined to see by 
actual test what kind of milk we were receiving at the 
hands of the milkmen who furnish it to the people. 
On the morning of November 22, I procured a pint 
from six different milkmen and, after breakfast, pro¬ 
ceeded to test it for butter fats. Readers will remem¬ 
ber that milk containing three per cent of butter fats 
is lawful—less than three per cent is evidence of adul¬ 
teration. The milk expert naturally expects milk to 
be a little richer at this time of the year, when pasture 
is largely replaced by a liberal grain feed, but the 
results were a great surprise after all. The poorest 
milk in the six samples tested showed three-fifths of 
one per cent above the legal standard, while the best, 
4 3-5 was reached by two dairies. Following are the 
details : 
1. Buccanlng.4 3-5 
2. Creamery in village.4 2-5 
3. Westfall. . 3 4-5 
4. Nearpass. 3 4-5 
5. Buckley. 3 3-5 
6 . Cuddeoack. 4 3-5 
This is really a remarkable showirg. If equal quan¬ 
tities of these milks were blended, the average product 
would show 4 2-15 per cent of butter fat—a milk 
sufficiently rich to warrant the highest compliments 
for the venders. It is but fair to say that none of 
them knew that the milk was to be tested—it was 
bought as if to be used in the family. e. g. f. 
Shippers’ Pride Plum. —I regard the Shippers’ Pride 
as an exceedingly promising variety of plum. Our 
trees are fine growers, and the fruit is large and fine, 
and free from rot; more so than the Abundance. Per¬ 
haps the inquirer has not the genuine article, but 
something that was represented as such. e. e. u. 
Van Wert, Ohio. 
A Big Wheat Yield —On page 776 of The R. N.-Y. 
of November 18, G. N. D , Shelbyville, Mich., inquires 
who can beat his yield of White Leader wheat. A 
Western man would say that G. N. D. had done fairly 
well, but it requires no extra effort in Colorado to 
make a better showing with an old standard variety 
of wheat. In the fall of 1801, I bought enough wheat 
of a Denver seed house to seed 25 acres. It was sold to 
me for Clawson. On examination of the wheat after¬ 
wards, I became suspicious that it was not true to 
name and that I had been swindled as to variety. To 
make myself sure as to the facts in the case, I sent to 
my brother, living at Grand Rapids, Michigan, who I 
knew had been growing the Clawson for a series of 
years, and had him forward to me by mail a small 
sack of his Clawson wheat. I weighed it with much 
care on its arrival, and found that there were just 19 
ounces of wheat. I had just finished digging apiece 
of early potatoes, and the ground being very dry I 
put water on the land, and two days after taking the 
water off I plowed the piece and harrowed it well. I 
then started in to sow the wheat with my garden drill 
but finding that I 
was covering more 
ground than I 
wished I stopped 
the drill and fin¬ 
ished by making 
furrows with a hoe 
and sowing the 
rest of the seed 
by hand. This was 
September 27. No 
fertilizer was 
used, and no fur¬ 
ther attention was 
given to it, except 
to irrigate once in 
the following 
June. I harvested 
the wheat and had 
it thrashed by an 
ordinary steam 
thrasher, not gathering up any waste about the ma¬ 
chine for fear of mixing with other wheat that had 
been thrashed at the same place, and it weighed out 
335 pounds, or five bushels and 35 pounds of clean, nice 
wheat. A part of this wneat was on exhibition at the 
World’s Fair at Chicago. Colorado can beat anything 
but a “ Gold Bug,” and we are getting our guns 
trained on him, and in due time we shall bring him 
down. p. d. G. 
Loveland, Colo. 
“ Backing” Made Easy. —The number of horses 
spoiled by being compelled to back up hill or in un¬ 
handy places, has probably never been estimated. 
Not only are they injured physically, but their dis¬ 
positions are ruined by injudicious management, and 
they become cross, balky and unpleasant to handle. 
Where is there a farmer who has not somewhere on 
his premises some such hard place to back his team? 
Perhaps it is the woodshed, which is only to be reached 
by backing up a steep lawn; or possibly, it is a nar¬ 
row place between the barns. Or the 
barn itself may be built so high as to re¬ 
quire filling in along the front, making a 
steep incline up to the doors. Wher¬ 
ever it is, that place is one of trial for 
both beast and man when it comes to 
backing up a load; but if men will ex¬ 
ercise a little forethought it can be 
made “as easy as rolling off a log.” 
This can be done by attaching an extra 
whifiletree to the hind end of the wagon 
when drawing a load, and when it 
comes to backing just unhitch the horse 
or horses, hitch the traces to the 
whillletree at the back end of the load and the 
team will haul the load up to the door without even 
laying an ear back, and in much shorter time than 
would be required to back it with repeated hawing 
and geeing, and try, try again. One trial of this 
way will prove that it is easier to draw than to back 
a load, and the better way every time from a humane 
point of view. Alice e. pinney. 
Clover Experience. —While stacking my clover in 
the field—for want of a better place—last summer, I 
kept a record of each stack, noting the length of cur¬ 
ing, manner of putting up, etc. Within the last 
month I have moved them all, selling some and put¬ 
ting the remainder under cover. Three of the stacks 
were put up in the afternoon of the day succeeding 
the cutting. These, with the exception of one which 
had been salted several times during stacking, were 
molded considerably. The remainder of the hay, on 
account of light rains, had some three days’ curing in 
the swath, but lost much of the leaves, and had the 
appearance of being woody or stemmy. None of the 
stacks leaked, as they were all topped out with Tim¬ 
othy. Of course, “one swallow doesn’t make a sum¬ 
mer,” but I shall certainly saltj' all my clover of two 
days’ curing, until I learn better. The second crop was 
A Long Island Tow Cart. Doubling Up the Power on Bad Roads. Fig. 261. 
Carrying Load and Horses on the Cars. Fig. 262. 
