E*/>e  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
199 
Auction  Selling  is  Gaining 
The  advocates  of  the  private  selling  behind  closed 
doors  and  in  whispers  of  farm  products,  have  reason  to 
be  concerned  at  the  successful  administration  of  auc¬ 
tion  sales  of  fruits,  and  also  with  the  tendency  of  other 
industries  to  resort  to  public  auction  sales  to  standard¬ 
ize  prices  and  secure  wide  distribution  of  products. 
Some  time  back  the  manufacturers  of  rugs  held  a 
very  large  and  a  very  successful  auction  sale  of  rugs 
in  this  city,  and  last  week  the  fur  industry  conducted 
a  large  auction  sale  of  furs  for  three  days  in  the 
Masonic  Temple.  There  were  present  some  350  buyers 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  including  Denmark.  France. 
England  and  Canada,  and  all  the  large  cities  of  the 
T'nited  States.  During  this  sale  850,000  skins  includ¬ 
ing  every  variety  of  fur  seen  in  any  market  were  sold 
and  the  total  of  the  sales  aggregated  nearly  two  mil¬ 
lion  dollars.  Furs  and  rugs  are  not  perishable  pro¬ 
ducts,  aud  do  not  require  the  quick  handling  of  fruits 
and  vegetables.  When  dealers  find  the  auction  market 
an  advantage  in  the  sale  of  these  non-perishable  goods, 
it  is  difficult  to  find  a  satisfactory  reason  for  the  op¬ 
position  to  public  sales  of  perishable  food  products 
which  require  immediate  distribution. 
Me  have  another  exhibition  now  in  the  present  mar¬ 
ket  for  potatoes  that  ought  to  lie  significant  to  grow¬ 
ers.  Potatoes  at  the  present  time  are  high.  The  sec¬ 
ond  crop  raised  in  Virginia  and  shipped  out  of  Norfolk, 
are  now  coming  to  the  New  York  market  and  are  sell¬ 
ing  as  high  as  $3.50  per  barrel.  This  is  the  highest 
price  in  the  country  and  the  business  for  this  class  of 
potatoes.  The  growers,  however,  are  not  getting  this 
price.  An  active  speculator,  well  informed  as  to  condi¬ 
tions,  contracted  for  practically  all  of  this  stock  last 
November  in  Virginia  at  $1.50  per  barrel.  This  specu¬ 
lator.  not  the  growers,  is  profiting  by  the  present  con¬ 
dition  of  the  market.  When  stock  is  plentiful  and 
prices  low  the  grower  is  left  to  seek  bis  own  outlet.  He 
must  ship  on  commission  to  a  dealer  or  dispose  of  bis 
produce  as  best  lie  can,  but  when  the  crop  is  short, 
speculators  under  the  present  system  are  quick  to  make 
contracts  and  derive  practically  all  of  the  benefit  from 
the  shortage. 
When  growers  realize  that  they  can  best  market 
their  own  stuff  through  the  auction  system  in  the  big 
markets,  in  the  most  economical  and  efficient  manner, 
and  do  away  with  all  shipments  to  private  commission 
merchants,  and  the  selling  of  their  stock  to  speculators 
who  always  take  it  and  pay  for  it  when  the  market 
goes  up.  and  who  nearly  always  find  some  wav  of  re¬ 
jecting  it  and  crawling  out  of  the  deal  when  the  mar¬ 
ket  goes  down,  then  they  will  have  learned  a  great  les¬ 
son  in  the  marketing  of  their  products,  and  while  they 
will  have  to  take  a  low  price  for  their  bumper  crops, 
they  will  he  in  a  position  t« *  pl-ofit  by  flic  short  supply 
and  the  high  prices. 
Notes  from  the  Auction  Market 
There  were  sold,  January  27,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Hebrew  war  sufferers  abroad,  in  the  auction  rooms  at 
the  Fruit  Auction  Company,  several  hundred  boxes  of 
oranges,  grapefruit,  tangerines  aud  lemons,  all  of  which 
were  donated  by  the  owners.  The  highest  price  paid 
for  a  single  box  of  oranges  was  $11(1  and  each  of  the 
three  auction  companies  paid  $1(10  or  bettor  for  a  box 
of  oranges,  which  was  immediately  donated  to  he  re¬ 
sold.  John  ,T.  Dillon,  Commissioner  of  the  New  York 
State  Department  of  Foods  and  Markets,  donated  five 
barrels  <>f  apples  which  were  sold  for  $00  and  then 
were  re-donated  to  be  sold  again.  These  five  barrels 
of  apples  were  shipped  from  Broekport,  N.  Y.,  and  were 
very  nice  fruit.  The  sale  helped  to  advertise  the  fact 
that  New  York  State  produces  very  fancy  apples  aud 
ships  them  to  its  own  State  department  to  he  sold  at 
auction,  where  they  bring  the  highest  price  with  the 
lowest  expense.  There  were  one  thousand  people  in 
attendance  at  the  sale  and  the  total  amount  donated 
by  the  participants  in  the  sale  was  $7,750. 
The  apple  market  remains  quiet.  The  specula¬ 
tors  with  large  holdings  of  apples  on  hand,  which  were 
bought  early  in  the  season  at  good  prices,  are  insuffi¬ 
ciently  supplying  the  market  in  a  hope  to  increase 
prices  by  keeping  the  supply  short.  The  result  of  this 
policy,  of  course,  is  that  the  people  are  finding  other 
foods  to  eat.  and  supplies  are  remaining  on  their  hands. 
With  a  large  volume  and  steady  supply  selling  under 
the  rule  of  supply  and  demand,  prices  would  be  better 
than  they  are  now,  and  the  apples  would  be  in  con¬ 
sumption  instead  of  in  the  storage  houses.  Last  Fall 
the  dealers  rushed  in  and  bought  heavily  at  prices  es¬ 
tablished  by  the  auction  sales,  with  a  purpose  of  con¬ 
trolling  the  supply,  and  making  it  impossible,  as  they 
thought,  for  the  auction  sales  to  receive  a  sufficient 
volume  to  establish  a  market.  The  prices  wore  good 
then,  because  the  publicity  and  the  activity  of  the  wide 
distribution  caused  a  demand  for  the  apples.  When 
the  supply  in  the  growers’  bauds  was  practically  ex¬ 
hausted,  this  publicity  and  activity  began  to  wane,  and 
tlie  distribution  and  prices  began  to  wane  with  it. 
Fader  present  conditions  the  dealers  are  losing  money 
on  what  they  are  putting  out.  and  are  holding  the 
supply  in  the  hope  of  forcing  the  market.  In  the 
meantime  the  season  is  advancing,  other  foods  arc 
coming  in  to  take  the  place  of  apples,  and  unless  there 
is  an  early  improvement  there  is  likely  to  be  some 
Stock  left  over  at  the  end  of  the  season. 
We  again  record  our  judgment  that  growers  who 
hold  apples  in  cold  storage  will  do  well  to  make  regular 
shipments  from  now  on  and  take  the  average  of  the 
market.  The  sale  through  the  Foods  and  Markets  De¬ 
partment  is  about  the  only  rescue  for  these  growers. 
The  speculators,  who  are  also  commission  dealers,  have 
their  own  stock  on  hand  and,  of  course,  give  their  own 
goods  the  preference.  The  prices  realized  at  the  auc¬ 
tion  sales  now  are  in  advance  of  the  prices  for  similar 
grades  a  year  ago.  and  with  a  steady  supply  from  now 
on  we  can  sell  all  the  apples  held  by  growers  at  fair 
prices. 
The  receipts  were  light  this  week.  Following  is  a 
record  of  two  days’  sales: 
APPLES. — 5  bbls.  Ben  Davis  $2.05;  5  Winesap 
$3.30 ;  22  Baldwin  $2.45;  SO  $2.05;  11  $1.75;  100 
$2.05 ;  21  $2.25;  IS  $1.0(1;  IN  Pumeroy  $2.45;  20 
$1.00;  40  Ben  Davis  $1.50:  20  Jonathan  $2.40;  10 
Newtown  $1.05;  15  $1.00;  1  box  Lady  Apple  $1;  1 
00e;  05  bids.  Greening  $2.80;  50  $2.25;  1  $2.05;  1 
Baldwin  $1.00;  4  Newtown  $2.05;  4  Bellflower  S1.S5  ; 
5  Russet  $2.10;  4  Spy  $3;  5  Russet  $2.10;  7  IJub- 
bnrdstnn  $2.50:  1  Buttle  Greening  $1.S5 ;  21  Ladv 
Sweet  $2.40;  22  Baldwin  $2.05;  5  $2.15;  02  $2.10;  5 
$1.75;  1  King  $3.60;  1  $2.75;  1  Wngeucr  $2.45:  1 
Twenty  Dunce  $2.15;  3  Baldwin  $2.25;  1  $2.25;  1 
$2.75;  1  $1;  6  $1.75. 
MISCELLANEOUS. — 15  bills,  cranberries  $5;  24 
hags  turnips  15e;  6  crates  roniainc  60c. 
About  100  cases  of  eggs  have  been  sold  at  private 
sale  through  a  wholesale  house  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Department  at  prices  ranging  from  3N  cents  to 
43  ('ents.  The  prices  have  been  on  the  decline  and  top 
prices  now  are  34  to  36  cents  per  dozen.  Cold  storage 
eggs  run  15  to  17  cents  in  car  lots  for  best  and  13  to 
15  cents  for  medium  quality.  This  means  that  holders 
of  cold  storage  eggs  are  taking  a  loss,  as  a  result  of 
their  efforts  to  sell  storage  eggs  at  fresh  egg  prices. 
A  Farm  Census  for  New  Y  ork  State 
When  the  Secretary  of  State  last  year  found  he  was 
unable,  under  the  law.  to  do  move  than  enumerate  the 
inhabitants  of  the  State  and  could  not  gather  statistics 
relative  to  the  farms  and  their  production.  Commis¬ 
sioner  of  Agriculture  Wilson  determined  even 
though  he  had  no  funds  for  the  purpose,  to  make  a 
farm  survey,  at  least  in  part,  of  the  State.  Commis¬ 
sioner  Wilson  delegated  his  statistician,  Charles  IV. 
Larinon,  to  make  plans  and  this  is  the  plan  Mr.  Lar- 
mon  has  devised,  which  is  now  being  worked  out  in 
every  school  district  of  the  State: 
The  Commissioners  of  Agriculture  and  of  Education, 
cooperating,  seek  to  ascertain  through  the  media  of 
the  .superintendents,  principals  and  teachers  of  the 
public  schools  of  the  State,  the  quantity  of  hay  and 
grain,  and  to  a  limited  extent,  of  fruit  aud  vegetables, 
produced  in  the  State  during  the  year  1915;  the  num¬ 
ber  and  kinds  live  stuck  on  the  farms  as  of  January, 
1916,  and  the  uames  of  owners  and  particulars  of  the 
registered  stock  of  all  kinds  in  their  possession  on  the 
same  date,  the  (‘numerators  for  this  work  to  he  the 
school  children  in  each  school  district  of  the  State. 
Blanks  have  been  prepared  detailing  the  information 
desired  and  are  being  sent  to  over  10,000  teachers  in 
the  public  schools  for  distribution  to  their  pupils. 
These  are  to  be  filled  out  at  once  and  it  is  expected  the 
returns  will  he  in  the  bauds  of  Commissioner  of  Educa¬ 
tion  Finley  by  March  1.  The  compilation  will  he  a  sim¬ 
ple  matter  aud  the  information  will  be  available  within 
a  very  short  time  thereafter.  The  production  of  sil¬ 
age,  hay.  Alfalfa,  clover  aud  other  forage,  oa'ts,  corn, 
wheat,  barley,  rye,  buckwheat,  dry  beaus,  onions,  po¬ 
tatoes,  apples  and  cabbages  for  1915,  is  asked,  and  sta¬ 
tistics  as  to  live  stock  in  detail. 
It  is  expected  that  this  information  will  show  the 
progress  being  made  along  agricultural  lines  in  New 
York,  aud  will  serve  to  indicate  to  the  various  educa¬ 
tional  agencies  those  sections  of  the  State  in  which 
their  activities  arc  needed.  The  information  once  ob¬ 
tained  will  be  interesting  to  the  people  of  each  school 
district  for  the  purpose  of  comparison,  if  for  no  other 
reason.  If  this  venture  in  gathering  information  is 
successful  it  is  hoped,  through  tlie  public  schools,  later 
to  obtaiu  reports  on  the  acreage  and  condition  of  grow¬ 
ing  crops  and  as  the  hoys  ami  girls  become  better  ac¬ 
quainted  with  and  more  proficient  with  the  work,  a 
wide  range  of  information  will  he  asked  for.  Commis¬ 
sioner  Wilson  feels  that  Commissioner  Finley,  by  his 
ready  acceptance  of  and  acquiescence  in  Mr.  Lamina's 
plau,  is  displaying  a  public  spirit  and  desire  to  assist 
the  agriculture  of  the  State  that  is  most  commendable 
and  should  he  known  of  all  men. 
Poultry  Outlook  for  1916 
During  the  month  of  January  this  year,  one  member 
of  the  so-called  beef  and  poultry  trust  has  bought  up 
enormous  quantities  of  frozen  poultry  now  in  the  cold 
storages  throughout  the  United  States.  This  concern 
is  credited  with  having  bought  19.000.000  pounds  of 
cold  storage  poultry  in  Chicago  and  13.000.000  pounds 
of  cold  storage  poultry  in  Buffalo,  as  well  as  very  large 
blocks  in  other  cold  storage  centers.  Prices  paid  for 
this  poultry  it  is  understood,  were  about  as.  follows: 
Broilers,  that  is  chickens  weighing  under  2  pounds 
each,  28c  lb. 
Fryers  or  export  chickens,  weighing  from  2  to  4  lbs. 
each,  an  average  of  20c  per  lb. 
Roasting  chickens  weighing  from  4  to  6  lbs.  each. 
23c  lb. 
Fowls,  which  are  the  laying  liens,  at  an  average  price 
of  19c  per  lh. 
It  is  understood  that  this  concern  now  figures  that 
they  have  an  absolute  corner  on  the  poultry  surplus 
which  is  iti  cold  storage  in  the  United  States,  and  that 
they  will  be  able  to  advance  the  price  so  as  to  make 
a  profit,  of  from  25  to  30%  on  their  purchase.  This 
will  naturally  turn  the  consumer  strongly  on  to  (lie 
fresh-killed  poultry,  and  farmers  throughout  the  United 
States  who  are  in  the  poultry  business  will  have  a 
splendid  opportunity  to  hatch,  raise  and  fatten  then- 
poultry  this  year  with  a  practical  guarantee  that  ex¬ 
tremely  good  markets  will  be  open  to  them  throughout 
1916  . 
Fresh-killed  broilers  should  lie  in  great  demand,  and 
will  sell  very  high  in  the  New  York  market.  The 
larger  chickens,  which  are  known  as  the  export  size, 
and  which  are  usually  packed,  those  weighing  from  30 
to  36  pounds  to  the  dozen  aud  those  weighing  37  to  43 
pounds  to  the  dozen,  separately,  will  all  ho  wanted  for 
the  London  and  Liverpool  markets.  There  will  also 
be  a  great  opportunity  for  those  who  caponize.  Fine 
capons  will  sell  during  1.916  more  freely  aud  at  higher 
prices  than  they  have  sold  for  years,  on  account  of 
the  extreme  shortage  on  turkevs. 
On  account  of  the  extreme  wet  weather  in  1915,  the 
crop  of  turkeys  were  very  short.  Experienced  dealers, 
realizing  this,  did  not  wait  for  the  turkeys  to  come 
forward  on  commission  so  that  the  producer  would  re¬ 
ceive  the  benefit  of  this  shortage,  but  in  place  of  wait¬ 
ing  for  them  to  come  forward  in  the  regular  way,  as 
would  have  been  the  ease  had  there  been  a  big  ‘crop, 
they  went  out  and  contracted  them  at  a  very  low  price 
ami  as  a  result  made  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollai  i 
out  of  the  deal,  while  the  producer  on  the  one  hand 
received  a  very  low  price  and  the  consumer  on  the  other 
hand  paid  the  highest  price  that  lias  been  paid  for 
turkeys  in  the  New  York  market  in  30  years. 
New  York  State  News 
TO  AMEND  EDUCATION  LAW.— A  hill  has  been 
introduced  h.v  Assemblyman  Taliett.  chairman  of  (he 
Assembly  Committee  on  Education,'  to  deal  with  tru¬ 
ancy  and  child  welfare  and  bring  about  many  changes 
in  the  law  which  tin*  Education  Department  desires. 
It  will  apply  to  all  cities  of  tin*  State  except  Now 
lork.  It  is  provided  that  the  school  census  shall  be 
taken  and  kept  continuously.  That  is,  it  eliminates 
from  the  existing  statute  provisions  for  a  school  census 
and  Creates  a  Compulsory  Education,  School  Census 
and  Child  Welfare  Board,  A  census  is  to  be  taken  on 
or  before  October  1st  of  this  year;  thereafter  this  cen¬ 
sus  shall  be  amended  from  day  to  day  by  attendance 
officers  and  census  enumerators.  It  is  also  required 
that  the  Board  or  Bureau  shall  collect  information  as 
toil  literacy  and  the  enforcement-  of  laws  relating  to 
child  labor,  child  welfare  and  compulsory  education 
STATE  FORESTRY  ASSOCIATION.— A  lively 
discussion  took  place  at  the  fourth  annual  meeting  of 
the  State  Forestry  Association  at  Syracuse  last  week. 
1  he  .organization  seems  to  lie  about  equally  divided  in 
opinion  as  to  the  constitutional  prohibition  against 
fhj  cutting  of  timber  tin  forest  lands.  The  convention 
did  not  Commit  itself  on  the  question  definatelv  but 
adopted  several  resolutions  on  subordinate  phases  of 
the  matter.  It  declared  in  favor  of  a  State-wide  forest 
fire  law;  endorsed  (lie  work  of  the  National  Bark 
Board;  recommended  a  continuation  of  the  survey  of 
forest  conditions  in  the  State:  urged  a  federal  appro¬ 
priation  against  the  white  pine  blister  rust;  favored 
the  establishment  of  a  State  constabulary  from  the 
forest  ranger  and  game  protective  forces;  favored  an 
appropriation  by  bond  issue  or  otherwise  for  acquiring 
one  million  additional  acres  for  the  forest  preserve  anil 
for  deforestation.  James  S,  Whipple  was  re-elected 
president  of  the  association  and  Prof.  Franklin  F.  Moon 
"us  elected  executive  secretary. 
DAIRYMEN  OPPOSE  RILL.— The  question  of 
pasteurization  of  skim-mi II;  aud  whey  has  been  dis¬ 
cussed  by  dairymen  and  farmers,  particularly  in  the 
northern  part  of  (lit*  State,  and  the  State  Agricultural 
Society  and  the  State  Commission  for  (ho  Prevention 
of  Bovine  Tuberculosis  are  interested  in  a  bill  soon  to 
he  introduced  in  the  legislature  making  pasteurization 
compulsory.  It  is  understood  that  the  Master  of  the 
State  Grange  and  other  Grange  officials  will  he  op¬ 
posed  to  the  bill  aud  will  use  every  endeavor  to  defeat  it 
COUNTY  FAIR  ASSOCIATION.— At  the  meeting 
of  the  State  Association  of  Countv  Agricultural  So¬ 
cieties  held  last  week  in  Albany  \V.  ,T.  Greeumun  of 
Cortland  was  elected  president;  G.  W.  Harrison  of 
Albany  secretary  and  A.  E.  Brown  of  Syracuse  treas¬ 
urer.  Addresses  were  made  by  Francis  M.  Hugo.  Sec¬ 
retary  of  State;  Warren  S.  Lee,  Deputy  State  Comp¬ 
troller;  Assembly  man  W.  C.  Baxter  and  others.  At  the 
afternoon  meeting  there  were  discussions  on  methods 
of  judging  live  stock,  improving  exhibits  and  racing 
control  at  the  fairs. 
FARM  MEASURES  PROPOSED.  The  committee 
of  six  appointed  at  the  December  conference  called  by 
(  ommissioner  \\  ilson,  has  reported  several  amendments 
to  the  agricultural  law.  One  of  flu*  most  important  of 
these  is  that  a  standard  lie  established  fixing  the  min¬ 
imum  amount  of  butter  fat  and  the  maximum  number  of 
bacteria  in  milk  sold  h.v  dealers.  An  amendment  was 
also  recommended  under  which  a  dealer  may  be  found 
guilty  of  selling  or  offering  for  sale  adulterated  milk 
providing  one  can  in  a  lot  of  milk  he  found  deficient. 
Another  proposed  amendment  is  to  the  effect  that  tu¬ 
bercular  cattle  purchased  by  the  State  shall  be  loaned 
for  breeding  purposes  to  public  institutions  oulv  and 
that  the  ow  ner  may  retain  the  cattle  under  the' Bang 
system  or  arrange  for  their  transfer  with  the  approval 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  The  committee  also 
recommended  that  there  be  no  change  in  the  apple 
packing  law;  that  the  State  Vegetable  Growers’  Asso¬ 
ciation  make  recommendations  establishing  the  size  of 
packages  and  grades  of  celery  aud  lettuce;  that  the 
commission  men’s  law  he  extended  to  include  all  forms 
of  produce  and  live  stock  ;  that  the  Federal  oleo  stand¬ 
ard  be  made  a  part  of  the  State  law;  that  legislation 
be  enacted  for  the  destruction  of  tent  caterpillars  on 
the  highways;  that  a  law  he  enacted  for  the  liOtti-i  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  sheep  industry  against  dogs.  a.  w.  d. 
World  Wheat  Statistics 
Broomhall’s  European  report  states  that  the  wheat 
market  has  advanced  sharply  during  the  week  and  con¬ 
tinues  to  display  considerable  strength  and  nervousness. 
The  advance  has  been  due  almost  entirely  to  the  scarcity 
of  spot  and  rapid  consumption,  hut  prospects  point  to 
more  liberal  flouting  quantities  later  on  as  the  freight 
situation  is  gradually  being  relieved.  Estimate  on  sta¬ 
tistics  for  the  first  six  months  of  the  season  and  latest 
information  now  at  hand  fur  estimates  likely  for  the 
entire  season,  shows  total  imports  for  the  United  King¬ 
dom  208.000,000,  Europe  56,000,000  and  Continent  272.- 
000,000.  It  is  expected  that  the  Southern  Hemisphere 
will  furnish  129.000,000,  Russia  S.OOO.OtiO  and  Africa 
S.000.000,  thus  leaving  424.000.000  for  United  States 
hud  Camilla,  and  this  quantity  as  mentioned  is  well  be 
lew  tlie  total  available  and  indicates  uu  important 
carry-over  in  both  the  United  States  and  Canada.  India 
is  very  uncertain  owing  to  dryness.  It  is  generally  be¬ 
lieved  that  Argentina  is  now  selling  freely,  but  quietly, 
with  lowered  freights.  United  Kingdom  native  wheat 
supply  is  large  and  averages  5Ss.  per  480  pounds. 
