EV><?  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
691 
Notes  from  Department  of  Foods  and 
Markets 
The  Supreme  Court  of  Wisconsin  has  an  important 
case  to  decide.  Mr,  Herman  Newburg.  a  La  Crosse 
County  farmer,  shipped  a  carload  of  potatoes  to  a 
customer  over  the  Northwestern  Railroad.  Tim  ship¬ 
ment  was  delayed  and  the  price  of  potatoes  declined 
in  the  meantime.  Mr.  Newburg  sued  and  the  justice 
court  decided  in  favor  of  the  railroad.  The  case  was 
appealed  to  the  higher  court,  and  here  the  farmer  won. 
Now  the  case  is  appealed  to  the  State  Supreme  Court 
by  the  railroad  company,  and  the  final  decision  will  he 
a  precedent  in  cases  of  the  kind.  A  similar  suit  in¬ 
volving  a  shipment  of  strawberries  was  recently  decided 
in  favor  of  the  shipper  in  the  IT.  S.  Supreme  Court. 
The  interstate  shipment  in  that  case  permitted  it  to 
go  to  the  Federal  Court. 
Commission  dealers  lose  no  opportunity  to  discour¬ 
age  shipments  to  the  auction  market.  Their  letters 
come  baek  to  us  frequently.  They  know  in  advance 
every  car  shipment  coming  to  the  auction  sales,  and 
the  sales  being  public,  they  know  the  price.  The  De¬ 
partment  gets  their  prices  only  when  they  come  back 
from  the  growers.  The  following  letters  are  a  fair 
sample  of  many  received,  though  occasionally,  a  grower 
feels  that  his  goods  have  not  sold  for  all  he  expected  : 
T  made  shipments  of  apples  to  State  Department  of 
Foods  and  Markets  this  Fall ;  same  w  ere  sold  at  auc¬ 
tion  and  /  will  sail  I  received  a  square  deal  which  is 
something  I  have  never  had  in  a  fruit  deal  before,  cov¬ 
ering  a  period  of  25  years.  In  fact  T  have  allowed 
hundreds  of  barrels  of  apples  to  rot  rather  than  ship  to 
a  commission  merchant.  My  only  regrets  are  that  I 
cannot  dispose  of  all  my  produce  through  the  same 
channel,  including  about  $3,500  worth  of  milk  each  year, 
as  the  milk  dealers  are  worse  than  the  commission  men. 
My  best  apples  sold  at  auction  for  $3.00  per  barrel. 
T  have  previously  shipped  apples  of  same  grade,  same 
conditions,  to  commission  merchants  and  waited  three 
months  for  returns  and  received  27  cents  per  barrel. 
Barrels  costing  40  cents  each,  thus  netting  me  a  nice 
little  loss  of  33  cents  per  barrel  rash,  besides  the  cost 
of  raising,  etc.  I  have  neighbors  who  have  done  even 
worse  than  this.  p,  f.  robinson. 
Pawlet,  Yt. 
To  say  returns  were  .satisfactory  states  it  very  mildly. 
While  this  lot  altogether  was  a  very  good  one,  I  have 
at  numerous  other  times  shipped  better  packs  to  com¬ 
mission  men  in  an  endeavor  to  reach  a  lop  market  quo¬ 
tation  hut  have  never  done  so.  Your  returns  show  a 
top  market  sale  on  all  marks  entitled  to  it  and  on  Ren 
Davis  20  cents  per  barrel  above,  and  at  a  sales  cost  of 
less  than  seven  per  cent.  What  more  could  I  expect? 
I  shall  certainly  push  your  Department  at  every  op¬ 
portunity.  With  best  wishes  for  your  success,  I  ain, 
Ulster  Park,  N.  Y.  f.  c.  cuaffee. 
A  New  York  State  apple  grower  was  in  the  market 
recently  and  observed  the  prices  on  private  sales.  lie 
reached  the  auction  sales  just  in  time  to  see  a  carload 
of  apples  sold  for  one  of  his  neighbors.  He  said  the 
apples  brought  at  least  25  touts  a  barrel  more  than 
they  would  have  sold  for  on  the  same  day  on  the  docks. 
The  more  farmers  come  and  learti  for  themselves,  the 
better  for  the  Department. 
Bum m ary  of  returns  made  shippers  of  eggs  and  mis¬ 
cellaneous  products  for  the  week  ending  April  20th, 
1010 : 
72  l 
50  %  cases 
EGGS.— 70  cases  26e;  10 
25c:  2  cases  24%c;  40%  cases  24c;  0  cases  23%e;  27 
cases  23c;  3  cases  22c;  %  case  duck  eggs  at  37c." 
MISCELLANEOUS. — 30  lbs.  butter  32c:  2  tubs  but¬ 
ter,  01  lbs..  22c:  2  calves.  175  lbs.,  I5e;  1  calf.  118  lbs., 
45% c :  1  coop  Guinea  hens.  0%  pairs,  00c  pair;  1  pail 
butter.  31  lbs.,  35c;  3  baskets  string  beans  at  $3  per 
basket;  1  calf,  110  lhs„  15c;  I  calf’s  liver  50c;  1  calf, 
77  lbs..  14%c;  1  calf's  liver  00c;  1  calf,  SO  lbs..  15%e; 
2  calves*  livers  $1;  1  calf,  SO  lbs.,  15 %c ;  1  calf, 
102  lbs.,  15c;  2  calves’  livers,  $1;  1  calf,  78  lbs.,  15c; 
1  calf.  01  lbs..  15%c. 
Fines  for  Unlawful  Apple  Packing 
During  the  past  season  we  have  had  a  number  of 
cases  where  growers  have  been  threatened  with  fine  or 
suit  under  the  apple  packing  law.  Some  of  the  farm¬ 
ers  become  frightened  at  a  notice  from  the  Attorney- 
General  and  pay  the  tine.  Our  advice  is  not  to  do  so 
without  a  legal  fight,  as  in  many  cases  we  doubt  if  the 
testimony  produced  against  the  grower  could  convict 
him.  We  shall  give  here  a  typical  case  of  this  sort. 
On  March  22  we  received  the  following  statement: 
A  Complaint  from  the  Grower 
October  20th,  1015,  I  packed  and  shipped  about  00  bar- 
rids  of  apples  to  New  York,  according  to  the  law,  and  a 
little  later  I  received  a  complaint  from  the  Commissioner 
of  Agriculture  at  Albany  saying  that  one  barrel  of  Raid- 
wins  contained  18  pounds  of  wormy  apples  that  were 
marked  A  grade.  I  know  that  they  were  not,  ns  I  have 
proved  to  them  by  four  sworn  statements  which  they  asked 
tor.  After  they  got  those,  which  they  ignored  entirely 
and  threatened  to  commence  aetiou  against  me,  I  paid 
the  fine,  which  was  $25.  If  I  had  been  able  to  stand  a 
suit  I  certainly  should  have  done  so,  for  1  know  posi¬ 
tively  that  there  was  not  a  barrel  that  had  so  many 
poor  apples  in  when  they  left  my  possession,  and  if 
there  were  when  they  were  inspected,  which  I  do  not 
believe,  someone  tampered  with  them  after  they  left 
my  care.  If  it  is  honest  and  lawful  to  do  business  iu 
that  manner,  then  it  is  not  safe  for  a  farmer  to  sell  his 
produce  iu  any  shape.  I  look  at  it  as  a  fraud  and  rob¬ 
bery.  for  I  know  the  fruit  was  packed  according  to 
law  when  it  left  my  possession.  If  1  had  shipped 
poor  fruit  and  branded  them  fancy  or  A  grade  I  would 
pay  the  line  without  any  hack  talk,  but  I  know  thev 
were  all  O.  K.  and  I  do  not  think  it  is  right  to  fine 
a  man  for  what  he  has  not  doue,  and  proved  it  to  them 
and  for  them  to  ignore  his  sworn  statements  in  end. 
H.  E.  POWELL. 
Mr.  Powell  had  already  paid  his  fine  and  there  would 
he  no  chance  of  getting  it  hack.  The  case  was  referred 
to  Commissioner  Wilson,  and  he  sends  the  following 
statement  of  the  methods  employed  in  such  cases : 
A  Statement  from  the  Commissioner 
The  apples  packed  were  inspected  upon  October  20th 
at  the  Coxsackie  boat  landing,  Coxsackie,  N.  Y.,  the 
point  from  where  these  apples  wore  shipped,  and  our 
ageuts  found  at  least  2%  times  the  tolerance  allowance 
of  wormy  apples  within  the  package.  These  apples 
were  consigned  to  J.  H.  Killough  Co.,  New  York  City. 
The  correspondence,  together  with  the  affidavits  sub¬ 
mitted  hy  the  defendant,  stated  that  he  supposed  they 
were  packed  fully  up  to  grade  and  that  it  was  his  in¬ 
tention  to  put  only  A  grade  apples  in  the  packages. 
The  other  affidavit  submitted  stated  that  the  reputa¬ 
tion  of  the  defendant  was  good  and  I  would  say  that 
we  have  no  evidence  to  the  contrary. 
Excuses  similar  to  this  are  almost  invariably  made 
hy  the  defendant  and  it  is  probable  that  a  large  pro¬ 
portion  of  the  violations  noted  are  rlue  to  carelessness 
upon  the  part  of  the  man  responsible  for  the  packing 
or  the  men  employed  hy  him.  Of  course,  some  viola¬ 
tions  are  due  to  ignorance  and  some  to  dishonesty. 
Among  the  last  I  would  class  those  who  are  knowingly 
and  persistently  trying  to  evade  or  violate  the  law’s 
requirements.  Apparently  a  fine  is  of  much  more 
value  in  awakening  interest  and  stimulating  study  of 
the  law  than  letters,  farmers’  institute  talks  or  apple 
packing  demonstrations,  and  the  like. 
If  the  facts  set  forth  in  the  ..■adavits  are  sufficiently 
strong  to  exonerate  the  defendant,  and  we  can  at  least 
partly  verify  the  facts  set  forth,  the  cases  are  discon¬ 
tinued.  If  not  discontinued  the  minimum  fine  has  been 
accepted  here  in  settlement.  If  the  defendant  believes 
WO  are  entirely  wrong  hje  can  defend  our  action  to 
collect  the  fine. 
Of  course,  in  entering  upon  the  enforcement  of  a  new 
law,  new  problems  come  up  each  day  and  instructions 
to  our  men  have  been  to  give  the  grower  the  benefit  of 
the  doubt  in  doubtful  cases.  With  these  precautions 
wo  believe  that  in  the  main,  very  little  if  any  injus¬ 
tice  has  been  done  and  also  believe  that  before  an¬ 
other  apple  season,  practically  all  growers  will  be  fully 
posted  as  to  the  law’s  requirements. 
When  we  find  closed  packages  of  apples  fully  branded 
as  the  law  requires,  we  assume  that  the  packer  must 
have  had  some  knowledge  of  the  law  and  by  putting 
his  name  upon  the  package  was  willing  to  assume  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  the  packing.  Our  practice  at  present 
is  to  inspect  not  less  than  three  to  five  packages  of 
the  brand  in  case  they  are  found  below  grade,  and  a 
case  is  likely  to  he  referred  upon  the  findings.  On  re¬ 
ceipt  of  the  report  here  it  is  carefully  gone  over  and 
if  the  findings  warrant,  the  matter  is  referred  to  our 
counsel  for  such  action  as  he  might  deem  best.  Com¬ 
munications  and  affidavits  are  then  considered  by  the 
counsel  and  the  bureau  iu  charge  of  this  work  and  if  the 
facts  set  forth  iu  the  affidavit  should  prove  that  the  man 
whose  name  was  on  the  package  was  not  responsible 
for  the  conditions  found  therein,  the  case  is  referred 
against  the  responsible  party,  which  might  be  the  deal¬ 
er  or  broker,  or  in  some  instances  it  has  boon  discon¬ 
tinued.  If  our  findings  indicate  that  the  man  who 
packed  the  apples  has  violated  the  requirements  of  the 
law  the  case  is  referred  to  the  Attorney  General  for 
prosecution. 
We  have  tried  to  enforce  this  law  without  fear  or 
favor  and  our  records  show  that  cases  have  been  re¬ 
ferred  against  growers,  dealers,  brokers  and  commis¬ 
sion  men.  We  have  tried  to  he  as  lenient  as  we  could 
he  and  yet  instill  into  every  one  a  respect  for  the  re¬ 
quirements  of  the  law.  We  welcome  any  honest  criti¬ 
cism  or  suggestions  relating  to  the  proper  and  practi¬ 
cal  working  out  of  this  law’s  requirements. 
CHARLES  8.  WILSON', 
Commissioner. 
Parcel  Post  to  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Those  of  our  readers  who  live  iu  Western  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  or  the  territory  within  the  second  zone  from 
Pittsburgh,  and  who  are  interested  in  parcel  post  de¬ 
velopment,  should  know  what  is  being  done  in  an  effort 
to  develop  direct  trade. 
The  Pittsburgh  postmaster  is  trying  to  get  farmers 
to  ship  direct  to  the  Pittsburgh  consumer  from  the 
second  zone  of  about  200  miles.  Without  question  there 
are  thousands  of  farmers  in  that  territory  who  have  at 
present  a  poor  market.  They  would  be  benefited  if  they 
could  utilize  parcel  post  and  express  service  for  the 
direct  sale  of  some  of  their  crops.  Efforts  are  being 
made  to  reach  this  class  of  farmers,  and  the  work  is 
not  an  easy  one. 
The  plan  is  for  the  postmaster  at  Pittsburgh  to  issue 
a  list  of  farmers  who  have  products  for  sale.  Any 
farmers  or  farmers’  wives  wishing  to  try  this  method  of 
marketing  should  send  their  names  with  a  list  of  pro¬ 
ducts  they  want  to  sell.  Write  to  the  Office  of  Mar¬ 
kets  and  Rural  Organization,  Rox  1023,  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.  Tell  what  you  have  to  offer  and  how  you  can  dis¬ 
pose  of  it.  There  are  possibilities  iu  this  work  for 
many  farmers,  and  here  is  opportunity  for  them.  These 
shipments  to  Pittsburgh  will  cover  two-thirds  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  two-tlrirds  of  Ohio,  two-thirds  of  West  Vir¬ 
ginia  and  parts  of  Virginia.  Maryland  and  New  York. 
In  order  to  make  a  success  of  this  kind  of  marketing 
there  must  be  products  of  good  quality  and  attractive 
appearance,  a  fair  price  and  a  patient  persistence  until 
satisfactory  customers  are  found.  If  any  of  our  readers 
in  this  territory  are  interested  in  parcel-post  trade  here 
is  their  opportunity  of  trying. 
Peach  Prospects 
April  11.  Peaches  75%  buds  killed  in  this  section. 
Elbertas  about  all  dead  ;  did  not  set  many  buds.  Greens¬ 
boro  has  the  most  live  buds.  Spraying  had  good  weath¬ 
er,  finished  today;  had  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  Apr.  8. 
Flanders,  N.  J.  p.  j,  r. 
April  15.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  make  a  reliable 
estimate  this  season  because  the  winter-killing  of  buds 
in  our  peach  district  is  not  distributed  in  different  or¬ 
chards.  Practically  all  the  peach  buds  west  of  the  Alio, 
gheny  Mountains  have  keen  killed,  but  this  section  does 
not  include  many  large  commercial  orchards.  The  East¬ 
ern  Panhandle  of  West  Virginia,  wherein  the  peach  in¬ 
dustry  is  centered,  has  suffered  a  partial  loss.  As  near¬ 
ly  as  we  can  estimate  at  the  present  time  the  Elbertas 
will  show  from  GO  to  75%  loss  of  peaches.  Earlier  fruit 
of  the  Carman  and  Champion  varieties  have  come 
through  with  not  more  than  15%  loss.  Late  varieties, 
such  as  Salway,  Ivrummel  and  Smock  carry  anywhere 
from  10  to  75%  loss,  probably  30%  as  an  average.  The 
difficulty  in  making  any  estimate  this  year  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  greatest  losses  occur  on  the  higher  ele¬ 
vations,  a  fact  difficult  to  explain  as  it  runs  contrary 
to  our  usual  experience.  In  the  more  elevated  orchard's 
the  Elberta  crop  is  an  entire  failure  in  many  sections, 
whereas  iu  orchards  but  a  few  hundred  feet  lower  the 
loss  to  this  variety  will  not  exceed  20% 
West  Virginia  Exp.  Station.  w.  h.  alderman. 
There  is  approximately  about  a  fourth  of  a  crop  in 
the  orchards  of  middle  Georgia — Spalding  County.  A 
commercial  grower  near  Griffin  informs  me  that  he  es¬ 
timates  his  crop  at  10  cars  this  season  from  an  orchard 
he  shipped  a  little  over  50  cars  last  season.  In  Haber¬ 
sham  County,  Northeast  Georgia,  I  am  informed  that 
they  have  prospects  of  a  little  less  than  one-fourth  crop. 
In  South  Central  Georgia.  Fort  Valley  section,  some  of 
the  orchardists  report  a  little  more  than  half  a  crop. 
For  the  entire  State,  a  fair  estimate  would  be  about  a 
third  of  a  crop.  h.  p.  stuckey. 
Ga.  Experiment  Station. 
April.  18.  As  far  as  I  have  investigated  there  are 
no  live  peach  buds  in  this  town.  The  warm  weather  in 
January  caused  the  buds  to  swell  so  much  that  they 
were  frozen  hy  the  extreme  cold  in  February. 
Portland,  Conn.  G.  k.  p. 
From  the  best  information  that  I  have,  gained  in 
part  hy  observation  and  iu  part  by  inquiry  of  farmers, 
it  appears  that  Delaware  now  has  the  prospect  of  a 
fair  crop  of  white  peaches,  of  which  the  Belle  largely 
predominates.  Yellow  fruit  will  he  much  less  abund¬ 
ant,  although  some  Elberta  orchards  that  were  well 
cared  for  last  year  by  pruning,  spraying  amT  fertilizing, 
still  have  the  promise  of  a  fair  crop.  The  crop  of  1015 
was  the  largest  for  many  years,  and  the  orchards  that 
bore  heavily  are  not  expected  to  he  so  full  this  year. 
WESLEY  WEBB. 
Secy.  Delaware  Board  of  Agriculture. 
From  reports  from  our  extension  horticulturists,  who 
have  been  over  the  State,  it  would  appear  that  at  least 
half  of  the  peaches  in  Maryland  are  killed.  That  is  to 
say,  we  do  not  expect  more  than  half  a  crop;  possibly 
less  peaches  in  all  low  lands,  and  even  in  mountain  sec¬ 
tions  they  are  practically  killed.  In  some  sections  of 
the  Eastern  Shore  there  are  enough  live  buds  to  guar¬ 
antee  a  crop,  so  that  I  believe  the  ultimate  figure  of 
possibly  less  than  half  a  crop  is  about  as  good  a  guess 
as  we  can  make  at  this  time. 
Thomas  b.  symons.  Director. 
Maryland  Agricultural  College. 
New  York  State  News 
GIRLS  TO  BE  GUESTS  AT  FAIR.— The  State 
Fair  Commission  will  introduce  a  new  feature  this  Fall 
at  the  State  Fair,  namely  the  entertainment  as  guests 
of  the  commission  of  50  girls  selected  from  the  schools 
of  the  State  where  agriculture  is  taught.  They  will  be 
housed  in  the  building  which  was  used  as  a  restaurant 
last  year.  It  will  be  made  over  into  a  dormitory,  and 
arranged  conveniently  for  the  girls’  use. 
SUPERINTENDENTS  AT  FAIR.— The  following 
have  been  appointed  as  superintendents  at  the  State 
Fair:  Dr.  H.  S.  Wende,  Tonawafida.  farm  and  breeding 
horses:  D.  L.  McLaury,  l’ortlaudville,  cattle;  W.  A. 
Alexander,  Union  Springs,  swine;  Cbas.  F.  Porter,  Al¬ 
bion,  fruit;  W.  II.  Manning.  Saratoga,  poultry.  W. 
S.  Glitz  was  re-elected  as  secretary  of  the  horse  show. 
There  will  be  no  night  show  on  the  grounds  this  year. 
GROWING  NUMBER  OF  AUTOS.— More  than 
2,000  cars  are  being  licensed  each  day  by  the  automobile 
bureau  at  Albany.  All  told  so  far  there  have  been  171,- 
077  cars  registered  this  year  compared  with  142,576  last 
year  for  the  same  period.  Every  county  in  the  State 
shows  an  increase.  It  is  predicted  that  300,000  cars 
will  he  registered  in  1916. 
STATE  8 A  YES  $200,000. — The  consolidation  of  the 
State  Labor  Department  and  the  Workmens’  Compen- 
sation  Commission  has  resulted  iu  saving  for  the  State 
the  sum  of  $200,000.  This  is  according  to  the  annual 
report  submitted  to  the  Legislature. 
FARMERS’  INSTITUTES  AND  FARM  RU¬ 
LE  A  l  S. — Commissioner  Wilson  has  announced  that 
the  appropriations  for  these  two  farm  agencies  will  be 
this  year  about  $61,000,  of  which  the  Farmers’  Insti¬ 
tutes  get  $36,000  and  the  Farm  Bureaus  about  $25,000. 
To  the  support  of  each  of  the  farm  bureaus  of  the  State 
the  sum  of  $60(1  is  provided  from  State  funds  and  the 
Federal  government  and  the  county  authorities  each 
give  the  same  amount. 
TWO  BILLS  SIGNED  BY  GOVERNOR.— Among 
the  several  hills  that  have  recently  become  laws  by  the 
governor’s  signature  is  one  relating  to  the  purchase  of 
milk  on  the  butterfat  basis  and  the  taking  of  samples 
for  the  purpose  of  analysis.  The  producer  may  have 
one  of  the  samples  analyzed  by  the  State  College  of 
Agriculture.  The  other  bill  referred  to  as  having  be¬ 
come  a  law  is  that  appropriating  the  sum  of  $10,000,- 
000  for  the  maintenance  and  repair  of  the  State  high¬ 
ways.  Still  another  new  law  relates  to  the  observance 
of  Arbor  Day,  which  after  this  year  shall  be  observed 
upon  the  annual  proclamation  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Education.  This  year  it  occurs  on  May  5. 
A  BIG  ENTERPRISE, — In  Wayne  County  they  do 
things  on  a  large  scale  sometimes.  A  project  is  now  on 
foot  to  drain  3,000  acres  of  marsh  land  in  the  town 
of  Sodus,  and  in  the  town  of  Savannah  the  State  Con¬ 
servation  Commission  will  begin  work  on  the  drainage 
of  5,000  acres.  The  expense  of  the  preliminary  work 
in  the  latter  case  is  to  be  borne  hy  the  State  and  assess¬ 
ments  will  be  made  on  the  owners  of  the  land  iu  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  benefits  received.  The  State  will  dredge 
a  channel  seven  miles  in  length  and  deep  enough  to  se¬ 
cure  ample  drainage  to  accommodate  over  40  marsh 
owners.  j.  w.  D. 
