Cfce  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1067 
reasons  that  are  beyond  the  control  of  the  dairy¬ 
man  in  so  short  time  as  six  months.  It  is  not  my 
purpose  at  this  time  to  enter  into  any  argument 
over  this  point,  excepting  to  say  that  Mr,  Van  A1- 
styne  knows  mighty  well  that,  plan  as  we  will,  con¬ 
ditions  over  which  we  have  no  control  will  arise 
A  2-1  Pack  of  8V4  inch  Peaches.  Fig.  421 
and  these  conditions  have  to  be  met  and  considered. 
Now  if  Mr.  Van  Alstyne  is  able  to  revolutionize  bis 
dairy  in  six  months’  time  so  as  to  make  a  profit  un¬ 
der  any  conditions  that  might  present  themselves, 
let  him  speak.  tiiomas  e.  bobeets. 
The  Labor  Income  of  Dairymen 
MALL  AVERAGES.— xV  prominent  dairyman  of 
my  county  stated  recently  that  he  got  for  his  year’s 
work  $240.95.  To  many  this  state¬ 
ment  of  so  small  an  income  seems  ab¬ 
surd.  Even  the  usual  farmer  hardly 
believes  that  such  cases  are  common. 
Alter  considerable  investigation  and 
much  figuring,  I  think  I  have  ample 
reason  for  the  statement  that  the 
dairy  farmers  of  my  locality  get  very 
close  to  an  average  of  $200  for  the 
work  of  a  year.  It.  is  said  that  the 
National  Department  of  Agriculture 
made  the  average  labor  income  of  the 
farmers  of  the  country  $318.  It  may 
not  he  complimentary  to  say  that  my 
locality  gets  less  than  the  average 
of  the  country,  hut  there  is  a  reason 
for  the  difference.  Our  farmers  will 
average  close  to  00  years  of  age.  The 
young  people  go  to  town  largely. 
When  a  man  is  00  he  may  he  in  his 
prime  mentally,  hut  not  so  physically. 
He  can  no  longer  do  more  than  the 
hired  man's  average  day's  work,  and 
when  it  comes  to  that  and  he  is  held  up  on  milk 
prices  by  the  milk  dealers,  and  on  feed  prices  by  the 
feed  dealers,  he  is  lucky  if  he  gets  the  $200  for  his 
work. 
FARMER  AND  MIDDLEMAN.— This  is  no  fault 
of  the  farmer  and  to  strengthen  the  assertion  I  want 
to  mention  one  case  more  specifically.  The  farmer 
in  question  is  not  in  good  health  to  he  sure,  hut  he 
succeeds  in  doing  considerable  work  for  all  that. 
His  crops  are  perhaps  about  the  best  in  his  neigh¬ 
borhood.  His  cows  produce  over  7.200  pounds  of 
milk  a  year,  ne  keeps  about  IS  cows,  which  is 
about  as  many  as  he  can  care  for  with  one  man  to 
help.  This  will  indicate  that  either  the  farmer  or 
his  help  or  both  are  not  doing  quite  full  work,  but 
they  do  a  good  deal  of  work  in  the  year  after  all. 
The  excellent  production  indicates  that  at  least.  lie 
can  do  very  liille  better  than  he  is  doing  so  far  as 
I  can  see.  This  man’s  labor  income  amounts  to 
practically  $125  a  year.  It  may  he  said  that  he 
ought  to  keep  more  cows  or  a  lot  of  hens,  and  that 
is  what  he  would  do  if  in  better  health,  but  he  gets 
more  from  his  cows  than  almost  any  other  farmer 
about.  His  chance  for  increased  income  from  his 
work  is  small.  Were  there  no  other  income  than  the 
labor  income  of  the  farm,  dairy  farmers  would  as  a 
rule  have  to  go  out  of  business.  They  do  not,  how¬ 
ever,  and  stay  by  the  job  the  host,  of  any  farmers. 
They  live  in  hopes  that  there  will  be  some  turn  in 
the  tide  that  will  enable  them  to  pay  their  way 
from  the  business  in  which  they  are  engaged.  In 
the  case  cited,  the  feed  dealer,  by  close  calcula¬ 
tion  and  a  good  knowledge  of  feed  markets,  gets 
fully  as  much  out.  of  that  farm  as  the  farmer  gets 
there  for  his  year’s  work.  What  the  milk  dealer 
gets  is  more  of  a  problem.  Approximately  00,000 
quarts  of  milk  are  sold  from  the  farm.  Some  of 
the  milk  dealers  claim  that  they  make  only  a  half 
cent  a  quart  as  an  average.  That  would  mean  a 
profit  of  $300.  If  it  is  a  cent  a  quart  it  is  $6u0.  At 
a  quarter  of  a  cent  a  quart,  it  is  $150,  or  more  than 
the  farmer  gets.  In  any  of  these  cases  it.  means 
real  profit  to  the  dealer,  since  the  labor  is  all  paid 
for  before  the  profit  is  figured.  Even  the  salary  of 
the  owner  or  officer  is  all  figured  out  before  any 
profit  is  mentioned,  while  in  the  case  of  the  farmer 
it.  is  what  lie  gets  for  his  labor,  and  is  less  than 
hired  men’s  wages.  It  is  not  profit  at  all,  (Ally 
wages. 
INCOME  xVND  EXPENSES.— Now  we  want  no 
misunderstanding  on  this.  It  is  not  entirely  com¬ 
parable  with  the  wages  of  the  man  in  ,the  factory 
in  town.  When  labor  income  is  figured,  no  account 
is  made  of  house  rent,  milk  or  potatoes  in  our  dairy 
districts,  nor  does  it  always  include  the  fuel.  Usu¬ 
ally  it  includes  a  part  of  it.  Even  with  some  ad¬ 
vantage  to  the  farmer  of  this  kind  the  $200  Tabor 
income  will  not  pay  the  living  expenses  of  a  family 
of  five.  Five  persons  need  nearly  that  for  the  food 
purchased,  to  say  nothing  of  clothing.  It  is  often 
asked  how  then  does  the  farmer  live?  lie  doesn’t 
go  info  bankruptcy  nor  to  the  poorhouse.  Of  course 
he  lives  by  economy,  in  the  first  place,  hut  the  aver¬ 
age  farmer  whom  I  am  considering  has  some  $3,000 
to  $6,000  of  his  own  money  invested  in  the  farm  and 
its  equipment.  Five  per  cent,  on  this  investment, 
together  with  what  he  can  get  for  his  work,  make 
him  out  a  living  and  sometimes  a  little  saving.  lie 
got  that  five  thousand  dollars  by  extra  hard  work 
when  he  was  between  25  and  50.  Then  he  could  do 
two  days  work  a  day  and  make  a  little  money.  That 
is  the  way  it  is  done.  I  believe  that  farming  ought 
to  pay  well  enough  so  that  a  man  can  by  doing  a 
good  honest  day's  work  get  at  least  a  living  from 
it.  The  farmer  has  it  in  his  own  hands  to  bring 
that,  about,  it  seems  to  me,  if  he  could  only  work 
with  other  farmers.  By  cooperation  with  others  he 
might  buy  liis  feeds  to  better  advantage,  and  cer¬ 
tainly  he  could  sell  milk  at  a  profit  Farmers  have 
not  yet  learned  to  work  together  as  do  business  men 
or  employes  of  factories,  railroads  and  other  lines 
of  employment.  It.  looks  like  a  rather  long  road  be¬ 
fore  farmers  will  learn  to  do  this.  It  would  he  better 
done  in  a  different  way  from  that  used  by  either  set 
of  men  mentioned.  Just  now  the  dairy  farmer’s 
problem  appears  to  be  to  make  the  Wicks  investiga¬ 
tion  commission  see  the  facts,  and  to  make  the  feed 
dealers  and  the  milk  dealers  see  the  importance  to 
them  of  making  a  fair  division.  To  get  some  of 
these  real  facts  to  the  actual  attention  of  the  Wicks 
commission  is  just  now  the  most  important  matter. 
There  must  he  the  facts  before  there  can  be  a 
remedy. 
A  CASE  IN  POINT.— The  writer  had  a  talk  no 
longer  ago  than  yesterday  with  a  farmer  who  has 
been  quoted  in  town  as  prosperous,  and  a  fine  type 
of  farmer  to  pattern  after.  I  regard  him  as  one  of 
our  best.  He  figures  that  he  is  getting  between 
$600  and  $700  a  year  out  of  his  business.  If  he  is 
lie  is  doing  better  than  most  farmers,  which,  indeed, 
I  believe  to  be  true.  Now  let  us  see  liow  that  money 
is  obtained.  There  are  27  cows  and  only  one  hired 
man  is  kept.  That  means  at  once  that  the  farmer 
is  doing  more  than  the  usual  hired  man  will  do, 
end  more  than  a  day's  work  in  a  day.  Potatoes  are 
raised  for  market,  and  that  means  that  additional 
work  is  done.  Then  the  farmer's  father  helps  about 
the  milking  sometimes,  and  it  is  ray  guess  that  he 
helps  about  other  work  at  times.  xYgain,  there  are 
the  children  that  assist,  about  many  jobs,  and  the 
wife  milks  and  cares  for  poultry  and  does  other 
work.  If  all  this  work  were  paid  for,  and  it  should 
he  figured  out  before  stating  the  labor  income,  there 
would  he  a  smaller  one  to  announce.  Then  the  in¬ 
terest  on  the  investment  must  be  deducted  before 
making  such  a  statement.  I  am  unable  to  state 
definitely  what  would  he  the  income  after  all  the 
proper  deductions  have  been  made.  It  will  he  readi¬ 
ly  conceded  that  the  amount  is  none  too  large,  but 
the  farmer  is  prosperous,  as  farmers  are  reported. 
Possibly  it  may  be  $100.  There  being  no  debts,  the 
interest  can  he  added  to  the  other  income,  and  con¬ 
siderable  can  be  saved  each  year  for  further  invest¬ 
ment.  If  a  man  cannot  do  the  large  amount  of  work 
and  has  no  one  to  help  with  the  chores,  etc.,  then  lie 
must  get  along  with  smaller  wages  for  himself. 
A  NEW  YORK  DAIRYMAN. 
Picking,  Packing  and  Shipping  Peaches 
Packing  Peaches  in  Georgia  Carriers 
Part  Y. 
ACKING  PExYCIIES  IN  GEORGIA  CARRIERS. 
— Although  many  peaches  are  shipped  to  the 
large  eastern  markets  in  the  various  forms  of  the 
16-quart  peach  baskets,  the  six-basket  carrier  is 
rapidly  coming  into  general  use,  especially  for  fancy 
fruit.  One  of  the  chief  difficulties  In  the  way  of  the 
more  general  adoption  of  this  package  is  the  fact 
that  growers  do  not  know  how  to  pack  it  properly 
and  economically.  Trial  shipments  in  carriers  are 
frequently  made,  find  a  straight  or  slack  pack  used, 
with  the  result  that  the  prices  are  not  satisfactory. 
The  packing  of  carriers  can  he  done  rapidly  and 
economically  if  proper  tables  are  furnished,  the 
work  systematically  organized,  and  packers  in¬ 
structed  as  to  details.  The  packing  of  carriers  Is 
much  more  simple  than  that  of  apple  boxes  and  can 
he  done  much  more  rapidly. 
FACILITATING  THE  WORK.— The  design  of  h 
good  packing  table  was  given  on  page  1048.  Such 
a  table  or  tables  should  be  made  well  in  advance  of 
the  packing  season  and  placed  ready 
for  work.  A  considerable  number  of 
empty  carriers  should  be  stacked  in 
the  rear  of  the  packers  so  they  can 
be  reached  as  needed.  A  packer 
should  not  be  obliged  to  walk  up  and 
down  the  packing  house  each  time  he 
needs  an  empty  crate.  There  should 
be  space  enough  left,  however,  be¬ 
tween  the  packers  and  the  stacks  of 
crates  to  permit  of  the  packed  crates 
being  placed  upon  the  floor  to  be  re¬ 
moved  by  those  whose  duty  it  is  to 
attend  to  the  nailing  on  of  covers  and 
applying  the  proper  labels  and  sten¬ 
cils.  The  tables  should  be  so  ar¬ 
ranged  across  the  packing  house  that 
all  fruit  may  be  delivered  to  each 
from  the  side  opposite  to  that  used 
by  the  packers.  It  should  not  he  ne¬ 
cessary  for  packers  to  cease  work 
and  stand  aside  while  fruit  is  being 
placed  upon  the  table.  It  may  ap¬ 
pear  that  too  much  attention  and  importance  is  be¬ 
ing  urged  ia  regard  to  these  details,  but  the  actual 
day's  output  from  a  packing  house  directly  depends 
upon  the  least  possible  handling  of  the  fruit,  and  a 
systematic  routine  of  work  that  employs  every  la¬ 
borer  to  the  best  advantage  and  without  wasted 
effort. 
THE  PACKERS. — Every  laborer  who  may  be 
A  Properly  Filled  Crate,  Showing  1%  inch  Bulge.  Fig.  423 
hired  will  not  prove  to  he  a  good  rapid  packer.  The 
best  packers  are  persons’  who  are  naturally  quick 
and  skilful  with  their  hands,  and  neat  and  orderly 
in  their  work.  One  who  may  not  be  strong  enough 
Table  and  Crates  Arranged  for  Efficient  Packing.  Fig.  422 
