1255 
credited  with  9.45  pounds  of  cheese,  and  four  per 
cent,  milk,  10.60  of  cheese.  There  is  a  cheese  fac¬ 
tory  near  here  that  cleared  about  $1.25  for  May, 
but  th3  farmers  delivered  their  own  milk.  It  is 
thought  that  they  did  quite  well.  Cheese  is  now 
selling  for  15  to  IS  cents  a  pound,  but  this  may  he 
somewhat  above  the  usual  price.  The  cheese  busi¬ 
ness  has  for  some  years  been  rather  more  profitable 
in  Summer  here  than  selling  milk  to  the  condensery, 
but  we  have  not  been  able  to  get  $1.35  for  June 
milk. 
I  have  before  me  reports  from  creameries.  One 
in  Vermont  for  the  entire  year  of  1915  is  as  fol¬ 
lows:  Price  paid  the  patrons  for  butterfat,  35.5  cents 
a  pound.  Overrun  averaged  21.92  per  cent.  Cost 
of  manufacturing,  2.19  cents  a  pound,  including  half 
a  cent  that  was  reserved  for  a  sinking  fund.  An¬ 
other  for  the  month  of  .Tune,  191G,  gives  the  price  for 
fat,  36  cents  a  pound.  Overran  23.19  per  cent. 
Price  for  butter,  33.24  cents  a  pound,  and  the  quoted 
prices  in  New  York  City  29.89  cents.  This  last 
creamery  is  in  Pennsylvania.  Such  cases  are  not 
very  usual,  I  think,  but  with  the  situation  fully  un¬ 
derstood,  the  business  well  in  hand  and  the  work¬ 
men  fully  abreast  of  the  business  it  is  surely  pos¬ 
sible.  Every  farmer  should  have  an  interest  in  pro¬ 
moting  the  welfare  of  the  business  as  well  as  the 
men  in  the  creamery,  and  the  business  should  not  be 
too  small.  H.  h.  l. 
A  Maine  Apple  Orchard 
T1TI8  is  an  orchard  of  1,000  trees  of  mixed  va¬ 
rieties,  principally  McIntosh,  Baldwin,  Craven- 
stein,  Wealthy,  Duchess,  R.  I.  Greening,  Spy,  Dub¬ 
lin  rclston  and  King.  The  trees  are  now  eight  years 
old.  The  orchard  has  been  thoroughly  cultivated 
every  year  from  April  15  to  August  1st,  with  a  double 
disk  harrow  and  a  spring-tooth  harrow.  The  above 
tools  have  both  wide  extensions  which  allow  them 
to  work  close  up  to  trees  and  keep  the  horses  well 
clear  ofifimbs,  and  cut  down  hoeing  expenses.  Trees 
have  been  carefully  pruned  every*  Winter,  and 
sprayed  four  times  in  the  season.  A  crop  of  rye. 
Crimson  and  White  clover  is  seeded  August  1st.  and 
go  far  excellent  returns  have  resulted  from  very 
heavy  crops  of  green  manure.  A  high  grade  of  com¬ 
mercial  phosphate  is  sown  broadcast  in  May  and 
two  tons  of  lime  to  the  acre  is  applied  in  July  and 
thoroughly  worked  in.  A  one-horse  low-down  dump 
cart  is  used  to  work  among  the  trees,  thereby  avoid¬ 
ing  long  turning  riggings  among  the  trees,  which 
are  all  set  out  with  tillers. 
The  lime  and  the  phosphate  is  all  sown  by  one 
man,  who  has  a  Scotch  sowing  sheet  round  his  neck 
which  holds  40  pounds  of  lime,  and  this  is  sown 
broadcast  with  both  hands.  A  respirator  and  gog¬ 
gles  are  worn,  and  in  this  way  the  lime  can  he  sown 
over  every  inch  of  ground  without  any  injury  to 
branches'  from  machinery.  With  one  hoy  on  the 
dump  cart,  one  man  puts  on  all  the  lime  in  this 
way  in  a  day  and  a  half.  All  the  trees  that  are 
hearing  are  thinned  twice.  East  year  at  seven  years 
old  a  very  large  number  of  McIntosh,  Duchess  and 
Wealthy  were  heavily  loaded,  ami ’this*  year  pros¬ 
pects  are-  for  an  excellent  crop.  All  the  trees  are 
kept  low  headed  and  pruned  to  allow  passage 'for 
orchard  tools.  A  number  of  Western  fruit  growers 
Z>he  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
have  been  astonished  at  the  size  of  trunk  and  limb 
growth  for  such  young  trees  and  it  has  been  hard 
to  convince  some  of  them  that  the  trees  are  only 
eight  years  old. 
The  fancy  apples  at  present  are  supplied  to  private 
parties,  and  later  a  New  York  trade  will  be  worked  up, 
as  fancy  apples  packed  on  Monday  in  small  containers 
can  he  delivered  at  New  York  docks  by  Wednesday, 
thereby  avoiding  heavy  railroad  and  express  charges. 
One  of  the  principal  helps  has  been  the  use  of  the 
same  very  steady  team  and  teamster  for  a  number 
of  years.  A  majority  of  teamsters  do  not  realize 
the  irreparable  damage  to  a  young  tree  as  the  result 
of  a  heavy  iron  tool  blundering  into  it,  and  hastily 
rub  a  handful  of  soil  over  the  bruise.  This  seems 
to  be  the  principal  drawback  of  fruit  growing,  to 
get  men  to  take  an  active  interest  in  their  work 
instead  of  just  the  day’s  work. 
The  pictures  of  the  dwarf  Yellow  Transparent 
tree,  Figs.  514  and  516,  were  taken  June  15th,  and 
are  of  the  same  tree  before  and  after  pruning;  36 
apples  were  taken  off  and  28  left  on.  The  orchard 
is  laid  out  on  a  side  hill  facing  the  southwest.  No 
cultivated  crons  have  been  grown  between  the  rows 
and  every  ounce  of  benefit  has  been  forced  into  the 
trees,  which  are  an  object  lesson  for  admiration  to 
the  hundreds  of  automobiles  that  pass  daily.  One 
word  as  vegards  renovating  old  orchards,  of  which 
A  Cultivated  Orchard  in  Maine.  Fig.  515 
there  are  many  in  New  England.  Three  years  ago 
an  old  orchard  of  60  trees  that  had  not  for  years 
borne  well  was  plowed  up  and  given  the  same  treat¬ 
ment  as  the  young  trees,  and  now  the  same  trees 
have  every  one  of  them  from  10  to  12  props  under 
their  overloaded  branches.  There  is  no  line  of  farm¬ 
ing  or  fruit  growing  that  needs  more  patience  and 
perseverance  than  raising  good  apples,  and  the  time 
does  not  seem  far  away  when  the  man  who  has  a 
really  first-class  apple,  carefully  and  honestly  packed 
in  small  containers,  and  who  has  nearby  good  trans¬ 
portation,  can  get  a  good  price  for  his  goods. 
Sebago  Lake,  Me.  e.  a. 
Duties  of  Express  Agent 
I  am  a  shipper  of  fine  table  eggs  to  the  New  York 
market  from  oar  station,  a  small  country  place,  also 
ship  a  good  many  chickens,  and  receive  a  good  deal  of 
freight  there.  I  would  like  to  know  what  the  duties  of 
the  station  agent  are.  and  what  is  required  of  the 
shipper?  ITow  many  hours  is  the  agent  required  to  be 
at  tiie  station?  Is  it  his  duty  to  come  and  help  take 
the  goods  in  when  I  drive  up  to  the  platform?  Should 
lie  hand  out  the  stuff  when  I  drive  up  to  get  it?  Is  he 
required  to  put  express  nu  train  on  a  holiday?  I  al¬ 
ways  like  to  accommodate  and  help  in  every  way  I  can 
and  like,  to  have  some  favors  in  return.  The  times  are 
very  few  that  the.  agent,  comes  to  open  the  door  when 
I  drive  up  to  the  platform  to  unload.  I  set  m.v  eggs 
out  on  the  platform,  leave  my  horse  and  go  around  to 
tin1  front  side  and  go  in,  open  the  door  and  set  my 
cases  inside.  The  door  is  securely  fastened  on  the  in¬ 
side.  L  took  two  cases  up  on  July  4t1i.  There  was  no 
one.  there.  The  warernom  was  locked  lip.  The  wait¬ 
ing  room  was  open.  I  set  my  cases  in  there  so  they 
would  be  out  of  the  sun  and  in  the  dry  if  it  rained.  On 
the  morning  of  the  5th  my  cases  were  sitting  out  on  the 
platform  exposed  to  the  weather;  were  not  shipped  till 
three  o’clock  the  next  day.  Should  the  agent  notify  a 
person  when  goods  arrive?  What  official  should  one 
write  to  to  lay  in  a  complaint?  a.  i.  w. 
Pennsylvania. 
IRST  of  all  we  tried  to  learn  what  the  express 
companies  have  to  say.  We  wrote  to  the  man¬ 
agers  of  all  the  large  companies,  and  asked  them 
what  instructions  they  give  their  agents  regarding 
tli Is  treatment  of  shippers.  Only  two  of  these  man¬ 
agers  have  replied,  and  their  answers  are  given  lie- 
low.  It  does  not  seem  that  any  special  rules  are 
followed — as  the  express  agent  at  the  small  sta¬ 
tions  usually  works  for  the  railroad,  the  telegraph 
company  and  perhaps  has  other  duties  too.  It  seems 
to  lie  a  case  of  “anybody’s  business’’  coming  out  as 
it  usually  does! 
We  wish  to  thank  you  for  giving  us  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  reply  to  this  inquiry.  A  great  many  tilings 
govern  the  action  of  express  agents  at  relatively 
small  country  stations,  for  the  reason  that  business 
is  not  of  sufficient  volume  to  warrant  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  an  exclusive  representative  and  the  railroad 
agent  is  usually  employed  to  take  care  of  the  ex¬ 
press  business.  T I  is  hours  are  regulated  largely  by 
law.  particularly  so  if  he  has  anything  to  do  with 
telegraphing. 
There  are  many  other  features  that  enter  into 
Hits  subject,  and  i  think  the  best:  way  to  treat  the 
matter  in  this  particular  case  would  he  for  the  ship¬ 
per  interested  to  take  the  subject  up  with  the  su¬ 
perintendent  or  general  manager  of  the  particular 
express  company  affected, .  Should,  however,  this 
happen  to  be  the  American  Express  Company,  in 
this  case  T  shall  cheerfully  look  into  it  further  on 
being  advised  as  to  the  name  of  the  station,  which 
will  enable  me  to  gather  the  necessary  information 
to  answer  it  properly.  g.  c.  Taylor. 
American  Express  Co. 
It  is  at  the  best  a  somewhat  vexed  question.  Tn 
most  of  the  small  town.-  .cross  the  country  the  rail¬ 
road  agent  or  a  person  with  some  other  business 
connection  is  selected  to  act  as  agent  for  the  ex¬ 
press.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  is  not 
enough  express  business  in  the  average  town  of  this 
size  to  take  the  fire  time,  of  one  man  and  so  jus¬ 
tifying  ns  in  employing  exclusive  agents. 
In  the  case  of  a  railroad  agent,  he  not  only  takes 
care  of  all  the  freight  but  sells  tickets,  checks  and 
loads  baggage;  therefore  his  duties  are  numerous 
and  the  express  is  a  very  small  part  of  his  work. 
The  express  companies  have  no  jurisdiction  over  the 
office  hours,  either  working  days  or  holidays,  they 
expecting  that  their  business  will  lie  cared  for  in  the 
same  manner  and  during  the  same  hours  that  the 
railroad  freight  and  ticket  offices  are  cared  for. 
It  is  the  practice  of  Wells  Fargo  as  well  as  the 
other  express  ct unpaid  s  to  issue  postal  notices  to 
consignees  whenever  they  are  unable  to  make  de¬ 
livery  of  goods.  If  this  is  not  being  done  we  appre¬ 
ciate  our  attention  being  called  to  the  fact. 
I  have  no  doubt  but  that  every  commission  agent 
throughout  the  country  is  desirous  of  extending 
every  assistance  possible  to  liis  customers.  There 
may  be  times  when  lie  will  be  busy  with  other  mat¬ 
ters  and  a  person  will  call  upon  him  ill  an  express 
transaction  who  cannot  he  waited  upon  at  just  the 
moment.  This  also  would  be  the  probable  situation 
where  he  was  busy  waiting  on  an  express  customer 
and  some  one  would  call  upon  him  to  attend  to  a 
freight  or  ticket  transaction.  It  would  seem  in  all 
such  cases  as  if  the  general  public  would  recognize 
the  situation  and  be  patient  uutil  their  wants* could 
he  served.  As  a  matter  of  fact  that  is  the  situation 
in  all  business  .transactions.  In  our  own  personal 
dealings  we  find  that  when  we  enter  a  store  to  pur¬ 
chase  we  are  frequently  forced  to  wait  until  the 
clerk  is  free  to  serve  us,  and  that  obtains  about 
everywhere. 
The  Wells  Fargo  division  superintendent  in  charge 
of  any  one  of  our  offices,  large  or  small,  is  always 
glad  to  look  into  any  complaint  lodged  against  Wells 
Fargo  in  his  territory.  lie  realizes,  as  you  and  I 
realize,  that  even  railroad  and  express  agents  are 
human.  And  we  are  all  anxious  to  make  them  not 
merely  human  iu  a  generous  and  gentle  sense,  but 
also  in  a  most  agreeable  one.  In  Wells  Fargo  we 
are  using  every  effort  toward  that  end. 
EDWARD  HUSTGEBFORD. 
Wells  Fargo  &  Co.  Advertising  Manager. 
Dwarf  Yellow  Transparent  After  Thinning  Fig.  516 
Dwarf  Yellow  Transparent  Before  Thinning.  Fig.  514 
