1098 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 9, 1922 
HOPE FARM NOTESj 
A Night on the Market 
Part I. 
“Our bugles sang truce—for the night 
cloud had lowered 
And the sentinel stars set their watch in 
the sky.” 
These lines from “The Soldier’s 
Dream” ran through my mind when at 
midnight Thomas and 1 started our long 
watch. The "bugles" were mostly tin 
horns and raw throats which had been 
roaring all the through the day and just, 
now were silent. The night cloud had 
come down upon us thick and dark and 
damp, with more than a promise of rain. 
The “sentinel stars" were no doubt in 
their places, but no one could see them 
from our encampment. A few rather 
faint lights flickered over us, but up on a 
high hill across the river a great blaze 
flashed out like some military signal. We 
were encamped on an island in Northern 
New Jersey. The rains bad swelled the 
liver waters until they swept around us 
like a full defense. A bridge on the east 
side made the only point where an attack 
by the enemy was possible. Pong lines of 
wagons and trucks were ranged around 
the island—drawn up in orderly form- 
much like l lie camps the Western 
pioneers used to make when, in crossing 
the plains, they halted for the night. 
The resemblance would have seemed strik¬ 
ing if some old hunter who years ago 
looked down at night upon one of these 
Western camps could have stood on the 
hills across the river and studied our 
guarded island that night. 
* * * * * 
The few rather dim lights revealed the 
lines of vehicles drawn Up as if for de¬ 
fense. Some of these wagons were cov¬ 
ered with canvas and resembled tents. 
They seemed loaded to overflowing with 
many-colored goods. Strange forms, with 
curious shadows, dwarfed or made gigan¬ 
tic as the lights played upon them, moved 
about among the loaded wagons. Men 
lay asleep in all conceivable situations. 
These were tired men who. after a long 
day’s work, were hero snatching a few 
hours of rest before the enemy appeared. 
They lay at the hack of a wagon, on 
boards placed underneath, or even di¬ 
rectly on the stones or hard ground. The 
soldier in Campbell’s poem tells of 
“Reposing at night on my pallet of 
rtraw 
By the wolf-scaring fagot that guarded 
the slain.” 
These men on our island had no “pallet 
of straw"-—only the soft side of a wagon 
box or a blanket on the ground. The 
“wolf-searing fagot” was a dim electric 
light which was something of an attrac¬ 
tion for the wolves which were even then 
gathering for attack. At one point a 
sleeping man stretched' nut his arms 
above his head into the shadow. A 
stranger with a flashlight peering about 
in the darkness sent a stream of light 
upon this sleeping figure and revealed 
those tired bauds dipping into a part of a 
wagouload which seemed like a pool of 
blood, line and there were groups of 
sleepless men who sat about in dark cor¬ 
ners talking iu low tones; and their con¬ 
versation referred to the coming strug¬ 
gle and the rather hopeless outcome of ir. 
They felt that the odds were against 
them, but there was a spirit of grim de¬ 
termination to fight it out to the end. 
And in the shadows near the bridge and 
along the outskirts of the crowd one 
could see vague forms of men, and here 
and there horses stealing through the 
darkness to reach the island and work in 
among that group of wagons. It was a 
weird, impressive scene—one long Mi he 
remembered, as Thomas and 1 started our 
last watch at midnight. On the plains 
the Indians usually made their attack 
just before sunrise—for then the white 
man’s eyes were sure to he heavy with 
sleep. “They will come at about two 
o’clock,” said Thomas, as lie rolled up in 
a blanket at the rear end •>)’ our truck. I 
selected the other end and curled up on 
the seat beside the wheel. As a sentinel 
1 proved anything hut a “star." for al¬ 
most before 1 knew it the beleaguered 
island seemed far away, and like the sol¬ 
dier : 
“At the dead of the night a sweet vision 
I saw.” 
I dreamed of selling tomatoes at $2 a 
basket, with $.’> a bushel for the fine Mc¬ 
Intosh apples which touched my back as 
I slept ! 
* * * * * 
But, to quote still further from our 
soldier: 
“Sorrow returned with the dawning of 
morn,” 
and the first I knew Thomas was pulling 
his battle equipment out from under the 
seat—and this equipment was a pair of 
brown overalls 1 
“Here they are!” said Thomas, and 
suddenly strong lights flashed out and 
illumined the island. The enemy came 
rushing in and out of the shadows, and 
the battle was on ! Thomas stood at his 
guns, though he well knew that the 
chances were five to one that he would 
ilose his scalp. The men who rushed upon 
us out of the shadows were not in war 
paint or uniform. They were mostly 
short, husky fellows, with hard faces, 
bright eyes and waving hands, and the 
great majority of them seemed to have 
names ending iu "sky" or “viteh.” Close 
beside us was a white-haired man who 
defended a one-horse wagon from this at¬ 
tack. lie was an old hand at this form 
of fighting. When he started I have no 
doubt that the great majority of these 
combatants would have a “van" attached 
to their names. Then they disappeared 
or “went up higher." and the Finnegans 
came iu. to be followed by the Caliheros 
and Antonios, while now the “skys" and 
"vitches” have taken their places. For 
all this was a war of trade—a fierce bat¬ 
tle for the crops grown on our North Jer¬ 
sey farms. The battleground was the 
well-known island market in Paterson. 
We were part of the army of farmers 
who bring their produce here to trade 
with the hucksters and buyers. I have 
spoken of it as a battleground because 
that is just about what it turns out to he 
every night. The buyers are there to got 
the goods for the least possible money, 
and the Jersey farmers need every cent 
thev can get in order to pay their taxes 
and their bills. Great nations have been 
driven into war for smaller issues than 
those which decide these nightly conflicts 
between farmers and middlemen. Of 
course if a farmer came with hay or po¬ 
tatoes or grain or livechickens or any 
other product which will keep over, he 
need not sell unless he is satisfied with 
the price, No one wants to cart the stuff 
baek home, but it can he done if need 
he. When, however, you go to this mar¬ 
ket with tomatoes or corn or other per¬ 
ishable goods, you must sell for wlmt you 
can get. If demand is greater than sup¬ 
ply you get your price; if simply exceeds 
demand the other fellow decides the prioe 
for you. You get his scalp or he gets 
yours! You might, he willing to leave 
the hair on both heads, hut. under the sav¬ 
age rules of trade between middlemen and 
producers there can he nothing hilt (nice 
war, fierce and fixed. 
We had brought a load of tomatoes 
and apples. The tomatoes were packed 
in peach baskets; the apples in bushel 
hampers. There were some high-class 
McIntosh, a few “drops” of that variety, 
and a few Wolf Rivers. As 1 suppose 
you know, when McIntosh or Wealthy 
"drop" and lie on the ground a few days 
they go oil' rapidly. T’ncier such condi¬ 
tions they spoil quicker than any other 
varieties T know of. Our tomatoes were 
large and fine—as good as any I could 
find in the market. We put samples of 
our wares on the walk in front of the 
track and then waited for customers. 
The night was still dark and threatening, 
hut the rain field hack. It was one of 
those sad nights when '‘demand" took a 
hack seat and did nothing hut make fun 
of supply whenever she appeared on the 
stage. The market was flooded with pro¬ 
duce. When the lights were turned on 
one could see great streaks and patches of 
tomatoes. What had seemed like blood¬ 
stained patches on the ground before the 
lights were turned on were now revealed 
as groups of packed tomatoes—basket 
after basket—covering the wagons mid 
stretching over the ground. Apples, too, 
were everywhere—mostly Wealthy, ap¬ 
parently—for that variety has been plant¬ 
ed heavily in our section. Every advan¬ 
tage was with the buyers, and we soon 
became aware of it. A man and woman 
were first, to stop and look over our goods. 
They looked like proprietors of a little 
store or of some cheap hoarding house. 
"IIow much tomatoes?” said the sharp- 
eyed man, while rhe woman fixed a burn¬ 
ing eye on me. 
“Thirty-five cents," said Thomas. He 
named the highest, price any of us thought 
uf asking that night. You would have 
thought the man had been desperately 
insulted. He raised his shoulders, spread 
out his hand and turned to the woman as 
if afraid to trust himself to speak to 
anyone except this confidant. 
“(’an you heat such nerve as that?" he 
seemed to say. 
The woman, like most of her sex, was 
disposed to investigate. She dug far 
down into the tomatoes to see if they 
were too soft or too small. They stood 
1 hg test., for they were well packed. 
“I give you 15 cents!" she finally an¬ 
nounced. Thomas shook his head at this 
insult, and the couple moved on to an¬ 
other wagon. I saw them soon after, 
carrying baskets of tomatoes out to their 
wagon, ami I presume some weak-willed 
farmer was as frightened at the great 
display of tomatoes as some folks are at 
the sight of blood—and so gave way to 
the enemy. 
$ $ $ * $ 
Next came a man after apples—a lit¬ 
tle rat-faced man with a pair of great 
spectacles on his nose. Thomas said he 
was a successful peddler. He had his eye 
on a basket of those fine McIntosh. lie 
fumbled them over and dug down into 
them and then said, as if he was con¬ 
ferring a great favor: 
"I gif you 75 cents!” 
It seems to me that men have been 
knocked down and trampled into the dust 
for slighter insults than that. We once 
had on the farm a Boston terrier dog 
named Punch, lie won first prize as a 
toy dog at the great Madison Square Gar¬ 
den show, yet one day a colored man 
walked into (lie yard, looked Punch over 
carefully and finally said: 
“That’s a fair French tarrior. I’ll give 
you 50 cents for him !" 
And this man, with “sky" at. the end 
of his name, offered 75 cents for a bushel 
of beautiful McIntosh, as fragrant as a 
rose and as tasty as a glass of wine! 
Why, two years ago we sold some apples 
much like these at $9 a barrel right on 
this market and then to have this rat¬ 
faced man imw this beautiful fruit with 
his dirty hands and offer 75 cents! 
Thomas knew his business better than 1 
did. He merely shook his head and loaded 
another charge into his pipe. Do you 
know that. T come close to envying some 
of those smokers at such times! When 
they can blow tobacco smoke at such a 
wretch it must give them some of the 
satisfaction to he obtained by firing a gun 
at him. Such slaughter was too much for 
me, and I walked away, leaving that rat¬ 
faced man still pawing bacteria into those 
apples. All over the market the same 
battle was going on. There was so much 
produce that the buyers had nil the ad¬ 
vantage. They were organized through 
long habit and business instinct. They 
might light each other over some trivial 
business misunderstanding, hut they knew 
how to combine against the unorganized 
farmers. When I saw the great volume 
September, 1922 
Dormant Spraying Scene 
This is the first of a senes of advertise¬ 
ments on the making of better orchards ; 
the second, discussing Scale control, wilt 
appear next month. JVatch for it! 
r 
The Advantages of Fall Spraying 
The best time to apply the dormant spray de- 
pends upon the pest you seek to control. For 
instance, fall spraying with Scalecide controls 
pear psylla or peach leaf curl but is inefficient at 
that time for aphis; while spraying in the spring 
—just as the buds show green —controls aphis, 
but is too late for pear psylla or leaf curl. On 
the other hand, either fall or spring spraying 
with Scalecide controls scale, blight cankers, 
etc., and shows a marked invigorating effect up' 
on the trees. Read our guarantee printed below. 
In addition to the control of pear psylla and leaf 
curl, fall spraying protects the trees against the 
debilitating effect of scale feeding on the tree 
throughout the winter. The late Prof. John B. 
Smith of New Jersey said that“abadly infested tree 
which has maintained a good showing through- 
out the season often finds itself unable to start 
again in the spring and then the fruit grower is 
likely to blame the insecticide for the condition”. 
Obviously, the quicker scale-infested trees are 
cleaned up in the fall with Scalecide, the 
better off they will he. If you have a bad attack 
of both scale and aphis, a fall and spring applica¬ 
tion of Scalecide should be given. But 
whether you spray fall or spring, when you have 
sprayed your trees with Scalecide you have 
done all that can be done at that particular time 
by any dormant spray or combination of sprays. 
Spray with Scalecide in the fall for pear psylla 
and peach leaf curl.' Make a spring application 
for aphis, pear thrips, leaf miner, case-bearer and 
leaf roller. Make either fall or spring applica¬ 
tion for scale, bud moth, European red mite, 
fungous or blight cankers from which is spread 
fire blight, collar rot and root rot. Use Scalecide! 
LITE GUARANTEE that, if you will divide an orchard, your worst or best, in 
' two parts equal in general condition, and for three years spray one part •with 
SCALECIDE according to our directions and the other part with lime-sulphur, giving 
the same summer treatment to both parts, lire part sprayed with SCALECIDE w ill 
bebetterthan the part sprayed with lime-sulphur —in the judgment of three disinterest¬ 
ed fruit growers—or we will refund the money you hare paidfor the SCALECIDE. 
If your dealer doesn’t carry SCALECIDE, show him this advertisement — or order direct from us. 
In any event, write today for the new booklet, “Why SCALECIDE”. We will send you also "Spray¬ 
ing the Home Garden ", which is considered one of the most helpful treatises extant on the control 
of insects and diseases that attack trees, shrubs, vines, flowers and vegetables. Address Dep’t lb- 
B. G. PRATT CO. 
50 Church Street 
NEW YORK CITY 
THE COMPLETE DORMANT SPRAY 1 
B.G.PraU 
Co. 
