Vol. LIX. No. 2613. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 24, 1900. 
$1 PER YEAR. 
ENGLISH MARKETS FOR AMERICAN FOODS. 
JOHN BULL HAS DECIDED TASTES. 
How He Wants Apples, Butter and Eggs. 
CANADA OUR COMPETITOR.—A. S. Baker, Don- 
ington House, Norfolk St., London, greatly pleased 
the members of the Eastern New York Horticultural 
Society in a brief talk on the London market. He 
said that the United States orchardists had the best 
soil, the finest climate, and the best brains in the 
world, and that thgy received the poorest price of 
anybody in the world for their apples in the English 
market. This he thought was due to causes which 
could be easily corrected. The English apple market 
is supplied by the United States, Canada and Tas¬ 
mania. The Tasmanian apples, however, come at a 
time when the market is practically free from apples 
from this side, so that the real competitor of the 
United States is Canada. The Tasmanian apples are 
shipped nearly 14,000 miles, through the hot climate 
of the equatorial region, and reach London rather 
dried up. Their flavor is not as good as the Amer¬ 
ican apples. Yet they sell for better prices in the 
London market than the American apples. The Tas¬ 
manian apples are not barreled, but put in boxes 22 
inches long by 11 y 2 inches wide, and 
1014 inches high, outside measure¬ 
ment. They are carefully inspected 
and labeled, and sell on the strength 
of the label in the London market 
without inspection. 
ARGUMENTS FOR APPLES.—The 
trouble with American apples, he 
thinks, is that they are shipped in bar¬ 
rels of three different sizes, and the 
honest farmer has a way of putting a 
layer of nice apples at both ends, and 
filling up the middle with culls, cider 
apples or “any old thing,” as he put it, 
and feels disappointed that he doesn’t 
receive returns for the quality at the 
ends of the barrel. Mr. Baker says that 
no one buys American apples in the 
L/ondon market except on examina¬ 
tion. The apples are dumped out on 
the floor, and the poorer quality being 
in greater abundance, the price is made 
on this quality. The good apples in 
such packages don’t count. He says 
that it is a waste of the good apples to 
mix them with the poor ones. They 
always sell at the price of the poor 
ones, and would sell for just the same if there were no 
good ones mixed with them. He says that the Eng¬ 
lishman has a great respect for associations, and 
while he believes that the individual might pack his 
apples and label them, and receive in time recog¬ 
nition, the stamp of a society or board of trade would 
be quicker and more generally recognized, and carry 
more weight. Two grades, firsts and seconds, are all 
that should be shipped. During the year 1899 the 
London market consumed nearly 40,000 barrels of 
American apples, at prices ranging from $3.25 to $3.75 
a barrel. He thinks this is a market that is worth 
studying, and lays great stress on the value of ship¬ 
ping in boxes in preference to barrels, as well as the 
care in marketing and shipping reliable grades. The 
boxes, he says are better fitted for transportation 
than the barrels, and Baldwin apples especially 
heat in the middle of the barrels, and, conse¬ 
quently, reach the London market in bad con¬ 
dition. In the boxes he recommends putting a 
sheet of paper between each layer of apples. 
The London market likes the Baldwin, Ben 
Davis, Newtown Pippin, Northern Spy, Greening, 
Russet, and Jonathan. The Jonathan is growing in 
favor. It is noticeable that Mr. Baker mentioned the 
Ben DaVis as second in favor. In a private conversa¬ 
tion after the meeting, Mr. Baker told the writer that 
he believed in i.ve years the railroads of this country 
would be putting up cold storage plants at each ship¬ 
ping station. This, he says, would be a comparatively 
small expense compared witn the gain, as apples only 
require a temperature of from 25 to 32 degrees, and 
the railroad ihat first adopts this plan will, he thinks, 
have the lead in trade for years to come. 
BUTTER AND EGGS.—He also spoke of the Eng¬ 
lish butter market. The Australian butter comes 
under a stamp of the Sydney Board of Trade. It 
comes in a package nearly a cube, being 12 inches 
square at the top, 11 inches square at the bottom, and 
12 inches deep. This tapering on the bottom is done 
so that the butter will turn out of the package easily. 
A package of this size weighs just 56 pounds. It 
sells on the English market at the present time for 
112 shillings per hundredweight, which in England is 
112 pounds. The same quality of American butter of 
highest grade sells for 95 shillings per hundredweight. 
The American butter that sells at this price is in 
every way equal to one Australian butter, which sells 
for 17 shillings per hundredweight more money. Aus¬ 
tralian butter comes in standard packages at standard 
quality, while there are 20 grades of the American 
product. Australian butter is subject to government 
inspection. Only one quality is shipped. Without 
this brand an Englishman will not buy the Australian 
butter. Without the brand he would call it a counter¬ 
feit. 
Mr. Baker makes something of the same criticism 
of our shipment of eggs. He says that the English¬ 
man requires a light-colored egg. We send them all 
colors, and the result is that while French eggs are 
selling in the London market for 34 cents a dozen, 
American eggs are bringing 22 cents. He also thinks 
that London would afford a nice market for peaches. 
At the present time the Crawford peach from Canada 
is the only thing they are receiving. He would di¬ 
rect that peaches be packed in strawberry boxes—one 
layer in a basket, and of course only the finest quality 
shipped. He says they sell for two shillings each. 
The Arkansas Fruit Grower says that there are or¬ 
chards in that State which produce 300 bushels of good 
apples per acre, and thousands of apple trees yielding 40 
bushels per tree. If the fruit is marketed properly, this 
is more profitable than cotton farming. It also remarks 
that if some women could trade their husbands for a good 
apple tree, they would be better off. 
STRAWBERRIES WITHOUT STABLE MANURE 
A MARYLAND FERTILIZER FARM. 
Feeding for Vine and for Fruit. 
FERTILIZER ONLY.—The most remarkable straw¬ 
berry culture of which we have record is that con¬ 
ducted by J. A. Davis, of Goldsboro, Md. It is all the 
more remarkable from the fact that Mr. Davis’s ex¬ 
perience upsets many of the old theories formerly 
held regarding strawberry culture. Mr. Davis has 
over 50 acres in strawberries, and fertilizers only are 
used for feeding them. No stable manure is used ex¬ 
cept the comparatively small amount made on the 
farm by the working stock. As is well known, many 
strawberry growers insist that the fruit cannot be 
produced successfully without large quantities of 
stable manure. Mr. Davis has been uniformly suc¬ 
cessful during a long series of years through this fer¬ 
tilizer feeding, while many growers somewhat simi¬ 
larly located, but operating differently, have lost 
money. 
GROWING BODY OR BERRY—Mr. Davis’s straw¬ 
berry land is lower and heavier than much of the 
soil on the peninsula. Bart of it consists of low 
swampy places wmch nave been cleared and drained. 
A good deal of this soil is well adapted 
to the habits of the Gandy straw¬ 
berry, which, like Parker Earle, as 
most growers know, is not a variety 
for the lightest soil. Mr. Davis doe3 
not grow his own plants, and he wants 
them grown on the lighter open soil, 
because in such situations the roots 
make a stronger and longer growth. 
The plant grown in this light soil, and 
then transplanted to the heavier soil, 
and well fed with a well-balanced fer¬ 
tilizer, will hold an abundance of fine 
fruit. The large growers will under¬ 
stand that the production of the plant 
is Quite a different matter from the 
business of making that plant produce 
a crop of firm, well-flavored berries. 
W. F. Allen, Jr., of Salisbury, Md., is 
the largest plant grower in the world. 
His soil is very light and open. He 
would, if necessary, use stable manure 
to produce a large plant, but when 
that plant is put out for a fruit crop, 
he uses the fruit and vine fertilizer, 
because that is better adapted to fruit 
production. Sometimes these plants 
produced by stable manure are left over for fruiting. 
They would not produce a first-class crop of fruit 
with additional stable manure, but if fed the well- 
balanced fertilizer they will yield bountifully, and 
produce firm and well-flavored berries. The dairy¬ 
man understands this fact. In feeding the heifer and 
the cow he will feed oats to the young calf and heifer 
in order to obtain a large frame and a quick growth, 
but the oats are not economical for the production of 
milk. When that heifer is ready for her business in 
life—milk-making—she is fed a well-balanced mix¬ 
ture of various grains. This peculiar feature in 
strawberry growing must be well understood. 
Mr. Davis is so situated that he cannot obtain stable 
manure at a profit. He is too far away from the rail¬ 
road, arid the cost of hauling is too great. He buys 
wheat straw for mulching, but the plants are fed 
entirely upon high-grade fertilizers. He uses at least 
a ton to the acre, part broadcast and the rest along 
the row or drill. The strawberry crop differs from 
most others in the fact that such men as Mr. Davis 
take the plants already grown, set them out and feed 
them for a fruit crop, just about as a stock farmer 
would feed a bunch of steers or sheep which he has 
A HARD-WORKING OLD BUTTER COW. Fie. 38. See Page 129. 
