1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
521 
MARKET BRIEFS. 
Picked Up Here and There. 
MUSKMELONS.-It is said that some of 
the Colorado Rocky Ford stock will reach 
here about August 1, though dealers have 
been offering what they called Rocky Ford 
for two weeks. The prime southern musk- 
melons are bringing good prices, but the 
market is loaded down with inferior stuff 
which has to be sold for whatever buyers 
see fit to offer. 
CURRANTS are very plentiful, and sell 
slowly at low prices, from two to three 
cents per quart wholesale. Even at these 
prices people pass them by and take in¬ 
ferior raspberries or blackberries. Any¬ 
one having a large quantity of currants to 
ship to this market would do well to make 
definite arrangements for their disposal be¬ 
fore sending them. Otherwise they are 
apt to lie around for some time and finally 
go to the canners at a small figure. 
THE BARTLETT PEAR is an old stand¬ 
by which is hard to beat. Large speci¬ 
mens of excellent quality come from Cali¬ 
fornia. Those pears and plums which are 
best when picked green and ripened off the 
trees, have a great advantage over other 
fruits as shippers. Nearly all of these 
pears are sold at the fruit stands. One 
cent buys the smallest size, the others go 
at two or three for five cents, and the ex¬ 
tra large ones three for 10 cents. 
RISE IN COTTON.—On the strength of 
adverse crop reports from New Orleans, 
the market developed a nervous tone, and 
July 18 showed a net gain of 36 points for 
July and August delivery. Current prices 
are 10 cents for middling uplands, and 10% 
for middling gulf. Many dealers are skep¬ 
tical about these crop reports, and there 
is no doubt that in many cases these 
things are dootored so as to affect the mar¬ 
ket one way or another. The Texas crop 
is said to be in good condition, with a pos¬ 
sibility of 4,000,000 bales. 
LIVE POULTRY.—There has been a 
heavy loss in the shipments received re¬ 
cently on account of the extremely hot 
weather. One car from the South was 
said to have 1,000 dead fowls in it, and 
those that were left alive were in miser¬ 
able condition, as might be expected. A 
box car with the sun beating down upon 
it gets almost as hot as an oven, and the 
wonder is that the fowls were not roasted, 
instead of being merely suffocated. It 
seems a little rough that any living things, 
just because they are chickens and can’t 
help themselves, should be cooped up and 
tortured to death in this way. 
HOOP POLES.—Inquiry has been made 
as to the market for these. Formerly 
every village had its cooper’s shop, and 
cutting hoop poles was quite a business for 
farmers in Winter. Most of the barrels 
are now made in large factories, and im¬ 
proved machinery has largely driven the 
small coopers out of business. In many 
localities timber suitable for these half- 
round hoops has become so scarce that 
manufacturers were obliged to look for 
some substitute, and iron or flat wood 
hoops are used instead. There is some de¬ 
mand for hickory and White-oak hoop poles 
in this city. Lengths from 6^ to 14 feet 
are suitable, and prices for the last year 
ranged from one to five cents according to 
length and quality. The most extensive 
dealer here at present is E. D. Colwell, 
414 Greenwich Street, New York. 
TRADE WITH CHINA is almost at a 
standstill on account of the difficulties in 
the government there at present. The 
cotton-goods industry here is most affect¬ 
ed. Mills, particularly in Maine and South 
Carolina, which have been shipping most 
of their output to Shanghai and other 
Chinese ports, will have to shut down or 
change to some other line of goods until 
the kinks in oriental political affairs get 
straightened out. Even at the distributing 
ports of China which are not in the dis¬ 
ordered districts, the storage warehouses 
are so full that instructions have been sent 
to hold back all shipments. This makes 
considerable embarrassment for both ship¬ 
pers and receivers who have long-time con¬ 
tracts. The former find themselves with 
a lot of goods on hand which must be held 
at a loss, unless the receivers are willing 
to help pay the interest on the money thus 
tied up. 
A BUG KILLER.—The electric arc light 
is destructive to moths, mosquitoes and all 
sorts of bugs that fly around during warm 
nights. The light attracts them. Into it 
they go, and are burned to death, or singe 
their wings so that they have to crawl. 
On the ground under one of these lights, 
early in the evening, I counted 250 dead or 
singed insects, and there were still more 
than this which had not yet fallen out of 
the globe. It may be no exaggeration to 
say that each light makes way with 1,000 
insects during a hot Summer night. Of 
course, this would be true only in towns 
near rivers or swamps, though even on 
high ground some moths would find their 
way to the light. It is something of a sat¬ 
isfaction to one who has spent a night in 
New Jersey or on Long Island in mos¬ 
quito time, which in some sections is near¬ 
ly all the time, to see 500 of these sleep- 
killers studying electricity, and know that 
at least some of them will pursue their in¬ 
vestigations to a fatal termination. 
A RUSH OF PEACHES.—About 80 cars 
arrived the first two days of this week. 
The bulk might do very well for pickling 
or canning, but to eat out of hand they are 
a failure, and people who buy them for this 
purpose are disgusted. As has often been 
said in this column, it is a mistake, work¬ 
ing real harm to the trade, to misrepresent 
an article to the consumer. I saw some 
good-sized Eioertas, colored up in fair 
shape, but hard as bullets. They were all 
right for pickling, but the retailer recom¬ 
mended them as prime, just right for table 
use. Others were knotty or wormy, or had 
a little gum on one side, showing that 
some disease or other had been after them. 
Unlike a pear, a peach will not ripen prop¬ 
erly if picked too green, and would rot or 
shrivel without becoming fit to eat. No 
doubt it is difficult for those who are ship¬ 
ping a long distance to get just the right 
combination. If ripened too much, they get 
to market decayed and worthless, but it is 
quite evident that a peach which reaches 
the consumer as hard as a baseball could 
have been left on the tree safely a little 
longer. _ w. w. h. 
NEW ENGLAND HUCKLEBERRY CROP 
The picking Is mostly done by hand, or 
with huge scoops. The market is largely 
local and Boston. The fruit is put up in 
small boxes that hold 2V 2 quarts, and sold 
at from eight to 15 cents a box; 30 to 40 
quarts a day is good picking. The soil, 
where they seem to do best, is somewhat 
sandy, but the land has to be burned over 
every few years, or they will run out. We 
have some very rocky hills where they will 
come in after a fire, and if the season is not 
dry they grow finely. As a rule the land 
where they grow does not seem to be good 
for anything else. Last year we had a 
large crop, and the indications are that this 
year’s crop will be as good. h. l. p. 
East Eddington, Me. 
No huckleberries are grown here, but 
quite a quantity of blueberries are gath¬ 
ered from the old pastures and hillsides, 
and especially from land that has been 
burned over by forest fires. These berries 
are mostly sold by the pickers to local 
traders, and by them shipped to Portland 
and Boston. It is impossible for me to 
give you any idea as to the aggregate value 
of this crop, but it must be considerable, 
and is quite a help to the poorer class of 
people, who pick most of the berries. I 
am told by dealers who handle quite large 
quantities of blueberries that eight cents 
per quart for the season would be about 
the average that the pickers receive. In 
Washington and Hancock counties, this 
State, there are canning factories that 
make a specialty of canning blueberries. 
Standish, Me. c. s. p. 
The blueberry grows wild, and no attempt 
has been made to cultivate it. The bushes 
grow in pastures and wild land, acres and 
acres of them; the more stones and the 
rougher the ground the better they grow. 
They are picked by hand, and a good picker 
will pick from 29 quarts to a bushel in a 
day, and I know some smart ones who will 
double that amount. They are taken to 
Keene in pails, baskets and boxes, only be 
sure they are fresh and not smashed. We 
get 10 cents for the first and six for the last. 
They are sold to the stores and some ped¬ 
dle from house to house. The merchants 
send them to Boston in one-quart round 
wooden boxes, with covers. The best fields 
of blueberries grow on hillsides, but there 
is no difference from those that grow in 
low lands; the bushes are as nice and the 
berries also. The bushes grow from two 
feet to six feet high. f. l. f. 
E. Sullivan, N. H. 
Our local markets are supplied by berries 
brought from the Flat Rock region back of 
Plattsburg, N. Y., where there are hun¬ 
dreds of acres covered with bushes. Fami¬ 
lies go there and camp out for the picking 
season, and the berries are bought by ped¬ 
dlers, who carry them through the country 
in dry-goods boxes, shoe boxes, or any old 
thing. Ten cents per quart is the usual 
retail price, and the pickers get from three 
to five cents. Sometimes a rake is used 
for picking. This is a dipper-shaped im¬ 
plement with teeth around the edge by 
which the berries are raked off, dropping 
into the bowl. This, of course, takes off 
some green berries and leaves, and smashes 
some that are overripe, and the result is 
not so nice, but the process is much more 
rapid. The fruit carries well and wagon¬ 
loads may be seen in Vermont 50 miles from 
where it is gathered. I do not know of 
any attempt at cultivation. There is a 
tradition that the bush cannot be trans¬ 
planted. This, of course, only means that 
it is difficult to transplant. There are 
many wild things, like ginseng or Trailing 
arbutus, that require care and skill to 
tame. I do not doubt but that it might be 
improved d y selection and cultivation. 
Plants growing side by side show a con¬ 
siderable difference in size, color and shape 
of fruit. Here is work for an experiment 
station. While the natural habitat of the 
berry seems to be the gravels and light 
soils of the mountains and poor hills, I 
have yet seen bushes thriving well and 
bearing profusely in the hard clay pastures 
of the Champlain Valley. e. g. h. 
Beldens, Vt. 
LONG ISLAND POTATOES. 
The potato crop promises at present to 
be good except on light land. I should 
say it promises about the same as last sea¬ 
son at this time, and if we have no blight 
and rot would come into market about as 
last season. I think in my section here 
there are 10 acres of Carman No. 1 against 
one of all other kinds. j. r. f. 
Water Mill. 
In the vicinity of Flatbush, which is a 
potato-growing section, they calculate 
about 200 bushels to the acre; 300 bushels 
is a good crop here. Once in a while there 
is one that beats it. In my neighborhood 
they are digging from 150 to 175 bushels per 
acre; some less. As to varieties, in my 
section, the soil is light, and they try every 
kind that grows. I think the Green Moun¬ 
tain and Maine Rose are mostly planted. 
I do not think that on the whole Island the 
crop will vary much from last year. While 
it will be heavier on the west end, it will be 
lighter on the east. The potatoes will not 
come into the market as early as last year. 
Potatoes this year are very deceiving. I 
have as fine a lot of vines as anyone may 
wish to see, but the potatoes are not there. 
I got the seed for Maine Rose; they ap¬ 
pear to be badly mixed. t. t. h. 
St. Albans. 
James W. Cain plants 50 acres. He says 
that the varieties that give the best satis¬ 
faction are New Early Queen, Rural New- 
Yorker and Green Mountain, also Empire 
State. Swamp Queen a failure, and the 
vines are dried up at this date. Robert E. 
Forbel plants 50 acres; State, Maine and 
Michigan, swamp New Queen. All of them 
are blighted more or less. The crop may 
be a little better than last year. I. M. 
Van Dyke plants 55 acres; Maine Rose and 
Hebrons and Michigan Heorons give the 
best satisfaction. No blight. The crop 
may be a little later this season, but the 
potatoes may grow for two weeks yet. He 
is getting them out now, as he uses the 
same ground for corn and white turnips; 
the last load brought $1.25 per barrel. 
James Stewart planted about 40 barrels. 
He hires 40 acres of land from me. New 
Queen, Maine Hebron and Green Mountain 
are the best; he says there is a prospect of 
a better crop this year. I only plant about 
five acres; Maine Early Rose and Maine 
Hebron. The crop will be much better 
than last year. a. b. 
Bayside, _ 
CONNECTICUT FARM HANDS. 
Good farm hands get $20 a month; work 
10 hours a day. Day hands get $1 a day; 
work 10 hours. Good help is hard to get-, 
not many that work out. We do what we 
can ourselves and let the rest of the work 
go. In this place the farms are owned by 
men who grow up and have lived on them 
all of their lives. r. 
Westminster. 
Fair to good farm hands charge $20 per 
month and board. I think there is no 
change in price from former years. The 
supply of good help is scarce. There are 
a good many Swedes and Poles hired. 
Those now here are sending for their 
friends, so the supply is kept up. A green 
hand gets from $8 to $12 per month, but they 
soon learn our ways, and earn more. Most 
of them prove to be good help. They 
claim all of the holidays that are legal. 
Washington, Conn. J. b. h. 
About the average price paid farm hands 
is $20 per month and board for six months, 
and $15 per month and board for Winter. 
Good men always command good wages. 
It is growing more difficult as the years 
roll on to hire good men, as they are work¬ 
ing for themselves where they can possibly 
do so. As to nationality, the Poles and 
Swedes and Irish are the most numerous 
in this section. This vicinity is a tobacco¬ 
growing section, and, I presume, better 
wages are paid than in other sections of the 
State, where the weed is not grown. The 
usual hours of work are 10. They can 
claim all legal holidays, and usually do. 
What labor we hire is by the day and the 
parties board themselves, we paying them 
15 cents per hour through the vear. They 
lose some time in very bad weather, though 
not a great deal. J. P. J. 
So. Windsor, Conn. 
Massachusetts Strawberry Notes.— 
Last Summer I planted about 200 plants 
of Glen Mary, Parker Earle, Carrie, Mar¬ 
garet, Wm. Belt, Nick Ohmer, Marshall, 
Michigan Star, Ridgeway and Mary. I al¬ 
ready had Gandy and Chas. Downing. I 
used potted plants, with the view of test¬ 
ing the varieties in fruit this year. The 
Fall was so dry, however, that poor 
growth was made, and I am not satisfied 
that my test has been of any value. For 
instance, I note you recommend Carrie in 
current issue of The R. N.-Y. With me 
it was very unsatisfactory. It set an 
abundance of fruit, but foliage was small 
and the fruit cooked in the hot sun. 
Quality was voted ver> poor, sour and 
small. Nick Ohmer behaved badly, noth¬ 
ing but nubbins; I suspect it needs high 
culture. Of all the newer varieties Wm. 
Belt was most liked by persons who tested 
the various kinds. It produced more large 
fruit than any other three times over. But 
by far the best berry I have is the Gandy. 
On my heavy, retentive soil it is at its 
best. If we had had a favorable season 
I think many of my plants (two years old) 
would have picked two quarts. g. l. c. 
The Pen in the 
Hand is worth 
two in the 
Mind* 
If you have ‘ ‘ a good mind to 
write to Dr. Pierce ’ ’ take pen in 
hand and begin. Then you’ll 
avoid the experience of Mrs. M. P. 
Davis, of Honaker, Russell Co., 
Va. She writes: 
“For seven years I was confined to 
bed most of the time. I had ulceration 
of internal organs and female weakness. 
I had four doctors and they said I could 
not be cured.After the doctors said 
I could not be cured I wrote to Doctor 
Pierce for advice.I followed the 
advice he gave.I feel better than I 
ever did. My friends say I do not look 
like the same woman. Iam sorry I did 
not take Dr. Pierce's medicine when / 
first began to have poor health. I could 
have saved what I paid to humbugs.” 
No one ever regretted writing to 
Dr. Pierce for advice. Many have 
regretted not writing sooner. 
Sick women are invited to con¬ 
sult Dr. Pierce by letter, free , and 
so obtain the opinion and advice of 
a specialist in diseases peculiar to 
women. All correspondence pri¬ 
vate. Address Dr. R. V. Pierce, 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
Dr. Pierce’s Medical Adviser, 
1008 pages, is sent free on receipt of 
stamps to defray expense of mail¬ 
ing only. Send 21 one-cent stamps 
for paper covers, or 31 stamps for 
cloth. Address as above. 
FHSW 
HasMore 
than 
Ordinary 
Power 
THE CURES THAT 
Veterinary Pixine 
produces is a revolution. No man can own and 
work horses and try this pure scientific, antisep¬ 
tic, penetrating, healing ointment and ever be 
without it thereafter. 
“On a large inflamed and obstinate 
swelling sore we never saw its 
equal.” Middletown Ice Company, 
Middletown, N. Y. 
“ Cured spreading collar sore after 
everything else failed.”—H. Duncan, 
Baker and Caterer, Newburgh, N. Y. 
It is absolutely guaranteed to cure chronic 
scratches and sores without scab or scar. 
Money returned if it fails. 
PRTCir J 2-oz. box, 
PRICE j H . lb boX( 
25c. 
50c. 
TROY CHEMICAL CO., 
TROY, N. Y. 
QUICK CORN CUTTING 
which saves the crop at its best, saves it from 
the frost, saves all the ears, saves time, 
saves labor and hence saves money. 
THE SCIENTIFIC 
CORN HARVESTER 
does all these things. Cuts any desired height. 
Safety shafts protect horse. Safety seats pro¬ 
tect then. So low in price every farmer can af¬ 
ford to own one. Send for free catalogue, R 
THE FOOS MANFG. CO., Springfield. Ohio. 
