1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
489 
$10, $7, $5, S3, $(. 
Why I Take The Rural New-Yorker. 
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but a serious and fair review of the merits and demerits of the paper, 
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A picture of yourself or some member of your family, or of some 
feature of your home or farm work would add value to your letter. 
All letters must be in our hands by July 15, 1902. Subscribers only 
will be permitted to compete. Names of successful competitors 
will be published. Address all letters to 
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT, 
The Rural New-Yorker, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
MARKET NOTES 
SELLING ON TIME.—A reader asks: 
"Do New York produce commission men 
sell consignments on time, and, if so, 
about what would be the term of credit? 
If a consignment was sold on 30 days’ 
time, when would the shipper expect his 
returns? Would the consignor have to 
wait until the commission man received 
his pay from the buyer?” Most sales, ex¬ 
cept of very small lots or to transient buy¬ 
ers, are made on time, 10 days, 30 days, or 
whatever the arrangement may be. This 
does not affect the shipper of the goods, as 
the commission man makes his returns 
usually the same week, and often the same 
day. taking all risk of getting his pay 
from the buyer. Of course this refers to 
the better class of commission houses, 
which have a fair working capital and do 
a square business, and not to the shaky 
class which never pay promptly except as 
a bait for larger shipments. 
CAPITAL REQUIRED.—To do much 
business on the plan of paying cash and 
selling on time, a large working capital is 
required. Some commission merchants tell 
us that they have at times as much as 
$10,000 in debts on their books. Part of 
this is good, part good but awfully slow, 
and part dead loss. About $150,000 would 
be needed to carry on a business of this 
type with any sort of comfort, for many 
of the best customers are men who de¬ 
mand extended credit, and it will not do 
to crowd them unduly. There are numer¬ 
ous houses in this line working on $10,000 
to $25,000 capital, but they are considerably 
hampered on both sides of the business, as 
they have to pay shippers promptly in or¬ 
der to get goods, and to do this must keep 
up a continual pounding at their creditors. 
Some with limited capital do not try to do 
anything more than a hand-to-mouth busi¬ 
ness, and it is probable that they make 
about as much and certainly get along 
with less worriment than those who try to 
carry around more than they can handle. 
COMMISSION CHARGES.—The rate 
charged for handling perishables is 10 per 
cent, and five per cent for other goods. It 
may seem that 10 per cent is an extrava¬ 
gant price, but if the stuff is quickly dis¬ 
posed of at a fair price and honest returns 
made, it is doubtful whether the shipper 
has cause to complain. There are a good 
many who are willing to sell for five per 
cent. Some of these are honest and will¬ 
ing to do business on a very small margin, 
and others, while apparently charging only 
five per cent, are really getting 15 or over, 
manipulating the returns in such a way as 
to gobble up five or 10 cents per package 
extra without being detected. What can 
the shipper do? The commission man can 
bluff off his complaints, assuring him that 
the stuff was never good enough to bring 
the price quoted in market reports, or that 
it was damaged when opened, stating with 
the air of a martyr that he made as good 
a sale as possible and charged only half as 
much as most commission men. A large 
dose of such palaver is usually effective 
in reducing the wrath of the shipper and 
extracting further produce from him. This 
game is worked right along both in large 
and small deals. 
FISHING FOR TRADE.—A commission 
man is not necessarily dishonest because 
he does not get the highest prices, or sells 
produce at five per cent or less. The first 
may be caused by inexperience or lack of 
sufficient help or other facilities for hand¬ 
ling goods to advantage, and he may sell 
for a small commission merely as a bait 
to catch trade. Competition is so sharp 
that houses without large capital or pat¬ 
ronage find it necessary to work all sorts 
of schemes to get business. A favorite 
trick is to keep drumming for a trial ship¬ 
ment from some producer who is sending 
stuff regularly to another man. Persuaded 
by such fair promises the farmer sends a 
crate or barrel to the new man, who makes 
returns at quite an advance over what he 
knows the other man is getting for stuff 
from the same shipper that day, paying 
the difference out. of his own pocket. This 
brings another shipment and finally the 
new man gets it all. Then all at once, 
when a heavy stock has been received, the 
market breaks, he pockets enough from 
the returns to make up for all previous 
concessions or more, and the shipper could 
prove nothing against him without a long 
and troublesome investigation. Such ac¬ 
tions have brought disgrace on the pro¬ 
duce commission business. The opportuni¬ 
ties for covering up dishonest dealings are 
greater than in almost any other busi¬ 
ness. Hence it would seem wise to stick 
to the selling agent who uses care and 
diligence in handling shipments, and makes 
fair returns, rather than jump at the offers 
of the man who makes a display of giving 
the shipper 10 cents, while at the same 
time he is stealing 25 cents from the re¬ 
turns. 
CUSTOMS RECEIPTS at New York for 
the year ending June 30, 1902, were $165,- 
500,126.06, more than $12,000,000 in advance 
of the previous year. There were 334,431 
entries, making an average charge of 
about $500 per entry. During the last five 
years there has been a yearly increase of 
between 25,000 and 40,000 entries of dutiable 
goods. 
FRESH FRUITS.—Peaches from Georgia 
are arriving freely and show a steady im¬ 
provement in quality. Wild Goose and Bo- 
tan plums are plentiful and rather dull. 
Strawberries are taking a back seat, al¬ 
though straggling shipments from western 
New York will continue for a week or two. 
There are many fine lots of Jersey red 
raspberries, which appear to have escaped 
damage from the recent heavy rains. Good 
cherries have been rather scarce, and sell 
well. We see but few early apples attrac¬ 
tive enough to tempt buyers. 
STREET SIGNS.—Strangers in New 
York have doubtless thought that street 
names must be scarce and high on account 
of the extreme economy with which they 
are used. Probably most of the streets 
were marked at some time, but many of 
the signs have disappeared entirely, and 
those that do remain are so dimmed with 
the wear and tear of ages that it is diffi¬ 
cult to read them. Two or three years ago 
the city official in charge of this matter 
hatched out the brilliant plan of turning 
the signs on the lamp-posts so that if one 
were going up Broadway he would see the 
name Broadway at all crossings Instead 
of that of the cross street as before. The 
result was that people were very much 
mixed up. Those who had not noticed the 
change would start to go up town and sud¬ 
denly find themselves near the East or 
North River. To make it still more con¬ 
fusing all the signs were not changed, so 
the traveler, unless he saw familiar land¬ 
marks, would not know where he was. 
This ridiculous state of affairs brought so 
much wrathful criticism to the depart¬ 
ment that the signs were changed to their 
original places, a process that still further 
aided in wearing them out. Arrangements 
have now been made for several thousand 
new signs, to be plainly visible day or 
night, so that visitors to the city will not 
have the annoyance of continually making 
inquiries to find out where they are. 
PIGS FOR ROASTING.—‘‘Is there a 
market for roasting pigs? If so, when and 
at what size? In the Spring small pigs 
find ready sale at good prices. The Fall 
litters are more difficult to dispose of.” 
H. N. B. 
During the holiday season, commencing 
with November and ending with January, 
there is a small sale for roasting pigs in 
this market, but we have never seen many 
on hand. The size is 15 to 18 inches long, 
and the weight 10 to 15 pounds, or a little 
more. Ordinarily prices are not high. 10 
to 15 cents per pound being all that one 
can expect. This seems like a very small 
price compared with the figures at which 
Spring pigs sell, but it might pay to dis¬ 
pose thus of Fall litters that one does not 
care to keep and cannot sell to advantage 
otherwise. In England and to some ex¬ 
tent in the Middle West roast pig has been 
quite largely used as a dish for special 
occasions, but In New England and the 
East it has never displaced the turkey, 
chicken, duck or goose as a dish for fes¬ 
tive gatherings 
TROUBLE WITH MILK.—A Pennsyl¬ 
vania reader says: “A short time ago the 
milk sold by a dairyman here was tested 
and showed an unreasonable percentage 
of water. The test was not made at the 
time the wagon started but at about 10.30 
A. M., on a very warm day. I think the 
test is not a fair one, and an injustice to 
the dairyman. About two pounds of ice 
were used in each 40 quarts of milk before 
starting.” 
The fact that the milk had been on the 
road for some time would not make It 
show any increased percentage of water, 
but the addition of two pounds of ice to 
each can would be sufficient to brand it 
as adulterated in New York State. This 
would add nearly a quart of water to each 
40-quart can, sufficient to make a serious 
showing In milk of medium grade. From 
one point of view it might seem as though 
a man whose cows give five per cent milk 
might be permitted to add water enough 
to bring it to the same grade as that of 
his neighbor whose cows test barely above 
the legal standard, but the law says no, 
and the addition of any substance other 
than pure milk is deemed an adulteration. 
The addition of ice to milk is a handy way 
of cooling it, but even were it lawful the 
practice would not be advisable, as the ice 
often contains highly unwholesome im¬ 
purities. If necessary to cool milk, the ice 
should be applied to the outside of the 
can. Of course a can of milk should be 
well stirred before the test Is made, and 
the milk inspector should be a level-head¬ 
ed individual who knows what he is about, 
and will not jump at unwarranted con¬ 
clusions. w. w. H. 
Lumber 
AT 
Extremely 
Low Prices 
We purchased the Pan-Ameri¬ 
can Exposition at Buffalo, and 
have 33,000,000 feet of fine sea¬ 
soned lumber to offer. It consists 
of joists, timbers, flooring, sheath¬ 
ing, patent lath, and, in fact, 
anything and everything in the 
lumber line. 
ir YOU ARE ABOUT TO BUILD 
Send UsYour Lumber Bill 
FOR OUR ESTIMATE. 
We issue a catalogue. Address 
as follows : 
Chicago House Wrecking Co., 
Pan-American Exposition, Dept. 63, 
BUFFALO, N. Y. 
“NEW HERO” 
excels in strength and ertectivo working qualities 
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the combination of these three features in the 
highest possible degree which a practical man 
looks for when buying 
ENSILAGE 
MACHINERY. 
The “New Hero” Cutters 
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Kememhorthat Appleton quality is the standard 
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APPLETON MFG. CO., 
27 Fargo Street, Batavia, Ill., II. S. A. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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"a square deal.” See our guarantee8th page. 
“Shut your my mm, opmn ymerr mouth 
mnd moo what luck will bring you." 
The mother smiles at the childish 
game, and doesn’t realize that it is a 
game she as a woman has perhaps 
played for a great many years. 
Many a woman is weak and sick, 
nervous and discouraged. She suffers 
from headache, backache and other ills. 
She wants to be well, but all she does is 
to shut her eyes 
and open her 
mouth for medi¬ 
cine and trust to 
luck for results. 
She ''doctors” 
month after 
month, often 
year after year, 
in this same 
blind, hap-hazard 
fashion, and re¬ 
ceives no perma¬ 
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Women take 
Dr. Pierce’s Fa¬ 
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eyes open to the 
fact that it cures womanly ills. It cures 
irregularity. It dries debilitating drains. 
It heals inflammation and ulceration and 
cures female weakness. There is no 
trusting to luck by those who use 
"Favorite Prescription." 
"My disease was displacement and ulceration 
of the uterus, and I was in a terrible condition 
with pain and weakness and had given up all 
hopes of ever being well again,’' writes Mrs. 
Harry A. Brown, of Orono, Penobscot Co., Me. 
"Haa doctored with four different doctors with¬ 
in four months, and instead of getting better 
was growing weaker all the time. I decided to 
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use, I bought five bottles and felt so much bet¬ 
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sixty pounds. I gained forty pounds in six 
months. I shall doctor no more with home 
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Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets clear the 
muddy complexion. 
DACC ENSILAGE 
IyUwc) MACHINERY 
Before you spend 
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Can furnish either 
BLOWERS or 
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Fully Guaranteed. 
Write for Catalog No. 45 
Send 10c for PROF . WOLE'S BOOK ON SILAGE 
"‘““■The E.W. Ross Co. 
Springfield, Ohio. 
AMERICA... 
THE 
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Send for special Illustrated Cata¬ 
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.CO., Racine, Wis. Box 13 
