1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
767 
THE CONFESSIONS OF A PEDDLER . 
Why to Peddle. 
P MJT 1. 
“He is good at rair'ng things, but he does not sell 
them to good advantage.’ This is what a friend said 
of her husband, and how many other farmers there 
are to whom it applies. It is all very well for the 
farmer who raises thousands of bushels of potatoes 
to put them on the market by means of a commis¬ 
sion merchant or other middleman; that is raising 
at wholesale and selling at wholesale. But the small 
farmer who raises, say, 20 bushels and sells them to 
the grocer or peddler to be sold again is raising at 
retail and selling at wholesale. He is helping provide 
a living for the middleman and is defrauding himself 
of his rightful profit. The way out of this condition 
is for the farmer to sell direct to the consumer at the 
retail price. I know many will cry out at this, “I 
w'on’t peddle”; “If there is anything I hate it is ped¬ 
dling,” etc. But do you like to work hard at raising 
your crops and then give one half to the man who 
handles them? Wouldn’t it be easier to raise half as 
much and sell it for the full price, even if peddling is 
disagreeable work? And after all, most of the un¬ 
pleasant things about it may prove to be imaginary, 
and you may even And that it has many pleasant fea¬ 
tures, not the least of which is the realization that 
one gets the full value in dollars and cents for the 
products of his labor. Here is a case in point: This 
year we have very nice peaches. A man offered to 
take them at 25 cents a peck, and by his manner you 
would have thought that a very liberal offer. Now, if 
we had sold them to him we would have had to get 
the regular peach baskets and deliver the fruit at his 
door, two miles away. The peaches ripened so 
slowly that very often there would have been 
part cf a basket left over that he would not 
have taken. We did not let him have them; 
instead, we sold them to the neighbors and at 
the village in small quantities, at the rate of 50 
and 60 cents a peck. As soon as people found 
that we had them, orders came in from friends, 
acquaintances and even strangers, with the re¬ 
sult that every salable peach went, and there 
wore some orders that we could not fill. By 
peddling them out we realized more than twice 
as much as we would have done by selling them 
at wholesale, and with very little more work. 
Some of the farmers about here have sold 
their potatoes to a peddler for 50 cents a bushel, 
and then he sold them at 25 cents a peck. The 
farmer bought his seed and fertilizer, plowed 
his land, harrowed, furrowed, planted, culti¬ 
vated, fought bugs; dug, picked and sorted the 
crop; a good many days’ work. Then the ped¬ 
dler toon the potatoes, carted them a mile or 
so, and sold them. He got more for his labor 
than the farmer did for his. Does this seem 
right? Couldn’t the farmer have carried them 
to the village and sold them just as well as 
the peddler? It would not be so philanthropic 
perhaps as to give the peddler 50 cents with 
every bushel of potatoes, but philanthropy is 
not what most farmers are working for. If the 
peddler could have got the potatoes for 40 cents 
he would have been better satisfied, and then he 
would have made 10 cents more than the raiser. 
“But I raise so little that it would not pay me 
to start out with it.” The very reason one should peddle 
and get tho most for what little he does have. Sup¬ 
pose a man has 10 bushels of potatoes; wouldn’t he 
prefer to get $10 for them rather than $5? Not only 
can the main crops be disposed of to better advantage, 
but small lots of vegetables and fruit, and milk, but¬ 
ter and eggs, will bring the highest price, and al¬ 
though it may make but a few cents’ difference at a 
time it will count up in a year. Little messes of 
things too small to be sold to the grocer may also be 
worked off. Besides the gain in dollars and cents 
there is the satisfaction of knowing that the goods 
reach the consumer in good condition. Oftentimes a 
farmer would not recognize his own fruit or vegeta¬ 
bles after they have gone through the peddler’s hands, 
they look so weary and travel-stained. 
There are cases where a farmer cannot peddle, and 
when there is but one to do all the work it makes it 
very hard; but when conditions are favorable it 
seems unwise for a man to allow prejudice or a dis¬ 
like for the work to stand in the way of his increased 
prosperity. If a farmer has children growing up this 
may prove to be one way to keep them on the farm. 
There is no reason" why a bright boy or girl could 
not take up this part of the farm work after being 
graduated from school, and with common sense and 
determination make a success of it. To some it may 
seem a very shocking thing to suggest that a girl 
should do this work; but why shouldn’t she—if there 
is no boy to do it, or some other good reason for her 
taking the position? “What will people think?” If 
the girl attends strictly to business, conducts herself 
as a lady should, and always gives good measure and 
honest goods, why, the people whose opinion is worth 
having will think just as well of her as if she worked 
in an office or factory or lived in idleness at home. 
Once in a while she may come across ill-bred people 
who will tell her that it seems so strange for a lady 
to be peddling, but these do not count, and if the 
“lady peddler” has a sense of humor these remarks 
will only serve to divert her, and she can make use 
of them as amusing anecdotes to tell her friends or 
the home people. If she is cheerful, sympathetic and 
attractive, such a girl has a chance to do a vast 
amount of good as she comes in contact with dif¬ 
ferent people. As to the influence of such a career on 
herself, it should be beneficial. The active outdoor 
life will be much better for her health than work in 
a stuffy, tobacco-smoky, ill-ventilated office; her 
manners will not be subjected to such a strain as 
would be the case if she happened to be thrown with 
slangy or rude companions; and her brain will be 
more actively occupied than if she were following 
some merely mechanical pursuit. In fact, in these 
days, when girls are found doing all sorts of work, 
there is no reason why a woman should not make an 
honorable place for herself peddling, and find it an 
interesting and profitable career. If it is a boy who 
does this part of the work, the training may be very 
valuable to him, no matter what his after career. It 
will wear off his awkwardness, make his manners 
more easy, and teach him how to get along with 
people. susan brown bobbins. 
THE WILD CHERRY FOR GRAFTING STOCK 
A neighbor of mine has called my attention to your 
answer to W. H. C., West Hanover, Mass., relative 
to cherry grafting, on page 385. I do not know what 
you mean by “wild or native cherry trees of the 
forest,” but a few years ago I brought from my farm 
pasture several small trees of the wild Choke and 
wild Black cherry and set them out in my garden. 
The same year I grafted them with scions cut direct 
from a Windsor and an Ox-heart, with the result that 
the scions from the Windsor all lived and those from 
the Ox-heart all died. The next year I cut my Ox- 
heart scions earlier and did my grafting later, and 
had the satisfaction of seeing all of them live. These 
grafted trees are now growing luxuriantly, and have 
been bearing for two and three years. Moreover, it is 
impossible to distinguish the grafted fruit from that 
of the original trees in size, color, flavor or juiciness. 
Several of your subscribers have visited my garden 
and will subscribe to all of the above. m. h. 
This account of M. H., in which he tells of his suc¬ 
cess in grafting on to wild cherry stocks is of in¬ 
terest, but it proves only what has long been known, 
which is that it is possible to graft on them and have 
the tops grow for a few years and bear some fruit. 
This I have done several times with some species of 
our wild cherries, but. if I remember correctly, never 
with the wild Black cherry, Prunus serotina, that 
furnishes the larger part of the wood for cabinet pur¬ 
poses. I once grew several thousand seedlings of this 
species on purpose to test them as stocks, but none 
of the buds or grafts that I set ever grew. Perhaps I 
did not use just the right plan with them. With the 
wild Red cherry, P. Pennsylvanicum, I have had some 
success, but the union was poor and the tops finally 
failed and broke off after bearing awhile in a few 
cases. It would be very desirable to have these two 
species to serve as stocks for orchard trees, because 
they are hardy and rank growers, and never sprout 
from the root. Many other attempts have been made 
to do what I was trying to do, but with similar re¬ 
sults. If these efforts had been successful it would 
not be necessary to send to Europe for Mahaleb 
cherry stocks and seeds to use in propagating cherry 
trees in our nurseries. The wild Choke cherry, P. 
demissa, is much more easily handled as a stock, so 
far as the buds or grafts taking on trees goes, but 
they are too small to be of much service. The growth 
is only bushy or shrub-like. I have had some grafts 
grow on that for a while, but they overgrew the stocks 
and were of no permanent value. Besides, they are 
bad to sprout from the root. n. e. van deman. 
A SATISFACTORY HOGHOUSE. 
A ground plan and picture of my hoghouse, built 
in 1894, are shown at Figs. 312 and 313. It is an ideal 
one. The chimney is directly behind the ventilator 
and cannot be seen in the picture. It is halfway down 
the roof. I prefer my hogs all in one house. Here 1 
can feed 50 to 60 of all ages in 15 or 20 minutes. 
Their feed is put in dry, one bag to a barrel; then the 
barrel is filled with boiling water from a faucet in 
the cooker. Water is heated in the afternoon, turned 
in the barrel with feed after chores are done, and left 
over night with cover on. The next day it is stirred 
thoroughly before feeding, and dipped out with a 10- 
quart tin pail. Small pens here and there are good 
enough for Summer or if one has only one sow that 
farrows late in the season. If those pens were 
all small, I would have to work two hours or 
more to feed them all, carrying feed to each 
pen and removing snowdrifts or ice from the 
troughs before feeding. The stable is cleaned 
twice or three times a week except when feeding 
corn heavily, when it is cleaned every day on 
account of the corncobs. The hogs in Winter 
are always in the house, going back to their 
pen when let out. In my hoghouse I have lost 
but two pigs by thumps since 1897. The tank 
on cooker can be removed and made a regular 
stove, and, when it is cold, a good hot fire is 
made from chunks or knotty wood, which can¬ 
not be worked up for the kitchen stove. If the 
little doors are made six by eight inches the 
little pigs will come out and run back and forth 
in the alleys, as in Summer. In the cooking 
room I have a shallow trough two inches deep, 
10 inches wide, four to six feet long. In this is 
put some cooked whole wheat and cracked corn 
made up for the pigs. In one end is a cross 
cleat about 12 inches from the end of the 
trough. In this end some dry earth is put for 
the pigs to dig and exercise in; earth from the 
Fall plowing of sod is best. This will have to 
be put in more than once, as they will have it 
dug out several times a day. After their exer¬ 
cise, when it begins to get cool, they will crawl 
under the cooker and lie around the side of it 
sound asleep. I have my pigs farrowed in Win¬ 
ter, about February; January is too early, as the 
pigs are too large and want more room. I plan 
to have as many farrow at one time as possible; 
then there is less trouble in dividing them for feeding 
in pens, and an early pig can be shipped for breeding 
much earlier than a late one. I use a Granite State 
feed cooker; capacity, 50 gallons, which is small 
enough. 
I am breeding the Chester White, or what is called 
O. I. C., which is the most profitable hog, as they 
have large litters. I had a young sow the past sea¬ 
son that farrowed 16 pigs. All were even in size, but 
only half of them were raised, as she was careless. 
My hoghouse is 40 feet in diameter, sides 10 feet long 
and six feet six inches high to ceiling. The rafters 
from each corner run to the center, and those be¬ 
tween are spiked on to the main rafter. There is a 
ventilator 16 inches square in center, slatted on four 
sides to keep rain and snow out and to let out steam, 
etc.., which may gather. A large trapdoor is directly 
over the cooker. It is opened when water is taken 
from the tank and all steam goes out direct After 
the water handling is done the trapdoor is closed 
up and all heat is kept in. This door is three by six 
feet. I would not build or feed any other way if for 
business. a. n. portman. 
Stockbridge, Wis. 
SOFT COAL AND SOOTY CHIMNEYS.-In reply to E. 
D. It., page 736, would say we have used soft coal for 
two Winters in heating stove, and have not taken pipes 
down until Spring. We use some old paper (not The R. 
N.-Y. as It is too solid reading; it wants a light flashy 
kind), thrown in stove loose, when there Is a good wind; 
open all the drafts and watch the flakes of soot fall like 
snowflakes. Use enough paper to clean the flakes all 
off the stove and pipe; repeat as often as necessary. 
Pennsylvania. h. i. h. 
FLOWER HEADS OF FEMALE PAPER MULBERRY. Fig. 314. 
See Ritualisms, Page 770. 
