1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
295 
Among the Marketmen. 
WHAT / SEE AND HEAR. 
Bogus Commission Merchants — 
I seldom go around the markets without 
hearing more or less about these leeches 
upon trade. Their tricks are numerous, 
but always dishonest. Some of them 
have stores in the commission district, 
some do not. Sometimes they advertise 
from cigar stores, barber shops, or even 
private houses, and make arrangements 
with the transportation companies to 
have goods delivered at some other place. 
These rascals generally make extrava¬ 
gant promises, and in this way secure 
large shipments. They generally for¬ 
get these promises when they get the 
produce. Beware of them ! 
X X X 
Potatoes —Planters are complaining 
of the scarcity and high prices of pota¬ 
toes suitable for seed, yet receipts in the 
general market here are larger than one 
week ago, and prices are somewhat low¬ 
er. Stock must be sound and choice to 
bring outside quotations, and some deal¬ 
ers consider these quotations extreme. 
The Bermuda potatoes continue to sell 
at high prices, but the demand seems 
strong. The quality of these is good ; I 
have never seen finer ones than during 
the past two weeks. Many German po¬ 
tatoes have arrived, and arrivals of 
Scotch have been heavy. At prices now 
prevailing here, it is difficult to see how 
some dealers in the country are to get 
their money back at the prices they 
have been paying. 
X X X 
Cheese.—Prices for this are higher 
than for a long time. This is encourag¬ 
ing to makers, and reports come from 
the producing districts that the factories 
are all starting up. What becomes of 
the good cheese? It is di fid cult to buy 
any in the stores here, and so much poor 
cheese has gone abroad that it has nearly 
ruined our export trade. Sometimes our 
grocer has some excellent cheese, and 
after eating it we go back for more only 
to find that one all sold out, and another 
one of very inferior quality being cut. 
We want good cheese, and we want it 
every day in the year. Thousands more 
have the same want. If all could get 
what they want, the consumption of 
cheese would be increased many fold, 
and that would do away with much of 
the surplus milk now bothering the milk 
dealers, and thus help to solve the milk 
problem. 
X X X 
“Koe Shad! Roe Shad!”— This 
cry is a common one in the markets now, 
and one sees everywhere the scaly beau¬ 
ties, for this fish, though a bony one in¬ 
side, is truly a beauty on the fish stands. 
Shad are now becoming very plentiful, 
and the price is becoming quite reason¬ 
able. The first fish of the season of this 
variety came to the market several weeks 
ago, coming from as far south as North 
Carolina, and bringing a high price. 
Then later, they came from farther up 
the coast, until now the harbor and river 
here are dotted with long rows of poles, 
a sign of the shad nets beneath. The roe 
shad are preferred by many, and bring 
higher prices than what are called buck 
shad ; but a little later in the season, 
any of them, of good size, may be bought 
for 25 cents apiece. The shad is one of 
the finest fishes that we have, and is in 
great demand at this season, immense 
numbers of them being sold in the mar¬ 
kets here. 
X X X 
A Valuable Load.— It is said that 
the choicest goods are usually put up in 
small packages. I was in a commission 
house when Mr. Ise, whose hothouse 
strawberry business was described in 
The R N -Y. last year, came in with a 
small package in his hand, which was 
very carefully done up. On opening it, 
he disclosed a number of neat pasteboard 
boxes, some containing two and some 
three cups of beautiful, firm, glossy hot¬ 
house strawberries. They were all rated 
as No. 1, and although the price is not 
nearly so high now as earlier in the 
season, the little package that he 
brought in in one hand, was worth at 
wholesale prices, $35. The receiver said 
that, many times, that package would 
have sold for $75. Many a farmer would 
have to take a pretty good-sized load of 
his produce to market to secure that 
much money ; but then there is always 
a good demand everywhere for the ord¬ 
inary farm products, while such products 
as these are wanted only in limited 
quantities. 
X X X 
Belated Cranberries. — I saw a large 
pile of cranberries in crates piled up 
in one store. They came from southern 
New Jersey. The commission merchant 
said that, during the early part of the 
Winter, the shipper sent in from 75 to 
100 crates a week regularly. The berries 
were fine, and he had no trouble in get¬ 
ting $1.75 to $2 a crate for them. Then 
they ceased coming, and he supposed 
the entire crop was marketed. But now 
the shipper had sent several hundred 
crates all at once, and upon examining 
them, he found that they were all very 
soft, so much so that the regular trade 
that had taken the other berries, could 
not use them at all. The result is that 
the only outlet is to the bakeries where 
they might be used at once for mak¬ 
ing pies, tarts or some similar delica¬ 
cies. The berries had, evidently, been 
frosted during the extreme cold weather, 
and the holder who had been expecting 
larger prices, had overdone the matter, 
and will suffer in consequence. The re¬ 
ceiver said he would be glad to get $1 a 
crate for the lot. 
X X X 
Hothouse Products.— These have 
bad thei’- ups and downs th’s Winter, 
the recent shortage in southern products 
helping their sale greatly. Just now, 
some of them are lower. Southern as- 
• » 
paragus has been coming in very freely, 
and this has lowered the demand and 
the price for the hothouse product, until 
the price is hardly enough to pay for 
shipping any more. Lettuce and radishes 
have, also, begun to come from the 
South, and this has its effect on these 
products. Tomatoes from the South are 
very scarce, hence the demand and price 
for the hothouse-grown are good. Cucum¬ 
bers have been very plentiful, and for 
this reason, prices on these have declined. 
Receipts of mushrooms have not been so 
large, and the price has been much 
better than at this season during the 
past few years. Almost no hothouse 
grapes are now sent, not enough to make 
them worth mentioning. I saw one lot 
of hothouse radishes that sold very slow¬ 
ly because they were of a dull, rusty 
color ; the color should be bright and at¬ 
tractive. Looks help sales wonderfully. 
Mrs. Burton Harrison 
Has written an interesting story of social 
life: A New York society woman, in reduced 
circumstances, agrees to chaperon the daugh¬ 
ter of a rich Western Senator through a 
European tour. See this week’s number of 
THE SAT 
EVENING 
I Founded A° D’. 1^28 l 
URDAY \ 
POST 
->y Benj. Franklin 
- - -■ 
(OR 1>111LADRLPHIA) __ 
Dated Saturday, April 15. 
Other specially good articles in this week’s issue 
include 
SHYNESS A FOE TO SUCCESS 
By William Mathews , LL. D. 
Author of " Getting On in the World,” etc. 
—a most interesting paper to young men, with 
plenty of illustrations of the bashfulness of 
well-known men in the world’s history, and 
how it was conquered. 
Mr. W in. George Jordan has a good editorial 
on “ Hurry, the Scourge of America.” An in¬ 
teresting personal sketch of “The Many-Sided 
F. Hopkinson Smith—Artist, Author, Lec¬ 
turer, Engineer, Man of Affairs ” (illustrated). 
To be had of All Newsmen at 5 Cents the Copy 
THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 
