1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
375 
Among the Marketmen. 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Sweet-Cream Butter.—I asked a 
number of dealers -whether there is much 
demand for this butter. The uniform 
reply was that the demand is limited. It 
is said to be used largely by Polish Jews, 
and when they want it, they want it 
badly. If there happens to be a scarcity 
just when they want it, they will 
pay an extra price. But no great quan¬ 
tity can be sold at anytime, and it is bad 
stuff to keep, if there is no demand. 
Some recent sales were two or three 
cents a pound below the regular price for 
good. salted butter. There is little in¬ 
ducement for any one to make this 
butter. 
X t X 
Renting Refrigerators — Since 
writing the article on the shipment of 
fruits in pony refrigerators last week, I 
have learned another fact about them, 
and that is that these refrigerator crates 
are usually owned by shippers in south¬ 
ern towns, and are rented to the fruit 
growers. The owner of the crate makes 
his arrangements with the railroads for 
transportation, also for return of crates, 
and attends to the icing. For these ser¬ 
vices, he receives 13 cents a quart. It 
seems like a very good arrangement for 
the grower, as it relieves him of the 
need for an investment in crates, and of 
all bother about securing transporta¬ 
tion for them. 
X t t 
Eggs for Cold Storage —During 
the season, many thousands of cases of 
eggs are put into cold storage in this 
City. Formerly, there was a great deal 
of risk in this business, from improper 
methods of packing, and from lack of 
knowledge of correct methods of hand¬ 
ling. With experience, these have been 
eliminated until eggs that come in good 
shape are pretty liable to come out al¬ 
most as good as they went in. The New 
York Mercantile Exchange has made 
the following rule for eggs which are 
sold for cold storage : 
When sold “ packed for cold storage,” the eggs 
must be of good average size, all small and 
dirties taken out, in new white wood cases, and 
medium or No. 1 fillers, with excelsior or cork 
packing, and must not exceed one dozen cracked 
eggs per case. 
It is said that, during the storage sea¬ 
son, good eggs packed according to these 
requirements, usually bring a premium 
of one-fourth to one-half cent per dozen 
over the best ungraded or partially 
graded goods. 
Another Fraudulent Commission 
Merchant.—A sort of double-headed 
fake commission house has just come to 
grief in this City. A father and son 
rented two different stores in Green¬ 
wich Street, and opened up in the com¬ 
mission business under two different 
firm names, both of them, of course, 
bogus. Then they sent letters all over 
the country, soliciting consignments of 
produce, offering to sell at a commission 
below that of the regular commission 
merchants, and quoting prices consider¬ 
ably above the regular market prices. 
Of course, they received a large number 
of consignments, but were finally re¬ 
ported to the police by some of their 
victims. The latter failed to find that 
they had ever made any remittances for 
goods received. The specific eharge on 
which they were arrested was for the 
larceny of four cases of eggs from a firm 
on Long Island. The latter received a 
letter from one of the bogus firms, quot¬ 
ing prices of eggs at 17 cents a dozen, 
when the market price was at least four 
cents less. A few days later, they re¬ 
ceived another letter similar to the first 
from the other firm, and also shipped 
eggs to them. Investigation revealed 
the fact that the same man had rented 
both stores, and the case seems to be 
clear against them. In such cases, here¬ 
tofore, the rascals have usually succeed¬ 
ed in getting off on some legal techni¬ 
cality, but it is hoped that this will not 
be the case now. But there are plenty 
more of the same character doing busi¬ 
ness, and the only safe way is to avoid 
any of them who make such extravagant 
promises. 
X X X 
White Leghorn Eggs.— “I am going 
to open a crate of nice White Leghorn 
eggs, if you want to see them”, said one 
commission man. Taking off the cover, 
first there was a layer of excelsior over 
the top, then followed newspapers, fit¬ 
ting snugly over the fillers. These re¬ 
moved, there came into view the beauti¬ 
ful, white, even-sized Leghorn eggs. 
“Are not those beauties ”? was the in¬ 
quiry. “I get several crates from this 
shipper twice a week, but I often find a 
lot of brown eggs mixed into the lower 
layers. Some of my customers who have 
bought these eggs for White Leghorn 
eggs, paying a little extra price, have 
made a big kick, because they do not 
find just what they had bought.” It is 
very strange, isn’t it ? that a man who is 
building up a reputation, will indulge in 
such practices ; but I see so much of that 
sort of business, and find these practices 
sometimes in such unexpected quarters, 
that I almost lose confidence in any and 
all shippers. It is a poor policy, and 
will prove unprofitable in the end. 
X X X 
Poor Horseradish.— One commis¬ 
sion merchant showed me a barrel of 
horseradish that he was afraid wouldn’t 
bring enough to pay freight. Most of 
the roots were sent just as they were 
dug, all the long, sprangly shoots at¬ 
tached to the crowns. Most of these, 
too, started out directly from the crowns, 
with no length of root. Only here and 
there was there a main root of sufficient 
size and length to be of any value. The 
man who sent this had small knowledge 
of the business. Only good-sized roots 
of some length are of value for market; 
market gardeners use all the small ones 
for sets for growingthenext year’s crop. 
X t X 
A Leg of Eamb.—This is a tale of a 
shrewd marketman, a leg of lamb, and 
26 careless, or too-confiding customers. 
At the close of business, a leg of lamb 
was missed, which could not be ac¬ 
counted for. Clerks, delivery boys and 
proprietor all failed to locate the missing 
leg. In spite of all their figuring, the 
stock was that much short; one had 
mysteriously disappeared somewhere. 
“Well, I am not going to lose that leg,” 
said the proprietor. The probability 
was that it had been sold to somebody, 
without being charged on the books ; so 
he went over the list of customers who 
had been served that day, and charged 
to each one a leg of lamb, 30 in all. Of 
these 30, four came in at the end of the 
month, and declared that they had not 
had any leg of lamb during the month. 
The other 26 paid their bill, leg of lamb 
and all, without question. Whether 
the marketman kept the pay for the 
whole 26 or not, my informant did not 
state, but there certainly seems to be’a 
moral connected with this story. 
X t X 
Dishonest, or Only Careless?— 
The story of poor fruit in the bottoms 
of the packages is an old one, yet ever 
new. I hear it every time I go around 
the markets, about the fruit from all 
parts of the country. Last week, I told 
about the shipping of strawberries from 
the South in pony refrigerators, the cost 
of which to the growers is 13 cents per 
quart. This seems like a high price. 
One would think that shippers would be 
careful to send only fine fruit at such a 
cost, for it costs just as much to ship a 
quart of poor berries as one of the best; 
yet I hear many complaints of these ber¬ 
ries, fine fruit on top, trash in the bot¬ 
toms of the baskets. Many a time have 
I seen men in the commission stores 
sorting and repacking these berries in 
order to make them salable at all. This 
sort of business is one of the reasons 
why some men fail. F. H.Qv. 
CAcCHOICE of a BUSINESS 
B A N K I N G 
By GEORGE G. WILLIAMS 
President of The Chemical National Bank of New York 
The Advantages of the Country College 
By NATHANIEL BUTLER. President of Colby College 
A popular article pointing out to young men and their 
parents the advantages of the country college as com¬ 
pared with the university. Doctor Butler tells what sort 
of men should select the country college, and why; and, in 
a word, sums up its special advantages for the benefit of 
the young man who is about to choose his Alma Mater. 
In this week’s number of 
SATURDAY 
EVENING POST 
(OF PHILADELPHIA) 
Dated Saturday, May 13. 
Travels and Troubles in the Orient 
By ROBERT BARR 
Real life there as he found it; his little difficulties 
with Turkish officials were actual experiences, and 
are decidedly dramatic. 
To be had of All Newsmen at 5 Cents the Copy 
THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 
