1808 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
25 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Several inquirers want to know where to sell 
feathers. They should be packed up and sent along 
with the poultry ; feather buyers usually come around 
and pick up the feathers from the commission houses 
after the season is over. The price is not high. The 
tail feathers of the turkey bring more than the wing 
feathers, and each of these should be tied in bundles 
separately. If there is any market near home, it 
would be better to sell the feathers there than to ship 
them off to any distance. 
X X X 
Market for Sauerkraut. —One inquirer wants to 
know if he can sell sauerkraut in this market. No, 
there is little chance. People who deal in that sort of 
stuff watch the cabbage market, and when that is 
glutted, buy cabbages at their own price, and make 
their own kraut at a cost of little more than their 
labor. The same is true of other similar products. 
Sauerkraut can be made of the kind of cabbages men¬ 
tioned in another paragraph, and when the makers 
will not offer enough for such cabbages to pay the 
freight, there isn’t much use in sending the product 
here with any hope of selling it. 
XXX 
Poor Cabbages not Wanted. —“ What do you think 
of a man who will ship such cabbages as those ?” 
asked a commission merchant in front of whose store 
a lot of small, third-rate cabbages were being un¬ 
loaded. “ When cabbages are so plentiful, and when 
first-class ones can be bought so cheaply, it is the 
worst kind of foolishness for any one to send such 
stuff. I tried my best to sell them on the dock, but 
the sauerkraut men won’t touch them, and the huck¬ 
sters won’t look at them unless they can get them for 
almost nothing. In the endeavor to get a little some¬ 
thing for them, I have already spent about $25 in un¬ 
loading and carting them to the store, and they aren’t 
sold yet.” The cabbages were simply a lot of culls ; 
there wasn’t a decent one in the whole lot. No one 
could blame a commission man for selling such a lot 
for whatever he could get, and get rid of the stuff; 
but this one was doing the best he could for a foolish 
shipper and, probably, will get few thanks for it. It 
is one of the greatest of mistakes to send such in¬ 
ferior products to this market, especially, if it isn’t a 
mistake to send them to any market. 
X X X 
Poor Poultry Prices. —“ We got caught this time,” 
said a commission man who usually gets extra prices 
for fancy poultry. “ I expect we’ll hear from it from 
all over the country.” The same trouble was experi¬ 
enced by nearly every receiver of poultry. Fowls and 
chickens, and ducks and geese, also, unless fancy, 
have been in large supply, and low in price all the 
season. Turkeys became scarce at Thanksgiving time, 
and the price was well up ; but there seemed to be a 
larger surplus in the country than anybody dreamed 
of, and they were sent along in great quantities at 
Christmas. Then many of them arrived two days too 
late for the best market. Monday and Tuesday were 
the great market days, and the best class of trade was 
supplied on those days. Then about Wednesday and 
Thursday, large numbers arrived, and the only way 
to get rid of them was in a sort of peddling way. 
Many of these latest arrivals, too, were of poor quality, 
and were altogether too small; many of them wouldn’t 
weigh more than five or six pounds apiece, which is 
altogether too small for turkeys for this market. The 
weather was favorable for handling them, or there 
would have been a bigger slump ; as it was, prices 
went very low. More size, more flesh on the bones, 
better dressing and packing, greater promptness in 
shipping, are needed if the best returns are expected 
from shipments to this market. 
X X X 
More Fraud Commission Merchants. —Notwith¬ 
standing all our warnings, people will continue to 
support the frauds who pose for a brief season as com¬ 
mission merchants. We have a complaint from a 
shipper who, several weeks ago, sent some game to 
the Goodwin Supply House, purporting to be doing an 
extensive business at 199 Duane Street, whence they 
sent out such persuasive letters that he sent on 
his goods without question. Time passed, and the 
returns came not to hand. They were considerate 
enough of his feelings to send him one or more letters 
telling- him why he hadn’t rece.ved any returns, but 
this was only in the hope that he might be so foolish 
as to send them other shipments. On visiting the 
number given, I found only an empty store ; the bird 
had flown. □ Not even the name of the^firm appeared 
on the sign, but a “To Let” placard was conspicuously 
displayed. On inquiry, I found that other parties 
had been looking for the same famed supply house, 
but I didn't hear of any one finding any trace of them. 
The probability is that this was simply another one 
of the nest of swindlers who start in business for the 
sole purpose of getting all the shipments possible, 
and making no returns unless forced to do so. It 
may, possibly, be our old friend Hayt masquerading 
under a new name. The city is full of such frauds, 
and it will continue to be just so long as there are 
people who will ship to them. It is impossible to 
catch them, for, when they have stayed as long in one 
place as they dare, they pull up stakes, move to an¬ 
other part of the city, perhaps to the next street, and 
start in again under another name. Let them alone ! 
X X X 
The Christmas Greens business seems to have been 
overdone this year. Never before have I seen so many 
left on the market after the holiday was over. Enor¬ 
mous quantities were used, and the quantity used 
seems to increase with each successive year, but the 
supply was far in excess of the demand this year. 
There is almost no sale for them after the Christmas 
holiday has passed, so they must be classed with the 
perishable goods which are risky things to handle. 
They can’t even be put in cold storage. f. h. y. 
UNEQUAL RATES ON FARM PRODUCTS. 
I noticed in a recent R. N.-Y. that the fruit growers 
took up the question of inequality in rates between 
fruits and vegetables to the large markets of the 
country, such as New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. 
This difference is simply rank injustice in many cases, 
and shows the disposition of certain roads to “ Charge 
all the traffic will bear.” For instance, from nearly 
all points in the State of New York, the rate on apples 
and potatoes, in car-loads, is from 15 to 10 cents per 
100 pounds ; the rate on potatoes, less than car-loads, 
18 cents ; on apples, less than car-loads, 25 cents. Why 
apples should pay so much more than potatoes, no 
fellow can find out. The rate on grapes, in baskets 
and boxes, and pears, in barrels or kegs, in less than 
car-loads, is 35 cents per 100 pounds, or just about 
double the rate on potatoes and other vegetables. Our 
railroad philanthropists (?) give as a reason for this 
doubling of rates the extra speed on trains used for 
the conveyance of pears and grapes. This would be 
important if true, but facts show that the same train 
which hauls potatoes hauls grapes and pears; even 
when this is not so, there is a difference of about 12 
hours from New York points east of Buffalo to New 
York City. While we all admit the value of time, we, 
as fruit growers, are unwilling to pay the price put 
on it by our railroad friends. 
Another point comes up here in regard to classifica¬ 
tion, viz., why is it worth less to haul grapes toward 
the setting sun from Buffalo, than toward the rising 
sun from the same point ? That is, why do grapes 
going west from Buffalo take one classification, while 
coming east from that point, they take a higher classi¬ 
fication ? While the New York Grape Growers’ Union 
was in operation, this point was fully discussed, and 
the injustice of it fully acknowledged by some of the 
railroads who were willing to make a uniform classi¬ 
fication in both directions ; but the strong roads were 
too strong, and held their grip on the throats and 
pockets of the grape growers. That grip has never 
been and never will be relaxed until some stronger 
power takes a hand. A concerted movement of the 
fruit growers, backed by the tremendous engine of 
public opinion, will break this grip, and give us some 
measure of justice. t. c. davenport. 
CUT AND SHREDDED. 
A Kansas City manufacturing company introduced 
a machine which did work formerly done by hand 
labor. The workmen undertook to boycott the com¬ 
pany, because it used this machinery, but the courts 
have decided against the workmen, and they declare 
that such a boycott is a conspiracy. Many farmers 
have in their barns and fields scrub animals that do 
not give fair returns for their food and care. Such 
scrubs, if they were able to talk, might be expected 
to say about this : “We and our ancestors have lived 
on this farm until we have a right to stay here. If we 
do not pay a profit, whose business is it anyway ? We 
won’t have any well-bred cattle, horses, sheep or 
hogs put here for breeding purposes, or in our places !” 
There is no law that compels a farmer to listen to 
such talk. The sooner he shuts his ears to it, the 
sooner he will improve his stock. 
When the people of Kansas want to drive something 
they object to, out of the State, they begin to fire 
statistics at it. Figures make good bullets when well 
aimed and true. Kansas ought to be ashamed of her 
sheep record. There are only 222,703 sheep, worth 
$570,574.35, in the State. At the same time, there 
were 171,344 dogs in Kansas. They killed 66(5 of the 
sheep, and scared hundreds more out of growth of 
wool and mutton. In the great State of Kansas, only 
$91,495.68 worth of wool was produced in 1897 ! What 
else can one expect with 80 dogs to every 100 sheep ? 
There is hope for Kansas, though, for the hens are 
still thriving. The sales of poultry and eggs for one 
year reached $3,850,997. All the mules in the State 
were worth only $3,018,009, and the 552,538 cows could 
make butter worth only $4,585,271.18 and cheese worth 
$91,480 ! Enough poultry and eggs were sold in the 
year to buy all the sheep in the State seven times 
over! Even the garden stuff sold in one year would 
buy all the sheep ! What in the world is the matter 
with Kansas sheep ? That pack of 171,344 dogs ! 
The Pennsylvania State Board of Health recently 
called the attention of Governor Hastings to an out¬ 
break of anthrax, caused by handling imported hides 
in some of the tanneries. The Governor requested the 
Treasury Department at Washington to give atten¬ 
tion to this matter, that suspected hides might be dis¬ 
infected or excluded from our ports. The Department 
of Agriculture has already addressed a circular to 
consular officers, instructing them to refuse authenti¬ 
cation of invoices of hides of neat cattle from districts 
in which anthrax is known to exist. Secretary Gage 
does not feel warranted in prohibiting the importa¬ 
tion of all hides shipped from Asiatic ports, and the 
Secretary of Agriculture says that the extent to which 
our manufacturers depend upon the imported hides, 
makes the prohibition of such imports an exceedingly 
serious matter. 
Live stock insurance has never prospered in this 
country. Of all the companies that have been started, 
only three are left, and these are said to be having a 
hard struggle. In theory, at least, insurance for live 
stock ought to be popular and profitable. It would 
seem as though any man who owns a good horse or 
cow would be willing to pay a fair premium for insur¬ 
ing it; yet the system has never succeeded. One rea¬ 
son is that rogues have gone into the business and 
organized bogus companies. They insured stock at 
much lower rates than the reliable companies could 
offer. After collecting a few premiums or assess¬ 
ments, they “ failed,” and the farmers lost all they 
had paid in. These bogus or weak concerns have 
about killed the business. It is said that an English 
syndicate was willing, at one time, to consolidate 
the three remaining companies, and push the business 
with a large capital. 
There has been a severe outbreak of typhoid fever 
at Paterson, N. J., during the past six weeks. The 
fact that many cases occurred in an orphan asylum 
led to an investigation which indicated that the dis¬ 
ease might have been conveyed through the milk 
which was supplied by a large creamery in Sussex 
County, N. J. An inspector of the State Board of 
Health visited this creamery and the dairies that sup¬ 
plied the milk. He was unable to find anything wrong 
on the farms—the milk was pure and healthful when 
it left the hands of the farmers. The Paterson Board 
of Health say, however, as regards the creamery itself: 
At the ei-eamery, the State Inspector had found that water 
from a brook was pumped into the creamery for general use 
through a pipe, the intake end of which was from 120 to 150 feet 
below a closet which overhung the brook. Four or live other out¬ 
houses were situated upon banks of the brook, within an eighth 
of a mile. He also was informed that the three sons of the pro¬ 
prietor were ill in the house with remittent fever. The privy over¬ 
hung the brook about 100 feet above the creamery, and was 
directly in the rear of the dwelling and cheese house. The cream¬ 
ery received the milk of 53 dairies; all of these dairies have since 
been inspected, and no iufectiou found. The three sons of the 
propi-ietor were found to be suffering from typhoid. We have no 
hesitation whatever in declaring our belief that from 85 to 90 per 
cent of the cases of typhoid fever developing in the city since 
November 15 originated in this creamery. 
It was reported in the daily papers that Mr. Fulboam, 
the proprietor of this creamery, will bring suit against 
the Board of Health for heavy damages, as this report 
has about ruined his business. It is now reported that 
a bacteriologist has found sewage pollution and a 
germ identical with that of typhoid fever in the 
water used in the creamery. We want to call atten¬ 
tion to the fact that the milk, as it came from the 
farms, was perfectly clean and healthful. Consumers 
must understand that the handlers are chiefly respon¬ 
sible for poor milk. The closer we get to the cow the 
better off we are. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The Iron Age implements are good ones. The makers offer a 
variety of these tools for farm and garden work. A combined 
seed drill and hoe is one of their specialties. They’ll be glad to 
send their Iron Age Book free, and this tells all about their goods. 
Address the Bateman Mfg. Co., Box 102, Greuloch, N. J. 
On January 18, 19 and 20, the live stock on the great Haveineyer 
farm at Mahwah, N. J., will be sold at auction. The stock em¬ 
braces cattle, sheep, farm horses and poultry, all of first-class 
quality. As is well-known, the late Mr. Havemeyer started with 
a magnificent herd of Jersey cattle. Later, he introduced the 
blood of Simmenthals and Normandys, and the cattle now on the 
farm consist of these three breeds and their crosses. The sheep 
are South Downs, and the poultry are of all the popular breeds. 
There should be a chance at this auction to secure some fine bar¬ 
gains in live stock. Peter C. Kellogg <fc Co., 107 John Street, New 
York, will send catalogues of the sale. 
