1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
7o9 
M^NG the <4 
ARKETttEN. 
WHAT I SKK AND HEAR. 
Apple Buyers. —We are receiving inquiries from 
persons in different parts of the country who wish to 
buy apples. These indicate that the demand exceeds 
the supply. It might be a good idea for those having 
large quantities of apples and who wish to get an 
extra price, to advertise them. Some of the apples 
sent to this market in barrels, are hardly fit for cider 
apples, and it is surprising that any one could have 
so little conception of the demand of the market, as 
to ship such stuff. There is a shortage of good apples, 
but of poor ones, there is always a surplus. 
X X X 
Fraudulent Commission Merchants. — I am 
told that our old friend Hayt, to whom The R. N.-Y. 
has so often paid its respects, is again doing business, 
and receiving large consignments of produce. And 
he is not the only one who makes great promises but 
gives little returns. There is always a good crop of 
these chaps at this time of the year. They are very 
careful not to do anything for which the law can hold 
them, but they are frauds and robbers just the same, 
no matter under what names they appear. Shippers 
should be very careful not to be caught by these 
rascals. 
X X X 
The Turkey Crop. —Reports seem to indicate a 
shortage in the turkey crop this year. The extremely 
wet weather early in the season was unfavorable for 
the poults, and the result is that the outlook is for a 
smaller crop than for a number of years back. This 
is indicated in one way by the number of buyers who 
are going through the turkey-raising districts trying 
to contract for this Fall’s holiday trade. It is likely 
that good prices will be obtained, and that there will 
be sale for all that are of good quality. They should 
be stuffed with feed from now on, that they may be 
as fat as possible, for there are always too many 
skinny turkeys in market. 
X X X 
Game Shipments. —The season is now open for 
most kinds of game, as will be seen from our quota¬ 
tions. However, receivers say that their trade is very 
light, because the game laws have been so amended 
and twisted, that shippers are afraid to send game 
for fear of getting caught in some way or other. There 
were, probably, no less than 20 or 25 changes in the 
laws at the last session of the New York Legislature, 
and the receivers themselves say that it is almost im¬ 
possible for them to keep track of these numerous 
amendments; still, it is safe to ship the ordinary 
kinds of game, and as soon as the weather becomes a 
little cooler, the market is likely to be in pretty good 
shape. The lighter shipments will, probably, result 
in higher prices. 
X X X 
Apples in New Hampshire. —One of our readers 
in Hillsboro County, N. II., tells us that a contest is 
going on among buyers in his locality, to secure the 
local apple crop. If, as the authorities state, there is 
a fair crop of apples in the country, this man cannot 
understand why they are overrun with apple buyers 
from the western States. These buyers have said that 
the cream of this year’s apple crop is located in south¬ 
ern New Hampshire. These buyers began to offer 
$1.75 per barrel of No. 1 stock, and now they are up 
to $3.25 a barrel. One neighbor, an old man, unable 
to pick his apples, sold the entire crop on the trees 
for $175. It took 18 men five days to pick them. Most 
of the buyers are western men. They pay $1 a barrel 
for windfalls. Two years ago, in this same locality, 
apples were fed to stock, as it was impossible to get 
enough for them to pay even the cost of the barrels. 
So it is with every business, there is no even thing— 
one year next to a fortune, and the next year, possibly 
nothing in it. The anxiety of buyers to secure apples 
tells the story of the condition of the crop better than 
anything else can do. 
X X X 
Fruit for Europe. —In spite of many past dis¬ 
couragements and unpleasant experiences, fruit grow¬ 
ers on this side of the Atlantic persist in their work 
of furnishing fruits of all kinds to the Old World. Ex¬ 
porting apples has now been reduced to a practical 
business basis, and is a regular and recognized feature 
of trade with Europe. Canada has found that she has 
about reached the limit of an outlet for her fruits in 
her own markets, and Great Britain seems to be the 
most natural as well as the most available foreign 
market for the surplus. She has been shipping pears, 
peaches, plums, grapes and tomatoes. Cold-storage 
facilities have been so improved that these fruits are 
landed in fine condition. A California local paper 
tells of the beautiful evaporated apricots that a pack¬ 
ing firm is putting up for export to Europe. Each box 
contains 25 pounds ; the fruit is nicely faced, covered 
with waxed paper, and over this is laid a lithographed 
facing paper. A first-rate idea is the inclosure, in each 
box, of complete directions by an expert for cooking 
apricots so as to secure the best results when served. 
These attractive packages of excellent fruit have been 
sent to London, Paris, Bremen, Havre, Helsingfors, 
Copenhagen, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Vienna, Glasgow, 
Liverpool and Hamburg. Such fruit advertises itself, 
and the large extent of territory reached should fur¬ 
nish a prolific market for further shipments. 
X X X 
Apples for the West Indies. —A correspondent 
inquires about apples for shipment to the West Indies. 
Of course, the climate there is hot, and special precau¬ 
tions must be taken with anything to be shipped 
there. It should be remembered, in the first place, 
that while, perhaps, the people there are in great 
need, they have very limited means with which to 
purchase even the barest necessities, so as yet, this 
part of the world cannot be considered in the light of 
a very promising market. I asked some of the largest 
and most experienced apple exporters about the West 
Indian market for apples. The variety best adapted, 
they say, is the Baldwin. The apples should be 
packed in the same manner as for export, as de¬ 
scribed on page 677, October 1 ; the barrels should 
not be ventilated. The apples should be picked just 
as soon as mature, and should not be allowed to hang 
on the trees until overripe ; neither should they be 
left to lie on the ground or be exposed to the sun or 
weather, after picking. 
X X X 
Co-operative Grape Marketmen. —An Ohio 
correspondent sends the following note : ,l Bordering 
the great city of Cleveland is the township of Euclid, 
possibly containing 14,000 acres all told, and Dover, a 
like township, adjoins, but every one raises grapes. 
The town has a grape growers’ association, and about 
all the growers are members of it. They have an 
office in the city, and are in a way, associated with 
four other associations, working as nearly as possible 
in harmony. Although the crop about Cleveland was 
on September 23 hardly more than half picked, this 
exchange had shipped over 600 cars of 2,800 baskets 
each out of the State, not to mention the immense local 
demand in the city and villages about. It is estimated 
that there will be a farther shipment of 800 cars if mar¬ 
kets can be found. All this does not include the vast 
amount of grapes raised along the entire lake shore 
from Toledo east to the Pennsylvania line, or the 
islands of Lake Erie, but just those grown for six 
miles or so each way from the city of Cleveland. It is 
indicated by the way prices are tumbling, that the 
market is deluged everywhere with grapes. The New 
York crop is certainly ahead of time, and the Michi¬ 
gan crop is ‘ ’twixt the two,’ the Ohio crop being a few 
days late, so that there is a glut in the general mar¬ 
ket that causes the sellers of the Exchange to be very 
lively to keep up their end of the general sales of the 
market, or keep their rightful share. The Cleveland 
Exchange is located in a fine room, down town, and 
has its own telegraph and telephone operatives right 
in the Exchange ; this enables the sellers to have 
their fingers on the very pulse of the market, east or 
west.” f. h. v. 
THE BINGHAMTON BEET-SUGAR FACTORY. 
HISTORY OF THE ENTERPRISE. 
W hat It Promises for Farmers. 
How It Started. —In the Spring of 1897, quite a 
number of the farmers along the valley of the Susque¬ 
hanna River accepted the offer made by the Cornell 
Experiment Station to furnish sugar-beet seed free to 
any who would agree to use it, and give the Station 
samples of the beets, and information regarding the 
crop. The marked success of the crop, and the evident 
satisfaction of the farmers regarding the expense of 
growing, showed that the conditions in this section 
were favorable for sugar beets, so that capitalists be¬ 
came interested in the enterprise. The result was 
that the Binghamton Beet-Sugar Company was incor¬ 
porated with a paid-up capital of $440,000, the original 
stockholders numbering 11. 
Machinery From Europe. —Last December, two 
of the stockholders, together with J. Van Neuwen- 
huyse, who put up the factory at Rome last year, and 
is now superintendent of the Binghamton factory, 
visited Europe and investigated the business as it is 
carried on in France and Germany. In France, they 
purchased the larger part of the machinery necessary 
for the erection of a beet-sugar factory, the steam 
boilers, some conveyors, tanks, granulators, centrif¬ 
ugals, pumps, etc., being purchased in this country 
to complete the outfit. In April, the foundations for 
the building were commenced, and work has been 
steadily pushed on the erection of the plant ever since. 
The buildings are constructed very substantially of 
brick with slate roofs, and are now completed so far 
as the outside is concerned. The main building is 
partly two stories and partly three stories high, 200 
feet long and 86 feet wide, with additions 36 x 100 and 
34 x 75 feet, covering about 25,000 square feet of ground 
surface. The factory is located on the D. L. & W. 
Railroad, on the south bank of the Susquehanna River, 
in the town of Conklin, about one mile east of the city 
limits of Binghamton, where the company occupies 15 
acres of land. 
Capacity and Operation. —The capacity of the 
plant as it is now to be run is calculated to be 287 
tons of beets per day of 24 hours, which will make not 
far from 30 tons of sugar. The factory is so arranged, 
however, that, at a comparatively small expense, the 
capacity can be nearly doubled, and it is the intention 
of the company to do this within a few years if the 
enterprise prove as successful as is expected. The 
cost of a plant of this kind is about $1,000 for every 
ton of capacity, which would make the expense of 
erecting this one $287,000, but owing to the substantial 
manner in which all the work is done, and the pro¬ 
vision for increasing the capacity, the cost will, prob¬ 
ably, be not far from $300,000. 
The cooperation of the farmer with the manufacturer 
in this enterprise is almost a necessity, and when the 
farmers look at the immense amount of money that 
has been expended, they must realize that capital has 
great confidence in their ability to raise the beets. A 
few of the farmers who are not raising any beets 
claim that they cannot be raised at a profit, but 
actions speak plainer than words, and the same farm¬ 
ers hold their land at nearly double the price they did 
before the factory located here. 
The factory will be run day and night, Sundays ex¬ 
cepted, and will give employment to about 100 men. 
It will use 35 tons of coal, and from 12 to 15 tons of 
limestone per day. The limestone will be obtained 
from Howe’s Cave if the quality there prove satis¬ 
factory. The product of the factory will be granu¬ 
lated sugar of the highest quality, which will be put up 
in bags, and cannot be distinguished from cane sugar. 
Co-operation with Farmers. —The farmers here 
were very willing to raise the crop, and the Company 
contracted last Spring with over 1,100 farmers for 
2,137 acres of beets at $5 per ton, the company to pay 
the freight charges. The Company have used all pos¬ 
sible means to insure a good crop, and the present 
outlook is very gratifying. They bought a high-grade 
fertilizer in 100-ton lots, and furnished it to the farm¬ 
ers at cost, not requiring payment until Fall, and 
they have sent agents over all the ground three times 
during the season to give the farmers instruction as 
to the most approved methods of raising and harvest¬ 
ing the crop. Although the season has not been all 
that could be desired, still it is, probably, as good as 
can be expected, on an average, one year with an¬ 
other, and most of the beets are in fine condition, and 
promise a yield of from 10 to 15 tons per acre. 
Although none of the beets has been harvested yet, 
I am satisfied, from the appearance of the fields, that 
it is advisable to sow beets on good soil, perhaps more 
so than with many crops, because considerable labor 
is connected with them, which, with the exception of 
harvesting, costs just as much on poor land, with a 
correspondingly light yield, as on rich soil with a 
large crop. Most of the farmers sowed the beets in 
rows 18 inches apart, and thinned them to from six to 
eight inches in the row. The majority of them sowed 
400 or 500 pounds of commercial fertilizer and 14 
pounds of seed per acre, as was recommended by the 
Company. 
Samples of the beets have been sent to the factory 
from different parts of the surrounding country, and 
they analyze very well, showing a good per cent of 
sugar, which will continue to increase until the beets 
are harvested. The factory will, probably, begin 
making sugar about October 10, and continue in oper¬ 
ation for from three to four months. From present 
indications, they will have from 15,000 to 18,000 tons 
of beets to work up this year. 
The cost of raising sugar beets in the East is a 
question of the utmost importance to our farmers, 
and deserves more attention than it has heretofore 
received, as it is now figured all the way from $20 to 
$60 an acre. Many of the farmers about here are 
keeping an accurate account of the labor on their 
beets. FRANK IIINSDILL. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
B. A. Bullock, Flint, Mich., has a calf dishorner that looks as 
though it might do good work. Surely, the sooner the horns are 
destroyed, the less pain to the animal, and the more sightly the 
poll afterwards. 
Ip you want to learn all about Jadoo Fibre and Liquid, send to 
The American Jadoo Company, 815 Fairmont Ave., Philadelphia, 
Pa., for catalogue. It is used as a fertilizer for vegetables, 
plants, flowers, etc. 
Tub Derrick Oil Company, Titusville, Pa., are offering to ship 
a superior quality of oil on trial, to be returned at their expense 
if not satisfactory. It is an opportunity for any one who wishes 
to buy oil at wholesale. 
Apropos of the discussions of powers on the farm, Smith & 
Pomeroy, 'Kalamazoo, Mich., come forward with Adams Barn 
Floor horse power, of which they say they are selling many, and 
that they give the best of satisfaction. It may be folded up in 
smali space when not in use. 
