1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
725 
A YANKEE IN OHIO. 
HOW THE STATE HOOKS TO EASTERN EYES. 
Its Advantages and Disadvantages. 
[EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.] 
A Great State. —It was John Gould who gave me 
this Ohio-like invitation : “ Come on to Ohio, and we 
will show you how our State is able to supply Presi¬ 
dents by the half-dozen lots, and Days, Shermans, 
Brighams, etc., for every demand or emergency !” 
As these products are national in character, and we 
are bound to need car-loads of them in the future, our 
readers will, doubtless, be glad to know more about 
the soil and air that develop them. It is a long jump 
from the seacoast to Ohio. Those who settled the 
great State three generations ago, drove ox teams 
along the rough roads, or went part way by canal, 
taking six weeks for the journey. Now one steps on 
a fast train at nightfall, and awakens the next morn¬ 
ing on the outskirts of Ohio. 
Mixed-Up Time. —The “ time” changed at Sala¬ 
manca, where the railroad clocks jumped an hour 
back. I woke up in the morning and looked at my 
watch, and then at the time table, and could not 
understand, for a time, just what had happened. 
When I ate breakfast, my watch insisted that it was 
a quarter past eight, while the railroad clocks were 
positive that it was a quarter past seven. Along the 
line of the railroads in Ohio, I find the farmers go by 
“ local” time. As I write this in an Ohio farmhouse, 
the house clock has just struck 11, while my watch 
says 11:30, and the railroad clocks point to 10:30. If 
my watch gets back to New Jersey true to time, I 
shall think it has a very steady head. 
Comfortable Railroad Travel, —I wish one of 
the old-time human bacteria who set out from New 
England years ago for the purpose of starting west¬ 
ern civilization could now travel on a Pullman car, 
and see the latest development of his old ox-wagon. 
Railroad travel is a luxury in these days. Meals 
are now served on the European plan—that is, you 
pay only for what you order and eat. Formerly, the 
price for a meal was $1, and you were left free to se¬ 
lect anything from the bill of fare. There has not 
been so much improvement in the ordinary passenger 
car—not as much, I should say, as in the freight 
service. I saw this morning, on the Erie Road, a 
number of steel cars designed for carrying coal or ore. 
These steel cars are a little lighter than the wooden 
coal cars, and carry about 20 tons more of coal, while 
the cost is about the same. These steel cars slope in 
at the bottom, and are easily unloaded. I am told 
that steel box cars are also made, but are not gener¬ 
ally in use. 
From a Car Window. —It is hardly fair to judge 
the farming of any section from a car window. Rail¬ 
roads do not usually run directly through the best 
farming lands. They are liable to make for the 
easiest grades and cheaper lands. The produce from 
the richer lands lying back will be hauled to the rail¬ 
road in any event. There is no particular inducement 
for a farmer bordering on a railroad to put a polish on 
his farm. A car-window view of the country for 50 
miles southwest of Jamestown, N. Y., is not attrac¬ 
tive. It was originally a hemlock timber district, 
inclined to be low and swampy. It is not so many 
years ago that the town of Corry, Pa., was full of 
stumps. Now it is a bustling town—headquarters for 
an immense dairy and creamery district. The country 
still looks damp, rough and stumpy to a Jerseyman, 
but it is rapidly going through an important stage of 
development, and the dairy business is growing rap¬ 
idly. The hemlock furnished bark and timber and 
labor for the men who cut it. Then before the stumps 
were out of the ground, the cows came in to utilize 
the sweet grasses that covered the fields. Perhaps, 
after the rough pastures are smoothed, wheat may be 
grown for a term of years to use up the fertility 
which dairying has banked up in the soil. 
Appearance of the Country. —There is nothing 
in the appearance of this section that would tempt a 
Jerseyman to sell out and move West. The little 
towns are not like ours. They do not have a sub¬ 
stantial look. There are few if any gardens around 
the houses. There is a lack of paint on houses and 
barns. A railroad trip down through Delaware would 
open the eyes of some of these farmers. In Delaware, 
every house, barn and fence is whitewashed—bright 
and clean. These Delaware farmers would not let 
even a small tenant house escape the whitewash brush. 
The tenant houses scattered over this western district 
seemed to me like dull places to live in. Some were in 
bad repair—all seemed to lack shade and ornament. 
There was little fruit about them. We do such things 
at least a little better in New Jersey. A little money 
spent for trees and fruit about the house makes a 
happier tenant and a more rentable farm. I should 
think it would be hard to bring up a boy in this 
country. I should expect that he would be wanting 
all the time to know what the world is like over 
these great hills, and off he would go to find out. 
People who ought to know tell me that the country 
back from the railroad is much better, and that this 
country is gaining and growing smoother rapidly. 
The chief crops to be seen from the cars were newly- 
seeded grain and corn. The corn did not look large. 
It was all shocked, and some farmers were husking. 
Most of the corn fields were full of pumpkins. Take 
it all in all, for the first four hours of daylight, I was 
able to say that New Jersey on a rainy day is good 
enough for me. 
A Better Country. —As we came nearer Cleveland 
into an older farming section, there was a great 
change for the better. The land seemed stronger. 
There is more paint, more fruit and more apparent 
prosperity. Now and then, we dashed past a hedge 
along the road. There are fewer barns carrying ad¬ 
vertisements of tobacco or medicines. This improve¬ 
ment continued up to the City of Cleveland. Now I 
am back in the country, and can get a fairer idea of 
the farm land. A pretty girl drove along the road in 
a buggy with four boys holding on as best they could. 
“There is a point in statesmanship for you,” said 
Mr. Gould. “ That is a teacher in our consolidated 
school. We have one first-class school in the center 
of the town, and bring in the scholars to it. That 
girl is one of the teachers, and she drives in from a 
farm, bringing these scholars along with her ! That’s 
the way we do it in Ohio—give them the best schools 
we can.” h. w. c. 
Among the Marketmen. 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Second-Crop Clover Hay. —Not long ago one of 
our readers stated that he found it impossible to 
secure first-class, second-crop clover hay, though he 
had advertised for it to some extent. It seemed to us 
as though there must be plenty of such hay in the 
country, but upon inquiry among our subscribers, we 
find that it is almost impossible to find a farmer who 
has good clover rowen to sell. There is a growing 
demand for this hay to be cut and sold as poultry food, 
and it seems strange that farmers are unable to supply 
it. Some report a poor growth of the aftermath, a 
few that it is cut for seed, some that it is pastured, and 
others that it is left to go back on the ground. Prac¬ 
tically no one seems to cut it for hay. 
X X X 
Sweet Potatoes and Yanis. —The southern man 
considers the yam far ahead of the sweet potato, 
usually, for eating, and cannot understand why it 
does not sell so well in our northern markets. What 
is called the yam in our market, is soggy and heavy 
when cooked, while most northern people like a dry 
sweet potato. Another thing is that most of them 
like medium-sized sweet potatoes. It is a common 
trick of the sweet-potato growers to pack the over¬ 
grown specimens in the middle of the barrel, just as 
some of the dishonest apple growers pack the small 
apples in the middle of the barrel. None of the sweet 
potatoes reaching this market find such favor as those 
from southern New Jersey, and none sell for such high 
prices. At present, prices of all sweet potatoes are 
very low, and the fancy Vinelands are being kept for a 
later market, when higher prices are likely to prevail. 
X X X 
Peaches in Bushel Baskets. —Large quantities 
of peaches have been received from Ohio and Michigan, 
perhaps from some other western points, in bushel 
baskets. We are told that this is a common-sized 
package for shipping them to the Chicago market. It 
is not so attractive a package, so far as appearances 
go, as the basket in common use in the East; but 
almost anything goes well this year, if the peaches 
are of good quality. A basket most in favor with the 
retailers, is a small one, convenient for customers to 
carry. Many a man on his way home, seeing a nice 
handled basket filled with choice fruit, is tempted to 
buy it, and carry it along, when he would not be 
otherwise. It is only a few years ago that almost the 
only package one could buy in the market was the 
ordinary round, half-bushel peach basket. Now, 
large quantities are sold in handled baskets, and 
many dealers buy these baskets and fill them with the 
peaches that come in larger packages. 
X X X 
Sleepless Workers. —“When do you people 
sleep ? ” I asked a driver of one of the trucks belong¬ 
ing to a commission firm, as he was on his way over 
the ferry to Jersey City, shortly before midnight. 
“ Oh, we do not sleep much. Sometimes we get two 
or three hours, sometimes three or four. Sometimes 
we get to bed at 6 o’clock, sometimes we do not. Occa¬ 
sionally we get off a trifle earlier, but we have to get 
up at 10 o’clock, especially in the fruit season.” 
Peaches from Delaware, New Jersey and other points, 
that come in car-loads, are unloaded in Jersey City, 
and the trucks go after them. Each of these trucks 
has a broad body, with a high seat in front, the sides 
being slatted. Each truck, when carting peaches, 
carries a lot of boards just the right length to reach 
across the body. A tier of baskets is put on the bot¬ 
tom of the truck, the boards are laid across, another 
tier put on this, and so on, until the truck is full. 
These one-horse trucks carry loads that would frighten 
many a farmer. I have seen one horse drawing a 
truck-load of 25 barrels of apples, and it was not a 
very large horse either. But the hours that these 
drivers have, would cause the ordinary hired man on 
the farm to go on strike in about three days. F. u. v. 
MORE ABOUT LONG-SHIPPING BERRIES. 
HOW THEY SHOULD BE HANDLED. 
We find that our readers are considerably interested 
in discussions of varieties of strawberries that have 
proved good shippers, and in methods of handling the 
fruit. Mr. A. W. Slaymaker, of Delaware, has had 
large experience in strawberry culture. He says that 
he has shipped Jessies that were plenty good enough 
for the President, but this variety is not always up to 
the standard and cannot, therefore, be relied upon. 
“ What do you think of Marshall ?” was asked. 
“ Marshall is first-class in every respect, except that 
it is not productive enough for profitable marketing 
We sent out the Ideal hoping that it would prove just 
the berry for a special market, and I yet think it is 
the best berry for its early season. When compared 
with such heavy croppers as Bubach, Saunders, Ten¬ 
nessee, etc., it is too light a yielder to make it very 
attractive.” 
“ Well, what is the best berry you have found ?” 
“We consider that Pride of Cumberland possesses 
about the best combination of good quality, firmness, 
shapeliness and productiveness, along with perfect 
vigor of plant and regular bearing every year. It has 
been grown and shipped to the most critical markets 
for a good many years, from Cumberland County, N. J. 
I have not fruited it enough myself to settle its exact 
standing, but 1 believe it will prove a success in a 
critical market. It is, however, unfortunate in its 
name, as one naturally thinks of the old Cumberland, 
from which it is totally distinct in every way. This 
is by no means the largest berry we have. There is 
no doubt that, other things being equal, large size is 
desirable in first-class fruit. The larger the better, I 
think, if we do not have to sacrifice quality or firm¬ 
ness for it. Nick Ohmer, one of the newcomers, seems 
to have all the good qualities along with extra large 
size.” 
“ What rules do you have for picking ?” 
“ Strawberries should be gathered with a short 
stem, so that the berry need not come between the 
fingers at all. Only one must be picked at a time, 
and it must be in the basket before the picker tries to 
get another one. Most pickers try to hurry by snap¬ 
ping the berry off and gathering a half-dozen or more 
at a time; but this always results in faulty berries 
and poor returns for the grower.” 
“ What about filling up the baskets ?” 
“ They should be topped with berries just like the 
rest in the basket—every one good and ripe, and 
turned so as to bring out the best coloring effect. 
Care must be taken to have the basket look full, yet 
not come too closely in contact with the divisions of 
the crate. I am satisfied that it will pay handsomely, 
where a special market is the object, to wrap each 
quart with waxed paper, before crating, so as to ex¬ 
clude the dust, while admitting necessary circulation.” 
BUSINESS BITS. 
A trustee of the Shaker Society says that they have three of 
the Bowsher feed mills. This in itself speaks the Society’s ap¬ 
proval of home grinding in general, and this mill in particular, 
as two were bought after the first had been tried. The N. P. 
Bowsher Company, South Bend, Ind., is the manufacturer. 
Every man who makes butter should have some parchment 
butter paper to protect it from the atmosphere. It is a necessity 
for covering in shipping, whether in prints or packages. A. G. 
Elliot & Co., Philadelphia, Pa., are the manufacturers. For a 
sample, they send a half ream postpaid by mail, for 30 cents. 
The mail order business of the great department store of Boggs 
A Buhl, Allegheny, Pa.,has placed all the advantages of city shop¬ 
ping at the fireside of the country home. As this is something of 
a new departure, we think it worthy of more than casual notice. 
Formerly, it is true, almost the only houses that did a dry goods 
mail business, handled only a cheap line of goods. Now, how¬ 
ever, some of the best houses in the country cater to mail order 
trade, and this is one of them. No matter whether you want the 
medium or finest goods—dress goods at 15 cents or $6 a yard, or 
prices between these—you can get it, and at the same price ex¬ 
actly as if you were at the counter in any one of their 64 different 
departments. No matter where you are or how far away, the 
price is the same, and your order gets just as careful atten¬ 
tion as if you lived only around the corner from the store. They 
send samples free—also illustrated catalogue of suits, skirts, 
capes, jackets, and everything in the 64 different depart¬ 
ments. We have referred to this firm at some length, because 
the mail order business is, no doubt, new to many of our people, 
and we want them to know that they can order goods of any kind 
from this house, and get the worth of their money. We think that 
boys’ school suits will be especially attractive. 
