1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
9 
WHAT I SAW AND HEARD IN THE PHILADELPHIA MARKET 
Besides the grocery stores which sell fruits, vege¬ 
tables, etc., there are numerous retail markets which 
furnish every kind of supplies needed in the family. 
The largest and best of these is the Reading Terminal 
Market, situated under the station of the P. & R. 
R. R., and owned by that company. This is, without 
doubt, one of the best markets in the country. It is 
large, containing hundreds of stalls. It is high and 
airy. It is comparatively new. It is well paved, and 
the passages and aisles are wide and roomy. It is 
kept scrupulously clean. Beneath the whole is an 
extensive cold storage room which affords facilities 
for the keeping of all sorts of produce. The market 
is easy of access from all directions, and must do an 
immense business. There seemed to be few vacant 
stalls. The stalls are rented for varying sums accord¬ 
ing to location. Many dealers occupy two or more. 
Every conceivable thing in the vegetable, fruit, meat 
and dairy line is sold here. 
But the thing that interested me most was the 
farmers’ stalls. Each stall bears over it the name of 
the renter, and I noticed that the names of several 
were followed by the names of some Pennsylvania 
towns or counties. I noticed, too, that most of these 
stalls seemed to be unoccupied. Finally I found one 
whose occupant was unpacking and spreading out 
some of his goods and from him I learned that the 
farmers who rent these stalls have two market days 
each week—Wednesday and Saturday. As my visit 
was on Friday, I did not meet the farmers. This one 
had come on ahead to get his stall ready, had brought 
some produce, and expected more that night by train. 
He said that a great many sell a large part of their 
produce in the market in this way. A farmer who 
sells only his own produce, pays $4 per month rent 
for a single stall. One who sells for some of his 
neighbors, pays more, while one who buys and thus 
comes under the head of dealer, pays still more. Thus 
it will be seen that the farmer is favored in the mat¬ 
ter of rent. 
This farmer told me that it is a very satisfactory 
way of selling, both to the producer and the con¬ 
sumer. It dispenses with the middleman, and puts 
the goods quickly in the consumers’ hands. Some 
make a specialty of dairy products, others of poultry 
and eggs, others of meats, while others sell a variety 
of products. This affords the opportunity of cooper¬ 
ating and combining the products from different 
farms. The farmer interviewed told me that he sold 
a great deal of produce to go to customers in New 
York City, and that not a week passed without send¬ 
ing more or less of a variety of products. The farm¬ 
ers who hold stands in this way, year after year, se¬ 
cure a regular line of customers who look to them 
for supplies. The farmer learns the needs and whims 
of his customers, and is better able to cater to their 
wants. It seems an excellent way of selling the 
produce. 
Another retail market is the Bainbridge or Wash¬ 
ington Market. This is an old market, and meats, 
with some fish, seemed to be the chief commodities. 
A large number of stalls were empty, and it was said 
that the market was shortly to be torn down. It was 
in much better shape than the other city markets. It 
and the South Second Street Market are owned by the 
city, which rents the privileges therein. The latter 
was well filled, and a great variety of products were 
sold. Many of the ponderous market women so 
familiar in the New York market are here to be seen, 
and their language, more forcible than elegant, 
sounds very familiar to the frequenter of the New 
York markets. But the retailers, as a rule, are not so 
persistent and pushing as those of the latter city. 
I saw many of the hucksters or wagon boys so 
familiar to New Yorkers, and the prices at which 
they were slaughtering their products denoted little 
profit for those who had previously handled the goods. 
But they are a good thing for the wholesalers, who 
are thus enabled to clean up what might, otherwise, 
be a total loss, and also, when their wares are not 
positively unwholesome, to the poorer consumers who 
are thus enabled to enjoy luxuries otherwise beyond 
their reach. 
I wandered into the Hebrew quarter, and might 
almost have imagined myself in Allen or Hester 
Streets, New York; but it was not quite so crowded, not 
quite so dirty, and had far less of that rush and push 
so characteristic of New York. But the same peculiar 
wares are shown outside the shops, and the same 
peculiar people are dickering and squabbling over 
them. One prominent feature in front of every shop 
was a coop of live poultry. From these, the women 
would select the fowls that pleased them, the shop¬ 
keeper would weigh them, and each would go off 
carrying the doomed bird by the legs, to meet its fate. 
Of all classes and conditions are the buyers and sellers 
in these great markets, and varied are the goods they 
handle. All are an instructive study to one interested 
in the problem of bringing nearer together the pro¬ 
ducer and consumer. F. H. v. 
ALL SORTS. 
Farm Tenants in Canada. 
I do not know how it is with you on that side of the 
international line ; but it seems to me that on this 
side, the very greatest agricultural evil that afflicts 
this portion of Canada—Ontario, I mean—is the large 
proportion of tenants as compared with the number 
of those who are cultivating their own farms. A 
rented farm is like a livery horse—both are, in a great 
measure, at the mercy of the hirer. When farming is 
prosperous, it is not so bad. But when the tenants, 
after working hard all the year, are perplexed in 
their endeavors to make both ends meet, pinch as 
much as they may, whether it be on account of poor 
crops or poor prices or both combined, then comes 
the temptation to wring the wherewithal out of the 
farm by any means that are available. It has some¬ 
how happened that so many barns have of late been 
burned, that the insurance companies have raised 
their rates on that description of property. It has, 
moreover, been found necessary to obtain a special 
enactment to meet the case of a tenant farmer mak¬ 
ing way with his property before the rent becomes 
due, in order to escape from paying it. The effect of 
all this in the end will be to make it more difficult for 
the poorer class of tenants to get farms to rent. There 
are several kinds of poverty. It may be a poverty of 
money ; of farm skill; or of reputation for sobriety, 
industry, and honesty. If, in the last recourse, it re¬ 
sults in the owners going back to work their own 
farms, it may not after all prove a cause of much 
regret. w. o. e. 
Whitby, Ont. 
Growing Potatoes From Sprouts. 
Will you give the process of raising potatoes from sprouts, and 
the size they generally grow from the sprout ? 
In order to obtain the largest possible yield of 
potatoes from a given quantity of seed, the plan of 
utilizing all the sprouts is followed. Every fully de¬ 
veloped potato “ eye ” is composed of one strong (ter¬ 
minal) bud surrounded by several smaller (axillary) 
buds. When placed under the proper conditions of 
heat and moisture, the main bud pushes up and forms 
the first shoot or stem of the “ vine” ; at the same 
time, roots are formed at its base. If this shoot be 
removed, the strongest of the remaining buds pushes 
up in like manner. This will continue until all of the 
buds have started, or until all of the food supply con¬ 
tained in the tuber is exhausted. 
Place the tubers in a greenhouse or hotbed in sand 
or very light sandy soil and cover lightly, barely out 
of sight. Give but little water, only enough to keep 
the earth moist. After the sprouts have appeared, 
give all the light and air possible, for potato plants 
show a decided tendency to “ spindle” when grown 
under glass. When the first sprouts have reached a 
height of four or five inches, they may be removed by 
gently pushing the fingers down close to the tuber 
and breaking them off. Usually a perfect mat of roots 
will be found developed from the base of each stem. 
This is a perfect plant with roots, stem and leaves, 
and may be planted in the open ground in the same 
way as a cabbage or tomato plant, and with equal 
care, is just as certain to mature a crop. Three or 
four crops of sprouts may be taken. 
The number of plants may be further increased by 
taking slips or cuttings from the tips of the sprouts 
which may be rooted in a greenhouse or shaded hot¬ 
bed in the same manner as other soft-wood cuttings. 
To repeat, plant in sand or sandy soil so that the 
sprouts may be easily removed. Give but little water, 
to avoid danger of rot. Unless extreme earliness be 
desired, it is not necessary to use a hotbed or other 
artificial heat. A cold frame is sufficient with a cov¬ 
ering of hay or leaves instead of glass, this to be re¬ 
moved as the sprouts appear. Frederic cranefikld. 
Wisconsin Experiment Station. 
Fertilizers Alone for Sweet Potatoes. 
About 30 years ago, when we came here, it was the 
general practice to use stable manure for sweets. 
The agents told us not to mark them so that they 
would know they came from here, as they would not 
sell as well as though they came from other locali¬ 
ties. But after we used commercial fertilizers, they 
sold for a dollar a barrel more than from any other 
locality. It is a common practice now to bring them 
from other places, passing by other shipping places, 
in order to have them sold as Vineland potatoes. Our 
climate and soil are especially adapted, with the use 
of commercial fertilizers, to raise the smoothest, best 
color, shape, and quality of sweets that are raised 
anywhere ; and I think they bear the highest chemi¬ 
cal analysis. 
We have found by experience that the best results 
are obtained from a fertilizer that contains three to 
four per cent of ammonia, eight to ten per cent of 
available phosphoric acid, and eight to nine per cent 
of actual potash ; some soils need more ammonia and 
some less. Stable manure is entirely out of propor¬ 
tion for economy, or to produce the best results, as 
to quality, shape or color. It contains three times 
too much ammonia for the other chemicals, and is 
greatly deficient in potash. Too much ammonia pro¬ 
duces too rank a growth of vines and too many small 
potatoes and strings. By using our formula, applying 
800 or 1,000 pounds to the acre, the land grows better 
and better for any number of years. Some have tried 
it on the same ground for nearly 20 years with no 
other fertilizer, with good results. As to humus or 
organic matter, sweets do not need much, as we get 
as good or better crops on soils destitute of humus. 
Where brush heaps have been burned, and all the 
organic matter beneath, all crops grow better for it. 
There are but three elements that need to be applied 
to crops to get the greatest yield, as so little of other 
elements is required that the soil can supply them. 
There is no money in sweets this year, for such 
immense quantities have been raised in the South, 
that they hardly pay for harvesting, especially South. 
As we raise crops that give nothing back to the soil, 
we use chemical manures by which we can get our 
lands into a high state of fertility immediately, and 
raise paying crops at the same time. j. wilde. 
Vineland, N. J. 
Rats and Celery. 
Celery, besides being specifically beneficial to 
health as a nerve strengthener and otherwise, is en¬ 
joyed by most people by way of dessert after a meal, 
as much as the customary dry nuts or juicy fruits. 
Its growth is continually extending into all gardens 
that have a mellow, friable soil and ready means of 
watering in case of drought. The principal difficulty 
is in the keeping of it, but that is beginning to be 
better understood. To keep well through cold 
weather it should not be started too early, but for 
early use, the seed may be sown as early as tomato 
seed. For winter use, we take the plants up about 
October 20, before any freeze of much lower than 28 
degrees F., occurs. Celery will appear to recover 
after being exposed to 20 degrees F., but it will show 
the bad effects by not keeping so well. Our cellar is 
rather too warm and dry, owing to a furnace in one 
division of it; so we emptied the well-drained two- 
foot-deep pit of the hotbed, using the contents to 
mulch flower plants, etc., and set the celery in it 
close together, but with fine earth covering the roots. 
Although so avid for water during the season of 
growth, it seems to need but little while blanching, 
by having the stems deprived of light while the leaves 
are open to it. It has been stored about six weeks, 
and has not shown the need of water yet, the roots 
and mold being damp at the time of storing and con¬ 
tinuing so at a depth of 20 inches, with the stable 
manure pile close by and showers frequent at this 
season, with nights long and the sun low. The pit is 
covered with sash, and shutters are at hand to cover 
all on cold nights. 
And now I come to a point that accounts for the 
inauspicious four-lettered word that I have used in 
the title to this story, and that justifies its telling 
here. In order to supply the necessary change of air 
to the leaves, the upper end of the sash has been 
propped up three or four inches by little blocks of 
wood when needful, thus keeping rain off from the 
leaves while reducing warmth and admitting a cir¬ 
culation of air. The bed, for convenience of access 
and oversight, is on the south side of a stable and 
carriage floor. It is but a hop and a jump for a 
rat to spring from under the floor into the celery 
pit, and we have just made the vexatious discovery 
that the rats have eaten and spoiled quite a large lot 
of it in parts from which we were not using. w. 
Blair County, Pa. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Chapman wants to send you his catalogue of potatoes and pigs. 
The A. I. Root Co., Medina, O., is, we think, the largest bee 
supply house in the country. That there is no better one we are 
certain. 
The Pierce-Williams Co., South Haven, Mich., manufacture a 
very complete line of berry boxes and crates, also baskets for 
peaches, grapes and melons. They will send an illustrated cata¬ 
logue on application. 
The “ Iron Age ” wheel hoes have become justly popular. The 
high wheel makes the work easier, and saves man labor. The 
Bateman Mfg. Co., box 102, Grenloch, N. J., will send catalogue 
of these goods and the other implements made by them on appli¬ 
cation. 
Messrs. Morrill <fc Morley, Benton Harbor, Mich., report con¬ 
tinued success with their Eclipse spray pump. It has been placed 
in the leading Government experiment stations of the United 
States and Canada, and secured unqualified indorsement of the 
authorities. Last April, it won first place in the Canadian Gov¬ 
ernment contest at Grimsby. 
We have known houses that were lined inside with Fay’s 
manilla roofing instead of plaster. They were warm houses, too. 
It is used more extensively, however, for roofing and sheathing, 
and we want to say right here that if the wind whistles through 
your stable or pig pen, you would better make an investment in 
some of these goods at once. The Fay Manilla Roofing Co., Cam 
den, N. J., are the manufacturers 
