1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
4o9 
WONG »THE» 
,/V\ARKmCN 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAB. 
My talk this week will he from the other end of the 
line—about what I saw and heard among some of the 
people who grow and ship the produce to our great 
markets. Naturally, they look at matters through 
eyes different from those of the receivers and sellers. 
They are not encouraged by the prices they are re¬ 
ceiving this year, and are solicitous for a change that 
shall give them better returns from their investments, 
and a greater reward for their labors. Some have an 
intelligent idea of the reasons for unsatisfactory con¬ 
ditions, while others don’t pretend to reason about it ; 
they simply know that things are as they are, and 
they grumble at them, but do nothing more. The 
latter class aren’t likely to improve or help to improve 
matters much, while the former may. 
X X X 
Dubing the week, I visited the farm of Theo. F. D. 
Baker, Bridgeton, N. J. Nearly his entire farm of 
110 acres is devoted to the production of truck, vege¬ 
table seeds and strawberries. Of his methods of cul¬ 
ture, many of which are worth careful study, I shall 
write at another time. This region is a great 
strawberry country ; I believe something like 
3,000 acres are grown in the county. They are 
growing fine strawberries, too, large and of fine 
appearance, though some of the growers say 
that they haven’t the quality possessed by the 
old Wilson, formerly the great market variety. 
They say that the market has been demanding 
large size berries and of fine appearance, and 
the varieties that furnish these requirements 
have gradually taken the place of the others. 
Mr. Baker told me that he had picked many 
berries, 20 of which would fill a quart basket. 
I met many other growers, and their testimony 
all agrees on the main points. None is making 
the money of former times, and all seem dis¬ 
satisfied. 
X X X 
Mb. Baker said that some of his fine berries 
this year had netted him after picking, ship¬ 
ping and selling expenses were paid, about one 
cent per quart—all this to pay for the use of the 
land and the labor of growing. There are dif¬ 
ferent conditions to which he ascribes this state 
of affairs. Some talk overproduction, and this 
may be true to a certain extent. But the fact 
is that our country is changing, and new con¬ 
ditions arise through the growing of new crops 
in new places. New Jersey formerly grew grain 
and live stock ; then the broad and fertile West 
was developed, and it grew and shipped in these 
products at prices lower than they could be 
grown on our high-priced eastern land. So the 
New Jersey farmers took up the culture of 
fruits and vegetables, which found a ready sale 
in the large eastern cities. So properous times 
came again. But another turn in the wheel 
brought other changed conditions, and the South 
took up the growing of small fruits and vegeta¬ 
bles, and with the improved facilities for shipment, 
has been an important competitor in the northern 
markets. Of course, the number of those growing 
these products in the North increased while prices 
were good, and the supply has been increasing. 
X X X 
But another element has entered into the account. 
There has been a business depression, and many have 
not had the money to buy as they formerly did. In 
Bridgeton, for example, which is largely a manufac¬ 
turing town, there have been a number of failures 
among manufacturers, and their operatives have been 
thrown out of employment, and have not the means 
to buy other than the barest necessaries of life. Some 
of them, too, who have small plots of ground, have 
begun raising, to some extent, the products they 
formerly purchased. This condition of affairs, though 
worse in some parts of the country than in others, is 
general, and it is to be hoped that it will be corrected. 
X t X 
Anotheb element of depression is the greed of some 
middlemen. This is a more important matter than 
some are willing to admit. Mr. Baker gave instances 
of this. When he was selling lettuce to the retailers 
for two to three cents a head, some of the retailers 
were charging their customers 10 cents per head ; the 
result was that not a quarter so much was consumed. 
One man told him that he had bought but one basket 
of strawberries so far this season ; he couldn’t afford 
them, for his grocer charged him 15 cents per quart, 
while the shippers were getting only five or six. 
Numerous other instances of the same character were 
given. It would seem that a retailer ought to be 
satisfied with a profit of less than 200 or more per 
cent, and that he ought to have sense enough to see 
that it is for his own interest to increase his trade by 
selling at a reasonable profit. The remedy here 
would seem to be for the grower to dispense with the 
services of the retailer and deal directly with the 
consumer, even though he do a smaller business. The 
shipper, too, is sometimes robbed by the overcharging 
of the commission man, or by his not remitting the 
prices for which produce is sold. 
X X X 
Still another important factor is the cost of pro¬ 
duction, shipping and marketing. The land on Mr. 
Baker’s farm is assessed at $75 per acre, and the tax 
rate is high—just as high as, if not higher than, it 
was years ago. Taxes are too high. Labor is just as 
high as it was years ago, and labor is an important 
part of the cost. His berry pickers get 1% cent a 
quart, and a smart one will earn not less than $2 a 
day, the day ending at about 2 o’clock. His hands by 
the day are well paid, while the supplies they can 
procure for $1, will nearly double those in former 
years. Then freight rates are just as high as they 
were when the prices of fruits and vegetables were 
two, three and four times as high as now. The 
THE LATE ROBERT DOUGLAS. Fig. 170. 
charges in the city for cartage and commission are 
the same, too, so that, while the cost of production 
and selling has not been materially reduced, the sell- 
ing prices are far below former times. If the former 
had been reduced in proportion to the latter, it would 
be a little encouragement. 
X X X 
It frequently happens that market prices are bet¬ 
ter in some cities than in others. Especially is this 
true of small fruits in some of the more northern 
cities as compared with a great distributing center 
like New \ork. Mr. Baker made some experiments 
in shipping strawberries to some of these last year, 
and results were encouraging. He isn’t doing it this 
year. To make it a success, it is necessary for grow¬ 
ers to combine their shipments, so that car-loads may 
he forwarded. He hasn’t succeeded in inducing his 
neighbors to organize, hence is shipping mostly to 
New York or Philadelphia or selling in the home 
market. But prices in these other places haven’t 
been so much higher this year, as the supply has been 
large all around. In connection with this subject of 
cooperation and organization, I visited the Fruit 
Growers’ Union at Hammonton, said to be one of the 
best and mcst successful in the country, and I shall 
describe its plan of organization and operation in a 
later issue. 
X t X 
I visited the Philadelphia market, but there is 
really so little difference between this and the New 
York market now that what is true of supplies and 
prices in one is also true of the other. At Bridgeton, 
the different growers bring their berries to the sta¬ 
tion, a car-load or more is made up, and the cars are 
started from there about 3 o’clock p. m. If no acci¬ 
dent occur, they arrive in Jersey City at 12. and the 
fruit is on the market and sold shortly after. The 
consumer gets them next day. But it does seem that 
the grower who has his money invested in land and 
tools, who gives his work the benefit of many years 
of experience, should get, at least, as much of the 
consumer’s money as the laborer who cultivates and 
hoes, the picker who gathers the fruit, the railroad 
which transports it to market, or the seller who puts 
it iuto the consumers’ hands. Under existing con¬ 
ditions, many of these growers in south Jersey aren’t 
getting as much as any one of these different classes. 
F. H. v. 
R0BER1 DOUGLAS. 
The death of Robert Douglas, of Illinois, removes 
a familiar figure from American horticultural and 
forestry circles. In view of the great interest felt in 
Mr. Douglas’s life and work, we reprint, at Fig. 17G, 
a portrait which appeared in The R. N.-Y. about 
three years ago. 
Mr. Douglas was born at Galeshead, in the north 
of England, April 20, 1813, and came to America in 
the spring of 1836. In 1819, he made the overland 
trip to California from Illinois, and observing 
the vast tracts of prairie uncovered by trees, he 
then began his great work of growing seedling 
forest trees. His first efforts were not particu¬ 
larly successful, but he finally connected the 
growing cf apple and pear seedlings with that 
of forest tree seedlings, and this venture proved 
quite successful. This was particularly true 
after the first year of the war, as at that time, 
eastern nurserymen had neglected the grow¬ 
ing of fruit seedlings. During the third year 
of the war, he came east and made contracts 
for seeds with cider-mill owners and others. 
He planted 50 acres of such seeds in broad 
drills, and has said that he sold 50 bushels of 
apple seeds to nurserymen in and around one 
city in Iowa. At that time, eastern nurserymen 
laughed at his idea of shipping trees from 
west to east, but results proved that he knew 
what he was doing, and his trade in one-year-old 
seedlings became immense. Until about the 
close of the war, nurserymen generally im¬ 
ported evergreen seedlings, and secured the 
native kinds from the forest. Here seemed 
to be a great opportunity for American grow¬ 
ers, and Mr. Douglas began to study the busi¬ 
ness in every possible detail. The story of his 
failures and painstaking efforts for success 
would fill volumes, and our modern nursery¬ 
men do not realize what Robert Douglas did 
in the early days of forest-tree planting. Mil¬ 
lions and millions of his trees have been sent 
about the country, planting the waste places, 
adding beauty and shade to the farm and city 
homes, cooling the parks and crowded streets, 
and everywhere whispering stories of praise 
and love for the man who spent so much time 
in creating the new industry. 
Robert Douglas was one of those true, lovable 
men who give so much time and work to the 
service of the public. His long and useful business 
life was without a stain or flaw of reproach. Those 
who knew him in business or in social life, loved and 
respected him, and he leaves behind him a memory 
that other men may well envy and strive to emulate. 
We may well say of such a man, “ Thou shalt be 
missed ”, yet the trees which he so faithfully and 
carefully planted and propagated, will live for a cent¬ 
ury, and tell the story of a true, simple and useful life. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Tue Sboo-Fly Mfg. Company, 1005 Fairmount Avenue. Philadel¬ 
phia, Pa., are the manufacturers of the Shoo-fly referred to last 
week. They send one pint on receipt of 25 cents, and guarantee 
that it will protect cows from flies and vermin. 
Everybody doesn’t want water tanks, but most stockmen do, 
and those who do want one that will not dry out m the heat of 
summer, or burst from frost in winter. They will like one that 
will notrot or rust. The Kelly Foundry Machine Company, 27 
Purl Street, Goshen, Ind., make one to fill all these requirements. 
The tanks are made of the best galvanized steel, and are, prob¬ 
ably, the cheapest as well as the best, that can be provided for 
storing water. They are made in all sizes. Fuller particulars 
may be had by addressing the firm as above. 
Emerson once wrote of Concord, Mass.: “By drainage, we 
have gone to the subsoil, and we have a Concord under Concord 
a Middlesex under Middlesex, and a basement story of Massa¬ 
chusetts more valuable than all the superstructure.” Emerson 
of course, referred to the moisture in the subsoil, and went on 
further to show how it could be made available by tile drainage. 
Tiling, however, has a double value ; it removes a surplus of 
water, as well as providing moisture for the plants during 
droughts. It is, in fact, sometimes claimed that drainage has 
reclaimed more land than has the ax. If you purpose to do any 
draining, anu need tile or other draining implements, write John 
H. Jackson, Albany, N. Y., for his catalogue. 
