THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1897 
THE NEW JERSEY FRUIT EXCHANGE. 
In The R. N.-Y. of July 27, I gave an account of 
the organization and workings of the Fruit Growers’ 
Onion at Hammonton, N. J. Started 30 years ago in 
a small way, it has extended its operations, and is to¬ 
day stronger than ever before. It is a cooperative 
society, uses the agencies already established to make 
its sales, and protects its members in their shipments 
to these commission merchants. It also conducts a 
cooperative store for the sale of goods. The New 
Jersey Fruit Exchange is a younger organization, 
having been organized first in the fall of 1886, after 
the peach crop of that year was disposed of, and doing 
its first business with the opening of the peach season 
of 1887. It is thus 11 years old. It does not depend 
upon the commission merchants, but sells its fruit at 
its own stations direct to the buyers, who must come 
there for it. It seems to deal almost entirely in 
peaches, and I am not certain that it handles any 
other fruits. Thus while the Hammonton growers 
ship their fruits to the commission merchants who 
have complied with the requirements of the Union, 
therefore, have been approved by the Union, and 
await the returns for their shipments, the Fruit Ex¬ 
change members sell their fruit at the station, know 
what they are getting, and take the money home with 
them. Of, course, in the latter case, the buyers must 
be brought to the station, and this might seem the 
difficult part of the undertaking. To do it, there 
must be products of desirable quality in sufficient 
quantities to make it an object for buyers to come. 
By the way, some of the Hammonton people are look¬ 
ing forward to the time when the buyers will come to 
their town to buy, instead of having the fruits ship¬ 
ped to them, as at present. 
X X X 
The New Jersey Fruit Exchange is incorporated 
under the laws of New Jersey. It has a president, 
secretary and treasurer, and is managed by a board 
of directors. The treasurer is under a bond of $25,000. 
The Exchange, as at first organized, issued 100 shares 
of stock at a par value of $25 each. A building was 
erected at Flemington, the county seat of Hunterdon 
County, which is in the midst of the New Jersey 
peach belt, and here operations were begun August 
31, 1887. After operating through that one season, it 
was found desirable to have more growers interested, 
and a larger number of members, in order that more 
pressure might be brought to bear toward securing 
lower freight rates and other needed reforms. Ac¬ 
cordingly, at a meeting of the stockholders, the num¬ 
ber of shares was increased to 400, and the par value 
reduced to $10 per share. There are now about 250 
stockholders. The Exchange has succeeded in secur¬ 
ing decreased freight rates, in purchasing baskets at 
lower rates, and in securing other concessions. The 
principal headquarters is at Flemington, a central 
point in the peach belt, and having an outlet over 
four railroads. Here the New Jersey Central Rail¬ 
road has erected a building for the use of the Ex¬ 
change, rent free. There are several branches of the 
Exchange in other places—Patten burg, Milford, etc. 
X X X 
I visited Flemington in the latter part of Septem¬ 
ber, just after the height of the peach season. The 
Exchange building is little more than a shed under 
which the loads of peaches may be driven, and where 
they are sold. The buyers are assembled about mid¬ 
afternoon, when the loads of peaches which have 
been picked and packed during the forenoon, are 
brought in from all directions. The buyers examine 
the peaches as much as they wish, and they are sold 
to the highest bidder ; or, if the owner be dissatisfied 
with the price offered, or think that he can realize 
more by shipping them himself, he is at liberty to do 
so. The buyers must deposit funds with the secretary 
for payment for the fruit. The grower takes his fruit 
from the trees in the morning, disposes of it in the 
afternoon, and takes his money home with him at 
night. For this service, members are charged one 
cent per basket, and growers not members must pay 
two cents. This money goes to pay the auctioneer 
and other necessary expenses. Buyers come from 
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Wash¬ 
ington, and many other points. I was told that, this 
season, more have come from Philadelphia than from 
New York. Often, too, speculators take a hand and 
buy car-loads for shipment to distant points like Chi¬ 
cago and other northwestern places. Sometimes these 
buyers force prices higher than those prevailing in 
nearby markets. Sometimes there is talk of combi¬ 
nations among the buyers, but under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, there is little opportunity for this. 
But results tell the story. The officers state that 
prices secured through the Exchange have, on the 
whole, been higher than those realized by indepen¬ 
dent shippers. Some of the growers at Flemington 
complained that prices had been too low this year. 
But from my inquiries in relation to the prices re¬ 
ceived there, and from my knowledge of prevailing 
prices in New York, it seems to me that they have no 
just cause of complaint. At the time of my visit, H. 
F. Bodine, the secretary-treasurer, informed me that 
sales so far had averaged 35 cents per basket. He 
says that he has repeatedly seen loads of fruit driven 
from the Exchange and shipped independently, be¬ 
cause the owners thought the price offered too low, 
and in many cases, the owners had come to him after 
getting returns, and told him that they had lost from 
$5 to $20 a load on this fruit. This may not always 
have been the case. But there are advantages in this 
kind of cooperation. Mr. Bodine believes that it can 
be advantageously extended to the producers of every 
kind of crop. But the buyers must be attracted by a 
first-class article honestly packed. There is no doubt 
that, if all producers would combine, great results 
might be accomplished. But the farmers are the 
most backward of all classes to avail themselves of 
these advantages. Why is it ? f. h. v. 
CUT AND SHREDDED. 
A report of an epidemic among horses in the east¬ 
ern and southern counties of Maryland is verified by 
the veterinarian of the Maryland Experiment Station. 
The State Veterinarian who has been inspecting the 
cases, states that it threatens to become general 
throughout the State. He thinks that it is caused by 
the horses eating some poisonous vegetable matter. 
It is said that the disease is almost entirely confined 
to horses which have been at pasture. One case is 
mentioned in which the wife of a farmer whose horses 
had been affected, was suffering from the same symp¬ 
toms as the horses. 
Irrigation at the West has had a big boom from 
the recent irrigation congress at Lincoln, Neb.; 13 
States were represented. It is expected that Congress 
will take action at its next session giving individual 
States larger control over their arid lands by enabling 
them to pledge them as security for their reclama¬ 
tion. It is all right if the States wish to go into the 
irrigation business ; but it is all wrong for the United 
States to tax citizens of all sections for improvements 
that benefit only particular sections. There is too 
much land poorly cultivated now. 
Following the high price of wheat comes the re¬ 
port that the recently organized glucose trust is send¬ 
ing out circulars calling attention to their corn 
starch, of which they say about 10 per cent can be ad¬ 
ded to flour, to the benefit of the latter. Dealers here 
are not so much exercised over the fact of this 
adulterated flour coming here, as they are over the 
fact that, in the event of adulteration becoming gen¬ 
eral, it would be offered to other markets which now 
draw their supplies from this city, at a price which 
would be likely to draw the trade away from New 
York. Of course, this is not a harmful adulteration 
in the sense of being injurious to health, but it is a 
fraud upon the dealer and the consumer of the same. 
The latter would better buy his corn meal straight. 
The oleomargarine mill is still grinding out its 
grist. In spite of the fight which the manufacturers 
have put up against the laws governing its manufac¬ 
ture and sale, more than 5,000,000 pounds less were 
produced during the past fiscal year than during the 
preceding one, and 24,000,000 pounds less than in 
1894. Some of the manufacturers are finding out 
that it does not pay to continue business in violation 
of the law. In Boston, recently, some of the heaviest 
fines ever imposed were inflicted upon parties who 
persisted for some time in their defiance of law. Two 
were fined $1,000 each, another one $400. In New 
York, there have been a number of convictions, the 
fines ranging from $25 to $50 usually. It is time this 
business was stopped. 
In a recent issue of Hoard’s Dairyman, J. H. Monrad 
gives the following synopsis of a proposed system of 
regulating taxes suggested by President Cyrus Kehr, 
of the Lincoln Memorial University of Cumberland 
Gap, Tenn. : 
Every property owner must, on or before a certain day each 
year, register his taxable property with the County Treasurer, 
whose books are open to inspection. Taxes are based on the 
figures thus obtained. In order to s mre an honest market 
value being put on the property, any one may, at any time, de¬ 
posit a larger sum in cash with the County Treasurer, who at 
once notifies the owner that an offer of so much has been 
made for the property, and that it must be accepted at once, or 
the valuation raised to that amount, and a fine for undervalua¬ 
tion paid—such fine to be graded in percentages varying accord¬ 
ing to the undervaluation given, with some elasticity to protect 
owner in case of sudden rise in market values. 
It is said that, in New Zealand, something like thi 3 
is attempted. In that country, the assessors may 
681 
take the property off the owner’s hands at his own 
figures. Such a scheme would certainly make a great 
change in many valuations, for a man would think 
long before he went on record with a low price for 
his property. 
Details have been published recently concerning 
new inventions in microscopy, whereby it is said that 
the magnification of an object may be increased 
3,000,000 diameters. Dr. Elmer Gates, the discoverer 
of the process, uses photography to fix permanently 
his pictures of the unseen, his apparatus being de¬ 
scribed under the comprehensive title of the photo- 
micrographoscope. In ordinary photography, it is 
possible to show things which do not appear before 
the unassisted vision, but Dr. Gates’s process appears 
to open unimagined fields of research, like a scientific 
fairy tale. Such a discovery will be of unspeakable 
value in biological investigation. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the records of trot¬ 
ting horses have been much reduced of recent years, 
one having recently trotted a mile in less than two 
minutes, the bicycle is still ahead so far as speed is 
concerned. When it comes to a question of long dis¬ 
tance, the horse is hopelessly in the rear. But a re¬ 
cent performance by a Dutch rider in the Crystal Pal¬ 
ace, in England, outclasses them all. Within 24 
hours, he covered upwards of 616 miles. Only this 
week, a rider in this country made a mile in 1:36, the 
best record yet. It is simply marvelous how a human 
being fitted out with the results of human ingenuity 
and mechanical skill, is thus able to cover such a 
tremendous distance. We cannot help asking the 
question, “ What next ? ” 
A curious market garden at Gretna, La., is owned 
and managed by a Chinese company, who grow fruit 
and vegetables for the Chinese trade only. Chinese 
gardening is always an intensive system of culture, 
and this is shown by the manner in which they fer¬ 
tilize their crops at this place. They use cow peas 
for old land, but their main dependence is fish fer¬ 
tilizer, made by half filling a barrel with shrimps or 
refuse fish, filling up with water, and covering to pre¬ 
vent evaporation. This is allowed to stand for about 
three months; then the malodorous fluid is dipped 
out, and about a teacupful poured at the roots of each 
plant. No attempt is made to fertilize the whole sur¬ 
face of the field. The chief vegetables grown for the 
Chinese trade are pumpkins, okra, yams, cabbage and 
several members of the cucumber tribe. 
During the past few years, many schemes have 
been evolved to induce city people, especially of the 
middle and lower classes, to settle in the country. 
Vacant-lot farming has been one of the foremost of 
these agencies, and many a vacant-lot farmer has 
been so encouraged by his success on a small scale 
that he has ultimately gone to the country perma¬ 
nently. We are now told about a company in New 
England which is to be incorporated, and whose 
specific purpose will be to buy and sell New England 
farms. This company purposes to overcome the ob¬ 
jections which have stood in the way of city people 
going to the farms, and to furnish at its own expense, 
instructors in farming during the first year. Com¬ 
petent men will teach them ail the different branches 
and the best methods of farming. It would seem that 
any man of average intelligence with a desire for 
country life and the inclination to work, ought to be 
able to make a success under this plan of manage¬ 
ment. It is an entirely original scheme, and we shall 
watch its outcome with considerable interest. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The advantages of gasoline engines for farm power were dis¬ 
cussed last week in The R. N.-Y. The Charter Gas Engine Co., 
Sterling, Ill., want to give particulars about the engine they 
make for farm power. 
The Mann green bone cutters are well known to all poultry men 
The manufacturers make a specialty of small-size cutters.suited 
for those who keep small Hocks. F. W. Mann & Co., Milford 
Mass., will tell you all about them. 
We had, on the farm, a young mare with swelling on the inside of 
fore leg, cause not known, but it seemed determined to stay. We 
used Gombault’s Caustic Balsam. It gradually reduced the swell 
ing until it finally disappeared. We think the balsam can be found 
at any drug store. 
By a slight error in our first advertisement of the Elastic Wire 
Cable fencing, we made the manufacturers say that they had a 
dust-proot fence. It is better than dust-proof, it is rust- proof, and 
fire-proof. It is an exceptionally good fencing. Philip S. Justice 
& Co., 14 North Fifth Street, Philadelphia, Pa., are the makers, 
and will be glad to send full information. 
The Economy Manufacturing Co., of Homer, Mich., claim some¬ 
thing novel in the way of a farmers’ feed boiler. It consists of a 
large caldron kettle set inside of a heavy cold-rolled steel furnace. 
Flues are constructed inside the furnace to throw the heat and 
smoke up and around the kettle before they pass into the smoke 
pipe. This saving of heat, of course, reduces the amount of fuel 
used. They, also, make a tank heater. 
We usually point out in this department some implement or 
goods that are particularly useful to the man on the farm. We 
want now to refer to something which will save the lord of the 
household dollars and cents, but which will particularly interest 
and benefit the housewife. We refer to the Enterprise meat 
chopper. Fresh meats that are now wasted, and left-overs, will 
be made into the choicest dishes at little labor, with one of these 
choppers. The Enterprise Mfg. Co., Philadelphia, Pa., are the 
makers, and will send a little book containing 200 recipes for 
four cents in stamps. 
