1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
729 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
[».Of a lot of fancy Niagara grapes I saw some time 
ago, which were put up something in the style of the 
California grapes, the complaint was made that the 
baskets were not full enough. Surely, this could not 
be said of many of the California grap3S ; the baskets 
are full to overflowing, and this very fulness gives 
the purchaser an idea of liberal treatment, and that 
he is getting full value for his money. The Tokay is 
now the leading variety, and these are selling for as 
low as 35 cents per six-pound basket—one basket I 
saw weighed, went considerably over six pounds. 
This, of course, is a higher price than the New York 
State grapes are bringing, but one can’t eat so many 
California grapes as of the others, hence the same 
weight goes much further. 
X X t 
No one need go hungry for fruit, even though the 
price of apples is high. For some time, five-pound 
baskets of Concords and Niagaras have been sold by 
the hucksters for 10 cents, and nine-pound ones for 
15 cents each, and I have seen the smaller-sized bas¬ 
kets of Concords on sale at 8 cents. These grapes are 
fine fruit, too, sound and in prime condition. The 
result of these low prices is that enormous quantities 
are consumed by persons who, ordinarily, have not 
been extensive fruit eaters The appetite for fruit 
is growing, and once established, must result in larger 
and still larger demands. 
X X X 
I saw some baskets of pears, evidently intended to 
impress the purchaser with the fact that they were 
fancy fruit. The baskets were slightly larger than 
the large-sized grape baskets. They were covered 
with slatted covers nicely wired on. The pears varied 
in size from a few not more than one inch in diameter, 
to some the size of the largest Seckels, and one soli¬ 
tary individual in the bottom of one basket examined 
was twice the size of the latter. Such fruit will not 
sell for much money. In the first place, it lacks one 
of the first essentials of fancy fruit, and that is uni¬ 
formity of size. Evidently, those pears hadn’t been 
assorted at all, but were thrown in just as they were 
picked. If one-half of them had been fed to the hogs, 
and the other half sent to market, the latter half 
would have brought more money than the whole. 
Which would have yielded the most profit? 
X t X 
It seems a difficult matter to get at reliable sta¬ 
tistics of the apple crop this year, and estimates by 
different authorities differ considerably as to the ac¬ 
tual yield. Averaged up, however, and approximated 
as nearly as may be, the opinion seems to be that 
there is not over one-fourth of an average crop in 
New York and New England, a trifle more in Michi¬ 
gan and Canada and, perhaps, 70 per cent in Ar¬ 
kansas, Missouri, and that part of the country ; some 
seem to be of the opinion that the latter estimate is 
a little too high. The fruit from the West and South¬ 
west does not possess the keeping qualities of that 
from New York and Canada, hence we see that the 
fruit which may be depended upon for longest keep¬ 
ing is a decidedly short crop this year. Still some 
very fine fruit is coming from the newer regions as 
well as from parts of Virginia and North Carolina, 
and in the near future, these localities are destined to 
cut an important figure in the apple markets of the 
world. 
t t t 
Although the exporting of apples has grown to 
considerable proportions, the business is yet a sealed 
book to many ; even among those who are disposing 
of their fruit in this manner, are many who have not 
yet learned the needs of the foreign market. It is 
necessary, too, to keep in close touch with the deal¬ 
ers who are handling this business, to know the state 
of the market and its immediate demands. One of 
the best varieties for the English market, is the New¬ 
town Pippin; yet one of our New York exporters, 
Mr. Charles Forster, has been advising shippers to go 
slow on this variety at present. The reason is that 
this is usually a high-priced sort, and there is more 
danger of overloading the market with it than of 
others, thus causing a falling-off in prices ; in short, 
he says that later returns have shown just this con¬ 
dition, which might have been avoided if the New- 
towns had been sent along more slowly. The demand 
has been good for both red and green apples, and as 
there has been a scarcity of Greenings, the lower 
grades of Newtowns have been used to fill this gap, 
thus preventing so serious a decline in the latter 
variety as would have occurred otherwise. The ship¬ 
ments last week were approximately 30,000 barrels to 
Liverpool, 13,000 barrels to London, 9,000 barrels to 
Glasgow and 6,500 barrels to Hamburg and Bremen, 
about 58,000 barrels in all, against 148,000 barrels for 
the corresponding week last year. It is also reported 
that there is no accumulation on the other side of 
anything but Newtown Pippins. Recent sales of 
good red and green fruit have netted about $3 per 
barrel on the dock here, while Newtown Pippins have 
ranged from $3 to $6. Mr. Forster says that some 
fine boxes of California Newtown Pippins have been 
offered here for $2.10 per box—about four boxes 
equaling one barrel. There is reported to be con¬ 
siderable of this stock, but the price is too high to 
make it much of a factor. It is said to equal the Vir¬ 
ginia stock only in size. f. h. y. 
CUT AND SHREDDED. 
Secretary Wilson of the Agricultural Department 
has been trying to learn why more of our American 
bacon cannot be sold in the English market. Den¬ 
mark and Canada send large quantities of bacon to 
England, which brings from 11 to 14 cents per pound, 
while American bacon is rated from 6% to 8 cents. 
The trouble is that American bacon is too fat. The 
English want more lean meat, and the Danes and 
Canadians have learned this fact. In order to get 
more money from the foreign bacon trade, the Amer¬ 
ican farmer must feed and breed for lean meat. 
The Kansas City Stock Yards Company has a capital 
of nearly $6,000,000, mostly held in New York and 
Boston. The last Kansas Legislature passed a law 
declaring it a public concern, and making a reduction 
in its rates for handling live stock. The company 
fought the law and was beaten in the State courts. 
It appealed, and now the United States Circuit Court 
has decided against it. Now it appeals to the Supreme 
Court, but it has been obliged to put up $200,000 to 
reimburse shippers in case it is beaten again. From 
all we can learn, the rates charged by this company 
are far too high, and the State of Kansas is right in 
cutting them down. 
The demand for free rural mail delivery is grow¬ 
ing. First Assistant Postmaster-General Heath, in 
his annual report, thus declares in favor of it: 
Sooner or later, the United States will have to follow the lead of 
the more densely populated countries and establish a delivery 
service over all the settled portions of its vast territory. Under 
wise restrictions, it can be extended with great advantage to a 
class of our citizens who, rightly or wrongly, deem themselves 
neglected in legislation—the agricultural class — and without 
serious detriment to the revenues. 
buch distribution and a system of postal savings 
banks would be genuine helps to farmers. Congress 
could hardly do a more popular thing than to start 
these things at its next session. 
Postmaster-General Gary has issued the following 
order: 
Postmasters shall not rent call or lock boxes to minors when 
notified not to do so by the parents or guardians having the 
right to control the delivery of the mail of such minors under the 
provisions of this section, nor shall any mail for minors be 
placed in boxes rented by them, if the said parents or guardians 
forbid the delivery of mail to said minors. 
Postmasters in some places have rented boxes to 
young people who have used them for improper pur¬ 
poses. Boys and girls have used this means to secure 
immoral books or papers, or to carry on a dangerous 
correspondence. This order is an excellent one, and 
parents who suspect their children or wards of such 
practices should notify the postmaster at once not 
to deliver such mail to them. 
Governor Atkinson, of Georgia, in a message to 
the Legislature, takes strong ground against lynch- 
ings. He recommends a law requiring thorough in¬ 
vestigation of every case, and providing adequate 
punishment for the officer who failed to protect the 
prisoner. Such officer should be made ineligible to 
election or appointment to any office. The adminis¬ 
trator or family of a prisoner taken from an officer 
and killed may recover from the county the full value 
of his life—in no case less than $1,000. It is also rec¬ 
ommended that the prisoner be armed and allowed 
to shoot at the mob. Reports of lynchings have done 
great damage to the South, not so much because 
prisoners were killed, but because they advertised the 
fact that certain crimes prevail, and that the law 
cannot prevent it. 
A Committee of the Massachusetts Association 
Boards of Health is reported to have adopted certain 
rules to govern the milk business, which they hope 
to have adopted by the legislature. Among other 
things, they desire that all persons concerned in the 
production, sale or distribution of milk, should once 
a year, get a permit or license without which they 
would not be allowed to carry on their trade. Other 
rules are supposed to govern the care of the cows and 
the handling of the milk. It will be a singular thing 
if every dairyman is obliged to take out a license 
before he can milk a cow. A fair regulation of the 
business is right, and the public should be protected 
in their efforts to secure pure milk. But there is 
such a thing as carrying this too far, and when a 
dairyman must hang a license on a cow’s tail, it will 
certainly be time for him to get out of the business. 
Last year, the season for killing deer in New York 
State closed on October 31, but the law allowed 10 
days after that date to dispose of venison lawfully 
killed or acquired. The last legislature amended the 
law by extending the time for shooting until Novem¬ 
ber 15, but did not amend it relative to the time for 
the possession of the same. The law at present, 
therefore, prohibits the possession of venison after 
November 10. It is not likely that any jury will con¬ 
sider it a violation of the law to possess venison dur¬ 
ing the time the law allows deer to be killed. Those 
who passed such a law may have thought they knew 
what they were doing, but it does not appear so to 
others, at this date. Our legislators would do better 
to pass fewer laws and pay closer attention to those 
they do put through. 
Ex-President Harrison says that he favors muni¬ 
cipal ownership of franchises. In simple words, he 
believes that towns and cities should own and control 
public conveniences, such as gas or water works, 
street railroads, etc. In most American cities, such 
things are controlled by private corporations which 
make immense profits out of their operations. Such 
profits ought to go to the public, and everywhere the 
demand for such ownership is growing. How about 
the franchises given away by the farmer ? One mid¬ 
dleman buys for him, and another sells for him. One 
man wants to vote for him, and another is willing to 
think for him—for a consideration. Town and city 
people are surely going to do their own public busi¬ 
ness. Farmers must not keep behind. Combine ! 
Organize ! Get in the habit of working together. 
Take the business that belongs to you into your own 
hands. 
Here is an illustration of the sort of legislation our 
Albany law-grinders have been turning out. In New 
York City, are thousands of buildings that are heated 
by steam. It does not require a skilled engineer to 
run these small boilers successfully. Many janitors 
and young men have managed them in the past to the 
satisfaction of their employers. Last May, a law was 
passed which requires that a man who manages such 
a boiler must be able to show that he has been em¬ 
ployed as a fireman, oiler or assistant under a licensed 
engineer in some building in the City of New York, 
for a period of not less than five years. It does not 
make any difference how much a man may know about 
a steam engine ; if he has not worked as prescribed by 
the law, he could not run even a toy engine. As a 
result, many worthy men have been obliged to give 
up their places. The bill has no object except to 
benefit a particular class, and the protection of the 
public against mischief is hardly considered. It 
would be just as sensible for the legislature to pass a 
law directing that no hired man should be employed 
in western New York, who had not worked for five 
years for the graduate of an agricultural college. 
That, we say, would be just exactly as sensible as 
this engineers’ law. We hope that this foolish law 
will be repealed. We mention it here as an illustra¬ 
tion of the sort of work that is being done at Albany. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
An indication in the foreign trade in agricultural implements 
isjsuggested in the fact that the Johnston Harvester Co., of 
Batavia, N. Y., have recently received a single remittance from 
Paris of $150,000. 
When in need of a harness, send to King Harness Co., 9 Church 
Street, Owego, N. Y., for catalogue. They have a large factory, 
prepare their own leather, and sell direct. From examination 
of their factory and goods, we do not see how a small concern 
can compete with them. 
The piano and organ factory of Cornish &. Co., at Washington, 
N. J., is, we believe, one of thedargest in the country, and the only 
responsible one we know of that sells pianos and organs direct 
from the factory to customers, at popular prices. They issue a 
handsome catalogue showing illustrations of their instruments, 
and it is sent free to any one desiring it. 
UNLES9 a dairyman has a herd of purebred Guernseys or Jer 
seys, and exercises unusual care in feeding, butter will not be 
uniform without a little color, and not even then. But in the 
use of color, care should be taken to get pure vegetable colors, 
and especially to avoid coal tar products. For our own use, we 
prefer Thatcher’s Orange butter color. It is safe and whole¬ 
some, and gives the exact butter shade. It is made by the 
Thatcher Mfg. Co., Potsdam, N. Y., and is for sale, probably, by 
most reliable dealers. 
The one all important element in successfal dairying is clean¬ 
liness. Germs of disease and failure lurk in every crevice of 
dairy utensils that are not scrupulously clean. Plenty of hot 
water and steam are essentials to cleanliness, and this is where 
the advantages of the small steam engine come in for the dairy. 
Besides running the churn, butter-worker and separator, the 
supply of hot water and steam is always ready for its effective 
work. One of the best line of steam engines for farm purposes is 
made by Jas. Leffel & Co., Box 1398, Springfield, O. Catalogue for 
the asking. 
