THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
777 
1807 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAB.J 
□ Many pomegranates, coming from Spain, have 
lately been on the market. These fruits are about 
the size of oranges, have a hard, thick skin, the in¬ 
terior containing many large seeds encased in pulp. 
The pomegranate is distinctively a hot-climate fruit, 
even more so than the orange, though it is often 
grown in the greenhouse. 
t t X 
Barrels and bundles of greens have already begun 
to arrive, and these remind us that Christmas is com¬ 
ing. Many of these are used in making up fancy 
decorations which will afterward be offered for sale, 
while some are used at Thanksgiving. There is a 
large sale of decorative stuff in the city at holiday 
times, but largest at Christmas. 
X X X 
An unusual number, for this season of the year, of 
carcasses of deer are now seen in market. The shoot¬ 
ing of deer on Long Island has been allowed each 
Wednesday during November, and it has been open 
season in other parts of the State. Reports from 
Long Island are to the effect that deer have become 
so plentiful that large numbers have been killed. 
Venison is now sold at a price not extravagantly 
high, not very far beyond the price of the best beef¬ 
steak. 
X X X 
Some very fine hothouse tomatoes are now coming 
to market from Massachusetts. They are smooth and 
bright-colored, the skins having a glossy look that 
renders them very attractive. They come in brown 
pasteboard boxes holding five pounds, the tomatoes 
being neatly wrapped in paper. They are now sell¬ 
ing for about 20 cents per pound wholesale. Not 
many are usually received so early in the season. 
The Jersey crop is not yet out of market, so there is 
no gap between the field-grown tomatoes and the 
hothouse product, neither will there be between the 
latter and the crops from Bermuda, Florida and other 
southern points in the spring. 
X X X 
At a New Jersey Farmers’ Institute the other day, 
a man who sells fruits and vegetables to consumers 
in Philadelphia, said that his customers wanted the 
Ben Davis apples, and asked for them in preference 
to other varieties. These people can get better varie¬ 
ties, too. Is it a case of depraved taste, a taste not 
sufficiently educated, or have we been maligning the 
Ben Davis apple more than it deserves ? It is a fine- 
looking apple, and many are sold from the fruit- 
stands and push-carts in this city. But many a cus¬ 
tomer who buys one for eating on account of its good 
looks, loses his appetite for apples for several days to 
come. Is the trouble with the Ben Davis, or with the 
people who eat it ? 
X X X 
A Greek push-cart peddler was arrested the other 
day for giving dishonest weight. He had some pieces 
of lead arranged in a paper which he put into the 
scales when he weighed his grapes, under the pre¬ 
tense of keeping them clean. He was found guilty, 
and sentenced to pay a heavy fine. These peddlers 
sell grapes—California and Almeria largely—dates, 
etc., by the pound, and half pound, generally at prices 
a little lower than any one else, so they get a great 
deal of trade; but their pounds generally look sus¬ 
piciously -small. A common price for a half-pound 
package of California grapes is three cents, and many 
a clerk and shop-girl makes a cheap and healthful ad¬ 
dition to an often meager lunch by this means. But 
it is a mystery how some of these foreigners do busi¬ 
ness. They know next to nothing of the English lan¬ 
guage, the prices of their wares seeming to be about 
the extent of their knowledge. Yet there are thou¬ 
sands of them in the city, and they have come to be 
recognized by the wholesalers as an important factor 
in the distribution of fruits. While there are so many 
of them here, I have seen very few of them in Phil¬ 
adelphia, their place, seemingly, being taken by the 
fruit stands here and there along the sidewalks. 
XXX 
It is a common sight in the city to see the poorer 
Greeks, Syrians, Italians and others making pack- 
horses of themselves. Many of these keep fruit and 
vegetable stands, and to save the charge for carting 
produce which they have purchased to retail, they 
lug it on their backs. One sees them with packages 
of a number of small baskets of grapes tied together; 
with several of the carriers of California grapes, 
peaches, plums or other fruits, a bunch of bananas 
on each end of a stick carried over the shoulder, and 
it is not an uncommon sight to see a man staggering 
along under the weight of a barrel of apples, pota¬ 
toes or other vegetables. Sometimes, too, some of 
these are carried for a long distance—a mile or more 
—through the streets. What would the hired men 
on our farms say, were they to be asked to do such 
work? f. H. Y. 
PRODUCER AND THE MILK CORPORATION. 
Hosea Biglow said, “ Don’t never prophesy unless 
ye know,” and the advice is generally sound, so I do 
not much relish assuming the role of a prophet. How¬ 
ever, I have looked into the subject of the milk 
syndicate considerably since it has become talked 
about, and as a result, it is my opinion that producers 
have, in the proposed plan, nothing to fear. Com¬ 
pared with the methods which now prevail, the new 
one could not be worse. Producers to-day have 
absolutely nothing to say as to the price they shall 
receive for their milk, and so far, the two methods are 
alike. It is well, however, to bear in mind the saw 
which says “Corporations have no souls”, and to 
watch the situation carefully. 
The proposed organization is, in no sense, a trust— 
it has not control of the supply, neither can it obtain 
it unless it oilers to contract with milk producers for 
their milk at a price which they are willing to accept. 
In order to establish their business, I am inclined to 
the opinion that they will do this very thing. In my 
opinion, milk-producing farmers can never success¬ 
fully organize to protect themselves until they first 
organize and operate cooperative creameries. These 
can be built for^from 32,000 to 33,000 each, and be 
equipped with facilities for receiving, cooling and 
shipping milk, and with butter-making machinery, 
also. If a large proportion of producers were stock¬ 
holders in such concerns, a general organization could 
be easily effected by delegates from each, and when 
trouble arose between producers and the trust, as it 
is called, the producers would be in a situation to 
take care of themselves at but slight expense. For 
years, they have been selling their milk to creameries 
owned by Exchange dealers, generally at a half cent 
per quart less than the market price, thus furnishing 
their enemies with a club to be used on their own 
heads. The reduction to which they submit on the 
price of the milk would more than pay interest on 
the investment in a creamery, and its operating ex¬ 
penses. 
I see no reason for opposing the so-called trust, 
because among other results, the element of uncer¬ 
tainty in the matter of pay would be removed. If a 
census could be taken of the amounts taken from 
farmers by dishonest dealers, it would foot up into 
annual sums that would astonish all who have not 
looked into the matter. There is scarcely a producer 
that has not, at one time or often, lost accounts 
ranging from 350 to 3200 or even more, and the per¬ 
centage of loss does not seem materially to decrease. 
From the consumer’s standpoint, there seems to be 
nothing to fear. If the business be practically 
monopolized by one concern, the delivery could be 
made at one-third of the present expense, and it is 
probable that milk of a better average without in¬ 
creased cost would be delivered. 
Finally, if the new plan prove unsatisfactory to 
producers, they have the milk, and can devise other 
arrangements. The trust could not survive a general 
suspension of milk shipping by the producers for a 
week, and so, in the long run, possession of the raw 
material should be the best defense against extortion. 
In the end, I reassert my faith in the efficacy of the 
cooperative creamery as a factor in procuring an 
equitable adjustment of the matter so far as producers 
are concerned. e. g. fowler 
CUT AND SHREDDED. 
The Oregon horticulturists are reported as en¬ 
deavoring to arrange the importation of a bird from 
Germany to prey upon the Codling-moth. We trust 
that these gentlemen will seek the advice of the 
Smithsonian Institution before going further with 
their project. The Codling-moth flourishes in Ger¬ 
many, but that is a small matter, as the apples are 
for the most part destined to be ground up for cider. 
This bird lives on apparent good terms with the 
worm there. The English sparrow was imported to 
eat Canker worms ; we have found that he prefers 
street refuse. This foreigner should furnish a cer¬ 
tificate of good moral character before being allowed 
to land. 
The “Butter Increaser” scoundrels are at work 
again. A favorite plan with them is to locate in 
some country village, advertise in the local news¬ 
paper, and guarantee to make two pounds of butter 
from one pound of butter and a quart of sweet milk. 
The butter is to be warmed until it is soft, and then 
mixed with the milk. By adding >a"so-called-“ Gilt- 
Edged Butter Compound,” the resulting butter will 
weigh two pounds 1 The chemists at Cornell Univer¬ 
sity analyzed this mixture, and found it to consist of 
about equal parts of alum and soda, with a little 
pink coloring matter. The price per ounce is 31. 
All the compound does is to incorporate the casein 
and some water with the cream. The result is a mix¬ 
ture of pot-cheese and butter. In true butter mak¬ 
ing, the great object of washing in the churn is to 
get rid of this very casein or cheesy matter, for it is 
in this that germs and bacteria thrive and grow. It 
is folly for any intelligent man to touch one of these 
so-called “ compounds.” 
Two elderly women who went recently to England, 
to present their claims for a great fortune awaiting 
heirs in that country, have been obliged to ask assist¬ 
ance to get back again, an incident that suggests the 
advisability of buying a return ticket before starting 
on such a quest for wealth. There is a multitude of 
sharpers who obtain their livelihood by trading on 
the credulty of such persons. Advertisements regard¬ 
ing vast fortunes accumulating in the Bank of Eng¬ 
land or Court of Chancery awaiting claimants, call 
out hundreds of responses, in spite of the fact that 
such wealth, instead of being held for possible heirs, 
reverts to the Crown after a term of years. It seems 
impossible to persuade people of the futility of such 
quests, though the only wealth gained is that obtained 
by the shrewd attorney who flatters the hopes of his 
victims. 
Among swindlers recently excluded from the mails 
by order of the Post-Office Department, was a St. 
Louis clairvoyant, who made a contract to find, for a 
Missouri farmer, a buried treasure supposed to be 
hidden upon his farm. Naturally, he failed to find 
the treasure, and it is to be hoped that the misguided 
farmer will, in future, use plow and cultivator to dis¬ 
cover the buried treasures of his farm, rather than 
the services of a mystical humbug with pretensions 
to miraculous powers. Another person, against 
whom a fraud order was also issued, was Carl B. 
Cline, of Columbus, Ohio. Cline wrote letters to, and 
inserted advertisements in, a number of religious 
publications, saying that he had discovered a new 
brand of wheat called the Early Surprise. He offered 
to send, on receipt of three stamps, a sample package 
of the wheat. Letters were sent to him in hundreds, 
and in return, he sent a circular letter, saying that 
he would furnish the seed wheat at 31.50 per bushel, 
and that he also had a superior brand of clover 
called the “ Crimson ”, and a variety of corn known 
as the Ok, giving rates for these. When the vic¬ 
tims sent their money, he failed to make any re¬ 
turn until the pressure became too great, when he 
bought 250 bushels of common grain and, making this 
up into small packages, sent it as his “ Early Sur¬ 
prise ”, It would be hard to find a more contemptible 
swindle than this. Cline’s victims were all hard-work¬ 
ing people, who sought to receive a better return for 
their toil by investing in improved varieties. We can¬ 
not help feeling a certain contempt for the victim of 
the swindling clairvoyant, because he was really the 
victim of his own ignorant cupidity, but the victims 
of the seed-swindler belong to an entirely different 
class. We consider that the American Seed Trade 
Association would do real service to the business it 
represents should it make strong efforts for the detec¬ 
tion and prosecution of all such offenders as this man 
Cline, for people so swindled will look with doubt 
upon worthy novelties offered by reputable seedsmen, 
and limit their purchases in such lines. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The Poultry and Farm Supply Company, P. O. Box 179, Boston, 
Mast., have a contest lor Incubators and poultry supplies which 
is open to any one with 10 or more hens. We don’t know just 
what the particulars are, but the company will send a circular 
describing them on application. 
Many of our subscribers are sending us advertisements which 
they clip from other papers, of the Tyrone, Pa., artist, and ask 
whether we think that he will keep his promises. We think that 
he will not do anything of the kind. It is one of the meanest im 
positions we know of, because it deludes money from sick or dis¬ 
abled people under the promise of future employment. The prom 
ise is not kept. 
Recently we received a bill against Wilson & Co., of Warren 
Street, New York, for two tubs of butter which had been sent the 
company by the subscriber who sent the bill to us. Going to 
the address of Wilson & Co., we found that they had been there 
only one month, and occupied only one room upstairs. At the 
end of the month, they left without paying the typewriter girl 
who wrote the letters for them. They are, probably, in another 
part of the city now, under another name, sending out more let¬ 
ters soliciting shipments of farm produce. 
On Wednesday, December 7, there will be a great sale of Holstein 
cattle in^ Cleveland, O. W. J. Hayes, of Crystal Lake Farm, 
Ravenna, O., -having lost by tire, barns, outbuildings and feed 
will sell all of his famous herd at public sale. At the head of 
this herd, is Pauline Paul’s De Kol, 21490, and there are over 100 
fine animals behind him. Every animal will be sold absolutely 
to the -highest bidder. The best Holstein families in the world 
are represented, and this will be one of the greatest dispersal 
sales of late years, The many good qualities of Holsteins have 
long been recognized. They are still at the front of their class, 
and will stay there. The sale is conducted by W. B. Fasig & 
Co., Cleveland, O., and they will send catalogues to all who apply. 
