1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
9ii 
COSGROVE’S POULTRY ACCOUNT FOR 
OCTOBER. 
October was a gloomy, cloudy month, day following 
day for a week at a time without a gleam of sun¬ 
shine. I heard some one say there were but three 
clear days in October. My diary shows nine days on 
which the sun shone. Cloudy weather affects my 
spirits in spite of all the philosophy I can muster; 
after about three days without sunshine my inside 
sunshine gives out, and I become impatient, cross, dis¬ 
agreeable. I don’t know absolutely whether fowls are 
affected in that way or not, but I am sure that they 
act better, happier, more as if they enjoyed life when 
the sun is shining than when it is not. Even on a 
cold day in Winter if the sun is shining brightly and 
they are protected from the wind, the fowls are live¬ 
lier and lay bet¬ 
ter than if the 
weather is cloudy 
and gloomy. The 
first week of this 
month 4.56 eggs 
were laid. Eggs 
are not rising 'n 
price as rapidly 
as the production 
is decreasing; 
they are but 35 
cents a dozen 
now. 
October 14 — 
416 eggs received 
this week. Some¬ 
body wants some 
early broilers, I 
guess, for I am 
still getting or¬ 
ders for eggs io 
set. 
October 21 — 
313 eggs laid this 
week. I find on 
handling some of 
my young pul¬ 
lets that they are 
too fat. I have 
kept the corn 
part of their ra¬ 
tion down to 
what I thought 
was a right pro¬ 
portion, but there 
is a temptation 
to use more of it 
than one ought, 
because it is 
cheaper than any 
other feed. I 
raised about 35 
bushels of buck¬ 
wheat this year, 
and am using 
some of that to 
mix with the 
wheat and 
cracked corn fed 
in the litter. 
October 28 — 
259 eggs this 
week, which with 
85 laid in the last 
three days makes 
1,529 for the 
whole month. 
This I consider a 
pretty poor show¬ 
ing, as it is 1,045 
less than were 
laid the same 
month last year. 
But even yet the 
eggs more than 
pay expenses for 
both the old fowls and the young stock. A cor¬ 
respondent from Orange Co., N. Y., sends me 
prices he has to pay for grain as follows: Bran, 
$1.25 to $1.35 per 100 pounds; cornmeal, $1.25 to $1.35; 
cracked corn, the same; flour middlings, $1.50; com¬ 
mon middlings, $1.30; oats, per bushel, 50 cents; wheat, 
$2. Willington is on the Vermont Central Railroad, 
14 miles north of Willimantic, Conn. This railroad is 
leased by the Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada, which 
thus gets an entrance into New York by way of boat 
from New London. Grain is delivered here cheaper 
than it is in New York State at points nearer the 
western grain fields by 300 miles. The retail price for 
grain here is: Bran, $1.13 to $1.18 per 100 pounds; 
middlings, $1.15 to $1.20'; cracked corn, $1.15; corn- 
meal, $1.15; barley, $1.30; nice white wheat, $1,60; red 
wheat, $1.40. If a man was keeping 2,000 or more 
fowls this difference in the price of grain would 
nearly pay the wages of his hired help. Anyone think¬ 
ing of going into the poultry business would do well 
to consider this grain question in deciding upon a loca¬ 
tion for his poultry plant, for it might make the differ¬ 
ence between a profit or a loss, and as to markets it.is 
generally conceded that eggs and poultry are dearer in 
Boston and vicinity than elsewhere in the country, 
according to my observation. 
Receipts and disbursements for the month have been 
as follows; Received for market eggs, $46.48; eggs to 
set, $16.60; 41 hens sold, $29.67; roasting chicks, $12.50; 
total, $105.25; paid for grain, $51.63; balance to credit 
side, $53.62. Notwithstanding the poor laying the eggs 
produced have more than paid for the grain purchased, 
but next month, November, is the month where profit 
disappears usually, and I shall be pleased if I can make 
receipts balance expenses. geo. a. cosgrove. 
IN FAVOR OF BULK APPLE SHIPMENTS. 
As a grower of apples I am inclined to favor bulk 
shipments, especially in years of large crops when labor 
is scarce and independent, and cooperage unreasonably 
high. I do not think bulk shipments do the “legitimate 
trade” any harm. Most growers sell or consign bulk 
shipments to regular commission houses, and they in 
turn sell them to the retail grocery or peddler trade, 
so that they can make a profit or commission just the 
same as if the apples were shipped in barrels. The 
fact that some growers sell to peddlers direct is because 
some commission merchants are too high-toned or 
too lazy to fooj with bulk shipments. The apples which 
are usually shipped in bulk are not of first quality, and 
are sold to a class of people who would not buy them 
if they were high in price. Whatever may be said 
about the peddlers they are great missionaries in our 
cause; by their work they induce a larger consumption 
of apples, and that is exactly what we apple growers 
want. There is very little trouble to sell the selected 
or fancy fruit in barrels, which is the only kind wanted 
by dealers who are opposed to bulk shipments, but how 
is a grower to pack “fancy” fruit unless he has an 
outlet for the medium or inferior grades? The cider 
mills and evaporators take some, but at very low 
prices. “Pack in barrels and sell as No. 2,” some will 
say, but experience has proven that it doesn’t pay, when 
apples are cheap, as they are this year, to add 50 
cents’ expenses for barrel and packing, and pay the 
additional freight for the weight of the barrels. In fact, 
nobody wants 
No. 2 apples in 
barrels this year, 
but there is a de¬ 
mand for them 
in bulk. 
In this section 
bulk shipments 
have never been 
popular, and 
most of the 
growers provided 
themselves with 
barrels at the be¬ 
ginning of this 
season, but find¬ 
ing that they 
could do better 
by selling or con¬ 
signing their ap¬ 
ples in bulk many 
of them resold 
their barrels. 
What men like or 
do not like cuts 
no figure when it 
comes to busi- 
ness, and the 
growers in han¬ 
dling their apple 
crop will adopt 
whatever method 
pays them best. 
In other words, 
this matter of 
shipping apples in 
barrels or in bulk 
will adjust itself 
according to pre¬ 
vailing condi¬ 
tions, and cannot 
be regulated by 
any rules that 
growers or deal¬ 
ers may adopt. 
As a grower I 
am interested iiv 
a larger and 
more general 
consumption of 
apples by all the 
people of the 
United States, be 
they rich or poor. 
If bulk ship¬ 
ments and the 
industrious ped¬ 
dler will aid in 
accomplishing 
this purpose, and 
thus create a uni¬ 
versal demand 
for apples, not 
only the growers, 
but the dealers 
as well will be 
the gainers in the 
end, as more apples will be eaten. louis erb. 
Missouri. 
The cost of barrels in some seasons and localities is 
one-third of the money received. Apples will sort out 
one-third when barreled, and this portion is wasted, or 
worse still, made into cider. There is no help to pick 
them carefully, as they must be if barreled, and many 
crops are half wasted for want of time. The farmer 
needs the money and the poor need the fruit, and bulk 
shipments furnish the medium for getting the two to¬ 
gether. It saves work on the farm both indoors and 
out, as no gang of packers need be boarded, and it gives 
work in the city for an army of peddlers. Every load 
of apples sold to those who have not been in the habit 
of buying apples makes new customers for next year. 
Every carload shipped in bulk is used up at once and 
decreases the amount of stock on hand later, and in¬ 
creases the price of the barreled stock, g, g, c, 
NEW AU1UMN-FRUI TING RASPBERRY, NATURAL SIZE, Fig. 413. See Ruralisms, Page 914. 
