1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
146 
THE FARMER’S SHARE. 
A Railroad Eats Up Potatoes. 
Now let me relate an experience of a friend of mine, 
which seems like highway robbery on the part of the rail¬ 
roads. This man had a carload of potatoes sent from 
Stockbridge, Vt., to Newburgh, to be sold by him in lots 
to suit. These potatoes were all sold before potatoes were 
received in Newburgh. When the potatoes arrived, my 
friend took his team to the cars to load up and went to 
the freight office to settle. To his surprise the agent pre¬ 
sented a bill of 9109.20. Included in this were advance 
charges of $43. These potatoes were received here over 
the West Shore. White River Junction is mentioned in 
the freight papers, possibly as a transfer point. Do you 
consider this a fair charge, or do you consider it a case 
for the Interstate Commission? If you can discuss this 
question in the columns of The R. N.-Y. it may help some 
of those bloated hondholding farmers to find out who gets 
the wealth he produces. I would like to be introduced to 
Nell Beverly while they are finding the answer to the 
above problem. c. t. h. 
R. N.-Y.—This is a case of lowway robbery, and should 
he reported to the Interstate Commerce Commission at 
once. The distance between Stockbridge and Newburgh in 
a straight line is about 180 miles. By rail it is some 250 
miles. The average car will carry about 300 bushels of 
potatoes. At this average it cost 36 cents a bushel, or 
nearly 45 per cent of the wholesale price in New York 
to haul those potatoes to market! 
Freight Charges to the West. 
I read with much interest letters from Rural New York¬ 
ers about the prices they receive for produce, and also 
transportation charges. I thought I would send you an 
Item from the West. Becoming disgusted with the high 
price of coal oil (30 cents per gallon) and the poor light 
it gives, I sent to the Alcohol Utilities Company for an 
alcohol lamp. Local deafers charged $1 per gallon for 
denatured alcohol. I then sent to the company’s factory 
at Peoria, Hi., for nine gallons of denatured alcohol at 50 
cents, f. o. b. Peoria, ro be sent by freight, weight of 
package, 73 pounds. Bill for freight was $4.05. This on 
the lowest class of freight, only good for fuel and light¬ 
ing purposes shipped 30 days since, not yet arrived, but 
may get it within the next 60 days, or somewhat longer 
than it could be hauled by ox team. Last Spring I bought 
a carload of cedar fence Dosts tlowest class freight). The 
distance hauled was less tnan 150 miles; freight bill 
was $76.15, more than two-third cost of posts. These 
freight bills do not tally with N. C. Yoakum and J. J. 
Hill's public utterances—that the average freight, per ton, 
per mile in tiie United States is carried for three-quarters 
of a cent. If I related my experience in selling farm 
produce to commission men and dealers I am afraid that 
The R. N.-Y. readers would call them “fish stories.” Let 
us by all means have a parcels post. h. f. 
Washington. 
Buying Northern Grown Seed. 
“John, I have been reading up in the agricultural papers 
how much better northern grown potatoes are for seed, 
and that we should always change our seed at least every 
few years. I think we will get some barrels and send our 
seed potatoes down to Baltimore and sell them, and get 
some choice northern grown potatoes and see how they 
turn out.” 
TIIE PACKING.—“My what, a fine lot of potatoes these 
are, i 'most wish, John, I hadn’t thought of shipping them 
away; but since they are barreled up, we’ll let them go; 
but "say, did you see anything of my glasses? I can’t 
find them anywheres?” 
Lancaster Co., Pa., March -. 
Messrs. -& Co., 
Baltimore, Md. 
Dear Sirs —I am shipping you to-day via freight 10 
barrels of potatoes. As these are potatoes I kept for seed 
they are extra fine. Please sell them to best advantage, 
and ship me as soon as possible 10 barrels of northern 
grown seed potatoes, as I have decided to give northern 
grown seed a trial. 
Yours truly. 
THE POTATOES ARRIVE.—“That’s a fine lot of pota¬ 
toes that farmer sent us from Lancaster Co.’’ “That’s so. 
Bill; they will bring the top of the market, $2.50, and 
they are northern grown, too; don’t know why he didn’t 
keep them for seed. The boss says he wants us to send 
him some northern grown seed, lie will get them, Bill, 
all right.” 
Baltimore, Md., March-. 
Mr.-, 
Lancaster Co., Pa. 
Dear Sir —Your potatoes arrived O. K. and sold at the 
top of the market. Of course you understand that choice 
northern grown seed always commands a higher price than 
nearby potatoes. We enclose account sales and bill, 
showing a balance due us of $14, which amount you will 
please forward your check for. Awaiting your further 
orders. 
Very respectfully, 
-& Co. 
10 barrels potatoes .$2.50 $25.00 
Freight and cartage . 1.50 
Commission . 2.50 
- 4.00 
- $21.00 
10 barrels seed potatoes @ $3.50.... $35.00 
Balance due . $14.00 
THE POTATO PATCH.—“Well, John, we have got most 
of these potatoes planted. They certainly were a fine lot 
of potatoes, and that, commission man certainly gave us 
a square deal on these. Well, we will have time to finish 
the patch before dark, so turn that last barrel out and we 
will cut what we need.” 
“Hello, father, what’re these?” 
“Well, I declare, John, they look like my glasses.” 
“Why, so they are, father, and that commission man 
sent us back our own potatoes.” 
So it proved; the commission man had simply marked 
the barrels “Choice Northern Grown Seed” and shipped 
them back to the farmer at a cost of $14 and freight, and 
had it. not been for the farmer’s glasses he would never 
have known the difference. a. j. hodgson. 
R. N.-Y.—This little story is said to he taken from life. 
Farmers would better keep their glasses on ! 
A Farmer’s Share of Pears. 
I will send you a copy of account sales which I think 
is on an average of the way I am used: 
13 kegs Seckels, fancy, @ $1.78. $23.14 
18 kegs Seckels, No. 1, (a\ $1.53. 27.54 
4 kegs Seckels, No. 2, @ $1.03. 4.12 
- $54.80 
Freight . § 5.78 
Cartage . 1.05 
Commission . 5.48 
Kegs . 7.70 
-20.01 
Sold September 25, 1908. $34.79 
Shipped September 16; sold October 26 : 
2 kegs Seckels, fancy, @ $2.25.'. $4.50 
17 kegs Seckels, No. 1, (a] $2.10. 35.70 
11 kegs Seckels, No. 2, @ $1.75. 19.25 
Freight . $4.95 
Cartage .1.80 
Commission . 5.95 
Cold storage charge . 2 10 
Kegs . 6.60 
- 21.40 
$38.05 
Dealers offered me 40 cents a bushel (keg) for these. 
The last lot contained a smaller lot of fancy and the 
larger lot of small ones, but the cold storage helped sell 
them. My pears are always graded and marked, and I 
find by shipping mostly to one man I received much better 
prices. Nothing but good fruit goes. e. l. h. 
R. N.-Y.—From this we see that the two lots of pears 
sold for $114.25. The cost of selling and the kegs was 
$41.41, or 36 per cent of the selling price. The consumer 
paid at least $200 for these pears. As the grower got 
$72.84 after paying selling expenses he received 36 cents 
of the dollar. 
“ Open Thou Mine Eyes.” 
The above quotation from the Psalms very befittingly 
expresses our needs as farmers. In a large measure it 
expresses our need to see our opportunities, and again 
to see facts. It is of the latter thought that I write 
this article. For some time past a few of our farm papers 
have been asking the question, “Who gets the money?” 
The universal answer has been, “The middlemen and 
the express companies.” A little bit of my experience 
may be of value to many wito read this article. Last July 
I bought two bushels of plums, paying $2 a bushel for 
them and $1.50 expressage to have them carried about 
120 miles. There are 64 quarts in two bushels. After 
using a lot raw and making some into jelly we canned 
50 quarts. That many quarts of canned fruit, and such 
canned fruit would have cost us at the grocery $12.50. 
Deducting the cost of plums and expressage they stood 
us clear $7. That same week I visited two cities and in¬ 
quired at the groceries the price of plums. They were 
selling the same kind of plums at 50 cents a half gallon 
basket. Now, if I had bought my plums from a grocer 
they would have cost me $16; I saved $10.50 by buying 
directly from the farmer. If the grocer had to pay tiie 
same price for the plums and the same express rate I did 
(which is doubtful) he made $10.50 clear of nearly all 
expenses. If our city consumers would take our farm 
papers and post themselves on the line of farm productions 
and get in touch with some industrious, honest and clean 
farmer, and buy all their produce direct, it would result 
in larger prices to the farmer for his products. Take the 
case above. It would have been infinitely better if half of 
the profit accruing to the grocer had been added to the 
farmer’s price and the other half saved to the consumer. 
West Virginia. _ e. d. hanna. 
NEW YORK STATE GRANGE.—At the annual conven¬ 
tion opening at Little Falls February 2, Master F. N. 
Godfrey made a strong plea for the direct primary. Five 
hundred delegates were in attendance when the conven¬ 
tion opened, and the report of Secretary Giles showed that 
the Grange had gained 6.000 members in the past year, 
having now a membership of 83,267. Mr. Godfrey, in 
seconding Governor Hughes’s recommendation for direct 
primaries, called attention to -the consistent policy of the 
Grange for years in advocating primary reform, and de¬ 
clared that now that the question has been placed squarely 
before the Legislature it should be all the more strongly 
contended for by the Grange, and take precedence over 
other matters in its list of recommendations for legisla¬ 
tion. Other important legislative recommendations made 
by Master Godfrey were for a legal department for the 
State Commissioner of Agriculture; providing for regis¬ 
tration. licensing and regulation of motor vehicles; more 
efficient supervision of common schools; better protection 
of forest lands from fires, and exemption from taxation of 
lands set aside for the growing of forests. Master Godfrey 
called the barge canal the State’s “white elephant,” and 
said the development of the work justified the Grange’s 
opposition to it. The construction of market roads was 
demanded by the new Highway Commission before trunk 
lines are extended for pleasure seekers. Strong criticism 
was made of roads constructed in the past, the speaker 
saying that they were so poorly built as to need repairs as 
soon as completed, and that the cost of repairing them 
was greater in a few years than the first cost. He hoped 
that under new conditions the work of construction would 
be continued on a basis of permanency and economy. 
Feed is getting scarce in the west end of Barry Co. 
Corn is 65 cents per bushel; oats, 35; wheat, $1.05; hay, 
$8 to $10 per ton. We are having some cold snowy 
weather here; the thermometer registered six degrees be¬ 
low zero January 12 and killed most of the peach buds. 
Prospects for apples and berries are good at present. I 
think the eastern farmers are wise to raise more corn, 
as the West consumes most of theirs now in feeding hogs 
and cattle for market. r. d. t. 
Purdy, Mo. 
Most of the land is under lease for oil and gas at 
$1 per acre per annum until drilled. Land is hilly and 
rough, but rich and produces well; sells at $25 to $50 
per acre. Prices good ; horses, $150 to $200 each ; cows, 
$50 to $75; hogs, 8 cents dressed; sheep, $6 to $8 
per head; eggs, 25 cents per dozen; chickens, 8 cents 
per pound; butter, 20 cents per pound; wheat, $1 per 
bushel; corn, $1 per bushel; mill feed, $2.15; potatoes, 
75 cents per bushel. It has been very dry from about 
the first of July up to January 14. Schools progressing 
nicely. 
Glenville, W. V a. 
The following would stand a good chance for first prize 
in a contest for extortion : “If you wish to realize the limit 
of express companies’ extortion, just send a package to 
British Columbia. My brother there bought $12 worth of 
artists’ supplies from a Chicago firm, and the express 
was $5.35 and the duty $3.85. They don’t need any 
nerve tonic.” w. s. 
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