THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3T3 
1008. 
PRODUCTS, PRICES AND TRADE. 
Activity in Shipbuilding. —In the nine 
months ending March 31, 765 sail and steam 
vessels, with a total gross tonnage of 
353,763, were built in this country. This 
is 87 vessels more than for the correspond¬ 
ing period last year. The greatest activ¬ 
ity was in the great lakes section, which 
put out a total tonnage of 214.833, mainly 
steam vessels of steel construction. 
Lambs. —The Spring run of hothouse 
lambs has averaged poor, many under 30 
pounds and some below 25. These are too 
small, and are not wanted at a price that 
will make shipment profitable. Usually dur¬ 
ing February and March there are lambs 
that will sell for $8 to $10 each, weighing 
35 pounds or more, but this year there have 
been a good many $4 ones. 
Potatoes. —The market is feeling a little 
improvement on account of the demand for 
seed. Houses making a specialty of seed 
potatoes in this city are getting from $3.25 
to $4 per 165-pound sack. Irish Cobbler 
continues so popular that the seed sells 
at a premium over the common run of 
varieties. Other kinds sold largely are 
Green Mountain, Hebron, Carman and 
Rural New Yorker No. 2. Some improved 
strains of Rose are offered, but usually at a 
price in advance of ordinary sorts. 
Cold Bath fob Steers.— Live cattle 
shipped to this market have some strange 
experiences in addition to the suffering 
from hunger and thirst and shaking up on 
the cars. A car of steers was on a lighter 
with 19 other cars of coal and barrel 
staves in the East River. Some of the cars 
shifted so that the lighter became un¬ 
balanced and sank in a few minutes. Those 
on board got the cattle car doors open 
and about half of the animals got out and 
swam ashore. The writer’s opinion is that 
it is a mistake to transport 1,000 or 1,500 
miles live animals intended for slaughter. 
They can just as well be killed nearer the 
place where fattened and the meat shipped 
more economically than on the hoof. We 
do not know that chemists find a material 
difference between the meat of similar ani¬ 
mals slaughtered under various conditions, 
but there is a growing opinion that a steer 
killed after being parched with thirst on a 
long, tiresome trip, frightened almost to 
death by strange sights and sounds, does 
not make wholesome food. 
English Bittteb Boom. —During Febru¬ 
ary there were reports of unusually high 
prices in the butter markets of Great Brit¬ 
ain. So far as we are able to judge con¬ 
sumers were paying no more for good but¬ 
ter than in this country, but they appeared 
to resent the retail price of 36 to 40 cents, 
which has been a common thing with 
consumers in the eastern part of the 
United States the past Winter, and, 
in fact, every Winter since the pack¬ 
ing houses have so largely manip¬ 
ulated the butter trade. The result was that 
high grade oleomargarine, sold under its 
right name was largely used, and within 
a month top grades of butter dropped to 
30 cents, with fairly good at 25. Some of 
the retail dealers gave a half pound of oleo 
free with every pound of shilling butter, 
and encouraged their customers to use it. 
No matter how scarce or how thoroughly 
monopolized good butter may be, the re¬ 
tail price depends upon the consumers. 
If they refuse to go above a certain figure 
it has got to drop to that point at last. 
Retail Meat Prices. —Tl\e man who 
buys meat in .Washington Market, New 
York, is at present paying 10 to 25 per cent 
more than a year ago. Round steak costs 
20 cents and up; sirloin 22; porterhouse 
at least 25; and roasts from 16 to 22 
cents. In the residence sections of this 
city prices run eight or nine per cent, or 
even more, above these figures. In one 
uptown west side section noted in the last 
week butchers were getting 20 per cent 
above Washington Market figures, prac¬ 
tically because they were selling to people 
who buy about so much meat no matter 
what it costs, though the butchers give 
high rents, etc., as excuse for the difference 
in price. At the same date in the Chicago 
yards live steers were selling from $4.50 
to $7, the latter figure for -a few top 
notchers. There may not he any beef trust 
but it is hard to see how such an out¬ 
rageous profit can lie squeezed out of that 
portion of the trade that lies between the 
producer and consumer without an under¬ 
standing between the middlemen, so clear 
and definite as 1 to kill every vestige of that 
great regulator of trade, competition. 
w. w. H. 
The Larger Forms of Gambling. 
Apropos of the public interest that is 
centered in Albany at this time in regard 
to the so-called anti-race track gambling 
bills: It seems fitting that your paper, as 
an educator of farmers, an exponent of 
their ideas, if sound, and a defender of 
their interests, should take cognizance of 
matters entirely within your sphere. First, 
I would say that we do not wish to be 
understood as saying a word in defence of 
race track gambling. Without a doubt it 
is a menace to society and pervertcr of 
morals and pernicious. But how can the 
farmers of the State, and even the Grange, 
of which the writer is a member, sit 
supinely and content themselves by a con¬ 
demnation of this single evil when those 
of vastly more importance should engage 
our attention? There are evils which far 
transcend this one. I refer to gambling in 
stocks, bonds, etc., but more than all else 
to the gambling in our agricultural pro¬ 
ducts or staples, as practiced by the Chi¬ 
cago Board of Trade, and by the New York 
exchanges, a practice which directly affects 
the prosperity of farmers and of every citi¬ 
zen of the United States, morally as well 
as financially. The records are said to 
show that during the year 1907 some three 
or four hundred thousand more bales of 
cotton were sold than were actually pro¬ 
duced. The same is probably true of wheat, 
etc. It is not necessary to say more. It 
seems that the Grange is placing itself in 
the position of “straining at the gnat and 
swallowing the camel.’’ Let us as Grang¬ 
ers “lay our ax at the root of the tree.” 
We could wish that all farmers would take 
cognizance and express themselves on these 
and all public questions, for it is unques¬ 
tionably through farmers that legislation 
and reforms that directly affect their own 
interests must come. There is no selfish¬ 
ness in this, for prosperity to the Ameri¬ 
can farmers means prosperity to the nation. 
Lay our ax at the root. F. A. seeley. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—We believe that sooner or 
later the Grange and other farm or¬ 
ganizations will find it necessary to fight 
“high gambling” in a practical way. We 
hope the battle against race-track gamb¬ 
ling is a step in that direction. Let us 
fight the wrongs we can control to the 
death and still keep an eye on the larger 
evils. 
Direct From Factory to You. 
Established 1881. 27 Years’ Experience. 
We are the Originators of the 30-Day 
FREE TRIAL PLAN. 
Eight styles of CONCORDS to choose from. 
TOP BUGGIES, DRIVING WAGONS, BIKES, 
SURRIES and PHAETONS, 
Twelve styles of SPRING WAGONS. 
Also full Hue of HARNESSES. 
SEND FOR 1908 CATALOGUE. 
Kalamazoo Carriage & Harness Co. 
Box 25, Kalamazoo, Mich. 
NORTHERN VIRGINIA FARMS. 
Best section of State; Mild climate; Finest soil; 
Nearest markets ; Convenient to Washington; 
Delightful communities: Beautiful Homes; Splen¬ 
did Farms. CLAUDE STEPHENSON, 
Virginia Properties, Herndon, Va. 
WRITF D. S. Hanson, Hart, Mich., for list of 
Ti 111 l L F ru it, Grain, Stock and Poultry Farms. 
“SEABOARD _ Qouthern SENT 
MAGAZINE” ~b1I££o!rd FREE 
TRONGHOLD 
A MAN’S DISPOSITION 
is, without doubt, seriously affected by the 
climatic conditions which surround him. 
ARE YOU PLEASANTLY LOCATED? 
Are you shut in by the ice and snow of a rigor¬ 
ous winter, with naught but a cheerless sky to 
gaze upon? What of your lands now? Covered 
with snow? How about your stock? Have to be 
kept housed and fed? 
The farmers in our territory are plowing,their 
stock grazing on the hillsides, and in the famous 
Manatee section growers nro shipping their pro¬ 
ducts to Northern markets, receiving remark¬ 
able prices for same due to the season. 
Our lands are just as fertile as yours, produce 
just as much and at a time when prices are the 
best. It’s a duty you owe yourself and family to 
look into this. 
CLIMATE IS A MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR 
in connection with the profits, as well as pleas¬ 
ure, to be derived from your location. 
Wouldn't you like to he pleasantly situated, 
surrounded by climatic conditions which permit 
work to be carried on the entire year, and where 
the struggle for existence against the elements 
of a frozen North is not known? 
The climate in the six States traversed by our 
line is unsurpassed anywhere, and tiie profits 
being derived by those who only a few years ago 
were battling with the rigors of winter in a 
northern location is evidence of the value of our 
lands. Do you expect to remain where you are 
and keep up the struggle? Why not come down 
into southern sunshine and be pleasantly located 
while at the same time you are deriving big 
profits from from your crops? 
OUR LITERATURE IS FREE. 
The "Seaboard Magazine," prepared especially 
for the benefit of parties contemplating a change 
of location, will help yon. Let us put your name 
on our mailing list. Drop us a postal today. 
J. W. WHITE, General Industrial Agent, 
SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILWAY, 
Portsmouth, Va., Dept. 18. 
VIRGINIA FARMS 
IMPROVED AND UNIMPROVED. 
Rich lands; heavy crops; mild winters; cheap 
lands and happy farmers. Good lands $5 per acre 
and up. Write for catalogue. B. T. WATKINS 
819 East Main Street. Richmond,Va. 
W A NTF TY— 200 or 300 acre farm within 100 
Yx T\lx 1 LD m iies from N. Y. City. Give 
full description; what use land is in; lay of same; 
quality and kind of soil and description of build¬ 
ings. C. D. BARCLAY, Jefferson, la. 
BRADLEY’S FERTILIZERS 
“Make Your Capital 
Work for You” 
The farmer’s capital is invested in his land. Unless the 
land is productive his capital cannot work to its full capacity. 
Bradley’s Fertilizers supply the needed plant food in right 
forms to produce crops which return the largest profits on the 
investment. An old customer writes us as follows: 
“We have sold 125 tons of hay and retained enough for 
our stock kept on our 148-acre farm. This kind of hay crop 
is the result of Bradley’s Fertilizers which have been used on 
this farm for the past 10 years exclusively, for fall seeding. 
We have harvested over 2000 bushels of ears of corn from 
10 acres on your fertilizer. Bradley’s Fertilizers always drill 
well and the results are sure every timet ’ 
BRADLEY’S FERTILIZERS 
The World’s Best 
By Every Test 
See our Local Agents, or address 
The American Agricultural Chemical Company 
BRADLEY FERTILIZER WORKS 
92 State Streets Boston, Mass. 
