January 25, 
82 
MARKETING, TRANSPORTATION AND 
GRIEVANCES. 
The following report was made at the 
New York Agricultural Society meeting by 
John J. Dillon, chairman of the committee 
on marketing and is published by request: 
Bad Conditions. —-During the past year 
the market situation has dragged along 
consistently with its old economic wastes, 
its hardships and losses to the producer, 
and its extortionate tax on the consumer. 
There are continued complaints from ship¬ 
pers that railroads fail to furnish cars 
for perishable products in time for ship¬ 
ment, and in other cases products are un¬ 
duly delayed in shipment and prevent de¬ 
liveries in prime condition. Express com¬ 
panies continue to lose shipments in 
transit, to damage them and to charge ex- 
pressage for them at both ends. Com¬ 
mission men and buyers have continued 
to solicit consignments and shipments 
under the encouragement of high quota¬ 
tions and sometimes of definite prices, but 
when the goods are received and disposed 
of they make such returns as their charity 
prompts or their avarice permits. Milk 
companies have failed owing producers up 
to $90,000 for milk deliveries, and after 
going through the stereotyped processes of 
receivership, bought up many of the old 
creameries and shipping stations and con¬ 
tinued the business free from the^ burden 
of their indebtedness, while paying the 
producer only a small fraction of the origi¬ 
nal obligation. 
The markets and hotels in villages and 
cities throughout the State testify to the 
enterprise and organization of California 
and Oregon fruit growers by the display of 
the products of these States on their mar¬ 
kets and tables. Many of those are located 
in agricultural sections where the better 
and fresher flavored products of our New 
York orchards and gardens are decaying 
for want of a' customer. Shipments of 
farm products have continued to go from 
inland points hundreds of miles past local 
markets to city terminals and are re-ship- 
ped again over the same roads back to 
the local centers. During the shipping 
season last Fall carloads of peaches in 
Western New York rotted on the ground, 
or perished in transit because transporta¬ 
tion companies either neglected to furnish 
the cars to load the fruit when ready for 
shipment, or delayed the car in transit 
until the fruit was damaged. Growers 
complain that fruits and vegetables have 
perished on their hands because they could 
not sell them for enough in the New York 
markets to pay for the packages and trans¬ 
portation. Yet in every case where definite 
information has been available, the city 
consumer has been obliged to pay at retail 
the highest price commanded by these 
products in seasons of scanty production. 
Some Progress.— Still we have made 
some progress. This committee has re¬ 
ceived during the year 555 complaints from 
shippers and accounts have been collected 
for them to the amount of $10,902.51. 
This includes complaints for damaged and 
lost goods, against railroads and express 
companies for excessive freights, and ex¬ 
cess and duplicate express charges; 
$2,390.92 has be.en collected during the 
year on these latter accounts, which the 
shippers themselves were unable to get; 
and during the three years of the existence 
of this committee 1,494 complaints of this 
kind have been filed and $32,078.59 col¬ 
lected and forwarded to the shippers with¬ 
out reduction or expense to them. During 
November and December alone seven over¬ 
charge express claims were adjusted that 
required from seven months to two years 
to collect. We have now some measure of 
parcel post and recent orders of the Inter¬ 
state Commerce Commission are intended 
to lessen the excess charges and duplicate 
collections by express companies. 
During the year the State Food Investi¬ 
gating Committee has been created by the 
Legislature and members appointed by the 
Government to investigate the causes of 
the high cost of living. A sub-committee 
consisting of Hon. Win. Church Osborn, 
our Commissioner of Agriculture and our 
associate Ezra A. Tuttle, have been in¬ 
vestigating conditions of food and markets 
in New York City. They have developed 
and given official expression to many of 
the conditions and abuses that we have so 
long complained of without avail, and 
measures have been suggested and bills 
are being prepared in accordance with the 
suggestions to correct the abuses and*to 
eliminate some of the wasteful and extrava¬ 
gant, and in some cases, dishonest 
methods that have prevailed for so long 
in the New l'ork markets. Attention has 
also been crystallized through the investi¬ 
gation of this committee on the want of 
system or regulation in the sale of food 
products through tricky commission houses 
and irresponsible speculators in good pro¬ 
ducts. A bill has already been prepared by 
Senator Roosevelt to regulate this truffle 
in the hope of eliminating many of its 
abuses, and we have much reason for the 
hope that this bill will soon become a law. 
A Conference. —Under the auspices of 
this Society, a conference of cooperative 
interests was held in New York City on 
April 19 and 20 last. Provision was made 
for a State Standing Committee on Co¬ 
operation and this committee has been 
organized With a membership of 180. A 
conference of this committee was held in 
New York on December 5, to consider how 
the new parcel post system may be de¬ 
veloped to distribute farm products and ef¬ 
fecting trade between producers and con¬ 
sumers, and more particularly to effect 
means for the organization of cooperative 
societies among producers and consumers. 
The Housewives’ League (a large associa¬ 
tion of New York City consumers) promises 
to help in the development of the parcel 
post trade by furnishing the names and 
guaranteeing the credit of members pro¬ 
vided the producers’ organization would 
cooperate by guaranteeing the grade, 
quality and measure of the goods. It was 
the sense of the members of that com¬ 
mittee that the organization of cooperative 
shippers in local country units must go 
hand in hand with the organization of a 
central selling agency with headquarters in 
the city representing the country associa¬ 
tions and controlled by them. In further¬ 
ance of this measure the chairman was 
directed to prepare a charter for the cen¬ 
tral organization and to assist in the de¬ 
velopment of a uniform system for the 
organization of the local units. These local 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
units for shipping in cooperation are held 
to be important because it is only through 
association that we can help to have ship¬ 
ments made in uniform packages, and in 
proper grades, and in full weights and 
measures, and the guarantee of these 
standards will be necessary in order that 
the shipper may profit by the proposed 
commission law and proposed food commis¬ 
sion bill and in whatever may develop in 
the enlargement of the parcel post system. 
These shipping units could also be utilized 
to develop the local trade of villages and 
cities throughout the State, and to avoid 
the wasteful and extravagant practice of 
shipping first to the city of New York 
and then doubling the rate and charges 
back to the local market. The individual 
producer is unable to supply these local 
markets because of the expense of small 
deliveries and the local caterer or hotel 
man is unable to patronize the producer 
because of his absolute need of a steady 
and uniform supply, but where all pro¬ 
ducers in a neighborhood are shipping 
through a common warehouse, this trade 
could be supplied and developed to the 
profit of the producer and saving of the 
consumer in a steady supply of food ma¬ 
terial fresh from the "farm. 
The conference of the State Standing 
Committee on Cooperation also recom¬ 
mended that the State be requested to as¬ 
sist in the organization of the cooperative 
shipping association either through the 
committee or through the Department of 
Agriculture, there being a precedent in 
other States and other countries for this 
assistance to cooperative work in its early 
development. We ask our legislative com¬ 
mittee to further the interest of this re¬ 
quest. 
None Too Soon.- —We are making our 
cooperative shipping initiative none too soon. 
The State of Maine already has a fast de¬ 
veloping system of cooperation. The de¬ 
velopment of the trade in California fruits 
and Oregon apples is a familiar subject. 
Local cooperative societies for the manu¬ 
facture and sale of dairy products, for the 
gathering and shipping of eggs, for the 
packing and marketing of fruits, and for 
the sale and delivery of milk, are meeting 
with great success in Pennsylvania, Indi¬ 
ana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and other 
States. In New Y’ork City and its suburbs, 
local communities are organizing coopera¬ 
tive stores to supply their members with 
food supplies. Only last week the largo 
restaurant and hotel keepers in New York 
City organized themselves into a coopera¬ 
tive association with a million dollars of 
capital for the purpose of buying foods 
without the necessity of paying tribute to 
middlemen and the food speculators. All 
of these consumers are chafing under the 
constantly advancing cost of food products. 
They are anxious to buy from the pro¬ 
ducer at first hand, but they’ must have a 
steady supply and uniform grades. They 
will demand full weights and measures. 
The individual shipper cannot hope to 
supply this trade. Direct selling by the 
producer, and direct buying by these large 
consumers will be possible only through 
cooperation in packing, grading and ship¬ 
ping. This is an outlet now for farm food 
products of every kind and description 
that New Y’ork State producers ought to 
Command at once, and may command if 
they prepare themselves to supply it. 
Some one is going to have the trade, and 
those who have it first will have the ad¬ 
vantage in future sales. For many years 
we have recognized the necessity of an 
agency in New Y’ork City to represent 
shippers. One man with a clerk would 
save shippers, as now made in single lots, 
thousands of dollars annually. His work 
would be to keep shippers advised of the 
conditions of markets, and the responsi¬ 
bility of produce houses, to encourage and 
arrange for direct shipments, look after 
shipments when delayed, or when there 
was a complaint of quality or condition, 
and to look after the collection of delayed 
accounts. Some of these functions will be 
covered by official inspectors if the bills 
now in preparation become laws, but in 
case they fail an agency of the kind is 
almost a necessity for distant shippers. 
Wood’s Seeds 
Tor The 
Farm and Garden. 
Our New Descriptive Catalog 
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seeds to grow. It tells all about 
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Cow Peas, Soja Beans, 
The Best Seed Corns 
and all other 
Tarm and Garden Seeds. 
Wood’s Seed Catalog has 
long been recognized as a stan¬ 
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Mailed on request, write for it. 
T. W. WOOD & SONS, 
SE.E.DSME.N, RICHMOND, VA. 
CTRAWBERRY and other small fruit plants. Asparagus 
** Roots, Apple Trees. Hedge Plants, etc. Descrip¬ 
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WHOLESALE PR1C 
On $1 worth and up. strawberry. Raspberry, 
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A. C. WESTON & CO„ Bridgman. Michigan 
OUR IDEAL SPRING GARDEN BOOK—1913 
NEW AND ORICINAL IN MAKEUP AND 
MATTER AND ONE PKT. EACH 
FIVE SEED NOVELTIES 
New Japan Radish “NERIMA” melts in the mouth. 
New Runner Bean “Masterpiece, ’ immensely productive. 
New Lettuce, ‘-Count Zeppelin,’' withstands heat ami drought. 
New Snapdragon Apploblossom," White pink Butterfly’’ 
Giant Oriental Poppies in new shades; rose, lilac, mauve. 
10 cents brings them. RESULTS will please. 
H. H. BERGER & CO., 70 Warren Street, NEW YORK 
Choice Home Grown 
Field Seeds 
direct from the farmer to the 
user. All seeds best possible 
quality obtainable. We pay 
freight on all shipments. 
Write for samples and prices 
N. WERTHEIMER & SONS, 
Ligonier, Ind. 
SOY BEANS FOR SEED 
500 bushels Ito San, grown on Rutger's College 
Farm. Choice graded stock. Also small quantity 
of Wilson, Mongol, Baird and Brownie. Address, 
Irving L. Owen, Manager College Farm, New Brunswick, N. J. 
—All the best va¬ 
rieties of Peaches. 
Pits from H. W. 
Harris, Hickory, 
N. C., buds direct from bearing trees Results, 
sturdy trees and purity of kinds. Ask for special 
prices. NELSON B0GUE, Batavia Nurseries, Batavia, N. Y. 
ELBERTAS 
Pure Field Seeds 
Clover, Timothy, Alsike, Alfalfa and ail kinds of 
Pure Field Seeds direct from producer to con¬ 
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A. C. 1IOYT & CO., I’OYTORIA, Ohio 
SEED FOR THE FARM 
Do you want the best Grass Seed, Corn, Oats, 
Potatoes and other Field Seeds at first cost? 
We can serve you. Write for catalogue, It is free. 
You will like it A. H. HOFFMAN, 
Lancaster Co. ... Lamlisville, Pa. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS-^; 
productive varieties. Fruit Trees 10 per cent- 
discount during January and February. 
HAKRY I,. SQUIRES, Kemseuburg, N. Y. 
Sand Vetch £?, g H . a t£ 
and Greatest Fertilizer 
Our hardy Sam* Vetch will grow any* 
where, regardless of heat, cold or drought. 
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f,*om 6 to 10 tons per acre* Excellent feed for grow¬ 
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than any other fertilizer. Send for free catalog. 
r Griswold Seed Co., 227 So. Tenth Street, Lincoln, 
85c per lb. 
and up 
Write for FREE SAMPLES of our new crop onion 
seed; lowest wholesale prices, and Free Leaflet on 
onion culture. Catalog Free. All kinds of garden seeds 
nt wholesale prices and freight ^repaid. 
Henry Field Seed Co., Box 26 _ Shenandoah. IowaJ 
Wonderful Fall-Bearing 
Strawberries 
Fruit in fall of first year and in 
spring and fall of second year. 
Big money-maker! 
500 plants set in May yielded from 
Aug. 23 to Nov. 11 nearly 400 quarts 
which sold for 25c per qt. The past 
season (1912) we had fresh straw¬ 
berries every day from June 15 to 
Nov. 15! We are headquarters for 
Strawberries and Small Fruit 
Plants of all kinds 
Big stock of best hardy varieties at very low 
g rices. Plum Farmer, Idaho and Royal Purple 
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L. J. FARMER. Box 320, Pulaski, N.Y. 
CWFFT SEED—Large biennial cultivated varie- 
tv L.i -11 ties, white and yellow. Greatest legume 
Cl OVFR fertilizer. Excellent hay and pasture. 
Price, and circular how to grow it. on 
request. E. BARTON, Box 29, Falmouth, Ky. 
1847 
1913 
Wiley s better trees cost less m the end. Our catalog shows why practical men plant our trees, and who 
many of them are. Our family ol Rural New-Yorker patrons know we are found on this page year after 
year. We want to say the best are none too good for you, who have never tried our trees 
wjchmi^z:iear ™ c/italog now h. S. Wiley & Son, 27 Beach St., Cayuga, H. Y. 
I’ll Refund Your Money if You Don’t Get 1-4 More Sap With 
GRIMM SAP SPOUTS 
Grimm spouts more than pay their cost in one season. I will send 
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held by the outer bark,and will carry a full bucket withoutbeing driven hard enough 
to split the bark No. 4 spouts (using a 7-ltl bit) for$2.75 per hundred, including hooks 
Grimm Improved Fvaporator will Evaporate one fourth more sup than the old stvle. Improve 
incut can be used with the latter. Grimm tin sap buckets are guaranteed not to’rust Svrun 
...ill *— illustrated booklet E— G. II. GRIMM, Rutland, Yt., and Hudson, O 
placed in Grimm cans will not ferment. Write for 
Seed Corn, Potatoes, Oats- 
all carefully selected, improved varieties, 
grown on our own farm. We grow all our 
own seeds and are not mere dealers, so we 
can furnish the very highest grade of seed 
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agents’ prices. We offer choice selected 
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BEETS, CABBAGE, CELERY, ONIONS 
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JOSEPH HARRIS CO. 
-BOX 66- 
Coldwater, N. Y. 
HARRIS 
SEEDS 
BIG MONEY IN 
AND HOW TO CHOW 
Tou can make big O-A-T-S money on your farm If vou plant 
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GALLOWAY BROS.-BOWMAN CO. 
S»oa Oat Bpoclallsts, Box 662Waterloo, Iowa 
