212 
TTIK RURAb NEW-YORKER 
EXPERIENCE WITH GROWERS’ 
EXCHANGE. 
Monroe County, New York, furnishes a 
good example of the necessity for great 
care in the selection of managers for 
cooperative undertakings. On the one hand 
the “Irondequoit Coal & Supply Company” 
has been in existence several years; it is 
now supplying its members with coal, feed, 
and other supplies at reduced rates and 
paying substantial dividends to the stock¬ 
holders. On the other hand the local 
branch of the “Growers’ and Shippers' Ex¬ 
change” seems to be an example of the too 
common failure of the cooperative enter¬ 
prise. I am informed that the local branch 
shipped from our village, 20 carloads of 
peaches during the past Fall, besides a 
great amount of other fruit. Here is a 
quotation from a “statement” rendered to 
one .of my neighbors, “1420 baskets No. 1 
Elberta peaches, net $276.19.” At the time 
these peaches were shipped, dealers were 
paying 35 to 40 cents per basket for ship¬ 
ping. Another item, given in more detail, 
Is as follows : 
148 crates apples sold at $1. $148.00 
Charges at New York.$37.14 
Packing charges at 20. 29.60 
Cartons and crates at 30.. .. 44.40 
Three per cent Lidg. 3.33 
Five per cent commission... 5.54 
- $120.01 
Net proceeds . $27.99 
The crates mentioned above contained 
two bushels of apples each, packed in car¬ 
tons. The 296 bushels of apples in this 
shipment had been sorted out of 160 bar¬ 
rels as delivered by grower. The selected 
fruit, therefore, brought the grower less 
than 10 cents per bushel. It may seem 
unfortunate that at a time when the air 
is filled with talk of cooperation we should 
have our enthusiasm chilled by such a re¬ 
port as the above; but in view of numer¬ 
ous pas* experiences, warnings of this kind 
seem needed. george Arnold. 
Monroe Co.. N. Y. 
Farm Produce in North Michigan. 
We have no city or town markets; 95 per 
cent of the farm produce that is consumed 
here is shipped in from Wisconsin territory. 
Farmers who pay attention to marketing 
their products can sell them very readily 
at prices running from 25 per cent to 50 
per cent above what Wisconsin farmers ob¬ 
tain. The only thing that I am now selling 
is milk, for which we are getting eight 
cents a quart wholesale and of which we 
cannot supply the demand. Our farming 
territory here is so new that no stable 
market of any kind has yet been established 
for farm produce. The farmers who have 
orchards and of which there is not to ex¬ 
ceed a dozen, sell their apples for from 
$1.25 to $1.50 per bushel by traveling 
from place to place. The retail price of 
milk is 10 cents a quart and will and 
ought to, remain that, if farmers do not 
cut the price. I understand that one farm¬ 
er now is bringing in milk and selling it at 
six cents. lie is selling 20 quarts at a 
time. It takes him half a day to make the 
trip, for himself and horse, he is thus get¬ 
ting $1.20 a day. It does not pay his time, 
to say nothing of keeping and taking care 
of his cows. 
I think one of the most harmful things 
to the agricultural interests to-day is the 
great cry that is being made everywhere 
that farmers are now becoming scientific 
men. There are some farmers who are 
scientific in their work, but this is such 
an insignificant percentage of the whole 
that the results in the main amount to 
very little. While I approve of a great 
deal that Secretary Wilson has done I think 
he has done a great deal of harm in his an¬ 
nual talks about the great value of farm 
products. Your slogan about the farmer only 
getting 35 per cent of what farm produce 
is worth has been doing an immense amount 
of good, and is some offset to what Secre- 
tair Wilson did. I am using the illustra¬ 
tion among the farmers of the penitentiary 
and the asylums. In the penitentiary the 
men will work together; they will do'team 
work and as a result they can only he held 
by stone walls and iron bars, while in 
the insane asylum one man can take care 
of 20 or 25 patients and even more, and 
no stone walls or iron bars are needed, sim¬ 
ply because insane people will not work 
together and will not do team work. It is 
almost impossible to get many farmers to 
work together and do team work and as 
a result very little can be accomplished for 
them. My experience as a lawyer for 17 
years has been that I have never been 
able to get one laboring man to come in 
and swear against another laboring man 
in a lawsuit, but I have never failed in liti¬ 
gation in which farmers were interested 
but what I was able to get another farmer 
to come in and swear against his fellow 
farmer. I cite as an ilustration saloon¬ 
keepers charging 10 cents for a glass of 
whisky, and a farmer himself talking about 
10 cents for a quart of milk being an ex¬ 
orbitant price. If business is dull a saloon¬ 
keeper will not cut the price of liquor at 
all to make sales for what he has, but a 
farmer can be made to believe that there is 
an over-production of milk or any other 
farm product and sell it below cost. 
Northern Michigan. i. w. byers. 
R. N. Y.—But we must remember that 
the liquor can be held over until it can 
be sold and its production is controlled by 
a monopoly. The milk cannot be held in 
this, way, nor can its production be monopo¬ 
lized. 
PARCEL POST NOTES. 
Some Exceptional Cases. 
You have no doubt done a great deal to 
bring about parcel post, .and in most cases 
it is or will be a success, but there are 
exceptions, one of which I will explain. 
I have owned a farm in Connecticut, second 
zone, the last few years, and have occa¬ 
sionally received packages by express and 
paid 35 cents each. I thought if parcel 
post could be established it would be a 
saving, so to try it an 11-pound package 
was sent me for 46 cents, about one-third 
of the weight I have been receiving by 
express and 11 cents more in cost of send¬ 
ing ; I cannot see how that will benefit 
anyone similarly situated, only the pack¬ 
age may be handed to the rural mail man, 
while by express it is necessary to take 
it to the station. If parcel post is 
supposed to be in competition with the ex¬ 
press companies, and in order to become 
popular with the people, they will need to 
allow the same privileges the express com¬ 
panies do, there have been more bad 
thoughts and harsh words spoken in the 
postal service since parcel post was born 
than ever before. A force of clerks is ever 
on the watch for sealed-up packages or 
those with writing in, and if any are discov¬ 
ered thev are rated up at letter rates and 
that multiplied by two. A person on my 
route had two broilers sent her in a box 
with a few words descriptive of the con¬ 
tents. The writing was discovered and the 
whole thing charged at letter rates, then 
doubled, and of course the receiver prompt¬ 
ly refused it. as $2.50 would be too costly 
even for the rich. A package of prints or 
drawings was treated in the same way, 
and charged up to between five and six dol¬ 
lars because they had some writing or fig¬ 
ures on the margin. It does not cost any 
more to carry a sealed up package or one 
containing writing than otherwise, and the 
public will never be satisfied until they 
can seal up their packages against the 
prying eyes of the clerks, a privilege which 
they have always been granted heretofore 
by the express companies. If you would 
use your influence to have the wrongs of 
parcel post righted as effectually as you 
did in having it established, it could be 
made a real blessing, but as it is I think 
it may be a long time before the express 
companies go out of business. 
A LETTER CARRIER. 
It. N.-Y.—We have seen many great re¬ 
forms started. Every one was voted a fail¬ 
ure by many at its beginning, but they 
were patiently worked out. It will be the 
same with the parcel post. 
Suggested Rate Changes. 
Soon after the parcel post was started 
it proved to be so successful that it was 
thought the postage might be placed at one 
cent in the first zone. After reading the 
complaint of the country merchants in The 
B.-Y. I am going to offer a suggestion. 
Without making any change in the present 
zone system, give to each rural delivery 
post office one cent a pound rates on the 
rural routes. That would place the country 
merchants on an equality and practically 
the same as before the change was made. 
By having a box for each rural route, 
the merchants should be required to do 
their own sorting. By that means it would 
not add to the labors of the office force, 
the carriers making up their mail the same 
as now. Five cents a pound is prohibitive 
on most articles from your local merchants, 
but the one cent rate you could order 
by ’phone in the morning and have them 
at your home for dinner on the first half 
of the route, and you would not feel the 
extra cost on the already high cost of 
living. J • s - w - 
New York. 
YU E MAKE other mills, and all 
” sizes, but the cut shown here 
is one of our 
LEVER SET VARIABLE FEED SAW MILLS 
especially suited tofarmer’sneedsand light wor k. 
This mill can be run by either steam or case line 
engine, 5 to 15 H.P. It takes logs from J2to 30 ft. 
in length, has many superior features found in 
no other mill and our low price will interest you. 
Our free catalog will tell you all about it —if in¬ 
terested in saw mill machinery it will pay you 
to send for it at once. 
WM. BARTLEY & SONS. Bartley, N. J. 
THE FARMER’S SAW 
MILL 
No Crank Needed 
with this Engine 
Easy, sure-starting, v-ithout any possibility 
of kick-back, is one of the many features 
that have established the reputation for 
excellence of these engines. Over 30,000 
horse power now in successful operation. 
Material and workmanship faultless. 
Jacobson Engines 
develop one-third more than rated capacity. 
Box base gives rigidity and strength, pre¬ 
vents oil-soaked floors, affords real pro- 
tecUon against fires. Write for booklets. 
2 to 13 
HP. 
JACOBSON MACHINE 
MFG. CO. 
Warren, Fa. 
February 15, 
FARMERS, IT WILL PAY YOU 
to use our FAKMKR’S FORGE OUTFIT on your 
farm in doing blacksmithing and repairing. We have 
high endorsements for the thousands of Farmer’s Forges 
sold direct to farmers within the past fifteen years in 
every stato and Canada. Our Forges have hearths 24x26 
inches, 11 3 4 inch blowers, run easy, and have all the first 
class qualities of high-priced forges. 
WE POSITIVELY GUARANTEE rJZfZXl 
as large, as durable, do as much work and equal in every 
■way any $10.60 forge on the market, and as represented 
or money refunded. 
SPECIAL WINTER OFFER 
Forge complete $3.60 or one Farmer’s Forge, one anvil 
and vice combined, and one pair of tongs, all for $5.40. 
Ten carloads on hand. Orders shipped promptly. This 
offer may not appea.- again. ps'-Write to-day. Send 
stamp for catalogue No. and testimonials. 
C. A. S. FORGE WORKS, Saranac, Mich. 
FRESH 
Don't 
r Go Through 
[ANOTHER 
Winter 
.Without 
It_ 
_ For the Home: 
Fjust imagine the pleasure and conven- 
lence of having water, FivESH FROM THE 
WELL—in any part of the house by simply tum- 
| mg a faucet. Hot or cold—hard or soft. Think 
v of the thousands of steps and 
rj, v>the drudgery it will save. 
No water to carry —no 
cold trips to the well — 
no more frozen pumps. 
WRITE FOR FREE CATALOG 
JUST 
TURN A 
FAUCET 
HOT OR. 1 
COLD 
HARD OR 
SOFT 
m 
You simply can’t afford to do without a Perry 
Water System any longer. For health’s sake —• 
for comfort sake—for profit sake, don't go through 
another winter without one, especially when itcosts 
solittle to operate and such a modest amount to install. 
For the Barn: _ 
A Perry System soon pays for itself by 
furnishing plenty of water, at Just the right 
temperature. Stock will drink more — thrive 
better — cows give more milk — make yon 
more profit. For fire protection alone, it is 
worth many times its cost — will throw a 
heavy, steady, continuous stream, 
FRESH } 
FROM 
THE 
WfLL, 
TODAY 
Tells how you can install it yourself—anywhere in small space—use 
your gas engine for power without moving it or interfering with 
itsotherwork—completely solves your water supply problem, 
summer or winter. Absolutely dependable— fully guaranteed — 
over 4,000 in use. Estimate of cost gladly furnished. Write for 
froo catalog NO W— sao for yourself the great advantages of this system. 
United Power & Pump Co. 473 Colony Bldg. Chicago, III. 
- MJ 
WELL I WATER 
NO STALE WATER 
NO TANKS TO FREEZE 
=t =5* 
IRON A 
A SET of six booklets, each one about increasing yields and lowering 
cost of farm, garden and orchard crops. In each there is a message 
for you. For instance, do you know how to plant a field of 
potatoes, to obtain a 100 per cent, stand? Our booklet, “100 per cent. 
Potato Planting,” will tell. That is one message you should receive. 
“Spraying Vines, Trees and Bushes." “Thorough Cultivation,” 
“Gardening with Modern Tools,” “Economy a.nd Better 
Crops” and “Digging Potatoes,” contain many other messages. But 
we cannot deliver them until we have your address. It is, therefore, up to 
you to write at once. We prefer to 'send these booklets to interested 
parties only, but they are free to all such. 
BATEMAN MTG CO. Box 102-X GRENLOCH, N.J, 
FREE 
BUGGY 
BOOK 
Write today sure for Phelps’ new book on Split Hickory Vehicles. Shows 
largest selection in America—over 140—full and complete line of harness 
styles. 167,000 regular customers already. Phelps ships direct to you 
from his mammoth factories—no dealers’ profits. 
You ought to have this fine book whether you buy 
now or later. It is buggy authority. Then too— 
now or 
Guarantees to Save You $25 to $40 
Gives You a 30 Days' Free Road Test 
ps book and low prices. 
Surreys, Carts, Carriages. 
H. C. PHELPS 
Don’t buy a buggy without Phelp: 
Auto Seat Buggies, Runabouts, Su . . . 
Spring Wagons, etc.—all of the famous genuine Split 
Hickory construction. Write immediately and get free 
book by return mail. Phelps pays the postage, too. 
Address H. C. PHELPS, President 
The Ohio Carriage Mfg. Co., Station 290 Columbus. 0. 
2 Years Guarantee 
DOUBLE ELEX/BLL 
PERFECT AND PERMANENT. 
And the only enclosed track that automatically 
adjusts itself to lie close to the building. 
LIGHT RUNNING, roller bearing, tandem trolley hangers, operate 
inside of an enclosed track. Always runs easily, never binds. 
Can t get off the track. Can’t be clogged by birds, ice or snow. Can’t be broken by 
stock crowding through half open doors. Carries the heaviest doors. Lasts as long as 
your building—always on the job. Costs no more than the ordinary makes. 
Buy them at your dealer’s or write us for Free descriptive matter. 
We make famous LOUDEN Hay Tools, Sanitary Steel Cow Stalls and Stanchions, 
Litter and reed Carriers—everything lor the barn. Free catalog describes them all. 
FREE BARN PLANS SERVICE. If you are going to build or remodel your barn, write for oar free barn 
plan service. LOUDEN MACHINERY CO.. 701 West Broadway. FAIRFIELD. IOWA. 
