1913. 
1103 
3'HE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SELLING A PEACH CROP. 
Experience from Northern New Jersey 
The two pictures shown on this page, Figs. 419 
and 420, were taken in and near the orchard of a 
Bergen County peach grower. There was a heavy 
crop of Elbertas this year, which had to be picked 
and handled within a few days. At the local whole¬ 
sale market of Paterson the peaches were poured 
into this city until there was a genuine glut, and 
prices for high-class fruit fell to 00 cents a basket 
and less. In previous seasons there would not have 
been much relief from this trouble, as the cost of 
hauling peaches to other markets, or of shipping 
them by local freight would have been excessive. 
Mere is where the motor truck came into the game 
to help distribution and 
save the price. By 
using such motor trucks 
as are shown in this 
picture, this peach 
grower was able to hus¬ 
tle his crop away to the 
market in Newark, 
where the peaches sold 
through commission men 
at $1 a basket. The 
ability to shoot this 
crop off rapidly without 
waiting for railroad 
train service, or depend¬ 
ing on horse drawn 
vehicles was what gave 
this man an advantage, 
and it is along this road 
that fruit growers of the 
future are to obtain a 
better distribution of 
their products. 
The other picture 
shows still another way 
of disposing of such a 
The application of this knowledge is profitable. 
The following imaginary instance will illustrate 
ideal conditions: A farmer, successful in other lines, 
keeps 100 chickens, perhaps because his grandfather 
kept about that number ; as other activities occupy 
his time and thoughts, the hens barely pay their 
cost. The hired man being capable and interested, 
is offered half the profit for making them more pro¬ 
ductive. The result is .$1 per hen profit and mutual 
benefit. 
If ideal circumstances are rare it is universally 
true that “two heads are better than one.” A branch 
of the Steel Corporation has “suggestion boxes,” 
much like mail boxes, conveniently placed to en¬ 
courage even the humblest employees to offer their 
ideas for semi-annual prizes, and this in addition 
crop. Through all the districts within 40 miles of 
New York City, and in some cases far beyond, the 
roads are excellent, and this means a long proces¬ 
sion of automobiles. People go rushing through the 
country for pleasure or business. Twenty years ago 
a man with his family might take a walk of an 
afternoon of perhaps two or three miles from his 
home. The same man will now step into his motor 
car and make a run of 40 or 50 miles, and in taking 
this run he passes by many farms and orchards. 
The picture shows how this peach grower took ad¬ 
vantage of this situation. A good display of fruit 
was made along the road, and the signs noted were 
put up along the orchards. It is quite surprising to 
see how many people driving in cars observe these 
signs and are willing to stop and buy. Surely 
farmers who live within 
reasonable distance of 
the large cities have a 
good opportunity in this 
to build up a good direct 
trade. This is one of 
the ways in which the 
producer is to get close 
lo the consumer. 
to paying high-priced department superintendents 
for solving problems or stopping leaks. Then there 
are pensions to reward continuous service and 
bonuses to induce individual effort. The steel com¬ 
pany would actually lose money through saving the 
cost of these features. Farmers, too. may lose or 
fail to increase profits by neglecting to substantially 
appreciate the value of the hired man’s effective 
plans and efforts to increase production or reduce 
expense. 
As with most farming operations, details of profit- 
sharing arrangements will vary with the circum¬ 
stances and men concerned. In general, the study 
of human nature and the analysis of peculiar condi¬ 
tions will increase the efficiency of farm labor. But 
if it is helpful to compare men’s labor with horses’. 
PROFIT SHARING 
ON THE FARM. 
The profit-sharing 
plan recently suggested 
is open to objection 
from those prejudiced in 
favor of the principle, 
as well as from the un¬ 
convinced. Such plans 
should not be burdened 
with sentiment nor be 
indefinite; tried fully 
and fairly, premiums or 
penalties s li o u 1 d be 
based only upon condi¬ 
tions within the hired man’s control. Profit-sharing 
implies profit-making, and where this close connec¬ 
tion is carefully preserved the sharing of profits is 
sound business and good policy. 
Briefly stated, the purchase of labor is an invest¬ 
ment just as surely as the purchase of a horse or 
machine; to be profitable it requires judgment be- 
i"re hiring and tact afterward. If the average man 
receives $25 and produces a total of $.‘50 each month, 
'rue economy lies in paying $80 for a $40 man rather 
han $22.50 for a $25 man. This statement gains in 
orce when the payment of the five-dollar premium 
s conditional on a production of ten dollars above 
lie average, and “Bill” is more diligent and more 
‘ ""tented when his employer’s interest is also un¬ 
mistakably his own. 
THE MOTOR TRUCK HANDLES A JERSEY PEACH CROP. Fig. 420. 
no one should carry the figure to an illogical extreme 
bv thinking man is a horse. Even a cold-blooded 
scheme to transform men into perfect machines will 
be the more successful if the employer bears con¬ 
stantly in mind that men are perfectly human, re¬ 
senting indignities even when resentment is con¬ 
cealed. gratified by the substance or semblance of 
authority or importance, and often more pleased 
with a word of merited praise or a five-dollar gift 
at Christmas than with an involuntary increase in 
wages of $10 per year. 
Yet, at its best, too much should not be expected 
from profit-sharing. It is not a fundamental change; 
the hired man’s lot will not thereby become a fore¬ 
taste of heaven, nor will the labor problem be solved 
with one stroke. The reason for such a problem is. 
perhaps, to be found in the causes which have dis¬ 
persed the merchant marine and attracted intelligent 
boys to the cities. However, as an expedient, pro¬ 
gressive way of handling a farmer's problem, profit- 
sharing seems to be worthy of a trial. a. g. m. 
Ohio. __ 
CHERRY-PICKING IMPLEMENTS. 
Inventive turn of mind of rural mail carriers in 
not a few- instances has served to aid farmers and 
horticulturists greatly in their work. Oftentimes 
the carrier sees from his buggy seat how a soil tiller 
may be aided by such and such a contrivance, and 
he thinks it out as he drives from post to post over 
a 25-mile route. W. M. Gordon, a Michigan mail 
carrier, invented both of the contrivances shown in 
the accompanying pic¬ 
tures, Figs. 421 and 422. 
One of them is a recep¬ 
tacle for holding cher¬ 
ries after they have 
been picked from the 
branch. This is a can¬ 
vas • basket holding a 
quart of cherries. A 
leather band fits over 
three fingers of the left 
hand, which is not im¬ 
peded in the picking 
process. The picker 
drops the cherries 
picked by either hand 
into the receptacle. This 
picker has been used 
with great success 
through the season of 
this year. It may be 
used for picking other 
kinds of fruit. 
The other picture il- 
Fig. 419 . lustrates a pair of 
shears designed for 
cherry harvesting, for most of the growers adhere 
to the custom of clipping the stems instead of break¬ 
ing them. The shears have a short lever so that they 
may be worked quickly, and they are leather-padded 
so that the hand will not become sore from constant 
work. The spring aids in the work of opening the 
shears. The marvelous increase of acreage of cher¬ 
ries and other small fruits in Grand Traverse 
County has caused many expedients in the harvest¬ 
ing of resultant crops. j. L . G raff. 
THE 35-CENT DOLLAR. 
This sort of a dollar is working its way into the 
pulpit, the press and upon the platform. That is 
because it is unsatisfied. It wants a share of the 
other (>5 cents, and it will keep hunting until 
it finds a share. The 
daily papers can help 
by printing actual ex¬ 
amples like the follow¬ 
ing, taken from the 
Worcester (Mass.) Tele¬ 
gram : 
A Worcester woman 
telephoned several mar¬ 
kets in the city and 
found that she could buy 
wild grapes for $1.50 a 
bushel, and finally found 
a peck of good quality 
for 35 cents, and she or¬ 
dered the bargain. Then 
a sister out in the coun¬ 
try informed her by tele¬ 
phone that she had just 
bought a bushel of wild 
grapes at Warren for 50 
cents, and she thought 
that was high. The com¬ 
merce in wild grapes is 
not large, and such a dif¬ 
ference in price between 
the c-ity and the town 
does not attract national 
attention like some inci¬ 
dents like that in the 
southern part of New 
Jersey, where farmers 
have thrown tons of to¬ 
matoes into the rivers or put them on their lands for 
fertilizer because the canneries would not pay over 10 
cents a box for the best .and got more than they could 
put up at that price, though they sent carloads of the 
ripe fruit to southern canneries to have them put up. 
And all the time the people in Jersey cities were paying 
50 cents a box for tomatoes to use in their homes. These 
instances indicate that this country pays small attention 
to the possibilities of quick transportation and the facili¬ 
ties for city dealers to get at the conditions prevailing 
in towns during the crop seasons. A good deal more 
evening up of the products of different sections might be 
made of general service in holding down the high cost 
of living. There is in most instances plenty of produc¬ 
tion. but a waste of market possibilities. 
The thing to do is to keep this idea constantly be¬ 
fore the public—like a human moving picture show. 
The remedy will surely come when the public under¬ 
stand the situation and realize that it is a matter 
in which everyone is concerned. 
