1014. 
TH EC KUKAL NEW-YORKER 
161 
A reader whose farm is off the main road makes 
complaint about the rural mail delivery. This man 
has a box on the regular route, but must travel 
over a mile back and forth each day to obtain his 
mail. He wants to know how many country people 
are served by the rural delivery, how many of them 
are in his situation, and why the mail wagon can¬ 
not come to his door. We have received the follow¬ 
ing letter from Washington: 
I bog to state that the latest estimates indicate that 
5,040,129 families are receiving rural delivery service, or 
a total population of 23,184,593. There are no data 
available to show what proportion of these patrons 
reside at remote distances from the lines of the routes. 
With reference to your statement that complaints 
are made by patrons who are obliged to travel half a 
mile or more in order to reach their boxes, it should 
be stated that the Department endeavors to operate 
rural delivery service upon public roads which are the 
more thickly settled. It is not practical to serve all 
patrons at their residences and many persons who do 
not reside on the roads traveled by the carrier receive 
service by erecting boxes along the lines of the routes. 
W. J. SATTERFIELD, 
Acting Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. 
We see little hope in that for an extension of the 
route. The proper plan is to apply to the post¬ 
master. If he refuses apply to Washington. If you 
can “apply” hard enough an investigation will be 
made, but usually the postmaster decides it. 
* 
I started to take your paper last Full, and while 
looking through it I notice you answer a lot of very im¬ 
portant questions, which are a great benefit to the 
farmers, as well as many other people. Do you answer 
these questions free of charge? If so, what is the dif¬ 
ference between burnt lime and ground rock lime? If 
any difference, what is it, and which one is the better? 
New Jersey. s. J. 
The questions from subscribers are answered 
freely. We appreciate plain and sincere questions, 
because they show better than anything else what 
cur readers are thinking about, and what their prob¬ 
lems are. Dp t<* January 22 we had written 2,001 
letters besides the hundreds which are answered in 
print. It is not always possible to answer all such 
questions off hand, as many of them require the 
opinion of an expert, and must be sent away for 
replies. In one case a reader sent 15 questions at 
one time, written in a small and not very clear hand 
on both sides of the paper. They ran all the way 
from a legal matter to the care of a sick cat. We 
were obliged to copy these questions and send eight 
of them away to different authorities. The instruc¬ 
tions here are to answer such questions patiently 
and with good nature, no matter how often they 
have been covered in print. For example, take this 
lime matter. We must have stated 300 times that 
lime rock as it comes from the soil is called raw 
lime. When it is crushed or ground finely it is called 
ground limestone or carbonate of lime. When 
burned with wood or coal in a kiln the limestone 
loses its carbonic acid and is known as caustic, 
quick, lump or stone lime. When this burned lime 
is left exposed to air or water it “slakes” or takes 
up moisture, and is then known as slaked lime. This 
slaked lime is better for use on very sour or tough, 
hard soils, or where you want a quick action. The 
ground limestone is suitable for the lighter soils, 
or for soils well filled with organic matter. The 
rule is to use twice as much of the ground limestone 
as of the slaked lime for equal results. 
* 
In spite of all we have stated about this potato 
quarantine, there seems to be some question about 
imports. We understand that potato buyers in some 
localities are still telling farmers that the markets 
are flooded with foreign potatoes, and that the price 
should be cut in two. This is absolute nonsense or 
worse, and farmers should not be frightened or 
bluffed by such talk into giving away their potato 
crop. The Secretary of Agriculture Tins ordered that 
the quarantine against foreign potatoes be extended 
so as to cover Great Britain, Germany, all the rest 
of continental Europe and Canada. This order was 
made effective on December 24. Shipments then 
started will be admitted up to January 15, after 
which no potatoes can be brought from these foreign 
countries until the quarantine is raised. No more 
potatoes can be brought into this country from 
abroad until the growers and shippers can satisfy 
the Department of Agriculture that their stock is 
free from disease. Such potatoes In order to be ad¬ 
mitted must be certified by the government of the 
country where they were grown, to be free from 
dangerous disease and insect pest which are new to 
this country. It must also be proved that such 
potatoes were grown in a district free from the 
wart disease and powdery scab. It seems that 
Canada has absolutely prohibited imports of po¬ 
tatoes from Europe. This includes Great Britain 
and Ireland, and also (he neighborhood island of New¬ 
foundland. These diseases are widespread abroad, 
and it does not seem likely that they can be stamped 
out for some years. This year’s crop is large enough 
to supply all the potatoes needed by our own peo¬ 
ple, if it is distributed fairly and sold at reasonable 
prices. The demand for large imports of potatoes 
from foreign countries was worked up largely by 
the importers and buyers, who desired to use these 
stories of enormous imports to keep down the price 
of what they could buy from our farmers. Pay no 
attention whatever to such stories from the middle¬ 
men and buyers. Our city markets are not flooded 
with foreign potatoes, and they cannot be so flooded 
now as long as this quarantine holds. The crop 
should bring a fair price to the farmer. It will 
not be wise to speculate and hold them for an ex¬ 
cessive price, for the moment that the price of po¬ 
tatoes reaches a certain point, the public will stop 
buying them and eat cornmeal and rice instead. The 
situation has now been made clear, and the Ameri¬ 
can crop ought to he regulated in price very largely 
by supply and demand. 
* 
AMENDMENTS TO THE COMMISSION LAW. 
The New York Commission Man’s Law has demon¬ 
strated both the need of such legislation, and also 
the fact that certain amendments are needed to 
make it fully effective. The principle of the law 
is right, but a year ago the commission men suc¬ 
ceeded in striking out certain provisions, which 
have made it difficult in some cases to obtain the 
full rights of shippers. During the present Legisla¬ 
ture amendments must be passed to strengthen this 
law so as to give full protection to the farmer. The 
amount of the bond should be increased from .$3,000 
to $5,000. The object of this is to prevent loss in 
case of failure or rascality on the part of the com¬ 
mission house. There have been cases in the past 
where commission merchants did a large business, 
and were able to obtain full credit from their ship- 
pers. After handling a large volume of trade, and 
working up large debts they failed or absconded, and 
their customers lost practically everything. By in¬ 
creasing the bond to $5,000 the creditors in such 
cases would have at least that amount of money to 
divide among them, and this would help. There 
have been a number of complaints where shippers 
felt they did not receive a fair price. Upon investi¬ 
gation it was found that the commission man had 
kept no record whatever, from which the sales could 
be traced by him. He simply had a little memoran¬ 
dum stating cash so much, or a similar statement. 
In such cases it was impossible to carry the investi¬ 
gation further. This made the investigation so lim¬ 
ited and so hampered that there was really no way 
of telling what these goods sold for, or whether the 
shipper actually received what was due him. An 
amendment to the law is therefore absolutely neces¬ 
sary. The commission man must be compelled to 
keep accurate records of his sales, so that an inves¬ 
tigation will show who bought the goods, and what 
was paid for them. In the original bill there was 
a provision of this kind. The commission men were 
able to cut it out, and experience has shown that 
such a provision is absolutely necessary to make 
the law effective. Again, a fair amendment is ne¬ 
cessary to guard against the practice where commis¬ 
sion men take goods on their own account. This is 
one way in which the shipper is often defrauded. 
Goods may be received by a commission man and 
sold to his own account, or to some relative, or to 
some other house in which the commission man is 
indirectly interested. It is possible to make such 
sales at a very low figure, and make returns on 
this low basis, no names being given. Then the 
goods are sold again to the dealer or retailer at a 
much higher price, the commission man sharing 
again in this rake-off. An amendment is needed to 
stop this practice. All these things will be brought 
up in the Legislature this year, and farmers through¬ 
out the State must get together once more, as they 
did back of the original bill, and put these amend¬ 
ments over. 
* 
PORK PRODUCTS DIRECT TO CONSUMER. 
We have about 30 pigs that we wish to kill the last 
of the month. The thought has occurred to us that pos¬ 
sibly we might dispose of them in the form of sausage, 
ham, and bacon, either fresh or cured. These pigs have 
been fattened on sweet condensed milk, and cornmeal, 
they are in fine condition, and the meat is specially good 
on account of the sugar in the milk. They will weigh 
dressed from 100 to near 150 pounds. We have killed 
a few for our own use, and we would have from the 
30 about 000 pounds of sausage. We can get 18 cents 
per p< und for the sausage here in limited quantities, 
20 cents for the hams, and 18 for smoked shoulder. It 
would be our plan to put the sausage up in five and 10 
pound pails or cartons, and deliver by parcel post in 
tlx* second zone for 20 cents per pound. The ham we 
would deliver for 22 cents per pound. We would also 
ship fresh hams for 20 cents delivered. We wish you 
would write us your opinion of this scheme. Do you 
think the above prices would appeal to your city read¬ 
ers? The prices are the same as we can get in our 
home market, only the demand here is quite limited. 
The product will be pure pigs’ meat, and delivered in 
good condition. F. s. mackey. 
Schoharie Co., N. Y. 
We follow the plan of giving publicity to new ex¬ 
periments in seeking a direct trade. The success of 
this business will .depend entirely upon the quality 
of the goods. If your sausage and hams are super¬ 
ior, and put up in neat packages, they will sell after 
people sample them. You cannot expect to jump 
into a large trade at once. Remember if you were 
the buyer you would naturally order a small lot 
at first. If the goods were satisfactory you would 
order more—if not you would not touch them again. 
In a trade of this sort you will have to “follow up” 
your orders and keep after your customers. Do not 
expect them to come after you entirely. On general 
principles it will be better to go after trade in the 
towns and cities nearer home rather than to try 
general advertising in the larger cities. Within 
100 miles -of your farm you ought to find a satis¬ 
factory market for all this meat. Work the local 
market to the limit first. The prices you mention 
would be satisfactory for high-grade goods. 
* 
There are many stories told of Horace Greeley 
and the wonderful hold he had upon his readers. At 
one time an agent in a country neighborhood found 
a farmer sitting on a fence too much troubled over 
something to go to work. 
“You don’t seem happy,” said the agent. 
“I’m not. I had an argument with my neighbor 
over south on the tariff, and he beat me. Raised a 
point I couldn’t answer, and he crowed over it!” 
“Can’t answer him. eh?” 
“You just wait till Horace Greeley’s paper comes. 
I wrote him about it. He’ll print the argument I 
need and then I’ll go and wipe my neighbor off the 
earth !”* 
Those were the strong, golden days of personal 
journalism—days of stronger prejudice and passion 
than we now know. There were fewer books, and 
facts were given out by men who had keen instincts 
and shrewd knowledge of human nature. These 
farmers believed in Greeley because he seemed one 
of their kind, who had their interests at heart. 
When he said a thing in print they believed it, and 
were quite willing to fight for it. The R. N.-Y. has 
no desire to be considered an authority on partisan 
politics, or appeals to prejudice. It is our ambi¬ 
tion, however, to learn and express those truths 
about farming which may set farmers free. There 
will always be differences of opinion regarding the 
most simple proposition. We do not pretend to lay 
down the law in any dogmatic spirit, but we believe 
that a thorough discussion among our readers will 
sift any proposition down to the truth. Instead of 
waiting for someone else to settle the matter for 
him, we encourage a farmer to think it out for 
himself. 
Potato Statistics. 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture makes the fol¬ 
lowing statement regarding commerce in potatoes: 
The largest importation of potatoes in any single 
year occurred in 1912, when the total quantity im¬ 
ported was 13,750.000 bushels, the next largest being 
in 1909, 8,333,000 bushels, and in 1902, 7,000,000 
bushels. The total quantity imported since 1900 is 
practically 37,000,000 bushels and the quantity ex¬ 
ported in the same period, 16,000,000 bushels, the total 
production in the United States during that period hav¬ 
ing been over 4,000,000,000 bushels, or an average of ap¬ 
proximately 300,000,000 bushels per annum, the figures 
of recent years averaging about 300,000,000 bushels per 
annum except in years of abnormally short crops. 
The high importation of 1912 followed the short crop 
of 1911, when the total production was but 293,000,000 
bushels, against 349,000.000 bushels in the year imme¬ 
diately preceding. That of 1909, 8, 333.000 bushels, 
followed a short crop of 279,000,000 bushels in 1908, 
against 298,000,000 in the year immediately preceding; 
and that of 1902, 7,666,000 bushels, followed a crop of 
but 188.000,000 bushels in 1901, against 211,000,000 in 
1900. 
England, Scotland and Ireland are the chief sources 
of supply of the potatoes imported. Of the 13,750,000 
bushels imported in 1912, 4,666,000 came from Scot¬ 
land, 4,500,000 from Ireland, and 3,333.000 from Eng¬ 
land. The other principal countries from which pota¬ 
toes were imported in 1912 were: Belgium, 336,000 
bushels; France 243,000; Canada, 143,000; Bermuda, 
132,000; and Netherlands, 122,000. 
Potatoes exported go chiefly to Cuba, Canada, Pana¬ 
ma, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. Of the 1,250,000 
bushels exported in 1912, 659,000 went to Cuba ; 256,- 
000 to Canada; 114,000 to Panama, 97,000 to Mexico; 
12,000 to Colombia; and 11,000 to Venezuela. 
Potato production in the United States is small, com¬ 
pared with certain other countries having a smaller 
area and less population. The product of Germany in 
1911 was 1,263,000,000 bushels; Austria, 426,000,000; 
France, 424.000,000, and the United States, in that 
year, 293,000,000 bushels. The production of the 
United Kingdom, from which our chief importations are 
drawn, is considerably less than that of the United 
States, having been 281.000,000 bushels in 1911, of 
which 138,000,000 were produced in Ireland, 100,000,- 
('00 in England, and 36,000,0(H) in Scotland. 
The farm value of the potato crop of the United 
States in 1913 is estimated at $228,000,000, a larger 
total than that for any earlier year except 1911, which 
was $234,000,000. 
