565 
500 BUSHELS OF OATS WANTED. 
The specifications for 500 bushels of oats referred 
to last week to be delivered F. O. B. Yorktown Heights, 
Xew York, via Putnam Division of the New York 
Central, has been modified so that farmers with oats 
to sell may quote on any weight of grain that they have 
per bushel, and the estimates will be compared on the 
pound basis. 
POTATO GRADING REQUIREMENTS. 
P OTATO growers and shippers do not seem to under¬ 
stand the situation with the New York City potato 
market in regard to the demands of supply and 
price. Neither do they generally understand the grades 
of potatoes that it pays to ship to the metropolitan mar¬ 
kets. 
Recently a foreign order for potatoes was being ac¬ 
cumulated in New York City. The Department of 
Food and Markets was anxious to get a part of the 
order for growers. The only way to get in on it was 
to make estimates for the grades required. Requests 
for estimates were made and estimates were received 
quoting prices F. O. B. local shipping stations, at 
prices ranging from 30 cents to $1 per bushel. A sur¬ 
vey of the markets in the city at the time showed that 
potatoes were coming to New York in carload lots de¬ 
livered in the city at 28 to 40 cents, and more offer¬ 
ings than the dealers were willing to take at these 
prices. Of course under such circumstances it would 
be impossible to make any sales at a higher price. The 
price is, of course, ridiculously small. It is lower than 
we hoped that it would be, but while the supply is 
coming so freely at these prices, naturally it is impos¬ 
sible to place any orders at higher quotations. 
There are local markets through the country dis¬ 
tricts which do not receive the proportion or volume of 
goods that come to New York in a flush season, and 
the chances are that growers will in many cases be 
able to do better in local markets than in shipments to 
New York. 
At the same time the stock of potatoes coming to 
New York is not for the most part what it should be. 
The potatoes come large and small and medium all to¬ 
gether. Some of them are scabby, others bruised, a 
large proportion of cut stock, and a liberal percentage 
of second growth. Such stock does not show up well 
when the car is opened, and it invariably sells at the 
lowest possible price. Such stock is generally sorted 
as it leaves the car, and in many shipments a large per¬ 
centage of it is discarded as culls, and sells for GO 
to 70 cents a barrel to the very poorest peddler trade. 
The extremely large stock is also sorted out and sold at 
a discount, and it is only the small average selections 
that sell at fair prices, but the shipper is obliged to 
pay for the transportation and for the sorting and the 
commissions and profits on the whole bulk. The poor 
stock fills the market, causes a surplus, and brings 
down the price that might be realized from the better 
grade if the culls were kept at home. There was a 
time when the grading of potatoes coming to the metro¬ 
politan markets was of no account, and little thought of. 
At the present time there is a demand for choice stock. 
Careful growers and shippers are studying the situa¬ 
tion and supplying this stock, and getting what benefit 
comes from it. We must get into the way of grading 
and shipping only such stock as the trade demands if 
we wish to make a success of the produce business in 
the city markets. The growers who do this will reap 
the benefit, but the growers who continue to send in 
bulk, practically as the potatoes come out of the 
■ round, will hurt the trade for the choicest stock, at 
ihe same time that they are practically giving their 
own products away. 
CONDITIONS OF THE POTATO CROP. 
O NE of our readers in Northern New York asks 
what State in the South grows potatoes which 
will compete with the crop now in the Northern 
storehouse. It is not one single State, but practically 
the entire range of country from Cuba to Philadelphia 
and above. Early potatoes begin to come into the 
New York market almost with the beginning of the 
year from Cuba and Bermuda. Then a little later, 
as the Spring creeps up the country, Southern Florida 
begins to ship; Southern Texas also begins to ripen 
its crops, although these potatoes usually go to St. 
Louis, Chicago, and the West. The season creeps up 
the coast through the entire length of Florida, and 
when that State has finished, the great trucking gar¬ 
dens around Savannah begin to ship. In the mean¬ 
time, Southern Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana 
have been pouring their potatoes into the Northern mar¬ 
ket. Then comes South Carolina with thousands of 
acres of potatoes around Charleston and other seaports. 
Then the coast country of North Carolina north and 
south of Wilmington join the procession, followed a 
little later by the immense outlet from Norfolk, South¬ 
ern Virginia, and up through Maryland and Delaware. 
Then will come the heavy planting on the light soil of 
Southern New Jersey. Thus instead of competing with 
one single locality or State, the millions of excellent 
potatoes now held in storage must compete with all 
southern States. 
Reports of the Southern crops this year are con¬ 
flicting, but the general belief is that there has been 
an unusually heavy planting of potatoes. In addi¬ 
tion to the ordinary planters who put in about the 
same number of acres regularly each year, it is evident 
THE l-iUKAL, >1 E W -YORKER 
t -I . • 
that a good many Southern farmers have gone into the 
crop as a sort of desperate speculation. The cotton 
crop ran them in debt last year and they cannot ob¬ 
tain the necessary credit this year for planting a 
full acreage of cotton. In South Carolina, a State law 
limits the planting of cotton to one-third of the total 
crop in cultivation. In looking about for a speculative 
crop to take the place of cotton, some of these farmers 
have apparently unwisely plunged on potatoes. It ap¬ 
pears that the commission men and seedsmen have been 
willing to finance them for this crop, making a lien on 
the product to insure their payment. Most of these 
men are new at potato growing, and under the terms 
of their contract the crop will be thrown into the mar¬ 
ket about as fast as it is dug. These farmers are al¬ 
most sure to lose money on the venture, and the com¬ 
mission men will evidently sell them for what they can 
get in order to take care of their own interests. If the 
season is favorable, the result will apparently be, that 
they will clog the market with potatoes, many of them 
of an inferior quality, and at just the time when 
the excellent potatoes now in storage should be sold. 
This seems to be the situation which faces our 
Northern potato growers. As a small relief, a rather 
singular thing is now being worked out. Many of 
these Southern potato growers are now buying the 
Northern stock for their own eating, so that they may 
ship their entire new crop into the market. While the 
campaign for increased consumption of potatoes has 
made some headway, the surplus from the last year’s 
crop was heavy, estimated at a little over 40,000,000 
bushels. Much has been said about the heavy consump¬ 
tion of potatoes in Germany as compared with the 
lighter consumption here. The conditions in the two 
countries are entirely different. In Germany very 
light crops, if any, of our Indian corn are grown. Thus 
the starch and other corn products so popular and 
plentiful in this country are not available on the other 
side and the Germans look to their potato crop for the 
production of these staples. It is said that one-third 
of the German crop is consumed as food; about an¬ 
other one-third is used in making starch or for cattle 
feed, and another one-third used in distilleries for mak¬ 
ing alcohol. Fndoubtedly if the Germans were able to 
raise Indian corn as we do here, the German potato 
crop would quickly be cut in two. If we could not in 
this country grow Indian corn with such success, our 
potato crop would very quickly be doubled and all of it 
would be used; for industrial purposes if not for hu¬ 
man food. In comparing the crop in the two coun¬ 
tries therefore, you must take these things into consid¬ 
eration. As long as Indian corn can be grown here 
cheaply and easily, potatoes can hardly be expected to 
take its place. 
A FARMER ON “TWO BLADES OF GRASS.” 
W E consider it our business to tell the truth about 
farm life and farm thought. We doubt if there 
is any paper in the country better able to get 
the truth from its readers. The point of view regard¬ 
ing farming and its prospects will vary with localities 
or sections. Beginning at the northeast corner of the 
country, Maine, we find farmers with a great stock of 
potatoes on hand and very small prices offered, and 
many bills unpaid. In this crisis a reader sends us a 
statement issued by a bank and his comments thereon, 
which show the opposite points of view. The bank, 
following the plan of most of the people who live on 
farming rather than by it, attempts what is called the 
“psychological unlift,” or in simpler words a “jolly.” 
Here is a sample: 
Deducting from our last year’s acreage on which the 
principal crops were grown, that portion of the acreage 
which was sown to Winter crops, and omitting the 
bay laud, we would have about 210 million acres to 
sow and plant to Spring crops. We have also between 
25 and 50 million acres of land lying fallow which could 
be used this year and which should be used this year, 
livery acre of land in this country which ever saw a 
plow should be cultivated this year to its greatest pos¬ 
sibility, and if this is done the prosperity, which means 
the wealth and happiness of the people of this country, 
will be greatly enhanced. If there is not an idle acre 
of tillable land in the United States during 1015 there 
will probably not be an idle able-bodied man in the 
country by the time the harvests are being gathered. 
On the other hand the farmer face to face with hard 
times and unsalable crops looks the facts in the face as 
follows: Here we have a good expression of the two 
points of view—the producer and the handler: 
“If the farmers of this country instead of increasing 
their acreage would cut it down one-half, give that half 
better care and devote the other half of their time to 
organizing for selling the product, they would be a 
great deal better off. Some will say that people would 
starve. People in the country all know that there is 
enough food goes to waste every year to feed all the 
city people in the country. Only about once in five 
years does the farmer get a fair price for a particular 
crop. This year the grain farmer is in luck, the potato 
farmer, orchardist and cotton farmer are hard up. No 
doubt they will get one good year sometime during the 
next five years. 
“Why do the charitable organizations in New York 
and other big cities have their bread line when wheat 
is nearly the highest priced of the staple food crops? 
Why don’t they come down in Maine and buy pota¬ 
toes for 17 cents per bushel, to feed the starving peo¬ 
ple in the city? Potato soup would keep them from 
starving and will cost less, and furnish relief to an¬ 
other class of people in only slightly less bad sledding 
than those they are feeding. I believe in curtailing 
production and using the effort thus saved to organize 
the selling end of farming. When it costs as much ns 
the farmer gets to get his barrel of apples to Boston or 
New York, and as much more to sell it in the market 
after it is there, there is something wrong that needs 
attention. Let us attend to it. Just so long as we 
neglect it it will be just about two years’ expenses 
paid by close economy, two years’ bills unpaid and . 
about one year’s full energy if we strike it right to pay 
the debt of the two lean years.” j. L. dean. 
WHAT ABOUT COMMERCIAL “HUMUS?” 
S INCE January 1 we have received at least 100 let¬ 
ters asking about the “humus” offered for sale as 
a substitute for manure. Last year we declined 
an advertisement for this humus as we felt it did not 
size up to claims made for it. The “humus” is black 
or muck soil dug out of a swamp and dried. In some 
cases it seems to be reinforced by the addition of 
chemicals, but generally it is simply fine muck or swamp 
soil. It carries considerable nitrogen, as all- mucks do, 
but most of this nitrogen is inert and not available as 
plant food. Thousands of farmers who own a muck 
swamp or a pond hole could obtain “humus” by haul¬ 
ing out the deposit and composting it with lime, at one- 
third of the commercial price. We think it would be 
nonsense for such people to try this material. Yet we 
found one cotton farmer in the South who was so im¬ 
pressed by the plausible statements that he was pre¬ 
paring to buy a carload. Right on his own farm he had 
a deposit of muck and leaf mold which was quite equal 
to what he would buy. We regard the statement that 
one bag ot this “humus” is equal to a ton of stable 
manure as plain “guff.” For use on a lawn or in a 
garden it has the advantage of being clean and free 
from most weed seeds. We have had several com¬ 
plaints regarding its effect in greenhouse work, and 
have also had it well spoken of. Some of the report? 1 
analyses were evidently from samples which had c^ n 
reinforced or “doctored” with chemicals, but those who 
bought on the strength of such analyses would probably 
find that they received the plain muck with no addition. 
In one case we were asked whether we would buy wood 
ashes or “humus.” We would buy the ashes and grow 
a cover crop to plow under and add humus to the soil. 
New York State News. 
TOWNSHIP SCHOOL QUESTION AND THE 
GRANGE.—There is wide interest in the proposed 
change to the township system for our rural schools. 
Popular sentiment is divided on the question and ap¬ 
proval or disapproval of the proposition depends prettv 
largely on just how the law would affect the individual 
expressing the opinion. The State Grange approved 
the township system with certain restrictions, one of 
which was that there should be the fullest measure of 
local authority, and that the consolidation of rural 
schools should be left entirely with the school directors 
to be chosen by the voters of the school township. No 
central authority at Albany can enforce consolidation 
unless the township school directors want it. They 
will be governed by local opinion and the merits of the 
case as it presents itself to them for consideration. No 
action was taken in support of the proposed bill by 
the legislative committee of the State Grange until the 
Grange in session had passed upon it, but the bill in 
its present shape meets with approval of the committee 
and, it is believed, with that of the Grange generally. 
BILLS SIGNED.— The bill appropriating $50,000 to 
fight the foot-and-mouth disease and the Gypsy moth 
invasion in Westchester County, has been passed by the 
Legislature and signed by the Governor. This was 
made necessary by the lack of funds in the Department 
of Agriculture for this purpose. Another bill which 
has become a law is the Tallet vaccination measure 
which will have the effect to extend to all parochial and 
private schools the compulsory vaccination provision 
which has heretofore applied only to public schools. 
This applies to first and second class cities. In the 
case of third class cities and other communities the 
compulsory vaccination provision is stricken out and 
such vaccination is only required when a smallpox 
epidemic occurs in or near the communities and the 
State Commissioner of Health so certifies to the local 
school authorities. Another bill which has become a 
law is that appropriating $1,880,000 for paying the 
State’s share of the cost of repairing highways. 
THE LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS APRIL 10.— 
The Legislature is rushing business so as to get through 
and adjourn on April 10. The Senate has confirmed 
the nominations of Prof. Wilson as Commissioner of 
Agriculture and William Haywood for member of the 
New York City Public Service Commission. If tin* 
bill becomes a law, the salary of the Commissioner of 
Agriculture will be $6,000 instead of $8,000 and four 
deputies will be cut out of the department. The As¬ 
sembly has passed the bill creating the office of Legis¬ 
lative Librarian. The Assembly has also passed the 
bill providing for the use of public school buildings for 
election purposes. The Senate has passed the bill im¬ 
posing a tax of $500 on manufacturers of oleo and sim¬ 
ilar products, $150 on wholesalers and $0 on retailers 
of these products. The bill to compel all vehicles to 
carry a light at night will become a law. J. W. D. 
Grain Notes and Movements. 
T 
IIE wheat surplus for export in Argentina is now 
put at 00,000,000 bushels, or 40,000,000 less than 
earlier in the season. 
B. W. Snow’s report states that the average condi¬ 
tion of the wheat plant is now higher than in Decem¬ 
ber. The acreage winter-killed is small, and west of the 
Missouri the season opens with unusually favorable 
moisture conditions. 
Grain and flour shipments from Atlantic and Gulf 
ports for week ending March 27, and since July 1, were: 
Week ending 
Mar. 27, ’15. 
Wheat, bushels . 4,448,000 
Flour, barrels . 313,000 
Total as wheat, bushels. 5,856,000 
Corn, bushels . 1,931,000 
Oats, bushels . 2,716,000 
Rye, bushels . 403,000 
Barley, bushels . 137,000 
From 
July 1, ’14 
243,247,000 
11,092,000 
193,163,000 
24,555,000 
54,909.000 
10,559,000 
10,001,000 
