THE RURAL NEW-VORKER 
595 
an appropriation for food and 
MARKETS. 
HE prompt protest of farmers against the Kincaid 
Bill was effective. That bill is dead. The work 
now requires another service. 
Producers should wire or write Hon. Elon R. Brown, 
Senate Chamber, Albany, N. Y., also Hon. Chas. 
S. Whitman, Executive Chamber, Albany, N. Y., 
and request them to give the New York State Depart¬ 
ment of Foods and Markets an appropriation sufficient 
to develop the proposed terminal markets in New York 
City, and to instruct producers in the grading, packing 
and shipping of produce for our city markets. If we 
can get this system established it will be of priceless 
value to the producers of the State, and it will be of 
equal benefit to the consumers of the city. No work 
af recent years has promised a greater benefit to the 
people of the State. Every farmer knows that his great 
trouble is to find a ready market for his produce at fair 
prices and an honest return for it. The proposed sys¬ 
tem of terminal markets, together with the Depart¬ 
ment’s plans for a retail outlet, will provide an open 
market at prices governed entirely by the law of sup¬ 
ply and demand. It will effect a reform that will save 
the people of the State more than a million dollars 
annually; and should greatly advance the agricultural 
interests of the State. 
People go hungry in the city while food wastes on the 
farms of the State, because we have no economic sys¬ 
tem of distribution. After years of work we have now 
devised a system of distribution that will do away with 
extravagance and waste and move the produce at the 
least possible cost from the farm direct to the con¬ 
sumers’ homes. The cost to the State will be trifling. 
The markets will be built and equipped without a 
cent of cost to the State. We only have to ensure 
proper regulation of them and a fair rental, and a 
capital of $300,000 will put them on a self-sustaining 
basis. This will be about 2% cents per thousand of 
assessed valuation for the State. A farm assessed at 
$2,000 would pay five cents extra in taxes for this 
capital fund to establish the market system under the 
supervision of the State. The Legislature is soon to 
adjourn, and we must act promptly. A strong united 
request from the farmers of the State will be effective. 
Write or wire Senator Brown and Governor Whitman 
at once. 
PRACTICAL LESSONS IN PACKING. 
T Saratoga last week I visited five fruit and vege¬ 
table stores, and the story I got at each place 
would make a valuable lesson in the economics of 
si lling to producers. I was a stranger to the proprie¬ 
tors of all these stores, and visited one after the other 
in one afternoon, and the story of one was repeated 
with slight variations by all of them. 
In all of these places I was told that only two farm- 
crs, who bring produce to Saratoga, take pains to grade 
goods to suit the market. These growers are George 
It. Schauber of Ballston Spa. and Dr. T. E. Bullard of 
Seliuylerville. Dr. Bullard is some distance out, and 
ships little to Saratoga, so that Mr. Schauber has a 
virtual monopoly of the trade. Harris E. Barber, one 
of the dealers, gave me an impressive lecture on the 
need of grading of farm products, and an eloquent re¬ 
cital of the carelessness of producers in the matter 
of packing products. 
“I would buy of farmers,” he said, “but I can’t trust 
their grades and pack. They stop in front of the door 
with apples. The apples look good on top. I ask 
them if they are good all through. They say yes. I 
take them in; but they are not the same all through. 
It is not that they mean to be dishonest or mean to 
misrepresent; but they do not know how to grade 
goods, and follow the bad and careless custom of packing 
just as the produce comes from the ground or the trees. 
If I buy from them at all, I order only a barrel of 
apples or potatoes at a time so that I can judge of 
their quality for myself. In the flush season they are 
at my door every hour. I tell them to sort out the 
best ones and bring only those and I will buy them. 
The farmers answer that all the other dealers say the 
same thing; but the best they can offer is what is on 
the wagon. They make no sale. These farmers all 
ask how much will you give. 
On the other hand, when Mr. Schauber comes to 
town, it is only a question of how much he can let us 
have; and he tells us how much he will take. He sets 
his own price. Moreover we never look inside his 
packages. We ask for the grade he has, and pay his 
price. We always take all the best grade he will let 
us have. When the flush season is on every grocery- 
man in town is letting other wagons go past, and is 
waiting for Schauber’s wagon. Sometimes I send a 
car out to meet him on the road to get a supply be¬ 
fore he strikes town. Last year I wanted raspberries 
for canning. Other growers were peddling through the 
streets trying to sell small dried-up berries at any 
price offered. You could not touch a quart of Scliau- 
ber’s for less than 18 cents; and he didn’t have half 
enough at that. 
"If you can induce these farmers to leave their poor 
goods home, and bring up prime quality in definite 
grades, they will sell more and get good prices for 
them.” 
Mr. Schauber grades his apples in the Fall as they 
come from the tree; and wraps each apple in tissue 
paper. His first grade is selling for $3 a bushel in 
Saratoga; and the seconds at $2 a bushel. The sec¬ 
onds are just as perfect as the firsts, but smaller, but 
every apple in either grade is perfect, and of uniform 
size. All I saw from him were Northern Spys. 
Dr. Bullard at Seliuylerville is planning an orchadr 
on an ambitious scale. He has a fine thrifty bunch of 
trees already in bearing; but sold off closely in the 
Fall. His apples are all graded into uniform sizes, and 
only perfect apples marketed. He is tile-draining his 
orchard, sowing Alfalfa and developing an orchard 
along lines that promise a great success. J. J. D. 
THE RURAL SAVING AND LOAN 
ASSOCIATION. 
The Rural Saving and Loan Association. 333 West 
30th Street, New York City, has been organized to en¬ 
courage saving and to familiarize farmers and home 
owners with the great advantages of the Land Bank 
system. 
You may become a member by a payment of $1 or 
more; and other deposits may be made in any amount 
as frequently as convenience permits, l'ou may with¬ 
draw deposits any time; and dividends are drawn 
on the earnings for the time and amount on deposit. 
Our hope is that members of our farm families would 
become members, and when acquainted with the sys- 
Prof. Charles S. Wilson 
The New N. Y. State Commissioner of Agriculture. 
tern, would withdraw and organize associations in their 
own neighborhood. 
The assets of The Rural Saving and Loan Associa¬ 
tion are already in excess of one thousand dollars, and 
it has no expense. The entire earnings will go to the 
members. The funds are always invested in first mort¬ 
gages on real estate, and no security can be safer. No 
formality is required. Send any amount for first pay¬ 
ment, $1 or more, addressed as above. 
M. G. KEYES, SEC’y. 
Stock Foods and the New York Law. 
One of our readers in New York .State sends us the 
circular of a stock food and poultry mixture which is 
made in New Y'ork State. He finds that this stuff is 
not guaranteed under the Food and Drugs Act. so he 
sends us this circular and wants to know if the com¬ 
pany has a right to put out such a product. Of course, 
if this material is sold entirely within the borders of 
New York State, the U. S. Department would have 
nothing to do with it, as it would assume control only 
for interstate commerce where the stock food was sent 
into another State. Under the present New York State 
law this material does not come under the regulation 
of concentrated food stuffs. The manufacturers are 
therefore not obliged to take out a license and state 
what the package contains. It is not put out nor sold 
as a food, and is not advertised as a food, but as a 
tonic or medicine. As the package distinctly states 
that it is not a food, no claim is made for the feeding 
properties. Personally we think that these poultry 
mixtures and live stock tonics ought to be brought 
under the law and licensed, the same as food stuffs. As 
the law stands, however, they are not covered by it, 
and thus go free. Efforts have been made to change 
the law so as to cover this point, but such efforts have 
failed. __ 
Increasing the 35-Cent Dollar. The First Step 
Necessary. 
The fact of the 35-eent, or less, dollar is pretty well 
ground into the brain of the average farmer and ac¬ 
cepted as a very present evil. The next step is to de¬ 
cide what we are going to do about it. There’s a trite 
saying that if the grower was as well organized as the 
buyer there would come an end to present unjust con¬ 
ditions. Here is a truism which has not yet crept 
into the heads of the producers, and never will until 
they go a step further and find out just what it costs 
to produce. Here is an individual proposition to be 
worked out, and the best system is that used bv the 
seller of these same farm products. The great trouble 
with farmers has been, and is, that they do not count 
the cost and include all the items. Hardly one can b'' 
found who figures his team or his own time at day 
wages, and a still smaller percent take account of 
taxes, insurance, interest on everything and deprecia¬ 
tion, yet every one must be reckoned with during the 
year and provision made for each. It has long been 
said that farmers could figure themselves into the poor- 
house while making a good living but this comes only 
when all the overhead charges are counted and every 
hour’s work charged. So long as this is the rule with 
the man who sells farm products, and every other 
business man, why should it not be with the farmer V 
No man can know what to ask for an article until lie 
has found at what cost it can be produced. The farmer 
is the only business man who does a complete wholesale 
and retail business; everything he buys is at retail 
and everything he sells is at wholesale. This will con¬ 
tinue until, knowing the cost, a man will be forced to 
take the next step for his own protection. Nothing 
short of this knowledge will force the step which alone 
can save. 
Here is what it has cost me to grow apples for a 
period of seven years, a term too short to settle fully 
the problem. Taking some old trees I have been trying 
to restore I find the expense to be yearly per tree as 
follows : Pruning nine cents; fertilizer 19 ; spraying three 
times 19% ; going over tree twice for borers three, and 
cutting grass under trees for the mulch three, a total 
of.53% cents per tree yearly as cash outlay. The fer¬ 
tilizer used was 12 pounds of chemicals per tree, a 
4-10-7% mixture. Add six percent on a valuation of 
ten dollars per tree, 00 cents, two percent for depre¬ 
ciation of trees 20. two percent for taxes on one hundred 
dollars an acre, five cents per tree, interest on machin¬ 
ery and tools 0, and depreciation on same five, and you 
have a yearly cost per tree of $1.49% at picking time. 
It cost me 20 cents per barrel to pick; barrels 37; 
hauling from cooper shop to orchard two; carting t>» 
storage shed two; storage 30 days five; packing IS; 
carting to shipping station five; a total of 89 cents per 
barrel. All time is figured on the basis of two dollars 
a day for man and one for horse. I find that tin* culls 
left after packing the No. 1 and No. 2 will, at 20 cents 
a hundred, pay for cleaning the orchard of all drops 
and waste. If those trees average two barrels a tree, 
when finally packed for market, the cost would be $1.10 
per barrel, but they don’t. The trouble is we have to 
count the lean as well as fat years, and every bearing 
tree must be included in any business proposition. 
There are trees which have averaged me better than four 
barrels, but unfortunately others are below the barr. l 
mark and thus far I have not been able to lift them. 
We have got to get away from all guesswork and “get 
right down to brass tacks” as the boys say in their 
games. Too many figure their crop as picked, and be¬ 
fore packing and selling, a most unsound method. I 
am sorry to be obliged to say that my apples cost me 
on this basis $2 per barrel, and at that price the busi¬ 
ness is a good one. Large business houses are making 
money selling goods at cost and getting their profit 
out of the discounts allowed for cash. When we get 
our farms’ work organized on some such basis the farrn- 
ei will know what it costs to produce and that loill force 
the next step, the organized system of selling and the 
elimination of all unnecessary factors now getting the 
cream and the lion’s share of the loaf. To my mind 
nothing short of this knowledge will arouse to just 
steps for self-protection. Let’s find what it costs to 
do business on the farm. [hr.] g. m. twitciiell. 
Maine. 
New York State News. 
T HE OLEO BILL.—This bill was introduced at the 
request of the State Agricultural Department Feb¬ 
ruary 3, by Senator Lawson, of Brooklyn, and As¬ 
semblyman Thorn, of Buffalo. It was amended 
twice by the Senate and finally passed that body on 
March 30, and then it was sent to the Assembly which 
sent it to the Committee on Agriculture. On March 24 
the committee voted against reporting the measure out, 
four favoring and six opposing. Then the committee 
began to hear from the people. It was stated that 
nearly 2,000 telegrams were received by legislators on 
one day asking them to vote for the bill if it came up. 
EXPENSIVE EPIDEMIC.—The cattle epidemic is 
now believed by the Department of Agriculture to have 
been stayed in its progress, and the cost of the fight 
against it is in round numbers $700,000 of which the 
State will have to pay $350,000. 
STATE FAIR MATTERS.—It looks now as though 
a big automobile exhibit would occupy the stalls in the 
cattle building this Fall at the State fair. It seems 
probable that the cattle exhibit will have to be omitted 
on account of the possibility of another cattle epidemic. 
As the fair is some mouths away there is hope that 
the cattle show may not have to be omitted. There is 
much probability that more attention than ever will 
be paid to horses and racing, with Lieut.-Gov. Schoe- 
neck, an ardent horseman, in charge of the races, and 
Mr. Ilarriman in charge of the horse show. The failure 
of the Legislature to supply funds for a new horticul¬ 
tural building will necessitate the transfer of the hor¬ 
ticultural exhibits to the manufacturers’ building, it is 
suggested. 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.—March 
0. the constitutional convention met in the Assembly 
Chamber at the State Capitol, at Albany. It is 138 
years ago this month that the Empire State adopted its 
first Constitution. The delegates first assembled in 
\\ bite Plains where they were compelled to organize 
themselves into a committee of safety and to fight off 
the approaches of the enemy. In this work they were 
obliged to change their places of meeting successively 
at White Plains, Harlem, Fishkill, and Kingston, where 
rhe final draft of the Constitution was adopted, April 
20, 1777. But the first Constitution of the State was 
not deposited in the office of the Secretary of State 
until 1821, it is said. An interesting feature of the 
opening, of the convention in Albany last week was the 
use in taking the oath, of a Bible loaned for the oc¬ 
casion by Mrs. William Gorham Rice, which is an auto¬ 
graph copy, owned at one time by Sir William Black- 
stone of legal fame. 
BIG SUPPLY BILL.—The annual supply bill has 
been reported by the Ways and Means Committee of 
the Assembly and it carries a total of $5,000,000. The 
Senate Finance Committee has reported the bill appro¬ 
priating $500,000 for the expenses of the constitutional 
convention and $465,000 for the State census. The 
supply bill now carries almost $1,000,000 for payments 
to owners of cattle and horses slaughtered by the State 
to prevent the spread of disease in herds. A special 
appropriation of $50,000 has already been ordered to 
pay the expenses of the recent campaign against the 
foot-and-mouth disease. It is the intention of the Ways 
and Means Committee to pay every cent owing to own¬ 
ers of cattle and horses on account of the foot-and- 
mouth disease. j. w. o. 
