THE RURAL NRW-YORKER 
1199 
Notes from the Fruit Auctions. 
PEACH SALES.—The sale of peaches at auction in 
New York is a success. It was started under the 
most unfavorable conditions, and yet the sales at auc¬ 
tion in every case have been equal to the sales made 
on the market by the old private sales method, and 
the sales of fancy and superior A grade stuff has sold 
at auction above the prices generally realized by the 
old dealers. Probably on account of the wet season, 
and particularly the hot, muggy weather during the 
early part of September, peaches, and in fact all fruits, 
have been coming soft and in damaged condition. This 
is the case even when shipped in refrigerator cars. 
Fruit that is apparently shipped in very good condition 
at the farm, has often arrived in soft, and sometimes 
decaying condition by the time it reaches the market. 
Prices of peaches have run around 30 to 45 cents for a 
14-quart basket. Some hampers have sold on the auc¬ 
tion as high as SO to 95 cents. 
INCREASING CONSUMPTION.-—An effort has 
been made by the Department of Foods and Markets 
to increase the consumption by inducing large grocers 
to handle the peaches at a smaller profit, the Depart¬ 
ment to help increase the sales by advertising methods. 
These grocers are willing to cooperate in the sale of 
farm fruits of all kinds as soon as the Department can 
assure them of a steady daily supply of good grades 
of fruit. At first the peach growers were a little timid 
about shipping regularly, in fear that the old dealers 
would do something to defeat the sales at auction. 
They have now learned that the old dealers are as 
helpless as babies. They can sell no fruit and make no 
profit on it until they get it, and the grower has it. 
Under the most unfavorable conditions the auction has 
demonstrated that it can sell the fruit at less cost 
and less expense and return the grower more money 
than the commission dealer ever did or ever can. The 
Fruit Auction Company that sells the fruit at auction 
is backed by resources sufficient to buy out most of the 
commission dealers in New York. It has the capital, 
the experience and the customers to handle every apple 
in the State and more besides. The customers who buy 
their apples also buy California, Florida, tropical and 
foreign fruits. The commission dealer, like the baby in 
the corn, may cry. lie can do nothing more. If the 
grower answers his cry and comes to his rescue by 
sending him a supply of fruit, the commission dealer 
can continue to make profits. Otherwise the fruit 
passes to the consumer through other hands. Now that 
these evident facts are being realized by the 
grower, through the returns from the auction, ship¬ 
ments are beginning to come more regularly and 
if continued in regular succession, success is assured. 
There may be an occasional low price as well as some 
unusual high prices; but the average will be good, and 
the grower will have the satisfaction of knowing that 
he gets all the goods bring on an open market. 
FALL APPLES.—There was a good demand last 
week for Fall varieties of apples, particularly of the 
high red colors and fancy grades. F. Petchesky & Son 
is bringing in the Fall varieties bought at the auction 
markets up State. He got some of the choicest or¬ 
chards of the State. lie sold some McIntosh at $4.25, 
Wealthy from $4.25 to $4.50; Twenty Ounce from $3 
to $3.25; Duchess at $3; Gravenstein at $4. This is 
for Grade A, very fancy fruit. While the old dealers 
claimed that he paid too much, and refused to buy at 
his prices, Petchesky is evidently making a good profit 
on Fall varieties with a prospect of even better profits 
for the Winter apples. 
QUALITY WANTED.—With large quantities of 
good classes of fruit coming to New York markets, 
shippers should withhold B and mixed grades of apples 
at this time. Later, as the season develops, there may 
be a demand for them, but just now they do not sell 
for enough to pay expenses, and small shippers of even 
fair grade A varieties cannot expect the prices realized 
by Petchesky on the fancy fruit from the choicest or¬ 
chards, though the demand is good and prices realized 
fair for all good varieties. 
STORAGE.—The storage space in New York is ex¬ 
hausted, and apples can be stored in cold storage only 
after the eggs have been taken out. Growers without 
cold storage at home will do best to keep Winter 
varieties in common storage and instead of holding 
with a hope of striking the best market, make ship¬ 
ments from time to time with a view of striking an 
average for the season. It is early for Greenings yet 
and prices rarely go above $2.50 to $2.75 a barrel. 
OTHER FRUITS.—The Bartlett pears have been 
scarce and the fruit mostly soft. Fancy has sold as 
high as $4 to occasional sales of very fancy as high as 
$5. Grapes from the Hudson River are commencing 
to come in and sell around 2% cents a pound for black 
grapes. The first shipment of Apple quinces last week 
brought $4 a barrel. 
TRANSPORTATION DIFFICULTIES. — Last 
week the most chaotic conditions prevailed in the dis¬ 
charge of fruit by the railroads on their docks. There 
were strikes on the Pennsylvania and New York Cen¬ 
tral Railroad docks and perishable fruit arriving on 
the New York side in many cases had to be returned 
and discharged in New Jersey and carried over in 
trucks. Of course in the case of perishable products 
this was disastrous. The truth of the matter is that 
the railroads have no adequate facilities for the dis¬ 
charge and distribution of farm products, and growers 
are continuously suffering enormous losses through the 
want of proper facilities. A more complicated, unfort¬ 
unate, extravagant and wasteful system as now em¬ 
ployed could hardly be devised. The plans of the De¬ 
partment of Foods and Markets provide for a union 
terminal where products may bo delivered in carload 
lots with proper facilities for storage and handling. 
The railroads spend millions on passenger terminals 
for trade that they complain does not pay, yet neglect 
the facilities for handling perishable products which 
pay a high tariff and make it profitable traffic for the 
roads. So long as there is no one to protest the sys¬ 
tem will continue, but it is about time farmers insisted 
on better service from public carriers. 
New York State Fair. 
In spite of weather conditions it may be said of the 
1915 State Fair that there has not been a better one 
in recent years. The attendance was affected by the 
extreme heat and the frequent showers, but the exhibits 
were there, and almost every department except cattle 
showed an increase in the number of entries. There was 
of course good reason for the small decline In the num¬ 
ber of cattle entries, and Commissioner Wieting is to 
be congratulated on having the cooperation of so many 
State breeders in making the exhibit as large as it was, 
over GOO head. Had it not been for the foot and mouth 
troubles there would have been a grand overflow of 
animals, much beyond the capacity of the new stock 
building. And yet the comment was frequently made 
that this was after all a strictly New York exhibit and 
showed what New York could do even on short notice. 
In that regard it was doubly interesting.. 
There is one feature of the dairy department to 
which special attention should be called, and that is 
the milk exhibit If there is one thing in which every¬ 
body is interested it is in the quality of the 
milk and cream which is put upon the market. These 
exhibits were judged by a committee of two bac¬ 
teriologists and one chemist, and the scoring was on 
the following basis: visible dirt 10; flavor and odor 25; 
fat 10; solids, not fat, 10; acidity 5; appearance of 
bottle 5. The gold medal for the best milk went to 
Hugh E. McGraw of Homer with a record of 98.95 on 
a perfection basis of 100, followed very closely by the 
Lake Placid Club with a score of 98.80. The Seven 
Gates Farm of Vineyard Haven, Mass., won the gold 
medal for the best cream with a score of 98.4 and here 
again the contest was close as the Tully Farm of Tully, 
N. Y., took the silver medal with a score of 97.2. 
There was universal praise for the fruit exhibits. 
What a show our growers could put up if they had the 
space in a properly arranged building. A dozen coun¬ 
ties would enter the lists for the county prizes and as 
many Granges or more would strive for the Grange 
prizes. Indeed, with 890 Granges in the State there 
ought to be at least 25 to put up a fruit show at the 
State Fair that would make the commission take no¬ 
tice of what the Granges could do to make the fair 
“the biggest fruit show on earth.” The $250 prize 
for best collection of fruit from any county of the 
State was won by Ulster; the second prize of $200 
went to Orleans and the third of $150 was taken by 
Oswego. Ontario and Niagara wore also represented 
by creditable exhibits and each will receive a prize of 
$100, as the commission has authority to make this 
allowance providing the number of entries exceed three 
and the exhibits made are creditable and deemed wor¬ 
thy. Prizes in this class are the highest offered in the 
fruit department, and exhibitors are allowed a floor 
space 20 by 38 feet. The Subordinate Grange prizes 
were well contested. There were four entries: Gaines 
Grange of Orleans County, Hall Grange of the same 
county, Clintondale Grange of Ulster County and But¬ 
ler Grange of Wayne County. The three prizes were 
awarded in the order above given and in value were 
$150, $100 and $75, respectively. For the largest and 
host collection of apples, five specimens of each variety, 
Grant Ilitchings of Onondaga won first, and P. E. Nos- 
traml of Shelter Island Heights second. 
Unusual interest was shown in the classes for com¬ 
mercial exhibitors of apples, pack being a factor as 
well as quality of fruit. The prizes of $75, $50 and 
$25 went to the following in the order named: E. W. 
Catchpole and Son of North Rose, J. A. Hepworth & 
Son of Milton and Lewis B. Moore of Kendall. For the 
best three boxes the awards were made to Catchpole & 
Son, Graham Hurd & Sons of Clintondale, and Salis¬ 
bury Brothers of Phelps, in the order named. 
It seems to the writer that there is room for im¬ 
provement in the agricultural implement show. This 
year it was good so far as it went, and it went too far. 
It covered too much ground, scattered over too much 
territory. There should be more machinery in 'action. 
People like to.see machinery running. At the Minne¬ 
sota State Fair there were more than 30 tractors on 
duty and plowing demonstrations attracted much at¬ 
tention. Possibly the lack of tractors here is because 
the tractor has not yet come into anything like general 
use in the East, but the way to introduce it is to let 
it be seen at the fairs. Give them space to operate at 
the rear of the fair grounds near the Boys’ Camp if 
there is no other convenient place. Let every inven¬ 
tion that makes farming easier and brings profit to 
the owner be shown, and if there are any modern im¬ 
provements that are intended to make the work of 
the housekeeper lighter and more efficient let the 
women folks see what they are. This department 
should be given larger consideration in the make-up 
of the fair next year. 
A movement has been set on foot for enhancing the 
educational value of the exhibits with particular refer¬ 
ence to the State institutions’ part in the fair. It was 
at a meeting of representatives of all State institu¬ 
tions having exhibits at the fair in connection with a 
banquet tendered State Commissioner of Agriculture 
Wilson. A committee was named to carry out certain 
plans suggested, and to be suggested, and will attempt 
to make the exhibits more educational and especially 
feature the agricultural side thereof. This committee, 
or some other, could well extend the field of operations 
and take in other departments of the fair. However, 
as Commissioner Wieting said to the writer, “We can’t 
make a much bigger fair until we get more room to 
put it in.” If reports be true there will be an effort 
made to get an appropriation of $175,000 for the fair 
from the next Legislature. It is said that this plan has 
been definitely settled upon by those in authority at 
Albany. We hope it is true. But we desire to express 
the hope right here that the entire appropriation will 
not be diverted to the changing of the location of the 
race track as would seem to be indicated. However 
desirable that may be there are more pressing needs 
than that the track should be moved and a larger 
grand stand erected. Let that come after a new fruit 
building, a new horse building and a new domestic 
hall have been provided for. 
One thing successfully managed this year was the 
arrangement with exhibitors as to the number of free 
admission tickets that each should be entitled to re¬ 
ceive. It will be remembered that last year there was 
no little trouble over this matter and that exhibitors 
became so bitter that many of them refused to exhibit 
longer. This year it was decided to allow each ex¬ 
hibitor one ticket for each $10 worth of space used. 
This was the general rule to govern, but it was applied 
with wisdom, because some exhibitors having large 
space had fewer employes than some exhibitors having 
small space. So common sense and fair play were 
allowed to govern and everything was arranged satis¬ 
factorily to all concerned. 
The Boys’ Gamp was more of a success than ever 
this year. The plan of having the boys selected, one- 
half by the Granges and one-half by, or from, tin 1 high 
schools teaching agriculture, was a success. There 
were nearly 100 boys in camp and a more interested 
lot of young fellows one would go far to see. Their lec¬ 
tures given daily by expert instructors made “a short 
course” in itself and it is reasonable to suppose that 
many a lad has been given a wider vision and a new 
incentive to labor and excel in the work of the farm. 
The semi-military instruction and the discipline re¬ 
quired will be helpful to them, as the military exercises 
surely will. 
’Grange Day did not draw as many members of the 
Order as it should have done, but an erroneous an¬ 
nouncement as to the hour of the exercises had some¬ 
thing to do with the attendance. Addresses were given 
by Lieut.-Gov. Schoeneck, Commissioner Wilson, L. ,T. 
Taber, Master of the Ohio State Grange, and Mrs. 
Chamberlain of Elmira. State Master W. II. Vary 
presided and spoke briefly. It was announced that the 
membership of the Grange in the State now exceeds 
115,000. j. w. DARROW. 
Potatoes and Fruit in Western New York. 
During the past week I have been on two long rides; 
the first of over 100 miles in Monroe and Orleans coun¬ 
ties and the second of about 175 miles in Monroe. On¬ 
tario and Cayuga counties, and I have never seen such 
a perfect blight of potatoes in all my life. In all that 
riding of 275 miles through the section of the State 
where there are raised hundreds of carloads l have 
not seen six fields which are green today. Occasionally 
a field would show some green and one field which we 
know has been sprayed all Summer is about one-half to 
three-quarters green, and it is far and away the best 
field we saw. I do not believe the crop will be one-haU 
normal, and many fields will not pay for digging. If 
other parts of the potato growing sections arc* as bad we 
do not see why they should not be as high in price as 
any time in the past ten years. The Government put 
the crop in this State a little over two-thirds of a year 
ago, but that was based on tin' condition of the crop be¬ 
fore the rust struck it. I doubt if it is over one-third 
of last year's crop if all sections are as badly blighted 
as western New York. 
The wheat acreage seems to be below normal and few 
fields are sown. Saw much plowing yet to be done and 
many fields are in any thing but good condition for 
seeding. Either there has been too much rain or not 
enough, for they are lumpy and in no condition to make 
wheat come up quickly. 
Apples in some sections are surely fine. West of 
this city as far as Holley and a little beyond the crop 
is large and of good quality. Between Canandaigua 
and Geneva, and between Geneva and Sheldrake Springs 
the crop is big. From Canandaigua on I never saw 
trees loaded better. Some orchards are propped up to 
keep the trees from breaking and I saw old trees split 
all to pieces from the load of fruit. Evaporators are 
paying as high as 30 cents for fruit to make chop, and 
up to 50 cents for better quality. 
Peaches are a wonderful crop. On the ridge west of 
Rochester we were told to take a basket and help 
ourselves, as they were not bringing enough to pay 
for picking. Out of the stores here they are selling for 
10 to 40 cents, the latter for strictly A1 fruit, every one 
guaranteed perfect; 20 cents buys fine fruit. It is too 
bad the weather has been so hot, as it ripened the fruit 
too rapidly. Had it been cooler the fruit would have 
been better and lasted longer. c. I. 
Farm Bureaus in New York. 
We are often asked for a list of the farm bureau 
managers in New York State. So we print the follow¬ 
ing—compiled up to June 1, 1915: 
Allegany—F. C. Smith, Belmont. 
Broome— E. R. Minns, Chamber of Commerce, 
Binghamton. 
Cattaraugus—IT. K. Crofoot, Olean. 
Cayuga—J. R. Teall, Auburn. 
Chautauqua—IT. B. Rogers, Chautauqua. 
Chemung—M. E. Cliubbuck, Chamber of Commerce, 
Elmira. 
Chenango—E. P. Smith, Norwich. 
Clinton—C. B. Tillson, Plattsburg. 
Cortland—E. IT. Forristall, Cortland. 
Delaware—T. M. Avery, Walton. 
Dutchess—F. II. Lacy, 35 Market St., Poughkeepsie. 
Erie—W. L. Markham, Chamber of Commerce, 
Buffalo. 
Franklin—O. F. Ross, Malone. 
Herkimer—C. A. Taylor, Herkimer. 
Jefferson—F, E. Robertson, Watertown. 
Monroe—L. A. Toan, Chamber of Commerce, 
Rochester. 
Montgomery—A. S. Merchant, Canajoharie. 
Nassau—L. R. Simons, Mineola. 
Niagara—E. II. Anderson, Board of Trade, Lockport. 
Oneida—*R. F. Pollard, Chamber of Commerce, 
Utica. 
Onondaga—S. A. Martin, 112 Court House, Syracuse. 
Orange—T. E. Milliman, Goshen. 
Oswego—B. V. Underwood, Oswego. 
Otsego—F. S. Barlow, Cooperstowu. 
St. Lawrence—C. S. Phelps, Canton. 
Saratoga-—A. M. Hollister, Saratoga Springs. 
Sullivan—J. A. Richardson, Liberty. 
Tompkins— -V. B. Blatcliley, Ithaca. 
Ulster—W. II. Hook, Kingston. 
Wyoming—II. M. Bowen, Perry. 
Westchester—J. G. Curtis, White Plains. 
'Temporary manager. 
High, class hay of rye, grass and clover has been 
selling in the London, England, market at over $40 
per ton. 
Somk farmers use sprouted oats to sea! the top of 
the silo. The top of the silage is soaked with water 
and the oats seeded in. They sprout and make a dense, 
thick mat which keeps out the air. 
