THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Review of the Auction Markets. 
The auction system of selling farm produce is at¬ 
tracting attention from all parts of the country. Last 
week the sales were attended by a Massachusetts dele¬ 
gation, headed by Mr. Wilfrid Wheeler, Secretary of 
the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, and he 
had opportunity to observe a large sale of apples at 
auction, and returned home with an avowed purpose 
to advocate a similar system for the State of Massa¬ 
chusetts, under a State supervision similar to that ex¬ 
ercised by the New York State Department of Foods 
and Markets. 
Last week the auction market opened strong on 
Monday. During the week the weather was softer 
and prices declined in all the lines. The drop was as 
much as 50 cents a barrel in some varieties of apples. 
At this writing the weather still remains soft. At this 
season of the year colder weather may be expected at 
any time, and the experience is that the cold snaps 
always give a better demand for apples in the New 
York market. 
We give herewith the exact sales for three days of 
last week from the highest to the lowest. We realize 
that these quotations would be more available if the 
particular grade could be specified with the price. 
Under present conditions this is impossible, and an 
attempt to specify quality would probably lead to 
greater confusion than omitting the specification of 
grades entirely. It is possible that the apple law has 
tended to a little better pack than usual. It certainly 
has had this result with some growers, but the law has 
not been generally observed, nor enforced. It is safe 
to say that 85 per cent, of the apples shipped to the 
New York market by growers have not been packed 
in accordance with the new apple law, and it is evident 
in such a situation that an attempt now to enforce 
the law would be futile. You cannot prosecute 85 per 
cent, of the growers of the State. 
The prices in New York may be higher or lower than 
in some other markets of the country, but on the auc¬ 
tion market without regard to the brands or grades 
marked on every barrel, the apples sell invariably on 
the basis of quality. We have exercised the greatest 
diligence in an effort to learn the exact prices received 
by commission dealers for similar quality of fruits sold 
at the auctions. Grade for grade, quality for quality, 
prices seem to run on about the same level with 
the advantage on the part of the auction that the fruit 
is sold promptly while fresh, and moved out so that the 
second day there are no old goods to distract the sale 
of fresh varieties. Considering the small volume han¬ 
dled by the auction as compared with all the rest of 
the market, this is a most decided encouragement for 
the new system. It is believed with a large and steady 
supply of choice fruit, the direct sales through the auc¬ 
tion to retailers could be very much increased, and 
through this economy in distribution the consumption 
of apples would be very much larger, and, of course, 
wholesale prices would in this way be favorably af¬ 
fected. With this demonstration another year growers 
are quite sure to effect organizations that will assist 
in the development of this work. 
There are also some necessary expenses incurred 
in the handling of fruit with the present facilities that 
can be and should be avoided with a better system. 
These expenses are in cartage and labor on goods. The 
Department has secured some reductions on this ser¬ 
vice but with proper facilities it would not exist at all. 
It has been tolerated and encouraged because the dis¬ 
tributing system has been able to exact an extra toll 
of the producer for this service. It has been a heavy 
annual toll and if the producer will back up the de¬ 
mands for the reform,'* extra expense can be avoided. 
Without any organization of farmers, individual 
growers are responding encouragingly to these at¬ 
tempts to work out a better system. The Department 
has no pet hobby and is pledged to no particular mar¬ 
ket and no particular system. The purpose is to ap¬ 
proach the subject with an open^mind and an honest 
determination to work out a better system of distribu¬ 
tion. It cannot be done in a few weeks or a few months, 
but there is a great opportunity for reform and with the 
cooperation and help of the producer, it can be im¬ 
proved. 
The auction sales for three full days are as follows: 
APPLES.—4S Greening, $1.95; 40, $1.40; 40 Bald¬ 
win, $2; 25, $1.90; 24, $1.55; f5 Ben Davis, $1.80; 2, 
$1.55; 4 Spy, $1.60; 2, $2.05; 6 King. $2.80; 1 Lemon 
Pippin, $2.25; 1, $2.05; 6 Hubbardston, $1.55; 9, 
$1.40; 2 Russet, $1.55; 3 Baldwin, 70 cents; 166, 
$1.70; 29 Greening, $3.80; 8 Pewaukee. $1.75; 82 
Baldwin, $1.85; 49 Greening, $2.75; 21 Hubbardston, 
$1.95; 8 Pewaukee, $1.80; 2 II. Sweet, $2.30; 8 Bald¬ 
win. $2.75; 19 Spy, $1.15; 14, $1.25; 11 Greening, 
$1.20; 2, $3.10; 83 Baldwin, $2.20; 3, $1.60; 12 Ben 
Davis, $1.75; 20, $1.40; 3 Spy. $2.35; 2 Svvaar. $2.20: 
26 Baldwin, $2.05; 23 Greening, $2.35; 1, $2.80; 2 
T. Sweet, $2.30; 8 Spy, $2; 13 Baldwin, $2.85; 1 
Rome, $3.40; 15, $2.85; 19, $2.25; 5 Wagoner, $2.85; 
4 Rome (boxes) $1.25; 6 Seek, $1.95; 1. $1.20; 8 
Ben Davis, $2.30; 1 Baldwin, $2.30; 1 Spy, $2.20; 3 
Pound Sweet, $2.80; 2 Twenty Ounce, $1.65; 1 Lady 
Sweet. $2.55: 1 Baldwin, $3.15; 2. $2.50; 9, $2.25; 
3, $2.10; 6. $2.10; 2, $1.55; 2 Greening. $3.30; 1 New¬ 
town, $2.85; 1 Gilliflower. $2.25: 1 Seek, $2.60; 1 
Newtown, $3.05; 95 Greening, $2.60; 11, $1.70; 10, 
$1.95; 35 Spy, $1.75; 87 Greening, $3.20; 10, $2.90; 
49, $2.85; 1, $2.10; 32 Hubbardston. $2.60; 5 Bald¬ 
win, $2; 18, $2.45; 1 Russet, $1.40; 2, $1.65; 1, 
$1.30; 6, $1.85; 1 Ben Davis. $1.25; 4 McIntosh $4.45; 
5, $4.15; 1 Snow, $3.70; 3 Haas, $3; 1 Snow, $3.05; 
14 Baldwin. $2.20; 5 Greening, $2.55; 3, $2.25; 4 
McIntosh, $3.05; 11 Spy, $2.30; 14. $1.75; 18. $1.85; 
28, $2.35; 3, $1.30; 5 Ben Davis. $1.75; 2. $1.50; 27, 
$1.25; 13, $3.10; 1, $5.10; 1. $2.30; 10 $2.30; 1 New¬ 
town, $2.30; 4 King (boxes), $1; 3, 80 cents; 5- Bald¬ 
win (crates), 50 cents; 2 Baldwins, bbls., $2.25; 1 
Greening, $2.40; 1 Spy, $2.85; 3 King. $2.90; 1 Green¬ 
ing, $3; 3 Spy, $2.60; 1, $2.05; 1 Seek, $2.40; 2 Ben 
Davis, $2.15; 1 Bellflower, $2.45; 11 Greening, $1.75; 
3 Spy, $1.40: 2 Bellflower, $1.40. 
PEARS.—3 Lawrence, $2.15; 16, $2.35; 2, $1.70; 
1 Kieffer, $2.10; 5 Kieffer, 60 cents; 4, 20 cents. 
MISCELLANEOUS.—6 bkts. sweet potatoes, 45 
cents; 30, 55 cents; 5 bkts. turnips, 10 cents; 15 bags 
dried beans, $6.20 per 100 lbs.; 15 cases, brown and 
white, 40 to 62 cents per doz.; 10 gross honey at 15 
cents per cake. 
“ Returns” from a Commission Man. 
The New York Packer has been printing long articles 
about the Department of Foods and Markets. Thou¬ 
sands of copies of this paper have been distributed all 
over the country. These were evidently bought and 
sent out by the Association of Commission Men. In 
addition to this, articles apparently inspired from the 
same source are appearing in the papers which circu¬ 
late among shippers and farmers. Not being able to find 
anything else in the record of the Department that 
would prejudice farmers against it, the commission men 
have made much of two cases where peaches were’ 
shipped to the auction market. These peaches brought 
all that they were fairly worth, yet because they did not 
bring more the shippers rushed into print attempting 
to prove that the auction system was a fraud, and that 
they had been robbed. A full story about these peaches, 
their condition and their history will appear in good 
time. Just now we take up this question of low prices 
for farm produce. Of course any man, or any set of 
men who start out to criticise a new system of this sort, 
should have clean hands and a perfect record before 
they make so much of the matter. For every case 
where goods at the auction have sold for less than the 
shippers expected, we can easily find 500 cases where 
goods sent to the commission men have proved very 
much more disappointing. We give this week the 
actual record of a shipment of plums. We learned about 
it through the following letter: 
Keep the good work going, some good is sure to come 
out of it. It must hurt some, I think, from the way 
the “Guide” and the “Packer” squeal. 
About 60 days ago my son received a wire from J. 
& G. Lippman, New York, saying, “Plums selling six¬ 
teen to eighteen, advise shipment, car to arrive Mon¬ 
day.” 
Well he sent the car as advised and they arrived 
in good shape Monday and sold—about a hundred at 
10 cents, rest nine cents and they charged nearly $30 
cartage. 
lie was not so sore about what they sold for, because 
he found that was about the market Monday. The 
fact that nine to 10 was about the market when they 
sent the wire that induced him to ship is the part he 
was not pleased with. a. I. loop. 
North East, Pa. 
The facts of the case are that on August 18th Mr. 
Loop received the following telegram : 
Market sixteen, eighteen cents. Advise shipment to 
arrive Monday. j. & o. lippman. 
lie sent the carload of plums. On August 23 Mr. 
Loop received a letter from the Lippman Co. telling him 
that owing to the low prices on peaches the market on 
plums had eased off. They hoped, however, that the 
results from the sale of his car would justify shipping 
another car on Wednesday. On August 24th they 
wired Mr. Loop as follows: 
Your car plums sold 9c to 10c, outlook same on car 
for latter end of week. 
They figured that the sale was the very best that 
could be obtained on the market. Their explanation 
was that the very cheap peaches had hurt the market. 
Fancy basket peaches were selling, so they claimed, at 
25 to 30 cents per basket. Following this came the 
commission returns, and we give here a photograph of 
this document: 
9 
fcWlfrPlWO NUMB(«-#«3 »Y 
It will be seen that 2,933 baskets of plums netted Mr. 
Loop $110.41, which is an average of 3 7-10 cents per 
basket. It is entirely safe to say that not one of these 
baskets of plums sold at retail for less than 20 cents, 
and most of them brought 25. The entire cost of han¬ 
dling these plums after they left the producer’s hands 
was $154.62, or 110% of the entire amount returned by 
the commission man. Out of this $110.41 Mr. Loop 
was obliged to pay the entire cost of packages, of pick¬ 
ing and handling, cultivating and fertilizing, as well as 
the interest on his investment. 
We are not printing this in any particular criticism 
of the Lippman Company. We are merely showing our 
readers a definite, concrete case of the sale of a car¬ 
load of fruit through a well-known commission man. 
The commission men have invited this line of argument 
by their bitter attack upon the auction system, and they 
cannot complain even though \v« vede good our as- 
1381 
eertion that we can find 500 similar cases for every one 
which can be shown through the auction system. We 
want you to pay particular attention to the cost of 
cartage, $29.35, and the 10% commission in addition 
which amounts to $26.50. Here we have $55.85, or 
about 20% of the whole returns eaten up by these 
charges, and we ask you to compare this tremendous 
charge with the 5% charge by the auction system. 
There would have been a few other charges at the 
auction, but not over $5 extra on the car. Some 
of the farm papers are still calling the 35-cent dol¬ 
lar "the vain repetition of an economic fallacy.” 
It strikes us that is a very good name indeed for a 
deal wherein the producer gets 3 7-10 cents for a bas¬ 
ket of plums, and pays all the expenses, while the con¬ 
sumer pays at least 20 cents.' Perhaps we are wrong 
on our figuring, but that looks to us rather less than 
a 20-cent dollar. 
New York State News. 
FARM INCOMES IN JEFFERSON CO.—The 
Jefferson County Farm Bureau has made a report on 
the labor income on 95 farms in that county and finds 
that the average is about $700. That is the amount 
each farm operator received after all farm expenses 
were paid and the interest on capital invested was de¬ 
ducted. This is said to be far better than the average 
would be for the whole county. It was found that the 
lowest labor income was an outgo. It was minus $325. 
This farmer paid $325 for the privilege of running his 
farm and putting in his hard work thereon for an 
entire year. The highest income for labor was $2,547. 
DAIRYMEN OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.— 
About 150 cheese-makers and other dairymen met at 
Gouverneur, Nov. 6, to discuss several phases of the 
cheese business. II. J. Richardson of Lowville told the 
dairymen that Northern New York cheese was as good 
as any made but that it should be improved in uni¬ 
formity Dean Cook was convinced that aerating milk 
for cheese making was a menace to the quality of the 
cheese. Prof. W. W. Fisk of Cornell discussed quality 
in cheesemaking and explained how the undesirable 
types of bacteria counteracted the effects of the desir¬ 
able kinds added with the “starter.” F. S. Welsh ad¬ 
vocated standardization. Manager Phelps of the Farm 
Bureau told farmers that they could save at least 
three cents per hundred on milk by cooling it in Sum¬ 
mer Prof. G. II. Barr of Ottawa, Canada, gave an 
illustrated lecture on the effects of cooling milk on the 
quality of cheese. A banquet closed the session. 
CONFERENCE ON TUBERCULOSIS.—Delegates 
to the second North Atlantic States Conference of Tu¬ 
berculosis Workers, to the number of 350, met in Al¬ 
bany for an important session last week. There were 
representatives from seven States. Important questions 
were discussed by experts and a resolution was passed 
urging an appropriation for a division of tuberculosis 
in the State Department of Health. 
HORSEMEN ORGANIZE.—The horsemen of the 
State formed an organization in Albany last week to 
promote horse breeding, enforce the highway laws of the 
State and secure safe roads for horses. Horsemen from 
every section of the State were present. The chief officers 
of the new association are E. H. Corden of Long Island, 
president; J. R. Townsend of Goshen, vice-president; 
Irving Pam a tier of Watertown, secretary, and Dr. J. II. 
Ferster of Mineola, treasurer. Hon. Nathan Straus 
was elected an honorary vice-president. 
GOVERNOR’S BUDGET-MAKING PROGRAM.— 
Gov. \\ hitman has begun a series of conferences where¬ 
by he hopes to get at something tangible in regard to 
the necessary expenses of running the various depart¬ 
ments of the State government. The total annual pay 
roll of the State is about $20,000,000 and it is the be¬ 
lief of experts that 10 per cent, of this amount can be 
saved, or about $2,OO0,OOO—an end much to be de¬ 
sired. Of the 17,000 State employes it is believed 1000 
can be dropped without injury to the service. A be¬ 
ginning has been made in the Agricultural Department 
with the cooperation of Commissioner Wilson where 
it is thought 36 employes can be dispensed with and 
thus save about $46,000. 
. ONONDAGA FARM BUREAU’S PLANS.—At a 
meeting of the Advisory Council of the Onondaga 
County Farm Bureau this week the program of activi¬ 
ties was announced for the coming Winter and Spring 
The Bureau proposes to work for the betterment of the 
potato crop in the county with special references to 
meeting th.e demand for seed .potatoes in carload lots. 
Ihe work of the renovation orokl orchards will be con¬ 
tinued. Field tests.'.v?ill be made to demonstrate that 
old meadows may be made more profitable by the in¬ 
telligent use of fertilizers. The effort to improve the 
quality of corn and the *^ield will also be continued. 
J. w. D. 
Government Crop Report. 
The yields of staple 
are: 
Corn, bu. 
Wheat, bu. 
Dats, bu. 
Barley, bu. 
Rye, bu. 
Buckwheat, bu. 
Potatoes, bu. 
Sweet Potatoes, bu. 
Hay, tons . 
Cotton, lbs. 
Tobacco, lbs. .. 
Flaxseed, bu. 
Rice, bu. 
Peaches, bu. 
Pears, bu. 
Apples, bbls. 
Cabbage, tons . 
crops compared 
1915. 
3,090,509,000 
1,002,029,000 
1,517,478,000 
236,682,000 
44,179,000 
16,350,000 
359,253,000 
66,650,000 
80,983,000 
5.250,000,000 
1,050,025,000 
18,446,000 
26,251,000 
64,218,000 
11,216,000 
76,670,000 
958,301 
with last year 
1914. 
2,672,804,000 
891,017,000 
1,141,060,000 
194,953,000 
42,779,000 
16,881,000 
405,921,000 
56,574,000 
70,071,000 
7,718,980,000 
1,034,679,000 
15,559,000 
23,649,000 
54,109,000 
12,086,000 
84,400,000 
765,663 
Canadian Fruit Prices. 
1 Rt, AL.—Apples, choice Spy and King $5 (fh 
5 Baldwin and Greening, $4 @ $5; McIntosh, 
$o.o0 m $<. Pears. Anjou and Sheldon, bbl., $5 to 
*8; Grapes, 6-qt. bkt., 12 @ 13 cents. Cranberries, 
bbl., $< (a) $9. 
TORONTO.—Spy, $4.50 ® $5; Baldwin and Green¬ 
ing, $3/5 @ $4.2o; Snow $5 @ $6; Grapes, 6-qt. bkt., 
13 (ft) 15 cents. 
