THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1439 
Hay Auction Postponed. 
The hay sale advertised last week by the Department 
of Foods and Markets to be held in New York City on 
behalf of Central New York growers had to he in¬ 
definitely postponed because the railroads issued an em¬ 
bargo against hay. The Lackawanna Railroad had 
verbally agreed to accept the hay and deliver it for 
November 30th sale. The dealers’ association protested 
against the keeping of this agreement by the Lack¬ 
awanna road and the officials repudiated the agree¬ 
ment of their agent at Pier 68 , and refused to handle 
flie hay. The sidings and terminals of the railroads 
are full of hay from points outside the State, but this 
hay could not be delivered from within the State even 
though a previous agreement had been made to do so. 
It is considered that long hauls are more profitable 
to the railroads than short hauls, and possibly the hay 
dealers control the shipment of more hay than individ¬ 
ual farmers of New York State. But these experiences 
are intended to wake up the farmer as he was never 
aroused before. Complaint has been made to the 
Public Service Commission and unless relief is offered 
the distribution of farm products will yet influence the 
appointment of commissioner of that committee, and 
may be a controlling factor in the election of the Gov¬ 
ernor who appoints them. Discrimination against New 
York State products in our own markets has been car¬ 
ried to the limit of endurance by producers. 
Notes from the Auction. 
The continued soft weather has been unfavorable 
for the apple market. The medium and poor grades 
have continued to come longer than was expected. 
There have been few high-grade apples coming to the 
New York market, except small consignments that were 
taken out of cold storage by speculators. Apples in 
common storage are not keeping well this season, the 
majority of stock coming is soft and in some cases be¬ 
ginning to show rot. In some cases the rot is complete. 
It is this year as in other years that medium and poor 
grades continue to arrive, and it is estimated this class 
of goods must be cleaned up. 
Greenings, Kings, Jonathans, Spitzenburgs, Northern 
Spies, are timely for market before the holidays, even 
when held in cold storage. Shipments should be made 
to reach the city in the first part of the week and for 
the last week before Christmas not later than Monday 
or Wednesday, December 20 and 22. We give the quo¬ 
tations of two days’ sales for last week. Shippers should 
read these with the information that they have been en¬ 
tirely of a medium and poor grade as referred to above. 
The following are quotations of sales for two days 
last week : 
Nineteen barrels Baldwins $2.35; S Spy '$3.25; 1 
Greening $2.50; 4 Greening $2.30; 1 liubbardston 
$2.70; 1 $2.40; 1 $2.05; 5 Baldwin $2.55; 1 $1.70; 2 
Ben Davis $2.05; 22 Baldwins $2.95; 6 $2.30; 12 $1.90; 
1 Cranberry Pippin $2.40; 2 Newtown $2.10; 8 Ben 
Davis $1.90; 12 Baldwin $2.50; 10 $2.75; 3 $2.30; 7 
$1.90; 10 Wolf River $2.30; 3 King $1.95; 5 Spy 
$1.75; 12 R. I. Greening $2.70; 4 Baldwin $2.25; 1 
Spy $1.80; 18 Ben Davis $2.05; 2 $1.55; 45 Rome 
$2.55; 3 Gillifiower $2.25; 6 Baldwin $2.80; 6 $2.18; 
38 Wagoner $2.70; 7 $2.50; 1 bn. bkt. Ben Davis 60c; 
24 Rome 70c; 8 68c; 12 Spy 50c; 2 Gillifiower 50c; 
13 Baldwin 70c; 3 Smokehouse 60c; 4 Bellflower 50c; 
4 Russet 55c; 10 Greening 70c; 3 King $1.05; 4 Crab 
15c; 60 bbls. Spy $2.45; 10 $2.50; 40 Greening $1.85; 
10 Baldwin $1.75; 1 Stark $2.25; 1 Sutton $2.25; 1. 
Sutton $1.90; 2 Sutton $1.95; 94 Spy $2.50; 102 
$1.55; 4 Baldwin $2.25; 20 $1.95; 1 Rambo, $1.70; 1 
King $2.85; 2 Greening $2.10; 6 Lady $3.15; 1 Gilli¬ 
fiower $1.75; 14 Greening $2.65; 5 Spy $2.55; 25 Bald¬ 
win $2.55; 1 Fall Pippin $2.80; 4 $2.20; 1 Baldwin 
$2.30; 5 Baldwin $2.05; 8 $2.10; 2 Greening $2.60; 3 
$1.75; 13 Baldwin $1.95; 1 Greening $1.85; 1 $1.90; 
5 Baldwin $1.85; 1 Spy $1.80; 1 Stark $1.40; 9 Wag- 
ener $2.60; 4 Lady Sweet $3.40; 3 Spy $2.35; 1 Ilub¬ 
bardston $2; 1 Baldwin $2.75; 1 Spitz $2.80; 5 Bald¬ 
win $2.55; 9 $2.30; 9 Greening $3; 6 Ben Davis $2.60; 
2 Strawberry $1.85; 4 Spy $2.55; 7 $1.80; 1 $1.45; 2 
Wagoner $2.70; 4 $1.80; 1 King $2.10; 3 $2.65; 4 
Baldwin $3.05; 2 $2.15; 13 $2.20; 1 $2.25; 3 King 
$2.80; 1 $2.40; 1 Baldwin $2.85; 1 Gillifiower $2.20; 
1 Baldwin $2.35 1 Spy $2.25; 2 $1.65; 4 Ben Davis 
$2.05; 2 $1.25. 
MISCELLANEOUS.'—52 bu. bkts. Kieffer pear 6Se; 
197 30c; 341 Bartlett 75c; 6 $1.25; 51 Anjou $1.15; 
5 Louise Bonne $1.25; 4 Seekel $2.95; 1 Anjou $1; 1 
Seekel $1.60; 20 bkts. Sweet potatoes 55c; 10 65c; 
9 55c; 5 bags onions 60c; 5 85c; 1 crate celery $1.15; 
4 95c; 8 50c; 1 bag hickory nuts 3c lb.; 1 black wal¬ 
nut 2c lb. 
The Department of Foods and Markets. 
Up here in the milk-producing region we get little 
contact with the Bureau of Foods and Markets. It 
interests us greatly, however, for some time, if it 
is allowed to continue its work, it will affect our in¬ 
terests. We sell milk and poultry products, and 
with every shipment we wish we might get nearer 
the final purchaser of the product. It is now pos¬ 
sible for us to standardize our eggs, and if the farm¬ 
ers or a fair proportion of them would ship together 
I do not see why the Bureau might not get us trade 
that would save us something above sending to 
commission houses as we do now. This is of im¬ 
mediate possibility so far as I can see. Of late we 
get quotations or near to it, now that the commis¬ 
sion houses are under closer surveillance, but we 
know nothing as to the selling prices from the quo¬ 
tations published. It is not likely that we get all 
that the eggs sell for after the express and commis¬ 
sion have been deducted. The Bureau can help us 
if I have the right idea of the matter. 
When it comes to milk there can be little done 
until we have our own creameries to handle the 
milk. If we get them I see no reason why the 
Bureau cannot bring the producer and the consumer 
nearer together. We are not asking for the annihil¬ 
ation of the commission merchants or the dealers in 
milk. Commission houses are needed, if not too 
many of them, and the big dealers we cannot dis¬ 
lodge, and do not want to. There is too much dif¬ 
ference between the amount the consumer pays and 
the producer gets, and we need the Bureau to help 
to make this smaller. There ought to be some way 
of handling milk with less loss and with greater 
efficiency. We sell some potatoes, and here the Bu¬ 
reau is already at home. I expect that we may have 
a chance to get in on carload lots this Winter, al¬ 
though I have heard nothing about it. Let the Bu¬ 
reau continue its work, and be sure it has a continu¬ 
ance of existence until it has had a chance to dem¬ 
onstrate its fitness for service. h. h. lyon. 
Delaware Co., N. Y. 
Good Returns from^the Auction. 
We have seen nothing like this in the produce trade 
papers: 
On about November 3rd you sold 70 barrels of ap¬ 
ples for me, and I was well pleased with the sale. They 
sold about 20% advance of 14 barrels I sold to a com¬ 
mission man out of the same lot. I have some more I 
want to ship next week. a. b. tice. 
New York. 
If you were to take the trade press at face value 
you might think that the Department was giving away 
produce, and that the commission men were returning 
big money for the same kind of goods. They have 
said so in just about so many words. All their hys¬ 
teria was inspired, they tell us, to inform and protect 
the producer. It seems a bit strange that they never 
discovered the producer until the State opened a public 
market to standardize prices. They have never dis¬ 
covered a farmer who had any complaint against a 
commission dealer. They never will. 
And Now—the Big Milk Question. 
Farmers from all parts of the State have appealed to 
the Department of Foods and Markets to help find a 
profitable market for their milk. The complaint is 
that everything used in the production of milk has in¬ 
creased in cost during recent years, while the price 
of milk has remained practically the same or in some 
cases even less. In addition to the increased cost of 
material, labor and capital, a grade of milk has been 
exacted that costs more to produce. Many of tin' best 
milk farmers of the State are going out of the milk 
business, and those who remain are not increasing their 
production. This is creating a short supply except in 
a comparatively short time in the Spring when there is 
a surplus for a few weeks only. If the present progress 
of elimination continues, the shortage must become 
chronic and the price to the consumer will be again 
advanced without any corresponding increase to the 
producer. 
And so here we are again up against the old vexed 
milk problem. The solution of it has been attempted 
many times by farmers’ organizations and by legal pro¬ 
cesses leveled against the dealers’ exchanges. The legal 
processes have been technically successful without help¬ 
ing the situation, and the organizations of producers for 
one reason or another have so far failed, either through 
a want of cohesion of their membership or through 
treachery in their ranks or weakness in their leaders. 
For a time these experiences discouraged the producers 
and they returned to the condition where some 20,000 
producers’ contracts individually and independently of 
one another with about a dozen dealers knitted together 
in one of the closest compacts of the business world of 
the day. It is only the clever business sense of this 
organization that keeps the price from going lower. To 
reduce it further would be to cut off the supply entirely, 
and this they have no wish to do. 
Can the Department hope to adjust differences of 
such long standing? Can it win in a field where there 
have been so many failures? If experience were to be 
accepted as conclusive, the present task would seem 
hopeless, and yet the Department has consented to 
tackle the job. Will it win? Yes, we make this pre¬ 
diction on the strength of a sincere leadership, and a 
loyal body of producers. The American farmer has 
been accused of failure to work in double harness. He 
has been called a quitter. He has been accused of fail¬ 
ure to accept measures proposed for his own interest 
and charged with ingratitude towards those who be¬ 
friended him. If these things were true the movement 
we are discussing would fail. But these things are not 
true. The farmer like other human agents makes 
mistakes at times and all mistakes are costly. 
He has been known to punish a friend to support 
a principle, but most of the indictments against 
him have been drawn by schemers who had selfish in¬ 
terests to promote. The farmer hesitates where there 
is a suspicion of sincerity. He is not so likely to sur¬ 
render in face of danger as he is prone to return in 
disgust where he detects treachery in the leaders or in 
the ranks. Give him a leader he can trust and a cause 
that is just and he neither hesitates nor surrenders. We 
feel some justification in this assertion because we have 
led him in battle and tried his mettle. Where a moral 
question was involved and the principle made clear 
the American farmer never hesitated and never faltered. 
He fought. 
We predict success in this undertaking because we 
have trust in the leadership, faith in the soldiery and 
confidence in the cause. It will require brains and 
work and sacrifice and loyalty. All this will be given 
it; and the cause will win. 
Canadian Cold Storage House. 
During the apple auction sale at Upper Red Hook. 
N. Y., Commissioner Dillon told the farmers that with 
a good storage house they might hold their fruit for 
fair prices. They might borrow money from the State 
Land Bank for building such a house and pay off the 
debt on liberal terms. Thus they would be independent 
and not forced to give their fruit away, or sell it for 
less than it was worth. This plan is not theory, but 
has been worked out in Canada where the Government 
even steps in with direct financial help. A storage 
house costing $22,000 has been built at Cornwall, On¬ 
tario—a place of 1,900 people. There are eight rooms 
with 45,000 cubic feet in all, and temperature under 
perfect control. Some of the storage rates are as fol¬ 
lows : 
Apples, per barrel: First month, 12% cents; suc¬ 
ceeding months, 10 cents; season, 40 cents. Per box: 
First month, five cents; following months, four cents; 
season, 17% cents. 
Butter, per 100 pounds: Two weeks, eight cents; one 
month, 14 cents; six weeks, 22 cents; succeeding 
months, 12 cents.. 
Cheese, per box: One week, three cents; two weeks, 
four cents; one month, seven cents; six weeks, 11 
cents; succeeding months, six cents. 
Eggs, per 30-dozen case: One month, 10 cents; sea¬ 
son, 40 cents. 
Meats, per pound, chilled: First month, one-fourtli 
cent; succeeding months, one-eighth cent; per pound 
frozen, first month, three-eighths cent; succeeding 
months, one-eighth cent. 
Barrel meats, per barrel: One month, 15 cents. 
Poultry, per pound: First month, three-eighths cent; 
succeeding months, one-eighth cent. 
Vegetables, per bag: First month, seven cents. Per 
barrel: First month, 12 cents; succeeding months, 10 
cents. 
It is claimed that this enterprise more than pays ex¬ 
penses and is a great help to nearby farmers. 
When products are low they are put into this house 
and held there until they rise. Formerly the farmer 
had to sell at “going” prices whether they were satis¬ 
factory or not. In building this house the manager re¬ 
ceives a subsidy from the Dominion Government of 
30 per cent, of the cost of construction and equipment, 
payable in installments, as follows: Fifteen per cent, 
immediately on completion ; seven per cent at the end 
of the first year; four per cent, at the end of the sec¬ 
ond year; and two per cent, at the end of the third 
and fourth years, provided that the suitable tempera¬ 
tures are maintained. 
Farm Products by Parcel Post. 
An observant friend who has spent some time at 
the South writes us the following from Alabama. 
“I was surprised to find that the majority of the 
marketing by parcel post through the South is with 
butter, and also that there seems to be practically no 
trouble in shipping it, even in the hottest weather down 
here. It carries very well, and almost every case of 
poor results has been caused by very poor packing. 
This success is due largely to the feeding of cottonseed 
meal down here, which tends to make a very firm but¬ 
ter that will act more like wax than butter. Northern 
butter, would not stand it in this climate. The usual 
package is wrapped in butter paper, and then in sev¬ 
eral sheets of newspaper, and then put into a shoebox. 
Packages packed in this way carry well but are not 
very attractive. Those packed in the corrugated box 
carry better and are of a very neat appearance. 
“There is a great deal of poultry shipped here during 
the holiday season. It is packed simply by wrapping 
in parchment paper and then good strong wrapping 
paper. No box is needed and only adds to the expense 
There is a uniformity of good results. If shipped, in 
hot weather, shipments are successful if cooled and 
shipped so that the package will reach the consumer 
the day after. 
“Eggs are also shipped through this section with 
good success when properly packed. Very few are re¬ 
ceived in poor condition. The breakage of eggs is due 
often to poor packing, but certain points have very 
poor terminal service and cause a lot of breakage. New 
York City is the worst place through which to ship 
produce, as they seem to have such poor facilities 
that they break a lot of stuff. We have had a number 
of complaints, and I believe there will be a change for 
the better before long. 
“I noticed you had an article on shipping peaches. 
We have shipped a great many of them the past year. 
It was a vary hard year, as the peaches seemed to be 
very soft and watery. Most shipments came in pretty 
soft shape, so that they had to be used right away. 
Many of them however that were picked in the proper 
hard-ripe condition came through in excellent shape. 
We noticed the big difference between those shipped 
by large fruit growers and those shipped by farmers 
with little experience in shipping. Almost all from the 
latter were picked in too ripe a state. Shipments from 
the former were almost all good. We shipped in both 
the 16-quart basket and the six-basket carrier, both 
within the limits for the second postal zone, postage 
on the first being about 26 cents and on the latter about 
45 cents, according to the way they were packed. Of 
course a year like this with prices very low these price:; 
are almost prohibitive but in certain years with fanes 
fruit they might be all right. I consider that for a cer 
tain class of farmers or rather for their wives, that tlu 
parcel post offers a better chance of marketing that 
they have at present.” 
