700 
Boston Produce Markets 
HIGH BUTTER PRICE CHECKS BUYING. 
“The public doesn't know it yet,” as¬ 
serted a prominent butter receiver, “but 
it seems to be a fact that the big oleo 
makers are back of the high prices of 
butter. They have worked to corner the 
supply, and the more they push up the 
price the more demand there is for oleo 
as a substitute. Then they put up the 
price of oleo, too. Whole classes of new 
people are using it. I am just back 
from the dairy country of Northern New 
York, and I found the dairy farmers 
themselves were selling all their butter 
and buying oleomargarine. They are not 
discouraged up there over the jirice of 
grain. They don’t feed so much of it 
anyhow, as we do around here, and they 
mil a good many dry herds through the 
Winter on hay alone, and there is plenty 
of hay with some to carry over. I have 
not often seen the cows come through the 
Winter looking so well, because there has 
in most years been a shortage of hay.” 
It is market opinion that trade is slow. 
Tteceijits are increasing gradually, and 
the amount of grass butter is small in 
liroportion still. The price hovers around 
the low points reached in the recent de- 
I'line and seems unable to go mucli above 
or below 40c for tub creamei’y extras. 
I. II. Ballou observed: “More stuff is 
coming, Init the increase is slow, and time 
of heavy jiroduction later than usual. 
Crain is scarce, and probably some 
dairymen are feeding less than usual. 
Chee.se is off a little this week, for the 
first time lately, and new extras have sold 
at 2nc. 'file weakness followed a slight 
decline in Wisconsin.” 
EGG VALUES NEARLY STEADY. 
It used to be a saying on New Eng¬ 
land farms that in Summer a dozen eggs, 
a iiound of butter and a box of comb 
honey were each worth the same money. 
Honey values have lagged in recent years, 
the cost of bee labor holding at non-union 
figures, but eggs and butter quotations 
are holding just now both around the 40- 
cent level, although 38c is about ti p for 
nearby hennerys at time of writing. 
Storage jiacked Western are 30 to 37c. 
Breakage of case eggs is one of the steady 
complaints of the trade. Of course, the 
railroads can be made to pay something 
in course of time, but they deduct 5 per 
cent., claiming that a five per cent, break¬ 
age is normal even when there is no care¬ 
lessness. The market is well supplied 
and some dealers talk of stock accumulat¬ 
ing a hrtle, especially the low grade. 
DULL TRADE IN POULTRY. 
Demand for live and dressed poulti-y is 
slow, but receipts are light, and the situ¬ 
ation remains about steady, with prices 
unchanged, although some report a slight 
easing off in ice packed Western stock 
arrivals, of which are increasing with the 
season. Said S. L. Burr & Co.: “We 
still quote live. fowl at 24 to 25c. and 
Eastern dressed at 25 to 2Sc. About all 
the nearby stock is low shipped alive. It 
brings almost as much per pound and 
saves labor which costs money now. As 
for shrinkage there is not much differ¬ 
ence, 10 per cent, average for live and 12 
to 13 per cent, is lost in dressing stock 
when plucked and bled but not headed 
nor drawn Stock that was headed or 
drawn would not bring a cent more a 
pound in this market, and there would be | 
that much more shrinkage. Once^ in a 
while somebody introduces a bill in the 
Legislature, to require that poultry be 
drawn and headed. We have had to fight 
such bills about once a year on an aver¬ 
age for the past dozen years. We had 
an expert from Washington ;.t the hear¬ 
ing, and he dissected a couple of fowls 
before the committee, showing how much 
faster decomposition advanced in the fowl 
that had been opened. The committee 
was convinced, but a new crop of law¬ 
makers will come along next year know¬ 
ing nothing about the conditions of the 
poultry trade. One time we had to send 
the promoter of one of these bills a turkey 
that had been in cold storage undrawn, 
but was .skillfully prepared before sending 
it, from supposed admirers of his work 
in the Legislature. He bragged of the 
gift and its quality, and the facts were 
In-ought out at the hearing, to the damage 
of the bill.” 
FRESH MEATS SI.OW. 
Choice Western beef is selling quietly 
at IGc or a fraction better. There is 
enough demand for choice mutton and 
yearlings at 17 to 19e to take care of the 
light offerings. Good, heavy hothouse 
lijmbs range around $10 each, dressing 30 
lbs. Choice veals are 17 to ISc, and 
country dressed hogs 19c. 
VEGETABLE SUPPLY INCREASING. 
More varied lines and larger receipts 
are accompanied with complaints of slow 
demand. The sea.son continues back¬ 
ward. “California asparagus was fully 
20 days late,” remarked a Fanmirl Hall 
salesman. “The_ New .Jersey ’grass’ 
came about the time native grass ought 
to start coming, and a lot of it was tough 
on account of slow growth. The native 
crop often starts in April, but begius 
about the middle of May this year.” A 
carload of rhubai’b from Connecticut was 
taelling at 75c to .$1 per bu. Parsnips are 
$2 to .$2.25, dandelions .$2, lettuce 75c to 
$1, which still shows a good profit over 
the common cost estimate of 35 to 40c a 
box. President Arnold of the Boston 
\Market Gardeners, thinks .acreage jilanted 
"Ghe RURAL ^ 
is about as usual. Many of the gardeners 
are using school boys to plant and trans¬ 
plant, with fairly good results when the 
boys have had experience and are well 
supervised. The State ‘‘ood committee is 
sending out Boston school boys of about 
17 to work for farmers at .$4 per week 
and board. They go on an enli.stment plan 
and get a service badge if they work as 
long as they are wanted. These go to the 
back farms. Most of the boys who work 
for the Boston gardeners have done so in 
preceding years. They get about .$1 a 
day. Some of the schools are letting them 
out early this year. Potatoes are firm 
at close to ,$.3 per hu. in bulk. Sweet po¬ 
tatoes are ,$5..50 per bbl. Seed potatoes 
range from $3 to ,$4 per bu., according to 
grade and variety. 
APPLES DRAGGING. 
Some dealers report apple prices un¬ 
changed, while others place them 25c or 
more below last week. It appears that 
stock cannot be sold freely without cut¬ 
ting prices. Not many No. 1 repacked 
apples sell above .$4 for Baldwins and 
Spies. Russets range from $3 to .$4..50, 
and most Ben Davis sell around .$.3, but 
some large ones were held at .$4..50. Con¬ 
siderable stock is coming from New York 
State. Gossip about the apple orchards is 
that growth is starting late and blossoms 
will be less liable to get frosted. I’ros- 
pects are considered good so far for both 
early and late kinds. 
BEANS IN DEMAND. 
’The newly-developed habit of storing 
food for future needs, like the squirreLs, 
is blamed to son.e extent for the rising 
price tendency of heans. The white 
kinds are selling above .$10. New varie¬ 
ties from Brazil, China and .Tapan are 
puzzling the dealers. A dealer and his 
clerks were studying some large red beans 
from Manchuria. “Call ’em Red Mar¬ 
rows,” he decided, “and get full price, 
too.” G. B. F. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.—Snow fell for half an 
hour at Springfield, Ill., May 4, breaking 
all previous records at the United States 
Weather Bureau for late snows. 
’The stoi’ehouse of the 3’ebo Yacht 
Basin Company on the bulkhead at the 
mouth of Gowanus Bay, South Brooklyn, 
N. Y., was hurned. May 5, and 75 launch¬ 
es. yachts and motorboats of the mos¬ 
quito fleet lying nearby were menaced. 
The loss is estimated at between .$75,000 
and $100,000. 
May 4, in testifying at the trial of 
I E W-YO R K E R 
Yon Rintelen and others in New York, 
for conspiracy to stop the export of mu¬ 
nitions, Ernest Bohra, secretary of the 
Central Federation of Labor, told of the 
trouble in the so-called Peace Council 
when the farmer delegates objected to the 
resolution proposing strikes in the muni¬ 
tions plants and he said that it was 
necessary to hold another session with¬ 
out the farmers. It has been asserted 
by the Government that one of Von Rin- 
telen’s objects in his trip through the 
West and in his advertising was to get 
the farmers of the so-called pacifist belt 
interested in peace, and also that when 
the farmers found out, or suspected, the 
real purpose of the Peace Council they 
bolted. 
WAR REVENUE BILL.—Main feat¬ 
ures of the war revenue bill framed by 
the Ways and Means Committee are as 
follows: All articles on the free list to 
he taxed 10 per cent. Tariff on all ar¬ 
ticles on the dutiable list increased 10 
per cent. Income tax provisions levy 2 
per cent, in addition to normal rate, 
with exemptions at $1,000 and $2,000 re¬ 
spectively for unmarried and married 
persons. Supertaxes begin on incomes 
exceeding .$5,000 a year and reach a 
final total of .33 per cent, on net incomes 
e.xceeding $500,000. Two per cent, ad¬ 
ditional tax on incomes of corporations, 
insurance companies and partnerships. 
(New clause—A retroactive tax of 3.3 1-3 
per cent, of rates existing under the old 
law and applied to incomes for calendar 
year 1016.) Excess profits of 8 per cent, 
additional upon incomes of corporations 
and partnerships. Taxes increased on 
wines, liquors and beer. Taxes on trans¬ 
portation of property and persons by rail 
or water, on telegraphic, telephonic and 
electric service, based on cost of service. 
Five per cent, tax on advertising or ad¬ 
vertising space other than in newspapers 
.and periodicals. Taxes on life, marine, 
inland, fire and casualty insurance, with 
certain exemptions. Five per cent, tax 
on automobiles and motorcycles, on tires 
and musical instruments. Moving pic¬ 
ture films, jewelry, pleasure boats and 
sporting goods are also taxed. Graduated 
tax on paid admissions to entertainments, 
charitable affairs excepted. Users of ad¬ 
hesive 'stamps employed in taxation must 
put their initials on them. Increased 
tax on inheritances. 
FARM AND GARDEN.— Farming has 
been designated an elective course in war 
preparedness at Goucher College. Balti¬ 
more. and 100 college girls are engaged in 
growing things to eat on former tennis 
courts. The girl farmers are in groups 
of four each. Each group tak(‘s care of 
two of the thirty-four plots of ground. 
May 19, 191 1 . 
Cabbage, parsnips, beans, tomatoes, 
onions and potatoes are planted. 
Announcement was made in the Cana¬ 
dian Parliament, May 3, by Sir Thomas 
White, Minister of Finance, that plans 
are under way for joint action by Can¬ 
ada and the United States to reduce the 
price of wheat. 
The National Lumber Manufacturers’ 
Association announces there will be no 
lumber famine due to the proposed 
wooden ship campaign about to be 
launched. R. S. Kellog, secretary of the 
association, said that he had been in¬ 
formed the sawmills of the West and 
South could supply all the lumber neces¬ 
sary for ship building. He added that 
two thousand wooden ships would only 
require from 3 to 5 per cent, of the 
lumber in sight. 
Boys in the industrial schools of the 
New York Children’s Aid Society are 
being instructed in the farm school at 
Valhalla, N. Y., and will be sent out to 
help farmers get in their crops. 
The thirty-second annual meeting of 
the Holstein-Friesian Association of 
America will be held at the Bancroft 
Hotel, Worcester, Mass., June 6. 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings 
Holstein-Friesian Association of Amer¬ 
ica, Worcester, Mass., .Tune 6. 
American Seed Trade Association, De¬ 
troit, Mich., .lune 19 to 21. 
American Association of Nurserymen, 
forty-second annual meeting, Philadel¬ 
phia, Pa., .Tune 27-29. 
Society of American Florists and Or¬ 
namental Horticulturists, New Y^ork 
City, August 21-23. 
Solebury Farmers’ Exhibit, Solebury 
Deer Park, Solebury, Pa., Sept. 7-8. 
New York State Fair, Syracuse, N. Y.. 
September 10-15. 
Eastern States Exposition, Springfidd, 
Mass., Oct. 12-20. 
Coming Live Stock Sales 
May 30.—Fasig-Tipton Co., Philadel¬ 
phia, Pa., Holsteins. 
May 30.—T. S. Cooper & Son, Coop- 
ersburg, I’a., Jerseys. 
May .31.-.Tune 1.—J. B. Sisson’s Sons, 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Holsteins. 
.Tune ^7-8.—National Sales (3o., Wor¬ 
cester, Mass., Holsteins. 
June 8-9.—Purebred Live Stock Sales 
Co.. Brattleboro, Vt, Holsteins. 
June 14.—New England Ayrshire 
Club, Springfield, Ma.ss. 
August 7-8.—Purebred Tdve Stock 
Sales Co., Brattleboro, Vt., Holsteins. 
Oct. 2-3.—Purebred Live Stock Sale.9 
Co., Brattleboro, Vt., Holsteins. 
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Sneorporateh 
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