“Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
923 
A Bunch of Market Notes 
What the Food and Markets Department Can Do 
Farmers are coming more and more to nse the 
Department of Foods and Markets, but it could be 
used to a much greater extent. It will when they 
realize the service it has in store for them. 
HELP Foil F.ERRY PICKINO.—Last week two 
different farmers wired for farm help as berry 
pickers. Two gangs of men were on tbe train farm 
bound before night. This help would not do gen¬ 
eral farmers, but it does very well in the fruit 
fields. 
AD.TUvSTTNa COMI’LAIXTS.—Almost daily some 
farmer has lost a shipment or failed to get a re¬ 
turn. The Department follows it up and often ad¬ 
justs the difiiculty. Other farmers want to know 
the standing and responsibility of concerns before 
extending credit or sending goods. They get the 
information. 
QTR)TATrON« ARE FTRINISTIED.—Again grow¬ 
ers are shipping or getting ready to ship and want 
cpiotations. The Department sends them. If they 
Avaut advice by wire, they get it that way and pay 
the toll oidy. 
CANNINO FACTORY SUPPLIES.—Recently the 
Department opened negotiations with canning fac¬ 
tories in all parts of the country. It found a de¬ 
mand for many kinds of fruit and vegetables. The 
yiformatiou has been sent to all the codperative 
associations in the State and to the Farm Bureau 
agents. The Department itself negotiated the sale 
of 200 tons of currants for Hudson River growers 
to one firm. This will take practically all the cur¬ 
rants in the Hudson River Valley. The buyer pays 
five cents a itouud at shipping station and furnishes 
containers. The price is .$100 a 
ton or .$20,000 for the sale. For 
the last three years currants in 
the Hudson River Valley wasted on 
th^ bu.shes, and the city market is 
not any too encouraging this year. 
If the farm products all over the 
State were assembled by associa¬ 
tions of farmers, the Department 
could keep lookii\g for customers 
all the time and would make sales 
that would surprise the growers. 
This is the great advance in farm 
practice that is coming. We must 
get rid of the .‘kd-ceut dollar and 
deal direct with the consumer. 
The currant growers get the full 
100-cent dollar. The sale did not 
cost them a cent. A carload of goose- 
l)erries was sold for an^ up State gi'ower to go out 
of the State; and orders are in hand for carloads of 
blackberries and i-aspberries. 
SHIPMENTS RECEIVED.—Df course, the De¬ 
partment continues to receive shipments of all kinds 
of farm produce daily. The receipts will amount 
to more than .$;")(X),0<M) on the present basis. This 
will be a little more than double the receipts of 
last year. 
THE COMINtt potato CROP.—The State pota¬ 
to crop i)romises to be larger this year, and imless 
skill is used in the sale of them prices will be 
lower than they should be considering the cost of 
production, including seed and fertilizer. The State 
crop can be ston'd and marketed to best advantage 
through organization of the growers. The Depart¬ 
ment proposes to help effect the organization and 
sale of the potato crop. Plans will be announced 
soon. As a rule the grower does not get even 25 
cents on the consumer’s dollar for potatoes. We 
believe that through a system of storage and mar¬ 
keting he can get at least 50 cents out of the dollar 
and save the consumer something too, in order to 
encourage her to consume more potatoes. 
MARKET FOR SMALL CITIES.—Middletown, 
N. Y., has established a city market. It began two 
weeks ago with seven farm wagons and within a 
week had grown to enough wagons and cars to 
fill two blocks. The vehicles back up to the side¬ 
walk, and the people from all parts of the city, 
rich and poor, rush out to buy the finest, freshest 
food that farm ever produced. We saw it on a rainy 
morning but no rain could dampen the ardor of the 
sellers or buyers. The market was supplied with 
everything from a bunch of radishes to live poul¬ 
try, and every article of food found a ready buyer. 
Later a covered market will be developed. The 
mayor of the city and the aldermen took a lively 
interest in the enterprise; but our old friend of 
milk fighting fame, .lohu Arfman, is the real pro¬ 
moter of the movement. Every city in the State 
needs one of these markets to feed its people and 
save the pi-oducts of the nearby farms. Tliey have 
not all got John Arfmuo, but the Depurtmeut will 
help whenever its services are needed. 
THE USEFUL FARM BUREAU.—Up in Sullivan 
C’ounty I’ecently, a faiuner called on the farm bu¬ 
reau agent to get help with his calves, three of 
which had died from murrain. Agent Smith fixed 
him up and saved the other seven calves.- The far¬ 
mer was about to spray his potatoes with ground 
lime and ruin his crop, and Agent Smith set him 
straight on the potatoes and then saved him 22 
cents a pound on the material needed. Altogether 
Smith reckoned that he had saved that farmer at 
least $75. This gave him courage to suggest that 
the farmer become a member of the county bureau 
at a cost for the remainder of the year of 50 cents. 
“Well, Mr. Smith,” inquired the farmer, “what ad¬ 
vantage would the membership be to me?” 
Agent Smith is a live wire and if he stays long 
enough he will have every farmer in the county in 
his bureau. So ho should. 
. The Department’s Market System 
A pamphlet has been issued by the Department 
outlining a system of market organizations for the 
State, including small cities up-State and also for 
the big Now York market. This pamphlet will be 
mailed on request to any farmer or group of far¬ 
mers or city people interested. System must be 
adopted. There is no other wa.v to save the waste 
and economically distribute food. The city people 
are quite as much concerned as tlio farmer. As a 
matter of fact they are more concerned. The far¬ 
mer can get along without them; but they can not 
live a week without the products of the farm. The 
si)eculator is not necessary to either of them. The 
lack of market facilities is costing both farmers and 
consumers more than the cost of markets evej-y 
year. If the perislwible foods brought to the city 
of New Y"ork were delivered promptly in a terminal 
market the saving Avould pay for the mai-ket in a 
few months. As it is now the goods are held in the 
express warehouse.s, and delivered several hours, 
after the trade of the day is over. Every day far¬ 
mers lose up to 25% of the regular price on such 
shipments. Sometimes more. The same is true of 
freight shipments. No one bothers about this be¬ 
cause the farmer loses, and he don’t know how it 
all happens. The losses Avill stop Avheu the farmer 
takes the reform in hand him.self, and not before. 
This is a ])roblem of the State and when the 215,- 
000 fanners of the State push harder for it than the 
si)eculators push against it, we will get the markets. 
The pamphlet is mailed for the askiu.g from the 
Department of Foods and Markets, 204 Franklin 
St., New York. 
1,000,000 Acres of Wheat 
Considerable friction was developed at the recent 
Syracuse conference over the propaganda to iucour- 
age the planting of a million acres of wheat and 
rye in New York State this year as a part of the 
increased food production problem. Some people 
feared such a grain planting would leave no laud, 
or not enough, for other crops. Others thought fax*- 
mers would plow up meadows and pasture laud and 
fail with grain ci-ops because the land was not 
.suitabUx Still others figurod up the yield and the 
price and concluded the cost of ])r()ductiou was 
more than the retui-ns. One would think that the 
w'hole gi*aiu crop of the State depended on the re¬ 
sult as men voted on a i-esolution in conventions. 
As a matter of fact the convention vote on the 
subject has nothing to do with the acreage sown. 
The suggestion will, however, undoubtedly help in- 
ci-ease the lye and wheat aci-eage. 
Wheat and lye ai-e safe ci'ops. There will be no 
surplus of them next yeai-. The demand will be 
good, and prices will be high. There was just a 
suspicion of rivalry in the discussion. Indeed a 
very plain reference was made to it. But the far¬ 
mer will take care of the acreage without regard 
to the votes on resolutions. If he can inci'ease his 
acreage of wheat or i-ye in hai’inony with his i-e.g- 
ular i-otation of crops, he will do so. But no matter 
what limit may be set by the committee the gi'ow¬ 
er is not likely to grow more or less than what his 
judgment dictates as good farm practice. 
The Wheat Crop 
If the_ farmers of our land lose money on their wheat 
crops this year, can it he expected that they will plant 
wheat again? The wheat producers of the country are 
not financially able to carry their crops very long but 
must sell for what they can get. There will be only 
one foreign buyer of wheat this year—the purchaser 
for the entente powers. The government should hold 
him to a price fair to the farmers and see to it that he 
is able to buy at a price fair to the Allies. Speculators 
and middlemen should not be allowed to levy unjust 
tolls upon this crop. The farmer should have the help 
he needs to keep him out of their clutches. 
The above, taken from The Rochester Post Express, 
expres.scs the thought now uppermost in the minds of 
Eastern farmer.s. This unfortunate season has about 
wiped out the fool fads and advice so freely given out 
last Spring. The fact is now bald and clear that the 
oidy way to increase food crops is to make farmers 
feel that they will be paid a fair price for their labor. 
Guarantee them that and the food question is settled. 
Expect them to take all the risk and there will be no 
increase. That is just what would happen if manu¬ 
facturers of munitions could not make contracts which 
provide against every loss or chance! No use expect¬ 
ing the farmer to be more “patriotic” with his labor 
and money than any other business man. The man 
who sends us this clipping writes: 
T feel that it expresses in a nut shell the situation. 
Unless the farmer gets a price somewhere commensur¬ 
ate with the cost of growing this year there are a lot 
of people in these United States who will go hungry 
some time in the not far distant future. The farmer 
.seems to be the “goat” if I am any 
judge of things. When we think of 
the fortiines which have been made by 
the steel men and the auto men and 
the powder men and the munition 
men and hundreds of others and then 
everything .seems to be done to cut the 
farmer oil, not from exorbitant profits, 
but from even cost. I firmly believe 
that unless we can get the farmer and 
the consumer together in some way 
that the latter will pay moi'e than 
they have ever paid in 50 yeai's fox- 
food and the farmer will not get a 
living wage. _ Oh such works as Con¬ 
gress is making out of it. There is 
no language that expresses one’s in¬ 
dignation or contempt. I am not sure 
at all that Mr. Hoover can do much 
but one thing is sure it can’t be any 
■worse. I’ossibly I am u pessimist al¬ 
though I have always felt that I was 
a rank optimist but these things are 
getting on my nerve when I see 
what is being done with or to the 
farmer. 
The farmers all over the country are a unit on this 
wheat proposition. They want to know before they 
start where they are likely to start. President H. .T. 
Waters of the Kansas Agricultural College has made 
the follo'wing statement to Washington : 
Becau.se of high pricx'd seed, labor, and machinery, 
taimeis hesitate to sow even normal wheat aci'eage 
unless they are protected against di.sastrous decline in 
juices it wax* eiuks before croj) is sold. An accurate 
survey shows that Kansas farmers will sow 1,000,000 
acie.s less^ than last year unless a reasonable minimum 
price IS fixed soon. 
New York Food Legislation 
I.a.st week there was a gathering at Albany of mem¬ 
bers of the Legislature and reju'esentatives of .some 
farm interests. (Jov. Whitman has called a special 
session for July .II—the avowed juirpose being to jxass 
a strong food law. There was much discussion as is 
usual at such meetings, but, as is ahso usual, in such 
cases the ruling powers will endeavor to put through 
a bill which suits them. Gov. Whitmun gives the pub¬ 
lic an outline of the bill he will propose. It gives 
drastic power to a commission of three members who 
arc to have greater powers than were ever before 
conferred ujioii State officials. Thi.s commission is to 
be given the power, in time of emergency to buy from 
farmers or other sources of supply or to sell direct 
to the consumers if need be. The commission is to 
have extraordinary power of seizure and distribution 
of food stuffs. It is to control distribution and even 
the price of “necessities.” These will include food, 
fuel, seeds, fertilizers, feed materials and implements! 
This suggested State law ajiparently follows the plan 
of the German government in cutting out middlemen 
and si)eculatois and putting the State into the business 
of buying and .selling. Usually such statements are put 
out as “feelers” in oi'der to get a line on public .senti¬ 
ment and no final discussion can be given until the 
bill is actually before the Legislature. The “leaders” 
refused to consider the Towner milk bill becau.se they 
said it was “unconstitutional.” Yet the Towner bill 
was like the charter for an orthodox Sunday school 
compared with the fiei'ce measures now called for. If 
any such legislation is needed the Towner bill ought 
to be in oi>eration now. 
Eari.y jtlowing is advised for killing or checking the 
Hessian fly on wheat. 
