184 
"ix inchfts of snow to get it, and if yon want to 
know what is host for an animal, ask it. It is a 
perfect food in Summer, without any substitute or 
addition, and the best supplement in Winter. I 
am not siieaking of so-called pasture where animals 
must grill) stiihlde and gravel, hut matted natural 
grass. The natural and projier activity of a farm 
is to grow jilants and animals. The owner can 
change operations with crojis to suit conditions, but 
some class of animals should be a permanency, and 
there is none so conducive to jicace, comfort, farm 
beautifying and enrichment, and nothing that will 
inti lienee the owner so much to grow all his own 
feed. .Ml other stock demand feeds whether growm 
or bought; that means cash, but they call for good 
pa.sture, freuiient looking at, almost any kind of 
roughage and a little grain. We need more and 
there is no danger of overdoing, w. w. nEY.Nor.ns. 
Ohio. 
Picking and Marketing the Cherry Crop 
How Wisconsin Provides Pickers 
Part 11. 
I'ICKINO .AND r.ACKTNO.—When picking for 
shij)j)ing, the cherries are carefully taken by the 
stem aiKl detached from the twig with the stem ad¬ 
hering to the fruit. This prevents a bruise and the 
/ r«‘sulting decay caused by the juices. Each picker 
is lu'ovided with a jiail on a belt into which the cher¬ 
ries are drojiped as jiicked, and when the pail is 
tilh'd it is (‘injiticd into the quart boxes in which the 
fruit is .shiiiped. Eight of these (piart boxes are ar¬ 
ranged in a tray calk'd a carrier, and as each carrier 
is tilh'd it is bronglil. into the ]»acking-house, where 
the boxes are transferred to the shijijiing crate, 
packi'd and covered. 'I'he iiackiiig-house is usually a 
light board shed on runiK'rs, and is liaukKl from one 
part of the orchard to another as the picking pro¬ 
ceeds. .As the boxes are jiacked, care is taki'U that 
no crushed or bruisi'd fruit is shipped, although it 
is not handled very much after it is once in the 
Ikix. The boxes are heajied uj) rather full when 
tirst iiacked. but the subsequent jolting they get in 
shi]»i»ing soon s('ltles them. In most jiacking-houses 
a set of scales is us(h1 to weigh th(> crates as ]lacked, 
;ind to Insure their having the right amount of 
fruit. 
r.lNNINri t^ToCK.—AA’iien picking for the can¬ 
ning factory the cherries are just stripped otf the 
trees, leaving the stems on the twig. This is very 
much faster work than jiicking for shiiiment, and is 
paid for at the rate of one cent a pound. 'Phe cher¬ 
ries are jioured from the pickers’ jiails into small 
boxes holding about 25 pounds of fruit, and are 
hauled direct to the factory. While a record day’s 
work in jiicking for shijiment has been from 2.20 to 
250 quarts a day, or an earning of from ,$.2.45 to 
.%2.75, several men with nimble lingers jiicked over 
OtX) jxiunds of cherries for canning, and it was not 
unusual for womi'ii to jiick 400 jionnds a day, thus 
earning ,$0 and .$4. resjiectively. 
UNION M.\KKETTNO.—The marketing of .all the 
fruit is handled by the Door Uounty Fruit 0rowers’ 
Union, a co-ojH'rative organization that is very suc¬ 
cessful. It is controlled by the diri'clors of two 
rival selling .associations, and while its foian is not 
as simjile as it might be, it does efficient work. Most 
of its business is doni' in car lots, lint some local 
orders are handled by express. The busim'ss of the 
union is handltHl by a secretary and a sales mana¬ 
ger, the latter being an exjierienced wholesale fruit 
man who is engaged just for the si'ason. A local 
canning factory came into the marki't for the first 
time last year, and contracted with the union for 
one-fourth of the entire crop at a rather low jirice, 
but as soon as the factory had canned all the fruit 
originally contracted for they bought as much more 
of the fruit as the union would sell at the prevailing 
market price. This steadied the market and the av¬ 
erage returns to the growers were higher than 
usual. 'The jirices the growers ri'Ceive for their 
(4ieri-ie's :ire the average prices for each variety of 
fruit, whi(4i was .$1.37 and $1.5(5 for the Early Kich- 
mond and Montmorency cherries, respectively. The 
union handled over 117,(XK) crates of fruit, of which 
over KMl.OtXt were cherries and the balance straw¬ 
berries, currants and gooseberries. The gross sales 
were slightly over .$175,CXX). The cost of selling 
charged to the grower has been eight cents per crate 
if a member, or 10 jier cent of gross sales if not a 
member. More than 90 per cent of the fruit pro¬ 
duced in this district is marketed through the union, 
so that buyers must necessarily accejit the terms 
jiroposed by the union if they wmnt any of the fruit. 
COST OF MARKETINO.—'The cost of handling 
the fruit in the orchard and in shipjiing is as fol¬ 
lows: Crate, 13 cents; picking, 24 cents; packing, 4 
cents; hauling. 1 cent; selling cost. '' cents. Total 
CAe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 9, 1918 
60 cents. This leaves a net return of 87 cents for the 
early cherries and ,$1.0(5 for the late one.s. When 
the fruit is delivered at the warehouse of the union 
it is insjiected as the crates are unloaded, care being 
taken to see that all crates are of standard weight 
and that the fruit is of good quality. This in.spection 
.service was used first in 191(5. and in that year, with 
a crop of only 43,0(X) crates, the losses 'were kept 
down to a little under one per cent. In 1917, with 
a better system of insjiection, which included a pre¬ 
liminary survey of tiie fruit in the orchards, los.ses 
were kejit down to .075 jier cent, which is very good, 
considering the great increase in the business. But 
very little of the fruit is shipjied out on consign¬ 
ment, the great bulk of it going out in car lots, f. o. 
b. shipping point, and in that way it is possible to 
know just what the fruit is bringing at all times. 
The total amount of fruit shijijied would appromi- 
mate 2.30 cai-loads. hkx.iami.v .teli.xek. 
Wisconsin. 
Importance of Test Corn Varieties 
I 'P is well known that the chief limitation to coni 
jiroduction in New Yoi-k State is the short and 
variable growing season. The effect of t.he.se influ¬ 
ences is a restriction of the growth and develojunent 
of the coni jilant. In New York State established 
and reliable varieties are few, and the average yield 
of grain and stover is lower than in some of the 
varieties of corn grown in other Spites. It is well 
Selected Corn for Grain and Silage. Fig. 72 
known iilso that eaeh region of the United .states 
has corn of a tyjie more oi- less jieculiar to that sec¬ 
tion, according to the length of the growing si'ason— 
tall, .shoit, early or late. In order to ascerlain what 
varieties of corn from different sections of the I’nit- 
ed States ari' best snitial and more jiromising than 
other vark'ties in this locality, Urof. (). S. Morgan, 
of the Department of .Agriculture, Uolumbia Univer¬ 
sity, dirwtixl me to .'icenre vai-ii'ties of seed coiai 
from the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U. S. De- 
jiartment of .Vgrienlturi*. and make variety tests of 
corn. 
The tests have bei'ii made at the Botanical Barden, 
5ronx Park, New York City, beginning in 1915 and 
unning through the seasons of 191(5 and 1917. The 
ests for the three years were made on nine vari- 
ties of corn each year. 'Pwo rows of each variety 
rere planted in 1915 and 191(5, the rows 132 fei't in 
I'ngth and feet ajiart between the rows, iuaking 
n area of about one forty-seventh of an acre for 
aeh jilot. In 1917 the length of the rows was 125 
(‘et and width of 3i^ feet betwemi the I'ows, mak- 
ng an area of about one-tiftieth of an acre. Each 
init was jilanted out in hills feet apart in the 
•oAvs, and finally thinned to three jilants per hill, 
riie three years’ average yields of three varieties 
ire given in the following table; 
.Average Average 
A’ariety of yield of grain yield of 
com per acre stover 
T. S. Sel 1.33_ (5.3.9 bu. 
tocky Mountain. (52.3 bu. 
T.' 8 . 8011^2 _ ,8(5.7 1)11.. 
(5,250 lbs. 
7.300 lbs. 
10..3(K) lbs. 
No. of days 
from i)lantiug 
to harvest 
98-110 
105-120 
120-145 
Careful attention has been given to securing uni¬ 
form conditions for all the varieties in each test, but 
no unusual or intensive method of cultivation has 
been employed. The soil was .sandy loam, with good 
drainage, but not with normal sunshine. These pre¬ 
liminary trials of short duration may not be con¬ 
clusive as to the yields, but they indicate in a gen¬ 
eral way the behavior of different varieties under 
the .same conditions, and (he comjiarative adapta¬ 
bility of different varieties of corn which should be 
of interest to corn growers. 'The thick-stalked vari¬ 
ety shown in the jiicture, Irig. 72, is the U. S. Selec¬ 
tion 1.S2. The last three years’ trials proved it a 
good variety for grain and silage corn. The 
other rivo varieties are reliable as grain corn varie¬ 
ties. M. V. MAX'OUKIAX. 
Agr’l Dept., Columbia University, New York. 
Getting all the Profit 
How the Farmers Supplying Milk to the City of Brockton 
Have Been Able to Secure the Dealers’ Profits for 
Themselves 
A DA'ANCING CD.8'P.8. —. The Producers’ Dairy 
(’onijiany is tlie ri'sult of an attempt by (be farm¬ 
ers sujijilying milk to (be city of Brockton, Mass., to 
solve the jiroldem of distribution. There is no 
.single cause to Avbicli their action can l>e attriliuli'd ; 
it is tlie result of conditions wliicli have been goim,' 
from bad to Averse, and have finally come to a bmid. 
Cows baA'e advanced from ,$50 to $1.50 jier bead for 
the same grade, }ind feed from .$25 to .$(50 jier ton. 
Ir lias eaeli year required moi'e money to carry on 
the farm bnsine.ss and to mi'ct Ih'ing exjienses. 
Farm labor has become bard to get, and has de¬ 
manded inerejising Avages, until at last the most 
ojitlmistic farmer has come to realize that he is 
riglit nj) against it, tliat lie must get more money or 
go out of liiisiness. 'Phese Avere conditions in the 
Sjiring of lJtl7, and tliey are Just as operative in 
I.(her sections among otlier jiroduevrs to-day. 'Phe 
only men connected Avitli tlie industry avIio Avere 
making money Avere the distrilintors. Their costs 
liad increased somewliat. but. not as rajiidly as bad 
tlie farmers’. 'Pliey bad bi'eii aide to raise their 
ri'tail jiriees along Avitli tbegi'iieral rise in food 
jiriees, liiit only a small jiart of tliese advances In' 
found its Avay back to the jirodncers. ’Pliey Avere 
in iminy eases A'ery slow in sending out tlieir milk 
elieeks, Imt not nearly as slow in docking tlicir pm 
dneers or iu turning liack on tliom any nmb'sired 
snrjilns. 
.Ml) FROM .V B.VNK.—'Pile first move to better 
these conditions came from tlie local bank, (’ondi- 
tions were endangering tlie jirosjierity of its clients, 
and Avliat aft'eeted tlieni ;iffected the liank directly, 
so tlirougli its agriciiltiiral dejiartnient it called to¬ 
gether a groiij) of rejire.seiitative farmers, and sug¬ 
gested this idea. AA’liy should not the farmer lie his 
own distributor, and tlins secure for biniself tlie 
distributor’s jirotit, as Avell as (be Avliole of any ad- 
A-am-e in the retail jiriee of inilk aiiove necessary 
advances in the cost of distribution. 'Plie liank also 
jiroinised to give all jiossilile linaneial assistance. 
From this uueleiis tlie Producers’ Dairy Company, 
tl'ie first coiijierative milk distriliuting organization 
in tlie State, lias grown. 
FORMING A STOCK COMPANY.— As a first 
move a canvass of the territory for jirosjieetive mem- 
liirs and available cajiital Avas made. 'Pile founders 
majijied out for tbemselves a jiretentious jirogram. 
namely, the liaiidliiig as Avliole milk, cream, luitter, 
clieese, or ice cream of all tlie mi! . '.m-o) by the 
members at ail times. Thider the guidance of the 
hank’s attorney a stock eoiiqiany Avas organized. 
Each farmer Avas to own one share of stock for eaph 
unit of milk he jimdiiced and the organization Avas 
to l)e controlled b.v tlie farmers themselves, eacli jiro- 
diicer liaA'ing A'otes according to tlie amount of milk 
he furnished tlie company. No common or voting 
stock Avas to lie lield excejit iiy tlie farmers, although 
jirovision for iiiA'estors Avas made in the jireferred, 
non-voting stock Avliich Avas to carry a six jier cent 
cumulative dividend. 'Phe Iiaiik made good its a.sser- 
tioii that it AA’ould stand behind the iirojiosition, liy 
offering to loan on any farmer’s stock a lilieral jier- 
centage of its A'alue, taking tlie farmer’s note Avith 
r'lie stock as collateral, and $150,000 in capital stock 
Avas issued, $100.(>00 in comiiuiii and $.50,000 iu jire- 
ferred. Of this .$.50,000 Avas actually jiaid in licfore 
any further stejis in organization AA’ere taken. 
BI'YING A PLAN'P.— Wlien sufficient cajiital had 
been I’aised the proposition Avas put uji to the largest 
distributor iu the city, and an oft'er Avas made for 
Ills jilaiit, e<iuipment, guod-Avill and everytliing jier- 
taining to the bnsine.ss. Nearly all h’« produee»‘s 
Avere already stockholders in tlie iipav comjiany, so 
nothing Avas left for him hut to sell out. A man- 
