1342 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
We arc still rcr-eiving letters from sub¬ 
scribers unsigned or signed wth initials 
only. Such letters cannot be replied to 
privately, and we make it a rule never 
to print unsigned letters with replies. If 
this item comes to the attention of those 
who have made inquiries on any subject 
and have not received reply it will ex¬ 
plain why. If the inquiry is repeated 
with the sub.scj'iber’s full name the infor¬ 
mation will be forthcoming. 
As The R. N.-Y. has done a good many 
things for the farmer, and has been a true 
friend to the farmer in many ways, you 
can do us another good turn if you will 
tell us what you know of Geo. K. Iligbie 
& Go.’s famous seed oats. If they are 
wh.‘it they were sold for, we want them, 
and want them had. but if there is any 
proof that they are not to be what they are 
bought for, I would like to know it. With 
my knowledge of any fake in the trans¬ 
action, they would become very expensive 
oats before collection could be made from 
me. However, I hope and trust all is 
right, for we want a good oat for seed. 
New York. w. ii. p. 
The Standard and Reporter, of Mont¬ 
gomery, Orange Co., N. Y., publishes the 
following regarding this seed oat scheme: 
The attention of the Farm Bureau was 
drawn to the activities of a cei’tain agent 
representing a seed company about which 
farmers have been warned in agricultural 
papers. This agent claims to have a won¬ 
derful variety of oats, yielding twenty to 
thirty bushels more per acre than other 
varieties and requiring less seed per acre. 
The oats are called Improved Mammoth 
Cluster and are said by the agent to have 
given wonderful results in Lackawanna 
County, Pennsylvania. 
The Orange County Farm Bureau was 
asked to investigate. The Bureau wired 
the manager of the Lackawanna County, 
Pa., Farm Bureau regarding the variety 
and received this reply: “Cannot recom¬ 
mend Afammoth Cluster oats. From our 
results have not proven worthy in two 
years’ tests nor under farm conditions on 
several farms hei’e. Think agent will 
bear watching.”- The local Bureau then 
wired the manager of the Monroe County, 
New York, Farm Bureau as to the stand¬ 
ing of the company selling the oats in 
Orange County with the following reply : 
“Farmers claim seeds have not proven 
satisfactory.” 
The manager of the Oi'ange County 
Farm Bureau is to be congratulated on 
his good work in the case. 
The following experience of an Ohio 
farmer will also prove interesting to 
those who have signed orders with the 
Iligbie seed agent at a fabulous price: 
I saw an item in The R. N.-Y. in re¬ 
gard to the Rochester Seed Co. A few 
ye;irs ago I got stung with them. I have 
been wishing I would run across their 
slick-tongued agent ever since; the name 
he went by was I’egler. He would be a 
splendid candidate for the Ananias Club. 
I purchased corn, oats, potatoes and cab¬ 
bage seed from him. The potatoes, four 
varieties, all new kinds, were produced 
from the seed ball, agent claiming bugs 
did not bother them until the fourth year 
after starting from the seed ball. The 
Lincoln and Sunshine were to yield COO 
bu. per acre, the others 420 and 200 bu. 
All proved frauds. The corn, $5 per bu., 
was to raise two perfect ears to the stalk. 
When the seed arrived it was very in¬ 
ferior and only tested 12 per cent. I 
planted some, and not a stalk produced 
two ears. The oats proved a mixed 
variety, and very poor at that. He suc¬ 
ceeded in stinging a let of my neighbors 
also. Since then agents do not receive a 
very warm welcome in this community. 
I wish there was some way to stop such 
frauds from doing business. e. e. m. 
Ohio. 
A recent number of The R. N.-Y. con¬ 
tained a reference to a Rochester, N. Y., 
firm whose specialty is oats at exorbitant 
prices. A few years ago I asked one of 
their employees where the firm picked up 
all the wonderful new varieties of oats 
that they put forth year after year. 
“Easy enough to make new varieties with 
a fanning mill, if you’ve got enough 
wind," said he. A powerful mill, with 
special appliances, and “enough wind” 
takes put all the small and light seed, 
leaving a beautiful sample, running 40 
pounds to the bushel. “Hot air” does the 
rest. One of the partners claimed, in my 
hearing, to have originated one of their 
new kinds by “hybridizing”; said that he 
split the kernels of two different varieties, 
tied them together, and from the union 
secured the “new” variety. It is said 
that the Eastern farmers are very con¬ 
servative. That must be a mistake, in 
view of the financial success of this firm. 
A good many of us must be willing to “try 
anything once.” Their salesmen hunt 
fresh pastures each year, and year by 
year new varieties’ names are brought 
forth and the old ones go into the dis¬ 
card. And all the time it is the same 
old stock. The customer pays two or 
three dollars a bushel for the “wind.” and 
the chances are that he is getting the 
S’Ae R U RAL N 
same kind of grain that he was already 
growing. g. a. 
New York. 
Here is the testimony of a farmer re¬ 
garding the new varieties of oats eminat- 
ing from Rochester, N. Y. G. A. evi¬ 
dently knows what he is talking about. 
Apparently these houses have grown rich 
on fake new varieties of seed, combined 
with hot air. 
Is stock of the American Natiu'al Gas 
and Oil Corporation of any value V Doz¬ 
ens of m.v friends have invested, and are 
anxious for me to invest several hundred 
dollars, and I thought I would better get 
your advice before doing so, as I know 
you are always anxious to help your sub¬ 
scribers. 1. X. Q. 
New York. 
"We have no definite information re¬ 
garding the value of this stock, but the 
literature would indicate that the stock 
has only a .speculative A-alue, if any at 
all. It is perfectly wonderful how profits 
accumulate in oil stock according to the 
promoter’s prospectus. The figures and 
arguments are so cleverly presented an 
inexperienced person may easily be de¬ 
ceived. No experienced investor would 
for a moment even consider putting 
money into these paper certificates. Any 
money that was ever made in oil did not 
come from dividends on such certificaWs, 
but the losses on them are above compila¬ 
tion. TiOt the oil promoters speculate 
with their own money. 
A few days ago the representative from 
the Atheneum, Fort Wayne, Ind., called 
on me and persuaded me to take a busi¬ 
ness course. I gave liim a $50 Liberty 
bond and agreed to i)ay $15 a month until 
I had paid $115. He said that I was to 
receive a typewriter and books. I have 
only received a small box containing a 
tablet, pencil, a few envelopes and 30 les¬ 
sons in small envelopes. Will you tell 
me what you know about the Atheneum 
and also what steps to take in securing 
the Liberty bond? If you will take this 
to collect please tell me for what per cent 
you will do so. m. g. w. 
New York. 
The Atheneum explains that the type¬ 
writer and books referred to will be fur¬ 
nished later. The concern refuses to re¬ 
turn the Liberty bond or cancel the con¬ 
tract. This is in line with the usual 
policy of correspondence-school houses, as 
we have many times e.xplained. Inducing 
the holders of Liberty bonds to part with 
them is contrary to the express(>d desire 
of the National Government. The agents 
of the Atheneum seem to canvass, for the 
correspondence course, 6.specially among 
school teachers, and in some cases young 
girls under age have been persuaded to 
sign contracts for the course amounting 
to a large percentage of their income for 
the year. We want to emphasize the fact 
that when school-teachers or others sign 
contracts with the agent of the corre¬ 
spondence-school course, they cannot 
cancel such orders at will, and can only 
do so by being in a position to prove in 
court that they signed the order or con¬ 
tract because of deceptive and false repre¬ 
sentations. 
Thirty years ago we began to caution 
small investors against the various frauds 
in Long Island lots. It seemed that every 
scheme the mind of man could devise was 
adapted to the lot proposition on Long 
Island. The courts and the Post Office 
Department stopped many of the pro¬ 
moters in the enterprise of relieving fru¬ 
gal people of their money. Just now the 
tax sales are being exposed, and a sorry 
mess it is. The sickening part of it is 
that the law is so constructed as to make 
easy and profitable the swindle of help¬ 
less people. Tax records were loosely 
kept. Sales of property were made with¬ 
out the knowledge of owners for trifling 
sums. Men made a business of buying 
in the properties and exacted compara¬ 
tively large sums to release them. Local 
papers got the advertising of the lots and 
made no exposures. County officials fa¬ 
cilitated the transactions, title insurance 
officials profited, and prominent politi¬ 
cians figured in the deals. It sometimes 
seems a discouraging task to protest 
against these abuses. For a long time 
they survive the exposures, but when re¬ 
form actually comes, one begins to feel 
that it was not all in vain. Wrong does 
triumph for a time, but the culprit comes 
to grief in the end. The pity is that he 
is in the meantime permitted to bring 
suffering.s and grief to innocent victims 
through laws evidently designed for his 
purpose. 
E W-YO R K E R _ 
Selling Farm Products 
finding a buyeb 
After raising the produce the grower 
has to consider how to market his crop 
under his^ local conditions In seasons of 
shortage *and high price his course may 
be comparatively plain. If he is in a 
large producing section buyers will be on 
the spot offering cash on delivery at the 
station or storehouse. If in a smaller 
crop section, local buyers may be scarce 
and commission dealers wdll urge ship¬ 
ments or perhaps offer to buy the prod¬ 
ucts f.o.b.—that is, paying the price 
agreed upon when a shipment is loaded on 
the cars or when it is delivered in the 
city to which it is consigned. In times 
when the lai-ge markets are over-supplied 
the local buyers, even in leading shipping 
sections, may be reluctant to take risks 
and the grower himself is obliged to as¬ 
sume the hazards of delay, damage and of 
unfavorable markets at the time of de¬ 
livery, and perhaps also the risk of ship¬ 
ment to unknown dealers hundreds of 
Julies distant. These idsks are reduced 
wheij shippers co-operate to the extent of 
making large and regular shipments of 
JJuiformly gi;aded stock. They will then 
be likely to investigate their markets and 
dealei’s with due care, communicating 
wuth the consignee by wire when neces- 
sai’y, and pei-haps they will have a broker 
or expert salesman to represent them in 
the distributing markets. 
FREIGHT AND EXPRESS 
The distant small shipper, not located 
in a large shipping section, is at an 
especial disadvantage in the time of heavy 
production. He cannot profitably ship 
bulky products in less than cariots on 
account of the cost of transportation. If 
his crop is not bulky in proportion to its 
value, or the jndee rules high, he may 
ship small lots by expi’e.ss. He may even 
to a limited extent find a market by parcel 
post, or he may sell by motor truck serv¬ 
ice in neglected nearby markets. Army 
camps in the vicinity may help him out. 
WHAT ABOUT COMMISSION DEALERS? 
Growers near large markets or having 
good local demand have comparatively 
few marketing difficulties, but a vast 
number of pi’oducei's throughout the 
country find it advisable to consign to 
commission dealers occasionally or all of 
the time. This plan has often provided a 
cash outlet for products that otherwise 
would have been lost. The risks of con¬ 
signment have been reduced of late by the 
genej-al requirements exacted of dealers 
under the present license system. 
NEW MEANS OF CONTROL 
The old evils of unfair rejection of 
purchased shipments, unjust claims for 
damage by reason of weather or other¬ 
wise, unreasonable or duplicated charges 
for selling and handling, etc., are reduced 
by the present system of licensing dealers 
and the provision for official inspection 
on demand. The new system affords pro¬ 
tection for the dealers also in case of un¬ 
fair practices on the part of shippers, 
who sometimes seek to shift the blame for 
conditions that prevailed to some degree 
when the shipment was started, which 
were often due partly to the shippers’ 
carelessness and inexperience. Cases of 
wrong-doing on the part of dealers may 
be I’eported to the License Enforcement 
Section of the Food Administration, 
which has power to take away the deal¬ 
er’s license or to impose certain other 
suitable penalties. Genei’al information 
regarding the standing of dealers may be 
obtained,^ usuallj', from the shipper’s own 
banking institution. Disputes about grade 
or condition of the produce on arrival 
may be avoided or settled by requesting 
the Government inspector in that city to 
when received. The charge 
IS $2.50 per car. g. b f. 
Buffalo Markets 
The principal news in the city market 
trade just now comes from a claim that 
the privilege of selling in large groups 
and enjoying low rents of commodious city 
buildings is abused by the tenants, who 
are charged with putting their prices up 
as high as the other city grocers and also 
of sub-renting their stalls for several 
times what they pay for them and thereby 
obliging the actual occupants to charge 
high prices. So much complaint has been 
made that the mayor has ordered an in¬ 
vestigation. 
This state of things has hurt the mar¬ 
kets, for with the people scattering to the 
groceries it is not possible to sell large 
amounts of produce and the stocks offered 
are noticeably smaller than they used to 
be. The actual changes in prices are not 
many, but butter and eggs continue to ad¬ 
vance, potatoes are quoted as easy, but 
prices do not decline. Cabbage and squash 
are cheap and most vegetables are at mod¬ 
erate prices. Lettuce, spinach and such 
plants as grow right along in this warm 
Fall weather are plenty and not high. A 
new salad plant of great size and known 
as celery cabbage, sells for ten cents a 
head at retail. Such a Fall for growth 
has not been seen here in a long time. 
The official weather report has not yet 
gone below 32 degrees, and reached that 
only once. 
Potatoes are rather plenty, but wffiole- 
sale at 90c to $1.50 per bu., retailing at 
about $1.60. Apples are also easy at 40c 
for windfalls to $2 for fancy per bu. 
Pears are $1.25 to $4.25: quinces, about 
gone, at $1.25 to $2.75. Other tree fruits 
are gone. Onions are only 1 to 2c per 
November 30, 1018. 
lb., but beans keep up at $6 to $7.80 
per bu. The new crop in this section 
was not big enough to modify bean prices 
much, though one country paper quotes 
them to farmers at $4.50 to $6. ISweet 
potatoes are $2.25 to $2.40 per hamper. 
Home-grown grapes are about gone, but 
California malagas are plenty at $2.30 
per 24-lb. box. Cranberries are firm at 
.$8.50 to .$10.50 per bbl. Oranges have 
advanced to .$9 to $12 per box, with some 
Floridas at $4.60 to .$6..50. Lemons are 
$6 to $6 50; grapefruit, $2.,50 to $5..50, 
Havanas being highest; limes, $1 per 100; 
honey, 26 to 2Sc per lb. 
Vegetables are $2 to ,$4 per 100 heads 
for cabbage; 65 to 8oc for beets; 50 to 
7,5e for carrots; 75c to $1.25 for cauli¬ 
flower ; $1.,30 to $1.40 for parsnips; 60 
to 70c for spinach ; 50 to 75c for white 
turnips; 55 to 00c for yellow turnips, all 
per bu.; $1.50 to $2.50 for string beans 
per hamper; 18 to 22c for Brussels 
sprouts per qt.; 20 to 7.5c for celery per 
bunch; 50c to .$1.25 for lettuce per box; 
$1.50 to $2 for cucumbei-s per doz.; 20 to 
25c for hothouse tomatoes per lb.; 35 to- 
40c for parsley; 20 to 25c for radishes 
per dozen bunches. 
Butter is higher, at 58 to 62c for cream¬ 
ery, ,52 to .57e for dairy, 46 to 52c for 
crocks and 40 to 43c for common.^ Cheese 
remains the same at 40c for bricks. .3,5c 
for daisies, .3.3c for flats. Eggs are steady 
at 72 to 8.5c for hennery, 65 to 70o for 
State candled, 63 to 6.5c for Western 
candled, 48 to 40c for storage. 
Poultry 511 taken at .30 to .36e for live 
turkeys; 25 to 30c for live fowl; 25 to 
30e for live roasting chickens; 28c for 
dressed old roosters; .3.3 to ,35c for live 
ducks and 27 to 2Sc for live geese. 
J. W. C. 
Crops and Farm News 
A blessing on the day when there is a 
universal fixed standard for every prod¬ 
uct, and a price based on the cost plus a 
just profit. I know it would pinch some 
of us sometimes, but in the long run both 
producer and consumer would be better 
off, because I think it would help solve 
some of this inequality of labor. Now, 
you say this is chimerical. But is it? 
You go to the store and ask for sugar or 
a certain cereal, etc., and it is the same 
in New .Jersey or California. You ask 
for a certain brand of orange or melon 
and it is the same. Why not all things 
the same? Naturally there must be some 
variation in grades, but they want limit¬ 
ing to some extent. When you read the 
present quotations on eggs or butter you 
hardly know w'hei-e you are at; they have 
made so many shades of distinction to 
suit the commission men’s profits. I never 
saw much of it mentioned in the stores 
at retail around this section. It is true 
the cost of production varies greatly, es¬ 
pecially as large and small-scale produc¬ 
tion is compared, but usually transporta¬ 
tion charges even some of that. One 
thing is certain; there ought to be enough 
profit for the small farm that is run 
under the average business methods to 
allow the owner at least to keep his 
capital and family. This is not now the 
case, or you would not be able to ride 
anyw'here you please and see buildings 
rotting from inability to keep in repair, 
or idle farms anywhere, and not alto¬ 
gether poor ones, either. I can count 
eight within a radius of five miles and 
there are doubtless more. I think Secre- 
tai’y Lane would better rehabilitate some 
of the farms almost ready to produce 
rather than drain a lot of swamps. Lo¬ 
cally (South Morris Co., N, ,T.) farm con¬ 
ditions are much the same as usual, with 
the exception of no labor, except w'here 
farmers have tenant houses or can board 
men. Even then some are without. The 
wealthy class pay more and the Kenville 
powder works still more for those w'ho 
dare go. Even the mechanics are all 
working at the latter place. With a 
market begging under our nose, I do not 
see why business should be any less than 
we make it. I think it all depends upon 
our grit and ability, though I think if I 
had put in as many hours at any me¬ 
chanic line I would probably have more 
ca^. w. G. 
Chester, N. ,7. 
November 1 was the first killing frost 
of this unusual season. 25° ; even tender 
plants grew until this time. We are crib¬ 
bing corn now. The crop is about two- 
thirds of an average, owing to the drought 
and hot winds of late July and early Au¬ 
gust. Wheat crop this year was good. 
We think the price is too low as compared 
with other grains, as a 20-bu. crop of 
wheat at $2.10 is $42, while a 40-bu. crop 
of corn at $1.50 is $60, and usually we get 
more than 40 bu. Still, as the country ur¬ 
gently needs wheat, we are increasing the 
acreage as much as we can without seri¬ 
ously disarranging the rotation and pro¬ 
portion of crops, and making too great an 
amount of work at one season and too lit¬ 
tle at another. D. E. R. 
Adams Co.. Ill. 
“Do you know why money is so scarce, 
brothers?” the soap box orator demanded, 
and a fair-sized section of the backbone 
of the nation waited in leisurely patience 
for the answer. A tired-looking woman 
had paused for a moment on the edge of 
the crowd. She spoke shortly. “It’s be 
cause so many of you men spend your 
time telling each other why. ’stead of 
hustling to see that it ain’t!”— Mel¬ 
bourne Leader. 
