5 
A Real Farmers’ Market 
Successful Enterprise in a New Jersey Town 
TEN AIR SALES.—A unique farmers’ market is 
being operated in the city of Burlington, N. J., 
located along the Delaware River in Burlington 
County, and about 18 miles from Philadelphia. Here 
the farmers haul in their produce on Mondays, 
Wednesdays and Saturdays, and and sell direct to 
the consumers. The farm wagons are lined along 
both sides of the main street for several blocks, often 
branching off into side thoroughfares, and the selling 
is done out of the wagons to the buyers on the curb. 
Two trolley lines run on the street used by the 
farmers, which together with the usual market 
traffic, necessitates the presence of traffic officers on 
this busy thoroughfare during the market sessions. 
This market begins early in the morning and lasts 
until noon, at which time all of the farmers have 
readily disposed of their produce. 
A FERTILE SECTION.—The farmers attending 
the Burlington market come from one of the best 
farming sections in New Jersey, as the river front 
district is famous for its production of vegetables, 
fruits and general farm crops. That these farmers 
welcome the opportunity to trade directly with con¬ 
sumers can be seen by the increased number each 
week, while the number of buyers is rapidly growing 
as the fame of the market spreads. 
CO-OrERATIVE BUYING.—The big 
feature in connection with this market 
is the co-operative buying by neighbor¬ 
hood groups from Philadelphia and sur¬ 
rounding New Jersey cities. The idea 
originated with touring autoists who 
passed through Burlington on a mar¬ 
ket day. From a dozen to 30 families 
club together, each family purchasing 
a certain number of baskets of produce. 
The average purchases by the co-opera¬ 
tive clubs run about $10 a family, and 
a $10 note had a purchasing value in 
the Burlington market at one time last 
Summer of three baskets of peaches, 
two baskets of apples, one basket of 
cantaloupes, 50 ears of sugar corn, two 
baskets of white potatoes and one bas¬ 
ket of cabbage; all first-class, freshly 
harvested products. The buyers re¬ 
move their purchases in automobile 
trucks, and distribution is made in the 
neighborhoods in which residents co¬ 
operated in the marketing system. 
DIRECT TRADE—Another interest¬ 
ing factor is the simple method by 
which the housewife may secure her 
produce at the same price and on equal 
terms with the jobber or commission 
man. The middleman is eliminated and 
housewives are enabled to save from 50 
to 100 per cent over ordinary dealers’ 
prices, and thus materially reduce the 
high cost of living. Commission men 
and hucksters often find the consumers’ 
competition so keen that many of them 
meet the incoming farmers at the edge 
of the city and attempt to purchase 
their entire loads of produce. The 
farmers have welcomed the opportunity 
to trade directly with consumers, and 
have declared that the presence of the 
consumers in the market would result in no attempt 
at profiteering, from which the Burlington market 
has been unusually free during its operation as a 
trade center for dealers. l. g. gillaji. 
“The Eternal Round of Nature” 
S OME weeks ago we printed the following as a 
bit of fancy about the endless round of life 
through which nature is constantly passing. 
The Kansas Agricultural College sends out this: 
“Menhaden is a fish too oily and bony for human 
beings to eat, and for a long time nobody on the Atlantic 
coast, where it is caught, knew what to do with it. Iu 
the last few years, however, it has been made into fish 
meal, and has been used in the East and South for hog 
feeding. It is superior to tankage, Mr. Imol says, as it 
contains a large proportion of protein and also of easily 
assimilable bone ash. Bouemeal is not generally avail¬ 
able in the Middle West now, hut probably soon will be 
at a price lower than tankage.” 
Think what that means—the Atlantic Ocean feeding 
the Missouri Valley! The menhaden are caught off 
the coast of New England or I^ong Island. The oil is 
extracted and the rest of the fish dried and crushed and 
sent to Kansas or beyond to feed hogs. These hogs 
make ham and bacon, which is sent back to New York. 
Boston or Portland to feed the people. The wastes 
from this feeding flow out into the ocean, and there 
feed more menhaden, which in turn produce more fish 
meal to feed more hogs to produce more meat. Thus 
the eternal round of Nature goes on with nothing lost, 
and as society develops man learns more and more about 
utilizing it. 
RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Of course no one could claim that a certain fish 
produced a certain handful of fish meal which a hog 
ate and that a certain part of the ham from that 
hog passed into the sea to feed a certain fish—and 
so on. Still, in a general way, we believed the 
illustration a fair one. One of our readers ques¬ 
tioned the matter. He doubts if fish consume any 
particular quantities of sewage or gai’bage, ,or that 
any considerable quantities of the sewer wastes come 
back to the land. The following statement from Dr. 
Moore of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries seems to 
cover the matter: 
Sewage finding its way into the sea from towns and 
cities undergoes physical and chemical changes whereby 
it is disintegrated, certain materials being released and 
certain others recombining to form new compounds. 
Some of the products of these processes, especially the 
compounds containing nitrogen, afford food for aquatic 
plant life. Certain microscopic plant forms, namely, di¬ 
atoms, form a large part of the food of oysters, clams 
and scallops. Other small plants enter into the dietary 
of minute animal forms, such as numerous species of 
crustaceans, upon which in turn many fishes (as the 
menhaden mentioned in the clipping sent with the let¬ 
ter), lobsters and crabs, feed. These last are of impor¬ 
tance to man as food, and are eaten by other kinds of 
crustaceans and fish which are also of use to man. 
While of the more important sea foods, only oysters, 
clams and scallops feed largely on vegetable life, the 
animal forms which make up the main diet of lobsters, 
shrimp, crabs and fish have themselves been in the main 
supported by the use of plants as food. In general the 
disintegration of wastes from the land gives rise to the 
release or formation of materials upon which plants feed. 
Another View of the Burlington Market. Fig. 5 
It does not follow from the above statements, how¬ 
ever, that a harbor or river mouth into which vast 
quantities of sewage from a city are dumped will be 
found to contain the most fish or be the most desirable 
spot in which to locate oyster or clam beds. Aside from 
the danger of contamination of the shellfish with dis¬ 
ease germs from sewage, the presence of great amounts 
of wastes gives rise to the changes mentioned above on 
such a large scale that much of the normal oxygen con¬ 
tent of the water is exhausted, thus depriving aquatic 
life of its required amount. Certain toxic products may 
also be released. In case of too great an overloading, of 
the water with waste products, much, of the animal life, 
especially that of value to man as seafoods, may be killed 
or forced to avoid that particular region, u. F. woo he. 
Ground Limestone on Grass Land 
A FEW weeks ago I saw a question to this effect: 
“Shall I get beneficial results by spreading 
ground limestone on old meadows?" The answer 
was to the effect that ground limestone spread on 
meadows and pastures did not benefit them. One 
year ago I would have given the same answer, but I 
have since learned better. 
About six years ago Sheldon Rynipli, a neighbor, 
gave a few acres in his pasture a good application of 
ground limestone. He put on about a ton and a half 
to two tons per acre on the poorest part of the pas¬ 
ture. This past Summer, Avheu calling on him, he 
insisted that I go up and look at this portion of the 
pasture. I was certainly surprised to see how much 
better the quality and how much larger the quantity 
of grass growing in this portion of the pasture. 
Practically all the weeds that grow on sour soils and 
were growing in other portions of the pasture had 
entirely disappeared from this portion, and Mr. 
Rymph said that the stock would much rather graze 
on this portion than in other parts of the pasture. 
He said he saw little benefit from the lime the first 
year, but that since then there had been a great 
improvement. 
In the Hummer of 1918 Mr. Neilson. another neigh¬ 
bor, had a very poor quality of hay and a light crop 
on a newly seeded field, and asked me if I thought 
an application of ground lime would do it good. Like 
the writer of the article in The R. N.-Y. referred to, 
I gave him little encouragement. However, in the 
Fall of 1918 he gave the field an application of 
ground limestone, and the result this year was very 
remarkable. He had a splendid yield of Timothy, 
free from weeds, a big yield and good quality. 
Several years ago, Ernest Emails, another neigh¬ 
bor, made a large lime pile on an old meadow adjoin¬ 
ing a plowed field where he was about to apply the 
lime. This meadow was just full of sour grasses, 
particularly five-finger or wild strawberry. The fol¬ 
lowing year the place on this meadow which had been 
occupied by the lime pile had a remarkable growth 
of good grasses, and was entirely free of wild straw¬ 
berry and other sour-land grasses. Mr. 
Emails tells me that the place where 
the lime pile stood grew a large crop 
of good hay for at least five years after 
the lime was removed. 
irARTIX E. THEW. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr. Thew tells us this was 
a finely ground limestone—one-third of 
it guaranteed to pass through a screen 
with 200 meshes to the inch. Pie thinks 
this limestone will give its best effect 
when put on in the Fall or early Win¬ 
ter, so as to be worked into the soil by 
frost and thaw. Iu some cases, we are 
told, farmers put the ground limestone 
on the Winter grain after it has been 
seeded in the Fall. Then when the 
clover and grass seeds are sown in the 
Spring the soil is in better condition 
for them. Our own experience has been 
largely with burned lime. When this is 
put on the sod. or on top of the grain, 
without working it into the soil, it 
often forms a sort of mortar on top. 
and does not work down as it should. 
Thus we have advised against the use 
of lime unless it can be well worked 
into the soil. In some cases, without 
doubt, ground limestone gives good re¬ 
sults when spread on top. In Orange 
County, N. Y., Mr. T. D. Greene, the 
Farm Bureau manager, reports eight 
cases where ground limestone at the 
rate of two tons per acre was spread 
on old meadows. There was an average 
gain of 1.268 lbs. of hay per acre from 
this application. In case of a farm 
where a certain rotation of crops is 
grown, we think it will pay to use the 
lime on some crop where it can be har¬ 
rowed into the soil. On old meadows 
•and pastures where the soil cannot well 
be broken up. the ground limestone seems to give 
results when spread on the surface. 
Improving “Worn-Out” Land 
I shall soon come into possession of about 20 acres of 
land adjoining my farm. It has lain idle for several 
years and is naturally run down, some of it being washed 
iu places. The tract lies well, is perfectly tillable, and 
as I am anxious to bring it into productive condition I 
would appreciate suggestions from you or some of your 
readers who have had experience along this line, as to 
the best method of doing this at reasonable cost. I am 
rather inclined to sow Sweet clover next Spring, and 
should I use this means of restoring the land, what will 
be the best method of getting a stand? If I am success¬ 
ful with it, should it be pastured lightly the first year, or 
clipped from time to time and the clippings allowed to 
lie? Iu any case I would plow it down the end of the 
second season. J. H. R. 
Bucks, Co., l’a. 
F this laud was run down by farming without 
proper attention to the needs of the soil, one of 
the first things it will be likely to need is lime: about 
one ton per acre if there is any quantity of sorrel on 
it now, or the litmus paper test will also determine 
acidity. Procure a small strip of blue paper, take a 
lump of damp soil, insert your knife blade, theu the 
paper, and press together firmly. If it turns pink 
lime will be a benefit. If the soil is sandy, less lime 
should be used than on a heavy clay soil. I do not 
think Sweet clover would be the proper plant to be- 
