W* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
861 
Marketing One Hundred Miles By Motor 
A NEW project.—I n the Spring of 1015 a new 
era in the disposition of farm products opened 
iii Burlington C'o.. New Jersey. As in the case of 
other and greater departures from tried methods in 
transportation, the project was accepted as a joke in 
all quarters. Seldom, however, lias a theory more 
conclusively proved good than in this instance of 
vision on the part of a prominent grower of fruit and 
vegetable products in New Jersey. With approximate¬ 
ly 000 acres in fruit, or young fruit trees being inter¬ 
cropped with staple vegetables, the problem of sell¬ 
ing advantageously was given careful consideration. 
In a season the products from GO acres of peas, 40 
acres of beans and SO acres of tomatoes, in addition 
to apples, peaches and pears from 140 acres, had to 
be disposed of. For all the early pickings of both 
vegetables and fruits New York stood alone as the 
ideal market, but here came the one big 
obstacle to successful selling. With some 
growers the interest in a product seems to 
end when they deliver .it to a freight or 
express office. They are willing to take 
what their commission merchants return, 
with only a moderate amount of complaint, 
or at best a fruitless discussion of the 
crookedness of all salesmen with their 
neighbors. 
SEEKING EARLY TRADE.—The grower 
of whom we are writing, however, followed 
bis products in their travels. lie found the 
express and freight falling down in the 
prompt, delivery of his goods. In the rush sea¬ 
son. when his high-priced goods were roll¬ 
ing. the common carriers made - delivery 
time after time when market was over. 
When the goods did arrive during selling 
hours, it was after the best trade had been 
.supplied and the market had dropped 25 to 
75 cents per package. The problem then 
was to get his products in for the early 
trade, and the idea of taking care of 
his own transportation with a fast truck 
developed. After considering three of 
the best trucks on the market, a five- 
ton size was purchased and equipped 
with a large bos body with slatted top 
racks. It was considered best to have 
two drivers for each trip, which neces¬ 
sitated four drivers for the steady run¬ 
ning. or a fresh crew each night. These 
men were trained by doing the odd 
hauling, such as unloading cars of 
packages and fertilizer and distribut¬ 
ing them to the farms. The truck was 
found to ride very smoothly when 
loaded, which promised well for the 
carrying of the perishable products, 
and was governed at 14 miles per hour. 
HANDLING PEAS.—Early in June 
a large acreage of peas matured in ex¬ 
cellent condition, and the picking 
gangs were started in at 4:80 one 
so as to be sure of a mnx.i- 
At 3:30 in the afternoon 
stopped, and the job of 
the bushel hampers was 
ing capacity of the outfit 10 tons. The extra weight 
added considerably to the time necessary for a 
round trip, and it was found impossible to make six 
runs a week using the trailer, so it was disposed of 
after one season. But the result, the achievement 
of a better system of marketing, has had an influence 
the magnitude of which is hard to estimate. The 
following season several other growers used the 
motor truck for their New York business, and in 1917 
and 191.8 it was not unusual for 50 to 100 large- 
capacity trucks to deliver Burlington County pro¬ 
ducts in New York market in a single night. By the 
end of 1918 the trucking costs had increased so that 
an association was formed to charter a special freight 
train with early delivery guaranteed. This association 
has already been described in The R. N.-Y. and is 
proving a wonderful success in the cause of better 
hauling three tons of tobacco stems to our place from 
Lancaster went in to the axle right in the middle of the 
road ; and the night before Easter our oldest son. home 
from State College, spent the whole night about three 
miles from home with the machine trying to get by 
half a dozen trucks that were stuck on the highway. 
The only manner in which they could get the trucks 
through was to pull them up the hill with block and 
tackle on the trolley tracks. Now does not that sound 
v. ell for the most widely advertised highway in the 
l nited States? It simply shows our highway depart¬ 
ment that, the money they have spent on the road so 
lar is almost absolutely wasted. They will soon wake 
up. I think, as they are starting to build stretches of 
concrete roads in different places in the county. 
There have been repeated calls for information 
♦•bowing how to make a King drag for the use in 
smoothing down these rough highways. The picture 
in Fig. 235 shows the construction of one of these 
drags. The following materials are required to make 
the drag as shown: Lumber, three pieces, 2x4 in.. 3 
ft. 2 in. long; two pieces 2*4x214 im. 3 ft. 2 
in. long; one piece 2x4 in., 3 ft. long; two 
pieces 1x0 in., 7 ft. long; two pieces 2x0 in., 
8 ft. long; two pieces 2x10 in.. .8 ft. long; 
metal, one steel plate, %x 1 in., S ft. long; 
eight bolts, %x3 in.; one welded eve bolt, 
%x5 in.; two hook bolts. %x5 in.: three lbs. 
30-penny nails; S-penny nails for the light 
work. 
taken from the Department of 
publication, shows the King 
is usually employed upon the 
This picture shows how the 
attached and how the drag is 
The purpose of this simple de- 
237. 
llmo the Kino Rond Drag is Used. Fig. 237. 
morning, 
nnun load, 
the pickers 
heading up 
*uoM completed. The truck was loaded 
at once and at 4:30 was ready to 
start on its long trip with 300 bushels 
ot lresh green peas. The owner elected 
t» make the first trip personally, with' 
one of the best drivel's to assist him. 
THE END OF TIIE JOURNEY.—At 1 O’clock the 
next morning the first load of green vegetables from 
Burlington County rolled into Washington Market. 
•Vow York % City, The impression made by the big 
ieliieie on the market was almost electric. Heads 
"l stores walked several blocks to see the outfit and 
inspect the goods, and buyers crowded close to be 
one to get their requirements. After unloading and 
eating a hearty meal, the tired drivers started on 
thou- IM-mile trip back, arriving home at 10:30 in 
■ morning. 1'he fresh drivers went over the truck 
thoroughly with oil and grease, and filled up the 
net tanks. The truck then picked up its load and 
repeated the long trip of the night before. Six trips, 
1 approximately 1.200 miles per week, with little 
lt np throughout the harvest season, is a good trial 
auj motor truck, and this one stood up remark¬ 
ably. 
t <<LEAT RESULT.—In 1917 a five-ton trailer 
u added to the equipment, waking the total carry¬ 
Fii 
Agriculture 
drag as it 
highway, 
horses are 
opera ted. 
vice is to smooth down the ruts and pre¬ 
serve the crown cross section of the road. 
It smooths out the ruts and bumps and 
helps dry out the road by scraping the 
puddles away and then increasing the dry¬ 
ing surface. People who have never seen 
the work of this simple device on a road 
which is rough can hardly realize how 
beneficial it may be. Tt is a mistake to use 
the drag on a very dry road, and it cannot, 
do its best when a road is very wet and 
muddy, but when the highway has begun to 
dry out so that the ruts and bumps are 
bard and firm, the road is dragged. This 
drag, properly used, will do excellent 
work. We are often advised to use the 
drag immediately after a heavy rain, 
but this is not always practical, and it 
depends, too. on the kind of soils and 
the drainage of the road. Thus dragging 
a road built mostly of sand and gravel 
right after a rain would be more benefi¬ 
cial than dragging a clay road while it 
was very wet and muddy. Good judg¬ 
ment is required in using this drag, but 
as a general rule the right time to use it 
is when the surface of the road is just 
wet enough to pack down hard after a 
dragging and not wet enough to pro¬ 
duce a deep mud. There can be no 
question, however, about the value of 
this implement for use on country 
roads, but. as stated, it is necessary to 
use judgment with this implement the 
same as with any other. 
Is This Another Annual Sweet 
Clover? 
Alarkvl Trucks Equipped for Produce. Fig. 2 JS. 
marketing. The association grew from the organiza¬ 
tion necessary in handling the large number of trucks, 
and the trucking system grew from the initiative 
and vision of one man who had something to accom¬ 
plish and wasn’t,afraid of going ahead in bis own 
way to do it. g. h. t. 
o 
The King Road Drag; Bad Roads 
A S the snowdrifts melt and the roads appear 
once more, we realize the immense damage 
done by the last Winter. Many of our roads are 
in a frightful condition. Even parts of the famous 
Lincoln Highway are impassable. The following 
report from Lancaster County, l’a.. shows the con¬ 
dition of at least a section of this famous highway, 
and if such conditions prevail on this noted route, 
what can we expect from some of the hack country 
roads? 
Never have seen such a Spring or Winter on the 
roads. The Lincoln Highway by our place is not tit 
for traffic, as you can judge by the fact that, a truck 
N page 521 you solve a problem 
that has bothered me. What I did 
not know about Sweet clover would make a book ; and 
I thought I knew it was a biennial, but our farm is 
gradually being covered with your annual Sweet 
clover. As we have not a single plant that does not 
die every Fall, I had nothing for comparison, and I 
wondered what was wrong with what I had read. 
We think a plant or two must have come in with 
our Alfalfa. The grasshoppers for two years ate up 
our second crop of Alfalfa, so that there was no 
seed, nothing but the roots, hut they despised the 
Sweet clover. They ate all kinds of weeds, even to 
Canada thistles, before they would touch the Sweet 
clover, and then ate only a little of it. leaving me 
the seed. This annual is very prolific, and in some 
places grew to above a man’s head. When we no¬ 
ticed it it was on two or three places on a hillside, soil 
gravel and sand, nothing extra, but not poor. Tt is 
traveling down hill fast: where it strikes it elimi¬ 
nates June grass and all kinds of weeds. It has not 
seemed to go into our AU'uli'a. Out there may he a 
