1514 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
We celebrated Labor Day by laboring. 
That form of celebration seemed appro¬ 
priate and necessary. While workmen 
in most other interest® can quit work at 
this season and “rest,” a farmer (in New 
Jersey, at least) must attend to business. 
Our tomatoes were ripening as surely 
and steadily as fate. The sweet corn was 
ready to pick, and' the apples must be 
rushed out of the way. No chance to at¬ 
tend a meeting or march around with 
banners when vegetables and fruit must 
be picked. When a tomato is ready its 
life is not much longer than that of milk, 
and we had to fit out a truck load f<>r 
the night's market. It was to be a mixed 
load, as you stand a better chance when 
you carry a variety of products. 
:Je $ jJc # * 
Our tomato field has given a great crop 
ibis season—far more than we expected. 
It was the field where we tried to kill 
out the quack gras® last year by seeding 
first to oats and peas and then to buck¬ 
wheat and rye. This plan succeeded; 
rhere was little, if any. quack this year, 
while the dead roots seemed to be quite, 
equal to manure. I am t surprised to set; 
that quack is actually a good manurial crop 
when you can kill it. The land was well 
fitted, with tomato plants set four feet 
each way. Phosphate was put in the hill® 
and a little later a big handful of chicken 
manure. The plants were well cultivated, 
and now the vines cover the ground with 
a great cron of fruit. The pickers walk¬ 
through with peach baskets, selecting fruit 
a little green. It requires some skill to 
get them just right. These baskets are 
hauled to the shed, where the tomatoes 
are wiped with a cloth and repacked— 
the soft ones being thrown out for tb- 
hogs and geese. There will he 50 to GO 
baskets in today’s load. 
*3* V 
A few baskets of eggplant and peppers 
will help out this load. The peppers are 
usually found at the bottom of the vines, 
and are twisted or broken off. In gather¬ 
ing eggplant the picker carries a pair of 
pruning clippers, and cuts off the fruit, 
leaving about two inches of stem. The 
size of the fruit decide® the picking. Usu¬ 
ally there will be five or six to the poach 
basket. Our plants are not “laying” as 
well as they should this year (something 
like our Reds at the egg-laving contest), 
but I think they will improve from now 
on. We have something over 1,000 plants, 
and in the last two weeks before frost they 
are likely to keep us busy. It i® a bulky 
crop, but in markets where there are 
many foreigners it usually pays well. We 
want, about 20 bushels of apples on this 
load. These were picked a few days 
ago. and have been sorted and repacked. 
They are Graven stein and Maiden Blush, 
and will be used chiefly for cooking. The 
truck is heaped high already with what 
we have gathered, but Thomas is not 
yet satisfied, and there is a field of corn 
down by the brook that needs attention. 
So we put the horses to the big wagon 
and go after that. 
❖ ❖ * * * # 
Most farmers who read this have never 
raised sweet corn for market—some do 
not even raise enough for table use. The 
crop requires more skill and care than 
ordinary field corn, for considerable judg¬ 
ment i® required to pick it properly. We 
leave the ifig wagon at one side of the 
field. The pickers each take two rows, 
and each carries a basket or hamper. As 
they pa..s on they snap or break off the 
rine ears and throw them into the basket. 
With a full force there will be one carrier 
for each picker. The carrier takes out 
the filled basket® and dumps them into 
the wagon—bringing hack empty baskets 
in place. A picker must know by the 
feel of the upper part of the ear whether 
the kernels are well filled out. You 
cannot depend entirely on the appearance 
of the silk. A good picker keeps up a 
brisk walk through the field. He puts 
his hand on the tip of the ear. If it is 
filled out he gives a quick jerk or twist 
and the ear comes from the stalk and 
droos into the basket. If the tip is not 
well filled, it is left on the stalk. Today 
we are picking “Sheemanie” corn—big. 
fat ears, to fit the month of a giant. We 
could get about 4.000 out of the entire 
field today, hut truck®, like human beings, 
have their limit of capacity, and we stop 
at. about 1.800. That fills the wagon 
body, and will give Tom and Broker a 
hard pull up the hill. There are 20 bush¬ 
els of string beans, and nearly half an 
acre of cucumbers to be picked and 
shipped. but they must wait. The truck 
is willimr. but it will meet the same fate 
as a willing horse if you overload it. 
* * * * * 
That corn was packed on top of the 
load. W« built a wall of big ears around 
the outside, about as you would pile 
stove wood, and then threw the rest in¬ 
side these walls. Then the canvas cover 
was thrown over all and fastened down 
with ropes. T must say that the springs 
were stretched out about flat, and the 
body of the truck came down close to the 
wheels. Tt was too close to an overload 
to be fully safe, and meant the most care¬ 
ful driving. T decided to go along and 
see how the market looked, so early in 
the afternoon Thomas and T got aboard, 
“cranked un” and gave the signal for the 
engine to “get un.” The pickers were 
once more in the tomato and bean patches 
getting another load for tomorrow. The 
engine gave a snort and a mighty heave 
and the truck slowly started onward with 
its great load. It was like the strain of 
great horses getting their load in motion. 
Once out of the yard and on the smooth, 
hard road, the truck increased its speed 
and sped evenly along. The worst hill 
<>n the way is about half a mile from 
home, and we had an anxiou® minute or 
so as we climbed the last, .300 feet. 1 
thought several times that the wheeze of 
the overworked engine sounded like a 
weary man saying, "I can’t make it,” 
but with many a groan and gasp the en¬ 
gine staggered on and landed tis on the 
level road at the top of the hill. Then 
it let out a spurt of gas like a sigh of 
relief, and the truck speeded on. Per¬ 
haps you never drove through tin* woods 
and hills of Northern New Jersey. We 
think it is almost the most beautiful 
country in the world. For about three 
miles from our house the road is quiet ami 
lonely as one would wish. Then you 
strike the level valley roads to Paterson, 
and it seems like one continuous town 
of pleasant homes and gardens. Most 
of the world seemed out for a holiday. 
Flags were flying, cars darting about, here 
and there a ball game, a tennis game 
every few rods along the way, and over 
our heads a flying machine, circling low. 
All the world, except the farmer, seemed 
able to leave the job for the day without 
loss. 
***** 
The Paterson market is located on a 
small island, and is famous throughout 
Northern New Jersey as a trading place 
for food. You can buy or sell about any¬ 
thing in the line of food at this market. 
The arrangements are very simple. You 
back tip your load either under a shed or 
in the open as you find a place, uncover 
your goods and wait for customers. Here 
come peddlers, grocers, butchers, hotel 
keepers and housekeepers from all over 
after their supplies. The light and rapid 
truck has greatly extended this service. 
A storekeeper 25 miles away can easily 
reach this, market, load on his supplies 
and hurry back without great loss of time. 
There are still a great many horse-drawn 
wagons on this market. They back up to 
the shed and then the horses are taken 
out. and put in a near-by stable. Thomas 
drove our truck into the market and 
hacked up to the low outside platform, 
lie is well known, and our good® have a 
reputation, and before the engine stopped 
coughing over its consumption of gasoline 
a crowd of buyers were upon us. They 
climbed on the truck and peered in under 
tin* cover to see what we had. Several 
of them helped untie the ropes—so eager 
were they to get at the goods. By the 
time rlu* cover was off so as to expose 
that big coni there was a fringe of buy¬ 
ers around us. Throe peddler® had backed 
up their wagons. At the left was a man 
and his wife in a light truck. They kept 
a store in a town perhaps 15 miles away 
and drove over for supplies. One woman 
seemed to he a boarding-house keeper. 
She had a little toy wagon, while another 
had come with a large baby carriage. 
# s}s * $ # 
By the time that cover was off half a 
dozen men were on the load pulling back 
the husks to see if the corn was filled out 
or sampling tomatoes and apples. These 
men have to run the gauntlet with their 
customers, and they must know what they 
are buying. Then there was a great de¬ 
bate over prices, but Thomas stood firm, 
and they could not move him. The first 
mail moved three empty barrels up near 
the truck and the corn was counted' out 
into them. Then he took five bushels of 
apples*. 1(1 baskets of tomatoes and three 
of peppers. On his appearance you might 
take him for a man who needed help, yet 
after figuring hi® account he pulled out 
a roll of hills as thick as a cable and 
peeled off the money as you would husk 
corn. Then came a woman with a boy 
September 25 , 1020 
perhaps 12 years old. She bought 200 
corn in two big sacks, and three bushels of 
apples, packing them off on her back while 
the boy figured the price and paid the 
money. There was another case where 
the older people could not speak or write 
English. All they knew of American bus¬ 
iness wa® what the children learned in the 
public school. That big corn went 1( n ; 
like hot cakes, and it helped sell the rest 
of the load. Within an hour everythin" 
was sold but part of the tomatoes, three 
bushels of apples and one of eggplant. 
Then came a couple of Greeks, who took 
flu* eggplants and walked off with them. 
They probably keep a boarding house or 
small restaurant, and will serve fried egg¬ 
plant as a special dish. The woman with 
the baby carriage pushed off home with 
50 ears of corn, a basket of tomatoes and 
a basket of apples. Her boarders will 
have a good supply of vitamines. Then 
who should come along but the Italian 
who bought our cow! There were only a 
few baskets left, and he took them at a 
bargain. We had expected to be in the 
market until midnight, but the load sold 
out quickly, and thus we were able to get 
home to a late supper. The load’ brought 
about $95. 
***** 
Our load was sold mostly at wholesale. 
Many of the farmers conduct a retail 
business, and, of course, that requires 
more time. Practically everything nun 
be found there. Elderberries are bringing 
75 cents a basket. I think you could sell 
anything—live poultry, rabbits, pot cats. 
In a market patronized by so many dif¬ 
ferent races there will be found a ®a!o 
for anything that has value anywhere. 
Quite a number of women farmers drive 
wagons or trucks into this market and 
hold their own at selling. One woman 
had a few baskets of a very handsome 
red* apple. She says she found them 
growing on a single branch of a Graven- 
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