The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1749 
Countrywide Produce Situation 
DECKEASING SULi’LTES AND ACTIVE DE¬ 
MAND CAUSE SOME PRICE GAINS— 
POTATOES, ONIONS AND APPLES 
DOING A LITTLE BETTER 
The improvement in the potato and 
apple situation is a cheerful sign from 
the point of view of growers. It sug¬ 
gests that even in a year of big crops the 
market responds to the usual falling off 
of shipments after harvest time. 
The next few weeks should be a time 
of active demand. Appetites grow keen 
when cold weather comes, and retailers 
are stocking up for the holiday trade. 
November is a good month to sell produce 
which the grower does not feel like car¬ 
rying through. One year with another, 
the early seller has the best of it unless 
lie owns unusually good storage facilities. 
Even then to hold a crop in a year of 
heavy yield is a doubtful proposition, yet 
a great quantity of cabbage, onions, pota¬ 
toes and apples will be held over, because 
nobody will buy at anything like a rea¬ 
sonable price compared with cost of pro¬ 
duction. 
SELLING CABBAGE BELOW COST 
At $3 per ton. cabbage, ordinary do¬ 
mestic stock, hardly pays wages for cut¬ 
ting and hauling. The best of it, hard, 
long-keeping stock, brings the growers $o 
or more. There is the alternative of feed¬ 
ing the crop to milk cows. Some growers 
have been getting better prices by ship¬ 
ping direct to city dealers. City markets 
are irregular, some upland some down. 
They average about $15 per ton, but it 
is not easy to pick out the best markets 
in advance. Only the bright, hard, un¬ 
injured stock is worth shipping. Indica¬ 
tions are for a light Southern acreage of 
both cabbage and onions, which will bo 
in much the same market situation. 
than last year ; and Argentina, 16,000,000 
acres, or 1,000.000 more than last sea¬ 
son. South Africa has 833,000 acres in 
wheat, an increase of 32,000,000 acres. 
Our county (Adams) lies in the south¬ 
ern part of Pennsylvania, and has a va¬ 
riety of soils, varying from very good to 
fair. Wheat, corn, oats, rye, hay and 
fruits are the leading products. Large 
quantities of wheat and hay are shipped 
out of the county, also some corn, while 
the other grains are grown mainly for 
home feeding. Crops were good this year, 
hay especially, and expect corn to be a 
bumper. Our best grain farms, I think, 
will average from 25 to 30 bn. wheat per 
acre, while there are many that will not 
average 10 bn. A great many of our 
farmers have silos, and hundreds of cattle 
are fattened during the Winter and early 
Spring; also some dairying. Large num¬ 
bers of hogs are grown and fattened for 
market. Much interest is taken in poul¬ 
try raising and egg production; flocks 
are generally purebred, and have proven 
profitable. Wheat, $1.80; corn, $1.10; 
rye, $1.25; oats, 70c; hay, $25 per ton. 
Pork, $18 per 100 lbs.; chickens, 33c per 
lb.; eggs, 65c; butter, 50 to 65c. Old 
Adams leads Pennsylvania in apple pro¬ 
duction for 1920. Crops estimated 10 
to 15 per cent lower than last year; qual¬ 
ity very good. Hundreds of acres are 
not in bearing yet. Leading commercial 
varieties are York Imperial, Stayman 
and Jonathan, and many other varieties 
in smaller quantities. Prices dull, rang- 
ing_from $3.75 per bbl. for choice truit 
to 50c per 100 at canneries. The Mus- 
selman Canning Company has two large 
canitries in the county that do not can 
anything but apples, and the Aspers Fruit 
Products Company have a large plant 
that cans any kind of fruits or vegetables. 
There are two large cold-storage plants 
that are, or will be, ril'e! with trail. 
Many fine peaches are grown and prices 
this season were good. What the home 
demand does not take are shipped to the 
tity markets. Some growers hauled by 
truck to York and Lancaster. Wages for 
farm help are high and help hard to get 
at any price. I paid $3.50 and $4 with 
dinner and supper for 10-hour day. 
Quite a bit of corn to be cut, and all to 
be husked, means late Fall work. Farm¬ 
ers are using labor-saving machinery 
wherever possible, and with the help of 
the family are getting along the best they 
can. While we are dissatisfied with prices 
received for our products, we are looking 
forward hopefully to the time when the 
farmer will come into his own and re¬ 
ceive his full share of the dollar. We 
do not have any aliens in on rural sec¬ 
tions; do not know of a single family, 
with the exception of a few families in 
Gettysburg. Our county boasts seven 
high schools, and one vocational high 
school, and to my knowledge there is 
not one abandoned rural church in the 
county (and we have a good many, as our 
county i« strictly rural). There is yet 
much to be desired in our schools and 
churches, but we are steadily moving for¬ 
ward. The Lincoln Highway intersects 
our county on the eastern boundary at 
Abbottstown and traverses it from east 
to west, a distance of 20 or more miles. 
This part was formerly a turnpike, and 
was taken over hy the State Road Com¬ 
mission some years ago, and macadam¬ 
ized, making it a very good hard road. 
The section of highway between Gettys¬ 
burg and Ohambersburg was let to con¬ 
tractors for concreting, and work was 
begun .Tune 1. Owing to delay in obtain¬ 
ing materials, little more than half vis 
completed. Indications are that Winter 
will find us with a road that will be al¬ 
most impassable. c. A. h. 
All are good things to eat. 
Ten packages for One dollar! 
Of course, we couldn’t call it 
anything but 
WONDER BOX! 
Sent Parcel Post, Free Delivery 
within 300 miles. Add extra 
postage for longer distances. 
Van Dyk’s Wonder Box 
contains: 
4-2)4 oz.pkgs Tea {all different) 
3-4 oz. “ Coffee “ 
1-5 oz.jar Peanut Butter 
1-3 oz. pkg Best Cocoa 
1-8 oz. can Baking Powder 
All are VAN DYK goods. Can you 
beat it! When you know the quality 
you will order larger quantities. 
Only ONE Wonder Box to 
each address: So mail your 
dollar to-day to 
JAMES VAN DYK CO 
50 BARCLAY ST., NEW YORK CITY 
100 Van Dyk Stores in 30 cities. 
ONIONS HARD TO SELL 
What is the use of a carload of onions 
per acre and nobody to make an offer, a 
condition reported prevailing in some of 
the remoter sections of the United States 
and Canada? The growers’ prices any¬ 
where are low, generally nO to 60c a 
bushel. It is hard to advise, except, that 
the grower should study the cause of the 
markets and try hard to sell at. the right 
place and time. Reliable daily market 
reports are issued by the United States 
Bureau of Markets from branch offices in 
the leading cities. Just now city mar¬ 
kets are doing a little better for onions, 
some reaching $1.75 per 100 lbs. and 
showing improved demand. 
FIRM APPLE PRICES 
Demand for apples has beeu active, 
and the markets are doing about as well 
ns could be expected. Barreled stocks of 
best Winter kinds have ranged $4 to $5 
in the cities and around $4 in the coun¬ 
try. Ben Davis and other coarse kinds 
have sold a little lower, and Jonathan. 
Spy, King and other fancy kinds a little 
higher than these prices. Bulk stock lias 
been selling at S5c to $1.25 per 100 lbs. 
For cider apples 40c is the most common 
price, both in the United States and 
Canada. Probably nothing but the best 
grades will be put in the barrels, the 
cost of barrels ranging from $1.25 to 
$1.50 everywhere. The growers in many 
cases feel discouraged over prices they 
are receiving. Fruit growers who have 
some marketing organization through 
which they market their crop are better 
satisfied. The needs of this unusual sea¬ 
son are forcing growers in all lines to 
form new marketing associations, and 
quite a number of reports iudicate* that 
these associations are doing better for 
their members than the average growers 
can do for themselves. The same kind 
of reports come from sections raising 
potatoes, onions, apples, peaches and 
grapes. Nothing like a big crop year and 
low prices to hasten co-operation. 
Demand for second-grade apples has 
been much lighter than last year. Juice 
pressing activity switched to grapes 
rather than apples this season, and the 
grape crop both East and West lias proved 
one of the most profitable ever harvested. 
Apple growers have done pretty well 
when near the big markets, bnt appealing 
letters come from the remote sections 
where nobody will look at the crop and 
the owner can get no barrels, and dares 
not ship in bulk. He is taking chances 
if be stores in cellar bins and trusts to 
finding barrels or baskets later, but some¬ 
times that appears about the only thing 
to lie done. The foreign market started 
well, but prices soon went down too low 
for profit except for the best., and now 
the price limit has gone into force again 
two weeks earlier than at first announced. 
Pears have sold well in England, and a 
few trial shipments of peaches gave 
fairly encouraging results. _ American 
prunes are often somewhat acid, but are 
becoming popular in England. Grapes 
may do the same. Eastern fruit growers, 
until this season, have never made a ser¬ 
ious attempt to push into foreign mar¬ 
kets, except for apples. g. b. f. 
Southern Hemisphere Grain Outlook 
The wheat yield of Australia, South 
Africa and Argentina promises to he 
larger than usual. The harvest will run 
through December and January. Aus¬ 
tralia is said to have about 11,500,000 
acres in wheat, or 90 per cent more 
BOYS and GIRLS! 
Here’s a Fine Opportunity to Earn 
Some Christmas Money 
A you a bright, energetic farm boy or girl, 
xV about 16 years of age? We want to hear 
from one in every township in your county. 
We want you to do some interesting, instruc¬ 
tive work for us, for which we’ll pay you well. 
All you have to do is send us the names of 
your neighbors who own automobiles or auto trucks. 
The amount you can earn depends on your own 
ability. 
We have nothing to sell you; it isn’t going to 
cost you a cent. You don’t need to be experienced 
in any trade, business or profession. Just a bit of 
common sense, tact and a pleasant smile. 
Write us by return mail—give your 
name, address, your age, township 
and county in which you live. 
We’ll tell you all about our plan. 
The Merchants Company 
8th Floor, Niagara Life Bldg. 
Buffalo, N. V. 
