1818 
One hundred dwarf Duchess pears set between Bald¬ 
win apples never amounted to anything, as they 
evidently demanded good culture instead of sod: 200 
peach trees found the Winters too severe, and only 
half a dozen are left. Sweet cherries have the same 
complaint against the climate. Bartlett and Law¬ 
rence pears have made poor growth, evidently re¬ 
quiring something more than sod culture. 
FAILURES WITH BERRIES.—Several attempts 
at starting berries have proved failures. In one case 
the ground had been plowed and furrowed and the 
^plants dropped in the rows when a snowstorm sud¬ 
denly started and covered up plants and rows six 
Looking Over the Gasoline Engine. Fig , 600 
inches deep. As I only had the one day. they had 
to be planted at once, so in they went, snow and 
plants together, in a rather clayey soil, and that 
attempt ended in failure. Another season a straw¬ 
berry bed was attempted, several thousand plants 
ordered, but when they came the ground was bone 
dry, and while waiting in vain for rain the plants 
molded in the cellar and had to be planted before 
any rain came. Result—failure. I have a lot of 
about three acres which is too wet to grow cultivated 
crops. T had it plowed and ditched, so that the sur¬ 
face water was taken care of. but before I could get 
it planted the weeds took possession, and that effort 
failed, although there is less marsh grass than be¬ 
fore. I am trying again this Fall by having it plowed 
for corn next Spring. These arc only a few of my 
mishaps and failures. Many of them were such 
because I could not be there to do the right thing at 
the right time, and the help I could hire naturally 
preferred to attend to their own crops before ours. 
BACK TO THE CITY.—One year, after about 
seven years of preparation, I felt I was ready for 
the jump from the city to the farm, and moved all 
my belongings and settled down to live on the farm. 
However, I guessed wrong, for it did not rain from 
the tirst of April until some time in August, so that 
nothing would grow to any advantage, and even the 
few apples on my young trees shriveled up and 
dropped off. The only thing that did grow was a 
few rows of parsley, which evidently happened to be 
in a particularly favorable spot. I was also favored 
with a visit from 17-year locusts. So in the Fall, 
after I had spent all my savings, I went back to the 
city with empty pockets, but unquenched ambition, 
determined to try again. That is still my determina¬ 
te RURAL NEW-YORKER 
tion, but I do not want to make another fizzle of it, 
so I am holding back till 1 think conditions are all in 
my favor. 
A LABOR PROBLEM.—To bring about that con¬ 
dition it has been apparent to me that the orchard 
is getting too big for me to handle it with such labor 
as I can hire at odd times, and the week-ends and 
holidays that I can give my own time to it. So that 
means I must have some one to live and work on 
the farm all the year. I have not enough capital to 
risk it myself, so must hire a man by the year. I 
have succeeded in getting a man who has lived all 
his life in the neighborhood as a farmer, has an 
excellent reputation for honesty, which is a prime 
requisite in my case, and is particularly interested 
in fruit, skilled in pruning and grafting, and caring 
nothing for city life. I feel I have been fortunate 
in getting him. and am paying him his own price, 
and feel he is worth it. Having him. I have been 
able to buy and keep a horse and cow. which I could 
not otherwise do. Also I feel safe in buying a com¬ 
plete outfit of tools, which I dared not do before, as 
unfortunately such things cannot be left unguarded 
in the country any more than they can in the city. 
MARKETING DIRECT.—In this season of low 
prices for apples I have hopes of marketing my fruit 
at a reasonable profit, as I find many people would 
like to buy’-direct from the producer if they could 
feel sure of getting a square deal. The city people 
feel that they are being gouged.by the retail green¬ 
grocer and fruit dealers, but feel helpless to over¬ 
come it. Flat dwellers do not seem able to get to¬ 
gether to co-operate any better than the average farm 
community, otherwise they could be reached in that 
way. It might be fair to say that most fiat, dwellers 
are only slightly acquainted with their neighbors, 
and the idea of co-operation does not impress them 
as desirable. Even such efforts as are made are 
being discouraged by the dealers. One case that 
came under my observation was a little factoryelub 
that had been pooling their orders and buying but¬ 
ter, eggs and bacon from a large packer. A week 
oi- two ago. when they asked for prices, the firm 
told them, that the Government had forbidden them 
to sell to co-operative associations. I have heard of 
no such law, but have heard that the retail dealers 
had threatened to boycott any wholesale firm that 
sold to co-operative societies. That seems to indicate 
a conspiracy in restraint of trade. 
PARCEL POST.—In dealing with the consumer 
by parcel post we found that triany baskets came 
through in bad shape. Through advertising we had 
obtained orders for quite a number of bushel baskets, 
and we thought to 'secure their yafe delivery by in¬ 
suring them. In spite of that we had many com¬ 
plaints. One man received some apples delivered 
loose in the postman's bag. Another had 12 pounds 
removed. Another received,one basket in good shape, 
the other with two layers of apples removed. The 
insurance itself is not worth collecting on such small 
losses, for the time spent in getting evidence and 
swearing to it before a notary and the expense would 
amount to more than the loss. But the packages 
arriving in such poor condition discourage both re¬ 
ceiver and sender. It may be that registering the 
package would secure better results, but that adds 
another item of expense already high enough. Some 
of the postal employees are extremely careless and 
worse in regard to the care of packages in their 
charge. As an example, recently in passing a branch 
postoffice in New York City, a box of radishes 
had broken open, and instead of the employees fixing 
the box they were amusing themselves by throwing 
them at each other. Another easfc at the same office, 
the packages were being tossed by a man in the 
office to another on the curb to be put in a waiting 
wagon, but the catcher thought it amusing to pre¬ 
tend to miss some of the packages and let them drop 
in the gutter. A number of like cases have come to 
my notice lately, and seem to denote a great de¬ 
terioration in the morale of the force. One hesitates 
to ship by express because of the delay and difficulty 
of getting a settlement for loss or damage of ship¬ 
ments. so it seems as though the line of least re¬ 
sistance is in shipping by freight to the commission 
man. and let him collect for your losses. What fruit 
I cannot sell at once at a fair profit I am put¬ 
ting in cold storage, in hope that prices will ad¬ 
vance enough to pay a profit. At present wholesale 
prices they do not pay a profit. To sum up my little 
story, after 17 years I have a farm free and clear, 
with fair buildings, a nice young orchard, improving 
every year, and now bringing an income that nearly 
if not quite pays expenses, and a prospect of event¬ 
ually being able to retire from the city job and sup¬ 
port myself comfortably and be independent. It has 
taken me 17 years to get so far. Was it worth the 
time and effort? I think so. a. a. young. 
New York. 
December 4, 1020 
A Thirteen-Cent Dollar 
A writer in the Philadelphia Record follows a sale 
of Grimes Golden apples through to what lie calls the 
goat-public. These apples were grown in Adams 
Co., Pa. 
A jobber bought this barrel out of a carload at $3.50’ 
on this there were costs to the grower of .$1.25 for a new 
barrel (which he loses). 00c freight and 35c commis¬ 
sion. This leaves the farmer $1.30 to grow and main- 
rain his trees, spray, pick and pack his fruit, haul it to 
the station and load it on the car. It cost the jobber 
30c to truck the barrel of apples to his store in our 
town, where he sold it to a retailer at $5.50, with an¬ 
other 20e cost of delivery to the retailer. At the little 
corner store six short blocks from the jobber’s place the 
Hauling In the Crops. Fig. 602 
apples were priced at 30c a quarter peck, or about $10 
a barrel. 
Tbat.b a very fair statement. We can easily 
duce many which make a worse showing. Then our 
friend goes on: 
Summary: Out of a dollar which Mr. Goat-Public 
spent for apples the barrel-maker got 12 * 40 . the rail¬ 
road 6c, the drayman 5c, the jobber 15c, the retailer 
45c, the much-maligned commission man 3*4c (just half 
the price of a cheap cigar), while the farmer, who had 
more capital involved and did more work than all the 
rest combined, got a measly 13c. 
A 13-eent dollar does not send a man with his fam¬ 
ily on any European trip, especially when 40c shirts 
cost $1.50, while a pair of shoes cost eight calfskins 
or three horsehides, while 300 lbs. of wool are needed 
to buy a suit of clothes—three-fourths shoddy. Then 
this writer makes what he calls an “explanation”: 
Explanation : It is apparent even to a city editor that 
the farmer just now is not profiteering in fruit, especial¬ 
ly when everything he eats, wears or uses (including 
his subscription to the Record) is at least double the 
pre-war price. In fact, from present market conditions 
the grower would be justified in turning more Berk- 
shires into his orchard and shipping less to the Angoras. 
Nor is the commission man such a bad actor, since lie 
comes within 3*4c of having an alibi. It is nothing in 
bis young life to give the other fellow’s stuff away. The 
jobber and retailer have their own money involved, and 
are going to get more while the getting is good. 
It-seems that the main reasons for high costs to the 
consumer are: (1) Too many fingers in the apple bar¬ 
rel before the goat-public gets a chance to nibble the 
fruit. (2) Packages and transportation cost more than 
ever. (3) Goat-public buys in hand-to-mouth quan¬ 
tities; a family buys a quarter-peck where they ought 
to use a bushel. Hence the little corner store. 
There is much truth in that. The consumers are 
partly to blame for the high cost of food. Go and 
look at the way they buy, and then glance at the 
garbage pail. 
It is said that when the great Ben Franklin first 
walked up Market Street in your village he ate from one 
loaf of bread as he carried (Continued on page 1S22) 
The Bog amt His Guinea Bigs. Fig. 603 
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