276 
February  24,  1923 
seasons  I  have  had  a  chalice  to  observe  the  har¬ 
vesting  and  shipping  of  the  orange  crop  of  Southern 
California  and  the  table  grape  crop  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley.  The  output  of  both  kinds  of  fruit 
is  enormous,  running  up  into  many  thousands  of 
cars  each  year.  The  orange  growers,  as  everyone 
knows,  are  well  organized ;  the  table  grape  growers 
are  still  individualists,  contrary  to  popular  opinion 
in  the  East.  The  marketing  of  the  orange  crop  pro¬ 
ceeds  in  a  smooth  and  orderly  way,  and  the  grower 
loses  little  sleep,  as  he  knows  he  is  backed  by  a  pow¬ 
erful  organization,  and  while  he  may  not  always  get 
paying  prices  for  his  fruit  he  lias  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  he  is  getting  all  the  market  warrants,  based 
on  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.  The  table  grape 
grower  is  in  a  very  different  position.  Accustomed 
to  depend  on  local  buyers  to  purchase  the  fruit  on 
the  basis  of  so  much  a  ton,  delivered  at  the  packing 
houses  of  the  buyers,  the  growers  have  pi’ovided  no 
marketing  facilities  of  their  own.  Last  Fall,  with 
money  tight  and  fruit  of  all  kinds  plentiful  in  the 
East,  and  faced  by  a  car  shortage,  the  buyers  laid 
down  on  the  job.  The  growers  were  helpless.  Prob¬ 
ably  not  one  in  a  hundred  had  a  packing  house  in 
which  to  pack  his  fruit  for  shipment,  and  at  the  late 
date  when  his  dilemma  became  fully  apparent  it  is 
doubtful  if  he  could  have  obtained  packages  even  if 
he  was  equipped  with  a  packing  house.  Finally, 
firms  doing  a  commission  business,  which  had  been 
closely  watching  the  situation,  stepped  in,  hastily 
rented  or  otherwise  acquired  buildings  for  packing, 
and  opened  up  for  business.  The  growers  flocked  to 
these  houses  with  their  fruit,  until  the  houses  were 
swamped  and  the  operators  had  to  call  a  halt  on 
picking.  From  this  time  on  harvesting  dragged 
until  frosts  and  rains  put  an  end  to  operations,  with 
tons  of  fruit  still  ou  the  vines. 
THE  COMMISSION  BASIS.— On  the  commission 
basis  some  growers  got  fair  returns,  but  many  got 
red  ink.  One  of  the  best  growers  of  my  acquain¬ 
tance  told  me  his  returns  would  average  about  $40 
a  ton.  Another  grower  with  a  heavy  crop  of  good 
fruit  quit  the  season  owing  the  packing  house  $1,000 
for  packages  and  packing  charges,  was  out  the  en¬ 
tire  cost  of  harvesting,  and  still  had  about  30  tons 
of  grapes  on  the  vines.  But  the  table  grape  grow¬ 
ers  are  taking  their  medicine  manfully,  and  have 
industriously  set  to  work  to  organize.  What  other 
solution  is  there  to  the  problem?  What  chance  un¬ 
der  present  conditions  has  the  individualist  who 
must  market  his  crop  with  the  refrigerator  car  as 
the  unit,  whether  he  is  3,000  miles  from  market  or 
only  300?  More  power  to  The  It.  N.-Y.  in  the  cam 
paign  to  stir  producers  to  the  proper  course  of  ac¬ 
tion,  which  for  the  great  mass  of  growers  means  co¬ 
operative  organization.  s.  h.  fulton. 
California. 
Another  Version  of  Marketing 
DULL  TIMES. — It  was  with  great  interest  that  I 
read  the  Hope  Farm  man’s  notes  on  his  trip  to  Pat¬ 
erson  market.  I  was  not  surprised  to  see  it  in  his 
notes,  as  I  saw  him  at  the  market.  He  certainly  did 
pick  a  poor  time  to  come  down.  In  any  business,  as 
everyone  knows,  there  are  times  when  it  is  dull. 
Every  year  there  is  a  time,  from  four  to  six  weeks, 
when  the  produce  market  is  filled  to  overflowing. 
If  the  Hope  Farm  man  had  taken  a  trip  in  the 
Spring  or  any  time  up  to  August  1,  he  would  have 
seen  a  great  difference. 
BUYING  FOR  SALE.— I  do  not  think  he  should 
judge  the  market  from  onfe  trip,  nor  should  he  judge 
the  people  on  the  market  from  tye  experiences 
Thomas  had  with  the  “rat-faced  man,”  as  there  are 
“rat-faced  men”  in  any  business.  And,  what,  is  more, 
any  business  makes  its  money  in  its  buying  as  well 
as  selling.  For  instance,  if  the  retail  price  of  an 
article  is  so  mec\  and  a  man  can  buy  it  wholesale 
at  a  little  les  man  someone  else,  he  is  that  much 
ahead  of  the  game. 
SQUARE  DEALING.— I  have  been  going  to  Pater¬ 
son  market  for  about  20  years,  and  my  father  went 
before  me.  I  am  selling  to  some  of  the  same  people 
that  he  did.  I  have  made  some  very  good  friends  on 
the  market  just  by  putting  up  an  honest  package 
and  not  trying  to  get  the  best  of  them.  There  is  one 
buyer  of  a  store  on  the  East  Side  who  handles  noth¬ 
ing  but  the  very  best.  He  will  often  telephone  his 
order  before  I  leave  home  in  the  evening.  If  I  do 
not  have  all  the  things  he  wants,  or  do  not  think 
what  I  have  would  satisfy  him.  I  buy  them  for  him. 
Often  I  do  not  see  him.  excepting  on  Saturday  morn¬ 
ing,  when  he  pays  for  the  week.  I  have  never  made 
any  money  on  the  things  I  buy  for  him.  even  though 
it  means  a  little  extra  trouble.  But  he  is  a  good 
customer  and  I  can  always  depend  on  him  to  buy 
from  me  and  pay  a  good  price. 
Ibt  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
ADVANCE  ORDERS. — There  are  one  or  two  Ital¬ 
ian  peddlers  who  often,  if  things  are  scarce,  come 
around  the  night  before,  tell  me  what  they  want, 
and  ask  me  to  tell  a  certain  person  to  save  them 
what  they  want,  and  if  they  do  not  have  it  for  me 
to  try  to  buy  it  for  them  from  some  other  person. 
Sometimes  they  set  a  limit  on  the  price ;  other  times 
they  tell  me  to  buy  it  at  any  price.  It  all  depends 
on  what  it  is  and  how  badly  they  want  it.  Is  it  any 
trouble?  Yes,  it  is  some,  but  I  sell  to  these  same 
peddlers  three  times  a  week  from  the  first  of  May 
Until  November,  and  then  once  a  week  as  long  as 
our  Winter  carrots  last,  and  they  never  complain 
about  the  price. 
REGULAR  CUSTOMERS.— There  are  several 
people  who  stop  on  their  way  along  the  walk  and 
ask  how  many  dozen  of  asparagus  I  have  for  them, 
or,  in  tomato  season,  how  many  baskets  I  have 
saved  for  them,  and  never  ask  about  the  price.  I 
do  not  always  have  all  they  want,  but  they  do  not 
complain.  Sometimes  I  save  more  than  they  need. 
Then  they  ask  me  to  try  to  sell  the  extra  quantity, 
but  if  I  cannot  they  take  it  anyway.  Of  course 
there  are  plenty  of  people  who  will  get  the  best  of 
you  if  they  can,  but  that  is  true  in  any  business. 
One  morning  last  year  there  were  two  girls  down  to 
market  with  a  small  load.  They  were  young  girls 
about  13  and  15.  They  should  have  been  home  in 
bed,  as  the  market  is  no  place  for  children.  When 
the  market  clerk  went  to  collect  the  market  fee  they 
were  all  sold  out.  The  older  one  put  her  hand  in 
her  coat  pocket  to  get  out  her  money,  and  found  it 
was  gone.  They  looked  all  around,  but  could  not 
find  it  anywhere,  so  the  girl  began  to  cry.  By  that 
time  quite  a  crowd  had  gathered,  and  the  clerk 
asked  her  how  much  she  had  lost.  She  said  about 
$16,  and  no  doubt  it  was  quite  a  lot  to  her.  The 
clerk  took  off  his  hat  and  said.  “Come  on  boys,  half 
a  dollar  won’t  hurt  anyone,”  and  passed  his  hat 
among  the  crowd.  Well,  the  girl  got  more  than  the 
load  brought.  neae  demarest. 
New  Jersey. 
Milk  Supply  at  a  Sanitarium 
THE  picture  on  first  page  shows  a  group  of  Ayr¬ 
shire  grade  cows,  kept  for  milk  production  at 
the  Metropolitan  Life  Sanitarium,  in  Northern  New 
York.  This  life  insurance  company  maintains  a 
sanitarium  for  those  of  its  employes  who  suffer  from 
tuberculosis,  and  the  question  of  a  pure  milk  supply 
became  important.  Ayrshires,  both  purebred  and 
grades,  are  kept,  and  have  proved  very  satisfactory. 
The  following  story  is  related  to  show  the  quality  of 
Ayrshire  milk : 
Prior  to  the  purchase  of  our  initial  herd  we  had  been 
buying  a  very  good  milk  which  had  quite  a  yellow  cast 
as  it  stood  in  the  glass.  This  milk  was  used  in  the 
dining  rooms  and  on  all  the  patients’  tables.  When  we 
brought  our  very  white  Ayrshire  milk  into  use,  we 
immediately  had  vociferous  complaints  from  nearly  all 
our  patients  that  we  must  be  feeding  them  skim-milk, 
because  they  had  previously  been  getting  milk  with  a 
tine  golden  color,  and  now  the  milk  had  no  such  color 
at  all.  It  finally  became  necessary  to  meet  the  patients 
in  a  group  and  explain  just  what  had  happened,  and 
that  the  Ayrshire  milk  which  they  were  then  getting 
from  our  own  cows  had  a  slightly  higher  fat  content 
than  did  the  milk  they  had  been  previously  drinking. 
So  far  as  can  be  recalled,  that  is  the  only  criticism  that 
lias  ever  been  made  of  our  choice  of  milk,  and  not  infre¬ 
quently  letters  come  from  ex-patients  who  desire  to 
know  the  kind  of  milk  they  had,  in  order  that  when 
they  are  well  enough  situated  they  may  have  a  cow  that 
will  produce  that  kind  of  milk. 
The  appearance  of  the  cows  shown  in  the  picture 
will  indicate  the  prepotency  of  the  Ayrshire  bulls. 
These  cows,  representing  the  blood  of  various 
breeds,  all  show  the  characteristic  Ayrshire  type. 
Wide  Sleds  not  Wanted 
1IIAVE  wagons,  sleighs  and  a  Ford.  My  business 
is  trying  to  make  both  ends  meet  on  a  large  New 
York  farm  that  is  mine.  I  have  had  40  years  of 
hard  sledding  in  my  life,  in  Montana,  Vermont,  and 
here  on  the  old  East  Line,  Saratoga  County.  When 
I  was  teaming  in  the  mining  country  (Red  Moun¬ 
tain)  in  Montana,  back  in  1SS9,  I  tried  the  4-ft.  8-in. 
track,  and  soon  saw  my  mistake.  The  only  place 
this  works  right  is  in  the  timber  belt,  where  they 
ice  the  roads  and  keep  them  free  from  snow. 
Experience  shows  us  that  a  team  of  farm  horses 
driven  side  by  side  make  a  path  from  2  ft.  S  in.  to 
3  ft.  6  in.  wide.  They  are  the  power  that  packs  the 
snow  down  to  hold  up  the  sleigh.  If  the  sleigh  is 
wider  than  this  it  is  running  in  loose  snow.  A  team 
on  a  wagon  travels  inside  of  the  wagon  tracks.  This 
reason  alone  should  settle  the  question.  It  would 
be  much  harder  to  turn  with  a  wide-track  sleigh,  as 
each  runner  would  have  1  ft.  more  leverage  on  the 
tongue.  Also,  a  wide  track  sleigh  must  be  made  a 
great  deal  heavier,  as  the  4-ft.  8-in.  beam  will  need 
to  be  twice  as  strong  as  a  2-ft.  10-in.  beam,  which  is 
standard  here,  as  the  front  bolster  gets  its  pivot  in 
the  center  of  the  sleigh.  The  clearance  of  a  sleigh 
is  9  in.  How  long  could  they  run  in  an  auto  track 
which  must  go  to  the  ground?  A  foot  and  a  half  of 
drifted  snow  would  put  them  both  out  of  business. 
Also,  I  would  like  to  see  Mr.  Hall,  page  121,  turn 
out  of  a  9-in.  rut. 
The  1920  census  shows  over  163,000  dairy  farms 
in  this  State.  They  will  average  three  sleighs  to 
the  farm,  to  say  nothing  of  those  in  cities  and  towns. 
In  Northern  New  York  look  at  what  it  would  cost 
to  scrap  them,  as  our  present  sleighs  are  not  strong 
enough  to  widen.  I  figure  the  cost  from  fifty  to  sev¬ 
enty-five  million  dollars,  and  where  could  I  buy  the 
wide  ones? 
Mr.  Hall  says  he  would  be  glad  to  widen  out  his 
sleighs.  Let  him  try  it.  with  blacksmiths  charging 
$1  an  hour,  and  let  us  know  how  he  comes  out.  It 
costs  me  $3  to  get  a  team  of  horses  shod.  Before 
the  war,  $1.20.  I  paid  $9.50  to  get  a  front  buggy 
wheel  respoked  and  tire  set.  As  to  putting  runners 
on  our  wagons,  that  has  been  tried.  Let  him  try  it 
and  see  if  he  can  keep  right  side  up.  But  why  not 
put  the  sleighs  out  of  business  entirely,  and  only 
use  wagons? 
My.  Hall  does  not  say  in  what  part  of  New  York 
he  lives.  When  he  says  the  majority  of  the  farmers 
have  autos  he  is  correct.  They  also,  in  my  part  of 
the  State,  know  enough  to  try  not  to  buck  snow 
with  them.  He  adds  they  would  be  glad  to  have  this 
made  a  law.  lie  does  not  refer  to  Saratoga  County, 
as  I  do  not  think  he  can  find  one  farmer  to  agree 
with  him.  I  do  not  include  back-to-the-lamfers  or 
city  farmers,  of  which  we  have  plenty. 
I  have  lived  on  the  old  East  Line  road  for  the 
last  23  years,  and  with  one  exception  I  never  saw 
n  Winter  pass  but  we  had  to  leave  the  road.  To 
illustrate,  a  week  ago  last  Tuesday  the  mail  carrier, 
after  two  days  non-appearance,  owing  to  the  Sara¬ 
toga  and  Schenectady  State  roads  being  blocked, 
although  Saratoga  County  supervisors  up  to  date 
have  appropriated  $5,000  to  keep  the  main  State 
roads  opened,  ’phoned  the  town  superintendent  of 
roads  to  open  the  road  north  of  my  house,  which  I 
had  been  obliged  to  leave,  and  had  a  good  road 
through  the  fields,  but  it  made  the  road  about  200  ft. 
further  for  him  to  travel.  I  deliver  my  milk  to  the 
trolley  for  Schenectady  two  miles  from  my  place; 
must  be  there  at  8:25  a.  m.  So  far  I  have  never 
missed  connections,  so  you  can  see  the  road  was 
passable  for  me.  On  my  return  last  Tuesday  I 
found  five  men  and  a  team  busy  shoveling  the  road 
out 
The  superintendent  asked  me  what  I  thought 
about  it.  I  said :  “The  boys  want  to  work,  don't 
they?  Go  to  it,  but  I  doubt  if  there  will  ever  a  team 
pass  through  it.”  They  worked  hard  all  day  and 
got  through  one-sixth  of  a  mile  about  quitting  time 
at  a  cost  of  $20.80.  That  night  a  wind  came  up  and 
there  has  not  been  a  team  through  the  road  up  to 
date,  and  will  not  be  till  Spring.  We  still  have 
February  and  March  to  hear  from. 
As  I  write  this,  January  31,  it  is  snowing,  a  good 
west  wind,  with  State  roads  banked  4  ft.  high  on 
both  sides  of  a  one-way  track.  As  it  is  now,  you 
will  only  be  able  to  hear  from  Saratoga  County  by 
wireless,  but  I  will  still  be  delivering  my  milk  to 
the  trolley,  as  there  is  no  State  road  between  me 
and  it.  fkank  e.  weed. 
Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y. 
R.  N.-Y. — It  is  reported  that  Assemblyman  Joiner 
of  Wyoming  County  has  introduced  a  bill  which 
would  require  that  after  January  1,  1925,  the  run¬ 
ners  of  the  sleighs  must  be  4  ft.  8  in.  apart,  or  the 
same  width  as  automobiles.  Violation  of  the  pro¬ 
posed  statute  would  be  made  a  misdemeanor  pun¬ 
ishable  by  a  fine  of  $10. 
In  Favor  of  Wide  Tires 
I  would  like  to  commend,  also  add  to,  the  article  on 
page  121,  by  Frank  F.  Hall,  in  regard  to  the  widening 
of  sleighs.  The  main  argument  used  in  favor  of  their 
being  widened  is  that  it  would  make  it  much  better  for 
the  using  of  automobiles,  trucks,  etc-.,  in  Winter.  This 
is  all  very  true,  but  it  would  also  make  it  much  better 
for  the  using  of  horses  and  sleighs,  as  well.  I  said, 
more  than  30  years  ago,  long  before  the  auto  came  into 
use,  that  I  wished  there  might  be  a  law  compelling 
farmers  to  widen  their  sleighs.  It  is  quite  difficult  for 
the  heavy  teams  now  used  on  the  farms  to  walk,  to  say 
nothing  about  trotting,  in  the  narrow  snow  track  as  it 
is  now,  and  in  going  over  snowbanks  the  narrow  track 
is  mainly  responsible  for  horses  crowding,  which  we 
have  all  had  more  or  less  experience  with.  Larger 
loads  could  be  drawn  with  much  less  danger  of  tip¬ 
ping  over,  and  in  the  Spring  when  the  roads  break  up 
and  the  banks  get  soft,  how  much  better  it  would  be  to 
have  the  track  as  wide  as  a  wagon  than  to  have  the 
wheels  cutting  off  on  each  side,  and  the  horses  trying 
to  keep  on  a  high  ridge  in  the  middle.  Of  course  this 
applies  more  to  the  back  country  districts  than  to  the 
main  improved  roads  that  are  kept  cleared  of  snow  at 
quite  a  heavy  expense.  F.  B.  I. 
Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y. 
