966 
7h*  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
July  21.  192.°. 
by  Class  1  roads,  east  and  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  as  reported  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com¬ 
mission:  (Class  1  roads  are  those  reporting  over  a 
million  dollars  worth  of  business  per  year.) 
RAIL  MOVEMENT  BY  MONTHS— Fruits  and 
vegetables  have  periods  of  maturity,  at  which  time 
they  must  be  harvested  and  either  stored,  if  they 
permit  of  storage,'  or  be  sold  and  consumed.  Many 
commodities  have  no  value  unless  sold  in  a  rela¬ 
tively  short  time  after  harvesting,  for  example,  fresh 
vegetables,  small  fruits,  although  some  of  them  may 
be  canned  or  dried  for  future  use,  but  there  is  an 
increasing  demand  on  the  part  of  the  American  pub¬ 
lic  for  fruits  and  vegetables  direct  from  the  orchard 
or  field.  In  no  other  country  can  one  see  such  a 
wonderful  assortment  of  things  to  eat  in  such 
amounts.  Few  countries  possess  such  a  variety  of 
soils  and  climates,  and  none  possess  such  rail  sys¬ 
tems  and  equipment,  and  it  is  the  latter  which  have 
made  possible  the  wonderful  diversity  of  foods  and 
the  present  high  standard  of  living  in  America. 
Americans  do  not  appreciate  the  bounteous  provis¬ 
ions  with  which  they  are  blest;  they  are  so  used  to 
the  shipments  of  fruits  and  vegetables  originate  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  raeific  Coast  States 
are  now  growing  about  half  of  the  perishable  food 
supply  of  the  East.  The  loaded  cars  are  started 
for  Chicago,  and  when  they  reach  that  point  they 
are  either  stored  or  diverted  to  the  Eastern  market 
which  seems  to  be  most  favorable  at  the  time.  To 
show  the  volume  of  this  traffic,  during  1920  one  car¬ 
icing  station  in  Chicago  iced  200,000  refrigerator 
cars,  and  in  one  period  of  12  hours  this  plant  iced 
S50  cars  which  required  1,150  tons  of  ice ;  this  will 
give  some  idea  of  the  vast  rail  movement  through 
the  Chicago  yards.  Chicago  is  the  largest  center 
in  the  world  for  the  carlot  distribution  of  fresh 
fruits  and  vegetables.  It  is  the  great  transporta¬ 
tion  center  of  the  country,  and  from  it  radiates  the 
great  trunk  lines  that  either  tap  the  producing  cen¬ 
ters  or  reach  the  main  points  of  consumption.  The 
cold  storage,  devoted  to  the  storage  of  perishable 
food  products  is  the  largest  in  the  world. 
THE  GROWTH  OF  RAIL  MOVEMENTS.— The 
population  of  the  United  States  increased  60  per 
cent  in  the  20  years,*  1899  to  1919:  the  rail  move- 
East  of 
West  of 
Total 
%  Tonnage 
Mississippi 
Mississippi 
United  States 
East 
West 
Cars 
Tons 
Cars 
Tons 
Cars 
Tons 
Miss. 
Miss. 
45,357 
704,450 
40,064 
720,059 
85.421 
1.424,509 
49.45 
50.55 
202.984 
2,958.377 
152,410 
2.293,038 
355.394 
5.251.415 
56.33 
43.67 
122,682 
2,353.211 
96,531 
1,763.371 
219.213 
4.116.582 
57.16 
42.84 
94.185 
1,309.581 
60,174 
904.099 
154.359 
2.213,680 
59.16 
40.84 
21.204 
446.805 
23,777 
718,889 
44,981 
1,165,694 
38.33 
61.67 
65,274 
1,484.393 
59,037 
1.590.198 
124,311 
3.080,591 
48.19 
51.81 
9.256.817 
431,993 
7,995.654 
983,679 
17.252,471 
53.73 
40.27 
465.208 
7.325,619 
349,179 
5,680.567 
814,387 
13,006.186 
56.41 
43.59 
..86,478 
1,931,198 
82,S14 
2,315,087 
169.292 
4,246,285 
45.48 
54.52 
40,372 
585,199 
52,610 
922,532 
99  982 
1,507,731 
38.81 
61.19 
164.474 
2,148.130 
164,792 
2.481,027 
329,266 
4,629.157 
46.40 
53.60 
135.079 
2,505.654 
119,305 
2,133.264 
254.384 
4,638,918 
54.01 
45  99 
95.522 
1.191.610 
51.955 
696,473 
147.477 
1,888,083 
(‘>3  11 
35.89 
20.861 
40.3,505 
26. 1 17 
775.438 
46.978 
1.178,934 
34.23 
65.77 
61.145 
1.300.394 
52,411 
1,325.281 
113.556 
2.025,675 
49.53 
50.47 
517,453 
8,134,492 
467,190 
8.334,015 
984.643 
16.468,498 
49.39 
50  61 
435.447 
6.430.59.3 
388,662 
6,233.296 
824.109 
12,663,889 
50.78 
49.22 
82,006 
1.703,899 
78,528 
2,100,719 
160,534 
3,804,609 
44.78 
55.21 
realize  that  they  reside  in  ment 
of  fruits  and  vegetables  increased  from 
4,582,- 
Commodity 
-  YEAR  1920  - 
Citrus  . . 
<  Rher  fresh  fruits  .... 
Potatoes  . 
Other  fresh  vegetables 
Dried  fruits  and  veget. 
Canned  food  products. 
TOTAL  . 
Total  fresh  . 
Total  dried  and  canned 
-  YEAR  1921  - 
Citrus  . 
Other  fresh  fruits  . . . 
Potatoes  . 
Other  fresh  vegetables 
Dried  fruits  and  veget 
Canned  food  products  . 
TOTAL  . 
Total  fresh  . 
Total  dried  and  canned 
the  lap  of  luxury.  Those  living  in  luxury  can  af¬ 
ford  to  be  critical.  We  can  have  strawberries  every 
day  of  the  year  from  some  part  of  our  land.  This 
crop  is  never  off  the  market.  Apples,  oranges,  lem¬ 
ons  and  other  fruits  are  always  on  sale;  asparagus, 
peas,  beans,  spinach,  lettuce,  celery  and  a  long  list 
of  other  vegetables  is  delivered  fresh  to  our  cities 
every  day  of  the  year  from  some  point,  and  usually 
shipments  from  two  or  three  competitive  points 
come  into  our  markets  at  the  same  time.  A  study 
of  the  rail  tonnage  of  fresh  fruits  and  vegetables  by 
months  shows  the  following: 
February  is  the  low  month,  with  about  5  per  cent ; 
January,  April  and  December  show  about  5.5  per 
cent  each ;  March  and  May  show  6.1  per  cent  and 
6.2  per  cent  respectively;  June,  S.2S  per  cent;  No¬ 
vember,  8.8  per  cent;  August  9.5  per  cent;  July, 
10.17  per  cent;  September,  12.96  per  cent;  while 
October  is  the  peak  month  with  16.39  per  cent.  The 
movement  in  October  is  as  heavy  as  that  of  Janu¬ 
ary,  April  and  December  combined,  and  a  material 
part  of  this  movement  is  to  storage.  The  move¬ 
ment  into  consumption  is  more  uniform  than  rail 
movement.  From  June  to  November  there  is  a 
heavy  movement  of  fresh  fruit  and  vegetables  to 
canneries,  although  many  of  these  establishments 
try  to  locate  where  they  can  secure  supplies  without 
payment  of  a  rail  charge  on  them.  There  is  more 
danger  attending  the  rail  movement  of  perishables 
in  the  Winter  than  in  Fall,  which  is  another  rea¬ 
son  for  the  heavy  Fall  movement  and  the  storage  of 
supplies  near  where  they  are  to  be  consumed. 
NEW  YORK  CITY  AND  CHICAGO.— It  has  been 
an  extremely  interesting  experience  to  ascertain 
what  market  is  in  the  mind  of  the  producers  of  the 
United  States.  There  is  one  market  in  the  minds  of 
most  of  them,  viz.:  New  York  City— to  produce  a 
grade  of  produce  which  will  top  the  New  York  mar¬ 
ket — it  crops  out  in  the  correspondence  with  the 
Texas  spinach  grower  who  is  trying  to  roll  his  first 
ear  the  middle  of  December  and  the  Florida  straw¬ 
berry  grower  who  is  trying  to  duplicate  the  perform¬ 
ance  with,  strawberries.  The  Japanese  growers  in 
the  Imperial  Valley,  California,  are  trying  to  do 
the  same  with  cauliflower  and  lettuce  and  celery; 
the  growers  of  the  Delicious  apples  in  Washington 
and  Newtons  in  Oregon  has  this  in  mind,  I  think, 
much  more  than  does  the  grower  of  fruits  and 
vegetables  in  Western  New  York.  New  York  City 
which  distributes  the  food  supply  of  about  10,000,- 
000  people  is  the  great  market.  It  receives  about  10 
per  cent  of  the  total  movement  and  while  Chicago 
is  the  great  diversion  point  for  much  of  the  Western 
fruit  and  vegetables,  it  does  not  approach  New 
York  in  importance  as  an  unloading  point.  Perhaps 
I  ought  to  make  this  point  clear.  About  half  of  all 
573  tons  to  19,726,069  tons  or  to  4.3  times  as  much 
as  it  was  in  1899.  This  remarkable  development  is 
food  for  thought.  Our  population  has  been  moving 
to  the  cities  and  centers  of  population,  but  the 
worker  on  the  farm  has  more  than  held  his  own  in 
productive  power,  in  fact,  the  gain  in  efficiency  of 
man  power  on  the  farms  was  greater  than  consump¬ 
tive  demand  and  at  the  present  time  we  need  less, 
not  more  workers  on  our  farms.  Germany  in  the 
decade,  1904  to  1914,  showed  a  similar  development 
in  the  movement  of  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  de- 
velopment.  of  large  industrial  centers  and  the  rnain- 
This  Winter  barnyard  scene  was  sent  us  by  Mr.  A. 
Hawkins  of  Suffolk  Co.,  N.  Y.,  owner  of  the  cow  and 
pig  shown.  This  pig  appears  to  have  eliminated  all 
of  the  middlemen  in  the  matter  of  milk  supply. 
tenance  of  the  workers  on  such  a  high  plane  of 
efficiency  is  possible  only  when  they  are  properly 
fed,  and  instinctively  these  workers  have  turned  to 
fresh  fruits  and  vegetables  as  their  source  of  vita- 
mines.  The  rail  movement  alone,  in  1919.  in  the 
United  States,  furnished  over  a  pound  of  fruits  and 
vegetables  per  day  to  every  man,  woman  and  child 
in  the  country,  and  the  movement  to  the  industrial 
centers  and  cities  of  the  United  States  exceeds  two 
pounds  per  day  per  person.  Fresh  fruits  and  vege¬ 
tables  have  become  an  important  part  of  the  diet 
in  America  and  a  considerable  part  of  our  gain  in 
efficiency  and  improvement  in  health  and  longevity 
is  undoubtedly  due  to  our  diet.  Constipation  is  the 
great  evil  of  a  sedentary  life  and  modern  conditions, 
and  fresh  fruits  and  vegetables  and  plenty  of  them 
is  the  remedy.  samtjel  fraser. 
Wild  Seedlings  for  Apple  Stocks 
I  wish  to  get  an  apple  orchard  started  by  transplant¬ 
ing  wild  apple  seedlings  from  the  woods  to  my  orchard, 
and  then  grafting  to  Baldwins.  I  am  planning  on 
grafting  about  1  ft.  from  the  ground,  so  if  it  does  not 
take  I  can  cut  down  6  in.  and  try  another  Spring.  I 
have  had  good  success  grafting  large  trees,  but  never 
succeeded  with  budding.  When  is  the  best  time  for  Fall 
transplanting?  Would  you  trim  the  wild  trees,  same 
as  you  do  nursery  stock,  when  planting?  Would  they 
take  root  enough  to  graft  in  the  Spring?  Would  I 
gain  anything  by  grafting  in  the  woods  and  transplant¬ 
ing  the  trees  that  took?  How  long  after  grafting  could 
I  transplant  in  the  orchard?  Of  course  it  would  be  a 
nuisance  to  keep  track  of  the  trees  in  the  wood.  I  need 
cash  for  other  farm  needs  more  pressing,  and  I  figured 
I  could  get  an  orchard  well  started  by  a  little  work. 
Connecticut.  r.  h. 
Not  a  Good  Plan 
THE  attempt  to  establish  an  apple  orchard  from 
trees  dug  in  the  pastures  and  woods  is  likely 
to  be  very  uncertain  and  perhaps  unsatisfactory,  as 
many  people  have  learned  to  their  sorrow.  It  is 
sometimes  possible  to  secure  a  few  trees  in  this  man¬ 
ner,  but  to  attempt  an  orchard  of  any  considerable 
size  is  almost  out  of  the  question.  The  ordinary 
small  apple  seedling  in  the  pasture  is  several  years 
of  age,  although  only  3  or  4  ft.  in  height;  conse¬ 
quently  it  has  been  stunted.  A  well-grown,  two- 
year-old  nursery  tree  would  be  from  3  to  5  ft.  in 
height.  Even  the  seedling  apple  stocks  which  the 
nurseryman  uses  for  propagation  are  2  to  3  ft.  in 
height  at  the  age  of  one  year,  hence  he  is  using  vig¬ 
orous  stocks  to  propagate  with. 
If  good  healthy  seedling  trees  can  be  secured  in 
the  pastures,  not  over  an  inch  in  diameter,  I  would 
advise  digging  them  in  the  late  Fall,  obtaining  as 
many  of  the  main  roots  as  possible.  These  trees 
should  be  set  in  a  nursery  row  about  2  ft.  apart  in 
the  row,  and  in  good  soil,  where  they  should  develop 
a  new  root  system  the  following  season.  The  reason 
for  the  Fall  setting  is  that  it  will  be  slow  work  dig¬ 
ging,  and  the  chances  are  that  if  left  until  Spring, 
growth  would  start  before  the  number  wished  for 
could  be  secured.  Also,  the  root  system  will  have 
time  to  become  somewhat  established  in  the  Fall. 
Some  trees  will  be  lost,  and  if  the  trees  are  in  a 
nursery  row,  no  large  blanks  will  be  noticed,  as 
would  be  the  case  if  the  trees  were  set  in  a  field  of 
one  to  four  acres. 
Early  in  the  Spring  of  the  second  season  the  trees 
should  be  transplanted  to  their  permanent  positions 
in  the  orchard,  and  at  once  grafted.  The  moving 
the  second  year  should  not  check  the  trees  at  all, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  a  compact  new  root  system 
has  been  developed,  and  as  the  work  is  finished  early 
in  the  Spring,  growth  will  not  be  checked,  and  the 
scions  should  make  a  good  growth  of  from  1  to  3  ft. 
during  the  season. 
If  a  sufficient  number  of  wild  seedlings  cannot  be 
secured,  and  the  grower  wishes  to  avoid  paying  out 
much  money,  I  would  suggest  that  he  secure  apple 
seedlings  from  some  nurseryman.  These  may  be 
root-grafted  during  the  Winter,  set  out  in  a  nursery 
row  and  budded  the  following  Summer,  or  else  set 
in  a  nursery  row  and  grafted  during  the  early 
Spring  of  the  second  season.  Another  method  of 
securing  reasonably  priced  trees  is  to  purchase  the 
one-year  whips  of  the  varieties  desired.  Anyone 
contemplating  setting  an  orchard  should  remember 
that  it  is  a  long-time  investment,  that  a  poor  tree 
may  be  more  expensive  in  the  long  run ;  stunted 
trees  seldom  develop  into  lax*ge  normal  trees.  An 
advantage  of  trees  grafted  by  the  grower  is  that 
they  are  “true  to  name.”  s.  p.  Hollister. 
Storrs,  Conn. 
Buy  Good  Nursery  Trees 
There  are  still  existent  in  the  State  many  trees, 
and,  in  a  few  cases,  considerable  parts  of  orchards, 
established  years  ago  by  transplanting  and  working 
over  volunteer  apple  seedlings.  But  with  this,  as 
with  many  other  things,  more  desirable  methods 
have  been  developed,  and  today  starting  an  orchard 
in  that  way  is  hardly  thought  of. 
If  the  questioner  cares  to  try  growing  trees  from 
volunteer  seedlings,  I  would  by  all  means  recom¬ 
mend  transplanting  the  seedlings  in  a  nursery  row 
and  getting  good  growth  before  working  them  over, 
for  while  they  have  sufficient  root  for  their  present 
environment,  few  have  enough  for  good  orchard 
growth.  In  fact,  I  do  not  believe  one  would  be  more 
warranted  in  starting  an  orchard  in  this  manner, 
simply  because  he  has  the  seedlings,  than  in  trying 
to  fence  his  farm  with  stone  wall  because  he  has  the 
stones,  and  of  course  some  very  serviceable  fences 
were  built  in  that  way  in  the  past,  and  could  be  now, 
but  few  try  it. 
The  best,  quickest,,  easiest,  and  by  ali  means  cheap¬ 
est  way  to  start  an  orchard  today  is  to  buy  the  best 
trees  procurable  from  some  reliable  nurseryman.  I 
say  cheapest,  because  I  feel  sure  the  time  spent  try¬ 
ing  to  grow  trees  in  the  way  suggested  would,  if 
spent  working  for  wages,  buy  a  greater  number  of 
better  trees.  wh.  hotaling. 
New  York. 
