1 
546 
American Agriculturist, June 30,1923 
Reviewing the Latest Eastern Markets and Prices 
POTATO GROWERS TOUR LONG 
ISLAND 
HERSCHEL H. JONES 
S WELTERING heat did not check 
the enthusiasm of some two hundred 
people who assembled at Nassau County 
Court House on the morning of June 
20th, for the sixth annual Long Island 
Potato Tour. Anyone who came to this 
tour expecting it to be an affair of 
chiefly local interest, must have been 
surprised to find it almost international. 
There were men from Canada, Maine, 
Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, D. C., 
New Jersey, Connecticut, up-State 
New York and I don’t know how many 
other places outside Long Island. 
Even the layman who has not ac¬ 
quired a speaking acquaintance with 
the 57 varieties of bugs and diseases 
that do their best to make life difficult 
for the potato, could get a lot out of 
this tour. The personal contact and 
exchange of information between grow¬ 
ers, scientists, seed stock producers, 
dealers and educators was the outstand¬ 
ing accomplishment. It was a satis¬ 
faction to see the extent to which New 
Jersey apd New York were cooperating 
all through the program. New Jersey’s 
potato tour was held the first two days 
in the week and many of the men came 
on over from New Jersey to the Island 
for the following three days. 
Attention was centered on control of 
insects, and diseases and improvement. 
The first day’s trip covered farms 
chiefly in Nassau County, where po¬ 
tato seed demonstrations were being 
conducted. After examination of the 
plots there were talks by various ex¬ 
perts, with S. H. Weeks, presiding. 
The Thursday tour started at River- 
head and went over to the Southside in 
vicinity of Southampton, Bridgehamp- 
ton and Watermill, visiting the farms 
ofyL. E. Downs, H. Morgan Topping, 
J. , C. Corwith and others. Potato 
marketing was discussed in the evening. 
Friday’s trip started at Riverhead, and 
covered other Suffolk County farms in¬ 
cluding those of H. R. Talmadge of 
Riverhead, H. J. Reeve, Mattituck, 
Rufus W. Tuthill, Orient and T. C. 
Fox, Southhold. 
The potato fields began to show the 
need of rain seriously last week. The 
Cobbler crop in Nassau County looked 
fine but anorther ten days of drought 
would do great damage. 
SMALL FRUITS MORE PLENTIFUL 
Increased receipts of strawberries 
tended to keep prices down last week. 
More than half the total supply came 
froin New Jersey, with Delaware sec¬ 
ond, and New York fourth. The de¬ 
mand was comparatively light and the 
market continued dull and weak. Hud¬ 
son Valley berries sold June 20th, best 
1-8 @ 25c. 
Cherries from Hudson Valley sections 
were considerably more plentiful, but 
mostly of ordinary quality. Following 
were wholesale prices, per quart, June 
20: red sweet, 16@20c; white sweet, 
best, 17 @ 18c; ordinary, 1214 (S)15c; 
black sweet, 20 @22c; red sour, best, 
H6@20c. 
^ Heavier receipts of gooseberries with 
a light demand caused a weak market 
for them last week. Four quart baskets, 
sold June 20, at 75 to 85c for large; 65 
@70c medium; 50@60c for small. 
LONG ISLAND CABBAGE IN 
Long Island Cabbage made its first 
appearance for the season in the New 
York farmers markets last week and 
sold at from 8 to 12c per head. Crates 
of New Jersey cabbage of about 100- 
lbs., sold at $3.25 to $3.50 per crate. 
Supplies of green peas from nearby 
sections increased. Fancy green peas 
sold readily at firm prices reaching as 
high as $3.50@$4 per bu. bag for best 
toward the end of the week and some 
fancy at $4.25 to $4.50. 
Fancy, well headed lettuce advanced 
with some sales at $2 per 32 qt. crate. 
Orange County lettuce sold June 21 at 
$1.50 to $2.75 per crate of 2 doz. heads. 
Following are wholesale prices of other 
nearby vegetables as sold in the farmers 
markets: ' ASPARAGUS—per doz. 
bunches, white and green, prime, best 
$2.50 @ $3, fancy $3.25 @$3.50, culls $1 
@ $1.25; BEETS—per bunch 5@6c; 
CAULIFLOWER—per slat bbl, best 
$2.75 @ $3, fancy. $3.25 @ $3.50, fair 
$2.50, No. 2’s $1.25@$1.50; CARROTS 
—per bunch 4@5c; ONIONS—spring 
per bunch 4@5c; RADISHES — per 
bunch, red tip 3 @ 3^c, white tip 214 
@ 3c, white radishes 3 @ 4c, black 
radishes 4@6c; RHUBARB — per 
bunch 2 @ 3c; SPINACH—per crate 
(32 qt.) best $1.25 @$1.50, ordinary $1. 
Out of 911 carloads of potatoes re¬ 
ceived at New York in the week ending 
June 16, 738 came from North and 
South Carolina, and only four from 
New York State, with 49 from Maine. 
EGG RECEIPTS FALL OFF 
Receipts of nearby eggs in the New 
York market fell off slightly last week 
and the average quality was very much 
poorer. There is still a surplus of ordi- 
little of which is arriving. The follow¬ 
ing were wholesale prices on broilers 
June 21 — colored, large, 48 @ 50c; 
colored, small, 42 @ 43c; white leghorn, 
fancy, large, 40c; small, 30@35c. 
The extreme warm weather had a de¬ 
cided effect on the consumption of fowls, 
and trading in the wholesale market 
was dull. Fancy fowls brought from 
23 to 24c per lb. 
BUTTER MARKET ACTIVE 
After holding off for weeks in ex¬ 
pectation of a decline in wholesale 
butter prices, buyers finally began to 
buy in earnest last week for storage 
purposes. They have little time left in 
which to get their supplies in under 
the June cold storage mark, June butter 
American Agriculturist Radio Market Service 
/^NE of the chief aims of American Agriculturist is to aid our people 
with their marketing problems. On this page we have been fur¬ 
nishing for months the most accurate and the most valuable market 
page published. We have now extended this market service by mak¬ 
ing cooperative arrangements with the New York State Department 
of Farms and Markets and the American Telephone and Telegraph 
Company to broadcast from the WEAF station (492 meter wave 
length) the very latest market reports at 10:50 A. M. every day in 
the week except Satui’day, Sunday and Monday. 
If you have a radio be sure to tune in and have paper and pencil 
ready to take down these prices. If you don’t have a j:adio, ask your 
neighbor who does have one for the information. We think if you 
use this service it will save you hundreds of dollars during the 
season. Blanks for taking down the prices will be furnished free 
on application to American Agriculturist, 461 4th Avenue, New York. 
nary grades of eggs and a range of 
25 @ 30c covered the bulk of the sales 
during the week. Quantities of fairly 
good but not fancy nearby eggs were 
moved out at 27 to 28c per dozen. 
Really fancy, large size, full-bodied 
light yolk, nearby whites or browns are 
scarce and will sell quickly at top 
quotations. Discriminating buyers had 
to shop around last week to fill their 
requirements with fancy eggs. 
Production has apparently been affected 
by the hot weather. If such weather 
continues it is likely to bring a steadily 
stronger market and advancing prices 
for the top grade of fancy eggs, such 
as the best Vineland marks. The ship¬ 
per who will gather and handle his eggs 
so as to cause a minimum of heating 
and deterioration will be rewarded. It 
is well to remember that a case of eggs 
can deteriorate more in one day if ex¬ 
posed to heat than in several months 
in cold storage. Keep them in a cool, 
dry place. 
BROILERS IN FREE SUPPLY 
Due to plentiful receipts of broilers, 
the market as a whole had a somewhat 
easier^ tendency last week. However, 
there is a ready demand for fancy stock. 
being considered the best. Over 2,000- 
000 lbs., were put away last week. 
Prices continued very firm, with 3914 c 
being paid quite generally for cream¬ 
ery extras. It is now estimated that 
the average price of extras in the 
month of June this year will be around 
39c compared with 36.65c average for 
June, 1922. 
CHEESE PRICES “PYRAMID” 
The New York wholesale cheese mar¬ 
ket affords a good example at present 
of what is commonly called “Pyramid¬ 
ing of prices”, in trade parlance. In¬ 
stead of going down as might be ex¬ 
pected at this time of the year, cheese 
wholesale prices have held very steady 
right into the flush season and-have 
even tended to advance. In the last 
week State whole milk flats, fresh, 
average run advanced to 25 @ 25^40 
per lb., which was 14 c more than a 
week before. Consumption of cheese has 
not shown any phenominal increase. 
The explanation is not apparent in the 
statistics of holdings or production. It 
seems that the real cause is that this 
year, a considerable number of dealers 
in New York sought to cover their 
year’s needs by contracts with up-State 
Quotations From Eastern Markets 
The following are the prices at which farm products of special interest to 
eastern farmers sold on June 21: 
Eggs, Nearbys (cents per dozen) 
New Jersey hennery whites uncandled, extras... 
Other hennery whites, extras. 
Extra firsts. 
Firsts.. 
Gathered, whites, first to extra firsts....!!!!!! 
Lower grades . . 
Hennery browns, extras. 
Gathered browns and mixed colors, extras. 
Pullets No. 1. 
Butter (cents per pound) 
Creamery (salted) high score. 
Extra (92 score)..■. 
State dairy (salted), finest. 
Good to prime. 
New York Buffalo 
38@40 . 
37 . 
30@33 27@28 
28 @29 . 
28 @32 . 
25@27i4 . 
33@35 . 
28@32 25@26 
25 @28 . 
39% @40 42@43 
38%@39 40@41 
381/2 38 @39 
37@38 32@37 
Phila. 
27 
24 
Hay and Straw, Large Bales (per ton) 
Timothy No. 2.. 
Timothy No. 3. 
Timothy Sample. 
Fancy light clover mixed.. 
Alfalfa, second cutting. 
Oat straw No. 1... 
U. S. Grades Old Grade Standards 
$24@25 $19@20 $21@22 
21@23 19@20 
14 @19 . . 
25@26 21@22 
29 @30 .'. . . 
10 15 
Live PoultrjL Express Lots (cents per lb.) 
Fowls, colored fancy, heavy. 
Fowls, leghorns and poor. 
.... 23@24 
23 @24 
21 @22 
40 
20 @22 
Broilers, colored fancy. 
35@55 
Broilers, leghorn. 
Live Stock (cents per pound) 
30 
28@34 ‘ 
Calves, good to medium. 
.... 10@11 
iiy2@i2 
4@6 
12@14 
31/2 @ 51/2 
8@8y2 
Bulls, common to good. 
.... 3@4 
Lambs, common to good. 
.... 10@14 
Sheep, common to good ewes... 
.... 2% @4% 
Hogs, Yorkers .... 
.... 7% @8% 
plants. There was a good deal of com¬ 
petition among buyers to get their sup¬ 
plies and premiums were offered at %c 
to as high as 114 c, or more, above the 
current quotation in New York City 
for average run flats. The result is 
that all these supplies that would ordi¬ 
narily come into the market at this 
time of year have been cut off. The 
buyers who are not covered by a con¬ 
tract have to buy in the market and 
tend to boost the market up. This, of 
course, means that the contract men 
have to pay just that much more and 
so on, the prices are piled or pyramided 
up until the point is reached where 
there can be no possible speculative 
profit. 
This happens to be a case where the 
farmer and the' dairyman gains by an 
inflation of prices.' The leaders in the 
cheese market are thinking pretty hard 
about how they are going to escape 
getting squeezed by their own economic 
forces. There is talk of trying to get 
the old up-State cheese boards revived, 
also of diverting trade to Wisconsin 
cheese. 
HAY PRICES FLUCTUATE 
The old story of see-sawing hay 
prices describes the situation in the 
wholesale hay market last week. Heav¬ 
ier receipts brought prices down. Then 
under the permit system, shipments will 
be cut off until the market cleans up 
accumulations. There was an over¬ 
supply of lower grades, especially the 
type of hay received by barge. Dark 
clover is hard to sell at any price. The 
crop seems generally fo be poor. Pro¬ 
ducers of hay for market are reminded 
that under the new Federal grading 
system, greenness of color is recog¬ 
nized as the primary index of quality, 
and that early cutting has more than 
anything else to do with getting a grade 
of hay with the highest market and 
feed value. 
DRESSED CALF MARKET DULL 
Although fresh receipts of country 
dressed calves were rather light last 
week, the trade is slow and the market 
is not^ clearing. There are very few 
good little veals available, as usual at 
this time of year, and there is some 
call for them. Sales on June 21 were 
17c for best quality, 16c for choice and 
poorer grades ranged down to about 
10c and even lower. 
Offerings of live calves were so light 
that prices were fairly steady and un¬ 
changed, with best veals bringing $12 
@ $12.50. 
SHIP YOUR EGGS 
WHITE AND BROWN 
To R. BRENNER & SONS 
Bonded Commission Merchants 
358 Greenwich St., New York City 
LEARN A ND EARN 
DOUBLE-ENTRY 
bookkeeping 
You can learn Correct—Mod¬ 
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from home practice. No techni¬ 
calities. A child can understand it. 
Send $2.00 ( no stamps) to 
Davis Loose Leaf Form Mfg. Co., Inc. 
44 West 22nd St., New York 
for their “Complete Instructor of 
Modern Double-entry Bookkeep¬ 
ing” by a former public accountant. 
Complete Instruction in Plain Language 
