Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1851-01-22
M l S G. f. Il A n E. OU S
From the American Farmer.
A SUGGESTION.
BY PATUXENT PLANTER.

|
! BY PATUxENT PLANTER.
| 1t is to inconvenient for the commission
merchant who sells tobacco, rice, corn
wheat, &c., to attend 10 the sale Of potatoes
SC. II is far beneath the dignity of our
merchant princes 10 sell eggs. hominy beans
and poultry. They make money by pounds,
no, by pennies-their poor servants, the
landholders, are forced to creep upward by
craac1ing they run into fortune. Well, le.
tina, be as i, is. now propose that some
person who can be relied up IN, be an agen,
or commission merchant for the sale OF mar
keting, with a fixed commission upon differ
ent articles, varying according to difficulty
in The sale thereof and the trouble likely to
be had in effecting sale that is, a larger
commission on small and perIshable articles
than on larger and more enduring articles,
less liable TO decay-instance, fruit and fresh
butter, in summer, ought to pay higher
| commission than potatoes, bacon hams, SC.
| The object Of this article is to show how
materially benef,led the mass of farmers
would be by the establishment of such a
| house in Baltimore. And secondly, how
very lucrative such business would be il
properly conducted, and made, as IL should
| be, the grand depository of sll county mar
ke'ing, the merchant being the great head
hucksterer in the whole city, where all that
was fresh, fine, rare and prime, from the in
terror of the country was 10 be had, and had
at FIRST COST, like our tobacco, corn and
wheat. To this depository would every
lover Of good eating, every epicurean repair.
for his hams Of his peculiarly favori.e stamp;
his nes0 laid eggs, his butter; fresh veg ables;
really nearly gathered fruits, and game and
choice saddles of mutton al half The price
he pays for made-up mutton in the market.
that his butler or his unsuspec,ing "better
half" thinks 'looks NICE" and is cent
cheaper than can be had at the stalls of
Thomas or Turner, when they puff crack
Soulhdowns or Oxfordshire, so fat ,ha, he
who eats must want grease and nothing else
The farming community living remote
from market, and miles from railroads, ca
nails, or other mediums which annhilae
space, are losers 10 great amount per an
mum for the want of marke, for small mat
,ers. Thus they are unable to avail them
selves of the practical application Of the
maxim by which 10 grow iich, which tells
us 10 "Iake care Of the pennies, for the
pounds will take care Of themselves" II
such commission house was established,
how easy would it be for every planter who
lived even fifteen miles from steamboat
landing or a railroad depot, every week to
send what small articles could be scraped
together, placed in box or baskets, and re-
ceive the empty box or baskets which had
been sent off The week before pass book
could always 90 along, and thus the account
would be regularly kept and settled weekly,
or m onlhly, or quarterly. Who can es,i-
mate the amount Of money that would be
realized per annum by The community if
such system be properly and strictly pur-
sued? and it would be earned from what is
noac wasted, lost, never though. Of, or pro-
dgally used to the deriment often Of health
All the extra eggs, or those not positively
required for use in The family, vegetables
that now rot because there are many more
than can be consumed, such as tomatoes.
peas, beans, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, rad
shes, asparagus, Sc; then the bacon hams,
of superior quality, extra %saussagrs, and q
''few pounds of lard left over," turkey, or
ducks and chickens, &C., too few and too
little in value to be sent twenty or thirty
miles, in wagon, TO market; and all these
little matters that are now used up in excess
or sold to travelling huckslers at a price
that is contemplate. Again-a farmer may
have only few calves or single mutton
sheep, or, now and then, fine roasler- pig.
For none of these, or all together, would
butcher come TO his house and buy, and it
would cost more than the whistle was worth
to take either one, or all together to market
a great distance off. In butter and eggs
alone, thousands of dollars would be made
and saved where not cent is now. The
Baltimore market would be improved be-
yond conception, and | have liule doubt
that numerous commission houses of this
description. employing hundreds of clerks,
would speedily be established after little
time from the commencement Of the busi-
ness. |. could not be otherwise than lucra-
i've to the "market merchant" and profit
able beyond compare to the farmer, while
il would aid The city of Baltimore immense
ly. 1t is not unreasonable 10 say that a
trade amounting to 100000 year, would
be al once opened, which never otherwise
would be seen or felt, and which is Ito al,
least ,hreefour,hs) now lost to the farmer.
Look at the immense fields Of cabbage every
where in striking distance of Baltimore
city, and you would ask, where can it all
be consumed? /. is consumed, and more
is wanted, and the demand, learned from
the hes, authority would be commensurate
with The supply at present prices, which is
some 5000 or $500 gross amount per acre.
The preparation of cabbage into sour krout,
for shipment, is an immense business, and
would increase if the necessary amount