The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-06-27
Preparing Products for Market.

The matter of properly preparing
farm, orchard and garden products for
market is too little understood and APP
preciated by the great mass of our
rural population. Many who devote
much labor and skill to production fail
to receive adequate reward therefor,
and often suffer loss, simply from mat
tentiOn or negligence in the important
item of putting what they have to sell
in suitable shape or condition for mar
keting. This lack of attention to
matter Of vital consequence is charac-
teristic of those Rip Van Wrinkle cult
vators and producers who are prone to
scout at the Improvements of the age
and speak derisively of what might be
learned through books and journals de-
signed to promote their best material
interests. They will tell you, "with a
smile that is childlike and bland" that
their fathers and grandfathers, who
followed farming all their lives, did SO
and so and were successful, and they
''reckon these new-fangled notions
are no account nOhOw." The next
moment, perhaps, these wiseacres, who
neither read nor believe in the exercise
of brains in matters concerning the
voted, will lugubriously assert that
s.farmin' don't pay" And it is no
wonder that such people do not find
their business remunerative, for in
farming, as in other occupations, every
improvements should be adopted SO far as
practicable by those who would achieve
success. In this age of improved ma
chinery and modes of culture, harvest
ing and preparing for and marketing
his products, it is as great folly for the
farmer to depend upon the ways and
processes of his ancestors as it would
be for the traveller to journey by canal
boat or stage-coach instead of taking
advantage of a steam conveyance by
land or sea.
But the readers of the World are not
Rip Van Wrinkles, though they proba-
bly, have many neighbors to whom the
preceding remarks may not be inap-
plicable. Yet so many farmers, fruit
growers and gardeners arc negligent in
the matter of preparing their various
products for market that calling atten.
ton to the subject may be beneficial to
all interested. And though some Of
our hints and suggestions may not be
new to many readers, they will prove
valuable to others, and perhaps serve
as reminders to such as already "know
the right" but who from inattention or
carelessness not infrequently 1.-the
wrong pursue
Without entering into details it is
sufficient to say that the cultivator OF
producer Of any farm, orchard or gar
den product who carefully and proper
ly prepares his articles for market and
is we'll posted as to prices, realizes far
more in return than he who neglects
these essential items. Take, for ex-
ample, the matter of vegetables and
small fruits, now in season. The gar
dener or fruit-grower who, after select
ing carefully, puts his products in suit
able lunches or packages, giving them
an attractive appearance, is certain to
obtain a more ready sale and better
prices than he who is careless and pays
little or no attention to either quality
or attractiveness. Our city and village
people are annually becoming more
particular, and many will have only
the best vegetables, fruits, butter and
the like, for which they are willing to
pay literally. Many people in this city
pay double the market price for choice
fruit, butter, ETC., because they are
served with the best, put up nicely and
clearly in neat packages. As an in
stance in point, certain Alderney
dairy in Connecticut known as s. Echo
Fanny has readily obtained 81 per
pound for all the butter it could sup
ply for months past, while the market
price for good dairy butter was less
than half that amount. Of course the
secret of this great success consists in
the fact, or facts. that the butter is not
only clean, pure and stamped, but put
up in nice, neat packages. lis brought
10 market or sent to regular customers
in paper boxes. with muslin between
the butter and box, and each package
weighs exactly one pound. And the
article is butter s.pure and undefiled. -
In this connection it may be added that
the success and large sales of oleomar-
garine may be attributed to the fact
that it has an attractive appearance; it
looks clean, is colored q golden yellow,
neatly stamped and put upon the mar
ket in externally neat packages, 0as
What is true in regard to vegetables,
fruit and butter is applicable to other
products of the soil. dairy, etc. In
deed, it is safe to assert that the entire
question of profit or loss on thousands
Of farms depends upon the manner in
which their products are prepared for
market and the intelligence exhibited
in seeking the best market and prOcur-
ing the highest prices obtainable. Other
things being equal, the farmer. fruit
grower or dairyman who pays special
attention to the preparing for and mar
keting Of his products is the one who