Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-04-12

we llear often anu much oil the TRICK:
and dishonesty Of the commission man
Perhaps his view of the honesty of his con.
signors might not be entirely devoid o.
interest. Below is an extract from ,
commission man" to the New England
Farmer, and we commend it TO such rs
think profit is made by such tricks:
There are some tricks that are mean, )
that the commission dealer is not guilty of
it is not he who "deacons" the barrels Of
apples; who sends into market half boiled
sap instead Of honest syrup, Ga practice
which you yourself. Mr.. Editor, severely
reprehended about n year ago.; who pile.
cord wood so skillfully that six and one
half feet will measure cord; or who
plates load of poor hay foot or more
thick all over with timothy, drives into
Boston and soils the load for good hay. and
is back on his farm again before the pur.
chaser discovers the cheat, or knows even
the "honest farmers" name. All ofthese
are common everyday tricks that are
mean among farmers; not that they are
characteristic Of the average farmer, buI
hey are common, and you, Mr.. Editor,
know it indeed | remember you have
often oditorially advised farmers to be a
little more honest in such matters. have
bought frozen turkeys before now, each
one OF which contained lump of ice that
would weigh nearly pound, put in them
by the countryman who packed them, for
the purpose of getting eighteen cents a
head for his fowls more than their honest
weight. | have received and sold on com
mission many thousand barrels of apples,
and l can truly say, that not five per cent
OF them were honestly packed, without
"deaconing."
Speaking of making down weights on
butter: Statute law in Massachusetts makes
it obligatory on every man selling articles
by weight or measure, to havo his scales,
weights, measures, etc, sealed every wear,
and their correctness certified to bv q
sworn officer if this is neglected, it is a
good defence in court of law, for any
person whom we are obliged to sue for
his bill. This makes US careful to weigh
everything over Farmers, as n general
thing, use cheap and inaccurate SPRING
balances, or steelyards; again they do not
weigh their butter into the tubs,-they
soak iirkin and weigh it, marking the
weight on it; then they put little salt
in it, and begin packing; when It is full
they weigh the whole thing, and wha,
isn't firkn is butter. have bought good
deal OF salt that way There are six tubs
OF butter in my cellar that came from very
near your Essex, VT, correspondents own
residence, that, weighed on the city scales,
by sworn weigher, are found to weigh
from l-2 to IL pounds less than they
arc marked; or about per cent, which is
moro than the commission comes 10. You
can sec them if you will do me the favor
to call. The consignor of that butter has
been notified that it will be sold by actual
weight, or he may remove it BY paving
weigher's fees and other expenses that /
am out of pocket on it.
Your correspondent has also a story of a
man who got a higher price for lis butter,
BY packing and marking it in imitation of
his neighbours style of doing things. That
is not strange; his neighbor had a reputa-
ton which he had not yet gained. That
reputstlon had been worked for and ac
qured, and was part of the mans business
capital; the others butter may have been
Just as good, but, like great many other
things, butter can not be sold strictly on
its merits. | have diaries that have had
for years. that will "sell themselves" my
customers know them, and it is useless for
me to try to convince them that some other
dairies are us good. You own experience,
Mr.. Editor, in selling your butter, must
have shown you that reputation for uni.
form excellence of quality, and for GER
talnty of a regular supply, are highly i'm.
portant considerations in respect to the
price realized, and that the acquiring of
such reputation is a work of time and
patience. and attended with many dis
couragements.
Now as to advertising; The class of con-
signors we get by that means, is not ex
aclly what we want. The farmer who is
making good article of butter, or other
product, in quantities sufficient to make it
pay for the handling, is going to look
round among his friends and neighbors till
he hears of a commission house which has
a good reputation. Such houses prefer to
have their name spread among the farmers.
by the quiet good words of customers and
consignors, rather than by the Barnum
method of horn-blowing. 4 mere business
card in the agricultural papers is enough,
Just to keep their name and location before
the people. Quack doctors always adyer-
tise more largely than educated physicians,
and always pick up different class of
customers.