The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-05-15
Selling Farm Produce.

Take two packages of almost any |
kind of farm produce. of the same kind !
and quality, and have one put up and |
offered for sale in a neat package, done
up in the most presentable condition,
and the other put up without care in
any Unlocking package, and the nice
looking one will sell not only the quick
est, but will bring from ten to twenty
five per cent more.
Every man, whether he be a CITY
commission merchant, a country store
keeper, or farmer, who has tried to
sell farm produce knows this to be the
fact; yet three-fourths of our farm pro-
ducts are sent to market in very poor
condition to realize good prices. Fruit
men are generally more careful than
any other class, taken as a whole, vet
some of them are very careless. 1t is
not putting the best on top that makes
an article sell, but uniform quality all
through a package is what brings the
best prices, provided it is put up neatly,
and is in good condition.
Eggs are more usually sent to the city
in cases, made espec ally for their use
but the farmer when he takes the eggs
to town packs them in bran, sawdust or
oats. If they are dirty no edort is made
to clean them off.-theY are all eggs,
clean or dirty. The majority of lar
meTs' wives take their butter to market
in large rolls without any particular
size or shape. Whatever is made at
one churning is rolled up into one lump,
and the next into another lump.
The country merchant dumps all that
comes into the same box and ships it to
the city, where it is sold as country
butter, at q very low price. When old
at retail the purchaser looks over the
butter and almost invariably picks out
the neatest-looking rolls, leaving the
balance. Many of our house keepers
grumble because country butter IS sc
low, when the principal part of the fault
is their own. Take some pains to send
your butter to town in neat, clean
shape. If you have not got a stamp
purchase one. Make it a rule to have
all that you sepd look neat and attract
| i've You will soon hear: Mrs. a
makes nice butter; l would rather pay
! five cents more pound for her butter
! than any one else's because it always
| looks so clean and nice. The merchant
| is sure to know this, and will be willing
| to pay YOU accordingly. You may think
this a little matter, but it is a fact, as
J very little inquiry will convince you.
! Every farmers wife knows that it
! often happens that country stores get
! more butter than they want, yet if good
| butter is put up in the right cond ton
! they will often purchase yours when
| under other circumstances they would
! refuse to buy at all. Many farmer in
! selling potatoes has suffered loss by
| mixing large and small all toge her; he
got low price by not taking a little
care when sorting. These small pota-
toes when sold by measure amount to
! but little, as they only fill up the
spaces between the large ones, and they
can far better be fed to stock than be
| allowed to damage the whole by being
| sold without proper sorting. The same
of fruit and vegetables; the small speci-
mems cause the large ones to sell at g
low price.
Civ this matter a trial; show the one
| you are selling to that what you have is
all of the best quality, and is uniform
throughout whether it be potatoes
apples, cabbage, or other farm produce.
Don be foolish enough to imagine you
can make anything by putting the best
on the top of the barrel. This may do
once, but it is sure to react upon you
and cause more loss than gain. Take
reasonable pains to have everything
that YOU send to market in the best
condition possible. Whenever you can,
mark your name upon the package, and
You VIII be surpr sed how quick pur-
chasers will recognize your goods. II
will certainly prove profitable if reason
able care is taken. N. y. Shepherd, III
Prairie Farmer.