The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-09
Quality and Reputation.


In the near vicinity of large cities and
towns, where there is always steady de-
mand for all the products of the farm, says
the Baltimore Sun, it will pay the farmer to
turn his attention to special crops and to
the development of quality and excellence.
By careful selection and the securing of
uniformity in quality his products will soon
command the best possible prices on the
farmers reputation. To accomplish this
object ne must win ths public confidence,
which, once gained, he can keep just as long
as he maintains the quality and character
of his specialties. If he secures a line of
customers and is making ''gilt-edged but
ter and is putting it up in neat pound
prints, and delivers it in first class order,
the very butter-print stamp he has selected
becomes to his customers a guarantee that
the package is all right. 1t occurs some
times that the demand exceeds
the production, as it often docs for an arti-
Gle of unusal merit, and in endeav oring to
meet such demands some farmers will
stretch their conscience and manage to
squeeze in on the strength of their reputa-
ton an article not quite up to their usual
standard of excellence. This may pay for
a brief period, but when the reaction
comes not only are such imposed on custom
ers lost, but the farmers heretofore unques-
toned reputation may be completely and
irretrievably ruined. A few years since, on
Long Island, man established a poultry
farm for furnishing fresh eggs to wealthy
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number of customers. to whom he con-
tracted to furnish eggs at rs cents per dozen
the year around, guaranteeing they should
be laid the day before they were delivered.
He had route just like that of a milkman,
and each day served his wealthy patrons
with fresh eggs with the date they were laid
stamped thereon in a divisioned package
holding a dozen, each egg being neatly
twisted in tissue paper. His fame, when
the Christmas holiday came, and fresh eggs
were rarity, grew apace, and each day
new customers were added to his list until
at last he discovered his flock of hens were
unequal to the demand. He "risked it"
aud secured eggs from other sources to help
fill his growing trade, but the appearance
and quality were both quickly detected, and
1t was only matter of brief time before
another man was supplying the same Gus
toners. The writer saw the accounts of
the egg man" mentioned above, for the
first year of his business, and be had clear
profit Of over 81, 100. Unfortunately there
are many people who cannot let well
enough alone. That it pays any farmer
to take extra pains to send his products to
market in the best possible condition is
well established fact, but people often put in
something that detracts from the uniform
excellence in their anxiety to increase the
Quantity at the expense of the quality.
Two or three small potatoes on the top of a
bushel will affect the price a great deal
more than if all such had been selected and
the sizes thus graded and sent to market
separately. If farmer will visit large
city and go through one of the leading
markets he will realizs as he never has be-
lore what difference it makes in the way