Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-11-13
THEFARMERS MARKET
HOW NEW YoRK's VEGETABLE
SUPPLY IS DISTRIBUTED.

1ONf eA4 4eo SsAcabS
scenes-Like an Encamped Army
Methods of the Spectator,
Grocer and Bogus" Farmer.
Scarcely fifty persons year, l venture
to say, visit Gansevoort market from
promptings of curiosity, and yet the
sightseer will find there any day scene
that will repay the trouble necessary to
witness it. First of all let me say that
he time to make visit is from to 6
o'clock in the morning. Gansevoort
market is the farmers market for the city
,f New York primarily, and all surround
ng cities incidentally. Here the farmer
ENDS his vegetables and here the grocer
ZONES to get his daily supply for the
consumer.
1t occupies the space of about three
,ity blocks. 1t is simply an open square
:ut into wide driveways with only very
narrow sidewalk between them, and in
business hours lighted by electric lamps,
lanterns, etc. The driveways are wide
enough to allow the large farm wagons
20 stand on each side and leave sufficient
pace between to permit the passage of
wo other wagons between. There is
space enough for about five hundred
wagons, and oftentimes the overflow
reaches for blocks away.
Where do all the wagons come from9
Well, they are mostly from Long ISL
and, and some come from as far as st.
Johnland. Some are from New jersey
Union Hill and beyond-and many come
from the upper part of Manhattan Island
itself. The vegetables to be marketed
are gathered in the morning, loaded in
the afternoon, and in the evening the
farmer or his trusted man mounts the
seat and drives away. No hurry is made.
The horses walk along, and perhaps the
driver goes to sleep. The horses know
the way, however, and all goes well.
Each driver has his own route to the
market; but as they draw near to the OBJ
jective point their routes bring them to-
gether and a regular procession results.
A brief description of the wagons will
not be amiss. They are large, high box
wagons, built out over the wheels. The
centre of the load is generally boxes and
barrels of corn, potatoes, cabbage, etc.,
and the sides are then filled up with
punched vegetables, such as beets,
radishes, turnips, carrots, etc. When
loaded, the wagon is covered with a can
vas that completely hides the load aud
protects it from dust or rain on its
journey. The rule at the market is first
come, first served and so the driver aims
to get there in time to get located as
advantageously as possible, and then he
puts his horses in one of the nearby
stables, perhaps, or allows them to stand
with the wagon.
A rule of the market is that all wagons
must be located at o'clock a. M, when
the collector comes around for the
license fee exacted by the city for each
wagon. Up to this time the canvas
coverings have been left on, and the
market has furnished scene that can be
likened only to an encamped army The
drivers have been sleeping on
their seats, and all is quiet
except for the occasional disturbance
of late conner. But after the col
lector has made his call every one is
awake and alive to sale. The coverings
are stripped off, the boxes of tomatoes
of barrels of cabbages are lifted from the
inside of the box and displayed to the
best advantage; the punched goods are
sprinkled with water to freshen them up.
At this hour the restaurants and saloons
on the streets fronting the market are
filled with customers, and it is really
their busiest time of the day.
And now comes the customer. Usu-
ally the first one is the speculator, who
has cellar or store adjacent to the
market and does wholesale or, may be,
a shipping trade. He looks for wagon
with an entire load of one vegetable
potatoes, perhaps-and asks a price.
Now, the farmer has strolled about the
market and has noticed what was on
sale, and if potatoes are scarce he holds
stiff price, for, if his customer is a
shipper, the farmer knows he must have
the goods; but if potatoes are plenty.
then he is glad to dispose of his entire load
without delay, and a tempting price is
named in the effort to make quick sale.
At o'clock the grocer puts in an ap-
pearance, and in his wagon he passes
through the driveways, bargaining with
one farmer for box of tomatoes and an
other for barrel of corn; he gets fifty
punches of radishes from another, and,
perhaps, beets and turnips from the same
one, and so on until his load is completed
in this line of goods; after which he
drives into West Washington Market
(adjoining) to get his supply of fruits
and berries. Grocers from New York,
Brooklyn, Jersey City. Newark, Yonkers,
White Plains and other places crowd
about here every morning, and the scene
is lively one indeed When these gro
GERS get their sleep | don't know, for
some Of them must drive from thirty to
forty miles and buy their loads between
midnight and or s o'clock, and then
attend store all day long.
Next come the street peddlers, some to
buy regular supply for route, Others
to buy whatever the farmer may have
been "stuck with, and this hour fur
nishes the excuse for more hideous and
outrageous noises than perhaps any other
city in the world can boast of. If
peddler can load up at his price with
anything, no matter what, he will go
Though street ON the West Side yell
ing his bargain in such tone of voice as
to rouse the whole neighborhood, besides
waking the babies ON the East Side
And the scavengers are sure to be there,
too. There is always stray potato or
something dropped from q box or barrel