The record-union., 1893-06-21

ripe fruits, the question Of immediate
economy must not overshadow that of
future economy. We have had straw
berry pickers in the garden that worked
at cheap rates, but the amount of injury
they did to the plants more than COM
pensated for what we saved in paying
them for the picking. We came to the
unanimous opinion that it did not pay to
have careless picking done in the garden.
The vines and bushes of fruits are too
valuable to run the risk Of permanently
injuring them. Moreover, these mex
perienced pickers are generally so slow
III the operations that they prove very
unsatisfactory in an emergency. We
must market our fruits IN hurry at
times, and we need pickers who can do
quick work.
Cheap, careless and inexperienced pick
ers will also overlook many berries that
are OVer-ripe, and which are a positive
damage to the rest OF the crop if not taken
oil the vines at once. Many of the bad
pickers gather all sorts of fruits in the
baSkets-OVer-ripe, half-green and rotten
ones. These cannot be sent to market,
and an assortment that consumes great
deal Of time must follow the picking, and
this must be paid for in actual cash, or in
our time. W need well-graded fruits To
command good prices, and clean fruits.
An experienced picker will do this as he
goes along, and his experience enables
him to know just what to put in the
boxes. lie charges little more for his
services, and they are worth it. This plea
for experienced pickers is not made so
much in the interest of that class of men
as 1t Is for the farmer and fruit-grower,
who must study every point connected
with his business.
In our fruit growing so much emphasis
is placed upon the work by market men
that we cannot overlook it, nor trust it to
those who are careless about the matter
An experienced fruit packer should un-
derstand his business so that he can
grade the fruit as ne goes along. l have
heard many fruit-growers complain
that their fruits only brought small
prices in the market, and yet as they saw
them on the vines they were fine spec-
mems OF fruits. Some rOtted on the way
to the market, and others were not sale
able as nrSt-class fruits, owing to a
mixture of sizes, and quality OF berries.
The trouble here has been largely with
the pickers The work was intrusted to
inexperienced hands, and they either did
not know or did not care what the COM
mission men demanded to get the highest
market rates.
The owner of large fruit farm should
do nothing but oversee the picking, no
matter how experienced hands he has
working for him. He must see that the
picking is done properly if he wishes his
fruits properly graded. In picking straw
berries the men should pick them so that
the stems are not partly pulled oil the
berries. This Will soon make some of the
berries decay, and spoil the rest This
trouble can only be avoided by examin-
ing the boxes OF the pickers, and calling
attention to careless work. An expert
enced picker will soon see that his work
- -. / l.
Evening Journal.
SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL DAIRY
ING.
The following. by writer in the AD1e,,-
1cdJt Igf9cUttUriSt. should be carefully
studied by every farmer or dairyman:
"N hlle passing through the country re-
Gently, / visited two neighbors The
first one had been grumbling for some
time that he could make no money in the
dairy business. AS | drove up, one raw
day, with the temperature below zero,
his cows were browsing on the river
bank. l found it was customary to turn
the cows out to exercise and get their
daily drink from the river, nearly mile
away. The barn-well, it was bad
enough, and about the opposite of one TO
be described further on. The farmer said
it did not pay to keep cows. His cows
came IN during the spring and gave
a good flow Of milk until tly-time, but
butter was only worth ten or fifteen cents
pound, and he did not propose to bother
with them any longer. l asked him to
60 with me and visit another neighbor
who had very recently gone into the
dairy business as poor man, and whose
success was phenomenal.
He accepted my invitation, and we
found the young farmer comfortably
seated by good fire, reading we'll
known dairy paper to his wife, who was
hnSllV RnUaUaG HiDnar A
hearty meal we went out to see his
cows, which were being watered at "a
trough in the barn. l asked how about
exercising his cows, and how it was that
his cows looked so well, and all seemed
10 be giving such fine flow of milk.
'Wel,' he said, you will remember my
visit to the Dakota Valley Farm some
six years ago, when l bought this fell
low putting bis hands on magnificent
bull, L learned how to care for dairy
cows, and have followed up the sugges-
tions given at that time till now l have a
herd of some thirty good dairy COWS, all
raised on the farm. all fine mixers, from
my Holsteln bull The barn was not an
expensive one, but would hold 100 head
of stock, and cut into a bank, with a
slope, so that the drainage was perfect"
There is much food for thoughtful con-
sideration in this.
SOUND ADVICE.
We quote the following from the Ne,C
England Farm and Home. "In every
orchard, no matter how small or how
large, there is some surplus fruit, that is.
fruit of good quality but not tit to send to
market in green state. This fruit is
either a dead loss to the grower, or it is
improperly shipped to market. If the
latter, it helps to deteriorate the prime
fruit that it is shipped with, thus causing
a loss to the grower for his good produce
When fruit is very scarce, almost any
quality Will sell at good price, but Ii
poor and good are mixed, then the whole
sells at the market price of the inferior
stuff. II fruit is plenty, then the whole
sells for less than the cost of production.
Growers should never ship poor stuff to
market for II never pays. It is better to
feed 1t to stock If necessary, though, with
the present appliances for preserving
fruit, none need be wasted, no matter
how remote the farm may be from mar
ket. Fruit that is too ripe for market
can be made into jam or may be evapo-
rated. Fruit that is not sufficiently ripe
may De preserved in syrup or made into
lam, and the very inferior surplus can be
fed to stock. During the coming season
ship only the best fresh fruit TO market,
ana Let that be OF uniform size and quail
ity. By all means try to avoid creating
a surplus, and it will pay better To evapo-
rate some or make it into jam rather than
glut the market and get nothing for the
good fruit that is shipped
THE SHEEP BOOM OF 1910.
1t has been said that Kentucky, as of
old. is the natural home of mutton sheep,
on account ofits milder climate and year
round bluegrass pastures, making the
mutton most sweet and excellent. From
Winchester as many as 5000 lambs have
been shipped to market in single day.
They sell at from s. to 50 per head, and
make sheep-raising profitable on land
worth Sl25 to SI75 an acre.