New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-11
THE POTATO MERCHANTS.
CURIOUS SALES AT THE CANALBOAT VIII
LACE OF COENTIEs SLIP.

ness. Instead the thrifty Canadian-for his is
the race of inland saors-sets winter to work
for him. Late in the fall he buys from the
farmers in the northern part of the state pota-
toes and sometimes carrots, onions cabbaSeS
and apples. These he loads into the hold OF his
vessel, which he first lines with straw. Then
about ten thousand bushels of this produce sink
ing his craft well down toward the deck he
seeks the busy and hungry metropolis.
Towing is the sole expense Of transporting
himself his family and his cargo to New-York
On his arrival he is not obliged to look up
storehouse for his tender vegetables for snugly
tucked away beneath the surface of the waters
of the harbor and several feet below the tops of
the adjacent wharves they have nothing 10 lear
from frost; and, besides, they are within com
Portable reaching distance Of the family VINO
give them chief place in the cuisine
At Coenties Slip about one hundred Of these
combinations of storehouse residence and vessel
are now tied up-nore, men who know the river
front say than have been here before for seVeraI
years The most serious pursuit the men apoaru
have is resting and letting winter raise the price
of the vegetables under them. AS the time vi
the last harvest grows more remote the VaIue u
the cargoes increases, so that the proht Oh the
winter on ten thousand bushels is enough 10 let
the owners be as lazy as they please and stlll
give them the honor Of supporting their tamllleS'
There are successive days with no more doing
about the boats than the attention demanded py
household duties which range from watering
the tin canned geraniums in the dwarf windows
mr. faadn the rabbit to filling the kitchen pail at
the nearest water faucet or replenlshlhg the
woodpile by means of ends of planks the car
penters have left after repairing a nelghporlng
wharf
do OIIiet
nestle commandments stop and the hustle OF
the heart of the city comes down beside the Ca
madam village. The customer brings with him
several wagons piled high with empty barrels
band Of coOpers a squad Of potato carriers ana
sorters and, though he has given them no spe-
cial invitation, silent little party Of Italian
women.
These visitors from Mulberry-st. sit on the
cornice Of the wharf close beside the barrels and
wait hours for the gift OF a bushel or so OF
"specks' that comes when the last barrel has
been placed the wagon.
1t often happens that the vegetables are lying
in the hold of boat some distance away from
the wharf Then a system of carrying is en-
ployed the direct opposite of that of the fire
fighting bucket chain. One man down among
the potatoes fills basket, hands it up to his
fellow on deck and receives from him an empty
width of the next parallel boat approaches with
an untitled basket, takes up the heapng one.
which he carries across his boat, where, at the
rail. he is met by another laborer with an empty
measure. In this way the vegetables are brought
to the barrels
Three coopers will keep up in their work with
ten twelve unoaders. These masters of the
quick Ratchet take the four pieces of board that
to be barrel cover. place three of them
top of the stored potatoes and then slice the
fourth with one blow into proper fitting shape.
Then this head, which to the watcher seems
still too large, they drive into place by striking
it ;he circumference with the sharp end of
the Ratchet. Next they put in the nails as
quickly as child counts, and with four blows of
the blade they cut out in the opposite sides of
long holes which so with the potato of COM
merce. After a man has brush of black
paint over stencng tin placed on the head of
the barrel nothing but shipping remains.
All this time the women are Watching the
process without any expression OF feeling on
their faces-neither longing for the big tubers
which rush down into the merchants barrels nor
disappointment at the slow growth OF their own
soft pile. These silent witnesses know the de-
tails OF the business well that when they see a
frown on the face of the overseer they will often
run to fetch barrel from this or that pile or
move filled basket out of the way. Then they
viii sit down again in the cold. When at last