Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1900-08-10
TELEPHONES ON FARMS.
They Are Not Merely Convenience
But q Good Business Invest
ment as Well.

In the locality where 1 live there
are several lines of telephones which
run through the farming districts to
the several villages. Many of the
farmers along these lines have placed
phones in their houses, which puts
them in direct communication with
the villages. l recently visited a
farmer who lives three or four miles
from one of our large villages. In
this village he markets the produce
of his farm and of a large truck gar
den. 1t has been his custom to drive
to the village three times a week with
a load of produce. Not knowing how
much he would be able to sell, he
would often take more than he could
dispose of, and this surplus, kept over
until the next trip, did not always
keep in a marketable condition, and
in this way considerable was wasted
during the year. This farmer has put
q telephone in his house which places
him in communicate ton with his Gus
toners in the village. He now receives
their orders by telephone, and know
ing what they want, he delivers it to
them on his regular days of market.
ing. This makes marketing much
Ieasier and pleasanter, and he thinks
the telephone a profitable investment
for him. Sometimes he WHOLESALERS
produce to dealers when he can get
satisfactory prices. When dealer
i'm his village wishes anything in his
line, he can easily order it. if prices
can be arranged, or when the farmer
has anything ready for market, he
can "cali up the dealer and ask fol
prices.
The telephone not only places him
in immediate communication with his
own village, but with neighboring vii
lagos, and, by telegraph or the long
distance telephone. with the city mar
,kets. The farmer 1 have mentioned
grows several acres of strawberries
by the aid of the telephone he is able
to learn without delay, which is i'm
,portant to marketing berries, where
there is a demand for them and al
what price.
There are many other uses of the
telephone for the farmer in his iso
lated circumstances, SO that very Otter
he can make it convenient and profit.
able. / have been in the railway sta
ton when some farmer "called up
the agent and asked him if the goods
he was expecting had arrived, and the
information would sometimes save q
"trip to the station before the goods
were there; or he was asked to send
a message by telephone to some place
with an immediate reply.
| The telephone, besides placing the
farmer in immediate communication
with his merchant, physician, veteri.
marian and others whose services he
may need, affords communication be-
tween farmers and their families. II
not only facilitates intercourse in
business matters, but adds very much
to the social life of the farmer. He
converses easily at any time with his
neighbor On any subject of interest
to them.
Many farmers think that the cost
of the telephone is so great that they
cannot afford it. In my locality the
farmers own private lines on the Co
operative plan. There are main lines
operated by individuals, or corpora.
tions. The farmers have built private
lines which connect them with these
Generally, few individuals taking the
lead, the farmers are visited in the
community where the wires are to be
put up, and asked to subscribe to-
wards building the line. Some who
do not wish to pay money are allowed
to furnish work, posts, etc. The wire
Is put up at small cost to - each
farmer, but in addition to it, he must
buy his telephone to put in his house
This costs him from SIS to $50. Then
he must pay his share of the tax which
is charged for connecting the farm
,er's private line with the main lines
which in most of the communities in
, this section is two or three dollars
annually for each farmer. In one
nsighborhood near me do not think
the cost of putting up the wires and
buying the telephones was more than
$50 for each farmer. Perhaps this
was only the cash outlay, and the
work contributed by the farmers was
not taken into account; 1 was not
definitely informed on this point
Where there are such opportunities
for building farmers lines that can
be connected with main lines, surely
money or work expended in this way
will be well inWsted.-W. H. Jenkins
In Country Gentleman.