The St. Johns herald., 1901-04-06
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 >>E1.2Il()D.'Ia ()D' F .EzIHHEN'T.
TELEPHONES ON FARMS.
They Are Not Merely q Convenience, But a Good RUsiness Invest
 ment as We'll.

They Are Not Merely q Convenience,
 But Good Business Invest-
 ment as We'll.
 Tn the locality where I 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. I 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 large truck gar ! den. It has been his custom to drive
 to the village three times week with 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
 telephone i'll his house which places
 him in communication 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 i ing. This makes marketing much easier and pleasanter, and he thinks the telephone profitable investment ha L.
 produce to dealers when he can get
 satisfactory prices. When a dealer in 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 "call up" the dealer and ask for
 prices.
 The telephone not only places him in immediate communication with his own village, but with neighboring viii lages, and, by telegraph or the long, distance telephone, with the city mar kets. The farmer l have mentioned grows several acres of strawberries. By the aid of the telephone he is able to learn without delay, which is inn portant to marketing berries, where there is a demand for them and at what price.
 There are many other uses of the telephone for the farmer in his iso- lated circumstances, so that very often he can make it convenient and profit able. 1 have been in the railway sta tion when some farmer called up'' the agent and asked him if the goods he was expecting had arrived, and the information would sometimes save a 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 eommunica ton with his merchant, physician, veteri- marian and others whose services he may need, affords communication be- tween farmers and their families. It 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 1 operated by individuals, or corpora ! tiOns. The farmers have built private l lines which connect them with these. | 1lHr fo, T I- I.s,, lead, the farmers are visited in the l 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 a small cost to each i farmer, but in addition to it, he must buy his telephone to put in his house. This costs hIm from $15 to S20. Then he must pay his share of the tax which is charged for connecting the farm CTS 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 near me do not think he cost of putting up the wires and buying the telephones was more than S30 for each farmer. ferhaps this vas only the cash outlay, and the work contributed by the farmers was lot taken into account; I was not definitely informed on this point. Where there are such opportunities or building farmers lines that can 'e connected with main lines, surely money or work expended in this way will be we'll inNested.-W. H. Jenkins, n Country Gentleman.