Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1909-03-11
SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTION
At farmers DOORS.

LII an eHOfL TO create dQQoQ interest
in scientific farming in the State of
New Jersey, the Pennsylvania Rail
road and the State Agricultural Col
| lege, of New Brunswick, are cooper
ating in running Farmers Special
] Instruction train through Southern
New Jersey. This train, which pass
ed through Woodbury. at S.15 o'clock
| on Monday, is making a trip of three
| days during which time no less than
| 100 lectures will be given before au-
diences of New Jersey farmers.
Under the direction of DR.. Edward
B. Voorhees, of the State Agricultural
| College, special pamphlets were pre-
pared for distribution at the stations
at which the train is to stop. These
pamphlets contain practical sugges-
tions to the farmer for improving
both his products and his soil The
papers treat on strawberries and po-
tato culture, alfalfa, dairy husbandry
and number of other subjects
The purpose of the Farmers Spec
ial is to make more personal and di-
rect the efforts which the State Col
lege has been exerting to disseminate
instructions to farmers throughout the
State Approaching the Importance
of this movement, the Pennsylvania
Railroad agreed not only to operate
the Special but cooperate in making
the experiment success.
The aid which the Railroad Com
pany is giving to the State College is
an evidence of another effort being
made by the Company to further the
| agricultural interests of the states
through which it operates, with a
view to increasing its traffic in farm
products from those states. That
these efforts have been effective is
shown in reports from South Jersey
for the month of July, 1908, the ban
ner month for the farmers of that
section during the last truck shipping
season. They distributed more than
a million dollars worth of produce
over the New England States, the
Middle West and Canada. This is
/ the unprecedented record of ship
ments for July from points in South
! ern New Jersey. ssF
The estimated value of the produce
shipped in July from the six lower
counties of New Jersey was $1,17S,000,
an increase over July 1907, of $746,-
800. 1t took two thousand nine hum
dred and forty-fve freight cars to
transport this produce to the various
markets.
To enable the farmer to market his
products quickly and secure the most
advantageous prices, special schedules
were established, and trains known
as Preference freights" were run,
making time only equalled by passen-
ger trains. The market has also been
greatly widened as a result of the de-
velopment campaign undertaken by
the Pennsylvania Railroad in behalf
of the commercial and agricultural
interests of Southern New Jersew.
During the Winter commission mer-
chants and buyers all over the coun-
try have been supplied with lists of
reliable growers and shippers in that
section, and every effort is to be made
to make the shipments of 1909 even
larger than those of 1908.
Instead of being confined, as in for
mer days, to a nearby market, gen
orally in an overcrowded condition,
meaning poor prices, the South Jersey
farmer is being brought into as close
touch with his markets as any busi-
ness man, and he now has the oppor-
tunity to see that his products are
| forwarded to destinations where he
will receive the maximum price.
| That the construction by the Penn
! sylvania Railroad of the bridge across
the Delaware River has resulted in
improved through train service and
many hours nearer the South Jersey
! produce shipper, is seen from the
large area over which the July ship
ments were distributed. About half
of this produce, 1, 232 cars, went to
! Jersey City and New York. Philade1-
/ phin and Camden took 443, Boston
258, Buffalo 127, Pittsburgh 249, Chi
cago "a, Indiana 4, Kansas 3, Michigan
! 2, Ohio 6S, Rhode Island 81, Connecti-
cut 80, New Hampshire 81, Maine q
Massachusetts Points (other than Bos-
4 ton) So, and Canada 10.
Representing the State Agricultural
/ College were DR.. Edward B. Voorhees,
Edward Van A1styne, K. c.. Davis and
4 M. A. Blake Division Freight Agents
i w. w. Winner, Jr., and VIM. Coffin rep
resented the Railroad Company
In Gloucester County.
The first stop of the Farmers Spec
4 ial was at Paulsboro at $50. Not more
ti1chh - loiL LuCio w C1 2 FL CoOnt sACl Q
s but the lectures were delivered lust
the same. The train comprised four
cars-a smoker, baggage and two lee
ture cars and two lectures were go
ing on at once. The representative
of the Democrat expected to board
the Special at Woodbury., but Wood
bury farmers are supposed to know
it all, and the train passed on without
stopping. He caught up at Bridgeport
however, in the midst OF the oratory.
In one car Mr.. Blake was talking
strawberry culture to a car full OF
school children and farmers while in
the other car Mr.. X. C. Davis was
addressing a half car full of farmers
on preparation of soils for crops.
Following Mr. Davis, Prof Voor-
hees delivered very instructive talk
on Fertilizer for Truck Crops. He
began by saying most farmers do not
know what fertilizers are. They are
made up, he said, of nitrogen, phos-