Charlevoix county herald., 1911-09-16

market his own products has not the best of the
bargain. He is very likely to have if his farm is
located near any good-sized town or city and IL
he is engaged in diversified farming or trucking
OF course the man who is farming on a big scale
and devotng himself to a specially, be it fruit or
celery or nuts or grain will not haul his produce
to town by the wagonload and dispose of it at
first hand to the hungry housewives. All the
same it is ten chances to one that he is following
the same basic principles that are the wise ones
for the farmer DESTROYS of selling to the best adj
vantage the varied products of a small farm.
All the shrewdest men engaged in farming
be they operating large or small scale
have learned in recent years that it means added
wealth and reduced worries if they can adopt the
principle Of selling directly possible to the
ultimate consumer. Obviously Of course they
cut out the middleman's profit and better yet
they are enabled to eliminate many of the losses
in pershable products which have caused so
much controversy between commission mer
chants and farmers. Finally, by marketing d.
rect, the ter Of the soil can establish a reputa-
ton for the quality of his products and this Is a
most important asset for the man who expects
10 continue in the same vocation year after year.
Indeed, building on the foundation of quality and
prompt delivery he may build up circle OF
patrons Of his own that will render him indie
pendent Of everything because they will stand
ready year after year to take the entire product
Of his farm and take it, too, prices higher than
rule for the regular run of similar produce in the
open market.
AS the advantages of such plans of direct deal
ing have been brought home to the farmers they
have been gradually perfecting their facilities for
making the short cut from the farm to the city
dinner table The farmer who is q specialist in
fruit vegetable raising any other line is
likely to have his sales agent who goes to
the city with each consignment of produce and
personally superntends its disposition, if he
is not operating on big enough scale to do this
single handed he is likely to join forces with sew
eral Of his neghbors to engage representative
who will handle their pooled products to the best
possible advantage In any event the quantity of
produce TO be handled insures to the shipper thus
situated the best of freight or express service IT,
indeed he has not adopted the particularly up-to-
date method of transporting his farm products
by means of motor trucks.
The small farmer truck gardener operating
on a small scale cannot of course afford the lux
ury Of q sales agent but the other hand he is
no longer content, il he be wide awake to divide
profits with the commission merchant who in
sists on clinging to old ideas. So the small farm
err Il he belong to rapidly growing class makes
1t a practice to Journey to the city two or three
times week and to dispose OF his products in
the open-air marts which are now feature of al
most all of large cities. His canvas COW
cred wagon is made to serve as his Gales counter
and he thus has no expense.
In many instances II the farmer trucker be
too busily engaged spon his farm to spare time