The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1913-09-27
PROBLEMS FOR THE FARMERS
Growing, Preparing and Marketing Of
Farm Products Are Becoming
Questions Of Psychology.
(By w. NJ Kelly

uctS at more remunerative prices than
his fellows generally secure for the
same products. Many first-class prod
ucts sell for less than they would
have sold for If offered by some other
man. Good products. put on the mar
ket in attractive style, will always
bring premium, but if the owner Is
salesman Of the first rank the exer-
else Of his talent will result in a
better price.
Craftsmanship is as much a part Of
mans business equipment as are
the goods he produces. Some of the
most successful farmers cannot be
classed as good statesmen. Some Of
the most prominent money makers
connected with agriculture cannot be
classed as good farmers. Men who
achieve the difficult two-fold success
as farmers and statesmen are COM
paratively few. In the making of a
successful farmer it is almost as i'm
portant to master the art of selling
as that OF producing.
The growing. the preparing. and the
marketing Of the products of the farm
are becoming questions of science and
psychology. The common notion that
flavor and quality constitute the prin-
cipal attractions that food offers,
proves that upon careful analysis to
be poorly founded. A wide range Of
fancies enter into the problem, and
the farmer, or the dealer who handles
his products. If he would get the best
price, must study these fancies and
not insist upon making the consumers
take what he likes best himself, be-
cause taste Is the principal test Of
excellence.
The average consumer in the city
seems imbued with the idea that
farmers exist mainly for the purpose
of supplying the rest Of mankind with
all the delicacies of the season, at
price which will enable the wage
Garner to enjoy every dainty found
upon the tables of the very wealthy.
Many will claim this statement is
overdrawn, but its truth is found in
abundance by studying the problem
on the markets in a large city and
consulting with grocers and meat deal
ers. AS one salaried Office man re-
marked to the writer, What do you
farmers want, anyhow" Well, for
one thing, we want something more
than the mere privilege of growing
crops, milking cows and feeding hogs.
to the end that you people can have
mi
your tables that we cannot afford our
selves. 1t is not our business to pro-
duce delicacies for your tables at
bareain-counter prices. 1t is not the
increased cost of living that worries
some Of you city folks so much as 1t
is the increased cost of high living.
One of the most difficult problems
on the average farm is that Of mar
keting the eggs, small fruits and vege-
tables that would go to waste IL not
properly marketed. Not long ago
farmers wife said to the writer, Il
have to sell everything raised on the
farm, except the grain and stock, for
James don't know anything about sell
ing the small stuff She was right,
her husband was a practical farmer,
but he lacked the ability, the initia-
tive, to find a profitable market for all
the small things which count into a
tidy sum in the aggregate. On the
other hand. she had the trading in
stinct and could drive good bargains
and secure better prices for her stuff
than the other ones were getting. Her
husband could raise excellent crops,
he could make the cows give milk and
the hens lay eggs in the winter, but
he could not sell the smaller items.
There must be a good salesman on
every farm or the business will not
prosper. If the husband is not a good
salesman the wife or one of the chill
dren should be trained to take charge
Of the selling end of the business. A
young woman who has succeeded In
paying off a two thousand dollar mort
gage on a farm left by her dead father
told the writer that she had done 1t
by never being ashamed to sell what
she had, no matter how little 1t was.
The problem of peddling out the small
products of the farm seldom proves
profitable unless there is a good sales
man in the family whose absence from
the farm does not mean neglect Of
the larger work. There are hundreds
of families in every large village and
city who will pay good prices for
fresh products delivered at their
doors, and II some member of the
family solicits this trade it will add
many dollars to the annual income
of the farm.
Tender fruit and vegetables should
be picked into baskets or other easily
handled receptacles, holding from one
half to a bushel. and then carried
or hauled from the field to packing
shed where they are graded and pack
ed ready for marketing. Tree fruits
should be packed into baskets or
medium-sized sacks arranged to suit
the convenience of the picker and at
the same time providing against
probable damage from bruising. The
fruit should be picked either from
the ground or on step-ladders or other
light ladders that can be carefully
laid against the limbs or branches of
the trees. In some localities the COM
mon practice in harvesting this md
of fruit is to either shake 1t onto the
ground or knock 1t of with clubs and
poles. Fruit handled in this way had
best be kept at home. for II sent to
market, 1t is very doubtful II 1t will
sell for enough to pay for the pack
apes and cost of TRANSFORMATION The |