Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-10-14
Twitchell, to the Maine Farmer. should
enlighten them:

Twitchen, to the Maine Farmer. should
enlighten them:
A we'll known orchardist of Mon
mouth lately shipped to commission
house in Boston five barrels of Craven
stems, four of them fancy. The returns
for the five barrels were 1895, or ~
cents per barrel. Out of this must
come 81 cents for the barrel, leaving
40 cents for apples, picking, packing
and hauling to station.
With the check came a doleful let
ter, telling of the dire calamities caus-
ed by the war, and the complete de-
struction of the market, the tremend-
GUS glut of choice apples, and sincere
(?) regrets that returns were so small
Another party sent a lot and got
back 50 cents per barrel, and still an
other got Al cents. Today, Sept. 30,
letter from an observing and interested
man in Boston states that those GRAY
ensteins, or others no better, were be-
ing sold for 60 cents per peck, or $3.50
per barrel Is it any wonder these
growers are hot under the collar?
These are but few of the many cases
of downright robbery reported by in
dividuals in every direction. There is
more than suspicion that deliber-
ate movement is abroad to fleece the
producers. The apple crop is not alb
normal. We are way below full
crop in the country, but it is evident
that buyers propose to take every ad-
vantage and not line but wad their
pockets this year.
How long are producers going to
play into the hands of this class? One
of the big buyers has recently been
through central Maine Offering 80
cents for strictly fancy, No. fruit, ev-
cry specimen perfect, carefully pack
ed and delivered to the station" while
at the same time a committee of the
Boston Chamber of Commerce is seek
ing to get retailers ito help increase
consumption by reducing selling price
t. 35 cents per peck" or $685. per bar
rel.
Again the same writer says:
New England agriculture will never
feel the throb of new life until the
farmers unite to insure living price
for their products, and those who want
to help, stop this wicked cry against
producers.
If there is the slightest desire on
the part of the city residents to swell
the volume of agricultural products,
the first and only step is to aid IN Sc
curing a living price for what the
farmer has to sell. This obtained, the
stimulants will be found for increass
per acre and Improvement per pack
age, but it can never come by reading
the growers lessons about duty while
the returns are not sufficient to COW
er expenses.
When railroads. wholesalers and
jebbers are getting more out of these
apples than the growers, and retailers
are realizing dollars per barrel where
producers get cents, it is poor time
to urge more critical selection of fruit
in packing"
Our readers will note that DR..
Twitchelfs letter was written Sept. 80.
On Tuesday, Oct. 10, the Kennebee
Journal is informed that Winthrop
farmer has just received returns from.
a lot of apples netting him $3.50 per
barrel. We hope others are getting
better prices as the season advances. 1t
is quite probable that the apple market
is not up to other years when the
European demand was large, but the
middlemen and retailers seem deter
mined to make an average years pro-
fit at the start-off, on war" excuse.