The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-06-20
Charles G. Cole
FARM SPECIALIZING
Will Prove Of Great Value TO Yer
mont People

mont People
when will the Vermont farmer
learn to specialize on his product"
asks the Bristol Herald in comment
ing editorially on current prices OF
maple sugar and syrup. The ques.
ton is OF antediluyian age. yet peril
nent 10 the day and season. Today
the Vermont farmer is getting not a
mill above 40 cents OF the dollar that
the down-country consumer pays for
his maple products. and the one man
to blame for this unfair division OF
financial receipts is the Vermont
farmer himself Only short distance
or To speak in another way-only
a days freight car run from Yer.
mont's further point are ten millions
OF people who. if they eat maple sug-
ar or syrup at all. must buy IT, The
Bristol farmer. according TO The Her
aid. is today getting eight cents
pound for his sugar The Boston and
New York City consumers are paying
20 cents a pound for the same The
cost OF transportation from Bristol
an Addison county town near the
Chittenden county line. would not be
at the highest, half a cent a pound
on any considerable shipment, and
yet more than $50 per cent is the diff
ference between the Vermont produc-
er and the Manhattan consumer. Nor
is this all, for in Massachusetts at
least the adulteration OF maple
products to the extent of 80 per cent
is legal without any notification there
OF. OF course this is permissible on
ly in intrastate and not interstate
traffic. So-cailed maple syrup that
does contain as high as five per cent
OF the genuine article is sold and serv
ed everywhere, in Vermont, as well
as elsewhere and this practice is de
trimental to the financial and econo-
mic welfare OF the Vermont farmer.
But this matter of maple sugar
products is no worse in the matter OF
its selling than it is with all other
products of the Vermont farm that
find market outside the state There
is promise today of a huge crop of
apples the coming fall. and i'm this sec
ton Of the state the farme. will get
around 1925 a barrel for his best win
ter fruit. These apples will be sent
to Boston and other Massachusetts
cities and be sold to the consumer at
prices around 81 per barrel. Out of
the Vermont farmers receipt of SIPS
per ba rel, at least 20 cents for the
labor of picking and 10 cents for
heading and carting to the station,
leaving him 40 cents for his invest
ment and for the labor and care of
his trees.
The one cause of this difference in
the price for which the Vermont farm
er sells and the consumer pays is
simply the lack of organization on
the part of the Vermont farmer. Isol-
ated and unorganized as he is. he is
at the mercy of the middleman, and
no one is TO blame for his condition
but himself. Let the Addison county
marker of maple sugar and the White
river valley apple grower each ge. on
their job, as respects the business
end of farming. and then each will
get more Of the consumers dollar
and that too, without making it any
harder for the consumer. The Land
mark takes it for granted that the
Bristol Herald knows the agency that
should secure for the Addison county
p,oducer more than eight of the 25
cents the Boston consumer pays for
a pound of his maple sugar.-White
River Junction Landmark.