The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-06-13
FARM SPECIALIZING.
Will Prove of Great Value to Vermont
People.

People.
when will the Vermont farmer learn
to specialize on his productf" asks the
Bristol Herald in commenting editorially
on current prices of maple sugar and
syrup. The question is of antediluyian
age, vet pertinent TO the day and sea-
SON day the Vermont farmer is get
ting 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 diyi-
sion OF financial receipts is the Vermont
farmer himself. Only short distance
or to speak in another way--only a
days freight car run from Vermont's
further point are ten millions of people
who, If they eat maple sugar or syrup
at all, must buy it, The Bristol farmer,
according to The Herald, is to-day get
ting eight cents pound for his sugar
The Boston and New York City consum-
ers are paying 25 cents 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 cent pound
on any considerable shipment, and yet
more than $50 per cent. is the difference
between the Vermont producer and the
Manhattan consumer. Nor is this all,
for in Massachusetts at least the adul-
teration of maple products to the extent
of so per cent, is legal without any mott
ticatiGn thereof OF course this is per-
MISSILE only in intrastate and not in
terstate traffic. So-called maple syrup
that does not contain as high as five per
cent. of the genuine article is sold and
served everywhere in Vermont, as well
as elsewhere, and this practice is detri-
mental to the financial and economic
welfare of the Vermont farmer.
But this matter of maple sugar prod
ucts 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 to-
day of huge crop of apples the coming
fall, and in this section of the state the
farmer will get around Sl,25 barrel for
HIS best winter fruit. These apples will
be sent TO Boston and other Massachu-
sets cities and be sold to the consumer
at prices around 81 per barrel Out of
the Vermont farmers receipt of Sl.25
per barrel must come 30 cents for the
new empty barrel, at least 90 cents for
the labor of picking and 10 cents for
heading and carting to the station, leav-
ing him 40 cents for his investment and
for the labor and care of his trees.
The one cause Of this difference in the
price for which the Vermont farmer sells
and the consumer pays is simply the
lack of organization on the part of the
Vermont farmer. Isolated and morgan
lied as he is, he is at the mercy of the
middleman, and no one is to blame for
this condition but himself Let the Ad.
olson county maker of maple sugar and
the White river valley apple grower
each get on to 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 Landmark
takes it for granted that the Bristol
Herald knows the agency that should Sc
cure for the Addison county producer
more than eight of the 25 cents the Bos-
ton consumer pays for pound of his
maple sugar-White River Junction
Landmark.