VOL LVI.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND,, SEPTEMBER 14, 1901.
NO. 37
"gxpsxitutt &g_mvttuguk
Dots it Pay to Put Farm and Garden Produce in
Attra tive Packages Before Marketing?
Give Some Illustrations.
Cater to Human Nature.
lst Premium—Ynss. The farmer, fruit
grower and gardener must tirst make a
reputation Before he can get top prices,
and the best, way to get that reputation
is hy honesty rtud putting all your products
in the most attractive condition possible.
He sure that your products are as good as
liny show to he, no matter iu what market they are sold, whether the retail,
wholesale or commission. Never represent
a product to have qualities that it has nut.
If your customer learns that when he
asks for a good cooking apple he always
gets it, he will not leave you; for 29 out of
20 customers do not buy by name and cannot tell by looks or taste whether fruit will
cook well or not. If your products are
not very e'ven, sort tliem and sell in two
qualities, for there are two classes of customers, oue class that will buy the best at
any price dud one class that will buy the
cheapest regardless of quality. If you
have five bushels of any product and will
take oul one lmsliel of culls, the four
bushels left will bring you more money
than the five and you will have the fifth
bushel left. Your boxes, baskets and
measures should all be clean and attractive and the man that stands behind the
retail bench should be clean ami pleasant,
especially so if he sells his own "butter.
I shall not go into details in regard to
packages, but your name on them will be
a guarantee if you keep up the quality
and customers will learn to seek it. A
few defective apples, grapes, peaches, potatoes or of any other product in a measure or package detracts more from the
pocket book than it adds to the hulk. In
an experience of over 50 years in the Indianapolis market with products from the
farm, orchards and garden, I have found
that it pays to put every product in an
attractive form; and especially so when
Ihe market is over stocked. We should
learn a lesson from the manufacturer.
He invariably puts up his articles in neat
packages. Even the patent medicine
man has his name blown in his bottles
and his circular printed in glowing colors.
A few years ago I was on the Indianapolis
market at the market house. I had a
half bushel of sweet potatoes measured
tip. A customer asked me what I would
charge for a peck of potatoes picked from
that half hushel. I told him 40 cents,
the price I was asking for the half bushel.
He picked out the peck and paid 40 cents
and I sold the remainder for 20 cents. I
was 20 cents ahead and a good lesson besides. It is the nature of the human
family to appreciate the good and beautiful. Shall we not cater to it, when it
puts money in our pockets? I. N. C.
Marion Co.
Fruit and Vegt tables Should be Carefully Graded.
2d Premium—By all means it pays to put
market articles in attractive shape before
offering for sale. This is true of all
stuff, but of none more than of fruit and
vegetable products. Fruit should be closely graded. The nicest, most perfect specimens should be put iu a crate or basket
by themselves, the seconds to themselves,
and so on. This is as important for vegetables also. All should be clean and
placed in clean and attractive packages.
Vegetables should also be carefully graded,
the culls put to themselves. Especially
is this true when the supply is as greal or
greater   than   the   demand. Last   yeear
vegetables were plenty and in marketing
our garden truck we took extra pains in
sorting and packing. All vegetables that
were not first class were thrown aside.
The perfect ones were wiped or washed
until clean, then carefully placed iu paper
lined, clean, shallow boxes, each hox
holding about a half bushel. As a result
we sold our stuff at a fair price, while
other wagons that marketed their track
in poor shape had to almost give it away.
The boxes, crates or baskets can be of the
cheapest, but they should be clean ami
neat looking. Owing to economizing space
in the wagon we used boxes, made at home
from clean boxes purchased at the stores.
By making them ourselves we could have
them just the size wished. The fruit and
vegetables should not be thrown in these
receptacles, but should be placed in carefully. Don't place all your nicest specimens on top; and don't mix seconds with
the firsts. There is always some one who
will pay extra for extra nice stuff, and it
pays decidedly to cater to such . EJ, ('.
Vermilion Co.
It Paid Even in Pioneer Times.
3d Premium.—It certainly does pay to
put yuor produce in as attractive shape as
you can. Perhaps it may met seem to do
so for awhile but iu the long run it wil!
pay, and pay well as a rule. It pays in
more than dollars and cents, too, for it
pays in satisfaction of conscience thai yon
have "avoided the appearance of evil,"
Which carries with it a moral and mental
uplift that has a very real value. I
nie-un to say that taking pains to make
your goods look well, good goods of course,
means character for yourself and your
goods, and is well worth while. And it
pays in dollars and cents, too, beyond any
question. Take as small a matter as a
hunch of asparagus. The neatly tied,
compact bunch will be chosen before a
slovenly-put-together one, were they cut
from the same bed. And so it is; even
in a glutted market the nicest appearing
article sells before the carelessly offered
one, and that is one of the reasons it pays
to take pains. I have heard my old
grandmother tell a story of pioneer times
in Canada, that illustrates the truth of the
above:
It was 50 or GO years ago, when money
was very scarce and produce very low-
priced. She greatly wanted to make a little money, so fixing up a basket of butter
she started off afoot to a town some ten
miles away, where a small market had
been opened. She found many more
sellers than buyers present, and was on
the point of giving up in despair when a
well-dressed lady arrived. She surveyed
the row of baskets and choose grandmother's from among them all, because of the
nice white cloths in which her hutter was
rolled.
The customer gave the reason for her
preference and 50 years afterwards grandmother took pride in the fact; aud then it
paid, too. And it pays still to-day. Of
course a good deal depends upon your
market. It pays best in a good market,
but even in a village store there is always
a demand for the good, firm, neatly molded
butter of some few customers.
Clean, fresh-looking eggs are nearr)
everywhere worth a cent or over more
than are dirty ones, which is quite right.
Given a clean basket, and a handful of
fresh peach leaves, and peaches from the
same tree will sell before another basket
not very clean, and just tumbled in anyway. And so it is with all fruits and
many  eef  the  vegetables,  and   in fact  so
it is with all produce. And as competition grows keener the more evident it will
become till like the French market-folk,
(the leest markets in ihe world are in
Prance), a fresh flower will be added
tee the sale lo enhance its attractions.
Montgomery Co. ('. It. P.
Fix Produce  so as to be Pleasing to the Eye.
It always pays to put up farm produce
in attractive' packages for market. We
notice that nearly everything in the stores
are in packages pleasing to the eye and iu
the last few years fruit growers have
been growing fruit pleasing to the eye regardless of the quality. I have noticed
that the small sweet fruit is set aside for
the large tasteless fruit, iu strawberries.
This fall in some cities plums put up in
quart boxes would sell before those put
up iu half bushel baskets. One grocer
said that his plums were passed unnoticed because they were in half bushe]
baskets. He sent his men upstairs to get
some cases and case up the plums, and
they were all sold in half an hour. But
in other markets they want plums in half
bushel baskets because the customers
would rather have the plums in Ihe baskets
than quart boxes. ('berries also sell better in quart boxes than in half bushel
stands, whicli is also true of blackberries
and raspberries. When putting cabbage
and oilier vegetables on market they should
have an attractive appearance as well as
be in atrtactive packages. By cutting
the old leaves off cabbage we have been
able to go right behind the other man with
wilty truck and sell. They saiel that the
cabbage was ready to put on to cook. Al-
waystry to please the ey of yqprenstomera
and the products will sell a great deal
easier. C   B.
Howard Co.
■Hake Packages to Suit your Market.
The fancy quality of farm and garden
produce sells first and at the highest prices
and it is doubtful whether it pays to ship
produce to distant markets that will not
rank as first class in quality, neatness,
measure nnd style of package. Every
shipper should ascertain what style crate
or package is most popular with the retail
markets where he intends to ship, and use
that kind, for mixed packages are not so
popular as some standard package. After
procuring clean, standard style packages
or crates, fill with heaping measure, with
as good quality at bottom of package as at
the top. With a heaping measure of the
best produce in clean popular sized packages, it is a good advertisement for the
producer to have his name and address
neatly printed upon every package, which
will soon pass upon the market as a guarantee of good quality. Inferior produce
should be sold upon the local market
where it will not be subjected to the jar
and delay of shipping. Kural.
Southern Indiana.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should be
sent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach us one week before
date of publication.
Topics for discussion in future numbers
of the Farmer are as follows:
No. 289, Sept. 21—Show the benefits of
good walks about the house and barnyard and tell how to make them.
No. 290, Sept. 28—How can the work
of the farmer's wife be simplified?
The  oyster  supply   for  Hep   e-otntug  season   is   to
he large,  It  is snlil.
Information about State Fair and City.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Would not au article in your esteemed
paper giving information about the State
fair now be of interest lo many of your
readers who are unacquainted with the
city? You might tell where the fair
grounds are located; how best reached
from the Union depot; will there likely
be ample hotel accommodations for the
crowds of visitors from the country; what
will be the common hotel charge by the
day; tell how one may most economically
be comfortably cared for while at Stale
fair. Many facts might be stated that
would help strangers to get the most good
out of the fair, with the least expense and
worry. In writing the article remember
that many country people are not familiar
with city ways, and you can imagine situations in which the information you can
give might be helpful. E. I.. L.
Lawrence Co.
—We commend the above letter to our
correspondents as a model in its line. The
writer asks for certain information that
we are in a position to give, and he state's
in a direct manner the things he wants
to know. Our readers ought to ask sucli
questions; it is tlieir right and it is our
duty ami pleasure to reply to them.
In reply to 10. I,. I... we would say tliat
tho State fair grounds are about four
miles north of Union station. During Ihe
fair, II! to 21st. street cars will run almost every two minutes. The fare is live
cents each way. The cars run to the middle of the grounds and the time from I lie'
depot to grounds is about 20 minutes. On
Wednesday and Thursday trains will be'
run every half hour on the Monon railroad.
They unload passengers at the west entrance to tho grounds and the fare is i.i
cents the round trip. As to eating and
lodging accommodations, we send you a
list of places with street numbers, number of guests ami rale for lodging and
meals. The list has been prepared by llie
Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows, which meets
here during State fair week, but Mr. W.
H. Leedy, chairman of the executive committee, kindly gives us permission to use
it for the benefit of our friends, who come
to attetnd the fair. We send a copy to
E. L. L., and will send to any others who
apply for them. There are several hundred names on the list, and the rates are
generally 50 cents for lodging and 25
cents for meals; a few are higher. The
list also gives most of the places of interest about the city, with directions for
reaching them.
Our office is very easily fouud, over No.
30 North Delaware street, just opposite
the Court House park, west, and auy
reader needing further information can
obtain it by calling on us. We shall be
glad to see and to serve any of the Indiana
Farmer family who may favor us with a
call, either at the office or at our tent
next tin* office of the State Board of Agriculture on the grounds.
The light rain last Monday night will he
quite a help iu breaking ground for wheat.
Those having subjects they wish discussed   in  our  '"Experience   Department"
will please send them in on postal card.
 •
Grapes and peaches are very abundant
in this market, and sell well at fair
prices. Apples will be a short crop as
usual in this State.
Our lady readers are invited to call ami
examine aur sewing machine, at the State
fair. The one we show there is just a
fair sample of those we are sending out
every week; no lietter in any respect.