Because of their higher value per pound and the ease with which they can be stored, cotton, wool and tobacco are dealt in somewhat differently than other farm products. The two great cotton exchanges are located at New Orleans and New York, the quotations on these markets controlling the financial transactions in cotton throughout the world. The principal wool markets are Boston, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis. The principal tobacco markets are at Richmond and Danville, Va., Durham, N. C., and Louisville, Ky.
Mr. C. W. Wald, graduate of the Ohio State University, farmer, formerly assistant horticulturist of the New Hampshire and Ohio Experiment Stations, is shown above in one of the New Carlisle (Ohio) greenhouses, in which three crops of lettuce occur in one bed. One crop is ready to cut, another planted and a third in pots between the other plants, to be planted in another bed when large enough. The net returns from a quarter of an acre under glass has been greater than from 160 acres devoted to general farm crops.
C. W. Zuck & Sons, Erie, Pa. One son was a student in agriculture at the Pennsylvania State College. Father and three sons, beginning six years ago with a run-down farm of 55 acres, have built an acre of glass and a heating plant of 260 horsepower. During the period they have spent $5,000 on the place and at the end of season they will have very nearly cleared their improvements. Tell the youthful readers of your book to get as much education as possible and then go in partnership with their fathers or brothers. If they do, success will be theirs.
The country shipper or the young farmer wishing to place his products in the ordinary channels of trade must consider and determine among other things the following: What cities have favorable markets for his products; choose some commission man or broker to handle them; calculate the expenses for freight, commission and other customary items; familiarize himself with the rules for grading his products in the market or markets under consideration; and determine what agency there may be for protecting him as to the weight and quality when sales are effected. Whenever practicable, a visit to the market in question and a personal study of the conditions under which selling is done will be wise. Having done so, and perhaps having made a number of sales through these usual channels of trade, he will be in a position to consider whether he may organize to advantage some more direct method of getting his products to the consumer.
CHAPTER XX
LAWS AFFECTING LAND AND
LABOR
Thus far property has been treated as invested capital upon which interest must be charged in determining the labor income. Labor, likewise, has been considered principally in its effect upon profits. Society has thrown around the transfer of property and the use of labor certain restraints for the protection of all individuals.