82 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



As most of our fruits now go to market in railway cars, it becomes a mat- 

 ter of great consequence 



WHAT KIND OF CARS W^E HAVE TO USE. 



The annjunt of horticullural freight has now become so large that railway com- 

 panies should be induced to build cars specially adapted to carry this valuable 

 j)roduce in the best manner. I know that certain companies have shown a will- 

 ingness to do this. But the question of what constitutes a good, or the best fruit 

 car, has never been settled. If we could do something as a Society to determine 

 this question it would be a help to growers in making their claims upon 

 railroad companies for better cars. Fruits of a delicate and perishable char- 

 acter are shipped yearly in great quantity and with entire success from Cal- 

 ifornia across the continent. Tt will be well for us to inquire into the precise 

 means which have made this possible. The tides of our fruit commerce in this 

 valley flow northward and southward rather than along lines of latitude ; and 

 our markets should in many cases, and for large quantities, be found a thou- 

 sand miles or more away from the place of production. As this transportation 

 along north and south lines involves rapid changes of climate, it becomes of 

 the utmost importance that appliances for this traffic should be of the best 

 possible character. That rapid transit should be afforded by the i mportant 

 through lines, and that beyond and outside of the facilities offered on pas- 

 senger trains, would seem essential to the profitable expansion of this busi- 

 ness to meet the growing demands of our markets. 



But when we have arranged all these matters of markets and packages, of 

 handling and transportation in a satisfactory way according to the best busi- 

 ness principles, shall we not soon find ourselves lacking in the 



QUALITY OP THE PRODUCTS WE HAVE TO OFFER TO THE CONSUMERS ? 



I fear that our most serious difficulty as fruit growers will be found right 

 here. We have, perhaps, plenty of varieties, and those that are good enough 

 for our markets, when we can get them; but the difficulty of securing good 

 and regular crops becomes more and more apparent as time goes on. In 

 the process of horticultural development, our accomplishments in the pro- 

 duction of the utmost variety of fruits, with size and^,''orm and color and 

 flavor to please every eye and every taste at all seasons, has far outstrii)pcd 

 our ability to protect them from the vicissitudes of extreme climates, and from 

 the insects and diseases which atUick them in all climates. We enter here a 

 domain of too much ignorance. 



SCIENTIFIC AID .SOLICITED. 



The peach grower of Michigan knows varieties as delicious and tempting 

 as the api>les in the garden of Eden, and he knows how to grow them and 

 market them, and to make great profit thereby; but he finds himself de- 

 feated by the rapid spread of an obscure disease that has attacked his costly 

 and valuable i)roi)crty. He can not, with his present knowledge, combat 



