42 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Michigan Agricultural College nor do more than draw passing attention 

 to its service to the state and nation and to its rank among similar insti- 

 tutions. 



Nor need I dwell on the work of the experiment stations and the in- 

 stitutes conducted under the guidance of the college, nor of the work of 

 the county farm agents or advisers, thru whom the nation and state join 

 forces to aid the farming interests of the county providing a farm bureau 

 through which the agent can work. 



May I direct your at'tention for a few moments to the work of the 

 State Horticultural vSociety? 



Not alone in the natural advantage of soil and climate, and tlie ac- 

 quired ones of intelligent and carefully-guided culture, are we fortunate, 

 but in the natural advantage of nearness to markets and the developed 

 one of adequate means of transportation. (Iveferring to map.) 



Here is Grand Ivapids, which I have taken as the center because of 

 our presence in it, as well as its relation to the fruit interests of the 

 State. 



Within a radius of eight hundred miles, — the distance that can be 

 covered in about twenty-four hours by fast express shipments, or thirty- 

 six hours with the somewhat less rajtid service, we find three-quarters 

 of the people of North America, all, or most of the most populous states 

 of the Union, excepting only Texas and California, and including the 

 most thickly settled portions of the Dominion of Canada. 



To transport our products, we have on our shores fifty harbors, be- 

 sides many piers and landings, over 9,000 miles of steam road, and 

 over 1,200 miles of electric road. 



Our boat lines and railroads oft'er connections with eight or ten of 

 the principal railroad systems of the country which penetrate into 

 every portion of the territory within this eight-hundred-mile radius. 



Fruit-growers, as well as buyers and others connected with the in- 

 dustry, now generallj' recoguize that the weakest link in our chain from 

 land to consumer is in the marketing. Now, we fruit growers and 

 business men, should be able to offer some definite assistance in help- 

 ing to bring about more efiicieut and more economical methods of mar- 

 keting. 



Our natural advantages and our developed skill which enable us to 

 produce the finest fruit in the world, Avill avail us little if our growers 

 cannot get the returns commensurate with the superior quality of their 

 products. 



We are advancing every season in this respect, and we shall solve 

 the problem as v.e have had to solve the other problems of fruit grow- 

 ing. This is the brancli in which modern business methods can be aj)- 

 plied directly. Production is a field in itself, as in production in each 

 distinct manufacturing industry, but the broad principles of distribu- 

 tion worked out in other fields, can be applied to fruit, subject, of course, 

 to the modifications as to speed made necessary by the perishable nature 

 of the commodity. 



We have learned lessons from our brethren on the Pacific coast, 

 whose remoteness from markets forced them to develop efficiency and 

 economy in marketing from the first. Witli our nearness to markets, 



