48 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



uate in trausferring the dreaded competition to onr own borders, with 

 shorter and cheaper transportation and with the same tariff for protection 

 which we invoked to protect ourselves only. Better ' let well enough alone ' 

 rather than attempt to 'play with edged tools.' 



"The question, 'How shall we hold our own?' against these pomological 

 interlopers, however, may admit of another practical solution — one which 

 I have so long urged against the general practice of commercial fruit- 

 growers, that the renewal of it, in this connection, may be liable to the 

 charge of triteness. If we offer the buyer a Pennock apple, a Ben Davis, 

 or even a sour yet beautiful Bed Astrachan, in competition with a luscious 

 orange, pineapple, or banana, at anything approaching a parallel price, we 

 scarcely need state where his choice will fall; while if, on the other hand, 

 the choice shall lie between these and a fresh, clean, well-ripened straw- 

 berry or a rosy-cheeked peach, the scale will generally be reversed. The 

 lesson we deduce from this is: Do as the growers of our southern fruits 

 have long been doing — grow the best, select the fruits carefully and closely, 

 put the l^est only upon the market, put up neatly and honestly, in attrac- 

 tive packages, and" guarantee the quantity and quality. 



"It is a common, if not, indeed, the almost universal, plea that city 

 people usually 'buy by the eye.' True as this but too commonly is, it may 

 with much propriety be charged to be largely the fault of growers, and 

 perchance of dealers also, who have so long and so generally grown for 

 mere appearance that the mass of buyers have come to assume that there 

 is no surer rule of selection. However this may be, we are persuaded that 

 the surest way to hold our own against this new competitor, is to improve 

 the quality and general attractiveness of our market varieties, even at an 

 increased expense for packages and handling, keeping fully abreast with 

 the growers of rival fruits in these particulars, and trusting to the 

 certainty that, with this and the higher quality, the superior condition, 

 and more lasting characteristics of our fruits, and their fresher condition 

 when they reach our markets, we will find little occasion to dread the 

 competition of even more perishable fruits coming from far greater 

 distances." 



PORTEE Beal of Bollin: Is it a fact that the consumption of home- 

 grown fruit is decreasing by use of the foreign article? We can only 

 assume that it is, because we have no proof; and it is my opinion that it is 

 not. * 



A. A. Geroe of Toledo, O. : I do not think consumption of our home- 

 grown fruits is decreasing. Only, more fruit of every kind comes to the 

 markets, and more is consumed. 



B. W. Steere of Adrian: There is no cause for discouragement on this 

 score. For all the great increase in foreign fruit, there is more of our own 

 consumed than ever before. 



Several others were of the same opinion, and there were none who 

 thought differently. President Lyon said the question has been widely 

 discussed by pomologists, having been raised in a paper by Mr. Hale of 

 Connecticut a few years ago. 



Mr. Geroe: There is no doubt that the use of native fruits is greater 

 than ever before. Physicians all recommend it; the hotels all provide it; 

 and it is more frequently found upon our own tables. As a merchant I 

 buy and sell more more than ever, although the growth of the tropical fruit 

 trade is wonderful. I would advise the setting of the later varieties, so as 



