76 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Farnsworth: I made two grades and gave away the culls, putting 

 my name on the selects only; but the seconds were uniformly packed and 

 brought from thirty to sixty-five cents per basket. I used fifths for the 

 selects, sewed tarlatane over them, and the 412 six-year trees yielded 360 

 bushels which sold for §1,064.70. 



R. Skeels, Hart: I packed three grades. in fifth baskets, got from 

 eighty-five cents to SI. 50 per basket, and sent the culls in bushels which 

 sold for S2.50 to»S3.25 each. 



R. Morrill: Do either of these gentlemen know of any man who delib- 

 erately "stuffs" fruit? 



There was a profound silence and then a wide smile. 



E. J. Shirts, Shelby: In the express ofiice myself and sons handled 

 seven eighths of all the fruit shipped from Shelby. A few shippers got 

 very high prices. The baskets were called fifths but in fact were only 

 sixths or sevenths, and yet some of these shippers talked louldly about 

 "snide" packages. He told of much dishonest packing, and said the 

 trouble is with the men, not with the peaches. 



C. A, Hawley, Shelby : Among growers in my vicinity, I do not know of 

 one who intentionally defrauds; but some buyers do so. Mr. Hawley 

 urged growers to combine to secure better rates and conditions of transpor- 

 tation, and was sure they could be obtained, but by combination only. 

 Last season, said he, we shipped by three diff'erent ways to Chicago and 

 Milwaukee, and so frittered away our influence. When we agree as to 

 what we want, and unite in demanding it, we shall have it. • 



Mr. Garfield to Mr. Morrill: Do you consider wine measure an hon- 

 est one for fruit? 



Mr. Morrill: No, it is the beginning of the "snide." If we are to use 

 the fifth basket, we should make it standard. The capacity of the barrel is 

 legally defined, yet the ten-peck barrel is constantly used. The strawberry- 

 growers of Barnesville, Ohio, use the standard quart, and pack their fruit 

 upon honor, and I have seen sixteen-quart crates of Sharpless berries from 

 them sell for $8. From Benton Harbor go immense shipments of berries 

 of all sorts — from 8,000 to 12,000 crates daily — yet the honest packer is the 

 exception. 



The chair appointed as a committee on fruit exhibits, Messrs. Garfield, 

 Cordley, and Bos. 



Following this animated discussion, was a paper by Mr. C. A. Sessions 

 of Mears, upon 



PEACH GROWING IN OCEANA COUNTY. 



" You will all agree with me that the peach is the choicest fruit grown 

 in our latitude, and when it can be successfully cultivated it is the most 

 profitable. [I presume my plnm-growing friends will say nay to the last 

 statement.] With the improved methods for canning and evaporating, 

 the increased facilities for transportation, the large increase in the 

 number of consumers, and the gradual and rapid decline in its production 

 in the far-famed New Jersey and Delaware orchards, there can be no 

 doubt of its profitableness in the future where it can be successfully grown. 



" Having stated these well-known facts, we will call youu attention to a 

 brief review of its history in Oceana county, covering a period of twenty- 

 two years. 



