54 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



time as "the oldest inhabitant." My article, owing to want of time, will be 

 short, and for want of ability Avill be of little consequence. 



The subject of marketing fruit is one of vast importance to the man who 

 would make fruit raising a financial success and gain a reputation for furnish- 

 iuc: "tlie best the market affords" for the fruit trade, and one that deserves 

 much more attention tlian is usually given it. 



I think if the fruit-growers of this county would make the most of the 

 natural advantages which God has given this section by wliich they can gain a 

 competence in one of the most pleasant modes of tilling the soil, they should, 

 as soon as possible, form an association through which they can get their crop 

 to market in the shortest possible time and in good condition. I think an 

 association should be formed, because it is to every man's interest that his 

 neighbor's fruit should go into market looking as sound and fresh as his own, 

 and thereby build up a reputation and a call for the fruit from this locality, 

 and this can best be done by all working together for the good of the whole. 



To get fruit to market looking fresh and in that fine state of preservation 

 in which it should be, in shipping by rail, cars should be procured which have 

 been built for that express purpose, and well arranged to keep the baskets 

 froni being jostled together, thereby bruising the fruit more or less; and in 

 every car should be stored a sufficient amount of ice to keep the car cool and 

 at a standing temperature, and the car should also be kept as dark as possible. 

 It is remarkable how fruit will keep in a dark, cool place, where the tempera- 

 ture is at a stand-still, though it be very ripe. 



Having secured good shipping facilities the next thing of importance, — and 

 it is the most important part of fruit-raising — is the picking. I have seen 

 men })icking peaches when it tried one's patience to tlie extreme to see the 

 careless manner in which they would toss them about. In picking peaches or 

 plums one should handle them with as much care as he would eggs. Pick 

 them carefully, — never pinch them, — and lay them gently in the basket with- 

 out drojiping them an inch, as wherever the fruit is bruised in the least there 

 it will commence to rot, and that will not only injure the peach or plum com- 

 mencing to decay, but all that lie close to it. Always when possible pick in 

 the same basket in which the fruit is to bo shipped, as it saves one handling 

 and the chances of bruisins: and marrini; wliich attend the handlino-. The 

 habit some have of pinching or feeling of a peach to see if it is ripe is worse 

 than carelessness, and the man who cannot tell by the looks of a p3ach whether 

 it is ripe enough to pick without ))incliing it, does not know enough to pick 

 fruit and should never be employed. 



Ai)ples, peaches, plums, etc., should always be sorted ; never put the large 

 and small ones in the same basket. The small ones while not helping to fill 

 the basket spoil the looks of the whole, while if sorted they will measure 

 more and the small ones will })ass for as good a lot of peaches as the whole 

 mixed together, and the large ones will sell for extra fine fruit. 



It is of the utmost imjiortance that fruit should reach the consumers in the 

 shortest time possible after being picked, and I think if an association of the 

 fruit-growers of this county be properly organized, the fruit from this section 

 can be shii)ped direct to the consumers and retail dealers in Illinois, Wiscon- 

 sin, and Minnesota, thereby saving tiie time and expense incurred through the 

 commission merchants of Chicago ami ]\Iilwaukee, as well as the marring of 

 the fruit in consequence of the extra handling which is incurred at their 

 hands. 



In conclusion I would say to the fruit growers of Oceana county, organize. 



