THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 377 



He says in the Ohio Farmer " that the idea that markets can not be educated 

 is a fallacy, and one that may, to a very considerable extent, be disregarded. 

 This Avonld seem evident from the fact tliat the present popular demand for the 

 fruits in question (may we not say for all fruits?) has been clearly the result of edu- 

 cation. One of our least attractive fruits — the Rhode Island Greening — has, in 

 spite of such fault, come to be almost if not altogetlier a leading market variety ; 

 while the Seciiel among pears, in spite of diminutive size and the lack of fine 

 appearance, commands largely increased prices in almost any market so soon as 

 its high quality comes to be known." 



************** 



This incident is told of a Maine farmer, Avhich is worth saving. 



Five years ago this farmer sold his apple crop to a traveling buyer ; he selected 

 and packed the fruit most carefully, and put into each barrel a slip containing 

 his name and address, with a request for a report from the purchaser of their 

 condition when opened and the satisfaction they gave. He had no idea of their 

 destination, but it so happened that the lot went abroad and into the hands of 

 a dealer near Liverpool, who was so much pleased with their quality and condi- 

 tion that he wrote the grower to offer to take his next crop directly; this offer 

 was accepted, and the wise grower has since had a permanent customer. Had 

 he been more sharp than wise he might have succeeded in shoving off a lot of 

 inferior fruit, or he might have ''deaconed" each barrel — to use an old New 

 England phrase — by putting the best at the ends; but he would hardly hare 

 risked his address, and he certainly would not have heard agreeably -rom the 

 purchaser. 



Chas. A. Green touches as follows upon a point that has been discussed with 

 us : 



No one but the initiated imagines how marvelously beautiful a basket of red- 

 cheeked Crawfords or Fosters may be made by stretching a two-cent strip of 

 gauze or mosquito netting over it. The observer will notice that different colors 

 of gauze are used with different varieties, which he supposes to be merely a 

 matter of chance, but the suiting of the color to the variety is closely and 

 shrewdly followed to the pecuniary advancement of the peach-grower. I saw a 

 man exhibiting some Crawfords at the fair in baskets covered with pink gauze, 

 and his peaches attracted a crowd, while others on exhibition equally large and 

 showy were passed without notice. 



************** 



Continuing this same subject of marketing we quote from an address before 

 the Ohio Horticultural Society, by G. F. Newton. He says: 



On one occasion I shipped twenty barrels of apples to a customer during the 

 holidays. The weather was mild when I shipped, but fearing it might turn 

 cold I lined each barrel with two thicknesses of paper. They were detained by 

 mismanagement in transit for over two days and nights on the track, and the 

 second day the mercery went down to twelve degrees below zero. There was no 

 fire in the car, but they went through safe. The dealer acknowledged receipt, 

 with draft, and wrote: — "I have been dealing in apples for years, but never 

 knew how to pack apples until I saw this lot." This was my first shipment to 

 him and he has continued to buy of me ever since, when I have any to sell. 

 Some years ago I shipped a few barrels of apples to friends in Eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania, consigning them to a fruit dealer, who notified the parties the apples 

 were shipped to, and went with the fruit to see how it looked. He immedi- 



