104 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nected with the business, and perhaps lift the veil a little that we may see 

 ourselves as others see us. So we hope, in considering this question, that 

 if we should expose to the world trade secrets that are not to our credit, 

 we will be excused on the ground that we are trying to reform. 



In concluding this matter we will take the business as we find it in 

 Michigan today. Take the apple business for instance. We find orchards 

 of all descriptions — good, bad, and indifferent, some very profitable, others 

 a continual loss. While there has been some excuse for this condition of 

 things in the past, owing to the lack of knowledge regarding varieties, 

 their adaptability to our soils, etc., that excuse no longer exists; for if any 

 man will avail himself of the opportunities offered him for gaining 

 knowledge on all these matters, he need make few mistakes. We also find 

 a great many orchards which should be profitable, but fail, owing to lack 

 of good judgment in marketing. Tou may travel all over the state and in 

 not a single county will you find a reliable and prevailing standard of 

 packing apples. You will find barrels ranging from 2^ to three bushels; 

 you will find some men packing all grades in the same barrel, with the 

 best near the heads; also, some who leave out enough of the poorer grade 

 to make a barrel of cider. But occasionally you will find a man who uses 

 a full-size barrel and packs only two grades of fruit, each one packed 

 honestly, selling the poorer fruit to the evaporator and cider mill. This 

 man is the i)ioneer of the successful orchardists of the future. 



In the grape-growing sections we find the same lack of, a standard. 

 We here find slight variations in the size of the baskets, for the purpose of 

 defrauding the buyer, and we also find large plantations of the miserable 

 Champion sent to market with the expectation that they will be sold for 

 Concords; and they do succeed to the extent of damaging the sale of Con- 

 cords. The growing of such fruit should be discouraged as detrimental 

 to the fruitgrowing interests of the state. 



In peaches the same practices exist, with variations. Some growers are 

 reliable, others are not, but nearly all practice a mild form of decej)tion in 

 the use of tarletan. 



In berries the practice of deception is very common, both in the size of 

 the package and the manner of packing, but it is evident to a close observer 

 that the day is not far distant when the scalawag grower or packer will 

 find no place in the markets. Already you can hear his wail. His sales 

 are not satisfactory, and he begins to call other people dishonest, forgetting 

 who first set the example ; but I think that the intelligent grower has little 

 or nothing to fear from this class of people, as they have plenty of "rope" 

 and are fast hanging themselves financially. 



So much for the conditions as we find them today. Now, the question 

 occurs, what course shall we pursue in the future to make our business 

 profitable? In the first place, the successful grower of the future must be 

 a thorough business man. He must be thoroughly versed regarding 

 varieties and soils. He must know what the market wants and how it is 

 wanted. He must be an entomologist and understand the best modes of 

 insect warfare. He must know something of fungi and fungicides; he 

 must be an experimenter; he must be built on a broad-gauge and liberal 

 plan, and above all must be an honest man. If so, he will have some 

 confidence in others and can combine with his neighbors in the deep 

 search for knowledge and wealth. 



In conclusion, we would suggest the consideration of a few matters 

 which are beginning to cut quite a figure in our business. First is the 



