384 State Horticultural Society. 



to grade it, and who thinks "anything zvill do," gathers up all the old 

 mouldy, dirty boxes, baskets and barrels, dumps in the fruit without as- 

 sorting, loads them into an old rattletrap wagon, hitches up his old rattle- 

 bones of a horse with harness tied up with strings and pieces of rope, 

 himself wearing the same clothes he has worn wdiile milking his cows 

 and feeding his pigs, with trousers' legs tucked into his boots — he is 

 ready to look for customers. He arrives in town, himself and his fruit, 

 covered with dust, one about as inviting to look at as the other, and few 

 people are found who would want either the man or his fruits ; he gets 

 rid of a small quantity to the poorest people and at the poorest prices, he 

 is disgusted and discouraged, and says there is no money in growing 

 fruits. 



Now, kind friends, this picture is not a fancy one. I could show 

 you dozens of just such fruit growers as B, and if you were to talk with 

 them they would tell you the fruit business does not pay, and that the 

 market is glutted with fruit. 



The demand for A's fruit will increase from year to year, while B 

 will become discouraged and give up fruit growing as a bad job. 



More than twenty years ago, when I began furnishing plums for our 

 home market, there were many people who had never seen a good plum ; 

 but since that time, notwithstanding the fact that many others have gone 

 into the growing of them, I have never been able to supply the demand 

 for them. 



I now have many young trees just come into bearing, and shall con- 

 tinue planting each year. I hope in time to be able to meet all demands 

 for them. It will be many years before there \v\\\ be an overproduction 

 of strictly first fruit for "home markets." Growers must strive to pro- 

 duce larger quantities of No. i fruits and a much less quantity of in- 

 ferior fruits. This can only be done by a more thorough knowledge of 

 the best methods of pruning, thinning, fertilizing, cultivating and 

 spraying the orchards. 



The growing of better fruit will in a great measure solve the prob- 

 lem of overproduction ; the better the fruit the greater will be the quan- 

 tities consumed. The best fruits, fresh from the trees and vines, will in- 

 crease our appetite in about the same ratio that poor, half-ripened fruit 

 will decrease it. 



To convince you that people do appreciate good fruit and are will- 

 ing to pay for it, I will give you my own experience in marketing straw- 

 berries. For the past three years I have sold my berries to our leading 

 marketman, because he was willing to pay me a price that I considered 

 better than to p^d41e them mj^^self, I use for my strawberries and rasp- 



