140 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



HARVESTING AND MARKETING APPLES. 



BY J. R. WILLIAMS, ST. LOUIS. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Those who study the influence of occupation on character 

 generally agree in this : That the calling of* the husbandman is 

 especially conducive to good morals. In theory all farmers are 

 honest. The dweller in town who, on opening his barrel of 

 apples, finds it contains, about the region of the equator, nothing 

 but "culls," or finds his berry boxes built in flats with the lower 

 story unoccupied, will be apt to think this theory entirely too 

 poetic. However this may be, it is not thought to be the prov- 

 ince of this paper to consider the subject of "Harvesting and 

 Marketing Apples" from the moral standpoint. My purpose is 

 to consider it from the standpoint of the counting-room; that 

 is, to make the balance sheet, at the close of the season, show a 

 fair margin of profit. 



Before passing to the more practical part of the discussion, 

 allow me to point out some causes of loss in this business that 

 do not seem to me to have received sufficient attention. We 

 have, all of us, learned that it does not pay to try to deceive our 

 customers by smuggling in worthless fruit under cover of the 

 good, in the vain hope that the cheat will not be discovered. 

 We have learned that it does not pay to put large and small 

 apples of the same kind together. A fine apple looks better 

 alone than with a finer apple beside it. We have learned that 

 stained and unsightly packages are expensive luxuries. We have 

 not — some of us have not — learned that added cost does not neces- 

 sarily mean added value; that is, market value. 



Many men have a vague idea that fruit, small and misshapen 

 in the orchard, may, by putting upon it the cost of labor in pack- 

 ing, the cost of packages, the cost of transportation, &c, become 

 grateful for this kind treatment and reward its benefactor by 

 coming out of the packages large, smooth and fair to see. It 

 seems incredible that men will entertain such whimsical notions 

 about business matters, but we frequently see them packing, with 

 great care, fruit which they declare to be "hardly worth pick- 

 ing." 



Again, many imagine that in the city where no fruit grows, 

 any kind is eagerly sought after and even the poorest specimens 

 find a ready sale. The truth is that many growers have learned 

 that it pays to send only the best to market, hence the city house- 

 wife knows as much as her country cousin about good fruit, and 

 is as unwilling to accept any other. 



Some of the suggestions I have to offer are the outgrowth of 

 several years . experience in a manufacturing business. Such a 



