SOCIETY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 235 



soraebodj gains thereby, if we, as producers, do not; and since a 

 part of our efforts is advowedly benevolent and missionary in char- 

 acter, we assuredly can rejoice in this jtart of our success. It is a 

 benevolence to introduce fruits and flowers among the people. To 

 furnish appetizing and healthful food for the stomach, and beautiful 

 forms for the gratification of the higher and better taste of the eye, 

 is doing blessed service for civilization and moral progress, whether 

 in so doing we may or may not succeed in laying up treasures in 

 banks, where, possibly, thieves break through and steal. 



Turning now to the needs of our society, the first thing for us 

 to consider is the necessity of stirring uj) our brethren of the guild 

 to take hold with us. The most efficient means to this end is in- 

 structions how to make money to pay expenses of railroad fares and 

 hotel bills. To boom our meetings we need to boom our business. 

 Can we do anything to this end? The reply is certainly not an easy 

 one; still it does seem that we ougfit to be able by association and 

 agreement to im])r()ve our market facilities and o])portnuifies. It is 

 neither helpful to grower or consumer to overload and glut a given 

 market one day or week, and then practice the same thing upon 

 another locality the day or week following. In the vicinity of Bloom- 

 ington a local organization, formed for this purpose only, dictafes 

 the })rice from day to day of small fruits, to the vast improvement 

 in the stability of the market. In some towns outside of our limits 

 this is still better managed. The supply offered is regulated, buyers 

 are better pleased and accommodated, and sellers are much more 

 likel}' to get some compensation for their year of labor. Consumers 

 are, and should be, willing to pay for these labors a fair recompense; 

 at least when they may help to establish the interpretation of this 

 word "fair." It is certainly better for the fruit trade on both sides 

 that as much stability as possible be secured, instead of the usual 

 senseless fluctuations ungoverned by thought or action. 



Let us get established in some way numerous local societies and 

 give our supj)ort, as far as we are able, to that feature of ])usiness 

 by which markets are made better for producer and consumer, adopt- 

 ing the appropriate motto: " To live and to let live." We will have no 

 strikers nor boycotts, no l)ulls nor ])ears, no corners for panics, but 

 simply wholesome and useful order and regulafion. 



Our meetings ought also to render important service in im- 

 provements in the manner and facilities of marketing. 



It is not long since the ])int or (piart boxes for siuall fruits were 

 introduced, and in some places even now the practice is to ship in 

 pails, or special vessels, to be returned and used over and over again. 

 The temporary box system is a vast improvement over any other I 

 have seen. 



Last year a })rominent strawberry grower made forty or fifty 

 hands pick exclusively by taking hold of the stem of the fruit — the 

 fingers not touching the fruit. Then the boxes were carefully in- 



