STATi; POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 43 



of the ordinary fruit market. It is quite late in the day — it 

 usually is when I get round to anything of that sort — and the 

 market is being cleaned up, but here on the curb throughout the 

 early morning thousands of bushels of fruit are sold and carted 

 oft' to the local markets of which this picture shows a type. 

 It looks like an ordinary corner grocery, and it is. You see the 

 half-sieves sitting there on the corner from which all kinds 

 of fruit and vegetables are distributed to all kinds of custo- 

 mers — you have them there as you do here. 



Now going on to the continent of Europe we find ourselves 

 in the city of Mainz, in a typical continental market of one of 

 the most strikingly beautiful and interesting cities in all Europe. 

 There is nothing more picturesque and from every point of 

 view more interesting than these city markets. Here you see 

 the marketing going on, mostly conducted by women who bring 

 the produce of their own farms into market and sell it there 

 direct to the customers. Now you and I know that the greatest 

 problem we have to face is that of marketing, and the thing we 

 are trying to arouse people to do is to bring the producer up 

 to the consumer, to get the two together, and that is done better 

 in the local markets of Central Europe than anywhere else 

 in the world, and I haven't the slightest doubt in my mind that 

 some of the improvements in the next few years will come in 

 this direction. I am pretty sure that some of the cities in 

 America could support these public markets with very good 

 advantage. I am especially sure of that, not because I have 

 seen it in Germany and France and Switzerland and Austria 

 and Italy, but because I have seen it in America. Lots of 

 things you see over there will not apply in this country. But 

 the open curb market supported by the municipality can be 

 made successful in this country, perhaps not so easily and 

 universally, but certainly it can be made successful. This par- 

 ticular market is the one with which I am best acquainted for 

 I lived six months in this little village and used to go almost 

 every market day, that is two days in the week, Tuesdays and 

 Fridays, to this place and used to buy the things which I 

 needed for supper. I did it because I wanted something for 

 supper and because I wanted to know how this business was 

 handled. It was very interesting. I could spend all this even- 

 ing telling stories of the way in which things are sold there. T 



