117() I^EW York State Agricultural Society 



neigliborliooJ, however, appeals to our membership, since almost 

 all (if the eitv residents of Westchester County have a])ple trees; 

 and cvcrv one of them will he iilad, I tliiid<, lo pr()(hu'c apples 

 if thcv can h(> relieved of the business side of the care and pro- 

 duction of them, and if it can he proved that they can get from 

 their apple trees more than it costs to maintain them. Some 

 things we have already proven throngh this year's experiment. 

 We have shown, for example, that even this year we can sell 

 really fancy apples at protitable prices. 



One other thing my experience in farming in "Westchester 

 Comity has tanght me. I put it in the words of one of my neigh- 

 bors who has been growing apples for a number of years. He 

 says that he has made shiphaents of apples, every now and then, 

 to commission merchants in J^ew York. Almost invariably the 

 first shipment has done well, and the second shipment very poorly. 

 Ho says that he never has been able to find out how the great City 

 of Xew York knew that his second shipment was not a first 

 shipment ! Xow, he says, he never makes more than one ship- 

 ment to any commission merchant, and he begins with A and goes 

 through the list to Z. I am far from wishing to imply that there 

 are no honest commission merchants, but everv farmer in the 

 state knows that there are some dishonest commission merchants; 

 and we all know that as things are now, we are practically, abso- 

 lutelv in the hands of the man to whom we consisii. We are 

 helpless if our shipment is reported out of condition or off in 

 quality. This is a situation that ought not to continue. The 

 state, in my judgment, should license all commission merchants 

 who are authorized to deal in farm produce; and the terms of thi;^ 

 license should be such as to protect both the commission merchant 

 and the farmer from misunderstanding and from fraud. I have 

 no doubt that the commission merchant, on his side, would be 

 able to bear elo(|uent testimony to dishonest packing and other 

 unworthy practices on the part of some farmers. All farmei's 

 are not dishonest any more than arc all commission men. What 

 is wanted is a system which will protect the honest commission 

 man and the honest farmer from the dishonest commission man 

 and the dishonest farmer. It is childish to say that things should 

 be left as they are. What is wanted is a bill, such as has been al- 



