6'32 BOAKB OF AGRICULTURE. 



is there are good commission men, and these men will look after your 

 interests and' will give you a great deal of information that will be of 

 vast benefit to you. They will give you advice that will make you 

 dollars and cents. This brings me again to the question of packages. 

 This question has undergone quite a change in the last few years, 

 and it should undergo more. This has been brought about on account of 

 cold storage. Part of it is on account of the different markets. Different 

 markets demand diffei'ent packages, but I dislike the non-uniformity of 

 the packages. There should be no snide packages. The Horticultural 

 Societies should see that packages should be uniform; they should be just 

 a certain size and no others ought to be permitted. When they go to 

 the consumer it would be much better. I went into the market the 

 other day and asked them the price of berries and at one place I was told 

 that they were ten cents a quart. At another I was told that they 

 were fifteen cents a quart. I asked him if he called the measure a 

 quart. He seemed to think so, and I told him I would give him ten 

 cents for a quart of the berries. He agreed, and had to sell me three 

 boxes before they filled a quart. The honest man is working at a dis- 

 advantage until he establishes his reputation. Every man ought to have 

 a brand on his box, either his name or the name of the farm on it in 

 order to guard against snide packages. They Avould have to fight hard to 

 establish their reputation, but in time it would come. There is a man 

 in Indianapolis, and Mr. Flick knows him, who brings currants to me, 

 and I have sold every currant before his wagon was in sight at $2.50 

 per bushel, more than currants were bringing that were shipped in. 

 His fruit being all the same. You did not find bad fruit mixed in. 

 You will find that the best fruit will bring the best price, and if you are 

 going to sell fruit you might just as well get the best price for it. Do 

 not start in with the idea that you can put a stove pipe in the middle of 

 a barrel, fill it with small fruit, and have fine on top and build up an 

 honest reputation. This will work once only. You can fool all the peo- 

 ple some of the time, and fool some of the people all of the time, but 

 >you can't fool all the people all the time. 



Now in gathering fruit, gather it at the right time— when it is ripe. 

 You will have to govern this of course, by the distance from the market. 

 If you are going to ship your fruit to New York or Chicago yo\i will have 

 to pick it sooner than if you were going to market it right at home. 

 You must bear in mind that the time of transportation will ripen the 

 fruit to a certain extent. 



When you are packing fruit, pack it tight. You can't hurt apples by 

 packing them tight. You may mash them fiat on the bottom, but when 

 you take them out of the barrel they are just as sound as they were when 

 you mashed them. 



Mr. Van Deman: What do you think about the apple boxV 



