(3) Or the organizations of our competitors are more complete than ours and 

 their methods of packing and sale are superior. 



In the opinion of the writer the last two reasons are the main causes, namely : 



(1) Cheaper production. 



(2) Better organizations, including packing and selling. 



Before discussing directly the two factors mentioned, I wish first to draw 

 attention to conditions in two adjoining counties, both fairly heavy producers of 

 plums, one in Ontario, Canada, and the other in the State of New York. Niagara 

 County, N.Y., has approximately 180,000 plum trees, or about 1-5 of the total num- 

 ber in the State. The orchards are large, a great many of them ranging from six 

 acres up. In some cases the varieties, or perhaps I should say the rows of the dif- 

 ferent varieties, are badly mixed, but a large number of orchards contain quite large 

 blocks of one variety. Niagara or Bradshaw is the favorite. The land on which 



Plum orchard at Lockport, N.Y. 



they are growing is valued at about 50 to 60 per cent., or less, than that in the 

 adjoining county mentioned. Tlie cultivation meihods are exleiisive and thorough; 

 less money is spent on fertilizers, and the aim of the grower is to make his money 

 from a large quantity grown cheaply, and marketed as cheaply as possible. 



Notice, again, large orchards, large blocks of one variety'; cheaper land, exten- 

 dive cultivation methods; marl-eted quiclcly. In Lincoln County (and a part of Went- 

 worth County, included in the Niagara Peninsula) Ave have very few large orchards, 

 many varieties hadly mixed, intensive cuUivation methods, high-priced lands, and an 

 attempt to market the fruit over a long season no matter what the rush of other 

 fruits. A few growers can take exception to this, as they have large orchards of 

 good varieties and are making money from them, but the general condition is as 

 stated. 



The men immediately across the border — and these men have the largest 

 orcliards — prefer, at present prices, to sell in Canadian markets, and on the state- 

 ments of the growers themselves I have it that with a minimum of a cent and a 

 quarter to a cent and a half a pound — with now and then a good year — the fruit 



