50 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



A Member: As a commission man, and a fruit man, and a man 

 who has had experience witli the market, what do you think of the 

 Jonathan? 



Mr. Nelson: That will make him more money than any apple 

 he can raise, if you have a crop from year to, year. 

 Q. How about the Grimes Golden? 



A. I would rather have a Grimes Golden than any apple that 

 grows, but they are not such a money maker. 



A Member: I wish to add a word to what Mr. Nelson has said. 

 The great mistake in planting the commercial orchard in my obser- 

 vation is that men are governed by sentiment, instead of cold blooded 

 business propositions. The nurseryman says, that is an awfully nice 

 apple, and you should have a few of them, and the buyer takes them. 

 I will leave it to any large buyer, and I think he will agree with me, 

 that if he goes into an orchard, the least varieties you have, the better 

 it is. But the only question in planting an orchard is, as I see it, and 

 that is to extend the picking season from the earliest to the latest, and 

 that can be done with a very few varieties. 



A Member: I would like to ask you how large a district can 

 be organized under one association for the marketing of fruit. How 

 can you organize growers situated all over, — how large a district can 

 be taken in? 



Mr. N'elson: That is a rather hard question to answer, and it 

 will depend entirely wpon the nature of the fruit. Whether or not 

 it is small or larger fruits. Our association is practically a small 

 fruit association. Our biggest product is grapes, and we raise a 

 great many strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, and we can 

 only cover a very small district on that account. The reason is it 

 requires personal application to hold our growers and make them 

 put up their fruit properly, and to hold them in line. We are also at 

 a disadvantage from the fact that we are at the gates of a very large 

 market which is a great attraction to the growers to cut and break 

 away and sell their own products. 



But now the Southeastern Fruit Growers Association has practi- 

 cally done away with that I think. The plan that is used in the 

 south and west particularly is this. They organize local associations, 

 and then formulate them under one selling and marketing agency. 

 They will have their headquarters at some central point where they 

 can get in touch with all the markets of the country, 'inese locai 

 agencies will report to the head office whenever they have a car 

 to load and the minute they have the car loaded they start moving 

 it in transit. That car is usually sold before it geots to-its destination. 

 I do not know whether or not you had reference to apples. 



A Member: Yes sir, I had reference to apples, and small fruit, 

 also. I am afraid it would be a little harder to handle the small 

 fruit, proposition, like that. You would pretty nearly have to depend 



