56 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



eastern states have been talking about opening oriental or European 

 markets to take care of our surplus. It is risky, but not half as risky 

 as losing the entire crop. They suggested taking some of the surplus 

 over to China and making them eat them. If we have to give away 

 our produce in this country, we might as well give it away somewhere 

 else and the next year they will come after it. We cannot do this indi- 

 vidually, or as a state, but we can collectively. This was discussed 

 very thoroughly. 



Of course standardization was a thing agreed upon. We cannot get 

 anywhere in marketing fruit without standardization. 



"I am my Brother's Keeper!" You certainly are your brother's 

 keeper. If you do not keep your brother, you won't be able to keep 

 yourself. If you know a grower who does not know how to pack his 

 fruit you should help him. What is the use of raising good fruit and 

 putting it on the market when a person does not pack it carefully? Very 

 often it is not because he wants to do it but because he does not know 

 anything different. You must put that fruit grower on the right track. 

 You must handle him through organization — local, state or National. 

 You must market his fruit as well as your own. You must not let his 

 fruit give your fruit a bad name. They take care of this in Idaho and 

 some other states in that section. A man said once that they wouldn't 

 let him ship his No. 2 apples out of the State of Idaho and he wanted 

 the American Farm Bureau to rectify that. Of course, we could do 

 nothing. They would not let them out of the state because they did 

 not want anybody- to know that Idaho ever raised a poor apple. Today 

 the Middle Western apple will bring a higher price than any Western 

 apple growing. One man made a remark that he could not see any 

 Michigan Apples — of course not, they are sold and gone into consumption. 



We left the meeting with a feeling that the fruit interests of the United 

 States were going to get together, not to scrap, but to adjust the sale of 

 fruit. Make people see the fruit situation as we see it. Work together 

 with the organizatio7i. 



There are from GOO to 650 elevators, everyone of which is a sales 

 agent for fruit in the Middle West, if you want to use them. They can 

 take any fruits in season and sell them with a minimum expense. That 

 field is open to the East and whenex 3r they want to use it. California 

 and Florida have their own method. 



There was a proposition offered in regard to a method of handhng a 

 certain per cent of our products through the canneries. The canning 

 interests in California will be very extensive. There will be equally 

 large cooperative canning factories. There will be no room for a small 

 canning factory in California. The situation there is very different 

 than in the Middle West. They can see reason why the fruit growers 

 should not own their own canning factories. I can see a good many rea- 

 sons why we should not own them. We are not all canners. I think 

 when a man is a fruit grower, he has business enough. The marketing 

 of fruit should be left to people who thoroughly understand that busi- 

 ness. Perhaps on a salary basis. Now the proposition was advanced 

 that a certain time of year the fruit growers and canners should get 

 together and decide on the amount of fruit that was going to be canned 

 that year and after the amount was agreed upon the fruit growing people 

 agreed to supply it and the canners agreed to accept. That does not 



