462 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. D0<5. 



manager, pass some regulations that their apples shall be packed in 

 two or three grades, but that No. 1 are to be of uniform size for 

 the kind, and free from blemish, make them better than the ordinary 

 pack. Then probably the manager cannot be at the packing house 

 very much of his time as he has his own crop to see to, so hire 

 some good man as a foreman, put him at the packing house with, 

 say, five or six men to do the work. Then when picking begins in 

 the orchard put the apples in crates. As scon as a load is picked, 

 have a team deliver them at the packing house. The manager there 

 can sort and pack them and store them away. This would be for all 

 fail fruit and Greenings. Then when you get to picking Baldwins 

 (which is the principle crop in Western New York), they can be 

 put into barrels in the orchard and drawn to the packing house and 

 store away just as they come from the tree, and sorted and packed 

 during the winter. By this course the farmer is through with his 

 work when the picking is done. The apples all being packed under 

 the direction of one man will b;' of an even grade, and at less ex- 

 pense to the grower than if put up by five different gangs of men. 

 The manager then has control of from three to five thousand bar- 

 rels. If put up as they should be, the buyer would always look 

 after that lot first and would be willing to pay from twenty-five to 

 fifty cents per barrel more than for ordinary pack. When we realize 

 that all this work must be done anyway, would not the packing 

 house pay? 



If this problem can be worked out right and carried on long 

 enough to establish a brand that is known w^herever seen the profits 

 will be still greater. When the results of one of these local packing 

 houses is seen by others, they, too, will organize and work it up in 

 that way until it is general. So few of the general farming public 

 are familiar with business matters and business men, is one of the 

 factors to contend with, and the jealousies that exist among farm- 

 ers is another serious trouble. All of which will be partially reme.- 

 died when our boys are better educated. 



CO-OPERATION IN FRUIT GROWING. 



BY Mk. M. C. Bcirritt, Ithaca, N. Y. 



In a certain well known fruit growing region where large quan- 

 tities of fruit are grown, a co-operative effort to improve the quality 

 of the fruit by spraying, and the quality of the pack by better pack- 

 ing resulted in a rise in price from eighty-five cents per box in 1903. 

 to two dollars and thirty-five cents per box in 1906. 



A Chicago horse dealer was complaining of the difficulty in se- 

 curing two hundred draft horses in a certain section. ''Suppose," 

 said a gentleman in the hotel where they were talking, "that you 

 knew of a locality where all the farmers bred good draft horses', so 

 that you could secure such as you wanted in two days? How much 

 more per horse would you think it worth to you?" ''Thirty dollars," 

 instantly replied the dealer. "Do you know of such a locality?" 



