620 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 0£E. Doc. 



tor quart cups; $2.00 each for tliirty-two quart crate. The gift 

 (luart cups at that period could be had at ten dollars per thousand 

 iu the Hat, the growers putting them together themselves. Under 

 present conditions the forty-eight ({uart crate is most poi)ular and 

 is furnished, including the forty-eight cups and divisions tor less 

 than forty cents each. The old go-as-you-please plan of shipping, 

 every man for himself, single handed, bush-whacker like, had a much 

 longer lease of existence than it deserved. Metaphorically the tail 

 had to wag the dog before escape from the old growers was prac- 

 ticable. Almost at the extremity of the peninsula a few j^ears ago, 

 a fruit and vegetable exchange was organized and conducted on 

 sound business principles. Kesults were a genuine revelation. To- 

 day branches of that exchange in nearly all the peninsula counties 

 are substituting system and method for the "Any-way-so-you-get- 

 there" practice that formerly attenuated the bank accounts of the 

 shippers. These exchanges are in constant touch with the market 

 conditions of all the cities and large towns that are in timely reach 

 of perishable products, and the goods have daily consignment to 

 points where prices are most inviting. At some points strawberries, 

 as well as other fruits, are sold at public auction by the exchange, 

 thus introducing a mild form of speculation, that imbues the buyers 

 and the growers with the excitement of expectancy. The loaded 

 wagons are driven to the stand of the autioneer, the berries are 

 hurriedly examined by the buyers that locate at these points. If 

 the bids are satisfactory the grower accepts and returns home with 

 the money for his berries in his pocket. If the grower suspects ony 

 understanding among the buyers to co-operate in fixing prices, they 

 slip through tlie exchange instead of selling at the railroad station. 

 The inauguration of these long needed reforms insures to every 

 member of such exchanges a fair and just value for his fruit. If it 

 is extra fine in quality and condition, the quick perception of the 

 buyer is prompt in acknowledgment. On the other hand, where 

 fruit grades low, the grower receives a very impressive admonition 

 to mend his ways. 



We sometimes read of marvelous results and achievements by 

 special methods of cultivating or growing this fruit; and while such 

 sensational revelations may be true in a prescribed sense, when the 

 entire storj' is told, instead of insi)iring the confidence that would 

 beget widespread invitation, it is soon lost in the flitting shadows of 

 forgetful ness. In localities where the growing of this fruit is made 

 a business, every principle of economy and progress is worked out 

 in finest detail by men whose financial prosperity demoHstates quite 

 clearly that they not only excel in the business requisite but also 

 that penetrating and comprehensive study of ])lant nature, that 

 insures to each variety, situation and soil fertilization, such as its 

 individuality craves, and must have to make it profitable. By the 

 unerring scales of practical test, they determine the value of novel- 

 ties, and the new variety is thus accurately analyzed as to its merits. 

 Where plant growing as a business proposition is not combined with 

 fruit growing, a very small per cent, of the annual new productions 

 are observable. You find that disturbing desire for new kinds far 

 more pronounced and conspicuous among the small growers than 

 those higher up. The advent of the Hovey back in the thirties, 



