526 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



will have to pay the bill, just as it is the case where my friend hero 

 on the left said that the people who buy the Ben Davis don't buy it 

 to eat, but to sell; the consumer pays for it. 



A few weeks ago I was up in New York State where they raise 

 a great many apples and pears. Two strangers came in there to 

 buy, one of them a buyer for a large firm, and the other a private 

 gentleman of means; the buyer did not look at the Ben Davis, but 

 he paid more per box than you were speaking of per barrel, for what 

 he wanted. The other man, too, was in search of quality; he 

 bought them a bushel at a time, and had them sent to his home, but 

 he would not buy the Ben Davis; he called it a corkleg only covered 

 with skin. Traveling up ond down the coast, as I do, from my New 

 England farm to my Georgia farm, I have apples offered me at the 

 station and on the train, and I have been tempted over and over 

 again to bu}'^ the Ben Davis; when real hard up, and my flask was 

 empty I have occasionally bought the Ben Davis, then vowed that 

 if God would forgive me, never to do it again. The people who 

 pay your bills, who pay for your improvements, and for your farms, 

 and for your horses and tools, and your fertilizers, they are the con- 

 sumers. The consumer is the fellow you have to get up against 

 in the long run, and what you want to do is to make your apples 

 so good that instead of buying a few Ben Davis now and then, 

 he will eat a dozen apples a day, and his wife will want them, 

 and his children will want them, and there you have your market. 

 Give them something good, and they will like it so well that they 

 will pay you for it. If you want to get the consumer to buy your 

 fruit, make it so good that he can't do without it. You want 

 color, and beauty to attract the ye, and in addition to that you 

 w'ant quality to attract the taste. This is what you people of the 

 Horticultural Association want to bear in mind. 



DR. MAYER: I think the professor on my right is on the right 

 track in investigating the profitable apx)les for Pennsylvania. Now 

 quality, as the gentleman has said, is one of the first considerations. 

 Quantity is not the prime consideration, important as that is. Right 

 over here is an apple that sells at 35 cents a quart box, and I don't 

 believe it beats some apples that are not attractive enough to com- 

 mand that price. The first demand for an apple now is that it must 

 be attractive, and then must have all the quality we can get into it. 



MR. GEO. H. McKAY: I am not a raiser of apples, but I am an 

 eater of apples, and I keep them in cold storage. WTien I first 

 went into the market fifteen years ago, the Ben Davis was the high- 

 est priced apple on the market. Then the Baldwin and the Greening 

 came in, and they, to some extent took its place. Finally an apple 

 came on the market which attracted the attention of the stores, and 

 sold for fancy prices. 1 tried to find a good market for it, and sent 

 several bnrrels to Boston and Philadelphia, with instructions to have 

 them taken home and used, and then report to me. The report came 

 that they were a good eating apple, and cooked well, baked well, and 

 made good pies. That was the Stayman Winesap. Prof. Surface 

 may have looked at the markets in September, and found the Ben 

 Davis commanding a higher price, but if he were to go to market 

 now, he would find that the Stayman Winesap could not be had at 

 any price. The Stayman was sold out the 1st of January, and 

 Jonathans will bring $5 to-day, and I don't know but you could get 



