Vermont State Horticxh^tural Society 81 



kets. However, largely through competition among buyers, 

 some very poor packing was done, which resulted in the repu- 

 tation of Canada and Vermont apples being very much ahead of 

 ours. I am expecting that this fall's packing of Vermont apples 

 will result in a similar experience with what the farmers of 

 Maine have had. I do not think that Vermont ever sent out or 

 allowed to go out of her state such poorly sorted and packed 

 apples as went out this year. The prices were so high nearly 

 every farmer was glad to sell, and the demand so great that the 

 buyers and packers took advantage of the situation and made 

 all the barrels they could, regardless of quality. While this 

 kind of a deal is a benefit to the individual farmer, it is a detri- 

 ment and disgrace to the state at large. The state has aided 

 our Horticultural Society by a very generous appropriation, and 

 it is our duty as members of this society to rectify this alarming 

 condition of affairs, and in some good way bring about methods 

 by which every barrel of Vermont apples that goes out of the 

 state will be carefully handled, properly packed, thoroughly 

 graded, and honestly marked. The color, size, and condition of 

 the fruit in the barrel or package should be apparent from the 

 marking, and above all Vermont apples in some form should 

 be plainly stamped on every barrel. Where we have the recom- 

 mendation of such good authority as the Pomological Society 

 of Maine it is surely up to us as apple growers to see to it 

 that our stock is honored with the name of the grand old state 

 in which it was grown. The state of Oregon has a statute law 

 compelling every grower to stamp every package which is going 

 out of the state with the name of the state. The provinces of 

 Canada make it necessary that every consignment of Canadian 

 fruit before going on the market or out of the country, be in- 

 spected by legally appointed inspectors, and found to be up to 

 the standard by which they are marked, and by the high stand- 

 ing of the Canadian apple on the foreign market, we can readily 

 see the result of good work along this line. So I say to every 

 apple producing town in the state to form a co-operative asso- 

 ciation, that we may know by the first of October or November 

 by co-operative efifort, what the apple crop is, and what a reason- 

 able price may be for us to ask. And let us co-operate in grad- 

 ing and sorting, in the buying of barrels and boxes, and in 

 storing and marketing of our fruit. The best time to sell our 

 Vermont apples is when the market needs them, and the best 

 storage in the world is in a Vermont atmosphere, and the only 

 reasonable way for the small Vermont apple growers to ship in 

 the dead of winter is by co-operative shipping. With our won- 

 derful railroad system, fine refrigerator cars, and location mid- 

 way between fifteen or twenty of the best city markets in the 



