FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. Ill 



accordingly. And buying apples in barrels under no name is about the 

 worst lottery that a man can ever run up against. The consumers do 

 not buy our apples because the fruit is not what it should be, and it 

 takes so long for them to get the bad taste out of their mouths after 

 trying a package. With the ordinary apple grower, I do not believe it 

 is possible for him to pack his own fruit and get it right, and there- 

 fore it must be done by this cooperative method, if the most satisfactory 

 results are to be secured. 



Across the road is the display of fruit from Mason county. It is a 

 magnificent displa3\ But how many barrels did 3'ou have to look over 

 to get that quality of fruit? Or is that the kind you raise here, or 

 produce all the time? What percent of your fruit went over there into 

 that building, and what percent went to the cider mill? We can raise 

 better fruit if we have to, but so long as we think that "anything will 

 go" there will be little or no change. What we want is men who will 

 say, "Nothing but the best will go," and then there will be a coming up 

 in fruit raising that will mean something, and there will be no need 

 of any apprehension as to getting too many orchards or too many fruit 

 growers — there will always be a demand for all the fruit of that kind 

 that can be raised. So let us get back to the thing we started with — 

 don't trust to any one package; don't think you are going to ship out 

 trash in attractive looking boxes and be able to sell it for any more than 

 barrel apples. 



LEGISLATION FOR THE MARKETING OF FRUIT. 



R. A. SMYTHE^ BENTON HARBOR. 



The legal side of raising and marketing fruit has been sadly neg- 

 lected : this might be properly called the moral side of the business, and 

 as our morals are often influenced by what the law allows, the two are 

 closely united. 



A man is usually considered honest until he is proven guilty; but 

 observation along the line of fruit marketing leads one to the conclusion 

 that it is unnecessary to wait for further proof before pronouncing too 

 many shippers guilty of gross carelessness and dishonesty. 



How are fruit growers to be made honest? Either from the fear of 

 God or the law; and the latter, I am inclined to consider the greatest 

 human enforcing agency in existence. 



I am sorry that we must resort to legislation to accomplish what 

 pride and honor should do for us; but if legislation will help to im- 

 prove our present conditions, then let us have it. 



At the outset almost every grower raises some very good fruit for 

 which he hopes to obtain a tip top market price; but does he? Not 

 always; many times the desire to unload a quantity of fruit of uneven 

 quality tempts the grower to spoil his No. 1 article by mixing it with 

 lower grade fruit, thus lowering the price on all his product; he would 

 do better to grade the fruit carefully, and not try to pass off for his 



