VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 123 



A HOME MARKET FOR FRUITS. 



By A. A. Halladay, Mapledell Fruit Farm, Bellows Falls. 



I have been very successful in making a home market for 

 my fruits. I use the word "making,' ' for the home market does 

 not grow wild to be easily picked by any one. It must be made. 

 As I look back over the past, it seems to me a hard thing to say 

 just how I have succeeded in making a very excellent home mar- 

 ket for my own products. It has been made up of no one partic- 

 ular item but of many, yes, very many little things. It would be 

 quite impossible for me to name all of them. 



One thing is certain. The grower must have the full confi- 

 dence of the consumer, for without this his efforts to secure a 

 home market will be of no avail. When once this confidence is 

 secured, he must then strive bv every honorable means in his 

 power to keep it. When I commenced growing fruits for market 

 it was a question with me whether I could secure a home market 

 for all I wanted to grow. I was determined to grow the best or 

 none, to grade closely, put them up in clean baskets, give large 

 measure, make each grade as uniform in quality as possible, em- 

 ploy only the best pickers and market every berry the same day 

 it was picked. And knowing that such berries would cost more 

 than the poor trash that came to our market, I was determined to 

 get a correspondingly higher price. 



My farm is only one mile from the center of our village, and 

 I have taken much pains to make my place attractive, by growing 

 many flowers, which are free to any one who will come there for 

 them. Perhaps you may think that this has nothing to do with 

 a market for fruits, but I can assure you that it has a very great 

 deal to do with it. Thousands of people come here every season 

 to look about, and while it takes time to show them about (which 

 I always do) they go away pleased and always tell their friends 

 and neighbors about "Halladay 's fruits." I invite everj^ one to 

 come and bring along their friends. People come in carriages 

 and on foot. Strangers visiting in town are taken here by their 

 friends "to look around," and we strive to make it as pleasant as 

 possible for all who come. Now many of you may think that all 

 this is of no account, and will do little towards making a home 

 market for fruit, but if you think so you are certainly mistaken, 

 for I know that I can spend a portion of my time to no better ad- 



