Summer Meeting. ■ 41 



these companies. Only through organization can growers secure satis- 

 factory rates. There is power in organization. A committee armed 

 with the delegated authority of 10,000 fruit growers can meet with the 

 officials of transportation companies on an equality, they would be re- 

 ceived with courtesy and depart with an. agreement to their reasonable 

 demands in their pockets. This year we have had good service. The 

 influence of the Peirce City and other meetings of cooperation societies 

 has had no little influence with the railroad and refrigerator car com- 

 panies. But we did not get the reductions we hoped for. jSText year 

 these companies will not transport and ice so mam- cars; growers are 

 concluding to ship only as many cars as will at least pay charges, and 

 unless rates are considerably reduced the berry interest will be perma- 

 nently curtailed. Growers want the railroads to do a profitable business, 

 but this year they have paid thousands of dollars for transportation of 

 berries for which they received nothing — not even getting cost of crates 

 or packing back. 



Sometime, if the berry interest is cultivated our railroads will own 

 enough refrigerator cars to convev our fruit and then we shall onlv 

 have to pay for the ice we use, as is the case in Illinois. 



The importance of shipping only the two best grades of berries has 

 been, presented. What is to be done with the small berries? The 

 thing is, not to grow small ones. Have strong, young plants, give them 

 thorough cultivation and there will be no small berries. Should there 

 be a lot of small berries, work them up into unadulterated strawberry 

 juice. 



jSTew York has just passed a law making it a criminal offense to sell 

 any adulterated or 'chemically made fruit juices. Only the pure juice 

 of berries or other fruit is now used in the preparation of soda water, 

 etc. Call for strawberry extract in New York, and if you are served 

 with the usual colored chemically made mixture that never was near a 

 strawberrv, the owner of the fountain has committed a criminal offense 

 and is subject to a heavy fine- INIake the small berries, if there are any, 

 into preserves, as has been done at Kepublic this season, or into pure 

 fruit juice. 



Finally, we claim that there are not too many berry growers, but 

 there are too large plantations. If there were no fields of over ten acres 



