126 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



very much broken down with a nervous trouble when we left the city 

 and now I am a strong woman and I have done a great deal of outside 

 work. 



THURSDAY MORNING SESSION. 



MARKETS^ BY MR. FARNSWORTH. 



Mr. Chairman: — Someone has said that he who makes two blades of 

 grass grow where but one has grown before, is a i^ublic benefactor, but 

 the fruit growlers think that the man who can teach them how to sell 

 two bushels of fruit where they only sold one before, is doing them more 

 good than he who teaches them how to raise more. We have been told 

 too much about the producing of the fruit and not enough about the 

 marketing of it. Of course we must raise fruit, but we must also be 

 able to dispose of it to the best possible advantage. We have been told 

 that there is more than enough fruit grown to supply the demand, but 

 to my mind, the trouble is not so much over-production as it is poor 

 distribution. In order of course, to sell our fruit we must have good 

 fruit, fruit that will make everyone who sees it want to buy. The 

 market has been flooded with an inferior quality of fruit, and it is up 

 to us to remedy this evil. We must raise fruit that will stand trans- 

 portation. In the past a great trouble with the fruit raiser is that he 

 has looked only at his own side of the problem, and not at that of the 

 consumer. He has been contented to stay in his orchard and has not 

 troubled to look up the situation and find the condition of the fruit after 

 it reached the consumer, he has not known whether it was in good con- 

 dition or not. It has been aptly said that "well grown is half marketed." 



In the first place you .should try and decide what class of trade you 

 wish to supply. If you wish to market your product by selling direct to 

 the consumer, then you must have a greater variety than if you wish 

 to sell to the commission man or- wholesaler. If you are selling to the 

 consumer or to the grocer, you must raise a half a dozen or so varieties 

 in order to supply the demand, but if you are selling to the wholesaler, 

 two or three will be sufficient. We find too that in catering to the 

 smaller market, we must have color as well as quality as the small con- 

 sumer is more particular about these things than are the large buyers. 

 We find that a sod mulch is very good in assisting to give this desired 

 color, and thinning is about the most important factor. We find that 

 poor thinning has more to do with poor fruit than any other one fault. 



In order to properly handle a larger crop of fruit, it is absolutely 

 necessary that some system of keeping them in storage must be used. 

 There are several systems that may be adapted to the farmers' use. No 

 system can be given that will apply to every fruit growers use, but there 

 are a few principles which can be adapted to anyone's needs. Of course 

 our system is not anything to be compared with those of the big cold 

 storage companies, yet it answers very well for our purpose. In the first 

 place, we let our fruit get as ripe as we can while yet on the trees. Of 

 course it is better to have the fruit picked a little under ripe than to 



