128 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



need the money sending it in and it's impossible to sell it at any j)rice." 

 Too many shippers do not realize conditions. They ship their fruit any 

 old way and when it reaches the market it is not in a fit condition to 

 sell, and still they hold the commission man liable. When a commission 

 man really does try we should certainly give him credit. I had a neigh- 

 bor who would not send his fruit to the commission men early in the 

 season when prices were high, but he sold direct, getting the long 

 prices, and then when the market was flat, he sent his fruit to the 

 commission men. He complained because he could not get any prices at 

 all for it at that time. I shipped my fruit to commission men during 

 the whole season, helping them to build up a demand for it and when the 

 prices slumped, I got the best that there were, because I had a trade 

 built up. At the end of the season T compared notes with my neigh- 

 bor and found out that I had come out way ahead. The shipper should 

 keep the commission man advised in advance of what kind and how much 

 fruit he is going to have, so that he may know what to provide 

 for. This dumping anything you may have onto the commission man 

 without any warning is one thing that knocks the price out of sight and 

 makes bad feeling. 



Another thing that we sometimes fail to figure out is the kind of 

 packages to nse in marketing. We should always use some standard 

 package. A good many years ago we started in to use the twenty pound 

 market baskets, and we have always found them satisfactory. They 

 were an unheard of thing at the time we began using them, but they 

 made neat packages of a convenient size and we have found them alright 

 for a good many years. 



We try and let our peaches reach the highest stage of maturity before 

 picking them. In deciding what varieties of fruit to raise, don't let 

 your own tastes guide you too much. Find out what the public like 

 and raise that kind. For instance I personally, don't care very much 

 about the Jonathan apple but I'm very glad to raise them because I 

 found out that nine people out of ten are very fond of them, and it 

 makes a big demand for them. If other people want a certain thing, 

 that is the thing to raise, but just because you like a certain variety of 

 fruit yourself, don't try to force it onto every one. You can't educate 

 the taste of the people only to a very small extent, and it will pay 

 much better to supply the demand that you now have and not try to 

 make a demand that does not exist. Then when you are doing business 

 through a commission man or through a grocer, do not try to play 

 hog on it and take everything in sight. You have got to give him some- 

 thing on which he can make a little profit. AYe set the price to the 

 grocer and he sets his price to the consumer, but we help him to get 

 his price, by establishing a reputation for our fruit. One way in which 

 we do this is to have little pink slips printed, bearing our trade mark 

 and address. That is a guarantee of the quality of the fruit, and they 

 know that we are back of it. This establishes a high class of trade for 

 the grocer and insures him good prices for the fruit, indirectly, of course, 

 bringing us the top prices. A few years ago we ran out of these slips 

 and one day we packed a number of baskets from Avhich they were 

 omitted, not thinking especially about it, but the next day Ave got a 

 complaint from the dealer because those slips were not in the baskets, 

 that his customers were kicking on taking the fruit, thinking that he 



