FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 129 



was trying to substitute something- different for our fruit. Of course 

 you cannot alone depend upon the slips. You have got to back them 

 up Avith the goods. Having such a trade mark on our goods makes an 

 established reputation for the product and we find the grocers like to 

 handle them. One grocer to whom we had been shipping fruit (and we 

 do not ship to competing men) went out of business, and the first we 

 knew of it was Avhen his competitor came to us and wanted to sell our 

 fruit. That made us realize that these pink slips had given our product 

 a standard value and that they had an advertising value. 



Another point that is apt to be overlooked by the average grower 

 is the grading of the fruit. We grade our fruit very carefully and we 

 find that it pays us. We make three or four grades. If several grades 

 are put together, it detracts from the appearance of all of them, while 

 if they are separated and graded each by themselves, all look better. The 

 second and third grades do not look bad when by themselves, but suffer 

 by comparison with the higher class of fruit. 



We also try to look out for the interests of the dealer and not to 

 overload the market. Now and then, a man who is new to the business 

 will say ''Send me tAventy-five bushels of peaches for tomorrow," and 

 we will advise him to take ten bushels and see how they go and then 

 order more if he needs them. In this way he has a fresh supply on hand 

 and the fruit reaches the consumer in better condition, prices are better 

 and everyone is better satisfied. Most growers have the idea that when 

 they have unloaded their product onto the middleman the transac- 

 tion is closed, but this is wrong. It is directly to their own interests 

 to see that it reaches the consumer in first class condition. You have 

 got to look out for the other fellow as well as for yourself. Every time 

 vou hurt the other fellow vou hurt vourself. Fruit growers as a class 

 are generally broad minded and honest men, and it ,is good business 

 })olicy to be so. We hadn't ought to consider this side from the stand- 

 point of policy only, but still it is a fact that honest^^ is the best policy. 

 Looking out for the interests of the fellow you are dealing with is the 

 best money maker for yourself. 



In marketing our small fruit, such as strawberries, etc., we use crates 

 of different sizes from the bushel crate down to the 24-quart size, which 

 is so popular at present. I can remember when people used to ship 

 strawberries in bulk in two-bushel crates and the dealer scooped them 

 out as he sold them, and the consequence was that they were badly 

 damaged when they were finally gotten to the consumer. T can remem- 

 ber what a storm of protest went up when the first 24-quart crates, were 

 introduced, the growlers claiming that they were an unnecessary ex- 

 pense, but now, of course, no one would think of going back to the old 

 way. You must feel your way before you start a new thing. In the 

 matter of peaches, we pack the fruit in eight or ten-pound baskets early 

 in the season, so that a man may buy enough for eating purposes. Later 

 in the season we pack 48 pounds in the seven-eighths basket. We find 

 that b}' rounding them up in good shape we can get full 4S pounds in 

 these baskets, and they look and sell better, when rounded up full, than 

 they do Avhen the same amount of fruit is ])ut into the full bushel basket 

 and the basket is not quite full; and the commission men had rather 

 have it that way than in a larger basket, which is not full. No one sys- 

 tem will always apply, you must work out your own application to suit 

 17 



